# TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club



## stinger608 (Nov 14, 2009)

*TPU Nostalgic Hardware Club*
​


			
				@lexluthermiester said:
			
		

> *The great thing about tech life is that you can embrace the future without completely leaving the past behind.*​






*Nostalgic Hardware Information*

3DFX Identification site: https://3dfxarchive.com/

Awesome information on processors: http://www.cpushack.com/UpgradeProcessors.html

Awesome site for ole 3D video cards:  http://vintage3d.org/index.php#sthash.K5oSx9TC.dpbs

Site for Downloading old Windows Operating systems: http://www.mywindowspage.com/index.php/os/

Windows 3.1 Programs: https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_win3

Thanks to @Retrorockit here is some "go back" software: http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/products_and_solutions.aspx?ProductId=40#Features
And: http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/RollBack_XP.ihtml

Nostalgic Pentium forum from our own @aven000 :
http://pentiumownersclub.boards.net/

Thanks to @Trekkie4 , here is a site for awesome nostalgic drivers
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=1&menustate=0,0

Again, thanks to @Trekkie4 , here is the legacy products from Futuremark:
https://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/legacy

Thanks to @Mr.Scott , here is a clean download site for Windows XP w/SP3!!!
http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-xp-sp3/

And huge thanks to @Trekkie4 & @Bones here is another site for downloading ole OS's
https://winworldpc.com/library

Awesome Site to find and download all DirectX installs:
http://www.falconfly.de/directx.htm

Thanks to our Nostalgic member @Bungz , here is a download for users wishing to
run the amazing ATI HD3850 AGP on an ole Socket A system. The System will crash
without this patch!!!
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=72173157623687684646

Big Thanks to @Trekkie4 for finding a link to a forum that has a Win 95 USB fix!!!!
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172402-xusbsupp-extended-usb-supplement-for-windows-95-osr2/

Another big thanks to @Trekkie4 for this 3DMark Result browsers!
2000: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzaczsN8lPFQR01laVRGZk8tUEE/view
2001: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzaczsN8lPFQZXdjQ3k1S21nZWc/view
2001SE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzaczsN8lPFQMTdkUGxwNUFhVzQ/view

And yet another awesome link from @Trekkie4 , a USB Mass Storage Device Driver for Win98!
http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php

Thanks to @Trekkie4 here are some Windows 9X video drivers:
http://www.bearwindows.boot-land.net/vbe9x.htm

Thanks to @DRDNA for posting this awesome link in another thread for
tons of MSDos games and programs!!!
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos

Not sure how long this will be up, but thanks to @Bungz , here
is a site that has all the ATI Radeon Tech Demo's from 2001 to date!
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Grafi...irectX-101-AMDs-Radeon-graphics-cards-683297/

Thanks to the many many hours and trial installs of our own @Trekkie4 , here are some drivers for older Asus branded systems running
C-Media audio onboard sound systems:
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P4S533-VM/HelpDesk_Download/
Keep in mind, just do the operating system drop down menu and choose XP or Win2K

Yet another very big Thank you goes out to our own @Trekkie4 for finding these two
archived Nvidia driver files!!!!
Windows 95/98/ME Archived Drivers
Windows XP/2000 Archived Drivers

Thanks to @Fouquin , here is a great resource for tons of hardware info:
http://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/

If you are wanting to jump on the internet with Windows XP, here is a site that shows 5 they recommend.








						The 5 Best Browsers for Windows XP
					

Microsoft may have stopped supporting Windows XP but that is not to mean it is still in use But why would anyone still be using Windows XP? Well, for




					appuals.com
				




And thanks to our member @QuietBob , here is another awesome site for browsers of XP





						Browsers for Windows XP — Retrobrowsers.com
					






					www.xpbrowsers.com
				




And, here is a site that has the abandoned operating systems. It includes Windows Mac and others.





						WinWorld: Welcome
					

WinWorld is an online museum dedicated to providing free and open access to one of the largest archives of abandonware software and information on the web.



					winworldpc.com
				




Thanks goes out to @agent_x007 for linking these NForce drivers for Vista and Win7!!!








						NVIDIA: Optimized nForce Driverpacks for Win7-10
					

@ all users with a NVIDIA nForce chipset mainboard:  Preliminary notes  Many users with an nForce chipset mainboard, who are running or going to install Vista, Win7, Win8 or Win10 (32/64bit), are searching for nForce chipset drivers, which are suitable for their special chipset and will give...




					www.win-raid.com
				




*Nostalgic Gaming Links and Information*

Thanks to our member @lexluthermiester , here is an awesome link for the newest ZDoom:





						ZDoom - Downloads
					






					zdoom.org
				




Want to thank @TxGrin for this link to the Doom Reborn Mod!!!!!!








						Doom Reborn Pre Beta Version 1.65 Standalone file
					

- What's New I've added widescreen resolution support, adjusted the lighting in every level,Updated the apperence of the main menu,added new easter eggs and corrected a couple bugs along with various tweaks and changes.Updated a couple of textures




					www.moddb.com
				




*Here is a link to Windows XP Integral Edition:*





						Zone 94 - Windows XP Professional SP3 x86 - Integral Edition 2022.9.9
					

Free interesting content from across the Internet (Articles, News, Videos, Music, Images, Programs, and a lot more).




					www.zone94.com
				




Awesome link to legacy unsupported benchmarks. A lot of the 3D benchmarks.
Thanks to @agent_x007 for posting this!








						Futuremark Legacy Benchmarks
					

Download legacy versions of 3DMark, PCMark, and other Futuremark benchmarks for free.




					benchmarks.ul.com
				





*Plop Boot Manager

This is a great boot manager for older systems*

Thanks to @lexluthermiester, we have an amazing nostalgic boot
manager for installing DOS and other things to older systems






						Plop Boot Manager 5.0 - Download
					






					www.plop.at
				






I will start this out with my old Asus P5A Super Socket 7 Motherboard and AMD K6-2 350mhz

I purchased these items on 02/02/1999. I paid $199.99 for the motherboard and $149.99 for the K6-2



Spoiler














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Put up your picture and I will include you in the club on the original post


Okay, I know these next items are not really what could be called "nostalgic" however they are getting rare and getting pretty old in computer technology. My Grandson and I are going to build this for him (he is 8). He is just so into computers and all the gear that goes along with it. The motherboard is an Asus A8N-SLI Premium s939 sporting a dual core Athlon 64 3800+ with a Thermaltake Blue Orb II and running 2gb's of crucial DDR400 ram.

The video cards are of course EVGA 8800GTX SuperClocked. One of the cards I picked up from the original owner with the original box and all the accessories, and the other is a matching card but no box.

When the grandson and I get this together, it should really be a pretty sweet system. Will be putting Windows XP on the system, since that is what the little guy is used to



Spoiler






















Thanks to our very own member LiNKiN I now have an awesome ATI 9800 Pro AGP to add to the collection!!!!! Thanks a ton man. 



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Wow, just about forgot this crazy 5 1/2" Quantum BigFoot 1.2gb hard drive! LOL. God these things were crazy drives in their day! Heavy as hell.



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Now here is a couple of items that I found yesterday that I just had to share LOLOL



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And some DOS goodness:



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And thanks to our own member ThE_MaD_ShOt I now have an awesome Abit NF7 with a mobile XP2400+ to add to the images!!!! Thanks a ton bro!!!



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Okay just picked this combo up today from the shop that I am currently at:



Spoiler: The Master



















Have had this a couple of years now. I guess one could sort of consider a GTX560 as nostalgic? LOL


Spoiler: Duke's Fully Loaded































The Ole Alienware:



Spoiler: Alienware



Specs are:
Asus P5Q-E
QX9550
4 gigs DDR2 1600
500 gig Seagate Constellation
EVGA 8800GTX

Now 3 pictures 
















Grabbed this new in box unopened Opteron 275 for the cost of shipping!



Spoiler: Opteron 275


















*Member list was getting so long that I put it in a spoiler for everyone. *


Spoiler: Member List



Club Members
@stinger608
@MRCL
@PVTCaboose1337
@Jizzler
@Black Panther
@Wrigleyvillian
@AhokZYashA
@PP Mguire
@bogmali
@mastrdrver
@phill
@andy_mitchelluk
@Grnfinger
@TRWOV
@theonedub
@GC_PaNzerFIN
@[XC] Oj101
@Norton
@_JP_
@ViperXTR
@Kevinheraiz
@The Von Matrices
@Maban
@specks
@ThE_MaD_ShOt
@INSTG8R
@MilkyWay
@coolleo
@Bambooz
@Random Murderer
@johnspack
@dorsetknob
@Animalpak
@agent00skid
@Switch92
@hertz9753
@Mindweaver
@Aquinus
@popswala
@Athlonite
@mediasorcerer
@cdawall
@da_vid
@xBruce88x
@Garage1217
@m1919
@TotalChaos
@Doc41 
@UART
@GreiverBlade
@TriggerWolf
@erocker
@Durvelle27
@T-Bob
@xvi
@TommyT
@Melvis
@Mydog
@rodneyhchef
@Ikaruga
@HammerON
@Morgoth
@LegendofMadness
@de.das.dude
@funguseater
@emissary42 
@Compgeke
@Sasqui
@Naito
@dannylillhtc
@n3rdf1ght3r
@Tiaan48
@rtwjunkie
@Apocalypsee
@Frick
@Bones
@JunkBear
@psyko12
@MaxiPro800
@broken pixel
@aven000
@9700 Pro
@typicalintrovert
@silentbogo
@PolRoger
@m0nt3
@Backfire
@Vario
@Miomol
@Ferrum Master
@grunt_408
@debs3759
@Misaki
@kniaugaudiskis
@Countryside
@kazz
@STIG_ZA
@Trekkie4
@CAPSLOCKSTUCK
@Retrorockit
@MIRTAZAPINE
@Artex
@Mr.Scott
[SIZE=6]@Fouquin[/SIZE]
@jboydgolfer
[SIZE=6]@vigia[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]@Robert B[/SIZE]​


 







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​


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## MRCL (Nov 14, 2009)

My little collection 


































In a few days, a coworker will give an old pc of his to me, apparently with SCSI stuff and a Voodoo card  Will post pics of that, too.


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## stinger608 (Nov 14, 2009)

Great collection you got!!! I will be adding stuff that I have buried out in a storage shed


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## stinger608 (Nov 15, 2009)

What, just a couple of us have old hardware? I figured a ton of people would be all over this


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## MRCL (Nov 15, 2009)

stinger608 said:


> What, just a couple of us have old hardware? I figured a ton of people would be all over this



There was another thread about nostalig hardware long ago (thats where I posted my pics first), but it wasn't a club  Bump the thread from time to time, some threads are just made at a wrong time, and drown amogst other "more important" ones.


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## stinger608 (Nov 17, 2009)

MRCL said:


> There was another thread about nostalig hardware long ago (thats where I posted my pics first), but it wasn't a club  Bump the thread from time to time, some threads are just made at a wrong time, and drown amogst other "more important" ones.



Yea, I can't remember who it was, but there was someone on TPU that had a thread in the hardware section showing old hardware. I remember seeing your pictures on that thread, and remember that a lot of people commented on your pics


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Nov 17, 2009)

All my old processors....  attached.


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## vaiopup (Nov 17, 2009)

Oldest I still have is an Abit NF7-s rev 2 and an XP-m 2500+


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## erocker (Nov 17, 2009)

I have an IBM PS/2 386SX still running my alignment machine at the shop! I haven't opened it up for at least 8 years. Running DOS and running strong!


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## Disparia (Nov 17, 2009)

Quad P-Pro board with memory daughter board. Not shown is the PCI board with a dozen or so slots.





Apple HPV slot video card. 2MB, upgradable to 4MB via SIMMS!





Have some other things around here, just need to find/take new pics.


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## stinger608 (Nov 17, 2009)

Jizzler said:


> Quad P-Pro board with memory daughter board. Not shown is the PCI board with a dozen or so slots.
> http://www.theburnerishot.com/photo/Quad-Pentium-Pro.jpg
> 
> Apple HPV slot video card. 2MB, upgradable to 4MB via SIMMS!
> ...



Ah very cool Pentium pro quad board Jizzler!!! Man, in its day, that was a seriously high dollar motherboard!!!!

Awesome

I edited the original post to add Caboose and Jizzler as they posted pictures. 

@Erocker: Man, get some pictures of that old system bro!!!


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Nov 17, 2009)

stinger608 said:


> Ah very cool Pentium pro quad board Jizzler!!! Man, in its day, that was a seriously high dollar motherboard!!!!
> 
> Awesome
> 
> ...



Bonus point if you can name every processor...  HINT:  One is a Pentium 4 with HS removed.  The earliest processor in the collect in a Cyrix @ 66mhz.


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## stinger608 (Nov 17, 2009)

PVTCaboose1337 said:


> Bonus point if you can name every processor...  HINT:  One is a Pentium 4 with HS removed.  The earliest processor in the collect in a Cyrix @ 66mhz.



 Looks like the one on top without the HS is the p-4. The Cyrix I am to assume is the one that has the pins pointed up. Looks like there is an AMD Duron, several socket 462 chips, a p-3 several P-2 slot cpu's. Looks like several early pentiums, and some EDO ram sticks in the foreground.


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## Disparia (Nov 18, 2009)

Part II. Grabbed some more items from the closet.

SCSI RAID controller I pulled from an old Compaq server.





Dual 486 motherboard I found in a case on the side of the road a couple years ago.


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## MRCL (Nov 27, 2009)

Got the computer I was promised. I might have misunderstood something as there are no Voodoos in SLI  Only one  Try identifying it, its easy. The other card is a Diamond Viper 550, I even found a review of it! Consider them as a sneek preview on the comp, as I'm going to bed now


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## stinger608 (Nov 27, 2009)

Cool man!! Is the top one a Diamond Monster?


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## MRCL (Nov 27, 2009)

stinger608 said:


> Cool man!! Is the top one a Diamond Monster?



No its not a Diamond card


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## MRCL (Nov 30, 2009)

Moar old stuff!

You know what this is...





Yes you do!





I didn't know DFI was around since the PII days...





Top one is a SCSI controller, below that is a soundcard and a network card at last. The GPUs are missing here, they're the ones I posted above.


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## Black Panther (Nov 30, 2009)

It's a mix of old and not-so-old hardware, but mostly obsolete.
(It's not very tidy I know) 

My Pentium II Mendocino @ 333 Mhz isn't here because it's running at the office.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Dec 1, 2009)

Well I used to have a lot more but have moved too many times. So I present the CPU from my first real build ten years ago and 2x256 of some tasty Corsair BH-5


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## AhokZYashA (Dec 1, 2009)

I have a old Toshiba laptop

let me post that pic next time...

i'm on my school now...


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## stinger608 (Dec 1, 2009)

cool guys!! Note that Both Black Panther, and Wrigleyvillian were added to the list

Damn Wrigley, I love them DDR 256 Corsairs man..........Nostalgic for sure man!!!


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## Wrigleyvillain (Dec 1, 2009)

Yeah thats why I never sold them.


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## stinger608 (Dec 1, 2009)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Yeah thats why I never sold them.



 Yea, I don't blame ya a bit man!


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## stinger608 (Dec 7, 2009)

Bump this up, surely more TPU members have some nostalgic hardware laying around LOL


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## pantherx12 (Dec 7, 2009)

Black Panther said:


> It's a mix of old and not-so-old hardware, but mostly obsolete.
> (It's not very tidy I know)
> 
> My Pentium II Mendocino @ 333 Mhz isn't here because it's running at the office.
> ...




Reminds me of my bedroom 


I've got lots of old junk to share with you as soon as my camera turns up 

Got a Matrox g450 infront of me right now, dual output version an amazing 16mb of memory!


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## stinger608 (Dec 8, 2009)

Yea, he has a ton of "stuff" LOL


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## AhokZYashA (Dec 11, 2009)

This is something good..
a toshiba satellite 2595CDT





with 6.4GB HDD, 64MB SDRAM, and 400MHz Dixon Celeron which runs pretty fast..




and it has a very good set of speakers..


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## MRCL (Dec 11, 2009)

I think I can top that. Toshiba T200SX, runs on DOS. Doesn't work anymore, maybe I can get it to work again, have to see. Don't find any information about it whatsoever. Must be from the late 80s/early 90s.










Tried to open it up to maybe locate a problem, but apart from the main power cable and the FDD, I don't know what is what in there and what the Hell is that yellow stick thingy


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## warup89 (Dec 11, 2009)

Oh im gonna show you guys something good, I just gotta find it . Ill comeback tomorrow


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## roast (Dec 11, 2009)

I've got some great stuff to post too.


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## Yukikaze (Dec 11, 2009)

I'll throw in a picture of oldie P3 laptop next time I visit my parents (If I forget, someone bump me in the direction of doing that plz). It is an Asus A1000 and it was purchased at around the year 2000 with the following specs:
Pentium 3 Mobile 700Mhz (100 x 7), 14" 1024x768 monitor, 64MB on board SDRAM PC-100 and a stick of 128MB of PC-100 SDRAM, 10GB HDD, CD-ROM Drive and a 1.44MB Floppy.

It still runs, despite being with me in the service for four years and having been dropped half-a-dozen times. Last year I bought a 512MB SDRAM SO-DIMM and a Pentium 3 Mobile 1Ghz (100 x 10) on ebay as an upgrade to the maximum possible specs on it before all those parts were gone forever.

It happily runs Windows XP SP3 (And ran Xubuntu when I used it for my coding in my first year at the University). Except for the CPU and RAM which I swapped out, all other parts are the originals, including the battery (Which still powers it for something like an hour and a bit), the AC-DC brick and even the HDD.


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## Frick (Dec 11, 2009)

I threw away all my old crap some time ago. A 486 isn't even old enough to be fun. 

I was very close to buy a complete ABC 80 the other day though, but the shipping was like yikes!


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## Wrigleyvillain (Dec 11, 2009)

Yeah too bad we recently got rid of an old Apple Network Server from 1996 (ran IBM's A/UX). The goddamn thing retailed for 11 grand lol.


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## Frick (Dec 11, 2009)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Yeah too bad we recently got rid of an old Apple Network Server from 1996 (ran IBM's A/UX). The goddamn thing retailed for 11 grand lol.



Now that's a thing I would've kept.


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## stinger608 (Dec 11, 2009)

Awesome guys!!! I added AhokZYashA to the list


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## MRCL (Dec 12, 2009)

Lol I found some info about that old laptop of mine... so it is from 1990. Read on. I have highlighted the highlights 



> A small footprint in the office. *A giant leap in technology.*
> 
> 
> Toshiba once again asserts its laptop leadership by combining the power of a *leading-edge desktop computer* with all the benefits of a Toshiba notebook. The Toshiba T2000SX features *advanced i386 SX power and VGA graphics* in the popular and ergonomic Toshiba notebook format. It's the best choice for business professionals* requiring a small, powerful computer* that can be used with the widest range of flexibility both in the office and out.
> ...


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## stinger608 (Dec 12, 2009)

Now that was funny!! I love that part, "starts with 1mb of memory and can be upgraded to an impressive 9mb."

Dang, unfortunately I do remember them days


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## MRCL (Dec 12, 2009)

stinger608 said:


> Now that was funny!! I love that part, "starts with 1mb of memory and can be upgraded to an impressive 9mb."
> 
> Dang, unfortunately I do remember them days



Me not really. I was two years old when that laptop came around. I remember playing with it, and a bit older, I could make a new txt file and save that and even access it again. Somehow. But all that C:\ stuff was beyond me


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## AhokZYashA (Dec 13, 2009)

@ MRCL : that was awesome....
never seen something like that before...

mine still works and work flawlessly..
let me post that baby runs win 98, it's performance is can compared to that P3 700/800..

it's reliable too, i've turn it on for a full week and it keeps on, no restarts, no BSOD...
that's a cool laptop..


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## MRCL (Dec 13, 2009)

AhokZYashA said:


> @ MRCL : that was awesome....
> never seen something like that before...
> 
> mine still works and work flawlessly..
> ...



My father just said that laptop cost 5000 bucks back then. OMG. And I tell you, you just can't kill such ancient hardware! I'm not surprised at all that your lappy still runs.


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## AhokZYashA (Dec 14, 2009)

OMG.
5000 bucks??
that's something...

i don't know how much this thing retails back then..
must keep it safe to the 2050..:rockon:


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## Wrigleyvillain (Dec 14, 2009)

Frick said:


> Now that's a thing I would've kept.



Oh how I tried. It weighed about 250 pounds and I couldn't find anyone to help me get it home before my boss had enough of it taking up space.


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## stinger608 (Dec 19, 2009)

First and foremost, I want to give a huge THANKS  to LiNKiN for some of the most awesome nostalgic hardware in recent years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks bro!!!!!!
You can find other awesome old stuff here!

Now on to the hardware that LiNKiN sent me! 

First is the Biostar M7MKA ver 1.1 motherboard
Next is the awesome AMD Athlon 750mhz Slot A CPU
Now we know that this board is probably one of the first of the AGP motherboards, so as you can see, it has the video card plugged into the AGP port
And just to show off some of the rest of the hardware this awesome TPU member sent me, I figured I would show the Creative sound card, Linksys NIC card, and the USB card!

And now, with every thing installed, it of course posted without any issues!!!!!!!!!! Fricking awesome!!!!!

Well, on to some of the pictures of this "old school" hardware!





Motherboard with all the goodies installed





Here is a bit of a distant shot of the system running with the monitor in the background





Here is the shot of the awesome Athlon 750mhz Slot A processor!!! This is just fricking cool!!!





And finally a shot of the monitor with the temps! The Biostar at that time was running the Award Bios! 


to conclude this post, again, I would really like to give a huge thanks to LiNKiN for some very, very awesome nostalgic hardware to show everyone here on TPU!!!
 Thanks bro!!!!


TPU FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## MRCL (Dec 19, 2009)

That PSU must be thinking "dude, is that all you got'"


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## stinger608 (Dec 19, 2009)

MRCL said:


> That PSU must be thinking "dude, is that all you got'"



 Yea that was just to test the motherboard 
That is an awesome Corsair HX520W that I got here on TPU!!!


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## stinger608 (Dec 30, 2009)

Come on guys, there has to be a bunch more TPU'ers that have some awesome old hardware laying around!!!!

To update the old stuff LiNKiN sent me, I put together a Windows 98SE system
Stuck on Doom, Doom2, Hexen, Heretic, Quake, and Quake 2

Man, Saturday night I ended up playing Doom 2, and Quake 2 for about 3 hours! Of course the graphics were not very good compared to today's standards, but what a hoot it was to visit some awesome old shoot em up games


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## PP Mguire (Dec 30, 2009)

MRCL said:


> Got the computer I was promised. I might have misunderstood something as there are no Voodoos in SLI  Only one  Try identifying it, its easy. The other card is a Diamond Viper 550, I even found a review of it! Consider them as a sneek preview on the comp, as I'm going to bed now
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091127/Foto0420.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091127/Foto0422.jpg



Idk if you figured it out or not but thats a Voodoo2 12mb.

I have 3 of those, 2 in SLI.

Heres some stuffs for yall for now.

Voodoo5 5500 64MB 4x AGP





2 Diamond Voodoo 2 12mb in SLI with cable.


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## fatguy1992 (Dec 30, 2009)

What does Nostalgic mean?


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## PP Mguire (Dec 30, 2009)

www.dictionary.com 

Like old golden pieces of hardware. Memorable old stuff. Ect


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## fatguy1992 (Dec 30, 2009)

I see, thank you.


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## stinger608 (Dec 30, 2009)

Awesome PP!!! Added ya to the list in the original post man!!!


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## MRCL (Dec 30, 2009)

Say, does a GeForce FX5200 count as nostalgic?  I've seen a water block for it up for grabs at a shop for a mere 10 bucks lol. Makes me ponder if I should watercool my P4 (478)/FX5200 rig  A 1x80 rad for each CPU and GPU would be plenty I think. Or a single 120 for both. Ideas are developing...


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## stinger608 (Dec 31, 2009)

MRCL said:


> Say, does a GeForce FX5200 count as nostalgic?  I've seen a water block for it up for grabs at a shop for a mere 10 bucks lol. Makes me ponder if I should watercool my P4 (478)/FX5200 rig  A 1x80 rad for each CPU and GPU would be plenty I think. Or a single 120 for both. Ideas are developing...



Hell, probably a single 120 would be more than plenty for a P4 and FX5200. If you don't have a water block for the CPU, the AquaXtreme that I am selling here has the bracket for the Socket 462, 478, and 775 included man! The price includes shipping USPS Priority mail


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## mastrdrver (Dec 31, 2009)

MRCL said:


> Got the computer I was promised. I might have misunderstood something as there are no Voodoos in SLI  Only one  Try identifying it, its easy. The other card is a Diamond Viper 550, I even found a review of it! Consider them as a sneek preview on the comp, as I'm going to bed now
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091127/Foto0420.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091127/Foto0422.jpg





I've got a Voodoo Banshee and 5500 back at my parents place. I need to try and remember to get pics to add. I'll never let go of those two cards. Still work too!


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## stinger608 (Dec 31, 2009)

mastrdrver said:


> I've got a Voodoo Banshee and 5500 back at my parents place. I need to try and remember to get pics to add. I'll never let go of those two cards. Still work too!



Yes, get some pictures of them and post them up man!!!!! That would be awesome


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 9, 2010)

Well, here we go, lets get this to the top of the list LOL


----------



## bogmali (Jan 19, 2010)

P4 1.7Ghz Socket 423/Abit TH7 RAID Mobo






300W PSU/CD-ROM Drive





PCI Cards






Savage4 DH AGP Video Card






Also found this....

AMD K7950 Slot A Cpu











Look at the price when it first came out


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 19, 2010)

Awesome Nostalgic hardware Bog!!!!

Added you to the original post bro!!!


----------



## mastrdrver (Feb 14, 2010)

Finally remember to take some pictures now that I'm home this weekend. Also found out that my dad put the V5500 in to a old pc and gave it to my sister's boyfriend. I got to go get that thing back and put the AGP GeForce 6200 in that system. Still don't know why he did that.

I also found out I've got parts I can barely remember buying. 

Visiontek Riva TNT2





1Ghz Celeron 370 socket





Sound Blaster AWE (ISA card)





AMD Durion 1Ghz, 200mhz bus





Matrox Millennium 2MB





9600 AIW I think. I got it with a pc I bought from a friend years ago.





Apparently a 3Dfx Voodoo 3000 though I don't remember getting this one for me or my dad.





I've come to realize that I'm a slut and the pc industry had been my pimp. :shadedshu

That Creative card started it all for me. Also, I think that Matrox might have come out of the Hewlett Packard my parents got. It has a sweet 120Mhz Pentium, Windows 95, and something like 2MB of EDO Ram. My dad put a 5.25 floppy drive in it because it didn't have one. He said he needed it since all his stuff was on 5.25s. Same thing happened with the next pc and it didn't have a 3.5 drive. Now, everything was on 3.5 floppies so he had to have one put in.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2010)

Awesome old hardware!! Added you to the original post as a member 

Thanks for sharing the photo's man!


----------



## Disparia (Feb 14, 2010)

Not my pics, but sweet:
















The Samurai DDR chipset - the most amazing chipset we never got in retail. Would have been the first one with DDR support and along with it's Rambus crushing performance, had very advanced features.

Each chipset supported one or two Slot 1 (Pentium) or Slot 2 (Xeon) processors, an AGP slot, DDR-200/266 memory, and 32/64 bit PCI slots. They could be linked together, up to a theoretical 512 CPUs (and 256 AGP slots, 256-channel DDR, etc).

After seeing a review at Tomshardware back in '99, I must have drooled gallons waiting for it to coming out... but it never did


----------



## mastrdrver (Feb 14, 2010)

I can't even being to think how expensive that would have been.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 19, 2010)

Bump this old club, no pun intended,

Anyone else got some old nostalgic hardware to add?


----------



## brandonwh64 (Mar 22, 2010)

still waiting on my voodoo 3,4,5 PCI card stinger LOLOL!


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 29, 2010)

Bump this back up after almost a month and a half lol


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## mastrdrver (Apr 18, 2011)

brandonwh64 said:


> still waiting on my voodoo 3,4,5 PCI card stinger LOLOL!



How about an AGP?


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 23, 2011)

mastrdrver said:


> How about an AGP?
> 
> http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z43/mastrdrver/old pc stuff/DSC00581.jpg
> http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z43/mastrdrver/old pc stuff/DSC00583.jpg



Awesome dual video card Mastrdrver

Do you know what it is?


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 23, 2011)

Black Panther said:


> It's a mix of old and not-so-old hardware, but mostly obsolete.
> (It's not very tidy I know)
> 
> My Pentium II Mendocino @ 333 Mhz isn't here because it's running at the office.
> ...



Your not a Klepto are you lol 

Nice collection though.


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## mastrdrver (Apr 26, 2011)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome dual video card Mastrdrver
> 
> Do you know what it is?



Its one of those 3Dfx Voodoo 5500 you hear about. AGP in this example.


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## stinger608 (May 15, 2011)

Okay, I know these next items are not really what could be called "nostalgic" however they are getting rare and getting pretty old in computer technology. My Grandson and I are going to build this for him (he is 8). He is just so into computers and all the gear that goes along with it. The motherboard is an Asus A8N-SLI Premium s939 sporting a dual core Athlon 64 3800+ with a Thermaltake Blue Orb II and running 2gb's of crucial DDR400 ram. 

The video cards are of course EVGA 8800GTX SuperClocked. One of the cards I picked up from the original owner with the original box and all the accessories, and the other is a matching card but no box. 

When the grandson and I get this together, it should really be a pretty sweet system. Will be putting Windows XP on the system, since that is what the little guy is used to


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## mastrdrver (May 16, 2011)

I remember shopping for my 1950 Pro right about the time the 8 series nVidia cards first came out. I thought people were insane for spending $600+ for a single card as my budget was ~$250 at the time.


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## phill (Jun 11, 2011)

Here's a few things I've got laying around and that are still in use today 

My Abit KR7A with Thunderbird 850Mhz and my Abit NF7-S Rev 2 - Best socket A motherboard I've ever had!






My MSI K8N Neo 939 board AND My DFI Nforce 4 Lan party board - 






All still in use, all still very much alive and working well   Just wish using SATA drives on my Abit NF7-S was a bit more simple!!


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## stinger608 (Jun 12, 2011)

phill said:


> Here's a few things I've got laying around and that are still in use today
> 
> My Abit KR7A with Thunderbird 850Mhz and my Abit NF7-S Rev 2 - Best socket A motherboard I've ever had!
> 
> ...




Very cool Phill!!! I added your name to the list in the original post man.


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## phill (Jun 12, 2011)

I have a load of old games that I miss playing so I'm using these rigs to help with that problem   Its just a shame Windows 98 is being a pain and I cant get a single SATA driver to work on my Abit NF7-S and I have to use Raid 0 to install Windows XP!  

I do have a few upgrades on the way, so I cant wait to post them up for you as well   I've nearly finished making my bench tables for these bits of hardware, I hope they are worthy of such amazing hardware


----------



## phill (Jun 15, 2011)

Well guys I hope these are of some good to you 






















I hope these were acceptable


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## stinger608 (Jul 10, 2011)

Awesome old hardware Phill!!!!!


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## phill (Jul 11, 2011)

I have more mate, I'll be putting the water cooling on it at some point over the next few weeks, I'll try and get them all up on show


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## stinger608 (Jul 14, 2011)

Phill your a great contributor to the club man!!!!!! I still have to say, "ya got some great nostalgic gear" man!!!!! 

Thanks a ton!


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## phill (Jul 14, 2011)

Well I think sometimes that most of the hardware I have is older so I just like to make the most of what I have here   I do enjoy and love hardware in general, so when I can make the most of it and make people smile with what I have, thats just a really nice thing to know 

When my two other big builds are finished, I'll post all 6 in one picture and hope you still like what I have got


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## stinger608 (Jul 15, 2011)

Oh man, always glad to see some older hardware. Hell, I should get pictures of all my damn Socket A parts LOL. That would add a bunch to the thread LOLOL


----------



## phill (Jul 15, 2011)

I'll try and get some pictures of things soon, I've taken a bunch more tonight because of tubing up another water loop so I hope it'll be good enough to be in the thread 

Been enjoying everything so far with this build so I just hope that it'll be a good show 

Here's to hardware old and new


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 23, 2011)

Can't wait to see some more Phill!


----------



## phill (Jul 23, 2011)

I've got everything else setup now, but I'm needing 4 PSU's!!  I dont want to buy any old rubbish but I think buying four 850W AX Corsair Gold PSU's is a little over the top for these rigs!! :lol:

I'm just wondering what I can do for them for the best


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 24, 2011)

Holy crap!!!!!!! I just picked up an old G92 8800GTS XFX Alpha Dog Edition for $25 shipped!!!! 

Just couldn't pass that one up LOL. That was one of the first awesome video cards that I purchased back when and I think I paid about 200 for that damn card 

Jeez, I might have to start a 8800 picture farm Can't wait to get that old jewel!!! 

Hell, I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of the old 8600GTS card that is in my wife's system! It is one of the Gigabyte Passive cooled cards that I added a fan to. Very awesome card to be honest.


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## phill (Jul 24, 2011)

I recently tested a 7950GX2 and I gotta be honest, it was pretty good!!

It has a Aquacomputing water block on it and it seemed to stay cool rather well, I think idle was something like 33C and load was 35C :lol:  Didnt matter what test I was running either, never went any higher!  That was in one loop with the CPU as well sadly..

Cant wait for some pics mate


----------



## phill (Jul 27, 2011)

Right well as its been more than a few days since I last posted something here, I thought it was about time I did   Here's a few more piccies 

















































































Now I have a few more, but I'll put them in a different post as I think they are special


----------



## phill (Jul 27, 2011)

Now as I thought this was a Nostalgic Hardware Club, I figured these might have a place here...  





















I thought a few people might like these   I'll try and get a few more of the Amiga I have there, few upgrades in that one  
Also I'd like to point out that every single one of those works as well  

I've got a few more pics from today to put up, but as its gone midnight here, I'm off to bed!!  I'll put up some more for you in the morning 

I hope that you like them


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## MilkyWay (Jul 29, 2011)

phill said:


> Now as I thought this was a Nostalgic Hardware Club, I figured these might have a place here...
> 
> http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4177/imgp0011zk.jpg
> 
> ...



Another retro collector! Nice gear been looking for a Amiga 1200 for about 2 years but dont want to pay £80 for one. Got an expansion card in there? The Blizzards are rare and expensive, i know you can get PPC cpu expansions to run Amiga OS 4 for PPC.

My latest purchases where an NES bundle and a Mega CD 2.

Dont have any old hardware anymore although i wish i still had that Radeon 9600 and Vodoo 3 i used to keep in a drawer. I usually sell on when im upgrading.


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## phill (Jul 29, 2011)

I have had that Amiga for over 10 years now and I'm not going to be selling it anytime soon!!  It has a Blizzard 1230 @ 50Mhz with I think 16Mb of ram on it.  It also has a hard drive of some size, but I cant remember  
I used to have a fully modded Amiga 1200 (tower, PPC + Bvision and all the rest of it) but one day I turned it on and it went bang.  I lost over £1400 worth of hardware I had upgraded too.  I was gutted to put it mildly.  

After that it was down hill really after the claim, I went with PC's and well its gotten worse ever since!! :lol:    I miss the Amiga OS, I think it was simple, easy to use and bloody quick considering the hardware that was used.
I still have Amiga OS 3.5 underneath the bed with all the Amiga games I own (all original too!!) with some of my most favourite games ever!  The Settlers for one, Indy Heat as it was just such a laugh!, Project X amazing shoot em up, Choas Engine and god knows what else was under there 

I got the Mega CD 1 because I like having the headphone socket   It means I can connect it up to my processor and have surround sound, Mega Drive style!! 

I would like to say I wont ever be selling any of them   So if anyone fancies a game of whatever, come on over!!


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## MilkyWay (Jul 29, 2011)

Im not planning on selling anything either lol. I still would love an Amiga, god im jealous those Blizzard cards are awesome you can even listen to MP3s and surf the net if you wanted to on an old Amiga!

I have a Mega CD 2 my preference is the 1st but i couldnt find one cheap and the CD2 has a top loader which doesnt break as much. I have a model 1 Megadrive to go with it, the HD Graphics logo version. I use an RGB Scart cable with the heaphone sockett to get stereo sound. This is the original Megadrive with the good sound chip not the one in the model 2 or later models.

I sound like such an anorak here.


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## phill (Jul 29, 2011)

I dont know about sounding like an Anorak but it sounds like you know what your talking about 

I will see if I can track an Amiga 1200 down for you and see if you'll be interested   I would love to get another PPC card and Bvision card but I doubt very much that they'd be around.  I used to have a 603e+ with a 060 50Mhz and 64Mb of ram   It was a thing of beauty.  I was even able to play Quake and Wipeout 2097  
I was sooooo gutted when the claim paid out that I could only get a 060 @ 66Mhz, I just lost interest and sold it off.  I then thought I missed it, so I went and bought a cheap Amiga 1200 with a basic accelerator and some extra memory   I suppose I could put the CD Rom with it and so on, but I just never seem to use it   I'm rather gutted with that but then my best friend who used to come around and we just use to game on it all the time   I miss those days...

I think I have about 5 Mega Drive 1's along with 3 (possibly more) 32X add ons and I wouldnt give them up for the world   I have got a love for Streets of Rage 2 and Merc's and even Bomberman and Gunstar Hero's.  Some of my most favourite of games...


----------



## phill (Jul 29, 2011)

After a little bit of searching, what about this for you 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-120...omputing_RL&hash=item3cba727086#ht_500wt_1156

I think that comes with everything that you said you wanted   I dont think that's too far from me so I could go and pick it up if needed!!


----------



## andy_mitchelluk (Aug 13, 2011)

Hi guys. I'm new to the forums (just randomly stumbled across this topic!) so thought I'd share some of my collection of oldies.

To start with: (Yes, it is an old PCI card! And I thought AGP was old!)






I'll upload more stuff when I get around to taking more piccies. I have an old IBM 300PL desktop (the under-monitor kind) with an old slot 1 P3 at (I think) 600 MHz, various old units and parts, as well as the PC I'm currently using (in my system spec details).

I'm a hoarder and don't like to get rid of stuff. Even when I'll never use it again!

Andy.


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## stinger608 (Aug 15, 2011)

andy_mitchelluk said:


> Hi guys. I'm new to the forums (just randomly stumbled across this topic!) so thought I'd share some of my collection of oldies.
> 
> To start with: (Yes, it is an old PCI card! And I thought AGP was old!)
> 
> ...




First; welcome to the most awesome web site on the net!!!!! 
Second; glad ya found this thread and as such I added you to the list of members

Can't wait to see what else you have to show us all.


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## andy_mitchelluk (Aug 18, 2011)

Hey there and thanks for the welcome.
As I will likely be posting a lot of pics I'm going to go for thumbnail links to save everyone's precious bandwidth! I have a ton of hard drives that I'll post pics of next when I get home tonight. Including an oldie that has a whopping 133MB made by IBM UK!


Anyway, to start off today, here ya go.


A handful of the various RAM sticks I have.






An old Pentium Processor from 92/93.






An old 3DFX AGP graphics card.






An AMD Duron from 1999. 1300MHz




And last but not least - a VERY old ISA sound card (AZTECH MM PRO 16IIB)






_________________________________________

A sneak peek of the IBM 300PL
(Found out the processor inside is a 700MHz/100FSB. The original was 600MHz and is around somewhere!)



_________________________________________

More to come soon (including a Dell OptiPlex which is where the Pentium up top belongs!) when I can get to all the old units in storage. Busy for the next few days but sometime next week i'll be stripping my main PC for it's monthly clean up. I'll get snap-happy when it's in bits


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## stinger608 (Aug 20, 2011)

Some good looking old hardware Andy!!!!


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## Grnfinger (Aug 25, 2011)




----------



## Grnfinger (Aug 25, 2011)




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## stinger608 (Aug 25, 2011)

Awesome hardware Grnfinger!!!!!!!!!!!!! I added you to the list man!!!


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## stinger608 (Oct 2, 2011)

We need to bump this puppy up. I am sure most have forgotten about this.


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## andy_mitchelluk (Oct 3, 2011)

I've been meaning to finish posting pics but I've had a hectic month and just got back off holiday this afternoon. I won't be able to post piccie's of all my old units as I was forced to get rid of them due to lack of space  (I still have the old IBM 300PL though. I WILL get pics of it sorted soon!)

But I did get some pics of my current rig when I took it apart to clean it. Plus I still have all the pics of my old hard drives somewhere too!


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## TRWOV (Oct 27, 2011)

Add another Voodoo 5 5500 to the club 







The thing is monstrous, 9 1/2 inches 







I used to think that 3dfx was mexican and bought their cards over ATi's and nVidia's because of that 






I used to own a Banshee but got rid of it.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 27, 2011)

TRWOV said:


> Add another Voodoo 5 5500 to the club
> 
> http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9269/img0398zs.jpg
> 
> ...





Wow!!! That is one frigging awesome Voodoo 5 card man

Added you to the original post bro


----------



## TRWOV (Oct 27, 2011)

Cool! Maybe I could dig up my old PII and my other hardware over the weekend.


----------



## theonedub (Oct 27, 2011)

4MB EDO RAM SIMM from my old Pentium 100 IBM Aptiva. This RAM is probably older than some members here


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## TRWOV (Oct 30, 2011)

Found my old Cyrix rig:





J-MARK J-648A board with (I think) 64MB of Cubig EDO RAM





SGS-Thomson ST6x86-P150+ socket 7 CPU





540MB Seagate HDD


I don't know what happened to it, one day it just didn't turn on. Maybe it was just the power supply but I don't have an AT PSU to test. I was ~15 at the time so I didn't know better. I recall playing Wolf3D and Stunts with this and a Cirrus Logic 2MB card.


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## stinger608 (Oct 31, 2011)

theonedub said:


> 4MB EDO RAM SIMM from my old Pentium 100 IBM Aptiva. This RAM is probably older than some members here
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/111027/DSC00405.jpg



Your probably right Dub!!! EDO ram was quite some time ago. Hell I remember buying an 8mb set from Walmart in the early 90's for $100 and thinking I got a killer deal. 

Also added ya to the original post bro.


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## Luciel (Nov 3, 2011)

Hi Guys 

I have in storage a P1-MMX 233Mhz with a Voodoo 2 12Mb and I believe an Ati Rage Pro 2mb with a 4Gb HDD and 64mb ram, the last games I played on this baby where Quake 3 and Half Life, amazing really.

More importantly, I´ve taken out of storage the hardware of a Viglen 486dx machine, hoping to assemble this and see if it actually works : ) should take some pickies then ; )


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## stinger608 (Nov 3, 2011)

Luciel said:


> Hi Guys
> 
> I have in storage a P1-MMX 233Mhz with a Voodoo 2 12Mb and I believe an Ati Rage Pro 2mb with a 4Gb HDD and 64mb ram, the last games I played on this baby where Quake 3 and Half Life, amazing really.
> 
> More importantly, I´ve taken out of storage the hardware of a Viglen 486dx machine, hoping to assemble this and see if it actually works : ) should take some pickies then ; )



Awesome!!! Looking forward to the pics for sure


----------



## rodneyhchef (Nov 8, 2011)

Hello all! 

Got a few rigs from the 90s that I want to share. Posted in a few threads about old rigs but only just found out about this clubhouse!  will add some pics when I get chance.

My first ever pc was a custom build based on a fullyes intel 430vx socket7 mobo with a pentium 75. It is a setup I just kept going back to until I got rid of socket 7 in favour of socket a. The super socket 7 boards I had in between were all average at best (agp for example, never really worked).

Anyway, upgraded it over the years and here's how it stands:
Amd k6/2 400 (bios shows it as 486 but works a treat! )
64mb edo ram
Geforce 2 mx 32mb
Voodoo2 12mb
Sound blaster awe 64 gold
6.4gb hd
16x dvd-rom

Rest of my socket 7/legacy stuff includes:
FIC VA-503+ and pcchips m571 motherboards
Cpu collection: K6-300, k6/2-450, p166, p233mmx
Sound blaster awe 32: early one which wasn't pnp compliant. Has 2mb ram in the 30pin sinmmslots 
S3 virge dx375 2d/3d card. Think I have about 3 of these, they were everywhere back in the day!

Got some slightly newer stuff from the p3 era but this eara stuff is my favourite


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## Luciel (Nov 9, 2011)

Sounds awesome, question though, isnt the gforce 2 a massive overkill for that system? how does it handle the voodoo2? having in mind the gforce 2 has its own integrated 3d accelerator?


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## stinger608 (Nov 9, 2011)

Very cool Rodneyhchef!!!!!!! Can't wait to see some pictures of this awesome nostalgic collection. LOL, I agree with you on the S3 Virge's, they were everywhere for sure. Hell I think I also have one left maybe even two.


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## TRWOV (Nov 9, 2011)

Digged out my old PII 350 Deschutes:











BTW, does anyone know how to take apart a PII? It's pretty dusty inside.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 9, 2011)

TRWOV said:


> Digged out my old PII 350 Deschutes:
> 
> http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/7236/img0465am.jpg
> 
> ...



Awesome looking ole PII! Man, I can't exactly remember just how the plastic cover is removed. I remember doing it on an old PII 400 and installing an aluminum heat sink.....Hmm, it seems there are plastic pins that actually snap into the other side. I think they run through the PCB of the chip if I remember correctly. I remember it was quite a chore to remove the dang thing though. I think you have to remove the one side that is thinnest first. That leaves the side that wraps around the edges of the PCB still attached. The pins actually are locked in the PCB if I recall correctly. Damn, don't quote me on this as it was a long time ago


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## rodneyhchef (Nov 9, 2011)

It may be a teeny tiny bit overkill yeah  it is useful for good 2d though, there aren't many good legacy 2d cards. Most are 4mb or less which means even a 1280x1024 desktop resolution is a struggle (8 bit colour and 60hz refresh refresh rate if you're lucky! The voodoo 2 works with this card in the same way as any other, any software supporting the voodoo2 simply accesses that instead and viewing is possible through the daisy chain vga connector.


----------



## Luciel (Nov 9, 2011)

wouldnt it be better if the software used the geforce 2 acceleration rather than the voodoo one?


----------



## rodneyhchef (Nov 9, 2011)

Probably! I have it there for glide stuff too though


----------



## rodneyhchef (Nov 9, 2011)

I did some benches with 3dmark99 a while back and there wasn't a huge difference in that. That probably just re-enforces the fact that the system bottlenecks the card, but then again it is pci so maybe that's the rate determining step?


----------



## Disparia (Nov 11, 2011)

My first keyboard, which came with my first system - a Gateway 2000 P75 - back in 1994.

8-way directional keys, 12 programmable macro keys (left side F1-F12), and is very heavy so it never slid around!


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 27, 2011)

That's awesome Jizzler!!! 


Thanks to our very own member LiNKiN I now have an awesome ATI 9800 Pro AGP to add to the collection!!!!! Thanks a ton man. 







Note that I edited the original post as well with the picture of the 9800 Pro


----------



## Morgoth (Dec 11, 2011)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## TRWOV (Dec 11, 2011)

Morgoth said:


> [url]http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/3425/dscf0013be.th.jpg[/URL]
> 
> Uploaded with ImageShack.us



oh my God, it's full of chips!


----------



## Morgoth (Dec 11, 2011)

it got sli to


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 24, 2011)

Morgoth said:


> [url]http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/3425/dscf0013be.th.jpg[/URL]
> 
> Uploaded with ImageShack.us





Morgoth said:


> it got sli to



Very awesome! Is that a Diamond Monster?


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 5, 2012)

Wow, just about forgot this crazy 5 1/2" Quantum BigFoot 1.2gb hard drive! LOL. God these things were crazy drives in their day! Heavy as hell.


----------



## Morgoth (Jan 11, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Very awesome! Is that a Diamond Monster?



im not sure what it is exactly


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 12, 2012)

Morgoth said:


> im not sure what it is exactly



Hmm, it sure looks like it.


----------



## n0tiert (Jan 12, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, just about forgot this crazy 5 1/2" Quantum BigFoot 1.2gb hard drive! LOL. God these things were crazy drives in their day! Heavy as hell.
> 
> http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/stinger608/DSC04695.jpg



i had this one long time ago .......


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## stinger608 (Jan 21, 2012)

n0tiert said:


> i had this one long time ago .......



 talk about sloooooooooow! They were pretty much bullet proof, but slow as hell even for the time period. LOL I am not even sure why I still have one of those, other than the nostalgic value LOL.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 22, 2012)

I have one of those hd's hold the monitor stand up on my test bench. lol. I'll take some pics of my old hardware within the next few days.


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## stinger608 (Jan 23, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I have one of those hd's hold the monitor stand up on my test bench. lol. I'll take some pics of my old hardware within the next few days.



For sure get some pictures and post them up!


----------



## brandonwh64 (Jan 23, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, just about forgot this crazy 5 1/2" Quantum BigFoot 1.2gb hard drive! LOL. God these things were crazy drives in their day! Heavy as hell.
> 
> http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/stinger608/DSC04695.jpg



I have one of these but its a fireball and I think its 10GB


----------



## GC_PaNzerFIN (Jan 24, 2012)

When graphics cards where named like their user experience... Do note the solid caps, the card still works! 






ASUS X800XT PE. Best graphics card I have ever owned. Shame it didn't have SM3.0 support which eventually forced to replace it... Also unable to do 120Hz.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 24, 2012)

GC_PaNzerFIN said:


> When graphics cards where named like their user experience... Do note the solid caps, the card still works!
> 
> http://i.imgur.com/jtRqy.jpg?2459
> 
> ...




Awesome cards GC! Added you to the original post man.


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## [XC] Oj101 (Jan 24, 2012)

Can I also play? I'm not saying what these are


----------



## GC_PaNzerFIN (Jan 24, 2012)

That looks a lot like my Voodoo 2 SLi


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## Norton (Jan 25, 2012)

It's amazing what you find in the parts closet

This setup will play Doom at 30 fps 

486 DX 83mhz w/ATI Mach Ultra 16bit ISA

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=45425&stc=1&d=1327451807


http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=45424&stc=1&d=1327451205


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 25, 2012)

[XC] Oj101 said:


> Can I also play? I'm not saying what these are
> 
> http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r35/Oj10101/07122010-2.jpg





GC_PaNzerFIN said:


> That looks a lot like my Voodoo 2 SLi



Pretty much dead on the money GC! They are Skywell Magic 3D II cards, which in reality are Voodoo 2's. 



Norton said:


> It's amazing what you find in the parts closet
> 
> This setup will play Doom at 30 fps
> 
> ...



Awesome old setup Norton!!!! Hell yea, running Doom with Windows 3.11 using "out and back" to run from windows to Dos and then back...........Damn man that brings back some very frigging awesome memories. 

Adding OJ and Norton to the OP!


----------



## Norton (Jan 25, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Pretty much dead on the money GC! They are Skywell Magic 3D II cards, which in reality are Voodoo 2's.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks!

I have one of those Quantum Bigfoots somewhere too... weren't those drives half height?

Would really freak out those who haven't seen one of these before


----------



## [XC] Oj101 (Jan 25, 2012)

I'm not sure of the bottom card but the top one is made by Creative Labs


----------



## Norton (Jan 25, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, just about forgot this crazy 5 1/2" Quantum BigFoot 1.2gb hard drive! LOL. God these things were crazy drives in their day! Heavy as hell.
> 
> http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/stinger608/DSC04695.jpg



I see your Bigfoot and raise you a WD Caviar (425 MB):


http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=45428&stc=1&d=1327457907


I'm saving a rarely seen portable for later


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 28, 2012)

Norton said:


> I'm saving a rarely seen portable for later



Can't wait to see that


----------



## Norton (Jan 28, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Can't wait to see that



Here it is....

Syquest EZ Flyer 230 with 135MB disk

Parallel port drive with HDD platters in cartridge form 






Sorry they're a little blurry- need a good camera day for me today


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 29, 2012)

Very cool Norton! That is an awesome piece of nostalgic history man.


----------



## _JP_ (Jan 29, 2012)

Subscribing.
I have some old stuff laying around. Time to take some pics. 
I could find more, people here dump old stuff all the time. Hard part is finding old stuff that still works. 
BTW, this thread should merge other threads that have old pics and include links to old-school projects, like TRWOV's.


----------



## Norton (Jan 29, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Subscribing.
> I have some old stuff laying around. Time to take some pics.
> I could find more, people here dump old stuff all the time. Hard part is finding old stuff that still works.
> BTW, this thread should merge other threads that have old pics and include links to old-school projects, like TRWOV's.



The threads aren't merged but the users are. A lot of us have been following TRWOV and Mad Shots projects.

Actually thinking about a socket 939 project of my own


----------



## _JP_ (Jan 29, 2012)

I just need RAM and a proper chassis to put my sktA build online again.

Meanwhile, I leave you guys pics of my TNT2 M64.
View attachment 41720
View attachment 41721


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 30, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> I just need RAM and a proper chassis to put my sktA build online again.
> 
> Meanwhile, I leave you guys pics of my TNT2 M64.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41720&d=1303122942
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41721&d=1303123017



Awesome ole TNT!!!

Added ya JP


----------



## ViperXTR (Jan 30, 2012)

ViperXTR said:


> (TNT2 M64 PCI, Radeon 9200 AGP, and an AGP Matrox card i forgot the exact model if its G200/G300)


quotin mahself from the other thread


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 30, 2012)

ViperXTR said:


> quotin mahself from the other thread



Sweet!!! Added you to the list man


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Jan 30, 2012)

I have a few  


Some of my older GPUs  If you can name em you get a cookie!






This NF7-S is going out to ThE_MaD_ShOt soon 






My sister's old laptop













And the only MSI board I've ever owned


----------



## brandonwh64 (Jan 30, 2012)

Kevinheraiz said:


> I have a few
> 
> 
> Some of my older GPUs  If you can name em you get a cookie!
> ...



What is that last board? what socket?


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Jan 30, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> What is that last board? what socket?



It's a MSI MS-6300 and socket PGA 370


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 30, 2012)

Kevinheraiz said:


> I have a few
> 
> 
> Some of my older GPUs  If you can name em you get a cookie!
> http://i.imgur.com/zjwmnh.jpg



I'd say the middle one is an ATi XpertWork


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Jan 30, 2012)

TRWOV said:


> I'd say the middle one is an ATi XpertWork



Close  It is an ATI card


----------



## _JP_ (Jan 30, 2012)

Kevinheraiz said:


> I have a few
> 
> 
> Some of my older GPUs  If you can name em you get a cookie!


GeForce FX...something; ATi 3D RAGE Pro Turbo AGP; TNT2 Ultra.


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Jan 30, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> GeForce FX...something; ATi 3D RAGE Pro Turbo AGP; TNT2 Ultra.



The first is a geforce MX440 second is indeed a 3d RAGE pro turbo, and the last is a geforce, that's all I'm giving you.


----------



## Norton (Jan 30, 2012)

Kevinheraiz said:


> The first is a geforce MX440 second is indeed a 3d RAGE pro turbo, and the last is a geforce, that's all I'm giving you.



Ti4200.... wild guess


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Jan 30, 2012)

Norton said:


> Ti4200.... wild guess



Nope!  You guys are never gunna get it


----------



## brandonwh64 (Jan 30, 2012)

5200 ultra?


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Jan 30, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> 5200 ultra?



Geforce 4mx


----------



## _JP_ (Jan 30, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome ole TNT!!!


And it was awesome, for about three years. Played everything.
Then Colin McRae Rally 2.0 came along and this card wouldn't cut it.
So I got this one. For 72€. Yeah, I still remember. 












I thought this was the bee's knees. Of course, at that time I knew as much about hardware as a 12 year old knows about sex.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 31, 2012)

Kevinheraiz said:


> I have a few
> 
> 
> Some of my older GPUs  If you can name em you get a cookie!
> ...




Awesome old hardware Kevin!!!!!! Added you to the original post man.


----------



## [XC] Oj101 (Feb 1, 2012)

Kevinheraiz said:


> I have a few
> 
> 
> Some of my older GPUs  If you can name em you get a cookie!
> http://i.imgur.com/zjwmnh.jpg



I'm 99% sure the last card is a GeForce 3 Ti 500.

EDIT: Nvm.


----------



## The Von Matrices (Feb 1, 2012)

This thread reminds me - I still have this 256MB Quantum SCSI 3.5" drive in my closet.  I need to transfer my old files from it.  I hope I can find drivers for the PCI card.

EDIT:  Drive capacity is 127MB, not 256MB.


----------



## Norton (Feb 1, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> This thread reminds me - I still have this 256MB Quantum SCSI 3.5" drive in my closet.  I need to transfer my old files from it.  I hope I can find drivers for the PCI card.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120201/P1060286897.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120201/P1060288.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120201/P1060290.jpg



I had a PCI card like that...  needed it for a build I gave to a good friend. The board only had one IDE port and I had to hookup 3 IDE devices (HDD & 2 DVD R/W's)

** Edit- mine was IDE not SCSI **

**** NEW CONTEST ***
SMALLEST VINTAGE HARD DRIVE*
Stinger and I are out (1.2GB and 425MB) so you are the new leader at 256MB


----------



## The Von Matrices (Feb 2, 2012)

I just found out I was off by a factor of 2 - it's actually a whopping 127MB.


----------



## Norton (Feb 2, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> I just found out I was off by a factor of 2 - it's actually a whopping 127MB.



Even better... you get a  for now 

  I may have to tear through the basement for my old 286 and take pic of its mega super huge *20MB* HDD


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 2, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> This thread reminds me - I still have this 256MB Quantum SCSI 3.5" drive in my closet.  I need to transfer my old files from it.  I hope I can find drivers for the PCI card.
> 
> EDIT:  Drive capacity is 127MB, not 256MB.
> 
> ...



Very cool!!!!!! 

Added you to the original post Matrices


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 2, 2012)

Norton said:


> *** NEW CONTEST ***
> SMALLEST VINTAGE HARD DRIVE
> Stinger and I are out (1.2GB and 425MB) so you are the new leader at 256MB


I think I saw a 5.25'' 64MB HDD the other day at an auction. What's the prize for the winner?


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 2, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> I think I saw a 5.25'' 64MB HDD the other day at an auction. What's the prize for the winner?



A cookie


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 2, 2012)

*56K warning!*

Alright, more old hardware.

Assorted SDRAM DIMMs




From left to right: 3x 256MB 133MHz SS and 2x 128MB 133MHz DS.





Matsonic MS7117C (A.K.A. ECS P6BAP-A+)





Coppermine 800EB





And I'll let you guess this last one. I'll post a pic with the cooler after it's recognition.


----------



## phill (Feb 2, 2012)

Some awesome hardware turning up in this thread!!  I need to log on more!!


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 2, 2012)

9800xt?


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 2, 2012)

The PCB does look simmilar, but no, that isn't a 9800XT. That one is a little younger. 
This is a PCB of a 9800XT, btw:


----------



## The Von Matrices (Feb 2, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Alright, more old hardware.
> 
> Assorted SDRAM DIMMs
> http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6277/sany0204f.jpg
> ...



Is it an X700?

It looks like it has a PCIe to AGP bridge chip on it due to the AGP traces going to vias (presumably to the bridge on the other side of the board) instead of the GPU.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 2, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> The PCB does look simmilar, but no, that isn't a 9800XT. That one is a little younger.
> This is a PCB of a 9800XT, btw:
> http://www.ixbt.com/video2/images/r9800xt/r9800xt-scan-front.jpg



The cooler outline led me to think it was a 9800xt.


----------



## The Von Matrices (Feb 2, 2012)

It appears my suspicion about the PCIe to AGP bridge chip was right, but the card was not.  It's definitely an X1650 Pro AGP 512MB by looking at the board, presumably manufactured by PowerColor.


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 2, 2012)

It is. 
Damn, you are good!  
Here's the photo with the cooler, as promised. (Not the original cooler, obviously)






Spoiler: And here is the card's back. The RiAlto bridge in all it's glory.


----------



## The Von Matrices (Feb 2, 2012)

I used to have a X800 GTO with the bridge chip, but I could never figure out what was the pad covering it for?

Note the cardboard and electrical tape extension I made for the heat sink shroud.  The HS was made for a PCIe card, and the bridge chip made the AGP version longer so that the HS didn't exhaust out of the case.


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 3, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> but I could never figure out what was the pad covering it for?


Cooling. It is supposed to keep it form overheating. Although, if you ask me, there should be a heatsink, instead of a pad. Mandatory on top models and the more recent ones (3850, 4670). It already gets hot to the touch on my x1650PRO (I'm guessing some 50ºC), I can imagine how hot it gets on a 3850 where the data output is way higher.
But I also have an idea as to why the cards don't have a heatsink there. You can't fix it anywhere and there's not enough surface area on the chip to glue it on.


----------



## The Von Matrices (Feb 3, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Cooling. It is supposed to keep it form overheating. Although, if you ask me, there should be a heatsink, instead of a pad. Mandatory on top models and the more recent ones (3850, 4670). It already gets hot to the touch on my x1650PRO (I'm guessing some 50ºC), I can imagine how hot it gets on a 3850 where the data output is way higher.
> But I also have an idea as to why the cards don't have a heatsink there. You can't fix it anywhere and there's not enough surface area on the chip to glue it on.



But the pad didn't actually cover the die, so how could it help with cooling?


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 3, 2012)

I have no idea. I've read (and been told) that it's there to cool the chip. Now, how does it manage to do that, your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, you guys know my TNT2:


Spoiler






_JP_ said:


> I just need RAM and a proper chassis to put my sktA build online again.
> 
> Meanwhile, I leave you guys pics of my TNT2 M64.
> View attachment 41720
> View attachment 41721





Here's the manual that came with it:








Huge, ain't it?
Had too dig hard to find this. Didn't recall where it was.  It's also something not usually found in old hardware threads.


----------



## Norton (Feb 3, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> I have no idea. I've read (and been told) that it's there to cool the chip. Now, how does it manage to do that, your guess is as good as mine.
> 
> Anyway, you guys know my TNT2:
> Here's the manual that came with it:
> ...



I have the manuals for most of the old stuff I had. My wife hates the fact that I have old parts boxes everywhere 

I even a box for a CompUSA branded HDD in the closet... 8.4 GB I think


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 4, 2012)

Man we are getting some awesome ole nostalgic hardware showing up!!!!! Very cool!!!

Now here is a couple of items that I found yesterday that I just had to share LOLOL






And some DOS goodness: 






Updated the original post with these as well.

The DOS disks are brand new. I shouldn't have even opened the package, but just couldn't help myself.


----------



## phill (Feb 5, 2012)

I thought since I was clearing out a few things these past few days, I might post up something that I hope might be included in this thread 







Now I needed to add something so I could put some shelves up..  So I did this....











A computer and a few retro consoles installed!!






I seem to have found a few more....






And some more!!??!!  






A few more pictures to come soon I hope


----------



## Luciel (Feb 5, 2012)

Right, finally got round to unboxing those 486 dx33 parts (a full pc but no case), going to have to modify a case to be able to mount it in though, should try first if it works :S

Also... and this is the trully special one...

a MINT condition 486 laptop with, get this, a working battery, and it all works perfectly, dos and win 3.1 loaded on it, doom and wolf 3d installed on it with PS2 connections, vga out and even a modem, this thing must´ve costed a fortune in it´s day. Will post pickies of it soon


----------



## Norton (Feb 6, 2012)

IBM 6x86L and a 72 pin SIMM

Check out that core voltage


----------



## The Von Matrices (Feb 6, 2012)

Norton said:


> IBM 6x86L and a 72 pin SIMM
> 
> Check out that core voltage
> 
> View attachment 45623



What process was that built on?


----------



## Norton (Feb 6, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> What process was that built on?



0.35 Micron CMOS 

Max core volts= 3.3v

http://www.realworldtech.com/altcpu/subpages/cpumainboard/ibm6x86l.htm


----------



## MilkyWay (Feb 6, 2012)

@phill - lol at the 32x, im also rocking an Amiga A1200 good systems fast for its day but the 4000 is the master.


----------



## phill (Feb 6, 2012)

I've been trying to get hold of a Amiga 4000 for years, but they are still fetching some really good money..  My Amiga 1200 has an 1230 with 8Mb of ram and a hard drive..  It works really well    I think I have a CD Rom drive for it somewhere!! Still a damn sight faster than any PC I have had!! :lol:  Gotta love that Amiga OS...

I can't believe how many 32X's I have!!  I have one with a Mega CD as well downstairs 

I used to have a Amiga 1200 with a PPC 603+ and a BVision..  That was a monstor of a system, I don't think I have any pictures of that..  I'll see if I can find some   That sadly stopped working due to a bit of a dodgy setup, it knocked out the electric to the house and sadly the system was lost


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 12, 2012)

Okay here is some of my stuffs. First pic

Some Sb 16 compatible card
Some Isa sb 16 compatible card
Aureal Vortex 2 Sq 2500 v1
Aureal Vortex 2 Sq 2500 v2
Creative Sb 16
Creative Sb Live Gamer 5.1
Creative Sb Live Mp3 5.1
Visiontek Hd3650
Visiontek Hd 2400 pro
Asus Radeon 9550 Pro
Gainward Gefore Fx 5700
Visiontek X1550 256
Ati Radeon 9000 pro
Geforce 2 mx400
And Unknown Creative pci something or other.









Last pic 


Soyo Kt600 Dragon Plus V2.0
Abit Kt7a V1.3
Abit Nf7-s V2.0
Asus A7n8x Deluxe
Abit Be6 slot 1
Luckystar 6va693a Slot 1
Epox 8KRAI pro Kt880
Misc Socket A Coolers and a Slot A Golden Orb
 Procs
Pent 3 600 133
Pent 3 450 100
Athlon xp 2500+ Barton
Athlon xp 2100+ Pally x 2
Athlon 1.2 
Athlon 900
Duron 600
Duron 700
Duron 750 
Duron 950


Enjoy!


----------



## Norton (Feb 12, 2012)

Isn't that Creative PCI something or other the DXR2 decoder board?


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 12, 2012)

I have no idears. I got it from you I think. Not sure how it works though. It does have a vga port.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 12, 2012)

oh my...  take me with you 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I have that same 2400PRO vacuum


----------



## Norton (Feb 12, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I have no idears. I got it from you I think. Not sure how it works though. It does have a vga port.



It was part of the Creative PC-DVD Encore package with the Creative DVD-Rom and I think it's a DXR3 decoder

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DXR3

It put DVD decoding into hardware when software only solutions slowed down your PC (like what WinModems used to do)- it always worked great on my older rigs..... I bought new and was working when I pulled it.

The cable is a loopback VGA card to Decoder-> Decoder direct to monitor- I'll see if I can find a driver disk here for it


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 12, 2012)

Norton said:


> It was part of the Creative PC-DVD Encore package with the Creative DVD-Rom and I think it's a DXR3 decoder
> 
> http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DXR3
> 
> ...


Oh that will be so cool. It will be a new toy to go in the win 98 build.


----------



## Norton (Feb 12, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Oh that will be so cool. It will be a new toy to go in the win 98 build.



Somehow I knew you would say that


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 12, 2012)

Heh you know it.


----------



## Maban (Feb 13, 2012)

Does an old General Electric Wildcat count as nostalgic hardware?


----------



## Norton (Feb 13, 2012)

Maban said:


> Does an old General Electric Wildcat count as nostalgic hardware?
> 
> http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9320/1002157p.jpg



Where did you get that big yellow CD


----------



## Maban (Feb 13, 2012)

An omelet gone horribly wrong. If anyone's wondering it's Steve Martin's The Crow.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2012)

Maban said:


> Does an old General Electric Wildcat count as nostalgic hardware?
> 
> http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9320/1002157p.jpg



Oh hell yea!!!!!! Awesome old vinyl player Maban!!!!!!


----------



## Maban (Feb 15, 2012)

I've got a big phonograph/8-track/radio cabinet in the garage that needs fixing up. I can't find anything on it that says what company or model or anything. Perhaps I could get some TPU help on identifying it? I figure it's from the 70's judging from the fabric pattern.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/7959/1001405x.jpg
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/741/1001404x.jpg
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/3406/1001406h.jpg


----------



## phill (Feb 15, 2012)

Some awesome nostalgic hardware here   I'm loving it


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 16, 2012)

Maban said:


> I've got a big phonograph/8-track/radio cabinet in the garage that needs fixing up. I can't find anything on it that says what company or model or anything. Perhaps I could get some TPU help on identifying it? I figure it's from the 70's judging from the fabric pattern.
> 
> http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/7959/1001405x.jpg
> http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/741/1001404x.jpg
> http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/3406/1001406h.jpg



Yep I am sure it is from the 70's. If there is no tag on the back board behind the unit, you can probably pull that back board and there should be one on the inside of it or possibly on one of the sides of the main cabinet. If I had to guess, due to no name on the tuner itself, I would guess it to be a Coranado brand. They were sold a lot during the early 70's. A lot of little stores carried them. One of the main distributors for Coranado was a store chain called Gambles. Gambles and another chain called Coast to Coast was a couple of the larger distributors for the Coranado brand name.


----------



## Maban (Feb 16, 2012)

Thanks. I'll see if I can get the back panel off in the spring. It's currently buried under various things that have no business being in a garage.


----------



## camoxiong (Feb 16, 2012)

Wow, I remember when my parents first bought our first computer (I'm a Senior in High School), we sort of got ripped off from an old Store in here, Fresno, CA. It was called A+ Computers.


----------



## Norton (Feb 18, 2012)

Gigabyte 7300 GT (silent pipe)


----------



## specks (Feb 22, 2012)

*The following pictures are of crap quality. *






*GeForce2 MX 400*





*couple of PC133 128Mb SDRam modules*





*AMD Duron 800Mhz*











*Biostar 7300GT*


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 23, 2012)

Awesome ole system Specks!!!!!

Added ya to the club.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 23, 2012)

My now once again up and running server. The Mighty Kt7a-raid w/  a 80 gig os drive running win xp pro sp3, 5, 120 gig data drives, Geforce fx 5700, Sb Live! 1.5 gig of pc133, and an unsupported 2400+ FTW.


----------



## specks (Feb 24, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome ole system Specks!!!!!
> 
> Added ya to the club.



Thanks stinger!


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 24, 2012)

And thanks to our own member ThE_MaD_ShOt I now have an awesome Abit NF7 with a mobile XP2400+ to add to the images!!!! Thanks a ton bro!!!


----------



## specks (Feb 24, 2012)

Nice piece there!


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 25, 2012)

I have that same CPU in my emachines M5310  Still using it today


----------



## phill (Feb 25, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> And thanks to our own member ThE_MaD_ShOt I now have an awesome Abit NF7 with a mobile XP2400+ to add to the images!!!! Thanks a ton bro!!!
> 
> http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp236/stingar2203/nostalgic hardware/DSC00654.jpg



Is that the rev 2 model????


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 25, 2012)

phill said:


> Is that the rev 2 model????



Yes I believe it is Phill! Very sweet ole board.


----------



## phill (Feb 25, 2012)

Awesome   They do overclock very well   I think I did manage to hit 250 FSB with one chip!!


----------



## INSTG8R (Feb 25, 2012)

We have come a long way baby!

 I had to do a little digging to find this fella. Figured using a Quarter would give a good idea of scale.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 25, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> We have come a long way baby!
> 
> I had to do a little digging to find this fella. Figured using a Quarter would give a good idea of scale.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120225/IMG_0505.jpg



 Cool, a Pentium 166 with MMX

Added you to the original post.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 27, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> And thanks to our own member ThE_MaD_ShOt I now have an awesome Abit NF7 with a mobile XP2400+ to add to the images!!!! Thanks a ton bro!!!
> 
> http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp236/stingar2203/nostalgic hardware/DSC00654.jpg


You are certainly welcome and have fun with that low mileage bad boy.  I also may have a few other hidden away gems you maybe interested in. 1 has a A in it and another is just the baddest of it series. And there's more. I will gets some pics soon as 1 is still in use and works very well. 


Damn that board has only run a couple hours in it whole life. It's still a baby. 

And here's it older sibling in action. Now for sale. In my fs thread.


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 28, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> And thanks to our own member ThE_MaD_ShOt I now have an awesome Abit NF7 with a mobile XP2400+ to add to the images!!!! Thanks a ton bro!!!
> 
> http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp236/stingar2203/nostalgic hardware/DSC00654.jpg


Oh hey! I also have one just like that! 


Spoiler: Crummy setup, I know...



It's just for testing/backup use, atm...


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 3, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Oh hey! I also have one just like that!
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Crummy setup, I know...
> ...



Sweet JP!!!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 3, 2012)

I'm thinking now I just may keep my Nf7-s setup as it has been good to me and all. May set it up for the kiddos to play on.


----------



## Norton (Mar 3, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I'm thinking now I just may keep my Nf7-s setup as it has been good to me and all. May set it up for the kiddos to play on.



There ya go! 

I'm keeping my K8N-Neo2-F socket 939 system for a little bit of personal history as well


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 4, 2012)

Norton said:


> There ya go!
> 
> I'm keeping my K8N-Neo2-F socket 939 system for a little bit of personal history as well




I feel the same way about my Kt7a board. I won't sell that thing for nothing. I've had that board up and running for over 10 yrs. It's like the Energizer Bunny, keeps going and going.


----------



## MilkyWay (Mar 4, 2012)

Got this for £80, including 234 games on tape. Recently bought a 1541 disk drive that was refurbed and reconditioned, its being sent on Monday.


2x Breadbins
1x C64G in C64C style
1x Australian aftermarket C64, apparently is just C64 (breadbin) in aftermarket case
1x Quickshot, Zipstick, Atari joystick, Competition Pro, NEOS Mouse
Cheese wedge psu, later brick psu (missing plug on end)
3x different tape decks
234 games on tape


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 5, 2012)

Very awesome Kieran!!!!!!!! 

Added you to the original post man.


----------



## specks (Mar 10, 2012)

1282.5Mb 

Sorry for the dark images


----------



## coolleo (Mar 10, 2012)

I am so signing up to this forum just to post these things 
so welcome to my first post 

For starter, here's my GeForce FX5200 





Matrox MGA Millenium





Aureal Vortex 3D (well 3D sound actually)





Tekram SCSI Controller





Overall of the expansion cards above





Not so old, but here's My Ghetto X1550 VGA 





Next, SDRam PC133 along with EDO Ram 





Then, A few of my aftermarket HSF, along with original P3 HSF





AMD Athlon T-Bird 1.4GHz





Zip disk and some Floppy disks (that 3.5" Floppy still brand new, unopened )





Lastly, If you're wondering about that huge box, here it is:


Spoiler: 8 Inch Floppy Disk



 I bet most of you are younger than this thing here 





Actually along with this 8" Floppy, I should have 5.25 HDD
But I can't find it  still trying to remember where did i put it 
I dont remember its capacity though, but I'm sure its not more than 10MB


----------



## Norton (Mar 10, 2012)

Some real classics 

Welcome to TPU


----------



## jlewis02 (Mar 10, 2012)

My old parts for a test system.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 10, 2012)

coolleo said:


> I am so signing up to this forum just to post these things
> so welcome to my first post
> 
> For starter, here's my GeForce FX5200
> ...





 Very awesome Coolleo!!!!! 

Huge welcome to the forums as well man. Glad you joined due to this thread!!!

Um, no, I am definitely not younger than the 8" floppy disks.  Hell, I can even remember them to be honest. Pretty much a rarity these days though. 

Adding you to the original post bro!


----------



## Bambooz (Mar 11, 2012)

I've got waaaaay too much stuff that's much older than most of the items already posted here (and probably older than a lot of members), but it's 4:15 AM here right now so I don't really feel like digging everything out atm 

You'll have to make due with few HDDs for now..

Seagate ST351A/X (40MB singleplatter. one of the last stepper drives)
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46140&stc=1&d=1331434794
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46141&stc=1&d=1331434813

Seagate Marathon 260SL (2.5" 10mm, 262MB, 4000rpm, 120KB Cache, from 1994)
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46142&stc=1&d=1331434829

Toshiba MK2124FC (2.5" full height (20mm), 130MB, 2 platters, 3200rpm, 32KB Cache, from 1991)
pretty bad pic but anyways
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46143&stc=1&d=1331434838


I also have one Quantum Bigfoot of each series (CY, TX, TS), a Seagate Barracuda 4GB 3.5" full height SCSI drive from ~1996 (?) and a HP SureStore Disk 2000LP 2GB SCSI HDD from January 1996 somewhere.
And a 40MB NEC MFM HDD and a WD/Tandon 20MB MFM HDD plus the accompanying Amstrad PC1640 (8086 8MHz, 640KB RAM) they came out of / are in atm.

Oh and yeah.. all of this is still fully functional 

edit: edited the IMG tags to URL cause the forum doesn't seem to auto-resize them (probably because the pics are in portrait, not landscape)


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Mar 11, 2012)

Hehehe I have something that you guys would love! Give me a little


----------



## Norton (Mar 11, 2012)

Kevinheraiz said:


> Hehehe I have something that you guys would love! Give me a little



Bring it on


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Mar 11, 2012)

Norton said:


> Bring it on



I was gunna post some old ram, or my NF7-S but you guys have seen it all, but have you seen this beast at a whopping 133mhz, and with an enormous 2mbs of ram?! This thing hasn't seen the light of day in a very very long time.








Sorry for the bad pics, I swear I took a lot more! They just disappeared on me :c

I had a PII server pc, but I can't find it anymore. I may have trashed it a while ago...


----------



## The Von Matrices (Mar 11, 2012)

Bambooz said:


> I've got waaaaay too much stuff that's much older than most of the items already posted here (and probably older than a lot of members), but it's 4:15 AM here right now so I don't really feel like digging everything out atm
> 
> You'll have to make due with few HDDs for now..
> 
> ...



One of the drives has a sticker that says "Do not low-level format."  Why would that be?


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 11, 2012)

Bambooz said:


> I've got waaaaay too much stuff that's much older than most of the items already posted here (and probably older than a lot of members), but it's 4:15 AM here right now so I don't really feel like digging everything out atm
> 
> You'll have to make due with few HDDs for now..
> 
> ...




 awesome old hard drives!!! 

Adding you to the original post.


----------



## coolleo (Mar 12, 2012)

@Norton
 welcome 

@stinger608
 thanks for the add bro 
now i feel belong in here knowing that at least you too are also older than that floppy


----------



## Bambooz (Mar 12, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> One of the drives has a sticker that says "Do not low-level format."  Why would that be?


Uneducated guess: A real low-level format wouldn't only get rid of the data, but also the tracking information, basically bricking the drive cause the heads don't know where they're at / where they're supposed to go (?)

Those old stepper HDDs worked more like an oversized floppy drive than a HDD of today. Sort of a hybrid between the two, with more "floppy-tech".
It even mattered how you mounted them. A stepper HDD formatted horizontally wouldn't work properly if you mounted it vertically, cause gravity would pull the (compared to todays drives very simple) mechanics slightly out of alignment.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 16, 2012)

jlewis02 said:


> My old parts for a test system.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46128&stc=1&d=1331402957
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46129&d=1331402930
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46130&d=1331402936
> ...


Nice stuff you got there.


----------



## Norton (Mar 16, 2012)

coolleo said:


> @norton
> welcome
> 
> @stinger608
> ...



@coolleo- this was my 1st post in this thread:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2526553&postcount=138

Part of my 3rd pc, I think, and probably still works 

My 1st computer experience was with Fortran on a mainframe for an engineering class in college.... late 80's


----------



## The Von Matrices (Mar 16, 2012)

coolleo said:


> Zip disk and some Floppy disks (that 3.5" Floppy still brand new, unopened )
> http://iof3.imgkeep.com/i/00102/v3zurqqcwlsk.jpg



I like the packaging on the 3.5" floppy.  Because when you think of floppy disks, you think of peas, right?


----------



## Norton (Mar 16, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> I like the packaging on the 3.5" floppy.  Because when you think of floppy disks, you think of peas, right?



and a marketing department had to look at all of the available presentations and pick THAT one as the best for their product


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 17, 2012)

Norton said:


> and a marketing department had to look at all of the available presentations and pick THAT one as the best for their product



 Yea no shit man!!!!!! Funny shit bro!


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 18, 2012)

Well with this recent awesome purchase I just figured I would have to share a couple of photos with everyone.

Okay not really what one would really consider "nostalgic" but more like "epic"  So I figured I would include it for your enjoyment. 



Spoiler: 4870x2














Spoiler: 4870x2 back


----------



## Norton (Mar 18, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Well with this recent awesome purchase I just figured I would have to share a couple of photos with everyone.
> 
> Okay not really what one would really consider "nostalgic" but more like "epic"  So I figured I would include it for your enjoyment.
> 
> ...



Something tells me I have the mobo that your new card was running in


----------



## phill (Mar 18, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Well with this recent awesome purchase I just figured I would have to share a couple of photos with everyone.
> 
> Okay not really what one would really consider "nostalgic" but more like "epic"  So I figured I would include it for your enjoyment.
> 
> ...



I remember those cards!!   Fricking quick!!  Best price/performance card out there 

Also I have a few pics for you too 







Got a few more coming, just needs a little cleaning


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 18, 2012)

phill said:


> I remember those cards!!   Fricking quick!!  Best price/performance card out there
> 
> Also I have a few pics for you too
> 
> ...



 I see the center speaker for the Logitech 5500's  Have that set as well. Frigging awesome speaker set. 

Well, you could just send me the 580

At any rate, some awesome hardware again Phill.


----------



## phill (Mar 18, 2012)

I do have the Z5500 set   Its not bad   Bit bass heavy at times but meh, I can turn that down!!   But I have a problem in that I've no where to plug in my Asus D2X sound card as all three 580's are in at the moment and I need one space to plug in my Adaptec 5805 card since I have 8 SAS Seagate Cheetah's to plug in with the rig!!  The only other problem I have with that is that one of the cables aren't long enough for the drives, so I need to grab another one!!  Then another problem from there is that I don't think I'll have enough SATA connections for power for the drives or if the cables will fit!! :lol:  I' ain't having much luck with that one!! 

Well I might just do that one day mate   I'm thinking of buying three new cards for my 762 rig...  If you'd like one.....

I've got a little retro thing going this afternoon, I hope to have tested a few socket A rigs today..  My girl friends boys systems and a mates rig that he's asked me to put together using a Voodoo 3 card!!


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 29, 2012)

Okay due to this not really being what you would call "nostalgic" I am not going to put it in the original post...........However this is sooooooooooooo frigging epic I just had to post it. 

Wait for it.............................


Nvidia branded reference 3gb GTX590 dual GPU bad ass card!!!!!!


----------



## phill (Mar 29, 2012)

Mate thanks just fricking awesome!! 

I'll see if I can post up some pics of the builds I'm doing for my girlfriends boys and her brother, not sure its old enough but I think it'll Be good to show here! . 

Nice one stinger!!


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 1, 2012)

That is one hell of a beast! 
That could be considered a nostalgic contender, given that the 600s are just around the corner.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 2, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> That could be considered a nostalgic contender, given that the 600s are just around the corner.



 I suppose that is kind of correct. Not sure if it would be considered a "nostalgic" piece of hardware, but they are kind of hard to find.


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 2, 2012)

How about "Relic" then? It combines "nostalgic" and "rare". 

G80:




That lump of metal that came with it...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 8, 2012)

Here are some more treasures I found in the ol' computer closet.

Slot A 750mhz Athlon











Microsoft Force Feedback Wheel.







Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro







Ati Radeon 9800 Xt















Creative Sb Audigy 1 Platinum











Athlon Xp 3200+






Athlon Xp 2500+


----------



## Norton (Apr 8, 2012)

I really liked the Slot A setup I had. as far as I know it's still running out there somewhere 

How does a 9800XT compare to a Geforce 5500??


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 8, 2012)

Norton said:


> I really liked the Slot A setup I had. as far as I know it's still running out there somewhere
> 
> How does a 9800XT compare to a Geforce 5500??



Well I know it will kick the shit out of the fx 5700 I have.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 8, 2012)

Very awesome Mad Shot!!!!!!! 

I had an awesome Athlon 750 Slot A back in the day! Man it was a kick ass system!!! 

Them 9800XT's were an unbelievable card for it's day. 256mb of ram at that time was huge! Extremely expensive when they came out.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 8, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Very awesome Mad Shot!!!!!!!
> 
> I had an awesome Athlon 750 Slot A back in the day! Man it was a kick ass system!!!
> 
> Them 9800XT's were an unbelievable card for it's day. 256mb of ram at that time was huge! Extremely expensive when they came out.



Heavy card also. That heatsink has some thick copper in it.


----------



## de.das.dude (Apr 13, 2012)

i'll just leave this here...

apparently we have a shop here selling GeForce FX5500
http://www.flipkart.com/forsa-nvidi...8Q--&ref=742f8466-7c95-44d1-900e-851352888eb9


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 15, 2012)

Pics are old, but i still have this system and it still runs perfectly.
Here we have a 1982 IBM 5150 Personal Computer.
It has two 5.25 floppy drives(standard was one, the second was an option you paid extra for; I still have a few hundred programs and data diskettes), a monster 63.5W PSU, 256K of RAM(again, optional. standard was 64K. what's interesting is it's integrated onto the motherboard, not removable) and an Intel 8088 processor at a whopping 4.77 MHz. Notice the AMD chips in the last two pics!






































This has been RM with your 1982 flashback.


----------



## Frick (Apr 15, 2012)

Now that actually belongs here.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 15, 2012)

Frick said:


> Now that actually belongs here.



Hard to believe it's 30 years old, eh?
Nostalgia sucks


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 18, 2012)

Now that is frigging crazy awesome RM!!! Thanks a ton for sharing that man. Putting you in the original post.


----------



## The Von Matrices (Apr 18, 2012)

It just amazes me to think of the integration that has occurred in 30 years; a modern computer might have 1/100 that number of individual ICs on the motherboard and a smartphone 1/10000 that number.  Now all the functions they served are handled by the CPU.


----------



## de.das.dude (Apr 18, 2012)

good to see what the geeks did before i was born XD


----------



## Norton (Apr 18, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> It just amazes me to think of the integration that has occurred in 30 years; a modern computer might have 1/100 that number of individual ICs on the motherboard and a smartphone 1/10000 that number.  Now all the functions they served are handled by the CPU.



  It is amazing I agree but what sucks is we put a man on the moon with slide rules and using less processing power than a cheap smart phone.... imagine what more we could have done if that level of achievement followed Moore's law along with transistor counts and processing power....


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 18, 2012)

Norton said:


> It is amazing I agree but what sucks is we put a man on the moon with slide rules and using less processing power than a cheap smart phone.... imagine what more we could have done if that level of achievement followed Moore's law along with transistor counts and processing power....



the problem is not Moore's law, it has held up pretty well. the problem is we got away from slide rules and protractors and such and started depending on calculators and machines.
i'm sure you heard about the satellite about ten years ago that crashed into the moon... remember the reason? the flight computer was programmed to use metric and the engineers entered in standard/english flight parameters. had those engineers used a pen and paper for their calculations rather than calculators and computers, the problem would have been caught before the satellite was even launched.
though moore's law doesn't really apply to space travel(yet), as most countries with space programs are using technology from the 90's at the latest


----------



## Norton (Apr 18, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> the problem is not Moore's law, it has held up pretty well. the problem is we got away from slide rules and protractors and such and started depending on calculators and machines.
> i'm sure you heard about the satellite about ten years ago that crashed into the moon... remember the reason? the flight computer was programmed to use metric and the engineers entered in standard/english flight parameters. had those engineers used a pen and paper for their calculations rather than calculators and computers, the problem would have been caught before the satellite was even launched.
> though moore's law doesn't really apply to space travel(yet), as most countries with space programs are using technology from the 90's at the latest



and... when the subcontractor was building the new Mar's rover they used substandard material (a titanium alloy I think) for the frame.... probably because it added a little more profit :shadedshu. 

I give props to 3 main things coming from the US space program beyond Apollo:
- The shuttles (running the same airframe through many years of launches)
- The Hubble telescope (turned from failure to success)
- The rovers Spirit and Opportunity (the longest 90 day mission in history )


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 18, 2012)

Norton said:


> - The shuttles (running the same airframe through many years of launches)



Don't forget the Saturn V rocket, that's still in use to launch satellites, and it's almost a 50 year old design with electronics from the 70s and 80s...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 19, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> Pics are old, but i still have this system and it still runs perfectly.
> Here we have a 1982 IBM 5150 Personal Computer.
> It has two 5.25 floppy drives(standard was one, the second was an option you paid extra for; I still have a few hundred programs and data diskettes), a monster 63.5W PSU, 256K of RAM(again, optional. standard was 64K. what's interesting is it's integrated onto the motherboard, not removable) and an Intel 8088 processor at a whopping 4.77 MHz. Notice the AMD chips in the last two pics!
> 
> ...




Sweet nostalgia there.


----------



## TRWOV (Apr 19, 2012)

There's a Geforce 7950GT AGP coming this way


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 19, 2012)

Oh man, to think I almost bought one of those for my AXP, but held back, because it just looked like a cheap chinese knock-off. That cooler still looks weak to me. 
Promise you'll tell us how well it clocks. 
Btw, guys, what do you think would be a good price for a used (but like new, all accessories included) Sapphire HD2600x2 1GB?
I want it as a collectible (or to use as a DX9 retro-rig...if I manage to find a used P35 board at a good price).
Euros, dollars...doesn't matter, I'll convert it.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 19, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Oh man, to think I almost bought one of those for my AXP, but held back, because it just looked like a cheap chinese knock-off. That cooler still looks weak to me.
> Promise you'll tell us how well it clocks.
> Btw, guys, what do you think would be a good price for a used (but like new, all accessories included) Sapphire HD2600x2 1GB?
> I want it as a collectible (or to use as a DX9 retro-rig...if I manage to find a used P35 board at a good price).
> Euros, dollars...doesn't matter, I'll convert it.



considering how rare they are, i'd wager a guess that they're still about $200 USD.
in fact, the only 2600x2 i could find was a visiontek, and the seller wants $460 for it


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 19, 2012)

I know it's rare, but I can't find any info on it, or another card for sale...hence my question.
Well, the one I found has one of the heatsink screws with the head all messed up (and it's the only one I can see). The guy was sloppy enough to show that on a pic, so I'm going to clear that out, before I make a move.
It doesn't count as "original state" if the heatsinks were already removed once or twice. :\


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 20, 2012)

You can also use the fact that you can get alot better card for cheaper. Just don't mention you want it for a collection as he probably won't budge on the price. 


You can get a 4870 x2 off of fleabay for around $150.


----------



## Norton (Apr 20, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> You can also use the fact that you can get alot better card for cheaper. Just don't mention you want it for a collection as he probably won't budge on the price.
> 
> 
> You can get a 4870 x2 off of fleabay for around $150.



NewEgg has a 4870X2 for $159 (refurb with a 1 yr extended warranty)

@JP any pics of that card you're looking for? I did a search and couldn't find any


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 20, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> You can also use the fact that you can get alot better card for cheaper. Just don't mention you want it for a collection as he probably won't budge on the price.


Yeah, I'm going to go with "Well, it's an old card, and I only really wanted it so I could bring my old heap of junk into life. I'm going to crossfire it with my current 2600XT." 


Norton said:


> @JP any pics of that card you're looking for? I did a search and couldn't find any







bottom board


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 20, 2012)

Wow JP, I will keep my eye out if I ever run across one.


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 21, 2012)

heh
It's not a performer...wasn't meant to be when it was launched (sorta)...but it is as rare as a Bugatti Type 57.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 23, 2012)

Sweet if you can get ahold of it.


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 23, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Sweet if you can get ahold of it.


If I'm successful, it won't take long.  I've got it. 
Here's a PowerColor ATi Radeon 9600 PRO 128MB, in the meantime.


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 25, 2012)

Sorry for double posting, but this is a small update.
I already have the HD 2600 X2 (I edited the reply above), but have lacked the time to take pics. I'll take some once I can. (Freakin' thing is HUGE! ...for a dual 2600 anyway...)
Bad part is that I lack a board to test it. My 4CoreDual-SATA2 won't do the job, unfortunately.


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 25, 2012)

Your 4CoreDual-SATA2 has slots for AGP (x4 x8  1.5v) and PCIx (x4 only) it also has DDR1 mem or DDR2 mem slots   i know because i got one as well


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 25, 2012)

I am completely aware of that, but the PLX chip wasn't really made to run on a x4 slot.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 26, 2012)

Send it this way I can test it for you. LOL


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 26, 2012)

The shipping cost is the same as a used board with a proper PCI-e slot.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 27, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> I am completely aware of that, but the PLX chip wasn't really made to run on a x4 slot.





_JP_ said:


> The shipping cost is the same as a used board with a proper PCI-e slot.



have you even tried it in your board?
i doubt two 2600XT chips will even utilize all the bandwidth a x4 slot runs.


----------



## Maban (Apr 27, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> have you even tried it in your board?
> i doubt two 2600XT chips will even utilize all the bandwidth a x4 slot runs.



It's more likely that the card doesn't play well with the PT880 chipset. The 4CoreDual-xxxx boards were picky with what they worked with for PCI-E. I had to get a third-party BIOS for my 4CoreDual-VSTA for a 4850 to work on it.


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 27, 2012)

Maban said:


> It's more likely that the card doesn't play well with the PT880 chipset. The 4CoreDual-xxxx boards were picky with what they worked with for PCI-E. I had to get a third-party BIOS for my 4CoreDual-VSTA for a 4850 to work on it.


Yeah, that and the PLX chip used is a PEX 8548 which, in dual-graphics configuration, requires a x16 slot to operate properly. You can read about it here.


----------



## Maban (Apr 27, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Yeah, that and the PLX chip used is a PEX 8548 which, in dual-graphics configuration, requires a x16 slot to operate properly. You can read about it here.



That was a fun read. However there is nothing in that brief that says that it has to have a x16 link to the chipset. I think you are misunderstanding what it says.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 27, 2012)

Maban said:


> That was a fun read. However there is nothing in that brief that says that it has to have a x16 link to the chipset. I think you are misunderstanding what it says.



yea, it was my understanding that PLX bridges double the bandwidth of the lane it's connected to, not split it into two individual lanes. i could be completely wrong though, lol.
EDIT: for example, connecting a PLX bridge to a x8 lane would create two x8 lanes, not two x4 lanes. like i said though, i could be completely wrong.


----------



## Maban (Apr 27, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> yea, it was my understanding that PLX bridges double the bandwidth of the lane it's connected to, not split it into two individual lanes. i could be completely wrong though, lol.
> EDIT: for example, connecting a PLX bridge to a x8 lane would create two x8 lanes, not two x4 lanes. like i said though, i could be completely wrong.



With a switch you can have x8 coming in to the switch and branch out into two x8 links. But they will share the x8 connection to the chipset.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 27, 2012)

Maban said:


> With a switch you can have x8 coming in to the switch and branch out into two x8 links. But they will share the x8 connection to the chipset.



right, but what i was trying to say is it doesn't just halve the lane and give half to each device connected to it.

EDIT: JP, it would probably be easiest to just pop it in and see if it works rather than going through all of this. it may not get good performance, but then again 2600XTs were never really high-performance to begin with.


----------



## Maban (Apr 27, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> right, but what i was trying to say is it doesn't just halve the lane and give half to each device connected to it.



Right. With that 2600x2, each GPU would get x16 to the switch then share the x4 to the PT880 (if it worked).

A channel switch however does split links.


----------



## popswala (Apr 29, 2012)

I figured I'd ask in here since what I'm lookin for is kinda old.

Anyone have or know where I can find a pic(wallpaper 1920x1080) of nothing but cpu's? trying to find a pick containing a large collection of the history of cpu's. I think it'll be cool to have all over the screen. If you work in a pc shop and have access to all them could you take a good pic for me?

Thanks. I'm trying to look everywhere.

Collection wallpaper of other pc stuff would be great also. I'm adding it all to my win7 pc theme.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 30, 2012)

That is actually something to consider Pops! Hmm, thanks bro, now I am going to be looking all over hell for such a wallpaper!


----------



## TRWOV (Apr 30, 2012)

popswala said:


> I figured I'd ask in here since what I'm lookin for is kinda old.
> 
> Anyone have or know where I can find a pic(wallpaper 1920x1080) of nothing but cpu's? trying to find a pick containing a large collection of the history of cpu's. I think it'll be cool to have all over the screen. If you work in a pc shop and have access to all them could you take a good pic for me?
> 
> ...




I think that cpu-world has something... let me see if I can find it


----------



## popswala (Apr 30, 2012)

I've done soooo many different phrase searches, lots of web sites. But no luck. Anyone else got any ideas or luck? I thing it'll be neat to see just about all the different cpus going back to the biggies that look like oversize ram chips to what we have today all together in a collection. I wouldn't mind one of gpu's either or anything else that'll be interesting to have.


----------



## Norton (May 1, 2012)

popswala said:


> I've done soooo many different phrase searches, lots of web sites. But no luck. Anyone else got any ideas or luck? I thing it'll be neat to see just about all the different cpus going back to the biggies that look like oversize ram chips to what we have today all together in a collection. I wouldn't mind one of gpu's either or anything else that'll be interesting to have.



I have a CPU pic like that somewhere. I'm looking but can't find it


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## johnspack (May 2, 2012)

Don't know how to use a camera yet...  I have boxes of old stuff,  here's some:


----------



## johnspack (May 2, 2012)

Boxes....


----------



## stinger608 (May 2, 2012)

johnspack said:


> Don't know how to use a camera yet...  I have boxes of old stuff,  here's some:
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120502/CIMG0208 copy.jpg





johnspack said:


> Boxes....
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120502/CIMG0209-5.jpg



Very cool Johnspack!! Added you to the original post bro. Can't wait to see some of the goodies packed away in those boxes.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 2, 2012)

johnspack said:


> Don't know how to use a camera yet...  I have boxes of old stuff,  here's some:
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120502/CIMG0208 copy.jpg



i spy some EDO RAM, two slot 7 Athlons, and an Intel Pentium w/ MMX! also looks like there's a couple of first-gen Pentiums in an anti-static bag under the table.
ahh, the good old days. when 60%+ overclocks were common and only involved changing some jumpers and heat was minimal, even when overclocked...
good times!


----------



## Red_Machine (May 2, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> ahh, the good old days. when 60%+ overclocks were common and only involved changing some jumpers and heat was minimal, even when overclocked...
> good times!



I got a 90% overclock on my nVIDIA Vanta.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 2, 2012)

Red_Machine said:


> I got a 90% overclock on my nVIDIA Vanta.



this reminds me: i have a couple tubes of Intel 8080s, 8086s, and 8088s. will post them when i get a chance.
reminds me because i once fried an 8086 that was stock at 6MHz by overclocking it to 24MHz, it ran for a few minutes then went POP! 400% overclock


----------



## Red_Machine (May 2, 2012)

The Vanta didn't even have a heatsink on it, but it wasn't hot enough to burn me when I touched it.

I wonder what temps it got up to, it does't have any sensors so nothing would tell me.


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## _JP_ (May 2, 2012)

College work sucks. -_-
Sorry for the lack of updates on the 2600 guys. One more week and I'll have enough time for pics and tests, hopefully.


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## stinger608 (May 3, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> this reminds me: i have a couple tubes of Intel 8080s, 8086s, and 8088s. will post them when i get a chance.
> reminds me because i once fried an 8086 that was stock at 6MHz by overclocking it to 24MHz, it ran for a few minutes then went POP! 400% overclock



 Damn, 400% is frigging crazy awesome!!

 Yes!!!! Be sure to post some pics of them awesome chips man!!!!


----------



## johnspack (May 3, 2012)

Okay,  still haven't learned how to use my camera yet,  but here's cpus!!




The top row is AMD stuff,  the 2 that are hard to see are K6-2s 350 and 380Mhz.  There's some athlons and durons there too.  The pentiums start at 75Mhz and go to 133.  The mmx pentium,  I'm not sure what speed.  Also know squat about the pentium pro,  not even sure how I got that!


----------



## Peter1986C (May 3, 2012)

I had a 300MHz K60-2 in my pc during my secondary school years. Alreaduy then considered an oldtimer 
Nice collection.


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## dorsetknob (May 3, 2012)

*Dorsetknobs hardware collection*

Pictures of Packard bell sound 144 Amsp Card 


















Intel Slot 1 to Socket 370 flipchip adapter








Pictures of 3DFX Voodoo 3500TV Graphics Card









































More Hardware pictures of my collection of Hardware Later


----------



## stinger608 (May 4, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Pictures of Packard bell sound 144 Amsp Card
> 
> http://s19.postimage.org/5ybfaouer/Packard_bell_sound_144_Amsp_Front.jpg
> http://s19.postimage.org/tdtcg1e5v/Packard_bell_sound_144_Amsp_Rear.jpg
> ...



Very awesome collection of great nostalgic hardware Dorset!!! 

Added you to the first post in the member list!!!!


----------



## catnipkiller (May 4, 2012)

came in at work have no idea what it is.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 4, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Pictures of Packard bell sound 144 Amsp Card
> 
> http://s19.postimage.org/5ybfaouer/Packard_bell_sound_144_Amsp_Front.jpg
> http://s19.postimage.org/tdtcg1e5v/Packard_bell_sound_144_Amsp_Rear.jpg
> ...




Nice he has a slocket


----------



## johnspack (May 4, 2012)

Very old video cards:




Oops,  I mixed in an old sound card,  can you spot the boo boo?


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 4, 2012)

johnspack said:


> Very old video cards:
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120503/CIMG0219_1880x1410.jpg
> Oops,  I mixed in an old sound card,  can you spot the boo boo?



Second row, on the right, Diamond card.


Also nice Vesa local bus card on top row.


----------



## johnspack (May 4, 2012)

Like vesa cards do ya?  Here's some more,  and an isa card to boot....


----------



## mastrdrver (May 4, 2012)

catnipkiller said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/120503/IMG229.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120503/IMG230.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120503/IMG231.jpg
> came in at work have no idea what it is.



http://www.falconfly.de/identify-3dfx.htm


----------



## stinger608 (May 4, 2012)

mastrdrver said:


> http://www.falconfly.de/identify-3dfx.htm



Excellent link Mastrdrver!!!!!!!! I will post that puppy on the original post man. 
Thanks a ton for the link to 3DFX identifications

Also I was just about to say that the card was a 3DFX Voodoo 3 2000


----------



## dorsetknob (May 4, 2012)

Creative_Encore_DVD KIT



























Somewhere i got the little remote that came with this kit  (will add pic and pic of cables and packaging later)
Had The DVD rom Originality but it Borked itself so got junked 

"ThE_MaD_ShOt"

Did you get a copy of the driver/software installation disk
re http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2544694&postcount=194
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2544747&postcount=199
Edited to inc new pic of cables


----------



## Animalpak (May 4, 2012)

My old XFX GTX 7950 GT passive


----------



## stinger608 (May 5, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> My old XFX GTX 7950 GT passive
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120504/DSC00239.jpg



 Very cool AP!! That is an awesome looking video card bro.

Added ya to the original post man.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 5, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Creative_Encore_DVD KIT
> 
> http://s19.postimage.org/cwq3u8m43/Creative_Encore_DVD_card_Front.jpg
> http://s19.postimage.org/iq05usxrn/Creative_Encore_DVD_card_end_plate.jpg
> ...




I haven't even looked yet. But that is the same thing I have. Mine also has the Creative dvd drive with it.


----------



## popswala (May 5, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> My old XFX GTX 7950 GT passive
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120504/DSC00239.jpg



I have that same cpu cooler. Its awesome. green led a plus and its really quiet. Thats a sweet lookin gpu. I think I seen someone sellin one on here. Was tempted cause its silent. How is it?


----------



## Norton (May 5, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I haven't even looked yet. But that is the same thing I have. Mine also has the Creative dvd drive with it.



I found the disc- I can send it over to you when I _refind_ it 

I got PC parts all over the place... in middle of hardware swaps


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 5, 2012)

Norton said:


> I found the disc- I can send it over to you when I _refind_ it
> 
> I got PC parts all over the place... in middle of hardware swaps



Cool man.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2012)

Who Can Guess what This is





Clue ! you probably have not seen one on this site before


----------



## Frick (May 5, 2012)

It's one of them addon graphic cards? I have something similiar.


----------



## _JP_ (May 5, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Who Can Guess what This is
> http://s19.postimage.org/5r3eowjcj/Mystery_Card.jpg
> 
> Clue ! you probably have not seen one on this site before


Silicon Image DVI display card.


----------



## Animalpak (May 5, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Very cool AP!! That is an awesome looking video card bro.
> 
> Added ya to the original post man.




Thanks man !  Yes is one of my favorites.






popswala said:


> I have that same cpu cooler. Its awesome. green led a plus and its really quiet. Thats a sweet lookin gpu. I think I seen someone sellin one on here. Was tempted cause its silent. How is it?




Mine is getting old and make some nasty-strange noise. 

For today is just a good looking card requires 6 pin power and is good for 2D app. forget gaming is too old


----------



## _JP_ (May 5, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> Mine is getting old and make some nasty-strange noise.
> 
> For today is just a good looking card requires 6 pin power and is good for 2D app. forget gaming is too old


Those 7950GT go for cheap here. I spot one for auction/sale every once in a while. Good DX9 cards. That noise though, you might check if it is coil whine. It will be harder with that card, since it doesn't switch between 2D/3D clocks (to see if there's any change in noise intensity).


----------



## Animalpak (May 5, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Those 7950GT go for cheap here. I spot one for auction/sale every once in a while. Good DX9 cards. That noise though, you might check if it is coil whine. It will be harder with that card, since it doesn't switch between 2D/3D clocks (to see if there's any change in noise intensity).



I meant about noise my CPU cooler bro  that Zalman CNPS 9700 Nvidia ed.



I also have an old 8800 GT alpha dog edition


----------



## Red_Machine (May 5, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Silicon Image DVI display card.



Yup.  I see planty of them on eBay.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2012)

back of card says Intel ADD LP AGP
Silk screen printed on front says LR2907 pcb rev c
Pulled it out from an old  Fujitsu Siemens computer
As i understand its purpose was to feed the onboard intel intergrated Graphics from motherbord via the agp slot to moniter
A cheapskate graphics adapter

"edit"
culled this from the Silicon Image website
ADD cards are adapter cards that plug into AGP slots and provide digital video output (DVO) for connection of PC video to digital displays with HDMI® and DVI interfaces using the PC graphics controller to generate the video.


----------



## _JP_ (May 5, 2012)

*Without further ado...*

Here's the card!
























Fine addition to the club, ain't it?


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2012)

And some more that are "Much Older"
AVANCE LOGIC PCI




3dfx STB Velocity 100 AGP2x 8MB Voodoo3 1000




ATI Rage 128 AGP2x




128MB AGP Gigabyte ATi Radeon 9200 GV-R9200NF




S3 Virage Trio64_V_Plus








Diamond Viper 330 PCI 4m





Early ram Next?  or some early CPU's ?


----------



## stinger608 (May 6, 2012)

Holy shit JP!!!!! That is frigging awesome man!!!!!! Good job my friend on that find.


----------



## _JP_ (May 6, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Early ram Next?  or some early CPU's ?


Flip a coin.


stinger608 said:


> Holy shit JP!!!!! That is frigging awesome man!!!!!! Good job my friend on that find.


Thanks. Should I frame it and display on a wall? 
Now I need time to test it. :\


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 6, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Here's the card!
> http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8074/sany0378k.jpg
> http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/714/sany0380y.jpg
> http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6061/sany0382.jpg
> ...




That is one pretty card. I would test it once to make sure it works fine then frame it.


----------



## _JP_ (May 6, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> That is one pretty card. I would test it once to make sure it works fine then frame it.


That's the idea.


----------



## de.das.dude (May 6, 2012)

jp where do you get old hardware brooo


----------



## _JP_ (May 6, 2012)

By scouting trough online/offline personal ads, auctions, garage sales, flea markets...the usual.
I was actually looking for something else (a cheap mobo sidegrade/upgrade), when I spotted that card.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 6, 2012)

Just to remind People 
This Thread has got its own nostalgic sale/trade items Thread
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80134

(with a number of People on the forums getting into retro builds perhaps this thread might be revived)


----------



## AlienIsGOD (May 6, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> This Thread has got its own nostalgic sale/trade items Thread
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=80134



Thats someones personal FS thread, it doesn't need to be revived.  It's also over 3 years old........


----------



## agent00skid (May 6, 2012)

Sorry about poor quality, don't have a proper camera. 

A Winfast A180 DDR T










And a ASUS V9999/TD


----------



## stinger608 (May 6, 2012)

agent00skid said:


> Sorry about poor quality, don't have a proper camera.
> 
> A Winfast A180 DDR T
> http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9584/06052012020.jpg
> ...



Awesome man! Added you to the original post.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 7, 2012)

Nostalgic memory(s) time excuse the pun

Lets Start off with 30 pin Simms ranging from 256k to 16m/b per simm






72 pin Simm's 2 are 16mb edo and 2 are 32mb (?)






Moving on to SD RAM  32mb to 256mb






How's this for meaty ( Server ) SD RAM 256mb edo









Finaly a Ram upgrade board from an ancient 486DX33 compaq Tablet Laptop
a massive 4mb









Now for some Nostalgic CPU's
including a guess the item ? 

Lets Start with
Intel 387DX20 and 386DX20








486 NON INTEL (but compatible)








AMD AM5x86 P75 front








AMD K6 266 300 AMD K6 2 350 AMD K6 2 400




AMD Duron and Athlon CPU




Cyrix M2 300gp








Intel P2 Slot 1 CPU




Intel P4 Celeron and P4 Socket 478





And Last the Mystery Guess the Item    









More Nostalgic Hardware (and software) Photo's to follow


----------



## The Von Matrices (May 7, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> And Last the Mystery Guess the Item
> http://s19.postimage.org/6oaso2583/Mystery_card_front.jpg
> http://s19.postimage.org/6pkqhh71v/Mystery_card_rear.jpg



Looks like a slot terminator card for when you have a MP board with two processor slots but only want to use one processor.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 7, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> Looks like a slot terminator card for when you have a MP board with two processor slots but only want to use one processor.



I believe we have a winner.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 7, 2012)

yes we have a winner
a well informed guess
it was in an old server (the processor the server had was a P2 233hz + this slot Terminator)
the above photo (Intel P2 Slot 1 CPU) shows  a P2 266mhz in tandem(duel)mount that also came out of identical Server as you can see these P2 266mhz were passively cooled (no fans)
it made for a very quiet server


----------



## phill (May 7, 2012)

Some awesome hardware here guys


----------



## dorsetknob (May 7, 2012)

Oldest working motherboard i currently possess is a  Gigabyte GA 71 XE4 Socket A Motherboard








Hard Drives
Smallest hard drives are (ScSi from an Apple left 121 mb right 250mb)




Seagate ST3144a Hard Drive Capacity 130 mb




got a few more hard Drives in the 1 1/2gig to 30 gig range which i will post later

Back up Solutions
Even back in the olden days System and file Back up started to be a problem
what with files becoming to large to span multiple Floppy disks ( 360 kB or 1.2mb 5 1/4"   or 720 KB, followed by what became the most common format, 1.44 MB. 3 1/2").
The solution Back up by Tape Drive (and Restore)

You Put these




(Tapes Capacity varied these are 40mb and 120mb)

into this Irwin Tape Backup Drive












or this Conner Backup Drive 









]




or some other compatible brand/manufacturer Tape Drive

More Nostalgic Hardware (and software) Photo's to follow


----------



## dorsetknob (May 9, 2012)

Pen and Tablet computers
You Might think that they are The newest and latest advance in Computer Hardware
so why am i talking Pen and Tablet computers in this thread ?
Not the Place ? well your be wrong thinking that
Here is a little Wilki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Concerto
















There were three Concerto models, varying in hard disk capacity, and processor speed. All had 4MB of RAM soldered to the motherboard, which was expandable to 20MB using proprietary memory modules.

There were two processor options: Intel 486SL @ 25MHz, or Intel 486SL @ 33MHz. The 25MHz model was available with either a 120MB or 240MB IDE hard disk drive, and the 33MHz model had a 240MB IDE hard disk drive. Both models had a built in 3.5" 1.44MB floppy disk drive.

All models shipped with MS-DOS 6.2, with Compaq's unique set of DOS extensions for power management, configuration and model specific help. Windows for PEN Computing Version 1, which was Windows 3.1 with necessary add-ons for pen operation — including handwriting recognition - was also pre-installed.
This one was the 33Mhz 486sl 240mb hd with 8mb memory
graphics for this onboard was 	VGA: 640×480 grayscale 
Colour on external moniter and it from about "1993"
Does It still work ? (it was  still working when i Buried it in the loft Battery is Dodo and I can no longer find the power pack  pen batterys are long dead as well)

Next  A Dell Latitude CP1 Laptop Circa 1999

























and some PMCA Adapter cards






More Photo's coming soon


----------



## stinger608 (May 9, 2012)

Very very awesome old hardware Dorset!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## brandonwh64 (May 9, 2012)

I will post my Compaq Intel motherboard and Celeron 667mhz CPU when I get home. It still works but not quite old enough. I am trying to get my grandmothers pentium I 133mhz machine they hardly use. It takes about 2-4 minutes to boot windows 98 LOL


----------



## dorsetknob (May 10, 2012)

All this Nostalgic Hardware is Nothing without the  Nostalgic Software
So where do you start
For me the Earliest Genuine software would be (might have Earlier bootleg software but thats between me and You "Snigger")
Dos





















So your Nostalgic Hardware is built and your Nostalgic Operating system is installed
what is other essential Software are you going to need
Of Course Anti Virus Software you dont want to become infected from computer Magazine freebe disks or "from the "New fangled INTERNET Thingy
so you install something like these









"Well You got to be Safe and Protected  Don't  you ?"

More Photo's comeing Soon


----------



## Switch92 (May 11, 2012)

*Need to identify this*

Hi, 

This is an awsm thread and I think U guys can help me.

I bought an old server pc on an auction a while back and I want to power it up and see if the old lady still works.

All I can find on the motherboard is:

12210565 REV.C / D
Dual BX pent.II server system M/B

I still need memory for it before I can do anything, the memory it needs must have 2 gaps, so I think it is SD RAM.

It still has an old tape drive with tapes.

Will post some pics if I am allowed.

What operating system will work on this machine? (Windows 98)?? or must it be a server operating system?

Where will I find drivers??

Thanks and sorry if I was not allowed to post here, I just love the old stuff.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 11, 2012)

Photo's will get you "in the Club"
photos may help Some of us to Identify the motherboard and that will help to find out its spec's
Software wize again that depends on the spec's on Boot and your Preference of O/S
you looking For Original Spec Software or more modern compatible Software
ie Type and total Ram
Some Server Boards would run on normal SD Ram Most "NEED REGISTERED EDO/ECC Ram"
Number of and Speed of CPU's 
IF it Runs Duel Processors they have to Match  
1 x 233mhz/512/100 + 1 x 233mhz/512/100 (ok)
1 x 233mhz/512/100 + 1x 266Mhz/512/100 (mismatch not ok)
as far as i remember they were even supposed to be from the same production batch
You bought a pair of matched Cpu's Together because if you did'nt and you used different Cpu's from different batches (ie bought at different times / one replaced due to failure Systems Crashed )
(NT4 and later = multi processor Capable ) win 95/98/Me only recognize 1 CPU only ( and thus use 1 only)
Linux unix  ( i believe will recognize run and utilize more than one CPU).
Think XP Home also only  recognize 1 CPU only ( and thus use 1 only)
Linux unix  ( i believe will recognize run and utilize more than one CPU).
XP Professional (Multi CPU Capable) (min recomended CPU is 233Mhz)
so what CPU (s) does this M/B have fitted?
Our Server Experts might also have more questions for you before we can further help you


----------



## Random Murderer (May 11, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Photo's will get you "in the Club"
> photos may help Some of us to Identify the motherboard and that will help to find out its spec's
> Software wize again that depends on the spec's on Boot and your Preference of O/S
> you looking For Original Spec Software or more modern compatible Software
> ...



that's a bit tough to read, but he's right.
in order to help you, we'll need specs as detailed as you can make them and pictures will help tremendously.
if you're versed in old hardware like this, you should be able to pull the processors fairly easily. this will help us determine speeds, caches, etc. just make sure you re-seat the processors in the same slot/socket you pulled it from, don't want to mix them up.
as far as os goes, your best bet for windows would be NT4 or xp pro. linux/unix are great as well, but require a bit of knowledge as you'll probably have to patch the kernel and update the version dependencies to work with old hardware like this. a good start point for linux/unix on this hardware would be DamnSmallLinux(or DSL for short), as it's still being updated and as the name suggests, is a very light distro. last time i checked(it's been a few years), the entire distro fit on a 32MB flash drive.


----------



## brandonwh64 (May 11, 2012)

I need to ask my dad what he did with my old socket 7 machine I left with him before the army. I think he gave it to his brother.


----------



## MilkyWay (May 11, 2012)

MilkyWay said:


>



Repost from my own thread.
There you can see a Pentium II Slot 1 400mhz, Windows 98SE, Soundblaster AWE 64 Gold (fully boxed, even with the case badge) and Sonic CD PC.
The PII CPU has a Foxconn heatsink.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 11, 2012)

how much for sonic CD?


----------



## dorsetknob (May 11, 2012)

"envy"
My Poor Mans AWE64
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







above another creative card this one is a Creative_VIBRA_128_CT4810 pci

More Photo's comeing Soon


----------



## MilkyWay (May 11, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> how much for sonic CD?



I paid £5 for it about 1 month ago. Ive tried to play it on Windows 7 with the compatibility patch but it doesn't like to go into fullscreen so it will only play in its native res in a tiny windowed mode.
Not only are retro builds fun to make but the compatibility is sweet.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 11, 2012)

MilkyWay said:


> I paid £5 for it about 1 month ago. Ive tried to play it on Windows 7 with the compatibility patch but it doesn't like to go into fullscreen so it will only play in its native res in a tiny windowed mode.
> Not only are retro builds fun to make but the compatibility is sweet.



YHPM


----------



## dorsetknob (May 13, 2012)

Another Selection of Nostalgic Hardware some with appropriate Software
Lets Start with an assortment of Hard Disks all IDE with capacitys ranging from 1.6gb to 30gb
















Another IDE Drive Device
This is The LS120 Super Floppy Drive along with the Software install Disks and some of the Disks it would also read/write to
They are 720k  1.44mb 2.88mb (not pictured ) and finaly 120mb




















Now a 12 yr old DVD Rom (Still Working)




Here is a IWill SCSI Wide Card with Software
















Remember the 3DFX Voodoo 3500TV i Got(pictures posted previously).
 Well This is what i replaced/ upgraded to
A PowerColor AIW9800SE AGP8 (included the Remote wonder Remote Controler)




























Later on i found a Hercules 3D Prophet 7500 All in Wonder(64mb) Secondhand








My Next major Graphics upgrade came with the motherboard upgrade to a PCIE Slot
(I Hedged my upgrade bet with a Asrock4core Duel sata2 from a Asrock P4i65G)

Photos of those Mother Boards and more Hardware/software to come later


----------



## _JP_ (May 13, 2012)

*All hail the great 4CoreDual!!!*



dorsetknob said:


> My Next major Graphics upgrade came with the motherboard upgrade to a PCIE Slot
> (I Hedged my upgrade bet with a Asrock4core Duel sata2 from a Asrock P4i65G)
> 
> Photos of those Mother Boards and more Hardware/software to come later


Ha! Mine first!


----------



## dorsetknob (May 14, 2012)

Well I Just Had to Reply
as i Said i Upgraded from this








to this








You Got to Like the Artwork on those AsRock Mother Board Boxes

Photos of More Hardware/software to come late


----------



## _JP_ (May 14, 2012)

Cool, you have 1st gen.
Mine has one less speaker output.


----------



## Maban (May 14, 2012)

I have a 4CoreDual-VSTA myself. Peculiar board. Couldn't go above like 285MHz FSB. Only accepted certain PCIE GPUs without a modded bios. And wouldn't work with SATA 3.0Gb/s drives without forcing them to 1.5Gb/s on the drive (jumper or firmware).


----------



## Switch92 (May 14, 2012)

ok, here is what i have.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 14, 2012)

*Cpu Nostalga Collection ( or Envy )*

I got a Few CPU's that some people would consider Nostalgic while some people will
Scream "Huh I'm Still Running that CPU" (me included)
some AMD Mobile








some AMD Desktop








Some Intel Mobile








and Some Intel Desktop   775 ( that makes them Nostalgic "Eh")   




To many to picture individualy hence the group Shots and intel etching on top is usualy difficult to photo right thats why its bottom only

UP Next will be an assortment of PCIx Graphics Cards


----------



## dorsetknob (May 14, 2012)

Switch92

Had a look at your Photo's Cannot see anything to google and get results
googled duel bx motherboard review's hopeing some review would have a picture similer to yours   not alot of luck there
Is there Any Silk Screen printing on the motherboard Your have to examine it closely for further information
Examples below








another way of finding out hardware info would be to find the FCC id code (SilkScreen printing on the motherboard someware) and Search their Database

*stinger608 you might want to add this link to the 1st post
http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/*

Last Resort and you know your going to do this anyway is 
put in some ram fit a hard disk ect
 install either LINUX or XP Pro or run hirens Boot disk
see what drivers they install for the hardware found 
then try various Diagnostic software to check and identify the hardware

"COMMENT"
forum moderator ( you might consider editing this thread and moveing this and related posts to a more suitable place 
Please feel free to edit and remove this comment as appropiate)


----------



## Switch92 (May 14, 2012)

Thanks dorsetknob.

I also searched everything on that sticker in google and got zap.

Will search (if I get time tonight) that m/b for any silk screen printing.

Thanks for your effort.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 14, 2012)

Switch92 said:


> Thanks dorsetknob.
> 
> I also searched everything on that sticker in google and got zap.
> 
> ...



Ol' RM has you covered 

It's a Gateway ALR 7200 server motherboard.
Resources
At that link, you can find high-res shots of different sections of the board, drivers, and any and all info you could ever want to know about it.


----------



## _JP_ (May 14, 2012)

*Can't tell the numbers...*



dorsetknob said:


>


That is a mighty fine collection. Say, is there a TL-66 or a TL68 in there?


----------



## dorsetknob (May 14, 2012)

Im Afraid not  See bottom of post

*List of CPU in Above and Previous Pictures*
*FULL CPU List*

*Intel 386*
Intel 386DX20 and 387DX20 (matched pair 20Mhz from same system)
*Cyrix*
Cyrix M2 300gp (1)
*IBM*
IBM 486 DX2 (2)
*ITS*
ITS ST 486DX2 (1)
ITS ST 486DX4V100 (1)
*Intel P2 Slot1 Celeron*
Intel P2 Slot1 Celeron 300Mhz/66 (1)
Intel P2 Slot1 Celeron 400Mhz/66 (1)
*Intel P2 Slot1 Pentium*
Intel P2 Slot1 Pentium 233Mhz/512/66 (2)
Intel P2 Slot1 Pentium 266Mhz/512/66 (2) Passivly cooled
*Intel P3 Celeron Socket 370*
Intel P3 Celeron Socket 370 366Mhz/128/66 (1)
Intel P3 Celeron Socket 370 900Mhz/128/100 (1)
*Intel P3 Pentium Socket 370* 
Intel P3 Pentium Socket 370 800EB 800Mhz/256/133 (2)
*Intel Socket 478 CPU*
Celeron Socket 478
2.6Ghz/128/400 (2)
2.8Ghz/128/400 (4)
*Celeron D Socket 478*
2.53Ghz/256/533 (1)
*Pentium 4 socket 478*
2.0Ghz/512/400 (1)
2.2Ghz/512/400 (1)
2.53.8Ghz/512/533 (1)
2.8gHz/512/533 (1)
3.2Ghz/512/800 HT (1)
*Intel Mobile CPU*
Intel Celeron M 420 1.6Ghz/1M/533 (1)
Intel Celeron M 430 1 .73Ghz/1M/533 (1)
Intel Celeron M 440 1.86Ghz/1M/533 (1)
Intel Pentium M 740 1.73Ghz/2M/533 (1)
*Intel Pentium Dual Core*
T4200 2,0Ghz/1M/800 (1)
T4300 2.1Ghz/1M/800 (1)
T4400 2.2Ghz/1M/800 (1)
*Intel Pentium Dual*
T3400 2.16Ghz/1M/667 (1)
*Celeron Dual-Core*
T1400 1.73Ghz/512k/533 (1)
T1600 1.66Ghz/1M/667 (1)
T2050 1.6Ghz/2M/533 (1)
T2060 1.6Ghz/1M/533 (1)
T2250 1.73Ghz/2M/533 (1)
*Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile*
T5250 1.5Ghz/2M/667 (1)
T7300 2.0Ghz/4M/800 (1)
P7450 2.13c/3M/1066 (1)
*Intel socket 775	
Celeron*
Celeron 450 2.2Ghz/512/800 (1)
Celeron D 2.9Ghz/256/533 (1)
Celeron D 336 2.8Ghz/256/533 (2)
Celeron D 341 2.9Ghz/256/533 (2)
Celeron D 352 3.2Ghz/256/533 (2)
Celeron D 360 3.4Ghz/256/533 (1)
*Celeron Dual-Core*
E3260 2.4Ghz/1m/800 (1)
E3300 2.5Ghz/1m/800 (1)
*Intel Pentium P4*
Intel Pentium P4 2.93Ghz/1m/533 (4)
Intel Pentium P4 3.00Ghz/1m/800 (3)
Intel Pentium P4 3.20Ghz/1m/800 (1)
Intel Pentium P4 3.60Ghz/1m/800 (1)
Intel Pentium P4 516  2.93Ghz/1m/533 (1)
Intel Pentium P4 519K 3.00Ghz/1m/533 (3)
Intel Pentium P4 524  3.06Ghz/1m/533 (2) ht
Intel Pentium P4 531  3.00Ghz/1m/800 (2) ht
Intel Pentium P4 630  3.00Ghz/2m/800 (2) ht
Intel Pentium P4 640  3.20Ghz/2m/800 (1) ht
Intel Pentium P4 650  3.40Ghz/2m/800 (4) ht
*Intel Pentium D*
Intel Pentium D 805 2.66Ghz/2m/533 (1)
Intel Pentium D 820 2.8Ghz/2m/800 (2)
Intel Pentium D 925 3.0Ghz/4m/800 (2)
Intel Pentium D 930 3.0Ghz/4m/800 (1)
*Intel Pentium Dual Core*
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2220 2.40Ghz/1m/800 (2)
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140 1.60Ghz/1m/800 (1)
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 1.80Ghz/1m/800 (1)
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2.00Ghz/1m/800 (1)
Intel Pentium Dual Core E6500 2.93Ghz/2m/1066 (1)
Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 2.60GHZ/2m/800 (1)
*Intel Core 2 Duo *
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHZ/4m/1333 (2)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHZ/2m/800 (2)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHZ/2M/1066 (1)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86Ghz/2m/1066 (3)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93Ghz/3m/1066 (1)
*Intel Core 2 Quad*
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40Ghz/8m/1066 (2)
Intel Core 2 Quad QX6700 2.66Ghz/8m/1066 (1)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.50Ghz/4m/1333 (4)
*AMD Desk top
AMD AM5*
AMD AM5x86 P75 (1)
*AMD SOCKET7 Duron and Athlon* 
AMD SOCKET7 Duron D750 (1)
AMD SOCKET7 Duron D800 (1)
AMD SOCKET7 Duron D1100 (1)
AMD SOCKET7 Athlon XP1700 (1)
*AMD K6 CPU*
AMD K6 266 (1)
AMD K6 300  (1)
*AMD K6  2*
AMD K6 2 350 (1)
AMD K6 2 400 (1)
AMD Sempron sdh1250iaa4dp
AMD Athlon 64 (3200 3400 3500 1 each)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 (4000 4800 1 each)
AMD Athlon 2 ad400 (1)
AMD Phenom X3 (1)
*AMD MOBILE*
AMD Turion 64 X2 TL52 (2)
AMD Turion 64 X2 TL58 (3)
AMD Turion 64 X2TL 60 (2)
Mobile AMD Semprom sms3400 (1)
AMD ATHLON AMQL64DAM22GGX2 (1)
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 AMDTK57 (1)


are you specificly in the market for either a TL-66 or a TL68 
if so i will keep my eye open for one for you

"EDIT"
This Post  Edited  to list the Cpu's in the above and previous posts (where not listed)


----------



## Random Murderer (May 14, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Im Afraid not
> They are
> 
> AMD Turion 64 X2 TL52 (1)
> ...



if you're willing to list those, would you mind listing the 64 lga775 procs you have? i may be interested in a few...


----------



## _JP_ (May 14, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> are you specificly in the market for either a TL-66 or a TL68
> if so i will keep my eye open for one for you


Much obliged. 
Yes, I am.  I have a Pavilion laptop with a TL-58. On the upgrade paths I was thinking of getting a TL-66 (TL-68 if compatible), if I ever saw one in a good deal, that is. Found a couple on eBay, but all were from china. Found some from the USA as well, but were twice as expensive, excluding the shipping costs.
Again, thank you for listing them.


----------



## Peter1986C (May 14, 2012)

I got a TL-58 for sale but it won't be much of use for you then.


----------



## stinger608 (May 15, 2012)

Switch92 said:


> ok, here is what i have.



Awesome old dual processor board man!!! 

Added you to the original post. 



dorsetknob said:


> I got a Few CPU's that some people would consider Nostalgic while some people will
> Scream "Huh I'm Still Running that CPU" (me included)
> some AMD Mobile
> http://s19.postimage.org/l2dpwfa43/Assorted_AMD_Mobile.jpg
> ...



Holy moly Dorset, that is a hell of a pile of CPU's man!!!!


----------



## dorsetknob (May 15, 2012)

*PCIx Graphics Cards*

Lets Start with the AMD Ones
HIS X1900GT with retail Packaging/Software
























Next is a X1650 Silent Heatpipe edition








Next Radeon X700 Pro 128 mb








Double Treat !
A pair of Radeon X600 256 mb (spot the Difference)












Nostalgic Crossfire Anyone ?

Now Some Nvidia Cards

Various 9800gt Geforce cards 512mb








SLI Pair




Nvidia 8800gt Geforce cards 512mb








Nvidia 8800gts Geforce card 320mb








Pair of Nvidia 8600gs Geforce cards 256mb (SLI Pair) and a low Progile 8600gs












Nvidia 6800gt Geforce cards 256mb









Finaly in this post
A Nostalgic Mini tower check out the front cover





















More Pictures of Nostalgic Hardware and Software to come Soon


----------



## Switch92 (May 16, 2012)

Thanks Random Murderer,

but how the hell did you find it?
What did you use.

Thanks allot for the help


----------



## Random Murderer (May 16, 2012)

Switch92 said:


> Thanks Random Murderer,
> 
> but how the hell did you find it?
> What did you use.
> ...



it was actually just one hell of a coincidence. a friend in high school had that exact server, although it was maxed out with dual 400MHz processors and 512MB RAM, a couple of high-end(for the time) LAN controllers, and a blazing fast SCSI setup. he used to use it as a dedicated counter strike/unreal/quake server when one of us hosted a LAN party.
good times, great little server  i can't wait to see if you can resurrect that monster.


----------



## Switch92 (May 16, 2012)

I am going to try my best, all I still need is memory. But I will keep on searching


----------



## dorsetknob (May 16, 2012)

whats your location?
what Cpu'are fitted
the spec's  Random Murderer linked to show its capable of running up to p2 600Mhz Cpu's
also it seems it will also run on standard SDram pc100 up to 256kb per slot


----------



## Switch92 (May 17, 2012)

I am from South Africa. And I do not know what CPU's are fitted, (not yet), I sometimes work until 10PM so I do not get allot of time to play with the thing.


----------



## Animalpak (May 19, 2012)

There s my old glorious farts


----------



## The Von Matrices (May 19, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> There s my old glorious farts



Your system specs say you're using a 7950GT.  Isn't the 8800GS a better card?  Why aren't you using it?


----------



## Liquid Cool (May 19, 2012)

Dropped by an old friends place of business today, he's the kind of guy who throw's nothing out.  We we're in the back room talking and I noticed a stack of IBM Model M keyboards(mine say's 1984 on the back) that looked new and said...whoa, those bring back memories.  He said, "that's nothing" and opened the closet.  literally full of parts from 1985 to 2000.  He had a stack of new Compaq Deskpro slot 1's that we're never used...or at least didn't look like they we're.  

I did grab a keyboard and couldn't turn down a DeskPro(Slot 1-700mhz) and I was getting the impression he wanted me to take more.  I'm going back next Saturday with my SUV.  

Liquid Cool

P.S. Might be needing a PCI video card for this DeskPro...if anyone has a suggestion.


----------



## Animalpak (May 19, 2012)

The Von Matrices said:


> Your system specs say you're using a 7950GT.  Isn't the 8800GS a better card?  Why aren't you using it?



Yes is alot better but...

I have an issue with that 8800GS the fan is stuck on the highest speed always spins at 100 % and is dead loud, i cannot find a way to drop it down and fix it, Riva tuner didnt work.


----------



## hertz9753 (May 22, 2012)

This combo reminds of the game Commandos Behind Enemy Lines.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 22, 2012)

hertz9753 said:


> This combo reminds of the game Commandos Behind Enemy Lines.
> View attachment 47186
> 
> View attachment 47187
> ...



i just nostalgia'd hard...


----------



## _JP_ (May 22, 2012)

hertz9753 said:


> This combo reminds of the game Commandos Behind Enemy Lines.


Ooh, I miss that game...


----------



## stinger608 (May 23, 2012)

hertz9753 said:


> This combo reminds of the game Commandos Behind Enemy Lines.
> View attachment 47186
> 
> View attachment 47187
> ...



Awesome!!! Added you to the original post man.


----------



## Mindweaver (May 23, 2012)

Just seen this and wanted to post some pics... hehehe


----------



## phill (May 23, 2012)

Awesome collection guys!!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 24, 2012)

Nice collection of procs you got there Mindweaver.


----------



## Mindweaver (May 24, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Nice collection of procs you got there Mindweaver.



Sad thing is.. That's not all of them..lol


----------



## stinger608 (May 24, 2012)

Mindweaver said:


> Just seen this and wanted to post some pics... hehehe
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120404/IMG_20120404_094034.jpg
> 
> ...




Wow!!!!!!!!!! Awesome collection of nostalgic processors MW!!!

Added you to the original post my fellow cruncher!!!!!


----------



## Aquinus (May 24, 2012)

I put these on sexy hardware closeup, but they feel more fitting here. Apple G3 PowerPC processor @ 233mhz with off die L2 cache. It was replaced some time ago with a G4.

View attachment 47195
View attachment 47196


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 24, 2012)

Mindweaver said:


> Sad thing is.. That's not all of them..lol



Hmm I may have to have a talk with you on percurring a couple of those for my collection. 



Just imagine a Amd or intel chip like that with the off die cache, but removable chips so you can upgrade it. You can have 10 gigs of l2 cache. LOL


----------



## dorsetknob (May 24, 2012)

"Nice"  collection Mindweaver


----------



## stinger608 (May 24, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> I put these on sexy hardware closeup, but they feel more fitting here. Apple G3 PowerPC processor @ 233mhz with off die L2 cache. It was replaced some time ago with a G4.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47195&stc=1&d=1337732856
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47196&stc=1&d=1337732882



Very cool Aquinus! Added you to the original post man, and welcome to the ole nostalgic hardware club.


----------



## Animalpak (May 26, 2012)

Solved the problem with the fan stuck at 100 %...

Now is silent ! YESS !


----------



## stinger608 (May 30, 2012)

Yea them single slot 8800 fans at 100% are loud for sure. I'll bet your damn glad to have it quiet.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 30, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> Solved the problem with the fan stuck at 100 %...
> 
> Now is silent ! YESS !
> 
> ...



What resistance did you use?


----------



## Animalpak (May 30, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> What resistance did you use?



The one from my Noctua NF 12 120mm fans, there was one blue one and black...

I cut the black. An average was silent and the other totally silent.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 30, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> The one from my Noctua NF 12 120mm fans, there was one blue one and black...
> 
> I cut the black. An average was silent and the other totally silent.



I mean what resistance is the resistor you added to drop the voltage?


----------



## Animalpak (May 30, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> I mean what resistance is the resistor you added to drop the voltage?



I dunno mate... I'm not so expert, and i only know that is a resistor that reduces the power.


Take a look here :

http://www.dvhardware.net/review133_2_noctua_nf_p12.html


----------



## agent00skid (Jun 2, 2012)

Again sorry for poor quality. 
And a bit from the main intent of the thread, but still felt it could go here.

My mom's current calculator, a TI 30 SLR. Not quite computer, but some of the way. 






And probably the oldest game I have lying around. DOS repacks for windows. 










Hoping for a good camera and some time one day, then I would have some more goodies.


----------



## Dippyskoodlez (Jun 2, 2012)

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=5012

Good times


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 2, 2012)

agent00skid said:


> Again sorry for poor quality.
> And a bit from the main intent of the thread, but still felt it could go here.
> 
> My mom's current calculator, a TI 30 SLR. Not quite computer, but some of the way.
> ...



Experiment a bit with lighting, then. Some extra light makes miracles happen. And don't use digital zoom, ever.


----------



## popswala (Jun 2, 2012)

Check this bad boy out






Ooo yeaa. And How about this one? Asus A7V133. Enjoy!


----------



## agent00skid (Jun 2, 2012)

Chevalr1c said:


> Experiment a bit with lighting, then. Some extra light makes miracles happen. And don't use digital zoom, ever.



That's not zoomed, that's how it looks. And I know the lighting is poor, but just don't feel like doing much with a camera like that. :S


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jun 2, 2012)

Dippyskoodlez said:


> http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/screenshot/5012.png
> 
> 
> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=5012
> ...




Nice overclock on that mobile xp chip.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 2, 2012)

popswala
Nice duel combi  3 1/2" / 5 1/4" floppy drive


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 2, 2012)

agent00skid said:


> That's not zoomed, that's how it looks. And I know the lighting is poor, but just don't feel like doing much with a camera like that. :S



I just meant it as a general piece advice dude.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 3, 2012)

popswala said:


> Check this bad boy out
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120601/2012-06-01 20.58.46749.jpg
> 
> ...



 Very cool Pops!!! Man the Asus A7V133 was one of the very first Socket A boards that I purchased and overclocked on!!! 

EDIT: Also Pops, I added ya to the original post bro!!


----------



## popswala (Jun 6, 2012)

Thanks. I'm slowly working on bringing her back to life. Just trying to chase down some random cpu coolers for that one and a few others. Not much luck there though.

Thanks for adding me sting.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jun 6, 2012)

I have a A7vpro in my win 98se build. 


Pops, how many socket A coolers do you need? I have a few (lot) What cpus are you cooling?

I have a metric ton of socket A crap here.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 6, 2012)

popswala said:


> Thanks. I'm slowly working on bringing her back to life. Just trying to chase down some random cpu coolers for that one and a few others. Not much luck there though.
> 
> Thanks for adding me sting.



Your welcome Pops. 



ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I have a A7vpro in my win 98se build.
> 
> 
> Pops, how many socket A coolers do you need? I have a few (lot) What cpus are you cooling?
> ...




 He tells the truth man, he has a shit pot full of Socket A parts. 
What an awesome era though. Was soooooooo damn much fun!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jun 6, 2012)

Yes it was a great era. Socket A's where the creme of the crop back then. I still keep some of the special stuff from that era locked away.  Like for example my first socket a board. My mighty Abit KT7A Raid. That board has been through some stuff and still ticks along. Right now it is running a proc ( Axp 2400+) people back in the day said would never run in it. But me being who I am, I had to try it anyway and succeeded in proving them wrong. It is still running that proc at full speed.


----------



## Black Panther (Jun 11, 2012)

TRIDENT TVGA (16-BIT) 8800CS 16-bit ISA  512KB DRAM dated 1989:






Sound Blaster card by Creative Labs dated 1990:


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 11, 2012)

Black Panther said:


> TRIDENT TVGA (16-BIT) 8800CS 16-bit ISA  512KB DRAM dated 1989:
> http://i.imgur.com/fDQBu.jpg
> 
> Sound Blaster card by Creative Labs dated 1990:
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120611/SoundBlaster1990.jpg



i bet those made DOOM play great!


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 11, 2012)

Just googled the sound card
 looks like its a Sound Blaster CT-1320c  (Sound Blaster 1.5)
8 bit ISA Card


----------



## Animalpak (Jun 11, 2012)

That thing is OOOOLD !


----------



## mastrdrver (Jun 12, 2012)

dorsetknob said:


> Just googled the sound card
> looks like its a Sound Blaster CT-1320c  (Sound Blaster 1.5)
> 8 bit ISA Card



Looks like a PCI card to me. The slot interface is not long enough for ISA.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Jun 12, 2012)

mastrdrver said:


> Looks like a PCI card to me. The slot interface is not long enough for ISA.



PCI didn't exist until 1993, silly. 

The video card is 16bit ISA, the Sound Blaster is 8 bit. The shorter connector provides the extra 8 bits while the longer connector is the main 8 bit connector used by every ISA card.


----------



## mastrdrver (Jun 12, 2012)

Makes sense. Having an ISA Sound Blaster, I'd never seen one with the shorter connector on ISA though I really didn't start to get in to computers until the mid 90s.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Jun 12, 2012)

Yeah, I think all the newer Sound Blasters (SB16 and above) used 16bit ISA. My 2 SB16 cards and an AWE64 were all 16bit ISA.


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 12, 2012)

ooo ooo can I join this club please 

something I have just hanging round 

An Quantum Plus Hardcard II 105XL HDD (100MB) 






and this just show how big these were ( vs HP 17" laptop)


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 12, 2012)

Is that an early mechanical HD or some kind of solid state memory solution?


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 12, 2012)

I'm Old enough to remember Hardcards
ah the (not so) good old days
Back in the Day Nearly all motherboards only had one (1) IDE Connector (for 2 Hard disks only as CD ROM had not been invented/introduced)
the hard card was a way of adding storage space for your computer ie a 3rd hard drive
some came with a drive fitted others required you to add your own hard disk
I could not afford to buy one would have loved to have owned one I had the spare hard drives and as i run my Pc's on an open case policy i used to cold swap/boot hard drives as i needed the programs/date on my spare drives 

Wilkie here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcard


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 12, 2012)

Chevalr1c said:


> Is that an early mechanical HD or some kind of solid state memory solution?



Early mechanical HDD it's circa 1990 16bit ISA  made by Plus Development corp (which later became part of Quantum) and get this it still works although it's a bitch to get running on win 95 or 98 it does work I also have an old Seagate 545MB HDD aswell that also works perfectly aswell noisy as all hell but works none the less (it has win95 osr2 on it to run the Plus Hardcard):shadedshu


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 13, 2012)

Black Panther said:


> TRIDENT TVGA (16-BIT) 8800CS 16-bit ISA  512KB DRAM dated 1989:
> http://i.imgur.com/fDQBu.jpg
> 
> Sound Blaster card by Creative Labs dated 1990:
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120611/SoundBlaster1990.jpg





Athlonite said:


> ooo ooo can I join this club please
> 
> something I have just hanging round
> 
> ...




Very awesome video cards BP!!!!!! 

Wow, that is a very unique piece of hardware your showing us Athlonite

Adding Athlonite to the original post.


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 13, 2012)

thanks stinger608 and yes I spose it is, back in the day they were sorta common (if you had a butt load of cash) but now I don't think I've actually seen another one in the flesh so speak for a very long time... I'll see what else I can dig out of the archive pretty sure I might have an old socket 3 or 5 mobo sitting round gathering


----------



## catnipkiller (Jun 22, 2012)

Came in at work and looked old.


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 22, 2012)

That looks like an socket 478 mobo from an GX series Dell or an HP maybe


----------



## _JP_ (Jun 22, 2012)

catnipkiller said:


> Came in at work and looked old.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120621/IMG246.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120621/IMG248.jpg


Oh boy! Recapping time!!
Uhm, why are the RAM slots sideways?  That looks odd...


Athlonite said:


> That looks like an socket 478 mobo from an GX series Dell or an HP maybe


Says "Compaq" on the motherboard. So it's more likely to be HP (or Compaq).


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 22, 2012)

Probably the trace layout on the board determined the positing of the ram slots i do agree the angle looks odd and i have not seen one with offset ram slots like the above picture

conclusion 
" Poor Design/layout"
Says "Compaq" on the motherboard. So it's more likely to be HP (or Compaq). 
That explains it all


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 22, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Oh boy! Recapping time!!
> Uhm, why are the RAM slots sideways?  That looks odd...
> 
> Says "Compaq" on the motherboard. So it's more likely to be HP (or Compaq).



actually IF it says compaq on it then for it's age it probably is a compaq PC it came out of remember HP didn't buy compaq until only a few years ago 

and fun times recapping it I've done a few over the years just make sure you've got a good soldering iron that puts out plenty of heat


----------



## _JP_ (Jun 22, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> actually IF it says compaq on it then for it's age it probably is a compaq PC it came out of remember HP didn't buy compaq until only a few years ago


HP bought Compaq in 2002. Socket 478 was launched in the same year. So I don't know. 


Athlonite said:


> and fun times recapping it I've done a few over the years just make sure you've got a good soldering iron that puts out plenty of heat


And the right caps.  (low/matching ESR and all that)


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 22, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Oh boy! Recapping time!!
> Uhm, why are the RAM slots sideways?  That looks odd...
> 
> Says "Compaq" on the motherboard. So it's more likely to be HP (or Compaq).





catnipkiller said:


> Came in at work and looked old.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120621/IMG246.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120621/IMG248.jpg



It is a mobo of the Compaq Presario 5xxx series, most likely. My dad had one. Socket 478 Pentium 4 and originally 256 MiB of SDRAM.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Jun 22, 2012)

Had a similar Compaq computer with that style of board come in a few years ago. 256MB DDR, 2 angled DDR slots, 64MB GeForce2 MX AGP. I believe it had a Williamette 1.7 in it. Notably, I think it had a sports car silkscreened on it and something about the USA. Perhaps the computer I received was made shortly after the 9/11 tragedy when people suddenly became more patriotic for a while.


----------



## popswala (Jun 23, 2012)

Anyone got any idea what this is? Its never been used.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Jun 23, 2012)

popswala said:


> Anyone got any idea what this is? Its never been used.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120622/2012-06-22 18.41.30.jpg



If that's a molex connector on the end, probably came out of an ancient external CD or HDD device. That would be the power supply.


----------



## popswala (Jun 23, 2012)

Yep, Thats a moles. The black cord that plugs in looks like the end that oes in the power box for a laptop but instead plugs in that board. Theres no other connectors so I'm not sure nor do I see a name somewhere so I can try looking up what it is.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Jun 23, 2012)

Looks like it's made by AcBel and the date looks like 2004.07.12 or something, so maybe it came out of a really cheap DVD player or something.


----------



## popswala (Jun 23, 2012)

Your right. I just did a search and came across one for sale on ebay. its called a AcBel API2ST01. I wonder if I could use it for something else with that molex. Not sure how much power it puts out though. I'll see what all I can find on it. 

Thanks


----------



## Jstn7477 (Jun 23, 2012)

It will likely be anywhere from 1-2 amps on each rail. The chinese "laptop charger" style molex bricks these days do 2A on each.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 14, 2012)

Get this up to the top for a minute!!!

No one is posting their awesome old nostalgic hardware. LOL


----------



## _JP_ (Jul 14, 2012)

Well, I've been a bit too busy with work, hence my lack of contribution. But my plan, the moment I start the vacations, is to get a rig working for my HD2600X2. Solely for DX9 games. I will also continue on the hunt for a better chassis for my NF7-S setup which, for now, is in a crowded chassis with limited air-flow.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 15, 2012)

Iused to own an NF7-S mobo awesome board for it's time best Skt7 mobo ever what CPU you thinking of putting in it


----------



## _JP_ (Jul 15, 2012)

At the moment, it has a Barton 3000+.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 15, 2012)

good CPU for it's time the barton core had a bigger L2 which made it well worth the money but for clocking you couldn't go past an AthlonXP-M 2500+


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 15, 2012)

The Axp-m where the greatest of all skt a's. The would clock very easy.


----------



## _JP_ (Jul 16, 2012)

I'm not really thinking of clocking mine, unless it is a small bump. It already has a history of OC, so I want to keep it running for as long as possible now.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 16, 2012)

I don't think I've ever killed a CPU by OCing it yet even a mild OC to bring it upto 3200+ speeds would last for years as long as you've got good cooling on it 

my mate currently uses an AXP 3200+ barton and has been ocing it for the last 12mths to 2800MHz he's using my old Hyper 212 and a home bracket to fit it onto socket A it looks great but my god it's huge and is cooler OC'd than it was non OC'd with the standard sktA HSF


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 17, 2012)

I got a Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Xaser I was running on my XP-M @ 2.4 ghz. Keep it nice a cool also. Also looks great on the old Nf7-s SKT A board.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 17, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> my mate currently uses an AXP 3200  barton and has been ocing it for the last 12mths to 2800MHz he's using my old Hyper 212 and a home bracket to fit it onto socket 7........



Actually that is not a Socket 7 but a Socket A 462 pin.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 17, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Actually that is not a Socket 7 but a Socket A 462 pin.



 yup your right my bad  that'll teach me for not getting any sleep :shadedshu


----------



## phill (Jul 17, 2012)

I have a few socket A CPU's here I'm trying to sell as they arent being used and a lovely cooler as well, a Thermalright SI-97   Managed to keep a XP Mobile under 40C idle with 2.2V running through it!! :lol:


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 18, 2012)

Whatcha got for sale Phill? I maybe interested. I am always looking for extra stuff to go in my collection.


----------



## phill (Jul 18, 2012)

Loads of things!!

Where would be best to send a list??   Here's the list!!

Adaptec 5805 retail boxed
Adaptec 5405 retail boxed
Cables for 8 SAS drives
8 x Seagate Cheetah SAS 15k.5 73Gb 15k drives
2 x IBM SAS drives 15k spin and 73Gb
I've an old 939 motherboard with CPU and CPU cooler.. I haven't tested it and I don't know if it works, but I will throw in my other 939 CPU's to get rid!
2 x AMD XP CPU's.. I can't remember if they are both Barton core's or not but I think they are...£5 for both of those with postage
Socket A cooler (Thermalright SI-97) for the CPU's,  - its bloody awesome cooler! Kept them cool even with 2.2v going through them at 2.6Ghz!! 
1Gb network PCI card
8800 Ultra PCI-E
9800 Pro AGP 128Mb (I think, could be 256Mb) 
6800 XT AGP 256Mb  with aftermarket cooler, very nice card for a cheap system
Two D Tek D Fusion CPU water blocks, both multiple CPU types, the V2 with Quad Nozzle as well
300W PSU old thing that'll work well with a Socket A rig..


----------



## _JP_ (Jul 18, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I got a Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Xaser I was running on my XP-M @ 2.4 ghz. Keep it nice a cool also. Also looks great on the old Nf7-s SKT A board.


I have a Vulcano 9 on mine, except I've retired the original Tt fan and replaced it with a Silverstone.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 18, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> I have a Vulcano 9 on mine, except I've retired the original Tt fan and replaced it with a Silverstone.



Cool, the volcano 9 is the copper core one isn't it? If so I have 2 of those laying around. A blue one and a silver one.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 18, 2012)

how much you wanting for these Phil

Adaptec 5405 retail boxed
 Cable for 2 SAS drives
 2 x Seagate Cheetah SAS 15k.5 73Gb 15k drives


----------



## phill (Jul 19, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> how much you wanting for these Phil
> 
> Adaptec 5405 retail boxed
> Cable for 2 SAS drives
> 2 x Seagate Cheetah SAS 15k.5 73Gb 15k drives



I shall PM you


----------



## _JP_ (Jul 19, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Cool, the volcano 9 is the copper core one isn't it? If so I have 2 of those laying around. A blue one and a silver one.


The very same.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 19, 2012)

phill said:


> I shall PM you



PM received thanks


----------



## phill (Jul 19, 2012)

Most welcome!


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 19, 2012)

my old AthlonXP 2800+ barton core






and my old ATI Radeon 9600Pro 256MB ddr AGP 8x and as far as I know it's working perfectly well


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 29, 2012)

Okay, so I want to run EA Sports frigging NASCAR Sim Racing.

Well thanks to the idiots at EA there is of course no support for Windows Vista or Windows 7. :shadedshu

What is a person to do???????? Hmmmmm? 

 Build an ole XP gaming machine I guess. 

So that is what I am doing this afternoon with some awesome parts, most of which are right here on the Nostalgic Club forum.

First I will thank a couple of our very own TPU members for making this happen!!!



Spoiler: The Awesomeness



*Thanks to The_Mad_Shot for the awesome Abit NF7 motherboard, chip, cooler, and sound card!!!*
















*Thanks to LiNKiN for the awesome ATI 9800XT Pro video card!!!*






*I would also like to thank Thermaltake for the ole Tt Soprano RS case that I received several years ago as a review sample.*






*The awesome G.Skill ram going in on this system!




*

*A shot of the motherboard with the ram and heat sink installed.....Just before installing it into the case. 




*

*The Ultra X2 Connect 550 watt totally modular power supply...More than enough power for this awesome little nostalgic system. 




*

*And the system pretty much all together! 




*

*And last, a screen shot of the system up and running with Windows XP Pro w/SP3 and all updates installed. Damn, I had forgotten how frigging fast and snappy these little AMD XP's can be! 

Frigging sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet




*



*Okay, as I put this system together I will update this little post with pictures of it being assembled and a screen shot of Windows XP Pro. 

Again, I want to give a very special thanks to The_Mad_Shot and LiNKiN for helping to make this possible!!! *


----------



## phill (Jul 29, 2012)

Hey Stinger..  I'm so sorry I've not gotten back to you about the bits you asked for, I've just been massively busy and miles away again!!  

It'll be good to see the setup up and running


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 30, 2012)

Hey stinger, If that is the mobile chip just set the chip to 200x11 and it will run at default volts and very cool. That's where I had it set when I was crunching Seti on it. Also I would use the on board sound as apposed to the sound card. The on board Soundstorm is just great. I think it is actually better then the sound card. 


Also you are very welcome and have fun with that beast. If I remember correctly that board was one of my backup boards so it didn't get very much use.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 30, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Hey stinger, If that is the mobile chip just set the chip to 200x11 and it will run at default volts and very cool. That's where I had it set when I was crunching Seti on it. Also I would use the on board sound as apposed to the sound card. The on board Soundstorm is just great. I think it is actually better then the sound card.
> 
> 
> Also you are very welcome and have fun with that beast. If I remember correctly that board was one of my backup boards so it didn't get very much use.



Cool man! It is the mobile chip that was set in the board. Probably still set to 200x11. 

Ah, I guess I didn't realize that it had the Soundstorm chip! They were some great sounding chips for sure. I won't use the SoundBlaster since having that sound system in it.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 30, 2012)

That mobile chip was the one I used in my main NF7-s system. That thing rocked. It ran 24/7 with that high of a overclock without breaking a sweat. It actually ran a good but cooler then the actual 3200+ I was running in another system. 

I have yet to find anything that can come close to what Soundstorm was. It was a truly unremarkable sound chip.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 30, 2012)

Sound storm was a great audio system but it was only ever better than the Sound blaster 5.1 after that it took a back seat to the Audigy 1 and 2 it was and probably still is the best of the onboard setups I've ever used but that's been a long time ago now


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 10, 2012)

Updated this post with more images and a final screen shot of the system with Windows XP Pro SP3 all installed and all the updates. 

Put it all under a "Spoiler" to ease the loading times. 

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2685984&postcount=480

Awesome little ole system. Forgot what a hoot these AMD XP's can be!!!


----------



## phill (Aug 10, 2012)

Stinger, would you be interested in a few more bits for your collection??  It would be amazing to see them go to someone that collects this!!  Could I post up a pic of what I'd be willing to send?


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 11, 2012)

phill said:


> Stinger, would you be interested in a few more bits for your collection??  It would be amazing to see them go to someone that collects this!!  Could I post up a pic of what I'd be willing to send?



YOU BET MAN!!!!!! on both counts.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 11, 2012)

Go ahead and post up the pics Phil. I also maybe interested in some of the stuff if Stinger doesn't want it. Stinger gets first dibs.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 12, 2012)

Waiting on ya Phill LOL. 

Still waiting, waiting, waiting......... LOLOL

Mad, I don't want to hog all the damn stuff man. Hey and maybe you and I could split the stuff and the cost of shipping across the pond?


----------



## phill (Aug 12, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Waiting on ya Phill LOL.
> 
> Still waiting, waiting, waiting......... LOLOL
> 
> Mad, I don't want to hog all the damn stuff man. Hey and maybe you and I could split the stuff and the cost of shipping across the pond?



I'm sorry mate, I just finished work this morning and I've not slept much and I'm a little all over the place!! :lol:

I've got this little lot mate to get rid:






Would it be of any interest to you or both of you?


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 13, 2012)

What mobo is that and what video card is next to it? Also which processors are those? Do you have some prices you would like to get for the stuff? Stinger and I may be able to help you offload some of it.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 13, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> What mobo is that and what video card is next to it? Also which processors are those? Do you have some prices you would like to get for the stuff? Stinger and I may be able to help you offload some of it.



Or all of it. 

I am all over it all mate!!!!!!!


----------



## phill (Aug 13, 2012)

The motherboard is an Abit AV8 and the AGP card is a 6800 GT which I think someone else has put their mark on it, but I will check...  The board I'm not sure if it works or not as I haven't had time to test it but will sell as spares just in case..  I was going to do the CPU in it, with the Zalman cooler and board for £20.. So if it does work or you can get it to work, you got a bargain!!

I have prices for all of it mate, but if your both going to have it, then I'll do something special for you both   I just want rid so I ain't so worried about the money


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 13, 2012)

I know I wouldn't mind having the Hercules card and what socket A procs are those? I maybe be interested in those also.


----------



## phill (Aug 13, 2012)

The Socket A CPU's are a XP-M 2500 and a XP2800


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 14, 2012)

I would like to have them also (with the Hercules card) if not to expensive.  Pm me a price for the 3 items man.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 14, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I would like to have them also (with the Hercules card) if not to expensive.  Pm me a price for the 3 items man.



We could have everything shipped to you Mad. We could split the shipping and then I would pay to have the other items you don't want shipped to me.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 14, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> We could have everything shipped to you Mad. We could split the shipping and then I would pay to have the other items you don't want shipped to me.



Sounds like a plan man.


----------



## phill (Aug 14, 2012)

If that's alright with you guys??  I'm up for that


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 15, 2012)

phill said:


> If that's alright with you guys??  I'm up for that



Yep, works for me.


----------



## phill (Aug 15, 2012)

Awesome, I'll see if I can find a box big enough, box it all up and see how and where I might be able to send it and see how much it'll cost


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 15, 2012)

Cool thanks Phill and let us know a total price man.


----------



## phill (Aug 15, 2012)

Well since you guys are taking the lot for me, it'll be cheap as I just want rid!!  I'm unsure how much carriage will cost, but I will do my best to find out   How quick would you like the parts delivered guys?


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 15, 2012)

Quickness doesn't matter as cheapness does. The cheapest shipping you can find.


----------



## phill (Aug 15, 2012)

Righto boss, I'll do my best   I'll try and get it insured a little just to cover any issues that could come up...  Which I hope there are none!!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 15, 2012)

me to man. When you need just pm me for a address to ship to.


----------



## phill (Aug 15, 2012)

If you want to PM me over your address, I'll have it for when I get it all sorted and ready to send


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 15, 2012)

Pmed


----------



## phill (Aug 15, 2012)

Got it mate   I'll do my best to get something sorted for you both


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 16, 2012)

Some eye candy


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 16, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Some eye candy
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120815/IMG_0405 (Custom).jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120815/IMG_0411 (Custom).jpg



 How cool man!!!!!!! A Slot A Athlon 800!!!!!! Very cool Mad. 

I actually had one of those with the crappy stock cooler and it was a frigging overclocking monster!!!!! Man, I wish I would have never parted with that.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 16, 2012)

I have the stock cooler also. I actually just put that golden orb on it over the weekend in preparation for my next up coming build.  That cooler was never used before. I also have a Msi 6167 still sealed in the box for the build. I will get pics of ot soon and also pics of me opening the box.


----------



## Norton (Aug 16, 2012)

Just in case you want to leave the box sealed.....

http://www.alancomputech.com/ms-6167.html


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 16, 2012)

Wow thats cheap. I wonder if shipping is included?

Nope but $11 shipping is alright. I just may have to pick one up just to keep mine sealed.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 16, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I just may have to pick one up just to keep mine sealed.



 Yep, I think I would man.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 16, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Yep, I think I would man.



Does sound like the thing to do doesn't it. LOL


----------



## Norton (Aug 16, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Does sound like the thing to do doesn't it. LOL



Site has an ebay store too! 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSi-6167-AT...634468114?pt=Motherboards&hash=item564b892b12


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 16, 2012)

Ohh free shipping if bought of the ebay store.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 16, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Ohh free shipping if bought of the ebay store.



Plus has the "make offer." Hell, shoot him an offer of $20 with the free shipping as see if they go for it.


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 16, 2012)

I used to have one of those K6-2 500 CPU's good they were with a descent cooler on them they clock pretty well I used to have mine sitting on 650MHz 24/7 along with my nVidia TnT2 m64 ahhh quake II used to run very well indeed


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 23, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> I used to have one of those K6-2 500 CPU's good they were with a descent cooler on them they clock pretty well I used to have mine sitting on 650MHz 24/7 along with my nVidia TnT2 m64 ahhh quake II used to run very well indeed



 Ahhhhhhh Quake 2 FTW!!!!

Played that game from start to finish about 10 times over a few years. Man that was the times.......Damn, I might just have to load that on my XP system I just put together lately.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 23, 2012)

That and Unreal tournament. The first one. I lost countless hours playing it and Ut2k3.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 23, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> That and Unreal tournament. The first one. I lost countless hours playing it and Ut2k3.



 Yep me also. Loved both UT and UT2K3!! 

Mad, did you ever play "Death Ball?" It was a total mod for UT2K3. Frigging crazy fun at a LAN party. 

Damn! Just damn, I miss those days.


----------



## phill (Aug 23, 2012)

Hi Stinger and The Mad Shot...

I'm sorry I've not been in touch much, I have just had the most awesome thing happen in which that my wife gave birth to our baby girl a few days ago and I've just been so busy, I've just not been able to do anything easily!!  I have wrapped up your parcel and I'm ready to send it, I just need to sort out a courier and get it on its way!!

I'm sorry for not replying sooner!!  I hope you both are ok


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 23, 2012)

Hey Phill Take your time man. we know a new little one can be busy times when you first get them home. And Congrats man  I am glad things are going great. 

Babies are awesome and just wait til she gets a little age to her where she starts moving around and able to do things. Thats when the real fun happens. They just do all kinds of neat stuff you would think is not possible for there age.


----------



## phill (Aug 23, 2012)

I'll do myu best to get it sent off asap!!  I'll worry about cash/payments later


----------



## Norton (Aug 23, 2012)

phill said:


> Hi Stinger and The Mad Shot...
> 
> I'm sorry I've not been in touch much, I have just had the most awesome thing happen in which that my wife gave birth to our baby girl a few days ago and I've just been so busy, I've just not been able to do anything easily!!  I have wrapped up your parcel and I'm ready to send it, I just need to sort out a courier and get it on its way!!
> 
> I'm sorry for not replying sooner!!  I hope you both are ok



Congrats on your new daughter! -- 

I guess *Y*our nostalgic hardware is still working...


----------



## phill (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks for that Norton !! How old do you think I am?? :lol:


----------



## Norton (Aug 23, 2012)

phill said:


> Thanks for that Norton !! How old do you think I am?? :lol:



 a little older than your teeth just like everyone else


----------



## popswala (Aug 23, 2012)

Norton said:


> a little older than your teeth just like everyone else



lol. i never thought of that that way. Nice one.


----------



## Peter1986C (Aug 24, 2012)

phill said:


> Hi Stinger and The Mad Shot...
> 
> I'm sorry I've not been in touch much, I have just had the most awesome thing happen in which that my wife gave birth to our baby girl a few days ago and I've just been so busy, I've just not been able to do anything easily!!  I have wrapped up your parcel and I'm ready to send it, I just need to sort out a courier and get it on its way!!
> 
> I'm sorry for not replying sooner!!  I hope you both are ok



Congrats with your daughter!


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 24, 2012)

*Congratulations Phill on the new baby girl!!!!*


You send the items when ever you get settled man!!!!!


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 24, 2012)

phill said:


> Hi Stinger and The Mad Shot...
> 
> I'm sorry I've not been in touch much, I have just had the most awesome thing happen in which that my wife gave birth to our baby girl a few days ago and I've just been so busy, I've just not been able to do anything easily!!  I have wrapped up your parcel and I'm ready to send it, I just need to sort out a courier and get it on its way!!
> 
> I'm sorry for not replying sooner!!  I hope you both are ok



Congrats to you and your wife


----------



## MilkyWay (Aug 24, 2012)

I got myself a CRT RGB Scart monitor, the model is a Philips HCS 35. Very nice picture, has a broken power switch but i've jammed temporarily so its turned on. Using it for old home computers and consoles with RGB Scart. Has a built in speaker which does the job.


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 24, 2012)

I played a similar game to that called Jaguar XJ220 racing hours of fun for me and frustration for my mate who thought he was good at it and I kept beating him


----------



## MilkyWay (Aug 24, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> I played a similar game to that called Jaguar XJ220 racing hours of fun for me and frustration for my mate who thought he was good at it and I kept beating him



I have Jaguar XJ220 on the Mega CD  I was playing a bit of Lotus Turbo Challenge on the Amiga 1200 just to test the monitor out, Its got a really nice picture that's very smooth.


----------



## phill (Aug 24, 2012)

I think I have both of those games on my Amiga 1200!!   I remember Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 and Lotus 3, must be two of the best games I had on my Amiga!! 

Oh as as for the baby girl, here's a few snap shots of our little baby girl Isabelle Grace 





















I apologise for the quality of the pics, but they where taken with my mobile!! I can't stop looking at her!!  I don't believe its real!! :lol:


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 24, 2012)

Ahhhhhhhhh she is so damn precious man!!!!!!!!!! 

How awesome my friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## phill (Aug 24, 2012)

Yeah the wifes not too bad either  

I love them both to death


----------



## Norton (Aug 24, 2012)

phill said:


> Yeah the wifes not too bad either
> 
> I love them both to death



Yep hot hardware is nice but 9 months and X number of hours of labor later and you get the best build of your life


----------



## phill (Aug 24, 2012)

Well sadly for the wife we had to have a C Section as there where complications during the pregnancy, nothing is straight forward with my wife!! :lol:

But either way they are both well and ok and I'm so happy I was crying like Isabelle earlier!! :lol:


----------



## Norton (Aug 24, 2012)

phill said:


> Well sadly for the wife we had to have a C Section as there where complications during the pregnancy, nothing is straight forward with my wife!! :lol:
> 
> But either way they are both well and ok and I'm so happy I was crying like Isabelle earlier!! :lol:



Sorry to hear it about the tough time and it's good to hear you are all doing well 

Did the boys meet their sister yet?


----------



## phill (Aug 24, 2012)

Yes mate, they've met her and had cuddles too 

Hopefully just on her last feed before bed but I'm sure we'll be up and around most of the night with her too :lol:  I really want the wife to get some rest, she needs it more than I do..


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 25, 2012)

Norton said:


> Yep hot hardware is nice but 9 months and X number of hours of labor later and you get the best build of your life



 Could not have stated that any better!!!!!!!!!! Well put Norton!!!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 25, 2012)

Very nice pics and such a cute baby. Hope your wife is felling well. My wife had 2 c sections because of complications. Long story short, with the twins we almost lost them due to a rare syndrome (twin 2 twin) so once the doctors felt like the twins where big enough to survive they delivered them by c section. With the last child my wife called the doctors office and told them her water broke. They told her to come in. When they checked her they said her water was fine and that she must have wet herself. This was on a Friday, by Monday she was having some pain so she went to the hospital. The checked her and found yes her water broke Friday and the baby was almost in a dry sack so they delivered him right away by c section. 



But healing from the c section isn't that bad as my wife says. A little painful at first but it goes away quick.


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 25, 2012)

Nice family system Upgrade Phill she's a little cutie


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 25, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> Nice family system Upgrade Phill she's a little cutie



 Him and his wife are the "nostalgic hardware" I guess.


----------



## phill (Aug 26, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words guys   I'm very happy even if the wife is a little short and got a temper!! :lol:


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 28, 2012)

Perhaps a few 4am feeds by you might make her (the Wife) a bit less short tempered


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 28, 2012)

Shiznit just about forgot to say I have a very nice little Gigabyte nForce 2 MCP2 mobo (GA 7N400 Pro2) sitting here with an AMD AthlonXP  3200+ and GB af DDR400 ram in it  I just replaced it with and Asrock A75pro4-M and A8-3870 and 8GB DDR3-1333


----------



## phill (Aug 28, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> Perhaps a few 4am feeds by you might make her (the Wife) a bit less short tempered



Well she's the one insisting on breast feeding so I don't know if I can manage that very easy!! :lol:


----------



## phill (Aug 28, 2012)

Right guys, here's a few oldie rigs I've managed to get together and I think I'll be up for selling at some point   Please let me know what you think 

My DFI 939 Lan Party Motherboard











Our son's Gigabyte 939 system..










Our other son's MSI 939 system..










All of them have the same 2Gb of ram set, which are the amazing OCZ PC3200 Platiumn ram which is standard at Cas 2 2-2-5 at 200Mhz speeds and I've managed to get it clocked to around the 270 mark with Cas 2.5 4-4-7 timings I think (its been a long time!!)

I can post up spec's if you wish later   Just wanted to show Dano and John


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 28, 2012)

Nice Phill. Lets us know when you put them up for sale and give us a price shipped in pm.


----------



## phill (Aug 29, 2012)

I'll try and do that 

I'm hoping to get things sorted for the other parcel soon, I just need to get it weighed and I can get it on its way 

Did you want me to PM a price for the carriage?


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 29, 2012)

phill said:


> Did you want me to PM a price for the carriage?



Probably should Phill.


----------



## phill (Aug 29, 2012)

I'll find out a rough weight for the box at the moment and then I'll send a price for that   I must sort a price out for the hardware I guess first too :lol:


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 30, 2012)

That would be good man. Let us know a total price before you ship.


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 30, 2012)

phill said:


> Well she's the one insisting on breast feeding so I don't know if I can manage that very easy!! :lol:



get a breast pump and make an offer she can't refuse


----------



## phill (Aug 30, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> That would be good man. Let us know a total price before you ship.



Of course   I'll work on that today, as I'd love to get it shipped out to you both!!  What would you like me to do with the 939 systems??



Athlonite said:


> get a breast pump and make an offer she can't refuse



Well she has said about that but I'm unsure what sort of an offer she'd need to not refuse it


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 30, 2012)

phill said:


> Of course I'll work on that today, as I'd love to get it shipped out to you both!! What would you like me to do with the 939 systems??



Awesome Phill. Let us know man. 

Figure out what you want for the 939 systems and let us know as well.


----------



## phill (Aug 30, 2012)

Ok Dano 

Sorry I'm so damn slow, everything is getting in the way!!


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 30, 2012)

phill said:


> Ok Dano
> 
> Sorry I'm so damn slow, everything is getting in the way!!



No hurry man. The new baby will take up a ton of anyone's time bro.


----------



## phill (Aug 30, 2012)

I'll do my best to get a PM sent to you guys this evening with all the bits I've put in and then a price for that..  I just need to measure it and work out how heavy it is and then we can talk about getting it sent to you 

What would you like me to do with the 939 rigs??


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 30, 2012)

phill said:


> What would you like me to do with the 939 rigs??



Well I imagine price them out with shipping as well. No hurry on them though, as that can be another time.


----------



## phill (Aug 30, 2012)

Ok mate, I'll reply to the PM with a price for the hardware I have got ready to send over at the moment.  We can work out whenever you want the others sent


----------



## Animalpak (Sep 17, 2012)

Look at this ram coolers... Amazing isnt it ?


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 18, 2012)

er they're pretty cool


----------



## phill (Sep 18, 2012)

Shocking coolers, I wonder if they do anything much for it??

Guys I have the box ready and it'll be weighed tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to get a few costs over to you shortly !!  So sorry its taken so long   Isabelle doesn't half keep us busy!!


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 19, 2012)

Them are some bad ass looking ram coolers!!!! Whether they do any good or not is anyone's guess LOL. Still would be awesome in an old system with a window and some black lights!!


----------



## xBruce88x (Sep 23, 2012)

damn... now its official... I NEED to upgrade lol... It's pretty bad that my 8800gt card has been on this thread about 2 or 3 times. Mine's still up and running and overclocked with an aftermarket cooler.

It may be old... but at least it handle's AA/AF better than my friend's 6850 lol.

This thread got me thinking... could I use my old Rage128 AIW as a digital tv tuner? as in would it be able to pick up the digital signals without a converter box? If that's the case then I'd like to make a 3DFX gaming machine with a Rage 128 AIW for watching tv. I've got a Canopus Pure3d II that has c-video and s-video connections on it. I'd need to rig up a passthrough cable for the vga though.

also... I've got an old Gateway2000 Anykey from 1991 and a few misc old hardware. I'll post some pics in the next day or so


----------



## Jstn7477 (Sep 23, 2012)

xBruce88x said:


> damn... now its official... I NEED to upgrade lol... It's pretty bad that my 8800gt card has been on this thread about 2 or 3 times. Mine's still up and running and overclocked with an aftermarket cooler.
> 
> It may be old... but at least it handle's AA/AF better than my friend's 6850 lol.
> 
> ...



DTV didn't start making a presence until the mid-2000s so I am highly doubtful it has a digital tuner.


----------



## xBruce88x (Sep 23, 2012)

yea that's what i was kinda thinking in the back of my mind... I was hoping there might be a chance since PCs are mostly digital. Oh well I guess I'll just have to get a tuner card later

edit: I found my answer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-in-Wonder#Lineup
Oh well...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 23, 2012)

I'll just drop these here.


----------



## phill (Sep 23, 2012)

That's definitely some Nostalgic hardware right there 

ISA slots.... Not seen them in a little while!!


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 24, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I'll just drop these here.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120914/IMG_0487 (Custom).jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120914/IMG_0486 (Custom).jpg



Sweet ole Slot A system Mad!!!!!!


----------



## The Von Matrices (Sep 24, 2012)

I've never seen an aftermarket heatsink for a slotted processor before - nice picture.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Sep 26, 2012)

I guess I fit in this Club with a Skt A machine as my Main Rig.

Runs Skype better than the Atom Netbook here at that lmao


----------



## TRWOV (Sep 26, 2012)

The Atoms are just catching up with the Pentium 4s


----------



## eidairaman1 (Sep 26, 2012)

TRWOV said:


> The Atoms are just catching up with the Pentium 4s



heck I think AMDs geode ran better than Atom


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 26, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> I guess I fit in this Club with a Skt A machine as my Main Rig.
> 
> Runs Skype better than the Atom Netbook here at that lmao



Take a snap shot of it and post it man. I will add ya to the list.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 6, 2012)

Up for being a bit buried LOL


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 6, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Up for being a bit buried LOL



Hey stinger once i get it back in order ill upload pics, I gotta inspect the hardware for any damage (hope the video card aint damaged)


----------



## cdawall (Oct 6, 2012)

Got an oddball one for everyone. Just ordered an Asus sk8v socket 940 to play with my fx51 with.


----------



## Frick (Oct 6, 2012)

cdawall said:


> Got an oddball one for everyone. Just ordered an Asus sk8v socket 940 to play with my fx51 with.



Nice!

I'm still hoping I can snag an Amstrad CPC-464 from somewhere on the cheap. We had one at home (well my brothers did) and it worked fine for a long time until my mother literally threw it out. And left it in the rain for a couple of weeks. I had a sad when I came home seeing that.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 7, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> Hey stinger once i get it back in order ill upload pics, I gotta inspect the hardware for any damage (hope the video card aint damaged)



Awesome man. Looking forward to seeing some pics of it bro. 



cdawall said:


> Got an oddball one for everyone. Just ordered an Asus sk8v socket 940 to play with my fx51 with.



Shoot some pictures CD and post them up man. 



Frick said:


> Nice!
> 
> I'm still hoping I can snag an Amstrad CPC-464 from somewhere on the cheap. We had one at home (well my brothers did) and it worked fine for a long time until my mother literally threw it out. And left it in the rain for a couple of weeks. I had a sad when I came home seeing that.



Oh crap, I'll bet you were very bummed about that man.


----------



## mediasorcerer (Oct 7, 2012)

This mobo is ancient [1996 i think], funny thing is i got it going the other day but im going to use some of the heatsinks for a current case im building maybe. crappy mob ph pic. i have the 150w psu , old ide hdrive with xp and floppy /cd drive that goes with it, i think its a 600 hz celeron, couldnt believe i got it going, was out in the rain hehe!!


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 7, 2012)

that's because it was in the days when things were made to last not like nowadays where if it's stuffed you throw it away .... I still have a working Seagate 545MB HDD


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 7, 2012)

mediasorcerer said:


> This mobo is ancient [1996 i think], funny thing is i got it going the other day but im going to use some of the heatsinks for a current case im building maybe. crappy mob ph pic. i have the 150w psu , old ide hdrive with xp and floppy /cd drive that goes with it, i think its a 600 hz celeron, couldnt believe i got it going, was out in the rain hehe!!
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img600/5364/dsc00139lr.jpg



SWEEEEEEEEEET!!!! 

Man, you should run to a local electrical store or computer shop to see if you can find some heat sinks and not destroy this ole system. Awesome old school stuff there man. Added you to the original post.


----------



## cdawall (Oct 10, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Shoot some pictures CD and post them up man.








The CPU






The mobo...I still need to grab some DDR1 ECC...I have some CE-5 that matches the chip number listed but it isn't ECC/REG'd, but I don't know if it is required...






The CE-5 isn't listed as ECC...weirdness






CE-5






DDR1 collection 4x256mb (CE-5), 3x512mb (various), 2x256mb (geil ultra 2-3-3-6)


----------



## cdawall (Oct 10, 2012)

Tried the non-server DDR1 no-go ordered some ECC stuff. I will be trying my modded V10 on this with a 90w tec installed.

Now who can name that VGA card


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 10, 2012)

cdawall said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/121010/20121010_141848.jpg
> 
> Tried the non-server DDR1 no-go ordered some ECC stuff. I will be trying my modded V10 on this with a 90w tec installed.
> 
> Now who can name that VGA card



It's definitely a PNY branded All-In-Wonder, but I can't figure out which particular model.


----------



## cdawall (Oct 10, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> It's definitely a PNY branded All-In-Wonder, but I can't figure out which particular model.



I will narrow it down to nvidia for you


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 10, 2012)

cdawall said:


> I will narrow it down to nvidia for you



I'm out of ideas then. I've never seen an Nvidia card with a TV tuner on it...


----------



## cdawall (Oct 11, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> I'm out of ideas then. I've never seen an Nvidia card with a TV tuner on it...



PNY PCFX5700APB GeForce FX 5700 128MB 128-bit DDR ...


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 11, 2012)

cdawall said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/121010/20121010_141848.jpg
> 
> Tried the non-server DDR1 no-go ordered some ECC stuff. I will be trying my modded V10 on this with a 90w tec installed.
> 
> Now who can name that VGA card



Awesome CD!!!!! 

Added ya to the original post my friend.


----------



## phill (Oct 12, 2012)

Could you call some 775 stuff Nostalgic yet??


----------



## Peter1986C (Oct 12, 2012)

LGA775? No...


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 12, 2012)

Chevalr1c said:


> LGA775? No...



It's subjective, not objective. Nostalgia is simply looking back fondly on something. If he has good memories of LGA775 system(s), then for him, it _is_ nostalgic


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 12, 2012)

phill said:


> Could you call some 775 stuff Nostalgic yet??





Chevalr1c said:


> LGA775? No...



Sure. 




Random Murderer said:


> It's subjective, not objective. Nostalgia is simply looking back fondly on something. If he has good memories of LGA775 system(s), then for him, it _is_ nostalgic



I totally agree RM! I personally would be more apt to call socket 478 as nostalgic but as RM pointed out, if someone had an awesome 775 system then sure. Heck, it is a few generations of Intel old.


----------



## phill (Oct 12, 2012)

Chevalr1c said:


> LGA775? No...





Random Murderer said:


> It's subjective, not objective. Nostalgia is simply looking back fondly on something. If he has good memories of LGA775 system(s), then for him, it _is_ nostalgic





stinger608 said:


> Sure.
> 
> I totally agree RM! I personally would be more apt to call socket 478 as nostalgic but as RM pointed out, if someone had an awesome 775 system then sure. Heck, it is a few generations of Intel old.



Well hopefully I'll be able to post up a few pics for you guys soon   I've managed to track something down and I've found a few pics of a few bits of hardware I used to own whilst I was benching for Benchtech UK   Hopefully, you'll enjoy them


----------



## da_vid (Oct 12, 2012)




----------



## Norton (Oct 12, 2012)

da_vid said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/121012/DSC_0401.jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121012/DSC_0404.jpg



"Incredibly Fast" -

Nice nostalgic hardware!!! 

(sorry- my "Thanks" button isn't working...)


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 13, 2012)

da_vid said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/121012/DSC_0401.jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121012/DSC_0404.jpg



Awesome ole hardware Da_vid!!!!!! Added you to the original post and I want to thank you for crunching in Stanhemi's name man!!! God bless him and we are all sorry for the loss.


----------



## da_vid (Oct 13, 2012)

another old crap


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 13, 2012)

da_vid said:


> another old *gem*
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121012/DSC_0411.jpg



Fixed that for you.
A damn VIC20, haven't seen one in at least ten years now.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 14, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> Fixed that for you.
> A damn VIC20, haven't seen one in at least ten years now.



Amen to that RM!! That is a gem.


----------



## cdawall (Oct 15, 2012)

My reg'd ram showed but my mobo's AGP slot is dead I think. Might have to snag some kind of crazy PCI card to try...


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 15, 2012)

cdawall said:


> My reg'd ram showed but my mobo's AGP slot is dead I think. Might have to snag some kind of crazy PCI card to try...



Damn man, that sucks the AGP slot is dead! Damn it, I don't even have any good PCI video cards anymore........Sure wish I did bro.


----------



## cdawall (Oct 15, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Damn man, that sucks the AGP slot is dead! Damn it, I don't even have any good PCI video cards anymore........Sure wish I did bro.



Not a big deal will pick up an FX5200 or 6200TC one of these days. No rush from me to find it got enough work getting the big PC running


----------



## Animalpak (Oct 15, 2012)

some nice intact old farts here...


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 15, 2012)

while looking for parts to build my 3dfx system I came across quite a bit of old stuff... one is even a complete system! I think its a Pentium 133 or 166... maybe even 233. I found a couple P2s... 400 and 450mhz, a couple PIIIs, 550 and 800, 3x AMD K6-2 500mhz cpus, a P4 at 2.26ghz, Celeron 600 and Celeron 1400 both s370, some video cards including 3dfx v2 and v3, an mpeg2 hardware card, modems, s478 s370 and slot intel motherboards along with a few hard drives and a 32x cdrom drive.

i'll post pics tomorrow... gotta get some sleep


----------



## MilkyWay (Oct 15, 2012)

da_vid said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/121012/DSC_0401.jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121012/DSC_0404.jpg



I have an Atari 1040STe; STe has a built in floppy drive, 2mg ram standard, enhanced joystick ports, blitter for improved graphics, PCM audio via RCA phono sockets. The STe is a complete badass, its a shame no one really programmed for it.

I use an old Philips monitor with my old home computers and some of my consoles, in Europe Philips made a lot of the Commodore monitors and even some of them where rebranded for Acorn computers.
I should post up a pic of that monitor.


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 15, 2012)

xBruce88x said:


> while looking for parts to build my 3dfx system I came across quite a bit of old stuff... one is even a complete system! I think its a Pentium 133 or 166... maybe even 233. I found a couple P2s... 400 and 450mhz, a couple PIIIs, 550 and 800, 3x AMD K6-2 500mhz cpus, a P4 at 2.26ghz, Celeron 600 and Celeron 1400 both s370, some video cards including 3dfx v2 and v3, an mpeg2 hardware card, modems, s478 s370 and slot intel motherboards along with a few hard drives and a 32x cdrom drive.
> 
> i'll post pics tomorrow... gotta get some sleep



I got a voodoo 2 12MB and an old S3 4MB trio64 and the connecting cable here and a PIII slot one CPU 500MHz a celery 500MHz and an PI with MMX 233MHz a celery 1000MHz and another celery 700MHz a couple of 256KB C.O.A.S.T (cache on a stick) :shadedshu I realy don't know why I have them hanging around I'm never going to do anything with them


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 15, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> I got a voodoo 2 12MB and an old S3 4MB trio64 and the connecting cable here and a PIII slot one CPU 500MHz a celery 500MHz and an PI with MMX 233MHz a celery 1000MHz and another celery 700MHz a couple of 256KB C.O.A.S.T (cache on a stick) :shadedshu I realy don't know why I have them hanging around I'm never going to do anything with them



Retro build is calling you man.


----------



## brandonwh64 (Oct 15, 2012)

Some 1st gen S478 with Geforce MX400

Look at the blown caps!!


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 15, 2012)

heh... i've used boards with worse caps lol


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 16, 2012)

time for a recap then brandonwh64 easy peasy with a good soldering iron and a steady hand should only take you about 10 mins tops


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 16, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Retro build is calling you man.




only one thing stopping me and that's the lack of a mobo to put this shit in


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 16, 2012)

athlonite said:


> Only one thing stopping me and that's the lack of a mobo to put this shit in



lol


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 16, 2012)

Hell now if just anyone would take the time to write a Proper NF/NF2/NF3/NF5 Driver Package for Vista/7/8 we would be set


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 16, 2012)

Funny you should say that I've a mate who just happened to be running an GA-7N400 Pro2 (rev. 1.x) nVidia nForce2 + MCP mobo and an Athlon XP 3200+ that was running windows 7 x86 fine a little slow but it ran and for GPU he had an AGP 8x HD3650 1GB DDR2 card, 2GB DDR-400, 2 WD 80GB IDE HDD's on the gigaraid in raid0


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 16, 2012)

I do miss the nForce Audio control panel for my Abit NF7-S 2.0. Anyhow... time to start uploading some of those pics.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 17, 2012)

I also miss the great Soundstorm audio.


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 17, 2012)

OK here goes with the Pics... Gonna warn you ahead of time... not all of these are PC related but still retro none the less. Added a couple "easter eggs" too. You'll know what I mean when you see it.

Here's a few shots of the complete system I was referring to. It still works 






I guess you can tell I let one of my female friend's borrow my monitor for a while lol. I guess you could say the monitor itself is part of the Retro collection of mine... Its from 2000. Its a KDS Avitron 19in.. or was it 20-21in... anyhow... its a pretty good monitor still. It can do 1920x1440 @60hz. Its currently set to 1680x1050@85hz though. As for the Win2000, that's on the Pentium MMX system. I can't really get much farther with it though since there's some old security software on the hard drive. No worries though, I plan to load Win98 on it anyway.






Here's the little Pentium MMX humming along, along with its cache on the mobo. First time I used this type cpu was with an old Packard Bell that had an ATI RageII or w/e with 2MB vram onboard. That thing played Team Apache pretty well. (anyone remember that game?). I'm gonna try to overclock the thing a little. I think 266 is the max on this board. If the max is higher, then I'll drop in on of my K6's.






Speaking of K6-2s... I got 3 of the little guys... all 500s. Hmm... now how'd that happen?  Sorry its upside down... still readable though 






On the topic of AMD CPU's... so far this is the only experience I've had with Bulldozer. Yes, I live in a trailer. No, those guys aren't related to me. Yep, those are some random sized windows. That little door is for the hot water heater.






Back to the MMX system... there's the memory.






Here's an old Analogue Devices sound card in an old ass ISA slot.






leftovers of one of my Pentium II systems...






Here's a couple SiS AGP cards... the first is 4mb, the other 8mb... I played Shogo: MAD with the 8mb... it was a little slow 











Here's an old P4 mobo... It was a bit unstable the last time I used it though. Notice the lack of a P4 connector.






Credits from the first Call of Duty... can anyone tell me what famous actor is in these credits? I'll give you a hint... Death Race.






So this one makes a bit more sense to you... SimCity4 is an EA title... now think about the image for a min and you'll get it... If you've played the game they're referring to.






And the last game reference for now... I bet this will bring back some memories  






A couple "Lady Pleasers" for ya...











This little guy still comes in handy sometimes






Remember when THIS was a smartphone?






I'd hope you guys would remember this thing...






And to finish off with a lava lamp...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 17, 2012)

Some great stuff you have there Bruce.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 17, 2012)

not to try and knock you but werent you ever told not to handle electronics by their contacts?


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 17, 2012)

This may sound strange... but some people don't conduct electricity as *much as* others. I can touch all over a mobo and nothing happens. Then my friend will just touch it and its dead... this is when I figured this out. I think I heard something like this on Discovery. I've never had a problem with shorting anything or getting to much skin oil on them... but yea its usually not a good idea. But, back then things were built a little tougher.

Edit: fixed a slight grammar issue... in bold


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 17, 2012)

Yes back then stuff was built to last. Proof is in that the stuff still runs today.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 17, 2012)

Awesome old hardware Bruce!!!!!!!!! 

I have very respectively added your name to the original post man!!!!!!!!


----------



## TRWOV (Oct 17, 2012)

cdawall said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/121010/20121010_141848.jpg
> 
> Tried the non-server DDR1 no-go ordered some ECC stuff. I will be trying my modded V10 on this with a 90w tec installed.
> 
> Now who can name that VGA card




I've got that same PSU. Comes pretty handy. Also my OCTANUX guts:


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 17, 2012)

found some gameplay video running on my last 98 build before I took it apart... for w/e reason lol

duke nukem 3d.3gp - YouTube

 well its the game's built in gameplay demo or w/e its called. I honestly don't remember exactly why I took the thing apart.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 17, 2012)

xBruce88x said:


> This may sound strange... but some people don't conduct electricity as *much as* others. I can touch all over a mobo and nothing happens. Then my friend will just touch it and its dead... this is when I figured this out. I think I heard something like this on Discovery. I've never had a problem with shorting anything or getting to much skin oil on them... but yea its usually not a good idea. But, back then things were built a little tougher.
> 
> Edit: fixed a slight grammar issue... in bold



well im the kind that has to be extra careful because of the charge i build, ive killed too much from doing what you did so i dont do it, plus its something i learned being in the Military working on Planes


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 17, 2012)

Yea I bet they had some really sensitive components... in that situation I'd take every precaution since more is at stake


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 17, 2012)

xBruce88x said:


> Yea I bet they had some really sensitive components... in that situation I'd take every precaution since more is at stake



its the fact of the price, a Single Part can cost as much as the worlds most expensive super car


----------



## Jhelms (Oct 18, 2012)

Not ancient but old... My one of my ATI 9800 pros... Can spy two bartons in the background.. a 2200+ and a 3200+ from memory (faulty memory so no guarantees lol)





My watercooled rig... Koolance had just come out with the exos system at the time. Had an A7N8X Asus mobo.. 9800pro, overclocked 2200+, original corsair XMS memory.. 4gb! Original 32gb or something like that raptors in raid 0 and a enermax power supply. For the time... it was a freaking ballistic missile. I remember taking it to a large lan party and had many jaws on the floor as it was quite high end for the time. 





A watercooled shuttle I built... With watercooled 9800pro 









Need to dig up some pics of my other gear...4200ti's... other various ATI gear. Oh the painful memories money wise... The 9800 pro with zalman heatsink is still going strong BTW in my friends / kids school PC!


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 18, 2012)

know what year and week the 3200+ was made?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 18, 2012)

Garage1217 said:


> Not ancient but old... My one of my ATI 9800 pros... Can spy two bartons in the background.. a 2200+ and a 3200+ from memory (faulty memory so no guarantees lol)
> http://www.garage1217.com/NEWPC/OLDPCS/9800back.jpg
> 
> My watercooled rig... Koolance had just come out with the exos system at the time. Had an A7N8X Asus mobo.. 9800pro, overclocked 2200+, original corsair XMS memory.. 4gb! Original 32gb or something like that raptors in raid 0 and a enermax power supply. For the time... it was a freaking ballistic missile. I remember taking it to a large lan party and had many jaws on the floor as it was quite high end for the time.
> ...




Very awesome man!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing, and I included your user name in the original post man.....


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 18, 2012)

Garage1217 said:


> Not ancient but old... My one of my ATI 9800 pros... Can spy two bartons in the background.. a 2200+ and a 3200+ from memory (faulty memory so no guarantees lol)
> http://www.garage1217.com/NEWPC/OLDPCS/9800back.jpg
> 
> My watercooled rig... Koolance had just come out with the exos system at the time. Had an A7N8X Asus mobo.. 9800pro, overclocked 2200+, original corsair XMS memory.. 4gb! Original 32gb or something like that raptors in raid 0 and a enermax power supply. For the time... it was a freaking ballistic missile. I remember taking it to a large lan party and had many jaws on the floor as it was quite high end for the time.
> ...



Sweet stuff man. I still run a few Dragon cases. I do love them and they have pretty good air flow. 
You still have the koolance system by anychance?


----------



## Jhelms (Oct 18, 2012)

eidairaman1 - Been so long I have no idea. Took those photos about 10 or more years ago!

ThE_MaD_ShOt - got rid of the koolance stuff probably 6 years ago. Still good gear and can be used today. Would not mind having another exos but my new case will not allow it to sit on top like that.

Thanks guys! Overall very cool seeing all the old gear.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 18, 2012)

If I find one I am going to have a field day LOL.


----------



## Norton (Oct 18, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> If I find one I am going to have a field day LOL.




I may have something for you then


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 19, 2012)

Cool man. I have always though those Koolance system where well cool looking.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 19, 2012)

Garage1217 said:


> eidairaman1 - Been so long I have no idea. Took those photos about 10 or more years ago!
> 
> ThE_MaD_ShOt - got rid of the koolance stuff probably 6 years ago. Still good gear and can be used today. Would not mind having another exos but my new case will not allow it to sit on top like that.
> 
> Thanks guys! Overall very cool seeing all the old gear.



so im guessing you dont have dem chips no more


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 19, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> so im guessing you dont have dem chips no more


 I have a bunch of socket A stuff packed away in my collection.


----------



## phill (Oct 19, 2012)

Here's a few bits I have laying about for some testing...





















Maybe not old enough but they'll be staying with me for a long while 

Here's a few oldie shots 




































Got loads more


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 19, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> eidairaman1 said:
> 
> 
> > so im guessing you dont have dem chips no more
> ...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 19, 2012)

Just pick up a XP-M chip. They clock easier and farther then regular Barton chips do. And you can get one for next to nothing on Ebay now. I personally use the Xp-m 2500+. The 2400's are good to. Ask Stinger about them. He is running one.


----------



## phill (Oct 19, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> ThE_MaD_ShOt said:
> 
> 
> > eidairaman1 said:
> ...


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 19, 2012)

phill said:


> Here's a few bits I have laying about for some testing...
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img688/8986/20121016144446.jpg
> 
> ...



Any chance you'd part with that G92 8800GT?


----------



## phill (Oct 19, 2012)

Sadly that's an old pic...  I used to have all that stuff


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 19, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Just pick up a XP-M chip. They clock easier and farther then regular Barton chips do. And you can get one for next to nothing on Ebay now. I personally use the Xp-m 2500+. The 2400's are good to. Ask Stinger about them. He is running one.



i already have a XP-M 2500+ in, only gets up to 2.2GHz stabily, after that it crashes hard no matter what voltage is applied.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 19, 2012)

2.2 is 3200+ speed. I hit 2.2 with my 2500+ xp-m on stock mobile voltage. I ran it at 2.4 with a very small bump in voltage. I can't remember exactly what the voltage was though.


----------



## phill (Oct 19, 2012)

I think with a bit of voltage those XP-M 2500's really can speed along   I think I have managed to hit 2.8Ghz with one with water cooling...  I hope to see if I can find another few to get a few higher scores


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 19, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> 2.2 is 3200+ speed. I hit 2.2 with my 2500+ xp-m on stock mobile voltage. I ran it at 2.4 with a very small bump in voltage. I can't remember exactly what the voltage was though.



after 2.2 the 2500 M I have here would crash under COD 4 even, that was just with a multiplier bump (Yes I was able to run that game on the 1950 pro here at decent frames in MP even).

Ive about given up on it. Ill eventually return to messing around with it once i get a new machine built of the APU line


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 19, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Just pick up a XP-M chip. They clock easier and farther then regular Barton chips do. And you can get one for next to nothing on Ebay now. I personally use the Xp-m 2500+. The 2400's are good to. Ask Stinger about them. He is running one.



Damn it!!! For some reason that system is not booting.  I am kind of leaning toward the video card taking a shit, but have to test it further. I have a DVI to HDMI cable that is known good, but I am not getting crap when I boot. Going to switch over to the 6600 Nvidia card and try again. I hope that is what it is!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Oct 20, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Damn it!!! For some reason that system is not booting.  I am kind of leaning toward the video card taking a shit, but have to test it further. I have a DVI to HDMI cable that is known good, but I am not getting crap when I boot. Going to switch over to the 6600 Nvidia card and try again. I hope that is what it is!



Me too man. I have 1 more of those combos in my collection.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 20, 2012)

Now here is some crazy nostalgic adds!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/vintage-tech-ads/

Ran across this on "How To Geek." Was kid of looking for some old computer adds. Very cool.....Kind of creepy though. Think of them prices in the inflation now if they were not mainstream!!!


----------



## Norton (Oct 20, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Now here is some crazy nostalgic adds!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/vintage-tech-ads/
> 
> Ran across this on "How To Geek." Was kid of looking for some old computer adds. Very cool.....Kind of creepy though. Think of them prices in the inflation now if they were not mainstream!!!



2 cents a byte was my favorite  Here's a project- add up all of the bytes in your PC and see what it's worth 
- cpu caches
- ram
- hdd
- hdd cache
- gpu memory
- gpu caches

The dollar amount has to be unbelievable!!!


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 20, 2012)

Norton said:


> 2 cents a byte was my favorite  Here's a project- add up all of the bytes in your PC and see what it's worth
> - cpu caches
> - ram
> - hdd
> ...



 Yea no kidding. Probably worth hundreds of thousands. 
Would be fun to do...........If a person was really bored.


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 21, 2012)

try millions... i did this little experiment when AT&T was charging 2 cents per kilobyte... I decided  i'd be one rich mofo if I charged them that rate to install windows vista on a few computers (at the time)


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 21, 2012)

once I have funds again I may buy Skt A Chips and see how far i can push them, course after i build a new rig (whats a rig good for if its burnt up lol)


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 21, 2012)

I've heard the mobile ones fair better with overclocking... and i think they came unlocked since it was necessary for the bios to downclock them to save on power.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 21, 2012)

xBruce88x said:


> I've heard the mobile ones fair better with overclocking... and i think they came unlocked since it was necessary for the bios to downclock them to save on power.



XP-M 462 were unlocked, 0339+ for Desktop parts are locked

2500+ i have only goes to 2.2GHz stable enough.


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 21, 2012)

i think that's what i managed to get mine to by some fluke... managed to get the bus at 400 rather than 333 somehow lol. It was short lived though... Abit's bios update killed the system... 3 hits from lightning didn't help either.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 22, 2012)

xBruce88x said:


> i think that's what i managed to get mine to by some fluke... managed to get the bus at 400 rather than 333 somehow lol. It was short lived though... Abit's bios update killed the system... 3 hits from lightning didn't help either.



200 (400 Effective) x11 (5.5 Effective)= 2200.

Too bad Via wasnt pushing High End Performance on the AMD platform at the time, even though their kT880 chipset supported 4GB of ram


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 22, 2012)

wouldn't have done any good considering the Athlons weren't 64-bit capable.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 22, 2012)

you know very well MS could of enabled over 4 gigs of ram without changing to 64bit


----------



## Peter1986C (Oct 22, 2012)

Indeed, it's called PAE (Physical Adress Extension), albeit not all benefits of x86_64 would be in effect.


----------



## m1919 (Nov 3, 2012)

Heh, first post on this forum, might as well be here. 

I've got a fair amount of stuff, but I'll start out with my dual P3 Xeon retro rig.

If you've seen this board before, you'll notice two things ghetto-modded in there.

*Xeon Prime*

Antec Earthwatts 380W
ASUS XG-DLS
Dual P3 Xeon 700/1Mb SL49P @784Mhz
2GB Micron PC133 ECC
Leadtek WinFast A350
Generic USB 2.0 Card
SB Live! CT4780
Quantum3d Obsidian2 200SBi
HP ML350 Hotswap Bay
Hitachi 73GB 10K
Seagate 73GB 10k
Hitachi CD/DVD


----------



## eidairaman1 (Nov 3, 2012)

Too bad no AGP 8x Dual Athlon MP/XP motherboards were released that enabled full Overclocking capability. Ohwell guess have to write a bios to do that huh


----------



## Peter1986C (Nov 3, 2012)

The graphics card cooler reminds me of an audio or video (VHS) cassette. 

What OS do you run on it, by the way? A flavour of Linux?


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 3, 2012)

That's one nice looking old school rig


----------



## _JP_ (Nov 3, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> Too bad no AGP 8x Dual Athlon MP/XP motherboards were released that enabled full Overclocking capability. Ohwell guess have to write a bios to do that huh


Not for Athlons, but I recall existing some for Opterons.


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 3, 2012)

I know Tyan had an duel opteron mobo socket 940 though so not really old old school 






And MSI did do an duel socket A mobo the K7D Master






but good luck in finding any Athlon MP CPU's anywhere


----------



## m1919 (Nov 4, 2012)

Chevalr1c said:


> The graphics card cooler reminds me of an audio or video (VHS) cassette.
> 
> What OS do you run on it, by the way? A flavour of Linux?



Yeah, one of my friends said the same thing a few weeks ago lol. It's a good cooler, all aluminum, dissipates heat very well.

I dual boot with Windows XP Pro and Crunchbang.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Nov 4, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> I know Tyan had an duel opteron mobo socket 940 though so not really old old school
> 
> http://www.pacificgeek.com/productimages/xl/MB-S2895RS.jpg
> 
> ...



AXPs run in them


----------



## m1919 (Nov 4, 2012)

Got more P2/P3 Xeon stuff.

P3 "Pseudo-Xeon" SL4HE 1Ghz/256kb. Basically just a Coppermine in a Slot-2 form factor.


Spoiler





















P3 Xeons 550/1Mb SL3C


Spoiler















Intel MS440GX Board

It's actually an OEM board for Gateway, but I flashed the crappy Gateway bios with the Intel one. It's limited to 550Mhz P3 Xeons though, the Intel bios seems to have been gimped to prevent people from flashing Gateway boards to upgrade to 700 or 900Mhz Xeons.


Spoiler















A-Trend Freeway FW-6400/150/WS

Probably one of the coolest boards I have. It'll run both Slot-1 and Slot-2 processors.


Spoiler


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 4, 2012)

m1919 said:


> Heh, first post on this forum, might as well be here.
> 
> I've got a fair amount of stuff, but I'll start out with my dual P3 Xeon retro rig.
> 
> ...





m1919 said:


> Got more P2/P3 Xeon stuff.
> 
> P3 "Pseudo-Xeon" SL4HE 1Ghz/256kb. Basically just a Coppermine in a Slot-2 form factor.
> 
> ...





Awesome old hardware man!!!!!!!!!! Added you to the original post list


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 5, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> AXPs run in them



you may find the odd MP enabled AXP but for the most part it's a single cpu only if your lookin at Athlon XP CPU's


----------



## eidairaman1 (Nov 5, 2012)

Athlonite said:


> you may find the odd MP enabled AXP but for the most part it's a single cpu only if your lookin at Athlon XP CPU's



its a matter of changing the bridges is all, all socket A parts are 2 way capable as of Barton- Palmino core


----------



## m1919 (Nov 5, 2012)

Got some slot-1 stuff here. The first board is from my old P2 NEC rig. The case was in pretty bad shape so I gutted it and kept most of the parts, there's a P2 266Mhz on it, but it ran with the P2 350Mhz pictured separately. It ran originally with the ATI 3D Rage Pro.

I came across the Tyan board by chance on ebay. It was dirt cheap and I really like dual-cpu stuff, so I jumped on it. It has a pair of 600Mhz Katmais on it, but I'm pretty sure it'll probably run Coppermines up to 850Mhz and possibly faster.

Last set of pics is the Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi I have in my retro Xeon rig. It's essentially a single-board version of the Obsidian X-24 (Voodoo2 SLI). They were used in arcade systems and professional and military-grade simulation systems and could be run in parallel with up to three other cards, provided you had the required bridging hardware etc.

Intel SE440BX + P2 266Mhz SL28L + P3 350Mhz 


Spoiler




















ATI 3D Rage Pro


Spoiler















Tyan Tiger 100 (S1832D)


Spoiler















Quantum3d Obsidian2 200SBi


Spoiler


----------



## Animalpak (Nov 5, 2012)

Old HDD watercooling concept


----------



## Random Murderer (Nov 5, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> Old HDD watercooling concept
> 
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121105/mkhdd2max03klein4af.jpg



did you make that yourself?


----------



## m1919 (Nov 5, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> Old HDD watercooling concept
> 
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121105/mkhdd2max03klein4af.jpg



That is pretty cool. Reminds me of an old custom "enclosure" I found a while back made out of copper piping for a dual P3 Xeon setup. Heh, based on the same board I'm running in my retro Xeon rig. Unfortunately those are pretty much the best pictures I can find of that rig. I wonder if it still exists...


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 6, 2012)

that looks kinda steam punkish and cool


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 6, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> its a matter of changing the bridges is all, all socket A parts are 2 way capable as of Barton- Palmino core



Ah true I'd forgotten about that been along time since I took a pencil to an AXP chip


----------



## m1919 (Nov 6, 2012)

MSI K8T Master2-FAR

The board I would have been running back in high-school, if I had the dosh to afford one back then. It's got a pair of Opteron 250s on it. Looking around for some heatsinks that'll fit since they stuffed everything into the space of a standard ATX board. The mounting holes are non-standard for Socket 940 Opterons and take Socket 603/604 Xeon mounting hardware.






Also, benchmarked my retro Xeon rig.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 7, 2012)

Wow, that dual Opty board is pretty frigging awesome M!!!! Nice nostalgic hardware man!!!!


----------



## eidairaman1 (Nov 7, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, that dual Opty board is pretty frigging awesome M!!!! Nice nostalgic hardware man!!!!



ya seems to be a OC board with AGP capability, any PEG versions too lol


----------



## Random Murderer (Nov 7, 2012)

m1919 said:


> Also, benchmarked my retro Xeon rig.
> 
> http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6149/3dmark01sl49p784mhza350.jpg



Dat VCore...


----------



## Animalpak (Nov 7, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> did you make that yourself?



no, just found the picture during exploration in the web


----------



## m1919 (Nov 7, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> Dat VCore...



Lol, 180nm technology.


----------



## m1919 (Nov 15, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> ya seems to be a OC board with AGP capability, any PEG versions too lol








Yep, there's the K8N Master2-FAR. Looks pretty decent, but there's Tyan board that has a lot better layout. Can't remember what model though.

Also...

Installed an LED strip in the Xeon rig. 3dfx Orange FTW.
















Night running.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Nov 15, 2012)

too bad at the time Crossfire wasnt in existence or AMD had such chipsets for skt 940.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 16, 2012)

m1919 said:


> http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Sources/CeBIT_2006/Images/MSI/IMG_1017.jpg
> 
> Yep, there's the K8N Master2-FAR. Looks pretty decent, but there's Tyan board that has a lot better layout. Can't remember what model though.
> 
> ...



Sweet ole system man!!!!!!! Very impressive, to say the least. 



eidairaman1 said:


> too bad at the time Crossfire wasnt in existence or AMD had such chipsets for skt 940.



 Yea you got that right man!!!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 25, 2012)

hello there ... 

seeing what i see here i guess i will have to unpack some of my old stuff and do some photo i have kept nnearly all my pc component (working or not) since my 1st computer (most of the time little part only, due to place required :/ )

also i have a Athlon Xp 2200+ rig i need to work on it.

regards 

GreiverBlade


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Nov 25, 2012)

m1919 said:


> http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Sources/CeBIT_2006/Images/MSI/IMG_1017.jpg
> 
> Yep, there's the K8N Master2-FAR. Looks pretty decent, but there's Tyan board that has a lot better layout. Can't remember what model though.
> 
> ...






Sweet dragon case man.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 25, 2012)

GreiverBlade said:


> hello there ...
> 
> seeing what i see here i guess i will have to unpack some of my old stuff and do some photo i have kept nnearly all my pc component (working or not) since my 1st computer (most of the time little part only, due to place required :/ )
> 
> ...



Yes by all means, get the parts unpacked and pictures taken.


----------



## TRWOV (Nov 25, 2012)

Woah! Awesome nostalgic system. That reminds me that I need to put the finishing touches on my 98SE build.

Current status:









Dying to get a Slot 1 TT Golden ORB for this


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 25, 2012)

TRWOV said:


> Woah! Awesome nostalgic system. That reminds me that I need to put the finishing touches on my 98SE build.
> 
> Current status:
> http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9079/img8324d.jpg
> ...



Awesome man. Will be waiting to see the "finishing touches" on this build bro!!!


----------



## m1919 (Nov 26, 2012)

TRWOV said:


> Woah! Awesome nostalgic system. That reminds me that I need to put the finishing touches on my 98SE build.
> 
> Current status:
> http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9079/img8324d.jpg
> ...



Nice!

Heh, I think I saw a few Slot-1 Golden Orbs on ebay a few months back. I've got a dual Slot-1 Tyan Tiger 100, but I doubt a pair of those would fit with the slot spacing lol. Personally though, I really like the look of the server grade passive heatsinks that were used in old Dells.







Mmmmmmm schmexy blue anodizing.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 26, 2012)

m1919 said:


> Nice!
> 
> Heh, I think I saw a few Slot-1 Golden Orbs on ebay a few months back. I've got a dual Slot-1 Tyan Tiger 100, but I doubt a pair of those would fit with the slot spacing lol. Personally though, I really like the look of the server grade passive heatsinks that were used in old Dells.
> 
> ...



I'll have to look, I remember having a couple of these processors with that exact heat sink. I think it came out of a Dell Dual Slot 1 server. Hmmm, hell, I might even still have that server even. LOL


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Nov 28, 2012)

Here's some pictures from a couple builds I am doing. I also have a project thread on them.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 28, 2012)

Damn man, them are some sweet ole builds Mad!!!!!!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Nov 29, 2012)

The one is awaiting some certain vid cards once I get some spare loot. lol


----------



## m1919 (Dec 5, 2012)

Just got this in today. I like WinFast cards.


----------



## _JP_ (Dec 6, 2012)

I'm going to bring the discussion here, because I don't want to derail the other thread, but still explaining to TRWOV what I had in mind.
So, I almost ended-up buying a Sapphire HD 2600 XT AGP for a freaky project that exploded in my mind the moment I saw the card.
The idea was to use my 4CoreDual-SATA, once I upgraded to something more modern, with that card plus my 2600x2 for some triple-screen awesomesauce. One idea was to make a RACE 07 dedicated computer, given that driving simulators greatly benefit from very wide resolutions.
The specifications for RACE 07 state a 3GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, DX9 w/512MB vRAM GPU. The HD 2600 while not being a performance monster should handle the game fine with the resolution set to 1366x768 or even 1440x900.
The XT AGP version has the same amount of vRAM and the same type as the 2600x2 (512MB GDDR3).
The AGP card would be selected for the center screen and the HD 2600x2 would take care of the extra two screens.
The problem is that I'm going through a rough financial period as we speak and I'm not even sure I can make VIA's Dual-GFX feature work with similar cards/drivers, let along 3 chips. 
This was an idea I had, but at the moment, I cannot accomplish it (too many barriers and a high level of uncertainty).


----------



## m1919 (Dec 11, 2012)

Acquired a pair of 12MB Voodoo2s. They're not matching, but it's as close as I'll get right now to running something more genuine to what was around back in the day. Lol, I doubt a lot of gamers were able to get their hands on Quantum3d hardware, even if the Obsidian2 X-24 was available to the consumer market.

The pair came with an SLI cable and one of the cheapo, thin pass-through cables. Probably going to replace that with a nice 6" VGA saver cable or something.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 11, 2012)

Frigging awesome score M1919!!!!!!!!! 

Man, I wish I could find a pair of them or a pair of the Diamond Monster 12mb cards. I remember playing Quake for the first time with one Diamond Monster 8mb card!!! It was a hell of a difference!!! 

Congrats on the score man.


----------



## m1919 (Dec 12, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Frigging awesome score M1919!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Man, I wish I could find a pair of them or a pair of the Diamond Monster 12mb cards. I remember playing Quake for the first time with one Diamond Monster 8mb card!!! It was a hell of a difference!!!
> 
> Congrats on the score man.



There seem to be a lot of auctions on ebay these days for Voodoo2s. Maybe you'll get lucky and find a matched pair sometime.

For me... I just wanted a pair of Voodoo2s, didn't have to be matching as long as I had a working set lol.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Dec 18, 2012)

dang it threw out my old Pentium II & Pentium III setups


----------



## _JP_ (Dec 20, 2012)

Howdy!
How much do you guys reckon a Pentium D should be worth?
_Preslers_, for example...about 20~40 dollars, right?


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 20, 2012)

_JP_ said:


> Howdy!
> How much do you guys reckon a Pentium D should be worth?
> _Preslers_, for example...about 20~40 dollars, right?



Depends on the core and what it can clock to. I've been offered $60 for my 820 Smithfield because it'll run 4.2 stable.


----------



## TotalChaos (Dec 21, 2012)

Here is an oldie I found in a box in the basement


----------



## MilkyWay (Dec 21, 2012)

After i did my own Windows 98se build i changed out my Vodoo 3 2000 for SLi Vodoo 2s, now im almost finished a cheap DOS only rig that i plan to run FreeDOS on. The DOS rig has a Cryix 5x86 @ 100mhz but i've never been able to get the board to post, im just waiting for some FPM memory sticks to come up on ebay for cheap, probably 2x32mb sticks (matching pair) even though 32mb itself is plenty.

I even got my old 5 1/4 inch floppy working by changing the IDE cable.

I really should post up some pictures.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 22, 2012)

TotalChaos said:


> Here is an oldie I found in a box in the basement
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121220/DSCN3959.jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121220/DSCN3963.jpg



 Awesome ole Hercules video card man. 

Added ya to the original post bro.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Dec 22, 2012)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome ole Hercules video card man.
> 
> Added ya to the original post bro.



I had a 3D Prophet II GTS Pro (64MB) from them. Pretty good card for its time (Wish Hercules and Tyan never left the GC market)


----------



## TotalChaos (Dec 30, 2012)

ATi 9600 Pro






TNT M64






Geforce 2 MX 200


----------



## Jetster (Jan 8, 2013)

Cleaned out my closet.

 Creative Labs Modem Blaster D15601-1  ISA Slot
V90 56k hardware modem
I remember paying $90 for this 

Anyone need one?


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jan 8, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Cleaned out my closet.
> 
> Creative Labs Modem Blaster D15601-1  ISA Slot
> V90 56k hardware modem
> ...



Irony for me I have a PCI Model- for the time that effin thing had a fast connection rate and that was before RJ45-Cat5/6- ethernet, DSL, Cable were common.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 8, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Cleaned out my closet.
> 
> Creative Labs Modem Blaster D15601-1  ISA Slot
> V90 56k hardware modem
> ...



If anybody is browsing this forum and is still on 56k, they belong in this thread. Not their hardware, but the person.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 8, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> If anybody is browsing this forum and is still on 56k, they belong in this thread. Not their hardware, but the person.



I think loading the pics would be a bit much. I remember waiting to see pics as they loaded :shadedshu


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 8, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I think loading the pics would be a bit much. I remember waiting to see pics as they loaded :shadedshu



OH very painfully slow even with getting a 52Kbps connection I have very unfond memories of those day thank god they're long gone


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jan 9, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> OH very painfully slow even with getting a 52Kbps connection I have very unfond memories of those day thank god they're long gone



just remember for its time it was fastest that could be afforded cuz of the Price of T1 and T3 are still stupid high


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 10, 2013)

eidairaman1 said:


> just remember for its time it was fastest that could be afforded cuz of the Price of T1 and T3 are still stupid high



Agree with that the only other thing you could do was from US Robotics called shotgun which was like SLI for modems but it required 2x US Robotics x2 V.90 shotgun modems and 2x Phone lines which at the time was slightly less expensive than ISDN and it gave you anywhere between 64Kbps ~ 98Kbps


----------



## Jetster (Jan 10, 2013)

Wow 98kb  I remember the actual speed from my 56k was more like 8k Did I mention I paid $90 for it


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 10, 2013)

I have posted my old hardware somewhere here in the forums but wth i'll just take some new "better" pics and post them later, for now this is something i got yesterday






a compaq tape drive, 2.1GB maxtor, and an IBM controller board for what i think is for an impact printer


----------



## 95Viper (Jan 10, 2013)

I posted this in your other thread, but, here it is again... 




95Viper said:


> It is a printer controller for a 4614/4615 SureOne Point-of-Sale Terminal.
> 
> PDF from IBM for the service manual for the 4614/4615 SureOne Point-of-Sale Terminal-->ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/retail/pubs/hw/.../bip7mst.pdf
> Look at pages 104 &  105.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 10, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> I have posted my old hardware somewhere here in the forums but wth i'll just take some new "better" pics and post them later, for now this is something i got yesterday
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130110/20130110_104845.jpg
> a compaq tape drive, 2.1GB maxtor, and an IBM controller board for what i think is for an impact printer
> ...



 Awesome man!!! Looking forward to the other items. 

Added ya to the original post.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 11, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Wow 98kb  I remember the actual speed from my 56k was more like 8k Did I mention I paid $90 for it




that would be Kilobits not KiloBytes ie: 1 56Kbps connection x ~1.25 to 1.75 = what shotgun could do it wasn't quite double and here in NZ those US Robotics modems were hella expensive ~$150+ for one then you had two accounts with an ISP and they had to support bonded modems blah blah blah you get the picture and that's pretty much why it never took off here as there was only one ISP that supported doing this and they knew it and charged accordingly


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 12, 2013)

Thanks 95Viper,Stinger608, now as promised.....
OK Pc1, i think this was the first one my dad got, it went through several upgrades and ended with this(currently under maintenace so don't mind the mess) 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



GA-5AX,AMD K6-2 450,256MBx2+128MB ram, running WinME for oldies




20GB quantum fireball( currently trying several floppy drives so i can update the mobo's BIOS so it can support a 40GB hDD )




these are running in it: S3 savage3D 8MB, 3Dfx VooDoo2, creative soundcard
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




PC 2...
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







Intel D875PBZ, 2.8GHzPentium4




MSI Geforce4 Ti 4800 SE, Creative SB Audigy 5.1(Sadly the geforce started artifacting but stops when i press on its ram???)

some more random hardware in the spoiler for your pleasure


Spoiler








Leadtek winfast geforce3 Ti,geforce 2MX,riva TNT2 64,a couple of S3 cards




A few quantums with a bigfoot


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 12, 2013)

That K62-450 will quite happily run at 500 I used to have the same chipset but on an Asus mobo and pity you don't live closer to NZ I could have sent ya another Voodoo 2 12MB for SLI (scan line interleave )along with the cable


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 12, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> That K62-450 will quite happily run at 500 I used to have the same chipset but on an Asus mobo and pity you don't live closer to NZ I could have sent ya another Voodoo 2 12MB for SLI (scan line interleave )along with the cable



Teach me , do i just adjust the blue CPU select switch or i have to do something else? (and you got me interested in that offer)


----------



## m1919 (Jan 12, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> MSI Geforce4 Ti 4800 SE, Creative SB Audigy 5.1(Sadly the geforce started artifacting but stops when i press on its ram???)



Probably a bad solder that finally started to fail. Could probably be repaired with a hot air soldering iron. Or you could bake the card for some ghetto reflow soldering action.

Swapped out the WinFast A350 for the A380. I really like the A350, but the A380 just runs a lot cooler. The ducted design the A350 uses must have a tendency to develop localized hotspots. It's also a bit quieter too, not by much though since the rest of the case cooling is so brute-forced.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 12, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> Teach me , do i just adjust the blue CPU select switch or i have to do something else? (and you got me interested in that offer)




right ok here goes.......see pic for JP position and switches 

on the right of you pic you'll see the frequency chart for selecting the FSB make that 100MHz  make JP 7/8/9/10   1-2 1-2 2-3 1-2
up by your CPU you'll see a chart for selecting the multiplier make that 5x instead of 4.5x make SW 1/2/3  X5 X O O (X = ON and O = Off )





and as easy as that you OC'd your K6-2 450 to 500MHz


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 14, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> right ok here goes.......see pic for JP position and switches
> 
> on the right of you pic you'll see the frequency chart for selecting the FSB make that 100MHz make JP 7/8/9/10 1-2 1-2 2-3 1-2
> up by your CPU you'll see a chart for selecting the multiplier make that 5x instead of 4.5x make SW 1/2/3 X5 X O O (X = ON and O = Off )



Thanks Athlonite, btw i found the user manual for the motherboard and it says ( X=off, O= On) i guess you have a typo there?

Edit: Never Mind, did it with manual help and its on 500MHz


----------



## The Von Matrices (Jan 14, 2013)

I guess I'm going to have to read up of this thread because my work computer just got downgraded.  I now have to work with a gas chromatograph that connects via an ISA card, so I'm stuck with a P3 650MHz with 384MB of RAM.  I've never appreciated until I started using that computer how much boot-up times have improved over the past decade.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 19, 2013)

Here's some updated pics of my S939 rig. It now has it's 8800 GTX's installed










Oh here is a screen shot from the sli rig with one card running.


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Jan 19, 2013)

Decacore processor yo






and remembering the times when computers were yellow,5.25 inch floppys, you can put like half a mp3 on those now.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 19, 2013)

n3rdf1ght3r said:


> Decacore processor yo
> 
> http://i.imgur.com/0CYDSx8.jpg
> 
> ...



I have one of those dell rigs in the closet. And it still runs fine.


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Jan 19, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I have one of those dell rigs in the closet. And it still runs fine.



I think all of these still worked, they were the schools and I got bored while helping them throw them out. I wish I could have kept some to crunch with but we cant take them according to TDSB policy. (im assuming you were talking about the one with the stack of processors, I threw the dell in the second picture out cuz it stopped working.)


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 19, 2013)

I actually was meaning the one in the second picture, the whole dell rig. I forgot what the specs are for the one I have. I do know it's running win 98.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 20, 2013)

Just picked this up for the cost of shipping!!! 

An Asus A7V266-E







Haven't posted it up yet, but will most likely try that tonight or tomorrow. Man I got my figures crossed. It was the first motherboard I purchased for a serious gaming rig back in the day.

I still have an original box, driver CD, and user manual for that puppy.


----------



## Peter1986C (Jan 20, 2013)

Socket 7?


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 20, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> Socket 7?



Socket A  


If anyone here has a socket 7, Via Mvp3 chipset full atx board with a agp slot, and you want to let it go let me know. That is going to be the focus of my next nostalgic build this spring/summer. I have a lead on one but really don't want to put out the money they want for it.


----------



## m1919 (Jan 20, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Just picked this up for the cost of shipping!!!
> 
> An Asus A7V266-E
> 
> ...



Board looks to be in good condition, it'll probably boot up fine.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 20, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> Socket 7?





ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Socket A
> 
> 
> 
> If anyone here has a socket 7, Via Mvp3 chipset full atx board with a agp slot, and you want to let it go let me know. That is going to be the focus of my next nostalgic build this spring/summer. I have a lead on one but really don't want to put out the money they want for it.



 Yep Socket A or 462



m1919 said:


> Board looks to be in good condition, it'll probably boot up fine.



It does look to be in great shape. No blown or replaced capacitors. I have my figures crossed.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 20, 2013)

You shouldn't have any problems with him at all. You need a shim for insurance? LOL


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 20, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> You shouldn't have any problems with him at all. You need a shim for insurance? LOL



 Nope, never used them in the past LOL. Never crushed a chip then. Of course it has been awhile.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jan 20, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Nope, never used them in the past LOL. Never crushed a chip then. Of course it has been awhile.



yup i did that to a 3200+ Barton cuz I modified the clip slightly to add more pressure, well it required more pressure just to press the clip into the locking barbs, so the die went caput lmao


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 20, 2013)

eidairaman1 said:


> yup i did that to a 3200+ Barton cuz I modified the clip slightly to add more pressure, well it required more pressure just to press the clip into the locking barbs, so the die went caput lmao



Oh bummer!!!! I'll bet that kind of ruined your day. Was it the 400fsb 3200? 

Speaking of which, I am actually looking for a 3200+ 400FSB chip if anyone knows where to locate one.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 20, 2013)

Damn Stinger I believe I have one in my Shuttle board. I also have about 5 or so 2500+ non mobiles.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 21, 2013)

LOL, didn't even realize I actually had one of the 400fsb 3200+ chips.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 21, 2013)

Cool, you must be like me and stuff everywhere.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 21, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Cool, you must be like me and stuff everywhere.



 Yea pretty much! Hell I found a Corsair HX620 that I had totally forgot I had. 

That was a nice find seeing as I was in need of a power supply


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 22, 2013)

Found by a dumpster:






The spoils of war:


----------



## _JP_ (Jan 22, 2013)

What is the spec of that Pentium 3 Celeron?


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 22, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> What is the spec of that Pentium 3 Celeron?



I'll check tonigh. 


Seems like someone is getting rid of his excess hardware, this morning I passed by the same dumpster and found another PC. The case had no panels, it was a slot 1 board with no AGP slot, missing heatsinks and some bulging caps BUT it had a Gigabyte slotket   and a Sony IDE DVD burner  Took those with me, pictures later.

I'm going to check tomorrow too


----------



## UART (Jan 23, 2013)

*I have goodies too...*

I'm at the right place; Maxed out 386 w/math co





Oh, and the software...



The tower still works-battery shot but I won't try the floppies anytime soon


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 23, 2013)

slotket + celeron pic:


----------



## m1919 (Jan 23, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> slotket + celeron pic:
> 
> http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/7926/img0997x.jpg



Man, I wish I was lucky enough to come across dumpster finds that good.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 23, 2013)

UART said:


> I'm at the right place; Maxed out 386 w/math co
> 
> 
> [url]http://imageshack.us/a/img835/7024/386working.jpg[/URL]
> ...



Awesome old hardware UART!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Added ya to the original post man. Welcome to the ole nostalgic club. 




TRWOV said:


> slotket + celeron pic:
> 
> http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/7926/img0997x.jpg



I actually have an Asus Slotket with a K6-2 400 I think. Man, now I wonder where in the hell that got to.  I will have to try and find that. The Asus brand was like the Gigabyte and held their motherboard color. In Asus' case it was that Gold color there older boards were.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jan 23, 2013)

Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter!


----------



## UART (Jan 23, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome old hardware UART!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Added ya to the original post man. Welcome to the ole nostalgic club.


[url]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/6943/486family.jpg[/URL]
Cheers!



			
				eidairaman1; said:
			
		

> Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter!


Absolutely! You got it! Was lucky to have such a name in real life. Good ol' Paw must've known
that I'll be on a chip diet when I get older so when my friends ask: "You Art?" 
I say: "YES, yes I am."
As for the 486'es above, I'm passionate about this particular chip over the 386 & have several more...


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 24, 2013)

UART said:


> [url]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/6943/486family.jpg[/URL]
> Cheers!
> 
> 
> ...



 That AM486 DX2-80 was a bad a$$ chip in its day!!! 
Nice collection UART!!


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jan 24, 2013)

heck how about Super 7


----------



## Jetster (Jan 24, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> That AM486 DX2-80 was a bad a$$ chip in its day!!!
> Nice collection UART!!



I had a 486 DX 4 120. One of my first PCs


----------



## Grnfinger (Jan 25, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> some more random hardware in the spoiler for your pleasure




I have that case... It was my sons first case mod. He was 12 at the time.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 25, 2013)

Grnfinger said:


> I have that case... It was my sons first case mod. He was 12 at the time.
> 
> 
> http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/IMG00144-20110308-1543.jpg
> ...



 Had one of them myself!! I think a ton of them were sold back during the Socket A era. I have seen a lot of them.


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 25, 2013)

Grnfinger said:


> I have that case... It was my sons first case mod. He was 12 at the time.



 wow what are the chances, i thought it was a rare one or something, looks good though


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 28, 2013)

Just got these, were gonna be thrown out









Going to clean the s*** out of them today [/ocd], i think i can get them to work will post new pics and specs after cleanup


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 28, 2013)

Good score Doc!!!!!!!


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 28, 2013)

Did a "semi-thorough" cleanup, took a blower to them and you wouldn't believe the amount of dust that came out  anyway...PC1
Intel D845WN (Year 2000 socket mpga478)




The CPU




RAM:256MB SDRAM, what i think is a RivaTNT2 64, Creative ModemBlaster and a Realtek Ethernet




Looks like old WD's




The first time i've seen a samsung PSU





PC2, appears to be an IBM 2170




And Guess what, an AMD K6-2 450  my second one









OK so i tested them and PC 2 "IBM" POSTed fine and working so just needs an HDD and OS, but PC 1 wouldn't POST, 
it didn't beep even with no RAM so the first thing i suspect is the CPU but the CPU does get warm as i think dead CPU's don't get warm??.
i could be wrong as its midnight right now and i have a headache and can't think straight and going to bed, feel free to leave suggestion for troubleshooting it


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 28, 2013)

Could be a bad power supply also. Pull the motherboard and look at the back side for any burnt looking area's as well,.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Jan 29, 2013)

Oh man, I remember those SiS 530 boards. That IGP was practically worthless for anything lol. Used the same chip with mine as well, and the system ended up dying in the early 2000s by the time I knew anything about computers. Had a Matsonic motherboard with integrated LAN and modem risers which was rather cool, but I liked the P3 500MHz/440BX/TNT2 m64 Gateway I got next. I basically had free/hand me down systems until I bought my first HP laptop in 2007.


----------



## hertz9753 (Jan 29, 2013)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 29, 2013)

damned i triped on the powercord of my pc and i have to redo all the post .... well long story short mode

i went in a dump and found a Compaq Armada 1700 in the snow (no way it will work, it was all covered)

well i managed to get it working pretty flawlessly (with a LiveCD of Damn Small Linux)

currently struggling to find a HDD caddy for it and a fitting hdd xD (plus the previous owner seems to have bend the caddy connector but nothing fubar)


























BONUS

Athlon XP 2200+ (barton if i recall) MSI KT6V400 mb 3D Prophet 9700 (Hercules)








I really need to clean that one ... 








Titan Majesty V and 256mb DDR ram .. damned i had 2 512mb stick but one died





 for sure hercules was knowing how to make awesome cards!














ATI MACH64 VT (pci)





Adaptec SCSI card 





And the puppy that goes with





Winfast TDH A350 ViVo (gf 5900)





P4 1.7ghz/1mb/800mhz HT





on a P4P800VM (originaly it comes from a Dell Inspiron 9700)





NeoMagic 256v videochip,MB of a Dell laptop (PII) i couldnt throw away so i kept that part and the cpu 





last but not the least a Audigy 2





duh i need to find where i did put my bits'n junk box i still have a Cyrix MII some other proc and parts


----------



## Doc41 (Jan 30, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Could be a bad power supply also. Pull the motherboard and look at the back side for any burnt looking area's as well,.


Took it apart last night and gave it a thorough cleaning and re installed everything correctly and it lives!!! [ although it made me stay up till 4am x_x]
 I also found out that the reset button was stuck on the "on" position probably causing it not to POST, either this was the problem or last time i didn't install the GPU correctly, anyway both of them are fully functional now  
i guess i'm going to need new cases for both too .


----------



## AlienIsGOD (Jan 30, 2013)

do boxes count? i have an ATI XPERT 98 box, but sadly the card inside is a 2MB gfx card >_<


----------



## The Von Matrices (Jan 30, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> P4 1.7ghz/1mb/800mhz HT
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130129/IMAG0071.jpg
> 
> on a P4P800VM (originaly it comes from a Dell Inspiron 9700)
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130129/IMAG0073.jpg



I didn't know that Dell used standard ATX motherboards.  That's interesting.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 30, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> damned i triped on the powercord of my pc and i have to redo all the post .... well long story short mode
> 
> i went in a dump and found a Compaq Armada 1700 in the snow (no way it will work, it was all covered)
> 
> ...



Awesome old hardware!!!! 
Added your name to the original post.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 30, 2013)

The Von Matrices said:


> I didn't know that Dell used standard ATX motherboards.  That's interesting.



sorry its a missunderstanding i meant : the CPU come from a Dell Inspiron 9700 (the HUGE "gamer" laptop from Dell, i call it like that because ... spec where awesome when it went out and also huge ... did you saw that thing ? i mean IT was REALLY HUGE!!)

and the P4P800VM was from a desktop SSF from Maxdata i found in the same dump where i found the Armada 1700 xD, i remember i also saw a AIO Acer Veriton (PIII and such) i guess i will fetch it tomorow 

i like giving a new home to little computing boys who where left to certain death by their previous owner ... am i wrong?

BONUS 2

Ye ole soundcard (i dont remember model i need to recheck) ISA BUS!





HDD IBM 4.2gb





ohhh look a Raspberry p... eerrrhmmm a Acer N50 Premium board with a Xscale 520mhz 64mb ram 





that remind me i have a HP Jornada 540 somewhere ... Hitachi sh3 proc inside (damned nobody tought of the sh4 to do a Pocket pc??? ok ok i know exclusivity to the Dreamcast xD oh i still have one of those ... aside with a Saturne Serie 1 europe)

Part3




not too dusty




seems to be a GF5200




Creatix fax modem ??? eh ... i didnt have one ... nice!




I HATE WHEN IT HAPPEN! well at last no pin broken or missing




P4 2.6ghz/512/533 i guess my P4 2.8/1m/800 HT will not be supported (dang and i hoped for a Williamette S423 for my collection....




OH YES! 512mb total xD 




VICTORY




booting full ... hummm .... 1st comp i find in that dump with a fully functional stats from base




YEP FX5200





i found the caddy of the Armada1700 but unforunately the previous user did break all the connector pin ... sooo sad well live CD and usb key all the way so 





ahahah i didnt think i would find one 




the Acer Veriton i mentioned ... will it work? ahah





i found info about the Inspiron 9700 proc
Pentium 4 HT 2.8E	SL79K2.80 GHz	1024 KB	800 MT/s	14×	1.25/1.525 V
1.25/1.4 V	89 W	Socket 478	February 1, 2004	RK80546PG0721M
BX80546PG2800E
Dell in fact used a Desktop proc in it... 

and a lil non oldies bonus they are lookalike its meant to be so, but will anyone recognise the manga used as reference (if you dont like i can remove it) cookie to the 1st one to say Manga serie name and name of the character


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 31, 2013)

a lil up 

hand in bits'n grease in the Microstar tower... i guess i swap the FX5200 for my 9700 and the FSP 250w for a 350w psu i have aside, if i recall correctly P4 where performing better than Athlon XP (well my MSI KT6V would be better than the uATX mobo it has but i want to give it a shot for Retrogaming and non 7 compatible games i have)

nostalgeek is obviously nostalgic

beer for all!


----------



## TriggerWolf (Jan 31, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> */snip*
> 
> and a lil non oldies bonus they are lookalike its meant to be so, but will anyone recognise the manga used as reference (if you dont like i can remove it) cookie to the 1st one to say Manga serie name and name of the character



Not too hard when you name the picture her own name 

Miria from Claymore xD

EDIT: On a side note. From where is the big picture from?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 31, 2013)

welllll yes ... i did forgot to remove name reference in the filename ... shame on me

correct answer is Fantome Miria but Miria is correct 
grats on Claymore (obviously google'ing Miria give Claymore as 1st result ... DAMNED!)

here take a beer  im out of cookies atm (didnt had time to bake some  )

EDIT: its my Tera character "Kuremoa" Miria was allready taken ... duh ... now i got to find the user and if she doesnt look like it ... i will have to kill him and cancell his account or erase the char... *EVIL LAUGH* MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAARRRHHH!

Impressive xD the screen was cracked but it did start smoothly on external screen i might eviscerate it and tinker with his innards... fun time incoming !








i will post the rest of it when the image host will be operational


----------



## TriggerWolf (Jan 31, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> welllll yes ... i did forgot to remove name reference in the filename ... shame on me
> 
> correct answer is Fantome Miria but Miria is correct
> grats on Claymore (obviously google'ing Miria give Claymore as 1st result ... DAMNED!)
> ...



Beer sounds good 

Ah, I suspected as much it was Tera. I have to try that game sometime. Ah, so instead you gave your character the anime's/manga's name. xD

That Acer looks really good! Surely if you want to get that up and running like new you could probably try to fit in some old (my guess 15") panel in there.

What are the specs on that?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 31, 2013)

busy seeking a ps2 mouse and keyboard i update when im back from the loot stash...

and indeed Kuremoa is the phonetical translation of Claymore in japanese

BACK

PIII Coopermine 600mhz 128mb ram




ATI 3D rage pro chipset 440BX




i did some little modification 8cm fan on the powerphase and Liquid Metal Pad+heatsink from a SIS AGP card on the Video chip




then a Colorado fan (comming from a CPU cooler from a Cyrix MII)above the video chip




booting win xp home : ended on a non supported input on the screen, i will go for DsLinux instead


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 1, 2013)

Damn GreiverBlade, ya got some awesome ole hardware man!!!!


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 1, 2013)

Damn, that Acer Veriton must have been something else in its time.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 1, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> Damn, that Acer Veriton must have been something else in its time.



well i like it more in little bits on my torture table ... 

lets resume : PIII 600mhz integrated 3D rage Pro LT 128mb ram (2 slot avaiable so could be upgraded) hummm a 1999-2000 iMac? with more power and less space wasted than the 1998 CRT imac 1st model?

damn i love non conventional formfactor 90degree Secc1 1 pci and a Riser with 2 slot on it ... unusual plug layout ... non 24pin ATX Slim cdrom powered by the Pata cable, no I/O onboard except VGA and LAN .... all the rest is on separate wired extension.

weird nice and quite amusing .... a point that Veriton and i, share .... in nomine veritas

pps: the P4 HT of the Inspiron 9700 is a Prescott and the one in the Microstar tower (funny fact its MSI ... they own the brand Medion in Switzerland) is a Northwood (not the HT one) maybe i can upgrade the bios... who kows


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 1, 2013)

For all the nostalgic hardware all of you have brought to the thread, here is a little awesome nostalgic music done by the original................Old guys!!!!!!

http://youtu.be/PD-MdiUm1_Y


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 1, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> For all the nostalgic hardware all of you have brought to the thread, here is a little awesome nostalgic music done by the original................Old guys!!!!!!
> 
> http://youtu.be/PD-MdiUm1_Y



LED ZEP

when i watch Black Dog live on the same channel ....: tears in the eyes... joy tears that is !


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 2, 2013)

The 2007 concert they performed at the O2 hall in England was frigging awesome!!!! They flat murdered Kashmir!!!


----------



## TriggerWolf (Feb 2, 2013)

Dug this out on the "dark and obsolete" section of parts where I work.  This shiny new Voodoo 2 most likely never used! It's still really shiny and nearly dust free. 

My guess is that it was taken out from some new Gateway computer back then and stored in a anti-static bag inside a small box.














Inside the box was still the external male-female VGA cable. 

Ahh... I wish I could've gotten one of these back in 1998 when I got my Pentium 166 MMX, which was only equipped with an onboard S3 Trio with 1MB of RAM (later added another MB to be able to do 1024x768 16bit )


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 3, 2013)

SMEXY (i had one of those xD for Quake 1 xD, wich i found the Original box and CD alongside with Scourge Of Armaggon extension while scavenging for ole hardware in my boxes)

ohhhh boy i found my last hardware box ... some cpu, old ram, and also 256MB SDR PC100 from Kingston... weehee the Veriton has 256mb now (im writing that post on it xD) /o/

now i just need to make some place in my HTC One X memory and take some pics


----------



## m1919 (Feb 3, 2013)

TriggerWolf said:


> Dug this out on the "dark and obsolete" section of parts where I work.  This shiny new Voodoo 2 most likely never used! It's still really shiny and nearly dust free.
> 
> My guess is that it was taken out from some new Gateway computer back then and stored in a anti-static bag inside a small box.
> 
> ...



Nice, I wish I had two of these back in the day.


----------



## TriggerWolf (Feb 3, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> SMEXY (i had one of those xD for Quake 1 xD, wich i found the Original box and CD alongside with Scourge Of Armaggon extension while scavenging for ole hardware in my boxes)
> 
> ohhhh boy i found my last hardware box ... some cpu, old ram, and also 256MB SDR PC100 from Kingston... weehee the Veriton has 256mb now (im writing that post on it xD) /o/
> 
> now i just need to make some place in my HTC One X memory and take some pics



Lucky! Well how else would a 11 year old kid be able to buy one of the most expensive GPUs back then? lol xD

I even thought about buying a couple of those and a 233MHz MMX back in about 2003 when I had a few more spare change to revive the old 166 but something changed my mind lol.

Oh, glad you got that Veriton working! 256MB is not bad! 512MB would be golden but, still good 



m1919 said:


> Nice, I wish I had two of these back in the day.



I would've been happy with just one lol xD


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 3, 2013)

TriggerWolf said:


> Dug this out on the "dark and obsolete" section of parts where I work.  This shiny new Voodoo 2 most likely never used! It's still really shiny and nearly dust free.
> 
> My guess is that it was taken out from some new Gateway computer back then and stored in a anti-static bag inside a small box.
> 
> ...



Wow, that does look brand new Trigger!! 

Man, I thought you were on the list in the original post but I guess not. 
I added ya man!


----------



## TotalChaos (Feb 5, 2013)

Who had one of these.  They were a beast in their day, this one is still solid today.


----------



## TriggerWolf (Feb 5, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, that does look brand new Trigger!!
> 
> Man, I thought you were on the list in the original post but I guess not.
> I added ya man!



Thanks. 



TotalChaos said:


> Who had one of these.  They were a beast in their day, this one is still solid today.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130205/1.png



Wat? Is it me or that PSU can be overvolted?

Never seen one of those. Nice


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 5, 2013)

TriggerWolf said:


> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Over- or under-volted. most people who had them(and knew what they were doing) put a slight over-volt on them to account for droop or would set the rails to their exact values when the system was under load. Was a great feature, I'm surprised it didn't catch on.


----------



## TotalChaos (Feb 5, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Over- or under-volted. most people who had them(and knew what they were doing) put a slight over-volt on them to account for droop or would set the rails to their exact values when the system was under load. Was a great feature, I'm surprised it didn't catch on.



It's strange that it didnt catch on


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 6, 2013)

I remember when them power supplies came out. They seemed to always be too expensive for me to afford LOL. 

And wanted to share this score with everyone. Should have it by next Monday or Tuesday. 

















I believe it is the SX1040 II. I know it isn't the SX1040 BII which I would have preferred, but this one will work. 
The guy told me he purchased it right when they first came out, used it for a short time, and it has been in the factory box every since! The damn thing looks like it is brand new, at least from the pictures.


----------



## m1919 (Feb 7, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> I remember when them power supplies came out. They seemed to always be too expensive for me to afford LOL.
> 
> And wanted to share this score with everyone. Should have it by next Monday or Tuesday.
> 
> ...



Very nice! 

I'm actually on the hunt for an older case as well. Looking for a Cooler Master ATC-710. Heh, exactly the same as the SX1040 internally, but with an aluminum faceplate.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 7, 2013)

m1919 said:


> Very nice!
> 
> I'm actually on the hunt for an older case as well. Looking for a Cooler Master ATC-710. Heh, exactly the same as the SX1040 internally, but with an aluminum faceplate.
> 
> http://www.pc-max.de/images/tests/atc710/komplett1.jpg



Wow, that is identical internally! Hell, I will keep an eye out for one man. If I run across one I will PM ya. Never can tell.


----------



## Norton (Feb 7, 2013)

Got mine! 











It's a Super Flower SF-860B (clone of the old Alienware cases)

Still haven't figured out what to put in it yet


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 7, 2013)

Norton said:


> Got mine!
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130207/Case_7.jpg
> 
> ...



 No kidding!!! I remember you were looking for one of those man. Damn, it looks like it is in near perfect condition Norton!!!!!!


----------



## m1919 (Feb 7, 2013)

These old Antec/Chenming style cases are odd. They have standoff holes for securing Slot-2 P3 Xeon mounting hardware directly to the motherboard tray, even though they were made well after P3 Xeons were replaced.


----------



## Norton (Feb 7, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> No kidding!!! I remember you were looking for one of those man. Damn, it looks like it is in near perfect condition Norton!!!!!!



A few scratches here and there but otherwise it's in good shape


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 7, 2013)

m1919 said:


> These old Antec/Chenming style cases are odd. They have standoff holes for securing Slot-2 P3 Xeon mounting hardware directly to the motherboard tray, even though they were made well after P3 Xeons were replaced.



They _were_ made as budget server towers. And come to think of it, it wasn't too long after P3 that they came out, I got my Chenming about halfway into the P4 generation and built a s754 system in it. P3s were still pretty abundant at that time.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 7, 2013)

When I got mt first one, it housed my Abit Kt7a socket running a 1.4 thunderbird. Now I have 3 housing Am3 systems and a close cousin of the case (Koolance Pc3-720bk) housing a s939 system. Still a good case.


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 7, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Still a good case.



Understatement of the century. Mine is still being used. I don't even dare how many systems  it's housed now...
Ok, I dare. I can count five systems not including the one that it's housing now(in my system specs).
That thing is built like a tank and has taken it's share of abuse and wear and tear. Still holding up without any damage aside from some scratched paint.


----------



## xvi (Feb 7, 2013)

Well that's depressing. I'm still using a Thermaltake Xaser II for my sig rig. I've replaced the acrylic window, but all the fans and everything are original. It originally housed an Athlon XP system, then a socket 754, then sig rig. The thermals aren't amazing, but I can still have two 4800 series cards and an overclocked Phenom II X6 that it manages to handle. Having a 120mm fan in the PSU probably helps.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 7, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Understatement of the century. Mine is still being used. I don't even dare how many systems  it's housed now...
> Ok, I dare. I can count five systems not including the one that it's housing now(in my system specs).
> That thing is built like a tank and has taken it's share of abuse and wear and tear. Still holding up without any damage aside from some scratched paint.



I know my original one has been through 2 Sockat A builds, 2 S939 builds and 2 Am builds. I too has a few scratches here and there but is in good shape for being 10+ years old. Hell it is housing my newest build at the moment until I can get the case I want for the build. Also my original one is steel and not Aluminum like the other ones I have. 




xvi said:


> Well that's depressing. I'm still using a Thermaltake Xaser II for my sig rig. I've replaced the acrylic window, but all the fans and everything are original. It originally housed an Athlon XP system, then a socket 754, then sig rig. The thermals aren't amazing, but I can still have two 4800 series cards and an overclocked Phenom II X6 that it manages to handle. Having a 120mm fan in the PSU probably helps.
> 
> http://www.nodevice.ru/images/catalog/Xaser_II.jpg



No need to be depressed. These cases hold up to the test of time.


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 7, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I know my original one has been through 2 Sockat A builds, 2 S939 builds and 2 Am builds. I too has a few scratches here and there but is in good shape for being 10+ years old. Hell it is housing my newest build at the moment until I can get the case I want for the build. Also my original one is steel and not Aluminum like the other ones I have.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Never even realized there was an aluminium version, I just assumed they were all steel, hence me stating "they're built like a tank." I remember lugging it around to LAN parties. It was a hell of a workout and got a lot of laughs from the others until I popped the side panel and they realized their tiny mATX systems were very outclassed


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 7, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Never even realized there was an aluminium version, I just assumed they were all steel, hence me stating "they're built like a tank." I remember lugging it around to LAN parties. It was a hell of a workout and got a lot of laughs from the others until I popped the side panel and they realized their tiny mATX systems were very outclassed



The aluminum version is considerably lighter. I think it is lighter then alot of newer cases on the market. I would venture to say it is below half the weight of the steel version.


----------



## TommyT (Feb 7, 2013)

Some of the old hardware i have:

AMD DX4-100Mhz
AMD K6-2 
486DX2---486DX4---Pentium 90Mhz---Pentium 100Mhz---Pentium 133Mhz---Pentium 150Mhz
Pentium 2 350Mhz
Pentium 4 1.6---2.4---2.6---2.8---3Ghz
Vortex 2 Aural
SB LIVE Value x 2
32MB EDO RAM SD-RAM for mac
some memory card-i think its a chache card for mac 
a lot of EDO ram also 2 of 32MB each
Voodoo 2 12MB
Creative Hardware modem 56K most for my pentium 1 pc that i used back before
His Radeon 9550 256MB DDR
PowerColor Radeon 9700Pro

most important a USB Floppy drive from ACER

had much more videon cards and a lot more of old motherboard but i had to wroth it all away toke to much space and dust hhh aldo had an XT full working computer i was so stupid to lost of it  is was the best nostalgic computer i ever had 

PIC soon as soone as i knew how to add them here?


----------



## Norton (Feb 7, 2013)

TommyT said:


> Some of the old hardware i have:
> 
> AMD DX4-100Mhz
> AMD K6-2
> ...



You can use the Free Image Hosting link here:





Upload, copy the link, and paste it into your post


----------



## erocker (Feb 7, 2013)

9800SE, X800XL, X800GTO


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 7, 2013)

Oh man, those AC Silencers bring back fond memories


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 7, 2013)

TommyT said:


> Some of the old hardware i have:
> 
> AMD DX4-100Mhz
> AMD K6-2
> ...



As Norton pointed out, TPU has the free image hosting!  Be sure to get the pics up man. 





erocker said:


> http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp112/erocker414/DSCN2899.jpg
> 
> http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp112/erocker414/DSCN2897.jpg
> 
> 9800SE, X800XL, X800GTO



Erocker!!!!! About time ya chimed in here LOLOL

Adding ya to the original post man.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 7, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Oh man, those AC Silencers bring back fond memories



HIS adopted the ATi silencer 5 as their IceQ cooler. If you remove one you'll see the Artic Cooling sticker on que underside


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Feb 7, 2013)

erocker said:


> http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp112/erocker414/DSCN2899.jpg
> 
> http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp112/erocker414/DSCN2897.jpg
> 
> 9800SE, X800XL, X800GTO



Heat sinks were a lot smaller back then... I miss the times when your graphics card didn't take up the entire case...


----------



## Liquid Cool (Feb 7, 2013)

Had to dip into my photo archives to find these....  I really like the Chieftec/Chenming cases.  If you modded the 2 front and 2 rear fan holes for 92mm fans the cooling couldn't be beat...Although, I usually added a few more fans elsewhere...


----------



## Liquid Cool (Feb 7, 2013)

One more...Game/Lan server setup from 2004.  The Codegen cases were around for awhile...this one was built like a tank.  If I recall correctly...the setup was close to 70 lbs.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 8, 2013)

Liquid Cool said:


> Had to dip into my photo archives to find these....  I really like the Chieftec/Chenming cases.  If you modded the 2 front and 2 rear fan holes for 92mm fans the cooling couldn't be beat...Although, I usually added a few more fans elsewhere...



By anychance you have some info on modding them for the 92mm fans?


----------



## Liquid Cool (Feb 8, 2013)

T_M_S...

It's been so long ago I can't remember exactly what I did...but if I'm recalling correctly I just kept it simple and cut the metal grids out in the back and smoothed them out some...same with the front, but I didn't do any extra work because the fans hid the ugly stuff.  The reason why I liked using the 92mm fans is because it was very straightforward.  They fit perfectly.  I probably stuffed these fans into a dozen or more cases back then.  The CPU cooler was the cooler we discussed awhile back.  It was the Thermaltake 13 I believe...with a ThermalTake duct and an acrylic 80 to 92mm adapter.  Reminded me of my old Harley when I stuck it on there.  I was pulling some pretty darn good temps with that setup on my 3200+, I discussed this extensively back in the AMDMB days...

These are the only pictures I could find.  I did stick an old Soyo Platinum in there - For Nostalgia's Sake.  Also...A shot of the internals that killed my fascination for the Chieftec/ChenMing cases...although, I stuck with the same fans - for awhile.  Very tunable.  I was about the first to have one...the now famous - Lian Li V1000.  Actually miss that case.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 8, 2013)

wow Liquid, do you still have all them items?


----------



## TommyT (Feb 10, 2013)

sorry that there are no pic yet. tommrow, after work i upload all of them also i got some new pic od some hadrware...


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Feb 10, 2013)

I like how everything used to be multicoloured  My old P4 rig had a fan with 4 different coloured LEDs in one fan, well it has 2 now because some of the LEDs died of the years but you get my point.


----------



## m1919 (Feb 10, 2013)

n3rdf1ght3r said:


> I like how everything used to be multicoloured  My old P4 rig had a fan with 4 different coloured LEDs in one fan, well it has 2 now because some of the LEDs died of the years but you get my point.



Lol, I loved the wide variety of colors and variation between the different motherboard manufacturers and gpu vendors back then. Red boards, silver, purple, black, green, gold. Now it's all mostly black motherboards and black pcbs for GPUs and everything else. If you're a Gigabyte kind of dude, you'll get blue motherboards. 

Kinda boring now.


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Feb 10, 2013)

m1919 said:


> Lol, I love the wide variety of colors and variation between the different motherboard manufacturers and gpu vendors. Red boards, silver, purple, black, green, gold. Now it's all mostly black motherboards and black pcbs for GPUs and everything else. If you're a Gigabyte kind of dude, you'll get blue motherboards.
> 
> Kinda boring now.



That's true, but people have gotten into cable management so now everything is black to hide  parts easily. Cases also have side panel windows now to show off hardware so I guess it looks nice if it didn't look like a rainbow inside. I always hated computers with 9 million different colours though, that might be because of my OCD.


----------



## m1919 (Feb 10, 2013)

n3rdf1ght3r said:


> That's true, but people have gotten into cable management so now everything is black to hide  parts easily. Cases also have side panel windows now to show off hardware so I guess it looks nice if it didn't look like a rainbow inside. I always hated computers with 9 million different colours though, that might be because of my OCD.



Yeah, some color consideration had to be taken into account when setting up a rig back then lol.

I think the red boards tended to go well with most anything, I've got a MSI K8T Master2-FAR build in progress; red board, a pair of oldskool Thermalright SI-9XV heatsinks + WinFast A400 Ultra looks pretty good.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 11, 2013)

Liquid Cool said:


> T_M_S...
> 
> It's been so long ago I can't remember exactly what I did...but if I'm recalling correctly I just kept it simple and cut the metal grids out in the back and smoothed them out some...same with the front, but I didn't do any extra work because the fans hid the ugly stuff.  The reason why I liked using the 92mm fans is because it was very straightforward.  They fit perfectly.  I probably stuffed these fans into a dozen or more cases back then.  The CPU cooler was the cooler we discussed awhile back.  It was the Thermaltake 13 I believe...with a ThermalTake duct and an acrylic 80 to 92mm adapter.  Reminded me of my old Harley when I stuck it on there.  I was pulling some pretty darn good temps with that setup on my 3200+, I discussed this extensively back in the AMDMB days...
> 
> These are the only pictures I could find.  I did stick an old Soyo Platinum in there - For Nostalgia's Sake.  Also...A shot of the internals that killed my fascination for the Chieftec/ChenMing cases...although, I stuck with the same fans - for awhile.  Very tunable.  I was about the first to have one...the now famous - Lian Li V1000.  Actually miss that case.



I miss the old Amdmb days. It's cool to meet another from there on here.  Thanks for the tip on the fans man.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Feb 14, 2013)

Have some old hardware i just pulled earlier today. All came from a old HP that ran windows 98. Actually want to sell this stuff. All works found this while digging through my basement looking for some RAM

Intel Pentium II SL2S7 400MHz Slot 1

http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL2S7.html













Quantum Bigfoot XT 5.25 Series Harddrive 12GB

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Bigfoot_(hard_drive) 








Western Digital Caviar 10.2GB 102AA Hard Drive

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/legacy/Legacy.asp?Model=WD102AA


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2013)

Sweet Durvelle!! 

Added ya to the original post man!


----------



## m1919 (Feb 14, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> Have some old hardware i just pulled earlier today. All came from a old HP that ran windows 98. Actually want to sell this stuff. All works found this while digging through my basement looking for some RAM
> 
> Intel Pentium II SL2S7 400MHz Slot 1
> 
> ...



Very cool, I've been wanting to get one of those Quantum Bigfoot drives for a while now.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2013)

Get ready!!! I will be posting pictures and details of my "Enter The Dragon" nostalgic build here and in the "Project Logs" forum seen HERE! 

I will start with some basic pictures in this post, just to keep from cluttering the thread with a bunch of my posts.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2013)

Saved for further information on the "Enter The Dragon" build.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Feb 14, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Sweet Durvelle!!
> 
> Added ya to the original post man!



thx more pics coming as i find more stuff


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 14, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Get ready!!! I will be posting pictures and details of my "Enter The Dragon" nostalgic build here and in the "Project Logs" forum seen HERE!
> 
> I will start with some basic pictures in this post, just to keep from cluttering the thread with a bunch of my posts.



sounds great 
while shuffling cases for the ones i just got i found a pc i forgot i had  will post pics of it as soon as i find my dad's sinclair zx81


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 15, 2013)

behold... Sapphire X800GT oh wait its a RV420 not 480 thought its labeled GT damned i got fooled (well not that much at 1$ the card im pretty much happy ... xD)
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/962/ATI_Radeon_X800_GT_AGP.html the "real" one





a bunch of "old but not so" GTX 560Ti OEM (a cutdown 448core GF110 to 352cores but retain the 320bit memory bus and the 1280mb ram.) and a Oem Albatron GT 405 (that crap lasted 46minutes the day i buyed a HP desktop as a base for my actual rigs... xD)










same as the GT 405 ... a ATI 9200SE p.o.s card for retail branded pc who claim "WOW GRAPHIC ATI/NVIDIA INSIDE "insert random MB amount here""





addition.




























EDO ram woohoo




normaly a SoDIMM SDR pc100 32mb from a Dell Latitude CP with a PII 233




the famous PII233... funny i like that kind of package ... xD




i was wondering WTF is this it doesnt look like a standard ram module




the answer came from the PCB its a sync cache module ... i dont remember from where it is, i remember a Dell Optiplex GX1 with the PIII 450 i posted above, but i dont recall PIII having a sideport cache ... maybe from another "old" one i dont remember


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 16, 2013)

I want to add that if anyone in the ConUS want to build a Nostalgia rig and needs parts, let me know as I have some I need to get rid of for the price of shipping. And it all works 100%. I am buying a new house and while packing up my old house I am going to lets some things go as I will never use it it as I have plenty of nostalgia stuff in my keep pile.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 16, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I want to add that if anyone in the ConUS want to build a Nostalgia rig and needs parts, let me know as I have some I need to get rid of for the price of shipping. And it all works 100%. I am buying a new house and while packing up my old house I am going to lets some things go as I will never use it it as I have plenty of nostalgia stuff in my keep pile.



Well first congrats on the buying of a new house bro!!!

I don't suppose the Koolance case is one of the items.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 17, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Well first congrats on the buying of a new house bro!!!
> 
> I don't suppose the Koolance case is one of the items.



Nah I am keeping him. I have been wanting to do that build with those components for years man. LOL 

In the new house he will have his own desk and special corner with the win 98 rig.


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 17, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I want to add that if anyone in the ConUS want to build a Nostalgia rig and needs parts, let me know as I have some I need to get rid of for the price of shipping. And it all works 100%. I am buying a new house and while packing up my old house I am going to lets some things go as I will never use it it as I have plenty of nostalgia stuff in my keep pile.



I'll toss my hat in that ring.
A few of my friends have been trying to get me to play on their private EQ server with them, but my PC crashes out to desktop at the login screen. Would much rather build an old-school rig than run a VM on this one. Shoot me a PM with the 98/2000 era hardware you have and I'll talk business with ya.


----------



## T-Bob (Feb 17, 2013)

This is what is left from my first All-out Enthusiast build.





[/ATTACH]


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 17, 2013)

T-Bob said:


> This is what is left from my first All-out Enthusiast build.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Just love the ole DFI boards!! I have a lanparty nf4 sli-dr with a Opty 175 that I am about to build up! 

Added ya to the original post alos T-Bob!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 17, 2013)

gahhh and i almost won one of those DFI  NF4 Mobo on Ricardo.ch for less than 10$

and i almost forgot to post my 1st pc cpu (oh wait i did had a Comodore with Win 3.1 and DOS 5.0 and a 386 as a 1st... bu i cant remember where i put the remnant ... oh maybe i still have the GW-basic or the DOS manual somewhere or i think i still have the Amiga mouse that was going with ...)


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 20, 2013)

Haven't found that Sinclair yet but i will..... someday, for now that other PC


Spoiler



AOpen mk73le-v (most of its caps leaked and a corner of the cpu is chipped :shadedshu)











and i seem to be attracting old hardware ever since i joined , this on i got a few days ago


Spoiler



pentium III 500MHz


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 20, 2013)

Damn Doc!! That sucks that AOpen board is junk. There are a lot of the caps leaking for sure. 

Have you tried to fire that Duron up on anything? I have seen similar chips that have the edge broke and they worked just fine.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 20, 2013)

Nice Katmai!


----------



## TotalChaos (Feb 20, 2013)




----------



## Doc41 (Feb 21, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Damn Doc!! That sucks that AOpen board is *junk*. There are a lot of the caps leaking for sure.
> 
> Have you tried to fire that Duron up on anything? I have seen similar chips that have the edge broke and they worked just fine.


You got that right, the weird thing is with all that it is working just fine


----------



## n0tiert (Feb 22, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> Have some old hardware i just pulled earlier today. All came from a old HP that ran windows 98. Actually want to sell this stuff. All works found this while digging through my basement looking for some RAM
> 
> Intel Pentium II SL2S7 400MHz Slot 1
> 
> ...



looks like FIC mobo to me 

lol i remember that baking tray HDD in da old days


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 22, 2013)

I fired up that Super motherboard with the PIII last night and damn what a BIOS it has,





I mean if a BIOS from 1997 features such a GUI and mouse capabilities why are they doing this just nowadays


----------



## n0tiert (Feb 22, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> I fired up that Super motherboard with the PIII last night and damn what a BIOS it has,
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130222/20130221_222057.jpg
> 
> I mean if a BIOS from 1997 features such a GUI and mouse capabilities why are they doing this just nowadays



retro UEFI bios


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 22, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> I fired up that Super motherboard with the PIII last night and damn what a BIOS it has,
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130222/20130221_222057.jpg
> 
> I mean if a BIOS from 1997 features such a GUI and mouse capabilities why are they doing this just nowadays



Windows 3.1 FTW.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 23, 2013)

WOW, only $2100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121071119401


----------



## Norton (Feb 23, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> WOW, only $2100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121071119401



 I'll take 4 of them with a side of RDRAM -


----------



## TriggerWolf (Feb 23, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> WOW, only $2100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121071119401



And that's a steal!!1

Jeez, what is that guy thinking?


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 23, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> WOW, only $2100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121071119401



The real funny thing is, when I clicked it, at the bottom where it shows other auctions the was a ad for one and the price was $24.00


----------



## Jstn7477 (Feb 23, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> I fired up that Super motherboard with the PIII last night and damn what a BIOS it has,
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130222/20130221_222057.jpg
> 
> I mean if a BIOS from 1997 features such a GUI and mouse capabilities why are they doing this just nowadays



I believe that the advanced BIOSes needed huge EEPROMs which were very expensive back in the day. Your average run of the mill EEPROM in the mid 2000s was 4-8 megabits, and the latest UEFI boards typically have 64 megabits to play with.


----------



## manofthem (Feb 23, 2013)

My bro's old 7600GT went snack, crackle, pop!





and 2 more pics of his old setup:


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 24, 2013)

Alright fellow owners of old stuffs, I have a question. I have my old trusty Abit kt7a board and supporting compnants. I need some ideals of what to do with it. I already have one hell of a win xp rig so I don't really need another one. I don't have a win 2k disc or key anymore so thats out the window. I also have a good win 98se rig. It does have a 2400+ cpu (highest it can run) and 1.5 gb of pc133 memory. I am not ready to put the thing out to pasture but I need a good ideal to continue to give it life other then a file server.


----------



## Jetster (Feb 24, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> WOW, only $2100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121071119401



Ask him a question like does it come with a 1998 Honda Civic?


----------



## m1919 (Feb 24, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Ask him a question like does it come with a 1998 Honda Civic?



I should make a private offer for it.

10 bucks.


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 24, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Alright fellow owners of old stuffs, I have a question. I have my old trusty Abit kt7a board and supporting compnants. I need some ideals of what to do with it. I already have one hell of a win xp rig so I don't really need another one. I don't have a win 2k disc or key anymore so thats out the window. I also have a good win 98se rig. It does have a 2400  cpu (highest it can run) and 1.5 gb of pc133 memory. I am not ready to put the thing out to pasture but I need a good ideal to continue to give it life other then a file server.



The main "old" rig i have got WinME on it and using it for all the old games\software i have [for those moments when you need nostalgia  ] but that's a good question since now i have 3 or 4 more now and don't know what to do with them other than running winME


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 24, 2013)

Thats it in a nut shell. I already have a win 98se and a win xp box.


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 26, 2013)

It works...somewhat...haven't managed to get a full crossfire test going...damn inflexible motherboards...






Now...to try and find a way to remove those damn screws without damaging the core...


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 26, 2013)

HD2600 X2?? 

What a coincidence! I found an HD2600XT AGP at the flea market. It's missing the heatsink so I ordered one of those chinese Zalman-look-alike HSF on eBay. Hopefully it'll work. Pics tonight.


----------



## xvi (Feb 26, 2013)

256MB PC100 SDRAM w/ECC. Thought the dual-PCB design was unusual. We're running these in some of our old servers.


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 26, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> HD2600 X2??
> 
> What a coincidence! I found an HD2600XT AGP at the flea market. It's missing the heatsink so I ordered one of those chinese Zalman-look-alike HSF on eBay. Hopefully it'll work. Pics tonight.



Great card for...1024x768 screens.


----------



## m1919 (Feb 26, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> It works...somewhat...haven't managed to get a full crossfire test going...damn inflexible motherboards...
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img441/4347/sany0712.jpg
> 
> Now...to try and find a way to remove those damn screws without damaging the core...



That's pretty awesome!


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 26, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> It works...somewhat...haven't managed to get a full crossfire test going...damn inflexible motherboards...
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img441/4347/sany0712.jpg
> 
> Now...to try and find a way to remove those damn screws without damaging the core...



Very awesome card JP!!!




xvi said:


> 256MB PC100 SDRAM w/ECC. Thought the dual-PCB design was unusual. We're running these in some of our old servers.
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img822/2310/img20130226112009.jpg​



Now that is a pretty cool looking ram stick man. 
I added you to the original post as well man.


----------



## m1919 (Feb 27, 2013)

Wow, I've never seen ram with more than one PCB before. What's the reasoning behind the design?


----------



## xvi (Feb 27, 2013)

m1919 said:


> Wow, I've never seen ram with more than one PCB before. What's the reasoning behind the design?



Just to pack in more chips, I assume. It all physically fits, so why not?

Edit: More memory. Eight sticks of 30-pin EDO DRAM on two riser/multipliers. No idea what size they are though.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 27, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> HD2600 X2??
> 
> What a coincidence! I found an HD2600XT AGP at the flea market. It's missing the heatsink so I ordered one of those chinese Zalman-look-alike HSF on eBay. Hopefully it'll work. Pics tonight.



pic:






6200LE with busted caps. FZ caps, should have know it. :shadedshu
HD2600 XT. Someone harvested the HSF from it. Caps look fine so hopefully it still works.


----------



## m1919 (Feb 27, 2013)

xvi said:


> Just to pack in more chips, I assume. It all physically fits, so why not?
> 
> Edit: More memory. Eight sticks of 30-pin EDO DRAM on two riser/multipliers. No idea what size they are though.
> http://imageshack.us/a/img805/1669/img20130226193023.jpg



Yeah, but low-density PC100 256MB sticks fit the same amount onto just a single PCB. Maybe these were made when chip density was not high enough to go the single PCB route?


----------



## xvi (Feb 28, 2013)

Designed for Windows NT and Windows 95, you guys! Like, omg!


----------



## Krazy Owl (Feb 28, 2013)

xvi said:


> Designed for Windows NT and Windows 95, you guys! Like, omg!
> http://imageshack.us/a/img688/2123/img0832it.jpg



...and still it can run Xubuntu when paired to a 64 megs AGP card


----------



## d1nky (Feb 28, 2013)

hopefully someone can help me remember a graphics card from my childhood days. it was an ATI card about ten years ago, when 256bit was a massive rage and dual core was expensive! the card was red with clear plastic casing the fan and a sticker. but on top was a copper like plate shaped on the pcb! not sure if it was pcie or what bit it was?! any ideas?


----------



## Krazy Owl (Feb 28, 2013)

ATI Radeon x1950 PRO 512megs 256bits


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 28, 2013)

d1nky said:


> hopefully someone can help me remember a graphics card from my childhood days. it was an ATI card about ten years ago, when 256bit was a massive rage and dual core was expensive! the card was red with clear plastic casing the fan and a sticker. but on top was a copper like plate shaped on the pcb! not sure if it was pcie or what bit it was?! any ideas?





Krazy Owl said:


> ATI Radeon x1950 PRO 512megs 256bits



That's immediately what i thought of, specifically this one:








I still have mine.


Could also be a card with the two-slot x1800/x1900 cooler, like this x1800xt:


----------



## d1nky (Feb 28, 2013)

I couldn't afford that one, its all coming back to me now lol I had a Sempron, a mobo that couldn't fit other heatsinks on and 1gb ram and could play serious sam at max and Americas Army! fuk I stole something, that woke me up lol

 it was the gecube x800 gto


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 28, 2013)

10 Years ago would have put you some where in the Radeon 9xxx range. The only ones that where 256 bit where the 9700 and 9800 series. Cards running 256 bit after them would have been the x800 series and that came in late 04' to early 05' with pci-e versions coming out late 04' to late middle 05'. The X1xxx 256 bit series came out between late 05' to early 07'.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 28, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> 10 Years ago would have put you some where in the Radeon 9xxx range. The only ones that where 256 bit where the 9700 and 9800 series. Cards running 256 bit after them would have been the x800 series and that came in late 04' to early 05' with pci-e versions coming out late 04' to late middle 05'. The X1xxx 256 bit series came out between late 05' to early 07'.



Oh shit you don't know what your talking about! 

Just kidding brother. 

I was going to say the 9700 or 9800 cards myself.


----------



## d1nky (Feb 28, 2013)

I just had a bsod!! straight after IE telling me I stolen pics haha strange??! heres a pic;

yea 04 I was 15 lol! rocking a Sempron and the X case haha


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 28, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Oh shit you don't know what your talking about!
> 
> Just kidding brother.
> 
> I was going to say the 9700 or 9800 cards myself.



I know I just make some shit up that sounds good from time to time.  

I was thinking on the lines of an X800  This agp version came to mind


----------



## d1nky (Feb 28, 2013)

ten years time ill be like I had this system, called crossfire, and we didn't have touch screen 3d visor green ray H.D nano tech haha

edit: why aren't graphics cards colourful anymore?? I think this may have caused the recessions lol


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 28, 2013)

There used to be some really colorful stuff back in the day. From gpus to mobos' and even wild cpu coolers. Hell like was said before, some of the stuff I have looks like someone threw up a pack of skittles on it.


----------



## d1nky (Feb 28, 2013)

hahahahahaha brilliant! im going to use that next time a girl is wearing tooo much make up!!!


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 28, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I know I just make some shit up that sounds good from time to time.



 I knew that about you bro.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 28, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> I knew that about you bro.


----------



## xvi (Feb 28, 2013)

We're having issues at work, so I'm going to take some time off and dig around for something to post here.

Best I can come up with is a Dual P3 HP NetServer LPr that's currently crunching for TPU's WCG competition (and providing some device monitoring for work too). Semi-vintage in action!








Dual Pentium 3 Coppermine 800MHz (SL3XR)






~220 PPD makes this not as horribly inefficient as I would have thought. Uses about 130 watts at the wall.





Edit: *BONUS!* An instructive guide I made for a friend on dual-booting.


Spoiler


----------



## Norton (Feb 28, 2013)

xvi said:


> *BONUS!* An instructive guide I made for a friend on dual-booting.
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...




 -


----------



## Jstn7477 (Mar 1, 2013)

xvi said:


> ~220 PPD makes this not as horribly inefficient as I would have thought. Uses about 130 watts at the wall.



My Dell Dimension E520 with a stock Intel Xeon X3210 2.13GHz quad takes about 130w at the wall and gets ~2000 PPD. Even that is old compared to say an overclocked i7-3770K that gets 7-8K PPD in the same power footprint. It's amazing how far processors have come along over the last 12 years. With the PPD numbers you gave for your server, you'd probably need nearly 32 of them (or roughly 4 Kilowatts) lol.


----------



## xvi (Mar 2, 2013)

We need to go deeper





Pentium w/MMX 200MHz





Pentium 90MHz










Older processors coming soon.

IBM 6x86L PR166+





Cyrix MII-300GP





Various 80486


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 4, 2013)

xvi said:


> We need to go deeper
> http://gamingirresponsibly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Inception-Deeper.jpg
> 
> Pentium w/MMX 200MHz
> ...




Awesome old chips man!!!!!!!



Also wanted to mention that I do have the nostalgic build going on now in the project log forum.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180457


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 5, 2013)

Got this at a recycling center:







Paid $5 for it  It's missing the I/O panel though.

I think I'm going to put together a "scraps" rig  I've got a 3.4 Prescott, an HD2600XT and a spare set of DDR500 RAM.


----------



## Peter1986C (Mar 5, 2013)

What is that stuff around the NB?


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 5, 2013)

Support pads


----------



## Peter1986C (Mar 5, 2013)

Ah ok.


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 6, 2013)

Got the cooler for the HD2600XT


----------



## _JP_ (Mar 6, 2013)

Neat. A 521MB DDR3 2600XT.
It's a shame the x2600x2 won't let the system boot when installed in a 4CoreDual-SATA2, otherwise my project would have been viable. 


_JP_ said:


> I'm going to bring the discussion here, because I don't want to derail the other thread, but still explaining to TRWOV what I had in mind.
> So, I almost ended-up buying a Sapphire HD 2600 XT AGP for a freaky project that exploded in my mind the moment I saw the card.
> The idea was to use my 4CoreDual-SATA, once I upgraded to something more modern, with that card plus my 2600x2 for some triple-screen awesomesauce. One idea was to make a RACE 07 dedicated computer, given that driving simulators greatly benefit from very wide resolutions.
> The specifications for RACE 07 state a 3GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, DX9 w/512MB vRAM GPU. The HD 2600 while not being a performance monster should handle the game fine with the resolution set to 1366x768 or even 1440x900.
> ...


It would have been awesome...oh well...


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 8, 2013)

sneak preview of Red & Blue: a 478 scraps build










What would be a good circa-2005 sound card?


----------



## m1919 (Mar 8, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> sneak preview of Red & Blue: a 478 scraps build
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img202/8158/img1070ob.jpg
> http://imageshack.us/a/img819/8425/img1072yy.jpg
> ...



No idea what would be good for that timeframe.

Lol, what I'm interested in is that Gigabyte i-RAM.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 8, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> What would be a good circa-2005 sound card?



Maybe a sound blaster live 5.1? I think that is about the right time frame. 

Very awesome looking nostalgic build bro!!! What is that Gigabyte card with the ram in it?


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 8, 2013)

It's an i-RAM. 

I think I'm going to forgo the sound card; I'll try to get a set of speakers with optical inputs instead.


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 9, 2013)

Maybe I should look for a sound card after all. Can't find a set of PC speakers with optical input.

Wish I hadn't sold my Turtle Beach Montego. Maybe I could get an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer or something.


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 10, 2013)

Digged out my old 478 heatsink:














Bought an IC7 MAX I/O plate, apparently it should fit the IC7-G fine. Log will be posted soon


----------



## Krazy Owl (Mar 10, 2013)

Unfortunately you are too far otherwise I would have send you a vintage case to fit that rig  
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811123054


----------



## syeef (Mar 10, 2013)

That i-RAM looks cool... why did they abandon that idea anyway?


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 10, 2013)

Krazy Owl said:


> Unfortunately you are too far otherwise I would have send you a vintage case to fit that rig
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811123054



Thanks but I'll use the case that I had initially bought for my Phenom build.




syeef said:


> That i-RAM looks cool... why did they abandon that idea anyway?




Maybe they didn't sell many? I recall an i-RAM 2 being developed for DDR2 RAM but it never saw the light of the day.

I'd want to come across an i-RAM box though (same thing but in a 5.25 enclosure).


----------



## TommyT (Mar 10, 2013)

I have some new CPUs at home

AXP 2400
SEEMPRON 2400
SOME PENTIUM 2 350MHZ
PENTIUM 3 TUALTIN 1 GHZ
PENTIUM 3 800
AMD64 939 3200
AMD64 939 3700
AMD64 939 3000
AXP 2800+
AXP 3000+
AXP 1800+
SLOT TO SOCKET 370 WITH 1.2GHZ TUALTIN PENTIUM 3


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 10, 2013)

TommyT said:


> I have some new CPUs at home
> 
> AXP 2400
> SEEMPRON 2400
> ...




You should throw up some pictures man.


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 10, 2013)

syeef said:


> That i-RAM looks cool... why did they abandon that idea anyway?



Cost as in the iRAM cost a but load as did the DDR400 ram to put in it I also think this is where the idea for the PCIe SSD started from


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 11, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> Cost as in the iRAM cost a but load as did the DDR400 ram to put in it I also think this is where the idea for the PCIe SSD started from



its Volatile meaning it requires a battery to keep everything.


----------



## TommyT (Mar 11, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> You should throw up some pictures man.



Yes fro this time tommrow i post all of the pictures of all of my old great hardware i have

with my new sony xperia U - i know its not the best but its my optimal sulotion for me.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 13, 2013)

eidairaman1 said:


> its Volatile meaning it requires a battery to keep everything.



i guess you dont understand the point: the purpose is to be a Ramdisk so, for loading a LiveCD system (in exemple) so basically it IS a kind of PCI "Volatile SSD" and since it was not comfortable, they developed SSD with non volatile and more capacity. 

btw SSD Solid State Drive : a Ramdisk composed of ram stick is a SSD, to the core definition you can even call a uSD card or any memory card usb key a SSD... that name is kinda too much generic, 

ok ok i know its not what people know ... but do they know right? maybe yes maybe no *Evil laugh* muhahahahahahahhahahahaaaaa

so he has a point in it imo


----------



## TommyT (Mar 16, 2013)

some of my pictures the cam is sony xpreia U 5mp


----------



## TommyT (Mar 16, 2013)

and some more pictures


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 16, 2013)

TommyT said:


> some of my pictures the cam is sony xpreia U 5mp





TommyT said:


> and some more pictures



 Awesome ole hardware man!!! 

Added ya to the original post.


----------



## TommyT (Mar 16, 2013)

Now its the CPU's and RAM pictures


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 17, 2013)

if you use straight DRAM without any battery as an SSD you lose your data, plus that battery can die without warning. They were the earliest SSDs before nand flash memory came into use.



GreiverBlade said:


> i guess you dont understand the point: the purpose is to be a Ramdisk so, for loading a LiveCD system (in exemple) so basically it IS a kind of PCI "Volatile SSD" and since it was not comfortable, they developed SSD with non volatile and more capacity.
> 
> btw SSD Solid State Drive : a Ramdisk composed of ram stick is a SSD, to the core definition you can even call a uSD card or any memory card usb key a SSD... that name is kinda too much generic,
> 
> ...


----------



## Animalpak (Mar 19, 2013)

Alphacool Powersupply watercooling block


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 19, 2013)

Animalpak said:


> Alphacool Powersupply watercooling block
> 
> 
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130319/fwefwe.jpg




 now that is odd! Can't imagine it would have been very effective really.


----------



## m1919 (Mar 23, 2013)

Got some new stuff coming soon, but for now...

Got a Kingwin KT424-BK-WM for the Xeon rig. Decided the Xeons need to be shown off a bit more and what better way to do that than with an inverted-ATX case?

The conversion didn't take much work, pretty much just needed to cut the backplate for the new tray position and then move the support rails over to the other side and pop rivet into place. I may add a couple 80mm fans side-by-side for a blowhole up top later, not sure yet.

Plopped my Freeway FW6400 and Voodoo5 5500 in there to see what it would look like with a board in there. I may actually use the board in this case at some point, but probably not until I find a TJ06 or Coolermaster ATC-710 for the XG-DLS.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 23, 2013)

eidairaman1 said:


> if you use straight DRAM without any battery as an SSD you lose your data, plus that battery can die without warning. They were the earliest SSDs before nand flash memory came into use.



well yes thanks for repeating what i wrote 

thats specially why i precised Volatile and Non Volatile, thus SSD mean Solide State Disk wich is still clearly the definition of a SD card or any other mem card incluing ram stick, hence why i said the name is too generic only the Volatile and Non Nolatile make the difference. 


But i get your point dont worry.(and i know you get mine aswell)

Also Ram SSD with a battery that can die without warning is indeed not comfortable.

cheers (btw nice avatar!)

and for not being offtopic too much





i owned one ... i didnt kept it ... I WAANNNTT ONE for my collection! 

the best of the best !!! the one that showed intel what fear was ... sadely it didnt lasted long (still i use AMD only rigs, except for my Fractal Design Core1000 wich has a PhenomII X4 810 alongside with a Nvidia GTX560ti Oem (who strangely is based on GF110 but has a 320bits bus instead of the 256bits bus showed in GPU database))


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 23, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> and for not being offtopic too much
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130323/Argonathlon.jpg
> 
> i owned one ... i didnt kept it ... I WAANNNTT ONE for my collection!
> ...




I am running a Slot A win 98 rig for some old gaming pleasure. I will get some pics of the complete rig in action once I get it unpacked. I just bought a new house so I have packed up all the non critical stuff.


----------



## Jetster (Mar 23, 2013)

I wanted a Slot A so bad back in the day. I saved and saved for months but could not afford it


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 24, 2013)

Yeah I had a Celeron 333 Slot 1 in the day. I didnt hear about AMD till the P4 Days.



GreiverBlade said:


> well yes thanks for repeating what i wrote
> 
> thats specially why i precised Volatile and Non Volatile, thus SSD mean Solide State Disk wich is still clearly the definition of a SD card or any other mem card incluing ram stick, hence why i said the name is too generic only the Volatile and Non Nolatile make the difference.
> 
> ...


----------



## Melvis (Mar 24, 2013)

Just some old video cards i have laying around


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## stinger608 (Mar 24, 2013)

Melvis said:


> Just some old video cards i have laying around



A nice collection Melvis! 

Added ya to the original post man.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 5, 2013)

Got some new stuff in. The vid cards are a little rough, going to clean them up/replace the thermal paste on them. The 9700 Pro is missing a fan blade, will probably ghetto something together to replace it. The Zalman heatsink on the 9800 Pro is missing a screw and the support bars across the top, that'll be fixed at some point, tempted to remove the ramsinks on the back of the card and replace them with low-pros; the original owner just bent his because they wouldn't fit otherwise.

Gainward GeForce 6800 "GS" 128MB - Someone must have had a dead Gainward 6800GT and swapped out the coolers, pretty sure this is not standard for the GS.
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
Gateway OEM Nvidia FX5950 Ultra 256MB
LeadTek WinFast A250 128MB
Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB


----------



## TB13 (Apr 9, 2013)

I'm not sure if this is old enough to be Nostalgic, but its pretty old. 

AMD X2 X64 4200+ @ 2.4GHz (going higher soon)
MSI K8N SLI/Neo4
Corsair XMS
8800GT SLI


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 9, 2013)

pretty old or is it you who is pretty young? ohhh well i still posted a pics of a GTX560ti OEM (GF110) so i guess you can call it nostalgic but not old ... (you can be nostalgic about yesterday so why not)

edit: 6month in computer aging is indeed old ... so we can call 7xxx series and 6xx series from AMD/Nvidia old?


----------



## LTUGamer (Apr 9, 2013)

I had Athlon 64 3200+ based PC (Athlon 64 3200+ 2,0GHz (@2.39GHZ) MSI K8N Neo2 FX Platinum, Gigabyte X700 AGP 400core/500mem @ 427core/542mem, 2x1GB PQI RAM DDR @ 400MHz, Codegen case with crapy 350W PSU, 320GB Samsung HDD, Aver Media High end TV card). Original version of PC had 2*256 MB RAM, 160 GB HDD. I used MSI 7600 GT for some time. In the end of life of PC I updated Cooling system including CPU fan, Case fan and VGA cooler because old one was almost dead and very noisy. Unfortunately he crashed and some parts were sold, some were given for free, some of them is in my loft. 

I feel nostalgia for him because it is times then AMD was best. I looks that it is one of newest computer based on AMD which is better than respective Intel computer (well maybe Phenom II were also competitive in beginning of life). I don't know if AMD could be competitor for Intel anytime in future.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 9, 2013)

indeed ... good ol' time of AMD was good ol'time(tm) 

well they are competitive for APU (performance wise ... since any intel chip with a graphical part can be considered as a APU but ... its a AMD term 1st hand) 

i still run my 2 Phenom II (X4 and X6) rigs till i can find a good deal on a 6300/8320/8350 (hopefully the 3rd one ...  ) to switch the X6 in place of the X4 (X6 is on a AM3+ ASRock 970 Ex3 the X4 on a crapbag RS780L from Foxconn)

weirdest part: games run better (fps) on the X4 than the X6 i wonder why ... well tomorrow it will be better! woohoo 7950 3gb sweetdeals for the mainrig (still in a dilemma of keeping the GTX560ti oem or switching it for the 6950 2gb i have actually)

AMD will still  be competitive on price side tho ...


----------



## Aquinus (Apr 9, 2013)

LTUGamer said:


> I had Athlon 64 3200+ based PC (Athlon 64 3200+ 2,0GHz (@2.39GHZ) MSI K8N Neo2 FX Platinum, Gigabyte X700 AGP 400core/500mem @ 427core/542mem, 2x1GB PQI RAM DDR @ 400MHz, Codegen case with crapy 350W PSU, 320GB Samsung HDD, Aver Media High end TV card). Original version of PC had 2*256 MB RAM, 160 GB HDD. I used MSI 7600 GT for some time. In the end of life of PC I updated Cooling system including CPU fan, Case fan and VGA cooler because old one was almost dead and very noisy. Unfortunately he crashed and some parts were sold, some were given for free, some of them is in my loft.
> 
> I feel nostalgia for him because it is times then AMD was best. I looks that it is one of newest computer based on AMD which is better than respective Intel computer (well maybe Phenom II were also competitive in beginning of life). I don't know if AMD could be competitor for Intel anytime in future.



I used to have an Athlon 3700+ San Diego Core with a K8N Neo4-F. I still have it, but I need to replace the VRM caps, they're bulging. I have a set of 2Gb of DDR-400 for it, so once I replace the caps, it will be good as new. A better chipset cooler might be in order though if I do decide to revive it.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 11, 2013)

Nabbed these a while ago. Not really retro, but they're going into my MSI K8T Master2-FAR build, so...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 11, 2013)

Velociraptor ... fastest hdd beside hybrides (SG momentus) well they are in ATA? so yes its not so new  i have a pair  SG Cheetah SCSI ultra and the Adaptec card that goes with, from a old server i had 

i rather prefered raptor instead of cheetah xD they make wayyyy less noise


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 11, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> Velociraptor ... fastest hdd beside hybrides (SG momentus) well they are in ATA? so yes its not so new  i have a pair  SG Cheetah SCSI ultra and the Adaptec card that goes with, from a old server i had
> 
> i rather prefered raptor instead of cheetah xD they make wayyyy less noise



Pssh, I still have a couple of Quantum Fireballs and Bigfoots around the office, I'll see if I can't find them.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 11, 2013)

you have balls of fire uhhhhh thats hardcore... combined with bigfeets wow combbbbooo 

im not joking, you bring me sweet memory of old joke between nostalg33k during the time when we where arguing over "who have balls of steels" in his rig! funtime in lanparty indeed ... duh ... 

i think i have a IBM 5.25 somewhere in my "junk pile" woohoo 5mb if i recall ... (if i didnt droped it elswhere when i packed my stuff to go where i live now)


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 11, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> you have balls of fire uhhhhh thats hardcore... combined with bigfeets wow combbbbooo
> 
> im not joking, you bring me sweet memory of old joke between nostalg33k during the time when we where arguing over "who have balls of steels" in his rig! funtime in lanparty indeed ... duh ...
> 
> i think i have a IBM 5.25 somewhere in my "junk pile" woohoo 5mb if i recall ... (if i didnt droped it elswhere when i packed my stuff to go where i live now)



I've got BALLS OF STEEL. It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum.

On a serious note, I've started a project log of a retro build I'm throwing together. It's not as old as some of the stuff posted here, but it is relatively old.


----------



## Animalpak (Apr 11, 2013)

m1919 said:


> Nabbed these a while ago. Not really retro, but they're going into my MSI K8T Master2-FAR build, so...
> 
> http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/9458/11042013711.jpg



im currently running them


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 11, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> I've got BALLS OF STEEL. It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum.
> 
> On a serious note, I've started a project log of a retro build I'm throwing together. It's not as old as some of the stuff posted here, but it is relatively old.



my nostalg33k build involve

Athlon xp (i dont remember rating i need to fire up that build someday xD)
rad Titan Majesty V (basically a Titan Silver Orb ... quite noisy i need to find a quieter skt A rad)
2x256mb DDR 400 (samsung)
MSI KT6V 400
Sapphire Radeon X800GT 512mb (or 256mb... memory blackhole power!) sometime a Hercule 3D Prophet 9700 128mb just for fun
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120gb
FSP 250w psu (funny ... all runs fine i thought i would be underpowered by that one ... but i prefer a FSP 250 over a LC-Power 350)
Win XP home (i have a pro but 3 home licenses ... i cant find where i have the pro one ...)
all boxed in a NZXT Nemesis White (missing some fan and such but im scavenging for some)

Oldies but Goodies!

oh wait i have a 2nd build also under XP home ... get a seat and hold tight

PIII 600mhz
Acer Veriton FP board (yup its the Veriton i torn into tiny bits to run it bare naked ... eh? i know im EBIL! )
2x128mb SDR pc100 (kingston)
3Drage pro LT 4 or 8mb(integrated) (sometime swaped for a Mach64VT in the single PCI port that mobo has ... just for fun)
Maxtor 80gb hdd
all boxed in a ... oh wait ... hum ... sitting on my Seqoia root table ... 
ps2 compaq keyboard and a ps2 logitech mouse weehee

oh wait re wait i have still the crapbag ... 

PIV 2.6ghz (yuck)
MSI mAtx mobo
512mb ram
Geforce FX 5200(re yuck)
crapsu LC-Power 350
all in a Medion craptastic case

still i dont use that one ... really ... i cant ... all my build, old or not involve AMD/ATI... i dont hate intel but ... i cant run them more than one day for teh lulz


----------



## m1919 (Apr 11, 2013)

Animalpak said:


> im currently running them



I still have a 150GB in my rig.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 11, 2013)

Animalpak said:


> im currently running them





m1919 said:


> I still have a 150GB in my rig.



Yep, a couple of 300's in Raid 0 in my main rig as well. Awesome mechanical drives for sure.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Apr 11, 2013)

Does a Pentium III 600MHz count 


XD


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 12, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> Does a Pentium III 600MHz count
> 
> 
> XD



Obviously... if you did read some of my post xD


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 12, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> Does a Pentium III 600MHz count
> 
> 
> XD



 Of course it does Durvelle! 

Post up some pics man.


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## Durvelle27 (Apr 12, 2013)

oops its a Pentium II surely that doesn't count  XD


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## _JP_ (Apr 12, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> Does a Pentium III 600MHz count
> 
> 
> XD


Well, it depends if it is a Slot 1 model or a Socket 370 model.









j/k!
Snap some pics of it and post them here!!

EDIT: BAH! Too late for it. 
Nice parts!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 12, 2013)

either skt 370 or slot 1 count xD also PII much better ... tho i prefere my mobile PII package xD


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 12, 2013)

*Mandatory vid*


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## Durvelle27 (Apr 12, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> either skt 370 or slot 1 count xD also PII much better ... tho i prefere my mobile PII package xD



i have a mobile PII & PIII also and the first celeron


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## stinger608 (Apr 12, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> oops its a Pentium II surely that doesn't count  XD
> 
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img822/2500/20130412090143.jpg
> ...



 very cool man, an ole Pentium II 400! 

That actually reminds me that I need to take some pictures of an ole Dell dual Slot 1 server that has dual Pentium II 400's. That old system still runs and has Windows NT installed on dual SCSI 9gb raid 1 drives. 

I know, I know, pictures or it didn't happen. 
Just the dang thing is buried in a storage unit LOL.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 12, 2013)

TITS OR IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! errrr... wait .... nevermind ... where did i put my 
(i really need to finish my Nemesis retrobuild to have some pics to add  )

edit not retro but i need to find a GMC R4 case ... dang cant find one in switzerland...duh


----------



## Mydog (Apr 12, 2013)

I hope this qualifies, a Radeon HD 3850


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 13, 2013)

Mydog said:


> I hope this qualifies, a Radeon HD 3850
> 
> http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/795/009eaz.jpg



 well sure man! Hell at this point that is a nostalgic piece of hardware. 

And I might add, a pretty sweet looking 3850!!!


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 13, 2013)

Mydog said:


> I hope this qualifies, a Radeon HD 3850
> 
> http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/795/009eaz.jpg



CLUB3D! all copper yummy! juste like my Sapphire X800GT ... dang now its all about Aluminium with copper heatpipe (or no copper at all ...  )


----------



## Jetster (Apr 18, 2013)

Big Foot Quantum 5.25 6 Gb Hard Drive ATA 66 4,000 RPM

Its my friends and it sounds like a jet taking off


----------



## puma99dk| (Apr 18, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Big Foot Quantum 5.25 6 Gb Hard Drive ATA 66 4,000 RPM
> 
> Its my friends and it sounds like a jet taking off
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130418/Capture037.jpg



haha one of my friends had one of these bigfoots years ago, it was as big as a dinner plate


----------



## TRWOV (Apr 18, 2013)

Got an X1950Pro AGP.










Supposedly it doesn't work (seller said that drivers don't recognize the card, haven't tested myself) but I got it mainly to have an spare IceQ3 cooler for my 3850 AGP.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 18, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> Got an X1950Pro AGP.
> 
> http://imageshack.us/a/img96/8638/img1100bp.jpg
> http://imageshack.us/a/img203/3089/img1101e.jpg
> ...



What a coincidence. I just dug out my PCIe version for a retro build.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Apr 18, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Big Foot Quantum 5.25 6 Gb Hard Drive ATA 66 4,000 RPM
> 
> Its my friends and it sounds like a jet taking off
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130418/Capture037.jpg



have like 3 of these


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## stinger608 (Apr 19, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> have like 3 of these



well get some pictures up brother! Or it doesn't exist.


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## TRWOV (Apr 19, 2013)

Got an X-Fi XtremeMusic for a retro build:






BTW, does it need external power? There's a 4 pin floppy connector on it.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 19, 2013)

Moved the retro Xeon rig into the new case. Added a reinforcing member to the motherboard tray backplate, it was bowed slightly and my OCD wouldn't let it slide.

Had to swap out the Obsidian because of clearance issues and also swapped out the WinFast A380 Ultra with the Gateway FX5950 Ultra because the cooler intake is directly in the airstream from the front of the case. Used a VGA saver to replace the cheapo pass-through cable that came with my Voodoo 2s.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 19, 2013)

m1919 said:


> Moved the retro Xeon rig into the new case. Added a reinforcing member to the motherboard tray backplate, it was bowed slightly and my OCD wouldn't let it slide.
> 
> Had to swap out the Obsidian because of clearance issues and also swapped out the WinFast A380 Ultra with the Gateway FX5950 Ultra because the cooler intake is directly in the airstream from the front of the case. Used a VGA saver to replace the cheapo pass-through cable that came with my Voodoo 2s.
> 
> ...



Yummy!


----------



## rodneyhchef (Apr 19, 2013)

Check out this bad boy!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Quantu...918?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item4ac2eda45e

Been a lot of activity in this thread lately. I just looked back at when I posted back in 2011 to see that I never posted pics of my rig!  My socket 7 system is still going strong. I was on it just the other day infact. I got a second hand 17" Dell LCD to replace the aging 19" compaq CRT. Takes up alot less room on my desk. 

I recently acquired a slot A K7 rig. Think it's 800MHz. It's got a TNT2 M64 card in there and 256mb PC133 ram. Oh and a sound blaster live. It's too new for my nostalgic hardware. Anyone in the uk need anything of this vintage?


----------



## Jetster (Apr 19, 2013)

rodneyhchef said:


> Check out this bad boy!
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Quantu...918?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item4ac2eda45e



Not for $450. Everyone should watch it and not buy just to get his hopes up 

Here is what some have sold for 
http://www.ebay.com/csc/Computer-Co.../i.html?_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=Voodoo+2


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 19, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Not for $450. Everyone should watch it and not buy just to get his hopes up
> 
> Here is what some have sold for
> http://www.ebay.com/csc/Computer-Co.../i.html?_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=Voodoo+2



approved

also ... i allways laugh at  "RARE" when i see some auction may it be on Ricardo.ch or Ebay


----------



## hertz9753 (Apr 19, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> Got an X-Fi XtremeMusic for a retro build:
> 
> http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3771/img1102x.JPG
> 
> BTW, does it need external power? There's a 4 pin floppy connector on it.



No.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 19, 2013)

rodneyhchef said:


> Check out this bad boy!
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Quantu...918?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item4ac2eda45e
> 
> ...




Well get them pictures up man.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 19, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Not for $450. Everyone should watch it and not buy just to get his hopes up
> 
> Here is what some have sold for
> http://www.ebay.com/csc/Computer-Co.../i.html?_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=Voodoo+2



I saw one of these go for like a quarter the price a few months ago. If I ever see another for that cheap again I may just jump on one, just so I can have the consumer and professional versions of the Obsidian 2.


----------



## rodneyhchef (Apr 21, 2013)

So here is my dos/win98 rig

Specs are:

Fullyes Intel i430VX P55C motherboard - I managed to find a bios update for this board on the internet archive!  It is now version '2.7' (was 2.5). I had to change a jumper on the bios to enable reprogram mode 
512kb cache (256kb onboard plus 256kb expansion!)
Amd k6/2 450. This cpu should not work in this board. (Bios says it's a 486 DX/S 66) but due to a unique multiplier interpretation in the k6/2 it interprets 2x66 as 6x66 so runs at 400MHz! The maximum speed the board should support is 233MHz (From the pentium MMX range)
Min voltage the board supports is 2.5V, the chip is rated at 2.4V. Close enough! 
64mb edo ram (max supported cacheable is 64mb, but will take 128mb - not sure what would happen to performance if I stuck another 64mb in there.)
Geforce 2 mx 32mb - severely bottlenecked by system bus!
Sound blaster awe 64 gold
6.4gb hd
16x dvd-rom

I took the voodoo2 out as it conflicted with my PCI USB add in card. The board pre-dates usb. 

PICS!

Baby AT case - was quite a stylish number at the time!











I'm currently using an ATX psu. Because a couple of years ago this happened!






Some kind of weird short circuit killed my psu and fried my internal speaker. I don't think the internal speaker hardware on the motherboard works anymore. So no more bios beep! 

this pic is from a few years back. Before I got my AWE64. Full length AWE 32! I think the Graphics card is a Geforce4 MX420 which I sent back because I thought it was faulty. Turned out it was bad nvidia drivers. The later detonator drivers had some issues running on old hardware, but period drivers worked great (I had the same issue with the geforce 2 I got after it)






AWE64 - I was kinda disappointed when I found out it didn't really have much more features than the AWE32. The extra '32' is done in software. But I suppose it looks nice and also makes less 'noise'






The additional cooling on the GF2 is a bit 'ghetto' 






256kb cache card. I found this on ebay in about 2003.






I think this cooler is for a socket A K7. I had to bend the pins for the HDD LED to get it to fit. But this is a vastly superior cooler now than what any socket 7 chip came with. The k6/2s were quite bad for running hot. I didn't want to take any chances with the over volting! Also managed to hide the HDD cables under the motherboard. I am a fan of cable management when possible!






Oh, and some period benchmark results!

Some sandra 2001 ones

















And finally, 3dmark 99! 





More to come


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2013)

rodneyhchef said:


> So here is my dos/win98 rig
> 
> Specs are:
> 
> ...



Awesome Rodney!!!!!!! 
Added you to the original post man.


----------



## rodneyhchef (Apr 21, 2013)

I'm attempting to post stuff in some kind of chronological order.

My first build was the system above. I bought the board for £15 second hand in early 1998 when I was 15. When I first built it around the fullyes motherboard it had a Pentium 75 (O/c'd to 100MHz ) 32Mb SDRAM, Cirrus logic 5446 2mb pci vga card and an audio excel sound blaster compatible sound card, 2.1gig HDD and a 12x CD-ROM drive!

Because this rig kinda sucked I bought a new processor for it. I didn't know much about processors at the time, so I Bought a cyrix M2 PR233. Now I think with hindsight I could've got this chip to work on the fullyes board, but when I first tried it is said it was a 486. I didn't have the manual for the fullyes board at the time so I was unable to set the jumpers correctly (I set up the P75 purely by guesswork!)

So I went out and bought a new motherboard. This was it:






(pictured here with an S3 virge DX375 and a turtle beach aureal vortex sound card)





It's the widely acclaimed PC chips M571! So good, it has it's own website

http://www.m571.com/m571/

What was 'great' about this motherboard was the amount of features it packed. Onboard sound, video, usb, IR. Fitted both AT and ATX cases, it was  a real do-all board at the time. It supported high multipliers and FSB frequencies above 66MHz (but not 100MHz) So you had quite a lot of overclocking options. 75MHz FSB was a good setting, it oc/d the chipset though (PCI/ISA buses), so you had to be careful to not push it too far.

What the website doesn't tell you is if you don't want to use the on-board sound you can't use an add-in sound card in dos. It causes some kind of hardware conflict even when you disable it in the bios and with the jumper on the motherboard. Which wasn't good for me as I still played a fair few dos games, like first encounters and I wanted to use a decent sound card. I think I had a PCI64 at the time (Still got it!)

The biggest problem with this board though is it's memory performance. The fullyes board even when using EDO ram could run rings around this, even when you ran the M571 at 75MHz with SD-RAM.

Real world performance isn't too bad. If you run it at 75MHz you get a nice boost in graphics card performance. I did some comparisons with 3dmark 99 a few years ago and it was better than the fullyes board by quite a bit, I could also run the CPU at the full 450MHz and it supports more ram






So really, in most respects this is a better board than my old one, but being unable to use a proper sound card was a deal breaker for me. So now it sits in its box in the attic as my backup should I ever need it. I hope that I never will!

I only discovered all this more recently. I used this board for about a year before I moved on to an Aladdin V chipset MSI board which supported 100MHz FSB and AGP (to some extent, but not very well).


----------



## rodneyhchef (Apr 21, 2013)

I just found this pic of the aladdin V MSI board. I think it was model MS5169. Pictured with a graphics blaster TNT2 M64 16mb, and a geforce 4 MX 440 64mb (great card!)






So my third rig consisted of this board paired with the K6/2 450 that's now in my fullyes rig. 128MB PC100 SD-RAM 6.4gig hdd and the TNT2 M64 pictured. (this pic is from a few years ago now, I think the M64 went in the bin when it developed a fault. It always ran red hot due to being only passively cooled)


I spent ages trying to get the graphics blaster to run at AGP 2x on the aladdin board. I think the card supported 4x but AGP implementaion on socket 7 motherboards always sucked. So it never ran at anything other than 1x. Still, this was twice as fast as PCI.

I actually had two of these MSI board. The first was DOA which I then exchanged for an iWill motherboard of a similar design. This lasted about 6 months until I killed it with a bad bios flash.  So I had to save my pennies for a month til I could afford to buy another board.

The TNT2 M64 sucked so bad I ended up taking this out of my old rig (which I had given to my brother at this point and have fogotten to mention this card so far!)






The other motherboard is a Jetway 663AS Pro (yeah, I know jetway! ) . And toether with the MX 440 made up my 4th rig. It was my first computer to break 1GHz. Running a 1.2GHz athlon Thunderbird


----------



## rodneyhchef (Apr 21, 2013)

My 5th and final retro rig isn't really what I would call retro but it seems to have been talked about a few times in this thread so I will add it in the interests of completeness!






System was built around the nforce 2 based A7N8X-X. This was the cheaper single channel memory controller version of the A7N8X, which wasn't really that big a deal back then.

This was quite possibly the best (certainly longest lasting) system I ever owned. I bought it in 2003 and I think I replaced it in 2008 without upgrading the CPU. I somehow bought a very unusual high end Thoroughbred B cpu











As you can see it operated at 2250MHz from the factory and the multiplier was unlocked! It didn't really matter that the multiplier was unlocked though as it was easier to increase the fsb. With some corsair value select ram I was able to clock the FSB/RAM _all the way_ to 225MHz stable (it would post and bench higher but 225 was a nice round number and stable for everyday stuff)

I had quite a few graphics cards in this rig over those 5 years. My first was an FX5200. Worst. Card. Ever! I then got a 5600 instead. Which worked for a while 'til the fan died on it. Then I saw the light and had a couple of ATI cards.






This is an X800GT. The first graphics card I ever really experimented with overclocking on. (retrospectively, I overclocked the Geforce 4 mx440 and it loved it) but the X800GT was my first. I killed it somehow trying to unlock an extra quad. I ended up with one less quad than when I started  So then I got this:






It's an X1950GT 256mb. With hindsight the Pro 512 would have been a much better choice but I loved this card. It looked great 

So that's all the rigs I built for myself between 1998 and 2003. I had a brief flirtation with socket 939 after this but I then went over to intel and had a Q6600 setup before my current one. For quite a while there, I was a total AMD fanboy! 

I've got some more retro rigs that I acquired over the years that I will be posting about next. Including the slot a system I got a few weeks back


----------



## rodneyhchef (Apr 21, 2013)

So here's what else I've got. First some random things:

Couple of pentiums. P166 and P233MMX





A selection of cards, some already mentioned. The savage4 is probably the rarest?

Top row; some 10/100 network cards, Awe 32, S3 virge DX375
Bottom row; Gefore 4 MX440, savage 4 (8mb) voodoo 2 (12mb) Soundblaster PCI64 (ensoniq audio pci)





This is supposed to be 'the best' socket 7 motherobard you could get. It's an FIC VA-503+ It has a whopping 1Mb of L2 and can cache up to 256mb of ram! I found it a few years ago in an old machine at wok. Unfortunately I could never get it to run stable so I haven't used it much.





This is a budget celeron 733 setup





I built this machine last year when I was having a bad time with my modern stuff. My laptop and PC both died within days of one another. So in the interim I threw this machine together. The parts I got from old machines at work (the box originally housed the celeron system above) The motherboard I found in a motherboard box for a socket 775 motherboard (I was somewhat dissapointed to find that it was infact a PCchips M810L v9.0m from circa 2003






This is a very strange motherboard in that the 1266MHz duron CPU and 256mb of ram is soldered directly to the motherboard. So no CPU upgrades! Any AGP card i tried also caused issues (possibly because of the 120w PSU ) so I had to use the onboard with a whopping 8mb of ram 

There are other versions of this board that are actually pretty good. (ones with a ZIF socket for the CPU support upto 2133MHz athlon XPs). But not this one!


K7 rig































I fired this up today. It runs great! It has dual boot for some reason. Both boot options are for 'windows xp'


----------



## eidairaman1 (Apr 21, 2013)

for Athlon XP machines to determine if the CPU multiplier is unlocked it has to be year 2003 before Week 39 or lower.

http://fab51.com/cpu/barton/athlon-e24.html


----------



## Ikaruga (Apr 21, 2013)

Hi, 

I just found out about this great thread. 
I have lots of old hardware, starting from the XT times (I think my XT would still work if I would give it power). 286,-386 motherboards and processors, Tseng VGA cards, etc... a lot of money spent on things which are only useless junks now They are locked up in storage atm, but I will take some pics next time for you guys)

Here are some what I have it with me now (don't ask me why I dug these up, because I don't remember) 

*1,* my first 3dfx card. I had a devkit earlier at work, but this was mine




*2, *Some IO card (IDE,FFD,COM,LPT) with Goldstar chips on it.




*3,* Sound Blaster (Vibra 16) sound card 




*4,* Gravis sound card (Doom music was awesome with this)




*5,* Matrox Millenium graphics card (Iirc the thing on the right is extra 4MB)




*6,* Diamond's Edge 3D (my first Nvidia card. It was very expensive and utterly slow, but I could connect Sega gamepads to it at least.)




more to come...


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2013)

Ikaruga said:


> Hi,
> 
> I just found out about this great thread.
> I have lots of old hardware, starting from the XT times (I think my XT would still work if I would give it power). 286,-386 motherboards and processors, Tseng VGA cards, etc... a lot of money spent on things which are only useless junks now They are locked up in storage atm, but I will take some pics next time for you guys)
> ...



Awesome old nostalgic hardware man!!! 

Added ya to the original post bro. 

@Rodney: wow man, you have some a$$ kicking nostalgic systems and hardware bro. 

Welcome to both of ya guys to our little nostalgic club on the net!!!!


----------



## m1919 (Apr 21, 2013)

Nice stuff posted today. Much of it is from an era I mostly don't have hardware from any longer. I used to have a Packard Bell S606. P233, 32MB EDO, 4GB Maxtor, some variation of SB and a ATI Rage card of some sort.

After reading how bad most PBs were, looks like I got lucky with that machine. Never had a problem with it. Lost it in a move probably 10 years ago.


----------



## HammerON (Apr 22, 2013)

Not quite as old as some of the recent pics:


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 22, 2013)

HammerON said:


> Not quite as old as some of the recent pics:
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130422/ASUS A8r32 MB.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130422/AMD FX 55.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130422/Gigabyte GPU.jpg



None the less Hammer, still some awesome ole nostalgic hardware man. 

Added ya to the original post my friend.


----------



## rodneyhchef (Apr 22, 2013)

I had some similar ram to that, it was PC4400.  Got it off a guy on here (maybe Tatty_One) together with an opteron 185. Shame I never really had the board for it  (the board for it appeared to be an asrock 939Dual-SATA2) but I always got outbid on ebay for one. The A8N SLI deluxe I had instead was rubbish. (for O/Cing anyway)


----------



## Morgoth (May 11, 2013)

enjoy


----------



## TRWOV (May 11, 2013)

My scraps build:

P4 3.4E, HD2600XT AGP, Abit IC7-G, 4GB mushkin XP4000, Masscool Copper HSF, ThermalMaster case, Gigabyte iRAM. The only new item in there is the Earthwatts 380 PSU.














iRAM performance:





Anyone knows if you can safely move the swapfile to another drive in W7?


3dmark run. Only IceStorm runs, the program crashes on the Cloudgate demo loading screen.


----------



## Athlonite (May 12, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> My scraps build:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone knows if you can safely move the swapfile to another drive in W7?




you shouldn't have any problem doing that as long as the drive letter doesn't change it should be all good to go


----------



## xvi (May 12, 2013)

rodneyhchef said:


> The additional cooling on the GF2 is a bit 'ghetto'



If it's stupid, but it works, it's not stupid.


----------



## puma99dk| (May 13, 2013)

i found these HP DAT 72 at work plus dds cleaning cartridge 

so we got 3x72gb  they r brand new not even unwrapped yet...


----------



## stinger608 (May 14, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> http://www.rashly3dfx.com/products/images/mercury.jpg
> 
> enjoy



 wow them look crazy awesome!!!!!!

Added ya to the original post Morgoth!


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (May 16, 2013)

Hey All

I'm fresh to this thread, so many awsume collections and gear here!

I have an absolutely massive collection, around 60 CPU's, 50 Graphic cards/cards. 35 harddrives, 25 motherboards, and lots of everything.  I have some systems such as Pentium 75s, Dual Pentium Pro 1mb Cache edition rig with a TN2 PCI Card (Soon to be a GT610 PCI ) Dual Pentium 3 1.4Ghz system with a 7800GS (Did have a 4670 AGP till the Bridge chip died), and a Pentium 4 3Ghz Lapped with a 3850 AGP (Massive overclock), Abit IC7 MAX 3, 4GB Ram.  

If someone really wants me to dig it all out and take high quality photos I sure can.


This only a quarter of my CPU collection (Note a lot of CPU's here are stacked 3 - 4 high)






P4 3Ghz, IC7-MAX3, 3850 AGP System


----------



## stinger608 (May 16, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> Hey All
> 
> I'm fresh to this thread, so many awsume collections and gear here!
> 
> ...




That is quite a collection of CPU's man!!! I am sure everyone is going to want more pictures. 

Added ya to the original post bro!!!


----------



## Morgoth (May 17, 2013)

I mis the days of 3dfx


----------



## de.das.dude (May 17, 2013)

my first computer..

AMD Athlon 3500+
256MB RAM
ECS motherboard.. no gfx

back in 2007


----------



## Random Murderer (May 17, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> my first computer..
> 
> AMD Athlon 3500+
> 256MB RAM
> ...



My first computer...

Intel 8088 @ 4.77MHz
256KB RAM
IBM motherboard

My first AMD socket PC had a 3200+. I loved it, those old socket A procs kicked ass. I did have a couple of slot-based Athlons, too.


----------



## de.das.dude (May 17, 2013)

i forgot the pic XD


----------



## Athlonite (May 18, 2013)

rodneyhchef said:


> .



If you ever need another COAST ( Cache On A Stick) I have one sitting here it's an 256K module I thought I had an 512K module aswell somewhere but can not find it just at this moment


----------



## stinger608 (May 18, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> my first computer..
> 
> AMD Athlon 3500+
> 256MB RAM
> ...




Awesome man!!!!!!

Added ya to the original post bro.


----------



## Peter1986C (May 18, 2013)

DDD, do you still have it?


----------



## de.das.dude (May 18, 2013)

no... sold it a long while ago 
i dont think i am eligible for the original post.


----------



## Morgoth (May 21, 2013)

look what i found


----------



## Norton (May 21, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> look what i found
> http://i.imgur.com/pSblq.jpg



---


----------



## Aquinus (May 21, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> look what i found
> http://i.imgur.com/pSblq.jpg



 rofl. LMNOPRAM.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 21, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> look what i found
> http://i.imgur.com/pSblq.jpg





BTW: WTF only 2 video out??? lets make it 4 slot and add MOAR!


----------



## Morgoth (May 21, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> BTW: WTF only 2 video out??? lets make it 4 slot and add MOAR!



you can still sli it


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 21, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> you can still sli it



naaahhh not enough video output for 5 chipset ... 2 ? thats a joke 

i mean com'on as i read description : its allready a 5chip SLI Bouillabaisse! you friggin understand what it mean??? BOUILLABAISSE! mother of god this is HUGE! lets redo this with curent chipset ... oh wait there is only 2 avaiable (well 5 if ye count Tesla/quadro/FirePro )


----------



## Morgoth (May 21, 2013)

acutaly the blue vga is output and black one is input


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 21, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> acutaly the blue vga is output and black one is input



like the classic vodoo yes indeed but still not enough xD


----------



## Morgoth (May 21, 2013)

if it was done today i rather see a 4x size gpu instead of 5 smaller ones and a sister memory board


----------



## Norton (May 21, 2013)

The disclaimer in the bottom RH corner was a favorite 

Owned by Apple and does not support OpenGL or Direct3D


----------



## Pickles Von Brine (May 21, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> http://www.rashly3dfx.com/products/images/mercury.jpg
> 
> enjoy





What is that?


----------



## Random Murderer (May 21, 2013)

Morgoth said:


> look what i found
> http://i.imgur.com/pSblq.jpg



I'm surprised somebody is just now posting that. I've had that pic for years, just check my bench scores in my system specs


----------



## _JP_ (May 21, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> I'm surprised somebody is just now posting that. I've had that pic for years, just check my bench scores in my system specs


While I didn't get my rig up and running I set up a fake "current rig" which had the Bitchin'fast!3D 5000, scoring 8500 Bungholio marks. 

Anyways, found a HD 2600 XT for 45€, today on a local ad. (which caught my eye, since it was a 512MB GDDR3 that can x-fire with my HD2600x2) Doesn't make any sense because the card ain't nothing to write home about. That price is ridiculous. So I went to eBay to check if there were any cheaper...guess not.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 21, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> While I didn't get my rig up and running I set up a fake "current rig" which had the Bitchin'fast!3D 5000, scoring 8500 Bungholio marks.
> 
> Anyways, found a HD 2600 XT for 45€, today on a local ad. (which caught my eye, since it was a 512MB GDDR3 that can x-fire with my HD2600x2) Doesn't make any sense because the card ain't nothing to write home about. That price is ridiculous. So I went to eBay to check if there were any cheaper...guess not.



Still, Tri-Fire, man!


----------



## _JP_ (May 21, 2013)

*Sorry, RM. I would like to, though. *



Random Murderer said:


> Still, Tri-Fire, man!



No money to spare. I blame economy and unemployment.
No CrossFire compatible motherboard available.


----------



## TRWOV (May 21, 2013)

Can the Dual-VSTA use the AGP and PCIe ports at the same time?  I was under the impression that it was one or the other.


----------



## _JP_ (May 21, 2013)

It can use both, but from what I could gather, they will run at half speed (AGP x4 and PCI-e x2).


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 21, 2013)

I have the issue of Maximum Pc that pic came from.


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 2, 2013)

*My High End AGP Cards!*

Finally got around to posting some of my junk, Here is my highest end AGP Cards and also a PhysX card to couple with the 3850 AGP.  I will get around to posting my 50cpus soon, and my Abit IC7 Max 3/P4 3Ghz/3850AGP System, Dual P Pro 1mb Cache gaming rig, and my Dual P3 1.4Ghz System, etc.

My poor 4670 was overheating on its Bridge chip, so I went to remove the thermal pad to add a copper sink.  I scraped a bit to hard and knocked off a resistor the size of a piece of hair.  I literally wanted to punch my self for such a stupid act.  If anyone has a HIS 4670 AGP they want to sell, Please inbox me!!!

But here is some AGP eye candy

HIS 3850 AGP 512MB (With ASUS DirectCU Cooler) (For ABIT IC7-Max 3 system)
HIS 4670 AGP 1GB (DEAD, Bridge chip died fml)
HIS 1950PRO AGP 256MB (For my P3 Dual System)
XpertVision 6660GT 256Mb x2 (Spares)
Nvidia 7800GS AGP 256MB ( G71 Version :[ )
Powercolour X850XT PE AGP 256MB (Older P3 Rig, and test card)
BFG PhysX PCI Card (Pair with 3850)

Wish I had a 6800 Ultra AGP, and a 7950GT AGP to add to this!


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 2, 2013)

Pics? I'm myself an AGP "enthusiast" too, used to have plenty of them but I just kept the 5500, 3850, 4670, 7950GT and a 2600XT that I found in a flea market. They're in use too (see sig).

I have a broken 6600GT too somewhere. Maybe I should try and repair it.


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 2, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> Pics? I'm myself an AGP "enthusiast" too, used to have plenty of them but I just kept the 5500, 3850, 4670, 7950GT and a 2600XT that I found in a flea market. They're in use too (see sig).
> 
> I have a broken 6600GT too somewhere. Maybe I should try and repair it.




Sorry, crappy Flickr broke the url.  

Ive got a lot of other AGP cards from TNTs to FX5500s.  I got S3s, Matroxs and Voodoos in the mix also.  I have a huge addiction with the HIS AGP cards, great fun to play with!

Ive seen your systems, I am very jelly.  I got my hands on a Asrock AGP/PCI Express board with a 775 socket.  I should build it up.

Also did you add cooling to the bridge chips on the AGP cards?, they idle at 120c on the core if not heatsinked.  I got above 3870 clocks on the 3850 after doing that haha


----------



## puma99dk| (Jun 2, 2013)

i found these two last friday at work moving stuff around and sorting them...











just two quick shorts...


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 3, 2013)

*Hit the jackpot!*

So, today I got a call from a mate who knew I was after old hardware.  I later arrive home with these goodies for FREE! 






A brand new 4670 Powercolour AGP, ASUS 9800XT 256MB, A Volt moded Abit IC7-MAX3, and a 3Ghz 1mb Pentium 4 chip with a copper thermaltake cooler 

I will also be getting 4GB of DDR-1 500 Ram from him, and a Foxconn Socket 775 Blackops motherboard from him.

Very good day I had.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 3, 2013)

Didn't know that Powercolor had an AGP 4670. I have the HIS version oced to 825/1100


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 3, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> Didn't know that Powercolor had an AGP 4670. I have the HIS version oced to 825/1100



I never knew they had one also, I have the HIS 4670 also, before I killed the poor thing.  Now that I got my hands on a new 4670 I wonder if I should build up up a system with the 4coredual-vsta board i've got?  Or go get a AM2NF3-VSTA?

I now got 2 IC7-MAX3s, I wonder if I should just run the 3850 in one and the 4670 in the other.  For now i'll whack the 4670 in my Dual P3.

I'll get some pictures later on for you guys


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 3, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> For now i'll whack the 4670 in my Dual P3.



Because that won't bottleneck it at all, lol.
Joking aside, that's a nice collection of AGP cards you have.


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 5, 2013)

So here is my P4 system, I also have another IC7-MAX3 that has been VDimm voltmodded. Once I get my hands on proper ram aka DDR-500 I will push the CPU to 4ghz If I can.

I also hit a Crazy OC on the 3850, I now need more volts!!.  MW2 runs at 60FPS @ 1080p Maxed settings with 2x Antilasing.  

Enjoy!

Pentium 4 3 Ghz 1MB @ 3.4GHZ
ABIT IC7-MAX3 
HIS 3850AGP (DirectCU Cooled)
3GB DDR400 Ram
250GB WD HDD
Antec 550watt
Zalman Reserator 1 with Alloy Rad
















I really need to get my hands on a good HDD or SSD...


And also here is my P3 Build, I swear it destroys my P4 sometimes..  I will get around to benchmarking both soon!

Dual Pentium 3 1.4ghz
CUV4X-DLS
PowerColour 4670 AGP
4GB PC-133 Ram
Dual Samsung 40GB Spinpoint ATA 133 7200Rpm
Yamaha Soundcard


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 5, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> So here is my P4 system, I also have another IC7-MAX3 that has been VDimm voltmodded. Once I get my hands on proper ram aka DDR-500 I will push the CPU to 4ghz If I can.
> 
> I also hit a Crazy OC on the 3850, I now need more volts!!.  MW2 runs at 60FPS @ 1080p Maxed settings with 2x Antilasing.
> 
> ...



I always loved the Reserators. Too bad back when they were prevalent I didn't have the cash for one and nowadays TDP is so high it wouldn't be effective.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 5, 2013)

I'm looking for a socket 939 athlon64 x2 cpu and some DDR1 ram if anyone in the uk has any for free or for small fee. PM me if you have any.

Thx guys


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 5, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> I always loved the Reserators. Too bad back when they were prevalent I didn't have the cash for one and nowadays TDP is so high it wouldn't be effective.



I got the Reserator from a local seller for $35 with all the clamps, mountings, etc.  It has insane build quality, I wonder why it was so expensive in the day.

Biggest issue with them was the poor flowing pump and poor waterblocks.

I was tempted to rebuild it with a EK block, thick tubing, massive pump, and a tube to get the water up to the top of the tank.  It should handle a 3770k pretty well.  This Pentium 4 puts out around 110watt tdp with its OC.

I wish there was an all copper Reserator


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 5, 2013)

Your pics prompted me to pickup the parts I need to finish my AGP rigs. I still need a black IDE and floppy cable for my Octanux and the phenomenal and scraps builds need some pimping too.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 5, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> I got the Reserator from a local seller for $35 with all the clamps, mountings, etc.  It has insane build quality, I wonder why it was so expensive in the day.
> 
> Biggest issue with them was the poor flowing pump and poor waterblocks.
> 
> ...



I don't suppose that P4 is a Prescott?


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 5, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> I don't suppose that P4 is a Prescott?



Yep the fire breathing Prescott, But it's lapped.

It Idles at 35 - 50c  depending on what it's doing, I'm starting to think it's just maxed at 100% usage all the time due to Windows 7 and all the eye candy.  Oh well i've seen other Prescott's do 100c lol


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 5, 2013)

Here's my current kinda nostalgic rig, So all you guys with nice rigs, pity poor tom<--"blackadder" btw.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 5, 2013)

tigger said:


> Here's my current kinda nostalgic rig, So all you guys with nice rigs, pity poor tom<--"blackadder" btw.
> 
> [url]http://img.techpowerup.org/130605/1.jpg[/URL]
> 
> [url]http://img.techpowerup.org/130605/2.jpg[/URL]



That's your main rig? Does it even game?
I do pity you, man. Sorry.


----------



## Frick (Jun 5, 2013)

tigger said:


> Here's my current kinda nostalgic rig, So all you guys with nice rigs, pity poor tom<--"blackadder" btw.
> 
> [url]http://img.techpowerup.org/130605/1.jpg[/URL]
> 
> [url]http://img.techpowerup.org/130605/2.jpg[/URL]





Random Murderer said:


> That's your main rig? Does it even game?
> I do pity you, man. Sorry.



Hey hey my main rig is slower! PITY ME


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 5, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> That's your main rig? Does it even game?
> I do pity you, man. Sorry.



I went through some hard times, after splitting up with my GF I was with for 7yrs, was homeless for a while :'( But I have a flat now so things are looking up. 

This is why I am trying to beg or buy for pennies a A64 x2 chip and a couple of gb of DDR1.

And it does game but not very well really.

tigger


----------



## hardcore_gamer (Jun 5, 2013)

tigger said:


> I went through some hard times, after splitting up with my GF I was with for 7yrs, was homeless for a while :'( But I have a flat now so things are looking up.
> 
> This is why I am trying to beg or buy for pennies a A64 x2 chip and a couple of gb of DDR1.
> 
> ...



Can it play cry...Ah, never mind.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 5, 2013)

hardcore_gamer said:


> Can it play cry...Ah, never mind.



No lol it can't


----------



## funguseater (Jun 7, 2013)

*Hi, just an old HDD *

Hi, thought I would join the party!

Heres an old Shugart 1002 HDD from my Wang 2200.




5 Megabyte... 16.5 lbs... monster.   more to come
fungi


----------



## Jetster (Jun 7, 2013)

The old Wang 2200  ..   nice

I have no idea?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 7, 2013)

funguseater said:


> Hi, thought I would join the party!
> 
> Heres an old Shugart 1002 HDD from my Wang 2200.
> [url]http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y400/thefunguseater/Shugart%201002%205%20Mbyte%20HDD/100_1777_zpsaab32d5c.jpg[/URL]
> ...



ahahahh awesome


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 7, 2013)

With the advent of modern PC's, the worlds power consumption must have halved.

That is a big ass HDD.


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 7, 2013)

There were a lot less computers then, though.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 8, 2013)

funguseater said:


> Hi, thought I would join the party!
> 
> Heres an old Shugart 1002 HDD from my Wang 2200.
> [url]http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y400/thefunguseater/Shugart%201002%205%20Mbyte%20HDD/100_1777_zpsaab32d5c.jpg[/URL]
> ...



 that is frigging awesome man!!!!! Added ya to the original post bro!!!  

@LegendofMadness: Awesome hardware man!!!!!!!!


----------



## emissary42 (Jun 12, 2013)

R.I.P. Orchid


----------



## Sasqui (Jun 14, 2013)

Sitting in my office... notice there is one single external connector!  It's a PS1 keyboard port.  Most (or all?) mice came with an internal card to connect.






486 DX-33 Chip No CPU cooler required!  






SIS chipset and Award BIOS ... (c) 1994.






Phone pics aren't the greatest..
Now I need to scrounge out my original Ad Lib sound card and 386/25 CPU


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 14, 2013)

Is that Winbond chip on the left (on the last picture) a temp sensor chip or so? Or were those not in use yet (I know they exist now)?


----------



## Maban (Jun 14, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> Is that Winbond chip on the left (on the last picture) a temp sensor chip or so? Or were those not in use yet (I know they exist now)?



Keyboard controller.


----------



## Sasqui (Jun 14, 2013)

Maban said:


> Keyboard controller.



Wow, have we come a long way... though ummm, that was 20 years ago.  lol.


----------



## Compgeke (Jun 14, 2013)

Here's some of my stuff.

Intel 486 DX, not quite an early enough one to just say i486, but I have one of those packed away in the closet.





A totally awesome software collection. Someone copied that floppy.





IBM Proprinter 4201. I'm currently working at making it work full time, hence it's not entirely in it's complete plastic clothing.





Some random expansion cards I Had laying around. From top left to right, then down left to right; ISA floppy controller with ROM (1.44 Mb in XT anyone?), Sound Blaster Pro 2, random VGA card, Sound Blaster 32, Adaptec SCSI controller, stock 5150 floppy controller.





Some iMac G3s...just sitting there chillin, two of them in incomplete form but as far as I know they don't care.





TRS-80 Model 100 with original sleeve and a plastic protector thing. For this one I do have the original box (price new was $599), A\C cord, most connector cables and the optional blue carrying bag.





Some old monitors. From left to right: IBM 5151 (IBM MDA screen, original for the PC), IBM 5153 (CGA monitor), Samsung CGA monitor.





Compaq Portable I, the only old system I own that I can say I will never part with. This one has the historical significance of being the first true IBM clone that's pretty much 100% compatible, and is portable. Probably the only one I own that's on many people's wish list but yet few are still around.





IBM 5150, Black PSU, 64-KB ram. This here is almost stock except the processor is a V20 in this right now, but I have an 8088 I can throw into it if I ever feel like it.





The front of the 5150. The thing on top is a dust cover for the floppies.





And finally, a really bad picture of the front of my 286 upgraded XT.





--



Sasqui said:


> Sitting in my office... notice there is one single external connector!  It's a PS1 keyboard port.  Most (or all?) mice came with an internal card to connect.



Just a heads up, that's an AT keyboard port. The IBM PS/1 was released after the PS/2 as a budget solution, and used PS/2 ports.


----------



## Sasqui (Jun 14, 2013)

Compgeke said:


> Here's some of my stuff.
> 
> Intel 486 DX, not quite an early enough one to just say i486, but I have one of those packed away in the closet.
> 
> ...



You've got the same 486 DX-33 chip as mine   I inherited the board in my pics, my original 486 was the DX2-66!  Wicked fast.

Save your IBM 5150 and your XT!

I have the same TRS-80, even have the cassete recorder data pack and all original docs.

I think you're right about the AT keyboard connector.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 14, 2013)

Compgeke said:


> IBM 5150, Black PSU, 64-KB ram. This here is almost stock except the processor is a V20 in this right now, but I have an 8088 I can throw into it if I ever feel like it.
> http://goput.it/txe.jpg
> 
> The front of the 5150. The thing on top is a dust cover for the floppies.
> http://goput.it/f5j.jpg



Good to finally see another IBM 5150 in the club!
Except mine's better 
Nice collection, man! I haven't seen a TRS80 in probably 20 years now.


----------



## Compgeke (Jun 14, 2013)

I didn't mention it, but I have a 2nd 5150 with a silver power supply and a 64-256 KB motherboard. Didn't take any pictures as it's basically the same except it has a network card and a CGA card in it.


----------



## Maban (Jun 14, 2013)

I had a 5150 when I was very young. As far as I know, it's still at my grandparents house.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 14, 2013)

emissary42 said:


> http://mods.hardwareluxx.de/emissary42/e42orchidsoundwave2469.jpg
> 
> http://mods.hardwareluxx.de/emissary42/e42orchidnusoundpnp2469.jpg
> 
> R.I.P. Orchid



Very sweet Emissary! Your added to the original post. 



Sasqui said:


> Sitting in my office... notice there is one single external connector!  It's a PS1 keyboard port.  Most (or all?) mice came with an internal card to connect.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130614/486_Brd2.jpg
> 
> ...



Wow, I am surprised you were not in the original post already Sas! Your on there now bro. Nice nostalgic parts.... 



Compgeke said:


> Here's some of my stuff.
> 
> Intel 486 DX, not quite an early enough one to just say i486, but I have one of those packed away in the closet.
> http://goput.it/t4n.jpg
> ...



Holy crap!!!! You have some seriously awesome nostalgic parts man!!!!!!!! 

I added you to the original post my man!!! 

I reallllllllly really have to get to my stash storage and get pictures of the true IBM portable that I have. I found it in an old rental back in the early 90's.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 17, 2013)

Compgeke said:


> Here's some of my stuff.
> 
> Intel 486 DX, not quite an early enough one to just say i486, but I have one of those packed away in the closet.
> http://goput.it/t4n.jpg
> ...



beautyfull!

Sidenote:

Shall we start a 486DX-33 club? oh wait i have to find a mobo for it and straighten the pin on it ... duuhhh


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 17, 2013)

fun time incomming oldies and newies techies because we are NostalG33K that doesnt mean we are obsolet huh? 

unfortunately TPU image uploading hate me (or everyone else ... today)





logical geek shelf




those unfortunately doesnt work well with win7 lucky me my retrobuild involve XP




the new Node 304 waiting on his component alongside with a Hyper Tx3 Evo (meant to be a 4tb x5 + 120gb SSD fileserver and a lanbox if removing 2 hdd from it)




i found some nice fan for the retrobuild (oops my right foot sliped in the pics for glory ... baaad foot baaad!)








tha junkbox (as my friend call it ... i call it myself WONDERBOX OF MARVELS!  )





and last but not least ... why my friend call me the "Spider-Octopus hybrid" 8 eyes 9 tentacles (some call me E8T9 when i play SWTOR ... hell no im not a Astromech!!!!)









actually on those 4 screen we have 4 computer but 3 keyboard and mouse (the 4th duo is on the shelf with the retrobuild) yay for total chaos 26" 24" x2 (one 16/9 one 16/10) and a 22" oh well i do with what i have until i find sweetdeals

oh and doesnt he look cute ... he totally say "HEY IM AWESOME, LOOK AT ME IM IN A SHINY ARMOR!".


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 17, 2013)

My second build was in a silver Nemesis Elite.
Nice case, nice hardware, nice battlestation!


----------



## m1dg3t (Jun 17, 2013)

@ GreiverBlade:  @ "Guide Des Champignons"  

I have the Anglophone version somewhere 

Nice collection


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 17, 2013)

m1dg3t said:


> @ GreiverBlade:  @ "Guide Des Champignons"
> 
> I have the Anglophone version somewhere
> 
> Nice collection



waddaya think ... sometime i find a old comp in a dump full of mold ... i even foud one with 2 or 3 morchella escuelenta inside on a layer of soil


----------



## m1dg3t (Jun 19, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> waddaya think ... sometime i find a old comp in a dump full of mold ... i even foud one with 2 or 3 morchella escuelenta inside on a layer of soil



 Very tasty! And rare!  No pyschotropic effects though 

I was digging through a drawer today and found a mystery CPU! Ran the SSPEC through Google, it is an Intel chip, and it seems as though i have myself a venerable Northwood p4 SL6WK 

I'm not quite sure just where or when i got it LoL I must've intended for it to be a backup chip at some point in time


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 19, 2013)

m1dg3t said:


> Very tasty! And rare!  No pyschotropic effects though
> 
> I was digging through a drawer today and found a mystery CPU! Ran the SSPEC through Google, it is an Intel chip, and it seems as though i have myself a venerable Northwood p4 SL6WK
> 
> I'm not quite sure just where or when i got it LoL I must've intended for it to be a backup chip at some point in time



i have some socket 478 intel chips but some are soooo much un readable that i cant identify them ... one has even  copper trace of the standard intel s478 hs 

i recall i have a 2.66  northwood and a 2.8E  HT biscott ... aherm Prescott, i mean
and a unidentified Celeron that i cant read SSPEC at all + a 4th S478 unknown intel soldier (all salvaged from the same dump near i live .... i hate orphan cpu  )


----------



## m1dg3t (Jun 20, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> i have some socket 478 intel chips but some are soooo much un readable that i cant identify them ... one has even  copper trace of the standard intel s478 hs
> 
> i recall i have a 2.66  northwood and a 2.8E  HT biscott ... aherm Prescott, i mean
> and a unidentified Celeron that i cant read SSPEC at all + a 4th S478 unknown intel soldier (all salvaged from the same dump near i live .... i hate orphan cpu  )



You need to find a MoBo for them so you can put them to work! My cousin is still using a 478 with AGP and it's fine for him  

Lucky you have a part pile close to you!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 20, 2013)

m1dg3t said:


> You need to find a MoBo for them so you can put them to work! My cousin is still using a 478 with AGP and it's fine for him
> 
> Lucky you have a part pile close to you!



If you say so









unlucky that P4P800VM is dead the only s478 alive i have is a MSI from a Medion cheapo desktop (msi brand ) wich handle only the 2.66 northwood  but not the Prescott HT

well it might handle the unkown Celeron and the IDFKWII (I Dont F*cking Know What Is It) i have

time for custom modding old psu ... i dont have time to find another PIV and that LC-Power Crapsu is 350w while the FSP Awesomepsu is a 250w and cant handle the Axp and the X800GT




so here we see both psu side by side (i explain the fan later)




the original fan of the LC... i dont know what happened, and it was not the only damage  i also recap'ed the whole psu with matching caps i found in another psu, most of them where blown off so i suspect one of those had blown off the missing wing of the fan.




off course i could swap up the fan with that one, same size same connector ... but it wouldnt be funny.




sooo mounting a transparent Xilence fan passing the Molex by the hole for the normal cable and ... 








VOILA... 

closed .... but still deadly ... i didnt bothered to put a fanguard here ... so the unwarry curious little derp can have sliced "saucisson a l'ail" instead of fingers





*little voice in the back* "CABLE MANAGEMENT YOU DUMMY!!!!" "

hey my other self ... calm down its a retrobuild ... cable management was inexistant by that time"

*Distant voice with mixed laugh* "OOHHH i see, when dinosaurus roamed the earth... no no dont look after me ... IM OUTA HERE!!! nyaahahah!!!"

(broking a fuse anyone?)


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 20, 2013)

Wow GreiverBlade and all the recent additions: All of you have some amazing nostalgic parts and systems!!! 

Something that I just noticed is this thread has had almost 107,000 views since I began the thread late in 2009. Granted it has been about 3 1/2 years ago but still that is pretty dang impressive!!!

I want to thank each and EVERY member and person that has visited our little community club here on the awesome TechPowerUp forums!!!!! Bless all. 

Now with regards to the visiting numbers I am seriously considering building and publishing a totally nostalgic computer hardware and software site! 
Granted there are a few on the net but most all of them are a very poorly built sites and have not been updated in some time. 

One of my ideas would be to have a daily hardware feature feature each day and have a featured system once a week!!!! This would give the site good front page updates daily and weekly and most likely bring tons of traffic thereby bringing more members. 
We would have a forum of course and have a special area in the forum for the weekly system featured on the front page. Of course the weekly featured system owner would get nice prizes that would be current technology for his or her system. 

I have given much thought to this over the last year or so and have been in extensive contact with 50 or so manufactures and distributors. Probably 90% of them would be on board in a heart beat to supply the prizes! At this time I do not want to mention what companies I have talked to but be insured they are very well known!!!

So now my questions are this; who would be onboard for this idea? Who would join the membership on the site (free of course)?

Also if this does develop I will need at least a couple of administrators and several moderators. 

As for administrators I would like to find a couple of people that are familiar with Vbulletin as I am pretty sure I have one sponsor that is willing to bump up at least the cost for a full blown purchase of Vbulletin. 

Again I want to thank each and every one of you for being an awesome part of this community club!
Let me know what you all think.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 20, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Wow GreiverBlade and all the recent additions: All of you have some amazing nostalgic parts and systems!!! FREAKING WALL OF TEXT WARNING: i had to cut that marvel sowwwyyy



ya know ... i get most of my old rusty dusty friendly lovely synthetic little piece of pcb "childrens" in a dump and on ricardo.ch (a kind of Swiss Ebay) "wait wait wait ... what do you mean: what do I mean"  ok ok ok longstory shortmode.

i hope feelings count because if i could i would participate for the fund of that kind of site, at last all i can do atm is hoping this project can see the light.

still i love that topic on TPU xD oh wait i love TPU in short... naaahhh nostalg33k are the best they love outdated outperformed things that if we werent here they would be left to crumble and die slowly in a dump or worse... 

 Bcheers ... i mean BEERS!

you know --- my 2006 nemesis was still my house for the component i had now in the HAF-XB ... till 01.01.2013 he has seen some PIV mobo even a PIII a KT6V with a barton 2200+ then a Alpinia RS780L with a Phenom II X6 1035T and a ASRock 970 Extrem 3  with a Phenom II X4 810 and a Phenom II X4 955 BE in the end

and for cards FX5200 (MSI) 9700(hercules) X1900XT (HIS) X800GT(sapphire) GTX460SC (EVGA) HD6850BE(XFX) HD6950CSE(Club3D) GF110GTX560Ti(pure Nvidia oem) R7950DD(XFX)
i forgot the 1st one ... "modern" cpu cg i had with the begining of agp K6-2 with a SIS 3D AGP xD 

i regret that i didnt kept my TNT TNT2 GeForce 256/2 MX400/4 Ti 4800 and the Vodoo 2 i had... oh well i kept my 5900ultra at last xD 






and the best testbench i had before the HAF-XB in no cover mode 
was my .... oh well pics say more than words do 





and now its me who made a wall of text .. woopee and a little tear down for that remembering of those who are left behind because "moar powah full shitz hit the market"

edit FTW, look what i just found :





sidenote non nostalgic... not bad for a A10-5800K mini-itx build ... oh off course ii know WEI is useless but still... nah not really i just wanted to show my desktop background... seriously ... Ink angel rocks.





im done sorry for that and thanks for reading ... now i better go get some sleep ... nothing is worse than drowned peoples while the lifeguard sleep at work...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jun 21, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> So now my questions are this; who would be onboard for this idea? Who would join the membership on the site (free of course)?



You know I will do whatever I can for you man. Count me in. Also I am soon going to have 3 fully operational nostalgic rigs running.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 22, 2013)

Got a Thermaltake heatsink with missing fan mount. Zip ties to the rescue!!!












This will go nicely with the scraps build. In fact I like it way more than the Ninja 2 I ordered a few days ago.

The mounting clip was twisted but hopefully it will hold after straightening it. Heck, maybe I should be more concerned about the plastic bracket, this thing weights a 0.001ton


----------



## de.das.dude (Jun 22, 2013)

use paperclips


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 25, 2013)

lets have a good laugh ... or cry depending ... 

dump run (same a QDQ run but irl (QDQ: Quake Done Quicker obviously))

well i found some goodies.
1st batch good shape (almost ... that the only pieces i could salvage, the rest was wrecked with a hammer it seems)








Good Ol' Celeron D Sckt 775. 3.06/256/533
and the DDR2 256mb that was with




i suspect the 3 other where taken since all slot where open

then i looked the ground where a lot of keyboard key where shattered ... and i found 








yup a Athlon II cracked pin bended core shattered and the Southbridge that goes with ... lucky the guy who did this wasnt around ... otherwise there would have been teeth instead of keyboard keys, on the ground

afterward i found this ... 








this is what you get when you try to open a Xbox360 with a hammer ... (or if you are jealous and dont want people to salvage it correctly)

well then that would be my luck to posses a set of chips and a APU(kinda ... not... since the GPU and CPU die are disctinct) without wrecking my own 360 xD oh and have a extra short Sata cable 














and a Symbol PDA under WinCE with a barcode Scanner ... uh no battery pack in it 
oh well still a collection piece 














then im waiting for this baby to come home ... i won the auction for 3$ roughly.




Asus V8420/Deluxe GF4 Ti 4200 128MB

edit for the win
when Sapphire knows how to make appealing box ... unlike the new ones with military "female" (are they female ... i see boobies but ...they are fugly )




HD4850 i found one on ricardo im waiting the end of the auction, Hands down the CUTEST ruby on a box EVER!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2013)

update:

i opened the Symbol pda (never underestimate a g33k with a set of microprecision screwdriver and some screw loose...) as the product model gave some different result for the same PPT2846 serie

so it seems to be a WLAN Windows mobile 2003 with color screen (this last part i cant verify, like if its functional or not since no battery pack or dock)
Wlan card is a LA412T PCMCIA 2 antenna plug 





processor is a Intel StrongArm SA 1110 206mhz 
64 MB RAM, 32 MB  ROM
1D Scan Engine
1550mAh Battery

i found some part on ebay and some other websites but as i dont know it its functional i better not order those and find that device out of order 

god i love all those freaking flat cable wich make the opening and remounting sooooo interesting.

edit: i take a wild guess and do another Dump Run maybe i can find the battery and the cradle.


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 26, 2013)

Managed to get two Thermaltake XP Pro Blowers in new condition, Made in 2002 LOL

I assembled this sexy heatsink with one XB Blower the other day!, Gonna whack it on my P4 EE


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> Managed to get two Thermaltake XP Pro Blowers in new condition, Made in 2002 LOL
> 
> I assembled this sexy heatsink with one XB Blower the other day!, Gonna whack it on my P4 EE
> 
> http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/9142742193_558a0b0988_b.jpg



ohohooohh i have a Thermaltake Silentboost (in pieces ... ) it look exactely the same but with a different kind of fan


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> ohohooohh i have a Thermaltake Silentboost (in pieces ... ) it look exactely the same but with a different kind of fan



Pretty sure it was a Silent Boost , I got it from a guy and it had a replacement Scythe fan on it.  I love Green UV, so I hotted it up


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 26, 2013)

TRWOV inspired me to build AM2NF3 system (Yes, a 1090T with a 3850AGP!!), Here is my current progress with it!

Specs are in my sig


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2013)

i hate when they cut the wire on adapter xD but at last i have the cradle and the battery nahaha


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/2710/n34k.jpg
> 
> 
> i hate when they cut the wire on adapter xD but at last i have the cradle and the battery nahaha



LOL, lucky find there.


----------



## Frick (Jun 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade my man, I love your posts, but not your pictures. Way, way to big.

BTW, don't we need a TPU Scavanger club or something?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2013)

Frick said:


> GreiverBlade my man, I love your posts, but not your pictures. Way, way to big.
> 
> BTW, don't we need a TPU Scavanger club or something?



woopsies ... but but but ... they dont look big on my screen once fully loaded ...

Scavenger club? why not


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> woopsies ... but but but ... they dont look big on my screen once fully loaded ...
> 
> Scavenger club? why not



The TPU Tech Tatters Club


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jun 26, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> TRWOV inspired me to build AM2NF3 system (Yes, a 1090T with a 3850AGP!!), Here is my current progress with it!
> 
> Specs are in my sig
> 
> http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5544/9142973235_dff995b983_b.jpg




I spy a Dragon case.


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jun 26, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I spy a Dragon case.



Thermaltake Xaser II 6000 actually


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> edit for the win
> when Sapphire knows how to make appealing box ... unlike the new ones with military "female" (are they female ... i see boobies but ...they are fugly )
> http://imageshack.us/a/img853/7361/d6r.gif
> HD4850 i found one on ricardo im waiting the end of the auction, Hands down the CUTEST ruby on a box EVER!



I do not own that card any longer, but I kept the box. I remember my sister saying "nice box" when she saw it, lol (a few years back when I had recently bought the card).



GreiverBlade said:


> woopsies ... but but but ... they dont look big on my screen once fully loaded ...



Some people's internet connections do not handle pictures that large well enough.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> I do not own that card any longer, but I kept the box. I remember my sister saying "nice box" when she saw it, lol (a few years back when I had recently bought the card).
> 
> 
> 
> Some people's internet connections do not handle pictures that large well enough.



well i get the point still tpu image uploader hate me and imageshack resizing sucks (active redimensionning is sucky too i get it .. ) 

oh wait EVEN my UMI X1 load those pages fast ... and he is only on Edge connection (246kbps anyone?) there is still people with dial up 56k and lower ? dang i feel sorry to post img in 8mpix

As for the Sapphire ... i found an auction but the card is roughly 50chf direct buy and 30chf on bidding ... duh i prefere 1chf start price no direct buyout xD still i love that box (and the card also ... i owned one a while ago but not the Sapphire)


----------



## Naito (Jun 30, 2013)

I mentioned I had it out and booted in another thread, so I thought I'd post it here.

Here is my first PC; Amstrad PC1640 HD20.

P.S. Not sure why there is white paint or liquid paper on it....


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jun 30, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> Thermaltake Xaser II 6000 actually



Ahh pretty much the same thing.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 30, 2013)

Naito said:


> I mentioned I had it out and booted in another thread, so I thought I'd post it here.
> 
> Here is my first PC; Amstrad PC1640 HD20.
> 
> P.S. Not sure why there is white paint or liquid paper on it....



 Awesome ole system!!!!!!

Added ya to the original post man!


----------



## dannylillhtc (Jun 30, 2013)

thought id add some of the older stuff i had hanging around 

A Geforce 4 mx440 se 128mb AGP 8x i clocked the crap outta this card and it still works to this day (well it did when i put it away)

A 9600 GSO with 768mb mem works fine, fans dead needs new fan/aftermarket cooler
A 9600 GT 512mb works fine, fans vibrates, could do with a new cooler.

both cards clock well and would still be using them if it wernt for the minor niggles of the fans breaking


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 30, 2013)

honey im hoooomeee ASUS GF4 TI4200 added to the collection


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 30, 2013)

dannylillhtc said:


> thought id add some of the older stuff i had hanging around
> 
> A Geforce 4 mx440 se 128mb AGP 8x i clocked the crap outta this card and it still works to this day (well it did when i put it away)
> 
> ...



 Nice!!!!

Added ya to the original post.


----------



## dannylillhtc (Jul 1, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Nice!!!!
> 
> Added ya to the original post.



cheers buddy


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 3, 2013)

weeheheheeee they changed some old pc's at my job and one went to the dump bahahaha nanananaaahhh not dump, i shall recover that before it goes down!

HP DC7700 SFF with a C2D 6300 DDR2 4 slots 2 slot pci 1 slot pcieX 1x 1 slot pcieX 16x AT LAST i have a 775 mobo and C2D for my collection. pics incoming once i find a way to not be a plague for small connections xD


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 4, 2013)

bring on the big pics.  That or just use image resizer and resize them.


Also guys, I have 4 days off of work. So I think I am going to use these days for something very constructive. I am going to put together another nostalgia rig. I will then put all three of my old rigs together for a nice photo shoot. It will be 3 Amd systems. Once I find my other mobo I will do a forth and have all the "generations" (I use the term generations loosely here) of Amd systems I have owned in running rigs. This will span from a K62 up to the Fx 8350 in my main rig now. This is going to be a sight once completed.


----------



## Compgeke (Jul 6, 2013)

Just got done swapping the 60 meg drive of this with a 120 meg one from the 2nd P70, which needs the floppy drive replaced (or fixed, haven't looked into it much).







Full 20 MHz 386 DX, 12 MB ram (4 onboard, 8 on the 32-bit MCA card), orange VGA gas-plasma display, 1.44 meg floppy, 1200 baud modem.


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 6, 2013)

I think I'll remake my green tea build. I came across a shop that does powder coating and I want to try it out.

BTW, can plastic be powder coated too?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 6, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> I think I'll remake my green tea build. I came across a shop that does powder coating and I want to try it out.
> 
> BTW, can plastic be powder coated too?



i guess so (unless powder coating involve high temperature that the plastic cant handle...)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 9, 2013)

et voila!
i hope the pics arent too big this time ... 
so its a HP Compaq dc7700s




Core2Duo 6300 (1.86ghz) 1gb ram non conventional formfactor.




its one of the "vPro" buisness classe dc7700s featuring some "security management" by Intel




prety tight and dusty ... i will have to tear it appart to clean that 




oh its a transformer 




at last the heatsing has 2 cooper heatpipe 




EH??? 6pin 12v cpu plug???




toolless system uh?








oh yes indeed toolless.




2pci 1pcieX x16 1 pcieX x1 hummm not too bad...

time to clean that mess ... damn Buisness class doesnt mean manutention not needed ... 
















well its a nice piece if we pass on the crappy formfactor and the vPro feature who keeped me busy to seek how to disable it (well i was simple as a jumper on the mobo xD juste like the CMOS reset )

oops i forgot the "last family pics of my rightside of my desk ... "


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Jul 14, 2013)

Finally got my hands on a 7900GX2, Nvidia's first dual-gpu graphic card.  These things are rare as hell.  

Took my 3 years just to find one 


Here are some pictures next to it's baby brother the 7950GX2


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jul 14, 2013)

I found a dell xps720 ages ago, it had a e6600, 2x250gb hdd's, 2x7900GX2 and a 750watt psu.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 14, 2013)

LegendofMadness said:


> Finally got my hands on a 7900GX2, Nvidia's first dual-gpu graphic card.  These things are rare as hell.
> 
> Took my 3 years just to find one
> 
> ...



awwww no luck, they are relatively common on Ricardo.ch (well not atm and i lost my bet on  3 of them  i was having them for 10$ a pieces and someone beat me at 1:41am damn why was i sleeping at this time  )


----------



## Animalpak (Jul 17, 2013)

now this is... Crazy... You can still buy it...

WANNA WATERCOOL YOUR GRAPHICS CARD RAM ?  CHECK IT OUT ! LOL !


----------



## Norton (Jul 18, 2013)

That is one of the craziest things I've ever seen!!!

Nice find! 

P.S> this would really wake up the "most wtf cooler" thread
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157025


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 18, 2013)

Animalpak said:


> now this is... Crazy... You can still buy it...
> 
> WANNA WATERCOOL YOUR GRAPHICS CARD RAM ?  CHECK IT OUT ! LOL !
> 
> ...




totaly AWESOME! i want one or ... two for my X800GT and my 3D Prophet 9700 
horray i won a auction for 7$ (roughly) 3 pciEx gpu, unknown atm i need to wait till i get them at home but one is a Asus ROG Matrix model if i dont do a mistake and presumably a ATI 3xxx 2pciEx 6pin hum amd that heatsink look hummm I DYING TO GET MY HANDS ON THOSE! and do real pics (i also got a Zotac GTX480 AMP! for 80$ but its a bit too recent for this place  )






YAZOOH im pretty sure its http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b874/asus-rog-matrix-9800-gt.html for the ASUS ROG (more totaly sure ... since i've seen this here and when i saw the auction i said I TOTALY NEED TO WIN THAT ONE!)

hum the left one could be http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b1098/asus-hd-4870-top.html


----------



## Animalpak (Jul 18, 2013)

Norton said:


> That is one of the craziest things I've ever seen!!!
> 
> Nice find!
> 
> ...



Thread is very old cant reply on it... 

Thanks


----------



## Animalpak (Jul 18, 2013)

A SPECTACULAR WATERBLOCK FROM ENZOTECH !!! My eyes shining !!!

Never see on sale or on a build tough ... Sad...


For the GTX 295 single PCB version 

That thing is Amazing unbelievable ! Such a sexy piece of hardware ! Deep engineering and passion fusion !


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 18, 2013)

Animalpak said:


> now this is... Crazy... You can still buy it...
> 
> WANNA WATERCOOL YOUR GRAPHICS CARD RAM ?  CHECK IT OUT ! LOL !
> 
> ...




 wow, that is frigging insane!!!! Good find AP 





Animalpak said:


> A SPECTACULAR WATERBLOCK FROM ENZOTECH !!! My eyes shining !!!
> 
> Never see on sale or on a build tough ... Sad...
> 
> ...




Oh man!!! That is so sexy!!! Makes me want to try and find one and a GTX295!!


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 18, 2013)

Animalpak said:


> Thread is very old cant reply on it...
> 
> Thanks



I just posted in that thread.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 18, 2013)

and here we go! 

i was right on the 
ASUS ROG MATRIX 9800GT 512mb GDDR3start no image but doesnt make win crash like the HP, not recognised(no plug'n play popup) 
ASUS Radeon 4870 512mb GDDR5 AHAHAHAHAHAAAA this one work it seems xD (you will see when i will upload the photo of what i had to do ... be prepared! )

the top right is a single slot OEM HP 9800GT 1024mb ddr3 start but no image and i never seen a card overheat like that, the single slot heatsink doesnt help, i guess it will take a bit of cleaning for all of them
pics will follow as i work on them

damned the Node304 if i switch HDD tray i cant use the push fan of my TX3 EVO xD i guess a single 92mm pull and the 140mm FD Silent R2 will be enough

trishot 2 piece of legend and a piece of c... naahhh whatever 




topshot of the beauty! i used one of my three HDD rack as a point of measurement




damn i love that heatsink (also under the sticker ther is the original "ATI Premium Graphic Card" with RADEON on it.)




the ROG





now for the TEST BENCH
time lapse for image uploading be right back soon(tm)
her goes,  lets wonder what history those 3 cards hold 1st one the HP : the previous owner brought a HP computer with "ZOMG NVIDIA 9800GT 1GB RAM!!1!!1!1!" and then one day : OMIGODZ MAH CARDZ OVERHEAT must be faulty!




of course he didnt think of cleaning (you should see the other side of the Heatsink... but my phone crashed during the shot and i cleaned it inbetween) and with powerphase crippled like that ... naaahh normal overheating is normal








oops ... blurry picz(tm) 




indeed the shroud if full metal and a pain to remove but i never back down! (nah it was just clipped with 6 metal claw in fact)

then our nice fellow thought "oh well i will buy a real gamer card!"




indeed he was right, but one day : "OMIGODZ MAH CARDZ IS OVERHEATING AND OUTDATED!!!11!1!1!" 

sooo then he brought a shiny new gamer card with GDDR5 instead of GDDR3





and one day "OMIGODZ MAH CARDZ IS OVERHEATING AGAIN AMD IS NO BETTER THAN NVIDIA!!!111!1!!11!!!1!, lets sell those card to buy a new one! Uh? where is my cat???" well congratulation you made 7$ for the budget of your new card! (you will see after the Cat part...)
here goes!








no screws or whatever resist to the mighty Victorynox Cyber tool (swiss knife for g33k  )




SO if you have a cat: CHECK WHERE HE IS BEFORE CLOSING THE COMPUTER COVER!!!





thats really a pretty nice heatsink in fact...





the RV770 labeled ATI while the board was allready a AMD "tagged"





i know i am a big meanie to talk like that of the one who sold those card to me for 7$ buuut i like to be EBIL  so good to be bad! nah all that little story was only assumption, no way somebody would react as i described... right?


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Jul 19, 2013)

Found my first graphics card while digging around for a router in my basement. XFX GeForce 6200 512MB DDR3. Had a whole 4 cuda cores.





Dat matte black PCB. I miss the times when XFX made nVidia graphics cards.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 19, 2013)

n3rdf1ght3r said:


> Found my first graphics card while digging around for a router in my basement. XFX GeForce 6200 512MB DDR3. Had a whole 4 cuda cores.
> http://i.imgur.com/ulfJbeH.jpg
> 
> Dat matte black PCB. I miss the times when XFX made nVidia graphics cards.
> http://i.imgur.com/ARidJ8s.jpg



Cool man!  "whole 4 cuda cores." That is funny!

Added ya to the original post man.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 19, 2013)

Not CUDA cores, that's pixel pipelines.


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Jul 19, 2013)

Red_Machine said:


> Not CUDA cores, that's pixel pipelines.



Hmmm, So it is:/ EVGA's website said CUDA cores but every other site says pixel pipelines.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 19, 2013)

n3rdf1ght3r said:


> Hmmm, So it is:/ EVGA's website said CUDA cores but every other site says pixel pipelines.



marketing is marketing also on gpu-Z on my 3D Prophet 9700 and on my Sapphire X800GT i see shader wich is pixel pipeline

i have to re re check with them and also with my Asus GF4 TI4200 and the crapbag FX5200
huhuhu new life for my AXP build ... testing agp cards! xD


----------



## Compgeke (Jul 20, 2013)

New system: Pentium Pro 200 MHz. Has an entire 96 megs of ram, 60 gig hard drive (non-original), 2 MB S3 something graphics, DEC ethernet, Sound Blaster 32 with 2 megs of ram on it. Case is a Cooler Master...can't remember, but cable management support is nice.


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 21, 2013)

Guys I wonder if any of you could help (*looks at legendofmadness*) as I'm having problems installing XP on a RAID0 volume. I've setup everything but the volume show as two separate drives on the XP install screen.

BIOS settings






RAID setup (yes, I got another iRAM )






Loading RAID drivers





Shows up as two drives 






Current build:


----------



## Frick (Jul 22, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> et voila!
> i hope the pics arent too big this time ...
> so its a HP Compaq dc7700s
> http://imageshack.us/a/img442/2416/a2p3.jpg
> ...



I had something like that (but slower) as my main system a couple of months back. It's not that old.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 22, 2013)

Frick said:


> I had something like that (but slower) as my main system a couple of months back. It's not that old.



its allways better than nothing, oh 6month for a PC is old or was old before 2011 now everything slow down and Moore is proven wrong ... Haswell isnt a upgrade (except in excessive heat over Ivybridge, hum ... well ... igp is better tho ... ) Richland only have some mhz over Trinity....

7xx are 6xx nammed most of the time.... and our gpu have between 6 and 12 month

dont worry im happy with all i have even the oldest pc in my house is still of any use.

damn i love my passion and


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 22, 2013)

Moore's Law is not proven wrong. Moore's Law is not about speed.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 22, 2013)

oh well indeed its about computing power xD still Moor's law say a computer parts is obsolet every 6month naahhh dont take all i write as serious  i like joking about this and that and i know i am a bit too sarcastic


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 22, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> oh well indeed its about computing power xD still Moor's law say a computer parts is obsolet every 6month naahhh dont take all i write as serious  i like joking about this and that and i know i am a bit too sarcastic



Actually Moore's law states that every 24 months, the *number of transistors* of computers doubles, not computing power.
This was misinterpreted by an Intel big-wig years back (House was his last name, that's all I remember. I'm sure if I could be arsed to Google it, I could find his full name) as every 18 months and it was misconstrued as processing power.
Generally speaking, an increase in transistor count is also an improvement in performance, but this is not always the case, hence my posting this and clearing the confusion.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 22, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Actually Moore's law states that every 24 months, the *number of transistors* of computers doubles, not computing power.
> This was misinterpreted by an Intel big-wig years back (House was his last name, that's all I remember. I'm sure if I could be arsed to Google it, I could find his full name) as every 18 months and it was misconstrued as processing power.
> Generally speaking, an increase in transistor count is also an improvement in performance, but this is not always the case, hence my posting this and clearing the confusion.



i seeeeee the light its sooo bright! thanks Random  im on a hunt for oldies if i can find some goodies at low price or in some dark and shady place PICS will come back!!


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jul 23, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Actually Moore's law states that every 24 months, the *number of transistors* of computers doubles, not computing power.
> This was misinterpreted by an Intel big-wig years back (House was his last name, that's all I remember. I'm sure if I could be arsed to Google it, I could find his full name) as every 18 months and it was misconstrued as processing power.
> Generally speaking, an increase in transistor count is also an improvement in performance, but this is not always the case, hence my posting this and clearing the confusion.



aka how efficient that transistor is at making logic simple and sensible lol


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 26, 2013)

well, might not be nostalgic but i wanted to share that pics i found on facebook in a random WTF computer post... at last the owner has the reason why his fan stoped working ... and judging by the lizard look ... it has been a long time before he'd notice it ...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3056/mq0u.jpg
> 
> well, might not be nostalgic but i wanted to share that pics i found on facebook in a random WTF computer post... at last the owner has the reason why his fan stoped working ... and judging by the lizard look ... it has been a long time before he'd notice it ...



Wow, guess that's why I haven't seen a Geico commercial in a while.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3056/mq0u.jpg
> 
> well, might not be nostalgic but i wanted to share that pics i found on facebook in a random WTF computer post... at last the owner has the reason why his fan stoped working ... and judging by the lizard look ... it has been a long time before he'd notice it ...



Ouch. I'd hate to be that lizard.
Might wanna post that over in The Filthy, Rotten, Nasty, Helpdesk-Nightmare picture clubhouse as well.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 29, 2013)

REJOICE NOSTALGIC FAN!!! 

i finaly managed to find a 





YEP a slot A Athlon (K-7700MT) a 2nd Slot A Athlon (unkown no shroud) and a ...
Intel Celeron CPU 2GHz Sockel 478 but this one i dont care xD

more detail when i will get my hands on those!


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 29, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> REJOICE NOSTALGIC FAN!!!
> 
> i finaly managed to find a
> http://imageshack.us/a/img594/7237/v6pn.jpg
> ...




Awesome Greiver!! Them Athlons were some overclocking monsters!


----------



## xvi (Jul 30, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome Greiver!! Them Athlons were some overclocking monsters!



Back in the day of, like, twice the original clock speed, right?


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jul 30, 2013)

Does this count   XD


 Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 30, 2013)

Durvelle27 said:


> Does this count   XD
> 
> 
> Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro
> ...



YEP! now you make me wonder where i did put my Logitech Wingman


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 30, 2013)

xvi said:


> Back in the day of, like, twice the original clock speed, right?



Yea some of them would overclock close to double. I had a 700 and I think I had it at 1200 or something like that.


----------



## dannylillhtc (Jul 31, 2013)

those slot A athlons were mental overclockers, never seen chips clock as well as them majority could hit a 75-80% overclock


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 31, 2013)

weeheee i recieved 2 on 4 of my waited delivery (sad the cpu werent in one of those) but i recieved a fine piece of Thermalright engineering: The Ancestor of the Silver arrow (or was it the Cogage who is the ancestor ... duh i cant remember)

THERMALRIGHT Inferno Fire eXtinguisher(IFX)-14 and IFX-10 backside HS ... 840gr of pure pleasure without the fan ofc, im waiting on 2 TY-147 or 3 for it adding either 320gr or 480gr more to it xD 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



the backside IFX-10, so thick alu blades ...








and the IFX-14 pure beauty, drop that on your feets and you're good for a reconstructive surgery... 
















only 4 heatpipes versus 6 on the Macho but WOW HEATPIPES! and i dont have thin pinky...




also the bundle include a 4g syringe of Chill Factor




as you can see i have more than needed since i usualy use Arctic MX-4 but that pics is fun
the 2g satchel on the bottom is the Chill Factor II bundled with the Macho
and this HS was sold to a ridiculous price of 20$ almost good as new with all accessory inclued... i paid 45$ for the Macho and 2g of CFII huhu naahhh they include a free 9.5" Ph2 screwdriver with the macho  


now it will go in a not so much nostalgic build but on a 2009 PhenomII X2 511 (Overkill isnt it?) it make me wonder ... i have a Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev. A in my main build i wonder wich one would performe the best  PhenomII X4 955 should be no challenge for the IFX-14 as it is not for the HR-02, or i can go passive and rely only on the 140mm Fractal Silent R2 with the X2 511 huuhuu



Spoiler: and then wonder happens!








i think i can go semi passive with the 140mm back and 230mm top








PSU in place and cable routing in a case that recieved bad review about its cable management




just in case you wonder ... yes i plugged the 4+4 12v after puting all inside ... im masochist




RED TAPE! to ease the back panel closing xD and yes the black cable crossing on top is the cable of the 140mm 




the IFX-10 will have 2 coolink SWIF120 in front and since i dont need the HDD rack it will be full airflow








a bit gettho but if it works then its a good one! its a Kingston ram cooler put in place of the 2 60mm slot in the Tt E S




the CM TX3 Evo used previously ... almost small as the IFX-10


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 2, 2013)

oh well the un shroud "athlon" was a PII or PIII have to seek model 








ok more info its a PIII 500mhz



Spoiler: GTX460 Hawk in place















btw removing the cooler on the Athlon also removed a bit of my right index (rather a huge bit ... damn)

good news the Athlon is a 2nd serie Pluto core (i hunt 1st serie but 2nd are fine tho, the older the more value they have for me )


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Aug 10, 2013)

My old Socket 939 Athlon FX CPU






Geforce 6800. This thing is stupidly loud. Should probably replace the paste and blow the dust out of it.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 10, 2013)

n3rdf1ght3r said:


> My old Socket 939 Athlon FX CPU
> 
> http://i.imgur.com/KZ9KS56.jpg
> 
> ...



That's not an FX, it's a 64 3500+ Venice core. Still nice.


----------



## n3rdf1ght3r (Aug 10, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> That's not an FX, it's a 64 3500+ Venice core. Still nice.



Damn it Google. LOL atleast now I know


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 10, 2013)

Guess I need to put some updated pics of some of my old stuffs. 

Amd Procs:






K6-2 500 MHZ






Slot A Athlon 600 Mhz






Socket A Duron's






Socket A Athlon's Thunderbirds






Socket A Athlon Xp 2100+ Pally and a 2500+ Barton






Socket A Athon Xp Bartons, 2500+ and a 3200+






939 Athlon 64 3200+ and a x2 4200+






939 Athlon 64 x2 4400+






Innards to my Win xp gaming rig which I am in the process of redoing. 

Asus A8n Sli Premium and 3 gb of pc3200






2x Evga 8800 GTX's for sli action







Here is a Shuttle AN35N Ultra with a xp 3200+ in it. 







And Lastly, my Win 98 rig,


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hmm Mad Shot, some of that hardware looks familiar 

Nice collection bro!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 10, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm Mad Shot, some of that hardware looks familiar
> 
> Nice collection bro!



LOL Thats cause it came from you buddy to complete my dream win xp rig. Once I get done with the case it will be back up and running.

Oh add me to the list LOL


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 10, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Oh add me to the list LOL



 you was added a long time ago man!!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 10, 2013)

I know man just playing with ya. 



Post up more great oldness guys, I am in need of a certain old ass mobo. First one to post one will win a free pm from me trying to convince you to sell it to me.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 10, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Guess I need to put some updated pics of some of my old stuffs.
> 
> Amd Procs:
> 
> ...



LOVE,LOVE,LOVE, LOVE

ATHLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNN SLOT A wich core wich serie!!!!!11!!

judging by the number it might be a Serie 2 Pluto Core just like mine but a 600mhz instead of 700mhz

Slot A Athlon feels more premium than intel's slot1 ... metal IHS back and the HS mounting ... cooler master HS aswell? mine choped of a bit of my right index as i wrote previously


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 10, 2013)

I haven't a clue what the core is for either of my Slot A procs. One is a 600 mhz and the other in the Win 98 rig is a 800 mhz. And the 600 does have a Cm hsf while the 800 had a cm hsf, I changed it to a Thermaltake golden Orb.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 10, 2013)

give me a sec

YAAAAAAAAAAHHHH LUCKY BASTARD!  (friendly said!)
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon 600 - AMD-K7600MTR51B C.html

ARGON serie 1!!!!!

here is yours and mine aside in the CPU world comparison
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/29...s_AMD_Athlon_700_MHz_(AMD-K7700MTR51B_A).html

the 800 should be a Thunderbird (serie 4 iirc)
this
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon 800 - AMD-A0800MPR24B A.html Thunderbird model 4 
or that
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon 800 - AMD-K7800MPR52B A.html Pluto model 2

no biggies between them http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/27...s_AMD_Athlon_800_MHz_(AMD-K7800MPR52B_A).html unless you look the spec comparison


I SHALL... RESIST...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-AMD-ATH...NEW-/400313721443?pt=CPUs&hash=item5d348ea263


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 10, 2013)

Yeah the 800 is a thunderbird as the number starts with A0800. 


Hell buy them all off ebay. LOL


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 10, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> I SHALL... RESIST...
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-AMD-ATHL...item5d348ea263



 wow ya don't see brand new slot A chips for sale very often. That is bad ass!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 10, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> wow ya don't see brand new slot A chips for sale very often. That is bad ass!



i think i will scavenge on EBAY instead of Ricardo.ch ... tho international tend to screw me ...


----------



## Tiaan48 (Aug 11, 2013)

*hey*


----------



## Doc41 (Aug 11, 2013)

I FINALLY FOUND IT


Spoiler



























Going to check if it works after i find a UHF\RCA cable, aand i need to read the manual to be able to use it


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 11, 2013)

Doc41 said:


> I FINALLY FOUND IT
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...



How very awesome Doc!


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Aug 11, 2013)

dannylillhtc said:


> those slot A athlons were mental overclockers, never seen chips clock as well as them majority could hit a 75-80% overclock



Hello fellow codhead 

Also I had a E6300 that did 107% OC, in my sig.


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 12, 2013)

once had a P11 300 that was an awsome overclocker
Bought it new installed it into a new motherboard and then set the jumpers so it ran at
450Mhz  used it at that speed for over 2 years then getto'ed extra cooling fans ( one each side of the standard fan) to make a total of 3 fans.
then i upped the speed to see how high i could get it
That damm thing run rock steady at 650Mhz for over a year
when it was time to upgrade i down clocked it to 550Mhz and gave the board /mem/cpu to a good friend.
He still has this set up running as his daughters pc (at 550Mhz)

That was my second serious  over clock  first was a 486 66Mhz DX2  (got that to 100Mhz)

Ah those were the days when you could get massive100%+ overclock on air
These days your lucky if you can get a 25% overclock with water


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 12, 2013)

dorsetknob said:


> once had a P11 300 that was an awsome overclocker
> Bought it new installed it into a new motherboard and then set the jumpers so it ran at
> 450Mhz  used it at that speed for over 2 years then getto'ed extra cooling fans ( one each side of the standard fan) to make a total of 3 fans.
> then i upped the speed to see how high i could get it
> ...




my 1st OC was a 486DX 33mhz (my 1st  win98 build  since my 386 was a win3.1 build  )

i was clueless but i checked some hardware freaks BBS at the time (cant remember wich tho  ) set some jumper and got it to 66mhz then got random shutdown and pretty much figured ou that the fanless heatsink werent enough, so i dismantled my old 386 build PSU and retrieved the 50mm fan that was in  and used it to cool off the chip



tigger said:


> Hello fellow codhead
> 
> Also I had a E6300 that did 107% OC, in my sig.




hummmm i have a HP SSF DC7700 (or something like that) i salvaged from the way to the dump at my job... it has a 6300 inside nyark nayahaha ... oh wait ... crap SSF HP mobo ... nevermind xD


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 13, 2013)

Tiaan48 said:


>




Added you to the original post as a club member. 

For everyone that doesn't know, Tiaan has an awesome nostalgic build listed in the Case Mod Gallery seen here:

http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/3681.html

Very sweet ole nostalgic build. Everyone should jump over to the gallery and give Tiaan a vote on his old school build.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 13, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Added you to the original post as a club member.
> 
> For everyone that doesn't know, Tiaan has an awesome nostalgic build listed in the Case Mod Gallery seen here:
> 
> ...



cool  cheers  AND.....

TADAAAAAA!





Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS Pro 64mb (1chf end price ... eh??? ok ok i will pay 10chf total ... 9chf  delivery for 1chf card GOLDEN!!!!)

now i need a Slot A ... huhuhu ...


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 14, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> cool  cheers  AND.....
> 
> TADAAAAAA!
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130813/raritaet-hercules-3d-prophet-2-gts-pro-64-mb-vga.jpg
> ...



Sweet, I remember when that card first came out. Also if you where closer I would give you a slot A huhuhu


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 14, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Sweet, I remember when that card first came out. Also if you where closer I would give you a slot A huhuhu



i've found some good auction on Ebay but AS I ALLWAYS SAY INTERNATIONAL TEND TO SCREW ME!

i cant have a paypal account and if they accept a payement via Efinance with a IBAN its all good but... cause there is a butt (double T intended for funny moment ,... or not) only those with a insane price (way overrated) accept it and other : paypal only... 

murphy i like you but could you let me go and stop screwing all i try to do....


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 15, 2013)

I gotta a GA-7N400pro2 with an athlon 3200+ sittin gaterin dust  GreiverBlade problem though PnP from New Zealand might be a just a tad on the exorbitant side LOL


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 15, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> I gotta a GA-7N400pro2 with an athlon 3200+ sittin gaterin dust  GreiverBlade problem though PnP from New Zealand might be a just a tad on the exorbitant side LOL



my Athlon retro build running atm is on a MSI KT6V400 with a Athlon XP barton 2200+ with a Sapphire Radeon X800GT on win xp pro 

im searching a Slot A not a Socket A  but thanks for the thought 

indeed new zealand > switzerland post rate could be overkill  thats why i say "international delivery allways screws one side or the other" ahah i found some nice Slot A board on Ebay but the post rate double or triple the price  maybe the one i found on UK would be the cheapest, still "paypal only" i might contact the seller and ask if a international bank transfer via IBAN is possible... in switzerland post account hav a IBAN and authorize worldwide transaction (in and out) and less taxes than bank direct transfer or paypal


----------



## eidairaman1 (Aug 18, 2013)

Hot DAMN, that was my very first video card



GreiverBlade said:


> cool  cheers  AND.....
> 
> TADAAAAAA!
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130813/raritaet-hercules-3d-prophet-2-gts-pro-64-mb-vga.jpg
> ...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 18, 2013)

eidairaman1 said:


> Hot DAMN, that was my very first video card



my first video card was a uh ... integrated Cirrus Logic in a Commodor 386SX desktop
then i had another Cirrus in a 486DX and a wooping SIS3D Pro AGP in my K6-2 rig (1st one i assembled myself) wich was followed by a TNT-TNT2-Geforce256-GF2 MX440-GF4 Ti4200- and then i went on a Athlon A FX5600-FX5900 then a Athlon XP FX5950 ultra X1900GT (or something like that ... dont remember  )


----------



## Ikaruga (Aug 18, 2013)

I know it's not really hardware, but I just found a bunch of floppy disks in a commode (what I was about to drop out because of a community cleanup). They probably spent the last 15 years there. Here are some of them


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 18, 2013)

Alright guys I posted up a couple nostalgic combos in the f/s section.


----------



## rtwjunkie (Aug 18, 2013)

I've got here an ASRock 865pe board...kind of nostalgic, and very rare.  I included it installed with DDR400 and a 7800GS.  Also a 6600GT, 6800GT, and a 933Mhz PIII.  Am I in?!


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 19, 2013)

rtwjunkie said:


> I've got here an ASRock 865pe board...kind of nostalgic, and very rare.  I included it installed with DDR400 and a 7800GS.  Also a 6600GT, 6800GT, and a 933Mhz PIII.  Am I in?!



Awesome hardware Junkie! Added ya to the original post man.


----------



## rtwjunkie (Aug 19, 2013)

Thank you stinger!  I believe I've got an old PIII Via board stored away, along with one of the 1.13Ghz PIII's.  I think that was the highest clocked III if I'm not mistaken.  I'll post pics when I dig them out.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Aug 19, 2013)

I just got given an old tower, which has the following in it-

Asus A8v skt939 board
Amd Athlon 64 4000+
Arctic freezer 64 cooler
4x1GB DDR400
Geforce fx5200-AGP
80GB WD caviar

And two dvd drives. Just needs a PSU, then I'll see what it can do 

Will post pics as soon as I can.


----------



## MidnightSky (Aug 20, 2013)

tigger said:


> I just got given an old tower, which has the following in it-
> 
> Asus A8v skt939 board
> Amd Athlon 64 4000+
> ...



I used to have a Athlon 64 with a 5200 agp, looking forward to pics


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Aug 20, 2013)

MidnightSky said:


> I used to have a Athlon 64 with a 5200 agp, looking forward to pics



The board is AGP, just edited to add that. I am looking forward to testing it/overclocking it.


----------



## rtwjunkie (Aug 20, 2013)

tigger said:


> The board is AGP, just edited to add that. I am looking forward to testing it/overclocking it.



I love nostalgic hardware!  I too am looking forward to your testing, tigger.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Aug 21, 2013)

I'm on the athlon rig now  It boots up fine.







No cam yet though


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 23, 2013)

Some old hardware I got collecting dust. If only I got an AGP rig it would be sweet

3D Blaster Voodoo Banshee





Radeon 7500





Rage 128 PCI 32MB


----------



## eidairaman1 (Aug 28, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> my first video card was a uh ... integrated Cirrus Logic in a Commodor 386SX desktop
> then i had another Cirrus in a 486DX and a wooping SIS3D Pro AGP in my K6-2 rig (1st one i assembled myself) wich was followed by a TNT-TNT2-Geforce256-GF2 MX440-GF4 Ti4200- and then i went on a Athlon A FX5600-FX5900 then a Athlon XP FX5950 ultra X1900GT (or something like that ... dont remember  )



gotta realize i was 15 when I owned that card, its been 13 years since then


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 1, 2013)

Clean up my room and found this, an ASUS SP97-V socket 7 motherboard, I used to play Red Alert 2 on this, loading took 15 minutes, to build power plant took another 15 minutes 

CPU with integrated heatsink, modern CPU should come with this 






Pentium 100MHz no integrated heatsink alongside its heatsink cousin 166MHz






DIP switch overclocking FTW alongside pipeline burst cache on top






One socket to rule them all; Intel, IBM, Cyrix, AMD, you name it it's supported  (3.5V Vcore OMGWTF )


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 2, 2013)

Apocalypsee said:


> Clean up my room and found this, an ASUS SP97-V socket 7 motherboard, I used to play Red Alert 2 on this, loading took 15 minutes, to build power plant took another 15 minutes
> 
> CPU with integrated heatsink, modern CPU should come with this
> 
> ...



Good stuff you have there.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 3, 2013)

Apocalypsee said:


> Clean up my room and found this, an ASUS SP97-V socket 7 motherboard, I used to play Red Alert 2 on this, loading took 15 minutes, to build power plant took another 15 minutes
> 
> CPU with integrated heatsink, modern CPU should come with this
> 
> ...





ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Good stuff you have there.



Couldn't agree more Mad Shot!!!

Apocalypsee, very awesome nostalgia there man. 
Added you to the original post bro.


----------



## Frick (Sep 3, 2013)

Got two unopened PCI cards. Opened one of them to take shots, plus I think I will use it.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 3, 2013)

Frick said:


> Got two unopened PCI cards. Opened one of them to take shots, plus I think I will use it.
> 
> 
> http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff230/Meathim/20130903_134624_zpsa9b6beea.jpg
> ...



Nice man.  I have the big brother to that card in agp version, the Fx5700


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 3, 2013)

Frick said:


> Got two unopened PCI cards. Opened one of them to take shots, plus I think I will use it.
> 
> 
> http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff230/Meathim/20130903_134624_zpsa9b6beea.jpg
> ...



FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCKKK i love that box! i owned one but when i moved stuff to my new home my dad just throwed it away thinking it was just a old junk ... DUH i think i have to throw away his Elvis Vinyl collection to show him what it is to break the heart of a nostalgic person!!!

DUBBLE DUH i have countless WinXP Pro license now ... i found another HP SSF DC7100 (the Skt775 P4 version) to add to the DC7700c buuuuttt i cant find my XP pro dvd ... i guess i use Homeko instead ... 

meanwhile ... MICROSOFT IS ANNOYING ME ! i assembled the "Nemesis retrobuild" (finaly ...) installed WinXP HE and actived it ... still i hate service pack ... i have to download them from one of the "modern" rigs because: 

to install SP1a you need to passe via the update center reach update center you need at last IE8, to use IE8 you need at last SP2 ... WHAAATTTTT!!!  thats totaly counterproductive!!!!(i know i can DL SP3 without DL SP1/1a/2 but still the 1st part is ... )

and i also need to find another socket A cooler ... the Titan silver orb is a screaming little pest! triple duh



ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Nice man.  I have the big brother to that card in agp version, the Fx5700



i have a AGP sibling or ... evil twin ... the MSI OEM FX5200 i showed in a previous post  with samsung ramchip instead of elixir also


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 4, 2013)

Frick said:


> Got two unopened PCI cards. Opened one of them to take shots, plus I think I will use it.
> 
> 
> http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff230/Meathim/20130903_134624_zpsa9b6beea.jpg
> ...




Very very awesome Frick! Of course you are added to the original post.


----------



## SKBARON (Sep 4, 2013)

theonedub said:


> 4MB EDO RAM SIMM from my old Pentium 100 IBM Aptiva. This RAM is probably older than some members here
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/111027/DSC00405.jpg



You could kill someone with that stick of ram


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 4, 2013)

SKBARON said:


> You could kill someone with that stick of ram



I'll see your 4MB EDO simm and raise you an 256KB L2 DIP chip


----------



## SKBARON (Sep 4, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> I'll see your 4MB EDO simm and raise you an 256KB L2 DIP chip



The oldest hardware I had was an IBM Aptiva 2159-18R with 48MBof of EDO simm, 1 32MB stick and another 16MB, 2MB video courtesy of Ati Rage and an 8Gb Hdd which I killed, used to play Starcraft on that machine, and old DOS games, loved Doom and especially Mech Warrior 2. Still have the keyboard though, works like a charm .


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 4, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> I'll see your 4MB EDO simm and raise you an 256KB L2 DIP chip



I see your 256KB L2 DIP chip and raise you a tube of Intel 8086s.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 5, 2013)

Here's the athlon system, no pretty but it works.


----------



## Warrgarbl (Sep 5, 2013)

I have an old Pentium 120Mhz Notebook with 8MB of RAM, a VESA compatible graphics card, a sound blaster 16 (!!) and an 800x600 color display. Even the battery works! My fathers neighbour just came up to me and said "Look, I have this old notebook, it's REALLY old but... want it?" I had a look at it and said "YES YES YES OMG!" - and he was like "Ooookaaaay?".

Anyway, he was the boss of a local bank and it used to be company property so given that and the hardware specs it must have been very expensive when it was new. Looks as good as new, too, and came with a carrying bag and an old mouse.

We moved recently, but I like to use that machine to run Win98 and to play all the old DOS games natively  Will see if I can find it at home and post a few pics.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 5, 2013)

something picked up my attention Tigger 


tigger said:


> Here's the athlon system, no pretty but it works.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130905/Ecie8C3.jpg


the PSU is a FSP i see, what "w"?  i ask because i have a spare 250w FSP and i cant read it on that pics xD the fan grill looks like its a "screwed on it" wich could be different than the one i have, mine is "cut in the psu casing"

edit: indeed its a 350w now i can barely see it xD i use a crappy LC power 350w on my athlon XP setup if my FSP wasnt 250w i would totaly use it over the LC 

little additions.








swapped the crappy fan i had on the back and door for 2 coolink Swiff120 (front intake is a Cooler Master 120)








a bit cleaner than before and now i had found some DDR 512mb so i have 1gb atm and im writing that post on it 

new guy in the house not so nostalgic since i got it under Win7 












AMD Athlon x2 4850e 4gb ram radeon HD3600 serie i will add more details when i will get my hands on it


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 6, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> I see your 256KB L2 DIP chip and raise you a tube of Intel 8086s.



You win


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 6, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> something picked up my attention Tigger
> 
> the PSU is a FSP i see, what "w"?  i ask because i have a spare 250w FSP and i cant read it on that pics xD the fan grill looks like its a "screwed on it" wich could be different than the one i have, mine is "cut in the psu casing"
> 
> ...


That Athlon Xp rig is screaming for another proc that or the one in there could be underclocked by lets say Alot.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 6, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> That Athlon Xp rig is screaming for another proc that or the one in there could be underclocked by lets say Alot.



yeah yeah i know its underclocked originaly it was at 1.7 and now 1.26 dunno why didnt bothered to check atm 

good news the case of the new one seems to be a Antec NSK380 i got the whole rig for 80$ pretty happy about that one 
good news scnd: the mobo seems to be a Asus M3N78-VM wich support the Phenom II X4 955 i have (i know pointless xD) but it also support the Phenom X4 9600b i found for 1$


----------



## Jetster (Sep 7, 2013)

Gigabyte K7 Triton with a Athlon XP 2500+


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 8, 2013)

I've got the GA-7N400-Pro 2 version of that mobo


----------



## Jetster (Sep 8, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Gigabyte K7 Triton with a Athlon XP 2500+
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130907/Capture138.jpg



Ok well funny story. This is not a Gigabyte K7. Its a MSI KT4 Ultra. The person that gave it to me put a Gigabyte north bridge heat sink on it and put it in a Gigabyte box. I caught on when I noticed the box says Dual Channel and the board only has three slots. Plus the board is red.


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 8, 2013)

hinky indeed


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 8, 2013)

i wonder if i can call a AM2+ setup nostalgic ... i guess so ... 

btw i got that for 1$ as said above, now im waiting on the reste to come to do some tests






the main mobo of my Athlon XP rigs is a MSI KT6V400 xD


----------



## kniaugaudiskis (Sep 8, 2013)

Here is my socket 939 system I'm feeling nostalgic about:


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 9, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Ok well funny story. This is not a Gigabyte K7. Its a MSI KT4 Ultra. The person that gave it to me put a Gigabyte north bridge heat sink on it and put it in a Gigabyte box. I caught on when I noticed the box says Dual Channel and the board only has three slots. Plus the board is red.



Socket A boards capable of daul channel only came with 3 memory slots. The 2 close together where one channel and the one by itself was the other channel. You can technically put 2 x 512mb sticks in the 2 mem slots close together and a 1gb stick in the slot by itself and be running 2gb in daul channel. This is my shuttle Nf2 dual channel board. It only has 3 mem slots. 












kniaugaudiskis said:


> Here is my socket 939 system I'm feeling nostalgic about:
> 
> [url]http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4807/tng8.jpg[/URL]


  Hey Kniaugaudiskis, here is a screenshot from my 939 rig. I have a pair of 8800 GTX's in Sli in mine. 






These pics where when I was waiting for the Psu to return from RMA.


----------



## Jetster (Sep 9, 2013)

Anyone need a IDE controller card. i think it will do raid. NT and Windows 95 compatible


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 9, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Socket A boards capable of daul channel only came with 3 memory slots. The 2 close together where one channel and the one by itself was the other channel. You can technically put 2 x 512mb sticks in the 2 mem slots close together and a 1gb stick in the slot by itself and be running 2gb in daul channel. This is my shuttle Nf2 dual channel board. It only has 3 mem slots.  http://img.techpowerup.org/130810/IMG_1640Large.jpg



not quite it depended on the manufacturer my gigabyte GA-7n400 pro2 mobo has 4 dimm slots and dual channel which was running 4x 512MB ddr400 dimms for 2GB dual channel

as did my Abit NF7S v2 mobo 4 dimms 4x512 duel channel


----------



## Frick (Sep 9, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Hey Kniaugaudiskis, here is a screenshot from my 939 rig. I have a pair of 8800 GTX's in Sli in mine.



Your "nostalgia" machine has more GPU power than me. Bleh.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 9, 2013)

Athlonite said:


> not quite it depended on the manufacturer my gigabyte GA-7n400 pro2 mobo has 4 dimm slots and dual channel which was running 4x 512MB ddr400 dimms for 2GB dual channel
> 
> as did my Abit NF7S v2 mobo 4 dimms 4x512 duel channel


Sorry I meant to write most Dual channel boards came with 3 dimm slots. My Nf7-s v2 only has 3 dimm slots as well as the shuttle board and my Asus A7n8x-x boards. Maybe you have some weird version of the Nf7 board. That would be cool and badass if you do.


----------



## _JP_ (Sep 9, 2013)

I don't recall nForce 2 motherboard having 4 DIMM slots...
Anyway, my NF7 sure hasn't got 4.


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 9, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> I don't recall nForce 2 motherboard having 4 DIMM slots...
> Anyway, my NF7 sure hasn't got 4.
> 
> http://i.imgur.com/IL7rj.jpg



Voltage hardmods... those were the days. Not so simple as switching some jumpers, and less frustrating and time-consuming than spending hours in BIOS tweaking... The perfect mix of hands-on and time spent tweaking in those days.
BTW, nice ABit collection. I loved my ABit boards.


----------



## Frick (Sep 9, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Voltage hardmods... those were the days. Not so simple as switching some jumpers,



Just want to point out that overclocking switches was quite common in the slot 1 era, and possibly before that.

Anyway, my cousins husband was about to throw away a case with stuff in it. "No way, makes a perfect file server" I said while hoping I could afford to fill it with HDD's some day.






The motherboard is a GA-7DXR rev 0.2, which is an odd number. The CPU I don't know, but I think it's a Thunderbird. Speed I don't know. The PSU is a 500W Sun Pro with a 20A 12V rail, so it's good for something.


----------



## _JP_ (Sep 9, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Voltage hardmods... those were the days. Not so simple as switching some jumpers, and less frustrating and time-consuming than spending hours in BIOS tweaking... The perfect mix of hands-on and time spent tweaking in those days.
> BTW, nice ABit collection. I loved my ABit boards.


It's not my collection, but I agree with all you've said.


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 9, 2013)

Frick said:


> Just want to point out that overclocking switches was quite common in the slot 1 era.



I know, I had a few boards that had jumpers/DIP switches, that's where the comment came from 
Personally, I preferred the hardmod route over switches/jumpers, because that was just too easy. Looking at a mobo with wires and connectors soldered all over it so you could squeeze another 100 precious MHz out of the CPU and a little bit more out of the RAM, that's part of what made overclocking so impressive and unique to each system back then. It gave your rig more character, you know?


----------



## Jetster (Sep 9, 2013)

The three memory slots is just something that caught my eye. I checked the MSI Manual and the Via chipset does support Dual channel DMA 66/100/133. Im picking up a PSU in a couple of days and firing this thing up


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 10, 2013)

Jetster said:


> The three memory slots is just something that caught my eye. I checked the MSI Manual and the Via chipset does support Dual channel DMA 66/100/133. Im picking up a PSU in a couple of days and firing this thing up



The MSi kt4 has the kt400 chiset which doesn't have dual channel memory support. I believe what you read was dual channel on the ide port which means you can run 2 devices per port. Nice board anyway and will be fun for you to play with. The only socket A Via chipset I know of that had Dual channel memory support was the Kt880 which in compared to stock to stock was indeed faster then the NForce2. The Nforce still had the way better sound solution.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 10, 2013)

I remember DFI boards used to be littered with jumpers


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 10, 2013)

tigger said:


> I remember DFI boards used to be littered with jumpers



Didn't they have a crap load of jumpers on the Nf4 sli board to enable SLi?


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 10, 2013)

yup


----------



## Frick (Sep 10, 2013)

The Asrock DS2 was nice that way.


----------



## Jetster (Sep 10, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> The MSi kt4 has the kt400 chiset which doesn't have dual channel memory support. I believe what you read was dual channel on the ide port which means you can run 2 devices per port.



Your correct    I just saw Dual Channel and stopped looking. Its the VIA VT8235 chipset that supports Dual channel Ultra DMA 66/100/133


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 11, 2013)

What a glorious day than today! i recieved both of my delivery.




 went from a Athlon x2 4850e to a Phenom x4 9600b without bios flashing TOPSCORE!
well a Win7 AM2+ rig with a CPU from 2006 can be call nostalgic in the end (2005 for the Athlon)
its in a Antec NSK 3480 indeed and its a pretty neat little mATX box, it features a separated PSU/Motherboard section and the previous user was smart enough to use a Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Pro heatsink (SWISS FTW!!!), Win7 32bit sadely but with 4gb ram it doesnt matter (3.25gb useable is plenty) and those ram are Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800


Spoiler: warning imageshack didnt resized 3 of those pics... 3264x2448 FTW!








i didnt bothered to fire it up with the 4850e inside to check the bios  i took a wild guess that it would be allright!




the 4850e who will sit in my CPU collection.






the Mobo is a nForce 720 based from Asus
















too bad its a 3650 but hey ! i didnt had one in my GPU collection!




DDR2 WHATTT oohh i guess i can find something in my bits'n parts box to change that  the NSK380 PSU has a PCIex 6pin connector

now thats a blast... 89$ for the rig and 1$ for the 9600B ... i can say: i've seen worste deals!!!


----------



## Jetster (Sep 11, 2013)

ATI Radeon R6 DDR SG32M    






Dimond Viper V77 32 Mb  150-183hz TNT 2






Diamond's Viper V550  32Mb 85hz TNT






Let me get my retro rig running and I may part with one or two of these


----------



## _JP_ (Sep 11, 2013)

Frick said:


> The Asrock DS2 was nice that way.
> 
> http://www.asrock.com/mb/photo/939Dual-SATA2(m).jpg


Then there's that little detail about ASRock always wanting to top itself.





Heck, at least it's not like the ECS P4VXASD2+, which had a whole row just to setup the FSB (RAM and CPU separated), which you either had to leave there or remove the jumpers (or leave them on the side, inserted in either line of pins).












And the manual was utterly useless.
I hate that board. Came across it many times, since it was cheap and people bought a lot of them.
But it's a crappy board overall.


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 11, 2013)

Jetster said:


> ATI Radeon R6 DDR SG32M    I think this is the predecessor to the Rage chip



You mean successor.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 11, 2013)

Jetster said:


> ATI Radeon R6 DDR SG32M    I think this is the predecessor to the Rage chip




That top card is the Original Radeon ddr before the number scheme. It came right after the Rage Fury Pro and Rage Fury Maxx. I have the 64mb version tucked away in my closet still in it's full retail box. My Rage Fury pro is residing in my win 98 rig.


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 11, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Rage Fury Maxx



I loled when I heard they didn't work on NT-based OSes.  Biggest fail ever.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 11, 2013)

am i sane ... 

i testing the AM2+ rigs with my 7870 

the vibration from the 7200rpm hdd make the shroud of the gpu vibrate a bit 
and the only HDD place is on the two last slot of the board  wich make a 2 slot card hang over the HDD haha i have to take some pics of Oldies meet Newies 





its a little overkill for that rig over the original 3650


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 11, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> am i sane ...
> 
> i testing the AM2+ rigs with my 7870
> 
> ...



You okay. LOL I am getting ready to pop either a 6850 or a 7770 in my Am2 /Am2+ rig to replace the 4870 that's in it. I think it's time to retire the good ol' 4870 DK.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 11, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> You okay. LOL I am getting ready to pop either a 6850 or a 7770 in my Am2 /Am2+ rig to replace the 4870 that's in it. I think it's time to retire the good ol' 4870 DK.



i was thinking of getting a single slot 7770 (GDDR5 ofc) due to the unusual HDD placement


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 11, 2013)

7770 would be great in that system. I have one in a 1055t rig I have and it's a pretty decent card. I have another one on the way to go in my Am2+ 970 be rig. But by the time it gets here I may change my mind and end up with both in my 1090t rig to replace the 6850's in there.


----------



## xvi (Sep 11, 2013)

Even my 5870 made me regret sticking with my 4870/4850 for so long. They were/are decent cards, but I had to use a second PSU to power them. Power draw just wasn't worth it, certainly not crossfired together at least.

..and I have to say, that's a pretty sweet AM2 build, Greiver.


----------



## Jetster (Sep 12, 2013)

Almost ready to fire up


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 12, 2013)

so thats what i mean ... it even made me think of taking a Silverstone SST Sugo SG09B until




oh wait ---- that the 3 slot GTX480... woopsies
untill...




i decided to add a 5.25 to 3.5 rack top of the dvd writer and switch the 380w psu for the 600w GX Lite, since that case has a separated psu encosure and vented top its better than the Antec original one.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 12, 2013)

for the sake of the god old bag i have to say... this rigs rocks!

since i got it i didnt fired up neither of my "modern" HAF XB rigs
i can run Firefall smoothly on it (thanks to the 7870 i guess xD) with a fairly decent amount of "high settings" 

next idea : i have brought a Arctic Accelero Hybride AIO watercooling and i will get it on the 480 for the oldie... new and old tech for the greater good ... dahahah ... now i hope i will get the delivery tomorrow morning... 

lets laugh, the 1st screen is for hum ... 








indeed old bag still kicks and rocks im almost tempted to resell my PhII X4 955 rigs


----------



## Jstn7477 (Sep 12, 2013)

So the engineering department at the community college I attend was trying to get rid of a pile of brand new Centronics cables (never opened) and I managed to find this brand new bargain POS graphics card with a SiS 6326 core, 8MB EDO RAM and PCI interface. I tried it in my ASRock 4CoreDual-SATAII and it POSTs but the machine hangs with the monitor out of range when Windows tries to load. Also, those CompUSA bastards took a picture of an SDRAM-based model for the box but they at least slapped a heatsink on the GPU when the box photo omits one. Also notice the non-existent driver support for a card manufactured in late 1999.


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## Jetster (Sep 12, 2013)

Its alive


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 12, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Its alive
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130912/Capture150.jpg


and kicking, i see


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## TRWOV (Sep 13, 2013)

Nostalgic enough?


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## torgoth (Sep 13, 2013)

not as nostalgic as some around here, but still, its from the first PC I ever built! 
also I miss Sapphire having these colourful designs 
Ill have to clean it somehow xD


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## xvi (Sep 13, 2013)

My first dedicated graphics card was a K6-2 500Mhz, GeForce 2 MX PCI (my Soyo brand board didn't power the AGP port properly). That makes me feel old.
It could play Star Wars Episode I: Racer at good frame rates and that made me happy.


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## TRWOV (Sep 13, 2013)

My first was a CirrusLogic something 1MB card


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## Frick (Sep 13, 2013)

torgoth said:


> http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/202/bgdw.jpg
> not as nostalgic as some around here, but still, its from the first PC I ever built!
> also I miss Sapphire having these colourful designs
> Ill have to clean it somehow xD



WTF that card is newer than the GPU I'm using now.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 13, 2013)

xvi said:


> My first dedicated graphics card was a K6-2 500Mhz, GeForce 2 MX PCI (my Soyo brand board didn't power the AGP port properly). That makes me feel old.
> It could play Star Wars Episode I: Racer at good frame rates and that made me happy.



First rig I built was a K6-2 333 system with the rage fury pro card I have in my win 98 rig. I still have the Star Wars Episode I Racer Pod Racing game.


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## Jetster (Sep 14, 2013)

So now Im installing XP on this. And all I keep thinking is man I love W7


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 14, 2013)

I wish we could go back to win 98. Times where so great back then. LOL I mean having to format a re-install the os every couple months, then having to load drivers and such with floppy disks. The best thing was cleaning the ball and rollers of the mouse. Great times oh great times.


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## Jetster (Sep 14, 2013)

I still have a PS2 ball mouse and PS2 keyboard. And a copy of 98, ME, 95. 3.11 and DOS 6.22


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 14, 2013)

Me too LOL. Some stuff I just can bear to part with.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 14, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I wish we could go back to win 98. Times where so great back then. LOL I mean having to format a re-install the os every couple months, then having to load drivers and such with floppy disks. The best thing was cleaning the ball and rollers of the mouse. Great times oh great times.




its odd, but i didnt have to do that with windows 98SE, it was only Windows XP i had to really do that


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## xvi (Sep 14, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I still have a PS2 ball mouse and PS2 keyboard. And a copy of 98, ME, 95. 3.11 and DOS 6.22


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## _JP_ (Sep 14, 2013)

I bet ~20% of the content in that manual is the EULA.


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## Frick (Sep 15, 2013)

While we're posting manuals..






Battered, missing the front page and index, but otherwise complete!


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 15, 2013)

Frick said:


> While we're posting manuals..
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130915/20130914_183106.jpg
> 
> Battered, missing the front page and index, but otherwise complete!



i did posted my 2 manual i have xD (MS DOS 5.0  and GW basics from Commodor)


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## Jetster (Sep 15, 2013)

I started a thread awhile back for this stuff

TPU's Nostalgic Software Club

EVGA 256-P2-N381-TX GeForce 6800XT 256MB


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## n0tiert (Sep 16, 2013)

Frick said:


> While we're posting manuals..
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130915/20130914_183106.jpg
> 
> Battered, missing the front page and index, but otherwise complete!



Flashback:
haha i used to learn on that machine in the ol´days with green CRT


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## xvi (Sep 16, 2013)

I was going to say DVI is too new, but I guess DisplayPort is starting to gain traction.


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## _JP_ (Sep 16, 2013)

It's old enough if it has S-Video instead of HDMI. DVI has been around for a long time now.


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## TRWOV (Sep 16, 2013)

My 8500DV had DVI only and it might be a brain fart but I think my 7500 had a DVI port too.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 16, 2013)

My original Ati Radeon DDR card didn't have dvi, it had vga, s-video, and a composite video in and out. Think I may dig him out and get a pic one day here soon.


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## Jetster (Sep 17, 2013)

Ive never seen a hard drive with sound dampening. I can only imagine why it didn't go well


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 17, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Ive never seen a hard drive with sound dampening. I can only imagine why it didn't go well
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130916/Capture160.jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130916/Capture161.jpg



I have that exact same drive in my win 98 rig.


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## Peter1986C (Sep 17, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Ive never seen a hard drive with sound dampening. I can only imagine why it didn't go well
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130916/Capture160.jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130916/Capture161.jpg



Lol, my dad's Compaq Presario had that. I still have the drive, it still is in a working condition after a decade 9of which a few years have been shelf life though).


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 17, 2013)

on the hunt again, i just won a Xpertvision X1950GT a good replacement for my X800GT  i can even use my Antec Earthwatts 380 who has a pcieX 6pin with the retrorig 














btw my 3D prophet 2 GTS Pro has the soldering point for DVI output so DVI is considered as "nostalgic" if a geforce 2 can have DVI then its not too new to be called so  my GF4 Ti4200 has DVI so do my 3D Prophet 9700 (im waiting on the end of a auction on a 3D Prophet Kyro  )


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## Jstn7477 (Sep 17, 2013)

I had one of these for a while, pulled it out of some freebie machine and eventually it died or I broke it. (This goes along with the DVI discussion, card was from 2000 and had it as an option, but it only supported 1280x1024 max because the Millennium G450 had a 360MHz and 235MHz RAMDAC.)


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## HammerON (Sep 18, 2013)




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## _JP_ (Sep 18, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> on the hunt again, i just won a Xpertvision X1950GT a good replacement for my X800GT  i can even use my Antec Earthwatts 380 who has a pcieX 6pin with the retrorig
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130917/grafikkarte-radeon1.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130917/718950922_3_Big1.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130917/718950922_2_450.jpg


Holy anodized aluminum, batman! That heatsink for the rialto is massive!!
Biggest I've seen so far.

Coincidentally, I was browsing DX as they've recently added new heatsinks to their products list and there's a couple of them that caught my attention as good enough to cool that chip on my x1650pro.


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## xvi (Sep 18, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> Lol, my dad's Compaq Presario had that. I still have the drive, it still is in a working condition after a decade 9of which a few years have been shelf life though).



I know I have one around here somewhere too. I think it's 20GB or 40GB, but it still works.


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## torgoth (Sep 18, 2013)

oh my god why can't we have something this cool looking nowadays, DFI was the only hope until they disappeared 
^ Soltek SL-K8AN-RL Its almost perfect. loose 1 or 2 pci slots and add another pair of ddr slots and its the dream board


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 18, 2013)

The Soyo Dragon boards where nice looking too. The Kt600 Dragon Ultra Platinum was one sexy ass board.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 18, 2013)

torgoth said:


> http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9392/xkqb.jpg
> oh my god why can't we have something this cool looking nowadays, DFI was the only hope until they disappeared
> ^ Soltek SL-K8AN-RL Its almost perfect. loose 1 or 2 pci slots and add another pair of ddr slots and its the dream board



this is my fave old board-






soltek sl75frn2


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## Jetster (Sep 18, 2013)

I never knew there were so many good looking Socket A boards


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 18, 2013)

the_mad_shot said:


> the soyo dragon boards where nice looking too. The kt600 dragon ultra platinum was one sexy ass board. http://images.tweaktown.com/content/5/9/594_7.jpg



do want!


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## Jetster (Sep 18, 2013)

I think I might have shown this before but here is some perspective


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## stinger608 (Sep 23, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> The Soyo Dragon boards where nice looking too. The Kt600 Dragon Ultra Platinum was one sexy ass board. http://images.tweaktown.com/content/5/9/594_7.jpg



I actually have one of those boards put away in a box. Don't know why but the damn thing just quit booting one time. Made some loud beeps and never booted again. 
None the less I kept the board as it is such an awesome looking motherboard. Hmm, should hang that on the wall. 



Jetster said:


> I think I might have shown this before but here is some perspective
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130918/Capture176231.jpg
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130918/Capture177.jpg



Yep the Quantum Big Foot hard drives where monsters. Took a 5 1/4" drive bay. I actually have a couple of them. One of them is about a 1.6gb drive and the other is a 2.1gb drive. I think both of them came out of Compaq work stations.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 24, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> I actually have one of those boards put away in a box. Don't know why but the damn thing just quit booting one time. Made some loud beeps and never booted again.


I had one but sold it long ago to fiance one of my many Nf7 builds. Wish I kept it now as it is worth more then the Nf7-s. And alot better looking also.


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 24, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> I actually have one of those boards put away in a box. Don't know why but the damn thing just quit booting one time. Made some loud beeps and never booted again.
> None the less I kept the board as it is such an awesome looking motherboard. Hmm, should hang that on the wall.



DO WANT! "repetitam"  

on a more seriouuuusss note : imagine it in the White Nemesis after painting the inside all black awwwwwwww f*ck yeah!

sidenote: the Antec EarthWatt 380 is just perfect and the X1950GT red pcb/fan/heatsink + red mobo pcb : weehee also ... X800GT to X1950GT = woooow smooth   less nostalgic than if i put my GTS2 but it would belong more to a w98 rig

and sidestory : when 1st i played Eve Online that was on that rig with a HIS Excalibure X1650Pro


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 24, 2013)

The first game I seriously got into was Unreal Tournament. The original one. I played it at first on a K6-2 550 rig with the Rage fury pro I have. Then moved up to a 800 Mhz Slot A rig with the game. Then I built my first truly badass rig which I still have some of it. The Kt7a raid rig. It was running a 1.4 Athlon, Original Radeon 64ddr and a Sblive 5.1 Gamer. I replaced the proc with a 2100+ and the vid card with a 9500 pro before I retired the rig to server duty. Since then It got a Fx5700 and a 2400+ with 1.5gb of pc133 mem. When I retired the ol girl I went head first into the Nf7-s arena. I move to S939 x2's and yadda yadda yadda to where I am today. Some of my best times with Pc's came from the time with the KT7A and the beginning of the Nf-s era.


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 24, 2013)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> The first game I seriously got into was Unreal Tournament. The original one. I played it at first on a K6-2 550 rig with the Rage fury pro I have. Then moved up to a 800 Mhz Slot A rig with the game. Then I built my first truly badass rig which I still have some of it. The Kt7a raid rig. It was running a 1.4 Athlon, Original Radeon 64ddr and a Sblive 5.1 Gamer. I replaced the proc with a 2100+ and the vid card with a 9500 pro before I retired the rig to server duty. Since then It got a Fx5700 and a 2400+ with 1.5gb of pc133 mem. When I retired the ol girl I went head first into the Nf7-s arena. I move to S939 x2's and yadda yadda yadda to where I am today. Some of my best times with Pc's came from the time with the KT7A and the beginning of the Nf-s era.




psshhh DOOM I & II on a 486DX 33 under win 95, my 1st serious game. OH? you mean online? euuuummm UO ... ok time too sleep im seeing things... 

too bad i couldnt afford a X1950GT or XT back in the time of the http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/976/radeon-x1650-pro-agp.html


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## Jetster (Sep 24, 2013)

486DX4 120...Wolfenstein 3D, Nascar, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D. I remember how awesome the sky was in Doom


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 24, 2013)

SHOWTIME! : im bored i wait on my delivery i go to job at 17:30 but now its SHOWTIME!

HEY ThE_MaD_ShOt better now ? 





funniest i pushed the fsb to 150mhz actually and instead of 2200+ it shows a Barton Athlon XP 2500+ (its originaly a 2200+)

also indeed that Xpertvision is a huge ass cooler on the card and man! a AGP8x with a Pci-E 6pin... lucky me i had a spare Antec Earthwatts 380w 80+




a bit of dust but dont worry i cleaned it afterward when i changed the dried up TIM on that X1950GT
and yep the HS on the back is huge and only a little thermal pad on the Rialto xDi believe it act more as a better rigid backplate than the traditional X shaped one

nearly 3 slot covered? hum 2.5





i didnt mesured it yet but the fan is a 80mm i guess or 92... the heatsink is red anodized aluminium good looking but its not cooper like the X800GT 





and a final whatever pics ... 




good ol' 3D Marks 2001 2nd weehee


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 24, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> HEY ThE_MaD_ShOt better now ?
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130924/Clipboard02100.jpg
> funniest i pushed the fsb to 150mhz actually and instead of 2200+ it shows a Barton Athlon XP 2500+ (its originaly a 2200+)



I think quite a few Athlon xp cpu's did that. My Barton 2500+ showed up as a 3200+ with the FSB at 200.


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## Jetster (Sep 24, 2013)

tigger said:


> I think quite a few Athlon xp cpu's did that. My Barton 2500+ showed up as a 3200+ with the FSB at 200.



I noticed that also


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 24, 2013)

here is the highest i can get full stable atm (mostly due to the crappy Titan Majestic V HSF i use)





and the card is at 547/648 instead of 500/600 Catalyst auto tune only
funny GPU-Z show the ram oc but not the core but in monitoring it shows it right


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 24, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> here is the highest i can get full stable atm (mostly due to the crappy Titan Majestic V HSF i use)
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130924/Clipboard04852.jpg
> 
> and the card is at 547/648 instead of 500/600 Catalyst auto tune only
> ...



Come on, you're so close to 3200+! Just 20MHz more on the FSB!

Edit: This is for you, used it as an avatar for a while a long time ago.






Edit 2: While looking for that image, ran across pics of an oldie but a goodie I still have somewhere, and yes, it still works. 
The original "All-in-Wonder": The Radeon 32M


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 24, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Come on, you're so close to 3200+! Just 20MHz more on the FSB!
> 
> Edit: This is for you, used it as an avatar for a while a long time ago.
> 
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/Bobdole666/th_bsod.gif



ahahahahaha i like you Random! 

naahhh i wait till i get my Titan Vanessa S Type to swap the craptastic and loud as hell Majesty V


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 24, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> ahahahahaha i like you Random!
> 
> naahhh i wait till i get my Titan Vanessa S Type to swap the craptastic and loud as hell Majesty V



lol.
It honestly felt that way back when I bought my first s754 chip, a 3400+ Newcastle. Newcastles did not like FSB adjustment at all, basically making them unoverclockable. Swapped it for a 939 system, then a 775 system, and never looked back.
Ok, that's a lie. After putting together the 990FX rig I have now, I wouldn't mind having one as my main PC, lol. But that ought to show you how well post-netburst intel has treated me. Since leaving AMD after early 939, I haven't considered going back until late AM3+.

Can't wait to see what that little XP will do for you under a better cooler


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 24, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> SHOWTIME! : im bored i wait on my delivery i go to job at 17:30 but now its SHOWTIME!
> 
> HEY ThE_MaD_ShOt better now ?


  No push it a little farther , now a little more farther



Just a little more





  Great job man.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 24, 2013)

well i might say so but the Athlon XP rig feels great even for day to day uses, thanks to a little more horse under the hood and the fantastic X1950GT, far the greatest card i had for AGP since the last AGP card i poped in that rig was a X1650Pro 

i run all AMD my main rig (even for playing Firefall) atm is the AM2+ Phenom X4 9600B (using it with the 460 Hawk atm clocked 900/2100 instead of 780/1800 GOSH MSI did indeed a killer 460 xD)

modern gaming with a 4gb 32bit with a midrange 4xx serie and a X4 9600? hell yeah i even play Firefall with all to the max for fun ... even if i get some fps drop under 40fps 

in fact im so much a nostalg33k i ditched my AM3 and AM3+ component to get some old school beast ... (not the AM2+... oh well its still a damn good old piece of buttkicking tech)

but as i said in the Your PC atm thread:

im getting a 1366 i7-920 with 12gb 1600mhz wich will go on a Rampage III Extreme paired with a Zotac GTX580 AMP! 1.5gb under a Prolimatech MK-26 with 2 Noiseblocker Blackframe 140 and the IFX-14 for the cpu, im currently ordering some Thermalright TY-143 orange 140mm fan... Silver Arrow SB-X Extreme??? naaaah not for me, the best part ? the price ofc!

board cpu ram : 100$ 
IFX14 30$
GTX580 80$
MK-26 45$ (fan inclued)

the X1950GT (funny Xi is Palit i understand the Unknown partner in GPU-Z now) 15$

AM2+ can be nostalgic but Sckt1366 i doubt of it (well 5yrs old isnt 7yrs old eh?)


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 25, 2013)

1366 is still a very strong runner. I also agree that a fast Athlon xp can still be viable for daily usage like web browsing and such.


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 25, 2013)

I have an Athlon XP socket 754 64bits 3200+ 1m cache. The regular ones are 512k cache. It runs pretty well even with Windows 7 pro in Aero mode with a good graphic card and 2 gigs ddr400.


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 25, 2013)

JunkBear said:


> I have an Athlon XP socket 754 64bits 3200+ 1m cache. The regular ones are 512k cache. It runs pretty well even with Windows 7 pro in Aero mode with a good graphic card and 2 gigs ddr400.



nope  its a Athlon 64 not a XP since the XP was Socket A (462) only 
but indeed win 7 can runn well on that, bring up the pics of the beast!

system pec: windows pro french?  uh? 



ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> 1366 is still a very strong runner..


yes indeed and thats why mostly the total idiotic buyers go balistic on bidding either way because they are fanboy or mislead by the thought : Intel = the ultimate and only solution. 

me im just a lucky one i spot a good offer that no one has spoted and kablam 265$ for a complete system, with some extra 

for instance i just got outbid on a i7-980X and 2 minutes later the price is at 850chf ... whataaaa bunch of ahhh whatever...

now i cant decide ... a leap motion at 50chf instead of 100 (brand new) or a i7-3820 at 150chf and assemble a 2011 setup next time 

i recieved the i7 weirdest delivery i got a ASUS P6T SE within and the 12gb ram with a notice that i will recieve the Rampage before the end of the week  i was WTF i get 2 1366 Mobo and the CPU/RAM for 100$? is it my birthday?
awesome new the ram slot on a 1366 are a half centimeter from the Macho with the fan instaled: no need for LP ram like AM3/3+

weirdest win7 instalation i prepared to reinstall all since i went from a AMD AM3 to a Intel 1366 but it booted without BSOD and all the driver automaticaly installed reboot and all runs fine  i just had to re activate win

drat my e-tailer is out of TY-141 so i went for a 2nd TY-147 white still the IFX doesnt have the 1366 hole setup but the P6T has double setup (775/1366) i hope the Rampage will be same or i will use the Macho for it aswell.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Sep 25, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> nope  its a Athlon 64 not a XP since the XP was Socket A (462) only
> but indeed win 7 can runn well on that, bring up the pics of the beast!
> 
> system pec: windows pro french?  uh?
> ...



I have swapped Hdds from system to system a few times without issue. I for safe measure boot in safe mode and remove previous mobos drivers. Then reboot and install new drivers and also check to make sure the proper cpu inf is loaded. Amd/intel. I have also done it with Ubuntu alot. I have one install that has been through several systems and still keeps going.


----------



## Jetster (Sep 26, 2013)

ATI Radeon 9600 256 DDR AGP


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 26, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> nope  its a Athlon 64 not a XP since the XP was Socket A (462) only
> but indeed win 7 can runn well on that, bring up the pics of the beast!
> 
> system pec: windows pro french?  uh?



I just dumped it inside a Chenming Cube with front handle. The black and silver one. I think it's date from 2004. It's so narrow in the case that i could barely take pictures. Yes in french I am from Quebec.


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 27, 2013)

muhahahahaha at last she'll be mine! 1$ ...


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## stinger608 (Sep 29, 2013)

JunkBear said:


> I have an Athlon XP socket 754 64bits 3200+ 1m cache. The regular ones are 512k cache. It runs pretty well even with Windows 7 pro in Aero mode with a good graphic card and 2 gigs ddr400.





JunkBear said:


> I just dumped it inside a Chenming Cube with front handle. The black and silver one. I think it's date from 2004. It's so narrow in the case that i could barely take pictures. Yes in french I am from Quebec.



Have you got pictures of the system?


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## JunkBear (Sep 30, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Have you got pictures of the system?



No I did not and I wont for a long time. This case is so tight that you have to fits and snuggle all wires together with tie-wraps. It took me 3 hours to do it clean and now if I want to open it I must cut all tie-wraps. 

EDIT: After testing it the psu is blown. I will need to buy one over 400w minimum requierement. For now no $$$ so no candy.


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 1, 2013)

Picked these up at a thrift store today. I'm sure many will remember the first card. Only thing I need to do now is build a nice Pentium II for the first card, 2nd card will work great in a 486 or something.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 1, 2013)

Compgeke said:


> Picked these up at a thrift store today. I'm sure many will remember the first card. Only thing I need to do now is build a nice Pentium II for the first card, 2nd card will work great in a 486 or something.
> 
> http://goput.it/3sm.jpg



ohhhh a Isa Mach64  i have a PCI Mach64VT


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 1, 2013)

Compgeke said:


> Picked these up at a thrift store today. I'm sure many will remember the first card. Only thing I need to do now is build a nice Pentium II for the first card, 2nd card will work great in a 486 or something.
> 
> http://goput.it/3sm.jpg



Do you thin ka small distro like Xubuntu could fit in a P2 or 486 and make it "fast" like it was with a low demanding Windows 95-98?


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 1, 2013)

With a GUI most Linux distros won't work well at all on anything older than a Pentium III, and a Pentium III is often slow.

Without a GUI isn't bad though on a Pentium and newer. I'm an oddball that's put Linux on basically everything from a 486 to a Core 2 Quad and I have to say that if your system has less than a Tualatin Pentium III compiling code will be sluggish. 

On a 486 some ancient distros like OpenLinux work alright; however going into something more modern can be somewhat slow. Debian 3 runs alright for example, but takes a good 4 or 5 minutes to start. Compare that to the 20 seconds for Debian 7 on my little 1 GHz Via CoreFusion IRC server and you'll see a difference.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 1, 2013)

JunkBear said:


> Do you thin ka small distro like Xubuntu could fit in a P2 or 486 and make it "fast" like it was with a low demanding Windows 95-98?





Compgeke said:


> With a GUI most Linux distros won't work well at all on anything older than a Pentium III, and a Pentium III is often slow.
> 
> Without a GUI isn't bad though on a Pentium and newer. I'm an oddball that's put Linux on basically everything from a 486 to a Core 2 Quad and I have to say that if your system has less than a Tualatin Pentium III compiling code will be sluggish.
> 
> On a 486 some ancient distros like OpenLinux work alright; however going into something more modern can be somewhat slow. Debian 3 runs alright for example, but takes a good 4 or 5 minutes to start. Compare that to the 20 seconds for Debian 7 on my little 1 GHz Via CoreFusion IRC server and you'll see a difference.



You might want to try Damn Small Linux.


----------



## Peter1986C (Oct 1, 2013)

Indeed, something with a desktop that is little more than openbox/blackbox/IceWM with some additional panels/buttons and comes without a ton of built-in drivers.


----------



## Jetster (Oct 2, 2013)




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## Peter1986C (Oct 2, 2013)

I did not notice that. good find.


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## JunkBear (Oct 2, 2013)

So come back to me I'm curious to know what is the real cpu under that heatspreader. Do you have stuff to test it? Maybe it was experimental cpu. Mysterious!  sl8by or sl7j8


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 4, 2013)

soon i'll be able to post my laptop in this thread lol. old IBM T43


----------



## _JP_ (Oct 4, 2013)

JunkBear said:


> So come back to me I'm curious to know what is the real cpu under that heatspreader. Do you have stuff to test it? Maybe it was experimental cpu. Mysterious!  sl8by or sl7j8



It's a pentium D prototype with two Pentium 4 cores. They had different speeds because of TDP limits. It was the only way intel managed to get a dual core to work stable, at that time.
Still, that thing was getting rated with a TDP of 200W. The sSPEC SL8BY doesn't exist, so to say, because it was used just for this prototype, for that 2nd core alone.









/madeupstory

It's very likely to be an OEM processor, that is clocked at 3.2, instead of 3.4. Although rare, there were some cases where OEMs (like DELL) installed processors like this (labeled twice) in their mass produced computers. Reason might come from those computers lacking motherboards with good power delivery, cooling and/or a good power supply, so these "special" processors were initially rated at a higher speed, but instead ran at their "secondary" rated speed.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 4, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> It's very likely to be an OEM processor, that is clocked at 3.2, instead of 3.4. Although rare, there were some cases where OEMs (like DELL) installed processors like this (labeled twice) in their mass produced computers. Reason might come from those computers lacking motherboards with good power delivery, cooling and/or a good power supply, so these "special" processors were initially rated at a higher speed, but instead ran at their "secondary" rated speed.



That's exactly it. SL8BY is a Dell-only sSpec.

http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL8BY.html

Check the bottom of that posting and the comment.


----------



## _JP_ (Oct 5, 2013)

JunkBear said:


> That's a very rare cpu then.


Uh...I'm sorry to dash your excitement, but not really.


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 5, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> Uh...I'm sorry to dash your excitement, but not really.



I'm not the type of guy to get excited over computer parts. But thx anyway.


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 5, 2013)

Does this count? Got it off Freecycle a couple days ago with the manual and a spare needle. The needle that was on it was bent, replaced that with the spare I got with it. Not really pleased with the sound of it I pulled it off and put on a Shure M92e I had. Sounds pretty good for a basic turntable.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Oct 9, 2013)

Went to class today, and my professor brings in a huge box of 1990s software (all boxed) and empty floppy disk holders. Stuff like The Print Shop, Windows NT 3.51, etc. was all in there, but I scored something even better (and still factory sealed!), and I doubt anyone else in my class knew what it was:


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 9, 2013)

I guess that's what they used for the older Nokia cellphones.  Understructible!!!!


----------



## Peter1986C (Oct 10, 2013)

Cellphones never used X86 Junkbear.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 10, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> Cellphones never used X86 Junkbear.



i think the  meant he was joking 

also ... Intel Atom  Penwell, Clover Trail+ and Cloverview are X86
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=cpu&id=i2460z&c=intel_atom_z2460
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=cpu&id=i2580z&c=intel_atom_z2580
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=cpu&id=i2760z&c=intel_atom_z2760
Instruction Set
Supported Instruction Set(s):	 IA-32 (x86), MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
they all carry a intel GMA gpu and a PowerVR SGX 54X (the SGX is for compatibility and also because GMA perf are horrible) so they are useable by Win8 and Android.


oh wait you mean cellphones but not smartphones.... but smartphones are cellphones, so cellphones use x86 since 2011 roughly


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 10, 2013)

Thank you GreiverBlade to confirm it. Some people don't understand sarcasm.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Oct 10, 2013)

JunkBear said:


> Thank you GreiverBlade to confirm it. Some people don't understand sarcasm.



Sarcasm on the internet is like a fat girl, hard to cum across


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 10, 2013)

tigger said:


> Sarcasm on the internet is like a fat girl, hard to cum across



thats why we use emotes ...  ok Junkbear should have used  instead of  or combo
 )for the sarcasm on internet obviously.... not the fat girl ...


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 10, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> thats why we use emotes ...  ok Junkbear should have used  instead of  or combo
> )for the sarcasm on internet obviously.... not the fat girl ...



C-C-C-Combo breaker!!!


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 24, 2013)

bump this up just cause LOL


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 24, 2013)

Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A-Start     To give more life to this thread...IYKWIM


----------



## Jetster (Oct 24, 2013)

Jetster said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/131002/Capture008.jpg



Ouote myself   There is nothing rare about this CPU. Its a 3.4. At least I hope not I sold it for $15


----------



## _JP_ (Oct 24, 2013)

No damage done. That's the usual value for those procs.


----------



## Veeshush (Oct 24, 2013)

stinger608 just messaged me and told me about this thread. Wow, I'm loving this stuff! I got into computers when my dad bought his first 486, which I still have around and is currently hooked up. Then I ran a super socket 7 and a socket 370 system for years, I think I ran Win98 till 2006! I didn't even have an XP system till I built my first gaming rig, which then a year later Vista came out. Then I went back and "maxed out" the socket 7 and 370, and both of them are still running. Mainly I just always wanted these rigs to fly back when I first used them, and now they do. 

When I get a chance I'll get some pictures and go a lot deeper into specs and stuff. I can tell you guys this though: Those modern PCI nvidia cards, like ZOTAC ZT-60604-10L GeForce GT 610 512MB 64-bit DDR... will work on boards as old as socket 7 (you just need a pci 2.3 slot I believe and an OS for the drivers). But ideally you'll want to go no older than socket 370, cause you'll want the SSE instructions on the CPU (pentium III is the oldest to have this). So for a system with a AMD k6 (no SSE), you won't be able to run anything 3d- the drivers bluescreen. Modern ATI/AMD cards, in my experience, won't go on anything older than a socket 370. 

And for OS, WinXP will run on socket 7 if you have at least 512 ram. Vista and Win7 will run on socket 370/Pentium III rigs, only you probably won't like it. Win8 WANTS SSE2, so I wouldn't bother,  however I did get it running on a socket 370 but it crashed every so often. So I use Fedora 19 i686 instead, and it works pretty well. 

For older systems, I use the fanmade "Unofficial Windows 98 SE Service Pack"

or


Random Murderer said:


> You might want to try Damn Small Linux.



^That. I have gotten Damn Small Linux to boot and run on a 486 with 16mb ram (I later maxed it out to 36mb). These older rigs though have shoddy old cd-rom drives that have trouble running live cds, so I'd replace them first to make installation quicker and less error prone. 

There's also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Core_Linux which seems to be more frequently worked on.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 24, 2013)

Veeshush said:


> For older systems, I use the fanmade "Unofficial Windows 98 SE Service Pack"
> 
> or
> 
> ...



I love DSL. I had it running on a 486DX with 16MB RAM for a while.


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 24, 2013)

The DSL is it like Xubuntu on the way it looks and icons and functions work? If yes I could possibly put into an older Dell for a kid.


----------



## Veeshush (Oct 24, 2013)

JunkBear said:


> The DSL is it like Xubuntu on the way it looks and icons and functions work? If yes I could possibly put into an older Dell for a kid.



http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=damnsmall

How old of a system are we talking about though? Cause I'd say just go for Fedora i686 or something instead.


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 24, 2013)

Dell P4-478 2.53 celeron 512megs ddr333 with onboard graphic. It needs to be easy enough to be understood by a 10 yo kid that I am not living near. So I can't go there each time to explain.


----------



## Veeshush (Oct 24, 2013)

Oh, don't go DSL if it's actually for a 10 year old. 

Just put Ubuntu or Fedora on, I know Fedora doesn't chew up more than 512 ram normally. The CPU is beefy enough for sure. Both will do anything Windows will, besides heavy gaming. You may even be able to play something like Minecraft on it, maybe Cube 2: Sauerbraten (and this only depending how good the onboard is) And Flash for youtube and games for sure.

The kid is probably going to want games. Hell, I'd want games.


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 24, 2013)

Veeshush said:


> Oh, don't go DSL if it's actually for a 10 year old.
> 
> Just put Ubuntu or Fedora on, I know Fedora doesn't chew up more than 512 ram normally. The CPU is beefy enough for sure. Both will do anything Windows will, besides heavy gaming. You may even be able to play something like Minecraft on it, maybe Cube 2: Sauerbraten. And Flash for youtube and games for sure.
> 
> The kid is probably going to want games. Hell, I'd want games.



The computer is jamming even on Google Chrome. So I need to find something good. My bad about GPU its a 64megs AGP 4X...still better than the onboard.


----------



## Veeshush (Oct 24, 2013)

The web browsers are ram hungry, so it's probably the ram doing it. 

Whatever you pick though, even if it's easy to understand- if it's boring as piss then no ten year old is going to use it anyway.

edit

Try this for a web browser as a last resort:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillo


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 24, 2013)

Veeshush said:


> stinger608 just messaged me and told me about this thread. Wow, I'm loving this stuff! I got into computers when my dad bought his first 486, which I still have around and is currently hooked up. Then I ran a super socket 7 and a socket 370 system for years, I think I ran Win98 till 2006! I didn't even have an XP system till I built my first gaming rig, which then a year later Vista came out. Then I went back and "maxed out" the socket 7 and 370, and both of them are still running. Mainly I just always wanted these rigs to fly back when I first used them, and now they do.
> 
> When I get a chance I'll get some pictures and go a lot deeper into specs and stuff. I can tell you guys this though: Those modern PCI nvidia cards, like ZOTAC ZT-60604-10L GeForce GT 610 512MB 64-bit DDR... will work on boards as old as socket 7 (you just need a pci 2.3 slot I believe and an OS for the drivers). But ideally you'll want to go no older than socket 370, cause you'll want the SSE instructions on the CPU (pentium III is the oldest to have this). So for a system with a AMD k6 (no SSE), you won't be able to run anything 3d- the drivers bluescreen. Modern ATI/AMD cards, in my experience, won't go on anything older than a socket 370.
> 
> ...




WELCOME!  and i LOVE DSL too!


----------



## xvi (Oct 25, 2013)

Windows is surprisingly tolerant of slow hardware. Not quite to the extent that Linux can be (I really have to emphasize can though). I have a Socket 370 which is actually quite fun to play with. 1,400 MHz Pentium III-S. Not a big deal or anything. Just the fastest mass produced Socket 370 processor EVER MADE.


----------



## Veeshush (Oct 25, 2013)

xvi said:


> I have a Socket 370 which is actually quite fun to play with. 1,400 MHz Pentium III-S. Not a big deal or anything. Just the fastest mass produced Socket 370 processor EVER MADE.



YEP I am home here! I got one too, granted I bought it in 2008 or so for very cheap compared to back then. Love that thing though.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 25, 2013)

First, welcome to the club Veeshush! 

Can't wait to see some pictures of the ole hardware bro!


----------



## xenocide21 (Oct 28, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> Alright, more old hardware.
> 
> Assorted SDRAM DIMMs
> http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6277/sany0204f.jpg
> ...



Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB agp 8x


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 28, 2013)

xvi said:


> Windows is surprisingly tolerant of slow hardware. Not quite to the extent that Linux can be (I really have to emphasize can though). I have a Socket 370 which is actually quite fun to play with. 1,400 MHz Pentium III-S. Not a big deal or anything. Just the fastest mass produced Socket 370 processor EVER MADE.



well my PIII Slot1 run flawlessly under XP home with "only" 256mb and a Rage LT for my other "old" rig XP does fine too (what do you expect ... its a Athlon "XP" rig xD)



xenocide21 said:


> Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB agp 8x



damn i need to be more active i missed that guess competition  

also i revived a ACER Aspire 5735Z using win XP and a Core 2 Duo T7250 (originaly it come with a Pentium T3200) i love my local dump  like new but under 7 the LCD Inverter was going disco while under XP it doesnt ... i need to DL a image of vista to try it also xD

before






after
http://valid.canardpc.com/mceveb


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 29, 2013)

I got a cfl tube for 15$ and another 15$ for an inverter shipping included on ebay. 30$ to revive the screen.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 19, 2013)

bump this up for the new forums


----------



## m1919 (Nov 22, 2013)

xvi said:


> Windows is surprisingly tolerant of slow hardware. Not quite to the extent that Linux can be (I really have to emphasize can though). I have a Socket 370 which is actually quite fun to play with. 1,400 MHz Pentium III-S. Not a big deal or anything. Just the fastest mass produced Socket 370 processor EVER MADE.



I ran Windows 7 Ultimate for a time on dual 700Mhz P3 Xeons. Pretty snappy for a 15-year-old platform.


----------



## xvi (Nov 22, 2013)

Veeshush said:


> YEP I am home here! I got one too, granted I bought it in 2008 or so for very cheap compared to back then. Love that thing though.


Oh, yes. I bought mine off eBay for approximately $5 a couple years ago, I believe. They're not practical by any means, but they're fun. I think the P3-S works in dual-cpu boards too. I'd like to do a nostalgia build some day like that.



m1919 said:


> I ran Windows 7 Ultimate for a time on dual 700Mhz P3 Xeons. Pretty snappy for a 15-year-old platform.


We have a dual P3 server at work that I stuck Debian on and it did a rather good job as an internal server until the head honcho came down and said "Why are you still using that thing? Stick that upstairs. You can't do anything with that!"


----------



## m1919 (Nov 23, 2013)

Now I'm looking for oldskool tower cases. Specifically the old Gateway 2000 stuff.


----------



## Jetster (Nov 23, 2013)

That is a dream. Beige cases are going to make a comeback someday


----------



## _JP_ (Nov 24, 2013)

Awesome! 
IIRC, akasa had a 3.5'' card reader with a beige cover...would go neat in one of those cases.


----------



## Compgeke (Nov 25, 2013)

I used to have a P5-100, but I was like 9 at the time and ripped it apart and now I have nothing left to show of it.

It was a pretty decent case though, had enough room for a Dual Athlon MP system I threw into it at one point and then some.


----------



## Frick (Dec 3, 2013)

Windows XP on a P2 233Mhz is quite slow.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/867yy/ - PRODUCT OF MEXICO
http://valid.canardpc.com/5n9w6i

Will sort out some pictures later, didn't have a mouse so I didn't bother with screenshotting.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 3, 2013)

Frick said:


> Windows XP on a P2 233Mhz is quite slow.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/867yy/ - PRODUCT OF MEXICO
> http://valid.canardpc.com/5n9w6i
> ...


agreed, my 2 laptop with PII : linux only but PIII starting with 450mhz to XXXXmhz run fine with XP, just like my Veriton board and "only" 256mb ram + a RageLT

sidenote: that would be weird that a PIII would not run fine XP and a Athlon Pluto core would ... i know intel suck big time ... oh wait nonononono NO i did not mean that! i meant AMD was a BIG shot with the K7 ... then ... void and emptiness, still good but not the excellency from the K6-2/III, Athlon and Athlon XP, sad sad ... so now everytime i think about AMD im filled with nostalgia of the past time when they where a good competitor for Intel


----------



## Frick (Dec 3, 2013)

AMD was pretty rare here until the XP:s came along and crapped all over the P4:s.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 3, 2013)

Frick said:


> AMD was pretty rare here until the XP:s came along and crapped all over the P4:s.




LOL, yea the AMD XP's were some awesome chips in their day!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 3, 2013)

Frick said:


> AMD was pretty rare here until the XP:s came along and  took over the P4:s.


fix'd, no offense ofc, we have (yes i wrote "we") to recognize that AMD was awesome from the "intel clones" periode till the Athloncalypse and XP and then downfall, oh well they still have a market and i doubt AMD will die so easily.

still the Athlon (non XP) was above the PIII, Duron where better than Celeron (not hard ahaha  ), the K6-2/III where a good alternative to the PII  and every single clone of Intel CPU from AMD (AMD286/386/486 and Co) had better and higher clocking than Intel counterpart  good ol' time

1st pc a AM286 equiped commodor under DOS then a I386 under 3.1 and then a I486 under win95 then K6-2/upgrade to III and last of the oldies a Athlon XP i re switched to Intel with the C2D on my laptop (the PII PIII are either salvage from a dump or old part of the pc that my mother used for internet  ) i got some Phenom Phenom II only one i5 and now the Xeon E3 

i love both brand  for GPU im all the same ... i don't care the brand: they both hold a place in my tech addict heart!


----------



## Peter1986C (Dec 4, 2013)

Nostalgia brings me back to my K6-II.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 4, 2013)

Yep, back in the AMD XP processor days I was all about AMD. Shit, Intel chips and boards were at least double the price and didn't perform as well as the AMD counterpart. I was strictly AMD well after the s939 era until the C2D's came way down in price. Once x58 came out it was pretty much all over for enthusiasts on the AMD side of things. A shame they couldn't keep up. 

Now I haven't played with their new FX processors so I don't know how the new stuff performs in comparison with Intel.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 4, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> Nostalgia brings me back to my K6-II.


humpf heretic  the K6-II was named K6-2 the K6-III used the roman number indeed.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 4, 2013)

The prescott P4s were smoking the Athlon XPs at a cost though. But the 939 FX-55 was a nice single core dhip


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 4, 2013)

humpf now i want this ... 




Athlon paperweight ahah 
or that




or




K5 die keychain




K6-2 die keychain omfg ... ok the mad in china ruin a bit the pics 

AMD released very few computer chip keychains throughout the years, especially compared to Intel, this item is quite rare and highly collectible.

a non debatable fact
The K6-2 was a huge financial success for AMD and it helped the company to generate income to develop its next very successful chip, the Athlon.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 4, 2013)

Thats awesome


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 4, 2013)

No shit, them are cool as hell!

I have to dig a chip and motherboard out. The motherboard is an Abit something or another socket A BNIB still with the bands around them. I also have an Athlon 2200+ that is still in the package and never been opened with the factory heat sink. I will dig them out this coming weekend and shot pictures. I just got them about 3 or 4 months ago locally off Craigslist for $5 each.  Just could not pass that up for $10 and a half an hour of my time to run and get them. 

Man, I have a dead Athlon 1500+ that I should make into something. Hmm, a paper weight? Key chain? I don't know.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 4, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> No shit, them are cool as hell!
> 
> I have to dig a chip and motherboard out. The motherboard is an Abit something or another socket A BNIB still with the bands around them. I also have an Athlon 2200+ that is still in the package and never been opened with the factory heat sink. I will dig them out this coming weekend and shot pictures. I just got them about 3 or 4 months ago locally off Craigslist for $5 each.  Just could not pass that up for $10 and a half an hour of my time to run and get them.
> 
> Man, I have a dead Athlon 1500+ that I should make into something. Hmm, a paper weight? Key chain? I don't know.


Keychains are cool. I used a Pentium 133 as a keychain for a while and got a lot of comments on it. All I did was drill a hole in one of the corners and bent all the pins flat and it was good to go.


----------



## _JP_ (Dec 8, 2013)

Continuing with the Athlon fandom:


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 8, 2013)

That was funny as hell. I hadn't seen that one before JP. Good one man.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 8, 2013)

I'm looking for a GFD for slot A Athlons. If any of you have one laying around or know where one is, I'll pay. Thanks for looking.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 8, 2013)

Mr.Scott said:


> I'm looking for a GFD for slot A Athlons. If any of you have one laying around or know where one is, I'll pay. Thanks for looking.



What is "GFD?" Is that Good F'n Deal?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 8, 2013)

Meh, I thought this was a nostalgia thread.

GFD = Gold Finger Device
It was used to adjust the multiplier on the Slot A's.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 8, 2013)

Oh hell yea, it has been so long since I heard of that LOL. sorry man.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 9, 2013)

Mr.Scott said:


> Meh, I thought this was a nostalgia thread.
> 
> GFD = Gold Finger Device
> It was used to adjust the multiplier on the Slot A's.


meh i thought it was  common to not have to know everything to be a nostalgic and we don't call them GFD globally, where i live it was called a Slot A dipswitch nope not abbreviated .... it would have been sad to abbreviate it SAD.

btw why not buy a dip switch and do some soldering. i think i might have one but u don't recall where i did put it (a Girl Freakishly Deviant, GFD  not a plain dipswitch)

and what is a Alpha Ev6?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 9, 2013)

> what is a Alpha Ev6?



Are you testing me?  

21264 AMD Slot A processor, 450-600 MHz

I guess I deserved that.



> Girl Freakishly Deviant


  Mildly intrigued now, and a little intimidated.  LOL


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 10, 2013)

i was talking about the bus x) not the chip  1 name 2 signification, indeed Alpha Ev6 was the codename of the 21264

The *Alpha 21264* was a DEC RISC microprocessor introduced in October, 1996. The 21264 implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture  (ISA). it was not a AMD Slot A cpu btw  but it share something indeed with Slot A and Athlon devlopement





AMD's 'SlotA' uses a completely different bus protocol, based on the DEC Alpha protocol 'EV6'.

oh don't worry i could write Gay First Date for the GFD but i prefer the one i used


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 10, 2013)

Guess I failed then.

Still need a GFD though.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 10, 2013)

Mr.Scott said:


> Guess I failed then.
> 
> Still need a GFD though.



only half fail doesnt make a fail 
and damned i be (lol whut Yoda mode?) i can't find the GFD i had (i still have my Slot A A700 but no mobo or GFD left)


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Dec 14, 2013)

I put together a slot a win 98 rig a few months ago using a msi6167 board.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 14, 2013)

and for my side as, thanks to the 9th WCG birthday challenge and the marvelous price i won, i have now a Paypal account xD so Ebay is a bit more accessible, most of the seller don't accept bank transfer ... at last those who have what i want!


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 17, 2013)

Well I received a box full of some ole hardware today. In the box was some motherboards, chips, coolers, memory, and.........................................

Well, open the spoiler and see. 



Spoiler: Guess what?







A frigging Voodoo 5 5500!!!!!!!! Wow, been wanting one of these forever to add to my seriously crazy ass collection of nostalgic hardware. LOLOL

Even had the original Quick Install book with it!! Simply amazing. 

Wish it came with the original box.......I know, that is asking too much LOL


----------



## m1919 (Dec 17, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Well I received a box full of some ole hardware today. In the box was some motherboards, chips, coolers, memory, and.........................................
> 
> Well, open the spoiler and see.
> 
> ...



Very nice! This makes me want to build my Voodoo 5 rig lol.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 17, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Well I received a box full of some ole hardware today. In the box was some motherboards, chips, coolers, memory, and.........................................
> 
> Well, open the spoiler and see.
> 
> ...




*rage mode* graaaaaaaahhh  *end of rage* GRATZ


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 17, 2013)

m1919 said:


> Very nice! This makes me want to build my Voodoo 5 rig lol.




I agree! Throw the voodoo card in an ole AGP motherboard, install Windows 98SE, and load up some original Unreal Tournament and Quake III 

Also, here is a huge list of 3dfx drivers over at Guru3D:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?id=11


----------



## TRWOV (Dec 17, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Well I received a box full of some ole hardware today. In the box was some motherboards, chips, coolers, memory, and.........................................
> 
> Well, open the spoiler and see.
> 
> ...





MUAHAHAHAHAHAAA:







I'm missing the manual though.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 17, 2013)

Yea dang, that is what I need is the box.  Probably never find one though.


----------



## _JP_ (Dec 17, 2013)

TRWOV said:


> I'm missing the manual though.





stinger608 said:


> Yea dang, that is what I need is the box.  Probably never find one though.


You think that's bad. I'm missing the box, the manual AND the card. 

Congratulations on the acquisition stinger!


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 19, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> You think that's bad. I'm missing the box, the manual AND the card.
> 
> Congratulations on the acquisition stinger!



 That was funny JP! 

It is such an awesome ole card. I almost hate to try and install it in anything for fear of something happening to it, but what the hell is the use of getting one if I am not going to fire it up. LOLOL


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 19, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> That was funny JP!
> 
> It is such an awesome ole card. I almost hate to try and install it in anything for fear of something happening to it, but what the hell is the use of getting one if I am not going to fire it up. LOLOL


Overclock it till it MELTS. You need every FPS in those old DOS shooters


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 19, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Overclock it till it MELTS. You need every FPS in those old DOS shooters


COMMANDER KEEN!!!!! but ... nope a Vodoo 5 5500 will not be useful on that one ;D


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 23, 2013)

bump.

DAMNED BE THE SELLER OF THIS! ship only to France .... pfeh! it cost near nothing to ship it to Switzerland and i would be the one paying the fees ... but no : no outland delivery ... curse the heretic! (wait wrong sentence...)


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 25, 2013)

Merry Christmas to all fellow nostalgic hardware members!!!!!!!!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 25, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Merry Christmas to all fellow nostalgic hardware members!!!!!!!!!



damned you where faster! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

20 minutes before going to job ahahaha .... 

im chasing after :

this one because it was my 1st agp card
the rest is because i don't have those chip/card in my collection 



oh new and still original boxed ... wait ... it's on the border of being Fugly... but i don't have that brand either.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 25, 2013)

I actually have a couple of the S3 PCI cards. One of them I use to test older motherboards with.


----------



## Bones (Dec 27, 2013)

Here's something I think you'll like, system pic within the submission.
http://hwbot.org/submission/2174614_bones_wprime___32m_2x_athlon_xp_m_2800__31sec_219ms

Yes, I don't mind cranking up the MHz with it, even today.

Of course that's not all of it - The older hardware I have of course.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 27, 2013)

Sweet Asus dual processor board man! Awesome setup Bones!!!!

Adding you to the original post bro.


----------



## Bones (Dec 27, 2013)

Thanks man!
I picked this up a few years ago from an individual who said they didn't know if it even worked or not and was wanting $10 for it, that included the original pair of MP 2200+ CPUs.
Checked it over, got it to boot and reflashed the BIOS, the original CPU's showed as being "Good" and turned it loose from that point foward.
I'll probrably set it up before long and see how much higher I can get it. 

EDIT: Here's another classic I have and I had never heard of the brandname "Premio" before but I have one. 
Here's the post when I first got it and was looking for info on the board - And trying to figure out exactly what I had. 
Still works to this day too. 
Re: Socket 3 CPUs


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 28, 2013)

Very cool. I have never heard of a "Premio" brand as well. Hmm, wonder who they are/were?

Kind of an odd lay out on the board though.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 28, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Very cool. I have never heard of a "Premio" brand as well. Hmm, wonder who they are/were?
> 
> Kind of an odd lay out on the board though.


same here ... and i should not feel ashamed, that if i would have heard of that brand, with such a name like "Premio" my feeling and my logic would have whispered to me and say "WTF IS THIS, STAY AWAY!" and be wrong at the same time... dunno i have a strong repulse feeling on certain brand names ...


----------



## Bones (Dec 28, 2013)

If you missed it, here's the link I did find and it has some info on the board within. Hasn't been updated in years and I'm lucky I even found it along with the info I was able to get and archive.
http://ftp.premiopc.com/faqs/219hfaq.htm

I'm also lucky mine is the "H" model, not the lesser "G" model they had.

EDIT: Just found this and looks like they may have been around longer then I would have thought, from what I can tell at least until 2007 - May even still be in business but I kinda doubt that. PremioPC.com - BIOS Updates/System FAQs/User Manuals


----------



## Bones (Jan 4, 2014)

I believe I'll setup the Premio and let it run before long. 
Might even try a bench or two with it just to see how pitiful it does for fun. I know it works but the last time I tried it, it woudn't install an OS. 
We'll see what goes this time around.


----------



## _JP_ (Jan 6, 2014)

Rebuilt. Up and running again.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 6, 2014)

That is frigging awesome JP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a NF7-S that I got from The_Mad_Shot several months ago that I really really need to get fired up.


----------



## Baum (Jan 6, 2014)

MRCL said:


> I think I can top that. Toshiba T200SX, runs on DOS. Doesn't work anymore, maybe I can get it to
> Tried to open it up to maybe locate a problem, but apart from the main power cable and the FDD, I don't know what is what in there and what the *Hell is that yellow stick thingy*


I think thats the sleep standby battery, if you put it in sleep and then change the main batterys it wouldn't crash 
On that picture there are some black square blocks close to the floppy connector can you show a close up picture of them?
Search for an Bios Battery if they are drained over the years they short and you can't boot anymore....

any one remember these dallas RTC chips with Bios Battery inside? pure evil those, now get a dremel out ^^


----------



## R00kie (Jan 6, 2014)

Jetster said:


> I still have a PS2 ball mouse and PS2 keyboard.



Talking about PS2 Mice...














Dunno how old it is, I have lost count, it came with my first ever pc... but it is the only mouse I have right now, I play bf4 with it just fine, although the mouse speed needs to be cranked up to the maximum values possible xD


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 6, 2014)

ATI Radeon HD3450 Silent (Not sure if 256megs or 512megs of DDR2

and

3D Fuzion GeForce 6200 LE Turbocache / 128MB DDR / Supporting 256MB with Turbocache


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 6, 2014)

Baum said:


> I think thats the sleep standby battery, if you put it in sleep and then change the main batterys it wouldn't crash
> On that picture there are some black square blocks close to the floppy connector can you show a close up picture of them?
> Search for an Bios Battery if they are drained over the years they short and you can't boot anymore....
> 
> any one remember these dallas RTC chips with Bios Battery inside? pure evil those, now get a dremel out ^^



Yep, I think you are correct; that is the "on board" battery. I don't think that MRCL has been on here in ages, so hard to say if he will even see your post.


----------



## boomstik360 (Jan 6, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Well I received a box full of some ole hardware today. In the box was some motherboards, chips, coolers, memory, and.........................................
> 
> Well, open the spoiler and see.
> 
> ...


Lol I was thinking to myself, its gotta be a Voodoo 5500, and boom! It was!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 6, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> ATI Radeon HD3450 Silent (Not sure if 256megs or 512megs of DDR2
> 
> and
> 
> 3D Fuzion GeForce 6200 LE Turbocache / 128MB DDR / Supporting 256MB with Turbocache



Awesome JB! I added you to the original post man.


----------



## boomstik360 (Jan 6, 2014)

I used to have a 1.13Ghz Pentium 3, I will have to look for it after I get home from the office!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 6, 2014)

boomstik360 said:


> Lol I was thinking to myself, its gotta be a Voodoo 5500, and boom! It was!



 That was a good guess Boomstik! 



boomstik360 said:


> I used to have a 1.13Ghz Pentium 3, I will have to look for it after I get home from the office!



Yea, for sure man.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 6, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome JB! I added you to the original post man.


 
Thx. I have more but I will have to get out my stuff. Just need a small form factor case to put a skt754 mAtx mobo after it will be posted here and in Project logs.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 8, 2014)

*MY OLD HARDWARE BACKUP COMPUTER*

Compaq Evo D51sff
P4 2.8 skt-478
2 gigs DDR400 Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/2G
Maxtor DiamondMax 20 Ultra ATA 80gigs
Asus 7100MAGIC/PURE/32M/SE/U
PCI usb 2.0 card
Small pci slot fan
Internal backup on usb key Kingston 8gigs usb2.0 via PCI usb card
USB splitter bar of 7 usb 2.0 ports


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 8, 2014)

Very cool JunkBear!!!


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 10, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome JB! I added you to the original post man.


 
I don't see what's awesome in that it's just old junk cards I put in computer for donation to poor families!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 10, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> I don't see what's awesome in that it's just old junk cards I put in computer for donation to poor families!


never underestimate the power to be in awe of a Nostalg33k! ... it is GOLD to our eyes and not junk (and also for the families to who you gonna give them) ...

i think i might be able to die happy soon ... i'm waiting on 2 auction's end
  
while i know what kind of mobo it is (its not the pics of it but of a similar model) the graphic card tell me nothing at all ... and both at 1$ atm ... dream dream dream .... also : the MSI K8D Master3-133 is in a 19" rack/tower convertible. fingercrossed


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 10, 2014)

It's an ISA card from old server I think. Might be a 1meg up to 4 megs. the metallic connector seems to be for security cams.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 10, 2014)

Its a AGP card and the MB has 64 bit PCI slots. They are larger than a 32 bit PCI slot


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 10, 2014)

i think its more a PCI-X than a ISA (the output are 2 DVI on it )´AGP Pro in the end

edit : GOT IT !!! (the 19" rack and the mobo + 1 Opteron of 2 inclued) 2chf and... woop woop 17chf for delivery  ahah that's hilarious when the buyout price is around 8 time cheaper than the shipping...

i hope the card will stay at 1chf till the end of auction ... or i have another option
a 3Dlabs Wildcat III 6100 DVI oh wait not an option ... the seller state its a AGP Pro 50 connector ... and that mobo doesn't have one of them


----------



## Jetster (Jan 10, 2014)

Yes thats correct. The card is an AGP Pro

http://archive.totalsem.com/techforum/techfiles/index.php?book=031029agp


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 10, 2014)

Jetster said:


> Yes thats correct. The card is an AGP Pro
> 
> http://archive.totalsem.com/techforum/techfiles/index.php?book=031029agp


yes indeed both card i had in mind are AGP Pro so both no option  but i don't care i always wanted a K8D  Master3-133 and i dont have a AGP Pro card in my collection 

i will need to find a 2nd opteron xD i think i can do a rudimentary file server with it ...
    
now i just need till i get it shipped to me ... best 2chf spent EVER!


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 11, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> *MY OLD HARDWARE BACKUP COMPUTER*
> 
> Compaq Evo D51sff
> P4 2.8 skt-478
> ...


 
I am currently installing Windows 7 pro 32bits on this one. Every drivers got detected fine except the onboard vga just saying it's generic vga. I will put back the AGP after and it should install fine.

BTW can anyone suggest me a low profile AGP 4X able card for this setup? It's not for game but backup and maybe business I would like to start from home. Thx !


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2014)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MATROX-G5...Graphics-Card-Dell-05M801-2xVGA-/400447448439
eventually 
http://www.amazon.ca/Jaton-GeForce-...89431715&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=low+profil+agp
not bad but the pricing make me tics
http://www.amazon.ca/Axle3D-Geforce...id=1389431792&sr=8-6&keywords=low+profile+agp
same here
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VisionTek...-AGP-Gaming-Graphics-Card-DMS59-/310801001428
he labeled it "gaming" ahahha but the price and delivery price is not bad
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-AH34...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item35d0a468a9
wanna laugh?


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 11, 2014)

Pricing is crazy even on eBay. As soon as you go low profile 128megs people put starting bid at 40$. That's around 70$ with shipping for a used card.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2014)

ahahahah ... again in switzerland we are more lucky ... its around 1chf to 30chf  with a 9chf max shipping fees ... greedy greedy worldwide seller ...

also on ebay i find some 2.99gbp cards + 2-3gbp shipping but again : same continent


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 11, 2014)

I have this 32 megs then i will keep it.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 12, 2014)

i don't remember if i posted my old logi mouse ...


or that one ...
 

edit i have found a seller who has some ECC DDR 333 ram available but only 512mb stick 
still 12 of them would cost me 24chf (29chf with delivery) and make 6gb out of the 24gb max of what the K8D allow 

wait ... paying 12time more for the ram than for the server board/cpu/rack? MADNESS!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 12, 2014)

i double post for a bump ... 

i might be able to get 2 Opteron 246 HE for cheap from a UK Ebay seller ... but i need to get the server at home so i can see what Opteron he has already in (maybe i will need to get only 1)


new slogan: "a personal home server: has a cost, a personal Nostalg33k home server : IS PRICELESS! old hardware FTW!"

funny, how even if im broke i can make some cash... i resell 20 to 30% above the price i paid and i have enough to cover my actual debt and a bit more to get some drugs ... aherm i mean hardware, to thinker with... broke but not resourceless, never underestimate a Nostalg33k


----------



## Bones (Jan 12, 2014)

I have several Opty's here, all being 939 chips and except for the pair of 146's I got them all new.
Began messing around with the A7M last night and it's not wanting to boot ATM but I believe I can get it running soon. After that, I'll toy with the Premio to see what it does. I did try it last week and it was not recognizing my drives but believe the drives were too large for the BIOS to use them so I'll have to make a small partitition with an install and see if it picks up my drives or not.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 12, 2014)

Bones said:


> I have several Opty's here, all being 939 chips and except for the pair of 146's I got them all new.
> Began messing around with the A7M last night and it's not wanting to boot ATM but I believe I can get it running soon. After that, I'll toy with the Premio.



Bones, have you got any Opty 185's? Any one of them you would part with?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 12, 2014)

Bones said:


> I have several Opty's here, all being 939 chips and except for the pair of 146's I got them all new.
> Began messing around with the A7M last night and it's not wanting to boot ATM but I believe I can get it running soon. After that, I'll toy with the Premio.


im quite impatient to get the K8D at home ... i seek mainly 940skt so the 246 HE might be fine still the seller can't tell me the one he has already on the board ... dang it only take to remove the heatsink to give me a answer 
also order on 12x512mb DDR 333 ECC placed i wait on the answer of the seller (local seller this time) too bad he didn't had 1gb or 2gb, i have to satisfy myself with 6gb instead of 12-24gb


hey stinger608 bro' in 5... thanks i will be at 608 thanks received ... golden number?


----------



## Bones (Jan 12, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Bones, have you got any Opty 185's? Any one of them you would part with?



Sorry, I was hoping one of you had an 185 I could get. 

That's the one I'd love to find and try out along with a 170, I have the other three models here and all are good BUT I did botch the 165 while delidding it. Still works and runs cool but doesn't want to run certain benchies without throwing errors all over the place, with others it does well.

AM2 Optys are cheap chips to get if you know where to look and I do. Processors, Memory, SSD, Computer Parts, wholesale price|Starmicroinc.net
Be sure before ordering that you carefully check the product description and the price - Sometimes the prices are really good, sometimes crazy and they could also have a given model chip listed wrong in the description so make sure with each selection you check it to know what you are ordering when you do. I normally go to CPU World and enter the "Model" number of a chip to confirm what it is and the like.
BTW I don't know if they ship internationally and that's a question you'd have to ask them.

EDIT: Got the A7M to boot.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 12, 2014)

Dang.  was hoping you had a couple Bones LOL

Yea that link I have been too before. However an Athlon XP 3200+ 400fsb is $65!! Jeez, you find them on the net for about $20 shipped all the time. So that isn't a cheap alternative to find cheap CPU's.


----------



## psyko12 (Jan 13, 2014)

I do have a few treasured items of my own here, however I could not find the old SBlaster ISA card that I had before haha...







 an intel pentium and AMD K6-2 w/ 3D Now! 

 

Some oldschool rams


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 13, 2014)

Awesome Psyko!!! 

Added you to the original post man!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## psyko12 (Jan 13, 2014)

Thank you, scavenging thru the boxes of parts that I have accumulated thru the years trying to find that good ol Creative SB ISA card


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 13, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Dang.  was hoping you had a couple Bones LOL
> 
> Yea that link I have been too before. However an Athlon XP 3200+ 400fsb is $65!! Jeez, you find them on the net for about $20 shipped all the time. So that isn't a cheap alternative to find cheap CPU's.


 
What is the socket of the Athlon XP 3200+ 400fsb you need?


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 13, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> What is the socket of the Athlon XP 3200+ 400fsb you need?



Don't really need the chip as I have one, I was just stating that it was pretty pricey. It is a socket 462 (A).


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 13, 2014)

Is it a Barton? I had one and they overclock pretty well.  I still have these high performance aluminium block and 70mm fans of brand Dr.Thermal. It's massive and noisy but it was made for oc'ing these 462.


----------



## Bones (Jan 13, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Dang.  was hoping you had a couple Bones LOL
> 
> Yea that link I have been too before. However an Athlon XP 3200+ 400fsb is $65!! Jeez, you find them on the net for about $20 shipped all the time. So that isn't a cheap alternative to find cheap CPU's.



That's why I was saying some of their prices are good, some are crazy as in high. 
Yes, the XP 3200 they have is overpriced but some of the chips they do have aren't bad considering shipping is included and it's guaranteed to work when you get it. I've gotten a few chips from them and so far so good. I recall once they flubbed by sending me the wrong chip BUT it was a higher model than I had ordered. I was trying to get a 2600 Sempron and they sent me a 3000 Sempy instead, no extra charge or anything.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 13, 2014)

Here is many pictures of my vintage sound amplifier from the late 70's or beginning of the 80's.  I've put my hand beside the transformer to show the size of that. Just telling you that I can hold a 2L bottle of soft drink in my hand and make 3/4 around it. I have 100w spekers each box and at half sound range they start to distort. You can also note the quality of soldering made in Japan back then.


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 13, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Here is many pictures of my vintage sound amplifier from the late 70's or beginning of the 80's.  I've put my hand beside the transformer to show the size of that. Just telling you that I can hold a 2L bottle of soft drink in my hand and make 3/4 around it. I have 100w spekers each box and at half sound range they start to distort. You can also note the quality of soldering made in Japan back then.
> 
> 
> View attachment 53929 View attachment 53930 View attachment 53931 View attachment 53932 View attachment 53933 View attachment 53934 View attachment 53935 View attachment 53936 View attachment 53937 View attachment 53938


it reminds me of my dad radio, its from 80s too and until now it works nicely 
kinda vintage, sometimes i compare our newer stuff to the old one


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 13, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Is it a Barton? I had one and they overclock pretty well.  I still have these high performance aluminium block and 70mm fans of brand Dr.Thermal. It's massive and noisy but it was made for oc'ing these 462.



Yep a 400fsb barton core



JunkBear said:


> Here is many pictures of my vintage sound amplifier from the late 70's or beginning of the 80's.  I've put my hand beside the transformer to show the size of that. Just telling you that I can hold a 2L bottle of soft drink in my hand and make 3/4 around it. I have 100w spekers each box and at half sound range they start to distort. You can also note the quality of soldering made in Japan back then.
> 
> 
> View attachment 53929 View attachment 53930 View attachment 53931 View attachment 53932 View attachment 53933 View attachment 53934 View attachment 53935 View attachment 53936 View attachment 53937 View attachment 53938



Hmm, looks like a rebranded Kenwood system.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 13, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Yep a 400fsb barton core
> Hmm, looks like a rebranded Kenwood system.


 
Maybe I don't know but it's powerful and heavy...around 30 pounds.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 13, 2014)

psyko12 said:


> I do have a few treasured items of my own here, however I could not find the old SBlaster ISA card that I had before haha...View attachment 53912
> 
> View attachment 53913
> an intel pentium and AMD K6-2 w/ 3D Now! View attachment 53914
> ...



squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! welcome!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 13, 2014)

Hope of the day : that the K8D is the adaptec SCSI 320... Or the SATA raid but preferably the 1st variant.... I have a seagate Cheetah that linger in pain to finally run free... 

aaaannnddd 608 thanks! haha


----------



## m1919 (Jan 14, 2014)

Heh, I've got a pair of Opteron 285s waiting for a K8N-DL to run on. Curious to see how far I can push those from 2.6Ghz stock.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 15, 2014)

i couldn't resist ...



wait ... i just brought for near nothing 2 Skt 604 Xeon but but but ... i don't need that! oh well they are nostalgic piece aswell and i don't have them in the collection, plus they are unknown (the seller can't tell me what they are) YAY
but the main interest was: the 4x 1024mb DDR 400 ECC ram...

ricardo.ch has some 604 mobo but freaking high price xD (around 120$) Ebay seems the way to go for those ... but not for now


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 15, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> i couldn't resist ...
> View attachment 54002
> wait ... i just brought for near nothing 2 Skt 604 Xeon but but but ... i don't need that! oh well they are nostalgic piece aswell and i don't have them in the collection, plus they are unknown (the seller can't tell me what they are) YAY
> but the main interest was: the 4x 1024mb DDR 400 ECC ram...



and your shadow make it darker 
you need enough light to make a better pic


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 15, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> and your shadow make it darker
> you need enough light to make a better pic


s'not me  it's the pics from the seller ... wait till i get them home 

edit: WOOP WOOP tracking confirmed : 19kg of pure oldie to collect to the post office weeee


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 15, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> s'not me  it's the pics from the seller ... wait till i get them home
> 
> edit: WOOP WOOP tracking confirmed : 19kg of pure oldie to collect to the post office weeee



hehehe.. sorry i just think its your pic
close up shot of it will be great


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 15, 2014)

READY? GO!
OPTERON 246 bent pin, but thanks to commander John Sheppard and his connection with Cerberus Network: Pin Reaper DEFEATED! also cleaned the thermal past spot under the cpu ... luckily dielectric past ...
   

no fan on the heatsink no screw include but raid floppy and driver CD + all accessory of the rack (tho still no screw) a good Nostalg33k always keep screw and fan aside (in case you lose a screw in the brain, quite common, or if you need to cool your brain, quite often!) too bad it's the SATA Raid version, oh well i will use the Adaptec card i have aside (not directly i still need to find a suitable PSU)
    

drive/floppy in place and front cache for the 2nd cage, short sata cable? XBOX360 BABY!
   
due to the limite of 10 pics : to be continued soon (tm)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 15, 2014)

messy? naaahhhh just normal!


a bit ghetto no server fan but they will do their job, waiting on the ECC ram (i have some DDR but no ECC)
 

it miss the front buttons and led but i fixed the start and reset on the back (ghetto again ) you can see them on the pics above left side.
 

not messy? naahhh totally abnormal!


Quoting myself for the win...


GreiverBlade said:


> i double post for a bump ...
> 
> i might be able to get 2 Opteron 246 HE for cheap from a UK Ebay seller ... but i need to get the server at home so i can see what Opteron he has already in (maybe i will need to get only 1)



YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! except its not a HE so i need to seek if that seller has 1 246 non HE

or maybe a HE and a non HE can work together ... those cpu are the same but different TDP

update: paypal account credited soon, objective: 2x Opteron 250 for 8€ delivery include
i wanted to take 2 dual core 280 but the price is a bit ... meh ...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 15, 2014)

i should cry of joy or rage ... i don't know ... 2 PCI-X video card ... 1st one is a Matrox QID Pro QID-P256PRO Parhelia 256MB PCI-X but the price is .... above what i can afford (RAGE!!!)
the second is a IBM pSeries RS/6000 GXT6500P Graphics Adapter 2843 10N9105 PCI-X and the price is quite good (JOY!!!).... nyah! tempted tempted tempted ...

also did someone noticed that i have put the In Win Commander III Desert Fox 700w 80+gold ... as the server PSU? overkill?

that's gonna rock pretty hard ... i plan on using Ubuntu Server 13.10 x64 getting 8x1gb ECC more (later, now im focusing on selling some useless piece i have, not the nostalgic ofc to get $$$/dineros/pesos/marks/chf/€  ) im watching over a auction for a 2nd server 940 heatsink... never got so much excited over a old piece of tech (old mwahhhh 2001-2004 in computer indeed)


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> also did someone noticed that i have put the In Win Commander III Desert Fox 700w 80+gold ... as the server PSU? overkill?


I noticed. figured you were just using it as a spare.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 16, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> I noticed. figured you were just using it as a spare.


well it might get a long duration spare ... 500-600w are enough for my main rig and the GX lite 600 have a 4pin EPS 12V the K8D need a 8pin, and afaik 80+ Gold psu are quite adapted for servers

now i need to figure out max SATA hdd capacity on that board for the 3 remaining SATA connector, for


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2014)

Well,hope I don't do anything bad,here I go with the specs of my 2002-2003 era retro rig:

Chaintech MPM800 motherboard
Intel Celeron 1.7GHz CPU (Socket 478)
ATI Radeon 7000 32MB AGP video card
256MB DDR400 Sycron memory
10GB Xbox HDD (Seagate ST310211A U5 series)
Samsung IDE5224 CD-RW drive
DeluX ATX 400W-P4 PSU
DeluX MT375 case
Realtek 8139D NIC
C-Media 9761 onboard soundcard

That's what I have inside it.Will post some pics tomorrow as my tablet likes only daylight pics.


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 16, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Well,hope I don't do anything bad,here I go with the specs of my 2002-2003 era retro rig:
> 
> Chaintech MPM800 motherboard
> Intel Celeron 1.7GHz CPU (Socket 478)
> ...



chaintech? i remember when i was in college and i saw purple soltek board and its really cool at that time

yeah you should have enough daylight to get a nice shot, and welcome to TPU


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2014)

Chaintech makes pretty good boards.Sadly they don't make boards anymore,and their site is dead
Before this Chaintech board,I went through 5 Socket 478 boards which didn't work right,or lacked AGP.I need AGP since I use this retro PC on my TV (a Magnum CRT TV,I guess it's retro too)to play PSX games,SNES games and other retro systems.Right now it runs XP SP3 and I have installed pSX 1.13 and Abe's Oddysee.Next to get are SNES,Megadrive 1 and 2,Genesis, and NES.
I noticed pSX 1.13 runs really nice on a TV,just need to see if ATI Tray Tools can make my card use PAL60,as normal PAL is slow for pSX,and NTSC gives a B/W image.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 16, 2014)

Man if I had money in spare I would have send you a free Pentium 2.4 gigs 478 instead of your celeron and some nice memory sticks.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 16, 2014)

aherm ... overkill again? need a 2nd Kama


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Man if I had money in spare I would have send you a free Pentium 2.4 gigs 478 instead of your celeron and some nice memory sticks.


You don't need to.I have a 2.66 Celeron D(skt478 btw),should get it running some time.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2014)

Well,because I was bored and had nothing to do I took a few pictures of my Chaintech retro rig.I'm extremely sorry for the quality of the pictures,but this is all my tablet can do.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 17, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Well,hope I don't do anything bad,here I go with the specs of my 2002-2003 era retro rig:
> 
> Chaintech MPM800 motherboard
> Intel Celeron 1.7GHz CPU (Socket 478)
> ...




Nice Max!!! Looking forward to pictures and adding ya to the original post. 

God, I must be brain dead tonight! Just noticed after I posted that you already had pictures. Might try and take some with your cell phone though. 

And.......Adding you to the original post man!!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 17, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Nice Max!!! Looking forward to pictures and adding ya to the original post.
> 
> God, I must be brain dead tonight! Just noticed after I posted that you already had pictures. Might try and take some with your cell phone though.
> 
> And.......Adding you to the original post man!!!


Well,my cellphone has a camera that was even worse (2 megapixels) than the tablet,and it uses IR to transfer pics,which I can't use as I don't have any system that uses IR.Weirdly,the tablet makes videos in the best quality possible.Sadly I lost the USB cable to it.
On the other side,here's the wallpaper I use on the Chaintech rig.
Fits just nice on the TV screen I use!

Edit:Just installed the PC in my bedroom.I need to find a power cord though.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 17, 2014)

opteron 250 shipped incoming next week ...

now i think i will charge my paypal again and take 2 80mm Arctic F8 .. dang on Ebay they are 6.60chf free shipping from UK and from Etailer in switzerland they are 10-12chf (a piece)... duurrrr taxes!#
if i sell some more stuffz i might be able to take either a PCI Matrox or ATI even found some 3Dfx Voodoo Rush/Banshee, hell i will never run on a integrated RageXL 8mb if i can have 64 or more mb on PCI, or a professional PCI-X 3D accelerator display card ...

or ... i can also find a 3Dfx Voodoo 1-2 and chain the RageXL on it ... 

is it wrong to want that on a fileserver


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 17, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> is it wrong to want that on a fileserver


Is it wrong to want to play nostalgic games on the hardware they were designed to run on?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 17, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Is it wrong to want to play nostalgic games on the hardware they were designed to run on?


ahahah Random Murderer i like you! (wait is it not the second time i write that?) in a nostal'bro way.

fun things: i noticed a TY-147 140mm Thermalright fan fit right into the 5.25 bay of the rack ... since it has a 120mmx140mm dimension and the best : no need to fix it, it's so tight that he hold in place perfectly
   
bonus pics the cover and a pics thru a hole of the cover ... i love my SIII 

since the In Win was a bit overkill i think i put the CM GX lite 600w for the moment, also back to standard heatsink, the Kama is really too big even for a 4u rack  waiting on the 2 250 and the 2nd copper server heatsink


----------



## Bones (Jan 19, 2014)

Got my problems sorted with the Premio (I think) and will do an XP install with it tomorrow - Then it's off to the snail races for some 32M Super PI!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 19, 2014)

Changed the CPU on my Chaintech system.Back when I used the 1.7 Celeron I experienced a whole lot of freezes and system was running like a snail.Installed a Celeron D 2.66GHz and now I don't have any freezes,and Windows runs perfectly.


----------



## Bones (Jan 19, 2014)

OK, got XP on it and the machine seems capable of using it as is. 
Seemed to take forever to do the install but now it's done - Just a few more details to sort such as digging out a mouse that will work with it.


----------



## boomstik360 (Jan 20, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> never underestimate the power to be in awe of a Nostalg33k! ... it is GOLD to our eyes and not junk (and also for the families to who you gonna give them) ...
> 
> i think i might be able to die happy soon ... i'm waiting on 2 auction's end
> View attachment 53847 View attachment 53846
> while i know what kind of mobo it is (its not the pics of it but of a similar model) the graphic card tell me nothing at all ... and both at 1$ atm ... dream dream dream .... also : the MSI K8D Master3-133 is in a 19" rack/tower convertible. fingercrossed


Oh man, that is so sexy! I remember when that came out! Ugh, those were the good old days when upgrading to AMD made an incredible difference!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 20, 2014)

boomstik360 said:


> Oh man, that is so sexy! I remember when that came out! Ugh, those were the good old days when upgrading to AMD made an incredible difference!


also you mean the time where even a PGA940 with DDR1, due to the Hypertransport and integrated memory controller, was on par with the whole new LGA771 with DDR2 and woodcrest Xeon when using less than 6gb ram and unbuffered stick

in addition of the 250 i might be able to get 2 275 and 8x1gb ECC more but i have to wait on answers ... about shipping  not UK this time .... Australia and Japan ...

i .. i .... i .... i ..... *faint*
 
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SO PRICEY!!!!! DUUUUUUUURRRRR (edit obvious reason is obvious (tm)  oh well i will take a Radeon 9000 or a GF 5500 PCI if i can't have a Kyro/Millenium/rush/banshee/virge/64/tnt2....  )

oh welll ...  mix graphic/soundcard ? strange never seen em


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 20, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> also you mean the time where even a PGA940 with DDR1, due to the Hypertransport and integrated memory controller, was on par with the whole new LGA771 with DDR2 and woodcrest Xeon when using less than 6gb ram and unbuffered stick
> 
> in addition of the 250 i might be able to get 2 275 and 8x1gb ECC more but i have to wait on answers ... about shipping  not UK this time .... Australia and Japan ...
> 
> ...


For that video/sound card in the picture,read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asus_Media_Bus


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 21, 2014)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 21, 2014)

weirdest idea ever... i don't write it but i put some hints in form of pics


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 21, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> weirdest idea ever... i don't write it but i put some hints in form of pics
> View attachment 54177 View attachment 54176 View attachment 54178 View attachment 54175


so you can use today hardware with older one


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 21, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> so you can use today hardware with older one


PLX chip ... i know you can bridge a pciE to a AGP so i came up with the idea that nearly every bus can be bridged ... tho it's quite expensive even on ebay ... specialy the PCI-X to X16


1.93$ atm ... got it ... oh well that might do it till i am back in business for a PLX PCI-X to X16, PCI XFX FX5200 128mb still better than a RageXL 8mb 


Received the 2nd heatsink, 2 Arctic F8 ordered, waiting on the 2 Opteron and the ram, should arrive between tomorrow and friday


----------



## Bones (Jan 23, 2014)

Got a mouse that works with the Premio today from work and the only real detail left is to either find my PCI slot USB add-on card or get another one. Although I could load the needed programs and transfer screenies as is, would probrably take all day to do it that way.
Otherwise it's ready to go.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 23, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> weirdest idea ever... i don't write it but i put some hints in form of pics
> View attachment 54177 View attachment 54176 View attachment 54178 View attachment 54175



Where can we buy these? Do they also make it to put agp on newer boards?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 23, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Where can we buy these? Do they also make it to put agp on newer boards?


EBAY : expensive and i did not see PciE to AGP  (no real purpose i assume since its easier to find a cheap PciE gpu than a AGP and even the cheapest would be on par with a high end AGP card or slightly above... unlike PciE on PCI/PCI-X)

update: received the ECC ram and the Xeon. while the ram doesn't fit for 128bit dual channel in 64bit single channel they pass fine but i get 3072mb at the post instead of 4096 i think one stick is defective i need to identify it

Xeon: Prestonia core 2400D/512/533/1.5V SL72D HT 1core 2threads
http://ark.intel.com/products/27270/Intel-Xeon-Processor-2_40-GHz-512K-Cache-533-MHz-FSB
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon 2.4 GHz - RK80532KE056512 (BX80532KE2400D - BX80532KE2400DU).html

that's a relief those are 32bit crap pile of silicon from Intel : i don't need to find a board for them ahah   still they make a good addition to my cpu collection.

and since it's my free day and i am bored let's do a recap:

CPU L to R PIII 450 and 600, Athlon 700 Athlon X2 4850e duo Prestonia Xeon, 775 P4 478 P4, 2x 478Celeron D mobile PII, Pentium MMX Cyrix MII-300GP, I486 mobile Pentium 150.
  

The Hercule Trio (no no not Hercule Poirot)sideview ... only vanity shot to show my limited edition of Appleseed n°: 725 
 

damn i love that cooler ... it look like a V8 (but more silent.... ahah )

i guess i install WinXP on the server for the moment to test the hardware.


finaly cpu family shot

also showing that i did find back my Leadtek Winfast A350 128TDH


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 23, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> EBAY : expensive and i did not see PciE to AGP  (no real purpose i assume since its easier to find a cheap PciE gpu than a AGP and even the cheapest would be on par with a high end AGP card or slightly above... unlike PciE on PCI/PCI-X)
> 
> update: received the ECC ram and the Xeon. while the ram doesn't fit for 128bit dual channel in 64bit single channel they pass fine but i get 3072mb at the post instead of 4096 i think one stick is defective i need to identify it
> 
> ...


Spotted it in one of your pics and thought I'd ask:
Are you as bummed as I am that the Hellgate servers were taken down and there are no private servers?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 23, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Spotted it in one of your pics and thought I'd ask:
> Are you as bummed as I am that the Hellgate servers were taken down and there are no private servers?



ahahah Random Murderer, yes i am ... but it's the Manga you spotted the box of the game is one shelf under 

update Ghetto retro : how to improve airflow... unused 3.5" bay ... 60mm double fan ... *lightbulb* 

   

then no power status led ... hum old HP SSF some cutting a bit of vynil tape and poof *lightbulb* again 
  

alive and kicking ... still waiting for double heart transplantation
  

support of AC97 but no output hum ... whatever ... G330 USB audiocard ... *lightbulb* the third!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 23, 2014)

Awesome stuff Greiver!!!!!!!!!


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 23, 2014)

There were 10 pages or so the last time I posted 

I'm retaking my PII X4 AGP and P4 projects so I'll be posting more


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 23, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> There were 10 pages or so the last time I posted
> 
> I'm retaking my PII X4 AGP and P4 projects so I'll be posting more


hey what do you want ... im a nostalg33k and i intend to keep that awesome thread alive!


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 23, 2014)

Is there any bios updater and bios already modded and overclocked to flash older graphic cards? Like the same easy way we flash firmware on HDD, odd and bios mobo?


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 24, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> There were 10 pages or so the last time I posted
> 
> I'm retaking my PII X4 AGP and P4 projects so I'll be posting more



LOL, yea that has changed a little. 



JunkBear said:


> Is there any bios updater and bios already modded and overclocked to flash older graphic cards? Like the same easy way we flash firmware on HDD, odd and bios mobo?



That is a very good question JunkBear. Hmm, might have to do some research on that.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 25, 2014)

Ive post this before but not after getting my new camera

Creative labs modem Blaster 56K V90 hardware modem ISA slot.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 25, 2014)

reporting what i have posted in your pc atm ... the server has issue i sorted what was wrong : bent pin in the ram slots ... DUH

so : not working status atm until i find a way around, still i received the Optys
   

as said again in your pc atm i will go for that a Rioworks Rhapsody HDAMA


 

 
dirt cheap, stock in germany quick delivery and come with





2 x Opteron 270 Dualcore CPU 2 GHz 2 x 1 MB Cache

i think repairing the pin on the K8D would be too much of a hassle and also even if i will have no use for the Opterons 250 since that board is bundled with 2 270 they will accompany the 246 on the "hall of fame" on my shelf.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 25, 2014)

6.4 Gb Quantum Bigfoot


----------



## puma99dk| (Jan 26, 2014)

i remember the bigfoot it's as big as a dinner plate, one of my friends use to have one


----------



## dannylillhtc (Jan 26, 2014)

and they used to vibrate a pc to bits when they spun up lol


----------



## broken pixel (Jan 26, 2014)

In the background you can see an old Clariion RAID array, I no longer have it. I will post some classic hardware I still have later.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 26, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> In the background you can see an old Clariion RAID array, I no longer have it. I will post some classic hardware I still have later.




Looking forward to seeing pics man!!!


----------



## broken pixel (Jan 27, 2014)

I found some photos i posted on Facebook, some of my old school HW collection.
Some are doubles mostly the 1990s AMD BIOS with a EPROM window, my favorite.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2014)

That is an awesome collection Broken Pixel!!! 

Added you to the original post man!


----------



## Deleted member 41019 (Jan 27, 2014)

Well what a lovely thread for old hardware. I have been pointed here by a cupple of peeps from my 'Retro Pentium 4' thread in the projects section and you can find that here.

Over the coming weeks I will be uploading some pictures of various bits of old tech I have kicking around but I thought for now I would kick off my introduction with a brief look at my Intel 486DX2!

This system belonged to a gent in his 90's who sadly passed away at the end of last year and I picked up the system from his family. I'm sorry to say the original screen was thrown in a skip about a week before i came to get the system but I did get the original keyboard. The system never came with a mouse but of course one can be added via the serial port.

Basic spec's on the system are:


Intel 486DX2 clocked @ 66Mhz
16MB of EDO memory
800mb-1GB? Western Digital hard drive
1MB Trident video card 

2x CD-ROM drive with audio support
The system is and was dust/grime free and almost still looks like new!

The only issue I have with the system is the fact that the heatsink is broken. This is the reason i have not been using it or have powered it up for a while. I am looking for a replacement and have found a few in the U.S but have not got around to buying one. I have had the system up and running and it is running D.O.S 6 with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.

I am looking to sell the system quite soon but it's hard to value as the prices for complete systems and parts varies so much. I know if I was going to sell her it would be for a good amount as this is as CLEAN really as it gets. It also has a shed load of orignal software installed and to be honest it does not look like it has ever been reinstalled in it's life. It even has year 2000 correcting software installed, clearly the chap who owned it was taken in by the Y2K bug scare.


----------



## Deleted member 41019 (Jan 27, 2014)

More pictures due to hitting the limit.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 27, 2014)

aven000 said:


> Well what a lovely thread for old hardware. I have been pointed here by a cupple of peeps from my 'Retro Pentium 4' thread in the projects section and you can find that here.
> 
> Over the coming weeks I will be uploading some pictures of various bits of old tech I have kicking around but I thought for now I would kick off my introduction with a brief look at my Intel 486DX2!
> 
> ...



sad story behind the noble 486DX2 but ... WELCOME!


----------



## Deleted member 41019 (Jan 27, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> sad story behind the noble 486DX2 but ... WELCOME!



Thankin' you very much! *tips the hat he is not currently wearing*


----------



## Norton (Jan 27, 2014)

aven000 said:


> Well what a lovely thread for old hardware. I have been pointed here by a cupple of peeps from my 'Retro Pentium 4' thread in the projects section and you can find that here.
> 
> Over the coming weeks I will be uploading some pictures of various bits of old tech I have kicking around but I thought for now I would kick off my introduction with a brief look at my Intel 486DX2!
> 
> ...



I don't have a fan but I do have a 486 board somewhere with a Pentium Overdrive cpu in it (has it's own fan)... you're welcome to it if interested*

*I ran it many moons ago and was still running well when I pulled it 

EDIT- See pic here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-6#post-2526553


----------



## Deleted member 41019 (Jan 27, 2014)

Norton said:


> I don't have a fan but I do have a 486 board somewhere with a Pentium Overdrive cpu in it (has it's own fan)... you're welcome to it if interested*
> 
> *I ran it many moons ago and was still running well when I pulled it
> 
> ...




Me and you sir may have to have a chat.


----------



## Norton (Jan 27, 2014)

aven000 said:


> Me and you sir may have to have a chat.



I'll take a look tonight and will drop you a PM if I find it


----------



## Deleted member 41019 (Jan 27, 2014)

Norton said:


> I'll take a look tonight and will drop you a PM if I find it



I'll be here for a while yet


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 28, 2014)

aven000 said:


> Well what a lovely thread for old hardware. I have been pointed here by a cupple of peeps from my 'Retro Pentium 4' thread in the projects section and you can find that here.
> 
> Over the coming weeks I will be uploading some pictures of various bits of old tech I have kicking around but I thought for now I would kick off my introduction with a brief look at my Intel 486DX2!
> 
> ...





aven000 said:


> More pictures due to hitting the limit.




That is one seriously awesome ole 486 Aven!!!!!!!!!!! 

I have, naturally, added you to the original post man!!!!


----------



## Deleted member 41019 (Jan 28, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> That is one seriously awesome ole 486 Aven!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> I have, naturally, added you to the original post man!!!!



Thank you Sir!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 28, 2014)

okay F8 received FX5200  too ... just need to wait on money to order the mobo i spotted on Ebay, for the FX the seller said "works fine but a little bit dusty" a "little bit dusty" was a understatement  never seen so much gunk in a so little heatsink 

  

also as a bonus the F8 are of the new gen ... longer cable, better design, the old one in switzerland retailer are referenced at 10chf and the new between 11 and 12chf  a piece ... i paid 12chf for both and shipped from England  happy day!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 1, 2014)

FX5200.....cool thing.Had a 64MB FX5200 but now it has artefacts because of a broken ceramic cap.
How much RAM does your FX5200 have?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 1, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> FX5200.....cool thing.Had a 64MB FX5200 but now it has artefacts because of a broken ceramic cap.
> How much RAM does your FX5200 have?


it's a 128mb Pci (i have also a generic OEM AGP 5200 i can't remember if it's a 128 or 256)


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 1, 2014)

i just found old lite on dvd drive, from 2007
its still working but the spinning speed makes me afraid it would break the disc


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 1, 2014)

Great.My Chaintech board went to heaven,because the PLCC socket decided to broke.

Now,I have to hunt down a Athlon XP board or another Socket 478 MB.Well,at least I've got 2 new BIOS screens for each type.

One for Celeron D,with Intel's motto:




Same for Athlon XP,minus the motto:





Let's hope it won't be a OEM board.OEM boards are usually not worth using because of crippled BIOS.

I've got also some CPUs around.Here's a list of them:
AMD:
-Sempron 2400+ - Socket 462
-Athlon XP 1700+ - Socket 462 (the main CPU I use on Socket A rigs)
-Duron "Spitfire"950MHz - Socket 462 (secondary CPU)
-K6-2 400AHX - SUPER Socket 7 (was main CPU before I went more retro and downgraded to Pentium 1 150-133MHz)
-K5 PR-100MHz - Socket 7
Intel:
-Intel Pentium II MMX 233MHz - Slot 1
-Intel Pentium III 500MHz SL3F7 - Slot 1 (in a old 350MHz Pentium 2 casing )
-Intel Celeron III 600MHz - Socket 370
-Intel Pentium III 800MHz - Socket 370
-Intel Pentium III 933MHz - Socket 370
-Intel Pentium III 1200MHz - Socket 370
-Intel Pentium 1 150MHz - Socket 7
-Intel Pentium MMX 200MHz - Socket 7/Super Socket 7
-Intel Pentium 4 "Willamette" 1.7GHz - mPGA478/Socket 478
-Intel Celeron 4 "Willamette" 1.7/1.8GHz - mPGA478/Socket 478
-Intel Celeron D 330 "Prescott" 2.66GHz - mPGA478/Socket 478
-Intel Celeron 440 "Conroe" 2.00GHz - LGA775.

And that's all.For the video cards I don't have too much video cards.Just the Radeon 7000 32MB for AGP and a S3 Trio 64 with 5MB RAM (1MB soldered and 4MB added from a dead PSone board)

Fun fact:While those are the BIOS screens,the XP bootscreen is unchanged but the wallpaper on the desktop is........RAMMSTEIN!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 1, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Great.My Chaintech board went to heaven,because the PLCC socket decided to broke.
> 
> Now,I have to hunt down a Athlon XP board or another Socket 478 MB.Well,at least I've got 2 new BIOS screens for each type.
> 
> ...


WHAT THEEEEE...! it look like Zone Tan disguised in Raven from teen titan ... (those who know Zone Tan ... just ... no ... no say nothing ...   )


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 1, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Great.My Chaintech board went to heaven,because the PLCC socket decided to broke.
> 
> Now,I have to hunt down a Athlon XP board or another Socket 478 MB.Well,at least I've got 2 new BIOS screens for each type.
> 
> ...




Shoot some pictures of all then awesome chips man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 1, 2014)

If u look carefully on Intel one...she already got the "D". Yeeaaahhh.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 1, 2014)

My old multi-media computer chair I built back in 2007.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 1, 2014)

Bhahaha, that is awesome Broken! Do you actually have the motherboard mounted to that chair?


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 1, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Bhahaha, that is awesome Broken! Do you actually have the motherboard mounted to that chair?


Yes I ended up mounting everything after I found an older PSU other than my main tester PSU. I used nylon bolts and nuts and later mounted another PSU with zip ties.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 1, 2014)

Back in the days I mounted computer parts inside stuff other than the typical cases. 

This was my prototype for my LAN Party briefcase I named Agent, lol. I was going to mount an LCD without the bezel but LCDs were still pricey back in 2004. 
I wanted to later install better hardware inside an all aluminium briefcase but the cost for me back then was more than I had as a starving guy going to a Flight School in Tulsa OK. It was running SCSI HDs from a RAID controller, lol! 




--




---


----------



## Jetster (Feb 2, 2014)




----------



## stinger608 (Feb 2, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> Back in the days I mounted computer parts inside stuff other than the typical cases.
> 
> This was my prototype for my LAN Party briefcase I named Agent, lol. I was going to mount an LCD without the bezel but LCDs were still pricey back in 2004.
> I wanted to later install better hardware inside an all aluminium briefcase but the cost for me back then was more than I had as a starving guy going to a Flight School in Tulsa OK. It was running SCSI HDs from a RAID controller, lol!
> ...




 "Agent." that is great! Very cool man. That was a great idea. Yea, lol, in 04 or 05 I paid $200 for a 19" LCD from Sams Club. Now you can get 24" for less than that.


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 2, 2014)

Man that black and red lined exteral HDD reminds me of an external 56K modem splitter I saw on thrift store. You plugged computer in it, fax and phone line.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 2, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Shoot some pictures of all then awesome chips man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here's a picture about the size of a wallpaper with all the CPUs I could find right now.All pics were taken with my old webcam.Damn,that Slot 1 CPU is almost as big as a steamroller )






JunkBear said:


> If u look carefully on Intel one...she already got the "D". Yeeaaahhh.


Another reason why I go with a Celeron D when it comes about a skt478 rig


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 2, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Here's a picture about the size of a wallpaper with all the CPUs I could find right now.All pics were taken with my old webcam.Damn,that Slot 1 CPU is almost as big as a steamroller )
> 
> 
> 
> ...


what? tooth paste. i heard that some people using tooth paste as thermal paste


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 4, 2014)

Been a while since i posted here, running out of "old" things  so here's some random things:
rescued this gem from "storage", one of my brothers aiwa NSX-380 it still sounds so damn good, imo better than the 5.1 speakers i have now





mouse and keyboard i use with "Dino" MS PS\2 and a chicony KB











and i believe i never mentioned this one, currently warming up the bench (err spare card i mean)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 4, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Been a while since i posted here, running out of "old" things  so here's some random things:
> rescued this gem from "storage", one of my brothers aiwa NSX-380 it still sounds so damn good, imo better than the 5.1 speakers i have now
> 
> 
> ...


nyah'ice


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 4, 2014)

Man these mouse there's a local store still selling them new for 2$. Let's face the truth...these are not always moving well and get dusty but will work on any surfaces compared to some laser mice. It happens that many laser mice don't even work on light coloured surfaces.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 6, 2014)

Pentium 4 Prescott 3GHz s478 on a old HP office PC, the motherboard needs to have 5 caps replaced. Of course those failed caps are from C(r)apxon..


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 6, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Pentium 4 Prescott 3GHz s478 on a old HP office PC, the motherboard needs to have 5 caps replaced. Of course those failed caps are from C(r)apxon..


What will you use to recap?Nichicon and Panasonics?


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 6, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> What will you use to recap?Nichicon and Panasonics?


It has Panasonics now instead of those failed Crapxon's, in fact I haven't yet tried to put that PC on. Guess I'll do that now so I can see does it work now 


It had too two failed Rubycons  but now those are too replaced with Panasonics.


edit: And yes it works now!


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 6, 2014)

I still have a boxfull of old hardware somewhere around. Everything from x486 and up. The best item in my collection was PowerNote laptop(may the force be with it...) that could only run win98. It runs on P-II 133MHz, has 32MB RAM and 1GB HDD. 
My current "old" machine, so to say, is pretty close to my first PC I've built in college:
CPU: AMD Sempron 2500+
MoBo: ECS N2U400
RAM: 512MB DDR400
HDD: 80GB ATA133
VGA: ATI Radeon 9600 (128MB VRAM)

ATM it runs Fedora 20.1, but I have bigger plans for it.
To be honest, as a kid I've always wanted to have a ZX Spectrum. 
I had a neighbor who was developing software for this platform, since it was the most popular in Soviet Union. He had a 48k model with 128k homebrew modification, external 5,25" floppy drive and, of course, tape storage running off "Vesna" stereo system(something like a soviet boombox) 
Cool stuff. I might buy me one soon.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 6, 2014)

Cleaning up stuff from my dad store found some old stuff:

Old Pentium 1 (non MMX), I bet its 166MHz. Would run if I could be bothered to do so, it even have SD RAM slots and AGP slots so it can be upgraded 






Old 33600 fax modem. How many actually remember this?






Quad speed Creative external drive






One more, old IOmega ZIP drive, 100MB is HUGE on its days


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 6, 2014)

Apocalypsee said:


> Old 33600 fax modem. How many actually remember this?


Jeez, I've actually used 14.4K USRobotics for years. The thing was a present from a friend. It was impossible to find proper drivers for it, so I had to use generic driver under Win98(which didn't completely work) and do ATDPxxxxxxxxxx every time, because it won't dial automatically.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 6, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Pentium 4 Prescott 3GHz s478 on a old HP office PC, the motherboard needs to have 5 caps replaced. Of course those failed caps are from C(r)apxon..



Awesome that it worked after changing the caps! 
I have added you to the original post bro. 


@Apocalypsee: Some awesome ole hardware you found in your dad's shop!


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 6, 2014)

silentbogo said:


> I still have a boxfull of old hardware somewhere around. Everything from x486 and up. The best item in my collection was PowerNote laptop(may the force be with it...) that could only run win98. It runs on P-II 133MHz, has 32MB RAM and 1GB HDD.
> My current "old" machine, so to say, is pretty close to my first PC I've built in college:
> CPU: AMD Sempron 2500+
> MoBo: ECS N2U400
> ...




Shoot some pictures and post them up man!!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 6, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome that it worked after changing the caps!
> I have added you to the original post bro.
> 
> 
> @Apocalypsee: Some awesome ole hardware you found in your dad's shop!





stinger608 said:


> Shoot some pictures and post them up man!!!




hey boss ... you double posted ... tsk tsk


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 6, 2014)

Well,good news and bad news:

Good:I found a VIA based S478 motherboard,a MSI P4MAM-V
Bad:It doesn't work.(board won't turn on by power button,green and black must be shorted on ATX plug and won't post)

So,here's the specs at this moment:
CPU:Celeron D 2.66GHz
MB:MSI P4MAM-V v2(P4M266A chipset,S3 ProSavage onboard I think)
RAM:2x256 MB DDR400 (Sycron/Hynix)
Video card:ATI Radeon 7000 for AGP,S3 Trio 64 for PCI
Network:Realtek 8139D
HDD:Seagate ST310211A
DVD:TSSTCorp SH-S182D (ain't this a Samsung or LG drive?)
There's also a broken LTN-486S CD-ROM,which is just for show.
Cooler on this system is the stock Intel cooler.

I also have an working board(Gigabyte GA-6WMMC7-E1,Socket 370) but which is OEM,thus useless.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 7, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome that it worked after changing the caps!
> I have added you to the original post bro.


Yeah, that computer runs now like brand new, too bad that motherboard is purely meant for office use, it doesn't even have an AGP slot  well, at least a working rig for emergency use


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 7, 2014)

LESS CHATTER MOAR PICZ!!!!!!


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 7, 2014)

I bet i still have my 800 baud modem I used for my C-64 somewhere? When the internet was all text.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 9, 2014)

When I can get my P4i45D+to work,I'll post a BIOS screen and a shot of the desktop.This board is funny because while it uses *845D* chipset (we all naturally know that a normal 845 board,such as a P4B533 won't work with Prescott CPUs)it can work with Prescott CPUs.

The problem with my board is that it doesn't like my RAM sticks.2 of them make the board produce 3 beeps (AMIBIOS,3 beeps means no RAM detected),1 makes the board turn on a few secs,turn off and on again and the last stick makes the board reboot and doesn't POST.2 sticks are DDR400 and 2 are DDR266.Any help?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 9, 2014)

you know a pics is ... this:

 

oh wait not nostalgic ... but you get the idea  NOW TO YOUR CAMERA! (phone or true camera!)


----------



## typicalintrovert (Feb 9, 2014)

My Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev 1.6. Bought it in 2009 and will never get rid of it. Core 2 Duo E7200 4.2Ghz, Core 2 Quad Q9550 4.6Ghz, with lots of punishment including 1.65v on the northbridge alone, and not once did it die, until one fateful day a power surge took its life--was during a monsoon, and i didnt have enough money at the time for a second UPS to run my secondary rig off of, so it died


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 9, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> you know a pics is ... this:
> View attachment 54576
> 
> oh wait not nostalgic ... but you get the idea  NOW TO YOUR CAMERA! (phone or true camera!)


All I have is my USB webcam and my tablet's camera.(which is as bad that even my webcam does pics better)


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 9, 2014)

Ok. Here we go. 
You've asked for some pics, and Thy giveth to you, mortals:
    
This is my backup workhorse. Sempron 2500+ / 512 MB RAM / Radeon 9600 / 80 GB HDD
Runs Fedora 20.1


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## stinger608 (Feb 9, 2014)

typicalintrovert said:


> My Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev 1.6. Bought it in 2009 and will never get rid of it. Core 2 Duo E7200 4.2Ghz, Core 2 Quad Q9550 4.6Ghz, with lots of punishment including 1.65v on the northbridge alone, and not once did it die, until one fateful day a power surge took its life--was during a monsoon, and i didnt have enough money at the time for a second UPS to run my secondary rig off of, so it died






silentbogo said:


> Ok. Here we go.
> You've asked for some pics, and Thy giveth to you, mortals:
> View attachment 54579 View attachment 54580 View attachment 54582 View attachment 54583
> This is my backup workhorse. Sempron 2500+ / 512 MB RAM / Radeon 9600 / 80 GB HDD
> Runs Fedora 20.1




Awesome hardware guys!!! I have added both of you to the original post.


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## silentbogo (Feb 9, 2014)

typicalintrovert said:


> My Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev 1.6. Bought it in 2009 and will never get rid of it. Core 2 Duo E7200 4.2Ghz, Core 2 Quad Q9550 4.6Ghz, with lots of punishment including 1.65v on the northbridge alone, and not once did it die, until one fateful day a power surge took its life--was during a monsoon, and i didnt have enough money at the time for a second UPS to run my secondary rig off of, so it died


I had a Warrior Motherboard too. GA-P35-DS3 got fried by lightning, but served another 5 years with dead PCI and Ethernet ports. With some parts permanently disabled it was putting out higher overclocks than back when everything worked!!!


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 9, 2014)

My new retro rig: Scraps!






Build from hw I had lying around no longer in use and an actual scrap: I got the IC7-G at a electronics scrap yard when I went to drop a few things. The guy had it in the front table and I asked if he would sell it and agreed on $5  It actually works if you're wondering.

Specs:

- Abit IC7-G w Enzotech heatsinks applied + new northbridge HSF
- Pentium 4 3.4E Presscott
- 4GB mushkin Redline PC-5000 (DDR500)
- X-Fi XtremeMusic (I loved that card so much)
- 2x Gigabyte iRAM w/4GB each. I plan to run these in RAID 0 and install XP on them 
- Sapphire HD3850 AGP. Extremely overkill, I know. I had found an HD2600XT AGP on a flea market and had decided to sell the 3850 and use the 2600XT instead but then I thought that the 3850 would make a more impressive build, if only for the size 
- Scythe Ninja 2. I got it wanting to use it on my GreenTea build but it didn't fit inside the case by about 2mm 
- Samsung floppy drive. You can't say it's retro if you don't get one... plus I'll need it for setting up the RAID

All this will be filling a Thermal Master case . Will start a log soon


----------



## typicalintrovert (Feb 9, 2014)

silentbogo said:


> I had a Warrior Motherboard too. GA-P35-DS3 got fried by lightning, but served another 5 years with dead PCI and Ethernet ports. With some parts permanently disabled it was putting out higher overclocks than back when everything worked!!!



Yeah they tend to do that  my UD3P was able to wring 1150mhz out of mushkin redlines. and back then in the 775 days giga and mushkin were like oil and water, so 1150 was a struggle to get lol

Thats some cool as hell hardware TRWOV


----------



## Norton (Feb 9, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> My new retro rig: Scraps!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nice assortment! 

I call those rigs* SPOT* (*S*pare *P*arts *O*ver *T*ime)


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## TRWOV (Feb 9, 2014)

That's actually a nicer name.


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## silentbogo (Feb 9, 2014)

Holy crap! Is that iRAM? I've always wanted to have one of those!
All thumbs up for the build. Post some benchmarks, when you're done.

I had 3850 for a while and it was a little monster. Being a first revision stock single-slot card it was OC-ing so good, 
I had first place in HWBot single-card stats for like 3 months! It even outperformed my 2900XT.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 9, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> My new retro rig: Scraps!
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Wow!!!!!!! That is sooooooo damn awesome bro!!! 

I am very interested to see how them Gigabyte iRams work. Will be interesting to see some speed results.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 10, 2014)

build done, just a few touches left.















Now to install the OS


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 10, 2014)

i got a good news from DHL, for my future Riowork Rhapsody HDAMA + the 2 Opteron  270, i will not have the custom taxes normally, because the total price is under 62,50chf (damn right 61,45chf is under 62,50chf) delivery under 7days after payment i need to wait around 2 days for the paypal actualization the auction end in 3 days ... i have to decide fast, but whatever i choose at max i should recieve the board around next wednesday or end of the next week... indeed that's a good new

to stay on the pics (on topics ahahahah ) i didn't know Tyan did graphic card ... the quality build seems rather good (obviously since Tyan Server board are among the best if not the best) ladies and gents: the Tyan Tachyon G9000 Pro
   

i don't own it unfortunately ... too expensive even for a collection ...  but i wanted to share this


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 10, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> i got a good news from DHL, for my future Riowork Rhapsody HDAMA + the 2 Opteron  270, i will not have the custom taxes normally, because the total price is under 62,50chf (damn right 61,45chf is under 62,50chf) delivery under 7days after payment i need to wait around 2 days for the paypal actualization the auction end in 3 days ... i have to decide fast, but whatever i choose at max i should recieve the board around next wednesday or end of the next week... indeed that's a good new
> 
> to stay on the pics (on topics ahahahah ) i didn't know Tyan did graphic card ... the quality build seems rather good (obviously since Tyan Server board are among the best if not the best) ladies and gents: the Tyan Tachyon G9000 Pro
> View attachment 54587 View attachment 54589 View attachment 54588 View attachment 54590
> ...



Does Tyan still make video cards and/or motherboards?


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 10, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Does Tyan still make video cards and/or motherboards?


Not sure about video cards, but they're still a huge player in the server board industry.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 10, 2014)

Alright,since I installed a Xbox adapter in my Celeron rig I thought of taking a few pics of it with my webcam.It still doesn't work though (the rig,the adapter's fine)as I said that I need to find some new RAM(hope the guy I bought the board from still has the RAM sticks ).

Adapter:





Motherboard(picture a bit unclear,still most of the board can be seen clearly):




The rig with Xbox controller next to it:


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 10, 2014)

I think Tyan got completely out of the video card manufacturing.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 10, 2014)

Anyone have any Albatron mainboards or GPUs to show? Later I will post picts from a HD that has pics from 2002. Get ready for Old School Overload.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 10, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> Get ready for Old School Overload.



not too much or my screen will have "broken pixel"   ahahah im too good ...(or not)


----------



## Maban (Feb 10, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> Anyone have any Albatron mainboards or GPUs to show? Later I will post picts from a HD that has pics from 2002. Get ready for Old School Overload.



How about an Alvarez?








Spoiler


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 11, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Alright,since I installed a Xbox adapter in my Celeron rig I thought of taking a few pics of it with my webcam.It still doesn't work though (the rig,the adapter's fine)as I said that I need to find some new RAM(hope the guy I bought the board from still has the RAM sticks ).
> 
> Adapter:
> 
> ...


 
I don't own a Xbox so could you tell me how it works the adapter? What's used for? Thx.


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 11, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> I don't own a Xbox so could you tell me how it works the adapter? What's used for? Thx.


The original Xbox's controllers were based on USB, so a lot of people would either mod the controller's cable to have a USB plug or mod the controller ports from the console into a PC, which is exactly what he's done here.
Doing this allows you to use the Xbox controller with your PC games. I have my original Halo controller set up that way


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> The original Xbox's controllers were based on USB, so a lot of people would either mod the controller's cable to have a USB plug or mod the controller ports from the console into a PC, which is exactly what he's done here.
> Doing this allows you to use the Xbox controller with your PC games. I have my original Halo controller set up that way




Cool. I didn't know that one. Jeez I have two original Xbox's and no power supply. The power brick took a crap about a year ago. Was wondering what to do with them.


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 11, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Cool. I didn't know that one. Jeez I have two original Xbox's and no power supply. The power brick took a crap about a year ago. Was wondering what to do with them.


Yeah, it's pretty neat. I play 2-4 player on emulators with friends like that. It doesn't get picked up as a 360 controller in titles that support them, so you have to map the keys yourself, and some games that say they support controllers just outright refuse to work with them (CoD titles are the only ones off the top of my head that do this).
The only PITA about it is the software, XBCD. No problems at all on XP. Not sure if it's 8 compatible. On 7, you have to force the system into Test Mode and allow unsigned drivers, and not just for installation.
I think M$ did this to sell more 360 controllers, as they are simply plug and play.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 11, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Cool. I didn't know that one. Jeez I have two original Xbox's and no power supply. The power brick took a crap about a year ago. Was wondering what to do with them.


pardon me sire ... but the original Xbox had no powerbrick .... but a 2 phase plug with a integrated PSU in the bulky shape of the honorable and valorous lady (wait what? Awkward?)


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> pardon me sire ... but the original Xbox had no powerbrick .... but a 2 phase plug with a integrated PSU in the bulky shape of the honorable and valorous lady (wait what? Awkward?)



still basically a power brick. LOL. At any rate, the one that I had took a crap on me.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 11, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> still basically a power brick. LOL. At any rate, the one that I had took a crap on me.




oh you mean the internal PSU ... because for me a external transfo is a "power brick" and nothing other  

different user different understanding and interpretation .... wonderful world we live in


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2014)

No, its the one that plugs into the wall. Has somewhat of a power brick, on it. Kind of like the ones for laptops.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 12, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> No, its the one that plugs into the wall. Has somewhat of a power brick, on it. Kind of like the ones for laptops.


oohhh well ok not for the swiss model (euro too i assume )


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 12, 2014)

It's not a power brick but a surge protector:






It was issued after MS was hit with a lawsuit in which supposedly an Xbox power cord caught fire: http://www.dailytech.com/Xbox Killed Baby Lawsuit Claims/article7443.htm

You can use any standard 125v 2A bipolar cord.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 12, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> It's not a power brick but a surge protector:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Shit, your right bro!!! Didn't even think of that. 

So I guess that is my problem, is the surge protector has taken a big dump on me. 
Are they still available? Other than Fleabay.


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 12, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Shit, your right bro!!! Didn't even think of that.
> 
> So I guess that is my problem, is the surge protector has taken a big dump on me.
> Are they still available? Other than Fleabay.


You don't need it: 


TRWOV said:


> You can use any standard 125v 2A bipolar cord.


I've even used a polarized cord and rounded the square side of the end that plugs into the device.


----------



## Jetster (Feb 12, 2014)

Okay, enough of the chit chat. Time to work on some photography. This MB went threw the dishwasher yesterday. Give it a week and Ill fire it up


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 12, 2014)

Weird, one of my iRAMs didn't work  It was working fine before (as in 2 years ago). Thankfully I had an spare...mmm... that new electronics smell. NGGGNHHHHH 


It seems that it isn't initializing properly since even after taking out the battery the FAULT led doesn't lit up. Also the battery indicator doesn't light up either... I don't know if Gigabyte would be willing to help me  There's a JP1 on the board but if it had to guess is for some sort of debug interface.  It's not the battery either, I took the battery from the working iRAM and it didn't work anyway. This is going to be a tough test for Gigabyte's support.


Another snag, the XP setup couldn't format the RAID as NTFS, had to use FAT32. Is there a minimum size for an NTFS boot partition?


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 12, 2014)

Maybe it isn't XP at all. It might be the iRam cards not allowing the NTFS format. I know some memory cards are that way. I don't recall a minimum partition size for a RAID or NTFS.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 12, 2014)

I used to have them installed on my Conroe865PE board through a SiL PCI controller and both were formatted in NTFS just not as boot


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 12, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> The original Xbox's controllers were based on USB, so a lot of people would either mod the controller's cable to have a USB plug or mod the controller ports from the console into a PC, which is exactly what he's done here.
> Doing this allows you to use the Xbox controller with your PC games. I have my original Halo controller set up that way


Right.
Wish the Xbox controller had a C and Z button on them,as MUGEN uses A,B,C,X,Y,Z for the layout.Oh well,I'll use the black and white buttons for C and Z.


----------



## Jetster (Feb 12, 2014)

Antec Smartpower SP-350. Very well built


----------



## PolRoger (Feb 12, 2014)

Some older hardware from the storage shelf...


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 12, 2014)

Wow Pol!!! Some very awesome old hardware man!!! 

I added you to the original post bro!!!


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 12, 2014)

OCZ RAM, nforce motherboards *drools*


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 12, 2014)

Getting my Celeron Coppermine 600MHz rig from friend today, unfortunately it has no RAM 


But if I remember correctly, I has a P3 800 lying somewhere.. Pics on the rigs tomorrow


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 13, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> But if I remember correctly, I has a P3 800 lying somewhere.. Pics on the rigs tomorrow



Waiting................


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 13, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> OCZ RAM





> BACKED BY OCZ LIFETIME WARRANTY


*or until we go bankrupt.


----------



## Jetster (Feb 14, 2014)

Well its together. What a pain


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 14, 2014)

Old School Overload! Some pics are of old school microwave radio gear.  Damn! 10 images per post.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 14, 2014)

^ Part II


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 14, 2014)

^Part III


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 14, 2014)

^Part IV


----------



## PolRoger (Feb 14, 2014)

Cool thread... I'm about ~40 pages in so far.  Some more parts from the shelf...


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## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2014)

Damn Broken, that is a lot of hardware man!!!!!!!!!!!

Love that ole "slocket" you have PolRoger! I think I still have one or two of them myself somewhere. Probably in my storage unit.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 14, 2014)

mmm, according to Gigabyte support my bad i-RAM is done for  The issue is that the i-RAM isn't initializing properly, even if I take out the battery the FAULT indicator doesn't light up so it might be that the FGPA got deprogrammed somehow. I'll contact Gigabyte service to see what they can do, hopefully they'll be able to re-program it.


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 14, 2014)

All that hardware brings some good(and not so good) memories...

I still remember my first Socket A CPU, may it rest in peace, that I broke by installing Titan D5TB knockoff with super-tight clamp.
Cracked the damned crystal!!!
At least I've learned that saving $5 on a heatsink may cause more damage than it's worth.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> mmm, according to Gigabyte support my bad i-RAM is done for  The issue is that the i-RAM isn't initializing properly, even if I take out the battery the FAULT indicator doesn't light up so it might be that the FGPA got deprogrammed somehow. I'll contact Gigabyte service to see what they can do, hopefully they'll be able to re-program it.



Wow, hopefully Gigabyte can do something. I am sure they no longer even carry them critters. 



silentbogo said:


> All that hardware brings some good(and not so good) memories...
> 
> I still remember my first Socket A CPU, may it rest in peace, that I broke by installing Titan D5TB knockoff with super-tight clamp.
> Cracked the damned crystal!!!
> At least I've learned that saving $5 on a heatsink may cause more damage than it's worth.



That was always the problem with the Socket A chips. I was happy when they started putting heat spreaders on the chips starting with the 754 platform. Heck, prior to the socket A era, during the socket 7 time, they had heat spreaders on them.


----------



## PolRoger (Feb 14, 2014)

ATI cards and some watercooling parts from the shelf...


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 15, 2014)

*2 PolRoger:*

It would be nice to replace my Radeon 9600 with that x800XL of yours in my backup rig.
Hopefully next moth i will have a completely new "work" rig.


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 15, 2014)

DAT Koolance, I always wanted one.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 15, 2014)

Stinger don't you have one of those Exoses? I have the complete Koolance case which I need to go rescue from storage.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 15, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Stinger don't you have one of those Exoses? I have the complete Koolance case which I need to go rescue from storage.




Yep I do. In fact I recently got that system up and running earlier this week. I need to take some pics and get them posted. LOL


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 15, 2014)

I have all the interior stuff for mine here just the case is about an hour away in a friends house. I will go rescue it this week since we are supposed to hit the low to mid 60's.


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 16, 2014)

Man, this thread keeps getting more and more awesome.
Great show lads!


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 16, 2014)

_JP_ said:


> Man, this thread keeps getting more and more awesome.
> Great show lads!



You got that right JP!!!


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)

Bigfoot Networks K1 NIC


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)

Mobile image posting is not being nice.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)




----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)

One of the better known upgrade CPU's. It is based on the AMD DX5-133. Basically just a high speed 486 with extra cache. It is a capable performer and happens to be rather overclockable (160MHz is usually attainable) 

Sockets    1 - 2 - 3
Pins    168
Speeds    133
Fan?    Integrated
Core    AMD DX5

Cant seem to add more than one link per post via smart phone, bah!


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)

One of the better known upgrade CPU's. It is based on the AMD DX5-133. Basically just a high speed 486 with extra cache. It is a capable performer and happens to be rather overclockable (160MHz is usually attainable) 

Sockets    1 - 2 - 3
Pins    168
Speeds    133
Fan?    Integrated
Core    AMD DX5


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)




----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> OCZ RAM, nforce motherboards *drools*



I have one of the OCZ memory kits they made with H2O blocks. I will see if I can locate them within the hardware closet void.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)




----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)




----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)




----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)




----------



## R-T-B (Feb 17, 2014)

broken pixel said:


>



Heh, I tried to sell one of those on TPU about 2 years back, no one would buy it, it's still here in a drawer somewhere....


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 17, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> You got that right JP!!!


and not only by a little ! 



broken pixel said:


> Can't seem to add more than one link per post via smart phone, bah!



you will have work to put all in 1 post once on a computer  otherwise i would think you use the phone excuse for hunting for "thanks"   (joke)

damned ... paypal account top up failed and i don't know where the money did go ... aaaaaaaargh! i have to wait some more till i can buy the Riowork SSI board ... (3 weeks or until paypal or my bank figure out where the money is ...)

humpf i might get rid of my W0W account for a friend (he would give me symbolically a certain amount for the time invested) 1 yrs almost since last time i played it ... i know what blizz think about "giving" account but eh ... better of use to someone then frozen with 4 90 and 1 87... plus it could fund some of my nostalgic needs ...  dunno ... maybe someday i will have a sudden urge to re activate it ... or not... dilemma


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 17, 2014)

nice but you should put some text about the hardware, like spec or year or is it still working or not or where do you find it


broken pixel said:


>


duh, cleaning it a little then take a shoot


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 17, 2014)

broken pixel said:


>




Nice 8800 Ultra!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 17, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Nice 8800 Ultra!!!!!!!!!!


my Asus Matrix 9800GT 512mb and my plain HP 9800GT 1gb (who are renamed 8800GT ) never got so much !!!!!!!!!! ... i am jealous now ...


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)

I found my OCZ Flex-2 PC2- 9200 2GB Dual Ch. kit.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 17, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> nice but you should put some text about the hardware, like spec or year or is it still working or not or where do you find it
> 
> duh, cleaning it a little then take a shoot



The dust adds to the age of the hardware, the more dust it gathers the older it is. If it has Gold then you polish it, duh!

One of the better known upgrade CPU's. It is based on the AMD DX5-133. Basically just a high speed 486 with extra cache. It is a capable performer and happens to be rather overclockable (160MHz is usually attainable)

Sockets    1 - 2 - 3
Pins    168
Speeds    133
Fan?    Integrated
Core    AMD DX5


----------



## TRWOV (Feb 17, 2014)

I don't know what's happening with my IC7-G. I set up a RAID on the intel controller but on the XP setup it shows the i-RAMs as separate drives. After copying all the files and restarting it won't enter the setup until it undo the RAID (return disks to non-RAID, not disabling RAID on the bios). I thought, "ok, well then, I'll re-arm the RAID with the Intel Accelerator suite once Windows loads". I've done it before, making a RAID from a full disk (the IAS will automatically spread the clusters between the two drives) but it can't do it with the system volume 

I've reflashed the bios but the matter continues. Yes, I loaded the RAID drivers with F6. If I don't the drives don't even show up.

I'll test on my nforce3 board.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 18, 2014)

Nice website for old school CPU info.

http://www.cpushack.com/UpgradeProcessors.html


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 18, 2014)

Thanks Broken, that is some great information man! I am going to put that link in the original post for anyone needing info.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 18, 2014)

I found this old timer. 
ATI EGA 800

ATi Wonder Series
Release date	1986-1987
Codename(s)	Wonder
Entry-level cards	Wonder MDA/CGA
Mid-range cards	Wonder EGA
High-end cards	Wonder VGA
Successor	Mach Series
ATI EGA 800


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 18, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> I found this old timer.
> ATI EGA 800
> 
> ATi Wonder Series
> ...



wow, nice
but where all of these stuff came from
you have pc junkyard?


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 18, 2014)

Thanks, I wish I had a PC junkyard. 

I used to have a small PC shop back in 2003 and ended up with peoples old timers but I gave away some and left some behind.


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 18, 2014)

wow you guy's were talking about TYAN a while ago and i found this today xD
now on the nostalgia topic my brother has a laptop that i think it qualifies [ i even done a semi-ghetto fix for its hinges too], will edit post with pics later when i can

Well here it is Inspiron 2650, very solid lappy this one, got years of abuse and still works great except battery is dead
hinge cover broke so put nuts to tighten screws and hot glued it to keep everything in place,  if i could i'd upgrade the CPU, RAM and HDD but they're hard to find. renamed pics to be self explanatory xD
CPU: Pentium 4m 2GHz | RAM: 2x 256MB samsungs
GPU: Geforce 2 Go 200 32MB | HDD: 30GB Hitachi pata


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 18, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> wow you guy's were talking about TYAN a while ago and i found this today xD
> now on the nostalgia topic my brother has a laptop that i think it qualifies [ i even done a semi-ghetto fix for its hinges too], will edit post with pics later when i can


i was aiming for a Tyan Tiger board for my 940 plateforme but the Riowork is cheaper and have the same features plus come with 2 Opteron 270... now i just need to wait on Paypal ... 

little family pics on the Shelf ... xD and i re assembled my AM2+ setup with the Grand Kama Cross ... WHAT A PAIN IN THE @SS to put it in a NSK3480 with the KAMA on it xD


----------



## m0nt3 (Feb 19, 2014)

Count me in. Making this post from my Athlon XP-M 2500+ @2.2Ghz 400FSB, Crucial Ballistix PC3200, geforce FX 5950 Ultra, Abit NF7-S and soundblaster audigy


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 19, 2014)

Awesome m0nt3!!!! I actually have that exact motherboard that I picked up from The_Mad_Shot over a year ago. Awesome motherboards!!! 

And of course I added ya to the original post.


----------



## m0nt3 (Feb 19, 2014)

I choose the Abit to replace my dying ASUS A7N8X, stuck with ABit till the stopped making motherboards. Always loved the orange color. Un fortunately, my 9800 non pro died, so i bought the 5950 ultra on ebay for 40 bucks several years ago, my friend killed my 2700+ (booted with out a heatsink lol) so he gave me his XP 2500-M and I no longer have the case I used (although thats the same PSU I have been using with it for 11 years). Wish I could find an Antec Plus 1080 AMG Silver.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 19, 2014)

*


 *
I found another old timer.
*
ADAPTEC AVA-1505A 16BIT ISA SCSI CONTROLLER CARD (AVA1505A)*


Number of devices: Up to 7 hard disk drives under DOS

Bus System Interface Type: ISA - 16 Bit

External Connectors: 25-pin, DB25

Internal Connectors: 50-pin, flat cable

Data Transfer Rate: Up to 5 Mbytes/sec (synchronous, on the SCSI bus)

System Requirements: IBM Compatible PC with available ISA expansion slot

Microsoft® Windows 95, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and MS-DOS SCSI peripheral


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 19, 2014)

Better use zip-ties for better airflow. All these wires screw it up.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 20, 2014)

NETGEAR GA620T Rev. A PCI 100/1000 NIC adapter.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 20, 2014)

http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/tubepage.php?item=35

Another cool site for vintage EPROMs.

I bought some AMD gold EPROMs on eBay, waiting for the mail man to deliver them. 

I am thinking of making some necklaces out of them, maybe a ring depending on the actual size.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 21, 2014)

Sorry for the delay, but nyt that Celeron 600MHz rig is here 

http://imgur.com/a/eD2Ph#1


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 21, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Sorry for the delay, but nyt that Celeron 600MHz rig is here
> 
> http://imgur.com/a/eD2Ph#1



Cool man. I had an old HP almost identical to that one. Purchased it brand new with Windows 98SE and about a year later the motherboard fried and took the hard drive with it. Ended up junking the whole system.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 21, 2014)

That's sad 

Still I'm having kinda problem to decide what I'll do with it, or what components I'll be getting to it. 256MB RAM and something GeForce 2-GeForce 4Ti class GPU maybe? 

And I'll still need to find that P3-800 if I'm still having it, and I'll just hope that the motherboard supports it.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 21, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> That's sad
> 
> Still I'm having kinda problem to decide what I'll do with it, or what components I'll be getting to it. 256MB RAM and something GeForce 2-GeForce 4Ti class GPU maybe?
> 
> And I'll still need to find that P3-800 if I'm still having it, and I'll just hope that the motherboard supports it.




Probably depends on the front side buss of the chips. It should support an 800 though.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 21, 2014)

Advanced Micro Devices
AM27128A-20LC
UV-Erasable PROM (EPROM) - Separate OE/CE/VPP
Number of Words=16k
Bits Per Word=8
t(a) Max. (s) Access Time=200n
Output Config=3-State
Number of Chip Selects=1
Program Voltage (V)=12.5
Nom. Supp (V)=5.0
Package=QCC-N
Pins=32
Military=N
Technology=NMOS


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 22, 2014)

Just put my hand on an original installation drivers Cd for Matrox Mystique gpu. The package to put the cd really good looking, driver cd, plus 4 games bundle on 3 cd with it. Scorched Planet (Full), Destruction Derby 2 (Full)+ Thunder Truck Rally(Demo)  and MechWarrior2 31st century combat (Full) including the booklet for MechWarrior. All wearing the brand Matrox on it. Oh and also found a 3.5" disk  with the game Arkanoid.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 22, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Probably depends on the front side buss of the chips. It should support an 800 though.


I guess it works with P3 800E, since I found out that models with 933 and 1GHz P3:s are also exist. Well, gotta find that CPU and have to get the RAM and some GPU


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 22, 2014)

m0nt3 said:


> Count me in. Making this post from my Athlon XP-M 2500+ @2.2Ghz 400FSB, Crucial Ballistix PC3200, geforce FX 5950 Ultra, Abit NF7-S and soundblaster audigy



That reminds me...my AXP is living in a new home...I should get some pictures of that.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 23, 2014)

btw it makes me laugh that my gaming PC has almost twice RAM as that Celeron 600 PC has HD space


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 23, 2014)

PolRoger said:


> View attachment 54625 View attachment 54635 View attachment 54636 View attachment 54637 View attachment 54638 View attachment 54639 View attachment 54640 Some older hardware from the storage shelf...



Nice hardware selection. Have much of the same and then some. I'll post some pics soon.


----------



## Bones (Feb 25, 2014)

Here's something a little different for this thread.

 
 
2nd pic roughly shows the size of it.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 25, 2014)

^ Old ass IBM modem. 

I have a few 1974 Vidifont magnetic hard drive boards, they have huge gold traces. 

Post pics later.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 25, 2014)

m0nt3 said:


> Count me in. Making this post from my Athlon XP-M 2500+ @2.2Ghz 400FSB, Crucial Ballistix PC3200, geforce FX 5950 Ultra, Abit NF7-S and soundblaster audigy


I have a sb audigy platnium and a  nf7-s. I think the onboard soundstorm is tons better. Truly great for it's time.


----------



## m0nt3 (Feb 26, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I have a sb audigy platnium and a  nf7-s. I think the onboard soundstorm is tons better. Truly great for it's time.



Yes, sound storm was amazing for its time. But it only functioned through digital, Analog output was still controlled by the ALC662 AC'97. The NF-7S was a replacement board to my A7N8X )non delux so no soundstorm) and I have had that audigy since 2001 since I had analog surround and my old 1.3Ghz t-Bird motherboard did not  have integrated surround.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 26, 2014)

1974 Hard Drive IBM Caelus Memories Vidifont machine boards.




--


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 26, 2014)

I'm thinking of getting a A7V600-X for my new Athlon XP 3200+.
I've also got 1GB of RAM.
What do you think,is it worth installing the following systems on those HDDs?Also,which one should be the primary,secondary HDD from those 3?

HDDs:
1.Seagate ST310211A 10GB - Windows 7 Lite "Cocos"
2.WD Protege 8GB - Android 4.4 x86 "Kitkat"
3.WD "Caviar SE" 80GB (SATA I and II at the same time,and it's the original drive,not the Blue version which is SATA II only) - Linux OS,I leave you name one so I can get it.

At least,I learned my lesson to never get Soltek again.Last time (3 days ago,Sunday)I got a SL-75FRN2-RL (which has nForce 2 Ultra chipset and SATA controller)and it won't POST.
Thank god that the A7V600-X has also SATA ports.Anybody know what SATA controller it uses?


----------



## Backfire (Feb 26, 2014)

Some older soundcards:

[url=http://abload.de/image.php?img=terratecews64s120002lgryy.jpg]
	
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 [/URL]


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 26, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> 1974 Hard Drive IBM Caelus Memories Vidifont machine boards.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


looks like electronic from cold war era


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 26, 2014)

http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3956


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 26, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Some older soundcards:


edit ... i said nothing  i thought it was a old hardware selling site and not a image hosting site xD still white background is ... meh ...


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 26, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> edit ... i said nothing  i thought it was a old hardware selling site and not a image hosting site xD still white background is ... meh ...


yeah too bad when the hardware still run well it doesnt have new driver for new os then it just retire


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 26, 2014)

Planified obsolescence.


----------



## Athlonite (Feb 26, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3956




Hmmm year I was born DRAM was first made


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 26, 2014)

Athlonite said:


> Hmmm year I was born DRAM was first made



for me i was born 1 yrs after 


1980*First circuit boards that have built-in self-testing technology*





Chuck Stroud, while working at Bell Laboratories, develops and designs 21 different microchips and three different circuit boards—the first to employ built-in self-testing (BIST) technology. BIST results in a significant reduction in the cost, and a significant increase in the quality of producing electronic components.


----------



## Backfire (Feb 27, 2014)

Some of my retro-systems:






Epox EP-MVP3G5, K6-III+ 400ATZ@600MHz/ Alpha PAL6035, 3x 256MB PC133 CL2 Infineon, Diamond Viper V770Ultra/ 2x Diamond Monster II 3D 12MB, TerraTec Maestro 32/96









Sunrise 

Asus K7M, Athlon Thunderbird 1GHz/ Golden Orb, 3x 256MB PC133 CL2 Infineon, ATI Rage Fury MAXX/ 2x CREATIVE 3D Blaster CT6670 Voodoo 2 12MB, TerraTec EWS64 XL





Tyan Tiger S2466-4M, 2x Athlon XP-M 2600+/ Cooler Master Aero Radial Cooler, 3x 1GB RAM, Hercules Radeon 9700Pro/ Zalman, Creative Audigy 2


----------



## Athlonite (Feb 27, 2014)

Can you not use that hosting site anymore am tired of having to block all the popups if you have hotmail/outlook then just use your onedrive


----------



## Backfire (Feb 27, 2014)

This is the first time I hear complaints about Abload. Don't you guys use adblock?


----------



## HammerON (Feb 27, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Stinger don't you have one of those Exoses? I have the complete Koolance case which I need to go rescue from storage.


 
Had an EXOS 2. Back then I wanted the case!!!

Here are some pics from 2007 - 2008. Not that old...
2007






2008


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 27, 2014)

Looking at this rig I always wondered who tought it could be a good idea to point the exhaust fan of GPU toward the inside of the case instead of outside through the back slots.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 27, 2014)

Backfire said:


> This is the first time I hear complaints about Abload. Don't you guys use adblock?


why not use TPU image hosting instead of that ... 

i have no popup problems with that site but i prefer TPU image hosting and the "add file" button just right of "post reply" ... less hassle


----------



## Peter1986C (Feb 27, 2014)

The "add file" button is freaking awesome! No need to use any hosting site at all! It's the biggest improvement Xenforo has given TPU!


----------



## Backfire (Feb 27, 2014)

ok, let me try the "add file"-button .

















This was a fast socket A- system with a watercooled Abit NF7-S and a Radeon HD3850AGP.

My latest project is a "youngtimer". A DFI CFX3200 Crossfire Motherboard with two Radeon X1950XTX. The CPU is an Athlon64 3700+ @ 3,1+GHz.


----------



## Backfire (Feb 27, 2014)

To test different parts I built a benchtable out of parts of an old Compaq-tower.


----------



## broken pixel (Feb 27, 2014)

Go old DFI, I still have a DFI X48 board but is dead. 

Very nice setup! I love the fan lamp, awesome.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 28, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I'm thinking of getting a A7V600-X for my new Athlon XP 3200+.
> I've also got 1GB of RAM.
> What do you think,is it worth installing the following systems on those HDDs?Also,which one should be the primary,secondary HDD from those 3?
> 
> ...



All VIA chipset and SATA controller.
Be advised, VIA chipsets have no PCI/AGP locks on them. If you up the FSB the other bus's increase also. It won't be long before you run into data corruption or bios corruption issues. NF2 boards are the way to go. You just need to find a decent one.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 28, 2014)

@ Backfire, Awesome hardware man!!!!!! I actually have an Abit NF7-S in retail box. Ole sucker is damn near new LOL.  Also just received a DFI Lanparty UT NF4 DR Expert with a Opteron 175, and 4gb of ram for the cost of shipping! Only thing wrong with it was the chipset fan was bad. Had a tall aluminum chipset heat sink to put on it, and that puppy booted right up! 

Needless to say Backfire, I added ya to the original post for some awesome hardware!


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 28, 2014)

broken pixel said:


> Go old DFI, I still have a DFI X48 board but is dead.
> 
> Very nice setup! I love the fan lamp, awesome.


I miss my Abit stuff, but I still have one of my DFI boards. X48-T3RS.


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

I'm a big fan of Voodoo-magic, too. My Voodoo Graphics boards:

























But they weigh up the cards in gold over here, and I've not much money to spend.

btw. the red board on the benchtable is a DFI, too. It's a NFII Ultra Infinity. Fastest socket A- board I ever had.


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

Another thing I'm interested in are CPU- coolers for the sockets 7 and 462/A and slot A. Just for all old AMD- processors.

These are the coolers I collected:


AeroCool GT-1000

 

AeroCool HT-101

 

Akasa Silver Mountain I & II

 

ALPHA PAL6035

 


more to follow in the next post ...


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

ALPHA PAL8045

 

Cooler Master AERO 7+

 

Cooler Master AERO Light Silent

 

Cooler Master HHC-L61

 

Cooler Master X-DREAM HAC-V81

 

More in the next post ...


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

Some more AMD-coolers ...

CoolJag JAC102

 

Gigabyte 3D Cooler-Pro

 

Global WIN FNP08

 

Global WIN FOP38

 

Global WIN TAK68

 

and some more to come ...


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

More AMD-coolers ...

Kanie Hedgehog 238M

 

Revoltec Avalanche

 

Scythe KATANA CU

 

Swiftech MCX370

 

Swiftech MCX462

 

Next post starts with the fine Thermalright- coolers (I like them ) ...


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

Starting with Thermalright ...

Thermalright ALX-800

 

Thermalright MRC SK7 SL

 

Thermalright SLK-800CU

 

Thermalright SLK-947U

 

Still more to come ...


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

From Thermalright to Thermaltake ...

Thermalright SI-97

  

Thermalright SP-97

 

Thermaltake Big Typhoon

 

Thermaltake Sonic Tower

 

on and on and on ...


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

Just a few more ...

Thermaltake Volcano 11 & 12

 

Titan Majesty IV

 

Titan Majesty V

 

Titan Vanessa L-Type

   

The end is near ...


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

Now one of my alltime favourites in socket A air-cooling ...

Verax Quattro


  

Zalman CNPS6000-CU

 

Zalman CNPS7000-CU

 

That's all folks.


----------



## Backfire (Feb 28, 2014)

At the end I've got 2 tiny northbridge coolers:

Alpenföhn Ötzi

 

Thermaltake Xtreme Spirit II



Now, thats it. I will replace all of these pics when I made some in better quality. Thats my job for tonight .


----------



## Mydog (Feb 28, 2014)

Found these in my drawer, looks like I can use two of them on USB but I'm pretty sure they suck on read/write speeds


----------



## Mydog (Feb 28, 2014)

How about these old lady's 
Geforce 8800 GTS 512 MB






Green PCB, me like


----------



## Backfire (Mar 1, 2014)

These parts are not even 10 years old. I'd say not very nostalgic, but you could build a fine SLI- youngtimer. SSD's are, even for a youngtimer, not old enough. How about 2 WD740 Raptors at raid 0 instead? I'm using a Raptor striping raid as system disc at the Crossfire- youngtimer. In my opinion they work really well.


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 1, 2014)

Backfire said:


> At the end I've got 2 tiny northbridge coolers:
> 
> Alpenföhn Ötzi
> 
> ...


you have bunch of heatsinks


----------



## Backfire (Mar 1, 2014)

I also did a socket 7- heatsink roundup. The format is .pdf, the language is german, but there are lots of tables, bar charts and pictures. If you are interested, this is the link:

http://www.muldenaue.de/mirror/60mm-Oldie-K--hler-Roundup.pdf


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 1, 2014)

Holy crap Backfire, that is a ton of Socket A coolers man!!!!!!! That is soooooooo awesome.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 1, 2014)

Going to buy an Asus P5LD2 + Pentium D 925 (3GHz Dualcore) at 20 euros, damn now I need an ATX case (all the spare cases I have are mATX), some DDR2 memory and a spare PCIe videocard. That's going to replace my Powermac as HTPC 

I'll put pictures as I get them. 


edit: That mobo supports C2D CPUs so I think that some E4400/E6400 class CPU is the cheap upgrade I'll buying very soon to that mobo 

edit: The seller said that I'm going to get a free Radeon X1650Pro with the mobo + CPU, so buying a video card isn't necessary any more ^^


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 1, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Titan Majesty V
> 
> View attachment 55030 View attachment 55031



i have one of them actually in my Athlon XP retro build ... but it is a way too loud HSF ...



Backfire said:


> Titan Vanessa L-Type
> 
> View attachment 55032 View attachment 55033 View attachment 55034 View attachment 55035



i have lost one on Ricardo.ch (  local swiss ebay alike site ) or a S Type i don't remember ... but it would have been quieter than the TMV 



stinger608 said:


> Holy crap Backfire, that is a ton of Socket A coolers man!!!!!!! That is soooooooo awesome.


yeah and i require we erase him from the club list for having too much of them and me : only 1 ... dang so hard to find a good SktA cooler now  (i joke about the erasing part ofc  )

i am actually waiting on 2 auction ends ...

9700Pro to add to my Hercule Trio and make it a Hercule Quattro 
 

and that MSI S478 for obvious reason ...




Backfire said:


> These parts are not even 10 years old. I'd say not very nostalgic, but you could build a fine SLI- youngtimer. SSD's are, even for a youngtimer, not old enough. How about 2 WD740 Raptors at raid 0 instead? I'm using a Raptor striping raid as system disc at the Crossfire- youngtimer. In my opinion they work really well.


tsk tsk you can be nostalgic about a 2012 thing and in computer 6 month make it a dinosaurus so no need to be a 2004 piece to be nostalgic about  for me the range is : 1989 (my 1st Comodor AT clone with a i286) to 2008 (Radeon X800GT and X1950GT GeForce 9800GTX+) oh well let say 2009 for the Radeon 4870


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 1, 2014)

Ohh, Radeon 9700 Pro, that's where my nick comes from, I've used this nick also on Finnish hardware forum called MuroBBS almost 10 years. I had a Club3D 9700 Pro then. From Hercules I had a 9500 Pro and that was a real OC beast, took 400/700 clocks with stock cooling, ran ofc hot as hell but worked without problems 


The 9500 Pro OC ran Flatout2 maxed out at 1600x1200 without problems 



edit: I'm getting a Sapphire HD3870 Ultimate with ~20 euros, suits perfectly with the upcoming HTPC!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 1, 2014)

Koolance, A64 x2, sli'd 8800 GTX's back on Win xp duty. Stinger my friend this should make you feel warm and cozy inside.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 1, 2014)

In my opinion the Radeon 9700Pro is amongst the 10 or maybe 15 cards that made computer- graphics history. When it came out, it blew everything away.
My Radeon 9700Pro story goes like this: A hot summers day in 2004. I was sitting at my PC, playing I don't know, maybe Counter Strike, as a Thunderstorm broke loose. Really heavy rain and storm. I was running through the whole house, looking if each & every window is shut. Finished my round I came back to my room, F...! I forgot my window. So it was a hot summers day under the roof, the overclocked PC was open and it rained through the open window in the roof right in the running computer. The Radeon was dead.
I bought a Radeon 9800Pro, sure, it had a little more power, but the 9700Pro had something else away from sheer power. In my eyes, theres was always something like a glow around it. For me the 9700Pro is still a graphics- adapter worth remembering.
I still run (sometimes) a Hercules 9700Pro in the dual socket A- System, in posting #1655 is a picture. I made another pic of the card with the Zalman VF700-heatsink. Though the 9700Pro doesn't like to be alone, she brings a, Zalman cooled too, 9800Pro as backup .


----------



## Mydog (Mar 1, 2014)

Not quite 10 years old or maybe it is? DFI Lanparty 939


----------



## Backfire (Mar 1, 2014)

A few hours ago I found a parcel on my doorstep.









Not really a killer, but I like the look of the old Matrox- cards. There are many different which look nearly equal. So what else? They are, normally, not very expensive. 
They look good, most of them got a good 2D-quality, there are many, they are cheap, depending on the board, the AGP- types give a good frontend for any kind of 3D-accelerator like Voodoos or the Matrox M3D. I've got many old ATI's, but if I have the choice I'd always prefer the Matrox (as a 2D- card).  I think, I'll start collecting these cards.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 1, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Ohh, Radeon 9700 Pro, that's where my nick comes from, I've used this nick also on Finnish hardware forum called MuroBBS almost 10 years. I had a Club3D 9700 Pro then. From Hercules I had a 9500 Pro and that was a real OC beast, took 400/700 clocks with stock cooling, ran ofc hot as hell but worked without problems


weeeeellll ... my Hercule 3D Prophet 9700 128m hold a special place... bundled with NoLFe she hold pretty much the top spot in most of my AGP build till i got a X800GT 256mb and then a X1950GT 512mb
that XP rig played also Eve Online all to the max with a simple and weaky X1650Pro 512mb: yup i never got the money to take a X1950GT before 2013 ahahah  tho i had a FX 5900 Ultra

and she still hold a special place on my shelf (and the Hercule brand hold a real special place too... too bad they didn't got further than they did):


now for the sad part ... or fun part : i am thinking of going Skt604 instead of 940 ... yup Xeon instead of Opteron ... i need to check the 270 versus Xeon 2400dp
it is mainly because i found a overly cheap Super Micro dual 604 board ... ánd i have already 2 Xeon 2400dp/512/533/1.5V but i have to take in consideration that the Riowork is a bit more costier but it come with 2 HSF and 2 Opty 270

so actually i have the Opty 246 (Sledgehammer) that i keep because it is a SH core, 2x Opty 250 (troy) on the malfunctional K8D (i tried to straighten the pin in the ram slot, well didn't worked ... and as i have no other board to test i can't see if its not the DDR ECC stick who fails)

basically:

Xeon 2400dp (Prestonia) : single core 32bit HyperThreading
Pros: cheap mobo, Intel proc ... i see it as a Pro since on 4 of my 5 working PC's  are AMD setup xD
cons: will need new HSF, no PCI-X only PCI (not so much a cons since i have all the needed card in PCI)

Opteron 270 (italy)  : dual core 64bit
Pro: come with a Riowork Rhapsody HDAMA board, PCI-X in case i find some good deal on cards SSE3, higher cache
Cons: 2time the price of the board (but again with 2 cpu include) lower frequencies
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare_CPUs/AMD_OSP270FAA6CB,Intel_RK80532KE056512/

on a second look 
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/43..._vs_Intel_Xeon_2.4_GHz_(RK80532KE056512).html
the Opteron will pack more punch than the Xeon setup, but i don't know if the board is the SATA version (the Super Micro has 2 port, and the Riowork has normally 4 but on the pics of the seller it seems to have none)


----------



## Backfire (Mar 1, 2014)

Mmmmhh, a dual Opteron- system that would be nice. A few weeks ago I bought a cheap 148 at the bay for the Crossfire- System but i killed it while I decapitated it.  Maybe I'll try another one sometime. At the moment the 3700+ San Diego runs at 3,1GHz+ and that is ok I think. I have to cut the heatspreader off from every CPU I use at the skt 939 because of this >





I tried 3 different watercoolers, always the same problem.
But a dual Opteron- system, that would be a good idea! But first I've planned a mod at the Thermaltake "Thai-Chi"- Case which I want to use for the Crossfire- sys.. I had the strange idea the Thai-Chi needs a new front. That will be much work, cause I'd like to solder it with sheet-metal. I'm not really bad at soldering, but I'm afraid I burn down the house ... .


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Mmmmhh, a dual Opteron- system that would be nice. A few weeks ago I bought a cheap 148 at the bay for the Crossfire- System but i killed it while I decapitated it.  Maybe I'll try another one sometime. At the moment the 3700+ San Diego runs at 3,1GHz+ and that is ok I think. I have to cut the heatspreader off from every CPU I use at the skt 939 because of this >.



well as you can see in my syspecs i have a dual 250  setup but the ram slot pin took a crap and even straightening them didn't do the trick, ie: the ram show only half of her capacity when tested one by one and the system doesn't even pass the POST
if i am quick enough to press F2  it goes into BIOS and show DDR ECC errors ... but the system worked just fine with the Opteron 246 and the same 4x 1024mb (2 different kits but both 266mhz from Kingston) the CPU are detected by the BIOS no problem on this ... i think i might retest the Setup with the 246 alone but i pretty much suspect the board to be fubar... 1 wee and 1 day to wait till i can order one of the board i mentioned above ... plenty time to solve my dilemma 

edit : the Riowork mobo and the 2 270 would come from Germany 

the Xeon one from england, the  shipping cost is doubled for Germany and take 1 day more than England ... weird xD


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 2, 2014)

Wow Backfire, you have a Tt Thai-Chi case? Man, always wanted one of them however they were waaaaaaaaaay out of my price range in the day. I have always kept an eye out for a good deal on one though LOL

Man, this thread is becoming such an epic thread with all the amazing nostalgic hardware showing up!!!!!!


----------



## Backfire (Mar 2, 2014)

I paid 30€ for it, but I had to repair a lot. First it was 60€ but I gave the seller a negative rating because it was so damaged. So he gave me 30€ back and I took the neg. rating back. And hey, I'm a mechanic, I'm good at repairing things. Inside was an Intel- motherboard, a P4C800-E. I tested it.





And then sold it for a bit more than 30 Euros.
The integrated watercooling of the Thai-Chi is crap. I still got some parts somewhere in a box.
A few weeks ago, the watercooled slave-card of the Crossfire- sys. was dead at arrival (lucky me, it was the slave and not the master), so I built an aircooled Crossfire- sys in the Thai-Chi to test the board.
So this is the Thai-Chi from the inside with a Crossfire with Asus Radeon X1950Pro:





As you can see, plenty of room.


----------



## Vario (Mar 2, 2014)

Check out the backplate/heatsink on this EVGA 9800GT Akimbo 1GB









This is my spare GPU, really nice display adapter but it chugs power.  I was able to run it on only a 430watt corsair with a phenom 2 so it isn't bad at all.


I think I may have as many as 4 skt 939 processors but I'd really have to dig to find em lol.

Also have to convince my friend to give me back my old Opty 144 single core 939 that does 2.8


----------



## Vario (Mar 2, 2014)

Let me dig out something really ancient for you guys


----------



## Vario (Mar 2, 2014)

*Diamond S3 ViRGE Stealth3D 2000: 
*









*3dFx Voodoo3:*














These cards were serious horsepower back in the day.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 2, 2014)

Mine is not PCI, but mine is ...





just for fun .

Does anyone know what this is?


----------



## Vario (Mar 2, 2014)

Coolermaster v8?

edit: as a radiator?


----------



## Backfire (Mar 2, 2014)

Yes, it's a V8, but it has a special function. There is electricity involved.


----------



## Vario (Mar 2, 2014)

Peltier Cooler?


----------



## Backfire (Mar 2, 2014)

yup. I tried to build a peltier- booster. The peltier is cooling the water that is flowing through the watercooler. The warmth of the peltier is terminated by the aircooler. The pelt has got 120W effictive pumping power, but its not effective enough. It would be effective with a stronger peltier, but its an economic desaster. That would be about 400W just for the peltier. Nice gag, not more.


----------



## Vario (Mar 2, 2014)

Did you run an insulated chilled reservoir setup?  I don't know much about Peltier/Thermoelectric Coolers.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 2, 2014)

No, I just put it in my regular cooling system. I know when the water temperature gets below room temperature the radiators warm the water up instead of cooling, but I had not enough tube & connections to build a bypass. Man, I'm always broke. But I've got my computers to play with .


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 2, 2014)

@ Vario; A couple of awesome ole nostalgic video cards man!!!!! 

And of course I added ya to the original post bro!


----------



## Backfire (Mar 2, 2014)

You seem to be really nice people here at the board. I think we could be friends. But one thing has to be clear: I've got the longest!


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> You seem to be really nice people here at the board. I think we could be friends. But one thing has to be clear: I've got the longest!
> 
> View attachment 55131



Bhahahaha, Thanks Backfire, I just spit beer all over my damn desk when I read that one bro!!!


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> You seem to be really nice people here at the board. I think we could be friends. But one thing has to be clear: I've got the longest!
> 
> View attachment 55131


its the grandpa of long add on board


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> just for fun .
> 
> Does anyone know what this is?
> 
> View attachment 55126 View attachment 55127 View attachment 55128



a CM V8 (not hard part of the guess i think) modded to be a TEC heat exchanger for a CWL ?
#
ahahahahahahhaha< and i did not read the post under the "guess what it is" ... and it took me only one post to figure out ... I AM THE BEST!  


also i could have the longest but i still need to get one 

since it is a PCI-X the connector is longer and the back of the card seems to be equal so she should be longer ... or ... need measurement xD


----------



## Backfire (Mar 2, 2014)

lets see what I got else.





CT2760 longest Sound Blaster





AccelGraphics Falcon Board





3Dlabs Wildcat III 6110





Optibase 5000 video capturing card





and a really heavy Idon'treallyknowwhatitis from the late 80's





The Oxygen 402 in a baby AT case.


----------



## Jetster (Mar 2, 2014)

Those cards look brand new


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> In my opinion the Radeon 9700Pro is amongst the 10 or maybe 15 cards that made computer- graphics history. When it came out, it blew everything away.
> My Radeon 9700Pro story goes like this: A hot summers day in 2004. I was sitting at my PC, playing I don't know, maybe Counter Strike, as a Thunderstorm broke loose. Really heavy rain and storm. I was running through the whole house, looking if each & every window is shut. Finished my round I came back to my room, F...! I forgot my window. So it was a hot summers day under the roof, the overclocked PC was open and it rained through the open window in the roof right in the running computer. The Radeon was dead.
> I bought a Radeon 9800Pro, sure, it had a little more power, but the 9700Pro had something else away from sheer power. In my eyes, theres was always something like a glow around it. For me the 9700Pro is still a graphics- adapter worth remembering.
> I still run (sometimes) a Hercules 9700Pro in the dual socket A- System, in posting #1655 is a picture. I made another pic of the card with the Zalman VF700-heatsink. Though the 9700Pro doesn't like to be alone, she brings a, Zalman cooled too, 9800Pro as backup .
> ...


Hah nice story bro! For me, the 9700 Pro is the #1 when it goes to (evolution of) GPUs 

Even my old R360 chipped 9800Pro 128MB @ 9800XT can't compare to 9700 Pro when it comes to nostalgia. 



The top2 of my favourite cards is a Club3D 9800SE @ Pro which oc'd like mad and ran nice. Zalman vf700alcu I had to buy for it since it came to me without any cooling. 


I had also another Club3D 9800SE but that didnt unlock  So I ran it with stock pipelines but with mad OC too, vf700CU as cooler. 

Damn sweet rare VGA cards there!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 2, 2014)

@ Backfire- You have quite a bit of very nice vintage gear my friend.


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## Kissamies (Mar 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> lets see what I got else.
> 
> View attachment 55143
> 
> CT2760 longest Sound Blaster


And they say that the video cards these days are too long..


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 2, 2014)




----------



## Kissamies (Mar 2, 2014)

Hahah I remember that pic 


And I thought that my old GeForce 6800LE was long..


----------



## Vario (Mar 2, 2014)

I have a Everex Step 386.


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## christoph_789 (Mar 2, 2014)

Hi 
you all have great old hardware here.
Here I got my first graphics card, a Nvidia Geforce 7600GT. I'm only 18 years old, so I don't have as old components as some others in this thread. 




And here I got an old Intel Celeron Processor and some old RAM from my father


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 2, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


>


yeah yeah .... he has the longest ... we know we know ...


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 3, 2014)

Following up on my i-RAM raid, I could get the RAID going on my AM2NF3-VSTA board so I know it's not because of the i-RAMs. What I think it's happening is that somehow Abit fucked up and the IC7-G RAID drivers aren't the correct ones. I'll try with the official intel drivers or maybe drivers from other 875P boards.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2014)

christoph_789 said:


> Hi
> you all have great old hardware here.
> Here I got my first graphics card, a Nvidia Geforce 7600GT. I'm only 18 years old, so I don't have as old components as some others in this thread.
> View attachment 55155
> ...


Cool stuff dude! I had a Celeron D 331 @ 3800MHz and MSI Passive 7600GT @ 650/1600 5yr ago


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## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2014)

Bought some great LGA775 hardware yesterday, I'll put pics when I get them.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 4, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Bought some great LGA775 hardware yesterday, I'll put pics when I get them.


i am nitpicking but unless you do a 10 pics post and a second one, double post over editing the older post, even for a bump, is not recommended

edit: (no ... im not picking on you 9700pro ... i actually had a edit to do  )i found a "pics of the shame" (tm)
i had once in my K6-2 setup GeForce 2 (great isnt it?) MX440 (annddd the greatness goes to hell)
 
tho the cooler look cool ....


----------



## Backfire (Mar 4, 2014)

just won a TerraTec EWX 24/96 for 1€ at ebay.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 5, 2014)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


STUPID ME STUPID stupid stupid!

the K8D failure beside the Pin bent in the ram slot : BIOS VERSION! The Opteron 250 (troy) is a E4 stepping ... 
i swapped the 246, who is a Sledgehammer and so supported by the 1st bios, and the rig started just fine ... currently fetching all the files to update the bios

i keep you updated ...


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 5, 2014)

I don't know what is wrong with the ICH5R on my IC7-G. I've tried the intel drivers and also drivers from the Gigabyte and Asus websites. Is the same thing, the two drives show up as separate. I already tested the iRAM RAIDed on my AM2NF3 board so it's not beacuse of them. Something fishy going on... maybe the ICH5R firmware is bugged  I got it from a scrap yard after all. Maybe the previous user found this error too?

I'll have to rethink my build, maybe test with actual hard drives. What sets me off is that the iRAM lists the ICH5R as being compatible


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 5, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> All VIA chipset and SATA controller.
> Be advised, VIA chipsets have no PCI/AGP locks on them. If you up the FSB the other bus's increase also. It won't be long before you run into data corruption or bios corruption issues. NF2 boards are the way to go. You just need to find a decent one.


After hearing that,I'm glad I didn't find the A7V600 and went with a K7S6A.
This K7S6A had the lost CMOS problem that ECS boards have,but as the BIOS is Award I easily got around that by editing the BIOS settings in modbin6 then reflashing the created BIOS.

It runs a Athlon XP 2200+ underclocked to 1500+ (yet POST shows Unknown CPU type,going to install and set a Sempron 2400+ to the same 1500 speed to see if it works)and it came with a stock Pentium 3 cooler (from Intel).I installed 1GB of RAM,along with Windows 7 Lite,on the 10GB HDD.It's usable BTW,I can even run latest Firefox version on it.
For the BIOS logo,I ditched the idea for using the BIOS logo posted earlier and used another picture of Zone-Tan as the logon background,since I generally like custom logon screens.(even my main AM2 system has one,it's a Rammstein wallpaper)
Desktop wallpaper is a black and white image of a ship named "Rosenrot"breaking through ice with two mens next to it.

Right now I only have a shot of the logon screen captured from my Radeon 7000's TV out,but as soon as I fix my webcam I'll try taking some pictures of the rig.


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 5, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> After hearing that,I'm glad I didn't find the A7V600 and went with a K7S6A.
> This K7S6A had the lost CMOS problem that ECS boards have,but as the BIOS is Award I easily got around that by editing the BIOS settings in modbin6 then reflashing the created BIOS.
> 
> It runs a Athlon XP 2200+ underclocked to 1500+ (yet POST shows Unknown CPU type,going to install and set a Sempron 2400+ to the same 1500 speed to see if it works)and it came with a stock Pentium 3 cooler (from Intel).I installed 1GB of RAM,along with Windows 7 Lite,on the 10GB HDD.It's usable BTW,I can even run latest Firefox version on it.
> ...


Love the Zone-tan logon!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 5, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Love the Zone-tan logon!


Thanks!
I took a few pics of the HSF,RAM,video card and NIC I use on the rig.Pic of the entire rig will come later.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 5, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Love the Zone-tan logon!


ahahaha i was right the 1st time to suspect a Raven halloween ed. of Zone Tan 

ok now i need to figure out how to do a Dos bootable CD for bios update ... (no floppy and the K8D don't have the option to boot on USB) beside this im still wondering if i need to flash every update since the initial or if i just need to flash the latest one ... 

pretty stupid eh? but my only bios update was done thru A-Tuner on my FM2A88M Ex4+


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 5, 2014)

Easier is to make a PLoP Boot manager disc,it can boot from a bootable USB pendrive on PCs that don't support that.I used it to flash even a Pentium II motherboard.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 5, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Easier is to make a PLoP Boot manager disc,it can boot from a bootable USB pendrive on PCs that don't support that.I used it to flash even a Pentium II motherboard.


im currently doing a custom Hiren's boot cd but i will look into your method if the 1st doesn't work as intended


----------



## emissary42 (Mar 5, 2014)

if i only knew, where i left my modded nf2-400u *G*


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 5, 2014)

SUCCEEEEEEEEESSSSS curently typing that post on it ... 

bios 2.50 flashed easily with a usb drive (i forgot but Hiren's boot CD pack PLoP Boot Manager  )

and also it recognise the full ram but i have still some issues to sort out and i will be ready. (Win XP Pro atm for test and stuff)

as you can see the RAM isn't at the right frequencies and not detected in the SPD part and both CPU have some differences... work work work but still i will not have to buy a new mobo or cpu's YAY


----------



## Backfire (Mar 6, 2014)

Hmm, seems I'm to tired to post ...


----------



## Backfire (Mar 6, 2014)

long story short: the crossfire systeme has a watercooled northbridge now. The left board is broken, it's just to test if everything fits together.













Now its running with watercooled northbridge.


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 6, 2014)

Backfire said:


> long story short: the crossfire systeme has a watercooled northbridge now. The left board is broken, it's just to test if everything fits together.
> 
> View attachment 55254
> 
> ...


 Damn nice hardware. I always drooled over the CFX3200, but never got the honor of having one :/
What are the rest of the specs on that beast?


----------



## Backfire (Mar 6, 2014)

A64 San Diego 3700+ @ 284x 11 = 3124MHz , 2x 512MB ADATA Vitesta DDR500, Radeon X1950XTX Crossfire, TerraTec DMX 6fire 24/96, 2x WD740 Raptor @ Raid 0


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 6, 2014)

good news  the 2.50 bios add USB boot ahahahah so now i don't need to make a install CD for linux (i think i will dual boot for obvious reasons  )


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 6, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Easier is to make a PLoP Boot manager disc,it can boot from a bootable USB pendrive on PCs that don't support that.



Why am i just hearing about this, i cou...........wait i wouldn't be having problems updating the BIOS of my GA-5AX if i could boot from CD in the first place


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 6, 2014)

finaly i managed to get the RAM to DDR 266 instead of DDR 200... still i am tempted to take the Riowork + the two 270...  or 2 dualcore opty ... since the K8D is compatible with it (till opteron 280)... but the unusable ram slot make me angry ...

i got some overheat shutdown just now  temp CPU1 : 100c... i swapped the 70mm fan for a 80mm with a alu frame added (gettho mode ... pics will follow later ...)

before////after
 

details ... of the frame 
 
yep it is a Thermaltake Silent boost frame.

the other one no overheat problems ... logical ... with 2 F8 just behind  and the FX5200 fit just fine in a PCI-X slot in PCI mode


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 6, 2014)

Alright.I said I'll post a pic of the Athlon XP rig I have,here it is!


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 6, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> yep it is a Thermaltake Silent boost frame.



but....but 
is it me or the heatsink's airflow blocked by that metal frame thingy ??


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 6, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> but....but
> is it me or the heatsink's airflow blocked by that metal frame thingy ??



Just where the lock down clips are on them. The other ends are open. It was to direct better air flow........Well that was the theory anyhow LOL


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 6, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Just where the lock down clips are on them. The other ends are open. It was to direct better air flow........Well that was the theory anyhow LOL




its fitted the other way ... but the alu frame is not completely closed : result from 101c to 37c ... so it works


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 6, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> its fitted the other way ... but the alu frame is not completely closed : result from 101c to 37c ... so it works


It could also be that you upgraded from the stock fan to a big-honkin' TT fan. Either way, however, a 64C drop is not to be scoffed at. For a lot of us, a 64C drop would put us sub-ambient, lol.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 6, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> It could also be that you upgraded from the stock fan to a big-honkin' TT fan. Either way, however, a 64C drop is not to be scoffed at. For a lot of us, a 64C drop would put us sub-ambient, lol.


oh 10mm more is nothing plus it is a "silent boost" open frame fan, it runs 1k rpm under the 70mm stock 

what i wonder is the other one doesn't overheat and still has a crappy 70mm at 3k~ rpm but i think due to the placement of the socket the cpu2 get more airflow  .... its directly after a 140mm TY-147 and has 2 80mm Arctic F8 + the 120mm from the PSU just near it ... the other socket has 2 60mm blue led who blow partially on it but it is directly after the 2 ODD and main HDD


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 8, 2014)

Got the HD3870 Ultimate today, ran very hot originally, 80C on desktop (dried thermal paste) but now it works perfectly after I put some fresh paste to the GPU. I quickly tested Dirt3 and ran perfectly at 1920x1020 2xAA medium.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 8, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Got the HD3870 Ultimate today, ran very hot originally, 80C on desktop (dried thermal paste) but now it works perfectly after I put some fresh paste to the GPU. I quickly tested Dirt3 and ran perfectly at 1920x1020 2xAA medium.



Sweet card man. Always wondered how well them "silent" video cards ran. What did the temps get up to running Dirt3?


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 9, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Got the HD3870 Ultimate today, ran very hot originally, 80C on desktop (dried thermal paste) but now it works perfectly after I put some fresh paste to the GPU. I quickly tested Dirt3 and ran perfectly at 1920x1020 2xAA medium.


You gonna OC that beast?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 9, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Sweet card man. Always wondered how well them "silent" video cards ran. What did the temps get up to running Dirt3?


About ~70C with the new paste. I guess I need to put few fans to the rig where that card goes, or the card would otherwise run hot like a damn oven 

Random Murderer: I quickly tried 820/2400 and at least those were stable, I'm sure it has more OC headroom still


----------



## d1nky (Mar 9, 2014)

found myself a 3870 and 3850 for cheap!

currently benching them for TPU hwbot.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 9, 2014)

Heh, that HD3870 has identical PCB as mine, I just have passive cooled and a bit larger VRM heatsink. Maybe I'll get a CF compatible mb too and get a 3870X2/3870/3850 crossfire setup later


----------



## d1nky (Mar 9, 2014)

havent benched it in xfire yet, just doing one card at a time. 

Need to do the pencil volt mod that randomM posted. 1.32v kind of isnt enough for any cooling!

Shame they dont make cards like they used to, hynix and samsung mems 

plenty of fun for a pair of cheap older cards!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 9, 2014)

d1nky said:


> found myself a 3870 and 3850 for cheap!
> 
> currently benching them for TPU hwbot.
> 
> View attachment 55342 View attachment 55344


i have a 3850 in my AM2+ Phenom X4 build atm (the 460 HAWK has been switched to my main rig just for laugh)


----------



## m1919 (Mar 10, 2014)

Scored a Dell Precision 620 MT Workstation. Rig only came with one P3 Xeon 1Ghz SL4HE and a terminator card. I have another pair of SL4HEs, but they do not have the proper heatsink. Luckily I was able to locate another with the right heatsink for the board's retention mechanism.

Case was damaged in shipping; the seller did not package this properly or mark the package as fragile. Thing probably got knocked around and maybe even dropped at some point during shipping. Good news is the hardware appears fine as it booted up without any issues, right into the Windows 2000 Pro install already on the machine.

Not sure the damage can be repaired, seems Dell thought it was a good idea to have the side panel, front panel and the case base-plate all attached by plastic lugs/pegs, the majority of which are broken; the side panel no longer latches in place. The case itself is also warped, the back-panel is bowed slightly and the bottom-rear corner is visibly dished in.

Probably gonna be moving the guts to another case... after extensive modding since this board is non-standard. Now I just need a good candidate to house this.

Also might replace the PSU, but I'd need to adapt it to the proprietary connectors.


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 10, 2014)

d1nky said:


> havent benched it in xfire yet, just doing one card at a time.
> 
> Need to do the pencil volt mod that randomM posted. 1.32v kind of isnt enough for any cooling!
> 
> ...


Yeah, you guys posting all of these 3870s/3850s is making me want to pick up another pair of 3870s for the sole purpose of throwing them in the X79 rig, VModding them, and clocking and benching till they fry, hopefully picking up a couple of boints along the way. I used to have a CF setup of 3870s, loved them but wasn't ballsy enough to really give them a kick and push the hell out of them(didn't have the cash to just fry a piece of hardware and replace it/upgrade back then), so I settled for ~900MHz core on them for 24/7 use.


----------



## d1nky (Mar 10, 2014)

I've ran into a few problems trying to overclock them in xfire. On their own they do pretty well but together don't scale on clocks the same.

I'll do the pencil mod and try harder when I have the time.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 10, 2014)

Here is a shot of my win98 rig. Slot A Athlon 800 complete with a Thermaltake Golden Orb, MSI 6167 Mobo, Ati rage Fury Pro gpu, and a Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500 Soundcard.


----------



## broken pixel (Mar 11, 2014)

Intel 1992 - SX835- 60MHz
-



--


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 11, 2014)

d1nky said:


> I've ran into a few problems trying to overclock them in xfire. On their own they do pretty well but together don't scale on clocks the same.
> 
> I'll do the pencil mod and try harder when I have the time.


I don't recall the software I used to used to clock them in windows (pretty sure it was ATiTool), but yeah, software overclocking was buggy in Crossfire. The best results I obtained in Crossfire was by clocking each on its own, editing a custom BIOS with the highest stable clocks, flashing it, then repeating the process with the other card. With each card running an edited BIOS, Crossfire worked well with the upped clock speeds.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 11, 2014)

You like the slots eh? A couple of mine.


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## stinger608 (Mar 11, 2014)

That is quite a collection of slot processors and motherboards!


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 11, 2014)

How about DDR? You guys like BH-5? Most of this is.


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## Random Murderer (Mar 11, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> How about DDR? You guys like BH-5? Most of this is.
> 
> View attachment 55376View attachment 55377 View attachment 55378


Woah, I haven't seen a DDR Booster in years, not since my s754 days.
Nice collection there.


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 11, 2014)

Thanks. I just reached in the bin and pulled out a random handful. I have more.
I'll post some board and GPU pics later.....at least some of my favorite or exotic. I have a closet full.


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## Random Murderer (Mar 11, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Thanks. I just reached in the bin and pulled out a random handful. I have more.
> I'll post some board and GPU pics later.....at least some of my favorite or exotic. I have a closet full.


How about a pic of the closet?


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 11, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> How about a pic of the closet?


Too embarrassing. It's not exactly neat. Makes me look like a hoarder.


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (Mar 11, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> build done, just a few touches left.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've always wanted one of those coolers! They just looked so awesome! I think a looong timeago someone posted photos of them painting it gold or something


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## m1919 (Mar 11, 2014)

No one else with Slot-2 Xeons? Heh, I'm literally hording every piece of half-decent Slot-2 hardware I can find. It is by far my favorite retro form factor.

Looking for an IBM Z-Pro 6866 now. It's about the same spec-wise as the Precision 620, but in a more standard form factor as far as the board goes.

And then maybe, if I get lucky, an Iwill DCA-200/DCA-200N. Can't seem to actually find these in the real world tho, not even sure they were ever sold.


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 11, 2014)

Nice. Been looking for one of those.


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## Kissamies (Mar 12, 2014)

Still haven't heard anything from the P5LD2 + D925, I paid them over a week ago. The seller has got my PM in that forum and I asked what is taking so long. I wait to next tuesday and then I'll discuss with police about that if I got scammed, damn


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## stinger608 (Mar 12, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Still haven't heard anything from the P5LD2 + D925, I paid them over a week ago. The seller has got my PM in that forum and I asked what is taking so long. I wait to next tuesday and then I'll discuss with police about that if I got scammed, damn



Did you pay using PayPal? If so wait a little longer and file a claim through PayPal. 

That is a bummer man. Hope things work out.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 12, 2014)

No, here in Finland we usually put straight money to other's bank accounts when buying something that is not near. And the seller puts the stuff to post when (s)he gets the money, and then I'll get it here.


Not exactly for this thread, but I bought a Corsair Airflow memory cooler, guess I'll put a pic still even it's my gaming pc. At least that came for me without problems 


UPDATE: That guy wasn't a scammer, I just came home and got the parts from postal office. Somehow I just didnt get information that my packet was there, and the guy didn't inform me. Everything's fine now and here they are, got a free X1650Pro too


----------



## m1919 (Mar 12, 2014)

Anyone have experience with flashing Mac video cards to PC? 

Might be tempted to flash a Mac AGP Pro 9800 XT to PC for use on my Precision 620 project, if I can get one cheap enough.


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## Kissamies (Mar 12, 2014)

Dunno, but I'd like to know too. I have a PowerMac G4 2x867 CPU next to me, and it has a GF2MX and I'd like to upgrade that crap


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## broken pixel (Mar 13, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Anyone have experience with flashing Mac video cards to PC?
> 
> Might be tempted to flash a Mac AGP Pro 9800 XT to PC for use on my Precision 620 project, if I can get one cheap enough.



Try this thread.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=877441


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## JunkBear (Mar 13, 2014)

Socket 462 and 370fan made for overclocking but also fit on a socket AM2. Noisy as a hair dryer but doing the job. Still brand new in box.


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## Kissamies (Mar 13, 2014)

"designed for overclocking" but looks worse than the boxed coolers.


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## stinger608 (Mar 13, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Anyone have experience with flashing Mac video cards to PC?
> 
> Might be tempted to flash a Mac AGP Pro 9800 XT to PC for use on my Precision 620 project, if I can get one cheap enough.



Hell, I would think if a person has the correct video card bios and use it as a second card in a system to flash it, it should work just fine. 

Here is the TPU video card bios database: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/...r=&model=9800+XT&interface=&memType=&memSize=

Check to find out what brand of card you have, and you can download the proper PC bios for said card. 

I don't know why that wouldn't work.


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## PolRoger (Mar 13, 2014)

*

 

 It Lives!... *Or rather... It still runs.  AMD XP2500+ ASUS A7V8X 333FSB (VIA KT400) DDR1 in single channel. This Barton has an unlocked multi and runs ~2.2GHz (XP3200+) with stock/default vcore. Booted up this old box today which had last seen use at my parents' summer lake house.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 13, 2014)

i need to do some work on my Athlon XP rig : i managed to have it stable as a 2800+ (it is a 2000+) and redid all the setup, since i got my "server" i did not work on it a lot (the A XP rig ofc)


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## JunkBear (Mar 13, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> "designed for overclocking" but looks worse than the boxed coolers.


 
It's heavy, solid and does the job really well. I plan to use it on my next AMD setup I will build for backyard shed. It's reeally warm there so I need a fan that run full speed and cool well for free.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 14, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> It's heavy, solid and does the job really well. I plan to use it on my next AMD setup I will build for backyard shed. It's reeally warm there so I need a fan that run full speed and cool well for free.


my Titan Majesty V is lighter with a smaller louder fan and keep my Athlon XP  cool on a 2800+ (2024mhz) setup, your's rated 1900+ ? special overclocking?  i would understand the statement for a Titan Vanessa S or L or any more elaborated Skt A HSF (look Backfire's post) but not for that lump of aluminium with a 70mm strapped on it.

 the "designed for overclocking" label on that box is just a "commercial pseudo lie" to make people buy it, just like 4gb ddr3 gpu  a friend ended buying a 4gb DDR3 Zotac GT640 because of the box and marketing instead of having a 2gb GDDR5 7870/R9 270 for just a bit more money... : AKA never trust what is written on a packaging. ofc my friend doesn't know a thing when it come to PC and he get easily fooled by marketing... he doesn't especially want to take the cheapest gears around but he look more at the packaging than the tech spec (and cheap brand like Trust or other have a good marketing  )  lucky for me he never ended buying a Razer product ... excellent marketing and horrible general quality and price


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## JunkBear (Mar 14, 2014)

I don't own any older chipset now. I will just use it for my AM2 dualcore setup in backyard shed. The cooler is not cheap aluminium like today it's heavy aluminium with a weight around 1.5 pounds.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 14, 2014)

aluminium is still aluminium  my Titan Majesty V is lighter but not less sturdier, tho too loud ... yet it handle 2800+ (pretty sure it would handle more if my FSB was not 150)








i need to seek a Arctic cooper silent 3





or find a new deal on a Titan Vanessa type S or type L








i totally forgot : this was the highest i could achieve 2.25ghz with 180mhz FSB


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## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> It's heavy, solid and does the job really well. I plan to use it on my next AMD setup I will build for backyard shed. It's reeally warm there so I need a fan that run full speed and cool well for free.


That still looks kinda crappy  Glacialtech had the good cheap 462 coolers since they were used ^^


sorry for my bad English ^^


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## stinger608 (Mar 14, 2014)

Found an ole Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 among some old stuff a fella brought to me yesterday!!!

One of these: http://vintage3d.org/virge.php#sthash.GzIythIF.dpbs  Its the one in the first picture

Also added that site to the original post for some great reference.


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 14, 2014)

OK this somewhat passes on the nostalgia score, got it when i upgraded a relative's PC :
Mobo: ga-k8nf-9 (with a 512MB stick)




Athlon 64 3000+




Chipset




and a 9400GT





kinda sad it's just a 1.8GHz single core, but thinking positively i can see how much i can overclock it "if i can" and can be on the lookout for a phenom or somethin


----------



## Peter1986C (Mar 14, 2014)

A skt 939 Phenom? Do such procs exist?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 14, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> A skt 939 Phenom? Do such procs exist?


afaik no AM2+ is compatible with phenom and phenom II but 939 the highest would be Athlon 64 FX-60

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 FX-60 - ADAFX60DAA6CD (ADAFX60CDBOX).html

my Asus M3N78-CM is compatible till the Phenom II X6 1099T 

noticed a dual 250(troy) is a win/win over a 246(sledghammer) less tdp higher frequencies 
i did well to choose the 250x2 instead of getting a single 246(sh)
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/19...v._C0)_vs_AMD_Opteron_250_(68W__rev._E4).html

now if the K8D can really handle a pair of 270 ... i might jump on it


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 15, 2014)

They didn't apparently, but Opterons existed 
hmmm..... i guess i'll check things locally first to see if i could find a dual core


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 15, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> They didn't apparently, but Opterons existed
> hmmm..... i guess i'll check things locally first to see if i could find a dual core


obviously ... some serie 1xx ... i didnt mentioned because for me it was obvious

so the best in line for that socket is still Athlon 64 FX-60 

Some uni-processor Opterons were also manufactured for socket 939. These microprocessors were essentially fast Athlon 64 processors - they could work with less expensive unbuffered RAM and had only one Hypertransport link.
... ok thats easier to find than a FX-60 i reckon... 

"AMD Opteron 156 is the fastest single-core processor for socket 939. Clocked internally at 3 GHz, the OSA156DAA5BN is 600 MHz, or 20% faster than the fastest single-core socket 939 Athlon 64 CPU, and 400 MHz (15%) faster than dual-core Athlon 64 FX FX-60 or Opteron 185. This makes it a perfect, albeit expensive, upgrade for old socket 939 motherboards when the best single-core performance is required. When upgrading a general purpose motherboard always make sure that the motherboard supports this Opteron processor"

awww too bad not compatible ... even for a single core this one is a blast ...

oh well look ebay for a 185 they are cheap normally (i paid 6chf for both 250)
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/904/AMD_Athlon_64_FX_FX-60_vs_AMD_Opteron_250_(68W__rev._E4).html


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## d1nky (Mar 15, 2014)

i found a store where they always have old cheap used gfx cards and some 1st gen intel cpus.

just bought a 8800 GT 512mb for £20, repasted it and now benching it.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 15, 2014)

20pounds make it expensive for me imho ... i can get used 8800 GT and 9800 GT for between 1 and 20chf, i have 2 9800 GT (Matrix 512mb with a scrapped off chip on the back but i cant see what it is and a HP OEM 1gb) i brought for 3chf (including a 4870 in the pack) but not "fully working" 

oh well that still cheaper than initial launchprice


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> obviously ... some serie 1xx ... i didnt mentioned because for me it was obvious
> 
> so the best in line for that socket is still Athlon 64 FX-60
> 
> ...


The Opty 165 was the one to have, iirc. Was cheap for what it was, and many would run 3+ GHz.


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## Jetster (Mar 16, 2014)

I remember the Opterons. I loved my 939 board. They had a better quality silicon I believe and would overclock.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> The Opty 165 was the one to have, iirc. Was cheap for what it was, and many would run 3+ GHz.


yeah... but instead of buying a 1800mhz and praying for a 3ghz clock ... why not take directly a 185 have a 800mhz bost in the direction of the 3ghz  ... and if a 165 OC a 185 should do it too (if basing on a iirc then : anything's possible xD)
and since they have the same TDP then the 185 is a plus value (if you find around 2€ on ebay no matter wich one you take  ) plus the 185 is faster in single task (mostly due to the 800mhz bump i reckon )

*Mini Review*
*AMD Opteron 165 advantages*

None

*AMD Opteron 185 advantages*

The CPU performs 40% better when running single-threaded tasks.
Multi-threaded performance of this microprocessor is higher.
Memory performance of the processor is better.

*165 vs 185 power consumption comparison*
Thermal Design Power

110W

110W


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## brunello (Mar 16, 2014)

X700se 256MB, the fan has died some weeks ago!


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## Doc41 (Mar 16, 2014)

All supported CPUs i looked for on ebay were expensive for me (atleast 40$ for Athlon 64x2 4400+\ 100$ for FX 60) but i did find an Athlon 64x2 3800+ for 19$ which i might buy..
and i'll be messing around with what i got after lunch, will post CPUZ shots later


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 16, 2014)

Love my s939 rig also.


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## Bones (Mar 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> yeah... but instead of buying a 1800mhz and praying for a 3ghz clock ... why not take directly a 185 have a 800mhz bost in the direction of the 3ghz  ... and if a 165 OC a 185 should do it too (if basing on a iirc then : anything's possible xD)
> and since they have the same TDP then the 185 is a plus value (if you find around 2€ on ebay no matter wich one you take  ) plus the 185 is faster in single task (mostly due to the 800mhz bump i reckon )
> 
> *Mini Review*
> ...



Most of the time this was true BUT the higher binner Optys had a tendency to run hotter thanks to their higher stock clockspeed if ran that way.
For OC'ing the higher models were preferred since with the 165's max multi of 9X, you'd need a board capable of some high bus speeds to see it's real potential. If the board you had wasn't capable of that, the chip would never be able to run at the max speed it would be capable of reaching. I have three of these dual core Opty's myself (165,175,180) and they've been great with all three topping 3.2GHz no prob. I also have a pair of Opty 146 single core chips too I can run whenever I want.

Personally I'd suggest at least a 170 or higher binned model to help offset problems with a deficient board if you want to OC but as long as the board you have can hit some high bus speeds, the 165 itself is great and it's the cheapest to get - That was it's greatest appeal back then from a $$ perspective and why so many had them.
Anything from an Opty 175 and up, you're gonna pay for it nowadays.


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## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2014)

well for Doc41 yes  

for me as i use MP board : no settings for it i run 2 250 i intend to get either a new board with 2 270 or fetch some 280 and try it with the K8D and the lastest bios in date ... tho that setup feel sluggish ... i suspect the board to have some issues, even the Athlon XP rig feel snappier... oh right the XP has a Radeon X1950GT 512 ... but 768mb instead of 4gb, also i re put together the HP compaq DC7700p i finally found where the problem was: the embedded graphic from intel go south when you install the drivers and make the whole setup unstable ... so for the moment i put the FX 5200 PCI 128 and i will seek a little LP PciE X16 gpu for later


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 17, 2014)

@ThE_MaD_ShOt: That did turn out to be such an awesome looking system bro!!!!!


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 17, 2014)

I mounted the hard drive now. it is a pretty sweet rig. I also have you to thank for the sweet ass board and gpu's.


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## Kissamies (Mar 17, 2014)

I had a crappy Opteron 144 (CABNE 0540) what didn't oc even 2.6GHz fully stable


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 17, 2014)

I haven't tried to oc mine yet. It is under water so i have no ideal whats stopping me. LOL


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## Backfire (Mar 17, 2014)

A few days ago I've beheaded another 1€ A64 3700+ San Diego. Chip & cache were fine, but the package looked not very well. A few scars here & there .





But as you can see, it's working fine at 3,1GHz @ full CPU load.





Northbridge temps are fine, too.


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 18, 2014)

Round 1 (last round?)
I got it fully stable 2GHz @ stock voltage (1.4v) but when i tried to get to 2.2GHz i got a BSOD, and actually kept getting them even when i went back to default values
i didn't get a chance to increase voltage afterwards, and after a few tries it wouldn't even start (beeps indicating no RAM?) 

soooooo...... something went fubar or i killed it


----------



## Backfire (Mar 18, 2014)

Ok, I've got some pictures for you. Different pics of several systems I built over the last 2 1/2 years. Some are still running, some are not ready yet, but most of them are disassembled because its no fun climbing over 15 pc-cases just to get to the toilet . All parts are lying safe & dry in boxes in my "spare-parts-room". Just a few cases went over the silicium-bridge for I need sheet-metal for a soldering-project.

First is my 486 where work is still in progress. It has been running for a while, but I need better hardware. So I'd say, status: waiting.





















The motherboard is just a VLB-board, and when I start working on this system again, I'vo got to get a better board, a better graphics adapter and I'm thinking of building this systems as a SCSI-sys. So I will have to look for HDD's, too.

Next pics are some socket 7- boards. The well known Asus P55T2P4, the TX97-E and a FIC PA-2005.

















At the moment, there is no socket 7- system running. All are disassembled and put away to sleep .
In my next posting I've got some pics of Super Socket 7- systems. See you over there ...


----------



## Backfire (Mar 18, 2014)

So now from baby AT to ATX! I like the SS7 because the systems look a little bit more "grown up" than the AT babies. It's the same with cars. If you got a car from 1930 it's sure a cool oldtimer, but the fun begins let me say at around 1960. They're still old, but there is something more, they look exciting (I have had an old car, an 1968 Opel Commodore Coupe) >





and there is enough power for a little fun (and if its broken you can fix it by yourself). Same with the Super Socket 7: hey, a P5A, GA-5Ax or a MVP3G2/5 with an 600MHz K6-III+, Voodoo 2 SLI and a nice copper-cooler is, for someone who likes hardware, sure a nice look. It has a little power for a game or two, and when its broken it is easy to fix .
So here are some SS7- Systems:

My first retro-system i've built was an Asus P5A rev.1.04 with an AMD K6-III+ 400ATz @600MHz, Voodoo SLI and a TerraTec soundsystem.





As I always liked Epox, these boards where a "must" for me (it took me 2 years to get my hands on a MVP3G5. In 2 Years, there where 2 on ebay and I lost both auctions at around 70Euros. At last I got one from a guy from the german AMD-board "P3D". 65€ wasn't really cheap, but these things are rare (at least in Germany).

Epox EP-MVP3G-M>





Epox EP-MVP3G2>





and, "my precious", the EP-MVP3G5>





For the MVP3G5- system I took the best parts I could imagine. My decision for the cooler was not easy, because nearly none of the fine coolers fits on the board. Originally I wanted to install an Akasa Silver Mountain II, but it didn't fit. At that time I didn't had a Silver Mountain I, now I got one and that gives me an idea ... . I've got to look if the little Silver Mountain fits (hehe).
At least I took the, in Germany very rare, Kanie Hedgehog 238M. A very fine cooler, too (but it misses the "bling bling- factor of silver ).





As for the RAM the system got 3 doublesided Infineon PC133, CL2 modules with each 256MB.





If you want to use 256MB modules on a MVP3- board, they have to be doublesided with 8 chips on each side.

In my next posting I'm staying with the SS7 and I will post pictures of my tryouts with water and Peltier-cooling.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 19, 2014)

A few weeks ago I bought a cheap NMC- 5VMX motherboard at the bay. This one is identical to the Epox EP-MVP3G2 which is a very fine SS7- board with the VIA MVP3 chipset.





After some not really successful experiments with socket A systems and peltier/- air- cooling I was curious about the effects of a tec1-12715 (about 110W true pumping-power) on a watercooled SS7- system.
I also own a 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 with 5,5ns RAM and wanted to test its overclocking capabilities under water. I thought it might be quite successful because this card is getting really hot, but I got it with a slightly modified air-cooling up to 200MHz.





And, last but not least, I thought maybe I could get some more out of an AMD K6-III+ than the popular 600MHz.
First & short, I failed. But ...
lets start from the beginning. First I had to mount the watercooler on the board.





No problem, but wrong board. With a max. fsb of 112MHz the VIA-based NMC was not the board I needed. After some googleing and reading I found out, the Gigabyte GA-5AX could go, with some luck, up to 140MHz.
One year or so ago I had built a system with a GA-5AX ...





..and, as boards have no legs, it was still there where I put it a year ago.
After some cosmetic surgery the board looked ready for the warpath.





The watercooler fit quite well, but I had to make room for the Peltier. With 2 little pieces of sheet-metal I made 2 modified mounting clamps ...

















and everything went fine. But, problems ... . First, if I would try to cool the CPU directly with the Pelt, the Voodoo card would get no cooling water, but hot sauce. Bad idea. So I had to get the graphics- adapter out of the circuit. Bye bye Voodoo.
Second problem, the radiators. If the water-temperature should go under environment- temperature, the radiators will warm up the water. Solution would be a bypass to cut the radiators off from the circuit. All I needed was some tube and some connctors ... all I needed was some money .
So, everything was a wild-goose chase (got this from the dictionary ), and I'll try again when I'm rich.

Next posting will be about sunrise in dark pc-cases ...





so long ...


----------



## Bones (Mar 19, 2014)

Nice stuff!
Recently worked with my Socket 7 based Premio 219-H board and had a blast fooling with it. I was running into some issues with one or two of those still unresolved ATM but nothing I can't overcome if I put the effort into working around them. I will get it like I want one day.


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## Backfire (Mar 19, 2014)

Last year I did some AGP graphics-adapter benchmarks. The results can be found there > http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f204/benchmarking-aelterer-grafikkarten-967067.html
Its a german board, but the benchmark results are in english anyway.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 19, 2014)

from the 1st look i thought about a 3D Prophet 4000XT but it seems not, judging by the second photo of her,  you have a 4000XT i see her on the 19th place in the last pics you posted, since it use the same design it is also a Kyro chip right?


----------



## Backfire (Mar 19, 2014)

The slot A-system is one of the few that was built to stay.
Classic Chieftec CS-601 case. Much room for components, heavy, solid. After many years in use the case needed new paint.







The motherboard is an Asus K7M which I've chosen because of the AMD- chipset. The slot A Pluto/Orion has got 1.0GHz and is cooled by a Titan Majesty IV aka golden orb.
The "frontend" graphics- adapter is a ATI Rage Fury MAXX which is followed by 2 Creative CT6670 Voodoo 2 12MB accelerator cards.
For the sound it has got a TerraTec Soundsystem EWS64 XL with frontpanel.













I'm really tired now, more pics in a few days. 

cu


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 19, 2014)

let say it is a boring day ... 4hrs 25min before going to the job so ... killing time :

a good in between till i get a LP PciE X16 gpu (the intel onboard graphic is seemingly fubar) added 4gb XMS2 and will probably seek a E6400 to replace the E6300 it has atm (unless that board support higher model than the E6400)
  

let say ... mmhhh .... oh well Kotor 2 i guess 
  

@Backfire  infineon?  
  

family pic 
 

so to resume : i need a X16 LP GPU a C2D E6400 or above (will need to do research on those crappy SFF HP... still i like the out look of that pc ...  )for the DC7700P,  new board or board+cpu for the Compucase S4UT6, thinking about Swaping the PSU in the Nemesis ... getting 8gb DDR2 for the NSK3480 (since the 4gb are in the HP SFF) 

oh well thinking and tinkering make the days less boring


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 19, 2014)

Wow Backfire, you have a hell of a collection man!!!


----------



## Backfire (Mar 19, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> from the 1st look i thought about a 3D Prophet 4000XT but it seems not, judging by the second photo of her,  you have a 4000XT i see her on the 19th place in the last pics you posted, since it use the same design it is also a Kyro chip right?



Yes, you are right. It's a Kyro .


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 19, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> @Backfire  infineon?
> View attachment 55535 View attachment 55534


Beat me to it. Was going to post up a few sticks of RAM tonight after Uni. I have some Infineon, some Micron, and some Nanya that I found the other night. Remember Nanya?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 19, 2014)

reporting :

playing KOTOR 2 on a underclocked modern rig with vsync : worthless
Playing KOTOR 2 on a XP retrorig without vsync: Priceless



the X1650 pro 256 i had was beasty but the X1950GT 512 is .... godlike



Random Murderer said:


> Beat me to it. Was going to post up a few sticks of RAM tonight after Uni. I have some Infineon, some Micron, and some Nanya that I found the other night. Remember Nanya?


i have some Nanya DDR1 400 128mb one Elixir PC2 4200 256mb Veritech DDR1 333 512mb and a pair of PMI DDR1 400 256md aside

actual setup of the xp rig (micron ram 512mb x1 + one 256mb not fully recognized... my other 512mb DDR1 doesn't work so i stay with 768 @ 400(406 in fact)


the one i have
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b2107/xpertvision-x1950-gt-super-agp.html
but in 512mb version

the one i had
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/959/radeon-x1650-agp.html

HIS X1650 Pro IceQ 256mb DDR2 128bit no kidding the X1950GT 512mb GDDR3 256bit is better xD





good news a C2D E6700 would be compatible with the DC7700 have to check different site (Ricardo/Ebay ie) bufufuuu ... upgrading old hardware is ... fun ... i guess


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 19, 2014)

Cool stuff there dudes!

Damn, my girlfriend's Nokia 808 Pureview's camera stopped working, so I can't take photos, but I got some *GREAT* stuff from my good friend!

Athlon 64 X2 5000+ AM2
Athlon 64 3000+ S754
P4 530 HT LGA775
P4 2.66GHz S478
P4 2.4GHz S478
aaaaaand a PIII 866 S370 for my retro rig!!

Also a GF6200SE PCI-E, Radeon 9200 (for the retro rig of course) and an unidentified AGP card. Gonna find out what that is...

Also a LOT of 128-512MB DDR1 sticks and couple of DDR2 256MB sticks + 1GB DDR2-667 stick 
Some fan's, old Hard drives and boxed coolers too, couple of ethernet cards etc 

edit: Looks that some of the CPU's have bent pins so I have to straighten them 

edit2: Looks like that the unidentified card is a TNT2 Pro OEM


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 19, 2014)

Backfire said:


> The slot A-system is one of the few that was built to stay.
> Classic Chieftec CS-601 case. Much room for components, heavy, solid. After many years in use the case needed new paint.
> 
> View attachment 55526View attachment 55527
> ...


Nice slot A rig. Mine is pictured a page or 2 back. I used the mighty MSi 6167 board. I also used a Ati Rage Fury Pro, and a Aureal Vortex 2 soundcard. Aureal was the bomb back then.


I guess I need to build a Socket A rig now. Now do I use the Nforce 2 board or do I go with my old favorite , the KT7A? I will have 6 generations of running Amd rigs.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 20, 2014)

What it worth à 5000+ ? I need upgrade and will look in eBay.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> What it worth à 5000+ ? I need upgrade and will look in eBay.


10-20euros here in Finland. I keep it still


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> I have NEC PC from 1999 with Intel Pentium III 550MHz, 256MB SDram, Voodoo 3 2000 (integrated) and Fujitsu 6.4GB HDD.
> Really good PC, with CRT monitor connected it reminds me my childhood in 90's.


bring on the pics! luckier than me my 1st pc was a 286 comodor ... oh wait ... nevermind 

aside: i found this at my fav etailer for less than 20$ new boxed and under warranty
http://www.powercolor.com/es/products_features.asp?id=385





i guess it will fit the C2D DC7700P well 

i can even convert that crap pack into a decent HTPC for DiVx/H264./dvd playback (maybe blueray not 3d ofc)

my only concern is the power requirement  400w psu recommended but a DC7700 has a 240w with a proprietary form factor and connector (smaller 20/24 pin and 6 pin EPS12V instead of the standard 4/8pin)


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 20, 2014)

IT LIVVVEESSS
i shorted the clr cmos jumper and cut power to it and actually forgot it for a couple of days 
 tried booting it a while ago and it started -but back to square 1 





Though with that much RAM if i don't find atleast 1GB i might install XP on it ( or maybe i should have done that from beginning )


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 20, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Though with that much RAM if i don't find atleast 1GB i might install XP on it ( or maybe i should have done that from beginning )



oh well my C2D rig (the DC7700) run win xp pro with 4gb ram ... nufufuu (ok 3.50gb   ) i still have a license for 7 Pro but i keep it for the X4 9600B once i will recieve my EVGA 580 SSC and re put the 460 HAWK in it ... or ...  naahhh too much options ... i have 1 license XP Home 2 licenses XP Pro (thanks my job to send Pc's to the trash without recovering the licenses ... and the DC7700 was fully functional if we except the onboard graphic .. ) 2 licenses Win 7 Pro 1 license Win server 2003 4 CPU 5 CLT  (luckily i found back all my disk for XP and i have a iso for WS2003)


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 20, 2014)

Well i was testing it so windows is not activated yet , guess i will install xp for it after I've found a proper HDD and got it placed in a case......
 ( its just sitting on cardboard now on top of an xbox- in turn which is also sitting on a cardboard box)

ohh i forgot my other old P4 rigs, maybe i'll scavenge some ram from them


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2014)

I have 4 P4 cpus right now, 3 to 478 and 1 LGA775, I guess I have to test the max OC of the LGA775 version


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> I have NEC PC from 1999 with Intel Pentium III 550MHz, 256MB SDram, Voodoo 3 2000 (integrated) and Fujitsu 6.4GB HDD.
> Really good PC, with CRT monitor connected it reminds me my childhood in 90's.



Yes, get some pictures and post them up man!!!!!


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2014)

Market PC with integrated Voodoo3, what can be cooler than that? 

At least not crappy iGPU for its time unlike my PC#5 with 865G chipset and no AGP..


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> Okay, in next week I take some photos. This is old, without case:




Awesome! Added ya to the original post man.


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> Okay, in next week I take some photos. This is old, without case:


I'm not sure what makes me nostalgia the hardest in that pic: the monitor, running the PC that way, or the original UT splash screen(I still play UT99, lol). BTW, if you ever feel like getting owned in some CTF, shoot me a PM. We'll load up Facing Worlds and cause some carnage


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 20, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> I'm not sure what makes me nostalgia the hardest in that pic: the monitor, running the PC that way, or the original UT splash screen(I still play UT99, lol). BTW, if you ever feel like getting owned in some CTF, shoot me a PM. We'll load up Facing Worlds and cause some carnage





miomol said:


> Thanks. I'm still playing this game sometimes but I prefer Quake III Arena




shit, I still play all of the UT's and Quake's 

Some of the best shooters ever made!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> Thanks. I'm still playing this game sometimes but I prefer Quake III Arena


ahahah with some friends we were doing some QIII tournament in a pub with a wifi, on the "browser based QIII" i don't remember the name of it tho ... but QIII hold most of my Lan "souvenirs" .... and UT at the cyberzone where we did go befor ehe has to close ... nostaaaaaalgiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! 


still on the Athlon rig ... playing KOTOR 2 and writing on tpu with the DC7700 ... i didn't started my main rig since i got those 2 running up xD damn i love all my old comp (ok ok the new one too but ... aahhh whatever  )


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> I know what you feel. Second machine what I have is my old PC - legendary Athlon 64 3000+ Venice on s754, 1.5GB DDR, Sapphire X800 XL 256MB DDR3, WD 250GB and Fortron PNF 300W. Runs XP and Firefox 3.6 (with adblock, without flash) very well.
> This is my most precious machine (after first with Phenom of course ) because this is souvenir from my dad, he bought it 2 months before his death. Whatever, I love old hardware. In wardrobe I have Amiga 600 in oryginal case


well look at my system specs i updated the list according to the nostalgia glory  

just realized about the dad part ... indeed that's a thing to hold as a souvenir ... nostalgic hardware hold more importance when they have a history like that... cheers


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> I saw it. Glorius machines and all of them have AMD processors. Your system specs made my day (or night in my country ) so keep going with it, bro


thanks  night for me too ... that remember me i need to go sleep... working tomorrow morning ahah  oh well after my KOTOR2 session ... 

aanndd some pics before going to sleep 
      

g'night: to be continued soon (tm) because the nostalgia knows no ends!


----------



## Ferrum Master (Mar 20, 2014)

My colleges country WC.... TOP THAT


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 21, 2014)

Holy crap!!!!!!  That is a lot of parts mounted to the walls!!!!!! 

Is that all stuff you have?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 21, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> "browser based QIII" i don't remember the name of it tho ...



Lightbulb
"QUAKE LIVE"!!!!
http://www.quakelive.com/#!home




ok my favorite etailer is not my favorite etailer anymore i order at 9am on the "expected delivery" i get "friday 21.04.2014" and not "item will be shipped 1 to 2 days after payment" i get the order confirmation and the shipping confirmation: posted at 8h05pm, whaaaat? pfff not receiving it before monday so


----------



## Backfire (Mar 21, 2014)

Dual socket A:

Asus A7M266D





Tyan Tiger S2466-4M with different components


----------



## Backfire (Mar 21, 2014)

Some pictures of the Tyan Tiger over the time >


----------



## Backfire (Mar 21, 2014)

part 2


----------



## Backfire (Mar 21, 2014)

The 1st & the 2nd Voodoo 5 machine >


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 21, 2014)

@Backfire man you got tons of awesome hardware


----------



## Backfire (Mar 21, 2014)

Soyo Dragon lite, Voodoo 4 4500 AGP





Abit KT7A, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP, Thermalright SP-97





Best Nforce 2- Board ever, DFI NFII Ultra Infinity, ATI Radeon 9800Pro, Zalman CNPS7000 CU





2nd best Nforce 2- board, Abit NF7-S rev.2.0, Radeon HD3850 with custom mosfet- cooling made for me by http://www.liquidextasy.de/


----------



## Backfire (Mar 21, 2014)

The mosfet- cooler for the HD3850.

























I didn't pay for it it was a kind of a "prototype".


----------



## Backfire (Mar 21, 2014)

Some DDR500/ 550 RAM. For overclocking you need fast RAM. I prefer & recommend the red ones on the left. Adata Vitesta DDR500, best DDR1- RAM I ever had my hands on.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 21, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Soyo Dragon lite, Voodoo 4 4500 AGP
> 
> View attachment 55616
> 
> ...


Backfire, what revision is that KT7A? What proc are you running in it?


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2014)

@ Backfire: The DFI NF2 Infinity I had wasn't that great, didn't want to go past 220 or so on the bus no matter what I tried - Different chips, cooling, RAM, BIOS files.... You name it I tried it and the board simply woudn't deliver. I actually had a A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 that ran much better (240FSB). Both of my benching NF7's blow that away and my benching AN7 does too.

BTW nice Soyo board, I have one like that (KT 266 Dragon Plus! version) with what appears to be the factory mod done to it via leaving out R219 from the board. Can't find R219 anywhere on this one and it was bought right before these disappeared from vendors. The basic mod for these was snipping out R219 for better performance and to correct a problem with low voltage for T-Bred CPUs, snipping out the resistor solved the problem. My board shows the correct 1.65v's with a T-Bred as it should and since I can't find this resistor on it, it must be one of those. 

Soyo did a last batch run with this "Mod" making those an oddity of sorts.


----------



## Compgeke (Mar 22, 2014)

Played with my PPro again the other day. A couple people and I had a "Play Quake on age appropriate hardware" night and this was already a complete tower. Software quake runs like shit but I did manage to get GLQuake running which was able to run 1024x768 no issues at all. It's well worth the effort to get a Voodoo card for quake if you want to make an age appropriate issue, it looks so much better.

At the moment it's a 200 MHz Pentium Pro, 96 megs ram, S3 Virge 2D card, Voodoo 2 3D card, Sound Blaster 32 sound card, 60 gig hard drive running Windows 2000.

I would hate to imagine what this would've cost in 1996ish sans the 60 gig drive and Voodoo 2.






And my setup from the other night. The tower's hardware really is the only age appropriate stuff but we all used LCDs instead of CRTs but I'm the only one that used a modern mouse after playing with USB cards. The Siig USB card from an old Mac I had works fine but the VIA based USB2 cards hardlock the system after a few minutes. I will say that a CM Recon is a LOT better than airport terminal trackpoint-type device.


----------



## TRWOV (Mar 22, 2014)

Is that a Point of Sale keyboard?


----------



## Compgeke (Mar 22, 2014)

It would work fine for that but the particular one is aimed at airport terminals. As such it has a magstripe reader and some sort of OCR in the same slot as well as PS/2 connectors and SITA serial connector.

The main reason I use it is the Cherry MX Black switches. The Desko has the built in mouse and is quieter making it easier for testing stuff than a Model M (and I can't afford a M13).


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 22, 2014)

Wait... did I see a Voodoo5 6000 there?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 22, 2014)

Well at least it's a 5500


----------



## Backfire (Mar 22, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Backfire, what revision is that KT7A? What proc are you running in it?



It's a V1.3. Normally I'm running a CPU that fits the board, i.e. a Thunderbird 1200, 1333 or 1400. 
As I did some graphics-adaptor testing last year, I needed a board with a 3.3V AGP-Slot and I needed some MHz to be sure the graphics-adaptors run under full load. I tested the Abit KT7A, the Asus A7V133 and the Epox 8KTA3Pro. All 3 boards ran, more or less, fine with a XP-M 2500+ Barton @ 17x 133MHz = 2267MHz.

KT7A

  

A7V133


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 22, 2014)

Cool backfire. I also have a rev 1.3. I was running it with a 2100+  I now run it with a 2400+.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 22, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Soyo Dragon lite, Voodoo 4 4500 AGP
> 
> View attachment 55616
> 
> ...


raaahhh i wanted a Soyo Dragon platinum (white) but the seller told me it would be a waste and a economical failure to send it overseas ... hum ... i pay the shipping fees ... so why he bother about it ... i totally hate that!


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 22, 2014)

KT7A was the damn best SDRAM S462 mb ever! I has that and an Athlon Thunderbird AXIA 1GHz @ 1404MHz in 2005, GPU was Ti4200 and I had 896MB memory


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 22, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> Played with my PPro again the other day. A couple people and I had a "Play Quake on age appropriate hardware" night and this was already a complete tower. Software quake runs like shit but I did manage to get GLQuake running which was able to run 1024x768 no issues at all. It's well worth the effort to get a Voodoo card for quake if you want to make an age appropriate issue, it looks so much better.
> 
> At the moment it's a 200 MHz Pentium Pro, 96 megs ram, S3 Virge 2D card, Voodoo 2 3D card, Sound Blaster 32 sound card, 60 gig hard drive running Windows 2000.
> 
> ...




Awesome Compgeke!!! Of course I added you to the original post man!!!!!   

Wow, playing Quake on "age appropriate" hardware would be a frigging blast!!! Hmm, I have Quake and Quake II just waiting to be played. 
Ya know, Quake II ran great as a multiplayer over the internet. Wonder if it still does? LOL





miomol said:


> Where? Compgeke posted PC with Voodoo 2:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hmm, I know I posted a Voodoo 5500 on page 55.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-55#post-3035054

Thinking pretty serious about firing that puppy up...... Just acquired an ole Gateway with a PII 400 Slot 1. Complete system and looks frigging brand new LOL. Might have to see if I can get some Quake II running.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 22, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> KT7A was the damn best SDRAM S462 mb ever! I has that and an Athlon Thunderbird AXIA 1GHz @ 1404MHz in 2005, GPU was Ti4200 and I had 896MB memory



Hehe, yes the KT7A is a fine board, I like it, too.

I started a little late with Computers, and missed the whole 286, 386, 486, etc. era (was more interested in motorbikes ). My first self made PC was an Asus P2B with a Pentium II 350MHz, an ELSA Victory Erazor (RIVA 128) and a TerraTec Maestro 32/96. Later I added one, then two Voodoo 2 12MB cards. At this time I had no Internet and was a bloody noob (must have been in 1997).
Some time (better some years) later I got 5000DM from an insurance and nothing could hold me.
My 2nd self made PC was a Abit KT7 (without A, it was in 2000), an Athlon Thunderbird 1000MHz, and I wanted a Voodoo 5 6000. That dream never came true (sigh). Instead I bought the first Radeon which was named "Radeon 64DDR". Some maybe know it better as "Radeon 256". 14 years ago this combination was a hell of a machine ... and I was lucky.

At the moment I got these KT7- boards:

  

KT7-Raid, KT7A & KT7A-Raid


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 22, 2014)

Backfire, you have some seriously awesome nostalgic hardware man! It is soooo awesome to see this thread growing and all the great members showing such cool hardware. 

Somewhere in this thread I started a conversation about building a web site devoted to nostalgic hardware, and I was in the works with it.......I put it on the back burner but now am thinking I should devote some time to getting that site put together and sending invites to everyone here!! Would make an awesome web site, I think!


----------



## Backfire (Mar 22, 2014)

I am learning how to make hardware- photographs and how to use photo-scape. For a website you need good pictures. I just got a little digicam, but I'm getting better .


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 23, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Somewhere in this thread I started a conversation about building a web site devoted to nostalgic hardware, and I was in the works with it.......I put it on the back burner but now am thinking I should devote some time to getting that site put together and sending invites to everyone here!! Would make an awesome web site, I think!


When it's up send me a link.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 23, 2014)

Yopu already have lot of nostalgic lovers here we can give you pictures for the website and datas for a short reviews section if you start one. So people could build vintage computers using vintages hardwares data.


----------



## Ferrum Master (Mar 23, 2014)

My Tyan Tiger K8W S2875, it still works as charm, altough dumped in the clossed! I needed USB' s as hell due to my work that time... loaded with trusty Matrox G400. 2GB ECC REG DDR RAM. And yes... Audigy ZS



 
Tyan Thunder S2195. Also still working. Socket F was a complete WIN for AMD. I ran it since dual core Santa Rosa pairs and lastly with Istanbul hex-cores now and it still kicks some ass since 2008. 3870 Radeon...


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 23, 2014)

@ Ferrum Master: Awesome motherboards man! Of course I added ya to the original post.   



JunkBear said:


> Yopu already have lot of nostalgic lovers here we can give you pictures for the website and datas for a short reviews section if you start one. So people could build vintage computers using vintages hardwares data.



Yes and I actually had some manufactures on board for doing a "nostalgic system of the month" with prizes for current hardware. 

Couple of the manufactures were very excited to hear of such a site.  So many manufactures made hardware that has been all but forgotten. 

I think I will start working on that site again. What I would like to do is purchase Vbulliten as it is great site scripting software. Might be an issue though as I reaaaaaaaaaally can't afford it.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 23, 2014)

*Help come up with some site names! Suggestions would be awesome. *


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 23, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> *Help come up with some site names! Suggestions would be awesome. *


N0Stalg33k ... oh wait ... lame 

dunno but if i get something i get back to ya bro'  !


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 23, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> N0Stalg33k ... oh wait ... lame







miomol said:


> Worst part of creating webpage/business: name
> 
> If I get some idea, I bring it here!



Your right, finding a good "catchy" name is the hard part. Don't want it to long as that can also be an issue.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 24, 2014)

Vintage_Elite  ... because we are the elite of vintage computing on internet  something like that. 

B2L-Squad   =  Bring Back To Life

1- The B exponant 2  for Bring Back
2- The 2 also for To
3- L for Life
4- Squad because we are an elite squad working to preserve the memory of computers and save the environment


----------



## m1919 (Mar 24, 2014)

Thinking about the Fractal Define XL for my Dell Precision 620 project. Tall enough for the board, probably tall enough for a standard ATX PSU if I can convert one to power the Dell board, otherwise I should still be able to fit the original PSU in. Also have a conversion to inverted ATX in mind. No idea what the pin-outs are for the power connectors, but I can work those out.

Probably can fudge the front panel connectors and just mod the Fractal's power/reset buttons to the Dell front panel control board.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352035


----------



## m1919 (Mar 24, 2014)

miomol said:


> If you want to use ATX PSU, maybe you must mod ATX PSU to DELL ATX connector. Measure voltages and write results on the paper. Next, do it with ATX and compare results. Here's ATX connector:



There's a pinout diagram for the Dell Precision 410 24-pin, which I believe is the same PSU as the Precision 620. There's an additional 20-pin that I'm not sure on. The conversion should be simple enough if I can get a 24-pin > 24-pin + 24/20-pin splitter to mod.


----------



## m1919 (Mar 24, 2014)

miomol said:


> Most ATX power supply's have 20 + 4pin, which you can connect together to new motherboard or disconnect 4pin for older (before ~2004).
> If this one pin have white cable then It's a -5v rail for ISA slots.



This is an i840 based board, there are no ISA slots.


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 24, 2014)

Hi, i'am new in this board, this is my first post, and pictures of my old hardware. This is not my all old hardware.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 24, 2014)

Stjepan666 said:


> Hi, i'am new in this board, this is my first post, and pictures of my old hardware. This is not my all old hardware.




Awesome. Looking forward to other pictures. 

Welcome to TPU forums and of course I added you to the original post.


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 24, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome. Looking forward to other pictures.
> 
> Welcome to TPU forums and of course I added you to the original post.


Other pictures uploanding at next days.  Thx for added to the orginal post.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 24, 2014)

Just some pics.






Nearly Art (or just garbage)?





This is my view from my sofa. Left main PC (HTPC), middle TV (& 2nd monitor of main PC), right test or retro PC.





Some spare parts (old photo, it's more now ).





Each screen-worker needs this. It keeps your coffee hot. 17th best invention after the wheel.

edit: @ stinger608, how about "IT-undead". Sounds a little like a bad horror-movie .


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 24, 2014)

Stjepan666 said:


> Hi, i'am new in this board, this is my first post, and pictures of my old hardware. This is not my all old hardware.


YEAH ROCK ON!!! nice cpu collection pal!

edit : woop woop, now i just need to order a LP bracket  dang that UEFI GOP Win 8  compatible ruins the whole pics xD but at last its a 5450  and in a old bag of silicon bones from HP


----------



## Backfire (Mar 24, 2014)

Pack of 4 little Raptors for the "Thai-Chi"/ Crossfire- System. Watercooled, because 10000rpm hdd's are becoming pretty hot.


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 24, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Pack of 4 little Raptors for the "Thai-Chi"/ Crossfire- System. Watercooled, because 10000rpm hdd's are becoming pretty hot.
> 
> View attachment 55712


That is sweet! You going to run RAID 10 or 0+1 on those?


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 24, 2014)

Whoa 4 Raptors in RAID, legendary preformace.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 24, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> That is sweet! You going to run RAID 10 or 0+1 on those?



That's the plan .

Edit: oops. misread the question. 10 or 0 + 1 are more or less the same. I think I'll build first two mirroring Raids and then put them together in a striping raid. That would be a 10 (I think ).


----------



## m1919 (Mar 24, 2014)

This Precision 620 project is getting pretty involved... gonna have to gut the original case in order to recover the motherboard tray and backplate, or custom fabricate a new backplate to fit the 620's motherboard, as the I/O plate is non-standard.

The motherboard is also mounted on what would be the left side panel; there is no standard motherboard tray. With further inspection, I've found the standoffs are pressed into a steel sheet that appears to be attached to the left side pane by adhesive. If I just cut the motherboard tray out and mount it in the new case, the board will be sitting about half an inch too high. Gonna have to redo the entire back panel...

Good news is since that's probably the course I will take, everything should look nice and neat once painted.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 24, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Pack of 4 little Raptors for the "Thai-Chi"/ Crossfire- System. Watercooled, because 10000rpm hdd's are becoming pretty hot.
> 
> View attachment 55712



my DC7700P main HDD is a 150gb Velociraptor (in the FDD place) with the "icepack" 3.5" frame, i have to say ... i never seen a WinXP rig boot up that fast: back in the time i had only some Maxtor 5k4 or seagate 7k2 at max


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 25, 2014)

Holy crap Backfire, are all them cardboard boxes video cards? That is a hell of a stack bro!

Also looks like I might have an MSI Master2-FAR motherboard with dual Opteron 285's with solid copper MSI heat sinks/fans. Also has 6 gigs of DDR 400 ECC ram. 

A fella brought in an old server today with that setup in it. Wants us to upgrade the motherboard, chips, ram. Told the boss I wanted the board, chips, fans, and ram.......He didn't have a problem with it.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 25, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Holy crap Backfire, are all them cardboard boxes video cards?



Videocards, soundcards, some controller cards.


----------



## m1919 (Mar 25, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Holy crap Backfire, are all them cardboard boxes video cards? That is a hell of a stack bro!
> 
> Also looks like I might have an MSI Master2-FAR motherboard with dual Opteron 285's with solid copper MSI heat sinks/fans. Also has 6 gigs of DDR 400 ECC ram.
> 
> A fella brought in an old server today with that setup in it. Wants us to upgrade the motherboard, chips, ram. Told the boss I wanted the board, chips, fans, and ram.......He didn't have a problem with it.



Nice haul, it's pretty hard to find the Master2-FAR that supports dual core Opterons, mine will only run up to Opteron 250s.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 25, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Nice haul, it's pretty hard to find the Master2-FAR that supports dual core Opterons, mine will only run up to Opteron 250s.


talk about luck ... my Master3 run with 2 250 like you ... and he has 2 285 daaaaaaaaaaaah

hopefully it will run up to 270 with the last bios ... but i still have to find a good deal on those ...


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 25, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Nice haul, it's pretty hard to find the Master2-FAR that supports dual core Opterons, mine will only run up to Opteron 250s.





GreiverBlade said:


> talk about luck ... my Master3 run with 2 250 like you ... and he has 2 285 daaaaaaaaaaaah
> 
> hopefully it will run up to 270 with the last bios ... but i still have to find a good deal on those ...



On MSI's site and main page for the motherboard it shows the 285's as being supported with the latest bios.

Also need to find one of those little 40 mm chip set fans for it. The one on it is dead. Probably why the guy was having crashing and booting issues.


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 25, 2014)

As I said, the next day I throw the next photo, today portion of memory and processors in Slot 1: Pentium 2, Celeron, and riser Slot1-Socket 370, memory is: SIMM, SIMM EDO, SD, DDR1, SO-DIMM DDR2, and DDR2, and mobo with Intel Pentium at Socket 5, i430FX.


----------



## m1919 (Mar 25, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> On MSI's site and main page for the motherboard it shows the 285's as being supported with the latest bios.
> 
> Also need to find one of those little 40 mm chip set fans for it. The one on it is dead. Probably why the guy was having crashing and booting issues.



There are two versions of the Master2-FAR board, one is the MS-9130, which only supports up to Opteron 250s, the other is the MS-9617.

I believe the power delivery circuitry is different between the two versions, so the MS-9130 might work with dual cores, but it'll probably take a dump at some point. I think the older version cannot provide the lower voltages the dual core Opterons need.


----------



## Compgeke (Mar 26, 2014)

Played with the Packard Bell tonight. Removed the barrel battery, got it to play disk 1 of The Wall (software config error, not hardware) and got it to keep the settings.

Running lightning fast it's a 33 MHz 486 SX, 20 megs ram, 170 meg hard drive, probably 4x CD-ROM, Aztech Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16 sound card and a random Intel network card. Running on the original install of MS-DOS 6 and Windows 3.1 as it left the factory. Only upgrades in this are the ram and network card which I added myself.

mmm...that familar front.





Totally awesome lightning fast 486 SX!





Added a network card, with mTCP I can IRC from this, run a FTP server, access FTP servers, etc. Pretty soon I'll even be able to run a webserver.





Unfortunately this thing came with a battery barrel, which was starting to leak but didn't cause any damage. Pulled that off and I'm using the external battery header with a CR2032 now.





It does keep the BIOS settings and the time now, no more entering the HDD's CHS on startup. One issue with this machine is I can't enter the BIOS unless I remove the battery to clear the CMOS or disconnect the hard drive or floppy or whatever.


----------



## PHaS3 (Mar 26, 2014)

Found this dumped where I work... Case is busted up pretty bad, but the machine still works 



 

Skt 754 Sempron 2600+
1GB RAM
Radeon 9200


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 26, 2014)

look what i found back while doing some cleaning ...
  
yep my 1600Pro (tho on the box i clearly remember 1650...) the IceQ HSF is long lost  and the card is probably dead ... but i keep it for records.
will try to take better pics once my SX100 will be usable again 

and ...


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 26, 2014)

Miomiol dreams, three monitors in one pc, but three CRT monitors not LCD.


----------



## broken pixel (Mar 26, 2014)

06/05/01
COMPAQ ARMADA 7770DMT


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 26, 2014)

weeehehheheheheheeee i found a 

Arima 40GCMO120-A830 HDAMA-I AMD Server Motherboard Opteron Socket 940 cheaper than the Rioworks (almost 2time cheaper including the shipping: 30.45chf) from Germany as well





now have to wait on Paypal actualization, and i found a seller in Minnesota with some Opty 275  (2pack for 20.16chf shipping include) i will wait a bit before ordering those i want to test the board with the 250 before to see if its really my Master3 who is faulty.

basically i found a cheaper deal with 2 different seller instead of the original bundle Riowork+2x270
Arima is Riowork tho but the PCB is blue and all electrolyte cap (the one with the heatshrink on it are also electrolyte no vent on them) plus even if no IO shield it use the same pattern as my actual Master3


----------



## m1919 (Mar 26, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> weeehehheheheheheeee i found a
> 
> Arima 40GCMO120-A830 HDAMA-I AMD Server Motherboard Opteron Socket 940 cheaper than the Rioworks (almost 2time cheaper including the shipping: 30.45chf) from Germany as well
> 
> ...



What are planning on using this for? As there's no PCI-E or AGP, I'm guessing for use as an actual server?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 26, 2014)

well my actual "server" run on a MSI K8D Master3-133 FA4R and has a FX5200 PCI in it i don't use it as a server i just have one for the sake of having one 

ofc if you go back in the thread: i could bridge a PCI-X to PCI-E X16 and add a LP entry level GPU but ... i don't mainly care  i am a collector when i find a good deal on a old piece of hardware : i jump on it!


----------



## m1919 (Mar 26, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> well my actual "server" run on a MSI K8D Master3-133 FA4R and has a FX5200 PCI in it i don't use it as a server i just have one for the sakeI  of having one
> 
> ofc if you go back in the thread: i could bridge a PCI-X to PCI-E X16 and add a LP entry level GPU but ... i don't mainly care  i am a collector when i find a good deal on a old piece of hardware : i jump on it!



I hear that. I recently bought an Intel SBT2 dual P3 Xeon server board, pretty much only because it was still in retail packaging and had all the accessories. Of course now I'm looking for a Voodoo 5 5500 PCI to run on it, because why not.

Pics to come later on.


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 27, 2014)

Today I throw pics of testing this configuration:
Pentium 3 1Ghz
640MB SDRAM
Geforce 2 Titanium 64MB DDR moded by me, 80mm cooler with trash 
NMC-3BAX
Creative Sound Blaster Live CT4830
40GB Segate Barracuda
Sony CDRW
Power Supply LC-A300ATX
and 17 "AOC CRT" Monitor


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 27, 2014)

Stjepan666 said:


> Today I throw pics of testing this configuration:
> Petntium 3 1Ghz
> 640MB SDRAM
> Geforce 2 Titanium 64MB DDR moded by me, 80mm cooler with trash
> ...


Coppermine core! Surely you can OC it a bit?


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 27, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Coppermine core! Surely you can OC it a bit?


Not on this board, I tried and did not make it.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 27, 2014)

Guess what guys?


I found a 256MB PC133 SDRAM module in the box what I got from my friend, and the P3-866 also works! Now I need to find my Win2000 or XP cd 
Also put my #2 rig working, will put pics on both machines tomorrow


----------



## Stjepan666 (Mar 27, 2014)

Nice ad from the past, found in the depths of the Internet.  8499.00$


----------



## broken pixel (Mar 27, 2014)

My girlfriend gave me 2 old Dell computers, one has an old Nvidia GPU. I will post picks once I get back home and clean them up.


----------



## m1919 (Mar 27, 2014)

Apparently HP produced a workstation that used the Asus XG-DLS dual xeon board. Trying to find out exactly what machine this would have been. Only slot-2 based HP workstation I know of is the Kayak XU and that's a proprietary board.

Older HP workstations are pretty neat in that some of them use rebadged retail boards. Example: the Kayak XM600 uses the Asus P3C-D board.

Anyone have some info on these older machines? Seems there's very little online for some of these older HP machines.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 28, 2014)

These are PC4400 (DDR550) >









Twinmos Twister PC4000 (DDR500) >





ADATA Vitesta PC4000 (DDR500) >













some OCZ >









Corsair PC3500 >





with lightshow ...





As I mentioned before, the best results I got with the ADATA Vitesta with red pcb.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 28, 2014)

Backfire said:


> These are PC4400 (DDR550) >
> 
> View attachment 55775
> 
> ...



backfire: german hum ... small wordplay involving one RAM brand ... 

"das ist geil!"


----------



## Backfire (Mar 28, 2014)

hehe . I had to google where they come from. It stands for "*Golden Emperor International Ltd." *and the company is located in Taipeh/ Taiwan.

I spent nearly the whole night photografing and working on the photos to sell some hardware at ebay. 









I hope i will get enough money to afford two 360 x 120 x 60 mm radiators and some sheet-metal for the "Thai-Chi" project.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 28, 2014)

Arima HDAMA-I ordered and paid expected delivery 3-4days well if we exclude the week end i should receive it by next Wednesday or Thursday

14.95€ + 9.99€ std int shipping ... i have seen worse ...  well as long as it doesn't exceed 62.50chf : no custom taxes 



Backfire said:


> hehe . I had to google where they come from. It stands for "*Golden Emperor International Ltd." *and the company is located in Taipeh/ Taiwan.


woops i thought you already known it ... tho it make a funny wordplay for Swiss and German people

no shit ...
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/591/Intel_Core_2_Duo_E6300_vs_Intel_Core_2_Duo_E6700.html
not showing benchies ... but still ... if my DC7700P handle the 6700 that might be a good upgrade (if we can talk about upgrade in that ...) i found one for 12chf + 2chf delivery, still checking my financial status if i can take it (yep even 14chf is hard till the end of april)

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/390/Intel_Core_2_Duo_E6700_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_E6700.html

eh ... pentium DC 6700 are stronger than C2D 6700 i guess its from the higher clock

too bad  Pentium DC are harder to find than C2D 

ok logical pent DC are more recent : 2010 instead of 2006 and die shrink + less L2 cache higher frequencies and higher max temp ... tho i wonder why i cant find any of them

not a bad thing i suspect that the board wouldn't handle it, even if its also a skt775/fsb1066


----------



## grunt_408 (Mar 28, 2014)




----------



## grunt_408 (Mar 28, 2014)

Backfire said:


> hehe . I had to google where they come from. It stands for "*Golden Emperor International Ltd." *and the company is located in Taipeh/ Taiwan.
> 
> I spent nearly the whole night photografing and working on the photos to sell some hardware at ebay.
> 
> ...


I am still running one of these in my sons pc..


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 28, 2014)

second buy of the day.




http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL9S7.html

C2D E6700 2.66GHz/4M/1066/06 (the one i wrote of, previously) in the end 14-15chf would be not so grieving on my budget.


----------



## grunt_408 (Mar 28, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> second buy of the day.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I will see your intel and raise you an athlon....


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 28, 2014)

grunt_408 said:


> I will see your intel and raise you an athlon....


look at my sys specs :
it is the only intel i have (6300 atm but soo the 6700 will take the place)
Processor:

Athlon X4 760K/Phenom X4 9600B B3/2x Opteron 250/C2DE6300/AthlonXP 1.7ghz(2000+)@ 2,25ghz (2800+)

and that's for the running rigs ofc


or look back in the thread for the rest 

also WOOHOO order update : Arima HDAMA-I marked as shipped

yo dawg OC that 5450 need moar oomph to play a bluray (well not really but i wanted to play with and see how the 240w PSU will do)


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 28, 2014)

http://imgur.com/a/Ssxg9#0

Here are the pictures I promised to you guys


----------



## Backfire (Mar 28, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> woops i thought you already known it ... tho it make a funny wordplay for Swiss and German people



I never really cared about where the company was located and what GEIL stands for. I had the slight idea they were an US-company.
And the wordplay, come on, its only the first time funny .


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 28, 2014)

Guys we should probably start a thread of vintage parts for exchanging between each of us. But don't do like some adds here and not telling where you live 
Like me I have some 478, 754 and 775 cpu, DDR 266,333,400 DDR2 533, 667, 800ram ,some cards and other stuff and I'm from Canada.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 28, 2014)

Germany - AMD/ ATI/ 3dfx/ Abit/ Epox/ DFI/ TerraTec/ Creative SB AWE/ Matrox - socket 7, slot A, socket 462/A, some socket 939, a little socket 3.


----------



## Misaki (Mar 28, 2014)

My friend's GF 4 Ti4200 128MB DDR 128Bit. Still works, modded by me and my friend some years ago.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 28, 2014)

@grunt_408: Of course I added ya to the original post man.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 29, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> *Guys we should probably start a thread of vintage parts for exchanging between each of us*. But don't do like some adds here and not telling where you live
> Like me I have some 478, 754 and 775 cpu, DDR 266,333,400 DDR2 533, 667, 800ram ,some cards and other stuff and I'm from Canada.




Trouble with that is we would have to follow the TPU guide lines and post in the "For Sale" forum. 

We started to do that in the World Community Grid forum and got that shut down right away. 

It would be tough to manage a for sale thread with multiple posters I would imagine. If the original poster was a moderator it would be a ton easier.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 29, 2014)

Guidelines are followed by moderators only when it's their advantage. We want to do something nice for others but if they cant take advantage of it then they going to shut us down.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 29, 2014)

Yesterday a parcel with 5 older graphic cards came in. Nothing really exciting. I just wanted the VLB- card for the 486er.






   

I saw the Canopus Voodoo-Graphics Card had a fan installed, and as the miro has the same pcb,
I put a fan on a miro HISCORE 3D. Maybe it helps and the card lives a bit longer.





A thing I have to invent, Voodoo Graphics Quad SLI ...


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 29, 2014)

Damn those old ISA & PCI cards are cool! I also like the old ISA Sound Blaster's, SB64AWE Gold is my favourite.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 29, 2014)

Wow man! These Quad sli are like maybe...64megs total.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 29, 2014)

The AWE64 Gold is a pretty fine card.





My favourites are:













these are ISA- Cards, my absolute favourite is the PCI TerraTec DMX 6fire 24/96.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 29, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Wow man! These Quad sli are like maybe...64megs total.



It's 24MB. These are 6MB Voodoo Graphics cards.


----------



## silkstone (Mar 29, 2014)

Vario said:


> Coolermaster v8?
> 
> edit: as a radiator?



With a TEC?


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 29, 2014)

Damn nice photography also Backfire!! 

What are you using for your background? And what lighting are you using? 

I also like the style of font your using on them. Pretty classy looking.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 29, 2014)

Hehe, I'm using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 digicam and the background is a white sheet of thick paper. The lighting is various, from an officedesk- lamp up to two 100W halogen spots.
The magic is the software. I'musing IrfanView & PhotoScape which are both freeware. I'll show you a picture as it comes from the camera.





I just reduced the size to 800px width.

edit: the name of the font in the upper left corner is "neuropol", the name of the font for the "Backfire" sign is "flexsteel".


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 29, 2014)

Wow, I'll have to check into the software! 
I am using a Lumix DMC-FZ40. Very awesome camera. Got a smoking deal on it from one of the local members T_ski here on TPU.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 29, 2014)

silkstone said:


> With a TEC?


next time read the rest after the 1st answer  and : wow did you waited all that long thinking over the answer,since the post is from a while ago, because you sure took your time   (just joking don't worry   )

edit i completely forgot to post pics of the ACER 5735Z i salvaged from the dump ... better late than never ahah
     



Backfire said:


> Hehe, I'm using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 digicam and the background is a white sheet of thick paper. The lighting is various, from an officedesk- lamp up to two 100W halogen spots.
> The magic is the software. I'musing IrfanView & PhotoScape which are both freeware. I'll show you a picture as it comes from the camera.
> 
> View attachment 55823
> ...



aahhh i also use Irfanview it is pretty much a classic standard in fact


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 29, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Hehe, I'm using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 digicam and the background is a white sheet of thick paper. The lighting is various, from an officedesk- lamp up to two 100W halogen spots.
> The magic is the software. I'musing IrfanView & PhotoScape which are both freeware. I'll show you a picture as it comes from the camera.
> 
> View attachment 55823
> ...


i use paper too, but sometimes i place coin under the object to make it looks better. 
it looks you have alot of oldies hardware


----------



## Backfire (Mar 29, 2014)

This soundsystem is nice, too. Fits good for a socket A or P4- system.


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 29, 2014)

Backfire said:


> This soundsystem is nice, too. Fits good for a socket A or P4- system.
> 
> View attachment 55831


reminds me of old VIA soundcard, still works but theres no way to find the driver


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 29, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> reminds me of old VIA soundcard, still works but theres no way to find the driver




You can go here: http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp

Which then it will take you to here: http://download.viatech.com/en/support/driversSelect.jsp

I just did a basic select with win 98SE but didn't select the VIA product.

I actually just dealt with this with an old Gateway machine that is still running 98SE LOL


----------



## Backfire (Mar 29, 2014)

Hello kids, today we are talking about the color "blue". Look, the sky is blue! The water is blue, too. Cookie monster is blue. The AsRock board is blue ...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 29, 2014)

Mr.Dio..........I mean Backfire, I have a few ISA's floating around here. No where near as nice as yours but they all still work.

MediaVision Jazz-16
Oak Technology Mozart-16
SRS sound/modem combo


----------



## Backfire (Mar 29, 2014)

Nice ones Mr. Scott!

The Postman brought me this today >

  

Complete and in very good condition for 4.50€.


----------



## Backfire (Mar 30, 2014)

no comment


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 30, 2014)

That Asrock upgrade mobo was cool, I remember when those hit the market. Too bad that almost nobody bought the upgrade cards, instead everybody just upgraded their motherboards. 

edit: At least those are damn hard to find as used ones here in Finland.


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 30, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> You can go here: http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp
> 
> Which then it will take you to here: http://download.viatech.com/en/support/driversSelect.jsp
> 
> ...


yeah, but i gave the soundcard to my friend, since then i think 40 times before buying soundcard


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 30, 2014)

Damn I'm drunk as hell but I',m listening to Doom3 theme from youtube and I think should I begin to play it again.. Damn it was nice when I ran it first time smoothly, I had an Asus 6800LE @ 15/5 pipes & 380/950 clocks.. overclocked like mad 


edit: I simply need more coffee and cigarettes, don't want to be drunk anymore. 
edit2: Eating some delicious chicken seems to help too


----------



## HammerON (Mar 31, 2014)

I built my first pc to be able to play DOOM 3. Asus motherboard (don't remember which one), AMD Athlon 64 3200+, ATI 9600XT (I wanted the 9800XT - too expensive though), 1GB of RAM, cheap PSU and case. I had a lot of fun playing DOOM 3 and Quake 4 on that pc


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 31, 2014)

HammerON said:


> I built my first pc to be able to play DOOM 3. Asus motherboard (don't remember which one), AMD Athlon 64 3200+, ATI 9600XT (I wanted the 9800XT - too expensive though), 1GB of RAM, cheap PSU and case. I had a lot of fun playing DOOM 3 and Quake 4 on that pc


i played D3 and Q4 (and Eve Online xD) on my Athlon XP (Barton@2.25~) rig KT6V with a Geforce FX 5900 ultra and 1 gb RAM never had any lag or such (iirc i played it with all settings at max) 

you coul've afford the 9800XT (or not) if you took (or kept) a XP instead of the 64 (BTW winchester or Clawhammer?) who was a bit useless without 4gb and more RAM (Doom3, also, didn't had a 64bit exe right? ) but the 64 had SSE2 instr.


----------



## HammerON (Mar 31, 2014)

Clawhammer


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 31, 2014)

miomol said:


> And PC - NEC PowerMate VT. MSI MS6168 with integrated Voodoo 3 2000 8MB onboard, SoundBlaster 128 and Intel i440ZX chipset. Pentium III 550MHz, CD-ROM 4x, Fortron 145W**
> Intel ZX chipset supports up to 256MB ram, I put here 384MB ram and It works.* Fuck the system!*


MSI MS-6168
*Info about the MSI MS-6168 motherboard with onboard Voodoo3:*






Intel(R) 440ZX/Slot 1
100MHz FSB: Support all Intel(R) Pentium(R) II/III/ CeleronTM processor up to 550MHz
Memory: 2 DIMM. Max. 256MB SDRAM
Video: 3Dfx Voodoo 3 2000 with 8/16MB SGRAM
Audio: Creative(R) 1373 (PCI)
I/O: 1 VGA, 1 Serial, 1 Printer, 2 USB ports, Floppy, IrDA, Game, Audio
BIOS: ACPI, DMI, PnP, Green, PC97/98
Slot: 3 PCI, 1 ISA
F. Factor: Micro-ATX
TOP Tech. II (Thermal Overheat Protection) Technology
System Hardware Monitor
PC Alert II Monitor Software
Suspend to DRAM

i see what you did here ... tho i never found any information about a Nec Powermate VT with Voodoo3 2000 most of them have rage or a agp port, afaik  except packard bell no one used them, and it was the MSI MS-6168 (A-Trend did also a V3 2000 onboard mobo)




ok ...
Rias ATC6254-3
*Info about the Rias ATC6254-3 motherboard with onboard Voodoo3:*






Supports Intel Celeron (SEPP) or Pentium II/III Processor (Katmai)
Intel 440BX AGPset supports a 66MHz or 100MHz Front-Side Bus
Award PnP Flash BIOS
CPU Ratio Selection: 3.5x~8.0x
4 DIMM sockets support up to 1GB RAM
Ultra DMA/33 controller supports 4 drives
Integrated 3D audio and Voodoo 3 2000 AGP with 16MB of SGRAM
ATX Form Factor 12" x 8.27"
"
The PowerMate ES 5200
-0-
Features and benefits of the NEC PowerMate ES Series include:

-- Intel Celeron, Pentium II, or Pentium III processors with speeds
up to 550MHz

-- 440BX full-featured chipset on a highly integrated small
form-factor "universal motherboard" offering Celeron through
Pentium III support

-- Open standards-based management software for simplified
management (DMI 2.1 compliant) including Intel LANDesk(R) Client
Manager 3.2, NEC's WebTelligent web based system manager, NEC
SNMP Agent, McAfee(R) VirusScan(tm) , NEC Security (floppy,
serial, parallel disable utility), and Cheyenne Backup

-- Easy-to-maintain NLX form factor

-- Integrated LAN, AGP graphics and 16-bit audio for fully featured,
yet cost-effective, desktop solution

-- Easily upgradeable form factors that allow investment protection
to grow with business needs

-- Built-to-order and configured-to-order systems

-- Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
Workstation installed and Windows 2000 Ready
-0-
The PowerMate VT 300
-0-
Features of the NEC PowerMate VT 300 include:

-- mATX micro-tower form factor to maximize space

-- Choice of Intel Processors: Celeron 333, 366, 400, 433MHz,
Pentium II 350, 400, and Pentium III 450, 500 and 550MHz

-- 2X AGP graphics accelerator: 4MB ATI Rage IIC or 8MB ATI XPERT98
or 16 MB Diamond Viper 550

-- Fast memory (100MHz SDRAM)

-- Fast Ultra DMA/33 EIDE hard drive support

-- Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
Workstation installed and Windows 2000 Ready
-0-
The PowerMate 8100
-0-
Features and benefits of the NEC PowerMate ES Series include:

-- Intel Celeron, Pentium II, or Pentium III processors with speeds
up to 550MHz

-- 440BX full-featured chipset on a highly integrated small
form-factor "universal motherboard" offering Celeron through
Pentium III support

-- Open standards-based management software for simplified
management (DMI 2.1 compliant) including Intel LANDesk(R) Client
Manager 3.2, NEC's WebTelligent web based system manager, NEC
SNMP Agent, McAfee(R) VirusScan(tm) , NEC Security (floppy,
serial, parallel disable utility), and Cheyenne Backup

-- Easy-to-maintain NLX form factor

-- Integrated LAN, AGP graphics and 16-bit audio for fully featured,
yet cost-effective, desktop solution

-- Easily upgradeable form factors that allow investment protection
to grow with business needs

-- Built-to-order and configured-to-order systems

-- Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
Workstation installed and Windows 2000 Ready
-0-
The PowerMate VT 300
-0-
Features of the NEC PowerMate VT 300 include:

-- mATX micro-tower form factor to maximize space

-- Choice of Intel Processors: Celeron 333, 366, 400, 433MHz,
Pentium II 350, 400, and Pentium III 450, 500 and 550MHz

-- 2X AGP graphics accelerator: 4MB ATI Rage IIC or 8MB ATI XPERT98
or 16 MB Diamond Viper 550

-- Fast memory (100MHz SDRAM)

-- Fast Ultra DMA/33 EIDE hard drive support

-- Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
Workstation installed and Windows 2000 Ready
-0-
The PowerMate 8100


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 1, 2014)

@Backfire. Hey I also have the original Radeon 64ddr gpu. I still have the full retail package. I also have a full retailed boxed Rage Fury Pro and a Radeon 9500 Pro. I am going to resurrect my kt7a over the weekend. I too had it @ 2200 mhz. It is running a geforce fx5700 and 1.5 gb of mem. Just need to decide with sound board to put in it. I have a sb live, sb audigy , audigy 2, audigy 2 zs and a aureal sq2500 to choose from. And it will be an xp machine.


----------



## Backfire (Apr 1, 2014)

An Audigy or Audigy 2 is always a good choice. I'd take the Audigy, the Audigy 2 may be a bit to "young".
Yesterday I've made a real hit at ebay > http://www.ebay.de/itm/6-St-Grafikk...2BsWpTMq%2Fhodp4nStX8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
A Rage Fury MAXX for 9.50Euros .


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> An Audigy or Audigy 2 is always a good choice. I'd take the Audigy, the Audigy 2 may be a bit to "young".
> Yesterday I've made a real hit at ebay > http://www.ebay.de/itm/6-St-Grafikkarten-und-1-St-TV-Karte-/191119826514?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&nma=true&si=nVLHgZYrS%2BsWpTMq%2Fhodp4nStX8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
> A Rage Fury MAXX for 9.50Euros .


Sweet


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> An Audigy or Audigy 2 is always a good choice. I'd take the Audigy, the Audigy 2 may be a bit to "young".
> Yesterday I've made a real hit at ebay > http://www.ebay.de/itm/6-St-Grafikkarten-und-1-St-TV-Karte-/191119826514?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&nma=true&si=nVLHgZYrS%2BsWpTMq%2Fhodp4nStX8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
> A Rage Fury MAXX for 9.50Euros .


ARGHbllll...if i did knew .... oh wait the seller doesn't accept Paypal and not sending outside Germany ...

ok folks .... the HDAMA-I and the E6700 are almost here .... i can feel it ...

also i have a Audigy 2 at home ... but the audio quality is beyond crappy ... but its not Creative's fault .... : Corroded jack plug .... i didn't took the "gold" one 

and nope its not too young i bought it for the Athlon XP rig originally so waaayyy enough old (for a 12yrs old chip  ) ... or i could take out a Hercule Gamesurround Fortissimo II if i find her ... and more importantly the cable that goes with... that was my 1st real 5.1 audio card tho at the time i couldn't afford a 5.1 speaker set so i ended using two 2.0 speaker set xD i got the Hercule  in 2001 (2years after mounting the A-XP rig and when i got feed up of the  AC97 ) and the Audigy 2 in 2003 when the price of it was a bit cheaper than at launch in 2002




tho i had the blue PCB one but the box was that one, i should have kept the box and the cable  but i am pretty sure i still have the card somewhere.


----------



## Doc41 (Apr 2, 2014)

Here is something random again, was found by a friend.....and i have no idea what to do with so

obviously i had to take a look inside


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 2, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Here is something random again, was found by a friend.....and i have no idea what to do with so
> 
> obviously i had to take a look inside


Wow, I have not seen a Netbox in years. Good find!


----------



## Compgeke (Apr 2, 2014)

Picked this stuff up from a guy in San Francisco.

Shuttle HOT-409 motherboard:





5.25" 360KB Floppy:





A Joystick for something, I was told Apple II.





DTC Y2K BIOS Card:





3 Adaptec AHA-1542CF SCSI cards:





and a Performa 6400/180 with a 300 MHz G3 Upgrade.















Wrapped in a plastic bag in case it leaks before I get it externally mounted. Last thing I want is another ruined motherboard from batteries.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 2, 2014)

Y2K card, nice find. Fairly rare.


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## Backfire (Apr 2, 2014)

Another card I found at ebay > http://www.ebay.de/itm/ATI-ATI-Atlantis-RADEON-9000-Grafikkarte-/221402875593?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&nma=true&si=nVLHgZYrS%2BsWpTMq%2Fhodp4nStX8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

It sure is not a 9000, its a Sapphire 9500/ 128MB. This is the one with the l-shaped RAM which can be modded into a 9700. 1.99Euros w/no shipping costs.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 3, 2014)

The Kt7A is alive and well.


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## m1919 (Apr 3, 2014)

Sealed retail boxed Intel SBT2. Didn't consider this at first, but the front panel connectors are proprietary. There's also some kind of proprietary 10-pin connector, I believe it's required if using a redundant power supply. No idea if it's actually required to boot the board or not. Apparently the board is intended to be used with the Intel SC5000 pedestal case, but I got other plans for it.

Possible specs:
Dual 1Ghz P3 Xeon SL4HF
4GB PC133 ECC
3DFX Voodoo5 5500 PCI
Sound Blaster Audigy
Dual 36GB Quantum SCSI drives





















Sealed Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro AGP











ASUS PC-DL

Came with a pair of 2.8Ghz Xeons, but I picked up a pair of 3.2Ghz on the cheap, the best this board will officially run. Unfortunately this board only officially supports 533Mhz FSB, but I can probably OC it a bit.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2014)

Those old dual CPU motherboards are so damn cool 

Found another 256MB PC133 stick and the Retro Rig detects 512MB, even the manual says it supports only 256MB. Now I just need winxp to it


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 3, 2014)

both at home ... tho i didn't sleep last night, sooo ... time to take a little rest, to avoid a critical fail on the unmounting/mounting/wiring .... edit: i will need to do some better shot of the Arima once fully awake ... 

 



i just noticed i did the 1981th post on that thread .... 
my birthdate is 12 december 1981 talk about luck   

NOOOOOOOOOOO 9700Pro did it ... gah i got 1982... oh well for 20 day later i could have been 1982


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## Compgeke (Apr 3, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Sealed retail boxed Intel SBT2. Didn't consider this at first, but the front panel connectors are proprietary. There's also some kind of proprietary 10-pin connector, I believe it's required if using a redundant power supply. No idea if it's actually required to boot the board or not. Apparently the board is intended to be used with the Intel SC5000 pedestal case, but I got other plans for it.



I have an Intel SRSH4 server that looks to have a very similar board layout and the 10-pin connector. When I get home I can tell you what it does on mine. Being a Pentium 4 Xeon Quad-processor system it doesn't see a lot of use as it draws more power than an Athlon X2 system while being slower.


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## Backfire (Apr 3, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> Being a Pentium 4 Xeon Quad-processor system it doesn't see a lot of use as it draws more power than an Athlon X2 system while being slower.



It's not the use, it's the feeling why we do this.


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## stinger608 (Apr 3, 2014)

Backfire said:


> It's not the use, it's the feeling why we do this.




Amen brother!!!


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 3, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Amen brother!!!


couldn't say better! 

also heart transplantation for the DC7700P success


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 4, 2014)

I am going to put another Athlon xp rig together here soon. This one I am going to stray away from the normal. LOL The Board is an Epox Krai pro with the Via Kt880 chipset.


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## m1919 (Apr 4, 2014)

SBT2 specification manual indicates those proprietary front panel connectors are for LEDs and indicators apparently. Power and reset switches have their own separate headers which will accept standard power/reset switch connections. Lol, I hope this board boots without the 10-pin.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 4, 2014)

Not to Nostalgic but it is a little.


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## Norton (Apr 4, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Not to Nostalgic but it is a little.



My favorite card!


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 4, 2014)

Can we consider an Asus M2V-MX as à old hardware?


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 4, 2014)

miomol said:


> I still have HD4850. Still great, after... 6 years!
> 
> By the way, I'm thinking about changing case in my primary PC. How about It guys?  (Link directly to offer in my country):
> http://tablica.pl/oferta/obudowa-big-tower-chieftec-dragon-da-01b-d-CID99-ID3oevF.html
> ...


Chieftec Dragon cases are my favorite old school case


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 4, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Can we consider an Asus M2V-MX as à old hardware?



yep (at last for me  )


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## stinger608 (Apr 4, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Can we consider an Asus M2V-MX as à old hardware?




Oh heck yea man. They are getting pretty long in the tooth now.


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## Random Murderer (Apr 4, 2014)

Norton said:


> My favorite card!





miomol said:


> I still have HD4850. Still great, after... 6 years!


Yep, the 4800 series was amazing. Really wish I hadn't sold my 4870s.


miomol said:


> AM2 so... maybe. For me old but still great socket.


Has AMD had a socket that hasn't been great in some way?


ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Chieftec Dragon cases are my favorite old school case


Oh hell yeah. My AMD rig is still in a Dragon-style case.


Ha. This entire post was AMD.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 4, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Yep, the 4800 series was amazing. Really wish I hadn't sold my 4870s.
> 
> Has AMD had a socket that hasn't been great in some way?
> 
> ...


My 1090t, 970be and Athlon xp rigs are in Dragon cases. My S939 is in a Koolance version. 














970BE rig:


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## Kissamies (Apr 4, 2014)

What should I do with a spare X2 5000+ AM2 CPU?


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 4, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> What should I do with a spare X2 5000+ AM2 CPU?


Bench the snot out of it.


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## JunkBear (Apr 5, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> What should I do with a spare X2 5000+ AM2 CPU?


 
Send it to me so I can upgrade from my 4600+ 

Nevermind you are too far.


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 5, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Bench the snot out of it.


HELL YEAH!!!


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## JunkBear (Apr 6, 2014)

Guy like me caring about mother earth like to recycle old parts and make system back to life. Problem is that people go crazy and overprice old hardware so it ends up that everyone have parts but no full system. These parts will end up months later in dump probably.


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 6, 2014)

i found something funny ... one of my Otpy 250 has a overheat problem ... i saw this after swapping socket to see if it was due to the airflow .... oh well single 250 and i will order some more Optys till i find the perfect pair xD (270-275 and above)


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## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Send it to me so I can upgrade from my 4600+
> 
> Nevermind you are too far.


Haha, yeah maybe few kilometres too far 


Updated the bios from my #2 rig and seemed to help in overclocking:





Before updating to the newest beta (I had previously the latest non-beta) the max fsb what I got was 302MHz, higher than that didn't even boot


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## Random Murderer (Apr 7, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Haha, yeah maybe few kilometres too far
> 
> 
> Updated the bios from my #2 rig and seemed to help in overclocking:
> ...


I bet you won't push 400... I bet you won't


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## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> I bet you won't push 400... I bet you won't


I'm quite sure too 

382 is currently the max which I was able to get even to Windows, but I couldn't yet get that ~3GHz p95 stable. Must try harder tomorrow, maybe I find out some trick to push it more


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## Random Murderer (Apr 7, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> I'm quite sure too
> 
> 382 is currently the max which I was able to get even to Windows, but I couldn't yet get that ~3GHz p95 stable. Must try harder tomorrow, maybe I find out some trick to push it more


That's a 945 Express chipset board, isn't it? Pretty impressive you got it this far, but CPU willing, 400 is achievable.
What do you have your NB voltage at right now?


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 7, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Haha, yeah maybe few kilometres too far
> 
> 
> Updated the bios from my #2 rig and seemed to help in overclocking:
> ...



oohhh a Conroe pentium ... too bad HP has a weird bios with the buisness class serie ... (my C2D E6700 is also a Conroe 2.66 on a Q965express non conventional mobo ...  )


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## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> That's a 945 Express chipset board, isn't it? Pretty impressive you got it this far, but CPU willing, 400 is achievable.
> What do you have your NB voltage at right now?


Yes, this has 945P chipset. For some reason, the NB voltage setting DISAPPEARED from bios?  Not a smallest clue why it did that 

As I said, I'll be continuing to tweak the crap out of it later, but even that 380fsb 24/7 would be ok for now. The GPU in that machine is HD3870 Ultimate (passive) what truly needs some new thermalpaste because it runs hot as hell with those old pastes. Had to put an old fan from Athlon64 boxed cooler to cool it down 

But well, let's see how that 2GB DDR2-800 module will work what I'm getting from my buddy later today. Officially I think that this P5LD2 doesn't even support 2GB modules, but I found out that at least some Corsair 2GB sticks have worked. So I'm pretty sure that it's gonna work and I can finally toss out those damn 533MHz 256MB sticks. 

Edit: But damn, I didn't remember these CPUs run so cool, I'm running this with an old copper-core Intel Boxed-cooler (those which came with Pentium D's) and the cooler doesn't make barely any noise. Also, the temps are ~60C even in full load.  And runs Sims 3 pretty well, my girlfriend plays it pretty much on that PC.


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## m1919 (Apr 9, 2014)

Got a Chaintec 6ITM + Pentium Pro a few days ago. Now I need to figure out what I'm doing for graphics and sound.


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## Random Murderer (Apr 9, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Got a Chaintec 6ITM + Pentium Pro a few days ago. Now I need to figure out what I'm doing for graphics and sound.


Nice Pentium Pro setup. How much RAM does it have?


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 9, 2014)

well low battery Canon SX100is doesn't do better pics than my UMI X1 ... i wonder if its really battery related or am i a such bad photographer ... will retry later but for now : 

Arima is Rhapsody yep but the PCB is blue and they have more electrolyte cap than chemcap.
    
the socket H1 is less behind the HDD/ODD and more in the airflow of the front fan i have installed, swapping cpu allowed me to see which one has a overheat problem: going from 29° to 99° in a matter of second, it has to be not normal ... since the second one with the same HSF keep at 28°


my favorit type of pics : the flash make the fan appear still but the rotation make the wings go semi transparent (and they are solid black/white)


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## Backfire (Apr 10, 2014)

My ebay hit, the 2nd Rage Fury MAXX arrived.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 10, 2014)

Those are so sweet looking backfire.


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## Kissamies (Apr 10, 2014)

Damn it would be cool if it would be possible to "quad crossfire" them 

Finally got the DDR2-800 module and seems to work flawlessly even it wasn't in ESD bag, and I had lying in my pocket until i plugged it in my 2nd rig 


edit: Damn that machine had a real boost when upgraded from 1.75GB to 3GB! Now running prime95 on that so I'll find the highest max overclocks, the other memory module is a Quimonda 1GB 667MHz so I'll need to test one MHz after another, since the RAM runs now at 740MHz  Max temps 71C at 2963MHz 1.44V on prime95


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## Doc41 (Apr 10, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> my favorit type of pics :



i just call it ghosting effect ya know same with monitors


GreiverBlade said:


> overheat problem:


well that's weird, faulty thermostat or dry TIM beneath the IHS? though not sure what is used to couple the IHS with CPU


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## Kissamies (Apr 10, 2014)

Here are today's results: http://valid.canardpc.com/5xpbhx

Even 1MHz more fsb and prime95 crashes on other core in 15 minutes. Guess I'll leave that on 2.96GHz, and buy an E6600 or something else, they are something like 10-15e price as used in Finland


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 10, 2014)

It's been some time since I haven't been here,and I fixed my tablet,so I'd think of taking some pictures of my rig,as I've got a new board.(ASUS P4P800-VM)
Before doing that what CPU should I choose for it?Here are the options:
a)1.7GHz Pentium 4,Willamette core
b)2.40GHz Celeron D,Prescott core
c)2.66GHz Celeron D,Prescott core
By the way,I replaced the old HDD I had in there (10GB Seagate U5 Series,IDE)with a bigger SATA HDD (80GB WDC Caviar SE)and installed Windows Vista Home Premium SP2.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 10, 2014)

I would use the Pentium 4. Celeron's are pretty sub par really. I think you would see better performance with the P4.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 10, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> I would use the Pentium 4. Celeron's are pretty sub par really. I think you would see better performance with the P4.


That, and the Slowerons are Pres-hot cores. Not to mention the P4 is a Willamette. Should OC decently.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 10, 2014)

Okay.
I took a picture of it,here it is.
EDIT:Whoops,posted too soon so image didn't upload.Fixed.







Random Murderer said:


> That, and the Slowerons are Pres-hot cores. Not to mention the P4 is a Willamette. Should OC decently.


I don't need OC for 2 reasons:
1.I use toothpaste as a "poor man's thermal paste"(which does it's job quite good,40-45*C idle)
2.This board's BIOS doesn't have any OC features.


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 10, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> 1.I use toothpaste as a "poor man's thermal paste"(which does it's job quite good,40-45*C idle)


Then definitely don't use the Celerons, the Prescott cores won't do well with toothpaste, lol.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 10, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Then definitely don't use the Celerons, the Prescott cores won't do well with toothpaste, lol.


I've actually tried that once with this board,and even though temps were 80-85*C they were still stable without a problem.
Obiviously touching them was impossible,as they were so hot you could cook on them.
With the P4 I would only get that temp if the toothpaste was very dry.


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## Random Murderer (Apr 10, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I've actually tried that once with this board,and even though temps were *80-85*C* they were still stable without a problem.
> Obiviously touching them was impossible,as they were so hot you could cook on them.
> With the P4 I would only get that temp if the toothpaste was very dry.


Better than I thought they'd do.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 10, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Nice Pentium Pro setup. How much RAM does it have?



Not sure, the modules are not clearly marked. Will find out when I boot it, need a heatsink first tho.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 10, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Better than I thought they'd do.


Strange that they were stable though.
At how high were the temps I was expecting the machine to reboot to a black screen,requiring me to turn it off to let the CPU cool down.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 12, 2014)

Sad sad day for me. My last Nf2 board took a dump. Bios went wacky and now won't do nothing. I am going to see if I can find a replacement bios chip. I still have other 462 boards including a Via kt880 board which is a very nice board and it actually holds its own against nforce 2 boards.


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## stinger608 (Apr 12, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Sad sad day for me. My last Nf2 board took a dump. Bios went wacky and now won't do nothing. I am going to see if I can find a replacement bios chip. I still have other 462 boards including a Via kt880 board which is a very nice board and it actually holds its own against nforce 2 boards.




Oh that sucks bro! Hopefully you can find a replacement bios chip for it. 

I think there is an outfit that sells all kinds of them..........Hmm I think it is called "bios man" or something like that. 

Yep, found it: http://www.biosman.com/replacement.htm

Maybe check with them. I think they do a lot of selling on Fleabay as well.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 12, 2014)

I'll check them out.


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 12, 2014)

HP DC7900 incoming....the dump strike again. Happy day! ( well end... But still happy)

sooo where i work : they should really look at what they throw away ... : win7 on it running all fine ...

1 PciE 1x 2 physical X16 (X16/X4 B/W)
 

already in : 2x2gb PC2 6400 oh well i add 2x1gb XMS2 i have to make it 6gb, Core 2 Duo E8500 (Core 2 Quad compatible weeheeeheeee!)
 

and ... not bad for a OEM heatsink only 1 fan instead of 2 like the DC7700p and copper base


up and running ... gosh i love Wolfdale C2D 
less nostalgic than the DC7700p but soooo much 2008


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 13, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> HP DC7900 incoming....the dump strike again. Happy day! ( well end... But still happy)
> 
> sooo where i work : they should really look at what they throw away ... : win7 on it running all fine ...
> 
> ...


Seems that HP thought about having 2 PCI-E slots....maybe for SLI?


----------



## Doc41 (Apr 13, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> HP DC7900 incoming....the dump strike again. Happy day! ( well end... But still happy) sooo where i work : they should really look at what they throw away ... : win7 on it running all fine ...



wish i had someplace like that 

aand i ordered an athlon 64 x2 3800+ and 4x1GB DDR some while ago for the 939 board and they're not here yet


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 13, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Seems that HP thought about having 2 PCI-E slots....maybe for SLI?


i dont think so since it would be single slot and X16/X4 electrically, at last not SLI since it wouldnt get the SLI ready from nV (need a X8 minimal iirc) but CFX has no minimum, like my FM2A88M Ex4+ who has Crossfire ready and can only do x16/x4 2.0/2.0 or X16/X4 3.0/2.0 (with a Kaveri Apu).

EDIT... wait ... the Powercolor 5450 is single slot ... and cheap enough for me to try something with that DC7900 ahahahah ... (either way i need a 2nd 5450 i will never run a GMA 3100/4500 again)



Doc41 said:


> wish i had someplace like that


yeah ... on 3 PC's they sent to the dump only 1 was not re usable (DC7600 PIV S775) the 2 other :

DC7700p
tech diagnostic : motherboard fried,
my experience : onboard video out of order (work fine until you install the video driver)

cost of the reparation: less than 27chf for a 5450
bonus: free Win XP Pro license (even with the end of support i still love XP )

DC7900
tech diagnostic: motherboard fried (Uh? does he know his job?) and PSU too (oh i bet he added PSU to make believe he was knowing what he did )
my experience: oh well started just fine on the VGA or the DP after removing some dust and other joyful things... seems that one SATA port recognize the HDD in the bios but not in win7 (working on it)

cost of the reparation : 0chf ... aherm ...
bonus: free Win Vista Business license (whaaattt maybe its vista but still it is free .... on a second thought i think i will keep it under 7 Pro ... )


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2014)

Installed XP on the Pentium III machine and it runs flawlessly. Gotta play with it today some old games what will run in that PC


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 13, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Installed XP on the Pentium III machine and it runs flawlessly. Gotta play with it today some old games what will run in that PC


i have XP on a PIII 450/600 (i swap often) on a ACER Veriton FP board (RageXL 8mb 1 PCI slot 2x128mb kingston PC133 odd formfactor) i use it ... when i am bored of the AXP rig (for games oldies)  


s'more pics of the DC7900 (or is it 9700...  )
 
decided to use the 5450 in it and put the XMS2 till i find some matching2x2gb set to add to the 2 others , and still amazed from the heatsink build quality...


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2014)

Yo guys! 


http://valid.canardpc.com/slbush


----------



## Animalpak (Apr 14, 2014)

This is a REAL graphics card collector.

I wish have that type of collection from my first graphics card.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 14, 2014)

Wow! Thanks for sharing that man. 

Very awesome display's of some ole hardware!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 14, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Yo guys!
> 
> 
> http://valid.canardpc.com/slbush




Oh a skt 370... I was talking about slot 1 pIII xD


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 15, 2014)

Okay, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago..........

Wait for it.............





Spoiler: The Master















This sucker includes dual Opteron 285 dual cores.
Thinking I might throw this together and put Windows Server 2012 Essentials on it just to mess around.




Has 6 gigs of ECC ram and them crazy solid copper heat sinks! 
Even still includes the video card chip that you can swap for single card or SLi. 
This thing weights a ton with them heat sinks. 

Only problem is; the north bridge fan is junk. However I am thinking I might be able to pull it apart and put some sewing machine oil in it and I might be able to save it for awhile LOL.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 15, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Okay, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago..........
> 
> Wait for it.............
> 
> ...


I wonder,would this beat a usual AM2 PC?


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 15, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I wonder,would this beat a usual AM2 PC?



Ya know, in theory it should. I think it would depend on the application being run. Several applications don't utilize dual processors. I know some use multiple cores, but there are a lot that won't use multiple processors.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 15, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Ya know, in theory it should. I think it would depend on the application being run. Several applications don't utilize dual processors. I know some use multiple cores, but there are a lot that won't use multiple processors.


I mean in terms of performance.For example,how would Sony Vegas 11 work on that system and if it's as fast as a high-end AM2 system.
One thing I noticed on my 2 rigs,is that while my AM2 is slower on Windows 7,the other rig (Socket 478,P4 1.7 Willamette,896MB DDR400 RAM,80GB SATA HDD)is very fast.The 478 rig runs Vista Home Premium SP2.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 15, 2014)

Oh jeez, I would think it would run circles around an AM2 system running something like Sony Vegas. Have to remember, that was specifically designed to run server type programs and utilize the multiple processors.

I can't imagine an AM2 performing near what a dual opteron 285 system would.

Also keep in mind, the Opteron 285 was made to run multiple applications and mainly designed for running in pairs. They are still very capable as a single chip but it really shined when coupled with another one.

They were near $400 when released also. Crazy.

Just for reference, check out some of the personal reviews on the Egg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103004

Granted, I don't hold much trust in NewEgg personal reviews, but some of these really spell it out; _" I have two of these running and they can''t be slowed down. I run very graphic intensive applications and these work wonderfully. AMD has produced a fantastic processor here."_


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 15, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Okay, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago..........
> 
> Wait for it.............
> 
> ...




ok now it is time for a plan on how to kill stinger608 and take all his stuff ... oh wait ... wrong idea...

NICE STUFFZ BOSS!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 15, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Oh jeez, I would think it would run circles around an AM2 system running something like Sony Vegas. Have to remember, that was specifically designed to run server type programs and utilize the multiple processors.
> 
> I can't imagine an AM2 performing near what a dual opteron 285 system would.
> 
> ...


 Won't some am2 motherboards run a Phenom II proc all the way up to a 1100t.


----------



## R00kie (Apr 15, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Won't some am2 motherboards run a Phenom II proc all the way up to a 1100t.


I know a mobo from asrock with a 480X chipset runs AM3 cpus upto 965. My friend still has it, runs like a charm.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/ALiveXFire-eSATA2/?cat=CPU


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 15, 2014)

I think in certain cases with certain procs and am2 system would do better then a daul opty 285 rig. Sorry stinger buddy.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 16, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I think in certain cases with certain procs and am2 system would do better then a daul opty 285 rig. Sorry stinger buddy.



That is true. Of course the original AM2 boards were not AM2+ compatible though. The later ones, like the Asus M2N series were AM2+ capable boards. As the original Phenom's were a AM2+ chip. 
I figured we were discussing original AM2 stuff like the 5200+, 6000+ dual cores and the like.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 16, 2014)

Well,my main rig uses a AM2 board (ASUS M2V-TVM)and a AM2 CPU(Sempron 3400+,1.80GHz),so I guess it's one of the originals.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 16, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Won't some am2 motherboards run a Phenom II proc all the way up to a 1100t.



my Asus M3N78-CM was up to the X6 1090T (was ... i sold it  but "i will be back" with some oldies once i will get rid of my 2 last debt    )

oh wait ... AM2 ... i do not qualify ... M3N78-CM is AM2+


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> my Asus M3N78-CM was up to the X6 1090T (was ... i sold it  but "i will be back" with some oldies once i will get rid of my 2 last debt    )
> 
> oh wait ... AM2 ... i do not qualify ... M3N78-CM is AM2+


I do,as most M2N/M2V ASUS boards are AM2.(no +)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 16, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I do,as most M2N/M2V ASUS boards are AM2.(no +)


i know 

still i have a dual 940 mobo (oh well 2 but one is a bit tricky) humpf i really need to get another AM2+ and a AM2 setup for the collection ... and more graphic cards nahahahah


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 16, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I do,as most M2N/M2V ASUS boards are AM2.(no +)



Right, but most of them could be flashed to a newer bios and support the AM2+ chips. Gigabyte had a bunch of AM2 boards that could be flashed as well. I think AsRock and EVGA did as well.


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 16, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Well,my main rig uses a AM2 board (ASUS M2V-TVM)and a AM2 CPU(Sempron 3400+,1.80GHz),so I guess it's one of the originals.



Same as my M2V-MX I have here that can take up to Athlon X2 6000+. Really basic mobo.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 16, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Same as my M2V-MX I have here that can take up to Athlon X2 6000+. Really basic mobo.


Basic and good,as long as it doesn't use a OEM BIOS,like my board.(mine uses some crappy "Olidata Olipro"BIOS)


----------



## Backfire (Apr 16, 2014)

Making an inventory- list of my hardware. Hey, that's hard work. It took me weeks, but now I think I've got a really fine list.

It tells me what it is, which company manufactured it,, what the name is, when this model was launched, which connection or socket it has, what the name of the chipset is, how much I got, a few words if there is something special on this part, a linked picture of the part, a link to the best review I could find, links to 9x/Me + W2k/XP drivers for it. and where I stored it.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 16, 2014)

That is an awesome idea Backfire! 

Dang, I need to do that myself!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 17, 2014)

Damn that stinger's dual CPU MB is cool, I didn't even remember that there were SLI MB:s for dual 940 Opterons


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 17, 2014)

Seeing that everybody posted desktops from a few of their rigs,I thought of posting my main rig's desktop which runs Windows 7. (AM2)
Wallpaper is a screencap from the Teen Titans Go! episode "Laundry Day".
Also,notice the Uberizer icon in there.I am using it to play around with my tablet.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 17, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Damn that stinger's dual CPU MB is cool, I didn't even remember that there were SLI MB:s for dual 940 Opterons



Yea I am not sure who else built SLi or crossfire capable boards running dual processors. I know I had a quad processor Tyan board that supported SLi but that was the later LGA socket. 

Seems like Asus made one that was SLi capable and run dual Opteron processors. Made more for the enthusiast than server applications.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 17, 2014)

Heh, what a coincidence, just snagged one of these Master2-FARs as well. My board is used, hopefully it comes with the SLI switch card.

What should I plop on this thing for GPUs? There are some 9800GX2s on auction I could bidsnipe for cheap.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 18, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Making an inventory- list of my hardware. Hey, that's hard work. It took me weeks, but now I think I've got a really fine list.
> 
> It tells me what it is, which company manufactured it,, what the name is, when this model was launched, which connection or socket it has, what the name of the chipset is, how much I got, a few words if there is something special on this part, a linked picture of the part, a link to the best review I could find, links to 9x/Me + W2k/XP drivers for it. and where I stored it.
> 
> ...



Man.....I'd like to see the rest of the pages sometime.


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 18, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Basic and good,as long as it doesn't use a OEM BIOS,like my board.(mine uses some crappy "Olidata Olipro"BIOS)



Never heard of that one but it's an Asus so I guess it's their own bios or regular AMI bios.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 18, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Never heard of that one but it's an Asus so I guess it's their own bios or regular AMI bios.


It's a custom M2V-TVM BIOS made specifically for that OEM.
Anyways,as long as it's working fine I don't have anything to worry about.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 18, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Heh, what a coincidence, just snagged one of these Master2-FARs as well. My board is used, hopefully it comes with the SLI switch card.
> 
> What should I plop on this thing for GPUs? There are some 9800GX2s on auction I could bidsnipe for cheap.



Awesome man!!! Did it include processors? 
Wow, if you can grab some 9800GX2's cheap, that would make an awesome system. If it doesn't come with the switch card, one might check on Ebay for one. Not sure if the DFI boards that had these would be the same or not. Seems like Asus had a version that used the switch card as well.


----------



## PHaS3 (Apr 19, 2014)

Rebuilt a PC that was dumped at my work. Planning on using it for some (very) amateur instrument recording (electric guitar). 

Sempron 2600+ Skt 754 (1,6GHz), 1GB RAM, Radeon 9200


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 19, 2014)

PHaS3 said:


> Rebuilt a PC that was dumped at my work. Planning on using it for some (very) amateur instrument recording (electric guitar).
> 
> Sempron 2600+ Skt 754 (1,6GHz), 1GB RAM, Radeon 9200
> 
> View attachment 56132 View attachment 56133



Where do you live?


----------



## PHaS3 (Apr 19, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Where do you live?



Erm... South Africa. Why do you ask?


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 19, 2014)

He wants to ne your dumpster diving friend.


----------



## PHaS3 (Apr 19, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> He wants to ne your dumpster diving friend.



Lol, he's on his own with that then, I prefer not to dumpster dive for my hardware.

Funny story with that machine is, I work at a school and the pc was left half hidden next to our chapel. They phoned me half worried it was a bomb lol. I was pleasently surprised to find working hardware inside and not be blown up.


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 19, 2014)

PHaS3 said:


> Erm... South Africa. Why do you ask?




Wanted to ship a 3200+ athlon 754 but too far.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 19, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome man!!! Did it include processors?
> Wow, if you can grab some 9800GX2's cheap, that would make an awesome system. If it doesn't come with the switch card, one might check on Ebay for one. Not sure if the DFI boards that had these would be the same or not. Seems like Asus had a version that used the switch card as well.



Nah, but I have a pair of Opteron 285s I was originally planning on using with an Asus K8N-DL, but couldn't one cheap enough.


----------



## PHaS3 (Apr 19, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Wanted to ship a 3200+ athlon 754 but too far.



Lol thanks  is far though :/


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 19, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Nah, but I have a pair of Opteron 285s I was originally planning on using with an Asus K8N-DL, but couldn't one cheap enough.




Have to make sure it is the right board to support the 285's. 

Once you get it, let me know the board number. Should be an "MS7456" or something like that. Take a look at these two pictures:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130523

http://www.msi.com/product/server/K8N_Master2FAR.html

The top one from NewEgg has just a black chipset cooler. The bottom one from MSI has that gold chipset cooler. From what I have read the board with the black cooler is a later revision and supports the 285's. Even though the page on MSI has the correct drivers and info. Now I have read that a person, if you have the earlier version, can actually flash the bios with the newer version bios and be fine. Don't know for sure and once you get the board if it is the earlier version do some research. 

Biggest issue is the later version chipset cooler is frigging garbage. That is what is out on mine. 

Also keep in mind that a user has to have a power supply that should have the 8 pin motherboard AND the 4 pin motherboard. I am actually going to use and older 1000 watt Ultra that has both.  If your power supply doesn't have one you can get the dual 4 pin molex to 8 pin CPU conversion adapter.


----------



## m1919 (Apr 19, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Have to make sure it is the right board to support the 285's.
> 
> Once you get it, let me know the board number. Should be an "MS7456" or something like that. Take a look at these two pictures:
> 
> ...



Ebay listing had a stock picture from newegg showing the MS-9620-020 which apparently is the later version that supports 285s, but the model number showed MS-9620-010. Guess I'll have to wait and see what it actually is when I receive it. Hoping it's the later version.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 20, 2014)

miomol said:


> Hey, *stinger608*, can you make some tests when you complete the platform?
> 
> For example:
> - 3D Mark 2003
> ...




By golly I will man. I will be curious to see what benchies it throws up myself. LOL

I have a Cooler Master HAF 932 AMD edition case and I think I am going to put it in that puppy. I haven't had a system in that awesome case in a couple of years.
That would look pretty cool I think, seeing as it has the huge side window. LOL


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 20, 2014)

wooohooohooo!!!! today is a great day!


  

aaannnddd : brand new + Factory sealed


----------



## Backfire (Apr 20, 2014)

I havn't been much in the forum lately, so, which cooler will you use for the A64? I'm asking, because I've made the experience that the heatspreaders of all A64 I used were massivly convex.





I always cut down the heatspreader. It's the only method (if you haven't a cooler that fits) that is really save (and it brings a few degrees).


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 20, 2014)

Backfire said:


> I havn't been much in the forum lately, so, which cooler will you use for the A64? I'm asking, because I've made the experience that the heatspreaders of all A64 I used were massivly convex.
> 
> View attachment 56166
> 
> I always cut down the heatspreader. It's the only method (if you haven't a cooler that fits) that is really save (and it brings a few degrees).


oh i have no mobo for it i just brought it because it was at a merely 10chf end of bid price and because its brand new and still sealed as a bonus for my cpu collection


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## Backfire (Apr 20, 2014)

Ah, ok .


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 21, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> wooohooohooo!!!! today is a great day!
> 
> View attachment 56165 View attachment 56164
> 
> ...


 

What is the socket? What is the number on it? Just wanna look for specs


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 21, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> What is the socket? What is the number on it? Just wanna look for specs


i have to wait till i get it at home  these pics are from the seller, more closeup sexy shot once at home


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 21, 2014)

If you


GreiverBlade said:


> i have to wait till i get it at home  these pics are from the seller, more closeup sexy shot once at home


 
If find it sexy you really need to get a girlfriend 

It could be a socket 754 or a AM2.


----------



## Backfire (Apr 21, 2014)

A post for the smaller ones. They have served, too.


----------



## Backfire (Apr 21, 2014)




----------



## Backfire (Apr 21, 2014)




----------



## JunkBear (Apr 22, 2014)

I had all of them except the first one


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 22, 2014)

I have none of them but I do have a Rage 128 pro full retailed boxed with all it accessories.


----------



## Doc41 (Apr 22, 2014)

- one item finally arrived 
- only one item arrived 
well that's me right now ^^


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 22, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I have none of them but I do have a Rage 128 pro full retailed boxed with all it accessories.


 
Pics or it didn't happen! 



Doc41 said:


> - one item finally arrived
> - only one item arrived
> well that's me right now ^^




Ah, sweet! One of the awesome 939 3800 dual cores! That was probably my all time favorite chip! Had one along with a DFI lanparty board that overclocked like a mad dog. Still have a 3800 chip just not the one I originally had.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 22, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Pics or it didn't happen!



LOL here is a pic of the gpu. I will post a pic of the box as soon as I retrieve it from storage.


----------



## Bones (Apr 23, 2014)

Nice. 
I have the 4200+ version of this chip core model and it's a great chip in itself.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 23, 2014)

Backfire said:


> A post for the smaller ones. They have served, too.
> 
> View attachment 56182 View attachment 56181


Ah, the classic 3D Rage Pro AGP2x, I had the same card on my P2-400 PC years ago 

Have to say that when I upgraded that to GF2 MX, it felt like a whole new PC


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 23, 2014)

I remember I had a Rage IIC AGP on my old P2-233 (or 266?)on a ASUS P2L97.Wasn't the best card,but it could run Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 23, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I remember I had a Rage IIC AGP on my old P2-233 (or 266?)on a ASUS P2L97.Wasn't the best card,but it could run Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus.


Great games, I had them on Playstation when I was a kid. Too damn hard though, even today when I tested those on PS1 emulator.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 23, 2014)

No problem,I still own 2 Playstations both modded,because where I live I can't find any original PS1 disc.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 23, 2014)

i still have a Ps2 sadely no PSone,  but any of my games i play them on my Pc or smartphone, with the help PCSX2 for the PS2/PC and FPse for the PSone/phone


----------



## m0nt3 (Apr 23, 2014)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 25, 2014)

i leave that here ... no comment


----------



## Backfire (Apr 25, 2014)

Narf, I reinstalled Win 7 and deleted half a day work of my Excel-inventory list (and my whole xxx-collection ).


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 25, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Narf


you sound like Pinky in "Pinky and the Brain" poit. 



Backfire said:


> (and my whole xxx-collection ).


i have to say ... external HDD enclosure FTW (Thermaltake Max5 active cooling) and ... ROFL


----------



## m0nt3 (Apr 25, 2014)




----------



## Backfire (Apr 25, 2014)




----------



## Backfire (Apr 25, 2014)

Crap mainboard, but awesome color ...


----------



## m0nt3 (Apr 25, 2014)

the k7s5a pro was a very good board. Used one in my uncles build till the caps finally blew about 4 years ago.


----------



## Backfire (Apr 26, 2014)

Weighing the coolers for the inventory-list.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 26, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Weighing the coolers for the inventory-list.
> 
> View attachment 56272
> 
> View attachment 56273



ook i stop calling you pinky and start calling you "Cooler God" (pun intended)


----------



## Backfire (Apr 26, 2014)

Hmm, I like "Pinky", somehow ... narf.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 26, 2014)

zort... i understand


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 28, 2014)

Damn what a nice collection of old Zalmans and other pretty coolers


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 29, 2014)

I guess we can say that...he's a real metal fan! (put on glasses) Yeeaaaaahhhhhhh


----------



## broken pixel (Apr 29, 2014)

Found this BFG GeForce 7300GT 256MB sleeping in a DELL Athlon x2 box. 
-


----------



## broken pixel (Apr 29, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Weighing the coolers for the inventory-list.
> 
> View attachment 56272
> 
> View attachment 56273


Wow! Nice collection, would you happen to have any 120mm DC Centaur IIIs, Model CNDC12X4P-974?
I bought a mid 1990s Clariion RAID ARRAY from CraigsL back in 2008 and have fallen in love with these 12V 0.37A 4.5W super fans. All six have been running since 2008 in various systems.


----------



## broken pixel (Apr 29, 2014)

Old school Memory Cube..


----------



## Backfire (Apr 30, 2014)

Bid on ebay for a Noisecontrol Silverado this week. I'm lookink for this cooler for about 2 years now. Very rare part with a 50g silver-plate (real silver) as heatspreader. No other bidders, I bid 28€ (nearly 39 US-$) fell asleep and ... lost it. Zort! The only one I've ever seen at ebay, and I'm losing it. More to come, got still some work to do.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 30, 2014)

well damn, that is a bummer Backfire!!!


----------



## Random Murderer (Apr 30, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> well damn, that is a bummer Backfire!!!


Indeed. Over the weekend, I had a bid on a matched pair of NOS tubes for one of my amps. Some good old Mullard 6DJ8s, NIB and matched. Got sniped, final price was $37. 
Turned it around, though. Managed a snipe myself on a pair of NOS Sylvania Green Hornet tubes, matched and balanced. $24 shipped, and they will sound better than the Mullards! I've been looking for a NOS pair of Green Hornets for a while(never thought to check ebay, for some reason), and finally found them for a song on ebay.
Will post pics when they arrive. I can't convey just how excited I am to get my hands on these. They should match the GE JAN 5670W and Senn HD650s nicely.


----------



## Peter1986C (Apr 30, 2014)

A bummer that Ebay's auto-bidding usually is not very helpful since it only drives up the price (other must bid higher than your max bid, rather than your current bid).


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 30, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> A bummer that Ebay's auto-bidding usually is not very helpful since it only drives up the price (other must bid higher than your max bid, rather than your current bid).


YEP totally ... quite a letdown (and mainly a reason why i seek "direct buy" only ... >.<


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2014)

Wow, that truly sucks :/ Interesting cooler I have to say.

Got a free Celeron D 331 (Prescott 256kB, LGA775, 64bit), I need to overclock the crap outta it when I get some thermal paste!  Also going to buy an E4500 for my #2 rig, the seller said that I can have 3 Celeron D 347's (Cedar Mill 512kB, LGA775, 64bit) for 5 euros too  I already have 3 spare LGA775 CPU's (Celeron D 331, Pentium 4 530 & Pentium D 925) so I guess that some weekend is full of beer & Netburst OC'ing.. Just need a better cooler for #2 rig, I bought a HR-02 Macho rev. a, but I actually put that to my main rig, and got rid of that Antec 620 AIO..


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 1, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> I bought a HR-02 Macho rev. a, but I actually put that to my main rig, and got rid of that Antec 620 AIO..



ahahaha i did the opposite .... i had a HR02 Macho Rev A B/W when i got my SG09B i had to take smaller (Scythe Katana 4) and then Cooler Master Seidon 120V (µATX build benefit more from a AIO WC than other rigs)
and i have to say it is the only AIO that cost less than the Macho, Swiss Macho : 63chf Seidon 120V 56.50chf

also i sold the DC7900 but with the crap S775 cooler that was in the DC7700p and i use the copper base HS in the DC7700p now :d 1 fan less only PSU and front fan ... more silence!


----------



## Random Murderer (May 1, 2014)

My Green Hornets came in today! 
Here's a pic as promised. The two outer tubes are matched and balanced NOS Sylvania JAN 6DJ8 "Green Hornet" tubes, the tube in the center is a GE JAN 5670W. This is the old one I pulled out of my amp sitting on the box of the NOS one I just received on Tuesday. Yes, I replaced a GE JAN 5670W with a GE JAN 5670W. What can I say? I love their sound.
Now to pop the Sylvanias in and start the burn-in process.









EDIT: Dear lord, these sound as great as I expected and then some! Absolutely incredible! The bass is so much smoother than the RCA Holland 6DJ8s I had in there before, it's almost as if a veil was lifted off of the mids, and the highs are nice and snappy again. The entire spectrum is a bit more responsive, but still the laid-back sound I love. To top that already great improvement off: SOUNDSTAGE! I thought this amp had good soundstage before, but wow. Just wow. I can't wait until they have ~100 hours on them, as they'll only get better. I am one very happy man right now


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2014)

Dunno what they are, but surely looks cool


----------



## Random Murderer (May 1, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Dunno what they are, but surely looks cool


Vacuum tubes, mate. You guys call them "valves" in your part of the world. They were the predecessor to transistors. In fact, the first two electronic computers in the world, the ENIAC and UNIVAC, were vacuum tube-based.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Vacuum tubes, mate. You guys call them "valves" in your part of the world. They were the predecessor to transistors. In fact, the first two electronic computers in the world, the ENIAC and UNIVAC, were vacuum tube-based.


As I thought, but wasn't sure


----------



## stinger608 (May 2, 2014)

Random, are these in a older Guitar "amp" or in an older stereo amp?


----------



## Random Murderer (May 2, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Random, are these in a older Guitar "amp" or in an older stereo amp?


Neither, preamp. It's the Xiang Sheng 708B in my system specs. Underrated amp, but some would say rightfully so. In order to really get it up to speed, you need to change the cheap Chinese tubes out and replace nearly every component in the audio path. Mine has all Vishay resistors and some no-name caps in it that actually sound pretty good(going to replace them with some Mundorfs, JJCaps, and Spragues). I also swapped out the 6N4 rectifier for a 1944 Westinghouse 6X4 about two years ago. It required rewiring two pins in the socket, but other than that was a direct drop-in replacement and sounds worlds better than the 6N4. I've seen some guys spend more on modifying the amp than they did on the amp itself, but it really is a solid design, just built with sub-par components.
I have built some power amps and a few guitar amps for friends. Hell, Broken Pixel keeps posting his parts leaned up against an Orange Tiny Terror, I've built two of those for friends. Great amp, the Tiny Terror.


----------



## Peter1986C (May 2, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> You guys call them "valves" in your part of the world.


Radio Tubes, actually. At least, here in the Netherlands.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 2, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> Radio Tubes, actually. At least, here in the Netherlands.


Good to know. It seems there are several names in Europe, more than I knew of at least. They're just "tubes" here.


----------



## Backfire (May 2, 2014)

I'm still working on my inventory-list. So I can post "fresh" pictures every few days .


----------



## Backfire (May 2, 2014)

I'm disassembling my 486 because I 'm waiting for a "new" motherboard. The old one is an ECS UM486 AIO with ISA & VLB. I was looking for a Board with PCI, but these are very expensive at ebay. Luckily a guy from P3D, best german AMD-related board, I'm a member since early 2001, sold me a Chaintech 486SPM for 20€.
Now I can choose a better Videocard and more & faster RAM. There are different cards I'd like to try out. The Matrox Impression Plus, the ELSA Victory 3D, the Shuttle HOT-137, or the Alliance Semiconductor ProMotion AT3D.

I disassembled the RAM from the ECS-board, too. Isn't it sweet?


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 2, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Vacuum tubes, mate. You guys call them "valves" in your part of the world. They were the predecessor to transistors. In fact, the first two electronic computers in the world, the ENIAC and UNIVAC, were vacuum tube-based.


"tube a vide" or "Vacuum tube" where i am,  some of my retailer who sell some don't even translate the English name (mainly because french make it sound ridiculous ... ahah )


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2014)

I had a Diamond Voodoo II 12MB also too, damn the old Unreal looked good with Glide  Too bad I gave it away, now it would be cool in my P-III rig :/

OT: Installed the HR-02 Macho hour ago, damn those designers from Fractal have been stupid since the cutout for CPU cooler is ridicously small (=useless) in my old Define R2, so I had to unscrew the motherboard, luckily I didn't have to take the cables and other crap out 


btw, wasn't the Voodoo Rush like a Voodoo but it had also a 2d chip, so it didn't need a separate graphics card?


----------



## Backfire (May 2, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> btw, wasn't the Voodoo Rush like a Voodoo but it had also a 2d chip, so it didn't need a separate graphics card?



Thats right. Not the biggest hit, but something to collect.


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 2, 2014)

More of my dad stuff, an old Dell Optiplex GX240





I love old Dell casing opens, a clamshell like opening. Though it's tight and heavy





It houses P4 1.6GHz Williamette core on...I think early i845 chipset that supports SDRAM. It's got AGP slot which is nice





I don't know what card is this, I bet its an old Riva TNT2 or something similar to it. What I know is its Leadtek Winfast and 32MB RAM 





I got two 20GB PATA harddrive but I don't have PATA cable anymore. I gonna resurrect this and play some old games. Maybe throw in good old SB Live! and it should rocking  Going to PC shop tomorrow to upgrade my main rig, but gonna look up to 2nd hand shop for some old AGP cards and old hardware as well


----------



## droopyRO (May 2, 2014)

Not very old and a poor quality pic, but this is my backup PC, the "stars" are this two
Sempron 3000+ 35W TDP(dose not require active cooling just that radiator)
MSI X850XT PE with AC ATi Silencer 5
.
Rest of the system WD80JB, Iiyama 19" TFT, FortronBlueStorm 350W PSU, 1GB DDR800, AsRock Mobo nVidia chip(dont remember the model) WinXP etc.
EDIT:


> Hahah, that X850XTPE is a truly overkill for that


I have nothing else to pair it with, and older non DX9 games run well and that's its job as a backup PC 
EDIT2: found one more a pic of a Sapphire X1800GTO2 unfortunately for me i only have the pic and not the board(sold it a few years back and regret it).


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2014)

Hahah, that X850XTPE is a truly overkill for that 


edit: I'm maybe getting a little drunk, so I should grab that Celeron D 331 now that I have some thermal paste... I won't even post under 4GHz results!  Maybe some Pentium D 925 OC too..


----------



## stinger608 (May 2, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> edit: I'm maybe getting a little drunk,



LOL, obviously its night/evening in Finland. 

Its 9 AM here LOL. At first I was thinking, "damn kind of early to be getting drunk." Then I realized it is evening where your at.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 2, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Hahah, that X850XTPE is a truly overkill for that



well so is my X1950GT super AGP from Xvi ... or my Sapphire X800GT in my AXP build

who isn't a X800GT R480 http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/962/radeon-x800-gt-agp.html
but a          X800GT R420 http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/2103/radeon-x800-gt-agp.html

pretty confusing ... xD

but the X1950GT is a true R570 http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b2107/xpertvision-x1950-gt-super-agp.html (and the Xvi did cost me half of the price of the X800GT ... doing a GPU collection can get pretty weird ... )


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> LOL, obviously its night/evening in Finland.
> 
> Its 9 AM here LOL. At first I was thinking, "damn kind of early to be getting drunk." Then I realized it is evening where your at.


Well we have Russia next to us; Russian Standard is the best vodka I've tried! 

Today:s results: Celeron @ 3700 and Pentium @ 4200. Tests continue tomorrow 


It's 2.11 am in Finland atm and I'm opening a can of beer


----------



## JunkBear (May 3, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> "tube a vide" or "Vacuum tube" where i am,  some of my retailer who sell some don't even translate the English name (mainly because french make it sound ridiculous ... ahah )




Vide is the french word for Empty. So vacuum tube has been emptied of air. Then it explains the translation.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Vide is the french word for Empty. So vacuum tube has been emptied of air. Then it explains the translation.


... JUUUUUUUUUUNK.... i said it make it sound ridiculous ... i didn't said the translation was wrong (i obviously know a vacuum means emptied of air) ... it's just like for example the name of the french submarine "le redoutable" sound particularly laughable and ridiculous to me on opposite of "HMS Dreadful" (maybe i was born in the wrong land ... i am Swiss french yet i hate the french language, except for french Canadian and some Swiss french dialect ...)

this end the "coup de gueule" of the morning 

back to the ... aherm...
i found this in my desk drawer ...


and i think i went a bit overkill on my DC7700p


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2014)

That Pentium D suddenly shuts down when OC is over 4300. What the hell is the reason :S

Maybe I'll put a crazy overvolt and try again..


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> well so is my X1950GT super AGP from Xvi ... or my Sapphire X800GT in my AXP build
> 
> who isn't a X800GT R480 http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/962/radeon-x800-gt-agp.html
> but a          X800GT R420 http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/2103/radeon-x800-gt-agp.html
> ...


If I remember right they used both chips, they kinda used what they had in stock or something like that.
e: Sorry for double post.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> If I remember right they used both chips, they kinda used what they had in stock or something like that.
> e: Sorry for double post.


yeah and some R420 X800GT where flash able into R480 enabling the 4 Pixels Shaders 4 TMU 4 ROP they missed ... if lucky ... (i might try ... who knows  )


----------



## JunkBear (May 3, 2014)

Alors comment en français appellerait tu cela?Tu me fais penser à plusieurs Canadiens qui chialent contre le Canada mais qui refusent de foutre le camps dans un autre pays.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Alors comment en français appellerait tu cela?Tu me fais penser à plusieurs Canadiens qui chialent contre le Canada mais qui refusent de foutre le camps dans un autre pays.


je parle pas de la traduction mais de la consonance.
bon stop ca vas pas dans le cadre du thread


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> yeah and some R420 X800GT where flash able into R480 enabling the 4 Pixels Shaders 4 TMU 4 ROP they missed ... if lucky ... (i might try ... who knows  )


In fact the mod enables 8 pipelines, since X800GT has 8, and XT(PE) has 16 

Connect3D at least had those X800GTO's


JunkBear said:


> Alors comment en français appellerait tu cela?Tu me fais penser à plusieurs Canadiens qui chialent contre le Canada mais qui refusent de foutre le camps dans un autre pays.


Speak English please. Even my English sucks but I still write in English. I think that no one would undestand if I would post in Finnish.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2014)

kyllä todellakin siksi sanoin se ei kuulu lanka  mutta ei hätää, kaksi virkaa french olivat hyödyttömiä 

aproximatively ... 

next hunt ... finally getting a Willamette ... if lucky ... every time someone outbid me



and i missed this on Ricardo.ch ... nobody until 2 minutes before the end ... 20$ ~ then MADNESS STRIKE CRITICAL and price up to 650


nah the X800GT R420 has 8/6/8/8 and the R480 14/6/14/14 (i meant flash a R420 to a R480 X800GT not fully enabling a XT PE  )


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2014)

Hahah that google translate Finnish 

Do you have a S423 mobo? Hope u get that, those are sweet even they are slow as shit


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Hahah that google translate Finnish
> 
> Do you have a S423 mobo?


well .... no ... i need a S423 mobo to add a CPU to my CPU collection ?  (and yes they are sweet as room heater and Intel's shame P4 1st shot bwahahaha)

and yep ... google raw translation is ... approximate ahahah (albeit i translated English to Finnish and then Finnish to French to check and in french it has totally the meaning i wanted to give ... weird  )

or i could ...
"D：はい、確かフランス私はそれがスレッドの一部ではないと述べた理由、それはですが、2つのポストは無用だった、心配しないでください" (i learn Japanese but only in Romaji)
and this end the useless blabber : pics and nostalgia that's what it is all about!


----------



## Kissamies (May 4, 2014)

lol let's put Korean the next time.. x)

I have missed the whole 423 era but doesn't Abit have decent (OC) mobo's?


----------



## JunkBear (May 4, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> In fact the mod enables 8 pipelines, since X800GT has 8, and XT(PE) has 16
> 
> Connect3D at least had those X800GTO's
> 
> Speak English please. Even my English sucks but I still write in English. I think that no one would undestand if I would post in Finnish.


 
English is not the only language around. Learning some new language will make you more able and more intelligent.


----------



## Doc41 (May 4, 2014)

Don't make me throw arabic in the equation 
erhm.. to stay on topic "somewhat" i recently acquired a couple of slim PS 2's  that were just laying around in an acquaintance's house probably for a decade


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 4, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Don't make me throw arabic in the equation


لماذا لا؟ (sorry i cant put it right to left  )



Doc41 said:


> erhm.. to stay on topic "somewhat" i recently acquired a couple of slim PS 2's  that were just laying around in an acquaintance's house probably for a decade


PS2 you say?
 

nothing beats that one in my heart, following pics innards (no screw at all and i played with the console like that  )the thermal pad are still fresh like new (QIII Arena was on the level of the PC graphic at the time.. truly a dream(cast)machine)
      
The system's processor is a Hitachi SH-4 32-bit RISC at 200 MHz with an on-die 128-bit vector graphics engine (woops ... indeed the SH-4 had a Vector 128bit engine ... mixup ), 360 MIPS and 1.4 GFLOPS (single precision), using the vector graphics engine. The graphics hardware is a PowerVR2 CLX2 chipset, capable of 7.0 million polygons/second peak performance and trilinear filtering. Graphics hardware effects include gouraud shading, z-buffering, spatial anti-aliasing, per-pixel translucency sorting (also known as order independent translucency) and bump mapping. The system supports approximately 16.78 million colors (24-bit) color output and displays interlaced or progressive scan video at 640 × 480 video resolution.

For sound, the system features a Yamaha AICA Sound Processor with a 32-Bit ARM7 RISC CPU operating at 45 MHz,[65] 64 channel PCM/ADPCM sampler (4:1 compression), XG MIDI support and 128 step DSP.

The Dreamcast has 16 MB 64-bit 100 MHz main RAM, 8 MB 4 × 16-bit 100 MHz video RAM, 2 MB system ROM, 128 KB flash memory and 2 MB 16-bit 66 MHz sound RAM.[footnotes 1] The hardware supports VQ texture compression at either asymptotically 2 bpp or even 1 bpp.[66] The VRAM, RAM and ROM (amongst other areas) and all mapped in to a single address space accessible by the CPU.

The system reads media using a 12x maximum speed (Constant Angular Velocity) Yamaha or Samsung, in later hardware revisions, GD-ROM Drive.(thanks wiki... in my bookmark 1st place!)
(the 128bit was the Vector graphic engine) so the CPU really had a 128bit capable part as Sega marketed it  )


also ... i still have Quake 1 and Resident Evil + Exhumed for it




9700 Pro said:


> lol let's put Korean the next time.. x)


as you wish
D : 네 실제로 프랑스어 내가 스레드의 일부가 말했다, 그 이유의하지만 두 게시물 쓸모했다, 걱정하지 마세요



9700 Pro said:


> I have missed the whole 423 era but doesn't Abit have decent (OC) mobo's?


anndd you missed nothing  (but Abit has some good mobo indeed, but the WP4 being prone to heat like mad... you need a good WC to OC )


----------



## Doc41 (May 4, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> لماذا لا؟ (sorry i cant put it right to left )



why not ,i can't either- apparently the site's format doesn't allow/can't

speaking of consoles there are a few i wish we had including the dreamcast, ooooh which reminds me we have one that looks exactly like the original Atari 2600 don't know if it still works or not because i'll have to dig it out of storage somewhere in the house


----------



## Peter1986C (May 4, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> next hunt ... finally getting a Willamette ... if lucky ... every time someone outbid me
> View attachment 56393



I got two s478 P4 Willamettes lying about, one @1.5GHZ and @1.7GHz. You may have them for the price of shipping (fees will be like €5 - €15 depending on how exactly I will ship it, in a box or bubble-wrap enveloppe): http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/chevalr1cs-for-sale-trade-thread-eu-only.161792/ 

PM me if interested, I know you are not exactly in the EU but for you I will deal with customs if you want the CPUs.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 4, 2014)

in fact we can ... rahhh stupid me ​
that remember me i saw one of this on Ebay but the Heretic put a Intel setup from 2001-2002 with win XP in it ... and ask a indecent price for it just because of the O² case ...
i would prefer a original O² or a Octane2




Chevalr1c said:


> I got two s478 P4 Willamettes lying about, one @1.5GHZ and @1.7GHz. You may have them for the price of shipping (fees will be like €5 - €15 depending on how exactly I will ship it, in a box or bubble-wrap enveloppe): http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/chevalr1cs-for-sale-trade-thread-eu-only.161792/
> 
> PM me if interested, I know you are not exactly in the EU but for you I will deal with customs if you want the CPUs.



swiss custom : no taxes till a price of 62.50chf (items+shipping) so no biggies ... but atm im kinda in a dead end for 2 more weeks

i keep you updated 

edit i forgot i seek the 1st serie S423 your's unfortunately are S478  but nice of you for the idea 
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Pentium_4/TYPE-Desktop Pentium 4 Willamette.html


----------



## Peter1986C (May 4, 2014)

Oh, wrong socket. 

And I know that given the current value of the CPUs, customs would only mean filling in a form.  I just mentioned it because, well, I don know why I bothered typing that...  I can be silly at times.


----------



## JunkBear (May 4, 2014)

All languages put together here makes me think of big companies that hire foreign customer service.  Like Dell Canada when you call for french the customer service is in Morocco. Really another level of french. Hehehe


----------



## JunkBear (May 4, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> why not ,i can't either- apparently the site's format doesn't allow/can't
> 
> speaking of consoles there are a few i wish we had including the dreamcast, ooooh which reminds me we have one that looks exactly like the original Atari 2600 don't know if it still works or not because i'll have to dig it out of storage somewhere in the house



Still have the Atari 2600 at home like brand new in original box with all manuals also with all remote controllers they made and nearly 60 games.


----------



## remixedcat (May 4, 2014)

Tardbus adapter:


----------



## Kissamies (May 4, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> English is not the only language around. Learning some new language will make you more able and more intelligent.


Nah man, I can speak only Finnish (my native cos I'm a Finn) and English  

Well I would like to learn Russian and Korean for example


----------



## JATownes (May 4, 2014)

My (non-techie) wife went through the closet and found an AM2+ board (Asus M4A79 Deluxe), Phenom II 940 BE, 4GB of Patriot DDR2 1066 Ram, MSI 4850 OC, Generic 550w PSU, CM690II Advanced, etc., and decided she was going to build her a rig, without any assistance from me.  I had to help with the stock CPU Cooler mount, but otherwise, she did it all herself.  I thought I would share with the old PC loving hardware guys (and girls) how proud I am of her effort to try and get into my hobby.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 4, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Nah man, I can speak only Finnish (my native cos I'm a Finn) and English
> 
> Well I would like to learn Russian and Korean for example


as a Lifeguard in a high altitude thermal station (lots of tourists  ) i speak only English French German... i understand Italian and speak it a little bit, same for Spanish and i'm learning Japanese phonetic (Romaji) by myself. i never took any language lessons except the obligatory German in school, Russian well i know only the phonetical ... "Nasdrovia" "da" "niet" Dasvidania" "spasiba" and the most important "Vodka" 



JATownes said:


> My (non-techie) wife went through the closet and found an AM2+ board (Asus M4A79 Deluxe), Phenom II 940 BE, 4GB of Patriot DDR2 1066 Ram, MSI 4850 OC, Generic 550w PSU, CM690II Advanced, etc., and decided she was going to build her a rig, without any assistance from me.  I had to help with the stock CPU Cooler mount, but otherwise, she did it all herself.  I thought I would share with the old PC loving hardware guys (and girls) how proud I am of her effort to try and get into my hobby.
> 
> View attachment 56423 View attachment 56423 View attachment 56424 View attachment 56425 View attachment 56426 View attachment 56427


nice idea... AM2 and AM2+ are still going strong for any kind of task  even more with a Phenom II, and indeed a good reason to be proud of what she did.


----------



## JunkBear (May 4, 2014)

Not sure if guys here will fap to your girl or to the rig.


----------



## JunkBear (May 4, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> as a Lifeguard in a high altitude thermal station (lots of tourists  ) i speak only English French German... i understand Italian and speak it a little bit, same for Spanish and i'm learning Japanese phonetic (Romaji) by myself. i never took any language lessons except the obligatory German in school, Russian well i know only the phonetical ... "Nasdrovia" "da" "niet" Dasvidania" "spasiba" and the most important "Vodka"
> 
> 
> nice idea... AM2 and AM2+ are still going strong for any kind of task  even more with a Phenom II, and indeed a good reason to be proud of what she did.


 

Italien, Spanish, French all come from the Latin. So for a native french speakers theses languages are quite easy to understand.


----------



## JATownes (May 4, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Not sure if guys here will fap to your girl or to the rig.


Definitely her, not that rig, but here's my rig for those that need a good tech fap.



 

 





GreiverBlade said:


> nice idea... AM2 and AM2+ are still going strong for any kind of task  even more with a Phenom II, and indeed a good reason to be proud of what she did.



Just going to use it to play WOW and Minecraft. Lol  But I'm very proud of her for getting it all hooked up right the first time, on her first try ever building.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 4, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Italien, Spanish, French all come from the Latin. So for a native french speakers theses languages are quite easy to understand.


i know that,

yet English is the easiest for me.. i don't know why ... 

from that
 
to that
 
litlle work yet i am happy with the end result 

ARGH a Silverstone AIO MEH WANT!


JATownes said:


> Definitely her, not that rig, but here's my rig for those that need a good tech fap.
> View attachment 56428 View attachment 56429 View attachment 56430


----------



## JATownes (May 4, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> nice idea... AM2 and AM2+ are still going strong for any kind of task  even more with a Phenom II, and indeed a good reason to be proud of what she did.



It's actually a Phanteks Case (If that's what you're referring to, but the cooler is a Silverstone).  Here's the specs:
» CPU: AMD FX9370 8-core (4.95Ghz @ 1.512v)
» Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX (FSB 220Mhz, HT 2640Mhz, NB 2420Mhz)
» RAM: 8GB G-Skill Sniper (2060Mhz 9/10/9/28 @ 1.55v)
» VGA: 2 MSI TwinFrozr II 6870s Crossfire (1000Mhz Core/1100Mhz Memory)
» PSU: Corsair TX850
» HDD: 1 x Crucial M500 240GB SSD (System Drive); 2 x WD Caviar Black 1TB (Data Drive/Games Drive); 1 x WD Caviar Green 2TB (Media Drive); 1 x 500GB WD Caviar Blue (Data Drive Backup); 1 x 640GB WD External (System Drive Backup)
» Chassis: Phanteks Enthoos Series Primo Aluminum
» CPU Cooling: Silverstone Tundra TD02 Liquid Cooler w/ 4 Corsair SP120 High Static Pressure 120mm Fans in Push/Pull on NZXT Sentry Mesh Controller
» Case Cooling: 9 x Phanteks PH-F140SP 140mm Fans w/ Black Wire Grills on Chassis PWM Control

Is that a 2600xt in that pic? If it is, I had one and that was a nice little card in its day.

Edit: Nevermind, 3650...I see it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 5, 2014)

JATownes said:


> My (non-techie) wife went through the closet and found an AM2+ board (Asus M4A79 Deluxe), Phenom II 940 BE, 4GB of Patriot DDR2 1066 Ram, MSI 4850 OC, Generic 550w PSU, CM690II Advanced, etc., and decided she was going to build her a rig, without any assistance from me.  I had to help with the stock CPU Cooler mount, but otherwise, she did it all herself.  I thought I would share with the old PC loving hardware guys (and girls) how proud I am of her effort to try and get into my hobby.
> 
> View attachment 56423 View attachment 56423 View attachment 56424 View attachment 56425 View attachment 56426 View attachment 56427


Nice box.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 5, 2014)

JATownes said:


> My (non-techie) wife went through the closet and found an AM2+ board (Asus M4A79 Deluxe), Phenom II 940 BE, 4GB of Patriot DDR2 1066 Ram, MSI 4850 OC, Generic 550w PSU, CM690II Advanced, etc., and decided she was going to build her a rig, without any assistance from me.  I had to help with the stock CPU Cooler mount, but otherwise, she did it all herself.  I thought I would share with the old PC loving hardware guys (and girls) how proud I am of her effort to try and get into my hobby.
> 
> View attachment 56423 View attachment 56423 View attachment 56424 View attachment 56425 View attachment 56426 View attachment 56427


All I am going to say LOL is that I hated my 940be proc. Couldn't wait to get rid of it and replace it with something different. (1055t)


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 5, 2014)

miomol said:


> Generally English is pretty simple language. I'm learning it by myself, same as Japanese


It was a sarcasm, refering to some native english who told me "in fact English is the hardest language in the world due to slang..."

Yep English is bloody easy and slang is pretty  straightforward if you have some logic ... Swiss patoué (dialect) are way more difficult
Ie: tcheu l'botsh l'est taillé a botson en bas la dérupe!  google translate me that ! 

edit missed one

duh ... harder to find than to miss


----------



## JunkBear (May 5, 2014)

*FROM TOP TO BOTTOM*

*AGP = BFG Tech GeForce 7800 GS OC http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143046*

*AGP = ATI Radeon 9250 series 256megs (Maybe PowerColor)*

*PCI-E = Asus EN8600GT/HTDP/256M/A http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121096*

*PCI-E = Acer ATI Radeon HD3450 *

*PCI-E = BFG Tech GeForce 3DFR6200LEE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143052R *

I tried them long time ago and still working but I don't remember the quantity of memory for the #4 and brand for #2.


----------



## Backfire (May 7, 2014)




----------



## JunkBear (May 7, 2014)

Ah remember when rigs equipped with these processors had a "TURBO" button on the case.


----------



## JunkBear (May 7, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice box.



Did you mean nice rack? Just asking.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 7, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Did you mean nice rack? Just asking.


remember Junk you  have a edit button  (it goes for all double poster of course)

eeek dusty...
 
not mine ... luckily 



JunkBear said:


> Ah remember when rigs equipped with these processors had a "TURBO" button on the case.


ahahahhahah ... i remember when my 1st 486DX33 was running doom or doom 2 and a friend accidentally pressed the turbo button ... slideshow! (i wonder why the speed was 33 in turbo on and 7 turbo off ... )


----------



## Backfire (May 7, 2014)

Made a hit at the bay today. Geforce3 ti500 >

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Asus-Nvidia-...VkNrgmng%2B1YzIVblQzM%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 7, 2014)

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW!!! F*CK YEAH!!!!

i heard they will throw away a HP DC7900 again!!! PEANUT BUTTER WOLFDALE JELLY TIME! again...


----------



## Peter1986C (May 7, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Ah remember when rigs equipped with these processors had a "TURBO" button on the case.



I remember pressing that on my K6-2 system. It did not seem to do anything at that moment, so I never touched it again.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 8, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Did you mean nice rack? Just asking.


LOL, something like that, yes.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 8, 2014)

SOOO MUCH DUST'N GUNK... pfeewwww too bad i didn't took some pics of the cleaning... 
but... WELCOME BACK Wolfdale E8500 ! Wolfdale E8500 meet Oland R7 240 please get along well ... (a old bag with a young little card ... eh? odd couple)


----------



## Kissamies (May 8, 2014)

Stock clocks.. 

Damn I missed a X6800 ES CPU on Finnish hardware forum's marketplace, I've could have it with 20 euros but I'm totally short of money atm


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 8, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Stock clocks..
> 
> Damn I missed a X6800 ES CPU on Finnish hardware forum's marketplace, I've could have it with 20 euros but I'm totally short of money atm


of course .... HP Compaq DC7900 non standard SFF mobo and ultra restrictive BIOS.... at last its compatible with Core 2 Quad ... and the PciE is 2.0 
i sold the previous one i salvaged for 140chf... this one i will keep it... and sell the DC7700p (need money hurk hurk hurk  )

but the R7 240 is nothing like at stock at last  and hold pretty well considering the PSU being a 240W

gosh i just realized the DC7900 SFF can be upgraded till 16gb ram... (4gb atm 2x2) ok it's DDR2 but still .... the highest quad compatible is the Q9650


----------



## Random Murderer (May 9, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> gosh i just realized the DC7900 SFF can be upgraded till 16gb ram... (4gb atm 2x2) ok it's DDR2 but still .... the highest quad compatible is the Q9650


Still, a Q9650 with 8GB+ RAM and an R7 240, even with all at stock speed, is a pretty damn nice SFF system.


----------



## Kissamies (May 9, 2014)

Ah, then I understand why it's stock. The mobo looks pretty weird I have to admit.


----------



## stinger608 (May 9, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Still, a Q9650 with 8GB+ RAM and an R7 240, even with all at stock speed, is a pretty damn nice SFF system.



Yea no kidding. That is still a very capable system indeed!


----------



## Kissamies (May 9, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Yea no kidding. That is still a very capable system indeed!


Yeah, not bad  Some gaming for old games should be fine too with that kind of setup


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 9, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Yeah, not bad  Some gaming for old games should be fine too with that kind of setup


your joking right? i can even play FFXIV ARR in notebook settings with that ... (and i still have a E8500 C2D and 4gb not a Q9650 C2Q plus 8gb)

pics... waiting for my video footage to be up on my dropbox and go youtube !  soon (tm)


seems pretty fluid for a 13-14fps xD oh and 45° max gpu temp









the APU run result in my sig is a ultra 2x fxaa preset this one i ran it in medium to be fair to the "old" cpu 
waiting on the upload of FFXIV benchmark standard
result









1000-1499 indeed notebook mode needed or custom

in fact the ARR benchmark is more gentle than the initial FFXIV benchmark 54° max GPU 100% load 42-52° CPU 100% load on all core











before i upload any result here is the chart
*[7000-]*
Extremely High PerformanceEasily capable of running the game on the highest settings.
*[5000-6999]*
Very High PerformanceEasily capable of running the game. Should perform exceptionally well, even at higher resolutions.
*[3500-4999]*
High PerformanceEasily capable of running the game. Should perform well, even at higher resolutions.
*[2500-3499]*
Fairly High PerformanceCapable of running the game on default settings. Consider switching to a higher resolution depending on performance.
*[2000-2499]*
Standard PerformanceCapable of running the game on default settings.
*[1500-1999]*
Slightly Low Performance – Changes to Settings RecommendedCapable of running the game, but will experience slowdown. Adjusting settings may improve performance.
*[1000-1499]*
Low Performance – Changes to Settings RequiredCapable of running the game, but will experience considerable slowdown. Adjusting settings is unlikely to improve performance.
*[Under1000]*
Insufficient PerformanceDoes not meet specifications for running the game.

good to see a old bag still capable of a good kicking if you add a cheap entry level "modern" GPU


----------



## xvi (May 9, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> ahahahhahah ... i remember when my 1st 486DX33 was running doom or doom 2 and a friend accidentally pressed the turbo button ... slideshow! (i wonder why the speed was 33 in turbo on and 7 turbo off ... )


From what I understand, it's because back in the DOS days, all programs ran in real mode (aka: as fast as they can). The turbo button was a way to slow down the computer so older programs/games didn't run too fast. Programs didn't wait for a number of seconds, they waited for a number of clock cycles.
Basically, it's a compatibility mode button.


----------



## JunkBear (May 10, 2014)

Just did the round of street garbage before truck get all in morning. Got a full setup: MSI K4M4-L , Athlon 2400+ , 1gig memory, 2 x 80 gigs HDD (samsung+maxtor) , FX5200 agp 128megs, DVD-RW, hp cd-burner ,floppy, psu Coolmax V-400. Booting in XP but when background picture appear on desktop it goes all white after all over screen. Probably virus so i just save all files using external HDD enclosure then reboot system with xp pro.


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> your joking right? i can even play FFXIV ARR in notebook settings with that ... (and i still have a E8500 C2D and 4gb not a Q9650 C2Q plus 8gb)
> 
> pics... waiting for my video footage to be up on my dropbox and go youtube !  soon (tm)
> View attachment 56552
> ...


Wow, that was kinda surprise for me  I easily underestimate the low/lower mid-end GPUs so my bad 

Haven't even tried FF XIV because IMO the whole FF series went to crap after FFX (when the Enix clowns came into FF business), so it's kinda unknown for me


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 10, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Wow, that was kinda surprise for me  I easily underestimate the low/lower mid-end GPUs so my bad
> 
> Haven't even tried FF XIV because IMO the whole FF series went to crap after FFX (when the Enix clowns came into FF business), so it's kinda unknown for me


technically Enix has nothing to do with the FF serie, Squaresoft did buy them but the FF team remained the same as before (afaik) and being one of the few to have as a favorite the VIII because of the non SD character i particularly like the XIV, tho from I to XIII i pretty much liked all FF except the XI which i never played. (well a part of the original FF team did quit and founded "Mistwalker" the studio behind one of the greatest rpg i played on Xbox360 ; Lost Odyssey ... duh i need to re buy a 360  )

also you can see i am a FF VIII lover ... my AV is a drawing for a Griever Tatoo: Griever is one of Squall Lionheart's G-Force (nope not Nvidia...) also as i said once if i except the typo, my forum name come from Griever(Greiver) and the Blade of the Gunblade of squall (or Weiss in FF Dirge of Cerberus)

also yep indeed never underestimate a R7 240 @950/2000 instead of 780/1800 (easiest OC ever! just push the limite to 20% and max all sliders... stock fan profile low temp : dead silent)  even a DDR3 model  since there was no 240 GDDR5 or 250 GDDR5 in 2gb low profile model i ended with that awesome piece from MSI (for 65chf ... could be worse)

for FFXIV ARR using custom preset and 1080P instead of 720P laptop mode i get 2800ish
now i totally need to find some DDR2 800(or more) RAM stick and a Q9650 to play some more with the old bag huhuhu



Spoiler:  take a look 9700 Pro ;)


----------



## stinger608 (May 11, 2014)

Nice score JunkBear!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## JunkBear (May 11, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Nice score JunkBear!!!!!!!!!!!


.

Why so impressed?  jk

The XP refused to boot so I installed Vista 32bits home premium. Disconnected the hp cd burner and removed the Samsung. Left Maxtor for this rig and Samsung will be used in other rig.


----------



## stinger608 (May 11, 2014)

LOL, the wife went out goofing around with the youngest daughter earlier today. They stopped at a couple of garage sales and she came home with this:



Spoiler















Both brand new in box and never been opened!

I asked her; "what the hell did you pay for them?" She replied "$5 for both. Not $5 each but got them both for the $5!" 

The fella told her that he had had them for several years and just never built a system with them.........

Amazing find I thought on her part!


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 11, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> LOL, the wife went out goofing around with the youngest daughter earlier today. They stopped at a couple of garage sales and she came home with this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



GAH lucky one! ahahah


edit i might take that one ... way more a 5$ but still ...
http://www.fr.ricardo.ch/acheter/or...-fast-amd-barton-2500-garantie/v/an733395866/
duh i forgot to add the link ...


eh? i found back my Duron 700 (ceramic package) "Cracked Die" Edition (still working fine tho)




edit... i might search for a S939 mobo ... not that i want to open my sealed 3200+ but i want a S939 board ...


----------



## stinger608 (May 11, 2014)

Hmm, just ran across this:

http://www.doomretro.com/

Looks like a complete remake of the original Doom! Might have to download it and give it a try LOL

There is also current development on the Doomsday engine and releases on that as well here:
http://dengine.net/


----------



## Kissamies (May 11, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> technically Enix has nothing to do with the FF serie, Squaresoft did buy them but the FF team remained the same as before (afaik) and being one of the few to have as a favorite the VIII because of the non SD character i particularly like the XIV, tho from I to XIII i pretty much liked all FF except the XI which i never played. (well a part of the original FF team did quit and founded "Mistwalker" the studio behind one of the greatest rpg i played on Xbox360 ; Lost Odyssey ... duh i need to re buy a 360  )
> 
> also you can see i am a FF VIII lover ... my AV is a drawing for a Griever Tatoo: Griever is one of Squall Lionheart's G-Force (nope not Nvidia...) also as i said once if i except the typo, my forum name come from Griever(Greiver) and the Blade of the Gunblade of squall (or Weiss in FF Dirge of Cerberus)
> 
> ...


FF VIII is good, but not as good as VI or IX imo 

But that looks kinda cool, I have to admit 

And awesome stuff for stinger, the fact those are sealed is damn great!



These are becoming to too new for this thread, but... Guess I'm getting a i3-540 + 1156 OEM mobo for 35 euros soon


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 11, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> These are becoming to too new for this thread, but... Guess I'm getting a i3-540 + 1156 OEM mobo for 35 euros soon


naahhh if a i7 920 S1366 has his place a 1156 platform has the right too! (at last i mean it!)



9700 Pro said:


> FF VIII is good, but not as good as VI or IX imo


i liked a lot the IX the story was great  i still play it on my Motorola Razr i with FPse
FF VI i guess you mean the III since the EU version was the III in japan  i played all since the 1st serie (tho i can't remember well) i had a underground community, cartridge reader ... and DOS program for translation and re-code ...   way much much much easier now to do translation ... (i did a 97% accurate Love Plus for NDS but personal use only  still the beta tester who came from japan during the Polymanga 2009 said it was really a good translation, lot's of book and study tho xD)



9700 Pro said:


> But that looks kinda cool, I have to admit


i know, right... 

in fact my Razr i is my Retro machine ... PSone SNES NES DOSBOX for the oldies and PPSSPP /NDSE for the more recent (well the DS emulator is all but smooth while the PSP one is buttery smooth  )

i might get that for a bit more than 24chf


----------



## R00kie (May 11, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> as a Lifeguard in a high altitude thermal station (lots of tourists  ) i speak only English French German... i understand Italian and speak it a little bit, same for Spanish and i'm learning Japanese phonetic (Romaji) by myself. i never took any language lessons except the obligatory German in school, Russian well i know only the phonetical ... "Nasdrovia" "da" "niet" Dasvidania" "spasiba" and the most important "Vodka"



Это обычно то что что не русскоговорящие люди заучивают прежде чем приехать в Россию 
"That's what non russian people usually learn when they go to Russia"
Native Russian speaker here.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 11, 2014)

gdallsk said:


> Это обычно то что что не русскоговорящие люди заучивают прежде чем приехать в Россию
> "That's what non russian people usually learn when they go to Russia"
> Native Russian speaker here.


ahahahah tha'ts why i said : only Phonetic, Cyrillic is already hard enough :d (well ... less than japanese but still ) 

oh well the old fart with a low end card can dish out some impressive result in spit of his age, result and min max temp (impressed by the DTH heatsink and only 1 100mm fan with a air duct if we except the 80mm from the PSU there is only one fan and it's dead silent on step 3 in BIOS)


----------



## JunkBear (May 11, 2014)

Where can i get à pci FireWire card with pins connectors on it so i can plug internally thé front case FireWire câblé? Mobo dont have onboard FireWire.


If u want à long and big map fps try Boiling Point. Plot: Journalist daughter of ex commando is kidnapped in south America then u have to be friends AND ennemies with gang, mafia, guérilla, government or cia to save her. Some bugs but ok in general. Like shooting a man that go dead but groceries bags keep running alone by themselves.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 11, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Where can i get à pci FireWire card with pins connectors on it so i can plug internally thé front case FireWire câblé? Mobo dont have onboard FireWire.


never seen one with internal header, hum ... if i find something i tell you back.



JunkBear said:


> thé



ah your auto correction change "the" in "thé" too ? ... smartphone app or browser?


----------



## JunkBear (May 11, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> never seen one with internal header, hum ... if i find something i tell you back.
> 
> 
> 
> ah your auto correction change "the" in "thé" too ? ... smartphone app or browser?


 
Auto-correct with the app of TPU in my Android 4.0.3 smartphone. I'm french canadian so my phone auto correct like that.


----------



## stinger608 (May 12, 2014)

Kind of a memory reminder! A very cool article about MSDos:

http://www.howtogeek.com/188980/pcs-before-windows-what-using-ms-dos-was-actually-like/


----------



## JunkBear (May 12, 2014)

The computer I found at junk will be given but after installing Vista 32bits home premium i realised the key i have is home basic. Does anyone have a key they dont use anymore of Home premium or i have to reinstall all over again? Thank you.


----------



## stinger608 (May 12, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> The computer I found at junk will be given but after installing Vista 32bits home premium i realised the key i have is home basic. Does anyone have a key they dont use anymore of Home premium or i have to reinstall all over again? Thank you.


 
Dang, just checked and all I have is ultimate.


----------



## TRWOV (May 12, 2014)

For anyone interested, there's a listing for Voodoo 3DFX fans on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251471621470

Bought two as backup for my Voodoo 5500


----------



## stinger608 (May 12, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> For anyone interested, there's a listing for Voodoo 3DFX fans on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251471621470
> 
> Bought two as backup for my Voodoo 5500



Dang, this is one of those times where I wished I still had a Fleabay account.


----------



## Kissamies (May 12, 2014)

Damn those heatsinks are small  Doesn't they attach with thermal glue? If I remember correctly the 5500's usually had pretty bad contact with the GPU and hsf?


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 12, 2014)

i said i need to rebuy a Xbox 360 but also a Xbox ... i saw that Panzer Dragoon Orta crash on the 360 ... and it was my all time favorite game on the original Xbox ... snirfle ...
at last i don't need to seek a Sega Saturn for the other games of the series as i have one 

AND!

i got my hand on a window copy in a garage sale ... either i will set up the AXP retrorig ... or manage to assemble a Pentium rig --- not a 75mhz but i have a Pentium MMX 200 who wait in the collection ...
Panzer Dragoon (パンツァードラグーン Pantsā Doragūn?)[2] is a rail shooter video game released for the Sega Saturn in 1995; and later released on PC, PlayStation 2.

Thousands of years from now, the human being is an endangered species. Of those that remain, an evil tribe known as the Imperials has developed the Dark Dragon, a powerful bio-weapon that, when complete, will render the Imperials unstoppable.

Armed with a powerful laser given to you by a fallen Sky Rider, it's up to you to battle these Imperials and other dangerous creatures of Earth as you fly through seven stages of 360-degree action on the back of an armored blue dragon. In your way are a variety of strange creatures including 10-foot wasps, sandworms, exotic birds and other creatures you'd have to see to believe. Powerful bosses like airships and other dragons challenge you at the end of each stage. Destroy the Dark Dragon and save the world in Panzer Dragoon.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM PC REQUIREMENTS
Minimum CPU Type: Pentium
Minimum CPU Speed: 75 MHz
Minimum RAM Required: 8 MB
Minimum Hard Disk Space: 50 MB
Graphics Type: SVGA
Color Depth: 256 Colors


----------



## stinger608 (May 12, 2014)

And for some screen shots go here:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/panzerdragoon/panzerdragoon.htm

Pretty good story behind the beginning of the game and the original Saturn.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 12, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> And for some screen shots go here:
> http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/panzerdragoon/panzerdragoon.htm
> 
> Pretty good story behind the beginning of the game and the original Saturn.


i had it on my Saturn ... but Orta one hold a special place ... stunning graphic heartbreaking plot ... overall a real pearl´

and worth mentioning: my guild in "Dragon's Prophet" is named "Panzerdragoons" (without S it was already taken ... ) tho i didn't try to name my char Orta, Azel or Kyle (by preference order  )


----------



## dorsetknob (May 12, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> never seen one with internal header, hum ... if i find something i tell you back.
> 
> 
> 
> ah your auto correction change "the" in "thé" too ? ... smartphone app or browser?





JunkBear said:


> Where can i get à pci FireWire card with pins connectors on it so i can plug internally thé front case FireWire câblé? Mobo dont have onboard FireWire.
> 
> 
> If u want à long and big map fps try Boiling Point. Plot: Journalist daughter of ex commando is kidnapped in south America then u have to be friends AND ennemies with gang, mafia, guérilla, government or cia to save her. Some bugs but ok in general. Like shooting a man that go dead but groceries bags keep running alone by themselves.



Got a old  external3 port  PCI card here 
http://postimg.org/image/efwh2penj/
http://s19.postimg.org/etxt2ayr7/12052014796.jpg

Looking at the card circuit board it lists

Port 0   (top external port)
Port 1  (Middle external port)
Port 2  ( bottem external port)

it also has
Port 3 ( an internal port . THIS IS ELECTRICALLY TRACE CONNECTED TO THE Port 0 top external Port BUT HAS NO ONBOARD PINS SOLDERD TO THE PCI board)

As far as i can make out the board has a SIIG chipset on it and part num

this card could probably do what you want if pins were soldered into the board so the case cable could be connected to the card


----------



## JunkBear (May 14, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Dang, just checked and all I have is ultimate.




I just reformated and reinstalled Vista Business. Problem solved after 2 days of looking for a valid licence.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 14, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Where can i get à pci FireWire card with pins connectors on it so i can plug internally thé front case FireWire câblé? Mobo dont have onboard FireWire.



This what you're after?


----------



## JunkBear (May 14, 2014)

Yes. What brand?


----------



## Kissamies (May 14, 2014)

I've stayed away from Codegen products since January 2006 a Codegen 350W destroyed my poor 6600GT AGP 

Also I've used better PSU's since then.


----------



## Kissamies (May 14, 2014)

miomol said:


> PSU is PSU, case is case. It has supringisly good construction quality


Well, they are pretty ok for such cheap cases. I had also a Codegen case 8yrs ago and it was pretty ok, but I wouldn't use any case anymore which has PSU on the top


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 15, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Yes. What brand?



No idea. Chinese is all I can tell you. PM me an addy, I'll send it to you. I'll never use it.


----------



## JunkBear (May 15, 2014)

I dont have PayPal to pay the shipping and i live in Canada. Maybe the connectors are USB pins since it seems to be a USB the internal one. Is it all firewire or other ports also?


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 15, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> I dont have PayPal to pay the shipping and i live in Canada.


So what. I didn't ask for anything except an addy.


----------



## JunkBear (May 15, 2014)

Start conversation ... Is it private or public message on your profile? I send the add later from computer. Thx


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 15, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Start conversation ... Is it private or public message on your profile? I send the add later from computer. Thx


It's private.


----------



## JunkBear (May 15, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's private.


 Ok because I did not use this function since the new display came in


----------



## Kissamies (May 15, 2014)

Yeaaaaaah baby, probably today or tomorrow a GF4 Ti4600 for my Pentium III rig!


----------



## m0nt3 (May 15, 2014)

I want to replace my 5950 Ultra with a 9800XT. you plan on benching that GF4 Ti 4600? Windows XP or Windows 98?


----------



## JunkBear (May 15, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's private.


 I made a test so reply me with the private message


----------



## Kissamies (May 15, 2014)

m0nt3 said:


> I want to replace my 5950 Ultra with a 9800XT. you plan on benching that GF4 Ti 4600? Windows XP or Windows 98?


Win XP SP3 (since 98SE has crappy support on USB devices), and ofc I OC that to the max and run some 3dmark2001 

Well, I think this begins to be kinda nostalgic too. I'm changing some NES games to 2x HD5870 Vapor-X and going to Crossfire those bastards. Too bad that my #2 rig has so little wattage (and not very good quality) PSU, so I need to get a better PSU for that first before the GTX470 moves to that rig. Also as I said, going to get i3-540 to that PC, so well, it's going to be an average gaming PC too


----------



## Backfire (May 16, 2014)

Newest project, codename "Goliath" >





Board: Chaintech 486 SPM
CPU: AMD X5-133
RAM: 2x32 & 2x16MB = 96MB FPM-RAM
HDD: WD100, 10GB
Video: 3dfx Voodoo Rush
Audio: Creative SB AWE32 CT3620
Logitech BusMouse, 3com Etherlink III


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 16, 2014)

let say ... STRIKE OF LUCK .... seems the socket 940 love me



SuperMicro H8DCE + 2 Opteron 248 (don't know the revision) 2 heatsink and nForce Pro 2200 (compatible SLI) less than 30$

now i just need to win that


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2014)

Damn u guys! U have some SWEET shit over there!

Greiver: Have u tested quad-SLI already? 

edit: Ah, is that a ongoing ebay thing? Hope u win that if it's that


----------



## xBruce88x (May 16, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> LOL, the wife went out goofing around with the youngest daughter earlier today. They stopped at a couple of garage sales and she came home with this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That is an amazing find ineed. Ah Abit... those were the good old days. I miss my NF7-S 2.0. Didn't a lot of their talent move over to ASRock though?



GreiverBlade said:


> GAH lucky one! ahahah
> 
> 
> edit i might take that one ... way more a 5$ but still ...
> ...



... and now i miss my Athlon XP 2500+ Barton... in the last 2 months of its life I did manage to finally overclock it to a 400FSB up from 333mhz. made it run at 2.2ghz up from the 1.8. It helped a little, up until the board got hit by lightning.



stinger608 said:


> Hmm, just ran across this:
> 
> http://www.doomretro.com/
> 
> ...



That is pretty sweet, might turn out better than what they did in Doom BFG Ed.



JunkBear said:


> Yes. What brand?



Probably a Startech product. They make all sorts of neat stuff.

http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapt...-Port-IEEE-1394-FireWire-PCI-Card~PCI1394_2LP

or

http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/FireWire/4-Port-IEEE-1394-FireWire-PCI-Card~PCI1394MP

@GreiverBlade That's a pretty nice find too, hope you get it! Anything DX9 based will fly on that.


----------



## JunkBear (May 16, 2014)

Also the brand Encore is making their PCB black like that.


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2014)

Yeah maybe getting the dual HD5870 today!


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 16, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> edit: Ah, is that a ongoing ebay thing? Hope u win that if it's that



Ricardo.ch indeed i won the mobo now i am seeking some gpu and DDR ECC


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> Ricardo.ch indeed i won the mobo now i am seeking some gpu and DDR ECC


Get some HD58x0 cards, they are cheap today and still quite powerful


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 16, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Get some HD58x0 cards, they are cheap today and still quite powerful


oohhh cool Radeon gpu are SLI compatible, well ... i might... wait a sec ... nope  

i need nV cards sadly ... ahahahaha


----------



## Random Murderer (May 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> oohhh cool Radeon gpu are SLI compatible, well ... i might... wait a sec ... nope
> 
> i need nV cards sadly ... ahahahaha


Grab a nice pair of some 6800GTs, or if that's not enough oomph, go with a pair of 8800 series cards. GT would be my recommendation, but everybody seems to want those and ultras on ebay


----------



## JunkBear (May 16, 2014)

8800 gs oc in my possession. Only one.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 16, 2014)

actually aside of the 7950GX2 x2 i have those as a backup plan (just praying that no one spot them too ...)


----------



## JunkBear (May 16, 2014)

Is it me or people are crazy? http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BFG-Tech-BFG...321?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item58a81d9a11


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 16, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Is it me or people are crazy? http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BFG-Tech-BFG...321?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item58a81d9a11


indeed .... the 2 i mention above are on ricardo.ch and are at 10chf for both piece (unless bad luck catch me and someone spot them)


----------



## stinger608 (May 16, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Is it me or people are crazy? http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BFG-Tech-BFG...321?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item58a81d9a11



 You got that right JunkBear!!! Insane price. LOL


----------



## JunkBear (May 17, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> indeed .... the 2 i mention above are on ricardo.ch and are at 10chf for both piece (unless bad luck catch me and someone spot them)



Ricardo.ch.   Chile or China?


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 17, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Ricardo.ch.   Chile or China?


Confédération Hélvétique ...


----------



## Peter1986C (May 17, 2014)

Die Schweiz


----------



## JunkBear (May 17, 2014)

Helvétique comme dans Astérix chez les Helvètes


----------



## Backfire (May 17, 2014)

Hehe, I don't need to mention that my Asterix-collection is complete ... . 2 new video-card pictures to follow.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 17, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> Die Schweiz


La Suisse well ... more precise : *take his regional accent* "Le valais"
my workplace:
summer




winter








non nostalgic parenthesis, but quite the scenery


----------



## xBruce88x (May 17, 2014)

i still have my old 8800GT, it has a massive after market cooler on it though. I revived it by baking it in an oven long ago lol, was still working when i upgraded to this 7850


----------



## Kissamies (May 17, 2014)

The dual HD5870 Vapor-X runs nicely! Now let's put the GTX470 to my #2 rig and let's hope the PSU doesn't die..


----------



## Backfire (May 17, 2014)

I got 2 "new" video-cards and one motherboard. I paid 2€ for the Matrox Millennium MGA-MIL/2BI + the 6MB VRAM expansion I was looking for.













The motherbord is a MSI MS-K7N2 Delta2 Platinum. It's not the rarest collector item around, but it has the nforce II ultra400 - chipset and it's the "Platinum"- editon, which has a black, or lets say "dark" pcb. I hadn't this one in my collction yet, and you can't do much wrong for 1€.






The second video-card was a little more expensive, but I was always looking for a affordable Geforce3 Ti500, and this Asus V8200 T5/Deluxe 64M was mine for just 8.99€. Normally they go from 25 - 40€, so I'm pretty happy with the price. It's just the naked card, but I couldn't expect anymore.


----------



## xBruce88x (May 18, 2014)

nice collection there. that msi board looks a lot like an abit nf7-s in terms of layout. also, a little extra info about that gpu.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/magnificent,342-4.html

nice Geforce3 you found there! and 3d glasses too! (support for it anyway)

you should track down the 3d glasses and give it a try. "ASUS VR-100G"


----------



## Backfire (May 18, 2014)

xBruce88x said:


> nice collection there. that msi board looks a lot like an abit nf7-s



The NF7-S and the K7N2 Delta have both the nforce II Ultra400- chipset, so the layout is nearly the same.


----------



## Kissamies (May 18, 2014)

Backfire: I myself like those MSI Platinum mobos veeeeery much! Nice piece to your collection


----------



## Doc41 (May 18, 2014)

Finally my RAM arrived with the cooler i ordered ages ago
 
Time for some testing on that S939 board

Update: 4th slot seems to be damaged  when i have all 4 in it won't even POST but boots fine with 3


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (May 19, 2014)




----------



## Random Murderer (May 19, 2014)

Sir B. Fannybottom said:


>


Oh man, those are rare as hell. Hold onto that gem!


----------



## R00kie (May 19, 2014)

Sir B. Fannybottom said:


>


Wait, what's that heatsink right next to the socket? what's it cooling?


----------



## PHaS3 (May 19, 2014)

Sir B. Fannybottom said:


>



Aah those were such pretty boards :/ nostalgia ++ Looks like ATi Strawberries and Cream haha

Small black heatsink is VRM Cooling


----------



## Random Murderer (May 19, 2014)

gdallsk said:


> Wait, what's that heatsink right next to the socket? what's it cooling?


The digital VRM section. One of the first boards with a digital VRM.


----------



## R00kie (May 19, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> The digital VRM section. One of the first boards with a digital VRM.


Heh, strange to see VRM's being concentrated in one place like this


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (May 19, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Oh man, those are rare as hell. Hold onto that gem!


Actually found it at a yardsale for $5! It's replacing the mobo in my shitty little home server


----------



## Kissamies (May 19, 2014)

Those white Sapphire mobo's... Damn I wanted one when 939 was the thing


----------



## Sir B. Fannybottom (May 19, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Those white Sapphire mobo's... Damn I wanted one when 939 was the thing


It's still a thing! You could get one right now


----------



## m0nt3 (May 19, 2014)




----------



## GreiverBlade (May 19, 2014)

Sir B. Fannybottom said:


>


sshhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrghhhhh meh want meh wanttt!!!1

nice one!

edit: GOTSIT! (the 9600GT not the 7950GX2 unfortunately )


GreiverBlade said:


> actually aside of the 7950GX2 x2 i have those as a backup plan (just praying that no one spot them too ...)
> View attachment 56731 View attachment 56732


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 20, 2014)

Sir B. Fannybottom said:


>


Very rare. Hang on to it.


----------



## TRWOV (May 20, 2014)

OMG, Auzentech Xplosion. Always wanted that one but settled for an Audigy 2 ZS (not a bad deal altought you can hear some mouse interference when nothing is playing).


----------



## m0nt3 (May 20, 2014)

x-plosion with upgraded op-amp. Didn't have mouse noise issues but mic is terrible.


----------



## JunkBear (May 20, 2014)

Got some stuff at yard sale.

1- Full computer with motherboard E210882 also identified as D102GGC2L. Some capacitors blown but card still boot in bios. Ordered 5$ kit to repair. Came with a P4 640 SL7Z8, HP 350W psu, 512megs DDR2 667 and Asus EAH5450 512megs Silent pci-e graphic. No HDD.

2- Extra cpu coolers one low profile Intel and one heavy aluminum block AVC brand.

3- AGP GeForce2 MX 200 low profile 32megs

4- Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 SL9SA

5- 70mm fan AVC brand


The whole kit for an expensive 13$ Canadian


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 20, 2014)

ooohhh sweet heavennnnnn

cardboard box? no problem i have a special @9700 Pro tape and cardboard opener...  (a bit rusty but i just found it back in my cellar ...
   

soooo supermicro H8DCE Rev. 3.1 nForce Pro 2200+2050 + 2x Opty 248 (sadly not the Troy one.... oh well next month i take 2 280 for that little motherboard)
  

okok let's have a good laugh...


----------



## stinger608 (May 20, 2014)

Sir B. Fannybottom said:


>



As everyone has stated, very rare! What an awesome score bro!


@GreiverBlade : Nice dual Opty system man! Make sure it supports the 280 series of opty's before spending the bucks on them.


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2014)

@GreiverBlade familiar looking Finnish knives, I have one similar too 

Cool dual Opty system indeed, and the original Sledgehammers.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 20, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> @GreiverBlade familiar looking Finnish knives, I have one similar too


well it state "made in Finland" on the leather sheath  i directly thought about 9700 Pro xD


9700 Pro said:


> @GreiverBladeCool dual Opty system indeed, and the original Sledgehammers.


well i wait 4 weeks and i will be ordering some 280 Italy dualcore to replace them 

i have 1 246 (Sledgehammer) and 2 250 (troy) in the collection and now those 2 248 (luckily that H8DCE was bundled with 2 cpu since one of my 250 has a overheat problem ... reaching 100c in 1min 34sec while being in BIOS is indeed a overheat problem)

that board is AWESHUM! damn i didn't spot her before i ordered the Arima HDAMA i had before 

dang ... it even feel snappy under win7 64 Pro ...i can't wait till i get my hand on some Opty Italy DC

what about a FF XIV ARR (with the R7 240 instead of the HD3650) bench run .... humpfff ... awww it crash at the character loading oh well, so much for that idea  

btw ... Velociraptor tryout,the install HDD atm is a 120gb Barracuda 7200.11... *laugh* IDE, well ... guess what ... on a SATA III the VRaptor get recognized 1 on 5 attempt at POST on SATA I 1 on 10 .... on SATA II it was recognized direct at 1st attempt ... 
temporary 3.5" rack for testing purposes
 
this versus that, i guess i know what will be my install disk, PATA will be only for the ODDs
  

also that mobo has some nice fan settings ... 4 in total 2 for Workstation 2 for Server (well 5 if i count the "747 on take off" mode, AKA: full speed) pics of it running (yep Ghetto 90mm in the right 5.25" bay)


----------



## Kissamies (May 21, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> well it state "made in Finland" on the leather sheath  i directly thought about 9700 Pro xD


I knew that. 

edit: Even that I'm living in Central Finland with my fiance (my long-relationshipped girlfriend) I still haven't been in Lapland or other northern Finland.


----------



## Backfire (May 21, 2014)

Some new pics of colorful video-cards (I've posted some before, but these pics are new and have a better quality) >


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 21, 2014)

Backfire said:


> View attachment 56838



Backfire: KYRO Bro' (as i have it too  )


----------



## MikeMurphy (May 21, 2014)

Going to have to bust out my Matrox Mystique for some photos.  It was a massive upgrade over my Trident 512kb ISA video card.


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Some new pics of colorful video-cards (I've posted some before, but these pics are new and have a better quality) >
> 
> View attachment 56838
> 
> ...


9700 Pro card. I love you man. 

I got some sweet stuff from my best friend's dad too!











6600GT AGP (to my #3 pc), HD2900GT and an Asus K8V SE Deluxe (actually, I have an delidded Athlon64 3200+ for that  and some Samsun 512MB DDR's)


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2014)

Oh f##k! That 6600GT seems to be dead since it gives no signal.. :|


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 22, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Oh f##k! That 6600GT seems to be dead since it gives no signal.. :|


i know that feeling ... i have 3 card bought for 7chf  all together  
9800GT 512 Asus Matrix 
9800GT 1024 HP OEM
HD4870 512 Asus 
all of them are non working but they still fit well on the Shelf of my GC collection 

also ... Battle Workstation anyone? (a bit blurry tho ... )


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2014)

How much is a chf compared to euro's? I don't know even what currency that is... 


Must test the 2900GT when I get sober, I'm going to Muurame (central Finland) to drink beer where I got those sweeties, maybe I'll get more..? 

edit: Waiting for the good old stinger's reply for my stuff (even that at least the 6600GT seems to be broken)


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 22, 2014)

bah ... at last we have a stable currency... Euro ... what a joke currency (Chf = franc suisse )

(google is your friend .... just type Eur to Chf and you get the change  )
Eur to Chf : 1€ =1.22chf (base change, in fact the Euro is so unstable that this limit is maintained by the national bank of Switzerland otherwise the real change is 1€ to 1.16Chf )
at last England kept the Pounds bahahaha

testbench before sale


----------



## Backfire (May 22, 2014)

Two of the first Radeons >


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 23, 2014)

except the fact that i go to work in 30minutes and i work 7hrs in a row with no break ... it's a nice day!

i bought this on Ebay ... 


 
2500+

and i took some bonus pieces for the workstation as my paypal still had some leftover  4x for the ram heatsink and a molex to p4 4pin and a SLI bridge


 

  

MUUUHHHHHH i found a seller in switzerland for this ... but he ask for a insane amount for it 


 

also found a seller who has Panzer Dragoon Orta but the german version


----------



## Backfire (May 23, 2014)

Something isn't right with the 2500+. 2 possibilities: It's the wrong picture, or it's the wrong CPU. The picture shows an Athlon XP "Palomino". It has a square-shaped core and the "biggest" Palomino is the 2100+. The first Athlon rated 2500+ was the "Thoroughbred B" with a smaller rectangle-shaped core. The 2500+ can be a tbred-B, a Barton or a mobile Barton. The 2500+ mobile Barton (FQQ4C) goes pretty well. Real 2.5GHz are possible.

 

1st one is a 2500+ mobile Barton, goes somewhere above 2,5GHz. 2nd is a 2700+ Thoroughbred-B. This one runs the "Everest"-Stresstest with 100% load at 2,6GHz.


----------



## JunkBear (May 23, 2014)

Could probably so à xubuntu 14.04 test on a socket 462 as well.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 23, 2014)

AMD Athlon XP 2600 1.9 Ghz 333 Mhz socket A (socket 462) processor

Description... if it's a Palomino or a Thoroughbred B i am happy even if it's a2100+ as i already have a Barton


----------



## Backfire (May 23, 2014)

Oh, excuse me! I didn't know that you already have a Barton. GB, you need many many Bartons, and many mobile Bartons and a lot of Thoroughbreds. It's fun benchmarking them and finding out which one is the fastest.
At the P3D-board we had a thread, finding the fastest Thoroughbred. GB, what is your language, french, german or rätoromanic? If its german, you (and every one who reads this and understands german) are invited to visit me at my "Internet-home", the "Nostalgie-Ecke" at the Planet 3Dnow AMD-related discussion board.
If you got a question about old or new hard- or software, and u don't get an answer there, you get it nowhere .

These are my fastest Athlon XP's:


   

The TBred-B 1700+ has 1466MHz as standard clock-frequenzy. This one runs up to 2600MHz (watercooled).


  

The TBred-B 2700+ has never disappointed me. Always a good choice for overclocking, this one hits the 2600MHz, too.

 

The 3rd is my precious. I am a fan of the 2600+ mobile Barton since NForce II- times. I've got no stresstest screenshot, and I don't know if it would be stable, but this was the first Athlon XP that showed me 2700MHz.

edit: and there did all the testing happen >



It has air- or water-cooling, two PSU's (one for the board and the CPU, one for the cooling, the video-cards and everything else), an airduct for cool RAM and an "office-desk-fan-lamp" aircooler with 2 120mm fans.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 23, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Oh, excuse me! I didn't know that you already have a Barton. GB, you need many many Bartons, and many mobile Bartons and a lot of Thoroughbreds. It's fun benchmarking them and finding out which one is the fastest.



ahahahah yes indeed   look my sysspecs the Nemesis build is a Barton build


----------



## Kissamies (May 24, 2014)

Damn, sweet CPUs Backfire!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 24, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> except the fact that i go to work in 30minutes and i work 7hrs in a row with no break ... it's a nice day!
> 
> i bought this on Ebay ...
> View attachment 56867
> ...


That defiantly looks like a pally chip. I have a couple of those.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 24, 2014)

I have a few. 
Socket A has always been my favorite.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1215832


----------



## stinger608 (May 24, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> I have a few.
> *Socket A has always been my favorite.*




Ditto! Was always my favorite platform as well.


----------



## JunkBear (May 25, 2014)

Just done rebuilding a system with Xubuntu 14.04 LTS.  

Compaq D51 SFF 
P4-478 2.53 gigs
2 gigs DDR400
Maxtor 80 gigs IDE133
Nvidia Vanta16 AGP
LG DVD-RW
Floppy

Going surprisingly well for an old cluncker !  I will learn the basics about Xubuntu and install it in future to give computers to people and teach tem how to use Xubuntu.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 25, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> That defiantly looks like a pally chip. I have a couple of those.


i guess you see also on the chip that: it is a generic pics from the web? i think the seller didn't bothered to take actual pics from it ...


----------



## Kissamies (May 25, 2014)

Need to test that HD2900GT sweetie today!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 25, 2014)

And mine also. I keep my favorite pieces. I have both of my Abit boards ( Kt7-a and my Nf7-s) I actually though I sold the last Nf7 I had but nope and I won't either. I also have a few socket A procs to go with em.


----------



## Kissamies (May 25, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> And mine also. I keep my favorite pieces. I have both of my Abit boards ( Kt7-a and my Nf7-s) I actually though I sold the last Nf7 I had but nope and I won't either. I also have a few socket A procs to go with em.


KT7A was the best SDRAM S462 mobo, which revision you got, the AXP supporting one?

I had also a NF7-S 5yr ago and had an AXP2600+ & 9500Pro with it


----------



## stinger608 (May 25, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> And mine also. I keep my favorite pieces. I have both of my Abit boards ( Kt7-a and my Nf7-s) I actually though I sold the last Nf7 I had but nope and I won't either. I also have a few socket A procs to go with em.




And of course I have one of the NF7-S's from yours truly


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 25, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> KT7A was the best SDRAM S462 mobo, which revision you got, the AXP supporting one?
> 
> I had also a NF7-S 5yr ago and had an AXP2600+ & 9500Pro with it


Mine is a rev 1.3 so it offically supports up to a 2100+ but I have a 2400+ in it running fine.


----------



## Kissamies (May 25, 2014)

Does KT7A 1.3 run Bartons?


----------



## JunkBear (May 25, 2014)

Do they ever made a 462 mobo with 4 X PC133 or 4 X DDR? I have plenty of memory here, AGP, hdd, a 2400+ cpu a new old stock 400W psu and case. All of them I see is only 3 slots or 4 slots but  2XPC133 and 2XDDR on thesame board.  Also people going crazy about the priceson ebay.
Coould be maybe anAMD skt 754 also cause I have a Sempron and Athlon 3200 here. 
thx !


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 25, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Do they ever made a 462 mobo with 4 X PC133 or 4 X DDR? I have plenty of memory here, AGP, hdd, a 2400+ cpu a new old stock 400W psu and case. All of them I see is only 3 slots or 4 slots but  2XPC133 and 2XDDR on thesame board.  Also people going crazy about the priceson ebay.
> Coould be maybe anAMD skt 754 also cause I have a Sempron and Athlon 3200 here.
> thx !


i think 3 slot was the maximum i ever saw ... sadly i have a MSI KT6V 400 with 2 only ...


----------



## JunkBear (May 25, 2014)

Yeah max 2 gigs ddr400. But at least its 400 mhz on memory and cpu plus a 8X agp. With Sata !!! Good for that time.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 25, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Does KT7A 1.3 run Bartons?


I have never tried a barton in mine. It doesn't officially support a barto or anything over a 2100+ pally but mine does run a 24 at full speed


----------



## Kissamies (May 25, 2014)

I don't remember any S754 mobo with 4 slots... Those had singlechannel memory and 3 slots, at least those which I have seen.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 25, 2014)

Some of my socket A goodness.
NF7-S, DFI Infinity Ultra, DFI LP Ultra B



AN7


 

A couple obscure processor's.
Geode's, and a Sempron 3300+


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 25, 2014)

Box of XP-M's. I'm pretty sure I have at least 1 of every one ever made.






Random box of un-benched processors.


----------



## JunkBear (May 25, 2014)

miomol said:


> You're right, my bad. 939 mobos had it.


 
Yeah but rare are the 939 with ddr400 but AGP. If you find one tell me ..especially if micro atx


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 25, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Yeah but rare are the 939 with ddr400 but AGP. If you find one tell me ..especially if micro atx


http://www.ebay.com/itm/brand-new-A...18031080?pt=AU_Components&hash=item48465b41e8


----------



## stinger608 (May 25, 2014)

Hmm, I was thinking that one of the high end Gigabyte socket A boards had 4 memory slots. Probably not correct though.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 25, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm, I was thinking that one of the high end Gigabyte socket A boards had 4 memory slots. Probably not correct though.



Don't know what you were thinking. Most all decent socket A boards had 4 slots. Unless you were talking about 754 maybe? I don't know of any 754 boards with 4 slots.


----------



## TRWOV (May 25, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Yeah but rare are the 939 with ddr400 but AGP. If you find one tell me ..especially if micro atx



I think the Asrock  939A8X-M was the only mATX 939 4xDDR board with AGP, or at least that's the only one I found: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/green-tea-retro-amd-nvidia-build.161350/


----------



## stinger608 (May 25, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Don't know what you were thinking. Most all decent socket A boards had 4 slots. Unless you were talking about 754 maybe? I don't know of any 754 boards with 4 slots.



No was talking about Socket A boards. But that is what I was thinking also, most of the high end Socket A boards had 4 memory slots.


----------



## JunkBear (May 25, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> http://www.ebay.com/itm/brand-new-A...18031080?pt=AU_Components&hash=item48465b41e8




Ok but how can they charge 51$ Canadian for shipping when same weight would cost less from countries around Aussie?


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 25, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> No was talking about Socket A boards. But that is what I was thinking also, most of the high end Socket A boards had 4 memory slots.


I shouldn't have said most. There were a few with 4 slots.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 25, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Ok but how can they charge 51$ Canadian for shipping when same weight would cost less from countries around Aussie?


I can't tell you that. I just find the items.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 25, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Box of XP-M's. I'm pretty sure I have at least 1 of every one ever made.
> 
> View attachment 56925
> 
> ...


GIMME!  nice collection Scotty!


----------



## Backfire (May 25, 2014)

@Mr. Scott, awsome boards! The best you can get for socket A.


----------



## m1919 (May 25, 2014)

Got a few new items in.

SGI M29A. Came with dual P3 Xeon 1Ghz, 1GB of of RD-RAM and a Quadro VR3.






MSI Master2-FAR, came with dual Opteron 275s. Will need to test this board before I figure out what to do with it. I've got a GTX 480 I was planning on running on a K8N-DL, but couldn't find a board for it. I may use that on this, but I'm thinking dual 9800GX2s might be more fun.





ATI 9800 Pro. This was originally for a Mac Pro G5, but I'm gonna try flashing this card with a PC bios.





Also playing around with my Dell Precision 620 board, still need to determine pinouts for the power connectors so I can use a standard ATX PSU with it when transplanting to a new case.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 25, 2014)

m1919 said:


> Got a few new items in.
> 
> SGI M29A. Came with dual P3 Xeon 1Ghz, 1GB of of RD-RAM and a Quadro VR3.
> 
> ...


i love you m1919 in a nostalg33k way off course  

also i can get the leadtek card in the 1st pics ... let's see if i can manage to win it


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 25, 2014)

I believe most socket a boards and the highend boards had three memory slots and some had 2. I know all the nf2 boards I owned from different manufacturers had only 3 slots.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 27, 2014)

woohoo ... both 9600GT defective, oh well refund asked... both had 1 burnt Mosfet and one card had a cracked Mosfet, the card with the cracked Mosfet also had a non working fan.... pfffffft if i don't get a reply mail with a "yes i refund you immediately" i will see with Ricardo.ch for the hard way... bahahah 

the cards were stated as "used" not "defective" so the seller has to comply to my demand.  
also even on the description pics the cards were not so dusty or in a sooooo lamentable state


----------



## Random Murderer (May 27, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> woohoo ... both 9600GT defective, oh well refund asked... both had 1 burnt Mosfet and one card had a cracked Mosfet, the card with the cracked Mosfet also had a non working fan.... pfffffft if i don't get a reply mail with a "yes i refund you immediately" i will see with Ricardo.ch for the hard way... bahahah
> 
> the cards were stated as "used" not "defective" so the seller has to comply to my demand.
> also even on the description pics the cards were not so dusty or in a sooooo lamentable state
> View attachment 56943 View attachment 56944


9600GTs... burnt and cracked MOSFETs... even the solder joints look like they've been subjected to extreme heat...
How in the hell did he manage that? I didn't think those cores drew enough power, even under extreme overclock, to do that. And even still, did he put these under cold or something? WTF?
Definitely get your money back, man. That's some bull. Sorry that you got screwed.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 28, 2014)

Athlon XP received ... ok Denmark and France are the fastest for shipping followed by England then by China (whaaatt 0.81 cent µSD reader are cheap ... )

seems like its a Barton ... DAMN! AXDA2600DKV4D is Barton ... oh well nevermind, it's still the fastest of the 3 2600+ (Thorton/T-bred/Barton) but yet i will have to find a sample of each other cores, soon soon my precious ... *throat clearing*
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare_CPUs/AMD_AXDA2600DKV3C,AMD_AXDA2600DKV4D,AMD_AXDC2600DKV3C/


also got myself some shady gold thermal past from a chinese brand ... well they claim >2,0W/m-k. and 1g for 1.22chf is still better than 4.50chf for 0.5g from Spire (with a 2.8W/m-k)
http://www.ourgd.net/ oh well the syringe exterior was cold (really cold ...) when i took it out of the mailbox ... so it might be worth something to try on the DC7700 and then if it perform kinda good to good for the Opterons


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 28, 2014)

i ... want to die ... actually my other Barton is a 2800+ i always thought it was a 2200+  

so that 2600+ except being a cheap addition to my CPU collection and having a non green PCB is ... under my actual Athlon XP in my Nemesis build .... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH 
oh well time to clean the 2800+ put some new past and try to OC it above 2.25 ... which was his base speed in the end... unless the 2600+ OC a bit better than the 2800+


----------



## Arjai (May 28, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Box of XP-M's. I'm pretty sure I have at least 1 of every one ever made.
> 
> View attachment 56925
> 
> ...


Hmmm, I have a Socket A. And another on the way, Thanks @ThE_MaD_ShOt !!

I may want a couple more M chips, sometime in the future.


----------



## stinger608 (May 28, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> i ... want to die ... actually my other Barton is a 2800+ i always thought it was a 2200+
> 
> so that 2600+ except being a cheap addition to my CPU collection and having a non green PCB is ... under my actual Athlon XP in my Nemesis build .... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
> oh well time to clean the 2800+ put some new past and try to OC it above 2.25 ... which was his base speed in the end... unless the 2600+ OC a bit better than the 2800+
> View attachment 56971



Also, most of the 2800's that I have encountered will run 200 front side bus without issues. One that I have I actually had it stable at 212 front side.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 28, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Also, most of the 2800's that I have encountered will run 200 front side bus without issues. One that I have I actually had it stable at 212 front side.


Really? That's all?  I average around 230 on most of my good processors.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 28, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Really? That's all?  I average around 230 on most of my good processors.


mine doesn't even post when pushed past 184 ... so who care xD


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 29, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> mine doesn't even post when pushed past 184 ... so who care xD


I have some like that too.


----------



## stinger608 (May 29, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Really? That's all?  I average around 230 on most of my good processors.



Could have been the motherboard I was using though. LOL


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 29, 2014)

i might have a workaround ... sadly i don't think that idiotic seller will refund me but oh well for 20chf + 11chf shipping i think it would be not worth it to try to get it back via juridic ways

so i found this, and it's a seller i know and i already bought some item from him, all in flawless condition.



but i have to wait 2 weeks more before i can do anythings else in the field of buying stuff  let's just hope he will wait a bit


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 31, 2014)

After another time of inactivity,I'm back with a new system in progress:

ASUS P4P800-VM (*with P4P800-SE BIOS which has OC features,we all know that -VM and -MX boards have NO OC features*)
10GB HDD (I wanted a retro HDD,and it won't be a problem for a light Vista install,currently I use WinME because I had to experiment BIOSes from other P4P800 series boards)
896MB PC3200 RAM (I have no idea how I got to this amount of RAM,as I use a AGP card,so there's no shared memory)
Pentium 4 "Willamette" 1.7 GHz (I have 2 Celeron D processors but both suck,they heat up worser than my broken Xbox)
ATI Radeon VE 32MB video card (AGP)

And that's the config.I currently use a Xbox DVD drive (Samsung SDH-605B)for installing Windows,as the old DVD drive I had,I took it and installed it in my PC.

AFUDOS gave me some headaches in the start,as I forgot about the /n /pbnc switches in order to force flash a new ROM.
And to make a top of the 3 BIOS files I have handy and tested,here's the list:

1.P4P800 SE ver 1012.001 - by far best BIOS I've tried,OC features and also has a "Power Temperature"sensor,which actually works!
2.P4P800-VM ver 1018 - usual ASUS's work on uATX boards - no OC features and just RAM OC options,which I don't know why they even put them there.
3.P4P800-MX ver 1004 - EVEN MORE crippling,almost to basic features.

I also have the -X BIOS,but because ASUS made it only 384kb I can't flash it.
What also surprised me is that there are options for the onboard video,yet CPU-Upgrade doesn't say anything about onboard video on that board:
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-ASUS/P4P800_SE.html


----------



## TRWOV (May 31, 2014)

The good old P4P800-VM. I think that only a handful of mATX boards had 4 DDR slots. Worked out of the box with W7 x86.

I have one and managed to up the FSB to 225 using clockgen. P4 3.2C @ 3.6Ghz FTW! I used 4GB of OCZ Platinum EL 2.5-2-3-2.

didn't know that you could flash the SE bios on it, I might dust it off for another run


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 1, 2014)

.





TRWOV said:


> The good old P4P800-VM. I think that only a handful of mATX boards had 4 DDR slots. Worked out of the box with W7 x86.
> 
> I have one and managed to up the FSB to 225 using clockgen. P4 3.2C @ 3.6Ghz FTW! I used 4GB of OCZ Platinum EL 2.5-2-3-2.
> 
> didn't know that you could flash the SE bios on it, I might dust it off for another run


You can flash the SE bios on it.The only thing that doesn't work is the onboard GPU,but that's why AGP cards exist.
I managed installing Windows 7 x86 too,and that with a Xbox drive.
I haven't tried the -E Deluxe BIOS (yet I'm not sure if it supports that one,due to the audio being 8 channel,while others are 6 channel)and the original non-E P4P800 Deluxe BIOS.
I'll try the original non-E P4P800 Deluxe BIOS right now and report back.

EDIT:Tried it,and it works fine.Updated through a old 4GB pendrive using *AFUDOS v2.11*.
You MUST use v2.11,else it won't work.
So,if you have a P4P800-VM then it's worth trying the non-E Deluxe BIOS or the SE BIOS.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 1, 2014)

Hey,I'm back.

I have succesfully flashed an EPoX EP-4PGM2I BIOS (also with oc features)on my P4P800-VM.
I used a new flash chip this time (PMC Pm49LF004T-33JCE,older one was the same but without the E)and used the ADSFI711.exe flasher (AMI flasher)with my main PC's mainboard (M2V-TVM).

Now,the good news is,I'm making a BIOS kit for the P4P800-VM with all the BIOSes that I've got to work,all relabeled for the P4P800-VM,including the EPoX Award BIOS (includes a nice temp monitor during POST)that I use right now.

For now I tested the BIOSes only on the PMC BIOS chip,but I think it should work on anything that is NOT SST.I've tried flashing on SST and I didn't have any success,but the PMC chip worked amazingly fine.

Right now,the config is like this:

ASUS P4P800-VM w/EPoX EP-4PGM2I BIOS (Phoenix-Award BIOS v6.00PG)
1GB PC3200 RAM
10GB Seagate HDD w W7 x86
Pentium 4 1.7GHz "Willamette"
ATI Radeon 7000 32MB AGP
400W Delux PSU.

EDIT:Alright,made the kit. Here's the file,includes all "OC Capable"BIOSes for the P4P800-VM.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 2, 2014)

New BIOS to work!
It's the BIOS from a Foxconn 865A01-G-6LS,Phoenix-Award BIOS.
Next to test:
-Foxconn 865M01-PE-6ELS


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 3, 2014)

Another BIOS to work!
Here's the list of all BIOSes that work until now:

1.PMC Pm49FL004T-33JCE - EPoX 4PGM2I (I need to find the latest BIOS,and I'll add the edited Zone-Tan pic)
2.PMC Pm49FL004T-33JC - AOpen AX4SG-UL
3.SST 49LF004A - Foxconn 865A01-G-6LS
4.SST 49LF004A - ABIT IS7-V (848P)
5.SST 49LF004 - DFI 848P-AL


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 4, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> No was talking about Socket A boards. But that is what I was thinking also, most of the high end Socket A boards had 4 memory slots.


You're right, some the last VIA based motherboards had dualchannel and 4 slots. But as far as I know, nF2 boards had 2 or 3 slots, dunno why. 

Still haven't tested that 2900GT or the Asus S754 board, been too lazy and there's been all kind of sad shit with me and my girl  But now things are better and maybe I'll test it in a few days. 

With my luck I broke the S754 Athlon when I delidded it.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 4, 2014)

Nah man, it is/was a Newcastle... Those pieces of crap OC pretty bad.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 4, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Nah man, it is/was a Newcastle... Those pieces of crap OC pretty bad.


Oh yeah they do. Hated mine, 210 was max stable FSB.


----------



## Backfire (Jun 5, 2014)




----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 5, 2014)

Backfire said:


> View attachment 57143


Teaser?


----------



## Backfire (Jun 5, 2014)

yep


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 5, 2014)

Backfire said:


> yep


Well, you've managed to pique my interest. I can't wait to what this "Colossus" is.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 6, 2014)

Back with more BIOSes to work:
1.Albatron ABOX 865G (NIC doesn't work,I edited it to have the right LOM file in it and I have to test it now)
2.Supermicro P4SPA+ (NIC works on this one,it's also the source of the LOM file)
3.ECS PF3 Extreme (without RAID BIOS and NIC ROMs,also edited now to have a Intel NIC LOM file so it can work on my P4P800-VM)

From those BIOSes,the first 2 are the fastest I could ever see.
I'll upload a new pack of Award BIOSes for the P4P800-VM,with Intel NICs in them later.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 6, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Oh yeah they do. Hated mine, 210 was max stable FSB.


But Venice is the real A64 which I loved... With my old MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum my 3000+ ran 2.7GHz 24/7 with BOXED, that damn nF3 Ultra MB toke over 300FSB stable 


Man I still miss it.. :3

edit: Backfire, when u post a cool teaser like that, the stuff you're gonna post must be something damn sweet!  I'm just getting another beer.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 6, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> But Venice is the real A64 which I loved... With my old MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum my 3000+ ran 2.7GHz 24/7 with BOXED, that damn nF3 Ultra MB toke over 300FSB stable
> 
> 
> Man I still miss it.. :3
> ...


I wanted a Venice core but didn't have the money at the time


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 6, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> I wanted a Venice core but didn't have the money at the time


Me neither, in 2005 when i was 15 I had a Thunderbird 1GHz @ 1404MHz, got that Venice in late 2006 when I was 16. It was damn good CPU with those 2.7GHz clocks, I ran benchmarks @ 2.8GHz. Pretty sweer, 1GHz overclock and with a boxed cooler.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 6, 2014)

hehehe ... my sealed A64 is a Venice 

and in 2005 i was 24  we just have 9yrs difference 9700 Pro


----------



## xvi (Jun 6, 2014)

Stumbled across this gem while looking for a Win2K Server disc.





Edit: Yes, I know it's 2014. Yes, I know I'm doing a fresh install. Yes, I know my phone is 4-5 times faster than the P3 733MHz in this thing. That doesn't stop head honcho from having me put it in to production.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 6, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> hehehe ... my sealed A64 is a Venice
> 
> and in 2005 i was 24  we just have 9yrs difference 9700 Pro


Nah, not bad, I have a close friend who is 1yr younger than you


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 10, 2014)

ok i am bored while waiting on my pieces for my next main rig ... so i did setup the Workstation  as a main but i wanted to try something ...

i did put the Integra R2 650w in the Nemesis build so 300w more than the previous one
2125 (2800+) to 2187-2192 (3200+) well what was hindering the OC was the PSU? humpf i need to upgrade the old bag xD




currently using the Nemesis as a main rig


----------



## _JP_ (Jun 10, 2014)

xvi said:


> Yes, I know it's 2014. Yes, I know I'm doing a fresh install. Yes, I know my phone is 4-5 times faster than the P3 733MHz in this thing. That doesn't stop head honcho from having me put it in to production.


That OS is great for an "off-the-grid" server.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 10, 2014)

Nah, who gives a crap about smartphones when messing around with retro hardware, screw those phones.. 

Windows 2000 Pro was the best OS I've ever used, too bad it's support stopped much before than XP's.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 10, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Nah, who gives a crap about smartphones when messing around with retro hardware, screw those phones..
> 
> *Windows 2000 Pro was the best OS I've ever used*, too bad it's support stopped much before than XP's.


2000 Pro was/is damn good, but I must say that the best _Windows_ OS I've ever used was 3.11 for Work Groups. The worst? A close tie between 8 and ME. Although, I did love ME at the time; it had such bad compatibility that not even most viruses were compatible with it. 
And before I start a flame-war by saying 8 is one of the worst Windows I've ever used, I'm a firm believer in Moneysoft's tick-tock cycle. Their tick usually sucks, their tock is usually very close to the corresponding tick, but works as intended. If they keep that up, Win 9(or whatever they name it) should be spectacular.
Examples of each:
Ticks: 3.1, 95, ME, Vista, 8
Tocks: 3.11, 98, 2000, 7, 8's successor

Also, if you want the most solid Windows ever put together, there's a community project that combined the best features of ME, CE, and NT. It's called Windows CE.ME.NT., because it's always frozen


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 10, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Nah, who gives a crap about smartphones when messing around with retro hardware, screw those phones..


heyyy ... my Smartphone have a Atom single core HT 2.0ghz and 1gb RAM ... uh? my smartphone is more powerful than the netbook of my mother??? holy cow ... (its a 2012 Razr i model ... 2yrs in smartphone can be nostalgic? naahhh it still perform like a middle range 2014 smartphone  )

aaaaannnddd crash ... 30min stable really need a new HSF


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 11, 2014)

miomol said:


> 95 - Nah
> 98 - Good, after SE release
> ME - Crap
> 2000 - Good
> ...









Tick tock, tick tock, Clarice...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 11, 2014)

miomol said:


> 95 - Nah
> 98 - Good, after SE release
> ME - Crap
> 2000 - Good
> ...


My thoughts exactly! 

Greiver, what's the exact model of your 462 mobo? If it has the holes near the socket then a Zalman 7000Cu would be a killer one, I had an Alcu on my 2600+ & DFI KT600-AL and it kept the CPU cool


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 11, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> 2000 Pro was/is damn good, but I must say that the best _Windows_ OS I've ever used was 3.11 for Work Groups. The worst? A close tie between 8 and ME. Although, I did love ME at the time; it had such bad compatibility that not even most viruses were compatible with it.
> And before I start a flame-war by saying 8 is one of the worst Windows I've ever used, I'm a firm believer in Moneysoft's tick-tock cycle. Their tick usually sucks, their tock is usually very close to the corresponding tick, but works as intended. If they keep that up, Win 9(or whatever they name it) should be spectacular.
> Examples of each:
> Ticks: 3.1, 95, ME, Vista, 8
> ...



95 - nope,not even using it because IE on it is older than a Atari 2600
NT 4.0 - Good,basically is 95 but more stable and uses NTFS
98 - Also good,but that's if you have a old system (like a Pentium MMX with 64 or 128MB RAM)
2000 - Another good system,and I wish it still had support today.
ME - Also good if you know maintaining it.I've personally used ME on a Pentium MMX with 96MB RAM and it was working exactly like 98SE.(no joke)
XP - Good until SP2. SP3 literally sucks.
Vista - A no-no for the retail version but the beta is fairly alright,minus sound.
7 - gold itself
8 - Microsoft is on drugs or what?That's the ugliest system I've seen.It's as if some 1st grade projected the interface.
9 - I dunno


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 11, 2014)

Also, why MS decided to get rid of Aero with Win8, it looks uglier than Win95 if you ask me.  IMO Vista was ok if there was enough horsepower inside the case, a 3.2GHz C2D with 4GB RAM ran it as smooth as Win7. But basically Vista is like "Win7 beta".


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 11, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> 2000 Pro was/is damn good, but I must say that the best _Windows_ OS I've ever used was 3.11 for Work Groups.



Yep, I must agree! 3.11 for Work Groups was frigging awesome! Went to 95 for about 2 days and right back to 3.11 until 98SE came out! 

Played tons of Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, and Hexen with 3.11. Used a application that was called "Out & Back." Was great. Ya just clicked on the game and Out & Back would take it right to the DOS program and then when you exited the game it would take ya right back to Windows 3.11. Out & Back worked great in 98SE as well. Made gaming in 3.11 so simple. 

Not even sure if you can still find Out & Back anywhere. I tried Googling "Out & Back" and "Out and Back" a couple of years ago............ I'll bet you can just imagine some of the sites that came up with that search.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 12, 2014)

ok guys the BattleWorkStation got new heatsink for the RAM, SHINYYYY!

 


And then:
GENERATION CLASH!


Result ... BattleWorkStation goes to Hawaii!


----------



## xvi (Jun 12, 2014)

That's cheating.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 12, 2014)

xvi said:


> That's cheating.


naaaahhh not so much 

the CPU and PCI-E revision bottleneck it 

TR2013 290 lowest settings (like the R7 run) you can see a effective CPU bottleneck (temp 93° on GPU )




now : ULTIMATE SETTINGS! indeed CPU bottleneck but the R9 run was kinda smooth, the drop under 1fps where for some milliseconds it seems (i didn't noticed them)also the R7 could not display anythings but a slideshow at 1fps (a real pain in the ass to watch xD) again 93° GPU but the cpu's never passed 51° (48° cpu0 51° cpu1)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 12, 2014)

miomol said:


> That's strange, I played TR2013 on Athlon 64 and GTX460. But compare it with Phenom, incredible differences.


eh? settings? its a A64+460? or a phenom??? remember i am using a dual single core 1st gen 940 optys and a 290 +4gb (in fact 2.67 usable since 2 and 2 splitted between cpu0 and cpu1) ECC DDR 266mhz no DDR2 or higher frequ than 266.
my Phenom II X4 955 BE @4.1 8gb DDR3 1866+ 580 SLI never reached that result (on ultimate ofc) even my  i5 2400 or the Xeon E3-1275V2 with the same RAM GPU too


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 12, 2014)

miomol said:


> Max settings, TressFX disabled. Phenom II X6 and R9 270X


ok so ultra settings not ultimate and DDR3 over DDR ECC


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 12, 2014)

Would like to take a moment in silence to honor one of the most awesome fellow members on TPU!!!! 

R.I.P. my friend! 

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/dean-kreij-kortenhoven-1959-2014.201978/


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 12, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Would like to take a moment in silence to honor one of the most awesome fellow members on TPU!!!!
> 
> R.I.P. my friend!
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/dean-kreij-kortenhoven-1959-2014.201978/



yep ... R.I.P ... really a helpful person, all post i had read from him was to help others or to guide them ... he will really be missed a lot


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2014)

Good old Opterons.. 

And the new Lara, damn she's hot! I've played myself few hours, but damn dat ass of hers! 


Greiver, I just started FF VIII for the umm.... 8th(?) time?  I got dualshock3 for those old games


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 14, 2014)

awesome news ... one of my fav etailer has some DDR1 400 in 1gb format  and i noticed that i never noticed (wtf? ) that the KT600 was able to handle 2gb total. 

added to wishlist ... 2x1gb DDR400 and 2 other heatsink for RAM (or 6 if i find some DDR ECC  for the WorkBattleStation)


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2014)

KT600 was IMO a pretty crappy chipset.  Was there any difference between it and KT400A..?

nForce2 Ultra400 was my favourite S462 chipset.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 14, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> KT600 was IMO a pretty crappy chipset.  Was there any difference between it and KT400A..?
> 
> nForce2 Ultra400 was my favourite S462 chipset.


i never had any problem with my MSI Kt6V : void statement you are denied to say such statement even if its iyo  you are not the majority thus what you think fail miserably to prove anything: we are VIA the KT600 is supreme the KT600 REIGN OVER ANY OTHER... (ok i stop joking) 

the only chipsets from nV i like is the nForce Pro 2200 and 2050 (thanks Supermicro XD) the rest is : something nV should have continued, support AMD and stop overpricing any card (thanks 8800GT .... golden card golden time ... long faded away )


yet may i ask what was crappy?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2014)

At least my DFI KT600-AL was like a fresh pile of crap.. :/ Maybe the KT600 isn't bad itself, but that my board sucked. Only good thing was that it had the holes near socket so I could install a Zalman 7000Al-Cu to it. 

nForce 3 Ultra was my favourite nVidia chipset, I had a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum with a 3000+ Venice and damn it overclocked like mad, 50% OC (2.7GHz) with boxed cooler! 

And yeah, the GPU prices are again messed up, 8800GT and HD4850 were the best bang for buck cards ever!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 14, 2014)

and AMD did it again .... for me .... the R9 290 is the 8800GT legacy ... only on the red side instead of green 
if it were not for sh*tcoins ... i mean cryptocurrencies the 290 price would still be on the 770 level  i am quite happy to live where gpu mining is too expensive  

and since i am clearing my last debt .... my NOSTALGIA MADNESS CAN RUN FREE AGAIN! 

damn:  and particularly this thread !


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 15, 2014)

Back with a new update regarding my P4P800-VM board:
Apparently 2MB BIOS chips work too!
So far I got to work a SST 49LF002A and a PMC Pm49FL002T BIOS chip.
BIOS chips that don't work are any SST chip that begins with 29/39 instead of 49 (i.e 39VF020 doesn't work but 49LF002 does)
So far I've got 2 256K BIOSes to work.First is EPoX EP-4PLAI and second is ACORP 4865G.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 16, 2014)

So how large is the original bios chip?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 16, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> So how large is the original bios chip?


4MB. (512KB)


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 18, 2014)

Don't know if you can consider it a Nostalgic hardware but I got this baby at an auction in a box full of junk of all sort like wook toys, hair flattening iron that made girlfriend happy, couple of other stuff and a dusty power supply that I did not know if it was working.

ENERMAX Noisetaker II EG495P-VE 485W ATX12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194009

After testing and cleaning it works fine, no leaking capacitors, no whining and good voltage.

All of that for a 2$ invested in a pile of junk.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 18, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Don't know if you can consider it a Nostalgic hardware but I got this baby at an auction in a box full of junk of all sort like wook toys, hair flattening iron that made girlfriend happy, couple of other stuff and a dusty power supply that I did not know if it was working.
> 
> ENERMAX Noisetaker II EG495P-VE 485W ATX12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply
> 
> ...


Lol, "Highly efficient: Delivering *up to* 80% efficiency..."

Good snag, and definitely in the range of nostalgia. That was from early LGA775 days, iirc.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 18, 2014)

awesome score JunkBear!!!


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 18, 2014)

Talking about nostalgic I still rock my 8600GT in system specs. I would like to suck more power from it so what is the way to do it? Any easy bios mod that stay or a software to overclockat windows ? The GTS versio nis it the same as my GT just higher clocking?

Thx


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 18, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Talking about nostalgic I still rock my 8600GT in system specs. I would like to suck more power from it so what is the way to do it? Any easy bios mod that stay or a software to overclockat windows ? The GTS versio nis it the same as my GT just higher clocking?
> 
> Thx


Contact Solaris17. He is the 8600GT/GTS guru around here, so much so that he took an 8600GT, gave it a dedicated power adapter, and set a world record or two with it. I believe at one point he had the core clock at something ridiculous like 1.3GHz.


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 18, 2014)

I will take a look but if you find the thread about it tell me. Thx


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 19, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> I will take a look but if you find the thread about it tell me. Thx


Just shoot him a PM, he'll help you out.
Here is his profile page.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 19, 2014)

Just got the 735 in the mail. Now the set is complete and ready to go into the P4 build.






I also picked up 2 160GB Barracudas for some RAID0 sweetness


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 19, 2014)

I found another part in the trash near home.

ASUS EN9800GT HB/HTDI/512M GeForce seems to be working! 

Friend of mine sold me an almost new Asrock GM31-S R2.0 for 30$ and I will put on it a Core2 Duo 1.8gig 1066mhz 4M cache that I will overclock hopefully to 2.5gigs. (Also found in trash)

Setup will be powered by the power supply in post above and equipped by 2 X 2gigs of DDR2-800 Kingston.


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 19, 2014)

Oh and forget to tell that the guy thrown also a stick still in packaging of G.Skill ripjaws X. F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL. DDR3-1600 4GIGS hehehe

What u mean by LunkBear? Sorry did not catch the joke


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 19, 2014)

miomol said:


> Whoops, sorry. Missclick. I hope it's better now



Could have been LuckBear also...who knows hehehe


----------



## Backfire (Jun 22, 2014)

Shot a "new" cooler. For just 1€ I got Israels top secret heatsink- technology >






and a quick peek @ "Colossus" >





486 with water/peltier, Voodoo 3 2000, SATA and (I'm working on it) 180 or 200MHz. At the moment its 160MHz, but that is no problem. Above 160 its getting harder .

(yes, I know, the Molex-connector in the middle is not very pretty, and the cooler at the hdd-cage seems useless. I couldn't find my box with the tubes, and everything I got was 2 short tubes and a chipset- cooler ).


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 22, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Shot a "new" cooler. For just 1€ I got Israels top secret heatsink- technology >
> 
> View attachment 57389
> 
> ...


God,that looks like a NASA server!


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 24, 2014)

its not hardware so i dunno where i should put this one
floppy disk case
its from about 1994 when i was in junior high school


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 24, 2014)

Hooray, that HD2900GT seems to work when I finally tested it  I've always wanted any R600 card and now I want Pro/XT card too


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 24, 2014)

Back with 3 more BIOSes to work,and also a PC case in which the components are now stored.

First,BIOSes are:
1.AOpen AX4SG Max II - CSA LAN works,I'll include it in the new kit I am doing
2.AOpen AX4SG-UN - no difference from AX4SG-UL
3.iWill P4SE-Gold - this one is 256KB (I've got the 512KB version though,renamed into ZMAX-AP) but it works no matter what the LAN chip is.

Now,a pic of the case,and also a picture of the desktop.

Case:




Desktop (click on the picture to make it bigger) :


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 26, 2014)

Damn that image quality 

aaaand HD2900GT runs 3d also flawlessly


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 26, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Damn that image quality
> 
> aaaand HD2900GT runs 3d also flawlessly


Pics or it didn't happen.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 26, 2014)

Had to switch cases due to the 735's radiator. Assembly will likely be done this weekend. I'm going to test my three P4 3.4E and see which one overclocks better, after that I'll complete the loop.

Specs are going to be:
- P4 3.4E oced to whatever it can take
- Abit IC7-G
- 4GB muskin Redline PC4000
- Sapphire HD3850 AGP
- Cooler Master Gladiator 600 case
- Cooler Master Elite Power 460 + e-Power 450CD supplemental PSU ( http://www.epowertec.com/power_cd.html )
- WC loop: Bigwater 735 + Volcano 4005 +  Aqua Brazing W2 GPU block
- 2x 160GB Barracudas in RAID0
- Windows 7 Pro x86

Loop will be done like this:
Reservoir -> Pump -> Radiator mounted on front with two Corsair SP120 fans -> Volcano 4005 with two blue led fans -> GPU block -> Reservoir
Coolant will be distilled water and I'll put a silver coil in the reservoir. Sounds good? 

Not that this will be used much, is mainly to make use of spare parts I have lying around but it'll be impressive, I assure you.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jun 26, 2014)

Sounds like a sweet build. Those IC7s are damn nice.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 27, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Damn that image quality
> 
> aaaand HD2900GT runs 3d also flawlessly


I know it's not the best,because my webcam is from around 2007.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 27, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Pics or it didn't happen.


Yeah I'll try to remember take few today


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 27, 2014)

Watching a movie right now but maybe after this I'll take and upload few pictures.  The iPhone 4's camera isn't perfect, but at least better than nothing. 

Sold my old lovely GTX470 with 75 euros (including postal prices), I'm so damn broke right now that I had to sell it.  Damn, never had a single graphics card as long as that, almost 2½ years.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 28, 2014)

Goodamned Ninja 2 exerts so much pressure on 478 CPUs that the TIM forms a vacuum seal and the CPU gets stuck to the heatsink. Thankfully the pins aren't damaged but I'm weary of doing more testing... whatever, I have 2 spares, I'll run this one into the ground


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 28, 2014)

leak testing for 24h:





Overclock on Sunday


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 28, 2014)

Sorry I didn't take pictures yesterday, probably because I was a little drunk.. 

Exchanged the #2 and #3 rigs cases so the i3 is in Fujitsu case and P3-866 is in Nexus Prominent R.. Posting photos later.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 28, 2014)

The P3 rig:











(yeah they are my legs, I was in a weird position )

Posting photos of i3/2900GT machine soon. 

And yes, that's my TV and under it are PS2 & NES. 

i3/2900:


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 29, 2014)

It lives!


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 29, 2014)

What's that CPU cooler, is it like a radiator or what?


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 29, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> What's that CPU cooler, is it like a radiator or what?



 I was pretty much going to ask that same question LOL.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 29, 2014)

http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00000743

I had bought it because I _thought_ it was a heatsink. Have kept it for like 6 or so years.

I thought it would be perfect for the IC7-G build after I came across an open box Big Water 735 that had missing mounting hardware... the Volcano 40005 had its own so it wasn't a dealbreaker.

Current OC is 4.08Ghz (240x17) @ 1.43... what would be a safe upper limit? The board goes up to 1.8!!!!!!


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 29, 2014)

Wow, that is a pretty cool CPU block. Never knew Tt built and sold that type of cooler.


----------



## TRWOV (Jun 29, 2014)

BTW, in the event some of you might want to give it a try, don't mix it with the Bigwater SE. The Volcano is somewhat restrictive and the SE pump is rated for 70lt/hr. The 735's is rated for 400.


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 2, 2014)

It looks like I've hit a wall, even at 1.52v I can't get the bus speed to get stable over 240Mhz. Temps are at 68-70C so I've still got quite a headroom. Anyone with more experience OCing P4s could lend a hand?

edit: It passes Prime95 for some reason. Cinebench also completes without errors, it's just Intel Burn Test that fails... I guess I'll keep going

edit2: nah, at 245 cinebench locks and at 250 it doesn't even boot. I think this chip is good for 240FSB only.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 2, 2014)

Well it happens I guess. LOL. Still, at 240 that isn't anything to sneeze at. Still pretty impressive to be honest.


----------



## R00kie (Jul 4, 2014)

Guys, does anyone of you in UK and could donate a socket 478 cpu to me? I'm trying to build a retro build, and one of my celerons gone bust after i transferred it to my newly bought mother board. It dosent work in the old one either now... ;(
I'll pay for the postage.


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 4, 2014)

Looks like I need to get my photo set up sorted. Got loads of old hardware, mostly graphics cards with motherboards for testing purposes. I need to set up a lighting system for my light tent then figure out how to take the best pics with it to give the best views of my vintage kit  Slowly building a nice collection of non-ATI/NVidia cards, always looking for obscure cards and manufacturers


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 4, 2014)

gdallsk said:


> Guys, does anyone of you in UK and could donate a socket 478 cpu to me? I'm trying to build a retro build, and one of my celerons gone bust after i transferred it to my newly bought mother board. It dosent work in the old one either now... ;(
> I'll pay for the postage.



I have a Celeron D, 2.40GHz/256/533 you can have for shipping (or you can collect if you are near to the Eastern District of Northampton, seeing as you are in Northants).


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 4, 2014)

gdallsk said:


> Guys, does anyone of you in UK and could donate a socket 478 cpu to me? I'm trying to build a retro build, and one of my celerons gone bust after i transferred it to my newly bought mother board. It dosent work in the old one either now... ;(
> I'll pay for the postage.





debs3759 said:


> I have a Celeron D, 2.40GHz/256/533 you can have for shipping (or you can collect if you are near to the Eastern District of Northampton, seeing as you are in Northants).



Well your offer is better than mine. I could still ship 2 P4s though (1.5 and 1.7 GHz) from NL to you in a bubblewrap envelop.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 4, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> Well your offer is better than mine. I could still ship 2 P4s though (1.5 and 1.7 GHz) from NL to you in a bubblewrap envelop.


erf i have some P4 800 in 478 (2.8 and 3.0 EE HT) but unfortunately they are "status unknown" due to : no compatible mobo to test (and Swiss post is a PITA for international shipping )


----------



## R00kie (Jul 4, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> I have a Celeron D, 2.40GHz/256/533 you can have for shipping (or you can collect if you are near to the Eastern District of Northampton, seeing as you are in Northants).


Youre actually in the same town as me, so thats even better!


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 5, 2014)

gdallsk said:


> Youre actually in the same town as me, so thats even better!



On the off chance that you see this in time, I will be in town outside Sheinman Opticians (top of Abington Street) at a demo from 3:00 for a couple of hours. I'll bring the chip in case you make it there. You will know me as I'll be the woman in a wheelchair, with my hair tied back  Otherwise, just PM me and we can arrange something.


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 5, 2014)

À guy in quest for something. A nice generous handicaped woman. Nice....who knows. Suddenly the guy disappears, the police don't suspect thé woman until they discover her true identity as....Deb the web. A cold blooded killer who want your brain to feed her machiavelic computer who crave for more and more memory.

 Soon in a theatre near you!


----------



## R00kie (Jul 5, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> À guy in quest for something. A nice generous handicaped woman. Nice....who knows. Suddenly the guy disappears, the police don't suspect thé woman until they discover her true identity as....Deb the web. A cold blooded killer who want your brain to feed her machiavelic computer who crave for more and more memory.
> 
> Soon in a theatre near you!


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 5, 2014)

Finally getting that GF4 Ti4600, that trade has delayed like hell. Had just to get some cash since face 2 face trade, guess I'll need to go to the nearest ATM in few minutes. 

edit: Also bought another 2x4GB HyperX kit for my main PC


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 5, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> À guy in quest for something. A nice generous handicaped woman. Nice....who knows. Suddenly the guy disappears, the police don't suspect thé woman until they discover her true identity as....Deb the web. A cold blooded killer who want your brain to feed her machiavelic computer who crave for more and more memory.
> 
> Soon in a theatre near you!



Damn, you caught me!

If you Google me, you'll see I turn up in tech forums all over the place. Nobody knows how many members have disappeared


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 5, 2014)

Yeah, the GF4 Ti4600 works! I had to change few caps since few were in bad condition.

Now I'll test that Asus K8V SE Deluxe + A64 setup.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 5, 2014)

Awesome 9700!!! The Ti4600 was one of my all time favorite video cards! I remember buying one to attend a LAN party when UT2003 first came out. LOL. Cost a boat load at the time.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 5, 2014)

Yeah, awesome card of its age 

The S754 setup won't boot, have to figure why..


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 5, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Yeah, awesome card of its age
> 
> *The S754 setup won't boot, have to figure why..*



Dang! Hopefully it is something simple. Reset the bios?


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 5, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Dang! Hopefully it is something simple. Reset the bios?


Don't think so that that's the problem since it was missing the battery when I got it (so bios was resetted).. Well, I have dozens of DDR1 memory modules so I can try if it's about memory..


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 5, 2014)

Yep, that would be my next guess. Some older boards are picky about memory. I have had several Asus and MSI boards that were that way.


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 5, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Damn, you caught me!
> 
> If you Google me, you'll see I turn up in tech forums all over the place. Nobody knows how many members have disappeared


 
Yeah! Then all you see is zombies walking around with brain replaced by a 233mhz and 64megs of PC100.


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 7, 2014)

Got this card coming soon







It's an AccelGraphics AccelSTAR II, with Permedia 2 chipset and 8 MB SGRAM. My first 3D Labs chipset card. I collect mostly vintage graphics cards and the hardware for testing them.

It'll probably be a few weeks before I am able to take decent pics myself, so until then I will post pics from eBay when I buy cards


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 7, 2014)

My P4 is degrading, can't keep it stable at 4.08Ghz anymore  dialing back to 4GHz...


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 7, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Got this card coming soon
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Awesome Deb!! Added ya to the original post.


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 8, 2014)

Just bought a couple of original (2064 based) Matrox Millennium. First one has just the VGA port, and from the part number looks like it was made for HP:

*MIL2P/8MB/HP*





Second one has another port that I don't recognise

*MGA-MIL/2N*









Can anyone tell me what that 26-pin connector is?


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 8, 2014)

https://www.accesscomms.com.au/reference/d-sub.htm


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 8, 2014)

I think the DB26 was for a breakout cable that had another VGA output along with composite and S-video.

edit: something similar to this:


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 8, 2014)

Damn guys, havent get a photo, I got a GF4 MX420  MSI I think..


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 8, 2014)

Guess the items?










Sorry for crappy image quality, took it with my iPhone 4 but its camera isn't the best...


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 8, 2014)

TRWOV said:


> I think the DB26 was for a breakout cable that had another VGA output along with composite and S-video.
> 
> edit: something similar to this:



Cool, thanks.  Doubt I'll find that cable any time soon


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 8, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Guess the items?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well, you have a desk, a bottled beverage, an mATX motherboard, some RAM, a couple of processors with IHSs, a processor I can't identify(S462 Athlon?), what I believe is a PCI NIC, three video cards and a Radeon 2900 series. If the pic wasn't taken with a potato, it would be much easier... 
What do I win?


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 8, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Well, you have a desk, a bottled beverage, an mATX motherboard, some RAM, a couple of processors with IHSs, a processor I can't identify(S462 Athlon?), what I believe is a PCI NIC, three video cards and a Radeon 2900 series. If the pic wasn't taken with a potato, it would be much easier...
> *What do I win?*




Congrats, you won an all expense paid 5 day 6 night stay in the Bahama's!! All thanks to 9700 Pro.


----------



## Doc41 (Jul 8, 2014)

i gave up hope on running all 4 sticks on the s939 board so i setteled with 2GB and replaced it with one of my brothers PC's, but only for a short while PSU went BANG, smell..etc  
 
so yesterday i went out to buy a new one and thought i'd try one last time, ....and to my surprise all 4 sticks worked with the new PSU in 

anyway he is more than happy with an extra 2GB xD, but windows is not playing nice booting up-to login screen and getting stuck but meh i'll just install a x64 version

the other PC, 3GHz P4, 2GB, xfx 6200 256mb

i'm not into sports but germany vs brazil 5-0 in just half an hour XD epic


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 9, 2014)

Anyone remember these?










Just part of the CPU collection I used to have. Never had a 386 board this chip would fit in though. I had almost 2000 different CPUs, but for financial and other reasons had to sell them all. Some, like this chip, I now regret not keeping. I'm now compiling a list of which chips I want to replace for my test rigs (generally the fastest that each motherboard/chipset supports).


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 9, 2014)

Wow Deb!!! 2000 processors is simply amazing! That must have been quite the collection to view!!!


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 9, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Well, you have a desk, a bottled beverage, an mATX motherboard, some RAM, a couple of processors with IHSs, a processor I can't identify(S462 Athlon?), what I believe is a PCI NIC, three video cards and a Radeon 2900 series. If the pic wasn't taken with a potato, it would be much easier...
> What do I win?


Pretty fine guess 

Yeah, HD2900GT, GF4 Ti4600, Radeon 9200, GF4 MX420, PCI NIC, S370 mobo + P3-866 + 512MB PC133, Celeron 600, 3x P3 S478, DDR1 & 2 sticks.


----------



## Doc41 (Jul 9, 2014)

aaaaaaand i was wrong...... again.
apparently the motherboard itself is half dead as i can't boot with more than 2 sticks inside , and as the memory controller is in the CPU this did happen with 2 different CPUs (it would POST with 3 or 4 sticks but it would BSOD in windows)

oh well guess i'll be on the lookout for another cheap "working" s939 board


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 9, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> aaaaaaand i was wrong...... again.
> apparently the motherboard itself is half dead as i can't boot with more than 2 sticks inside , and as the memory controller is in the CPU this did happen with 2 different CPUs (it would POST with 3 or 4 sticks but it would BSOD in windows)
> 
> *oh well guess i'll be on the lookout for another cheap "working" s939 board*



Shoot a PM to @ThE_MaD_ShOt as he may very well have a couple s939 boards available.


----------



## HammerON (Jul 10, 2014)

Pulled these out of a DELL XPS that a co-worker didn't know what to do with after upgrading:

ATI HD 3650 256MB



Q6600



DDR2 RAM:



The DELl XPS also had this TV tuner installed:


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 10, 2014)

Just received a nice 3dfx Banshee card. $11.50 shipped. I had never heard of Octek before, and searching the FCC ID and part number didn't give any idea what it was, so I had to remove the heatsink and check the chip. That's my first Banshee card. Photo is from the eBay sale.






Edit: I just found out that Octek were (or were owned by) Joytech


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 10, 2014)

Turns out I've been using an outdated version of the FCC search page. When I used the current FCC ID search page I got more info, including a poorly scanned copy of the above card's user guide 

If anyone else has trouble identifying hardware with an FCC ID, try http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 10, 2014)

I did not know if I post here or in graphic cards but I got a 9800 that need a 6 pins connector. Do all the 9800 needed a 6 pins power connector?


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 10, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> I did not know if I post here or in graphic cards but I got a 9800 that need a 6 pins connector. Do all the 9800 needed a 6 pins power connector?


Which 9800? GT? GTX?
As far as I know, all 9800s need external power. I know the couple of GTX/GTX+ cards I've owned do.


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 10, 2014)

ASUS EN9800GT HB/HTDI/512M GeForce

This card is it strong enough to play the older Battlefield 2 multiplayer at full setting @ 1080P ?


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 10, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> ASUS EN9800GT HB/HTDI/512M GeForce
> 
> This card is it strong enough to play the older Battlefield 2 multiplayer at full setting @ 1080P ?


Apparently some non-reference design 9800GT cards did not require a 6 pin, but most did.
It _should_ be powerful enough to max BF2 at 1080p. Maybe just slightly under max, but the 9800 series were pretty powerful for their time.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 10, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Apparently some non-reference design 9800GT cards did not require a 6 pin, but most did.
> It _should_ be powerful enough to max BF2 at 1080p. Maybe just slightly under max, but the 9800 series were pretty powerful for their time.


i have a ref HP 9800GT 1024 and a ASUS 9800GT 512 Matrix both require a 6pin (both non functional ... otherwise they would be in the WorkBattleStation ... if they where both 512 or 1024 xD ) see a bit previously in the thread

ref: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-45#post-2943485


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 10, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> i have a ref HP 9800GT 1024 and a ASUS 9800GT 512 Matrix both require a 6pin (both non functional ... otherwise they would be in the WorkBattleStation ... if they where both 512 or 1024 xD ) see a bit previously in the thread
> 
> ref: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-45#post-2943485


There was a Zotac version that drew all of its power from the PCIe slot.


Spoiler










Seeing as one manufacturer managed that, it would not surprise me if others had managed it as well.


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 10, 2014)

The reference design 9800 GT and the lower power green edition both needed a 6-pin connector. The original cards with G92 die had TDP of 105 Watts (according to NVidia, TPU database says 125 W). There is also a lower powered green edition using die G92b (not currently in the db) with slower clock speeds. Not sure of the TDP, but it will be less than 105 W. I don't believe it will be as low as 75 W though so cards with no power connector either run really slowly, have less overclocking potential or pull more than the 75W the ATX spec specifies from the slot.


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 10, 2014)

Q6600 for free  And it's a G0  The tuner isn't bad either. The 3650 could be useful as a backup GPU. Nice bounty there HammerOn


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 10, 2014)

Just had a bonus. I asked for help on CPU-World with an eBay auction in Spain (seller wanted €50 to ship a CPU internationally!). Another member got a friend in Spain to bid for me. Won an Athlon 64 FX-74 for €5.50! Add on €15 the seller charged for domestic shipping, then I estimate about €5 to reship to me. I figured that's a good price for that chip (fastest FX chip for socket F, I now will have a pair for my L1N64-SLI WS motherboard). There are faster Opteron chips for that board that use less power, but they can't be overclocked 

Anyway, enough of the back story. The bonus - the guy who sorted the bid out for me said he is going to gift it to me  now I'm gonna have to buy a couple of 240mm closed loop coolers for the processors and find a way to keep the VRMs cool (everything overheated when i fired it up 3 years back with a single CPU). i'll  post pics when I have the CPU


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> There was a Zotac version that drew all of its power from the PCIe slot.
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


XFX has also one:



Spoiler











Albatron also had a HD4830 without connector: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/HD_4830_Green/
That's also special card since it has full 800 shaders


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 11, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> The reference design 9800 GT and the lower power green edition both needed a 6-pin connector. The original cards with G92 die had TDP of 105 Watts (according to NVidia, TPU database says 125 W). There is also a lower powered green edition using die G92b (not currently in the db) with slower clock speeds. Not sure of the TDP, but it will be less than 105 W. I don't believe it will be as low as 75 W though so cards with no power connector either run really slowly, have less overclocking potential or pull more than the 75W the ATX spec specifies from the slot.


 
 The card simply don't work without the 6pins. It keep beeping so I really need to plug it


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 14, 2014)

Awesome Misaki!!! Just add you to the original post.   

Bummer; I can't run the video, it states "This video in not available in your country."


----------



## Stjepan666 (Jul 14, 2014)

Hehe, my MSI now ife, thx Misaki


----------



## Misaki (Jul 14, 2014)

No problem


----------



## Doc41 (Jul 15, 2014)

@Misaki Its always fun to revive a "dead" motherboard , reminds me of our original xbox that died one time but turns out a few caps needed a change

btw TrackID said (Illusion - 140) correct?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 15, 2014)

on the hunt again :









but not now (9 days left for that auction) and i have a camping today (maybe non nostalgic pics soon for the pleasure of your eyes ... if i keep up till i reach the area i want...  )


----------



## Misaki (Jul 15, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> @Misaki Its always fun to revive a "dead" motherboard , reminds me of our original xbox that died one time but turns out a few caps needed a change
> 
> btw TrackID said (Illusion - 140) correct?


Yup.



GreiverBlade said:


> aaaahhh maybe i could ask to change GreiverBlade to GrieverBlade ... damned typo xD
> 
> on the hunt again :
> 
> ...


If you want, I personally don't see a problem 
Nforce chipset on 462? *Sniff* *sniff*, overclocking time!


----------



## DigitalxxxFr34k (Jul 15, 2014)

i am looking to relive my history with computers, over the years i started collecting old video games, mainly consoles and handhelds from the nes/gameboy, to current, i enjoy reliving the classic games, but there is one system that i do not have yet, and that is a 98se box, yes i am aware of dos box and other 3rd party programs, that will allow you to run old programs and games, currently i have a box, that has windows 7 and covers everything from, xp- current, now i want something to cover dos-98se/me that is authentic and whats considered top of the line back in 99-01 era before xp hit the market, i already have an idea what 98se can handle
back in the day i ran a 
600mhz amd cpu
64mb geforce pci video card
sound blaster live 2 audio card
512mb of sd ram
20gb ide 5200 rpm hdd

and i remember having troubles making games run maxed out and for most games i had to run them at medium settings, but of course it had norton anti virus, which took alot of resources back in the day, and it prob didn't help i was downloading music from napster alot back in that day either lol, 

im lookng to be running at

800mhz-1ghz cpu
768mb-1gb ram
128mb agp card
and a awesome mother board to plug all this into 

i already have a good sound card that will work with 98
and i have a 120gb ide 7200 rpm seagate drive


i just need to know exactley what i should be looking for as far as cpu motherboard ram and gpu brand names and model numbers would make things so much easier.

and i already know you have to make some tweaks to run 98 with higher components and thats no problem

thanks


----------



## Doc41 (Jul 16, 2014)

DigitalxxxFr34k said:


> i am looking to relive my history with computers, over the years i started collecting old video games, mainly consoles and handhelds from the nes/gameboy, to current, i enjoy reliving the classic games, but there is one system that i do not have yet, and that is a 98se box, yes i am aware of dos box and other 3rd party programs, that will allow you to run old programs and games, currently i have a box, that has windows 7 and covers everything from, xp- current, now i want something to cover dos-98se/me that is authentic and whats considered top of the line back in 99-01 era before xp hit the market, i already have an idea what 98se can handle
> back in the day i ran a
> 600mhz amd cpu
> 64mb geforce pci video card
> ...


Hello and welcome to TPU!

That seems like a good and fun idea, i don't remember much from the 98/ME era (still a kid back then )  but i do have my dad's first PC from back then "Dino in my system specs"

if you're looking at a 800-1GHz CPU you should check out these motherboard socket types
Socket 370 : Intel
Socket A "462": AMD
Slot A: both Intel and AMD "i think"
What comes to my mind now is :Intel Pentium III "available in socket 370 &Slot A" and AMD Athlon/Duron/Sempron series CPUs in "Socket A & Slot A"

as for GPUs you have nVidia's geforce 2/3/4 series or ATI's Radeon R100 & R200 Series 

As for a motherboard i have no idea what's the best chipset were back then but nForce2 chipsets were among the top ones (someone correct me if i'm wrong)

That's all i can think of right now, lets see what the others can share


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 16, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> if you're looking at a 800-1GHz CPU you should check out these motherboard socket types
> Socket 370 : Intel
> Socket A "462": AMD
> Slot A: both Intel and AMD "i think"
> What comes to my mind now is :Intel Pentium III "available in socket 370 &Slot A" and AMD Athlon/Duron/Sempron series CPUs in "Socket A & Slot A"



Close. Slot A was AMD's slot technology, for Athlons up to 1 GHz. 
Intel's slots were Slot 1, which was different. Slot 1 was used for Pentium II up to 450 MHz then the original Pentium III "Katmai" up to 600 MHz.


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 16, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> as for GPUs you have nVidia's geforce 2/3/4 series or ATI's Radeon R100 & R200 Series



An afterthought tells me that was a good time for the integrated Voodoo cards as well. The Banshee came out in June 98, but as it only had one texture unit was not as good as a Voodoo2 with separate 2D card. Voodoo3, released in 99, rectified this by adding in the second texture unit the Voodoo2 had, and that made it among the best cards around.


----------



## Misaki (Jul 16, 2014)

DigitalxxxFr34k said:


> i am looking to relive my history with computers, over the years i started collecting old video games, mainly consoles and handhelds from the nes/gameboy, to current, i enjoy reliving the classic games, but there is one system that i do not have yet, and that is a 98se box, yes i am aware of dos box and other 3rd party programs, that will allow you to run old programs and games, currently i have a box, that has windows 7 and covers everything from, xp- current, now i want something to cover dos-98se/me that is authentic and whats considered top of the line back in 99-01 era before xp hit the market, i already have an idea what 98se can handle
> back in the day i ran a
> 600mhz amd cpu
> 64mb geforce pci video card
> ...


Where do you live? I have a spare ASUS motherboard with Slot "socket", some CPU for it and RAM. If you live near my country, It will be yours for shipping costs 

By the way, I must do a cleaning with hardware (cons of living with parents). Someone here wants ASUS CUV4X-D with Dual Pentium III 866MHz (Coopermine) and 512MB SDRAM?

Today I repaired a Forton 300W PSU. Sorry for bad English (but I talked seriously in this language for first time, lol)


----------



## DigitalxxxFr34k (Jul 16, 2014)

thanks guys

so voodoo 3 for graphics card sounds good to me
amd socket a 1ghz athlon cpu sounds good to me as well
and a nforce 2 i remember seeing that on my old mb back in the day so if any one can think of a better chipset on a mobo let me know 
what about ram, what was good ram back in that day id like to have around 768-1gb of ram

and misaki thanks for the offer but i live in the states, i have access to parts from friends and family, only thing ill have to order online is a prob the voodoo 3 card and maybe a cpu


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 16, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Slot A: both Intel and AMD "i think"


the correction as already been given but : WRONG YOU HERETIC!

also @debs3759 use edit function would you please 

and now @Misaki : who did you contact for "name change"

also i received a mail from a friend and he wrote : what do you wish for Xmas with theses pics in it
seriously a 3870x2 ? DOWANT! (i hope he can keep it )
 

hummm a Quadro FX3700 nah unless a pack of two duntwant
 
9800 GTX and FX3450 hummm same as the 3700 (except for collection purpose)
 


eh a 295 for the workstation .... it's a bit overkill.... and he has 2 of them ...


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## Doc41 (Jul 16, 2014)

@debs3759 @GreiverBlade  Please forgive this poor ignorant fool that is me 
/jk 

Voodoo cards are nice too, i always wanted a voodoo3 or that glorious "quad core " voodoo5 ......
which reminds me since i gave up on updating the BIOS i should look for 2 20GB HDDs for mine


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## Sir B. Fannybottom (Jul 16, 2014)

:C A lot of stuff you guys consider old are upgrades for systems in my house


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## debs3759 (Jul 16, 2014)

Sir B. Fannybottom said:


> :C A lot of stuff you guys consider old are upgrades for systems in my house



I've been thinking the same. It makes me smile when I see people get nostalgic about hardware that is only 5/6 years old. Makes me feel old as well, 5 years is just like yesterday 

I think most stuff qualifies as old in  technology terms though. I mean, I could get nostalgic about the Sandy Bridge system I used to benchmark with, even though it was only a couple of years ago. My main system these days (mostly used for watching movies, browsing and downloading) is a Llano based system, probably  last me a few more years for what it does.


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## debs3759 (Jul 17, 2014)

Wow, I just finished browsing through the entire 101 pages of the thread. Probably only read half of it, but I was more interested in the hardware. Shame not everybody uses a decent image hosting site, too many early images are dead links. The thread has given me some ideas of hardware for my want list though (it was already so long it'll take me all year to fill half the list!).

I really must sort out a well lit space for photographing some of my goodies, I want to start showing it off


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 17, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Wow, I just finished browsing through the entire 101 pages of the thread. Probably only read half of it, but I was more interested in the hardware. Shame not everybody uses a decent image hosting site, too many early images are dead links. The thread has given me some ideas of hardware for my want list though (it was already so long it'll take me all year to fill half the list!).
> 
> *I really must sort out a well lit space for photographing some of my goodies, I want to start showing it off*




Oh man Debs, can't wait to see some of the pictures!!!


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 17, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Hello and welcome to TPU!
> 
> That seems like a good and fun idea, i don't remember much from the 98/ME era (still a kid back then )  but i do have my dad's first PC from back then "Dino in my system specs"
> 
> ...


Amd was Slot A and intel had different slot's. They where slot 1 and 2.


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 17, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Shame not everybody uses a decent image hosting site, too many early images are dead links.


no need anymore : TPU "Upload a File" button, is awesome! 



debs3759 said:


> I really must sort out a well lit space for photographing some of my goodies, I want to start showing it off


bring it on!


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## Maban (Jul 17, 2014)

Not exactly computer-related but it's cool and nostalgic.


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## Backfire (Jul 18, 2014)

Some pictures of my latest activities.
I bought some radiators at ebay. They look a little used, but the function is 100%.





From left to right: 2x Magicool 360 slim, XSPC RX360, Airplex EVO 360.
The XSPC was painted with fresh black spraypaint.









I screwed this one together with the Airplex and 3 powerful 120 x 38mm fans. This will be the heat exchanger for my DFI/ crossfire youngtimer.





As it is impossible to find a chipset cooler for the DFI CFX3200, I had to build one by myself.
So I took 2 coolers which I couldn't identify, made them fit and soldered them together.









This fits pretty good and I'm happy with it.

Last but not least I'm building a "pull-out mainboard sled" for the "Thai-Chi" case.





just a pic. It's not in use at the moment.


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## toastem2004 (Jul 18, 2014)

Love reading this thread!  I know its not as old as most of the stuff in here, but I just got my hands on a nvidia GT240 GDDR5.  Been thinking about swapping it into my system labeled "experimental" in my sig instead of the HD6450, what y'all think?  I plan on getting that thing back up n running, got a bunch of old games that just will not play on 7/8 but ran just fine under XP. I tried some of them in a virtualized XP using vmware player, a few were ok, but most did not function.

Also, found a old compaq from about 2000 in my dads storage unit. If its the one I'm thinking of, it should have a K6-2+ 450MHz skt 7 in it... gonna try to tear into it this weekend.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 18, 2014)

My Slot A win 98se rig.


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## TRWOV (Jul 18, 2014)

The ORB!!!


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## Random Murderer (Jul 18, 2014)

Backfire said:


> As it is impossible to find a chipset cooler for the DFI CFX3200, I had to build one by myself.
> So I took 2 coolers which I couldn't identify, made them fit and soldered them together.
> 
> View attachment 57765
> ...


Not only is that brilliant, but masterfully put together. You never cease to amaze me, Backfire.


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## Kissamies (Jul 18, 2014)

Did a little job today. I got a GF4 MX420 from my uncle and damn that heatsink was like glued on it! Well, AtiTool's artifact scanner for 30min and when the card got enough heat, I finally managed to pop that heatsink out... And guess what? The TIM was that stupid classic bubblegum-like stuff  And the weirdest thing was that in the chip was text "MX440-SE" 

Well, took the most bubblegum out with sandpaper and wiped the heatsink too to a little better shape and put some GC-Extreme to it. Some day I must try OC that piece of crap.


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## Backfire (Jul 18, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> My Slot A win 98se rig.



My Slot A: 1.0GHz, Rage Fury Maxx, Voodoo 2 SLI, Terratec EWS64 XL


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 19, 2014)

Backfire said:


> My Slot A: 1.0GHz, Rage Fury Maxx, Voodoo 2 SLI, Terratec EWS64 XL
> 
> View attachment 57801


Mine is a 800 mhz proc with a Rage Fury pro and a Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500.


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## Kissamies (Jul 19, 2014)

Gotta love that Backfire's setup.. 

Voodoo2 SLI? Well I guess I will put a photo of my  "not in #1PC" graphics cards in a moment


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## JunkBear (Jul 19, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Some pictures of my latest activities.
> I bought some radiators at ebay. They look a little used, but the function is 100%.
> 
> View attachment 57760
> ...


 
Ronnie James Dio don't need that cooler casue he's born in hell!


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 19, 2014)

Sorry for a double post but this needs its own IMO 

Left to right: Matrox Millennium II (don't remember the RAM size), GF4 MX420 64MB, Radeon 9200 128MB, 6600GT 128MB (broken... damn!), X1650Pro 256MB and HD2900GT 256MB. Also some beer in the glass 

and sorry for the image quality, iPhone 4's camera just sucks


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## JunkBear (Jul 19, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Where do you live? I have a spare ASUS motherboard with Slot "socket", some CPU for it and RAM. If you live near my country, It will be yours for shipping costs
> 
> By the way, I must do a cleaning with hardware (cons of living with parents). Someone here wants ASUS CUV4X-D with Dual Pentium III 866MHz (Coopermine) and 512MB SDRAM?
> 
> Today I repaired a Forton 300W PSU. Sorry for bad English (but I talked seriously in this language for first time, lol)


 

If you were not that far I could have get it !

I have 4 sticks of 512megs PC133, many  psu, many agp cards, a sound blaster sound card, IDE hard drive and optical ide dvd.

BTW here's the manual for this mobo http://www.motherboards.org/files/manuals/1/cuv4xd-100.pdf


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## Kissamies (Jul 19, 2014)

Crap. I need somewhere a 100% working S754 CPU, dunno if the mobo or CPU is defect... or both. :|

S754 set doesn't boot..


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## JunkBear (Jul 19, 2014)

Too far also I had 2 of them in stock. a Sempron2800 and athlon 64 3200+


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## Kissamies (Jul 19, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Too far also I had 2 of them in stock. a Sempron2800 and athlon 64 3200+


Canada is yeah too far to Finland..  Maybe I'll just wait 

Just put a "buying" thread to finnish HW site MuroBBS that I want a Athlon Thunderbird s462 what goes over 1500MHz on air..


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## P4-630 (Jul 19, 2014)

My first graphic card:





ATI X300
I had an acer aspire with pentium 4-630

Other graphic cards i had:
x1600pro




XFX 6800GS XXX




x1600xt




Powercolor X1950PRO




Gigabyte HD3870, was a superb overclocker! I used a ThermalRight heatsink on this one.




Gigabyte HD4870, same here, superb overclocker! I used a ThermalRight heatsink.




HIS 4870




GT425M
GTX770M


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## Kissamies (Jul 20, 2014)

Classic shit P4-630! I loved my Club 3D 6800GS


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 20, 2014)

Sorry for (again) a double post...

Gonna get Nokia N8 and E6 prototype for 50€


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## JunkBear (Jul 20, 2014)

Hi guys and girls.

I decided to jump on the deal a friend made to me a one month old motherboard for 30$ and rebuild myself a setup.

*Mobo* : G31M-GS R2.0 (30$)
*CPU* : 6300 SL9SA 1.86gig/2M/1066FSB (Going on overclock at least 2.5gigs) (Junk)
*CPU cooler* : CoolerMaster Vortex 752 (15$)
*Memory* : (4gigs) 2gigs Kingston KVR800D2N5/2G + 2gigs Transcend JM800QLU-2G (Junk)
*Graphic* : Asus EN9800GT HB/HTDI/512M/A (Junk)
*Optical *: DVD-RW LG GH22NS70 (Sata2) (35$ back in time)
*Hard disk* : Samsung Spinpoint SP2504C (Sata2) (Junk)
*Power supply* : Enermax NoiseTaker 2 EG495P-VE (2$..yeah you've read right!)
*Case* : Aerocool Qx-2000 (120$ back in time and used it in many setup already)

Will probably add a 3.5" cards reader and use it for Office, Youtube, Facebook, Downloading, Battlefield 2 multiplayer. Maybe time to open my nib Arkham asylum to try it.

Total cost of the setup 47$. Junk parts are parts i got from people who don't want anymore, municipal ecologic recycling depot and even on roadside the day of garbage.


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## Kissamies (Jul 20, 2014)

JunkBear: Damn what a sweet set!


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 20, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Classic shit P4-630! I loved my Club 3D 6800GS


too bad none of them are still owned  tsk tsk

also i really need to find a SIS 6326 3D Pro AGP (i think i saw one pretty affordable on Ebay ... ) that was my 1st AGP card... i had it in a K6-2 build (1st self assembled one ) i still have the Heatsink of it ... tho xD


JunkBear said:


> Hi guys and girls.
> 
> I decided to jump on the deal a friend made to me a one month old motherboard for 30$ and rebuild myself a setup.
> 
> ...




oh well i need a G31 mobo for my spare 6300 or ... to use the 6700 2.66(1$)  that replaced my 6300 1.86 i had in my DC7700p(free) with 4gb DDR800 Corsair XMS2 (free) ... hu... i love the DC7700p for internet/video/and retro XP gaming ... (ok the R7-240 is a bit too much... ) ... man i wan't a Wolfdale CPU back .... too much Conroe in my collection ...


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## P4-630 (Jul 20, 2014)

My first own computer was a casio palmtop pc with windows CE.
I ordered a modem for it and I could use the internet (dial up).




After that I had a laptop from packard (hell)bell with 2Ghz celeron, no wifi and cam in it at that time.
Amazingly I could play GTA Vice City on that laptop!   The laptop had soon overheating issues, I used it a lot for 3d rendering and that was just too much for that laptop, I replaced the celeron 2Ghz processor once for a used P4 1.8Ghz, short after that I sold it.
After that I bought a normal pc, Acer Aspire,
(something like this but then with Pentium 4 630)




 had it several years, upgraded graphics card and later on I had build my own system with Lian Li case, I was happy with it.
Later on I bought an Asus laptop, and just recently I bought this Asus ROG laptop, I'm happy with it 
My dad still uses my pc which has a cpu e7200, gpu HD 4870, 4gb geil ram , windows vista.


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## Backfire (Jul 21, 2014)

Another try with the digicam. It's not really as easy as it seems. When you want a clean white background, the cards always look somehow artificial. Maybe I'll test some other lighting later and the pics get better.













As I see in this moment, 1 chip of the Diamond Monster seems broken, but its only dust .


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## P4-630 (Jul 21, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Another try with the digicam. It's not really as easy as it seems. When you want a clean white background, the cards always look somehow artificial. Maybe I'll test some other lighting later and the pics get better.
> 
> View attachment 57831
> 
> ...



From what year are those cards? Are they the competition of the ati 9800 cards?


----------



## Backfire (Jul 21, 2014)

These cards are afair from 1997. They are years older than the Radeon 9800. Also they are just 3D-accelerators, you need another (2D) graphics-adapter to make them run. The Voodoo Graphics-Chipset was the first way to have (for the time they were on the market) performant 3D-graphics on the PC.


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## debs3759 (Jul 21, 2014)

The original Voodoo Graphics was introduced in October 1996. That was around the same time that ATI introduced the Rage II.

Radeon 9800 was introduced in March 2003.

The other player in 3D graphics chips at the time of the early Voodoo cards was 3DLabs. Their first  Permedia chips were out at around the same time, but I don't yet have an exact date for them. Permedia 2 was launched around summer 1997.


----------



## Backfire (Jul 21, 2014)

My precious RFM's and the only Permedia 2 I got.


----------



## Sempron Guy (Jul 21, 2014)

found this in my dad's old boxes


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## debs3759 (Jul 21, 2014)

Backfire said:


> ... and the only Permedia 2 I got.
> 
> View attachment 57837 View attachment 57838 View attachment 57839



I have one Permedia 2 with me, and another coming soon from my drop shipper in the US. The card I have here is a Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro 8MB AGP, the other is the AccelGraphics AccelSTAR II I recently posted  a pic of. I've bought a few 3DLabs cards recently (most collectors don't seem to be jumping on them and pushing prices up!).


----------



## Backfire (Jul 21, 2014)

I'm not really interested in the Permedia because there were better chips, but it's an interesting piece of hardware though. As I'm collecting old hardware, there will be always a place, even for the 2nd winner .
From 3Dlabs/ dynamic pictures I've got some cad-cards. The OXYGEN 402 is really a beauty, and the Wildcat III 6110 would be nice to test in an older dual CPU- system. Unfortunately my dual socket A has no AGP Pro-slot. I think it would fit pretty well. I have got an Asus A7M266-D dual socket A board with AGP Pro- slot, but just because of the slot, I won't change from Tyan Tiger MPX to the boring Asus- board .


   

These are old pics with a little fresh paint. Maybe I'm taking some new pics this evening, but I should be working on the Thai-Chi/ Crossfire system/ case, instead of posting in hw-boards ... .


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 21, 2014)

Backfire said:


> I'm not really interested in the Permedia because there were better chips, but it's an interesting piece of hardware though. As I'm collecting old hardware, there will be always a place, even for the 2nd winner .
> From 3Dlabs/ dynamic pictures I've got some cad-cards. The OXYGEN 402 is really a beauty, and the Wildcat III 6110 would be nice to test in an older dual CPU- system. Unfortunately my dual socket A has no AGP Pro-slot. I think it would fit pretty well. I have got an Asus A7M266-D dual socket A board with AGP Pro- slot, but just because of the slot, I won't change from Tyan Tiger MPX to the boring Asus- board .
> 
> View attachment 57858 View attachment 57859 View attachment 57860 View attachment 57861
> ...


Looks like that Wildcat 760 has a bulging cap


----------



## Backfire (Jul 21, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Looks like that Wildcat 760 has a bulging cap



Thanks for the good eye. I even don't know if the card is working. Never tested it . But a bulging cap should be no problem (I'm using Epox EP-8K5A3+ boards for my Voodoo 5- systems, so I'm used to exchange caps ).


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 21, 2014)

Backfire said:


> I'm not really interested in the Permedia because there were better chips, but it's an interesting piece of hardware though. As I'm collecting old hardware, there will be always a place, even for the 2nd winner .
> From 3Dlabs/ dynamic pictures I've got some cad-cards. The OXYGEN 402 is really a beauty, and the Wildcat III 6110 would be nice to test in an older dual CPU- system. Unfortunately my dual socket A has no AGP Pro-slot. I think it would fit pretty well. I have got an Asus A7M266-D dual socket A board with AGP Pro- slot, but just because of the slot, I won't change from Tyan Tiger MPX to the boring Asus- board .



The only AGP-Pro board I have is an Asus NCCH-DL. I haven't tested it yet, but have a Wildcat III 6110 and three Wildcat4 7110 to test when i eventually get it set up. I'll also have a dual Coppermine board soon, and am on the lookout for a couple of other AGP Pro boards.

I also have a boxed Wildcat VP560 and a boxed Oxygen VX1 en route to my drop shipper. The VX1 has the original driver disk, but I don't think I'm so lucky with the VP560.

I'm watching a number of 3dfx cards on eBay, just not so quick to bid as they aren't all that cheap (at least, not by my standard and budget!). Hope to build up that part of my collection later in the year.

The first test system I'll be setting up is a 486 VLB system, specifically for testing VLB graphics cards. Have yet to see an affordable socket 4 board with VLB, that would be better. I then plan to slowly work my way through building a number of retro systems, working my way through different sockets from oldest to latest, with the fastest possible CPU for each system.. My priority is to be able to test graphics cards for the website I'm working on (I'll add that to my sig when I have finished listing all current AIB cards). I think the hardest part will be getting reasonable cases at a good price which can be easily packed away when not in use. Not too bothered about getting age appropriate cases or PSUs though - for PSUs I'll use modern energy efficient units with adapters where needed.


----------



## Backfire (Jul 22, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> I'm watching a number of 3dfx cards on eBay, just not so quick to bid as they aren't all that cheap (at least, not by my standard and budget!). Hope to build up that part of my collection later in the year.



Take your time! Most sellers are trying to get the weight of the card in gold. Just wait, look for bundles, search the offerings piece by piece. Often you find sellers who don't know anything about Voodoo or 3dfx. These are the ones where you get the cheap cards. And, as I said, simply wait. There are many cards out there. 3dfx is way overrated/ prized.



> The first test system I'll be setting up is a 486 VLB system, specifically for testing VLB graphics cards.



I still got two 486 under construction. They are a little like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. One is a VLB/ ISA- system with an ECS UM486V AIO/ AMD Am486 DX2-66 (@83MHz) and 8x4MB SIMM-RAM which shall be built as a VLB/ SCSI- system, the other is a Chaintech 486SPM with SiS496/497 PCI/ ISA- Chipset/ AMD Am5x86-P75 (@160MHz (at the moment)) and 96MB FPM-RAM. This one is being tortured with everything I got. I've had a water/peltier-cooling running on it, and I had promising results at the PC-Player benchmark, but all this was eating up my time. Hours of searching after every silly little bug. If you want just a running 486- system, no problem, but if you want to start experiments, these machines can be a pain in the ass.



> Have yet to see an affordable socket 4 board with VLB, that would be better. I then plan to slowly work my way through building a number of retro systems, working my way through different sockets from oldest to latest, with the fastest possible CPU for each system.. My priority is to be able to test graphics cards for the website I'm working on (I'll add that to my sig when I have finished listing all current AIB cards).



I did some oldie graphics-card testing one year ago > http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f204/benchmarking-aelterer-grafikkarten-967067.html
The writing is in german, but the pics and results are understandable. Have a look. One advice do I have for you: Buy or build yourself a benchtable. It's much more efficient when it comes to change the graphics-card three times in an hour. At the VGA-test I didn't have a benchtable, but soon after that i built one and I don't want to miss it.
I've made a 60mm oldie aircooler- roundup with the benchtable and it helps alot. You can download the roundup as a pdf there > http://www.file-upload.net/download-8327491/60mm-Oldie-K--hler-Roundup.pdf.html
Same as before, writing in german, but colorful pictures and diagraphs .



> I think the hardest part will be getting reasonable cases at a good price which can be easily packed away when not in use.



The day will come, and you want fine old cases for your fine old hardware. I always like to take the Chieftech CS601/ 901/ Dragon. Much room, solid as a rock and not to expensive.



> Not too bothered about getting age appropriate cases or PSUs though - for PSUs I'll use modern energy efficient units with adapters where needed.



It's not as easy as it seems. Modern PSU's have got a strong 12V lane, while oldie hardware needs more power on the 3.3V & 5V lane. My favourite is Enermax. I've got a hole bunch of them, from 330W to 565W.
Reliable and, if you wait for the right offer, not expensive. For most of the oldie Enermax-PSU's I paid not more than 5€.

edit: no post without pic . Normally I'm an AMD- guy, and there are many possibilities to build nostalgic, cool & rare systems, but I wanted this board because the 1-CPU Version was the board in my 1st self built PC (next PC was with an 1000MHz Thunderbird).
This is the dual CPU- version and with 2 slot 1 > socket 370 adaptors its possible to run Pentium III-S processors up to 1,4GHz. But first the crossfire- system has to be completed.


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 22, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Take your time! Most sellers are trying to get the weight of the card in gold. Just wait, look for bundles, search the offerings piece by piece. Often you find sellers who don't know anything about Voodoo or 3dfx. These are the ones where you get the cheap cards. And, as I said, simply wait. There are many cards out there. 3dfx is way overrated/ prized.



The first 3dfx cards I bought were a pair of TechWorks Power3D Voodoo 2 cards with sli cable.The seller had no idea what he was selling, and the picture was really out of focus. I paid £5.20 (around €6.50) for them, including shipping. That's the kind of deal I like to look for 



> I still got two 486 under construction. They are a little like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. One is a VLB/ ISA- system with an ECS UM486V AIO/ AMD Am486 DX2-66 (@83MHz) and 8x4MB SIMM-RAM which shall be built as a VLB/ SCSI- system, the other is a Chaintech 486SPM with SiS496/497 PCI/ ISA- Chipset/ AMD Am5x86-P75 (@160MHz (at the moment)) and 96MB FPM-RAM.



The board I'm waiting on is coming from Germany. It's an Elitegroup UM4981-AIO, with built in IDE/FDD/IO. It was sold with 32 MB FPM, but I'm upgrading to the maximum 64 MB EDO. It also has a 5x86-P75, and I have a spare so can experiment with overclocking without too many worries. I want a VIP board (VLB/ISA/PCI) because that was always on my shopping list when they were new. The UM4981 also comes with a VLB Tseng ET4000/W32p 2MB card. As my first ever build had a VLB ET4000, that was one of the things that sold me this particular bundle.



> I did some oldie graphics-card testing one year ago > http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f204/benchmarking-aelterer-grafikkarten-967067.html
> The writing is in german, but the pics and results are understandable. Have a look.



I'll take a proper look over the next couple of days. I'll use Chrome, as it translates it automatically into English. Makes it a lot easier to follow some of the best tech sites 



> One advice do I have for you: Buy or build yourself a benchtable.



I've been considering buying a Dimastech benchtable. They're not cheap, but the size and features are perfect for me. I have a cheap Coolermaster benchtable, but it is flimsy and has no backplane to hold cards in place. I'm also seriously considering buying a cheap air conditioner, and having it fitted in a position that would be perfect for running the cold air through a couple of radiators and over whatever I am working on.



> I always like to take the Chieftech CS601/ 901/ Dragon. Much room, solid as a rock and not to expensive.



I'll have to look that one up  and set up an eBay search. I already checked the other, often cheaper, auction site I use. Loads of great deals there but not in cases.

As for PSUs, I hadn't considered the difference in power on different lanes. Guess I need to look into that one.

I finally found a large sheet of polystyrene that will make a good background for some pics, so will hopefully get motivated to take a few pics this week


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 23, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Hi guys and girls.
> 
> I decided to jump on the deal a friend made to me a one month old motherboard for 30$ and rebuild myself a setup.
> 
> ...


 
CPU is at 2.3 in overclock and seems to run stable. WEI :  5.9/6.0/6.0/6.9/5.7


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 23, 2014)

Bad luck. Gpu became so hot it turned Thermaltake silver paste into jelly then itmade contacts between pins on gpu and burned it. No more even after cleaning it. So back with the one under my avatar.


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 23, 2014)

Never use AS on GPUs, such pastes are electrically conductive. Use "normal" TIM only.


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 23, 2014)

Too late. Next time i order thermal pads on ebay


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 23, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> Never use AS on GPUs, such pastes are electrically conductive. Use "normal" TIM only.


i would say never use AS TIM ever ... but it's just me ...

Arctic (Arctic cooling brand) Mx-4 is way better than Arctic Silver 5 (Arctic silver brand) and Dielectric



JunkBear said:


> Too late. Next time i order thermal pads on ebay



even worse ... those dubbed 9.5wM/k pads are mostly fake (not fake thermal pad but fake thermal dissipation level)

use Arctic MX-4 8.5wM/k and by far the best dielectric TIM out there (i use it on every GPU/CPU/Chipset i re pasted in the past ...  )

except the shady GD chinese "gold" TIM i brought on Ebay for 1€ a 1g syringe i only use it for the Opterons and AXP .,... seems to be silicon+ powdered copper which would explain the 2wM/k ratio. (well, electrical conductive and also no too shabby in the test i conducted)


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 23, 2014)

Gelid GC-Extreme is a good choice as well.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gelid_Solutions/GC-Extreme/4.html

http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?lid=1&cid=3&id=42


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 23, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> Gelid GC-Extreme is a good choice as well.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gelid_Solutions/GC-Extreme/4.html
> 
> http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?lid=1&cid=3&id=42


indeed, if it wasn't 5chf more for a 4g syringe ... than Arctic Mx-4, i would totally recommend or buy it (and if they did a 25g syringe like Arctic do ... with a user friendly price ...  )


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 23, 2014)

If price is more important than anything else, get Coollink Chillaramic although I would not see it as top-notch (just "good enough" and "value-for-money").


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 23, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> If price is more important than anything else, get Coollink Chillaramic although I would not see it as top-notch (just "good enough" and "value-for-money").


well MX-4 is on par with the GC-Extreme and cheaper where i am so MX-4 is the king  (ranging from 1chf difference to 5chf depending the retailer but its a 4g syringe versus a 3.5g syringe ...)

you can't beat the Swiss on this! no TIM beats the MX-4!!!! you can have a top-notch TIM for a decent pricing  with it  (ok in the US/CA the GC-E might be cheaper than where i am   )

i have a nostalgic feeling ... i need to setup a 478 rig to identify this:
it seems that P4 (?) was sanded to the copper of the IHS


----------



## Jetster (Jul 24, 2014)

If you don't want your AS 5 Ill take it. Use it all the time. Never had any issues. Just don't get sloppy.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 24, 2014)

Jetster said:


> If you don't want your AS 5 Ill take it. Use it all the time. Never had any issues. Just don't get sloppy.


thermaltake is AS5 ??? you missread? 



JunkBear said:


> Bad luck. Gpu became so hot it turned Thermaltake silver paste into jelly then itmade contacts between pins on gpu and burned it. No more even after cleaning it. So back with the one under my avatar.


----------



## Misaki (Jul 24, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Bad luck. Gpu became so hot it turned Thermaltake silver paste into jelly then itmade contacts between pins on gpu and burned it. No more even after cleaning it. So back with the one under my avatar.


Lol, don't use paste with silver on GPU! I always prefer silicon paste like MX-2/Ceramique. Easy cleaning, no problems. X800, HD4850, HD7770 (sold) and now R9 270X. Mom's laptop, brother's laptop etc. etc. works with silicon paste, no problems.


----------



## Jetster (Jul 24, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> thermaltake is AS5 ??? you missread?



Thermaltake is TG.

AS 5 is Arctic Silver 5  I would take it over MX 4 just my opinion. Really any of these are fine. There is not that much difference in them in the end. At lease in my testing. Like I said just don't make a mess
Was referring to this


GreiverBlade said:


> Arctic (Arctic cooling brand) Mx-4 is way better than Arctic Silver 5 (Arctic silver brand) and Dielectric


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 24, 2014)

Both GB and I misrread TT paste for AS. Sorry. Points still stand though.


----------



## Backfire (Jul 24, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> well MX-4 is on par with the GC-Extreme and cheaper where i am so MX-4 is the king  (ranging from 1chf difference to 5chf depending the retailer but its a 4g syringe versus a 3.5g syringe ...)
> 
> you can't beat the Swiss on this! no TIM beats the MX-4!!!! you can have a top-notch TIM for a decent pricing  with it  (ok in the US/CA the GC-E might be cheaper than where i am   )
> 
> ...



It's the heatspreader thats made of copper. The heatspreaders are nickel-plated and the nickel was sanded off.





These are the remains of an A64 HS. I made parts for the DFI chipset-cooler out of it.

As for the thermal paste, I always used AS5, but since about 1 year I prefer Cooler Master IC-Essential E1 >


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 24, 2014)

Guys Guys! Come on it's nostalgic hardware here not Thermal paste discution! Just saying


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 24, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Guys Guys! Come on it's nostalgic hardware here not Thermal paste discution! Just saying


well your error brought us on this ... and my P4 pics was a attempt to re drive the topics on the initial rails ... just saying... 



Backfire said:


> It's the heatspreader thats made of copper. The heatspreaders are nickel-plated and the nickel was sanded off.
> 
> View attachment 57928


so then the IHS is convex .... good intel good ... tsk, well i think you are right ... since the copper part have also the same sanding trace as the rest (initial post corrected.)
i really have to test out that CPU with a good 478 mobo ( and not the crappy MSI i have )

meanwhile in my scope (quadro 2 and X700 AGP the X700 was bought 1$ for replacing a dead X800 in a friend PC ... heck i am idiot now that i think of is i could have given him my X800GT or even the X1950GT)
   
ELSA Gloria ... i hope no other spot it... 
  

and this .... (that one if they go to someone else than me ... i might ... ah whatever ... the joy of auctioning system ... eh?)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 24, 2014)

double post for the win but ... 

test bench of the day and "deception".

ok X1950GT SIS600 crappy MSI board and the unknown P4 
  
HDD ODD WIN XP HOME and ... eh? weird PSU positioning .. (yep it's my custom blue led fan modded LC-Power P(OS)SU )
  

well result : it's just a plain P4 2.66/512/533 like the original one i had on that board (not sanded) humpf ... i wonder if i should try my P4 HT Ex 2.8/512/800 or the 2.8/1m/800 ... i think the mobo can't handle them so i need to hunt for a new-old one


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 24, 2014)

Cool Greiver! 
What is the dual processor system in the background? Probably already said what it is, but I am kind of brain dead today.


----------



## Devon68 (Jul 24, 2014)

> Cool Greiver!
> What is the dual processor system in the background? Probably already said what it is, but I am kind of brain dead today.


I think it's his Nostalg33k WorkBattleStation from his system specs but I might be wrong.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 24, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Cool Greiver!
> What is the dual processor system in the background? Probably already said what it is, but I am kind of brain dead today.





Devon68 said:


> I think it's his Nostalg33k WorkBattleStation from his system specs but I might be wrong.


Yep, I figured it was the dual Opty workstation as well.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 24, 2014)

LOL, yea that is what it looks like.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 26, 2014)

Didn't remember that there were Pentium MMX's without heatspreader, those ceramic pieces look sweet


----------



## Doc41 (Jul 27, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> double post for the win but ...
> 
> test bench of the day and "deception".
> 
> ...


Duuuuuuuude you really need some light in when taking pics, looks like crap 

orr maybe i'm just picky after owning an N8 and the current Z2


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 27, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Duuuuuuuude you really need some light in when taking pics, looks like crap
> 
> orr maybe i'm just picky after owning an N8 and the current Z2


Asus ME175CG 5mPix FTW  ... m'kay you are right ... i should use my Canon SX100iS instead ... but that kind of grainy pics give a nostalgic old school effect  (what ... not convincing? oh i tried ... you can't blame me for trying   )


----------



## Doc41 (Jul 27, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> Asus ME175CG 5mPix FTW  ... m'kay you are right ... i should use my Canon SX100iS instead ... but that kind of grainy pics give a nostalgic old school effect  (what ... not convincing? oh i tried ... you can't blame me for trying   )


i get ya, especially if you use an incandescent light for that extra nostalgic effect


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 28, 2014)

from @natr0n in "*The Socket 939 lovers club!"  *http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/the-socket-939-lovers-club.123379/#post-3142058
before being closed for "necro" reason
"





















Please excuse the dust; I try to keep my things clean. I had this in a box.

It has a decapped Toledo x2 3800 @ 2.9GHz last time I remember."


----------



## JunkBear (Jul 31, 2014)

I see I'm not the only one who wrap fan wires around sata and usb ports onboard connectors


----------



## Misaki (Jul 31, 2014)

I had this motherboard! 
I give them with replaced caps in CPU section with Athlon 64 3000+ and 1GB of DDR to the friend of mine. He was really poor then (family problems etc), but I helped him. Good use of "old" hardware 
Before he had P4 2.6GHz on 478 socket, 786MB of DDR, 160GB HDD and Radeon 9200SE, TakeMe "300W" after my "act" - A64 3000+, 1.5GB DDR, Medion X740 XL, 160 + 40GB HDD, Delta 400W.
Now he's traveling a lot and decided to bought HP laptop with AMD turion 64 X2, 3GB DDR2, HD3xxx for 400PLN (~90$).

But yeah, I really helped him ~4 years ago with them, so I'm satisfied.


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## JunkBear (Aug 1, 2014)

My current specs with CPU-Z : http://valid.x86.fr/kemicj


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## MaxiPro800 (Aug 1, 2014)

Digged this outta my closet:


 
Sadly the motherboard inside is shot so I'm going to replace the motherboard with another one from a version 1.2 - 1.5 Xbox. Same for the HDD,a UX series Seagate.


----------



## Toothless (Aug 1, 2014)

Goodwill had this little buddy. Dunno what it is. All I know is that it is AGP based.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 1, 2014)

Lightbulbie said:


> Goodwill had this little buddy. Dunno what it is. All I know is that it is AGP based.


ASUS Ati 9200LE 128MB RV280-LE-A0625 AGP


----------



## Doc41 (Aug 2, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Digged this outta my closet:
> View attachment 58159
> Sadly the motherboard inside is shot so I'm going to replace the motherboard with another one from a version 1.2 - 1.5 Xbox. Same for the HDD,a UX series Seagate.


you sure? if no known damage was done could just need a few caps replaced like ours, usually the ones (5) behind the CPU


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## MaxiPro800 (Aug 2, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> you sure? if no known damage was done could just need a few caps replaced like ours, usually the ones (5) behind the CPU


A couple of traces near the LPC and under the motherboard are FUBAR.


----------



## Doc41 (Aug 2, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> A couple of traces near the LPC and under the motherboard are FUBAR.


Damn!... oh well, good luck


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 2, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Damn!... oh well, good luck


Also the HDD in it died too.

Anyways,the new system will have softmod and maybe TSOP if I can practice on a dead 1.6 board (which wasn't worth beans)

EDIT:Well,even though my soldering iron is 40W with lots of time and patience and care,I can do the TSOP unlock points.


----------



## Backfire (Aug 2, 2014)

A guy from P3D sent me a "care-parcel". 





All for free! I am a lucky handicrafter!









After cleaning & polishing the coolers look like new.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> A guy from P3D sent me a "care-parcel".
> 
> View attachment 58183
> 
> ...


gimmeeeeeh!!!! (nice finding! )


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 2, 2014)

Backfire said:


> A guy from P3D sent me a "care-parcel".
> 
> View attachment 58183
> 
> ...



Very nice!

Is that a 1080 rad? I'm in negotiations to try and get one like that


----------



## Backfire (Aug 2, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Very nice!
> 
> Is that a 1080 rad? I'm in negotiations to try and get one like that



It's not a 1080 rad (u mean the huge ones?). In the parcel were a 80 & a 120mm rad.





Thats the 80mm.  All together I got now 4x 360mm (2x MagiCool slim 360, 1x XSPC RX360, 1x Airplex EVO 360 (which I will swap against another XSPC RX360), 1x 240mm (crappy Thermaltake), 3x120mm (1x Watercool HTF2 (fine fat rad), 1x Airplex EVO 120, 1x crap out of an Alienware/ Asetek AIO), 1x80mm (MagiCool copper X80).


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 2, 2014)

My last WC project (long since dismantled ans sold off, but hopefully soon to be replaced) used a water chiller instead of radiators. I got my 2700K up to 5.5 GHz IBT stable with that setup (who needs LN2 when you can get those speeds?  )

I just rechecked the case and rad I'm haggling on, and it's an 1800! Hope the guy accepts my offer


----------



## Backfire (Aug 3, 2014)

I am unemployed at the moment and so I'm always pretty broken. I cannot afford a "Heilea" or another chiller. Maybe somewhen in the future. 
But I'm still having the idea of a peltier-booster. The hot side watercooled, the cold side cooles the water for the system.





I would arrange the tubes in a way u could switch by 2 valves between normal water-cooling and hi-overclocking (peltier)mode. The modules I've got have about 400W heat pumping power, maybe I need still a bit more, but I will test this with what I got. I'll make it so, that u can switch on one peltier-modul after the other. 
It's not finished yet, but I think in a few days I will be able to test it.


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 3, 2014)

If I had as many engineering skills as I have ambitions I would try something like that.


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## stinger608 (Aug 3, 2014)

Holy crap Backfire, nice pair of Eheim pumps! Them are frigging awesome pumps!


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## Backfire (Aug 3, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Holy crap Backfire, nice pair of Eheim pumps! Them are frigging awesome pumps!



These are Eheim 1046. They are not very powerful. Ok, a pump is powerful enough for a watercooling as long as its able to let the water flow, and all my Eheims (I got 3x 1046) were presents from other watercooling-enthusiasts with more money . But, if u are in the situation to buy a pump, get a DC12-400 or DC12-260 phobya (these are sold by different "watercooling outfitters" i. e. "EK-Waterblocks", mine is from Phobya), it has much power, its quiet, its compact and it costs not to much (DC12-400 = 44€, DC12-260 = 37€, DC12-220 = 34€). I am using the 400 for about 1 year and no problems till now.






1 Phobya 400 does more l/h than 2 Eheim 1046 put together. But two 1046 are pretty powerful, too.


----------



## Backfire (Aug 4, 2014)

The cooling for the hot side.
So far, but I'm not happy with it. I destroyed one cover because I accidently mounted it upside down. It's still watertight, and I put some 5min. epoxy on it to be on the safe side, but that is not the problem.
I don't know why, and I've never seen it before, but the 4 cuplex coolers slow down the flow of the phobya pump for about 50%. That is far to much in my eyes. Maybe there is somewhere dirt in a cooler that I didn't see. However, I disassembled it and I have to think the whole thing over.


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## debs3759 (Aug 4, 2014)

Looks great, I hope you figure out the problems.


----------



## Peter1986C (Aug 5, 2014)

What are those molex plugs for?


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## stinger608 (Aug 5, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> What are those molex plugs for?



I'm sure they are to power the pelters up.


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## Backfire (Aug 5, 2014)

Hey debs3759, if you want to spend some money on the best & maybe rarest socket A board, then hit this > http://www.ebay.de/itm/DFI-LANPATRY...aptopMotherboards_CPUs_CA&hash=item233dd98db2
It's in England. If I had the money, I would buy it immediately!
I have got a similar board, the DFI NFII Ultra Infinity.





If you have the chance to get your hands on one of these boards, get it!
Look at the FSB!

 

Unfortunately mine stopped working without any cause (in my eyes). I don't know whats wrong with it, maybe I need a new bios-chip (hopefully).


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 5, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Hey debs3759, if you want to spend some money on the best & maybe rarest socket A board, then hit this > http://www.ebay.de/itm/DFI-LANPATRY...aptopMotherboards_CPUs_CA&hash=item233dd98db2
> It's in England. If I had the money, I would buy it immediately!
> I have got a similar board, the DFI NFII Ultra Infinity.
> 
> ...


Nice price too. 
Mine tops out around 280 FSB.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 6, 2014)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice price too.


well for a DFI yep ... for a nForce2 Ultra board : nope, i can get a Asus model for 19.90chf direct buy and 9chf for express delivery (yet i wait on the end since the board is at 1.10chf atm on auction)


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 6, 2014)

Thanks. I've put that in my watch list for now. not sure yet  if I can afford it as I'm talking with someone about a Lian-Li PC71 case and 1800 rad. If he can get it wrapped and shipped cheap enough next week's spare income is going on that 

I just got a good deal on a Chieftec Dragon case as well. Gotta watch I don't spend too much before i pay some bills now


----------



## Backfire (Aug 6, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> well for a DFI yep ... for a nForce2 Ultra board : nope, i can get a Asus model for 19.90chf direct buy and 9chf for express delivery (yet i wait on the end since the board is at 1.10chf atm on auction)



Compared with the DFI, the Asus is crap! The DFI is worth 50 times more than the Asus!



debs3759 said:


> Thanks. I've put that in my watch list for now. not sure yet  if I can afford it as I'm talking with someone about a Lian-Li PC71 case and 1800 rad. If he can get it wrapped and shipped cheap enough next week's spare income is going on that
> 
> I just got a good deal on a Chieftec Dragon case as well. Gotta watch I don't spend too much before i pay some bills now



You can get a Lian Li and a rad whenever you want, the DFI is rare, VERY RARE!

Just a pic >


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 7, 2014)

Backfire said:


> You can get a Lian Li and a rad whenever you want, the DFI is rare, VERY RARE!



I can't buy anything until my disability check comes next week. Pretty sure I can afford both now I've checked my finances - just hope none of the other watchers jumps on it before then


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 7, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> just hope none of the other watchers jumps on it before then


i would... if the total price in CHF was under 62.50  as long as it has custom taxes i am reluctant to hit the button


----------



## Compgeke (Aug 7, 2014)

Got this today.


----------



## Peter1986C (Aug 7, 2014)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 7, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


>


adorable yet ... shameful  oh well ... quite predictable tho 

that's why i love being a nostalgeek 

got it... now just have to wait till next week  

ok not a DFI but ... still i have no right to complain i've won it for 10.10chf inclusive shipping nyahahahah


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 7, 2014)

The seller agreed to me buying today and paying on Monday night (the listing says to pay within 2 days, and with 7 watchers I didn't want to lose it!) Thanks Backfire for showing me the link 






Of course, I now need to find a socket A water block so I can play properly with it (and some cheap socket A processors!)

Edit, just realised for socket A I will have to use thermal tape (something I recently bought) to attach a generic water block. Should save me a few quid


----------



## Backfire (Aug 7, 2014)

hehe


----------



## Octopuss (Aug 7, 2014)

Those cables were so pro back in those days


----------



## Backfire (Aug 8, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> just realised for socket A I will have to use thermal tape (something I recently bought) to attach a generic water block. Should save me a few quid



I wouldn't take tape. There are many socket A waterblocks with special socket A mounting clamps. For example the Aqua Computer "Cuplex" or the old Watercool "Heatkiller". You can get both pretty cheap at ebay. 

 

If you cannot find anything and as I feel a little responsible for the system which will be built with the board, I could lend you the heatkiller & the northbridge-block for as long as it takes till you have your own equipment. Shipping costs would be 8.90Euro/ 7.07pound sterling. I could put a Eheim 1046 and maybe a 120mm rad in parcel, too.
As processors are the mobile Bartons (FQQ4C) 2500+, 2600+ or certain Thoroughbred B's, the 1700+ and as my favourite the 2700+ worth a try.


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 8, 2014)

You don't need to feel responsible. I'm trying to build a collection of high end hardware and will always  appreciate being shown listings I might miss. My primary intention is to be able to test all my graphics cards on the most powerful systems the work I can build for them, but alongside that I will eventually also bee doing loads of benchmarking on older hardware, just because 

It'll be a while before I am set up for doing any testing/benchmarking, but I will keep your offer in mind if I don't find suitable blocks when I can afford them. Thanks 

I have quite a pile of watercooling kit from past projects, modern blocks, pumps, reservoirs, etc. I also have a water chiller that I have used instead of radiators (although I will be buying radiators so I can keep a few test systems running together at times).


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 8, 2014)

ok gotcha! Asus Striker Extreme+ a C2D 3.0ghz (i suspect a E8400/8500 but the 8500 is 3.16) random passive gpu and PCI soundcard and a OCZ HS ...  58chf shipping include
now i need to watch over 2 other auction, 1 Scythe Katana Cu (462 compatible) and a Enermax Coolergiant EG485AX-VHB(w) 480w PSU


 
that will be a good next week !


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 8, 2014)

Got myself a Northwood 1.8A!

A pic of CPU-Z,my P4P800-VM is now a OVERCLOCKER!(of course through BIOS and not through Windows)





and new wallpaper inside RAR file I'll use since I'm upgrading to 7 for the 1000th time!
Password for RAR file : windows7ultimate


----------



## Backfire (Aug 9, 2014)

Nasdrovje Wom! 





Since the Version with the 4 Cuplex waterblocks somehow didn't perform as I thought (the flow of the pump was reduced by ca. 50% and I couldn't make out any mistake), I'm proceeding step by step, pelt by pelt . The pump ist the same, the Phobya DC12-400, as radiators I put two Magicool 360 slim in the circuit.
With 2 TEC-12715 @ 12V the flow is fine (nearly 100%), the temp of the copper-plate goes down to 0°C, but the condensed water does not freeze. The temp of the cooling water is around 35°C.
With 3 pelts the flow is as good as with 2. The temps weren't measured yet, maybe I'll test that later.
To get practical results I have to do some other things first. The "hot" side and the complete outside have to be heat-insulated, and very important, the complete "cold" side, is still missing. I'll have to solder a little heat-exchanger for the system-water. I'm still thinking about how I could realize this part (how can I build it, that it becomes most effective).
I also have to organize a transformator to give the pelts the full 15.6V they need.
I'm curious where this whole story will end .


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 9, 2014)

All this Dfi and Asus socket a talk, I personaly believe the Abit NF7-S rev2 was the greatest socket A Nforce board on the planet. But that is just my opinion.


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 9, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> All this Dfi and Asus socket a talk, I personaly believe the Abit NF7-S rev2 was the greatest socket A Nforce board on the planet. But that is just my opinion.



I'm happy to know I bought one of the best, even if there are a couple of boards that compete well with it. 

Can't dispute the idea that Asus always made some of the best boards. When I build a new, high-end system I always look to their ROG brand.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 9, 2014)

I never had a Dfi board but did have several A7n8x's. I liked them just not as much as the Abit. I just loved the sound from the abit board. The true soundstorm solution. It rivaled the best soundcards of the day. And is the reason I stopped using add in soundcards from that point on. It also overclocked like a beast. Also backfire is right, the mobile barton chips are what to look for in processors. I had several 2500+ mobile cpus and all clocked great. Stinger has one of my Nf7-s/ 2500+ mobile setups. I sold one elsewhere and still have the original one. I actually tjough I sold it also but found it one day digging through my boxes of old stuff. It is safely installed back in its original chieftech dragon case I bought when I bought the board way back when. May pick up a 9700 pro and put the rig back the way I ran it for all those years. Right now it has a hd2400 pro in it.


----------



## Backfire (Aug 9, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> All this Dfi and Asus socket a talk, I personaly believe the Abit NF7-S rev2 was the greatest socket A Nforce board on the planet. But that is just my opinion.



The NF7-S Rev.2.0 is the second best socket A motherboard ever built. My opinion .

I'm really a fan of the NF7-S. I've had one back in 2003, and the Abit was the first board I thought of when I deceided to build a nostalgic-system. As it was the board in my main-system I was pretty lucky with that setup (NF7-S, XP-M 2600+, Radeon X800, Zalman CNPS7000 CU) and I kept it until socket AM2 came out. But in 2012 (or late 2011) the board & I still had some unfinished buisness.
I always wanted to reach 2,6GHz on the socket A, but bad luck with the CPU's and a lack in experience stopped me. I always ended up at about 2560MHz.

So I had a goal: Nostalgic socket A- system, Athlon XP-M CPU, for better chances at overclocking, my first water-cooling.

The result:


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 9, 2014)

Backfire said:


> The NF7-S Rev.2.0 is the second best socket A motherboard ever built. My opinion .


The DFI Infinity Ultra is exactly the same as the LanParty Ultra B, without the bling. That would make the NF7 the third best. Don't count the AN7 out of the running either. Of the 4 boards, the AN7 is my favorite to work with. All have their own quirks.


----------



## Backfire (Aug 9, 2014)

I count the 2 DFI's as one .
A clear point is, I forgot the AN7. That was maybe, I never had the opportunity to find one at the right price. I always have to look after the money, so some wishes remain wishes ... .


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 9, 2014)

I had the opportunity to pick up spme an7s through the years but I was under the impression they weren't as good as the nf7-s.  Oh and the kt880 based epox board I had was a great one also. It clocked like a beast too.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 10, 2014)

GOTCHA number 3!








tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday i pay all these 3 beauty and then the wait game begin!


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 10, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> GOTCHA number 3!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Wow, I remember them power supplies! They were insanely expensive in the day. Awesome score Greiver!


----------



## Misaki (Aug 10, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> GOTCHA number 3!
> tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday i pay all these 3 beauty and then the wait game begin!


So cute :3
http://www.techangel.co.uk/enermax-coolergiant-eg485ax-vhb/


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 11, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, I remember them power supplies! They were insanely expensive in the day. Awesome score Greiver!


best point : RED and PciE 6pin.

will go lovely with the KT6V 400 and the Xpertvision Radeon X1950GT Super AGP ... oh wait ... DAMN the next mobo is not red as the MSI KT6V 400 is ... oh well the Xvi still is xD

annddd delay ... as much as expected xD no money till tomorrow (i hope so xD )


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 12, 2014)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I had the opportunity to pick up spme an7s through the years but I was under the impression they weren't as good as the nf7-s.


That's subjective. The AN7 definitely couldn't do the same FSB's as the NF7. Most stopped cold at 235-250. But the voltage options were better/higher than the NF7, thus needing less, if any volt mods. Stability wise, the AN7 was a better board.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 13, 2014)

insanely good packaging you said? well quite ... quite ...
  
hello beauties
  
SB0730 hummmm google... holy shi... a SB X-FI XtremeGamer .... ok not nostalgic ... pfah  (oh well ... why not ... PCI ...  )
 

I WAS RIGHT! a E8400! YAY! WOLFDALE IS BACK (again...)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 13, 2014)

double post due to the 10 img limit 

ok a 8600GT Silent 512M well quite cute and cutely quiet ...
  
OCZ Vendetta 3 heatpipe but quite thicker than those of a Katana 4 and also direct touch  no fan include but oh well the scythe is designed to willingly (under threat of torture) give his fan and clamp
    

BEST BUNDLE EVER!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 13, 2014)

more incoming : placeholder  test setup and such (duh my Velociraptor 10k 150gb SATA II died it seems ... oh well IDE all the way)

who knews that such a beastly cooler could fit with all those tall copper heatsink around the socket ...


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 14, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> GOTCHA number 3!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Look like an older model of my Enermax NoiseTaker 2  485w


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 14, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Look like an older model of my Enermax NoiseTaker 2  485w


well the build quality of the Coolergiant is a notch (and a huge one) above the Noisetaker serie, the anodized aluminium casing is thick and when i write thick i mean "wtf 2mm thick no possible way to bend that casing" and the fan design was a bit more efficient at my taste (i had a Noisetaker II back) Enermax had some real good PSU back there ... now hum ... i need to do some research  might find some interesting things

yeah indeed ... i might have found my next PSU brand if i go 290 CFX later ...


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 15, 2014)

Coincidence. I just won the 385 Watt model, hope the power distribution is good for my pending 486  build.


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> well the build quality of the Coolergiant is a notch (and a huge one) above the Noisetaker serie, the anodized aluminium casing is thick and when i write thick i mean "wtf 2mm thick no possible way to bend that casing" and the fan design was a bit more efficient at my taste (i had a Noisetaker II back) Enermax had some real good PSU back there ... now hum ... i need to do some research  might find some interesting things
> 
> yeah indeed ... i might have found my next PSU brand if i go 290 CFX later ...


 

The one I have is wuite heavy and thick. Components inside seems to be a good quality.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 16, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> The one I have is wuite heavy and thick. Components inside seems to be a good quality.


i had a Noisetaker II and its thinner than the Coolergiant : same as every PSU good or not, no doubt they are good 




indeed totally not the same build quality as this.








debs3759 said:


> Coincidence. I just won the 385 Watt model, hope the power distribution is good for my pending 486  build.


for a 486? overkill...  btw its a 380 not 385, 385 is the model designation (like my EG485AX is a 480) the gold one is cute ... altho a bit to blingy


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> for a 486? overkill...  btw its a 380 not 385, 385 is the model designation (like my EG485AX is a 480) the gold one is cute ... altho a bit to blingy



Better too much power than too little. it only cost £0.99 plus about £6 shipping


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 16, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Better too much power than too little. it only cost £0.99 plus about £6 shipping


yep better too much than too little  and nice find   shall we start a Coolergiant owner club  

ok time to go to the job  have fun nostalgeeks!


----------



## Doc41 (Aug 16, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> (PS there is no white Noisetaker II all NTII where deep blue officially so, unless modded ofc )





			
				JunkBear said:
			
		

> The one I have is wuite heavy and thick. Components inside seems to be a good quality.


i'm guessing its a typo for 'quite' as in "very heavy"

on another subject i got another 'somewhat' old-ish laptop from my brother which later on i'll be cleaning and snap a few pics of it


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 16, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> i'm guessing its a typo for 'quite' as in "very heavy"
> 
> on another subject i got another 'somewhat' old-ish laptop from my brother which later on i'll be cleaning and snap a few pics of it


well i thought about "Quite heavy" since Q and W are close ... Quite-Wuite make sense eh? xD ok corrected


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 17, 2014)

Anyway Wuite is it even a word?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 17, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Anyway Wuite is it even a word?


you should know it's your typo 

details: quite a perfect fit eh? plus the TY-147 give a direct flow on the back Mosfet heatsink

  
i think i can use a 2nd TY-147 duh on SKT775 the ram slot were further than on following SKT (well those XMS2 800 are low profile ... so no worries  )


also i found a Seagate Barracuda 120gb 7200.7 (ultra ATA) in my wonderbox, until i get some cheap deal on SATA that should do it


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 17, 2014)

I'm Wuite and i'm not racist I like Block people.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 17, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> I'm Wuite and i'm not racist I like Block people.


eh? your O is close to your A ? how odd .... 

almost tempted but i can find only one ... duh  (of both type, 8600GTS and 9600GT )
 

altho GTX260  are easier to find and ... eh? cheaper ... 20chf for the 1st one and free for the second one ... cons: 4x6 pin PciEx needed 
 
hard to find some card (well, its either they are too expensive for what they are or only 1 available )... and i need 4 of them (2 for the Striker and 2 for the Supermicro)


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 17, 2014)

Just won an NF7-S. What's the difference between a v1 and a v2?


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 17, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Just won an NF7-S. What's the difference between a v1 and a v2?



Not sure what the difference is on that. I have an NF7-S v2. I often wondered what the difference is between the two.

Actually @ThE_MaD_ShOt would probably know the difference. Maybe he will chime in and let us know.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 17, 2014)

The version 2 has the Nfroce 2 ultra chipset. V2 offically supported 200 fsb and didn't need the volt mod to run over 205 fsb. 2.0 had fixes with the SATA and temperatures / voltages being more accurate (still not perfect). Though some 1.2's were almost as good as the v2's. Oh and to others dismay the nf7-s v2 is still ranked the king of Nforce 2 ultra boards.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 17, 2014)

Haha, I knew you would chime in on that one brother!


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 17, 2014)

Thanks

I won't know which I have til it arrives as he used a stock image and eBay stock specs, although he assures me the board is identical to the pic.. It was cheap anyway - £5.49 shipped


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 17, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Haha, I knew you would chime in on that one brother!


Yeah I did my studying back in the day on Nforce 2 boards. lol And out of all of them I owned I only had one go bad and it was still under warranty so all was well there.  Oh and I did find another really great socket A board which I love. The Epox 8krai-pro. It had the Kt880 chipset which was the only via chipset board with dual channel.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 17, 2014)

The version 1.x NF7's weren't even close to the performance of the version 2.0 overclocking wise.
Bios's are not interchangable either.


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 17, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> What's the difference between a v1 and a v2?



Ask the nazis. ;-)


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 18, 2014)

Let's hope mine is a v2 then. Although I'm not buying just for overclocking, it'll be nice to be able


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 18, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> What's the difference between a v1 and a v2?





JunkBear said:


> Ask the nazis. ;-)


oh shit ... you got me laughing like mad ... so much that the neighbor dogs went out and started to bark just after 

even if i shouldn't ... oh well


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 18, 2014)

Don't jew dare laugh at this kind of joke!


----------



## Backfire (Aug 18, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Ask the nazis. ;-)



Hehe ...

Ok, let me explain. The V1 was a flying bomb with a ramjet-engine. It was not very fast and could be intercepted by fast allied planes (like the Spitfire, the american P51 Mustang, P38, P47, ...) just by tipping a wing on the V1 wing.
The V2 was a real rocket with supersonic speed and couldn't be intercepted. The only defence against these was bombing the launch sites in france.

Now to something friendlier. I'm building the heat exchanger for the peltier booster at the moment. The cooling water from the cpu will flow through this copper radiator, which will be cooled by 4 130W TEC's. The TEC'S will be cooled by two 360mm Magicool radiators.













Also I sold the Airplex EVO 360 and bought another XSPC RX360. Now this looks pretty good in my eyes.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 18, 2014)

Backfire said:


> Hehe ...
> 
> Ok, let me explain. The V1 was a flying bomb with a ramjet-engine. It was not very fast and could be intercepted by fast allied planes (like the Spitfire, the american P51 Mustang, P38, P47, ...) just by tipping a wing on the V1 wing.
> The V2 was a real rocket with supersonic speed and couldn't be intercepted. The only defence against these was bombing the launch sites in france.


ok ok that's enough for the abdominal muscle session ... BACKFIRE 

technically the V1 was a Pulso-reactor (might be different than a Ramjet) basically you can call it the mother of all cruise missile




wing tipping maneuver





then the V2 is the father of all ICBM ...





you can say what you want about 2nd worldwar and germany ... but they where quite advanced on their time ... also on jet propelled planes (albeit not totally perfect... thanks goodness)

this is hardware ... this is old .... could be nostalgic ... OK THEN back to the Computer hardware


Backfire said:


> Now to something friendlier. I'm building the heat exchanger for the peltier booster at the moment. The cooling water from the cpu will flow through this copper radiator, which will be cooled by 4 130W TEC's. The TEC'S will be cooled by two 360mm Magicool radiators.
> 
> View attachment 58502
> 
> ...



Wunderbar.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 18, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> Wunderbar.


Indeed. We all need to sit down, have some schnitzel and spaetzle with some good Deutch bier. WUNDERBAR!


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 18, 2014)

They were so bad that they both....backfired.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 20, 2014)

oh well i don't regret my 2 DC7900 with C2D E8500 i sold ... that 8400 beat them with ease (well the DC7900 mobo is nothing like a Striker Extreme... )

for start 



oh well ... i have my HTPC, since that setup is silent well the coolergiant the TY-147 (1.3k RPM) and the R7 (25% fan) are not noisy at all ...

one thing i like with ASUS R.O.G board is the ... leds ... while my MVIIR has a nice red line that little beauty has a lining of blue led (for "finding with ease the onboard connector even in the dark"...  ) from the bottom to the top right corner 
 

time for joke'n bench bueheheh

1st one, obviously my beloved FFXIVARR, as expected (CPU 3.450ghz RAM 920mhz) the overlay in the bench show 3.5ghz oh well ... +15% still and never got above 67° CPU and 43° GPU
compare this to the 2600~ of the DC7900 and his E8500@3.16




NEXT! (again do not disturb, blah blah blah... )

woops ... 4:12AM ... hum i guess i go to sleep ... lucky me i work at 6PM but still ... a bit tired 2nd part later


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 20, 2014)

Just finished my Pentium 4 rig,and Windows 7 runs awesome on it!

Specs:


MB - ASUS P4P800-VM w/ Aopen AX4SPE MAX II BIOS (OC range up to 250MHz!)
GPU - Palit Geforce FX5200 128MB 64 bit reflashed with Winfast A340TDH BIOS 
RAM - 1GB DDR 400 (1x512MB,1x256MB.2x128MB)
DVD - TSSTCorp SH-S182D (solid Samsung drive )
PSU - Delux ATX-400W P4
Case - "Human" brand,no model
HDD - 80GB WDC Caviar SE SATA
CPU - Intel Pentium 4 1.8A 2.40GHz Northwood

A good thing about all of this is that after the stupid ASUS heatsink broke off,I glued a silver ASRock heatsink,and the key part is that I glued it in the same position as the northbridge.
Now even with the overclock on the CPU my HSF and northbridge heatsink neither get hot,in fact those are almost stone cold. The only thing that heats up a bit is my FX5200.

I had a hard time finding the A340TDH BIOS rom for my FX5200 since TPU seems to have BIOSes for ONLY 6200 and above -___-


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 20, 2014)

next step : Sky Diver. the RAM OC was unstable to i set the RAM/FSB ratio to "sync" (basically a 1/2) CPU 3.600ghz RAM 800mhz (duh!) 55°CPU 39° GPU




also added a corsair SP120 (using a CM speed reducer, funny enough i use the 1200rpm but the bios and monitoring still show 1560 instead )
   
and for the last one ... a lil Valley for the joke.




a bit more sexy pics? (and clearer ... thanks my SX100iS)
 

latest clock 3.624 CPU 906 RAM


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 20, 2014)

Great news. My NF7-S arrived today, and it's a V2. Can anyone send me (email) the full contents of the driver/apps CD?


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 20, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Great news. My NF7-S arrived today, and it's a V2. Can anyone send me (email) the full contents of the driver/apps CD?



That is awesome Deb!!! I think my board has the original disk but not sure. I will check tonight after work. If it does I can do a copy disk to a folder, zip it down, and email it to ya. Once I know for sure I will PM you to let ya know.


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 20, 2014)

Thanks Stinger. It's not my most powerful AGP board (NCCH-DL gets that award) so it'll be good to have original overclocking tools. Price I paid I can afford the risk of blowing it up


----------



## Backfire (Aug 20, 2014)

I've put some NF7-S files together (different mod. Bios, tweaker, ...) >

http://www.file-upload.net/download-9407581/NF7-S.rar.html


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 20, 2014)

Thanks. Just downloaded the files and will take a proper look later.


----------



## Backfire (Aug 20, 2014)

I've got a fine CD for DFI-boards, too. It's uploading at the moment. Just burn the .iso on a cd and start from cd. >

http://www.file-upload.net/download-9407678/V11.1.1.iso.html


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 20, 2014)

I've taken a look and the NF7 file is mainly modded BIOS files, so I will still want the original CD files (I've got a set of drivers, but the original CD would have had other stuff)

Not sure what everything on the DFI disc is. I'll find out when I get round to testing. Thanks for both


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 21, 2014)

I just checked and the one I have doesn't have the original disk. 

I originally got the board from @ThE_MaD_ShOt so he might have one that could be uploaded or emailed.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 21, 2014)

I will have to look and see. I never used the cd that came with the board. I just used the latest drivers from Nvidia.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 21, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> I've taken a look and the NF7 file is mainly modded BIOS files, so I will still want the original CD files (I've got a set of drivers, but the original CD would have had other stuff)
> 
> Not sure what everything on the DFI disc is. I'll find out when I get round to testing. Thanks for both



I have a file with the entire Abit site ,(20gb or so) not sure if there is something there that might be of use for you. Let me know if you want me to check the files for the NF7.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 21, 2014)

rework ... since i need more juice to tweak more my E8400 

i decided to do the WHITE body RED blooded nemesis... 

    
until i finally get my A7N8X-E... yaaay brownish mobo yaaay ... 


and put the GX Lite 600W on my Salvager Mk II setup for the 8pin EPS12V
  
that last foto remind me i need to de dust a bit that mobo ... and woopee spotted a shifted thermalpad ... maintenance is required ... 

meanwhile in the little E8400 world: 4gig is close... more more more i need more!


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 21, 2014)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I have a file with the entire Abit site ,(20gb or so) not sure if there is something there that might be of use for you. Let me know if you want me to check the files for the NF7.



None the less, it would be awesome if you could post that here!!! I would put the link in the original post for anyone on the net that is still using Abit boards.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 21, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> None the less, it would be awesome if you could post that here!!! I would put the link in the original post for anyone on the net that is still using Abit boards.


 
Solaris17 already did the job  

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...go-completely-shut-by-end-of-february.159636/

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/abit-website.162183/

And the link to the torrent:
http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7047734/Abit_Backup

If you guys need I can start seeding.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 21, 2014)

I remember Solaris doing that. I thought there was a site still and couldn't find it. LOL.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Aug 21, 2014)

I too have the Abit web site wrapped up in a zip file. Thanks to @Solaris17


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 21, 2014)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I have a file with the entire Abit site ,(20gb or so) not sure if there is something there that might be of use for you. Let me know if you want me to check the files for the NF7.



Any apps that were supplied for the NF7-S motherboard, and more general apps for the NF2 chipset will be great, thanks.

EDIT:

Just flipped the page and saw the link. I will download the site, thanks.

2nd Edit

My ISP (Virgin Media) block all access to piratebay, so my original request stands. Thanks again

I would also pay costs if someone can send me the entire site on a Bluray disc. Don't have a BD drive yet, but need to get a BD writer to backup all the movie torrents on my PC


----------



## Misaki (Aug 21, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Any apps that were supplied for the NF7-S motherboard, and more general apps for the NF2 chipset will be great, thanks.
> 
> EDIT:
> 
> ...


Yeah, Virgin Media and their "antipiracy"...
Try it, when I was in UK I used it on BT internet 
https://www.softether.org/5-download

I can even play games with IP block, for example - PSO2 and IP ban outside Japan. VPN is amazing 

BTW. Today I switched AM2 machine to desktop mode. I will proably need second PC in a college, so there it is...




I want to buy 2GB DDR2 ram and Athlon 64 X2, it will be proably enough for everything


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 21, 2014)

almost...


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 21, 2014)

One of these days I might rebuild my old system for the sake of nostalgia! I must find a case and some air coolers tho, since the original build was fully water cooled.

P4 3.2E SL7E5 @4ghz (250 fsb with 5:4 memory divider iirc)
Abit IC7-MAX3
PowerColor X850XT PE
4x512MB Patriot xblk (cl2)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 21, 2014)

BANG, unfortunately @ 1778 fsb (QPI) doesn't post ....but keep in mind i still use AUTO Vcore VDDI ... yet that IFX-14 +TY147/SP120 is kinda amazing (OCCT time ... i guess )


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 21, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Yeah, Virgin Media and their "antipiracy"...
> Try it, when I was in UK I used it on BT internet
> https://www.softether.org/5-download



Networking software confuses me. I looked at that app and don't really understand what the specs or docs are saying, and can't find anywhere in the docs to tell me how to use it to bypass virgin's antipiracy.

Can you explain in simple terms what I need to install (client? server?) and how i use it to connect to websites and torrents? Of course, if someone can make it available on a regular sharing site, as it's not copyrighted material, that would be better


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 21, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Networking software confuses me. I looked at that app and don't really understand what the specs or docs are saying, and can't find anywhere in the docs to tell me how to use it to bypass virgin's antipiracy.
> 
> Can you explain in simple terms what I need to install (client? server?) and how i use it to connect to websites and torrents? Of course, if someone can make it available on a regular sharing site, as it's not copyrighted material, that would be better



I am seeding already and I will leave it overnight.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 21, 2014)

got it posted ... well i have some random crash (explorer.exe chrome.exe)


 


previous clocking got a OCCT error (memory) after a short while


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 21, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Just install it, accept the terms and connect with VPN server



Still can't figure it out. I tried setting up for servers from your screenshot and can't connect. Where networks are concerned I will always need plug n play

EDIT:

Got it figured - I found how to dl softether with vpngate plugin, that is as easy as I need. I'm now downloading the abit file. Thanks to all


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 21, 2014)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I am seeding already and I will leave it overnight.



May need you to keep it running longer than one night. The download is so slow I'm getting around 1% per hour, so may take 4-5 days 

I guess now I got the download started I can disconnect the vpn - it is slower than my regular connection. Very useful tool though


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 21, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> May need you to keep it running longer than one night. The download is so slow I'm getting around 1% per hour, so may take 4-5 days
> 
> I guess now I got the download started I can disconnect the vpn - it is slower than my regular connection. Very useful tool though



It is going really slow indeed xD


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 21, 2014)

Just tried some more BIOSes for my P4P800-VM BIOS and found a weird thing : even BIOSes for LGA 775 boards (ECS 865-M7 and AOpen i865PE-7ILFR are my faves)work on this motherboard.

Currently I have trouble finding a way to have the 865-M7 BIOS assign a IRQ to my Intel onboard NIC since the ECS board uses RTL8100/8139.

The AOpen BIOS works fine with the NIC but the downside is that I can't boot from pendrive (the ECS BIOS can).


----------



## Frick (Aug 21, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> almost... View attachment 58613



Hey that's a modern machine!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 21, 2014)

Frick said:


> Hey that's a modern machine!


nope C2D wolfdale as far as i know are Q1,2008 or i should say Skt 775 can be nostalgic  at last for me (and i am not alone i'm pretty sure of it )
and a Striker Extreme is from 2007 

ok the GPU is modern ... i reckon


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 21, 2014)

I've seen newish GPUs posted, and nobody was bothered by them. One man's junk is another man's nostalgia  E8400 launched on Jan 8 2008 and last shipped on Feb 10 2012 (dates checked on cpu-world.com)

Besides, there is no thread rule to say pics have to be 10 years old or anything


----------



## emissary42 (Aug 22, 2014)

Nostalgic enough? (Sorry for cross posting)


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 22, 2014)

emissary42 said:


> Nostalgic enough? (Sorry for cross posting)



Never post when you're cross!


----------



## m0nt3 (Aug 22, 2014)

Don't know how nostalgic it will be but here you go.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 22, 2014)

Ssssssweeeeeeeeeeeeet!!! Awesome 1U server M0nt3!!! What are the specs man?


----------



## m0nt3 (Aug 22, 2014)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 22, 2014)

deception the A7N8X-E Deluxe arrived in a A7N8X box ... and even worse inside : a Shuttle AK10 V1.0, SAY WHAT a SDR 100/133 mobo??? VIA KT133 chipset????

oh well not too disappointed in the end for 1.10chf i am ok
oh wait that mean i keep my RED MSI mobo for the build ... YAAAAAAY no brownish mobo! (still got to find a nF2 400 Ultra mobo ...)

so that was the board
 

then i noticed there was a ram stick in the 1st slot and a ridiculous (but cute) cooler master alu hsf
 

under the HSF was

indeed a A0750APT3B well now i have a T-Bird 750mhz for my cpu collection 
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon 750 - A0750APT3B.html



*Chipset VIA Apollo KT133 chipset
Northbridge: VIA VT8363
Southbridge: VIA VT82C686A*
*Socket A CPU Support supports the following 462Pin socket A processors: 
AMD Athlon Thunderbird with 200MHz FSB: 650 ... 1400 MHz
AMD Duron with 200MHz FSB: 550 ... 950 MHz
(Athlon 1400MHz and Duron 950MHz from board-version with sticker "14" on)
Automatic adjustment of the CPU Vcore-voltage
FSB-adjustment in BIOS: 100 ... 147 MHz*
*Expansion Slots 1 x A.G.P. (4X mode), 3,3V 
5 x 32 Bit PCI (all Busmasters)*
*Onboard IDE Controller 2-Channel Enhanced PCI IDE 
for up to 4 IDE devices 
supports UltraDMA/66
with ATA-66-Kabel*
*edit .... it was a golden time ... 
Part numberResult
AMD Athlon 900MHz A0900AMT3B  ? 

120%
AMD Duron 900MHz D900AUT1B  ? 

119.3%
AMD Athlon 850MHz A0850APT3B  ? 

113.5%
Intel Pentium III 1BGHz (Socket 370)  ? 

110.9%
Intel Pentium III 933MHz RB80526PZ933256  ? 

103.3%
AMD Athlon 750MHz A0750APT3B  ? 

100%
Intel Pentium III 866MHz RB80526PZ866256  ? 

95.9%
Intel Pentium III 800EB (Socket 370)  ? 

88.5%
AMD Athlon 650MHz AMD-K7650MTR51B C  ? 

86%
AMD Athlon 600MHz AMD-K7600MTR51B C  ? 

79.4%
Intel Pentium III 700MHz RB80526PY700256  ? 

77.4%
Floating Point performance
Part numberResult
Intel Celeron 1.8GHz RK80531RC033128  ? 

114.4%
Intel Pentium III 1BGHz (Socket 370)  ? 

114.1%
AMD Athlon 850MHz A0850APT3B  ? 

113.4%
Intel Pentium III 933MHz RB80526PZ933256  ? 

106.3%
Intel Celeron 1.6GHz RK80532RC025128  ? 

100.8%
AMD Athlon 750MHz A0750APT3B  ? 

100%
Intel Pentium III 866MHz RB80526PZ866256  ? 

98.7%
Intel Pentium III 800EB (Socket 370)  ? 

91%
AMD Athlon 650MHz AMD-K7650MTR51B C  ? 

86%
Intel Pentium III 700MHz RB80526PY700256  ? 

79.6%
AMD Athlon 600MHz K7600 (ES)  ? 

79.4%
MMX / SSE / SSE2 performance
Part numberResult
AMD Duron 900MHz D900AUT1B  ? 

119.6%
Intel Pentium III 933MHz RB80526PZ933256  ? 

118.9%
AMD Athlon 850MHz A0850APT3B  ? 

113.3%
Intel Pentium III 866MHz RB80526PZ866256  ? 

110.4%
Intel Pentium III 800EB (Socket 370)  ? 

101.8%
AMD Athlon 750MHz A0750APT3B  ? 

100%
Intel Pentium III 700MHz RB80526PY700256  ? 

89%
AMD Athlon 650MHz AMD-K7650MTR51B C  ? 

86.2%
Intel Pentium III 667MHz RB80526PZ667256  ? 

84.8%
AMD Athlon 600MHz K7600 (ES)  ? 

79.7%
AMD Athlon 600MHz AMD-K7600MTR51B C  ? 

79.6%
*


----------



## Misaki (Aug 22, 2014)

I think that I need to buy more ram


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 22, 2014)

Misaki said:


> I think that I need to buy more ram


Seems like I beat you at that,while you beat me at the CPU section


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 22, 2014)

The Abit download sped up after I commented how slow it was. I now have the complete file, thanks to all for the upload and anyone seeding.


----------



## Misaki (Aug 22, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Seems like I beat you at that,while you beat me at the CPU section
> View attachment 58655


And GPU! 
Your post made me laugh a lot. My friend offered me 1GB DDR2 for $5 or 1x 1GB + 2x 512MB DDR2 for $10. I will grab it all! 
Next will be A64 X2 that I can buy for $10 and some cheap 1080p monitor because I can't stand 1280x1024


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 22, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Seems like I beat you at that,while you beat me at the CPU section
> View attachment 58655


NANAMI!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 23, 2014)

Misaki said:


> And GPU!
> Your post made me laugh a lot. My friend offered me 1GB DDR2 for $5 or 1x 1GB + 2x 512MB DDR2 for $10. I will grab it all!
> Next will be A64 X2 that I can buy for $10 and some cheap 1080p monitor because I can't stand 1280x1024


I find my LCD monitor pretty good,seeing it's a 22' monitor and native resolution is 1680x1050 (1050p? )

Also I set my startup sound to be the 1992 20th Century Fox theme instead of Windows 7's startup sound


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 23, 2014)

i would say ... almost time for a test drive ...  FSP 250 and 3x128mb (yep i had only 2 x 128mb SDR PC100 aside ... and single sided ... the one i received with the mobo is a double sided, i hope it will not be a problem)
  
let's say i will use the 3D Prophet 4000XT
  

will check it later


----------



## Jstn7477 (Aug 23, 2014)

I've had some nostalgic hardware for a while, including two working K6-II systems (both poopy SiS5598 chipset boards, an OEM ASUS SPAX I got from an HP 6330 at college, and I bought an ASUS SP97-V a few months ago to test EDO SIMMs), but this morning I finally put XP on my PIII-S 1.4GHz/Intel D815EFV and popped in my recently acquired 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 AGP 16MB which only works on this board due to 3.3v AGP of of course, and decided to use "AmigaSport" drivers for XP as I'm a 3dfx n00b. Anyway, a 3DMark01 run got me this, and I think the 815 IGP probably scores about 1200 if I recall, will have to bench it sometime. I certainly noticed graphical anomalies that might be characteristic of the Voodoo chipsets compared to native DX chips, the 16bit color rendering limitation being one of them, but also GT1 seemed washed out (the truck was pink instead of red) and the single/multi-texturing tests had an interesting pixel effect where it looked like the image was composed of points surrounded by dark pixels.

I also have a TNT2 M64(32MB?), Rage 128 AIW and Radeon 7500 32MB to test, the first two along with the Voodoo I bought from Guitarassdeamor a few weeks ago, and the 7500 I got from college out of an Optiplex GX260.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 23, 2014)

i have to figure out ... DVI : start on win then no output ... VGA: start but yellow hue ... installation no problems at all.


well ... some tryout 
  

the stick that was in the delivery was out of order but i managed to find another one


that board has no network solution oh well ... 802.11N is the way to go xD
 

yep win XP compatible


SLOOOWWW but GOOOODDDD edit: no the HSF isn't a cryo type ... -1° = reading error


----------



## Misaki (Aug 23, 2014)

Overclocking of this CPU was a real fun 

http://valid.x86.fr/t66dq3


----------



## Doc41 (Aug 23, 2014)

HP Pavilion DV1000, still has its original XP Home ed. but badly needs a format 
  
Intel Pentium M 740 @1.73 GHz 2x256MB and 60?GB HDD


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 24, 2014)

Still haven't got my lighting sorted - I've just bought some different bulbs on eBay to experiment with. My current lighting isn't powerful enough, but here's my first pic anyway.






This is the board I'll be using to test my VLB graphics cards. The CPU is an AMD 5x86-133. I have others, but this one has the heatsink glued on (not my preference, but it works). I'll be swapping the RAM out for 64MB FPM, the max this board can take. The case I'll use for it isn't very retro. It's just a nice bright pink case I bought about 10 years ago  I'll have pics of other hardware when I get to try out some other lighting.


----------



## Misaki (Aug 25, 2014)

End of TrueCrypt support? Nah, I need to protect my data from roommates!


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 25, 2014)

Have nothing "new" to post, but I sold my HD5870s* and now I'm using HD2900GT... Oh sweet lord this is SLOW card, Diablo III RoS runs on 40-60fps when everything is turned to low and resolution is 1360x768. 

*probably an used GTX660Ti coming soon, costs 150 euros.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 25, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> *probably an used GTX660Ti coming soon, costs 150 euros.


that's what i paid for my R9 290 ... but hey not a bad price for a 660Ti (with a strike of luck you might be able to find a good deal on a 760/770 or 280/280X i start to see some around 200chf and lower, probably due to the upcoming 880 and 285 )

hummmm ... 8chf might be interested ...








too bad this one is a bit too high for what it is ... (well ... )





1x AMD 64 FX Socket 939

1x AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition, 2x 3.20GHz

1x AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Dual Core 2.5 GHz AD04800IAA5D0


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 26, 2014)

Nice ones Greiver! 

My uncle has GTX660Ti SLI setup and he also said that my 150€ 660Ti wouldn't be a bad deal.


----------



## Misaki (Aug 26, 2014)

@GreiverBlade: 6400+! Woo!

Well, some package coming to me. You will know details proably in Friday


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 26, 2014)

Misaki said:


> @GreiverBlade: 6400+! Woo!



unfortunately i don't have them too expensive for me atm  but the 386 i might get it for my collection, i had a Commodor with a 286 under 3.1 back, but i can't find it in my boxes left from my last move from one place to another

small modification on the HSF ... i used the fan and the thermal probe of the Veriton FP PIII


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 27, 2014)

My oldest graphics card, and the second revision of ATI's first VGA card, VGA Wonder. Made in 1988, 6 years before I built my first PC.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Aug 28, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> My oldest graphics card, and the second revision of ATI's first VGA card, VGA Wonder. Made in 1988, 6 years before I built my first PC.



I had one of these, scrapped from my great grandfather's non-functional Leading Edge (Intel 286?) PC that I acquired in late 2007 when he passed away. The card still worked fine, except the yellow capacitors for the VRAM all slowly caught on fire and sizzled away, so the PII-350/440BX Compaq I got from him that I tested the card in had a gentle stream of smoke streaming out of it and the card ran quite hot. I also acquired an AST 486-66DX2 that had 20MB of RAM I believe, upgraded it with some SIMMs but being from 1994 it didn't like the higher density ones so I got maybe 48MB working properly, though 64MB at one point with improper RAM configuration as one stick in the computer was a 16MB/12 chip? special upgrade stick.


----------



## emissary42 (Aug 28, 2014)

Who remembers these elkos (or that card)?





Someone wanna guess the board? Yes, it is a really crappy one^^


----------



## Misaki (Aug 28, 2014)

emissary42 said:


> Who remembers these elkos (or that card)?
> 
> Someone wanna guess the board? Yes, it is a really crappy one^^


I'm sure that is ECS K7S5A. Very popular in ~2004 because it was cheap. With modded BIOS results were not bad at all...
But neverending sound problems! I'm used SoundBlaster 128 PCI because C-Media card on this board simply dosen't wanted to work.


----------



## emissary42 (Aug 28, 2014)

Misaki said:


> I'm sure that is ECS K7S5A. Very popular in ~2004 because it was cheap. With modded BIOS results were not bad at all...


It never could compete with my older abit NF7-S v2.0 and didn't get very old. But you are right, it is a K7S5A.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 28, 2014)

xLDKx NewYorker said:


> Misc Gateway Tower
> Gateway PSU from tower ¿300w?
> Intel WarmSprings440BX from Misc Gateway
> Katmai Slot 1 Pentium 3 @550MHz from Pile O'Parts
> ...


at last xD 

btw use simply the upload a file button then thumbnail or full size  (not a fan of imgur, except for private conversation where the button "upload a file" is absent)


----------



## xLDKx NewYorker (Aug 28, 2014)

Misc Gateway Tower
Gateway PSU from tower ¿300w?
Intel WarmSprings440BX from Misc Gateway
Katmai Slot 1 Pentium 3 @550MHz from Pile O'Parts
Geforce 2 Pro 64mB w/ATI Fan @100MHz from Pile O'Parts
2x256mB SDRAM @MHz from Dell Optiplex GX100
40gB WD from Misc Acer
2xDVD-RW from Pile O'Parts






Edit... Came from GCF so cut me a break if you notice what I did not while taking these pics... Otherwise disregard this last bit in it's entirety 
Edit...... Gonna go shoot myself in the head now. Blame it on Imgur


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 28, 2014)

My new bulbs arrived in the mail this morning. I think the lighting is better on this pic of the same card as my last pic. Haven't tested it on a motherboard yet, but I'm not as bothered about larger items. I want decent graphics card pics for my website  Still gonna experiment and try to get more light, but this'll do for now.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 28, 2014)

xLDKx NewYorker said:


> Edit... Came from GCF so cut me a break if you notice what I did not while taking these pics... Otherwise disregard this last bit in it's entirety


that is not a valide excuse, new place : you learn to use it  



xLDKx NewYorker said:


> Edit...... Gonna go shoot myself in the head now. Blame it on Imgur


nah it's fine anyway.


new lessons : you can edit your post with the edit link on the bottom left of the post  instead of redo a new one and delete the old one  

also "more options" button for getting the full editor with "upload a file" button when editing


----------



## xLDKx NewYorker (Aug 28, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> that is not a valide excuse, new place : you learn to use it
> 
> 
> nah it's fine anyway.
> ...


I realized about the edit function, It's that I did over 9000ah-rue edits... I get mad easy, which is not a good mix with older PC's. Wouldn't be the first time I, literally, put my hand through an LCD monitor.  I've also busted my hand on a CRT and a on a brick wall I have issues I know, working on it...


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 28, 2014)

And of course I added you to the original post New Yorker!!


----------



## xLDKx NewYorker (Aug 28, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> And of course I added you to the original post New Yorker!!


Original post?
Nvm I got it, thanks man... Nice MoBo's btw


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 30, 2014)

Oops. I just negotiated a price on a Voodoo3 2000 AGP - seller had it listed for £20 and I persuaded him to sell it to me for £15. After I paid I went to get other details from my database, and it turns out i already have one! Only paid £2.80 for the one I have as well. Oops, that'll teach me for rushing into a purchase  Can't even SLI them


----------



## Misaki (Aug 30, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Oops. I just negotiated a price on a Voodoo3 2000 AGP - seller had it listed for £20 and I persuaded him to sell it to me for £15. After I paid I went to get other details from my database, and it turns out i already have one! Only paid £2.80 for the one I have as well. Oops, that'll teach me for rushing into a purchase  Can't even SLI them


Please correct me if I'm wrong, but only Voodoo 2 had SLI option . In home I have 2 motherboards with integrated Voodoo 3 2000 8MB and I can't SLI them


----------



## P4-630 (Aug 30, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Please correct me if I'm wrong, but only Voodoo 2 had SLI option . In home I have 2 motherboards with integrated Voodoo 3 2000 8MB and I can't SLI them



What kind of games can you run on that?


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 30, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Please correct me if I'm wrong, but only Voodoo 2 had SLI option .



That's why I can't SLI them. That and the fact there are no dual AGP motherboards


----------



## Misaki (Aug 30, 2014)

P4-630 said:


> What kind of games can you run on that?


Quake 3 on low
Quake 2 
UT99
Worms Amageddon
Red Alert

Probably much more


----------



## P4-630 (Aug 30, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> My new bulbs arrived in the mail this morning. I think the lighting is better on this pic of the same card as my last pic. Haven't tested it on a motherboard yet, but I'm not as bothered about larger items. I want decent graphics card pics for my website  Still gonna experiment and try to get more light, but this'll do for now.



No fans needed on this card?


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 30, 2014)

P4-630 said:


> No fans needed on this card?



LOL. That is ATI's first ever VGA card. The only fan it needs is collectors like me


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 30, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Quake 3 on low
> Quake 2
> UT99
> Worms Amageddon
> ...



Don't forget Doom! I had a friend inn '95 who showed off his shiny new laptop that played Doom with good graphics for the time. pretty sure any Voodoo chip would stomp all over it!


----------



## P4-630 (Aug 30, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> LOL. That is ATI's first ever VGA card. The only fan it needs is collectors like me



What would it be worth if you would sell it?  Prehistoric LOL  

Found one for sale on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATi-VGA-Won...mputing_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5b037c86a8

I guess you just keep it, it might be worth more in the future!


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 30, 2014)

P4-630 said:


> What would it be worth if you would sell it?  Prehistoric LOL



I only recently bought it for my collection



> Found one for sale on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATi-VGA-Won...mputing_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5b037c86a8



Mine only cost $15, it sometimes pays to have contacts 

unfortunately, buying the memory to upgrade to 512 KB RAM wasn't so cheap (but still less than half the normal eBay price). So ultimate;y it will have cost almost as much (only because I wanted the extra RAM to be the same make and similar date code, could have been cheaper).


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 31, 2014)

Damn, I always wanted a Socket A board with 4 ddr slots, but I never got one.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 31, 2014)

emissary42 said:


> Someone wanna guess the board? Yes, it is a really crappy one^^


ECS K7S5A/PCChips M830 ,I' happened to have one of those and even with bulged caps near CPU it worked rock solid.It would forget CMOS settings tho.

K7S6A was beter IMO. I happened to have it and it ran fine with everything I threw at it. The only problem that it had (same for my current ASUS P4P800-VM)is that it would forget the CMOS settings,but I fixed that with modbin anyway.

Anyways if you want to,you can put a Chaintech 7SID BIOS in there. If you want to do so,ask me and I'll do a BIOS file for you to flash.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 31, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Damn, I always wanted a Socket A board with 4 ddr slots, but I never got one.



Always seemed like they were few and far between. I just recently got my hand on the DFI board with 4 slots.


----------



## kniaugaudiskis (Aug 31, 2014)

Just got my ancient Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition 256MB AGP running again.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 31, 2014)

kniaugaudiskis said:


> Just got my ancient Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition 256MB AGP running again.
> 
> View attachment 58812 View attachment 58811 View attachment 58814




Awesome ole ATI card there man! 
Also, just added ya to the original post.


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 1, 2014)

Just a question about old hardware. Does the cpu power  really change something if you want to make a download only rig? Let's say a Compaq Evo D51S SFF with a 2.8 gigs skt 478 and 2 gigs of DDR1-400 with Win7 32bits. A computer I already have and ready to roll but will it bottleneck if I start many downloads at same time and I let it run for whole day or weekend? Should I plug a PCI lan card instead to remove some "pressure" on the cpu data processing?

Thx guys and gals.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Just a question about old hardware. Does the cpu power  really change something if you want to make a download only rig? Let's say a Compaq Evo D51S SFF with a 2.8 gigs skt 478 and 2 gigs of DDR1-400 with Win7 32bits. A computer I already have and ready to roll but will it bottleneck if I start many downloads at same time and I let it run for whole day or weekend? Should I plug a PCI lan card instead to remove some "pressure" on the cpu data processing?
> 
> Thx guys and gals.


2GB of RAM for a Pentium 4 running Windows 7 should be enough.

If it has the Intel 82547EI LAN chip onboard,then you're gold,since it's a gigabit LAN chip.

Meanwhile,a picture of my desktop. I might go for Server 2008 R2 when I can find my pendrive,because IMO it's configured better and would run better on my PC after turning into workstation.


----------



## Countryside (Sep 1, 2014)

Yezz old times here's mine ECS Soc 754 with HD3650 I could not find my Radeon 9800 Pro
1GB DDR Apacer and 3 cpus Athlon 64 3000, Sempron 3100 & Sempron 2500 Still working


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2014)

Countryside said:


> Yezz old times here's mine ECS Soc 754 with HD3650 I could not find my Radeon 9800 Pro
> 1GB DDR Apacer and 3 cpus Athlon 64 3000, Sempron 3100 & Sempron 2500 Still working View attachment 58829


Nice! What OS you're going to put on it? Windows 7? Ubuntu?


----------



## Countryside (Sep 1, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Nice! What OS you're going to put on it? Windows 7? Ubuntu?



Thanks , I used Windows 7 but now im going with ubuntu fast and stable


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 1, 2014)

little test ... i found that the Nemesis had cable management possibility in the end ... well for front panel 
the AXP will be back in it as soon as i get my new case for my main rig 
  

  

and the OCZ Vendetta 2 isn't half bad tho


----------



## Countryside (Sep 1, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> little test ... i found that the Nemesis had cable management possibility in the end ... well for front panel
> the AXP will be back in it as soon as i get my new case for my main rig



Nice Rig and good cable management


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 1, 2014)

Countryside said:


> Nice Rig and good cable management


still have some de dusting to do but  that configuration will go in the Carbide Spec 01 i have and the AXP rig in my sys spec will be back in the nemesis, also i have to find several GPU for both that rig and the workstation ... lately it has been harder to look for something interesting (price wise) but i know i will find something ... at last end of october will be quite .... full of ol'n news for me  (budget raising ... slowly but steadily )


----------



## Countryside (Sep 1, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> still have some de dusting to do but  that configuration will go in the Carbide Spec 01 i have and the AXP rig in my sys spec will be back in the nemesis, also i have to find several GPU for both that rig and the workstation ... lately it has been harder to look for something interesting (price wise) but i know i will find something ... at last end of october will be quite .... full of ol'n news for me  (budget raising ... slowly but steadily )



What's your budget do you hav a gpu in mind


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 1, 2014)

Countryside said:


> What's your budget do you hav a gpu in mind


i have none ... because i seek the best deal, so the price of one piece can vary a lot, unlike actual hardware.
and i have no gpu in mind, i don't care as long as they are from before 2009

funny even a KT133 mobo from 1999-2000 has a isolated pcb around the soundchip? eh? what about the whole new concept from ASUS ASRock and co ... oh wait ... they stole it


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 1, 2014)

Countryside said:


> View attachment 58829
> Yezz old times here's mine ECS Soc 754 with HD3650 I could not find my Radeon 9800 Pro
> 1GB DDR Apacer and 3 cpus Athlon 64 3000, Sempron 3100 & Sempron 2500 Still working




awesome man!! 
I, of course, added you to the original post man.


----------



## Countryside (Sep 1, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> i have none ... because i seek the best deal, so the price of one piece can vary a lot, unlike actual hardware.
> and i have no gpu in mind, i don't care as long as they are from before 2009
> 
> funny even a KT133 mobo from 1999-2000 has a isolated pcb around the soundchip? eh? what about the whole new concept from ASUS ASRock and co ... oh wait ... they stole it
> View attachment 58837 View attachment 58838



Hahahaha  What mobo and cpu u have in your regular rig


----------



## Countryside (Sep 1, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> awesome man!!
> I, of course, added you to the original post man.



Thank you very much but there is a hidden CPU in the picture what do you think it is ?
Hint: Microarchitecture *K10*


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 1, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Just a question about old hardware. Does the cpu power  really change something if you want to make a download only rig? Let's say a Compaq Evo D51S SFF with a 2.8 gigs skt 478 and 2 gigs of DDR1-400 with Win7 32bits. A computer I already have and ready to roll but will it bottleneck if I start many downloads at same time and I let it run for whole day or weekend? Should I plug a PCI lan card instead to remove some "pressure" on the cpu data processing?
> 
> Thx guys and gals.



Even a 486 should cope. The main thing that might matter is the onboard LAN and whether it can keep up with you internet connection.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Even a 486 should cope. The main thing that might matter is the onboard LAN and whether it can keep up with you internet connection.


Intel 82547EI should be his target,since it's a gigabit chip.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 1, 2014)

Countryside said:


> Hahahaha  What mobo and cpu u have in your regular rig


my regular rig is the DW-Wretched Egg build in my sys specs and in my signature


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 1, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Intel 82547EI should be his target,since it's a gigabit chip.


 

Wrong. It,s Intel 815 chip with a 10/100 Mbps lan.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 2, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Wrong. It,s Intel 815 chip with a 10/100 Mbps lan.


Again wrong. 82547EI is the LAN chip from i865/i875 chipsets and it's integrated on the motherboard.


----------



## Countryside (Sep 2, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> my regular rig is the DW-Wretched Egg build in my sys specs and in my signature



Hmm and you want to change your 290  If thats the case i would go with 780


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 2, 2014)

Countryside said:


> Hmm and you want to change your 290  If thats the case i would go with 780


the hell?  a downgrade .... you are joking right? i dont want to change my main rig GPU ... we are in "Nostalgic Hardware" thread ... i was not talking about recent gpu ...
(why would i change the 3rd most powerfull gpu for the 4th  780<290<Titan<290X<780Ti specially when the price of one nV card is almost the double of one AMD card where i am  )

i was talking about that kind of gpu IE: 8800GT Ultra 768 edit: good the seller agreed to wait till Monday ... oh well i've found the GPU for the Salvager Mk II


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 2, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> the hell?  a downgrade .... you are joking right? i dont want to change my main rig GPU ... we are in "Nostalgic Hardware" thread ... i was not talking about recent gpu ...
> (why would i change the 3rd most powerfull gpu for the 4th  780<290<Titan<290X<780Ti specially when the price of one nV card is almost the double of one AMD card where i am  )
> 
> i was talking about that kind of gpu IE: 8800GT Ultra 768 edit: good the seller agreed to wait till Monday ... oh well i've found the GPU for the Salvager Mk II


Here in Romania it's exactly reverse: nVidia cards are cheaper than AMD/ATI!


----------



## Countryside (Sep 2, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> the hell?  a downgrade .... you are joking right? i dont want to change my main rig GPU ... we are in "Nostalgic Hardware" thread ... i was not talking about recent gpu ...
> (why would i change the 3rd most powerfull gpu for the 4th  780<290<Titan<290X<780Ti specially when the price of one nV card is almost the double of one AMD card where i am  )
> 
> i was talking about that kind of gpu IE: 8800GT Ultra 768



Sorry bro i was like WTF  i thought that you just want to change it up and yeah i know the 780/780ti prices are ridiculous. 8800GT Classic  I would love to get my hand on 8800GTX



MaxiPro800 said:


> Here in Romania it's exactly reverse: nVidia cards are cheaper than AMD/ATI!



Damn you lucky bro


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 2, 2014)

Countryside said:


> Damn you lucky bro


Sure I am!

Here,a ASUS GT210 with 64bit 1GB video card is about $43.20 which is 145RON. And to top that,you also get a 2 year warranty which is damn enough.

An HD5450 with 64bit 2GB of RAM (so a bit better)is about $62.71 which is 210.49RON. Around the same price that 5450 has I could get either a new original Xbox or 2 new PS2 slims. WTH?

Not to mention,a HD6850 here is as much as a second hand PS3 phat,which is 600RON or $178.77.


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 2, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> funny even a KT133 mobo from 1999-2000 has a isolated pcb around the soundchip? eh? what about the whole new concept from ASUS ASRock and co ... oh wait ... they stole it
> View attachment 58837


What board is that? Looks like an Asus I used to have...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 2, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> What board is that? Looks like an Asus I used to have...


it's a Shuttle AK10 V1.0

this post was written on my Beaglebone Black .... talk about slow processing power xD (Ti AM3559 1ghz Sitara SOC SGX531 GPU 1gb RAM Linux Angstrom )


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 2, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> it's a Shuttle AK10 V1.0
> 
> this post was written on my Beaglebone Black .... talk about slow processing power xD (Ti AM3559 1ghz Sitara SOC SGX531 GPU 1gb RAM Linux Angstrom )


I had a Shuttle AK12A BE v3.0. Sad that all caps were bulged. It was one of the boards that were made by ECS but nevertheless the motherboard remembered me of the CUSL2-C Black Edition. In fact,it was almost like that except it had crap caps (dammit ECS,you had one job and you NAILED NAILED NAILED it! >___<)and had Socket 462.

I still have the memory from it. It had the KT133 (aka VT8363)chipset. I used to run a FX5200 128MB card on it but that died (and shorted something in my LCD that I had to get the monitor fixed)


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 3, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Again wrong. 82547EI is the LAN chip from i865/i875 chipsets and it's integrated on the motherboard.



I really dont know where you get these specs or what you use to search for it but after looking on Compaq websites and other websites it's Intel 845G chipset.  http://www.cnet.com/products/compaq-evo-d510-series/specs/


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 3, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> I really dont know where you get these specs or what you use to search for it but after looking on Compaq websites and other websites it's Intel 845G chipset.  http://www.cnet.com/products/compaq-evo-d510-series/specs/


Here's a motherboard with 82547EI on 865.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/865/P4SPA_.cfm

Yes,I know that motherboard isn't from Compaq. Also,that Compaq you posted must have another network chip,*because Intel didn't implement CSA until the 865/875 chipsets.*

Here's a quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets#Pentium_4_chipsets



> 875P (Canterwood)
> Similar to E7205, but adds support for 800 MHz bus, DDR at 400 MHz, Communication Streaming Architecture (CSA), Serial ATA (with RAID in certain configurations) and Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT), a mode purported to cut down memory latency.
> SMP capability exists only on Xeon-based (socket 604) motherboards using the 875P chipset. FSB is rated at 533 MHz on these motherboards.
> 
> ...


CSA is actually the 82547EI chip integrated onboard.
Very very few i875P motherboards used Realtek 8100 chips (actually I haven't seen any that doesn't use the 82547EI chip)while 865P/PE/G/GV/848P motherboards used RTL8100 chips more than the 82547EI. 

However,there are some 865 motherboards that use the 82547EI,like the Albatron PX865PE Pro II,ASUS P4P800-VM and the Supermicro P4SPA.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 3, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> CSA is actually the 82547EI chip integrated onboard.


integrated onboard and not on chipset ... the lan chip isn't related to the chipset but to the manufacturer of the board.

but Junkbear is worrying over nothing ... unless he plan to do a "terabyte" server that need optical fiber for network ... 10/100 can be fine as a 100/1000 is... ofc the more the better.


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 4, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Here's a motherboard with 82547EI on 865.
> http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/865/P4SPA_.cfm
> 
> Yes,I know that motherboard isn't from Compaq. Also,that Compaq you posted must have another network chip,*because Intel didn't implement CSA until the 865/875 chipsets.*
> ...




So basically you are really out of subject and talking about another board that is not even my concern.  The one I have is older and doesnt even have Sata and also can take maximum 2 gigs DDR400. Micro ATX. Chipset 845G and stamped Compaq on the board. You are speaking of not the same generation as the one I was asking the question about.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 4, 2014)

Eh,sometimes that happens 

Anyways,just got my FX5200 to output S-Video using a XFX S-Video to RGB adapter by connecting green to composite. The quality on it is so crisp,actually it's beyond crisp. With it on my Pentium 4 I even plan on making a retro "game station" (SNES,PSone,Megadrive,2003 PC games,and retro systems)and while being at that make it a small media center. The only thing missing though is a PCI Wifi card


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 4, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Eh,sometimes that happens
> 
> Anyways,just got my FX5200 to output S-Video using a XFX S-Video to RGB adapter by connecting green to composite. The quality on it is so crisp,actually it's beyond crisp. With it on my Pentium 4 I even plan on making a retro "game station" (SNES,PSone,Megadrive,2003 PC games,and retro systems)and while being at that make it a small media center. The only thing missing though is a PCI Wifi card



eheh i have a PCI wifi card but it's not for that i answer ... 

NOT FROM ME but from a close friend


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 5, 2014)

kniaugaudiskis said:


> Just got my ancient Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition 256MB AGP running again.
> 
> View attachment 58812 View attachment 58811 View attachment 58814


I had an overclocked X800 Pro VIVO @ XTPE many years ago, and damn, I even played Crysis with it.


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 5, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Eh,sometimes that happens
> 
> Anyways,just got my FX5200 to output S-Video using a XFX S-Video to RGB adapter by connecting green to composite. The quality on it is so crisp,actually it's beyond crisp. With it on my Pentium 4 I even plan on making a retro "game station" (SNES,PSone,Megadrive,2003 PC games,and retro systems)and while being at that make it a small media center. The only thing missing though is a PCI Wifi card



Why not just using a USB Wi-Fi? A slower A or B Wi-Fi could probably make your router go on compatibility mode and same  time slow down other Wi-Fi devices connected.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 5, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Why not just using a USB Wi-Fi? A slower A or B Wi-Fi could probably make your router go on compatibility mode and same  time slow down other Wi-Fi devices connected.


yeah  like the one i use a few post above (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-109#post-3153569) : N type fast and quite cheap (where i am, i get them for 19.90chf)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 5, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Why not just using a USB Wi-Fi? A slower A or B Wi-Fi could probably make your router go on compatibility mode and same  time slow down other Wi-Fi devices connected.


Obiviously would go that route but I lost the one from my ISP and don't have the money for another one. 
And no problems for having slow Wi-Fi connection,I am used to that. When I am in certain rooms (generally a room that is one room away) the Wi-Fi speed is slower than 56k . However the living room and kitchen provide good Wi-Fi,but that's because they're close to each other.

In the meantime just got a wallpaper for my Pentium 4. Here it is.


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 5, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> yeah  like the one i use a few post above (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-109#post-3153569) : N type fast and quite cheap (where i am, i get them for 19.90chf)



In my place we can get them for 8.50$ canadian (7.70chf) or even cheaper in Ebay


----------



## kazz (Sep 6, 2014)

woohooo this is awesome thread  i was sold my modern pc and build little retro setup by myself too some weeks ago (i do not have need for powerful pc anyway in home, just movies and skype, web browsing etc.). I think it is kinda last moments to use socket A as daily driver, so why not be with it couple of years. I have kinda nostalgic feelings about soc A, i had them 4pcs back in the day they was modern..

*cpu:* AMD Athlon XP 3200+ @ ~2,4GHz /socekt A
*mobo:* Asus A7V880 /KT880
*mem:* 2x1GB Corsair XMS PC4000 dual @ ~440MHz
*vid:* HIS Radeon HD4670 1GB AGP
*sound:* Creative SB Live! CT4830
*hdd:*
*rom:* Sony Optiarc AD-5280S-01 DVD±RW
*psu:* 350W enermax




 


the most complicated part was finding suitable tower cooler and mobo with desired KT800 chipset and suitable mounting holes. btw, amd was told not to use cooler that weights more than 300g with soc A, that big boy is almost 1kg  close enough..

also i need something interesting for ssd/hdd. after long research I was discovered ssd with native SATA-150, Stec Mach 8 - should be working with via 8237 controller what do not have automatic speed detection (wont recognize any sataII or III device) but not yet received that ssd to say if its working here or not. If not im going to use some cool oldschool 10k rpm hdd. at the moment im stuck on really slow laptop hdd


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 6, 2014)

Power supply is little bit too low since they recommend a minimum of 450w fort this agp card. I have thé same but mine is thé overclocked version.


----------



## kazz (Sep 6, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Power supply is little bit too low since they recommend a minimum of 450w fort this agp card. I have thé same but mine is thé overclocked version.



Thank you for comment, thats good point. 

However according to power consumption calculator (max power usage with this conf should be around ~220..250W) and knowledge that (hopefully) enermax is premium class manufacturer there should not be any troube. I was also done little testing with multimeter and voltage was very nice and stable during any workload. Probably that warning on HIS homepage is rather oriented for people who using really old PSUs to make them aware and point out it would be reasonable to upgrade PSU as well (at least this was my thought.. that AGP interface target market might be little be tricky)

also I am really positively surprised, that this configuration is able to run Youtube on HD, it is kinda awesome in my opinion, that platform dated back more than 10 years


----------



## Misaki (Sep 6, 2014)

kazz said:


> Thank you for comment, thats good point.
> 
> However according to power consumption calculator (max power usage with this conf should be around ~220..250W) and knowledge that (hopefully) enermax is premium class manufacturer there should not be any troube. I was also done little testing with multimeter and voltage was very nice and stable during any workload. Probably that warning on HIS homepage is rather oriented for people who using really old PSUs to make them aware and point out it would be reasonable to upgrade PSU as well (at least this was my thought.. that AGP interface target market might be little be tricky)
> 
> also I am really positively surprised, that this configuration is able to run Youtube on HD, it is kinda awesome in my opinion, that platform dated back more than 10 years


It can run 1080p. SMPlayer FTW


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 6, 2014)

kazz said:


> woohooo this is awesome thread  i was sold my modern pc and build little retro setup by myself too some weeks ago (i do not have need for powerful pc anyway in home, just movies and skype, web browsing etc.). I think it is kinda last moments to use socket A as daily driver, so why not be with it couple of years. I have kinda nostalgic feelings about soc A, i had them 4pcs back in the day they was modern..
> 
> *cpu:* AMD Athlon XP 3200+ @ ~2,4GHz /socekt A
> *mobo:* Asus A7V880 /KT880
> ...




First of all, WELCOME to TechPowerUp!!!! 

Secondly, I added ya to the original post as a member.   

sweet ole nostalgic system Kazz.


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 8, 2014)

8800 Ultra R.O.G coming tomorrow 
pics will follow


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 9, 2014)

Just saw this at thrift store but I did not bought since I have no useage for it.


----------



## Steevo (Sep 9, 2014)

My old rig, and when I finally had a digital camera.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 9, 2014)

soo 8800 Ultra R.O.G (oh well it's just a sticker on a slightly enhanced ref cooler eh?) some site ref it as a 8800GTX 
     

the only review i found of it tested it on a EVGA 680i SLI mobo ... and my Striker Extreme is .. a .. 680i SLI  freaking happy 

*Intel Core2 Duo (775 Socket) based computer*

CPU: Intel Core2 Duo Extreme X6800 (2930 MHz) (L2=4096K) *oh well Core2Duo 8400 is fine too *
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SLI on NVIDIA nForce 680i *ASUS ASUS ASUS!!!*
RAM: 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM Corsair 1142MHz (CAS (tCL)=5; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)=5; Row Precharge (tRP)=5; tRAS=15)* hum i have 4GB XMS2*
HDD: WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA _*eh 120gb IDE ... ohhh could be worse xD*_
PSU: Tagan 1100-U95 (1100W).* 600W i don't SLI and it's a single rail 45A on the 12V*

Read more at http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/video/g80-12-page1.html#kQK26M342LkPptgW.99


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 9, 2014)

Awesome 8800 Ultra Greiver!!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 10, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> soo 8800 Ultra R.O.G (oh well it's just a sticker on a slightly enhanced ref cooler eh?) some site ref it as a 8800GTX
> View attachment 59055 View attachment 59056 View attachment 59057 View attachment 59058 View attachment 59059
> 
> the only review i found of it tested it on a EVGA 680i SLI mobo ... and my Striker Extreme is .. a .. 680i SLI  freaking happy
> ...


Seeing it has SLI,do you plan getting another 8800 Ultra to use SLI?


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 10, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Seeing it has SLI,do you plan getting another 8800 Ultra to use SLI?



Yea no kidding! Pair of 88 ultra's would be awesome in SLi.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 10, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Seeing it has SLI,do you plan getting another 8800 Ultra to use SLI?





stinger608 said:


> Yea no kidding! Pair of 88 ultra's would be awesome in SLi.



indeed ... but i have to find another EXACT same ASUS EN8800Ultra otherwise: not gonna do it! 

in fact that actuall configuration i have is my dream configuration i would be happy to own in 2007-2008 

also i find myself quite lucky that i've found that Ultra for that cheap, it's in a pristine state ... and i didn't know at the time that the Ultra was the highest 8800, always thought the GTX was the highest 

but only the GTX and Ultra are 384bit the lesser models are quite downgraded ... what a confusing time at the time ... 8800GS 8800GT i would had call them 8700 xD


----------



## Stjepan666 (Sep 11, 2014)

Hi long time I was not here, here's a new toy 
Pentium 3 650Mhz Slot1
Gigabyte on intel440BX
392MB SD RAM
and hero : PNY Geforce 4 4200 Ti 64MB RAM AGP


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 11, 2014)

Do you plan to try something like Xubuntu in it?


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 12, 2014)

Sorry to disappoint you but your lapto pis too old for a SSD. It was IDE hdd so you are stuck with it.


----------



## OneMoar (Sep 12, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Sorry to disappoint you but your lapto pis too old for a SSD. It was IDE hdd so you are stuck with it.


incorrect they make IDE/PATA ssd's for laptops
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...93&cm_re=2.5"_PATA_SSD-_-20-208-893-_-Product


----------



## Misaki (Sep 12, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Sorry to disappoint you but your laptop is too old for a SSD. It was IDE hdd so you are stuck with it.


As @OneMoar said, IDE SSD exists + I can use Compact Flash as SSD.








Smart from current drive (If you want to open file browser on this HDD, you must wait about 10 seconds...): http://wklej.org/hash/57fda85ae8c/txt/


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 12, 2014)

For the price you should just invest in newer laptop. 100$ with taxes and shipping make no sense for old laptop like that. Compact flash cards could be also slower I expect. Usually they have a speed of writing 4 MB/s no?


----------



## P4-630 (Sep 12, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> For the price you should just invest in newer laptop. 100$ with taxes and shipping make no sense for old laptop like that. Compact flash cards could be also slower I expect. Usually they have a speed of writing 4 MB/s no?



"a minimum sustained write speed of 65MB/s for rich 4K and Full HD video. "
http://www.sandisk.com/products/memory-cards/compactflash/extremepro-160mbs/


----------



## OneMoar (Sep 12, 2014)

PATA tops out at 133MB/s while the ssd would be bottled necked on sustained read/write it would still offer a fair performance bump tho depending on the chip-set you are lucky to see 90MB/s sustained 
tbh the CF would't even be worth messing with for 80 bucks he can get a 64GB ssd witch will be more then plenty


----------



## kazz (Sep 12, 2014)

kazz said:


> also i need something interesting for ssd/hdd. after long research I was discovered ssd with native SATA-150, Stec Mach 8 - should be working with via 8237 controller what do not have automatic speed detection (wont recognize any sataII or III device) but not yet received that ssd to say if its working here or not. If not im going to use some cool oldschool 10k rpm hdd. at the moment im stuck on really slow laptop hdd



It was good day today, after two weeks of waiting my SSD was arrived from Australia to my Eastern European homeland.




This is STEC Mach8, at the first place SSD might be unsuitable in this thread but the point is elsewhere, it is native SATA-150 SSD (actually one and only that kind of SSD what I was able to find after long researsch!), and it makes this product amazing in that way - it is usable with VIA 8237 sata controller (probably as well with VT8237R, VT6420, VT6421L, SIS760 and SIS964). Soo... You can enjoy true SSD performance with chipset not support auto speed negotiation (wont recognize any sata II or III device, and it seems that there is no sata II SSD with jumper to force speed to sata I mode to get recognized as some sata II HDDs have)



At the moment I am running windows XP on it and it is really fast, boot is probably less than 10sec! 
avg. reading speed is not amazing in SSD aspect (~90mb/s) but very fast access time maks it feel really quick compared with HDD what gives same reading speed.

As I was googled problems with these before mentioned really old earlybird SATA controllers, there was a lots of people who was looking for that solution how to get any SSD working there but I was not seen any useful answers, so I probably should be proud of myself and hope somebody finds this post helpful


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 12, 2014)

kazz said:


> It was good day today, after two weeks of waiting my SSD was arrived from Australia to my Eastern European homeland.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Interesting find, thanks for sharing!


----------



## Compgeke (Sep 13, 2014)

Picked this up last weekend for $1. Didn't work at the time but pulling the random proprietary controller card for the heart monitoring stuff solved the issue. Keeping it around as we lost our house after the recent Napa quake and it's small enough I can just throw it anywhere.





More pics: http://imgur.com/a/c4inz

Also got this a bit farther back, doesn't work but I'll keep it around until I need room.





More pics: http://imgur.com/a/zpmzz


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 13, 2014)

OMG Compgeke!!!! That is frigging awesome man! Kick a$$ find bro.


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 13, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> OMG Compgeke!!!! That is frigging awesome man! Kick a$$ find bro.


INDEED!!!

also it saddens me because locally i found a seller with one like theses
   
but sadly it was waaaaaaaaayyyy out of my budget ... (working state and in a total perfect condition  )


----------



## de.das.dude (Sep 13, 2014)

my first setup XD i feel so young lol

mobo ECS 482-M or something like that.
CPU- AMD Athlon 3500+
RAm 2GB Transcend 800Mhz DDR2
and an ATI HD4650 1GB DDR2!


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 13, 2014)

Just a thought de.das.dude, but if your pics are going to be so large it might be an idea to get them in focus. If out of focus smaller pics show just as much and use less bandwidth (load faster)


----------



## de.das.dude (Sep 13, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Just a thought de.das.dude, but if your pics are going to be so large it might be an idea to get them in focus. If out of focus smaller pics show just as much and use less bandwidth (load faster)


they are both 500kb


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## debs3759 (Sep 13, 2014)

de.das.dude said:


> they are both 500kb



Actually, the top one is 917 KB and the bottom one is 657 KB. Both seem a little large for the amount of real info anyone can get from them. I can make images almost as large that are under 200 KB. Not everyone has unlimited data downloads


----------



## OneMoar (Sep 13, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Actually, the top one is 917 KB and the bottom one is 657 KB. Both seem a little large for the amount of real info anyone can get from them. I can make images almost as large that are under 200 KB. Not everyone has unlimited data downloads


to be blunt not our problem or even a problem at all .. 
seriously its at worst 1MB loading the front page takes 5MB ...
also those pictures where taken YEARS ago so the quality is fine given the age 
if you are gonna nitpick at least be constructive ..


----------



## Peter1986C (Sep 13, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Actually, the top one is 917 KB and the bottom one is 657 KB. Both seem a little large for the amount of real info anyone can get from them. I can make images almost as large that are under 200 KB. Not everyone has unlimited data downloads


Even though you made a decent point first now you're just fucking ants.


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 14, 2014)

Sorry to have offended you guys. I thought commenting on the size (they are larger than most peoples screen size) was a valid comment. He brought up the file size so I corrected him. What's wrong with that?


----------



## OneMoar (Sep 14, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Sorry to have offended you guys. I thought commenting on the size (they are larger than most peoples screen size) was a valid comment. He brought up the file size so I corrected him. What's wrong with that?


Because you are complaining about a image that OMG is >500KB its not 1996
you are also nitpicking over something that wasn't even worth mentioning OMG i have bandwidth caps please spare me that extra 1MB it could cost me millions
really don't be inane


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## debs3759 (Sep 14, 2014)

No I was complaining about an image that is too large to fit a 1080p screen. Very few people have larger screens than that. Get your facts right before you accuse me of complaining.


----------



## OneMoar (Sep 14, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> No I was complaining about an image that is too large to fit a 1080p screen. Very few people have larger screens than that. Get your facts right before you accuse me of complaining.


since tpu lacks a scroll-able image viewer I concede that point ... o wait


----------



## de.das.dude (Sep 14, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> No I was complaining about an image that is too large to fit a 1080p screen. Very few people have larger screens than that. Get your facts right before you accuse me of complaining.





 

 

if you are having problems with image sizes then go to settings and choose to scale down your images automatically. this isnt 1996 with dial up. plus this is pretty much a HD image thread.


----------



## de.das.dude (Sep 14, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> No I was complaining about an image that is too large to fit a 1080p screen. Very few people have larger screens than that. Get your facts right before you accuse me of complaining.


what are you on about? looks like you are just post whoring at this point. images are automatically resized to screen width.


----------



## HammerON (Sep 14, 2014)

The images are fine.  End of discussion.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 14, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> No I was complaining about an image that is too large to fit a 1080p screen. Very few people have larger screens than that. Get your facts right before you accuse me of complaining.


ehhh? i have a 1080p 32" TV as screen and it fit perfectly, for the size in mb : anything under 1mb is uber small, the only thing i would complain was the blurriness of the pics ... HD maybe but ... damn too blurry. (i am no better for that i agree)
tho one line can be used as a standard : always use "Upload a file" and thumbnail mode, it ease the blurriness (until you click on it  ) and limit the size (not mb)



HammerON said:


> The images are fine.  End of discussion.


i was editing that post while you posted that ... i concur with what you say but .... i still have to post it 

and!
a friend sent me those 2 pics ...(yes he come from the future ... look the 5.14 picture date) he tease me ... he know i have my holiday near and i cant buy anything for the moment ... grhhhh


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 15, 2014)

Sparkomatic 6X9 4 way  Stontium Cobalt magnet 20oz
4ohms, 50-20000 Hz - 100 watts RMS.    For an upcoming amp-speaker-psu project.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 18, 2014)

Striker Spec-01 (ok ... recent case but black black black!) 
     

and a little toy i found on Ricardo.ch
 
(ASUS Screen DUO) work on 7 but lack the monitoring you had with the P5B Premium (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5B_Premium/) or the M2N32-SLI (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M2N32SLI_Premium_Vista_Edition/)


----------



## DinaAngel (Sep 18, 2014)

found this in an old fishery while me and Maban was looking around


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 18, 2014)

down in the dump ... hardware but not pc  
    
pfeeeewww transportable UHF VHF TV 

also a bit better pics of the ScreenDUO (just a bit ... duh ... )
 

and my friend finished his prototype


----------



## Maban (Sep 18, 2014)

DinaAngel said:


> View attachment 59226


Who's that ruggedly handsome guy in the corner?


----------



## DinaAngel (Sep 18, 2014)

Maban said:


> Who's that ruggedly handsome guy in the corner?


you


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 18, 2014)

Maban said:


> Who's that ruggedly handsome guy in the corner?





DinaAngel said:


> you


bahahaha thanks, you made my day (both of you  )


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 19, 2014)

Maban said:


> Who's that ruggedly handsome guy in the corner?


Johnny Bravo


----------



## Maban (Sep 19, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Johnny Bravo


Well, it did feel like a zone where normal things don't happen very often.


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 19, 2014)

DinaAngel said:


> View attachment 59226 View attachment 59227View attachment 59228
> found this in an old fishery while me and Maban was looking around




Got the same but even older in Beige colour.


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 19, 2014)

I've got Beige 5 pin din to ps2 dongle somewhere in my collection of bits n pieces


----------



## JunkBear (Sep 21, 2014)

Athlonite said:


> I've got Beige 5 pin din to ps2 dongle somewhere in my collection of bits n pieces



Yeah always practical when you have older keyboards to test but dont have a Pentium 1 in stock


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 22, 2014)

Nice NF7 man!!


----------



## kazz (Sep 23, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Who said that childhood dreams can't come true? I paid only 11PLN for package (~$3)!
> 6600GT is damaged, but I will repair it



nice mobo, what kind of soc A cpu u planning to use there?


----------



## micropage7 (Sep 23, 2014)

actually i dunno where i should post it since its hardware section
but forget about it
i just test windows 2000, i recall i ever backed up it as iso and i dunno where the disk now
maybe one day im gonna install it just for fun on another pc


----------



## Misaki (Sep 23, 2014)

kazz said:


> nice mobo, what kind of soc A cpu u planning to use there?


Athlon XP 2500+ Barton!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 23, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Athlon XP 2500+ Barton!


my 2500+ Barton sit in the collection just on side of my 700 Pluto... i only use my 750 Thunderbird and 2800+ (@3200+) Barton on my (crap)MSI 

still a nice pairing


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 23, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> actually i dunno where i should post it since its hardware section
> but forget about it
> i just test windows 2000, i recall i ever backed up it as iso and i dunno where the disk now
> maybe one day im gonna install it just for fun on another pc
> View attachment 59332




@micropage7  I actually think I have an ISO image for Windows 2000.  I can check if your in need of the image file.


----------



## kazz (Sep 23, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Athlon XP 2500+ Barton!



good choice, im still amused how useful soc a still can be even today, 
world have changed a lot within these years


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 23, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> actually i dunno where i should post it since its hardware section
> but forget about it
> i just test windows 2000, i recall i ever backed up it as iso and i dunno where the disk now
> maybe one day im gonna install it just for fun on another pc
> View attachment 59332





stinger608 said:


> @micropage7  I actually think I have an ISO image for Windows 2000.  I can check if your in need of the image file.



I have a Win 2K disc as well if an image is needed. Pretty sure mine is a corporate edition (no reg code needed)


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2014)

Ran across this from a fellow member on a different forum: 

http://www.mywindowspage.com/download/os.htm

Awesome site to download old operating systems!!! I am including this link in the original post as well.


----------



## Doc41 (Oct 3, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Ran across this from a fellow member on a different forum:
> 
> http://www.mywindowspage.com/download/os.htm
> 
> Awesome site to download old operating systems!!! I am including this link in the original post as well.


Niiiiice i've been looking for a copy of 98SE and another WinME for Dino, Thanks boss 

btw age old debate; which is better long term 98SE or WinME?


----------



## micropage7 (Oct 3, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> I have a Win 2K disc as well if an image is needed. Pretty sure mine is a corporate edition (no reg code needed)


yep, but now my time is too tight i may install it when i have spare time
and its interesting where HP still open win 2000 driver on their website


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 3, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> I have a Win 2K disc as well if an image is needed. Pretty sure mine is a corporate edition (no reg code needed)




Could get it if you put online somewhere. Just send me the link please. I also have an image of WinXP corporate but in french only.


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 3, 2014)

I don't know if it can be considered old hardware but I just got this from the street (garbage day).
I'm not the original owner of these pictures that I took on Ebay but it's the same model.
UsRobotics....propably for servers cases.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 3, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Niiiiice i've been looking for a copy of 98SE and another WinME for Dino, Thanks boss
> 
> btw age old debate; which is better long term 98SE or WinME?



Oh hands down I think Win 98SE. ME was sooooo damn problematic where 98SE ended up being a very solid OS.



JunkBear said:


> I don't know if it can be considered old hardware but I just got this from the street (garbage day).
> I'm not the original owner of these pictures that I took on Ebay but it's the same model.
> UsRobotics....propably for servers cases.
> 
> ...



Wow JunkBear, that is bada$$ man!! Niiiiiiiiiice score!


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 3, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Oh hands down I think Win 98SE. ME was sooooo damn problematic where 98SE ended up being a very solid OS.









Seriously though, I've never had so many compatibility headaches in my life as with ME. Vista wasn't even as bad as ME, by a long shot. ME had such bad compatibility issues, a lot of viruses weren't even compatible.
For your sanity, please, go with 98SE.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 3, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Seriously though, I've never had so many compatibility headaches in my life as with ME. Vista wasn't even as bad as ME, by a long shot. ME had such bad compatibility issues, *a lot of viruses weren't even compatible.*
> For your sanity, please, go with 98SE.



Thanks, I just spit coffee all over my desk when I read that.  Pretty bad when a virus isn't compatible.


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 3, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Niiiiice i've been looking for a copy of 98SE and another WinME for Dino, Thanks boss
> 
> btw age old debate; which is better long term 98SE or WinME?



98SE hands down but to get a little faster and better defrag grab a copy of it from winME and paste it into the *:\windows\system folder


----------



## debs3759 (Oct 3, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> I have a Win 2K disc as well if an image is needed. Pretty sure mine is a corporate edition (no reg code needed)





JunkBear said:


> Could get it if you put online somewhere. Just send me the link please. I also have an image of WinXP corporate but in french only.



Can someone point me to a safe site to upload it to? I'm assuming it is now considered abandonware, so I don't mind creating an ISO image to upload somewhere.

A public torrent site would be as good as anywhere else, but I only use one closed site where i don't have upload rights (my connection is too slow for them)


----------



## Peter1986C (Oct 3, 2014)

If you tell me how large the .iso would become I can help a little more easily (I believe Mediafire has too tight file size restrictions). A torrent would certainly help too, just send me the .torrent file after creation and I will put it somewhere (or place an appropiate magnet link here).


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 3, 2014)

Doc41 said:


> Niiiiice i've been looking for a copy of 98SE and another WinME for Dino, Thanks boss
> 
> btw age old debate; which is better long term 98SE or WinME?


none.... eventually 98SE but surely not Me... you know the OS-Tan for windows ME is Me-Tan (quite a soundy naming : METHANE yep WinME=bag of gas )


----------



## debs3759 (Oct 4, 2014)

Chevalr1c said:


> If you tell me how large the .iso would become I can help a little more easily (I believe Mediafire has too tight file size restrictions). A torrent would certainly help too, just send me the .torrent file after creation and I will put it somewhere (or place an appropiate magnet link here).



I'll rip the disc tomorrow then post it's size. It's gone midnight here so don't feel much like hunting down the disc


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 4, 2014)

debs3759 said:


> Can someone point me to a safe site to upload it to? I'm assuming it is now considered abandonware, so I don't mind creating an ISO image to upload somewhere.
> 
> A public torrent site would be as good as anywhere else, but I only use one closed site where i don't have upload rights (my connection is too slow for them)




I dont use torrent because i never really learned to use it and i dont like the fact to share Peer2Peer whats inside my computer. So I suggest you do like me and you put it on Google Drive then share us the link to download it.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 4, 2014)

Yep, pretty much what JunkBear is stating. Google drive is like having a free ftp site. I would PM the link and password rather than posting if up for the world to see.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 4, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Yep, pretty much what JunkBear is stating. Google drive is like having a free ftp site. I would PM the link and password rather than posting if up for the world to see.


in Switzerland you can download anything you want legally, but you can't share anything, so peer to peer is illegal (unless you limite the upload in uTorrent for example)


----------



## Doc41 (Oct 4, 2014)

thanks all for the replies, well 98 it is though i still want to figure out how to update the BIOS......... wait since it is a gigabyte and they have that program "@ BIOS" do you think if got win XP on it i could update the BIOS from the internet orr this is a stupid idea and i shouldn't waste time on it?


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 4, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> in Switzerland you can download anything you want legally, but you can't share anything, so peer to peer is illegal (unless you limite the upload in uTorrent for example)



Stupid half law. To download it there is someone who first uploaded it somewhere. In Canada we have this for prostitution. Its legal to hire a prostitute but illegal for her to propose her services.


----------



## Misaki (Oct 4, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> in Switzerland you can download anything you want legally, but you can't share anything, so peer to peer is illegal (unless you limite the upload in uTorrent for example)


In Poland we can download anything for personal use. Sharing (for example) music is a law violation. But no one had a problems after sharing in fact... This is Polish law


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 4, 2014)

Misaki said:


> In Poland we can download anything for personal use. Sharing (for example) music is a law violation. But no one had a problems after sharing in fact... This is Polish law


yep i never had any problems at sharing, too... xD your law is kinda the same as mine  oh well it's also the same for shipping and pricing... as long as it's under 62.50chf : no custom taxes (unless the custom officer is picky and take the "merchandise price" instead of the "declared price")  IE: my Arima HDAMA-I dual 940 declared price: 31chf (shipping include) merchandise pricing (actual):  97.99$ (shipping include)


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 5, 2014)

Here's the link for fan specs.
Each fan blowing a 110CFM so 990CFM of noisy cooling. I will probably put a dimmer switch on it to low down the volume of noise and air.

http://www.cwc-group.com/4715fs12tb50.html



JunkBear said:


> I don't know if it can be considered old hardware but I just got this from the street (garbage day).
> I'm not the original owner of these pictures that I took on Ebay but it's the same model.
> UsRobotics....propably for servers cases.
> 
> ...


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 8, 2014)

I just got donated a HP Compaq DC7100. Will drop a P4-650 in it, 4gigs DDR400, probably a cheap graphic card and a ThermalTake Tr2 430 I also got from junked computers two days ago.

What is a good GPU that can fully use the potential of this setup without being overkill? Yeah  know its old but still got some potential. Thx


----------



## kazz (Oct 10, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> What is a good GPU that can fully use the potential of this setup without being overkill? Yeah  know its old but still got some potential. Thx



Well it depends what you are going to do with it. If you interested in to do some gaiming or benching as much it would be possible then there is no way to do overkill due there is not actually very powerful agp cards anyway, and take the best You can find (radeon 3850, 4650, 4670 etc)

If just for web browsing and other light 2D then... why not radeon 9600, 9800 or something from nvidia like 6600, 7600 or smt similar. However even for these activities it might be good to have powerful card as possible. For example I had geforce 7900GS with athlon xp 3200+ and it was not able to play youtube on 1080p, now with radeon 4670 and hardware acceleration enabled it is silky smooth


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 11, 2014)

kazz said:


> Well it depends what you are going to do with it. If you interested in to do some gaiming or benching as much it would be possible then there is no way to do overkill due there is not actually very powerful agp cards anyway, and take the best You can find (radeon 3850, 4650, 4670 etc)
> 
> If just for web browsing and other light 2D then... why not radeon 9600, 9800 or something from nvidia like 6600, 7600 or smt similar. However even for these activities it might be good to have powerful card as possible. For example I had geforce 7900GS with athlon xp 3200+ and it was not able to play youtube on 1080p, now with radeon 4670 and hardware acceleration enabled it is silky smooth


 

 It's not an AGP slot on that motherboard


----------



## zsolt_93 (Oct 11, 2014)

PCIE? HD5450 would go well. PCI , i have no idea.


----------



## kazz (Oct 11, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> It's not an AGP slot on that motherboard



umm.. okay, then i would go with something cheap and more modern like 6670 or similar


----------



## micropage7 (Oct 13, 2014)

just bought this, i may use it for browsing, downloading and playing some old games
i may set it back to stock again but with SP3 since she comes with 7


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 13, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> View attachment 59656 View attachment 59657
> just bought this, i may use it for browsing, downloading and playing some old games
> i may set it back to stock again but with SP3 since she comes with 7



Same mb as mine. Even if it says micro codes error you can still pu.  a p4-651 in it.


----------



## Misaki (Oct 13, 2014)

micropage7 said:


> View attachment 59656 View attachment 59657
> just bought this, i may use it for browsing, downloading and playing some old games
> i may set it back to stock again but with SP3 since she comes with 7


I had these PCs in the high school. With XP SP3 it worked supringisly good. If I remember good, we used it with 1024x768 15" LCD monitors. GTA: San Andreas worked on medium


----------



## Jstn7477 (Oct 17, 2014)

Slightly less slow...  (it's a 475AHX set to 2.5v on a SiS 5598 board with 384MB SDRAM)


----------



## micropage7 (Oct 17, 2014)

Misaki said:


> I had these PCs in the high school. With XP SP3 it worked supringisly good. If I remember good, we used it with 1024x768 15" LCD monitors. GTA: San Andreas worked on medium



yeah, this is my 2nd branded pc, the last time i bought acer desktop when i was on college 
i like this machine, its pretty silent and still has enough power for daily needs and easy browsing


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 19, 2014)

CardioDynamics BZ-326F\Dolch PAC-486. Picked this up for a buck a while ago, just never got around to posting pictures here.






Back. Notice the hospital markings. This system's made for a heart monitoring purpose. I don't have the stuff to use it for that but it does look like most of it isn't proprietary so I might be able to make parts work in the future.





mmm AMI BIOS. This here's a fairly late 486 board but it's also an industrial board.





mmm WinBIOS. Interestingly this motherboard has no PCI slots yet it's still there in the BIOS.





Nice and fast.





Cherry G80-1813HFU keyboard. Has Dolch keycaps, aka the best looking MX caps ever. Also sought after due to their pure awesomeness - replica sets have even been made.





Keyboard has MX Blues with a green spacebar switch.





Bit of a tight fit





Has *gasp* real cache!






Here's some pictures of the keyboard specifically for those interested, including disassembly. http://imgur.com/a/uCGjf


----------



## Jstn7477 (Oct 19, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> mmm WinBIOS. Interestingly this motherboard has no PCI slots yet it's still there in the BIOS.



I've only seen one AMI WinBIOS in my lifetime and it was on an HP with a Pentium 120MHz. Sadly, the riser board was seemingly burned out, but it still sort of worked as the ports and video adapter were onboard.

Also, I spy two PCI slots northeast to the processor and the large black "BENCHMARQ" object above it? Or, are those VLB slots?


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 19, 2014)

Nope, those are actually VLB slots. Most common cards were video and I/O although I'm sure some other stuff made use of 'em.

Benchmarq chip is the RTC iirc.


----------



## Jstn7477 (Oct 19, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> Nope, those are actually VLB slots. Most common cards were video and I/O although I'm sure some other stuff made use of 'em.
> 
> Benchmarq chip is the RTC iirc.



Yep, just ninja edited my post after thinking about it for a bit. So, there are full VLB slots and for some reason they added an ISA-only riser, space constraints for full height cards I guess?


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 19, 2014)

There's actually not enough case space for using the ISA slots normally so the riser card was thrown in so they could actually put cards in. The internal case clearance is maybe 4" - not even enough for low profile cards (that is saying low profile ISA cards existed).


----------



## Jstn7477 (Oct 19, 2014)

Gotcha. Well, very neat machine nonetheless!


----------



## micropage7 (Oct 19, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> CardioDynamics BZ-326F\Dolch PAC-486. Picked this up for a buck a while ago, just never got around to posting pictures here.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



woow, nice and like brand new, you clean it up before


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 24, 2014)

Retro or not? It's up to you.

My PS2,model number SCPH-39004.



And the file manager,uLaunchELF 4.42b. It's been a lot of time since I did the theme. Before this,the original pictures was a Vinyl Scratch wallpaper (I guess you know who I'm talking about)
Rarely I use uLaunchELF,only if I need to run Lenschanger or anything like that. I might put a SNES emu in there sometime.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 24, 2014)

LOL, yea the PS2's are getting long in the tooth now days. I have to agree, they are fairly nostalgic.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 24, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Retro or not? It's up to you.
> 
> My PS2,model number SCPH-39004.
> View attachment 59901
> ...


i have a Platinum slim one around my bunch of hardware boxes  tho i rarely use it with PCSX2 on my computer


----------



## P4-630 (Oct 28, 2014)

Philips CDi player, I still have it.
I bought the internet kit with it and used internet for the first time on the cdi player in the 90s.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 28, 2014)

P4-630 said:


> Philips CDi player, I still have it.
> I bought the internet kit with it and used internet for the first time on the cdi player in the 90s.


Do you have the worst Zelda game ever, that was made exclusively for the CDi?


----------



## P4-630 (Oct 28, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Do you have the worst Zelda game ever, that was made exclusively for the CDi?



No I didn't have Zelda, my favorite games were Burn Cycle, Litil Devil, Lost Eden, Myst, The 7th Guest and Dimo's Quest.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 28, 2014)

P4-630 said:


> No I didn't have Zelda, my favorite games were Burn Cycle, Litil Devil, Lost Eden, Myst, The 7th Guest and Dimo's Quest.


I expected Myst. Myst was incredible on every platform it was on


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 30, 2014)

Picked up a Macintosh IIcx the other day along with an Apple Extended Keyboard and an AEK II. Non-vintage with it was a Core Duo Mac Mini but that's not too fascinating.





















And the AEK II









And my only actual picture of the AEK.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 30, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Nice Macintosh, @Compgeke!
> BTW. Kids doesn't know how to use this connector


My '82 IBM has that for the monitor, too. Funny thing is, I'm sure many of the guys in this clubhouse would consider me a kid, the IBM is older than me


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 30, 2014)

Same here. It's for the monitor although I wouldn't trust running most CRTs off those due to the power spike at startup. I know IBM didn't recommend running the 5153 monitor off of that but the 5151 was fine.

AT&T PC-6300 on the other hand did support running the colour monitor off that plug.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 30, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> Same here. It's for the monitor although I wouldn't trust running most CRTs off those due to the power spike at startup. I know IBM didn't recommend running the 5153 monitor off of that but the 5151 was fine.
> 
> AT&T PC-6300 on the other hand did support running the colour monitor off that plug.


Yep. Mine is the 5150, supports running either the monochrome green and black monitor OR the printer off of that plug, but never both (apparently there were splitters available in the aftermarket, but of course none of them were approved). Of course, mine may have an upgraded PSU in it, as it had a lot of the optional extras, such as the increased RAM size, second 5.25 floppy, the printer, and tape drive. IIRC, it has a 63.5W PSU.


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 30, 2014)

63.5 is the factory stuck. It was strongly recommended that you don't run a hard drive off that as you reach the power limit fairly fast.


----------



## Random Murderer (Oct 30, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> 63.5 is the factory stuck. It was strongly recommended that you don't run a hard drive off that as you reach the power limit fairly fast.


I do recall that the cassette deck had its own power brick, maybe that's why. Frankly, I'm just surprised 63.5W was/is enough to run the system _and_ the monitor. Unfortunately, I never had a hard drive for this particular unit, but that's fine. 256K RAM was plenty for games and word processing tasks, you just have to load from and save to a 5.25 floppy. That just adds to the nostalgia, at least for me.


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 30, 2014)

Do those motherboards on the far right in the last picture have CF or PC card slots on the top left?


----------



## Misaki (Oct 30, 2014)

Compgeke said:


> Do those motherboards on the far right in the last picture have CF or PC card slots on the top left?


Yes, Amiga 600 has PCMCIA slot.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 30, 2014)

Oh wow, great find Misaki!!!


----------



## STIG_ZA (Nov 3, 2014)

Hi, am new to this forum but have many old pc's around. This seems like the right place to post pics of them

Will start with this as i built it up a few days ago using an old HP compaq D310 which was in really good condition just it only does 533mhz fsb so a 2.66Ghz p4 was the best i had for it.

Original specs were like this:
CPU: Pentium 4 2.66Ghz
Motherboard: OEM(liteOn) intel 845GE based board 
RAM: 256mb DDR333
GPU: Nvidia geforce 2 mx400
HDD: 40Gb WD
PSU: 200W liteON, well made it seems 





So i pulled all that out and replaced it with some slightly newer skt478 parts, in order to upgrade the CPU
Specs are now:
CPU: 2.8Ghz pentium 4 HT(northwood)
Motherboard: Asus p4v8x-mx, did have 3 dodgy capacitors that i replaced 
Ram: 1x 1gb DDR400
GPU: PowerColor ATI radeon 9600pro(looking for an x800 or 6600GT)
HDD: 80Gb Seagate 7200.10 IDE drive
PSU: 250W Hippro(from a higher end HP system), used it as it seems like a decent 250w psu and does 14amps on 12v rail


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 3, 2014)

STIG_ZA said:


> Hi, am new to this forum but have many old pc's around. This seems like the right place to post pics of them
> 
> Will start with this as i built it up a few days ago using an old HP compaq D310 which was in really good condition just it only does 533mhz fsb so a 2.66Ghz p4 was the best i had for it.
> 
> ...



if i could i would hit thanks 2time but i can't 
firstly welcome! secondly GOOD choice to post here as you 1st post! thirdly thanks! for sharing that and for having a Han Solo-Chewbacca avatar


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 3, 2014)

Sweet ole hardware STIG_ZA!!!!! 
I will get you added to the original post after work today! 

And a big welcome to TechpowerUp!!!!


----------



## kazz (Nov 3, 2014)

i should take computers from my office to this thread, most of them are pentium 4 or athlon64


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 4, 2014)

kazz said:


> i should take computers from my office to this thread, most of them are pentium 4 or athlon64



 Yes you should man.


----------



## STIG_ZA (Nov 4, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Sweet ole hardware STIG_ZA!!!!!
> I will get you added to the original post after work today!
> 
> And a big welcome to TechpowerUp!!!!



Thanks, looks like an awesome place. Will keep posting more stuff, have a few of everything from a 120mhz Pentium to a core 2 duo 



kazz said:


> i should take computers from my office to this thread, most of them are pentium 4 or athlon64



Yep got most of the pentium 4's I have from offices who were throwing them out. Seems they are even just tossing core 2 based pc's out now


----------



## FIXED I.T. (Nov 4, 2014)

Hello People , I don't have any photos at the moment as my s2 got run over 
by a truck on the weekend . I have lots of old stuff , but no photographs .
If this loads properly , it should be an old picture of a NASA pod being fitted 
to a plane full of computers and aerials to map the ground below . 
My old job . I know it doesn't fit here , but I thought you might be 
interested .


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 4, 2014)

Alright, finally got around to adding ya STIG_ZA!


----------



## STIG_ZA (Nov 7, 2014)

Slowly getting around to taking pics of the stuff i have.......exams meh

This is my socket 939 athlon64 2004/2005 games pc, has some newer games on too just because i wanted to see what it could do......played crysis but low with some medium settings was about it.

Got this as a complete pc a while ago, was just pretty dusty and unloved with some bad dents in the case and very home made fan extension cables. Stripped it out completely, cleaned everything, replaced the leaking capacitors in the PSU and swapped the basic frame of the case for another that was similar except for having a different front panel. Only issues it still has are one dead Ethernet port(gigabit port sill works at least) and then the ram will not work in dual channel, no matter what i do it will just refuse to post if you have them in the correct slots for dual channel mode.

Specs are:
CPU: AMD athlon64 3200+ (2.0ghz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939
Ram: 2x apacer 512mb DDR400(sigh can not get it to run in dual channel, have tried 4 different sets of ram)
GPU: Gainward 6800GT Ultra2400 Golden Sample GLH
HDD: 1x 80GB maxtor diamond max plus 9(have another one for if i need more space)
OS: Windows XP pro sp3 
PSU: procase 300W




Cooler/cover is pretty faded unfortunately


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 7, 2014)

Sweet STIG_ZA!!!!


----------



## P4-630 (Nov 8, 2014)

My first laptop:  Packard Bell igo 5960 or something like that, bought it in 2003, specs: intel celeron 2Ghz,  512Gb ram, os windows xp.
No wifi...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 9, 2014)

STIG_ZA said:


> Specs are now:
> CPU: 2.8Ghz pentium 4 HT(northwood)
> Motherboard: Asus p4v8x-mx, did have 3 dodgy capacitors that i replaced
> Ram: 1x 1gb DDR400
> ...



I have the very same motherboard as you,except it's relabeled as ASRock P4VM800 and the only differences are that PCB's blue,PS/2 ports are arranged horizontally (on motherboard) and I have 2 extra USB ports. Besides that,the onboard components seem to be the same.

Back to thread,just got another SATA cable as old one broke down and while at it,got a old 256MB Sparkle FX5200 128-bit AGP 8X video card that awaits to be recapped. (3 Crapxon caps were bad,so I'll replace 2 with Sanyo WG caps and the last with a I.Q cap)


----------



## STIG_ZA (Nov 10, 2014)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I have the very same motherboard as you,except it's relabeled as ASRock P4VM800 and the only differences are that PCB's blue,PS/2 ports are arranged horizontally (on motherboard) and I have 2 extra USB ports. Besides that,the onboard components seem to be the same.
> 
> Back to thread,just got another SATA cable as old one broke down and while at it,got a old 256MB Sparkle FX5200 128-bit AGP 8X video card that awaits to be recapped. (3 Crapxon caps were bad,so I'll replace 2 with Sanyo WG caps and the last with a I.Q cap)



Yep seems to be pretty similar. Many of asrocks boards seemed to almost be copies of asus stuff 

Also got a fx5200 with some dead caps and broken fan, tried fixing it but bearings are destroyed


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 16, 2014)

I would already say that my CPU and motherboard are pretty nostalgic.  i7 920 D0 and Asus P6T SE. Still has pretty much horsepower when overclocked to 4GHz and over. 

The reason why I sold my Z68 setup was that the mobo was kinda broken and this X58 setup cost only 60 Euros(!)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 16, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> I would already say that my CPU and motherboard are pretty nostalgic.  i7 920 D0 and Asus P6T SE. Still has pretty much horsepower when overclocked to 4GHz and over.
> 
> The reason why I sold my Z68 setup was that the mobo was kinda broken and this X58 setup cost only 60 Euros(!)


yep indeed  also worth mentioning it i had a 1366 setup with a P6T SE a 920 for 60chf (less than 60€ tho) but it also had a Rampage III Extreme and 12gb ram in the bundle (1600) funny point was: i received the P6T SE 1st and i thought i bought a RIIIE and the guy sent me a mail with "dont worry the RIIIE/RAM/CPU will follow shortly", so basically i got that for 0chf and even made 20chf on it,  since i did resell the P6T SE for 80chf   talk about a strike of luck ... tho i wouldn't include anything after core 2 duo as nostalgic until mid 2015  (nitpicking eh?)


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 16, 2014)

Not bad  Maybe I just get a Gulftown to this so I don't need to upgrade other things yet..


----------



## STIG_ZA (Nov 19, 2014)

Dug out my dusty and forgotten about slot 1 pentium 3 system, busy cleaning it up and trying to get it going. For some reason it has become unbelievably fussy with ram, have a whole box with about 50 different SDRAM modules and only 3 out of all of that seems to work at all in here.........even then its a struggle to get it to detect all of it. 

It had a 600Mhz p3 with 133mhz bus using a slot 1 - skt370 adapter, 512Mb pc133 SDRAM(because of the overclocked bus), gigabyte bx2000 intel 440BX board, 40gb HDD, ati radeon 9250 and some generic genius sound card with a cmedia chip. 

CPU got fried after some jumper settings for the voltage were changed by accident. Not sure if that also damaged the motherboard making the ram such a pain to get working. So right now it has a 500Mhz p3(early one with 512k external l2 cache), 256Mb ram as cant get 512 to work, an FX5200(might put 9250 back as it seemed faster), since It has windows 98 now and not XP put in an old media vision pro audio spectrum 16 card(sounds really nice actually), 20GB hdd as 40gb is overkill for dos games. Working ok for now just needs more of a clean and then will put some pics up


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 24, 2014)

4.3GHz seems to need some tuning, BF4 crashed though the system seemed to be stable... Needs some fine tuning..


----------



## JunkBear (Nov 24, 2014)

STIG_ZA said:


> Dug out my dusty and forgotten about slot 1 pentium 3 system, busy cleaning it up and trying to get it going. For some reason it has become unbelievably fussy with ram, have a whole box with about 50 different SDRAM modules and only 3 out of all of that seems to work at all in here.........even then its a struggle to get it to detect all of it.
> 
> It had a 600Mhz p3 with 133mhz bus using a slot 1 - skt370 adapter, 512Mb pc133 SDRAM(because of the overclocked bus), gigabyte bx2000 intel 440BX board, 40gb HDD, ati radeon 9250 and some generic genius sound card with a cmedia chip.
> 
> CPU got fried after some jumper settings for the voltage were changed by accident. Not sure if that also damaged the motherboard making the ram such a pain to get working. So right now it has a 500Mhz p3(early one with 512k external l2 cache), 256Mb ram as cant get 512 to work, an FX5200(might put 9250 back as it seemed faster), since It has windows 98 now and not XP put in an old media vision pro audio spectrum 16 card(sounds really nice actually), 20GB hdd as 40gb is overkill for dos games. Working ok for now just needs more of a clean and then will put some pics up



By experience i can tell you that in older systems single aided and double sided rams dont work well together. Go for single side only because sometimes a double sided ram were detected as 2 memory sticks so one of the slot was unused due to that configuration.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 30, 2014)

Damn!! Found a Voodoo2 12MB when I was cleaning my old apartment (just moved to another one) and instantly installed it to my retro P3-866 PC! Surely I post some pics later! 

I just hope that it works


----------



## Compgeke (Dec 1, 2014)

Got this over the weekend.

Mac SE without a Radius upgrade. 

First off, I didn't actually spend $100 on this, instead $3. It was being thrown out and a few bucks to save it is all it took.








Like I said, it doesn't have a Radius upgrade like the sticker says. Instead it has a better one - General Computer Hypercharger 020. It has a 16 MHz 68020, 68881 FPU and an unknown amount of ram.




Hard drive is a Miniscribe 20 meg. Label is a bit of an oxymoron as Miniscribe and Quality aren't usually seen together.








And yes, it does in fact work. I have to dig a mouse out tomorrow to check the OS version and how much ram but I can tell you for sure it's OS 6.x.x and at least 2 megs.


----------



## TRWOV (Dec 1, 2014)

Finally got off my ass and finished my XP build:








Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA
Phenom II X4 965
8GB DDR2-1066
HIS Radeon HD3850 IceQ Turbo AGP
Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic low profile (got it for the front panel connector)
SiL3512 PCI card
Gigabyte iRAM w/ 4GB of RAM
2x Seagate 160GB in RAID0
Corsair CX430

XP and 8GB of RAM you ask? I'm using eboostr to use the unused RAM as cache, similar to Readyboost. The bad thing is that boot and shutdown times are increased since the cache has to be copied and loaded from disk.
The iRAM is used for the pagefile

Benchmarks soon


----------



## STIG_ZA (Dec 1, 2014)

Finally uploading pix of slot 1 Pentium 3/windows 98SE build:

Media vision PAS16.......old even back then but sounds quite nice






Not the biggest heatsink but fan spins at 6000rpm so runs cool enough










Case is not so bad but is missing both side panels. Has original Pentium 2 sticker on the front still as i dont have any p3 ones 





So current specs are:
500Mhz Pentium 3
Gigabyte BX2000
Gigabyte radeon 9250 128mb
256Mb Apacer PC100 SDRAM(with cas latency of 2 not 3 like most pc100)
20Gb Seagate U10
media vision pas16
Freecom, just a re-badged NEC CD-RW drive
OEM 250W PSU from 1999

Runs all the games of the time nicely


----------



## TRWOV (Dec 1, 2014)

Woot! Broke my previous 3dm06 record with the 3850 AGP:

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm06/17693928/3dm06/17075086


edit: grammar


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 3, 2014)

Not bad! 

I found also a SCSI card which I installed also to that retro-PC. All I need now is some SCSI drives.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 3, 2014)

Too tired to take photos from those treasures now 

Been tuning my X58 platform, a "slight" overclock running now, 2667MHz @ 4448MHz and somehow I managed to get 4x4GB modules on triple channel 

Damn, this little beast overclocks like mad!


----------



## agent00skid (Dec 4, 2014)

My father came around with an old computer that was going to be thrown out. It had a Waveterminal 192L sound card.


 
And the CPU cooler was loose, so I removed it. What a terrible TIM job. :S


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2014)

Haha, very interesting TIM job indeed!


----------



## STIG_ZA (Dec 4, 2014)

They thought, more tim = better


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 4, 2014)

agent00skid said:


> My father came around with an old computer that was going to be thrown out. It had a Waveterminal 192L sound card.
> View attachment 60713
> And the CPU cooler was loose, so I removed it. What a terrible TIM job. :S
> View attachment 60714


That's a pretty damn good sound card. Nice pull!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 5, 2014)

STIG_ZA said:


> They thought, more tim = better


I was thinking the same.


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 5, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> I was thinking the same.



Some girls still think the same about make-up.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 6, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Some girls still think the same about make-up.


Now come here and clean this beer from my keyboard, you've made my day 

Offtopic, damn I miss my old apartment for one reason... It had 100/100Mbit cable.. Now I have just 2/2Mbit ADSL 




http://www.speedtest.net/result/3963612772.png


LOL I just noticed that you have exactly twice the amount of messages posted here in TPU than me!


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 6, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Now come here and clean this beer from my keyboard, you've made my day
> 
> Offtopic, damn I miss my old apartment for one reason... It had 100/100Mbit cable.. Now I have just 2/2Mbit ADSL
> 
> ...



Nope...too afraid that beer isn't the only fluid I find on your keyboard.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 6, 2014)

JunkBear said:


> Nope...too afraid that beer isn't the only fluid I find on your keyboard.


Stop that or I die because of laughing.


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 6, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Stop that or I die because of laughing.



If you die laughing of that your life must be damn boring. My jokes are bad and you should feel bad.


----------



## kazz (Dec 6, 2014)

talking about network and nostalgic hardware, i was brought one of these frome ebay some time ago:






it is some rare wifi card what uses some special connection bus what can find only on certain earli 00s asus motherboards.
and actually my asus a7v800 happens to be one of suitable mobo, but unfortunately i was unable to get that thing working, it was discovered
networks and tried multiple settings but no sucsess, might be defective part or just compatibility issue with both of wifi routers what i have.

notable thing - that card is brand new what i have, it was never before opened box  (picture is just illustratve and from internet)


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## GreiverBlade (Dec 18, 2014)

kazz said:


> talking about network and nostalgic hardware, i was brought one of these frome ebay some time ago:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


DAMN! it's what i should got when i won the auction ... but no i ended to get a Shuttle AK10V1.0 in a ASUS nf4 (and the advertised product was a nf4 deluxe with the Wifi@Home ext card) well i didn't bitched about it since i got the auction for 1chf ahah ... at last i didn't lost anything and even got a supplemental SDR PC100 stick for my collection and a Athlon 750  

tho your pics make me angry for some reason


----------



## kazz (Dec 19, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> DAMN! it's what i should got when i won the auction ... but no i ended to get a Shuttle AK10V1.0 in a ASUS nf4 (and the advertised product was a nf4 deluxe with the Wifi@Home ext card) well i didn't bitched about it since i got the auction for 1chf ahah ... at last i didn't lost anything and even got a supplemental SDR PC100 stick for my collection and a Athlon 750
> 
> tho your pics make me angry for some reason



there is no reason at all to be angry if You really like that item, as I said I was not able to get it running (dont know if deffective product or just uncompability with modern routers)
and I was brought it for actual usage not collection.. so I can sell it with similar price I was brought it, if You are interested lets talk via private message


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## stinger608 (Dec 27, 2014)

Have had this a couple of years now. I guess one could sort of consider a GTX560 as nostalgic? LOL

Everything is brand new unopened/unused except for the actual video card. 


Spoiler: Duke's Fully Loaded


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 27, 2014)

stinger608 said:


> Have had this a couple of years now. I guess one could sort of consider a GTX560 as nostalgic? LOL
> 
> Everything is brand new unopened/unused except for the actual video card.
> 
> ...


YES! remember i posted a GTX560 448 when i started on this thread


----------



## Misaki (Dec 31, 2014)

Well, it's not that retro, but I bought an used laptop. Cost: 160PLN. No HDD, no PSU and GPU with cold soldering joints. (160PLN = 46$)

For the first time I had an hotair in my hands. But it works 
Acer Aspire 5530 - Athlon X2 QL-60 1.9GHz, 2GB DDR2, HD3200 128MB, WD 250GB.

"Hey mom, look, it glows like a MacBook!"





Cappy quality ftw.





Screenshot





I love this laptop. Cheap, fast, nice design.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 31, 2014)

Misaki said:


> Well, it's not that retro, but I bought an used laptop. Cost: 160PLN. No HDD, no PSU and GPU with cold soldering joints. (160PLN = 46$)
> 
> For the first time I had an hotair in my hands. But it works
> Acer Aspire 5530 - Athlon X2 QL-60 1.9GHz, 2GB DDR2, HD3200 128MB, WD 250GB.
> ...


retro enough ... to bad it's ACER... urghh i hate that brand almost as bad as i hate Razer or Alienware/Dell so many fails with them an never a good product ... well my Destructor still do fine but hey .... it's a mousemat not that hard to do it right ... 

PS: if my E8400 setup is retro enough then a AX2 QL-60 is enough retro too if we say 6month in computer is dinosaur then what is 6 yrs (both setup are from around 2008  ) and soo we are in 2015


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 1, 2015)

Just replaced my main rig's small uATX case with something better:
 

It's a Delux MG760-BMW case. Got it free from a friend,and came with 2 DVD drives and a Enlight SD card reader.

Some of you may or may not like it,but IMO it's a HUGE improvement. My temps went down 10*C  (so they are around 25-30, before they were 38-40) with it..

Also I rewired the 4 front leds so 2 are for power and 2 are for the HDD.


The specs inside the case are:

*MB - ASUS P3-AE5 motherboard (M2V-TVM)
Memory - 1.50GB RAM DDR2
HDD - 1TB Samsung HD103SI
CD/DVD - HL-DT-ST GSA-H55N DVD writer
Samsung CD-ROM drive
GPU - ASUS EN210 (Geforce 210) 1GB PCI-E video card
TV Tuner - Leadtek WinFast TV2000XP TV Tuner
CPU - AMD Sempron 3400+ AM2
USB - Enlight SD/MMC/CF/xD card reader
PSU - Delux ATX-450W P4 PSU
Operating System - Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 1, 2015)

I've stumbled upon this topic while searching for something on Google and just had to join the conversation (and TechPowerUp forum, in order to do so) 

I own quite a retro collection, featuring 20+ old systems & pretty much the same amount of 3dfx Voodoo cards. Here's some of my stuff, although I have lots more around the boxes & under my desk


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## TRWOV (Jan 1, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just replaced my main rig's small uATX case with something better:
> View attachment 61254
> 
> It's a Delux MG760-BMW case. Got it free from a friend,and came with 2 DVD drives and a Enlight SD card reader.



I used to have a case like that but with a different face plate


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 1, 2015)

Welcome to the forums and this awesome thread @Trekkie4 !!!! That is a crazy awesome collection you have man. 

I have, of course, added you to the list in the original post.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 1, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Welcome to the forums and this awesome thread @Trekkie4 !!!! That is a crazy awesome collection you have man.
> 
> I have, of course, added you to the list in the original post.



Thank you very much!  One thing I've noticed about this thread is that (unlike most of similar threads on other forums), this one seems to be pretty active all the time. I've got some pretty cool stuff coming up, such as Dell Optiplex GX110 running a WinME and Voodoo2 card, so I'll probably upload more stuff when I get the chance!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 1, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thank you very much!  One thing I've noticed about this thread is that (unlike most of similar threads on other forums), this one seems to be pretty active all the time. I've got some pretty cool stuff coming up, such as Dell Optiplex GX110 running a WinME and Voodoo2 card, so I'll probably upload more stuff when I get the chance!



It is still very active and has some great members in here! I am glad you found us bro. 

Very cool GX110! I always liked them ole Optiplex's. I remember how insanely expensive they were when they were new. 

Anyhow, be sure to check a ton of the other stuff out here on TechPowerUp! It is a great community with some very friendly and knowledgeable members. It has been my second home for some time now. 
I sure hope you enjoy it here man.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 1, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just replaced my main rig's small uATX case with something better:
> View attachment 61254
> 
> It's a Delux MG760-BMW case. Got it free from a friend,and came with 2 DVD drives and a Enlight SD card reader.
> ...


 

The M2V-TVM was also sold as part not only in this case as setup. I bought one many years ago and I'm in Quebec, Canada. Just saying for informations.  Happy new year.


----------



## Misaki (Jan 1, 2015)

Today I resurrected another PC. Dell Optiplex GX620 MT from 2005, my friend was about to destroy it. I can't allow it!
He keep only RAM and HDD from this desktop. Nobody cares about 2x 256MB ram 

Specs:
-Intel Pentium D 930 (2x 3GHz)
-2GB DDR2 533MHz
-Sapphire X800 XL 256MB DDR3 256Bit
-WD 250GB
-Dell 305W

Windows XP Pro COA, I have installed Vista Home Premium SP2.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 1, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> It is still very active and has some great members in here! I am glad you found us bro.
> 
> Very cool GX110! I always liked them ole Optiplex's. I remember how insanely expensive they were when they were new.
> 
> ...



Thanks! I do like it here so far, and I have no reason to believe otherwise 

And yeah, even just the Voodoo2 card alone used to cost a fortune back then, I remember when I got my 1st one, it was Diamond Monster 3DII (12mb) in September/October '98. I still have that original rig from back then, but some of the components had to be replaced... It's a long story, perhaps I'll tell you guys more some other time if you're interested 



Misaki said:


> Today I resurrected another PC. Dell Optiplex GX620 MT from 2005, my friend was about to destroy it. I can't allow it!
> He keep only RAM and HDD from this desktop. Nobody cares about 2x 256MB ram
> 
> Specs:
> ...



It amazes me how many idiots destroy (or throw away) older hardware such as these, just because they've got something better. I remember watching YT where some guy was trying to cook an egg on his GPU heatsink, with the fan removed *sigh* Some ppl are just hopeless I guess, or just morons.


----------



## Devon68 (Jan 1, 2015)

> Today I resurrected another PC. Dell Optiplex GX620 MT from 2005, my friend was about to destroy it. I can't allow it!
> He keep only RAM and HDD from this desktop. Nobody cares about 2x 256MB ram
> 
> Specs:
> ...


Pff that's great compared to mine. My cpu's WEI score is 2.9, gpu 4.4 and it still runs win 7 32 bit pretty nicely. 
Cant even watch hd videos on youtube but for nostalgic reasons I will keep it as long as I can.


----------



## Misaki (Jan 1, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> Pff that's great compared to mine. My cpu's WEI score is 2.9, gpu 4.4 and it still runs win 7 32 bit pretty nicely.
> Cant even watch hd videos on youtube but for nostalgic reasons I will keep it as long as I can.


Try SMPlayer. 720p on Athlon XP 1700+ and GF4 Ti4200


----------



## xvi (Jan 1, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


>


I still have a Jet 7, a cooler similar to that Orb (Thermaltake Duorb or something?) and a retail box Monster 3D, albeit not the Mark 2. That's a nice collection you have!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2015)

xvi said:


> I still have a Jet 7, a cooler similar to that Orb (Thermaltake Duorb or something?) and a retail box Monster 3D, albeit not the Mark 2. That's a nice collection you have!



Thanks! That Jet7 cooler was brand new when I got it, but unfortunately it came with damaged (open) packaging so I decided to put it to a good use, to cool my Athlon XP 1800  As for the other one, that's Thermaltake Golden Orb series, 1st or maybe 2nd generation I believe.

Moving on, got more stuff & projects to share!  Most of these were donated to me recently on one other forum, it was very kind of them to do so. Core2 Duo may not be the most "oldest" thing around these forums, but I really needed a Core2 system for multimedia center/HDTV gaming system. That one is still in building process, it's going to be paired up with 8800GTS 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



I also do PCB repairs & cap change when needed... (but within limits) Such as with this Abit BE6-II motherboard here for example



 



And this last one is just for the giggles


----------



## Misaki (Jan 2, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks! I do like it here so far, and I have no reason to believe otherwise
> 
> And yeah, even just the Voodoo2 card alone used to cost a fortune back then, I remember when I got my 1st one, it was Diamond Monster 3DII (12mb) in September/October '98. I still have that original rig from back then, but some of the components had to be replaced... It's a long story, perhaps I'll tell you guys more some other time if you're interested
> 
> ...





Devon68 said:


> Pff that's great compared to mine. My cpu's WEI score is 2.9, gpu 4.4 and it still runs win 7 32 bit pretty nicely.
> Cant even watch hd videos on youtube but for nostalgic reasons I will keep it as long as I can.


Well, I have tested the Pentium D 930. This is... pretty good CPU! Played LoL (yeah...) in 1440x900 on MEDIUM and on Vista with 60fps (!!!). On my Athlon 64 3000+ I had 20fps on low, 1024x768 and XP. Same GPU so yeah, Pentium is much much faster than A64. I even want to disconnect my main PC (Phenom II X6) for about a week and work on this Dell.

I think that I fall in love... with a computer.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 2, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> The M2V-TVM was also sold as part not only in this case as setup. I bought one many years ago and I'm in Quebec, Canada. Just saying for informations.  Happy new year.


IIRC this one was a "Davio" system that came with an M2V-MX. The friend said it died after 8 years (board had 4 bad KZGs near CPU)and he said he wants to sell parts from it. So far he sold the PSU and motherboard (which I recapped for him). What I bought from him was 1GB of DDR2 RAM (single stick). The case was free w/2 DVD drives.

The best thing on it is that it's so large inside. BTW,my M2V-TVM says it is actually a M2V-TVM-GB.


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 2, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks! That Jet7 cooler was brand new when I got it, but unfortunately it came with damaged (open) packaging so I decided to put it to a good use, to cool my Athlon XP 1800  As for the other one, that's Thermaltake Golden Orb series, 1st or maybe 2nd generation I believe.
> 
> Moving on, got more stuff & projects to share!  Most of these were donated to me recently on one other forum, it was very kind of them to do so. Core2 Duo may not be the most "oldest" thing around these forums, but I really needed a Core2 system for multimedia center/HDTV gaming system. That one is still in building process, it's going to be paired up with 8800GTS
> 
> ...


d##mn, how many pc that you have in your house?
from pictures you at least have 4 pcs run
btw at some points having old pc and building retro machine is kinda cool
i have hp compaq dc7600 sff that back to stock (win xp sp3)
and works pretty good.
i use it for easy browsing and downloading
and yes, sometimes i wonder why until now xp still running pretty fine with small size


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 2, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


>



well you have the gold i have the silver

its a Majesty V from Titan, still wondering if Titan renamed to Thermaltake  or i missed something ... well mine is a Titan Majesty V


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 2, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> IIRC this one was a "Davio" system that came with an M2V-MX. The friend said it died after 8 years (board had 4 bad KZGs near CPU)and he said he wants to sell parts from it. So far he sold the PSU and motherboard (which I recapped for him). What I bought from him was 1GB of DDR2 RAM (single stick). The case was free w/2 DVD drives.
> 
> The best thing on it is that it's so large inside. BTW,my M2V-TVM says it is actually a M2V-TVM-GB.



I actually dont know why...gb only for the specs of the desktop builder. Asus M2V-TVM sold like that at computer store.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 2, 2015)

and silver gone ... for good ... damn those majesty are noisy as hell...

Tt Silent Boost return (ghetto edition ... didn't find the right screw or clamp holder but it hold just fine  also Phobya HE Grease Extreme? why not  full copper over full aluminum ? DEAL
the paint in the Nemesis is not finished ... i ran out of black before finishing ... but "once you go black you never go back!" black red and white theme now 
  
  

also 3200+ now well let's install XP Pro and see what i can do about that ...


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 2, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> well you have the gold i have the silver
> View attachment 61268
> its a Majesty V from Titan, still wondering if Titan renamed to Thermaltake  or i missed something ... well mine is a Titan Majesty V



Titan is still around: http://www.titan-cd.com/index_e.php

Some of their coolers are sold on this side of the pond by Evercool.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> d##mn, how many pc that you have in your house?
> from pictures you at least have 4 pcs run
> btw at some points having old pc and building retro machine is kinda cool
> i have hp compaq dc7600 sff that back to stock (win xp sp3)
> ...



Not sure I understood your question, you mean how many (working) computers I have in my house? Too many, apparently  Actually, I have approx. 27 systems, of which 26 are in working condition (I'm currently working on that last one)

I also have 2x Socket A motherboards with the appropriate CPUs, both in working condition although one of them has bulged caps, 2 more Slot 1 motherboards (same situation, one has bulged caps and the other is fine), 1x Socket 7 AT board with P233 MMX and a S370 mATX board with Tualatin Celeron (should be in working condition)

Last year I even had the exhibition, it was even featured in the local newspapers and internet portal(s), so I'll most likely donate some of my collection to a museum (although it's still too early to tell anything for sure...) We are talking about permanent donation of course, but before I go down that path, museum and I will have to discuss how much they want and which generation would they prefer before we actually work something out. I have pretty much everything, from 486 DX2, 486 DX4 to S478 Pentium 2.0, Core2 Duo and Core2 Quad



GreiverBlade said:


> well you have the gold i have the silver
> View attachment 61268
> its a Majesty V from Titan, still wondering if Titan renamed to Thermaltake  or i missed something ... well mine is a Titan Majesty V





TRWOV said:


> Titan is still around: http://www.titan-cd.com/index_e.php
> 
> Some of their coolers are sold on this side of the pond by Evercool.



Despite saying Titan, I'd say this is DEFINITELY Thermaltake  Not sure why it says Titan though, maybe you're right? Perhaps Titan changed their name to Thermaltake at some point, or maybe TT bought Titan? There was dozens of "different" models and variations, even for Slot-1 CPUs. In fact, I've had one of these back in a day mounted on (now rare) S423 P4. Later on, I've bought BlueOrb FX, but I was heavily disappointed with the overall performance vs size ratio, it couldn't even keep my 3.00 P4 temps within acceptable range! Ever since then, I've turned to Cooler Master for the new cases, power supplies & the cooling solutions and I've been pretty happy with their products ever since


----------



## Misaki (Jan 2, 2015)

Dell GX620 MT in action, woo!


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 2, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Despite saying Titan, I'd say this is DEFINITELY Thermaltake  Not sure why it says Titan though, maybe you're right? Perhaps Titan changed their name to Thermaltake at some point, or maybe TT bought Titan? There was dozens of "different" models and variations, even for Slot-1 CPUs



For all we know TT just got them from Titan and relabeled them.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 2, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> For all we know TT just got them from Titan and relabeled them.


i was about to answer that but i was at my job  thanks @TRWOV


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 3, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> For all we know TT just got them from Titan and relabeled them.



Hmm, didn't think about that... I wouldn't be surprised, at all.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2015)

WTF, HD2900GT actually runs Far Cry 3 with playable fps?


----------



## peche (Jan 3, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Some girls still think the same about make-up.



epic coment its epic...


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 3, 2015)

Sportsvision 1000

c. 1975
 football
tennis
squash
and practice mode

there is a fast or slow option
on/off autoserve
20 or 40 degree bounce angle setting and large or small bat options 


and that is it.

Me and my brothers really loved this thing it took 6  C batteries

The red button on the left controller is inside for safekeeping til i fix it


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 3, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Sportsvision 1000
> 
> c. 1975
> football
> ...




Very awesome ole system! I, of course, added ya to the original post.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2015)

Speaking of old consoles, here's my CPC464 

Unfortunately, I don't have the monitor and/or the power supply, so I have no idea if it's in the working condition or not


----------



## qubit (Jan 4, 2015)

The mighty 1979 "Radofin Colour TV Game" (note the British spelling on the box) with 10 glorious bat'n'ball games presets!

I don't think the term "games console" had yet been invented and a colour one back then was downright upmarket.

This isn't my one, but I've got one just like it and it still works. Its best feature is that the motion of the square "ball" and bats is perfectly smooth due to it being locked to vsync at 50Hz UK PAL. Oh they knew something about computer animation back then, lol. 

It's actually a battery only device, so at the time, I drilled a hole in the side and put a power socket there, then ran it off an adapter.

Alas, my one doesn't have the box any more, so this is a better example.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 4, 2015)

qubit said:


> The mighty 1979 "Radofin Colour TV Game" (note the British spelling on the box) with 10 glorious bat'n'ball games presets!
> 
> I don't think the term "games console" had been invented and a colour one back then was downright upmarket.
> 
> ...




Wow @qubit that is in very pristine condition man!!!! Very very awesome bro!


----------



## qubit (Jan 4, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Wow @qubit that is in very pristine condition man!!!! Very very awesome bro!


It is, but I can't take credit for that, since it's not my one. Mine doesn't have the box, but the unit and joysticks are in mostly pretty good condition.

One of the joysticks has the screw thread sticking up from the controller which the orangy handle bit screws onto snapped off, so we had to hack it with tape to make it stay in place. To this day we don't know how it broke off.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 4, 2015)

Damn I sold my old C64..  Still have NES, the best console ever! 

Far Cry 3 is pretty playable with this ancient GPU  Still I think that this needs a modified bios with higher voltage for higher overclocks..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2015)

Slightly off-topic, so I hope you guys won't mind, but still old hardware related subject 

I have a weird problem with Athlon XP 2400+ system, running 768mb of DDR400 RAM (3x 256mb configuration) System kept randomly crashing, so I ran a memory test (Memtest86, v4.20) which indicated endless errors some time in the middle of testing cycle. Now, here's the most bizarre part - all 3 memory modules seem to be working perfectly fine, in all 3 of the slots. System even works perfectly fine with 2 modules, but when I put the 3rd one in, everything goes downhill! Got any ideas?


----------



## Devon68 (Jan 4, 2015)

Well you can sell the 3 memory sticks and buy a 1GB stick and the problem should be gone. Are all memories the same (same speed )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> Well you can sell the 3 memory sticks and buy a 1GB stick and the problem should be gone. Are all memories the same (same speed )



Yes, all 3 are the same brand, model, revision, even PCB color and layout... 256mb DDR400 *sigh*


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 4, 2015)

I actually had many many issues back in the Socket A days running three memory sticks in motherboards @Trekkie4 !

This seemed to be a very common problem with them boards. I think the only Socket A board that I didn't have that problem with was an MSI Platinum board.
I would just grab a pair of 1 gig or 512 sticks and populate two memory slots.


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 4, 2015)

I also get that on my 880GMA-USB3 (FX6300) I can test both kits individually at 1866Mhz but as soon as I install both I get a bunch of errors that are corrected only by setting RAM speed to 1066 

Have you tried to set the RAM speed at 333 or 266 in the BIOS?


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 4, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> I also get that on my 880GMA-USB3 (FX6300) I can test both kits individually at 1866Mhz but as soon as I install both I get a bunch of errors that are corrected only by setting RAM speed to 1066
> 
> Have you tried to set the RAM speed at 333 or 266 in the BIOS?



Na, I think it is just the old issue with his socket A board. There was something wrong back then with the memory BUS. Most all the socket A boards had that issue. There were a few, like the MSI Platinum that I mentioned, that actually had 4 memory slots and didn't have that common issue.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> I also get that on my 880GMA-USB3 (FX6300) I can test both kits individually at 1866Mhz but as soon as I install both I get a bunch of errors that are corrected only by setting RAM speed to 1066
> 
> Have you tried to set the RAM speed at 333 or 266 in the BIOS?



Lowered the speed down to 266 and running Memtest86 as we speak...



stinger608 said:


> Na, I think it is just the old issue with his socket A board. There was something wrong back then with the memory BUS. Most all the socket A boards had that issue. There were a few, like the MSI Platinum that I mentioned, that actually had 4 memory slots and didn't have that common issue.



Wow, this is the 1st time I've heard about this... You know, under the normal circumstances, I'd simply buy 2 sticks of 512mb, but things are not always that simple. Most of the components here were either donated to me through the forum(s), or I bought them for couple of $$. So therefore, getting 2 identical modules nowdays, for a reasonable price would be almost impossible & not worth the effort I guess  When I was putting it together for the 1st time, I've been meaning to use 2x 256mb until I found the 3rd module somewhere among the RAM stack, so I figured why not... Since the board already had 3 memory banks, I wanted to put all of them to a good use.

EDIT
Memtest still running, way past the "crashing zone" of 26%, with all 3 modules installed... So I guess TRWOV you were right  Now, the question remains... is it worth running 3x 256mb of DDR266 (rather than DDR400), or having 2x 256mb of DDR440?

EDIT2
Pass complete, no errors! Now I've set the speed to 333 and running Memtest86 all over again.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 4, 2015)

Keep in mind that running 3 sticks shuts down the "dual channel." Not sure if that makes all that much difference anyhow.

@Trekkie4 if all else fails, I think I have a matched pair of "dual channel" 512's that I would send ya for the cost of shipping. Providing your in the US. LOL. I think they are some of the Kingston KVR ram.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Keep in mind that running 3 sticks shuts down the "dual channel." Not sure if that makes all that much difference anyhow.
> 
> @Trekkie4 if all else fails, I think I have a matched pair of "dual channel" 512's that I would send ya for the cost of shipping. Providing your in the US. LOL. I think they are some of the Kingston KVR ram.



Thank you very much Stinger608, but unfortunately I'm in EU, it would be too expensive 

Yet another pass complete, no errors. This time with 333, so what do you think? Should I just keep the current configuration with 768mb (3x DDR333) or go back to 512mb (2xDDR400)?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 4, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Keep in mind that running 3 sticks shuts down the "dual channel." Not sure if that makes all that much difference anyhow.


Makes a big difference on socket A.
FWIW, your assessments on socket A in the last few posts have all been correct.
Yes, there are workarounds but none will give the same performance level as a good pair of matched sticks.


----------



## Steevo (Jan 5, 2015)

Installed a game I found in the garage a friend gave me. Back in the day......


For those youngsters who don't know, modems were the way you dialed up to connect to the internet, and depending on where you lived it may have been a long distance call to connect to the internet, or a specific server, thus many companies offered a "free 800" number to prevent you from getting your ass reamed when the phone bill came and you called a long distance number for 12 hours to surf the web.


----------



## Devon68 (Jan 5, 2015)

> For those youngsters who don't know, modems were the way you dialed up to connect to the internet,


Ha ha and even to download a simple picture took forever. And you can download a 50GB game today. With those speeds with modem's to download 50 gigs you would need to start the download and go to hibernation for 100 years and the download might be done. (Probably not because of power outages the pc would be turned of by the time you wake up ) xD


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 5, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> I actually had many many issues back in the Socket A days running three memory sticks in motherboards @Trekkie4 !
> 
> This seemed to be a very common problem with them boards. I think the only Socket A board that I didn't have that problem with was an MSI Platinum board.
> I would just grab a pair of 1 gig or 512 sticks and populate two memory slots.


that's why i have a MSI KT6V only 2 ram slot ... and 2x512 actually ...  no crash but my win XP pro CD seems to come to an end ... i need a alternative


----------



## Devon68 (Jan 5, 2015)

Yeah I slapped a 1gb ram in one slot and 512 in other in my 462 socket A machine. Installed windows 7 32 bit and the boot speed is the same or even better then with XP. Also bought a 19'' samasung monitor for it so I can use it from time to time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> Ha ha and even to download a simple picture took forever. And you can download a 50GB game today. With those speeds with modem's to download 50 gigs you would need to start the download and go to hibernation for 100 years and the download might be done. (Probably not because of power outages the pc would be turned of by the time you wake up ) xD



I remember going online back in '98, '99, downloading custom cars (and other vehicles) for my favorite NFS game, Hot Pursuit (NFS3) It took ages just to get one car, which was around 15, 20mb maybe? Good old times, I really do miss these things!  Not to mention the sound coming from inside the computer case, while "handshaking" with the server, priceless!



GreiverBlade said:


> that's why i have a MSI KT6V only 2 ram slot ... and 2x512 actually ...  no crash but my win XP pro CD seems to come to an end ... i need a alternative





Devon68 said:


> Yeah I slapped a 1gb ram in one slot and 512 in other in my 462 socket A machine. Installed windows 7 32 bit and the boot speed is the same or even better then with XP. Also bought a 19'' samasung monitor for it so I can use it from time to time.



I kept the DDR333 configuration, 768mb of RAM. I figured the speed wouldn't be much of an issue, since I'm not going to OC this thing, or run anything modern or HD (YouTube for example). Remember, this is old-school thing, primarily designed to run the apps (and games) ranging from 2000 to 2005. And I really DO have to say that I'm impressed with overall performance! Heck, I can even play Half-Life 2 with more than decent frames, a game which I personally consider "modern" Or even heavily modified Grand Theft Auto (Vice City and San Andreas)

By the way, just in case someone's interested... System specs for the AMD build are:

CPU: AthlonXP 2400+
MBO: MSI MS-6712 (Ver:10A) aka KT4V
RAM: 3x 256Mb DDR400 (currently operating at 333)
VGA: nVidia GeForce6 6200 AGP Low-Profile
HDD: Hitachi DeskStar SATA 80GB (wired through the ATA-SATA adapter)
ODD: Samsung DVD-ROM drive, ATA
PSU: Generic, 300W

CPU cooler is Spire FalconRock II, case is Cooler Master midi tower (unknown, generic model?) with front USB & audio. I've picked up couple of these for $7.50 each


----------



## xvi (Jan 5, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> Ha ha and even to download a simple picture took forever. And you can download a 50GB game today. With those speeds with modem's to download 50 gigs you would need to start the download and go to hibernation for 100 years and the download might be done. (Probably not because of power outages the pc would be turned of by the time you wake up ) xD


A hundred years? Nonsense! It'd only take 2 months, 26 days, 16 hours, 30 minutes, and 29 seconds. Well, y'know, as long as you didn't need to make a phone call.


----------



## Norton (Jan 5, 2015)

xvi said:


> A hundred years? Nonsense! It'd only take 2 months, 26 days, 16 hours, 30 minutes, and 29 seconds. *Well, y'know, as long as you didn't need to make a phone call*.



I remember that!

Asking.... "_Are you done talking on the phone yet? I gotta check my emai_l!"


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 5, 2015)

Only thing worse than dial up internet (modem days ) was having a Party line

If you ever had a shared/party line  your know what i mean


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 6, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> Only thing worse than dial up internet (modem days ) was having a Party line
> 
> *If you ever had a shared/party line  your know what i mean*



Oh god yea. Party lines were awful! Pick up the phone and hear your neighbor talking on the other line.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 6, 2015)

Testing another system for a friend, who had a P3B-F Slot-1 mobo which I had to replace, so I gave him one of my Socket A boards, MSI K7T-Turbo... Unlike previously mentioned MSI MS-6712 this one is running on SD-RAM and ALSO has 3 memory banks so I did the same thing and populated all 3 of them with identical modules.

Of course, I ended up having the same memory problem all over again, except this time I knew what I had to do, so I removed one of the sticks. IMHO, this is a pretty serious problem with Socket A boards (VIA KT chipset?), I'm surprised no one bothered to fix it back in a day, especially considering their popularity!


----------



## debs3759 (Jan 6, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> Ha ha and even to download a simple picture took forever. And you can download a 50GB game today. With those speeds with modem's to download 50 gigs you would need to start the download and go to hibernation for 100 years and the download might be done. (Probably not because of power outages the pc would be turned of by the time you wake up ) xD



My first modem in 1995 was 2400 baud (ie 2400 bits per second, around 240 bytes per second with network overhead). Took over an hour to download a simple 1MB file! Those were the days, when they made programs small for downloading or fitting on floppy discs


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 6, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Testing another system for a friend, who had a P3B-F Slot-1 mobo which I had to replace, so I gave him one of my Socket A boards, MSI K7T-Turbo... Unlike previously mentioned MSI MS-6712 this one is running on SD-RAM and ALSO has 3 memory banks so I did the same thing and populated all 3 of them with identical modules.
> 
> Of course, I ended up having the same memory problem all over again, except this time I knew what I had to do, so I removed one of the sticks. IMHO, this is a pretty serious problem with Socket A boards (VIA KT chipset?), I'm surprised no one bothered to fix it back in a day, especially considering their popularity!




Yes, I believe it was a proprietary problem with the Via KT chipset now that you mention it.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 6, 2015)

Remember when we got our first solid computer. It was a 200mmx with 256megs a 33.6 modem. People were still on the 22 so we were on hyperspeed back in time compared to other people.


----------



## xvi (Jan 6, 2015)

Related:


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 6, 2015)

Most of my retro builds (Slot-1, Pentiums 2 & 3) have dial up modem installed, just for a good measure & that "retro" touch  I've been aiming for the modems with on-board speaker, because that's pretty much the only reason I use them nowdays.

For a while, I even considered to emulate the phone line somehow, so that I could actually get the modem to handshake (rather than just dial the outgoing number, without being connected to anything for real) with emulated phone line, so I considered various technical solutions but eventually had to give up.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 6, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Today I resurrected another PC. Dell Optiplex GX620 MT from 2005, my friend was about to destroy it. I can't allow it!
> He keep only RAM and HDD from this desktop. Nobody cares about 2x 256MB ram



Weird coincidence.

I resurrected a few months ago a Dell Optiplex GX520 from 2005, i found it on the street.


Specs:

Intel Pentium 4 521, 2.80GHz
4GB DDR2 400MHz
40GB 7200 RPM; SATA
Dell 220W

I've replaced the ethernet card and the 2GB RAM, i have added 4GB in total.


I've installed Windows 7 Home Premium SP1.




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Edit: it doesn't have Graphic Card,  i am 
looking for one and I want to upgrade the Hard Drive.


----------



## Misaki (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Weird coincidence.
> 
> I resurrected a few months ago a Dell Optiplex GX520 from 2005, i found it on the street.
> 
> ...


Look similar, but has no PCI-E slot (GX620 has PCI-E x16). Have you tried Pentium D or similar CPU? I have 4 Dell Optiplex's - 2x MT and 2x SFF. When I will have some free time, I will try installing Pentium D 930 in SFF version


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> I resurrected a few months ago a Dell Optiplex GX520 from 2005, i found it on the street.


d#mn, you just found on the street, someone dumped it
in here you can sell at least $20
the spec close to my HP 7600 SFF and what i like from branded pc is the case its pretty solid


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> d#mn, you just found on the street, someone dumped it


Here in Germany it's normal to find a Pc on the street, when people think that it's time to get a new one they take the old one and leave it on the street.


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Here in Germany it's normal to find a Pc on the street, when people think that it's time to get a new one they take the old one and leave it on the street.



wow, i should move to Germany 
 btw how bout win 7 performance on that Dell?


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> wow, i should move to Germany
> btw how bout win 7 performance on that Dell?


For an almost a 10 years old pc windows 7 is performing pretty good, it could be better, I will upgrade the Hard Drive for a 500GB one.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

Matrox 7012 03 REV A
Year: 2001


 

Nvidia Geforce 6200LE 
Year: 2004


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Here in Germany it's normal to find a Pc on the street, when people think that it's time to get a new one they take the old one and leave it on the street.



Same things in Canada. Just got a dead computer full of mud and dirt that stayed outside. I kept the gpu and hdds. WD5000aaks, WD3200aaks and a Maxtor IDE 200gigs with 127gigs of music videos inside.   All tested fine with HDtune.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 7, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> wow, i should move to Germany
> btw how bout win 7 performance on that Dell?



HP Compaq Ds51sff  P4-478, 2 gigs of ddr400 and a 80gigs ide hdd. Integrated gpu and it all rolls win7 fine. Just that Aero dont work sijce the drivers are not compatible.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 7, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> d#mn, you just found on the street, someone dumped it
> in here you can sell at least $20





JunkBear said:


> Same things in Canada. Just got a dead computer full of mud and dirt that stayed outside. I kept the gpu and hdds. WD5000aaks, WD3200aaks and a Maxtor IDE 200gigs with 127gigs of music videos inside.   All tested fine with HDtune.


People here, too.
Granted I live in a fairly populated area of Florida, some of my best finds have been on the side of the road. Found an old VooDoo last year in an otherwise unspectacular PC(Slot 1 PII 300MHz, 128MB RAM, some old Asus board that wouldn't boot). Aside from the motherboard, everything worked, right down to the Zip drive!


----------



## xvi (Jan 7, 2015)

Found a Dell Slimline P3 and P4 in a dumpster a good while back. Drives included too, iirc. Both worked fine, although the P3 one fails to POST. I put a 1.4GHz Intel P3s in it, so I may have killed Dell's VRMs which were probably borderline on the stock CPU as it is.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Same things in Canada. Just got a dead computer full of mud and dirt that stayed outside. I kept the gpu and hdds. WD5000aaks, WD3200aaks and a Maxtor IDE 200gigs with 127gigs of music videos inside.   All tested fine with HDtune.



If I bring to home everything what I've found on the street i would have already my own computer shop 

I know all the areas where People use to Leave many old things, twice per week i take my card and go around to see if i find something, it's not that I don't have the money to buy a computer, I just love computers.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

This is the last Machine that i found on the street 2 weeks ago.

it turns on but no video





Gigabyte P4-Titan GA-8STXC Intel Sockel 478 Mainboard


Processor 

Socket 478 for Intel® new 0.13 micron-process Pentium® 4 processor für Celeron & Pentium IV bis 2,8 Ghz


Chipset

North bridge: SiS645DX Host & Memory & AGP Controller

South bridge: SiS962L MuTIOL® Media I/O

Realtek ALC650 5.1 audio chip

LAN: REALTEK RTL8100L LAN chip


Front Side Bus

533/ 400 MHz FSB


Memory

Type: DDR333(PC2700)/ DDR266(PC2100)/ DDR200(PC1600) - 184pin

Max capacity: Up to 3GB DDR266 by 3 DIMM slots or up to 2GB DDR333 by 2 DIMM slots


Internal I/O Connectors

2 x UDMA ATA 133/ 100/ 66 Bus Master IDE ports

2 x USB 2.0 connectors (4 ports by cable with rear bracket)

1 x FDD port


Expansion Slots

1 x AGP universal slot (4xAGP 2.0 compliant)

5 x PCI slots (PCI 2.2 compliant)


Rear Panel I/O

PS/2 Keyboard / Mouse

2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

1 x RJ45 LAN port

Audio (1 x Line-in / 1 x Line-out / 1 x Mic) connector

2 x COM ports

1 x joystick


Form Factor

ATX form factor, 4 layers PCB (30.4 x 20 cm)


----------



## xvi (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> North bridge: SiS645DX Host & Memory & AGP Controller
> 
> South bridge: SiS962L MuTIOL® Media I/O


There's a name I haven't heard in a while. Are they still around?


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

xvi said:


> There's a name I haven't heard in a while. Are they still around?



i think so.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 7, 2015)

xvi said:


> There's a name I haven't heard in a while. Are they still around?





Knoxx29 said:


> i think so.


Indeed. Mostly servers and industrial systems now, though.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

Can someone tell why this machine it turns on but no video


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Can someone tell why this machine it turns on but no video



have you reset the BIOS? Maybe the default video is set to AGP.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> have you reset the BIOS? Maybe the default video is set to AGP.


i have to try.

how to reset the bios in such Mobo?


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 7, 2015)

remove the battery and wait for a minute with the power cable disconnected

I'm pretty sure it must be that, you can see that there was a card installed on the AGP port (the PCI cover is missing). If that doesn't work then either:

a) the board doesn't work

b) the board doesn't have integrated video and requires a video card


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> remove the battery and wait for a minute with the power cable disconnected
> 
> I'm pretty sure it must be that, you can see that there was a card installed on the AGP port (the PCI cover is missing).


i didnt think about
btw no beep when it turns on.

It has a card I installed it.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 7, 2015)

Remove memory sticks if still no beeps then its a dead motherboard


----------



## FireFox (Jan 7, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Remove memory sticks if still no beeps then its a dead motherboard


Removed the memory sticks still no beeps.


----------



## Misaki (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Here in Germany it's normal to find a Pc on the street, when people think that it's time to get a new one they take the old one and leave it on the street.


I should move to Germany. But I can't stand this language 
Germany is a pretty good country, people are nice... and they're Poland's neighbours


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 7, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Removed the memory sticks still no beeps.




So.  dead motherboard  throw it.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 8, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> So.  dead motherboard  throw it.


Some one did and now it's my turn to do it 
I just keep the processor and Ram.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 8, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Some one did and now it's my turn to do it
> I just keep the processor and Ram.



Make it easier for the next 
person....put a big tape on motherboard and write DEAD on it. It saves a lot of time to scavengers like me.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 8, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Make it easier for the next
> person....put a big tape on motherboard and write DEAD on it. It saves a lot of time to scavengers like me.


Good idea  
Didn't think about it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 8, 2015)

Speaking of dead motherboards, I've been working on one of my own ... Asus P3B-F, which I recently pulled out from an old system. Some of the caps have been squished, and one of them was bulging, the rest of the board seemed fine. (I've tried to fire it up, but it didn't give me any feedback whatsoever, no beeps and/or signals)

I don't have the spare power supply to test it at the moment, but 3 capacitors have been replaced, and the board has been showered in hot water, to remove all the dust & gunk that's been all over it  I'll report back the results, once I power it up!


----------



## FireFox (Jan 8, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> and the board has been showered in hot water, to remove all the dust & gunk that's been all over it


Jesus Christ


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 8, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Jesus Christ



Always doing it with all computer things. Trick is to make it dry perfectly.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 8, 2015)

That's why  
I have learned many things here.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 8, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Jesus Christ





JunkBear said:


> Always doing it with all computer things. Trick is to make it dry perfectly.



Exactly, agreed. Most people don't seem to understand that water (by itself) won't damage your components, as long as it's 100% dry before you power it back up again. Also, don't keep it submerged under water for a long time, this might lead to rust and/or other problems, just wash it & let it dry. Also, make sure to remove ALL the power sources from the motherboard (such as the CMOS battery for example) before doing so, or else you might damage the components.

Besides, it's not like I've got anything to lose - this board has already been declared "dead"  Normally I wouldn't do all this crap, but P3B-F is probably the best Slot-1 mobo from back then, it would be really cool if I could get it working again!


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 8, 2015)

Make sure electricity is gone on motherboard when all removed tmake contact on power button pins. Then pass under hot water and add cleaning products. Let it soak for 15 minutes and rince with shower jet at high temperature. Shake thoroughly the motherboard and make it dry eith air dryer or overnight. Voila!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 8, 2015)

No beep can mean.......no speaker.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> No beep can mean.......no speaker.


 You don't say!!??? Thx captain obvious.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 8, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> it would be really cool if I could get it working again!


I still want to do some test with that old pc that I found before i throw it away.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> No beep can mean.......no speaker.


That could be, because today i saw that the motherboard it doesn't have speaker.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 8, 2015)

Sorry for stating the obvious but not every board beeps on startup.
I would hate to think you were thrrowing something away that obviously could sttill work


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> No beep can mean.......no speaker.


True, of course  But trust me on this one, this one was indeed pretty much dead when I got it! There was no video feedback, no beeps, nothing! And yes, I had a CMOS buzzer (speaker) connected at the time) Even without the RAM, video card, without the CMOS battery, I've tried everything...


----------



## FireFox (Jan 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I would hate to think you were thrrowing something away that obviously could sttill work


+1
Maybe the problem it's not the board but something else


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Sorry for stating the obvious but not every board beeps on startup.
> I would hate to think you were thrrowing something away that obviously could sttill work





Knoxx29 said:


> +1
> Maybe the problem it's not the board but something else



Like I said, I've tried to boot up the system without the RAM, AGP card, I even disconnected the ATA cables. When everything else failed, I've tried to re-seat the CPU. I even tried to use different CPU (Celeron 333, which I use for hardware tests) Since nothing worked (and I've noticed physically damaged components, capacitors) I've decided to proceed with the repairs & washing the board in hot water  If I wanted to throw the P3B-F away, I probably would have, so don't worry ... if it's fixable, I'll keep it for sure!

I don't have the spare power supply to test the board today, but I'll get back to it eventually. When I do, I'll report back here, with more details


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 8, 2015)

I can honestly say in all my long years on this planet i have never ever ever hesrd of anyone washing electrical components 

I would not do this to any electrical component even if i had pulled it out of a rubbish bin.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I can honestly say in all my long years on this planet i have never ever ever hesrd of anyone washing electrical components
> 
> I would not do this to any electrical component even if i had pulled it out of a rubbish bin.



This P3B-F came to me from a friend, who got the system God knows where... It was full of spiderweb, dust buildup and other nastiness inside, especially around the north chipset, Slot-1 interface  Even though I usually DO repair the boards from my collection, I probably wouldn't bother with something so old & dusty due to obvious reasons - but like I said, P3B-F was among (if not the best) Slot-1 boards back then, so it was worth the effort IMHO. Washing the board doesn't affect its health or condition (assuming you've done it properly), in fact it actually helps the components because they can "breathe" again, the heat dissipation is better without all the dust buildup.

By the way, I already have a working P3B-F in my collection, running a P3 733, 256mb RAM and Voodoo3 3000 (AGP) card in one of my 3dfx builds, so this one would be unexpected (but pleasant) addition to my large collection of old stuff, assuming I can get it working again


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## GreiverBlade (Jan 8, 2015)

LESS CHATTER MOAR PICS AND DATA...

almost one page with nothing else than mono lines, almost look like a IM board  

well i forgot to put that one here, recycling a H60V2 on the E8400 build oh well at last 4.0 daily is easier than with a Vendetta 2 

  
a bit more stuff to order soon ...


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## stinger608 (Jan 9, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I can honestly say in all my long years on this planet i have never ever ever hesrd of anyone washing electrical components
> 
> I would not do this to any electrical component even if i had pulled it out of a rubbish bin.



I have personally been doing it for several years now. To insure there is no problem, I normally use distilled water that I purchase at any grocery store. Works great! 
However, as @Trekkie4 pointed out, make sure to remove the CMOS battery and as @JunkBear also mentioned, short the power pins out. 

Manufactures actually use this same method when repairing boards or prepping for sending out as refurbished. 

Of course manufactures have a much better "wash" station that most individuals would ever have.


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## debs3759 (Jan 9, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I can honestly say in all my long years on this planet i have never ever ever hesrd of anyone washing electrical components
> 
> I would not do this to any electrical component even if i had pulled it out of a rubbish bin.



I used to routinely wash computers in the shower. If I bought a truck full of computers that were full of dust and cobwebs, opening them up and hosing them down was the fastest way of cleaning it all, even allowing for two days drying in a warm room.


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## JunkBear (Jan 9, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I can honestly say in all my long years on this planet i have never ever ever hesrd of anyone washing electrical components
> 
> I would not do this to any electrical component even if i had pulled it out of a rubbish bin.



I have rebuilt an old computer that spent almost 2 years of canadian weather outside  in the metal trash with open case. Optical and hdd did not worth it but i rebuilt the computer and gave it to someone.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 10, 2015)

Mounted the FanMate fan controller into one of my retro builds (P4, 2.00) and working on a Core2 Duo system at the same time... I realize that Core2 is not "vintage" (or even old), but I thought I'd show it here nevertheless...  This is my 2nd 8800 card, the other one (8800GT) is in my primary gaming system, paired up with Core2 Quad Q6600

That P4 is quiet as a whisper, especially after I've swapped the hard drive, the old one was loud enough to wake the dead! (Western Digital for Maxtor, both IDE) As always, I've paid special attention to cable management & moving the cables out of the way


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## JunkBear (Jan 10, 2015)

I don't have pictures of system I've just rebuilt because it's so tight inside the cube case but here's the description:

Chenming cube: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811125484
PSU: Orion P485
Motherboard: Hewlett Packard 0968h from a HP Compaq dc7100
CPU: P4 651 3.4/800/2M
Memory: 4 gigs DDR400
ODD: Pioneer DVD-RW
HDD: Western Digital WDAAKS3200
GPU: ATI Radeon X1300 128MB-DDR 64bits PCI-E

Snappy for an older system on Windows 7 Home premium 64bits

Just a strange behavior...bios detect 4096megs of memory and in the System specs panel of Windows 7 it says 4gigs too but under "3.12gigs useable"

Any idea why?


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## stinger608 (Jan 10, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> I don't have pictures of system I've just rebuilt because it's so tight inside the cube case but here's the description:
> 
> Chenming cube: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811125484
> PSU: Orion P485
> ...



Might have something to do with delegating part of the memory to the onboard video. Even though you are using a different video card I think I recall something about that issue back in the day.


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## JunkBear (Jan 10, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Might have something to do with delegating part of the memory to the onboard video. Even though you are using a different video card I think I recall something about that issue back in the day.


 
Delegating 976megs? That seems a lot.

Ok found the problem. It's the chipset limitation that was already a problem when people went from XP to Vista in 32 or 64 bits mode. So I should find a DDR-400 of 256megs and it could do the job replacing a 1gig stick.

BTW put your avatar left side of mine and that makes a kinda funny image.


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## stinger608 (Jan 10, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Delegating 976megs? That seems a lot.
> 
> Ok found the problem. It's the chipset limitation that was already a problem when people went from XP to Vista in 32 or 64 bits mode. So I should find a DDR-400 of 256megs and it could do the job replacing a 1gig stick.
> 
> *BTW put your avatar left side of mine and that makes a kinda funny image. *



Bhahahahaha, yea no kidding man.


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## zsolt_93 (Jan 10, 2015)

Maybe 32 bit Windows, that usually shows 3.2xgb for the ram when 4 are installed. And memory reservation for the gpu shouldnt happen on 64bit, on 32 bit the gpu memory is cached into the main system ram too. Even if you state 64 bit and the CPU supports it i am not so sure it really is.


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## JunkBear (Jan 10, 2015)

zsolt_93 said:


> Maybe 32 bit Windows, that usually shows 3.2xgb for the ram when 4 are installed. And memory reservation for the gpu shouldnt happen on 64bit, on 32 bit the gpu memory is cached into the main system ram too. Even if you state 64 bit and the CPU supports it i am not so sure it really is.



As i said earlier post its chipset limitations. Its written on HP website.


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## TRWOV (Jan 10, 2015)

That's a limitation of the 865 chipset, even with 64bit CPUs the northbridge just has enough memory registries for the 32bit range. 64bit OSes where still ways off when 865 launched so it's easy to see why Intel implemented such limit to save die space. Even if you use a RAMdisk program that can use OS unregistered memory you can't access it. My rig with a Conroe865PE+QX6800 has the same issue.


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## FireFox (Jan 10, 2015)

As I said in one of my posts, i wanted to upgrade the Hard Drive of my old DellOptiplex GX520 from 2005, the original Hard Drive is 40GB and I was looking for some 250GB/500GB for it, unfortunately I just found a 1TB but fortunately I just paid 30€ for it  
I got it a minutes ago.





I know it's Overkill for an almost 10 years old Machine.

The only thing that irritates me is the fact that I can't add it a video card.


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## FireFox (Jan 10, 2015)

The New Segeate 1TB





New Hard Drive installed




Vs


 

 

 



Now I am installing Windows 7 Professional


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## stinger608 (Jan 10, 2015)

Them small form factor Optiplex's tend to cause pretty extensive heat on the hard drives @Knoxx29 . Might want to keep an eye on the drive for awhile. Hopefully it doesn't over heat that drive.


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## GreiverBlade (Jan 10, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> The New Segeate 1TB
> 
> View attachment 61500
> 
> ...


i had the same drive for my E8400 setup but in 120gb PATA133 but now i go 3x500gb Sata1/2 and i keep the 7200.7 for the nemesis


----------



## FireFox (Jan 10, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Them small form factor Optiplex's tend to cause pretty extensive heat on the hard drives @Knoxx29 . Might want to keep an eye on the drive for awhile. Hopefully it doesn't over heat that drive.


Right now it's running at 30c


----------



## FireFox (Jan 10, 2015)

Now going back to the graphic card,
as i know it's not possible to install one but on Internet i found people claiming that it's possible,

I found this here:

can i upgrade dell optiplex gx520 graphic card ?small factor

Yes, it's possible, but you can't upgrade to anything really good. There are three big problems. First of all, because of the small form factor design only low-profile cards can be used. This is true of all slim/small form factor computers, regardless of manufacturer. Second, that motherboard doesn't have a PCI-Express or AGP expansion slot for graphics cards, it only has an older PCI slot (which is very slow by comparison) Third, Dell's small form factor version of the Optiplex GX520 has a 220W power supply. So you need a low-profile PCI card that works on a 220W psu. These are the best cards which meet those criteria: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161353 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500228 Between them, the GeForce GT 520 is a better performer, while the Radeon HD 5450 has lower power consumption. Neither is a good gaming card, but they're over triple the speed of your computer's integrated graphics. In either case you'd probably just have to attach the low-profile bracket which comes with the card (these models are low-profile ready, which means they will fit either a regular or slimline computer depending upon which bracket you use). Performance: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GT_520/9.html Unfortunately, small form factor computers have proprietary power supplies, they aren't standard ATX. So you can't replace them with a standard 400W ATX power supply, those won't fit into the small case. Dell's psu for this particular machine is even oddly shaped, making it harder to find a replacement. http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/220-Watt-Power-Supply-Dell-R8038.php Even if a higher wattage psu was available, it doesn't really matter because there aren't any better graphics cards available in the old PCI interface. So yes, you can upgrade. But not to a very high level.


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## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Now going back to the graphic card,
> as i know it's not possible to install one but on Internet i found people claiming that it's possible,
> 
> I found this here:
> ...




bah nothing ... i used a HP DC7900 with a R7 240 (throw that GT520 option in the bin ... the R7 240LP is way better) check previously for benchmark and funny things about the 240+E8400 and also used it in a DC7800 with a C2D E6700 and both SFF had a 240w PSU  and a 240's recommended is 400w .... pfah what a joke i even max clocked the card with that PSU...(i have a 5450 ... in the workstation, until i find some other cards , old quadro or 8800 Ultra/9800GT or whatever)

also http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-88#post-3105334

 

although the main problem would be the slots... all GX520 mobo i see have only PCI slots (where the HP 7900 has 2 X16 +1 X1 the 7800 1 X16+ 2 X1 and the old one i had in 775 P4 + 945 had 1 X16 )

indeed yours is like all the one i saw : it has the place for a X16 bit no physical slot.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 11, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> bah nothing ... i used a HP DC7900 with a R7 240 (throw that GT520 option in the bin ... the R7 240LP is way better) check previously for benchmark and funny things about the 240+E8400 and also used it in a DC7800 with a C2D E6700 and both SFF had a 240w PSU  and a 240's recommended is 400w .... pfah what a joke i even max clocked the card with that PSU...(i have a 5450 ... in the workstation, until i find some other cards , old quadro or 8800 Ultra/9800GT or whatever)
> 
> also http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-88#post-3105334
> 
> View attachment 61511 View attachment 61512



Would that card fit in the Dell?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Would that card fit in the Dell?


none (aka who would use a PCI card ... i mean OK i have a FX5200 PCI but it's just a backup) just sell it cheap and get a DC7900... or a DC7800  DELL ... bah ... the old PIII tower Optiplex where good but once C2D and P4 hit the market DELL became what they are today... : meh...

this is the one you have

mobo: UG982 (seemingly 1x PCI +1x PCI  X?  )

and i saw one with a X16 nope ahah


but since EBAY... might be a seller who do not know what he's selling... indeed he doesn't know what he's selling ... it's a HP motherboard ... pfahahaha
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Dell-Optiplex-GX520-Desktop-Motherboard-PJ479-/381091973622


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## FireFox (Jan 11, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> none (aka who would use a PCI card ... i mean OK i have a FX5200 PCI but it's just a backup) just sell it cheap and get a DC7900... or a DC7800  DELL ... bah ... the old PIII tower Optiplex where good but once C2D and P4 hit the market DELL became what they are today... : meh...




I found this one:





HIS ATI Radeon HD5450 Silence Grafikkarte (PCI-e, 1GB DDR3 Speicher, DVI, HDMI)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> I found this one:
> 
> View attachment 61514
> 
> HIS ATI Radeon HD5450 Silence Grafikkarte (PCI-e, 1GB DDR3 Speicher, DVI, HDMI)


not working read my edit above : no PCI-e slot on your mobo


----------



## FireFox (Jan 11, 2015)

And what is that Slot for?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> And what is that Slot for?
> 
> View attachment 61517


dunno but 100% not a GPU... it does not even look like a PCI-X slot who are for some type of professional cards (like the one i have on my dual Opteron mobo )

these are PCI-X


and the type of cards meant for it
mostly raid card (SCSI SATA)
 
network card(include Fiber channel)

graphics card (GXT6000P from IBM for example )

and my prefered type .... Digidesign PROtools HD card


also updated shots for the E8400 build and also, what to do when you find a USB to SATA external HDD with a crushed enclosure (and HDD) well ... take out the interface card and hook it to a Velociraptor 10k RPM without the ICEPAK (i use the ICEPAK on my Fujitsu 500gb 2.5" 11mm 7.2K RPM HDD atm  )
 

and 2 shot of the H60V2 well doesn't look too bad on that setup (still waiting for the 8800 vRAM heatsink ... grrrhhh damn slow chinese seller  even slower than any other i worked with )


----------



## FireFox (Jan 11, 2015)

Well Time to give up


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 11, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> none (aka who would use a PCI card ... i mean OK i have a FX5200 PCI but it's just a backup) just sell it cheap and get a DC7900... or a DC7800  DELL ... bah ... the old PIII tower Optiplex where good but once C2D and P4 hit the market DELL became what they are today... : meh...
> 
> this is the one you have
> 
> ...




One thing to note about your pictures in that post. Them are two different form factors. The first, and most likely the one that Knoxx is working with, is a BTX form factor where the second picture is normal ATX

Dang @Knoxx29 , I wish you were on this side of the pond. I actually have an Intel S775 BTX board that is so close to the Dell OEM that it fits without issues and includes a x16 PCI-e slot. Just wouldn't be worth the money and effort to ship the board from the US to Germany.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 11, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Just wouldn't be worth the money and effort to ship the board from the US to Germany.


Unfortunately but anyway thanks.
I'll keep it without card, and sell it wouldn't be worth.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> sell it wouldn't be worth.


well yes, altho i get 140chf per DC7900 i sell usually, i kept my DC7800 out of sentimental value (since i have a Striker Extreme with a E8400 i thought pointless to keep the 2 DC7900 i had and if they can have a second life in a school room i gladly sell them or gift them out ... if i didn't needed money so badly ... and if they didn't offered me money to begin with...)



stinger608 said:


> One thing to note about your pictures in that post. Them are two different form factors. The first, and most likely the one that Knoxx is working with, is a BTX form factor where the second picture is normal ATX



one thing to note : i checked the board after viewing the seller announce who claim it to be a GX520 mobo while it's clearly not ahaha


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 11, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> none (aka who would use a PCI card ... i mean OK i have a FX5200 PCI but it's just a backup) just sell it cheap and get a DC7900... or a DC7800  DELL ... bah ... the old PIII tower Optiplex where good but once C2D and P4 hit the market DELL became what they are today... : meh...
> 
> this is the one you have
> 
> ...





Knoxx29 said:


> And what is that Slot for?
> 
> View attachment 61517



That's the slot for the Dell dual PCI riser:







You can install regular 5v PCI cards there if you choose to.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 11, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> That's the slot for the Dell dual PCI riser:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Too expensive, 62€





For 20€ I can get a dell optiplex gx740


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 11, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> View attachment 61529
> 
> Too expensive, 62€
> 
> ...


well for the one you link you need a mobo with already a PCI-e onboard  your is a PCI only 



TRWOV said:


> That's the slot for the Dell dual PCI riser:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


WHAT THE PUG? my ACER Veriton FP (V66LT)  used a PCI riser with 2 slot on a normal PCI slot, oh wait 5v ... okay i see now  well thanks either way .... you reminded me to seek where i did put that piece ...


----------



## FireFox (Jan 11, 2015)

I'm resigned to keep it as is, so far i have done enough upgrading the Hard Drive, Ram and Ethernet Card, I wanted to upgrade the DVD writer but i won't because i love the sound of it and when loading a CD/DVD it seems that the computer vibrates


----------



## Misaki (Jan 12, 2015)

I'm opening PC service with a friend of mine. We decided to use two Dell OptiPlexes GX620 in SFF case, but only after upgrade.

After upgrading BIOS to A11 verion I have installed a Pentium D 930 in SFF case. Works good. 4GB of DDR2 RAM will be ordered (2GB for each machine) and some fast and cheap SATA HDDs. Eventually we will buy two low profile GPUs too, because we ordered four 1080p monitors (2 for these Dells and 2 for repair stations). We still need to build 2 PCs to "service section", Dells will be in the "office" where we will be receiving PCs for repair.
I'm happy that I found usage for these Dells. We will use linux, because there's no multi-pc license of Windows. If we run into a problem with printer we will buy only one Windows 7 Home Premium x86.

Recently I bought IBM Thinkpad T42 for the ~30$. We will be using this laptop for network configurations etc, after battery repair (battery is very easy to disassembly, I already did it) it will work for about 2 hours on battery. More than enough!

Specs:
-Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz
-512MB DDR (I'm planning 1GB)
-ATi Mobility 7200 (or so, I don't remember)
-Hitachi 40GB
-14,1" XGA 1024x768


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 12, 2015)

Misaki said:


> I'm opening PC service with a friend of mine. We decided to use two Dell OptiPlexes GX620 in SFF case, but only after upgrade.
> 
> After upgrading BIOS to A11 verion I have installed a Pentium D 930 in SFF case. Works good. 4GB of DDR2 RAM will be ordered (2GB for each machine) and some fast and cheap SATA HDDs. Eventually we will buy two low profile GPUs too, because we ordered four 1080p monitors (2 for these Dells and 2 for repair stations). We still need to build 2 PCs to "service section", Dells will be in the "office" where we will be receiving PCs for repair.
> I'm happy that I found usage for these Dells. We will use linux, because there's no multi-pc license of Windows. If we run into a problem with printer we will buy only one Windows 7 Home Premium x86.
> ...


 

DDR2-800 is so cheap I don't know what is the speed of the ram in oem Optiplex but go for it. 800mhz is a safe speed if you need to do a cheap upgrade after to other system that still use it. You are in a year that DDR2-800 is still cheap and most people get rid of it so go for a set of 2X2gigs DDR2-800.


----------



## Compgeke (Jan 12, 2015)

Picked up this AST Premium 286 last weekend and got around to making it run today.

Specs:
8 MHz 286
1 MB RAM
45 MB HDD
Hercules Graphics Plus card (actual hercules)
Logitech mouse card
Intel network card (added myself)
Sound Blaster AWE64 Value (added myself)
DOS 3.30
















Some pics of the programs on it:
http://imgur.com/a/W5dxp


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 12, 2015)

Ah man, that is bad a$$ @Compgeke !!!!!!!   

Nice ole nostalgic system man!


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 12, 2015)

Compgeke said:


> Picked up this AST Premium 286 last weekend and got around to making it run today.
> 
> Specs:
> 8 MHz 286
> ...



reminds me when i was at junior high school, running dos, wordstar and using 5,25 inch floppy disk

btw the pcb looks pretty clean, you clean it?


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 12, 2015)

My first mobile phone.       It weighs   240 grams

SONY " Mars Bar" 
*CM-H333*



I think it was about 1993


----------



## FireFox (Jan 12, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> My first mobile phone.      View attachment 61554 It weighs   240 grams
> 
> SONY " Mars Bar"
> 
> ...



My first phone was a 1989 Motorola MicroTAC 9800X, I got it in 1993 that time I was 14/15 year old.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 12, 2015)

I found this writeup 
on a props for hire site

It didnt give the rates but you can hire them for tv or movies




The Sony CM-H333 was known as the 'Mars Bar' phone because of its size and weight approximating the Mars chocolate bar! It was released in 1993, and was a very popular and desirable mobile phone of its time. It proved a worthy advisory to the then dominant Nokia and Motorola mobile phones.

The Sony CM-H333 was a design classic featuring a sliding earpiece which flips up to answer and end calls, an extending aerial and one touch dialing.
The CM H333 sold in 1993 for over £400 when it was first released.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 12, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> was released in 1993, and was a very popular and desirable mobile phone of its time.


Of course there weren't smaller phones in that time


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 12, 2015)

Ive also got one of these

 

Its a pager. I got it before a mobile phone. To leave a message you had to ring the number for the pager say the message which an operator then typed and sent to the pager.

It was epic at the time. 


 The service finished years ago as far as i know.

I just put a AAA battery in it and it displays fine


----------



## FireFox (Jan 12, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Ive also got one of these
> 
> View attachment 61569
> 
> ...


Those or something similar between 1993 and 1998 were used very frequently at the hospitals, it was called Beeper


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 12, 2015)

These were run on a different network. 

You bought the pager and whoever sent the message paid about 50 pence per message.

The messages wete limited to the number of characters. Its all a long time ago so i cant remember much more about it.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 12, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> These were run on a different network.
> 
> 
> You bought the pager and whoever sent the message paid about 50 pence per message.
> ...



Pager use in the 21st century



 Original Motorola "Pageboy II" pager, used in New York in the late 1970s.




 A mid-1990s opaque black Avont pager model



 A Skyper pager that is in use for ham radio





A dual-frequency Unication pager for use by EMS units





Two way pager with GSM capability

A pager (also known as a beeper)

One of the first practical paging services was launched in 1950 for physicians in the New York City area. Physicians paid $12 per month for the service and carried a 6 oz (200 g) pager that would receive phone messages within 25 mi (40 km) of a single transmitter tower.

technology continued to advance, and pager adoption continued to expand, until the early 1990s. However, by the mid-1990s, as cellular technologies became cheaper and more widely available, advanced services began to displace paging as a commercial product. Today, pagers exist largely as niche products, finding preferential use in applications such as hospitals, public safety, locations where their simplicity, high reliability, and low cost represent significant advantages.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 12, 2015)

I have probably got the number for it somewhere. I cant be arsed to look for it but if it turns up ill try it.

That would be berserk if it still works after 25 years. It still powers up, displays, beeps and vibrates.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 12, 2015)

Funny Song.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 12, 2015)

Super Nintendo (1992)
Super Game Boy (1994)





PlayStation 1 (1999)
Formel 1 (1996)
Rugrats (1998)




I have many Super Nintendo games and PlayStation 1, everything works perfectly.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 12, 2015)

i still have a motorola pager somewhere ... need to dig ... 

my 1st mobile was a Nokia 1610 (day 1 buying xD in 1996 )


----------



## FireFox (Jan 12, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> i still have a motorola pager somewhere ... need to dig ...
> 
> my 1st mobile was a Nokia 1610 (day 1 buying xD in 1996 )




i know that one


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 13, 2015)

Which reminds me... I still have couple of Ericsson R320 S phones, in "brick red" color. I'll see if i can upload the pics tomorrow 

Anyhow, I do have one question... Is this particular topic about computer hardware (and old gaming consoles) only, or about ALL the vintage stuff? Because I have a 25yr old VCR & couple of other things to show & share


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 13, 2015)

Talking about VCR I got mine from a lady that sold it 20$. Like new still in original wrapping with manuals only because her new bf wanted Full HD setup only. Sears hi-fi that was 589$ back in time.


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 13, 2015)

Still have my Sony Hi-Fi VCR mainly for some old anime and Cuban movies.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 13, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Which reminds me... I still have couple of Ericsson R320 S phones, in "brick red" color. I'll see if i can upload the pics tomorrow
> 
> *Anyhow, I do have one question... Is this particular topic about computer hardware (and old gaming consoles) only, or about ALL the vintage stuff? Because I have a 25yr old VCR & couple of other things to show & share*



Well it started out as just computer hardware but I think any cool nostalgic "stuff" should qualify.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 13, 2015)

I bought an Asus GTX680 DCU2 card (2 slot model) with 150 euros, was that a bad deal?


----------



## FireFox (Jan 13, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Which reminds me... I still have couple of Ericsson R320 S phones, in "brick red" color. I'll see if i can upload the pics tomorrow
> 
> Anyhow, I do have one question... Is this particular topic about computer hardware (and old gaming consoles) only, or about ALL the vintage stuff? Because I have a 25yr old VCR & couple of other things to show & share



Well i started posting an old pc and somehow I finished posting a Super Nintendo


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 13, 2015)

Fuck SNES, I love NES


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 13, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> Still have my Sony Hi-Fi VCR mainly for some old anime and Cuban movies.



What is the model number of your VCR?


----------



## FireFox (Jan 13, 2015)

Old Woman  (1915)
Nothing can be Upgrade


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 13, 2015)

Trenkie, PCI or ISA cards?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 13, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> Still have my Sony Hi-Fi VCR mainly for some old anime and Cuban movies.


i still have a VCR too ... for some old ... wait ... hum I NEED TO DIG FOR MY TAPES!

i must still have Queen Emeraldas, original ed. (OVA 1 to 4) and the integral of "Gendarme de St. Tropez"... well i am a huge Louis De Funès fan ...
and also most of my hockey and carnival films (local show and personal  ) where on VHS i know i could put all on DVD but ... naaaahhhh best leaving them untouched!



9700 Pro said:


> I bought an Asus GTX680 DCU2 card (2 slot model) with 150 euros, was that a bad deal?


well ... since i bought a ASUS R9 290 ref for that price ... i would say ... NO  (ok ... i almost doubled that price to get her under water ... but that was totally worth it! still cheaper than a new custom cooler model)


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 13, 2015)

I only use a VCR for classic 70,s porn.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 13, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Well i started posting an old pc and somehow I finished posting a Super Nintendo


I know, I know...  I just didn't want to go off-topic, most people hate that 

Anyhow, here it is... I got this one for free, actually I've traded it for a cheap Hyundai DVD recorder (without the HDD) It seems to be in perfect condition (considering its age), but I did have to replace the belts  Despite being manufactured by Nordmende, some of you here might recognize this tape deck as JVC. 5-motor configuration, with one motor for every operation - Capstan, idler, tape elevator (eject-load), mode-switching (cam gear) and of course the head drum (only 2-heads on this one)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 13, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> I know, I know...  I just didn't want to go off-topic, most people hate that
> 
> Anyhow, here it is... I got this one for free, actually I've traded it for a cheap Hyundai DVD recorder (without the HDD) It seems to be in perfect condition (considering its age), but I did have to replace the belts  Despite being manufactured by Nordmende, some of you here might recognize this tape deck as JVC. 5-motor configuration, with one motor for every operation - Capstan, idler, tape elevator (eject-load), mode-switching (cam gear) and of course the head drum (only 2-heads on this one)


well hardware is hardware be it in a PC or in a L.E.M ... uh???


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 13, 2015)

And here's another (maybe not so old, but still vintage) item in my collection... Akai ATT022U USB turntable, I've actually traded the real thing for this one. Used to have the  Kenwood KD-1600, but sorry to say I've had dozens of problems with that one, so I decided to get something else instead. There's nothing "professional" about this model, I know that but considering most of the other, modern USB turntables this one is actually pretty nice!



 

 

 

 

 



This Shure M94E came off my old Kenwood, and I'm STILL hoping to use it on Akai one of these days... I'll probably need to buy a new headshell first


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 13, 2015)

In dog years, my dog Jess, is 63, she has been fitted with a micro-chip and consequently deserves a mention in the Nostalgic Hardware Club.


----------



## rtwjunkie (Jan 13, 2015)

I'll be adding to the stuff I posted here already.  Just got to dig out some old skt 478 era stuff, might take a couple days.  Plus I know I have a PIII around somewhere.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 13, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> In dog years, my dog Jess, is 63, she has been fitted with a micro-chip and consequently deserves a mention in the Nostalgic Hardware Club.
> 
> 
> View attachment 61610


Sweet.
My dog would love play with your


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 13, 2015)

ehm.. back to pc again


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 13, 2015)

Jess cant stand other dogs unfortunately.



 
 Our beach is 7 miles long and she will still find someone to fight with.


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 13, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> What is the model number of your VCR?



Sony SLV-LX777, 6 head


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 13, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> ehm.. back to pc again


nope back to teddy bear with a stereo tape recorder, but it's dangerous ... you shouldn't give that to yours ...

her's a pics with a before and after ... (well not all STR will explode and do that to your beloved teddy but ... still better sorry than safe ... er? better safe than sorry, woopsies )





humpf i really need to secure that auction and make sure i am the winner ... or ... i can loose it and lament for a couple of days and then be fine again ...












still i really want it ...

NeXT Computer Inc. NeXTcube 68030 25 MHz mit 1.0 GB HDD und 16 MB RAM
NeXTSTEP 1.0a

recapped and fresh install ... yummy one!

drat and double drat ... the seller is : "NO SHIPPING" ... and stand firm on it ... duh ... just my luck


----------



## FireFox (Jan 13, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Jess cant stand other dogs unfortunately.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


She would love Beni




Talking about Computer posting Dog pics


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 13, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Talking about Computer posting Dog pics



then what about a technolog33k puppy who love some good ol' IBM Thinkpad?





and that's enough for the "AWWWWWW TOO CUTE!!" moment


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 13, 2015)

Probably surfing on PornPug website.


----------



## Steevo (Jan 13, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> nope back to teddy bear with a stereo tape recorder, but it's dangerous ... you shouldn't give that to yours ...
> 
> her's a pics with a before and after ... (well not all STR will explode and do that to your beloved teddy but ... still better sorry than safe ... er? better safe than sorry, woopsies )
> 
> ...




I used to have a SCSI Dual Pentium Pro server with NT 4 back office. 

https://books.google.com/books?id=6...epage&q=Dual Intel Pentium Pro server&f=false

$6999.00 without the extra drives, travan 30GB upgrade.


----------



## Compgeke (Jan 13, 2015)

Stacked up the 80s PC systems.






Top to bottom:
IBM 5150 64-256 KB, needs almost everything put into it
IBM 5150 16-64KB, bone stock MDA and Dual 360K floppies.
IBM 5160 64-256KB, VGA, AST Six Pack Plus, Ethernet, InPort card, 12 MHz 286 upgrade, 10 MB HDD, 360KB floppy.
Dell System 310, 16 MHz 386DX, 1 MB (I think) ram, VGA, 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB floppies, just gotta put the 1.2 back in.
AST Premium 286, 8 MHz 286, 1 MB ram, Hercules Graphics Plus card, 1.2 MB floppy, 45 MB HDD, Ethernet, Logitech mouse card.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 14, 2015)

Takesme back to the shit old days.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 14, 2015)

Sadly, my P3B-F doesn't want to boot up... It does seem to give me audio feedback though (after fixing the caps), but it seems to be stuck between the RAM and video card check  After the memory checks out fine, it goes silent & just "hangs" without any feedback. But if I remove the memory & try it without I get the standard BIOS warning (endless beeping)

On a side note, I got another old system today, a pentium 3  866MHz (S370). It's a complete unit, with 2 optical drives, 512mb of SD-RAM and 60GB HDD. From what I can tell everything works perfectly fine, but I'll probably take it apart & use the parts individually for other builds. So I'll probably upload the pics tomorrow, or some time soon, when I find some free time! 

Until then, enjoy these 



 

 

 

 

 



One of the R320S still works OK, although it tends to lose the signal from time to time due to bad soldering joint on some kind of signal amplifier. The other one worked fine until I got the replacement battery for it, and when I turned it on, the battery (somehow) zapped the phone, which fried pretty much the entire motherboard. But still - it looks nice, doesn't it? 

Oh, and that Athlon machine is not mine, I've made this one for a friend... Pretty old & standard stuff, is runs WinXP Home edition just fine!


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 14, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Takesme back to the shit old days.



Same as me with a single 5.25"reader that load the bios with disk then switch to program or game you wanted. Tandy time.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 14, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sadly, my P3B-F doesn't want to boot up... It does seem to give me audio feedback though (after fixing the caps), but it seems to be stuck between the RAM and video card check  After the memory checks out fine, it goes silent & just "hangs" without any feedback. But if I remove the memory & try it without I get the standard BIOS warning (endless beeping)
> 
> On a side note, I got another old system today, a pentium 3  866MHz (S370). It's a complete unit, with 2 optical drives, 512mb of SD-RAM and 60GB HDD. From what I can tell everything works perfectly fine, but I'll probably take it apart & use the parts individually for other builds. So I'll probably upload the pics tomorrow, or some time soon, when I find some free time!
> 
> ...




Make sure you do it with a single sided chips memory


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 14, 2015)

Okie dokie... it's not like I got anything to lose, right?  Will give it another try later today & report back with the results

EDIT
Tried it with both single and double-sided memory, it still doesn't work


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 14, 2015)

Then something screwed up. Its important to try only ome stick at a time in each single slot. It could be one stick or one slot only problem. If not then its screwed


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 14, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Then something screwed up. Its important to try only ome stick at a time in each single slot. It could be one stick or one slot only problem. If not then its screwed


Yeah, I'm afraid it's toasted... It might even be something trivial, perhaps a bad soldering joint, or blown resistor but I don't have the equipment (or patience) to go through that kind of stuff, replacing the obvious (damaged) caps was pretty much all I could do at this point.

But thanks anyway, I really appreciate it!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 15, 2015)

@Trekkie4 , when you were replacing the capacitors did you insure you put them on correctly? There is a positive (+) and a negative (-) post on capacitors. 

Been there done that.  That is the only reason I ask.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 15, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> @Trekkie4 , when you were replacing the capacitors did you insure you put them on correctly? There is a positive (+) and a negative (-) post on capacitors.
> 
> Been there done that.  That is the only reason I ask.



Oh yeah, all the polarities are in order  I've never flipped the cap other way around, won't they explode (or at least bulge & vent) if connected the wrong way? (I'm too afraid to give it a try)

More stuff is on the way, working on a Slot-1 system (iWill BD100), finishing on this Core2 Duo, and recently got this S370 system, which I took apart earlier & saved for rainy days 

Also got another 3dfx Voodoo2 1000 (reference model) today, but I still have to make sure it's working... It's been donated to me for free 



 

 

 

 

 



Here's a random tip of a day... If you want to wipe off the thermal compound, and REMOVE it entirely from the surface, rather than just wiping it off (and making a mess in the process) use the cotton pad & WD-40. I'm serious - it's perfect for this kind of stuff, just make sure to wipe all the WD-40 from the CPU once its clean.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 15, 2015)

Isopropyl alcohol too can make job and compared to wd40 it evapotes and dont leave an oily greasy film.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 15, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> i still have a VCR too ... for some old ... wait ... hum I NEED TO DIG FOR MY TAPES!



I still have a VCR as well and I use it as it's better than a DVD/DVR player.

Back on thread,here's my Pentium 4's specs and case right now:

Specs:

Pentium 4 1.8A @ 2.40GHz
80GB SATA HDD
ASRock P4VM800
Rexpower PX-400 PSU (fixed,had a bulged cap on the 5VSB)
Liteon LTS-122 DVD-ROM
1GB RAM
Radeon HD3450 512MB AGP (to be replaced with a FX5200 as I will use it in a S462 rig)
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1

Pic:




Also digged up my 4 year old laptop - an Acer Aspire 5349.
It works fine now,I had to install a new HDD as the old one died.

Specs:
Celeron B800 1.50GHz dual core
15.6" LED screen - needs to be replaced as it's cracked and can't see anything
250GB WDC - original was a 500GB WDC but it died 2 years after I dropped the laptop accidentally (2013)
2GB RAM DDR3
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 - before 500GB died it was Server 2008R2.

No pics on this one until I can get a good display for it.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 15, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I still have a VCR as well and I use it as it's better than a DVD/DVR player.
> 
> Back on thread,here's my Pentium 4's specs and case right now:
> 
> ...



Pretty sure that laptop could be good with a memory upgrade and a dualcore pentium instead of celeron.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 15, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Isopropyl alcohol too can make job and compared to wd40 it evapotes and dont leave an oily greasy film.



In my experience our local pharmacist gets very suspicious and asks a lot of questions if you buy a lot of Isopryl Alcohol.


----------



## agent00skid (Jan 15, 2015)

Finally put back together an old computer my father brought. Didn't even know if it worked. 
 
In all it's glory, with stupid headers and power plugs that couldn't be disconnected. I literally had to cut off some of the bump on the motherboard connector, because the floppy connector prevented me from opening the clip on the plug. The USB and front audio connectors were in loose pins, and the motherboard didn't sport standard headers. So I used a multimeter to figure how to connect front USB. and gave up on front audio.
 
Drive and memory:
  
And VRM on both sides of the board. Also, wierd yellow IDE cable.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 16, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> In my experience our local pharmacist gets very suspicious and asks a lot of questions if you buy a lot of Isopryl Alcohol.



Where do you live? Isopropyl alcohol can also used to turn cannabis leaves into resin to smoke it. Thats probably why. I buy in dollorama store here.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Pretty sure that laptop could be good with a memory upgrade and a dualcore pentium instead of celeron.


I actually will use it for parts - I talked to a friend and he's going to try and get for me a broken Aspire 5749 which just needs RAM,HDD and keyboard as the rest of it is fine.

My old 5349 is on it's last legs,as I've COMPLETELY lost audio. Also it has some weird problem that the screen goes white with a replacement screen but works fine on external VGA.


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 16, 2015)

Really need to post some more stuff. Picked up a bunch of parts, including a new board for my AthlonXP system.........now it lives again

Here is the athlon xp system:

AMD athlon xp 2500+ (barton, 1.83Ghz, 333mhz fsb)
1Gb DDR 400(2x transcend jet ram 256mb, 1x transcend jet ram 512mb)
Gigabyte GA-7vt600L motherboard.
Gigabyte radeon 9600 pro(256mb)
1x lg dvd rom. 1x lg cd rom
80gb seagate barracuda 7200.7
250Watt Aopen psu
windows xp pro sp3.










It was once the family pc, and the only way i could get to play games like battlefield 1942, Vietnam and doom3. Used to be stuck in a smaller case with no place for fans so ran really hot most of the time, then the lightning took out the onboard lan as well as making the system a little unstable......think the south bridge got damaged as well.

A little while ago it just died completely. But recently found a beat up old case an it in was an identical motherboard and dead 2600+, board needed two new caps and was good to go though. 


Have these two dead motherboards now. The cpu in the nforce board is still ok(athlon xp 2000+) but the 2600+ in the board on the left seems toast. Wish the nforce board worked, would have been good for some overclocking.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 16, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Isopropyl alcohol too can make job and compared to wd40 it evapotes and dont leave an oily greasy film.



True, good point... However, I've tried experimenting with both alcohol and WD-40, and can easily say that WD-40 works much better. Isopropyl alcohol will only make the thermal material softer, but it won't dissolve it entirely, you still have to scrape it off the CPU and the heatsink. WD-40 on the other hand will completely dissolve TM, and it's going to leave a nice & shiny finish. I repeat however, when you use WD-40, make sure you wipe it clean (and dry) afterwards. Not really that difficult, considering all the surfaces are completely smooth & plastic (and/or metal) WD-40 is also good for removing the glue residue (from the insulating tape, for example), soldering marks (flux and burn marks on the PCB), and pretty much everything else in that category 



CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> In my experience our local pharmacist gets very suspicious and asks a lot of questions if you buy a lot of Isopryl Alcohol.



We don't have that kind of problem over here, but I suppose that's one more reason to use WD-40 over the isopropyl alcohol 



STIG_ZA said:


> Really need to post some more stuff. Picked up a bunch of parts, including a new board for my AthlonXP system.........now it lives again
> 
> Here is the athlon xp system:
> 
> ...



I know how you feel... I also have a system from my childhood, which (once, long time ago) used to be a family system. It's a Pentium 2 350MHz, and it originally came with Voodoo2 card (in October 1998). This thing has been used, abused, beaten, moved and taken apart so many times that I'm absolutely amazed it still works, even today! Mobo is Chaintech 6BTM, Slot-1 and is one of few components inside which actually remained the same, from the 1st day we got it. Unfortunately, I've decided to upgrade the system some time in 2006, so I took out the original memory, Voodoo2 card (12mb) and ATI Rage IIC (AGP, primary aka 2D card) I don't remember what happened to those (so I wasn't able to put them back), but I managed to find everything online & restore the system to factory specs, everything apart from the original case 

As for the Athlons, I recently got Athlon 2400 & was absolutely amazed with what this thing is capable of! Paired up with GeForce 6200 (AGP) and 768mb of RAM, I was able to play Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and 2 at decent frame rate, although the final episode (Ep2) was lagging a little bit so I had to lower the settings. But still, it looks absolutely amazing for a 10yr old system, something which I got for free!


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 16, 2015)

agent00skid said:


> Finally put back together an old computer my father brought. Didn't even know if it worked.
> View attachment 61717
> In all it's glory, with stupid headers and power plugs that couldn't be disconnected. I literally had to cut off some of the bump on the motherboard connector, because the floppy connector prevented me from opening the clip on the plug. The USB and front audio connectors were in loose pins, and the motherboard didn't sport standard headers. So I used a multimeter to figure how to connect front USB. and gave up on front audio.
> View attachment 61721
> ...


Looks like you've got some bulging caps between the 4pin CPU power and the heatsink on the corner of the board. Power filter caps?


JunkBear said:


> Where do you live? Isopropyl alcohol can also used to turn cannabis leaves into resin to smoke it. Thats probably why. I buy in dollorama store here.


Leave it to a Canadian... 


STIG_ZA said:


> Really need to post some more stuff. Picked up a bunch of parts, including a new board for my AthlonXP system.........now it lives again
> 
> Here is the athlon xp system:
> 
> ...


Nice old Giga boards and sweet nostalgic rig!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Have these two dead motherboards now. The cpu in the nforce board is still ok(athlon xp 2000+) but the 2600+ in the board on the left seems toast. Wish the nforce board worked, would have been good for some overclocking.


Try replacing the three caps near the I/O ports on the nForce board and see if it posts. If you don't know which caps I talk about,they're the ones that have a Mercedes like stamp/vent/bung.


----------



## agent00skid (Jan 16, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> Looks like you've got some bulging caps between the 4pin CPU power and the heatsink on the corner of the board. Power filter caps?


I agree, they do look a bit bad. But it works, and I don't have the tools to fix it anyway.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 16, 2015)

just a small update the original post is http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/your-pc-atm.65012/page-1074#post-3222951


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 16, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> I know how you feel... I also have a system from my childhood, which (once, long time ago) used to be a family system. It's a Pentium 2 350MHz, and it originally came with Voodoo2 card (in October 1998). This thing has been used, abused, beaten, moved and taken apart so many times that I'm absolutely amazed it still works, even today! Mobo is Chaintech 6BTM, Slot-1 and is one of few components inside which actually remained the same, from the 1st day we got it. Unfortunately, I've decided to upgrade the system some time in 2006, so I took out the original memory, Voodoo2 card (12mb) and ATI Rage IIC (AGP, primary aka 2D card) I don't remember what happened to those (so I wasn't able to put them back), but I managed to find everything online & restore the system to factory specs, everything apart from the original case
> 
> As for the Athlons, I recently got Athlon 2400 & was absolutely amazed with what this thing is capable of! Paired up with GeForce 6200 (AGP) and 768mb of RAM, I was able to play Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and 2 at decent frame rate, although the final episode (Ep2) was lagging a little bit so I had to lower the settings. But still, it looks absolutely amazing for a 10yr old system, something which I got for free!



Yep those pc's from childhood always have some sentimental value. Still have my first pc(200mhz mmx). sadly dont have the pc i had at the time of the family athlon, it was a 500mhz k6-2........ancient at the time, but miss it

These old athlonXP's are surprising. Ran 3dmark 01 on this one and the 2.8 ghz p4HT i posted here a while back. The Athlon was only about 200 points behind. 



MaxiPro800 said:


> Try replacing the three caps near the I/O ports on the nForce board and see if it posts. If you don't know which caps I talk about,they're the ones that have a Mercedes like stamp/vent/bung.



Will do. But what happens when powered up is that the south bridge gets insanely hot followed by lots of nothing. will still give it a try though, would be a really nice board.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Will do. But what happens when powered up is that the south bridge gets insanely hot followed by lots of nothing. will still give it a try though, would be a really nice board.


Ah. It's sure dead then,may it rest in pieces 

What about the one on the left? What's wrong with that one?


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 16, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Ah. It's sure dead then,may it rest in pieces
> 
> What about the one on the left? What's wrong with that one?



That one, no idea. It was the original board in the Athlon system, lightning killed the lan years ago.....worked okish since then. But a while back i wanted to use it and nothing would happen, fans woulds spin but no post and no beep codes.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> That one, no idea. It was the original board in the Athlon system, lightning killed the lan years ago.....worked okish since then. But a while back i wanted to use it and nothing would happen, fans woulds spin but no post and no beep codes.


Try replacing caps on that one,it may come back to life.

Could you please post a higher res shot of it?


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 16, 2015)

Will do. noob question, what is the maximum res i can post here?


----------



## TRWOV (Jan 16, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Will do. noob question, what is the maximum res i can post here?



whatever you want. It gets scaled down automatically to match the user's horizontal resolution. If you click on the picture you get the full size.

I don't know if uploading directly to TPU has any limits though.


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 16, 2015)

Heres a higher res shot:


----------



## kazz (Jan 16, 2015)

nice, soc A =)
my modern laptop died some time ago  so i have done all of my computing with soc A computer during last months  now its paired up with 24" LCD =)


----------



## FireFox (Jan 16, 2015)

I dont know if it deserves to be posted but here is my 6 years old Asus Gaming Laptop.

Specs:

Asus G72GX
Processor - Intel Core Quad Q9000 2,00GHz

Graphic Card - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M 1024 MB


Memory - 12GB Ram DDR2 -6400, 3× 4GB

Display - 17.3 inch 16:9 1600×900 pixel

Mainboard - Intel PM45

The Harddisk were 2x Seagate Momentus 7200,4 320GB each but then i used it for something else and now it has installed a Kingston 60GB.

Actual OS - Windows 7 Home Premium.
Next OS - Windows 7 Professional

Note: next month i will upgrade the Harddisk.
Upgrade: 2x Samsung EVO 250GB


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 17, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Will do. But what happens when powered up is that the south bridge gets insanely hot followed by lots of nothing. will still give it a try though, would be a really nice board.



Actually some of the capacitors can actually cause that issue. I had some bad caps on a Gigabyte board back in the socket A days and the south bridge would get so hot ya couldn't even touch it! Had three bulging caps. Pulled them, soldered new ones in, and bam, end of south bridge heat and the board posted right up. 
Food for thought.


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 17, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Actually some of the capacitors can actually cause that issue. I had some bad caps on a Gigabyte board back in the socket A days and the south bridge would get so hot ya couldn't even touch it! Had three bulging caps. Pulled them, soldered new ones in, and bam, end of south bridge heat and the board posted right up.
> Food for thought.



lol guess im just going to replace every cap until it works . Luckily i have some more dead motherboards from which to pull caps

None look like they are leaking or bulging, i assume you replaced the caps near the south bridge?


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 17, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> i assume you replaced the caps near the south bridge?




I can't really remember where they were located on the board to be honest. It has been so many years ago now. LOL

I would try and buy new caps rather than attempting to use some from another board. Trouble with that is the leads are usually so dang short its hard to get them soldered correctly.


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 17, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> I can't really remember where they were located on the board to be honest. It has been so many years ago now. LOL
> 
> I would try and buy new caps rather than attempting to use some from another board. Trouble with that is the leads are usually so dang short its hard to get them soldered correctly.



Took quite a few out the board and tested them, they all seem ok. So meh will keep it for parts and search for another like it


----------



## FireFox (Jan 17, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> In my experience our local pharmacist gets very suspicious and asks a lot of questions if you buy a lot of Isopryl Alcohol.


Maybe he thinks that you want to Rob someone


----------



## FireFox (Jan 17, 2015)

Vodafone 125  (2007)
I paid for it in 2010 5€ it was my Emergency
Mobile Phone.
And it's still Working.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 17, 2015)

It's not that old but it's old.
IPhone 4 (2010)
No longer works because it fell in the toilet


----------



## Arjai (Jan 17, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> It's not that old but it's old.
> IPhone 4 (2010)
> No longer works because it fell in the toilet
> 
> View attachment 61814 View attachment 61815 View attachment 61816


That's funny, I thought iPhone's belonged there. (in the Toilet)


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 17, 2015)

Arjai said:


> That's funny, I thought iPhone's belonged there. (in the Toilet)



Bhahahahahaha 
I HAVE  GOT TO read things before drinking something!!! I was just taking my first sip of a cold beer when I read that..............Thanks Arjai, I just spit it all over my desk laughing!


----------



## FireFox (Jan 17, 2015)

Arjai said:


> That's funny, I thought iPhone's belonged there. (in the Toilet)


Let me hear what phone do you own.


----------



## Arjai (Jan 17, 2015)

Droid Max 16, Motorola.

Best phone I've ever had. Battery lasts 2 DAYS!! No Joke, 2 days.

Also, Android has EVERYTHING apple has, and MORE!

To me, now, Apple is just a status, like owning a Jaguar. Well, maybe not. Jaguars are more useful....


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 17, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Let me hear what phone do you own.


surely something better than a iPhone .... since it's not hard at all  (joke)
for my side i have a LG G2 (D802) and instead of a iPad (which didn't do long in my hands since it was so limited) a Nvidia Shield Tablet with the Nvidia Shield Wireless Controller and a free 32gb uSD 



Arjai said:


> Droid Max 16, Motorola.
> 
> Best phone I've ever had. Battery lasts 2 DAYS!! No Joke, 2 days.
> 
> ...


ahah yep ... pretty much that ... both run on a derivative of Linux ... yet only Apple is proprietary and more closed than Alcatraz in the golden days ...  altho it's good for non tech friendly user 

btw i sold the computer i had when i first signed to TPU, ofc not with the TX3 but the stock AMD cooler and not with the FSP PSU but a OEM HP one xD 2012 not so old tho  still i am nostalgic about that piece of crap from HP i had before re-enlightening myself to the joy of self assembled PC thanks to TPU


----------



## FireFox (Jan 17, 2015)

Arjai said:


> Droid Max 16, Motorola.
> 
> Best phone I've ever had. Battery lasts 2 DAYS!! No Joke, 2 days.
> 
> ...


Let me tell you that I've owned iPhone 3/4/4s and 5, because I never used before android and because I have 2 mobiles phones contracts and every year I can have 2 phones for free, this time I got 2 Samsung Galaxy s5 just for curiosity and been honest after a week using Android I regretted the big mistake I did.

Btw I have 2 ipad's and one iPhone and I was and I am still happy with Apple products.


----------



## Arjai (Jan 17, 2015)

I believe a week is not nearly enough time to fully come to terms with what you have. Give it time, change is not always accepted right away as good, or right. But, after a while, you, too, will see the light.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 17, 2015)

Arjai said:


> I believe a week is not nearly enough time to fully come to terms with what you have. Give it time, change is not always accepted right away as good, or right. But, after a while, you, too, will see the light.


I gave it time, I am using Android for about 5 months, appreciate your advices but Android is not for me, 1 phone is sold and the other that remains will be sell as soon as i can.

Note: Each one of us is happy with what we like


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 18, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> I gave it time, I am using Android for about 5 months, appreciate your advices but Android is not for me, 1 phone is sold and the other that remains will be sell as soon as i can.



Yup Android is not for those afraid of liberty.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 18, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Yup Android is not for those afraid of liberty.


And that's why Samsung won't never sell more than Apple.

Samsung will ever be 5 steps behind Apple.


----------



## agent00skid (Jan 18, 2015)

And back to old shit. 


 
The PSU of the machine I mentioned earlier. Quite weird thing.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 18, 2015)

agent00skid said:


> And back to old shit.
> 
> View attachment 61826
> The PSU of the machine I mentioned earlier. Quite weird thing.




L love the old shit.                         Brilliant post Dude.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 18, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> L love the old shit.                         Brilliant post Dude.




Couldn't agree more. Back on topic..


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 18, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> And that's why Samsung won't never sell more than Apple.
> 
> Samsung will ever be 5 steps behind Apple.



Most of the sheeps who were caged all their lives are afraid of the open wild.


----------



## FireFox (Jan 18, 2015)

Don't be afraid, i won't Kick your  because you like Android


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 18, 2015)

Nobody touch my nuts!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2015)

I'm also Android kind of guy, never really cared much about iStuff. I do have iTouch (1st gen) and it's been working perfectly fine up to the point when it became outdated to keep up with anything useful, so I kinda let it "die" over time. Well, at least the battery part, there's no way I'll pay for new one (not to mention the battery replacement), because I got more than enough Android devices around here  On a random note, I seriously hate Samsung though, it really pissed me off! Best Android I ever had was HTC Desire HD, and I feel really bad for selling it & buying new Galaxy Core 

Anyhow, back to old shit, just like @agent00skid said... 

Working on upcoming 3dfx projects... The latest one involves Athlon XP 1800+ running a pair of 3dfx Voodoo2 reference cards, revisions 1 and 2.0 (therefore different VGA output connectors) All the SLI cables are made by myself, I don't think I need to tell you guys just how difficult would be to get the real thing nowdays, manufactured by 3dfx, Diamond, Creative or similar company!



 

 

 

 

 



Windows 95, anyone?  I got 3 sealed, never opened before packages + the one for "display" purposes, all for free! I also have a sealed up copy of Win95 on the floppy disks, along with the appropriate copy of Office, also on 3.5" but they're not on any of these pics here.



 

 


http://www.imagebam.com/image/7c14db382713329
Also working on the new computer system! Pentium 3 S370, I figured it was time to move up the scale & go for something modern this time, rather than having another Slot-1 all over again  This one is totally going to own the games like Half-Life & Unreal, especially with Radeon 7000 and 256mb of RAM! No 3dfx though...


 

 

 



And these ones are just spare boards... All in working condition, I recently pulled out that Matsonic & swapped it for another Asus, TUSI-M (mATX, running Celeron 1.00 Tualatin on the last pic)


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 19, 2015)

You really should find a different image host @Trekkie4 It takes forever for the images to load.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> You really should find a different image host @Trekkie4 It takes forever for the images to load.



I'm sorry  Do you have something better to recommend? I've been using ImageBam for quite some time now, so it kinda became a habit...


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 19, 2015)

There are several. 

ImageShack: https://imageshack.com/

Photobucket: www.photobucket.com

And, TPU's own photo uploader: http://www.techpowerup.org/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> There are several.
> 
> ImageShack: https://imageshack.com/
> 
> ...



OK, thanks!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 19, 2015)

Also @Trekkie4 , the image host your using throws up pop up pages as well.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Also @Trekkie4 , the image host your using throws up pop up pages as well.


Once again, I'm really sorry  Long time ago, when I was active on GTAForums (for Grand Theft Auto game series), someone recommended Imagebam as reliable solution for image hosting, so I bookmarked the page & been using it ever since...  I'll try with TPU next time, there's a lot more to come!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 19, 2015)

I hear ya man. I have personally been using photobucket for quite awhile now. It has gotten pretty dang slow as well. Years ago it was great.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 19, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> There are several.
> 
> ImageShack: https://imageshack.com/
> 
> ...




Imgur is the one i use but only for pm... tpu has a "upload a file" button... and ofc a stand alone image uploader


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 19, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> Imgur is the one i use but only for pm... tpu has a "upload a file" button... and ofc a stand alone image uploader



Totally forgot Imgur!


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 19, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> You really should find a different image host @Trekkie4 It takes forever for the images to load.



You want some quick load....*unzip*....


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 21, 2015)

Another of my AMD systems. This one used to belong to a friend, was all he had to play call of duty 4 and other games of the time on. It had like 384mb ram, just the onboard gfx and a 20gb hdd when he first got it.....got upgraded bit by bit and eventually replaced. 

It never really worked 100% though, onboard usb is toast, now and again only 8 of the 16 pci-e lanes work and only certain ddr modules work properly in it. 

Specs:
AMD athlon64 2800+ 1.8Ghz........originally a Sempron 2800+
1gb DDR400(2x 512mb Samsung)
Nvidia 9400GT(512Mb)
ECS 761Gx-m754 motherboard 
80Gb seagate barracuda 7200.7
LG DVD combo drive
Via 4 port pci usb card(modded so front usb can connect to it)
Windows XP pro
Some or other generic 300W psu.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 21, 2015)

I really like these 754 like the one i have is snappy. I bought new mobo on ebay maybe 4years ago brand new.

Talking about it i would like to know if they ever made a pci firewire card that have header pins on it so you can plug the FireWire front case connector?


----------



## peche (Jan 21, 2015)

my level 10m mouse died... on sunday


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 22, 2015)

peche said:


> my level 10m mouse died... on sunday


 Ok...but wtf is a 10m level mouse ...and... this in not a whinning department here for dying stuff. It's revival of older things


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Ok...but wtf is a 10m level mouse ...and... this in not a whinning department here for dying stuff. It's revival of older things




Thermaltake level 10m mouse:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826254094


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 22, 2015)

Quote "" Talking about it i would like to know if they ever made a pci firewire card that have header pins on it so you can plug the FireWire front case connector? ""

I'm Looking at a SIIG 3 Port external firewire card 
link to card is here
http://www.siig.com/it-products/firewire/firewire-400/pci/firewire-3-port-pci-i-o.html

Its PCI and there is a place on the circuit board that is marked port 3 where header pins could be soldered into place.
the trace's link it to port 0   so probably if headers are soldered onto the card it would work


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jan 22, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> Quote "" Talking about it i would like to know if they ever made a pci firewire card that have header pins on it so you can plug the FireWire front case connector? ""
> 
> I'm Looking at a SIIG 3 Port external firewire card
> link to card is here
> ...


I am pretty sure there are pci firewire cards now how many had headers not sure as there weren't to many cases built with firewire ports on the front that I know of. Now if you have a break out box kinda like what came with Sound blaster Platinum sound cards then to would be good.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 22, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I am pretty sure there are pci firewire cards now how many had headers not sure as there weren't to many cases built with firewire ports on the front that I know of. Now if you have a break out box kinda like what came with Sound blaster Platinum sound cards then to would be good.



Chenming cube black and silver. They made cheap model without firewire and side window but i have the higher model with side plexiglas and firewire on front.


----------



## peche (Jan 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Ok...but wtf is a 10m level mouse ...and... this in not a whinning department here for dying stuff. It's revival of older things


Trying to repair it.... one laser its died... rest of the mouse still works...


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> I really like these 754 like the one i have is snappy. I bought new mobo on ebay maybe 4years ago brand new.
> 
> Talking about it i would like to know if they ever made a pci firewire card that have header pins on it so you can plug the FireWire front case connector?



Yep, not a bad little system. He manged to play call of duty 4 quite well on it....but im sure with a different motherboard it would be faster, ecs boards aren't too great. 

You can probably mod a firewire card so you can connect the front panel to it


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Chenming...


A LOT of Chenming cases had Firewire, my 601AE had two USB 2.0 ports and a Firewire port, and I know the 601's bigger brother, the 901, had the same.


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 22, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> A LOT of Chenming cases had Firewire, my 601AE had two USB 2.0 ports and a Firewire port, and I know the 601's bigger brother, the 901, had the same.



Ok but the cube i got is like that. Its the only chenming i owned in my life anyway.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> header pins on it so you can plug the FireWire front case connector?




Is it pins or a firewire socket?. Im sure ive got something like that but its a socket ill try and dig it out and post a pic or specs if you think it could be an option.


----------



## agent00skid (Jan 22, 2015)

And finally, a look of the machine while assembled
  
And the specs:
MB: Freetech P8F154
RAM: 2*512MB Kingston DDR 266
CPU: Pentium 4 2,4GHz
HDD: Seagate 80GB
ODD: Plextor CD-drive


----------



## JunkBear (Jan 23, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Is it pins or a firewire socket?. Im sure ive got something like that but its a socket ill try and dig it out and post a pic or specs if you think it could be an option.
> 
> View attachment 61975
> 
> View attachment 61976



No it really pins i need on the card. Like when u plug usb connectors onto the motherboard. Same plug type so it needs to be pins header on the pci card.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 23, 2015)

peche said:


> Trying to repair it.... one laser its died... rest of the mouse still works...


weeeellll my Razer Naga (a total P.O.S like all of Razers product ) is the opposite ... laser fine, click died ... lateral thumbpad fine ... bwahaha


----------



## Compgeke (Jan 23, 2015)

This here isn't quite a computer but it's audio gear (or hardware, if you prefer). 




Harman/Kardon 330B. Looks amazing in the dark.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 24, 2015)

Re-building one of my earlier builds, so I didn't bother with the new pics... Athlon XP 1800+, which used to run GeForce4 MX440 and a single 8mb Voodoo2 and WinXP, SP2.

Now it has a dual-boot, featuring both WinXP and Win98, AGP card is GeForce4 Ti 4200 (AGP8x, although mobo is 4X) and *2x *3dfx Voodoo2 1000 cards, both 12mb paired up in SLI  What more could a hardcore gamer ask for?! 

(pics below have been taken from the previous posts and pages, they're not fresh, therefore I apologize for using ImageBam as image hosting service. Once I take new ones, I'll probably switch to Tech PowerUp service)


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 25, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Re-building one of my earlier builds, so I didn't bother with the new pics... Athlon XP 1800+, which used to run GeForce4 MX440 and a single 8mb Voodoo2 and WinXP, SP2.
> 
> Now it has a dual-boot, featuring both WinXP and Win98, AGP card is GeForce4 Ti 4200 (AGP8x, although mobo is 4X) and *2x *3dfx Voodoo2 1000 cards, both 12mb paired up in SLI  What more could a hardcore gamer ask for?!
> 
> (pics below have been taken from the previous posts and pages, they're not fresh, therefore I apologize for using ImageBam as image hosting service. Once I take new ones, I'll probably switch to Tech PowerUp service)



Nice cable management there

Got a bunch of socket 775 parts the other day. The insides of two acer aspire t690's, with pentium D 925. Never had a pentium D, completely skipped that back in the day. Gaming performance is poor it seems, but runs windows 7 well enough


----------



## Misaki (Jan 26, 2015)

Good times are back


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 27, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Good times are back



Nice! Here in South Africa it seems really hard to find a nice skt775 board, been looking for months and all i find is G31 stuff........looking to build a nice 2009(ish) system.


----------



## Misaki (Jan 27, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Nice! Here in South Africa it seems really hard to find a nice skt775 board, been looking for months and all i find is G31 stuff........looking to build a nice 2009(ish) system.


In Poland, about a 80% customers has socket 775 
I have got this for free, customer bring 2 PCs to me and said "make one working, other one is yours"

So, I have this mobo, this 8600gt, e5200, wd green 500gb, seagate 40gb for free 
And now I'm reviving ASUS P5B for this customer. Badly overheated, all capacitors exploded, dust everywhere. I must order only more capcaitors to the CPU section and it will work, with Core 2 Duo E6750, 2x 2GB Kingston 800MHz, HD6670


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2015)

I've been working hard for past couple of days on my Athlon Voodoo2 SLI/GeForce4 ultimate gaming rig, and I finally got some decent results to share with you guys 

So, let's get on with it... I've been meaning to make a single unit which would cover approx. 10yrs of retro gaming, somewhere along the line between 1994 and 2004. This obviously includes some of the older, DOS-based titles such as Carmageddon & Carmageddon Splat Pack, Grand Theft Auto & Grand Theft Auto London 1969 & similar along with the more recent ones, such as Half Life 2 but there was a catch - As we all know, running all these games off a single platform would have been impossible, which is why I came up with Dual-Boot feature, to have the best of both worlds! Having a single 40GB HDD, I made 2x 20GB partitions & installed Windows 98 (SE) on one and WinXP Home (SP1) on the other one. Most ppl would think that's easy enough, right? Well, better guess again!  The biggest challenge (at least for me, personally) was the driver issue, it's pretty difficult to have 3 video cards working together in pair, with 2 of them being from 1997 and 1 from 2003!

As a general rule with drivers & updates, everyone always recommends using the latest version, right? Once again, wrong! I've tried using the latest nVidia Forceware with my GeForce4 4200Ti but as you'd imagine, I've been having loads of weird problems with the older games. Games like Colin McRae Rally 1 & 2 for example and many other titles! So, I had to go back to the drawing board & tried with different version this time, 29.42 which kinda worked... Until I got to install Need for Speed 3, 4 & 5 (Porsche Unleashed), that's when all the hell broke loose. Game(s) randomly crashed, or even hanged with nothing but the black screen upon loading & similar. Eventually (after lots & lots of testing), I've settled for 45.23 from 09 October 2003. It seems to be a compromise between the old & new, right in the middle! 

Technically speaking, we're looking at the system with 3 video cards, featuring previously mentioned nVidia GeForce4 4200Ti Titan series, hooked up to a pair of 3dfx Voodoo2 1000 cards (12mb), working in SLI. As most of you know, V2 cards had 3 processing units, which means this system has 7 in total! True, V2 cards had different kind of processors (as someone recently corrected me), but it STILL has 7 processing units all together, which I find seriously fascinating  Motherboard is ASRock K7VT2 Socket A running AthlonXP 1800+ @ stock 1533MHz. It has 2x modules of 256MB DDR400 which is unfortunately running @ 266 due to motherboard limitation. Same thing with 4200Ti, the card itself is AGP8X, but it's only running at 4X...  Cooling solution is pretty awesome (if I may say so), consisted of Cooler Master Jet7 CPU cooler which looks like jet engine (has a speed controller) and a single 120mm blue LED intake fan, blowing air across all 3 video cards. Of course, the fan is primarily here because of the Voodoo cards, as 4200Ti already has a fan of its own, along with hefty looking heatsink  Case is also Cooler Master, midi-tower with front USB & audio ports (all working, of course), you may have already seen it in my previous posts. In fact, I even have mass-storage drivers for Win98, so that I can use flash drives & external hard drives!

If you take into consideration that Voodoo2 cards DO NOT work under AMD architecture (not without the special drivers, that is) and also the gaming time era, covered by the hardware inside this thing, I'm pretty happy with how the things turned out in the end  40GB of pure classics in all shapes & sizes!  I'll be uploading pics shortly, but DO keep in mind that once again, I'll be going with Imagebam. I did try with alternative services, but unfortunately none of the other ones support multi-upload, sending all 68pics at once for example. (or if they do, I would need to register in order to use their services) Soooo, sorry guys. If you can recommend something better, I'm all ears!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 29, 2015)

posting for being ... updated ... damn TPU alert let me down ... snirfle ... NOT ON THE MOST AWESOME THREAD! 

humpf .... i need to find some oldies to get a fix quick!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2015)

Since you guys already saw the Cooler Master case & Jet7 CPU cooler, I'm not going to re-post those once again for the sake of spam control  Check out my previous post(s) in case you've missed it...

Not sure if I have showed you these, however... Yes, I make my own Voodoo2 SLI cables 



 

 



And of course, the most recent ones... So, let's get started:

First of all, couple of pics of my Voodoo cards... These pics have been taken before I got to install GeForce4 4200Ti (but you can see it on the last pic, with the pass-through cable)



 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The following pics are from Win98, various titles from my collection. As you guys already know, 1024x768 (with Z-Buffer) is only accessible in SLI mode  The only 4200Ti exception among these pics was Harry Potter (Unreal Engine Mk1), which is currently running in 32-bit mode & doesn't support Voodoo2 accelerators.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Watch & drool! 





Now we are heading to XP... This is where 4200Ti really takes over, as the XP comes with DirectX 9C support. Despite installing the XP drivers for Voodoo2 cards (with limited support, for Glide only) I've decided not to use it. I just don't see the point, since it has a whole bunch of problems of its own and doesn't support DirectX acceleration. Not only that, but it seems that SLI is not supported and/or recognized either.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



There, so much for now... Please let me know what you think and if you'd like to see more screenshots from other game(s) under Win98 or XP


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 30, 2015)

oh yeah that flat out, my old flatout cd is broken, too bad


----------



## debs3759 (Jan 30, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> There, so much for now... Please let me know what you think and if you'd like to see more screenshots from other game(s) under Win98 or XP



I love to see screenies of games that were designed for the hardware it is played on, especially if those games can be used for benchmark runs (I have lots of old graphics cards, over 200 possibly 300, that I will eventually be testing and hope to benchmark).

Looking forward to getting my test area set up so I can take decent pics and post test results


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## JunkBear (Jan 31, 2015)

The Hot Wheels (and Barbie) computers have been steeped in controversy for years. Always a popular hit with kids when they come to the museum, the flame adorned PC and accompanying 15" monitor, mouse, mousepad, and speakers (and even steering wheel) really seem to be something the kids want to play.
The sad part is that due to some manufacturing flaws, most of these machines die and Patriot got stuck repairing and replacing so many of them that it drove them out of business. Worse, they took money and orders right up to the end and ended up not shipping thousands of units and failing to pay Mattel royalties.
Mattel, who didn't directly have anything to do with all this, offered customers that were burned a $100 voucher for their store.
The package came with Windows 98 and a great selection of software.


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## kazz (Jan 31, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> View attachment 62290
> 
> The Hot Wheels (and Barbie) computers...




Poor kids anyway, that celeron 333 without any proper videocard mentioned.. was kinda terrible even if it was new. I had something similar as my first computer (celeron 333mhz and some 8mb integrated videocard) and it wasnt able to run new games correctly even when the year was 1999 and that pc with these specs wasnt yet cheap at all


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 31, 2015)

I would stick a 12mb Voodoo2 card in it & upgrade the RAM to at least 64mb 

gotta love the small letters!


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 31, 2015)

Whilst running on the spot like Homer J on RedBull


"check the mouse and mousemat......check the mouse and mousemat"


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## JunkBear (Feb 1, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> I would stick a 12mb Voodoo2 card in it & upgrade the RAM to at least 64mb
> 
> gotta love the small letters!



FPS@600x800 = Over 9000!!


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## toastem2004 (Feb 3, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> View attachment 62290
> 
> The Hot Wheels (and Barbie) computers have been steeped in controversy for years. Always a popular hit with kids when they come to the museum, the flame adorned PC and accompanying 15" monitor, mouse, mousepad, and speakers (and even steering wheel) really seem to be something the kids want to play.
> The sad part is that due to some manufacturing flaws, most of these machines die and Patriot got stuck repairing and replacing so many of them that it drove them out of business. Worse, they took money and orders right up to the end and ended up not shipping thousands of units and failing to pay Mattel royalties.
> ...



My little brother had one of those!  They shipped his with a 433 Mhz processor, i was sooo jealous. I was rocking a Compaq with a cyrix piece of crap, and just getting into the emulator scene at the time.  It was because of that flaming blue computer I learned about PC hardware and upgraded my Compaq I had. Found the BIOS to the consumer/retail version of the Gigabyte board compaq used, took a gamble and flashed it... BAM it worked! Got me a K6-3 475MHz off tigerdirect and upped my machine to 192MB of PC100!  Woot Woot!

It was ultimately because of that machine, and not wanting to be one upped by my younger brother, I learned about PC hardware, OS's, the what and how it all works; thus began my hobby and eventually career with PC's....


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 3, 2015)

3min 25 sec  video on a computer from the 40's,


Edsac, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, ran its first programs in May 1949 and through its working life aided many scientists by analysing data generated by many different experiments.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31100014


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## stinger608 (Feb 4, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> 3min 25 sec  video on a computer from the 40's,
> 
> 
> Edsac, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, ran its first programs in May 1949 and through its working life aided many scientists by analysing data generated by many different experiments.
> ...



Talk about nostalgia!!!


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## debs3759 (Feb 4, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> 3min 25 sec  video on a computer from the 40's,
> 
> 
> Edsac, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, ran its first programs in May 1949 and through its working life aided many scientists by analysing data generated by many different experiments.
> ...



The museum is only about 20 miles from me. I really must go their some time, and see if they are looking for volunteers with any of their technical projects


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 4, 2015)

Wahey....


Finally my upgrade has arrived.







This is the only phone in our house that doesnt need electricity to work. We keep it for practical reasons and because it is such a gorgeous colour !!







The button in the middle would have to be pressed if you had a party line. On this one there is a blank, normally they had a clear button. That would give you the line.

The dial made a hell of a noise when you dialled,  so,  when we were kids we used to quickly tap the little black buttons oi the top to correspond with the number to dial.

e.g.   one tap would effectively dial 1, tapping 10 times would dial 0.
.







So we could call our mates with impunity, my parents had no idea that we did this. 


 PHONE HACK from the 70's

.


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## peche (Feb 4, 2015)

Priceless Treasure my friend!


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## Misaki (Feb 4, 2015)

Today my friend's HD5770 died. So I borrowed him my HD4850.




















Funny fact:

In 2010 me and my friend bought a new GPU. People's opinion was:
-Don't buy an HD4850, these cards are hot and dies due to cold soldering joints
-Buy an HD5770, great, cool card

I never heated my HD4850 and it works, tried heating my friend's HD5770 - still dead


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2015)

Another day, another machine!  This time working on amazing CUSL2-C build, running PIII 866 & 256mb of RAM. Graphics will once again be nVidia/3dfx combo, just because I wanted to take the advantage of both ... and also because I only had single 8mb Voodoo2 card laying around, which is not all that powerful by itself 

It originally started as DFI CA61, but I've been having some random (and weird) problems with it, so I assumed that it's the mobo itself and not something else. I was wrong though, SB Live! 5.1 card was either damaged or has blown component(s) and immediately calls for BSOD upon driver installation  Oh well... I've downgraded the sound card to SB128 and also swapped noisy Radeon 8500 for GeForce4 MX440 which is older & slower I know, but Radeon 8500 would have been an overkill for this particular system, anyway. Also, I'm quite happy with the mobo choice, as CUSL2-C has good reputation ... almost like P3B-F from what I understood, except different era.

Overall, seems to be working perfectly fine now, ready to receive the software!


----------



## Misaki (Feb 5, 2015)

And well, it's not hardware but try to guess the OS and a date of this screenshot


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2015)

Windows 95, around 2001, 2002?


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## kazz (Feb 5, 2015)

or maybe 2015? 
btw on my workplace, last windows 2000 computers was sent to retirement on very end of 2014, they was regular everyday office PCs  however some PII-s are still left running with XP.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 5, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Windows 95, around 2001, 2002?


I will say you are very close due to mirc and winamp. Very popular back in the day to use both together in chat rooms.


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## Arjai (Feb 5, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I will say you are very close due to mirc and winamp. Very popular back in the day to use both together in chat rooms.


Got that right! I used have a couple irc's going for hours, every day!!

Not so much, anymore.


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## TRWOV (Feb 5, 2015)

Misaki said:


> And well, it's not hardware but try to guess the OS and a date of this screenshot



Lain being on your wallpaper tells me it's >1998 and 3dfx went under at the end of 2000 so.... early 2001???


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 5, 2015)

Arjai said:


> Got that right! I used have a couple irc's going for hours, every day!!
> 
> Not so much, anymore.


on second though I am going to guess it's between win 98 or win 2000, But time frame would be like with in the last week or so.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> on second though I am going to guess it's between win 98 or win 2000, But time frame would be like with in the last week or so.



Definitely not 98 or 2000. Look at the icons & shadow behind the folder icon... Also, note the recycle bin icon design, this has to be Win95


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 5, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> this has to be Win95



agreed.


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## Misaki (Feb 5, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Windows 95, around 2001, 2002?





TRWOV said:


> Lain being on your wallpaper tells me it's >1998 and 3dfx went under at the end of 2000 so.... early 2001???





ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> on second though I am going to guess it's between win 98 or win 2000, But time frame would be like with in the last week or so.





Trekkie4 said:


> Definitely not 98 or 2000. Look at the icons & shadow behind the folder icon... Also, note the recycle bin icon design, this has to be Win95


All of you failed


----------



## peche (Feb 5, 2015)




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## Misaki (Feb 5, 2015)

peche said:


> View attachment 62434


Vista after SP2 is a really good OS


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## peche (Feb 5, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Vista after SP2 is a really good OS


i dont think so sir....
worst windows ever


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 5, 2015)

*My first Graphics processing Unit

*
I know its a projector but you must admit its cooool, and it works.  Sorry about the quality of the pics.




 




 







 

The hole is in the middle of the film.    And i know i've got a dirty finger.

I am no expert but i think they moved the holes to the outside of the film.


Can easily achieve 24 FPS and if you turn the black knob really really quickly maybe even more. Only one driver needed.....a screw driver.




The can of excellent lager is for scale only,


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## peche (Feb 5, 2015)

nice unit dude  ...Still works??
Nice lager too

Regards,


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 5, 2015)

peche said:


> nice unit dude  ...Still works??
> Nice lager too
> 
> Regards,




Yep still works as do the movies, and i am proud to be its owner.

 I use it to demonstrate to my kids what home entertainment could be like if i remove their pcs and phones.


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## peche (Feb 5, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Yep still works as do the movies, and i am proud to be its owner.
> I use it to demonstrate to my kids what home entertainment could be like if i remove their pcs and phones.


Well that's an artifact that we don't see so often now days, and also the fact that it still works make it more attractive!
enjoy the treasure you have there dude!

Regards,


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 5, 2015)

peche said:


> Well that's an artifact that we don't see so often now days, and also the fact that it still works make it more attractive!
> enjoy the treasure you have there dude!
> 
> Regards,



Well i'm hoping that by taking the time to dig it out and take a few pics other members can appreciate it too.

Something like this might have been part of your parents' home entertainment, or even your grandparents.

I doubt if you would find one of these in Costa Rica.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2015)

Misaki said:


> All of you failed



OMG! :-O So basically, it seems that Vista is just a "fancied up" copy of Win95?!


----------



## peche (Feb 5, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Well i'm hoping that by taking the time to dig it out and take a few pics other members can appreciate it too.
> Something like this might have been part of your parents' home entertainment, or even your grandparents.
> I doubt if you would find one of these in Costa Rica.


More photos will be apreaciatted, 
and also those artifacts are just into a musseum maybe, hard to tell that me or any friend have one at home, 

Regards,


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## stinger608 (Feb 5, 2015)

That is just amazing @CAPSLOCKSTUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Random Murderer (Feb 5, 2015)

peche said:


> worst windows ever


Lest we forget ME.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 5, 2015)

Glad you like the pics
Hope they arent too off topic for this forum.
Hardware .....yes
Nostalgic.......yes

I would add more but im on my phone and im rubbish on it as @W1zzard will testify.


----------



## Misaki (Feb 5, 2015)

peche said:


> i dont think so sir....
> worst windows ever


Your post means that you never used it. Windows 8 is the worst OS ever.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 5, 2015)

Misaki said:


> All of you failed


Something told me that you where using either winxp or vista with enhancements shut off.  But I nailed it on the date. Winamp playlist gave it away.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 5, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Your post means that you never used it. Windows 8 is the worst OS ever.



I can feel a thread coming on.
The shitty softwate thread.


----------



## kazz (Feb 7, 2015)

dunno, i really liked w8, during vista and 7 i was not find any point to upgrade from xp, but when 8 was come and that speed with ssd...


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## Arjai (Feb 7, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Your post means that you never used it. Windows 8 is the worst OS ever.


Wrong answer. Vista, despite your appreciation of it, is hands down a piece of trash. SP2 or not. XP, 7 and 8.1 are the top three, 98 would be my next choice.


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 7, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> Lest we forget ME.


AMEN!

windows Me ... meh ...

the avatar of ME is Me-Tan and as i said once : Methane ... >.<

and for the share of epicness (i did use Me ... urk )


 



and also ... not much nostalgic now xD yep it's a 760


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## Doc41 (Feb 9, 2015)

Hey guys look what i found 



still in good condition too


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## STIG_ZA (Feb 9, 2015)

Time for another PC.  One of my two old servers that i got for freeThis one was in really nice condition besides for only having really loud and slow 9.1gb scsi drives in it, so i pulled that out and put in a slightly newer set of drives housed in a hot swap rack.

Still a work in prioress but specs at the moment are:

CPUs: 2x 2.4Ghz Xeon with HT(socket 604 prestonia)
Ram: 2x 512 mb kingston value ram(registered ECC DDR266 dual channel)
Motherboard: Intel server board SE7507VB2
GPU: inno3D geforce 6200 agp8x(256mb ddr2)
Sound: Yamaha XG
SCSI card: adaptec 29160 ultra 160scsi card(all i have unfortunately)
HDD: 3x 36gb Seagate cheetah 10k.7 ultra 320 scsi drives in an intel 5 bay hot swap rack , and 1x 80gb seagate sata drive
Dvd: oem sony DVD combo drive
PSU: NMB 460Watt psu
OS: linux mint 17.1 and windows XP pro


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## debs3759 (Feb 11, 2015)

Just received a Voodoo5 5500. €18.90 including international shipping. Never seen another for less than €50, and most are double that! I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it will take pride of place in my collection  The eBay seller described it as new, so it should work, just have to build a system to test it


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 11, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> just have to build a system to test it




I like your style


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## debs3759 (Feb 11, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I like your style



LOL, I have about a dozen motherboards with suitable hardware to test all my GPU collection. Just need to make space somewhere (and I must have been saying that for over a year!). This card should motivate me to sort out the AGP 1/2 system


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## TRWOV (Feb 11, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> Just received a Voodoo5 5500. €18.90 including international shipping. Never seen another for less than €50, and most are double that! I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it will take pride of place in my collection  The eBay seller described it as new, so it should work, just have to build a system to test it



I welcome you, brother! 

Shameless self promotion: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/rise-from-your-grave-the-3dfx-re-build.154251/


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## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> Just received a Voodoo5 5500. €18.90 including international shipping. Never seen another for less than €50, and most are double that! I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it will take pride of place in my collection  The eBay seller described it as new, so it should work, just have to build a system to test it




That's awesome Debs!!! I also have one that includes the original owners manual but no box as @TRWOV has. 

I still think he just needs to send me the original box.


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## debs3759 (Feb 11, 2015)

TRWOV said:


> I welcome you, brother!



That'll be sister, not brother  You can be excused though, I don't personally know any other female tech geeks


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> That'll be sister, not brother  You can be excused though, I don't personally know any other female tech geeks



Amen to that Debs! It is so awesome to see a female "tech geek"!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## debs3759 (Feb 11, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> That's awesome Debs!!! I also have one that includes the original owners manual but no box as @TRWOV has.
> 
> I still think he just needs to send me the original box.



I can handle not having the box. Just downloaded Win 9x, NT and 2K drivers for it. I guess over the next few days I'll have to sort through my motherboard collection and find/decide which board I'm going to run it on. Might put it all in the Chieftec Dragon case I recently bought


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> I can handle not having the box. Just downloaded Win 9x, NT and 2K drivers for it. I guess over the next few days I'll have to sort through my motherboard collection and find/decide which board I'm going to run it on. Might put it all in the Chieftec Dragon case I recently bought



That would be an awesome system with it running Windows 95 or 98SE!!!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 12, 2015)

Just came back with a scrap parts build until my other Sempron arrives:

ECS 755-A2 (SiS 755)
400W Rexpower PX-400 PSU (16A on 12v )
No-name Beige PC case
80GB SATA WDC HDD
ASUS Radeon HD3450 512MB AGP
Winfast TV2000XP Deluxe TV Tuner
AMD Sempron 3000+ Socket 754
1GB DDR400 double sided sticks 
Lite-ON LTS-122 DVD ROM

It's just a placeholder (doesn't POST ,it would have been my first 64-bit/DDR400 build) until my other Semrpon arrives and until I fix my ASRock P4VM800 motherboard.

Also,found some more socket A CPUs and my LGA775 Celeron 2.00GHz that just needs a mobo.


----------



## STIG_ZA (Feb 12, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just came back with a scrap parts build until my other Sempron arrives:
> 
> ECS 755-A2 (SiS 755)
> 400W Rexpower PX-400 PSU (16A on 12v )
> ...



Also have an ecs 754 board, it is extremely fussy with ram and wont even post with most things i try. Not sure if yours is not posting because of this too


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 12, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Also have an ecs 754 board, it is extremely fussy with ram and wont even post with most things i try. Not sure if yours is not posting because of this too


Mine won't EVEN BEEP without RAM. CPU installed though.
Not even replacing the capacitors fixed it. Ah well,maybe it's good for hanging on the wall. The good part is I have my first S754 CPU!

Might look out for a nF3 or nF4 MB on S754 (they were used for 939 too,BTW anything from S462 and 478 to 754 and 939 kick ass IMO)


----------



## STIG_ZA (Feb 12, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Mine won't EVEN BEEP without RAM. CPU installed though.
> Not even replacing the capacitors fixed it. Ah well,maybe it's good for hanging on the wall. The good part is I have my first S754 CPU!
> 
> Might look out for a nF3 or nF4 MB on S754 (they were used for 939 too,BTW anything from S462 and 478 to 754 and 939 kick ass IMO)



Sure are, have a athlon64 2800+ s754 and athlon64 3200+ s939. Both are awesome for games of their time(and some newer stuff)


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 12, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Sure are, have a athlon64 2800+ s754 and athlon64 3200+ s939. Both are awesome for games of their time(and some newer stuff)


I have a 754 3400+ Newcastle 2.4GHz. Indeed it was great for its time, but the Newcastle core was absolute shit for overclocking. Three different boards and the max FSB I could ever get out of that chip was 205 stable.


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 13, 2015)

Intel 775 are things of the past but still widely used so i got this question. When technology become obsolete the price goes down and after it become rare prices of parts kinda go up again. Are we still in the down price period of 775 or now they become more expensive? I have a new G31 mobo with 4gigs of DDR2-800 but shitty 1.8 gig duocore 1m cache. Would like to upgrade if we are on down price period. Just gonna keep that system for couple of years still and put a ssd to extend it.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 13, 2015)

Ya know @JunkBear I have been seeing some insane prices on s775 hardware. Kind of like X58 parts. Prices that are more than what they sold or close to what they sold when they were introduced. 

Crazy really. I have seen s775 and x58 motherboards going for around $150 that were sold new for $110. 

They heck of it is, they actually are selling!


----------



## debs3759 (Feb 13, 2015)

I'm even seeing 486 VLB motherboards sell for $100+ !

As for S775 CPUs, high end will probably not hit a real low for a few years, but entry level and mainstream CPUs are at a low. They won't get any cheaper because of the scrap value, but as chips as far back as SA and S370 are at an all time low I can see S775 eventually showing similar trends. A good place to look for general CPU pricing trends is cpuworld.com forums, as collectors will always find the best prices  You may even find chips that suit your requirements in there far cheaper than on eBay.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 13, 2015)

@dorsetknob 

Nostaglic Hard*TAIL
*



 

same age as me exactly to the month  Jan 1966

BSA Bantam (yes a Bantam)   hardtailed.. most dangerous thing on 2 wheels........ 45 mph tops if you were very very brave


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 13, 2015)

I managed to delid a Wilamette Pentium 4 1.7GHz CPU.

Any ideas what to do with it now or if it's usable?


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 13, 2015)

Hard tail = Pile Driver 
Hows your butt?   need a soft cushion to sit on    in your old age


----------



## P4-630 (Feb 13, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I managed to delid a Wilamette Pentium 4 1.7GHz CPU.
> 
> Any ideas what to do with it now or if it's usable?



Lol you should have thought about that before doing that!


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 13, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I managed to delid a Wilamette Pentium 4 1.7GHz CPU.
> 
> Any ideas what to do with it now or if it's usable?



Put it into a retro build and bench it


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 13, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> Hard tail = Pile Driver
> Hows your butt?   need a soft cushion to sit on    in your old age



Only kept it long enough to get a girlfriend, still married to her now.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 13, 2015)

P4-630 said:


> Lol you should have thought about that before doing that!


Yeah but that was an accident. 
I was cleaning through my stack of electronics (I've thrown away 4 bags of unneeded,broken crap) and it slipped out of my hand. It hit the ground (concrete ground) and the lid got off. Maybe it will help overclocking?


----------



## P4-630 (Feb 13, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yeah but that was an accident.
> I was cleaning through my stack of electronics (I've thrown away 4 bags of unneeded,broken crap) and it slipped out of my hand. It hit the ground (concrete ground) and the lid got off. Maybe it will help overclocking?



If there is no problem to place the heatsink on it, just give it a try!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 13, 2015)

P4-630 said:


> If there is no problem to place the heatsink on it, just give it a try!


Will do,but first I need to fix my old P4VM800 motherboard. I had to take caps from it and it needs a new BIOS chip.

Just for the fun of it,I'm going to try and see if I can repeat with a Celeron D 330 - probably the temps won't skyrocket anymore (they were going haywire no matter what I used)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 13, 2015)

waiting on a K6-2 450 and a Athlon (Tbird) 1333 next week  waiting game begin


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 13, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> waiting on a K6-2 450 and a Athlon *(Tbird)* 1333 next week  waiting game begin


Nice. I miss my Tbird, I should rebuild that system.


----------



## debs3759 (Feb 13, 2015)

My favourite Thunderbird is the A1000MMR24B A, fastest Slot A. I'll be building an AGP test system with mine


----------



## Misaki (Feb 13, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> My favourite Thunderbird is the A1000MMR24B A, fastest Slot A. I'll be building an AGP test system with mine


Did you mean this CPU? World's first 1GHz CPU


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 13, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> Nice. I miss my Tbird, I should rebuild that system.


i have a Slot A K7 700 and a Skt A Athlon 750 Tbird 



Misaki said:


> Did you mean this CPU? World's first 1GHz CPU


you mean that one?



oh wait ... it's only a 700 buthe did 980 ... pretty close to 1ghz
man i need to redo a familly pics once i have my 2 Tbird, Pluto Barton and K6-2 together xD


----------



## debs3759 (Feb 13, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Did you mean this CPU? World's first 1GHz CPU



That's the one  They have held their value as well, very hard to find and they sell for close to $100!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 14, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> they sell for close to $100!


which is quite nothing ... altho ... for a beauty  like that (althought i reckon i got my Pluto SLT A for 7$ alongside 2 other proc in the deal ... http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-46#post-2950705 )

also ... Tbird i prefer them in SKT A SLT A for me is Pluto or even better (if one day i get my hand on one) A.R.G.O.N!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 14, 2015)

I still have my slot A rig in full running trim.there are pics of the beast in this thread somewhere.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 there it is


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> I still have my slot A rig in full running trim.there are pics of the beast in this thread somewhere.




Yes, yes you do my friend!!

I had one of them up until about a year ago...............Damn, wish I wouldn't have ever gotten rid of it. 

I got a pretty good score today though. Two old socket 7 Packard Bell systems and a p55c-200 Gateway 2000. It was a dumpster score!!! 

I will get pics up at some point soon. Haven't even plugged them in yet. I pulled the side panel off the Gateway and it looks practically brand new inside!


----------



## xBruce88x (Feb 14, 2015)

Someone decided to drop off some older hardware at the shop...






Oh did you think i was exaggerating? 

I've got not one... but THREE Commodore 64s, 2 disk drives for them and a printer, I've also got a few cartridges too! And... I even have a Commodore 128 with a disk drive! Kinda curious if they even work...

A quick setup guide of sorts...






Here's a fancy flight sim that came with them...






It even still has the registration card lol






Not sure if software or hardware... a bit of both I suppose?






MOAR software... and some power bricks.






3 C64s!






A printer... probably won't be printing high quality photos with it though...






disk drives and things... for the C64s






Its a C128! If any of them work... I hope its this one!






Specs! Don't think it'll run Crysis though...






Might need this to load the software...






... and the software... well some of it.






I would run that windows experience index thingy... but for some reason I doubt it would work... 

I kinda wish I had a controller and a mouse for them. I'm sure I'll track them down at some point. I'll let you guys know if I ever manage to get one or all of them working!


----------



## twilyth (Feb 14, 2015)

I would dig out my old 20meg bernoulli drives and disks but I'm pretty sure not many people have ever even seen those.  The disks are sort of interesting though.  They use flexible media with a gate that slides back as you insert them.  Here is a pic I ripped off.


----------



## xBruce88x (Feb 14, 2015)

Early ZIP drive? I think so... IOMEGA sounds like the guys that made the ZIP drives


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 14, 2015)

xBruce88x said:


> Someone decided to drop off some older hardware at the shop...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ooooooohhhh the jealousy is taking control of me .... RUN! 


joking


----------



## twilyth (Feb 14, 2015)

xBruce88x said:


> Early ZIP drive? I think so... IOMEGA sounds like the guys that made the ZIP drives


Good point.  It's the older benoulli boxes that are relatively rare.  I think I might have a zip drive someplace too.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 14, 2015)

did someone said ZIP drive?


xBruce88x said:


> Early ZIP drive? I think so... IOMEGA sounds like the guys that made the ZIP drives





twilyth said:


> Good point.  It's the older benoulli boxes that are relatively rare.  I think I might have a zip drive someplace too.



ah yes indeed ... oh ... well
  

and ... the 8800Ultra (and her Prolimatech MK-26) in the 4U dual Opteron rack ... uuhhh i couldn't close the panel like that 
    
i need to figure out why the Ram amount vary from 3900~ to 2900~ (yep i never seen 4096 at POST like any of my other computer who had 4gb ... maybe the ECC works differently or i have some faulty stick ... i already checked similar issue on the SM H8DCE FAQ page but ... nope every answer given by them to a almost similar problem is ( i do a quick sarcasm ) "nope you still have 4gb ram, you are just freakingly stupid and installed a 32bit OS"


----------



## Misaki (Feb 14, 2015)

Sapphire X800 XL [*]. This year is mean to my favourite hardware. Week ago my Tagan 420W exploded and now...





But after all, I have compiled WM from 2003 on newest Debian!


----------



## kazz (Feb 14, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ddual Opteron rack ..



really cool build!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 15, 2015)

Just built myself the #2 nForce 2 rig. The #1 is the MSI K7N2 rig.

Here's the specs for it:
MB - ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe - put an ECS heatsink on the SB 
CPU - AMD Duron 1300MHz
Memory - 1.50GB DDR400 RAM
GPU - Radeon HD3450 512MB
HDD - WDC WD800JD-55MSA1 80GB SATA
LAN - Dual LAN onboard
TV Tuner - Winfast TV2000XP Deluxe
OS - Windows Vista SP2
HSF - Titan TTC-D9TB/CU35/R1,Delta fan
DVD-ROM - Lite-On LTD-166S
PSU - Rexpower PX-400 400W PSU (recapped)


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 15, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just built myself the #2 nForce 2 rig. The #1 is the MSI K7N2 rig.
> 
> Here's the specs for it:
> MB - ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe - put an ECS heatsink on the SB
> ...




Pics or it didn't happen..................


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 15, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Pics or it didn't happen..................


Wait for my camera to charge (takes about an hour) and you shall get them.

I'm not joking,my camera eats LOTS of power.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 15, 2015)

As I said,I'm going to post pics of my second nF2 system:


 



PS:Sorry if this is considered as a double post.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 16, 2015)

Been installing Test Drive 5 & suddenly this notification appeared in front of me ... I feel like a lucky winner!!  (nah, just kidding)



 

Currently working on an old P4 build, Socket 478. I've had this one for a while now, but I had to replace the case, which means I've had to pull everything apart & back together again, to make a whole new cable management... It's quite unusual system, with the talking motherboard! The ONLY talking motherboard in my entire collection actually, and that means a LOT  Not sure what to think of this arrangement though, especially IDE & floppy cables, I want to hear your opinion. Is it a total disaster, complete mess & should I pull everything apart & go from scratch, or is it a cable-management masterpiece? Seriously, I want to hear your opinion on this one, I'd say it's probably somewhere on the edge between brilliant and terrible!



 

 

 

 

 

This is how the system looks from the outside, lots of IDE drives! 4 in total + FDD.



 

I also got this video card recently! Not sure if it works or not, but from what I understand it's somewhat rare. I've never heard of Kyro brand before, but from what I can tell, they've suffered the same fate as 3dfx


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 16, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Currently working on an old P4 build, Socket 478. I've had this one for a while now, but I had to replace the case, which means I've had to pull everything apart & back together again, to make a whole new cable management... It's quite unusual system, with the talking motherboard! The ONLY talking motherboard in my entire collection actually, and that means a LOT  Not sure what to think of this arrangement though, especially IDE & floppy cables, I want to hear your opinion. Is it a total disaster, complete mess & should I pull everything apart & go from scratch, or is it a cable-management masterpiece? Seriously, I want to hear your opinion on this one, I'd say it's probably somewhere on the edge between brilliant and terrible!


My A7N8X-E Deluxe has that feature in the BIOS too,but how do I activate it?

And about your WM: I like it,but here's a hint: hide the IDE and the main 20 pin ATX cable under the motherboard. The ATX cable will flex the board a little,but it's going to be safe. I've did that too without any problems.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 16, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> My A7N8X-E Deluxe has that feature in the BIOS too,but how do I activate it?
> 
> And about your WM: I like it,but here's a hint: hide the IDE and the main 20 pin ATX cable under the motherboard. The ATX cable will flex the board a little,but it's going to be safe. I've did that too without any problems.



Thanks, but I'd rather not  PSU cable is pretty thick (it's even sleeved), so I'd have to strip it apart before it would be able to fit underneath. Not only that, but the soldering pins (under the mobo) might punch through the insulation at some point, causing terminal damage so to speak. Same thing with IDE cables, I've never really put anything under the motherboard, in either of my 27, 28 builds. With the exception of a sleeved case fan header, but only because it was small enough to fit.

If your A7N8X-E is anything like my P4B, there should be a 3-step configuration for speech POST feature. First of all, there should be a feature in BIOS, for enabling or disabling speech option... 2nd, there should be a jumper or a DIP switch of some sort on the board itself, for turning the feature on or off. In fact, you should also be able to find the jumper for configuring the sound output (through the internal system speaker or 3.5mm audio output jack on the back) I used to have mine routed through the internal speaker, but now that I've replaced the case I had to switch the jumper to on-board sound card, because I can barely hear anything from the internal speaker due to system noise coming from the fan(s) & hard drive.

Try DOWNLOADING the manual & see if you can work it out


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 16, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Currently working on an old P4 build, Socket 478. I've had this one for a while now, but I had to replace the case, which means I've had to pull everything apart & back together again, to make a whole new cable management... It's quite unusual system, with the talking motherboard! The ONLY talking motherboard in my entire collection actually, and that means a LOT  Not sure what to think of this arrangement though, especially IDE & floppy cables, I want to hear your opinion. Is it a total disaster, complete mess & should I pull everything apart & go from scratch, or is it a cable-management masterpiece? Seriously, I want to hear your opinion on this one, I'd say it's probably somewhere on the edge between brilliant and terrible!



For cable management check out this pic of my Slot A rig for ideals.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 16, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks, but I'd rather not  PSU cable is pretty thick (it's even sleeved), so I'd have to strip it apart before it would be able to fit underneath. Not only that, but the soldering pins (under the mobo) might punch through the insulation at some point, causing terminal damage so to speak. Same thing with IDE cables, I've never really put anything under the motherboard, in either of my 27, 28 builds. With the exception of a sleeved case fan header, but only because it was small enough to fit.
> 
> If your A7N8X-E is anything like my P4B, there should be a 3-step configuration for speech POST feature. First of all, there should be a feature in BIOS, for enabling or disabling speech option... 2nd, there should be a jumper or a DIP switch of some sort on the board itself, for turning the feature on or off. In fact, you should also be able to find the jumper for configuring the sound output (through the internal system speaker or 3.5mm audio output jack on the back) I used to have mine routed through the internal speaker, but now that I've replaced the case I had to switch the jumper to on-board sound card, because I can barely hear anything from the internal speaker due to system noise coming from the fan(s) & hard drive.
> 
> Try DOWNLOADING the manual & see if you can work it out


I figured it out. I just plugged in my headphones and I could hear "POST completed. Booting from OS". Funny that it said it boots from OS when I boot from CD 

Upgraded the CPU to a Athlon XP 1900+ btw. Now just to get the SIL3112 drivers for my SATA controller so I can install Windows Vista SP2 on it.


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 17, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> For cable management check out this pic of my Slot A rig for ideals.



wow, clean...
the board reminds me of my old board with pentium I 166 mhz


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 18, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> For cable management check out this pic of my Slot A rig for ideals.


Just curious,but what board is it and what chipset does it use?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just curious,but what board is it and what chipset does it use?


Asus K7 board of some variety. AMD 750 chipset.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 18, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just curious,but what board is it and what chipset does it use?





Mr.Scott said:


> Asus K7 board of some variety. AMD 750 chipset.




Good guess @Mr.Scott but it is the awesome Msi Ms-6167 and it does have Amd (750) chipsets, Irongate northbridge and Viper southbridge.


----------



## fullinfusion (Feb 18, 2015)

This old enough, it's an old Illiac Ii Computer board

I was looking on my local Site and a guy is selling this old piece of a computer..

this is what the add says and BTW he's asking $2000 for it.

THIS IS WHAT A MUSEUM SAID TO ME

You have a very rare piece of computer history there!

This is a circuit module/chassis from the University of Illinois ILLIAC II computer (1962).

We have several in the collection.  There are 6-row units and 4-row units (like yours).  (I’m calling the vertical busses running the length of the module “rows.”)

Here is a photo of our ILLIAC II 4-row unit

Congratulations on a real find!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Good guess @Mr.Scott but it is the awesome Msi Ms-6167 and it does have Amd (750) chipsets, Irongate northbridge and Viper southbridge.


Ehh.....was going mostly off the board color. KX133 is the chipset to have for slot A.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 19, 2015)

duh i posted them in sexy hardware close up but not here ... WELCOME TO THE FAMILLY MY 2 BEAUTIFUL SHINY ... (ok the Athlon is not so shiny ... but i got it like that ...  )
and the K6-2 450 is exactly the same as the 1st non Intel setup i owned after a 386DX 486DX and a Pentium MMX ...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 21, 2015)

#2 nF2 rig:

MSI K7N2 Delta-L
Athlon XP 1900+
1GB RAM
20GB HDD
Lite-on DVD ROM
Intex 430W PSU (not real at all,PCB inside is about the size of a laptop charger. Anyways it does its job without problems)
Palit FX5500 256MB (had a 128MB FX5200 before)
C-Media 8738 PCI audio
RTL8139D NIC
MSI D-Bracket
Windows Vista Ultimate SP2.


----------



## JunkBear (Feb 23, 2015)

fullinfusion said:


> This old enough, it's an old Illiac Ii Computer board
> 
> I was looking on my local Site and a guy is selling this old piece of a computer..
> 
> ...



How many of these to run Battlefield 2 online?


----------



## Athlonite (Feb 24, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> duh i posted them in sexy hardware close up but not here ... WELCOME TO THE FAMILLY MY 2 BEAUTIFUL SHINY ... (ok the Athlon is not so shiny ... but i got it like that ...  )
> and the K6-2 450 is exactly the same as the 1st non Intel setup i owned after a 386DX 486DX and a Pentium MMX ...
> View attachment 62826 View attachment 62827



I owned an K6-2 450 had it oc'd to 550MHz in an Gigabyte mobo (I forget the model it was a long time ago)


----------



## xBruce88x (Feb 25, 2015)

I had one as well, only it was a K6-II 500 OC'd to 550mhz lol, with a whopping 768mb PC-133 memory, 3x 256mb. Sadly the on-board SiS530 was way too slow for gaming. It was originally on an Amptron 598LMR, then i switched to some VIA thingy that limited it back to 500mhz, but it had an agp port. I "upgraded" to an intel i740, then later a radeon 7500.

I hated that i740 sometimes... from time to time i'd be playing Shogo: MAD, Tachyon the Fringe, or CS 1.6 and hear a clank sound in the case... it would be the video card's passive heatsink falling off! So I'd have to reach in and hold it on for a few sec lol. Still... it was an OK performing card for only being 8mb and DX7 only


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 28, 2015)

new piece of hardware (cause the OS on it doesn't matter  )
the only pics i have where you see it is that one (it's on the bottom left of the pics)


yep a MacbookPro 15" (early 2008)

Core 2 Duo T8300, 4gb DDR2 667mhz, Nvidia 8600M GT 256/512 (didn't check)

falsely reported as a Wolfdale by CPU-X but CPU-X is a "fan" port of CPU-Z
(running 10.9 Mavericks)

the T8300 is a Penryn core and not a Wolfdale


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 28, 2015)

Checked CPU-World about my 2 Athlon XP CPUs in my Athlon XP rigs.

Here's the result:
A7N8X-E Deluxe - Barton (2500+ btw)
K7N2 Delta-L -  Palomino (1900+)

So what potential do those CPUs have? Let me know.

I also have: 
Athlon XP 3200+ - also Barton core but it's green, not light brown as the 2500+
Athlon XP 2200+ - this one is a Thoroughbred Model 8
Sempron 2400+ - also a Thoroughbred Model 8
Duron 1300 - Morgan core
Duron 950 -  Spitfire core


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 28, 2015)

The 2500 Barton was one of the best overclocking chips back in the day!!! They were usually a great chip. Could be pushed well pass what a 3200 Barton could do. 

The 3200 that you have may be one of the 200 front side bus models. Run the numbers and see. It is either the 333 or the 400 chip.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 28, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> The 2500 Barton was one of the best overclocking chips back in the day!!! They were usually a great chip. Could be pushed well pass what a 3200 Barton could do.
> 
> The 3200 that you have may be one of the 200 front side bus models. Run the numbers and see. It is either the 333 or the 400 chip.


i have a 2800+ barton that i run like a 3200+ and yep i got it booting a bit more OC'ed but i like to keep it 3200+ it does the jobs quite fine paired to my Xvi X1950GT Super AGP

also my duron 700 i have to google it i think it's a Spit ... (it was my 1st CPU after the K6-2 and then i got my 2800+ 2nd hand on Ricardo.ch... sweet deals sweet old time, i kept that habit to hunt for sweet deals since then.)


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 28, 2015)

I have a very odd 1800+ that actually will run at 200 front side bus. I am not even sure what the heck it is to be honest. Its a frigging insane chip though. It would run above what a stock 3200+ would run. 
I am thinking it may be a mobile chip or something. Has the same die as a Barton core but I don't think they ever made any kind of  a 1800+ Barton core.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 28, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> I have a very odd 1800+ that actually will run at 200 front side bus. I am not even sure what the heck it is to be honest. Its a frigging insane chip though. It would run above what a stock 3200+ would run.
> I am thinking it may be a mobile chip or something. Has the same die as a Barton core but I don't think they ever made any kind of  a 1800+ Barton core.


strange indeed  never heard of that one ... 

also HELL YEAH 2000 thanks count breached  (well ... if i compare my postcount ... i improved quite a bit since i joined that wonderfull community that TPU is  )


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 1, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Athlon XP 3200+ - also Barton core but it's green, not light brown as the 2500+




Green means 200MHz FSB instead of the 166MHz of the brown I have the same chip (Athlon XP 3200+) sitting here and it's 200MHz FSB


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 1, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> strange indeed  never heard of that one ...
> 
> also HELL YEAH 2000 thanks count breached  (well ... if i compare my postcount ... i improved quite a bit since i joined that wonderfull community that TPU is  )




Pffff attention whore.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 1, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> The 2500 Barton was one of the best overclocking chips back in the day!!! They were usually a great chip. Could be pushed well pass what a 3200 Barton could do.
> 
> The 3200 that you have may be one of the 200 front side bus models. Run the numbers and see. It is either the 333 or the 400 chip.


Here's the number of the 3200+ if it helps : AXDA3200DKV4E.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 1, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Pffff attention whore.


not really ahahah but thanks to give me attention with your sentence 

snif  annndd i missed a little AX850 Pro for my collection ... i was asleep when the auction ended, note to self : next time more coffee...


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 1, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Here's the number of the 3200+ if it helps : AXDA3200DKV4E.



Yep, as @Athlonite stated, that is the 200 front side bus variant of the chip. Great chip indeed.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 1, 2015)

Athlonite said:


> Green means 200MHz FSB instead of the 166MHz of the brown I have the same chip (Athlon XP 3200+) sitting here and it's 200MHz FSB


DKV4D = 166MHz
DKV4E = 200MHz
The color has absolutely nothing to do with it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 1, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> I have a very odd 1800+ that actually will run at 200 front side bus. I am not even sure what the heck it is to be honest. Its a frigging insane chip though. It would run above what a stock 3200+ would run.
> I am thinking it may be a mobile chip or something. Has the same die as a Barton core but I don't think they ever made any kind of  a 1800+ Barton core.


They did make XP-M 1800+'s with a Barton core, but they were limited to socket 563.


----------



## debs3759 (Mar 1, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> I have a very odd 1800+ that actually will run at 200 front side bus. I am not even sure what the heck it is to be honest. Its a frigging insane chip though. It would run above what a stock 3200+ would run.
> I am thinking it may be a mobile chip or something. Has the same die as a Barton core but I don't think they ever made any kind of  a 1800+ Barton core.



There are/were a lot of fake socket A CPUs. It's almost easier to find a fake socket A CPU than a genuine one


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 1, 2015)

debs3759 said:


> There are/were a lot of fake socket A CPUs. It's almost easier to find a fake socket A CPU than a genuine one


Very true. I find more fake MP's in socket A than I do real ones.


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 2, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Here's the number of the 3200+ if it helps : AXDA3200DKV4E.


 here ya go a little more info for you 

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon XP 3200+ - AXDA3200DKV4E.html


----------



## xBruce88x (Mar 2, 2015)

beware of overheating of that gt 8600m. was a common problem with those if i remember correctly.

Ah Barton core Athlons... takes me back lol. I also had a 2500+ and managed to force it to run at 3200+ speeds on my Abit NF7-S 2.0

speaking of Abit... i still have a backup of their site from way back when they closed down, somewhere on my work pc i think


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 2, 2015)

xBruce88x said:


> Ah Barton core Athlons... takes me back lol. I also had a 2500+ and managed to force it to run at 3200+ speeds on my Abit NF7-S 2.0



Best mobo ever made for the XP


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 2, 2015)

xBruce88x said:


> beware of overheating of that gt 8600m. was a common problem with those if i remember correctly.


yep i know ... one (how many are still hidden  ) of the well known fiasco of nvidia xD (and people stil think ATI was bad because of the drivers? hehehe ) not starting a war  ofc

The common failure of this chip in, amongst others, MacBook Pro's purchased between May 2007 and September 2008 were part of a class-action suit against nVidia which resulted in Apple providing an extended 4 year warranty related to the issue[34] after confirming that the issue was caused by the nVidia chip themselves.[35][36] This warranty replacement service was expected to cost nVidia around $150 to $200 million [37] and knocked over $3 billion off their market capitalisation after being sued by their own shareholders for attempting to cover the issue up.[38]


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 2, 2015)

I've had to swap my sisters nVidia geforce 8400 in her Hpoo desktop 3 times because each one died finally got sick of it dying and replaced it with an Radeon 1650 damn things still going to this day and she's happy happy


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 2, 2015)

Athlonite said:


> Best mobo ever made for the XP


Along with A7N8X-E Deluxe and DFI Lanparty NF2 Ultra B/Infinity NF2.

IIRC stinger608 (OP) has an DFI Infinity NF2,and it would work if it weren't for the bulging caps it had.(domed tops = failed caps that need to be replaced)


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 2, 2015)

Ha yes bulged caps are a pain but easy to replace on your own though


----------



## kazz (Mar 2, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> Very true. I find more fake MP's in socket A than I do real ones.



i have not heard about other fake models than fake 3200+ (and fake 3200 is almost always "rebadged" 2500+, its possible because 333FSB 2500+ has same multper than 400FSB 3200+ and if u force it to 400FSB there is nothing whats tell to computer its not real 3200+..unless stability problems or lack of oc potential).

other models would be very hard or impossible to fake due to their multiper x fsb wont give any other model stock result

http://fab51.com/cpu/barton/athlon-e24.html
"*Reference, L5 : Operation mode of CPU*" part is really nice peace of information about it.
Its kinda epic and cool how simply is done that multiplier stuff on soc A


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 3, 2015)

kazz said:


> i have not heard about other fake models than fake 3200+ (and fake 3200 is almost always "rebadged" 2500+, its possible because 333FSB 2500+ has same multper than 400FSB 3200+ and if u force it to 400FSB there is nothing whats tell to computer its not real 3200+..unless stability problems or lack of oc potential).
> 
> other models would be very hard or impossible to fake due to their multiper x fsb wont give any other model stock result
> 
> ...


Fab51 has been one of my favorite sites for a long long time. 
I was mostly referring to fake multi processor socket A's. I'm finding a lot of XP's with just a new sticker slapped on them sporting a MP OPN.
Yes, I know I can mod the L5 to make them work, but that's not the point.
Got a whole stack of fake MP 2800+'s before I actually got a real one.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 7, 2015)

Just got from electronic recycling bin a computer functional but without the HDD. Mobo is Aopen AX4SPE-UN. Socket 478 with a SL7E4 P4 3.0gigs 1m that caan be overclocked to 4gigs. Also 3gigs of ddr400 and a dvd-rw plus an HIS 9550 128megs agp.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 7, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Just got from electronic recycling bin a computer functional but without the HDD. Mobo is Aopen AX4SPE-UN. Socket 478 with a SL7E4 P4 3.0gigs 1m that caan be overclocked to 4gigs. Also 3gigs of ddr400 and a dvd-rw plus an HIS 9550 128megs agp.




Nice score @JunkBear !!!


----------



## P4-630 (Mar 7, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Just got from electronic recycling bin a computer functional but without the HDD. Mobo is Aopen AX4SPE-UN. Socket 478 with a SL7E4 P4 3.0gigs 1m that caan be overclocked to 4gigs. Also 3gigs of ddr400 and a dvd-rw plus an HIS 9550 128megs agp.



I have had a laptop with socket 478


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 7, 2015)

P4-630 said:


> I have had a laptop with socket 478


My MacBook pro is with a socket 478  it's named socket P  478 tho (iirc all C2D merom/penryn are on a mPGA 478)


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 7, 2015)

Donated to me in the last 3 days


1.   ASUS 

      A4 3420   2.8ghz
     4 gb RAM
      1 tb hdd
      windows 8.1


2.   Packard Bell

      P 4 3.0ghz
       2 gb Ram
       80gb hdd
       XP

3.   Dell

     P4 521   2,8ghz
     1 gb ddr2
     80gb hdd
     XP

along with a 18 inch ASUS monitor from earlier in the week and a 14 inch 12v monitor with those 3............a good week.
@Wizzard if you need more xp machines they are here, i unsubbed from beta testing and have lost track.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Donated to me in the last 3 days
> 
> 
> 1.   ASUS
> ...


 

 #1 seems to kick ass for a donation.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 8, 2015)

My neighbour needed help moving furniture, and i happened to mention ( cough cough) that i can do amazing things   stuff to pcs,

i ended up cleaning up their newish pc, which was riddled with bloat and malwares..........they shop..........indescriminately and click on stupid pop ups, anyway i set them straight and installed the usual "keep me safe" software so they wont have to replace the new one after 2 years, because it "doesnt work properly"

I left them with the impression that all their old kit was so riddled that it was positively contagious and would they like to give it to me so i can refurb, strip, make good what is there and with other bits i have.and ultimately give them to people who arent online.

An old machine can surf, you can make webcalls and do a search all of which is all some people want and need.

Anyway....selling the APU    



Spoiler











  for cheap to someone in need will pay for the 3 mice, keyboards and monitor needed to round off the package and will pay for a couple of these  



Spoiler: aaaaaaaaaaah











The whole deal took a couple of hours of my time and now i can spread joy, i know people who will be grateful.......... so ..........many wins everywhere    .


----------



## kazz (Mar 9, 2015)

yesterday I was changed my radeon catalyst 11.1 drivers with "12-4_agp-hotfix_xp32_dd_ccc" and got awesome performance improvement while watching youtube videos in HD quality,
CPU is still 13y/o athlon XP (more specs visible in profile)

with old drivers cpu usage @1080p was 80+% now like 25...35%



I even dont know how it is possible


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 10, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Just got from electronic recycling bin a computer functional but without the HDD. Mobo is Aopen AX4SPE-UN. Socket 478 with a SL7E4 P4 3.0gigs 1m that caan be overclocked to 4gigs. Also 3gigs of ddr400 and a dvd-rw plus an HIS 9550 128megs agp.



The 9550 low profile goes into a Compaq Evo D510 sff (D51s)i built to put on gf tv in living room for her Philippines shows on YouTube  and maybe a NES game emulator. Good thing on this office computer it has 2 serial ports so i could put two older game controller like Gravis. It runs already on Win7 home premium 32. Cpu 2.8gigs and 2gigs ddr400.  

I will put a HIS IceQ Radeon 4670 agp 1gig DDR3  OC edition in it when i get the proper case. No rush.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 15, 2015)

ohhhh goody good ... i won a S939 board (MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum) for around 10$, well just when i said to myself "drat i would like a S939 board ..." a mail reminded me that no other overbid me ... buh? 
well AGP and DDR but who really care  
   

also won a Sugo SG05 for 4$ ... but not so nostalg33k


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 15, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ohhhh goody good ... i won a S939 board (MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum) for around 10$, well just when i said to myself "drat i would like a S939 board ..." a mail reminded me that no other overbid me ... buh?
> well AGP and DDR but who really care
> View attachment 63386 View attachment 63384 View attachment 63385
> 
> ...



Nice........i likee, i likee a lot.

@GreiverBlade  if the Sugo came with a working PSU you are laughing, i bet the shipping was more than the purchase price.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 15, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Nice........i likee, i likee a lot.
> 
> @GreiverBlade  if the Sugo came with a working PSU you are laughing, i bet the shipping was more than the purchase price.


ahahah ... yes ... around 7$ for a 2 day selivery and 9$ if i want a 1 day (not so in a hurry i keep it low xD) nah no PSU and no ODD cover ... so i guess i will buy a slim CD/DVD for the future HTPC
i think i will re use my Enermax Coolergiant 485 for that one alongside with a AM1 setup (or i can use the FSP 250 i have ... since my mother has a AM1 5350 setup on a 160w psu with BR/hdd/pciE snd so the 485 would be a tad overkill XD)

also iirc my Athlon 64 on my shelf is a Venice S939 i need to check  maybe i will replace my AXP build with a A64 for the retrogame rig

yep a S939 A64 3200+ Venice core


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 16, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ohhhh goody good ... i won a S939 board (MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum) for around 10$, well just when i said to myself "drat i would like a S939 board ..." a mail reminded me that no other overbid me ... buh?
> well AGP and DDR but who really care
> View attachment 63386 View attachment 63384 View attachment 63385
> 
> ...


This reminds me , I need to fire up my s939 rig. Need to get a psu for the rig that has the s939's psu in it. I think that 750 watt unit is a tad much for that Fx rig anyway.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 16, 2015)

When you make retro gaming rigs do u also put WinXP?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> When you make retro gaming rigs do u also put WinXP?


Yup


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 16, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> Yup



Good thing i have XP corporate on a cd and another will all updates.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 16, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Good thing i have XP corporate on a cd and another will all updates.




Ware were you able do download all the updates @JunkBear ?

That would be an excellent link to toss up on the first original post man.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 16, 2015)

It was a french guy who made it on his website and i think maybe i missed the last 4 updates thats it. I will look when i have more time.


----------



## P4-630 (Mar 17, 2015)

Old Intel Celeron Mobile 2Ghz from my first laptop back in 2003(packard hell) 
Playing GTA Vice City on my laptop at that time


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2015)

It's been a while since I posted anything... Mainly because I'll be moving out soon, so I have other priorities at the moment which includes getting rid of all the stuff which doesn't have any obvious purpose, mainly forgotten projects and/or duplicate parts.

But I do have few items to talk about... I was recently donated Sim City 2000 (Network Edition) & Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars. I can upload pics if you want me to, these games will make awesome addition to my (already too large) retro collection of old hardware & software 

As for non-PC related stuff, I recently got my hands on Interbuy AE 6001 VCR, which is essentially a clone of Anitech AE 6001. Despite the cheap & generic look from outside, there's a very reliable Funai Mk3 drive inside, known for durability & reliability! We used to have a VCR very similar to AE 6001, made by the company Marquant when I was 3yrs old which used the same tape transport (aka chassis, mechanism - Funai Mk3) which lasted for over 11yrs of intensive service & usage. It would probably last for even longer if my dad haven't decided to replace it for JVC.
Once again, I can upload pics if you guys want me to, I've basically made one complete, fully functional unit out of 2 VCRs - the other one was Anitech 6002DK which is essentially the same thing as 6001 but without Long Play feature. Since 6002 had severe electrical damage, along with rusted chassis & other problems I've used it for parts to properly restore 6001!

Funai Mk3 tape transport...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 22, 2015)

sooooo, what to do with that mat black beauty ... almost as mat and beautiful as the PCB of my MVIIR in my main rig ... damn fine for a S939 board
 

getting the rest ready AKA: seeking for ram, cooler and other fancy thingy to swap out the KT6V for that K8N


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 27, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Just bought a new keyboard. I think that she's welcome here
> 
> Acer Accutype 6312 - ALPS White mechanical keyboard from 1996.
> 
> ...




Its often black the pictures or whatever it is. Keyboard picture i see it but not the other one...and im using TPU app.


----------



## twilyth (Mar 27, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Just bought a new keyboard. I think that she's welcome here
> 
> Acer Accutype 6312 - ALPS White mechanical keyboard from 1996.
> 
> ...


After using positive feedback keyboards from early pc's and IBM LU's (terminals) I thought I'd never get used to "soft" keyboards.  But at a certain point, they became so hard for me to find that I just went with flow.  Now I'm so used to those that when I use one of my Cherry based kb's, it almost feels weird.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 27, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Just bought a new keyboard. I think that she's welcome here
> 
> Acer Accutype 6312 - ALPS White mechanical keyboard from 1996.
> 
> ...


well at last something Acer does good ... oh ok the Acer Veriton LP i had was good too ... but now, oh god what a pile of crap Acer Pcs'n laptops are ... (well they still do good screens ... tho )


----------



## Misaki (Mar 27, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Its often black the pictures or whatever it is. Keyboard picture i see it but not the other one...and im using TPU app.


Because it's a video 



twilyth said:


> After using positive feedback keyboards from early pc's and IBM LU's (terminals) I thought I'd never get used to "soft" keyboards.  But at a certain point, they became so hard for me to find that I just went with flow.  Now I'm so used to those that when I use one of my Cherry based kb's, it almost feels weird.


Well, this keyboard works lighter than my old one (Genius SlimStar i222)!



GreiverBlade said:


> well at last something Acer does good ... oh ok the Acer Veriton LP i had was good too ... but now, oh god what a pile of crap Acer Pcs'n laptops are ... (well they still do good screens ... tho )


Hey, hey, my laptop is good too


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 27, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Because it's a video
> 
> 
> Well, this keyboard works lightly than my old one (Genius SlimStar i222)!
> ...



Ok so it means we need use browser instead of the 9gag app


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 28, 2015)

I don't know if I should post in section "My PC ATM" but I ordered an Intel E8400 for setup under my avatar. Gonna give me a little boost without breaking my budget and it was only 20$ canadian shipping included. Since I got the board like new from a friend in exchange of a full system format on his newer computer I don't see why i should expense more. Maybe a GPU next time to hold that setup for a long time. It's all i need anyway.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 28, 2015)

Just finished my K7 rig:

MSI K7N2 Delta-L
512MB RAM
FX5200 128MB
Athlon XP 1900+
20GB Maxtor HDD
C-Media 8738
Realtek RTL8139
Powerlink LPK2-30 400W PSU
Floppy Drive
LiteON DVD-ROM
Windows Vista Ultimate SP2
Phillips Brilliance 107P4 17" CRT

Also upgraded my main rig:

ASUS M2V-MX
Athlon 64 3200+ 2.20GHz (OC)
1TB Samsung HD103SI (5400RPM)
1.50GB RAM
Geforce GT210 1GB
Winfast TV2000XP Expert TV Tuner
DeluX ATX-450W P4 PSU
DeluX MG-760BMW case with HDD led mods 
HL-DT-ST GSA-H55N DVD-Writer
Enlight Card reader
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Realtek RTL8100 onboard
Realtek HD audio
Horizon H-W2205S (BenQ FP92W) 22" LCD


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 28, 2015)

Ah what a souvenir these C-media soundcards that came with a software able to accelerate or slower the songs playing. 



MaxiPro800 said:


> Just finished my K7 rig:
> 
> MSI K7N2 Delta-L
> 512MB RAM
> ...


----------



## Misaki (Mar 28, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just finished my K7 rig:
> ASUS M2V-MX
> Athlon 64 3200+ 2.20GHz (OC)
> 1TB Samsung HD103SI (5400RPM)
> ...


Stop hurting yourself, install Windows 7 x86


----------



## kazz (Mar 28, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Stop hurting yourself, install Windows 7 x86



why not add ram and still use 64bit?  i have w7 64bit on my athlon64 laptop and its runs well, cant see perfomance difference between 32 and 64bit, just ram consumption is bigger with 64bit


----------



## Misaki (Mar 29, 2015)

kazz said:


> why not add ram and still use 64bit?  i have w7 64bit on my athlon64 laptop and its runs well, cant see perfomance difference between 32 and 64bit, just ram consumption is bigger with 64bit


Because he has only 2 RAM slots, with sticks 1GB and 512MB already


----------



## kazz (Mar 29, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Because he has only 2 RAM slots, with sticks 1GB and 512MB already



Yeah, RAM upgrade is must have if that computer is main setup with real usage, on good side, that mentioned ASUS M2V-MX supports up to 4GB


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 29, 2015)

kazz said:


> Yeah, RAM upgrade is must have if that computer is main setup with real usage, on good side, that mentioned ASUS M2V-MX supports up to 4GB



Like I often said to my wife...There's nothing like a good amount of ram.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 29, 2015)

Is there any other good website consecrated only to older hardware?


----------



## Misaki (Mar 29, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Is there any other good website consecrated only to older hardware?


How about this one?
http://www.vgamuseum.info/


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 30, 2015)

Classicplatforms.com


----------



## RichF (Mar 30, 2015)

I see a lot of recent stuff in this thread.

Some actually nostalgic stuff I have:

1) working 1983 Apple Lisa (running Lisa OS and office suite on its 5 MB hard disk).
2) VideoBrain computer, with its 1975 Fairchild F8 CPU.
3) Fairchild Video Entertainment System 1976 console (first with removable ROM cartridges), plus most of the games.
4) Fairchild Channel F II console, plus homebrew multicart with all games.
5) Mac Classic II with 80 MB hard disk with AD&D gold box games, Crystal Quest, Stunt Copter, and SimCity/Life/Ant.
6) Mac Powerbook 540c with massive 32 MB of RAM and ultra-rare type C expander with 54K modem.
7) Mac Portable (original non-backlit model with static RAM). (1989 machine with first active matrix LCD screen.)
8) Shuttle SK-41G Athlon XP system with FX 5200 card. Running Kubuntu.
9) Atari Jaguar.
10) NES and SNES.

used to have:

1) Atari 2600 ("heavy sixer") made in Sunnyvale. stolen.
2) Atari 7800 with all of its games (except prototypes). stolen.
3) Atari 5200. stolen.
4) Colecovision. stolen.
5) Playstation (original first release). stolen.
6) Apple III. sold.
7) Powerbook 520C. Goodwill.
8) Power Mac dual 450, upgraded with 1.3 GHz card. Gave to nephew years ago. Still have a bunch of wrapped DVD-RAM disks with the shells.
9) Pentium 4 system with 2GB 1066 RDRAM and Matrox Parhelia. Gave to niece years back. Managed to get the Sims 2 to run on the GPU by hacking.
10) Game Boy (original). stolen.
11) CoCo 2 computer. stolen.
12) Atari 400 computer. stolen.

more


----------



## P4-630 (Mar 30, 2015)

RichF said:


> I see a lot of recent stuff in this thread.
> 
> Some actually nostalgic stuff I have:
> 
> ...



Any pics?


----------



## Random Murderer (Mar 30, 2015)

RichF said:


> I see a lot of recent stuff in this thread.
> 
> Some actually nostalgic stuff I have:
> 
> ...


It doesn't have to be old to be nostalgic. Nostalgia is simply looking back fondly on something.
That said, there are a lot of _old_ pieces of hardware in this thread, too. I myself have an IBM 5150 I posted pictures of, and a room full of PC hardware going back to the '80s.
On another note, were all of those stolen at the same time, or do you just have terrible luck?


P4-630 said:


> Any pics?


Seconded.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 30, 2015)

Thirded................oh no ...sounds like something Peter Griffin might do.

adjective

experiencing or exhibiting nostalgia, a sentimental or wistful yearning for the happiness felt in a former place, time, or situation.


So, not necessarily indicative or relating to age.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 30, 2015)

yes you got to show us the Pictures otherwise its just a tease

Edit

you Need to warn us before you post the pics of the Lisa  some of the Fanboyz will need to stock up on tissues and wet wipes


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 31, 2015)

RichF said:


> I see a lot of recent stuff in this thread.
> 
> Some actually nostalgic stuff I have:
> 
> ...




Why nicknamed like that?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 1, 2015)

kazz said:


> Yeah, RAM upgrade is must have if that computer is main setup with real usage, on good side, that mentioned ASUS M2V-MX supports up to 4GB


Yeah...still planning to get more RAM for it,but the only accessible size is 1GB and below here. 
Anyways,even 2GB would be happy for me. I think 4 GB is waay too much for what I built this computer to do.


Also,I didn't mention my HDD is 5400RPM.


----------



## FIXED I.T. (Apr 1, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Yes, I believe it was a proprietary problem with the Via KT chipset now that you mention it.


I have always used the rule of thumb (2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024.....) sequence with any of the old boards and never had a problem . Every time I deviated from that sequence I had problems , and not just Via chips . It seems to be like the wobbly wheel on a shopping trolley if you try to bend the rule . I had the same problem with removable ram on early graphics cards . I hope this helps .


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 2, 2015)

FIXED I.T. said:


> I have always used the rule of thumb (2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024.....) sequence with any of the old boards and never had a problem . Every time I deviated from that sequence I had problems , and not just Via chips . It seems to be like the wobbly wheel on a shopping trolley if you try to bend the rule . I had the same problem with removable ram on early graphics cards . I hope this helps .


 
VIA KT133 with AMD socket 462 cpus. That was my first attempt at overclocking. I burned so many of them. 

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/k7-series/kt133/


----------



## Misaki (Apr 2, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> VIA KT133 with AMD socket 462 cpus. That was my first attempt at overclocking. I burned so many of them.
> 
> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/k7-series/kt133/


VIA chips was a failure


----------



## MrGenius (Apr 2, 2015)

I didn't know I should be bragging about it. But today my neighbor gave me his AOpen s651m with some kind of P4, 80GB HDD, 256MB of PC2100, DVD, FDD and XP. I hadn't even considered firing it up and OCing it. I just wanted it for the case(nice wide body mini tower). Might have to throw the guts in my old case and give 'er a rip. It's been so long, I almost forgot that just about any old mobo(exc. Dell, HP, etc.) will let you OC the CPU and RAM(in the BIOS) at least a little bit. Not too mention all the handy XP OC utilities. Ahhh...the good old days.

EDIT: It's actually a Celeron 2.0 GHz Northwood. And I threw 2GB of some DDR500 in it. Slowly working my way there.


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 2, 2015)

Misaki said:


> VIA chips was a failure




At least they still have all drivers on their website


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 2, 2015)

Misaki said:


> VIA chips was a failure


not all ... my MSI KT6V is still good ... (and clocked my Athlon XP and Duron i had just fine  )
plus


JunkBear said:


> At least they still have all drivers on their website


that^ 

(some brand don't keep driver uploaded til now )


----------



## kazz (Apr 2, 2015)

VIA KT880 is my favorite soc A chipest 
up to 4 ram slots @ dual mode, support for big amount of usb, sata, no problems with later AGP videocards, passive norhtbridge cooling


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 3, 2015)

Just got a computer on the street with 4 old PCI camera surveillance cards. Each cards has 4 video entrances and 1 for sound. Mobo is way too far blown but cpu seems ok Socket 478 P4 Prescott 2.80Ghz/1M/800. 2 X 200gigs IDE hard disks. ATI Radeon 9250 128megs AGP


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 3, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> 4 old PCI camera surveillance cards. Each cards has 4 video entrances and 1 for sound.



That sounds like a good find


----------



## FireFox (Apr 3, 2015)

I hope this count as hardware.
It should because it has some hardware inside of it.


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 3, 2015)

kazz said:


> VIA KT880 is my favorite soc A chipest
> up to 4 ram slots @ dual mode, support for big amount of usb, sata, no problems with later AGP videocards, passive norhtbridge cooling


I liked the kt880 also and it did compete kinda close to the Nf2. But the Nf2 was the king for Socket A.


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 3, 2015)

N force chipsets  did they not run so hot that you could fry eggs on them resulting in lots of Failure's unless you improved the cooling on them
and did'nt they play funny with ATi graphics cards


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Apr 3, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> N force chipsets  did they not run so hot that you could fry eggs on them resulting in lots of Failure's unless you improved the cooling on them
> and did'nt they play funny with ATi graphics cards


In one word Nope. I still have a Nf7-s with it's stock chipset cooler and running a Hd2400pro gpu and it works great and while overclocking a Barton Mobile chip.


----------



## RichF (Apr 6, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> yes you got to show us the Pictures otherwise its just a tease


I'll get some eventually. I'm really bad about taking photos of stuff. But, I will.


JunkBear said:


> Why nicknamed like that?


Six knobs and the unit was heavy. Computer equipment at that time needed to be very heavily shielded. That's why the Atari 400 and 800 computers were built like tanks. That model is also known for being the most resistant to breaking and is the only one made in the US afaik.










A 5 minute video to basically tell you the one thing you need to look for: the thickness of the outer casing.


----------



## MrGenius (Apr 6, 2015)

My old ASRock  NF3 250 with my skt 754 Mobile Athlon 64 4000+ @3.0GHz + 2GB DDR500 + HD 3850 AGP = POWER!!! 

It was one hell of a nice OCing mobo for it's day. All I had to do was hard mod it for more volts(vcore/vdimm) and throw a slightly bigger passive HS on the chipset. Stable as a table. I still hold #5 highest OC with that processor on the CPU-Z DB. *3.214 GHz on air*. That's +.6 GHz with the old cheapo Thermaltake A1838 cooler. I lost the link to the top 15 page, but you can check that here if you want. Yes I know the link to the validation details page is wrong. But that's not my fault.


----------



## Jetster (Apr 7, 2015)

And the CPU and board work


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 7, 2015)

Jetster said:


> And the CPU and board work


kay six two BUDDY! yay! 

(the board work, nice! tho these caps looks ... hum... you know ...  )


----------



## Jetster (Apr 7, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> kay six two BUDDY! yay!
> 
> (the board work, nice! tho these caps looks ... hum... you know ...  )


Just a little leaky. Gives it character

My first real build was a K6-2


----------



## twilyth (Apr 7, 2015)

That was the first chip I ever tried to overclock.  It was bullet proof.


----------



## Jetster (Apr 7, 2015)

I have no idea about the dip switches 






How about a nice macro shot of that leaky cap


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 7, 2015)

Dip switch's on a motherboard  "ah "  the Pre Plug and play  era  Nostalga

And the joy in composing your
Config.sys + Autoexec.bat file's

If your old enough or you run old enough equipment  your know what i mean


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 7, 2015)

@Jetster , the 8 position dip switch is for the cpu frequency.  The 4 position is most likely something for the memory modules. 

Depending on the model of motherboard, a person might be able to find a PDF motherboard manual.


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 7, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> the 8 position dip switch is for the cpu frequency. The 4 position is most likely something for the memory modules.



Probably right on the 8 position dip switch is for the cpu frequency

The The 4 position dip switch is probably to set the I/o for on board ports

There is usually silk screen printing near the Dip switches with settings labeled
thats a big clue as to what they are for



stinger608 said:


> Depending on the model of motherboard, a person might be able to find a PDF motherboard manual.



Only way to know for sure is to Download and view the motherboard manual.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 7, 2015)

Jetster said:


> I have no idea about the dip switches
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Your board.  Gigabyte *GA-5SMM
http://ee.gigabyte.com/products/page/mb/ga-5smm/
*


----------



## FIXED I.T. (Apr 8, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> Your board.  Gigabyte *GA-5SMM
> http://ee.gigabyte.com/products/page/mb/ga-5smm/
> *


The specifications on your board give the reason for the two switchblocks . 
Makes me shiver to see SIS chips . Very few ran properly unless underclocked if my 
memory hasn't totally gone .


----------



## FIXED I.T. (Apr 8, 2015)

Jetster said:


> I have no idea about the dip switches
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you google Capacitor Plague Wiki , you will find the reason for most capacitor failures between 1999-2007 . If you want to replace capacitors use much later ones , or Japanese ones. Good luck .


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2015)

Getting ready to move out... So here's all my 3dfx collection in one frame ... well, most of it anyway! There are couple of more Voodoo2 builds here & there, including SLI system which is currently still in use


----------



## micropage7 (Apr 13, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Getting ready to move out... So here's all my 3dfx collection in one frame ... well, most of it anyway! There are couple of more Voodoo2 builds here & there, including SLI system which is currently still in use



20+ cpu? wow.......
some reminds me of my old pentium I 166, my first pc


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 13, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Getting ready to move out... So here's all my 3dfx collection in one frame ... well, most of it anyway! There are couple of more Voodoo2 builds here & there, including SLI system which is currently still in use


imagebam.... please use TPU image uploader or the "upload a file" button .... the option given for the reader are the most comfortable, and even for the poster (thumbnail or full size)

otherwise : nice


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> 20+ cpu? wow.......
> some reminds me of my old pentium I 166, my first pc



Actually, I believe the correct number would be around 28 of them  Ranging all the way from 486 DX4 (also got DX2 among spare parts) to Core2 Duo & Core2 Quad. Planning on buying Core i7 some time soon, for playing Grand Theft Auto 5.

As for the early Pentiums, I'm afraid none of these are Pentium 166, although I MIGHT have one (CPU alone, in ceramic package) inside one of the boxes with all the spare parts (it's not even MMX lol ) 3 of the builds in this pic are Pentium I 233, you can see 2 of them on the left side, small AT towers along with the 3rd one hidden behind that Windows XP machine with 2 stickers on the panel 



GreiverBlade said:


> imagebam.... please use TPU image uploader or the "upload a file" button .... the option given for the reader are the most comfortable, and even for the poster (thumbnail or full size)
> 
> otherwise : nice



I believe I've already explained why I'm using Imagebam some time ago, it's because I find TPU image uploader very complicated to use. Not only I can't make thumbnails, but I also can't upload multiple images at once, it's one image at the time which is very time consuming  As for pretty much everyone else, they either have similar restrictions or require registration, which I don't want (or need). But anyway, here are those 2 pics uploaded to TPU, in case you guys can't see them on Imagebam


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 13, 2015)

complicated????? it's the simplest way to upload a pics here... just press "upload a file" then select on HDD and good... the other mean who doesn't use the button aforementioned is like any other image host (like imgur which i use only for PM, even if i can also use TPU for that, but if i have a batch upload i use imgur for MP ) 

you are missing the point : multi upload + thumbnails is : "Upload a File" button just right of "Post Reply"   

little repost for a example: (for multi you do same but you select more than 1 pics and then you can either post them full size or thumbnails)


full size


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> complicated????? it's the simplest way to upload a pics here... just press "upload a file" then select on HDD and good... the other mean who doesn't use the button aforementioned is like any other image host (like imgur which i use only for PM, even if i can also use TPU for that, but if i have a batch upload i use imgur for MP )
> 
> you are missing the point : multi upload + thumbnails is : "Upload a File" button just right of "Post Reply"
> 
> ...



Thanks! Actually, i was using this feature right here, as someone pointed out few pages earlier: http://www.techpowerup.org/upload.php

As I remember, I wanted to upload a whole bunch of pics back then when I finished that Voodoo2 SLI/GeForce 4 Titanium build but couldn't find a way to work it out so went back to Imagebam instead. Anyhow, I'm afraid it'll be a while before I'll be uploading anything here, I first have to move out & into the new apt so there's lot of work which needs to be done


----------



## FIXED I.T. (Apr 14, 2015)

Hello to you blokes, but I tried loading 6 or 7 pics of 3.5 Meg yesterday, and all I got was , my files I were uploading were too big to send. I have seen bigger files than that uploaded before, so I don't know what is going on. Also I tried using the upload a file button, but it doesn't work. Pissed me off, because I have a whole heap of video cards in pics that I wanted to upload. Some real old stuff too..


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 14, 2015)

FIXED I.T. said:


> Hello to you blokes, but I tried loading 6 or 7 pics of 3.5 Meg yesterday, and all I got was , my files I were uploading were too big to send. I have seen bigger files than that uploaded before, so I don't know what is going on. Also I tried using the upload a file button, but it doesn't work. Pissed me off, because I have a whole heap of video cards in pics that I wanted to upload. Some real old stuff too..


bah i just batch convert to jpg (and resize sometime) with irfanview when my pics are too big, yep restriction doesn't help but are necessary.


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 25, 2015)

Saw this at trift store. Portable radio with multiple frequencies.

As you can see on one of the picture you will see all available channels.


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 25, 2015)

Telephone and also Lego ancestors


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 26, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Telephone and also Lego ancestors



Wow @JunkBear that is a really old telephone man. Nice score!!!


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 26, 2015)

that's Modern    what happened to "" push Button A   or Push Button B "" or one's you had to wind up to work

edit
push Button A  to speak to Operator or Push Button B for Coin refund


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 26, 2015)

Put my old rig together again, but upgraded it with one of these bad boys: http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL7CH.html
Running it on my ic7-max3 overclocked to 3.6GHz, undervolted to 1.55v on intel's stock cooler.
Been doing some 3dmark 2005 and 2003 with my X850XT PE AGP. So far got 7.1k on 3dm05 and over 15k on 3dm03. Are you guys interested in this? I can provide some pics and some more benchs. I also have and HD3850 AGP that I can try on the system...

EDIT: 
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm05/5529477
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm03/6522595


----------



## kazz (Apr 27, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Put my old rig together again, but upgraded it with one of these bad boys: http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL7CH.html
> Running it on my ic7-max3 overclocked to 3.6GHz, undervolted to 1.55v on intel's stock cooler.
> Been doing some 3dmark 2005 and 2003 with my X850XT PE AGP. So far got 7.1k on 3dm05 and over 15k on 3dm03. Are you guys interested in this? I can provide some pics and some more benchs. I also have and HD3850 AGP that I can try on the system...
> 
> ...



can u do some 3dmark01SE runs with it within HD3850?


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 1, 2015)

kazz said:


> can u do some 3dmark01SE runs with it within HD3850?



What would be the best drivers for the HD3850 AGP?
EDIT: Trying to push the cpu past 3.8GHz, I corrupted my windows installation...


----------



## dorsetknob (May 1, 2015)

the last Legacy driver for that card   check the AMD Site for last Legacy CCC Suite

Its Probably 10-2_legacy_xp32-64_dd_ccc.exe


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 1, 2015)

more pics less chatter 
except the last post who was helpful ... 

(meanwhile i started the A64 assembly...)


----------



## kazz (May 1, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> the last Legacy driver for that card   check the AMD Site for last Legacy CCC Suite
> 
> Its Probably 10-2_legacy_xp32-64_dd_ccc.exe



I use catalyst 12.4, i dont know about performance on such old app like 3dmark01 but on everyday use its works out the best


----------



## JunkBear (May 1, 2015)

Compaq Evo D510 SFF (D51S) P4-2.8gigs skt 478 / 2 gigs DDR400 / AGP Radeon 9250 128megs / HDD Maxtor IDE-133 80gigs

It can handle Win 7 with all drivers but do I use it or Ubuntu or Xubuntu ? I will plug on girlfriend TV to make a youtube, skype, facebook plus facebook games and a download machine. What do I use?

Do I use the uTorrent or the torrent intgrated with Xubuntu / Ubuntu?

Thx


----------



## micropage7 (May 2, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Compaq Evo D510 SFF (D51S) P4-2.8gigs skt 478 / 2 gigs DDR400 / AGP Radeon 9250 128megs / HDD Maxtor IDE-133 80gigs
> 
> It can handle Win 7 with all drivers but do I use it or Ubuntu or Xubuntu ? I will plug on girlfriend TV to make a youtube, skype, facebook plus facebook games and a download machine. What do I use?
> 
> ...



if you familiar with linux, you could take xubuntu, its lighter than ubuntu

and if it has torrent app, just use it, except you need some feature that it doesnt have


----------



## JunkBear (May 2, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> if you familiar with linux, you could take xubuntu, its lighter than ubuntu
> 
> and if it has torrent app, just use it, except you need some feature that it doesnt have



Xubuntu has one included. What features it doesnt have?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 2, 2015)

Just fixed my AXP 2500+ rig. Problem was a dying PSU (350W Sumvision KY-450ATX).Replaced it with a 400W Rexpower. The only quirk it has is that it does some coil noise when in standby,but goes away at power on.

Here's a shot of its logon (couldn't get into Windows at that time,will do a desktop shot later when I can). Of course,it's anime themed (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann). I'm not the only one who does this though (GreiverBlade,I'm quite looking at you  )
BTW,the shot is of my big 22" TFT LCD.


----------



## JATownes (May 3, 2015)

I was told I should post these here...Thanks @CAPSLOCKSTUCK ....I'm old, but have collected lots of pics over my lifetime of my cool toys...


----------



## Misaki (May 7, 2015)

JATownes said:


> I was told I should post these here...Thanks @CAPSLOCKSTUCK ....I'm old, but have collected lots of pics over my lifetime of my cool toys...


I have always wanted to have Chieftec BigTower case 

Meanwhile, another MSI K9N Repaired.













Bonus pic: "Hey, look, a twins" (MSI I hold in hands actually was an MSI K9N Platinum, not Diamond, I have recapped her yesterday).


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (May 7, 2015)

Nice one....and cable ties


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 7, 2015)

Misaki said:


> I have always wanted to have Chieftec BigTower case


Depending where you live I have a couple Cheiftech case I will give you a deal on.


----------



## Misaki (May 7, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Depending where you live I have a couple Cheiftech case I will give you a deal on.


Well, currently I live in my homeland (Poland)


----------



## dorsetknob (May 7, 2015)

one of the Few left them


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 7, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Well, currently I live in my homeland (Poland)


Well shipping would make it cost prohibitive.


----------



## Misaki (May 7, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Well shipping would make it cost prohibitive.


Well, I think that I will find something on ebay


----------



## JunkBear (May 10, 2015)

Just got from salvation store a brand new ATI Rage 128 Ultra with low profile reverse bracket that has screw hole on other side for older Compaq sff like Evo D510. 5$ Canadian. No marks on video connector, no marks on agp connectors and no marks on white stickers.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 10, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> one of the Few left them


My daily still resides in one.


----------



## Misaki (May 15, 2015)

I just found my brother's PC in the basement. No boot since 2006. I want to buy some cooler and PSU from ~2005. My brother comes home in the next week, he will be surprised


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 15, 2015)

Misaki said:


> I just found my brother's PC in the basement. No boot since 2006. I want to buy some cooler and PSU from ~2005. My brother comes home in the next week, he will be surprised


NF7 and AXP FTW! (model of the AXP? and ... the graphic card sag ... or it's my imagination?  )


----------



## Random Murderer (May 15, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> NF7 and AXP FTW! (model of the AXP? and ... the graphic card sag ... or it's my imagination?  )


Was wondering which AXP as well.
And no, that's not sag. That's board flex from those old Zalman flower-style coolers. My X800 did the same with a vf700(same cooler as the one in the pic, except mine was copper). You can clearly see the board is perfectly flat until the GPU core, then the rest of the card is at an angle.


----------



## Misaki (May 15, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> NF7 and AXP FTW! (model of the AXP? and ... the graphic card sag ... or it's my imagination?  )





Random Murderer said:


> Was wondering which AXP as well.
> And no, that's not sag. That's board flex from those old Zalman flower-style coolers. My X800 did the same with a vf700(same cooler as the one in the pic, except mine was copper). You can clearly see the board is perfectly flat until the GPU core, then the rest of the card is at an angle.


It's powerful


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 15, 2015)

Misaki said:


> It's powerful


ahaha a 2600+ i have the exactly same model on my shelf, i bought it when i thought my AXP was a 2200+ but it was a 2800+  (no regret, a nice addition to my collection and only 5$ shipping inclusive from Denmark )


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 16, 2015)

T-Bred core.
Barton would have been nicer.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 16, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> T-Bred core.
> Barton would have been nicer.


wait a sec... "check number on mine" nope mine is a Barton ... AXDA2600KV4D well yep not exactly the same

duh ... no Thoroughbred in the collection 

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare_CPUs/AMD_AXDA2600DKV3D,AMD_AXDA2600DKV4D/?


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 16, 2015)

Barton's have a slightly bigger die than the T-Bred's, that's why I didn't need to see the tag. 
Barton's have more cache than the T-Bred's do, that's why they're a little more desirable, although I have T-Bred's that will OC just as well. Stepping plays a big part in the socket A silicon lottery. 
Love this thread BTW. Keep the pics coming.


----------



## Devon68 (May 16, 2015)

> I just found my brother's PC in the basement. No boot since 2006. I want to buy some cooler and PSU from ~2005. My brother comes home in the next week, he will be surprised


As it was not used for so many years I'm simply surprised that only so little amount of dust is in the case. Or did you clean it before posting the pic?


----------



## Misaki (May 16, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> As it was not used for so many years I'm simply surprised that only so little amount of dust is in the case. Or did you clean it before posting the pic?


No, it was pretty well covered.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 18, 2015)

HELLLLLL YEAAAAAAAAH! 

new beauty incomming soon ... shall i give a hint or eventually the full review link (TPU review  ) hehehe...


----------



## micropage7 (May 18, 2015)

Misaki said:


> It's powerful


wow, back to college era, when i read about cracking AMD die coz of tight cooler, its a nice processor but its kinda horror when you tight the cooler


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 18, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> wow, back to college era, when i read about cracking AMD die coz of tight cooler, its a nice processor but its kinda horror when you tight the cooler


I set a crap load of coolers on socket A procs and never once crushed a core. As long as you take your time and make sure the cooler is flat on the die the chance of crushing the core is next to none.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (May 18, 2015)

Shuttle XPC  2007 ?



FG31 mobo
Pentium E5200    @2.5ghz
3gb ram
ASUS  9500GT
7.1 onboard sound
500gb WD hdd

http://www.shuttle.eu/products/discontinued/barebones/sg31g2/


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 18, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> wow, back to college era, when i read about cracking AMD die coz of tight cooler, its a nice processor but its kinda horror when you tight the cooler


yep and i also noticed it miss one of the pressure pads (the "security" measure...  ) on the bottom right... gotta pay attention to that @Misaki 

tho i never cracked any of my Athlon be it Thud or Barton only my Duron (Spitfire) got a side cracked and still worked fine


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> wow, back to college era, when i read about cracking AMD die coz of tight cooler, its a nice processor but its kinda horror when you tight the cooler


It's all balanced perfectly fine until you lose one of those heatsink rubber cushions, that's when you can easily cause some serious damage if you're not being careful ... talking from personal experience 

I even had a weird situation where the system refused to boot up (Athlon 2400+, I think & Gigabyte something board, red PCB) and it seemed to be toasted until I took the CPU cooler off. For some reason it wasn't seated properly on the CPU, rubber cushions were too thin & didn't have enough clearance which caused short circuit, I guess? Didn't have any permanent damage from what I can tell, so I can't tell for sure that it really was a short circuit behind the problem. Either way, system booted up perfectly fine when I took the Spire FalconRock 2 off the board. Frankly speaking, Falcon Rock is pretty hefty piece of hardware, so I'm not surprised 

Right, I definitely remember posting these pics a while ago, when I 1st joined TechPowerup forum  Took me a while to find them though, and it wasn't Gigabyte like I thought so, but I DO have a spare Gigabyte board among the spare parts, same specs & also the same, red PCB color.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 19, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> I even had a weird situation where the system refused to boot up (Athlon 2400+, I think & Gigabyte something board, red PCB) and it seemed to be toasted until I took the CPU cooler off. For some reason it wasn't seated properly on the CPU, rubber cushions were too thin & didn't have enough clearance which caused short circuit, I guess? Didn't have any permanent damage from what I can tell, so I can't tell for sure that it really was a short circuit behind the problem.


That's what TweakMonster shims are for.


----------



## JunkBear (May 19, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> HELLLLLL YEAAAAAAAAH!
> 
> new beauty incomming soon ... shall i give a hint or eventually the full review link (TPU review  ) hehehe...



It's not place for new hardware here it's Nostalgic.


----------



## Athlonite (May 19, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> wow, back to college era, when i read about cracking AMD die coz of tight cooler, its a nice processor but its kinda horror when you tight the cooler



easy peasy with a shim


----------



## JunkBear (May 19, 2015)

I got some cheap coolers two of same model a while ago. Aluminum blocks with wavy fins all around and a 70mm fan that wind up near 3500-4000 rpm. Brand : Dr. Thermal     Overclocking cooler for Athlon 1200+ TI-S7740L


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 19, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> It's not place for new hardware here it's Nostalgic.


ah  ah ah ... does "new beauty" significate obligatory "new hardware" ... i sense a Canadian joke? am  i wrong ...

proof that this new beauty (who will be new at my house, but not in the years count since the 1st produced.) has a place here.
this is the review from TPU
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4UD/

a really cool deal ... 1.10$ and it will replace the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum i use now for Nemesis (Nf3 AGP for a Nf4 Ultra PCIeX ? well ... still a 10yrs old board) pics following soon the seller send it today in economy shipping i should receive it Thursday.


----------



## JunkBear (May 19, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ah  ah ah ... does "new beauty" significate obligatory "new hardware" ... i sense a Canadian joke? am  i wrong ...
> 
> proof that this new beauty (who will be new at my house, but not in the years count since the 1st produced.) has a place here.
> this is the review from TPU
> ...



It was not a joke.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 19, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> It was not a joke.


ok next time i will write "New vintage beauty" ...   or  "New (in my house) but not in the time (of production) beauty"


----------



## Toothless (May 19, 2015)

I love seeing hardware that's older than my first desktop. I forgot what it was but it had 256MB DDR memory, an 80GB IDE drive and was some Celeron chip that was clocked under 1ghz.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (May 19, 2015)

@Toothless

let me know if you need to add another 64 gb oh sorry i meant mb




 

sorry about the shaky pic, i am "nostalgic" too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 19, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> That's what TweakMonster shims are for.





Athlonite said:


> easy peasy with a shim
> 
> View attachment 64951



Never had (or even saw) one of these before, these would be VERY useful back in a day! Personally, I hate dealing with Sockets A, or even 7 & 370. 7 is fine because they don't require bigger heatsinks, but 370 & A were just terrible to work with, most of the mobos were always missing (at least) one of the plastic tabs, or would have a mounting problem of some kind. If you also consider the fragility of exposed AMD CPUs back in a day, this was probably the worst possible design they've could have come up with  Slot-1 FTW!

On a side note, I do understand those of you who are not happy to see modern-ish hardware in this topic, as I'm kinda feeling the same. I had serious doubts about posting that Win98/XP machine a while ago, as it had (what I would consider) modern OS, and it was running the games such as Half Life 2, which i still consider to be the latest & modern up-to-date games for today. But I'm not complaining, just to make it clear only expressing my personal opinion - I DO like hardware in all shapes & sizes after all


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 19, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Never had (or even saw) one of these before, these would be VERY useful back in a day! Personally, I hate dealing with Sockets A, or even 7 & 370. 7 is fine because they don't require bigger heatsinks, but 370 & A were just terrible to work with, most of the mobos were always missing (at least) one of the plastic tabs, or would have a mounting problem of some kind. If you also consider the fragility of exposed AMD CPUs back in a day, this was probably the worst possible design they've could have come up with  Slot-1 FTW!
> 
> On a side note, I do understand those of you who are not happy to see modern-ish hardware in this topic, as I'm kinda feeling the same. I had serious doubts about posting that Win98/XP machine a while ago, as it had (what I would consider) modern OS, and it was running the games such as Half Life 2, which i still consider to be the latest & modern up-to-date games for today. But I'm not complaining, just to make it clear only expressing my personal opinion - I DO like hardware in all shapes & sizes after all


what is modern for you ... : you can be nostalgic about yesterday , 

for me as long as it's pre 2008 i'm fine 7 year is a good number eh?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 19, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> It's all balanced perfectly fine until you lose one of those heatsink rubber cushions, that's when you can easily cause some serious damage if you're not being careful ... talking from personal experience
> 
> I even had a weird situation where the system refused to boot up (Athlon 2400+, I think & Gigabyte something board, red PCB) and it seemed to be toasted until I took the CPU cooler off. For some reason it wasn't seated properly on the CPU, rubber cushions were too thin & didn't have enough clearance which caused short circuit, I guess? Didn't have any permanent damage from what I can tell, so I can't tell for sure that it really was a short circuit behind the problem. Either way, system booted up perfectly fine when I took the Spire FalconRock 2 off the board. Frankly speaking, Falcon Rock is pretty hefty piece of hardware, so I'm not surprised
> 
> Right, I definitely remember posting these pics a while ago, when I 1st joined TechPowerup forum  Took me a while to find them though, and it wasn't Gigabyte like I thought so, but I DO have a spare Gigabyte board among the spare parts, same specs & also the same, red PCB color.


Ah, the red MSI board. I know that MSI liked to use red PCBs for everything from Socket A to 939. (including 478 and LGA775). I also have a MSI though,nForce 2 chipset.

And please show us that red Gigabyte board. I never recalled ANY of Gigabyte's motherboards being red,and Google doesn't turn up anything useful.


----------



## stinger608 (May 19, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> And please show us that red Gigabyte board. I never recalled ANY of Gigabyte's motherboards being red,and Google doesn't turn up anything useful.




I agree. I don't ever recall Gigabyte building red PCB motherboards. Back in the socket A era they made a lot of greens and blues.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 19, 2015)

looks like i have also a hard time to read ... end of the post ...

ok mea culpa 

tho i call bogus: no Gigabyte mobo used RED, definitely not possible.

know to be red lover : MSI, DFI, ABIT, Foxconn, Jetway (thanks @dorsetknob ) annndd i think it's all (Sapphire ... well nope ... only connectors not pcb  )


----------



## JunkBear (May 19, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ok next time i will write "New vintage beauty" ...   or  "New (in my house) but not in the time (of production) beauty"



Grammar Nazi is happy.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 19, 2015)

not a gigabyte motherboard  But its RED .........VERY RED




pic courtsey of toms hardware

board in picture is a Jetway 775GT4-SLI

wonder where Jetway are now ?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 19, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Ah, the red MSI board. I know that MSI liked to use red PCBs for everything from Socket A to 939. (including 478 and LGA775). I also have a MSI though,nForce 2 chipset.
> 
> And please show us that red Gigabyte board. I never recalled ANY of Gigabyte's motherboards being red,and Google doesn't turn up anything useful.





stinger608 said:


> I agree. I don't ever recall Gigabyte building red PCB motherboards. Back in the socket A era they made a lot of greens and blues.





GreiverBlade said:


> looks like i have also a hard time to read ... end of the post ...
> 
> ok mea culpa
> 
> ...



Wow! So yes, here's the thing, I was 100% certain that the spare mobo in one of my boxes was Gigabyte, but after Googling around myself it seems that all of you are correct. The easiest way to solve this would be to take the board out & take a pic, but sadly it's buried underneath tons of my other stuff, as I'm moving to new apt and everything's stacked together, dozens of boxes  (See one of my latest pics, from about a month ago)

Spare boards SHOULD be in one of these boxes, here  Unfortunately, you guys will have to wait until I move in & sort out all the paperwork.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 19, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow! So yes, here's the thing, I was 100% certain that the spare mobo in one of my boxes was Gigabyte, but after Googling around myself it seems that all of you are correct. The easiest way to solve this would be to take the board out & take a pic, but sadly it's buried underneath tons of my other stuff, as I'm moving to new apt and everything's stacked together, dozens of boxes  (See one of my latest pics, from about a month ago)
> 
> Spare boards SHOULD be in one of these boxes, here  Unfortunately, you guys will have to wait until I move in & sort out all the paperwork.


AHAHA it remember me, when i moved from my old house to the one where i am actually ... the only box that was moved 1st and put aside was the box with my GPU/CPU/mobo collection in fear to loose it in the middle of the cardboard tide


----------



## JunkBear (May 20, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> not a gigabyte motherboard  But its RED .........VERY RED
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Http://www.jetway.com.tw


----------



## dorsetknob (May 20, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Http://www.jetway.com.tw


Yes i know they are still in business  Not for the last umpteen years they have not been in the motherboard business 
Have you seen any NEW Jetway motherboard  for sale
whats their range
where do they retail them ?
Hence the Question     wonder where Jetway are now ?


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 20, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> Yes i know they are still in business  Not for the last umpteen years they have not been in the motherboard business
> Have you seen any NEW Jetway motherboard  for sale
> whats their range
> where do they retail them ?
> Hence the Question     wonder where Jetway are now ?


probably mostly on the Chinese market i guess, i never saw a Jetway mobo in retail (even before ...) and their actual line highest PCH is the H81-B85 ... so let say they are "dead" for consumer (IPC seems to be more up to date)


----------



## dorsetknob (May 20, 2015)

It is a very nice VERY RED  Motherboard tho  worthy of the RED Team

were they any good ? when they were on sale compared to their rivals


----------



## Valeriant (May 20, 2015)

I found this when disassembling an old Creative MP3 Player. A mechanical storage in an MP3 player. That is a bad combo and yeah, it died just a year after. It's pretty cool to see how small can a mechanical hdd be, it is in a CompactFlash's form-factor. Found on Wiki it was made in 2004.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 20, 2015)

they were called nano hard drives  or Micro drives


----------



## P4-630 (May 20, 2015)

Valeriant said:


> I found this when disassembling an old Creative MP3 Player. A mechanical storage in an MP3 player. That is a bad combo and yeah, it died just a year after. It's pretty cool to see how small can a mechanical hdd be, it is in a CompactFlash's form-factor. Found on Wiki it was made in 2004.



Cool, yeah I know those drives, I had a palmtop with windows CE back in the days, there was also an option to insert these drives, never had one though.
What I did buy was a modem in Compact Flash form for my palmtop, was working great, could use the internet on my palmtop! Dial-up


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> AHAHA it remember me, when i moved from my old house to the one where i am actually ... the only box that was moved 1st and put aside was the box with my GPU/CPU/mobo collection in fear to loose it in the middle of the cardboard tide


Yeah, I hate moving. Last time I was moving in & out was around 2001, long time ago! And having 25-ish computers & god knows how many spare parts makes all this painful experience even worse because I have no idea where to put all my stuff, as I'm moving to smaller apartment.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 20, 2015)

Valeriant said:


> I found this when disassembling an old Creative MP3 Player. A mechanical storage in an MP3 player. That is a bad combo and yeah, it died just a year after. It's pretty cool to see how small can a mechanical hdd be, it is in a CompactFlash's form-factor. Found on Wiki it was made in 2004.


Ha, mine was SeaGate but same form factor. Swapped the failing HDD out of my Creative Zen Micro with a 16GB CF card. Surprisingly, doing the swap not only increased my storage capacity and fixed the boot-up issue, but also decreased access time to the libraries and files on the device, even shortening load times between songs. I didn't think a dated device like that would have been able to benefit from full UltraDMA 133, but it did make a noticeable difference. I still have it and it still works, but the drivers don't support Win 7.
I'll have to see if I can find it in my computer room full of boxes


----------



## JunkBear (May 20, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> Yes i know they are still in business  Not for the last umpteen years they have not been in the motherboard business
> Have you seen any NEW Jetway motherboard  for sale
> whats their range
> where do they retail them ?
> Hence the Question     wonder where Jetway are now ?



Wrong! Look on website menu after selecting English on mainpage. They produce mobos for Sandy bridge, amd fm2 also. They make new ones.


----------



## Bow (May 20, 2015)

Found this beauty on CL, https://potsdam.craigslist.org/sys/5019947821.html


----------



## stinger608 (May 20, 2015)

Bow said:


> Found this beauty on CL, https://potsdam.craigslist.org/sys/5019947821.html




Says "page not available @Bow


----------



## JunkBear (May 20, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Says "page not available @Bow



Maybe Craiglist is blocked for you cause I see it and im from Canada.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 20, 2015)

Bow said:


> Found this beauty on CL, https://potsdam.craigslist.org/sys/5019947821.html


Commodore 128  full ... wow 

meanwhile in my mailbox ...

DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D! this gonna be FUN! 
CD include, sound module but sadly no I/O Shield nor cable but 1.10 ... not complaining.

enjoy


----------



## JunkBear (May 21, 2015)

That I/O shield could be a pain in the ass to make.


----------



## micropage7 (May 21, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> That I/O shield could be a pain in the ass to make.


you can make using plastic like this,





just measure and cut and glued it by using clear tape
kinda ghetto but it works


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 21, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> That I/O shield could be a pain in the ass to make.





micropage7 said:


> you can make using plastic like this,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


what I/O Shield???? i already use none on the K8D Neo2  or on the H8DCE
 

what baffles me is HOW people who sell mobos with special non ATX standard shield (or even standard) can do to not put them with ... the cables and some other accessory i can understand but that ... it is beyond my understanding ...


----------



## JunkBear (May 21, 2015)

They make extra money by selling separately on ebay knowing that its rare models.


----------



## JunkBear (May 21, 2015)

Chf?


----------



## debs3759 (May 21, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Chf?



Swiss Francs


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 21, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> you can make using plastic like this,
> 
> 
> 
> ...





GreiverBlade said:


> what I/O Shield???? i already use none on the K8D Neo2  or on the H8DCE
> View attachment 65032 View attachment 65031
> 
> what baffles me is HOW people who sell mobos with special non ATX standard shield (or even standard) can do to not put them with ... the cables and some other accessory i can understand but that ... it is beyond my understanding ...



Running the system without I/O shield is asking for trouble, because some of the connectors & components might not be properly grounded to the rest of the chassis. I had a situation with Chaintech 6BTM (Slot-1) system, where the system hanged & crashed every time I plugged something into the USB port. Took me a while to figure out what's causing the problem, but as it turned out USB part was not properly grounded. As soon as I replaced the IO shield with more appropriate one, everything was working perfectly OK.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 21, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Running the system without I/O shield is asking for trouble, because some of the connectors & components might not be properly grounded to the rest of the chassis. I had a situation with Chaintech 6BTM (Slot-1) system, where the system hanged & crashed every time I plugged something into the USB port. Took me a while to figure out what's causing the problem, but as it turned out USB part was not properly grounded. As soon as I replaced the IO shield with more appropriate one, everything was working perfectly OK.


i seee ... well ... nope ... no problem at all on any of my 2 computer without I/O shield (or any previous computer i had who missed it ) and never had any when running a board raw on my living room wood table. 

ran countless setup without it ... technicaly xD


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 21, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> i seee ... well ... nope ... no problem at all on any of my 2 computer without I/O shield (or any previous computer i had who missed it ) and never had any when running a board raw on my living room wood table.
> 
> ran countless setup without it ... technicaly xD


Well, as long it works OK there's no reason to tweak anything   Probably something to do with motherboard architecture & layout. You'd expect the board to be grounded by itself, through the metal studs & screws holding it in place but apparently nope (at least not in my situation)


----------



## JunkBear (May 22, 2015)

The I/O shield also react as a conductor in case of spark or static discharge that could go through the ports. Also in case of electrical current surge peak in house or thunder that could go throught an external HDD power supply and through usb cable into the usb port of motherboard. Im just an old scrap guy that know less than many here on computer lan, ip adress , I, graphic cards but still I know that basic logic.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> The I/O shield also react as a conductor in case of spark or static discharge that could go through the ports. Also in case of electrical current surge peak in house or thunder that could go throught an external HDD power supply and through usb cable into the usb port of motherboard. Im just an old scrap guy that know less than many here on computer lan, ip adress , I, graphic cards but still I know that basic logic.


so do we... but ... something like that never happen where i am ... lightning (not thunder   ) has little to no effect and we have a quite stable current, surge are also rare as a Wolpertinger (unless drunk...)


----------



## JunkBear (May 22, 2015)

Wolpertinger??? Speak Murican you scumbag nazi!!!  hehehe


----------



## AhokZYashA (May 22, 2015)

its been a while since I visited here.

let me see if I have another old hardware that is still going around.

but maybe my current PC can be considered nostalgic by now.


----------



## micropage7 (May 22, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Running the system without I/O shield is asking for trouble, because some of the connectors & components might not be properly grounded to the rest of the chassis. I had a situation with Chaintech 6BTM (Slot-1) system, where the system hanged & crashed every time I plugged something into the USB port. Took me a while to figure out what's causing the problem, but as it turned out USB part was not properly grounded. As soon as I replaced the IO shield with more appropriate one, everything was working perfectly OK.



the only trouble that comes in my mind is dust, open without shield will collect dust faster in your case


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Wolpertinger??? Speak Murican you scumbag nazi!!!  hehehe


oh well ... i should have say "Dahu" instead of "Wolpertinger"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahu

luckily ... since you added a  i take it as a joke ( a bad one as it it  ) calling people scumbag nazi because they use a Bavarian folklore beast as a reference is ... not always a good idea, but i reckon you are good at using the word nazi... mind you Swiss=/=nazi nor the majority of the German are so.

ok back to the theme. 

TIME TO WORK IT OUT! or at last gather all for it... (yep the thing on the bottom right of the 1st pics is the leash of my SX100iS... drat  )


----------



## JunkBear (May 22, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> oh well ... i should have say "Dahu" instead of "Wolpertinger"
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahu
> 
> luckily ... since you added a  i take it as a joke ( a bad one as it it  ) calling people scumbag nazi because they use a Bavarian folklore beast as a reference is ... not always a good idea, but i reckon you are good at using the word nazi... mind you Swiss=/=nazi nor the majority of the German are so.
> ...




Im Canadian and I am NOT sorry !!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 22, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> the only trouble that comes in my mind is dust, open without shield will collect dust faster in your case



Good point, that too! IO also shields the open motherboard contacts (caps & resistors) from being touched by accident, when plugging & unplugging devices, or even to frame (and hold) them in place & prevent from moving around too much (therefore damaging the board, contacts) It all depends on how the IO shield is mounted on the chassis, and how the mobo I/O ports are grounded, connected to the shield itself.

I've noticed that some boards (like Asus) like to use additional metal tab for USB ports, while most of them only have grounded PS/2 ports & nothing else, they're counting on shield to take care of the rest. I'm talking about that metal frame, which is part of connector's outer casing & is pressed against the I/O shield when the board is placed inside the chassis.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 22, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Good point, that too! IO also shields the open motherboard contacts (caps & resistors) from being touched by accident, when plugging & unplugging devices, or even to frame (and hold) them in place & prevent from moving around too much (therefore damaging the board, contacts) It all depends on how the IO shield is mounted on the chassis, and how the mobo I/O ports are grounded, connected to the shield itself.
> 
> I've noticed that some boards (like Asus) like to use additional metal tab for USB ports, while most of them only have grounded PS/2 ports & nothing else, they're counting on shield to take care of the rest. I'm talking about that metal frame, which is part of connector's outer casing & is pressed against the I/O shield when the board is placed inside the chassis.


well nowadays no more tab but more like soft foam cushion with a alu coating (well at least for my Maximus VII Ranger)

you can see the foam on that pics, now i think the alu coating is grounding it ... or isolating it ...


but all the other I/O shield i have at home (even for mobo i don't have ... ) are of the old type.


----------



## Arjai (May 24, 2015)

I just bought: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Desktop Memory Model 996754via @newegg
$29.99
What? Yep. 30 bucks.

My Socket A is gonna love this Kit. I love that Price!!


----------



## FireFox (May 24, 2015)

Game Boy 1989
Still Working Perfectly


----------



## Arjai (May 24, 2015)

Oooooh, Stereo Sound!!


----------



## FireFox (May 24, 2015)

Arjai said:


> Oooooh, Stereo Sound!!


Of course


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 24, 2015)

Arjai said:


> I just bought: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Desktop Memory Model 996754via @newegg
> $29.99
> What? Yep. 30 bucks.
> 
> My Socket A is gonna love this Kit. I love that Price!!


argh i wish my etailer had some ... specially at that price ... i always seek for DDR ... i have only 128/256/512 sticks 



Knoxx29 said:


> Game Boy 1989
> Still Working Perfectly
> 
> 
> View attachment 65079 View attachment 65080 View attachment 65081


now you make me wonder where i did put mine and the cartridge i had (i received it when i was 8 ... well 1989 it was  )


----------



## kazz (May 24, 2015)

how about this badboy - soviet made cd player эстония 001с (estonia 001s):
was manufactured during late 80s










video is not mine but i own two of these, unfortunately both are out of order, last one was worked until some time ago but not anymore and it seems that repair guy was made it even worse. still cool device. other box in video is FM receiver from some other эстония brand set.


----------



## Doc41 (May 25, 2015)

Hey guys.... got a PC recently, but the case was all FUBAR and rusty and the PSU *was* infested with all kinds of strange bugs sooo they're out....
  
Board rescued and sadly connectors infected  but does it work, fans were spinning so yes but no video from onboard.....half dead card to the rescue xD
 
 YES BIOS accessible aaaand....
 
Voila!....


----------



## Compgeke (May 26, 2015)

Got tired of having stuff everywhere so I stole my closet shelf for a hall closet and started shoving most of my stuff in there.





List of main stuff in there:
IBM 5150 16-64KB with MB issues
IBM 5150 64-256 that probably works
IBM 5160 w/ 286 upgrade
AST Premium 286
Dell System 310
Macintosh IIcx
Macintosh SE w/ 68020 upgrade
3x Commodore 64, one in original box
2x VIC-20 in original box
Commodore 1541 in original box
Commodore 1541 II in original box
Commodore 1541 loose
Mattel Aquarius
Toshiba T5200

List of stuff I've gotta dig out to go in there:
PS/2 P70 that works
PS/2 P70 that doesn't work
Mac Plus
Toshiba T3100
Compaq Prolinea 4/25S
Amiga 500.


----------



## JunkBear (May 26, 2015)

Just found back a picture I took of an old Socket 478 computer that I started right after bringing it from outside shed. Look at the temps !


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (May 26, 2015)

Looks like you got it from the shed and put it straight in the fridge.  Coolio.


----------



## JunkBear (May 26, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Looks like you got it from the shed and put it straight in the fridge.  Coolio.



Quebec winter time. No need of puting in the fridge cause the freezer is already the shed.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 26, 2015)

Knoxx29 said:


> Game Boy 1989
> Still Working Perfectly
> 
> 
> View attachment 65079 View attachment 65080 View attachment 65081


Oh, don't get me started. I have several DMG-01s, including my own 1989 first-run Grey Boy.
May as well take a pic of my display cabinet tonight and show off some of the old-school goodness all my houseguests are exposed to


----------



## JunkBear (May 26, 2015)

I have one too and a purple one that makes me look gay but at 6 feet & 220 pounds no one dare to tell me.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 31, 2015)

What's up TPU.

Just finished (re)building my BMW:

Delux 400W PSU
MSI K9N Ultra (rebadged as K9N SLI)
AMD Athlon 64 x2 5600+ - downclocked from 2.8GHz to 2.2GHz due to safety reasons
2GB DDR2 RAM
ASUS Geforce 210 1GB
HL-DT-ST GSA-H55N DVD-ROM drive
1TB Samsung HD103SI SATA HDD
Delux MG760 case

Currently installing Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I need to get a new PSU (I have a 300w Bestec in mind)as I am quite worried with this one I currently have. I just kept it in my hand and it was very easy. Did the same with a 250W Bestec I had around and it was as heavy as a entire VCR.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 31, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> What's up TPU.
> 
> Just finished (re)building my BMW:
> 
> ...



New VCR or vintage one? Because there's a big difference!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 1, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> New VCR or vintage one? Because there's a big difference!


Assuming new ones are lighter, I'd say a vintage one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 1, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Assuming new ones are lighter, I'd say a vintage one.


Oh yeah, and very much so! Cheap plastic & integrated PSU, no wonder these things fail & fall apart within 2-3 years of service! (but that's a whole other, different story) The older ones are indeed pretty heavy & sturdy, very reliable & can last up to 20 years and longer!


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 7, 2015)

Old remote control that you programmed by rolling the wheels.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jun 7, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Old remote control that you programmed by rolling the wheels.




I am old, we used to have to get up and press one of the 4 channel buttons
i have never heard of, let alone seen one of those before, scroll wheels......epic

Nice one @JunkBear


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 7, 2015)

I know it's not computer related but I found this Westinghouse Canada electrical motor patented 1933 and still working silently.

I plan to rebuild it and make it look new. Will power something with it I don't know yet. Maybe a water pump or something.


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 7, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I am old, we used to have to get up and press one of the 4 channel buttons
> i have never heard of, let alone seen one of those before, scroll wheels......epic
> 
> Nice one @JunkBear



I guess it must be from the first remote controlled TV when LG was known as Goldstar and VHS were still expensive. Remember my parents bought a 32 inches TV for 700$ and a VHS for near 600$ .


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jun 8, 2015)

1970 Technics Microphone  RP -3215E


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 8, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> 1970 Technics Microphone  RP -3215E
> 
> View attachment 65525



Sold at local Radio Shack.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 8, 2015)

little surprise incomming soon(tm) i hope  (oh well 2 of them ... but the same   )

*placeholder* 

update: Thursday it seems ... *finger crossed*


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 9, 2015)

TM = Trade Mark?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 11, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> TM = Trade Mark?


indeed ... just a little joke just like the famous : "coming soon(tm)" about upcoming (or not) features.

so we are Thursday:


----------



## Doc41 (Jun 11, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> indeed ... just a little joke just like the famous : "coming soon(tm)" about upcoming (or not) features.
> 
> so we are Thursday:
> View attachment 65645 View attachment 65646
> ...


Nice dual PIII xeons , just a collection or are you going to run them ?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 11, 2015)

Doc41 said:


> Nice dual PIII xeons , just a collection or are you going to run them ?


collection and a good deal ... 1chf and.... 7chf shipping


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 12, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I am old, we used to have to get up and press one of the 4 channel buttons
> i have never heard of, let alone seen one of those before, scroll wheels......epic


You're not old. I am old. We used to have to get up and turn the dial.
And adjust the rabbit ears.


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 12, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> You're not old. I am old. We used to have to get up and turn the dial.
> And adjust the rabbit ears.



Im 34 and I was doing it too.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jun 12, 2015)

When i say _we_ used to do it, it was my younger brothers' "job"._ We _used to make him do it.
 We could only get 2 channels when i was a kid so at least there werent too many arguments over viewing choices.

I can remember watching my Grandmothers TV in Twintown (Swansea) and when the programme finished she would shut the doors on the TV cabinet.......very posh.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 13, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Im 34 and I was doing it too.


That's just because you live in the sticks. lol


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 13, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> That's just because you live in the sticks. lol



What that means this expression?


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 13, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> What that means this expression?



It means living in a rural location  out in the Woods (sticks) far from cities villages ect

or out on the farm where my Uncle is also my granpa  and my mother is my sister   yes that rural


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 13, 2015)

umm what about this one?

*One Ancient Commodore Amiga Runs the Heat and AC for 19 Public Schools*

Somewhere in Grand Rapids, Michigan, there is an ancient Commodore Amiga that is hard at work. For over a quarter century it has been controlling the heat and air conditioning at 19 different schools and running nonstop. It's still kicking, for now anyway.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tec...a16010/30-year-old-computer-runs-school-heat/


http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/...ll-controls-public-school-temperature-systems


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 14, 2015)

I know it's not computer related...or maybe the first computers. 

I can't find any informations online about this specific Type W engines.

I am planning a full restauration on this engine that still turn silently after being made in 1933.

Can someone help me out?

Thank you guys.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 14, 2015)

2 more new PCs:

Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G (strangely board says only 8IPE1000 and has no ethernet port)
2x Realtek 8139D NICs (equivalent to 
Radeon HD3450 512MB
Winfast TV2000XP Deluxe
Pentium 4 2.8GHz (Northwood core)
2GB Dual channel DDR400 RAM (4x512MB)
80GB WDC WD800JD-55MSA1
Premier LC-B400ATX (recapped and upgraded 12v rectifier,5v to be upgraded later, replaced fan with a AVC 80mm jet engine fan)

Not sure if I can post the desktop of it since it's quite NSW. If anybody of you wants it then ask and I'll try posting it.

2nd:

ASUS K8V-X SE
ASUS A9250GE 256MB (Radeon 9250 256MB)
AMD Sempron 3000+
Maxtor 6E020L0 20GB
Maxtor D740X 40GB
768MB RAM
K8T800 chipset
no PSU atm,trying to fix some of my Deer-based PSUs from my pile of HW.


Also,I need to fix the K8V-X SE as I accidentally broke one corner of the bios chip socket and now it won't POST. Anybody know a fix?


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Jun 14, 2015)

I dont know if i uploaded - but I have some ATi Rage/Rage II and Matrox Millenium's about somewhere.


----------



## Mussels (Jun 16, 2015)

Anyone excited by this old classic i was given?

depressingly, as i went to take this photo the plastic wrap snagged on something and ripped - it was still sealed til 15 minutes ago


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 16, 2015)

That is frigging awesome @Mussels !!!! Shame ya tore the wrap man.


----------



## Mussels (Jun 16, 2015)

i almost threw it in the bin, but i'm trying to find a local collector who wants it instead.


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 17, 2015)

Mussels said:


> Anyone excited by this old classic i was given?
> 
> depressingly, as i went to take this photo the plastic wrap snagged on something and ripped - it was still sealed til 15 minutes ago



wait..

terminator switch?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 17, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> wait..
> 
> terminator switch?


for rebooting Skynet ... duh!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 20, 2015)

-no pics this time,I don't have my camera with me-

Got some freebies:

PixelView FX5200 128MB - crossflashed by me to FX5500 with custom sign on text
Deer-built (Deer/L&C if anybody remembers them) beige PC case - only one panel is removable
Premier LC-B400ATX PSU - came with the case - had some wires cut (put them back anyways) - modded it by installing rocker switch in place of monitor plug,replaced heatsinks and installed a 16A rectifier for 12v - anybody who has a PSU beginning with LC-LxxxATX (where 2nd L is letter) will know that
Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G w/Pentium 4 2.8GHz (Northwood)
Floppy drive
Foxconn 661M04-MX-6L - dead,came with 2.4GHz Celeron D,has corrosion on BIOS chip and ITE IT8705F chip


----------



## Steevo (Jun 20, 2015)

Mussels said:


> Anyone excited by this old classic i was given?
> 
> depressingly, as i went to take this photo the plastic wrap snagged on something and ripped - it was still sealed til 15 minutes ago




Years ago when I upgraded a server it was a set of 8CD-ROM drives attached to a single spindle and mapped to be the primary fixed database on a NT 4.0 back office machine. 


https://books.google.com/books?id=r...Bg#v=onepage&q=Multiple CD-ROM server&f=false


Holy shit, its this.


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 20, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> -no pics this time,I don't have my camera with me-
> 
> Got some freebies:
> 
> ...




I do remember getting a lot of Deer psu's couple of years ago.


----------



## Mussels (Jun 20, 2015)

its too cold to go out and get pics, but i actually found a PCI VooDoo card in the shed, not sure what model. Might be the original, but it has the 'SLI' cable attached to an S3 card.


----------



## btarunr (Jun 20, 2015)

Look what I dug out of the closet. 

The card I played Crysis with, for the very first time.






Chunky 10-layer PCB, back when NVIDIA didn't cheap out with components on its reference boards.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 20, 2015)

Mussels said:


> its too cold to go out and get pics, but i actually found a PCI VooDoo card in the shed, not sure what model. Might be the original, but it has the 'SLI' cable attached to an S3 card.


VooDoo2 I bet. Got pic?
I have one also.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 22, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> I do remember getting a lot of Deer psu's couple of years ago.


Don't worry,where I live there are LOTS of them,along with Linkworlds.

My main dual core PC's PSU is a Linkworld I built out of a few scrap PSUs. (a 400W Powerlink,a dead 450W DeluX for the casing and SATA wires)

On a side note,I have my 2 PCs I've built (the "K7N2" rig and the "2.8GHz Project") run on Deer-built PSUs,rebranded "Premier".

The first one (LC-B400ATX) is in my K7N2 rig now. (the MB is temporarily though,I'm expecting to replace it with a S754 Sempron 3000+)

I installed the new one (a 2006 LC-C400ATX,the fan was caked in dust but the motherboard was incredibly CLEAN! Installed a modded Yate Loon fan I had in my pile of PSU fans) in the "2.8GHz Project" rig.


----------



## Mussels (Jun 23, 2015)

S3 virge + voodoo as requested


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 23, 2015)

Mussels said:


> its too cold to go out and get pics, but i actually found a PCI VooDoo card in the shed, not sure what model. Might be the original, but it has the 'SLI' cable attached to an S3 card.



Too cold??! Where do you come from?


----------



## debs3759 (Jun 23, 2015)

Mussels said:


> its too cold to go out and get pics, but i actually found a PCI VooDoo card in the shed, not sure what model. Might be the original, but it has the 'SLI' cable attached to an S3 card.





Mussels said:


> S3 virge + voodoo as requested



That's a VooDoo 1 card, Diamond Monster 3D. The cable is a VGA pass through cable, SLI was only available for a pair of VooDoo 2 cards, and the relevant cable connected the cards inside the case. The VGA pass-through cable was required to feed the signal from a 2D graphics card into the Voodoo card, which then provided the signal to the output device.

Nice find anyway


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 23, 2015)

btarunr said:


> Look what I dug out of the closet.
> 
> The card I played Crysis with, for the very first time.
> 
> ...



ahah... 9800GT 1gb from HP from my side ... well the 8800 and 9800 where the same tho 
  
too bad that one is "FUBAR" (tho i still have my 8800 Ultra with the Prolimatech MK-26 on)


----------



## JunkBear (Jun 27, 2015)

Back when Nvidia made cards with turbines instead of big ass fans.


----------



## Doc41 (Jun 30, 2015)

So i finally decided to build me an XP gaming rig from what parts i got....after some thinking (skt478 or S939) i decided to go with this 

Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G/Intel Pentium D 940/2x1GB 2x512MB RAM/ Creative Audigy (for the few games that support EAX AdvHD) and just for fun....

i get to decide between an X1600 pro, a 9800GT and a GTS 250.....well 2 cards are the same just different name (sadly that GTX295 poking on top is dead....)

But...i'll need to buy an HDD and find that winxp CD so i guess it'll take a few days to get ready


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 30, 2015)

Doc41 said:


> So i finally decided to build me an XP gaming rig from what parts i got....after some thinking (skt478 or S939) i decided to go with this
> View attachment 66155
> Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G/Intel Pentium D 940/2x1GB 2x512MB RAM/ Creative Audigy (for the few games that support EAX AdvHD) and just for fun....
> View attachment 66156
> ...


booohhhh intel ... before C2D : NOT WORTH IT!!!!!!! (half joke   )

GPU: 9800GT obviously ... duh ...


----------



## Doc41 (Jun 30, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> booohhhh intel ... before C2D : NOT WORTH IT!!!!!!! (half joke   )
> 
> GPU: 9800GT obviously ... duh ...


lol i did decide to go with the 9800GT .....and i wish i had a wolfdale instead of this one  and a different board.....honestly the S939 board i have with the NF4 chipset (to my surprise) can handle HDD's over 1TB while this one doesn't


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 1, 2015)

Doc41 said:


> lol i did decide to go with the 9800GT .....and i wish i had a wolfdale instead of this one  and a different board.....honestly the S939 board i have with the NF4 chipset (to my surprise) can handle HDD's over 1TB while this one doesn't




Na, its all awesome hardware and this is why we have the nostalgic hardware thread man!  Its all part of it. 

I don't know why, but I just think the world of ole hardware, no matter what it is.


----------



## btarunr (Jul 8, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ahah... 9800GT 1gb from HP from my side ... well the 8800 and 9800 where the same tho
> View attachment 65990 View attachment 65991
> too bad that one is "FUBAR" (tho i still have my 8800 Ultra with the Prolimatech MK-26 on)



I still remember the whirring startup sound during POST.


----------



## Misaki (Jul 12, 2015)




----------



## micropage7 (Jul 13, 2015)

Misaki said:


>


ooooh nice, you have 2 option: resurrect it or build a sleeper machine


----------



## Misaki (Jul 14, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> ooooh nice, you have 2 option: resurrect it or build a sleeper machine


I'm planning to build a server inside this case


----------



## Mussels (Jul 14, 2015)

Misaki said:


> I'm planning to build a server inside this case



i've got a quad core Athlon II in a shitty case as well, it confuses people.


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 14, 2015)

Misaki said:


> I'm planning to build a server inside this case


looks pretty good, maybe you could put some work log
but server? how many hdd you gonna put there since basic case supports like 2 3,5 inch drives


----------



## Misaki (Jul 14, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> looks pretty good, maybe you could put some work log
> but server? how many hdd you gonna put there since basic case supports like 2 3,5 inch drives


2x 2.5" (because 3.5's are loud) 1TB in RAID1


----------



## eFatal2ty (Jul 15, 2015)

This is my personal High-End 2005 GamingPC Build for XP Gaming =DX9 2003-2006
*

TOXIC-PC05: *MTB: DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D, Socket 939, nForce4 Ultra@SLI CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz (Manchester), 1GHZ HT, 1MB L2Cache RAM: Corsair LLPRO 2048MB DDR438 CL2 Dual Channel VGA: 2xMSI nVidia GeForce 7900GTO@GTX 512MB DDR3 PCIE16x SLI SND: Creative SB X-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum 24Bit PCI + 5.25"panel HDD: 2x Seagate 320GB ST3320620AS 7200rpmn SATA300 RAID0 ROM: Sony AW-G170A 2xDVDRW + FDD 1.44MB BOX: Silverstone Kublai KL01 PSU: Enermax Liberty ELT500AWT 500W Modular ATX COOL: cpu: Zalman CNPS9900-NT; chip: Thermalright HR-05 SLI, case: 2xBattlefan 12cm Green LED LCD: DELL UltraSharp 2007FPb 20" 1600x1200 DVI DSK: Logitech MX5000 Cordless Desktop REPRO: Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 OSW: MS WinXP SP2 (DX9.0c, WMP10, IE7, Office 2003 Pro)

*Enjoy *


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jul 15, 2015)

Nice one Dude, welcome to TPU

how about a pic with the side off?


----------



## eFatal2ty (Jul 15, 2015)

*Here*


----------



## Misaki (Jul 16, 2015)

eFatal2ty said:


> This is my personal High-End 2005 GamingPC Build for XP Gaming =DX9 2003-2006
> *
> 
> TOXIC-PC05: *MTB: DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D, Socket 939, nForce4 Ultra@SLI CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz (Manchester), 1GHZ HT, 1MB L2Cache RAM: Corsair LLPRO 2048MB DDR438 CL2 Dual Channel VGA: 2xMSI nVidia GeForce 7900GTO 512MB DDR3 PCIE16x SLI SND: Creative SB X-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum 24Bit PCI + 5.25"panel HDD: 2x Seagate 320GB ST3320620AS 7200rpmn SATA300 RAID0 ROM: Sony AW-G170A 2xDVDRW + FDD 1.44MB BOX: Silverstone Kublai KL01 PSU: Enermax Liberty ELT500AWT 500W Modular ATX COOL: cpu: Zalman CNPS9900-NT; chip: Thermalright HR-05 SLI, case: 2xBattlefan 12cm Green LED LCD: DELL UltraSharp 2007FPb 20" 1600x1200 DVI DSK: Logitech MX5000 Cordless Desktop REPRO: Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 OSW: MS WinXP SP2 (DX9.0c, WMP10, IE7, Office 2003 Pro)
> ...


Are you still using it as a main rig? It would be enough for me tbh


----------



## eFatal2ty (Jul 16, 2015)

No, it is just for XP gaming, i have another Main PC


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 21, 2015)

It's me again!

I have updated my main PC:

Delux MG760 case
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3
1TB HDD
3GB DDR2
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 1.8GHz@2.16GHz LGA775
Geforce 210 1GB PCI-E GPU
Winfast TV2000XP Expert TV-Tuner
TSSTCorp CD-RW\DVD-ROM + LG HL-DT-ST-GSA-H55N DVD-RW
Enlight Card Reader
Fortrex ST-400W PSU (Allied/APEX PSU clone with PFC,replaced Xinruilian fan with a Delta) - previous PSU was a Linkworld LPK2-30 in a Delux ATX-450W P4 casing.
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 / Xubuntu 15.04 dualboot.

Right now,a desktop shot,as I don't have my camera with me. Left is my Windows desktop and right is the Xubuntu desktop (smaller due to max res being 1152x864)


----------



## Doc41 (Jul 21, 2015)

Doc41 said:


> So i finally decided to build me an XP gaming rig from what parts i got....after some thinking (skt478 or S939) i decided to go with this
> View attachment 66155
> Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G/Intel Pentium D 940/2x1GB 2x512MB RAM/ Creative Audigy (for the few games that support EAX AdvHD) and just for fun....
> View attachment 66156
> ...


Done


----------



## taz420nj (Jul 21, 2015)

LOL I just went back a few pages, and the fact that you guys classify Socket Athlons and Cores as ''nostalgic" really makes me feel old..

I got my first "real" computer when I was 11..  It was a 386 SX16 with 4MB of RAM and a 100MB hard drive.    Back then RAM came in 30 pin SIMMs, which had to be installed in banks of four identical chips..  I remember going to the computer store and asking about an upgrade to 16MB..  It was around $500..

Anyone remember the "Turbo" button that cases used to have? 

And just a few days ago I came across this Sears sale flyer in some of my old stuff..  It would've been from around Christmas 1993..


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 21, 2015)

taz420nj said:


> LOL I just went back a few pages, and the fact that you guys classify Socket Athlons and Cores as ''nostalgic" really makes me feel old..
> 
> I got my first "real" computer when I was 11..  It was a 386 SX16 with 4MB of RAM and a 100MB hard drive.    Back then RAM came in 30 pin SIMMs, which had to be installed in banks of four identical chips..  I remember going to the computer store and asking about an upgrade to 16MB..  It was around $500..
> 
> ...




nostalgic is not only about age  and 386/486 make me nostalgic too


----------



## rtwjunkie (Jul 21, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> nostalgic is not only about age  and 386/486 make me nostalgic too


 
Yep!  Nostalgia is simply a fond memory of the past (which could be as little as a year ago). http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Nostalgia


----------



## Mussels (Jul 21, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> It's me again!
> 
> I have updated my main PC:
> 
> ...



my god, i feel like i could rummage in my closet and pull out almost a matching system for that - except with an E5200 or Q6600 (not sure which one i kept and which i sold)


----------



## Misaki (Jul 22, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> It's me again!
> 
> I have updated my main PC:
> 
> ...


Install nvidia drivers and don't use xubuntu. Use antergos or manjaro (with XFCE) if you want to have a stable and fast OS. But I like Lapis Lazuli 
You should use an Windows 7 x86 on 3GBs of RAM 

If I wouldn't buy a DDR3, I would probably use a Pentium E5200 right now. Seriously, I know that's weird, but using old hardware just feels much much better. Can you guys relate to it? 

By the way, I bought a new battery for my laptop. 1,5 - 3h on battery time, 8 years old laptop. I think it's not that bad... but this laptop weight is... 4kg!
You can only imagine how I look like when I'm trying to grab it in one hand. Soon I will be coming to UK with cabin baggage only. Laptop is taking 4kg of 10kg total limitation


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 22, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Install nvidia drivers and don't use xubuntu. Use antergos or manjaro (with XFCE) if you want to have a stable and fast OS. But I like Lapis Lazuli
> You should use an Windows 7 x86 on 3GBs of RAM
> 
> If I wouldn't buy a DDR3, I would probably use a Pentium E5200 right now. Seriously, I know that's weird, but using old hardware just feels much much better. Can you guys relate to it?
> ...



Xubuntu is not that bad. It's actually faster than my Windows install   The small res problem fixed itself when I changed to this P35 motherboard. The first time I booted it with the GA-P35-DS3 it showed the logo (a thing the K9N SLi didn't) in my LCD's native res (1680x1050) and kept that res until the desktop showed (and even after).

The WMs I have on Xubuntu: i3, awesome, LXDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, KDE. I eradicated Unity from the original Ubuntu install,right after I installed xubuntu-desktop.

Running Windows 7 x64 on 3GB RAM isn't a problem,it's not slow because of that. The actual reason for which it's slow is that the 1TB drive I'm using runs at 5400RPM.

Fun fact: while my K9N SLi was silent,my P35-DS3 sounds like a jet plane


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 24, 2015)

After over a month, I'm finally back! 

And while I don't have any new PC builds to share, I do have some new components. Not to mention my new showcase closet...  

So, let's get started with this Evil Kyro... Don't remember if I showed it here or not, but here it is. Got it few months ago, still untested due to the lack of (free) time. 



 



Also got this Creative SB AWE (CT3670), which needs to be tested. I was told it's somewhat rare model but to be honest, I'm not really into soundcards. Assuming it checks out OK, I'll see if I can trade it for 3dfx card(s). Also got dozens of other ISA & PCI cards, mainly video cards such as Trident & similar. Perfect material for 386 & 486 builds IMHO.





Just a small part of my retro collection... More in the next pic 





What started like this...





... ended up looking like this! Thank god for those heavy-duty wall mounts


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 24, 2015)

Oh, and I don't believe I've ever showed you this one before... Just another fine sample of Pentium II, paired up with the almighty Voodoo2 card  Unlike my other builds, this one was never about maxing out the specs, or running V2 in SLI. Instead, I just went for the tested (and therefore stable) recipe, following the steps of my own Pentium 2 from back in a day  As you can see, it even has old-fashioned CD drive unit paired up with Quantum Fireball HDD!



 



Fun fact, this was actually one of my first retro builds, right after I've fully renovated my own Pentium 2. Which is why I've used almost the same specs, something which I didn't want to repeat again. Instead, it got me motivated to try things & see if i can make something more interesting, that's how I ended up with P3, 733Mhz running 256mb of RAM and Vodooo3 3000 card.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 25, 2015)

Sorry for triple posting, but I found something really cool on YT... Check this out: 








Not sure if I'd agree with the guy on the hardware choice however, I wouldn't dare to run the games from 2000 and 2001 on just 400MHz (well, technically I would, but I wouldn't want to do so), since I highly doubt that the CPU would have enough power to keep up with the video card, especially at higher resolution... Games like Deus Ex, Harry Potter & similar would most probably lag, so it's just not worth it IMHO.

Few months ago, I've kinda tried & did the same thing - my own retro/modern-ish Athlon 1800+ build, using 2x Voodoo2 under Win98 and GeForce4 4200Ti under WinXP. As far as I can tell, my project was a success and seems to be compatible with pretty much all the games between 1994 and 2005. Which (as we all know) is almost impossible under the normal circumstances due to one reason or another  The only thing I can't do with my own build unfortunately is real DOS, which is why I'm running SCUMM VM for the older games such as Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island & similar. The game DOES seem to be working in real DOS, but there's no sound, since the system only has on-board sound with (apparently) limited driver support.

What about you guys, what are your thoughts on "all-in-one" builds, which components would you recommend & use?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 27, 2015)

i am HAPPY! my friend and colleague from the job brought me a lil' gift ... 

since i gave my Asus Striker Extreme 680i SLI to a friend ... i was out of S775 mobo ... well : corrected 

  
yep a XFX 650i Ultra (not quite prestigious as a 680 but still  and XFX nonetheless )

ohhh a 8800GT on the "recommendation" i know what card i will use with 
 

i still have a C2D E6700 somewhere and might have some DDR2, to use with it in between


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> i am HAPPY! my friend and colleague from the job brought me a lil' gift ...
> 
> since i gave my Asus Striker Extreme 680i SLI to a friend ... i was out of S775 mobo ... well : corrected
> View attachment 66869 View attachment 66870
> ...



Oh yeah, I actually have one of these 8800 GTS XFX cards... Also got one 8800GT, not sure which edition or even brand.





But man, these are waaay too modern IMHO. Why don't you get yourself 386 or 486 instead? 

Edit
Just finished re-working one of my earlier builds... Since I needed SB Live soundcard ASAP for one other machine, I took it out from a fully functional system & changed it for SB AWE (CT3670), from that pic on the previous page. I was told it's somewhat rare (and desirable) model, but like I said I'm not really into sound cards. I wasn't planning on using it, but since I didn't want to downgrade the sound quality (by swapping Live for some generic SB card) figured this one would be fine. Don't really know, what do you guys think?

Also replaced the CMOS battery since the old one was completely dead & upgraded the AGP card from SIS6326 (8mb) to ATI Rage 128 (32mb), which makes a nice alternative to already existing V2 SLI cards inside.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 28, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> But man, these are waaay too modern IMHO. Why don't you get yourself 386 or 486 instead?


your "rant" about how nostalgic should be is getting old 

i have a 486 : bent pin and no mobo either + some EDO RAM tho ...

for the 8800 not a GTS nor GT but a Ultra under a Prolimatech MK-26


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2015)

Sorry, really didn't mean to offend or rant. I never said you should stop talking about those, just consider 8800 to be modern hardware (it's not even 10yrs old). And was joking about 486, although they were (and still are) very nice platforms


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 28, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sorry, really didn't mean to offend or rant. I never said you should stop talking about those, just consider 8800 to be modern hardware (it's not even 10yrs old). And was joking about 486, although they were (and still are) very nice platforms


no worries buddy my "" and  meant i did not take it seriously 

here have a 

and


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> no worries buddy my "" and  meant i did not take it seriously
> 
> here have a
> 
> and



Thanks! 

On a side note, can't help but to imagine 8800GT in the alternative universe, where the label says "Voodoo 8, 8800"


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 28, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> On a side note, can't help but to imagine 8800GT in the alternative universe, where the label says "Voodoo 8, 8800"


ahah true that xD


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 28, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Edit
> Just finished re-working one of my earlier builds... Since I needed SB Live soundcard ASAP for one other machine, I took it out from a fully functional system & changed it for SB AWE (CT3670), from that pic on the previous page. I was told it's somewhat rare (and desirable) model, but like I said I'm not really into sound cards. I wasn't planning on using it, but since I didn't want to downgrade the sound quality (by swapping Live for some generic SB card) figured this one would be fine. Don't really know, what do you guys think?


The CT3670 is a great card by itself, was one of the best of its day, and even now is one of the best PCI sound cards you can find. When it really sings is when you swap the OPamp.
I have six CT3670s I know of, maybe more. Really good card, I certainly wouldn't call it a downgrade from the Live.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> The CT3670 is a great card by itself, was one of the best of its day, and even now is one of the best PCI sound cards you can find. When it really sings is when you swap the OPamp.
> I have six CT3670s I know of, maybe more. Really good card, I certainly wouldn't call it a downgrade from the Live.



Uhh, don't you mean ISA? Because this card has ISA interface, since it's one of the older models from '96... Otherwise thanks, I've been hoping to hear back from someone on this soundcard dilemma. 
I never really paid much attention to sound cards until recently, because I've realized just how much I'm missing. The /only/ sound card that I've ever properly respected & addressed was Diamond Monster MX300, Aureal Vortex2 sound engineering masterpiece and I've been using it actively until recently, when I decided to use another retro build for retro gaming. (So therefore, Aureal machine ended up as yet another room exhibit & out of service.) Probably for the best anyway, since I only have one of those in my entire collection... SB Live on the other hand offers nice alternative to A3D with their EAX support, and since I have 4 or 5 of those in stock, I won't feel bad for using one of them 

Anyhow, here are few more pics, including CT3670 from yesterday - it's been paired up with PII, 350 running Win98. Didn't even have to install any drivers, Win recognized it automatically 

   

On a side note, here are few more pics (closeups) of my shelf collection, it has a little bit of everything really.


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 28, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh, don't you mean ISA? Because this card has ISA interface, since it's one of the older models from '96... Otherwise thanks, I've been hoping to hear back from someone on this soundcard dilemma.
> I never really paid much attention to sound cards until recently, because I've realized just how much I'm missing. The /only/ sound card that I've ever properly respected & addressed was Diamond Monster MX300, Aureal Vortex2 sound engineering masterpiece and I've been using it actively until recently, when I decided to use another retro build for retro gaming. (So therefore, Aureal machine ended up as yet another room exhibit & out of service.) Probably for the best anyway, since I only have one of those in my entire collection... SB Live on the other hand offers nice alternative to A3D with their EAX support, and since I have 4 or 5 of those in stock, I won't feel bad for using one of them
> 
> Anyhow, here are few more pics, including CT3670 from yesterday - it's been paired up with PII, 350 running Win98. Didn't even have to install any drivers, Win recognized it automatically
> ...


Pah, my mistake, yeah, ISA. The Awe32(CT3670) came in a couple of different flavors, but all were excellent.
There are only four Creative sound cards I've made a point of snatching up whenever I see them: Awe32, Awe64(I only have one, they're damn rare around here), LIVE, and Audigy 2ZS. Two incredible ISA sound cards and two incredible PCI sound cards. Anything newer than XP, I just use my custom USB DAC.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> Pah, my mistake, yeah, ISA. The Awe32(CT3670) came in a couple of different flavors, but all were excellent.
> There are only four Creative sound cards I've made a point of snatching up whenever I see them: Awe32, Awe64(I only have one, they're damn rare around here), LIVE, and Audigy 2ZS. Two incredible ISA sound cards and two incredible PCI sound cards. Anything newer than XP, I just use my custom USB DAC.



Yeah, Live cards are very nice! I got few of them, various models (4 standard ones + 1 OEM featuring different layouts (4 outputs, 5.1 and/or different connector color codes). The rest of the builds mainly run SB128 or SB16, depending on the era. Also have Yamaha OPL3 in 2 other builds I believe, and previously mentioned Diamond Monster MX300, aka Aureal Vortex2. All other builds are running AC97 on-board audio which does the job but as you know doesn't come with any special features.

Actually, I'm considering to buy few more Live cards & swap them for SB128 & Vibra. Don't really know for sure as I've only just moved in & have other financial priorities unfortunately. But I'd definitely love to revisit this sound card issue later on at some point


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 28, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, Live cards are very nice! I got few of them, various models (4 standard ones + 1 OEM featuring different layouts (4 outputs, 5.1 and/or different connector color codes). The rest of the builds mainly run SB128 or SB16, depending on the era. Also have Yamaha OPL3 in 2 other builds I believe, and previously mentioned Diamond Monster MX300, aka Aureal Vortex2. All other builds are running AC97 on-board audio which does the job but as you know doesn't come with any special features.
> 
> Actually, I'm considering to buy few more Live cards & swap them for SB128 & Vibra. Don't really know for sure as I've only just moved in & have other financial priorities unfortunately. But I'd definitely love to revisit this sound card issue later on at some point


Not sure if you're in the US, but if so, drop me a PM. I know I have a stack of LIVE cards somewhere, probably 8 to 10(various models/OEMs as well), I might be able to help you out.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2015)

Oh wow! Thank you so much for the offer but sadly, no... I'm in EU


----------



## Misaki (Jul 29, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh yeah, I actually have one of these 8800 GTS XFX cards... Also got one 8800GT, not sure which edition or even brand.
> 
> <pics>
> 
> ...


I had that mobo! EVGA 650i Ultra! It's such a shame that it died and I couldn't revive it


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 29, 2015)

Status report... 

Finally took that SB Live I've been talking about (the one I took out from another build & replaced it with AWE CT3670) & put it inside my "new" retro build, for actual retro gaming. Forgot to take the pics, but the actual rig has been around more than couple of times, it's the AthlonXP with GeForce4 4200 Titan & Voodoo2 in SLI. Also has a nice Cooler Master case, Jet7 CPU cooler & 12cm blue LED side intake fan, to keep all those video cards running smoothly.

Just got the news... It seems that I'll be given another Pentium MMX (probably AT form build) & T-Bird Athlon machines, so standby for more updates on these ones. I have no idea what's inside them, but with these 2 you can't go wrong  Among other things, I might get my hands on a Commodore 64 or 128, don't know the exact model number yet.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2015)

More retro & nostalgic hardware to talk about... 

Unfortunately, I didn't get the Pentium machine (the one I've mentioned in my previous post) but this machine seems to be working fine & has a great potential, at least from what I can tell... Not sure what to do with this one, got any ideas?

         

Specs:

AMD Athlon ?? T-Bird (shows 1000MHz, but I'm sure it's just a BIOS thing)
Soltek SL-75KAV  mobo, Socket A
3x SD RAM (I'm guessing 256mb each)
Asus V9570GE/TD, AGP
D-Link Ethernet
Dial-Up Modem
GlacialTech CPU cooler
LG DVD-RW
Teac CD-ROM
300W PSU


----------



## micropage7 (Aug 4, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> More retro & nostalgic hardware to talk about...
> 
> Unfortunately, I didn't get the Pentium machine (the one I've mentioned in my previous post) but this machine seems to be working fine & has a great potential, at least from what I can tell... Not sure what to do with this one, got any ideas?
> 
> ...


nice, soltek is one of my fav when i was in college

maybe you could use it for retro game machine, easy browsing, for download or torrent maybe


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> nice, soltek is one of my fav when i was in college
> 
> maybe you could use it for retro game machine, easy browsing, for download or torrent maybe


Hmm, something tells me that I already have too many retro gaming machines lol, but yeah ... I certainly do appreciate the idea  I'll think of something, and don't worry - I would never get rid of something that works perfectly fine


----------



## AxGaming (Aug 4, 2015)

*Asus **P5VD2-MX






nvidia fx 5200




*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2015)

Nice! I used to own Abit Siluro FX5600 Ultra back in a day... I remember buying 5600 & replacing old Matrox Millenium G450 card myself, because I wanted to play Trainz 2004  The one I got today (Asus V9570GE/TD) is actually FX5700, very close to Siluro 

EDIT

   

Even more nostalgic hardware!  Nothing really useful for this day and age, but still nice to have around I guess.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 5, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> More retro & nostalgic hardware to talk about...
> 
> Unfortunately, I didn't get the Pentium machine (the one I've mentioned in my previous post) but this machine seems to be working fine & has a great potential, at least from what I can tell... Not sure what to do with this one, got any ideas?
> 
> ...


ahah i love the Redstorm Overclocking sticker on the BIOS chip  

meanwhile for me ... i managed to strike a deal on a E8500 (8chf total with shipping)


----------



## micropage7 (Aug 5, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm, something tells me that I already have too many retro gaming machines lol, but yeah ... I certainly do appreciate the idea  I'll think of something, and don't worry - I would never get rid of something that works perfectly fine


or linux maybe, multimedia server?

umm what else?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 5, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ahah i love the Redstorm Overclocking sticker on the BIOS chip
> 
> meanwhile for me ... i managed to strike a deal on a E8500 (8chf total with shipping)
> View attachment 67113 View attachment 67114



I know, right? This Redstorm OC feature was probably one of the biggest scams ever  Still, it's a nice reminder of how things can always get marketed & sold better, when using fancy words & cool-looking stickers 



micropage7 said:


> or linux maybe, multimedia server?
> 
> umm what else?



Honestly, I have no idea lol. It'll probably end up as yet another retro system, but I already have 2 or 3 of those in my collection. Referring to AMD Athlons from that time period of course, not my entire collection. It's nice to have FX5700 though, as it reminds me of my old Abit Siluro FX5600 Pro, mentioned in my previous post.

...

Anyhow, here's a tip for you boys and girls on how NOT to apply the thermal compound  Check these out:

  

I believe this situation calls for my special, one of a kind, multi-purpose thermal compound removal solution 

 

A little bit of patience aaand...

  

And yes, the CPU works perfectly fine! Honestly, the entire system was in total mess, I've discovered several things which needed to be addressed & replaced, but it's all been taken care of. I'll upload more pics of Soltek AMD system as soon as I have it finished, which might take a while considering I need to take care of other priorities 1st (not to mention buy a new HDD, since this system doesn't have one)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 5, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> I know, right? This Redstorm OC feature was probably one of the biggest scams ever  Still, it's a nice reminder of how things can always get marketed & sold better, when using fancy words & cool-looking stickers
> 
> 
> 
> ...


wow that's definitely the best thermal compound application i ever saw! 

ps: good job on cleaning it


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 5, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ahah i love the Redstorm Overclocking sticker on the BIOS chip





Trekkie4 said:


> I know, right? This Redstorm OC feature was probably one of the biggest scams ever  Still, it's a nice reminder of how things can always get marketed & sold better, when using fancy words & cool-looking stickers


RedStorm was actually one of the first auto-overclocking utilities. It would find the max FSB you can boot to BIOS with, then asks if you would like to keep that FSB.
It wasn't great, even by low standards, but it was innovative for its time.
Personally, I didn't like it, but I was on a VIA KT166 chipset and they didn't play well together.

TL;DR: RedStorm actually does mean something(it's not just a marketing ploy), and some people specifically look for those.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> wow that's definitely the best thermal compound application i ever saw!
> 
> ps: good job on cleaning it



Thanks!  it's a good thing I've noticed it due to bad heatsink orientation... Whoever made this system flipped it other way around, so part of the CPU was exposed & visible. As if that wasn't enough, one of the mounting studs was placed incorrectly (most likely due to former owner replacing the motherboard at some point), so it was touching the board from behind... Fortunately, it was around the area where there wasn't any solder contacts, so it didn't cause the short circuit. All things considering, I'm surprised the system even worked to begin with! 



Random Murderer said:


> RedStorm was actually one of the first auto-overclocking utilities. It would find the max FSB you can boot to BIOS with, then asks if you would like to keep that FSB.
> It wasn't great, even by low standards, but it was innovative for its time.
> Personally, I didn't like it, but I was on a VIA KT166 chipset and they didn't play well together.
> 
> TL;DR: RedStorm actually does mean something(it's not just a marketing ploy), and some people specifically look for those.



To be perfectly honest, I've never used and/or had a motherboard with RedStorm feature back in a day, mine was Asus P4T, paired up with 1.4GHz P4 but that's another story. I've heard rumors (and various opinions) regarding RedStorm feature and what ppl mainly had in common was regarding the safety behind the entire feature. From what I understand, RedStorm was marketed to be fail-safe feature designed for users who wanted to OC their systems but didn't have enough knowledge on how to actually do it. Despite the best intentions, RedStorm kinda backfired, because a LOT of users reported having problems (or even worse, fried motherboards) due to bad OC settings. Which, (in my own, personal opinion) translates to failure, and is furthermore supported by the fact they've removed it from the newer models. Feel free to correct me if you think I got something wrong, I would love to hear your opinion on RedStorm


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 6, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> To be perfectly honest, I've never used and/or had a motherboard with RedStorm feature back in a day, mine was Asus P4T, paired up with 1.4GHz P4 but that's another story. I've heard rumors (and various opinions) regarding RedStorm feature and what ppl mainly had in common was regarding the safety behind the entire feature. From what I understand, RedStorm was marketed to be fail-safe feature designed for users who wanted to OC their systems but didn't have enough knowledge on how to actually do it. Despite the best intentions, RedStorm kinda backfired, because a LOT of users reported having problems (or even worse, fried motherboards) due to bad OC settings. Which, (in my own, personal opinion) translates to failure, and is furthermore supported by the fact they've removed it from the newer models. Feel free to correct me if you think I got something wrong, I would love to hear your opinion on RedStorm


No, it definitely caused problems, and it was just kind of janky all around. I didn't like it either, but my point is that it was an important stepping stone towards the auto OC features we have today. It still sucked.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> No, it definitely caused problems, and it was just kind of janky all around. I didn't like it either, but my point is that it was an important stepping stone towards the auto OC features we have today. It still sucked.


Right, sorry I misunderstood you. But yeah, you're right about that - it was certainly the stepping stone towards many OC utilities, today.

EDIT

Here's something you don't get to see (and/or do) every day... Configuring Autoexec.BAT & Config.SYS within Windows 98 to support sound, CD-ROM & mouse drivers in real DOS mode... Comes in very handy when playing older games, such as Doom & Duke Nukem 3D. I suppose this should be considered as 3rd OS on this particular system, as I already have Win98/XP dual boot config 

EDIT2


 

Got another one of these, earlier today... Have I mentioned already just how much I love these? Best OS ... EVER!  I even got the CD key memorized, seriously!! 

Which means I now have 2 copies of 1st edition, one without the CD key & booklet and the other with full material, including "Windows 98 Starts here" and promotional material for free, AOL internet service.. Same thing goes for 2nd edition...

Oh, and speaking of 9X, I also have the original copy of Windows 95 on a CD, with its own instruction manual & CD key. Not to be confused with the one on top of my shelf, sealed-up copy of Win95 (floppy version). Also have 2 or 3 more copies of sealed up Windows 95 (OEM, CD) which I keep in one of the hardware boxes.

EDIT3

Fun fact, it seems that www.microsoft.com/windows98/ website no longer exists... Too bad, I was hoping to apply for that free AOL internet service. It seems I'll have no choice but to take the Win98 back to the store & ask for refund!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 7, 2015)

Finally done reinstalling Win98 on that Cooler Master Athlon 1800 system, I've been having strange problems ever since I've added the sound card, so I figured it's time to format & take it from scratch. I've already upgraded the AGP card several times (from TNT2 to GeForce4 MX400 & then eventually to GeForce4 4200Ti) which resulted with random crashes & Glide (especially in SLI mode) having pixelated image, kinda like the trail or motion blur effect. I assumed it's hardware related fault, but as it turned out, it was just a driver (or the registry?) thing.

Anyhow, my weird & crazy idea was a success... Thanks to SB Live, I'm now capable of running DOS games  IMHO, it's interesting to see the variety of these 3 generations, all working on a single system, together!

Starting off with Half-Life2, model & texture settings have been set to "medium", but the AA, filtering mode and water detail have all been set to "max". 4200Ti handled them perfectly, with the screen resolution at 1024x768. Still have to see the performance during the combat & scripted events, but so far so good!

   

Now... Booting into Win98, to go back in time where the resonance cascade started  This time, I'm running a pair of 12mb Voodoos in SLI, with the EAX support and same resolution - 1024x768

     

As if that wasn't enough, I wanted to try with something even older... So I booted into the (real) MS-DOS mode & tried to shoot my way through Doom2  Can't say I'm one of the biggest Doom fans out there, but it was really nice to see that game once again!

  

Due to the mouse, sound & CD-ROM DOS support, Doom (and all other DOS-based games) are very easy to work with, but I'm getting a weird problem upon exiting the DOS, restarting Windows command. It shows the BSOD, telling me that the math co-processor can't  be located and so therefore some Creative SB driver won't be loaded... Maybe it's because I'm running (kinda) modern AMD Athlon, rather than old Pentium MMX or early Celeron?


----------



## tabascosauz (Aug 7, 2015)

It's time for a trip down memory lane! All aboard the nostalgia train - first stop, the legendary 6!


​


Spoiler: Beware! Images and old hardware ahead!



That’s right, those are the founding fathers of this noob’s CPU collection, now 14 strong! From left to right: Pentium 4 530 HT (Prescott, sans heat spreader and most of its die), Pentium D 820 (Smithfield), Pentium E2140 (Conroe), Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (Brisbane), Pentium E5200 (Wolfdale), and the venerable [failure], i5-650 (Clarkdale). Oh, what’s that? We may have a new addition to the club of distinguished silicon? Without ado, onwards then!

   ​
A Sony Vaio 14 CR series! Let’s see what it’s got under the hood after 4 years of abuse and 4 years of disuse. The heat pipe, 2.5" drive and SO-DIMM DDR2. Let’s take it off and see what else we’ll discover. Is that a T7100 I see? And PGA TOO? Oh goody, we are in for a treat.

  ​T7100 is borrowing a foam pad that belongs to 4400+, though the Pelican 1510 is in turn loaning the 4400+ the foam. Anyways, the little Intel CPU was scrubbed down with alcohol and gets a helping of NT-H1 in hopes that it'll live a bit longer. Off to the testing phase! It's a win-win; if it's still artifacting, then it joins the ranks of the masters. If it doesn't, it gets a new lease on life, and who doesn't love that? 

What's that, you say? "This ain't even old!" Well don't fret, because here's what's next: 

​


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 8, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Now... Booting into Win98, to go back in time where the resonance cascade started  This time, I'm running a pair of 12mb Voodoos in SLI, with the EAX support and same resolution - 1024x768




They'r waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamber........


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 8, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> They'r waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamber........


Hey, catch me later, I'll buy you a beer


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 8, 2015)

Ding ding dang ding dang dang ding. . ... crowbar sound on walls of black mesa.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 8, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> They'r waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamber........





Trekkie4 said:


> Hey, catch me later, I'll buy you a beer





JunkBear said:


> Ding ding dang ding dang dang ding. . ... crowbar sound on walls of black mesa.



See, that's what happens when you have several gaming nerds, all talking to each other   (kidding!)


----------



## JunkBear (Aug 8, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> See, that's what happens when you have several gaming nerds, all talking to each other   (kidding!)



Im a handy man so a crowbar nerd if you can tell it that way.


----------



## silentbogo (Aug 9, 2015)

So, last week I got a whole bunch of broken laptops... and after some digging I found this pearl in the pile of sh%t!
It took about 2-3 days to fix it completely and transplant some parts from another laptop in the same batch, but the result was outstanding:

SPECS:

Core2Duo T5300 1.7GHz
RAM 4GB DDR2
HDD 120GB SATA (may upgrade it to 500GB)
Radeon X1600 512MB VRAM
Display 15.4" 1680x1050 (!!!)
WiFi b/g (Intel)
Bluetooth, IRDA, FireWire, S/PDIF, 

And it also has both LPT and COM ports, so I can use it with my electronics projects!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 10, 2015)

Indiana Jones, anyone?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 10, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Indiana Jones, anyone?
> 
> View attachment 67258 View attachment 67259 View attachment 67260 View attachment 67262


Got any Full Throttle?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 10, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> Got any Full Throttle?



Actually, I do! Never played it really, except for one time at my friend's house, back in 1996, '97. Maybe it's time I finally give it a try, Sam & Max too!


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 11, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Maybe it's time I finally give it a try, Sam & Max too!


Oh, holy cow. You've never played Sam & Max?
Play Sam & Max! DO IT!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 11, 2015)

Random Murderer said:


> Oh, holy cow. You've never played Sam & Max?
> Play Sam & Max! DO IT!


I'll need to get myself a better hard drive before I install any new games on either of my two partitions ... Win98 has 400 (or so) mb left, while the XP one has 600 and both of them are reporting error messages, telling me to clean up the hard drive every now & then 

But otherwise sure thing... I believe the title is "Sam & Max hit the road", not 100% sure though because I know they've had several sequels. On a side note, I absolutely ADORE Lucas Arts games from that era, they've used to make the best point & click games ever!

EDIT
Actually, speaking of future upgrades... After spending some time with this CoolerMaster machine & playing games, I've noticed several setbacks & missing components which I'm hoping to tweak & address ASAP. Here are some of the items from my upgrade list:

1. Either 80GB (or more?) HDD, or another 40GB ATA drive
2. Either emulated or (most likely) real FDD, with the black faceplate.
3. Yet another CD/DVD ATA drive
4. Upgrade the AGP graphics to nVidia 4800Ti (not sure about this one)
5. System speaker (aka buzzer)

Not sure when exactly, but once I do get these updates, I'll make sure to take a pic 

EDIT2
Don't know if I ever uploaded these pics before? 1st one is obviously just my retro system, glowing dark but the 2nd one is my own retro webcam, from around 1998, 1999  Yes, it still works, although you wouldn't want to use it for video calls today  In fact, I have it set up on that Cooler Master rig, just for fun (since it's not even connected to inet or home network)

 

EDIT3
Usually you won't see me promoting YouTube channels & videos, but these are definitely worth following & watching, unless you already do


----------



## 97pedro (Aug 19, 2015)

Some old motherboard Asus A7V8X-X









And the PC I'm working on right now:










If someone would like to help me build this pentium 4 pc please go to my thread here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/pentium-4-pc-build.215345/


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 23, 2015)

In contact with this fella:

http://wyoming.craigslist.org/sop/5180606903.html

Trying to set up a time and place to check these two Alienware systems out LOLOL. 
I figure for $100 for the two it might be worth the cost. Would be awesome to restore at least one of them to the original configuration.


----------



## silentbogo (Aug 23, 2015)

I have a similar gig with dead Alienware D9K laptop - it might be hard to restore it, considering that it has a dead mobo and spent the last 6-7 years in the garage, but it's worth a try. Just a question of $15.


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 24, 2015)

20 years on  and its still relevent


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 25, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> 20 years on  and its still relevent


98SE is where it's at.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 30, 2015)

my Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra was feeling alone ... (and the lil 3650)

but not anymore ... ok it's not the real contender for the big one but still 2007 too and 3chf + 10chf shipping i could not miss that one ...  
  

too bad it's not that one ...


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 30, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> In contact with this fella:
> 
> http://wyoming.craigslist.org/sop/5180606903.html
> 
> ...





I did actually make this score!!! One is a 2008 Alienware Area 51 ALX. Its sporting an EVGA 790i Ultra SLi, 4 gigs ram, and a Q9650. Single slot video card but not quite sure what it is yet.
This specific system might be having some motherboard issues though. When it posts its just fine but once I exit out of the BIOS it hangs. Then when I jump into the BIOS again it will not navigate through the BIOS with the keyboard. I am using a PS2 keyboard so not quite sure what the heck is going on. I do have an ole Asus P5Q-E board that I got from @theonedub a few months ago that I could install, however it wouldn't have the little Alienware boot up screen. 
Not sure how I could transfer that kind of image to a different BIOS chip? 

Both systems are pretty dusty but no cig smoke. 

Once I get them all cleaned and blown out I'll get some pictures and post em up.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 31, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> my Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra was feeling alone ... (and the lil 3650)
> 
> but not anymore ... ok it's not the real contender for the big one but still 2007 too and 3chf + 10chf shipping i could not miss that one ...
> View attachment 67680 View attachment 67679
> ...


I had the second card and still have the first, IceQ cooler and all. 
Nice score!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 31, 2015)

Speaking of video cards, my previously mentioned (at least I think I've mentioned it before) nVidia GeForce4 4800Ti will be coming up tomorrow, I hope! So standby for upcoming pics, all I know it's MSI branded & pulled out from working system


----------



## silentbogo (Aug 31, 2015)

Getting some cool VGAs tomorrow. Don't know for sure what's in the box, but I'm pretty sure I saw some 8800GTs in there.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Aug 31, 2015)

I got an 8600gt card somewhere that card serve me well for so long. Will dig up some nostalgia stuff later as clean the room.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Sep 1, 2015)

I started cleaning a bit. I have my found my mp3s it serve me so well in my younger school days. I remember how that time mp3 was such a craze. Many of my friends just go listen to music with their Nokia or Sony Ericsson, I don't have a phone then and the flash memory card in phones are expensive.

I was creative fan then. The zen neon mp3 the smaller one is not mine. My one is the bigger one the zen vision m, this thing is over 10 years old. Poor thing have so age on it. Sad to say this person typing also have aged too and not in the way I wanted like my hearing is not as sharp. I take a listen to the mp3 and it does not sound as detail when I first hear it,  I probably lost my higher frequency hearing from ageing. I took care of my ears the best I could already.

The zen vision m was so expensive. During that time I always wanted it, I was comparing with other creative mp3 player, their players look very good! Thinking hard I decide I wanted the capacity and the video playback! Back in mid 2000s video playback on a mobile device is very advance stuff! I remember showing my friend when I played a video on the zen vision, he was amazed as it looked so HD. It is dvd compressed quality resolution at 720x640.  Impressive stuff running on just an arm processor on this mp3 player clock at 60MHz! I was super impressed by the shear sharpness of the video. I finally bought this after waiting long and found the creative Headquarters selling it. Went to queue for it in the morning to buy it. In my place during that time creative used to have a sale at their HQ.

The first time I got it, it was very shiny. It feels so good in the hand and I like the plastic smell lol. I keep smelling it xD. I wish I can store the new plastic smell. I don't know how to say it Creative mp3 have its distinctive plastic smell. My heart was filled with joy holding this crazy amount of capacity in my hand a whopping 30GB! Flash cards at that time maxed out around 1GB for the highest end. I had the most advance mp3 player among my friends, they used mobile phones with just 512MB of space haha. I was still using payphones lol with a wallet filled with coins and a phone card. I load all my music into the mp3.

I am charging it now, it works, though the body plastic is peeling like crazy. The forward button don't work so well. Gonna charge it until full and clean it with alcohol and then start listening to my old songs again. Mp3 players was a big fascination of mine then.


I feel sad reliving this nostalgia typing this now...feel time past so fast and I wish I aged slowly.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 1, 2015)

With all due respect to later GF6, 7 & 8 series, they sure don't make 'em any better than this!  Top of the line GF4 model, as fast & powerful as you can get! What more can a geek ask for?! 

  

EDIT



 

 

 

 

 

 



Don't know if I have already mentioned this before, but 4800 went into a P4 build running @ 2000MHz (S478), which would be my most powerful retro build so far. Yes, I do have Core2 Duo & Quad builds, but I just don't see them as "retro"... Maybe in 5 years from now  Anyhow, 4800 successfully replaced its older low-end counterpart, MX440 

I didn't even have to install the new drivers, as the leftover ForceWare installation (from MX440) automatically recognized & adapted itself to 4800Ti...



 



As soon as I had 4800 up & running, I've tried several games including heavily modified Vice City. It all works perfectly fine, except Vice sometimes lags due to the increased traffic & (only) 512mb of RAM 



 

 

 



NFS Underground is totally maxed out, as you can probably tell from the pics down below. And yes, it runs perfectly as you'd expect from 4800Ti!



 

 

 



Just like Half-Life 2, I wouldn't be surprised if 4800 could handle even higher settings! I'll have to give it a try at some point  FPS is around average I guess, 30-35 at most & without any noticeable lags.



 

 

 

 

 



Overall, quite interesting card! Never had this one back in a day, but it would definitely kick nVidia FX series from back in day... Used to have FX5600 in 2003, 2004 and I can safely say that it was one of the most unreliable cards I've ever had


----------



## STIG_ZA (Sep 5, 2015)

Got a whole bunch of old stuff. Currently building up a k6 super socket 7 system.
specs:
Amd k6-2+ 500mhz
256mb pc100 sdram(64 x2, 1x 128)
Gigabyte GA-5AX(rev 5.2)
Gigabyte 9200SE 128mb
3com 10/100 Ethernet 
Creative Sound blaster 16
20Gb Seagate u6
Windows 2000 pro sp4
300w psu


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Got a whole bunch of old stuff. Currently building up a k6 super socket 7 system.
> specs:
> Amd k6-2+ 500mhz
> 256mb pc100 sdram(64 x2, 1x 128)
> ...


Awesome stuff!  Very nice & tidy cable management, too!  Usually I would recommend 3dfx card, but seeing you already have Radeon 9200SE, I'd say this one is all ready to be used as gaming rig! (even though your 500MHz CPU will most likely bottleneck the GPU)


----------



## STIG_ZA (Sep 5, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Awesome stuff!  Very nice & tidy cable management, too!  Usually I would recommend 3dfx card, but seeing you already have Radeon 9200SE, I'd say this one is all ready to be used as gaming rig! (even though your 500MHz CPU will most likely bottleneck the GPU)



Thanks!
Yep, have a similar card in a P3 system and that's easily twice as fast in games like quake 3. Would like a nice geforce 2 for this pc though even if its still going to be bottlenecked

Have two of these boards and k6 2s ranging from 266 to 533Mhz....and then this k6-2+


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Thanks!
> Yep, have a similar card in a P3 system and that's easily twice as fast in games like quake 3. Would like a nice geforce 2 for this pc though even if its still going to be bottlenecked
> 
> Have two of these boards and k6 2s ranging from 266 to 533Mhz....and then this k6-2+


Yes, people seem to think that I have weird taste for video cards (yeah, riiiight lol ), when it comes to building older gaming rigs, but in fact I'm always trying to pair up the equal performance, to take the advantage of both GPU(s) and CPU. Which is why I always paired Pentiums (P1) with Voodoo1 and/or S3 & Matrox cards, Pentiums 2 with Voodoo2 and ATI Rage (IIC, 128), nVidia GeForce2 and similar. Pentium 3 is always paired up with Voodoo3, GeForce4, Riva TNT2 and similar, you get the point. Of course, I had few exceptions every once in a while, just to make things more interesting, but otherwise I followed the previously-established pattern which turned out to be most successful 

And no, I don't think GF2 will be much of a problem with P3... In fact, I'd say GF2 is a perfect match!


----------



## STIG_ZA (Sep 6, 2015)

also upgraded my slot 1 system a bit. previously had a 500Mhz p3 now a 750Mhz coppermine on asus slot 1 to s370 converter


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> also upgraded my slot 1 system a bit. previously had a 500Mhz p3 now a 750Mhz coppermine on asus slot 1 to s370 converter


P3B-F?  Not a fan of "Slocket" adapters, as you can easily go with S370 nowdays, for pretty much the same price as Slot-1 but overall nice system you got there  What's the GPU?


----------



## STIG_ZA (Sep 6, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> P3B-F?  Not a fan of "Slocket" adapters, as you can easily go with S370 nowdays, for pretty much the same price as Slot-1 but overall nice system you got there  What's the GPU?



Gigabyte bx2000. Gpu is gigabyte ati 9250 have e few 9200 series cards, work well for older systems


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Gigabyte bx2000. Gpu is gigabyte ati 9250 have e few 9200 series cards, work well for older systems


Aaaah, sorry  My mistake, I misunderstood the Asus Slocket for Asus mobo...


----------



## Tuna Yücer (Sep 9, 2015)

I got factory OC'd 7100GS. Seriously its clock speed was 400 MHz. We bought this card (2006) when i was 4. I was playing Spongebob games with that card. My old systems specs:

Pentium 4 641 LGA 775 
Palit NVidia Geforce 7100GS Factory OC* 256MB DDR2 + Xigmatek CLF Series 80MM Blue LED Fan
Foxconn P4M9007MB-8KRS2H (this Mobo is now dead.)
2.5GB (2GB+512MB) DDR2 RAM (2gb stick works, 512mb doesnt.)
Samsung HD80HJ 80GB HDD (Still works!)
HEC 350AR-TZ 350W PSU (I destroyed this PSU)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit

Here's TF2 test video!








Here's GPU-z screen!
View attachment 59351
Here's My old thread about OCing my 7100 GS.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/how-can-i-o-c-my-gpu.205643/


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 16, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Got a whole bunch of old stuff. Currently building up a k6 super socket 7 system.
> specs:
> Amd k6-2+ 500mhz
> 256mb pc100 sdram(64 x2, 1x 128)
> ...



I used to have the same cpu and mobo you'll find it quite easy to oc it to K6 2 550 speeds


----------



## rodneyhchef (Sep 16, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Got a whole bunch of old stuff. Currently building up a k6 super socket 7 system.
> specs:
> Amd k6-2+ 500mhz
> 256mb pc100 sdram(64 x2, 1x 128)
> ...



How well does that super socket 7 board handle AGP? Had a few SS7 motherboards over the years and none had a proper implementation of AGP (stuck at 1.0x, theoretically 2.0x supported, but never worked) I had an FIC VA-503+ until recently which was supposed to be the top dog but I couldn't get it to run stable. In the end I chucked it.

my hacked VX PRO system still works, but thinking about switching to an early k7 setup I was given recently. So at least then I have USB functionality and something that'll run AGP, so I'm not limited to dodgy PCI cards or voodoo2s

Or maybe just ditching everything? I seem to spend more time tinkering than actually using it to play any old games. 

My old rigs are way back on page #40 if anyone wants to take a look linky


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Sep 19, 2015)

kazz said:


> can u do some 3dmark01SE runs with it within HD3850?




I did a run and got a disappoint score of almost 28k (3850 stock clocks) SL7CH @ 17*217MHz 1:1 (sub 35s super pi 1M) On the other hand I will easily break 30k on 3DM2003 (3850 stock)... I may post some screen shot and some pics of the rig later on. I am waiting for a set of PC4000 ballistix tracer, hopefully will get a better oc on the cpu!


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 19, 2015)

Just Acquired a sapphire hd 3650  512m/b AGP from fleabay
in rig for testing at moment ( it works thank god )
will take it out later and post pics here
Could not find a hd 4670 1 gig  AGP which is what i wanted but they are hard to find and not cheap


----------



## agent00skid (Sep 19, 2015)

Had a few GPU's come my way:


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 20, 2015)

Had this out benching today. Would make a nice retro gamer. 

K7D Master
2x  MP2800+'s  w/ Volcano 7's
Voodoo5


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 20, 2015)

Oh that is frigging awesome @Mr.Scott


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 21, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Oh that is frigging awesome @Mr.Scott


seconded ...


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 21, 2015)

warp factor 9 Mr.Scott


----------



## Tuna Yücer (Sep 22, 2015)

What are these slots? Sorry I know nothing about nostalgic hardware but i want to learn!


----------



## PHaS3 (Sep 22, 2015)

Tuna Yücer said:


> What are these slots? Sorry I know nothing about nostalgic hardware and i want to learn!



PCI-X Slots - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI-X

Mostly for servers / workstations, PCIE basically killed it.


----------



## Tuna Yücer (Sep 22, 2015)

Thanks a lot. Wikipedia also thinks like you.


----------



## Compgeke (Sep 30, 2015)

Got the serial terminal working with a little adapter chaining. Hooked to a Latitude D630 but close enough.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2015)

Certainly /is/ nostalgic hardware... 

Been working on an old Akai tape deck... This thing was a total mess, what was supposed to be a quick touch-up, fix here & there ended up being a total overhaul. New belts, pinch roller, rebuilt clutch assemblies with new cloth material (both of them, for play & rewind), chemically restored tire (gear-like wheel with the thick rubber on the play/rec shaft assembly), etc. Still have to replace the light bulb for one of the VU meters & allow the new, somewhat too thick belt to stretch in order to minimize the stress & friction on the electric motor. It's been showing signs of too much stress, randomly slowing down & having problems with even the basic operations.

     

Also got this beautiful set of Sansui amp & tuner, along with Sony CD player! Awesome stuff, I believe this used to be one of the Sansui's best models from that era 

 

This thing will be a perfect match for one of my other tape decks, Kenwood KX-W4080 (pic from the net)
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Last but not least, another vintage VCR for my nostalgic hardware collection  Case design by Telefunken, but this VCR is actually based on a famous 5-motor config. JVC chassis, known for the quality & durability!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 2, 2015)

What's going on around here? 


I've been working on 2 more rigs:

Rig 1:

ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe
2GB DDR400 RAM
Pentium 4 HT 3.00GHz
ATI Radeon HD3450 512MB AGP
300W FSP300-60GTP
JNC 4JA-8673 case
80GB WDC WD800JD-60LSA5 - attached to Promise Fasttrak PDC20378 RAID controller onboard
stock Intel HSF
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
2x Sony CDRW/DVDROM drives +TSSTCorp CDRW/DVDROM drive


Rig 2:
ECS P6VXAT
256MB PC133 SDRAM
Celeron 1100 OC'd to 1.4GHz - Tualeron more exactly
S3 Trio 3D/2X onboard AGP 8MB
ANS LC-B350ATX PSU
60GB Maxtor D540X
Windows XP SP2


----------



## Misaki (Oct 5, 2015)




----------



## Misaki (Oct 7, 2015)

My first PC. Never dead, never obsolete!
In January, this computer will be a 10 years old. Oryginal windows installation from January 2006!


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Oct 7, 2015)

Misaki said:


> My first PC. Never dead, never obsolete!
> In January, this computer will be a 10 years old. Oryginal windows installation from January 2006!


Please list the full specs of the system! I'm curious x)


----------



## Misaki (Oct 7, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Please list the full specs of the system! I'm curious x)


Oryginal specs were:
-Athlon 64 3000+ (754)
-Kingston 512MB DDR
-Radeon X800 XL
-160GB, 40GB, 20GB
-Some old Creative audio card

After a years of using and upgrading:
-Athlon 64 3000+
-1,5GB DDR
-Galaxy 8600GT (X800 died year ago)
-160GB, 250GB, 40GB, 20GB
-Some old Creative audio card


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Oct 7, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Oryginal specs were:
> -Athlon 64 3000+ (754)
> -Kingston 512MB DDR
> -Radeon X800 XL
> ...



I have an old school X850XT PE and that was the best card I have ever owned, and that X800XL was it the 512MB version? Pretty cool specs for its time!


----------



## Misaki (Oct 7, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I have an old school X850XT PE and that was the best card I have ever owned, and that X800XL was it the 512MB version? Pretty cool specs for its time!


Yeah, it was a beast! 256MB only, but still kicked some serious ass. I never played games much, but at the time, my brother was playing Quake III and IV like crazy on this PC


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Oct 7, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Yeah, it was a beast! 256MB only, but still kicked some serious ass. I never played games much, but at the time, my brother was playing Quake III and IV like crazy on this PC


I am a die hard quake III fan, still play it online x) Beautiful card!  cheers!


----------



## STIG_ZA (Oct 8, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Certainly /is/ nostalgic hardware...
> 
> Been working on an old Akai tape deck... This thing was a total mess, what was supposed to be a quick touch-up, fix here & there ended up being a total overhaul. New belts, pinch roller, rebuilt clutch assemblies with new cloth material (both of them, for play & rewind), chemically restored tire (gear-like wheel with the thick rubber on the play/rec shaft assembly), etc. Still have to replace the light bulb for one of the VU meters & allow the new, somewhat too thick belt to stretch in order to minimize the stress & friction on the electric motor. It's been showing signs of too much stress, randomly slowing down & having problems with even the basic operations.
> 
> ...




Nice! Got an older kenwood setup myself. Kenwood ka-70 amp, kt413 tuner, kx-400 cassette deck and pioneer pl-512 turntable........just cant beat retro


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 10, 2015)

STIG_ZA said:


> Nice! Got an older kenwood setup myself. Kenwood ka-70 amp, kt413 tuner, kx-400 cassette deck and pioneer pl-512 turntable........just cant beat retro



You said it! Still didn't get to set it all up, I'm missing the speakers & HiFi cabinet or some kind of a desk but otherwise it's ready to go  I'll be uploading more pics as soon as I have it up & running!


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 11, 2015)

Get cheap bookshelves boxes with broken speakers and just go to scrapyard to get cheap speakers of front doors on more expensive cars. They have more watts and stronger magnets.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 21, 2015)

Sup' TPU.

Here be my Rat-Rig:


AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2GHz - Socket 754
EpoX EP-8KDA7I - nForce 3 chipset 
80GB Maxtor 6Y080L0 IDE
4x DVD drives - 2x DVD-ROM, 2x DVD-RW
JNC (Deer) 8673-4JA case (see pic)
Radeon HD3450 512MB AGP
stock AMD cooler 
Delux ATX-450W P4 PSU


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 21, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Sup' TPU.
> 
> Here be my Rat-Rig:
> 
> ...



Do you have the cpu with 512m cache or 1gig ?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 21, 2015)

And...it's finally done.

Installed Windows 7 Enterprise x64 on it. Works pretty well.

Here's a desktop shot. Good god,the Radeon HD3450 drivers were a bitch to install but I finally found the 10.7 AGP hotfix drivers - they were made for the 4650,but it supports the 3450 as well.

Also,I've changed the PC's name to.....*drum sound* TronForce 3. Why? Because of the wallpaper and the fact that the chipset is nForce 3 250 
Would have recolored the lines in green but I thought it's better as it is now.






JunkBear said:


> Do you have the cpu with 512m cache or 1gig ?


I have 1GB of RAM,if that's what you wanted to say.


----------



## Devon68 (Oct 21, 2015)

> Here's a desktop shot. Good god,the Radeon HD3450 drivers were a bitch to install but I finally found the 10.7 AGP hotfix drivers - they were made for the 4650,but it supports the 3450 as well.


I got mine to work with Catalyst 12.3 but on win 7 32 bit.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 21, 2015)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Sup' TPU.
> 
> Here be my Rat-Rig:
> 
> ...


Now here's something you don't get to see every day ... 4x ODDs on one system


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 21, 2015)

Rip a few disks do we? lol


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 21, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Do you have the cpu with 512m cache or 1gig ?


No  @JunkBear  they did not have either 512m or 1 gig Cache   i suspect you meant 512 Kb Cache or 1 meg (1024kb ) cache


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 22, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> I got mine to work with Catalyst 12.3 but on win 7 32 bit.


Yeah,mine were a pain to install due to OS being 64 bit.


----------



## Misaki (Oct 23, 2015)

Gyus, be careful playing with windows 7. I have installed it on my old pc, everything worked fine. I ran Osu!, played for a moment. Suddenly freezee appeared and noise in a headphones. After restarting PC I had problems with booting operating system, after boot audio card was undetected, or detected but playback is impossible.
Creative SoundBlaster 128 PCI (1998 - 2015) [*]


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 23, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Creative SoundBlaster 128 PCI (1998 - 2015)



That is most likely the issue. A lot of the old soundblasters had issues in Vista and Win 7.


----------



## Misaki (Oct 23, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> That is most likely the issue. A lot of the old soundblasters had issues in Vista and Win 7.


I will just buy an SB Live! or Audigy, no big deal, but still - I used this card on a Windows 7 for a 3 months and everything worked just fine. Well, time has come for her I guess. 
(It's actually a translation from Polish, her because "sound card" means "karta dźwiękowa" in Polish, which has a female pronunciation). Sorry for spilling nonsense and bad language, it's 3AM


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 23, 2015)

Well, if it worked good for 3 months it may be something else causing the issue.


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 23, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> No  @JunkBear  they did not have either 512m or 1 gig Cache   i suspect you meant 512 Kb Cache or 1 meg (1024kb ) cache




Yup my mistake so same question but corrected.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 23, 2015)

Just think that if they ever did one with 1 gig cache how great that would have been
you could have loaded os into cache   and then that chip would have beaten any intel chip   ah dreams and fuck skylake


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 23, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Gyus, be careful playing with windows 7. I have installed it on my old pc, everything worked fine. I ran Osu!, played for a moment. Suddenly freezee appeared and noise in a headphones. After restarting PC I had problems with booting operating system, after boot audio card was undetected, or detected but playback is impossible.
> Creative SoundBlaster 128 PCI (1998 - 2015) [*]



Hmmm... Time to check the working condition of your PSU and/or motherboard caps IMHO. Either that, or simply died due to "old age"  Either way, it's a real shame, although 128s can be easily replaced, there's tons of those all around (even today)

Edit
Just curious, did you try to re-seat the card and/or cleaning the PCI interface pins?

Edit2
Been upgrading an old Pentium III, 800 for someone I know. I knew the video card was way, waaay outdated even for XP standards (TNT2 Vanta, M64) but upon closer inspection I found something really unusual inside. Apparently this system had a "DVD accelerator" card, for watching DVD movies on a system without built-in hardware support. The only thing is, it hooks directly to TNT2 via internal floppy-like ribbon cable. Now here's the catch - yes, I'm familiar with DXR2 cards, I even used to have one laying around but they used external VGA-VGA jumper cable, just like Voodoo1 & 2 did. While this particular model doesn't have any external connections, other than RCA & S-VHS jacks. Model number is CT7160 if someone wants to take a look, I would really like to know how they compare to DXR-2 cards, is this one & the same or am I looking at something completely different? I took the entire assembly out (and will probably keep it to myself, seeing it would be useless for every-day usage nowdays) & replaced both 7160 & TNT2 with GeForce4 MX440


----------



## Misaki (Oct 25, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmmm... Time to check the working condition of your PSU and/or motherboard caps IMHO. Either that, or simply died due to "old age"  Either way, it's a real shame, although 128s can be easily replaced, there's tons of those all around (even today)
> 
> Edit
> Just curious, did you try to re-seat the card and/or cleaning the PCI interface pins?


All capacitors on the motherboard are bad, but I don't have tools and money to replace it right now unfortunately


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 25, 2015)

Misaki said:


> All capacitors on the motherboard are bad, but I don't have tools and money to replace it right now unfortunately


I'm sorry to hear that, but there you have it - that's your problem. Voltage must have spiked up at some point, resulting with fried sound card... Which is most likely result due to bad PSU in the first place


----------



## Misaki (Oct 26, 2015)

Sound card seems to be still broken (even if it works, but I can hear strange sounds coming from headphones), but I was suprised - Windows 7 has better performance than Windows XP on it!


----------



## tabascosauz (Oct 26, 2015)

Does anyone have a Celeron 300A? Mendocino family, circa 1998? I just remembered that I had dug it up the second time I went into the very back of the office (the first time provided me with the Trio64 and Pentium II 233)...and that I completely forgot to bring it with me when I left for school. 

There was this really nasty adhesive on the aluminum side of the CPU (socket 370). I thought it was thermal paste, until I chipped at the thick blobs on the edge with a pencil. It looked like a milky super glue at the edges, where some had formed drops; it was of no appreciable thickness on the actual aluminum heat spreader part, but it was clearly there because it was sticky. Anyone have any ideas on how to clean it off? I've cleaned the bigger blobs but chipping away but it's very annoying that the heat spreader part is sticky and nothing can clean that off. Water didn't work, the usual isopropyl alcohol didn't work either.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 26, 2015)

@*tabascosauz*

I'll have a look 10 min ok

got celeron 300/66 SL2YP Covington core slot 1
http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL2YP.html

you want socket 370 ?

got some faster ones in socket 370

Right had a rummage and i have ( 4 ) socket 370 Cpu
they Are
( 2 ) P3 800 EB 256/133 SL464 ( 1.65v ) and P3 800 / 256/133  (1.7v )   SL4CD
( 1 ) Celeron 900/ 128 /100 1.75v SL5MQ ( 1.7v )
( 1 ) Celeron 366 /128 /66  SL35S  ( 2v )

Thats what i have


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2015)

tabascosauz said:


> Does anyone have a Celeron 300A? Mendocino family, circa 1998? I just remembered that I had dug it up the second time I went into the very back of the office (the first time provided me with the Trio64 and Pentium II 233)...and that I completely forgot to bring it with me when I left for school.
> 
> There was this really nasty adhesive on the aluminum side of the CPU (socket 370). I thought it was thermal paste, until I chipped at the thick blobs on the edge with a pencil. It looked like a milky super glue at the edges, where some had formed drops; it was of no appreciable thickness on the actual aluminum heat spreader part, but it was clearly there because it was sticky. Anyone have any ideas on how to clean it off? I've cleaned the bigger blobs but chipping away but it's very annoying that the heat spreader part is sticky and nothing can clean that off. Water didn't work, the usual isopropyl alcohol didn't work either.



I would have to agree with dorsetknob on this one, AFAIK 300A was a Slot-1, only the better & newer models were distributed in S370 design. I do happen to have Celeron 300 in one of the boxes, and it's a Slot-1 design.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 27, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> I would have to agree with dorsetknob on this one, AFAIK 300A was a Slot-1



Also done in socket 370
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Celeron/Intel-Celeron 300 - FV80524RX300128 (FV524RX300 128).html

Slot 1 unlocked multiplier   great for overclocking  ( Set by dipswitches / jumpers  on motherboard )
socket 370 locked Multiplier ( auto set in bios )


----------



## Ahhzz (Oct 27, 2015)

Figured I might tap some of the bodies in here that don't frequent the wtb/wts forums. I've got what I believe is an old Enlight case for which I need some extra 3.5 rails (post here). they're small, about half what normal rails usually are for 5.25 drives, model on the side is 2CDIS005-0. Anyone here have an older case that might have some of these hanging out in it? Thanks!

** If it matters, additional research shows this may be an InWin case....


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 27, 2015)

You should probably post a pic or two @Ahhzz of the case in your WTB thread. It might help someone know for sure which case your looking for the parts in. 

Also, I think years ago Enlight and InWin were sort of the same company. I think that InWin was the new name after a merger or something of that sort.


----------



## Ahhzz (Oct 27, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> You should probably post a pic or two @Ahhzz of the case in your WTB thread. It might help someone know for sure which case your looking for the parts in.
> 
> Also, I think years ago Enlight and InWin were sort of the same company. I think that InWin was the new name after a merger or something of that sort.


Thx Stinger, will do that 

Little challenging to do at the moment, as I dismantled it to clean the "stuff" they had leaked into and all over it. Didn't take a lot of effort, but whatever happened, it spread everywhere heheh. I'm repurposing it right now as my server box, so I can (slowly) redo the current server (which has a swinging door, and wheels  ). My only concern is that I don't think I'll be able to fit the second power supply in easily, which disappoints


----------



## JunkBear (Oct 27, 2015)

tabascosauz said:


> Does anyone have a Celeron 300A? Mendocino family, circa 1998? I just remembered that I had dug it up the second time I went into the very back of the office (the first time provided me with the Trio64 and Pentium II 233)...and that I completely forgot to bring it with me when I left for school.
> 
> There was this really nasty adhesive on the aluminum side of the CPU (socket 370). I thought it was thermal paste, until I chipped at the thick blobs on the edge with a pencil. It looked like a milky super glue at the edges, where some had formed drops; it was of no appreciable thickness on the actual aluminum heat spreader part, but it was clearly there because it was sticky. Anyone have any ideas on how to clean it off? I've cleaned the bigger blobs but chipping away but it's very annoying that the heat spreader part is sticky and nothing can clean that off. Water didn't work, the usual isopropyl alcohol didn't work either.



Get a plastic scraper for applying plaster on walls and q can of automotive brakes cleaner.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2015)

It's been a while since I posted any pics, so here's something to share & talk about... 

First to start off with this Creative DVD encoder card. Still not sure what's the purpose of this thing (other than watching videos/DVD on a system without MPEG hardware support), or what's the difference between DXR-2 cards & this thing *shrug*





Just got this handheld scanner today... Almost mint condition, never been used from what I can tell! I'm tempted to hook it up, but then again why would I do such a thing, in the first place? Can't find any obvious purpose for this thing, other than to look awesome on the shelf. Besides, it's worth so much more in this condition, even if the actual scanner doesn't work. Which I'm sure it does, just saying


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 27, 2015)

@Trekkie4
got one similer  Logitech Scanman   for "DOS" Greyscale  only 
also have the Creative Encore DVD  kit Less the malfunctioning DVD rom Drive

Will dig them both out and post Photo's for comparison


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 28, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> @Trekkie4
> got one similer  Logitech Scanman   for "DOS" Greyscale  only
> also have the Creative Encore DVD  kit Less the malfunctioning DVD rom Drive
> 
> Will dig them both out and post Photo's for comparison


Cool! I never had a handheld scanner before, so this should be interesting!  My 1st scanner was a flatbed one, Primax Colorado 600p which I successfully traded for 1200p shortly after... It was painfully slow, but it did its job, never had any problems! In fact, it's been working perfectly fine for years, up until I started using "All-in-one" HP machines, which I still use today.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 28, 2015)

@Trekkie4
Dug it out of Storage and its  Logitech Scanman Hand Held Scanner
Model 32 for IBM
Mine come's with Software on ( 2 ) 3 1/2" Floppys and ( 3 ) 5 1/4 " Floppys
A 16bit ISA Interface Card and the plug in hand held Scanner

Date 1989 ish ( Box Printed in Ireland ) so its over 25 years old and still in mint condition

Pic's here later


----------



## Ahhzz (Oct 28, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> You should probably post a pic or two @Ahhzz of the case in your WTB thread. It might help someone know for sure which case your looking for the parts in.
> 
> Also, I think years ago Enlight and InWin were sort of the same company. I think that InWin was the new name after a merger or something of that sort.


Ok, post updated  Please guys, hate to crawl in the Nostalgia thread and drag people sideways, but you guys are the most likely to have seen or know where to find a few of these drive rails. Thanks!!


----------



## Compgeke (Oct 28, 2015)

Not that old by my standards but still one of the oddities. GeForce 2 Ultra, back in the days where you had the GTS then you had this, and you should've just bought the GTS.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 5, 2015)

Misaki said:


> Sound card seems to be still broken (even if it works, but I can hear strange sounds coming from headphones), but I was suprised - Windows 7 has better performance than Windows XP on it!


Is that a socket 754 system? Or a AM2 one? I've got a Athlon 64 3000+ system runnning 7 Enterprise. It's on a green Epox EP-8KDA7I motherboard.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 6, 2015)

When's the last time you saw one of these? 
GFD for slot A.


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## AndreiCT (Nov 7, 2015)

Hi guys! I'm Andrei and i just discovered this awesome thread. I decided to join the forum and in my first post i will present my first PC. It's not quite vintage but it was purchased a decade ago on January 7, 2004. It was a custom build system.

Here are the specs:

*Case*: EMPEROR RJA52
*Motherboard*: DFI PS83-BL, Chipset Intel 865PE, FSB 800 MHz Hyper-Threading, 4 x Dual Channel DDR400, AGP8x, 5 x PCI, LAN, SATA, 6-channel audio, USB 2.0
*Processor*: Intel® Celeron® 2.40 GHz, Socket 478, Northwood, FSB 400 MHz, L2 Cache 128 Kb
*Memory*: PLUSS 256 MB DDR400 PC3200
*Video Card*: MSI GeForce4 MX 440 64 MB 64 bit AGP8x
*Hard Disk*: Western Digital Caviar SE WD400JB 40 GB, 7200 rpm, 8 MB Cache, IDE
*Optical Drive*: SONY CRX300E CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM Combo
*TV Tuner*: WAYJET WT-952TF-BK
*Floppy*: TEAC FDD 3.5"
*Power Supply*: ANS LC-B350 ATX 350W

And some pictures:


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## Compgeke (Nov 8, 2015)

Decided to play with the PS/2 P70 today, actually put the ram expansion back in and throw the modem back in for some testing stuff.










Specs:
20 MHz Intel 386DX
12 MB RAM
120 MB HDD
VGA Graphics on an orangegas plasma screen
2400 baud modem


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2015)

Finally got around to finish that Soltek Red Storm, Athlon 1000 build from the 143rd page - even though I still have no idea what to do with  It'll probably end up being a Windows ME system, since I only got 2 of those, everything else is either 95, 98 or XP  Pics coming soon!

So yes, remember this one here?

View attachment 67080 View attachment 67081 View attachment 67082 View attachment 67083 View attachment 67084 View attachment 67085 View attachment 67086 View attachment 67087 View attachment 67088
View attachment 67118 View attachment 67119

Yes, it was indeed a total mess when I 1st got this machine, but I've been slowly tweaking it over time, adding one component at the time. Yesterday I finally got the missing component, 20GB ATA HDD, so now it's time to set it up & finally see it in action 



 

 

 

 

As you can tell, it looks SO much better than it was before IMHO, and was given Windows ME just like I said above. Cable management is kinda messy, but I didn't have any more time and/OR patience to mess around with it, looks decent enough to be considered "final"  What do you guys think about it?

The "extra" sound card is Mercury KOB-884-E, just because I had one to use for this occasion (and also because it's 5.1 system), otherwise the on-board solution would have been more than enough. Oddly enough, I've tried using this card in one of my other builds & it's been giving me all kinds of problems, crashing the system, etc. I assumed it's fried, until I gave it one more, last try on this Soltek mobo & it worked OK! You figure it out...


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 12, 2015)

No pics this time. (phone battery dead)

My new rig - still WIP as I need a Deer/L&C case



MB - Gigabyte 8IE2004 - i845E - weird thing it actually works with Prescott CPUs - they work at 133MHz FSB (as opposed to 100 with Northwoods)
CPU - Pentium 4 1.7GHz Willamette
RAM - 1x1GB Kingston KVR DDR400
HSF - Titan TTC-W6TB/825
Thermal Paste - Spire SP-456/1GB
PSU - Codegen 300X1 (P4) 300W - an pretty honest PSU. Most of the stuff is pretty true for what it's rated for. Just had to move the + side of the fan to 12v. Noisy,but better safe than sorry.
HDD - some old WDC Protege 8GB I've dug out of my parts pile
GPU - Pixelview FX5200 128MB - this one I dug out of my scrap parts. It had a bad BIOS,so I removed the old chip and soldered a new one. Works like a charm now!
OS - Windows 98 SE

Also,another thing I have to take care of is the fact that everytime I turn it off,I lose CMOS settings even though the battery still has some life left in it.


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## AndreiCT (Nov 13, 2015)

@MaxiPro800 Upload some pics when you finish the system.

Part 2

If a few days ago i presented my first PC, an obsolete system with a soket 478 Celeron processor at 2,4 GHz, 256 MB of RAM DDR400 and a GeForce 4 MX440 with AGP 8X, today i will present the PC that i use every day. It is also an old 478 system but for Internet, music and older games it's still decent.

*Case*: NOX Zen
*Motherboard*: ASRock P4i65G, Chipset Intel 865G, FSB 800 MHz Hyper-Threading, 2 x Dual Channel DDR400, AGP8x, 3 x PCI, LAN, SATA, 5.1 Channel Audio, 6 x USB 2.0, Intel® Extreme Graphics 2, Hybrid Booster
*Processor*: Intel® Pentium® 4 SL7PM, 3 GHz, Socket 478, Prescott, FSB 800 MHz, L2 Cache 1 MB, Hyper-Threading
*Memory*: 2 x Aeneon 1 GB DDR400 PC3200
*Video Card*: GeCube ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro 512MB DDR2 64 bit AGP8x
*Hard Disk*: Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKB 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache, IDE
*Optical Drive*: Asus DRW-1814BL
*Power Supply*: Corsair Builder Series CX430

I also have:
- An MSI EX610X-091EU notebook with the following specifications: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 TK-57 1900 MHz, 3 GB RAM DDR2, ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 2400 and a WD Scorpio 250 GB HDD.
- Another s478 Pentium 4 SL7PM processor at 3 GHz and another pair of 1GB DDR400 memory sticks (i forgot which model).
- A Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512MB DDR3 256 bit AGP8X witch doesn't work anymore. I think the graphic chip or a memory chip disoldered from the board. Anyway this card was to powerful for an old single core pc.
- A Philips AS9510 Midi System from 1990 (picture below).

Mentions:
- The pictures are older, so in the pics the system looks awful with no wire management and with that Delux power supply. Now the system is powered by a Corsair Builder Series CX430 and the cables are arranged better. With other ocasion i will return with new pictures. And sorry for that mousepad, it's in the dumpster now.

Pictures:


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2015)

On a more serious note, I would like to know which idiot designed that Soltek SL-75KAV board - IDE connectors are located on probably the worst location available! Had to remove the RAM module(s) for testing purposes, which turned out to be a LOT more complicated than I expected, due to double layer of IDE cables running across RAM area. As if that wasn't enough, my FX5700 kept popping out from AGP slot due to the same reason, not enough clearance between the card itself & IDE cables running behind the card! Long story short, I had to come up with a whole new cable management, because of Soltek & their design flaws!  Pics coming up soon...


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## stinger608 (Nov 13, 2015)

If I remember correctly @Trekkie4 , I got a smoking deal on two of them several years ago.............Once I received them and started a build I sold both due to the retarded IDE port positioning.


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## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 14, 2015)

Here it is guys my old school P4 retro build: "Purple Haze"
I had to mod a couple of things in the case, as well as work some magic on some ramsinks and the cpu cooler!

Motherboard: Abit IC7-MAX3
CPU: P4 3.4EE Gallatin (SL7CH)
GPU: PowerColor X850XT PE AGP (or Sapphire HD3850)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000 (2x1024)
PSU: Corsair HX620W
Soundcard: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro + Front panel
HDD: WD Caviar 160
CPU cooler: Modded Scythe Andy Samurai Master
GPU cooler: Modded Ati Silencer 5 rev. 2
Chipset cooler: Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II

Edit: You cant see the cable mess with the side panel fitted in place xD


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 14, 2015)

Mr.Scott said:


> When's the last time you saw one of these?
> GFD for slot A.
> 
> View attachment 69010 View attachment 69011


ohhh a repost  well at last the pics are here now  golden finger FTW! ok that one is a bit more extended than the one i used to use ... seriously a floppy power connector?
(for me it ranged from the simple cut PCI slot with  wirings and solder on a PCB to a DIP switch PCB with a specially made connector)


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## The Foldinator (Nov 14, 2015)

IIRC i payed a house for it


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 14, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Here it is guys my old school P4 retro build: "Purple Haze"
> I had to mod a couple of things in the case, as well as work some magic on some ramsinks and the cpu cooler!
> 
> Motherboard: Abit IC7-MAX3
> ...



oh wow, I used to have something very similar to this back in a day ... modded Pentium 4 rig, running Asus P4T mobo, 1.5GHz P4 CPU (S423) and 2x 64mb of RIMM  memory! Had a transparent window, couple of LED fans, Coolermaster Aerogate & Coolermaster Musketeer fan controllers, they looked absolutely amazing in dark!  Wish I still had those with me, I gave them away... *sigh*

I still have the pics from 2004 somewhere on my external HDD, so I'll upload them as soon as I get the chance


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 14, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> On a more serious note, I would like to know which idiot designed that Soltek SL-75KAV board - IDE connectors are located on probably the worst location available! Had to remove the RAM module(s) for testing purposes, which turned out to be a LOT more complicated than I expected, due to double layer of IDE cables running across RAM area. As if that wasn't enough, my FX5700 kept popping out from AGP slot due to the same reason, not enough clearance between the card itself & IDE cables running behind the card! Long story short, I had to come up with a whole new cable management, because of Soltek & their design flaws!  Pics coming up soon...


My GA-8IE2004 does that as well,except they moved the ports next to the front panel. Pretty irritating when it comes to wire management.


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## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 14, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> oh wow, I used to have something very similar to this back in a day ... modded Pentium 4 rig, running Asus P4T mobo, 1.5GHz P4 CPU (S423) and 2x 64mb of RIMM  memory! Had a transparent window, couple of LED fans, Coolermaster Aerogate & Coolermaster Musketeer fan controllers, they looked absolutely amazing in dark!  Wish I still had those with me, I gave them away... *sigh*
> 
> I still have the pics from 2004 somewhere on my external HDD, so I'll upload them as soon as I get the chance



Oh yes Sir, pics please!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2015)

Here's  that "new" cable management... It was the best I could do under the given circumstances, rather than to have the ATA cable rub against the AGP card 



 

 

Old rig from 2004, with fan controllers & side window coming up tomorrow - my external HDD is in use so I can't access the files at the moment (backing up the HDD in that Soltek system)


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## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 15, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's  that "new" cable management... It was the best I could do under the given circumstances, rather than to have the ATA cable rub against the AGP card
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That IDE connectors' placement is absolutely atrocious... Why would they design it like that?


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## Ahhzz (Nov 15, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's  that "new" cable management... It was the best I could do under the given circumstances, rather than to have the ATA cable rub against the AGP card
> 
> 
> 
> ...


On a side note, got pop-behinds from that site. You know you can directly upload to TPU, right?


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> That IDE connectors' placement is absolutely atrocious... Why would they design it like that?


I have no idea... Maybe someone wanted to piss off computer techs, or to test their cable management skills?  Seriously though, this board was a total PITA! Not only that, but it also has bulged caps, as you can probably see in the pics. I was tempted to swap them out for good ones, but I just didn't have the time OR patience to mess around with it any longer. And since I'm most probably not going to use this one, I simply don't see the point in wasting any more time & money into it  I /do/ have certain rules though, and probably most important one of all is that EVERY machine in my collection needs to be operational - whenever I'm going to use it again or not (as in just for display purposes)



Ahhzz said:


> On a side note, got pop-behinds from that site. You know you can directly upload to TPU, right?



*sigh* Yes, I DO know that. In fact, I've been uploading pics to TPU image hosting server for a while, but something has changed in the meantime. Don't really know what, maybe someone from TPU staff here can help me find out - I was able to upload multiple pics at once, with just couple of clicks & without too much effort. Now it went back to old layout again, where you can ONLY upload one pic at the time, and ONLY under 2mb each. Since I'm using phone with HD camera (HTC M8S), pretty much every pic is above the mentioned limit, which means I would have to resize the pic 1st, and then upload it (one at the time) to TPU image hosting server. Which would obviously take way too long, I can't afford to spend this much time just to fiddle with the pics, sorry 

EDIT
Finally, the Soltek system is up & running! Here's a tip for all of you retro fans out there, if you're going to make a Win9x/ME build & use nVidia graphics, try to avoid anything newer than GeForce4. Getting FX series (aka GeForce 5) to work under Win ME was a total nightmare! Normally I would just blame ME for that, but I know for the fact that 5th generation & newer will cause serious problems with ANY "9x" based windows, and not just ME


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 16, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Oh yes Sir, pics please!


There you go  I probably have more of these somewhere (on a CD, maybe? It's been a while...) but for now you'll just have to settle with these 2









My 1st custom build, ever. Not really a "build", since I've only modified the existing system but hey - you gotta start somewhere, right?


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## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 16, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> There you go  I probably have more of these somewhere (on a CD, maybe? It's been a while...) but for now you'll just have to settle with these 2
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Looks great!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 16, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Looks great!


Thanks! I really DO feel bad for giving most of this stuff away  Sold that P4 build (without the transparent case) back in 2006, 2007 while I traded & gave away for free most of the case mod accessories... It was just too bright for my taste, bright enough to illuminate the entire room 

Also had this other machine here...





Actually, I STILL have this one with me, it was my 1st Pentium 2, 350MHz rig with Diamond Monster 3DII, Voodoo2 card inside  Sadly, I've replaced the case (and wasn't able to find another one like this), but otherwise it's still the same system even today. In fact, it's now even more original, more identical to its  factory specs than it was on this pic here, because at this point (in 2004) I already replaced the graphics, both ATI Rage & Voodoo2 with Matrox Millenium G450 DualHead. Which I eventually (few years ago) swapped back for Rage & Voodoo2, because I wanted to preserve it as it was, back in October 1998 when I 1st got it


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## Norton (Nov 16, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sadly, I've replaced the case (and wasn't able to find another one like this)



Is that similar to one of these?





I guess this case belongs in this thread 


This is my 2nd one- posted a WTB thread here 3 years ago and* located one after 4 months of thread bumping*!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 16, 2015)

Norton said:


> Is that similar to one of these?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, it DOES belong into this thread lol  But sadly no, this is not the same case  Already found this one from the pic a while ago, I tried with most intensive Googling but ended up empty handed, I just can't seem to find mine anywhere *sigh* There's also this one here, on THIS website - quite similar to what I'm searching for but not the same.

EDIT
Certainly not one of my best pics, but here's alternative view of the case I'm searching for. If anyone has any idea which brand this is (I'm guessing either Codegen or AOpen), please let me know!









EDIT2
Fun fact... Despite me being an idiot & throwing away this case (along with some other precious & valuable components, such as completely operational Voodoo2 card) this machine is surprisingly preserved for a 17.5yr old build  Motherboard, CPU cartridge, sound card & HDD have all been preserved & are entirely original. Including that Matrox Millenium G450, mentioned earlier - you can actually see the card in this last pic. G450 has been moved to a different system though but it's still here nevertheless, while the ATI Rage (AGP card), Diamond Monster 3DII Voodoo card (12mb) and 64mb of RAM have been replaced with identical components of what I used to have. So they're not technically the same, but close enough to consider "original" IMHO - it was the best I could do under the given circumstances. Apart from that, everything else (CD, floppy, fax modem, case & PSU) are completely new, bought new from the store.

Similar story with that other build, with transparent window... However, this other one got sold, but only the motherboard, CPU & RAM - everything else has been preserved, even today. Well, almost everything since both the Maxtor HDD and that BenQ CD-ROM died many years ago. I still have the original Hauppauge TV tuner, SoundBlaster 128, Matrox Millenium G450 (previously mentioned card, which was actually taken out from this P4 system first, before it was moved to P2 one), IOmega ZIP100 and NEC DVD, which you can see just above the BenQ CD drive.


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## stinger608 (Nov 17, 2015)

@Trekkie4 , I love them Cooler Master gauges in that first picture!!! I remember when them were being sold.........Dang, they were pretty pricey at the time. Always wanted a set to do a mod but never could find em at a reasonable price point. 

Wish I could find a set now.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 17, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> @Trekkie4 , I love them Cooler Master gauges in that first picture!!! I remember when them were being sold.........Dang, they were pretty pricey at the time. Always wanted a set to do a mod but never could find em at a reasonable price point.
> 
> Wish I could find a set now.


Yeah, I know! Me too, me too *sigh* It's called Cooler Master Musketeer, I'm sure you can get it somewhere ... except they're STILL expensive as they were back in a day  Top one, fan controller is caller CM Aerogate, and could easily say the same thing. I gave these two to somebody, who then lost them over the period of time & I never saw them again. Sad but true 

EDIT
Speaking of my old P4 & P2 builds, here's something which you probably didn't notice  Let's go back to this post from Feb, HERE...

Take a closer look at the optical drives & tell me what you see!



 

Yup, they're the same ones! This other, new build now also holds that G450 DualHead graphics and Hauppauge TV tuner. My original P4 rig had Asus P4-T mobo, Pentium 4 @1.5 (S423) CPU & Rambus Inline memory (aka RIMM) While this other one, the one from Feb has P4-B mobo, Pentium 4 @1.6 (S478) and has SD memory. Again, not 100% identical but close enough to make me happy


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2015)

Another day, another piece of hardware  Sorry for double-posting by the way, I wanted to separate this from my previous post, since this one doesn't have anything to do with previously mentioned builds...

Time to upgrade my HDD in that black Athlon 1800+ build, with ASRock K7VT2 mobo, GeForce4 Ti 4200/2x Voodoo2 and Win98/XP Home, SP1. I've had a single 40GB Maxtor inside which is not even remotely enough to run both OSes & all the appropriate games in each one of them. So therefore this one should do the trick, 50-50. The idea is to dedicate 40GB to Win98 & another 40GB to XP...






Also got this awesome new toy, to play with  First of its kind, never had external ZIP before! As you might have noticed, few of my retro builds already have internal ZIP100 units, so I figured it's time to try something different. This one is fully operational from what I can tell, but the top side window was completely broken & pushed inside. Had to take the entire unit apart & glue it back on, but otherwise it seems to be good as new!


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## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 18, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks! I really DO feel bad for giving most of this stuff away  Sold that P4 build (without the transparent case) back in 2006, 2007 while I traded & gave away for free most of the case mod accessories... It was just too bright for my taste, bright enough to illuminate the entire room
> 
> Also had this other machine here...
> 
> ...



I wish I had a computer during that era... My first system had an Intel D845PESV board a 512MB stick of KVR333MHz a P4 Northwood 2.4GHz, a couple of optical drives and a Geforce FX5200  I think that I still have all those parts around!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2015)

Yeah, I have some of the fondest memories of that Pentium 2, it really means a lot to me. Almost ashamed to admit, I was tempted to throw it away at some point (around 2005, 2006) because it was just using space & couldn't really use it for anything useful, but I'm SO glad I didn't! It's bad enough that I've replaced the cool-looking & perhaps unique case for cheap & generic one, just because this old one was squeaking & rattling too much 

As I slowly got into this retro obsession, I guess you could call it, I've replaced XP with 98, reverted all the hardware modifications to its original specs & used it for playing retro (Glide) games. But then, I believe around 2012, the Chaintech 6BTM mobo finally gave up & suffered from a complete meltdown. Instead of throwing it away, I actually paid to have it professionally repaired - probably the only idiot who spent a fortune on a 18yr old motherboard lol and yes, it was fixed! Now some of the caps are bulging again, I'm assuming it's because of the bad PSU, but I'm too afraid to mess around with it. I might attempt repairs at some point & swap them out for good ones but it would be kinda pointless since I'm not using this one any longer. After all the problems I've had with it, and all the money spent for the repairs, I've decided to retire this old timer & preserve it in fully working condition ... that way it'll hopefully live forever, hopefully even outlive all of us  I also have the ORIGINAL CRT monitor which came with it, and this one also works perfectly fine, as it did 18yrs ago! After all, I have approx. 16, 17 other retro builds here with me, so any further risking of my own Pentium 2 from back in a day would be (beyond) stupid thing to do IMHO!


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## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 18, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, I have some of the fondest memories of that Pentium 2, it really means a lot to me. Almost ashamed to admit, I was tempted to throw it away at some point (around 2005, 2006) because it was just using space & couldn't really use it for anything useful, but I'm SO glad I didn't! It's bad enough that I've replaced the cool-looking & perhaps unique case for cheap & generic one, just because this old one was squeaking & rattling too much
> 
> As I slowly got into this retro obsession, I guess you could call it, I've replaced XP with 98, reverted all the hardware modifications to its original specs & used it for playing retro (Glide) games. But then, I believe around 2012, the Chaintech 6BTM mobo finally gave up & suffered from a complete meltdown. Instead of throwing it away, I actually paid to have it professionally repaired - probably the only idiot who spent a fortune on a 18yr old motherboard lol and yes, it was fixed! Now some of the caps are bulging again, I'm assuming it's because of the bad PSU, but I'm too afraid to mess around with it. I might attempt repairs at some point & swap them out for good ones but it would be kinda pointless since I'm not using this one any longer. After all the problems I've had with it, and all the money spent for the repairs, I've decided to retire this old timer & preserve it in fully working condition ... that way it'll hopefully live forever, hopefully even outlive all of us  I also have the ORIGINAL CRT monitor which came with it, and this one also works perfectly fine, as it did 18yrs ago! After all, I have approx. 16, 17 other retro builds here with me, so any further risking of my own Pentium 2 would be beyond stupid thing to do



Hahaha, I guess that We suffer from the same disease! xD It's a good one tho!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2015)

Cool!  Indeed, these other builds... They all come & go, but only one was here the whole time & makes all the difference to me & all of us who feel the same way 

Just realized that I totally forgot to mention the specs. Not that it matters, I guess but why not 

The actual PC was called "Open Space", it was a customized build from the computer store called "Adison"

It had (and still has) Chaintech 6BTM Slot-1 motherboard, Pentium II @ 350MHz Deschutes CPU, 1x 64Mb PC100 SD-RAM memory, ATI Rage IIC AGP with 8Mb of VRAM, Diamond Monster 3DII (Voodoo2) with 12Mb of VRAM, 6.4Gb Quantum Fireball 3.5" ATA HDD, Creative Sound Blaster 128 (PCI), Rockwell Dial-Up modem (PCI, has been replaced with generic new one recently since I lost the original one), BTC 36X CD-ROM drive (also lost, replaced with modern, black CD unit) & Sony 3.5" floppy (lost, replaced with modern, black Sony unit). Originally it had a standard Codegen 200W ATX PSU, but I've replaced few power supplies since then...


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## stinger608 (Nov 18, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> So therefore this one should do the trick, 50-50. The idea is to dedicate 40GB to Win98 & another 40GB to XP...




@Trekkie4 , 40 gigs is a ton for Win 98. Heck, most of the apps and games in that era were only a couple hundred megabytes. I'd think that 25 or 30 gigs would be a ton for Win 98. I remember buying a 6 or 8 gig drive back then, for a ton of money LOL, and thought I'd never be able to fill it. LOLOLOL. Heck, I ended up getting a deal on a 20 gig drive about the time that UT2003 was released due to the games size.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> @Trekkie4 , 40 gigs is a ton for Win 98. Heck, most of the apps and games in that era were only a couple hundred megabytes. I'd think that 25 or 30 gigs would be a ton for Win 98. I remember buying a 6 or 8 gig drive back then, for a ton of money LOL, and thought I'd never be able to fill it. LOLOLOL. Heck, I ended up getting a deal on a 20 gig drive about the time that UT2003 was released due to the games size.


I know, and under the normal circumstances I'd agree with you on that one. However, I'm running 20-20(GB) config as we speak and my Win98 is seriously low on HDD space, even by "retro" standards. We are talking 20, maybe 30mb of free space  Since this is my active retro gaming rig (active as in the ONLY retro rig which I actually use for retro gaming), I've installed pretty much every game I have. In fact, I keep on getting, buying & downloading more & more retro games every couple of months, so the amount of data only gets larger & larger. With several rigs featuring 20, 30 & 40GB HDDs, I'd say for sure that 20 GB is not enough. 30GB would hit the spot so to speak (without too much leftover space), while 40 would give me more than enough space for future growth & development  Also, keep in mind that most of my games have been installed in "full" and not "small" or "compact" in order to reduce the loading speed.

Of course, back then was a whole other story, just as you pointed out  As I mentioned in the post above, my original Pentium II had (and still has) Quantum Fireball HDD with only 6.4GB which seemed like the entire galaxy back in a day! Especially because my old 486, DX2 which I owned before P2 only had approx. 600Mb, maybe even less! Can't really complain, Fireball is awesome HDD to have but it's not even remotely big enough to have all the games pre-installed & ready to go, even if all of them were compact and/or small.


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 19, 2015)

Might as well post a few pics of my Willamette rig:



 

This is the surgery I've done on the GPU BIOS chip. Pretty tricky but it works!




Motherboard with PSU (Delux ATX-450W P4) and GPU installed.


 


The 300W PSU I also bought


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 24, 2015)

Guys, I need some help over here... Been going through my box of "spares" & found long-lost Voodoo3 3500 which I bought about 2 yrs ago, for some symbolic price. The problem however is that I didn't get the appropriate VGA-output cable for this thing, so I never had the chance to see if it works or not  I don't suppose anyone here knows how to hook (or modify) the original output jack to fit standard VGA one?

For those of you who don't know (or don't remember), 3500 was the best Voodoo3 card available, and it had integrated TV tuner into it. The only "problem" is that they've used unique shaped output port & included appropriate adapter cable, so that users can hook up to 2 monitors (+ SVideo), all through one output jack. It looks like standard DVI, except it has 4 (or 6, don't remember) extra pins, so therefore it's wider than DVI.









See, this here is EXACTLY what I need!!


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 24, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Guys, I need some help over here... Been going through my box of "spares" & found long-lost Voodoo3 3500 which I bought about 2 yrs ago, for some symbolic price. The problem however is that I didn't get the appropriate VGA-output cable for this thing, so I never had the chance to see if it works or not  I don't suppose anyone here knows how to hook (or modify) the original output jack to fit standard VGA one?
> 
> For those of you who don't know (or don't remember), 3500 was the best Voodoo3 card available, and it had integrated TV tuner into it. The only "problem" is that they've used unique shaped output port & included appropriate adapter cable, so that users can hook up to 2 monitors (+ SVideo), all through one output jack. It looks like standard DVI, except it has 4 (or 6, don't remember) extra pins, so therefore it's wider than DVI.
> 
> ...


DMS-59? https://www.google.ch/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=DMS-59


updates incoming ... i just need to take some photos ... i have exceptionally nice colleagues ... i got some freebies


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 24, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> DMS-59? https://www.google.ch/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=DMS-59
> 
> 
> updates incoming ... i just need to take some photos ... i have exceptionally nice colleagues ... i got some freebies


Thanks for the tip, but not quite what I'm looking for...  Not sure, but I think 3dfx predates DVI design. As for DMS-59, if you take a closer look you'll see it only has pins, there's no tabs (flat contacts) anywhere.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 24, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the tip, but not quite what I'm looking for...  Not sure, but I think 3dfx predates DVI design. As for DMS-59, if you take a closer look you'll see it only has pins, there's no tabs (flat contacts) anywhere.


The board incorporates a combination connector (Vesa PnD) to which the external docking module (blue) is connected. This can also be used to select between S-video, Composite (cinch) and the audio connectors. The VGA monitor is connected to the extended connection (lower left in the figure).





The card features no VGA output, rather a 30-pin Plug & Display output port which has been used for Flat Panel displays in the past but now connects to the 3500's "break-out-box" which contains a split cable for an analog VGA input.
*Voodoo3 3500 TV* June 1999 Avenger 250 AGP 2x 16 183 183 1:0:2:1 183 183 366 0 2.928 SDR 128 6.0
The 2000 and 3000 boards generally differed in their support for TV output; the 3500 boards also carried a TV tuner and provided a wide range of video inputs and outputs.


seems to be proprietary then 

edit: 

soo .... i had the 3D Prophet 4000XT now i have the 4500 too! 4 card from Hercules from the 3D Prophet line in my GC collection 
 

and i got a nice freebie in addition (from another colleague) unfortunately the ASUS P4PE was f.u.b.a.r (dead cap, i might try to re-cap but later if i find the time)but ... YAY for old school beige tower!
  
molex 4 pin additional connector? woohoo!
   

Mode Com Feel PSU? errrrrr....


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 24, 2015)

Not much help to you ""BUT i Got ONE"" and yours don't look like mine
edit

Ah thats a  Blue Adapter placed on the card   my mistake

Back to post #317  for the pictures


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 24, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> Not much help to you ""BUT i Got ONE"" and yours don't look like mine
> edit
> 
> Ah thats a  Blue Adapter placed on the card   my mistake
> ...


i love the "not an email adress" ...  +1 ahah!


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 24, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> 2 monitors




sorry 1 monitor +S video


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 24, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> i love the "not an email adress" ...  +1 ahah!



there are dumbo's that just might think it is one  so hence the warning


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 24, 2015)

@*[URL='http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/members/trekkie4.154551/']Trekkie4*[/URL]

*are you in the States*

*if so this any use to you*
*http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3dfx-Vood...378979?hash=item3f50d99f23:g:6VUAAOSwHnFVss14*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> The board incorporates a combination connector (Vesa PnD) to which the external docking module (blue) is connected. This can also be used to select between S-video, Composite (cinch) and the audio connectors. The VGA monitor is connected to the extended connection (lower left in the figure).
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sooo, what you're basically saying is that I'm screwed ... right? 



dorsetknob said:


> Not much help to you ""BUT i Got ONE"" and yours don't look like mine
> edit
> 
> Ah thats a  Blue Adapter placed on the card   my mistake
> ...



Oh man, I'm SERIOUSLY drooling over those pics! And the box, too?! Seems to be in mint condition, every 3dfx collector's dream! 



dorsetknob said:


> sorry 1 monitor +S video



Right, sorry... My mistake, I never actually had one of these before, or even got to see it in action! I'm glad I actually have one in my collection, but that's about as good as it gets - I have no idea if it works or not.



dorsetknob said:


> @*Trekkie4*
> 
> *are you in the States*
> 
> ...



Nope, sorry. EU I'm afraid. Technically, I COULD buy it online & have them ship V3 to Croatia where I live, but postage would be 99$ + 22$ for the actual card, not worth it... Not to mention I wouldn't be able to afford it at the moment


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 25, 2015)

thats a shame and if i was to lend you my breakout Cable it would cost roughly the same for return postage
so that rules that out


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 25, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> @*Trekkie4*
> 
> *are you in the States*
> 
> ...



Hmm, I don't get it though. The ebay listing is a .co.uk URL? Yet it says its located in Charlotte NC. I just checked shipping to Wyoming and its showing some ungodly price of $25.56!!! 

Soooooo, that makes it a $50 nostalgic card............Just can't justify that one. If it was the $22 and $12 to $15 shipping I'd have someone grab it for me. That would be an awesome addition to my nostalgic collection.


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 25, 2015)

used ebay,co.uk  ( because i'm in old blighty ) and done a global search
then posted only result returned

I would presume a US ebay Search would find the same listing and give US shipping rates to a US location


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 25, 2015)

Yep, it is listed in a US listing as well. Same exact shipping amount.


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 25, 2015)

then you could make offer ? and in offer query the postage ( you should have an idea of whats a fair postage to your location )


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 25, 2015)

LOL, yea I'd have to have someone I know do that. I don't have an Ebay account anymore since battling with them years ago in court............And of course I won the case so not account for me.


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 25, 2015)

well since @Trekkie4 is not in a position to aquire the card i'm sure he will not mind if you take steps to aquire this Gem

let us know if it works out for you

Ps i dont need it as i got one


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 25, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm, I don't get it though. The ebay listing is a .co.uk URL? Yet it says its located in Charlotte NC. I just checked shipping to Wyoming and its showing some ungodly price of $25.56!!!
> 
> Soooooo, that makes it a $50 nostalgic card............Just can't justify that one. If it was the $22 and $12 to $15 shipping I'd have someone grab it for me. That would be an awesome addition to my nostalgic collection.


50chf is not a stop for me when it come to "semi nostalgic" card like a 8800Ultra or a 4870/3870 (tho most of my cards, i got them for 1 to 10chf max, except the 8800Ultra )

also Wyoming ... now i know why i think TPU Nostalgic hardware thread  when i play world of warships ...

well ... launched in 1912 (it's the remodel 1935 hull i have) can say it's "virtually nostalgic" and hardware too ... pretty hard ... at war(e) (lame joke i know)

from my side i have a account but i am also in EU (while not in EU ... ) the card + shipping make 103.83chf for me


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 25, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> no need to win it ... it's a 25$



You misread  @stinger608 post
He had a dispute with Ebay  which was eventualy resolved in his favour ( He WON dispute )   and not if he won item in Aution


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 25, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> You misread  @stinger608 post
> He had a dispute with Ebay  which was eventualy resolved in his favour ( He WON dispute )   and not if he won item in Aution


ahhhh... my bad


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> thats a shame and if i was to lend you my breakout Cable it would cost roughly the same for return postage
> so that rules that out



True, I absolutely agree! Thanks anyway 



stinger608 said:


> Hmm, I don't get it though. The ebay listing is a .co.uk URL? Yet it says its located in Charlotte NC. I just checked shipping to Wyoming and its showing some ungodly price of $25.56!!!
> 
> Soooooo, that makes it a $50 nostalgic card............Just can't justify that one. If it was the $22 and $12 to $15 shipping I'd have someone grab it for me. That would be an awesome addition to my nostalgic collection.



Welcome to the club, now you know how I feel about most of ebay items  Too bad really, I found some pretty awesome & rare 3dfx cards on ebay, but their shipping cost is just too darn expensive! 



stinger608 said:


> Yep, it is listed in a US listing as well. Same exact shipping amount.



Yes, I believe all Ebay domains are international, as in they'll all display the same search results. Could  be wrong though.



dorsetknob said:


> well since @Trekkie4 is not in a position to aquire the card i'm sure he will not mind if you take steps to aquire this Gem
> 
> let us know if it works out for you
> 
> Ps i dont need it as i got one



Of course I won't! As long as you remember to post the pics in this topic, of course - otherwise I'll get seriously upset


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 25, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Too bad really, I found some pretty awesome & rare 3dfx cards on ebay, but their shipping cost is just too darn expensive!



Bargin  price to sucker you in then rip you off on the postage  you see it all to often


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> Bargin  price to sucker you in then rip you off on the postage  you see it all to often


Yeah, I guess it's hard to find decent & honest ppl nowdays


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 26, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, I guess it's hard to find decent & honest ppl nowdays




Na, there is a ton of awesome people on TPU!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Na, there is a ton of awesome people on TPU!!!


I meant out there, on ebay & other online markets, but thanks for correcting me


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 26, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> I meant out there, on ebay & other online markets, but thanks for correcting me




Ah, I was just given ya some grief man.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 28, 2015)

I got another one of those fancy, vintage JVC clone VCRs from around late 80's, pics coming soon! Although being completely operational (but seriously neglected & worn out), it was meant to  be a donor unit, to restore one other VCR but that didn't quite work out the way I was hoping - so I successfully put everything back together & restored it the "cheap" way. All the parts are original, but the rubber components have been chemically restored and I did a cable management. Really, how often do you get to do a cable management inside the VCR?! 

EDIT
Now I feel stupid for not taking "before" pics... The cable arrangement inside this VCR (especially around the front panel interface & power leads) was a total mess!



 

 



Oh well, another one saved... It runs - definitely not in perfect condition, as the idler wheel is struggling to keep up with needed torque but indeed, it runs perfectly fine. These are all direct drive units, with 5-motor configuration & individual motor for every operation: Cassette loading, head drum, idler, capstan & loading (aka mode-switching motor). Needless to say, the entire chassis is made out of metal, which is more than you can say for modern units 

EDIT2
For those interested to see one of these in action, this guy on YouTube filmed his Seleco SV-835 VCR, which uses the same tape transport (JVC mechanics)


----------



## Silvertigo (Nov 30, 2015)

Picked up this huge and heavy old girl from a garage sale on the weekend.

Its a Dell XPS 710, with a BTX mobo.  Booted into bios no prob, and as I was looking about in there, it promptly shut-down on me.

Have`nt been able to power up since. Done all the usual trouble-shooting stuff, even fought with the cpu shroud and replaced

the pastewith no luck. I can forget about replacement parts. So I`ll rip her guts out and figure out how to get an ATX board in

there, the case is to weird and wonderful to toss out (very thick aluminium)


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 30, 2015)

Dang man, if you were on this side of the pond I'd send ya a motherboard! I actually have two of the Dell BTX motherboards. One of them is in a system and the other is just sitting............Socket 775 I am assuming?


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 30, 2015)

specs say 775 and qx6700 Extreme edition cpu if so a damm good find and a duel gpu card ( SLI )

http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/dell-xps-710/specs/


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Nov 30, 2015)

My "mate" tipped water on my k/b the other day, the spacebar is a bit sticky now, i have never cleaned it inside, when i poured the water out it looked like coffee, i am using it to type this now, i will never let it go. i am not however using W 98



 

He is texting me now because he wants to race on my PC.....i am not replying....


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 30, 2015)

Not that is really matters much @CAPSLOCKSTUCK , but you should of hid the product key.


----------



## Silvertigo (Nov 30, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Dell BTX motherboards.





dorsetknob said:


> specs say 775 and qx6700 Extreme edition cpu



cpu is a crappy C2 duo e6600 and gpu is a nvidia 7950. I have since been reading these mobo`s were notorious for dying after a few years, bad batch of capacitors. Looks like a few of mine are slightly swollen...

Found a nice project log another guy has posted to modify the case to an ATX set up.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2293137



stinger608 said:


> Dang man, if you were on this side of the pond I'd send ya a motherboard!


In that situation, I would pass the whole rig onto you stinger. Really, I have enough projects as it is


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 30, 2015)

Silvertigo said:


> Picked up this huge and heavy old girl from a garage sale on the weekend.
> 
> Its a Dell XPS 710, with a BTX mobo.  Booted into bios no prob, and as I was looking about in there, it promptly shut-down on me.
> 
> ...



That case is beautiful!


Silvertigo said:


> cpu is a crappy C2 duo e6600 and gpu is a nvidia 7950. I have since been reading these mobo`s were notorious for dying after a few years, bad batch of capacitors. Looks like a few of mine are slightly swollen...
> 
> Found a nice project log another guy has posted to modify the case to an ATX set up.
> http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2293137



May I suggest this: 
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/cip-purpura-xps-720.196419/
Best xps-720 case mod I have ever seen (and one of my favorite case mods of all time)


----------



## Silvertigo (Nov 30, 2015)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> May I suggest this:



Wow thanks for the link. Thats some serious modding going on there. Definetly have to do something with it now


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> My "mate" tipped water on my k/b the other day, the spacebar is a bit sticky now, i have never cleaned it inside, when i poured the water out it looked like coffee, i am using it to type this now, i will never let it go. i am not however using W 98
> 
> View attachment 69573
> 
> He is texting me now because he wants to race on my PC.....i am not replying....


Thanks for the W98 product key  Heh, just kidding! Believe it or not, I still have my own copy from back in a day (1st edition of W98, OEM), which oddly enough seem to be working with 2nd edition as well! In fact, I've done so many W98 installations over the last 15 years that I have the ENTIRE W98 key memorized! Brings a whole new meaning to that old saying "Get a life", doesn't it?


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Nov 30, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Not that is really matters much @CAPSLOCKSTUCK , but you should of hid the product key.




anyone wants it is welcome, thats why i never hid it.


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 1, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the W98 product key  Heh, just kidding! Believe it or not, I still have my own copy from back in a day (1st edition of W98, OEM), which oddly enough seem to be working with 2nd edition as well! In fact, I've done so many W98 installations over the last 15 years that I have the ENTIRE W98 key memorized! Brings a whole new meaning to that old saying "Get a life", doesn't it?


I have an office 2000 key memorized. It became my password when I really need a secure one. It also opens my Password Safe.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 1, 2015)

Ahhzz said:


> I have an office 2000 key memorized. It became my password when I really need a secure one. It also opens my Password Safe.


Oh yeah, Office 2000, too! Except Office one is not technically mine, I believe I got this one from a family friend. Don't really remember, it's been quite some time since then... DT3FT-BFH4M-GYYH8-PG9C3-8K2FJ if I remember correctly, so feel free (you and everyone else) to use this one as you please 

On a side note, I never considered using W98 key as a password to anything, but why not! It would make one heck of encryption


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 1, 2015)

stinger608 said:


> Na, there is a ton of awesome people on TPU!!!




Hey don't mix me in your stuff guys!! .....Oh wait a minute....


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 1, 2015)

I also have a password but only the champions can use it : 007 373 5963


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2015)

I'm afraid I don't have any computer projects to discuss at the moment... Otherwise, coming up soon - Replacing the loading motor on a VHS (JVC) tape deck, featuring detailed illustration & described in steps  (in case anyone's interested?) I've placed an order for one of these & am waiting for the store to call me on my cell.


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 3, 2015)

Ah if only I knew. I have a Westinghouse electric motor circa 1933.


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 4, 2015)

Pentium4 3,2Gz. Motherboard ASUS P4C800 Delux, chipset i875p, cooler Zalman CNPS7700-Cu. Memoru 4x1GB pc3200 ddr sdram 400 mhz Hynix, HDD Seagate 2x120GB RAID0. BigTower InWin


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 4, 2015)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200, Motherboard M3A78-EM.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Dec 4, 2015)

Kirill2000 said:


> Pentium4 3,2Gz





Kirill2000 said:


> AMD



Full specs please


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 4, 2015)

Kirill2000 said:


> Pentium4 3,2Gz


Wow, that north bridge looks like S370 Pentium 3 (or Celeron) lol, never seen this kind of design before. Also, that CPU cooler bracket looks custom made, you got my attention


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 4, 2015)

Awesome ole hardware @Kirill2000 !!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 4, 2015)

oooh ... a Asus M3A78-EM iirc it was the mobo i had for my Phenom 9600B build ... i need to recheck the thread xD

dang ... i've found only those 2 pics from it ... but sure it looks like it's that one

 

and that one in "your PC atm" ... the rest of the pics from it either are lost or imgur deleted them


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Dec 4, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> oooh ... a Asus M3A78-EM iirc it was the mobo i had for my Phenom 9600B build ... i need to recheck the thread xD
> 
> dang ... i've found only those 2 pics from it ... but sure it looks like it's that one
> View attachment 69752 View attachment 69753
> ...



I see a scythe kama cross!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 5, 2015)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I see a scythe kama cross!


ooohh yes you do ... thanks to you i've found 3 new pics  (technically it's a Scythe Grand Kama Cross)
  

it's like having a FREAKING V8 in the computer


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 7, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow, that north bridge looks like S370 Pentium 3 (or Celeron) lol, never seen this kind of design before. Also, that CPU cooler bracket looks custom made, you got my attention


North bridge i875p. Cooler Zalman CNPS7700-Cu. 2001 works fine. CMOS battery changed)


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 7, 2015)

Sapphire Radeon x800 pro


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Dec 7, 2015)

Kirill2000 said:


> Sapphire Radeon x800 proView attachment 69826
> View attachment 69827
> View attachment 69828



I had a VF700 Fatal1ty on my x850xt PE AGP, until I watercooled the entire system... I have always loved the Zalman designs


----------



## Silvertigo (Dec 7, 2015)

Leadtek WinFast A360 LE TD / GF FX 5700LE 256MB


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 7, 2015)

DVB SkyStar 1


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 7, 2015)

nice pics
take it is a pc satellite/cable decoder card like hauppauge


----------



## Silvertigo (Dec 8, 2015)

Hauppauge 1042 WinTV-PVR 150


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 8, 2015)

mine is a pvr1200 PCIx 1 fitted to system might take it out and take pickkies also got satellite card and a pci fitted


----------



## Silvertigo (Dec 8, 2015)

Heres a nice shiny chrome 500w PSU. Sounds like a vacuum cleaner when running, has two fans.


----------



## Norton (Dec 8, 2015)

Silvertigo said:


> Hauppauge 1042 WinTV-PVR 150
> 
> View attachment 69843 View attachment 69844



x2


----------



## Silvertigo (Dec 8, 2015)

Norton said:


> x2



Such a shame theres no cool mod / hackery type projects for these tuners, they are completely useless now that TV signals are analogue


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 8, 2015)

Silvertigo said:


> Such a shame theres no cool mod / hackery type projects for these tuners, they are completely useless now that TV signals are analogue



Use it to transfer VHS movies into .AVI.


----------



## R-T-B (Dec 8, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Use it to transfer VHS movies into .AVI.



RCA is way better for that than their useless crummy Coax signaling, which is the part that will likely never be used again...


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 8, 2015)

R-T-B said:


> RCA is way better for that than their useless crummy Coax signaling, which is the part that will likely never be used again...



Depends what you got in hands. Many older hardware still work on coax. If you dont have it doesnt mean others dont possess them.


----------



## R-T-B (Dec 8, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Depends what you got in hands. Many older hardware still work on coax. If you dont have it doesnt mean others dont possess them.



No, I simply mean coax looks like shit on a transfer.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 8, 2015)

oh well ... TV tuner
Pinnacle MINITV-T-51017255-1.3A
 

and then the CG that was in the P4 sys they gave me ... weehee i didn't had that one in my collection 
sadly after preliminary cleaning pics... otherwise i could put it in filthy rotten nasty etc ... thread 
huhu yep a MSI FX5600, i remember i also bought that one when i had my AXP build, because my mobo was MSI and red (the KT6V 400)... and i had my 1st windowed case  
    

Dat power phase ...


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 8, 2015)

Still looking for those rails, if anyone is new to the thread 

On a slightly different note, had a client give me a PC to update and prepare for setup in a couple of weeks. Turned her on, and the back fan was moaning and groaning. I popped the case to take a closer look, and realized that the P/S fan wasn't even moving. Gave it a shove, and it's not happy with life. Top that off with the cabling not even having the full power plug for a newer mother board, and it was a bad idea. I asked him if I should try to oil the bearings, or just put in a new one, and he opted for a new one.

So, I've decided I'll take this jewel home, and see if it can run my hard drives, anyway. Stick some SATA adapters on, fix the fan, and it'll be good for a while, anyway. 3-color leds on the inside, and a clear fan. not pleased with the sleeving color, but I do love anything neon, so I'll live 
   

Edit: wow, dark... gonna try a brighter pic.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 8, 2015)

Ahhzz said:


> Still looking for those rails, if anyone is new to the thread
> 
> On a slightly different note, had a client give me a PC to update and prepare for setup in a couple of weeks. Turned her on, and the back fan was moaning and groaning. I popped the case to take a closer look, and realized that the P/S fan wasn't even moving. Gave it a shove, and it's not happy with life. Top that off with the cabling not even having the full power plug for a newer mother board, and it was a bad idea. I asked him if I should try to oil the bearings, or just put in a new one, and he opted for a new one.
> 
> ...


Holy crap, an Aspire Chameleon!
I have one with a black case, 550W, still works. Decent PSU for its time, nice one!


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 8, 2015)

Yup, 550W, was kinda surprised to see that in a P/S without the 24-pin plug. I don't think it will take much to get her rolling, and since I'm just going to use it for Hard Drives (I can pull my Corsair out of the server and slide this in), I don't have to worry about not having the 24-pin.


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 8, 2015)

Speaking of.... anyone ever taken an older P/S case like this one, and tried Hermit Crabbing a newer Power Supply in it?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 9, 2015)

Kirill2000 said:


> North bridge i875p. Cooler Zalman CNPS7700-Cu. 2001 works fine. CMOS battery changed)


Ah, OK then. But I STILL say it looks like Pentium 3  

On a side note, I've been repairing Panasonic VCR for a friend yesterday & today. Seriously, what a PITA that was! For those of you who know what I'm talking about, this is (in)famous G-Deck, featuring only one motor (capstan, obviously) and approx. 20 tiny, plastic gears to distribute, lock in place & drive the tape mechanism. Some ppl say it's one of the best VHS decks ever built, but after messing around with one of those, I say that's a total bulls***  Sadly, didn't take any pics I'm afraid ... I was way too annoyed to remember taking pics anyway lol, but feel free to Google for G-Deck design, there's tons of those around the web 

Speaking of VCRs, got one more JVC (model number HR-D210EE) coming up shortly & also JVC loading motor being delivered tomorrow. So I'll make sure to document that one & share as much as I can


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 10, 2015)

R-T-B said:


> No, I simply mean coax looks like shit on a transfer.



Yeah, I guess that's what happens when you compare older technologies to newer ones.


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 10, 2015)

Quite older sound system I got all from sidewalk. Different places but it all fits together. The only thing I had to buy is the wire that connects the cell phone 3.5mm plug to the RCA plugs of the amp at 3$ Canadian.

Technics SU-G75 amp

Energy Loudspeakers Excel (Bookshelf size)

Wires are 16 gauge that I took from 110v wires. The guy cuted his extension cord by accident with his electric lawnmower I guess. Copper wires so why should I pay for these?

My sound setup I'm gonna use for the holidays when I'm doing security watch in a house that owners are going on vacations.


----------



## R-T-B (Dec 10, 2015)

JunkBear said:


> Yeah, I guess that's what happens when you compare older technologies to newer ones.



They are present on the same card...  plus RCA is older...   eh, nvm, silly point really.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Dec 19, 2015)

What is this you ask? It is a Playstation 3 40GB Motherboard. I have always wanted a PS3 but I am not able to afford one. Someone managed to sell a used one for a low price. I grab the deal turns out it does not work. for long It turns on and then turns off. I took the PS3 apart hoping to fix it. It was badly rusted inside for the metal. I got to scrub it with a kitchen scrubber for hours. I took alot of the rust out got tired and decide it is time to paint it over with a spray can. The contacts also also rusted so I used a solder to get it to conduct again. After 10 hours I put the ps3 back together and switch it on it work! I was proud of my work. Clean the PS3 up and started playing the game that was given to me. I don't sleep the whole night to fix it.  The PS3 give me one week of fun before it die showing the yellow light of death  . Try desperate to revive it. Heard about putting it in an oven to reflow. I heard that you need to protect the capacitors with a "putty" so I used a coloured Plasticine . Big mistake! It melted!  Now I don't think the board is salvagable unless I am a tech with serious surface mount soldering skills. Still want a PS3 though to play those exclusive games. You can see the big chips on the board the cpu the CELL BROADBAND ENGINE. Back in 2005 at the pentium 4 days, this chip was cutting edge, it still impresses me even after intel core 2 came out. The Cell chip have 7 specialised cores known as synergistic processing elements(there is 8 one is disabled for increase yield).  and one general purpose core. This runs at 3.2GHz amaze the crap out of me then with its clock speed. The RSX is the Nvidia chip there based on the 7800GTX


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 19, 2015)




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## Kirill2000 (Dec 19, 2015)




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## Trekkie4 (Dec 20, 2015)

Kirill2000 said:


> View attachment 70187View attachment 70188 View attachment 70190


What? Only 3 stickers on that Duron 1600?! I'm so disappointed, what happened to the 4th one?  Seriously though, nice collection you got there!

Anyhow, slightly off-topic but still hardware related stuff... Don't know if I have mentioned this before or not, but there's a great guy on YT, making videos (and tutorials) on how to build a computer system. His name is Carey Holzman, so go check him out if you're into hardware stuff (and would like to learn something new), or even if you'd just like to watch & have fun 

I'm so far behind with everything... Been through a nasty cold recently, so I didn't feel like uploading any of the stuff, but when & if I find some free time, expect to see a full report on everything that's been going on. No computer hardware (at the moment, anyway) but I've been keeping it busy with old cellphones (Sony Ericsson K510i) & VCRs


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## Kirill2000 (Dec 20, 2015)

Xbox 360


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 20, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> What? Only 3 stickers on that Duron 1600?!


recount ... there is 4 sticker, if you count the original one (the black, it's under the epoxy but it's still a sticker, on oposition to the Ceramic package who had it written/inscribed  )  



Kirill2000 said:


> Xbox 360
> View attachment 70201 View attachment 70202 View attachment 70203 View attachment 70204 View attachment 70200 View attachment 70205View attachment 70206


nah .... seriously ? 
  

ok ... there is a slight problem with the Audigy 2 i bought back in 2002: connectors corrosion ...  (the other is one i found in the P4 build i got, alongside with the MSI FX6600)


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 21, 2015)

Memory for printer HP2550L


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 22, 2015)

Made in USSR 1992 year. IBM clone Intel 8088


----------



## Bones (Dec 23, 2015)

GreiverBlade said:


> ooohh yes you do ... thanks to you i've found 3 new pics  (technically it's a Scythe Grand Kama Cross)
> View attachment 69755 View attachment 69756 View attachment 69757
> 
> it's like having a FREAKING V8 in the computer



Guess I got the V-12.....


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 23, 2015)

Bones said:


> Guess I got the V-12.....
> View attachment 70311


nah a Susano-O is technically a standard car radiator and 4 fan instead of 1 big  

see what i mean?






man i love Scythe heatsinks  

oh ... wait ... well yes V12 ... 12 heatpipes


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 23, 2015)

And there was me thinking the above^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^picture was the new watercooling Rad for AMD's  latest CPU


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 24, 2015)

FDD 5,25
"


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 24, 2015)

Good job the youngsters don't visit here
they be saying   that's a weird looking CD Rom Drive


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 24, 2015)

Wow, these black 5.25 FDD units are quite rare from what I've seen... I remember seeing someone selling their black FDD, claiming it to be brand new, it even had a paper-based flap inserted into the unit to protect the heads! Sadly, the asking price was too high and I didn't have any 5.25 disks back then, so I had to turn down the offer 

Either way, fine example of vintage technology IMHO. I got a pretty decent collection myself, except my unit is beige (ivory), made by Samsung  On the other hand I got some colored 5.25 floppy disks made by Boeder (I think, not sure), I might take couple of pics after the holidays.

Speaking of which, merry XMAS to all old-hardware loving members here on TPU 

EDIT
Right, I knew I already uploaded these before, just couldn't remember when & where exactly... These are from January 1st, when I joined TPU  I still have this rig, didn't do any further modifications so far. Don't really see the reason to change anything, since it's perfect in my opinion.

Detailed specs:

Pentium MMX, 233MHz
Socket 7 mobo with 64mb SD-RAM (therefore not EDO)
Creative SoundBlaster 16 (ISA)
Matrox Mystique PCI VGA + Skywell Magic 3D (Voodoo1, 4mb)
10GB HDD (I'm guessing WD, don't remember)
Teac CD-RW, Samsung 5.25" Floppy, Mitsumi 3.5" Floppy
Codegen 200W AT PSU



 

 



On a side note, that Voodoo1 card had a nasty cut when I 1st got it. I remember plugging it into the system & trying it out with Carmageddon 2 Demo, when I got the entire screen full of artifacts, followed by pale, washed out colors & flickering. As it turned out, one of the lanes (solder lines, contacts) on the very edge where the card was damaged was damaged to the point where the actual contact has been lost. Having absolutely nothing to lose, I took a pin (contact) from a new capacitor, shortened it to necessary size & soldered it directly across damaged area, bridging the gap in between. Yes, as you might have guessed - it really WAS a PITA and it took me couple of tries to get it right but hey, it works! You can actually see the repaired area as it's facing the camera, there's a small patch of green insulating tape across, in order to minimize any further damage and/or shorts, since the contact is now exposed.

Fun fact #2, this particular system has a very unique way of wiring the power & turbo LEDs. Since I wasn't able to find the mobo manual back when I was putting the system together, I removed the original LEDs from the front of the case & replaced them with modern, transparent ones which light up in appropriate colors - green, yellow & red. However, power & turbo LEDs are wired straight into the 12V fan header(s) because I couldn't find the original LED outlets, and are using a single resistor (per LED, soldered onto the cable itself & insulated with heat-shrink tubing) to lower (and limit) the voltage. It does work of course, and I never had any problems with it, except for the fact that all the fan outlets are now occupied which means I had to use molex to power up the CPU fan (also visible in the pics)


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 25, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow, these black 5.25 FDD units are quite rare from what I've seen... I remember seeing someone selling their black FDD, claiming it to be brand new, it even had a paper-based flap inserted into the unit to protect the heads! Sadly, the asking price was too high and I didn't have any 5.25 disks back then, so I had to turn down the offer
> 
> Either way, fine example of vintage technology IMHO. I got a pretty decent collection myself, except my unit is beige (ivory), made by Samsung  On the other hand I got some colored 5.25 floppy disks made by Boeder (I think, not sure), I might take couple of pics after the holidays.
> 
> ...


Bad image host, bad. Popped up a "Java Update" when I clicked...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 25, 2015)

So I've been told few times, yeah. Sorry, not really my fault but as I explained couple of times by now, it's the easiest one to use since it allows multiple file upload and doesn't require registration *shrug* Besides, these pics were uploaded on January 1st, so I didn't really had to do anything now, other than to copy & paste the link all over again.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 25, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> So I've been told few times, yeah. Sorry, not really my fault but as I explained couple of times by now, it's the easiest one to use since it allows multiple file upload and doesn't require registration *shrug* Besides, these pics were uploaded on January 1st, so I didn't really had to do anything now, other than to copy & paste the link all over again.


well ... if not using TPU upload or Upload a file .... i tend to use Imgur ... i can upload multiple image too and i sign with my google account without any hassle, tho if you don't want to register i can only recomment TPU hosting ... less hassle for us 

oh well the images were already uploaded, so be it  

remember: sometime no registration is more annoying than registered (ie: Imagebam being a popup and spam haven, and probably more joyful thing ... it triggered windows defender on the 1st picture  )


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 27, 2015)

Handheld scanner Mustek gs-800. ISA. 1996 year.


----------



## alucasa (Dec 27, 2015)

One of my rackmounts (2U).

Asus N4L-VM and it's got T2300 (or something) on it. It was running fine until few weeks ago when the mobo started to act up and refuse to recognize HDDs.

I think I purchased the mobo in 2008 or something.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 27, 2015)

Kirill2000 said:


> Handheld scanner Mustek gs-800. ISA. 1996 year.
> View attachment 70429 View attachment 70430 View attachment 70431


ahahahah i had the same kind, but from Logitech ... sadly i can't find it back


----------



## Kirill2000 (Dec 28, 2015)

The first Soviet jet printer "Электроника MS6312". КР580ВМ80А analog microprocessor i8080. 1991 year...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 29, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> It's been a while since I posted any pics, so here's something to share & talk about...
> 
> First to start off with this Creative DVD encoder card. Still not sure what's the purpose of this thing (other than watching videos/DVD on a system without MPEG hardware support), or what's the difference between DXR-2 cards & this thing *shrug*
> 
> ...





dorsetknob said:


> @Trekkie4
> Dug it out of Storage and its  Logitech Scanman Hand Held Scanner
> Model 32 for IBM
> Mine come's with Software on ( 2 ) 3 1/2" Floppys and ( 3 ) 5 1/4 " Floppys
> ...





Kirill2000 said:


> Handheld scanner Mustek gs-800. ISA. 1996 year.
> View attachment 70429 View attachment 70430 View attachment 70431





GreiverBlade said:


> ahahahah i had the same kind, but from Logitech ... sadly i can't find it back



Yeah man, I know how you feel *sigh* If I could go back in time, I'd save dozen of rare PC components, including one completely functional Diamond Monster 3DII (12mb), rare "Adison" case with vertical door, and Cooler Master modding gear. Anyhow... Got the "same" one from Genius, pics were posted a while back... Mine is in mint condition, from what I can tell this thing has never been used before. It may have been tested at some point, but judging from the protective plastic film (still attached to the scanner unit), I'd say this thing is brand "new"

Dorsetknob also claims he had one of these, but I don't think he ever remembered to upload the pic 

PS, warning to unsuspected TPU members. Once again, I'm sharing a link with old, previously uploaded images posted to Imagebam service, which according to some members has tendency to spam you with random crap. So to be on a safe side, don't click on anything funny, and always make sure to have your malware app up & running.


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 29, 2015)

Trekkie4 said:


> Dorsetknob also claims he had one of these, but I don't think he ever remembered to upload the pic



Your right i had forgot  thanks for the reminder


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 29, 2015)

Haha, no prob  I forgot all about it, myself. That is, until I was quoting that post, above.

On a side note... A lesson to be learned! Couple of days ago, I've started up my retro system for the 1st time in couple of months, wanting to play Need for Speed 3 (Hot Pursuit). Upon starting the game, system hanged which I admit doesn't happen very often, but it DOES happen from time to time. Mainly because of all the hardware that's inside I'm guessing, age difference (driver thing in particular). However, even after restarting the system & giving it yet ANOTHER try, I got the same result all over again... This time however, I've noticed that the problem is somehow related to Voodoo2 cards - whenever the system calls for them, systems hangs up! In fact, even DXDiag gave me pixelated image and crashed the entire system, so at this point I was scared to death because I assumed that one (or both?) Voodoo2 cards somehow got damaged. It certainly wouldn't be the 1st time to experience a problem like this, these things were using EDO VRAM which (as you guys probably know) are prone to going bad, especially after 15 years of service & being exposed to extreme heat.

So, anyhow... Long story short, both Voodoo2 cards turned out to be fine (I turned them both off & tested one at the time, through Device manager) and so I eventually located the problem. To make things more interesting, I'm going to turn this into a quiz - what do you think caused the system to hang & go crazy? I've been warned about problems like that back in the 90's, someone once told me to _____, otherwise Windows 98 are more than likely to start falling apart. So there, should be a huge hint


----------



## Kirill2000 (Jan 1, 2016)

GeForce 2 MX400 64MB. No name. 2002 year

     

Memory Interface: 64/128-bit SDR, 64-bit DDR
Texels per Second: 800 Million
Memory Bandwidth: 2.7GB/s



Spoiler: http://www.nvidia.com/object/LO_20010612_4442.html



GeForce2 MX Product Overview


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 1, 2016)

Happy new year, guys 



 

 

 

 





 

 





 

 

 



PS, today I'm celebrating my 1yr anniversary of joining TPU  Talk about time, can't believe it's been a year already!


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## stinger608 (Jan 2, 2016)

LOL, yep, that is some awesome ole 5 1/4" disks @Trekkie4 !!! 

And a happy anniversary here as well bro! And Happy New Year to all the nostalgic hardware awesome members!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> LOL, yep, that is some awesome ole 5 1/4" disks @Trekkie4 !!!
> 
> And a happy anniversary here as well bro! And Happy New Year to all the nostalgic hardware awesome members!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thanks, I've really had so much fun here with you guys, hoping to stick around for years and years to come 

On a side note, I totally forgot to mention this earlier... I'm trying with new image hosting service, PostImage.org, do let me know what do you think of them so far (you @stinger608, and everyone else) As you might remember, I've had several complaints about ImageBam so I figured it's finally time to move on & try something new


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## STIG_ZA (Jan 2, 2016)

Found old 6600 agp(non gt) for cheap cheap. Stuck it in my athlon xp 3000+ in place of the 9600pro, was lazy when looking for drivers so just put the latest 307.83 on. Performance in some games is worse than it should be, should i try some older drivers or does anybody know what the best driver for 6600 is?


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm trying with new image hosting service, PostImage.org,



Been uploading my images to them for quite a while  
easy to use and reliable  you will not regret moving to them


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## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

ASUS V7100 Pro GeForce2 MX400 32Mb


----------



## P4-630 (Jan 2, 2016)

Kirill2000 said:


> ASUS V7100 Pro GeForce2 MX400 32Mb
> View attachment 70626 View attachment 70627 View attachment 70628 View attachment 70629 View attachment 70630



How hot does such run under load?


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## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> How hot does such run under load?


Enough cold


----------



## P4-630 (Jan 2, 2016)

Kirill2000 said:


> Enough cold



Yeah cool I think, since the chips at that time were still quite slow.
It may have even ran without the fan.


----------



## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

Primetek Radeon ATI 9600 128Mb. Capacitors ...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

Not sure I understand... Just "pull" these out & swap for new ones, it should do the trick  From my own, personal experience - as long it's not SMD component that's causing the problems, it should be user repairable.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Jan 2, 2016)

@Kirill2000

Just solder new caps! Get it back working again!


I got into health emergency this few days for myself.  Doctor ask whether I want to admitted to ER, I choose to go back home. Now I am resting myself and calming myself down. It is still a long way for me to be an antic nostalgia myself. Hope my health would get better and fine.

Now here my first video game that payed with my savings. Lol I wonder what the shopkeeper thought of me paying in literally a handful of coins and a stack of $2 notes. ahaha Roller coaster tycoon! I recall going to the game shop paying in $2 dollar notes and coins for this lol.  I don't know where the cd is now just left the cardboard box. Games then came in huge boxes like this. Sad that many of the originals like diablo, red alert, cultures, sim city, starcraft, warcraft boxes are thrown away including the games.  This is the only surviving game in this huge of a box. Nowadays games in stores are just in dvd casing size rather than in this vhs size box. I feel like wanna play cultures again and populous! Damn populous cd was thrown too! The former game I can't find anyone selling it. Still have to clean the room to dig out the old stuff which hopefully is still there.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

Oh man, these are NOT just games... I remember old operating systems (Windows 9X) which came in bulky cardboard boxes ... especially Windows 95 which had two stacks of floppy disks  I actually got one of these in my collection, still in the original wrap and sealed up. Heck, even the hardware came with large boxes, most of you probably remember Creative's SoundBlaster cards, or even MIDI "expansions", Wave Blaster add-on cards! Today you're lucky to get a cheap, sealed up plastic container or just a bubble wrapped component if it's OEM part...

My personal favorite was retail-boxed CD (and later, DVD) drive... For some reason, I always thought they looked cool and futuristic lol. Honestly, I can't remember the last time when I had the opportunity to see one of these. Perhaps back in 2006, when I bought 2 Asus CD (yup, CD-ROM) retail units. These were already "compact", as in smaller size and they didn't have audio control on the front panel, or even the headphone jack... But I do believe these were last boxed optical units that I've got, with the exception of a Samsung CD drive which I got few years later, but that was old stock (and no, I didn't keep it boxed - it got mounted inside one of my old rigs )


----------



## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

Memory....


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Jan 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh man, these are NOT just games... I remember old operating systems (Windows 9X) which came in bulky cardboard boxes ... especially Windows 95 which had two stacks of floppy disks  I actually got one of these in my collection, still in the original wrap and sealed up. Heck, even the hardware came with large boxes, most of you probably remember Creative's SoundBlaster cards, or even MIDI "expansions", Wave Blaster add-on cards! Today you're lucky to get a cheap, sealed up plastic container or just a bubble wrapped component if it's OEM part...



I love those huge boxes frankly lol. I love the size and a lot of thought put into it. Creative soundblaster was cutting edge during that time than those useless motherboard beeps. xD It was a godsend! 
I miss those imposing boxes than just one simple cd now. Oem parts are now rather pitiful like someone wrap the cd with used recycled paper from the bin. I guess things are more environmentally friendly than those big boxes and packaging. Show us those windows 9X!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 2, 2016)

STIG_ZA said:


> Found old 6600 agp(non gt) for cheap cheap. Stuck it in my athlon xp 3000+ in place of the 9600pro, was lazy when looking for drivers so just put the latest 307.83 on. Performance in some games is worse than it should be, should i try some older drivers or does anybody know what the best driver for 6600 is?


169.21
182.50
197.45


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I love those huge boxes frankly lol. I love the size and a lot of thought put into it. Creative soundblaster was cutting edge during that time than those useless motherboard beeps. xD It was a godsend!
> I miss those imposing boxes than just one simple cd now. Oem parts are now rather pitiful like someone wrap the cd with used recycled paper from the bin. I guess things are more environmentally friendly than those big boxes and packaging. Show us those windows 9X!



I already did!  Way, way back... But for the sake of searching & dealing with ImageBam once again, I'm just going to take another pic.

Windows 95 (floppy version), in the original, sealed up box... I also got several OEM, CD-ROM versions also in the sealed-up bags with all the instruction manuals & paperwork




On a side note, you can actually see the original box of that Samsung CD-ROM in the background  It's empty though, but it looks nice...

Office came to me bundled with Windows 95 and sadly it's been opened at some point, by the former owner. But still, it looks kinda cool...


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Jan 2, 2016)

@Trekkie4 

Those boxes are like huge blocks! It look like a big dictionary or a book! It is so thick! All the pc stuff there look...erm how can I put it, "educational" like books  . PC was known as educational tools and we can see how that turned out now lmao. Far to different from what is intended. I miss the ms-dos icon there. What is that spec sheet for? The pc tower spec? 

Is that a game "Broken sword"?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

Haha, so true  And yes, every tower has its own specs sheet... I've decided to label each and every build I have, because the overall number of these things got to 20 something, so there's absolutely no way I'd be able to remember everything and every one 

Yes, that game is indeed the original Broken Sword. Also got the 2nd CD, which is somewhere behind the Windows 95 box. I didn't have enough space for both, so I only placed the 1st one. But these are fully operational, just like the original copy of Unreal... I don't use these however, I got the entire retro game database copied onto the external HDD (as CD images) and burned to disposable, new CD discs which can be used (and abused) on a regular basis! Better safe than sorry


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 2, 2016)

Some Athlon XP madness. Upgraded the one i did have and found enough parts to build another which was mainly just to make a nice DX8 rig for the quardo 4

rig 1:
Athlon XP 3000+ 2.16ghz(Barton 333mhz bus)
1gb DDR 400
Gigabyte 7tv600-L(rev 1.0)
Nvidia 6600 256mb AGP
80gb hdd
300W psu

rig2:
Athlon XP 2400*+*(Thorton 2ghz 266mhz bus)
768Mb DDR 400
Gigabyte 7vt600-L (rev 2.0)
Nvidia Quadro 4 980XGL 128Mb
7.1ch C-media sound card(onboard is fried)
80Gb hdd
250W psu
evercool copper cpu cooler


----------



## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

STIG_ZA said:


> Nvidia Quadro 4 980XGL 128Mb


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 2, 2016)

Kirill2000 said:


>



hahah, DX8 games run awesome on it.........got it for free, was apparently dead?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> @Trekkie4
> 
> Those boxes are like huge blocks! It look like a big dictionary or a book! It is so thick! All the pc stuff there look...erm how can I put it, "educational" like books  . PC was known as educational tools and we can see how that turned out now lmao. Far to different from what is intended. I miss the ms-dos icon there. What is that spec sheet for? The pc tower spec?
> 
> Is that a game "Broken sword"?



Few more from my retro collection... 

Sim City 2000, Network Edition (and a handheld Genius scanner in the background)




Windows 98 Second Edition & empty WaveBlaster box, complete with the original floppy disk & installation manual (both inside the box). The actual Wave addon has been installed into one other system, on a Diamond Monster MX400, Aureal Vortex2 sound card  I also have yet another copy of Windows 98 AND 98 Second Edition, both with instruction manuals & original stuff. These ones are duplicates, for none other than display purpose 




My "secret" retro stash 


 

 



My own Pentium 2 from back in a day (September, October 1998). Of course, this thing has been rebuilt several times, upgraded to better specs & then eventually restored to original configuration, except for the case & CD-ROM drive.





And last but not least, a bunch of VCRs... Call me crazy, but I seem to have a "thing" for collecting and restoring these 




@STIG_ZA Nice collection man, but this thing would look way cooler if you had used black ODDs  I was never really a fan of Athlons up until recently, when I got into this retro collecting thing. I do have to say that I find Socket A (and the actual CPU design) terrible, probably the worst CPU design in the history, ever! If I'd had a $ for every crushed Athlon & Duron (or at least for snapped-off plastic tab on the Socket itself), I'd be a millionaire!


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 2, 2016)

Got round to taking pics of the most recent AMD system that i have, picked it up online almost a year ago. Previous owner lived down by the sea so there is some bad corrosion anywhere that dust sat. Cleaned the worst of it off luckily everything still works(besides the onboard audio)

Specs:
AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ 3.0Ghz
Gigabyte M57SLI-S4 motherboard
2Gb DDR2 800
Nvidia GTS450(1gb gddr5)
Creative sound blaster audigy 2 value
160gb sata hdd(for now)
500W psu
windows 7 pro


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

Very nice & tidy, gotta love the cable management inside this thing!  Though I'm not sure I would consider this build to be retro... Anything that has SATA inside is to be considered modern if you ask me


----------



## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

Toshiba D-R1. Work.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

Kirill2000 said:


> Toshiba D-R1
> View attachment 70669 View attachment 70673 View attachment 70671 View attachment 70676View attachment 70681 View attachment 70677 View attachment 70679 View attachment 70680 View attachment 70682 View attachment 70683


Cool! Does it work? See, this is why I'm into VCRs - they look so much better inside, and there's tons of moving parts to tweak and play with, while these things are just a PSU, DVD encoder & standard IDE drive


----------



## STIG_ZA (Jan 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Very nice & tidy, gotta love the cable management inside this thing!  Though I'm not sure I would consider this build to be retro... Anything that has SATA inside is to be considered modern if you ask me



lol, not really happy with the cables. Case doesn't have much room to hide the millions of long cables this psu has. But the thermaltake logo lights up, which is cool


----------



## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Cool! Does it work? See, this is why I'm into VCRs - they look so much better inside, and there's tons of moving parts to tweak and play with, while these things are just a PSU, DVD encoder & standard IDE drive


Work. Sound and picture perfect! Such will not do ((


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

I don't know... For the case with top-mounted PSU, this thing is looking awesome! Maybe those couple of cables, on top of the PSU itself... Otherwise you've done a great job with everything else, especially bulky IDE ribbons. Not showing off, but if anyone should know, I know how annoying these things can get, especially when trying to do a nice & clean build. Which is why I usually wrap these things together in knots, maybe you've noticed in several of my builds & then tie them together with cable ties.

@Kirill2000 You mean the VCRs? Yeah, I know... Ppl nowdays, even some of the folks I know personally often say how VCRs have a terrible picture quality. I honestly don't know what are they expecting, I mean seriously ... these things are 35+ years old! Back in the old days, those same ppl used to consider the VCR picture quality as something awesome, especially when you didn't have a good signal on your aerial antenna for example


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## Kirill2000 (Jan 2, 2016)

DVD-RAM


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 2, 2016)

In addition to previously uploaded pics, totally forgot about these...



 

 



Last but not least... Yup, you got it! Another VCR


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## STIG_ZA (Jan 2, 2016)

Another PC i have been putting together. Not really retro, was trying my own sort of scrapyard wars pc. All of it excluding the gpu cost in total around R1300(south African monopoly money). Gpu is my spare card, overkill in this system but will look into something more period correct like maybe some 8800GTX in SLI

Specs:
core 2 quad q6600(OC to 3.0ghz) 
deepcool gammaxx 200 cooler(not bad for being so cheap)
Jetway HI04 motherboard(p45 chipset)
6Gb DDR2 800(2x 2gb 2x 1gb)
AMD Radeon R9-270x(msi gaming 2Gb OC TF4 cooler)
Aerocool E85m-550W psu
Aerocool vs4 case
500Gb Samsung sata drive


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## TommyT (Jan 2, 2016)

quadro 4 wow nice card !!


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## Ahhzz (Jan 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I already did!  Way, way back... But for the sake of searching & dealing with ImageBam once again, I'm just going to take another pic.
> 
> Windows 95 (floppy version), in the original, sealed up box... I also got several OEM, CD-ROM versions also in the sealed-up bags with all the instruction manuals & paperwork
> 
> ...


Somewhere around here, I've got the Windows 95 Baseball.... I threw away the bobble head doll....


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## Kirill2000 (Jan 3, 2016)

MediaForte Quad X-Treme SF256-PCP-04


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 3, 2016)

Ahhzz said:


> Somewhere around here, I've got the Windows 95 Baseball.... I threw away the bobble head doll....


Too bad, these things are becoming more & more expensive every day! Not that I would ever sell my Windows 95, I'm keeping all my collectibles exclusively for myself  (maybe some day, eventually... in 10, 20 years from now)

The question I seem to be getting quite often, mostly from the ppl who actually got to see all the stuff in person is "Does it all work?" - obviously referring to all the computer rigs, components and/or devices laying around. The short answer is yes, it DOES work! However, some items may have certain issues, and/or are not complete. Amstrad CPC464 gaming console (tape-drive computer) is one of them, as I don't have the PSU, appropriate monitor and/or ANY tape games to test this thing. So I can only assume that it's working, otherwise it's just a nice decorative item in my retro collection  Similar thing with some of the PC rigs. Although all of them will most likely boot up, some of them are showing serious PSU issues, have depleted CMOS battery and/or have bulged caps. The reason why I didn't address these issues is simply because I didn't want to invest any time and money into something that's never going to be used. Let's be honest, most of these rigs were set up for the 1st time, tested & left alone, so that I could pay attention to another project ahead. So yeah, some of these things could use some TLC, but apart from that, all the rigs SHOULD be able to boot up eventually 
As for the HiFi & VCR collection, all the items are indeed fully functional & working.

@Kirill2000 You got me thinking with that MediaForte soundcard of yours... I knew MediaForte sounds familiar and I remembered why - I got one of these laying around. Not as fancy as this one, mine is just a basic, stereo model with single output but otherwise it's very similar to what you have here.












When I got the card, I was told it doesn't work. Apparently the former owner couldn't get the sound output from this thing, at least not under XP. However, when I tested the card on W98 & found appropriate drivers everything was working perfectly fine except for one small detail - joystick (MIDI) port didn't work. So yeah, it may even really be damaged but since it DOES seem to be working, I've kept it. Even had it mounted inside one of the old systems, that is until I got the better model, so this one ended up being a spare part.


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## STIG_ZA (Jan 3, 2016)

Now for something different from my collection. My vintage audio setup, previously belonged to a family member and was going to be tossed out. Amp had a few issues, 2 new diodes and a clean fixed it right up. The rest of it needed few things done here and there but all good and working. Imo you cant beat sound of retro, and i enjoy listening to cassette and vinyl

AMP: kenwood ka-70
Tuner: kenwood kt-413
Cassette deck: kenwood kx-400
Turntable: Pioneer pl-512(audio technica AT91 cartridge)

//Pink Floyd the dark side of the moon vinyl on there


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 3, 2016)

Here's something you probably don't get to see every day - a benchmark results between the pair of 2x Voodoo2 in SLI (12MB) and a single GeForce4 Ti4200 (128MB). Both tests were performed under 3DMark 99, running on Athlon 1800+ machine with 512Mb of DDR1 RAM and Windows 98 Second Edition. More details on screen resolution, refresh rate & color depth are in the pic, enjoy! 





@STIG_ZA Wow, never thought I would say this, but this pic actually makes me very sad. I used to have a family member with VERY similar Kenwood HiFi setup, from around the same era. From what I remember today, turntable was KD-1600, amp was KA-60, Tape deck KX-50 MK2 and tuner KT-50. Sadly  neither the HiFi and/or the person who owned these are no longer with us, as the last remaining piece of Kenwood setup was sold 2 years ago. (and that was the turntable, which had tons of problems so I really couldn't justify spending more money on something which doesn't work)


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## STIG_ZA (Jan 3, 2016)

Sadly wasn't able to save the original speakers though(KL-666X, those were awesome) or the turntable(KD-3100). The pioneer turntable has been lying around here for around 20years, just needed a new cartridge and belt. Amp is used mainly as a headphone amp(audio techcica m40x heddies) as i don't have speakers for it. Will get some decent ones eventually.


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## Kirill2000 (Jan 4, 2016)

ASUS EN8400GS Silent/HTP/512M
NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS
DDR2 512MB
PCI Express x16
Memory interface 64-bit
http://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/EN8400GS_SILENTHTP512M/overview/


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## Kirill2000 (Jan 4, 2016)

Motherboard GA-60X Socket 370
ATX form factor , 4 layer PCB
Intel 815EP AGPset
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=1423&dl=#sp


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## micropage7 (Jan 4, 2016)

Kirill2000 said:


> Motherboard GA-60X Socket 370
> ATX form factor , 4 layer PCB
> Intel 815EP AGPset
> http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=1423&dl=#sp
> View attachment 70757 View attachment 70758 View attachment 70759 View attachment 70760 View attachment 70761 View attachment 70762 View attachment 70763 View attachment 70764 View attachment 70765 View attachment 70766


nice and looks very classic


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2016)

Although I'm not the biggest fan of sockets (Slot-1 forever!), I do have to say that your mobo looks very, very nice!  As for the CPU, I also got one of the 866, I've uploaded the pic several times actually


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## Kirill2000 (Jan 4, 2016)

Dreambox DM-7020-Si

50 MHz PowerPC Processor
Linux Operating System
https://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/en/dm-7020#tech_details


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2016)

Here's that Kenwood KD-1600 I've been telling you guys about... Pics were taken just before I sold this thing & bought the new Akai, USB turntable. I also used to have the instruction manual for the tape deck, but I think I threw those away last summer, as I was moving into much smaller apt 



 



EDIT
Found an old (and forgotten) pile of pictures, featuring computer hardware, BIOS screens & similar, so I'm gathering all this stuff together & uploading it to PostImage, should be up in couple of hrs at most. Some of these may have already been uploaded before, and so if that's the case I apologize, although I've handpicked every single pic in order to prevent that from happening.

EDIT2
Well, darn. Looking back at my 1st couple of posts here on TPU and found some of the pics that I'm uploading as we speak. Not all of them, so there's at least 50% of new material, but rest of them are indeed duplicates. Oh well, these were uploaded on January 2nd, 2015 so for all of you who joined the Nostalgic Hardware club later on, they're all going to be new


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2016)

This system here was donated to a good cause (charity), in fact it's been made only for this particular purpose. It was the best I could do at the moment, I gave it the fastest CPU I could find & loaded it with RAM, combining both with Asus mobo which I personally find very reliable & durable. Besides, it was one of those "3 for the price of one" deals, so I've kept other 2 to feed my retro obsession  (Pentium 2 350 and Athlon 750, I think) You can see these boards all together, on the 2nd pic. I considered donating all 3 of them, but let's be honest - most people nowdays wouldn't know what to do with 350MHz system 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The rest of the parts are (and were) my own stock, gathered over time. I know it looks impressive, but this huge stack of ODDs and floppy drives has been entirely used by dozens of systems assembled over time, they've all been mounted, thrown into the trash (because they didn't work) or given away to someone. Speaking of defective components, ABIT VH6 was put into the chassis, just so I would realize straight away it doesn't work. Of course, I've tried to have it fixed but eventually had to get rid of it and so it got replaced by the same, S370 Matsonic board instead (pics of both boards down below)


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



These next pics were actually part of the instruction guide (by myself, made for one particular person), to show them how easy it is to make your own computer system. Whenever it's a socket 775 or Slot 1, it all pretty much comes down to the same thing (sooner or later), which is why I documented every step in the entire process. Obviously (for the sake of repeating myself & spamming TPU), I removed some of the pics in between, otherwise there was a pic to show everything you need to know  This also gave me an opportunity to make yet another retro system, so I turned it into Voodoo2 SLI rig. It's been a while, so I've done quite some changes since then. In fact, you might remember few months back when I got that SoundBlaster AWE card... It actually ended up inside this system, here!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 



These ones are just random pics of my collection...


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



I once scored this Slot 1 system here for almost nothing and the best part is that it had a Voodoo2 card inside! Frankly speaking, that was pretty much the only reason I bought it... The case was nice & mostly clean, but it was missing those 5.25" rails for mounting optical drives, so after fiddling with alternative solutions, I've stripped it apart & kept all the components which (oddly enough, especially for the given price) all tested OK!




Sealed copy of Windows 95, OEM version (on CD-ROM). I got 3 or 4 of these, one package has been opened, so I used it for "display" purpose. Other ones are in the safe place 




Don't really remember what's this one here, but it looks like a Voodoo card, Diamond Monster 3D. If this is what I think it is, then it's the card with pretty weird problem. Apparently it works perfectly fine under Glide (and maybe OpenGL?), but hangs & freezes with entirely black screen if it's a DirectX. I can only assume that something somewhere went terribly wrong, but since it does seem to be working, I decided to hang onto it...




Speaking of Voodoo cards, this one is yet another Diamond - except this one is Voodoo2, aka Diamond Monster 3DII. This one is entirely dead, it doesn't even power up. Just a single glance at the card itself & you can see why, doesn't take much experience to figure it out  Too bad actually, these are becoming more & more difficult to find, and their prices went up through the roof!




More stuff...


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Overall, you guys can probably tell how much I like my retro stuff  Of course, most of these systems have been upgraded in the meantime, especially graphics! I used to have a "model" for building old systems and so every time I would use Voodoo2 card, I would (for the sake of authenticity, staying as true as possible to the original recipe) use an old AGP card, something like S3 Virge, SIS 6326 or similar. In other words, just a plain old AGP card to provide the system with essential 2D graphics. However, I've realized over time that 3dfx is not the answer to every requirement, so therefore having a secondary, 3D-capable card along with existing Voodoo2 helps a lot! Especially with games such as Half-Life: Blue Shift for example, which has some serious issues with 3dfx! In fact, I got more than several GeForce2 and Geforce4 cards since then, so most of these standard ones have been replaced with those. ATI, too... Just because I didn't want to repeat myself, I've used "Rage 128" in two different rigs! You know, gotta keep things interesting somehow


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## stinger608 (Jan 4, 2016)

Holy crap batman!!!!! That is a ton of awesome pics @Trekkie4 !!!!!!!!!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Holy crap batman!!!!! That is a ton of awesome pics @Trekkie4 !!!!!!!!!!!


Haha, thanks  You might remember some of these from the last year as they turned out to be duplicates, but from what I can tell I never got around to upload rest of these (for some reason, probably forgot & moved on) so here they are 

Oh, and here's last one for now, just for the giggles 




"That's my Linux, human! You go & catch your own."

EDIT
Updated my previous post with the appropriate description(s). There's a lot more information to those, but in the end I didn't want to turn this into the guide and/or lecture


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2016)

Another double-post... Yup, I'm hopeless 

So, here's something entirely new - my video card collection. All these cards are indeed fully functional except for Diamond Monster (mentioned in my previous post), which only does Glide & hangs on DirectX and Voodoo3 3500. From what I know, that 3500 may as well be running perfectly fine, but since I don't have original adapter to connect VGA monitor, it's therefore never been tested.

Starting with NVidia TNT2 Vanta, the (in)famous M64 version... Does seem to be working, but there's no way I'm going to use this one, at least not any time soon!


 



Audio Excel sound card with 3D hardware support! Pretty awesome IMHO, especially considering how old this thing is!


 



Asus N6200, aka NVidia GeForce6, 6200LE. Budget-friendly model featuring basic DirectX9 hardware support, quite capable of running Half-Life 2 and episodes at decent FPS. It's missing the VGA header, but I don't mind... This one is just a spare, I'm already using the same card in one of the "newer" Athlon XP retro builds.


 



Previously mentioned 3dfx Voodoo3 3500. Top of the line model, as you guys probably know better than me. The only thing that's missing is necessary AV cable adapter, which plugs into the output jack. Therefore, this thing has never been tested, I have no idea if it's worth anything or not. Probably works OK, but still... *shrug*


 



Inno 3D Tornado, aka NVidia GeForce2 MX200 with 64mb of VRAM. From what I heard, pretty decent card, but since I had several GF4 MX400 laying around, I never got around to use it in any of my builds.


 



SIS 6326, a fine example of how simple 3D accelerators used to be back in a day  This one is actually capable of running older games at 640x480, such as Carmageddon 2 for example. But that's about it really, as it can't even compete against the Voodoo1 cards.


 



S3 Trio 3D/2X, same as previously mentioned SIS 6326, except it runs even slower and can't do ANY 3D ... except in software mode 


 



Matrox Mystique, another example of graphic decelerator which can hardly keep up even with the Windows environment - at least the PCI version of the same card can't, which I'm using in one of the older, AT-styled (Windows 95) builds.


 



And last but certainly not least, that Diamond Monster 3D, aka Voodoo1 which only does Glide. I did my best to find any obvious damage and/or blown components, so if you can see anything wrong with this thing (or something obvious, that's causing problems), I would highly appreciate if you let me know!


 



In addition to all these, I still have that Evil Kyro, which I never really got to test & see if it works or not. In fact, I couldn't even find the drivers for this thing, they're all just for Kyro2... Warning, these next 2 pics are hosted by ImageBam, previously uploaded some time last year.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2016)

Another day, another batch of video cards...

Starting with NVidia GeForce MX400, pretty decent card for what it's worth. I had 3 or 4 of these at some point, but gave away one to someone who needed it more than I do. 2nd one has been mounted inside one Pentium III (866MHz) and the third (this) one got replaced with GeForce4 Ti4800SE, so it ended up being spare.


 



I don't think I ever got to see this Trident TVGA8900C in action, but I'm pretty sure it runs OK.


 



Same thing with this Realtek RTG3105E... In fact, I didn't even know that Realtek made GPU chipsets!


 



Another S3 card... This time with (VESA?) interface, primarily designed for later 386 & 486 boards. I got the appropriate motherboard in one of the boxes, it has a 486 DX2 (66MHz) on it so I MIGHT do another 486 at some point, don't know. Frankly, I wouldn't know what to do with it... Not to mention I don't have any spare AT towers & power supplies available.


 



Yet ANOTHER Trident... This time TVGA9000i-1 Never been tested, I have no idea if it works or not


 




Remember that Audio Excel card from my previous post? Well, here's another one of those! Has 3D support, like I said before pretty awesome stuff considering its age! I remember my 1st audio card ever, bought around 1993, 1994 maybe... It was also Audio Excel, although I'm not sure if it was the same model or not. It was working perfectly fine for years, never had any problems with it, whatsoever!


 



How about a brand new (old stock, of course) Genius G2000III network adapter card?


 



No? Well, how about two Genius G2000III network adapter cards then?




Still not satisfied? Gee, tough crowd! Well, in that case how about three of those? 




Just a random Silicon Image ATA controller... I'm pretty sure it works, because I've pulled this one from the running system!


 



S3 Trio64V+, another fine example of video decelerators  Has approx. 2MB of VRAM, so therefore it can't even display 1024x768 in 32bit color!


 



ATI Rage 3D PRO, one of those cards you don't get to see very often. (Recently) tested & works OK, not sure what else to say... Don't have the memory expansion for this thing, and even if I do, I don't think it would make much difference. It's about the same class as SIS 6326 card.


 



Last one for now - another S3, Trio64. Once again, same thing. Approx. 2mb of VRAM, pretty sure it works OK but apart from that I got nothing more to say. The only use for these things is inside old Windows 95 builds, which combine cards such as these with Voodoo1 cards. Other than that, they're useless IMHO.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Starting with NVidia TNT2 Vanta, the (in)famous M64 version... Does seem to be working, but there's no way I'm going to use this one, at least not any time soon!


I have the original Vanta, with 16MB VRAM.  It's a beast of a card.  I could get a 98% overclock on it without even so much as a heatsink on the chip.  It was able to run Star Trek: Elite Force flawelessly!


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> I have the original Vanta, with 16MB VRAM.  It's a beast of a card.  I could get a 98% overclock on it without even so much as a heatsink on the chip.  It was able to run Star Trek: Elite Force flawelessly!


Wow, that's new... From what I got to see and hear, ppl mostly dislike Vanta due to the bad 3D performance. In fact, I remember someone comparing all 3 cards together, running benchmark for TNT2 Pro, TNT2 Ultra &  TNT2 Vanta, with M64 showing less than half of what Ultra (even Pro) has to offer. Just not worth the hassle IMHO, especially since I already have TNT2 Pro in one of my rigs.

But you're right, I never tried to OC one of these... My experience has been entirely based on factory clock speed.

EDIT
Yup, here it is... Of course, I replaced the fan on this thing (soldered it directly into the PCB) and cleaned it up, it runs perfectly!


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## Red_Machine (Jan 5, 2016)

There were a few different versions of the Vanta; mine is the full-fat, TNT-based chip.  Surprisingly, the Vanta cards based on the TNT2 actually performed worse.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2016)

See, this is exactly why I love TPU ... I learn something new every day! 

Seriously, didn't know that - thanks for sharing the information! Somehow, I assumed that every Vanta was the same, M64 based on TNT2...

EDIT
I would like to use this moment to talk about previously mentioned Slot-1 motherboard(s) here



 



From the collector's point of view, these things are surprisingly interesting, yet very misleading & confusing. I remember buying the right board 1st, and then coming back to the guy who sold these for the other, left one.

At the first glance, both of these were identical. Same markings, same layout, same design, same everything! Except one of these had the chip (or memory module, don't know for sure) extra, while the other one did not. Of course, I assumed that it must have been a different revision, or something similar. It even crossed my mind that someone, at some point removed it on purpose, but that theory fell apart as soon as I realized that both of these boot up & run perfectly OK. In fact, it didn't even occur to me to look for the OBVIOUS answer, right in front of my face!

So, here's the thing... One of these, the one on the right uses the famous Intel 440BX chipset, while the other board, and once again I repeat - basically identical to the one with BX chipset uses VIA Apollo. In fact, (apart from obvious, which I didn't notice right away), the ONLY difference between these 2 boards is that sticker on the left board. The original model number has been covered with white sticker, now featuring P6V693A/A5/133E which, of course refers to VIA sub-model of the same product, QDI Advance 5, Slot-1 motherboard. What really surprised me the most is the way they've done the modification from Intel to VIA, as if they designed the layout after the board already left the production, assembly line. As if they've literally done it by hand, modding the Intel's board in order to transform it into the VIA one. IDK, I would really love to hear your opinion on this one! Both of these are in perfect condition, one (Intel) has been paired up with Pentium 2 350 & the other (VIA) with Pentium 3, 550.

*Review* for Intel, Legend QDI P6I440BX BrillianX 1S/2000
*Review* for VIA, Legend QDI P6V693A Advance 5/133E


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## debs3759 (Jan 8, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> There were a few different versions of the Vanta; mine is the full-fat, TNT-based chip.  Surprisingly, the Vanta cards based on the TNT2 actually performed worse.



Actually all Vanta cards were based on the NV6 chip. The Vanta LT ran at 80 MHz core, 100 MHz Memory. TNT2 M64 Vanta, later named simply TNT2 Vanta, ran at 100/125 MHz. There was no TNT Vanta.

This data was gathered in my work creating a database of graphics cards (currently still working on adding vintage cards, and so far the website only has ATI/AMD/NVidia cards). I have catalogued over 10K cards so far. They can be seen at www.gpuzoo.com. This can also be confirmed from the database this site has, which lists all reference cards.


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## xvi (Jan 8, 2016)

Vacated an old job site. This just arrived on my desk. Brace for epic.

Processor: Intel 80286
Hard Drive: Seagate ST-225, Formatted Capacity of 21.4MB, 3,600 RPM, ST-412 Interface (Full spec sheet here)
Graphics: ??? Supports CGA or EGA graphics.

Best part? CEO says he actually wants me to recover an old program off it.
I don't think he realizes Windows 10 doesn't have a "QDOS" compatibility mode option.

Edit: Let me know if anyone has a ST-412 to USB adapter that I could borrow.
Edit 2: Found a page in an old Computerworld magazine from 1987 listing the specs of this bad boy. Sticker on the back of it says it's a Wyse 2108-20.









8MHz CPU means it could only be a Siemens 80286 processor. Can barely make out the eggplant-colored ceramic packaging.


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## debs3759 (Jan 8, 2016)

xvi said:


> Edit: Let me know if anyone has a ST-412 to USB adapter that I could borrow.



Is ST-412 the same as MFM? If it is, it may be easier to find an MFM to IDE, IDE to SATA and SATA to USB adapter.

EDIT: I just googled, and where IDE and SATA have the controller on the drive, MFM has it on the controller card. If your boss really wants to salvage the program, it might be easier to get an ISA network card and use that to transfer the data. Or an IDE card and drive, as IDE/SATA/USB adapters are very cheap.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 8, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> Actually all Vanta cards were based on the NV6 chip. The Vanta LT ran at 80 MHz core, 100 MHz Memory. TNT2 M64 Vanta, later named simply TNT2 Vanta, ran at 100/125 MHz. There was no TNT Vanta.
> 
> This data was gathered in my work creating a database of graphics cards (currently still working on adding vintage cards, and so far the website only has ATI/AMD/NVidia cards). I have catalogued over 10K cards so far. They can be seen at www.gpuzoo.com. This can also be confirmed from the database this site has, which lists all reference cards.


Well mine isn't a Vanta LT, it's the full Vanta card with 16MB VRAM and 100/125 clocks.  My research led me to believe that it was based on the original Riva TNT because the Vanta is only referenced in the Riva TNT article on Wikipedia, not the TNT2 article.

I really wish I had a machine I could put that card in, I love it.

EDIT: The TNT2 article has been updated since I last visited, this has been added:


> A low-cost version, known as the TNT2 M64, was produced with the memory interface reduced from 128-bit to 64-bit. Sometimes these were labeled "Vanta", *continuing the Vanta name started with a value-oriented RIVA TNT-based product*.


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## debs3759 (Jan 8, 2016)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units confirms that the Vanta cards used the NV6 die and was released a week after the TNT2 M64 which used the same die. TNT used NV4. The TNT/TNT2 pages appear to be mistaken.

NV4 and NV6 have the same configuration.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 8, 2016)

As Promised   Pictures of Scanman 32 for DOS






























xvi said:


> isting the specs of this bad boy. Sticker on the back of it says it's a Wyse 2108-20.


Back then this standard of PC( Good for its time )  was known as a Fag and coffee machines

turn it on  AND put the kettle on  ( see which came to the "Boil first ) often you could be sat back down at desk with coffee and a half smoked Fag before you could use the Pc
Reminds me of my 1st (Tandon something )
similar spec
12Mhz CPU 80286 ,1 meg Ram 32 pin simm, 20 M/b MFM/RLL hard drive, Vga (isa slot )  3 and 1/2" floppy + 5 and 1/4" floppy  Dos 3


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## xvi (Jan 8, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> As Promised Pictures of Scanman 32 for DOS


Certainly newer and mostly just a barcode reader, but this reminds me a bit of the :CueCAT used by Radio Shack ads. Didn't seem to catch on too terribly well.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 9, 2016)

More stuff coming up...

I sure got loads of fans  Some of these might not be fantastic, but they will do their job! Two of these worth mentioning are Spire FalconRock 2 & Titan Twin Cooler, the one in the middle.




Yet another (and probably the last one for now) video card - ATI Radeon 9100? with Rage Theater chip on it.


 



An old Pentium 133 in ceramic package, probably one of the last models WITHOUT MMX support!




And Yamaha XG YMF724F-V sound card...


 

 



Now, here's something slightly different. I bought this next motherboard long time ago, and it was part of that "3-system" deal I got back in 2014, when I gave one of the systems away for charity. I had it around the room for months, before I decided to use it for one of the AMD builds. In fact, this motherboard WAS, at one point paired up with that black Cooler Master case, from my profile rig. So, what happened, you may be asking? At one point, while I was still putting this thing together, I've noticed that the system (with Athlon 1700+) had weird problems, and that the motherboard would sometimes turn on normally and sometimes it wouldn't. It also had tons of other issues, so I took it apart & started fiddling with the settings & RAM modules. At some point, I did one of those stupid, rookie mistakes & removed the CPU cooler from this thing, so that I could quickly swap the CPU for other one (for the sake of testing, if necessary) and placed a temporary, small passive chipset cooler across Athlon 1700. Here's the thing... Ordinarily CPUs such as Intel Pentiums 1, 2, 3 & newer probably wouldn't mind something like that, and would simply keep on working. However, this is Socket A we're talking about, and these ones (as you know) have exposed components on the actual CPU, something which I entirely forgot about. As you might have guessed, the small chipset cooler caused the short across Athlon 1700, which simply died in a puff of smoke, right in front of my eyes! I remember testing the board afterwards, with one other Athlon (750MHz) and it did't work, so the board ended up on the scrap pile & almost got thrown into trash. Well, almost - you see after couple of weeks, as I was gathering stuff to recycle & get rid of it, I've decided one more time to give it a go with Sempron CPU & see if it'll boot up or not. In fact, the board (at this point) was already picked clean, I removed the CMOS battery, all the jumper caps, even removed those plastic clips for the sound input (TAD, CD-IN & AUX) because I needed those for one other board. Surprisingly enough, board booted up perfectly fine ... which left me stunned & wondering what the heck is going on. Of course, I restored all the jumper caps & placed one of the plastic hooks back on the board, saving the board from its terrible fate.


 


Although I kept this particular board, I never really used it again so after couple of months, I gave it a "new" Athlon CPU, placed a brand new CPU cooler & traded it with someone for one other piece of hardware. That was 2 years ago, and I never heard about that board again - until yesterday. When I got the call from the same person who gave me the board back to me, because he's no longer interested in it. In the meantime, it seems that the board has been tossed, scraped, abused & crushed under a whole bunch of other parts, but it does seem to be OK. Don't really know for sure, as I didn't have the time to actually test it but I'm starting to wonder just how many lives this thing has?! 

This other board here is a complete mystery to me... All I can tell is that it has a 266MHz Pentium II, integrated Matrox GPU & uses SD-RAM. Probably an older Dell maybe, or HP? IDK, never saw anything like this before, but it's pretty much worthless since it doesn't comply to standard, ATX specs.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jan 9, 2016)

My money's on that mystery 266MHz Pentium II board having come out of an HP Brio.  I had a very similar system for a few days many years ago, but I couldn't get it working.  I stripped it for parts, and kept the SGRAM DIMM module on impulse.  Two or three years ago, I bought an old Dell OptiPlex GX1, with an integrated ATI Rage Pro Turbo.  It had an SGRAM slot on the motherboard, so I dug the DIMM from the HP out of storage and slotted it in.  Now it runs with 8MB VRAM.  Really glad I kept that SGRAM DIMM, I couldn't find any of them on eBay when I looked around the time I bought the Dell.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 9, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> My money's on that mystery 266MHz Pentium II board having come out of an HP Brio.  I had a very similar system for a few days many years ago, but I couldn't get it working.  I stripped it for parts, and kept the SGRAM DIMM module on impulse.  Two or three years ago, I bought an old Dell OptiPlex GX1, with an integrated ATI Rage Pro Turbo.  It had an SGRAM slot on the motherboard, so I dug the DIMM from the HP out of storage and slotted it in.  Now it runs with 8MB VRAM.  Really glad I kept that SGRAM DIMM, I couldn't find any of them on eBay when I looked around the time I bought the Dell.


Don't think it's Brio (at least according to what I saw Googling) but I think you're onto something here. It MIGHT be HP Vectra, model number VL6-266. Could be wrong though...


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 9, 2016)

Long time no see guys! I received an old server which I'm going to dedicate to older games with XP SP3/W7 x64 dualboot. What I figured out, it has Socket 604 Xeon 3GHz with 2MB L2 and X64 support (Xeon variant of Pentium 4 630), 2GB registered ECC DDR2-400, some crappy integrated GPU, 3x SCSI320 146GB drives, tape drive for backups and hot-swappable 725W PSU and a support for another. Oh, and a socket for another CPU. It has also 2x PCIe x8 slots (the second one is x4 electrically), but with closed ends, so I opened the end of the x8 slot for a video card, some old GPU for games for it. SCSI drives connected via PCI-X SCSI controller. So far I just need to get a graphics card and a sound card (since it doesn't have onboard) to it.

Pics coming soon, I spent few hours cleaning it and put new thermal paste for the CPU etc.. 

Some info from it: http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04284160.pdf


----------



## laszlo (Jan 10, 2016)

i have a *Sony VAIO PCG-505GX* with win98 from 1998? still working... is this old enough to appear here?


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 10, 2016)

laszlo said:


> i have a *Sony VAIO PCG-505GX* with win98 from 1998? still working... is this old enough to appear here?
> 
> 
> View attachment 70973 View attachment 70972


Heh, of course!  Nice one!

Edit
Saved another VCR today! Model number (and brand) is Philips VR520, I got it for 7$ or approx. 6€ for those of us living in EU. Usually I don't collect "modern" units (from 2000), but since it was preserved and it's HiFi Stereo with 6 heads & original remote I figured why not! I might upload some pics, depending on whenever you guys are interested or not.

Edit2
For some odd reason, I'm tempted to make a Celeron system, from 1997/8. I'm thinking of Slot-1 motherboard (iWill BD100), running either Pentium 266, Celeron 300 or 333 (got both of them) I suppose I could even try with something higher, let's say Celeron 433 (S370) running on either Slot-1 via slocket adapter or the actual S370 board... Graphics would be something old & slow. Let's say SIS 6326 or ATI Rage Pro Turbo, both cards from my previous posts. 2nd card would be Voodoo1, and it would only run 64mb of SD-RAM.

Just for the sake of complicating things, I would use a DVD drive in this thing, so I'd need to patch the video card with one of those DVD (MPEG) accelerators/encoders. And maybe run the latest version of Windows 95? Hmm, doesn't sound too bad actually


----------



## Countryside (Jan 13, 2016)

Old dusty Badass 9800GT 512MB GDDR3


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## MaxiPro800 (Jan 15, 2016)

Just got this ol' big Xbox over here.

Mobile Celeron 733MHz anyone?  It's been upgraded a bit by me - HDD will be replaced with 200GB Hitachi Deskstar (current one is a 80GB IDE Maxtor - it's unlocked) and then cloning with Chimpanzee Linux 




Trekkie -  I've got two PSUs,both Deer,that went through a lot of torture from me,and both still work fine to this day. I'm going to admit,one of them was rebuilt by me. The other one,however,I got it packed up with components.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 15, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Trekkie -  I've got two PSUs,both Deer,that went through a lot of torture from me,and both still work fine to this day. I'm going to admit,one of them was rebuilt by me. The other one,however,I got it packed up with components.


Hmm, not sure I understand which post you're referring to here, is it that last one about making a Celeron build? But you're right, I've been wondering about PS units & how much load would they be able to handle, if I make a system that's packed up with hardware  My guess would be around 300W... I was thinking of something like this:

Celeron 433, S370 on a DFI CA61 mobo running 64mb of SD RAM, ATI Rage Pro Turbo (or SIS6326) AGP card + Diamond Monster Voodoo1 + Creative DVD encoder card, some cheap & generic sound card & a modem (or an old network card with coaxial jack) and last but not least 2x optical drives (CD & DVD), floppy & a single HDD.


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## MaxiPro800 (Jan 15, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm, not sure I understand which post you're referring to here, is it that last one about making a Celeron build? But you're right, I've been wondering about PS units & how much load would they be able to handle, if I make a system that's packed up with hardware  My guess would be around 300W... I was thinking of something like this:


It's the one you've got back,and wondered how much life does it have in it,the Shuttle AK75. Forgot mentioning that...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 15, 2016)

Ah, gotcha! Thanks


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 15, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just got this ol' big Xbox over here.
> 
> Mobile Celeron 733MHz anyone?  It's been upgraded a bit by me - HDD will be replaced with 200GB Hitachi Deskstar (current one is a 80GB IDE Maxtor - it's unlocked) and then cloning with Chimpanzee Linux
> View attachment 71092
> ...


RYUKO MATOI!!!


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## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> RYUKO MATOI!!!




I've actually got a dashboard skin for that Xbox which uses the same splash screen. In fact,the whole theme has Ryuko over it.
(did it myself,it was a ROYAL PAIN IN THE ARSE to change the menu color text because they use some weird 8-bit hex to define each channel - I know that the first byte is alpha channel (transparency) and the rest are just RGB. This means that instead of being RGBA,it actually uses ARGB.


----------



## Silvertigo (Jan 17, 2016)

Heres a Coolit Freezone Elite v2 cooling a C2 Extreme QX 6850

Mobo is a Maximus Formula BIOS modded to a Maximus Rampage (lga 775 / x38)

Thanks again @Dia01 for kindly giving me the Freezone Elite !

The 120mm fan is needed to cool the _very hot_ northbridge heatsink while I have this rig @ 3.6

though its currently upside down as I was taking it on and off for photos


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

In progress of finding the ATX case for upcoming (and most likely the last one for now) build, featuring lots of unique details & specs. Still missing the PSU (which I'll eventually find, sooner or later and HDD - aiming for approx. 10GB)

All my previous Voodoo1 Windows 95 builds have been AT styled Pentiums with MMX support (Pentium 233 to be exact), but that's about to change. This time I'm going to do something different - I'm going to use S370 board from around 1998/9 with Celeron 433 and 64mb of RAM. The alternative to this would be iWill BD100 Slot-1 mobo, paired up with an old Pentium 2, 266MHz. Frankly, I still can't make up my mind about this, but what I DO know is that it's going to run Windows 95, along with previously mentioned SIS 6326 AGP video card, paired up with both Diamond Monster 3D (Voodoo1) and DVD MPEG accelerator for watching DVD movies. The idea is to make a really old (and slow) system that's packed up with hardware components, just like you'd expect to see in the old days when ppl used to "upgrade" their old rigs to something better & more useful.

Overall speaking, this rig here will be the 1st (and only) one in my collection to feature:

Voodoo1 card on ATX system
Windows 95 on ATX system
DVD drive on Windows 95 system
DVD (MPEG) accelerator in ANY system
ISA network card with coaxial interface jack
SIS-based graphics card
The slowest specs among ATX builds, except maybe Celeron 333 which has Voodoo Rush

EDIT
While I'm waiting for the previously mentioned ATX case to arrive, I was offered something else. A set of Pentium 2 + Slot-1 mobo & a 486 build in working condition. Pentium board is free, all I have to do is go pick it up, but the 486 rig is on sale for 4$ (roughly 3,5€)

No details on Pentium board (brand name, CPU speed and/or other specs) but according to owner, the 486 system has 80MHz CPU, 128mb RAM (wow!), floppy, CD-ROM & external dial-up modem. No mention of sound card, but (considering it has CD drive), I'm guess it must be there... Comes with Windows 95 and Office 95, the system has been in service up until 2008 when it got decommissioned and now it's about to get recycled at the e-waste. Shall I pick it up?


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## Retrorockit (Jan 19, 2016)

I'l just throw my Old Dell Dimension E520 into the discussion and see what anyone thinks of it.
Built December 2006 BTX Mini Tower.
Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 3.72Ghz, 8GB DDR2 @800, GTX750Ti O/C 2GB DDR5
http://valid.x86.fr/bg4n0r


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## Retrorockit (Jan 19, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> In progress of finding the ATX case for upcoming (and most likely the last one for now) build, featuring lots of unique details & specs. Still missing the PSU (which I'll eventually find, sooner or later and HDD - aiming for approx. 10GB)
> 
> All my previous Voodoo1 Windows 95 builds have been AT styled Pentiums with MMX support (Pentium 233 to be exact), but that's about to change. This time I'm going to do something different - I'm going to use S370 board from around 1998/9 with Celeron 433 and 64mb of RAM. The alternative to this would be iWill BD100 Slot-1 mobo, paired up with an old Pentium 2, 266MHz. Frankly, I still can't make up my mind about this, but what I DO know is that it's going to run Windows 95, along with previously mentioned SIS 6326 AGP video card, paired up with both Diamond Monster 3D (Voodoo1) and DVD MPEG accelerator for watching DVD movies. The idea is to make a really old (and slow) system that's packed up with hardware components, just like you'd expect to see in the old days when ppl used to "upgrade" their old rigs to something better & more useful.
> 
> ...


My first computer was a 486 33sx (no FPU). I had to add 32kb cache chips to the MB. Then an Evergreen "586" 133mhz AMD CPU adapter. 16mb DRAM (not even SD), and a 2mb STB  ISA bus video card! Windows 95a couldn't address the whole 2GB hdd. It sure could play that frtactal screen saver though.

My favorite Socket7 chip was the AMD K6-3+ (400-550mhz) 2 level cache on die, so tri- level cache with up to 2mb on the motherboard. The 400 had a 4X100 setting for "Super7" boards, but a 6X66 setting for older Intel boards. So a 50% O/C was just a jumper away. It was built on Athlon process so needed secret low voltage jumper settings, and BIOS tweaks to work. It was never offered retail. It was made for laptop manufacturers who needed to continue with Socket7 designs. The only thing I still have from back then is a Voodoo 5500. The K6-3+ would run clock for clock with a Pentium3.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Oh wow, I'd really, REALLY love to get my hands on one of those Voodoo5 cards! Alas, those are becoming more & more expensive day after day... And not just Voodoo5, I've noticed that ALL the Voodoo cards got more expensive than what they used to cost 

Anyhow, regarding 486... My very first PC was 486 DX2 with 66MHz and 4 (or maybe 8) mb of RAM. It didn't had a CD & sound card at first (those two were bought & installed later on), and the HDD was around 600MB. Give it or take it, don't really remember the exact details. But overall speaking, it was a great little system and yes, it also had Windows 95 at some point. But that was later on (I was still running Windows 3.11 & DOS 6.22 at the time), couple of months before we sold 486 & bought brand new Pentium 2 350. Actually, I remember Win95 struggling a bit on 486 - the biggest issue was the HDD which was barely large enough to host the Windows & couple of games.


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## Retrorockit (Jan 19, 2016)

On the 486 I added the HDD, I think it was 140MB originally. Added CD player and Sound Blaster ISA also. Some people actually tricked the Evergreen to run 166mhz. Wahoooooooooo!
 I have a friend who has a Voodoo3 PCI still in the shrink wrap.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> On the 486 I added the HDD, I think it was 140MB originally. Added CD player and Sound Blaster ISA also. Some people actually tricked the Evergreen to run 166mhz. Wahoooooooooo!
> I have a friend who has a Voodoo3 PCI still in the shrink wrap.


Awww man! I don't suppose you could talk your friend into joining TPU?


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## Retrorockit (Jan 19, 2016)

She earns her living working phones/online, so blogging isn't high on her list  of things to do.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Okie dokie. If she ever decides to join & share her collection with the rest of us here, I'd love to see some of her stuff


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## Retrorockit (Jan 19, 2016)

No collection. Just 1 unused GPU. She thinks the graphics on the box are creepy!


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> No collection. Just 1 unused GPU. She thinks the graphics on the box are creepy!


Hahaha, well yes - creepy is one way of describing 3dfx products


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## Retrorockit (Jan 19, 2016)

It's still under warranty!


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> It's still under warranty!


Wait, what? You mean the Voodoo3?!


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## Retrorockit (Jan 19, 2016)

I don't think it matters, 3DFX was out of the GPU business shortly after they bought STB and started making their own video cards. I was referring to the 10 year warranty claim on the box. It may be even older than that, I'm not sure. Voodoo made GPU chips for everybody at first, and became an industry standard like SoundBlaster, or Adobe Acrobat. Their Glide API was better than D3D back then and game developers used it a lot. But then they bought STB (3Dfx) and quit supplying anyone else with chips. It didn't work out for them and Nvidia bought them in a hostile takeover and buried SLI, and dual GPUs for a few years. At one time Radeon was producing SLI alongside Nvidia using their Voodoo license for it. But they got sued and had to come up with Crossfire.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I don't think it matters, 3DFX was out of the GPU business shortly after they bought STB and started making their own video cards. I was referring to the 10 year warranty claim on the box. It may be even older than that, I'm not sure. Voodoo made GPU chips for everybody at first, and became an industry standard like SoundBlaster, or Adobe Acrobat. Their Glide API was better than D3D back then and game developers used it a lot. But then they bought STB (3Dfx) and quit supplying anyone else with chips. It didn't work out for them and Nvidia bought them in a hostile takeover and buried SLI, and dual GPUs for a few years. At one time Radeon was producing SLI alongside Nvidia using their Voodoo license for it. But they got sued and had to come up with Crossfire.


Well yes, I know all that. What I was referring to was the actual warranty ... I just don't see how. Voodoo3 was marketed & produced in 1999 right? So, even if the card had a 10 year warranty, it would only be up to 2009, certainly not 2016! In fact, Voodoo3 will celebrate its 20th bday in only 3 years.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 19, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh wow, I'd really, REALLY love to get my hands on one of those Voodoo5 cards! Alas, those are becoming more & more expensive day after day... And not just Voodoo5, I've noticed that ALL the Voodoo cards got more expensive than what they used to cost


What...these?


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Yes, those two! Pretty awesome that you have both PCI & AGP version


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## Mr.Scott (Jan 19, 2016)

I was lucky. Found one in a used dealers junk bin. Asked him what he wanted for it and he said "I know what that is and what it's worth.........I need $20 for it."  lol
The other I had since long long ago.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> I was lucky. Found one in a used dealers junk bin. Asked him what he wanted for it and he said "I know what that is and what it's worth.........I need $20 for it."  lol
> The other I had since long long ago.



Yeah, I had kinda similar story myself. Except I scored the entire system for 7$. It was an old Pentium 3 (Slot-1) rig with Voodoo2 card inside. I believe it also had ATI Rage 128, SB Live and few other goodies but the guy who sold it to me didn't seem to care about any of that  Instead, he removed (what it appears to be) DVD RW drive, which was originally in the picture(s) but when I actually picked it up, there was just a hole in the case. Apparently he valued DVD-RW more than he did 3dfx & SB Live, otherwise this thing would have been 2, or 3 times as expensive! Oh well, his loss is my gain 

Here's the pic, after I already stripped everything apart. And yes, both mobo & CPU were completely operational, someone just dumped this thing because it was too old


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## Retrorockit (Jan 20, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wait, what? You mean the Voodoo3?!


Yes it is under warranty! I just visited her and the box says limited lifetime warranty. I took a couple pics. I'll post them when I get back to my computer.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 20, 2016)

Try convincing Nvidia who bought 3dfx and presumably 3dfx asset's and liability's  to honour the Warranty


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 20, 2016)

Wow, lifetime warranty... Even if it's limited, I'm still genuinely and honestly surprised! Especially considering how hot these things could get! Heck, one of the most common mods to Voodoo3 cards was adding a small (30x30) fan to the original heatsink, to prevent GPU damage


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## Retrorockit (Jan 20, 2016)

You'd have to open it to register the warranty. Hers is creepier because it's bigger than life.  Full size images in my album at  http://www.overclock.net/g/a/1298590/default#
They can be expanded to full screen there, click image then select original.


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## R-T-B (Jan 20, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I remember old operating systems (Windows 9X) which came in bulky cardboard boxes ... especially Windows 95 which had two stacks of floppy disks



Meh, got nothing on OS/2 Warp 3:






That's the small "red spine" edition that didn't come with integrated windows 3.1 support.

I think the blue spine one I had had around 72 floppy disks.  Yes, it wanted them all, and to make matters worse, if you inserted the wrong floppy, the installer started over!

Warp 4 got smart and went to CD, but still had the option of custom making a floppy disk set.  It took over 100 floppies.  Good times.

Of course IBM never got the advertising right.  Warp speed?  Nah!  Let's tell the users to WARP THEIR COMPUTER PHYSICALLY!  WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG WITH THIS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN?

Only people with warped minds bought it, like me...  Or maybe that was just all the floppies...


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## Retrorockit (Jan 20, 2016)

That was the OS at Penske Truck Leasing (oops Hertz- Penske back then) for their entire operation when I stared there. They stuck with it for a long time too. I don't remember ever seeing Win 98, I think XP Pro was the first Microsoft they used. It seemed very stable and reliable.
I bought that set, but never found a reason to use it. It's long gone now.


----------



## R-T-B (Jan 20, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> That was the OS at Penske Truck Leasing (oops Hertz- Penske back then) for their entire operation when I stared there. They stuck with it for a long time too. I don't remember ever seeing Win 98, I think XP Pro was the first Microsoft they used. It seemed very stable and reliable.
> I bought that set, but never found a reason to use it. It's long gone now.


Warp 4.52 (last version) was indeed pretty solid.  In many ways it held it's ground with windows 2000.  Not bad for something no one seemed to develop for.


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## Retrorockit (Jan 20, 2016)

I don't think anybody developed malware for it either. It really was pretty solid for business use. IBM you would expect that


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 20, 2016)

R-T-B said:


> Meh, got nothing on OS/2 Warp 3:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


omg, but its great you keep them nicely
the last time i used floppy when i was on college about 2000s


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## Red_Machine (Jan 20, 2016)

My Voodoo5 is currently rotting in the box, as I have no motherboard capable of taking it.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 20, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> You'd have to open it to register the warranty. Hers is creepier because it's bigger than life.  Full size images in my album at  http://www.overclock.net/g/a/1298590/default#
> They can be expanded to full screen there, click image then select original.



Seriously! This thing belongs to a museum! Creepy or not, some collectors would be willing to pay top dollar for a card such as this one! I know I would... If I could afford it  Don't get me wrong, I do have my share of Voodoo3 cards (2x 2000, 2x 3000 and 1x 3500) but this one is just perfect in every way!


On a side note - got the 486!  Apparently I was the 1st (and only?) one to call lol  Still have to go pick it up, so you'll have to wait for a day or two before I'll be able to post any pics.

EDIT
@Red_Machine You know, I would give you an offer for that unused Voodoo5 of yours since we are both in EU, but since I'm not in the best financial situation right now, I'll have to keep waiting & hoping for the best.

EDIT2
Speaking of 3dfx, here's something interesting to watch on YT... Kinda sad that they had to rip it open, but I can understand why.


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## Retrorockit (Jan 20, 2016)

I'm sure you know this, but for others who may look here. The Voodoo 5500 AGP cards were 3.3V. AGP 1.0, Voodoo 5500s were known for "letting the smoke out"  of later 1.5V. AGP 2.0, and .8V. AGP 3.0  Motherboards. Some boards were backwards compatible, many were not. So if you get your hands on one of these don't think you can put in any AGP slot motherboard. Other Voodoo cards just wouldn't run due to lack of voltage, but the 5500 with it's Molex connector could do some damage.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jan 20, 2016)

I used to have a Gigabyte universal AGP board, but I threw the system out when I got bored and wanted to move onto something else.  Really wish I hadn't now, as that was the only board I've ever owned that was compatible with the Voodoo5.


----------



## Frick (Jan 20, 2016)

R-T-B said:


> Meh, got nothing on OS/2 Warp 3:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I assume you've read this.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/11/half-an-operating-system-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-os2/


It's a good read.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 21, 2016)

The guy who owns that 486 is complicating things too much for my taste... Oh well, at least I got the case for Celeron build! Still have to go pick up that Pentium 2 board as well, we'll see how this one turns out (or doesn't)


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 21, 2016)

I just remembered the brand of my old 486. It was an AST 33sx. Form factors weren't nailed down yet back then. It had a proprietary riser card so the CPU  socket could be updated separately from the motherboard. There may have been Pentium 60/66 versions but they were very expensive and hard to get. So I went with the cost effective Evergreen "586" 133mhz. adapter.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 21, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I just remembered the brand of my old 486. It was an AST 33sx. Form factors weren't nailed down yet back then. It had a proprietary riser card so the CPU  socket could be updated separately from the motherboard. There may have been Pentium 60/66 versions but they were very expensive and hard to get. So I went with the cost effective Evergreen "586" 133mhz. adapter.


Don't know if I have mentioned this, but I have a 486 in my collection already, DX4 @ 100MHz. Quite modern unit (for 486 system), even has PCI slots and uses standard, button CMOS battery rather than those bulky, rechargeable batteries which are known to leak & cause damage. Overall, it looks more like a Pentium than 486 but there IS a real 486 inside nevertheless! And I actually paid it quite a lot (approx. 15$), comparing to my other systems which I got for almost nothing! Apparently it's been used as office workstation for years, so it didn't have sound, or even CD-ROM drive, but it came with modem (or network card, don't remember). Either way, I took it out & installed "multimedia upgrade package" as they used to call it back in a day, aka CD + sound card.

This other, new 486 which I might get (not likely though) is 80MHz, I'm guessing DX2? Other than that, I have absolutely no details on this thing, other than the fact it runs & has multimedia package already installed. No mention of HDD however, but the guy said it comes Win95 & Office 95 so there has to be something inside. IDK, this guy is kinda dodgy, the entire deal seems too good to be true IMHO


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 22, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> Voodoo 5500 AGP cards were 3.3V. AGP 1.0,



Acording to wilki
The Voodoo 5 5500 comes in three flavors: a universal AGP version (AGP 1/2x, prototypes were made with AGP4x-interface) with full sideband support, PCI, and the Mac Edition, which is only available for PCI, though could run in 66 MHz PCI slots. The Mac Edition has dual link DVI-D and VGA-A outputs, the other versions just have one VGA-out.

 still a rare card  and even rarer if its a mac compatable card


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## Retrorockit (Jan 22, 2016)

I'm not sure that's the same thing as AGP 1.0, AGP2.0, and AGP 3.0  I think the 1x,2x. and 4x were speeds data went through the bus (like PCIe 1x, 4x, and 16x cards on same slot). I think AGP1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 were different generations of motherboard architecture. But it was a long time ago and I certainly wasn't an expert back then. I think all 5500s were 3.3V.
As far as the 486 100DX4. Did you ever look into the Evergreen 586? It was an adapter card with an AMD CPU and had some multiplier jumpers to set it to run 133mhz it's possible to get it to run faster by setting it "wrong". It fits normal 486, and Overdrive sockets ( jumper for that too). I saw some available on Amazon. But you might look out for a used one. That's how AMD got started, cloning Intel CPUs. They kept it up through the socket 7 years until Intel started to patent their Slots, and sockets.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 22, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm not sure that's the same thing as AGP 1.0, AGP2.0, and AGP 3.0  I think the 1x,2x. and 4x were speeds data went through the bus (like PCIe 1x, 4x, and 16x cards on same slot). I think AGP1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 were different generations of motherboard architecture. But it was a long time ago and I certainly wasn't an expert back then.
> As far as the 486 100DX4. Did you ever look into the Evergreen 586? It was an adapter card with an AMD CPU and had some multiplier jumpers to set it to run 133mhz it's possible to get it to run faster by setting it "wrong". It fits normal 486, and Overdrive sockets ( jumper for that too). I saw some available on Amazon. But you might look out for a used one.


Yeah, I heard about those but never got to see one for sale (at least not locally, since I usually don't buy stuff online through Amazon or ebay) In fact, I remember someone posting a picture of this thing, but at this point I honestly don't remember when & where exactly. Wasn't on TPU, that's for sure... Might have been Overclock.net or even YT.

Speaking of which, here's something really cool ... A guide on "buying a Computer in 1995" - LINK
More on "Multimedia upgrade package", 486 & old tech - LINK

EDIT
Woohoo!! Found it!!


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## Retrorockit (Jan 22, 2016)

Here's a fun page I found full of weird old stuff.
http://www.cpushack.com/UpgradeProcessors.html#evergreen
 The Evergreens could run 4X40Mhz. for 160 486 speed.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 22, 2016)

Ha, was just looking at the same page couple of minutes ago  What caught my attention was S423 to S478 adapter card, as I once owned S423 Pentium system (Asus P4-T) and couldn't upgrade to anything better (due to unusual socket and/or expensive rambus memory)


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## Retrorockit (Jan 22, 2016)

Powerleaps ISA  single board computers look pretty cool.
 I wonder if you could put 3-4 of them in a 486 and drive a bunch of monitor at once.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 22, 2016)

that's one nostalgia CPU i lack   a socket 423 P4  went to a P111 370  800Mhz  bypassed p4 s423  and straight to 2.0ghz P4 s478


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 22, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> that's one nostalgia CPU i lack   a socket 423 P4  went to a P111 370  800Mhz  bypassed p4 s423  and straight to 2.0ghz P4 s478


Like I said - had one and it's been way overrated IMHO! I remember buying this thing in 2001, every magazine and tech folks were talking about it. It had 1500MHz on previously mentioned Asus P4-T, in combination with newly introduced  RIMM RAM modules. I had two of them in 2x 64mb configuration, therefore 128mb in total... This all seemed very cool until it was the time to upgrade  1st I wanted to OC, so I needed to upgrade my cooling solution to something better. Of course, you'd think finding a S423 would be easy (especially in 2003, 2004) but nope - couldn't find one for months, they've all been S478 or S370! Then, FINALLY one day, a friend of mine gave me his Thermaltake GoldenOrb, adopted for S423. Wasn't much of an upgrade honestly, but it looked better than the original thing!

Few months later, I've noticed that XP is slowing down, especially during gaming so I figured it's finally time to upgrade RAM. That is, until I saw the price tag for RIMM modules! Of course, at first I couldn't find any - just like I couldn't find S423 CPU cooler, but eventually stumbled upon small hardware shop online. Their price was unreasonable, so I never did get the RAM upgrade for this thing & eventually sold the entire mobo, with CPU, cooler & RIMM all bundled together.

Now looking back, I do feel kinda sad for selling it, but then again, this P4-T brought me nothing but trouble  And apparently I'm not the only one to feel this way, as neither S423 or RIMM got to "stick" around, for years to come! Even today, you can still find the running systems which use either S370, Socket A or even Slot-1 along with SD-memory, while S423 & RIMM are almost impossible to find! Therefore, being old & obsolete is not an excuse.


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## Retrorockit (Jan 22, 2016)

I just came across a post that 5X86 performs better at 3X50Mhz= 150 than at 4x40Mhz.=160 due to faster memory bus.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 22, 2016)

No words to describe these pics! 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now my head is full of ideas on what to do with this thing. Shall I rip the mobo out & swap it for the "real" thing with external controllers & VESA graphics? Because I DO have a real thing in one of the boxes, it even has a 66MHz 486 already on it  This one is somewhat faster, 80Mhz but the modern-ish mobo kinda ruins the retro atmosphere. IDK, what do you guys think?


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## R-T-B (Jan 22, 2016)

Frick said:


> I assume you've read this.
> 
> http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/11/half-an-operating-system-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-os2/
> 
> ...



Yeah, I think the screenshot might even come from that article.  (not my set, my set got thrown away in frustration sometime in 2005).


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 22, 2016)

Soooo... Regarding my 486 - it ain't!  Took this thing apart & found this:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Also, won't be keeping this CD drive, at least not in this rig... Manufacturing date October 1999, seriously!  I got some nice, vintage CD ROMs in one of the boxes, so I'll swap it for the real thing! At least the HDD is original!

So, now that we established the model number (and historical value) of this thing, here's once again my dilemma - shall I keep it in the original (and current) condition, or shall I swap the mobo for Intel 486, DX2 running @ 66Mhz? Decisions, decisions, decisions...


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## MaxiPro800 (Jan 23, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Soooo... Regarding my 486 - it ain't!  Took this thing apart & found this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Keep the board and swap the CPU with a 486. It's Socket 3,it's got PCI,it's pretty good. I assume the BIOS string reads somewhere in the 1996-1997 range?


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## dorsetknob (Jan 23, 2016)

keep the cpu its supposedly quite rare
worth reading ths
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am5x86

note the warning
The chip will actually physically fit into an older 486 socket such as a socket 1 or 2 or the original 168-pin 80486 socket, but doing this requires a replacement voltage regulator, since the AMD chip runs at 3.45 volts.

The CPU was commonly overclocked to 160 MHz, thereby giving performance similar to that of a Pentium 90 MHz system. It has been reported that some individuals have successfully run the chip at 200 MHz; this would require a PCI-based system (due to the instability of VLB at high speed) and uncommon motherboards and cache RAM that could cope with a 50 MHz system bus. There are four main versions of the socketed version of this CPU, manufactured in different locations. There is the common ADW variety, as well as the later ADY, ADZ and BGC. The later models were the preferred versions of the chip, because they were rated for higher temperatures and thus more forgiving of overclocking.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 23, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> keep the cpu its supposedly quite rare
> worth reading ths
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am5x86
> 
> ...


Right, that could be the reason why this guy said it's 80MHz 486 inside... I'll tinker with the settings (and BIOS), so hopefully I'll be able to unlock the full potential of this thing, if possible. And yes, think I'm going to keep 586 inside, thanks  More pics (and updates) coming up, as soon as I have this thing put back together again!

@MaxiPro800 To tell you the truth, I have no idea what the BIOS reads... Honestly, I didn't hook this thing to a monitor yet, but I DO know it posts OK because of the beeps & floppy seek during a start-up sequence.

EDIT
Still working on this thing... So far I've made the following changes & updates:

IDE (HDD) LED has been "fixed", polarity was wrong so it wasn't lighting up
Turbo LED has also been "fixed", polarity was wrong so it wasn't lighting up regardless of Turbo switch
Turbo Switch has been properly connected to the motherboard, previous owner (or whoever worked on this thing before) had the header permanently shorted using the jumper cap
CMOS battery was dead & was replaced with the new one
HDD has been raised (to prevent vibration transfer onto the frame, which was touching)
CPU fan has been taken apart, washed & cleaned, new thermal compound has been applied under the heatsink (didn't have any)
CD-ROM drive has been replaced with the older Toshiba unit, manufactured in 1996
2x modules of RAM memory have been removed, this thing has way too much RAM for this time period (if we are aiming for authenticity)

Still left to do:

Configure the BIOS settings, see what's going on with the CPU
Hook the port extensions, do a proper cable management (what a joy )
Add the ethernet card (just because I have few, from 1996), test to see if it works
Do a full system test


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## STIG_ZA (Jan 23, 2016)

Some updates. Picked up not one but two Asus 8800GTX, both work. Would like to sli them but man do they eat power. Have the one stuck in my amd 64 x2 rig, had to buy a new psu also. The original "500w" would buzz loudly when the card was under load 

Will post pics a bit later


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## stinger608 (Jan 23, 2016)

STIG_ZA said:


> Some updates. Picked up not one but two Asus 8800GTX, both work. Would like to sli them but man do they eat power. Have the one stuck in my amd 64 x2 rig, had to buy a new psu also. The original "500w" would buzz loudly when the card was under load
> 
> Will post pics a bit later




Sweet score man!!!!!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 24, 2016)

Cable management finally done, also added a plastic peg (support) for the bottom ISA card (sound card, in this case) because it was dangerously close to the metal bottom, floor of the case which would most likely kill the card in the blink of an eye (unless it already has...)

Still have to tidy it up a bit, pics coming soon! 

EDIT
Here it is, status report...

Starting off with new old CD-ROM from March 1997, this is as original as you can get! Not a huge fan of Toshiba optical drives, but it was the only unit I got that's manufactured in 1997, rest of them are mostly 1998 and newer.




Random pic of a random mounting hole, BELOW the actual CPU socket! Really, this is the 1st time I got to see mounting solution like this...  Pretty clever though, I don't see why not!


 



My testing gear, as I was trying to determine the polarity of Turbo switch header (3-pin). One (middle) of these is common, left is activated when the button is switched off and right is activated when the button is switched on. Since the purpose of turbo button is to close the electrical circuit, in order to activate the feature I had to determine which side is  right, or in other words which side is going to turn on the turbo feature when the button is pressed in. Which I did, so now the turbo button actually has a purpose, rather than having a jumper permanently closing the header & keeping the turbo active at all time.




First of all to remind you guys how this system USED to look like yesterday, remember?




Good, because here's the finished result! Have to say, I'm pretty happy with how things ended up looking 


 

 

 

 



So, now that we took care of that, here's couple of more things I wanted to address. I don't suppose anyone here knows what brand (and model number) is this motherboard here? Because other than S/N, I can't seem to find anything useful...


 

 



Don't think I ever uploaded this before - it's one of my "magical" boxes, full of spare motherboards, ODDs, even old hard drives & other stuff. And yes, all those cables are indeed  Voodoo patch-through VGA cables!  Used to have all of them mounted on their appropriate system(s), but took them off while I was moving (for the sake of not damaging the Voodoo cards) and never put them back again.


 

 



A while ago, I believe someone here mentioned Celeron 300... And I said I have one, but never got to upload pic - until now. Also have 333 one, both are Slot-1.


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## Mr.Scott (Jan 24, 2016)

Pretty sure that is a Lucky Star board bro. Here. Best pic I could find.
http://s477.photobucket.com/user/Nickolay_I/media/hardware/mobo101.jpg.html

BTW, Got Slot 1's ? lol
I have a couple boxes like this.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 24, 2016)

WOW!! 

I really, really love (adore, actually) Slot-1 motherboards and CPUs! Apart from the fact that I had one back in a day (which makes them nostalgic), they're so easy to use & swap! Obviously, my collection is not even remotely big enough to what you have inside this box here, but yes - I DO have couple of Slot-1 spares  Got Pentium 3 550, Pentium 2 266 (from that weird-looking motherboard, posted on the previous page), Celeron 300A and Celeron 333,  all of them in full & working condition! Also have one Pentium 3, 500 which is missing a fan. Unfortunately, it uses a rare fan dimension (35x35), not available at the stores any longer so I can't use this thing in any of my builds 

As for Slot-1 CPUs in service (as in already mounted inside my retro systems), I got the following models:

1x Celeron 333 (pretty much the same as the other one, mentioned above)
2x Pentium 3, 733MHz (both passive heatsinks)
1x Pentium 3 550MHz
1x Pentium 3 500MHz
2x Pentium 3 450MHz (one is passive, cooled by the chassis fan - Dell Optiplex)
5x Pentium 2, 350MHz

Speaking of which, I'm in the middle of getting another Slot-1 mobo and Pentium 2 CPU  Probably around Mon, Tuesday still too early to say anything for sure, but I will post pics as always


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## dorsetknob (Jan 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Unfortunately, it uses a rare fan dimension (35x35), not available at the stores any longer


fans fitted to my stock of Vintage slot 2 P11 and celeron  are ( 50x 50 ) they are attached by screws to the serrated heat sink

http://www.evercool.com.tw/categories/global/fan/dcfan/ec-5010/ec5010.php


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## Mr.Scott (Jan 24, 2016)

Trekkie, if you need anything for your builds, gimme a shout. I may have what you need. I'm sure we can work something out.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 24, 2016)

Finally have that 586 up & running. Windows 95 kinda backfired & doesn't want to boot again (did get it to boot once), but other than that everything seems to be working OK.

Really hate talking about ppl, behind their back, but this guy who sold this system was either an idiot or didn't care whatsoever. Because what he claimed to be 80Mhz clearly reads "Am5x86-P75-S" with "CPU Clock @ 133MHz" So yes, it's working at full capacity - no need to mess with the voltage regulators 

Now to boot up Win95... Stay tuned!


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## dorsetknob (Jan 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> no need to mess with the voltage regulators



You would only need to mess with the Voltage regulators "" IF you were to go Back to Intel CPU ""
what you have is a legitimate Nostalgic upgrade mod correct for the Period 
Volt regulator mod was done to enable this AMD CPU to work in your board socket


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 24, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Trekkie, if you need anything for your builds, gimme a shout. I may have what you need. I'm sure we can work something out.


Thanks bunches!  Not sure it would be worth the hassle (and postage), but I might get back to you on that, some day  Also, thanks for figuring out the mobo model, totally overlooked that part, above 

@dorsetknob Ah, gotcha. Sorry, as you can probably tell I'm not experienced with this generation of hardware. Mainly because I didn't get to work on it as much as I did with ATX, Pentium rigs. Either way, this thing here is a real rare hardware masterpiece, that much is for sure  Glad I decided to follow your advice & keep it like this, as I already got the real 486 DX4 in other system (while this 586 here is 1st one to have, or even see in person, ever)


----------



## debs3759 (Jan 24, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> keep the cpu its supposedly quite rare



It's not particularly rare. They show up in the CPU-World forum from time to time, I have 4 x 5x86-P75 (a mix of ADW and ADZ), which were priced between $5 and $7.


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## Retrorockit (Jan 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> WOW!!
> 
> I really, really love (adore, actually) Slot-1 motherboards and CPUs! Apart from the fact that I had one back in a day (which makes them nostalgic), they're so easy to use & swap! Obviously, my collection is not even remotely big enough to what you have inside this box here, but yes - I DO have couple of Slot-1 spares  Got Pentium 3 550, Pentium 2 266 (from that weird-looking motherboard, posted on the previous page), Celeron 300A and Celeron 333,  all of them in full & working condition! Also have one Pentium 3, 500 which is missing a fan. Unfortunately, it uses a rare fan dimension (35x35), not available at the stores any longer so I can't use this thing in any of my builds
> 
> ...


 My Voodoo 5500 AGP is just gathering dust. Make an offer if you want to, it would be about right for slot 1 era.


----------



## debs3759 (Jan 24, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm not sure that's the same thing as AGP 1.0, AGP2.0, and AGP 3.0  I think the 1x,2x. and 4x were speeds data went through the bus (like PCIe 1x, 4x, and 16x cards on same slot). I think AGP1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 were different generations of motherboard architecture.



AGP 1.0 = AGP 1x and 2x = 3.3V
AGP 2.0 = AGP 4x = 1.5V
AGP 3.0 = AGP 8x = 0.8V

They all used a 66MHz bus. Cards that operated at 1x are few and far between. The only cards I can think of that specs say run at 1x and not 2x are the first NVidia cards, such as Diamond Edge.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 25, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> My Voodoo 5500 AGP is just gathering dust. Make an offer if you want to, it would be about right for slot 1 era.


You and I both know the value of this thing, so to be completely honest, I don't even know where to begin. The question is, how much would you expect?

Edit
It's time once again, to show the on-going progress with 586... Before I got to do any software changes, I had to deal with hardware ones, first. Mainly the network card (which I'm not going to use either way), because it wasn't showing up among the hardware components. So, after swapping the card for another (identical) one, reading the instruction manual & tinkering with IRQ resources on both the card itself and BIOS, I finally got the damn thing to work!

Anyhow, regarding software... Had to improvise the testing (and working) area for this thing, so that I could boot up the new copy of Win95, along with other software. The old copy of Windows was way too damaged (and cluttered) to be restored, so instead of wasting my time with all that, I went from scratch & booted up the fresh copy of Win95 off a CD. The old copy was apparently a floppy one, because when I was tinkering with the hardware & made some changes to the system drivers, W95 asked me to provide "disk #6"  Yeah, riiiight!




As you can see, I'll be using this Cherry DIN keyboard for this procedure... Although I do have several of those DIN-to-PS2 converters laying around, nothing beats the original if you ask me! 




System specs are following: Am5x86-P75-S @ 133MHz, along with 8MB of EDO RAM and 813MB hard drive. Actually, I might upgrade the RAM to 16MB, since I have the feeling that both CPU & mobo are capable of delivering much more performance, but are tied up due to RAM shortage. After all, regardless of the name "586" - this system here is more a "Pentium" class than x86 one.


 



HI!  As you can see,  both Turbo and HDD LEDs light up as they should!




And Turbo one goes off when the Turbo switch is turned off (LO)




Windows 95 starts here 




My (small) tribute to TPU 




Yeah, riiight!




Windows 95 is up, now it's time to get some games up & running... Starting with Cybwar Mission "Thunder Gun", to "Blast enemy star fighters in this action packed adventure game" Riiiight, but this thing here is the oldest game I got, that's on CD-ROM and not floppy. Copyright says 1995, which makes this a perfect game for 586 system 


 

 



Come get some! Even though it lags... Yup, I definitely need to restore some of the RAM. What it had before was too much, but 8MB is just not enough for Win95 




And that's all, folks. See you again tomorrow for more!


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## Retrorockit (Jan 25, 2016)

I'm not trying to get the most $ out of it. I would like to see someone use it. I've seen what they go for on Ebay .  If I wanted a bunch of money for it I would auction it. Make an offer and either I say yes or I say no.
Definitely less than $100.
 Nobody replied to my post about My Dell Dimension E520 (2006) at 4Ghz. Maybe it's too new for this thread ( and too old for most others). But I've crammed an R9-285 O/C in the BTX Mini tower. Runs great. I've got some bugs to work out though.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 25, 2016)

Sorry guys, totally forgot to post some images of my server, still too lazy to install the graphics card.. 






















At least cleaned the SCSI controller of most dust


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## dorsetknob (Jan 25, 2016)

Still Working on original power source
Never been upgraded
display perfect
used occasionaly


Spoiler:  











And yes its older than alot of the members here


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## debs3759 (Jan 25, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm not trying to get the most $ out of it. I would like to see someone use it. I've seen what they go for on Ebay .  If I wanted a bunch of money for it I would auction it. Make an offer and either I say yes or I say no.
> Definitely less than $100.



I have sent you a PM about this, on the off chance that Trekkie4 decides it is worth more than he can afford. He has first dibs of course


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 25, 2016)

@debs3759 and @Retrorockit Voodoo5 is definitely worth more than I can afford at the moment, that much is for certain. If I were to offer you the actual value of Voodoo5 5500 card, it would have to be (at least) 140$ or above, because that's what these cards are selling for. In fact, there was one V5 on sale locally, couple of months ago. The guy wanted double the amount of what I wrote, so obviously I had to turn him down. And yes - believe it or not, it got sold in less than a month  Anyway, what I can offer you right now is 15$, perhaps 30$ max. Keep in mind that (just like @debs3759), I would also have to pay the postage (and customs fee?) so that the actual price would most likely only go up the scale. Sooo yeah...

I suppose I can always wait & hope that someone from EU would sell me their Voodoo5, as it would be much cheaper & more affordable that way.


Now, back to my ongoing project, 586... Just like I said yesterday, I've successfully upgraded the RAM to 16MB. Used the identical pair of EDO modules, which I took out from an old Pentium (MMX), long time ago. It's only fair to say that the speed increase is obvious, and disk activity has been reduced by at least 50%.


 

Had to remove the ATA cables in the process, but that is to be expected... Especially with these boards 


 

As I was digging through my boxes for EDO memory, figured I'd post another pic of all the "spares"  That mobo down there is spare Pentium 1 233, paired with DTK-branded, AT styled board with 2x EDO modules (either 16 or 32MB) From what I got to see, it's all tested & fully operational! Rest of the stuff are just video cards (Evil Kyro, ATI Radeon 9200) and lots of serial rodents! 


 

 

 

This here is what I was telling you about. This is the real thing, 486 board with ISA & VESA banks, running 4MB of RAM and DX2 @ 66MHz CPU. Since I was in a hurry, didn't have the time to pull it out from the static protection bag, I'm sorry. But I'm sure you get the point, either way 


 

 

Back to software & 586... Who wants some Wang? Yes, this game now works pretty OK, considering this is 5x86 machine. It does lag a bit, I'm guessing because of the Cirrus Logic VGA card which has only 1MB of VRAM. Was tempted to swap it for something better but I had to draw a line somewhere - I didn't want this rig to become just another Pentium class machine.


 

 



With Shadow Warrior up & running, I wanted to try something more difficult... Despite the initial warning message, the game DOES run (pretty decent, actually), but just like with Shadow Warrior, it lags at certain areas & combat situations.


 

 

 

 



Heretic does seem to be working perfectly fine, no slowdowns whatsoever.


 

 

Overall, this is the current situation. With all the games up & running, it's barely 50% full. Probably due to file system, FAT32 rather than using FAT16 (which is also one of the reasons I wanted newer copy of Win95)


 

Now for a bonus question - can you tell me which DOS game was I playing here?  Need a HINT?


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 25, 2016)

Seems like most of the interest In Voodoos is in EU. Not surprising really with the planned obsolescence driven "economy" we've got here in the US.


----------



## debs3759 (Jan 25, 2016)

There seem to be a lot of graphics card collectors in Europe, same as CPU collectors (although with the latter I know people all over the world).


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 25, 2016)

Yes FWIW more AMD K6-3+ seem to have escaped from laptop OEMs there than in the US. Some people over here think they don't exist.


----------



## debs3759 (Jan 25, 2016)

I just bought a AMD K6-III+/500ANZ, faster than the K6-2+/570ACZ I recently bought. It will be going in one of my GPU testing systems. Just got to check if the only Socket 7 board I have can cope with the low voltage, or if I need to search for a suitable board


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 25, 2016)

There were secret low voltage jumper setting for some boards, and posts on appropriate BIOS settings for those BIOS without native support for that CPU. The K6III+ 400 had jumper settings for 4X100 multiplier and 6X66 multiplier to run @ 400 on Intel based 66Mhz boards. Of course 6X100 was a lot more fun. I had mine on an FIC VA503+ board. Maybe if you google that board you might find some of the posts I'm referring to. I don't know how the multi's went on those over 400Mhz. Tyan had some Super 7 boards with 2 MB "L3" cache. I  found this page listing a few MB that support these
http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=71269


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 26, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> Seems like most of the interest In Voodoos is in EU. Not surprising really with the planned obsolescence driven "economy" we've got here in the US.





debs3759 said:


> There seem to be a lot of graphics card collectors in Europe, same as CPU collectors (although with the latter I know people all over the world).



IDK about rest of the world, but around here ppl are not really that into old technology. Well, some of them obviously are, but what we lack are clubs, meetings & trade markets, where collectors would be able to exchange, buy and sell their collections & experience. Which works in my favor, I'm not going to complain because this makes most of the old and/or obsolete hardware completely worthless. Let's take 3dfx Voodoo cards for example, I used to come across those almost every other day, and they've been dirt cheap. Well, most of them anyway - paid 3$ per card (Voodoo2 to be exact), and I took several of them!

Things are rapidly changing however, I honestly don't remember when was the last time I saw 3dfx card for sale (and for a decent price) And not just 3dfx, old Pentiums & 486 systems as well - heck, you can't even find those any longer, which is why I only have 2.5 of those in stock, they are becoming pretty rare nowdays.

In just couple of years from now, most of these builds will be considered "ancient", partially because of the huge amounts of destroyed units, throughout the world. Most of the folks don't understand (or don't care) what they have & simply throw it out the window or recycle for gold, thinking they'll get rich if they scrap their old motherboard for example *sigh*. Take this last 5x86 for example, the guy wrote in his ad that he's going to throw it to e-waste within couple of days, if no one calls him back. What else is there to say


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## Retrorockit (Jan 26, 2016)

Think about all the Dell and HP BTX's coming out of offices now and being scrapped by the millions. Delta AFC1212DE 120X38 BTX fans that draw 1.6A are so common they're $5-$10 a piece. The Dell heatpipe cooler I'm using for my QX6800 O/C is $12-$15 on Ebay. (T9303, or D9729). I bought a couple Dell server fans Delta AFC1512DG 150mmX50mm for $15. Nobody knows what to do with them.

http://www.overclock.net/g/i/2610507/150x50mm-1-9a-next-to-delta-120x25mm-8a/u/441031/flat/1/


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 26, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> Think about all the Dell and HP BTX's coming out of offices now and being scrapped by the millions. Delta AFC1212DE 120X38 BTX fans that draw 1.6A are so common they're $5-$10 a piece. The Dell heatpipe cooler I'm using for my QX6800 O/C is $12-$15 on Ebay. (T9303, or D9729). I bought a couple Dell server fans Delta AFC1512DE 150mmX50mm for $15. Nobody knows what to do with them.
> 
> http://cdn.overclock.net/4/43/200x200px-ZC-43d5e631_037.jpeg


Today those may not be worth anything, but tomorrow people will start looking for them & will bid for the highest prices. Figuratively speaking, of course not literally. It'll be at least 5-10 more years before this stuff becomes "vintage" But yes, every piece of hardware (or even software, in some cases) starts expensive, then gets cheaper over the years & then (as the time goes on) more expensive again, to the point where (and when) it costs millions!

After all, same thing happened with all those Slot-1 and 486 systems over the years. These used to be so common back in a day, so when companies finally upgraded to something better, these were showing up all over, even destroyed, recycled. I'm not saying either Slot-1 or 486 are rarity, you can still find them everywhere, but they certainly ARE on the road to oblivion. In couple of years from now, these models will become rare, ot least a collector's thing. As in, they'll only be found among the ppl who collect them, most of the other samples will be destroyed. Same thing happened before (with 286, 386 machines & earlier), and same thing will happen again and again, that's how large corporations earn their income.


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## Kissamies (Jan 26, 2016)

I have a Sunon fan which draws 36W on my server, I think I need to put a resistor or a fan controller to it if I want to use that machine more than a hour in a day..


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 26, 2016)

Happy to say that my 586 is finally completely finished 





Meanwhile, I got something interesting... Athlon? K7 "Summit" board made by Chaintech, from around 2003, 2004 in the original box! It has Spire FalconRock cooler mounted on top of it, but I'll most likely to remove it either way, for the sake of cleaning & visual inspection. Pics coming up shortly!

Edit
Removed the heatsink - CPU underneath is AXDA2500DKV4D, aka AMD Athlon XP 2500+ @ 1833MHz (according to cpu-world)


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## Kissamies (Jan 26, 2016)

Put a voodoo2 (SLI?) to it next? 

I mean da real oldskool machine, not the AXP


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## Kissamies (Jan 26, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> Seems like most of the interest In Voodoos is in EU. Not surprising really with the planned obsolescence driven "economy" we've got here in the US.


Just sold one Voodoo2 12MB, here in Finland people like to use Voodoos on retro PC's.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 26, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> Just sold one Voodoo2 12MB, here in Finland people like to use Voodoos on retro PC's.


People like to use Voodoos on retro PCs everywhere, not just in Finland lol  But nah! A - I'm all out of Voodoo2 cards at the moment and B - I already got 5 SLI rigs put together  2x Diamond Monster 3DII 8MB SLI, 1x Creative CT-6670 12MB SLI, 1x 3dfx Voodoo2 1000 12MB (although different board revisions) SLI and last but not least 1x "Mismatched" SLI with Creative CT-6670 paired up with Diamond Monster 3DII, both 12MB.

However, I WILL add Voodoo1 card to that Celeron/Pentium2 build that I've mentioned before 586 project popped out. I've been planning to do so right from the beginning actually!


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## Retrorockit (Jan 26, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> I have a Sunon fan which draws 36W on my server, I think I need to put a resistor or a fan controller to it if I want to use that machine more than a hour in a day..


 My 3.4A. 2 motor fan is in my daily use computer. It's PWM so the power and noise ratings are "theoretical" for everyday use. It normally runs at 25%, maybe 30% when stress testing. The only time I used 100% was  when I ran 4GHZ and it crashed , and wouldn't reboot. Then I unplugged the blue PWM wire which sent it to 100% and got it booted, got my validation, and turned it back down to 3.72Ghz. It's actually quieter than a faster single motor fan. When stress testing it reaches 73*C. the fan speeds up a little and blows it back down to 65*C, and it never goes back up again. The 150X50s won't fit in my Dimension case. I'm saving them for an Optiplex where they can be Velcroed in behind the front air intake. I just bought 2 more GFB1212VHGs for $21 each. There's a  "Delta Fanatics" forum at Overclock.net. Some people collect these things. I seem to be the only one actually using them to mod my computer.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 26, 2016)

Chaintech Summit, Socket A board with Athlon XP 2500+ (and Spire FalconRock CPU cooler) The first (and only, so far) mobo in my collection to use active cooling on the chipset!


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## Kissamies (Jan 27, 2016)

I'd put my Soundblaster live! to my server if it would accept it, it just accepts universal keyed PCI cards and it doesnt have integrated sound. :/


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## Retrorockit (Jan 27, 2016)

I have a SB GoPRo USB sound card in my laptop. With Logitech Z523 speakers it sounds pretty good. Not very retro, but any port in a storm.


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## MIRTAZAPINE (Jan 27, 2016)

I think most of the old hardware we see here in the nostalgia thread would be getting a lot more rare not only those Voodoos and 486s. The problem of planned obsolescence have been around since the very start of PC era or any other electronics consumer though at that time it was not very apparent yet. As electronics and computers are very expensive and even the older 2nd stuff have value in normal computing usage. I remember a time when the 2nd hand computer market was thriving business. 

Now the planned obsolescence is apparent from the pushing on of ever faster product or a product is more shinier and newer. I sadly called into this trap many years ago. I remember my dad buying a used HP Pentium 4 deskstop. And I said it was useless. I said there are faster computers around and was rather unhappy with that.  The deskstop was eventually thrown away with old ddr1 Rams from the early 2000s that is lying around the house. It take me a few years to realised what a mistake I letting such history to be thrown away like that. A very useful piece of history that can grow my understanding of how computers works. Having the space to keep that old PC was an issue too. I am still sadden throwing away completely workable PC like that.

I guess in many people's mind I went through happen to them and it is possibly even worst as normal people are not interested in how a computer is build or how it works. Just wanting something to run fast. It is more than just planned obsolescence disinterest plays a huge part too and the lack of knowledge how to fix things.

I am lucky to see old hardware that is here that is spared from the millions of computers in the e waste dumps. I don't think things are looking bright for hardware 2010 and before. The saving grace now is increase  of computing power is slowing down a lot making people stick to their electronics longer.


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## Retrorockit (Jan 27, 2016)

Actually there is a large market in used computers now. They're selling a lot of refurbished BTX office machines almost all of them LGA775. They sell for about the price of a Windows license in many cases. I spend a lot of time at Tomshardware answering questions about upgrading these. The supply is much larger than the demand,  so many still get scrapped. They're usually bought by people with little money and no experience. There are no aftermarket parts for these OEM computers so adaptation is required. There is also a lot of disinformation out there. BTX is no good, you can't overclock a Dell etc.. My Dimension E520 is a Pentium 4 era machine that got a BIOS update for Core2Duo technology. It's my myth buster. Using readily available parts and sound overclocking techniques I've got it running 3.72Ghz Core 2 Quad, and 71 fps in Unigine Heaven. Mine was built in 2006. I have more radical mods in mind that will require fabrication of parts, water cooling etc. But right now I have a nice mid range computer that's 10 years old. I've been a victim of advertising and mythology myself. I have a huge pile of aftermarket coolers, and fans I thought I would need, only to find  out that what I already had or could buy surplus was much superior. I do suppose my electric bill could be smaller.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 27, 2016)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I think most of the old hardware we see here in the nostalgia thread would be getting a lot more rare not only those Voodoos and 486s. The problem of planned obsolescence have been around since the very start of PC era or any other electronics consumer though at that time it was not very apparent yet. As electronics and computers are very expensive and even the older 2nd stuff have value in normal computing usage. I remember a time when the 2nd hand computer market was thriving business.
> 
> Now the planned obsolescence is apparent from the pushing on of ever faster product or a product is more shinier and newer. I sadly called into this trap many years ago. I remember my dad buying a used HP Pentium 4 deskstop. And I said it was useless. I said there are faster computers around and was rather unhappy with that.  The deskstop was eventually thrown away with old ddr1 Rams from the early 2000s that is lying around the house. It take me a few years to realised what a mistake I letting such history to be thrown away like that. A very useful piece of history that can grow my understanding of how computers works. Having the space to keep that old PC was an issue too. I am still sadden throwing away completely workable PC like that.
> 
> ...



Yeah, that's a shame  Personally, whenever I have a decent system that's completely operational (and I don't have any obvious purpose for it, and/or consider it to be too modern for my retro collection), I pass it on to other ppl who need it more than I do. Friends, family, charity, etc. In fact, I donated 3 machines that way, one to each of them. I would probably donate even more stuff, but let's face it - there's only so much you can do with old hardware, there's a good reason why ppl throw these (completely functional) machines to e-waste & recycling yards, no matter how heartbreaking it might seem to us here, in Nostalgic Hardware club.



Retrorockit said:


> Actually there is a large market in used computers now. They're selling a lot of refurbished BTX office machines almost all of them LGA775. They sell for about the price of a Windows license in many cases. I spend a lot of time at Tomshardware answering questions about upgrading these. The supply is much larger than the demand,  so many still get scrapped. They're usually bought by people with little money and no experience. There are no aftermarket parts for these OEM computers so adaptation is required. There is also a lot of disinformation out there. BTX is no good, you can't overclock a Dell etc.. My Dimension E520 is a Pentium 4 era machine that got a BIOS update for Core2Duo technology. It's my myth buster. Using readily available parts and sound overclocking techniques I've got it running 3.72Ghz Core 2 Quad, and 71 fps in Unigine Heaven. Mine was built in 2006. I have more radical mods in mind that will require fabrication of parts, water cooling etc. But right now I have a nice mid range computer that's 10 years old. I've been a victim of advertising and mythology myself. I have a huge pile of aftermarket coolers, and fans I thought I would need, only to find  out that what I already had or could buy surplus was much superior. I do suppose my electric bill could be smaller.



Never had a BTX machine before, and frankly - don't think I'd ever want to actually own one. In fact, I only got to see BTX in person once, in my entire life. It was put on display, at some local hardware shop... First thing to notice was the (wrong) position of the motherboard, since it had the mirrored ATX design (mobo & cards on the right side of chassis and back panel on the left) Besides, BTX wouldn't work with ATX & vice versa, and since most of my retro stock is either AT or ATX based, I'd have some serious problems putting it together or replacing components since they're getting hard to find these days


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## Sasqui (Jan 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Chaintech Summit, Socket A board with Athlon XP 2500+ (and Spire FalconRock CPU cooler) The first (and only, so far) mobo in my collection to use active cooling on the chipset!



Mine was a Cyrix 200+   One time, the PC started acting flaky, freezes, reboots, etc.  Found the wire to the fan was in the blades.  Fixed that and it worked great lol


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 27, 2016)

Ceramic package, right? Yes, these things were resilient to extreme heat, most of the modern(ish) units would most likely to either throttle down or fry


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## Retrorockit (Jan 27, 2016)

[



Never had a BTX machine before, and frankly - don't think I'd ever want to actually own one. In fact, I only got to see BTX in person once, in my entire life. It was put on display, at some local hardware shop... First thing to notice was the (wrong) position of the motherboard, since it had the mirrored ATX design (mobo & cards on the right side of chassis and back panel on the left) Besides, BTX wouldn't work with ATX & vice versa, and since most of my retro stock is either AT or ATX based, I'd have some serious problems putting it together or replacing components since they're getting hard to find these days [/QUOTE]

I'm retired and since it would take me only a couple of hours to build an ATX, I decided to take on the BTX challenge. It didn't hurt that I already owned one and had failed to overclock it a few times. The motherboard has never been out of mine. Once you figure out how they work they're actually very good machines. The whole purpose of the design was to cool 130W PentiumDs, and 3.8Ghz Pentium4s. Once you defeat the locked BIOS, and learn that the 1.6A. fan running off the Mb causes crashes they actually overclock quite well.


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## Sasqui (Jan 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ceramic package, right? Yes, these things were resilient to extreme heat, most of the modern(ish) units would most likely to either throttle down or fry



I was recalling it having some "bling" to it, so a quick google and I found it.  PR200 it was, (I could swear it said 200+) ... the overall package was ceramic, but a gold heat spreader   I wonder if I've got it floating around somewhere...  I think it was in a Chaintech MB.

I've got a 486 Dx-33 in a MB right next to me in a bookcase.  I think that was retired for that Cyrix CPU







Source: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/6x86/Cyrix-6x86MX-PR200 (66MHz 2.9V).html


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 27, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm retired and since it would take me only a couple of hours to build an ATX, I decided to take on the BTX challenge. It didn't hurt that I already owned one and had failed to overclock it a few times. The motherboard has never been out of mine. Once you figure out how they work they're actually very good machines. The whole purpose of the design was to cool 130W PentiumDs, and 3.8Ghz Pentium4s. Once you defeat the locked BIOS, and learn that the 1.6A. fan running off the Mb causes crashes they actually overclock quite well.



Right, gotta like your attitude  I learned quite a lot about hardware, all thanks to vintage stuff - and will hopefully learn a lot more!



Sasqui said:


> I was recalling it having some "bling" to it, so a quick google and I found it.  PR200 it was, (I could swear it said 200+) ... the overall package was ceramic, but a gold heat spreader   I wonder if I've got it floating around somewhere...  I think it was in a Chaintech MB.
> 
> I've got a 486 Dx-33 in a MB right next to me in a bookcase.  I think that was retired for that Cyrix CPU
> 
> ...



Kinda related to my previous post (in response to @Retrorockit ), this is exactly what I'm talking about! I never heard of 6x86 CPUs before, in my entire life! To be perfectly honest, I never heard of 5x86 ones either, until I got that system couple of days ago! Pretty impressive stuff, considering how old this is 

What I DO know is that 4x86 CPUs are still being produced (and used) today, although not in the same form & only for specific hardware purposes. (such as ATM machines, for example)


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## Sasqui (Jan 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Kinda related to my previous post (in response to @Retrorockit ), this is exactly what I'm talking about! I never heard of 6x86 CPUs before, in my entire life! To be perfectly honest, I never heard of 5x86 ones either, until I got that system couple of days ago! Pretty impressive stuff, considering how old this is



Hey, who are you calling old? hahaha...  Cyrix produced quite a few CPU's, no idea what happened to them.  I found that one at a PC tradeshow here in Manchester, NH back in the 90's



Trekkie4 said:


> What I DO know is that 4x86 CPUs are still being produced (and used) today, although not in the same form & only for specific hardware purposes. (such as ATM machines, for example)



Go figure... also the F-35 apparently


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 27, 2016)

Sasqui said:


> Hey, who are you calling old? hahaha...  Cyrix produced quite a few CPU's, no idea what happened to them.  I found that one at a PC tradeshow here in Manchester, NH back in the 90's
> 
> 
> 
> Go figure... also the F-35 apparently



Hey, as long as you're old enough to remember the old days & DOS commands, you ARE old  Speaking of ATMs, 486 CPUs and "Nostalgic Hardware", check this out!


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## Sasqui (Jan 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hey, as long as you're old enough to remember the old days & DOS commands, you ARE old  Speaking of ATMs, 486 CPUs and "Nostalgic Hardware", check this out!




Hahaha, that's awesome!

(And yes, I read the DOS 5.0 manual front to back in 1991... seriously)


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## dorsetknob (Jan 27, 2016)

Still got MS Dos 4.0 and GW Basic full manual on my bookshelf ( from AST )
pics in thread earlier ( around page 15 ish i think )

and the Tandon guide to windows (circa 1987 )


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 27, 2016)

Took apart & cleaned one of those serial Microsoft-branded rodents  IDK why am I even wasting my time with this, but it seemed a waste to throw away, especially since serial-ones are kinda hard to find these days. On the other hand, I got the entire box of these things, both serial & PS/2... Not to mention a brand new, never used Primax "Rainbow series" with serial interface, in blue color...


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## Sasqui (Jan 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Took apart & cleaned one of those serial Microsoft-branded rodents  IDK why am I even wasting my time with this, but it seemed a waste to throw away, especially since serial-ones are kinda hard to find these days. On the other hand, I got the entire box of these things, both serial & PS/2... Not to mention a brand new, never used Primax "Rainbow series" with serial interface, in blue color...



Its amazing what a quantum leap to get an optical mouse after swearing at and rubbing mouse balls for so many years, lol. They sure were good for what they were at the time tho.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 27, 2016)

Indeed, I remember playing games such as DX-Ball, Boogaloopers & similar and how frustrated I felt at the time, because damn thing would slip or get stuck (always in the worst possible moment, of course) 

This one came with that 5x86 machine, but like I said earlier, I got tons of these in the box. In fact, think I got couple of these Microsoft branded rodents  (featured on Win95 setup screen, along with MS "Natural" keyboard)

Edit
Wow! Apparently these things are going for $19.25! - LINK


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 28, 2016)

Sneak peek of the upcoming project - the unnamed build! (is it just me, or this case resembles Compaq Presario design, from the late 90's?)


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## Ahhzz (Jan 28, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sneak peek of the upcoming project - the unnamed build! (is it just me, or this case resembles Compaq Presario design, from the late 90's?)


ewwww ewww ewww!!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 28, 2016)

Close... But no - actually I was thinking more of something like this, here


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## Ahhzz (Jan 28, 2016)

no.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 28, 2016)

Seriously? Rounded edges, oval details at the bottom, 3x 5.25" drive bays, etc... That 1st one you showed me looks more like a server case IMHO.


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## Ahhzz (Jan 28, 2016)

It was   Just brings back awful retail memories


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2016)

Ahhzz said:


> It was   Just brings back awful retail memories


Don't worry, there won't be any Compaq parts in this build  Speaking of which, I've been gathering components, all scattered around the room & boxes, pics coming up tomorrow! However, since I don't have spare PSU at the moment (along with 10GB HDD), I won't be able to boot it up just yet.

Edit
At least now I'm able to tell the final specs for this thing...

CPU: Intel Celeron (Mendocino) @ 433MHz, S370
MBO: DFI CA61, S370
RAM: either 2x 32MB or 1x 64MB
VGA: Matrox Mystique AGP, 4MB
ODD1: Asus 34X CD-ROM
ODD2: LG DVD-ROM
FDD: 1.44MB Floppy
OS: Either Win95(C) or Win98 first edition

Along to these, this system is also going to have Voodoo1 accelerator, DVD (MPEG) accelerator and fax modem (or network adapter)


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## Retrorockit (Jan 29, 2016)

My homebuilt only had 1- 3.5 bay so I got the LS120 drive which was bigger than Zip, and backwards compatible with floppies too. It was IDE and Zips were SCSI . It was free after rebate. I just had to file mail fraud charges with the Postal Inspector to get it. Maybe my friend still has her Castlewood Orb 2GB 5.25" drive. It came and went between CD, and DVD. I t wouldn't surprise me if she's still using it though. The hottest beige CD player was the Kenwood 52X true-X. Instead of turning insane RPMs to get fast throughput, it used 7 lasers at once to scan the disc. Came in 40X also. Quiet and super fast. Worth keeping an eye out for one. One of my favorite pieces of software back in the day was Virtual CD Copier. It made copies of all your CDs on the HDD, and assigned virtual drive letters up to Z:, I could load all 5 discs of Riven on virtualCDs at once and move between them seamlessly. It was fun going to My Computer and seeing 10 CD drives available. Things weren't so standardized back then. There was really cool stuff to play with.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> My homebuilt only had 1- 3.5 bay so I got the LS120 drive which was bigger than Zip, and backwards compatible with floppies too. It was IDE and Zips were SCSI . It was free after rebate. I just had to file mail fraud charges with the Postal Inspector to get it. Maybe my friend still has her Castlewood Orb 2GB 5.25" drive. It came and went between CD, and DVD. I t wouldn't surprise me if she's still using it though. The hottest beige CD player was the Kenwood 52X true-X. Instead of turning insane RPMs to get fast throughput, it used 7 lasers at once to scan the disc. Came in 40X also. Quiet and super fast. Worth keeping an eye out for one. One of my favorite pieces of software back in the day was Virtual CD Copier. It made copies of all your CDs on the HDD, and assigned virtual drive letters up to Z:, I could load all 5 discs of Riven on virtualCDs at once and move between them seamlessly. It was fun going to My Computer and seeing 10 CD drives available. Things weren't so standardized back then. There was really cool stuff to play with.


Never had LS120 drive before, but I've heard a lot about those Kenwood drives, they're kinda legendary (even today!) I wanted one of those back in a day, but couldn't afford spending so much money on a CD-ROM, especially when I already had a BTC 36X which served its purpose...


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## Retrorockit (Jan 29, 2016)

This game was released in 1998. It's been updated by the community continuously since.








This next track was a classic over the road race from the 50s-60s. The track is basically 1 lap of Sicily, on 2 lane country roads. A driver could make a career just by being able to remember the route. It was recreated from films, maps ,and photos by the GPL community. F1 cars never ran there, but there are GT carsets too.








The cars were set up wrong to start with, the learning curve was vertical, and if you couldn't drive faster than Jim Clark you didn't win a race. The computers of the day couldn't run it really. The FFB was the best ever (the same guys are doing iRacing now). You needed to convert the best cable wheels to ball bearing to feel what it was able to communicate.

It was a Glide game. This is what I bought the Voodoo 5500 for.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Never had LS120 drive before,


still got 2 of the suckers both still work
got 5 disks as well  boy they were expensive for the time
They were a niche product to start with and the cheap deployment of CD Re writers killed them off


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> still got 2 of the suckers both still work
> got 5 disks as well  boy they were expensive for the time
> They were a niche product to start with and the cheap deployment of CD Re writers killed them off


Not really that surprised, since Iomega & their ZIP drive had pretty much the same fate. And now (after all these years), the same thing is happening to optical media due to online streaming &/or USB drives.


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## Retrorockit (Jan 29, 2016)

This is Dell's Desktop Support Forum's  response to asking how to adjust the BIOS video resolution setting.

That $300 video card is for a high powered, much faster and much more recent computer. The E520 is an obsolete model now and cannot run that card. You should return the card and put that money towards a new computer. You can buy a new computer now that cost less than the video card.

 Instead I just ordered another Sapphire Dual BIOS R9-285 ITX O/C from Newegg for $170.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2016)

So much for my "final" specs, I was just about to mount that CA61 mobo inside the case when I noticed that despite the "older" design, it would be way too modern for what I have in mind. Also, I've been reading about Voodoo1 cards, and most 3dfx fans out there agree that running 450MHz (and above) CPU is too much for V1 cards to handle, which often results with screen artifacts & other problems. 433 is right there on the very edge, so I didn't want to risk anything & changed the board to Slot-1 with Celeron 333, instead!


 

 

 

 



So, once again - presenting the following (and hopefully final) specs:

CPU: Intel Celeron (Mendocino) @ 333MHz, Slot-1
MBO: iWill BD-100 (Slot-1)
RAM: 1x 64MB, PC100
VGA: Matrox Mystique AGP, 4MB
ODD1: Asus 34X CD-ROM
ODD2: LG DVD-ROM
FDD: 1.44MB Floppy
OS: Windows 95(C)

It might seem totally random, but actually I was inspired by those Hot Wheels (and Barbie) computers from back in a day. In other words, just the basic & low budget components, slightly modified (and upgraded) with certain features. Such as DVD drive for example, along with DVD encoder card, Voodoo1 & 64MB of RAM memory 




They had better & "improved" models, which came with 64MB of RAM so I don't feel bad for upgrading RAM (and therefore wouldn't feel bad for using 433 Celeron, either) but like I said - that CA61 S370 board was too much for this build. I wanted a system which runs @ 100MHz, not 133MHz one. Furthermore, I wanted ATA/33 and not /66 which means CA61 was immediately out of the game for this build 




So, here's the current progress... Obviously, there's still quite a lot of things to do. I need to find the PSU, add the HDD, add those CD-ROM audio cables, do a proper cable management & do a complete check on the Mystique pinout, where it hooks with Creative DVD card (don't want to cause any damage, in case the cable is flipped other way around)


 

 



Oh, and by the way... As you can see @Ahhzz - no Compaq parts inside, so you can relax


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 1, 2016)

I found the charger.

The bloody thing still works !!



*Sony CM-H333 "Mars bar" 1993



 



 *


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 1, 2016)

My cellular, bananular phoooneee  Seriously though, nice one! Makes me kinda sad for not having our 1st mobile "Philips Diga" from around 1996, 97 any longer.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 1, 2016)

I first dialled 999, i hoped  against hope there might be a analogue network ( being run by somone   ) which would allow a free call to emergency services.
The next best thing i found to do with it was to type  the obligatory word BOOBS.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 2, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I first dialled 999, i hoped  against hope there might be a analogue network ( being run by somone   ) which would allow a free call to emergency services.
> The next best thing i found to do with it was to type  the obligatory word BOOBS.


OMG, can't believe it took me so long to realize that


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 2, 2016)

I had a favorite Utility program back in the day. It got killed off by the much inferior Microsoft System Restore included free in XP. It was called Go Back from various publishers. Developed in 1998 it could restore you hard drive to a previous state. The interesting and important feature was that it loaded before and outside of Windows. So it would work even if Windows wouldn't boot. Get a virus, Go Back before the infection, problem gone. Want to try 5 different versions of AOL (notoriously hard to remove)? Done in an hour w/o a trace. There were some programs it didn't play well with but they seem to be well documented in Wiki now. I wasn't afraid to load anything with that program running. It had a setting for public computers where it would revert the drive to  it's original state every shut down.


----------



## Ahhzz (Feb 2, 2016)

I remember Go Back. I recommended it to our Trainer to use with the users so she didn't have to worry about what they did to the computers during class. Very useful piece of software.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 2, 2016)

I had a lady friend who used her computer to work from home. It would get infected, or she would load some free crapware, and then I'd get the late night phone call. I bought her a copy of Go Back. Were still friends now.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 2, 2016)

For those of you who may have been wondering, my Celeron build is on hold until further notice. I can't seem to find anyone willing to sell (or trade) me HDD and PSU for this thing... And those who DO happen to own these are either asking too much money or willing to do absurd trades - one guy wanted to trade his 10yr old PSU for a DDR3 RAM!

On top of all that, I've noticed that the price tag for old hardware has suddenly spiked up. Not sure why & what's to blame, but I suspect that it has to do with world economy & ppl wanting to squeeze every single cent they can, from the stuff they're selling *sigh* Either way, it seems I won't be buying parts any time soon, so stay tuned for future updates on the Celeron situation.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2016)

My battery in my UPS died. So I went to Radio Shack and bought a new one. They had them on sale for 1/2 price.  I installed it and waited 2 days but it still wouldn't charge up. So I pulled it out  and checked the date of Mfg. 10/13/10 It was older than the one I took out! I don't know how old my PSU is, but it's on it's 4th battery.

 I still have all my old HDD back to Pentium 166. I kept them due to personal info. on them. Now I don't have anything that can erase them. Probably not worth shipping to EU anyway.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 3, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> My battery in my UPS died. So I went to Radio Shack and bought a new one. They had them on sale for 1/2 price.  I installed it and waited 2 days but it still wouldn't charge up. So I pulled it out  and checked the date of Mfg. 10/13/10 It was older than the one I took out! I don't know how old my PSU is, but it's on it's 4th battery.
> 
> I still have all my old HDD back to Pentium 166. I kept them due to personal info. on them. Now I don't have anything that can erase them. Probably not worth shipping to EU anyway.


Wait, not sure I understood you... You mean, you don't know how to erase your hard drive of personal information? You got 2 options - destructive one and non-destructive one.

Destructive way of erasing your data is to open it up & soak it into sea water, that's going to permanently erase all your personal data, for sure!  (not kidding!)

Non-destructive way is a little bit complicated, but pays off in the end... First format your drive, wipe off everything you had. Once you did, boot up the OS of your choice via either CD-ROM or USB media (Hiren's Boot CD helps a lot) and access your old (& empty) hard drive from there. You want to get yourself a really big file (DVD *.ISO image, for example) and copy it (or them) onto your hard drive, until you fill up the entire storage capacity. By doing so, you're going to overwrite the sectors on your hard drive, which contained your personal information meaning no one will be able to restore and/or access your personal information any longer.

Alternatively, you can buy (or even get for free, some companies provide these utilities for free) HDD erasing program, which basically does the same thing, but automatically - it overwrites every single sector until the drive is fully overwritten & all the previous data corrupted/lost.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2016)

I don't have a running IDE computer, to connect them to. Just SATA. Since they're not going anywhere right now it's not an issue. If I wanted to destroy them I have a drill press that will work just fine. I do have one motherboard with SATA and IDE. I probably need to make it run so I have 1 ATX in my life so I can test video cards before I mod. them for BTX.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> My cellular, bananular phoooneee  Seriously though, nice one! Makes me kinda sad for not having our 1st mobile "Philips Diga" from around 1996, 97 any longer.












sorry ... i couldn't resist ...


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2016)

Before Texas Instruments invented the digital calculator in 1968 this is how it was done. The Curta portable calculator. Bigger photos and caption in my album below.

http://www.overclock.net/g/a/1298590/default#


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## dorsetknob (Feb 3, 2016)

In School which ended in May 73  we were taught and expected to use one of these





The Dumb kids tried to use their fingers and toes


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2016)

Don't let anybody see you with one of those or you might get a wedgie!


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## dorsetknob (Feb 3, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> Don't let anybody see you with one of those or you might get a wedgie!








Sharp pencils  a sharp tongue and the ability to run fast and dodge   things Nerds learn early if they want to survive


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 3, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I don't have a running IDE computer, to connect them to. Just SATA. Since they're not going anywhere right now it's not an issue. If I wanted to destroy them I have a drill press that will work just fine. I do have one motherboard with SATA and IDE. I probably need to make it run so I have 1 ATX in my life so I can test video cards before I mod. them for BTX.



Oh, I see! Nah, you can always get those IDE to SATA converters, they're cheap and mostly reliable


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 5, 2016)

Old Tech  in fact old Camera tech





















some info here
http://redbellows.co.uk/CameraCollection/HoughtonButcher/JBEnsign_gen.htm

Taken with new Camera Canon EOS 400D


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## stinger608 (Feb 5, 2016)

Wow @dorsetknob , have you checked the value of that antique camera man? That puppy might be worth a ton!!!


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 5, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> In School which ended in May 73  we were taught and expected to use one of these
> 
> 
> 
> ...



so kids from Norfolk could count up to 28.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 5, 2016)

I noticed he felt compelled to include a very sharp looking pencil in his photo.

I tried to warn you. But I see the "Cruncher Society " is after you now.


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## STIG_ZA (Feb 5, 2016)

Updated AthlonX2 rig


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## dorsetknob (Feb 5, 2016)

Another Vintage Camera
This one is The 6-20 Folding Brownie
The *Kodak Folding Brownie Six-20* or *Kodak Six-20 Folding Brownie* was a viewfinder folding camera for making 6x9cm exposures on type No. 620 film rolls. There were two models; the first was produced in the UK by Kodak Ltd from 1937-1940 and the second from 1948-1954

THIS IS THE MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN MODEL









Note the Tripod mounting thread on left hand case And the Original Brown Leather carry case















This Camera was purchased  by my Grandfather and given to and for my Father to take to Kenya to do his National Service in the late 40's this was just before the Mau Mau Uprising officially Started  my dad was there from Dec 1947 to early 1950

PS note to @CAPSLOCKSTUCK
My dad was Based in an Army motor Pool just outside the Capital Nairobi.
my dad was there and witnessed the solar Eclipse of 1st November 1948

Camera info here
http://www.brownie-camera.com/93.shtml


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## stinger608 (Feb 5, 2016)

That is frigging awesome @dorsetknob !!!!! 

Buried in my stuff in storage I have one of the old "3D" Kodak cameras from the late 50's. I think it was from the late 50's. Maybe the early 60's. Can't remember for sure now. 

And I know 4 or 5 years ago they were bringing pretty good prices on Fleabay but haven't checked since then. I'll have to dig it out and take some pictures of it and post them here.


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## Tatty_One (Feb 5, 2016)

The only old things I have is me and the wife   I suppose that would be classified as "software" and not hardware so I will ban myself for off topic trolling.


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## stinger608 (Feb 5, 2016)

Tatty_One said:


> The only old things I have is me and the wife   I suppose that would be classified as "software" and not hardware so I will ban myself for off topic trolling.




Oh god I just spit coffee all over the damn desk @Tatty_One !!!!


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## Dia01 (Feb 6, 2016)

Silvertigo said:


> Heres a Coolit Freezone Elite v2 cooling a C2 Extreme QX 6850
> 
> Mobo is a Maximus Formula BIOS modded to a Maximus Rampage (lga 775 / x38)
> 
> ...


Good to see it being used


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## dorsetknob (Feb 7, 2016)

The budding Nostalgic Musician




an original Zylophone  well worn but still making AWFALL SOUNDS ( die rolf its your fault)

and some more vintage Camera's from the 70's




Kodak Instamatic X15f circa 1976 to 88




Kodak 66X Circa 1973 to 77








Halina Instamatic 110 telephoto Circa 1973


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 7, 2016)

The Xylophone looks quite different to the newer type that my son annoys us with.


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## MIRTAZAPINE (Feb 7, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> so kids from Norfolk could count up to 28.



Talking about the slide rule. It remind me when I was being taught to use an Abacus back in school when I was a child.  I forget how to use it now. I have trouble doing it that I ended up using workings instead to do abacus assignments lol. I should take it up again to improve my brain now. Below a picture of an abacus could not find mine. Would post if I found mind. Mine was one with yellow beads that could not spin. It is the cheaper version but I don't find it as fun as the the beads that can spin around and I play the abacus sliding it around. The one in the picture is the expensive one that cost 3 times more than mine during that time. I think people in the old days do more with primitive things like this "mechanical computers" and have sharper brains than now with modern electronic computer that is supposed to take mental load away from the brain. It is strange what is supposed to make us easier also reduces our skills and creativity.

EDIT : I guess this gap between machines and our brain is one to bridge. The day where we improve tremendously is when is possible to integrated computers into our brain to bypass the limitations I said above. Some futurist predict it to be in 2040 for the singularity.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 7, 2016)

@MIRTAZAPINE

mine is the spinning bead variety. I cant use it, though i can remember being taught as a child. ( for entertainment).


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## MIRTAZAPINE (Feb 7, 2016)

@CAPSLOCKSTUCK 

My is not fun! I can't push the abacus around like a toy car! Other kids in class was doing that! I gonna learn it again to improve my mental functions.

My pc is my signature is dead. I have not rma any of them and it gonna cost me alot.  I got 3 pair of 16gb ram set to rma and the biostar board. I have not gotten any good reply from the latter. I have rma the board before and it cost me 1/4 the cost the board. Doing this again would be a pain in the wallet which I don't ahve much for. I do wanna fix it and keep it well.

Today I decided to put my classic parts into my Eyerobo case that I used with the biostar board. I don't know how well my Asus P5BE-plus would work.

I retired it as I thought it was dead. I tried plugging in a working power supply and it boot some 2005 coolermaster psu that is rather trashy without any PFC. It boots up but not quite stably. This was 2 years ago? The board is not in good shape so I decided to clean it with alchohol taking the battery out. I pour alcohol into the pcie slot and bugs start to come out! I thought since the board is so old I would just wash it water instead. I spray the mobo with water then dried it with a hairdryer. I then left it for a few day to further dry. Then I used the hairdryer again. After all that is done I reconnect the stuff and it boots! Look at my old files from 2007 and 2008 and enjoy them before dismantling them.

Now the old parts have home after my current pc is dead. So that is what I did. Put my seagate HDD is the case. Sorry forget to take pics for seagate drive. It is still alive! Seagate is more reliable than I thought ahha. Right now I have my 1000w Evga platinum to use  with the old pc parts! This will be the home for the Psu. Overkill and looks quite funny having one super modern hardware with old ones.  I use the old intel stock heatsink for the core 2 duo, it is pretty large. It is making noises so I removed the sticker and oiled it. I then paste electrical tape back on it. Ahh the trusty old 8600GT. The box was thrown away but I really like the mascot with the sexy woman archer on it last time. Only got the mobo box. I can't repaste the 8600gt. It seem like the thermal paste is glue solid onto the die. I tried pulling with force and gave up. I don't wanna damage it.

I then plug everything in and it booted to the old windows xp! More pics later. I am tired. Right now I felt like upgrading this oldie with core 2 quad and also ddr2 rams. Anyone can help me in that? I wonder if the p5be-plus support that. A bigger heatsink can do to like the recent scythes. I use my old overclock profile at FSB 450 for my Core 2 duo E6320. I am running stress test on just a stock heatsink overclocked! I guess the huge PSU is helping temperatures too. It is at 78C with 100% load. Stock for the E6320 is 1.86GHZ but I am running at 3.15GHz. I am amazed that this chip hardly degrades vs my modern pentium G3258.


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## dorsetknob (Feb 7, 2016)

I have the Same Board stuffed away in closet
Max ram for that board is 4x2gig for a total of 8 gig


MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Right now I felt like upgrading this oldie with core 2 quad and also ddr2 rams. Anyone can help me in that?



Might be able to help you with that  Depending on your location


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## PP Mguire (Feb 7, 2016)

Gf came to the house with a delivery of a box from my sister's house. Inside was sitting these and a few others.


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## dorsetknob (Feb 7, 2016)

PP Mguire said:


> Gf came to the house with a delivery of a box



Your Gf delivers you your porn in a box   lucky sod


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## PP Mguire (Feb 7, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Your Gf delivers you your porn in a box   lucky sod


Hahaha definitely. I forgot I even left these there when I stayed a few months.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 7, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Your Gf delivers you your porn in a box   lucky sod


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## dorsetknob (Feb 7, 2016)

Oh if i could afford the 3 D printer   i got the CAD plans

Inspired by the "GWENDY DOLL"





PS is that a welsh name   gwendy


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 7, 2016)

Diamonds are forever...


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## PP Mguire (Feb 7, 2016)

The 2 phone stands in my pic are 3D printed.


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## Ahhzz (Feb 8, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Diamonds are forever...


Diamonds... That'll shut her up.....



for a minute.....


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## debs3759 (Feb 8, 2016)

Ooh! Diamonds to be someone's future ex. That's almost tempting 

A pair of Diamond Edge would be more tempting


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2016)

Because everyone likes Diamond(s), right? 


 

I received some new (old) hardware earlier today! There's a little bit of everything in this hardware pile actually, including that Diamond modem 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quantum HDD has already been mounted inside that Celeron machine, while the PSU & Asus TV card will be put into another system. Yup, I'm actually making another build as we speak, and it's going to be AMD based! Either Athlon 750 or Duron 1100, and it's going to host that awesome video card that I've never tested before (so I hope it runs OK), Evil Kyro 

Speaking of AMD builds, I've been going through my collection the other day & found this:


 

 

 

 

Believe it or not, this is where it all started, my 1st retro system which was donated by a friend. Apart from my very own Pentium 2, from back in a day, that was the 1st retro rig to collect, take apart, clean & put back together again (also upgraded it & gave it a fresh copy of XP)
I've been meaning to replace those white-looking ODDs (don't mix well with yellow-ish case front), but couldn't find anything that would fit, so it had to remain like this. It's not too bad but it sets my OCD alarm on, whenever I look at it


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2016)

Sorry to split this into 2 separate posts, but it's probably for the best, since this other announcement is about something completely different.

IDK if any of you guys here remember that Sherry "3d" Pentium 1 build from the last year? Well, even if you don't, here's couple of pics to refresh your memory 


 

 

I've been talking to some ppl today, and decided to give it away! It's been donated to a museum, which only exhibits old technology (PC in particular, HiFi & video), along with couple of other rarities from my collection. Including Amstrad CPC464, Akai tape deck component, Telefunken VCR and a sealed copy of Windows 95!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is all going to a new home where ppl are actually going to pay money to see this kind of stuff! In fact, some exhibits will be kept interactive, so that visitors will be able to play games and/or see how this thing runs... Pretty exciting


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 8, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I've been meaning to replace those white-looking ODDs (don't mix well with yellow-ish case front), but couldn't find anything that would fit, so it had to remain like this. It's not too bad but it sets my OCD alarm on, whenever I look at it



Wish you were closer. I have the white front you need for this. I actually have the whole case.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Wish you were closer. I have the white front you need for this. I actually have the whole case.


Beam it over, Mr. Scott!  (true, but you can always send me a pic...)


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 8, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Beam it over, Mr. Scott!


LOL. If I could, I would.
I'll throw a pic up next time I'm in my storage area.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2016)

No prob, thanks


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 9, 2016)

Casio VL-1
make music and do sums at the same time....every kids dream....."yes Mum I am doing my homework"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_VL-1


from wiki
notable for its kitsch value among electronic musicians, due to its cheap construction and its unrealistic, uniquely low-fidelity sounds. 
Its piano,violin, flute and guitar timbres were nearly unrecognizable abstractions of real instruments................




 



 



 


Works and is in frequent use by my son who makes cool samples using it......(this isnt a sales ad.) 

This band used it, as did/do many others.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 9, 2016)

I came across this small but powerful Dell LGA775 cooler. They're available surplus for about $12.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	













It's from an XPS 630i I believe. The 3 heatpipe version from AVC is rated 130W. This one has 4. The included fan is 92mmX25mm 81cfm and .56A. The coarse thread screws will probably need to be replaced to match whatever backplate you would want to use. Normal 4 pin connector, but always confirm pinouts with Dell parts.
Bigger photos here http://www.overclock.net/g/a/1298590/default/


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 9, 2016)

My pal @Luke Whitton just came to visit.

He brought a treasure with him, we have researched a bit and think it is about 1915-1920. He was given it as part payment for work done.

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/No._1A_Autographic_Kodak_Junior


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 9, 2016)

Well, to insure the date of manufacture @CAPSLOCKSTUCK we could have @Tatty_One take a look at it, as I'm sure he was using them when they were new...........Bhahahaha

Just kiddin @Tatty_One


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 9, 2016)

Nice on @CAPSLOCKSTUCK and  @Luke Whitton


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 9, 2016)

Just wondering how cool it would to post a mirror-selfie to social media with a vintage camera like those. 

I mean not the usual iPhone/Galaxy on hand


----------



## Tatty_One (Feb 9, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Well, to insure the date of manufacture @CAPSLOCKSTUCK we could have @Tatty_One take a look at it, as I'm sure he was using them when they were new...........Bhahahaha
> Just kiddin @Tatty_One



I had the patent on that!  To be honest that one is quite modern and recent, this is the first one I ever used, I am the guy on the left..........................


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 9, 2016)

Its Suggested that some of the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci were made from the use of pin hole camera's

Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century gave a clear description in his notebooks: "When the images of illuminated objects pass through a small round hole into a very dark room…you will see on paper all those objects in their natural shapes and colours." "Who would believe that so small a space could contain the image of all the universe? O mighty process! What talent can avail to penetrate a nature such as these? What tonque will it be that can unfold so great a wonder? Verily, none! This it is that guides the human discource to the considering of divine things. Here the figures, here the colors, here all the images of every part of the universe are contracted to a point. O what a point is so marvelous!.
wilki


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 10, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> More stuff coming up...
> 
> Now, here's something slightly different. I bought this next motherboard long time ago, and it was part of that "3-system" deal I got back in 2014, when I gave one of the systems away for charity. I had it around the room for months, before I decided to use it for one of the AMD builds. In fact, this motherboard WAS, at one point paired up with that black Cooler Master case, from my profile rig. So, what happened, you may be asking? At one point, while I was still putting this thing together, I've noticed that the system (with Athlon 1700+) had weird problems, and that the motherboard would sometimes turn on normally and sometimes it wouldn't. It also had tons of other issues, so I took it apart & started fiddling with the settings & RAM modules. At some point, I did one of those stupid, rookie mistakes & removed the CPU cooler from this thing, so that I could quickly swap the CPU for other one (for the sake of testing, if necessary) and placed a temporary, small passive chipset cooler across Athlon 1700. Here's the thing... Ordinarily CPUs such as Intel Pentiums 1, 2, 3 & newer probably wouldn't mind something like that, and would simply keep on working. However, this is Socket A we're talking about, and these ones (as you know) have exposed components on the actual CPU, something which I entirely forgot about. As you might have guessed, the small chipset cooler caused the short across Athlon 1700, which simply died in a puff of smoke, right in front of my eyes! I remember testing the board afterwards, with one other Athlon (750MHz) and it did't work, so the board ended up on the scrap pile & almost got thrown into trash. Well, almost - you see after couple of weeks, as I was gathering stuff to recycle & get rid of it, I've decided one more time to give it a go with Sempron CPU & see if it'll boot up or not. In fact, the board (at this point) was already picked clean, I removed the CMOS battery, all the jumper caps, even removed those plastic clips for the sound input (TAD, CD-IN & AUX) because I needed those for one other board. Surprisingly enough, board booted up perfectly fine ... which left me stunned & wondering what the heck is going on. Of course, I restored all the jumper caps & placed one of the plastic hooks back on the board, saving the board from its terrible fate.
> 
> ...



(to answer my own question) Apparently more than I ever imagined  Yes, the board does seem to be working OK. CPU on the other hand does not, which is something you don't get to see every day! Last time I've had a bad CPU was with one of the Slot-1 builds, when passively-cooled Pentium 3 500 "cooked" itself under the heatsink, I was literally playing the game when it happened! (Need for Speed 3, Hometown track on that sharp 90 degree corner)

Anyway, this thing got a new CPU now (Duron 750, which is exact duplicate of that another rig that I've mentioned on the last page), but it received a total makeover - new heatsink, thermal compound, 256mb of RAM and Evil Kyro card, which indeed DOES also seem to be working perfectly fine  I'm hoping to swap Duron 750 for something better in couple of months, when I get my hands on faster model. Not too fast though, because I once tried running Athlon 1700+ on this thing and it didn't work - in fact, this is how all the problems with this board started in the first place!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 10, 2016)

I showed this some time ago........the oldies are the goodies...

*Piccolo 9.5mm film projector.*




I am going to make a determined effort to make this work.....LED's should do it. I can remember watching all of these "shorts" as a child, the whole assembly got very hot from the bulb, hence the vents. The cable was the old brown twisted type which a few of us will probably remember. There isnt much info available so i havent provided a link.





 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 


i have tried my best with the pics, my feculant son is reluctant to lend me his 60D and tripod.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 10, 2016)

Back to the old stuff,  this is 2002.

Albatron Ti4680P-Turbo GeForce4 Ti4200-8X


----------



## Artex (Feb 10, 2016)

Newbie here on this forum but I thought I'd share my retro collection after finding this thread.  I've been a passionate collector since about 2011 but I've been passionate about PCs/PC gaming since about 1992 when my family bought their first PC - a Packard Bell 386SX 16Mhz.    Anyway, greetings and enjoy a bit of nostalgia!


*The video cards..(3DFX)*










*The video cards..*















*The Processors..*









*The Audio Stuff..*

















*The Audio Stuff (Creative Lovin')..*









*The Audio Stuff (Roland, Ensoniq SoundScape/SoundScape Elite/Creative CMS)..*

















*The Audio Stuff (Let there be GUS!)..and my CM-500 *









*The "Artex's Build of the Week"  Beasts!! + OEM Favorites*


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Feb 10, 2016)

Artex said:


> Newbie here but I thought I'd share my retro collection.
> 
> 
> *The video cards..(3DFX)*
> ...




This is an absolutely and utterly epic collection!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 10, 2016)

@Artex


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 10, 2016)

You have many awesome goodies. Thanks for sharing.


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## Artex (Feb 10, 2016)

Thanks all!  So much fun to look at all the old-school, colorful box art.  It's like Christmas right?!


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Feb 10, 2016)

Artex said:


> Thanks all!  So much fun to look at all the old-school, colorful box art.  It's like Christmas right?!



Indeed!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 10, 2016)

Artex said:


> Thanks all!  So much fun to look at all the old-school, colorful box art.  It's like Christmas right?!




Its like Xmas at your house.....

Not mine........


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 10, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Back to the old stuff,  this is 2002.
> 
> Albatron Ti4680P-Turbo GeForce4 Ti4200-8X
> 
> ...


Old?! Heh, this is new stuff!  Got the same card in my signature rig, except mine is manufactured by LeadTek maybe? Don't really remember for sure, but it sure looks like Leadtek WinFast...






@Artex Holy crap!  Wow, and I repeat - WOW!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 10, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Old?! Heh, this is new stuff!







my previous post showed a film projector from the mid 1950's


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 10, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> my previous post showed a film projector from the mid 1950's


I know, pretty awesome stuff!  Pretty sure you could sell some of that stuff to a museum(s) (or collectors) for big buck!


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 10, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I know, pretty awesome stuff!  Pretty sure you could sell some of that stuff to a museum(s) (or collectors) for big buck!




Some stuff you just cant sell. I have many other such curios but they all come with memories and no-one could pay enough for them.....

The last time i watched those films i was about 10 at the most, (40 years ago), a family Xmas gathering with all my cousins and they havent been watched since. 

I will get it going, i tested the shutter earlier, @dorsetknob  has furnished me with some useful info and before long i will watch and record the films with my own kids then i will send a copy to everyone who was there all those years ago.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 10, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Some stuff you just cant sell. I have many other such curios but they all come with memories and no-one could pay enough for them.....
> 
> The last time i watched those films i was about 10 at the most, (40 years ago), a family Xmas gathering with all my cousins and they havent been watched since.
> 
> I will get it going, i tested the shutter earlier, @dorsetknob  has furnished me with some useful info and before long i will watch and record the films with my own kids then i will send a copy to everyone who was there all those years ago.


Agreed, some things (like my Pentium 2 from back in a day) simply don't have a price tag. Which reminds me of that other saying, "one person's trash is another's treasure"


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 10, 2016)

@ArtexSo much
there are a few of us here now got *geriatric* E-peen envy your post is  that's me the yellow one


----------



## debs3759 (Feb 10, 2016)

@Artex That is an awesome collection! Seeing everything boxed must have taken a lot of time to find


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## Artex (Feb 11, 2016)

Thanks again all!  Yes, I have to admit, I probably spend too much time hunting these things down primarily because most of them are in the original boxes, a lot of them still factory sealed.  For me, a big chunk of the nostalgia with this stuff comes from the original packaging, and the feeling I got way back when when buying this stuff.  It reminds of the time period I loved the most growing up, when I first got into computers and when there were more players in the game vying for market share - whether it's Cyrix vs AMD vs Intel, Rendition vs. 3DFX vs. nVidia, or Creative vs. Advanced Gravis vs. Media Vision.  It was certainly an interesting time to jump into the hobby, and after seeing how much stuff was available back then (even if for a short while), the more I realize how lucky I was to be a part of it.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 11, 2016)

Yes - in a lot of ways, I feel the similar passion for old technology, that's why I decided  to get as much hardware and experience while I still can  Not to mention the fact that most of the stuff that I do (and collect) reminds me of my childhood in the 90's, which is a huge bonus by itself, just like you said!

But once again, wow! I'd have to agree with @dorsetknob on this one, I do envy you a little bit  As if finding 3dfx products nowdays is not hard by itself, but having the entire collection boxed & sealed-up? That's just crazy!  And not just 3dfx, pretty much the entire collection! Seriously, how often do you get to find sealed up copy of IDK, 486 upgrade kit or Matrox Mystique?


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## Artex (Feb 11, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> And not just 3dfx, pretty much the entire collection! Seriously, how often do you get to find sealed up copy of IDK, 486 upgrade kit or Matrox Mystique?


Some of the items are more rare than others.  The 3dfx stuff, for example, is always a challenge because the boxes are different for the US vs EU, and other regions of the world.  I still need to find a Voodoo4 4500 PCI (EU) - aka VoodooMAC in the beautiful red/pink box, so I'm still hunting for this stuff.  On the processor side of things, I think my most prized item is the sealed Pentium 60 with the FDIV bug - it's the gold top original Pentium!  Of course, I always love Cyrix stuff and view them as the underdogs back then.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 11, 2016)

Well, I've been collecting old 3dfx cards & other PC stuff for a while now (couple of years, at least) and *never* got to see a Voodoo card that's still in the original box, especially sealed one! Over the time, I scored 20-something of them so far (3x Voodoo1, 14x Voodoo2 and 4x Voodoo3) + couple of other cards that are either missing something (Voodoo3 3500 for example that's missing the AV adapter cable) or have bad EDO VRAM that needs to be replaced (maybe, some day). Also have Voodoo Rush that has a weird problem with 2D board, which causes "shadows" on the screen, around the icons & window borders. Other than that it's fully functional


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## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2016)

@Artex you da man!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is an amazing collection of some of the most awesome nostalgic hardware I've ever seen! Hands down!!!!!     

Like your story about growing up, I feel much the same way other than probably the age. I was much older than a "child" when most of this type of technology was beginning to surface but had an almost child like excitement when I would purchase a new stick of ram, hard drive, video card, or any upgrade. It was amazing!
The first true computer that I built for my self was using an Asus P5A Super Socket 7 motherboard and an AMD K6-2 350mhz processor. I installed a Diamond Monster 12mb card that I had in a previous Packard Bell. I'll never forget, as long as I live, the feeling I had when I hit the power button and that new system came to life!!!!!!!

Just amazing time to have been into computers!!!

Oh yea, and I actually still have that first motherboard and processor.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 11, 2016)

Amazing. I saw a Voodoo5500 AGP still in the shrink wrap. The pile of gateway desktops was cool too. You collection looks like one of the Computer trade shows they used  to have back then. It was a carnival atmosphere where everyone would go to see what the next big thing was going to be.


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## hertz9753 (Feb 11, 2016)

Who left the door open and let me in?


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## R-T-B (Feb 11, 2016)

Artex said:


> Newbie here on this forum but I thought I'd share my retro collection after finding this thread.  I've been a passionate collector since about 2011 but I've been passionate about PCs/PC gaming since about 1992 when my family bought their first PC - a Packard Bell 386SX 16Mhz.    Anyway, greetings and enjoy a bit of nostalgia!



OMG, that's like hoarders only instead of dead cats you have 3dfx's and Packard Bells.  Nostalgia beyond comprehension man, you both are seriously awesome and seriously need help.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 11, 2016)

Status update... This here is the upcoming AMD build which has Duron 750 on that mobo mentioned on the previous page. The one that's been abused & crushed, shorted, even scrapped for parts & thrown on the junk pile at one point. But still going strong regardless of everything, and is now paired with Evil KYRO. Been meaning to see this card in action for a while now, but somehow I get the feeling that the CPU will be a bottleneck, I really should get something better and faster.




Speaking of AMDs, almost forgot to post these next pics... Not exactly what I would consider "nostalgic", but I've been asked recently to fix an old(er) AM2 machine, running Athlon X2.

The problem with this thing was that (according to the person using it) ran too slow, and would sometimes crash with BSOD. I didn't want to waste too much time with it, so I gave it a new mobo, and will soon add more DDR2 memory. I'm thinking of 2x 2GB DDR2 running in dual-channel mode, which is a huge step up from what the system had so far (3GB DDR2 in 2+1 configuration) Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of the replacement board (which is far more better than this old MSI MS-7309), but I can tell you the model specs - it's Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, which offers much more features & upgrade options if (and when) the owner decides to step up & upgrade to something better. Even the on-board graphics is far more superior and offers HDMI output.


 

 

Speaking of forgotten pics, I suppose now it's perfect time to upload those pics of the Telefunken VCR, when I replaced the loading motor. I was going to write a full tutorial on this thing (and explain every single step), but due to obvious lack of interest, I'm just going to post a bunch of pics & move on 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This here VCR is the one I'm donating to a museum, and being a direct drive (JVC based deck) this thing should hopefully last for at least 20-30 more years


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## msgclb (Feb 12, 2016)

In 1975 SWTPC was one of the original suppliers of microcomputers to the general public, focusing on designs using the Motorola 6800 and later the 6809 CPU.

My build was in kit form in 1976.

SWTPC's SS-50 backplane bus was supported by many manufacturers: Midwest Scientific Inc, Smoke Signal Broadcasting, Gimix, Helix, Tano, Percom Data, Safetran, etc.

I started out using a keyboard and cassette to input data but soon had a 5 1/4 floppy drive system and finally an 8" drive.

I had a copy of Microsoft Basic on cassette along with a few other programs.

There was a monthly magazine dedicated to this computer system that included programs to input 
using a keyboard but later they included a floppy.

The store where I bought my kit was mostly dedicated to business computers and software.
I had a choice between two computers, the original Apple Computer and the SWTPC kit.
That Apple Computer was outrageously expensive but I paid about half of its cost for my kit.

This purchase turned out to have an added benefit when it wouldn't boot!
The owner of that store set me down with his technician and we troubleshot it together.
The problem turned out to be a bad trace on the motherboard.

I got to know the owner and would help troubleshoot some of his returned malfunctioning computers including those Apple Computers!

I went through this tread and I can say at one time or another I'd bet I've owned about half of the computer hardware shown!

One of my biggest regrets in life is throwing out so much of the computer hardware that I've owned as I could have started my own museum!

I have owned both an Atari 800 and Amiga 1000 so they both could have been in my museum!






This was my original build with terminal and the monitor upgrade that I later purchased.





This is the SWTPC 6800 Computer System along with the manuals that came with the kit.





Here you can see the power supply, motherboard and some system boards.





My first motherboard.





This is the Motorola 6800 CPU board.





My first floppy disk system.





This is the floppy disk controller.





This is a 4k memory board. I soon had an 8k and then four 16k boards.
I believe the maximum number was four boards for a 64k system.





This is what the CT-64 terminal looked like with the cover off although this is the CT-1024.
As you can see this was also a kit.





This is the original CT-64 terminal when assembled.

I’ve seen advertisements that say the SWTPC 6800 cost $450 and the CT-64 cost $325.

I spotted an abacus or two while looking through this thread and that reminded me that for a few years I bought software and a few other items from an Abacus computer store.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 12, 2016)

Just before I've uploaded these pics, I was going to make a joke - some random & silly comment on how I got both new & old generations together in one pic ... but then I realized something! Even the "modern" HP calculator is over 15 years old, I remember buying this thing in early 2001!  Yikes, didn't even realize how many years has gone by, since then


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## Norton (Feb 12, 2016)

40MB was big for a portable storage drive in 1999


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## Retrorockit (Feb 12, 2016)

I don't have any photos, but around 1980 I worked in a factory making paint for fiberglass boats (gelcoat). We had a color matching computer. It would not only match colors, but it would give formulas for lowest cost, color stability between various light sources, or lowest pigment load in the formula. It may have been an AST.  it was about 5 feet across, 2 feet deep and 3 foot high. It looked like a white kitchen cabinet with an orange Formica top, and a CRT display sitting there. It had a database with each pigment under different lights,  cost per pound, and relative tint strength. I suppose there's a smartphone app. that does all that now.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2016)

Me again, with something a little bit different...

I've always been into mods & modding stuff (as you can probably tell, from that heavily modded Pentium 4 rig couple of pages ago) but I've also been attracted to software mods as well as hardware ones! Don't remember which was the 1st game to mod (either Dark Colony or Need for Speed 3 - Hot Pursuit), but when I 1st got my hands on Grand Theft Auto 3 I've decided to replace, change as much content as I can! Of course, everyone's hardware specs were completely different back then, so there wasn't HD & high-poly stuff, it was all cartoon-ish & low-poly stuff with blurry textures. Heck, some of those mods have been made worse than the original models, already included in GTA3 but I wanted to replace them just for the sake of replacing them, if you know what I mean 

15 years later, I'm playing that same game, running most (if not all) mods from 2004, 2005 and older! Some of the hardcore GTA fans (if any) might recognize the famous mods from that time period, which were found in almost everyone's game, before HD stuff (and newer games) replaced them for better & more life-like mods. Still, I've dedicated a lot of time & patience in preserving this copy of the game as it was, true to the "original" which I ran on my old Abit Siluro FX5600 AGP card back in a day. And that my friends really IS nostalgic


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## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2016)

You should try GPL World. The GPL Sim  is still available. 1998 to Now. If you like patches and Mods you'l feel right at home.
http://gplworld.org/115.html

Does anybody here remember Turbonique. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgzGSf45c4I
They produced liquid fueled rocket engines for cars. Some were just rockets mostly used on 240 mph 1/4 mile go karts. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZNc8ZOIkbQ
Some were rocket powered turbines attached to rear axles driving the wheels at 1000 HP.
Some were rocket powered superchargers That took no power from the engine and actually applied force to the pistons on the intake stroke.
Check out their idea of a Volkswagen ad. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6l3WKPsVQcs/TeMn8WAOUPI/AAAAAAABkZQ/Y85i9T-Myas/s1600/0011.jpg


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> You should try GPL World. The GPL Sim  is still available. 1998 to Now. If you like patches and Mods you'l feel right at home.
> http://gplworld.org/115.html
> 
> Does anybody here remember Turbonique. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgzGSf45c4I
> ...



Bookmarked, thanks!  Now to find out the sys requirements for this thing, wonder if I could load it on my 4200Ti machine from the profile?


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## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2016)

When it was released a hot system was a 266MMX with whatever Voodoo was available in 1998. It wouldn't really run it, and FFB wasn't in the original release. It had to be text edited in to activate it in a patch. So I would say fast Slot1 minimum. Faster AMD K6III if you don't load  up on detailed carsets. Single car laps aren't too bad but 20 car grids can be taxing. BTW the AI drivers get faster as you get faster.  They really don't cut you any slack in that sim. Actually I've heard it looks best on Rendition Verite cards, the other native API. I suppose you could have a rendition card and a couple Voodoo 2s. Don't know what API you would end up with? The art department set the cars up way too low because it looked cool, they bottom out horribly if you don't fix that. I think it has known issues with some Sound Blaster cards.

Ok I pulled out a copy of GPL. It says "Pentium 90, 16Mb RAM, 2x CD ROM, SVGA640X480 256 colors. LOL. Why don't you try it on a AMD 5X86 133! Let me know how it works out.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> When it was released a hot system was a 266MMX with whatever Voodoo was available in 1998. It wouldn't really run it, and FFB wasn't in the original release. It had to be text edited in to activate it in a patch. So I would say fast Slot1 minimum. Faster AMD K6III if you don't load  up on detailed carsets. Single car laps aren't too bad but 20 car grids can be taxing. BTW the AI drivers get faster as you get faster.  They really don't cut you any slack in that sim. Actually I've heard it looks best on Rendition Verite cards, the other native API. I suppose you could have a rendition card and a couple Voodoo 2s. Don't know what API you would end up with? The art department set the cars up way too low because it looked cool, they bottom out horribly if you don't fix that. I think it has known issues with some Sound Blaster cards.
> 
> Ok I pulled out a copy of GPL. It says "Pentium 90, 16Mb RAM, 2x CD ROM, SVGA640X480 256 colors. LOL. Why don't you try it on a AMD 5X86 133! Let me know how it works out.


Think I'm going to stick with my confirmed & trusted choice, Voodoo2 in SLI  And nah, not going to use 5x86 for this one, as the video card only has 1mb of VRAM. Nope, this is the job for RetroMaster 2000 as I called it, just for the giggles  Specs are in my profile, under "system specs"


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## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2016)

Check which Sound blasters had issues. Some did some didn't I think. Mine did. It corrupt the video I believe. That system looks about the right era to get good play.

My 586X133 had a 2Mb STB Nitro ISA video card. It really wouldn't play much of anything. It would run 4 desktops at once which was pretty cool.


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## stinger608 (Feb 14, 2016)

Well, until I am able to frigging edit the original post again I'll put this here.

Over on [H]ard forums one of the news posters put this line up: "Windows 3.1 Programs Brought Back To Life By Internet Archive."   So naturally I checked it out, and its frigging awesome! Downloadable software for Windows 3.x:

https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_win3

There are a ton of ole nostalgic software titles in that web site!!! 

So go check it out!


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## msgclb (Feb 14, 2016)

*My Windows 1.0 Experience*






I was one of the shop chiefs in the Avionics Maintenance Squadron at Eglin AFB between 1985 and 1987 when this new computer showed up for evaluation to track maintenance on our aircraft.

This PC computer was based on Intel’s 286 with the Microsoft Windows 1.0 OS.

It took 'forever' to switch from one window to another!

I'm guessing that Windows 1.0 doesn't deserve all the credit for this total failure as Intel's 286 CPU didn't have the speed to handle this graphical OS.

Needless to say we stayed with our text based tracking computer system that was not made by MS!


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## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2016)

Just bought an Audigy 2 soundcard w/ 8 euros (including shipping). I remember having an Audigy Platinum and Audigy2 ZS, and if it's even near of those, damn my server is going to have good sounds!



msgclb said:


> I'm guessing that Windows 1.0 doesn't deserve all the credit for this total failure as Intel's 286 CPU didn't have the speed to handle this graphical OS.


Like Vista some years ago, when used with a single-core processor and low memory?


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## Retrorockit (Feb 15, 2016)

I posted about GoBack here. Just thought I'd let you know I found a new version fo this type utility for newer OS from another developer. I would have put it in Must Have Software for Overclockers but they closed the thread. Rollback RX has a free version for MS 2000 and up, also Freeware Rollback XP . It doesn't do continuous backup like GB. It takes snapshots you restore to, but you can go forward to later snapshots to bring back lost files. Low overhead and space use. Runs if Windows won't boot.
http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/products_and_solutions.aspx?ProductId=40#Features
http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/RollBack_XP.ihtml


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## stinger608 (Feb 15, 2016)

You should toss the link up @Retrorockit


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## Retrorockit (Feb 15, 2016)

Added them above.


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## stinger608 (Feb 15, 2016)

Sooner or later I'll be able to edit the original post and will add the newer members and web links..............I'm afraid that many of these awesome links will end up getting lost in the pages. 

Hopefully @W1zzard will get something figured out on being able to edit older original posts.


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## GreiverBlade (Feb 15, 2016)

won 2 auction ... might have 2 new beauty for my collection (well technically 3 ...) stay tuned  (not tuna ...)  

AND WOW FOR THE COLLECTION I SAW ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 15, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Sooner or later I'll be able to edit the original post and will add the newer members and web links..............I'm afraid that many of these awesome links will end up getting lost in the pages.
> 
> Hopefully @W1zzard will get something figured out on being able to edit older original posts.




PM a mod, i did it yesterday and he obliged by removing some content from a thread i started where i stated i was going to add to the original post. I told him what to delete and it was done, i had a notification back to say that my post had been amended at my request.


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## stinger608 (Feb 15, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> PM a mod, i did it yesterday and he obliged by removing some content from a thread i started where i stated i was going to add to the original post. I told him what to delete and it was done, i had a notification back to say that my post had been amended at my request.




Yea I just hate bothering a moderator over something like that though. 

Trust me, I am a moderator on a couple of sites and there is enough to do without fooling with threads for members.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 15, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Yea I just hate bothering a moderator over something like that though.
> 
> Trust me, I am a moderator on a couple of sites and there is enough to do without fooling with threads for members.


Amen to that.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 15, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Yea I just hate bothering a moderator over something like that though.
> 
> Trust me, I am a moderator on a couple of sites and there is enough to do without fooling with threads for members.




Perhaps this will help to resolve the issue.


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## Kissamies (Feb 16, 2016)

Bought a Corsair HX620 PSU with 20 euros, at least I have a fine spare PSU now. Can't use it in my server though since it has its own hotswap non-ATX PSU :/


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## Retrorockit (Feb 17, 2016)

I tried to install Grand Prix Legends on my "new" (2006) computer and it didn't go well at first. Then I found a GPL installer utility dated 1/9/2016.
It includes modern car ,sound , and tracksets. Game was Glide/Rendition Verite when new so Open GL/D3D is included. Went very smoothly, and looks great. Now if I just had a wheel hooked up. I've never used a game controller, maybe now's the time. Works with Win7 64 as far as I can tell. There are free downloads available, Mine was CD from Sold Out Software. I still  have my Logitech Formula Force wheel. Not a bad wheel but the pedals really suck. Win7 drivers? Who knows.
https://gplps.wordpress.com/gplps-gpl-installer/


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 17, 2016)

Been having inet problems for the last couple of days, but now I'm back & got something pretty cool to show later on. Until then, check this out 






It's from that link provided by @stinger608, called "Windows 95 demo" for Win 3.11, guess I'll finally be moving up to new Windows after all


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## STIG_ZA (Feb 17, 2016)

There they are, 2x 8800GTX. nice and clean again, poor things were just 2 slabs of brown dust and a snapped off cap on the one which i replaced.

Dont have a beefy enough psu(other than my main rigs psu) to run them in SLI


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 17, 2016)

Step 1, find the pattern (sample)





Step 2, multiply the pattern in a grid 6x3





Step 3, print the paper sheet (use glossy photo paper) & cut it into individual badges




Step 4
Apply some paper glue (NOT the superglue) across the surface & place 3dfx logo inside the badge frame (or wherever you want it)


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## Retrorockit (Feb 18, 2016)

I still don't have a controller installed but I got a few races to run in Grand Prix Legends without me. My computer seems to handle full grids from back row view without problem. I can't turn up detail and FSAA settings without setting up a controller so I don't know how it's finally going to look, but since my GPU is way beyond my CPU, and GPL is CPU intensive I think it will max out OK. GPL defaults at 36fps, there's a patch for 60fps. That will probably be  the moment of truth.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 18, 2016)

Retrorockit said:


> I still don't have a controller installed but I got a few races to run in Grand Prix Legends without me. My computer seems to handle full grids from back row view without problem. I can't turn up detail and FSAA settings without setting up a controller so I don't know how it's finally going to look, but since my GPU is way beyond my CPU, and GPL is CPU intensive I think it will max out OK. GPL defaults at 36fps, there's a patch for 60fps. That will probably be  the moment of truth.


Following your advice, I finally got GPL earlier today... Booting it up on my RetroMaster 2000 will have to wait though because the old Maxtor 40GB HDD is completely full so I need to force myself to swap it for 80GB Seagate, one of these days


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## stinger608 (Feb 18, 2016)

One I wish they would redo for newer systems it Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed. 

Although it just shows what a bunch of idiots EA is. Hell, it will hardly run on XP. It was pretty much made for Win98 and there was a patch for XP. 

Dang, I need to get a 98 machine going and play some of that.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 18, 2016)

Porsche Unleashed has been the cause of a lot of problems on both 98 AND XP! Especially with nVidia cards, I've noticed that running either card will result with pixelated image at the main menu, even if you use the Voodoo cards to play the actual game (because the menu part is still using the primary, "2D" AGP card to render the image)

AFAIK, the only way to avoid this is having an older ATI Rage, SiS or similar AGP card inside the system, while the actual gameplay runs 2x Voodoo2 in SLI. Alternatively, you could try Matrox Millenium G450, which doesn't seem to have any problems & is perfectly capable of rendering both the menu & actual gameplay.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 18, 2016)

GPL has a 1937 carset. Maybe hustling an Auto Union around Nurburgring will satisfy you're Porsche addiction. He designed them. Blown V-16 engine in the middle, swing axle suspension, VW beetle torsion bars in front. Some had dual tires on the rear. 520hp @ 5000, 850 ft/lb @ 2500, 1800#, 200+mph.


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## STIG_ZA (Feb 18, 2016)

Any IBM thinkpad fans here? got these in my collection

T22(900mhz p3, 256mb pc100, 30gb)
T23(1.13ghz p3m, 256mb pc133, 60gb)
R50(dead but in amazing exterior condition so got it for parts)
T61(2ghz t7300, 4gb ddr2 800, 160gb, nvidia quadro gpu).....the 15.4" 1920x1050 version. I think the 160gb is original, but soooo slow. Keen to stick an sshd in also original battery still lasts 3hours it needs a new lcd though, got tones of little grey dots on it

will post pics and more info sometime


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## Kissamies (Feb 18, 2016)

Audigy2 came. Still waiting for the X800XL so that I could fire my server up.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 19, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Following your advice, I finally got GPL earlier today... Booting it up on my RetroMaster 2000 will have to wait though because the old Maxtor 40GB HDD is completely full so I need to force myself to swap it for 80GB Seagate, one of these days


Here's another GPL page for you.
http://www.gpllinks.org/


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## STIG_ZA (Feb 19, 2016)

Theres one of them. The T23, got it a while ago for a very low price. The lid is quite rough and both latches are broken but otherwise its in good shape. Love this thing, even with XP its surprisingly quick and snappy I do use it for any long typing since they keyboard is heavenly to use(office 2003 runs fine on it). something else that's rather awesome is the sound card, not bad sound quality at all

just sad that modern thinkpads don't come close to the build quality of this and their keyboards aren't even half as nice. Must have cost a fortune at the time to have these specs:

P3-M 1.13Ghz(thing is fasssst)
256mb(2x 128mb pc133 sodimm)
60gb original ibm drive(massive at the time)
DVD/CR-RW combo ultra bay drive
S3 super savage IX 16mb graphics card
Crystal sound fusion sound card
Intel pro/100VE lan
56k modem
windows XP home sp3


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## JunkBear (Feb 20, 2016)

Why not trying the low power demanding Xubuntu and use it as a full time torrent machine ?



STIG_ZA said:


> View attachment 72248 View attachment 72249 View attachment 72250
> 
> Theres one of them. The T23, got it a while ago for a very low price. The lid is quite rough and both latches are broken but otherwise its in good shape. Love this thing, even with XP its surprisingly quick and snappy I do use it for any long typing since they keyboard is heavenly to use(office 2003 runs fine on it). something else that's rather awesome is the sound card, not bad sound quality at all
> 
> ...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 20, 2016)

I've been playing some more, uhh should I dare to say modern games (from around 2003, 04) lately on my retro rig, trying to see how much performance I can squeeze from that WinFast A280 GF4 Ti4200 card. Although I'm being pleasantly surprised over & over, there's really not much reason to; especially when you think about it because 4200 certainly was among the more powerful & capable models out there. Maybe not top of the line, like that other GF4 4800 I got, but still powerful enough to handle the games such as Broken Sword 3 (The Sleeping Dragon), Half-Life 2, FlatOut, NFS Underground & similar...

In fact, the weakest link in the entire system would probably be that Athlon 1800, but seeing this system also doubles as Pentium 1 & 2 replacement (not to mention 486, DOS machine), I had to draw a line somewhere & sacrifice the performance for the sake of backward compatibility.

Speaking of backward compatibility, I've also been on a lookout for pic quality degradation due to Voodoo2 pass-through VGA cable. According to 3dfx enthusiasts, this cable tends to degrade the pic quality & cause some issues when running the primary (in this case AGP, 4200) card. Alas, I couldn't really see anything obvious with the screen quality, in fact if I'd have to say, I would say it looks amazing! Kinda makes you forget that the hardware running previously mentioned games is almost 15 years old!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 20, 2016)

i decided to update the "collection pics" with the newest additions details lower (funny surprise also)


 

so i received a Asus 9800XT AGP and a box of a MSI NX6600GT, the seller told me the NX6600GT had a surprise in it 

9800XT a nice piece of cooler with a Heatpipe, and a pseudo backplate (and a focus on the Rage Theater chip  )
    

and the NX6600GT indeed surprise ... there was 2 of them in the box 
   

all 3 card were in superb condition (not even a speck of dust on the fan or the heatsink) 7chf + 9chf shipping ... i feel freakin great today!


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 21, 2016)

Someone tried my Dell BTX O/C method and he's reporting Optiplex 780, QX9650 3.99GHz. Prime 95 stable. So it looks like I'm not the BTX champ anymore. Pretty impressive result considering it's a 3 phase motherboard. I think there's probably more to be had. He didn't say anything about moving the fan power off of the MB which can be huge in a BTX overclock.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 21, 2016)

Okay, Thanks to @W1zzard allowing for some editing on certain threads      I have now been able to edit the original post to add links to the user names as well as add the links for RollBack that @Retrorockit was so kind to share with us all!!!


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 21, 2016)

Also like to THANK  @W1zzard  for allowing those that need this PRIVILEGE


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 21, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Okay, Thanks to @W1zzard allowing for some editing on certain threads      I have now been able to edit the original post to add links to the user names as well as add the links for RollBack that @Retrorockit was so kind to share with us all!!!


Sad that I still don't make the club. *sniff*


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 21, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Sad that I still don't make the club. *sniff*




Well that will change!!!!!! Dang @Mr.Scott I'm sorry for not getting ya in the group man!!! Dang, I thought I had.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 21, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Well that will change!!!!!! Dang @Mr.Scott I'm sorry for not getting ya in the group man!!! Dang, I thought I had.



LOL. It didn't matter anyway. I would still post stuff. Thanks though. 
It's my favorite thread at TPU.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 23, 2016)

A while ago, someone posted movie projector ... 8mm, I think. Anyhow, couple of days ago I've been given 2 projectors for the repairs. Therefore, they're not exactly mine but I'm sure the owner wouldn't mind me sharing these pics with you guys 

One of them is the movie, 8mm projector on the pics down below. As you can see, it does (barely) work as it should, but only after I took care of the slipping belts, oiled up the bearings & replaced the blown fuse.


 

 



Other one is the slide projector, from the same "Pentax" company...


 



Fully functional & restored unit. Had a missing belt for the fan (lamp cooling), blown fuse for the changer & focusing motor and needed to be re-aligned 

Speaking of slide projectors, I DO have my own one... Much newer, made in early 90's I believe, or at least late 80's. If anyone's interested in seeing more details, I might take it off the shelf & plug it in!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 23, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> LOL. It didn't matter anyway. I would still post stuff. Thanks though.
> It's my favorite thread at TPU.


yep me too it's my favorite thread at TPU


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 23, 2016)

Nowadays we use lazers to give us lines and levels.
A *theodolite *is a precision instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes. I have never used this particular one but i could if i had the correct tripod mounting.

















Bubble to set level of instrument





Bubble to set level of telescope





This fitting is either screw on or is designed to fit on a TRIG point or triangulation station for mapping purposes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulation_station





the view through the telescope, the view is upside down so the measuring staff (or big ruler) would be held upside down to make it easier to make the measurement.






The surveyors assistant or "chainboy" would lay out a chain  (exactly 22 yards) to mark the distance and the engineer/surveyor would use the theodolite to measure angle and height differences.

Early mapmakers used devices similar to this, i have no idea how old this one is, my guess is 1920,s, i know it was last calibrated 50 years ago.


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 23, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> The surveyors assistant or "chainboy" would lay out a chain (a bit over 20 metres)



We are British   and a chains length is 22 yards None of this namby pampy EU Metric crap


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 23, 2016)

bloody right..............im changing it now........."bring back the hapenny and farthing"


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 23, 2016)

spare a Groat   ( not Goat ) for a poor hard done by country Boy sir !!! I'll polish your boots.................>> and service the wifey for an extra Tanner


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 23, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> This fitting is either screw on or is designed to fit on a TRIG point or triangulation station for mapping purposes


would it fit on to a standard Camera tripod ? even ghetto style


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 23, 2016)

"British Morris and MG engines from 1923 to 1955 were built using metric threads but with bolt heads and nuts dimensioned for Whitworth spanners and sockets."(Wikipedia)

Can't we all just get along.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 23, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> would it fit on to a standard Camera tripod ? even ghetto style




When my feculant eldest gets home from college he will have to dig it out so i can try it.


----------



## Bones (Feb 23, 2016)

Got this recently, it's all there (Complete) as the pics show.
Enjoy!


----------



## Frick (Feb 23, 2016)

Was very close to buying a Samsung DEC Alpha motherboard the other day, but I don't really have the money for that kinda thing. I'm kinda regretting it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 23, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Nowadays we use lazers to give us lines and levels.
> A *theodolite *is a precision instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes. I have never used this particular one but i could if i had the correct tripod mounting.
> 
> 
> ...


Never got to see one of these in person, but I do remember my DOS days & Fate of Atlantis... 





(Was also featured in Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror)


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 24, 2016)

Awesome score @Bones on the DFI board man!!!!!!


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 25, 2016)

This a Dell LGA 775 overclock from a friend at Tomshardware. Not as old as most hardware here. But unusual because it's a Dell O/C success story.
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/7667634/fs/6679081/fs/7666510#
Dell T3400 workstation. QX9650 @ 4.15GHz. Dual Crossfire HD7850. He blew 1 cheap PSU. Don't know what he ended up using for that. Not bad for a 3 phase OEM motherboard.

I know this won't help you guys in EU very much, but I just ordered a refurbished T3400 with Win7 64 installed from Newegg.$119US $6 shipping. The only matching pair of AMD GPUs I have are R9-285ITX. I guess they'll have to do.


----------



## hertz9753 (Feb 25, 2016)

I still have that slot A CPU and a dog.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 25, 2016)

Very cool @hertz9753 !!! Them were some of the most awesome overclockers in their day!!!!!!!!


----------



## STIG_ZA (Feb 25, 2016)

Have one of those slot A Athlons too, just no motherboard to put it in

Found some cool stuff on a local pc classifieds, XFX 7800GS(AGP), HIS HD4670(AGP), Asus p4C800 , 4gb ddr400, 3.2ghz p4HT. Just need to go fetch it


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 25, 2016)

hertz9753 said:


> I still have that slot A CPU and a dog.



so do i  (minus the dog  )



STIG_ZA said:


> Have one of those slot A Athlons too, just no motherboard to put it in



so do i


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 25, 2016)

Approx. 6 months ago, I've had the chance to grab one of these Slot A boards (for free!), together with the CPU (I'm guessing Athlon)... Can't say for sure if it was in working condition or not, but anyhow - I turned down the offer  Can't really justify why, it was one of those rushed (and obviously bad) decisions I've made over the years.

I was always a fan of Intel & especially Slot-1 systems, so maybe I didn't want to bother myself & waste time  with copy of a Slot-1 board & CPU design, especially when I could easily get the real thing... But now, looking back I do feel bad for letting this one slip through my fingers  It would have been my one (and only) Slot A system in the entire collection.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 27, 2016)

Grim Fandango was a game from 1998. it's now a movie almost 5 hours long.








Unless you prefer the full long play which is over 7 hours.








I wanted to just post a couple of links. I didn't know 11 hours of video would show up!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 27, 2016)

Ah, good ol' happy memories... Hijole, can't believe someone played through the entire game at once!! 

I remember buying this game from a friend at school & playing through the story. Of course, I got stuck several times, so I had to take a peek at the walkthrough  IMHO, one of the most beautiful & well-written PC adventure games, ever made!!

I'm aware they've made a HD re-release of Grim Fandango, but playing this game on the original hardware, Pentium 2 in particular & using 3dfx Voodoo2 card for 3D environment has a special & sentimental value to me, even today.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 27, 2016)

Crazy thing, I had never ever played Grimm Fandango.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 27, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Crazy thing, I had never ever played Grimm Fandango.


I never played it either. It's a fairly recent discovery for me. What's the point of old hardware if you don't have old software to run on it?


----------



## Devon68 (Feb 27, 2016)

> Got this recently, it's all there (Complete) as the pics show.
> Enjoy!


Wow. I like that board.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 27, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Crazy thing, I had never ever played Grimm Fandango.





Retrorockit said:


> I never played it either. It's a fairly recent discovery for me. What's the point of old hardware if you don't have old software to run on it?



Wow, guys! You really SHOULD play the game  Long story short, it's basically a love story, which takes place in the (corrupted) land of the dead, where you are working your time (to pay off for something you've done in previous life) as a sales agent. The whole game takes place throughout the 4 years, with every year being a separate "chapter" - which is basically how long the journey of a newly-arrived soul takes place, before he or she can board the number 9 train & "proceed", move on. Unless you led a very successful life, in which case you're entitled to proceed straight through, "in 4 minutes instead of 4 years" to quote Manny Calavera.


----------



## STIG_ZA (Feb 28, 2016)

Picked up some nice retro(ish) stuff. All of it was in the original boxes with all the booklets, adapters, stickers etc... that they would have came with. 

built a cool s478 rig with some of it, specs here:
P4 3.2Ghz HT(Prescott 1mb L2)
Asus P4C800
2x 1gb Kingston value ram(ddr400 cl3)
HIS 4670 1gb agp
160gb sata hdd
350W delta psu
windows xp pro
gigabyte x2 case

Also upgraded my athlon64 rig from the 6800Gt it used to have. 

         

//there is a 6600 sitting in the 4670 box because i could not wait to try it before taking pics


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 29, 2016)

Question guys - I know it's kinda off-topic, but does anyone here owns 17" HP Pavilion laptop from 2014? If so, what's your opinion (and experience) with mentioned machine?


----------



## DOM (Feb 29, 2016)

Burn it lol jk haha

I know I have an hp think it's a 17" had an and GPU but it's not like a gamer did okay back in 2014 but laptops are not gamers imo

I wish I had my pics of all the old gpus u have have like 30+ XD


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 29, 2016)

Ha-ha  This one has so called APU - quad core AMD CPU with Radeon graphics integrated into the CPU... Was just curious because I got my hands on one of these earlier today, it's running Windows 10 & has 8GB of RAM. And agreed, this one is definitely not gaming laptop... But I'm not surprised or disappointed, I was just hoping to hear general opinion, user feedback & experience


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 4, 2016)

@stinger608  you have Socket 7 board, you ship to me, you ship to me now. LOL


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 4, 2016)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> @stinger608  you have Socket 7 board, you ship to me, you ship to me now. LOL



Yea, that was the real first "gaming" motherboard I ever purchased and built a system. I would be pretty  hard pressed to ever part with that board.


----------



## Retrorockit (Mar 4, 2016)

In response to a few questions on other forums I took a Dell Optiplex 745 I got for free and stuck a QX6800 in it with an old PentiumD heatpipe cooler and got 3.45Ghz with no other mods. They were lapped because I'd O/Ced with them before. Cheap thrills with an old BTX.
Throttlestop 6.00 software O/C method.


----------



## JATownes (Mar 11, 2016)

I was told you guys would enjoy these.  My son found it in his Grandfather's closet, and was told he could have it.  It has been in there for over 25 YEARS!!!!  Still has the Warranty Card with it.  Haven't hooked it up yet, so we will see this 
weekend if it still functions correctly.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 12, 2016)

Basically you are telling us that your son "came out of the closet"..... as a computer geek. Congrats!! 





JATownes said:


> I was told you guys would enjoy these.  My son found it in his Grandfather's closet, and was told he could have it.  It has been in there for over 25 YEARS!!!!  Still has the Warranty Card with it.  Haven't hooked it up yet, so we will see this
> weekend if it still functions correctly.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 13, 2016)

I cant find a date anywhere


----------



## Red_Machine (Mar 13, 2016)

I see no DeHavilland Comet.  Box lies!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 13, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> I see no DeHavilland Comet.  Box lies!




I know.......but as my consolation prize i have 2 x Airspeed Envoy   GA - CMT




 

The complete set with box is worth a lot of money...........The price on the box (written in pencil) is 8/6......8 shillings and sixpence, which is 42.5 pence.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Mar 13, 2016)

Today I went to the ITSHOW which is as event held yearly in my area. This is an event where laptops, notebooks, tv and those tech related stuff are having a huge sale. I put on my earplug to head to the venue, the place I know would be loud. I got to protect my remaining hearing that is damage over the years already. I thought I wanted to buy a cheap Creative speaker but I went sight seeing instead and pacing back and forth deciding whether to buy or not. Can't stand the crowds giving me alot of stress and I got to hold what little money I have. Went back home empty handed but I suddenly recall the box at home with old PC parts with an old speaker. So I digged it out.

This is the speaker. Altec Lansing speaker. It had been a long time since I heard that name! This speaker is already 15 year old already. The 3.5mm jack is damaged but I got a new one. And the some speaker pin connector and bent but I manged to bent it back making it able to connect. It is alive! How this thing survive so long in storage!?


 

 



I also found this in the old box. Not sure if this thing is old but I had not used it since internet broadband move on from phone wires. This is a DSL filter. What this thing does is it allow the phone and the modem to connected without them interfering which each other. Remember those days when you use the internet and the phone rang or someone pick up the phone and your internet connection would be broken? This thing prevent that by filtering your phone lines and modem lines to split it up. When someone in the house use the internet without this device you would only hear buzzes on the phone, those buzzes are the modem sending data through the phone lines. This device is such a life-saver from those anger in the house hogging the phone lines. With the filter your phone have no buzzes.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2016)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I also found this in the old box. Not sure if this thing is old but I had not used it since internet broadband move on from phone wires. This is a DSL filter. What this thing does is it allow the phone and the modem to connected without them interfering which each other. Remember those days when you use the internet and the phone rang or someone pick up the phone and your internet connection would be broken? This thing prevent that by filtering your phone lines and modem lines to split it up. When someone in the house use the internet without this device you would only hear buzzes on the phone, those buzzes are the modem sending data through the phone lines. This device is such a life-saver from those anger in the house hogging the phone lines. With the filter your phone have no buzzes.
> 
> View attachment 72846 View attachment 72849 View attachment 72850



I have a dozen of those. lol


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 16, 2016)

Altec Lansing is now CA.     Cyber Accoustics 





MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Today I went to the ITSHOW which is as event held yearly in my area. This is an event where laptops, notebooks, tv and those tech related stuff are having a huge sale. I put on my earplug to head to the venue, the place I know would be loud. I got to protect my remaining hearing that is damage over the years already. I thought I wanted to buy a cheap Creative speaker but I went sight seeing instead and pacing back and forth deciding whether to buy or not. Can't stand the crowds giving me alot of stress and I got to hold what little money I have. Went back home empty handed but I suddenly recall the box at home with old PC parts with an old speaker. So I digged it out.
> 
> This is the speaker. Altec Lansing speaker. It had been a long time since I heard that name! This speaker is already 15 year old already. The 3.5mm jack is damaged but I got a new one. And the some speaker pin connector and bent but I manged to bent it back making it able to connect. It is alive! How this thing survive so long in storage!?
> View attachment 72847 View attachment 72845 View attachment 72848
> ...


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 16, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I cant find a date anywhere
> 
> View attachment 72836
> 
> ...




pre war set
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...0003/lot-58999cf9-1d53-4826-8452-a3f6010d1a35

Estimate:  200 GBP - 400 GBP


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 16, 2016)

Thanks for that. I didnt know they had been painted. I will get my lens out later and check for any residue.


----------



## R-T-B (Mar 16, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I know.......but as my consolation prize i have 2 x Airspeed Envoy   GA - CMT
> 
> 
> View attachment 72844



I think one of those planes might have encountered some enemy AA...


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

Cannot believe I'm only now finding this thread. Well, I'm not in a position to post any pics of my mediocre collection due to being on the road and a bit removed from my resources, but I've got one of my favourite pics of a cool little tech bit on this laptop:






Pentium Pro Fiber ENG Sample sitting upon a bed of 256kb/512kb Pentium Pros.

I know I own very few things that have yet to already be showcased in this thread, but when I get back home I may get some good pics of the rather paltry collection and throw it up here. 

Quick Edit! I do have this pic of my Pentium II 450 ENG Sample as well!






Sorry for the bandwidth wrecking resolutions, I'll re upload later as expandable thumbnails.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Cannot believe I'm only now finding this thread. Well, I'm not in a position to post any pics of my mediocre collection due to being on the road and a bit removed from my resources, but I've got one of my favourite pics of a cool little tech bit on this laptop:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


HELL YEAH and welcome on Nostalgia hideout 

me want some PPro for my CPU collection ... need to search harder!


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> HELL YEAH and welcome on Nostalgia hideout
> 
> me want some PPro for my CPU collection ... need to search harder!



I had the luck and privilege of working at a recycler that had a Toshiba 8U P-Pro server come through. 4 CPU cards, two CPUs per card. I managed to get away with them, and traded two for the ENG Sample a few weeks later. ( I may have peeled the "Pentium Pro Inside" case badge off the chassis too.  )


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> I had the luck and privilege of working at a recycler that had a Toshiba 8U P-Pro server come through. 4 CPU cards, two CPUs per card. I managed to get away with them, and traded two for the ENG Sample a few weeks later. ( I may have peeled the "Pentium Pro Inside" case badge off the chassis too.  )


nice... all i had for luck was to find in my local dump some P4 and specially a good ol' Cyrix MII 300GP

i have some PII mobile, non mobile, PIII and most important for me a Slot A Athlon which is the "masterpiece" of my CPU collection in term of "legend material" CPU (oh and 2 PIII Xeon also )


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> nice... all i had for luck was to find in my local dump some P4 and specially a good ol' Cyrix MII 300GP



Love the MIIs. I run the Win98 machine with this guy:






I love the metal flake on the IHS, and that it appears to free-float above the package. Such style and grace in the design.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Love the MIIs. I run the Win98 machine with this guy:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


interesting ... mine is 
 
with golden IHS and ... also need to clean it a bit xD


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2016)

Finally a GPU to my server 










Changed the ~10yr old bubblebum on the GPU to MX-4 instantly.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> interesting ... mine is
> View attachment 72947
> with golden IHS and ... also need to clean it a bit xD



Those seem more common funny enough. I snagged this one mainly for the looks, but also because I'd not seen the IHS version before. That said, I've not seen many MIIs in person.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Those seem more common funny enough. I snagged this one mainly for the looks, but also because I'd not seen the IHS version before. That said, I've not seen many MIIs in person.


indeed that's why i wrote "interesting" since it's a less seen IHS type


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> interesting ... mine is
> View attachment 72947
> with golden IHS and ... also need to clean it a bit xD


Damn, looks like the first gen Pentiums (60 & 66MHz)


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

Alright I got one more before I finish my coffee and hit the road again.







Not old, but it instills nostalgia for me. I'm a youngin', and despite starting on a PII 333 system I built my first rig on an Athlon 64 X2 4200+. Not long after that the Phenom launched, then the Phenom II and AM3. I remember seeing the TWKR hit headlines, then hit the OC leaderboards. The exclusivity of it started the wheels turning and I spent ages trying to get one. I had to have one of these magic chips, even if there were only 100 of them. I settled with a 960T but finally got ahold of this particular TWKR in 2013 when it popped up on eBay. It's lived a full life, and hardly OCs much at all anymore above ambient, but it's still a massive staple of my collection.

Story time over, time to hit the road.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> Damn, looks like the first gen Pentiums (60 & 66MHz)


ahah... albeit it was PII gen for those iirc (same as K6-2) 

i already posted those but doesn't hurt to make new shots ... 

P55 MMX 200 iirc and PII 233 mobile 
  

P150 mobile (found in a laptop on the side of the road xD) 
  

and yep i am up to something ... also need to determine which case to use, a original NZXT Phantom full tower (not the renewed one ) or maybe my AIR 540 if i go the Thermaltake Core P5 way and the mobo would fit in the 540... also the CPU on it are Optys 250 (Troy) need to check compatibility otherwise : revert to Optys 248 (Sledgehammer)


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Mar 16, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Alright I got one more before I finish my coffee and hit the road again.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I have always wanted one of those TWKR chips!!! Congratz man!


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 16, 2016)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I have always wanted one of those TWKR chips!!! Congratz man!


Mean while in  Sunny Rainless Wales a TPU member bangs his head in frustration on a Matchstick PC case


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 16, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Mean while in  Sunny Rainless Wales a TPU member bangs his head in frustration on a Matchstick PC case




More like bangs his head in frustration with the builders from Dorsetlandshire who after 3 days havent fixed the leak that they caused while refitting our bathroom.....and the bastards wouldnt lend me a cup full of varnish so i can finish Matchbox.


On the plus/minus side....My Doctor signed me off for another 6 months, at least he hasnt written me off completely yet !....Long live my mentalness...


Oh, and yes, it is a beautiful day here. Time for  some self medication.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

Back again with a quicky. This I am _VERY_ sad to admit is not part of my collection, as it belongs to a colleague who has refused on numerous occasions to part with it. I don't blame him.













It is one of the few 3dfx VooDoo 5 5000's. The 32MB little brother of the 5500 that never really made it out of testing. The card works perfectly and both VSA-100 chips report to run at a snappy 166MHz, or so I've been told. 

I snapped these photos during a very rare viewing of his collection. I haven't seen it out of the safe since. (Yes, it's kept in a safe.)


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 16, 2016)

I Added ya to the member list @Fouquin !!! And for sure we all want pictures. 






Fouquin said:


> Back again with a quicky. This I am _VERY_ sad to admit is not part of my collection, as it belongs to a colleague who has refused on numerous occasions to part with it. I don't blame him.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Cool, I have one of those myself. Pretty much that same AGP card. They are some pretty awesome video cards.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Cool, I have one of those myself. Pretty much that same AGP card. They are some pretty awesome video cards.



They are still out there. I remember awhile back finding a list of V5 5000s and their owners, I believe they had not even found 20 cards. If you in fact have a 5000 than cherish it, as they are quite the gem. Possibly more rare than the 6000, but again the numbers are fuzzy.

Edit: I found the list. It's from June 2014, and details 15 cards, 7 PCI and 8 AGP. It's possible that more have been found and weren't listed. (Besides the one I posted.)


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2016)

Voodoos are absolutely one of the most important thing in (3D) PC gaming 



GreiverBlade said:


> ahah... albeit it was PII gen for those iirc (same as K6-2)


I mean the golden heatspreader.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> Voodoos are absolutely one of the most important thing in (3D) PC gaming



Yep! I just wish I had a way to store them, since I don't have any of the original boxes. (Very lame, I know.)

I've tried some methods, but I keep running out of room...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> I mean the golden heatspreader.


as if i didn't know you talked about the heatspreader ... hence the "ahah" and the "albeit" ...


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 16, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> Damn, looks like the first gen Pentiums (60 & 66MHz)



Took me this long to find this image in my library:






First gen Pentium 60 celebrating 20ish years of existence.

Meant to post it earlier.


----------



## Artex (Mar 16, 2016)

I spent about 5 hours this weekend putting up some shelves and organizing the pile of retro goodness (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-163#post-3415663) into something presentable.   Enjoy all you retro maniacs!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 16, 2016)




----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> as if i didn't know you talked about the heatspreader ... hence the "ahah" and the "albeit" ...


Damn you...! 



Fouquin said:


> Took me this long to find this image in my library:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's something Intel should have used as one of the PR images when launching G3258 


@Artex, damn! Just... damn! If someone says isn't jealous, (s)he shouldn't be in this thread


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 16, 2016)

Artex said:


> I spent about 5 hours this weekend putting up some shelves and organizing the pile of retro goodness (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-163#post-3415663) into something presentable.   Enjoy all you retro maniacs!



i hesitate between ... 






and 






 obviously joking


----------



## Artex (Mar 16, 2016)

Lol - I knew you guys would enjoy it.  Looks so much better all organized.  So many colors!


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2016)

Artex said:


> Lol - I knew you guys would enjoy it.  Looks so much better all organized.  So many colors!


That's what I miss in the 90's


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2016)

So after all this BS, let's fire that bad boy up! 






That ribbon cable is from the SCSI RAID controller under the 7300GT card, and I must compare between my gaming PC's Recon3D and that Audigy2 


...and yes, that slot was originally a closed PCI-E x8 slot


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 16, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Back again with a quicky. This I am _VERY_ sad to admit is not part of my collection, as it belongs to a colleague who has refused on numerous occasions to part with it. I don't blame him.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have one on e-bay for sale right now.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 16, 2016)

Been a while since I posted a pic. Had this out benching the other day.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 16, 2016)

@Artex , that isn't a collection, its a frigging museum man!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 16, 2016)

@ Artex -  O.......my........god.


----------



## Norton (Mar 17, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> @Artex , that isn't a collection, its a frigging museum man!!!!!!!!!!





Mr.Scott said:


> @ Artex -  O.......my........god.



+1..... infinty

Daaayum!!! That's a heck of a collection @Artex 






Nice to see the Diamond Monster Fusion (Voodoo Banshee) boxes.... my first gaming card


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 17, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> I have one on e-bay for sale right now.



Oh you do? I was just scanning eBay earlier today and did not see a V5 5000. Lots of 5500s though.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 17, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> Damn, looks like the first gen Pentiums (60 & 66MHz)




Yes when you had a TURBO button on front of the case foran instant overclock


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 17, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Yes when you had a TURBO button on front of the case foran instant overclock




and a "help" button on your k/b




 


I keep pressing it and noone comes running to help me.....


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 17, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Yes when you had a TURBO button on front of the case foran instant overclock


Wasn't the turbo button for underclocking for those games where a 66MHz beast ran the game at double speed?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 17, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Yes when you had a TURBO button on front of the case for an instant overclock


actually ...


9700 Pro said:


> Wasn't the turbo button for underclocking for those games where a 66MHz beast ran the game at double speed?


is right
turbo button was more a downclock... my 486DX 33, turbo on: 33mhz turbo off: 8mhz... way to go ..  so turbo on was only the stock speed of the cpu 
it was on since the 486 or 386 or before? well not a P55 feature in the end




CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> and a "help" button on your k/b
> 
> View attachment 72975
> 
> ...


still exist ... altho it's F1 now


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 17, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Oh you do? I was just scanning eBay earlier today and did not see a V5 5000. Lots of 5500s though.


5000 went fast. Under an hour. Still have a 5500 though.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 17, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> 5000 went fast. Under an hour. Still have a 5500 though.



eBay just isn't showing it to me. Well what did it go for? Seeing as 5500s usually get $170+ I'd expect you got at least $250 for a 5000.

Also @stinger608 this will make you happy:

  

I had to run to the storage unit to pick up some laptops and of course I had to get a pic of the P5A. This is the second one I owned, and it is set up to run a K6-2 500. The first is running the Cyrix MII-333GP and was the board in one of my previous posts that was covered in VooDoo 2s


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 17, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> eBay just isn't showing it to me. Well what did it go for? Seeing as 5500s usually get $170+ I'd expect you got at least $250 for a 5000.


I took $200 for the 5000. My 5500 is listed at $130 or offer. Cheapest listing for the card, no offers yet. Your prices seem steep to me.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 17, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Your prices seem steep to me.



Just averages from the last 60 days on eBay.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 17, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Just averages from the last 60 days on eBay.


Understood.


----------



## Red_Machine (Mar 17, 2016)

I got my V5 5500 AGP for £50 a few years ago, boxed complete-ish (only thing missing was the molex Y-cable).


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 17, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> I had to run to the storage unit to pick up some laptops and of course I had to get a pic of the P5A. This is the second one I owned, and it is set up to run a K6-2 500.




Haha, sweet @Fouquin !!! They were top of the line motherboards in their day!!! Heck, you're the only other person I have seen in many many years that still has a boxed one of these.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 18, 2016)

*AMD K6-2 380 MHz​*

From 1998


 

321 pin...socket Super 7


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 18, 2016)

found a old geforce GPU that i never installed in anything....iirc it came in a new PC, but im not totally sure, but it was never used , just got buried in my garage....


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 18, 2016)

Nice. MX 4000


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 19, 2016)

What Wikipedia tells me, it's like a MX440-SE with 64-bit memory bus.

Damn, I had also some old AGP cards (TNT2 M64 Pro, MX420 and Radeon 9200 at least) in my storage, but some douchebag robbed all my belongings from there 


which reminded me... I need to repair some caps from a Ti4600 which is safely in my closet


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 19, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> found a old geforce GPU that i never installed in anything....iirc it came in a new PC, but im not totally sure, but it was never used , just got buried in my garage....




I actually picked one of these up a couple of weeks ago from one of our own members here. Its in the retail box.


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 19, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> I actually picked one of these up a couple of weeks ago from one of our own members here. Its in the retail box.



i dont have the box, but if someone needed it they could have it. im trying to go through all of my old, or replaced PC stuff, and get rid of it.


----------



## Red_Machine (Mar 19, 2016)

Not computer hardware, but it's pretty damn old.  A Hitachi CED VideoDisc player from 1981.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 19, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> Not computer hardware, but it's pretty damn old.  A Hitachi CED VideoDisc player from 1981.



Got a rare Video disk that can only be played in that type of player
"Dire Straights Brother's in Arms " Video CD Single
one of a limited Sale of 500 only in the UK


----------



## Red_Machine (Mar 19, 2016)

Yeah, a lot of music video/concert compilations were released on VideoDisc, I guess it was to make up for the lack of movies!


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 19, 2016)

You mean
 I guess it was to make up for the lack of movies!Total lack of any other Content in the UK


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Cannot believe I'm only now finding this thread. Well, I'm not in a position to post any pics of my mediocre collection due to being on the road and a bit removed from my resources, but I've got one of my favourite pics of a cool little tech bit on this laptop:
> 
> 
> 
> ...





GreiverBlade said:


> HELL YEAH and welcome on Nostalgia hideout
> 
> me want some PPro for my CPU collection ... need to search harder!





Fouquin said:


> I had the luck and privilege of working at a recycler that had a Toshiba 8U P-Pro server come through. 4 CPU cards, two CPUs per card. I managed to get away with them, and traded two for the ENG Sample a few weeks later. ( I may have peeled the "Pentium Pro Inside" case badge off the chassis too.  )



Someone mentioned Pentiums Pro & Super Socket 7 mobos?  Just came back home with my own Pro system, featuring a pair of SCSI drives and highly unusual Super Socket 7 mobo! Actually, it's the SAME format as that unknown Pentium 2 board which I uploaded some time ago, it turned out to be Celebris GL6200 by the company called Digital, very high-quality build & extremely heavy! Pics coming soon!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2016)

Here are couple of shots, I didn't have the time to strip it apart & inspect every component individually, but what I did notice is that it only has one SCSI drive, not 2. Maybe the owner had 2 partitions & assumed that he's running 2 physical drives?

Can someone please tell me what is that thing, a small add-on card with lots of caps just above the CPU socket?



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a side note, that Super Socket7 mobo looks identical (at least the board layout does) to a Pentium 2 board from couple of months ago.

http://postimg.org/image/ga0rmktqv/


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 19, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Can someone please tell me what is that thing, a small add-on card with lots of caps just above the CPU socket?



Voltage regulation module.

Very cool to see a complete DEC P-Pro based server. Haven't seen one in such great condition.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2016)

Oh yeah, it makes sense... It's just that I'm not used seeing them separate, as in replaceable modules 

Also, totally forgot to point this out before, but I'm sure you've guessed it by now - the machine does indeed works as it should. Didn't get to hook it up myself yet, but according to the previous owner who gave it away for free, it has a Win98 & couple of other bits & pieces


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 19, 2016)

All the love for the Pentium Pro, but no mention of its younger sibling:







No not the WinChip, the Pentium II Overdrive! I wish I had a working Socket 8 system like @Trekkie4 so I could run these behemoth CPUs.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 21, 2016)

Just going to quickly post a shot of my most time consuming project at the moment:

 

Of course a QuadFX machine. The 8800 GTs will be replaced by 8800 Ultras in a few days, just waiting for them to arrive. Along with that, I'm doing some thinking about putting a few of those SATA ports to use in RAID. Just not sure what I can get away with on the cheap.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 21, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Just going to quickly post a shot of my most time consuming project at the moment:
> 
> View attachment 73055
> 
> Of course a QuadFX machine. The 8800 GTs will be replaced by 8800 Ultras in a few days, just waiting for them to arrive. Along with that, I'm doing some thinking about putting a few of those SATA ports to use in RAID. Just not sure what I can get away with on the cheap.


funny ... same "MTCP" for me but with the hardware i mentioned in the post #4173 : Opteron 248 or 250 and dual 6600GT since i only have 1 8800Ultra xD (which was used in the dual Optys rig once ... "SPB" ) and i also need to find a suitable PSU, i only have my Antec Phantom (Innovatek water mod) 500w and a Enermax CoolerGiant 485w


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 21, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> eBay just isn't showing it to me. Well what did it go for? Seeing as 5500s usually get $170+ I'd expect you got at least $250 for a 5000.
> 
> Also @stinger608 this will make you happy:
> 
> ...


damn that legend book, like when i bought pc from pentium I era


----------



## PP Mguire (Mar 21, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> All the love for the Pentium Pro, but no mention of its younger sibling:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh nice, I used to own a 486 overdrive back in the day.


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 21, 2016)

man i would love a dual cpu board to play with,....dreams aside i recently got a deal on this here
came with a cheap case/PSU along with a small monitor,KB and mouse (not pictured/needed )
C2Q 9550, GA-EP35-DS3P, 2x2gb OCZ reaper and a reference GTX 280






 
















gave them a good clean up and swapped it up with my Xp machine, though im yet to have fun with this...going to make time this weekend to see how much i can OC  (not that i have any good idea on how to do that )







yes it is a grey carpet lol
(also ninja edit for pics >.>)


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 21, 2016)

Doc41 said:


> man i would love a dual cpu board to play with,...




I will tell you that I went through *four* seperate L1N64 boards before finally getting one that would post with both CPUs installed. And even still half the DIMMs don't register and it only works with two DIMMs on CPU0's controller in single-channel. Every time I go to boot the machine it's got a new problem that stops it from booting properly.

That said I've managed to OC it quite a bit with those 212's rigged on, and I'm hoping to push just far enough to take some #1 spots on HWBot. ( Tired of being #2.  )

Let us know how the Q9550 adventures go. Those are some great fun chips.


----------



## Retrorockit (Mar 23, 2016)

Time to go back to the future now. I took another shot at the Dell Optiplex 745 O/C. I tested a new fan setup on my Dimension E520, so the 2 motor molex powered Delta GFB1212VHG was just sitting around.
I decided to stuff it into the old Opti 745 and she went 3.72GHz @ 1.5V. under some light stress testing from CPUZ. This was with a QX6800SLACP. I did heatsink the MOSFETs., all 6 of them. It ran a couple hours at about 70*C. then temps shot up into the 80"s so I quit. The cooler I swapped in was a tight fit, I might have crushed the chip. I was kind of surprised the 3 phase VRM with 2 MOSFETS per would allow that speed. To really test it I would need a bigger PSU and a good GPU. I have some around but don't know when I'll get back to it.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 24, 2016)

Losing my job next friday so I will finally have the time to build my P4 single core build. Stay tuned folks!


----------



## Ahhzz (Mar 25, 2016)




----------



## Fouquin (Mar 25, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Losing my job next friday so I will finally have the time to build my P4 single core build. Stay tuned folks!



Normally I'd say, "Can't wait, sounds awesome." But I don't want it to read like I'm excited about you losing your job...


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 25, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Normally I'd say, "Can't wait, sounds awesome." But I don't want it to read like I'm excited about you losing your job...




Don't worry I could probably find again but I'm gonna take some times to enjoy a build. I also have a Lenovo ThinkCentre M53 compact form factor inside a box brand new and I bought 25 older games that could probably play really well even on the integrated HD4600. I'm gonna find time to relax and forget about the job loss


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 25, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Losing my job next friday so I will finally have the time to build my P4 single core build. Stay tuned folks!


Now, THAT'S the spirit!


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 25, 2016)

Well, about 6 to 8 months ago I responded to a local Craigslist add that stated "Old Alienware ($100)"

I opened up the listing to find the guy had actually two Alienware systems for $100. One of them was a system that was in the era of about 2005 which is an actual Alienware not a Dell system and the other one was from around the 2009 era. The 09 era system was having issues but the 05 era system ran fine.

After responding we made arrangements to meet up. When I arrived both systems were without hard drives and filthy as hell. He said that the 09 era system was having windows problems and would blue screen after being loaded for a few minutes.
The earlier 05 system he said was solid as a rock!

I told him due to not having hard drives, being filthy, and the one having issues I'd give him $60 on the spot...............He took it. 

Well, the 09 system did in fact have motherboard problems but I was able to find a new motherboard and it is up and running..........I'll take some shots and specks on that soon.

Now, the 05 system came stock with an Abit board that only accepts single core Pentium chips. Dang it.......Low and behold though, I have an awesome Asus P5Q-E motherboard that I had gotten from our awesome member @theonedub !!!!

So, I kept the original factory Abit motherboard but installed the Asus board.

Over the last week or so I have been putting it together and loading Windows XP, updating using WSUSOffline, and loading some ole software.......Well, games. UT2003, UT2004, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, NFS Porsche Unleashed, Quake, and Quake 2.


Now lets get to the specs and pictures; shall we?

Motherboard: Asus P5Q-E (Thanks @theonedub !!!!!! )

Processor: Intel Quad Extreme QX6700 (Was in the 09 era system)

Ram: 4 gigs AMP X DDR2 6400 (again, thanks to @theonedub !!!)

Audio: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy ZS Gamer (was actually in the system)

Video: EVGA 8800GTX 768 gig card (had this bad boy)

Hard drive: Seagate 500 gig Constellation ES

Power supply: Enermax 465 watt (I believe it to be the factory power supply)

Operating system: Windows XP Home SP3 with all updates




Spoiler: Ole Alienware


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 25, 2016)

I like how the alien head logo replaces your head in the reflection.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 25, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> I like how the alien head logo replaces your head in the reflection.




And that was by accident.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 25, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Ram: 4 gigs AMP DDR2 1600



Holy smackamoly batman, DDR2 1600?! That's gotta be pulling 3v+ per DIMM! 

Joking aside, I'm assuming you meant 1066.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 25, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Holy smackamoly batman, DDR2 1600?! That's gotta be pulling 3v+ per DIMM!
> 
> Joking aside, I'm assuming you meant 1066.




Nope, its DDR2 1600 ram.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 25, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Nope, its DDR2 1600 ram.



I think I'm going to require a picture for proof. I have never seen nor heard of a PC2-12800 DIMM. The highest rated DDR2 I've ever seen was Corsair's PC2-10000 and those are RARE. Often they did not even work at rated speeds in 2x dual channel configurations.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 25, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Nope, its DDR2 1600 ram.


Link?
Pretty sure you're mistaken.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 25, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> I think I'm going to require a picture for proof. I have never seen nor heard of a PC2-12800 DIMM. The highest rated DDR2 I've ever seen was Corsair's PC2-10000 and those are RARE. Often they did not even work at rated speeds in 2x dual channel configurations.





Mr.Scott said:


> Link?
> Pretty sure you're mistaken.



Oh shit you guys are right.........Doh!!!!!! Its DDR2 6400.


----------



## JunkBear (Mar 28, 2016)

I know AGP gpu had some low profile but did they ever made PCI low profile?


----------



## Doc41 (Mar 28, 2016)

well there goes my weekend and "fun", got sick and had to take off the Tt PSU to replace a broken one on a family member's PC , sooo i'll have to find another one before i can do anything on it


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 4, 2016)

I've been meaning to upload pics of that Pentium Pro machine the next day, after I took those couple of shots on the previous page, but the next day I've had a nasty pain in my left arm, probably pinched nerve or overworked muscle from carrying that hunk of a metal (and a huge CRT) all by myself - that thing weights a ton! So I ended up taking couple of days "off", which translated into taking a prolonged "vacation" away from old computers & vintage technology  But I didn't forget about my Pro bucket and WILL post more pics eventually, once I hook it up & properly test everything!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 11, 2016)

I found out a good use for old broken hardware 






Who needs paintings etc. when you can just put your old motherboards and graphics cards to the wall?! My old P67 Fatal1ty Performance and a DOA FireGL V5100 (X800 Pro based but with 128MB DDR instead of 256MB GDDR3)


----------



## Ahhzz (Apr 11, 2016)

Boss cleaning out the office a bit today, and I may post up some of our older systems later... came across this in a box full...


----------



## Fouquin (Apr 11, 2016)

I don't have the disposable income for it, but I've been watching this on eBay for like 2 weeks really hoping the guy will change the listing to accept a best offer. Not that the price is bad, I just want to be cheap:







My only justification to myself for not buying it with savings is, "It's scratched too much and I'd rather have a nicer one." But I know it's a lie...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 17, 2016)

Finally, back in business  Am working on getting the necessary parts I need, to complete couple of builds that's been unfinished & sat around for quite some time now, including that Celeron from couple of pages ago. Also booted up Pentium Pro for the 1st time, which (I'm sorry to say) didn't quite worked the way I was hoping to... CMOS battery was dead, so I had to take it apart just to replace it - but more importantly, I can't seem to get SCSI controller up & running, for some reason it's conflicting with on-board ATA/IDE controller & can't seem to find obvious solution for this problem.

More information & pics coming soon!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 17, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> I know AGP gpu had some low profile but did they ever made PCI low profile?


well ... that FX5200 is a PCI LP


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 17, 2016)

Thanks guys  Forgot to mention this in my previous post, but the hardware which I'm about to get (well, technically buy) is a working AMD Athlon 2500+ system. After considering few options & going through couple of online ads, I've realized that I should probably go with complete (and working) build, rather than buying parts individually, which would easily stack up & cost me twice as more money for what I paid for this system (7, 50$) Besides, most of the parts I'm going to keep for myself, except for the mobo, CPU & case which are most likely get donated, given away for free as I really don't need any more of those. Anyhow, full specs are down below, in case you're interested in details:

- CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ SC 1.86GHZ (already got one, don't need it)
- GPU: ATI Radeon 9200SE 128mb 64-bit (got dozens of AGP cards, but it MAY come in handy, in case I decide to put together something more powerful than average S3 and/or SIS graphics)
- RAM: 1GB DDR RAM (definitely going to keep this one, none of my DDR1 builds have 1GB of RAM)
- 400W PSU (need it to finish Intel Celeron build)
- HDD 60gb  (need it to finish AMD Duron build)
- LG DVD/RW Drive (very useful, might even shove it inside my "active" retro-gaming PC, Athlon 1800+ with GeForce4 4200Ti and a pair of Voodoo2 in SLI)
- LG CD/R Drive (meh, somewhat useful but otherwise going to be considered as "spare" and/or replacement unit)
- Floppy Drive (ran out of floppies, so I'm definitely holding onto this one)
- Midi Tower (unless it's something awesome & highly unusual, giving it away for free)
- Gigabyte Socket 462 Mobo (already got 2x spare Socket 462 boards, both in working condition)
- Pre-installed Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit & all the appropriate drivers (riiiight, as if anyone would use Vista, especially on 15yr old computer )


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 19, 2016)

One of our older members, @aven000 , has started a forum site regarding to ole nostalgic Pentium processors and asked me to toss it up here for all our great nostalgic members to check out and if you'd like to join his forum. 

http://pentiumownersclub.boards.net/

So, lets show him some support for his new forum site. 

In case this post gets lost in the shuffle, I'll add the forum address to the original post.


----------



## Deleted member 41019 (Apr 19, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> One of our older members, @aven000 , has started a forum site regarding to ole nostalgic Pentium processors and asked me to toss it up here for all our great nostalgic members to check out and if you'd like to join his forum.
> 
> http://pentiumownersclub.boards.net/
> 
> ...



Thank you Stinger


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2016)

While I'm waiting for the hardware to arrive (most likely tomorrow), here's something I took earlier today, specially for the new Pentium Owners Club forum


----------



## T-Bob (Apr 21, 2016)

@Trekkie4  Nice Pictures 

They brought back memories of the first 2P system I built. 


Spoiler









Dual Pentium iii 733Mhz chips on a Tyan Tiger 100 board. 
-Admittedly the pic isn't mine as I don't have the system anymore but thought I would share the memory anyway


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2016)

T-Bob said:


> @Trekkie4  Nice Pictures
> 
> They brought back memories of the first 2P system I built.
> 
> ...


Thanks, T-Bob!  Slot-1 CPUs, especially Pentiums 2 are my #1 favorite, I got tons of sentimental memories tied to those machines.


Finally got the AMD machine today... Have to admit, it looks so much better than I've expected and most importantly - it's all working as it should!  Well, kinda ... I had tons of problems booting it up for the 1st time, but that was due to missing CMOS battery & (corrupted?) memory settings.


 



Pretty simple & straightforward inside, it's all on-board except for GPU which in this case is ATI Radeon 9200, as mentioned before.





CPU heatsink has a Thermaltake fan on top of it. Not sure if it's the actual Thermaltake CPU cooler or just the fan itself, but it does seem to do its job pretty good!




Pre-installed Vista is loading...




Began removing parts... 1st to address was this nice Maxtor HDD, I know a perfect place (and purpose) for this thing, so stay tuned for more updates throughout the next month or so 




Interestingly enough, neither of LG units are DVD RW drives ... instead, one seems to be just an ordinary CD-RW and the other one DVD-ROM. Oh well, I'm sure they'll come in handy sooner or later.




This black Samsung FDD belongs to the same category as previously mentioned Maxtor HDD - I got something special in mind for those 2!




Yet another hard drive ... this time Western Digital 20 GB. Both seem to be working OK, although I didn't get to officially test this other one




While removing the parts from the case, I found this Delta fan loose inside... Definitely going to keep it, as I might swap it for other, identical Delta fan on a OEM Pentium 2 CPU which uses specialized fan header, designed for Digital Celebris machines




GV-R92128TE Gigabyte video card, it was the actual card used inside the system.


 



7VT600-RZ Gigabyte Socket A board, which does seem to be working perfectly normal. Not that I need any more of these, but it would be a shame to throw it away so I'll either keep it or give it away for free, to someone who might need it more than I do.


 



A fine example of good RAM memory  Joke aside, I couldn't boot the system up with these modules so they're either having some kind of a problem OR (most likely) there was a conflict with the BIOS for some reason. Either way, I'm going to keep those.




And last but not least, another video card, also ATI... The label says 7500, 64MB and yes, as you can see from 3rd picture it does seem to be working, except the cooling fan is all seized up


 

 



Overall speaking, it was well worth the money. I'm already working on finishing that Celeron from couple of pages ago, which has a tons of problems of its own, but more about those tomorrow. Also planning to finish Duron 750 build & upgrade HDD on Athlon 1000, now that I can & have decent HDD to use it. But no, I'm not referring to Maxtor - that one will be a separate project on its own


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 21, 2016)

you could get insane overclocks with slot 1 Pentiums ( and Celerons )
100% overclock was very possible.
I overclocked my 1st P2 300Mhz to 550Mhz straight out of the box and i was not pushing it very hard ( took it briefly to 650Mhz before i chickened out  and brought it back to 550Mhz )


edit slot 2 to slot 2


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2016)

You probably meant Slot-1, right? Because AFAIK, Slot-2 was never used for consumer-grade models, only for servers & professional equipment. As for the OC, yeah so I've heard. Part of me would like to OC it, just to see how high it could go before it would crash &/or burn. But then the common reason kicks in & tiny voice inside my head reminds me how old (and somewhat rare, I guess) these things are nowdays, even though you can actually still find them around the junk piles, so it only makes sense to use genuine Slot-1 Pentium 3 instead, 550MHz for example & have that Pentium 2 live another day! Because, you know... One day these things WILL be incredibly rare & impossible to find


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> so it only makes sense to use genuine Slot-1 Pentium 3 instead, 550MHz for example & have that Pentium 2 live another day!


edited above post

you can also use the Slot1 to socket 370 flip chip adapter ( which i have of course )
That enables you to use socket 370 P111 and Celerons up to the max those little dip switches or jumpers will let you clock to 

PS I Have a FEW slot one Cpu's  like matched pair of 233 Mhz P2  matched pair of 266Mhz P2
+ a assortment of Celerons in slot 1  no working boards tho


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> edited above post
> 
> you can also use the Slot1 to socket 370 flip chip adapter ( which i have of course )
> That enables you to use socket 370 P111 and Celerons up to the max those little dip switches or jumpers will let you clock to


Right, I actually got several of those "Slockets" laying around, they've came with couple of S370 Celerons, that have been used on Abit Slot-1 boards. I still got all of them with me, it's just that I've removed adapters & used Abit boards with the real thing, Pentiums 2 and 3 ... let me see if I can dig out the pic!

http://postimg.org/image/8iz2ajn8d/ http://postimg.org/image/mn4q4q0dn/ http://postimg.org/image/xcn0aq1kb/


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 22, 2016)

ha beat you  posted way earlier in this thread


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 22, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


>




Haha, good ole "Slocket" !!!!!! I still have one of those dudes new in the package! 
Talk about some cool innovation now. Ability to install a socket 370 chip in a P2 board.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Haha, good ole "Slocket" !!!!!! I still have one of those dudes new in the package!
> Talk about some cool innovation now. Ability to install a socket 370 chip in a P2 board.


@dorsetknob @stinger608 To tell you guys the truth, I never quite liked these things... I mean, I can certainly understand why ppl used them back in a day, especially due to Intel's decision to leave Slot interface & return to sockets, but nowdays this thing is completely useless IMHO. If you want Slot-1 system, then you'll get yourself a slot mobo & Slot-1 CPU - same thing goes for S370 since they're both obsolete & very cheap. There's no reason to mix those 2 together... *shrug*

Anyhow, another day & another update  My Duron 750 system is pretty much done... I'm hoping to come across better & more powerful CPU (especially since I already own Duron 750, in another machine) so there's no reason to hold onto this one. Unfortunately, this mobo only supports Athlons up to 1700 and all of my spares are 2200 and faster soooo....



 

 

 

Replaced the missing CMOS battery, replaced both ODDs with these LG ones, swapped the hard drive with another system (Maxtor 20GB), replaced the network card from CNR to PCI one, did a (more-less?) decent cable management, took out the single RAM module & sweapped it for 2 identical ones & last but not least added that missing CD-ROM audio cable!  Still have to boot it up but it's been tested & works OK!


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> @dorsetknob @stinger608 To tell you guys the truth, I never quite liked these things... I mean, I can certainly understand why ppl used them back in a day, especially due to Intel's decision to leave Slot interface & return to sockets, but nowdays this thing is completely useless IMHO. If you want Slot-1 system, then you'll get yourself a slot mobo & Slot-1 CPU - same thing goes for S370 since they're both obsolete & very cheap. There's no reason to mix those 2 together... *shrug*




Very true these days man. There is no reason to run a "slocket" in anything...............................Other than............................ya can. 

Back in the day they actually became pretty popular although for a pretty short time as most went to 370 socket. I remember when the "slocket" adapters were close to $100 USD especially if you purchased an Asus brand that had all the overclocking DIP switches onboard.


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> @dorsetknob @stinger608 To tell you guys the truth, I never quite liked these things... I mean, I can certainly understand why ppl used them back in a day, especially due to Intel's decision to leave Slot interface & return to sockets



"I Keep one for Nostalga"

Personally i think it is an Idea Intel Should Revive
If Intel was to Redevelop the Slot one Idea where the latest Processor was put on a slot something Daughter board
It would make upgrading easier quicker and more affordable and as such more people would upgrade to the latest cpu ( people are reluctant to upgrade because of the cost involved as its not just the CPU but new Motherboard Ram and often a new cooler as the old one does not fit the new socket )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2016)

Absolutely, Slot interface was probably the easiest way to upgrade (or to fix) your machine! No need to mess around with the heatsink, thermal material compound, mounting brackets, etc. Just plug & play and you're ready to go  *sigh* Maybe that was ONE of the reasons Intel abandoned Slot idea to begin with... Too damn simple!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Anyhow, another day & another update  My Duron 750 system is pretty much done... I'm hoping to come across better & more powerful CPU (especially since I already own Duron 750, in another machine) so there's no reason to hold onto this one. Unfortunately, this mobo only supports Athlons up to 1700 and all of my spares are 2200 and faster soooo....


Anything in particular you're looking for? It will cost very little to send a processor from here to there.
I have a few hundred socket A's. I have no problem shipping anywhere in the world.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2016)

Thanks for the offer, fellow Trekkie  I was thinking of Athlon (or Duron? Or even both lol)  between 1 and 1.3 GHz Therefore Duron 1000 or Athlon 1500. Something that has enough muscle to "pull" games like Grand Theft Auto 3 & Vice City, yet old & slow enough to keep it compatible with my DFI AK-75EC mobo which doesn't work with Athlon 1700+ and higher. I know that for sure, because I already tried it out once & fried the CPU in the process. Not because of the mobo, but because of the stupid cooler-mounting mistake that I've done because I was in the rush to get it done, but that's a whole other story.


----------



## PP Mguire (Apr 23, 2016)

In case anybody was wondering what the status was on my 98 box I made a thread for, it was alive and now is getting the full PP treatment. Stay tuned.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 23, 2016)

PP Mguire said:


> In case anybody was wondering what the status was on my 98 box I made a thread for, it was alive and now is getting the full PP treatment. Stay tuned.
> 
> View attachment 73940



NF7 and 6800 ultra? This is looking good!


----------



## PP Mguire (Apr 23, 2016)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> NF7 and 6800 ultra? This is looking good!



Yea my car is getting some much needed love so this is going slowly. I was going to toss it in my spare Enthoo Pro but gave that to the missus instead. So I'm slowly modding my Raidmax Scorpio which was my first aftermarket case to take water parts. Going to be a hybrid rigid and soft tube setup.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 23, 2016)

PP Mguire said:


> Yea my car is getting some much needed love so this is going slowly. I was going to toss it in my spare Enthoo Pro but gave that to the missus instead. So I'm slowly modding my Raidmax Scorpio which was my first aftermarket case to take water parts. Going to be a hybrid rigid and soft tube setup.



Cannot wait to see this!! Keep us updated!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 23, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the offer, fellow Trekkie  I was thinking of Athlon (or Duron? Or even both lol)  between 1 and 1.3 GHz Therefore Duron 1000 or Athlon 1500. Something that has enough muscle to "pull" games like Grand Theft Auto 3 & Vice City, yet old & slow enough to keep it compatible with my DFI AK-75EC mobo which doesn't work with Athlon 1700+ and higher. I know that for sure, because I already tried it out once & fried the CPU in the process. Not because of the mobo, but because of the stupid cooler-mounting mistake that I've done because I was in the rush to get it done, but that's a whole other story.



So, these would probably work for you then? 
Athlon 1400 Thunderbird  A1400AMS3C
Duron 1200 Morgan  DHD1200AMT1B


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 23, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> So, these would probably work for you then?
> Athlon 1400 Thunderbird  A1400AMS3C
> Duron 1200 Morgan  DHD1200AMT1B
> 
> View attachment 73949


Yes, both of them would make a perfect match


----------



## bogmali (Apr 23, 2016)

Did someone say "Nostalgic?"


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 23, 2016)

Got the Celeron maching up & running! Woohoo, finally!  Seriously guys, this thing was a PITA, right from the very beginning! First it didn't want to boot, kept signaling bad (or no) RAM error message. Then after swapping dozens of modules, I've came up with this slightly bizarre & desperate solution - to soak the entire memory bank & module itself into the contact cleaning solution which surprisingly enough worked right away, system FINALLY booted up. But then it kept signaling FDD error.... Long story short, it turned out to be the drive itself, stepper motor (technically the shaft itself) somehow got decoupled from the end guide, shaft holder & so the entire thing was seized up & couldn't move at all. After an hour or so fiddling with FDD unit, I finally managed to get it fixed  Other than that, I also had HDD troubles ... so I replaced it for another WD drive, which I took out from that AMD machine. Unfortunately, this other WD hard drive is ALSO having (weird) problems, it just took me ages to realize that so I swapped it for the 3rd Maxtor one! Hopefully it's going to work now, because I'm really tired of messing around with this system *sigh*


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 23, 2016)

bogmali said:


> Did someone say "Nostalgic?"



Guess you'll be needing one of these then.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 23, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, both of them would make a perfect match


You have a message then.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 23, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> You have a message then.


Answered, thanks!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 24, 2016)

AndreiCT said:


> Hi guys! I'm Andrei and i just discovered this awesome thread. I decided to join the forum and in my first post i will present my first PC. It's not quite vintage but it was purchased a decade ago on January 7, 2004. It was a custom build system.
> 
> Here are the specs:
> 
> ...


I know this is a quite old post,but I have a similar system,built today:

Case: JNC 4H/RJA52 - same as yours except metal casing itself isn't shiny,it's matte
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 - 865PE as well,but no onboard LAN,it's external,provided by a RTL8139C NIC
CPU:Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz S478,Northwood,533MHz FSB,512KB L2 cache
Memory:Kingmax 512MB DDR400 PC3200 - to be replaced by 1GB Kingston KVR
GPU: PixelView FX5500 128MB AGP8x
HDD: Maxtor 6E040L0 40GB - in great condition actually
Floppy: Alpine 3.5" (I guess. I have a Panasonic and a NEC stored somewhere tho)
ODD:ASUS CD-RW & Pioneer DVD-117
PSU: JNC LC-B350ATX 350W w/PFC - got it for 8RON:
Believe it or not,it's actually robust,having some BIG heatsinks. It was recapped by somebody else (they did a good job at that!) and has a PFC coil. The only thing I had to do was to replace the old and dirty Ruilian Science fan with a Yate Loon of sorts. I actually have another one which is the "lite" version of it. On that one,I recapped it,added some filtering coils,and even went as far as adding a AC receptacle with EMI filtering board (from a Deer).

If you want pictures just say so,and I'll post them later.


As for the system,it was originally like this:


MB: PCChips M825G - yes,a true original PCChips,not a rebranded one (some Soyo,ECS and Matsonic etc.)
GPU: integrated Unichrome?
CPU:Sempron 2200+
Memory:128MB DDR (wtf...)
PSU: Powerlink( Linkworld) 400W LPM2-25 - nice try,Powerlink. Ya ain't foolin anyone by rebranding a 250W unit as 400.

EDIT:Here are the pics.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 24, 2016)

My packed up Celeron build is pretty much done, now all I have to do is boot up the OS - probably some time tomorrow


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 25, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> My packed up Celeron build is pretty much done, now all I have to do is boot up the OS - probably some time tomorrow


I don't want to burst your bubble but I don't see how is that going to have some bit of airflow.

The only instance I'd see that a good idea is if you transplant the guts of this PSU into some generic 120mm modern PSU case,since this would mean there's some airflow (fan blows onto the CPU as well).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I don't want to burst your bubble but I don't see how is that going to have some bit of airflow.
> 
> The only instance I'd see that a good idea is if you transplant the guts of this PSU into some generic 120mm modern PSU case,since this would mean there's some airflow (fan blows onto the CPU as well).


Thanks, but I'm not really that worried for this thing  It's just an old Celeron under all that metal, 433MHz Mendocino - how hot it can get?!  Besides, the PSU is creating a negative pressure inside the case, so there IS some airflow inside this thing, throughout all the vents & slots. Nevertheless, I'll keep my eye on CPU temp & will add additional 80x80 intake fan to the front, if necessary!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 25, 2016)




----------



## stinger608 (Apr 25, 2016)

Now that is funny sh!t right there @CAPSLOCKSTUCK !!!! 

"Disk 1 of 2079."


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 25, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Now that is funny sh!t right there @CAPSLOCKSTUCK !!!!
> 
> "Disk 1 of 2079."




can you imagine.....sitting there, waiting to pop the next one in.........


----------



## Fouquin (Apr 25, 2016)

Almost got the whole gang together.

  (Click to expand)

Not pictured are four other VooDoo 3s, two 3000s and two 3500s. They are in storage still it would seem. 

I'm about to say goodbye to a lot of these. Need the money more than the nostalgia right now. If anyone would be interested in re-homing a few of these cards please let me know.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2016)

Mmm, was that Diamond-branded Banshee I see in the middle?


----------



## PP Mguire (Apr 25, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Almost got the whole gang together.
> 
> View attachment 73993  (Click to expand)
> 
> ...


When you're ready send me a PM.


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## Fouquin (Apr 25, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Mmm, was that Diamond-branded Banshee I see in the middle?



Indeed. Diamond Monster Fusion 16MB, both the AGP and PCI version.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2016)

Under the better circumstances, I'd give you an offer for one of those, never did get to find Banshee (either brand) but I'll have to pass for now. Nevertheless, it's pretty cool to see one of these


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## stinger608 (Apr 26, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Almost got the whole gang together.
> 
> View attachment 73993  (Click to expand)
> 
> ...




That is a frigging awesome collection of nostalgic vid cards man!!!!!! Dang, wish I had funds to offer ya up for some of them.


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## Fouquin (Apr 26, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> That is a frigging awesome collection of nostalgic vid cards man!!!!!! Dang, wish I had funds to offer ya up for some of them.



That is just the VooDoos. It's not @Artex  level of collection, but it is a good number. I may be selling off the others, as I know some people really enjoy the old nVidia, Matrox, S3, etc cards, but they seem harder to find honestly. VooDoos are anything but rare, which is nice. I plan to rebuild my collection as soon as things get smoother.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 26, 2016)

Not sure I'd agree on this one... I honestly can't remember when was the last one I got to see at least one 3dfx card being sold or advertised online, at least locally! These things USED to be easy to come across, but now really are becoming more & more rare every day


----------



## Fouquin (Apr 26, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not sure I'd agree on this one... I honestly can't remember when was the last one I got to see at least one 3dfx card being sold or advertised online, at least locally! These things USED to be easy to come across, but now really are becoming more & more rare every day



Oh I must be lucky than, I do find them locally somewhat often. Once a month at least.


----------



## Fouquin (Apr 26, 2016)

(Click to expand)

So aside from the 3Dfx stuff, this is what I'd probably call "The Best of the Rest". This is just a few cherry picked cards that show some cool diversity from the rest of the older cards I have. There might be a few cool cards missing from this but they would be in storage and I don't have the will to dig them out until after I move.

Bonus picture of a ziggurat I built out of most of my newer cards while at a LAN:


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 26, 2016)

Well, here is an odd issue I haven't yet quite figured out:
That ole Alienware system that I posted here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-170#post-3436422

Has an odd problem. I loaded some older games on it; F.E.A.R., Doom, Doom 2, NFS Porsche Unleashed, and NASCAR: Sim Racing. Well, Nascar and Fear have to have the disks in to run...........All fine and dandy. Insert the first disc and away it goes. Play for awhile and all is good........Right up until I eject the disk. Every time I eject the disk the system locks up!
Running Windows XP with all the updates that were available. The optical drive is an ole IDE drive. Not sure if its something funky with the drive or what. It reads just fine, installs everything just fine, and can play music disks fine. Playing music disks and installing games doesn't cause the problem just after a game is installed and I have to put in the first disk to run the older games.

Just wondering if anyone else has run into this in the past and fixed the problem.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 27, 2016)

*sigh* I give up, I really REALLY do! Finally got to boot up Win98 yesterday, just so I would get stuck with weird soundcard issue - damn thing kept telling me that it has a problem & not enough IRQ resources to assign... Long story short, I've swapped the sound card for other, Yamaha one. Then everything worked OK until I loaded Diamond Dial-Up modem drivers, for some reason they've been messing with the serial mouse which I was using (on both COM1 and COM2 ports) so I had to find another version. Eventually I DID get it to work properly, until I loaded one of the games, it seems that 3dfx Voodoo card inside decided to drop dead (to be honest, it kinda WAS acting funny last time I've checked it, but it /was/ showing signs of life), and to make matters even worse, it damaged my lovely & trusty CRT monitor from the pic  This CRT was/is the original thing which came with original Pentium 2 machine, back in October 1998. So now I have a working Celeron system without the working Voodoo card, and I also have a damaged CRT, which might (or might not) have been damaged  by the Voodoo, I honestly don't know. From the experience, I don't think it's a serious damage (most likely voltage regulator) but still now I have to pay for the repairs ... there's no way I'm scrapping this one, there's too many memories holding onto it!

Anyhow, enjoy these pics... Might be a while before I decide to resume & finish what I started (that other machine, Duron 750 with Evil Kyro card), there's just too much work & frankly speaking, I'm running low on patience!  Damn you retrograde Mercury!


----------



## debs3759 (Apr 27, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Almost got the whole gang together.
> 
> View attachment 73993  (Click to expand)
> 
> ...



I might be interested in some. I have about a dozen 3dfx cards, with another 20 coming soon from a scrapper in NL who saves interesting cards (and CPUs). Got about 400-500 graphics cards in all, including a box full of VLB cards and several vintage professional cards I had never heard of before I was offered them.

Message me with details of what you have (I can't recognise everything from the photo) and what you want for them.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 27, 2016)

I just found a picture of my main system...and it ain't pretty at all.


----------



## AhokZYashA (Apr 27, 2016)

my office is having a datacenter cleanup and moving, 

i found some old and not so old hardware around, 
like some DDR2 FBDIMMs, 7U server with intel itanium in it, some FC 15k HDDs, and much more, 
pics incoming probably on friday


----------



## jboydgolfer (Apr 27, 2016)

not too old, but still......
i still have the "do not disturb " door knob hangar for the /alpha dogs card 
apparentlyt this "physX" thing is gonna be big O_O i think they used the older name for it tho,,,ageia? or whatever it was.

















i just realized the 8800 didnt have the "lock down" hook properly cut in the factory  you can tell this puppy was barely used ...sorry theyre SO blurry


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 27, 2016)

Not too old indeed, but very nice piece of hardware IMHO  Heck, I'm still using this thing to play GTA V...


----------



## vigia (Apr 28, 2016)

My old trusty cyrix and FPU.


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 28, 2016)

FPU = FaP unit ?


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 28, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> FPU = FaP unit ?


Probably means Floating point unit ie Maths co processor

back in the Day  sometime last century CPU's did not have a integrated Maths co Processor
Intel started incoperating co processor into the DX486 Line
before that the SX386 had a seperate socket and you could add a separate co processor as an upgrade


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 28, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Probably means Floating point unit ie Maths co processor
> 
> back in the Day  sometime last century CPU's did not have a integrated Maths co Processor
> Intel started incoperating co processor into the DX486 Line
> before that the SX386 had a seperate socket and you could add a separate co processor as an upgrade




Yup back in the day my first computer was a 200MMX


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 28, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Yup back in the day my first computer was a 200MMX


mine was a 12Mhz 80286 ( Tandon ) but it did have a isa VGA graphics card  full colour and not a cheepo CGA


----------



## vigia (Apr 28, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> mine was a 12Mhz 80286 ( Tandon ) but it did have a isa VGA graphics card  full colour and not a cheepo CGA



Well, i got the cheapo CGA, but i never feel the urge to upgrade it, because of my Monochromatic monitor. My first games on that where almost all with ASCII graphics


----------



## Norton (Apr 28, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> mine was a *12Mhz 80286* ( Tandon ) but it did have a isa VGA graphics card  full colour and not a cheepo CGA


Same here. Was quite a treat moving up to a 386 with DOS 6.2 after that!


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 29, 2016)

Missed out on the 386   went straight to a 486DX2 66Mhz  
and from a 14" monitor to a MASSIVE 17"


----------



## Maban (Apr 29, 2016)

Got rid of a bunch of old stuff today but held onto these for now. I'll probably end up tossing some of the crappier RAM.

Pentium 2, Pentium 3, X850XT PE, Celeron in a slotket, SDR, DDR, and some Netgear GbE card. I think the bottom three SDR sticks are registered.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 29, 2016)

Maban said:


> Got rid of a bunch of old stuff today but held onto these for now. I'll probably end up tossing some of the crappier RAM.
> 
> Pentium 2, Pentium 3, X850XT PE, Celeron in a slotket, SDR, DDR, and some Netgear GbE card. I think the bottom three SDR sticks are registered.
> 
> View attachment 74084



Gotta love that X850XT PE, the best AGP chip ever build the R481!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 29, 2016)

I always loved the fact how Pentium 2 cartridges were extremely sturdy & well made, with several locks, protected contacts & better mounting solution, while its successor Pentium 3 had nothing but the two of those side wings, extension of the heatsink itself & completely exposed Slot1 interface! Talk about evolution & learning from the previous mistakes...


----------



## vigia (Apr 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I always loved the fact how Pentium 2 cartridges were extremely sturdy & well made, with several locks, protected contacts & better mounting solution, while its successor Pentium 3 had nothing but the two of those side wings, extension of the heatsink itself & completely exposed Slot1 interface! Talk about evolution & learning from the previous mistakes...



     After some heavy use, with the heat the plastic giveup a little, so if you removed the cpu for maintenance, sometimes you find yourself fighting to plug it back, so i think they see that. Some of them slide with some pressure on the 2 rails that even without the locks they dont come off.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 30, 2016)

vigia said:


> After some heavy use, with the heat the plastic giveup a little, so if you removed the cpu for maintenance, sometimes you find yourself fighting to plug it back, so i think they see that. Some of them slide with some pressure on the 2 rails that even without the locks they dont come off.


IDK, I've had mine since '98 and never ran into that kind of problem. And I DID have to take it off, when I serviced the mobo (speaking of which, I'd have to do it again, because damn caps bulged & leaked on several places, probably due to crappy PSU)


----------



## vigia (Apr 30, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> IDK, I've had mine since '98 and never ran into that kind of problem. And I DID have to take it off, when I serviced the mobo (speaking of which, I'd have to do it again, because damn caps bulged & leaked on several places, probably due to crappy PSU)


      That's what i like it from those, the energy consumption, I still have one P3 533Mhz running with a cheap power supply, the only thing a have done is to replace the fan of the power supply twice, and the hard drive because of capacity, that deployment was in a hurry until i buy a firewall, a that was in 2001.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 30, 2016)

Yeah, those Slot-1 systems have really been reliable & long-lasting  Back in 2012, 2013 I've had a cascade cap failure, all across the board. After so much use & abuse, no wonder! But yes, I actually paid to have the board professionally serviced & restored, it cost me a lot of money but it was worth it, considering the amount of memories & nostalgia. Now the system DOES boot up & it works, but some of the caps are bulging again & on the edge of shutting down the board, like it did the last time, so I'll have to recap it again & stop using it altogether. (for the sake of preserving  the system in running condition)


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 1, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here are couple of shots, I didn't have the time to strip it apart & inspect every component individually, but what I did notice is that it only has one SCSI drive, not 2. Maybe the owner had 2 partitions & assumed that he's running 2 physical drives?
> 
> Can someone please tell me what is that thing, a small add-on card with lots of caps just above the CPU socket?
> 
> ...



Well, I hate to quote myself for the sake of correcting my own mistakes, but the guy who sold this system to me WAS indeed right and I was wrong. There /was/ a 2nd HDD after all, buried deep underneath all the cables & stuff inside this thing! Finally took it apart & modified a bit, so now the system actually boots up & has better cable management. Also, I've moved both HDDs next to each other, inside the appropriate HDD mounting frame rather than using converted 5.25" ODD bay. Anyhow, more pics coming up soon, but for now enjoy these ones here:



 

 

 



Despite the extra cables & more components (due to additional CD-ROM unit) the entire area looks so much better with the HDDs on the right IMHO


----------



## vigia (May 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, I hate to quote myself for the sake of correcting my own mistakes, but the guy who sold this system to me WAS indeed right and I was wrong. There /was/ a 2nd HDD after all, buried deep underneath all the cables & stuff inside this thing! Finally took it apart & modified a bit, so now the system actually boots up & has better cable management. Also, I've moved both HDDs next to each other, inside the appropriate HDD mounting frame rather than using converted 5.25" ODD bay. Anyhow, more pics coming up soon, but for now enjoy these ones here:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



    The addon is a voltaje regulator for the cpu. If you look there was a space for a second socket, if they have used it, you only change the addon for a more powerful unit to feed the 2 cpu.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 2, 2016)

Thanks, but I got that later on, someone here explained it to me 

It was the 1st time I got to see this kind of layout, I'm not used to working on server and/or industrial stuff, just the regular AT & ATX boards... Which kinda sucks really, because now I have extremely heavy & fully working Pentium Pro machine and I don't know what to do with it! It's too slow for any kind of (retro) gaming and too customized, too original to be upgraded to anything better which would fit standard AT machines from that time period. But it does have interesting choice of hardware, I can tell you that, as I never owner Pro machine before, or even a system with two SCSI drives.


----------



## toastem2004 (May 3, 2016)

This thread has caused me to spend my commission check to rebuild a system from my past.  I got my hands on an Asus P5A ATX board. Question for y'all is, do I have to have the -5V line?  I was shopping for a 80plus or 80 bronze PS, but none have it.  The P5A board does have 2 ISA slots, and my understanding was they need the -5V line.  The only "new" production PS I found was from StarTech, and its only a 65% efficiency rating 

This kind of of tech was before I really got into computers, so its sort of new to me on a few things.  Got a few items in transit thanks to ebay...


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 3, 2016)

AFAIK, no - you do not require -5V to power up most systems. I've noticed this some time ago, when I 1st got my hands on a PSU tester & pretty much none of my supplies (cheap or branded ones) had -5V line available.



			
				TomsHardware.co.uk said:
			
		

> January, 2002 is when the -5V specification was removed from the ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide.
> 
> The -5V rail was used for old-school floppy disk drive controllers and some ISA bus cards.



LINK to the original source


----------



## xvi (May 3, 2016)

AhokZYashA said:


> 7U server with intel itanium in it


No fair! I want one.


----------



## vigia (May 3, 2016)

toastem2004 said:


> This thread has caused me to spend my commission check to rebuild a system from my past.  I got my hands on an Asus P5A ATX board. Question for y'all is, do I have to have the -5V line?  I was shopping for a 80plus or 80 bronze PS, but none have it.  The P5A board does have 2 ISA slots, and my understanding was they need the -5V line.  The only "new" production PS I found was from StarTech, and its only a 65% efficiency rating
> 
> This kind of of tech was before I really got into computers, so its sort of new to me on a few things.  Got a few items in transit thanks to ebay...



  The -5v is one thing, the other is that those power supplies come with a direct switch to turn it on (No 5v standby). Maybe your system will be around the 60 watts, the power supplies for desktops on those days come around 150 to 250w. Why no to modify a new power supply? Like this days that we draw almost all the power from the 12v line,  in the old ones we draw it from the 5v.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2016)

toastem2004 said:


> This thread has caused me to spend my commission check to rebuild a system from my past.  I got my hands on an Asus P5A ATX board. Question for y'all is, do I have to have the -5V line?  I was shopping for a 80plus or 80 bronze PS, but none have it.  The P5A board does have 2 ISA slots, and my understanding was they need the -5V line.  The only "new" production PS I found was from StarTech, and its only a 65% efficiency rating
> 
> This kind of of tech was before I really got into computers, so its sort of new to me on a few things.  Got a few items in transit thanks to ebay...


No, you do not need a -5v line for that board.


----------



## toastem2004 (May 3, 2016)

Scotty was never wrong, so I hope neither are you sir. and a thank you to Trekkie4 as well.  I will try to power it up first with a 380 Earthwatts I got laying around.  If it works I found a seasonic that delivers 120 watts on the 3.3 & 5 volts rails, should be plenty for what I have in mind.

Btw, not sure if it was posted somewhere in the previous 150+ pages (I read the first 15, and then started stalking again about page 160) but I found some useful info here


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 3, 2016)

toastem2004 said:


> Scotty was never wrong, so I hope neither are you sir. and a thank you to Trekkie4 as well.  I will try to power it up first with a 380 Earthwatts I got laying around.  If it works I found a seasonic that delivers 120 watts on the 3.3 & 5 volts rails, should be plenty for what I have in mind.
> 
> Btw, not sure if it was posted somewhere in the previous 150+ pages (I read the first 15, and then started stalking again about page 160) but I found some useful info here


You're welcome! With two Trekkies working on a case, you can't go wrong!  @Mr.Scott


----------



## vigia (May 3, 2016)

toastem2004 said:


> Scotty was never wrong, so I hope neither are you sir. and a thank you to Trekkie4 as well.  I will try to power it up first with a 380 Earthwatts I got laying around.  If it works I found a seasonic that delivers 120 watts on the 3.3 & 5 volts rails, should be plenty for what I have in mind.
> 
> Btw, not sure if it was posted somewhere in the previous 150+ pages (I read the first 15, and then started stalking again about page 160) but I found some useful info here



     Funny to remember when one fought for 1 extra frame, I fired up a 486 system i post earlier just to see again my X-wing and X-com, maybe I push myself to bring 2 systems up to challenge an old friend  to one last battle of Red Alert.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2016)

Finally got around to finish Pentium Pro - what a PITA that was! And like I said in one of my previous posts, it's all for nothing really, because this is not a gaming system. On top of that, both SCSI HDDs are completely shot, bearings are crunching & squealing, and bad sectors are showing everywhere! At least 10MB on the 1st drive & couple of more on the other one... Again, not worth the repairs IMHO, especially since I can't do anything with this system. Which is why I settled for installing Windows 95 in the end, and all the Software Mode games I could find!  Not bad I guess, some of them are quite beautiful, such as The Curse of Monkey Island for example, or even Need for Speed 2 SE, which runs pretty decent in software mode.




I do have a stand-alone PCI Matrox Millennium card in one of the boxes, which is exactly what I have inside this GL6200 (except this one is on-board), so I was seriously tempted to swap it for the real thing but seriously guys - what would that do? Sure, I would probably get extra "kick" because of those 4 extra MB of video memory, but otherwise it would be the same story all over again. AFAIK, Matrox Millennium didn't have Direct3D support on their cards, instead they've used some special algorithm for improving the picture quality in Software mode... Hopefully someone here will correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't have much experience with early Mystique & Millennium models.




Also had to remove additional CD drive - for some reason BIOS would sometime ignore it, or simply freeze during POST, trying to get a feedback from it. Don't really know whenever this is due to mobo, IDE cable or Toshiba drive, but at this point I didn't want to waste any more time on this issue. The onboard sound system & network were also acting up for a while & didn't want to work, but then suddenly everything just "clicked in" & hasn't been giving me any problems since.  What i really love about this machine is that it uses internal PC speaker as part of the Sound Blaster system, meaning you can play any sound and/or app through the internal speaker... Sounds terrible, especially with all the plastic around the front mask, but it's kinda cool! 

Oh well, this system will make a nice addition to my retro collection, but that's about it really. I seriously don't think I'll ever bother using it again, for the sake of playing games or messing with Windows 95


----------



## vigia (May 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Finally got around to finish Pentium Pro - what a PITA that was! And like I said in one of my previous posts, it's all for nothing really, because this is not a gaming system. On top of that, both SCSI HDDs are completely shot, bearings are crunching & squealing, and bad sectors are showing everywhere! At least 10MB on the 1st drive & couple of more on the other one... Again, not worth the repairs IMHO, especially since I can't do anything with this system. Which is why I settled for installing Windows 95 in the end, and all the Software Mode games I could find!  Not bad I guess, some of them are quite beautiful, such as The Curse of Monkey Island for example, or even Need for Speed 2 SE, which runs pretty decent in software mode.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



   Thats cool,  the system come with a soundcard? Without one the games used the internal speaker. For the video check this http://vintage3d.org


----------



## dorsetknob (May 4, 2016)

*Trekkie4*
have some low capacity scsi hard drives from a apple ( about 250 mb   ) that would fit ?
pics somewhere earlier in thread


----------



## P4-630 (May 4, 2016)

About a decade ago I had a Gigabyte HD 3870 with the odd GDDR4, haven't seen much GDDR4 on graphics cards, as far as I know Nvidia never used it?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2016)

vigia said:


> Thats cool,  the system come with a soundcard? Without one the games used the internal speaker. For the video check this http://vintage3d.org



Yes, since this is a branded machine it has pretty much everything on-board, which I personally find fascinating for something THAT old. On-board graphics (Matrox MGA), ESS 1888 sound chip (with SB16 support) and DCI 21142 ethernet. This is all wired in criss-cross formation across the entire case, because each & every one of these has some kind of extension or adapter. SCSI is stand-alone PCI controller that's been plugged into one of 2 available PCI slots, it doesn't have AGP. So therefrore previously mentioned PC speaker can play any sound that's coming from a system, because it's all part of one circuitry, single component  Like I said - pretty cool stuff, I will post additional pics if you're interested!



dorsetknob said:


> *Trekkie4*
> have some low capacity scsi hard drives from a apple ( about 250 mb   ) that would fit ?
> pics somewhere earlier in thread



Thanks for the offer @dorsetknob , I really appreciate it but nah, it wouldn't be worth the postage or fiddling with the transport. These ones inside the system are both 2GB each, which I didn't think it would be enough (usually most of my systems are running approx. 20-30GB at least) but they turned out to be more than enough. Probably due to the fact I didn't have to install much software to begin with, like I said this system is pretty limited when it comes to gaming capabilities.

As for the SCSI itself, I'm tempted to say "never again", because it brought me nothing but problems so far. Just a reminder that I also have yet another SCSI system that's running WD Enterprise HDD, which is working perfectly fine, but from what I got to see & experience so far, these things are loud, painfully slow & take a VERY long time to spin down. This Celebris 6200GL has a standard ATA controller inside on the mobo, so if I ever do decide to upgrade or replace HDDs, I'll probably replace them for single 20GB ATA unit


----------



## vigia (May 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, since this is a branded machine it has pretty much everything on-board, which I personally find fascinating for something THAT old. On-board graphics (Matrox MGA), ESS 1888 sound chip (with SB16 support) and DCI 21142 ethernet. This is all wired in criss-cross formation across the entire case, because each & every one of these has some kind of extension or adapter. SCSI is stand-alone PCI controller that's been plugged into one of 2 available PCI slots, it doesn't have AGP. So therefrore previously mentioned PC speaker can play any sound that's coming from a system, because it's all part of one circuitry, single component  Like I said - pretty cool stuff, I will post additional pics if you're interested!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Try to run and old Linux kernel (you can use a newer one, but what the fun in that), and last, could you be one of the luckiest to have one of those Pentium Pro with the FPU bug?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2016)

vigia said:


> Try to run and old Linux kernel (you can use a newer one, but what the fun in that), and last, could you be one of the luckiest to have one of those Pentium Pro with the FPU bug?


Are you referring to Linux Parted Magic, for working on the HDDs? As for the FPU bug on a Pentium Pro, can't say I've heard about this one before. But according to Wikipedia, this would only affect older models (100MHz and less), so I don't think mine is one of them. Then again, who knows? *shrug*


----------



## vigia (May 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Are you referring to Linux Parted Magic, for working on the HDDs? As for the FPU bug on a Pentium Pro, can't say I've heard about this one before. But according to Wikipedia, this would only affect older models (100MHz and less), so I don't think mine is one of them. Then again, who knows? *shrug*



I mean a Linux distro, with an old kernel, just to see how it Works. Could it run haiku OS? You can play a little more with the system before shutting down for good.  You are right about the SCSI drives, even if they were in good condition the noise will drive you mad.




dorsetknob said:


> *Trekkie4*
> have some low capacity scsi hard drives from a apple ( about 250 mb   ) that would fit ?
> pics somewhere earlier in thread




A few dozens like this ones


----------



## Fouquin (May 5, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> About a decade ago I had a Gigabyte HD 3870 with the odd GDDR4, haven't seen much GDDR4 on graphics cards, as far as I know Nvidia never used it?



Not quite a decade, don't go thinking you've aged THAT much. That's a 2008 card there my friend. You're correct that nVidia never used GDDR4, it was developed by ATi and used by them and AMD until essentially ceasing to be after the 3870 due to GDDR5 taking its place.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2016)

vigia said:


> I mean a Linux distro, with an old kernel, just to see how it Works. Could it run haiku OS? You can play a little more with the system before shutting down for good.  You are right about the SCSI drives, even if they were in good condition the noise will drive you mad.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Maybe I'll give it a try later on, down the road. In other words, once I'm finished with 3 other systems that have been giving me problems one way or another & need to be finished  There's no "shutting down for good" in my dictionary, it's not like I'm going to part it out, or rip out the PSU lol. All of the systems in my collection have one thing in common and that is a certain condition - they all HAVE to be completely operational. Because if they're not, they're just wasting my precious space & so I would have to part them out or give them away. Fortunately I didn't have a case like that yet, at least none of them have been offline longer than couple of weeks or a month at most. Which is exactly why I have to address these other 3 systems:

Celeron Machine, 466MHz that's been giving me problems since the 1st day and it proving to be a real PITA. Frankly speaking, I was just about ready to part it out when I realized that it was a dead sound card behind (most) of my problems, so now it's working within acceptable parameters. Far from perfect but it boots up, has sound even Glide support!

Athlon 1000, it's the machine from couple of pages ago. Already booted it up months ago & worked out the hardware issues, however I had to upgrade the HDD. Which means it's now completely blank & needs to be booted up again 

And last but not least, I have a Duron 750 that's hopefully about to become Duron 1100 thanks to @Mr.Scott once I receive his package  It is also missing a floppy disk drive, so I'll need to find the alternative somewhere, because the original one turned out to have damaged heads. Talk about bad luck, huh?


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## JunkBear (May 6, 2016)

Floppy drive in Quebec are 5$ everywhere even when new. People try get rid of it.


----------



## vigia (May 6, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Maybe I'll give it a try later on, down the road. In other words, once I'm finished with 3 other systems that have been giving me problems one way or another & need to be finished  There's no "shutting down for good" in my dictionary, it's not like I'm going to part it out, or rip out the PSU lol. All of the systems in my collection have one thing in common and that is a certain condition - they all HAVE to be completely operational. Because if they're not, they're just wasting my precious space & so I would have to part them out or give them away. Fortunately I didn't have a case like that yet, at least none of them have been offline longer than couple of weeks or a month at most. Which is exactly why I have to address these other 3 systems:
> 
> Celeron Machine, 466MHz that's been giving me problems since the 1st day and it proving to be a real PITA. Frankly speaking, I was just about ready to part it out when I realized that it was a dead sound card behind (most) of my problems, so now it's working within acceptable parameters. Far from perfect but it boots up, has sound even Glide support!
> 
> ...



   But if you dont rip it apart, put it in a box, shake it, assemble it again in random order, you will never get a Frankenstein

Right CPU  AMD DX5


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## JunkBear (May 6, 2016)

You receive the package of MrScott..... sounds really gay to me.


----------



## Basard (May 6, 2016)

Here are a couple of my old favorites...  With an old Phenom chip for comparisons....  






No, that's not the die on the PPro, young ones.... that's just a cover, there is a CPU die and a cache die under there!

Maybe one day I'll upload my whole collection!  Hehe.... I'm a sucker for CPUS, I must have about 20 or more scattered through every drawer of the house.  I've gotta couple old Slot 1 Xeons somewhere, them things are BEAST...


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## dorsetknob (May 6, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> Dont forget Mothersday





Basard said:


> I'm a sucker for CPUS, I must have about 20 or more scattered through every drawer of the house. I've gotta couple old Slot 1 Xeons somewhere, them things are BEAST...


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## jboydgolfer (May 6, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> pic




HEY!!
We have the Same slipper O_O small world 
But srsly, that is a beautiful pic there.....SO much cores

*feet not for sale*


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## dorsetknob (May 6, 2016)

That is PART of my socket 775 collection
then there is the mobile intel collection
the AMD desktop collection
The AMD Mobile collection
The miscellaneous collection (Slot1 P2 socket 370 386/7 486 P4 socket 478 )


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## dorsetknob (May 6, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> *feet not for sale*



Glad to hear that 
As i understood it Sasquatch body parts are protected by law


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## Basard (May 6, 2016)

Nice!  But variety is the spice of life!
Here's what I got in the Chinese food container in my desk....  quick, before I gotta go to work!


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## dorsetknob (May 6, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> That is PART of my socket 775 collection
> then there is the mobile intel collection
> the AMD desktop collection
> The AMD Mobile collection
> The miscellaneous collection (Slot1 P2 socket 370 386/7 486 P4 socket 478 )


is that not varied enough
you could help me extend collection by supplying I3's  I5's  I7's and  Xeons + Itatiaums for free


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## Fouquin (May 6, 2016)

vigia said:


> But if you dont rip it apart, put it in a box, shake it, assemble it again in random order, you will never get a Frankenstein
> 
> Right CPU  AMD DX5
> 
> ...



Yay Cirrus Logic! Love seeing their cards floating around. Them and Eizo are some of the lesser known IBM / Sun VGA companies.


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## dorsetknob (May 6, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> Yay Cirrus Logic! Love seeing their cards floating around.


Yeh got a few in the old parts bin   PCI Bus  D Sub 15 pin they still work 25+ Years on ( thats pre DVI by the way )


----------



## Fouquin (May 6, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Yeh got a few in the old parts bin   PCI Bus  D Sub 15 pin they still work 25+ Years on ( thats pre DVI by the way )



You want to talk about pre-DVI? Alrighty.









Have some DB13W3.


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## vigia (May 6, 2016)

Fouquin said:


> You want to talk about pre-DVI? Alrighty.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The last CRT i used have that connector.


----------



## -Gast- (May 6, 2016)

vigia said:


> The last CRT i used have that connector.


I have a huge Sun-Monitor in the basement that uses that one. It was intended for CAD-Stuff.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Floppy drive in Quebec are 5$ everywhere even when new. People try get rid of it.



Right, you can actually find floppies around here for even less, they usually go for 3, 4$ at most. The only problem is to actually find them, as ppl usually just throw them away, or are too far from where I live, so it's not worth traveling & spending cash on public transportation (which costs more than floppy itself) 



vigia said:


> But if you dont rip it apart, put it in a box, shake it, assemble it again in random order, you will never get a Frankenstein
> 
> Right CPU  AMD DX5
> 
> ...



Maybe I don't want a Frankenstein lol  I like my systems as they are, in running (and mostly original) state  Besides, this thing has so many random cables going from one end to another, so I'm honestly not looking forward to fully take it apart, as something like that would take ages! Don't worry, like I said - you'll be seeing more of Digital Celebris machine eventually, but for now I really should finish my other projects!



JunkBear said:


> You receive the package of MrScott..... sounds really gay to me.



Wow, just wow! Your comment is wrong & inappropriate on so many different levels & ways.

On a side note, I do have one question for you guys - I have a previously mentioned (from couple of months ago) Diamond Monster Voodoo1 card here, which is causing problems. At first I thought that it was just Direct3D portion of the card, because Glide seemed to work fine, until I realized earlier today that both Direct3D and Glide DO seem to work, but there's a catch... You need to load the game DIRECTLY, as in without having the system to check & search for Voodoo card because if it does, it's just going to end up being stuck with black screen, in the "closed" position. In other words, the relay won't switch back to pass-through cable, it'll just show black screen because there's nothing to show, until you reboot the entire system. Meanwhile, if you load the game directly without searching for the card, it WILL work perfectly fine & without any problems. Tested under both Glide (Unreal) & DirectX (Indiana Jones & the Infernal Machine). This also happens upon calling for Voodoo control panel, in display settings and/or running DXDiag tool. Any idea & suggestion is more than welcome!


----------



## Basard (May 6, 2016)

I'd give my first born, if I ever had one, for a Pentium Pro with 2MB cache.... Just to say I had one.  lol


----------



## vigia (May 7, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, you can actually find floppies around here for even less, they usually go for 3, 4$ at most. The only problem is to actually find them, as ppl usually just throw them away, or are too far from where I live, so it's not worth traveling & spending cash on public transportation (which costs more than floppy itself)
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Check your bios for something like video bios shadow, video cacheable, should be disabled. swap the order of the video cards.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2016)

vigia said:


> Check your bios for something like video bios shadow, video cacheable, should be disabled. swap the order of the video cards.


Thanks for the advice, but this is Voodoo we're talking about, these are not exactly "video cards" in traditional kind of way, they're not even recognized as such  But sure, I can try... After all, got nothing to lose! What bothers me is that I've had the same problem on two different machines, which couldn't be more different - one was old Pentium MMX 233 (AT mobo) running Win95 and the other Celeron 466, ATX mobo running  Win98. So I do think it's hardware fault, I just don't understand where & because of what (since the card DOES seem to be working under certain conditions)

Edit
Grand Theft Auto & Grand Theft Auto London are both up & running in Glide. Tested your suggestion @vigia but still getting the same annoying problem 


 

 

 



Same with Unreal, took couple of pics during the castle flyby scene.


----------



## PcFixer (May 7, 2016)

I got creative with all my old cpus.
Workin on one for amd and Intel only cpus.


----------



## vigia (May 7, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the advice, but this is Voodoo we're talking about, these are not exactly "video cards" in traditional kind of way, they're not even recognized as such  But sure, I can try... After all, got nothing to lose! What bothers me is that I've had the same problem on two different machines, which couldn't be more different - one was old Pentium MMX 233 (AT mobo) running Win95 and the other Celeron 466, ATX mobo running  Win98. So I do think it's hardware fault, I just don't understand where & because of what (since the card DOES seem to be working under certain conditions)
> 
> Edit
> Grand Theft Auto & Grand Theft Auto London are both up & running in Glide. Tested your suggestion @vigia but still getting the same annoying problem



  If you already tried another version of the driver, and another 2d card, and be sure that have the latest bios of your mobo, you can go to the device manager to see what resources you voodo is using, check the Interrupt request (IRQ) and see the other devices like soundcard to see with what is shared, plug and play normally takes care of that, but as you say earlier, the system dont know what is that device and ends sharing the same IRQ with 3 devices. Being a 3D accelerator it uses a lot of interrupts. You can disable the automatic setting for that device and change the IRQ manually so its no shared with anything else. For that to work you should have enabled plug and play in bios.


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## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2016)

Uhh, actually no, it doesn't. Vooodoo cards (at least Mk1 & Mk2) didn't use ANY IRQs, that's what made them stand out from the rest of the video cards. As for testing with different drivers & swapping the card for another one, I did try with yet another Voodoo1 (also Diamond Monster, although different revision number) and it was working perfectly OK. Well, the mode switching part at least, because the other card has one (or more?) corrupted VRAM chips. So I'm pretty sure that my problem has something to do with the actual card, hardware but I have no idea where to look. I considered baking the card in the oven, but I wouldn't want to damage it beyond repairs. It does seem to be working at the moment, despite getting stuck all the time between mode switching, so it's still better than nothing (tried to bake a Voodoo2 card once before & let's just say that things didn't quite work out as planned)


----------



## vigia (May 7, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh, actually no, it doesn't. Vooodoo cards (at least Mk1 & Mk2) didn't use ANY IRQs, that's what made them stand out from the rest of the video cards. As for testing with different drivers & swapping the card for another one, I did try with yet another Voodoo1 (also Diamond Monster, although different revision number) and it was working perfectly OK. Well, the mode switching part at least, because the other card has one (or more?) corrupted VRAM chips. So I'm pretty sure that my problem has something to do with the actual card, hardware but I have no idea where to look. I considered baking the card in the oven, but I wouldn't want to damage it beyond repairs. It does seem to be working at the moment, despite getting stuck all the time between mode switching, so it's still better than nothing (tried to bake a Voodoo2 card once before & let's just say that things didn't quite work out as planned)


    It uses memory mapping, but all the devices share the pci bus, so the culprit could be anyone, you have other options like PCI mem burst and PCI mem buffer. how your internal cache works, writeback, writethru, disabled. Its a tricky card


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2016)

Okie dokie, I'll try messing around with BIOS settings & will let you know how it works


----------



## vigia (May 7, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Okie dokie, I'll try messing around with BIOS settings & will let you know how it works


 I do a sanity check, by default it uses IRQ 5, read the reference manual  page 74. http://www.falconfly.de/reference.htm


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2016)

That's really interesting, I had no idea Voodoo cards used IRQs... It's even more interesting because IRQ5 in my case has been associated with the sound & VGA (AGP & PCI Slot #1). Right now I'm backing up the HDD so I can't really do anything until it's finished, but I'll definitely give it a try later on, in both BIOS and Win98!

Edit
OK, so I DID give it a try like I said aaand .... nothing, still having the same old problem I'm afraid. However, while messing around with IRQs, I did get to resolve another problem, related to LPT1 parallel port & sound card. So now both of them are actually working properly, without any conflicts.

Not only that, but I also re-installed Voodoo drivers, I swapped Diamond branded one for the latest, reference driver (from 3dfx) hoping it would resolve the problem. Like I pointed out before, it did not but this new driver came with very useful feature - to deactivate Direct3D acceleration, therefore DirectX support. Which I did, and guess what? No more getting stuck without the video signal! Voodoo now actually performs perfectly fine under both Glide and OpenGL, which wasn't the case earlier. Glide was technically working, but it would sometimes also hang while being inspected, detected by the game launcher for example and OpenGL was causing the same problem in almost every game. Deactivating Direct3D fixed it, so I guess the card is now as good as it gets. For all other apps that are running only in Direct3D mode, I'll just have to use ATI Rage Pro (4mb) which is more-less equal to the performance of the Voodoo1 card. Games like Tomb Raider, Midtown Madness, Indiana Jones & the Infernal machine, etc.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2016)

And @vigia , just for you I took my Digital Celebris machine apart once again, just to show you the layout of the motherboard & its integrated sound system.

As you can tell, there are two expansions on the back of the case... These look like expansion cards, but in fact they're only headers connected to a small daughter board. They've made this far too complicated IMHO, but it's all modular & easy to replace if necessary. Or rather, it WOULD have been easy to replace back in a day, I doubt you could find spares nowdays...


 



These are the two daughter boards that I've just mentioned, they are connected via bunch of random cables to the main motherboard down below, near the internal speaker.


 

 



This is the actual sound component, on the mobo itself. I know it's hard to see anything with all these cables going around, but this is where all the audio cables lead to.




This system also has the front ports for the headphones and mic. Headphone jack seems to have a reduced volume output, so when you plug in the headphones it won't blow off your eardrums lol  Both are pretty neat, especially for a system that's been made around 1995, 1996!




And this is what the system now looks like. Windows 95 (along with MS Plus! for Windows 95), Office 97 & several games which don't require 3D hardware acceleration to look awesome.


----------



## vigia (May 8, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> And @vigia , just for you I took my Digital Celebris machine apart once again, just to show you the layout of the motherboard & its integrated sound system.
> 
> As you can tell, there are two expansions on the back of the case... These look like expansion cards, but in fact they're only headers connected to a small daughter board. They've made this far too complicated IMHO, but it's all modular & easy to replace if necessary. Or rather, it WOULD have been easy to replace back in a day, I doubt you could find spares nowdays...




It seems that the ethernet is integrated then, one of the cables near the audio is for the midi port where you can connect a joystic, the quality of the motherboard is top notch.


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## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2016)

Yes, that's what I've been saying all along, everything is integrated! Which I find highly unusual for a system that old. And you're absolutely right, it's all top quality - not just the mobo itself. In fact, just the metal cover alone weights about the same as modern (and cheap) ATX case, made from flimsy pressed metal  They sure don't make these like they used to...


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## JunkBear (May 8, 2016)

One of the first XFX branded gpu.


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## JunkBear (May 8, 2016)

The older computer I just built to play older and newer games and it's rocking flawlessly Windows 7 ultimate.

CASE: Aopen

PSU: Thermaltake TR2-430NP

FLOPPY: 3 1/2" Matsumita

OPTICAL: LG GH22NS50

HDD: WD 320gigs SATA-2 Blue

MOTHERBOARD: Aopen AX4SPE-UN skt478

CPU: Pentium 4 HT 3.0E (3.0 gigs / 1024k cache / 800mhz FSB) Prescott 90nm (Socket 478)

MEMORY: 3 gigs DDR-400

GPU: HIS HD 4670 IceQ AGP 8X Overclocked from company. The most powerful AGP they ever made and that can also bring the sound through HDMI port. http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b146/his-hd-4670-iceq-native-hdmi


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## Red_Machine (May 8, 2016)

Why would you use a DVI adapter when there's a VGA port on the card?


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## JunkBear (May 8, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> Why would you use a DVI adapter when there's a VGA port on the card?



I was testing all ports of the GPU.


----------



## Basard (May 9, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> One of the first XFX branded gpu.



I was gonna guess TNT2 at first (because I don't read).... then I saw the "XFX" sticker, and shit bricks.



JunkBear said:


> The older computer I just built to play older and newer games and it's rocking flawlessly Windows 7 ultimate.
> 
> CASE: Aopen
> 
> ...



There was a time when people would have thought you were cool for having all that hardware!  

I had a Sapphire X800 AGP.... Couldn't unlock it though.  I never thought I would give up AGP... I always kept hoping they would bring it back.  Such a cool looking slot!


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## JunkBear (May 9, 2016)

Basard said:


> I was gonna guess TNT2 at first (because I don't read).... then I saw the "XFX" sticker, and shit bricks.
> 
> Need some lube?!! huhuhueeueue
> 
> ...


----------



## PcFixer (May 9, 2016)

My old pc that still is used for data back up from old media and failing hard drives.

Cpu: Intel Pentium 4 3GHz with HT.
Ram: Kingston 1GB DDR 333Mhz 
Motheboard: Foxconn 865M01-G
Media storage drives:
5 1/4 in floppy drive
3 1/2 in floppy drive
100Mb Zip Drive
DVD/CD-RW Drive
300 GB WD PATA HDD
Gpu: ATI Radeon 3650 512 MB
Os: Windows 7 / CentOS / Lubuntu
PSU: CoolMax 500 Watt ....... i bought its really 500 Watts since its from 2005.


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## vigia (May 9, 2016)

PcFixer said:


> My old pc that still is used for data back up from old media and failing hard drives.
> 
> Cpu: Intel Pentium 4 3GHz with HT.
> Ram: Kingston 1GB DDR 333Mhz
> ...



With that light im pretty sure that no germ is alive inside that case.


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## PcFixer (May 9, 2016)

ya you could say its "virus free"....... but also I have blinded myself on the light more times than i want to admit to.


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## JunkBear (May 9, 2016)

PcFixer said:


> ya you could say its "virus free"....... but also I have blinded myself on the light more times than i want to admit to.



I heard right away the song Blinded by the light ..from that drug  movie with Johnny Depp


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## vigia (May 9, 2016)

ok, so no love for the cheapest ones? All of them can play pacman


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## PcFixer (May 9, 2016)

Hmm old Gpus i got one...... Intel 740 and it still runs... just nothing well.. dont think it can play pacman.


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## Random Murderer (May 9, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> I heard right away the song Blinded by the light ..from that drug  movie with Johnny Depp


Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?


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## Trekkie4 (May 9, 2016)

vigia said:


> ok, so no love for the cheapest ones? All of them can play pacman
> 
> View attachment 74352
> 
> ...


Pretty sure I got all of these, except mine are ISA and not PCI  Check out this post HERE & HERE


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## vigia (May 9, 2016)

PcFixer said:


> Hmm old Gpus i got one...... Intel 740 and it still runs... just nothing well.. dont think it can play pacman



Sure you can play it




But its good to know some limitations


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## JunkBear (May 9, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?




No the one hes playing drug dealer Carl Jung


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 10, 2016)

PcFixer said:


> My old pc that still is used for data back up from old media and failing hard drives.
> 
> Cpu: Intel Pentium 4 3GHz with HT.
> Ram: Kingston 1GB DDR 333Mhz
> ...


Used to have something very similar to this, back in a day  Mine had the following specs & was the 1st custom build by me!  (it started out as standard system bought in the store, which then I eventually modified to this)









Cpu: Intel Pentium 4 1.4GHz S423
Ram: 2x Samsung RIMM (Rambus) 64MB
Motheboard: Asus P4T (S423)

Teac 3.5 floppy drive
Iomega ZIP100 Drive
NEC DVD-ROM Drive
BenQ 56x CD-ROM Drive
Maxtor 40GB P/ATA HDD

Gpu: Abit Siluro FX5600
Os: Windows ME
PSU: Codegen 500W ATX

It also had:
Coolermaster AeroGate fan controller
Coolermaster Musketeer


----------



## JunkBear (May 10, 2016)

Remember my first built was an onboard soldered PcChips brands that could overclock. Did not made long time but it was far ahead of its time. All integrated.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 10, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> No the one hes playing drug dealer Carl Jung


*George Jung, the movie was Blow.


----------



## PcFixer (May 10, 2016)

Oldest video card I have (knew i had this, but had to wait till after work to find it.)... is the STB Monochrome Graphics Card on an 8 bit Isa interface.


----------



## JunkBear (May 10, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> *George Jung, the movie was Blow.




Yup.. Carl Jung was a thinker. Far more different


----------



## JunkBear (May 10, 2016)

PcFixer said:


> Oldest video card I have (knew i had this, but had to wait till after work to find it.)... is the STB Monochrome Graphics Card on an 8 bit Isa interface.
> View attachment 74403




8Bits and monochrome...you could totally play Mario Bros NES on a monochrome monitor.


----------



## vigia (May 10, 2016)

Somebody called for a Vanta in a earlier post





Both cards use the same controller






Another VL for the collection





This was better that the blue screen, but im still unable to contact my vendor





8 bit, low memory, no problem


----------



## PcFixer (May 10, 2016)

I would try to run the STB card in a computer if i had something with an ISA Bus in it, but i sadly don't.


----------



## Random Murderer (May 11, 2016)

vigia said:


> 8 bit, low memory, no problem
> 
> View attachment 74410


I have that exact card game program in my library of 5.25 floppies! Loved it when I was younger.


----------



## Disparia (May 11, 2016)

Last week a friend brought over her laptop. It's certainly not the oldest thing out there, but I was somewhat amazed that it was in such excellent condition.

2005 Apple iBook G4 12" (1.33Ghz PPC).











It came with OSX 10.4 but was upgraded to OSX 10.5 in 2007. Had a minimum requirement of 512MB and it shows - you can only do one thing at a time. For $13 I picked up a Crucial 1GB PC2700 SODIMM to max out the unit at 1.5GB (the other 512MB is soldered on). She should have gotten this upgrade back in 2007, but better late than never. There also exist PATA SSD for the purpose of upgrading old laptops, and that was very tempting, but we ultimately decided to see how the new RAM felt first. While the RAM is a cheap quick drop-in, the SSD is not and costs around $95.


----------



## PcFixer (May 11, 2016)

Yes they all work still, the foam i used is static sensitive foam. Wasn't cheap but didn't want to kill my chips. The last one i posted was just random cpus from the early days of computing and other cpus that didn't fit in with an Intel or AMD only shadow box.



PcFixer said:


> View attachment 74278
> 
> I got creative with all my old cpus.
> 
> Workin on one for amd and Intel only cpus.



This is the previous one.

Row 1: 8086
Row 2: Am186, i286
Row 3: IDT Win Chip, AM386, i486, Am5x86, I960
Row 4: Via C3, Cyrix DX4 100, Sun UltraSparc
Row 5: Cyrix 6x86, IBM 6x86, Cyrix MII
Row 6: Intel Itanium, Cyrix Media GX, National Semiconductor Geode, Transmeta Crusoe
All Around: Other chips are random.

Heres the other two.

*Intel* starting at the Pentium and going to the Core i Series.


Row 1: Pentium, Pentium Flip Chip, Pentium Pro,
Row 2: Pentium 2, Celeron (370), Pentium 3 (Slot 1)
Row 3: Pentium 3 (370), Celeron 3 (370)., Pentium 4 (423), Celeron (478)., Pentium 4 Northwood
Row 4: Celeron D (478), Pentium 4 Prescott(775), Pentium D, Pentium Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, Core i3.


*AMD* starting with K5 to A4 / bulldozer


Row 1: 5k86, K5
Row 2: K6, K6-2, K6-III (super reflective.)
Row 3: Athlon (Slot A)
Row 4: Athlon, Athlon MP, Duron, Sempron, Geode
Row 5: Athlon 64 (754), Athlon 64 (939), Sempron (754), Athlon 64 X2(AM2), Athlon II(AM3), A4-6300

Took me a while to get these finished but they turn out nicely.

Enjoy.


----------



## JunkBear (May 11, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> I have that exact card game program in my library of 5.25 floppies! Loved it when I was younger.




Why don't you guys put all games together in a zip file with a DOS emulator so people could play all these past games only by pluggin in USB keys?


----------



## vigia (May 11, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Why don't you guys put all games together in a zip file with a DOS emulator so people could play all these past games only by pluggin in USB keys?



I have tried dosbox a long time ago, and the speed was the real problem with the action games, others requiered gwbasic,



This is the one i was looking for, this game is awesome, it uses some physics, im uploading it later.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2016)

While playing (well, considering the amount of lag it's more like trying) GTA V on my Q6600, I've realized just how advanced & brilliant games used to be back in a day. Because to put it simply, GTA V sucks! In more than way IMHO, and turned out to be a huge disappointment on my behalf.

Now, you're probably wondering why would I talk about GTA V in this thread?  I'll get to this in a moment, but 1st let me tell you this - one of the biggest disappointments in GTA V would be the physics system, damage & car handling in particular. I mean seriously, with all those absurd system requirements you'd expect to have a real-life simulator that would correspond to realistic feedback. While at the same time, I remember the game Carmageddon 2, which was introduced in 1997 (I think?) and was even playable on an old MMX Pentium with 64MB of RAM! Talk about software engineering, even today I personally consider C2 to be one of the most technologically advanced & realistic games ever made! In fact, some of the physics from C2 are far more better and realistic than the ones in GTA IV and/or GTAV, the only disadvantage was low-res texture & all those low poly models. But let's face it, C2 is a 20yrs old game, so that is to be expected under the circumstances. Nevertheless, it was a  great game and I'm only sorry to see that none of the software developers nowdays are as creative & capable of achieving the "impossible", as they used to 20yrs ago


----------



## vigia (May 12, 2016)

ok, at least the card game should run, the others need a really slow cpu,  Good luck.


----------



## vigia (May 13, 2016)

I have to emulate this ones because of the CGA graphics, dorsetknob, did you know that the sound theme for this game is the "popcorn" track you posted in mikes club thread


----------



## JunkBear (May 13, 2016)

Dig dug??


----------



## vigia (May 14, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Dig dug??



The name is Digger, but its digdug


----------



## JunkBear (May 14, 2016)

vigia said:


> The name is Digger, but its digdug
> 
> View attachment 74541




Having it named DigDug on my NES 42in1 cartridge.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2016)

Congratulations, the following achievement(s) have been unlocked:

_The obsessive retro gamer (120/120)
Out of storage space (1/1)



_


----------



## JunkBear (May 16, 2016)

Here's a list of the older AGP graphic cards I still have.

Nvidia GeForce 2 MX
GeForce FX5200 D128M
ATI Radeon 9200SE 128M DDR DVI-I+TVO
Nvidia Vanta 16
ATI Radeon 9250 256M 128bits
Nvidia GeForce FX5200 128M
Asus Magic V7100M-LP/32M(T)


----------



## dorsetknob (May 16, 2016)

Hercules (ATI) 7500 AIW
Radon 9200
Radon 9250
Radon 9800 AIW SE
+ couple more but i'm to tired to root around to confirm what they are


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2016)

I got something really interesting today ... it's an old Intel system, running Windows XP. When I 1st saw the picture, I didn't know what to think. It seemed generic, cheap & without any "retro" character! But I was wrong, and (fortunately for me) I DID get to take it away!  Take a look at this:


 



It's a genuine Slot-1 Pentium III system, running @ 600MHz. Has 128MB of SD RAM and 10GB of HDD space. Now, here's where the things get really cool, apparently this rig here is packed up with loads of cool hardware, so I'm just going to point out some of them!

Twin-cooled Pentium3 cartridge
Abit BE6-II Motherboard (440BX)
ATI Rage Fury 32MB AGP
Quantum Fireball HDD
Iomega ZIP100 Drive

In fact, the only 3 things which I DON'T like about this system is the case design (yuck!), Toshiba CD-ROM drive (ejects extremely loud, crunching the plastic gears) and last but not least the sound card, which seems to be fried &/or damaged because it's only producing hissing and crackling noises. I was going to strip it apart & rob for parts (Iomega ZIP, HDD & floppy in particular), but seeing these specs I'm not so sure about that any longer. IMHO, this is a fine piece of retro engineering, can't believe I got the entire thing for FREE!



 

 



More pics coming up soon, when I take it apart & hopefully resolve the sound issue. Also have to replace the OS, no way I'm going to have a Windows XP running on a Slot-1 system with 128Mb of RAM


----------



## stinger608 (May 17, 2016)

That was an amazing score @Trekkie4 !!!!!!!!!


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 17, 2016)

I'll say. BE6-II is an awesome board. I have two. Best overclocking slot 1 board ever made. Getting tough and expensive to come by now.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 17, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> That was an amazing score @Trekkie4 !!!!!!!!!



It sure was, thanks!  I still can't believe this, myself!



Mr.Scott said:


> I'll say. BE6-II is an awesome board. I have two. Best overclocking slot 1 board ever made. Getting tough and expensive to come by now.



Indeed, I got both BE6 AND BE6-II, except the older one (BE6) is currently dead & needs to be completely recapped. That's the only problem with these things from what I can tell, I've never, EVER had older Abit board which didn't have capacitor problems of some kind! Well, that is until now - this other BE6-II, 2nd one which I got today seems to be in perfect condition. I still have to remove it from the case for more detailed inspection, but at the moment seems to be good as new 

Here's one of my (really) old pics, back when I got to fix & recap that other BE6-II... I really went to great extent with this thing, hoping to have it up & running again!


 


As it turned out, both mobo & actual CPU were having problems (CPU got "cooked" due to overheating & mobo had loads of bad caps) so after I took care of these issues everything worked out OK.

There's actually a funny (and kinda scary) story behind these things... I was working on a system with one of these when my dad passed away. Not on the same day of course, but I've been trying to keep myself busy so that I wouldn't think about real life. So anyway, I've plugged the system into the AC grid and was about to power it up (for testing purposes), when I got email from someone. So I walked over to the other side of my room & sat in front of my daily "PC" to read & answer the mail. It was around that same moment, when I suddenly heard the racket behind me, as the Abit system turned on - by itself! I'm not going to lie, I've crapped my pants & immediately stood (more like jumped, actually) up, because I didn't know what to think... There was no one else in the room but me, and the system wasn't programmed and/or scheduled to turn on, it happened completely randomly & without any obvious reasons.

So anyhow... To fast-forward the events up a bit. About a year later, I was working on another Abit (BE6) system with the same problem (caps), plugged the system into the AC when once again, it turned on completely randomly. You know what they say, fool me once - shame on you, but fool me twice - shame on me  This time I knew that it had to be something with the Abit board & voltages running crazy, because both BE6 and BE6-II are pretty much the same. Pretty strange though, because I've never, ever had a situation like this before, with any other system. Abit or otherwise!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 17, 2016)

Speaking of 440BX chipset & Abit Slot-1 motherboards, I totally forgot to mention this one here:









Although BH6 is not even remotely fun enough to work with, as BE6 & BE6-II (and obviously doesn't have HighPoint HPT366 integrated controller), this model was (and still is) pretty decent for what it's worth. And unlike BE6 series, it doesn't have bad capacitors ... at the moment


----------



## vigia (May 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> It sure was, thanks!  I still can't believe this, myself!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




My BE6-II never fail me, I give it to a friend, maybe it lasted 2 months before popping 1 cap, I replaced all the power caps and no problem, but my friend reported that thing that sometimes it turned on by itself, never believed him. The AW9D-MAX I retired in 2014 still works after being 27/7 all those years. Like all brands sometimes you get a lemon.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 17, 2016)

vigia said:


> My BE6-II never fail me, I give it to a friend, maybe it lasted 2 months before popping 1 cap, I replaced all the power caps and no problem, but my friend reported that thing that sometimes it turned on by itself, never believed him. The AW9D-MAX I retired in 2014 still works after being 27/7 all those years. Like all brands sometimes you get a lemon.



Yes, exactly! Good to know I'm not the only one with that problem (and/or crazy?)  I've had loads of bad luck with Abit boards however.... There was also another board (VH6, S370) with the same problem, bulging caps which I couldn't fix. IDK why, something probably overloaded & blew other components. One way or another, it ended up in trash since it was completely unusable  It was then eventually replaced by another S370 board made by Matsonic.


 



OK, so I've decided to take it apart & put everything back together again from scratch...




First thing to notice was this surprisingly modern PSU! 2x 80x80 fans, with the overall power output of 400W. According to the label, it's been manufactured by the company "MS" in China, around 2002.


 



Pentium 3 CPU module really looks hefty! You'd think these 2 fans would make a racket when powered up but nope! In fact, I've had (and still have) some of the other builds with only one fan, that's been louder than all of these together!




The cooler assembly comes with one of those back-plate mounting solutions. Looks silly, but considering the weight that's suspended on the other end, I'd say it's necessary!


 

 

 



ATI Rage "R128P", which oddly enough doesn't say "Fury" anywhere... Maybe it wasn't being detected properly by the XP? From what I can tell, this is just a "standard" Rage128 with 32mb of memory (quick Googling confirmed my suspicions, although I'm still not 100% sure)


 



Avance Logic ALS4000 sound card. Still to be tested & confirmed if it's working or not. Judging by the hissing & crackling noises coming from the audio output, I'd say it's dead.


 



Just your standard PCI Dial-Up modem... I'm keeping this one just for the nostalgia, otherwise it doesn't really have any purpose.


 



And there it is - finally! Abit BE6-II in all its glory!  Apparently I was wrong however... If you take a closer look at the voltage regulator area, you'll see several caps already bulging & fading away. Honestly, I'm not really that much surprised, as this IS Abit ... and these things always had cap problems of some sort!







Floppy, NEC Iomega ZIP100 & Quantum Fireball HDD - all tested & in perfect condition! ZIP drive makes some weird noises, but judging by the look of it, I'd say it hasn't been used for at least 15 years or so  In the worst case scenario, I have a replacement mechanical deck for these things, so I'll just swap it for the other unit. It's been salvaged from another ZIP unit which had electrical problem, as the motherboard (for the unit itself) stopped working & would cause system to either hang and/or get stuck during POST




On a side note, I've never, EVER heard (especially had) a Quantum Fireball HDD, which holds more than 8GB of storage space. This one claims to be 15, which is totally awesome! Most likely one of the latest (and last) Quantum drives, before they got sold to crappy Maxtor!


 

Although this Toshiba drive does seem to be working, I've decided to remove it & replace it for another, Asus one. Mainly because it's making a terrible racket while ejecting the tray, it's either crunching gears or something's out of alignment. Either way, not worth the effort.




Just a regular SD-RAM memory module, 128MB @ 133MHz




So, now that everything's out of the way, it's time to once again put it together... Starting with the CPU module




Then upgrading the RAM... Running 128MB is not enough IMHO, even for Windows 98 & retro gaming purposes.




Time to place the IDE ribbon cables...




More IDE cables & cable management...




And last, but not least - adding the PSU! I'm going to fiddle with these things tomorrow, there's no point in rushing anything since I'm not in a hurry to have it finished 


 



Oh, and by the way - for all of you who may have been wondering what happened to other BE6-II and BH6 boards... They both became 3dfx Voodoo systems! And yes, like all my other builds these are both perfectly operational


----------



## vigia (May 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> The cooler assembly comes with one of those back-plate mounting solutions. Looks silly, but considering the weight that's suspended on the other end, I'd say it's necessary



Those are aftermarket coolers, the originals come with some plastic pins.

 

About the caps, dont blame Abit, we overclock those things to the limits, and 128MB in win98 is enough for gaming retro for those systems without crappware. And for the audio verify the IRQ, and try to change the drivers


----------



## toastem2004 (May 17, 2016)

Got my ebay packages today!  Unfortunately, my funds for now have evaporated, so this project is a bit on hold; at least till next payday   now for pic's!

  
Asus P5A - Came with 128MB PC133 and a surprise K6-2 300MHz

 
My CPU "upgrade" - AMD K6-2+ 500MHz, should easily get it to 600MHz

 
ATi Radeon 8500 AIW DV - want a bit overkill on this, just cause i can 

 
My Floppy : an LS-120 Drive.  I'll pull it apart and set it up as an internal drive, got it for a steal at just $12USD w/ free shipping .  I remember buying one in '00 setting me back a good $130USD and spending another $25USD for 5 disks.

And for those who were loved their stickers:
 
Cause i know i was back then...


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## Trekkie4 (May 17, 2016)

I know, I've seen couple of those around. Most of them look heavy though, so I figured they've been using backplate mounting solution due to the heatsink weight, and not because of the easier access & installation.

I'm not so sure about that. Like I said, I own dozens of Slot-1 systems ... from iWill BD100, FIC VB-601, to Asus P3B-F, DFI PA61 and many more. None of them ever had capacitors going bad, at least from what I can tell *shrug*


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## dorsetknob (May 18, 2016)

never used a backplate on my P11 300 ( overclocked to 550Mhz ) just screwed on two extra fans to the heatsink ( so had 3 in total ) Kept it nice and cool


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

vigia said:


> and 128MB in win98 is enough for gaming retro for those systems without crappware



Sorry @vigia, I forgot to address this comment before  Yes, under the circumstances I would have to agree on that. My "real" Pentium 2 system which my family bought in October 1998 came with only 64MB and that was considered to be huge back then. But these are not the 90's any longer, and these things are available for free... So instead of putting up with 64MB limitations (or even 128MB), I've decided to use 256 as the perfect number for all of my 98 & ME builds. However, 64MB works perfectly for Windows 95 (got 4 of those, all following the same build pattern) For Windows XP (SP1), I'm running 512 & 768MB configurations which have been tested & proved to be stable. We are talking about retro systems of course, so therefore none of these are designed to go online, stream HD YouTube videos and/or play newer game titles.


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## dorsetknob (May 18, 2016)

for some of us Building a Retro system means building a system relevent to the right time period and of course the best it could of been for the Period
that means 
for a p2 system
The fastest CPU you can find
the max mem you can get for the system
The Best Graphics card availabe to you for the period
in the 90's you may have only had a 233 p2 ( cost and available funds ) but Dreamed of a p2 450Mhz

with the Passing of the years its now possible to build that dream spec retro system

Thats my view


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> for some of us Building a Retro system means building a system relevent to the right time period and of course the best it could of been for the Period
> that means
> for a p2 system
> The fastest CPU you can find
> ...


EXACTLY, that's what I'm talking about! And my systems are not even maxed out, most of them still have additional slots for future upgrades and/or changes if necessary  After all, if they had all been "maxed out" then they would all be the same, which would completely defeat the purpose of having a retro collection IMHO.


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## vigia (May 18, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> in the 90's you may have only had a 233 p2 ( cost and available funds ) but Dreamed of a p2 450Mhz



When each MHZ aprox. $1, and just 4 mb extra for my 486 cost me $100 bucks.


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

I clearly remember the price of my Pentium II machine, as if it was yesterday! Like I mentioned earlier, it was purchased in October 1998 and the entire price tag was around 2260USD which (ironically enough) equals EXACTLY 1998€  It came with the following specs:

CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM, Slot 1
RAM: 1x 64MB, PC100
VIDEO1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VIDEO2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
HDD: Quantum Fireball, 6.4GB P/ATA
Sound: Creative SoundBlaster128
ODD: BTC CD-ROM 36X
FDD: Sony 1.44MB Floppy

Other:
Shamrock 15" CRT Monitor
Rockwell Dial-Up Fax Modem
BTC Ergonomic keyboard


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## stinger608 (May 18, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> October 1998 and the entire price tag was around 2260USD which (ironically enough) equals EXACTLY 1998€



And that was a TON of money in 1998!!!!!! That is awesome @Trekkie4 that you remember that so clearly man.


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment!  And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November  For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.





Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Along with mentioned Pentium II, the company (Adison) gave me this nice waterproof & watertight watch! It might look cheap, but trust me guys this thing had been under the sea several times, up to 3m deep and it still works!




Here's the original case, which I'm sorry to say unable to find  Probably never will be again, and I would actually be willing to spend a fortune on this thing!












And here is the same system, today! Currently sitting on a shelf decommissioned from "active" service, but otherwise still in working condition if needed


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## stinger608 (May 18, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment!  And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November  For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That is frigging awesome man!!!!!


Weird issue @Trekkie4 : Every time I try to open one of your images it goes to a bad URL at Wix.com?


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

Wix.com?! I have no idea, it all looks perfectly normal from over here. Using PostImage.org as image hosting service, except for those 2 Adison tower pics, which were uploaded to TPU image host... What about the rest of you guys?

So anyway, I'll see if I can dig out more documentation on this thing tomorrow. I have a box that's full of promotional brochures, Intel Pentium 2 warranty booklets & genuine Windows 98 stuff!


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## Mr.Scott (May 18, 2016)

I have no issue opening any of your pics.


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## vigia (May 18, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Weird issue @Trekkie4 : Every time I try to open one of your images it goes to a bad URL at Wix.com



The links are working fine here, flush your dns or try a different dns server


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## stinger608 (May 18, 2016)

Odd, now they are working fine. Probably something with Chrome as that is what I use for a browser normally.


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

Here's couple of more Adison-related pics...

Chaintech 6BTM Mobo software utility CD




Same for Creative SoundBlaster 128




SuperVoice Fax Modem software utilities




Right here! 




Bravo! Adison is an excellent choice, we guarantee you! (down below it says "Adison, computer you're going to love") Which I honestly do!!




Pentium II installation booklets & tech instructions...




6BTM User manual & promotional brochure, featuring all 5 of their models. Starting with the cheapest one on top, up to the most expensive one down below. Mine was "Open Space", 4th model


 



A closer look at the cheapest model, featuring the 15" Shamrock CRT monitor which I have.




A closer look at the "Multimedia" model, featuring the bigger CRT monitor with built-in speakers & fancy looking case




And there it is, the one I had... Except mine didn't have a Zip drive, I bought it few years later. And that was actually my keyboard, the ergonomic PS/2 keyboard made by BTC


 

 

 



User's Manual for previously mentioned Shamrock CRT monitor. Ironically, this monitor survived everything & was in working condition up to a month ago, when I used it to test that Celeron 466 build from the previous page. It seems that the voltage regulator blew out, so I'll have to pay to have it replaced. Yes, I'm actually going to have this one fixed, as it means a lot to me.


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

Moving on with Pentium 600 build... Time to put the cable management together 

I guess this is as good as you can get, with having this kind of case design & PSU layout. I know, I know... It's not perfect but whatever!




And there it is, all put together! It obviously doesn't have any OS and/or games yet, I'll have to deal with those some other time.




Oh and by the way, you might recognize these... 




Of course you do!


 

I don't understand a single word in German, but this booklet is very useful, especially when it comes to pinouts for the front panel, not to mention RAM & CPU support. I also have the original floppy for HighPoint ATA controller somewhere, but I can't seem to remember where


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## mmx_91 (May 18, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment!  And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November  For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I found this exact same case advertised in Wallapop today!! Sadly, it's in Spain but it's the same model, and no more information is shown. I can send you the link if you want to


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## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2016)

OH MY GOD!! Yes, that's the one!! Wow, I've been searching for this thing for years & nothing! Yes, please send me the link & I'll see what I can do...

Edit
@mmx_91 I've been browsing through Wallapop & can't seem to find it anywhere  So yeah, if you would be so kind to send me a link... I want to know how much they're asking for it, at this point I'd even be willing to buy it & have it shipped to Croatia (if possible)

Edit2
I got in touch with the seller & asked if they would be willing to have it shipped. Which they WOULD, but it's going to cost me a lot of money  Something which I don't have at the moment, so I'll have to be super creative... But I'm not letting this one slip through my fingers!


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## JunkBear (May 19, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> It sure was! Mom & dad bought this one on credit, but for what's it's worth it was a great investment!  And here, I actually found a copy of its "birth certificate" so to speak. I was wrong by one month, apparently it was bought on 13th of November, 1998 and was delivered (fully assembled) by 20th November  For the sake of preserving personal information, I removed the personal info from the pic, but considering how old this is, it wouldn't really make much of a difference either way.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Are you from Quebec? We had Adison store here.


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## Trekkie4 (May 19, 2016)

Nope, I'm from Croatia (Central Europe, EU). But this is getting better & better, tell me more! You mean the same company, with the same logo? Because I always thought they were local... Unfortunately both Adison & distribution grid behind them, called Polaris went bankrupt around 2002, 2003.


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## xkm1948 (May 19, 2016)

Anyone have an ultimate socket 7 build? Say an ASUS T2P4 with a K6III? That would be nice to see!


----------



## ThE_MaD_ShOt (May 19, 2016)

xkm1948 said:


> Anyone have an ultimate socket 7 build? Say an ASUS T2P4 with a K6III? That would be nice to see!


I have a K6-2 500 cpu. Been looking for the right mobo to go with it for years and have almost lost hope in finding one at a decent price.


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## Grings (May 20, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> for some of us Building a Retro system means building a system relevent to the right time period and of course the best it could of been for the Period
> that means
> for a p2 system
> The fastest CPU you can find
> ...


For me its building a system to a particular version of Windows

At the moment i'm trying to work out the best crap i have laying around for a Windows 98se system, and also an XP one

XP is pretty open, but being 32 bit i dont really want to go sticking a 2 or 3 gig GPU in because of the old 4gb limit, i think i will use a core2 9550 2gb ram and an 896mb gtx260

98 is where it gets interesting, i still have some Socket A, 754 and 939 stuff, but dont know what the driver situation is like on the A64 era bits, same for graphics cards, on AGP i have a 4200ti, 6600gt or a 9800pro (not sure if the 6600 had a 98 driver)


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## vigia (May 20, 2016)

Grings said:


> not sure if the 6600 had a 98 driver


from the forceware 81.98 you cover the 6600gt on win98, I used my core E6600 with 4 gigs (3.4 effective) with xp32.


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## GreiverBlade (May 20, 2016)

Grings said:


> XP is pretty open, but being 32 bit i dont really want to go sticking a 2 or 3 gig GPU in because of the old 4gb limit, i think i will use a core2 9550 2gb ram and an 896mb gtx260


mmhhhh? the 32bit of the OS only concern system RAM (SDR DDR etc) and not vRAM (GPU)  (confirmed after some google'ing )

tho well ... it would be sad to have a  4gb gpu in a retro rig, i think the most modern GPU i used for a Win Xp pro 32 rig was a GT730 2gb for laugh (oh well and a R7 240 1gb previously woops... i used a R9 290 in the dual opteron setup also ...  4gb obviously )

my next one will be with a C2D E8500 (again) the XFX 650i Ultra and the 8800 Ultra 768mb unless i decide to use the 3870 256mb i have aside

or ... MSI K8N Neo2 + Athlon 64 and probably the 9800XT 256mb agp (singe it's a AGP board) as my DFI LanParty NF4 U is ... seemingly dead 

i still have to find some idea for the SuperMicro H8DCE and the 2x Opteron 64 but i am not sure the mobo handle the 250 so i guess i will have to revert to the 248 4gb DDR ECC and dual 6600GT ... probably will use the NZXT Phantom since it's mine now (my friend gave it to me for free after i did some cleaning and "optimizing" jobs on his Win 7 laptop and MacBook Pro   )


... for recollection ... the dual Opteron Hawaiian beast ... 
 

i love digging back in the thread ... as i said many time ... by far my favorite on TPU


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## Grings (May 20, 2016)

Well ive been digging and getting dusty and found this lot so far...

a 64meg 4200ti, a pair of 9800 pro's, an AGP 6600gt, an ATI X1800xl, a 9600GT, an 8800GTS, a 3870 and a pair of gtx 260's (i also have a second 6950 and a 7950 coming back from loan soon, but with xp limited to dx9 theres no point using these)

I also found my Asus A7N8X Deluxe, and a Socket A Aopen Shuttle Copy with an Nforce 2 chipset that i completely forgot about, it was actually pretty cool once i fitted a decent cooler, it has a Mobile Athlon Xp (Barton? the 512meg cache one after thoroughbred-b)


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## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2016)

Grings said:


> For me its building a system to a particular version of Windows
> 
> At the moment i'm trying to work out the best crap i have laying around for a Windows 98se system, and also an XP one
> 
> ...


One of my builds (RetroMaster 2000, the signature rig) runs both 98 & XP on separate partitions. It was a real PITA to set it up & have it running, but it does seem to be mostly stable now  While the XP portion was entirely based on D3D & DirectX, the other (98) one uses Glide & a pair of Voodoo2 cards in SLI .


----------



## Grings (May 20, 2016)

I did have some Voodoo 2's,a Banshee, and a few earlier AGP cards i threw out when i moved home last


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2016)

I know, I can totally relate to that. I threw away a perfectly working Diamond Monster 3DII card, back in 2008. I also threw away that case which @mmx_91 was kind enough to find for me, along with couple of other things. I'm a total & complete idiot! 

Edit
Post number #4444 made by Trekkie4


----------



## ViperXTR (May 20, 2016)

Every time i cross this street going to work


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2016)

Pentium Pro? Or maybe Athlon XP...


----------



## stinger608 (May 20, 2016)

Grings said:


> 98 is where it gets interesting, i still have some Socket A, 754 and 939 stuff, but dont know what the driver situation is like on the A64 era bits






vigia said:


> from the forceware 81.98 you cover the 6600gt on win98, I used my core E6600 with 4 gigs (3.4 effective) with xp32.




What we all need to do is try and find some good drivers that I can link to in the original post. Stuff from 3.11, 95, 98, and XP. 

I could do a special section in the original post for all types of drivers for nostalgic systems. They are getting tougher and tougher to find without downloading malware and other crap. 

Hmmm, makes me wonder if it wouldn't be worth starting an FTP site as we add and find drivers?


----------



## JunkBear (May 20, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nope, I'm from Croatia (Central Europe, EU). But this is getting better & better, tell me more! You mean the same company, with the same logo? Because I always thought they were local... Unfortunately both Adison & distribution grid behind them, called Polaris went bankrupt around 2002, 2003.




Just seen its different but maybe copy. Store still open here: https://addison-electronique.com/?___store=en&___from_store=fr


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 20, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> What we all need to do is try and find some good drivers that I can link to in the original post. Stuff from 3.11, 95, 98, and XP.
> 
> I could do a special section in the original post for all types of drivers for nostalgic systems. They are getting tougher and tougher to find without downloading malware and other crap.
> 
> Hmmm, makes me wonder if it wouldn't be worth starting an FTP site as we add and find drivers?


I can help you if you'd like. I have quite a few stored here. I have 10+ years worth from when I ran Classicplatforms.com.
Lemme know what you guys are looking for specifically, I probably have it or know where to get it safely.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 20, 2016)

ViperXTR said:


> Every time i cross this street going to work
> View attachment 74794


why do i see a delidded 6700K ... tho indeed it looks more like my 2 T-bird Athlon or Morgan Duron (you know ... the "cracked core edition" )



stinger608 said:


> What we all need to do is try and find some good drivers that I can link to in the original post. Stuff from 3.11, 95, 98, and XP.
> 
> I could do a special section in the original post for all types of drivers for nostalgic systems. They are getting tougher and tougher to find without downloading malware and other crap.
> 
> Hmmm, makes me wonder if it wouldn't be worth starting an FTP site as we add and find drivers?


neat idea ... or even a Onedrive/Dropbox/Google Drive repo


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> What we all need to do is try and find some good drivers that I can link to in the original post. Stuff from 3.11, 95, 98, and XP.
> 
> I could do a special section in the original post for all types of drivers for nostalgic systems. They are getting tougher and tougher to find without downloading malware and other crap.
> 
> Hmmm, makes me wonder if it wouldn't be worth starting an FTP site as we add and find drivers?


Are you talking about old nVidia ForceWare drivers? You can actually get those from the official website, HERE (for Win9x/ME) and HERE (for Win2k/XP). If this one doesn't work out, try with OldApps.com, they got the entire database of ForceWare drivers...



JunkBear said:


> Just seen its different but maybe copy. Store still open here: https://addison-electronique.com/?___store=en&___from_store=fr



Nah, pretty sure it's just a coincidence. Apart from similar name, they don't seem to have anything in common. Besides, Adison went bankrupt in 2002, 2003, long before (I'm guessing) "Addison" store existed 



Mr.Scott said:


> I can help you if you'd like. I have quite a few stored here. I have 10+ years worth from when I ran Classicplatforms.com.
> Lemme know what you guys are looking for specifically, I probably have it or know where to get it safely.



@Mr.Scott you got PM


----------



## Grings (May 20, 2016)

Still not found my w98 disk yet but grabbed drivers for the 6600 from trekkies link, 11.7mb lol, quite a contrast to current drivers


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (May 27, 2016)

I am cleaning the room now and I come across these old electronics boxes, yep that is a gameboy color the green one, a sony ericsson k750i box, an lg viewty phone and an old nokia. Sony Ericsson is gone now but back in day in mid 2000s to 2009 this brand is trading blows with Nokia. The k750i is the famous phone showing how good a camera on a phone can be. The first time I saw the 2 megapixel pictures I was blown away. It is such a huge leap from those 0.3 megapixel camera on nokia phones. Add to it the 262k colour lcd it was an amazing phone. My jaw drop on the floor when a family member used this phone. It is such a huge jump in phone technology.

The LG viewty was the earlier touchscreen phone with guess what the amazing technology of stylus and resistive screen. This was an advance phone for its day!


The room is still a mess now. back to cleaning. And maybe more pictures of this old stuff. Now I wonder where the phone goes. I think it is around the house somewhere and it sadly probably so old and damage or maybe faulty.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2016)

Happy to say that I've owned both K750i and LG Viewty, and while Sony Ericsson was indeed a great phone, the LG one was terrible & real disappointment. Technically, I didn't own Viewty, my mom did (while I had LG Renoir), but they've both been pretty much the same story and had same problems. Heh, I even tried to upgrade the firmware on Viewty which resulted with Yellow "screen of death" so to speak  Fortunately, I DID get it to boot up eventually, even sold it for a decent amount of cash!

I'm so behind the schedule with everything... Had loads of bad luck with computer stuff, as I fried one of the motherboards, CPU & a pair of SD RAM. I also fried one of the sound cards & (pretty expensive, if I may say so) HTC earphones, that were plugged into the sound card at the time of the incident  We are talking about several different systems here, so all these problems didn't result due to a single failing component. Like I said, just loads of bad luck & unfortunate set of circumstances...

Also had problems with that Pentium 3 600 system, for a while I even though that Abit board was dead, but it was just a resource conflict & problem with the CPU cartridge overheating to the insane temperatures. It would idle around 70C, which for you folks in US equals 158F, and it would get up to 75-80C under load. (176F). Taking the Slot 1 cartridge off the board, removing the heatsink entirely, adjusting the tension on the heatsink mounting clip, removing the factory pre-applied cloth material which was glued onto the heatsink itself (with the gummed up thermal compound), applying fresh coat of thermal compound directly on a cleaned up aluminum surface & putting everything back together again did the trick, as I've managed to reduce the temp by amazing 30C (86F). So yeah, now it's FINALLY working OK  Oh and on top of all that, the Abit board wasn't properly grounded to the chassis, so it had random problems which seem to be gone now.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 31, 2016)

Last week I got my hands on an old "Fujitsu" PC case, featuring Gigabyte S478 mobo, GeForce4 4200Ti video card, rusty power supply (water leakage at some point?) & a pair of hard drives, of which only one seems to be working. Oh yeah, and almost forgot - the CPU fan was tied to the S478 base (retention module) by couple of wire ties. Not the cable ties, I'm talking about the metal ones, wrapped in plastic coating!

Apparently someone didn't have a slightest clue on how to fix the computer, so it was all going from bad to worse as I began removing the components. The mobo itself was completely dead & wasn't booting up (or giving any kind of signaling feedback), but I've noticed that it had several bulging & leaking caps. Since I got nothing to lose, I finally took some time & replaced the entire bulging group. Also replaced the CMOS battery & straightened several bent pins, especially around the "Clear CMOS" jumper. I honestly didn't expect it to "fire up", which is why I didn't bother taking any pics - before and after, but it did! True, it was giving me the RAM error message at first, so I had to clean all the DDR memory banks with the contact cleaner, but it does seem to be working at this point  I'm guessing that 4200Ti would also work OK, if it had a working cooler - some idiot ripped out the entire fan from the heatsink, probably because it was making too much noise *sigh* I'm actually considering to buy a brand new one, (approx. 6USD) and put this card to a good use!

On a side note (but still kinda related to old & nostalgic "hardware"), this is my 32 year old water heater, which finally got replaced by its modern counterpart! Yup guys, 32 years old .... that's older than ME and it was STILL in working condition by the time it was removed! Oh and sorry for the mess, this pic was actually taken last year, just after I moved into to a new apt (so there was a lot of renovation & construction jobs going on, all at the same time).





Having said that, I can only hope that the replacement unit will last for at least 5 years, since the official warranty only covers 2


----------



## cornemuse (Jun 9, 2016)

Some 'good ole stuff': 

Before W 95, there was Chicago. fourteen 1.8 meg floppies:


 

How 'bout a 1,2 gig, 5 1/4" ide hdd (8 gig thumb drv & 6" rule:

 

Another 5 1/4" hdd, only 8 megs. motors made in Japan, drive made in Longmont Colorado: Not ide, it plugged into a card plugged into the mobo. 

 

Both drives are (?) functional, well, they were. Floppies, most are corrupted.

Anywayz, , ,

-c-


----------



## Retrorockit (Jun 13, 2016)

I'm gathering parts for another Dell BTX build. T3400 workstation. It's 9 years old. I know that's kind of new for this thread but nobody on the newer threads "get's it" about old computer parts. It's going to be another locked BIOS overclocking project. First thing I got was 3- 120GB SSDs to run in RAID0. This makes SATA2 50% faster than SATA3. 320GB laptop HDD for backup.The CPU will be LGA775 QX9650. These have been confirmed at 4.16GHz in these machines. I'm going to try for more. Memory is listed as 16GB DDR2-800. The chipset supports DDR2-1066, the BIOS doesn't. We'll have to see about that. X38 chipset also has hidden support for 400fsb. The BIOS disagrees. I'll try a BSEL pinmod and see what the PLL chip thinks about it.. CrossfireX is supported. I have a pair of HD6970s to start with, but an HD6990 may join the party later for 3 way Xfire. There are a lot of single cards now that can match 2-HD6970s, 3 of those GPUs not so much.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 26, 2016)

Wow, I didn't even realize how much time has gone by, and yet I've been meaning to post an update on those AMD CPUs but kept finding myself busy & occupied with other stuff & problems. Mostly just real-life stuff, but that's a whole other story.

So, first of all big thanks to @Mr.Scott for being so kind to ship me couple of his AMD CPUs, he even paid for postage which in the end turned out to be even more expensive than the package value, itself. After fiddling with minor difficulties and other bits & pieces, I've plugged this Duron into my Socket A board! 



 

 

 

 

 

 



Unfortunately, due to several interruptions & focusing on other priorities, I never got around to finish this build here, which means I'm not done yet. I'm hoping to finish it some time soon, but until then you guys will just have to be patient & wait for further updates 

On a side note, I'm not planning any more retro builds for this year (or at all, I guess you could say that I'm going to "retire"), but I've decided to devote my time & money into collecting old software, literature & magazine CDs. You know, the kind that you usually get with your computer magazine, featuring Demo games, shareware programs & screensavers. Obviously I'm talking about retro stuff, mainly from early 1997 up to 2001, 2002. I'm also on the lookout for Voodoo cards, especially the cheap ones  It would be nice to have few of those "extra", just in case something ever goes wrong in one of my builds.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 26, 2016)

lol. It wasn't that much. You're most welcome. I would do it again in a second. 
Enjoy.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 26, 2016)

Nevertheless, it was very kind of you to do so.


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## stinger608 (Jun 26, 2016)

Here is an awesome find!!!

Got this for the price of shipping!



Spoiler: Opteron 275

















And the amazing part is, its never been opened and brand new in retail box! Total cost was $11.25 USD. 

LOL, just couldn't pass that up.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2016)

While you guys are waiting for Duron grand finale, it's time for something slightly different... 

Can any of you help me identify these CDs, here? Office 2000 looks pretty much straightforward, although I'm guessing it's some kind of beta? Then again, that CD key is valid for both beta AND final version, so IDK.




The label says Windows ME Beta 2 & 3. But the print quality (and design, overall) is telling me that these CDs had been printed at home & most likely copied from the real thing. Are Beta 2 & 3 legit, did MS ever release something like this before?!




Win2k Evaluation & Development kit ... whatever that means. Seems authentic, and it comes with "Corporate Preview Program"


 



Free Inet service!


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 1, 2016)

incoming surprise ... i only have that pics and i know that at last judging by the pics (since the description was OPTERON DC and QC )the 4 on the right (left previously ... wtf i still mixup my left and my right ... no wonder i have no driver's license ...) are Skt 940 Opteron (let's hope for 270 dual core to replace my  single core 246, 248 and 250 the rest seems to be 4 Skt F and probably 2 Skt Fr2


damned be the digital cam that shot a soo bad image!

also let's hope my SupeMicro H8DCE be compatible to 270 if it is what i think it is ...

oh well at 10chf + 9chf shipping it could be whatever it will be ... still a worthy addition for my CPU collection.

also the description precised 10 instead of 11 (hence why i say 4+2+2+2 )


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## Recon-UK (Jul 2, 2016)

Not nostalgic per say... but it's an entry.

First gen DX 11 GeForce SLi.
2500k @ 5ghz.







Still looks the bomb lol literally, that 1KW PSU is loaded to around 900 watts with both GPU's banging 900mhz core clocks


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 2, 2016)

I'm actually having far more fun going with older hardware than newer parts, this is mostly because the speed increases from intel are not ground breaking, in almost every aspect my XEON out performs my 2500K, not in pure gaming grunt, the XEON powers through video editing and encoding where my 2500k come a bit unstuck with it's limited 4 cores.

Old does not always mean worse.

That entire Sandy build i sold for a very pretty penny,  it was heavily tuned and was taking the piss out of supposedly faster hardware at the time.
Due to money issues it had to go and since i have been on the used market and found it more fun 

Case/ PSU i kept obviously.


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 2, 2016)

Original XBOX software sat aside my MSI 790FX-GD70 with a Phenom II dual core 555 BE unlocked and rocking 1.475v 4.1ghz


----------



## dieselcat18 (Jul 2, 2016)

Recon-UK said:


> Original XBOX software sat aside my MSI 790FX-GD70 with a Phenom II dual core 555 BE unlocked and rocking 1.475v 4.1ghz
> 
> View attachment 75985



I still have my original Xbox (Halo limited edition) and a ton of original Xbox games (like yourself)...loved Armed and Dangerous 
Thxxx for sharing....well done.


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 2, 2016)

dieselcat18 said:


> I still have my original Xbox (Halo limited edition) and a ton of original Xbox games (like yourself)...loved Armed and Dangerous
> Thxxx for sharing....well done.



My XBOX's, both custom.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 2, 2016)

Recon-UK said:


> Not nostalgic per say... but it's an entry.
> 
> First gen DX 11 GeForce SLi.
> 2500k @ 5ghz.



Its almost sad to say, but the ole 2500K and 2600K are almost getting to be "nostalgic"  

Both, along with the 2700K's, were some awesome chips but few overclocked as good as the 2500K's did.


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 2, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Its almost sad to say, but the ole 2500K and 2600K are almost getting to be "nostalgic"
> 
> Both, along with the 2700K's, were some awesome chips but few overclocked as good as the 2500K's did.



Crazy to think it's been like 6 years already...


----------



## dieselcat18 (Jul 2, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Its almost sad to say, but the ole 2500K and 2600K are almost getting to be "nostalgic"
> 
> Both, along with the 2700K's, were some awesome chips but few overclocked as good as the 2500K's did.



I still have a Sandybridge  i5 2500K new, sealed in the box....have kicked around using it for a HTPC but never got to it.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 2, 2016)

dieselcat18 said:


> I still have a Sandybridge i5 2500K new, sealed in the box




Kind of awesome man. You don't see them still sealed in box very often any more. 

LOL, you want to part with it?


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 3, 2016)




----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 3, 2016)

I remember this one, I've seen it long time ago on YT. Pretty interesting comparison IMHO, shows just how far 3dfx was ahead of all other company brands back then.


----------



## P4-630 (Jul 3, 2016)

I still have a Philips CDi player, the 450, does anyone know what videocard is in it?


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 3, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> I still have a Philips CDi player, the 450, does anyone know what videocard is in it?



Probably
CPU Philips SCC66470
Plus Philips SCC66470 VSC

The *SCC68070* is a Philips Semiconductors-branded, Motorola 68000-based 16/32-bit processor produced under license. While marketed externally as a high-performance microcontroller, it has been almost exclusively used combined with the Philips SCC66470 VSC (Video- and Systems Controller) in the Philips CD-i interactive entertainment product line.

source wilki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_68070


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 3, 2016)

According to Wiki, it's Graphics Chip: SCC66470 yes, while the later models had MCD 212


----------



## P4-630 (Jul 3, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Probably
> CPU Philips SCC66470
> Plus Philips SCC66470 VSC
> 
> ...



That CDi player was my first own gaming console, it still works,
have a lot of games for it.
also I connected to the internet with it (dial-up) first time.
Ohh the 90s hehehe


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 3, 2016)

I have a Rare VCD single that will play in it   its not compatible with later systems

Dire straits "Brothers in Arms" VCD


----------



## P4-630 (Jul 3, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> I have a Rare VCD single that will play in it   its not compatible with later systems
> 
> Dire straits "Brothers in Arms" VCD



Cool, I have vcd's as well, movies, they always came in a pair so you'd had to change vcd half way the movie 

So you had a CDi player as well @dorsetknob ?


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 3, 2016)

No the disk was a birthday present ( bought because my PC had a CD Rom installed and the friend thought it would play on my PC)
Audio tracks play but not the Video 
Its shiny shiny Gold surface  not silver

Its Apparently one of 500 limited Release for UK
sold by the "" NEW VIRGIN MEGA STORE "" London ( when they 1st opened that store )


----------



## P4-630 (Jul 3, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> No the disk was a birthday present ( bought because my PC had a CD Rom installed and the friend thought it would play on my PC)
> Its Apparently one of 500 limited Release for UK
> sold by the "" NEW VIRGIN MEGA STORE "" London ( when they 1st opened that store )



So you still have it and never watched, bummer
You can always send it to me though


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 3, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> You can always send it to me though


Its my Nest egg for my old age pension


----------



## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

Hy people 

I saw this "nostalgic" thread and I wanted to barge in 

I've been around PC's since 1996. Back then it all started with an *AMD 5x86 133MHz , 4MB SIMM RAM, Tomato Board  4DPS SiS 496/497, 1MB Cirrus Logic VGA and an awesome Quantum Trailblazer 850 MB aka SPACE - The Final Frontier* 

I attached some random pics from my stash. If there is an interest I can post full rebuild logs for am 5x85, K6-2, PIII and a K7 Slot A AMD setup.

I usually post on a Romanian forum called lab501.

pics- continued


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jul 3, 2016)

Robert B said:


> If there is an interest I can post full rebuild logs for am 5x85, K6-2, PIII and a K7 Slot A AMD setup.




yes please..................


----------



## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

Roger. Copy. Over  - Let me grab *a cold one *and gather my thoughts a little bit - This is the begging of a long journey, and the result of nearly a decade of backseat planning 

Last year I said: *LET'S DO THIS!* and It all started with my try to find and rebuild my first PC. Man it was a hell of a ride....I hope you'll enjoy it 

My posts a usually TL;DR so beware  anyway in the stories that will follow maybe some of you will feel the same emotions I've been through.

Without any further ado let's DIVE into the 5x86 build  he he - it all started with my first purchase of "antiques" aka my first motherload  

ARK2000PV 
Voodoo 2 12mb . Maxi gamer 3d2 
SiS 6215 Digimate 
Creative AWE64 GOLD
Crystal CS4235
SIMM 6x16mb , 2x8 , 4x4
pentium 75,100,133 166 fara MMX si 166MMX 
Matrox PCI 4 sau 8 mb
2 memorii Edo de 16MB 
EPOX EP-58MVP3C-M Motherboard Mainboard - k6-2 300MHz
LUCKY STAR TECHNOLOGY 5v-1A ver 2.0 
Aureal Vortex 2 AU8830A2 PCI
ESS ES688F ISA
S3 Trio 3D/4m AGP
S3 Trio 3D 
Pci S3 Trio64v+
S3 86C765 Trio64V+
pci s3 trio64v2/dx
S3 86C775 Trio64V2/DX
Agp Ati Rage Pro 128 de 16Mb 
ISA Trident TVGA9000C


----------



## Devon68 (Jul 3, 2016)

I really like that small noctua fan.


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## stinger608 (Jul 3, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> yes please..................



+1 on that one man!!!!!

And, a huge welcome to TPU @Robert B   

I, of course, added your user name to the original post.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

Hy guys. Thank you for the wellcome. I'm a long time lurker on TPU. I just entered now because I had something to share 

The 5x86 Story

What do you do when you first start gathering *old hardwar*e?

In my situation the facts were *stacked against me*. The pieces I was trying to find were, by all means dinosaurs, a foot note into the PC history. Many have already been *discarded, buried into landfills, melted, dismembered.....*

I entered a couple of IT *forums* in my country and tried to find the pieces for the 5x86 puzzle, but *to no avail.*

My first purchase was a complete success. I scored for the sum of around 80 $, a large number of AGP and PCI VGA adapters prior to 2000, an awesome Maxi  Gamer 3D Voodoo 2, some socket 7 motherboards, two busted socket 3 motherboard, lots on SIMM, and DIMM RAM and the a gem of a PSU *Minebea Electronics 200W AT PSU - the first piece of the 5x86 puzzle 
*
I tried the local *flea market *but my searches were fruitless....In the end I found a guy who let me buy from him three socket 3 motherboars, two AMD 5x86 133MHz CPU's, one AMD 4x86-DX2 66MHz, one AMD 486-DX4-100MHz and two heatsinks complete with clips for my socket 3 build. *This was my second piece of the 5x86 puzzle 
*
I was quite pissed for *giving away* my first PC back in '98 or '99. *I was young and foolish :*D

The motherboard I found was a *Jetway J446A v2.0* - chipset *SiS 496/497* - 256KB cache/3 PCI/3 ISA/4 RAM SLOTS not a Tomato Board 4DPS SiS 496/497 like I used to have. So this was as good as it gets 

So there I was in *2015* with a motherboard, CPU, RAM and a PSU. How the hell was I going to find a case like to one I used to have and an exact HDD? The ODD was not so important....

To my surprise in one of my trips to the local flea market I found an almost exact case. The first time a I saw it *I was thunder struck!  *I just couldn't belive my eyes  It was dirty and scratched but it was complete.

The *bouns* inside was a socket 7 motherboard with a Cyrix 6x86 PR233, Tomato 5STX-J98 motherboard, 32MB RAM, SiS VGA, a Seagate Medalist 3.2GB HDD and a Sony ODD.

With the case I had another piece of the 5x86 puzzle 

Through some *twist of the fate* I found the HDD on a local forum and the moment I held it in my hand I new *the PC Gods were smiling down to me from above* 

The entire adventure took around three months of digging up in the local flea market and local IT forums.

So there I was smiling with all my loot  *these relics were more valuable *to me than the latest GPU, CPU or another IT gizmo 

All the parts were prepared for a complete cleaning process using 99.9% isopropyl alcohol and *a lot of elbow grease *


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 3, 2016)

Yeah, this all sounds way too familiar I'm afraid  If you go few pages back, you'll see that I'm searching for very similar case myself, which I used to have back in a day, in September/October 1998. Unfortunately, to this day I was unable to find one, except for one which was on sale in Barcelona, Spain which is way too far from me and would therefore be too expensive to ship *sigh*


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## Bones (Jul 3, 2016)

I'd call that a win for the good guys - Congrats!
Thats like when I ran across the Socket 7 board I have, it's a Premio 219H (It's pictured in here somewhere) and works just fine and even OC's some with the different dipswitch settings it has. Sometimes fortune smiles upon you and it's great when it does, good luck and keep those classics alive!

Picked up a HD Sappire 3850 AGP card the other day and while it looks good it's acting like it's dead, chip core gets warm, the rear MOSFETs warm up, fan works fine and no evidence (Visually) of a problem but no video output - However I believe baking it may fix the problem it has...... We'll see.


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## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

@trekie4 - I saw your post. I'm sorry you couldn't find one...even now I cand belive the fact that after 20 years I found my fisrt PC case.

The first step into my 5x86 (re)build was the cleaning of the motherboard.

*Jetway J446A v2.0* - chipset *SiS 496/497* - 256KB cache/3 PCI/3 ISA/4 RAM SLOTS

I took my sweet time and after a few hours it came out golden!

All the chips, jumpers and accessories were removed and labeled before cleaning. 

more pics


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 3, 2016)

No prob, I'm hoping to find one of these eventually, I mean it's not like they're custom made or work of art lol. There's got to be more of these around, somewhere!


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## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

Next came the SIMM's .... not the game....


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 3, 2016)

@Robert B Speaking of 5x86, I also happen to have one... Check it out, in case you've missed it  I was fortunate enough to pick it up for (almost) nothing, the guy gave it to me, so that he wouldn't have to throw it out! Works perfectly, and it's running Win95


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## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

@trekie4 - I will do it for sure 

The case received a special treatment - full disassembly. A was with hot water and detergent, followed by a good scrub with CIF Cream. I removed a bit of the yellowing from the plastic but I wanted to keep the "character" and the aging. The stuff that says* 'been there done that!

First I used a coarse fabric/felt but in the end a soft sponge was better.

*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 3, 2016)

Thanks! It's on page(s) 157 & 158


----------



## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

Next came the turn of the *FDD's and ODD'*s 

Full cleaning process too  *I like my components squeaky clean* - It makes the experience all more authentic.

The assembly of the face of the PC case.

The plastics were kept in water with a small quantity of *vinegar*.

Check *the bug in the system* 

More pics and the compressor used to clean/dry the plastic parts.

LCD display test. In the end I didnt use it for the 5x86 build because my 5x86 didnt have one to beging with.

Test fitting of the motherboard revealed that after all these years the motherboard was little bent out of shape and I had to be very carefull with the RAM sticks touching the metal case. The SIMM problem was solved with *carefull bending of the metal*  By all means do not use a hammer....*IBM*.....

Some of the motherboard spacers were made from plastic which in time changed its shape. Also the motherboard tray had HUGE fitting holes and I had to compensate this with a little bit of copper wire wrapped around them. Nothing was moving now 

I used some soft foam to stop the motherboard tray from making noise. Also the foam was used to cancel the vibration from the ODD, FDD and 3.5" and 5.25 bay covers.

First I didnt have the metal plat which connects the POWER SWITCH to the case and I had make one from an a bike spoke. I came out strudy as hell.  In the end I found the missing metal plate.....there goes an hour from my life ....The switch had a little play in its interbnals and I used a zip tie to cancel this.

The PSU was fully stripped and cleaned. I checked it with a light load and it was in awesome shape.

The case was missing some rear covers and I decided to make my own from perforated metal strips. 

Back in '96 my PC didnt have a sound card or a CD-ROM. They came later in '98 an ESS1868 ISA sound card and an LG 16X which was crap. It read only silver CD's. Any other colour blue or gold was not read by this crappy unit.

All the cables were also cleaned with a great attention to detail. I matched the colour of the red strips for all the cables as best as I could 

The HDD was mounted in a 5.25 slot instead of a 3.5, using metal spacers, for better cooling.

More pics

More pics 2

More pics 3

More pics 4

This case didnt have a Turbo switch like my old one, so I added a Turbo Led and used a jumper to set Turbo On or Off.

If you are still hanging in here I hope I dont spam the thread  - this work was done in weeks and the build log was full of details written in romanian so for now I cant translate all of it. In the future I'll post simultaneously here and on the lab501 forum, form my country.

After all this hustle the result came up.....well you can see for yourself 

This rebuild of my first PC, in 2015 was like a trip in the past. All the smells of the electronics, the noises were all familiar. It was awesome!

*The 5x86 - Build*

Vital statistics

1. CPU: *AMD* 5X86 *133MHz* - AMD-X5-133ADZ/Am5X86-P75 3.45V
2. Motherboard: *Jetway J446A v2.0* - chipset *SiS 496/497* - 256KB cache/3 PCI/3 ISA/4 RAM SLOTS
3. RAM: *2x16=32 MB RAM* SIMM FPM
4. VGA: *ARK Logic ARK2000PV, 2MB, PCI*
5. AUDIO: *ESS AudioDrive 1868F ISA*
6. HDD: *QUANTUM TRAILBLAZER TRB850A* -850MB- 4500RPM
7. FDD: SONY
8. CD-ROM: SONY 52x *CDU5221*
9. PSU: *Minebea Electronics 200W AT PSU*
10. Cooling: CPU-*Noctua NF-4x10FLX* 40 mm x 40 mm x 10 mm 4500 rpm/SSO2 SYSTEM: *Scythe Mini Kaze* 60 mm x 60 mm x 20 mm 2500 rpm/sleeve.
11. CASE: Generic AT Case manufactured 1998.
2. Enthusiasm/Nostalgy/Dedication/Time/Headaches/Money 

*The RESULT?PRICELESS!!!*

Testing before fitting into the case.

Pics

Pics 2

Pics 3

This was the AMD 5x86 DX5 133MHz rebuild presented in fast forward speed 

More builds have been completed an K6-2 450MHz,  a Pentium III 550MHz Slot  and an AMD Irongate SLOT A test system.

If there is interest I'll post some later. Also I have an extensive picture collection of other old hardware (mostly '90s) which I can post. All the parts have been cleaned and are kept in boxes.

They were gathered in 2015 and 2016. After this stage I came to a halt. All the stuff fits in about 14+ boxes and I have enough stuff for a lifetime  Hoarding is bad for health and the wallet....

Also interesting stories of bent pins (lots) and a VooDoo 3 3000 16MB AGP ressurrection can be posted.

More later. Enjoy the pics.

P.S. Sorry if I came storming in and spammed the thread.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 3, 2016)

Robert B said:


> Pics 3
> 
> This was the AMD 5x86 DX5 133MHz rebuild presented in fast forward speed
> 
> ...


No prob about spamming the thread lol, I really do like your dedication to small details! I've done somewhat similar restoration on a 5x86, myself except I didn't go into so much details like you did. I wanted to keep it simple & straightforward, so I removed all the components (replaced few of them) & made few changes (and upgrades)  to the system. Overall I'm pretty happy with the end results  And just like you, I've also decided to put Win95 rather than Win 3.11 or Win98, I even used the similar games!


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## Robert B (Jul 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 - saw your 5x86 build - pretty sweet stuff. The two 5x86 I found were different specs. One was the ADW version which required Heatsink and Fan, and one was ADZ version. I ended using the ADZ. I thought about OC'ing the chip but I was afraid of frying the motherboard and gave up.

I decided on Win 95 and a hefty 2MB smartdrive  Win 98 was sluggish in '98 with 8MB of RAM so I didint test it now. Late '98  I jumped from the 5x86 to Celeron A 366MHz and a MSI 440BX mobo and nVidia Vanta 8MB. *Good Old Times*. Even if I'm 36 it seems just like yesterday...

I have more stuff to upload if you liked what I posted.

Is there a limit to the overall attachments space on TPU for  any given user? I only saw the 2MB/file limit. I have much much more stuff to post...


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 4, 2016)

Nah, it's never a good idea to OC retro hardware IMHO, it's just not worth the risk. I mean, if you want to have a CPU that's 100 or 200MHz faster than the one you already have, why not get the real thing, as in faster & better model? Especially since they're so cheap nowdays... Obviously, I'm referring to all the CPU brands and models, not just 5x86 alone.

Personally, I like to keep my retro builds in chronological order & true to the original. Meaning that if I have a system from 1995, or 1996, it'll most likely end up running Win95. Same with later models, from 1998, 1999 - I'm using Win98 on those ones and/or Win 3.11 (usually in combination with DOS 6.22) on 3x86 & 4x86 builds.

IDK about the limit on TPU, but you might want to consider image hosting service, rather than using TPU image upload... We had a debate regarding this issue before, and most of us agreed that PostImage.org is the best way to go at the moment. Imagebam used to be reliable back in a day, but they're spamming ppl way too much with annoying popups & ads.


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## Recon-UK (Jul 4, 2016)

I do love seeing retro hardware running games not designed for such HW 










Ages a go i did the impossible..

512MB 64 bit DDR2 4570M laptop GPU.
2.2ghz C2D T6600 overheat edition.
3GB DDR2 ram.

I applied a 150mhz OC on the memory of that GPU and 25mhz stable GPU OC.










































And yes i'm better at Quake with better HW, i'm a UT player tho


----------



## Robert B (Jul 4, 2016)

Here comes the *Pentium III - Slot 1* - build. Back in the day I couldn't afford such a system. It was soooo expensive. In end I used a beefier GPU but I guess that cand be forgiven 

As usual all the parts were stripped and thoroughly cleaned. This build was much easier than the 5x86.

The case was in mint condition. The HDD was almost new, only the soundcard was a little roughed up, but given its name I decided to use it as is .

The testing of the HDD was done using a *standard PC PSU, A-bit - Serillel adapter, and a Express Card eSATA adapter* plugged into my Acer Aspire 5315 laptop.

The GPU recived a new cooler: *DeepCool V50* becasue the old one was small and the fan was busted.A fresh apply of *Arctic MX-4* grease was made 

I also tested a *STB Systems VooDoo 3 3000 AGP 16MB* which was in great condition. I only paid 1.2 EUR for it 

I also added thumb screws to the case and an Enermax T.B. Silence 80mm fan.

I came out pretty good if I say so myself.

Pics 2


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 4, 2016)

Robert B said:


> Pics 2



What GPU is under the inno3d heatsink?


----------



## Robert B (Jul 4, 2016)

Pics 3

nVidia Geforce 2 Ti 64MB - full specs of the system will follow shortly  The STB Systems VooDoo 3 16MB was a "little" slow in my point of view 

Pics 4

Pics 5

*Pentium III - Slot 1 Build*

Vital statistics:

1. CPU: *Intel Pentium III 550MHz - SL3FJ *- Costa Rica 512KB cache / 100MHz bus / 2.0V
2. Motherboard: *LuckyStar 6VABX2 VER. 2.0* - Slot 1 - Chipset - VIA VT82C693 & VT82C596A / 1xAGP 2x / 5 PCI (4 bus master 1 slave) / 2 ISA / ATA 33
3. RAM: *384 MB - PC133* @ PC100 speed : 2X128MB PQI / 1x128MB IBM
4. VGA: *Inno3D Geforce 2 Ti - 64MB* - VGA/TV out
5. AUDIO: *Diamond Aureal Vortex 2 Monster Sound MX300* - PCI
6. HDD: *QUANTUM FIREBALL PLUS AS40-40GB* - 7200RPM
7. FDD: *NEC*
8. CD-ROM: *ASUS QuieTrack 52X CD-S520/A*
9. LAN: generic 10/100 Mbps
10. Mobile HDD rack 3.5/5.25
11. PSU: generic JNC Computer Corp. 235W
12. Cooling: Intel stock slot 1 cooler / Inno3D - DeepCool v50 / Enermax T.B Silence 80 mm
13. CASE: Generic ATX Case branded COMRACE ~ *1999*
14. Less effort than the 5x86 build.

Enjoy.

Next on the list will be a K6-2 build and much more.....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 4, 2016)

I absolutely adore Slot 1 systems, got dozens of them around here ranging from Celeron 333, Pentium 2 350 all the way up to Pentium 3 733.

As for the MX300 Aureal Vortex2 card, I also have one that's been paired up with Slot-1 Pentium 2 system. It's running 256mb of RAM, has 20GB WD HDD and takes advantage of ATI Rage3D IIc AGP card + 2x Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 (12mb) in SLI

Edit
It's basically very similar to this system here, except the one on the pic uses AWE SoundBlaster and has different mobo


----------



## Robert B (Jul 4, 2016)

Nice system you have there *trekkie4  *Glad to see that AWE32 still alive after all these years.
*
I have prepared 230+ pictures for the K6-2 and K7 Slot A builds. I'll post them ASAP. The AMD Irongate K7 Slot A was a special find for me. It's not very common in my country.I still remember the articles I was reading about the race between AMD and Intel to be the 1st to get to 1GHz. Good old days 
*
Besides these I have around 200-300 pics with old ISA, PCI and AGP cards to post. Some CPU's, memory and motherboards, together with the salvage of  CPU's with bent pins for socket 3, 7......the dismantling of SLOT A AMD Cpu-s.

More goodies to follow in the next days/weeks.

I hope they will be well received 

For the socket 7 build I had a lot to chose from 

Motherboards

1. *ACorp 5ALi61 REV. D* - Socket 7 - Chipset ALi M1542-A1/M1543C-A1
2. *ZIDA-TOMATO BOARD - 5STXJ-98 REV. 1.02* - Socket 7 - Chipset Intel 430TX - 82439TX System Controller(MTXC) & 82371AB PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator (PIIX4)
3. *LuckyStar 5V-1A VER. 2.0* - Socket 7- Chipset - VIA 82C585VPX & 82C586A
4. *Epox EP58 MVP3C-M 100MHz Rev. 0.8 *- Socket 7 - Chipset - VIA VT82C598MVP & VT82C586B

CPU's

1. *AMD K6-2 300MHz* - AFR - 1998 -week 41
2. *AMD K6-2 350MHz *- AFR - 1999- week 21
3. *AMD K6-2 400MHz* - AFR - 1999- week 50
4. *AMD K6-2 450MHz* - AFX - 2000- week 02
5. Pentium 100MHz - SX963
6. Pentium 133MHz - SY022
7. Pentium 166MHz - SY037
8. Pentium 166MHz-MMX - SL27K
9. Cyrix 6x86MX PR233 188MHz

In the end I settled on a Super Socket 7 build using an AMD K6-2 CPU coupled with the *ACorp 5ALi61 REV. D

What I liked about the socket 7 build was that I could use Intel and AMD CPU's if I wanted. I could use SDRAM or SIMM/EDO an AT or ATX PSU. A very versatile platform.*

Upon closer inspection I found that the *Epox EP58 MVP3C-M* motherboard had a busted tranzistor which was branded 1P. At the moment of the assembly I didnt have a spare tranzistor. Later, just by sheer luck I found a suitable replacement from a ceased fan from a slot A heatsink. I made the transplant and the motherboard works 

The last AT case I had was in bad shape. I had to make from scratch a POWER ON ATX compatible switch to fit into an AT compatible slot in the front bezel. I couldn't find a smaller one localy so I had to improvize  All the switches from the local electronics shop were without release, meaning that once pressed they would not return back and after a few seconds the system would power down. All this trouble was also caused by the fact that I wanted to use an ATX PSU because I couldn't find a good AT PSU. To make things worse the prongs on which the switch had to be screwed were ripped off and I had to rebuild them. All in all it was worth the effort. The metal cover of the case was roughed up and I decided to wrap it up instead of painting it.

The V3 3000 received a fan for better cooling and all the parts were cleaned to perfection using *99,9% isopropyl alcohol.*


*The K6-2 450MHz - Build
*
Vital statistics:

*1. CPU: *AMD K6-2 450AFX - 450MHz 
2. Motherboard: *ACorp 5ALi61 REV. D* - Socket 7 -100MHz- Chipset ALi Alladin V - ALi M1542-A1/M1543C-A1 1AGP 2x/ 3 PCI / 3 ISA
3. RAM: : 2X128MB=*256 MB* - PC133 @ PC100
4. VGA: STB Systems Inc - *Voodoo 3 3000* AGP 16MB Rev. C
5. AUDIO: Creative Sound Blaster* AWE 64 GOLD* ISA - CT 4390
6. HDD: *FUJITSU 8.4GB* - MPD3084AT - 5400RPM ATA 33 - montat cu distantiere in bay de 5.25"
7. FDD: Sony 
8. CD-ROM: TOP-G *50X*
9. LAN: TP-Link 10/100Mbps PCI Network Adapter TF-3200 - ip100A
10. PSU: *Antec EA-380D Green* - 380W 80+ Bronze 
12. Cooling: Socket 7 heatsink with Scythe Mini Kaze 50x50x10mm 4500 rpm / V3 3000 - stock heatsink with Scythe Mini Kaze 50x50x10mm 4500 rpm
13. CASE: Generic AT Case branded 2 Net Computers, retrofitted with ATX switch.
14. Medium effort  - smaller than the 5x86 build but greater than the Pentium III build


After all this trip down the memory lane  all the three systems and some of the hardware I collected, were prepared for *long term storage* 

Next will be the *K7 slot A* test. But for now I'll let you to digest the above photos 

A lot more to follow!

Sneak peak 

*Enter THE ATHLON!

Pentium III feels the train is coming, bullet train that is 









*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 5, 2016)

Hahaha!  Even though I'm not much of AMD fan, several of my builds had been based on either Athlon or Duron - in fact, I'm about to work on Duron build soon! This includes RetroMaster 2000, the "profile" rig. It's based on Athlon 1800 and turned out to be reliable, but extremely annoying to set up & get it to work properly. Also, there's not much point in pointing out just how more fragile & thermally sensitive these things are, comparing to Intel counterparts. Intel might have been more expensive choice to go (it kinda still is), but always delivered more reliable platforms & was always ahead of AMD in this particular area.


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## Mr.Scott (Jul 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Also, there's not much point in pointing out just how more fragile & thermally sensitive these things are, comparing to Intel counterparts. Intel might have been more expensive choice to go (it kinda still is), but always delivered more reliable platforms & was always ahead of AMD in this particular area.


I disagree. The K7 days of AMD were one of their best ones. AMD left all Intel in the dust with the K7 and K8 releases. Reliability wasn't an issue at all. I do agree that the bare die K7's were fragile. Intel did not recover until they released C2D.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 5, 2016)

Right, but I wasn't talking about the performance ratio & "bang for the buck" - I was referring to the build quality itself. Not so long ago (maybe couple of months, at least?) I've had a Pentium 3 system that's been idling around 149F due to dust buildup on the heatsink & mounting clip not being secured enough (being a Slot-1 cartridge). If it wasn't for the BIOS alarm, I would have probably never even realized that something is going on, despite "cooking" all the time, it was running reasonably stable... Unlike AMD CPUs on the other hand, which have tendency to go up in puff of smoke if you push them too hard and/or without cooling. There's no thermal throttling on these things, it only takes couple of seconds to fry the entire chip.

What I said is that Intel provided a more stable platform. Meaning their CPUs came with the heat shields & were equipped with safety features to prevent something like that in the first place. So when you paid more money for that Intel product, you didn't have to worry about crushing the bare die with your CPU cooler or frying the CPU due to a seized up fan bearing. So what I really wanted to say is that Intel proved itself to be a more reliable investment down the road. Otherwise I really don't mind AMD, I wouldn't be using it for any of my builds if that was the case . However, (in case you've missed it) all my AMD builds come with huge & aftermarket CPU coolers. Spire FalconRock is among some of my favorites, but overall speaking the bigger the better!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 5, 2016)

Pentium III socket 370
Bare die, no throttling.
Exactly like AMD of the same time period, except less performance and more cost.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 5, 2016)

Well, I suppose you do have a point there (P3 having exposed die), but I always thought they had thermal throttling. Then again, I never had a situation where P3 got crushed under the heatsink and/or ended up in flames. In fact, some of those Coppermine CPUs had passively cooled heatsinks, usually found in OEM systems running Celerons 633

Check this out:









Also, please don't get me wrong. I'm not starting a war against AMD here, and/or being Intel's fanboy. Later AMDs had been pretty much equal to Intel (quality-wise, at least). In fact I'm running X2 on mom's PC system, that's been working for ages now without any problems whatsoever.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 5, 2016)

Lol. Seen it before.
You know that was rigged right?
That's an Intel propaganda clip set up and paid for by Intel for Tom's, who is supported by Intel.

BTW, I'm not trying to derail this into an AMD vs. Intel bit. I'm just stating the facts.
Intel had absolutely nothing on AMD during the K7 and K8 days. That is a fact.


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 5, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Lol. Seen it before.
> You know that was rigged right?
> That's an Intel propaganda clip set up and paid for by Intel for Tom's, who is supported by Intel.
> 
> ...


Agreed, was trying to stick to the facts myself. And absolutely, I never said otherwise (on Intel not having anything, during K7 and K8 days)

Just curious, what makes you think it's rigged? Like I said, I've had (and seen) couple of Intel chips running without ANY cooling whatsoever and none of them failed. Especially Mendocino cores, those things could take pretty much anything!









 (see what I mean?)


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just curious, what makes you think it's rigged? Like I said, I've had (and seen) couple of Intel chips running without ANY cooling whatsoever and none of them failed. Especially Mendocino cores, those things could take pretty much anything!


any one with workshop/repair bench experience will confirm that great care had to be taken with AMD CPU's of the time  to avoid crushing the cpu chip, ensuring the heatsink/cooler was installed properly otherwise the Amd CPU Heated up so fast  it Smoked (ruined no or poor thermal throttling )
Intel on the other hand Generaly thermaly throttled and the Cpu was still working after it shut down and cooled off


----------



## Robert B (Jul 5, 2016)

I've yet to crack a CPU die due to bad cooler install. When I bought my 1st Athlon XP CPU, and 1900+ Palomino core, in the shop that sold it there was I guy arguing with the seller that the CPU and cooler combo he bought were defective because he broke two succesive CPU dies. From my perspective the defective part was him..... 

When the Athlon first apeared Intel was taken by surprise. Later on for many years AMD and Intel traded blows and in the end we the end users had to gain from it. We all know the story. For many years AMD had a very strong position but as allways good things eventually come to an end.

When I bought my Celeron 366A I couldn't afford a PII because the prices were insane, and the K6-2 was getting long in the teeth  and then came the Athlon.

After some CPU's frying, AMD also implemented a safety mecanism to prevent this from happening. Remember, those were pioneering days and as all humans we sometime learn through mistakes. It happens even to the all high and mighty corporations too, even today 

In the hay days of AMD vs Intel battle I built for myself three Athlon XP machines and later on I jumped straight to Core 2 Duo and didnt buy AMD since. In that time buying the K7 was a no brainer for me.

Working with "newer" components after the 2000's I observed they were getting more fragile. The smaller fabrication node, more heat stres, etc are taking their toll. Usually components before the 2000's from my stash are working no problem. Even some pieces that you would say that are scrap.

*The K7 slot A - build*

*1st Step - Slot A Cartridge removal/disassembly/tear down/dismantle*

After I managed to find a SLOT A motherboard with the *Irongate* chipset together with four CPU's my first priority was a complete disassembly and carefull cleaning. Little did I know that this would turn into an *adventure* 

As usual freeing the CPU's from their SECC cartridge, even if we are talking about AMD Slot A or Intel Slot 1, is sometimes *a hairy business* 

In my case I used a pair of *flat nosed pliers* with a little electrical tape to prevent damage to the catridge and the backplate. Even so, some marks would remain. 

I *firmly secured one arm of the pliers into a vice* and with the other arm I applied force. Even so, the entire process required some convincing. The cartridge was *extremely stubborn*, it *moaned* and *groaned* and *squeaked. *It was nerve-racking! 

The upper part of the cartridge gave up extremely *easy*  with the help of a fine screwdriver.

The bottom part, near the connector was held* tight*. In the end, only one of the cartidge remained intact, the other three sustained one broken securing hole. *No big deal*. This problem will be adressed later. The exterior was in pristine condition.

After inspecting closely the cartridges I saw that the small securing hole that broke off, was a different shape from the others. Three were round and one oval. I guess this was some kind of anti-tamper system to prevent opening and voiding warranty. The metal prongs from the heatplate had ca collar like shape that would be retained into the plastic holes of the cartridge.

After almost *17 years* the thermal paste/pad was still kind of soft. The only surprise was the thick paste used to fill the gap between the heatplate and the cache chips. It was brittle and it was *poorly applied.*

Under no circumstance was I to power up these CPU's like this. *My gut feeling was right, again* 

After removing the plastic cartridge the metal heatplate was held with two metal strips. These were under some tension an removing them proved challenging.

You had to press down on the CPU PCB to *prevent it from rocking* while at the same time you would have to keep a finger on the middle of the metal strip and with the other hand with a fine screwdriver you would have to bend the metal "teeth" of the metal strips to free them up.

If the PCB would start rocking, *damage* could occur to the CPU die. *A BIG No No!
*
Over the entire process I got fed up with the smell they were releasing and I was anxious to *clean them up reallllllllllyyyyyyy well*. It's a distinct smell of old electronics, dust, old paste and God know what else....
*
To my surprise on the K7 500MHz CPU's die it was written k7900....

a) AMD K7500MTR51B C -  500MHz 
b) AMD K7550MTR51B C - 550 MHz
c) AMD K7600MTR51B A -  600MHz
d) AMD K7700MTR51B A -  700MHz*

*2nd step - Deep cleaning of the CPU's and heatsinks*

Also I bought a few 50 mm fans- *FRACTAL DESIGN SILENT SERIES 50MM* (FD-FAN-50) 3500 rpm - In the end they prived too weak and I reused some of the old fans from the original heatsinks.

In the end *REVOLTEC Air Guard RL035 - 4500 rpm 50 mm fans will prove more adequate.

Note the K7 500MHz rated CPU with the K7900CNRBCA markings.*


One of the heatsinks, the BIG Cooler Master one, came without the metal retaining clips, so I had to *get creative and improvize.
*
I drilled a couple of holes and used a couple that were already in the heatsink and heatplate and with the help of 4 nuts and bolts *I tightend the sucker really well 
*
I made a spread test with some ol' Arctic Alumina thermal paste I had around.

For the final assembly I used less paste to prevent bleeding.


*3rd step -  Cleaning the motherboard
*
The motherboard I found It's not exotic or OC friendly, but it as good as it gets for me. I couldn't find another so, for the time beeing it will have to do.

PC CHIPS M800LMR V1.3A - AMD Irongate 750/756 - 1 AGP 2x, 4PCI, onboard Audio and Lan, ATA66, SDRAM - 768MB max

It came out golden , literally 

Well here I was with clean slot A CPU's ready to be put back together and a squeaky clean motherboard.

GPU's I had plenty, RAM plenty, HDD's plenty. The only thing missing was a *good PSU with strong 3.3V and 5V rails.

One name came into my mind obsesively - ENERMAX.
*
After asouring the local OLX site to my susprise a found just what I was looking for - a mint, new in BOX, *ENERMAX EG365AX-VE(G) 353W.

It was really cheap and at first I thought that it couldn't be right. *After a phone call my doubts were quickly put to rest.

After 24 hours I held in my hands the Holy Grail, a shiny new ENERMAX PSU.

*4th step - Slot A CPU's assembly
*
After I opened up the CPU cartridges I was aware that for the contact between the heatplate and the cache chips I had to use some kind of *thermal pad.*

I found localy *Arctic* branded ones of 1.5 mm and 0.5 mm - *blue colour*. They seemed right, but in the end the 0.5 mm one was *too slim* and the 1.5 mm *too thick.*

I tried to determine the* exact width* I needed and one size came out after a few measurements *~ 1 mm*. Because I couldn't find Arctic blue pad of 1 mm width I resorted to buying a Thermal Grizzly Minus 8  - 1 mm pad.

After I reveived the *Grizzly* pad I found out that this width *wasn't good *either. It was too thick, hard and brittle. The Arctic one was way softer.

After a quick and EXPENSIVE lesson in thermal pads..... I counted my options and the solution came out in the form of the Arctic blue pad 1.5 mm which would have to be squeezed to the correct width.

To add to the trouble, *the width* between the CACHE chips and the heatplate* wasn't always the same.*

Also the cache chips of the CPU's were sometimes concave some time convex.

For each and every CPU I had to cut a smaller piece of Arctic blue pad, place a small clear plastic film over it and press it down with something flat.

*I used the Cooler Master heatsink.*

The process was repeated 3 or 4 time for each CPU - *very hard work*  but for me it was very *REWARDING.
*
When I assembled the heatplates and the heatsinks I also filled up with thermal pads the outside square holes of the heatplates which made contact with the cache chips for a better transfer of the heat. From factory there was nothing there.

Also I found out that the retaining clips of the heatsinks were out of shape and required some bending back. Initialy the contact between the heatplate and the heatsink was made through a very thin pad but when I used thermal paste I needed more force. From factory the gap was to big between the heatplate and the heatsink. Totally unacceptable! 

Arctic MX-4 thermal paste was used for the CPU die.

Puting back the *metal strips* that hold down the CPU pcb proved difficult, but in the end I prevailed  The trick is to keep the inside tooth of metal strip more inclined while the outside one would have to be more open. Then you would have to use a fine nose plier to bend it into the secured position. A steady hand is required. *Damage to to PCB can occur easily, so tread carefully*  Check the picture bellow. Also avoid rocking the CPU PCB, otherwise you know....cracked, chipped CPU die.

After the opening of the cartridges, the holes of the plastic covers were bigger and three of them missed one of the holes. To prevent them from rattling I used two thin strips of *BISON MONTAGEKIT EXTREME GRIP TAPE on the top side.* This proved the winning solution. They were held firmly in place.

All the fans were cleaned and oiled. One fan was replaced because the original one was ceased.

The CPUS were once again as the day they were born. *HAPPY DAYS.

5th step - some FUN
*
In the end I played some games and installed Win 98 SE. To this date this was my best experience with a PC and Windows 98. Delta Force - Land Warrior brought back some memories.

The only problem was the motherboard. It lacked any OC feature. I couldn't adjust any timing for the memory. No voltage control, absolutely nothing.

To my surprise the K7 500MHz CPU with the K7900CNRBCA markings ran at 700MHz without problems. Some of the other CPU's weren't correctly recongnized. I wanted to update de BIOS but couldn't find a suitable BIOS file and the chance of bricking the motherboard were too great. Even my old Tomato 5x86 Board had more RAM timing options.

Back in the day this was a budget motherboards so there is nothing to do about it.

The CPU's will have to be tested on another motherboard, preferably a high end one.

So in my case this was as good as it gets!

The reward was priceless though. I enjoyed every moment and I have no regrets  monetary or otherwise


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## Tatty_One (Jul 5, 2016)

Robert B, it's great that you are sharing your builds and pics with us, but please use the edit function and add new material if no one else has posted after your last, at one point you had 28 posts which I have merged by date posted,  thank you.

Might I suggest that you have gone way past "Nostalgic Hardware", you may want to post anything new and of significant size in your own project log......

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/forums/project-logs.18/


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## Robert B (Jul 5, 2016)

Ok, *Tatty_One* - advice noted. Sorry for the trouble.


L.E.  I tried to add some pictures to my last message when there was no post after me, but I keep on receving the message *you cannot add more than 10 files.*

This is why I posted so many different times. Maybe somebody can enlighten me.

*Last bits and pieces

K7 - Classic Athlon*

Test system:

Motherboard: *PC CHIPS M800LMR V1.3A*
CPU: *Athlon Classic K7 500, 550, 600 and 700 MHz*
RAM: SDRAM 256MB PC100 DS, 2X128MB PC100 SS = *512MB PC100*
ODD:* LG DVD-RAM-4163B IDE*
GPU: Palit Daytona *Geforce 3 Ti 200* - 64MB - DeepCool V50 Cooler
FDD: *Alps*
HDD: *WD Caviar 800JB* - 7200rpm IDE 8MB
PSU: *ENERMAX EG365AX-VE(G)* 353W


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## micropage7 (Jul 5, 2016)

Robert B said:


> I've yet to crack a CPU die due to bad cooler install. When I bought my 1st Athlon XP CPU, and 1900+ Palomino core, in the shop that sold it there was I guy arguing with the seller that the CPU and cooler combo he bought were defective because he broke two succesive CPU dies. From my perspective the defective part was him.....
> 
> When the Athlon first apeared Intel was taken by surprise. Later on for many years AMD and Intel traded blows and in the end we the end users had to gain from it. We all know the story. For many years AMD had a very strong position but as allways good things eventually come to an end.
> 
> ...


nice man. but i guess better you put it on project logs


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## Robert B (Jul 5, 2016)

Glad you liked it. *I didnt know there was an area of project logs*...now its kind of late .... I guess....too many attachments to move ....

I still have quite a few number of pics with old hadware. These *four builds* were done starting with 2015 and 2016, usually in spring. Also I collected and restored some other components. This took time but I usually get stuff done very quickly. The whole process was done during my free time.

These bits are a part of the 22 years of my life since '94 begining with high school.Some I read about them, some were mine, some I saw at my friends. In '96 my parents bought my first PC, a 5x86 during the 10th grade, two years after I went to high school. The PC's were pretty expensive back then. I couldn't afford one sooner.

I just wanted to compress all the thing into these posts but I dont want to abuse TPU which is hosting my stuff free of charge.


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## Random Murderer (Jul 5, 2016)

@Robert B I really like the video card you're using on the K7 rig, I miss purple PCBs


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 7, 2016)

YES i was right !

4x  AMD Opteron 275 Dual Core 2.20GHZ  (SKT 940 obviously YAY 2 for the SM H8DCE 2 for the shelf! )
2x AMD Opteron 8356 QUAD CORE 2.40GHZ (SKT Fr2 i noticed that because the IHS is squared while the F2 are rounded )
2x AMD Opteron 2218 Dual Core 2.60GHz  (SKT F2)
2x AMD Opteron 2214 Dual Core 2.00GHZ (SKT F2)


940 left to right : 2x 275 2X 250 2x 248 1x 246 and a spare AM2 4850E  Fr2 and F2: 2x 8356 2x 2218 2x 2214

 


need more pieces to finalise the H8DCE build ... and a lots of praying that the 275 is compatible



seems compatible after a little searching 

image: http://www.ixbt.com/cpu/images/amd-cmp-vs-smp/smicro-small.jpg





_*Supermicro H8DCE* motherboard with 
*Opteron 275* processors
and *Supermicro SNK-P0014AP4*_ coolers
The subject of pleasantry of gurus, who remember the times of AMD Athlon Slot A, is the fact that the OEM motherboard has been shipped in a classic (for those who remember...) white "badgeless" box, bundled only with a driver CD and a small green piece of paper containing the name of this motherboard (no mention of a manufacturer!) But it was still no problem for us to find out that this motherboard was most likely manufactured by Supermicro. So one of the last bastions of faithful Intelers among the motherboard manufacturers seems to fall soon.


Read more at http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/cpu/amd-cmp-vs-smp.html#C6l0ZRBzjxRuvidx.99


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## Robert B (Jul 11, 2016)

I moved shop to vogons.org  Updates will be posted there. I'll keep an eye on this thread too.

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=48835

Episodes left to post:

1. The GREAT *Voodoo 3 3000 16 MB* rescue (Made in China )
2. A *not so lucky* Asus Geforce 4 4600 Ti
3. The 5,6,7 AGP trio
4. *What's left in my stash?*
5. Little *bent PIN*
6. How I clean and store my stuff


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## Jetster (Jul 11, 2016)

Anyone want this Creative Labs V90 56k Modem Blaster Hardware modem?

ISA slot

Just pay the shipping US only   

I think I paid $90 for it


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 15, 2016)

Well guys, it's finally done! This project took me way, way too long to finish but now I'd like to proudly present you with my latest (and final) retro build - Duron 1200  With (once again), special thanks to @Mr.Scott for providing me with Duron CPU & protective shim.



 

 

 


Just to show that I DO like my AMDs, regardless of how it might have seemed from some of my previous posts, although I STILL consider them to be far more problematic than Intel.  In fact, this one was PITA to set up, because I fried couple of motherboards & RAMs in the process! Long story short, my partially damaged mobo from couple of years ago caused damage to other components, which then caused damage to a brand new motherboard once I moved these other (obviously damaged) components over to the new mobo...

Efficient cooling was also a must have for AMD, so I took the liberty of upgrading the heatsink & adding additional 80x80 fan on the back panel. Actually I've done the same thing to both Duron and Athlon 1000 systems, as the other (Athlon) one was overheating to the point where the entire case panel got pretty warm to the touch!



 


So now the Athlon build and its "big" brother Duron are both completely operational & ready to go  I still didn't have the time to set up Win2k and/or any of the games, but I'm hoping to have the software portion done & completely finished by the next Friday! So stay tuned for that, I'm probably going to include a lot of screenshots!

On a side note, I've decided to retire from retro computer builds. In other words, I'll still be here to discuss occasional (and rare) hardware finds, but at the moment I'm not planning to make any more systems. With the latest Duron rig, I'm just above "30" mark and am basically running out of room to keep all this stuff lol. Besides, how much do you really need, even this much would be considered absurd to most of the ppl


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jul 21, 2016)

Japan will make its last-ever VCR this month


Japan's Funai Electric, which has been making VCRs since 1983, used to sell 15 million VCRs a year in its heyday.

But last year the company sold just 750,000 as the video cassette market continues to shrink.

According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Funai Electric will shut down its VCR operations by the end of August. 

Alongside a shrinking demand from consumers, Funai said it is also having difficulty getting the correct parts to manufacture VCRs with, as the technology is so dated.

Rival Panasonic stopped making VCRs in 2012, but Funai was still making the tape machines for Sanyo in China, which then sold them on to customers in the United States and other markets.


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## R-T-B (Jul 21, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Japan will make its last-ever VCR this month
> 
> 
> Japan's Funai Electric, which has been making VCRs since 1983, used to sell 15 million VCRs a year in its heyday.
> ...



I'd better take really good care of my SVHS JVC deck I got from the surplus store...  VHS->DVD conversion is one of the few income sources I have these days... lol


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 22, 2016)

Too bad... Most ppl don't seem to realize that, but back in a day Funai was known for its high quality & reliable decks. IMHO, Funai 3 (as in Mk3) was their last decent deck, before the production line moved from Japan to China & became a joke, which gave them all the bad reputation that's known world-wide today. In fact, Funai was the FIRST company to develop & come up with geared idler system, rather than using "tires" like JVC & Sony, which were causing a lot of problems & faults on pretty much all VHS units.

But then again it's to be expected... Personally speaking, I'm ready!  I happen to own 9 or 10 VHS machines, all in working condition. 6 of them are "modern", manufactured after 2000s, while 4 units are from 80's and early 90's. I also had a modern Grundig Vivance unit but gave it away to a friend, who might eventually even give it back to me, since she only needed it to copy some of her personal tapes onto the HDD. I also service & keep these things in working condition, which is why I'm able to afford to stockpile VCRs (most of them will go bad even if you don't use them, as the rubber belts inside will disintegrate & fall apart)


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 23, 2016)

Still didn't have the time to play with that Duron 1200 build, however I did get to finally hook up & properly test some of the motherboards which I had laying around. Including that Chaintech Summit 7NIF2 (turned out to have a problem with onboard video, it's throwing artifacts - otherwise in fully working condition) and Gigabyte (don't remember the model number), but it's a S478 board that was completely restored & brought back from the dead. It suffered from bulged caps & water leak, so it took me a while to get it working again but it was worth it  Both of these are mATX factors...

Speaking of old hardware, I was recently donated Savage AGP card which has the support for compressed textures. First "useful" S3 card in my collection, as the other two are old ISA & AGP 1x models with barely 2-3mb of VRAM. Also got another SIS6326 and Fujitsu branded GeForce2 MX 

I can post some of the pics if anyone's interested..?


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## Mr.Scott (Jul 23, 2016)

Pics are always welcome.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 23, 2016)

Sure thing, I'll post some tomorrow


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 23, 2016)

Alrighty then... As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I was donated couple of old school video cards  S3 Savage 4 Pro is one of them, and I'm anxious to see it working under Unreal Tournament (GOTY edition), since it supports & features S3 compressed texture technology, specifically designed for Savage 4 video cards.


 



Other than Savage, I also got the following models:

SIS 6326, AGP


 



The Original GeForce (GeForce256) from Inno3D


 



GeForce2 MX from Fujitsu Siemens


 



...and last but not least this GeForce4 4200 without the cooling fan. I actually pulled this one from a scrapped system a while ago & wasn't even sure if it works, considering it got wet & was operating without the cooling fan for quite some time... But hey, it does boot up, no artifacts and/or flickering whatsoever, so it's most probably fine.


 



Now, the motherboards...

First to start off with this Chaintech Summit 7NIF2, which I previously uploaded here on TPU but never got around to actually test it. That is until yesterday, and yes the board does indeed seems to be working, but the onboard video is giving me artifacts, something must have gone wrong... Oh well, the AGP is doing its job and I'm not getting any problems with external video card, so it's not much of an issue I guess.


 



This Gigabyte GA-8SIMLFS board was the one which had water damage & bulged caps. If I'd have to guess, I'd say that the previous owner ran the board without appropriate CPU cooler because the one I pulled off the board was holding with plastic-wrapped wires, rather than (at least) using plastic zip ties or some sort of mounting bracket. Actually I'm surprised it didn't short anything and/or fried the entire board, but considering the overall state of the system I'm not surprised it ended up in water-flooded basement & had water marks (and rust) everywhere! One way or another, the board had been fixed & given another chance  It's running 1.8 Celeron, although I'm pretty sure that I still have a 2.0 one somewhere among the spares...


 

 



And last one for now, I just got this Asus A7M266 board earlier today! True retro beauty, fully operational & currently paired up with Duron 950. Jumpers were configured to use DIP switches & onboard config, rather than BIOS, so I downloaded the reference manual & reset all the jumpers to their factory values. What I like about Asus is "Jumper Free" option, because it makes my life as a computer tech a whole lot easier! 


 

 



Edit
Speaking of Duron 950...  Enjoy!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2016)

Frankly, I was hoping someone would post something in between so that I once again wouldn't have to triple-post lol, but anyhow... Proudly presenting my Duron 1200 build, which is still not 100% finished at the moment but it's slowly getting there 

Starting off with simple memory test. After all, I've had too many RAM problems over the years, which would pop up eventually & cause problems with something down the road, forcing me to backtrack & waste time on tracing the source, so I figured this is the best way to start - and good thing I did! Because I totally forgot all about the AMD chipset issue & 3rd memory module "rule"... Oh well, another disaster successfully avoided! 




Windows 2k is booting up...


 



Almost there!




At this point you really wouldn't expect to see me taking that Duron apart - but instead here we have a TV tuner card that's been removed from the case. So what went wrong?! To put it simple, absolutely nothing! I couldn't get the video capture component to recognize & install (Asus BDA Analog Capture), so I assumed that it must be something to do with the tuner card. But nope, it turned out to be DirectX9 problem! 




Finally, all the hardware is up & running! Now, to see what this thing is capable of...


 

 



3849 3D marks? Not bad I guess... True, I've seen better, but also far more worse which makes this pretty decent score IMHO




Some of the tech specs & hardware details...


 

 



Driving Misty around the streets of Liberty City since 2001  Frame rate is decent enough for GTA3, although it tends to lag at certain points. Probably due to RAM, only running 384MB to be more precise. Vice City on the other hand runs much better & smoother, but I forgot to take the pics 




Having said that, why don't we try something a bit different - some of you guys probably remember RealGTA3 mod for GTA3, one of the most famous mod packs from back in a day? (Looks good enough to me)


 



Speaking of mods, I've decided to try something else. This one is called Hotel Carone, and it's one of the more famous mission packs (unofficial mod, of course) for the original Deus Ex game.


 

 



Although I already had Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets up & running at this point, I didn't bother taking any pics, so here's couple from Prisoner of Azkaban instead, which had been maxed out & runs perfectly!


 



Followed by Broken Sword 3 - The Sleeping Dragon


 

 



FlatOut...


 



Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004...


 



And NFS Underground, drifting around in Peugeot 206. And yes, the game is once again completely maxed out, runs smoothly & accurately. No lag from what I can tell, whatsoever.


 

 

 



Speaking of Need for Speed series, I also took the liberty of installing Hot Pursuit 2, even though I don't like the game. Nevertheless, this one belongs here IMHO, it just seemed right & appropriate somehow.




At this point I've decided to go back a bit & try with older titles... So therefore here we have Unreal Gold, Unreal Tournament, Half Life Opposing Force, HL Blue Shift and last but not least Quake 3 Arena.


 

 

 

 

 


So much for now, stay tuned for more updates within the next couple of days


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 27, 2016)




----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2016)

Oh and by the way... Regarding that previous post about VHS recorders. Here are some of the units from my personal collection 


 



I've tried to update the existing post (because it would make more sense that way), but for some reason it's not letting me... Maybe because it was posted 5 days ago?


----------



## Recon-UK (Jul 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh and by the way... Regarding that previous post about VHS recorders. Here are some of the units from my personal collection
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nice!i have a 20" CRT with built in VHS combi. Good job i'm strong lol it weighs a tonne...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2016)

Oh wow, no kidding! I had a 19" CRT monitor at one point, and was really REALLY heavy - too heavy for me to carry & move around on my own 

As for the VCRs, those units from the previous post were the ones which are currently not in service. They're all serviced & completely operational (in fact the LG one had the idler drive belt replaced just couple of months ago) but since I got better ones, they're just sitting there & waiting for rainy days 

Oh and almost forgot, here's one more ... Also Telefunken, this one was going to be donated to a museum, but due to unfortunate set of circumstances it never did, so now it's just collecting dust  JVC mechanism, 2-head mono unit with direct drive. This thing is powered by 5 individual motors, one for each operation (capstan, idler, cam gear, cassette loading elevator & head drum)


 

 



Here's couple of more units, and (unlike the previous 4 VHS recorders) these are actually being used on a regular basis. Wouldn't necessarily say every day, but I DO use VHS far more often than CDs and DVDs together!

Anitech 6002 (Re-branded Funai 3 aka Shintom) 2-head, mono




Daewoo ST767 6-head, hifi stereo




LG LV4981 6-head, hifi stereo




Hitachi VT-F550 EMKII 6-head, hifi stereo




Samsung DVD-6700, DVD/VCR 6-head, hifi stereo Combo unit


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 27, 2016)

I'm currently in the process of building a Cyrix 5x86 machine, with an Orchid ProDesigner IIS video card.  Will post pics and maybe a video when it's done.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 27, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> Cyrix 5x86 machine,



even in this thread you don't see many cyrix chips
which one you using ?
I have a Nice Gold Cyrix M350 in my collection


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 27, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> even in this thread you don't see many cyrix chips
> which one you using ?
> I have a Nice Gold Cyrix M350 in my collection


well ... that make 3 ? ... i saw quite a lot on that thread ... tbh more than i saw elsewhere  (i have a MII-300GP, i posted a pics iirc  )


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 27, 2016)

It's a 5x86 100GP.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 28, 2016)

One of the best soundcards ever


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 28, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> One of the best soundcards ever


i have 2 of them, one like yours (corroded contact on mine ... ) and another with golden contact ...  i guess they did a cheap series  

found back the pics i posted here a while ago 
side by side
 


detailed, the cheap and the perfect


----------



## Random Murderer (Jul 28, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> i have 2 of them, one like yours (corroded contact on mine ... ) and another with golden contact ...  i guess they did a cheap series
> 
> found back the pics i posted here a while ago
> side by side
> ...


I have one of each as well. The cheaper of the two cards is the Audigy 2, the one with the gold-plated contacts is the Audigy 2 ZS. They're identical in circuits and features, even detected as the same hardware ID, but the ZS used gold-plated connectors for all of the jacks and the 1394 connector, a gold-plated PCI cover, and some of them had better op-amps than the base model. The ZS also came with more accessories, and in a lot of cases, games. Mine, when bought new, came with a ton of cables and five games (Halo: CE, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, Star Wars Jedi Academy, and Splinter Cell).
I can solidly say that the Audigy 2/2 ZS was one of my favorite sound cards of all time. My ZS served me well for almost a decade, including all of the mods I put it through (op-amp swap, ADC swap, decoupling bypass, EMI shield, complete re-cap, etc.)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2016)

Well, I suppose it is the time to finish that Duron 1200 project...

Successfully booted up GTA San Andreas, which seems to be working OK. Far from perfect, but it is half way there, decent enough to play the game  Getting the actual game to install was a whole other story, since I forgot to include a DVD drive on this thing - it has a CD-ROM & CD-RW combo therefore none of the ODDs were able to recognize DVD installation disc. That means I had to "cheat" & use Daemon tools instead.


 

 



Speaking of 3rd person shooters, can you identify this one?


 

 

 



Yup, it is "Driv3r" aka Driver 3 which (to be completely honest) I never expected to boot up & get it to work decently on this machine! Especially since I clearly remember experiencing lags & slowdowns even on a "modern" P4 3.00 Prescott system, with 2GB of DDR2 RAM and Radeon X1550 video card. Obviously, I had to lower down the specs down to a bare minimum, but it's mostly playable. Sometimes (during the scripted events) it tends to lag a bit, but that's to be expected - right? 

Here's nVidia control panel overview, all the specs & driver info on that FX5700 inside  Not a huge fan of FX series (I'd pick GF4 Ti Series any time!) but it does the job... And it has a DX9 support, something which even the best of GF4 cards couldn't deal with.




And that's pretty much it, I hope you guys enjoyed going through all my stuff & projects over the last couple of months & years 

I might revisit some of my builds later on, and fix some of the remaining issues & problems that I'm having with certain hardware components, in which case I will upload more pics & explain what's going on. In fact, I could use your help with this particular thing... One of the problems I'm having (with the last 2 builds to be exact) is finding compatible & working TV watching app, compatible with Win 2k (Duron1200) and Win98 (Celeron466). I got the drivers installed & recognized, but the only known and compatible TV watching software Cyberlink PowerCinema 5.00 will only work under Windows XP and newer, which means I'm out of luck. So if anyone can provide me with free and working alternative, I'd be really grateful!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 29, 2016)

Oh and by the way - while cleaning all the previously uploaded screenshots from the hard drive, I found couple of new, never seen before pics  They're kinda random, so I'll have to address each group at the time

My very own Primax Raptor 3D joystick from back in a day. This one may had already been uploaded (not sure), but one way or another it's retro & nostalgic enough to be mentioned  I was never a fan of joysticks, TBH I never even used this thing, but for some odd reason I just had to own one in 1998 lol, so here it is. Currently paired up with my signature machine RetroMaster 2000 & it's working OK. Some buttons are acting up & it seems to lost some of its precision but like I said, it works OK.


 



DIY cooling solution for the Pentium MMX processor  The problem with this one is that the mounting tabs on the mobo broke off, meaning I couldn't place a standard Socket 7 heatsink on top of the CPU. Sooo had to improvise, but rest assured this had been replaced by the real Pentium heatsink later on, which clips directly on the CPU itself.


 

 



The original Pentium 2 build, which was going to be the actual retro system for playing older games. Before previously mentioned RetroMaster 2000 came in  It's a pretty hefty system by any standards, except it only runs Pentium 2 @ 350MHz and is severely underpowered in the terms of AGP graphics, because it runs a standard Rage IIc card. Meaning the entire system is pretty much powered by the Voodoo cards alone, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but because of that reason it's not compatible with newer titles. However, even today, this particular system was (and still is) the ONLY system in my entire collection to have a Aureal Vortex2 sound card (Diamond Monster MX300, to be exact), which had also been "upgraded" with Creative WaveBlaster MIDI extension, also the only one in my entire collection. I also replaced the CD drive & added one of those 5.25" drawers into the front bay at some point, but otherwise it's been taken out of service & makes a nice decoration in the background 


 

 

 

 

 

Me testing (and playing) Lotus the Ultimate Challenge on what seems to be either Pentium Pro machine or AMD 5x86 one


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 29, 2016)

I had also an Audigy 2ZS when I was a teen, IIRC it had golden plugs. It was the best soundcard what I have ever used


----------



## SniperHF (Jul 31, 2016)

Long time lurker of the thread 

I've been going through my later end XP era stuff lately looking to build the one true machine; of the parts I have anyway. 

Abit AN8-SLI  w/Soundcard  &  Asrock 939 Dual Sata 2                

 

Sapphire x800                      &                    Sapphire x850XT
 

Creative SB Live 24bit         &                  The best PSU I've ever owned
 

Zalman CNPS7000B-CU      &                    Zalman CNPS9000
 


Unfortunately the CNPS9000 has a busted fan, still works pretty well though as a passive cooler.

Probably going to match up the AN8-SLI with an A64 4000+ and the x850XT as my XP system.  Unfortunately I lack for cases that are in good shape. 

I've got some older stuff I'm going through next, but it's all boxed at the moment. 

Extra items:
Asus P5Q3                            &                      MSI 9800GTX


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 31, 2016)

got a computer to salvage data ... i wonder if i can keep it after the work's done ...

nothing exceptional but ... sturdy and late 2005 ish
Computer Model Dimension 5150/E510
Shipping Date 12/30/2005
Country Switzerland

sturdy sidepanel, easy opening and one of my favorite assembler PC case ... altho will need to dedust it a bit once the work is done
   

still didn't fired it up (so i don't know what's inside for now except general overview 
but at last i can spot a Nidec Beta V
 

305w ... meh enough for what is it, 2hdd in tool-less rack (where even some more modern case ... lack them)
 



HDD's oh surprise ... i expected a Caviar SE 7200 250 but not a green 1tb 
 

updates once i get to work on it


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 31, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> View attachment 77455


I see AGP 8x, PCIe x16, PCIe x1, and... AGP 8x... moved slightly back?


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 31, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> I see AGP 8x, PCIe x16, PCIe x1, and... AGP 8x... moved slightly back?


almost right
Slots left to right are
Pci, pci, pci, AGP8x,PCI1x,  PCI16x. Future Port ( Yellow upgrade slot for CPU Card )


----------



## SniperHF (Jul 31, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> almost right
> Slots left to right are
> Pci, pci, pci, AGP8x,PCI1x,  PCI16x. Future Port ( Yellow upgrade slot for CPU Card )



Love that board.  Wish I had the AM2 card for it.  
http://www.asrock.com/mb/spec/upgrade.asp?Model=AM2CPU Board

I did take full advantage of the PCie/AGP combo over the years though.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 31, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> I did take full advantage of the PCie/AGP combo over the years though.


As did i  my way was with the Asrock duel series  4 coreduel sata 2 
Still have mine fully working  AGP,  PCIx4  DDR  or DDR2 Ram   and it runs a Quad Kentsfield q6600

great Test bed for AGP and PCIx Graphics Cards  and for Testing Both DDR or DDR2 Ram ( but not both at the same time )

It was a great idea for people on an upgrade path as you could start off with DDR and AGP   and when you could afford it PCIx Graphics and DDR2 Mem and any 775 CPU up to and inc quads


----------



## Maban (Jul 31, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> I see AGP 8x, PCIe x16, PCIe x1, and... AGP 8x... moved slightly back?


It's a riser so you can upgrade to AM2 and DDR2.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 31, 2016)

Maban said:


> It's a riser so you can upgrade to AM2 and DDR2.


 wow ... serious 

i knew ASRock was awesome ... but at that point ... it's beyond all


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Jul 31, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> Long time lurker of the thread
> 
> I've been going through my later end XP era stuff lately looking to build the one true machine; of the parts I have anyway.
> 
> ...



Oh man! I miss Abit boards!


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 31, 2016)

Just ordered the last parts I needed for the 5x86 machine.  I should have it up and running by the end of the week!


----------



## SniperHF (Jul 31, 2016)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Oh man! I miss Abit boards!



I've also got an Abit IX38 QuadGT but that's still in active use.

Too bad I don't have a matching set of Nvidia cards to run SLI on the AN8 board.  I do have a set of 9800 gtx's but they would be just a bit mismatched with a 4000+ single core


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 31, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> I've also got an Abit IX38 QuadGT but that's still in active use.


Rare board now. Hang on to that one.


----------



## jaggerwild (Jul 31, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pics are always welcome.




 Scott man! 
 I been looking at your postings thinking(I know him) Your from 411 forums?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 31, 2016)

jaggerwild said:


> Scott man!
> I been looking at your postings thinking(I know him) Your from 411 forums?


You know me from 411, OCA, the bot, and CP, which is now Warp9-systems. 
Your other alias is Phillycheesesteak.


----------



## jaggerwild (Jul 31, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> You know me from 411, OCA, the bot, and CP, which is now Warp9-systems.
> Your other alias is Phillycheesesteak.



 I lost ma marbles.............!

How are you?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 31, 2016)

jaggerwild said:


> I lost ma marbles.............!
> 
> How are you?


As well as can be expected.


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 1, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> Not sure if they were ever released


They were released
http://www.asrock.com/mb/spec/upgrade.asp?Model=AM2CPU Board
you occasionally find them on eBay
it was often just cheaper to replace motherboard than to use the upgrade slot/board


Blast from TPU PAST 

https://www.techpowerup.com/9287/asrock-future-cpu-port-am2-upgrade


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 1, 2016)

moar info ... sooo i backed up all personal data used the 1tb HDD in a external enclosure for storage, i will get to keep the Dimension 5150 in exchange of the data retrieval work (YAY! ) as i give them back the 1tb HDD with the enclosure in addition (small price to pay it's a Thermaltake USB 2.0 enclosure that i paid 18chf ) data backing poped up my AV ... lotsa nasty stuff on it aside the personal data, bad bad user behavior  , all data scanned, cleaned and quarantined if necessary.

graphic card, after running a PN search on 102A3343701 it's a  ATI RADEON X600 256MB oh well ... replacement : Sapphire 3650 512mb instead 
 

putting my own data HDD from the main rig in and will do a clean Win XP reinstall later 

dear god of fan i praise thee.... thanks for giving me the awesomeness of a Nidec Beta V in all his 120mmX38mm 3600rpm 130cfm glory 
blurry  ... where's my Macro focus function ... oh ... there ... (notice the fan is fixed with rubber pin, quite a feat.)
   

D-Link Air Plus DWL-520+ wifi card? me likeh, mobo lil name? Connolly? awww so cute...
 

there was a lot more like that one ...


special dedicace for @P4-630 
the CPU is : http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL7Z9.html


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2016)

Damn guys, cool HW on the latest posts (after my Audigy2 pic)!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2016)

Some of you here might remember me talking about (and experiencing) problems with RetroMaster2000 system, the one from my TPU profile right? Random crashes, black screens and/or freezes without any reaction to any command and/or keyboard, other than reset button.

Here's the thing, even though I tested every single component (and they all checked out fine), I can only assume that it's the motherboard itself, that's causing all the problems. Because things are only getting worse, now the system hangs every time it goes to stand-by mode and is unable to read (or even recognize) my external USB HDD. Come to think of it, I've had USB related issues with this thing right from very the 1st day, none of the USB keyboards & mice worked with the board, so I had to use PS2 ones. Of course I set all the right parameters in BIOS, even flashed it to latest version and tried with fail-safe mode, still nothing. So yeah, for the sake of simplicity let's just say that Asrock doesn't work OK & so it will be replaced.

And so earlier today I got my hands on Asus A7V8X-X board, one of the best S462 boards out there according to users! I'm sure it's going to make a huge difference, and it's somewhat faster than Asrock K7VT2, at least when it comes to DDR speed. Not only faster, but unlike K7VT2, Asus also features full AGP 8X support and has 3 banks for the DDR memory, rather than using SD/DDR1 combo. Since I'll have to strip the entire thing apart & basically rebuild it from scratch, I'm also planning to add the floppy drive, larger HDD (already got both of these), add more RAM (going from 512MB to either 768MB or 1GB) and replace the ODD. The one I'm using right now is classified as DVD-RW, but it doesn't read (or even seem to recognize) DVDs so I'll need to replace it. Maybe even add 2nd ODD, we'll see...

Anyhow, so much for now, stay tuned for future updates & upcoming pics 

History Log:
The history of RetroMaster 2000 Part 1 & Part 2
About RetroMaster 2000 project
Upgrading from MX400 to Ti4200
Upgrading from onboard to  SB Live!, DOS support


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> The one I'm using right now is classified as DVD-RW, but it doesn't read (or even seem to recognize) DVDs so I'll need to replace it



Honestly, I would put in a different optical drive in the current build and test it again. I have had many systems as well as client systems that a bad optical drive will cause tons of other issues! 

Not to say that you shouldn't go ahead with the Asus A7V build! That is an awesome motherboard! I had one and let it get away several years ago........Wish I would have kept that one!!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2016)

You know, that's very interesting thought... TBH, I never considered the cause of all the problems to be within the DVD drive  In fact, that could explain why one of the system tests failed (and caused the system to hang) while recognizing the ATA drives! But yes, this one is most definitely acting up... Unfortunately, I don't have any spare DVD drives at the moment, not black ones at least. And since the entire thing is black (I even got the black FDD) it would be pointless to replace it with white unit.

But yes, regarding the boards & compatibility thing... I had USB problems even before I hooked this DVD drive. Even though this happened way back in 2014, I still remember what happened as if it was yesterday. The guy advertised the board "as it is", in the original box, complete with 512MB (2x 256MB) but in non-working condition. Apparently it didn't want to boot up, kept saying something about keyboard controller not working and reporting CMOS error, regardless of the battery being replaced & checked several times. He thought that it was due to BIOS being damaged or corrupted, but what I found later on is that someone removed ALL the jumper caps from the board for some reason. One or maybe two at most remained, probably the one for CPU speed but otherwise nothing. So once I got the manual from the Asrock website, I've successfully restored all the jumper caps to factory state & system booted up fine - except USB never worked under DOS environment. I'm referring to "legacy USB support", for mice & keyboards, but otherwise the board seemed to be in tip-top condition. That is, until I've started adding components, upgrading RetroMaster 2000 - that's when I began experiencing problems.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 4, 2016)

Ya know @Trekkie4 , just unplug the DVD drive and fire it up. If its going to hang, it would do it with the drive unplugged man.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2016)

That might seem like an obvious solution, but sorry to say it's not possible. Both Hiren's CD (which I used to test the system) and games (such as NFS 3 Hot Pursuit) which tend to crash or freeze need a working CD (or DVD) drive, in order to start


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> That might seem like an obvious solution, but sorry to say it's not possible. Both Hiren's CD (which I used to test the system) and games (such as NFS 3 Hot Pursuit) which tend to crash or freeze need a working CD (or DVD) drive, in order to start


Since you legitimately own these CDs, could you not just rip ISOs of them on another PC and use a virtual drive software like Daemon Tools or Alcohol to mount them on the PC you want to use them on?

Note: I am *NOT* condoning piracy by saying this, just proposing a workaround.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> Since you legitimately own these CDs, could you not just rip ISOs of them on another PC and use a virtual drive software like Daemon Tools or Alcohol to mount them on the PC you want to use them on?
> 
> Note: I am *NOT* condoning piracy by saying this, just proposing a workaround.



No one said otherwise lol  Besides, most of these games are either abandonware or obsolete, to the point where game developers don't give a damn on who's using them and for what purpose. Anyhow, regarding your suggestion - yes, I already have ISO images made (for my entire CD collection actually), but it seemed too complicated & time consuming job to set it up & get it working. IMHO, it would be just easier to find a replacement DVD unit (especially since I'll have to find alternative, sooner or later) & see if it works that way. Not to mention that all my ISO and BIN backups are located on the external HDD, which no longer seem to be working on K7VT2 board. I've tested the HDD on a modern S775 machine running Win7 and didn't have any problems, so I'm absolutely sure that it's Asrock behind this issue. However, the question whenever DVD drive has something to do with this or not remains to be seen & answered.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> No one said otherwise lol  Besides, most of these games are either abandonware or obsolete, to the point where game developers don't give a damn on who's using them and for what purpose. Anyhow, regarding your suggestion - yes, I already have ISO images made (for my entire CD collection actually), but it seemed too complicated & time consuming job to set it up & get it working. IMHO, it would be just easier to find a replacement DVD unit (especially since I'll have to find alternative, sooner or later) & see if it works that way. Not to mention that all my ISO and BIN backups are located on the external HDD, which no longer seem to be working on K7VT2 board. I've tested the HDD on a modern S775 machine running Win7 and didn't have any problems, so I'm absolutely sure that it's Asrock behind this issue. However, the question whenever DVD drive has something to do with this or not remains to be seen & answered.


Wait, you're having odd issues with the USB and odd issues on PATA? This is sounding more and more like a north bridge issue.
Are you 100% sure that this board is healthy?


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 4, 2016)

*Trekkie4*
Need to test ide dvd r/w  Its black  then you might get PM


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> Wait, you're having odd issues with the USB and odd issues on PATA? This is sounding more and more like a north bridge issue.
> Are you 100% sure that this board is healthy?



Yes, both USB and PATA are acting up! And no, I never said that K7VT2 is healthy, in fact it DOES seem to be failing or experiencing technical failure of some sort ... even though both Prime95 and MemTest86+ checked out OK. Even HDD sector by sector check, it all turned out OK, but overall system seems to be acting up & randomly crash or hang. Like, for example - I've had a situation where I couldn't start NFS 3 game, it would always give me black screen & hang (so I had to press the reset button), even completely froze at one point (even the sound output froze, giving me the same sound tone to the point where I had to restart)  but the game would work completely normal next time, or some other day. Like I said, randomly! USB thing is not random however, it was never capable to detect legacy hardware and more recently, it's giving me "delayed write failed" for the external HDD, it can't recognize NTFS partitions (WinXP, SP1)

If it really is a north bridge issue, then it's a good thing I already got replacement board ready  TBH, I wasn't looking forward to replacing the entire mobo & having to change the entire cable management, but I /am/ going to replace this thing, even if K7VT2 isn't the problem. I've been reading the online reviews (quite few of them) and ppl had been really frustrated with Asrock, especially when this thing was brand new. According to them, K7VT2 had been known for DDR incompatibility issues & similar problems. The average score for this model was around 2.5, maybe 3 out of 5. While at the same time A7V8X-X scored 4.8 out of 5 and ppl have nothing but good words for them.



dorsetknob said:


> *Trekkie4*
> Need to test ide dvd r/w  Its black  then you might get PM


Not sure I understood you lol, but okie dokie 

Oh and BTW - I forgot to include the pics of previously mentioned Asus A7V8X-X board.


 



Not to be confused with Asus A7M266, from the previous page


----------



## vigia (Aug 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, both USB and PATA are acting up! And no, I never said that K7VT2 is healthy, in fact it DOES seem to be failing or experiencing technical failure of some sort ... even though both Prime95 and MemTest86+ checked out OK. Even HDD sector by sector check, it all turned out OK, but overall system seems to be acting up & randomly crash or hang. Like, for example - I've had a situation where I couldn't start NFS 3 game, it would always give me black screen & hang (so I had to press the reset button), even completely froze at one point (even the sound output froze, giving me the same sound tone to the point where I had to restart)  but the game would work completely normal next time, or some other day. Like I said, randomly! USB thing is not random however, it was never capable to detect legacy hardware and more recently, it's giving me "delayed write failed" for the external HDD, it can't recognize NTFS partitions (WinXP, SP1)
> 
> If it really is a north bridge issue, then it's a good thing I already got replacement board ready  TBH, I wasn't looking forward to replacing the entire mobo & having to change the entire cable management, but I /am/ going to replace this thing, even if K7VT2 isn't the problem. I've been reading the online reviews (quite few of them) and ppl had been really frustrated with Asrock, especially when this thing was brand new. According to them, K7VT2 had been known for DDR incompatibility issues & similar problems. The average score for this model was around 2.5, maybe 3 out of 5. While at the same time A7V8X-X scored 4.8 out of 5 and ppl have nothing but good words for them.
> 
> ...



On those motherboards the IDE,usb go through the southbridge, and that one is a VIA, so try to change the drivers.

http://download.viatech.com/en/support/driversSelect.jsp


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2016)

Yes, but why? I didn't change any drivers to XP or done any changes to the hardware specs, it's all the same as it was before. Besides, Asrock not being able to recognize legacy USB devices is not a driver issue, since you don't use USB drivers in DOS.


----------



## vigia (Aug 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, but why? I didn't change any drivers to XP or done any changes to the hardware specs, it's all the same as it was before. Besides, Asrock not being able to recognize legacy USB devices is not a driver issue, since you don't use USB drivers in DOS.



About the USB legacy that can be the bios, maybe the beta versión can help you

http://soggi.eu/motherboards/asrock/K7VT2.htm

The IDE stop responding in DOS?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2016)

Nope, just the USB (doesn't work, whatsoever). However, I did have a particular situation under Hiren's CD, during the HDD test (well, detection of the actual drives to be exact) where the system stopped responding & had to restart.
As for the USB issue, all 6 ports are working OK once you boot into Windows, both 1.1 and 2.0 ones. I'm using VIA Hyperion "4 in 1" drivers to recognize all the VIA related stuff and never had any problems with these drivers, on either of my VIA boards 

Thanks for the link, but I already got the latest version ... 1.30. To tell you the truth, I didn't bother with beta versions, since those can sometimes be unstable. It's been a long time ago, but I remember finding and downloading the latest available BIOS from the official (Asrock) website. When I 1st got the board it was running 1.10, so I was quite certain that flashing the BIOS will resolve the USB issue.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> That might seem like an obvious solution, but sorry to say it's not possible. Both Hiren's CD (which I used to test the system) and games (such as NFS 3 Hot Pursuit) which tend to crash or freeze need a working CD (or DVD) drive, in order to start



Just pop in one of the white drives just to test the theory then? 

I could be, as most are stating, the motherboard but it wouldn't take but a few minutes to pop one of the white drives in to insure it isn't the optical drive.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 5, 2016)

OK, might give it a try ASAP. Or I'll just find the black one right away & swap it for good, along with rest of the hardware  (but I'll make sure to test K7VT2 regardless of swapping the mobo for Asus)


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## daddski (Aug 5, 2016)

LOL what a great place. I believe I have possibly a dx 33 and pentium 75 board with ram and processor. Also I am sure I have a 133 amd processor I played duke nukeum with it for ages lol... I am sure I also have a few amd's under 350 mhz as well. I'll dig them out and go from there. Thanks for a great fun place... Anyone needing some kb or mb ram let me know I may have jsut what you need. I remember how buying another meg cost over a hundred dollars and my first 1 gig drive was slated to be so big you would never fill it up lol....


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## Trekkie4 (Aug 5, 2016)

Welcome to the club @daddski and enjoy the ride 

Edit
@stinger608 I'm in the process of finding & buying a pair of matching DVD-RW drives the for the RetroMaster rig, will post more updates once I have those delivered


----------



## Recon-UK (Aug 5, 2016)




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## Random Murderer (Aug 5, 2016)

Sadly, I use this damn thing every day 
At least it's "Super Speed 33.6 kbps"


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## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2016)

Finally got the two DVD RW drives delivered earlier today, so you can expect an update on RetroMaster 2000 coming up soon!


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## daddski (Aug 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Welcome to the club @daddski and enjoy the ride
> 
> Edit
> @stinger608 I'm in the process of finding & buying a pair of matching DVD-RW drives the for the RetroMaster rig, will post more updates once I have those delivered


-----

Just picked up a floppy and lite-on dvdrw dl nib for .99 and 1.99 on ebay. Awesome! I also dug through my stuff and have a socket a, a few other amd processors and a intel dx 75 with fan lol.  Now I need a couple of motherboards for original athlons and maybe that dx 75. I see some on ebay but most sell for too much for what they are. Just missed one of those purple ecs boards with I think  166 onboard.... 9.95 sigh always missing those lol.....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2016)

daddski said:


> -----
> 
> Just picked up a floppy and lite-on dvdrw dl nib for .99 and 1.99 on ebay. Awesome! I also dug through my stuff and have a socket a, a few other amd processors and a intel dx 75 with fan lol.  Now I need a couple of motherboards for original athlons and maybe that dx 75. I see some on ebay but most sell for too much for what they are. Just missed one of those purple ecs boards with I think  166 onboard.... 9.95 sigh always missing those lol.....



Yes, those older AT-styled boards are getting more & more difficult to find. I remember searching for 4x86 components couple of years ago, couldn't find anything! Which reminds me, I've been talking to a guy who's willing to sell (more like give it away) a whole bunch of 4x86, Pentium & Pentium 2 (Slot-1) AT boards! Some of those are even inside their AT cases, as in complete units so I'll make sure to take couple of pics when (and if) I get those. Until then, enjoy this one pic here  I have the entire gallery which was emailed to me, but since these are not mine I've decided not to upload the entire thing, for the sake of preserving privacy & personal information.




Including some of the extra hardware components, such as SoundBlaster AWE32, along with generic sound card which has Yamaha OPL chipset ... therefore things ought to get pretty interesting 

As for the Socket 462, check this one out! Just got this gem yesterday and oh man! That's all I can say, I've never, EVER seen (or heard about) Socket A mobo with SATA, 4x IDE interfaces, dual DDR400 RAM channel configuration, firewire support, 6-channel Dolby Digital sound output and god knows what! This board is the absolute beast, and the only thing left for me to do is test it, to see if it actually works or not. But considering I've only paid it 4.50$, it's not like I'm worried about that. Check out the official website, they got a whole bunch of useful information on this particular model.


 

 

 

 



As for the RetroMaster 2000, here are the two Pioneer DVD-RW drives, along with Samsung FDD. Will post more information on RetroMaster 2000 some time this week. The idea is to upgrade DVD drives 1st, then test the existing board (ASRock K7VT2) just like @stinger608 pointed out - and only then upgrade the entire thing to Asus A7V8X-X for good.


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Which reminds me, I've been talking to a guy who's willing to sell (more like give it away) a whole bunch of 4x86, Pentium & Pentium 2 (Slot-1) AT boards! Some of those are even inside their AT cases



I have a few 486 boards (most are tested and working), all with 5x86-133 processors. Depending on price (if you are selling), I may be interested in AT cases, with or without contents, although I am just looking for cases for builds from 486 up to Slot A and Socket 370. Might even be interested in a socket 4 board if you come across one with VLB slots


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> I have a few 486 boards (most are tested and working), all with 5x86-133 processors. Depending on price (if you are selling), I may be interested in AT cases, with or without contents, although I am just looking for cases for builds from 486 up to Slot A and Socket 370. Might even be interested in a socket 4 board if you come across one with VLB slots


Nah, it's not worth it, trust me... These AT cases are mostly incomplete (as seen from the pic) and some of their power supplies were taken apart & had fans removed. I have no idea why, I can only assume they were too loud for ppl to listen all day long. Not to mention the fact that most of these are missing top covers, and/or are showing signs of rust. So therefore I've only agreed to take part of what you saw (complete units), with the exception of 4x86 machine on the left. The idea is to find a decent AT case myself, so that I can put together a nice 4x86 DX2 system together  Maybe even put that AWE32 inside, we'll see.

There's also one other system which wasn't in any of the pics, but it's also part of the deal. Not sure of the exact specs, but from what I understood it's mATX system with Pentium 3 (S370), featuring either 512 or 1024MB of SD-RAM, and it's all tidy-packed inside mATX case.

Edit
Oh, and I also won't be taking that desktop Pentium MMX machine, on top of all those mini towers. I've managed to talk the owner into leaving (at least one) system to himself, because he also seems to be retro enthusiast just like the rest of us  He's hoping to find Pentium Overdrive CPU & use it with one of those AT mobos, to re-create the machine he owned back then, when Overdrive was new.


----------



## Doc41 (Aug 17, 2016)

I've been really lazy with this, but i just got some progress on it

Got a temp PSU and the H50 revived yet again with a cheap "no-brand" res (hey it works) now just need to slap a fan on the NB  heatsink so it doesnt melt






haven't really started OC'ing it yet but i thought id give it a quick try.... for some reason the mobo wouldn't post if i go above 2.9GHz. and it would just go back to default settings after a couple of failed posts  

meh i'll try again sometime later


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## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2016)

Took the liberty of testing that Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 board and it does work OK!  The only "downside" is the CPU, it came with Athlon 1700+ which normally I wouldn't mind (especially for a system such as RetroMaster) but this is serious stuff, so I'm pretty sure it can do better than that! Maybe Athlon 3200+ model or Sempron from the similar range...

Oh well, back to our usual retro broadcast  But rest assured, you'll be hearing more about Gigabyte board some time in the future!


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## debs3759 (Aug 18, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Maybe Athlon 3200+ model



Have you seen this listing? £8.99 for the fastest socket A processor, I just received one I bought a week ago. There are 4 left.


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## buzzi (Aug 18, 2016)

Hi everyone! This is my first post here on TPU 
Here you have just a couple of shots from a beloved hardware collection (an entire basement of computers from late 80s and on, never get tired of admiring their circuitry) taken before giving away to a friend, of course good hands.

a Quantum Bigfoot found with cracked PCB








a VGA (I guess) with IC on sockets and discrete components, which make me love it!








and a heavyweight hard drive









EDIT: added a dot matrix printer photo found on SD card (still remember my father yelling at it )









and a keyboard I'd like to use to give a nostalgia touch to my desktop, I'll ask that friend of mine to lend me a PS/2 adaptor, so far I am using the wireless logitech one on background working flawlessy since 2008:






Cheers!


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## dorsetknob (Aug 18, 2016)

Welcome to TPU  *buzzi*
Thanks for shareing those Photo's


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## debs3759 (Aug 18, 2016)

buzzi said:


> a VGA (I guess) with IC on sockets and discrete components, which make me love it!



OTI 037 based card with max VGA resolution of 800 x 600. That's the sort of card I'm always looking for for my collection  Shame I can't see an FCC ID on it, can sometimes get a little info from that.


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## dorsetknob (Aug 18, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> Shame I can't see an FCC ID on it, can sometimes get a little info from that.


yes i have mentioned in other threads that the FCC ID can be a usefull source of info
I'm Glad someone else is aware of this


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## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> Have you seen this listing? £8.99 for the fastest socket A processor, I just received one I bought a week ago. There are 4 left.


Thanks for the link. Not sure if it's worth the money though, 9 GBP somehow seems too much for a 12yr old chip *shrug* Not to mention the shipping costs, additional 3£. But either way, I've bookmarked the page & might get back to it eventually. Meanwhile I'll see if I can find the same (or at least similar) CPU for free, locally


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## stinger608 (Aug 19, 2016)

As @dorsetknob stated, a huge welcome to TPU @buzzi !!!!!!!!!

And yet another welcome to the "nostalgic hardware club."


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## buzzi (Aug 19, 2016)

@debs3759 I didn't know that brand, and FCC ID either! good to know 

added printer and keyboard photos to previous post (amazed by forum software, really user friendly and eye-candy)!

Thank you all for the warm welcome!


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## Trekkie4 (Aug 19, 2016)

"Born" today, about an hour ago... Still in development though, but complete enough to boot up & work OK


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## Trekkie4 (Aug 20, 2016)

I'm surprised no one here commented on my decision (mentioned in one of the previous posts) not to build any more retro builds...  But considering the huge amount of hardware which I got recently, including IDE cables, power supply, video cards, etc it seemed far more convenient for me to put another system together, rather than having all this stuff scattered over the bedroom floor . This way (at least) it won't get crushed and/or damaged somehow 

Anyhow, more pics... Still need to find a floppy drive, and that's pretty much it. It's a simple Athlon 1700+ build, featuring 256MB of DDR memory (running at 266MHz), Savage 4 Pro video & 20GB HDD. It's probably going to run Windows ME, although I might even try with W98 SE.


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## buzzi (Aug 20, 2016)

would be nice (and difficult) to create a cluster pc with those computers  just to see what processing power is achieved, of course it will be poor energy efficient.
I had lots of PCs in basement  and I was suggested to do so, but I discarted the idea for lack of network competence and patience.
have you ever think about it?


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## Trekkie4 (Aug 21, 2016)

No, not really... The problem with cluster PC configuration (in my opinion) would be the space, room to keep all this stuff. Because it's not like I have a garage, or huge warehouse to keep all my stuff, it's all (well, mainly) packed up tidy inside my wardrobe closet, which I converted into a huge retro PC display shelf  But these are disconnected, unplugged units which are collecting dust & doing nothing.

The ONLY retro system which I DO use on a regular basis is the system from my profile, so called RetroMaster 2000, and I keep it on top of my desk right next to Q6600 modern gaming build.


----------



## buzzi (Aug 21, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> it seemed far more convenient for me to put another system together, rather than having all this stuff scattered over the bedroom floor . This way (at least) it won't get crushed and/or damaged somehow





Trekkie4 said:


> Because it's not like I have a garage, or huge warehouse to keep all my stuff, it's all (well, mainly) packed up tidy inside my wardrobe closet, which I converted into a huge retro PC display shelf  But these are disconnected, unplugged units which are collecting dust & doing nothing.



I know what you mean


----------



## Komshija (Aug 21, 2016)

Once the most powerful consumer-grade CPU, AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton. I bought it brand new in 2004 during major PC upgrade. Still in working condition, but his ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard died.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 21, 2016)

@buzzi Indeed, most of us here who collect "stuff" seem to understand that. The problem with stockpiling individual parts is that you can't really stack them on top of each other, as they would most likely end up scratched or damaged, which beats the entire purpose of collecting them. I mean, if you're going to walk over motherboards or have them rub against each other, then what's the point of buying (or getting them for free) to begin with 

But yes, with complete units, all put together at least you can stack them & you don't have to worry about damage to the internal components. I used to be obsessed with computer cases & damage (scratches & marks) to the metal cover, but then it came to me one day - those are disposable. Because let's face it, there's ALWAYS going to be ATX cases out there, the industry had been using the same standard for over 20 years! But what really matters is inside those boxes, so it's important to preserve it & keep it somewhere safe. And you can't get any safer than inside the computer case IMHO 

@Komshija Nice one!  By the way, do I know you from somewhere?


----------



## Komshija (Aug 21, 2016)

@Trekkie4: Do you work in/own some PC shop? There are not many people (if any) in my country who have such PC builds, since some of these components are not even available and have to be ordered form the outside.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 21, 2016)

Not really, no.

Ali imaš poruku...


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## Komshija (Aug 21, 2016)

TakeMS 1GB USB, anywhere between 10-11 years old. Modified by me using European beech 7 years ago.


----------



## SniperHF (Aug 22, 2016)

So before I mentioned I'd be breaking out some of the older stuff earlier, here's what I've got so far:

My modest 3dfx collection:
Voodoo 3 3000 PCI       &               Voodoo 3 3000 AGP                             
 

Vooodoo 3 3500 AGP (I have the pod, didn't take a pic)


The V3 3000 AGP has some poorly attached heatsinks from my misspent youth 

ATI
Radeon 9000 Pro                   &                 PowerColor 9800Se
 


3D Rage Lt Pro AGP                 -&            Radeon 7000 VE
 


I never actually used the Rage, pulled it from a system awhile back. 
The 9000 Pro was the first video card I ever bought with my own money.
And obviously everyone knows how good the 9800's were .  Softmod works though it has artifacts unfortunately.


My finished XP System:
A64 4000+ - Abit AN8-SLI - 2GB Corsair DDR 400 - ATI x850 XT


Anyone know what the heck the case is? 
I've had it since 2003 or so when it was bought new.  It has no markings at all.  The HDD bays are very irritating, especially with PATA drives.   The 5.25 bays were pretty slick back in the day though.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 22, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> Anyone know what the heck the case is?
> I've had it since 2003 or so when it was bought new.  It has no markings at all.  The HDD bays are very irritating, especially with PATA drives.   The 5.25 bays were pretty slick back in the day though.


i take a guess of the most iconic and common oldie case: "Chieftec Dragon", not knowing that one is ... errr .... nevermind


----------



## SniperHF (Aug 22, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> "Chieftec Dragon",



Definitely in the ballpark it seems.  The left side case is taller than mine, also mine has a window.  The one on the right looks correct.  

I threw the front door away a long time ago, hate doors


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 22, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> So before I mentioned I'd be breaking out some of the older stuff earlier, here's what I've got so far:
> 
> My modest 3dfx collection:
> Voodoo 3 3000 PCI       &               Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
> ...



That "A64 4000+ - Abit AN8-SLI - 2GB Corsair DDR 400 - ATI x850 XT" brings back some nice memories!


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 22, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> Definitely in the ballpark it seems.  The left side case is taller than mine, also mine has a window.  The one on the right looks correct.
> 
> I threw the front door away a long time ago, hate doors


they are both the same case ... different perspective ... or shot distance


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## SniperHF (Aug 22, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> they are both the same case ... different perspective ... or shot distance



Once you mentioned Chieftec I was able to find it, mine seems to have 2 less 5.25 bays like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811125220

The big full tower one on the left has 6.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 22, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> So before I mentioned I'd be breaking out some of the older stuff earlier, here's what I've got so far:
> 
> My modest 3dfx collection:
> Voodoo 3 3000 PCI       &               Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
> ...


Got all the 3dfx cards from your picture, except for PCI one! I've never, EVER found the PCI Voodoo, except for Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 but those are obviously not stand-alone models. Wait, come to think of it I do have Voodoo Rush. But that's pretty much it really, except for that one everything else is AGP  It's not an issue when you're putting together a "modern" ATX system (since pretty much all of them have AGP), but for the older AT-styled boards such as Pentium (with or without MMX) which only has PCI slots, this can sometimes be PITA


----------



## Komshija (Aug 22, 2016)

Unfortnately I cannot find photos of these rather old graphics cards, but at least I still have their original boxes and the current GPU box.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 22, 2016)

SniperHF said:


> Once you mentioned Chieftec I was able to find it, mine seems to have 2 less 5.25 bays like this one:
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811125220
> 
> The big full tower one on the left has 6.


ah yes ... the 1st pic is from a Dragon full... while the second is the "little" brother indeed ... oh well lil' mixup 



Komshija said:


> Once the most powerful consumer-grade CPU, AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton.



well i guess the XP 3200+ was not the ... oh wait ... once? oh well that one was also once...

it was parts of my Red Nemesis project (that ended ... i dunno why ... maybe because i probably prefer to see all my Athlons together on my shelf ahah  )
 
 

actually i cheated a bit ... it's a XP 2800+ 

but shhhh don't tell


 
(that's also a "Red Nemesis"... or more a "Scarlet Nemesis" for reference ... you don't want to get her angry ... trust me. )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2016)

That's a pretty good idea, actually! I've been hunting down for one of those 3200+ chips myself, they seem to be quite popular lately! But unfortunately, also too damn expensive for my taste, so I might get one of the cheaper 2800+ (or faster?) ones & raise the FSB to the point where I'll get the same performance as 3200+


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 23, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's a pretty good idea, actually! I've been hunting down for one of those 3200+ chips myself, they seem to be quite popular lately! But unfortunately, also too damn expensive for my taste, so I might get one of the cheap 2800+ (or faster?) ones & raise the FSB to the point where I'll get the same performance as 3200+


i thought i did hit a golden goose deal ... my 2800+ got @ 3200+ since i assembled the rig back in the day .... that KT6V 400 mobo is actually mine since 2004 when i assembled my 1st custom setup before that 2800+ i had a Duron 700 Morgan on that mobo (well ... second technically ... my 1st was a K6-2 433 AFR i still have one 450 AFX on the shelf)

i also have one XP 2600+, a 750 APT (Ceramic PGA) 1333 AMS (Ceramic PGA) and my beloved slot 1 K7 700 MTR Pluto


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2016)

Indeed, that must have been the powerhouse back then! Personally, I was never really into OCing myself, until I finally OCed my Q6600 couple of years ago in order to speed it up a bit. Especially not the "retro" hardware, I wouldn't want to put additional pressure to (already old & worn out) hardware that's been around for decades, it seems more logical to just replace the CPU with faster model.

Except, obviously that isn't possible in this particular situation, so I may end up improvising with either FSB or multiplier settings, that Gigabyte 7N400 Pro2 board seems more than capable of handling both.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 23, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> so I might get one of the cheaper 2800+



Many many of the 2800's would clock at a 200 FSB equaling the 3200. 

I currently have one 2800 that has no issue clocking at a 200 FSB. Heck, I have a mobile 1800 that clocks at a 200 FSB as well. Both of them chips for crazy fast in their day.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2016)

Thanks, you pretty much answered my dilemma  I found one 2800+ on sale for 3USD locally, so I might even pick it up. Still far more cheaper & affordable than the real thing, for over 15$!


----------



## Komshija (Aug 23, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> well i guess the XP 3200+ was not the ... oh wait ... once? oh well that one was also once...



XP 3200+ arrived a few months after the XP 3000+  whose main competitor was P4@3000 MHz. There were extensive tests of these two conducted by one of out PC magazines, which turned out in Athlon's favor.


----------



## Komshija (Aug 23, 2016)

Creative Sound Blaster Live! CT 4670. I don't know exactly how old is it, bit I assume around 15 years.


----------



## Komshija (Aug 23, 2016)

One more piece of "hardware" that needs no special introduction. Still working after 15 years with replaced battery.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2016)

This here is as good as it gets... The ONLY soundcard that's better than Live, from this period (at least in my, personal opinion) would be the famous Aureal Vortex2, aka Diamond Monster MX300 with its "A3D" 3D audio acceleration


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 23, 2016)

Komshija said:


> Creative Sound Blaster Live! CT 4670. I don't know exactly how old is it, bit I assume around 15 years.]


august 1998 ...

(i can't find mine ... but i know it's still somewhere in a box alongside a Hercule Gamesurround Fortissimo II  that replaced my Live! in 2001)

ps, please do not double post unless you have 10 image per post (or as long as the [edit] button is still present at the bottom of your latest post )



Trekkie4 said:


> This here is as good as it gets... The ONLY soundcard that's better than Live, from this period (at least in my, personal opinion) would be the famous Aureal Vortex2, aka Diamond Monster MX300 with its "A3D" 3D audio acceleration


the Hercule Gamesurround Fortissimo II  was also good ... (albeit being 3yrs younger, tho the MX300 is also younger than the Live! )

FUNNY! the Audigy 2 ... dubbed ZS because of the gold connector has NOT the same SB number (SB0350) and ALSO is writen AUDIGY 2 ZS on the PCB!... so ... the AUDIGY 2 (normal connector) and AUDIGY 2 (gold connector) with the same SB number ( SB0240) can't really be different ... in fact my SB0240 gold is recognized as a Audigy 2 Platinum ... GAH Creative is so confusing sometime ...  (last but not least, the Audigy 2 still feature a AC97 codec while the Audigy 2 ZS completely remove it )


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 23, 2016)

I just struck a deal on a Tseng Labs ET1000 today, buying it next week. Been looking for one for a few years!


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 23, 2016)

Komshija said:


> Creative Sound Blaster Live! CT 4670. I don't know exactly how old is it, bit I assume around 15 years.
> 
> View attachment 78187



You can get an approximate age from the copyright year and dates on the chips. I would say approx 18 years old, but can't read the dates on your pic.


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 23, 2016)

Komshija said:


> Once the most powerful consumer-grade CPU, AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton. I bought it brand new in 2004 during major PC upgrade. Still in working condition, but his ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard died.



I bought a 3200+ earlier this month. I need to build a Socket A system for it. Also need a few AT cases for some older builds I have most parts for


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2016)

Figured everyone's uploading pics, so I might join the fun... 

Just got this hunk of metal, earlier today! I was told it's in working condition, but IDK... To be completely honest, I have a bad experience with IBM hard drives  Oh well, it was free, and seem to be in good condition otherwise, so I'll definitely hook it up at some point. Even though 10GB is not much of capacity, except maybe for an older AT-styled Pentium build.


----------



## Komshija (Aug 24, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> You can get an approximate age from the copyright year and dates on the chips. I would say approx 18 years old, but can't read the dates on your pic.


I see it now, it's stamped 1998 on it.  I didn't look at it properly. 

@Trekkie4 Mađarska? I didn't know that IBM had HDD production facility in Hungary.


----------



## buzzi (Aug 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks, you pretty much answered my dilemma  I found one 2800+ on sale for 3USD locally, so I might even pick it up. Still far more cheaper & affordable than the real thing, for over 15$!



Grab it with both hands!


----------



## R00kie (Aug 24, 2016)

Found this badboy in my drawer ^^
15 years old and still kicking  I remember playing Battlefield 3 with it, immersing myself in the sound


----------



## buzzi (Aug 24, 2016)

So are this sound cards still better than nowadays onboard ones?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 24, 2016)

buzzi said:


> So are this sound cards still better than nowadays onboard ones?


nope ... the Realtek ALC1150 is still better than the oldies, sadly ... otherwise i would use my Audigy 2 Platinum ... or the more recent Audigy FX PCIeX X1 i had (since my mobo has no PCI)

i even tested some more modern soundcards to find the ALC1150 was still enough for most cases (music playback or gaming ) ... as i don't need a "music profesional" grade sound

but i would use my Audigy 2 for any mobo that has a PCI and a sub ALC1150 chip/codec (except on a LanParty NF4 UT ... the soundcard on that one was sick... on a little add on board  )


----------



## R00kie (Aug 24, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> nope ... the Realtek ALC1150 is still better than the oldies, sadly ... otherwise i would use my Audigy 2 Platinum ... or the more recent Audigy FX PCIeX X1 i had (since my mobo has no PCI)
> 
> i even tested some more modern soundcards to find the ALC1150 was still enough for most cases (music playback or gaming ) ... as i don't need a "music profesional" grade sound


That, and the driver support is atrocious nowadays. You can still find some modded drivers, but good luck making them work long term...


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 24, 2016)

buzzi said:


> So are this sound cards still better than nowadays onboard ones?




That warrants a thread all of its' own.


I use this one


 



If my mobo had o/b sound i would use o/b.......but im into volume not quality so speakers are more important to me.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 24, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> That warrants a thread all of its' own.
> 
> 
> I use this one
> ...


which use a ALC codec or a VIA VT2020 (same as onboard one  )

it's technically the same type of o/b soundcard as my NF4 UT mobo .... lemme see if i still have a pic

here 
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-up-pic-clubhouse.71955/page-336#post-3284570
and there
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-138#post-3284566


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 24, 2016)

There is no sound chip on my board hence i am forced to use a soundcard.


asus rog ii extreme


----------



## Komshija (Aug 24, 2016)

buzzi said:


> So are this sound cards still better than nowadays onboard ones?


They were in their time, but now I doubt it. Some new upper-middle-class and high-end motherboards have very good onboard sound cards that are isolated from the rest of the circuitry. They usually have very good audio processors with quality Japanese capacitors and some are even bundled with the additional audio programs.

Edit: GreiverBlade was faster.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 24, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> it's technically the same type of o/b soundcard as my NF4 UT mobo .... lemme see if i still have a pic




and thats my point.....I wouldnt bother with an addon card if i didnt have to.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 24, 2016)

Komshija said:


> I see it now, it's stamped 1998 on it.  I didn't look at it properly.



I never paid much attention to the origin of the PC hardware, but what I /can/ tell you is that I've had loads of issues with these Hungarian IBM hard drives. I remember one, from couple of years ago ... one of the IDE interface pins broke loose & fell off the PCB. Just when I was about to scrap the drive, I realized that the pin was just the IDE activity LED feedback, so I pulled off the rest of it (to prevent short across rest of the contacts) & kept using the HDD as it was, except it wasn't lighting up the HDD activity LED on the case. Anyhow, to fast forward the story, couple of months later, I've noticed random errors & problems with some of the files... Which turned out to be bad sectors, so I did the entire disk surface check & repair, hoping it would solve the problem. Soon after, the entire thing started clunking & squealing, and it was completely shot! So yeah, that was one - the other drive was also Hungarian IBM I believe and it was completely dead, I couldn't get it to spin up and/or identify itself! But you know what they say, 3rd time's a charm! This one is supposed to be in working condition, but considering their reputation I wouldn't want to jump ahead of myself 



buzzi said:


> Grab it with both hands!


Oh, I would!! The only problem is that the guy (who's selling these) is not in the same city as me, meaning I would have to pay for postage & risk damaging the CPUs. I'm talking abut CPUs rather than single CPU because he's also selling Sempron 3000+ which I also might grab for the same price as Athlon 2800+ Therefore it would cost me approx. 8 USD for both of these + postage.



gdallsk said:


> Found this badboy in my drawer ^^
> 15 years old and still kicking  I remember playing Battlefield 3 with it, immersing myself in the sound


Never had Audigy card myself, but I'm hoping to find one eventually  I have a lot of "Live" ones though & SB Awe32 (not to mention generic SB 128, but those are too standard & not worth the time) The only Live! model which I can't stand are those 0220 (Dell?) OEM boards, which seem to be using special drivers & caused me a lot of headache.



CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> and thats my point.....I wouldnt bother with an addon card if i didnt have to.


Depending on what you do, and what you expect out of your system, the external sound card might provide you with better support over the onboard solution. Take my RetroMaster 2000 system as an example - even though I had on-board audio, which seems to be working perfectly fine, I've decided to "upgrade" it to previously mentioned SB Live! due to EAX effects & DOS support. I've tried to get the DOS games working with onboard hardware, but things didn't go that well. Obviously, I'm referring to older hardware in this particular example, but I'm sure you can find & relate to modern day counterparts & apps, which take the full advantage of external sound cards, rather than on-board one


----------



## Komshija (Aug 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I never paid much attention to the origin of the PC hardware, but what I /can/ tell you is that I've had loads of issues with these Hungarian IBM hard drives. I remember one, from couple of years ago ... one of the IDE interface pins broke loose & fell off the PCB. Just when I was about to scrap the drive, I realized that the pin was just the IDE activity LED feedback, so I pulled off the rest of it (to prevent short across rest of the contacts) & kept using the HDD as it was, except it wasn't lighting up the HDD activity LED on the case. Anyhow, to fast forward the story, couple of months later, I've noticed random errors & problems with some of the files... Which turned out to be bad sectors, so I did the entire disk surface check & repair, hoping it would solve the problem. Soon after, the entire thing started clunking & squealing, and it was completely shot! So yeah, that was one - the other drive was also Hungarian IBM I believe and it was completely dead, I couldn't get it to spin up and/or identify itself! But you know what they say, 3rd time's a charm! This one is supposed to be in working condition, but considering their reputation I wouldn't want to jump ahead of myself



Could be a very bad luck or previous owner's inproper care if you got them second hand.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 24, 2016)

Most of the hardware is 2nd hand, except for two systems (actually more like system and a half) from back in a day, which belonged to me since the 1st day. It's a slot-1 based Pentium 2 350 with 64MB of RAM and Quantum Fireball hard drive, one of the best HDD I've seen & used over the years. The other half is part of the Pentium 4 system which I used to have back in a day, but sold the mobo, RAM memory & CPU all bundled together (around 2004, 2005). What's left are Matrox Millenium G450 AGP card, Hauppauge WinTV analog tuner card, SoundBlaster 128, NEC DVD-ROM, TEAC CD-RW & Iomega ZIP100 drives

As for the IBM drive, I guess there's only one way to find out if it works or not


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 25, 2016)

Bought another nice TSENG Labs graphics card today. This time an ET2000 rev 1C, another rarity.


----------



## Komshija (Aug 26, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> Bought another nice TSENG Labs graphics card today. This time an ET2000 rev 1C, another rarity.



It has some similarities with Bitchin' Fast 3D 2000.


----------



## buzzi (Aug 28, 2016)

@debs3759 looks like you have the longest (card ) here!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 28, 2016)

buzzi said:


> @debs3759 looks like you have the longest (card ) here!


That's what she said


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 29, 2016)

buzzi said:


> @debs3759 looks like you have the longest (card ) here!



LOL. Without checking all 187 pages, I probably have the two oldest cards here


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 29, 2016)

Would a BFG Tech GeForce GTS 250 qualify for vintage/retro hardware now? Still have it in a box with other hardware I haven't sold/tossed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143191
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gts250


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 29, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Would a BFG Tech GeForce GTS 250 qualify for vintage/retro hardware now? Still have it in a box with other hardware I haven't sold/tossed.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143191
> http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gts250


for me it does ... only if it's a G92B

GeForce GTS 250 G92B Mar 2009 PCIe 2.0 x16 1024 MB, GDDR3, 256 bit 702 MHz 1000 MHz 128 / 64 / 16
since based on the 9XXXGT/GS/GSO/GX/GTX/GX2... etc, etc, etc series  (2009 for the 250 and early 2008 for 1st G92 iteration ) and a Tesla 1.0

and not a GT215
GeForce GTS 250M GT215 Jun 2009 PCIe 2.0 x16 1024 MB, GDDR5, 128 bit 500 MHz 800 MHz 96 / 32 / 8
which is a Tesla 2.0


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 29, 2016)

For me (for my collection) I call first generation unified shaders and earlier cards vintage, but it's always fun seeing what cards give others good memories. I'm currently buying NVidia NV1 based cards (don't have one yet), Pre Rage ATI cards and just about anything else (with Tseng Labs and 3dfx cards plus VLB cards being top of my list).


----------



## emissary42 (Aug 29, 2016)

Quantum Bigfoot CY2160AT


----------



## verycharbroiled (Aug 29, 2016)

here are my 1st couple items.

US Robotics Sportster modem from the BBS days.

front




back




Seagate ST 225. 20 megabyte MFM drive, ran it on a RLL controller to get 30 megabytes.

front




back





got more stuff that i will be posting as i go through my basement.


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## dorsetknob (Aug 29, 2016)

verycharbroiled said:


> Seagate ST 225. 20 megabyte MFM drive, ran it on a RLL controller to get 30 megabytes.



Neat trick for those that knew that back in the day
my 1st HD Drive was also a 20 Megabyte MFM Drive i also ran it RLL for the improved Capacity ! ( on a Tandon 80286 )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 29, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> For me (for my collection) I call first generation unified shaders and earlier cards vintage, but it's always fun seeing what cards give others good memories. I'm currently buying NVidia NV1 based cards (don't have one yet), Pre Rage ATI cards and just about anything else (with Tseng Labs and 3dfx cards plus VLB cards being top of my list).


I have ATI Mach64 in one of my older builds, might take a pic or two next time I open it up. That is, if you were talking about Mach series to begin with.


----------



## verycharbroiled (Aug 29, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Neat trick for those that knew that back in the day
> my 1st HD Drive was also a 20 Megabyte MFM Drive i also ran it RLL for the improved Capacity ! ( on a Tandon 80286 )



i remember they took like a whole minute to spin down after shutting the power down via that huge red paddle switch. also you could hear the thing switching tracks during a seek as the actuator for the arm was so slow.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I have ATI Mach64 in one of my older builds, might take a pic or two next time I open it up. That is, if you were talking about Mach series to begin with.


i have one ... sitting in a drawer just near my right leg (can't be too precise tho ... i wonder what's hiding in that drawer beside that Mach64, although i did some pics for the thread .... but that should be in the 1st batch i did for the most awesome thread of all TPU  )

we need a "i love TPU Nostalgic Hardware" emoticon ...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 29, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> i have one ... sitting in a drawer just near my right leg (can't be too precise tho ... i wonder what's hiding in that drawer beside that Mach64, although i did some pics for the thread .... but that should be in the 1st batch i did for the most awesome thread of all TPU  )
> 
> we need a "i love TPU Nostalgic Hardware" emoticon ...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


>


argh ... i tried to thanks more than 1 time ... give take give take give take .... DRAAAAAAAAT oh well now we need a cumulative thanks option  

although it reads "TPU love Nostalgic Hardware" ... which is sadly not true for all the users ... (only the best does eh? ahahahaha  )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 29, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> argh ... i tried to thanks more than 1 time ... give take give take give take .... DRAAAAAAAAT oh well now we need a cumulative thanks option
> 
> although it reads "TPU love Nostalgic Hardware" ... which is sadly not true for all the users ... (only the best does eh? ahahahaha  )


Heh, thanks  I figured it might sound "weird", but I wanted to preserve the existing configuration. Having a single heart on top of the sign with nothing but text down below would seem unusual for emoticon IMHO, which is why I decided to keep the heart in middle & text around it. What the sign is actually saying is "love Nostalgic Hardware, at TPU". At least that's the way I see it 

Edit
Better?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Heh, thanks  I figured it might sound "weird", but I wanted to preserve the existing configuration. Having a single heart on top of the sign with nothing but text down below would seem unusual for emoticon IMHO, which is why I decided to keep the heart in middle & text around it. What the sign is actually saying is "love Nostalgic Hardware, at TPU". At least that's the way I see it
> 
> Edit
> Better?


BUCH METTER! thanks bro'stalG33k


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 29, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> BUCH METTER! thanks bro'stalG33k


Thanks  Oh and by the way ... this pic was entirely made in Microsoft Picture it! 99, therefore VERY nostalgic and old software designed for even more nostalgic & older systems  (seriously!)

Edit
Converted it into PNG, so now it's officially emoticon & can be used in text through this link HERE


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## debs3759 (Aug 30, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I have ATI Mach64 in one of my older builds, might take a pic or two next time I open it up. That is, if you were talking about Mach series to begin with.



Yeah, basically Mach 64 and earlier, although the chips for the first rage cards are Mach 64.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 30, 2016)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 30, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> View attachment 78348 View attachment 78349


G92 baby!






(New favorite emote  )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 30, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> G92 baby!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm glad to hear that, thanks!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 31, 2016)

Speaking of Picture It, how about some retro software? These are all mine, I owned them since the 1st day and (as you can probably see), I'm holding onto them forever 

The Genius of Edison encyclopedia... Originally bought in some random store (supermarket?), it had the original box & papers. Unfortunately, I no longer have either, but I've decided to keep the CD for nostalgia. The actual encyclopedia is pretty simple, sometimes even annoying... After all, it came out about the same time when sound cards & faster sys specs took over the market, so every encyclopedia back then had to be narrated of course, and feature over-exaggerating sound effects 


 

 

 



Trivial Pursuit came with previously mentioned Genius of Edison... Bought at the same story, also had a box & some papers. Fun fact, I never EVER played this game in my life... I remember trying to once, but then gave up (maybe like 15 years ago?) & never bothered to give it another try. Oh well, it's still here & in good condition, so I might revisit it some time in the future 


 

 



Ah yes, something REALLY useful & productive to share with you guys... The original copy of Microsoft Picture it! This one was a gift, and it also came with the box which I kept for years until it finally fell apart one day, so I had to get rid of it. Too bad, it would make a beautiful shelf decoration today! Oh and I was too lazy to mask the CD key on the back, but really - who cares? This thing is 20 years old now, so if you feel like using the CD key for your own purposes, feel free to do so 


 

 



The Cybwar Mission Thunder Gun. Sounds bombastic, sounds awesome, sounds exciting ... and yet it's basically nothing! Well OK, maybe it was something back in a day, but this game really isn't much by any standards - modern or otherwise! Nevertheless, it's quite useful for those older "AT" systems, such as 5x86, Pentium Pro & similar, which are not capable of 3D acceleration & are limited with Windows 95 and/or DOS environment


 

 



Those system requirements... Oh boy! 




And the last one ... something every man should have close to him, uhh right? Joke aside, it was a gift from someone looong time ago, and was pretty much collecting dust ever since then. I'm not even sure how to get it started, I remember trying to once, but it kept pushing me into DOS mode & telling me to manually navigate through the files & folders. Maybe I did something wrong...? *shrug*


 

 



Once again, these specs! Oh, man!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 31, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of Picture It, how about some retro software? These are all mine, I owned them since the 1st day and (as you can probably see), I'm holding onto them forever
> 
> The Genius of Edison encyclopedia... Originally bought in some random store (supermarket?), it had the original box & papers. Unfortunately, I no longer have either, but I've decided to keep the CD for nostalgia. The actual encyclopedia is pretty simple, sometimes even annoying... After all, it came out about the same time when sound cards & faster sys specs took over the market, so every encyclopedia back then had to be narrated of course, and feature over-exaggerating sound effects
> 
> ...


https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-software-club.190108/ which ... died pretty fast because we mostly posted them here 

although i find better to have all here  (nuuuhhhh my pics are gone ... oh well i guess i have to retake some pics of my softwares book'n boxes  )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 31, 2016)

You can't really show (or touch, feel) software in real life, other than having some sort of media. Floppy, CD, USB, whatever. And the thing about those is that they're all hardware - not software, therefore old floppy disks & CDs belong into the hardware thread which is probably why the other topic dried up so soon. At least that's how I see things... *shrug*

Speaking of old software, I might find more... I got couple of games on CDs, but mostly just CDs salvaged (and found) inside old CD-ROM units, therefore without the original boxes and/or cover art. The rest of them are all home-made, either backups or downloaded stuff from the web. One thing I learned over the years is that you NEVER, EVER want to use your precious (original) CDs for every-day purposes, because they can blow up and/or end up scratched. So if you have something that's valuable, I strongly suggest that you back it up, make a copy on a modern CD & only then use it as you please.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 31, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> You can't really show (or touch, feel) software in real life, other than having some sort of media. Floppy, CD, USB, whatever. And the thing about those is that they're all hardware - not software, therefore old floppy disks & CDs belong into the hardware thread which is probably why the other topic dried up so soon. At least that's how I see things... *shrug*
> 
> Speaking of old software, I might find more... I got couple of games on CDs, but mostly just CDs salvaged (and found) inside old CD-ROM units, therefore without the original boxes and/or cover art. The rest of them are all home-made, either backups or downloaded stuff from the web. One thing I learned over the years is that you NEVER, EVER want to use your precious (original) CDs for every-day purposes, because they can blow up and/or end up scratched. So if you have something that's valuable, I strongly suggest that you back it up, make a copy on a modern CD & only then use it as you please.


books ... are hardware too indeed ... nonetheless touching or not a software is still something  

and yep, you're right both S & H belong here


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 31, 2016)

Time for more software...

How about Sim City 2000, Network edition? This one was a donation from the guy on a similar forum, he also gave me the upcoming Broken Sword. Never tried to set it up, but the actual CD seems to be in mint condition.




Broken Sword, The Shadow of the Templars. Or just Broken Sword (1), the game is already famous enough so I don't really have to say anything else about it. And yes, I do have the other disk but it's currently out of my reach, on top of the shelf  Again, this game is 20 years old now! 




Sim City 2k  & Broken Sword together




The original copy of Unreal. Therefore not the "Gold" one, this copy only works with Glide & 3dfx cards. Or in software mode, if you couldn't afford 3dfx cards. Come to think of it, most ppl can't afford one even today, which makes this game kinda unique & rare IMHO. It came bundled with one of the Voodoo2 cards that I bought over the years, no surprises there!  Diamond Monster 3D (12mb) to be exact, although I'm not sure if Voodoo (or Voodoo2) was originally distributed with the copy of Unreal or not?




My Grand Theft Auto collection... I also have the 1st and 2nd one, but those are home-made copies, so I didn't want to waste my time with those. They're not even illegal to have (or talk about), since Rockstar Games released them to public & made them available for download long time ago!




Starting with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy. Although this particular bundle is somewhat new, the actual games inside are old enough to be mentioned here  It features GTA3, Vice City (my favorite!) and San Andreas, along with maps & guides for each & every game individually. I'm quite pleased to own these, because The Trilogy pack got sold pretty fast & ended up unavailable. In fact, I believe this one may have been the very last copy in stock, from the store. Or at least 2nd to last one, because they removed it from their web store within couple of hrs.


 

 

 

 

 



Yes, I realize that GTA IV is far from old and/or nostalgic, but since I'm talking about GTA series, I might as well put the entire collection here  I thought GTA IV was a bad game ... until I bought GTA V *eye roll*


 



Also have the expansion pack, so called Episodes from Liberty City featuring "The Lost & Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" The other one was somewhat better than Lost & Damned IMHO, and featured much more content than the original IV, including the new vehicles & weapons.


 



And finally, GTA V... Got this one not so long ago, tried to play it on my Q6600 running 8800GT and 4GB of RAM but nope. Also, the entire "playing online" concept is annoying, and the game keeps on updating over & over to the point where I emailed customer support & asked them how to prevent the game from ever updating again. Needless to say, I never got my answer, so now it's just sitting here & doing nothing. I considered selling the game, but being a one-time activation thing, it's unfortunately tied up to my Social Club acc forever, so it's completely useless to anyone else  On a side note, this is probably the last GTA title to own, I'm tired of wasting my time & money on Rockstar Games, especially since they couldn't come up with decent product since 2002...


 



OK, enough rambling about modern stuff. How about something pretty old & nostalgic? This particular CD came bundled inside the box with Wave Blaster II MIDI extension card, which is currently paired up with Diamond Monster MX300 Aureal Vortex2 sound card. It has 4 games from what it seems - Descent, Doom, Heretic & Warcraft. Again, I never tried to set any of these up, but the actual disc seems to be in mint condition so they're most likely OK.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 1, 2016)

Messing around with tape decks & couldn't resist not to upload pics in this thread 

Nostalgic or not, there's something about cassettes & VCRs... Anyhow, you might recognize this Akai deck from couple of months ago, when I overhauled the entire mechanism. Due to noticeable wow & flutter, the condition is far from perfect, but that's what you get for using belts that are out of specs. Simply because I couldn't find the original ones anywhere, some repair shops won't even mess around with tape decks & VCRs any longer due to the same reason. There's a global-wide shortage of pinch rollers & rubber belts, so the future is not looking too bright for these things  My advice? Enjoy them while you still can! As for this one in the picture, don't worry. The condition is only going to improve over time, as the rubber belts will stretch & lose the excessive grip on the flywheel & motor pulley, but this might take a while... In fact, it already sounds so much better than 6 months ago, when I replaced them. 

Akai CS-703D


 



Aiwa AD-F550


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2016)

How old is the Akai CS-703D? 1979?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 1, 2016)

That is correct yes, 1979! How did you know? (there was a stamp on the motor, says manufacturing date is 79)


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> That is correct yes, 1979! How did you know? (there was a stamp on the motor, says manufacturing date is 79)


Found it at hifiengine. http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/akai/cs-703d.shtml


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 1, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Found it at hifiengine. http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/akai/cs-703d.shtml


Ah, OK then  I assumed you also worked on (and/or owned) one... It's a nice little unit, but also a money pit. I've spent over 15USD on replacement parts, and still not happy with the final result. Revamped clutch assembly, new pinch roller, belts, axial VU bulb (the brighter one, on the left), the list goes on & on. But it was worth it I suppose, even though I'm not using it for anything.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2016)

Been along time since I've seen a tape deck or a cassette tapes. Use to have a Sony Walkman, and I forget the brand name for the tape deck along time ago.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 1, 2016)

You mean one of these? 




Too bad, you really should get yourself a decent deck while you still can. Like I said in the upper post, the time is running out for those & they'll most likely become impossible to find & maintain in the future 

Speaking of decks, I also have this nice Kenwood KX-W4080 (which is not being used at the moment, but would need to be serviced before playing any music since the belts are completely shot & pinch rollers are glazed to the point where I need to renew them with chemical solution)




...along with this nice ITT SL59 automatic. This one was in the family even before I was born, used to belong to someone very close to me who passed away in 1997. Would you believe that ITT haven't been maintained or properly serviced since the early 90's, and yet this thing STILL works today, without any wow & flutter or hissing? Now THAT'S a high quality product!




What I'd love to do is find some decent (yet cheap) speakers for this rig down below, so that I can hook it up with that Kenwood deck. It would make one heck of a HiFi! 




Edit
Oh, and here are few more pics of the Akai deck, taken couple of months ago when I swapped the belts, clutch & pinch. It's more than obvious that the capstan belt is about twice the normal size, when comparing to the original one, so therefore it's causing a lot more traction with the surface. More traction means more friction, and more friction means more resistance, kinda like the tires on your car. Except in this case, you don't want more friction because even though the actual motor can be adjusted in the terms of speed, there's still a matter of torque. So to put it simply, the original motor just doesn't have enough torque to keep the speed at the same pace, it keeps on accelerating & decelerating depending on the tape & tape spool resistance. But like I said, the belts will only stretch more & more, meaning they'll eventually get to the point of normal, acceptable traction level where the mechanism won't stall & cause excessive wow & flutter


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 2, 2016)

Front and back of the Geforce GTS 250 I posted earlier. The big sticker on the shroud started peeling off so along time back I took it off.


 

 

How about this old game? 


 

 

 

 
I have a cardboard box stuffed full of old games.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 2, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Front and back of the Geforce GTS 250 I posted earlier. The big sticker on the shroud started peeling off so along time back I took it off.
> View attachment 78431 View attachment 78433
> 
> How about this old game?
> ...


Cool, the original Deus Ex!!  Great story, loads of features & parallel storylines (not to mention endings), all delivered on amazing Unreal engine  Would definitely love to have one of these, as mine is home-made copy, bought from some guy who was distributing cracked games in late 90s and early 2000s.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 2, 2016)

Anyone remember this game?


Edit: The only place with the title of the game is on the spine.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 2, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Anyone remember this game?
> View attachment 78442
> 
> Edit: The only place with the title of the game is on the spine.


It's right there in Black & White.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 2, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Anyone remember this game?
> View attachment 78442
> 
> Edit: The only place with the title of the game is on the spine.


black and white? i think i have the box somewhere .. or it's the second ... not sure 
argh @Mr.Scott beat me to it 

talk about retro ... Outcast 1.1 on steam ... i still have the 2 original disc but i bought the reworked on STEAM out of nostalgia


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 2, 2016)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 2, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> View attachment 78444 View attachment 78445


i have that one ...i am sure of it ... rahhhh i need to dig for boxes soon ...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 2, 2016)

I received a very generous donation today, entire box full of goodies  So here are some of them...

Seems familiar? It should be, I got the same, identical one not so long ago, except the other drive was manufactured in Hungary! Same capacity, even 

"Old" IBM HDD   "New" IBM HDD


 



I've been hunting for more capable AGP card for a while now, but couldn't find anything that's dirt cheap. This one here might just do the trick, it's Radeon 9550 with 128MB of VRAM. Most importantly (for me, anyway) it's DirectX9 compatible!


 



Also got this Inno3D MX200. I'm honestly not sure at this point, but I might already have one of these among the spares...


 


Edit
Yup, I was right...


			
				Trekkie4 said:
			
		

> Inno 3D Tornado, aka NVidia GeForce2 MX200 with 64mb of VRAM. From what I heard, pretty decent card, but since I had several GF4 MX400 laying around, I never got around to use it in any of my builds.



PCI USB controller & Dial-Up modem




SoundBlaster 128 ... I really, REALLY need those because I ran out of sound cards quite some time ago.


 



Hitachi DVD-ROM




Along with this cool-looking Gigabyte 80x80 fan ... even comes with speed controller. I might put it on top of the Spire FalconRock CPU cooler


 



and this highly unusual Xilence 120x120 fan.


 



Also got the Epox Socket 462 mobo, model number is EP-8KTA2 which has Duron 800 already mounted in place, but I can tell just by looking that the board doesn't work. 2 caps are completely bulged, one of them even leaked so I'll have to address those. Or not, we'll see. To be honest, I got more than enough S462 boards for now ... far more than I need!


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 2, 2016)

Too bad I went through and cleaned out a lot of old hardware I use to have. Oh and thanks for the post Trekkie4.



GreiverBlade said:


> i have that one ...i am sure of it ... rahhhh i need to dig for boxes soon ...


For some reason I'm not finding my copy of the first version of MDK.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 2, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Too bad I went through and cleaned out a lot of old hardware I use to have. Oh and thanks for the post Trekkie4.


Well, that's what I do here ... collect other ppl's stuff so that it doesn't end up wasted or destroyed 

I was once called by someone close to me " a hoarder", as in a bad way. But I don't see myself that way... Hoarders will hoard, stockpile pretty much anything, regardless of the condition & value. What /I/ do is stockpile parts which are tested, (at least somewhat) rare & WILL become hard to find in nearby future. If something doesn't work out, and I'm not capable of fixing it (or if it's not worth fixing), then it goes into the trash. So yeah... Oh, and I also keep all my stuff categorized & documented. So that if & when I DO need something, I know where to look for it!


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 2, 2016)

At one time I did own a PowerComputing PowerBase 240 with the accompanying CRT monitor, and a Performa 577. The only two Mac/Power Mac systems I've owned. Switched to one pre-built OEM system (forget the brand name) been building my own since that OEM with a Pentium with MMX 233MHz.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 2, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> At one time I did own a PowerComputing PowerBase 240 with the accompanying CRT monitor, and a Performa 577. The only two Mac/Power Mac systems I've owned. Switched to one pre-built OEM system (forget the brand name) been building my own since that OEM with a Pentium with MMX 233MHz.


Nice! Oh and that's the system I got right here, several of them actually!  (Pentium 233, Socket 7)


----------



## AsRock (Sep 3, 2016)

Look what i found hidden away.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Look what i found hidden away.


Voodoo 3 5500?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

Lol!  More like Voodoo 5 5500


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nice! Oh and that's the system I got right here, several of them actually!  (Pentium 233, Socket 7)


The OEM Pentium MMX 233 box I use to own had a Cirrus Logic Laguna 3D with 2 MB of RDRAM. Exact card in the picture below.





http://vintage3d.org/cirrus.php


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> The OEM Pentium MMX 233 box I use to own had a Cirrus Logic Laguna 3D with 2 MB of RDRAM. Exact card in the picture below.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice one, 1MB of VRAM? I really should take few pics of my Pentium MMX 233 build, the "master" one that is. Because I also have the "clone" build that's running 5.25" floppy drive & 3rd one, which is inside an old desktop case. You may have seen it by now, it says "3d" on the LCD display. One of them is running Matrox Mystique, the other is running ATI Mach64, and thr 3rd one ATI Rage II+, all PCI. But all 3 of them are paired with Voodoo1 cards - Diamond Monster, A-Trend Helios & Skywell Magic 3D


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nice one, 1MB of VRAM?


If I remember correctly the Cirrus Logic graphics card was being reported as having 2 MB.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

My bad. I assumed each EDO VRAM module would have 0.5MB, just like the Voodoos.

Edit
Here's the one (and only) desktop Pentium build I have, 233MHz like I already said in the previous post



 



2nd, 5.25" floppy Pentium 233


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> My bad. I assumed each EDO VRAM module would have 0.5MB, just like the Voodoos.


RDRAM/Rambus, there wasn't any EDO on those cards. I'm sure you remember Rambus.
Nintendo 64, Pentium 4 (Willamette) with RDRAM, and Playstation 2?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDRAM#Other_uses
Edit: correction


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> RDRAM/Rambus, there wasn't any EDO on those cards. I'm sure you remember Rambus.
> Nintendo 64, Pentium 4 (Willamette) with RDRAM, and Playstation 2?
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDRAM#Other_uses
> Edit: correction


Hmm, interesting... This Cirrus seems to be much newer than I thought, because originally these things (like Voodoo1 and Voodoo2) were all using EDO modules.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo2


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm, interesting... This Cirrus seems to be much newer than I thought, because originally these things (like Voodoo1 and Voodoo2) were all using EDO modules.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo2


Speaking of 3Dfx I did add in a Voodoo 3d accelerator card with the Cirrus Logic.  Pretty sure it was this card by Diamond Multimedia. Looks identical to the one I use to have.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

Indeed, that would be the original Monster 3D, with 4MB of VRAM. I remember giving it a try in Need for Speed III Hot Pursuit & it worked like a charm! Much better choice than 3dfx Rush, regardless of those 2mb extra.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

Funny thing, I did have a 3Dfx Voodoo Rush.  Later switched to the 3Dfx Voodoo.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Funny thing, I did have a 3Dfx Voodoo Rush.  Later switched to the 3Dfx Voodoo.


Rush was a good concept overall, but terribly presented IMHO. Nevertheless, I'm quite pleased to own one, since they're really getting harder & harder to find nowdays.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)




----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)




----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 did you get to play the first game of No One Lives Forever?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

No, not really... Why do I get the feeling that I'm missing a LOT?  (kinda like missing Sam & Max back in a day)


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

The comedy and british accents, funny/hilarious game when I played.


> A story-driven game set in the 1960s, _No One Lives Forever_ has been critically acclaimed for, among other things, its stylistic representation of the era in the spirit of many spy films and television series of that decade, as well as for its humor. Players control female protagonist Cate Archer, who works for a secret organization that watches over world peace. In addition to a range of firearms, the game contains several gadgets, which are disguised as ordinary female fashion items.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Operative:_No_One_Lives_Forever


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 3, 2016)

I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned or have Leisure Suit Larry.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned or have Leisure Suit Larry.


Haven't played that yet. I've somehow managed to miss certain games I've wanted to play though.


----------



## AsRock (Sep 3, 2016)

Voodoo 5 5500, Trekkie4 got this spot on .



biffzinker said:


> The OEM Pentium MMX 233 box I use to own had a Cirrus Logic Laguna 3D with 2 MB of RDRAM. Exact card in the picture below.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nice not the oldest of those, as they used to have the ability to upgrade the memory, used to be able to buy memory chips that plugged in to a socket.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Voodoo 5 5500, Trekkie4 got this spot on .
> 
> 
> 
> Nice not the oldest of those, as they used to have the ability to upgrade the memory, used to be able to buy memory chips that plugged in to a socket.


Oh man, I so envy you on that 5500!!  Never had a V5 before ... or Voodoo4 even. The most powerful Voodoo in my entire collection is V3 3500 which might even work OK, but it's never been tested due to the fact it's missing that blue AV splitter cable thingy (and the actual card doesn't have VGA output), so I can't hook it up.

As for the memory upgrade feature, yeah I have couple of those actually... Including this Rage Pro card, which is now used for one of the systems but I don't remember which one.


 



Edit
Oh wait, nevermind... I know which ones you were referring to! Rage indeed has the memory upgrade thingy, but this one is newer. You probably meant the older style, with individual sockets for each EDO module?


----------



## AsRock (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh man, I so envy you on that 5500!!  Never had a V5 before ... or Voodoo4 even. The most powerful Voodoo in my entire collection is V3 3500 which might even work OK, but it's never been tested due to the fact it's missing that blue AV splitter cable thingy (and the actual card doesn't have VGA output), so I can't hook it up.
> 
> As for the memory upgrade feature, yeah I have couple of those actually... Including this Rage Pro card, which is now used for one of the systems but I don't remember which one.
> 
> ...



Yeah trying to get rid of it, but found out that i only have a newer AGP mobo .

yeah they are those but i had one in a different arrangement which were at the end of the card. i found a one in a box yesterday but it was the fixed type which means it's a later card.

Matrox used to do modules, dam that card cost me a load back then but you could buy a module that clipped in like laptop memory did.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 3, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Look what i found hidden away.




I am honestly thinking about putting the one that I have up on Fleabay soon. They are still bringing a high dollar for them.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Yeah trying to get rid of it, but found out that i only have a newer AGP mobo .
> 
> yeah they are those but i had one in a different arrangement which were at the end of the card. i found a one in a box yesterday but it was the fixed type which means it's a later card.
> 
> Matrox used to do modules, dam that card cost me a load back then but you could buy a module that clipped in like laptop memory did.


Right, I'm familiar with those... I even have one of the expansion modules on a Pentium Pro system (which has Matrox MGA integrated into the mobo), but I can't seem to find the pic anywhere.






stinger608 said:


> I am honestly thinking about putting the one that I have up on Fleabay soon. They are still bringing a high dollar for them.


Yes, they most certainly are. I would probably bid you a price (you or @AsRock, in case he decides to sell his) but I don't think I can afford Voodoo5. Those things are getting pretty expensive nowdays & will only most likely get more & more expensive in the future. In fact, you can get a pretty decent (modern) PCIe card for the same price, capable of running the latest game titles. Maybe not the high-end model, but certainly not the cheapest one, either.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Those things are getting pretty expensive nowdays



Looking real quick at Ebay prices, they have actually dropped a bit. 

Several months ago when I last checked, they were selling for close to $250 USD. Now it seems they have dropped below $200.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Looking real quick at Ebay prices, they have actually dropped a bit.
> 
> Several months ago when I last checked, they were selling for close to $250 USD. Now it seems they have dropped below $200.


Well if you ask me, $200 is still a lot of money *shrug* I mean, you can get a decent card for the same price, capable of running GTA V.

http://www.windowscentral.com/best-graphics-card-under-200


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well if you ask me, $200 is still a lot of money *shrug* I mean, you can get a decent card for the same price, capable of running GTA V.
> 
> http://www.windowscentral.com/best-graphics-card-under-200



Oh, I totally agree! 
I should have probably sold it when the prices were running around $250 though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Oh, I totally agree!
> I should have probably sold it when the prices were running around $250 though.


Well don't worry about that. It's all about supply & demand, and since Voodoos are no longer produced, their value will only go up from this point forward. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the price would eventually double, to let's say 400, 450 or even 500 USD. Just be patient


----------



## AsRock (Sep 3, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> I am honestly thinking about putting the one that I have up on Fleabay soon. They are still bringing a high dollar for them.





stinger608 said:


> Looking real quick at Ebay prices, they have actually dropped a bit.
> 
> Several months ago when I last checked, they were selling for close to $250 USD. Now it seems they have dropped below $200.



Around $200 with box cd and all that and about $50 if none working and around 100$ working without box\cd.




Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I'm familiar with those... I even have one of the expansion modules on a Pentium Pro system (which has Matrox MGA integrated into the mobo), but I can't seem to find the pic anywhere.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



http://computer-retro.de/Bilder/Gra...s-MILA-8D-CPQ-Compaq-AGP-Grafikkarte-1998.jpg


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Around $200 with box cd and all that and about $50 if none working and around 100$ working without box\cd.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, but this one in the pic uses standardized expansion module, as seen on ATI Rage Pro & many other models. I was actually referring to the older design, which looks more like a Voodoo5 SLI adapter. Small PCB which hooks directly across the two headers.


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 3, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Around $200 with box cd and all that and about $50 if none working and around 100$ working without box\cd.



Mine cost around $20, unboxed and untested. Really must get around to testing it  That was some time last year.


----------



## AsRock (Sep 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, but this one in the pic uses standardized expansion module, as seen on ATI Rage Pro & many other models. I was actually referring to the older design, which looks more like a Voodoo5 SLI adapter. Small PCB which hooks directly across the two headers.



Aye all so more expensive, i did not have the funds to buy that when i had seen it in the shop.




debs3759 said:


> Mine cost around $20, unboxed and untested. Really must get around to testing it  That was some time last year.



Cool but now it's around 45-50$.


If anyone is after C&C with boxes cd's manuals let me know i will make a thread in the for sale section.


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 3, 2016)

AsRock said:


> If anyone is after C&C with boxes cd's manuals let me know i will make a thread in the for sale section.



Depends on your price (and whether you can accept Paypal friend payment)


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 4, 2016)

Got rid of a Voodoo 5500 AGP on e-bay a couple months ago. Got $200 shipped to Alaska.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 4, 2016)

With all this talk about the 3dfx, here's something totally appropriate...
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 Consider it a small & personal dedication to fallen (but not forgotten) 3dfx for my 30th b-day


----------



## Recon-UK (Sep 5, 2016)




----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

Recon-UK said:


>


Very nice, is it yours?

Can't really tell the video card though, the quality is too low... Probably something "better" though, as most of the video cards from 1995-1996 wouldn't be able to handle 3DMark2000 like that.


----------



## Recon-UK (Sep 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Very nice, is it yours?
> 
> Can't really tell the video card though, the quality is too low... Probably something "better" though, as most of the video cards from 1995-1996 wouldn't be able to handle 3DMark2000 like that.



No i don't own anything that cool, i was just sharing something i found on YT to add some content.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

No prob, I still appreciate it


----------



## Recon-UK (Sep 5, 2016)

What on earth? i thought this was a sound card at first but it's an early GeForce 2 card????????


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

Recon-UK said:


> What on earth? i thought this was a sound card at first but it's an early GeForce 2 card????????


I'm curious, why would you think that? Just because it's "Creative Labs" branded? Nonsense, Creative had a long history of producing video cards, modems, even motherboards! Of course, these were all re-branded products from other manufacturers, produced & distributed under the license.

I mean just take Voodoo2 cards for example, they've had CT6670 and CT6671 I believe, not to mention CT6760 for Banshee. They would always used the same name however, as in 3D Blaster, Modem Blaster, Sound Blaster, etc.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 5, 2016)

I remember that box art Creative used when looking/browsing in retail stores, back in the old days. Especially the Voodoo 2 box art which now looks goofy to me.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

I know, right?!  I also remember seeing box art in computer magazines, for both Diamond Monster (3DII) and 3D Blaster Voodoo2, it was awesome! It was usually found next to the game reviews & hardware benchmark results  I was fortunate enough to have Monster 3DII in my Pentium 2 rig, and it was the 12mb model


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 5, 2016)

You left out Video Blaster (web cams.)

Found this while I was looking for something else.
Creative Labs CT6330 Graphics Blaster MA 200 Series PCI Graphics Video Card (Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446-HC-A with EDO for on-board RAM)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-La...582234?hash=item3f6900885a:g:xo8AAOSwT5tWGUNY


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> You left out Video Blaster (web cams.)
> 
> Found this while I was looking for something else.
> Creative Labs CT6330 Graphics Blaster MA 200 Series PCI Graphics Video Card (Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446-HC-A with EDO for on-board RAM)
> ...


Oh, I know! I left out quite a lot of them... Video Blaster, Wave Blaster, Board Blaster, they had just about anything lol


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 5, 2016)

The trouble with most of Creative's products, and especially their sound cards, was the lack of decent drivers. I've always had issues with drivers for the Sound Blaster series.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 5, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> The trouble with most of Creative's products, and especially their sound cards, was the lack of decent drivers. I've always had issues with drivers for the Sound Blaster series.


Yup. The problem continues to this day even on their new products.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> The trouble with most of Creative's products, and especially their sound cards, was the lack of decent drivers. I've always had issues with drivers for the Sound Blaster series.





Mr.Scott said:


> Yup. The problem continues to this day even on their new products.



IDK about that guys... To be honest, most of the Creative products can be used in combination with reference drivers (3dfx, nVidia, modems, etc) so it's not like you're obligated to use exclusively Creative software. Except maybe for sound cards of course - but even with those, I never ran into compatibility issues with either SB 128 or Live! In fact they seem to have the best DOS support & work with most of the games I've tried & tested so far.

Again, I'm talking about retro stuff, I have no idea what's Creative like nowdays, since I don't have any of their modern-day products.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 5, 2016)

I had several of the Sound Blaster Live! boards back in the day. I seem to always have issues with all of their newer drivers. I found one that worked very well with Windows XP and kept using that specific driver until I left XP and quit using the SB Live! card. 

Heck, I still have two of them Live! cards and that driver that's burnt to a CD.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> I had several of the Sound Blaster Live! boards back in the day. I seem to always have issues with all of their newer drivers. I found one that worked very well with Windows XP and kept using that specific driver until I left XP and quit using the SB Live! card.
> 
> Heck, I still have two of them Live! cards and that driver that's burnt to a CD.


XP?! Tsk tsk, that's your problem  Nah, seriously though... Have to admit, I've never tried to run Live drivers on anything newer than Win98 SE.

I do have the Live! sound card up & running on RetroMaster2000 under both 98 & XP but it was detected automatically by the XP itself, didn't really have to install anything else. (SP1, Home Edition)

As for the driver database, you might want to check this out: http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=7


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> As for the driver database, you might want to check this out: http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=7



Awesome driver site bro!!! I included that on the original post with reference to you for sharing it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

No prob, you're welcome  This is where I found my own drivers, also downloaded image(s) & burned them to a CD so that I can have them installed the right way. Don't really remember at this point, but some of those discs even come with promotional games & shareware 

In any case be sure to check out the entire Vogons database, they have drivers for just about all major (retro) brands & their products.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 5, 2016)

Have been a Vogon's member for a while. I pretty much assumed most of you retro guys were.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

Likewise, exactly. Look me up @Trekkie4  just like here


----------



## P4-630 (Sep 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> You mean one of these?



I had a sony walkman as well , one with mega-bass and a great headphone, what a sound, I loved it!

Unfortunately I don't have it anymore and I can't find it on google, I had a black one (without radio)  2 equalizers in an angle on it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> I had a sony walkman as well , one with mega-bass and a great headphone, what a sound, I loved it!
> 
> Unfortunately I don't have it anymore and I can't find it on google, I had a black one (without radio)  2 equalizers in an angle on it.


Right, you told me it was the Sony one, which is why I posted the pic  I'm afraid I don't have that one, but I still might find it some day (in which case I'll upload the pic here at TPU) Apart from old computer hardware & VCRs, I also have a "fetish" for walkmans & HiFi cassette deck components.


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## P4-630 (Sep 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, you told me it was the Sony one, which is why I posted the pic  I'm afraid I don't have that one, but I still might find it some day (in which case I'll upload the pic here at TPU) Apart from old computer hardware & VCRs, I also have a "fetish" for walkmans & HiFi cassette deck components.



I was searching for a "sony walkman archive", but it seems there isn't really one with all models made.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Sep 5, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> I was searching for a "sony walkman archive", but it seems there isn't really one with all models made.




http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/1/5861062/sony-walkman-at-35


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

I wouldn't know about that, as I'm not into professional collecting for the sake of having every model, more like having a little bit of each (generation)

Here, take a look... Unisef Z-10 is the oldest one I got, followed by Panasonic & previously-mentioned Sony. I also have the Sanyo one in the background, which is still inside the original box & never used before. It's not exactly sealed up, it was powered on & tested (at least once, if not more) but otherwise in mint condition! 

They're all operational & capable of playing tapes with the exception of Panasonic which (even though it plays) makes a horrible racket due to running larger belt which rubs against the plastic frame. I already talked about this issue before, it's impossible to find direct replacement nowdays, so it's a big deal to just have (and keep) it in working condition!


 



Edit
Good one, @CAPSLOCKSTUCK! I'd love to get my hands on one of those older, auto-reverse units!


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## AsRock (Sep 5, 2016)

Dam those SONY Walkmans were made so cheap back then lol,  clip together crap.


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## AsRock (Sep 5, 2016)

Speaking of Creative before they went to crap.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

Agreed! If you ask me, Live! (5.1) is the way to go for when you're building a retro gaming rig. They're cheap, mostly very easy to find & deliver high audio performance, along with backwards DOS compatibility for older games.


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## AsRock (Sep 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Agreed! If you ask me, Live! (5.1) is the way to go for when you're building a retro gaming rig. They're cheap, mostly very easy to find & deliver high audio performance, along with backwards DOS compatibility for older games.



Thinking about it, did Creative actually make any thing of there own ?, as i remember regardless how good those cards worked back them were they not using Yamaha chips and maybe various other company chips ?, in fact did they not buy one of these company's out which was about the time shit hit the fan.


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## biffzinker (Sep 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Agreed! If you ask me, Live! (5.1) is the way to go for when you're building a retro gaming rig. They're cheap, mostly very easy to find & deliver high audio performance, along with backwards DOS compatibility for older games.


If I'd known that I would of considered hanging on to it. It's long gone now though, ah well.


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## biffzinker (Sep 5, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Thinking about it, did Creative actually make any thing of there own ?, as i remember regardless how good those cards worked back them were they not using Yamaha chips and maybe various other company chips ?, in fact did they not buy one of these company's out which was about the time shit hit the fan.


You referring to the takeover of Ensoniq by Creative?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensoniq

Edit: Aureal Semiconductor?

Edit2: The first Soundblaster card used Yamaha YM3812 chip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Technology_Limited


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Thinking about it, did Creative actually make any thing of there own ?, as i remember regardless how good those cards worked back them were they not using Yamaha chips and maybe various other company chips ?, in fact did they not buy one of these company's out which was about the time shit hit the fan.


Yeah, it all started with SoundBlaster 16 (I think?), and they've been kinda adding to it ever since. The only (worthy) opponent of SoundBlaster series was Aureal with their Vortex & Vortex2 cards, featuring A3D 3D acceleration. In fact, apparently they've been too good for Creative & posed too much threat to their products, which is why Creative had them destroyed & closed down  Almost like the 3dfx & nVidia, except nVidia was at least "kind" enough to implement some of their technology into their products, they even hired some of the engineers from the 3dfx development team.

Edit
@biffzinker Is already ahead of me 

Edit2
(AFAIK) the EAX technology wasn't based off the Aureal A3D technology in any way. They didn't want to do it just for the sake of proving themselves, even though Vortex2 & A3D was far more superior than Creative & their EAX - according to many users.



biffzinker said:


> If I'd known that I would of considered hanging on to it. It's long gone now though, ah well.


Nah, it's all good. Like I said in the previous post, there's a whole bunch of these cards around, and are mostly very cheap. 2, maybe 3 USD top!


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2016)

Last-minute change of plans before I begin my RetroMaster 2000 upgrade project. Instead of going with single 80GB Seagate hard drive, I've decided to use two hard drives instead, featuring single 40GB Seagate drive for DOS & Windows 98 and the other, previously mentioned 80GB one for XP. Of course, the 80GB drive will be formatted in NTFS file system, meaning it'll be inaccessible from W98 & DOS environment.

Full system specs (and upgrades) are down below:

CPU: AMD Athlon 1800+ (stays the same, might OC it though)
MBO: ASRock K7VT2 (will be upgraded for Asus A7V8X-X)
RAM: Matching pair of 2x 256MB DDR400 (stays the same*, but due to the new mobo it will run at full speed instead of 266, as it did on K7VT2 board)
GPU1: GeForce4  Ti4200 (stays the same)
GPU2: 3dfx Voodoo2 1000, 12MB (stays the same)
GPU3: 3dfx Voodoo2 1000, 12MB (stays the same)
HDD: Maxtor 40GB Slim (will be swapped for matching pair of Seagate drives, 80+40GB configuration)
FDD: Will be added, since it never had one before
ODD: The old unit is finally going out, will be replaced by matching pair of two Pioneer DVD-RW drives

(*)I considered to upgrade the RAM on this thing, but after taking some time to think about this & talking to other folks, I've decided against it. First of all, the existing RAM, 512MB DDR266 will now run become DDR400 due to the new motherboard & speed increase. Therefore I'm already (kinda) upgrading the RAM & should see some improvement in this area. Second - I've been told that Windows 98 has a weird memory limitation problem. As soon as you hit 1GB mark, you get random memory-related issues & other crap going on, since W98 wasn't designed to operate (or even recognize) more than 512MB of memory. Apparently there's a patch of some sort, but it's not worth it. I also completely forgot about DOS ... some games (if not most of them) will have serious issues with this amount of RAM, so it's going to spoil the entire RetroMaster concept, which is to have 3 generations (platforms) of retro-gaming, all inside one system. So yeah, not worth it! Besides, 512MB is far more than I need for 99.9% of the games which I have, except maybe for Half-Life 2 which tends to lag a bit. But hey, you can't have everything - right?


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## AsRock (Sep 6, 2016)

I was upgrading to 20-30GB drives around 2002. I have a Seagate that has a earth wire to it lol.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2016)

AsRock said:


> I was upgrading to 20-30GB drives around 2002. I have a Seagate that has a earth wire to it lol.


Oh man, I love those Quantum Fireball drives! I still have mine from back in a day, capacity was (is) 6.4GB 

And yes, both my Seagate drives are just like yours, Barracudas but it doesn't have any grounding wires, seriously what's with that?! lol I just don't see the point of grounding HDD, since it's already in direct physical contact with the metal case frame & has 4 metal screws which are screwed into the HDD itself. Therefore it's grounded (at least) 4 times, if not also through the actual contact between the case & HDD base (but being a painted surface, it might not be conductive, don't know)


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## biffzinker (Sep 6, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Full system specs (and upgrades) are down below:
> 
> CPU: AMD Athlon 1800+ (stays the same, might OC it though)
> 
> FDD: Will be added, since it never had one before


AMD Athlon *XP* 1800+? That was the first Socket A CPU I had. Think I had it installed in a Abit mobo with a VIA KT266A chipset (Abit KR7A-RAID.)

Instead of a floppy drive how about a Floppy Drive to USB Flash Drive?

Edit: Found some 3.5" 1.44MB Foppy Disks for sale on Amazon located in the UK for $11.98  + $4.99 shipping.
Amazon


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> AMD Athlon *XP* 1800+? That was the first Socket A CPU I had. Think I had installed in a Abit mobo with a VIA KT266A chipset (Abit KR7A-RAID.)
> 
> Instead of a floppy drive how about a Floppy Drive to USB Flash Drive?


Yes, sorry. Athlon XP 1800+, running @ 1533MHz Fast enough to keep up with "modern" titles such as Half Life 2, NFS Underground & GTA San Andreas, yet slow enough to be compatible with Voodoo2 cards, even DOS.

No, it has to be real floppy because I got loads of those laying around, and (let's face it) you can't have a retro system without the FDD. From driver installations, to various files & Office documents, Glide Patches, etc. The list goes on & on, so I'm definitely going with 1.44MB, 3.5" unit. I still have the USB support though, for both W98 and XP. I'm running unofficial Mass Storage driver for W98, and have the front USB (2.0) on the case hooked up so all I have to do is plug the thumb drive (or external HDD) & it works!


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## Recon-UK (Sep 7, 2016)

I don't know much about MAC's besides their gorgeous build quality and awesome screens...

This was a cool video to watch.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 7, 2016)

Holy crap, this thing weights a ton! But wow, it's absolutely gorgeous inside! And I'm not even a fan of Apple products, never had iMac or even iPhone! I do have iPod Touch, but that's a whole other story (and it's rotting inside my desk drawer, with dead battery)

On a side note, I really would like to own iMac G3, but only if I could actually find one in mint condition, for decent price...

Edit
Check this one out:


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## Recon-UK (Sep 7, 2016)

LGR is awesome been subbed to him for ages


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## AsRock (Sep 7, 2016)

As much as i hate Apple i do like the build quality for the most part.



Trekkie4 said:


> Oh man, I love those Quantum Fireball drives! I still have mine from back in a day, capacity was (is) 6.4GB
> 
> And yes, both my Seagate drives are just like yours, Barracudas but it doesn't have any grounding wires, seriously what's with that?! lol I just don't see the point of grounding HDD, since it's already in direct physical contact with the metal case frame & has 4 metal screws which are screwed into the HDD itself. Therefore it's grounded (at least) 4 times, if not also through the actual contact between the case & HDD base (but being a painted surface, it might not be conductive, don't know)



Well you had to ask so, try not to mistake it for a rock. From when PC building was fun, and apparently still worth some thing  . O yeah thats 1.6 inches thick with a whopping 162MB.

Yup and still works.


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## stinger608 (Sep 7, 2016)

AsRock said:


>




Now that is just frigging awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## biffzinker (Sep 7, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Now that is just frigging awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Know what else is frigging awesome?

Unreal Tournament
 
*AND *
Unreal Tournament 2004
 
also
  


Edit: https://web.archive.org/web/20060826172536/http://www.unrealtournament.com/


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 7, 2016)

AsRock said:


> As much as i hate Apple i do like the build quality for the most part.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


WOW!! I thought you were talking about newer Seagate Barracuda drive, from the earlier pic (30GB capacity model) Nevertheless, this doesn't make any sense from the electrical perspective. The entire frame is bare (and exposed) metal, it obviously has mounting holes for the screws so all you have to do is put it inside 3.5  drive bay and it's going to become grounded through the casing (because the hard drive will touch the computer case), even without the screws which are obviously necessary to hold it in place. Therefore this drive is already grounded 5 times, and that's without the grounding cable - completely ridiculous IMHO!


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## AsRock (Sep 7, 2016)

True but not all cases are like that, i believe they did it for those manufacturers who use rails, funny part i think is that no HDD comes with them any longer and some still use rails.

No earthing what so ever unless the drives scraps though it's slot lol.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 7, 2016)

AsRock said:


> True but not all cases are like that, i believe they did it for those manufacturers who use rails, funny part i think is that no HDD comes with them any longer and some still use rails.
> 
> No earthing what so ever unless the drives scraps though it's slot lol.


That's true, I forgot about these. Although however, to be honest most of them DO have conductive pins or pads of some sort, in order to ground the hard (or optical) drive. But then again, even if you don't ground certain component, it shouldn't have any noticeable issues, unless you're dealing with some sort of signal interface or outlet (USB, VGA, HDMI, or whatever) in which case you might experience signal degradation or interference.

In fact, I have a situation over here, where I'm experiencing this particular problem... My USB turntable is connected to a motherboard via USB cable, which isn't grounded. Probably due to the fact that entire room isn't grounded (and yes, I'm aware of potential dangers), so therefore I get pretty loud humming noise coming from the turntable, or rather its USB sound encoder module.


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## stinger608 (Sep 7, 2016)

Keep in mind, that the Molex and SATA power cables both have ground wires. 

Seems redundant to include a grounding cable.


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## biffzinker (Sep 8, 2016)

Just for fun ran the canned benchmark for UT2003, this is what I got.


UT2004 benchmark using UMark


Edit: Managed to UT Classic to run under Windows 10 after a few failed launch attempts, trouble is it wants to run too fast no matter what I did to slow it down, be a good test of reflexes or how quick can you respond to being shot at by the CPU bots.​
Edit 2: 

```
UT2004 Build UT2004_Build_[2005-11-23_16.22]
Windows NT 6.2 (Build: 9200)
GenuineIntel PentiumPro-class processor @ 4004 MHz with 2047MB RAM
AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (1474)

BR-Bifrost.ut2?spectatoronly=1?attractcam=1?quickstart=1?numbots=12 -benchmark -seconds=77 -nosound exec="C:\WINDOWS\..\UMark\Data\UMarkBot.txt" -1600x1200

41.028755 / 333.823822 / 796.117920 fps  rand[28733]
Score = 334.550140
```


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2016)

Speaking of Unreal, stand by for upcoming Unreal Tournament (the original one), on that Savage 4 Pro system  Finally got the missing floppy drive mounted earlier today, so I'm good to go!

I'm really looking forward to test the compressed textures thingy, as this is my very first Savage 4 card, ever!


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## biffzinker (Sep 8, 2016)

@AsRock, What about Maxtor or IBM hard disk drives? I had a few of those brands drives in my older builds.


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## Recon-UK (Sep 8, 2016)




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## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2016)

Short answer - you can game on ANY GPU, even those Trident cards from the early 90s if you know the facts & keep your expectations reasonable


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## Recon-UK (Sep 8, 2016)




----------



## Recon-UK (Sep 8, 2016)




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## puma99dk| (Sep 8, 2016)

I found this old buddy at work today


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## P4-630 (Sep 8, 2016)

Found my first PC games in a box, didn't remember I ever had GTA 2 lol 
Played them on my first intel celeron 2GHz, ati xpress, 512Mb ram, 30GB HDD laptop back in 2003.
Also had my first "highspeed" broadband internet at the time, 2Mb/s download No Wifi btw.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2016)

Well guys, it seems I got some pretty lame news... From all the video cards in my collection which I have (either in stock, as in surplus or built into the systems), apparently the Savage4 Pro one is completely dead  It just took me some time to realize that, because the 2D portion of the card seems to be working OK, but upon changing screen resolution or calling 3D the entire system freezes & hangs.

Same thing sometimes occurs in BIOS (and POST) as well... I even thought that it was the RAM thing, then I assumed that it was the motherboard behind all the problems, but when I swapped Savage for GeForce2 MX200 & everything worked OK, I finally got my answer 

Status Update
Oh well, I took some time to consider which way to go from this point on. Running Athlon XP 1700+ gives me more than enough muscle to go either high-end with something like GeForce4 4200, Radeon 9550 or low-end such as GeForce2 MX200. And for a moment I almost settled for Radeon 9550, but since this particular system wasn't designed for high-end GPU, and it's running 20GB HDD (instead of 40GB one), and since it only has 256MB of RAM, I've decided to keep the existing MX200. Except in the end I still had to change the card for another MX200 because the 1st one was OEM with limited compatibility & 16MB of VRAM. While the other, "Tornado MX200" has 64 & active cooling. Not much difference IMHO, but it's noticeable enough, especially in 3DMark 2000 where the OEM card lags even at "low" settings.

I'd like to hear your input on this one, which card should I put inside this thing? Potential candidates are Radeon 9550, Radeon 9100, Radeon 7500, Ti4200, MX400 & of course the existing MX200. Keep in mind that I won't be upgrading RAM or HDD, or even OS (WinME)


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## Komshija (Sep 9, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well guys, it seems I got some pretty lame news... From all the video cards in my collection which I have (either in stock, as in surplus or built into the systems), apparently the Savage4 Pro one is completely dead  It just took me some time to realize that, because the 2D portion of the card seems to be working OK, but upon changing screen resolution or calling 3D the entire system freezes & hangs .......
> I'd like to hear your input on this one, which card should I put inside this thing? Potential candidates are Radeon 9550, Radeon 9100, Radeon 7500, Ti4200, MX400 & of course the existing MX200. Keep in mind that I won't be upgrading RAM or HDD, or even OS (WinME)



Savage4 cards are quite rare over here...
MX200 and MX400 are very weak cards, while Radeon 7500 is too old for that system. Radeon 9100 might be a better solution.


----------



## AsRock (Sep 9, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> @AsRock, What about Maxtor or IBM hard disk drives? I had a few of those brands drives in my older builds.



Dam completely missed this ^^, Anyways personally never really used either to a great extent, i was more cheapest was the way to go so was more the WD seagate drives and when i seen the Quantum drives i knew i had to have one.  My 1st one was i got was from place in the UK were a bunch of shop owners would gather to sell stuff cheap and one owner had a Quantum Fireball, i was pissed but he phones the next day saying they gave him a  SCSI drive and that's how i got my first one all so remember the Adeptec ( 2940U if i remember right ) card i got for it which cost a frigging fortune back then.

But with moving the the US back in 2002 it was one thing i never took with me and not seen it ever since but i got the other crap,  Thinking my bother took ownership of it or got thrown away.

Better stop end up with a story else lol.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 9, 2016)

Komshija said:


> Savage4 cards are quite rare over here...
> MX200 and MX400 are very weak cards, while Radeon 7500 is too old for that system. Radeon 9100 might be a better solution.


Agreed, Savage cards are indeed very difficult to find nowdays. I still can't believe that of all the cards in my collection, Savage had to be the one with the problem... Talk about bad luck, huh? 

And thanks for the suggestion, I think you're onto something. Let's face it, Radeon 9550 would be the overkill for a system like Athlon XP 1700 and MX200 is just not enough. As for the rest of the cards, the situation is (pretty much) like this:

Radeon 9100 = GeForce4 Ti4200
Radeon 7500 = GeForce4 MX440

Therefore it only makes sense to go with the flow & use Radeon 9100, what you said.


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## biffzinker (Sep 9, 2016)

Couldn't you under clock the Radeon 9550 or the Geforce4 Ti 4200 to slow 'em down for the older build?

It's the old product page for the Nvidia Geforce4 Ti series.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4ti.html

Edit: Reminds me I had a Geforce3 Ti 200.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce3.html

Edit 2: The Radeon 7500 doesn't do to bad against a couple of the Geforce3 Ti cards.
http://hothardware.com/reviews/atis-radeon-8500-and-radeon-7500


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2016)

Swapped the card for Radeon 9100 which seemed to work at first, but then kept freezing up upon benchmark. Then I went into BIOS, thinking it was the AGP Fast Write that's causing the problems, when I lost the keyboard... Apparently the BIOS kept going, it didn't hang but none of the keys worked. In fact, upon the next boot sequence, the keyboard wasn't even recognized! Now looking at this entire situation, it seems there's something really bad going on with Asus mobo. The only way to find out for sure is to swap the board for other one, and that's what I'm about to do, tomorrow. This time I'm going with the older Gigabyte board, running Duron 950 and 256MB of SD-RAM. In fact, I'm going to try with Savage card 1st, just in case this turns out to be classic example of bad (or highly incompatible) motherboard. Because, remember... I've had MX200 card on Asus board & it was working perfectly fine, no problems whatsoever.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 10, 2016)

What happened to using the Asrock K7VT2?

Edit: Don't forget your also taking a hit on L2 Cache (256 KB) by stepping down from the AMD Athlon XP 1800+ to a Duron @950 MHz (64 KB.)

Edit 2: Come to think of it I did have a similar Asus board (think mine had a N in the product name) acting funny sent it back to NewEgg for different board. (EpoX?)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> What happened to using the Asrock K7VT2?
> 
> Edit: Don't forget your also taking a hit on L2 Cache (256 KB) by stepping down from the AMD Athlon XP 1800+ to a Duron @950 MHz (64 KB.)


These are two different systems we're talking about. One of them, so-called RetroMaster 2000 is running ASRock K7VT2 which is about to be upgraded to Asus A7V8X-X, therefore totally different Asus board  The one I'm talking about right now is Asus A7M266, similar board but not quite the same. But here's an idea... If the Asus board really turns out to be defective, I might end up putting ASRock board inside the "Savage" or Radeon 9100 build (the same, depending on which card I'll end up using), although I'd prefer to keep the Asus board mainly due to its good reputation. Well, for the most of other Asus boards that is lol.

Edit
Regarding your 2nd edit, I Googled around & found some interesting results. Apparently A7M266 was highly sensitive for some reason to Athlon XP 1700 (the exact model which I used for my own system) and some of the video cards. Again, don't ask me why because I have no idea lol. Some components every once in a while seem to be more sensitive to compatibility stuff, while the other boards not so much & can handle almost anything. At this point I can't tell if A7M266 is indeed defective or not, but I'm hoping to find out soon enough!

Edit2
Again, just to make it absolutely clear to anyone, since these two systems look very much alike. The RetroMaster2000 system, running AthlonXP 1800+ from my signature will remain the same, except it'll get the new & better motherboard soon, probably some time this next week. As for the system that's causing problems, that was Asus A7M266 & Athlon XP 1700+, which are now (temporarily?) swapped for Gigabyte board running Duron 950 (can't remember the model number at this point). Older model, with 1x ISA slot and SD RAM... Either way, IF I can get the Savage card to work, these specs will be more than enough for what I had in mind - games like Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, etc. Otherwise I'll look into other options & swapping the motherboard for another S462, so that it can run both Radeon 9100 and previously mentioned Athlon 9100. One thing I'm NOT worried about is shortage of S462 motherboards, as I got loads of these laying around


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2016)

Status update, yet again...

Seriously guys, I've never, EVER experienced the weirdest case before. So, regarding the Savage card ... yes, it DOES work! I successfully tested the card on another board & everything worked out OK... Then I went back to Asus & did some troubleshooting, heck I've been literally chasing the phantoms all over, thanks to this Asus board.

Now here's the weirdest part, you'd think the Asus board doesn't work right? Or that it's experiencing some sort of malfunction due to keyboard which tends to disappear or get stuck randomly, even in BIOS? But nope, as soon as I swapped the card(s) for GeForce, it all went back to normal. I'm doing a benchmark test on Asus as we speak, it's perfectly fine... Now I'm going to swap MX200 for GeForce4 Ti4200 & see if it still works or not. If it does, then I have a solid proof of what's going on here, the board for some odd reason only works with nVidia GPUs!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 10, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Status update, yet again...
> 
> Seriously guys, I've never, EVER experienced the weirdest case before. So, regarding the Savage card ... yes, it DOES work! I successfully tested the card on another board & everything worked out OK... Then I went back to Asus & did some troubleshooting, heck I've been literally chasing the phantoms all over, thanks to this Asus board.
> 
> Now here's the weirdest part, you'd think the Asus board doesn't work right? Or that it's experiencing some sort of malfunction due to keyboard which tends to disappear or get stuck randomly, even in BIOS? But nope, as soon as I swapped the card(s) for GeForce, it all went back to normal. I'm doing a benchmark test on Asus as we speak, it's perfectly fine... Now I'm going to swap MX200 for GeForce4 Ti4200 & see if it still works or not. If it does, then I have a solid proof of what's going on here, the board for some odd reason only works with nVidia GPUs!



Nah. You have a hardware problem or OS problem.
I have A7M266 and A7M266 dual boards and neither of them do what your's does.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2016)

You're right... After fiddling with Asus board for the entire afternoon I can indeed confirm that something's not OK with it. This is what the system looked like when I started, with the Asus board running Athlon XP 1700+ and MX200 card.


 



This here was the 3DMark benchmark score, which I got under MX200/1700+ combo and 256MB of DDR 266 RAM




I figured all the problems would be associated, related to the same cause but apparently that's not the case, there was several issues going on, all at the same time. The most obvious (and important) one would probably be the keyboard error, where the system either completely "locks" & keyboard no longer responds to any command, followed by video card thing, where only selected few video cards seemed to work OK, while the rest of them did not. Savage4 was obviously one of those cards, and even though it would always hang & crash on Asus board, it seems to be working perfectly fine on Gigabyte GA-7XE. So anyway, I swapped the mobo (and the CPU) and this is what I got:


 



System specs are whole lot different now, it's running Duron 950 with 256MB of SD-RAM and previously mentioned Savage4 Pro card which passed 3DMark benchmark with flying colors. Let's be honest, 1700+ would be overkill for a Savage4 machine, especially in combination with SD PC133 RAM. Gigabyte board is apparently capable of running 1700+, but I just don't see the point since it would be limited by the rest of the system.

Now, here's a million dollar question ... what to do with that Asus A7M266 board, shall I keep it as it is & use it in combo with USB keyboard (since the USB keyboard doesn't seem to cut off, stop responding) or shall I just scrap it as e-waste?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 10, 2016)

My personal opinion, while the A7M266 dual CPU board is the best dual socket 462 board ever made, it's little brother the A7M266 is a cheap entry board. I'd scrap it. It's only going to get worse.
I see at least one bad cap in your pic already.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> My personal opinion, while the A7M266 dual CPU board is the best dual socket 462 board ever made, it's little brother the A7M266 is a cheap entry board. I'd scrap it. It's only going to get worse.
> I see at least one bad cap in your pic already.


Seriously? Which one? (didn't really see anything obvious or bulging...) Depending on the amount of caps & how easy it is to pull them out, I might recap the board... Otherwise I'll just scrap it.


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## Mr.Scott (Sep 10, 2016)

Circled. Top is bulged.
I'd probably do all of them in that area.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2016)

Really... Wow, thanks bunches! I went to check the actual board & again couldn't see anything obvious, until I used the flashlight. It's indeed bulging but just barely, so it only shows up when magnified or when you cast light over the area. I might swap the caps for new ones, to see if it'll make any difference. But then again, I can get another board, A7*A*266 for the same price if not less! ($1,50)


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## Bones (Sep 11, 2016)

Speaking of fixing boards I've had some good fortune over the last 24 hours - Went from 0 to 2 working AN7's after doing some work with them including a semi-overhaul of one that up until now had always been in question.
That board was bought on fleabay over 5 years ago for parts and while it did show signs of life when I tested it at that time it never really did anything so I began robbing parts from it, then set it aside. Yesterday after reviving one AN7 I for some reason got the idea of tinkering with it "Just to see" if I really coudn't do anything to get it going - It did show a sign of life back then and I was like "Why not?"
So...... Looked it over and saw I had removed most of the board's caps for others over time but luckily I had another complete AN7 that was truly dead along with other dead boards so I went for it.

After working with it for about 4 hours worth of soldering including replacing 3 of those little brown transistors on it's back I set it up and tested - The board booted right up as if nothing had ever been wrong with it.  I do have a third I need to check and will work on that later today but for now I'm happy my work paid off.

EDIT:
Make that three AN7's now - Fixed another one that wasn't responding to the header pins, the NB fan woudn't come on and was showing the intital POST code 00 the entire time when I powered it up via the PSU manually with a jumper wire/switch setup I made.
Checked the board over and when I looked it over on it's back I noted location R411 didn't look right - Seemed like something may have been there before but the solder in that location looked rough compared to other marked locations that had smooth-looking dots of solder. Looked at a working AN7 and saw it did have one in that location so desoldered the resistor from the parts board and soldered it in place, set it up and tested - It powered up, went through the POST codes and everything, got it into the OS and all was working just fine. Blessed to have the good fortune of today and maybe it will continue, I do have other projects I need to do but this series of repairs went super smooth.


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## Recon-UK (Sep 12, 2016)




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## Bones (Sep 13, 2016)

Well, I"m out of parts boards..... Because the one being used for parts with the other 2 boards is no longer dead.
All I did was reinstall what I had robbed from it, did a few repairs to it  with parts from other truly dead boards and tested - Powered right on and got the POST screen from it. Now I have all 4 of my AN7's in working order, can't ask for much more considering as of this past Friday morning all 4 were not working, three actually being dead.

It's starting to look like a silicon-zombie apocalypse over here..... and I'm not complaining one bit.


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## Ahhzz (Sep 14, 2016)

Working on an old server this morn, trying to convert some files.... had to look for these....


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## AsRock (Sep 14, 2016)

THat all so have no user interface ?, I remember UNIX being totally DOS like in the early days.

And when a floppy disk was truly floppy .


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 15, 2016)

Sorry to say, but unlike @Bones I didn't have much luck fixing up the boards... The Asus board is shot - I managed to replace voltage-regulating caps, I even took some pics & was going to upload them here, but since it didn't resolve the keyboard problem, I've decided against it. So instead of wasting my time (and money) on replacement caps & damaging one board after another, I should have just bought the "new" board instead, A7A266, which I eventually did...

I still don't have it yet here with me, but it'll be delivered some time soon, I hope. Meanwhile I completely took the Savage system apart, and am going to build it from scratch. New case (since I'm thinking that the case MAY had something to do with mobo damage), new Asus A7A board, new RAM, everything is going to get replaced apart from optical & hard drives, along with Savage card.  The only problem is that I don't have a better case at the moment, so until I find something more decent that hadn't been bent and/or distorted (at least the inner motherboard tray) this project will be on hold.

Oh well, maybe now I'll finally take my time to upgrade RetroMaster 2000 system...


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## Bones (Sep 15, 2016)

Sorry to hear you didn't have much luck with your work. I'd keep the old board around for parts, like it was for me the ones I had for such came in handy and was the big reason I was able to do the repairs - No parts, no repair. I got lucky with the AN7s in that all these turned out to be fixable and so far they have been working fine after my work was done but now I need to get myself some replacement caps since these ate up my entire stash - At least I had enough to get it done. 

I'm currently trying to find a complete electrical circuit diagram for a DFI LanParty Ultra B board so I can fix the one I've been working on, it's not the one I have pics of earlier in this thread but another I bought before that one to repair. No luck looking around and it's probrably one of those things this info won't be easy to find if at all but I'll keep looking anyway.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 15, 2016)

Sounds like a great plan, wishing you good luck! I've had my share of mobo repairs over the last couple of years, and while I managed to save some of them, I had to scrap the rest of them... 

Thing about damaged motherboards is that most of my stuff, collection was all in working order. In fact, I've had loads of good luck in finding parts that's in great (and working) condition, so I didn't really have to do any repairs, in order to make it work. With that being said, I DID get to fry at least 4 or 5 Socket A motherboards, over the last 6 months or so  IDK, call it a bad luck if you wish, but it just happened! First 2 or 3 boards were damaged by installing (and running) the board with damaged CPUs. Obviously, I didn't realize they were damaged, otherwise I wouldn't use them to begin with. By the time I realized what's going on, I already went through 3 motherboards and 6 AMD CPUs heh. I really feel bad for those, but at least I realized what's going on, before I destroyed my entire collection of S462 motherboards & CPUs 

Speaking of which, I also scrapped 3 more boards within the last couple of days. 1st one, Epox was DOA, it was already completely shot when I got it so it wasn't technically my fault... 2nd one was previously mentioned Asus A7M266, which seemed to worked at first but then started acting up & seized the keyboard to the point where I  decided to change the caps (didn't help) & eventually had to give up. There are two possible reasons to why this happened, either the case itself shorted the board (which is possible, since it was kinda bent & out of proportions), OR it was a dial-up modem, which I plugged into both Asus and Gigabyte boards, both mentioned in one of my previous posts. Because the Gigabyte board definitely worked at first but then seized up & "exploded" around PS/2 keyboard port. So yeah, this last one is definitely my fault, but it's too late to save it now... The best you can do is learn from your mistakes & take it from the beginning!


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 16, 2016)

Speaking of old hardware, just thought I'd mention this here...

As of recently, Futuremark company which developed (and released) the famous 3DMark benchmarks is now offering legacy products for free. Meaning, all the "older" benchmarks such as 99, 2000, 2001, etc are now completely free & available for download HERE.

Have fun!


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## GreiverBlade (Sep 16, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of old hardware, just thought I'd mention this here...
> 
> As for recently, Futuremark company which developed (and released) the famous 3DMark benchmarks is now offering legacy products for free. Meaning, all the "older" benchmarks such as 99, 2000, 2001, etc are now completely free & available for download HERE.
> 
> Have fun!


-HELL YEAH! THANKS BUDDY!


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 16, 2016)

GreiverBlade said:


> -HELL YEAH! THANKS BUDDY!


No prob, any time!


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## stinger608 (Sep 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of old hardware, just thought I'd mention this here...
> 
> As of recently, Futuremark company which developed (and released) the famous 3DMark benchmarks is now offering legacy products for free. Meaning, all the "older" benchmarks such as 99, 2000, 2001, etc are now completely free & available for download HERE.
> 
> Have fun!




That is great bro! I included a link on the first original post.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 17, 2016)

Cool, thanks! To tell you the truth, I was going to ask you to do the same thing, since 3DMark is so commonly used among retro PC enthusiasts... Therefore publishing it for free (and making it easier to find & download) will make benchmarking & testing process a whole lot easier and more enjoyable


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## buzzi (Sep 18, 2016)

Sunday Stack! my friend has not pick 'em up yet 
   
I was excited when I noticed 74HTC00 on board (actually only their pcb allocations above floopy connector, maybe for higher level motherboards), same we used to work with in high-school 
   
This is what is inside the first case:






5.25" floppy drive


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## serpico (Sep 18, 2016)

Hi from 1997 and 2000

There is a Celeron 566(cropped from pentium III coppermine) on the left. And a Pentium 150(the ceramic one) on the right hand side. "KARMA" was a Turkish retailer at that time. Oldies but goldies...


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## debs3759 (Sep 18, 2016)

serpico said:


> Hi from 1995 and 1999
> 
> There is a Celeron 566(cropped from pentium III coppermine) on the left. And a Pentium 150(the ceramic one) on the right hand side. "KARMA" was a Turkish retailer at that time. Oldies but goldies...



Not sure how you worked out the production dates. The Pentium 150 was launched in Jan 1996. Yours was made in week 5 of 1997. Celeron 566 was launched in March 2000, yours was made in week 37 of that year. Love the old Pentium chips, but the Celeron, especially that low end, never really did it for me.


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## AsRock (Sep 18, 2016)

buzzi said:


> Sunday Stack! my friend has not pick 'em up yet
> View attachment 78945View attachment 78963 View attachment 78946 View attachment 78947 View attachment 78948
> I was excited when I noticed 74HTC00 on board (actually only their pcb allocations above floopy connector, maybe for higher level motherboards), same we used to work with in high-school
> View attachment 78949 View attachment 78950 View attachment 78951 View attachment 78952
> ...



OOh those were the days when you could plug the monitor in to the PSU .


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## serpico (Sep 18, 2016)

debs3759 said:


> Not sure how you worked out the production dates. The Pentium 150 was launched in Jan 1996. Yours was made in week 5 of 1997. Celeron 566 was launched in March 2000, yours was made in week 37 of that year. Love the old Pentium chips, but the Celeron, especially that low end, never really did it for me.



That's my bad. Actually these are secondhand cpu's and received about 2003 by myself. My Turkish sources probably mistaken. I will correct the dates, thanks


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## buzzi (Sep 18, 2016)

@AsRock oh yes, those PSUs are so sweet


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 18, 2016)

AsRock said:


> OOh those were the days when you could plug the monitor in to the PSU .





buzzi said:


> @AsRock oh yes, those PSUs are so sweet


I should be able to find one of those power pass-through cables laying around, as I clearly remember buying one couple of years ago. Wanted to chop off the female plug, so that I could hook it up to (standard) extension cord outlets & plug it into the UPS unit. But that didn't quite work out, so (unless I gave it so someone) it's just laying around & collecting dust.

I also remember my 1st experience with these things & hooking the monitor directly into the mains... Every system back then used to have pass-through cable, rather than having a separate cable for the monitor, so I came back from school one day & boldly decided to see what's going to happen if I take the power cord & plug it directly into the mains lol. Obviously, nothing happened, and I've been using separate cable for the monitor ever since ... IDK, it just seems much better & more reliable that way.

Edit
Ona a side note, I've been pretty busy yesterday & today, working on the new version of "DriverCD", a personal tool which I use to boot up & expand all my retro systems. 699MB of drivers, various DirectX versions, PDF manuals, benchmarks & other useful tools. And since I was already upgrading my existing 3DMark database with the ones released for free (on the official website), I took the liberty of downloading & backing-up all the legacy 3DMark benchmarks I could find. Mainly because companies tend to change their mind (especially regarding free products) every now & then, or simply go bankrupt so their software disappears & can no longer be found anywhere...  Believe it or not I've encountered situations like those way too many times, to simply ignore!


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 20, 2016)

Once again, I'm going to double-post... Although I don't think anyone will mind, especially considering what's coming up ahead 




So, I fired up my RetroMaster 2000 & was hoping to play the game or two but unfortunately the entire system crashed... Once I actually got the Windows to start up, system was acting pretty weird, it didn't even want to shut down.




At this point I've had enough, so I forced it off & decided to (finally) address the issue. You know what time it is, it's tool time!


 



As you can probably tell, this this ain't your average gaming machine! So I had to address one step at the time, slowly taking it apart & removing one piece at the time... Starting with expansion cards


 

 



Then moving onto the DVD (which doesn't work) and 40GB Maxtor HDD


 



And eventually taking the entire motherboard apart, removing the Jet engine CPU cooler (Jet7), so that I could pull the old board out.


 



This here is the old ASRock K7VT2... Following @stinger608's suggestion, I did get to test the legacy USB components, but unfortunately it seems that removing DVD drive didn't have any positive impact on the actual board. OK, to be fair I didn't get to further test the board & see if it'll keep on crashing or not (mainly because I was in the hurry) but I'm not going to throw it away just yet. Instead I'm hoping to hook it up some time soon & go through the entire range of stress tests & benchmarks. If it's not going to be stable then yes, it's most likely to end up as e-waste.




The main "core" of RetroMaster 2000, still inside the old ASRock board 




So enough about ASRock & old components... It's time to spice things up a bit! Installing the Asus board was far more easier than I expected... It simply fell right into the place!




REALLY, Asus?! This situation here is one (and only) that I've encountered with Asus boards... Fortunately the heatsink clip is not touching the RAM module, but placing it into the slot was a nightmare!  (which reminds me, I need to do a full memory test, just in case I've scratched the RAM module)




OK, so the new board is in place... Time to mount the new DVD-RW & floppy drives


 



Followed by a pair of new Seagate hard drives... Hope I'm not making a mistake by using Seagate over WD, as I've heard a lot of bad things about Seagate (and their NAS units) recently


 

 



From this point forward, it's all just a matter of putting things back together & doing a proper cable management (oh the horrors!)


 

 

 



I'll be honest, I'm not 100% happy with the way cable management ended up looking, but at least it looks clear enough to see every component. Which obviously means I had to run a lot of cables through the other side, and across the case.




Few more last-minute modifications, and there you have it guys, my new ultimate retro gaming PC system! 


 



Software benchmarks, OS installations & more pics coming up soon!


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## Mr.Scott (Sep 20, 2016)

Your K7VT2 has two cooked mosfets.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 20, 2016)

@Mr.Scott That would certainly explain a LOT of problems, once again thanks bunches for pointing it out! I'm not going to fiddle with SMD however, this thing is not worth the time and/OR money, so it's going to e-waste. TBH, I initially received this board in non-working condition, the owner made it absolutely clear that the board doesn't work, but the initial problem turned out to be the jumper settings ... lack of jumpers to be exact as someone removed all of them from the board. Maybe even because of the same reason, fried mosfet (never really took the time to examine the board carefully, as I was always busy with other projects & multi-tasking between two systems)

This system here started out as simple nVidia TNT2 Pro machine, which was going to run low-end games from the early 2000s and worked its way to ultimate retro gaming system 

Edit
Testing the newly upgraded RetroMaster 2000 (RetroMaster 2500?) and so far everything seems to be in order... Both DVD drives are working OK, so does floppy & two hard drives. Currently testing the memory, and then I'm going to give it a quick bad-sector test, for both HDDs. Assuming both of them check out OK, I'm good to go with installing Windows


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## biffzinker (Sep 20, 2016)

It's been a long time since I last seen that blower/heatsink combo. Use to have that exact one your using Trekkie4.

Edit: Couldn't tell you the Athlon XP model I had it clipped on though.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 20, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> It's been a long time since I last seen that blower/heatsink combo. Use to have that exact one your using Trekkie4.
> 
> Edit: Couldn't tell you the Athlon XP model I had it clipped on though.


You mean the Coolermaster Jet7 CPU cooler?


 



Yeah, I actually got this one still inside the box, as new old stock. Original box (plastic container) was broken, so instead of keeping as it was, I've decided to put it into a good use. Shame I don't have one of those acrylic transparent cases, but you can still see Jet7 inside the Coolermaster one, through the 140x140 fan holes...


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## Apocalypsee (Sep 20, 2016)

Damn Trekkie4 you got stuff for everything. The stuff things I would like to buy back then


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 20, 2016)

Heh-heh, thanks  This one was quite a surprise actually, it's not like I find these things every day.

Edit
Well, things are NOT coming along the way I expected... Everything worked out OK until it was the time to boot up the OS. However, my decision to run 80GB drive as Primary Master & 40GB one as Primary Slave completely backfired on me, because Windows 98 needs to be installed before the XP.... In fact, I need to run both drives at Fat32 before I'm allowed to install XP & convert the 2nd drive into NTFS. However, since the 80GB drive is considered primary, this is apparently where the boot loader goes, so once I actually converted the drive all the hell broke loose. Not to mention the fact that Windows 98 thinks it's being installed on partition "D", when I actually need W98 to be installed on C one...

Sooo in other words, I'll have to take the system apart tomorrow & swap the drives. 40GB one will run as master and 80GB as slave. Since they're both the same brand & have the same speed, this shouldn't be much of an issue, I hope...?


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## biffzinker (Sep 21, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sooo in other words, I'll have to take the system apart tomorrow & swap the drives. 40GB one will run as master and 80GB as slave. Since they're both the same brand & have the same speed, this shouldn't be much of an issue, I hope...?


Sounds like a plan, I don't see why it wouldn't work out. I didn't know the plan involved dual booting 98SE, and XP.


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## Bones (Sep 21, 2016)

Scored a pair of Infinity boards last week and both are in working order but needed some caps replaced.
I've already fixed one with the other left to do once I track down a cap to completely redo them.
Thing that suprised me is these boards look like they just came out of the box brandnew, I mean you can't ask for these to have been in better shape except for the caps and I believe these may have been either slightly used or not at all and stored somewhere.
Naturally with age the caps sometimes will bulge anyway and thats the case here but at least it's not anything serious to worry about..... Unless I try and run them as is, then it could be trouble and not doing that. Here's a pic of one of the boards I got and I've already replaced the bad caps on this one.


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## buzzi (Sep 21, 2016)

That Jet 7 is impressive!


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## Bones (Sep 21, 2016)

I need to find one of those. 

Got my Susanoo the same way, as NOS and I am using it - Working good with my FX-8300.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 21, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Sounds like a plan, I don't see why it wouldn't work out. I didn't know the plan involved dual booting 98SE, and XP.


Well then, you seem to be missing a LOT of facts & information on RetroMaster project  Take a look at these links, down below... As for the disk issue(s), it's a general "rule" to always put the faster & higher capacity drives as Master, followed by slower & lower capacity drives as Slave. And this is actually for a reason, because running lower capacity drives as Master (according to some techs) seem to affect data transfer speed, meaning your drives will run slower. I never said it wouldn't work out, but I'm sacrificing speed for the sake of compatibility here. Anyhow, since my hands are tied & I don't have any other choice (other than installing W98 on 80GB drive & using 40GB one for XP which doesn't make any sense) it seems I'll have no option but to swap them 

_The history of RetroMaster 2000 Part 1 & Part 2_
_About RetroMaster 2000 project_
_Upgrading from MX400 to Ti4200_
_Upgrading from onboard to  SB Live!, DOS support_

It's all been explained before, RetroMaster was (and is, will be) a multi-platform solution for retro gaming, which covers pretty much everything from late DOS to early XP, games like Half-Life 2 & similar  That's the reason why it has 3 video cards, 2 sound cards & 2 hard drives. One drive will be entirely W98 + DOS, while the other one is dedicated to XP & will be formatted in NTFS.

Edit
What do you say guys, since I already have to open up the case, shall I swap the existing Ti4200 for Radeon 9550?


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## biffzinker (Sep 21, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> What do you say guys, since I already have to open up the case, shall I swap the existing Ti4200 for Radeon 9550?


I'm going to pick the Radeon 9550.



> The GeForce 4 Ti4200 enjoyed considerable longevity compared to its higher-clocked peers. At half the cost of the 4600, the 4200 remained the best balance between price and performance until the launch of the ATI Radeon 9500 Pro at the end of 2002.[8] The Ti4200 still managed to hold its own against several next generation DirectX 9 chips released in late 2003, outperforming the GeForce FX 5200 and the midrange FX 5600, and performing similarly to the mid-range Radeon 9600.[9][10]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_4_series


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 21, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Anyhow, since my hands are tied & I don't have any other choice (other than installing W98 on 80GB drive & using 40GB one for XP which doesn't make any sense) it seems I'll have no option but to swap them



Done! 



biffzinker said:


> I'm going to pick the Radeon 9550


And done! Pics coming up shortly, as soon as I test the system... Also did some cable management (yet again), was trying to make it look more organized. IDK if I succeeded, you'll be the judge 

Edit
I'm reading (archived) articles online, regarding the same dilemma - 4200 or Radeon 9550, and for some reason ppl seem to think that 4200 is better... I honestly don't understand why, since they both have the same bus (AGP 4X/8X), amount of memory (128MB) and core clock (250MHz). All other values are in favor of 9550, since it has 400MHz RAMDAC over 350MHz on 4200 and full DirectX 9 support which wasn't the case with GF4 cards (until the 5th, "FX" generation)

Edit2
Swapped hard drives, new cable management (around HDDs in particular & Voodoo2 cards), the IDE cable now goes all the way down to bottom drive & then back up again.


 



Asus A9550GE/TD video card...




Along with the older, Leadtek WinFast A280LE (nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200) This one certainly looks cooler & more powerful, but in the terms of numbers & values, it seems to be slower than Asus card...


 



Rear view of the case, including the I/O shield


 



And since you guys seem to like Jet7 so much, here's a speed controller bracket for the CPU jet turbine ... ahem, cooler fan


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## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Edit
> I'm reading (archived) articles online, regarding the same dilemma - 4200 or Radeon 9550, and for some reason ppl seem to think that 4200 is better... I honestly don't understand why, since they both have the same bus (AGP 4X/8X), amount of memory (128MB) and core clock (250MHz). All other values are in favor of 9550, since it has 400MHz RAMDAC over 350MHz on 4200 and full DirectX 9 support which wasn't the case with GF4 cards (until the 5th, "FX" generation)


I went looking again earlier after I posted my recommendation for 9550, apparently the Geforce4 Ti 4200 does have more memory bandwidth (7.104 GB/s - 128 MB) 8 GB/s -64 MB) compared to the 9550's (6.4 GB/s - 128 MB?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce4_series

http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-9550-card-80.html

Edit: Thanks for posting the photo of the Ti 4200 Leadtek card. I remember reading over reviews for that card.  Wasn't that a fairly popular card at the time?


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> I went looking again earlier after I posted my recommendation for 9550, apparently the Geforce4 Ti 4200 does have more memory bandwidth (7.104 GB/s - 128 MB) 8 GB/s -64 MB) compared to the 9550's (6.4 GB/s - 128 MB?)
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce4_series
> 
> http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-9550-card-80.html


Hmm, you're right... I could hardly find any information on the Asus card, but from what it seems, it's only 6.4GB/s, while the nVidia card is 8.2GB/s ... that's a pretty big difference IMHO.

IDK, let's ask for 3rd (and neutral) opinion - guys? What's it going to be, Asus A9550GE/TD or LeadTek WinFast A280 LE? I would need to know the answer ASAP, so that I can finally begin with driver installation & booting up the software...


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## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2016)

I would imagine memory bandwidth on those old cards would be worth the consideration considering the primitive early rejection they did to conserve rendering performance/memory bandwidth unlike today's cards.

http://techreport.com/review/5009/ati-radeon-9600-pro-gpu/4


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

You're right... However, you also have to keep in mind that Asus card supports DX9 & has higher RAMDAC... As for all other values, they're pretty much even (at least according to benchmarks & tests) IDK, maybe I'll leave this one for tomorrow


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## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2016)

buzzi said:


> That Jet 7 is impressive!


No dead spot (lack of air flow) in the middle of heatsink caused by a normal fans bearing hub were as the Jet's motor is up top out of the way.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> No dead spot (lack of air flow) in the middle of heatsink caused by a normal fans bearing hub were as the Jet's motor is up top out of the way.


Nah, that's what "they" want you to think... In real life, it doesn't really matter much. Maybe 1-2 (Celsius) difference but that's about it, really. What makes Jet7 so terrible is the noise, this thing is VERY loud. And I do mean loud, even by my standards, and I'm not the kind of person who's afraid to use fan extra, just to keep the system running cooler  So in order to put up with the noise, I have the speed controller set all the way down to bare minimum, as you can probably tell from the picture above. Still, I wouldn't change this for anything mainly because it's kinda unique & looks cool!


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah, that's what "they" want you to think... In real life, it doesn't really matter much. Maybe 1-2 (Celsius) difference but that's about it, really.


You sure about that? What's the hottest part of the heatsink usually? The middle right where the CPU's die sits bare or under a heatspreader, and where does the air flow from a normal fan touch the outside parameter of the heatsinks fins.



Spoiler: No peeking



I'm just giving you hard time Trekkie4.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> You sure about that? What's the hottest part of the heatsink usually? The middle right where the CPU's die sits bare or under a heatspreader, and where does the air flow from a normal fan touch the outside parameter of the heatsinks fins.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's true, although the heat will spread across the heatsink & will get dissipated by the cooling fan one way or another. Which brings me to what I said above, yes it really does have better efficiency but considering how small it is, it's not worth it. However, if you crank up Jet7 all the way up to the max speed, you WILL notice instant performance, temp will immediately drop down by several Celsius. I've tried it several times just for fun, but couldn't stand the racket for too long 

Edit
All this blower vs fan talk reminded me of tower-design CPU coolers, and all the hype over the number of fans... According to Cooler Master, running so called "push-pull" configuration on Hyper TX3, Hyper 212 & similar will have a better effect than just using single "push" fan, which comes with the actual heatsink. I've tried both, single push & push-pull and can indeed confirm there's barely any difference between those two. The only advantage of running two fans is that you can have better efficiency at lower RPM, while the single fan struggles due to (apparently) air not reaching the heat pipes.



Spoiler: No lurking



Nah, you're not! I LOVE these things!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 22, 2016)

You need to try a SLK 900 with a Vantec Tornado then. It will make your Jet7 sound quiet. 
There is no better for socket A though......short of water.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

Thermalright? I just Googled it & got speechless


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thermalright? I just Googled it & got speechless


Also tried this type of fan back in day. Has the magnets in the four corners no motor in the middle. Edit: Y.S TECH TMD 70mm fan







Trekkie4 said:


> Thermalright? I just Googled it & got speechless


I did have the Vantec Tornado attached to a Thermaright SK-6, I remember messing around with Tornado on my desk by plugging it in and watching it push it self around the desk.







> This fan is a Delta FFB0612EHE, kindly provided by Cool PC, who sell it for $AU26. It's an 8000RPM horror good for more than 50 quoted cubic feet per minute, with a run power up around *nine watts*. Not much by car radiator fan standards, but you'll still find it pretty darn impressive if you absent-mindedly stick your finger in it.
> 
> The FFB0612EHE makes a very nasty racket. It also provides a pretty definite upper performance indicator for the SLK-600 heat sink.
> 
> ...


----------



## remixedcat (Sep 22, 2016)

I got a retro networking hardware review soon as I can find the power adapter for this old as fook router  (DDWRT_WTF_RMX_NX_87767666OMGNUMBERSXM)

and after it the big stuff review!!! OF FREAKIN YEAH!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

Really guys, not even a single comment/suggestion on the video card dilemma? Oh well, it doesn't matter now, I've decided to restore the original WinFast Ti4200, and might look into OCing the card, to take advantage of that hefty heatsink... I remember 3DGameMan doing a review on this particular model, and he talked about OC, so I might follow his footsteps & see how fast I can get it going 

Normally I'm against OC old hardware of any kind, but this here situation is where OC comes in very handy due to several reasons. Primarily because I can gain more power when I need it (while playing DX8 & DX9 games), and lower it back down again when I'm under DOS & older W98 environment.


----------



## Caring1 (Sep 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> What do you say guys, since I already have to open up the case, shall I swap the existing Ti4200 for Radeon 9550?


http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=141&card2=80


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

Thanks for the tip, but these are not accurate values... Not to me anyway, because neither 9550 or 4200 are reference cards, they're both manufactured by the 3rd party & had been modified by them. 4200 was beefed up by Leadtek, and 9550 was (somewhat) improved by Asus.

Either way, I already got my 4200 back inside & am not going to fiddle with video cards any longer  I really do feel bad for DX9 support though, as there are so many games which I'd love to play on RetroMaster but they're not compatible with 4200


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 22, 2016)

I personally had a soft spot for the Nvidia Ti series of cards. I would think that the Ti4200 would outperform the 9550 by a fair margin.


----------



## buzzi (Sep 22, 2016)

sorry mate I can't help you


----------



## PHaS3 (Sep 22, 2016)

My old Athlon64 X2 3800+ and Gigabyte M570SLI nForce 570 motherboard, now with 2GB DDR2 and running my home Sophos XG firewall install (https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-xg-firewall-home-edition.aspx for anyone super interested) with an old X300 



Spoiler: Pic one :)












Spoiler: Pic two :)









Real men run their firewalls naked


----------



## buzzi (Sep 22, 2016)

Am I the only one who sees half a picture of the second shot?
lovely system btw


----------



## PHaS3 (Sep 22, 2016)

buzzi said:


> Am I the only one who sees half a picture of the second shot?


Odd, i see the whole thing and I'm pretty sure it uploaded the whole thing :/ if anyone else sees it like that i'll upload moar


----------



## buzzi (Sep 22, 2016)

Now I see it in all its beauty


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I really do feel bad for DX9 support though, as there are so many games which I'd love to play on RetroMaster but they're not compatible with 4200


If you would have stuck with the 9550 you could have taken advantage of ATI's TruForm (N-patches.)

Just for kicks I installed Soldier of Fortune II Double Helix on the system specs listed within my profile. Installed the 2003 patch, and what do you know it run just dandy without having to mess/tinker with any compatible settings in Windows 10. Something however looked off in the game though because I remembered the NPCs being more rounded instead of blocks of polygons. I forgot this was one of those games that supported ATI's TruForm it's listed within the advance settings.

Strange though the game seen the ATI/AMD card, and defaulted to Truform ON even though there's no support in the drivers unlike your older 9550 that ran Truform as a Vertex Shader with the proper Catalyst driver. The Radeon 8500 was the only one to support Truform in hardware.

Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_TruForm#Games_with_TruForm_support

Nvidia choose the name R-patches for the same thing.

Edit 2: 


Trekkie4 said:


> Normally I'm against OC old hardware of any kind, but this here situation is where OC comes in very handy due to several reasons. Primarily because I can gain more power when I need it (while playing DX8 & DX9 games), and lower it back down again when I'm under DOS & older W98 environment.


If your going to overclock the Ti 4200, I suppose you could of tried the same with the 9550


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> I personally had a soft spot for the Nvidia Ti series of cards. I would think that the Ti4200 would outperform the 9550 by a fair margin.


In that case it's a good thing I've decided to stick with trusty 4200  It really is a great card, and with DX9 support it would have been flawless IMHO. Well at least this particular model, not sure what the reference cards are like, since I never had one before. This Leadtek card was obviously beefed up, because specs from the website do not match the original values from nVidia...



buzzi said:


> sorry mate I can't help you


No prob, it's all good. TBH, I was kinda leaning more towards GeForce all along, but didn't want to say it out loud (especially because of previously mentioned DX9 issue) Which is why I wanted 3rd opinion...



biffzinker said:


> If you would have stuck with the 9550 you could have taken advantage of ATI's TruForm (N-patches.)
> 
> Edit 2:
> 
> If your going to overclock the Ti 4200, I suppose you could of tried the same with the 9550


Can't say I've heard about TruForm, but I did Google 9550 several times, I even searched for benchmarks & other useful information on YouTube... From what I gathered, 9550 WILL indeed do its job (just like 4200) but at much lower rate than GeForce. It will outperform 4200 under DirectX9 environment to be exact, but it'll be much slower in Win9X & DX8.1, at least that's what the guys wrote on the support forum.

And not really, no. According to folks who used this card way back, when it was brand new, 9550 is not the kind of card you'd want to OC. From what I understood, that would have been 9500SE, but maybe I'm wrong? *shrug*

Also, don't forget about cooling issue... Whenever you OC anything, it'll get much warmer than it's designed to. And somehow I don't think that tiny fan with Asus branded heatsink on 9550 would do a proper job of cooling OCed GPU. On the ther hand, you saw Leadtek card, right? It's basically sandwiched together by two aluminum plates, both VRAM and GPU and it has a bigger fan. Which makes it much better candidate for OC in my opinion


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2016)

Wasn't arguing with you for choosing the Ti 4200, just in case you had that impression. I did enjoy my Geforce3 Ti 200 way back at the time. No luck finding the company brand for the Ti 200. I bought it locally in Alaska at CompUSA. (memory failure)

Edit: I did have the ATI Radeon 9500 Pro, and I definitely remember overclocking on that card.





^How about that it looks exactly like the card I had.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 22, 2016)

I know, I know  Just wanted to help you see things from my perspective, that's all. One way or another it was a tough choice, seemed to cause a lot of disputes back in 2002/03. Just Google for 9550 vs Ti4200 and you'll see what I mean 

Edit
Ah yes, 9500Pro would be much better candidate for OC in my opinion... It also has the external power supply header, because it draws too much current. Unlike 9550 which is your average & basic model. I'm not saying it's impossible to OC 9550, just that you wouldn't gain much in the terms of speed & performance.

Edit2
Here are few more pics, last ones for now 

Finished RetroMaster 2000 system, ready to roll!




I wanted to do a clean install on this thing, especially since I replaced so much hardware... But unfortunately I've encountered some annoying (and weird) problem half way booting up Win98, it began crashing due to sound card (it confused on-board sound with Live!), so it was either to give up entirely & start over or just take the external drive (from the pic), hook it up & restore previously-made system image... Which I did, I guess you can call it instant success  XP was not so lucky, it doesn't want to boot up for some reason so I'm going to do it from scratch. It's not a big issue, as there are only few games & drivers under XP anyway.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 23, 2016)

Did you forget to disable the on-board audio codec? You could have taken out the Sound Blaster Live!, do the clean install of Windows 98, and then re-install the Sound Blaster Live! card.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 23, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Did you forget to disable the on-board audio codec? You could have taken out the Sound Blaster Live!, do the clean install of Windows 98, and then re-install the Sound Blaster Live! card.


Nope, didn't forget... Just wanted to install drivers for both of the sound cards 1st, and only then disable the onboard sound. I did the same thing 1st time, and it worked out OK, not sure what happened today *shrug*

W98 recognized Live as "default" sound device, but still kept on searching for VIA onboard audio for some reason which led to system crash. Ironically, Live! was working perfectly OK all this time, and I had the sound mixer icon for Live card in taskbar. So I'm thinking it may have something to do with sys registry... IDK


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 23, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Wasn't arguing with you for choosing the Ti 4200, just in case you had that impression. I did enjoy my Geforce3 Ti 200 way back at the time. No luck finding the company brand for the Ti 200. I bought it locally in Alaska at CompUSA. (memory failure)
> 
> Edit: I did have the ATI Radeon 9500 Pro, and I definitely remember overclocking on that card.
> 
> ...


That looks like 9500/9700/9700 Pro, 9500 Pro had all the memory chips in a straight line.






9500 Pro had a physical 128-bit memory bus, but those 9500 128MB had a physical 256-bit bus, and could be modded to 9700/9700 Pro. 9500 64MB didn't have all the memory chips so that couldn't be modded to a 9700 series card.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 23, 2016)

Bones said:


> Scored a pair of Infinity boards last week and both are in working order but needed some caps replaced.
> I've already fixed one with the other left to do once I track down a cap to completely redo them.
> Thing that suprised me is these boards look like they just came out of the box brandnew, I mean you can't ask for these to have been in better shape except for the caps and I believe these may have been either slightly used or not at all and stored somewhere.
> Naturally with age the caps sometimes will bulge anyway and thats the case here but at least it's not anything serious to worry about..... Unless I try and run them as is, then it could be trouble and not doing that. Here's a pic of one of the boards I got and I've already replaced the bad caps on this one.
> View attachment 79058


"Some experts believe that the use of any keyboard may cause serious injury. Consult statement on the back of this keyboard" LMAO!!  Wait, are they even serious?! Sure, if you whack someone on the head with this thing...  (sorry for taking so much time to go through your posts @Bones, I was too busy & occupied with RetroMaster thing)


----------



## Bones (Sep 23, 2016)

I understand - Was working with yet another board today (A7N8X Deluxe 2.0) and a GPU (Sapphire X1950 GT) I received.
Tested both and they are OK, great buy for me since I scored both pieces for under $30 shipped.

Actual pic of the GPU received - Looks like it's gonna be a good one guys.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 23, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> That looks like 9500/9700/9700 Pro, 9500 Pro had all the memory chips in a straight line.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Strange then cause the 9500 Pro I had looked the same as the image I posted, and I never had the 9700/9700 Pro. I remember having to bend to floppy power connector on the back edge corner of the card because it started bending away from the board.



Bones said:


> I understand - Was working with yet another board today (A7N8X Deluxe 2.0) and a GPU (Sapphire X1950 GT) I received.
> Tested both and they are OK, great buy for me since I scored both pieces for under $30 shipped.
> 
> Actual pic of the GPU received - Looks like it's gonna be a good one guys.


That reminds of the Radeon X1950 XTX I did have. Managed to buy the top of line at the time for once. Always preferred buying the mid-range cards instead of splashing out the high-end cards.


----------



## Komshija (Sep 23, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Edit: I did have the ATI Radeon 9500 Pro, and I definitely remember overclocking on that card.



These cards could be easily modified to 9700. I remember there was an article in one of our PC magazines about the whole process.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 23, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Always preferred buying the mid-range cards instead of splashing out the high-end cards.



Pretty much the same here. The only difference is, I usually couldn't afford the high-end stuff.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 23, 2016)

Christmas came early this year 

Octek S462 board with Athlon XP 1800+ Palomino and 512MB PC133, I have moar so I can pack this with 768MB 






Epox S754 nForce3 250Gb which unfortunely lacks NB heatsink, I have a spare CMOS battery but not a S754 CPU.. 






Asus A8V which is said to be defective, CPU is A64 3200+ and it has single 512MB stick, of course I have more of those 






Asus A7N8X-X with Athlon XP 2400+ and 1.5GB DDR, this may be my primary board of these if the A8V is broken and I can't get that Epox soon to rock..






Gainward GF4 MX440 with a Sapphire branded Zalman passive heatpipe cooler, I remember seen these on 9700/9800 Radeons, I guess the middle one is a TNT2 M64 and a legendary S3 Trio64 PCI 






Gainward GF4 Ti4200 with a "slightly" modified Zalman VF700AlCu, MSI 6800GT with Zalman VF700AlCu LED and Asus 6800GT 128MB (memory specs from 6800, GPU from 6800GT) with Zalman VF900






SB Live! 5.1 soundcard, Radeon X800 Pro which didn't have a cooler so I salvaged one from a dead FireGL V5100 and a MSI HD7770






Club3D GTS250 and the stock coolers from those GF6800 series cards






And all this stuff for FREE!


----------



## buzzi (Sep 23, 2016)

Awesome pics!

Those vga make me think my XFX 8600GT G80 (now on shelf) is to consider "nostalgic"


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 23, 2016)

Closing a deal on a complete AMD Athlon 1500+ unit, so stand by for more pics & tech specs. (as long as we work it out, of course)

Normally I wouldn't throw my money on something I already have, but this one comes with very special bonus inside...  Apparently the seller either doesn't care or doesn't realize the value, because the asking price is $15.00 (for the entire rig)


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 23, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> Christmas came early this year
> 
> Octek S462 board with Athlon XP 1800+ Palomino and 512MB PC133, I have moar so I can pack this with 768MB


You sure it's SDRAM? I thought the standard configuration used with the AMD Athlon XP for that time was DDR 200/266.




9700 Pro said:


> Gainward GF4 MX440 with a Sapphire branded Zalman passive heatpipe cooler, I remember seen these on 9700/9800 Radeons, I guess the middle one is a TNT2 M64 and a legendary S3 Trio64 PCI
> 
> Gainward GF4 Ti4200 with a "slightly" modified Zalman VF700AlCu, MSI 6800GT with Zalman VF700AlCu LED and Asus 6800GT 128MB (memory specs from 6800, GPU from 6800GT) with Zalman VF900


I had all also Zalman heatinks in the photos on my past cards including the passive one up top, and thanks again 9700 Pro.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 23, 2016)

Question guys - has any of you here ever encountered a situation where the PSU went bad just from sitting (unplugged from the mains) & doing absolutely nothing? Because I had to pull out one of my other rigs & quickly power it up, so that I could eject the CD from its drive, but it didn't boot up. Apparently the entire 12V rail went bad... This one was out of service for quite some  time, but I clearly remember that the last time I used it everything was perfectly fine *shrug*


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 23, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Question guys - has any of you here ever encountered a situation where the PSU went bad just from sitting (unplugged from the mains)



Not unheard of   the Capacitors holding a small charge even when removed from mains can still Degrade ( they hold Chemicals and a Residual charge)
Power it up and if Capacitors have degraded over time  .....................Bad PSU


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Question guys - has any of you here ever encountered a situation where the PSU went bad just from sitting



I haven't personally but have encountered it in the past from client's rigs they were wanting to get fired up again.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> but this one comes with very special bonus inside...


A surprise bonus inside huh? I wonder is it a Voodoo 5 6000? Rare high dollar component?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Not unheard of   the Capacitors holding a small charge even when removed from mains can still Degrade ( they hold Chemicals and a Residual charge)
> Power it up and if Capacitors have degraded over time  .....................Bad PSU





stinger608 said:


> I haven't personally but have encountered it in the past from client's rigs they were wanting to get fired up again.



Thanks guys! I already swapped the PSU for another one, fortunately I had one laying around which wasn't part of any project or other build... Seems to be working OK now, but I have to hook up the monitor before the final verdict.



biffzinker said:


> A surprise bonus inside huh? I wonder is it a Voodoo 5 6000? Rare high dollar component?



It's only a surprise to you guys, I already know what's inside lol, which is why I'm going to spend $15 on it. I consider it to be a safe investment in the future 

And wow, you're close... You're right, it really is 3dfx card  But no, it's not a Voodoo5 card - it's something much more generic & cheaper, but still somewhat expensive & goes easily for (at least) 30+ USD on ebay! As for the local ads, it's almost impossible to find one nowdays, as they're all sold out 



Spoiler: Interested? :)



It's a Voodoo3 2000 AGP machine, complete with new (ATA) DVD-RW drive


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 24, 2016)

Sweet add on @Trekkie4 !!!!!! Worth every dime of $15 extra!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

Exactly the way I see it, thanks!  It seemed too expensive (especially for 2000 model) at first glance, but then I thought about it... And eventually went on ebay, to check out the market for these things & see how much they cost. To my surprise (more like a shock actually), 3dfx prices almost doubled since the last time I saw them  Even for 2000 model, I'm guessing it's because they're fading out, so it's all down to getting one now, while I still can or not. Honestly, I don't think I'll get another opportunity to grab another 3dfx card any time soon...


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 24, 2016)

Ah shucks, my original guess was a Voodoo 5 5500. Do you have any of the Voodoo 5 series?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Ah shucks, my original guess was a Voodoo 5 5500. Do you have any of the Voodoo 5 series?


Nope, i'm afraid not  And probably won't ever have one, considering how expensive these things can get... Like I said, prices went sky high, I remember good old days, only couple of years ago when I could find & buy Voodoo cards for peanuts, 5-10 USD at most. Good thing I got so many of them actually, these things are going to be worth a fortune some day.

Not sure of the exact numbers right now, but I'm pretty sure they're very close... I got:

1x Voodoo Rush
5x Voodoo2 8MB
10x Voodoo2 12MB
3x Voodoo1 (plus one additional card that's partially working, Glide is OK but D3D does not)
2x Voodoo3 2000 (AGP) (hopefully about to get 3rd one tomorrow)
2x Voodoo3 3000 (AGP)
1x Voodoo3 3500 (AGP, without the AV cable, never tested)


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 24, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Ah shucks, my original guess was a Voodoo 5 5500. Do you have any of the Voodoo 5 series?



There are a couple of members here that have the Voodoo 5 5500, I included. 



Trekkie4 said:


> Nope, i'm afraid not  And probably won't ever have one, considering how expensive these things can get... Like I said, prices went sky high, I remember good old days, only couple of years ago when I could find & buy Voodoo cards for peanuts, 5-10 USD at most. Good thing I got so many of them actually, these things are going to be worth a fortune some day.



I agree. All of the 3dfx cards are getting insanely expensive. I have to think that it is due to the number of them left...........Or just becoming a huge collector's item.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 24, 2016)

3DFX 3500 TV with blue specilised Breakout Cable   my guess   you always wanted a example that worked ( had Cable and testable )


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 24, 2016)

Now you got me looking at eBay. Surprising how much some those Voodoo cards are going for since I lasted looked.

Edit: The lowest I've seen for a 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 AGP on ebay was $23.00.

Edit2: How about this 3dfx Voodoo 3 3500 TV for $80.00?


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 24, 2016)

the Value is if they can be found with Original packaging and software  ie complete as sold retail AND STILL WORKING


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> There are a couple of members here that have the Voodoo 5 5500, I included.
> 
> 
> 
> I agree. All of the 3dfx cards are getting insanely expensive. I have to think that it is due to the number of them left...........Or just becoming a huge collector's item.



Both of these ... probably!



dorsetknob said:


> 3DFX 3500 TV with blue specilised Breakout Cable   my guess   you always wanted a example that worked ( had Cable and testable )


Just the thing I need, yes...



biffzinker said:


> Now you got me looking at eBay. Surprising how much some those Voodoo cards are going for since I lasted looked.
> 
> Edit: The lowest I've seen for a 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 AGP on ebay was $23.00.


I know, and the asking price for this system was $15.00 It's a decent price for what it's worth, but in my opinion it'll only go in one direction from this point on, and that's upwards


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 24, 2016)

See Post   #317  and see why i'm still smiling


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

Wow!!  Wish you were closer, I'd send you mine for a quick test, just to see if it works or not... AFAIK, mine was never tested so it may even be fried, I have no idea! 



Trekkie4 said:


> 1x Voodoo Rush
> 5x Voodoo2 8MB
> 10x Voodoo2 12MB
> 3x Voodoo1 (plus one additional card that's partially working, Glide is OK but D3D does not)
> ...



Edit
Oh and just to quickly update my list, I also have 2 more Voodoo1 cards which doesn't work (bad VRAM), along with one Voodoo2 8MB (PCB damage), and one Voodoo2 12 also with bad VRAM. But those are separate, those other cards mentioned earlier are all in working condition.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 24, 2016)

Just found a 3DFX 5500 AGP on fleabay bid is £41.00 with £4.50 postage

any one intrested ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3dfx-Vood...080456?hash=item360977ce08:g:yiAAAOSw4shX3s8Q

from add "The card is missing the mounting bracket. The card is tested and working both chips work. I will ship Internationally if required postage to Europe £11.50 UK sterling rest of the world £16.00 sterling"

Item location:
Prenton, United Kingdom


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nope, i'm afraid not  And probably won't ever have one, considering how expensive these things can get... Like I said, prices went sky high, I remember good old days, only couple of years ago when I could find & buy Voodoo cards for peanuts, 5-10 USD at most. Good thing I got so many of them actually, these things are going to be worth a fortune some day.
> 
> Not sure of the exact numbers right now, but I'm pretty sure they're very close... I got:
> 
> ...





Trekkie4 said:


> Wow!!  Wish you were closer, I'd send you mine for a quick test, just to see if it works or not... AFAIK, mine was never tested so it may even be fried, I have no idea!
> Edit
> Oh and just to quickly update my list, I also have 2 more Voodoo1 cards which doesn't work (bad VRAM), along with one Voodoo2 8MB (PCB damage), and one Voodoo2 12 also with bad VRAM. But those are separate, those other cards mentioned earlier are all in working condition.


So are you hoarding all the Voodoo cards you can find?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> So are you hoarding all the Voodoo cards you can find?


Well I wouldn't necessarily use the word hoarding, but yes - whenever I see the opportunity to get a 3dfx card, I usually grab it. Especially if the price is right, but sometimes you gotta know when to let it go... There's one Voodoo1 on sale locally for 30 USD, but I'm not going to buy it. Too much money IMHO, it's not worth it.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 24, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> You sure it's SDRAM? I thought the standard configuration used with the AMD Athlon XP for that time was DDR 200/266.
> 
> I had all also Zalman heatinks in the photos on my past cards including the passive one up top, and thanks again 9700 Pro.


Yep, PC133 SDRAM like in my old Abit KT7A build looooooooong time ago  In fact I put stock coolers to those 6800GT's and put the Zalmans to HD7770 and GTS250 

I guess today is a good day to try some of that sweet good old hardware 


Also it looks like that the X800 Pro can be flashed to XT PE, it has those Samsung 1.6ns GDDR3 chips, the "right" code in GPU and no laser-cuts on GPU 



edit: A8V is alive and kickin' at least, tho it doesn't recognize 2 of the memory modules.. maybe they're just broken, since they're been in my closet for ages


----------



## buzzi (Sep 24, 2016)

I was wondering where you guys buy nostalgic stuff. ebay? craiglist?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

Oh yes, got my Voodoo3 2000 system delivered earlier today, all bundled inside this cheap but very nice & clean-looking computer case!  I already love it!


 



And here it is, 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 model, which not only seems to be in mint condition but works perfectly fine!


 



Just what I need, an old Socket A mobo, and no I'm not being sarcastic  I blew up the Gigabyte board, remember? So this one will take its place, they're pretty much the same in the terms of chipset & overall design!


 



I'm planning to take this board out & reuse the case (and PSU) for Savage4 system, which is still on hold, until I receive that A7A266 board, it'll be perfect! But DVD-RW has to go out (way too modern for an old S462 system), and it'll be replaced by either DVD-ROM or another CD-ROM drive...

On a side note, this silver case here is one of my older builds, featuring Pentium 3 500 paired up with Voodoo2 (8MB) in SLI & Rage128 combo and SB Live! card. This system here was the one mentioned yesterday, with the sudden PSU failure. I quickly tested it, just to make sure PSU didn't cause any damage inside... Happy to say though, it seems to be working OK.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 24, 2016)

I'm curious, how many completed retro builds in total do you have? Six?


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> I'm curious, how many completed retro builds in total do you have? Six?


More like thirty-something  To tell you the truth, I wasn't going to gather so many of them, but then ppl began giving this stuff to me for free, and so it got out of control lol But they're all organized & categorized, and would like to think that all of them are completely operational (because they've been working last time I had them powered up), but this situation from yesterday where the PSU suddenly stopped working makes me wonder... I suppose the only way to find out would be to power them all up, one at the time & see if they'll boot up or not.

Edit
Hopefully these pics will (kinda) answer your question  Do keep in mind that the pic(s) were taken last year, before I got some of the coolest finds... Including Pentium Pro & 5x86 system so they're obviously not in these pics.



Trekkie4 said:


> Getting ready to move out... So here's all my 3dfx collection in one frame ... well, most of it anyway! There are couple of more Voodoo2 builds here & there, including SLI system which is currently still in use


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## biffzinker (Sep 24, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> yesterday where the PSU suddenly stopped working makes me wonder... I suppose the only way to find out would be to power them all up, one at the time & see if they'll boot up or not.


That's one of the gotchas about the older wet capacitors on old hardware is reliability.

Edit: A little more info about the 5x86 System?


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2016)

Indeed... Especially when you work on a large scale, it's only a matter of time before one of these will have a fault of some sort (statistically speaking). But there's actually a good reason why I made so many systems over the years - you see, instead of stockpiling parts inside the boxes I've decided to mount them inside the case(s).

This way I can prevent (or reduce the chances) of damaging something, while the actual PC case serves as a "crate" to hold my parts. In fact, all my 3dfx cards with the exception of Voodoo3 3500 had been built into various systems, otherwise I would probably stack them inside cardboard boxes & risk chipping-off SMD components & causing damage to PCB.

Edit
Sure thing, check out the page(s) 157 & 158 for more info on 5x86 project


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## Vario (Sep 24, 2016)

I got a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 S3 Virge, might want to sell it. Its a PCI card, circa 1996. Anyone know the value?

I think I sold my Voodoo 3 about 9 months ago for around $150, eBay.  If anyone here was the buyer?


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## dorsetknob (Sep 24, 2016)

Vario said:


> I got a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 S3 Virge, might want to sell it. Its a PCI card, circa 1996. Anyone know the value?



Best idea of finding an Approx value is to see what they go for on Ebay then Sell it for slightly less ( it will go faster if less than the average price )


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## buzzi (Sep 25, 2016)

@Trekkie4 let's build a retro lan party with those pcs!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 25, 2016)

buzzi said:


> @Trekkie4 let's build a retro lan party with those pcs!!!


Funny thing, with all my experience & over 30 machines fully assembled, tested (and repaired), I never quite understood the term "lan party" ... I know they used to make motherboards with "lan party" written all over the box, but since I never had any online friends for multiplayer games, this is completely new to me. 

What's the difference between a system with external (or even onboard) LAN card and "LAN Party" one?


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## buzzi (Sep 25, 2016)

for lan party I mean a place where everybody carry in his computer with keyboard and mouse and they play all toghether in the same location.

lan party motherboards (i.e. DFI) as far as I remember should be the ones designed to fit in small/light cases so the rig can be easily moved around. (so the question now is: why lan party and not micro-atx?)


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## dorsetknob (Sep 25, 2016)

buzzi said:


> for lan party I mean a place where everybody carry in his computer with keyboard and mouse and they play all toghether in the same location.



Really
just how many games can you get these days which you can play via a LAN (over LAN )
every game and its dogs dinner Set up almost always require you to connect via Steam or some other Internet Server
Thats not LAN that's WAN

PS LAN= Local Area Network
    WAN =wide Area Network (internet conection needed)


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## buzzi (Sep 25, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> just how many games can you get these days which you can play via a LAN (over LAN )



none, in fact I specified retro lan party (i.e. original quake 3)


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## dorsetknob (Sep 25, 2016)

you can add Descent 1 & 2 & 3
Freespace & Freespace 2 
Doom doom 2
to that short list


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 25, 2016)

Trust me, I've seen a lot of LAN Party motherboards and there's nothing compact about them  And yeah, you're right - most of them (if not all?) were DFI... Which is why I'm confused, I always figured that the LAN party system would be the same to having a LAN card inside (any) gaming rig...

As for the games, I'm pretty sure that Half-Life had a LAN multiplayer... And Carmageddon 2, those are some of the games which I'd LOVE to play on network! 

Edit
Ah, OK... This is actually starting to make sense! Apparently only DFI holds the right to use and license products under "LAN Party", so I'm starting to wonder if this is some sort of marketing scheme, to improve sale rate?

Edit2
OK, so it seems that the LAN party boards have two RJ45 connectors on the back... Again, I don't see the point in buying DFI board, when I can just stick two network cards inside any ATX system & call it a "LAN party"  In fact, you know what? I'll do it, I already got too many of these things laying around & doing nothing! I'll grab two identical ethernet adapters & place them inside Savage4 system, once I put it together.


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## buzzi (Sep 25, 2016)

...and all quake3 related!


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## AsRock (Sep 25, 2016)

buzzi said:


> none, in fact I specified retro lan party (i.e. original quake 3)



Yes today none but retro games lots .


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## stinger608 (Sep 25, 2016)

The DFI Lan Party series of motherboards were mainly made to cater to the "gamers" crowd. 

They really weren't made compact, just a lot of flashy colors for "gamers" to install in windowed cases and show off the systems when going to "Lan Parties." Hence the name of DFI's series of motherboards. 

They were usually very overclockable and had tons of features in the BIOS' for overclocking. 


Talking retro Lan Parties and games; Unreal Tournament 2k3/2k4 or the original Unreal Tournament. All awesome games and still a lot of fun to mess with.


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## Vario (Sep 25, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Best idea of finding an Approx value is to see what they go for on Ebay then Sell it for slightly less ( it will go faster if less than the average price )


Yep yep looks like $25 is the value.

Well if anyone wants it let me know otherwise I'll throw this thing up.



stinger608 said:


> The DFI Lan Party series of motherboards were mainly made to cater to the "gamers" crowd.
> 
> They really weren't made compact, just a lot of flashy colors for "gamers" to install in windowed cases and show off the systems when going to "Lan Parties." Hence the name of DFI's series of motherboards.
> 
> ...



My college roommate in 2005 had the DFI lan party, was a badass motherboard with some pretty stellar OC achieved on his 939.

We played a lot of Lan UT 2k4, BF2, and Warcraft 3.

On a related note, I played some of the newest UT and didn't like it.  I think UT99 was perfection.  I don't like the 2K16 guns, the bots are idiotic compared to UT99, and the amount of extra APM required to constantly dodge in UT2K16 is just too much on my 30 year old hands.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 25, 2016)

Vario said:


> Yep yep looks like $25 is the value.
> 
> Well if anyone wants it let me know otherwise I'll throw this thing up.
> 
> ...


IMHO, it's not just Unreal Tournament... Pretty much most of the games nowdays suck in the terms of gameplay (and mechanics), comparing to the Voodoo days  They are trying to make up for that by introducing HD graphics, which seems to be becoming more & more detailed every day, but during this time & process, the games lost their identity, personality. If you know what I mean, Grand Theft Auto is a perfect example...

Edit
Sooo, when was the last time you got to see someone working on a CD-ROM drive restoration? 






Speaking of which, this one wasn't reading any CDs when I 1st got it inside that Athlon 1000 system, long time ago. It's been sitting around ever since, but I've decided to clean the lens, hoping it would bring it back from the dead 


 



Model number is Teac CD-524E, it seemed way too cool to just scrap it, even though I don't usually fix these things... Personally, I consider ODDs to be "disposable" material, but this one is way too old & kinda unique to be wasted, so I gave it a fighting chance to live. Seriously, just take a look at that laser pickup, it even says "Sanyo"


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## buzzi (Sep 26, 2016)

did cleaning lens work??


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 26, 2016)

Don't know yet  Didn't have the time to hook it up, but I'm going to test it next time I get the chance. Probably when I get to finish that Savage4 system, so I'll make sure to give it a try.

Probably works OK, there was a thick layer of black dust all over the laser pickup, to the point where the lens lost their shiny (glossy) finish.


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## buzzi (Sep 26, 2016)

could be dust to blame for reading DVDs but not CDs?


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 26, 2016)

No, this is CD-ROM unit we're talking about here. That DVD-RW is a whole other story and no, I've tried cleaning the lens but it didn't do anything. Most likely something to do with laser pickup or internal components, primarily PCB. At this point I really don't care what happened to it, as I already swapped it for two identical Pioneer DVD-RW drives. Like I said in my previous post, these things are disposable, there's tons of DVD drives out there, so there's no need to waste my time & money on repairing the old ones which doesn't work. Unless it's something trivial of course, such as worn driving belt for the eject mechanism


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## AsRock (Sep 26, 2016)

Be careful with newer ones as they stopped using glass on newer ones.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 26, 2016)

Not sure I understood you, you mean inside CD/DVD units?


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## biffzinker (Sep 26, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not sure I understood you, you mean inside CD/DVD units?


Probably was pointing too the Pioneer DVD-RW drives? What better way to cut costs than by changing from glass to plastic. After all you can get corrective eye-wear that uses plastic for the lenses, it's more about the coatings (prescription) on the plastic lens. I forgot contact lenses.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 26, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Be careful with newer ones as they stopped using glass on newer ones.





biffzinker said:


> Probably was pointing too the Pioneer DVD-RW drives? What better way to cut costs than by changing from glass to plastic. After all you can get corrective eye-wear that uses plastic for the lenses, it's more about the coatings (prescription) on the plastic lens. I forgot contact lenses.



Ah, OK! Now I get it, thanks for the tip, but no these "new" ones are older units  I had to use the older models due to analog sound (music) output on the back, because they're a hardware requirement for most of the older games, such as original Half-Life, Driver & Carmageddon 2 (probably many others, as well) While on the newer models, they either no longer have it at all, or simply says "audio reserved", whatever that means 

Here, I posted a pic on page 184...


 



Model number is Pioneer DVR-110DBK


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## biffzinker (Sep 28, 2016)

Any updates *@Trekkie4?*


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 28, 2016)

Yes, and no... Depending on how you look at it  Mostly just booting up the RetroMaster machine, this will take a looong time! I've had some difficulties getting it to work without crashing and hanging, but these are all due to BIOS settings & Windows config... I guess you can call it a "trial & error" stage, until I'll finally be able to get it up & running.

What I DID notice so far is that the system (despite occasional crash & hang) behaves better than it did with old ASRock board... I'm mainly referring to 3DMark2000 for example, where running the benchmark with the Voodoo2 cards in D3D would always crash around the same test, 2nd test right at the beginning. This time around all the tests worked out OK, and both Glide & D3D seems to be working fine. However, unlike the previous setup, this time I've decided to take advantage of Ti4200 even under Win98 environment, which means that some of the Direct3D games which used to run Voodoo2 (just for the sake of running 3dfx and not nVidia) are now using 4200, while the Voodoo2 is mainly reserved for the Glide-powered games and older titles, which seem to work better with 3dfx.

Of course, I still have to boot up WinXP, so far I've only installed XP itself (along with basic drivers & software support), but I'll get there eventually. Once I have it set up & running, I'll make sure to post some pics & let you guys know


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## stinger608 (Sep 28, 2016)

Kind of funny; I was fiddling with my laptop a couple of days ago.

Came to the realization that I purchased it new in 2009! It's one of the Gateway P7811FX "desktop replacement" systems. About 3 years ago or so I upgraded the CPU and memory to the max that it would support and installed an SSD about a year ago.

I still have everything that came with it when it was new. Even the Windows Vista reinstall disk. 

I guess what I'm getting at, it's kind of a nostalgic piece of computer hardware now. 

In the next few days, I'll get some pictures of it and all the "stuff" that came with it. 

It is still in very pristine condition. 0 dead pixels and 0 scratches. Dang thing looks like it is almost new.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 29, 2016)

Still booting up the Windows 98 partition, and while I'm still struggling with incompatible drivers, random hangs & crashes (as usual), it came to my attention that some of the Glide-powered games seem to run more slowly than I remember... So I ran 3DMark 99 & 2000, and came up with pretty interesting discovery - it seems that by swapping the motherboard for Asus I apparently "lost" *10x* 3DMark points for the Voodoo2 cards, but gained *49x* points for the GeForce card. Actually here are the numbers, so you be the judge...

With ASRock K7VT2
GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP4x: 8,249
3dfx Voodoo2 SLI: 3,912

With Asus A7V8X-X
GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP8x: 8,298
3dfx Voodoo2 SLI: 3,902

I even got the similar results under 3DMark2000... Unfortunately I don't have the old values for the ASRock board here, but according to my memory they were pretty much the same to what you just witnessed above, within 3DMark99...

GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP8x: 6,919
3dfx Voodoo2 SLI: 2,608

Now, here's the thing... You'd expect Voodoos to perform better & faster due to faster RAM memory (from 266 to 400) right? And also because of the better motherboard overall... But from what we see above, faster & newer does not always translate to better, so I'm wondering if maybe I went too far with this. The entire concept behind RetroMaster system was to find the balance between "old" & "new", Windows 9x/ME and Windows XP while having best of both worlds at the same time. And sure, it's understandable that the AGP card went up in terms of speed (since the AGP was upgraded from 4x to 8x), but this came at the cost of older PCI cards... Either way, it's something to think about if you're going to build a similar system yourself.


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## biffzinker (Sep 29, 2016)

Those Voodoo2's in SLI lost a bigger chunk of performance than I expected. Are you going to leave the build as-is or change out the motherboard to possibly recover the lost performance?

Edit: Need to step away, I'll check back later.


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 29, 2016)

IDK... To tell you the truth I really don't know. I considered to swap the motherboard for A7A266 but that would require a whole new cable management & layout, and I've just finished the damn thing... Perhaps I can try to lower down the RAM speed & see if it'll make any impact on the Voodoo speed... Other than that, I suppose I could OC Voodoos but that would be pretty extreme solution IMHO. Especially since they don't come with any cooling, not even passive heatsinks. Some companies had them mounted (Procomp G111, for example), but reference model (Voodoo2, 1000) did not.


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## biffzinker (Sep 29, 2016)

So do you at all feel like you've stepped back into the past when using RetroMaster 2500?


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## buzzi (Sep 29, 2016)

@stinger608 I have an asus X51L from 2009 too! I use it everyday!
So, after how many years a piece of hw is to be considered "tpu nostalgic"??

I ask this because I am afraid my entire current rig could be labeled as such


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## Ahhzz (Sep 29, 2016)

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/this-old-ass-commodore-64-is-still-being-used-to-run-an-1787196319


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## buzzi (Sep 29, 2016)

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/48466/windows-3-1-brings-paris-airport-halt/

it's time to update!


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## Trekkie4 (Sep 29, 2016)

People seem to be so shocked with the fact that Win 3.1 is still being used for every-day purposes, but did you  know that 4x86 are still in production & massively used throughout the world? In fact, you get to use one each time to use the ATM machine!  Those are 4x86 chips inside, "specially" made for one (and only) purpose to run ATM machines. Well, some of them at least, it's almost impossible to find out the exact specs & diagrams for these things (due to security reasons, obviously), but some models do run on 4x86 chips because they're fast, reliable and (most importantly) cheap!

Anyhow, back to Voodoo2 development... I found out the reason behind 10 missing points!  It's actually the video memory caching mode thing, UC gives out 10 points less than USWC, setting which I had on ASRock motherboard. Surprisingly enough, lowering down the RAM speed (to 266MHz, just like the ASRock board) resulted with massive FPS drop, so I restored it back to normal, DDR400. But then I decided to play with multiplier settings & pumped up the CPU speed to 1,903MHz, I think. More-less, I'd have to check... RAM speed had to be adjusted accordingly, so now it runs at 333MHz instead, but nevertheless with these two adjustments, my benchmark scores are now:

*3DMark99*
With ASRock K7VT2
GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP4x: *8,249*
3dfx Voodoo2 SLI: *3,912*

With Asus A7V8X-X
GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP8x: *8,433 (old 8,298)*
3dfx Voodoo2 SLI: *3,961 (old 3,902)*

*3DMark2000*
GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP8x: *8,240 (old 6,919)*
3dfx Voodoo2 SLI: *2,662 (old 2,608)*

That's 59 more 3DPoints in favor of Voodoo2 and 135 more 3DPoints for nVidia Ti4200, pretty impressive if you ask me!  Benchmark config (for both cards) was set to 1024x768, running 16-bit textures with triple frame buffer & AMD 3DNow! CPU optimization


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## stinger608 (Sep 29, 2016)

buzzi said:


> So, after how many years a piece of hw is to be considered "tpu nostalgic"??



LOL, I don't know where a person draws the line. Heck, there have been posts with Core 2 Duo's which we both know, are from that same era.


----------



## Random Murderer (Sep 29, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> LOL, I don't know where a person draws the line. Heck, there have been posts with Core 2 Duo's which we both know, are from that same era.


Pretty sure we determined early on in the thread that the definition of nostalgia is looking back fondly on something, so any hardware you have that fits that description also fits in this thread.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 29, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> So do you at all feel like you've stepped back into the past when using RetroMaster 2500?


Sorry, completely missed your post... Yes, sure! I guess so, as long it doesn't crash or hang lol, reminds me of good old days!  Even though I didn't have most of these games back in a day, but I wanted to! Something would always pop up, either I couldn't afford it, or I couldn't find it, or I was worrying about the school stuff, etc.

But now that I have time, patience & skills to set up the gaming rig, why not


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## biffzinker (Sep 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, sure! I guess so, as long it doesn't crash or hang lol


Have you tried out any of these additions to improve the stability of Windows 98?

http://kernelex.sourceforge.net/

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/131040-revolutions-pack-97/ & http://rp9.win98.nl/

http://www.htasoft.com/u98sesp/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 30, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Have you tried out any of these additions to improve the stability of Windows 98?
> 
> http://kernelex.sourceforge.net/
> 
> ...


Not really, can't say I did... Except for Massive storage device driver, I prefer to keep it stock, but I'll def check it out and might try some of these patches but only AFTER I back it up... I've put way too much effort into booting it up, to mess up the Windows installation now 

Most of my problems originate from the driver conflicts... nVidia ForceWare to be exact, it doesn't like the older games & device drives, which are essential for the Voodoo cards & other games. So again, I had to find the compromise between those two. Versions 43.45 and 45.23 seem to be ideal, except for the fact that 45.23 was designed for DirectX 9, while the entire Win98 partition was based on DirectX 8.1b... Not sure if that had anything to do with some of the crashes & hangs I've had, so I downgraded to 43.45 & didn't have a single crash since... Then again, I didn't really fiddle with 3dfx & Glide stuff for a while, so it's yet to be confirmed.

People always recommend the latest version, but from my personal experience - the latest ForceWare brought me nothing but problems. It was incompatible with over 70% of the games I had, and it didn't even want to un-install, so I had to boot up in safe mode & remove driver files manually. That was actually long time ago, and I didn't touch the latest version ever since


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

Once again guys, I need your help... But mostly just opinion, really 

I seem to be experiencing very annoying problem with the Live! Sound card, where the actual card seems to be working just fine, no problems whatsoever until you boot into DOS mode. Or even MS-DOS prompt... It seems that my emulated SB16 that's assigned to address 220, DMA1 & IRQ5 doesn't work due to a problem (conflict?) with Asus motherboard. Of course, I already Googled it & found out that the same issue had been reported dozens of times over the last 15 years or so, people having the same problem on their Asus motherboards and ONLY with Creative Live...

So now the real question is what to do, should I ignore this fact and focus primarily on Window environment, rip out the Asus board & replace it with other brand, and/or swap it out for other sound card that's not Creative... I suppose I could grab that Aureal Vortex2 (along with Creative WaveBlaster2 MIDI daughterboard) from the previous RetroMaster system (RetroMaster 1000), and use it instead of Creative card, but IDK... I'd like to hear your opinion on this issue


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## dorsetknob (Oct 1, 2016)

Plug and play enabled/ Disabled in bios ( You might have to disable in bios and manualy assign)
Correct Address DMA and irq in you start up files  config.sys autoexec.bat   ??


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

Oh I've been through everything in BIOS... "PnP OS" was enabled by default and because of that it didn't recognize, identify the card during POST so I figured disabling would do the trick. But nope, it's still the same... Then I manually assigned IRQ to the card (IRQ10) but once again - nothing. Works OK in Windows, it's running under IRQ10, but doesn't work in DOS.

By the way, that IRQ10 is for the actual card (SB Live!), because the card is then split into several virtual sub-components. One of those three is "emulated SB16" which is then given 220/5/1/5 address and SHOULD work in DOS. It sure used to work OK on the ASRock board, but for some reason doesn't on Asus... Start up files also point to IRQ10 as default IRQ resource, so I'm obviously doing the right thing.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 1, 2016)

Change the motherboard for one that doesn't conflict with the SB Live!? Honestly I'm not sure what you should do.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 1, 2016)

been a long time since i inflicted manual config of cards on my Brain or any system
Card is probably too new for a dos set up
 will think and hopefully get back


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## biffzinker (Oct 1, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> been a long time since i inflicted manual config of cards on my Brain or any system


Ah, so I'm not the only one having trouble. 

Could a Ensoniq ES1370 work in place of the SB Live? It has DOS legacy support.


> It was a full-featured solution with wavetable MIDI (sample-based synthesizer), 4-speaker DirectSound3D surround sound, A3D emulation and full DOS legacy support. It was cheap due to lack of hardware acceleration. It is full-duplex but at least in MS Windows cannot play back several sources at once.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster#Ensoniq_AudioPCI-based_cards

Edit: Found one in Hungary for $3.00.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-La...568590?hash=item3f6a12fb8e:g:cswAAOSwvzRXyeGv

In Great Britain there's a Creative Labs CT4810 PCI Sound Audio Card.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-La...835619?hash=item4193efb9a3:g:dDEAAOSwv0tVIsoX


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

Oh crap!! Well, according to official Asus manual, the PCI slot #6 (the bottom one, which I'm using for SB Live) is not only shared with PCI slot #2 (which isn't used, anyway) but it's ALSO shared with AGP?! I mean, wow... I know the rule about AGP & 1st PCI slot, sharing the same IRQ but this is ridiculous! So yeah, apparently IRQ 10, in this particular case is also used for AGP... Not sure if that's the actual problem, but it sure is PITA!


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 1, 2016)

Would moving the SB Live to another PCI slot alleviate the IRQ conflict you might be running into?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Would moving the SB Live to another PCI slot alleviate the IRQ conflict you might be running into?


While moving the card to another slot seems like an obvious solution, getting it done is going to be a nightmare... 1st of all, there's not much room left inside the case, so wherever I put the Live card, it's either going to block something or prevent air flow for the nVidia Ti4200... 2nd, I would have to pop up those sealed PCI plates on the back, and I'm all out of blanks, so I would end up with gaping hole 

Oh well, maybe I'll fiddle with some of the cards I got, and see if I can get them to work... At this stage, I backed up my progress with Win98, just in case something goes downhill, so I'm not too worried about drivers & software support.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 1, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Would moving the SB Live to another PCI slot alleviate the IRQ conflict you might be running into?


It should, but I like your choice of the other card instead.


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## biffzinker (Oct 1, 2016)

> Boards using Ensoniq AudioPCI tech are usually easily identifiable by the board design and the chip size because they all look quite similar. Such boards include *Sound Blaster PCI64* (April 1998), *PCI128* (July 1998), *Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI*, *Vibra PCI* and *Sound Blaster 16 PCI*.


Actually had one of those sound cards, I think it was the Sound Blaster 16 PCI. If I remember right it was easy to get legacy DOS support working for me.


Trekkie4 said:


> Oh well, maybe I'll fiddle with some of the cards I got, and see if I can get them to work...


Which sound cards do you have?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

Wouldn't want I'll see about swapping the Live card for Aureal


biffzinker said:


> Actually had one of those sound cards, I think it was the Sound Blaster 16 PCI. If I remember right it was easy to get legacy DOS support working for me.
> 
> Which sound cards do you have?


Potential candidates are Aureal Vortex 2, alternative SB Live model (newer than the one I'm using right now) and SB128 (no EAX though)


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2016)

There have been tons of issues with the Sound Blaster Creative cards for years! Back in the Awe 64 days it wasn't bad, but I had serious issues with the Live! cards and so did tons of other people. 

I did finally find a driver that worked awesome in Windows 98SE and DOS. I think I still have that driver on a burnt CD somewhere if I can find it. 

I know it took forever to actually find that driver and I was hell bent for election to keep it on a disk!!!!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> There have been tons of issues with the Sound Blaster Creative cards for years! Back in the Awe 64 days it wasn't bad, but I had serious issues with the Live! cards and so did tons of other people.
> 
> I did finally find a driver that worked awesome in Windows 98SE and DOS. I think I still have that driver on a burnt CD somewhere if I can find it.
> 
> I know it took forever to actually find that driver and I was hell bent for election to keep it on a disk!!!!!!


Would be cool if you could find it somewhere... I'm using the one from Vogons driver database, original driver CD for SB Live & seemed to work OK with all my other SB live cards except for SB0220. 0220 was/is the OEM card & requires unique drivers in order to work.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2016)

I'll make an effort to find that dang disk @Trekkie4 !

I know I have it in a hard case.................I wanted it safe.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

No prob, I appreciate it!


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2016)

Found the disk! It was sitting in one of the bottom drawers of my desk along with a bunch of EDO ram. 

Now if we can figure out how to share these files with ya @Trekkie4

Do you have a dropbox?

Maybe I can upload them on Microsoft One Drive and share that with ya?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2016)

I think I used to have DropBox acc, but if that's the case, then I haven't touched it in years... I'll have to check. I do have 4Shared account, if that helps?


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 1, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> bunch of EDO ram.


What are you doing with EDO RAM after all this time has passed still? 

Edit: Went looking about EDO RAM as a refresher, and dang forgot it was only capable of 320 MB/s of memory bandwidth @ 5v back in 1994.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2016)

Whoops, I've edited one of my previous posts on the page before & completely forgot to actually mention it here... 

Sound card problem resolved, I took out the Live card & swapped it for another Live (value) but still had the same issue. So I ditched the Live completely & took the Aureal Vortex2 MX300 from the previous generation of RetroMaster... I just hope I won't regreat this decision, since this is my ONLY Aureal card in the entire collection... 

Funny thing though... Even though DOS drivers worked out OK (and there wasn't any problems, whatsoever), I kept getting the error message for the joystick/gameport component... Something about driver loader not being able to load the VXD file(s), IDK. Probably due to the same reason as SB Live, IRQ interference. But then just as I was about to give up, I came up with the idea to force "legacy" MS driver, instead of using the Aureal one. Because every gameport is the same, right? And it worked!  So it's all good for now!

As for the EDO RAM, @stinger608 hold onto it! It's quite rare to find EDO modules nowdays, especially if they come in identical pair(s)


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Whoops, I've edited one of my previous posts on the page before & completely forgot to actually mention it here...


I seen your edit when I flipped back a page to check on a past reply.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 2, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> What are you doing with EDO RAM after all this time has passed still?



LOL. I still have FPM here.
Never know when you might need it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2016)

My point exactly!


----------



## buzzi (Oct 2, 2016)

Finally I bought _this_:




to make _that_ work :




and it's running fine, just the spacebar spring makes an annoying noise (is not the classic, lovely and caracteristic spacebar sound), I'll look if I can fix it, I have a spare keyboard that could be cannibalized (its spacebar works, but some keys don't) 

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that, when unplugged and then plugged again, it works without needing reboot!

I think that I won't polish it with abrasive paste, to leave it with signs of the years!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Found the disk! It was sitting in one of the bottom drawers of my desk along with a bunch of EDO ram.
> 
> Now if we can figure out how to share these files with ya @Trekkie4
> 
> ...


Sorry it took me so much time to get back to you on Live drivers issue, but anyhow... I went back through my emails & checked ... I don't have DropBox, but I DO have DropSend... Somehow I figured those two are the same  I also have 4shared acc, in case that makes any difference?


----------



## Ahhzz (Oct 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sorry it took me so much time to get back to you on Live drivers issue, but anyhow... I went back through my emails & checked ... I don't have DropBox, but I DO have DropSend... Somehow I figured those two are the same  I also have 4shared acc, in case that makes any difference?


Actually, if he stores the file in the "public" folder, he can simply send you a link, and you can download it without an account.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2016)

Thanks @Ahhzz 

Time to upload more pics... Enjoy!

This here is Diamond Monster MX300, aka Aureal Vortex2 in combo with Creative WaveBlaster2 expansion module. This is what ended up being inside RetroMaster system, while the old Live card ended up inside RetroMaster 1000 (older system) And being a Slot-1 machine, it doesn't have any issues with Creative card, whatsoever! So much for the Asus A7V8X-X, "the BEST Socket 462 motherboard ever made" If you ask me, I'd give it no more than 3 out of 5 


 



The current inside view of RetroMaster 2000 (2500)... Yeah, it's pretty tight! Not much room left for expansion or even decent air flow  Heh, just the Aureal card alone is about the same size as nVidia Ti4200!




And these three pics are just for fun... While experimenting with Live! cards, I took apart one of my earliest retro builds (don't think I ever posted this one before), so I took couple of pics... Pretty decent system for what it's worth, based on Pentium 3 (733MHz) CPU & Asus P3B-F motherboard. It has a Voodoo3 3000 card inside ... this is my secondary V3 3000 sytem actually which I barely ever use any more or even take apart...


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> As for the EDO RAM, @stinger608 hold onto it! It's quite rare to find EDO modules nowdays, especially if they come in identical pair(s)




I have a bunch of EDO ram. Probably 30 sticks in various sizes. 

As for the Live! driver files; I can probably just upload them to the public URL for my Microsoft One Drive and you can grab em from there.


----------



## buzzi (Oct 2, 2016)

@Trekkie4 I do LOVE those green PCBs


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2016)

buzzi said:


> @Trekkie4 I do LOVE those green PCBs


One of the green boards in particular, or all of them?


----------



## buzzi (Oct 2, 2016)

shade of expansion module is my favorite, but green PCBs in general, since they are so retro


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 2, 2016)

buzzi said:


> I was wondering where you guys buy nostalgic stuff. ebay? craiglist?


Here in Finland a popular HW forum called MuroBBS is a great place to buy old and new hardware, usually all old HW is cheap or free. Also I've got pretty much stuff for free from friends since they know I like to play around with old hardware and OC the crap out of those. 

...aaaaand the A8V Dlx detects full 2048MB of RAM, that CPU is A64 3200+ Winchester which runs for now @ 2.4GHz with stock cooling. I just need to get a Win XP disc from somewhere since Win7 isn't the right choice for a retro rig


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 2, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> I just need to get a Win XP



Again, I can probably upload the XP Pro ISO imagine on my One Drive and share it for ya to download @9700 Pro . 

It, of course, would be the U.S. version if that would work for ya.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 2, 2016)

No need.
Here's a link. Site is clean, I use it all the time.
http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-xp-sp3/


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 2, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> No need.
> Here's a link. Site is clean, I use it all the time.
> http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-xp-sp3/


How about that, I've used that site before for XP 64-bit.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 2, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> No need.
> Here's a link. Site is clean, I use it all the time.
> http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-xp-sp3/




Awesome man! I posted that on the original thread. Of course thanking you.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 2, 2016)

That site has many OS's old and new.
Link for those who want to look through it.
http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 2, 2016)

Thanks guys! 

I've used English Windows since I was 16, because Finnish OS's feel just awkward  and if I'm having some issues on my system(s), it's muuuuuuuch easier to look for tips because almost always everything's is in English, and settings etc. in a Finnish localized OS are sometimes not-so-clear


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 2, 2016)

9700 Pro said:


> Thanks guys!


Happy to help, and back Mr.Scott about the iso being clean, so there's nothing to worry about.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 3, 2016)

Aaaand we succesfully modified my X800 Pro VIVO to X800 XT PE! Soon I've have all set, so I think I'll use this card on the retro PC (sorry 6800GT ) and fire that 3DMark03 up


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 3, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> That site has many OS's old and new.
> Link for those who want to look through it.
> http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/



Thanks!! I actually knew yet another site, where they had the entire database of old Windows & Office editions. They even had Plus! expansion pack for both Windows 95 and 98, but I don't remember the address any longer, it was a loong time ago  If I do find it however, I'll let you guys know!

Edit
Got it, it's called WinWorldPc.com


9700 Pro said:


> Thanks guys!
> 
> I've used English Windows since I was 16, because Finnish OS's feel just awkward  and if I'm having some issues on my system(s), it's muuuuuuuch easier to look for tips because almost always everything's is in English, and settings etc. in a Finnish localized OS are sometimes not-so-clear



Likewise, I can totally relate to that - running Croatian Windows can sometimes get pretty darn confusing!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2016)

Finishing on the RetroMaster build, finally... I was unpleasantly surprised with the amount of problems (and patches), just to get the Aureal card working under XP... Fortunately, I came across the registry patch (along with control panel update), which allows you to resolve quite a number of issues, including random cut-offs, when Vortex would go silent for couple of minutes. Actually I'm still considering to activate the on-board audio & patch it through Aureal card, but now that Aureal card is kinda working OK, it seems unnecessary.

On a more positive note, I'm surprised with the speed & power this thing has... I was able to start up & play HL2 ep2 @ around 30fps, with all settings set to med/high, and screen resolution of 1024x768  I'm still hoping to OC Ti4200 to the point where I might increase the score by several FPS, just to make sure it doesn't lag. This is XP we're talking about (obviously), Win98 is still reserved for Glide & older DirectX8b (and older) games. Speaking of which, there was one another, annoying problem which I wasn't able to resolve... It seems that most of my DOS games hang or crash with random error messages (usually mentioning EMM386 & shutting down, in order to prevent data loss). I had exactly the same Autoexec.bat & Config.sys setup back on the old ASRock board & everything worked OK, so I'm wondering if this is maybe something to do with system resources, IRQs. Oh well, DOS programs are still accessible through Win98, and (now that I have Aureal card in place & working), everything seems to be OK. So it's not a huge loss, although I would prefer to have the real thing 

Edit
nVidia Ti4200 is now OCed, running perfectly stable at 285/580MHz (core/memory) and the performance boost is outstanding, with Half-Life 2 ep2 now running smoothly & without any problems, whatsoever. That's pretty impressive for DirectX8 card if you ask me!

And of course, being a software OC - not the hardware one, it's only activated within XP, which means that Win98 and DOS are still running at stock speeds...

Edit2
I completely overhauled Config.SYS & Autoexec.BAT, so they include additional instructions & parameters necessary for normal DOS operation... Well, in the terms of retro gaming, of course. I'll copy it over here, for you guys to see & check out... Just in case I missed something, or done in the wrong order, it's not like I'm DOS expert 

*Config.SYS...*

from (OLD):

```
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
device=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
Country=385,852,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys
```

to (NEW):

```
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
BUFFERSHIGH=30,0
STACKSHIGH=9,256
Country=385,852,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /V
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 I=B000-B7FF /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\PROGRAMF\CDPRO\vide-cdd.sys /D:MSCD000
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS\ /E:1024 /P
```

*Autoexec.BAT...
*
From (old):

```
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRAMF\WBLAST
SET BLASTER=P330
SET MIDI=SYNTH:2 MAP:E
mode con codepage prepare=((852) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi)
mode con codepage select=852
keyb yu,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keybrd2.sys
LH C:\WINDOWS\AU30DOS.COM
SET BLASTER = A240 I5 D1 T4
```

To (new):

```
@ECHO OFF
LH /L:2 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MSCD000 /M:15 /E /S /L:E /V
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV 2048 16 /V
mode con codepage prepare=((852) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi)
mode con codepage select=852
keyb yu,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keybrd2.sys
LH /L:2 C:\WINDOWS\AU30DOS.COM
LH /L:2 C:\PROGRAMF\MOUSE\MOUSE
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRAMF\WBLAST
SET BLASTER = A240 I5 D1 T4
SET BLASTER=P330
SET MIDI=SYNTH:2 MAP:E
```

Edit3
OK, due to occasional system crashes and BSODs upon booting up Win98, I had to remove the SMARTDRV line...

```
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV 2048 16 /V
```


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2016)

Was going to add yet another edit, but it's not letting me... Anyway, RetroMaster 2500 is now completely backed up (using Acronis TrueImage) & finally worked out all the bugs & problems with DOS boot up drivers & parameters.

*Config.sys*

I assigned IRQs to IDE channels & added few more parameters regarding DOS...

```
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
FILESHIGH=40
FCBSHIGH=1,0
BUFFERSHIGH=30,0
LASTDRIVEHIGH=J
STACKSHIGH=9,256
Country=385,852,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /V
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 I=B000-B7FF /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\PROGRAMF\CDPRO\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:1F0,14 /P:170,15 /P:1E8,10 /P:168,12
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS\ /E:1024 /P
```

*Autoexec.bat
*
Quite a few changes going on here, starting from removing MSCDEX all the way to adding additional paths & putting both "SET BLASTER" commands into one line. The reason I had them split was because of the hardware ... all the values except "P330" are pointing towards Aureal card, while the P330 value refers to MPU 401, aka Creative WaveBlaster MIDI daughterboard. Nevertheless, this setup seems to be working OK...

```
@ECHO OFF
REM LH /L:2 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MSCD001 /M:15 /E /S /L:E /V
REM LH /L:0;2 /S C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV 2048 16 /V
mode con codepage prepare=((852) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi)
mode con codepage select=852
keyb yu,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keybrd2.sys
LH /L:2 C:\PROGRAMF\MOUSE\MOUSE
LH /L:2 C:\WINDOWS\AU30DOS.COM
PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\PROGRAMF\MOUSE;C:\PROGRAMF\WBLAST
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRAMF\WBLAST
SET BLASTER=A240 I5 D1 P330 T4
SET MIDI=SYNTH:2 MAP:E
```


*Dosstart.bat*

Completely new concept (to me, anyway)... But since I had some unusual problems with loading CD-ROM drivers from Autoexec, I've decided to go with this option instead. Meaning, the CD drivers are loaded right from the beginning, but they're not executed until rebooting into MS-DOS mode. Same thing with SMARTDRV, which caused serious issues with the Windows 98 normal operation, so it had to be removed. But having it executed within "DosStart" allows me to use it within DOS & then close it upon exiting, rebooting back into Windows mode. One thing which puzzled me however was the Aureal entry... Even though I already have the same command in Autoexec (and wanted to delete this one), system kept restoring it back, causing other problems & loading issues. Sooo, IDK... It works OK, which means I'm not going to fiddle with this any longer, unless I have a very good reason.

```
@ECHO OFF
LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MSCD001 /M:15 /E /S /L:D /V
LH C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV 2048 16 /V
LH C:\WINDOWS\AU30DOS.COM
```


----------



## Bones (Oct 5, 2016)

Here's another site where you can find older OS's and whatnot. 
https://winworldpc.com/library

As usual be sure to scan anything you download - I've gotten a few things from here and so far no problems.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks!! I actually knew yet another site, where they had the entire database of old Windows & Office editions. They even had Plus! expansion pack for both Windows 95 and 98, but I don't remember the address any longer, it was a loong time ago  If I do find it however, I'll let you guys know!
> 
> Edit
> Got it, it's called WinWorldPc.com
> ...





Bones said:


> Here's another site where you can find older OS's and whatnot.
> https://winworldpc.com/library
> 
> As usual be sure to scan anything you download - I've gotten a few things from here and so far no problems.



Already mentioned it in one of my previous posts, but thanks for the effort. As far as I can tell they're legit... I got my Microsoft Plus! 95 & 98 image(s) there & both seem to be working OK. That was a long time ago by the way, they've completely redesigned the website since then


----------



## Bones (Oct 5, 2016)

No prob - I didn't see that and woudn't have posted the link if I had BUT it's a little easier to find now.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2016)

It's all good, they're worthy enough to be mentioned twice  They really do have a nice software collection! Come to think of it, I may have also downloaded a copy of Windows 95, before I got my own OEM CDs... ("B" edition)


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 6, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Already mentioned it in one of my previous posts





Bones said:


> Here's another site where you can find older OS's and whatnot.
> https://winworldpc.com/library
> 
> As usual be sure to scan anything you download - I've gotten a few things from here and so far no problems.




Well, it will be a lot easier to find now. I posted it in the original post and thanked both of ya.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 6, 2016)

No prob, any time! @Bones 

Speaking of useful websites @stinger608, here are few more, from my personal "collection":

http://madsenworld.dk/con_auto/index-uk.htm
A complete guide on Config.SYS & Autoexec.bat... I've been following this one for years, every now & then when I get to work on a system which requires manual boot configuration. Can't confirm it's 100% safe, but it's not dangerous either. In other words just don't download anything & you should be fine lol  Actually, joke aside... I've saved the entire webpage, downloaded it for future reference, even have it on my Driver CD database, kinda like "one size fit all" solution when it comes to booting up drivers & operating systems 

http://users.telenet.be/unclefil/powersupply/Intel.html
A PSU wattage calculator tool... What makes this one so special is that it's specially designed for retro (older) Intel-based system. Therefore it's limited to all the models between Pentium MMX and Pentium 4 (S775). Just like the previous website, I also downloaded this one to my Driver CD although to be honest I barely ever used it... 

http://users.telenet.be/unclefil/powersupply/Amd.html
Just like the previous one, this is pretty much the same story except it's AMD based. Once again, only the older models are supported, ranging from AMD K6 to AMD Opteron.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 6, 2016)

Damn I wasted all my money to the local skateshop... no trash this time


----------



## buzzi (Oct 6, 2016)

@9700 Pro I asked because in my town, every month they set up in public squares areas where you can dump your bulky garbage (sofas, fridges and so on), and of course electronic stuff! In fact, lots of people dump their  ""obsolete"" computers simply because they are too slow (they don't even know about "reinstalling Windows" attempt) or they can't find the printer driver, or don't have LCD tv power chord (yes you read that right), or "technician said it was irreparable!" (I took it home, was working flawlessy).
Needless to say that 90% of my collection comes from there


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 6, 2016)

I'm already working on the new (old) project, finally finishing that Savage 4 Pro system from few months ago. Using totally new mobo this time (Asus A7A266), new RAM (picked 256MB SD, even though actual board also supports DDR), new ethernet card, new ODDs, new case & new PSU.

In fact, the ONLY 4 things which are old, taken from the previous attempt are CPU (Duron 950MHz), CPU cooler, Savage card itself & 20GB Maxtor HDD. Speaking of which, I'm using two of these just because I can, even though I don't really need that much storage space on this machine... It's primarily going to run Unreal, UT, Quake 2 & Quake 3 Arena. Maybe Half-Life as well, but I don't really see the point, except maybe nostalgia &  alien shooting "theme". The case was re-purposed from the Voodoo3 2000 machine - I took the 3dfx card out, even replaced the mobo & CPU inside. Things are more-less finished, with the exception of decent cable management, so you can expect pics coming up soon! Maybe even tomorrow!

Savage 4, 1st attempt:




Savage 4, 2nd attempt:




Voodoo3 2000 case:




The inside of Voodoo3 2000 system:


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 7, 2016)

How about you send that Savage4 build my way, and keep the new 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 build for yourself?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2016)

Heh heh 

You mean the 1st (or 2nd) attempt? Because those two no longer exist, I gave the Asus A7M266 board away hoping it'll get a 2nd chance with the USB keyboard, while the 2nd board (Gigabyte) completely popped, literally "exploded" so it went to junk bin  Sooo you know what they say, 3rd time's a charm!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2016)

Finally, it's done & finished!! Well, the hardware portion is, at least... Still have to boot up the OS tomorrow & see what the Savage can do! 



 

 

 



Final system specs:

Asus A7A266, S462
AMD Duron 950MHz
2x 128MB SD-RAM
Savage4 Pro 32MB AGP
2x Maxtor 20GB, ATA
2x LiteOn CD-ROM
Ethernet card (LAN party )

Will feature Windows Millennium...


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 8, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Will feature Windows Millennium...


, why Windows ME? 

Perfect time to say I bought the Windows ME upgrade disc when it was released. Never had any more trouble with it than Windows 98 SE contrary what mostly everyone else has said.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2016)

Just because!  Nah, IDK... Frankly speaking, I have too many W98 systems, and yet this one is too old for XP... Or I might even load up XP on another drive, we'll see. One way or another, Windows ME seems like the perfect compromise between those two IMHO. I got several retro systems running ME (including Asus P4B machine) and they're mostly stable, can't really complain.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 8, 2016)

That will run XP just fine. 
I have XP on older systems than that. It's more versatile than you think.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 8, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> That will run XP just fine.
> I have XP on older systems than that. It's more versatile than you think.


What about the 256 MB of SDRAM Trekkie4 installed? Wouldn't it be a tight fit for XP ?


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 8, 2016)

You have to Remember and Acknowledge that people upgraded machines from this Era and Earlier with XP  same way people are now bludging their win 7 pc's with win 10  oops


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 8, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> What about the 256 MB of SDRAM Trekkie4 installed? Wouldn't it be a tight fit for XP ?


Not at all. 128 MB works fine. Less than that it starts to get slow.........real slow.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 8, 2016)

got a Dell laptop with a 266Mhz Cpu and 256 m/b Ram   that runs ok But Slow Still tho it complains of too little mem have to restrict how many progs and services are running 
its pictured way earlier in this thread ( working of course )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> That will run XP just fine.
> I have XP on older systems than that. It's more versatile than you think.



Agreed, which is why I mentioned XP to begin with. And having dual HDD configuration would allow me to run both ME and XP on single machine... Remember, I'm primarily going to run Unreal & UT, perhaps Deus Ex & Half-Life as well, and those are older titles which work best on W9x/ME



biffzinker said:


> What about the 256 MB of SDRAM Trekkie4 installed? Wouldn't it be a tight fit for XP ?


I consider 256MB to be "retro standard" for most of my machines, but I can easily add more if necessary. Or even upgrade to DDR, since I'm using two sticks of PC133 at the moment (wanted to keep the RAM more accurate to the CPU value & clock speed, Duron 950)



dorsetknob said:


> You have to Remember and Acknowledge that people upgraded machines from this Era and Earlier with XP  same way people are now bludging their win 7 pc's with win 10  oops



I've been using S775 Pentium 4 to run Windows 7 for several years, before I finally stepped up & upgraded to dual-core Pentium processor, which I'm running on this system as we speak. Not only that, but the RetroMaster build was the perfect example of how far you can push your old hardware & for what purpose... Despite being DirectX8 based & only running 512MB of DDR1 RAM, I had no problems playing games from 2006, or even 2007 

On a side note, I've decided to name my Savage system "Savage Squarepants"!


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 8, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> got a Dell laptop with a 266Mhz Cpu and 256 m/b Ram   that runs ok But Slow Still tho it complains of too little mem have to restrict how many progs and services are running


Of course.
I restrict services on all of my XP OS's anyway, so it's not a big deal.
My average open processes is only 15 if it's an internet machine. I benchmark with 9.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2016)

*sigh* I should have known things wouldn't be that simple... Once again, I'm having problems with the Savage build. Even though everything seems to be working OK (in the terms of hardware), I'm experiencing a terrible lag in both Windows ME and XP. As in performance drop, I'm barely getting 15FPS within Unreal games, including Deus Ex. And judging from the past experience with other cards (such as TNT2, even Vanta M64) I can only assume that it's actually a problem, fault and not just your average lag. Because it really is painfully slow, 3D mark 2000 is barely hitting the 1000 score mark, and only when I turn all the settings to minimum (16-bit). Otherwise it scores around 800, 850.

Any ideas, suggestions guys? Tomorrow I'm going to swap out the RAM for DDR & see if it does the trick. Or maybe even swap the AGP card for Vanta M64, just to see if it'll make any difference. Because at this point, I've exhausted all other possibilities, I even flashed the board to the latest, 2yr newer version!


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2016)

What driver?


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2016)

Under XP it's the original, MS driver which came with Windows. As for ME, it's the latest version from 2000, 82031. I even tried with "Engineering release", but this one completely crashed the system & left me with BSOD.


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2016)

Here.
http://downloadcenter.mustek.co.za/list.php?dir=Repository/Archive/AGP Vga Cards/S3/Savage4/

Bottom one is the one you want.


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## Recon-UK (Oct 9, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh yes, got my Voodoo3 2000 system delivered earlier today, all bundled inside this cheap but very nice & clean-looking computer case!  I already love it!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Not been keeping up with the thread, congrats mate!


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Here.
> http://downloadcenter.mustek.co.za/list.php?dir=Repository/Archive/AGP Vga Cards/S3/Savage4/
> 
> Bottom one is the one you want.



Thanks bunches, I'm going to try it out tomorrow. But this one is for Win2k, XP right? They're not for 9x/ME... Because what I find weird is that I'm having the same problem under both ME and XP, with two different drivers, even operating systems! So I guess it has to be hardware related? *shrug*



Recon-UK said:


> Not been keeping up with the thread, congrats mate!


Thanks  Take a look at the more recent posts, I've used the Voodoo3 case for the Savage build, which I'm tweaking & troubleshooting as we speak


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks bunches, I'm going to try it out tomorrow. But this one is for Win2k, XP right? They're not for 9x/ME... Because what I find weird is that I'm having the same problem under both ME and XP, with two different drivers, even operating systems! So I guess it has to be hardware related? *shrug*


1) NT
2) 9x
3) ME
4) 2k/XP

Try the XP driver because the standard windows driver doesn't always load correctly. If it still does the same thing, I suspect the Savage card isn't going into 3D mode.

I assume you loaded the AGP drivers for the board chipset, right?


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2016)

I did load ALi AGP driver for ME, yes but not for XP. Because when I did, the XP Savage driver "couldn't start", and I was stuck in 640x480 mode.


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> I did load ALi AGP driver for ME, yes but not for XP. Because when I did, the XP Savage driver "couldn't start", and I was stuck in 640x480 mode.


For XP you need to try the AGP miniport drivers then. They're all Beta's so you might have to try more than one.
http://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/10/17/1/17/

I'm almost positive it's just a driver issue.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2016)

Thanks! In which order do I install these? Miniport 1st & AGP driver 2nd or vice versa?


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2016)

AGP / chipset drivers are always the first thing you want to load after the OS is loaded.
Miniport will be after that.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2016)

Right, that's what I usually do (install chipset drivers 1st) Just wanted to make sure I'm doing the right thing.


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## Ahhzz (Oct 9, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> AGP / chipset drivers are always the first thing you want to load after the OS is loaded.
> Miniport will be after that.


to jump in a little late, absolutely chipset first thing.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2016)

Well guys, I did everything you told me... Chipset drivers, AGP miniport, etc. And yes, I did get the Savage card to load under XP but still getting the same results, so I've tried swapping 256MB of SD RAM for 512MB DDR, just to see if it'll make any difference. To my surprise, it doesn't, I'm barely seeing any improvement in the terms of FPS. So I took out the Savage card & swapped it for Vanta M64 and guess what? The results doubled, M64 wiped the floor with Savage 4 Pro...

The only unanswered question here is the most obvious one ... is the Savage card supposed to be THAT slow, or is it malfunctioning, not working as it should? Because at this stage I'm seriously considering to just swap the card for M64 or MX200, which would give me a fully working system, but without S3TC support. In other words it would be just the same old story... IDK, it's a tough choice!

The ONLY game which is kinda playable was the UT, which seems to be working OK with S3TC "METAL" mode, while the other games such as DeusEx & Unreal are lagging terribly at 1024x768, even in 16bit color but with all settings set to "high".


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## stinger608 (Oct 9, 2016)

I have to think that the Savage card is not working properly @Trekkie4


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> I have to think that the Savage card is not working properly @Trekkie4


I have to agree.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2016)

Agreed. it's better to play it safe than damage yet another motherboard...



Trekkie4 said:


> Starting with NVidia TNT2 Vanta, the (in)famous M64 version... Does seem to be working, but there's no way I'm going to use this one, at least not any time soon!



So anyway, I present you with Duron 950, Vanta M64 build. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, it only shows just how easy it is nowdays to make a retro gaming machine (just in case you considered to make one for yourself but figured it would be too expensive and/or not worth the investment).

Apart from maybe the motherboard, all the components inside this machine are (were back in a day) low-budget, and are VERY easy to come across... M64 is one of the most common cards to come across, SD-RAM is cheap as chips (in come cases even completely free), and the CPU is pretty easy & straightforward. Bet most of you could easily find one yourself, perhaps even a "better" (Athlon) model since high-end Durons are sorta becoming hard to find. And that's pretty much it really, no fancy environmental 3D-accelerated sound cards, no Voodoo cards, no MPEG DVD encoders, no modems, just the simple ethernet card for the LAN connection perhaps, in case you want one (or have one to spare)


 



If I'd have to put a price tag on this thing it would be somewhere around $7,00 or €6,50. But don't let the price tag fool you ... this system is powerful enough to run all the games from 1994/95 up to early 2000's, 2001. And it's sure loads better than ANY emulator or VM.


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## biffzinker (Oct 9, 2016)

Looks like the Savage4 Pro drivers still needed some optimization work done going by a review from xbit labs.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/print/creative-savage4.html

The Savage4 Pro's fill rate is 110-143 mln pixels per second compared to the ATI Rage128's 200 or the Riva TNT2's 250-300. But the Savage4 matches the TNT2 for Polygon Processing Power of 8 mln per second.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 10, 2016)

Right, thanks for the info. Your data confirms what I suspected (but didn't want to say out loud), and also what both @stinger608 and @Mr.Scott already pointed out... Something is seriously messed up with my Savage4 card 

Because according to this, Vanta M64 should be running SLOWER than Savage, NOT faster! Except in my situation here, the M64 has the same, even somewhat better benchmarking results under 1024x768, 32bit than Savage, under 1024x768 16bit with all settings set to minimum *shrug*

This here was the best I could get out of Savage4, with all settings (except for the resolution) set to minimum:




I even got the S3 MeTaL driver to start up & work (under UT), but apart from that not much... As I said before, even the older titles such as DeusEx had serious slowdowns & glitches all over!




Anyway, I'm planning to keep the Vanta card inside for now, but as soon as I get the opportunity to buy another Savage4 card, I probably will...


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## biffzinker (Oct 10, 2016)

How about this Creative Labs 32Mb *S3 Savage4* AGP VGA Video Graphics Card for US$12.00 @Trekkie4?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-La...316292?hash=item41b3acbc44:g:n0QAAOSwGIRXaGQ1


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 10, 2016)

$12.00 for Savage card?! Heh, thanks but no thanks  There's one for sale locally, for the price of $3,71...

Already contacted the seller & will see if we can make a deal. Manli branded, not sure if it's "Pro" though, but it's 32MB just like the old one, same PCB color even. The only model number(s) I can see are DH-Savage4 on the PCB and "S3 Savage4 32MB" on the paper sticker.


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## stinger608 (Oct 10, 2016)

Okay, for anyone interested, I have a bud on another forum that is getting set up to host some ole First person shooter games.

He wants to host Medal of Honor. There is actually a free download of this called Revival Edition:

http://mohaarevival.tk/

I'm going to get one of my ole Socket A systems fired up and do some nostalgic gaming. 

If anyone is interested, we could get the game downloaded and do some fragging.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 11, 2016)

I've been searching around, going through the old (archived) websites & forums, and came across some interesting facts, regarding Savage cards... As it turns out, my defective card may not be so defective after all.

According to Wikipedia, Savage4 was (and I'm quoting) "hardly a match for the new 3dfx Voodoo3, ATI Rage 128, Matrox G400, or NVIDIA Riva TNT2. In OpenGL games such as Quake II, Savage4 performed about as well as G400 did with its slow initial OpenGL support and was far behind TNT2 and Voodoo3. Within Direct3D titles such as Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, Savage 4 scored almost 50% slower than TNT2 and Voodoo3 even at a low resolution such as 800x600." Which is pretty much what I experienced myself, about 50% less than nVidia card. OK, I'll admit that TNT2 and Vanta are not one & the same, but it's close enough to make you wonder.

Also, according to xbitlabs.com, the same source which @biffzinker already mentioned, Savage was hardly keeping up with the games such as Quake 3 Arena, running 1024x768 at 22.9 FPS. And this is Savage4 Pro+ version we're talking about, it's not even the cheapest one! At the high-quality game settings, FPS would drop all the way down to 17.7, which is exactly what I'm seeing myself... Not to mention the buggy & extremely basic drivers, and you have a crappy card which can't even keep up with Vanta M64 

Sources:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/lowend-roundup.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3_Savage

I may think twice before swapping Vanta for Savage again... With all due respect to S3, S3TC & MeTaL drivers, M64 seems like the obvious (and cheapest) choice to go with. Kinda ironic when you think about it, especially since Savage was designed to be a gaming card, while the Vanta/M64 was primarily made for budget machines, office workstations & OEM machines, such as HP Vectra series.


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 11, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Okay, for anyone interested, I have a bud on another forum that is getting set up to host some ole First person shooter games.
> 
> He wants to host Medal of Honor. There is actually a free download of this called Revival Edition:
> 
> ...




Hello, would be more than happy to host a few games for us all to experience it's 2002/2003 all over again! HP DL380-G6 loaded with windows 10-64 with dual Xeon 5520 and 24gb mated with SAS 4x10k spinners. My ISP provides speed of 150mb DL and steady 12mb upload. This should be good for least 12 players????

Any help would be appreciated and getting the Proliant fired up, I can set up a remote login for experienced server admins? Whatever it takes! 

My old hardware of socket A boards are on the way in the mail. So, i will have to cheat on modern hardware until I get the old stuff! 

We can do other gaming besides MOHAA, if you are willing to share the needed software for the server. I pretty much have all the MOHAA and COD games.


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## dorsetknob (Oct 11, 2016)

*Nobified[H] welcome to TPU *(and the Nostalgic hardware thread )*https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/members/nobified-h.167613/*


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 11, 2016)

Just when I was about to give up on Savage altogether, I got the msg from the seller, says he wants to meet me tomorrow. So (assuming we work it out), stand by for Savage4 status & updates. Personally, I still think Vanta would (is) a better choice, but since I already have too many nVidia systems laying around, I'm willing to give it a try with something more unusual & "fresh"


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 12, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> since I already have too many nVidia systems laying around, I'm willing to give it a try with something more unusual & "fresh"


SiS Xabre


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

I have to be honest, I never heard of Xabre cards before so I Googled them. The card itself seems exotic & highly unusual ... exactly the kind of mixture I like & prefer lol 

But something tells me that Xabre costs a lot of cash, especially since I'd have to order one online  So nah, I'll rather give it another try with Savage & hope for the best.


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 12, 2016)

Only because of your location.
They are not that expensive here but they ARE getting harder to find.
I got your MO down 
I prefer the odd and unusual also.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

Right, I figured that much just by browsing through ebay  All the previously-listed cards are either sold out or cost a lot of money. Oh well, that's OK I guess - Savage4 is (by my standards, at least) kinda odd and unusual. Especially since I have it on ALi motherboard, as all my other boards are either VIA, Intel, SiS and/or nVidia  So therefore it's most definitely going to be unique!

Oh and speaking of MO ... my favorite car (which I'd LOVE to buy someday) is DMC 12, aka DeLorean! It's old (retro), yet stylish & unique, not to mention highly unusual! Just the kind of thing I'd be interested in


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 12, 2016)

Any chance anyone is online with MOHAA installed on their PC. Stinger608 is busy with work, reason I am asking to make sure I have the WAN working well for you guys to jump on. I can't do it from LAN without someone checking the WAN.

Any volunteers? PM me and I will give you server IP.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

No comment 


 



Now I just have to plug it in & see if it makes any difference or not.


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 12, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> No comment
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Now that is a nice piece of hardware! Did you pay $ for it or freebie? I bet if we build the retro build of left over parts and wait another 10 years. We could make a nice pocket change? I noticed the K6 amd boards are going for big $.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

It was almost a freebie, paid it less than $3  Savage cards are kinda hard to find nowdays... Guess I was lucky with this one, especially since it was the one (and only) for sale at the moment...

Not sure if you're familiar with some of my previous posts, but if you have the time & patience go take a look - I've been experimenting with Savage4 & got some pretty lame results, which is why I got this, 2nd Savage card. I don't expect a miracle lol, but I DO hope it'll be able to run games like Deus Ex at decent FPS 

As for the value, I'm sure these are all going to cost a fortune someday!  Especially Voodoo cards, which is why I always buy those whenever I can.


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 12, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> It was almost a freebie, paid it less than $3  Savage cards are kinda hard to find nowdays... Guess I was lucky with this one, especially since it was the one (and only) for sale at the moment...
> 
> Not sure if you're familiar with some of my previous posts, but if you have the time & patience go take a look - I've been experimenting with Savage4 & got some pretty lame results, which is why I got this, 2nd Savage card. I don't expect a miracle lol, but I DO hope it'll be able to run games like Deus Ex at decent FPS
> 
> As for the value, I'm sure these are all going to cost a fortune someday!  Especially Voodoo cards, which is why I always buy those whenever I can.




WOW, decent...I remember that game running on a friends pentium 2 slot. I will go back and read up on your posts.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

Yeah, decent FPS. Not sure what's going on with my other Savage4 card, it seems to be working OK (therefore not being damaged in any obvious way), but it's extremely slow! And I really DO mean slow, even for a Savage card. Well IDK, I never had one back in a day, but from what I heard & understood these things were supposed to be faster than that *shrug* Just to help you understand how slow Savage 4 actually was, imagine playing Deus Ex, at 1024x768 (16bit color) and experiencing lags & random slowdowns. Even when you just move your view around, look up & down! So yeah, I got this other Savage4 card today & will give it a try 

As most of the guys in this topic already know, I have my share of Pentium 2 machines... 5 of them to be exact, and they're all running 350MHz in various configurations. From the single Voodoo2, up to Voodoo2 in SLI, even Voodoo3 2000 (AGP). In fact, my "pride & joy" RetroMaster 1000 build was based on PII 350! But unfortunately it doesn't take advantage of AGP card (even though it has one, ATI Rage IIc), only the Voodoo2 cards which is why I eventually made the 2nd unit, RetroMaster 2000. I'm sure you'll find references to both of these throughout this topic  Still, I might upgrade the 1000 model someday with something better than ATI card... Perhaps nVidia MX200 or something similar.

1st Savage4 (Pro) card


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 12, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, decent FPS. Not sure what's going on with my other Savage4 card, it seems to be working OK (therefore not being damaged in any obvious way), but it's extremely slow! And I really DO mean slow, even for a Savage card. Well IDK, I never had one back in a day, but from what I heard & understood these things were supposed to be faster than that *shrug* Just to help you understand how slow Savage 4 actually was, imagine playing Deus Ex, at 1024x768 (16bit color) and experiencing lags & random slowdowns. Even when you just move your view around, look up & down! So yeah, I got this other Savage4 card today & will give it a try
> 
> As most of the guys in this topic already know, I have my share of Pentium 2 machines... 5 of them to be exact, and they're all running 350MHz in various configurations. From the single Voodoo2, up to Voodoo2 in SLI, even Voodoo3 2000 (AGP). In fact, my "pride & joy" RetroMaster 1000 build was based on PII 350! But unfortunately it doesn't take advantage of AGP card (even though it has one, ATI Rage IIc), only the Voodoo2 cards which is why I eventually made the 2nd unit, RetroMaster 2000. I'm sure you'll find references to both of these throughout this topic  Still, I might upgrade the 1000 model someday with something better than ATI card... Perhaps nVidia MX200 or something similar.
> 
> 1st Savage4 (Pro) card



What OS are you running on those machines with slow FPS using savage card?


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

Nobified[H] said:


> What OS are you running on those machines with slow FPS using savage card?


Windows ME. But I had (and still have) dual-boot config with ME and XP, and both of these were equally slow. I followed @Mr.Scott and @stinger608 advice on installing appropriate chipset drivers (ALi board, Asus A7A266) but it didn't make any difference whatsoever.


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 12, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Windows ME. But I had (and still have) dual-boot config with ME and XP, and both of these were equally slow. I followed @Mr.Scott and @stinger608 advice on installing appropriate chipset drivers (ALi board, Asus A7A266) but it didn't make any difference whatsoever.




Did you check your hard drive or used the appropriate cabling for ATA 66/100? The faster drives used more cabling on the ATA 100/133.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

It's kinda funny that you mentioned hard drives, because I had some HDD issues with this particular build. After fiddling with IDE ribbon cable (even replacing one, because the original one was apparently shorted), I ended up hooking hard drive(s) to Secondary channel and optical drives to Primary. Now, just to get this clear - I do know the "rules" and realize that HDDs should always be connected to primary channel only, but I did a research and found out that it doesn't make much of a difference, as long as hard drives are connected together in one "chain" and optical drives to another, with the superior & faster unit being the Master one. Which is exactly what I have here, two identical Maxtor 20GB units working in Master/Slave config and two LiteOn CD-ROMs on the other channel, also working in Master/Slave config. But since one of the CD ROM drives is 52x and the other one is 40x, the faster one is master, while the lower drive (40X) is slave.

To eliminate the HDD (and motherboard) factors, I pulled out the old Savage4 card & swapped it for Vanta M64 card. The benchmark score literally doubled, and I got massive performance boost. So really, it HAS to be the card itself, there's no other explanation.


----------



## Nobified[H] (Oct 12, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> It's kinda funny that you mentioned hard drives, because I had some HDD issues with this particular build. After fiddling with IDE ribbon cable (even replacing one, because the original one was apparently shorted), I ended up hooking hard drive(s) to Secondary channel and optical drives to Primary. Now, just to get this clear - I do know the "rules" and realize that HDDs should always be connected to primary channel only, but I did a research and found out that it doesn't make much of a difference, as long as hard drives are connected together in one "chain" and optical drives to another, with the superior & faster unit being the Master one. Which is exactly what I have here, two identical Maxtor 20GB units working in Master/Slave config and two LiteOn CD-ROMs on the other channel, also working in Master/Slave config. But since one of the CD ROM drives is 52x and the other one is 40x, the faster one is master, while the lower drive (40X) is slave.
> 
> To eliminate the HDD (and motherboard) factors, I pulled out the old Savage4 card & swapped it for Vanta M64 card. The benchmark score literally doubled, and I got massive performance boost. So really, it HAS to be the card itself, there's no other explanation.



Sounds like you may need to check the capacitors on that other graphics card that is under performing. It literally could be a simple fix. If it is lacking power but enough to prevent it from crashing, its like running @ 50%. These are old dinosaurs we are messing with LOL!


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2016)

Nobified[H] said:


> Sounds like you may need to check the capacitors on that other graphics card that is under performing. It literally could be a simple fix. If it is lacking power but enough to prevent it from crashing, its like running @ 50%. These are old dinosaurs we are messing with LOL!


My point exactly, yes. IDK, I'm not going to throw it away but I'm probably not going to fix it any time soon, either. Like I said, I got this other Savage4 card earlier today, so I'm going to swap it some time today (or tomorrow) & will post benchmark results over here 

Edit
OK, so this is getting weirder and weirder... I put the new Savage card into the system, fired it up & it hang at the Windows. So I removed the old drivers & swapped them for new ones, different version. This time Windows Millennium started up, except the entire screen was messed up. Not garbled, but really more like messed up - had a black background, pixelated desktop icons, "show desktop" text showing in the upper-left corner, etc. So I gave up on Win ME & booted into XP. Everything worked fine, until I initiated DirectX tests within "DXDiag". Then XP simply hanged & I had to reboot.

Thinking it was the card itself, I gave it one other opportunity, this using 3DMark. Figured if it hangs or crashes upon benchmark, it HAS to be the card (hardware) fault of some kind, right? But no, to my surprise benchmark worked out OK. Again, painfully slow (at the same FPS rate as the other Savage card), but it wasn't throwing any errors or faults... So really, the ONLY logical explanation I can think of is that both Savage cards are OK, but they're not compatible with this motherboard. Maybe there's something between S3 and ALi chipset? Because I already tried to flash the BIOS, even fiddle with the settings but it didn't make any difference.

Of course, needless to say I once again swapped the Savage4 card for Vanta M64 and it seems to be working OK. Performs pretty good under both Direct3D and OpenGL, so I'm going to leave it like this.

Edit2
Nevermind, I'm an idiot! Should have realized that earlier. My suspicions are confirmed, loads of ppl reported having issues between ALi chipset & Savage4 cards *sigh* Just Google for "S3 Savage ALi Chipset"


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 13, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> My suspicions are confirmed, loads of ppl reported having issues between ALi chipset & Savage4 cards *sigh* Just Google for "S3 Savage ALi Chipset"



I had no idea.
Never been much of an ALi guy.


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 13, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> My point exactly, yes. IDK, I'm not going to throw it away but I'm probably not going to fix it any time soon, either. Like I said, I got this other Savage4 card earlier today, so I'm going to swap it some time today (or tomorrow) & will post benchmark results over here
> 
> Edit
> OK, so this is getting weirder and weirder... I put the new Savage card into the system, fired it up & it hang at the Windows. So I removed the old drivers & swapped them for new ones, different version. This time Windows Millennium started up, except the entire screen was messed up. Not garbled, but really more like messed up - had a black background, pixelated desktop icons, "show desktop" text showing in the upper-left corner, etc. So I gave up on Win ME & booted into XP. Everything worked fine, until I initiated DirectX tests within "DXDiag". Then XP simply hanged & I had to reboot.
> ...



This is what happens when ur a cheapie guy!  Glad you got it figured out.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 13, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> I had no idea.
> Never been much of an ALi guy.



Me either lol, this is my very 1st ALi-based system ever. But when you think about it, it's kinda obvious really. Not a hardware fault, not a driver one either. Not related to Windows, so therefore it has to be incompatibility between the two components, I only feel bad for taking so much time to realize that.



Nobified[H] said:


> This is what happens when ur a cheapie guy!  Glad you got it figured out.


I know, right? Serves me right lol  Just my luck ... from over 30 retro VIA, Intel, SiS & nVidia systems in my collection, I just HAD to put the Savage card on the ALi board 

It's fine though, Vanta M64 seems to be working just fine with Asus A7A266, and I'm sure I'll be able to use both of the Savage cards for some other purpose. Either some completely new build, or the existing one, might put it inside one of the Rage128 systems I have.

Edit
Heh, this is hilarious... Just saw an old post from around 2001, someone pointed out how Savage4 is highly incompatible with VIA-based boards. So wait, it doesn't work with ALi AND VIA?! Makes you wonder which idiot designed this thing! Ppl had exactly the same symptoms as I did, messed up screen image within Windows ME & pixelated icons.


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 13, 2016)

The MOHAA server is up, If you guys want to jump on and frag away. Me and stinger608 did some mighty fine spray and prayin action! 

Need to adjust the CFG files to let games play longer and observer for some bug fixes.

If you want IP of server MOHAA PM me, don't really want to tell the world where it is right now until I got everything locked down.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 14, 2016)

Booting up the fresh copies of ME & XP on that former Savage, now Vanta machine. Guess it would be easier to just call it Duron 950, aka the cheap bucket 

Let's compare the benchmark results, just for the sake of fun & nostalgic hardware! 1st result was the Savage4 card (the original one), while the 2nd result is for nVidia Vanta M64
_*Savage4 Pro*_



*Vanta/M64*




You don't even have to be a tech in order to tell there's something seriously wrong with this setup... Savage4 is falling behind Vanta by 526 points! And these were default settings, 1024x768 with color set to 16bit and 16bit z-buffer!

Anyhow, time to move on... I've been experimenting with some of the games I got, I wanted to see just how capable Vanta card actually is. And to my surprise it proved itself to be more than worthy for most of the older titles. OK, some of them were running kinda slow (Colin McRae Rally 2 for example), but once I set the config settings to medium & removed the shadows, it was running around steady 20-25 FPS. On the other hand, Half-Life, Opposing Force, Unreal & UT were all running at even higher rate, without any slowdowns or compatibility issues.




Same thing with Max Payne... For the sake of playing it safe (and therefore saving my time), I set all the values to medium config. But according to in-game experience, it might even accept higher settings, because it's very sharp & responsive, doesn't have any lags or slowdowns whatsoever.




Still have to tweak certain things & have it properly tested tomorrow, but apart from that I'm not going to waste any more time with this build. Even though I didn't get to experience S3TC & MeTaL features, guess I managed to prove just how easy it is to make a cheap, yet reliable retro system! As I already pointed out in one of my earlier posts, you don't really need 3dfx or fancy audio equipment, unless you're going for a retro super-build! In which case you'll need to spend some cash & arm yourself with loads of patience 

Edit
Correction - I've just realized that Vanta and M64 are two completely different video cards, even though most sellers (even retailers) refer to both cards as if they're the same thing. In fact, some cards are even labeled as "Vanta M64", which is what had me confused to begin with...

So apparently M64 is the beefed up version of Vanta with higher GPU clock & VRAM between 16 & 32MB, but they're both slower & stripped-down versions of TNT2, which easily outperforms both. Also, one other thing which I noticed is that M64 comes with bigger heatsinks, or even active cooling (such as mine), while the Vanta card has smaller passively-cooled heatsink and/or doesn't even have one to begin with.


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 14, 2016)

Guys, I have some questions concerning retro builds I will be doing with in the next 7 days. Just waiting for all the parts to arrive in the mail. Checked my trash bin and found my old ECS K7TVA3-v 5.0 and Athlon XP 2400 cpu that I had laying around. 

http://www.motherboard.cz/mb/ecs/K7VTA3V50.htm

I loaded up windows 98SE, works great but really useless in doing anything with it. I decided to reload windows XP, since all the drivers were found. I don't remember my XP 2400 cpu being hammered this hard pulling up simple web browsers. There were quite a bit of issues trying to upgrade the web browser due to lack of SSE2 instructions on the CPU. Basically, I couldn't load up any modern up to date web browser. Pulling up a page like www.drudgereport.com took a good 3 to 5 minutes, even with 150mb DL speed from my modem. Next, I decided to see what was going on in the back ground. Pressed ALt+Control+Del keys to check hardware info. I noticed the memory/hard drive tasks were low, but the CPU was just hammered at 100% continuously. Don't remember WinXP being this hard on an Athlon XP cpu back in my days. Is this due to different internet website development that has changed over the years?


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## _JP_ (Oct 14, 2016)

Howdy! 

Been a while since I last posted here...things changed... 
I'll get some photos uploaded soon 

I had a 32MB Vanta M64 (it's somewhere in this thread) and Colin McRae Rally 2.0 was the reason I upgraded to a Radeon 9200SE (also somewhere in this thread)(I knew almost nothing about hardware at the time )


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 14, 2016)

Nobified[H] said:


> Guys, I have some questions concerning retro builds I will be doing with in the next 7 days. Just waiting for all the parts to arrive in the mail. Checked my trash bin and found my old ECS K7TVA3-v 5.0 and Athlon XP 2400 cpu that I had laying around.
> 
> http://www.motherboard.cz/mb/ecs/K7VTA3V50.htm
> 
> I loaded up windows 98SE, works great but really useless in doing anything with it. I decided to reload windows XP, since all the drivers were found. I don't remember my XP 2400 cpu being hammered this hard pulling up simple web browsers. There were quite a bit of issues trying to upgrade the web browser due to lack of SSE2 instructions on the CPU. Basically, I couldn't load up any modern up to date web browser. Pulling up a page like www.drudgereport.com took a good 3 to 5 minutes, even with 150mb DL speed from my modem. Next, I decided to see what was going on in the back ground. Pressed ALt+Control+Del keys to check hardware info. I noticed the memory/hard drive tasks were low, but the CPU was just hammered at 100% continuously. Don't remember WinXP being this hard on an Athlon XP cpu back in my days. Is this due to different internet website development that has changed over the years?



Yeah, that's the problem with these older systems... Afraid you're not going to get very far, at least when it comes to internet performance. Things have changed a LOT over the last 10, 15yrs, now you're being targeted by dozens of popup ads, various plugins, filters, cookies and god knows what else. All this together is going to slow your older system to a crawl, because it's just not designed to put up with that much load 

Same thing with the browsers, they are designed for modern-day hardware (mainly dual & quad-core processors, capable of multi-tasking) Not to mention HD video content... Also, make sure that you're not running the latest service packages, 2 or even 3. Those two will really slow down ANY retro system (I'm speaking from my own, personal experience) as most of the Socket A boards & CPUs were targeted for the original release of XP, perhaps SP1 at most. Which brings other, security-related concerns since you're going online with this thing, so I really don't know what to recommend. Try shutting down all the XP services which you're not going to use & see if it'll boost up performance.



_JP_ said:


> Howdy!
> 
> Been a while since I last posted here...things changed...
> I'll get some photos uploaded soon
> ...



Judging from the fact you were able to start CMR2 to begin with, I'd say you probably had M64, not Vanta  But yes, I remember testing CMR2 on a TNT2 Pro card and it worked perfectly fine! Even with the shadows and all the fancy stuff at "max". The only downside was the 16bit color, because 32bit was too much for TNT2 to handle (at 1024x768)


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## _JP_ (Oct 14, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Judging from the fact you were able to start CMR2 to begin with, I'd say you probably had M64, not Vanta  But yes, I remember testing CMR2 on a TNT2 Pro card and it worked perfectly fine! Even with the shadows and all the fancy stuff at "max". The only downside was the 16bit color, because 32bit was too much for TNT2 to handle (at 1024x768)


You are right, I mixed the naming, RIVA TNT2 M64 it is!


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 14, 2016)

I'm quite impressed with the performance of M64 so far! Especially for a budget card (even back in a day), it's capable of running most of the older titles between medium & max settings, depending on the game itself (mainly release date). A perfect choice for the budget-friendly retro build IMHO (assuming you can't find or buy something better for the same price and/or get it for free)


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2016)

I was going to take much more pics & go into a great length of comparing the final results with other video cards, but considering the amount of problems & system crashes I've had, I just wanted to get it over with ASAP & move it out of my sight 

So anyway... Enjoy these next couple of pics 

All the Harry Potter games, including Sorcerer's Stone (in the pic below) are actually part of WinXP partition,  and not ME one. I wanted to make sure it doesn't have any problems with the Win9x/ME nVidia drivers, since I vaguely remember having flickering black strips & other issues on my TNT2 Pro card, looong time ago. There was something with DirectX9 & Windows Millennium, IDK. One way or another it plays perfectly fine this way - again the only downside was having 16bit color since 32 would be too much to handle for M64.


 



Same thing with Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets... Being the same (Unreal) game engine, it performs about the same as 1st game... Overall quite decent performance with all details & other values set to max!


 



And last but not least, I wanted to see just how far I can push this thing... Back in a day ppl would probably do the same (at least those who couldn't afford better hardware), so I went ahead & started GTA3 & GTA Vice City. While the GTA3 performs terrible and lags all the time, Vice is mostly playable around 15-20 fps. Talk about game optimization, huh?


 

 



Don't have any pics from WinME at the moment, but it's mostly just standard stuff... Need for Speed 3, 4, Unreal Gold, UT, Carmageddon 2, Driver, Deus Ex, Midtown Madness 1 & 2, Broken Sword 1 & 2, Monkey Island 3 & 4, Tomb Raider 2, 4 & 5, Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine, etc. In fact, the only change was including Flight Unlimited 3, with optional San Francisco terrain from Flight Unlimited 2. Most of these titles performed perfectly OK with the exception of Tomb Raider 3 & Lost Artifact (aka Tomb3 Gold) and Monkey Island 4 (Escape from Monkey Island). But since MI4 was capable of both D3D and OpenGL, going with OpenGL instead of DX fixed the problem!


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## dorsetknob (Oct 16, 2016)

Nobified[H] said:


> Basically, I couldn't load up any modern up to date web browser.



You might try installing an Earlier Web browser  just to see if it solves your hammering CPU problem   if it does Disable Browser updates

Think i have a few firefox installers ( offline installer ) if you cannot find an early ver online


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> You might try installing an Earlier Web browser  just to see if it solves your hammering CPU problem   if it does Disable Browser updates
> 
> Think i have a few firefox installers ( offline installer ) if you cannot find an early ver online


Give it a try with OldApps.com @Nobified[H] I've been using it to obtain older versions of nVidia ForceWare all the time!


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## alucasa (Oct 16, 2016)

Me not sure whether this is considered old hardware but does anyone remember Zalman Zmachine chassis?

It cost me 440CAD from Newegg about 7 years ago. It is a full aluminum chassis with 5mm thickness. I took it out of storage tonight, took internals out and showered with it hot water to clean out.


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## stinger608 (Oct 16, 2016)

Oh wow, I always wanted that case @alucasa !!!!!

Awesome case!!!!!!


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## alucasa (Oct 16, 2016)

It was a unique case and still is now.

I think I can install USB 3 module in 3.5 inch bay to update it.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2016)

Not exactly nostalgic "hardware", but close enough... 

You guys remember the website Avault.com (The Adrenaline Vault), right? It used to be quite famous back in a day, I even remember downloading cheats & game solutions back in a day, when I 1st got my Pentium 2 machine! Sadly, the actual website had been hacked & permanently shut down, but thanks to WayBackMachine services, I was able to find & dig out some of the older articles, game reviews from the late 90s!

Need for Speed 2 PC Review (May 11, 1997)
Need for Speed 2 SE PC Review (Nov 11, 1997)
Carmageddon PC Review (Aug 23, 1997)
Carmageddon Splat Pack PC Review (Mar 2, 1998)
Broken Sword (II): The Smoking Mirror (Oct 14, 1997)
Microsoft Flight Simulator '98 PC Review (Oct 13, 1997)
Quake 2 PC Review (Dec 9, 1997)
Tomb Raider 2 PC Review (Dec 28, 1997)
Microsoft Monster Truck Madness 2 PC Review (Jun 2, 1998)
Need for Speed 3 PC Review (Oct 16, 1998)
Half-Life PC Review (Dec 4, 1998)
Tomb Raider 3 PC Review (Dec 18, 1998)
Test Drive 5 PC Review (Dec 15, 1998)
Speed Busters PC Review (Dec 16, 1998)
Sim City 3000 PC Review (Mar 12, 1999)
Microsoft Midtown Madness PC Review (May 28, 1999)
Need for Speed High Stakes PC Review (Jul 19, 1999)

And many more, other titles! So if you have a particular title which you'd like me to find & retrieve, let me know


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## stinger608 (Oct 17, 2016)

That is awesome @Trekkie4 !!!!!


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## _JP_ (Oct 17, 2016)

So...since the last time I wrote here, I have bid farewell to a great fellow, thanks to a Chieftec PSu that decided to die of old age while on stand-by (quite the scare at the middle of the night...)




This, besides something else, definitely killed it 

Anyway, things moved on... 






(From left to right: 115W copper-core cooler w/3000rpm Delta (IIRC ) fan, 95W copper-core cooler w/~2500rpm Nidec Fan, 65W All-Al cooler w/~2400rpm Nidec Fan)

I'll post more as soon as I can


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## jboydgolfer (Oct 19, 2016)

Speaking of Old tech...heres one i Found in some of my old stuff a while back.
for those who are unfamiliar with what it is exactly, it is technically a "computer", called a.....
*Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer *
pretty cool piece of cold war tech .i cant believe it has held up so well, it was buried in my stuff
LINK for more info. _*http://www.fourmilab.ch/bombcalc/*_


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 19, 2016)

That's awesome. .....and quite rare.


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## stinger608 (Oct 19, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> That's awesome. .....and quite rare.




Wow, I couldn't agree more!!!!!!! 

That should be framed in glass and displayed @jboydgolfer !!!!


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## jboydgolfer (Oct 19, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> That's awesome. .....and quite rare.





stinger608 said:


> Wow, I couldn't agree more!!!!!!!
> 
> That should be framed in glass and displayed @jboydgolfer !!!!




 It's definitely a  spectacular piece of history from a time when our eyes as a nation were continually drawn to the sky in fear of our own collective demise.

  You might be surprised to find out that they're actually not all that rare to find in such good condition even nowadays,  but I love it just the same.

I Actually got it out of a garage sale or throwaway box I know I didn't pay for it and it came in a box of other items that were free, the only other iten in that box was an old kerosene lamp which was also from the 50's or 60's,  now that I think about it as I look back it seems like it was a nuclear preparedness kit,  i'm glad you guys enjoyed it ...it's safe in storage  now


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 19, 2016)

Just a friendly reminder to people running old PSU's. A digital volt meter is an valuable asset in preventing classic mobo's from going PFFFFFF!

Reminds me back in the old days when I installed a 120mm fan to the motherboard's 3 pin without checking the amps draw rating. Surprising it worked well for a few weeks, one morning I turn it on looking into clear see through case. Just wondering what games I was planning on playing. I reached for the power on button, with smiles that quickly turned into panic scramble to put FLAMES raging out of control inside the case. I quickly pulled the plug out and the flames withered away! End result, all motherboard 3 pin headers quit working but everything else still worked. Just had to use the PSU molex connectors to power the fans on. Few weeks later, purchased a new motherboard. *sigh*


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## Nobified[H] (Oct 19, 2016)

Abit NF7-S with Bios 27, XP 3000 Barton CPU, ATi PowerColor 7900Pro AGP 128mb, 3GB Pc2700Patriot, WD 80Gb ATA100

Msi KT6V, XP 2400 CPU, 2GB PC2700, 4600Ti card not yet arrived in mail...

Picked them up on [H] and Ebay

I can't seem to make these pictures big on the screen, can only send the links?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5hG-D8jchBmXzg3dlZ3bHhicWc/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5hG-D8jchBmNkhJNG5iU0N5ZE0/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5hG-D8jchBmTzhtWnZuR3pxUFE/view?usp=sharing


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## Thimblewad (Oct 25, 2016)

A couple of weeks ago, I got my hands on a very old PC with some interesting hardware. It was apparently un-bootable, hasn't been in use for at least 7-8 years and was about to go in the trash. My hardware-enthusiast gut kicked in and I said to myself: "I'm gonna make this piece of art work and give it back it's former glory!".

(all the pictures were resized to 1024x768 or 768x1024 for easier viewing, I have larger ones, PM me if you want them for whatever the reason)
The PC in question looks like this (laugh all you want):




The first problem I faced was the PC not booting at all. All I got was the CPU fan spinning up and then dying after a minute. After opening it I also noticed it had an ATI Radeon 9600 GPU with 128 MB of DDR VRAM, which was no joke when this buddy came out. Next move? I put out the battery, left it sit for a minute and tried again: nothing. My next step was to try if maybe the RAM was faulty. I removed the old RAM (2 x 256 MB DDR 333 MHz) and put in two sticks of some RAM I had laying around (2 x 1 GB DDR 333 MHz). Boo-yah! The PC booted!

(a look inside)




After the initial surprise of this being such an easy fix, I opened up the BIOS and, holy-moly, this thing had an Athlon XP 3000+ inside! The CPU used to be the king of the market in the early 2000s (price at launch was 536 $). One thing that alarmed my senses was the CPU temperature. It was idling from 55-57 °C. I shut the whole PC off and went ahead to change the thermal compounds on both the CPU and GPU coolers. I used my old trustworthy ArcticCooling MX-2 for the job.

(CPU thermal paste application)




(GPU thermal paste application)



After re-applying the thermal paste, putting back the CPU and GPU coolers, dusting the PC, wiping it a little bit, adding a fan infront of the case and checking if everything was in it's place it was time to try and put an OS onto it. This is what I was dealing with at the time:

(PC after cleaning)




I burned a copy of Windows XP SP3 onto a CD (yes, I "stole" it from the internet, I don't give a sh*t + the darn thing wouldn't boot from a USB) and I got into the setup menu, bliss! At this point in time I noticed that I'm dealing with a 250 GB ExcelStor drive (IDE of course), which is just amazing. I created two partitions, one for the OS and one for everything else (20 GB and 210 GB respectively). After the Windows installation (took about 30 minutes) it was time to install some of the necessary applications (AV, CPU-Z, web browser etc.). I even took my time and tried to overclock the CPU and it's stable at > 2200 MHz!

This is what I have right now:




I think it's a shame that this PC was about to end up at a garbageyard, since it didn't take me a lot of time or money to put it back in flawless working order. It's fast, responsive and I haven't gotten a blue-screen yet! 

Now that I've done all of this (drank countless coffee cups while at it), it's time to benchmark it and maybe play some old games on it, hahahaha.
*
So my questions for you guys are:*

Would you like more posts like this? (I might build myself an old LGA 771 server system with 2 Xeon CPUs)
What are your thoughts on the PC itself?
Do you think I did a good job reviving this gem?
Which benchmarks/games would you like me to put the PC through?
*
Full system specifications:*

Motherboard: VIA K7VTA3 ver. 6.0 (updated BIOS to 1.10 - latest)
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ @ 2.2 GHz
Memory: 2 x 1 GB of DDR 333 MHz RAM
GPU: ATI Radeon 9600 128 MB (AGP 2.0 X4)
HDD: 250 GB ExcelStor Technology J9250
PSU: LCPower LC420-H12 420W


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 26, 2016)

Just got these today! 




Not exactly old hardware, but certainly nostalgic enough since they're going to be hooked to old-school audio equipment. Including the HiFi VCRs, tape deck & turntable  60W output power, inside wooden cabinet(s)... As good as you can get in the terms of PC (desktop) speakers!


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## _JP_ (Oct 26, 2016)

Here's the new retrorig I built using the parts I had laying around 
Initially I was going for an ASUS EN9600GT/HTDI/512M (after a test phase with a PowerColor ATi Radeon x1650Pro 512MB AGP), but it is incompatible with the 4coredual-sata2 R2.0 due to the PCI-e revision, which the VIA chipsets have a hard time handling, so I resorted to an ASUS EN6800XT  This way it will be full WinXP retro 

Specs:
Case - Random heavy-as-hell box (prob. 0.8 or 1mm SECC)
Motherboard - ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 (BIOS L2.20)
CPU - Intel Pentium 4 HT 651
RAM - 2x Kingston 1GB DDR PC3200
PSU - LC-Power Super Silent Series LC-6550 V2.2 550W
Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
WiFi - TP-Link TL-WN851ND 
ATA - *IDE1* - Seagate Barracuda 7200.2 80GB + WD Caviar 80GB - *IDE2* - Samsung Spinpoint P 40GB + LG DVD rewriter - *SATA1* - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB - *SATA2* - WD Caviar Blue 160GB
Other - Random card reader



Spoiler











































The ASUS EN6800XT also went for a retro cooler upgrade 
Stock was replaced with a CoolerMaster CoolViva G1


Spoiler























Thing is...I now suspect the PSU isn't doing very good, I definitely need to replace the caps...its whining is noticeable when everything is quiet 

EDIT: The 9600GT was making the Windows XP installation hang at this part:




Oh well


----------



## Bones (Oct 26, 2016)

Thimblewad said:


> *
> So my questions for you guys are:*
> 
> Would you like more posts like this? (I might build myself an old LGA 771 server system with 2 Xeon CPUs)
> ...



Thats'a great find you ran across - Thanks for sharing it.
The XP-3200 200MHz chip was the actual king back in the day related to desktop CPU's and I have two of them here, both do well and one happens to be a pre-superlock dated chip. However in reality the XP-M's are the real stars of Socket A but unfortunately not all Socket A boards support them. Some will, some will also but not properly and even some won't run them at all, depends on the board.

Now - You found a great setup and the price was right, I'd try a few rounds of 3D Mark 01, maybe a round or two of PC Mark 04 along with the usual stuff and see what you can make it do.


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## debs3759 (Oct 26, 2016)

Thimblewad said:


> After the initial surprise of this being such an easy fix, I opened up the BIOS and, holy-moly, this thing had an Athlon XP 3000+ inside! The CPU used to be the king of the market in the early 2000s (price at launch was 536 $). One thing that alarmed my senses was the CPU temperature. It was idling from 55-57 °C. I shut the whole PC off and went ahead to change the thermal compounds on both the CPU and GPU coolers. I used my old trustworthy ArcticCooling MX-2 for the job.
> 
> (CPU thermal paste application)
> View attachment 80448
> ...



Is that before or after you cleaned and reapplied the TIM? If after, you might try just putting an amount equivalent to a grain of rice or a small X in the middle of the die. Too much TIM is almost as bad as too little.

MX-2 is my go-to paste as well


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 26, 2016)

Bare die CPU's should be spread, paper thin over the entire die to avoid hot spots. You can't trust a dot or x to cover the entire die on compression.


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## Thimblewad (Oct 26, 2016)

Bones said:


> Thats'a great find you ran across - Thanks for sharing it.
> The XP-3200 200MHz chip was the actual king back in the day related to desktop CPU's and I have two of them here, both do well and one happens to be a pre-superlock dated chip. However in reality the XP-M's are the real stars of Socket A but unfortunately not all Socket A boards support them. Some will, some will also but not properly and even some won't run them at all, depends on the board.
> 
> Now - You found a great setup and the price was right, I'd try a few rounds of 3D Mark 01, maybe a round or two of PC Mark 04 along with the usual stuff and see what you can make it do.



Well, I actually got this PC for free, the RAM was just waiting there for years, so I actually didn't put anything into it that wasn't already in my room somewhere. And I sleep in here, haha 



debs3759 said:


> Is that before or after you cleaned and reapplied the TIM? If after, you might try just putting an amount equivalent to a grain of rice or a small X in the middle of the die. Too much TIM is almost as bad as too little.
> 
> MX-2 is my go-to paste as well



That is after the TIM is re-applied, but the layer is actually very thin (if I would try to move the paste, my finger would clean off a certain part of it) and I rather just align it evenly with my fingers. I don't know, that's my way of doing it, hahaha.

As for the MX-2: I saw potential in it when I bought my CPU cooler with the paste pre-applied, I was like, wow. And from there on I always had great results when I applied it for the first time and it has never failed me yet. The temperatures are a lot lower comparing to the manufacturer TIM, my findings.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2016)

For those of you who followed all my projects over the last couple of months (and years), here's a blast from the past!

Whatever you do, please try not to apply TIM like this...  (yup, still the worst one I've ever encountered!)


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## dorsetknob (Oct 27, 2016)

3 Different  Tims ? and some fur  @peche   going to be visiting here soon asking for temps spreading method ect


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## DR4G00N (Oct 27, 2016)

My Cele 1GHz & Biostar M6VLQ.
 
 
It's now running a PIII-S 1.4GHz @ 1.6GHz 1.7V with a Hyper 212+ lol.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> 3 Different  Tims ? and some fur  @peche   going to be visiting here soon asking for temps spreading method ect


Lol, most likely yeah! The guy who did this probably ran out of TIM so he had to improvise any way he could!  I'm probably being too harsh on him, especially since I was given the entire system for free... I'm sure the guy had best intentions but oh man!! It took me ages and half a bottle of WD-40 to get all this gunk off the CPU! Like I said earlier, still the worst case of TIM I've EVER seen before in my life!


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## GreiverBlade (Oct 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> For those of you who followed all my projects over the last couple of months (and years), here's a blast from the past!
> 
> Whatever you do, please try not to apply TIM like this...  (yup, still the worst one I've ever encountered!)


 and i thought my 1st self assembled rig TIM application was a mess ... (K6-2 450) or my second rig with a A-XP ...


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Here are all 5 pics from the original post (#3569, page 143) CPU model was (and still is) AMD Athlon 1000, A1000AMT3C


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


>



That's outstanding.


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## stinger608 (Oct 27, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Bare die CPU's should be spread, paper thin over the entire die to avoid hot spots. You can't trust a dot or x to cover the entire die on compression.




I totally agree. What I always did was take a sandwich baggie and turn it inside out. I'd then put a small dab on the cooler smear it using the baggie on the cooler itself. Always seemed to work well.


----------



## peche (Oct 27, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> 3 Different  Tims ? and some fur  @peche   going to be visiting here soon asking for temps spreading method ect


and also redirecting people to a survey post! thanks for the mention ! 
Lol!

Regards, 


Trekkie4 said:


> Lol, most likely yeah! The guy who did this probably ran out of TIM so he had to improvise any way he could!  I'm probably being too harsh on him, especially since I was given the entire system for free... I'm sure the guy had best intentions but oh man!! It took me ages and half a bottle of WD-40 to get all this gunk off the CPU! Like I said earlier, still the worst case of TIM I've EVER seen before in my life!


tell us moar about the paste and thermals  ! lolz! 



stinger608 said:


> I totally agree. What I always did was take a sandwich baggie and turn it inside out. I'd then put a small dab on the cooler smear it using the baggie on the cooler itself. Always seemed to work well.


+1 here, great advise, also great pic! see you really like it!

Regards,


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2016)

@peche Not sure I understood your question, you mean temp results with that amount of TIM all over the CPU? It's been a long time since then, but from what I remember system DID boot up & worked within acceptable temps, otherwise it would most likely overheat and shut down. So much for various TIM spreading techniques & other nonsense, even with all this mess it STILL worked OK!

But yeah, as you can tell from the pics, I removed all the TIM from the CPU using WD-40 & applied fresh coat over the CPU die. I also swapped the original AGP card from FX5700LE to Evil Kyro & did few more tweaks since then, but otherwise it's still operational & mostly "original". The guy who owned this system built it himself back in a day (certainly explains a thing or two), but due to moving into smaller house he had to either scrap it or give it to someone who will love it & hopefully restore it to former glory  Which I hopefully did!


----------



## peche (Oct 27, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> @peche Not sure I understood your question, you mean temp results with that amount of TIM all over the CPU? It's been a long time since then, but from what I remember system DID boot up & worked within acceptable temps, otherwise it would most likely overheat and shut down. So much for various TIM spreading techniques & other nonsense, even with all this mess it STILL worked OK!
> 
> But yeah, as you can tell from the pics, I removed all the TIM from the CPU using WD-40 & applied fresh coat over the CPU die. I also swapped the original AGP card from FX5700LE to Evil Kyro & did few more tweaks since then, but otherwise it's still operational & mostly "original". The guy who owned this system built it himself back in a day (certainly explains a thing or two), but due to moving into smaller house he had to either scrap it or give it to someone who will love it & hopefully restore it to former glory  Which I hopefully did!


forget it, it was a completely joke about temps, @dorsetknob always make fun of my weird thermal fetish!

Regards,


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Oops, sorry! (apparently I completely missed the point )


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## Thimblewad (Oct 27, 2016)

@Trekkie4 Damn, and I thought my first attempt was bad, good job on cleaning it, must have taken a bucket-load of time!


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2016)

He-he, a lesson for all of us to be learned... No matter how bad something might seem, it can ALWAYS be (and get) worse!


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## buzzi (Oct 28, 2016)

did that guy directly dip the cpu in TIM? it looks like rescued from mug


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 28, 2016)

buzzi said:


> did that guy directly dip the cpu in TIM? it looks like rescued from mug


IDK about that, but he probably assumed how adding extra TIM would result with extra cooling efficiency  Good thing he didn't smear all this stuff across the heatsink & under the fan - THAT would have been a nightmare to clean! 

Oh well, still better than THIS guy, in the pic below!!





Edit
Or even better, this one here!


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## buzzi (Oct 29, 2016)

that's the reason why TIM manufacturers decided to produce electrically non-conductive ones


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## GreiverBlade (Oct 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> IDK about that, but he probably assumed how adding extra TIM would result with extra cooling efficiency  Good thing he didn't smear all this stuff across the heatsink & under the fan - THAT would have been a nightmare to clean!
> 
> Oh well, still better than THIS guy, in the pic below!!
> 
> ...


actually the second one make almost some sense if it was for a TEC or a phase changer cooling ... heck even  the 1st one, don't judge before knowing the full story (unless you know the full story and want to share  )

http://forums.pureoverclock.com/work-logs/5810-thermoelectric-cooling-icekool-8th-april-2.html
Die-electric grease applied to the CPU socket. (di-electric mean non conductive in French should be the same in English actually the op did a slight typo : Die=/=di)





notice the 2 pics on the left, it's from a french computer review on the Asetek Vapochill install, well a ... nostalg33k paper ...


notice the socket:


(it's not even that old ... this practice  well yes it is ... but it's still used )  actually a TEC/phase changer cooler can go sub-zero in idle that's why you need TIM in the socket to avoid icing (under the cake)

this is what you don't want :
"Originally Posted by *[ShowMe!]* 



That sucks!

Try to wash the components, dry them out really well and see if you can get them back up running.

When I built my chill-box air conditioner chiller. The inside of the chillbox never came up above freezing (32f) even during the off period at night, this prevented any moisture to build up.

I did have leaks in my chillbox due to poor construction, because it was for a test only, however I noticed that the small amount of frost that formed concentrated it self on the radiator that was cooling the inside air, and the rest of the components remained dry and clean.

I think the problem with insulation is that its hard to be 100% no matter what you do, the thermal cycling of the components will create low and high temperature areas, that will lower and raise the pressure around them, and I think it acts like a slow air pump that pulls humid air and traps it inside, and with each cycle more and more moisture accumulates.

I think people put some type of di-electric grease right in to the socket, you have to read up on this because I never done it before.





What's the gloppy stuff?  It looks like my CPU after I embedded it in silicone, except yours isn't plugged into the socket(!)



If it's dielectric, wouldn't that cause insulation between the pin and the socket?



I sealed my CPU and waterblock airtight under the rubber, figuring that the only water condensing would be what's there already. I don;t know if that's valid.  But it doesn;t take much silicone to prevent ALL external condensation. It shapes itself to the bottom of the waterblock and whatever lives under the socket. It also peels off when you want. I'd use that instead of eraser.



-faith"
from http://www.overclock.net/t/1526237/the-downside-of-using-a-phase-change-and-or-extreme-cooling/20


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 29, 2016)

Wow, never heard of this wizardry before  And I thought how water cooling (and peltier elements) are extreme solutions to keeping your PC cool & quiet 

Of course, this is obviously not a common practice and wouldn't work for just about anyone. Especially me, I already have a lot of problems with humidity as it is...

Also, call me old-fashioned, but I would never trust anything (including TIM) to get between the CPU and mobo socket. Over the time, this thing will gather dust & contaminate itself, to the point where it'll either insulate pins from touching the base OR become conductive & short all the pins together... I wouldn't mind testing it on an old motherboard, such as S462 or 370, but risking a brand new motherboard with Core i7 for example would be out of the question.

Furthermore, let me ask you a question... Suppose you DO make it work & have it set up for a while but eventually decide to swap it back for the original specs, or even sell the mobo & CPU - how the heck would you clean CPU pins without damaging them?!


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## DR4G00N (Oct 29, 2016)

Haha, let me tell you that cleaning die-electric grease out of an lga socket is not very fun...  but it can be done.

My Evga e762 is covered in the stuff because I planned to use it with dry ice last year (ended up using my X58A-OC instead) nothing bad has happened yet from all the dust sticking to it. It's getting pretty nasty though so I'll probably clean it off soon lol.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 29, 2016)

DR4G00N said:


> Haha, let me tell you that cleaning die-electric grease out of an lga socket is not very fun...  but it can be done.
> 
> My Evga e762 is covered in the stuff because I planned to use it with dry ice last year (ended up using my X58A-OC instead) nothing bad has happened yet from all the dust sticking to it. It's getting pretty nasty though so I'll probably clean it off soon lol.


Right, but you're missing a point... Suppose dust (or other particles) find their way between the CPU and mobo contacts, it would insulate the contact(s) from touching one another, which translates to non-working system. Especially if (and when) you decide to upgrade the CPU or change it for whatever the reason. All the gunk would fall into the pin holes (assuming you're using AMD platform, which uses old-fashioned design and not the inverted one like Intel) Sooo yeah, not worth the risk, but that's just my, personal opinion.

There is also a huge risk of shorting something if and when metal scrapings get trapped inside. And you can find metal scrapings everywhere, either from stripping a screw threads, mounting the hard drive into the 3.5" bay, etc. IDK, it just seems like a really REALLY bad idea *shrug*


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 29, 2016)

All of my benchers have dielectric in the sockets. It doesn't hurt anything. Some of them have been that way for the better part of 10 years.


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## DR4G00N (Oct 29, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, but you're missing a point... Suppose dust (or other particles) find their way between the CPU and mobo contacts, it would insulate the contact(s) from touching one another, which translates to non-working system. Especially if (and when) you decide to upgrade the CPU or change it for whatever the reason. All the gunk would fall into the pin holes (assuming you're using AMD platform, which uses old-fashioned design and not the inverted one like Intel) Sooo yeah, not worth the risk, but that's just my, personal opinion.
> 
> There is also a huge risk of shorting something if and when metal scrapings get trapped inside. And you can find metal scrapings everywhere, either from stripping a screw threads, mounting the hard drive into the 3.5" bay, etc. IDK, it just seems like a really REALLY bad idea *shrug*


I do see the point you are getting at, though usually when this is done it's to prevent condensation from forming inside the socket which is a much more immediate problem than metal shavings or dirt.

That said, I don't use it anymore since it's a pain to clean up.


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## MaxiPro800 (Oct 29, 2016)

I recently got a QDI Advance 10F (P6V694X Rev 2.0/S2.2) mobo,with a Pentium III 1GHz Coppermine CPU (133FSB,256K L2)  

I also got a Riva TNT2 M64 for it,32MB. Funny thing - since the card itself lacked the metal plate(dunno why) ,I had to install one from a broken FX5200


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## dorsetknob (Oct 29, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> QDI Advance


Not heard that "BRAND" in along time
IF memory serves me well they were a reasonable Reliable Brand (Budget)
used to have one for my P3 800  Cannot Remember which one it was as its long gone to someone  as an S/H Upgrade


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2016)

I actually got (at least) two QDI boards inside my retro systems, in fact I remember posting here two pics side by side & pointing out the differences between two boards which have the same layout (and printed marks), but had been slightly modified in post-production & have different chipsets. If anyone's interested, I might dig it up & re-post.

Speaking of pictures, I was cleaning my hard drive earlier tonight & found over 100 never seen nostalgic pictures from back in a day. LITERALLY from back in a day, taken throughout 2004, 05 and 2006. The only problem is that when I wanted to upload these to PostImage, I found out they're having financial problems & will most likely shut down  IDK guys, I'm open to suggestions... I could go back to ImageBam, but some of you here pointed out it's spamming way too much with their ads & popups *shrug*

Edit
PostImage situation resolved, proceeding with image upload 

--
Starting with CoolerMaster Musketeer & AeroGate fan speed controller in
Red


 

Green


 

And blue color


 

My old room, as it was back in 2004... 


 

Super Woofer!! Comparing to my latest SP-HF2020, they seem more like a toy really


 

One of my attempts to make a comic-like art out of Grand Theft Auto game. Since it didn't quite work out the way I was hoping to, I ended up making (and printing) this concept art of GTA3 Kuruma car  Love it!


 

 

The fastest CD-ROM drive unit I ever owned ... BenQ 56X


 


 

My wireless mouse, 1st one I had... Instead of using RF emitter, this one had to be in direct contact through IR beam, just like remote controller works. it's not even optical, it had a ball mechanism like all other (older) models back in a day 


 

When I finally "upgraded" to USB devices, I had use the USB hub since the Asus P4B mobo only had 4 USB outlets...


 

Just a bunch of old computer cases & desktop speakers. Including one very old (but still functional, at the time) joystick. Don't remember what happened to these, but sorry to say I no longer have any of these 


 

My old Sony Ericsson T630 phone, next to MP3 player  Both sitting on top of the VHS tape ... you can't get any more nostalgic than that!!


 

Previously mentioned T630 phone, in the original box... No longer have this one either, I sold it & bought the new model, K700i which I still have today. No longer in service obviously, and it has a dead battery, but looks good as new! Still have the original box, too!


 

 

My old Asus P4B system, 1st attempt at PC modding & upgrading on my own without any help. Yes, I know ... that cable management was a total mess! 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



More details of Asus P4B (Pentium 4, S423) build...


 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


Some of the random PCI cards, including Hauppauge TV Tuner which I still have today (and is inside one of the retro systems I've made) AGP card is nVidia FX5600, the upgrade from Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead


 

 

 

Some random power supplies...


 

 

 

Along with this trusty Pentium 2 system, which I still have today but (sadly) no longer in the original case  Also, note the Voodoo2 card inside it, it was a 12mb Diamond card which worked perfectly fine, but since it was seriously outpowered & old (yet NOT nostalgic at the time), I gave it away for free 


 

 

 

 


 

 

Not computer related, but those of you who love vinyl records might recognize this cartridge as Shure M94e, one of the better, yet cheaper models out there!


 

1st DVD-RW drive I ever had... I've been using it for maybe 3 or 4 days before one of my older CDs blew up & caused terminal damage to the internal components. I went back to the store & asked for refund, but they gave me this other LG DVD-RW drive instead. This one worked for a while longer, several months before it stopped working altogether so I went back AGAIN & they gave me black Philips DVD unit which worked OK for years. Both Nero & PowerDVD came with the retail version of BTC drive, LG was a bulk without any accessories or utilities.


 

 

 


 

 

3 CD-ROM units... BenQ, Compaq and BTC At the time, all 3 were fully functional


 

 

Epson Stylus Color 580, by the time it was taken out of service & got replaced with HP All-in-one 2355


 

 

HP AIO 2355....


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Servicing Saba HiFi tape deck...


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## biffzinker (Oct 30, 2016)

Thanks again for the lengthy post @Trekkie4. Spent some time clicking through your older photo's.


Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, I know ... that cable management was a total mess!


It's definitely not the prettiest to look at but eh, it could of been a lot worst than it is.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2016)

More pics...

Exposing my 1st hard drive, after I bought the refurbished unit which then failed within 3 or 4 days  I believe it was a 20GB drive, not sure...


 

 



More pics (and details) of T630 phone


 

 

 

 

 



An old CD-ROM drive... Don't remember which one and why I took the pic(s)


 



Making a brand new system out of old parts for someone I knew. And yeah, apparently the mobo had bulged caps, but I didn't notice that back in a day. But this thing is now long gone, even the owner is no longer among the living, so it's too late to fix anything 


 

 

 



That GeCube ATI Radeon card was one of the few brand new components inside


 



More random parts...




And last but not least, one of the silliest & ineffective CPU coolers in existence - Thermaltake BlueOrb FX (S775, Pentium 4, 3.00GHz) I've been using it for at least two years before the motor seized up, resulting with complete meltdown & emergency shut down by the motherboard


 



Edit
@biffzinker Heh, thanks  I had to start somewhere, right? I believe that was my very 1st attempt at (re)building a PC from scratch!


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## biffzinker (Oct 30, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> More pics...
> 
> Exposing my 1st hard drive, after I bought the refurbished unit which then failed within 3 or 4 days  I believe it was a 20GB drive, not sure...


I remember tearing apart a Maxtor 15 GB EIDE HDD that started getting flaky on me, first time opening a HDD.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2016)

Yeah, these things (Maxtor drives) were failing all the time... I had a 40GB drive from 2001 which also failed within a year or so. Unfortunately the store went bankrupt during this time, so I couldn't ask for new one  Re-branded Quantum drives on the other hand were OK, Quantum always produced high quality products. In fact, I still have several Fireballs (various capacities) and they all work without any bad sectors.


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## Recon-UK (Oct 30, 2016)




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## Bones (Oct 30, 2016)

Thinking about setting up a retro system for a few games I have.
Already have one that I could use as is but would probrably do a different setup to get the max performance possible, this would most likely be based on a Socket A setup. As for the games, here's one I've had since new and it's never really been played at all.



 
 
 
 

The disks themselves are in nearly pristine condition, the only disk that's ever been used at all was the first disk and even it hasn't seen hardly any use at all since new. 

I have others but this one stands out from the rest as far as I'm concerned.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 31, 2016)

I remember trying out Starfleet Academy at some point, was fascinated with in-game movies & video quality, I also vaguely remember choosing the starship class - Miranda, Constitution and 3rd one, don't really remember which one exactly. But as far as the actual gameplay goes, the game was pretty complicated & not so impressive, so I quickly gave up, myself. Never played another ST game since then, even though I consider myself to be hardcore Trekkie who watched EVERY single episode from TNG to Enterprise and all 10 movies.

Yes, ONLY the 10 Trek movies because I don't acknowledge Abrams Trek as genuine Star Trek material


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## Bones (Oct 31, 2016)

The SFC series was good, esp "Empires at War" and "Orion Pirates"
Got the third installment of it too and it was pretty good, although different than the earlier ones.

However the one that stands out would be "Bridge Commander", have that title as well here. You won't play the third installment or BC on a Socket A, you'd need at least a good Socket 939 with a decent GPU to play those with.

If you can find a copy of Bridge Commander grab it - It's well worth the trouble to get.

EDIT: Believe I fould a site where you can download it. 
Star Trek: Bridge Commander Download (2002 Simulation Game)


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> More random parts...


I spy a Deer PSU in there... 
(hint - it's the shiny one on the bottom. Is it branded MLN,or are my eyes fooling me?)

Speaking of which, I actually just got one from upgrading a friend's PC (along with an ASUS A7V600-X, a 40GB Samsung SP0411N IDE drive, a Hitachi-LG GCE-8481B drive and 256MB of RAM). Mine seems to be branded "PREMIER" and the model seems to be LC-B400ATX though.

Anyways, here's a list of my PSUs:

PSU:
Allied AL-A400ATX (in use in my main PC, had to replace the 12v rectifier with a 20A one)
Premier DR-B300ATX
Delux ATX-400W P4/LP-7700A (Leadman OEM)
Premier LC-B400ATX (listed above)
Modecom Feel III 400ATX/LC-8460BTX (Deer OEM)


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 2, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I spy a Deer PSU in there...
> (hint - it's the shiny one on the bottom. Is it branded MLN,or are my eyes fooling me?)
> 
> Speaking of which, I actually just got one from upgrading a friend's PC (along with an ASUS A7V600-X, a 40GB Samsung SP0411N IDE drive, a Hitachi-LG GCE-8481B drive and 256MB of RAM). Mine seems to be branded "PREMIER" and the model seems to be LC-B400ATX though.
> ...


Never had a "Deer" branded PSU from what I remember, but yes I DID have several "MLN" branded ones, probably including the one from the pic above  Saying probably because that pic was taken over 10yrs ago, so I obviously don't remember...

Speaking of which, I'm not sure but I SHOULD have one or two MLN PSU units inside my old gaming rigs. Those were extremely cheap back in a day, think they even included them with those flimsy  & cheap-looking computer cases.

Edit
Looking at my own pic, think I remember... What you see are:

Silver Samsung 1.44Floppy drive (still have it, in fact it's inside that system which had a PSU failure not so long ago)

BTC CD-ROM 36X (Sorry to say, no longer have it. It was a great piece of engineering and also holds a special, sentimental value for me, being the original CD drive on my Pentium 2 machine, from 1998.)

Codegen 300W (still have this one actually, but it's been re-wired & converted into dummy PSU, for testing the fans, CD drives & hard drives)

MLN 180W, I think. But it was one of those units which had "Real wattage" label, claiming that 180W is the actual & accurate load capacity


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Never had a "Deer" branded PSU from what I remember, but yes I DID have several "MLN" branded ones, probably including the one from the pic above  Saying probably because that pic was taken over 10yrs ago, so I obviously don't remember...
> 
> Speaking of which, I'm not sure but I SHOULD have one or two MLN PSU units inside my old gaming rigs. Those were extremely cheap back in a day, think they even included them with those flimsy  & cheap-looking computer cases.
> 
> ...


Yeah...

That MLN is actually built by Deer/L&C. Pretty weird to see them labeled with a real wattage label. Do you still have one? And if so,can you take a few pictures of it?

Codegen isn't something unfamiliar to me - I remember having 2 of these - a 350W "200XA" model,and a true 300W 300X model. The former was scrapped,and as far as I remember I sent the other one to my father, because his old AIO PC (Clevo L295U,865GV based) had its PSU die (a Hipro,quite frankly) and he needed a PSU.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 3, 2016)

Don't remember if the actual PSU had a "Real Wattage" label or not, but I certainly remember being sold under that name, "Beige ATX tower with true (real) 180W PSU" It was sitting on top of my shelf for years before I eventually got serious & started making more gaming rigs, so the MLN unit ended up inside my very own, personal Pentium 2 from back in a day. The Adison branded one, it was mentioned throughout this topic several times, look it up if you'd like to know more details 

But overall, it's really just a cheap & generic PSU... In fact, I think it blew up some of the caps on my Chaintech 6BTM motherboard because just as I decided to take Adison machine out of service I've noticed several bulging caps, around the voltage regulators  Keep planning to replace them, but just can't seem to find the time & patience  Ironically though, Adison system originally came with previously mentioned Codegen PSU, 200W 

And I'd be more than willing to take couple of pics, but it'll have to wait I'm afraid. I'm in the middle of repairs at the moment, moisture found its way through the wall into the room, causing mold & other crap so now I'm waiting for the repair crew to dig through the brick (and concrete) wall, in order to fix it


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> And I'd be more than willing to take couple of pics, but it'll have to wait I'm afraid. I'm in the middle of repairs at the moment, moisture found its way through the wall into the room, causing mold & other crap so now I'm waiting for the repair crew to dig through the brick (and concrete) wall, in order to fix it


Not a problem, I can wait


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 3, 2016)

Question guys, what are your thoughts on HP Visualize (P-Class) systems, running Pentium 3 @1.00GHz and ATI Fire GL2 AGP card, is it worth the time and patience?

Never had a professional workstation before, this seems like a top-grade retro 3D/gaming machine IMHO


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## Random Murderer (Nov 3, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Question guys, what are your thoughts on HP Visualize (P-Class) systems, running Pentium 3 @1.00GHz and ATI Fire GL2 AGP card, is it worth the time and patience?
> 
> Never had a professional workstation before, this seems like a top-grade retro 3D/gaming machine IMHO


Depends on the AGP revision, especially if it's AGP-Pro or not. Avoid AGP-Pro if you would ever consider swapping the GPU.


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 3, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> Depends on the AGP revision, especially if it's AGP-Pro or not. Avoid AGP-Pro if you would ever consider swapping the GPU.


Isn't AGP-Pro just universal 8x?


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 3, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> Depends on the AGP revision, especially if it's AGP-Pro or not. Avoid AGP-Pro if you would ever consider swapping the GPU.


Why would you say that, isn't it possible to replace "Pro" card with standard AGP, if necessary? Although I don't think it is, but then again I didn't see the system with my own eyes, so everything's possible at this point.



MaxiPro800 said:


> Isn't AGP-Pro just universal 8x?


No, AGP and AGP Pro are two different interfaces. "Pro" has additional pins, and therefore requires special (AGP PRO) compatible slot, where the AGP Pro compatible motherboard works with both AGP and AGP Pro cards. My Asus A7A266 system is a perfect example!


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## Random Murderer (Nov 3, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Isn't AGP-Pro just universal 8x?


No, it's like PCI-X was to PCI, it's physically a longer slot and has more connections. It was made for workstation graphics cards, provided more current through the slot than regular AGP, and is extremely finicky about drivers and voltages. While it is possible to get a standard AGP card working in a Pro slot, in my experience, it's just not worth the hassle.


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 3, 2016)

Random Murderer said:


> No, it's like PCI-X was to PCI, it's physically a longer slot and has more connections. It was made for workstation graphics cards, provided more current through the slot than regular AGP, and is extremely finicky about drivers and voltages. While it is possible to get a standard AGP card working in a Pro slot, in my experience, it's just not worth the hassle.


Huh. I remember my ASUS A7N8X-E having a AGP-Pro slot and it was working like regular AGP8x. So what are the extra pins for?


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## Random Murderer (Nov 3, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Huh. I remember my ASUS A7N8X-E having a AGP-Pro slot and it was working like regular AGP8x. So what are the extra pins for?


More current delivery, as well as additional bandwidth. Like I said, AGP-Pro was designed for workstation cards.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 4, 2016)

Wow, I'm surprised no one else pointed this out, but according to the online specs HP Visualize (P-Class) is a dual-CPU system, so I could theoretically have two S370 Pentiums 3 (1GHz each) along with 1024MB of memory, which is expandable up to 2048 (SD RAM though, no DDR on this machine).

Think I'm definitely going to grab this one, especially since I don't have to pay for it


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## AsRock (Nov 4, 2016)

Hope this counts


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 4, 2016)

Oh yeah!! 

Some time ago, I posted a pic of Sansui amp & radio tuner, both in perfect condition!


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## AsRock (Nov 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh yeah!!
> 
> Some time ago, I posted a pic of Sansui amp & radio tuner, both in perfect condition!



Yeah maybe should of kept it, one of the knobs set ya back 5-10$ lol.


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## dorsetknob (Nov 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> HP Visualize (P-Class) is a dual-CPU system, so I could theoretically have two S370 Pentiums 3 (1GHz each)



no No No No
Maybe slot 2 Xeons   (SECC330  SECC495)
*Pentium III Xeon*
List: List of Intel Xeon microprocessors#"Tanner" (250 nm)
In 1999, the Pentium II Xeon was replaced by the Pentium III Xeon. Reflecting the incremental changes from the Pentium II "_Deschutes_" core to the Pentium III "_Katmai_" core, the first Pentium III Xeon, named "*Tanner*", was just like its predecessor except for the addition of Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) and a few cache controller improvements. The product codes for *Tanner* mirrored that of _Katmai_; 80525.

List: List of Intel Xeon microprocessors#"Cascades" (180 nm)
The second version, named "*Cascades*", was based on the Pentium III "_Coppermine_" core. The "*Cascades*" Xeon used a 133 MHz bus and relatively small 256 kB on-die L2 cache resulting in almost the same capabilities as the Slot 1 _Coppermine_ processors, which were capable of dual-processor operation but not quad-processor operation.

To improve this situation, Intel released another version, officially also named "*Cascades*", but often referred to as "*Cascades 2 MB*". That came in two variants: with 1 MB or 2 MB of L2 cache. Its bus speed was fixed at 100 MHz, though in practice the cache was able to offset this. The product code for *Cascades* mirrored that of _Coppermine_; 80526.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 4, 2016)

Thanks for the effort of explaining everything, but I'm pretty sure this one is S370  And no, I don't think it was a mod or upgrade either - IDK where you got your information, but there are loads of guides & tech specs out there & they all confirm what it says on the screen, 1.00GHz Pentium 3 (either Coppermine or Tualatin) with optional 2nd processor (I'm guessing there's a terminator of some sort inside) and 1023 (+1) mb of RAM.

Don't know about anything else (since I don't actually have it yet), but I know the guy who owns these, so he agreed to give me one unit for free 



 

 



@AsRock You sold your Sansui unit? That's too bad, I still have mine over here. They don't really have much of a purpose other than collecting dust, but they are awesome to see. Especially tuner component, with all those light bulbs & frequency scale


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the effort of explaining everything, but I'm pretty sure this one is S370  And no, I don't think it was a mod or upgrade either - IDK where you got your information, but there are loads of guides & tech specs out there & they all confirm what it says on the screen, 1.00GHz Pentium 3 (either Coppermine or Tualatin) with optional 2nd processor (I'm guessing there's a terminator of some sort inside) and 1023 (+1) mb of RAM.
> 
> Don't know about anything else (since I don't actually have it yet), but I know the guy who owns these, so he agreed to give me one unit for free



Not so fast.
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/v...sonal-workstation-p-class-technical-reference

It says nothing about Tualatins.
It is a dual SLOT 1 board. There were Slot 1 PIII Coppermines to 1 GHz.


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## dorsetknob (Nov 5, 2016)

Wuck me   


Trekkie4 said:


> Think I'm definitely going to grab this one, especially since I don't have to pay for it





Trekkie4 said:


> Wow, I'm surprised no one else pointed this out, but according to the online specs HP Visualize (P-Class) is a dual-CPU system,


Fancy Running Win 10  on that Bugger

http://www.hp-drivers-download.com/hp-drivers/hp-visualize-p-class



Trekkie4 said:


> but I'm pretty sure this one is S370


Duel Socket 370 Don't think so

As Far as i can Research Socket 370 was Single CPU only   See ARK and There are links in wilki post Above
the P3 Xeon's Were Slot 1 and Slot 2 ( both Duel CPU Capable ) 
There is the possibility that its Got 2 Slockets Fitted both Running Socket 370 CPU's in a 2 Slot Motherboard


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 5, 2016)

If it were mine, I would try a pair of 370 slockets, a pair of Lin Lin Tualatin adapters, and a pair of Pentium III 1.4 Tualatins. They run at 100 bclk.

Hmmmmm...........

Room for cooling might be a problem though. I would have to rig something up. Not much room between the slots. There is always a way though. Think outside the box.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 5, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> Not so fast.
> https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/v...sonal-workstation-p-class-technical-reference
> 
> It says nothing about Tualatins.
> It is a dual SLOT 1 board. There were Slot 1 PIII Coppermines to 1 GHz.


I never said anything for sure lol, I'm HOPING it might be Tualatin CPU, but then again it might as well easily be Coppermine. Like I said, I don't have the machine here at the moment, so it'll have to wait for a week or so before we'll finally get to the bottom of this 



dorsetknob said:


> Wuck me
> 
> 
> Fancy Running Win 10  on that Bugger
> ...



You could be right... I suppose the only way to find out for sure is to take those things apart & find out what makes them tick. Either way, I personally consider this one to be rarity, since I never had a dual-CPU motherboards, and/or professional-graded AGP graphics. It'll be interested to see how they perform under 3DMark 99 & 2000, assuming I can get it to work properly & find all the necessary drivers of course.

Edit
@Mr.Scott I like the way you think, but the only problem would be to find all these things. I don't remember when was the last time I saw Tualatin for sale locally, especially Coppermine and/or Tualatin compatible Slocket adapters! I got 2 or 3 among the spares, but those ones are for Mendocino (Celeron) CPUs only, without the jumpers and voltage support for Pentium 3 CPUs


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## debs3759 (Nov 5, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Duel Socket 370 Don't think so
> 
> As Far as i can Research Socket 370 was Single CPU only   See ARK and There are links in wilki post Above
> the P3 Xeon's Were Slot 1 and Slot 2 ( both Duel CPU Capable )



You are mistaken about both.

Socket 370 was/is dual socket capable (I have a dual 370 board)

All P3 Xeon were Slot 2, none were slot 1. Slot 1 was PII and PIII only.


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## dorsetknob (Nov 5, 2016)

pics please


debs3759 said:


> Socket 370 was/is dual socket capable (I have a dual 370 board)


or at least a make and model reference

Edit 
i Stand Corrected
http://www.anandtech.com/show/816

@debs3759   my Home address is incoming so you can vist to SPANK ME


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> @Mr.Scott I like the way you think, but the only problem would be to find all these things. I don't remember when was the last time I saw Tualatin for sale locally, especially Coppermine and/or Tualatin compatible Slocket adapters! I got 2 or 3 among the spares, but those ones are for Mendocino (Celeron) CPUs only, without the jumpers and voltage support for Pentium 3 CPUs


Probably tougher in your location for sure.
I have everything on hand already, that's the only reason I mentioned it. Just thinking out loud.


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 5, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> pics please
> 
> or at least a make and model reference
> 
> ...



I also own a couple dual 370 boards. Asus CUVX-4D and Abit BP6.


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## AsRock (Nov 5, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the effort of explaining everything, but I'm pretty sure this one is S370  And no, I don't think it was a mod or upgrade either - IDK where you got your information, but there are loads of guides & tech specs out there & they all confirm what it says on the screen, 1.00GHz Pentium 3 (either Coppermine or Tualatin) with optional 2nd processor (I'm guessing there's a terminator of some sort inside) and 1023 (+1) mb of RAM.
> 
> Don't know about anything else (since I don't actually have it yet), but I know the guy who owns these, so he agreed to give me one unit for free
> 
> ...




Going to, just needs some TLC first.  And yeah sat here while it was turned on and did look some kind of awesome.  If it was a old NAD or Rotel then you would have to kill me for it lol.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 5, 2016)

Well, IDK... Sansui made some of the best HiFi components back in a day, all high quality products! I'm sure I could flip mine for a decent price, but it's just not worth it IMHO. Sooner or later I may decide to build a HiFi stereo system, in which case I'll need all the components I can find  Also have two tape decks, Aiwa AD-F550 and Kenwood KX-W4080


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## debs3759 (Nov 5, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> @debs3759   my Home address is incoming so you can vist to SPANK ME



I charge £100 per hour (min 1 hour) plus travelling expenses (old hardware may be taken in lieu of payment)


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## debs3759 (Nov 5, 2016)

I haven't checked my pile of motherboards, but pretty sure it's the Asus CUVX-4D that I have.


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 9, 2016)

Found some PC parts at a dumpster - a KME CX-5762 case with a dud ECS 945PL-A v1.1 (dead southbridge).

I built this machine with the case:

MB : Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000
RAM : 1GB DDR400
PSU : Modecom FEEL III FEEL-400ATX (OEM'd by Deer/L&C)
CPU : Pentium 4 2.8GHz,Northwood
GPU : ATi Radeon HD3450 512MB AGP8x
HDD : Maxtor 6Y080L0 80GB & Samsung SP0411N 40GB (both IDE)
ODD : Hitachi-LG GCR-8481B & Pioneer DVD-117
Other:
-MSI D-Bracket (for USB mainly)
-Realtek RTL8139C PCI NIC
-Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP Deluxe PCI TV Tuner


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2016)

Just a small update on my behalf, regarding RetroMaster 2500 project... Even though I got Aureal Vortex2 card to work under XP, it was causing sound issues under some of the games (Grand Theft Auto 3 & Vice City in particular), so I decided to bridge the Aureal card with onboard sound system, closing them into a loop. Not really much to say, just a standard audio cable from the sound output on the motherboard that's plugged into line-input on Aureal, so now XP can use both systems when (and if) necessary.

Since the speaker jack is still connected to Aureal card, nothing has changed under Win98, and the onboard (VIA) sound system is being ignored


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 14, 2016)

Question guys...

When you have a dual processor board, (slot-1 in particular, yes @dorsetknob you were right ) do you absolutely NEED to install the one (and only CPU) in CPU slot #1 or can you have a terminator module as #1 and the actual CPU as #2?

The reason I'm asking is because of the space, room on the motherboard. I need to swap the CPU cartridge for one of my own, which has a bigger heatsink than the original "HP" branded ones. Meaning it doesn't fit into first slot, only the 2nd one. So I was thinking of swapping the CPU & terminator around, as long it's possible...


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## stinger608 (Nov 14, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Question guys...
> 
> When you have a dual processor board, (slot-1 in particular, yes @dorsetknob you were right ) do you absolutely NEED to install the one (and only CPU) in CPU slot #1 or can you have a terminator module as #1 and the actual CPU as #2?
> 
> The reason I'm asking is because of the space, room on the motherboard. I need to swap the CPU cartridge for one of my own, which has a bigger heatsink than the original "HP" branded ones. Meaning it doesn't fit into first slot, only the 2nd one. So I was thinking of swapping the CPU & terminator around, as long it's possible...




That's a very good question man. I have a slot 1 2P system but I don't think I even have a terminator module to test that theory out.


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## dorsetknob (Nov 14, 2016)

And i have a few slot 1 Cpu's ( 2 x 233Mhz Active Cooled   and 2 x 266Mhz Fanless  (MATCHED PAIRS) + a Few Celerons)  and one Terminator   But no longer have a(Duel) Slot 1 Board

As Far as i am Aware ( and i welcome being Corrected if wrong  ..) You have to Populate Slot1 A first with Terminator in Slot1 B
for 1 CPU operation
for Duel CPU you Populate Both Slots ( yeh that's so Ruddy logical )
any other combination  like 
CPU in Slot1 A no Terminator in Slot1 B Boot Fail
terminator in Slot 1 A and CPU in Slot 1 B   boot Fail
Missing Terminator Slot1 A CPU in Slot1 B   Boot Fail


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 14, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> And i have a few slot 1 Cpu's ( 2 x 233Mhz Active Cooled   and 2 x 266Mhz Fanless  (MATCHED PAIRS) + a Few Celerons)  and one Terminator   But no longer have a(Duel) Slot 1 Board
> 
> As Far as i am Aware ( and i welcome being Corrected if wrong  ..) You have to Populate Slot1 A first with Terminator in Slot1 B
> for 1 CPU operation
> ...


You're right, it actually turned out to be pretty simple... HP Visualize comes with its own, small LCD on the front panel which detected "missing CPU" in slot 1 A & told me I have to swap them around.

Doesn't really matter any longer as the 2nd unit (the one which didn't have a CPU, so I had to use one of my own), which I was kindly asked to inspect & repair if possible seems to be beyond repairs. It does turn on, but apart from that hangs with error message "Temp CPU error" which according to HP documentation translates to high temperature warning for the CPU. Except the actual CPU was completely cold, about the same temp as rest of the chassis so I figured it was something with the motherboard & gave up. As if that wasn't obvious enough, someone already stripped the entire unit of CPU, RAM & hard drives, leaving pretty much nothing except for Iomega ZIP drive, DVD ROM and AGP (pro) video card. However, someone's misfortune is my gain, because I got the other, fully working Visualize P-Class for free! And guess what, this other Visualize has ALL the mentioned parts from the other unit, so it's doubled up in the terms of speed & capacity. Two genuine Slot-1 Pentium 3 cartridges (each 1GHz), two SCSI hard drives and 1GB of SD-RAM (might even upgrade to 1.5 just because)  Pics coming up soon!


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 15, 2016)

FWIW, on the dual slot 1 boards, some boards do not require a terminator to run a single processor. Neither board that I own does. I think the terminator is only an OEM board requirement.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2016)

*shrug* Who knows... I couldn't place the CPU in upper slot due to power supply blocking the CPU heatsink, so I had to improvise. But like I said, LCD screen reported the error & told me to check the Slot-1 bank A , so I had to find another Pentium 3 cartridge. Of course, in the end the entire system turned out to be dead, because it kept reporting the CPU Temp error, so I ended up salvaging few remaining components & giving it back to the owner  The other unit however is fully operational & has two processors in place, so I don't have to use the terminators.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2016)

More updates... Started taking this gigantic HP apart & have to say, I'm mildly disappointed in the terms of video card(s). I was expecting multi-GPU card (since that's what I found online, reference material & guides), but it actually turned out to be none other than nVidia Quadro2 AGP (2x/4x) card. Not even the "pro" model, just the standard AGP, even though motherboard supports Pro cards.

So once again I'd like to ask you guys for more help & information on Quadro2. As far as I could find, there's not much information on Quadro2, how does it keep up with MX400 for example, or even Radeon 9550?

Edit
Nevermind, 9550 is out of the question due to HP not being compatible with AGP4x/8x, but I can hopefully still find something along Ti4200 or MX440


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## stinger608 (Nov 15, 2016)

Man, I wish you were on this side of the pond @Trekkie4 ! I have an MX400 that is in retail box and basically brand new.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> Man, I wish you were on this side of the pond @Trekkie4 ! I have an MX400 that is in retail box and basically brand new.


You mean, you'd open your brand new, sealed MX400 card just because of me?! No way, hardware like that belongs to a museum!  Well perhaps not at the moment, but give it few more years!  I actually have a MX400 card in one of the boxes, but I was hoping to aim higher than that! Correct me if I'm wrong, but dual P3 CPUs at 2x 1GHz gives me about the same speed & performance as P4 chip running at 2GHz, especially since it's loaded with 1GB of RAM! So I was thinking of something more similar to Ti4800 or at least Ti4200, you know... Something powerful to run even the most demanding retro games like Half Life 2! We'll see, for now I've decided to leave the existing card, Quadro2. Actually I DO have one Ti4200 in stock, but it's missing a fan (someone removed it), so I wouldn't want to push my luck until I can find suitable fan or entire heatsink.

Anyhow, regarding the HP... I decided to strip it apart & clean out all the dust I could see & reach. I still need to make a decent cable management, but apart from that it's good as new IMHO 

First of all, model number... Don't know who or what IRAC 1152 means 


 



Boot up config (Iomega ZIP250 wasn't detected at the time, because someone unplugged it from the motherboard)


 

Diagram label on the side panel, extremely difficult to see & read!


 

Visualize system as it was, when I 1st got it. That CPU heatsink is actually just a shroud, there are two Slot-1 CPUs under.


 

 

Pretty dusty, which is why I decided to strip it apart & clean everything!


 

Front panel comes off in two steps...


 

nVidia Quadro2 AGP card


 

 

SCSI (PCI?!) controller card


 

Followed by two Quantum Atlas SCSI hard drives, 18.2 each (but they are showing signs of damage & bad sectors)


 

 

More details...


 

 

 

 

Two CPUs in place, both P3 1000MHz, SL4BS


 

 

 

 

Out with the PSU... It's Delta-branded by the way, the entire system is made out of high quality & reliable brands. All the fans are also Delta-Electronics, while the floppy & DVD drive are both Panasonic.


 

 

Integrated LCD screen & control buttons module


 

From now on, it's all the same, but in reverse - slowly putting everything back together again, final set of pics (hopefully) coming up tomorrow!


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## biffzinker (Nov 16, 2016)

Thanks again @Trekkie4 for the photos. Should try it out as a server or workstation before turning it into a regular retro desktop.


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## AsRock (Nov 16, 2016)

Some really nice stuff there, and as for the SCSI card
http://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/scsi/u160/asc-29160/


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 16, 2016)

biffzinker said:


> Thanks again @Trekkie4 for the photos. Should try it out as a server or workstation before turning it into a regular retro desktop.


No prob! Hope to finish this one some time tomorrow, SCSI cable management is going to be PITA, especially with that cable terminator sticking out, but I'll give it a try... Or I might even remove it entirely, because both disks are extremely limited in the terms of storage capacity & overall health 

Nah, I really don't have much use for a server around here, and to tell you the truth, I don't have a dedicated room, area where I could put one so that's not going to happen. Workstation ... for what is the question? Because this HP already is a workstation, for 3D designers... But just so you know, this one was never going to be just another, regular retro desktop  I actually have big plans for this one, as long as I can get everything working!



AsRock said:


> Some really nice stuff there, and as for the SCSI card
> http://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/scsi/u160/asc-29160/



Thanks for the info! Personally, I hate SCSI but I'm tempted to keep it inside just for the sake of wow factor & pure nostalgia!


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## AsRock (Nov 16, 2016)

If there is any to keep it's gotta be a Adeptec .


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## stinger608 (Nov 16, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> You mean, you'd open your brand new, sealed MX400 card just because of me?




It's not a sealed box by any means. It was just very rarely used I guess. I got it from someone else that put it in a system way back when then scored a much better card. It sat in its box in his closet for years.


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## biffzinker (Nov 16, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the info! Personally, I hate SCSI but I'm tempted to keep it inside just for the sake of wow factor & pure nostalgia!


I'm use to dealing with SCSI from using Macintosh then Power Macintosh systems so I don't find SCSI to be a PITA for me. I remember trying to get a external UMAX flat-bed scanner to play along with a external Iomega Jaz Drive via Adaptec Ultra SCSI PCI card.

Found the card I had in a Power Mac Clone.
Adaptec AHA-2940/2940U PCI


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 16, 2016)

AsRock said:


> If there is any to keep it's gotta be a Adeptec .


Your wish is my command! No, seriously!  I would never remove (original) SCSI controller, even if I'm not planning to use it, altogether! With that being said, I've decided to keep the SCSI equipment, but I'm probably going to add yet another, 3rd (ATA) hard drive which is going to be the main storage, while the two SCSI are going to be additional storage, just for "fun" & nostalgia. My only worry is the power consumption, 3 hard drives are going to pull a LOT of juice from the PSU...



stinger608 said:


> It's not a sealed box by any means. It was just very rarely used I guess. I got it from someone else that put it in a system way back when then scored a much better card. It sat in its box in his closet for years.


Ah, OK then!  Nevertheless, if I were you, I'd keep that MX (as it is) just for the sake of nostalgia! There are hundreds (and thousands) of MX400 out there, without boxes and/or any documentation. But that's just my personal opinion, I like it when the retro hardware (or software) is fully preserved & untouched  Doesn't necessarily has to be sealed, as long as the packaging is in perfect condition & has all the documentation & instruction manuals included.



biffzinker said:


> I'm use to dealing with SCSI from using Macintosh then Power Macintosh systems so I don't find SCSI to be a PITA for me. I remember trying to get a external UMAX flat-bed scanner to play along with a external Iomega Jaz Drive via Adaptec Ultra SCSI PCI card.
> 
> Found the card I had in a Power Mac Clone.
> Adaptec AHA-2940/2940U PCI


I first came across SCSI that been custom-added into a Pentium 2 machine, long time ago. Someone sold it as just standard Pentium 2 (350MHz) unit, but either forgot or didn't care to mention the Adaptec PCI SCSI controller & WD Enterprise had drive. Obviously I took it out & kept the entire SCSI kit for some other project, so it eventually ended up inside old Pentium MMX 233 machine, it was a perfect combo IMHO since the Enterprise drive was pretty small in the terms of capacity. However, the motor (and seek) noise was terrible, I could NEVER get used to SCSI racket!

I still have it inside, and no I'm not going to change anything but after my initial experience with SCSI drives I've decided never to use this thing again. And I didn't ... until I got my hands on a Pentium Pro machine, which once again came with Adaptec SCSI controller & two Seagate Barracuda drives. True, I considered to swap them out for ATA units & remove the controller (and cables) altogether, but in the end decided to keep them. God knows why, that Pentium Pro is loud enough to wake the dead  Not to mention these drives take a long time to spin down, twice more than your average 7200RPM hard drive. And yet, despite my feelings towards SCSI, now I have yet another unit with two more drives ... what a joy!  But I'm all about originality & preserving the history, so therefore it stays! In fact, I might even be able to source yet another, identical Adaptec controller card if needed and could probably get it for free. In fact, I was offered to strip all the remaining parts from other HP Visualize unit, but decided not to take it. To be honest, I wouldn't know what to do with it...

So with that being said, here are more pics & final conclusion 

Remember this card from way, way back? GeForce4 Ti4800SE, the most powerful GF4 out there AFAIK. Initially it was paired up with S478 Pentium 4, running @ 2GHz, but due to HP Visualize & the fact I could only use AGP 1x/2x interface, I pulled it out & swapped for ATI Radeon 9550. Yeah, I know... In the terms of performance, this is definitely a downgrade for Pentium 4 machine, however I DID end up with 4800 "extra". Which needless to say, ended up inside my HP Visualize system right away & was a perfect match!


 



With all the internal cables lined up & properly organized (as much as I could, considering the terrible case design without any "pockets" & empty bays) & Ti4800 set up, I would say this one is finished for now. Perhaps I'll add additional hard drive in the future, but 1st I need to source a pair of 5.25 to 3.5" conversion rails, since I'm all out of 3.5" drive bays.


 



3DMark 2001 benchmark results, running at 1024x768, 32bit color (24bit buffer) and 4x AA




Visualize is running Win2k, latest SP (again, for the sake of originality), but I might eventually change it to XP Professional, SP3. Again, we'll see... 

Edit
Now that I'm comparing benchmark results with other numbers, these 4431 points seem to be awfully low... Wonder what's the catch, I should be getting a lot more with 1GB of RAM, 2GHz CPU(s) and SCSI drive *shrug*


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> 2GHz CPU(s)


Correction: You have two 1 GHz CPU/s so you'll never get prefect linear scaling in which it acts as a 2 GHz single core CPU.
Well there is some overhead cache snooping -additional traffic, memory bandwidth from the north-bridge being shared between the two CPUs, and etc. on the GTL+ bus with two Pentium III 1 GHz CPU's sharing the FSB worth taking into consideration. Also if the older software isn't multi-thread aware the second is going to go unused.

Edit: Did you clean out the heatsink for 4800SE? It looked a little plugged up on the one side with blackened dust.

Edit 2:



 
The above caps with the arrow look like there bulged out to me. The bottom two maybe?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 17, 2016)

You're right, I didn't consider the possibility of software not being able to take full advantage of two CPUs... I know for the fact that Half-Life 2 could, but not sure about any other title  *sigh* IDK, guess I'm clueless at this point, should I just swap the card back for original Quadro2 MXR2  & keep the system as it is, without further modifications & upgrades, or should I keep the 4800 & aim high? Because at 1000MHz, it seems like a waste of a very powerful card, capable of delivering much more performance than 4431 3D marks.

I was given that 4800 for free, around September last year. This HERE is the original post and yes, that "bulged" cap seems to be the same on both pics. Don't really know if it's bulged or not, to be perfectly honest I never really gave it a proper analysis or benchmark. As soon as I got the card, I loaded up some of the games I have, just to see if it works or not and (from what I remember) everything worked out OK, so I left it aside & moved on to another machine. But even if that's the case & caps really ARE bulged, there's not much I can do about it... These are SMD capacitors, and I just don't have the tools, steady hands and/or patience to fiddle with it


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 17, 2016)

3Dmark 01 does take advantage of multi core/cpu setups up to 2 cores. The problem with it is that it's very CPU speed based. You're running 1000 MHz.

3Dmark 03 is much more GPU based.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 17, 2016)

Yes, but I'm running *two *processors, each 1GHz. Which should equal (give it or take it) 2GHz in total output right? Unless I got something wrong...


----------



## vigia (Nov 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> You're right, I didn't consider the possibility of software not being able to take full advantage of two CPUs... I know for the fact that Half-Life 2 could, but not sure about any other title  *sigh* IDK, guess I'm clueless at this point, should I just swap the card back for original Quadro2 MXR2  & keep the system as it is, without further modifications & upgrades, or should I keep the 4800 & aim high? Because at 1000MHz, it seems like a waste of a very powerful card, capable of delivering much more performance than 4431 3D marks.
> 
> I was given that 4800 for free, around September last year. This HERE is the original post and yes, that "bulged" cap seems to be the same on both pics. Don't really know if it's bulged or not, to be perfectly honest I never really gave it a proper analysis or benchmark. As soon as I got the card, I loaded up some of the games I have, just to see if it works or not and (from what I remember) everything worked out OK, so I left it aside & moved on to another machine. But even if that's the case & caps really ARE bulged, there's not much I can do about it... These are SMD capacitors, and I just don't have the tools, steady hands and/or patience to fiddle with it




If you look carefully there is printed the footprint for a through hole capacitor, you can replace them with leaded capacitors.


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 17, 2016)

Is it worth picking up a Soltek SL-75FRN2-L Golden Flame? I can get one for $20 cad with an athlon xp 2500+ in it.

It's the one without a fan on the chipset heatsink and has the cpu 4-pin at the top edge of the board.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 17, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, but I'm running *two *processors, each 1GHz. Which should equal (give it or take it) 2GHz in total output right? Unless I got something wrong...


No. It is still 1 GHz. Think core count, not amount of processors.
If you had 8 of them, would that be the same as 8 GHz in performance?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 17, 2016)

DR4G00N said:


> Is it worth picking up a Soltek SL-75FRN2-L Golden Flame? I can get one for $20 cad with an athlon xp 2500+ in it.
> 
> It's the one without a fan on the chipset heatsink and has the cpu 4-pin at the top edge of the board.


The Golden Flame is a collector's board for sure. Getting harder to find every day. You won't get the stellar overclocks out of it like the good NF2 boards, but it does overclock.


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 17, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> The Golden Flame is a collector's board for sure. Getting harder to find every day. You won't get the stellar overclocks out of it like the good NF2 boards, but it does overclock.


Thanks. I'll grab it then, I haven't played around with any old AMD platforms so this should be a good learning experience at the very least.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2016)

Mr.Scott said:


> No. It is still 1 GHz. Think core count, not amount of processors.
> If you had 8 of them, would that be the same as 8 GHz in performance?


Joke aside, yes I did (and would) think & assume so, yeah! IDK, I never had a dual CPU board before, but from all the experiences by other ppl & various reviews from around the web, I was under the impression how the CPU speed would scale up. As in running dual-core Pentium @ 2GHz is still 2GHz, but with two cores. However, running two Pentium 3 @ 1GHz would equal to one Pentium 3 running 2GHz in total. Therefore, by the same logic running 8 of them would indeed equal to one CPU, running at 8GHz 

But really, if that's the case, then dual CPU boards are way overrated IMHO. Because not only they're not compatible with (most) of older apps & OS, but they also don't scale & cause a lot of issues. Except for maybe professional workstation (or a server), I just can't think of a good use for a design like that *shrug*

Anyway, I suppose at this point it doesn't really matter one way or another... HP "died" earlier tonight  While I was benchmarking the MX400 card it started acting up, reporting disk problems (which I already know it's bad, at least one of the two SCSI drives) & eventually didn't want to boot at all, kept throwing BSOD. However, when I tried to re-install Win2k, the entire system hung up at the point where the actual setup begins, it would load up all the drivers & data from a CD perfectly OK & then nothing. The problem kept getting worse & worse to the point where it didn't want to turn on, at all. Standby LED doesn't light up, or even the onboard LCD screen, but the fans are working, same kind of symptoms I already witnessed several times over the last couple of years, and they all had one thing in common - PSU. So I'm in the process of getting another one, but until then it's "lights out" for Visualize 

Edit
On a side note, I DID carefully check that Ti4800 card but no - from what I can see, the caps are NOT bulging, it only seems that way. I even checked them from the side, profile view  to see if they're flat or "D" shaped, and they seem to be OK. Which is definitely a good thing, because I also checked the PCB design & there's no place for leaded capacitors, only the SMD ones.


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## biffzinker (Nov 18, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> As in running dual-core Pentium @ 2GHz is still 2GHz, but with two cores. However, running two Pentium 3 @ 1GHz would equal to one Pentium 3 running 2GHz in total. Therefore, by the same logic running 8 of them would indeed equal to one CPU, running at 8GHz


Two Slot/Socket 370 Pentium III @ 1 GHz is still 1 GHz just if the software is multi-threaded aware you would get say a .80 bump to the 1.00 of the other Pentium III. (1.00+.80=1.80 no perfect bump to 2.00)


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2016)

Right, I get it now... Too bad, it really disappointed me, in the terms of two processor configuration 

Of course, with HP out cold, it doesn't really matter, unless I can get it up & running again. I'm waiting for the replacement PSU & will take it from there, to see what the heck is going on inside. Either that Ti4800 pulled too much current from the PSU & destroyed it, or one of the SCSI drives shorted & caused damage either to the PSU or motherboard itself. One way or another, I'll hopefully have all the answer(s) soon!


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## DR4G00N (Nov 19, 2016)

I picked up that Soltek board today and the guy I bought it from threw in 2x 256MB Micron 266MHz CL2.5 DIMM's & A Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB for an extra $10. 

It's a little dusty but works fine and there are no bulged or blown capacitors which is nice.

The CPU is an Athlon XP "Barton" 2500+ @ 1833MHz (166FSB * 11X)

I just ordered up a couple Samsung 1GB 400MHz dimms off ebay to give it a bit more oomph. 

I need to grab a faster HDD though, currently I'm using a 15 year old Maxtor 40GB drive.


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## Maban (Nov 19, 2016)

DR4G00N said:


> I picked up that Soltek board today and the guy I bought it from threw in 2x 256MB Micron 266MHz CL2.5 DIMM's & A Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB for an extra $10.
> 
> It's a little dusty but works fine and there are no bulged or blown capacitors which is nice.
> 
> ...


That is a beautifully hideous motherboard.


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 19, 2016)

Board is in great condition. Nice buy.


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## stinger608 (Nov 19, 2016)

Awesome score @DR4G00N !!!!!!!!

I just scored an old HP system that included an Asus A7V8X-LA motherboard, ADXA3000 chip, and 2 gigs of ram. Guy just wanted it out of his house. 

However, he is a dang smoker and the system really shows it.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 22, 2016)

Still working on HP Visualize & its problem... The initial conclusion that the PSU is causing the problem turned out to be wrong, as I managed to test the board with another power supply (from another Visualize) and I ended up with the same issue.

Sooo I ended up picking up that other Visualize, stripping it apart (and giving it a good wash, since it was full of dust, cobweb & other nastiness), and now I'm waiting for the motherboard to dry out. I do have some promising results so far, but for the sake of jinxing myself I'm not going into too much details just yet... We'll just have to wait & find out for sure tomorrow 

Assuming the HP Visualize DOES boot up & pass all the tests (CPU benchmark, RAM test, etc) OK, I'm probably just going to leave it as it is, without further changes & modifications. Besides, I didn't get what I was hoping for from the dual CPU configuration, so it doesn't really matter... I got several other 1GHz systems (Athlon 1000, Duron 1200, 2x 933MHz P3 machines, 1GHz Celeron Tualatin and a 1.4GHz P4) and they are all running various GPU configurations, ranging from MX400 to Evil Kyro, FX5700, 3dfx Voodoo3 3000, Matrox G450, even on-board solution so really, I just don't see the point in risking HP again for the sake of pushing it to (and beyond) the limit (Paul Engemann, anyone? )


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## vigia (Nov 22, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Still working on HP Visualize & its problem... The initial conclusion that the PSU is causing the problem turned out to be wrong, as I managed to test the board with another power supply (from another Visualize) and I ended up with the same issue.
> 
> Sooo I ended up picking up that other Visualize, stripping it apart (and giving it a good wash, since it was full of dust, cobweb & other nastiness), and now I'm waiting for the motherboard to dry out. I do have some promising results so far, but for the sake of jinxing myself I'm not going into too much details just yet... We'll just have to wait & find out for sure tomorrow
> 
> Assuming the HP Visualize DOES boot up & pass all the tests (CPU benchmark, RAM test, etc) OK, I'm probably just going to leave it as it is, without further changes & modifications. Besides, I didn't get what I was hoping for from the dual CPU configuration, so it doesn't really matter... I got several other 1GHz systems (Athlon 1000, Duron 1200, 2x 933MHz P3 machines, 1GHz Celeron Tualatin and a 1.4GHz P4) and they are all running various GPU configurations, ranging from MX400 to Evil Kyro, FX5700, 3dfx Voodoo3 3000, Matrox G450, even on-board solution so really, I just don't see the point in risking HP again for the sake of pushing it to (and beyond) the limit (Paul Engemann, anyone? )



Trekkie, did you leave the same ram modules as the photograph? , That kind of mobos use registered ram, unbuffered memory don't work.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 23, 2016)

Yes, the same RAM memory modules. This is not the RAM issue, because (if it was) the onboard self-diagnostics would report RAM problem. No, this problem started out as just a minor disk read/write issue, which then led to complete system shutdown & not being able to report any feedback or even LEDs when powered up 

Edit
Actually, from what I remember the exact error message was something about disk failure expectancy rate exceeding the value or something similar. Then it didn't want to boot into Win2k, and then it didn't want to shut down, just so that it eventually wouldn't want to boot up at all, and eventually even power on. I do get the fans to power up, but no activity being detected whatsoever, or even the LEDs. All these "steps" from bad to worse happened progressively over the period of time, minutes & hours. Therefore not immediately, so I don't think it was my mistake or incompatible hardware *shrug*

Edit2
Nothing, doesn't work. Well, in a matter of speaking it DOES work, because I'm now having different problem (along with the actual feedback on the LCD screen), but I still can't get it to boot up, so I'm going to give up for now. I'm not ready to give it up entirely though, I'll be on a lookout for Visualize P-Class (or X-Class) motherboard in working condition, so HOPEFULLY I'll be able to get it working one day, it would be a real shame to scrap this one for trivial parts such as Iomega ZIP & floppy drives 

If any of you here have one to sell or give it away, drop me a private msg (including the asking price, conditions & other information) and we might work something out.


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## biffzinker (Nov 23, 2016)

Anything else going on with older hardware after the HP Visualize @Trekkie4?


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 23, 2016)

Not much, except for an old Athlon XP 2200+ CPU, which I salvaged from non-working motherboard. Still have to see if it works though, but other than that same old. Also salvaged a lot of parts from other HP Visualize, including floppy drive, iomega Zip250 and some cables. But most importantly, the power supply which might come in handy down the road, especially if (and when) I replace the motherboard.

Speaking of HP, I'm considering to get the Kayak XU800 system & then "upgrade" it to Visualize, but IDK... Because even if I upgrade the CPUs, AGP graphics & SCSI drives, I would still have to address the issue of Rambus memory, since it only comes with 256MB and it's not compatible with two SD modules from Visualize.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 27, 2016)

Gigabyte (blue) madness! Featuring previously-mentioned Athlon XP 2200+


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## stinger608 (Nov 27, 2016)

Cool stuff; came across an old Packard Bell windows 95/98 era system. Opened it up to ensure everything was intact and found that it is maxed out on memory and actually has one of the Pentium Overdrives in it! It also has a 6.4 gig drive in it. 

Of course, I am loading Windows 98SE on it now.


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## JunkBear (Nov 27, 2016)

Why people loading 98SE all thé time instead of Millenium?

Nevermind it was the family version of Windows 2000. Also at same time à third version of Win98 in 14 septembre 2000.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2016)

Finally some updates regarding HP situation... Since I wasn't able to revive Visualize motherboard, I got myself a Kayak XU800 instead. Which is apparently the same thing, except it runs RIMM memory, has SCSI integrated into the motherboard & has a 800MHz CPU. So I took the liberty of upgrading the CPUs, missing voltage regulator (for the 2nd CPU) AGP graphics (Quadro2) and one of the SCSI drives from the visualize unit and they seem to run perfectly OK on Kayak. I also took some grounding clips, blanking plates & 3.5" mounting rails from the Visualize unit, since Kayak was missing those and/or had them damaged.


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## JunkBear (Dec 1, 2016)

Its too bad you guys dont live in Canada. It rains old parts here.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 1, 2016)

@JunkBear  Hmm... Even for Visualize P/X-Class? Because I even considered to grab a replacement board off ebay, but couldn't find anything!! Just the whole, complete & working units, but no replacement standalone motherboards.

On a side note, I got my Visualize working earlier today. Yeah, I know - it was a real shock, even a genuine surprise. But only after I swapped approx. 25 capacitors, around both CPUs and voltage regulators. Damn thing worked perfectly fine for maybe half an hour or so, before the chipset cooling fan stopped working (didn't go out, just stopped working) and the board didn't want to boot ever again  So yeah, it's only safe (and reasonable) to assume that something is either damaged or blown & causing damage to other components, mainly the caps apparently. I would probably have to swap them out again, but at this point it's really not worth it.


----------



## JunkBear (Dec 1, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> @JunkBear  Hmm... Even for Visualize P/X-Class? Because I even considered to grab a replacement board off ebay, but couldn't find anything!! Just the whole, complete & working units, but no replacement standalone motherboards.
> 
> On a side note, I got my Visualize working earlier today. Yeah, I know - it was a real shock, even a genuine surprise. But only after I swapped approx. 25 capacitors, around both CPUs and voltage regulators. Damn thing worked perfectly fine for maybe half an hour or so, before the chipset cooling fan stopped working (didn't go out, just stopped working) and the board didn't want to boot ever again  So yeah, it's only safe (and reasonable) to assume that something is either damaged or blown & causing damage to other components, mainly the caps apparently. I would probably have to swap them out again, but at this point it's really not worth it.



Always dépend of what people throw on side of street or eco-center for recycling.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 1, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Always dépend of what people throw on side of street or eco-center for recycling.


In that case be on a lookout for Visualize P (or X) Class motherboard, as long it's in working condition. Depending on a postage and price you want for this thing, I might be able to make you an offer.


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## Vario (Dec 1, 2016)

Sold my Diamond Stealth 2000 S3 Virge 4MB today, fastest ebay sale I've ever made, put it up and sold it 1 hour later!


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## JunkBear (Dec 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> In that case be on a lookout for Visualize P (or X) Class motherboard, as long it's in working condition. Depending on a postage and price you want for this thing, I might be able to make you an offer.



Post à picture and name/number of socket.


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## biffzinker (Dec 2, 2016)

JunkBear said:


> Post à picture and name/number of socket.


Slots not sockets. 








https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-206#post-3555274


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## JunkBear (Dec 2, 2016)

Vario said:


> Sold my Diamond Stealth 2000 S3 Virge 4MB today, fastest ebay sale I've ever made, put it up and sold it 1 hour later!



How much?


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## dorsetknob (Dec 2, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> In that case be on a lookout for Visualize P (or X) Class motherboard, as long it's in working condition. Depending on a postage and price you want for this thing, I might be able to make you an offer.



Being sold localy
*Server/Tower x2 P3 with ram i/o hdd etc*
emailed them asking for pic's and details
Add says

*Description*
Lockable server case with keys all i/o memory and expansion pcbs in place, and o/s hdd as well..special ram etc..in place. Software bundle inc XP and box, office 2000 dev boxed allsorts... 
It is missing its psu (transplanted into a desktop) any reasonable fullsize desktop one will do.. good for massive mame setup or similar several drives for different EMU's ..could even use as storage/server....lol am open to offers (photos to follow)

intrested ?
if so keep in contact


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## stinger608 (Dec 2, 2016)

Vario said:


> Sold my Diamond Stealth 2000 S3 Virge 4MB today, fastest ebay sale I've ever made, put it up and sold it 1 hour later!



Wow, that was quick man! How much did you get out of it?


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Being sold localy
> *Server/Tower x2 P3 with ram i/o hdd etc*
> emailed them asking for pic's and details
> Add says
> ...


I'm assuming this isn't related to HP and/or Visualize? Nah, but thanks for the offer  I probably wouldn't even be interested in Visualize that much, if it wasn't for the fact I already have most of it here, in working condition. Everything's OK, both P3s, RAM, Quadro2 (both of them), Adaptec SCSI controller, both HP dedicated 400W PS units, even ZIP & floppy drives! So yeah, I'd really like to restore that Visualize, as long as I can obtain the motherboard . But due to HP engineering, only P and X Class motherboards could fit inside inside the Visualize case... 



JunkBear said:


> Post à picture and name/number of socket.


Not sure if any of these numbers actually mean anything (or if they're just a serial number), but there you go.


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## GreiverBlade (Dec 2, 2016)

Vario said:


> Sold my Diamond Stealth 2000 S3 Virge 4MB today, fastest ebay sale I've ever made, put it up and sold it 1 hour later!


my fastest sale was 5 minutes ... although not a nostagic hardware ... a barely used CoolPad Modena 2


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## Vario (Dec 2, 2016)

Well sadly I didn't get much but I was desperate to get some more space and clear out old inventory on my shelves so I sold it for $10 and $5 shipping, I looked at the going rate and there were the same cards going for between $6 and $12.  A few months ago it was worth more like $25.

I got some fans and a heatsink that I'll be selling soon, might sell on here.


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## MaxiPro800 (Dec 3, 2016)

DR4G00N said:


> I picked up that Soltek board today and the guy I bought it from threw in 2x 256MB Micron 266MHz CL2.5 DIMM's & A Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB for an extra $10.
> 
> It's a little dusty but works fine and there are no bulged or blown capacitors which is nice.
> 
> ...


Man, how much I envy you for having that Soltek.

JK,but seriously now - take care of that board. And about the 40GB - hope it's not a 4D040H2 (Maxtor Romulus) - those "4D" drives are loud as hell. (I had a 60GB one that was loud as hell - the 4D060H3. Heck,even the previous D740X drive I had was quieter)

Anyways - I dug up some old parts I had and built this machine:
Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000
Pentium 4 2.8GHz Northwood
1GB RAM
80GB Maxtor 6Y080L0 - XP SP3 (italian - I wanted a simple, non-nLited version of XP,and this was the only thing I had.)
40GB Maxtor 6E040L0 - 98 SE (english)
Winfast A340T 128MB/Geforce FX5200
Realtek RTL8139C NIC
Winfast TV2000XP Deluxe TV Tuner
ASUS-DRW1608P3S DVD-RW
Hitachi-LG GCR-8481 CD-RW
JNC RJA-52 case (white)
all powered by a Modecom FEEL-400ATX PSU (built by Apex/Allied)


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## stinger608 (Dec 3, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Man, how much I envy you for having that Soltek.




I hear ya their man. They are getting hard to find. I saw one a couple of years ago on Fleabay and it was selling for about a $100!!! I followed it and it ended up selling for well over the opening bid price!


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## MaxiPro800 (Dec 3, 2016)

stinger608 said:


> I hear ya their man. They are getting hard to find. I saw one a couple of years ago on Fleabay and it was selling for about a $100!!! I followed it and it ended up selling for well over the opening bid price!


That's not only the reason. I had two versions of this board (the 75FRN2-RL and the 75FRN2-L - the latter was even more rare than the former >_< ) and neither would work, altogether POST. I still dream of the day I get one of those to replace my ol' MSI K7N2 (which I also like) with. Those are real gold,and I also have a 250GB Samsung SATA drive to go with them. No problems if I need to recap them, I have enough crappy Gigabyte KT600 boards (seriously,ASUS did a better job at KT600) to scavenge good caps from.

This and the Epox EP-4PLA3I are two of the most nice motherboards I ever seen. Wish I knew how to solder stuff and save the EPoX - it had amazing features.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 3, 2016)

Re-capping boards using old & previously used capacitors is usually a bad idea, because there's no telling if they're in top condition and when (or rather IF) they're going to fail. Considering the new ones only cost $0.50 each (more-less), I'd recommend that you go with those ones, instead.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 3, 2016)

Very true @Trekkie4 !

A person can purchase new caps real cheap. With that said, it isn't worth taking the chance with used capacitors.


----------



## DR4G00N (Dec 4, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Man, how much I envy you for having that Soltek.
> 
> JK,but seriously now - take care of that board. And about the 40GB - hope it's not a 4D040H2 (Maxtor Romulus) - those "4D" drives are loud as hell. (I had a 60GB one that was loud as hell - the 4D060H3. Heck,even the previous D740X drive I had was quieter)
> 
> ...



It is indeed a 4D040H2, it's extremely annoying lol. But it's the only IDE drive I have, so I have to use it.

The board is definitely one of the nicer looking boards I have. I'll probably end up using the system to play some old games like Halo:CE & Mechwarrior 4 Mercs at some point.


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## MaxiPro800 (Dec 4, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Re-capping boards using old & previously used capacitors is usually a bad idea, because there's no telling if they're in top condition and when (or rather IF) they're going to fail. Considering the new ones only cost $0.50 each (more-less), I'd recommend that you go with those ones, instead.


That would quite apply in the case of caps like OST,G-Luxon,and such. I'm using Rubycon,Sanyo,Panasonic and United Chemicon caps (with the exception of their KZG line)


----------



## Komshija (Dec 7, 2016)

DR4G00N said:


> I picked up that Soltek board today
> View attachment 81253
> View attachment 81256


That's really one nice looking motherboard. I have to admit that this is the first time I heard about Soltek. It seems that they produced variety of colorful motherboards.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 16, 2016)

The Model 5100 was IBM's first minicomputer, which was also considered one of the world's first portable computers.

There were very few other computers available in 1977, and none with the capabilities of the 5100.

The advert for the IBM 5100 says: 'You're looking at a small portable computer called the IBM 5100. 

'It's helping a lot of different people do their work productively.'


----------



## natr0n (Dec 17, 2016)

I forgot I had a photobucket I made in 2004 look what goodies I found.



 

 

 


6600agp a7n8x board. I modded the psu cables. Notice the extreme cooling(stacked fans)


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 17, 2016)

natr0n said:


> Notice the extreme cooling(stacked fans)


You  outcaps @CAPSLOCKSTUCK 
thats a FANSTACKING PICTURE


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## DR4G00N (Dec 20, 2016)

Bought an XP 3200+ for my Soltek board and lucky me, the person who sold it to me used an XP 1800+ Palomino as a pin protector for the 3200+.  After getting the pins straightened it works fine too, which is surprising since the die is chipped.

It also seems like my 3200+ is unlocked! I set it to 12.5 x 200 and at post it's recognized as an "AMD Athlon 2500MHz". Memtest86+ also sees it as 2506MHz.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 20, 2016)

Nice find, @DR4G00N

I should REALLY get my butt moving one of these days & force myself to do something with that HP kayak XU800... Either keep it as it is, as Visualize P-Class clone or revert it back to original specs & use it as such. After all the headache with both Visualize machines, I just wasn't motivated to fiddle with hardware any longer but one way or another, I'll have to finish Kayak sooner or later!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 25, 2016)

DR4G00N said:


> Bought an XP 3200+ for my Soltek board and lucky me, the person who sold it to me used an XP 1800+ Palomino as a pin protector for the 3200+.  After getting the pins straightened it works fine too, which is surprising since the die is chipped.
> 
> It also seems like my 3200+ is unlocked! I set it to 12.5 x 200 and at post it's recognized as an "AMD Athlon 2500MHz". Memtest86+ also sees it as 2506MHz.
> 
> ...


Chipped die usually has no effect on AMD chips. At least my 950MHz Duron survives with a chipped core.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 25, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Chipped die usually has no effect on AMD chips. At least my 950MHz Duron survives with a chipped core.


Depends. I have chipped cores that went both ways.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 25, 2016)

Agreed with @Mr.Scott, it usually depends on how much the core is chipped and under which angle. If it's damaged too much, the CPU won't be operational.

On a side note, happy holidays guys!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 26, 2016)

I'll drop y'all some shots on my build. Guess what BIOS splashscreen I'm going to use and what will the name of the rig be.  I dare you.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 26, 2016)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I'll drop y'all some shots on my build. Guess what BIOS splashscreen I'm going to use and what will the name of the rig be.  I dare you.


Santa's little helper?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 26, 2016)

Trekkie4 said:


> Santa's little helper?


Nope. Try again.

I'm not sure if I should give you a hint because it would be easy then.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 29, 2016)

Got the case yesterday! Expect a video of it soon.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 30, 2016)

Since I can't edit the old post anymore,here it is!


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2016)

Love the Ford Racing 2 game! It's one of he rare games I got to be completely playable on older systems (and video cards) such as GeForce2. I'm honestly not sure at this point, but I might have even tried with TNT2 Pro, and it looked absolutely wonderful & breathtaking! Even by modern standards, today, it looks a LOT like Half Life 2 engine actually.

I probably won't be doing any computer projects today & until 2017, it's been a rather difficult & disappointing year for all of us so I'm just going to wait & hope for better 2017! Happy New Year guys!


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 31, 2016)

Hmm, I don't think I have ever played Ford Racing 2! 

I might have to see if I can come across that game somewhere? Is it a downloadable game at this point?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2016)

*ahem* http://theisozone.com/downloads/pc/windows-games/ford-racing-2-4/

Funny thing... Ford Racing 2 is one of the very few games which turned out 1000x better, than the original, 1st edition. I remember getting Ford Racing 1 back in a day and I remember how much I expected from the game (I imagined it to be the same, or at least somewhat similar to TOCA), but it was a complete disaster. Starting from the physics, sound effects, difficulty, etc it was just a waste of time and money. Not to mention it wasn't optimized, so unlike Ford Racing 2, it could barely run at decent FPS when set to "max", even if you had a Pentium 3, with the Voodoo2 or even early GeForce cards!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 1, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm, I don't think I have ever played Ford Racing 2!
> 
> I might have to see if I can come across that game somewhere? Is it a downloadable game at this point?


Look over The Iso Zone,they might have it. (along with other classics)

EDIT: I must be really tired (I was up till 4 AM in the morning,and that's not even a joke) to not notice Trekkie 4 beat me to it 

One thing you would want to know - this game won't work correctly under 7,and in rare cases under 98SE. For 7 it's because the WMA thing is removed,and I have no idea about 98SE. I can play the game but no music will play on it. 7 will throw a WMA_347 error if I remember correctly. There's a patch,but the game is no fun without the music,really.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 1, 2017)

Yes, it does work on W98, at least the 2nd edition does  I have the Ford Racing 2 on several of my retro rigs, and they've all worked pretty much OK apart from in one particular situation, where the game would cause a system crash. Since I have so many retro machines, I honestly don't remember which one had this problem, but I DO remember it was related to video card drivers, therefore not the Windows and/or hardware itself.


----------



## AsRock (Jan 1, 2017)

Been more of a Sports Car GT my self, just took a quick look and it's easlily available even with another classic like superbike 2000 both awesome games.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005S83O/?tag=tec06d-20


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 1, 2017)

Right, I had Sports Car GT for years, longer than Ford Racing 2 but you really can't compare them to each other. SCGT is more like old-school simulator, designed for older video cards & Voodoo2, while the Ford Racing was aiming high with HD-like textures, models & effects. Which is hardly a surprise, considering Ford Racing is newer than Sports Car GT...


----------



## AsRock (Jan 2, 2017)

Yeah but SCGT has even today great play-ability. Kinda like NFSU you had a sense of control. But yeah it's old as the hills but it was awesome with a steering wheel.


----------



## Rich Costello (Jan 2, 2017)

After catching this forum thread from a link from another tech site, started to get nostalgic for the good old days of comp
building.  I took out some of what I had left over from those days and some older stuff recently purchased from you know
where to re-constitute and old comp build:

FIC PA-2013  2mb cache Motherboard (re-purchased a year ago )
Asus P5A Motherboard (not shown but re-purchased about 6-7 years ago)   got nostalgic once before lol
AMD Processors:
K6-2 450
K6-3+ 450
K6-2 500
k6-2+ 550
HDD whatever I have laying around
Soundblaster Live! 5.1 digital
2-256 mg mushkin silverline PC 133
Voodoo 5-5500 agp videocard
ATI 3D rage Pro video card
ATI ( can't remember nomenclature of card, old though )
some SATA to  PATA adapters for HDD and DVD player


I call attention to the center foreground of the pics. I had picked up a generic socket 7/370/A heatsink that would have sufficed
for cooling purposes, but wanted to find my all time favorite HSF at that time, the Alpha PAL6035. Could not find one, or really, any Alphas at all:

Behold, for your viewing pleasure... a brand spanking new Alpha PAL6035 Heatsink direct from Alpha Novatech, Ltd. $ 33.00 including shipping 5 days ago...
Sorry for the crappy pics...had to take a pics of the screen at lower res...2mb pretty small for a pic, have higher res pics...


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 2, 2017)

First, welcome Rich to TechPowerUp man!!! Glad to see ya and posting bro!!! 

You have some sweet ole Nostalgic hardware there man!


----------



## Rich Costello (Jan 2, 2017)

Thanks, also have an old build that I put together a few years ago around an AMD XP 2700+ and ASRock K7S41GX to run some old video games I used to like to play...
will post pics when I get a chance...the games were:

SW: Rogue Squadron
SW: Racer
SW:StarFighter
SW: Battle For Naboo
Forsaken
Incoming
Quake III: Arena
Recoil
Tachyon: the Fringe
Crimson Skies

Just threw in a different videocard, had an ATI x850 Pro in there but things didn't render quite right, probably too new a card, replaced with
a Gigabyte 9600 XT video card, renders great now...


----------



## IceScreamer (Jan 2, 2017)

Gonna take pictures tomorrow but I got some old-ish PC hardware. People here where I live had old computers they wanted to throw out so they gave them to me, so I'm kinda hoarding at this point (to think I had no computer a couple of years ago). I don't know the whole list but I do know I got a Pentium MMX, Pentium III slot processor, AMD Duron, an AMD K5, a Soltek 478 board (that never had a LAN port), tested it not a while ago. Also have an Athlon 4200+ system on which I just recently installed Linux Mint.
Gonna look at everything tomorrow.


----------



## Rich Costello (Jan 2, 2017)

...Some more pics of other stuff I ratholed...I obviously have nothing to do tonite...lol


----------



## Rich Costello (Jan 3, 2017)

first pics resized:


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 3, 2017)

Rich Costello said:


> After catching this forum thread from a link from another tech site, started to get nostalgic for the good old days of comp
> building.  I took out some of what I had left over from those days and some older stuff recently purchased from you know
> where to re-constitute and old comp build:
> 
> ...


Now here's something I would absolutely love to have!! Socket 7(and/or 8) AT*X *board! I got several S7 and one S8 with the Pro chip, but they're either AT boards or non-standard design, by Digital corporation. Nice collection you got there, especially the Voodoo5 card, that one is a real gem!


----------



## IceScreamer (Jan 3, 2017)

So as promised, here goes.

AMD K5, Pentium MMX, slot Pentium III, Celeron 2,8 Ghz S478, AMD Duron 1000, the same Duron with a DFI AK75 EC motherboard, Nvidia FX5200, Ati 9200, Ati 9600, unknown card, nothing on the back label, Trident Daytona 64T, Pentium IV, with 768 MB RAM on a Soltek SL-85DR3-C, MSI MicroStar P54C TR5 Socket 7 motherboard with some expansion cards (modem and sound card), includin RAM sticks (don't know the exact capacity).
And lastly the Athlon 4200+ system in what is possibly the dumbest case layout I have ever seen, at least PSU position wise. The card inside is a Radeon HD2600 Pro with fixed up ghetto cooling (of which I'm very proud of), 3GB DDR2 RAM and a fan for the Northbridge (or is that Southbridge).


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 3, 2017)

2 new in the thread? a real HAPPY NEW YEAR indeed ... 

welcome by the way


----------



## Rich Costello (Jan 3, 2017)

IceScreamer said:


> So as promised, here goes.
> 
> AMD K5, Pentium MMX, slot Pentium III, Celeron 2,8 Ghz S478, AMD Duron 1000, the same Duron with a DFI AK75 EC motherboard, Nvidia FX5200, Ati 9200, Ati 9600, unknown card, nothing on the back label, Trident Daytona 64T, Pentium IV, with 768 MB RAM on a Soltek SL-85DR3-C, MSI MicroStar P54C TR5 Socket 7 motherboard with some expansion cards (modem and sound card), includin RAM sticks (don't know the exact capacity).
> And lastly the Athlon 4200+ system in what is possibly the dumbest case layout I have ever seen, at least PSU position wise. The card inside is a Radeon HD2600 Pro with fixed up ghetto cooling (of which I'm very proud of), 3GB DDR2 RAM and a fan for the Northbridge (or is that Southbridge).


Very nice fan work on that videocard...
My first Athlon product was the Duron 600...slapped it in and ran it right up to 1000 on air


----------



## Bungz (Jan 4, 2017)

Hey guys

My first machine was a celeron 466 but my first experiments were with Athlons and Duron socket A stuff before blowing student loans on A64 gear and the rest is history!

I flogged all my old stuff back in the day but have recently started acquiring older parts and built a few *period* gaming rigs. 

Alot of the stuff is more or less free or given away which makes it more fun.

Get a kick out of recapping stuff that would otherwise be dead and gone forever 
Will check in with an itinerary and some pics, glad I have found some folk of similar mind


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 4, 2017)

*Bungz*
Welcome to TPU hope your going to enjoy your Stay


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2017)

Awesome! One more individual to join the retro fun nostalgia  Welcome to TPU @Bungz

I actually have Celeron 466 among my retro machines, will see if I can dig a pic or two. Despite the initial assumption(s) on my behalf, it turned out to be quite an interesting retro system!


----------



## Bungz (Jan 6, 2017)

Some more obsolete tat came in the post today so thought I would share before I dig any systems out.

I have been after a nice 9800 pro for some time, they are quite rare in unmolested or modded form ( I presume due to running silly hot and having naff reference coolers) but have come across a 9800XT that was in reasonable condition so that will scratch the itch for now  prob paid a little more than scrap money for it but hey ho. 

Needed a clean up!















I like to add a little machine oil to the bearing as they tend to be dry after such a time.






Precision engineering on these heat sinks! Predate our modern heatpiped wonders just a little.










Bonus shot of a X1950Xt 256mb. Sadly its not been used much if at all, nothing to clean 






No doubt more to follow.


----------



## Derek12 (Jan 6, 2017)

I *think *I still have an AMD K6-2 bought in 1999 out here but I can't find it (maybe it was thrown away)

EDIT:

That computer specs  (first computer ever here, prebuilt, for all family, I still was a kid lol) I can remember

CPU: AMD K6-2 450 MHz I think
GPU: Nvidia Riva TNT 2, later a Voodoo2, and later back to the Nvidia, after the Voodoo broke off. Can't remember well if an ATI was used at some time.
RAM: At first 64 MB, later upgraded to (128MB? 256MB?) can't remember 
HDD: 8GB, never upgraded
CD Drive. Replaced with another one after the original one exploded lol
Motherboard: Never got the brand, maybe was a DFI? Never upgraded
Monitor, CRT LG Studioworks
OS: Windows 98, later Windows ME, later Windows 2000, and back to Windows 98. Windows XP was incompatible


Everything but the CPU was thrown away due to not having space at home to pile up "junk", so can't get pics other than Googling  as said I can't find the CPU, maybe it was lost somewhere, or thrown away, who knows!
The computer was never opened nor cleaned, so it burnt off after the fan was clogged with dust , and it began to BSOD, then stopped working.

Currently the oldest computer/hardware at home is a 2007 Samsung laptop still in working condition


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 8, 2017)

Rich Costello said:


> ...Some more pics of other stuff I ratholed...I obviously have nothing to do tonite...lol


great you keep it fully


----------



## Boatvan (Jan 8, 2017)

Not the typical hardware posted here, but this was a Domain Controller from my last job. Luckily it was decommissioned in 2013.


----------



## qynqy (Jan 8, 2017)

Monster laptop


----------



## Rich Costello (Jan 8, 2017)

Photos of the two gaming PC s I built a few years ago and my main desktop, which will be nostalgic itself as soon as AMD's Zen products hit the market...


----------



## Rich Costello (Jan 8, 2017)

some more...not sure why that last pic was stretched out so much...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 9, 2017)

I was curious, so for the 1st time ever, I decided to try my luck with 3dfx (Glide) emulators, nGlide in particular... Still have to actually run the game & see the performance, but according to their website, it's supposed to be working perfectly in 99.9% situations.

What I'd really like to know is what's your opinion regarding these things, are they worth the effort, can they utilize & run on older hardware (GeForce4 for example), and probably most importantly, can you run them in parallel with the real 3dfx cards & drivers without conflict?


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 9, 2017)

Seems like, back in the day, @Trekkie4 , OpenGL was leaps and bounds better than Glide. Could have just been the games that I was into though.


----------



## AsRock (Jan 9, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Seems like, back in the day, @Trekkie4 , OpenGL was leaps and bounds better than Glide. Could have just been the games that I was into though.



But it was dam nice to have the options.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 10, 2017)

Thanks guys, but I think you misunderstood my question 

What I was hoping to find out is that whenever Glide emulator can co-exist with physical, actual 3dfx Voodoo card(s) on the same system without conflicts.

And was also hoping to hear your experiences regarding virtual, emulated 3dfx cards. Since I can't seem to find the Voodoo5, I was thinking of emulating one using GeForce4 4200 (or better?) card, under Win98. According to their website only XP (and newer) OS are supported, however someone recently pointed out (don't remember who, it might have been someone on YouTube) how nGlide will work perfectly OK under 98SE, as long as the hardware has enough muscle to drive the entire thing.

As for your input regarding OpenGL and Glide @stinger608 , I suppose it's all down to personal taste & choice. For me Glide holds a special & sentimental value but only because of what it represents. And also because it brings back memories of my childhood, otherwise I would probably go with OpenGL myself. I can't really speak from the programmer's point of view, but it felt more reliable & compatible with various hardware brands, while the Glide was exclusive & only reserved for 3dfx.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 10, 2017)

Besides nGlide how about Glidos? The website might still be a useful resource. http://www.glidos.net/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 10, 2017)

Thanks, I might give it a try! 

However, judging from their website, only several titles are being officially supported, while nGlide is almost universal, for hundreds of Glide-powered games from back in a day. Games like Unreal, Deus Ex, Carmageddon 2, NFS2 SE, etc.


----------



## Bungz (Jan 11, 2017)

Had a heatsink retention bracket fail on a A64 system so thought I would picture it 

Donor board is all original and works fine, the K8NXP-9 has been pretty much completely recappped with Panasonic FR series. The DPS module has too been recapped and southbridge fan bearing oiled.

This system came out of some horrible lot I got off someone who lived in some sort of cat ridden cesspit, its pretty clean now but not perfect despite everything being stripped down and scrubbed in soapy water.

3500+ @ 2.4Ghz
2GB Geil PC3200
7800GTX
160Gb Sata Drive

PSU inspected as fine but I will recap it at some point.

Empty bay is from a Live Drive that didn't have the correct card or cables, will possible resurrect that at some point.























And heres my Voodoo 3 2000 which I think is the bit of hardware that is responsible for my hardware addiction, still works as good as it did when new and likes its new home in the Dell.






Cheers


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 12, 2017)

S/H Aquision tonight
one of these
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...s/32109-coolit-eco-l-c-cpu-cooler-review.html





http://www.computer-specifications.com/specifications/SuperMicro-SUPERS2DGU-Specs.html

Fitted with 2 x P3 500 Xeon Cpu's
2 x pc100 ram
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1071879-REG/startech_satsasbay3bk_3_bay_3_5_sat_sas_hot.html






Adaptec 1210SA Sata 2 port Raid Card

Its a fuck off big Case
64cm high 53cm Deep 32cm wide
11 5 1/4" Drive Bays
2x 3 1/2" Drive Bays ( 1 x ls 120 drive 1x 1.44 drive
massive space to fit 360 Rad inside  pics of case later

1 Rack/hotswap SCSI Drive  36 gig with win XP pro on it ( need to boot and check that)
Matrox *G55+MDHA32DRF (AGP 4x )*
Intel Duel pro 10/100/1000 lan card
Creative soundblaster audigy Sound card
Belkin 4+1 USB Card
Adaptic AAR 1210sa raid controller card (2 port Sata )
a weird fan warning card 2 pin 4 fan
SCSI dvd burner
IDE burner and a knackered centurian chassie
assorted SCSI cables and IDE Ribbions

..........>>
Price Delivered £20
and been told more to come


----------



## Vulcansheart (Jan 12, 2017)

Not super nostalgic, but a matching pair of MSi 6800's in my pc part bin.



 

Oh, and this guy. ATI X1300 Pro mint condition lol


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 14, 2017)

Okay, so I posted this in the video card section but wanted to see if any of my fellow nostalgic system members would know the answer to this:

Okay, building an old nostalgic liquid cooling system using a pair of BFG's 8800 GTX water cooled cards.

One of the blocks are leaking due to a bad seal. They are not regular o'rings otherwise, I could find them locally. 

These were a Danger Den water block. Of course, Danger Den is no longer in business so I'm not sure where in the heck to find these seals! 

These are the cards for reference:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143079


Been doing some research and am not finding anything! 

Anyone know where a person could possibly find the seals? They are almost like a square o'ring but there are some specialized designs to the seals. 

Thanks in advance for any and all help!


----------



## vigia (Jan 14, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Okay, so I posted this in the video card section but wanted to see if any of my fellow nostalgic system members would know the answer to this:
> 
> Okay, building an old nostalgic liquid cooling system using a pair of BFG's 8800 GTX water cooled cards.
> 
> ...




         Stinger, If you don't find it, you can make your own seal,  buy the cord http://www.theoringstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=117_119 , cut it to size and use Cyanoacrylate (instant glue) to fix the ends, with a buna 70 I think you can make it.


----------



## P4-630 (Jan 15, 2017)

My parents old Marantz stereo set still working.


----------



## deflipe (Jan 15, 2017)

Hello, I am from Chile and new in this forum, I also built my retro PC and I leave the images:

Chasis and PSU ASUS
MB MSI MS-6153
CPU: P III 700Mhz
RAM: 256MB Kingston
HDD: WD Expert 313600, 13GB
SC: SoundBlaster Live SB0100
CPU Coller: Volcano 12
WIFI: D-LINK 510
VGA: 3dfx Vooodoo 5, 5500 AGP 64MB, Cooler Mod (Evercool)
OS: Windows 98Se

Extras: Joystick Microsoft Sidewinder


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 16, 2017)

Welcome to TPU @deflipe !!! Glad you found us here.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 16, 2017)

Got a Xbox for real cheap.

Had a FUBAR EEPROM (ring was flashing red) and a missing HDD. Thankfully, I had a dead donor board and its matching HDD (a 10GB Seagate ST310211A) and so I could bring it to life. As for the old case,it's in the trash now. The case in here was made from both a dead 1.0 and a dead 1.6b. The PCB (along with the PSU and DVD-ROM) is a v1.4. (Winbond TSOP,Focus chip and Samsung SDG-605B DVD-ROM)

Does anyone else than me think the case quite matches my pants' color?


----------



## Artex (Jan 18, 2017)

Recent goodies!


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 18, 2017)

3DFX Watch Wow





Bet your proud of that   is it genuine ????


----------



## Artex (Jan 18, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> 3DFX Watch Wow
> 
> Bet your proud of that   is it genuine ????


Yeah!  Still in it's shrink-wrap.  Have a growing collection of schwag...


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 18, 2017)

Your be the envy of many a member here   (including me)


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 18, 2017)

Artex said:


> Recent goodies!



Really nice rare card. Engineering sample too. Hang on to that one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 18, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Your be the envy of many a member here   (including me)


Amen to that, the 6000 model is considered to be holy grail in the terms of 3dfx!!  @Artex


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 18, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Amen to that, the 6000 model is considered to be holy grail in the terms of 3dfx!!  @Artex




Not to mention being worth a small fortune.


----------



## Artex (Jan 19, 2017)

Thanks all!  Definitely my favorite piece of hardware in my collection and took a while to find!


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 19, 2017)

Artex said:


> and took a while to find!



Oh man, I'll bet that right!!!!


----------



## Boatvan (Jan 20, 2017)

A gift I made for my boss (super late Christmas gift). Vacuum tubes, floppy's, old mouse, an old calculator, and a mix of used and unused punch cards.


----------



## hertz9753 (Jan 20, 2017)

I have some stuff.


----------



## AsRock (Jan 20, 2017)

hertz9753 said:


> I have some stuff.



Remember those, i had a PR150 which ran 120Mhz, dam now they were HOT! chips haha.


----------



## deflipe (Jan 22, 2017)

Buy it for 25dls in "Persa Bio Bio, Santiago, Chile" working perfectly and with a control series A. Its appearance is wonderful, it is added to my collection.

Model SCPH 9001


----------



## Random Murderer (Jan 24, 2017)

deflipe said:


> Buy it for 25dls in "Persa Bio Bio, Santiago, Chile" working perfectly and with a control series A. Its appearance is wonderful, it is added to my collection.
> 
> Model SCPH 9001View attachment 83340


Does it have the debug port on the back?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 24, 2017)

deflipe said:


> Hello, I am from Chile and new in this forum, I also built my retro PC and I leave the images:
> 
> Chasis and PSU ASUS
> MB MSI MS-6153
> ...


hell, of a heck, YEAH!  welcome... 

and ...a VOLCANO 12 i love that one


----------



## deflipe (Jan 24, 2017)

GreiverBlade said:


> hell, of a heck, YEAH!  welcome...
> 
> and ...a VOLCANO 12 i love that one


Ty, a friend gift this Volcano


----------



## deflipe (Jan 24, 2017)

Random Murderer said:


> Does it have the debug port on the back?


No no, 9001 dont have the debug port, model 7xxxx have It


----------



## Bones (Jan 27, 2017)

Here is my latest project - Bought it as a non-working unit and yes it was a _nasty_ one!
Luckily I knew about the cleaner I posted about earlier and used it for cleanup, took about 10 minutes to do. Next I had to figure out why it was giving me the red LED of death, fix that and then fix the gray screen of death problem after the first problem was solved. Reflowed some of the caps on it's board as part of that fix, all the caps themselves look fine, no leaks or crap coming out or anything but I do plan on buying a recapping kit in a week or so.
I've already replaced the 72 pin cartridge, messed around with it and it's working.
The more I mess around with it the better it does - Just needed some TLC which it obviously didn't get wherever it came from.

Ugh.....
 

Much better looking....
 

And now it works too!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 27, 2017)

Damn,that was one dirty NES.

Not as dirty as one PS1 I had was. I know I got it in a non-working state (laser was shot). You really don't even want to know what I could find inside. It would be too disgusting.

And come to think, the recent Xbox I got (that blue one I posted a page or two back), it smelled of nicotine (not the nicest smell but I can live with it) and had about 2 dead bugs. Other than that,aside from the EEPROM being shot it was in ok-ish shape. I still have it but I need to find a new front panel module,since I accidentally broke the one it had. I temporarily replaced them with two ATX case power and reset switches


----------



## Bones (Jan 27, 2017)

In addition to what I had to do to the NES I took some Brasso and cleaned off the board's contact fingers when I replaced the 72 pin cartridge, that certainly helped it alot.

You could try some of the cleaner I used if you can get it where you are.
It will eliminate any smoke smell and remove nicotine stains plus it's effective even if diluted somewhat. In fact I suggest diluting it, esp if cleaning a circuit board and to be sure whatever is cleaned with it gets rinsed immediately after using it. All I did when I used it on a board earlier was to fill a sink with some hot water and some of this poured in, swished the board around in the water for like a minute or two then removed and rinsed it off completely. I'd say don't make a mix with it very strong, doesn't need to be and it will work on your skin too if it is a strong mix.

EDIT:
If I get another NES this may be a project I could do just for the hell of it..... And why not?

Nintoaster Instructional Video - YouTube


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 28, 2017)

Bones said:


> You could try some of the cleaner I used if you can get it where you are.
> It will eliminate any smoke smell and remove nicotine stains plus it's effective even if diluted somewhat. In fact I suggest diluting it, esp if cleaning a circuit board and to be sure whatever is cleaned with it gets rinsed immediately after using it.


The smell actually seems to have gone away for the most part. Only the board smells a bit (not a strong smell,more like a faint smell that's hardly noticeable),as I replaced the PSU with another one.
As for nicotine stains,there wasn't any,much to my surprise. Just loads of dust,that's all.


----------



## deflipe (Jan 30, 2017)

Something I got this weekend


----------



## PHaS3 (Jan 30, 2017)

Grrr so jealous of the 1950XTX. Always wanted one with that stock cooler on. Closest I got was my old 1900XTX with a HIS ICEQ thing on :/ Miss that card  Just something about those old ATI cards.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 4, 2017)

Today my gut feeling was saying  *GO TO THE FLEA MARKET.* The weather is sunny!

I wanted to find a *Creative CD-ROM* unit for some time but I had no luck, until now 

As my CD-ROM units were getting scarce I wanted to try and see if I can rescue some from the dumpster.

First I will open the units I bought today, then I will power them up and if they work THEN I'll clean them up  otherwise I will not even bother.

I also bought  Seagate HDD - 40GB which has a protective rubber sleeve. The chances are that it is ok.

*FDD -* Panasonic JU-256A428PC
*FDD -* Samsung SFD-321B
*CD-ROM -* LG CRD-8240B
*CD-ROM - * GOLDSTAR CRD-8160B - *THE EXACT MODEL I HAD with my first PC - The door looks different but the model is the same 
CD-ROM -* CREATIVE CD4834E
*CD-RW - *CREATIVE RW8435E
*DVD-ROM - *Pioneer DVD-120S - I bought this unit because it has a slot loader mechanism
*HDD -* Seagate ST340810A - 40GB - Certified Repaired HDD

I also bought some surgeons gloves because these pieces look rather nasty. Especially the Creative 48X which is also rusty. If it didnt have the Creative name I wouldnt've even bothered...



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



*gallery: *https://postimg.org/gallery/juqsak2c/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 4, 2017)

This GoldStar unit looks exactly the same as LG drive, which is hardly a surprise, considering GS & LG are one & the same  They've changed the name from "Lucky Gold Star" to "LG" some time in the mid-90s. Great job finding the Creative drive(s), I got one of these myself, and was indeed very difficult to find! I took it out from an old computer that was about to get scrapped, recycled as e-waste. I also grabbed a 250MB Iomega drive, but I didn't take the S370 mobo, which (now looking back) kinda makes me feel bad


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 4, 2017)

*Robert B*
Have you considered ???
Transplanting the Guts of a working CD Drive into the case of a non working creative Drive ?


----------



## Robert B (Feb 4, 2017)

I've never thought of that.

Usually this might not work but If you have the pieces this could be at least tried 

Creative units, I think are just rebadged units so you would have to know the base model number.

Full cleanup and detailed pictures will be added to my thread here on TPU.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...gle-away-freely-old-hardware-emporium.228932/

I'm really curious if they work but this will have to wait until next week.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 4, 2017)

Here's my Creative drive  Last time I've tested it, it worked OK! Perhaps I should clean the lens, because it occasionally tends to skip &/or get stuck while seeking up, but otherwise it's in good condition.




This other drive is a "genuine" Gold Star unit, from the early 90s. I remember having a similar drive on my 4x86 back in a day, except mine (proudly!) said 16X MAX on the front


----------



## Robert B (Feb 4, 2017)

Yep that's the bad boy LG/GS I had back in the day in 1998 and it had 16x written on it. That's the exact face cover 

The unit would only read a CD if it was silver coloured.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 4, 2017)

Robert B said:


> Yep that's the bad boy LG/GS I had back in the day in 1998 and it had 16x written on it. That's the exact face cover
> 
> The unit would only read a CD if it was silver coloured.


Yeah, good ol' days! Mine was somewhat older, I finally upgraded the 4x86 machine with so called multimedia package (sound card, a pair of desktop speakers + 16x CD-ROM) around 1995, 1996 maybe.

Unfortunately, it didn't last for long ... about a year later, the spindle motor stopped working. I remember we even tried to have the unit properly serviced or even replaced, but we've been told that the motor inside is not replaceable (and it was just out of warranty period) Sooo... I didn't get to mess around with CD ROMs for at least couple of more years, when I finally got my Pentium 2, which had a 36x BTC CD-ROM drive


----------



## Robert B (Feb 4, 2017)

It seems that some CREATIVE CD-ROM units are rebadged Samsung units. They have the same back. Or they were made at the same factory that made Samsung and Creative units....

Samsung CD-Master 48E Model: SC-148 CD-ROM 48x IDE 1999
http://computer-retro.de/Bilder/Fes...ster-48E-Model-SC-148-CD-ROM-48x-IDE-1999.jpg

Samsung CD-Master 48E Model: SC-148 CD-ROM 48x IDE 2000
http://computer-retro.de/Bilder/Fes...ster-48E-Model-SC-148-CD-ROM-48x-IDE-2000.jpg

http://computer-retro.de/Festplatten.html#DVD-CD-ROMs

I remember those 36X BTC units. Mine was loud as hell


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 4, 2017)

Robert B said:


> It seems that some CREATIVE CD-ROM units are rebadged Samsung units. They have the same back. Or they were made at the same factory that made Samsung and Creative units....
> 
> Samsung CD-Master 48E Model: SC-148 CD-ROM 48x IDE 1999
> http://computer-retro.de/Bilder/Fes...ster-48E-Model-SC-148-CD-ROM-48x-IDE-1999.jpg
> ...


One of the Creative! drives from your pictures, DVD-ROM Model number DVD1243E IDE 2000 is/was manufactured by LiteOn, I'm absolutely sure! Creative CDRW 8-4-32x Model number RW8435E COULD be manufactured by NEC, and Creative CDRW Model: RW4424E IDE 2000 MIGHT be Hitachi. That's my personal opinion, but I'm absolutely sure regarding LiteOn


----------



## Disparia (Feb 5, 2017)

Dual Xeon motherboard out of a Dell PowerEdge 1600SC (2002). Found two of them in a storage room collecting dust when I started at a job in 2009. Took 'em home, cleaned them up and used them for basic stuff: shares, web server, etc. Because they were already ancient by the time I got them they saw very little use, about a year. Kept them in storage because I liked the cases.






Heatsinks screw directly to the motherboard plate through those holes around the CPU. I have two compatible sets, lightweight aluminium with 2 heat pipes and heavy AF pure copper.






I was never a fan of AGP so I really like the layout with the PCI/PCI-X. Wish that we had gone with 64bit PCI-X on the desktop back then... oh well.


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 5, 2017)

Jizzler said:


> I was never a fan of AGP


 The little lie Fairy heard you say in 1996
shit get with the Times  Pci is so 1995 The Future is AGP 

PS

This was told to me in confidence by the Tooth Fairy


----------



## Disparia (Feb 6, 2017)

LOL, in 96 I had two PCI video cards 

I know it wasn't the worst thing to happen and those times are long gone, just saying that we *could* have had a video card running at 64bit/133Mhz, or two at 100Mhz, or four at 66Mhz with a lot more net benefit vs AGP. There were also 266Mhz and 533Mhz speeds ratified, so it was very possible to outclass AGP as well.

Also, I believe it would have smoothed out some rough patches we had with Windows driver models and design in general because up to that point we had great compatibility with multiple video cards in a system. The ability wasn't gone, I could still find working combinations of AGP and PCI cards to use during this time, but the point is that I had to find those combinations.


tl;dr: AGP indirectly caused the great recession of 2008 because people didn't listen to me.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 7, 2017)

A very interesting and informative article from Toms

http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/710-history-of-intel-cpus.html#s1



from this






to this


----------



## deflipe (Feb 7, 2017)

Working in my SLI,

CPU: AMD Athlon 2200+
Memory: Super Talent DDR 512MB / Now Kingston DDR 1GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200RMP 160GB
Sound Card: SoundBlaster SB0090
SLI: 3dfx Voodoo 2, 12MB x2
VGA: nVidia GF 5200 / Thermaltake VGA Cooler
Mobo: Abit NF7
WIFI: TL-WN851 (i dont have cable in my house)
Chasis: Cooler Master Centurion
PSU: Top Power 350W
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Volcan0 12









































Edit:

5200 With New TT VGA Cooler:


----------



## deflipe (Feb 7, 2017)

Intel Pentium 3 a 1000Mhz
Kingston PC133 512MB
Seagate 7200RMP 160GB
SoundBlaster SB0100
3dfx Voodoo 5, 5500
Mobo Asus TUSL2-C
Chasis Asus A211
PSU Asus 350W
Cooler Thermaltake Silent Bost


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 7, 2017)

Very nice rig, kinda reminds me of my RetroMaster2500  Although it would have been much better if you had wrote description(s), comments for each pic... This way we can only guess what's really going on inside


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 8, 2017)

Does anyone happen to have a spare socket 370 tualatin adapter lying around? I just bought a CUSL2 and so I need an adapter to run my PIII-S 1.4GHz on it.

I also got a P4C800-E with a P4 2.6GHz for some socket 478 fun. 

They should both be here in a few days, can't wait!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Feb 8, 2017)

deflipe said:


> Intel Pentium 3 a 1000Mhz
> Kingston PC133 512MB
> Seagate 7200RMP 160GB
> SoundBlaster SB0100
> ...


i have the Silent boost cooler, thus "FIRST" ! (joke joke) i use it on my Socket A build (any of them when i feel to )


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 9, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> Does anyone happen to have a spare socket 370 tualatin adapter lying around? I just bought a CUSL2 and so I need an adapter to run my PIII-S 1.4GHz on it.
> 
> I also got a P4C800-E with a P4 2.6GHz for some socket 478 fun.
> 
> They should both be here in a few days, can't wait!


Those are getting hard to find now. Every once and a while you see a couple pop up......not very often though.


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 9, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Those are getting hard to find now. Every once and a while you see a couple pop up......not very often though.


Yeah, that's why I'm asking here. 

I did see someone on ebay selling adapter pcb's that have to be soldered on for $10 each. Though I'm not sure if they allow voltage changes because the discription states "1.45V (fixed)", I will ask them about it later. 

You can also buy them already soldered onto a PIII-S 1.4 but they are $40 a piece. :/


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 9, 2017)

I thought at first @DR4G00N , you were looking for the "dead" processor adapter for a dual CPU motherboard. 

I've got one of them laying around in my parts bin, but not the CPU adapter.


----------



## Aquinus (Feb 16, 2017)

This is what I find when I start going through the stuff at the bottom of the closet.


----------



## EntropyZ (Feb 16, 2017)

Aquinus said:


> This is what I find when I start going through the stuff at the bottom of the closet.


This is what I take the magnets out of if it's dead. I can use those to hold screws, hold old doors so they don't flap about and make nice additions to my metal table.


----------



## Ahhzz (Feb 16, 2017)

EntropyZ said:


> This is what I take the magnets out of if it's dead. I can use those to hold screws, hold old doors so they don't flap about and make nice additions to my metal table.


They're really good for screws if you can get a smaller, heavy duty ziploc bag. Put the magnet inside, and the screws are much easier to get off, and you don't get a collection of metal shavings on it over time


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 16, 2017)

Ahhzz said:


> They're really good for screws if you can get a smaller, heavy duty ziploc bag. Put the magnet inside, and the screws are much easier to get off, and you don't get a collection of metal shavings on it over time


Also handy as a refrigerator magnet. Stuff doesn't fall off once the magnet clamps to the metal exterior of the frig.


----------



## Ahhzz (Feb 16, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Also handy as a refrigerator magnet. Stuff doesn't fall off once the magnet clamps to the metal exterior of the frig.


True, but they're so flat, they can be hard to get off something like that heheh. I have a metal back door with a couple on to hold coupons, and they just don't let go of something that large and metal heheh


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 16, 2017)

Found this from another site: 
http://www.falconfly.de/directx.htm

It lists all the current and past DirectX installs with links for the downloads. 

Added this to the original post as well.


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 16, 2017)

The P4C800-E & CUSL2 came in yesterday both work great.

But I borked my 9600 Pro by doing a voltmod (I guess it was just hanging on and the little bit of extra voltage finished it off) so I can't use the P4C800-E ATM.  I have a BFG 6600 GT OC on the way to replace it though.

PIII EB 933MHz @ 155x7 1084MHz 1.9V
Asus CUSL2
128MB Infineon PC133 CL3 @ 155MHz CL2-2-2-7

 

P4 2.6C SL6WS w/ HT
Asus P4C800-E Rev. 2.0
2x Corsair  CMX512-3200XL 200MHz CL2-2-2 TCCD

 

I have a question though, I noticed the CUSL2 has a universal AGP pro slot so is it possible to use an old AGP 2x 3.3V only card like an ATI Rage Pro Turbo in it?


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 16, 2017)

AGP cards are backward and forward compatible within limits. 1.5 V-only keyed cards will not go into 3.3 V slots and vice versa, though "Universal" cards exist which will fit into either type of slot. There are also unkeyed "Universal" slots that will accept either type of card. When an AGP Universal card is plugged-into an AGP Universal slot, only the 1.5 V portion of the card is used. Some cards, like Nvidia's GeForce 6 series (except the 6200) or ATI's Radeon X800 series, only have keys for 1.5 V to prevent them from being installed in older mainboards without 1.5 V support. Some of the last modern cards with 3.3 V support were the Nvidia GeForce FX series (FX 5200, FX 5500, FX 5700, some FX 5800, FX 5900 and some FX 5950), Geforce 6 Series (6200, 6600/6600 LE/6600 GT only) and the ATI Radeon 9500/9700/9800(R350) (but not 9600/9800(R360)). Some Geforce 6200 and Geforce 6600 cards will function with AGP 1.0 (3.3v) slots.

AGP Pro cards will not fit into standard slots, but standard AGP cards will work in a Pro slot. Motherboards equipped with a Universal AGP Pro slot will accept a 1.5 V or 3.3 V card in either the AGP Pro or standard AGP configuration, a Universal AGP card, or a Universal AGP Pro card.

from AGP Wilki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 16, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> from AGP Wilki
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port


Thanks, it works perfectly. Not even as powerful as the integrated but should take some stress off the system bus. It's only temporary anyway.


----------



## Komshija (Feb 17, 2017)

Remember these? I think mime are from 1984.


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 18, 2017)

I happened to stumble upon a couple more video cards while looking through some boxes of old hardware.

Number Nine SR9 S3 Savage4 Xtreme 16MB SGRAM AGP 4X (Unsure if it's the 166 or 143 model).







ATI Rage 128 16MB SDRAM.





The S3 is really nice when the drivers are not bugging out, unfortunately that is a very common occurrence. 

Need to get my joystick hooked up so I can play some Freespace 2 with the Rage 128  (The S3 hangs on the mission loading screen for some reason).


----------



## deflipe (Feb 23, 2017)

I buy for US $15 :

- Pentium 3 @933Mhz
- 512MB RAM (1 256 / 2 128)
- Intel MB D815EEA2


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 23, 2017)

Cool find!  Got two of these Coppermines, which (oddly enough) ended up being paired with the same motherboard(s). 1st pair was just random, with the CPU from one source and mbo from totally different one, but the other pair came already pre-installed inside the case, in a fully working system which I then, eventually converted into 8MB Voodoo2 SLI rig.

Speaking of old systems, it's time for me to get back in the game... I'm about to pick up (for the price of 3,50USD) an old rig one of these days, which according to the seller seems to be working except it's missing two ODDs and PSU. But that's fine, I got both of these in stock & will see if I can make it work. I'm expecting Intel system, unless someone swapped the board and CPU inside it (standard mATX case)  More updates soon!


----------



## deflipe (Feb 25, 2017)

Well, after following some advice, I realized that I was taking the romanticism out of this project by putting pieces from other generations like Abit's glorious NF7, so I made a lot of modifications.

Replace the following:

Motherboard: Before Abit NF7, Now Intel D815E (beautiful by where they look at it)

- Processor: Before AMD Athlon XP 2.2+, Now Intel Pentium 3 @ 800Mhz

- Video Card: Before nVidia GF5200 Custom Cooler ThermalTake, Now Diamon Viper V550 16MB 

- Sound Card: Before SoundBlaster SB0090 Audigy, Now SoundBlaster Live CT4830 (this change hurt me, but for the SB0090 natively there are no drivers for Win98, only emulation and it is not the same)

- LAN: Before TP Link WN851n (WIFI), Now D-Link DFE-538TX

- HDD: Before Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7200RPM, Now Western Digital WD WD400 7200RPM 40GB

- CPU Cooler: Before Thermaltake Volcan0 12, Now Thermaltake Silent Boost

- Memories: Before Kingston DDR 1GB (the Supertalent Died), Now 512MB Kingston 1 256, 2 x 128

It keeps:

- Cooler Master Centurion 5 Cabinet

- STB Blackmagic Voodoo II (x2)

- TOP POWER 350W

- LG Optical Drive


----------



## erek (Feb 26, 2017)

I recently purchased this nVidia GeForce FX 5800 Ultra (BFG Asylum), and for those jerks who question my authenticity:  https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/25uqf


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 26, 2017)

That is frigging awesome @erek !!!!!!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 26, 2017)

erek said:


> I recently purchased this nVidia GeForce FX 5800 Ultra (BFG Asylum), and for those jerks who question my authenticity:  https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/25uqf



I can't believe you found one. What did you pay for that?
Seriously, it's easier to find a VooDoo 6000.


----------



## Komshija (Feb 27, 2017)

@erek : Yep, Big Fucking Gun tech.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 27, 2017)

Not really retro,but I just changed some stuff in my LGA775 main system (my daily driver actually) - I replaced the CPU (a old Pentium E2180) with a Pentium E5200 2.5GHz.

The thing that makes it quite overkill? I replaced my aged GT210 1GB GPU with a Radeon R7 240 2GB. The crazy thing? It does boot and works fine. It's pretty fast now compared to how it was working before with the E2180. We're talking about DDR2 stuff here


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 27, 2017)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Not really retro,but I just changed some stuff in my LGA775 main system (my daily driver actually) - I replaced the CPU (a old Pentium E2180) with a Pentium E5200 2.5GHz.
> 
> The thing that makes it quite overkill? I replaced my aged GT210 1GB GPU with a Radeon R7 240 2GB. The crazy thing? It does boot and works fine. It's pretty fast now compared to how it was working before with the E2180. We're talking about DDR2 stuff here


I wish you were in the US, I have three Q6600 G0 chips just lying around.


----------



## erek (Feb 27, 2017)

Random Murderer said:


> I wish you were in the US, I have three Q6600 G0 chips just lying around.



couldn't it be possible to build an AGP rig around that chip?  

http://www.asrock.com/mb/VIA/775Dual-VSTA/

or is this a better platform?

http://www.asrock.com/mb/nvidia/am2nf3-vsta/


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 27, 2017)

erek said:


> couldn't it be possible to build an AGP rig around that chip?
> 
> http://www.asrock.com/mb/VIA/775Dual-VSTA/
> 
> ...


I actually have a 775Dual-VSTA board, it is possible to run AGP on it, but the VIA chipset had a ton of software issues and was generally a pain to use. I also have two P5W-DH Deluxe boards, a Rampage Formula, a DFI X48-T3RS, and an EVGA 790i Ultra SLI. LGA775 was a lot of fun.


----------



## erek (Feb 27, 2017)

Random Murderer said:


> I actually have a 775Dual-VSTA board, it is possible to run AGP on it, but the VIA chipset had a ton of software issues and was generally a pain to use. I also have two P5W-DH Deluxe boards, a Rampage Formula, a DFI X48-T3RS, and an EVGA 790i Ultra SLI. LGA775 was a lot of fun.




Hmm, what about a 4CoreDual-SATA2 ?  
Hmm, that AM2NF3 board... it supposrts AM3 Phenom II X4 ...  is that generally a better performer than the Core 2 Quads?

http://www.asrock.com/mb/nvidia/am2nf3-vsta/#CPU


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 27, 2017)

erek said:


> couldn't it be possible to build an AGP rig around that chip?



Possible OF COURSE it is
My Bench Test rig  for Retro Stuff is
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2
Its q6600 Cpu
Ram Either DDR400 or DDR2 800 (2 gig )
Has Both AGP8x and PCIx 16 (4x electrical ).

Asrock released a few variant boards in 775 that run AGP or PCIx


----------



## erek (Feb 27, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Possible OF COURSE it is
> My Bench Test rig  for Retro Stuff is
> Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2
> Its q6600 Cpu
> ...



Would the nForce3 250 / Phenom II X4 platform outperform that Core 2 Quad platform?


----------



## Random Murderer (Feb 27, 2017)

erek said:


> Hmm, what about a 4CoreDual-SATA2 ?
> Hmm, that AM2NF3 board... it supposrts AM3 Phenom II X4 ...  is that generally a better performer than the Core 2 Quads?
> 
> http://www.asrock.com/mb/nvidia/am2nf3-vsta/#CPU


I can't comment on AMD of that generation, I jumped straight from socket 939 to AM3+ in AMD.
In all good consciousness, I could not recommend either the 775Dual-VSTA nor the 4CoreDual-SATA2. They are essentially the same board and suffer from the same problems. Beyond the novelty of having DDR I and II on the same board and PCIe and AGP on the same board, these were budget boards designed to help people upgrade from AGP/DDR systems to PCIe/DDRII systems while using the same CPU and offering a CPU upgrade path. The idea was neat, but the implementation definitely left a lot to be desired.
Nowadays, if you're going to pick up one of those boards, be prepared to troubleshoot them and/or heavily modify them. These boards actually turned out to be decent overclocking boards, once you hard-modded several things on the board.


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 27, 2017)

don't know last AMD i had was a Durexon 800 
but i personally doubt it

still got it archived on a shelf and it still boots and works


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 27, 2017)

erek said:


> Would the nForce3 250 / Phenom II X4 platform outperform that Core 2 Quad platform?


No, it will not.
I own both Asrock boards.
Bought and modded them both specifically to bench AGP cards.
I like the AMD board better but get better scores on the Intel board.


----------



## deflipe (Feb 28, 2017)

P4, case thermaltake


----------



## deflipe (Feb 28, 2017)

Boys !! I just trade a 500gb sata hard drive for this beautiful Gateway E-4200.

Has a Pentium II of 350mhz, Ati rage and sound Creative Vibra 16


----------



## erek (Feb 28, 2017)

Finally received the replacement motherboard and installed it today (from Latvia) no bulging capacitors


----------



## erek (Mar 5, 2017)

Here's the GPU-Z NV30 BIOS Dump:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B78JrnhrwKa3dFpnLVJibXloRUU/view?usp=sharing


----------



## erek (Mar 5, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> I can't believe you found one. What did you pay for that?
> Seriously, it's easier to find a VooDoo 6000.



I spent 2 years posting in FS sections of forums before someone PMed me on [H]ard|OCP with the real deal.  how much do you suspect it is worth or that I should have paid for it first before I reveal?


----------



## deflipe (Mar 5, 2017)




----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 5, 2017)

erek said:


> I spent 2 years posting in FS sections of forums before someone PMed me on [H]ard|OCP with the real deal.  how much do you suspect it is worth or that I should have paid for it first before I reveal?


I know you did. I tour many of the same forums.
Worth is in the eye of the beholder. I know you were offering up to $200 at one point.
Actual worth of the card is probably less than $50 and that's being generous, but there just aren't many around so that increases the price for those that really want one.


----------



## erek (Mar 5, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> I know you did. I tour many of the same forums.
> Worth is in the eye of the beholder. I know you were offering up to $200 at one point.
> Actual worth of the card is probably less than $50 and that's being generous, but there just aren't many around so that increases the price for those that really want one.




$600  shipped is what i paid


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 5, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Worth is in the eye of the beholder. I know you were offering up to $200 at one point.


Recollect he was offering up to $300 here on the forums ( too much Derision from some )
Glad he has got what he wanted  ( irrespective of what he payed).


----------



## erek (Mar 5, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Recollect he was offering up to $300 here on the forums ( too much Derision from some )
> Glad he has got what he wanted  ( irrespective of what he payed).




$600 Shipped is what I ended up paying


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 5, 2017)

Someone Some where on the various Forums   is saying
"" Shit i got one of those could have mugged him for a nice profit""
Enjoy the Card   ( and no i don't have one )


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 5, 2017)

Too rich for my blood.
Enjoy that card.
I do not have one either.


----------



## P4-630 (Mar 5, 2017)

erek said:


> Finally received the replacement motherboard and installed it today (from Latvia) no bulging capacitors



Looking good! As new! Also the hot air gets blown right out of the case.
But damn, that noise, louder than my vacuum cleaner lol! 

And that price... $600


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 5, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Someone Some where on the various Forums   is saying
> "" Shit i got one of those could have mugged him for a nice profit""



They did.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 8, 2017)

I just got some stuff recently:

Frontier 8865KHA case
Allied AL-8400BTX 400W PSU
ASRock K7VT4A+ w/ Athlon 2500+
Marvo M309 Gaming Mouse
Segotep C-K108 Keyboard
Western Digital WD400BB 40GB HDD
Maxtor 4D40H2 40GB HDD
PS2 SCPH-77004 w/ 2 memory cards
nVidia Geforce MX440 64MB AGP8x


----------



## Ahhzz (Mar 11, 2017)

Had to load up one of these








to see what I had left in these 





And these going the way of the dodo shortly...


----------



## Ahhzz (Mar 11, 2017)

Gotta see if there's anything useful to be done with this...






Poor Toshiba couldn't stand the heat upstairs....


----------



## Ahhzz (Mar 11, 2017)

And some full blown Nostalgia....



Spoiler











Spoiler











Spoiler











Spoiler


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 11, 2017)

Usefull kit could save you £140+ in the UK

Digital TV card ( they cannot detect this kit when looking for unlicenced TV's   to £fine you )
Ps you have to block internet access for the software or it snitches ON you )


----------



## Jetster (Mar 11, 2017)

Ahhzz said:


> Gotta see if there's anything useful to be done with this...
> 
> View attachment 85032




Analog tuner and QAM digital cable, I don't think there is any analog stations left and the digital will be slow


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 11, 2017)

Here's an idea... Those analog TV tuners are VERY useful for capturing video signal off the VCRs and old(er) camcorders.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 14, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's an idea... Those analog TV tuners are VERY useful for capturing video signal off the VCRs and old(er) camcorders.


That WinTV is new enough to even have x64 chipset. I have a Winfast TV2000XP Expert with the same chipset.


----------



## R-T-B (Mar 14, 2017)

Aquinus said:


> View attachment 84116 This is what I find when I start going through the stuff at the bottom of the closet.



Goodness gracious, great balls of fire?


----------



## Robert B (Mar 14, 2017)

*
FRESH MEAT!!!  

In very good working condition. 

It needs a full teardown and cleanup 

gallery: *https://postimg.org/gallery/ncu8m76e/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 17, 2017)

So... While I didn't get any new retro machines lately (I'm referring to that previously-mentioned Intel system in particular), I DO have something big coming up soon. Over the last couple of months (more like a year actually) I've had a serious moisture, condensation issue on one of my walls here, which resulted with whole bunch of other & serious problems. 

Long story short, this now FINALLY seems to be under control & will therefore finally start putting things back together again. Which is a perfect opportunity to test each & every retro machine I have, to make sure it's working OK & maybe take couple of pics here & there if any of you guys here are interested?


----------



## deflipe (Mar 19, 2017)




----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2017)

Hmm... Is that brand new, sealed-up copy of Windows 98 on your shelf?


----------



## deflipe (Mar 19, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm... Is that brand new, sealed-up copy of Windows 98 on your shelf?


          Yes, but is the update....

Still sealed


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2017)

That's pretty awesome, I love Windows 98 in all shapes & forms!


----------



## deflipe (Mar 19, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's pretty awesome, I love Windows 98 in all shapes & forms!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2017)

Certainly does work (and plays) better than 3.11 and 95 together!!  I also have W98, both 1st and 2nd edition but without the original box... Therefore just the CD, manual & "W98 starts here" promotional & training CD


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 19, 2017)

Now that is just bad a$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very awesome!!


----------



## deflipe (Mar 21, 2017)

I am happy!!


----------



## DR4G00N (Mar 22, 2017)

Found somethig cool today, though it's probably not quite old enough to be called nostalgic yet.

ATI HD 3850(?) GDDR3 256MB engineering sample.
 

At least this is what I think it is. In windows it's detected as an hd 3800 series gpu but the physical core is branded as a FireGL gpu. It runs at the stock 3850 frequencies and has no crossfire connectors or s-video outputs and only supports DX10.0 not 10.1

It could be something else entierly though as it was made late 2008

Edit: Here are a couple more pictures;


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 22, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> though it's probably not quite old enough to be called nostalgic yet.



people really have an issue with that ... OH COME'ON! you can be nostalgic about yesterday! .... and for computer ... well i wouldn't call nostalgic a haswell or a GTX600 series ... but errr i meant Nehalems GTX500 ... yep 
yep ... it did bug me ... since i saw that sentence quite a lot here and every single time someone stated that ... most other user did write "nah nope it's alright"... for me 2008 is old enough, heck even 2013

nice engineering sample nonetheless ...


----------



## toastem2004 (Mar 22, 2017)

@illli 
Might be interested in those 256mb sticks of PC133, got to get back and fire up my K6-2 system this weekend.

Got my replacement Ati Radeon 8500 in, so hopefully this one works. Last one had a non working fan and had suffered heat damage.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 22, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> Found somethig cool today, though it's probably not quite old enough to be called nostalgic yet.
> 
> ATI HD 3850(?) GDDR3 256MB engineering sample.
> View attachment 85382 View attachment 85383
> ...



It is a FireGL ES that has had the bios flashed to a 3850.


----------



## DR4G00N (Mar 22, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> It is a FireGL ES that has had the bios flashed to a 3850.


Thanks, that's what I was kind of thinking. Though now I wonder what model of FireGL it actually is...


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 22, 2017)

FireGL V7700 or FireStream 9170

One ore the other.
They're the only ones that used RV670.


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## deflipe (Mar 23, 2017)

New friends...


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 25, 2017)

Finally started with my room, putting everything back together again!  And while I didn't have the time to see (and test) each & every system yet, I DID take them apart, just to make sure there's no "wild life" hidden inside, since these had been stored for quite some time now, away from everyone & public view.

Starting with Pentium III, 733MHz running 256MB of RAM & Voodoo3 3000AGP card. The mobo inside is Asus P3B-F, the one and only in my entire collection.


 



Followed by a very special system, you've probably seen this one before... It's my own, "genuine" Pentium II machine which I had back in a day. That Chaintech 6BTM inside is in desperate need of capacitor replacement and yes, that cable management is a total mess. So really, one way or another I WILL have to address this one some time in the future. It'll be a project for some other day & time 


 



This 3rd one is Dell Optiplex GX110, tower design. The reason I'm pointing out case design is because I also have yet another GX110 which is slim desktop, aka "pizza box" design. And yes, that is a Voodoo2 inside lol, I wanted to boost up graphic performance of this thing (so that it would serve a purpose for something, as on-board solution is just terrible) Although to be perfectly honest, that's not how I originally visualized it... I wanted it to have a TNT2 Pro card inside, or even something better but couldn't find a single PCI video card out there. So really, it was easier & cheaper to go with 3dfx, can you believe that?!


 

 

 

 



More systems coming tomorrow , and over the next couple of days as I will have to open EACH and EVERY single system I have. So yeah, this could take a while, but I'll get there eventually!


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 26, 2017)

Moving on, as promised 

Just a Pentium 4 machine, not much to say about this one. The only special thing about it is that I've used my own, original parts from a Pentium 4 system which I had back in a day & did my best to recreate it from scratch, since I sold my Asus P4-T mobo & 1.4GHz P4 decades ago (it had 128MB of RIMM memory, in 2x 64MB configuration) This one on the other hand is P4-B, S478 and has 512MB of SD-RAM. I took the liberty of boosting up the RAM, but the video card (Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead), DVD-ROM drive, CD-RW drive, Iomega ZIP100 & Hauppauge TV tuner are original, taken from the actual system which I had back in a day. I also have the original SB128 card, since P4-T didn't have on-board sound but this one, "-B" does so I used SB128 for another, Slot-1 build instead.


 



Here we have yet another Voodoo3 3000 system. Very similar to the one from yesterday, except this one has more powerful CPU (933MHz) and the mobo is S370 instead of Slot-1. The other card is dial-up modem ... comes in handy for calling AOL to register my new copy of Windows 98 


 



1st one of several Voodoo2 rigs... I got 5 sets, but only 4 of them had been put away (and therefore will have to be taken apart), while my signature rig RetroMaster 2500 remains as it is  This one uses combination of 2x Diamond Monster 3DII (8MB each), along with TNT2 Pro AGP card. Also, this system is the only one to feature uniquely designed CPU speed controller. I'm guessing the former owner made it from scratch (or from some sort of electronic kit), but it was unique & pretty cool so I decided to hold onto it. Gives it more character, and looks pretty neat from the outside! Unfortunately, you can tell by the pics that it was exposed to damp environment because close inspection reveals small particles & traces of rust.


 

 



One of the 3 Pentium MMX builds... Speaking of damp environment, this one got it really bad, I noticed rust traces along the case, where it was dripping onto the bottom plate  Again, don't know if it works or not, I gave it a quick try, powered it up without the monitor, and it DOES light (and spin) up, but doesn't do anything... So either CMOS battery is dead, keyboard error kicked in (since I didn't have one properly connected) or the mobo entirely stopped working. I guess we'll find out soon!


 



Athlon 1000, you guys might remember this one from that pic where the entire CPU was coated into TIM... And yes, caps are bulging pretty badly, so it's only a matter of time before it'll break down. So I'll either have to swap the mobo OR replace the caps...


 



One of my latest finds, before I "retired" - Pentium 3 600! Has Abit BE6-II, Slot-1 mobo and ATI Rage128 Pro card, along with PCI sound & dial-up modem. It's running Windows 98 & has more than enough muscle to pull almost any game up to 2002, 2003.


 



My one and ONLY "business class" retro system. Business class as in retro system that's not designed for retro gaming. I only made this one for the sake of statistics, so that I could have at least one system that's not intended for playing games. With that being said, I got absolutely no purpose for it, other than gathering dust & taking up space  Powered by Asus TUSI-M mobo, in combination with Celeron (@ 1000MHz, Tualatin) and 512MB of RAM. Has on-board graphics and sound, and it's running Windows 2k


 



Remember what I said yesterday, about Dell Optiplex GX110, how I have both desktop & tower design? Well this one here is the other one, so called "pizza box" Pretty cute IMHO, I got it years ago but it was missing certain parts which I eventually replaced & gave it a new life. Video is TNT2 Vanta (PCI), and it has SB Live! 0220 underneath (but you can't really see it in these pics) CPU is identical to the one from 1st Voodoo3 3000 system, mentioned yesterday. Passively cooled P3, running at 733MHz. I bought a matching pair years ago, these probably came from a HP workstation or server-type system which had 2 identical CPU cartridges.


 



Another "desktop" case, this time Pentium MMX. Identical to the one mentioned above, except this one uses SCSI hard drive & Adaptec controller. Just like the 1st one, this system also has Voodoo1 inside (Diamond Monster 3D, 4MB), along with ATI Mach64 PCI


 

 



And last but not least, my RetroMaster 1000. You'll have to excuse me for this particular pic, my phone battery died just as I was taking last couple of pics, so I wasn't able to use flash. Which is why I only took one pic, but even in all this darkness you can still (kinda) recognize what's going on inside... Powered by Pentium II, 350MHz it has a matching pair of Creative 3D Blaster (Voodoo2, 12MB) cards and SB Live audio. Originally it was designed with Aureal Vortex 2 in mind, but I moved this card into my other RetroMaster, the current one "2500" when I upgraded to new mobo several months ago. I'm also planning to upgrade AGP graphics at some point to GeForce2 MX200 or even something simple as Savage4 to take advantage of both AGP and PCI. The current card is Rage IIc, pretty basic model which was based off my personal Pentium 2 system from back in a day (also mentioned & shown yesterday) which also had Rage card.




Again, so much for now... Got 8 more systems to go, along with 2 more systems which I might take apart as preventive measure even though they hadn't been in the same storage as all the other ones.


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## Disparia (Mar 26, 2017)

Cool, I had a P3B-F as well as that BE6-II.


Not as old, a couple 3COM 3C996B-T.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 26, 2017)

I used to have both BE-6 and BE-6II ... or I still do, quite frankly I don't remember. I DO know for certain that one Abit BE6 board got scrapped, but I don't remember if it was BE-6 or BE-6II. Either way, what I do know is that I have two - either one of each or two "II" ones.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 27, 2017)

Since there's not much interest into these, I won't be going into details today. In other words, just a basic description & pointing out the obvious facts 

AMD 5x86 machine, which has its own, dedicated post(s) with more information pages ago...


 



Apart from that unfortunate HP Visualize, this here was my latest build. Just a cheap AMD chip paired up with Vanta card. Was meant to be Savage4 rig, but for some reason it just wasn't compatible with ALI chipset.


 



Pentium III 550, which literally fell apart earlier today & dropped onto the floor, while I was cleaning the case. Had to bolt the front face plate back on, but it looks good as new! Uhh, right? The card inside is Voodoo3 2000, AGP


 



Speaking of Abit BE6 & BE6-II from yesterday, here's yet another Abit board... I really hate these things, because Abit (from this era) is prone to serious capacitor failures, so it's only a matter of time I suppose  This one ALSO features previously mentioned Voodoo3 2000 card.


 



Yet another Voodoo2 SLI rig, once again 8MB powered by Pentium 3, 500


 



Duron 1200, a fine example of AMD engineering (thanks to @Mr.Scott for generous donation)


 



Don't think I ever uploaded this one before... It's an early Slot-1 Celeron (333MHz) running Voodoo Rush (6MB). Come to think of it, I might move this card over into my Pentium Pro machine & have this one adapted, converted to Savage4 Pro! Will have to think about it 


 



And last but not least, this one here is yet another Duron, this time "750" model. It was the very 1st retro gaming machine to obtain, apart from my own Pentium II which I owned from the very 1st day, and is currently paired with Matrox G450


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 30, 2017)

The OLDEST motherboard in my entire collection! 


 

 

 

 

And yes, that is cassette deck mechanism with loose rubber belt


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2017)

Still working hard, this time replacing the bad power supply on one of my Voodoo2 SLI rigs. This particular one is powered by a Pentium 2, running at 350MHz.



 

 

You might remember this one from way back... If not because of the 3dfx card(s), then at least because of this awesome ISA sound card... 


 

With the PSU out of the way, you can clearly see the CPU module, I LOVE these things!


 

The new PSU is already back inside, and I even made (somewhat) decent cable management. Perhaps not the best one yet, but it'll do just fine 


 


Anyhow, moving on... Remember this system here?


 

Yes, this is HP Kayak XU800 system, which I never got around to finish. It actually went through several stages of upgrades (and downgrades), even tried running the matching pair of 1000MHz P3 CPUs from that P-Class workstation but they kept overheating due to heatsinks being too large to fit under the fan shroud. And besides, the whole thing basically "screams" into your face "800", it's written all over the case & board, so in the end I gave up on dual CPU configuration & restored it to single CPU (along with slot-1 terminator in the other slot).  Unless I happen to source another, identical Pentium 3 800 in which case I will place it inside.

With that being said, I also restored the original graphics, Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead. My very 1st G400 card to own, and so far I have mixed feelings about it... Seems to be very similar to Voodoo3 3000 in the terms on 3D performance, but it lacks OpenGL and Glide which is a HUGE setback in my opinion.


 

 

But once again, G400 was indeed a factory choice, and I wanted to keep this one as original as I possible, sooo... *shrug* Overall, it doesn't look that bad on the inside, and delivers quite the performance! Not to mention it actually WORKS, unlike that unfortunate Visualize so I just want to get it over with & preserve it as it is!


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## stinger608 (Apr 1, 2017)

Just frigging epic @Trekkie4 !!!!!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Just frigging epic @Trekkie4 !!!!!!!


Thanks, I'm quite happy with the way Kayak turned out in the end. Still hoping I might find a replacement motherboard for P-Class Visualize, but to be perfectly honest I doubt that will ever happen. Nevertheless, all the parts are still here, so if I DO find one, it'll be a matter of swapping the old one out & new one back inside 

As for the overall cleaning project, it had to be done I'm afraid. Damp caused a lot of damage on my wall, even some of my retro rigs. There are signs of rust all over the machines, of which some seem to be in much worse shape than the other ones. So before I get to finish with these, I'll have to test each & every one *sigh* And of course, fix all the problems & issues (if any) or alternatively swap the old parts for new ones.


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## KingPing (Apr 1, 2017)

Love the RAM on it's own board! Wish mine was like that, instead the ram slots eat a lot of room on the mobo.

This is one of my retro rigs, it's based on a Compaq AP550 workstation.

specs:
dual P3 coppermine 1GHz
dual channel 512 MB RDRAM 800MHz
Dual OS: one SCSI 18GB HDD with WinXP and one SCSI 18GB HDD with Win98SE
top VGA:3dfx Voodoo 4 4500
middle VGA: ATI 7500 PCI (server vga)
lower VGAs:3dfx Voodoo 2 12MB SLI (Diamond ones)
sound card: Turtle Beach Santa Cruz


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2017)

KingPing said:


> Love the RAM on it's own board! Wish mine was like that, instead the ram slots eat a lot of room on the mobo.
> 
> This is one of my retro rigs, it's based on a Compaq AP550 workstation.
> 
> ...


*DROOLS all over the keyboard* 

Wow, that's a fine sample of slot 1 engineering! Theoretically, I could build one of these myself, I got all the parts I need, and could use Kayak XU800 as base, but I just don't see the the point. From what I got to see (and experience) in my brief encounter with HP P-Class Workstation (before the mobo stopped working), dual CPU config is way overrated imho. It only works with selected apps & operating systems, and even when it does I'm hardly seeing any benefits for 3D animation & gaming... Nevertheless, it looks absolutely awesome, and would make awesome display piece (and conversation starter) any time! 

And yes, Kayak uses a separate "rack" for Rambus memory. Actually it's a card-like component which goes all the way from PCI bracket to the front of the case, where the air scoop is located and is plugged into the mobo somewhere in between, through the unusually-looking interface which resembles RAM slot. It even has those two catches, so it's kinda annoying to take it out & plug it back inside because it takes time. But thanks to this particular design, the motherboard has a better layout & is easier to service (and replace) if necessary. From what I heard, there was even the alternative kit, to convert RIMM into SD-RAM, so you'd use the same memory as Visualize workstations.


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## KingPing (Apr 1, 2017)

Yeah it's hugely overrated... most games won't see any benefit... unless you play Panzer Elite... i play Panzer Elite (not modded) a lot

PE runs 10fps faster in XP with dual P3 than in win98 with single P3, form 23 to 33fps, it's a huge difference imo. Max Payne runs faster too i think.

PS: i too have a Matrox G400 max, and i too have mixed feeling about the thing lol, i prefer 3dfx cards as their drivers have a lower cpu overhead.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2017)

Agreed, Matrox was always known for professional solutions, and NOT something you'd want to have inside your gaming rig. I'm speaking from my own, personal experience since I had G450 DualHead back in 2001. It was a very good GPU for what it's worth, but terrible with newer games. I clearly remember all the problems & difficulties, just to get Trainz 2004 up & running. In the end I had to give it up & buy nVidia based Abit Siluro FX5600 card...

Status Update:
Currently in the process of testing all the previously-mentioned retro rigs... So far so good, the worst issues I've encountered so far are dead CR2032 batteries and BIOS settings causing system hangs & crashes.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2017)

Just a small update... While still working on my retro collection, I figured this would be a perfect time to make certain changes & upgrades. And so therefore RetroMaster 1000, the 1st one received this AGP upgrade over the previous Rage IIc card, as difference(s) and benefits are hugely noticeable!


 



Voodoo2 SLI is still somewhat better than GeForce2 MX200, but considering Rage IIc barely scored 1-2FPS (at its best) on 3DMark 99, it was certainly a power boost & offers alternative choice to 3dfx for those games which are not supported by 3dfx (or are having problems with it, such as Half-Life: Blue Shift for example) 

Moving on... One of the two Pentium III, 933 systems had corroded (or contaminated) RAM contacts, so it was throwing random errors & wasn't booting up properly, and it also had a dead CMOS battery. So after cleaning the RAM banks with contact-cleaning solution & giving it a brand new CR2032 it now boots up & works as it should!

I also got to boot up (and test) my own Pentium II 350 from back in a day... As you can tell from the image below, I even left a small "memo" of the last time I've had it running & did a small RAM modification, restoring the amount of RAM from 128 back to original "64"MB


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## hrp32 (Apr 4, 2017)

I've had many ATi  cards so far.
After all those years somehow I feel a bit weird calling them AMD!


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## dorsetknob (Apr 4, 2017)

hrp32 said:


> I've had many ATi  cards so far.
> After all those years somehow I feel a bit weird calling them AMD!



"you Are Weird"
If they were made by ATI then they are ATI
If they were marketed By AMD as ATI then they are still ATI
If they were marketed By AMD as AMD   then they are AMD

next your be calling all 3DFX Made Cards Nvidia


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 4, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> "you Are Weird"
> If they were made by ATI then they are ATI
> If they were marketed By AMD as ATI then they are still ATI
> If they were marketed By AMD as AMD   then they are AMD
> ...


YEP! (my 4870 is AMD on the PCB but ATI on the silicon )


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 4, 2017)

So, I went out earlier today & met a guy who was giving away "nostalgic" stuff... No questions asked, he had 4 complete systems (pics coming up tomorrow, or at least some time this week - mainly S478 machines), along with HP all-in-one network printer/scanner, and some of the additional "extra" parts laying around  It feels like early XMAS!


 

 

 

 

 

 
And yes, this here is nVidia 7600GT, AGP edition. Assuming it works OK, it's the most powerful AGP card in my entire collection!


 



All this (and more), for the wonderful price of one "thank you"!


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## dorsetknob (Apr 4, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> nVidia 7600GT, AGP edition.


Pity it was not the 512m/b version


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 4, 2017)

Yeah, I suppose so... Still, these things are selling for quite a lot (considering it's AGP & how old they are), so just the fact I got one for nothing is pretty impressive!

I'm pretty sure it originated from the unknown S775 machine, one of the 4 rigs I got today. Probably single-core Pentium 4, 3GHz maybe Dual-Core but I wouldn't want to over exaggerate. Mobo is Asus branded, mATX but it's in pretty bad condition as most of the caps are bulged, some of them are even leaking. So I still have to decide if it's worth the repairs or not, but assuming I can get it working again it would be perfect match with this 7600GT! The most powerful AGP system, for playing not-so-old retro games


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## hrp32 (Apr 5, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> "you Are Weird"
> If they were made by ATI then they are ATI
> If they were marketed By AMD as ATI then they are still ATI
> If they were marketed By AMD as AMD   then they are AMD
> ...



Don't make it complicated.
I just wanted to say I loved ATi name and it was both a good and bad decision to ditch ATi.
And yes I think they are still made by ATi team as Radeon technologies group :

_Raja Koduri is kind of a big deal. In ATI's glory days, he was the principle architect of the R300 GPU -- the world's first DirectX 9-capable graphics card -- which put the company on a path to be extremely competitive against Nvidia. Under Steve Jobs as Apple's director of graphics architecture, he was instrumental in bringing their Retina Display to market. More recently at AMD, Koduri has been directly responsible for innovative new products like the Radeon Nano. So when I tell you about AMD's freshly formed Radeon Technologies Group, and the fact that Koduri is being crowned as the group's chief architect..._


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 5, 2017)

I missed my CPU s birthday, she was 7 years old in February. She is very happy running at 50 % over her rated clock speed and i love her very much.


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## biffzinker (Apr 5, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> i love her very much.


But more than you  Wendy?


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 5, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> But more than you  Wendy?



 I did try to overclock her once but it was tricky getting into her BIOS and i ended up tweaking all the wrong places.


Note my PC is called " Wendys Nightmare"


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2017)

Unfortunately, it's official... My previously-mentioned damp related problem took its 1st "victim"... 



 



I've spent over 12hrs trying to figure out why it doesn't boot, was hoping it would be something easy to fix like a problem with RAM contacts for example, or video card that's not fully seated into the slot. But no, even after I removed everything it still wouldn't boot. It DOES start up, goes through the floppy seeking cycle & then simply halts (as in freezes) without any feedback from the keyboard or any other input device. I DID get it to boot up from HDD once, it was almost there & just about to log on into W95, but it froze in between, with the blue Windows loading pic across the entire screen. Oddly enough, this here was the one and only (thank goodness) machine to show really bad water damage, due to condensation & too much humidity. When you look inside the case, you can actually see the rusted spots, around the motherboard & other components. What happened is that the water probably got into CMOS battery (or at least energized parts) & shorted it. Either that or it caused physical damage to the PCB itself due to rust particles, even though I can't really see any obvious damage on the motherboard.



 



Oh well... One way or another, the "new" Socket 7 motherboard is already inside the case & will be powered up tomorrow. There's a lot of problems with power connectors inside this thing, since I had to hook up the CPU fan directly into the 12V molex lead as you can tell from the picture above. And since the old CPU fan would sometimes make a racket due to dried up bearings, I took the opportunity to replace it with brand new one, "Xilence" branded. Of course, I still have to remove the old fan tomorrow, & hook the new one into its place but one step at the time... It's a real shame though, as this here was my one and ONLY extra Socket 7 board. So with this one being mounted inside the case, I don't have any other boards to use, in case anything goes terribly wrong  Something to keep in mind, next time I go shopping for retro parts *sigh*

And yes, before someone points out the obvious - the Voodoo card inside the 1st slot is indeed warped & pointing downwards. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about this problem, as this particular card went through hell & back. It even "died" at one point, due to a nasty chip/crack in PCB layer before I bridged it back together with the soldering iron & insulated patched (and exposed) area with electric tape, truly giving it a well-deserved name "Voodoo" 

Speaking of repairs, I'm also working on this all-in-one HP 3210 unit... I've successfully diagnosed the problem and (theoretically, at least) know how to fix it, but getting the right parts might be impossible. So stay tuned for more info, I have to get in touch with HP part distributors.


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## illli (Apr 6, 2017)

Not sure what happened to my previous post in this topic, but I still have a lot of old parts to give away.  
I decided to make a topic about it in the fs/t forum


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 8, 2017)

Question guys... Does anyone know how to set up USB mouse under Windows 95, "B" edition? Because I got the actual USB to work, that much was easy. But getting the Windows to recognize the actual USB HID component turns out to be far more difficult than I expected!


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## stinger608 (Apr 8, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Question guys... Does anyone know how to set up USB mouse under Windows 95, "B" edition? Because I got the actual USB to work, that much was easy. But getting the Windows to recognize the actual USB HID component turns out to be far more difficult than I expected!




Hmm, I'm not exactly sure man. I don't recall ever trying to set up a USB mouse in win 98. 

This would be interesting to know! Hope someone chimes in that has successfully ran a USB mouse in win 98!


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 8, 2017)

Yeah, I know... I seem to be experiencing a weird issue with my replacement Socket 7 board, where the serial port(s) don't seem to be working. At all, doesn't matter which settings (IRQ, port address) I use, Windows keep telling me there's no mouse connected to any of the available ports. To make things even worse, this thing has the available header for PS/2 mouse bracket, except I don't have one with me. So  the only other solution would be to go with USB, since I have USB 1.1 PCI controller card. And it does work, but keeps recognizing USB mouse as unknown component


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## DR4G00N (Apr 8, 2017)

Got my PIII-S 1.4 to work on my CUSL2 finally, broke off a couple pins and connected two together with some super thin insulated wire and poof it boot's right up. 
(can't get the cpu out of the socket to take a pic though lol).


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 8, 2017)

T


DR4G00N said:


> Got my PIII-S 1.4 to work on my CUSL2 finally, broke off a couple pins and connected two together with some super thin insulated wire and poof it boot's right up.
> (can't get the cpu out of the socket to take a pic though lol).
> 
> View attachment 86044


That's nice, but ... was it really worth damaging (or at least having the CPU stuck in there, forever) your Asus motherboard?


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## DR4G00N (Apr 8, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> T
> 
> That's nice, but ... was it really worth damaging (or at least having the CPU stuck in there, forever) your Asus motherboard?


It just needs the special touch, even an untouched cpu is hard to get out due to having nothing to grip onto.


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## biffzinker (Apr 8, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Question guys... Does anyone know how to set up USB mouse under Windows 95, "B" edition? Because I got the actual USB to work, that much was easy. But getting the Windows to recognize the actual USB HID component turns out to be far more difficult than I expected!


Did you install usbsupp.exe/cusbsupp.exe for Windows 95?

Looks like you can get here: http://support.advantech.com/support/DownloadSRDetail_New.aspx?SR_ID=1+GE+609&Doc_Source=Download

Edit: Maybe this is worth a try if you haven't already?


> USB driver files for Win95b and W98.
> 
> Extracted from W98 cabs and used with
> 
> ...


Microsoft USB Hidclass.sys Driver for Win95b and W98


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 8, 2017)

Nah, it's not. OK, so you sometimes have to wiggle it loose, especially sockets 478 & 462 (A), but they usually p


biffzinker said:


> Did you install usbsupp.exe/cusbsupp.exe for Windows 95?
> 
> Looks like you can get here: http://support.advantech.com/support/DownloadSRDetail_New.aspx?SR_ID=1+GE+609&Doc_Source=Download
> 
> ...


Tried the MS USB HidClass.sys, but it doesn't work. It's asking for *.INF file, which is not included... But yes, I did get usbupp.exe/cusbsupp.exe up & running, that's how I got the USB controller to work in the 1st place. It's just the mouse alone, can't seem to get it working no matter what.


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## biffzinker (Apr 9, 2017)

Any chance a later version of Windows 95 (OSR 2.5) would work? Tried to find the .inf file for the HID drivers I linked above but not having much luck finding anything.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 9, 2017)

Hmm... Will have to check, but I don't think there is. One way or another, I'm going to leave this one as it is for now & move on. Still have loads of other machines to test & make sure they are all working OK, so once I finish with everything else, I will move back to MMX


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## MIRTAZAPINE (Apr 9, 2017)

Cleaned my old motherboard. This is actually my "first" pc that truly own and have the freedom to experiment myself. I remember labeling wires because I don't know where it would be place if I take it out. After that I would put it back together understanding more about PC. Sadly I don't have the case where this board come with my Cooler Master Centurion 5 that was thrown away.  The old cooler master psu is dead too. Found the old motherboard box around. No 8600gt box though, it is those asus box with a game character of a rogue with a bow. Cleaned the board up with a paint brush and toothbrush dipped in IPA.

Not sure if my P5be-plus still works, the last time I boot it up one of the usb 2 ports is not functioning and the hdd is really slow. Not sure if I accidentally short it with water when I cleaned the board with water. It got to be done as it is too grimy and there is bugs in the slots.  I gave it a bathe then and leave it to dry for a week. Backup what old data I could from the hdd just in case. Feels like putting this pc back in service to try out Windows Xp and Vista(not sure where to even find a vista disk).

I feel like building classic builds again. Would slowly start going backwards now finding parts.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 10, 2017)

@MIRTAZAPINE Got something very similar to your setup, the unknown S775 machine which is going to be paired up with previously mentioned 7600GT as long as I can get the motherboard working again. It's a small mATX system, inside Asus Vento case if I'm not mistaking... But this will have to wait, as I'm still in the process of recovering (and repairing damage) from the water-related issues.

Speaking of which, I just spent the entire day messing with pretty much the last system. Checked 6 of them today, and 4 passed with flying colors. Some had minor faults & problems, but that was mostly due to dead CMOS battery & systems being powered off for too long. One had more serious issue, with the RAM memory banks ... it didn't recognize any of the two modules. Kinda interesting really, as this seems to be the most recurring problem I'm noticing. What probably happened is that the water, damp got into the RAM modules & coated the contacts (pins, aka "fingers" if you wish) with corrosion. Either the rust, or just the filth of dust & metal residue, doesn't really matter. What's important is that because of that, same reason mobo is not capable to read/write into the RAM modules, causing the system to sound generic RAM fault upon the boot. Not really that much complicated to fix, either - one shot of contact-cleaning solution into each memory bank usually does the trick. There was also one time when I had to do the same for two PCI slots & Voodoo2 cards in SLI.

However, the last machine I've had for today was far more complicated than loose contacts... First it didn't want to boot at all, without any POST messages or vocal feedback (since the board, Asus P4-B has speech-diagnostics integrated into the board) So I tried to mess with the memory, expansion cards, modems, etc... None of them had any results, so I tried with taking the CMOS battery off the board & testing it for charge. Seemed OK, but as soon as I removed the battery, system booted up OK. Which led me to conclusion that something, at some point terribly confused the CMOS, causing it to become "stalled", despite how weird this might sound & seem. Next order of business was the DVD drive which kept on ejecting tray over & over. It's a NEC DV-5700B DVD-ROM unit from 2001, one of the rare retro components which actually belonged to me since the very 1st day  It was removed & preserved from a very similar system, Asus P4-T when I sold it back in 2003-2004. So I didn't just want to pull the old DVD drive out & replace it with new one, as I normally /would/ do if it was any other drive... So I had to take this thing apart, clean all the contacts, switches & renew the rubber belt which drives the ejection mechanism. As if that wasn't enough, I also noticed a problem with Iomega ZIP drive which turned out to be caused by a bent IDE interface pin. System booted up OK afterwards, but not for too long, as I witnessed catastrophic hard drive failure, with loud clunking noise from the actuator, which crashed the entire system. Soooo, yeah - obviously, I immediately replaced the hard drive but since I didn't have a backup, I'll now have to reinstall everything from scratch. Which means more work to be done tomorrow! *sigh* At least I'm slowly seeing light at the end of the tunnel!


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## biffzinker (Apr 10, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Which means more work to be done tomorrow! *sigh* At least I'm slowly seeing light at the end of the tunnel!


A lot work involved keeping those retro builds up and running. 

Spring thaw out responsible for the water problem or was it something else? I admit I forgot what happened even though I've read every post you leave here. Just so you know your work, and time invested doesn't go unappreciated.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 10, 2017)

It wasn't that simple I'm afraid...  The problem originated from a tiny hole (maybe even a crack) in my wall, which allowed weather elements to get inside & soak up the wall & room inside. It started like the unpleasant smell, kinda like the wet socks if you know what I mean but eventually grew to visible stain on the wall, in the corner. Before I could even take any actions, within a week or two, this tiny spot "exploded" across the entire wall, expanding from one corner to another. And since all this happened just before the winter started, the temperature difference between indoor & outdoor temperature caused condensation, which obviously caused even MORE water, causing the entire wall to grow mold & mildew.

At one point I realized there's no going back & decided to move all my retro computers to another location, on the enclosed balcony. It wasn't perfectly dry either, but it was far more better than having it rot with all that water! Long story short, the crack has been sealed up, wall(s) painted with antibacterial paint, I even bought a brand new bed since the old one was too damaged & had way too much mold on the inside (within the sponge) & underneath, on the wooden panels.


 



So now the only thing left for me to do is to get all my retro stuff back where it belongs & make sure it still works ... which is exactly what I'm doing now & over the last couple of days  And I'm happy to say that most of the stuff I had still works perfectly fine... With the exception of that MMX system I mentioned before & Pentium 4 from yesterday. But P4 machine had been fully repaired & is now back in service, I only need to boot up the hard drive. I even tried taking the old HDD apart & parking the heads manually (since it got stuck right in the middle of a platter), hoping I would be able to salvage SOME data, but the head wouldn't move. Even when I tried to pry it off using brute force, it still didn't want to move! Probably got wedged into the head base assembly - like I said yesterday, it was pretty catastrophic, this thing was banging & squealing for several seconds before the entire thing died & crashed the system.
And thank you very much, that's very nice of you!  I know, I have tendency to go into details & explain every single step, but everything I do here, all the retro-related stuff is because I enjoy it or find it fulfilling. Some ppl do jewelry, some do drawings & sketches, some mess around with their cars, I "do" retro stuff. Mainly retro computers, but as you probably know I have a huge passion for old tape recorders & VCRs as well! Which means that none of the stuff posted here is done for the money or profit of any kind, except for my own amusement


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2017)

I almost forgot I had this. It works I even gamed with it a couple of months ago to test it
Never been taken apart and runs about 70c under load


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## stinger608 (Apr 11, 2017)

Oh man, the 8800 GTX is one of my all time favorite video cards!!!! I think I have 3 or 4 of them puppies still. 

I think I've got one of them same EVGA cards @Jetster


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## Bones (Apr 11, 2017)

Got this today - No video ATM but I know the CPU is working, heatsink to it gets warm to very warm at least.


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## biffzinker (Apr 11, 2017)

Bones said:


> Got this today - No video ATM but I know the CPU is working, heatsink to it gets warm to very warm at least. View attachment 86113


Is that a VIA EPIA Mini-itx motherboard?


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## Random Murderer (Apr 11, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Is that a VIA EPIA Mini-itx motherboard?


I thought the same thing, but I don't ever recall an Epia board that was orange AND fanless.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 11, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Been installing Test Drive 5 & suddenly this notification appeared in front of me ... I feel like a lucky winner!!  (nah, just kidding)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This here system was the one with hard drive fault, confused CMOS and ejecting DVD-ROM unit .... it's now finally done & completely operational, back in service 

Since I still had a weird problem with the ZIP drive (sometimes it would get recognized on POST, and sometimes it would simply say "none") I took the liberty of replacing all 3 IDE/floppy cables. Therefore I had to do a whole new cable management but it was totally worth it, since the system now boots (and works) perfectly OK, the way it should!




All of the games/programs had been reinstalled from scratch, and once again I went with (in)famous Windows Millennium. I know, I know, probably not the best choice, but I wanted to keep this one as original & similar to its long-lost counterpart, Asus P4-T as possible. After all, quite a few components inside this system are my own, taken from the original P4-T system.
[url=https://postimg.org/image/lqu1qndkv/]
	






[/URL] 

 



Also, you may have noticed something new... This 19" LCD screen was one of the things I picked up for free last week, and it seems to be working fine apart from that black strip across the screen. Either the bad panel, or maybe even a picture signal cable, either way not sure if it's worth the attention and/or repairs. One way or another, I'll be using it for diagnostics & repairs from now on, since it's much easier to take a pic with my phone, without having the shutter effect, like I used to have on CRTs.


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## JunkBear (Apr 12, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> This here system was the one with hard drive fault, confused CMOS and ejecting DVD-ROM unit .... it's now finally done & completely operational, back in service
> 
> Since I still had a weird problem with the ZIP drive (sometimes it would get recognized on POST, and sometimes it would simply say "none") I took the liberty of replacing all 3 IDE/floppy cables. Therefore I had to do a whole new cable management but it was totally worth it, since the system now boots (and works) perfectly OK, the way it should!
> 
> ...



Man I miss Millénium. I wish i could still fond it in French. People keep ranting about it but i like it more than win98. So can you tell me why people complain about it?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2017)

That's true, Millennium was just like W98, except terribly confused & lost all the time!  Joke aside, there was tons of issues with Win ME, and it would crash on a regular basis. I've been using it for years back in a day, so I'm actually speaking from my own experience.

Now - with that being said, I still have tons of good memories & happy moments associated with Windows ME, which is why I wouldn't give it up no matter what  There are several machines in my collection, running Windows ME and all of them are mostly stable, as long as you don't mess around with them too much. Otherwise you'd be much better with either W98 2nd edition or Windows 2k.


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## JunkBear (Apr 12, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's true, Millennium was just like W98, except terribly confused & lost all the time!  Joke aside, there was tons of issues with Win ME, and it would crash on a regular basis. I've been using it for years back in a day, so I'm actually speaking from my own experience.
> 
> Now - with that being said, I still have tons of good memories & happy moments associated with Windows ME, which is why I wouldn't give it up no matter what  There are several machines in my collection, running Windows ME and all of them are mostly stable, as long as you don't mess around with them too much. Otherwise you'd be much better with either W98 2nd edition or Windows 2k.



I dont know if Microsoft Canada did à better job than the USA Microsoft when they translated the WinMe but ai never really had problem. So I guess they took time to Correct it while translating.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2017)

JunkBear said:


> I dont know if Microsoft Canada did à better job than the USA Microsoft when they translated the WinMe but ai never really had problem. So I guess they took time to Correct it while translating.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2017)

OK, so I finally tested the first two of upcoming 4 systems, which I picked up last week... 1st one booted up OK, but the hard drive was stuck & making squealing noises. And surprise, surprise - it was a Maxtor unit, would you believe that?!

Anyhow, the 1st Celeron system is just a basic one... Not much to tell, Intel Desktop board & S478 Celeron running at 2.0GHz. However, the 2nd one ... turned out to be quite a surprise actually. Asus P4P800 SE, with dual DDR memory channels, SATA interface, etc. The system wasn't turning on, and you could tell just by looking at the hardware inside that someone picked it clean, thinking it's completely toasted. The CMOS battery was missing, hard drive(s) removed, along with the video card & anything useful. However, it occurred me that the problem I'm having might had been related with fancy China-made computer case, which has one of those LCD panels & tons of buttons built into the front panel. So when I disconnected the actual "hardware" power switch & shorted the power-on pins with the screwdriver, system booted up perfectly fine!  Woohoo, this is going to make awesome toy, for me to play with! It has a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 chip, and I already mounted 512MB of RAM, might add additional pair into the other two banks, upgrading it to 1GB in total.


On a side note, I took the liberty of checking my Intel 4x86 DX4 system here for CMOS battery charge & dust inside the case... it's been years since the last time I've had it up & running, but as you can see here, it's still working the way it should! In fact, I don't think I ever had this one posted here on TPU (not to be confused with AMD 5x86), so enjoy this true oldtimer!


 

 

 

Time to play some old school DOS games!






Anyone up for Windows 3.11?


 

 



Oh, no!!


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## biffzinker (Apr 12, 2017)

Intel DX4 and a VESA Local Bus slot at the bottom of the board? Haven't seen those in awhile.

I thought I recognized the chipset brand on the motherboard.

 
By Konstantin Lanzet - CPU Collection Konstantin Lanzet, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5122892

I was looking at Wikipedia, here's the links if anyone else would like to have a look. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_DX4 & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_Local_Bus


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2017)

Yup, you're absolutely right! UMC motherboard, I picked up this system couple of years ago for around 15USD, which makes it one of the more expensive acquisitions 

It was a former office workstation which was supposed to end up at the recycling yard, so I gave it a new life, even upgraded it with so called "multimedia package" or CD-ROM & sound card  From what I remember, I also had to swap out the hard drive, since the old one was completely shot. Currently it's the ONLY 4x86 in my entire collection!

Edit
Question guys - which one of these is better in the terms of 3D performance, Radeon 9550 GE/TD by Asus, with active cooling OR passively-cooled Radeon 9600SE, both AGP 4/8 & 128MB DDR I've tried to compare them, to see how they hold up against each other in the terms of results & performance, but the results are somewhat confusing... 9550 seems to be newer & more powerful but 9600 scores better on 3D benchmarks.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2017)

Really hate to double-post yet again, but here are some of the pics from the upcoming systems...

Let's start with Gigabyte GA-8S655FX board, shall we? Seems to be working OK, and is paired with P4 CPU, running at 2.6GHz S478, of course. Video card is Radeon 9600, which is why I asked about 9550/9600 difference in my previous post.


 



2nd one is Asus, model number is P4P800-SE. This one didn't want to boot up (or even turn on), but just like I pointed out yesterday, that was due to power button on the case and NOT the actual motherboard. This one is also paired with P4 CPU, running at 2.8GHz


 



3rd one is a barebone system. I assumed it was custom build due to the case, mATX "Asus Vento" but as it turns out, this one came from the factory already assembled like that. If you take a closer look at the pic down below, you can actually see the leaking capacitors, as there are 7 or 8 of them scattered throughout the entire board so it's almost impossible to miss them.


 



At first I wasn't going to waste my time with this system, in fact I was going to just pull the board out & throw it into the bin, since there was no telling would the board actually work and/or boot up after swapping all the caps & repairing all the damage. Sooo I did a crazy thing - I plugged all the cables back where they belong & turned the system on, thinking I would witness cascade meltdown of the entire board. But nothing happened ... system booted up perfectly fine! OK, to be perfectly honest it's throwing tons of errors & warnings, but that was to be expected, right? I even got to access the BIOS & read system information, take a look at this:




So, yeah! I mean, this changes everything...  Now that I KNOW for sure it works (even in this condition), I'm going to give it a shot at repairing the board. Furthermore, I'm going to replace the Celeron with Pentium 4 (3.00GHz) processor, mainly because I got one in stock. And then I might try putting that 7600GT card inside it, making the ultimate retro machine. Because let's face it, anything newer than earliest S775 system and 7600GT AGP card would not be considered retro at this stage. Old yes, but definitely NOT retro.


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## biffzinker (Apr 13, 2017)

I'd say the Celeron D (Prescott) could qualify as retro since the launch date does show Q2'04, and hard to believe it's already been that long.


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## Bones (Apr 14, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Is that a VIA EPIA Mini-itx motherboard?


I know it's supposedly a Syntax board and yes, it's a VIA chipped board. The CPU itself is made into the board and it's a 1.3 GigaPro CPU, I think it was made by VIA also. 

Haven't been able to mess around with it since but will get back to it before long.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 14, 2017)

Earlier today I took the liberty of stripping apart that P4P800-SE machine to see what's actually causing the problem with power switch. Turns out I was right, it really WAS the hardware fault... Seems the actual button got stuck in shorted (closed) position, causing the board to go crazy & act weird. To make things even better, the PSU inside this thing was just about to give out, so I salvaged the only two components worth saving (Asus board & floppy drive) & threw the entire case into the bin. It might take a while before I find a replacement & more suitable case (and PSU) for this thing, especially since I'm also missing I/O shield, but I'm definitely going to keep this one!

I also decided to check the board for any damage on south bridge, since this particular model was known for its factory defect, which makes it very easy to fry the southbridge with static electricity discharge. But from what I can tell so far, everything is working perfectly OK, including the USB port(s) so it's probably not damaged in any way


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## Derek12 (Apr 14, 2017)

Derek12 said:


> I *think *I still have an AMD K6-2 bought in 1999 out here but I can't find it (maybe it was thrown away)
> 
> [..]



Finally found it on  the storage room  with some pins damaged

Complete with stickers on the back and over the IHS 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 (the computer was built by a company IIRC) and obvious darkening due to intense  overheating (but the CPU never stopped working, however the mobo had exploded caps.


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## dorsetknob (Apr 14, 2017)

Derek12 said:


> Complete with stickers on the back and over the IHS
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Pfha.... i see no Charred Sticker   that one only got warm


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## Derek12 (Apr 14, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Pfha.... i see no Charred Sticker   that one only got warm



lol besides, the computer hasn't been cleaned AT ALL over its entire lifespan (8 years), with (former) smokers and cats, and that sticker on the top. Besides, it didn't have any thermal paste applied.

The motherbard had vented caps, the CPU fan was stuck and couldn't spin,  and the heatsink was completely hidden behind  dust, and the computer still worked with occasional BSODs (which we though they were software bugs or virus, they were caused by overheating

Best computer build ever


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 14, 2017)

Now THAT'S pure quality! As for the bent pins, see if you can straighten them up. Just grab some tweezers (or small pliers) & take your time! 

I wouldn't worry too much about missing TIM, as the CPU will work just fine without it. In fact, most experts agreed that it's better to run the system without ANY TIM rather than having too much! Running it without TIM only means you're not getting that 100% cooling effect from the heatsink, where having too much insulates the chip & prevents hot air from venting, dissipating into the environment.


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## JunkBear (Apr 15, 2017)

What I Do for straightening pins i juste pass an old bank or membership card between thé pins. Just the Good thickness


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## debs3759 (Apr 15, 2017)

Derek12 said:


> Finally found it on  the storage room  with some pins damaged
> 
> Complete with stickers on the back and over the IHS
> 
> ...



That would be worth about $2 on the CPU-World forums. Probably $5 on eBay


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## xkm1948 (Apr 16, 2017)

My first PC used a CPU from Texas Instruments. Something looks like this:

It came with no heatsink or fan. And that thing was hot as hell. Performance wise it was horrible. I remember I couldn't even play Duke3D well on that specific processor. I saved up to get a Pentium133 later and never looked back. Until this day I still hate that little POS, single most terrible CPU I have ever used.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 16, 2017)

That's odd... I got one of these, Intel 4x86 DX2 (66MHz, therefore slower than yours) and it requires heatsink, even a small fan to be mounted on top of it. There was also one time when I had AMD 4x86, and this other one specifically said (on the chip, ceramic package itself) that the heatsink is required.


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## xkm1948 (Apr 16, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's odd... I got one of these, Intel 4x86 DX2 (66MHz, therefore slower than yours) and it requires heatsink, even a small fan to be mounted on top of it. There was also one time when I had AMD 4x86, and this other one specifically said (on the chip, ceramic package itself) that the heatsink is required.



In 486 days Intel has the best floating point performance. TI was absolutely trash, even worse than Cyrix


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## kazz (Apr 16, 2017)

hehe I have been away from here for a long time but happy to see that thread is still that active!




so does my Athlon XP.. what is STILL almost dailydriver.. however recently I was faced the first actual problem due to its age - no the prformance
is still on level where the webbrowsing experience is still rather similar with modern devices (thats kinda hard to believe from 15 years old cpu, isnt it?)
 -  but those bustards in MS was abond all skype versions old enough to run without SSE2 support. hehe.. damn  *web based skype is still possible*

so.. i should move on soon.. maybe will go to "modern" 939 platform or go savage and take new Ryzen.. uhm


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## agent_x007 (Apr 16, 2017)

kazz said:


>


HD 4670 AGP with Athlon XP... overkill much  ?
Also, is it IceQ edition ?


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## JunkBear (Apr 16, 2017)

kazz said:


> hehe I have been away from here for a long time but happy to see that thread is still that active!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



What is thé brand of your card?? I still have my HIS IceQ agp 1gig ddr3 overclocked. They had the regular and overclocked version both of them were the most powerful agp are ever made and thé first and only i guess that could bring sound through HDMI.


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## agent_x007 (Apr 16, 2017)

JunkBear said:


> What is thé brand of your card?? I still have my HIS IceQ agp 1gig ddr3 overclocked. They had the regular and overclocked version both of them were the most powerful agp are ever made and thé first and only i guess that could bring sound through HDMI.


HD 3850 IceQ3 is the most powerfull AGP card ever made : LINK
I checked that on QX9770 3,8GHz and with both HD 3850 IceQ3 and HD 4670 1GB IceQ (1600MHz DDR3) [AGP of course ].

HD 4670s are the newest - true, with a lot lower power requirements than 3850.


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## kazz (Apr 16, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> HD 4670 AGP with Athlon XP... overkill much  ?
> Also, is it IceQ edition ?



Yes and no, 3DMark01SE is still around 20k (like it was with much older GeForce 7900.. hehe yeah I have had the last Nvidia AGP card as well in some point) and games as well will be bottlenecked by CPU hard,
however apps what are capable to use GPU perfomance and can take almost all of load off from cpu doing extremely well (well.. in that certain context) - flash player (youtube etc) with 720p is no problem at all, and some cases even 1080p is possible.



JunkBear said:


> What is thé brand of your card?? I still have my HIS IceQ agp 1gig ddr3 overclocked. They had the regular and overclocked version both of them were the most powerful agp are ever made and thé first and only i guess that could bring sound through HDMI.



yes, HIS IceQ it is, that regular version I believe.



agent_x007 said:


> HD 3850 IceQ3 is the most powerfull AGP card ever made : LINK
> I checked that on QX9770 3,8GHz and with both HD 3850 IceQ3 and HD 4670 1GB IceQ (1600MHz DDR3) [AGP of course ].
> 
> HD 4670s are the newest - true, with a lot lower power requirements than 3850.



true dat, 3850 is superior in most of (but not in every) tests


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## agent_x007 (Apr 16, 2017)

kazz said:


> Yes and no, 3DMark01SE is still around 20k (like it was with much older GeForce 7900.. hehe yeah I have had the last Nvidia AGP card as well in some point)
> 
> true dat, 3850 is superior in most of (but not in every) tests


Closest test I done for 4670 vs. 3850 is in Crysis High 1280x1024.
3850 is better by 6FPS in Avg, while loses in minimum by 1,2FPS.
In every other test 3850 is good bit faster.

PS. 3DMark01 SE score for them :
52,5k for 4670 1GB
60k for 3850 512MB


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## kazz (Apr 16, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Closest test I done for 4670 vs. 3850 is in Crysis High 1280x1024.
> 3850 is better by 6FPS in Avg, while loses in minimum by 1,2FPS.
> In every other test 3850 is good bit faster.
> 
> ...



hehe yea, nice difference in 3d01SE with me =)


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## JunkBear (Apr 17, 2017)

Anyway dors it really Count unless you wanna Play only Xp and Costa Games all thé Times multiplayer online. Not à lot of them back then on 56k Time.


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## JunkBear (Apr 17, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> HD 3850 IceQ3 is the most powerfull AGP card ever made : LINK
> I checked that on QX9770 3,8GHz and with both HD 3850 IceQ3 and HD 4670 1GB IceQ (1600MHz DDR3) [AGP of course ].
> 
> HD 4670s are the newest - true, with a lot lower power requirements than 3850.




400w psu requises but they dont tell hoe many amps on the rail but I tried with à single ramp of 12amps and the warning LED on thé gpu was flickering.


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## agent_x007 (Apr 17, 2017)

@up 3850 IceQ3 AGP requires 8-pin PCI-e connector 


kazz said:


> hehe yea, nice difference in 3d01SE with me =)


That 7900 you had mentioned, was it Gainward one ?


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## kazz (Apr 17, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> That 7900 you had mentioned, was it Gainward one ?



I think it was XFX but I got it without original cooler or any documentation so I really don't know,
But it was fun card - once one of capacitors was failed so bad there was came some smoke out of my pc  however after replacement card worked on again.


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## Robert B (Apr 18, 2017)

FRESH! 

*1. Iomega Zip 100 - Parallel interface.
2. Teac CD-W524E
*
The Iomega unit was missing the power adapter so I bought a universal one. Power requirements are 5V - 1A / 5V - 1000 mA. Power adapter model *NTS 1000 EuP. * *Be carefull for the polarity *of the heads as they can provide + on the inside shaft and - on the outside shell and with a simple rotation they will provide + on the outside shell and - on the inside shaft. See the *PICTOGRAMS* on the adapter heads and on the electronic unit you want to power.

I'll post more on the Project logs section when I test the units.

gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/2k5c7r0ea/


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## biffzinker (Apr 18, 2017)

I use to have a Iomega Zip Plus (SCSI/Parallel Ports) drive for my PowerBase 240 (Power Mac clone.) Later switched for a Iomega Jaz Drive using Ultra/Fast SCSI

The Jaz drive Looked like this.












> Introduced by Iomega in 1996, the Jaz disk was a removable hard-disk storage system, that initially had a capacity of 1 GB (a 2 GB version was released in 1998). They were formatted for PC or MAC use.


http://www.obsoletemedia.org/iomega-jaz/


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## Robert B (Apr 18, 2017)

I never held a Zip drive in my hand until now , so when I received the Zip 100 I many memories rushed in my mind. Back in the day I just read about them. They were really something when they first appeared.


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## GreiverBlade (Apr 18, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Oh man, the 8800 GTX is one of my all time favorite video cards!!!! I think I have 3 or 4 of them puppies still.
> 
> I think I've got one of them same EVGA cards @Jetster


humpf ... "bumpkin" ... only the 8800 Ultra is worthy to be a favorite .... (joke joke )

i also loved the 8800 GTX back in the days (and the re badged following G92  )

tho ... EVGA ... yuck ... (personal opinion ofc )



Derek12 said:


> Finally found it on  the storage room  with some pins damaged
> 
> Complete with stickers on the back and over the IHS
> 
> ...



sorry ... "intense overheating"??? ... i know it's a AMD CPU ... but come on ... 

oh btw about ... nostalgic or not ... EVEN 2016 is nostalgic ... when talking about computer hardware ... 6 month later your awesome marvelous piece of tech is ... severely outdated and obsolete  (joke again ... to me even 2011 is nostalgic and qualify as it ... i'd say that's my upper limit)


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## biffzinker (Apr 18, 2017)

Robert B said:


> Back in the day I just read about them. They were really something when they first appeared.


So back then you missed out on the clicking noise of death they were known for? You didn't miss out on to much in the regard. 



GreiverBlade said:


> sorry ... "intense overheating"??? ... i know it's a AMD CPU ... but come on ...


I know my K6-III 450MHz overclocked to 504 MHz was fairly toasty although the voltage bump for the 54 MHz didn't help. Think it was bumped to 2.75 volts over the default 2.4 volts.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 18, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> I know my K6-III 450MHz overclocked to 504 MHz was fairly toasty although the voltage bump for the 54 MHz didn't help. Think it was bumped to 2.75 volts over the default 2.4 volts.


mmhhh i can't remember the temps of my previous K6-2 and K6-III ... i still have a K6-2 450AFX on my shelf (holly crap it's the same as Derek12 ... sans sticker  ) but no super 7 board anymore 

... back in the day ... where standard heatsink were .... standard ... oh well i had a Silver ORB from Titan for all my Socket 7 super 7 and A, noisy at full rpm but ... efficient ahaha (i still have it i should say ... but my Thermaltake Silentboost superseded it )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 18, 2017)

@biffzinker @Robert B I absolutely ADORE Iomega ZIP drives! Bought mine back in 2001, and then bought yet another ZIP100 unit few months later (both internal, ATAPI models) and used ZIP diskettes as USB flash drives, before the flash drives were even invented of course  The main purpose was to be able to transfer files from one system to another (had two machines, Pentium II & Pentium 4), and/or to backup important stuff. Obviously, it didn't take long for Iomega drives to become obsolete & I barely used them since then. To make things even worse, just after I bought the Iomega drive(s), I also installed ethernet card(s), making the entire file-transfer concept completely unnecessary.

But nowdays, I LOVE these things! I got several Iomega ZIP100 disks, some of which are still sealed up & never used before!  So whenever I come across Iomega drive unit, I pick it up & mount it inside an old rig. Got quite a few of them actually, including ZIP250 on several systems but since I don't have any 250 disks, I'm just using them as ZIP100. From what I can count right now, in front of me I got 5 ATAPI ZIP100/250 drives, with additional one inside that Visualize P-Class system which doesn't work and ONE more that was taken out from yet another P-Class system & is currently just sitting on my shelf. So, that's 7 ATAPI units in total, and also got the external one, identical to yours @Robert B. Parallel port, from what I can tell it was never used before, but it was somewhat damaged when I picked it up, so I had to take it apart & glue that top "window" back into the frame. Just curious, does your unit lights up with green LED as soon as you plug in the power supply?


----------



## Robert B (Apr 18, 2017)

@Trekkie4 - Man your collection is HUGE. Is there anything that you dont have ? 

My unit lights up with the green light as soon as I power it up and stays on regardless of the fact that it has a disk or not. Also when it has no disk inside, the orange led lights up briefly.

When I insert a disk the orange led lights up, the unit spins up and then it spins down and only the green led stays on. This happens when the unit is powered without beeing attached to the PC. I'll fully test the unit one of these weeks.

And I'll have to buy some disks. I read that some are still used in CNC machines and some musical keyboards.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 18, 2017)

Something I don't have? Hmm, probably Pentium OverDrive and/or Slot A AMD system  I'm sure there's tons more, including 2x86 & 3x86 systems, but these two are the most obvious ones IMHO.

And right, so does mine. I asked mainly because I never had one before, so I assumed it's not working normally. I have it powered up all the time (it's plugged into the outlet just like the monitor & all other hardware components), so I was wondering if that's supposed to happen or not. Mine was complete set, I picked it up for free complete with its own power supply, even the original purple Iomega-branded parallel cable. But to be completely honest, I'm not that much impressed with its performance & would pick ATAPI model over parallel one any time!

Which by the way reminds me... If anyone happens to come across a promotional app (as featured on one of their ZIP diskettes), where it says something like "Iomega making software backup easier than ever" & lets you choose among different icons (which look like ZIP diskettes), followed by drum sound each time you move a mouse cursor over it, can you please share it with me?


----------



## Jetster (Apr 18, 2017)

I threw my zip drives in the trash in 2003


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 18, 2017)

Yikes! I sincerely HOPE you had a good reason to do so?!


----------



## Jetster (Apr 18, 2017)

Because they are worthless and obsolete with recordable media around


----------



## Komshija (Apr 19, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Now THAT'S pure quality! As for the bent pins, see if you can straighten them up. Just grab some tweezers (or small pliers) & take your time!


 Yep, they don't make them so good these days, but that's with pretty much everything. It's pure capitalism.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 19, 2017)

New & improved Intel, now with curved edges for that aerodynamic shape & better heat dissipation for advanced computing like you've never seen before!


----------



## JunkBear (Apr 20, 2017)

Is that What you call Air Bender? I dont know 
.. just asking.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 20, 2017)

We were talking about ZIP drives the other day & I totally forgot to mention this one here... Well, what's left of it lol 


 



It was removed from the internal, ATAPI unit which randomly shorted at one point , causing a complete meltdown. It wasn't really that far from starting the fire either, I remember there was a nasty smell coming from the ZIP drive, like burnt plastic. And since I've been hearing so much about the infamous "click of death" & misaligned heads, I've decided to salvage the mechanical deck, along with the beige 3.5" face plate. It's a complete set with all the flex cables, connectors, even the eject spring

Other than that, I've just designed a whole new spec sheet header design, for the RetroMaster series (1000 & 2500). It was originally supposed to be in color, silver-like with dark blue number but my HP stopped working for some reason, cyan ink is completely clogged up & not printing, so it ended up being in black & white instead  Bad timing I suppose, not to mention the fact I now have TWO HP units lying around, and neither of them is working properly.




Just a quick teaser of the upcoming project... This is what I call sorry-state capacitors


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 20, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> TWO HP units lying around, and neither of them is working properly.


Sounds about right for HP Printers unfortunatly


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 20, 2017)

Yeah... The truth is, I kinda loved these things... I started with Photosmart 8250 & (once this one failed & started leaking ink across the entire table) bought the used D7160, which uses the same ink delivery system & ink cartridges "363". But now this other one, D7160 is acting up & can't seem to get cyan any longer, it's just showing streaks & white lines. Tried with cleaning the head (obviously), aligning them (which failed) and then cleaning it yet again but still nothing! *sigh*


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just a quick teaser of the upcoming project... This is what I call sorry-state capacitors


Those capacitors appear way to tall for being on the backside of the motherboard when all the soldered legs have been sniped to the exact same height. What happened to this particular motherboard? Someones attempt at replacing the caps gone wrong?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2017)

LOL!!   No, no nothing like that. I simply used the mounting holes to place the caps, in order to take a better pic. Just wanted to show the overall state of this thing, I pulled 10, or is it 11 bulged and/or leaking caps like these! Don't know what caused this mess, but seeing what happened, it would probably be a good idea to swap out the power supply.

Edit
But seriously though, now looking back at my post & pics I posted, I totally get it why would you say (and assume) that!


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

That's what it looked like though.  Thought you got a board from someone else that tried replacing the caps, thought the cap replacement didn't go as planned so they stuck some of them on the back.  Was like how heck are you suppose to mount the board with the caps sticking up off the board.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> That's what it looked like though.  Thought you got a board from someone else that tried replacing the caps, thought the cap replacement didn't go as planned so they stuck some of them on the back.  Was like how heck are you suppose to mount the board with the caps sticking up off the board.


The idea was to take a close pic of the bulging and leaking caps, without giving too much details at this point (just in case my restoration project doesn't work )

Actually, those caps (the "wrong" ones, on the back) had already been removed from the board when I took the pic, which is why I had to find a place to stick them in, for the sake of taking pic. The only "real" cap was on the 1st pic, right next to the audio output connectors (you can just see the metal housing, on the left)


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

Also see a AGP slot next to the PCI slot, and the push pin for the chipset plus the latches on SDRAM? slots. Still couldn't make a guess at the socket/motherboard.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Also see a AGP slot next to the PCI slot, and the push pin for the chipset plus the latches on SDRAM? slots. Still couldn't make a guess at the socket/motherboard.


Weelll, you're half-way there...  But really though, I will give it a try tomorrow & see if it works, in which case I'll post more pics & technical specs (and future plans for this thing)


----------



## Bungz (Apr 21, 2017)

Some more bits I have managed to find.

Post cleaning all the nicotine out of it 

Ati X800 XT Platinum Edition












The ram thermal pads had made the card near impossible to take apart to clean it, thought I was going to kill the poor thing slipping a thin blade between the sink and ram chips. All done with new pads and cleaned up. 

A normal 9800 Pro I have been after for a while with the standard diddy heatsink. This is pre cleaning 






Am currently working my way through restoring this relic 






Filthy, all fans need stripping and oiling its taking me ages.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2017)

Nice ones @Bungz  Speaking of Radeons, I posted a question not so long ago, but apparently no one knew the answer (or wasn't motivated to give me a proper answer), which one of the two ATI cards was better - 9550 or 9600? Because I got both, tried looking at the benchmark results & technical specs, but in the terms of results they are more-less identical. 9550 is apparently newer, but according to online database, 9600 will outpower 9550 in most of the games.


----------



## Bungz (Apr 21, 2017)

They are very similar, the core clock on the 9600 is usually quite a bit higher so should be faster.

I have a couple of 9600XT's which are nice cards, don't seem to be too popular 2nd hand either which makes them cheap


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 21, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Some more bits I have managed to find.
> 
> Post cleaning all the nicotine out of it
> 
> ...



Those X8X0XT PE cards so sexy, cheers! I have a PowerColor X850XT PE AGP with a similar cooler on my "Purple Haze" rig, best card I have ever had!  Gotta love these cards!


----------



## Bungz (Apr 21, 2017)

Any of the 3dfx gurus in here know the best way to test a Voodoo 5500, as in to make sure both cores are working?

Just observe frame rates or is there something that can monitor the cores?

Cheers.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

How about this motherboad with ISA, and PCIe slots?




Evaluation Board (EVB) for Vortex86DX2 Processor

Seen CPU-Z list support in version 1.79 for the Vortex86DX3 went looking to find out what it was.
http://www.vortex86dx.com/


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## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Any of the 3dfx gurus in here know the best way to test a Voodoo 5500, as in to make sure both cores are working?
> 
> Just observe frame rates or is there something that can monitor the cores?
> 
> Cheers.




That is actually a good question @Bungz 

I would personally like to know that myself. I have an AGP version that I haven't actually had the opportunity to test yet.


Picked this up recently. Had to pay just a little over the cost of shipping!!! 

HD3850 AGP card!!!


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

Would one of these converters work?


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 21, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Picked this up recently. Had to pay just a little over the cost of shipping!!!
> 
> HD3850 AGP card!!!


Lucky Bar-Steward 
my ATI 3850 (512 meg ver) cost me £48 + postage had to have it because it was lots faster than my 9800se AIW AGP and it was for retro rig


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 21, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Would one of these converters work?


Good luck finding one for sale... I have never ever found one on ebay or retailer.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Good luck finding one for sale... I have never ever found one on ebay or retailer.


Found it for $19.00. Uses Nvidia's bridge chip so no luck with that.
http://www.gamedude.com.au/prod_show.php?art_no=viALatop

Edit: Also found W1zzard old news post for it. @Dippyskoodlez
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/more-albatron-atop-info.3272/


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## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Lucky Bar-Steward
> my ATI 3850 (512 meg ver) cost me £48 + postage had to have it because it was lots faster than my 9800se AIW AGP and it was for retro rig



I haven't fired this up to know for sure what ram it has on it.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 21, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Found it for $19.00. Uses Nvidia's bridge chip so no luck with that.
> http://www.gamedude.com.au/prod_show.php?art_no=viALatop
> 
> Edit: Also found W1zzard old news post for it. @Dippyskoodlez
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/more-albatron-atop-info.3272/



for 19$ I would give it a spin and try some old 9600pro or something, it could be fun! (even if it will not most likely work)


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> for 19$ I would give it a spin and try some old 9600pro or something, it could be fun! (even if it will not most likely work)


Would only work with a ATI board if it used ATI's Rialto PCIe to AGP bridge chip.








Had a ATI card with the bridge chip on the back like above. Thought it would be a good idea to touch the exposed chip. Turned out to be a bad idea, ended up burning my finger.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 21, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Would only work with a ATI board if it used ATI's Rialto PCIe to AGP bridge chip.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I am aware of the rialto, my 3850 has one of those!  Since that albatron adapter is directly AGP to PCI E with the chip in the middle I thought that it might work, after all the geforce 6200 agp should work if connect to just the agp right, maybe it is not a dumb connector... :/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2017)

Time to reveal my "secret" board 




Well, OK - to be honest, it wasn't really THAT secret, since I already mentioned it several times before, even posted a pic of inside the case. However, the entire board was in total mess & had to be recapped before putting it back in service. I finished the soldering job yesterday, cleaned up all the contacts & finally tested it earlier today ... from what I can tell, it seems to  be working OK. Don't worry, I had the CPU heatsink/cooler when I tested the board, as you can see down below! 




Now, I did some modifications, mainly with the CPU. The previous chip, Celeron D was removed & replaced with P4 3.00 Prescott, which was a leftover from my very 1st custom build, back in 2007. In fact, I still have a receipt for this thing, so I might dig it up later on 




I know many of you here would probably just keep this Celeron instead of the Pentium, but trust me - I have big plans for this system & will need as much power as I can get, mainly because I'm going with the gaming theme and not something more simpler & easier.

These two RAM sticks are what came with the board, it's a matching pair of DDR400, 1GB each! More than enough for what I have in mind, so this will make a perfect combination





So, the game is on! Time to add in that 7600GT AGP card & see if it works... Again, so far so good!




The main storage will be this Barracuda drive, 160GB:




I'm also going to re-use this WiFi card, as (unlike all other retro systems) this one WILL be going online & download stuff, so I'll be needing the WiFi adapter either way




Now, the ONLY problem I've encountered so far is this warming message upon boot... Not sure what it means, but the system DOES boot up normally, so I guess that (whatever it is), it's not crucial and vital for the system performance




Speaking of problems, I also found out the reason why the system got so damaged to begin with - it most likely cooked itself! IDK why, or even if it's supposed to do so, but this thing is spewing enormous amount of heat, it burnt my finger just from touching the northbridge heatsink! And then there's the stock CPU heatsink, which does the job, but blows hot air all across this small board, warming it even further to the point where things are ought to fail sooner or later! And remember, this is also mATX case, so things are going to be cramped inside, so the only thing I could do was to replace the exhaust 92mm fan with something more powerful & faster, and switch the "quiet cooling" off in BIOS, bypassing the PWM feature. Which was also bridged to the 3-pin exhaust fan header, so both of them were slowing down equally, barely having any effect on the air inside the case.


 



On a side note, I'm also finishing this Celeron 2.00 system here which I mentioned several times, but never uploaded the pic until now. It started out as just a standard office machine & had a Radeon 9200 inside by default, but I upgraded it to Radeon 9600SE & replaced the RAM with matching pair of two 256 DDR modules. 9600 barely made it inside the custom case, which was obviously not designed for larger expansion cards, so I had to unscrew the screws, standoffs or whatever they are called from DVI port, in order to squeeze the card inside the case & then mount them back into the bracket (and DVI port) once the card was inside. It took me some time to do it, but it was worth it!


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2017)

That's great stuff @Trekkie4 !!!!!!! 

I knew, just from the color, that the motherboard was an Asus.


----------



## Bungz (Apr 21, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> That is actually a good question @Bungz
> 
> I would personally like to know that myself. I have an AGP version that I haven't actually had the opportunity to test yet.
> 
> ...



I have the exact same card, its really silly powerful for a agp card!

One thing I did find is it would crash in a Athlon XP system, something to do with SSE3 instructions but not being supported by the Athlon XP range.

If you plan to use it on a Socket A platform I can dig up the fix/patch, not so easy to find now but works by disabling SSE3 instructions.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> That's great stuff @Trekkie4 !!!!!!!
> 
> I knew, just from the color, that the motherboard was an Asus.


Right?!  But seriously though, it didn't have to be Asus... I can tell you at least 3 other brands which also made the yellow/gold motherboards! (Abit, iWill & Soltek)


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2017)

Bungz said:


> If you plan to use it on a Socket A platform I can dig up the fix/patch, not so easy to find now but works by disabling SSE3 instructions.



Oh man, if you can find it, that would be amazing bro!!!!!!  Plus, I'll post it in the original post so that it can easily be found at later dates for anyone else looking! 



Trekkie4 said:


> Right?!  But seriously though, it didn't have to be Asus... I can tell you at least 3 other brands which also made the yellow/gold motherboards! (Abit, iWill & Soltek)



I guess that's true. I forgot that Abit and Soltek made the yellow and gold boards.


----------



## Bungz (Apr 21, 2017)

Here it is

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=72173157623687684646

A good test is to run 3dmark 2003, would crash without that patch, runs perfect on a socket A system with it.

There are some threads still around the web with reference to the problem but the only host I could find for that had err questionable at best pop ups!


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Now, the ONLY problem I've encountered so far is this warming message upon boot... Not sure what it means, but the system DOES boot up normally, so I guess that (whatever it is), it's not crucial and vital for the system performance


Problem loading from BIOS the Intel Microcode for the Prescott? As far as the heat problem goes Prescott rightfully earned the name Preshott for a reason. That Celeron D you have is based on the gimped version of the Prescott die if your not aware.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2017)

Right, that much is what (and how) I understood myself... Not sure what the actual Microcode does though *shrug* Either way I'm going to flash the board with newer version. But since I don't have any storage devices hooked up at the moment, it has to wait

Edit
And nope, wasn't aware of that, for the Celeron... It's a nice chip by all means, and I'm definitely going to keep it for some other occasion, but since I'll be running intense 3D animations & games on this thing, it makes sense to go with 3GHz chip instead.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 21, 2017)

I managed to some how remember the ATI card I had with the PCIe-AGP bridge chip. Thought it was a Diamond brand but it turns out I had the ATI Radeon Visiontek X1950 Pro AGP. I believe I switched the OEM heatsink for a third party cooler that allowed me to use the backside plate. Was a interesting modification I did at the time all in the pursuit of overclocking.

This backplate:





Front if anyone is curious without searching for it.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Here it is
> 
> http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=72173157623687684646
> 
> ...




Awesome man!!! I edited the original post and included that link. If you do find a better source, shoot me a PM or post it up here and I'll edit the post again with the new link. 

And of course, thanks a ton for sharing this with everyone man!!!!!!!


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 22, 2017)

Some time ago; oh jeez, maybe a year or year and a half now, I picked up 2 ole Alienware systems locally from a guy on Craigslist. 

One, the newer system, had something funky going on with the motherboard. I located a new, original Alienware EVGA 790i Ultra for an amazing price. Flashed the BIOS to unlock it due to the newer system being one of the one's that was produced after Dell had bought them out. 

Had a heck of a time finding the proper software to make all the lights and crap work on it, but after some digging, I found all of that. 

I found an amazing deal here on TPU for a fan controller from @XZero450 which I knew would look amazing in this ole system!
Needless to say, I grabbed it and am kind of in the process of installing it today. 

For some enjoyment, here are a few pictures of that ole system. 



Spoiler: Silver Alienware






 



 



 







I just think the bay area looks so much better with the fan controller installed! It's one that gives 4 different temps as well. Very cool! 
Thanks a million again @XZero450 !!!!!     

And, I just tossed in the side and motherboard shots for shits and giggles. 


The older Alienware system is an original real Alienware before they sold out to Dell. It had an Abit motherboard in it, that worked great, but it wouldn't support anything other than a single core S775 chip. 
Well, I had an awesome P5Q-E motherboard that I had grabbed for next to nothing from our amazing TPU member @theonedub a few years ago (jeez, I think around 3 or 4 years now). 

Pulled that board installed the P5Q board and a quad-core processor and that ole system frigging rocks out! I have Windows XP Pro installed on it for some nostalgic gaming now and then.

Here are a couple of shots of it:



Spoiler: Black Alienware





 



 








Man, I remember back in the days of old, my best friend and I wanted an Alienware system so bad!!!!! 
Naturally, that was before we started building our own systems. 

Of course, they were way out of our budgets at that time. 


Okay, sorry for being so long-winded on this post.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2017)

Wow, that's one impressive setup @stinger608 And it's powered by Asus board, so I like it even better! 

Just curious though, was the fire extinguisher part of the deal, or was it optional component?


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 22, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just curious though, was the fire extinguisher part of the deal, or was it optional component?



 I knew someone would notice that.


----------



## Robert B (Apr 22, 2017)

*Soon* *the story of the three little pigs*....with me the BIG not so bad w o l f 

_Will be posted in the Project Logs section._


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 22, 2017)

Robert B said:


> *Soon* *the story of the three little pigs*....with me the BIG not so bad w o l f
> 
> _Will be posted in the Project Logs section._




I've been following, as probably several on this thread has, your other amazing thread relating to some amazing nostalgic hardware!!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2017)

@Robert B

1st pic - Teac CD-RW
2nd pic - AMD Athlon, Slot A CPU
4th pic - Slot 1 (Pentium?) CPU

Not sure about the 3rd one though, some kind of tool?


----------



## Robert B (Apr 22, 2017)

@stinger608 - I hope my adventures are as entertaining for you as they are for me 

@Trekkie4
1. Teac CD-W524E
2. Athlon Slot A 750 MHz unfortunately dead
3. Brass screws for  a PII heatsink. I put them on an allen key so that I wont lose them 
4. PII SL2S5 333MHz 66MHz bus.

I am also negociating with someone for some other exotic HW


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 22, 2017)

Finally done with that mATX Asus build! This one really was in sorry-state when I 1st got it, but now it's all primed up & ready to go! More about that over the course of next couple of days, but for now here's the actual hardware behind it 


 



One thing I got to admit is the terrible noise, coming from the exhaust fan! If you don't remember my post from yesterday, I replaced the original 92mm fan with "HP-Compaq" branded one, model number 282317-003 which is more like a small vacuum cleaner. But let's face it, it's either that or fried motherboard & recapping everything from scratch, all over again!

Edit
By the way, I totally forgot to mention this before. I also got to fix the problem with CPU uCode, it was due to BIOS & not being compatible with Prescott P4. Apparently they've designed this thing with ONLY Celeron D in mind - in fact, according to the official website this motherboard will only accept Celeron D CPUs & nothing else, but when ppl started replacing them with P4 chips, they decided to release an upgrade. At least that's the impression I was given from visiting the Asus support website.

To make things even more complicated, this board also doubles as "p5s800 vm", it even says so on the board itself. But since this particular board is default barebone system component, it uses customized BIOS & therefore some of the original features are disabled and/or adopted to this particular system. So finding the correct drivers and BIOS was a bit tricky & I had to switch between the real P5S800 VM & "Vintage-PE1", which is the actual name of the barebone system, but eventually I got everything working OK 

Edit2
Fun fact, this 2nd edit was done from the Asus machine, just wanted to see if I got everything OK... It's running Windows Vista (this is the part where you say: oh, NO! ) Ultimate SP1, with all the latest updates & patches, and with loads of software still downloading in the background


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 23, 2017)

Did/does anyone here have one of these?


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 23, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Did/does anyone here have one of these?
> 
> View attachment 86896
> 
> View attachment 86898



That is one gorgeous board!


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 23, 2017)

These sata cables are perfect


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 23, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> These sata cables are perfect
> 
> View attachment 86900
> 
> ...



X5670 slapped in there?


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 23, 2017)

i7 920 to start. Im still trying to find a working BIOS for Xeons in this board. I will need 920 to flash the board anyway.



My son is insisting on a wooden case for this build. I think it would be a shame to conceal all its gaudy lovlieness so my latest thoughts are to modify a cigar humidor and put the pc in there.


Edit.......not my box, but i can find one similar.


----------



## jboydgolfer (Apr 23, 2017)

Jetster said:


> I almost forgot I had this



i still have one of this kicking around somewhere iirc. not the Exact same shroud, but close. sounds like a jet taking off iirc.


----------



## basco (Apr 23, 2017)

i am jealous of your cohiba´s


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 23, 2017)




----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 23, 2017)

basco said:


> i am jealous of your cohiba´s


Me too.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 23, 2017)

For clarification.

They arent my cigars. I hand roll my  fags.


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 23, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> For clarification.
> 
> They aren't my cigars. I hand roll my fags.



Cuban cigars " Hand Rolled on the thighs of beautiful Cuban senorita's" ( Trump Embargoed)
Welsh Roll ups "hand rolled on the thighs of a Sweaty welshman's leg"   ( Trump Embargoed  ? )


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 23, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Welsh Roll ups "hand rolled on the thighs of a Sweaty welshman's leg" ( Trump Embargoed ? )




Given the chance i would roll him one. Im not convinced he would like it though, it might make him feel a bit wonky and i dont think he would like me either.........


----------



## jboydgolfer (Apr 23, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> They arent my cigars. I hand roll my fags.



 I'll never get over what you call cigarettes over there


----------



## alucasa (Apr 23, 2017)

Is this considered as hardware? I mean I have the boxes...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 23, 2017)

jboydgolfer said:


> I'll never get over what you call cigarettes over there


Indeed. You roll a fag here and you go to jail for a hate crime.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 23, 2017)

The way I see things... If you can take it into your hand, carry it around and/or place it on the shelf, then it IS hardware  Perfect timing as well, since I just mentioned Vista in my previous post!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 23, 2017)

Some of my rigs.

And yes, much to my shame that's a TNT2 M64 32MB on the Gigabyte machine, and the other one in the ASUS machine is a ATi Rage 128/Xpert2000 32MB. As soon as I'm going to rack up on better GPU (GF4 MX440 and up) it's gonna be replaced by an Abit Siluro FX5200DT 128MB for the Gigabyte, and hopefully the ATi to be replaced by at least a 9600. (or 9500/9550)


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 23, 2017)

alucasa said:


> Is this considered as hardware? I mean I have the boxes...
> 
> View attachment 86913



Well of course man!!!!! Cool ole Vista cases!!! 

You could certainly send one of them my way for my collection............


----------



## alucasa (Apr 23, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Well of course man!!!!! Cool ole Vista cases!!!
> 
> You could certainly send one of them my way for my collection............



Nah, I've been keeping it for a reason... 

I also have Win 7 pro box retail version.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 23, 2017)

alucasa said:


> Nah, I've been keeping it for a reason...
> 
> I also have Win 7 pro box retail version.


I remember back when I had a Dell Optiplex 110 I used to borrow a 98SE CD. Much to my amazement it was the original disc, not a burnt CD-R.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 23, 2017)

Well, this turned out to be real bummer... Both nVidia 7600GT AND the 2 gig of DDR400 memory turned out to be defective, except none of them were showing "obvious" signs of malfunctioning hardware up until I tested 1st couple of games.

AGP card was working fine throughout the Vista installation & beyond, up to the 1st benchmark now that I think about it. Then it started having random "holes" in the models/textures & misaligned polygons. The same problem showed up in Half-Life 2, and was still there regardless of updating the drivers and/or tinkering with AGP fast-write feature in BIOS, so I'm pretty sure it's hardware issue and not a software one. Oh well, now I have to source a replacement AGP card for this thing!


 


 [URL='https://postimg.org/image/o58z73eeb/']
	
 [/URL]

The RAM issue(s) were more harder to find & diagnose however. Everything worked perfectly fine up until I did a memory test, that's when MemTest86+ showed me tons of warnings  So I did the obvious thing, I removed the other module & tried to start up the machine with only just one module, but the system hanged upon boot & wasn't responding to keyboard or showing signs of disk activity. So I tried with 2nd module instead, and it worked up OK until the memory test when I (once again) ended up with error during the memory test. It was only just one error though, but still error nevertheless.  So I gave up & ordered a matching pair of two DDR400 modules online, 1GB each & will advise here once they arrive. In the meantime, I'll see if there's anything I can do about the video card, maybe even swapping out the PSU.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 23, 2017)

It's possible the 7600GT might be fine but the flaky DDR sticks were responsible for the corrupt texture issue. Should give it another try with a new set of DDR sticks before declaring the 7600GT kaput.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 23, 2017)

True, except I already tried with another (random) RAM module, 256MB (which slowed down Vista to a crawl) and the problem was still there... Soooo *shrug* I was hoping it would be that simple, since replacing DDR is much easier than finding a decent AGP card


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## Norton (Apr 23, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Did/does anyone here have one of these?


Had one a couple of years ago, got it from @Solaris17 ... went off to a Team members crunching farm

Really nice board- good luck with it!


----------



## natr0n (Apr 23, 2017)

Found some old pics of my still working socket 939 system. msi nforce 4 ultra chipset, decapped x2 3800 2.9 ghz, 2gb ballistix ram, 9600gt, I had this special psu for gpus that was dvd drive form factor.



 




That bottle was crystal light apple. Not piss or beer fyi...

I'm still using that keyboard as we speak.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 23, 2017)

natr0n said:


> I had this special psu for gpus that was dvd drive form factor.



Juice Box ?


----------



## natr0n (Apr 23, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Juice Box ?



this
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/PowerExpress/


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 23, 2017)

Same thing basically. There were a bunch of different one's. Example:
Epower
FSP
Ultra
Corsair


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 24, 2017)

natr0n said:


> I had this special psu for gpus that was dvd drive form factor.





natr0n said:


> this
> https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/PowerExpress/




LOL, I actually have one of them puppies.


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## Robert B (Apr 24, 2017)

Tommorrow I'll receive something special:  *Maxx & V2SLI* - I'm so anxious OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!!!

I'll post some pics when I'll get them!


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## biffzinker (Apr 24, 2017)

Robert B said:


> Maxx & V2SLI


Rage Fury MAXX, and two Voodoo2 in Scan Link Interleave? 

Haven't seen or heard of the Rage Fury MAXX since 1999/2000.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 24, 2017)

Speaking of video cards, I'm facing yet another dilemma... Radeon 9600 PRO (256mb) or nVidia 6600GT (128mb)? I'm probably going to end up taking both, but only one of the two will end up inside that Asus unit as a replacement for 7600GT


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## biffzinker (Apr 24, 2017)

Geforce 6600 GT would be the better pick between the two.


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## dorsetknob (Apr 24, 2017)

i do have a 7600GT in my box of bits


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 24, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Haven't seen or heard of the Rage Fury MAXX since 1999/2000.



I'll throw a pic up later. I'm benching one right now.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 24, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> i do have a 7600GT in my box of bits


Mine turned out to be corrupt. Either the VRAM (even though I tested it & checked out fine) or the actual GPU. One way or another it's showing "holes" in the models & textures & has misaligned polygons.

Very similar to this pic here, if not identical...





In fact, I uploaded couple of screenshots from Half-Life 2, in case you missed them?

Edit
Here it is:


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 25, 2017)

Here's my Fury Maxx. Still pretty new. Still have the CD and literature


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2017)

Mmmm! Gotta love that twin-turbo engine


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## biffzinker (Apr 25, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Mmmm! Gotta love that twin-turbo engine


Actually isn't the Fury Maxx the earliest form of Crossfire? Thought I remember Alternate Frame Rendering was how the Furry Maxx got the speed up.



Mr.Scott said:


> Here's my Fury Maxx. Still pretty new. Still have the CD and literature
> 
> View attachment 86979 .View attachment 86979


Are you hanging on to the Maxx as a collectors item?


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2017)

Are you asking me or @Mr.Scott ? To be quite honest, I don't know, never had one of these before! But with that being said, I'll see if I can pick one up, some day 

I might have just an ordinary Fury though, not sure. As I recall, it said "Fury" on the sticker, but the system recognized the card as "Rage128", which didn't quite head up. By the time I got it, I already had two of them (different revisions, apparently) and neither of them look similar to the one I'm talking about.

Edit
Nevermind, found what I was looking for. It didn't say Fury on the card itself, it was other way around - system detecting the card as ATI Fury, while the actual card claimed to be ATI Rage128. Still different than two of my other, regular R128 models, since this 3rd one is "Pro"


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 25, 2017)

I have a 128 Pro Ultra right here too. 

I guess I'm a collector, but I bench everything I own sub ambient at least once so........they're not just closet ornaments either.


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## Komshija (Apr 25, 2017)

@Mr.Scott : Past times when small fans were so "fashionable" (Fury Maxx).  They are, what, 30 mm in diameter?


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2017)

Komshija said:


> @Mr.Scott : Past times when small fans were so "fashionable" (Fury Maxx).  They are, what, 30 mm in diameter?


Imagine having 4 of these, on a card like Voodoo5 6000! Especially after several years of service, when those sleeve bearings wear (and dry) out


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## dorsetknob (Apr 25, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Imagine having 4 of these, on a card like Voodoo5 6000! Especially after several years of service, when those sleeve bearings wear (and dry) out


 be like a parent to 4 Teenagers


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> be like a parent to 4 Teenagers




Or even better, imagine having a Voodoo5 5500 quad SLI configuration, therefore 8 of these things in total! Jeez, now that would really be something!


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## dorsetknob (Apr 25, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Or even better, imagine having a Voodoo5 5500 quad SLI configuration, therefore 8 of these things in total! Jeez, now that would really be something!


That would be the Teenager foster home when the Wi-fi Dies..... OMG


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## Robert B (Apr 25, 2017)

*Lights, Camera, Action!*

*gallery:* https://postimg.org/gallery/eglm1dic/



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Maxx is in great condition but the tiny fans are making noise  that was to expected  Anyway they spin freely and effortlessly.

It will receive a full cleanup. The bracket lost its shine and is kind of dull and it will be polished. The heatsinks will be cleaned and the fans will be lubed. The PCB will be spotless -  SPA treatment for Hardware Stars!!!

The V2 beeing V2 it doesnt require anything  Just kidding. The two V2's will also be deep cleaned and will shine more than a diamond in the goats a$$!!!!


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2017)

I love it, but what's going on with that pass-through VGA connector, for the Voodoo card? Seems like someone chopped the original one off & then mounted a DIY connector housing.

Also, here's a tip for the Voodoo2 cards ... if you're planning to use them, of course. See if you can place them directly in front of the fan, either side or front mounted one. V2 might not require cooling, but these things can get quite hot (especially when there's two of them), so make sure there's some airflow across both of them


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## Bungz (Apr 25, 2017)

Sooo who is going to show me the secret handshake? Must be near 15 years since I stupidly sold my last one.

Just had a score of junked agp cards and this was in it, think there is a Voodoo 3 3000 in there too


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## Robert B (Apr 25, 2017)

@Trekkie4 - a big TY-150 will cool these puppies for testing purposes  I dont plan a full build in a case, yet.

The cable is home made by the last owner I guess. I opened it and it's pretty well made. It's the only cable I have so I musnt complaint about it.

Also the SLI cable is home made to be longer 

Bungz - you lucky.....


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## Bungz (Apr 25, 2017)

Wouldn't mind a rage 128 pro, never had one.

They only work with win 98 don't they?


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## Robert B (Apr 25, 2017)

As far as I know - only win 98 is supported for Ati Rage Fury Maxx.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 25, 2017)

@Bungz Don't think so, no. Mine came on a Win XP machine & (from what I remember) XP recognized it as "Fury" which had me confused, especially when I took the entire system apart & converted it into W98 system 

Edit
Take a look at the following posts:
#4407, #4413


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## Robert B (Apr 25, 2017)

I think only on Fury Chip is recognized in win XP and you have problems with running them together so Win 98 and Win Me are better. Anyway that's what I read on good ol' internet.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/archive/legacy-98me


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## Bungz (Apr 25, 2017)

Yeah will work but not in sli/crossfire


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## dorsetknob (Apr 25, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Wouldn't mind a rage 128 pro, never had one.


Have one (or more not looked recently) in my collection
they worked on W95 W98 W2000 and ME for certain i was on different hardware for XP


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 26, 2017)

I have both the 128 Pro Ultra and the Maxx on XP right now. I get better scores on XP than 98 for most benches for a single GPU. For both GPU's you need 98 or Me. 98se benches the best.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 26, 2017)

I found these old adverts














































































And my favourite one


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## Robert B (Apr 26, 2017)

Superb!


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## Bungz (Apr 26, 2017)

Only 28 ounces


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 26, 2017)

http://www.radiomuseum.org/forum/projection_television_sets.html


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## agent_x007 (Apr 26, 2017)

> You can't beat the 4k system at *599$*


 
They had 4k in the 80s !
And that is cheap in today's money


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## Komshija (Apr 27, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> And my favourite one


What a machine! An 8-bit (Zilog Z80? Motorola 6800? Intel 8008?) CPU in a computer for *only!* 5995$. In todays money that's would be about 24000 $. Yep, "only".


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## Robert B (Apr 27, 2017)

*Reinforcements have arrived!!!  *

*gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/1xgpaqcpe/*


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 27, 2017)

It's quite rare (from my experience) to see a Slot 1 motherboard with on-board sound... Most of these things didn't have anything, except for maybe OEM systems which came bundled with other components. And that's Spire FalconRock II if I'm not mistaking, one of the best S462/370 CPU coolers from my experience. Bought several of those back in a day, even have 3 units nowdays, with 2 of them actually mounted on the motherboard(s) and one spare, inside the box


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## Robert B (Apr 27, 2017)

Thanks for the name of the Spire Cooler. I didnt have time to search it!!!  That's a massive lump of aluminium  Needs cleaning too.

On that shelf from left to right we have: Epox 8RDA3I, Gigabyte 6BXC v1.7, Asus K7M v1.04. The Asus k7M v1.04 Slot A has the integrated sound. The Gigabyre 6BXC v1.7  Slot 1 doesnt have integrated sound.

All the motherboards are waiting paciently for a good cleaning!


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 27, 2017)

Oooops, my mistake! I thought it looked weird lol! But joke aside, I DID get to see slot-1 boards with on-board audio. I even had one, Intel-branded (Desktop?) board, standard ATX layout which had on-board sound. Sadly, I gave it away not realizing it was such a big deal 

And no prob for the FalconRock CPU cooler. Wasn't sure if it's the original one or Mk. II though, but I DO believe it's mark 2 mainly because of the copper insert on the bottom - from what I remember the original one didn't have one.


----------



## Robert B (Apr 27, 2017)

It is Spire FalconRock II alright. For me the most important fact is that it is quiet. I have a Titan CU5TB which in comparisson is noisy as hell.

The Barton AQYFA 0342SPMW seems to be locked though. I didnt know what I was about to receive.I'll try FSB 400 anyway.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1419


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 27, 2017)

Beauty...


 



And the beast! 


 



@biffzinker suggested to go with 6600GT, so I'm going to leave this Radeon 9600Pro for some other occasion, while the nVidia will be paired with that S775 Pentium 3.00 

Edit
Hmm, that's odd. Again @biffzinker you may have been right all along... I just plugged in the "new" 6600GT & ended up having exactly the same symptoms as with 7600GT which is hardly a coincidence. Oddly enough,  I didn't have that kind of problem with the ATI card, but ONLY because (or at least I'm guessing) the ATI card is not drawing extra current through the external power plug, while both 7600 & 6600GT have either 6-pin 12V or standard 4-pin molex connectors. Could it be a power supply thing?!


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 28, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Could it be a power supply thing?!


Maybe? PSU brand, and age? Prescott is power hungry as well.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Maybe? PSU brand, and age? Prescott is power hungry as well.


Here's the best thing ... generic brand, 400W. Probably around 10-12 years old. Because if it's not a PSU, then it HAS to be the motherboard itself. But if that's the case, then how come ATI card (Radeon 9550) worked perfectly fine without any problems, whatsoever? Think I'm going to hook this thing to a PSU tester tomorrow & see what the LEDs have to say about the voltages. I might even plug in my meter across the terminals to see the actual voltage readout(s), I have the feeling something dodgy is going on inside it.


----------



## alucasa (Apr 28, 2017)

natr0n said:


> That bottle was crystal light apple. Not piss or beer fyi...



I find it strange that you are so defensive about it...

Suspicious...


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 28, 2017)

Either the motherboard is the dodgy component or the powersupply. Hopefully you don't have two nvidia cards that are bad.


----------



## alucasa (Apr 28, 2017)

Here are more legacy stuff.

Aye, I am calling Windows 7 "legacy stuff". Don't hit me. I also have Windows XP x64. I loved XP x64 and used for 6 ~ 7 years. Why? At one point, the key started not to care which hardware it was on. I had the key installed on all of my PCs at home back then and it all worked for all the years I abused.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Either the motherboard is the dodgy component or the powersupply. Hopefully you don't have two nvidia cards that are bad.


Either the motherboard or the PSU. Having two nVidia cards with exactly the same symptoms (from two sources) would be highly unlikely. Either way, there's a way to test this theory, and it involves two-step process:

1. Plug in some other nVidia card, such as Ti4200 for example & see if it does the same thing as 6600 & 7600. If it does, then it's something to do with the motherboard & will have to swap the board for another one. Otherwise it HAS to be the power supply thing!
2. Assuming the first step turns out productive & shows Ti4200 working OK, I will plug the power supply tester & see if all the LEDs will light up. Alternatively I can hook up the meter & see the actual readout, for each of the voltage groups & rails.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2017)

After quite a lot of testing & analyzing, I finally got some answers. But more importantly, I got even more doubts & questions, as well.

So, let's take it from the top - both nVidia cards are working OK on other machines, 6600 and 7600GT! Which means 7600 is NOT damaged after all (or 6600GT for that matter), and there seems to be a problem within the Asus system, itself. I checked for voltages, and +5 & +12V are spot on, at least according to my meter. Couldn't test 3.3 and 1.5V under load, so if there /is/ a problem with the PSU, it has to be within one of these two groups. Which leaves only the motherboard itself.

However, with that being said, I tried putting 4200Ti inside it (which doesn't have external power connector) and to my surprise the card worked beautifully, without any problems or glitches showing up on the screen. Which means that ONLY the "bigger" cards, more powerful models with the external PSU connector are showing "holes" & other issues, so I do believe it's somehow related to PSU after all. Don't know, what do you guys think?


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Apr 28, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> After quite a lot of testing & analyzing, I finally got some answers. But more importantly, I got even more doubts & questions, as well.
> 
> So, let's take it from the top - both nVidia cards are working OK on other machines, 6600 and 7600GT! Which means 7600 is NOT damaged after all (or 6600GT for that matter), and there seems to be a problem within the Asus system, itself. I checked for voltages, and +5 & +12V are spot on, at least according to my meter. Couldn't test 3.3 and 1.5V under load, so if there /is/ a problem with the PSU, it has to be within one of these two groups. Which leaves only the motherboard itself.
> 
> However, with that being said, I tried putting 4200Ti inside it (which doesn't have external power connector) and to my surprise the card worked beautifully, without any problems or glitches showing up on the screen. Which means that ONLY the "bigger" cards, more powerful models with the external PSU connector are showing "holes" & other issues, so I do believe it's somehow related to PSU after all. Don't know, what do you guys think?



You could use a different psu to test it out?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2017)

I'm afraid not... None of my spare PS units are capable of driving Prescott CPU & S775 (most of them are 200, 250W) Theoretically, I could take apart one of my working systems to see if it will make any difference, but it would be easier to just buy a replacement PSU & go with that.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 28, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> it would be easier to just buy a replacement PSU & go with that.


Which power supply brand are you considering?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2017)

Again, probably something cheap & generic. 400W is more than enough IMHO. Let's face it - it's not like I'm going to use it on a regular basis or anything, but I am considering to buy a brand new PSU...


----------



## Norton (Apr 30, 2017)

Found this in the closet this morning  






Number 9 PCI card with an S3 Virge gpu- *think it can play Crysis?*


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 30, 2017)

Norton said:


> Found this in the closet this morning
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Any points for me recognizing the silk-screened 9 before I scrolled down? Is this one of the famous 3D de-accelerators I've heard of? Never had any S3 graphics card myself.

Edit: didn't see the Number Nine across the top of board


----------



## Red_Machine (May 1, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Is this one of the famous 3D de-accelerators I've heard of?


Can confirm, had one in my first Windows PC.  Dad bought Tomb Raider for it, but it ran like a dog, so he swapped it for the PlayStation version instead.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 3, 2017)

So, after taking a break from this thing, I successfully fixed a missing mouse problem on my Pentium MMX (233)  It was apparently due to serial (COM) port header, which is quite odd, since I previously replaced it for another one. Seriously, what are the odds of having TWO mouse headers not working properly?!

On a side note, I did get some more problems from the replacement VIA board, as I first couldn't find the drivers which would work under W95, and then once I finally got them & installed everything, the hard drive started acting up. It wouldn't read data, sometimes it wouldn't even boot up Windows, so I replaced it for another, higher capacity (10GB) model... As if that wasn't enough, my CD-R drive started doing exactly the same, except it wasn't happening during the POST or boot process, it would happen within the Windows session.

Even though I was pretty sure this one is NOT hardware related, I swapped the CD-R drive for older (and therefore more authentic) 24X Teac CD-ROM unit. The old CD-RW drive was mainly in good shape, but the headphones volume control wheel got stuck at some point, I'm guessing the potentiometer inside either broke or something fell inside it, so to be on a safe side I scrapped the entire unit. There's plenty more of those around, identical to the one @Robert B showed in one the latest posts, so it's not worth it. It also occurred me at some point that the hard drive fault(s) might had also been related to software issues (enabling DMA feature in particular), but since the hard drive would also stop working in DOS or even within FDISK app, during the partition editing procedure (it would report "disk write protected") I'm pretty sure this other one is hardware. However, with all these failing components inside, I'm wondering if the old motherboard really WAS damaged to begin with, or perhaps was it just terribly "confused" due to bad COM headers & failing hard drives...? Good thing I still have it, so I might give it a quick test.


----------



## Bungz (May 3, 2017)

Robert B said:


> *Reinforcements have arrived!!!  *
> 
> *gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/1xgpaqcpe/*



Love Epox stuff but it is so difficult to find in the UK 2nd hand.

If anyone has a old 8K3A someone could make me a very happy man, would also settle for a 8RDA as had a few of them too.

Have a few more bits to update the thread with later, managed to get the one card which is harder to find than a 5500


----------



## Robert B (May 3, 2017)

EPOX RIP!!!! Old friend. Some boards can still be found on the local OLX site and some forums.

*Dont give up. *Have patience and keep searching. Eventually you'll find one!.

*****************************************************************

HE HE (evil laughter  )

HE HE HE !!! *no voltage increase* 

Today I went guns blazing on EPOX EP-8RDA3I !!!  Story later this week


----------



## Bungz (May 3, 2017)

Not sure how sought after these are but I had a devils job finding one.

Lucked out a bit as it is new.






Anyone else have one?


----------



## Robert B (May 3, 2017)

GEFORCE 256???


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 3, 2017)

Looks more like Evil Kyro IMHO... But then again, without the model number it could be just about anything lol 

Edit
Nevermind, just saw CG256 on top of the PCB... Yes, it has to be GeForce256 just like @Robert B said!


----------



## Robert B (May 3, 2017)

On the top part It says GC256 Ver1.1


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 3, 2017)

Robert B said:


> On the top part It says GC256 Ver1.1


Right, seems we both posted at the same time. You're right, it IS GeForce256! Had one of these up until recently (different brand though), but got rid of it since the GPU got corrupted, it was throwing artifacts all over the screen.

Edit
Anyway, regarding my MMX project, here it is! In all its AT glory 




It has a "new" motherboard, new CPU (same clock speed, 233MHz), new RAM (went from 64MB SD back to 32MB EDO, even though this board also supports SD), new 10GB IBM hard drive (old one was 4.3 WD), brand new CPU fan & last but not least new front panel LEDs (restored the original, retro-style look instead of the new, modern ones)




Even modded the PSU cables, soldered a 3-pin fan header directly into the 2nd floppy 12V line & insulated everything with the heat shrink tubing. This will make it a lot easier to remove the fan and/or motherboard, since the board doesn't have designated CPU fan header (or any other fan headers, whatsoever)




This here is what caused the mouse problem... Pretty simple, yet very annoying problem which kept re-appearing even after I tried with other header (which is why I assumed it's the board itself, rather than just a COM header)

I'm still in the process of booting up the software, but other than that, everything seems to be working OK! This includes the Voodoo card of course


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Not sure how sought after these are but I had a devils job finding one.
> 
> Lucked out a bit as it is new.
> 
> ...



Yup. 
Looks like you have the SDR version.
I have the DDR version.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 3, 2017)

Oooh, popped on the local classifieds today and found an Asus dual socket 604 i875 setup for $20 Comes with cpu's, mobo (ofc), ram, an S3 Virge PCI (I think, picture is not very good) and a PATA Raid card. Board seems to be an Asus PC-DL Deluxe.

Seems pretty interesting so I think I'll get it, sent them an email to get more details.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2017)

According to Phil's Computer Lab, he claims that the Pentium MMX 233 is kinda rare & very expensive piece of hardware. In fact, he stated in one of his videos how the 233 model is most desirable (and therefore most expensive) model in the Socket 7 fleet which quite surprised me honestly, since I have 3 of these within retro rigs, along with 4th one, that's not being used at the moment. I'm curious, just how rare these things actually are?!

Edit
Here are some useful links, @stinger608 you might want to link these to the first post?

Windows 95 Mass Storage (USB) driver - LINK
3DMark 2000 result browser - LINK
3DMark 2001 result browser - LINK
3DMark 2001SE result browser - LINK


----------



## stinger608 (May 4, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> According to Phil's Computer Lab, he claims that the Pentium MMX 233 is kinda rare & very expensive piece of hardware. In fact, he stated in one of his videos how the 233 model is most desirable (and therefore most expensive) model in the Socket 7 fleet which quite surprised me honestly, since I have 3 of these within retro rigs, along with 4th one, that's not being used at the moment. I'm curious, just how rare these things actually are?!
> 
> Edit
> Here are some useful links, @stinger608 you might want to link these to the first post?
> ...



Awesome man!!!!! Linked and added to the original post.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome man!!!!! Linked and added to the original post.


Thanks for linking those to the 1st post, but you made a mistake. That "Mass Storage" USB fix wasn't meant for Windows 98, it is strictly for Windows 95, and therefore won't work on W98.

If you want a W98 version, here it is - LINK Feel free to include this one in the 1st post as well 

The main difference between W95 and W98 (both 1st edition & 2nd one) are the USB drivers... Since Windows 95 doesn't support USB (whatsoever), you first have to install those, in order for OS to actually recognize the hardware component, and only THEN you can use it with mass storage driver. Since both of them are included in that unofficial patch I posted yesterday, all you have to do is run the installer & wait for it to do its stuff. Where on the other hand, W98 will automatically recognize USB hardware straight out of the box, without the need for any additional patches, but it WON'T work with mass storage devices, which is why you need to apply the patch from the link above. So there, hope it makes more sense now


----------



## Disparia (May 4, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> According to Phil's Computer Lab, he claims that the Pentium MMX 233 is kinda rare & very expensive piece of hardware. In fact, he stated in one of his videos how the 233 model is most desirable (and therefore most expensive) model in the Socket 7 fleet which quite surprised me honestly, since I have 3 of these within retro rigs, along with 4th one, that's not being used at the moment. I'm curious, just how rare these things actually are?!



There might be some rarity to the 233 as it wasn't released with the initial set of Pentium MMX processors. Later when it was released, the prices of all other CPUs dropped quite a bit. I remember this moment because the Pentium MMX 200 became affordable and I bought one! So all other MMX processors had a 6-month head start and they were affordable. There's probably a lot more of them out there vs the 233.

However, I don't think it is impossible to find one today. Sounds like Phil checked eBay once or twice and the prices were high. With some more time and patience, someone looking to build a retro-rig can probably pick up a 233 for a decent price.

Also, at one one part of the video it's mentioned that it's the most desirable _Intel_ chip. Other chip manufacturers produced 266Mhz and 300Mhz CPUs after Intel left the socket game. For those of us that followed Intel and went with the Pentium II, the Pentium MMX is usually the most nostalgic Socket 7 CPU, myself included. For people that held on to Socket 7, they could get upgrades from 3 other companies so that love for Intel may be absent. I have a friend that bought a K6-200 and he has always bought AMD hardware since.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2017)

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I totally missed this part of hardware evolution, since I went from Intel 4x86 (DX2, 66MHz) directly to Pentium II, 350Mhz with nothing in between. And then I once again skipped a whole "new" generation of Pentiums III & went straight to P4, S423 before I moved on to Athlon64 & (much later on) Core2 Quad which I still use today. So really, it's only safe to say I missed quite a lot from today's perspective.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 5, 2017)

Received this today; Abit BH6 v1.01 with Pentium II Deschutes 333MHz (66MHz FSB). 
Looks pretty good just missing one locking latch from the furthest mem slot. Shame it's a v1.01 so no 1/2 AGP divider or higher than 133MHz FSB for this one.


  

Doesn't detect my 40GB HDD though so I'll have to update the bios. It's still on the release version.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

Got the same board here, and it never gave me any hard time with the hard drive(s)... Just make sure you got your jumpers set correctly & that BIOS is set to either "auto" or "auto-detect"


----------



## biffzinker (May 5, 2017)

Here's a interesting find on ebay. Seller claims this particular Pentium MMX 266 MHz can overclock to 400 MHz under 2.0V or 350 MHz at default 1.9V. Looks like the mobile version of Tillamook Pentium MMX. Didn't know though they overclocked so high.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Here's a interesting find on ebay. Seller claims this particular Pentium MMX 266 MHz can overclock to 400 MHz under 2.0V or 350 MHz at default 1.9V. Looks like the mobile version of Tillamook Pentium MMX. Didn't know though they overclocked so high.


Yeah, riiight! There IS no 266MHz model, Intel never made one. This thing is SL274, which translates to Pentium MMX 200MHz.


----------



## biffzinker (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, riiight! There IS no 266MHz model, Intel never made one. This thing is SL274, which translates to Pentium MMX 200MHz.


That ebay auction is then likely a scam but there is actually a 266/300 MHz Pentium MMX here's a couple Intel ARK pages for both.
http://ark.intel.com/products/49969/Intel-Pentium-Processor-with-MMX-Technology-300-MHz-66-MHz-FSB

http://ark.intel.com/products/49968/Intel-Pentium-Processor-with-MMX-Technology-266-MHz-66-MHz-FSB

Edit: Pulled the ARK pages from this: http://ark.intel.com/products/family/78132/Legacy-Intel-Pentium-Processor

Edit 2: Sorry about that @Trekkie4 wasn't trying to prove you wrong.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> That ebay auction is then likely a scam but there is actually a 266/300 MHz Pentium MMX here's a couple Intel ARK pages for both.
> http://ark.intel.com/products/49969/Intel-Pentium-Processor-with-MMX-Technology-300-MHz-66-MHz-FSB
> 
> http://ark.intel.com/products/49968/Intel-Pentium-Processor-with-MMX-Technology-266-MHz-66-MHz-FSB
> ...


AFAIK, Pentium MMX 233 was the highest (and fastest) product available from Intel. After that, Intel changed the platform to slot-1 & Pentium 2. However, with that being said, I'm seeing multiple references to previously mentioned Pentium MMX 300, but only as engineering samples & (from what I understand) highly rare collectibles.






So really, not sure what to think, but it looks more like some sort of experimental leftovers, kinda like mythical Voodoo6 (technically, Voodoo5 model 6000)

Edit
Ah, nevermind. Got it! This here was the mobile chip, it was never featured as standard S7 model, but physically looks pretty much the same, so I can understand the confusion. So therefore I was right, the is no 266 or 300 model, except for maybe engineering samples. Consumer ones were only up to 233max, before they switched to slots.


----------



## biffzinker (May 5, 2017)

OEM laptops back in 1998? I know had them.



> *Tillamook appears as 266 MHz Pentium MMX*
> Jan 11, 1998 Paul Thurrott
> 
> Intel's "Tillamook" microprocessor--a Pentium MMX chip for laptops running at 266 MHz--will appear in devices from Dell, Gateway, Digital, Compaq, and others this Spring. Currently, the fastest Intel laptop features a 233 MHz Pentium MMX processor. The Tillamook chips represent the end of the line for the venerable Pentium line. Later this year, Intel will announce the Pentium II processor for notebooks, which will offer the same processor used in the highest-end desktop systems today.
> http://windowsitpro.com/windows-server/tillamook-appears-266-mhz-pentium-mmx


Also this from CPU-World: http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL2Z4.html


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 5, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> Received this today; Abit BH6 v1.01 with Pentium II Deschutes 333MHz (66MHz FSB).
> Looks pretty good just missing one locking latch from the furthest mem slot. Shame it's a v1.01 so no 1/2 AGP divider or higher than 133MHz FSB for this one.
> 
> View attachment 87500 View attachment 87501
> ...


Update the bios. That board is as full featured as they come. It's an excellent clocker.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2017)

Ati Rage 128 AGP1-2


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> OEM laptops back in 1998? I know had them.
> 
> 
> Also this from CPU-World: http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL2Z4.html


Wow, this is weird... So, according to this, the 266 model does exist after all, but for some reason Intel left it out (or simply forgot about it)?! Unless it's engineering sample just like FV80503266?

Nice one @dorsetknob is it 16 or 32mb model? Judging by the heatsink, it seems to be newer model, so I'm leaning towards 32. I tried to email you with this particular issue, but kept getting "undeliverable mailer daemon" instead


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2017)

here in England
pentium was sold as S7 P60 to 266Mhz  overlapping the P2 (Slot 1)which started at 233Mhz


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> here in England
> pentium was sold as S7 P60 to 266Mhz  overlapping the P2 (Slot 1)which started at 233Mhz


Right, they usually overlap one model... Like for example, Pentium II 450 MHz, which also appeared as Pentium III 450, etc. But I never heard of two models overlapping before, doesn't make much sense from the corporate point of view.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2017)

Probably current Stock Sold concurently ( At the time in local dealers )with the new model/part superceeding it as old stock sold out

I liked the P11 300Mhz i had one and i bought it because it would overclock to 550Mhz easy and with additional fans 2 one each side of the OEM fan would clock to 650Mhz


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

It would be interesting to see a benchmark results of both Pentium MMX 266 and Pentium 2 233 (to give the older platform some advantage) & see which one would score better...


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2017)

Have a pair of P2 233Mhz Cpu's ( from a P2 Server ) and a pair of P2 266Mhz also from a server but no P1 Cpu's


----------



## biffzinker (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, they usually overlap one model... Like for example, Pentium II 450 MHz, which also appeared as Pentium III 450, etc. But I never heard of two models overlapping before, doesn't make much sense from the corporate point of view.


I believe Intel was using the Pentium MMX die as test to work out the kinks for their next nm process shrink, same as with the Pentium III-S 1.2-1.4 GHz hence the overlap.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> . I tried to email you with this particular issue, but kept getting "undeliverable mailer daemon" instead


Look at the pic it says
dorsetknob@TPU
" not an Email Address"     
Cannot remember the Vram size


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Have a pair of P2 233Mhz Cpu's ( from a P2 Server ) and a pair of P2 266Mhz also from a server but no P1 Cpu's


Me either, my fastest MMX chip(s) are 233, got 3 of those in running condition along with the 4th one, that's currently inside the box along with (never tested) PII 266, but all other PII cartridges are 350MHz. Got 5 or 6 of those, not sure.



biffzinker said:


> I believe Intel was using the Pentium MMX die as test to work out the kinks for their next nm process shrink, same as with the Pentium III-S 1.2-1.4 GHz hence the overlap.


I suppose so...


----------



## hckngrtfakt (May 5, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Sooo who is going to show me the secret handshake? Must be near 15 years since I stupidly sold my last one.
> 
> Just had a score of junked agp cards and this was in it, think there is a Voodoo 3 3000 in there too



I just recently booted up my old compaq system (although in a new case)
with one of these 3dfx gems.






Will take pics of the other components and share


----------



## JunkBear (May 5, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Indeed. You roll a fag here and you go to jail for a hate crime.



Unless the fag enjoy that you wet the tip of his cigar and Roll it in your mouth. Just saying


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

@hckngrtfakt Is it just me, or one of the AGP caps is bulging pretty badly? If so, you'd be better with another board, it would be a shame to damage 3dfx over something like that


----------



## stinger608 (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for linking those to the 1st post, but you made a mistake. That "Mass Storage" USB fix wasn't meant for Windows 98, it is strictly for Windows 95, and therefore won't work on W98.
> 
> If you want a W98 version, here it is - LINK Feel free to include this one in the 1st post as well




Fixed and included the win 98 link as well.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Got the same board here, and it never gave me any hard time with the hard drive(s)... Just make sure you got your jumpers set correctly & that BIOS is set to either "auto" or "auto-detect"


It's just that the bios is too old, the newest versions add support for 40GB and larger HDD's.



Mr.Scott said:


> Update the bios. That board is as full featured as they come. It's an excellent clocker.


Will do as soon as I can. 

It should be possible to make a dos bootable HDD and flash it using that right?


----------



## Disparia (May 5, 2017)

At one point BeOS was a possible replacement for MacOS but Apple opted for NeXT and Steve Jobs Part 2 instead. That was arguably the better choice for Apple, even if BeOS was technically superior.






BeOS 3 and 4. I also have 5 Pro, but it's somewhere else at the moment.

The availability of Mac clones started to dry up after Jobs returned. Release 3 was available for PPC and x86 as a way to hopefully transition fans of BeOS to PC hardware. When I heard intriguing rumors of a modern multi-threaded OS coming to x86 I started to research. Remember, we're years away from Windows 2000, so I'm still dual-booting Windows 9x and Windows NT at this point.

One of the best philosophies that Be developers had was simply to design for _N_.

Ex: Sound devices. Anyone else here with multiple sound devices? It was 100 times easier to manage applications and sound devices in BeOS. No surprise that BeOS or parts of it were used in some digital sound mixers and other professional audio products.

Ex: CPUs. Well, the overwhelming majority of people had a single CPU (core/thread) at that time -- but that doesn't matter -- they designed for _N_ numbers of cores. If BeOS could be installed on Ryzen today, it would see all 16 of the 1800X!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

@DR4G00N  The way I usually update BIOS... Just make a bootable floppy disk & boot into DOS. Then simply run the flashing utility & backup (if possible) the old BIOS to a floppy disk before upgrading to a new one.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> @DR4G00N  The way I usually update BIOS... Just make a bootable floppy disk & boot into DOS. Then simply run the flashing utility & backup (if possible) the old BIOS to a floppy disk before upgrading to a new one.


I would do that but I don't have a good floppy cable atm, just one I made from a 40 wire ide cable which is not very good so I don't trust it. I can borrow a 10-20GB HDD if it's even possible to flash it using one.


----------



## hckngrtfakt (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> @hckngrtfakt Is it just me, or one of the AGP caps is bulging pretty badly? If so, you'd be better with another board, it would be a shame to damage 3dfx over something like that


You know what, you're absolutely right. I just noticed that one.
This board has been incredibly reliable too, I may just order a replacement cap and bring out the soldering iron.
I bought this 3dfx brand new and has been my little treasure ever since (wish I would've kept the box tho)
Thank you so very much for the heads up.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

No prob, glad I could help!  These things are becoming extremely rare nowdays, so having one damaged over voltage spike would be a real nightmare.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 5, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> I would do that but I don't have a good floppy cable atm, just one I made from a 40 wire ide cable which is not very good so I don't trust it. I can borrow a 10-20GB HDD if it's even possible to flash it using one.


You can use a floppy, a CD, or a HDD. Any one of them will work as long as you can boot from it.


----------



## stinger608 (May 5, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> It should be possible to make a dos bootable HDD and flash it using that right?



Just make a bootable DOS CDRW with the BIOS on the disk. Then you can just erase the BIOS once you're done and keep the DOS boot sector in place. That will allow you to use a bootable DOS disk again if you need it.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nice one @dorsetknob is it 16 or 32mb model? Judging by the heatsink, it seems to be newer model, so I'm leaning towards 32. I tried to email you with this particular issue, but kept getting "undeliverable mailer daemon" instead


The Card is a 32m/b vram version just tested it working " STILL"  and i still got the origional Drivers /software install Disk


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2017)

Speaking of optical drives, I finally got around to test that Teac CD-524E from way back, post #4912. And of course, it works perfectly! This here is the old school, has a very fast & reliable tray mechanism along with pretty decent speed (24X)

@dorsetknob Right, call me insane but I started to recognize these things just by looking at the heatsink. If it has a small logo in the middle, it's most likely newer model, 32mb where on the other hand older ones didn't have anything & came with 16mb of VRAM


----------



## DR4G00N (May 6, 2017)

Okay, I'll see if I can get it flashed tomorrow, borrowed a 2.1GB Maxtor drive for it. 

In other news, I ended up grabbing that PC-DL DELUXE. Board is in good shape and came with dual Xeon 2.4GHz 533 fsb chips with the very beefy stock heatsinks. Came with a few pci cards, an aOpen 32x CD drive and a Panasonic floppy drive. All for $20 Cad. 

Board is a rev. 1.05 too which is great because it has an Agp/pci lock.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2017)

Oh man!! Got one of those TX2000 FastTrak controllers here with me, might even have S3 card, but wish I could say the same for that Asus board


----------



## DR4G00N (May 6, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Have you checked the PLL yet to see if it's supported by any software?


Yes, it's an ICS952618BF, the ICS952607EF pll in setfsb works fine for increasing fsb. Have both cpu's at 3GHz atm. http://valid.x86.fr/x8703s


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 6, 2017)

This thread will help you out. 
http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?t=40755


----------



## Fouquin (May 6, 2017)

Saved yet another P5A from the scrap bin today. Mid production board, so it's a later revision than my other two. 

  


In the same bin I found a fun little card that you don't see all too often, little SiS Xabre 200.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 6, 2017)

You don't see any Xabre cards anymore at all. Very rarely. Nice.
I have a couple, but would really like to trip over a 600.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2017)

Fouquin said:


> Saved yet another P5A from the scrap bin today. Mid production board, so it's a later revision than my other two.
> 
> View attachment 87583 View attachment 87584
> 
> ...


Being ALi chipset (and Asus board), for a moment I thought that was A7A266, but the layout didn't seem right...


----------



## xkm1948 (May 7, 2017)

AthlonXP 2500+ overclocked on Abit NF7 2.0. CPU cooler was Volcano12. GPU was a Radeon 9700. This computer made my high school years less stressful.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 7, 2017)

xkm1948 said:


> AthlonXP 2500+ overclocked on Abit NF7 2.0. CPU cooler was Volcano12. GPU was a Radeon 9700. This computer made my high school years less stressful.
> 
> View attachment 87617



Oh boy... I miss Abit boards. I rebuilt (and upgraded, check the purple haze build in system specs) my high school build, the base of that build is an Abit IC7-MAX3.


----------



## Disparia (May 7, 2017)

That's for sure! All the way up to the AW9D-MAX, which was a decent board but had it quirks. More quirks than anyone had come to expect from an Abit board. Of course, it's not too long after that Abit ceases to exist (as a motherboard manufacturer).


----------



## Bungz (May 7, 2017)

Just finished cleaning off that grotty rig I posted a few pages back.

Abit


----------



## Robert B (May 8, 2017)

WICKED!!!!!!


----------



## basco (May 8, 2017)

is this the stock northbridge cooler on the Abit NF7 2.0 ?


----------



## Caring1 (May 8, 2017)

basco said:


> is this the stock northbridge cooler on the Abit NF7 2.0 ?


It looks like it, I used to have an old Abit board with that style cooler.


----------



## Bungz (May 8, 2017)

Nope.

Stock should be similar to the KV8 Max3 I posted above. They had a tendency to whine and become noisey and eventually die so it was common to swap them.

The one on the Max3 was actually seized solid as the grease had hardened, some light machine oil and it is ok again but often they still rattle as the crappy sleeve bearings wear out.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 8, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Nope.
> 
> Stock should be similar to the KV8 Max3 I posted above. They had a tendency to whine and become noisey and eventually die so it was common to swap them.
> 
> The one on the Max3 was actually seized solid as the grease had hardened, some light machine oil and it is ok again but often they still rattle as the crappy sleeve bearings wear out.



I ordered a brand new replacement fan for the NB cooler of my old trusty IC7-MAX3.


----------



## Bungz (May 8, 2017)

Yeah you can get replacements far easier now than back in the day.

And it keeps the boards looking as they did new, love the Max3 boards even if the 754 one is absolute bobbins for clocking.

I think the IC7 variant would be quite fun with the right cpu


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 8, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Yeah you can get replacements far easier now than back in the day.
> 
> And it keeps the boards looking as they did new, love the Max3 boards even if the 754 one is absolute bobbins for clocking.
> 
> I think the IC7 variant would be quite fun with the right cpu



I have a P4 3.4EE GHz Gallatin core on there!


----------



## biffzinker (May 8, 2017)

basco said:


> is this the stock northbridge cooler on the Abit NF7 2.0 ?


Yes, had the board myself but the one Bungz is using has a VIA chipset.


----------



## Bungz (May 8, 2017)

NF7-S






AN7






KV7






AN8 SLI






Tons of boards used that lousy thing, Abit must have got a bulk deal on them


----------



## Bungz (May 8, 2017)

Picked up a socket 7 board, brand new.
















Sadly FIC chose some ultra cheap capacitors and they had all shit their guts out.
















Had the parts in so thought I would see if the electrolyte had eaten into the pcb.






Alcohol wipes and a bit of scrubbing..






Full of new Panasonic caps..











Better than new and might have a chance of lasting another 20 years


----------



## biffzinker (May 8, 2017)

Correction: I had the Abit NF7-S, the Athlon XP 2500+ overclocked to 2.3 GHz, and two 512 MB Corsair DDR400.


----------



## Bungz (May 8, 2017)

I have a couple of AN7 boards that I repaired as they had failed Nichicon HM series capacitors ( all go bad) but haven't been able to find a clean NF7 yet, ones I have seen are ££ and look shagged.


----------



## Robert B (May 9, 2017)

I managed to find the missing piece of the 5x86 puzzle  My first motherboard! *Zida Tomato Board 4DPS 2.11* - plus some extras . 

Now I'll have the motherboard+cpu+cooler+ram+hdd+vga+ODD+case = MY QUEST which started over two years ago IS COMPLETED!!!! 

Actually the 5x86 started all this "madness" 

Full story later this week!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 10, 2017)

Picked up the unknown S478 machine earlier today, which turned out to be Celeron (again?!), but it was packed with awesome goodies! Asus P4S533-MX was one of them, which is kinda funny (and totally appropriate), since I also have P4S533-*X *in my collection! In fact, it's paired with none other than GeForce4 Ti4800 SE itself and is running P4 @ 2.00GHz. This one on the other hand had a Celeron with the same clock speed (2.00), so I'll definitely have to source something better!



 


This Aopen (rebranded Pioneer?) was other one, I always wanted to experience one of these "slot-in" optical drives! It wasn't working, so I pulled it apart, wiped the lens & then put it back together again, and it's working beautifully! The ejection mechanism inside is absurd, extremely complicated piece of engineering but with that being said, it DOES work so I'm holding onto it! 

Also got some (sad) news regarding that S775 machine, running the Pentium 4 Prescott. I finally took the liberty of swapping out the power supply for another one from the system above and no, the garbled and pixelated image is till there regardless of the PSU and/or new RAM modules. As if that wasn't enough, some of the caps seem to be bulging yet again, so maybe I should give up on this one & just throw it into e-waste *shrug*


----------



## Bungz (May 10, 2017)

Has it previously been repaired the board with the bad caps?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 10, 2017)

You mean old, used ones? Nope, those are brand new ones, from the store. Already started bulging without any apparent reason. Well, some of them are, anyway. Not all of them, so I can only assume something is shorting the circuitry and/or pulling too much current. Might give it another shot at recapping (all other caps, which remained original) but really, at this point I'd probably be better with another one.

On a side note, I finally got my batch of 3GB of DDR400 RAM from China today! (3x 1GB) Cheap as peanuts, AND comes with free shipping!


----------



## Bungz (May 11, 2017)

What brand of caps?

Could always get a multi meter out and see what is going on but if the volts were high enough to cause the caps to fail so quickly I would expect things down the line to go pop sooner. Caps are usually pretty hardy things unless they are incorrect or of poor quality.


----------



## micropage7 (May 11, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Picked up a socket 7 board, brand new.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



my first pc was with FIC board, pentium I
what a day


----------



## micropage7 (May 11, 2017)

at least its quadro
fx 3700


----------



## Bungz (May 11, 2017)

Biggest problem is finding a AT case for it, not easy to come across!


----------



## dorsetknob (May 11, 2017)

lots of case's are provisioned for either AT or ATX  
so it should not be a problem
your more lightly to have AT PSU location problems


----------



## micropage7 (May 11, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Biggest problem is finding a AT case for it, not easy to come across!





dorsetknob said:


> lots of case's are provisioned for either AT or ATX
> so it should not be a problem
> your more lightly to have AT PSU location problems



it looks pretty long but ive tested it, i can put it in stock case


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 11, 2017)

Bungz said:


> What brand of caps?
> 
> Could always get a multi meter out and see what is going on but if the volts were high enough to cause the caps to fail so quickly I would expect things down the line to go pop sooner. Caps are usually pretty hardy things unless they are incorrect or of poor quality.


That's true, and I would normally agree on every word you said. HOWEVER, this thing started bulging (for the 2nd time) from the same point of origin as it did the last time. I can tell just by the amount of damage on the caps themselves, since the most amount of damage on the old ones was around the audio output header, these caps completely "exploded" & leaked (where the other ones simply bulged).

And this time I'm getting the same problem, except these ones are still working, didn't explode or bulge all the way, but it's getting there. So really, there has to be something else going on with the board, and now I'm also getting damage on other areas, such as AGP for example. So I'm not quite sure it's worth the additional repairs, especially since I already invested some cash (and patience) for the previous repairs


----------



## Robert B (May 11, 2017)

*Sneak peak!*

More later 

gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/2tmujk32a/


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 11, 2017)

Killed my BE6-II yesterday. I'll miss that board.
RIP


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2017)

Let me guess ... capacitor issues? I know there's a lot of Abit fans out there, and that's understandable but oh boy! When it comes to dead caps, Abit definitely takes the #1 place! At least their older models did, such as BE6-II.

Just curious, did yours tend to automatically switch itself on randomly? Mine would do so from time to time & then one day, while I was playing NFS3 Hot Pursuit suddenly locked out, the keyboard stopped working even though the actual game was still running in the background. And of course, when I rebooted the system it didn't want to boot up any longer  Had EXACTLY the same problem on both BE6 & BE6-II, but I was able to save the MkII one, where the original (BE6) ended up in trash.


----------



## stinger608 (May 12, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Killed my BE6-II yesterday. I'll miss that board.
> RIP



Well that sucks man!!!!


----------



## alucasa (May 12, 2017)

Warning! Shit ton of large images!
I know it ain't healthy but this is how I keep my old CPUs. They were all working pulls.
I've also got few ES chips among them, including Conroe ES (The AMD killer).


----------



## alucasa (May 12, 2017)




----------



## Bungz (May 12, 2017)

Now you need to find the boards to go with them 

I have been cleaning up a rather grotty Abit AI7 ( Inel 478 865).

Works fantastic apart from the onboard realtek ALC658.

Installed the latest drivers from Realtek webby and jack sensing works bu I am getting horrid popping and clipping.

I am guessing latest generic realtek drivers are not so hot for this board. Hmm will have to have a play.

Such a shame nobody archived much of the Abit software/ original drivers.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 12, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Now you need to find the boards to go with them
> 
> I have been cleaning up a rather grotty Abit AI7 ( Inel 478 865).
> 
> ...



I have a 20 gig file with the entire ABIT website, and it has all the bioses manuals etc of all boards that they have ever released (and software I think)


----------



## Bungz (May 12, 2017)

I figured there would be many people with the files just offline.

Least I know who to pest when I cant find a bios 

Edit.

After a bit of googling seems some nerdy types have made a ftp back up of it. Cant get onto it at work though.


----------



## stinger608 (May 12, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I have a 20 gig file with the entire ABIT website, and it has all the bioses manuals etc of all boards that they have ever released (and software I think)



I had that somewhere. Don't have any idea where now.


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## uuuaaaaaa (May 12, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> I had that somewhere. Don't have any idea where now.



If you need the files let me know, but we must figure out a way to transfer such massive amount of data


----------



## biffzinker (May 12, 2017)

Found the FTP server @Bungz? @Hexus Forums
http://forums.hexus.net/abit-care-hexus/244569-abit-ftp-backup-including-e0-updates.html

Edit: Found a clone of the Abit website off of the Wikipedia entry for Universal/Abit, seems functional.
http://abit.ws


----------



## Bungz (May 12, 2017)

One on hwbot as well, will investigate and link up later.

DFI stuff is also difficult to get, may have a browse for that too.


----------



## stinger608 (May 12, 2017)

Bungz said:


> DFI stuff is also difficult to get, may have a browse for that too.



It would be great to have both DFI and Abit links posted in the original post. That would make it much easier for anyone searching for information, bios, or specific drivers and manuals for them boards.


----------



## Bungz (May 12, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> If you need the files let me know, but we must figure out a way to transfer such massive amount of data



Whats your connection like, would a torrent work? I have a unlimited but moderate upload my end, would be happy to leave it for a while on my server.


----------



## biffzinker (May 12, 2017)

Found this old article @ TPU from 2005-02-25.
DFI LanParty NF4 Bios & Tools


----------



## Bungz (May 12, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Whats your connection like, would a torrent work? I have a unlimited but moderate upload my end, would be happy to leave it for a while on my server.



http://forums.hexus.net/abit-care-hexus/244569-abit-ftp-backup-including-e0-updates.html

Torrent on that FTP site is of the whole 19GB. Works too seems to have a few good seeds.




biffzinker said:


> Found this old article @ TPU from 2005-02-25.
> DFI LanParty NF4 Bios & Tools



That's pretty handy, shame its not for the rest of DFI's boards, I couldn't find anything much for a X48 when I last meddled with it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 12, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Let me guess ... capacitor issues? I know there's a lot of Abit fans out there, and that's understandable but oh boy! When it comes to dead caps, Abit definitely takes the #1 place! At least their older models did, such as BE6-II.
> 
> Just curious, did yours tend to automatically switch itself on randomly? Mine would do so from time to time & then one day, while I was playing NFS3 Hot Pursuit suddenly locked out, the keyboard stopped working even though the actual game was still running in the background. And of course, when I rebooted the system it didn't want to boot up any longer  Had EXACTLY the same problem on both BE6 & BE6-II, but I was able to save the MkII one, where the original (BE6) ended up in trash.



Nothing like any of that. Board looks mint, caps and all. My problem is chipset or clock generator related. Boards still runs. Just can no longer clock like a champ. I used to be able to do FSB's in the 170 range without a problem. Now the board will only do 130 max or it hardlocks.
CPU does not matter, nor does the ram. I've tried dozens of each. It will not even run a 133 bus CPU at stock settings. Less than 130 FSB I can run anything all day long though.

Too much extreme benching in it's lifetime I'm sure.
Going to re-cap it, but I don't have a lot of hope.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2017)

Oh, OK... Then you didn't "kill" the board, it can still work for years & years  Especially if you keep everything stock & under 130MHz...

I know this seems kinda obvious, especially since I know for the fact you're a professional, but have you tried flashing the BIOS and/or messing around with jumper settings? (if it has any, I forgot)


----------



## JunkBear (May 12, 2017)

MSI KM4M and a WinFast K8S760MG-6LRS


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 12, 2017)

> Oh, OK... Then you didn't "kill" the board, it can still work for years & years  Especially if you keep everything stock & under 130MHz...
> 
> I know this seems kinda obvious, especially since I know for the fact you're a professional, but have you tried flashing the BIOS and/or messing around with jumper settings? (if it has any, I forgot)



Yes, 4 different bios's.
Killed it for my application.
Keeping everything stock is not usually what I do. I'm a competitive bencher. I need the speed.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 12, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Whats your connection like, would a torrent work? I have a unlimited but moderate upload my end, would be happy to leave it for a while on my server.



I have unlimited traffic too, 10mbit upload I think, I have never uploaded anything using torrent x) I will need some help!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Yes, 4 different bios's.
> Keeping everything stock is not usually what I do. I'm a competitive bencher. I need the speed.


Was just looking at the BE6-II PDF manual, it has a DIP switch(es) for controlling the clock speed and ratio. Have you tried with any of those? It might be possible to manually override the clock speed with those, assuming something got damaged on the board & therefore is no longer able to detect automatically. I had a DFI Socket A board with something like that, think the model number was AK74. It would work on manual override, but not on auto.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 12, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Was just looking at the BE6-II PDF manual, it has a DIP switch(es) for controlling the clock speed and ratio. Have you tried with any of those? It might be possible to manually override the clock speed with those, assuming something got damaged on the board & therefore is no longer able to detect automatically. I had a DFI Socket A board with something like that, think the model number was AK74. It would work on manual override, but not on auto.


Hmmm.....I did not try that. I will tonight.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2017)

Cool, let us know if it works! And also let me know if you need PDF manuals for BE6 or BE6-II, I got both on a CD. Also got the paper one, but it's in German so I don't think it would be of much use to you (or even me for that matter )

Edit




Source, BE6-II PDF manual


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 14, 2017)

No change. I will re-cap the board.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 14, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> No change. I will re-cap the board.


*sigh* That's a shame, was hoping it would work... :-(


----------



## Bungz (May 15, 2017)

Gutted for you but it sounds like it has had a hard life 

Having a bit of a play with slot 1 stuff myself recently.

I have a later QDI board which supports all slot 1 chips but it has what I can only figure as a broken trace somewhere, mess with the ATX connector and it power cycles even though I have replaced the atx connector and reflowed all obvious connections 

My other Slot 1 440BX boards are pre coppermine jobs. 

I think 440BX boards are the biggest headache going for trying to get later processors to work, even if you find a board which is happy to run them you often have a devils job of getting the later bios for it anyway! Oh and some boards have different versions so some are fine with coppermines some aren't under the same model number 

/rant over


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## Trekkie4 (May 15, 2017)

That would probably be QDI Advance 5, right? Great model, I even wrote a small review/overview (I guess you could call it that way) about a year ago.

As for the 440BX, getting it to work with Coppermine CPUs is indeed PITA, however .... 440BX is one of the best chipsets ever made, and is very reliable in the terms of performance, always a great choice for retro gamers and Slot-1 CPUs up to 500MHz.


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## Bungz (May 15, 2017)

Yeah these era GPUs are usually the limiting factor so not a major pain.

550mhz Katmai is no souch and can be had cheap


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## Kissamies (May 15, 2017)

Is this too new hardware..? Well, isn't 2500K pretty nostalgic now? 







edit: the case and PSU from stone age are just temporary, going to get a HTPC case and Seasonic Eco 430W.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 15, 2017)

9700 Pro said:


> Well, isn't 2500K pretty nostalgic now?


no its still mainstream   call it "retro Chic" if you must


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## agent_x007 (May 15, 2017)

Bungz said:


> My other Slot 1 440BX boards are pre coppermine jobs.
> 
> I think 440BX boards are the biggest headache going for trying to get later processors to work, even if you find a board which is happy to run them you often have a devils job of getting the later bios for it anyway! Oh and some boards have different versions so some are fine with coppermines some aren't under the same model number


And some boards (with little help), simply doesn't care


----------



## Kissamies (May 15, 2017)

How's that 9800XT so low-clocked? IIRC it should be 412/365

And damn, never had a Tualatin myself. 

edit: oh, bios-modded card since it has only 128MB?


----------



## agent_x007 (May 15, 2017)

9700 Pro said:


> How's that 9800XT so low-clocked? IIRC it should be 412/365
> 
> And damn, never had a Tualatin myself.


I was using stock 9700 Pro cooling (black, single slot), it kept getting too hot for me 


9700 Pro said:


> edit: oh, bios-modded card since it has only 128MB?


Exactly 
That's not a 9800 XT, because they don't support AGP 3,3V.
Basicly : A 9800 Pro with 9800 XT BIOS (downclocked) and 9700 Pro cooling


----------



## Bungz (May 15, 2017)

Nice.

Guessing a slot adapter with some form of voltage control?


----------



## agent_x007 (May 15, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Nice.
> Guessing a slot adapter with some form of voltage control?


Not exactly... most adapters with Vcore control, can't go below 1,7V.
I use MS-6905 Master (LINK) + Moded Tualatin CPU (LINK) 
Because Powerleap is overrated


----------



## Bungz (May 15, 2017)

Very nice. 

I have a couple of Tualatin boards so am not so desperate to try it but it does look fun taking a board that could be limited to say 600mhz to 1Ghz 

Back on a slightly more modern theme


----------



## Kissamies (May 15, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> I was using stock 9700 Pro cooling (black, single slot), it kept getting too hot for me
> Exactly
> That's not a 9800 XT, because they don't support AGP 3,3V.
> Basicly : A 9800 Pro with 9800 XT BIOS (downclocked) and 9700 Pro cooling


Ah, so that explains things. 

I remember 9700 Pro's cooler (my nick tells why it's such a familiar card ) and it sucked. And the GPU die was slightly lower than the shim, so I took the shim out with a knife and installed a Zalman VF700 cooler to it. 

But yeah, I had also a 9800 Pro @ XT on my retro rig about 5 years ago, IIRC it had the stock cooler and I didn't dare to OC it at all, only @ XT clocks.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 15, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Very nice.
> Back on a slightly more modern theme


Thanks 
Here's my "more modern" setup (not completed yet) : LINK.
I heard rev. C0 Prescotts on PGA 478 are hot/power hungry when OC'ed... so I opted for overcompensating in cooling and VRM departments (a tiny bit) : LINK


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 15, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Thanks
> Here's my "more modern" setup (not completed yet) : LINK.
> I heard rev. C0 Prescotts on PGA 478 are hot/power hungry when OC'ed... so I opted for overcompensating in cooling and VRM departments (a tiny bit) : LINK



 Board? It has one of those sockets for auxiliary VRM daugther card right?


----------



## agent_x007 (May 15, 2017)

Indeed 
Specs : 
CPU : Pentium 4 3,2GHz "C0" SL7B8
MB : GA-8PENXP v1.0
RAM #1 : 2x1GB OC-WEAR PC3200/4000 BigTwins Ultra (500MHz @ 3.0-3-2-8 +2,7-2,75V).
RAM #2 (in transit) : 2x1GB Patriot PDC2G4000ELK (500MHz @ CL3.0-4-4-8)
Cooling :
Mugen 2 Rev. B with Delta FFB1212EHE fan (w/MX-2 paste).


----------



## alucasa (May 15, 2017)

JunkBear said:


> View attachment 87902 View attachment 87903 MSI KM4M and a WinFast K8S760MG-6LRS



I like what I see (the foot).


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 15, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Because Powerleap is overrated


Not if you mod it. 
or use a Lin Lin instead.


----------



## Bungz (May 15, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Thanks
> Here's my "more modern" setup (not completed yet) : LINK.
> I heard rev. C0 Prescotts on PGA 478 are hot/power hungry when OC'ed... so I opted for overcompensating in cooling and VRM departments (a tiny bit) : LINK





uuuaaaaaa said:


> Board? It has one of those sockets for auxiliary VRM daugther card right?



Awesome boards






Every inch of the pcb is covered in components.


----------



## JunkBear (May 15, 2017)

alucasa said:


> I like what I see (the foot).



I wear 12 and 13 size shoes so as soon as i put down a caméra for picture they are in the shot.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 16, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Awesome boards
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I never knew about this Gigabyte P4 Titan  is it i875P?


----------



## Bungz (May 16, 2017)

865PE

http://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-8PENXP-rev-1x#ov


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2017)

Here's something I'm working on... It's a Pentium 4 system for a family friend, an older gentleman who needs something to check his email, watch a YT video or two and maybe play Solitaire  He owns a very old Apple system which is now seriously outdated (in fact, running at ONLY 550MHz I'd say that thing belongs to a museum, or at least this thread here, but that's a whole other story)

Sooo, I offered him something better. Remember that Asus P4P800-SE board, running P4 chip at 2.6GHz? Took me a while to set it up & get everything up & running, but it's mostly finished now & ready for its new owner. Or at least temporary one, as he might buy something better eventually, in which case I'll probably be seeing this one again at some point 



 



Now, here's the problem I've ran into, while setting up Vista ... despite being way more faster & powerful than what MS recommended for Vista in their requirements, this thing ran terribly slow. YouTube wouldn't play properly, windows (and apps) took way too long to load up, etc. You get the picture, so I added more RAM. Upgraded from 1GB to 1.5. This made it somewhat faster, but the system STILL ran too slow, so I did something I don't like or normally approve - I OCed Pentium to 3GHz. That's 340MHz overclock gain, which is approx. the speed of a Pentium II! It seems to be running stable, but only after I raised the voltage to 1.60V... So now this thing is spewing out hot air & idling around 136F. Not good for the hardware inside the case I know, but TBH I didn't have much of a choice *shrug* Here's the 3DMark2001 result after the initial OC, as I managed to get the final result even higher, up to 5,100 3D marks




Full system specs:

Asus P4P800-SE, S478
Intel Pentium 4, 2.6GHz
2x 512MB DDR400/PC3200, 2x 256MB DDR400/PC3200 in dual-channel mode
ATI Radeon 9600Pro, 256MB AGP8x
Pinnacle analog TV tuner card (simply because it came with the case & old system inside it)
Western Digital 120GB ATA HDD
DVD-ROM, CD-RW & Floppy
400W Generic PSU
Windows Vista Ultimate, SP1


----------



## Red_Machine (May 18, 2017)

No dude, not Vista.  It runs like a dog on a Pentium 4, and needs 2GB+ to run smoothly.  Plus it's no longer supported by Microsoft, so won't get updates anymore.  Put Windows 7, or maybe Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 on it instead.  It'll run much better.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 18, 2017)

To run internet and you tube, you need at least a Dual Core cpu with 2-4GB of RAM (depending on browser tabs), and a GPU capable of hardware video acceleretion.
Pentium 4 no/HT with 1,5GB of RAM is simply too slow for modern internet pages.


----------



## Kissamies (May 18, 2017)

Agree. I had an A64 3200+ @ 2.6GHz, 2GB & GF6800GT with Win7 SP1 and it was slow. I mean SLOW. I upgraded the CPU to A64 X2 3800+ @ 2.5GHz and things got muuuuuuuch smoother.


----------



## Bungz (May 18, 2017)

The way I get older systems to play youtube is to run a addon like this

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/vlc-youtube-shortcut/

Right click a link and it plays in VLC.

You need to add the current youtube.lua for copy written stuff (this changes, sometimes stays same for ages then will need updating more often)

Allows me to play youtube on out dated firefox on very low end systems, can play 480 back no probs on old socket A systems and A64 and pentiums can play 720 no sweat.

Sucks how youtube is so bloated now, such a resource hog systems that used to be no issue to play video on now cant.

That said vista runs like a dog on anything other than a core duo and a shed load of memory imo. Not a bad os with decent hardware but not for that system.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> No dude, not Vista.  It runs like a dog on a Pentium 4, and needs 2GB+ to run smoothly.  Plus it's no longer supported by Microsoft, so won't get updates anymore.  Put Windows 7, or maybe Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 on it instead.  It'll run much better.





agent_x007 said:


> To run internet and you tube, you need at least a Dual Core cpu with 2-4GB of RAM (depending on browser tabs), and a GPU capable of hardware video acceleretion.
> Pentium 4 no/HT with 1,5GB of RAM is simply too slow for modern internet pages.


Well, I considered Windows 7, mainly because I use it on my "daily runner" Q6600, but since I couldn't source anything better than Pentium 4 (which is the most powerful "spare" system available, at the moment), even Vista seemed out of the league so therefore Win7 would have been overkill right from the very beginning. On a side note, I forgot to mention something important - this Pentium 4 is a *HT* model, so it kinda helps with the overall performance. As for the updates, I really don't care about those ... TBH, I don't even update any of my systems on a regular basis, I find it useless & too distracting.



9700 Pro said:


> Agree. I had an A64 3200+ @ 2.6GHz, 2GB & GF6800GT with Win7 SP1 and it was slow. I mean SLOW. I upgraded the CPU to A64 X2 3800+ @ 2.5GHz and things got muuuuuuuch smoother.


My point exactly. I wanted to go with W7, but considering the performance & hardware specs it was either XP or Vista.



Bungz said:


> Sucks how youtube is so bloated now, such a resource hog systems that used to be no issue to play video on now cant.
> 
> That said vista runs like a dog on anything other than a core duo and a shed load of memory imo. Not a bad os with decent hardware but not for that system.


Yeah, I know... This is probably due to high resolution videos & amount of streaming data, which evolved over the years & outgrew the older hardware  Interestingly enough, RAM doesn't seem to be an issue... Even on high load, during Firefox sessions and/or watching YT, it's only 3/4 full, sometimes even 1/2. It's the CPU that's slowing things down, which runs at 100% pretty much the whole time. Ever since I OCed the CPU, YouTube performance noticeably increased to the point where the video lags only once in a while, where running the system at factory clock resulted with continuous lag to the point where you can't really watch anything.


----------



## rodneyhchef (May 18, 2017)

Interesting to hear about the implied rarity of the Pentium 233 MMX. I bought one years ago for my FullYes i430vx board that (last time I tried) is still plodding on despite many years of abuse. It's got a K6/2 400 in it now but it registers as a 486 in the bios so it's probably not configured correctly. Anyway I think next time I blow the dust off it I'll be dropping the 233 in there.

There seems to be a bit of a spike in prices for hardware of this era as things like s3 virge graphics cards seem to be fetching tens of pounds on ebay whereas a few years ago you couldn't give those things away.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2017)

rodneyhchef said:


> Interesting to hear about the implied rarity of the Pentium 233 MMX. I bought one years ago for my FullYes i430vx board that (last time I tried) is still plodding on despite many years of abuse. It's got a K6/2 400 in it now but it registers as a 486 in the bios so it's probably not configured correctly. Anyway I think next time I blow the dust off it I'll be dropping the 233 in there.
> 
> There seems to be a bit of a spike in prices for hardware of this era as things like s3 virge graphics cards seem to be fetching tens of pounds on ebay whereas a few years ago you couldn't give those things away.


You probably didn't set the jumpers according to your new CPU, these older boards were completely manual, without the ability to adjust and automatically recognize the CPU clock & model. Google for PDF manual & see if you can work out the jumper config, this will probably fix the issue you're having


----------



## dorsetknob (May 18, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> these older boards were completely manual, without the ability to adjust and automatically recognize the CPU clock & model. Google for PDF manual & see if you can work out the jumper config, this will probably fix the issue you're having


most of these era jumpered motherboards usualy have settings silkscreened on the Board somewhere
you just need to look and then work out the Correct ( or overclock )  jumper position


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 18, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> most of these era jumpered motherboards usualy have settings silkscreened on the Board somewhere
> you just need to look and then work out the Correct ( or overclock )  jumper position


Good point, totally forgot about that  Nevertheless, manual makes it easier to identify the exact jumper(s) for setting the multiplier & voltages, eliminating the risk of board (or CPU) damage.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 18, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I never knew about this Gigabyte P4 Titan  is it i875P?


Here are some scores from my PGA 478 w/P4EE (with slower RAM) : LINK.
Anyone with 875P chipset out there ?
Because I would like to check how my board compares againts it.
Thank you.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 18, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Here are some scores from my PGA 478 w/P4EE (with slower RAM) : LINK.
> Anyone with 875P chipset out there ?
> 
> Because I would like to check how my board compares againts it.
> Thank you.



Here is a quick and dirty run of super pi 1M with my P4 2.6GHz NW @ 3.38GHz and P4C800-E. Bloated install of xp home 32 bit and no tweaks.
Might be able to do a better comparison later if you want. Don't have any gallatins though.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (May 18, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Here are some scores from my PGA 478 w/P4EE (with slower RAM) : LINK.
> Anyone with 875P chipset out there ?
> Because I would like to check how my board compares againts it.
> Thank you.



Look at my "Purple Haze" build in system specs  Will bench that baby over the weekend!

This is from an old stock run:

http://hwbot.org/submission/3324820...um_4_extreme_edition_3.4ghz_(s478)_38sec_47ms

I remember benching it at 3825MHz!

Time to clean the dust of the mighty Purple Haze!


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 19, 2017)

P4C800 and a 3 gig Prescott.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 19, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> and a 3 gig Prescott.


Yeh nice overclock


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 19, 2017)

And a Northy for DR4G00N.


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## Trekkie4 (May 19, 2017)

Well, this turned out to be a disappointment... Was going to add a powerful 80x80 intake fan into that P4 system, I even had to take apart the front face plate & remove the hard drive, just to mount it across the metal frame, when I realized the fan isn't working. Then I plugged in another one & gave it a try, but still nothing! Apparently both "Power" and "System" fan headers are either deactivated or (most likely) shot & not working. And I really tried just about everything really, from resetting the CMOS back to factory settings to flashing the board with latest BIOS.

My thoughts are going back to the old case, where I found this Asus board... It had one of those cheap & fancy-looking LCD screen fan controllers, built into the case itself. So I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow damaged the circuitry! Considering the case itself didn't work (at least the power button assembly) along with the fact that integrated LCD screen was unplugged from the 12V supply, I'd say it's quite plausible.

So instead of using 3-pin header I had to "cheat" & go with molex adapter, which you can easily see behind the hard drive.


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## Robert B (May 19, 2017)

1MB !!! memory upgrade  - imagine THAT!!!  HIGH END STUFF hmmmm SERIOUS BUSINESS


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## Trekkie4 (May 19, 2017)

Robert B said:


> 1MB !!! memory upgrade  - imagine THAT!!!  HIGH END STUFF hmmmm SERIOUS BUSINESS


Awesome stuff!! Now you can go as high as 800x600 in 16bit color mode  

Edit
Correction, make that 1024x768!


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## Robert B (May 20, 2017)

This time a true *SNEAK PEEK!*


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## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2017)

Hmm... I recognize Energy Star logo, so it must be monitor of some sort... Or maybe projector?


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## Robert B (May 20, 2017)

It's a picture taken from the back of the case of my 5x86 rebuild, through the rear bracket slot.

Story in the Project Logs - section in TPU forum 

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...ay-freely-old-hardware-emporium.228932/page-4


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## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2017)

Huh, so it has a light (LED) for the Energy Star logo?! Love the case though, reminds me of my old Pentium II!


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## biffzinker (May 20, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Huh, so it has a light (LED) for the Energy Star logo?! Love the case though, reminds me of my old Pentium II!


Looks like semi-transparent plastic allowing light through the logo to me. Recognized the older LEDS for power/hd from a older 486/586 case front panel.


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## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2017)

So, here's something you don't get to see every day... I'm about to donate some of the (retro) network equipment to a fellow forumer, from another (local) forum so I took these pics here 

These are all Genius from what I can tell, some of which had never been used before. And since I really don't have any use for ISA ethernet cards (especially coaxial ones), I might as well give these to someone who actually has interest in collecting & using them...


 

 

 

 

 



Speaking of Genius products, I finally got around to replace my desktop speakers for something better. Bought them about a year ago, but had them inside the box until today! Don't think I have to point out the obvious lol, they really ARE impressive comparing to my old & tiny 2.5W ones!


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## DR4G00N (May 20, 2017)

I have the card on the far right I think, it's all nasty and corroded though so not sure if it even works.


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## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2017)

I'm assuming you're referring to coax/RJ45 combo card? (6th pic) These ones are mostly preserved, but like I pointed out earlier, I have no idea if they work or not... I used one of these Genius cards for a 5x86 build just for fun, I remember how setting it up was a PITA, but in the end system recognized it, I even ran diagnostic utility program from the floppy disk... Not that I'm going to use it, but I want all my hardware to be operational & available at any moment.


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## Disparia (May 21, 2017)

Don't know if it's been talked about before, the Asus CUSL2-C "Black Pearl"










It's a special edition board with a black PCB. Also came with a branded screwdriver and a collectible box. I kept the box for awhile, but eventually it became too worn to keep. Still have the screwdriver and manuals somewhere around here.

Had it paired with a Pentium III 650 at 866Mhz and single stick of PC133 512MB (the chipset maximum). I cursed Intel that day because the limitation was more political than technical in nature. DRAM prices were so low that 1.5GB of PC133 cost less than 128MB of RD-RAM, but you would need to use VIA and not Intel. For perspective: 128MB was minimum, 256MB was good, and 512MB was above the curve. So while 1.5GB RAM would have been god-like, many of us accepted the 512MB limitation as a compromise.

In other words, the prohibitive price of the i820 and VIA's instability made the i815/E/EP a favorite. Wasn't special on it's own, but simply had the fewest "cons".

So what's to like about this specific model over other i815 boards? Aside from the color, it's was purposely designed with no 3rd party on-board devices. It's AGP and 6 PCI slots (or 5 PCI + 1 CNR) were ample, and allowed the builder to choose every single part. I had a GeForce 3 in the first slot, two Intel NICs, sound card, Firewire controller, and an MPEG2 decoder. The decoder was a holdover from my older, less powerful system that couldn't decode DVD video on it's own. The Pentium III didn't have that problem, however, the decoder's S-Video output quality was so clean that I kept it installed for several years. Could play a DVD on the TV while playing Diablo II or Quake III with no slowdown.

Over the next couple years 3rd party controllers became less taboo and it wasn't that big of a deal to use _some_ on-board devices. You only bought dedicated if it made a difference in your situation. So while the i815 platform was for the most part unremarkable, this particular board was a gem for picky builders at a time when it still mattered.


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## Mr.Scott (May 22, 2017)

It's a very nice board. I have the run of the mill puke brown CUSL2-C.


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## Robert B (May 22, 2017)

For the 5x86 wire management session *I TOOK NO PRISONERS* 

*Spaghetti anyone?

W*ork *I*n *P*rogress!!!


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## xkm1948 (May 22, 2017)

I just found an old K6-2 550. Will post some pictures soon. Any one have some old Socket7 MoBo around? I would love to build a retro Windows 98 machine.


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## stinger608 (May 23, 2017)

xkm1948 said:


> Any one have some old Socket7 MoBo around?



I've only got one Super Socket 7 board that I purchased brand new back in the day. I'm not letting that one go. 

@Mr.Scott might have something though.


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## Mr.Scott (May 23, 2017)

Nope, I only own 1 Super 7 board also.

The good one's are gettin kinda tough to find now.


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## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> The good one's are gettin kinda tough to find now.


Indeed, so I've noticed... I assumed finding the replacement Socket 7 board  for my Pentium 233 would be piece of cake, but I literally came up empty... if it wasn't for the pure dumb luck & fixing the mouse problem on my replacement board, this would had been yet another unfinished project/repair :-(

IMHO, Slot-1 is probably next... When I 1st got "into" old technology, back in 2012/13 these things were everywhere! And I really DO mean everywhere, you could buy truckloads for almost nothing, same thing for Slot-1 CPUs - both Celerons & Pentiums! Now these things are getting harder to find, I don't even remember seeing one for sale, ESPECIALLY offering it for free.


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## kithylin (May 23, 2017)

Well I've been trying for a good number of years now to get some of this hardware all together and after long searching.. I have it. This was the early setup for some some pre-build testing.. probably something some of you would of dreamed and drooled of back in 2005.

Asus CrossHair-I nForce 590 SLI AM2 motherboard.
Running here on my "test bench" .. (Which is just a box on a stool..  ) with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (K8 dual core 2x1MB) overclocked @ 3.75 Ghz, and a pair of GeForce 6800 Ultra PCI-Express 512MB cards in SLI. 2 x 2GB Kingston Hyper-X ddr2-1066 ram. Cooler Master GeminII S (the original 1st generation one, not the new one) heatsink.


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## uuuaaaaaa (May 23, 2017)

kithylin said:


> Well I've been trying for a good number of years now to get some of this hardware all together and after long searching.. I have it. Set up in my other room for some testing.. probably something some of you would of dreamed and drooled of back in 2005.
> 
> Asus CrossHair-I nForce 590 SLI AM2 motherboard.
> Running here on my "test bench" .. (Which is just a box on a stool..  ) with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (K8 dual core 2x1MB) overclocked @ 3.75 Ghz, and a pair of GeForce 6800 Ultra PCI-Express 512MB cards in SLI. 2 x 2GB Kingston Hyper-X ddr2-1066 ram. Cooler Master GeminII S (the original 1st generation one, not the new one) heatsink.



Oh man... Those 6800 ultra's bring me back! Back in the days almost got one of those, but went X850XT PE instead! Congratz, we need to see a full build now!


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## kithylin (May 23, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Oh man... Those 6800 ultra's bring me back! Back in the days almost got one of those, but went X850XT PE instead! Congratz, we need to see a full build now!



And sadly here's where I disappoint.. I still own all the hardware but the 6800 ultra's have been shelved and stored in a box, and the K8's been stored in a drawer. After lots of testing I came to find out that in actual games, the K8 when clocked really high (past 3.5 ghz) it gets into the dreaded "K8 timing bug" which makes games run like crud, unsmooth, jerky, etc. There was an AMD patch to address this, which I picked up and installed.. made it "Better" but didn't eliminate it. In the end I ended up finding a modified community bios from some german forums, from a post made in 2011 and put it in the board and made it run with a AMD Athlin IIx3 445 @ 3.85 ghz and switched it up for my pair of water cooled 'EVGA GTX 470 Hydro Copper FTW' cards I own and that's the result of the Crosshair system. I don't actually use it a whole lot these days but that's my WindowsXP gaming system. Runs XP-64 and has 8GB ram in it now, I picked up 2 more matching kingston sticks for it.


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## Kissamies (May 23, 2017)

Am I posting about too new hardware again? 

Anyway, I'm getting a new Pentium G4560 since the first was defective and I RMA'd it, and bought a new one for that time. Now the broken one is going to be replaced, and I'll be trading it to a MSI P67A-G45 board, so I can kick my 2500K some clock!


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## Bungz (May 24, 2017)

Hello guys

I have been having a play with one of those IDE to SD card adapters with some success. My idea was to have a card tucked away with each of the boards "ready to go" so to speak.

Works well with a class 10 card on windows 2000 on a P3 set up but with XP I am finding them rather useless, installing anything takes far longer than the same program on W2K and it has a tendency to just freeze up for periods of time.  This was tested on a much faster Athlon XP system so no CPU bottleneck so to speak.

Has any one else had success with this on XP? I know the through put is capped by the controller of the adapter to around 25mb/sec but access times are decent so wouldn't have expected to have had problems like this compared to the experience on W2K.


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## Trekkie4 (May 24, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Hello guys
> 
> I have been having a play with one of those IDE to SD card adapters with some success. My idea was to have a card tucked away with each of the boards "ready to go" so to speak.
> 
> ...


Personally, I have absolutely zero experience with these things, although I always wanted to give it a try... However, what I can do is point you in the right direction, go visit Phil's Computer Lab and/or his YouTube video on installing Windows 98 on a SD card and/or comparing SD card against HDD/SSD. Hopefully you'll find some answers to your questions


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## Bungz (May 25, 2017)

Yeah I watch some of his stuff, covers some good ground but not XP on a SD card using a similar adapter.

For now have found a lot of about 10 WD1600AAJB 160GB IDE drives, I am fairly sure they are one of the last IDE models made so hopefully will stand a chance of lasting a while ( though newer HD for me never seen to be as long lasting as drives of the past).


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## kithylin (May 25, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Yeah I watch some of his stuff, covers some good ground but not XP on a SD card using a similar adapter.
> 
> For now have found a lot of about 10 WD1600AAJB 160GB IDE drives, I am fairly sure they are one of the last IDE models made so hopefully will stand a chance of lasting a while ( though newer HD for me never seen to be as long lasting as drives of the past).



Just so you know, Western Digital makes IDE hard drives up to 500GB and they're still sold brand new today in 2017: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAAEE4WT8534


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## Bungz (May 25, 2017)

When I searched found articles that they stopped production end of 2013.

Those drives are sold by EOL tech, I think they are just refurbs sold for stupid money.

www.techpowerup.com/196073/western-digital-to-stop-shipping-pata-hard-drives.html


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (May 25, 2017)




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## Robert B (May 25, 2017)

*A RAINBOW OF CABLES* 

*Tweezers* for fine tuning 

Wire management still in progress...front panel cables, PC speaker and a final inspection of wires and connections.

*gallery: * https://postimg.org/gallery/11lcpwwfs/



 

 

 





*L.E.*
https://postimg.org/image/n0fkjnirb/


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## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2017)

@Robert B Wow, I really REALLY admire your perfectionism & attention to details!

And speaking of YouTube guides, check this one out!


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## Robert B (May 25, 2017)

Thanks Trekkie4.

I'm so anxious to finish the system because I think I have something special  The wires kind of remind me of old mainframes computers and wire wrapping.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-accidental-artistry-of-wire-wrapped-circuitry
http://www.bigmessowires.com/2009/02/02/wire-wrap-photos/
http://drhart.ucoz.com/index/laser_show_control_history/0-136

I think I have at least 12 or 15 hours invested only in WM and preparation of cables.It was worth every second of it  I lost count, that's for sure


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## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2017)

You really are taking retro gaming (and builds, in general) to a whole new level with this amount of details. Where on the other hand, I'm just aiming for decent work, but nothing unusual. I guess I'm aiming for realism, to achieve the quality & appearance similar to what you could (and would) get when & if you'd buy the system of your choice at the store. Which translates to decent cable management & component layout, but within limits


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## Robert B (May 25, 2017)

You should've seen my original 5x86 which I gave away back in the day. CABLE JUNGLE in every aspect  I opened it once to clean the CPU fan and I couldn't believe what was inside! The people who sold it couldnt care less for WM.

You have so many great systems and it would be a herculean task to make them all "show" ready.

In my case the great thing is I finish each job as it comes and I try not to get so many parts in and be unable to take the time and make them almost as new.

I keep a close eye on your posts


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## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2017)

Robert B said:


> You should've seen my original 5x86 which I gave away back in the day. CABLE JUNGLE in every aspect  I opened it once to clean the CPU fan and I couldn't believe what was inside!


Thanks bunches!  And right, I can only imagine  But that's just the thing, cable mess was a realistic scenario & often quite expected really, especially back in day when ppl still used floppy & ATA, SCSI ribbon cables. Of course, nowdays with SATA cables & modular power supplies everyone can do a decent job more-less, especially if you got the time & patience 

On a side note, I've been reading a lot online about Genius HF2020 V2 desktop speakers, and from what I've seen there's a lot of folks out there who doesn't seem to like them that much. Ppl are mainly complaining about the lack of bass and/or integrated amp shutting down & going out after 30 days of usage. This other problem was actually quite familiar, but it's related to the 1st revision which is why Genius released "V2" with updated amplifier & optical input instead of the coaxial (SPDIF) one. However, after playing several records, even CDs (in fact I just finished with GrimFandango soundtrack, from 1996) I have to say these are more than what I need. TBH, I was never really a fan of loud music, so the amount of bass that's coming through is over the top for my personal taste. And that's WITHOUT "extra bass" setting on the EQ. But that's what you get when you have 60W output, I suppose there's no way to tone them all the way down.


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## Robert B (May 25, 2017)

I have a pair of *EDIFIER R1800TIII 2.0 speakers* paired with a  Creative SB ZX. I keep the ZX without any enhancements and the EQ flat. Treble and Bass + 2. They sound fantastic, at least to my ears 

I tried the EDIFIER R1800TIII with the Creative AWE64 Gold in NFS PU and the sound was also great.


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## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2017)

Right, but yours have bass & treble controls on the back, where HF2020 is completely automated. I suppose that's one downside to this particular model, but then again I don't like to fiddle with the controls too much. Usually I set them according to my personal taste & leave them as it is, forever


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## Disparia (May 26, 2017)

I'm storing another motherboard in the same box as the Black Pearl. The story about it is much shorter though. I found an old Gateway 2000 Server on the side of the road about 15 years ago. Most of it was in bad shape or missing. Kept the motherboard as it would make for great wall art some day.

My first computer was a Pentium 75, so this 486 stuff is just a little before my time. I'm also 14 years old, so warez and nudie pics take up a portion of my attention. However, you learn a lot of about bandwidth, resolution, kilobytes, etc, when you only have a 14.4 modem and 730MB hard drive.

I do know from old articles that 486 SMP configurations varied wildly among manufacturers. There were simple boards like this one, but others with mixed 386 and 486 CPUs! Some had 8 CPUs!

That's kind of amazing to me because my first SMP experience is when I meet a guy with a dual Pentium Pro 180. The idea of _two_ CPUs is new to me, I'm still unaware of even larger systems. After organizing my jpegs, I research and learn all about Pentium Pro, cache sizes, and SMP in general. I don't buy a Pentium Pro system though, because they're still pretty expensive at this time. I save and buy a used pair of Pentium II 233 and dual slot 1 motherboard off eBay years later as my first SMP system.


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## kithylin (May 26, 2017)

4-processor and 8-processor servers have been around for a looooooooong time now. There's even an odd 6-processor Pentium-Pro system that just recently came on ebay last week.

A random 4-processor machine from 2005, based on Pentium4 Technology: http://hexus.net/business/news/ente...-details-iwill-quad-xeon-high-density-server/

I even own a Dell 4-processor Pentium-III server in the garage. I don't use it much today though because it's mostly useless.. uses about 300 watts of power without hard drives, and a little 20-watt dual core cpu from 2006 is faster performance wise.


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## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2017)

Indeed... As someone who got to experience dual-slot 1 system (even if it was for a day or two), I have to say I'm seriously disappointed with the performance. Not to mention it's only compatible with certain group of selected software and OS, which makes it pretty much useless in the terms of every-day usage or even retro gaming 

I even converted my HP Kayak XU800 back to its factory specs, running single 800MHz CPU instead of dual 1000MHz ones. The reason was pretty simple, the system was overheating and consuming way too much power, and yet I didn't see any noticeable improvements in the terms of speed & performance.


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## kithylin (May 26, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Indeed... As someone who got to experience dual-slot 1 system (even if it was for a day or two), I have to say I'm seriously disappointed with the performance. Not to mention it's only compatible with certain group of selected software and OS, which makes it pretty much useless in the terms of every-day usage or even retro gaming
> 
> I even converted my HP Kayak XU800 back to its factory specs, running single 800MHz CPU instead of dual 1000MHz ones. The reason was pretty simple, the system was overheating and consuming way too much power, and yet I didn't see any noticeable improvements in the terms of speed & performance.



I haven't tested it yet really myself extensively... the only multi-socket systems I've ever owned are my big 4-P3 dell, and it won't utilize any sort of "3D video card" what so ever, only the onboard video. So I can't test gaming on it, sadly. Except maybe a Voodoo2 SLI might work. But in theory any game designed for multi-core as modernish games from 2005 -> forward should use it all fine, and WindowsXP supports dual cpu and treats it just like any dual core computer. It's probably more of you were just playing old single-core based games actually.

I own a dual-Pentium-Pro motherboard I bought summer 2016 but haven't been able to get it running yet.. no money for cpu's and I have to spend the money on other stuff. I did pick up a 550 watt power supply recently from Antec that has a hefty +5V rail, (a requirement for old pre-p4-connector systems). Modern power supplies can't handle those systems, the +5v rail on modern units is usually like 20 amps or less, probably not enough for a pair of P-Pro's.

A little bit of info for you. The very first dual core CPU's from Intel actually were two single core cpu's slapped on a cpu package together with an inter-connect, and technically -WERE- "2 cpu systems" and sold to the masses as "A dual core cpu!".

EDIT: An image of the first dual core CPU's from Intel, Pentium4 era Pentium-D chip:


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## Disparia (May 26, 2017)

Oh yeah, I don't want to get one running these days 

I was the odd-fan of Windows NT (and BeOS) back in those days for the SMP support. If software didn't work in NT, the fallback was Windows 95/98 depending on the year. It's probably why I have such good memories of 95/98 -- I was only running it 20% of the time.

Had a small number of other SMP systems over the years, finally ending with a pair of hyper-threaded Xeons (they came before P4 HT). After that, we get multi-core CPUs from AMD. My 3800 X2 at 2.5Ghz was amazing 



6-way P-Pro? Could be an ALR 6x6, it's famous for supporting 6 OverDrive 333Mhz CPUs. Normally you can only have 2 Overdrives, but that particular board has bridge chips to allow 6 of them in a system. Never had one, but was a big collectible awhile back.


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## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2017)

Heh, I'm still using one of these Pentiums D on a daily basis, it's paired up with Gigabyte P31-ES3G, has 2GB of DDR2 and ATI X1550, running Win7... I'm using it for emails, HiFi and/or video watching & editing  Basically, a full multimedia system, this is the system that's paired with Genius HF2020 speakers!

Yes, the Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 will most likely work OK, since these are not being recognized as video adapters. In fact, Voodoo 1 & 2 are not capable of 2D environment, so you still have to use the onboard solution, in combination with 3dfx. And yeah, that's just it! Personally, 2005 is not retro OR nostalgic for my taste, just old (but still modern enough for today's standards) So I just don't see a point in making a dedicated "retro" system for games from this time period, since I can easily play them on my daily runner Q6600 for example, which still has XP along with Win7. But that's my personal opinion of course 

As for the Pentium Pro, I was fortunate enough to pick up one for free. Been searching for the CPUs and motherboards separately for months, but couldn't find anything! Then I got lucky & picked up the entire Pro system, but it's a single CPU model. Has solder pads for optional expansion (better model, perhaps?) to dual CPU system, but overall I'm just glad to have at least one in my collection


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## kithylin (May 26, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Heh, I'm still using one of these Pentiums D on a daily basis, it's paired up with Gigabyte P31-ES3G, has 2GB of DDR2 and ATI X1550, running Win7... I'm using it for emails, HiFi and/or video watching & editing  Basically, a full multimedia system, this is the system that's paired with Genius HF2020 speakers!
> 
> Yes, the Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 will most likely work OK, since these are not being recognized as video adapters. In fact, Voodoo 1 & 2 are not capable of 2D environment, so you still have to use the onboard solution, in combination with 3dfx. And yeah, that's just it! Personally, 2005 is not retro OR nostalgic for my taste, just old (but still modern enough for today's standards) So I just don't see a point in making a dedicated "retro" system for games from this time period, since I can easily play them on my daily runner Q6600 for example, which still has XP along with Win7. But that's my personal opinion of course
> 
> As for the Pentium Pro, I was fortunate enough to pick up one for free. Been searching for the CPUs and motherboards separately for months, but couldn't find anything! Then I got lucky & picked up the entire Pro system, but it's a single CPU model. Has solder pads for optional expansion (better model, perhaps?) to dual CPU system, but overall I'm just glad to have at least one in my collection



Most of the world has moved on to modern Core i3/i5/i7 / amd ryzen systems for their daily computers. Or at least something better than Intel-775 yeaaaaars ago. I couldn't imagine anyone still using that stuff for modern web browsing and daily stuff. In fact chrome dumped gpu acceleration for any GPU older than DirectX-11 last week even. As well, windows 7 (as much as I love it) is still technically a "Obsolete" operating system now and is gradually being dropped support wise for browsers and gpu drivers I believe next year. Most everyone has moved on to windows 10 now a days for their modern computers. Which comes in the problem.. a lot of 2005 and older games won't run on the newer OS's. I'm actually having to dual-boot win7 and windows 10 on my big 3770K-I7 system just to play some games that won't run in win10.

So technically "Windows 7" is retro today. As well my primary "web browsing" computer is a 3.4 ghz 2nd generation Intel i3 cpu with a GTX 470, and I'm having bad difficulty browsing today's internet on this system and probably have to upgrade the gpu in it soon.


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## Bungz (May 26, 2017)

Maybe just sack off Chrome 

Firefox + addons for forcing youtube to use H264 means old hardware should run a treat for the time being.

I was messing with a 2Ghz core duo and a 8400Gs this morning, 1080 video on youtube and about 10% cpu usage.

Its the codecs that youtube have started to use that's killing off older gpus because they don't support the decoding of H265/VP9, support is still very limited even for modern GPU's. There are no low end cards that support HEVC decoding other than a Nvidia 1050 or intels kabylake.


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## Disparia (May 26, 2017)

About 3 months ago I pulled together my oldest parts and gave my sister-in-law a system.

Gigabyte Ultra Durable 3 P45
Core 2 Duo E6400 (overclocked)
8GB DDR2-800 (4 x 2GB)
Radeon HD 5670 1GB
640GB WD Black
Windows 7

That's about as old as I can imagine using today (as a daily driver, not our retro hobby systems)_. _Her boyfriend says it's just enough to run vanilla Skyrim on their 720p TV, along with Netflix.

My hope is that it runs until Christmas. My other hope is Zen APUs being available around Christmas.


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## kithylin (May 26, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Maybe just sack off Chrome
> 
> Firefox + addons for forcing youtube to use H264 means old hardware should run a treat for the time being.
> 
> ...



Modern firefox is dropping gpu acceleration for older gpu's soon as well, I found it in their documentation, so is opera. And I'm not just talking youtube. I mean browsing script-heavy websites even without flash in them. The browsers use gpu acceleration for random websites, not just flash. They've been doing that for years. We're slowly being forced to "move on" in hardware just to keep using the internet.


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## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2017)

kithylin said:


> Most of the world has moved on to modern Core i3/i5/i7 / amd ryzen systems for their daily computers. Or at least something better than Intel-775 yeaaaaars ago. I couldn't imagine anyone still using that stuff for modern web browsing and daily stuff. In fact chrome dumped gpu acceleration for any GPU older than DirectX-11 last week even. As well, windows 7 (as much as I love it) is still technically a "Obsolete" operating system now and is gradually being dropped support wise for browsers and gpu drivers I believe next year. Most everyone has moved on to windows 10 now a days for their modern computers. Which comes in the problem.. a lot of 2005 and older games won't run on the newer OS's. I'm actually having to dual-boot win7 and windows 10 on my big 3770K-I7 system just to play some games that won't run in win10.
> 
> So technically "Windows 7" is retro today. As well my primary "web browsing" computer is a 3.4 ghz 2nd generation Intel i3 cpu with a GTX 470, and I'm having bad difficulty browsing today's internet on this system and probably have to upgrade the gpu in it soon.


Well, considering I've just upgraded my Q6600 rig not so long ago to 8GB of DDR2, I don't think I'll be moving to a new platform any time soon. Probably not for the next 4-5 years to say, at least. TBH I can't afford i7 at the moment, and don't really see much of a point since both Q6600 and 8800GT can pull just about anything - even GTA V which is considered one of the newest & most demanding titles out there.


----------



## kithylin (May 26, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, considering I've just upgraded my Q6600 rig not so long ago to 8GB of DDR2, I don't think I'll be moving to a new platform any time soon. Probably not for the next 4-5 years to say, at least. TBH I can't afford i7 at the moment, and don't really see much of a point since both Q6600 and 8800GT can pull just about anything - even GTA V which is considered one of the newest & most demanding titles out there.



We're going off topic here but.. I find that very very hard to believe you can manage that on that old system. I have a big 3770K @ 4.8 ghz and a overclocked R9 290X 8GB and it still can't run GTA-V maxed out at maximum settings @ 1080p-60 FPS. I'm not sure what you'd have to turn off/down for a 8800GT to even hope of running that.. Lowest possible settings @ 30 FPS or so?  not a very enjoyable experience. I even tried it on a pair of GTX 470's a while back and it was pretty slow on medium-low even then.


----------



## Disparia (May 26, 2017)

Well, to tie it back into nostalgia my first monitor was Gateway Vivitron 17" @ 1024x768. Most games however ran at 320x240 or 640x480. It was a CRT, so scaling issues were non-existent. But the point is, that some of us might be very accepting of "less than maximum" graphics? I love 1994-onward which includes many graphical styles and improvements over last couple decades.

But I certainly see the other side, I want to build a simple and cheap APU system for my sister-in-law and her family. The latest tech makes life easier, but for right now they gotta live lean on my old C2D


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2017)

kithylin said:


> We're going off topic here but.. I find that very very hard to believe you can manage that on that old system. I have a big 3770K @ 4.8 ghz and a overclocked R9 290X 8GB and it still can't run GTA-V maxed out at maximum settings @ 1080p-60 FPS. I'm not sure what you'd have to turn off/down for a 8800GT to even hope of running that.. Lowest possible settings @ 30 FPS or so?  not a very enjoyable experience. I even tried it on a pair of GTX 470's a while back and it was pretty slow on medium-low even then.


You're right, we should move on. Just wanted to add this, I never said the game is maxed out lol It's running on the bare minimum, with around 25-30 around the open areas, sometimes (quite rarely) slows down to 10 in Los Santos, around the major intersections & highway. So the game is indeed playable, and my Q6600 is overclocked to 3.00GHz which kinda helps with the overall performance which is why I'm running Hyper 212 instead of the stock CPU cooler


----------



## kithylin (May 26, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> You're right, we should move on. Just wanted to add this, I never said the game is maxed out lol It's running on the bare minimum, with around 25-30 around the open areas, sometimes (quite rarely) slows down to 10 in Los Santos, around the major intersections & highway. So the game is indeed playable, and my Q6600 is overclocked to 3.00GHz which kinda helps with the overall performance which is why I'm running Hyper 212 instead of the stock CPU cooler



I'm not sure if you realize but there's used HD 5870's on ebay today for $50, they're literally +266% faster than your card.. and you can snatch up Q9200 chips for $12 - $15 used instead of your old Q6600. There's some half way decent cards really cheap today. Heck even the mighty GTX 780 Ti cards are down to $160 now.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 26, 2017)

Pentium 4 vs. Windows 10 Pro x64 on Intel Optane 16GB : LINK (I know... overkill )

PS. Actually Smithfield core (first "Dual core" from Intel), looked like this : LINK, comparison to other Pentium D : LINK (source : LINK).


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2017)




----------



## Komshija (May 27, 2017)

I didn't even know I had these in a sealed box with old PC case. Now I remember - CPU is dead, while RAMs were a big surprise since I was selling them a few years ago without success. I tought that they were gone untill i found them today. They were in working condition some 7-8 years ago, so they should be OK.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2017)

Nah, the brand new DDR400 1GB module will cost you around 6USD, AND it comes with free shipping world-wide. So unless you offer it for half the price (2-3USD per module), you're probably not going to sell them any time soon.

Speaking of Athlons, I got my hands on XP2200 the other day... Still have to give it a try, but it's most likely working OK. Also got P4 @ 2.8GHz along with yet another P4 @ 1.4GHz Both S478....

On a side note, I'm finally done with Cherry keyboards  Squeaky clean, right out of my dishwasher, which is why I had to take them apart in the first place


----------



## micropage7 (May 27, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah, the brand new DDR400 1GB module will cost you around 6USD, AND it comes with free shipping world-wide. So unless you offer it for half the price (2-3USD per module), you're probably not going to sell them any time soon.
> 
> Speaking of Athlons, I got my hands on XP2200 the other day... Still have to give it a try, but it's most likely working OK. Also got P4 @ 2.8GHz along with yet another P4 @ 1.4GHz Both S478....
> 
> On a side note, I'm finally done with Cherry keyboards  Squeaky clean, right out of my dishwasher, which is why I had to take them apart in the first place


yeah classic keyboard, i dunno why now i feel its better thantodays keyboards. maybe coz im getting old?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2017)

Because it /IS/, period! Take a look at my previous post, these things actually have a metal plate underneath to make them heavier & more reliable. Not to mention the rubber feet, etc. You can actually see the manufacturing quality going downhill, just by comparing these 3 keyboards from the pic above... Even though all 3 of them look pretty much identical, the oldest one is obviously the best choice to go with. Sturdy, heavy & reliable, then there's 2nd model which more-less resembles the old one, but without grey keys, it's all made in one color. And then there's the 3rd one, PS2 version which uses cheap, silicone based domes (where the other two use real rubber), does NOT have a metal plate (so it's much lighter, comparing to other two) and feels "cheaper" overall.


----------



## micropage7 (May 27, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Because it /IS/, period! Take a look at my previous post, these things actually have a metal plate underneath to make them heavier & more reliable. Not to mention the rubber feet, etc. You can actually see the manufacturing quality going downhill, just by comparing these 3 keyboards from the pic above... Even though all 3 of them look pretty much identical, the oldest one is obviously the best choice to go with. Sturdy, heavy & reliable, then there's 2nd model which more-less resembles the old one, but without grey keys, it's all made in one color. And then there's the 3rd one, PS2 version which uses cheap, silicone based domes (where the other two use real rubber), does NOT have a metal plate (so it's much lighter, comparing to other two) and feels "cheaper" overall.


yep, rubber dome from old keyboard feels better than todays keyboard
metal plate makes it sturdy and you can't complain about their quality



SK-8815 lenovo keyboard


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2017)

I went through a LOT of different keyboards over the years, but nowdays I'm using Genius SlimStar C110. It's a cheap model, but surprisingly good actually! Got 3 of these, one for RetroMaster 2500 rig, one for Q6600 and one for Pentium D system.

They even included a liquid draining holes underneath, in case you spill water across the keyboard, so it simply drains away from the contacts, (hopefully) without shorting anything. Not that I ever had a situation like this before, but better safe than sorry!


----------



## Red_Machine (May 27, 2017)

I got an old mechanical Dell AT102W in black a few years back, I even posted it in here at the time I think.  I used that for a long while, before getting a cheap board with Cherry MX blues.  Now I'm using a buckling spring UNICOMP Classic, which is essentially the old IBM Model M with Windows keys.


----------



## kithylin (May 27, 2017)

micropage7 said:


> yep, rubber dome from old keyboard feels better than todays keyboard
> metal plate makes it sturdy and you can't complain about their quality.



This is exactly why I still use this very old Acer keyboard that originally went to an old 1990's Pre-MMX Pentium system I picked up years ago.. use it via PS/2 on my modern I7-3770K system for gaming and everything. It's not actually mechnical, but it definitely feels -A LOT- better than any of the "modern" rubber dome keyboards made out of plastic we get today. It also has a metal plate inside.


----------



## rtwjunkie (May 28, 2017)

Norton said:


> Found this in the closet this morning
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Late to reply on this and all, but that puppy looks to be in pristine condition!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 29, 2017)

No luck with that S775 Asus P5S800VM Vintage board, I recapped just about every single capacitor I could find & still getting artifacts across the screen. At this point I'm looking at the alternative mATX boards, but really - if this one doesn't work out (assuming I can't find a cheap one), this thing is getting parted out & rest will go to the recycling yard.


----------



## Bungz (Jun 3, 2017)

Bit quiet in here 

Got a bit of a thing for socket A stuff currently so bear with me 

I have a very beat up but functional SK41G shuttle based on a older KM266 chipset, so while it hums along nicely it wasn't the flashy Nforce 2 version.

Had been after one of these for a while as I built one up for a friend at University about 15 years ago, always was a bit Jelous of it!

Bought for peanuts, came with a 9550 so swapped that for a 6800GS I had around. After a good clean out it runs perfectly. I have since bought a black one local, so now have a pair 

   

Picked up a K7S5A with blow caps a few weeks back, recapped it and stupidly killed it. Luckily they are cheap so bought another and transfered all caps across. For £4 delivered I got a palamino XP2000 and a cooler thrown in too.


----------



## Bungz (Jun 3, 2017)

But wait there is more!


   

Think I have another KV7 but when Abit boards come up for cheap I tend to buy them, same with the Gigabyte board. Both KT600 chipset boards which I usually find pretty reliable.

The Asus A7N266-VM is a Nforce 220 board, shame it has no Dual channel mem support but does seem to have Soundstorm. One day I must find a cheap Dolby Digital Reciever.

Oh and it needs recapping 

Been trying to find one of these for about  year, managed to get it for reasonable money and boxed so will update when I have had a play with it, got a few boards this will fit  
 

Thats all for now


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 3, 2017)

That CPUEZ board is frigging awesome man!


----------



## Bungz (Jun 3, 2017)

Plan is to take a K8Upgrade-NF3 754 socket board with  limit of 1 core and 2GB of memory  all the way to a Dual core with 8GB of DDR2 

Fair play to Asrock too, all the info is still on the product web pages


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 9, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> That CPUEZ board is frigging awesome man!


My thought exactly, I never seen one before back then. Can't believe I seen one in 2017  the CPU port looks similar to AGP weirdly


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 9, 2017)

Agreed, I thought it actually was!! (AGP, that is) It even has that locking hook & voltage notch just like AGP...


----------



## Bungz (Jun 11, 2017)

Have been playing with some other bits and bobs, will try test it out this week.

I am pretty sure it is a AGP slot in design but it is too far back in the board for anyone to be able to use it for a graphics card.


----------



## Bungz (Jun 11, 2017)

Some more bits.

My black shuttle 

The ECS motherboard is a odd bod SIS chipset affair. ECS 648FX-A

Looks absolutle poverty but can take 800fsb Nothwoods and doesn't seem too slow, also came with a Jet 4 cooler.

Been after a 4670 AGP for a while, they usually go for bonkers money.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 13, 2017)

Things are pretty quiet on my end, I was hoping to get that S775 Asus system up & running, to have it converted into retro Steam platform for playing "Orange Box" titles, but due to the fact I can't seem to find replacement board it's not going to happen any time soon. Instead, I'm most likely going to end up swapping S775 for S478 instead (Asus P4S533-MX) and pair it with P4 chip running 2.8GHz. This is going to be a noticeable step down from the previous model due to AGP 4X (instead of 8X) and DDR333 (instead of DDR400), but I'm hoping to minimize the effects through overclock and 2GB of RAM.

The only "problem" is that I'm out of I/O shields for Asus boards, which are using uniquely shaped design due to S/PDIF jack being located where you would normally expect to find COM/serial port interface and (being a perfectionist) I don't want to leave the open gap. Besides, I had a particular situation once before with the Slot 1 Chaintech board where plugging the USB devices into the USB port would cause the system to crash, because it wasn't grounded and/or in direct contact with the chassis, so it's most definitely out of the question. After all, the I/O shield is there for a reason 

On a side note, I am in the process of getting something pretty cool! New old stock, never used VHS VCR from around 1988. It's a cheap & basic model, but holds great nostalgia factor (at least for me, personally) since my family had one of those when I was around 2-3 years old and it was used intensively throughout 14 years before it fell apart. But this one is literally brand new, still inside the original box, featuring the remote control, instruction manuals, even styrofoam frames which hold the unit firmly inside the box!


----------



## Bungz (Jun 13, 2017)

Man I loved VHS as a kid, recorded the heck out of everything! 

I would check if your new deck has any belts in it, if so they will need to be sourced. 

And it is easier to figure out what belts go where before you press play and they all snap and turn to mush!

Ask me how I know that.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 13, 2017)

Don't worry, I happen to be somewhat skillful with these things lol  Seriously though, I'm collecting VCRs, and been tinkering with inner workings ever since I was old enough to hold the screwdriver  But yes, this is a reasonable & valid warning, belts are most definitely going to be shot. Either completely dried up, have that solid plastic feel OR alternatively they completely melted into tar-like material, and will have to be scraped & cleaned from the pulleys inside.

This particular one uses the famous Funai Mk3 drive, which was (and still is) among cheaper designs, using 4 belt configuration & two motors. One, primary motor drives the capstan through the wide, flat belt AND it also drives the idler, clutch assembly. When ejecting the tape, the main motor also snaps into position closer to the nearby pulley, so it doubles as tape elevator, aka ejection mechanism motor as well. The other, smaller motor drives ONLY the cam gear alone, and uses a separate belt. Simple design, yet seems to confuse the heck out of most ppl who take these apart, as most of them can't seem to work out how the tape eject portion works since there's no apparent source of power, torque 









This SEG VCR HERE is one of many VCRs created on the same image & design, running IDENTICAL drive inside. There was a lot of these around back in the 90s, the one we had when I was younger was made by the company "Marquant" but really, it was pretty much rebadged SEG, Anitech, Tensai, Interbuy or any other similar VCR with this particular design & mechanical deck. It might not seem like there's much to it, and the name "Funai" would normally repel most ppl nowdays,  but these things are very durable, back from the time & era when Funai actually made high quality stuff!

Also worth pointing out is the rubber bumper, which is even pointed out in the pic above. This thing engages and disengages the brakes, so if it gets soft and/or falls off, the entire deck will be locked (or at least partially locked) and will have problems with basic operations. Something to keep in mind, but that's pretty simple to fix even if you don't happen to have a replacement part in stock. Usually a piece of phone cable insulation does the trick...


----------



## Bungz (Jun 13, 2017)

Can see you are one step ahead lol

Good luck with it


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 13, 2017)

Well, I first have to actually get it, I'm still negotiating with the seller but thanks  If I actually DO end up buying this thing, I'll definitely upload more pics & info  I'm curious though, are you also in the same "area", of fixing tape decks & VCRs?


----------



## PHaS3 (Jun 13, 2017)

*Server nostalgia!*

Picked this up today for what amounts to about $16 (USD).

HP DL380 G4
2x Xeon 3.2GHz (800MHz fsb, http://ark.intel.com/products/27083/64-bit-Intel-Xeon-Processor-3_20E-GHz-2M-Cache-800-MHz-FSB)
6GB DDR2 ECC RAM
6x 72.8GB 10K RPM SCSI U320 Drives
QLogic Fiber Channel PCI X Card

Fully working, installed Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS on it this morning. Noisy swine, though :|


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 13, 2017)

Got a new mb to my 2500K platform, finally I can OC that little bastard..

Pics tomorrow. 


edit: I need to sober up before I picture that. Also HD6970 coming for that PC.


----------



## Bungz (Jun 14, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, I first have to actually get it, I'm still negotiating with the seller but thanks  If I actually DO end up buying this thing, I'll definitely upload more pics & info  I'm curious though, are you also in the same "area", of fixing tape decks & VCRs?


Just a tinkerer really, fixed up a tape deck for my old man last year, nothing fancy but he was happy to be able to play his tapes.

Have seen some teardowns of the early VHS units, so many belts and all impossible to get to


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 14, 2017)

Oh man, I've been messing around with tape decks the other day, I hate these things. Used to love them back in a day, but unfortunately due to the lack of replacement parts & belts they're slowly becoming a nightmare to maintain. The biggest issue is the belt tension which slows the motor, transmission resulting with noticeable wow & flutter, sometimes even tape damage. VCRs on the other hand are more tolerant to these things, probably due to more powerful motors & larger design. Nevertheless, these things are slowly fading away from the history, so it's worth every effort IMHO 

Edit
Here's several pics of that new old VCR I mentioned yesterday. Pics are not mine, they've been downloaded from the online listing, which the seller uploaded & advertised. But I've been in touch with this guy, so assuming this isn't a scam I'll be getting the VCR some time next week, probably around Monday or Tuesday  The asking price was around 53USD, but we managed to make a deal (trade) in the end for a cheap Android-powered smartphone.


----------



## Bungz (Jun 16, 2017)

Something very cool about retro stuff that has been sat patiently in its box since new.

Finding a old crt 32" to go with it in it's box might be more of a challenge 

Oh and I eventually found one of these


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 16, 2017)

Faw an Abit NF7S I had one of those blew anything else outta the water


----------



## Red_Machine (Jun 16, 2017)

I used nForce chipset motherboards up until nVIDIA stopped making the chipsets.  Still got my old 980a SLI board in a drawer under my bed.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 16, 2017)

Yep, I still have this board from when I started this thread.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 18, 2017)

My cousin gave his ancient Digidesign MBox to me, the one he uses back in early 2000's for recording and stuff. It's not nostalgic to all you folks but I did one time asking wanted to have this back in 2006 but he still uses it. Can't believe I have it now.


 

I quite worried I won't find any driver to use for Windows 10, and I am right the driver stopped at Windows XP and beta Windows 7 but a quick Googling I found a driver that worked with Windows 10, with ASIO and all that.



 

Surprisingly it still work despite it's age which I estimate at least 15-17 years old! The headphone amp drives my Sennheiser HD 555 beautifully and a couple of TRS to RCA adapter it works with my current speaker as well. It's only max 16-bit 48kHz but the sound it spits out is great. I'm going to disassemble it to see what's the DAC and USB input is.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jun 18, 2017)

Two DFI Lanparty X58 t3eh8   (2009)

Both currently running Xeon W3520 @ 4.0 Ghz  (2009)


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Jun 18, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Two DFI Lanparty X58 t3eh8   (2009)
> 
> Both currently running Xeon W3520 @ 4.0 Ghz  (2009)



I miss DFI and Abit!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 18, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I miss DFI and Abit!


so do i ... i am glad i could fetch, albeit being a problematic one, a DFI LanParty NF4-UT for my collection ....

now Abit.... that's another story .... i never saw one either in retail or second hand in my country .... i wonder why


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 18, 2017)

YEAH Lan Party gear was the bomb I still like their color scheme to this day


----------



## Komshija (Jun 19, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh man, I've been messing around with tape decks the other day, I hate these things. Used to love them back in a day, but unfortunately due to the lack of replacement parts & belts they're slowly becoming a nightmare to maintain. The biggest issue is the belt tension which slows the motor, transmission resulting with noticeable wow & flutter, sometimes even tape damage. VCRs on the other hand are more tolerant to these things, probably due to more powerful motors & larger design. Nevertheless, these things are slowly fading away from the history, so it's worth every effort IMHO


 VCR's faded away a few years ago, just like DVD players are fading away as this very moment. The problem is not only in parts that are not produced anymore but also in less and less qualified technicians who are able to repair such devices, because mostly thanks to the USA where these trends originated from, we became a purely consumer society that will throw away the product and buy a new one rather than fix anything. If, for the example, a TV power cable somehow broke I bet that 99% western consumers will throw away a perfectly fine TV without rather than fix such simple problem. Manufacturers are responding accordingly to that and that's why we have poor quality devices, even considering the extremely expensive top-models from top tier manufacturers.



Trekkie4 said:


> Here's several pics of that new old VCR I mentioned yesterday.


 Interbuy? What's that for a brand? This if the first time I heard about this brand.
You reminded me that I have Sharp VCR from the 80's or 90's (definitely bought prior to 1995 as far as I remember). I have to find it and check what model is it, but according to my memory it looks very similar to the one on the photo below and I know that all commands/buttons on VCR and on remote with small LCD on the top are in German. Unfortunately, it needs a repair since something either broke or moved out of alignment. Last time I remember it pulled out and jammed (crumpled) the tape. I doubt that the model is "VCA206" as photo owner said.


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 19, 2017)

Komshija said:


> VCR's faded away a few years ago, just like DVD players are fading away as this very moment. The problem is not only in parts that are not produced anymore but also in less and less qualified technicians who are able to repair such devices, because mostly thanks to the USA where these trends originated from, we became a purely consumer society that will throw away the product and buy a new one rather than fix anything. If, for the example, a TV power cable somehow broke I bet that 99% western consumers will throw away a perfectly fine TV without rather than fix such simple problem. Manufacturers are responding accordingly to that and that's why we have poor quality devices, even considering the extremely expensive top-models from top tier manufacturers.
> 
> Interbuy? What's that for a brand? This if the first time I heard about this brand.
> You reminded me that I have Sharp VCR from the 80's or 90's (definitely bought prior to 1995 as far as I remember). I have to find it and check what model is it, but according to my memory it looks very similar to the one on the photo below and I know that all commands/buttons on VCR and on remote with small LCD on the top are in German. Unfortunately, it needs a repair since something either broke or moved out of alignment. Last time I remember it pulled out and jammed (crumpled) the tape. I doubt that the model is "VCA206" as photo owner said.
> ...



I used to own one of these until it was stolen 



 

Damn it was a great machine Beta quality on VHS although the tapes were expensive as shit


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 19, 2017)

Komshija said:


> VCR's faded away a few years ago, just like DVD players are fading away as this very moment. The problem is not only in parts that are not produced anymore but also in less and less qualified technicians who are able to repair such devices, because mostly thanks to the USA where these trends originated from, we became a purely consumer society that will throw away the product and buy a new one rather than fix anything. If, for the example, a TV power cable somehow broke I bet that 99% western consumers will throw away a perfectly fine TV without rather than fix such simple problem. Manufacturers are responding accordingly to that and that's why we have poor quality devices, even considering the extremely expensive top-models from top tier manufacturers.
> 
> Interbuy? What's that for a brand? This if the first time I heard about this brand.
> You reminded me that I have Sharp VCR from the 80's or 90's (definitely bought prior to 1995 as far as I remember). I have to find it and check what model is it, but according to my memory it looks very similar to the one on the photo below and I know that all commands/buttons on VCR and on remote with small LCD on the top are in German. Unfortunately, it needs a repair since something either broke or moved out of alignment. Last time I remember it pulled out and jammed (crumpled) the tape. I doubt that the model is "VCA206" as photo owner said.
> ...


As I explained @Bungz in our conversation, this Interbuy is not really Interbuy at all. Same units came under several different names, including Tensai, Schneider, SEG, Marquant, Anitech & many others. However, these are all clones, pretty much just relabeled units from Shintom-Funai. We all know of course about Funai (and their terrible products), but what most ppl don't seem to realize is that Funai actually made (well, distributed) high quality units back in the 80s, early 90s. Long story short, Funai corporation ordered a durable (yet cheap) design from the company Shintom, known for professional-grade VCR solutions (therefore not consumers, average home users) and so Shintom came up with the mechanism from my earlier post, also known as Funai 3 or Funai Mk3.







There's a lot of legal debates behind this particular design, some claim it was developed by Funai (since they asked for this to be made, mass-produced), others claim it's the Shintom behind everything & say that Funai was nothing more than just a business associate, their biggest customer who bought thousands of these & built them into their (Funai) VCRs from that era so I'm not going to debate who's right and who's not. However, I DO happen to know that you can't find this deck under the Shintom name or specifications, it's actually listed as Funai 3, and I'm talking about part catalogs & distribution network, not some Wikipedia article  But with that being said, this unit WAS indeed manufactured by Shintom, and you can tell it's durable & highly reliable, it's designed to be completely interchangeable, so you can rip out & replace just about every single component inside. Even the metal framework, chassis itself!

If you're interested in more details & facts, I highly recommend that you watch this video here, the guy is talking about Shintom VCR clone which is more-less identical to my "Interbuy" and all other brands which used the same template









Also, feel free to compare these VCRs yourself 
Here we have a SEG VCR8000 model




That's using the SAME Shintom-Funai deck as every other one:





Then there's Anitech 6001





MultiTech (unknown model)





And/or Tensai...





Also worth mentioning is that Shintom mechanism was also used by large & popular names from back in a day, even nowdays. Companies such as Teac, Aiwa, Casio & similar, it was a great choice for budget models. The only downside to this design are the 4 belts, which of course tend to stretch over time & cause complete chaos within the tape transport & mechanical timing. But with that being said, belt design is what made this VCR so cheap in the first place, so there's no point in comparing it against the JVC deck for example, which had 5 direct drive motors. Still, it's far more better & reliable choice for watching old tapes, than using a modern VCR from around 2000s & newer.


----------



## Komshija (Jun 20, 2017)

^^ Thanks for the explanation.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jun 20, 2017)

I recently secured a piece of personal history.  After years of watching eBay, I finally found another example of my first laptop.  A Medion SIM 2000.
















It has an SiS 661FX chipset, and 1GB RAM.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 20, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> I recently secured a piece of personal history.  After years of watching eBay, I finally found another example of my first laptop.  A Medion SIM 2000.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's one pretty cool looking laptop (and it even has your pic on the screen)


----------



## DR4G00N (Jun 20, 2017)

A received nice package of DFI boards today. 

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert
DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D
DFI Lanparty UT nF3 250Gb

I've gotten a bunch of cpu's and a kit of Centon Advanced PC4000 2-2-2-5 BH-5 DIMM's with them too.

The Expert and Ultra-D work perfectly, just stuck a new battery in and they fired right up.

As for the 250Gb, it has blown caps but it's in brand new condition with all accessories still sealed. These boards are known for the caps to go bad apparently, so I'll order some new ones up and see if I can get it going.


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## Thimblewad (Jun 20, 2017)

If you manage this you get a nice system


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 21, 2017)

These three will be the one's you'll want.


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## DR4G00N (Jun 21, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> These three will be the one's you'll want.
> 
> View attachment 89269


I will give them a try when I can. Got an Opty 170 with them too. 

The Expert board is acting up a bit though, runs fine in the bios but won't boot into the os, just gives a black screen after the verifying dmi pool screen. 

Does the same when booting from CD. Got it to boot the win xp installer once but it just hanged after loading a few things.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 21, 2017)

Ram issue. 
DFI's are picky about what slots to use with certain varieties of ram.


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## DR4G00N (Jun 21, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Ram issue.
> DFI's are picky about what slots to use with certain varieties of ram.


I will try some more configs, been running the ram at auto so it may not like it much.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 21, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> I will try some more configs, been running the ram at auto so it may not like it much.


That's ok you're on auto till you figure it out.
What ram?


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## DR4G00N (Jun 21, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> That's ok you're on auto till you figure it out.
> What ram?


The kit of Centon BH-5 and Corsair TCCD.

Have them running at DDR400 2.5-3-3-5 2.8V. It runs the setup at those settings but it gets memory or hdd bsod's when partway through the setup. Edit: setting vdimm all the way to 3.2V seems to have gotten it to work proper. This is really quite odd...

The Ultra-D has no problems whatsoever with both these kits, boots into the os just fine.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 21, 2017)

The expert runs a different romsip profile than the Ultra D. More aggressive. BH-5 will work best in the yellow slots. TCCD works best in the orange slots.
The failsafe is one stick of ram in the orange slot closest to the CPU. If it won't load with that then you have another problem.
Battery at 3v? It needs to be.
Reflash bios. DFI's are bios corruptors when things go bad.


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## DR4G00N (Jun 21, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> The expert runs a different romsip profile than the Ultra D. More aggressive. BH-5 will work best in the yellow slots. TCCD works best in the orange slots.
> The failsafe is one stick of ram in the orange slot closest to the CPU. If it won't load with that then you have another problem.
> Battery at 3v? It needs to be.
> Reflash bios. DFI's are bios corruptors when things go bad.


@ 3.2V it installed xp and I'm at the desktop now. Battery is at 2.7V or so I'll buy some new ones and later flash the bios if that does nothing.


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## Ferrum Master (Jun 21, 2017)

Lanpartys never worked on auto. NEVER.

If it boots you are lucky. Everyghing needed to be set by hand in bios.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 21, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> @ 3.2V it installed xp and I'm at the desktop now. Battery is at 2.7V or so I'll buy some new ones and later flash the bios if that does nothing.


Nice.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 21, 2017)

Was going to post another update on my latest Interbuy find, but then decided to ask first & make sure that it's OK with everyone else in this thread... Is there any interest for VHS development, fixes & updates, or shall I keep the future conversations private?


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## DR4G00N (Jun 22, 2017)

Dropped my kit of CMX512-3200C2 (ProMOS) into the Expert and it ran perfect. DDR400 2-3-3-7 1T 2.6V boots os no problem.  

I will try different bios' on it. It may just have one that doesn't like BH-5 & TCCD.


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## stinger608 (Jun 22, 2017)

Of course, you can post up the pictures @Trekkie4


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## Komshija (Jun 22, 2017)

@Trekkie4 : Oh yes, I remember these motherboards. DFI's mobos were ultra popular because of "Lan party" marketing designation. It was a "must have" for exery serious gamer playing COD and CS 10 years ago.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 22, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Of course, you can post up the pictures @Trekkie4


Alrighty then! 

My "new" old Interbuy VCR finally arrived couple of days ago! Overall I'm happy with what I saw inside the box, as the unit was perfectly preserved from the water, mold and/or any other elements which could affect something that's been sealed inside the cardboard box for almost 30 years! However, with that being said I also got some bad news. Turns out it was also used at some point, maybe for 3-4 years, perhaps even less before the former owner put it back inside the box & maybe forgot about it? IDK...

One way or another, I don't feel cheated or scammed in any way, since the unit was most definitely out of service over the last 10yrs, maybe even longer. All the belts were indeed shot, some even broke when I tried to remove them, and the inside of the VCR is absolutely clean & preserved, looks brand new! It also has the original remote control, which is quite a rarity on these models, usually the remote falls apart 1st, or gets lost by the careless owners so when you buy 2nd hand unit, you most likely won't get the original remote.

So, with all this being said, it's time to show some pics 




Seeing the inside of a box like this immediately raised several questions & doubts. Original, factory-sealed unit would never be packed like this, instead it would have a small plastic bag with the remote control & batteries. However, as I already explained earlier, it's all good & turned out better than I expected.



 


Even before I picked this one up, I knew the belts would be a problem. In fact, on a brand new unit (that's never been used before) the belts would have been (even worse) problem! So I picked up this BV-1150 Video Belt kit for Funai 3 (Shintom) VCRs, for the price of approx. 2.55 USD, along with additional 5 USD or so for the pinch roller. Now, the pinch was mainly OK, and I suppose it could have been treated with "rubber renew" solution, but since I had no idea for how the unit was out of service, sealed inside the box, I just replaced all the rubber components. This way, the VCR will be good for at least 5 years or so!



 


And so I replaced all the belts and decided to give it a try... I figured the VCR would work perfectly fine, since everything else seemed OK - but I was wrong! Even though the motion cycle worked OK, cassette went in & out, even fast forward & rewind worked OK, as soon as I went into playback or record mode the pick up spool stopped turning & the tape was "spilling" out & around the moving parts, it wasn't being wound back into the cassette. And the problem turned out to be the idler assembly, those two gears in the background. And no, I'm not referring to the more obvious gears, right behind that large black pulley. I'm referring to the other two gears, which are barely visible, behind the metal chassis.




Can you see them now?



 


If not, you can most definitely see them now, since I had to remove the entire unit from the chassis! 
Again, this is something that would repel most VHS users, most of them would even be willing to give it up & throw the entire VCR into the dumpster. But really, it's a plain & simple problem (and fix). Due to sitting around for too long, the gears seized up, kinda "melted" onto the axles, resulting with too much friction & resistance for the clutch & motor to overcome. Which of course translates to geared idlers not being able to wind the tape into the housing, throughout the play & record cycle.



 


Even though the old gears were in good shape, and could have been cleaned & oiled to the point where the idler would work OK, I remembered having a spare set of Funai-Shintom parts in my collection, so I figured why not... Decided to use the old idler unit (that was ALSO seized up) for parts & use the gears on this "new" Interbuy VCR. Just in case you've been wondering, these spare parts came off the 3rd VCR years ago, which was technically my 1st attempt to find Funai Shintom in working (and preserved) condition. Unfortunately, the one I got through mail wasn't secured properly, so it came completely beaten & cracked from every single angle. All the buttons were broken, it even had (diagonally) cracked PCB, which made the entire unit worthless  On top of everything, it was also pitted with rust, as someone exposed it to water or damp environment over the years. Long story short, I kept everything I could off the mechanical deck, so now I have a spare set of video, audio & control heads, along with various gears & motors.




This part here is the clutch plate, which works the same way as the one in your car  The old clutch seemed OK, but it was just slightly on the loose side, as if the friction material plate inside started to deteriorate, so I replaced the clutch for the other one, from the spare idler. This is a very important component because it allows the constant output speed from the motor to compensate for various differences between the tapes & tape positions, when playing the tape. Like for example, when you are watching the tape at the beginning, your take up spool will be small, and will have to rotate faster to take up the same amount of tape comparing to a large spool (at the end of a tape), which has much larger diameter and will have to rotate way more slower, to take the same amount of slack tape that's coming from the pinch roller & capstan. Of course, the tape speed itself is ALWAYS the same, and it's regulated by the international VHS standards at 3.335 cm/s (1.313 ip/s) for SP, aka the Standard Play speed.



 


At this stage I started putting things back together again, even replaced the previously mentioned pinch roller with the new one. Again, the old pinch wasn't really that bad, but for the sake of perfection & reliability, I replaced everything! Yes, the capstan is indeed contaminated with iron-oxide particles from the tape, but needles to say I cleaned it up afterwards, along with all the heads  Note the metal chassis inside, that's in mint condition!!




I didn't bother showing you audio/control & erase heads, but THIS is what came off the head drum! Very important tip, when cleaning your drum on a VCR, ALWAYS USE the paper or special cleaning material for this purpose, DO NOT use cotton pads or q-tips. Heads are very small & fragile, and can easily get tangled inside the cotton material & get torn away from the drum, resulting with terminal damage for the VCR, unless you happen to have a spare head! These things can still be found on ebay & various shops, but are VERY expensive, especially for today standards, so it would make more sense to just give up the entire VCR & buy another one (or replace the entire deck)




And there you have it guys, the new old idler is inside the unit & this VCR is now ready to rock & roll  Looks pretty good, if I may say so, myself!



 

 

 
Side by side comparison between the old unit, which I had in service (and used as my "retro" VCR up until yesterday) and the "new" one, which is obviously in much better shape & condition! Yes, I actually had the same model over the last couple of years, but this other one was mangled by the previous owner, used & abused throughout the years! Some idiot placed an old CRT TV on top of the VCR, crushing the top cover (obviously), along with structural support beam of the mechanical deck itself, which messed up geometry, even cracked IR sensors from what I remember. However, I managed to strip all the necessary parts from that 3rd unit which I mentioned before, before I got rid of it, so it actually ended up being in working (and decent condition). Obviously, I couldn't do anything with the top cover, but the inner workings of this other one was completely sorted out, it had a general overhaul approx. 2 and a half years ago. So yeah, just in case you've been wondering, there's nothing obviously wrong with other VCR, apart from the fact it didn't have a remote, mangled case & water damage on the inside.




See what I'm talking about? But, I repeat - it DOES run perfectly fine!




This "old" VCR had also been heavily used, you can tell so by all the scratches on the tape elevator, this one had seen tons of tapes. That's quality for you guys, back when "Made in Japan" actually meant something!


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## Bungz (Jun 24, 2017)

Good work getting it up and running, nice to see horded parts of old machines justifying their worth.

Also am slightly jealous of the DFI NF3 250, friend had one and it was my first LP board I meddled with.

Not ever seen one up for sale 

Random pop quiz 

Whats interesting about this then?


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 24, 2017)

Indeed, I suppose so. It would have been a shame for me to throw away a working VHS deck, despite being in bad condition. These things cost a lot of money nowdays, assuming you can even find them in the first place!





Here, take the cassette loading elevator for example (available HERE), you can get this thing - brand new for 105€, which translates to approx. 117 USD!


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## dorsetknob (Jun 24, 2017)

have to dig out my Pioneer VHS (very high end for the Time )
and have a Tinker as it stopped working and i put it into storage (Attic)


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 24, 2017)

Pioneer made some high-end units back in a day, so it would definitely be worth the repairs IMHO, as long as you don't have to pay (too) much for the actual repairs, aka "hands"  Let us know if you work out anything!


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## biffzinker (Jun 24, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Random pop quiz
> 
> Whats interesting about this then?
> 
> View attachment 89449


The VRM heatsinks? There awfully big even for a Socket 478 motherboard.


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## Bungz (Jun 24, 2017)

It's prob a bit niche so will explain.

Pentium 4 motherboards with cheap and nasty SIS chipsets were nothing special until you look into trying to shove old things like AGP 1x and 2x cards into one. 

Socket A solutions and P3 options are common but P4 is a bit of a challenge.

Intel chipsets would be a no go with 478 Pentium 4's but there are some old Via and SIS chipset boards that have 4x universal slots which support 3.3v AGP cards, just not super easy to find the right one.


 

P4 2.6Ghz 533FSB Northwood with a Voodoo 3 currently  SIS 645DX chipset. There are boards that support HT USB 2.0 and Prescotts but this is enough for me as it was more or less free.


More reading:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html#universalagpmotherboard


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 25, 2017)

Bungz said:


> It's prob a bit niche so will explain.
> 
> Pentium 4 motherboards with cheap and nasty SIS chipsets were nothing special until you look into trying to shove old things like AGP 1x and 2x cards into one.
> 
> ...


Hmm, IDK... I had that Asus S478 board which had Intel chipset... Believe the model number was P4P800 SE. Gave the board to a friend who needed a working system, so it's not here any longer, but I might actually get it back some day


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## Bungz (Jun 25, 2017)

That has a 865 chipset, limited to 1.5 V/ 0.8 V.

Nice board though all the same


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## 5DVX0130 (Jun 25, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Random pop quiz
> 
> Whats interesting about this then?
> 
> View attachment 89449


All caps still looking healthy. Which is AMAZING, if still original, but I'm guessing it's been recaped at some point.
Also it being SiS chipset. Which could mean all sorts of horrors.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 26, 2017)

Time for some more nostalgic (PC) hardware... 

Earlier today, I've decided to re-visit one of my projects which never quite worked out the way I wanted (and expected). Long story short, I wanted a S3 Savage4 card for playing Unreal games in MeTaL mode (with full S3TC support!) You might remember me pairing that S3 card with ALi chipset motherboard, which for some odd reason didn't work. In fact, I had far more better results with nVidia's Vanta & M64 cards than with Savage.

So the entire idea got lost & forgotten until few days ago, when I found S3 card & decided to give it another go. However, this time (instead of building a new, dedicated system) I've decided to use one of my older, existing builds instead.




So yeah, here it is guys, it's a Celeron 333 running Windows 98. The chipset is 440BX, and comes with 64MB of SD-RAM.


 



It was originally designed for Voodoo Rush card (which obviously used the PCI slot), so the AGP port was left empty. However, since I don't have ANY other decent PCI cards, I've decided to pull this one out & re-purpose it for another build, more about that later on!


 



Honestly, I was kinda hesitating to use Savage again, especially after my previous experience with this card, but overall it does seem to be working so much better than with ALi chipset, AMD Duron system. That Celeron is indeed a bottleneck for the GPU (not to mention 64MB of RAM), and of course I could have easily upgraded the entire thing to something better, 500MHz Pentium III & 256MB of RAM, but I wanted it to remain original, the way I originally designed it. Which is cheap, simple & effective system for playing nostalgic games 

As you can probably see from the pics below, most of the games are running smoothly, and I'm getting up to 2514 3DMarks, which is roughly twice as higher than what I had with Voodoo Rush. Come to think of it, I BARELY scored 1242 points on that ALi board, and the CPU was twice the speed of this one (and it had 4x more memory than THIS system here!)


 

 

 



Previous S3 results, under 3DMark 2000 v1.1 with ALi chipset, AMD Duron 950 & 256MB of DDR RAM...
_*Savage4 Pro*_



*Vanta/M64*


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 26, 2017)

Sooo yeah, not bad... Not bad at all, looks like I FINALLY have my S3TC MeTaL system up & running  Meanwhile, I also started yet another project. You guys remember that Pentium Pro I wrote about? Yeah well, this particular system has all the bells & whistles integrated into the motherboard, but it doesn't have AGP slot. And since the onboard graphics was provided by Matrox Mystique, I couldn't run anything better than a Doom 2, Duke Nukem and/or games like Need For Speed II & Quake in software mode.




The only problem was to fit the card inside the case, with all those SCSI cables, terminators, sound & ethernet leads going from one end to another, without flexing (or damaging) the card too much


 



I removed the old Matrox drivers & swapped them over for 3dfx ones, everything worked OK ... for a while!


 



I even got the Quake (in GL mode) started, just to confirm that the card is indeed working as it should.




But this is where things started to go downhill... My old SCSI drive(s) inside this thing (which already developed bad sectors, from god knows when) got completely corrupted, and kept trying to read data from the platter, but obviously couldn't, so I ended up with tons of random errors & read-problems. Still not quite sure what to do with it, I might even go for a standard IDE drive, but one way or another, it HAS to be replaced, otherwise the entire unit is completely worthless  Stay tuned for updates, in the words of Star Trek, it's "To be continued..."


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## MaxiPro800 (Jun 27, 2017)

Since I just upgraded my main PC again (from dual-core to quad-core), I had some parts left and with them I built a PC with these:

Allied AL-A400ATX (120mm fan)
ASUS K8N4-E nForce 4
512MB RAM (will replace with Kingston Value 1GB stick)
WDC WD800JB 80GB IDE HDD
LG GSA-4167B (white bezel version)
Sapphire Radeon HD3450 1GB PCI-E
JNC RJA-FQ-70 case
AMD Sempron 2800+
Windows Codename "Longhorn" Build 5048


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2017)

Well... This took me longer than I expected, but at least I've done it the RIGHT way (as in, from scratch)

So yeah, just like I expected ... the old SCSI drive, one of the two drives to be exact got to the point where every single read or write cycle would result with I/O errors and repeated clicking over & over (until the system would either crash or report random problem)

It's a shame really, as much as I dislike SCSI technology, these old SCSI drives have that old charm ... especially the spin-up & spin-down cycles, it sounds almost like the jet engine on a 747!  However, with that being said, this unit here was overheating (among other problems), to the point where I burned my hand just from touching the outer cage, case support frame. It had to be AT LEAST 131F, which means the actual drive(s) inside the cage had to be even higher, I would say around 140, 150F which is pretty bizarre for a hard drive IMHO.




Either way, I replaced it with standard IDE ATA unit from IBM. Not only it doesn't run as hot, but it's also a LOT more quieter, and holds 7GB more storage than Seagate, so it was definitely a perfect choice. Best of all, I didn't even have to add (or remove) any cables, since I already have IDE CD-ROM inside, so all I had to do was to make CD "slave" and hook the IBM as "master". Meanwhile, the other Seagate SCSI drive is still inside, and it's been remapped through both Adaptec SCSI integrated utility and Windows 95 itself, so that all the bad sectors are removed. Ironically, I converted it into a backup drive, which now holds the entire Acronis True Image restore image, of the IBM drive.




Once I took care of the storage solutions, I resumed with all the games & testing the Pentium Pro in action. Games such as Tomb Raider 2 & 3 for example, along with both "Gold" additions


 



Despite using Voodoo Rush on a Pentium Pro system I didn't have much problems with recognizing the hardware most of the time. As you can tell from the pic, Need For Speed II SE immediately recognized 3dfx hardware, along with Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit, which seems to be working perfectly OK even on maximum settings! (even though recommended values were all set to low by default)


 

 

 



However, not all the games worked straight out of the box, some of them didn't work at all! Quake 2 was one of them, no matter which driver I picked from the menu it either showed garbled image or crashed the entire game. I even tried with newer title Unreal Gold, just to see if it would work. Everything installed properly, and it even detected Glide hardware, but 1st it warned me about "Not having MMX-supported CPU", and then it crashed the entire game. The actual crash was due to graphics, Voodoo Rush not being recognized or configured properly, where the MMX message was just a warning. Apparently Pentium Pro was either not recognized and/or supported by the game, so I removed it.


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## agent_x007 (Jun 28, 2017)

PCI GPU vs. Windows 10 x64 :





Card : 





It can run 3DMark 01 SE on Windows Basic Driver


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## dorsetknob (Jun 28, 2017)

Its not a pioneer VHS But a Panasonic













It powers up and shows a Display


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2017)

@agent_x007 Diamond Multimedia?! I never realized they produced video cards that long, this had to be one of their last models before Diamond disappeared.



dorsetknob said:


> Its not a pioneer VHS But a Panasonic


You /do/ realize the full potential of this thing, right? This S-VHS unit is capable of reproducing sound quality which is equal (if not better) to a digital source such as CD. In fact, that's what most ppl did back then, they used their HiFi VHS machines as stereo tape decks, which are capable of storing up to 4hrs of music  Is it fully functional, is everything working OK?


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## dorsetknob (Jun 28, 2017)

Have to find   lead's and  Tape's to connect it to my System ( PC / TV and hi fi ) to Test but the fact it powers on is a good sign


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2017)

Well, it is most certainly a good sign, but it's to be seen (and confirmed) if it works or not. I'll bet it has one of those G or K Decks inside, those were reliable due to using timed toothed belt over the standard, rubber ones, but they were a nightmare to fix when something fell out of alignment  Anyhow, look it up, G-Deck VCRs are most certainly a conversation starters in the terms of VHS & S-VHS

Edit
Yup, just confirmed it. It uses G2 deck (info on Panasonic chassis available HERE). You're looking at single motor design (capstan one), which drives EVERYTHING inside the unit. From the tape elevator, cam gears, idlers, etc. The idea behind G-Series was to use solenoids to control the gear switching, so it has that soft clicking sound during the transitions, gear shifting. Like I said, it was a great idea (perhaps on paper lol) but in the real life this thing can be a nightmare to fix, so you'll definitely have to pay someone to do it for you professionally, if necessary :-(


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## biffzinker (Jun 28, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> I even tried with newer title Unreal Gold, just to see if it would work. Everything installed properly, and it even detected Glide hardware, but 1st it warned me about "Not having MMX-supported CPU"


You might have better luck running Unreal Gold on a Pentium MMX in place of the Pentium Pro.

This might sound familiar.


> A few months ago Intel gave the power user two options, a Pentium 200 for Windows 95 and a Pentium Pro 200 for Windows NT, nothing in-between and therefore leaving the power hungry user searching for a better processor solution from AMD and Cyrix. Intel satisfied the market's demand by releasing a Pentium Pro-like Pentium successor which boasted a larger L1 cache, a more advanced core, and 57 brand new additions to the x86 instruction set, dubbed MMX.


 *Source:* Anandtech - Intel Pentium MMX

Edit: Found it about the higher clocked Pentium MMX.


> although Intel claimed that the Pentium MMX would end at 233MHz they already started working on a fab. shrink for the upcoming 266MHz Pentium MMX, codenamed Tillamook.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2017)

Oh wow! So the Pro series really doesn't have MMX instructions?! I knew having "Pro" system was considered somewhat rare, as most systems from back in a day were either Pentium, Pentium MMX and/or AMD, but I figured this message was a result of incompatibility between Pentium Pro & Unreal Gold. More specifically, Unreal not being able to properly detect the CPU model...

So, according to this the 233 MMX would kick 200 Pro in the terms of 3D performance..? This would most certainly explain a thing or two!  Somehow I thought it would be other way around, as in "Pro" being far more superior to MMX


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## biffzinker (Jun 28, 2017)

Wouldn't the Pentium Pro still have the more performative FPU over the Pentium MMX? After all the Pentium II was a re-work of the Pentium Pro?



> The *Pentium II* featured 32 KB of L1 cache, double that of the Pentium Pro, as well as deeper write buffers for a slight L1 performance increase. The Pentium II was also the first P6-based CPU to implement the Intel MMX integer SIMD instruction set which had already been introduced on the Pentium MMX. The Pentium II was basically a more consumer-oriented version of the Pentium Pro.


Wikipedia - Pentium II


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2017)

Interesting question, that's for sure. I suppose the only decent answer would be to benchmark all 3 CPUs & compare the numbers *shrug*


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## dorsetknob (Jun 28, 2017)

*Trekkie4*
It lives 
With sound and picture ( think its a crap picture but its a very very Old Cheap Tape
Going have to buy a Pre Recorded Tape for further Testing






Crap tape was Bought pre 2001 most probably pre 2000
Explains the quality 
pic is of Farscape ep Aired in sept 2001( Recorded)


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2017)

Awesome! My advice would  be to take the top cover off & carefully clean the head drum with the piece of (writing/printing) paper that's soaked in rubbing alcohol. Simply put the paper on one side of the drum & rotate the head(s) several times (holding the head from above, where the grounding pin is, along with PCB) until you can no longer see brownish traces on the paper.

Then take some q-tips & do the same for erase head (upper-left corner), along with audio/control head (between the head drum & pinch roller, upper-right corner). Remember, DO NOT use the cotton pads and q-tips on the head drum because you could easily cause serious damage. The actual video (and HiFi audio) heads on a drum are located inside those small notches, cutouts which are visible from the side view. Everything else is just aluminum drum and PCB.


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## dorsetknob (Jun 28, 2017)

Taking it partial apart to give it a good service /clean will be next priority and i expect it needs it
Then Obtaining some good quality tapes for further testing is the next step 

remote also works perfectly


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2017)

Cool, let us know if you work anything out  And check out my previous post, I've just edited it with more detailed (and hopefully more helpful) description of the drum unit. Normally I'd also recommend that you replace belts &/or pinch roller, but since G-Deck uses toothed belt that's extremely precise (and doesn't slip), you're all good. It might be a good idea to clean the pinch roller though, but don't put too much alcohol otherwise you'll dry out the rubber & cause permanent damage to it, so then you'll have to replace it. Not a huge loss, but it'll cost you some cash and it would be tricky to swap it out.


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## Red_Machine (Jun 28, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


>


Ahhh, Farscape.  Great show.


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## stinger608 (Jun 29, 2017)

All this talk about VHS's is frigging awesome!!!!!!! I truly miss them days! 

I have a couple of VHS players/recorders..........Can't remember what brands or how old, and a ton of old VHS tapes in a very large box. Hell, some of them are recorded tapes from having it hooked to a TV. I remember Syfy had a marathon with The Stand and I recorded it. Been some time now.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 29, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> All this talk about VHS's is frigging awesome!!!!!!! I truly miss them days!
> 
> I have a couple of VHS players/recorders..........Can't remember what brands or how old, and a ton of old VHS tapes in a very large box. Hell, some of them are recorded tapes from having it hooked to a TV. I remember Syfy had a marathon with The Stand and I recorded it. Been some time now.


Older units or modern ones? Either way you should take them all out from storage & make sure they work. If not, then maybe you can fix them? It's a very satisfying job 

Speaking of VHS repairs, I'll be having more stuff to show & talk about soon. I'm negotiating for yet another (older) VHS unit, made by Casio. Description reads "doesn't work, won't accept the tape", so it's clearly something to do with mechanical deck. I might be able to pick it up cheaply, or even trade it for a modern (and cheap) DVD player in which case I'll only have to pay for new parts, in case I'll be needing any.

Meanwhile I got some problems of my own, that Funai-Shintom unit is having a weird problem with the tape speed. I'm guessing it's electrical fault, but until I confirm with my meter, it might as well also be mechanical one. What happens is that during the playback tape gradually slows down to the point where the picture (and sound) are distorted. It only happens after 5-10 mins of usage, so I'm guessing it has something to do with either voltages or control head. Sometimes playing in reverse, going back & then reversing again to regular playback helps with the problem (temporarily corrects it), but it usually reappears again within 20-40 seconds. Actually, now that I think about this, it sounds like a tape alignment issue, which SHOULD be fairly simple to fix... Either way, this will have to wait for a day or two, since hunting down the problem might take me a while, as I want to do it properly.

Edit
Well, I don't want to jump ahead of myself here, but it seems I fixed the problem 

Took the VCR apart earlier today & after analyzing the situation inside, I assumed it's the Audio/Control head behind the problem, so I tried to adjust it. To my surprise, it actually worked, I managed to stabilize the picture but only for a short while, before the problem reappeared. This led me to a (wrong) conclusion that I'm dealing with damaged A/C head, so I replaced it... I found at least two other (identical) heads laying around, so it wasn't really a problem to source a replacement part, except of course the actual calibration process took me a while, since the head has to be perfectly aligned, in order to read (or record) the signal. Anyhow, long story short - I still had the same issue despite using a "new" head, so the next step was aligning the tape. Then the VHS threads the tape around the drum, it needs to be perfectly aligned, so that the tape goes from one end to another, passing through all the 6 "checkpoints" so to speak, before it's being wound back into the cassette. This includes the following: Erase head, left takeout arm, head drum, right takeout arm, audio/control head & pinch roller, then it goes back inside the cassette. However, it seems the alignment was just slightly off-track, causing the tape to be out of sync with the heads.

Still have to give it a proper test tomorrow, to make sure the tape isn't getting wrinkled or damaged in any way, but as far as the signal goes, it seems to be working OK now.

Edit2
Here's a nice (and educational) video on how to set the VHS tape alignment using the scope. Unfortunately I don't have one available, and even if did I wouldn't have anywhere to put it, since I don't have a proper "work bench  There's just too much stuff laying around, so I have to use the more conventional methods instead. In other words, you power the VCR & tinker with takeout arms, until you get decent sound & picture, without wrinkling or tearing the tape in either direction (upwards or downwards)


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 5, 2017)

Back in 2012, I took my ancient Dell Inspiron 8100 with me to college.  I had much newer laptops available to me, but colour me eccentric, I took the Pentium III-powered Dell with me.  It was running Windows 2000, I had a bunch of games installed on it (including Steam games, which isn't officially supported on 2k), VLC, internet access, the works.  I partied like it was 2002 all over again, and the 1600x1200 LCD panel really helped with web browsing and word processing.















Fun fact: I can open this thing up, swap the CPU, and have it back together again in under 5 minutes.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 15, 2017)

Hey guys 

Things sure had been pretty quiet around here lately... Just thought I'd make another contribution to Nostalgic Hardware Club & (hopefully) make video driver searches a lot more easier in the future. Don't know if any of you heard about this one before, but there's thing called "VBEMP 9x Project", which is pretty much universal driver for all Windows 9x platforms and works perfectly fine with most of the video cards that I've tested. TBH, it's been a while since I used this, mainly because I found the original ones, but just in case you get stuck, here's the official website & download link:

VBEMP 9x Project
Universal VESA/VBE Video Display Driver
(for Windows 9x Architecture)

It works pretty much like the original Win driver (Standard VGA adapter), except this one will actually provide you with D3D support, so you can use the hardware in its full potential & resolution. Be warned however, some bugs & errors might pop out due to various differences between the card designs & model specs but it SHOULD work nevertheless. It's obviously not going to be as stable & efficient as original ones, but it's still better than nothing


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 15, 2017)

I wanted to own something cool for game storage on other PCs, so I got myself a 1TB VelociRaptor HDD 
















Edit : Also, Creative Sound family I own  :


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 17, 2017)

Awesome @Trekkie4 

Included them in the original post!


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 17, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> I wanted to own something cool for game storage on other PCs, so I got myself a 1TB VelociRaptor HDD
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I got audigy too but since newer board has no pci slot it just sitting in the box, too bad since it still works pretty solid


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 17, 2017)

Thanks, @stinger608 

I just bought myself couple of VGA coolers online, from AliExpress. In fact, I bought the same one from Phil's Computer Lab, the one he talked about in his latest video. Except he paid 3.30 USD for each, while AliExpress offers the same model (with free int. shipping) for around 1.70 USD each. So I grabbed two of those, since one will immediately be mounted on one of my GeForce4 Ti4200 cards, which doesn't have a cooling fan (since the previous owner tore it off) Don't think I ever uploaded the pic of this 4200 card before, but then again I barely even used it to begin with. It has a red PCB with golden heatsink that's missing a fan in the middle.

Also bought one of those smaller VGA coolers, which are compatible with smaller (and older) video cards, which don't require aggressive cooling solutions. I'm sure it'll come in handy sooner or later! Might even mount it on a 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 card 

Either way, a lot bang for the buck that's for sure. Customer feedback is 5 out of 5 stars, so I strongly recommend that you get one of those while you still can, in case you need any.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 18, 2017)

*The MAGNIFICENT.....four *


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 18, 2017)

Robert B said:


> *The MAGNIFICENT.....four *


Hmm... Is that 3dfx Banshee, up in the upper-left corner? I recognize the original Monster 3D from Diamond, and (obviously) GeForce2 Ti card, but I'm not sure what to think of the 4th one... Has to be something "newer" since it has AGP 4X notch, so I'm thinking GeForce3 maybe?


----------



## Robert B (Jul 18, 2017)

*You got 3/4 - not bad 

1. Creative Labs Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT - CT6710 - 16MB AGP
2. Diamond Monster 3D (3Dfx Voodoo 1) 4MB PCI - Rev.E
3. AOpen Geforce 2 Ti 64MB DDR AGP - GF2TiVX V64
4. ASUS nVIDIA GeForce 3 Ti 200 V8200T2/DELUXE/64M/P - V8200T2/64MB/(TVR) Rev. 1.00*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 18, 2017)

Robert B said:


> *You got 3/4 - not bad
> 
> 1. Creative Labs Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT - CT6710 - 16MB AGP
> 2. Diamond Monster 3D (3Dfx Voodoo 1) 4MB PCI - Rev.E
> ...


Right, I thought I recognized Creative card, so I assumed it's 3D Blaster, as in Voodoo Banshee  




See what I mean?  On a side note, I would LOVE to get my hands on both Riva TNT & Banshee cards, as I don't have either one of those two. I got TNT2 Pro, and several M64 ones, I also have Voodoo Rush but not Banshee. Speaking of which, I also don't have any GF3 cards either lol, not even a single one. (Used to) have one GF256, several GF2 "MX" ones, several GF4 "MX", two Ti4200, one Ti4800SE, one FX5700, one 6200, one 6600GT and one 7600GT. All AGP interfaces. I also have 8800GT but that's way too modern for this topic


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 23, 2017)

Not really nostalgic hardware, but almost there...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 24, 2017)

Question guys, is it worth buying this ATI All-In-Wonder card, that's powered by "Rage Pro Turbo AGP" GPU for around 1,50 USD?





How much performance gain (or decrease) I can expect when comparing this card to a Riva TNT or 3dfx Voodoo2? Seems to be Dell OEM part, which is kinda perfect since I'm hoping to pair it up with Optiplex GX110, that's currently running onboard graphics in combination with 3dfx Voodoo2. It does work, but IDK ... Current setup looks absurd & unnatural, mildly exaggerated since Optiplex was never meant to be a gaming system. Still, I'm sure "All-In-Wonder" will be tons better than what the onboard graphics has to offer


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 24, 2017)

The Riva TNT is a MUCH better card.  It has twice as many rendering pipelines as the Rage Pro Turbo and has faster memory.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Jul 24, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> The Riva TNT is a MUCH better card.  It has twice as many rendering pipelines as the Rage Pro Turbo and has faster memory.



This is $1.50, I mean it costs less than a beer, can't go wrong from a collectors perspective I think.


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 24, 2017)

Lowest prices I found on E-bay for that ATI All-In-Wonder card is $15.00/$22.00 then $29.99, and $50.00.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 24, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> The Riva TNT is a MUCH better card.  It has twice as many rendering pipelines as the Rage Pro Turbo and has faster memory.


Yeah, I realized that later on, when I actually took the time (and patience) to analyze the VRAM modules. 4MB of memory, that's about the same league as Voodoo1, or Voodoo Rush. Much older (and slower) than what I hoped for, even makes me wonder if it'll get outpowered by Intel's onboard graphics...



uuuaaaaaa said:


> This is $1.50, I mean it costs less than a beer, can't go wrong from a collectors perspective I think.





biffzinker said:


> Lowest prices I found on E-bay for that ATI All-In-Wonder card is $15.00/$22.00 then $29.99, and $50.00.


Good point guys! IDK, guess I'll pick it up some time soon, but I don't think it'll replace Voodoo2 or anything remotely similar for that matter... In fact, I might end up using this thing inside 5x86 machine or maybe one of the three Pentiums MMX (233) as the alternative to 3dfx Voodoo card.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 26, 2017)

As you said @Trekkie4 , ya might as well grab it.  At that price, you can't go wrong.............Unless it doesn't work. LOL


From what I recall though, the All-In-Wonders were more of a "TV" rendering card rather than a full out video card. So it stands to reason that they would perform a bit less than a counter-part.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 26, 2017)

You're right @stinger608  Might even go pick it up tomorrow, in which case I'll post some pics & make an update on the overall condition & initial test. I mean seriously, even if it doesn't work, you can't really go wrong for that price. I am however having doubts on what to do with this thing, and where to put it. It's not part of any particular hardware collection, and (from what I understood) it's extremely limited in 3D performance so I'm not quite sure where to use it.


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 26, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> You're right @stinger608  Might even go pick it up tomorrow, in which case I'll post some pics & make an update on the overall condition & initial test. I mean seriously, even if it doesn't work, you can't really go wrong for that price. I am however having doubts on what to do with this thing, and where to put it. It's not part of any particular hardware collection, and (from what I understood) it's extremely limited in 3D performance so I'm not quite sure where to use it.




I hear ya bro! Isn't like it'll work for capturing modern television anyway...............Wow, tough call, to be honest.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 26, 2017)

TBH, I'm more interested into the actual GPU, "video card" portion of the card and not the TV tuner one. But I might set up both just for fun (and sake of perfection) even though I'm not actually going to watch anything off this thing.

Edit
Which (now that I think about it), makes me wonder - would it be possible to keep the existing on-board graphics as primary video output source & use All-In-Wonder as a standard PCI TV tuner? I might give it a try at some point 

Edit2
I found some interesting results on THIS website, featuring full comparison (in the terms of FPS) between Rage Pro & 3dfx Voodoo Graphics... Check this out!


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 26, 2017)

The ones that have big FPS differences in favour of the Voodoo will most likely be using 3dfx's proprietary Glide API.  The ones that have big FPS differences in favour of the Rage Pro are probably using Direct3D, which Voodoo cards could never do very well because they weren't fully compliant with the standards Microsoft set.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 26, 2017)

This whole conversation about Rage 3D Pro cards seemed so familiar, so I realized last night that I already have one... In fact, it was put inside that (ugly ) Celeron 466 system that I've made, which looks like Compaq Presario from the late 90s


Spoiler

















 



In fact (to make things even more interesting), I've used this one along with 3dfx Voodoo 1 card, has some decent results which are more-less identical to what the benchmarking chart has to say, if not even better (in ATI's favor, since this is AGP model and not PCI one)


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 26, 2017)

Unless your AIW has Analog/ Digital Tuner (DVB)  the only use for the tuners is as input capture Device ( if it has AV/ input )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 26, 2017)

I see your point but that's not entirely correct... You can always use it to watch VHS


----------



## verycharbroiled (Jul 26, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Unless your AIW has Analog/ Digital Tuner (DVB)  the only use for the tuners is as input capture Device ( if it has AV/ input )



Those analog to digital tv converters are probably still available somewhere..


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 26, 2017)

I got myself "new" stuff 





Because one RaptorX isn't cool enough by it's own


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 26, 2017)

Always wanted one of those drives.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 26, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> I got myself "new" stuff
> 
> 
> 
> ...


old "new" stuff is the best stuff .... which remind me i have a little something coming soon ....

hint: i already have 1 Ultra variant in my collection and i will pay it 1$ (nah i didn't got extra lucky as it's seemingly a bricked one .... tho i will know more once i receive it next week )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 26, 2017)

Well guys, sorry to say I didn't get to pick up that ATI card today, since it was raining all afternoon (and I was jut too lazy to go out in bad weather lol), but I DID get another & completely unexpected surprise! I finally picked up replacement mATX board for that branded Asus system, running a (S775) Pentium 4 CPU. This "new" board is also acting up (but I'm hoping to fix the problem, since it doesn't seem to be that serious), and is so much better in the terms of expansions & overall performance than the old one except for one huge downside - it's PCIe, and not AGP  Sooo yeah, that's a huge bummer IMHO, because PCIe is just not retro enough for my personal taste. Not to mention the fact that I now have a working 7600GT for AGP board & am fresh out of PCIe ones *sigh* Oh well, sourcing a replacement video card (especially for PCIe) should be a lot more easier than finding one that has AGP slot - I hope?!?

Meanwhile, I was also given a free 20GB Western Digital drive & Sound Blaster Live card, which I still have to check & see if it works or not. Sooo, yeah - you can expect further updates soon, especially on that Asus system once I set it up & boot up OS from scratch  I also have something else going on, mostly cap failures & soldering jobs but at this point it's too early to tell anything for sure - 2 motherboards & 1 PCIe video card (Slot-1 & S478, ATI X1550), along with one additional S775 board that needs to be completely recapped (Asus P5SD2-X) but that's a story for some other day


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2017)

*The BIG Guns!!!*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2017)

1. GV-R92128TE Gigabyte (Radeon 9200)
2. Hercules 3D Prophet II (GTS) ???
3. Leadtek WinFast (nVidia GeForce 6600GT)


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2017)

You got right the Hercules and the 6600GT.

The other one should be obvious  - 4500.... L shaped....top corner number....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2017)

Apparently not THAT obvious, after all


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2017)

*PowerColor Evil KING IV *VooDoo4 / VooDoo 4 4500 AGP 32MB
*
210-0908-01
210-0435-001*




[url=https://postimg.org/image/jjd87f2un/]
	
[/URL]

It came a little rough but I sorted her out REAL good


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2017)

Jeez, that's disgusting! I mean, for a 3dfx card, those are usually beautiful & well-organized, component layout is usually spot-on, but this looks weird! (at least that's my very personal opinion )


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2017)

It's not going to win a beauty contest that's for sure. Think of it as a half of VooDoo 5 5500 

Two of these puppies in SLI make a VooDoo 5 5500.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 27, 2017)

That was also the only AGP 4x card 3dfx made, even the 5500 and 6000 were AGP 2x.  It severely limited compatibility back in the day, as almost everybody was using AGP 4x boards by then.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2017)

I read a lot of webpages and this particular L shaped V4 is known to be *AGP 2x 3.3V only*. So you need to be extra carefull when you use it. It seems that the AGP connector is keyed wrong.

"Only the retail 3dfx built Voodoo4 4500 AGP is 4xAGP 1.5V capable.
(the Powercolor Evilking Voodoo4 and the rare 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 "L" Shaped variants are confirmed to be 2xAGP 3.3V only)"

https://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/548553/548665

*Take these with a grain of salt - from some webpage many years ago...*

"A number of cards have been identified that have the 1.5 Volt notch, but are actually 3.3Volt cards. These are:

- some nVidia Riva TNT2 cards
- all nVidia Vanta, Vanta LT cards
- all SiS 6326, SiS 305 cards
- all S3 Savage4 cards up to, but not including revision 3.0
- all 3dfx AGP Voodoo 3, 4, and 5 boards (officially non-AGP 4x anyway)
- some nVidia GeForce2 GTS/Pro."


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 27, 2017)

Robert B said:


> *Take these with a grain of salt - from some webpage many years ago...*
> 
> "A number of cards have been identified that have the 1.5 Volt notch, but are actually 3.3Volt cards. These are:
> 
> ...



A big grain of salt.

I have yet to see any GF2 cards that were 3.3v only, and I own SiS 305 and 315 cards that I know for a fact I've benched on boards that do not support 3.3v cards. Same thing with the Riva and Vanta cards.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2017)

Well, I still didn't get to pick up that ATI card, but look at all these goodies here! Finally, things are on the roll! 

Two of my Live! cards ... I got the 1st one (0220) way back, along with 7600GT card, but now (earlier today, to be exact) I picked up this other one, which seems to be older. Assuming it works (obviously), it'll make a fine addition to any retro gaming system! Wish it would be THAT easy to find Aureal Vortex2 cards, those are nowhere to be found 


 

 



Then there's another mobo, Asus P5SD2-X which has bulged (and leaking) capacitor. Fortunately, it seems to be just one so I might get away with replacing just one instead of the entire series. I know this is against the rules, but meh. Don't think I'll be using this board any time soon, so why not?


 



To my surprise, I found this amazing P4 chip inside the socket. I assumed it was just another P4, but the specs read "2MB" of cache, which is twice as much of what these things usually had!




Video card crisis avoided, I present you with nVidia GeForce6 6600LE PCIe card. True, it's not "GT", and it's certainly not as powerful as 7600GT (or even 6600GT for that matter), but it's still better than onboard! I have Radeon X1550 which is throwing artifacts, and has some bulging caps so assuming I don't get to patch it up & get it back into working condition, I'll have to go with this card instead


 



And last but not least... Someone here mentioned ASRock boards, which have that fancy "AGP" expansion socket, for future sockets - right? Well yeah, look what I got here!




And yeah, it DOES work! 




Edit
Wow, it took me way longer than I expected, but I finally found the original post. It was @Bungz  who mentioned ASRock K8Upgrade-NF3 board & that fancy-looking expansion module!


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 27, 2017)

I have a Vanta, which I've used in an AGP 4x board, and it worked fine.  Also managed to get a 90% overclock on it with absolutely no cooling at all.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 28, 2017)

@Trekkie4  you might want to find a nice quiet fan for that 6600LE I had to replace the same card 3x in my sisters old PC because it kept cooking itself 4th time I put a fan on the passive heat sink and it's still running to this day although it's now relegated to the kitchen as a recipe/facebook machine


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2017)

Thanks for the tip... I might put one of those VGA coolers on this thing, mentioned on the previous page. TBH, it's the best I can do, I'd really hate to drill into the aluminum & "ghetto mod" the entire thing with some huge fan. But then again, I might be able to patch up Radeon X1550, in which case I won't have to use this one, in the first place 

Speaking of X1550... After the initial test, I removed the heatsink assembly (fanless X1550 SCS by PowerColor) & found out that one of the caps is bulging. But to my surprise that wasn't the ONLY problem - it seems someone was already in here & replaced every single cap with used (and different) ones. So, from 5 caps in total there's 4 different brands & models  No wonder this thing failed, come to think of it it's amazing that it still works (despite the numerous artifacts)


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 28, 2017)

No need to drill in to the HS just use normal fan screws as they're a little fatter than normal they'll just fit in the narrow gaps between fins


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2017)

Bad news guys, I didn't have the time to go pick up that "All-In-Wonder" PCI ATI card, so by the time I got back home, I figured to heck with it (especially since it's not much of a card in the first place) and decided not to get it after all.

On a bright side however, my new RetroMaster 4000 is in production & should be finished soon! So I might upload couple of pics, in case anyone's interested?


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Jul 28, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Bad news guys, I didn't have the time to go pick up that "All-In-Wonder" PCI ATI card, so by the time I got back home, I figured to heck with it (especially since it's not much of a card in the first place) and decided not to get it after all.
> 
> On a bright side however, my new RetroMaster 4000 is in production & should be finished soon! So I might upload couple of pics, in case anyone's interested?



Bring'em on!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2017)

Alrighty then! 

It's too early for specific details and/or full tech specs at the moment (be patient ), but in the meantime here's a small teaser!


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Jul 29, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Alrighty then!
> 
> It's too early for specific details and/or full tech specs at the moment (be patient ), but in the meantime here's a small teaser!


Any difference between the regular VM and the VM/Vintage?


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 29, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Any difference between the regular VM and the VM/Vintage?



yeah the Vintage come complete with some lovely crust in the dimm slots LOL


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Jul 29, 2017)

Athlonite said:


> yeah the Vintage come complete with some lovely crust in the dimm slots LOL


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 29, 2017)

Actually, I believe "Vintage" series is something Asus used exclusively inside their barebone Asus systems, it's a stripped-down version of the original board with special bios & some limitations. But then again, with that being said I didn't actually see any limitations so far... TBH, "Vintage" seems just like the regular P5GD2-VM board, except it uses custom BIOS 

Anyway, speaking of which... Enjoy! 

Stage 1, initial setup & component layout


 



Stage 2, testing the system to see if it runs, stress-testing the video card




Stage 3, overall cleanup & cable management


 

 



Stage 4, benchmark


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 30, 2017)

Ok, so it's time for final specs & technical details on RetroMaster 4000

1. Motherboard
Starting with the most obvious component  Originally it was going to be Asus P5S800-VM/Vintage, but due to unfortunate set of circumstances & weird graphic problem on high-end AGP cards, I had to find a replacement board. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything better without spending too much money, until I saw that P5GD1-VM/Vintage board from the previous post! It's almost the perfect choice, except for one thing ... the old board was AGP, where the "new" one is PCIE, so I had to swap out the video card. Otherwise they're both completely the same in the terms of CPU socket, expansions & RAM memory.


 



2. CPU
For those of you who remember, this unit started out as "Celeron D" which was then upgraded to Pentium 4, model number SL9CB.




And there was nothing wrong with that P4 chip, in fact I was going to move it onto the new board. But then, just as I was about to do it, I decided to go with this other P4 instead  Model number is SL79, and these are both running at the same clock speed (3.00GHz), except the "old", SL9CB chip has 1MB of cache and the "new" one has 2MB. So it actually makes sense to go with the best & faster, right?




3. Video card
Started out as nVidia 7600GT (AGP), which was then converted into 6600GT (AGP), and eventually into nVidia 6600LE (PCIe). That is, until I patched up my Radeon X1550 yesterday, I took the entire unit apart & swapped out the bulging caps, so now the card works perfectly fine. True, it's not 7600GT, but it's still faster than 6600 (both GT and LE), so it's a reasonable compromise between the two choices IMHO.


 

 








4. RAM
Both RAM modules are still the same, the RetroMaster 4000 features 2GB of DDR400 RAM, running in dual-channel configuration

5. Other bits & pieces
It's running Vista Ultimate, SP2 with all the latest updates & patches already downloaded & applied. It's also running the Steam, so that I can download the Source games such as Half Life 2 and/or Portal, which look (and run) absolutely amazing, with all the settings set to max without any lag. (avg. framerate is around 30-35 FPS)

Other components worth mentioning are the hard drive, Seagate Barracuda 160GB SATA unit




And D-Link AirPlus G PCI WiFi card




And there you have it guys... That's pretty much it - it's all done & fully operational! 


 



My original benchmark scored 7816 points. However, after installing and updating all the necessary drivers (and flashing the BIOS with the latest version) I came up with 8162 points, my highest "retro" score yet!


 



Edit
Small update, I seem to be having a small (and somewhat annoying) problem, which I don't know how to resolve. For some reason the graphical interface (actually JUST the header, top bar) in BIOS, where it says "BIOS SETUP UTILITY" that's supposed to be displayed in gradient (see the pic below) is being displayed incorrectly, as a bar of solid colors. I might take a pic tomorrow, but really - apart from that everything else seems to be working perfectly OK!

And since the benchmark (and 3D animation, games) both check out fine, I don't think it's due to video card... Or the motherboard for that matter, either... *shrug*


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 30, 2017)

Sweet retro build bud and nice improvement in the 3DMark score too


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 30, 2017)

*Red_Machine *

A AT /ATX Compatable Case From August 2000





















Even got the Original packing Box and Polystyrene it Came in


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 30, 2017)

Thanks! 

So, here's the fun part - the gameplay test! I went through a lot of different modes, resolutions & benchmarks, just to see what this thing can do!

Starting with the overall scores & results:


 



Then moving onto the additional benchmarks:




And eventually to games themselves:


 

 

Just look at the Source Engine benchmark in action!


 

 

 

 

 

Even the actual gameplay is superb!




Unfortunately, I'm still having that annoying problem with the BIOS header... Don't know what's causing it, but as soon as I switch to on-board VGA, it all goes back to normal *shrug*

The "Normal" BIOS screen, with the flashing gradient of color:


 

 

The "messed up" BIOS screen, with X1550 ATI card:


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 30, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Always wanted one of those drives.



That makes two of us!!!!!


----------



## Robert B (Jul 31, 2017)

*W*ork *I*n *P*rogress.

Sneak peek.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 31, 2017)

good god it makes me cringe when I see thermal paste gone hard and crusty like that nice job in cleaning it off though it deserves something better than the crap they put on it


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 1, 2017)

Athlonite said:


> good god it makes me cringe when I see thermal paste gone hard and crusty like that nice job in cleaning it off though it deserves something better than the crap they put on it


I was just removing an old heatsink from a Pentium 4 machine earlier today, and so when I pulled on the aluminum radiator to yank it off the CPU itself it tore the CPU off the (closed & locked) socket!! No damage to the CPU or the motherboard from what I can tell, but oh man! Later I had to pry it off with the screwdriver, because it just wasn't letting it go


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 1, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> I was just removing an old heatsink from a Pentium 4 machine earlier today, and so when I pulled on the aluminum radiator to yank it off the CPU itself it tore the CPU off the (closed & locked) socket!! No damage to the CPU or the motherboard from what I can tell, but oh man! Later I had to pry it off with the screwdriver, because it just wasn't letting it go


Back when I didn't know much about computers I was pulling apart our old Compaq presairo and the same thing happened, ripped the cpu right out of the socket. Funnily enough it would fit right back into the socket with it still fused to the heatsink.  I resorted to the hammer and chisel method to remove it from the heatsink, which inadvertantly lead to my first ever delid of a soldered cpu. RIP Celeron D 330.


----------



## Norton (Aug 1, 2017)

Bunch of older stuff in a Craigslist ad.... see anything good?

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/sop/d/graphics-cards-other-cards/6219202031.html


----------



## Red_Machine (Aug 1, 2017)

3dfx Voodoo3 3000 bottom centre.


----------



## Jetster (Aug 1, 2017)

Why you looking at Oregon?


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 1, 2017)

My "MAD" PGA 478 build 
Complete, with Pentium 4E 3,2GHz OC'ed to 3,54GHz, GTX 780 Ti, a RaptorX EFI boot drive and Samsung SM951 128GB NVMe OS drive
 
Here's Fire Strike Ultra Score : http://www.3dmark.com/fs/13244414


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 1, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> My "MAD" PGA 478 build
> Complete, with Pentium 4E 3,2GHz OC'ed to 3,54GHz, GTX 780 Ti, a RaptorX EFI boot drive and Samsung SM951 128GB NVMe OS drive
> View attachment 90674
> Here's Fire Strike Ultra Score : http://www.3dmark.com/fs/13244414
> View attachment 90676



Quite exquisite board, I would say. Is that the world record for firestrike ultra on that cpu?


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 1, 2017)

That CPU isn't supported by Futuremark online software (so, basicly, there is no way to search validations for other results of this CPU).
And yes, I asked if it can be fixed : LINK.
Is it the highest ?
I would say probably, because Fire Strike Ultra requires 64-bit CPU to work.

Board is great 
I had to add heatsinks on chokes, so that OC would be stable under continuous load (Summer heat isn't helping when you use Prescott on three phase VRM ).


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 1, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> That CPU isn't supported by Futuremark online software (so, basicly, there is no way to search validations for other results of this CPU).
> And yes, I asked if it can be fixed : LINK.
> Is it the highest ?
> I would say probably, because Fire Strike Ultra requires 64-bit CPU to work.
> ...


 
Make an HWbot account and farm the easy points!


----------



## Robert B (Aug 1, 2017)

*W*ork *I*n *P*rogress-Ep.2

Today I had some free time and in about 45 min I washed with isopropyl alcohol 99% the Hercules and Leadtek cards.

When finished, the *Hercules* card will be *something really special*. Deep BLUE!!!

After washing many cards I can say that older cards have better lacquer and a better shine.

*See for yourselves*


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 1, 2017)

Working on putting together a dual Xeon retro gaming/workstation build.

So far,
NZXT Lexa case
2x Xeon 3.06GHz Prestonia's
Asus PC-DL Deluxe V1.05 (Has CPU & Memory voltage hard mods for better compatibility with memory as it will only run @ 2.5V VDIMM stock).
4x1GB Kingston DDR 400
BFG 6600 GT AGP 128MB (I will probably get a faster gpu later, maybe 7950 GT or something).
Some old 500W Rosewill PSU

I like the case, full aluminum so it makes it fairly light. Need to see if I can get the front panel temperature display working though.

Only problem is that I have no retail pro or server versions of windows, just home, which of course can't use dual cpu.


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 1, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> Only problem is that I have no retail pro or server versions of windows, just home, which of course can't use dual cpu.



Time to try linux then  ( Its Free)
Not sure whats the best Distro to try as that Duel 604 set up is "quote Ancient"
Some one with Better linux knowledge will advise you  the Best Choice ( incoming Bombardment of Recommendations about to happen).

Edit
It will have to be a 32bit Distro only


----------



## Norton (Aug 1, 2017)

Jetster said:


> Why you looking at Oregon?


Did you have the feeling you were being watched? 

@thebluebumblebee is from that area and there are much better deals in that CL than my local one


----------



## Jetster (Aug 1, 2017)

Norton said:


> Did you have the feeling you were being watched?
> 
> @thebluebumblebee is from that area and there are much better deals in that CL than my local one



cool, ya I'm constantly paranoid Then I realize I'm not that important


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 1, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Time to try linux then  ( Its Free)
> Not sure whats the best Distro to try as that Duel 604 set up is "quote Ancient"
> Some one with Better linux knowledge will advise you  the Best Choice ( incoming Bombardment of Recommendations about to happen).
> 
> ...


Eww Linux.  Haha might give it a try and dual boot it. Need to have my windows though, too used to it, never used anything else (except DOS ofc).

I do have a pair of Xeon 3.2GHz Nocona (Prescott) 64-Bit cpu's here too. The board will not run them though as it doesn't work with Nocona's. 
I may try flashing the bios to the one from a NCCH-DL which has Nocona & Irwindale support using my EEPROM Programmer.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 1, 2017)

Earlier today, I had a surprise visit & was given (back) something I didn't see for quite some time... You guys remember that Asus A7M266 board with the keyboard issue, right?


 



I picked it up long time ago hoping to make a Duron build around it, featuring the (in)famous Savage4 Pro card. Obviously, my plans didn't quite work out, so in the end (after going through 3 different motherboards & eventually swapping the video card for nVidia's M64) I ended up with Asus A7*A*266. Close to what I had in mind, but not quite. Has a Duron 950 & 256 of DDR RAM. This particular build is still here in my collection, although I never really used it for anything apart from testing purposes. 


 



But no, this isn't about A7A model... As I said, earlier today I was given back A7*M* board, which (last time I had it) would randomly lock out in BIOS, freeze the keyboard and/or mouse resulting with no way to control the system, DOS or even the BIOS. Whenever it's PS/2 or USB, it didn't make any difference whatsoever. And so, I was going to dump it. Seriously, what's the point of keeping non-functioning hardware around, especially since I got tons of S462 boards laying around? But no, to my surprise when I hooked everything up & plugged in the new CPU and RAM it booted up perfectly fine. It DID however lock out several times, but whenever I restarted the system afterwards, it worked OK & would keep working perfectly OK until shutdown.

So I took the liberty of building a quick AMD system based on A7M board, featuring Athlon 1333 with Radeon 7500 and 512 MB of RAM, in 2x 256MB config. And I'm happy to report that everything seems to be working perfectly fine, now that I have the XP up & running. Even if the "peripherals" don't work upon the boot, they DO get recognized & work fine under Windows, which is obviously most important  I didn't take any pics (and no, I'm not planning to keep this system, it was already given away to someone), but it only shows (and proves) that you better check twice before discarding old hardware components, even if they appear to be beyond repairs.


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 1, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> Need to have my windows though, too used to it, never used anything else


you might want to try and Source  a Retail win XP-Pro Disk with genuine Serial Num then   that will run Duel CPU ( and its so "OLD" it should be free or just Cents 
Some one here may be able to Oblige you After all they "Are all on 10"


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 2, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> Only problem is that I have no retail pro or server versions of windows, just home, which of course can't use dual cpu.





dorsetknob said:


> you might want to try and Source a Retail win XP-Pro Disk with genuine Serial Num then that will run Duel CPU ( and its so "OLD" it should be free or just Cents




Pretty sure I have a retail key for XP Pro. I'll have to check, but I'm almost positive that I still have one. I could burn ya an ISO image disk of XP Pro and mail that and the key to ya. 

Well, providing I do have the key and you're in the US.


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 2, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Pretty sure I have a retail key for XP Pro. I'll have to check, but I'm almost positive that I still have one. I could burn ya an ISO image disk of XP Pro and mail that and the key to ya.
> 
> Well, providing I do have the key and you're in the US.


I really just need a key honestly, already have a windows xp pro ISO but no valid retail key for it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 2, 2017)

You don't need no stinkin key.


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 2, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> You don't need no stinkin key.


Well for benching, sure. But if I want to use it online for more than 30 days without reinstalling I'll need a legit key no?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 2, 2017)

lol. No.

I'll message you.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 2, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> lol. No.
> 
> I'll message you.


Actually I just messaged him myself, telling him pretty much the same thing  (about the same time you posted this)


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 2, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> lol. No.





Trekkie4 said:


> Actually I just messaged him myself, telling him pretty much the same thing  (about the same time you posted this)




LOL, am I missing something?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 2, 2017)

*eye roll* Seriously lol? You know we can't discuss these things out in the public, it's against the forum rules


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 2, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> *eye roll* Seriously lol? You know we can't discuss these things out in the public, it's against the forum rules


which is why i posted what i did  I know there are ways and methods to install just did not wish to suggest them in public


----------



## micropage7 (Aug 2, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> *Red_Machine *
> 
> A AT /ATX Compatable Case From August 2000
> 
> ...


great and the steel looks pretty solid


----------



## Robert B (Aug 2, 2017)

*Almost there.....*


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 2, 2017)

Looks like the exact Hercules Geforce 2 GTS card I had paired with a overclocked K6-III. Paid $400 for it locally on launch day, also the same card I messed up on a modification resulting in a paper weight. Picked up the same card for another $400, and skipped out on the mod.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 3, 2017)

*My work is DONE!!!*

Next, I'm going to tell you the full story


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2017)

I got (even) more toys today! 


 



That Soyo Slot-1 board is in need of replacing the caps, but according to the guy who gave it to me, it does seem to be working! I was also given one of those adapters, "slockets" for mounting S370 chip on a Slot-1 system and another Pentium 4 chip that wasn't in any of the pics. S775, it's a 3.02GHz model with 2MB of cache.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 5, 2017)

annnd she's here and complete quite well the XFX Nforce 650i Ultra mobo i have :

XFX 8800 GTX! 1$ but bricked (didn't test it nonetheless) original boxing and accessories ... pure bliss!
  


seeing the hamsterwheel .... seems the hamster died in that wheel (and probably bricked due to overheating i guess ... will see that later  )
  

ahhh the best accessory ... good old Alpha Dog ....


----------



## Bungz (Aug 6, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> I got (even) more toys today!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



How odd just got a very similar board in a ultra cheap local purchase, looks like yours might be the OEM version?

Asus P4S533-E

Asus V844 Deluxe Geforce 4 Ti 4400 (Bling Bling yo!)

Quite a decent find for the price of a Pint.

     

PSU is a good example of why you always check a PSU even if it seems clean and to run fine! Will recap that as otherwise it looks decent.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2017)

Actually no, yours is part of "P4S533" family, that's not (directly) related to P4SE/U2 which is older & far more outdated. On the other hand, I DO have P4S533-X for quite some time now, and it's mounted inside the case with Pentium 4 @2.00GHz and 1GB of RAM (in fact, I've been working on this particular system over the last couple of days, trying to improve the specs & performance). I also have P4S533-MX which is exactly the same thing as -X, except in mATX form with less PCI slots (obviously) 

On a side note - as a general rule of nostalgic hardware, I never (ever) repair old power supplies. Seriously, if it's blown (and/or doesn't work, boot) it's getting scrapped & is replaced with the whole new (used) unit that's in good condition.

I've had my share of blown PSUs over the last couple of months, two of my systems didn't work OK. One didn't boot at all (even though 12V rail seemed to work, as all the optical drives & fans worked OK) and the other one would only boot after 5-10 minutes AFTER being plugged into mains. Probably due to caps slowly building (charging up) the capacity. So if you would plug it into the AC & turn the system immediately the system would just hang with all the LEDs lit up & black screen (without any sounds of feedback) so I assumed it was the motherboard that's causing all the problems. But nope, it was the PSU all along


----------



## Bungz (Aug 6, 2017)

What chipset is it? The layout is near identical and the southbridge is the same


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2017)

Bungz said:


> What chipset is it? The layout is near identical and the southbridge is the same


They're all the same, SiS chipset... I was trying to find a pic from the previous post(s), but there doesn't appear to be any, I probably never took the pic of P4S533-X (or -MX for that matter). I did however found the PSU replacement post....LINK


----------



## Bungz (Aug 6, 2017)

I was asking in relation to the P4SE

Only difference is the P4S533 uses the Sis 645DX so supports 533 stuff.

Meddled with a few of these SIS boards, don't seem to be half as bad as I thought them to be at the time.

Oh and mine talks.

Just downloaded the voice changer lets see what rude things I can get it to say


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2017)

Oh yeah!! My P4S533-X (and -MX) doesn't talk unfortunately, but the other, P4SE/U2 does! There's actually a jumper to switch the "speech" option on & off... I also have one other talking board, P4B that's built into a working system (also featured & discussed long time ago)

Anyhow, I didn't bother removing the -MX board from the box (where I have it stored), but here's the pic of my P4S533-X system!  It's running a P4 chip @ 2.00GHz, 2x 512 DDR333 & it's paired with GeForce4 4800SE!


 



Sounds (and certainly looks) impressive, but it's actually outpowered by this other MSI system here... This other one is running AMD Athlon XP 2400+ @ 2.00GHz but unlike the Asus board it's running 1GB of DDR400, and has AGP 8x support with GeForce6 6600GT. It used to have 6200LE up until yesterday, so I swapped the graphics for 6600GT mainly because I had it laying around & doing nothing. And it made a HUGE difference IMHO, take a look at the benchmark results yourself!


 



Benchmark results for P4 system:




Benchmark results for AMD system:


----------



## Bungz (Aug 6, 2017)

Those agp 6600GT cards are great, usually dirt cheap and go like stink in older systems.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2017)

So true!! It almost outpowered RetroMaster 4000 (mATX build with S775 P4 @ 3.00GHz, 2GB of DDR400 & ATI X1550)

Edit
I was actually considering to put that 6600 into P4 system, and have 4800 one inside AMD but it didn't quite work out the way I expected, mainly  because I didn't have any spare molex connectors inside P4 system and I didn't have a splitter adapter here, so I took the easy route instead. Probably for the best anyway (even though Intel can be easily overclocked to 2.60GHz) since the Asus board doesn't have full DDR400 RAM support, and/or AGP 8X so it wouldn't take full advantage of the 6600GT card. Meanwhile the AMD system appears to be locked (tried to mess with the FSB & multipliers, doesn't work), but everything else seems more than adequate for 6600GT. I was afraid the CPU (2.00GHz) would be bottleneck, but according to the results it certainly doesn't feel that way. IDK, you guys be the judge.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 7, 2017)

I found old dusty HP laptop my father left it under a desk for a couple of years, its a HP 6910p business laptop


At first it was unable to boot few months ago when I tinker with it. But I found a very silly solution, remove battery and hold power button for half a minute. Surprisingly this very simple method works and it boot right off!

Everything is yellow though, the screen is very yellow. I have a spare screen but don't have time to replace it yet. I just adjust color and reduce red and green for the time being.

My father upgraded the harddisk to reasonable 500GB but kept the rest of hardware stock, with 2GB DDR2 and Core2Duo T9300, this CPU is really fast with 2.5GHz and 6MB L2 cache, it is a promising start for some good old gaming.
But I can't seem to install any sort of Intel GMA X3100 driver, modded or stock driver. After some quick Hardware ID google I found out it doesn't have Intel X3100 but it have a dedicated ATi Mobility X2300! It isn't a speed demon but a dedicated GPU is better than nothing. It runs MoHAA and NoLF2 at native resolution no problem at all, NoLF2 test it could reach 70+fps and drop to 37fps at highest setting. Not too shabby at all.

I currently run on Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit because I lost my XP disk and ISO, I'll download all XP driver and ISO. But to be honest even with 2GB RAM Windows 7 runs like a dream with no slowdown


----------



## Bungz (Aug 8, 2017)

Few repairs this evening

PSU done 

Took all the HM caps off that PS533-E board as one was bloating and was getting worse over the last couple of days gaming.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 10, 2017)

Speaking of the previously mentioned "talking" Asus boards, here's the one I referred to in one of my previous posts - P4B.

The board itself was given to me for free in non-working condition, it kept reporting RAM error(s) regardless of what & how you would plug them into the slot(s). To be completely honest, I don't quite understand what happened there, I remember fiddling with the board, cleaning the RAM memory banks & replacing the CMOS battery and the next thing I knew the system booted up perfectly fine. But it does tend to go "crazy" from time to time, like that last time for example (only few months ago) when it didn't want to boot up and/or recognize the Iomega ZIP drive *shrug* Then the next thing I knew, hard drive suddenly "blew up", as the heads smashed into the rotating platter but that was due to drive itself & not related to the Asus motherboard - I hope!


 



As for the Iomega ZIP issue, this turned out to be the problem within the IDE cables, so I replaced both just to be on a safe side. Haven't tried to boot it up since then, but I figure it would (most likely) boot up OK. Here's the cable management "before" and "after" the whole maintenance & repair procedure:
Before:




After:




It's a funny story actually, because this entire P4B system holds a special value to me. I never had one of these before, but I DID have P4*T *system that I've bought in 2001. It was a Socket 423 Pentium 4 system, running at 1.4GHz from what I remember. It had 128MB of RIMM Rambus memory, in 2x 64MB configuration. Now that I think about it, I feel kinda bad for selling it, because it would have been quite a rare (and nostalgic) thing to have nowdays. On a bright side, I did keep everything else though, so I still have the original DVD-ROM drive, Hauppauge TV tuner & Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead cards, along with identical (but not the same) Teac floppy drive, Iomega ZIP100 & Teac CD-RW so I used all of those with P4B system.
Here are couple of pics from back in a day, of my actual P4T system. As you can see, these pics are all from 2005, so they're truly a flashback from the past 


 

 

 



Take a good look at all the 3.5 & 5.25 drives... You'll see they're all the same, except for the BenQ CD-ROM which replaced the original "Teac", since I moved the CD-RW unit to my other, Pentium II system 


 



And here's the pic of Pentium II with previously mentioned Teac CD-RW unit... Originally, this one came with P4 system (and just a standard, beige/white case with silver accents) but then I replaced both when I modded the case with that fancy black one & side panel window


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 10, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of the previously mentioned "talking" Asus boards, here's the one I referred to in one of my previous posts - P4B.
> 
> The board itself was given to me for free in non-working condition, it kept reporting RAM error(s) regardless of what & how you would plug them into the slot(s). To be completely honest, I don't quite understand what happened there, I remember fiddling with the board, cleaning the RAM memory banks & replacing the CMOS battery and the next thing I knew the system booted up perfectly fine. But it does tend to go "crazy" from time to time, like that last time for example (only few months ago) when it didn't want to boot up and/or recognize the Iomega ZIP drive *shrug* Then the next thing I knew, hard drive suddenly "blew up", as the heads smashed into the rotating platter but that was due to drive itself & not related to the Asus motherboard - I hope!
> 
> ...



Oh man, that case with the BenQ CD ROM, I love it! The feelings that it brings back... Thank you!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 10, 2017)

It was made by the company called Codegen ... that's about all I can remember  *sigh* On a side note, wish I hadn't give it away  It would had been so cool to build a retro system in one of these... But then again, I feel the same way about my Pentium II case with sliding door, I literally searched the entire world to find one but came up empty


----------



## Bungz (Aug 10, 2017)

We all have a bit of kit we regret selling.

I've been looking for a Epox 8K3A for about 4 years 

Nada.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 10, 2017)

Oh and by the way @uuuaaaaaa check out THIS post for more pics on the cool-looking case with the side panel window...


----------



## SniperHF (Aug 11, 2017)

Bungz said:


> I've been looking for a Epox 8K3A for about 4 years



My original first purchased with my own money motherboard was the Epox 4G4A+.  Died 3 years ago.

Good boards, don't seem to be as often fondly remembered as other manufacturers gone by.


----------



## Red_Machine (Aug 11, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


>


DUUUUUUUUUDE!  The first computer I ever built used this case!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 11, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> DUUUUUUUUUDE!  The first computer I ever built used this case!


Yup, that's the one! Extremely heavy (and durable, high-quality) case, but it wasn't the original choice for P4B system.

It came with one of those cheap, beige (more like yellowish) cases that I've re-purposed for some other project, where this one had a S370 Pentium III system running at 866MHz & Radeon 9100. So by the time I removed (& salvaged) all the S370 stuff for other projects, I've ended with empty case which turned out to be the perfect choice for a P4 system! Originally, I had P4B configured to do the speech thing though the internal speaker (real one, not a buzzer) but it was just too quiet for my personal taste, so I eventually reconfigured the board to route the speech diagnostics through the speaker output jack


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 15, 2017)

Just sent these little jewels to the happy hunting ground..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 15, 2017)

Wait ... you threw these AWAY?!?


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 15, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wait ... you threw these AWAY?!?


Yup. well, technically, they're in the cardboard bag for recycling


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 15, 2017)

Ahhzz said:


> Yup. well, technically, they're in the cardboard bag for recycling


Some people like throwing money away 

Better place for them would be a goodwill/charity Shop...........or a grateful member here


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 15, 2017)

Well, if someone here wants to pay shipping, I'd be glad to pass them their direction, at least until I get to recycling


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 15, 2017)

Ahhzz said:


> Yup. well, technically, they're in the cardboard bag for recycling


 No comment...


----------



## INSTG8R (Aug 15, 2017)

Kinda getting vintage? Still sexy regardless


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 15, 2017)

Nah, no way that's vintage. I'm still using 8800GT and Q6600 as "daily runner" (can't really afford anything better at the moment) and I personally consider GeForce 8 series to be "fairly modern" 

Nevertheless, that Radeon is one attractive-looking piece of hardware, that's for sure


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 15, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> No comment...


If you want them, they're yours for the low, low price of shipping


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 16, 2017)

Finally have time to replace my yellow-ish screen on my laptop. Sorry for the blurry picture I didn't check when I snap that. The original one is at the bottom.

 

The new screen is glossy and not matte, I'm not fond of glossy screen but since that's the only thing I have it'll do. I found out there is a backlight controller for this old CCFL backlight screens, newer ones that use LED backlight integrates to the LCD PCB itself. Interesting. The swap goes without problem.

Here's me playing GTA III with a solid 30fps  No more yellow screen yay!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 16, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah, no way that's vintage. I'm still using 8800GT and Q6600 as "daily runner" (can't really afford anything better at the moment) and I personally consider GeForce 8 series to be "fairly modern"
> 
> Nevertheless, that Radeon is one attractive-looking piece of hardware, that's for sure


WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG'O (although a matter of personal opinion .... we are going by my standard on the "2008 hardware will be vintage soon enough" as i consider 10yrs to be the norm and 8800 are soooo 2006  , tho, nonetheless, i can be nostalgic of something that got out in 2015 also, which doesn't equal to vintage ofc)

my 4870/3870/3650/8800GTX/8800Ultra on my shelf beg to differ 



INSTG8R said:


> Kinda getting vintage? Still sexy regardless


yep ... plenty qualified .... for me ....


----------



## Durvelle27 (Aug 16, 2017)

Found this in the closet






Putting it back together


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 16, 2017)

Durvelle27 said:


> Found this in the closet



Asus P5? something
i see duel ATA and a Floppy Connector ( Single 12v ATX CPU power supply connector )


----------



## Durvelle27 (Aug 16, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Asus P5? something
> i see duel ATA and a Floppy Connector ( Single 12v ATX CPU power supply connector )


ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, Athlon 64 FX X2, and a Nvidia 9400GT


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 16, 2017)

Durvelle27 said:


> ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe



Still a nice Board


----------



## Durvelle27 (Aug 16, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Still a nice Board


It still works


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 16, 2017)

Durvelle27 said:


> It still works


Of course it does, it's Asus!


----------



## Durvelle27 (Aug 16, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Of course it does, it's Asus!


Why ASUS has always been my favorite and first choice for boards up until AM4. They had a really bad start. 

But nonetheless trying to see how far I can clock this thing and how the 9400GTs do 512MB FTW


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 16, 2017)

I would have to say that Asus was (and is) absolutely #1 in the terms of quality & performance, I love their boards! TBH, I don't have any experience with their newer models, but everything up to the P5 series was just perfect!

In fact, I love Asus so much to the point where I just bought their smartphone two days ago!


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 16, 2017)

Durvelle27 said:


> ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, Athlon 64 FX X2, and a Nvidia 9400GT


I recommend buying four 2GB DDR ECC memory sticks to have that 8GB standard


----------



## Durvelle27 (Aug 16, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> I recommend buying four 2GB DDR ECC memory sticks to have that 8GB standard


I'm actually looking for some


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 16, 2017)

I used 4x2GB Samsung's ZCCC chips (got them locally a year ago).
There are few in Germany : LINK (only 6GB tho :/)
^Those are not how mine look like (my have two chip rows).
Like those : LINK.
My memory : http://imgur.com/a/oEwQN


----------



## xkm1948 (Aug 18, 2017)

X1950XT, 3870 & 4870 Smile for the camera


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2017)

Speaking of the PCIe video cards... I probably shouldn't jump ahead of myself at this stage, but I'm seriously considering to upgrade my existing 8800GT for something better. I'm thinking GTX 660Ti - from what I heard it's a perfect replacement for my trusted GF8!

And besides... To be quite honest, I'm tired of being the laughing stock to everyone, whenever I mention (still) using 8800GT for regular & daily purposes. Heck even gaming ... I'm running all my Steam games set to "max" without any lag whatsoever. But then again, I don't really play that much games in the first place, especially the newer ones  So therefore, investing time & money into a video card seems pointless to me, when I could easily invest it into the new phone for example, or new (retro) hardware piece. So instead, I came up with the idea to try & see if I can trade my old HTC M8 phone (that's still under warranty) for something decent, which would bring a lot more power to my old Q6600 rig. And that something would most likely happen to be 660Ti


----------



## kazz (Aug 18, 2017)

isnt 660Ti quite a bit overkill for that rig?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2017)

Well, I suppose so. But I'm trying to think in advance...

One of these days I'm going to swap the CPU & mobo for something better, so at least I won't have to worry about the graphics  I was actually referring to the power consumption, as 660 Ti draws pretty much the same amount of juice as 8800 (according to Game-Debate) where upgrading to let's say 770 GTX (or higher) would require a whole new PSU


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 19, 2017)

xkm1948 said:


> X1950XT, 3870 & 4870 Smile for the camera


I used to dream owning those cards...the only thing I could buy those days are X1800GTO


----------



## Bungz (Aug 20, 2017)

Had a cheap machine I picked up sitting about and noticed it had four out of six stand offs, there were six in the case but two were in the matx position.

Pulled the board and check the back, around the stand offs in the wrong position they hadn't done any damage but I noticed a trace that had burnt through!

Board oddly worked fine!



 

 

 

 

Repaired it and put it back in with mounts in right place.

Lives on


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 20, 2017)

Ah, Hercules! I had a Hercules 9500 Pro years ago on my #2 PC, at least it ran Flatout 2 flawlessly. 

Loved that blue PCB.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 20, 2017)

It's blue! It's Hercules! It's Disn ... wait, never mind  On a side note, I do happen to have a demo version of this game on one of those small CD-ROMs, I'll see if I can dig it up


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 20, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> It's blue! It's Hercules! It's Disn ... wait, never mind  On a side note, I do happen to have a demo version of this game on one of those small CD-ROMs, I'll see if I can dig it up


Damn, that's one of my favourite childhood games!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 21, 2017)

Right, here it is! And please excuse me for the quality, I took this shot with my 4.5yr old Samsung since I'm having minor technical issues with my new Asus phone, but I should be back on track soon enough 




Oh and @Bungz... Looking at the board, it might had been the grounding line. Which would explain why the board still worked, despite the PCB damage. Lesson to be learned (for all of us), always double-check the standoffs before placing the board into the chassis, especially if it's pre-owned case.


----------



## Bungz (Aug 21, 2017)

Yeah presumed it was a ground as it was quite chunky.

Its somthing I always check, never know how who as put the system together! 

Recently I bought a lot of 5 very high end gaming machines to break, nice corsair cases.

Oddly Corsair leave a stand off out the factory in a place which would not be there on 90% of boards, and yep every system had the stand off there!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 21, 2017)

Yeah, I've noticed that some cases (and their manufacturers) use pre-installed, permanent standoffs which are not removable from the frame. Usually the common ones, for all ATX standards such as top-left corner, right next to the keyboard & mouse interface. Makes installing the motherboards a lot more easier, especially if you don't happen to have identical, matching set of standoffs (since most of them seem to be different in shape & size, especially screw threads)


----------



## Bungz (Aug 22, 2017)

All of Ati's tech demos here, having great fun going through them.

Maybe a sticky to first page 

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Grafi...irectX-101-AMDs-Radeon-graphics-cards-683297/


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 22, 2017)

Bungz said:


> All of Ati's tech demos here, having great fun going through them.
> 
> Maybe a sticky to first page
> 
> http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Grafi...irectX-101-AMDs-Radeon-graphics-cards-683297/




Awesome man!!!! Included it in the original post. I notice these are even downloadable.


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 23, 2017)

Free to a good home, you ship it, you buy it 
 

that's a Pent 200MMX, Manuf 4/01/98. win98 would come with the cert and key


----------



## Robert B (Aug 23, 2017)

*Another thing I can take off from my TO DO LIST!* 

Full story later...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2017)

Robert B said:


> *Another thing I can take off from my TO DO LIST!*
> 
> Full story later...


Let me guess ... Slot-1 heatsink clips? Oh man, I hate these things, I've had so many of them which fell apart when I tried to pull them out 

And @Ahhzz, you have a message


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 23, 2017)

Sound Cards for old 98/DOS games :





My DX9+ PCI (*non-E*) GPU collection 





@Robert B Which one whould you pick for your Slot 1 ?


----------



## Robert B (Aug 23, 2017)

@*agent_x007 - *WOW I havent seen lately so many PCI graphic card in one group, that pack a punch  Generally I tend to use faster graphic cards than what was available at the time and to be sincere I prefer nVIDIA cards. In the fastest PIII slot 1 which now has an 800MHz chip, I have a Inno3D GF2 Ti 64MB. As for soundcards the Creative SB Live or Aureal Vortex.

Yep *PIII clips* and I know how to take them out without damage  The idea isnt new but I didnt see a fully detailed guide how to do it so I'll post one later.

My method requires two people though. One to hold the PCB + plastic backplate so that no damage is done to the CPU die, the other to use a small hammer and a longer rod that fits perfectly in the holes of the plastic backplate. The heatsink has to rest on a wood block.

Those clips are really held tight in there.

I tried to use a pair of pliers but that only damaged a little the collar of one of the pins so I had to find another method as I saw that the TIM was hard and had cracks in it.

After this experience I cand safely say I can take apart any slot 1 PIII/PII without fear.

I reused the clips and now the PIII 800/256/100 is running great


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Sound Cards for old 98/DOS games :
> 
> 
> 
> ...


As much as I love Aureal & A3D standard, I can't help but to admire Creative's EAX & SB Live Series. Mainly because they're dirt cheap, easy to find & deliver 3D audio acceleration, where Aureal cards are awesome (there's no doubt about that) but are incredibly rare & difficult (read expensive) to find & buy.

But then again, this is all Creative's fault in the first place, which is why I have mixed feelings about them to begin with...


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 23, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> As much as I love Aureal & A3D standard, I can't help but to admire Creative's EAX & SB Live Series. Mainly because they're dirt cheap, easy to find & deliver 3D audio acceleration, where Aureal cards are awesome (there's no doubt about that) but are incredibly rare & difficult (read expensive) to find & buy.
> 
> But then again, this is all Creative's fault in the first place, which is why I have mixed feelings about them to begin with...


Creative/Aureal aside, have you ever used a Yamaha card (like YF724E-V or YF718E) ?

@Robert B List of GPUs :



^GPU-z gets confused with PCI-e to PCI bridges...
A GT 610 would be interesting to see with PIII


----------



## Robert B (Aug 23, 2017)

My cousin had a Yamaha 724 and used it a lot of time on a PIII 450. Back in the day I had an onboard Creative 128. Regarding soundcards I dont have much experience. I always bought Creative cards.

No harm in trying a GT610 on a PIII  I think you should go all out and use the 9500GT


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 24, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Creative/Aureal aside, have you ever used a Yamaha card (like YF724E-V or YF718E) ?
> 
> @Robert B List of GPUs :
> View attachment 91383
> ...


Hmm... Can't say I did, although TBH I'm not really that much familiar with Yamaha. But I DO have at least one (if not 2, or maybe 3) OPL3 models. One of the cards is a genuine Yamaha OPL3, and it's built into one of the 3 MMX 233 systems where the other two only have the Yamaha chip, I think? (would have to check)


----------



## adamiakadam00 (Aug 25, 2017)

My collection, GF3TI200, GF2GTS, first 64bit desktop CPU A64 ClawHammer, Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT KYRO, Diamond Viper v770 TNT2


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 25, 2017)

So, speaking of Asus - I finally got my new Zenfone Max yesterday!! I know some of you will point out that it's not "new" new, but I had the choice between 3rd gen & this one here, for pretty much the same price. This one is new old stock, literally the last one they've had in store which caused some setbacks & technical difficulties, but that's a whole other story. The bottom line is that the "older" gen features 5,000mAh battery, where the newer one only had 4,200 - huge difference in my opinion. So, regardless of being the last year's model, this one was a straight & absolute choice!  Especially when comparing to my old HTC M8 which only had 2,800mAh, it's completely mindblowing!






And yeah, I realize this is kinda offtopic, but since I /do/ love Asus products (especially the retro, older ones which are often conversation starters in this topic) mentioning this seemed totally appropriate! 





Moving on... As I previously mentioned, I've been on a lookout for a replacement video card. Even though I can still play all the Source-powered games on "Max", the 8800GT is just not enough for the games such as GTA V or similar. Actually, only just GTA V, as I'm honestly not interested into anything newer than a Portal 2 (Perpetual Testing Initiative all the way! ) and/or Half-Life 2 & Garry's Mod. So I made a deal & bought used nVidia GTX760 which is going to take it's place.


 



Meanwhile I got plans for my old 8800GT & slap it inside my other (Pentium D) system that was primarily made for music & YouTube. Will post more info once I actually receive the card (through mail), probably some time early next week


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 26, 2017)

adamiakadam00 said:


> My collection, GF3TI200, GF2GTS, first 64bit desktop CPU A64 ClawHammer, Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT KYRO...


Nice collection, I also have that GF3 TI 200 GS (mine overclocks to GF3 Ti 500 spec ).
As for Kyro, here's bigger brother of your card, Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 KYRO II (delivered yesterday).


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 26, 2017)

awww so cute .... 2 Kyro 4XXX separated between 2 user 

meanwhile .... both of them are sitting on my shelf, alongside some other hercules ofc, the 4500 was a gift from a friend and the 4000XT a 1$ auction lucky strike 

i think i already posted them previously since the only recent old hardware i got is the XFX 8800 GTX


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 26, 2017)

Nice collection of cards adamiakadam00, that Leadtek GeForce 2 Pro cooler looks wicked!

@Trekkie4 hows that Zenfone Max? I used to have Zenfone 5 but that thing have grey screen of death and no way to fix it. After that I been avoiding Asus phone.

Speaking of nostalgic, I have this 3D Blaster Voodoo Banshee my dad gave me few years ago, but I have no platform to use it since it's the older AGP 2X, my working Pentium4 AGP system only accepts AGP 4X/8X so I don't know whether this card still works or not. Shame really.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 26, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Nice collection, I also have that GF3 TI 200 GS (mine overclocks to GF3 Ti 500 spec ).
> As for Kyro, here's bigger brother of your card, Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 KYRO II (delivered yesterday).
> View attachment 91494
> View attachment 91495
> View attachment 91496





GreiverBlade said:


> awww so cute .... 2 Kyro 4XXX separated between 2 user
> 
> meanwhile .... both of them are sitting on my shelf, alongside some other hercules ofc, the 4500 was a gift from a friend and the 4000XT a 1$ auction lucky strike
> 
> i think i already posted them previously since the only recent old hardware i got is the XFX 8800 GTX


I have 1st gen of Kyro, "Evil Kyro" by PowerColor, I even remember posting few pics last year  It took me a very long time to actually test the card, since I just wasn't motivated to try something "new" (other than 3dfx, ATI and/or nVidia), but overall I'm seriously disappointed with its performance.


 



TBH, I was expecting something along the line of GF4 MX400, except I couldn't play most of the games due to numerous problems and/or glitches. Like Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban for example, the game started in "Safe Mode", featuring Software (CPU) video mode without 3D acceleration. NFS Hot Pursuit 2 launched, but then got completely messed up, I was seeing wrong textures & messed up colors, but the card worked OK otherwise, in other games. Which led me to a conclusion that I was experiencing driver problem(s), and not malfunctioning hardware. Sadly, I was unable to source better drivers for Evil Kyro, so I'm currently stuck using what I have. But nevertheless, I decided to hold onto the card, since it's somewhat rare & unusual ... it makes a nice & refreshing change from the usual GPU brands  (System running Kyro is Athlon 1000, 256MB of RAM)


 





Apocalypsee said:


> Nice collection of cards adamiakadam00, that Leadtek GeForce 2 Pro cooler looks wicked!
> 
> @Trekkie4 hows that Zenfone Max? I used to have Zenfone 5 but that thing have grey screen of death and no way to fix it. After that I been avoiding Asus phone.
> 
> ...



Well, TBH I've only been using Asus for two days now so it's too early to tell anything, but I have a family member who bought the same phone last year (when it 1st came out) and this person is amazed by Zenfone Max, I was highly recommended to buy one for myself. So now I finally decided to actually do it, I sold my HTC M8 (that was still under warranty) & went with Asus - so far so good! It has a huge 5,5 inch display, 5,000mAh battery (which also doubles as battery pack, charger for other phones & USB devices), not to mention zillion of other neat tricks & additions to ZenUI. Software-vise, it came with Android 5.0, which immediately upgraded to 6.1.

There's a huge difference between HTC & Asus, so obviously it'll take some time for me to get used to it but overall I like it! It was a good move IMHO - and the best of all, this phone costs 1/2 price of what I paid for HTC! Approx. 240 USD where on the other hand HTC was more closer to 400 

On a side note, I can't believe I'm STILL missing Banshee in my collection lol! I mean, it wasn't that rare back in a day, there was a lot of ppl who bought one. But at least I'm fortunate enough to own Rush, it's currently paired with my Pentium Pro 200


----------



## Bungz (Aug 26, 2017)

Some nice hardware posted.

Had a Gainward GF4 ti4200 die on me today


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 26, 2017)

I hate it when something like that happens  All of the sudden, or have you been moving the card from one system to another?


----------



## Bungz (Aug 26, 2017)

Took out of storage, into rebuilt machine happy all day yesterday.

First boot tday artis everywhere 

Not a super rare card but meh still annoying.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 26, 2017)

I realize this might sound (too) obvious, but see if re-seating the card does the trick. If not, try cleaning the AGP interface.

I remember having a tough time with certain Matrox card, which seemed to be OK, but then suddenly decided to stop working, and the BIOS kept reporting "VGA" error, one long & 3 short beeps. Taking the card out & placing it back inside didn't help, so just as I was about to give it up, I've noticed that the AGP interface was coated in dust, it had that darker matte look. So after cleaning the card & giving it one (last) try, the system booted up perfectly fine. You might also want to clean any dust from the AGP slot, and make sure none of it fell inside.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 28, 2017)

It's finally here guys!! More info (and pics of my old 8800GT) to come, as soon as I hook it up into my Q6600 rig 


 



Update
GTX 760 is mounted & connected  Everything's working as it should ... but apart from that I got nothing special to say about it. It's faster & more powerful than 8800GT (duh, obviously) but it's kinda too modern for my taste...


 

 

 



And here's my trusty & reliable 8800GT, 512MB model. I absolutely LOVE this card, it served me great over the last 9 years or so & I sincerely hope it'll keep on doing so for years & years to come!


 

 

 

 



And yes, this is a brand NEW Tomb Raider Anniversary, which came with 8800 card, I never even opened it!


----------



## jlewis02 (Aug 29, 2017)

Something I found today


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 30, 2017)

Normally, I wouldn't bother fixing one of these... I mean, usually just the GPU cooler alone costs more money than the card itself, but since I bought this one for almost nothing, I figured why not...  Mounting angle is a bit weird IMHO, but other than that it seems to be a perfect fit!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 31, 2017)

So, here's something different... I've been playing Black Mesa (Source) & noticed all those computer props laying around the map, purely for decoration purposes. So I figured it would be a great opportunity to take few pics, maybe even make a real-life counterpart(s) from what I see in the game 

Let's start with this small-factor AT machine... It seems to be a Pentium (Pro/MMX?), in one of those older cases which still had a "Turbo" button & CPU frequency indicator. Yes, I realize that it could also be 3x86 or 4x86 but since the events of Half-Life 1 originally took place in 1999, and also due to that USB expansion card on the back (which has to be PCI), I'd say it's most definitely a Pentium or Pentium MMX system inside. After all, this is Black Mesa we're talking about, these guys had some high-tech toys back in a day  Joke aside for a moment, I might be getting one of these for real. I really don't want to give any more details at this point, but I've been in contact with one guy who has a small(er) AT or ATX AMD-branded tower & would be willing to give it away. In which case I'll let you guys know, of course!  


 



Not Sure what to think of these desktops... Generic office design, could be just about anything really. Probably a Slot-1 Celeron. The optical drive is DEFINITELY a CD-ROM, kinda like resembles that Teac of mine.


 



CRTs... 15" or 17" maybe? It's hard to tell for real, since the scaling is off. Either way, useful for whacking zombies!


 

And of course, it wouldn't be a genuine retro discussion without VHS... Which is way too modern for this game by the way, as this particular unit is from around 2002, 2003 at least. The older gen model would be bigger and/or wouldn't have cassette loading opening in the middle, it would be either left or right. It also wouldn't have as much OSD (On-Screen-Display) options & fully computerized control.


----------



## jlewis02 (Aug 31, 2017)

Thinking about making it a necklace


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 31, 2017)

jlewis02 said:


> Thinking about making it a necklace


Intel Pentium II CPU Pendant Necklace  (1998)
  

http://www.chipsetc.com/intel-jewelry--pins.html


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 31, 2017)

Bah, nonsense! We all know that P2 CPUs are bulky, black & have a Slot-1 interface!


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 31, 2017)

Not so bulky when it's just the CPU die though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 31, 2017)

Obviously, I was only kidding  It's pretty weird to see a P2 chip though, as I always picture Pentium 2 (even P3) as a Slot-1 cartridge.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2017)

Found something else.

AMD Am486 DX-40 486 CPU Keychain (1993)
  

AMD K5 CPU Keychain (1996)

 

AMD K6-2 CPU Keychain (1998)
 


> This rare keychain contains an actual AMD K6-2 CPU encased in enamel. AMD released very few computer chip keychains throughout the years, especially compared to Intel, this item is quite rare and highly collectible.



Edit: Lots to look at here. http://www.chipsetc.com/


----------



## Norton (Sep 1, 2017)

Check out the socket 939 motherboard in the link:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAEEN6B84047

Can anyone spot the problem?


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 1, 2017)

Norton said:


> Can anyone spot the problem?


Not that familiar with 939 boards
but to me it looks like your have problems finding a case to accept that board due to its awkward layout
the Rear panel  IO layout seems wrong along with the riser slots


----------



## Norton (Sep 1, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> but to me it looks like your have problems finding a case to accept that board due to its awkward layout
> the IO layout seems wrong along with the riser slots


Look at the _condition_ of the board up close 



Spoiler: Take a look












EDIT- I do agree that it's a strange layout


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 1, 2017)

No cannot see what your seeing
OMG those bulging Caps (2 by the CPU Carrier)




to me this board looks like it will not fit a standard AT/ATX Case


----------



## Norton (Sep 1, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> No cannot see what your seeing
> OMG those bulging Caps (2 by the CPU Carrier)
> 
> 
> ...


Should be shipped with a free fire extinguisher


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 1, 2017)

Norton said:


> Look at the _condition_ of the board up close
> 
> 
> 
> ...





dorsetknob said:


> No cannot see what your seeing
> OMG those bulging Caps (2 by the CPU Carrier)
> 
> 
> ...



It does look pretty weird, but that's probably just a standard BTX motherboard with bulging caps... Saying probably, as I don't have any BTX hardware for comparison, but I do remember all the promotional hype from early 2000s & BTX diagrams.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2017)

Looks like a highly proprietary motherboard pulled from a OEM case to me. 

BTX moved the CPU down behind the plastic front panel right where the front intake fan. PCI/PCIe slots are up top, and DIMM slots were in the middle (near to the CPU.)

BTX showed up during the Pentium 4 era.


----------



## Frick (Sep 2, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Looks like a highly proprietary motherboard pulled from a OEM case to me.



I'm thinking Shuttle.

Found this. Look at all those bent pins, will be a bitch to straight out.


----------



## _JP_ (Sep 2, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not Sure what to think of these desktops... Generic office design, could be just about anything really. Probably a Slot-1 Celeron. The optical drive is DEFINITELY a CD-ROM, kinda like resembles that Teac of mine.


They look like Olivetti to me, although the logo is brother's, their desktop business is defunct for a loooong time now 

EDIT: And if you search for anything brother industries-related, you get sewing machines and printers, their main focus now...so, "needle in a hay stack"


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 2, 2017)

_JP_ said:


> They look like Olivetti to me, although the logo is brother's, their desktop business is defunct for a loooong time now
> 
> EDIT: And if you search for anything brother industries-related, you get sewing machines and printers, their main focus now...so, "needle in a hay stack"


Good to know that I'm not the only one who's researching (and documenting) old computers from the virtual environment  I went back into the game & found this:


 



It turned out to be yet another AT system... Probably for the sake of sharing texture files with another model, "tower" one. But now that I think about it, I do remember seeing Slot-1 AT systems, so maybe I wasn't that far from the truth, after all!




Windows 95, probably! Either 95 of Millennium Edition for sure


----------



## DR4G00N (Sep 2, 2017)

Came across another Ultra-D a little bit ago, Rev. AB0.
Had an A64 4000+, 2x512MB OCZ EL Platinum V1.1 (Samsung TCC5) & a Thermalright XP-120 with it.


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 3, 2017)

Do a pencil mod to SLI-D version


----------



## DR4G00N (Sep 3, 2017)

Haha, that may happen. Chipset heatsink is pretty much fused to the chip though.


----------



## Bungz (Sep 5, 2017)

Been playing with a V2 1000 SLI set up, all alien to me.

Some games work spot on, some not so much.


----------



## Bungz (Sep 6, 2017)

Aaaaand back to more familiar stuff


 

Been after one of these for a while, friend at uni had a 6800GT. Always loved the huge heavy cooler.

Only a boggo 6800 but still pleased with it, bought it from a local listing from a rough as hell area thought I was handing cash over for scrap!


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Sep 6, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Aaaaand back to more familiar stuff
> View attachment 91820
> 
> Been after one of these for a while, friend at uni had a 6800GT. Always loved the huge heavy cooler.
> ...


 I have always loved the design of the cooler on the old 6800 ultra. Back in the same era I bought the X850XT PE, R481 AGP die of course!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 6, 2017)

Norton said:


> Should be shipped with a free fire extinguisher


do want.... even without extinguisher ... i love oddboard ... and that would not be my 1st with bulging caps on my shelf


grrhhhh i want to fix my LanParty NF4 UT .... ooorrr i can try the MSI K8N Neo2 ... the XFX 650i Ultra + Asus 8800 Ultra + MK-26 + C2D E8500 is boring  well the NF4 UT could use my dual 6600GT while the K8N is AGP and would get the Xvi X1950GT super AGP

on a second thought .... i still need to test my Asus A9800XT, the HIS HD3870, the XFX 8800 GTX and should probably fire up the SuperMicro H8DCE and see if the 2 Opteron 275 work with it ... (i know they do not work on the Arima HDAMA-i, only the 246/248/250 do )

i really need to find some time to tinker with the old hardware ... damn my Dell Dimension 5150 is calling me ... he says "P4-630....P4-630!!! give me a new graphic card ... that HD2600 OEM is ... rubbish!" too bad the only PCIeX single slot i have are non functional (a HP 9800GT, and 2 Acer 9600GT ) wait a minute .... i have a HD3650, i always thought it was a AGP (probably because i did put it near my X800GT agp)




edit ....


DR4G00N said:


> Came across another Ultra-D a little bit ago, Rev. AB0.
> Had an A64 4000+, 2x512MB OCZ EL Platinum V1.1 (Samsung TCC5) & a Thermalright XP-120 with it.
> 
> 
> View attachment 91721


argh! now i really have to work on my NF4 UT


----------



## AsRock (Sep 7, 2017)

Saved these today, t6he guy had just phoned the recycliers to pick the stuff up but beat them to it.

3 PQ5 Deluxe boards, some eVga board and a standard PQ5, a LinkSys 2016 1Gbit 16 port,  a IBM Thinkpad R61i and some crappy Asus eeePC Seashell BS, a bunch of low end video cards ( one of them have caps popping ).


----------



## Bungz (Sep 7, 2017)

Those P5Q boards are some of the best 775 made.

Good save!


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 7, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Those P5Q boards are some of the best 775 made.


they sure are 
still have one myself (from new)
Been asked if i will sell it but so far Resisted the Temptation
still have it installed as a working crossfire system


----------



## AsRock (Sep 7, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Those P5Q boards are some of the best 775 made.
> 
> Good save!




And to think the guy was just throwing them out all wrapped up nicely in static bags and most of the other goody's that came with the boards.

Apparently he does the crunching for cancer and has 6 PCs running at this time, as him being a real nice person to know i did drop a hint about TPU,  but my accent and all don't help HA.

Once i have checked them out see if they all working they be sold more likely, not 100% sure though as a quad core is cheap and would surly make a reasonable running PC(s).


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 8, 2017)

AsRock said:


> Once i have checked them out see if they all working they be sold more likely,


Message me when you're ready to sell one.


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 8, 2017)

Sad news :
My trusted A8N32 SLI Deluxe MB died suddenly 
MCH/South Bridge fried itself :






Luckily, my CPU/GPU survived (FX-60 + GTX 780 Ti), don't know if RAM did as well (but I think it should, since CPU is OK).
Now I have to buy another one, but should I go for exact same board ?
OR maybe I should buy A8R32-MVP instead ?
Thoughts ?

I want a board with ECC *Registred* support.


----------



## Bungz (Sep 8, 2017)

That sucks.

Commiserations


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 9, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> My trusted A8N32 SLI Deluxe MB died suddenly



Damn bro, that does suck!!!!! Sweet boards.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 11, 2017)




----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 11, 2017)

Thanks guys.
Until I get a new board, here are some RAM pics (all DDR ECC Reg.) :
https://i.imgur.com/L5U5QmE.jpg
First two rows are new old (I was preping board for them when it failed "smoke test"),
3-rd row is RAM I was using until now, and bottom is cheap 1GB/DIMM for testing stuff.
CF 1GB card is for my other project


----------



## Cutting-Edge Retro (Sep 11, 2017)

Hey everyone, Thanks for the heads up on this thread btw @stinger608 . 

So I've been collecting / building retro system for a while now and never bothered to share much outside of my personal Facebook. I recently posted a couple of my more rare GPUs on the Rare & Unreleased GPU thread and It was suggested I share my collection here. This is the bulk of my ever growing PC hardware collection, some GPUs listed here I've recently purchased and are yet to arrive.

I can't upload photos of every item as the forums won't let me post more than 10 images, So I've picked a "highlight" of builds/parts I have already taken photos of. I do high res photos of every GPU I get in, but haven't done many of anything else yet except finished retro systems. I will try to chuck up some more collection photos once I have some time.

Hope you guys enjoy.

*CPUs:*
AMD AM486DX-4 100
2x Intel Pentium 3 1Ghz coppermine
Intel Pentium 3 1.2Ghz tualatin
AMD Athlon XP 1800+ thoroughbred
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ thoroughbred
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ barton
Intel Pantium 4 2.8Ghz HT northwood
Intel Pantium 4 3.4Ghz HT northwood
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
AMD Athlon X2 3800+
AMD Opteron 180
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800
Intel Core 2 Q6600
Intel i3 2120
Intel i5 2400
Intel i5 2500K
Intel i7 3770K
AMD Phenom X4 9850 BE
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T BE

*Motherboards:*
Gigabyte AGP Socket 370 (forgot model number)
Asus A7N266-VM Socket A
EPoX EP-8RDA3G Socket A
Shuttle AN35N Ultra Socket A
Soltek SL-86SPE-L Socket 478 (purple, see photo below)
Albatron PX865PE Pro Socket 478
DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert Socket 939
DFI Lanparty UT P35-T2R Socket 775
ABIT Fatal1ty AN9 32X Socket AM2
ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen3 Socket 1155
Asus Z68 Maximus Gene-Z Gen3 Socket 1155
Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H Socket 1155







*GPUs: 
PCI Cards:*
2x Magic 3D II Voodoo 2 12mb SLI
Reference Radeon 9250 128mb
Alphaserver Radeon 7500 64mb (in transit)
Creative 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 (GF2 GTS) (in transit)
Hercules Stringray 128 6mb (in transit)

*AGP Cards:*
Matrox Millenium G450 (in transit)
Reference Riva TNT2 32mb (in transit)
Gainward Geforce 2 Ti 32mb
Reference Geforce 3 Ti500 64mb
Reference Geforce 4 MX440 4x 64mb
Asus Geforce 4 MX440 8x 64mb
Triplex Millennium Silver Geforce 4 Ti4200 128mb
Asus Geforce 4 Deluxe Ti4600 128mb
Albatron Geforce FX 5800 Ultra 128mb (in transit)
EVGA Geforce 6800 Ultra Extreme 256mb
Powercolor Radeon 9500 Pro 128mb ("I" vram config)
Reference ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
Reference ATI Radeon 9800 XT 128mb (in transit)
Reference ATI Radeon X700 Pro 128mb (in transit)

*PCI-E Cards:*
Albatron Geforce 6800 GT 256mb
2x Leadtek Geforce 6800 Ultra 512mb
Reference Geforce 7800 GTX 256mb
Asus Extreme N7800GT Duel
XFX Geforce 7950 GT 512mb (in transit)
2x Reference Geforce 7950 GX2
XFX Geforce 8800 GTS 640mb
EVGA Geforce GTX 460 1Gb EE
EVGA Geforce GTX 580 1.5Gb
EVGA Geforce GTX 760 2Gb SC EE
Reference Geforce GTX 770 4Gb
MSI Geforce GTX 970 Gaming 4G w/EK block (In my main system)
Sapphire Radeon X800 XT AIW 128mb
Reference Radeon X850 XT PE 256mb
Reference Radeon X1950 XTX Crossfire Edition 512mb
Reference Radeon HD 2900 XT 512mb (in transit)
Asus Radeon HD 3870 512mb
XFX Radeon HD 5770 1Gb XXX

(Not upto date collection photo)






*Complete Retro Gaming Systems:
Project Prophet:*
AMD XP 3200+ @2.4Ghz
Shuttle AN35N Ultra
2Gb OCZ Platnium Elite DDR400
320Gb WD Black IDE 7200RPM
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro w/ Arctic Silencer
Creative SB Live 5.1
Intel Gigabit Lan PCI Card
Thermaltake View 27 Case
Thermaltake Volcano Extreme 12 cpu cooler w/green led fan
Seasonic 450watt PSU
Windows XP
(Photo taken when I had the 6800 ultra in it)





*Project Nalu: *(this is my most used retro system)
Pentium 4 Northwood @3.6Ghz
Albatron PX865PE Pro
OCZ Platnium Elite DDR400 4Gb (3.5gb in XP)
Nvidia 6800 Ultra Extreme 256mb
1Tb Samsung Spin Point F3
Creative Audigy 2 ZS (headphones)
Audiophile 24/96 Midi card (2.1 monitors)
Intel Gigabit Lan PCI Card
Thermaltake View 27 Case (previous case in photos below)
Lian Li PC-7FW Black Case (*current case*)
EK Supremacy Signature Edition CPU Block
Swiftech Nvidia 6800/7800 GPU/Vram blocks.
XSPC Ion Pump
XSPC 360mm Rad
Corsair VS650 PSU
Mayhem Aurora II Pearl Blue coolant
Windows XP





*
Work-In-Progress Builds:*
Windows 98 Machine: P3 1Ghz / GF3 Ti500
Vista 64 Machine: Intel X6800 / DFI Lanparty P35-T2R / GF 7950 GX2
ATI Ruby Red Machine: Phenom X4 9850 BE / ABIT Fatal1ty AN9 32X / ATI X1950 XTX + X800 XT AIW


----------



## Ahhzz (Sep 11, 2017)

deflipe said:


> Well, after following some advice, I realized that I was taking the romanticism out of this project by putting pieces from other generations like Abit's glorious NF7, so I made a lot of modifications.
> 
> Replace the following:
> 
> ...


I did love my V550... upstairs right now


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 12, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Aaaaand back to more familiar stuff
> View attachment 91820
> 
> Been after one of these for a while, friend at uni had a 6800GT. Always loved the huge heavy cooler.
> ...


Damn, when I see this card all I can remember is I want one to play Doom3


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 12, 2017)

That is an amazing collection @Modzy !!!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 12, 2017)

1989 ... i have it since i was 8yrs old ....  (had the soft on Atari ST 1st)


----------



## Bungz (Sep 16, 2017)

Few more bits came in today.

And yes the abit fan needs oiling!


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 16, 2017)

biffzinker said:


>



That was really a good time for computers (diversity wise). All risc workstations were great in one way or another. UNIX, PowerMac, or NT.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Sep 16, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Few more bits came in today.
> 
> And yes the abit fan needs oiling!
> View attachment 92116 View attachment 92117



Gotta love Abit! I sill have my IC7-MAX3, best board I've ever had!


----------



## Bungz (Sep 18, 2017)

Hey guys

I have several early 90's IDE hard drives that I would like to test before I sell them, what is the best way to do this as it is all a bit before my time.

They show in bios and appear to be ok but I wanted to test them a bit further.


----------



## PHaS3 (Sep 18, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Hey guys
> 
> I have several early 90's IDE hard drives that I would like to test before I sell them, what is the best way to do this as it is all a bit before my time.
> 
> They show in bios and appear to be ok but I wanted to test them a bit further.



SeaTools should work, might need an older version...


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 18, 2017)

Scan them with Anti Virus ( you never know better safe than sorry + other plenatudes ) Test with Crystal disk


----------



## Bungz (Sep 18, 2017)

Thats my usual go to but didn't know if these things had smart being so old.

Id like to see what a virus from 1991 would make of windows 10


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 18, 2017)

Its a patched reworked and repatched corperate cock up   you never know  what legacy bits and crap pieces may be effected

I have a docking Station with IDE interface and crystal disk reads ( the) disk's both over native IDE from motherboard and via Docking station via USB


----------



## AsRock (Sep 18, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Thats my usual go to but didn't know if these things had smart being so old.
> 
> Id like to see what a virus from 1991 would make of windows 10



I am pretty sure a virus like the whale virus would be detected pretty fast, and yes that is a actual virus and what it did was to mess with the boot sector and the command.com file would look like it had grown end result was system would not boot.


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 20, 2017)

Dinosaurs rule  (on left Raptors 36GB, 74GB, 150GB [RaptorX], on right VelociRaptors 300GB/600GB/1TB)





Legendary company should always be presented in pairs 

Gigabyte Intel board without "R" in name, but with "R" type south bridge (delivered today) :




Of course board came with heatsinks (and it works fine on F10 BIOS) 

PS. Out of curiosity, I checked specs for MOSFETs on this board...




And if I see/read things right, they went NUTZ with Low side on this board : 104A @ 25C and 75A @ 85C... EACH - there are 12 of them in total (2 per phase).
Sure, each MOSFET produces 65W of heat at that load - but still 
Here's spec sheet I base this on : LINK.
Oh, and High side is made out of FETs... recommended for Low side : LINK - because, why not 
Wish board had screw mounting system for VRM heatsinks, instead of plastic push-pins.


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Sep 20, 2017)

World's first answering machine.







Long before modern telecommunications, countries communicated via telegraph by sending coded messages along cables from one operator to another.

In order to pick up these signals a telegraph siphon recorder was required.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphon_recorder

Made by Muirhead & Co, of Westminster, London, this model from 1880 is 13in high and 13in wide

It ran and recorded without an operator having to sit and watch it, making it the world's first answer machine.


http://www.flintsauctions.com/catalogue/telegraph-siphon-recorder-muirhead-co-ltd-westminster/


----------



## AsRock (Sep 20, 2017)

Porn at it's best .

Largest and most expensive HDD, the Ausy guy from EEVBlog did a run down on it in fact a picture of that video with some info on the drive on it here
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme...argest-and-most-expensive-hard-drive-teardown

For the actual EEVblog video the link below.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 21, 2017)

And of course @agent_x007 , your sending me all of the hard drives..................................Right? 

Always wanted one or two of them ole 36 gig windowed Raptors, but they were insane priced back in the day and pretty damn rare now. Awesome ole collection of hard drives man!!!!!


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 22, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Always wanted one or two of them ole 36 gig windowed Raptors, but they were insane priced back in the day and pretty damn rare now. Awesome ole collection of hard drives man!!!!!


Actually RaptorX (the windowed one) are 150GB each 
36GB ones are in bottom left corner.


----------



## Liquid Cool (Sep 22, 2017)

agent_x007,

Absolutely LOVE those windowed drives!

Recently had a kind soul gift me a WD Velociraptor 300GB hard drive, I'm using it as my main drive(see System Specs) and it's working beautifully.

Since I count myself among the "old school" crowd, somehow,  I feel there is something missing when I don't hear a hard drive chattering away.  Some might be happy about this, but I personally missed the noise.  I used to run two 74GB Raptors in Raid 0 before switching to one Raptor for the OS and the second for the swap file and storage.  I liked that set up better than Raid 0.  I missed my Raptor drives, but this 300GB Velociraptor is definitely scratching the itch!

Thanks for posting those pictures...much appreciated.....,

Liquid Cool


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 25, 2017)

Not sure if this counts as nostalgic hardware...








Edit (3DMark 03) : 




Quake III Arena Demo001 test 
1024x768 @ 32bit


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 27, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Not sure if this counts as nostalgic hardware...


Careful with calling a 980X old hardware. I'm sure @Tomgang would likely be offended since he has a lot to say about staying put on the 980X.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 27, 2017)

biffzinker said:


> Careful with calling a 980X old hardware. I'm sure @Tomgang would likely be offended since he has a lot to say about staying put on the 980X.


meh .... i was pretty nostalgic when i ran my i7-920 rig, about 2 or 3 yrs ago, just before i upgraded to a i5-2400 (errr more a downgrade, but i got it for free in a "dump-run") and then a Xeon E3-1275v2  .... (Asus Rampage III Extreme and 12gb 1866 1600, my bad, for the 920) Q4-08 is old enough for me .... and as we said/wrote many times here : you can be nostalgic about yesterday


----------



## Tomgang (Sep 27, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Quake III Arenma Demo001 test
> 1024x768 @ 32bit
> View attachment 92480



Do you really need 1.45 volt for just 4.2 ghz on that cpu?

Seems pretty high considered my cpu do 4.25 ghz at just 1.35 volts.



biffzinker said:


> Careful with calling a 980X old hardware. I'm sure @Tomgang would likely be offended since he has a lot to say about staying put on the 980X.



Well, we cant avoid that X58 is from 2008 and by that x58 came out 9 years ago. So in hardware terms it's old.

But as terminator stated in the last movie: im old not obsolete and the same goes for x58.










I will not call this score from my own system obsolete just yet


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 27, 2017)

Tomgang said:


> But as terminator stated in the last movie: im old not obsolete and the same goes for x58.


oh BLOODY HELL! i was about to edit and write :

"nostalgic/old does not mean obsolete" .... but i averted .... 

nice "telepathic" skills! 



Tomgang said:


> Well, we cant avoid that X58 is from 2008 and by that x58 came out 9 years ago. So in hardware terms it's old.


aye ... sure does ... which remind me i need to find a Nehalems/Bloomfield and probably a Westmere/Gulftown cpu for my CPU collection ...


----------



## Tomgang (Sep 27, 2017)

GreiverBlade said:


> oh BLOODY HELL! i was about to edit and write :
> 
> "nostalgic/old does not mean obsolete" .... but i averted ....
> 
> ...



Well i have been told i am al ways the right place at the right time. Some people are even scared of me for that 

About nehalem/bloomfield. Had a i7 920 before i got my self a gluffy (my nickname for gulftown). But if only one of them. Deffently westmere/gulftown. They oc better and has more cores, so much more fun to screw around with.


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 27, 2017)

Norton said:


> Check out the socket 939 motherboard in the link:
> 
> https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAEEN6B84047
> 
> Can anyone spot the problem?



Bad Caps and layout


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 27, 2017)

Tomgang said:


> Do you really need 1.45 volt for just 4.2 ghz on that cpu?
> 
> Seems pretty high considered my cpu do 4.25 ghz at just 1.35 volts.


I wanted stability and went "Vcore happy".
CPU can take it, cooling as well (I didn't wanted to try my luck on OS that isn't exactly known to be stable on this platform) 
Vcore testing will be done on newer OS (this only uses one core and one thread either way).
PS. I'm using Intel Extreme Cooling ("tower type" reference for 980X)


----------



## Tomgang (Sep 27, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> I wanted stability and went "Vcore happy".
> CPU can take it, cooling as well (I didn't wanted to try my luck on OS that isn't exactly known to be stable on this platform)
> Vcore testing will be done on newer OS (this only uses one core and one thread either way).
> PS. I'm using Intel Extreme Cooling ("tower type" reference for 980X)



High voltage is a bad thing all the way. It degrades cpu faster, cooler has to work harder = more noise, cpu produce more heat with out more performence and your powerbill also will be higher cause a overvoltage cpu use more watt with give more performence.

Intels recomended operation voltage is max 1.375 volt by the way. Higher volt degrades its faster.

Its up to you, but there are benefits by getting voltage ajusted in properly.

Since you say newer os. I can confirm windows 10 runs great on x58, if thats your plan.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 27, 2017)

Tomgang said:


> and your powerbill also will be higher


that's the weakest argument of all .... it's ultra negligible 

just like saying "you will get a insane power bill if you get a R9 290 over a 980" (i owned both ... zylch, nada, kadchiq difference on the power bill with the same usage, and the 290 was heavily OC'ed  )



Tomgang said:


> High voltage is a bad thing all the way.


tho i agree to that.



Tomgang said:


> It degrades cpu faster, cooler has to work harder = more noise, cpu produce more heat with out more performance


the cooler has to work harder well ... yep, that's the job of a cooler (not that it will have to work really harder) ... and i doubt a higher Vcore add a huge amount of °C .... (for my 920 i had only 3°C between fine tuned and overvolted ) degrade the CPU faster, again negligible (but true tho ... not quantifiable in years, months or even in weeks.)




Tomgang said:


> Its up to you, but there are benefits by getting voltage ajusted in properly.


he already wrote about it


agent_x007 said:


> Vcore testing will be done on newer OS (this only uses one core and one thread either way).


fine tuning is already planed



agent_x007 said:


> PS. I'm using Intel Extreme Cooling ("tower type" reference for 980X)


uh... sorry ... but even the "extreme cooling" from Intel is not getting at the ankle of the lesser aftermarket cooler (like a Scythe Katana 4/Cooler Master Hyper TX3 or anything else above ) on my 920 i had a Thermalright IFX-14 dual TY-147 @1300rpm (virtually silent) and later a Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev.A B/W with a single TY-147 (still have my IFX-14 ... heck i paid 15$ for it ... not selling it ever  ) for 50$ the Macho was golden.


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 27, 2017)

GreiverBlade said:


> he already wrote about it
> 
> fine tuning is already planed
> 
> uh... sorry ... but even the "extreme cooling" from Intel is not getting at the ankle of the lesser aftermarket cooler (like a Scythe Katana 4/Cooler Master Hyper TX3 or anything else above ) on my 920 i had a Thermalright IFX-14 dual TY-147 @1300rpm (virtually silent) and later a Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev.A B/W with a single TY-147 (still have my IFX-14 ... heck i paid 15$ for it ... not selling it ever  ) for 50$ the Macho was golden.


I don't need 0,5kg (or a pound) of metal, to cool this :




https://valid.x86.fr/r1b3gy (check OS as to why Vcore is so... optimistic )
Don't worry guys, "I will get there"... eventually 

I own Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme, but it's mounted on Rampage Extreme (X48) and I don't want to remount it (lazy + no need for this).
I also own 120mm Delta fans to go along with it and Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B as "backup" in case mounting will get damaged


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 28, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> I don't need 0,5kg (or a pound) of metal, to cool this :
> 
> 
> 
> ...


i used my Katana 4 on 4.5 with the 920  the macho was just for ... well ... you know ... 


the Mugen 2 Rev.B is more than a "backup" it's : "what it should be used, ftw!"


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 28, 2017)

Maybe 
But mounting Mugen 2 rev B, is a Real pain :/


----------



## DooM3 (Sep 28, 2017)

CPU default . 11-11-11-28


Ci figlio [ATTACH = pieno] 92511 [/ ATTACH] [ATTACH = pieno] 92512 [/ ATTACH] [ATTACH = pieno] 92513 [/ ATTACH] [ATTACH =


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 28, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Maybe
> But mounting Mugen 2 rev B, is a Real pain :/


while the Macho or IFX were a breeze for me  (i still have the 13" screwdriver bundled with the Macho, i forgot to repack it with when i sold the heatsink  )



DooM3 said:


> CPU Stok  normal volt . 11-11-11-28
> 
> 
> Ci sonView attachment 92511 View attachment 92512 View attachment 92513 View attachment 92514 o altri utenti con xeon w3680-90?


ciao, è un forum internazionale, per una migliore comprensione reciproca, per favore scrivi in inglese

a proposito, è il filo hardware nostalgico, preferiamo immagini di vecchi hardware, non che abbiamo qualcosa contro schermate, ma beh, vorremmo vedere anche i computer e le parti

(also it concern @Tomgang and @agent_x007 .... bring out the pics of the hardware ... bench and CPU-Z screens are boring, without nostalgeek pr0n  )


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Sep 28, 2017)

Worlds first jet pack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Rocket_Belt






The test took place at the Bell plant on Buffalo’s Niagara Falls Boulevard opposite the airport.

Hal Graham was a 27-year-old science graduate who was totally inexperienced but also a huge rocket belt fan.

He was chosen as pilot by creator Wendell Moore after working as a test engineer for just over a year at the Bell Aircraft Company.

Moore had asked for a volunteer from the company after coming up with the concept, and Graham was quick to step forward. 

The first flights took place in an aircraft hangar in March 1961.

After 36 flights tethered to the ground, Graham had his first untethered flight in April.

The front page of Life magazine said, ‘Graham was strapped to a hydrogen peroxide-fuelled rocket. The Army hopes it will someday make all foot soldiers look like Buck Rogers.’


----------



## Tomgang (Sep 28, 2017)

GreiverBlade said:


> while the Macho or IFX were a breeze for me  (i still have the 13" screwdriver bundled with the Macho, i forgot to repack it with when i sold the heatsink  )
> 
> 
> ciao, è un forum internazionale, per una migliore comprensione reciproca, per favore scrivi in inglese
> ...



There is nothing special about my old pc and cable management cut be better. That case i have is from a time before cable management really got popular, so i have done it as great i cut do it. But if you insist, here´s a couple of pictures of my pc.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 28, 2017)

Tomgang said:


> There is nothing special about my old pc and cable management cut be better. That case i have is from a time before cable management really got popular, so i have done it as great i cut do it. But if you insist, here´s a couple of pictures of my pc.


still sexy  and that 1080Ti remind me when i paired a R9 290 with my dual S940 Opty rig


----------



## Tomgang (Sep 28, 2017)

GreiverBlade said:


> still sexy  and that 1080Ti remind me when i paired a R9 290 with my dual S940 Opty rig



Despite how stupid it may sounds to combine the fastes single GPU out there (beside Titan XP) with 9 year old tech, it runs far better than i hoped for. Only 1080P is there sligt bottleneck in some games while games like Crysis 3 maxed out holds the GPU a 99 % load and as i move up to 2560 x 1600 or 4K the GPU becomes the bottleneck. At 4K CPU load drops significantly because the GPU becomes the bottleneck here for sure.

And any way who bay a 1080 TI to play 1080P, i dit not.

No matter what, i like how my pc runs games now. Its a blast with a combination of new and old tech in perfect harmony  and the benchmark tells the same story.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 28, 2017)

Tomgang said:


> Despite how stupid it may sounds to combine the fastes single GPU out there (beside Titan XP) with 9 year old tech, it runs far better than i hoped for. Only 1080P is there sligt bottleneck in some games while games like Crysis 3 maxed out holds the GPU a 99 % load and as i move up to 2560 x 1600 or 4K the GPU becomes the bottleneck. At 4K CPU load drops significantly because the GPU becomes the bottleneck here for sure.
> 
> And any way who bay a 1080 TI to play 1080P, i dit not.
> 
> No matter what, i like how my pc runs games now. Its a blast with a combination of new and old tech in perfect harmony  and the benchmark tells the same story.


well i have a 1070 and i play 1080p (drat .... i am 10 short ... the 1080 is "the" 1080p card! naming scheme ftw!) tho i think of getting a 1440p screen later  

my dual S940 + R9 290 was also kinda funny in benchies (tho a bit shy to say the less )


----------



## Tomgang (Sep 28, 2017)

GreiverBlade said:


> well i have a 1070 and i play 1080p (drat .... i am 10 short ... the 1080 is "the" 1080p card! naming scheme ftw!) tho i think of getting a 1440p screen later
> 
> my dual S940 + R9 290 was also kinda funny in benchies (tho a bit shy to say the less )



a 1070 shut be perfect for 1080P. If you want 1440P now, you can just use nvidia DSR. I use it for now until i can afford a real 4K screen and yes you can se difference between 1080P and 1440P/4K even on a 1080P screen with DSR.


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## agent_x007 (Sep 28, 2017)

Reference 7900 GTX I used is "boring"... 
6800 GT with LEDs ?
Now THAT is 2017 worthy stuff


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 1, 2017)

I did Quake III Arena... so let's try "the impossible" - Doom 3 
...










I had to use R. Loew's memory patch to even get past Windows logo with this ammount of RAM.
FYI : 1GB of RAM worked fine with added HIMEMX and system.ini/config.sys tweaks, BUT my 2x512MB kit isn't even close to what I used in the end 
Game was in v1.3 "cracked" form since there is Hex coding involved to get past "fabricated" Win98 error + noCD "patch", because I don't have a CD/DVD drive in this setup  (no ATA/EIDE cables at all, I have floppy ribbon tho).
Just to be clear : I own original/legit/physical copy of the game (on 3x CD).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 1, 2017)

Been working on loads of projects recently, but most of them are related to AMD... Bought a very cute & vintage-looking system (thinking it might even be Slot A inside), but instead it turned out to be yet another S462, running Duron @ 700Mhz. 128MB of SD-RAM, nVidia M64 graphics, so in other words nothing really exciting going on inside  The only thing that surprised me was a fully working Asus DVD-RW drive, that's probably worth more than the entire system alone 





But then it got me thinking... This thing has a huge potential, so why not turn it into something a lot more interesting ... need a hint? 


Spoiler: HINT









I'm not going to lie, this thing had been a real PITA so far, and the motherboard inside turned out to be completely bulged, there was at least 10 caps bulging and/or leaking all over. So I wanted to swap the board for another one, except this other board turned out to be defective, or so I initially thought. It wouldn't want to boot and kept throwing random errors, locking & freezing all the time, so I pulled it back out & re-capped the old one, original DFI AK74-EC that came with this case. In fact, I've just finished re-capping the board earlier today, so (hopefully) I'm finally going to put it back together tomorrow!


 

 

 

 



But here's the thing, as I was picking parts from this other S462 board & getting ready to throw it into the bin, I've noticed that it actually has not ONE (as you'd expect), but two physical jumpers, one on the each side of the board for controlling the CPU's FSB. So all this time I've been fiddling with one jumper, where the 2nd one left open & was therefore pointing to 133 (266)Mhz instead of what was supposed to be for Athlon 750, and that's 100 (200)Mhz by default. And so to my surprise, once I set all the jumper caps in order, board booted up perfectly fine, so I'm guessing it wasn't damaged in any way, I hope...

Other than that, I've been working on yet another nVidia M64, that had to be repaired. It was missing a fan ever since the original one seized up & fell apart, so then I took the old one from one of the dead cards & soldered it directly into M64, since it wasn't compatible with its power connector. Not that I really need that much M64 cards, I got loads of better hardware laying around, but still it's a matter of principle. If it's repairable, it would be wrong to throw it away - regardless of the brand, model, manufacture date, etc.

Oh yeah, and I've also been messing around with optical drives... Took 3 of my previously-assembled retro systems apart & changed their optical drives to either match (if there's already two of them), upgraded them by adding 2nd unit (if there was only one) and/or replaced the only CD/DVD drive for one that has a play button on the front panel. Mainly just for that retro look, it's not like I'm going to play music or anything


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 2, 2017)

What you will get when you fuse a DOS/XP PC with Windows 7/10 one ?
.
.
.
This :








Hardware list :
Core i7 980X @ 4,3GHz
3x 4GB DDR3 12GB 1961MHz @ CL9.10.9.24 (Triple Channel)
GPU1 : Radeon X850 XT PE (PCIe)
GPU2 : GeForce GTX 780 Ti
SC1 : Aureal Vortex 2
SC2 : Auzen X-Fi Forte
HDD1 : Compact Flash 1GB (w/ATA adapter)
HDD2 : WD Raptor 74GB (2-nd gen w/TCQ)
HDD3 : WD RaptorX 150GB
HDD4 : Installed and "Classifield" (because I'm not done yet)


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Oct 2, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> What you will get when you fuse a DOS/XP PC with Windows 7/10 one ?
> .
> .
> .
> ...



Cmon, you can do better...  I mean look at my score with the AGP version of that card on a stock 3.4GHz Pentium 4 EE Gallatin (retro machine on system specs)

http://hwbot.org/submission/3324842_u3a6_3dmark03_radeon_x850_xt_agp_14458_marks

3d mark 2005 score (3742Mhz on the cpu):
https://www.3dmark.com/3dm05/5532432


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 2, 2017)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Cmon, you can do better...  I mean look at my score with the AGP version of that card on a stock 3.4GHz Pentium 4 EE Gallatin (retro machine on system specs)
> 
> http://hwbot.org/submission/3324842_u3a6_3dmark03_radeon_x850_xt_agp_14458_marks
> 
> ...


I could OC it (this score was on stock settings).
However :
1) I used Windows 98 SE (and those are WinXP scores you have), so get on my level  
FYI : You can with Intel 875P chipset your board has.
2) Windows 98 SE sadly isn't compatible with 3DMark 05.

Other than that, I can't use Radeon X850 XT PE in XP because using both NV drivers and ATI drivers at the same time on XP is asking for trouble (and I will NOT even attempt to try it on this PC).
But, why should/would I ?
I simply use GTX 780 Ti as main card for WinXP 

PS. Here's my '03 score for your card (X850 XT PE AGP) on WinXP but with PDC E5800 @ 4GHz (again no GPU OC) : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm03/6529164
And 3DMark 05 score (same configuration/settings) : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm05/5538870
After I get back home, I can upload screenshots if you are interested.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 2, 2017)

Fresh meat !!!

Sadly the Cyrix CPUs are gone and I only found the heatsinks...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2017)

Finally, some truly nostalgic hardware!  Was that Slot A CPU, in the last pic?


----------



## Robert B (Oct 2, 2017)

That's the saturday shopping  I came too late and I lost more old ISA VLB motherboards as someone before me bought them for gold extraction. Good thing I found that awesome ASUS 486 board. The 30PIN and 72PIN SIMMs were almost free.

1. *PNY Geforce 4 4600Ti AGP 8872 Ver:200*
2. *Diamond S3 Savage4 Pro* - Rev. A - AGP 8MB -  Diamond STL III S520 ATX AGP 8MB
3. *Diamond nVIDIA Riva 128* - Rev. D - VIPER V330 PCI 4MB
4. nVIDIA *Riva TNT2 M64* - AGP 32MB
5. *ASUS VL/I-486SV2GX4* REV. 2.0
6. *VLB FDD/HDD/SERIAL/PARALLEL/GAME PORT * Winbond W83787F, W83758F / Promise PDC20630- EIDE / Super-I/O VLB Controller
7.* Memorii* 3x512MB DDR400 - KINGMAX, 30 PIN SIMMs, 72 PIN SIMMs.
8. Cache stick - 256KB COAST module *Elpina HT-VX Ver. 3.1*
9. Cache stick - 256KB SPB CACHE - COAST module - *HP 0960-0944*
10. *Heatsinks* - Cyrix without CPUs , Generic, Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 3
11. Protac Fastware AG240D* Intel i740* AGP 8MB -VER 1.2 SL292
12. Intel *Pentium II 450MHz* SL2U7
13. AT PSU *Minebea 145W* - 73G4374
14. *THE MISTERY BOX.*

Actually that's a PII 450MHz SL2U7 - it looks like a Slot A and it even is assembled like one - I'll post pics when I tear it up for cleaning and new TIM.

The RIVA 128 has already been cleaned and it looks great. I still have to test it though.

I still have to repair the 4600Ti and to clean the remaining parts.

Today I received a mistery box with parts from someone. I still dont know what's in it. I have it in my car and I'll see tomorrow  It should contain usefull parts.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 2, 2017)

Any guesses what the mystery box contains? If you don't mind me asking, where do you acquire your old components from?


----------



## Robert B (Oct 2, 2017)

*Tomorrow I'll post the contents of the box  It's not so big.* It should contain a motherboard and some other usefull bits. I dont know the details. The sender gave them for free and paid the shipping costs within my country. He called it Kinder Surprise. Go figure... He wouldn't tell me more details...I surprised even myself that I didnt open the box already. I guess I was stuffed with the parts I found saturday 

I find the components at the flea market, I buy them from people with connections to recycling centers, I buy them from collectors and sometimes I buy them from local ad sites like OLX. I'm from Europe - Romania.

I started looking for old HW parts less than three years ago. It is kind of scary how many parts I would be able to find...I try not to loose control and become a hoarder. My "collection" is not so big but I have 150+parts, miscellaneous items and three completed builds. Anyway with each passing year it gets bigger...

I visit the local flea market when my gut feelings says I have to go  That was exactly the last saturday and I found some nice parts. At the local flea market I have several contacts which bring fresh stuff on a regular basis. Sometimes a new seller comes and brings some more exotic stuff.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2017)

Still working on that AMD Athlon 750 project, and even though things are mostly finished (or at least I thought so), it turned out I'm having problems with the replacement hard drive... Western Digital unit to be exact, model number WD400BB.

From what I understood, this is one of those OEM drives, made for DELLs and so they're using unique architecture. As a result, I'm not able to format the drive in DOS, it either gets corrupted and/or it's showing 9.5 GB. Tried everything, from fiddling with the BIOS to formatting the drive under Linux Partition Magic, doesn't seem to be any difference I'm afraid. So now I'm on the hunt for replacement 40GB unit - until then, the project is on hold 


 

 

 


 [url=https://postimg.org/image/7mjcfo6623/]
	
[/URL]

@Robert B I have the similar approach... Not walking around the flea markets though, but I do know certain people, who can find what I want most of the time. Sometimes it takes a while for them to find it, but in the end I usually get it for free or with huge discount 

Edit








Not exactly what I have here, but it's certainly the similar model... Too bad actually, I'd LOVE to get my hands on a Slot A mobo & CPU.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 3, 2017)

*The box*

Today I opened the box I received yesterday.

Contents:

1. CPU Intel *Pentium 4 1.7GHz* - Willamette, S423, SL57W
2. Graphic card *6600GT Inno3D* - 128MB AGP - in sexy BLACK 
3. *Socket 3* Motheboard VIP REV:A - 3 PCI / 3 VLB / 2 ISA - SIMM 30 PIN /SIMM 72 PIN, *chipset OPTi 82C822/82C895* - missing jumpers, BIOS chip, CACHE chips and some light corrosion from the barrel battery*.All in all it might be brought to life but I dont know the manufacturer as the markings with the model number are all but missing. It might be a '90 clone. * 

The P4 CPU was stuck on the heatsink. First I tried to heat the heatsink with a hair dryer and gently move the CPU. This didnt work. I took a syringe with isopropyl alcohol 99% and kept the CPU soaked for about an hour, periodically replenishing the alcohol after it evaporated. The TIM softened but I still could budge the CPU. So I used a vice to hold the heatsink and I used dental floss to separate the CPU. Uhhh minty fresh  The leftover TIM from the CPU heatspreader was removed with acetone and a cotton stick. I took precautions so that the acetone didnt get inside the hole in the heatspreader. I used a small amount of a polishing abrasive cream to make the heatspreader shine  



























*gallery:* https://postimg.org/gallery/34k2q1rek/


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 3, 2017)

What? No, no, no! Acetone will dissolve plastic, it might even destroy the CPU entirely  Just use the WD-40, it'll melt away all the TIM into the puddle of liquid. Just make sure to wipe the CPU afterwards, otherwise it'll have that horrible smell once it heats up 

This here is the perfect example of what WD-40 can do to a CPU...


----------



## Robert B (Oct 3, 2017)

It was an extremely low quantity on a cotton stick to remove the leftover TIM on the metal heatspreader after I separated the CPU, which couldnt be removed by isopropyl alcohol 99% or using plastic or hard bamboo pointed sticks.....afterwards it took several washes with isopropy alcohol 99%. There are no problems in my case. The small quantity of acetone evaporated quickly. I know that stuff is powerful 

Thanks for the tips though.


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 3, 2017)

Needs more TIM.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 3, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Needs more TIM.
> 
> View attachment 92694


Heh-heh, how true! This one was around for a while now, I got this rig from a friend of mine long time ago. Actually (now that I think about it), I believe it was from her boyfriend, who put this thing together. So either way, I wasn't in the position to criticize TIM application, but SERIOUSLY!! Good thing I had a WD-40 to help me, otherwise this would have taken me ages to remove! And judging by the amount of dust, this thing had been around for quite some time.

Got the replacement Western Digital WD800JB 80GB hard drive earlier today!! 

Couldn't find (and wait for) 40GB one to appear, so I took the WD800JB & placed it inside the 2GHz Celeron machine that I've got some time ago, which was running one of those 40GB slim Maxtor drives up until earlier today, when I swapped it over for Western Digital.

Obviously, the old Maxtor drive will be going into the AMD build, I already placed it inside the case & took the opportunity to upgrade the CPU heatsink for something better. The original one was reused from the original setup, Duron 700 but ever since I  swapped it for Athlon, it's been running seriously hot. As high as 150F under full load, which is way too hot for my taste. Sooo instead of the small "Titan", I now have aftermarket GlacialTech heatsink, which is more massive & has a bigger fan to keep everything nice & cool within factory specs


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 5, 2017)

I finally got around to recapping my nf3-250Gb but unfortunately I think it's dead. 

The voltages across the board are just perfect and the standby and dram led's are lit. But when I power it on it doesn't post, not even a beep. Tried clearing CMOS and the other typical things I also flashed the bios to a newer version.

In other news another DFI goodie arrived. 

DFI LP DK 790FXB-M2RS
A64 X2 3600+ & 4000+
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix, Micron D9's.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2017)

I'm curious, is DFI still in business? Because I never realized (up until recently) they've done modern motherboards (featuring PCIe), as all my experience with DFI was mainly focused to Slot-1 and/or Socket A. Then again, I've seen several ppl who were fascinated & surprised to see Slot-1 DFI boards lol, so I guess it's all a matter of perspective (and personal taste for hardware).


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## Mr.Scott (Oct 5, 2017)

DFI is still in business. They only do industrial applications now though.


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## biffzinker (Oct 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm curious, is DFI still in business?


Still in business but focused on Industrial motherboards. Maybe embedded as well?

http://www.dfi.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2017)

Wow, thanks guys! It takes a lot of skills to survive in the IT industry for so long... Good management most likely, followed by right corporate moves. Which kinda translates to what I originally said, good management since they're the ones who make all the important decisions.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 5, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> they've done modern motherboards (featuring PCIe), as all my experience with DFI was mainly focused to Slot-1 and/or Socket A.


meeeehhhhhh for that "Dark" i concurre: most modern, it's a AM2/AM2+ (AND I WANT IT!)

but my LanParty UT Nf4 Ultra-D is a S939 (non SLI) and my second favorite mobo of my collection (yep i bloody love my SuperMicro H8DCE both are board i dreamed to own when they were "top notch" )

funny is .... i noticed the review here after i finally got my hands on one  which came after i got my hands on a sealed BNIB Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice)
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DFI/LPNF4UD/ (2005 yep ... old enough for me )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2017)

Captain's log, stardate -305238.37519025867

The AMD machine is finally set up & ready to receive all the retro gaming nostalgia  It's running Windows 98 SE, with all the drivers, apps & basic software already up & running. So therefore, I'll be posting more pics of the games & benchmark results some time tomorrow!

Getting the dialup modem & SB Live to work was somewhat challenging to say at least, but nevertheless both had been resolved one way or another & are in working condition


----------



## phill (Oct 6, 2017)

Seeing some lovely hardware in this thread   Been away a while, so it's been a welcome thread to look up on


----------



## Robert B (Oct 6, 2017)

VLB controller card restored 

I still have many other pacients waiting paciently to be returned to their former glory


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2017)

There you have it guys, as promised... Loads more to come, this procedure will take (for at least) 3-4 days, until I set everything the way I want it! 

Starting off with DFI itself... This here is that Slot-1 system I was talking about, the only DFI-branded Slot-1 system in my entire collection. I had to borrow a SB Live installation CD from this unit, so I powered it up but it turned out that the CMOS battery was dead, so I immediately took it apart to replace it.


 

 



Model number is DFI PA61, revision D2. It's running a 500MHz Pentium III & has 256MB of RAM. This is one of the 5 Voodoo2 SLI rigs in my collection, featuring two identical Diamond Monsters 3DII, 8MB each. The AGP graphics is ATI Rage 128, older 16MB model 

Moving on with Pentium 4-class Celeron, running at 2GHz. This is one of those systems which ended up in trashbin, probably since the old hard drive was shot & didn't serve much purpose to anyone. When I 1st picked it up, I immediately replaced the hard drive for another, identical 40GB Maxtor (which is now replaced by 80GB Western Digital), and also took the liberty of upgrading the graphics to Radeon 9600SE. I've had it sitting around & doing nothing, but since I had to take it apart, in order to swap out the hard drive I had to touch up on cable management inside. It's not perfect, I know but it's not terrible, either 


 

 



Here's the weird part, it seems that the PCI bracket cutout on the back of the case isn't big enough for a "real"
 video card, since the original one was just some crappy Radeon 9200 I think without TV out &/or DVI. Still have it by the way, as it's perfectly fine, just seriously underpowered for anything useful. Anyhow, to overcome the PCI bracket problem I had to remove the DVI port standoffs from the card, before I could slide it into the case. And only then, once the card was already mounted inside the case I could screw them back inside, so therefore this card isn't going anywhere lol. Well, it was either that or to cut the case, but since I'm all about preserving the original I've decided to go with more complicated (yet less invasive) technique instead 

Anyhow, enough about other projects! This here, AMD Athlon 750 is what you've been waiting for... So enjoy! 




Starting with Colin McRae Rally


 



Eventually moving to Carmageddon 2 (which was also my very 1st Glide game to run on this system)


 

 



Deus Ex...


 



Worms Armageddon


 



Driver


 



Discworld Noir


 



Ford Racing




Sports Car GT


 



Test Drive 5




Sorry guys, I'll have to split this into two posts... Moving on! 

Motocross Madness


 



Monster Truck Madness 2 (the ONLY Microsoft game to support Glide & 3dfx, AFAIK) Cart precision Racing was a demo, included with Monster Truck Madness 


 

 

 



Hard Truck - Road to victory


 

 



SimCity 3000


 



Midtown Madness


 



Midtown Madness 2


 



Half-Life


 



Half-Life Opposing Force


 



Half-Life Blue Shift


 



Surely you know this one? Yup, it's Unreal Gold & Unreal Tournament 


 

 



Max Payne


 

 



Too tired to keep on going today, so I'll be back tomorrow with more


----------



## Apocalypsee (Oct 7, 2017)

I still playing Max Payne and Half Life on my laptop that I resurrect. Though the laptop is dying last night since it unable to boot in a few tries, I have a few RAM that I swap around to see if it boots, it did boot but this morning it failed to boot again. I think it might reach the end of it's life....last thing I play is GTA San Andreas last night for about a couple of hours, the fan runs quite noisy and stutter quite badly, and it won't boot after restart.


----------



## T4C Fantasy (Oct 7, 2017)




----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Oct 7, 2017)

T4C Fantasy said:


> View attachment 92755 View attachment 92756


I've always loved the look of these cards


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2017)

Apocalypsee said:


> I still playing Max Payne and Half Life on my laptop that I resurrect. Though the laptop is dying last night since it unable to boot in a few tries, I have a few RAM that I swap around to see if it boots, it did boot but this morning it failed to boot again. I think it might reach the end of it's life....last thing I play is GTA San Andreas last night for about a couple of hours, the fan runs quite noisy and stutter quite badly, and it won't boot after restart.


Cool!  I was running San Andreas the other day, on that 2.00GHz Celeron from the previous page... It's working so much better with Radeon 9600SE, although you can clearly see the CPU bottleneck.

Speaking of AMD... Darn, I forgot to include Grand Theft Auto 2 yesterday!  "Damn nation, no donation - no salvation"

Oh and by the way, speaking of your laptop ... I'd check to see if the CPU heatsink is clogged up with dust. Because of what you described, it seems to be overheating issue, so the CPU throttles down trying to cool off, to the point where it overheats (and shuts down), until the temp is back to normal.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Oct 7, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Cool!  I was running San Andreas the other day, on that 2.00GHz Celeron from the previous page... It's working so much better with Radeon 9600SE, although you can clearly see the CPU bottleneck.
> 
> Speaking of AMD... Darn, I forgot to include Grand Theft Auto 2 yesterday!  "Damn nation, no donation - no salvation"
> 
> Oh and by the way, speaking of your laptop ... I'd check to see if the CPU heatsink is clogged up with dust. Because of what you described, it seems to be overheating issue, so the CPU throttles down trying to cool off, to the point where it overheats (and shuts down), until the temp is back to normal.


I have one of those Celeron Northwood 2A GHz way back, even at 3GHz it was slower than stock 2GHz Pentium 4 in gaming which I later upgrade to. If I'm not mistaken Celeron line socket 478 lacks floating point unit or something which makes them rubbish for gaming. But they do clock like a champ, and not very that hot as compared to it's bigger brother. I hit 3GHz on stock cooler. Ah, I miss those days overclocking on stock cooler and cheapo PSU. I have Albatron PX845E and PX845G back then, interestingly the 845G performs faster which I suspect it have a better memory controller for its IGP (it have higher actual bandwidth in SANDRA benchmark)

Too bad I already done repasting and cleaning. Thing is my PC being infected by virus and pegged the CPU at 100%. My wife being using it for a bit without noticing, I think that might killed it. I don't know how long its been like that since I rarely using it.


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 7, 2017)

I believe it was due to the L2 cache that made the Celeron slower, having only 128k opposed to 512k in the P4.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 7, 2017)

*PNY Geforce 4 4600Ti AGP 8872 Ver:200*

Still untested. It came with:

*one solid damaged capacitor and a missing Sanyo OS-CON 510uf 4V capacitor which I had to take from another dead Asus GF4 4600Ti. The solid capacitor was replaced with a regular electrolytic one just for testing.
*even if it was tossed and banged, all the little ceramic capacitors stood in their places except one which got resoldered.
*bent bracket and heavily damaged DVI connector.
*brass copper plated heatsink with surface corrosion and blemishes.

It costed 2.2 EUR and the decision to buy it was a no brainer. If it works it will be even better. Otherwise a donor card is always good to have


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2017)

Apocalypsee said:


> I have one of those Celeron Northwood 2A GHz way back, even at 3GHz it was slower than stock 2GHz Pentium 4 in gaming which I later upgrade to. If I'm not mistaken Celeron line socket 478 lacks floating point unit or something which makes them rubbish for gaming. But they do clock like a champ, and not very that hot as compared to it's bigger brother. I hit 3GHz on stock cooler. Ah, I miss those days overclocking on stock cooler and cheapo PSU. I have Albatron PX845E and PX845G back then, interestingly the 845G performs faster which I suspect it have a better memory controller for its IGP (it have higher actual bandwidth in SANDRA benchmark)
> 
> Too bad I already done repasting and cleaning. Thing is my PC being infected by virus and pegged the CPU at 100%. My wife being using it for a bit without noticing, I think that might killed it. I don't know how long its been like that since I rarely using it.





DR4G00N said:


> I believe it was due to the L2 cache that made the Celeron slower, having only 128k opposed to 512k in the P4.



Yup, the P4-class Celeron sure is "lost in translation" so to speak. Like I said, the original hard drive was shot, which was (apparently) enough for the previous owner to kick it out. He asked me if I want to take it for free or not, otherwise he was ready to load this thing on the back of his trailer & haul to the nearest recycling center. But really, there's nothing wrong with this thing, apart from the obvious... It's a nice little system that cleaned easily & made quite useful WinXP setup. I'm sure the mobo would (and could) support P4, I even have one or two S478 P4 chips laying around the room, not to mention entire S478 replacement motherboards, but I wanted to keep it within factory specs, as stock as possible.


Trekkie4 said:


> On a side note, I'm also finishing this Celeron 2.00 system here which I mentioned several times, but never uploaded the pic until now. It started out as just a standard office machine & had a Radeon 9200 inside by default, but I upgraded it to Radeon 9600SE & replaced the RAM with matching pair of two 256 DDR modules. 9600 barely made it inside the custom case, which was obviously not designed for larger expansion cards, so I had to unscrew the screws, standoffs or whatever they are called from DVI port, in order to squeeze the card inside the case & then mount them back into the bracket (and DVI port) once the card was inside. It took me some time to do it, but it was worth it!



So, upgrading the RAM (from 256 to 512MB, DDR266) and swapping out the Radeon 9250 for 9600SE were the only two significant modifications that I've done. And yes, I also replaced the optical drives & more recently the hard drive, but those are not affecting the performance so I didn't bother mentioning them 

Time for more Athlon 750 & even more games! 

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator


 



Microsoft Flight Simulator 98, this used to be my dad's favorite game  Also, one of the very few games to be fully adjustable in the terms of graphics, ranging from the older "DOS" look all the way to "modern" design, even featuring 3D accelerated environment & complex models


 



F22 Raptor


 



Tomb Raider - The Unfinished Business


 



Tomb Raider 2


 

 



Tomb Raider 2, The Golden Mask


 



Tomb Raider 3


 

 

 



Tomb Raider 3, Lost Artifact


 



Tomb Raider 4, The Last Revelation


 



Tomb Raider 5, Chronicles


 



Need for Speed II, SE


 

 



Oh yeah, I still got it! 




And so (I'm sorry to say), this is where the problems started out... I was going to boot up NFS 3 Hot Pursuit & NFS 4 High Stakes, but for some odd reason neither of these two games wanted to run on Athlon 750 machine. It simply fades to black when the icon is double-clicked & hangs like that, forever.

I have a sneaky suspicion that I'm dealing with the sound card issue(s) here, because I've been experiencing loads of other problems, mostly just crackling & echoing in games such as Half-Life for example, Tomb Raider 3 even hanged very similarly to NFS here, but at least the game developers had been kind enough to allow choosing of audio hardware. So I was able to pick the on-board sound for Tomb 3, where the Live! is set for all other games instead!  Anyhow, moving on... I'll deal with SB Live tomorrow, perhaps I can downgrade the driver?

Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed


 



Nascar Revolution


 

 



Quake


 

 



Quake 2




Quake 3 Arena


 



Quake 3 Team Arena




Dark Colony


 



Incoming




The Fifth Element


 

 



Speed Busters


 



Overboard!


 



Screamer 4x4


 

 



Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine


 



Grim Fandango


 



Curse of Monkey Island




Alas, I STILL can't get super-special 3D SCUMM accelerated environment to work properly 




Escape from Monkey Island




So... After those last couple of games, I installed few more additional ones, and was just about to wrap it up & call it a success. Apart from that Need for Speed thing of course, as it was still crashing (causing the system to hang actually). However, just as I was touching up on few last bits & pieces, things suddenly went downhill, to the point where I couldn't even boot up Windows 98.

And yes, just as I thought - all these issues turned out to be sound card related, which (after several re-installation attempts, driver tweaks & eventually system format) got replaced for another one. So instead of using chronologically correct CT4830 (1999), I'm now running one of those Dell OEM cards, SB0220 (2003)


 



Now, here's the weird part... This other card, CT4830 seems to be working perfectly fine. Yes, it was initially crackling & echoing in some games (Half-Life for example), but this fault went away easily - as soon as I downgraded Live driver to the one from 1999, the original LiveWare 3 release. And ALL these other games worked OK, apart from Need for speed. However, I've noticed that the system would sometimes hang upon the POST, boot & hardware recognition and/or would cause Win98 not to boot after NFS hanged & system had to be manually restarted. So the only working solution to get Windows back on the track was to take the entire case apart & physically remove the card from the slot and then shut it down, place it back inside & reboot back into W98 where it would then hopefully work OK again.

So I'm not sure what to think of this... Intermittent electrical signals maybe, failed audio buffer and/or simply a driver issue, incompatibility between the DFI board & SB Live? But here's the real million dollar question - if the card really is shot, then how the heck does it work perfectly fine under most other titles? Yet, at the same time there's that fact of SB Live randomly causing entire system to hang at the POST, which basically screams "hardware fault"... *shrug* IDK, what do you guys think?


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## Apocalypsee (Oct 11, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> So... After those last couple of games, I installed few more additional ones, and was just about to wrap it up & call it a success. Apart from that Need for Speed thing of course, as it was still crashing (causing the system to hang actually). However, just as I was touching up on few last bits & pieces, things suddenly went downhill, to the point where I couldn't even boot up Windows 98.
> 
> And yes, just as I thought - all these issues turned out to be sound card related, which (after several re-installation attempts, driver tweaks & eventually system format) got replaced for another one. So instead of using chronologically correct CT4830 (1999), I'm now running one of those Dell OEM cards, SB0220 (2003)
> 
> ...


Nice soundcard, I used to love Creative Live! cards and I never have a rig without Creative cards. DFI boards do have some weird compatibility with some hardware, I remember my DFI NF4X socket 754 have weird compatibility with pair of Corsair XMS module I bought, it won't boot with a pair of them but it will work individually, and both stick both work on all my friend system. I do some ghetto hack where I plug the RAM when the system is running, and some odd times this technique work, the system detect both RAM and I never have any crashes at all. But if I rebooted it won't boot again. I end up trading with my friend generic Apacer RAM so it will boot with two sticks of RAM.

I wanted to blame on the crappy Jamicon capacitor on the card but it looks good physically. I don't see any bulging on them.


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 11, 2017)

And you're most likely 100% correct... Weird things started to happen even with this other, "new" Live! card. True, it doesn't halt the entire system during the POST but it has tendency to just stop responding & crash the system. Two different cards, both otherwise working perfectly fine, which is hardly a coincidence really.

Either way, at least all of my games seem to be working (so far, still in the process of setting them up), so I'm PROBABLY not going to replace the motherboard for another one. But oh boy, I sure am seriously tempted - it would make my job a LOT easier!

@Apocalypsee Take a look at THIS... This here is the BIOS history & updates for DFI, AK74-EC board. Loads of various issues had already  been documented, including the hard drive problem (which I experienced myself), along with Windows Protection errors when using Iomega's ZIP drive, troubles using nVidia's MX cards, etc. (also check out the 1st page for more stuff)

Seriously, this board is completely messed up lol.

Aaand there it is guys, finally done! All the games (except for one) worked fine, and the system is stable enough to be used for retro gaming. In fact, I just scored the 1st place in Hometown, Hot Pursuit mode after evading police along the way in Need for Speed 3, my personal favorite in the entire franchise! 




So, now that I'm done with software installation, let's talk numbers & benchmarks... According to to 3DMark 99, this particular system scored amazing *3,996* 3D Marks.




But here's the interesting part... When comparing these results to my primary retro-gaming rig, (from my profile, RetroMaster 2500) you'll see that two Voodoo2 12mb card(s) in SLI, both scored *3,912* 3D Marks!! Surprised? Because I sure am! Remember, this is NOT a Voodoo3, 3000 model - this is the entry model, aka "2000". And to see two Voodoo2 cards get outpowered by the cheapest Voodoo3 card on the market is just .... uhh, unsatisfying to say at least!!




In fact, the only three notable differences between Voodoo2 SLI & Voodoo3 AGP are the "fill" & "fresh" rates, along with 2MB Texture rendering speed. Voodoo2 runs at *60Hz*, has the fill rate of *144.2* MTexels/s and the 2MB Rendering speed of *248,8* FPS, where on the other hand Voodoo3 runs at *76Hz*, has the fill rate of *138.1* MTexels/s & 2MB Texture rendering speed of *156,0* FPS. However, with that being said DO keep in mind that the Voodoo2 SLI setup was running on much more powerful system, Athlon XP 1800+ with 512MB of DDR400 memory where on the other hand Athlon 750 only has 256MB of SD-DRAM PC100!

Oh well, either way I'm in the process of backing it up on my external HDD, so that I no longer have to worry about SB Live drivers messing up the entire system, when and if I  decide to swap the sound card for something better. Until then, I'm just going to leave it as it is, I even kinda like it! It has that nostalgic, retro look, especially with that official 3dfx desktop background


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## Apocalypsee (Oct 12, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> @Apocalypsee Take a look at THIS... This here is the BIOS history & updates for DFI, AK74-EC board. Loads of various issues had already  been documented, including the hard drive problem (which I experienced myself), along with Windows Protection errors when using Iomega's ZIP drive, troubles using nVidia's MX cards, etc. (also check out the 1st page for more stuff)
> 
> Seriously, this board is completely messed up lol.


Damn, I never seen any motherboard having such extensive BIOS problem, even something as common as nV's MX cards


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2017)

Well, TBH most of these issues had been fixed... Hard drive issue (the one I thought, assumed was caused by OEM hard drive) was actually due to BIOS itself, so I flashed AK74 with latest version. Good thing I did, because I totally missed on that Iomega ZIP thing, it would crash Win98 & (the worst part of all), I probably wouldn't know what's causing it 

But even with all these issues, it's still a good mobo for what it's worth. Took me a lot of time to sort it out (recap all the bulging caps), flash the BIOS & work out the issues with the sound card, but it's mostly stable now


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## Ahhzz (Oct 12, 2017)

Came across a couple of brand new Decals, Aopen Case and MSI P4 Mainboard


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## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2017)

Ahhzz said:


> Came across a couple of brand new Decals, Aopen Case and MSI P4 Mainboard


Pics, or it didn't happen!


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## Ahhzz (Oct 12, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Pics, or it didn't happen!


Heywood, my old pal! Heywood Djabyteme!! Been a Long time!!!      

Fine, fine , here ya go


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## Apocalypsee (Oct 14, 2017)

My dad and I cleaning the back room and found a bunch of EDO RAM. Let see if we found a working PC, might be good for some old DOS gaming PC. These RAM costs a fortune back then...if they work that is, and if we found the old working PC


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## Ahhzz (Oct 14, 2017)

Apocalypsee said:


> My dad and I cleaning the back room and found a bunch of EDO RAM. Let see if we found a working PC, might be good for some old DOS gaming PC. These RAM costs a fortune back then...if they work that is, and if we found the old working PC
> 
> View attachment 93003


I may have a major collection of those upstairs, and I know we have a box of older ram in the shop. If anyone has any requests for purchase, I'd be glad to list what we have


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## agent_x007 (Oct 16, 2017)

Project "Madness" :





PCI section close-up :





Name comes from what it can do :
Native booting of 6 different M$ OS'es 

*Hardware list* :
CPU : Core i7 980X (w/BOX cooling)
MB : Rampage II Extreme (BIOS 2101)
RAM : Corsair 3x4GB
GPU1 : GeForce 7800 GTX (Reference)
GPU2 : GeForce GTX 780 Ti (Reference)
SC1 : Aureal Vortex 2
SC2 : Auzen X-Fi Forte
HDD0 : Compact Flash 1GB
HDD1 : WD Raptor 74GB
HDD2 : WD RaptorX 150GB
HDD3 : Samsung SM961 256GB (NVMe)
Clover "Pendrive" (card reader + microSD) : Sandisk 8GB
PSU : OCZ ZS-750W
Floppy : GOTEK USB Floppy Emulator


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## agent_x007 (Oct 18, 2017)

Took a while, but here's video about above PC (with tests on all OS'es) :








Enjoy


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## Cutting-Edge Retro (Oct 24, 2017)

Anyone up for some Retro GPU porn? This just arrived for my collection today.


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## havli (Oct 25, 2017)

Hello everyone.

This is a very nice thread you have here. I'm a huge fan of retro hardware myself. Perhaps some of you might know me from Vogons or Hwbot. I have been collecting HW for more that 10 years and while I don't get new stuff as often as before, from time to time I can show some nice HW photos... and later maybe even some articles.

You see - I don't only hoard the stuff  but also benchmark in on Hwbot and what is important - I have plans to create series of GPU and CPU benchmarks and possibly also some comparison of various GPUs image quality (but thats very distant future). Some parts of it are already finished and online on my website, some parts are finished and online elsewhere, written in czech - which very few of you can read I'm sure  So in time i will translate it and publish on my site. As you can imagine - this is _very_ time consuming and I do it in my free time. So if I say it will take a while you can just read it as "will be ready in few years" 

I really hope link in my signature and occasional posting of links on forums isn't againts TPU rules. There is no profit for me from running the site... if anything, I must pay to keep it online and of course buy the HW shown there with my own money. So in fact it is rather lossy business. 
---------------------

Now - let's start slow. Here are photos of Radeon DDR 32MB which arrived recently. This is the first Radeon card, later renamed to Radeon 7200 series. This particular card has a datecode of 2700 - 27th week, year 2000. This is rather early piece - review samples are just a few weeks older. And my other Radeon DDR (64MB VIVO version) is dated 2800.


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## agent_x007 (Oct 25, 2017)

Overkill ?
What is that ?


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## Red_Machine (Oct 25, 2017)

What you have there is a Creative Sound Blaster AWE64, with a daughterboard that allows the use of standard SIMM RAM in place of Creative's proprietary cache memory, and what looks like a wavetable MIDI addon card utilising the gameport/MIDI connector.


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## stinger608 (Oct 26, 2017)

First, welcome to TPU @havli !!! 

Very awesome first post about your collections and website.  .  

We are all looking forward to seeing more awesome news and pictures.


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## uuuaaaaaa (Oct 26, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Overkill ?
> What is that ?
> View attachment 93412



This is insane! I love it!


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## agent_x007 (Oct 26, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> What you have there is a Creative Sound Blaster AWE64, with a daughterboard that allows the use of standard SIMM RAM in place of Creative's proprietary cache memory, and what looks like a wavetable MIDI addon card utilising the gameport/MIDI connector.


Yup.
To be precise, it's CT4390 AWE64 Gold with Dreamblaster X2 Wavetable board connected via MPU-401 adapter on top of attached SIMMConn Revival "Gold" adapter (32MB SIMM memory installed).

In practice Dreamblaster module isn't necessary (since upgraded MIDI on AWE64 is awesome), however I wanted to show what I got 
Here's more realistic use of X2 :




How card looked before :




@uuuaaaaaa Glad you like it.


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## Robert B (Oct 26, 2017)

The ASUS I got a while ago cleaned up pretty well 

It has received a CACHE upgrade from 128KB to 256KB and some extra jumpers for fiddling with lots of CPUs!


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## havli (Oct 26, 2017)

Very nice board! I like the socket position - doesn't block long ISA cards. Also it is using CR2032 battery, no risk of acid damage.


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## Robert B (Oct 26, 2017)

It was dirt cheap. I found it at the flea market. Before me, someone else bought more of these type of boards for gold recovery. If only I went sooner there....

An ASUS is still an ASUS. I like this board to bits and it made me want to have more VLB/ISA motherboards. I couldnt believe my eyes CR2032 and no PCI slots. NICE!!!  PS/2 comes as standard


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## Jetster (Oct 28, 2017)

Officially 11 years old


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## Robert B (Nov 2, 2017)

YUMMMMmmmmy CHOCOLATE!!!


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## Jetster (Nov 2, 2017)

Robert B said:


> YUMMMMmmmmy CHOCOLATE!!!


I loved the 6600gt when it came out


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## Ahhzz (Nov 5, 2017)

So, a little nostalgia this morn. First up, Logitech! And a PS2 to IBM adapter 



We'll follow that with a single sided 64Mb Dimm


Not quite PC related, but definitely Hardware   Anyone have an original gameboy? Threw mine out several years ago as it had stopped working somewhere in time 



edit: fixed the upside down image   So, here we have the full manual for the USR56k faxmodem, programming included   We also have the pricing for some older processors, for me to drool over while trying to pay my bills. Lastly, we have an article which addresses something you noobs will NEVER understand: attempting to squeeze the last bit of Kb out of the memory by shoving mouse drivers in the Upper memory blocks 

 

And last, but certainly the best, Dos 6.2, 6.21, 6.22, and Windows 3.1 (altho, the best would be 3.11; so sue me  )


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## Ahhzz (Nov 5, 2017)

*sigh* also found my collection of PC gamer disks. Pretty solid collection, starting with "Disk 12", Nov 1995, skipped all of 1996, and then 30 disks thru Feb 2001. Also found my stash of older Vid cards. 
TNT2 32Mb AGP
NVidia P73
3dForce MX440
Riva TNT2
And my Lovely Viper V550 Diamond
plus a couple of USB expansions, and an ATA100 IDE expansion


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## stinger608 (Nov 5, 2017)

Ahhzz said:


> *sigh* also found my collection of PC gamer disks.



Man, I used to have a ton of those as well. Not even sure where or what I ever done with them all. Wish I had them........May still, just don't know where.


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## Jetster (Nov 5, 2017)

I use to look forward to those disks


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## havli (Nov 5, 2017)

I was looking for decent 775 board and DDR2 RAM for a long time. Now the waiting is finally over 

Asus P5Q-E definitely should be one of the better 775 boards with all the overclocking capabilities (also for C2Q). And should also work with LGA 771 Xeons, after I mod the socket to fit both 775 and 771 CPUs. As the board alone is not good enough for good OC... I also bought some DDR2 sticks. On this photo you can see OCZ Reaper HPC 2x1GB DDR2 1066 CL5.




And to do at least some binning, I got these G.SKILL 2x1GB DDR2 1066 CL5 as well. It seems they are slightly better than the OCZ above. The best i could do after quick testing is 725 (DDR2 1450) http://hwbot.org/submission/3677852_havli_memory_frequency_ddr2_sdram_724.9_mhz Most likely this is not maxed out, not the RAM at least... this particular C2D E8300 seems to have FSB wall at 580 MHz.


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## agent_x007 (Nov 5, 2017)

Try lower FSB/DRAM (from 4:5 to 2:3) ?
You will have to adjust MCH strap/Performance level accordingly (with timings and MCH voltage).

PS. How much VDIMM you are pushing through those puppies ?
I did 1380MHz CL5 on my 2x1GB Micron D9 (mismatched) kit back in the day... I went to over 2,8V on them to do it (air cooling)


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## uuuaaaaaa (Nov 5, 2017)

havli said:


> I was looking for decent 775 board and DDR2 RAM for a long time. Now the waiting is finally over
> 
> Asus P5Q-E definitely should be one of the better 775 boards with all the overclocking capabilities (also for C2Q). And should also work with LGA 771 Xeons, after I mod the socket to fit both 775 and 771 CPUs. As the board alone is not good enough for good OC... I also bought some DDR2 sticks. On this photo you can see OCZ Reaper HPC 2x1GB DDR2 1066 CL5.
> View attachment 93764
> ...



Boards from this era still looked good and the heatsinks have a purpose other than looking good. Nowadays they only care about the "gaming" and "overclocking" looks...


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## havli (Nov 5, 2017)

agent_x007 said:


> Try lower FSB/DRAM (from 4:5 to 2:3) ?
> You will have to adjust MCH strap/Performance level accordingly (with timings and MCH voltage).
> 
> PS. How much VDIMM you are pushing through those puppies ?
> I did 1380MHz CL5 on my 2x1GB Micron D9 (mismatched) kit back in the day... I went to over 2,8V on them to do it (air cooling)


I think this was pretty close to maximum RAM clock anyway, it is just a coincidence I also reached FSB wall at the same time. I found out earlier that 580 MHz FSB is the maximum (when running mem 1:1). Too bad FSB wall is the limiting factor so often when trying to max out Core 2. For example this E6750 can only do around 465, no matter what multiplier. http://hwbot.org/submission/3679192_havli_hwbot_x265_benchmark___1080p_core_2_duo_e6750_2.74_fps

I will try to find proper settings (performance wise) when I get back to 775. I think voltage for this validation was 2.35V, maybe 2.4... but definitely not more that that.
And as for actual benchmark settings - superPI 1M stable was -> 400 MHz @ 3-3-3-8, 540 MHz @ 4-4-4-12, 575 MHz @ 5-5-5-15. Always at 2.3V. I'm also curious how K8/K10 IMC will work with this memory.


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## agent_x007 (Nov 5, 2017)

I think FSB Wall may be a result of C0 revision of your chip.
Try to get a E0 CPU and check max. FSB again.

I did 470MHz on a QX6850 and P5B 

However, I was pushing it quite hard (air cooling)

Best performance :


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Nov 7, 2017)

National Audio, the only company in the US that produces cassette tapes, says it has less than a year's supply left.

Now, its co-owner and president Steve Stepp says he is planning to build the US' first high-grade tape manufacturing line in decades to help meet demand.








Experts from National Audio are developing new ways to make magnetic tape using rust and a 62-foot-long contraption that is normally used to create magnetic strips on credit cards, Wall Street Journal.

If production goes to plan, the machine should produce almost four miles of tape a minute by January.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Stepp, said: 'The best tape ever made.

'People will hear a whole new product.'


Cassette tape is no longer widely produced, and since 2014, when National Audio Co's main producer ceased production, stockpiles have been shrinking.

Tape-making is not a simple process, and requires a finely calibrated slurry of metallic particles and polyurethane, miles of Mylar, 48 feet of ovens, a small amount of radioactivity and a very precise slicer.

And while Mr Stepp has kept the details of his new production method a secret, he hopes to ship the first cassettes with the tape by January.


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## dorsetknob (Nov 7, 2017)

still got 100's of Audio Tapes with recordings on that i have never got around to digitizing 
guess i will soon have the time to Digitize   but that's Piracy of pirated material


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## Robert B (Nov 8, 2017)

Good Ol' PII 450 MHz - I've been hunting for this one for some time  I have a few PIIs - 333, 350, 400 but the 450 has eluded me until now.


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## Disparia (Nov 8, 2017)

My first keyboard, a Gateway 2000 Anykey from 1994.

The 8-way directional keys did help a few games, Civilization II being one because of it's angled grid layout.

Could also use your thumb for the back/down key without getting a cramp. We're still a couple years away from Quake at this time, so a large number of games are played almost entirely by keyboard. Used it until it gave out, about 7 years IIRC.






The perspective makes it seem like a behemoth (which it is), but my G110 is about the same size.


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## Ahhzz (Nov 8, 2017)

Jizzler said:


> My first keyboard, a Gateway 2000 Anykey from 1994.
> 
> The 8-way directional keys did help a few games, Civilization II being one because of it's angled grid layout.
> 
> ...


heheh I haven't seen a keyboard with 9 dedicated direction keys in for_ever_.....


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## Red_Machine (Nov 9, 2017)

How well would that work for modern games?


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## Disparia (Nov 9, 2017)

I'm drawing a blank on a good modern example, though I've only gotten around to a fraction of my Steam library. StarCraft Remastered has me drawn in, playing the campaign for the who-knows-how-many time.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Nov 13, 2017)

Just found this in the back of a drawer. i think i need one for each eye.....


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## havli (Nov 15, 2017)

Did I mention I really like workstation and server CPUs? Everything that fits dual socket boards is great to have. On top of that, processors alone are quite cheap... while boards not so much  but it takes just one MB for many different CPUs, so it is worth it.

This time I managed to get my hands on these nice ES Opterons 8300 series. The upper pair is 8386 SE (2.8 GHz, K10, 4C) and bottom pair 8382 (2.6 GHz, K10, 4C).



 

They work very well in my Tyan S2932-E board.


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## debs3759 (Nov 15, 2017)

havli said:


> This time I managed to get my hands on these nice ES Opterons 8300 series. The upper pair is 8386 SE (2.8 GHz, K10, 4C) and bottom pair 8382 (2.6 GHz, K10, 4C).
> 
> View attachment 94046



Nice pair of ES chips


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Nov 16, 2017)

I never know what im going to find when i rummage around in my wifes drawers.





This is what women used in 1880 when they wanted to tell the time. It is a Swiss movement in an 18 k French case.


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 16, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> This is what women used in 1880 when they wanted to tell the time. It is a Swiss movement in an 18 k French case.


[warning joke] awwww a perfection encased in a crap[/joke]

what did you expect .... i'm Swiss ....  beautiful 1 pound nonetheless


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## debs3759 (Nov 19, 2017)

Just got a 486 motherboard with a Weitek socket. First one I've seen. Now (or when it arrives from my drop shipper) I can test my 4167 (the chip cost more than the board).


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## stinger608 (Nov 20, 2017)

That is frigging awesome!!!!!!!!!!!


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## havli (Nov 20, 2017)

Interesting board. But watch out for the battery - from the photo it seems it is already leaking on the top side (next to the keyboard DIN). If that is the case, you should remove it and clean the residue around it (and on the back side too). I really don't remember if the electrolyte leaking from it is acid or hydroxide... but either way it will damage the PCB if it stays there long enough.


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## debs3759 (Nov 20, 2017)

It's en route to my drop shipper, who I have asked to remove the battery. He is a collector as well, so will do it right


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## havli (Nov 27, 2017)

Few days ago I bought this Asus Radeon X1950 Pro. Funny fact - I owned the same card 10 years ago when it was still modern. At the time is was considered to be very silent and even for today's standards it is good. 




 

Just a quick testing - it can survive several loops of 3DM06, so all good.


 

And this is not all...  
I'm preparing for another round of GPU benchmarking. There wil be two parts - the first one you can see in the table below. It is more or less a reboot of this test here http://hw-museum.cz/article/3/benchmark-vga-2004---2008--2012-edition-/1 That one ended up like half-way finished. I started it in 2011 and worked on it till 2012... but at the time other things got in my way and this project was set aside. Now, when I considered to resume the work... it turned out the methodology is way too obsolete and thus unacceptable for me 

So this time I will try to do it better, also better HW will be used - instead of i5-2500k - overclocked Sandy Bridge-E Xeon will do the job this time. It means full 16+16 SLI/CF and for the second part also 3-way SLI/CF. I'm still not sure whether go with 4.8 GHz SB-E or try to get i7 5930k (I already have X99 board). I don't think gaming performance of Haswell-e (at 4.5 - 4.6 GHz) is that much better to be worth $200-300 extra spend on this project. And given the fact I can go up to 2560x1440 resolution (which wasn't possible for me in 2011), CPU limitation shouldn't be an issue.

Also since I will be testing multi-GPU, there will be some kind of frametimes analysis of course. Not really the "pro" level which can be achieved by FCAT, but fraps or similar SW measuring should be good enough. The tricky part is to choose the right method of presenting the measured results (there will be a lot of them). I'm sure will figure something out.

Last thing - the last ATi GPU is hidden, this will be something special, stay tuned


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 28, 2017)

havli said:


> Last thing - the last ATi GPU is hidden, this will be something special, stay tuned
> View attachment 94332


I sense an HD 3xxx in there...


----------



## Robert B (Dec 3, 2017)

I've started to prepare *the next episode* and I must say it's going to be *a MONSTER*.

I'm going to take *TL;DR to the NEXT LEVEL!!!*  90 pictures ready! 

*EXTRA: *some good ol' fun with my first PC  45 pics prepared.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Dec 3, 2017)

havli said:


> Last thing - the last ATi GPU is hidden, this will be something special, stay tuned





MaxiPro800 said:


> I sense an HD 3xxx in there...



Maybe an Asus Ares card??


----------



## havli (Dec 3, 2017)

Definitely not Asus ROG.


----------



## DR4G00N (Dec 3, 2017)

havli said:


> Definitely not Asus ROG.


2900 XTX?


----------



## xkm1948 (Dec 4, 2017)

One of my most favorite GPU of all time.  The X1950XTX, I dreamed of owning one back in the days.


----------



## havli (Dec 4, 2017)

DR4G00N said:


> 2900 XTX?


Very close, I think you could call it XTX. 

-------
And as I see the video... is it actualy possible to run R580 crossfire using just two regular cards (i.e. no crossfire-master)? I remember it was enabled at some point in drivers - and all communication should go through PCI-E. I'm planning to test it myself either using pair of X1900 XTX or X1950 XTX (unfortunately none of them is CF master and I don't have the cable either). With SB-E full 16+16 lanes setup both pci-e bandwidth and latency should be as good as it gets. After all modern CF also has also only pci-e and no other interface.


----------



## DR4G00N (Dec 4, 2017)

havli said:


> Very close, I think you could call it XTX.
> 
> -------
> And as I see the video... is it actualy possible to run R580 crossfire using just two regular cards (i.e. no crossfire-master)? I remember it was enabled at some point in drivers - and all communication should go through PCI-E. I'm planning to test it myself either using pair of X1900 XTX or X1950 XTX (unfortunately none of them is CF master and I don't have the cable either). With SB-E full 16+16 lanes setup both pci-e bandwidth and latency should be as good as it gets. After all modern CF also has also only pci-e and no other interface.



I think you can, I'm not sure, needs a specific driver I believe. Tried with my X1900(XT) CFX ed. (no cfx cable) and X1950XTX with catalyst 10.2 on XP to see if it gave the option but it did not.


----------



## natr0n (Dec 7, 2017)

Cleaning around found all my ram, random cpu collection and sounds cards


----------



## Bungz (Dec 9, 2017)

Not picked up much recently but I did pick up a few bits.

Added a boxed 5200 Ultra, another pair of XMS BH-5 / XMS Pro and GA-7N00 - Pro2 (pictured with my Pro1)


----------



## Red_Machine (Dec 9, 2017)

Those motherboards are basically a game of spot the difference.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 9, 2017)

Delivery due *next week*  OH boy oh boy oh boy


----------



## Bones (Dec 12, 2017)

Got my grubby paws on this over the weekend.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 12, 2017)

Bones said:


> Got my grubby paws on this over the weekend.
> View attachment 94739



Awesome!!!!!!! I picked one just like that up a few months ago as well!


----------



## Robert B (Dec 12, 2017)

*BOOM!!!* 

Bought AS IS - I dont know if this kit works or if it has all its bits and pieces 

ASUS *PCI/I-P5MP3* Rev. 2.4
CPU Intel *Pentium 66MHz - SX837* - A8050166 - L4102613 - 94025376AA MALAY



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/nasleyb6/


----------



## Norton (Dec 12, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome!!!!!!! I picked one just like that up a few months ago as well!


I had one of those also- pretty sure I gave it away to someone here at TPU

EDIT- it was a 3870 and PCIE. Was the same brand/same pic on it and same single slot cooler


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 13, 2017)

Norton said:


> I had one of those also- pretty sure I gave it away to someone here at TPU



Can't remember if I got it from you?????? Dang, it wasn't all that long ago. Gosh, 8 months ago at the very most. Seems I did get it here on TPU though.


----------



## Norton (Dec 13, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Can't remember if I got it from you?????? Dang, it wasn't all that long ago. Gosh, 8 months ago at the very most. Seems I did get it here on TPU though.


It was at least 4 yrs ago iirc.... will see if I can find a post about it


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 13, 2017)

Norton said:


> It was at least 4 yrs ago iirc.... will see if I can find a post about it



Maybe I got it from the person you gave it to.............


----------



## Norton (Dec 13, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> Maybe I got it from the person you gave it to.............


Probably except I checked and it was a single slot 38*70*

*Link:*
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102752

Mentioned here:
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-for-the-ultimate-agp-rig.154007/post-2527713


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 13, 2017)

Norton said:


> Probably except I checked and it was a single slot 38*70*



The one pictured is a single slot design................

However, I didn't even notice that @Bones pictured a PCIe version. 
The one I have is the AGP card. Suppose to be about the most powerful AGP card developed.


----------



## Norton (Dec 13, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> However, I didn't even notice that @Bones pictured a PCIe version.


Looks like his is AGP to me?

Gave mine to @boomstik360 on 1/31/2012.... found it in my heatware stats


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 13, 2017)

off topic

typing "do a barrel roll" and enter into google still works..............

https://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.9.131....0.F-1Dw09a9VQ

i fucking love the web


----------



## Bones (Dec 14, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> The one pictured is a single slot design................
> 
> However, I didn't even notice that @Bones pictured a PCIe version.
> The one I have is the AGP card. Suppose to be about the most powerful AGP card developed.



Mine is the AGP version and yes, this particular ATI card model IS the fastest AGP card ever made out of all.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 14, 2017)

Bones said:


> Mine is the AGP version



Yep, now that I look at it, you're right. 

Then that is the exact same card I have as well.


----------



## debs3759 (Dec 14, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> off topic
> 
> typing "do a barrel roll" and enter into google still works..............
> 
> ...



Try searching "atari breakout" in Google images


----------



## Robert B (Dec 14, 2017)




----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 15, 2017)

Long time no see guys... Wow, don't know what to think of the new forum, I kinda liked the old one better 

Loads of stuff going on, but mainly HiFi vintage repairs & restorations  I'm kinda trying to stay away from old hardware, mainly because of the irresistible temptation to put together even more retro rigs lol Anyhow, enjoy!


 

 

This bad boy is not mine ... unfortunately! But at least i had the pleasure of putting it back in service after almost 20yrs!




But I DID get to buy something really, REALLY nice. Something nice & VERY much nostalgic, and I'm giving a free cookie to anyone who can recognize the box


----------



## Robert B (Dec 15, 2017)

RTC battery mod  Benchmark BQ3287MT


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 15, 2017)

Need to post this since it was on TPU front page. 

https://www.techpowerup.com/239713/...for-your-old-geforce4-acs-acs2-graphics-cards


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 15, 2017)

9700 Pro said:


> Need to post this since it was on TPU front page.
> 
> https://www.techpowerup.com/239713/...for-your-old-geforce4-acs-acs2-graphics-cards



You beat me to it. 

I was just going to post that in here. Hell of a deal if anyone has either of them cards!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 15, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> You beat me to it.
> 
> I was just going to post that in here. Hell of a deal if anyone has either of them cards!


Damn, never throwing any working GPU away anymore.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 15, 2017)

Not even a single guess? Hmm, let's make it easier then 

This (whatever it is) is concealed by this lovely Thorens TD110


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 15, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> But I DID get to buy something really, REALLY nice. Something nice & VERY much nostalgic, and I'm giving a free cookie to anyone who can recognize the box


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 15, 2017)

Hahahaha! Yup, genuine Italian inside


----------



## havli (Dec 15, 2017)

havli said:


> Last thing - the last ATi GPU is hidden, this will be something special, stay tuned


Ok, no more secrets... behold, the FireGL V8650 









So, what this thing actually is? Well, it is quite simple - fully active R600 GPU (16 ROP, 16 TMU, 320 SP) paired with 2 GB of GDDR4. Of course reference clocks are rather conservative - 688 MHz GPU and 1736 MHz GDDR4... but that can be fixed by simple overclock. More on that later.












The back side has a backplate attached, mostly for memory cooling.




Regular HD 2900 XT (either 512 MB GDDR3 or 1 GB GDDR4) has 16 memory chips total, 8 on the front side and 8 on the back. Here you can see there are actually two rows of memory chips on each side... this means 32 in total. 




In my old test rig - i5-2500K. The card is very long - almost 34 cm, not a problem on benchtable... but might not be as easy to fit it in regular case.
And while the card looks very massive and well built, the heatsing is far from perfect, to say the least. The main heatsink is the very same as first batch of 2900 XT were using (the two heatpipe one). Because of that this thing is rather loud even at idle and when loaded it resembles the old GeForce FX 5800 Ultra leaf blower jokes.  Also lack of any kind of power management isn't exactly helping - the V8650 idles at 70°C and still is noisy.





My intention is to benchmark this as the ultimate R600. HD 2900 XT has stock clock 743 MHz GPU and 1660 MHz MEM. My goal was to get at least 850 / 2000 MHz here, also don't forget the 4 times bigger RAM . It seems it is possible to reach this clock, althought it is close to the limit. I had to increase voltage from 1.15V to 1.225V and even this might not be enough for perfect stability. GDDR4 overclocks just fine to 2 GHz,  even a little more. But R600 isn't bandwidth limited, this is just to look good. 



Of course the real question is...
.
.
.
.
.
But can it run Crysis?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 16, 2017)

My MSI R3870X2 went to 900/1000 easily back in the day.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 17, 2017)

The *JPN CORPORATION CA8302E-1* controller for the socket 4 P66 system is ready to rumble in the jungle.

I had to change a 10uf 50V capacitor and to straighten all the pins on the back.

I dont know if I will be able to find a *DS1287 RTC* until the end of the year to establish the state of the P66...we'll see...





*More later.*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 17, 2017)

Well, it seems that either no one cares and/or is unable to guess what's inside the box... One way or another, I seriously hope this qualifies as being "nostalgic" hardware component ... because it certainly is to me


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Dec 17, 2017)

havli said:


> Ok, no more secrets... behold, the FireGL V8650
> 
> View attachment 94864
> 
> ...


I almost bought one of these a couple of months ago  It's the ultimate R600, the HD 2900XTX that was never released to the consumer, beast card!


----------



## AsRock (Dec 17, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, it seems that either no one cares and/or is unable to guess what's inside the box... One way or another, I seriously hope this qualifies as being "nostalgic" hardware component ... because it certainly is to me



Nice, after one my self, well a Technics SL-1200 would be nice, although i am in no rush.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 17, 2017)

havli said:


> Ok, no more secrets... behold, the FireGL V8650



It's a very nice card. Nice 3D06 score.

I see a bunch of 2 pointers coming your way.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 17, 2017)

Oh, definitely! I get seriously frustrated and annoyed when I see so called professionals, mostly just (arrogant) audiophiles who post things like "cheap copy, not worth the money", "original (as in Technics) is so much better", "don't bother wasting your time", etc. Well, duh! Of course this isn't a real Technics, it was never meant to be a genuine Technics to begin with! After all, it's called a "clone" for a reason. But with that being said, LP120 offers a LOT of bang for the buck, as this TT only costs 1/3 of the real thing! So obviously Audio-Technica had to cut corners somewhere, and therefore it's completely pointless to compare it against the real & legendary SL1200 series.

But honestly, I don't mind... I only play vinyl on rare occasions (usually when I feel sentimental and/or nostalgic), and I have my entire HiFi rig wired through a pair of active (PC) Genius HF2020 V2 speakers, so I obviously won't be paying much attention to things like "sound temperature", acoustics & background motor noise, meaning that LP120 has way, way more bells & whistles than I'll ever need. Speaking of which, I was going to buy fully automatic LP3 with straight tone arm, but after I saw 120 on sale, I just couldn't say no, it's absolutely gorgeous! And yes, I'm very much familiar with some of the most popular mods to this model, people usually rip out pre-amp board & wire the tonearm straight into the RCA leads (for the sake of bypassing 2 coils & 2 filer caps, for each channel & improving the signal quality), but I'm going to leave mine just as it is


----------



## AsRock (Dec 17, 2017)

Aah take no notice of them, as long as it has a stylus you like on it , only reason you would actually need a Technics SL-1200 is if you were at a rave \ nightclub.

Even the MK1's are pretty expensive too. At least the parts should be available for many years to come unlike a lot of those B&O players and a like.

Is it the USB version or ?.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 17, 2017)

Yup, it's the USB version (part of the reason I mentioned it here, in this post since it's directly related to PC hardware) and it actually is black, I wanted something that would stand out from rest of the crowd  Most of LP120s are silver, and besides price was the same for both colors, so in the end I picked the black one.

As for the stylus, it has AT95E, which is of course the best buy, a very popular choice. Although I might swap it out for an old Shure of mine, I have a barely used M94E, still inside the original box inside my desk drawer


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Dec 18, 2017)

Hey guys

Haven't been on here for atleast 3-4 years.  Since than I have been collecting hardware like crazy.  I have around 200 CPUs, 60 Motherboards, 80 Hard Drives, 100 Graphic Cards, and heaps more to count.
Here is some recent projects and pickups.  Backfire inspired me to collect Terratec cards, his posts were back between Pages 60-79 in this thread.

Recently Built a SS7 System with the following specs

K6-3+ 450
DFI K6XV3+\66
Nvidia TNT2 Ultra
Voodoo II SLI 12MB
Terratec EWS64XL with Front Panel

Currently running Windows 98.  Great for DOS games as the K6 can be slowed down via Software Controls













Here is a recent pickup.  My Primary school had these exact systems from 1997 to 2006-2007.  I never got to keep one until recently find one in a guys house I met when buying computer parts.  Im planning to upgrade this with a AWE64GOLD and a Single Voodoo 1/2.  It is currently a Pentium 1 200MMX


















And here is some other recent pickups
Heap of Terratec Cards including my EWS64 which is above.  Also two Matrox cards in this photo






Aureal Vortex II with Genuine Roland SC-55







Hercules Ti500 and Gamesurround Fortissimo II


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 18, 2017)

SWZSSR said:


> Hey guys
> 
> Haven't been on here for atleast 3-4 years.  Since than I have been collecting hardware like crazy.  I have around 200 CPUs, 60 Motherboards, 80 Hard Drives, 100 Graphic Cards, and heaps more to count.
> Here is some recent projects and pickups.  Backfire inspired me to collect Terratec cards, his posts were back between Pages 60-79 in this thread.
> ...


Wow, just awesome! I salute you 

Would you believe that in all this time of collecting hardware (and it's been quite some time now) I never, EVER came across Socket 7 AT*X* mobo! I know they exist(ed), but alas I never found a single one! Got several Socket 7 AT systems, I even have a Socket 8, Pentium Pro system but still have to find the ATX one. At this point I would even be willing to step out of my "old computer retirement" & make a full project, to actually build a gaming rig around it!

Great choice by the way! As much as I have my doubts about AMD & their production quality (at least AMDs from back in a day, @Mr.Scott here even took my statement way too personal lol), I actually find them much more flexible than Intel. In fact, that's mainly the reason why I made "RetroMaster 2500", my profile rig around AthlonXP 1800+ My previous attempt, Pentium II 350 for the "RetroMaster 1000" was a great choice for DOS & Windows 98, but it was still limited to older environment & games... Even when I beefed it up with 5.1 SB Live, Voodoo2 SLI & GeForce2 MX400 video card(s) where the Athlon 1800 is pretty much universal & successfully covers the entire chronological line all the way from DOS, games such as Doom, Duke 3D & Tetris to Half-Life 2 & HL2 Episode 1! Essentially, the Athlon 1800+ is the missing link between S370 and S478 (and/or infamous S423), powerful enough for the job but still old enough to be nostalgic & chronologically correct.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 18, 2017)

*Sneak peek!*  Socket 4 preview 

I still have work to do but I'm confident I'll be able *to wake up THE BEAST!!!* I've tried poking it with a stick but I got no reaction  I guess for now it is content to play dead and tries to ignore me! 



 

 

 

 

 

 

gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/i4ifmjhy/

*Stromae - Je cours*










*More later.*


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Dec 18, 2017)

Just started my Voodoo 5 Build.  Using the best possible motherboard that can support AGP2X which is the Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra.  Might use the case I have below, or a Thermaltake XaserII

I began upgrading the factory north bridge cooler with a deep cool unit.  The factory soyo heatsink didn't even have any thermal paste lol.  I now need to find some mosfet heatsinks!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 18, 2017)

Pretty board, but the Asus A7V333 would be the go to for an overclocker.


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Dec 18, 2017)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pretty board, but the Asus A7V333 would be the go to for an overclocker.



I also have one, went with the dragon as all the caps are brand new and replaced


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 19, 2017)

I'm looking at your Voodoo5 build with that 5.25 Audigy unit and just realized that it would be awesome to maybe build a retro system some day, but only for converting music from the external sources, such as tape decks & turntables  After all, AT LP120's specs are being very clear (when it comes to USB connectivity), stating that it only needs USB 1.1 interface with Windows 98 (and above) which is exactly what I'm talking about 

By the way, is that MaCase you're using?


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Dec 19, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm looking at your Voodoo5 build with that 5.25 Audigy unit and just realized that it would be awesome to maybe build a retro system some day, but only for converting music from the external sources, such as tape decks & turntables  After all, AT LP120's specs are being very clear (when it comes to USB connectivity), stating that it only needs USB 1.1 interface with Windows 98 (and above) which is exactly what I'm talking about
> 
> By the way, is that MaCase you're using?




A lot more recent soundblasters have the front panel still.  I've used my audigy to capture sound/music from N64/Gamecube games before, it works great.

I'm not sure who makes the case, I can't find any details on it.


----------



## Final_Fighter (Dec 19, 2017)

some old hardware i got when working at a dialysis clinic.





























the board is a socket 3 btw.


----------



## Bungz (Dec 19, 2017)

Liking the Voodoo 5 

Wonder how that would compare to a P4?

The suitable P4 boards I have will not clock though so think the KT333 will win out.

Maybe if I get time in the new year we can have a bench off ;D

I picked up a early Rev1 BX6 which is nice but doesn't support the later chips natively which is a bit of a shame.

The Voodoo 3 was spotted in a local jumble, was presented to me in a carrier bag with about 30 other cards, tough things Voodoos!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 19, 2017)

SWZSSR said:


> A lot more recent soundblasters have the front panel still.  I've used my audigy to capture sound/music from N64/Gamecube games before, it works great.
> 
> I'm not sure who makes the case, I can't find any details on it.


Right, personally I would probably go with Live series, since it's fairly affordable & easy to find. Not so sure about the actual 5.25 panel unit though, haven't seen a single one of those!

@Bungz I can hear that Abit board screaming & yelling "Pair me up with Pentium II and Voodoo3"  Just make sure that all the caps are fine, as Abit is well-known for capacitor issues.


----------



## DR4G00N (Dec 24, 2017)

Pulled out the old PII 300MHz, Abit BH6 & Savage 4 Xtreme 166MHz for a little bit of 3DMark99 Max.
>2000 pts whoo!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 24, 2017)

Just did some plans for some retro P4 and Socket A builds. This is what I come up with:

Rig1:

Torent Computers LC-B400ATX 400W
JNC RJA-52 case (painted black)
Gigabyte GA-7N400E-L
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
512MB RAM
Geforce FX5500 256MB
Windows XP Home SP3
40GB Maxtor 6E040L0
TEAC 52x CD-RW

Rig2:

Allied/Apex AL-A400ATX 400W 120mm
JNC 4JA-8652T case w/ thermal sensors
MSI 865PE Neo2-LS
Pentium 4 HT 2.8GHz Northwood
1GB RAM
MSI Geforce FX5600 128MB
Windows XP Pro SP3
80GB Maxtor 6Y080L0
HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM

Rig3:
Leadman LP-7700 400W
JNC RJA-FQ-70
ASUS P4P800/GD
P4 2.6 HT Northwood
1GB RAM
Radeon HD3450 512MB AGP
XP SP3
80GB WDC WD800JB
Liteon LTD-168


----------



## Robert B (Dec 26, 2017)

*In the works* the episode: *THREE UGLY SISTERS!!!*

*I'm still debating* if I should restore these cards....*they are really UGLY*....I might give them back their shine only because *I CAN* and no cause is lost until *I SAY SO!!!*

Truth be told I only have ONE ISA modem in my stash...decisions decisions...

gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/j4ysy5qm/


----------



## Bungz (Dec 26, 2017)

Innovision used to make mobos, who knew 

It appears to be a rebagged  Soltek SL-75DRV4 with a black PCB, id imagine quite rare.

Works but needs a recap.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 26, 2017)

Bungz said:


> Innovision used to make mobos, who knew



XFX did too. They were actually Azza MBs.
EVGA's boards were nVidia reference boards if my memory serves me right.
Sapphire's boards were PCPartner/Octek and newer boards were Jetway.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 26, 2017)

So did Creative... I was amazed to see a Creative-branded (Slot-1) board on sale, it was a genuine shock to say at least   Not sure who's the name behind "Creative" though, but it seemed pretty solid. (will see if I can dig it up later today)

Edit
Behold ... the BlasterBoard!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 27, 2017)

Pretty rare board. Wish I had one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 27, 2017)

Couldn't agree more @Mr.Scott

You know, with all the holiday stuff & XMAS going on, I can clearly visualize this board among some of the more expensive XMAS wishes back in a day! '98/1999 probably...

If I ever find one of these, I would make a full Creative system featuring Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 in SLI, Creative 3D Blaster (Riva TNT, AGP), Creative DVD encoder (Encore? Or whatever the name was), Creative CD/DVD drive and/or Creative Dial-Up modem. No point in adding SoundBlaster since it already has a Live chip built into the mobo itself. "CreativeMaster", it actually sounds pretty good


----------



## Bungz (Dec 27, 2017)

Its little oddities like that that keep you looking trawling through the rubbish 

There will be one out there somewhere (prob on eBay for the price of a Kidney).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 28, 2017)

Remembering old hardware... 









I really like Carey (even used to be subscribed to his channel), but I can't believe he's going to throw all this stuff for recycling... I mean, SERIOUSLY?!  What makes this (somewhat) better is that he at least destroyed S478 rigs, which are not really that rare I suppose, there's loads of them still around & for sale. I do feel bad for Sony VHS though, that unit was one of their top models


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 28, 2017)

Few last tests & tweaks to my old Akai ATT022U running Audio Technica AT-3600L cart & stylus before I put it up for sale. Well, technically it already is (for sale), but I'm planning to store it somewhere safe until I either give it away or actually sell it  




The best of both worlds... 




I also took the opportunity to set up & test (for the first time in over 10yrs) this lovely Shure M94E cart. As a general rule of HiFi, anything older than 10yrs shouldn't be used on a turntable, but this one still sounds superb, just the way I remember it from back in a day  The headshell came from Akai since they both share standard "SME" type headshells, but now that I know it actually works & sounds OK, I might spend few more $$ and buy a dedicated, standard headshell for LP120. The original AT-95E that's mounted on HS10 headshell (and originally came with LP120) will remain as it is, as a replacement (or alternative) to Shure, so I might stick it inside that headshell mounting hole, behind the counterweight.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 29, 2017)

I seriously need to find a proper S-Video adapter for all these Radeon cards.

At least let's see the bright side - I got a DVD with NT4,2000, XP and 2003 from the Internet Archive. Never knew how useful it was. There's a second DVD with ME,98,95, NT 3.51,3.5 and 3.1. And they have all the editions. (Adv. Server and Workstation etc.). This explains why I went with Home Edition Retail. SP3 was installed separately though - all XP editions are SP1.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2017)

Think I'm shamelessly going to re-use my pics from the last year  Happy New 2018 guys!






























Also, tomorrow marks exactly 3 years since I joined TPU... Wow!! Guess I'll  become a senior member now


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 31, 2017)

That is pretty cool display @Trekkie4


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2017)

stinger608 said:


> That is pretty cool display @Trekkie4


Thanks! TBH, I was going to do a new one, was aiming for doing the same but with RAM modules, until I ended up being sick  Coughing, sneezing and similar, so i ended up re-posted the old content instead  Maybe next year?


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 31, 2017)

Trekkie4 said:


> Maybe next year?


There's always Chinese New year


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2017)

Hmm, good point!


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 1, 2018)

Time for 3.5" floppy upgrade Trekkie4


----------



## Robert B (Jan 6, 2018)

Today I went to the flea market to buy *some "garbage" of my own*

*Abit* SA6 V1.1 - I dont know what CPU is on the board. Monday I'll take a look. ~ 2.2 EUR / 2.6 USD
*ATI* All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV (64 MB AGP) ~ 2.2EUR / 2.6 USD



 

 



gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/179g5gf30/

The *DALLAS DS1287 RTC* was modified this week.



 



gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/2lfbpczfg/

*More later.*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 14, 2018)

He who shall not be named


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 14, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> He who shall not be named



Old ISA modem?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 14, 2018)

Lol, nope! And I thought it couldn't get more obvious... 

It's a modem alright, except that's (in)famous CNR card. You know, that funny-looking, good for nothing slot usually found on 478 and 462 boards, from around early 2000s


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 14, 2018)

erm mer gerd that little shitty slot that looks like a x1 PCIe slot from many many years ago I never thought I'd actually see a CNR slot based card ever nice find Trekkie4


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 14, 2018)

Had many a motherboard (and still got a couple) with that CNR slot but never seen or possessed a CNR modem always considered it as a wasted space/slot


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 14, 2018)

Actually this is my 2nd CNR modem ... the first one was (even) weirder, as it had a PCB entirely housed inside some plastic box. So not only it made it look bulky & out of place, but it was entirely covered up & you couldn't really see anything.

Don't remember what happened to it, but I either gave it away or scrapped it. This one, on the other hand is here to stay, as it looks like a "real thing", genuine expansion card. It's most likely in working condition, since I've only just removed it from a working system couple of days ago, some crappy mATX S462 system with on-board graphics running 256MB of RAM & Duron chip. I'm going to salvage the CPU (the only decent component left standing) & give it to a friend of mine, where the mobo is most likely going to bin. It has a bulging cap, and even if I do recap the thing, it's still going to be a low-grade mATX system with not much else to it. The model number reads "PC Chips M825"


----------



## Red_Machine (Jan 14, 2018)

Is that a COM interface?  I used to see them on older systems, but never saw the slot populated with anything.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 14, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> Is that a COM interface?  I used to see them on older systems, but never saw the slot populated with anything.


Are you referring to the actual interface? Nope, that's CNR, as I already pointed out before  As in "Communications and Networking Riser". It was a failed attempt to design software-controlled networking hardware, which would significantly cut down production costs & make it faster, allow more units to be mass-produced. But due to several reasons it never lived up to its expectations, and the entire CNR thing was scrapped only few years later.

Besides, DialUp modems were on their way out & DSL was massively taking over the market, so ppl no longer had use for fax modems (PCI ones or therwise) As for the ethernet, it was slowly becoming a standard, featured on pretty much every motherboard as a built-in feature so the CNR was left unused & forgotten.

Jeez, now I sound like LGR


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 16, 2018)

Can you also remember the AMR slot (Audio Modem Riser) where they tried jimmying an Audio card and a Modem together looked just like the CNR slot but totally incompatible with each other and was mainly used in OEM PC's like Compaq and HP or Acer oh and don't forget the ACR slot either all of which were total fails


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jan 16, 2018)

I never thought I've seen the day I saw one of those actual CNR cards, more surprisingly in 2018!

I'm about to post about AMR slot but Athlonite posti it first haha.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 16, 2018)

Athlonite said:


> Can you also remember the AMR slot (Audio Modem Riser) where they tried jimmying an Audio card and a Modem together looked just like the CNR slot but totally incompatible with each other and was mainly used in OEM PC's like Compaq and HP or Acer oh and don't forget the ACR slot either all of which were total fails


I've heard about AMR hardware before, but never actually got to see one in person... But who knows, maybe I'll get lucky some day 



Apocalypsee said:


> I never thought I've seen the day I saw one of those actual CNR cards, more surprisingly in 2018!
> 
> I'm about to post about AMR slot but Athlonite posti it first haha.


I know, right...? But that's always the case with old(er) hardware, it tends to "surface" every once in a while lol 

By the way, I've tried to dig out the picture of my other CNR modem, the one with plastic housing around the PCB but couldn't find anything... And since I gave it away, it's too late to take one now, but it's pretty much identical to the one I got now, except it looks weird. Which was the only reason I gave it away, to begin with.

It looked a lot like this card, here except mine had a white (beige) housing, and was only partially covered where this one is entirely boxed in:





I'm guessing all this extra housing shielded the CNR card(s) from EM interference, for whatever the reason. Really, I don't see any other obvious explanation *shrug*

Edit
Here's somewhat better example:


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm guessing all this extra housing shielded the CNR card(s) from EM interference, for whatever the reason. Really, I don't see any other obvious explanation *shrug*


Highly unlightly the plastic is there for EM shielding.
Its probably only cosmetic to hide how little is on the Card so as to help hide how little the card cost to make v its retail Cost


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 16, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Highly unlightly the plastic is there for EM shielding.
> Its probably only cosmetic to hide how little is on the Card so as to help hide how little the card cost to make v its retail Cost


Right, I see your point. But what I meant to say is that perhaps they've used plastic housing to hold, grip down some sort of shield or material which would remove or filter EM interference. Because let's face it, a full metal box would be far more expensive to produce than just a small plastic one, so they might have used the plastic guard to hold a very thin metal sheet, plate instead


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I see your point. But what I meant to say is that perhaps they've used plastic housing to hold, grip down some sort of shield or material which would remove or filter EM interference. Because let's face it, a full metal box would be far more expensive to produce than just a small plastic one, so they might have used the plastic guard to hold a very thin metal sheet, plate instead



Based my opinion on Past Experence on similar bog standard PCI modems where its been necessary to "Remove the Plastic to Identify"
Brand/chips/maker   so as to download Drivers and Software from the Web for those Cards you inevitable acquire Used with no software or Drivers


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 16, 2018)

So, I took the liberty of recapping & straightening out that junk mobo, PC Chips M825 v7.2A... Honestly, don't really know why, and besides it wasn't a proper recapping either. Simply pulled out that one, bulging cap & replaced it with brand new one. I know the board works OK, (it even worked with the old one) because I used it to boot into Win XP, but apart from that it doesn't have any obvious use and/or interest *shrug* Oh well, now I got yet another mATX board in my collection 

I might take a pic or two if anyone's interested but really, apart from the onboard graphics (ProSavage8), it doesn't have anything unusual and/or worth mentioning. Just your standard mATX S462 board, capable of running two DDR266 sticks & AGP 4X graphics. I got something way more cooler that's been sitting inside the original box for ages, Chaintech Summit 7NIF-2 think it's called. Also mATX factor, capable of running DDR400 & AGP 8x cards. The onboard graphics is shot (I'm getting the artifacts all over the screen), but as I already pointed out it's capable of AGP 8x, and seems to be working perfectly fine with external video adapter. The only real downside is that I'm missing the I/O Shield, and can't seem to find it anywhere


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 23, 2018)

Finally, got some time to actually buy a new 1/2 inch headshell for my LP120, along with double set of aluminum, non-magnetic mounting screws, nuts & washers. Will post a pic or two once I receive the shipment, along with (hopefully) properly mounted Shure M94E 

Even though Audio Technica originally used the silver headshell on all their models (including earlier gens of LP120), I picked the black one instead to make it resemble Technics SL1200, which originally came with identical, black headshell  (pics retrieved from the Google search)
LP120



SL1200


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 24, 2018)




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## Trekkie4 (Jan 24, 2018)

Question guys - do you think it would be worth cashing out just over 16 USD on a small-factor AT case with the power supply, two floppy drives and some of the other loose bits & pieces inside. Mobo is in non-working condition, Socket 3 system with 4x86 and VESA graphics.


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## stinger608 (Jan 25, 2018)

That's a tough call man. $16 isn't that much, but not having a working motherboard would make me hesitant.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 25, 2018)

depends how much you could use an AT Case
Most of them probably been scrapped and turned into baked bean tins by now so one in reasonable condition may be worth aquiring for a Vintage Build
PSU by now probably of Dubious quality/use if it works  floppy drives have no value ( you cannot usually give them away )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 25, 2018)

I know, likewise... TBH, I actually DO have a working VESA mobo in my collection, it was one of those projects which never lived up, remained entirely on the drawing board so to speak. Especially since I've managed to source alternative (and fully working) 4x86 DX4 unit from another source. But that's not the question, having a blown mobo inside the case can mean a lot of things. Blown PSU is probably the most obvious one, and let's face it - AT factor PSU & appropriate case are probably the most important factors in this story. Exactly what  @dorsetknob just said!

The guy who's selling these didn't have a picture of the case, but he claims it to be in non-damaged and/or cracked condition except for yellowed plastic due to old age.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 26, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> The guy who's selling these didn't have a picture of the case, but he claims it to be in non-damaged and/or cracked condition except for yellowed plastic due to old age.


Invite him to this forum and have him post pictures here. Just a thought.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 26, 2018)

Finally got my HS-10 headshell  And while I didn't have the time to take any pics (yet), here are the two audio samples, from both AT-95E and Shure M94E for detailed analysis. Both are quartz-locked to 33.3RPM, and are identical, without any deviation. Audacity confirmed it, both audio waveforms are identical in the terms of duration. However, Shure is more prone to pops & crackling due to smaller diamond tip, which digs deeper into the (very dusty) grooves. The amount of dust hanging off the cantilever confirms this theory 

Audio Technica AT-95E
Vertical Tracking Force set to 2.00g, Anti Skate is "2"

Shure M94E
Vertical Tracking Force set to 1.00g, Anti Skate is "1"

Edit
OK, this is weird. Now I lost my other post from yesterday, my answer to @lexluthermiester 

OK, enough is enough... Guys, where do I report forum-related issues & technical problems? I just lost the entire addition to my previous post, all the pics that I've uploaded!! 
So, instead of editing the old one, here's everything once again, from the top!

It's kinda funny actually, because I never noticed this one before... Audio Technica has its own model number(s), and so AT-HS10 would be a premium headshell, such as the one that originally came with LP120. If this particular headshell were silver & labeled Audio Technica it would be called AT-HS1 where this one is obviously not AT (especially since it's black), so it's called HS-10




A set of phono mounting screws... Every bag has 3 dimensions included (two of each, obviously), along with two locking nuts & plastic washers




They're made out of aluminum for the sake of being lightweight and (I'm guessing) being non-magnetic, not causing any interference with the moving magnets inside the cartridge.




And there it is, already mounted on the tonearm  Have to say, I'm quite happy with the way things turned out! The original headshell, previously mentioned AT-HS10 that holds stock AT-95E is now located behind the counterweight if & when I ever need it again.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 2, 2018)

I just put up a post of some old Dell, BTX , overclocking coolers in another forum here. It's early LGA775 stuff QX6850 era.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-airflow-fan-setup.219337/page-4#post-3756951
Some forums get upset if you double post ( the same thing in 2 forums). They think your trying to raise your post count or something.
I just thought you guys might want to see what a $20 Peltier assisted water loop looks like.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 2, 2018)

Fresh meat! 

1. *3dfx* Gainward Dragon 4000 Voodoo Banshee AGP3. 3V 16MB *ICUVGA-GW816D* - missing one capacitor - easy fix
2. P4 *RAMBUS*: Intel D850EMV2 + 4x128MB RIMM PC800 + Pentium 4 SL683 2.26GHz + cooler -  needs two new capacitors - easy fix.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/mizfb3da/

imgur: 



http://imgur.com/a/9Ph2Q


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 3, 2018)

I'm soooo jelly with you guys, prices of old stuff in my country approaching new stuff thus very little point of buying. It used to be cheaper like 7 years back before GST, I remember buying RD-RAM for my friend, the shop sells them in a huge bucket with tons of mixed RAM in it, and only charged few Ringgit for them. RD-RAM is pretty fast during its age, and very odd requiring C-RIMM if the slot is unoccupied, and runs warm to touch


----------



## Robert B (Feb 3, 2018)

_*FLEA MARKET perfume*_ 

StyLophonic - DancefLoor 

















http://imgur.com/mU7EUY9


*M o R e    L a T e RrrRRrr!!!*


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## DR4G00N (Feb 3, 2018)

Socket 754 goodness. 
Another nF3 250Gb for my collection, a little dusty and had a few blown vcore caps but I replaced them right away.
My UTT seems to like this board a lot.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 3, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> Socket 754 goodness.
> Another nF3 250Gb for my collection, a little dusty and had a few blown vcore caps but I replaced them right away.
> My UTT seems to like this board a lot.
> 
> ...



I hope they like it more than that. 
See you in stage 5.


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 3, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> I hope they like it more than that.
> See you in stage 5.


That's just with 3.1V vdimm, still have about 200mV of headroom left before more drastic measures. 

Can't wait for the comp, getting the VIA s370 board prepped right now.


----------



## Antykain (Feb 3, 2018)

Here is my old PNY FX 5600..  I still remember when this card was delivered to my doorstep.  This card was in one of my first gaming rig builds years back.  

Goodtimes..


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 4, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> Socket 754 goodness.
> Another nF3 250Gb for my collection, a little dusty and had a few blown vcore caps but I replaced them right away.
> My UTT seems to like this board a lot.


Ah I miss my s754 Sempron 2500+. At default 1.4GHz it beats my previous Northwood 2A GHz clocked at 3GHz. And its a beast, overclocked all the way to 2.5GHz on stock cooler using DFI nF4X motherboard. I'll try to find any pics on my desktop, on mobile currently.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 4, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Ah I miss my s754 Sempron 2500+. At default 1.4GHz it beats my previous Northwood 2A GHz clocked at 3GHz. And its a beast, overclocked all the way to 2.5GHz on stock cooler using DFI nF4X motherboard. I'll try to find any pics on my desktop, on mobile currently.




 



I got this board some time ago, but never got around to actually use it for anything. It's also missing the I/O Shield but overall it seems to be working decently  If you were anywhere closer, I'd be more than willing to send you this one (especially since I'm pretty much through with old hardware) but under the circumstances, I don't think it would be worth mailing it all the way to Malaysia


----------



## Red_Machine (Feb 4, 2018)

I recently changed the graphics card in my retro battlestation from an nVIDIA Vanta-16 to a 3dfx Voodoo3 3000.  Nice jump in performance, and I'm having fun tinkering with enabling Glide on various games and using custom dlls to enable it when it shouldn't be normally supported.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 4, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I got this board some time ago, but never got around to actually use it for anything. It's also missing the I/O Shield but overall it seems to be working decently  If you were anywhere closer, I'd be more than willing to send you this one (especially since I'm pretty much through with old hardware) but under the circumstances, I don't think it would be worth mailing it all the way to Malaysia


Oh wow that looks nice, yeah I know shipping alone costs a fortune. My current 980Ti is won from a forum giveaway, the shipping alone from US to Malaysia costs USD61. I could buy a decent retro gaming hardware for that price locally  Anyway thanks, just the thought of giving it away warms my heart.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 4, 2018)

No prob 

If it makes you feel any better, I'll be probably keeping this one in my collection. Mainly because of the odd-looking mobo (and weird AGP-like expansion interface), but with that being said I never considered Sempron (especially model 2500+) to be a as capable as you described it, so maybe I'll give it a proper test some day  Would love to see how it handles 7600GT for example, especially in Source-powered games.


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 5, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> No prob
> 
> If it makes you feel any better, I'll be probably keeping this one in my collection. Mainly because of the odd-looking mobo (and weird AGP-like expansion interface), but with that being said I never considered Sempron (especially model 2500+) to be a as capable as you described it, so maybe I'll give it a proper test some day  Would love to see how it handles 7600GT for example, especially in Source-powered games.


Yep that motherboard is one-of-the-kind with odd AGP CPU upgrade thingy. Please do update us if you did try to overclock or test the little Sempron. I did coupled it with 7600GT back in the day, previously using X1800GTO that won't unlock but it died after I overclock the hell out of it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Yep that motherboard is one-of-the-kind with odd AGP CPU upgrade thingy. Please do update us if you did try to overclock or test the little Sempron. I did coupled it with 7600GT back in the day, previously using X1800GTO that won't unlock but it died after I overclock the hell out of it.



Yeah, I got this 7600 a while back & was going to use it inside S775 system that had AGP interface, but things never quite worked out, so I upgraded the mobo to a newer one that has PCIe & coupled it with Radeon X1550. The project was named RetroMaster 4000, the fastest & most powerful "retro" machine in my fleet.


 

 



I was thinking of using Sempron 2500+ as the CPU, perhaps adding 1GB of DDR400 & 7600GT (or at least 6600GT) as AGP graphics. The "ultimate" AGP retro system, but things never worked out, and I lost interest. Not to mention I already have way too many systems as it is, the number goes above 30 lol. So it's highly unlikely that I'll be making another system, any time soon but most definitely not entirely impossible either


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2018)

Here's a small tip to anyone who wishes to install Vista (or Win7) on one of the older Asus-branded systems. I'm referring to the motherboards obviously, this will work for all the models (such as P4SE/U2 for example) using C-Media onboard sound chip.

Since neither Vista or 7 are capable of auto-detecting the sound hardware (licensing issues between C-Media & MS?), you are going to find yourself in a tricky situation where the on-board sound doesn't work & appropriate driver doesn't exist. HOWEVER, after searching around for hours (not to mention loads of "trial & error" installations), I found that "C-Media 9738 Audio Driver for Win2K/XP" driver, for Asus P4S533-VM works under Vista/Win7 as well as Win2k/XP

So there you have it, hopefully this will save someone from a LOT of headache & frustrations


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 8, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a small tip to anyone who wishes to install Vista (or Win7) on one of the older Asus-branded systems. I'm referring to the motherboards obviously, this will work for all the models (such as P4SE/U2 for example) using C-Media onboard sound chip.
> 
> Since neither Vista or 7 are capable of auto-detecting the sound hardware (licensing issues between C-Media & MS?), you are going to find yourself in a tricky situation where the on-board sound doesn't work & appropriate driver doesn't exist. HOWEVER, after searching around for hours (not to mention loads of "trial & error" installations), I found that "C-Media 9738 Audio Driver for Win2K/XP" driver, for Asus P4S533-VM works under Vista/Win7 as well as Win2k/XP
> 
> So there you have it, hopefully this will save someone from a LOT of headache & frustrations



Awesome information brother!!!!!!      Thanks for sharing and I included this in the original post.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome information brother!!!!!!  Thanks for sharing and I included this in the original post.


No prob, glad I could help! Wouldn't want anyone else to go through this process again, as it took me approx. whole afternoon, just to find the appropriate driver for this thing!


----------



## Bungz (Feb 8, 2018)

Had a good clear out of some bit and pieces then these turn up.


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## stinger608 (Feb 8, 2018)

Oh wow, nice matching pair of Epox boards @Bungz !!!!!


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 8, 2018)

Nice!
Both working or have they suffered the Epox sudden death syndrome.


----------



## Bungz (Feb 8, 2018)

Only tested one.

Is working and oddly both boards don't have a blown cap on.

Seller had four of them but they weren't cheap and err two is enough lol


----------



## Bungz (Feb 11, 2018)

Picked up a 680i board and graphics card.

Bit grubby and yes that heatsink sticker is genuine.

Also had a cut trace, really should have gone to the bin this board but its repaired and working fine now.

Still smells of dogs ( I have dogs and it still reeks) but is better than the cat piss system I found.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 11, 2018)

Last pic just makes you wonder, don't it?  lol


----------



## Bungz (Feb 11, 2018)

It had two different colour thermal paste so it had obviously been off and then on again at some point too.


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## stinger608 (Feb 11, 2018)

Wow, that is insane!!!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2018)

Well, so much for my big plans to use Shure M94E phono cartridge, it didn't take long for 16yr old stylus to break down. First I noticed sound distortion on right channel, then the same channel started to crackle & hiss (true, there was a lot of dust, still it was far more obvious when comparing to left channel) and then it started skipping & skating all over the place. Sadly, I don't have the microscope here to check the actual diamond tip, but macro mode on my phone's camera answered pretty much all the questions & any doubts - this one is completely shot  Once shiny & straight cantilever now seems completely rotten, even bent (if you look closer).


 



So, here's the big question - how to replace a 16yr old stylus, especially since the whole model series was discontinued by Shure & is no longer in production? Fortunately, I stumbled upon "Jico" replacement styli, from what I understand highly respected & experienced company that's producing aftermarket replacement, even upgrades. And so I bought (well, ordered) a replacement stylus earlier today, which is a huge step-up from my previous (and original) elliptical one. This one is called N110HE, and is hyper elliptical model, also known as "S.A.S." or Super Analog Stylus... Pretty fancy model from what I understand that features more expensive cantilever materials such as boron, along with highly polished finish. Overall, not bad for a budget table & average cart!  Will post more info (and sound sample, if anyone's interested) once I receive the package, some time next week !

Edit
Fixed the link to N110HE website, sorry


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 15, 2018)

Hey guys Im planning to buy/build a WinXP gaming PC, what sort of CPU would be nice? I found a cheap AthlonXP 2800+ system with GeForce 7300GT but I wonder would it be enough? I also wonder if Pentium 4/D would be good enough since its dirt cheap.

The game I'm going to play is typical game of the era; GTA series, CnC series, Doom3, NFS series


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 15, 2018)

Question, which XP are you planning to use? Because not all XP installations are the same in the terms of system requirements... If you're going for old-school gaming, I would recommend XP Home edition, SP1 or maybe SP2 at most. But if you want the latest experience, all the XP features then I would recommend Professional Ed. SP3 which is the latest one.

Just for the sake of comparison & system requirements - Home Edition, SP2 ran perfectly fine on my Pentium II, 350MHz (256MB of RAM) back in a day, but once I upgraded to Pro edition, it slowed the system down to a crawl. As for the CPU you mentioned, it SHOULD be more than powerful to run all those games you mentioned. I have AthlonXP 1800+ in my RetroMaster rig here, and it runs games like GTA III, Vice City &/or even Half-Life 2 without any lag whatsoever. Therefore, your 2800+ will be even better in the terms of performance  The ONLY title I'm not so sure is Doom3, from what I remember it had some heavy requirements. So you should probably Google & check for system specs, just to be absolutely sure!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Question, which XP are you planning to use? Because not all XP installations are the same in the terms of system requirements... If you're going for old-school gaming, I would recommend XP Home edition, SP1 or maybe SP2 at most. But if you want the latest experience, all the XP features then I would recommend Professional Ed. SP3 which is the latest one.
> 
> Just for the sake of comparison & system requirements - Home Edition, SP2 ran perfectly fine on my Pentium II, 350MHz (256MB of RAM) back in a day, but once I upgraded to Pro edition, it slowed the system down to a crawl. As for the CPU you mentioned, it SHOULD be more than powerful to run all those games you mentioned. I have AthlonXP 1800+ in my RetroMaster rig here, and it runs games like GTA III, Vice City &/or even Half-Life 2 without any lag whatsoever. Therefore, your 2800+ will be even better in the terms of performance  The ONLY title I'm not so sure is Doom3, from what I remember it had some heavy requirements. So you should probably Google & check for system specs, just to be absolutely sure!


I think at most I'll be running Pro SP2 but with extra power I dont mind SP3.

Thanks for your experience. Doom3 minimum requirement are 1.5GHz P4 or Athlon 1500+ with Radeon 8500/GeForce 3 so yeah it should be sufficient enough for this game. I'm going to need XFi or Audigy for EAX goodies as well


----------



## Red_Machine (Feb 15, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> I'm going to need XFi or Audigy for EAX goodies as well


I'd recommend an Audigy myself.  Either a 2 or a 4.  They're the same thing, just with slight improvements on the 4.  It's more compatible with older games and has less buggy drivers.  I'd recommend daniel_k's Audigy Support Pack drivers.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 15, 2018)

Some Dells came with XP Media Center edition.
As far as P4 goes some of the LGA775 systems supported both P4, Pentium D and Core2 up to QX6800. Maybe even QX6850. I specialize in Dell BTX so that's all I can offer, Dimension 9200, XPS410,(mid towers) Dimension E520, Optiplex 745 (mini towers), and XPS210, Dimension 9200c (SFF) all originated with Pentium4/Pentium D and later supported 65nm  Core 2 Extremes due to their 130W Pentium D capacity. There are probably some Precision workstations I'm missing that this applies to also. If you do a Wiki search on chipsets, you can find what CPUs they support. Then you can get a good idea what motherboards might have this capacity. So not only can you play with P4/D you can later upgrade considerably and overclock also if you like.
Some of this is dependent on BIOS updates to support the newer CPUs. A vist to userbenchmark.com will let you see if others have had success with this or not.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/?redirFrom=userbenchmark.com&


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 17, 2018)

The guy with AXP PC is quiet, dont know if he already sold it. Anyway I found someone selling sweet pair of HIS IceQ4 HD 4850. Going to meet him this Tuesday.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 18, 2018)

I'm at my wife hometown, found an ads online and managed to get an Athlon XP 2500+ with Thermaltake cooler, Abit AN7 and an MSI FX5500 256MB for RM70 about USD18. Cant seem to attach files on my phone, I'll post some when I get back home tomorrow.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> I'm at my wife hometown, found an ads online and managed to get an Athlon XP 2500+ with Thermaltake cooler, Abit AN7 and an MSI FX5500 256MB for RM70 about USD18. Cant seem to attach files on my phone, I'll post some when I get back home tomorrow.


You stole that. 
Great buy.


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## dorsetknob (Feb 18, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> I'm at my wife hometown, found an ads online and managed to get an Athlon XP 2500+ with Thermaltake cooler, Abit AN7 and an MSI FX5500 256MB for RM70 about USD18.


 
wifes Hometown Deep in the Jungle  where progress and newer hardware has yet to appear 
Oops Sorry  >>>> good find for the Price Hope it works well


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## Robert B (Feb 18, 2018)

*Fresh meat from the grinder *

*Tualatin:*  Celeron 1200MHz - SL6C8, Celeron 1200MHz - SL68P, Celeron 1300MHz - SL6C7
*SIMM* 2x16MB ACorp / 2x32MB IBM FRU: 92G7295
JATON *TSENG LABS ET4000/W32P* PCI - KY2-JAX-EVGA32PCI - 8248D/V2
Ati Radeon *9800 PRO* 256MB - PN 109-A09400-00
Quantum *Fireball SE* / Quantum *Fireball*

*Untested.*



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/r1a0i4ck/

gallery: 



http://imgur.com/a/y7AC2


*More later.*


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 18, 2018)

Nice catch, @Robert B 

I once got Asus tusi-m board with 1.00GHz Celeron (Tualatin) & still have both of them together inside one of my retro units. TBH, I didn't know what to do with it (especially since tusi-m doesn't have AGP slot) so I converted it into "business" class  Windows 2k system  & am using on-board graphics. Was going to turn it into a server or router but eventually decided to leave it as it is & never bothered to use it again.

It's been stored in my closet ever since, but it DOES work! In fact, I gave it a brand new CMOS battery not so long ago, when I tested all my retro rigs & worked out all the issues due to water damage from 2016/2017. I talked about this in one of my previous posts...


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2018)

I have a TUSI-M also.   
Working one's are becoming a scarcity.


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 19, 2018)

Here's the motherboard and graphics. Too bad I didn't have any DDR RAM, I only have EDO, SD, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM  After I bought the HD 4850 pair tomorrow, I'm gonna look for some DDR RAM as well. The graphics card works well in my Optiplex GX240 system.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 19, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> I have a TUSI-M also.
> Working one's are becoming a scarcity.


Oh, I know! The guy who gave me his TUSI-M kept it inside the bubble wrap bag for years, and was super protective about it!  But he was moving to another location & was giving away his Core2 Duo system (along with an older AthlonXP 2800+) so I took both of them. And then he found TUSI-M & asked me if I'd be interested, otherwise it would have most likely ended up in the junk bin 

But like I said, I didn't have much luck with TUSI-M either, so I mounted it inside the case & put it aside. I remember trying to run "Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone" under Win2k, onboard graphics & the poor thing was falling apart, it couldn't even keep up with the opening cutscene. But then again this is not exactly gaming class hardware, so I'm OK with that. It would make a nice hub, router, or even HiFi, but otherwise it's what it is - a nice conversation starter 



Apocalypsee said:


> Here's the motherboard and graphics. Too bad I didn't have any DDR RAM, I only have EDO, SD, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM  After I bought the HD 4850 pair tomorrow, I'm gonna look for some DDR RAM as well. The graphics card works well in my Optiplex GX240 system.
> 
> View attachment 97418View attachment 97419


Back, when I 1st started with retro hardware, I used to think (and remember) DDR memory as very expensive, hard to find piece of hardware. Especially DDR400, 512MB & 1GB modules! But not any longer, you can find brand NEW 1GB modules on AliExpress for as low as $5.92. I bought 3  or 4 of these, don't really remember. Two modules went into my S775 Pentium4 RetroMaster 4000 system (running Vista SP1), where the one other module ended up inside AthlonXP 2800+, same system that I mentioned above, in my answer to @Mr.Scott The 4th module is still inside the original box, sealed up & has never been used ... so far  At least I think so, because I've been moving RAM  modules between the systems several times, to optimize the speed & differences between the modules themselves.


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## _JP_ (Feb 19, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Here's the motherboard and graphics. Too bad I didn't have any DDR RAM, I only have EDO, SD, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM  After I bought the HD 4850 pair tomorrow, I'm gonna look for some DDR RAM as well. The graphics card works well in my Optiplex GX240 system.
> 
> View attachment 97418View attachment 97419


I love how the cooler has "Silent boost" on the side, when the fan probably runs at 3500rpm. I had a TT Vulcano 9+, so yes, it would silent compared to that one.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 19, 2018)

I used a SP-97 and a Tornado. I know about loud. lol


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 19, 2018)

_JP_ said:


> I love how the cooler has "Silent boost" on the side, when the fan probably runs at 3500rpm. I had a TT Vulcano 9+, so yes, it would silent compared to that one.


I have Thermaltake Volcano 7+ too, loud as hell, thankfully there is a speed controller. I'm not surprised if this so-called 'Silent Boost' is as noisy as the Volcano 



Trekkie4 said:


> Back, when I 1st started with retro hardware, I used to think (and remember) DDR memory as very expensive, hard to find piece of hardware. Especially DDR400, 512MB & 1GB modules! But not any longer, you can find brand NEW 1GB modules on AliExpress for as low as $5.92. I bought 3  or 4 of these, don't really remember. Two modules went into my S775 Pentium4 RetroMaster 4000 system (running Vista SP1), where the one other module ended up inside AthlonXP 2800+, same system that I mentioned above, in my answer to @Mr.Scott The 4th module is still inside the original box, sealed up & has never been used ... so far  At least I think so, because I've been moving RAM  modules between the systems several times, to optimize the speed & differences between the modules themselves.


Wow that's really cheap! If the local second hand shop is expensive I'm going to buy those. I hope the shops have some good selection of old video cards and sound cards.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 20, 2018)

Robert B said:


> Fresh meat!
> 
> 1. *3dfx* Gainward Dragon 4000 Voodoo Banshee AGP3. 3V 16MB *ICUVGA-GW816D* - missing one capacitor - easy fix
> 2. P4 *RAMBUS*: Intel D850EMV2 + 4x128MB RIMM PC800 + Pentium 4 SL683 2.26GHz + cooler -  needs two new capacitors - easy fix.
> ...


That's a good old-school rig. It'd be perfect for a classic Win9x or XP gaming setup. Had a similar system BITD, but had 4x256MB rdimms, a 2.8ghz P4 and a Radeon GPU(can't remember which one, maybe a 9700Pro?). It was a monster at the time. Ah, good times!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 20, 2018)

Just got back from the shop, they got new old stock Corsair DDR400 1GB for RM45 around USD11. Good enough, it still have the sticker of the original price back then! RM160 around USD41.





Quickly assembled it on old case without any side panel. The card looks new without any dust, and the CPU cooler also have minor dust with a bit of spider webs all around. Yep this Thermaltake fans is loud, its not obnoxiously loud like FX 5800 but compared to any new fan noise this one is definitely loud!





It boots! It lives! Yes, I felt like I'm a youth again, I miss those days. And this is my very first Athlon XP system. Abit BIOS is quite good, I can reduce fan voltage to tame that Thermaltake fan. There are still some things I need to dig in but I just leave it at default. Temperature seems fine at 35C idle. I didn't even repaste it.





Installing Windows XP now. I use my trusty 160GB Seagate 7200.9 from the storage and install it via USB drive.


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## _JP_ (Feb 20, 2018)

Abit were leagues ahead for the time. You an control the fan in windows with Abit's software, or just speedfan 
If you're interested in taming that cooler: after some time, I got tired of having to shift the Tt fan to 5000rpm every time I wanted to play (idle was good @ 2500rpm), so I got this one. Way more efficient and comfortable to hear @3200rpm, fully able to keep the chip within limits. If you can find something similar, the retro aesthetic will be there...minus the 727 taxiing-like noise.


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## phill (Feb 20, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> I used a SP-97 and a Tornado. I know about loud. lol



I thought those fans where the norm for when you were overclocking back in the day??!!  5000rpm or bust


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## _JP_ (Feb 20, 2018)

Water loops where already a thing back in socket A days, however for air it was, until tower-type coolers started to show-up. Bigger fans, higher fin density and noise started to drop.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Feb 20, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Back, when I 1st started with retro hardware, I used to think (and remember) DDR memory as very expensive, hard to find piece of hardware. Especially DDR400, 512MB & 1GB modules! But not any longer, you can find brand NEW 1GB modules on AliExpress for as low as $5.92. I bought 3  or 4 of these, don't really remember. Two modules went into my S775 Pentium4 RetroMaster 4000 system (running Vista SP1), where the one other module ended up inside AthlonXP 2800+, same system that I mentioned above, in my answer to @Mr.Scott The 4th module is still inside the original box, sealed up & has never been used ... so far  At least I think so, because I've been moving RAM  modules between the systems several times, to optimize the speed & differences between the modules themselves.



I don't know that aliexpress have cheap ddr ram! Thank for the find! Gonna grab it probably in the future for retro builds.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 20, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Just got back from the shop, they got new old stock Corsair DDR400 1GB for RM45 around USD11. Good enough, it still have the sticker of the original price back then! RM160 around USD41.
> 
> View attachment 97452
> 
> ...





MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I don't know that aliexpress have cheap ddr ram! Thank for the find! Gonna grab it probably in the future for retro builds.


Those AliExpress modules look like this:


 



I'm sure there are loads of other brands & models, the reason I'm pointing out this specific one is only because of the good feedback, personal experience. I remember testing the first two modules upon arrival in MemTest & they both checked out OK without any problems, whatsoever. So to be honest I never tested the other two, as the system was perfectly stable & wasn't showing any signs of RAM problems.

Just make sure to buy these from a seller (store) that has a GOOD reputation. Always check for customer feedback & the amount of reviews posted online. Because even though 99% will be honest & legit, there's always that 1-2% who will try to scam you. This one HERE is a fine example of what I'm talking about. They had 65 orders (up to this point), of which 57 users left a feedback indicating whenever they are happy or not. Which, according to 4.9 star rating, they are 

Also, check out the price(s) for nVidia FX PCI series cards, model FX5500 in particular. TBH, I was going to buy one or two of these myself but then I gave up on retro hardware altogether & decided to invest time & money into HiFi & my Audio Technica LP120 

Additionally, I would like to point out really cheap (and effective) GPU coolers for as low as $2.22. These are perfect for cards such as TNT2 for example, GeForce2 or even Voodoo3 2000, 3000. Just don't expect that high quality, polished finish on the base lol, you pretty much get what you pay for. But hey, for 2,22 you can't go wrong! If you want something more powerful (nVidia FX series, nVidia GeForce6, Radeon 9000 series, etc) you might want to buy THIS one instead. Again, this is from my personal experience, I got both of these. Here's a pic of my Ti4200 with one of the "bigger" GPU coolers, mounted on top of it.


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## phill (Feb 20, 2018)

I remember my D-Tek Fusion block I had (and still do have!!) for my XP CPU   Ah those were the days....


----------



## Robert B (Feb 20, 2018)

I managed to clean a little the *9800 PRO 256MB* just to be able to test it. Attaching a regular fan to the *asimetric* mounting holes of the heatsink was a PITA but I squeezed that *LEGEND* in THERE as far as it would go 

*Full story* later on the Project log part of TPU  I hope the card works  less ~ 1.5 USD / 1.08 EUR from the Good Ol' flea market. I saw it and I wanted to find if she's alive...that fire engine red 

The heatsinks and the tall capacitors took most of the beating. No missing resistors or small ICs.


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## agent_x007 (Feb 20, 2018)

Best AMD MB combo with AGP & PCI-e support :




Because I'm not "Intel fanboy" when it comes to AGP ;P


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## Red_Machine (Feb 20, 2018)

Is that a "fake" AGP slot that's just a modified PCI slot with a bridge chip?


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## dorsetknob (Feb 20, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Because I'm not "Intel fanboy" when it comes to AGP ;P


Asrock also done the Intel Duel Series (AGP+PCIx) and DDR1 or DDR2   still got one ( and it Runs a Core 2 quad )


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 20, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> Is that a "fake" AGP slot that's just a modified PCI slot with a bridge chip?


The "fake" AGP slot is actually their expansion interface, that allows converting the board into other socket. I got the same slot on my K8Upgrade NF3


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## agent_x007 (Feb 20, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> Is that a "fake" AGP slot that's just a modified PCI slot with a bridge chip?


No. AM2 on left uses nForce3 250 for AGP and "ULI" M1695 Chipset for PCi-e (x16 electric). Specs : LINK.
S939 MB has similar configuration, however both north and south bridges are from ULI (M1695 and M1567), specs : LINK.
From what I heard, they are both native AGP/PCI-e solutions.

@dorsetknob Indeed, and I already "maxed" that one out 




@Trekkie4 A small spoiler for you :
I have one coming next week - LINK, because I love this kind of stuff


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## _JP_ (Feb 20, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Asrock also done the Intel Duel Series (AGP+PCIx) and DDR1 or DDR2   still got one ( and it Runs a Core 2 quad )


Right, the "4CoreDual" and the "775Dual" series  
Mine still works like new  And I bought it new, so I would know


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 21, 2018)

_JP_ said:


> Right, the "4CoreDual" and the "775Dual" series
> Mine still works like new  And I bought it new, so I would know


I had 775Dual VSTA for few years, paired with Core2 Duo & 8800GTS but i gave it away since it was "too modern" for my taste. Besides, my daily runner is Q6600 (and it had 8800GT back then), so this other one seemed more like "just another" system, than a true retro rig!


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## _JP_ (Feb 21, 2018)

I understand you.
Mine is back with the P4 it had initially and is working like a charm. Anything more recent, I prefer to pair to later 775 chipsets, better performance too.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 21, 2018)

_JP_ said:


> I understand you.
> Mine is back with the P4 it had initially and is working like a charm. Anything more recent, I prefer to pair to later 775 chipsets, better performance too.


Exactly, spot on!


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## phill (Feb 21, 2018)

Had a few of those boards for benching for HWBot, not the most user friendly with options and no voltage options but you could always hard voltage mod it..  Was pretty fun but trying to find them boxed and such is like rocking horse......


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## dorsetknob (Feb 21, 2018)

_JP_ said:


> Right, the "4CoreDual" and the "775Dual" series
> Mine still works like new  And I bought it new, so I would know


My 775 4Coreduel quad Has/had a funny Bios quirk. ( as noted in the Manual)
When running a quad (q6600 @ 2.4Ghz) it would not run at full speed ( it ran at 2.2Ghz) but you could overclock it via Bios Settings.


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## agent_x007 (Feb 21, 2018)

phill said:


> Had a few of those boards for benching for HWBot, not the most user friendly with options and no voltage options but you could always hard voltage mod it..


You can bypass Vcore increase limitation by using Throttlestop (only for unlocked CPU), or doing a VID mod on CPU itself.


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## phill (Feb 21, 2018)

I didn't have an unlocked CPU in the board back then..  Q6600 if I recall   I didn't think those boards had massive bios controls anyways?  I thought most of it was all auto and that was it..  It's been a while since I have used one of those boards....


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## agent_x007 (Feb 21, 2018)

They don't have any voltage control in BIOS - you are correct.
I simply wanted to point out you can bypass that limitation using either a VID mod or Throttlestop program.
With latter one you need unlocked CPU, however with former - it will work with any CPU 
FYI : I used VID mod to get QX9770 up to 3,84GHz.


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## dorsetknob (Feb 21, 2018)

Bios was reasonably adjustable  for overclocking ( i used a Q6600 ) 
After i retired it from full time use i also used to use it as a testing board for 
1.  other 775 CPU's
2. DDR Ram
3. DDR2 Ram
4. AGP graphics Cards
5. PCIx Graphicss cards   
Like i said i still have it and occasionally when older hardware needs testing (for buying or selling or just plain free upgrading for others)


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## phill (Feb 21, 2018)

They weren't so bad to use but I find with hybrid stuff, it's never quite the same as a dedicated bit of kit, but I think that's where the fun is sometimes   Not so much when your trying to get the best out of it, but ... Well never mind!!

I don't think I managed very much in the graphics cards testing...  Was very well and very hard to get decent scores with no volt mods and LN2 etc lol


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## dorsetknob (Feb 21, 2018)

phill said:


> I don't think I managed very much in the graphics cards testing... Was very well and very hard to get decent scores with no volt mods and LN2 etc lol



I never used it for Benching   only for Hardware Testing to check that the hardware worked


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## phill (Feb 21, 2018)

I was thinking more so about the GPUs with the LN2 but yes, with limit control I don't think that was the perfect board for it


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## _JP_ (Feb 21, 2018)

A very cool feature was DualGraphics, which unlike SLi/CrossFire, didn't mirror vRAM and load-balance, actually each card would be on its own and drive its own display.
Assuming the OS could take care of the rest, very interesting performance figures could be had.
Configuring it was a pain, though 

AGP performance on the VIA 880Pro was very good, IIRC.

EDIT: I should still be able to manage that again with a pair of HD3650s or any other single-slot card made for both buses, that I can find.


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 21, 2018)

I forgot to post about the pair of HIS ICeQ4 HD 4850 I bought the other day. Here's the pair really digging the wicked cooler 





The card inside my main system


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 21, 2018)

IDK about the cards, but I'm amazed with Intel's Gigabit Ethernet 

Nice setup, makes me feel bad for never even attempting to go SLI or CrossFire. Other than 5 Voodoo2 SLI rigs of course but those are whole other class & generation


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## PHaS3 (Feb 21, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> I forgot to post about the pair of HIS ICeQ4 HD 4850 I bought the other day. Here's the pair really digging the wicked cooler



Oh man I had one of those back in the day, after my 3870 and before my 5850 lol. That card was great.

Here's mine from back then (bad pic - 'twas long ago and all I could find of it  I took lots of my 5850s for some reason...)


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## droopyRO (Feb 21, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> I forgot to post about the pair of HIS ICeQ4 HD 4850 I bought the other day. Here's the pair really digging the wicked cooler
> 
> View attachment 97495
> 
> The card inside my main system


I wished for this HIS cards years ago, don't know why they discontinued this type of cooling.


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## _JP_ (Feb 21, 2018)

Blower type coolers fell out of fashion. Blame MSI with their Twin-Frozr and later ASUS with the Direct-CU.


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 22, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> IDK about the cards, but I'm amazed with Intel's Gigabit Ethernet
> 
> Nice setup, makes me feel bad for never even attempting to go SLI or CrossFire. Other than 5 Voodoo2 SLI rigs of course but those are whole other class & generation


Lol, yeah apparently Intel Gigabit ethernet is a good marketing.

I dream of driving those old Voodoo, even more so in SLI but I cant. I only have Voodoo Banshee but even so no motherboard to slot in the AGP 2X. The one I have is all 4X/8X.



_JP_ said:


> Blower type coolers fell out of fashion. Blame MSI with their Twin-Frozr and later ASUS with the Direct-CU.


I really dislike that, the blower fan is really good dumping the card heat outside the case and reduce case temperature. TDP wise its the same as my 980Ti but since EVGA SC cooler dumps the heat to the case its a lot warmer than this pair of cards.

Current trend putting crappy noisy squirrel fan on blower cooler made a bad name for it. This IceQ cooler in pair with 100% fan is quieter than my 980Ti at similar fan speed.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 22, 2018)

You do realize of course, that AGP doesn't matter to Voodoo2/SLI? Heck, you can even pair V2 with 7600GT lol, as long as you want to do so. The "only" requirement for Voodoo cards is free PCI slot, or two in case you're going SLI


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 22, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> You do realize of course, that AGP doesn't matter to Voodoo2/SLI? Heck, you can even pair V2 with 7600GT lol, as long as you want to do so. The "only" requirement for Voodoo cards is free PCI slot, or two in case you're going SLI


I know but finding one is a pain and the prices are quite high. From ebay I could easily bought GTX 690


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 22, 2018)

Found an ABIT IP35 Pro motherboard through my big ass stash of motherboards.

I don't think anyone can imagine how much "fun" it was to set it up.


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## PHaS3 (Feb 22, 2018)

Dredging up some memories  When I got my first 5850 (with Core2Duo E8400) then my second (with my Phenom II 1100T).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 22, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> I know but finding one is a pain and the prices are quite high. From ebay I could easily bought GTX 690


Yeah, those 3dfx cards are becoming a true rarity. Even V3, which I always (personally) considered to be "budget 3dfx" due to huge amounts being available, worldwide. Come to think of it, I don't remember when was the last time I saw one for sale...


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## Red_Machine (Feb 22, 2018)

I bought a Voodoo3 3000 for cheap at a car boot sale over a decade ago, I recently installed it in my retro battlestation.  Performs nicely, with a small overclock.  I also bought a Voodoo5 a few years ago, complete in box.  My only gripe with it is one of the heatsinks on the GPUs is wonky.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 22, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> I bought a Voodoo3 3000 for cheap at a car boot sale over a decade ago, I recently installed it in my retro battlestation.  Performs nicely, with a small overclock.  I also bought a Voodoo5 a few years ago, complete in box.  My only gripe with it is one of the heatsinks on the GPUs is wonky.


Trust me, it's not worth OCing Voodoo3. You're only going to gain a small advantage, and (unless you severely modded your V3), it's going to get VERY hot. So in the long-term scenario, it'll probably fry V3 GPU core and/OR VRAM modules around it


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 23, 2018)

Now that I use this FX5500 I remember how slow these card were. I used to have various of MX440 and FX5200 64 and 128bit memory but it was a long time ago. It struggles to run Doom3 at 640x480 medium, usually drops to below 20fps and that is still in Mars City before the havoc. I remember tweaking ini files to make it playable with MX440. NFSU2 also struggles at 1024x768. I need faster cards but cant find much. Someone sells 6800XT and 9800SE in local forum but its faulty, dont know whats the fault or whether it can be fixed its very cheap RM20 about USD5.


----------



## Red_Machine (Feb 23, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Now that I use this FX5500 I remember how slow these card were. I used to have various of MX440 and FX5200 64 and 128bit memory but it was a long time ago. It struggles to run Doom3 at 640x480 medium, usually drops to below 20fps and that is still in Mars City before the havoc. I remember tweaking ini files to make it playable with MX440. NFSU2 also struggles at 1024x768. I need faster cards but cant find much. Someone sells 6800XT and 9800SE in local forum but its faulty, dont know whats the fault or whether it can be fixed its very cheap RM20 about USD5.


I'm sure you can get it running smoothly, I've seen DOOM 3 run on a pair of Voodoo2s in SLI.


----------



## droopyRO (Feb 23, 2018)

PHaS3 said:


> Dredging up some memories  When I got my first 5850 (with Core2Duo E8400) then my second (with my Phenom II 1100T).


Is that a CM HAF 922 ? i still have one, my main rig is in it, but i put fan filters on the bottom and side pannel, cause it sucks a lot of dust with those 200mm fans.


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 23, 2018)

I got my new toy (right) bit earlier than expected :







Mounted :





Wish MB could work in Double CPU mode (FX-60 + FX-62 combo FTW)


----------



## Red_Machine (Feb 23, 2018)

I remember seeing boards with both SLOT1 and Socket 370 interfaces.  Thet must have been expensive back in the day, but I get the idea.  Buy a decent motherboard and keep your old CPU, while you save up for an expensive new CPU.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 24, 2018)

That Asrock motherboard is the stuff of dreams, sad that its not really possible nowadays to implement such thing. Asrock are pretty new when they release that, its a pretty bold move by them when no other big names making something similar.


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 24, 2018)

...i think my 5AX board dieded , tried booting after its been idle for a long time but it just wont post.
with no RAM it would beep but still wont work with any of the other sticks i have, i'll do a more thorough testing on it later but man it would suck if it really died as i don't think i'd find a replacement SS7 board locally :/ (or for cheap at that)


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 24, 2018)

Pry it off the case and test over the table with the bare minimum to POST. If it still doesn't, then start worrying.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 24, 2018)

Doc41 said:


> ...i think my 5AX board dieded , tried booting after its been idle for a long time but it just wont post.
> with no RAM it would beep but still wont work with any of the other sticks i have, i'll do a more thorough testing on it later but man it would suck if it really died as i don't think i'd find a replacement SS7 board locally :/ (or for cheap at that)


Try removing all the expansion cards, and/or cleaning the RAM contacts with contact-cleaning solution. I had dozens of boards acting up like this, it was always the same problem. Alternatively, you could try removing CMOS battery & resetting all the values to fail-safe mode...

Oh, and also give it a try with another PSU - just in case...


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 26, 2018)

i did just that, bare board with just 1 stick of ram and it worked!.... but then it almost gave me a heart attack when i put in the voodoo 2 and it wouldn't boot again 
so i did another round of cleaning.. rubber eraser on card contacts and contact cleaner on everything, it was also being finicky with ram so after swapping around everything works now

alas nothing goes perfectly as its showing me an invalid disk when i put the HDD back.... soo i guess i have to re-install the OS again? (now is it Win98 or WinME )
fun fact: the board has a color change option in the BIOS.. neat! 8D not many boards had this "feature"


----------



## Robert B (Feb 26, 2018)

@Doc41 - the capacitors are ok? I have a motherboard that acted like yours and after some use a capacitor developed a bulge so I know that I'll need to recap it.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 26, 2018)

Doc41 said:


> i did just that, bare board with just 1 stick of ram and it worked!.... but then it almost gave me a heart attack when i put in the voodoo 2 and it wouldn't boot again
> so i did another round of cleaning.. rubber eraser on card contacts and contact cleaner on everything, it was also being finicky with ram so after swapping around everything works now
> 
> alas nothing goes perfectly as its showing me an invalid disk when i put the HDD back.... soo i guess i have to re-install the OS again? (now is it Win98 or WinME )
> fun fact: the board has a color change option in the BIOS.. neat! 8D not many boards had this "feature"





Robert B said:


> @Doc41 - the capacitors are ok? I have a motherboard that acted like yours and after some use a capacitor developed a bulge so I know that I'll need to recap it.


Nah, these are NOT capacitors. What happens over time (especially if you have your boards, systems stored in damp environment) is that water particles condense over electrical contacts, to the point where they either corrode or leave a residue. Like I said, I've had dozens of systems acting up like this - and it was always the same story! Either the system wouldn't boot up, OR one of the expansion cards wouldn't work. For example, I once had a Voodoo2 SLI system which couldn't recognize the 2nd Voodoo2 card, even though I tested it alone & was working OK. So, as it turned out later, the problem was not with the card, but with PCI slot interface itself!

Just go ahead & buy a spray can/bottle of contact cleaning solution & spray some over contacts, memory banks, PCI/AGP/ISA slots, etc. Heck, it even works for Slot-1, as I once had the same issue on a Slot-1 system where it didn't want to boot up, recognize the CPU because of the SAME issue. Remember, contact-cleaning solution is non-conductive, so it won't do any damage, short your board. Therefore you don't have to wipe anything, or wait for it to dry (which could take a looong time) But DO unplug the PSU (power cable) while doing this, as you would normally do for any other repair &/or upgrade!


----------



## Doc41 (Feb 26, 2018)

nah caps looked fine, but i guess leaving the case open got more dust inside/ helped it corrode faster (can get quite humid)
this is what i used


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 26, 2018)

Lol, my first reaction (when I saw "WD-40") was WTF? Noooo!  I had no idea WD40 was in the production of contact-cleaning solutions...

But yes, that should do a trick. Brand doesn't really matter, the only important factor is to renew the contact on the mobo. And yes, I knew humidity had to be behind this issue. Don't be surprised (and/or shocked) if you experience the same problem all over again, as this problem tends to randomly reappear when you least expect it to...


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 27, 2018)

Was only $3  

Should probably stick heatspreaders on them, getting pretty toasty @ 3.5V


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 27, 2018)

Damn, that's some fine clock. At least Kingston don't rebadged the chip so its easier to see its the legendary BH-6. I read it can clocked up to 300MHz with very high VDIMM 4V+. Crazy clock with crazy voltage. Put some heatspreader and fan on top or it'll blow up


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 28, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Damn, that's some fine clock. At least Kingston don't rebadged the chip so its easier to see its the legendary BH-6. I read it can clocked up to 300MHz with very high VDIMM 4V+. Crazy clock with crazy voltage. Put some heatspreader and fan on top or it'll blow up


You must be thinking of BH-5. BH-6 is not typically known for high clocks but these seem pretty decent. A bit better than my 2x256MB kit of Kingston CH-5 which does 255MHz 1.5-2-2-5 @ 3.4V.

My Centon Advanced UTT are still a touch better though, 265-270MHz 1.5-2-2-5 @ 3.4V so I'm not sure if I'll keep these ones.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 28, 2018)

Oh yeah, absolutely! I love my BH6, it's one (if not the only) reliable Abit-branded Slot 1 mobo in my entire collection!


 

 


In fact, I love my BH6 so much that ... oh wait, that's wrong BH6 

Joke aside for a moment, want to see something really cool? Check this guy out, he converted an old (4x86?) system into a modern "sleeper" rig! And although I usually don't like and approve this kind of stuff, all I can say is WOW! (link was featured on one other forum)


http://imgur.com/a/NVPZI


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 28, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> Was only $3
> 
> Should probably stick heatspreaders on them, getting pretty toasty @ 3.5V
> 
> ...


Holy freaken RAM OC Batman! That's DDR1 520. Now *that's* a thing! And yeah, get some heatspreaders on those babies.


----------



## phill (Feb 28, 2018)

I like the ghetto approach of just putting a fan or two over the top of the ram


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 28, 2018)

My ISA sound card collection got a bit bigger since last time (LINK) 



Full quality : LINK


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 28, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> My ISA sound card collection got a bit bigger since last time (LINK)
> View attachment 97818


Nice! You've got the "Chill&Phil" wave table expander module for one SB and the simm adapter for your AWE64 Gold. Very cool collection. AWE64 Gold; the pinnacle of ISA sound cards. Used mine well into the WinXp days.


----------



## AsRock (Feb 28, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, so much for my big plans to use Shure M94E phono cartridge, it didn't take long for 16yr old stylus to break down. First I noticed sound distortion on right channel, then the same channel started to crackle & hiss (true, there was a lot of dust, still it was far more obvious when comparing to left channel) and then it started skipping & skating all over the place. Sadly, I don't have the microscope here to check the actual diamond tip, but macro mode on my phone's camera answered pretty much all the questions & any doubts - this one is completely shot  Once shiny & straight cantilever now seems completely rotten, even bent (if you look closer).
> 
> 
> 
> ...




But most use a rubber tube ?, which rubber does break down over time even more so if it's been put in a basement.

IF that is the case maybe heat shrink tubing but dam you better have a real good eye and might turn out a little stiffer.


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 28, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice! You've got the "Chill&Phil" wave table expander module for one SB and the simm adapter for your AWE64 Gold. Very cool collection. AWE64 Gold; the pinnacle of ISA sound cards. Used mine well into the WinXp days.


I bought it along Dreamblaster X2 for flexibility.
If sound card doesn't have Wavetabler port - X2 module itself is useless on it.
However with adapter, it's compatible with A LOT more cards (it simply needs MPU-401 port).
You can also easy test if connector or port are dead/damaged in any way.

List of stuff (from the top/left) :
1) Gravis Ultrasound rev. 2.4
2) Creative Sound Blaster 2.0 (CT1350B), w/CMS upgrade kit installed*.
*Card is limited to work as CMS only (I own the same card model as : LINK).
3) AWE64 "Gold" (from my earlier post), with SIMM Conn module attached (and 32MB FPM memory installed)
4) Creative SB16 (CT2230) (Sound Blaster 16)
5) "ATC-6631" with Yamaha YMF 719E-S chip (OPL3).

PS. CT1350B isn't compatible with adapter (it doesn't support MPU-401 standard).
I plugged it in for visuals only.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 28, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> PS. CT1350B isn't compatible with adapter (it doesn't support MPU-401 standard).
> I plugged it in for visuals only.


I did not know that. Was wondering what model of SB that was. Sound Blaster 2.0. Interesting. Works with the SB16 though doesn't it? Then again, the SB16 has wave table builtin IIRC. Someone correct me if wrong..
EDIT, just looked it up and nope. But it does have the wave table header so you wouldn't need that adapter for it.


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 28, 2018)

Well, I found this : LINK.
So, this adapter should work with it's game port as well (at least, with SB16 I own).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 28, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Well, I found this : LINK.
> So, this adapter should work with it's game port as well (at least, with SB16 I own).


Right. Didn't mean to say it wouldn't work, cause it will. Meant to say that because it has an onboard header that you would be able to use a proper wave table adapter plugged straight into the card instead of out the back. Sorry for the confusion.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 28, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> My ISA sound card collection got a bit bigger since last time (LINK)
> View attachment 97818
> Full quality : LINK





lexluthermiester said:


> Nice! You've got the "Chill&Phil" wave table expander module for one SB and the simm adapter for your AWE64 Gold. Very cool collection. AWE64 Gold; the pinnacle of ISA sound cards. Used mine well into the WinXp days.





lexluthermiester said:


> Right. Didn't mean to say it wouldn't work, cause it will. Meant to say that because it has an onboard header that you would be able to use a proper wave table adapter plugged straight into the card instead of out the back. Sorry for the confusion.


Just curious, have you been watching LGR lately, on YouTube? He reviewed a very interesting piece of (old?) hardware. Not exactly old, since it's a brand new model lol, made in 2018 but it has OPL3 chip & two outputs!









And @AsRock
Yes, I'm pretty sure my M94 uses rubber suspension, which deteriorated over time  And no, even if I COULD save this one, I suppose it wouldn't make much sense. Stylus is very old, to the point where the entire thing fused itself with cartridge (over approx. 17yrs) so I had to pry it out of the cart before replacing for another one.

Unfortunately, I was never able to get that model I wanted, and the original N 94E (stylus, for M94) no longer exist since Shure discontinued the entire thing in favor of M97xE. At first I didn't realize that, I thought they were only just "similar", but as it turns out no, M94 IS M97xE, the only difference is that shiny metal piece, 1/2 inch mounting bracket & so called brush stabilizer on the stylus. Therefore both M94 & M97 are interchangeable & capable of using all the styli from the product line, of this particular generation. M92E, M94E, M97xE, M105E, M110E, I'm sure the list goes on & on. With M94/97 being the supreme, top model ... no wonder I got spoiled by M94 over time & absolutely ADORED loved it!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 28, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just curious, have you been watching LGR lately, on YouTube?


Saw that. Great video. Sadly there's no games that support the extra channels.


----------



## Space Lynx (Feb 28, 2018)

@Apocalypsee  did you re-paste those old AMD gpu's? just curious


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 28, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> You must be thinking of BH-5. BH-6 is not typically known for high clocks but these seem pretty decent. A bit better than my 2x256MB kit of Kingston CH-5 which does 255MHz 1.5-2-2-5 @ 3.4V.
> 
> My Centon Advanced UTT are still a touch better though, 265-270MHz 1.5-2-2-5 @ 3.4V so I'm not sure if I'll keep these ones.


Perhaps, I can't really remember the number correctly. Its been a long time ago so...still those numbers are awesome.



lynx29 said:


> @Apocalypsee  did you re-paste those old AMD gpu's? just curious


I did opened up both card to see the paste and it looks like it was repasted just before I got the card.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 3, 2018)

I received quite a lot of retro parts over the last couple of months, all given to me for free. The point of no return (so to speak) was earlier today, when I got an empty case & PSU ... so you know what time it is, do you? It's tool time! 


 

 

 



You might have noticed odd-looking Pentium II cartridge... That's because it came from another OEM system. Even though I still got the original board for that system, it's not much of a use to me, since it requires special case which I never had. So instead, I pulled off this Pentium II @266MHz & modded fan header to fit standard 3-pin standard. It can be easily reverted back to original spec if needed, as I simply pulled out the wires & insulated them with heat shrink tubing.

Originally, I was going to add this Hauppauge WinTV card, but now that I think about it, I'd rather not... IMHO, that Pentium II is too slow for TV tuner, not to mention the Vanta AGP card that's going to have a really hard time rendering TV screen. More info & pics still to come, once I have it up & running!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Originally, I was going to add this Hauppauge WinTV card, but now that I think about it, I'd rather not... IMHO, that Pentium II is too slow for TV tuner, not to mention the Vanta AGP card that's going to have a really hard time rendering TV screen.


Is analogue TV still being broadcast in the UK(might be an assumption on my part) or has it gone all digital like us yanks?


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 4, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Is analogue TV still being broadcast in the UK(might be an assumption on my part) or has it gone all digital like us yanks?



UK went DVB-T Fully Digital a Few years go ( and DVB-T2 a few years later for Hi Def ).

edit
which means if you use an analog TV Card Such as 3DFX Voodo 3500 ? ATI 9800SE AIW or analog WinTV 
you have to use a Set Top Converter Box

There were a Few ATI Digital Cards Made


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Is analogue TV still being broadcast in the UK(might be an assumption on my part) or has it gone all digital like us yanks?





dorsetknob said:


> UK went DVB-T Fully Digital a Few years go ( and DVB-T2 a few years later for Hi Def ).
> 
> edit
> which means if you use an analog TV Card Such as 3DFX Voodo 3500 ? ATI 9800SE AIW or analog WinTV
> ...



Exactly what @dorsetknob said  I'm not from UK, but it's the same story really, we went fully DVB several years ago. Nowdays most ppl are using streaming services though and/or ipTV, which I'm personally using.

But just like with dial-up (fax) modems in most of my retro builds, these analogue TV tuners are here just for fun & to fill blank PCI slots. Although (unlike modems), these CAN actually serve some purpose, as you can theoretically hook them onto the VCR for example & watch/archive your old tapes


----------



## Robert B (Mar 4, 2018)

*Conner CP30251* - Conner Peripherals 240MB HDD


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 5, 2018)

Moving on with my latest Slot-1 build...

Decided to use the old-fashioned ISA modem over more modern PCI one. I mean, why settle for plug & play, straight out of the box when you can fiddle with IRQ conflicts & tons of other issues 




Overkill for this machine, if you ask me. Was going to use 64MB, but then I found other, identical module so I figured why not.




And there it is ... more less, the cable management was still a total mess!


 



And there it is, with cable management (mostly) finished... Still not happy with the way IDE & floppy cables are laid out, so I might pull them out tomorrow & go from scratch




It's alive!! True, I was missing a keyboard, floppy ribbon cable was connected other way around & I'm missing a CMOS battery, so therefore all 3 warnings are valid.




Oh yeah?! Well ... You fight like a cow! (Found this, written on the inner side of case cover lol)


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## Robert B (Mar 5, 2018)

*CONNER CP30251 - Conner Peripherals 240MB*

My name is *Conner, Sarah Conner* and I'm back to get you


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Mar 6, 2018)

its going to be my new ringtone....


----------



## Robert B (Mar 10, 2018)

*FLEA MARKET SURPRISE!!!*

*My biggest score ever at the local flea market! WIN! WIN! WIN!*

1. Asus *K7M* Rev. 1.04 - SLOT A - my second one 
2. AMD *Athlon K7 800MHz* - Slot A - AMD-A0800MPR24B A - Full-speed on-die 256 KB CACHE
3. 3dfx - *VooDoo 3 3000* AGP 16MB - PCB - 210-0364-003 missing 3 10uf 16V capacitors - monday I'll receive replacement capacitors / missing the heatsink but I already have a plan to modify a DeepCool V50 cooler 
4. 3dfx - *VooDoo 3 2000* AGP 16MB - PCB - 210-0364-003 - in superb condition
5. Intel *Celeron* A Slot 1 - SL2WN - 333MHz/66
6. RAM 3x128MB *PC133*

Flea market prices of course... 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



gallery: https://postimg.org/gallery/389o5otau/



http://imgur.com/a/XgkWk


*More later.*


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 10, 2018)

Nice score.
800 Thunderbird is tough to find.


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## Robert B (Mar 10, 2018)

The full cleanup and close-up shots will be as usual on the Projects Logs section. I'm happy that I dont have to make custom thermal pads for the K7 800, as I did with the 500.550.600.700(x2).750 ones that I have...that was a time consuming job and a real PITA. All have Pluto cores.

That 800 is my first K7 Slot A Thunderbird. When I saw the damn thing, my pulse spiked and I tried to not show my emotion. I pulled it myself from a nasty PC case. I paid the price for the entire case - ~ less than 20 USD, took what I need and I left the rest behind - a 300W PSU with a funky name, an S3 card, two lan cards, a fan and the banged up case. I have plenty of parts in my collection and I dont need regular stuff. The biggest question is what kind of graphic card was in this system? It was missing when I got to it.

The V3 2000 came from a big tower case and it was the only thing I took from there. That system was with a K7S5A and a AMD socket A CPU. I already have a K7S5A at a friend of mine and I dont need another one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *FLEA MARKET SURPRISE!!!*
> 
> *My biggest score ever at the local flea market! WIN! WIN! WIN!*
> 
> ...


I just can't stop admiring budget (retro) hardware, from back in a day... Most of us who grew up in early to late 90s were under impression how Celeron "sucks" for gaming. Just like (later on) nVidia's M64 sucks for 3D video acceleration. But really, now that I look back & analyze both against much more expensive & powerful Pentium line (and TNT2 Pro & Ultra), I honestly don't see why.

For what it's worth, Celeron is actually quite a decent platform for retro gaming, as long it's "A" series, as in Mendocino over Covington which doesn't have any L2 cache. Pair those two together (either Slot-1 or S370) & you'll end up with cheap retro gaming platform that'll run just about any game from mid 90s (and earlier) up to 2002. With few exceptions of course, but that is to be expected


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 10, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> For what it's worth, Celeron is actually quite a decent platform for retro gaming,


THEY WERE ALSO BEASTS FOR OVERCLOCKING  ( not unusual to get a 100% Overclock OR MORE with additional cooling)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> THEY WERE ALSO BEASTS FOR OVERCLOCKING  ( not unusual to get a 100% Overclock OR MORE with additional cooling)


You're absolutely right, I totally forgot about OC potential. Of course, nowdays it would be much simpler (and safer) to just grab a faster chip unless OCing old Celerons is your "thing", the ultimate goal


----------



## havli (Mar 10, 2018)

Slot A Athlons and boards are always nice. Voodoos as well.
----------

Now I can consider my Radeon X1000 collection almost complete. In January I managed to buy X1900 CF Edition with the external CF dongle, wasn't cheap but it is worth it, not many of these cards around.  





After minor maintenance (fresh thermal paste + reattaching the heatsink) it turned out to be working just fine when paired with regular X1900 XTX.





And now even R520 has found its way to me - Radeon X1800 XT 512 MB. The heatsink is some kind of aftermarket cooling, not very pretty but gets the job done.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 10, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> THEY WERE ALSO BEASTS FOR OVERCLOCKING  ( not unusual to get a 100% Overclock OR MORE with additional cooling)





Air cooling. No mods, nothing special. Poke and play.




Trekkie4 said:


> You're absolutely right, I totally forgot about OC potential. Of course, nowdays it would be much simpler (and safer) to just grab a faster chip unless OCing old Celerons is your "thing", the ultimate goal



Thing is, all the Mendcino Celerons OC about the same max MHz. The difference will be the ram and bus speeds.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 10, 2018)

I've Seen those Celeron 300Mhz  hit over 700Mhz on air no problems
Higest i saw was 833Mhz


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2018)

Wow, never realized that before... Thanks for the info! 

What I wanted to say however is that there's really no need to torture old Celerons through OC, especially now that some of them are becoming so rare & hard(er) to find. Instead, it's much easier & safer in the long term to buy (take for free?) Coppermine Celeron, running at 600, 700 or 800MHz. And not just Intel, but AMD too. Some of those early Athlons & Durons are now getting seriously old & harder to find. So my general recommendation to anyone who loves & respects old hardware is to avoid OC at all cost & just go with newer platform (or model line) instead


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 10, 2018)

Eh.....depends on what you're into.
I'm a competitive benchmarker. I live to torture.
I specialize in 'old'.
Havli knows.


----------



## Recon-UK (Mar 10, 2018)

If it counts...

XBOX project on my desk.. a right mess but i'm working so..

Pentium III mobile derived CPU with Geforce 3/4 (very custom)


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 10, 2018)

my Experiences with Slot 1 overclocking were with the 3oo Mhz P2
that i overclocked from Brand new

Wanted Faster CPU's (as we all Do) But they were So Expensive Lots of People bought the "Cut Price Celeron" and Overclocked it themselves ( easy as its just setting jumpers for multipliers and FSB ) or got more knowledgeable people to do it for them.
AH The Days Before Intel Started locking down CPU's  and of course PnP Bios

Intel did not consider the enthusast overclocker back then and it Caught them by Surprise when Droves of People Bought the Chepo CPU's and overclocked the Crap out of them.
Sales of the Cheeper CPU's Both Celeron and P2 Canablised the Sale of Intels High end Market.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 10, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> my Experiences with Slot 1 overclocking were with the 3oo Mhz P2
> that i overclocked from Brand new


Same chip, different package. 
I have slot 1 also.


----------



## Recon-UK (Mar 10, 2018)

Is it true that Pentium 3 per core was faster than P4? read it somewhere.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 10, 2018)

Recon-UK said:


> Is it true that Pentium 3 per core was faster than P4? read it somewhere.


Some, yes.
Most all AMD K7's killed P4 netburst though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Eh.....depends on what you're into.
> I'm a competitive benchmarker. I live to torture.
> I specialize in 'old'.
> Havli knows.





dorsetknob said:


> my Experiences with Slot 1 overclocking were with the 3oo Mhz P2
> that i overclocked from Brand new
> 
> Wanted Faster CPU's (as we all Do) But they were So Expensive Lots of People bought the "Cut Price Celeron" and Overclocked it themselves ( easy as its just setting jumpers for multipliers and FSB ) or got more knowledgeable people to do it for them.
> ...


Right, we all OCed (or at least wanted to OC, but didn't know how ) our Celerons, Pentiums II, III back in a day.

Having said that, it brings us exactly to what I said earlier - those CPUs were 20yrs younger back in a day. And even then you would probably lose a warranty over OC-related hardware fault, which is why I'm against OCing old hardware. I got nothing against "torturing" my Q6600 (even though it's fairly old), but Sockets 7, 370, 462 & Slot-1 are a whole other matter


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 10, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm against OCing old hardware. I got nothing against "torturing" my Q6600 (even though it's fairly old), but Sockets 7, 370, 462 & Slot-1 are a whole other matter


You forgot Slot A.
All of my favorites.


----------



## havli (Mar 10, 2018)

When it comes to overclocking old HW, most of the time motherboards are the weak point, not CPUs. On the other hand most of these boards are simple enough to be repaired when they fail. Most of the time it is either capacitors or burned VRM. For example my Gigabyte GA-5AX mosfets blew up when trying to run (posibly defective) K6-III few years ago... but now it is once again running perfectly with new mosfets. http://hwbot.org/submission/3804991_havli_winrar_6x86mx_pr200_91_kbs


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> You forgot Slot A.
> All of my favorites.


Haha, true! Guilty as charged 



havli said:


> When it comes to overclocking old HW, most of the time motherboards are the weak point, not CPUs. On the other hand most of these boards are simple enough to be repaired when they fail. Most of the time it is either capacitors or burned VRM. For example my Gigabyte GA-5AX mosfets blew up when trying to run (posibly defective) K6-III few years ago... but now it is once again running perfectly with new mosfets. http://hwbot.org/submission/3804991_havli_winrar_6x86mx_pr200_91_kbs


True ... maybe. However, I DID experience a situation couple of years ago where passively-cooled Pentium III, 550 model went belly-up. Technically, it was working, and it booted up the system, even made it to Win98. However, it would randomly crash the system during gaming. In fact, I specifically recall the time & place, where I was speeding through "Hometown", in NFS3 Hot Pursuit, when the entire thing froze & wasn't responding to anything.

Took me quite a lot of troubleshooting to locate the problem, but as it turned out swapping the CPU for another one (with stock bus frequency), and/or dropping down the bus frq on previously-mentioned P3 550 did the trick. So obviously something DID go wrong, and I've been trying to stay away from passively cooled Slot 1 cartridges ever since. I realize that CPUs are usually very difficult to destroy, unless they're being mishandled and/or fried due to a discharge or improper voltages, but nothing lasts forever. So therefore, in my opinion running these beyond what they're capable of is asking for trouble, kinda like playing the russian roulette.


----------



## Red_Machine (Mar 10, 2018)

Here's an interesting video, examining performance degredation over successive drivers using WIndows 98 and a series of late 90s and early 2000s nVIDIA cards.  Shocking to see how bad the later drivers are.


----------



## havli (Mar 10, 2018)

Shocking? No. Newer drivers are more complicated and optimized for new CPUs and instruction sets.... so when running on old CPU they are more likely to be slower. 
I've observerd this in my tests also https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=477394#p477394 You can see here GeForce 7800 + old drivers is faster than the same CPU paired with GTX 285 and new driver. On the other hand the old driver doesn't benefit from dual-CPU setup, while the new one does:

Opteron 242 + GF7800 = 40 fps
2x Opteron 242 + GF7800 = 38 fps

Opteron 254 + GTX 285 = 53 fps
2x Opteron 254 + GTX 285 = 77 fps


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2018)

True. From my experience, ForceWare 43.45 is among the few last, stable releases. Everything that came later on had some sort of issues with the games. NFS3, NFS4 wouldn't even start (black screen), Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone had flickering textures, the list goes on & on


----------



## Red_Machine (Mar 10, 2018)

I remember reading around the time that the GeForce4 MX series had vertex shader 1.1 in software, by virtue of the GeForce2 having basic vertex shading, but it didn't work in the later drivers.  You have to use an older one to get it to function.


----------



## Toothless (Mar 10, 2018)

Trying to see if this HP Touchsmart IQ770 will run, does that count as old?


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 10, 2018)

Toothless said:


> Trying to see if this HP Touchsmart IQ770 will run, does that count as old?



Main Fault they had was the MMX style Graphics card   and its Soldergate Problem
If your lucky it was replaced/sorted before you acquired it


----------



## Toothless (Mar 10, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Main Fault they had was the MMX style Graphics card   and its Soldergate Problem
> If your lucky it was replaced/sorted before you acquired it


Well it posts into the BIOS just fine, currently trying to see if it'll do the boot into windows thing with an SSD.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 10, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> THEY WERE ALSO BEASTS FOR OVERCLOCKING  ( not unusual to get a 100% Overclock OR MORE with additional cooling)


Right. And that 333 Celeron will got straight to 100mhz FSB if you knock the multi down to 4.5, no voltage tweaks or extra cooling needed, effectively becoming a Celeron 300A. If you kept the multi at 5 you could get 500mhz out of it, but most of them needed a voltage bump and a bigger fan on the cooler.



Red_Machine said:


> Here's an interesting video, examining performance degredation over successive drivers using WIndows 98 and a series of late 90s and early 2000s nVIDIA cards.  Shocking to see how bad the later drivers are.


There's actually a logical explanation for this(as it happened to the Radeons too). As functionality and additional code were added to the driver set the processing over-head increased. This is still happening to a lesser degree with current gen cards and drivers. Thus, if your driver is working stable, don't update it(if it's not broken don't fix it).


----------



## delshay (Mar 10, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> That Asrock motherboard is the stuff of dreams, sad that its not really possible nowadays to implement such thing. Asrock are pretty new when they release that, its a pretty bold move by them when no other big names making something similar.



My Asrock 939 with capacitor change to all polymer. This is the first time i'v got a FX60 dual core this high.

Another thing to note here is the image quality. This shows up not just by using the snipping tool, but also on the IGP & GFX card. 
Polymer capacitors has changed this. Everything is much more defined & detailed.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Right. And that 333 Celeron will got straight to 100mhz FSB if you knock the multi down to 4.5, no voltage tweaks or extra cooling needed, effectively becoming a Celeron 300A. If you kept the multi at 5 you could get 500mhz out of it, but most of them needed a voltage bump and a bigger fan on the cooler.
> 
> 
> There's actually a logical explanation for this(as it happened to the Radeons too). As functionality and additional code were added to the driver set the processing over-head increased. This is still happening to a lesser degree with current gen cards and drivers. Thus, if your driver is working stable, don't update it(if it's not broken don't fix it).


Ah yes - the good ol' days...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 10, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ah yes - the good ol' days...


Nice! Noisy little buggers though. I always preferred mounting an 80mm or 90mm fan to the top of the stock heat sink and calling it good. But these always worked well to OC with.


----------



## Toothless (Mar 10, 2018)

IQ770 works, though it heats up my room better than both of my towers running WCG. There might be an issue when you open the door to my room and you can FEEL where the heat is coming from. Good thing I found my MX-2 paste.


----------



## agent_x007 (Mar 11, 2018)

delshay said:


> My Asrock 939 with capacitor change to all polymer. This is the first time i'v got a FX60 dual core this high.


And here's my ASRock 939Dual-VSTA in action : Windows 10 x64 on Socket 939 motherboard 




Even LAN works (after Windows Update searched online for driver, because Smartphone + USB Internet Sharing = Internet) 
Oh, you may or may not belive me, but this screenshot was done on R9 390X (card isn't visible and can't be installed because of "Code 35*" error with PCI-e bridge [*System Firmware doesn't have info needed to make it work] :/).
Here's valid : https://valid.x86.fr/5xzn0b


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 11, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Oh, you may or may not belive me, but this screenshot was done on R9 390X (card isn't visible and can't be installed because of "Code 15*" error with PCI-e bridge [*System Firmware doesn't have info needed to make it work] :/).


Use the Windows Vista/7 drivers from the AsRock webite. They will work in Windows 10.


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## agent_x007 (Mar 11, 2018)

Drivers aren't the problem and OS either.
There are no "VGA adapters" in Device Manager.
As in : I do not have a device that driver can be installed for.
Interesting, isn't it ?

Installing chipset driver won't work either.
Because problem isn't driver, but MB's BIOS that doesn't understand how to operate this GPU (390X).
Funny thing is that it works with GTX 780 Ti without any problems


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 11, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> MB's BIOS that doesn't understand how to operate this GPU (390X).


Wow, that's weird!



agent_x007 said:


> Funny thing is that it works with GTX 780 Ti without any problems


Interesting. Reminds me of a similar problem that happened with old QDI boards back in the Pentium 2 & 3 days.


----------



## agent_x007 (Mar 11, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wow, that's weird!


I know !
But that's what it's saying :




I thought this was because R9 390X dropped Legacy BIOS support in vBIOS, but (from what I understand) that would mean it woudn't work at all (ie. no POST) and a reflash would be needed.
However it clearly does work in basic VGA mode...
Like you said - WEIRD.

PS. No Video Adapters :


----------



## delshay (Mar 12, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Drivers aren't the problem and OS either.
> There are no "VGA adapters" in Device Manager.
> As in : I do not have a device that driver can be installed for.
> Interesting, isn't it ?
> ...




I have still not used the full speed of FX-60 with R9 Nano "1080p Extreme" https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/the-fury-x-owners-club.214557/page-4.



agent_x007 said:


> And here's my ASRock 939Dual-VSTA in action : Windows 10 x64 on Socket 939 motherboard
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That's not 939, you can clearly see DDR2 memory & FX62.


----------



## agent_x007 (Mar 12, 2018)

delshay said:


> That's not 939, you can clearly see DDR2 memory & FX62.


Just because you see "FX-62" and "DDR2", doesn't mean my board isn't Socket 939.
Let's just say 939Dual-VSTA (as seen in Mainboard CPU-z tab), is a little special in this regard


----------



## delshay (Mar 12, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Just because you see "FX-62" and "DDR2", doesn't mean my board isn't Socket 939.
> Let's just say 939Dual-VSTA (as seen in Mainboard CPU-z tab), is a little special in this regard



Well that explains it. I have seen these motherboards but never look into it. Why are running the processor at that voltage, it should work at 1.35v or lower if you undervolt. Mine go's as low as 1.75 - 1.2v at standard speed 2.6GHz.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 12, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wow, that's weird!
> 
> 
> Interesting. Reminds me of a similar problem that happened with old QDI boards back in the Pentium 2 & 3 days.


Never heard about this issue before, would you mind sharing more info (or resources?). I got two QDI Advance mobos here, one with Pentium II (Intel 440BX) & the other one with Pentium III (VIA Apollo) & so far didn't have any issues. At least none that I've noticed *shrug*

Talking about Slot-1, let's discuss numbers & benchmarks... 




Finally got around to finish that PII 266 build. It was meant to be exact copy of my Celeron 333 system, but due to uhh ... unforseen circumstances I ended up doing entirely fresh installation on Celeron 333. It also got a new cable management, CD-ROM drive, network card, additional 64MB of RAM, etc. The list goes on & on but either way - once I was done with Celeron 333, I dumped the entire hard drive on PII 266 system, since they're basically identical. Same mobo, same sound card, same amount of RAM. They only got different GPUs & CPUs, along with dial-up modems & CD-ROM (vs DVD on PII) I like to think of these as Data & Lore ... for those of you who don't get it, it's a Star Trek reference 


 



On one end we have Celeron 333, paired with S3 Savage4 Pro (AGP) card, and the other one is of course Pentium II 266, paired with nVidia TNT2/M64 & single Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB. What I find interesting is that M64 outperformed Voodoo2 by a small margin. I'm sure the CPU plays important role in all this, being the bottleneck for BOTH nVidia & 3dfx. But still ... fascinating nevertheless! Here are the actual numbers, for both of the cards:


 

 



Now, you may be wondering - OK, but how does PII 266 & M64 compare against (in)famous Celeron, running at 333MHz & S3 Savage4 Pro? The answer is almost identical, although slightly better. If it wasn't for crappy S3 card, this Celeron would probably do much, MUCH better!




By the way, we recently discussed nVidia's drivers & related issues. Here are the ones used for this project, ForceWare 29.42. Personally, I find 43.45 to be somewhat better (more reliable) but with that being said, I didn't have any reasons to include 43.45 since TNT2 series was already supported under 29.42. And you know what they say - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!


----------



## Robert B (Mar 12, 2018)

Today I managed to open the cartridge of the *SLOT A K7-800MHz Thunderbird core CPU *. Even after I've opened many slot A and slot 1 CPUs this task is still *full of stress and cold shivers on my spine* 

The die of the K7-800MHz sports a 850MHz core  - not bad  - *A850CPRFFA* - I WISH I HAD A GOLDFINGER DEVICE....





*The capacitors have arrived* 

1. *22uF/16V*, SMD, Panasonic EEE1CA220SR
2. *3300uF/6.3V*, Radial, LOW ESR, 10x20mm, Nichicon UHM0J332MPD1TD 
3. *10uF/16V*, SMD, Low Esr, EEEFP1C100AR PANASONIC 
4. *22uF/35V*, SMD, Low Esr, EEEFP1V220AR PANASONIC
5. IC extractor D-PZ12



 

 

I have so many project going at once it is *kind of ridiculous*  ... 





*More later.*


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 12, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Never heard about this issue before, would you mind sharing more info (or resources?).


Finding resources is dubious at best after 20years, but the general problem was if you matched a certain couple of cards with certain QDI mobo's the system wouldn't post or wouldn't show the card in the device manager in Windows. That situation was one of the earliest examples of a system needing a bios update, after which the systems ran fine. IIRC it had something to do with AGP compatibility.



Trekkie4 said:


> I got two QDI Advance mobos here, one with Pentium II (Intel 440BX) & the other one with Pentium III (VIA Apollo) & so far didn't have any issues. At least none that I've noticed *shrug*


I don't think you're likely to have any issues. Most of those mobo's were either bios updated or sent back to QDI. You shouldn't have to worry.



Robert B said:


> The die of the K7-800MHz sports a 850MHz core  - not bad  - *A850CPRFFA* - I WISH I HAD A GOLDFINGER DEVICE....


You can FSB OC those CPU's. IIRC they had a ton of OC headroom. An old friend got his 750, which I think was a Pluto core, to 1ghz with a slight voltage bump. Bumped the FSB to 133 and leave the multi as is. Helped him custom mount a large heatsink and case fan to it for cooling. EDIT; Yup, the Argon cores stopped at 700, so his 750 was a Pluto. Same with your 800, and you can bump it to 133FSB and drop the multi down to 7.5 to get 1ghz. Even though it's an old CPU there shouldn't be any ill effects from such an OC. Those things were/are hardy and durable.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 12, 2018)

Bought a QDI P3 Capable Board from New ( With a S370 P3 800Mhz CPU  ) ran AGP Graphics Cards in it never had any problems never needed to update bios.
Maybe it was the AMD CPU Variants that were problematical ?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 12, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> You can FSB OC those CPU's. IIRC they had a ton of OC headroom. An old friend got his 750, which I think was a Pluto core, to 1ghz with a slight voltage bump. Bumped the FSB to 133 and leave the multi as is. Helped him custom mount a large heatsink and case fan to it for cooling. EDIT; Yup, the Argon cores stopped at 700, so his 750 was a Pluto. Same with your 800, and you can bump it to 133FSB and drop the multi down to 7.5 to get 1ghz. Even though it's an old CPU there shouldn't be any ill effects from such an OC. Those things were/are hardy and durable.



That is not exactly true. There is no PCI lock on those boards and pending the board, most did not have adjustable straps for PCI/AGP bus speed.
Not to mention, the cache divisor suffers the same fate.
They're not as easy to overclock as you think.
GFD makes it easy. All you have to do is find one. It only took me 10 years.



lexluthermiester said:


> An old friend got his 750, which I think was a Pluto core, to 1ghz with a slight voltage bump. Bumped the FSB to 133 and leave the multi as is. Helped him custom mount a large heatsink and case fan to it for cooling.



By the way, here is the records for 750 Pluto.
Make sure you check the WR frequency out.  
http://hwbot.org/hardware/processor/athlon_750_pluto_slot_a/


----------



## DR4G00N (Mar 12, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> That is not exactly true. There is no PCI lock on those boards and pending the board, most did not have adjustable straps for PCI/AGP bus speed.
> Not to mention, the cache divisor suffers the same fate.
> They're not as easy to overclock as you think.
> GFD makes it easy. All you have to do is find one. It only took me 10 years.



Isn't it possible to just make a GFD?  I believe that all you'd need to know are the VID & FID tables and the pin-out to put one together. Finding a connector to fit on it may be the hard part if it has some odd pin pitch design.


----------



## phill (Mar 12, 2018)

I've so much love for this thread...  Just out of interest, how old is the nostalgic hardware up to??


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 12, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> Isn't it possible to just make a GFD?  I believe that all you'd need to know are the VID & FID tables and the pin-out to put one together. Finding a connector to fit on it may be the hard part if it has some odd pin pitch design.


This might possibly interest you.
http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28887


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## agent_x007 (Mar 13, 2018)

phill said:


> I've so much love for this thread...  Just out of interest, how old is the nostalgic hardware up to??


I'd say... up to LGA 1366/AM3.


Pretty good for a Single Core


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 13, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> This might possibly interest you.
> http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28887



Holy crap Scott!!!!! That's an awesome link man. 

Any progress on the unit in them forums? Not a post since December 2017 so I'm assuming the builder has been busy with other projects.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Holy crap Scott!!!!! That's an awesome link man.
> 
> Any progress on the unit in them forums? Not a post since December 2017 so I'm assuming the builder has been busy with other projects.


Have not heard anything since then. I'll poke John and see what's happening.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 13, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> They're not as easy to overclock as you think.


We did a simple FSB + voltage boost. The AGP/PCI clock were not affected IIRC. He ran it for a solid year at 1ghz before upgrading to a Thunderbird 1.3ghz and OC'd it to 1600. Both took some trial and error but were not difficult to get there.


Mr.Scott said:


> By the way, here is the records for 750 Pluto.
> Make sure you check the WR frequency out.
> http://hwbot.org/hardware/processor/athlon_750_pluto_slot_a/


Interesting link. Don't know what to tell you but 1ghz for the Pluto cores were fairly common. Orion cores were even better. We're talking about a very modest 25% OC with a voltage boost. The same generation of Pentium 3's easily got 50% OC's by similar methods with no ill effects. Even the older K-6's and Pentium 2's could handle 25% OC with ease.



dorsetknob said:


> Bought a QDI P3 Capable Board from New ( With a S370 P3 800Mhz CPU  ) ran AGP Graphics Cards in it never had any problems never needed to update bios.
> Maybe it was the AMD CPU Variants that were problematical ?


I think you're right. Can't remember it ever happening on Intel boards.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 13, 2018)

Work In Progress


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 13, 2018)

Robert B said:


> Work In Progress


All new & improved, Deep Cool heatsink series! Now with 50% less cooling fins & twice as light than previous models, for easy installation


----------



## Robert B (Mar 13, 2018)

All for the greater good  The V3 was missing a heatsink so I had to use what I had  - three tantalum capacitors in the way, a clock crystal plus the AGP slot  - some trimming required 

I could've used a square heatsink and attach it via a metal plate/strip with screws. The V3 2000 has a smaller heatsink than this and I said to myself why not use the DeepCool V50 ?!?!?! 

This is the first version. The second time I'm going to do it (if needed) it's going to look even better  The aluminium is sooooo soft and scratches so easily. All the operation with the cutting, trimming, filling, cleaning and test fitting took me around 2-3 hours...I lost track...regardless, the contact and the pressure of the "new heatsink" are far better than the old glue and heatsink used. MX-4 is better too at cooling the V3. This modification allowed me to gather information and now I can modifiy these heatsinks in less than an hour  The mounting holes had to be enlarged to make the heastink fit on the card and also to have just a little sideways play in the push-pins so that it wont sit to tightly on the chip. After I put MX-4 I saw that the pressure was good and because I used a little to much paste it came out from all the corners of the graphic chip. 

I still have to solder three SMD 10uf/16V capacitors and see if the relic is alive


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 13, 2018)

Robert B said:


> All for the greater good  the V3 was missing a heatsink so I had to use what I had  - three tantalum capacitors in the way, a clock crystal plus the AGP slot  - some trimming required
> 
> I could've used a square heatsink and attach it via a metal plate/strip with screws. The V3 2000 has a smaller heatsink than this and I said to myself why not use the Deep Cool V50 ?!?!?!
> 
> ...


You know, you could have just bought one of these...  They're dirt cheap & come with free delivery world-wide.

#1, #2, #3


----------



## Robert B (Mar 13, 2018)

The DeepCool V50 has 55 mm mounting holes but I had to enlarge them quite a bit to get it to fit on the V3. The bad part is that it is round.

The chip of the V3 sits low on the PCB and you have to be careful what heatsink you use and how you attach it otherwise the card wont fit in the slot.

I searched in my stash for other heatsinks but since this one was available I wanted to use it.  I tried 4 other heasinks and they werent even close to what I needed.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 13, 2018)

Robert B said:


> some trimming required


Nice mod! Most people would be afraid to make such a change. Well done. In his humor, @Trekkie4 brought up a good point, how much does this effect cooling?


----------



## Robert B (Mar 13, 2018)

No idea until I solder the SMD caps and run some 3dmark99  - my gut feeling says it is better than the stock V3 heatsink. I used this DeepCool V50 on GF2 Ti and GF3 ti 200 with great results  It is cheap silent and well put together.

If you think about it: usually you can see spaces under the V3 glued heatsinks if you watch closely against a source of light. Now with better contact, better thermal grease things are just going to get better IMO  And lets be honest how good is an almost 20 years old thermal glue with a sloppy spread?

I should've made the mod with less haste so that there wont be scratches on the fins and place some tape on the bottom of the heatsink. Nevertheless this was a valauble lesson which I will put to good use when I FIND MY V5 5500 AGP card and believe me I wont stop until I find MY V5  - I had some offers but the prices were out of this world. I must be pacient


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 13, 2018)

Robert B said:


> No idea until I solder the SMD caps and run some 3dmark99  - my gut feeling says it is better than the stock V3 heatsink. I used this DeepCool V50 on GF2 Ti and GF3 ti 200 with great results  It is cheapm silent and well put together.


That would be an interesting result to see.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 13, 2018)

If the V3 is alive I'll post the results and the reports of my thumb-o-meter  - the heatsink now has 40 fins from the original 55. The base of the heatsink if pretty thick.
At any rate I keep my fingers crossed 

http://www.deepcool.com/product/dcoolingaccessory/vga/2013-12/45_603.shtml


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> We did a simple FSB + voltage boost. The AGP/PCI clock were not affected IIRC. He ran it for a solid year at 1ghz
> 
> Interesting link. Don't know what to tell you but 1ghz for the Pluto cores were fairly common. Orion cores were even better. We're talking about a very modest 25% OC with a voltage boost.



I think you're mistaken. It's not common at all.
If you actually clicked on the link you would see that I hold the world record frequency for 750 Pluto @ 977.51
I will also tell you that it took mega voltage and sub zero cooling to get there and no chance in hell for it to run stably for day to day usage, let alone for a year.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 14, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> I think you're mistaken. It's not common at all.


I'm not. Saw several instances of this OC first hand, having done two of them myself. Actual experience.


Mr.Scott said:


> If you actually clicked on the link you would see that I hold the world record frequency for 750 Pluto @ 977.51


I did actually click. There are two flaws with your perspective. 1; you assume your particular CPU was a winner in the silicon lottery and that no other examples of that same model are better. 2; you assume that website is the end-all-be-all of measured maximum OC performance. It is not or there would be a much higher number of sample example sets. 77 is not a representative sample set.


Mr.Scott said:


> I will also tell you that it took mega voltage and sub zero cooling to get there and no chance in hell for it to run stably for day to day usage, let alone for a year.


You needed sub-zero cooling to get less than a 40% OC? You were doing something wrong. AMD didn't push the Pluto cores that close to their limits. A customer of the shop I was working for at the time got his 800mhz Pluto to 1066mhz. Again, not a massive OC for 180nm process.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 14, 2018)

Casually slide's into the conversation



Mr.Scott said:


> If you actually clicked on the link you would see that I hold the world record frequency for 750 Pluto @ 977.51
> I will also tell you that it took mega voltage and sub zero cooling to get there and no chance in hell for it to run stably for day to day usage, let alone for a year.



Excuse the pun but "" COOL ""   and good for you


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 14, 2018)

By the way @stinger608 , would you like to add this link onto the first page? nVidia Windows 95/98/Me Driver Archive Windows XP/2000 Driver Archive

Alternative link(s) are available through OldApps for both nVidia & ATI, although only the latest "Radeon" series seems to be supported through there. Therefore "Rage" & "Mach" product lines are not listed. Some of these can be found on Vogons Vintage Driver Library, but again not all of them. Rage II series for example doesn't seem to be listed anywhere.

Update
Found the Legacy driver database for AMD/ATI... For both 98/ME & 2000/XP


----------



## Robert B (Mar 14, 2018)

All three 3dfx cards work like a dream:

*V3 3000* repaired - three new caps - the modified DeepCool V50 works a treat. My thumb-o-meter registered a much lower temperature than that of the V3 2000 and Gainward Dragon 4000 VooDoo Banshee both with passive heatsinks. In the case of the V3 2000 and GWD 4000 I could feel the heat spreading further on the PCB than in the case of the modified V3 3000  sweeeeetttt

*V3 2000 *- mint

*Gainward Dragon 4000 Banshee AGP* - one new cap

Now I must clean them well and tell you their story 

WIN! WIN! WIN!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 14, 2018)

Robert B said:


> All three 3dfx cards work like a dream:
> 
> *V3 3000* repaired - three new caps - the modified DeepCool V50 works a treat. My thumb-o-meter registered a much lower temperature than that of the V3 2000 and Gainward Dragon 4000 Banshee both with passive heatsinks. In the case of the V3 2000 and GWD 4000 I could feel the heat spreading further on the PCB than in the case of the modified V3 3000  sweeeeetttt
> 
> ...


Good work saving those true classics! If there's anything I learned collecting old hardware throughout the years is that you can never, EVER have too much 3dfx cards laying around  I once had a similar situation with Radeon X1550, some idiot replaced all the caps with different ones, each with different specs & brands. To make things even worse, it seems that he installed used caps, so you can understand why I wasn't surprised to see artifacts all over the screen when I plugged it into the system. But just like you, I was able to recap all of them & save the card  It's inside that S775 Pentium 4 system, the most powerful (modern) RetroMaster unit, in my collection. Named "4000"


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 14, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm not. Saw several instances of this OC first hand, having done two of them myself. Actual experience.
> 
> I did actually click. There are two flaws with your perspective. 1; you assume your particular CPU was a winner in the silicon lottery and that no other examples of that same model are better. 2; you assume that website is the end-all-be-all of measured maximum OC performance. It is not or there would be a much higher number of sample example sets. 77 is not a representative sample set.
> 
> You needed sub-zero cooling to get less than a 40% OC? You were doing something wrong. AMD didn't push the Pluto cores that close to their limits. A customer of the shop I was working for at the time got his 800mhz Pluto to 1066mhz. Again, not a massive OC for 180nm process.



I assume nothing. I know there are probably better samples.
If you're going to compare benchmarks, there is no better place than HWB.
I just provided documented proof
and you provided..........heresay and a story.

Can't show proof? Then it never happened. Sorry but that's the way it goes.
Don't you think if it were that common and easy you would see more ?
Of course ..............I don't know anything.
That's fine.
I'll just keep it to myself.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 14, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Can't show proof? Then it never happened. Sorry but that's the way it goes.


Ok, we're talking about nearly 20 year old hardware. You really expect someone to be able to provide proof for something that old?


Mr.Scott said:


> If you're going to compare benchmarks, there is no better place than HWB.


That site wasn't founded until several years after that series of CPU's, which weren't very popular, was discontinued. How many people do you think are going to hold on to systems that old just so they can set a record on an obscure little site that barely existed when it was started and most people still have never heard of? Again sample size is small.


Mr.Scott said:


> I just provided documented proof


Interesting example of proof..


Mr.Scott said:


> Don't you think if it were that common and easy you would see more ?


No, for several reasons that have already been explored.


Mr.Scott said:


> Of course ..............I don't know anything.


I never said that nor implied it. Your statement demonstrates that, for you, this is somewhat about ego. Let it go.


Mr.Scott said:


> I'll just keep it to myself.


Good idea. Implying someone is either an idiot or lying without anything more than the less than stellar example you posted is going to provoke a response, thus our exchange.

I will say this about the subject, @Robert B has a Pluto based CPU and motherboard to go with it. If they both work properly, and he's willing to give it a go, maybe he can OC it and take a few screenshots to show us the max OC he can get. My guess is that he'll be able to hit 1ghz with little trouble and a voltage bump to 1.75, 1.8 or even 1.85. Given the default voltage of 1.6 to 1.65 that's not a massive bump and won't hurt the chip. This assumes the motherboard has OC options in the bios, not all of them did. What do you say Rob? Want to give it a go, even if just for giggles to offer some insight to this debate? Could be interesting.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 14, 2018)

I'll try but I can say that with the other ASUS K7M I have and a K7-700MHz -Pluto core, OC wasnt exactly a breeze. This was  last year and I must say I didnt try too hard to OC. I tried several setings: voltages, jumpers and 103/105/110 bus but the settings werent saved after restart. After a few failed attempts it was obvious I needed a Goldfinger device. The K7M has OC settings bus and voltages and I'll try again after I clean and assemble the second K7M and the K7-800 Thunderbird I found.

If Mr.Scott has a few pointers I'm all ears. I'm no OC guru but I'm familiar to OC-ing older systems.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 14, 2018)

Why don't we all agree to disagree... Let's just keep it at that, certainly isn't the first time for someone to have different opinion on something, especially hardware


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 14, 2018)

Robert B said:


> I'll try but I can say that with the other ASUS K7M I have and a K7-700MHz -Pluto core, OC wasnt exactly a breeze. This was  last year and I must say I didnt try too hard to OC. I tried several setings: voltages, jumpers and 103/105/110 bus but the settings werent saved after restart. After a few failed attempts it was obvious I needed a Goldfinger device. The K7M has OC settings bus and voltages and I'll try again after I clean and assemble the second K7M and the K7-800 Thunderbird I found.
> 
> If Mr.Scott has a few pointers I'm all ears. I'm no OC guru but I'm familiar to OC-ing older systems.


One of the keys to OCing those chips was the cooling. They did require a larger heatsink with a high airflow fan. The stock heatsinks, even with a better fan, were not up to the task.



Trekkie4 said:


> Why don't we all agree to disagree...


Agreed.

Rob does have the hardware and seems willing. This could turn into an interesting and fun experiment..


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## dorsetknob (Mar 14, 2018)

was it these or was it earlier AMD CPU's where you could use "electrical Paint " to Mod the CPU for Overclocking ???


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 14, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> was it these or was it earlier AMD CPU's where you could use "electrical Paint " to Mod the CPU for Overclocking ???


Actually, those were the very next generation socket CPU's, Socket A(462). That was even more fun stuff to OC! For a time AMD was the OC king with many of those models.


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 14, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I will say this about the subject, @Robert B has a Pluto based CPU and motherboard to go with it. If they both work properly, and he's willing to give it a go, maybe he can OC it and take a few screenshots to show us the max OC he can get. My guess is that he'll be able to hit 1ghz with little trouble and a voltage bump to 1.75, 1.8 or even 1.85. Given the default voltage of 1.6 to 1.65 that's not a massive bump and won't hurt the chip. This assumes the motherboard has OC options in the bios, not all of them did. What do you say Rob? Want to give it a go, even if just for giggles to offer some insight to this debate? Could be interesting.



I'll take that bet.


lexluthermiester said:


> Ok, we're talking about nearly 20 year old hardware. You really expect someone to be able to provide proof for something that old?
> 
> That site wasn't founded until several years after that series of CPU's, which weren't very popular, was discontinued. How many people do you think are going to hold on to systems that old just so they can set a record on an obscure little site that barely existed when it was started and most people still have never heard of? Again sample size is small.
> 
> ...



Passive aggressive just pisses me off.
Has nothing to do with ego. Just facts.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 14, 2018)

Got this in mail today ... another "score" from AliExpress for approx. 11USD 




I'm about to give my old Pentium D a complete overhaul, replacing not only the CPU, but video card too (existing X1550 will be replaced with 8800GT), including the two optical drives & new floppy. This build is technically speaking not part of my retro collection, but more like a back-up system, which used to play a bigger role back in a day. It also served as a HiFi center, up until I routed all the HiFi components through the audio switch & directly into the speakers themselves. So now I'm mainly just using it for storage & alternative inet access, if & when necessary.


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## _JP_ (Mar 14, 2018)

I've been getting chips from there too, although prices do fluctuate a bit. Mostly 775 to 771 mods and Xeon for early Core i sockets. AMDs are either expensive or not far from MSRP, for some reason 
Also, I find it very hard to get the right stepping, especially when looks like a 3:1 ratio for the later ones. 
I was tempted for a Pentium D in my 2nd retrorig, but I guess I'll keep the P4. Already have it  (house still under remodeling, can't advance projects)


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## phill (Mar 14, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Actually, those were the very next generation socket CPU's, Socket A(462). That was even more fun stuff to OC! For a time AMD was the OC king with many of those models.



Completely agree and one reason for still having socket A board and CPU's around!   Just when I got into overclocking as well...  Back in 2000 ish wasn't it??)


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## agent_x007 (Mar 14, 2018)

Playing with some Xeon LGA 775...
Nothing to worry about here, everything is under control 





https://valid.x86.fr/gyrdmp


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 15, 2018)

phill said:


> Back in 2000 ish wasn't it??)


Yeah, 1999 was the first Slot A release, IIRC and 2000 was when Pluto came out.. Some of the Athlon XP's were OC champs! And when OC'd they really gave Intel's best offerings a ribbing. It was fun to watch! And now the competition on again presently. Good times.


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## phill (Mar 15, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah, 1999 was the first Slot A release, IIRC and 2000 was when Pluto came out.. Some of the Athlon XP's were OC champs! And when OC'd they really gave Intel's best offerings a ribbing. It was fun to watch! And now the competition on again presently. Good times.



I was trying to remember as I remember buying my first ever Duron 650Mhz setup back then..  PC133 ram and all sorts!!  I think I still have the invoice for it..  I remember going back with a Thunderbird that was one of the special ones that was clocked to 1Ghz and overclocked to 1.4Ghz if you where lucky!!  I remember those days....   Remembering back to the days where I actually thought somehow Norton might speed up my PC because it was recommended in GTA 3 to try and get it to run..  Instead I just bought faster GPU and somehow that solved the issue!!


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## Robert B (Mar 15, 2018)




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## phill (Mar 15, 2018)

Is this a new form of guess that chip??!!


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## Robert B (Mar 15, 2018)

Ati 9800 Pro on the operating table. V4-L style


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## phill (Mar 15, 2018)

What's happened to it @Robert B ??


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## Robert B (Mar 15, 2018)

I'll post the full story later. But I bought it for less than 2 EUROS and my gut feeling says it is working. I attached a fan to it as it was missing one, I soldered a capacitor back and cleaned it a little.

After this I put it in the PC but I got a *VGA not detected code*. I used a PCI graphic card and still NO POST. So I removed the BIOS chip and it was empty. ZERO DATA. I hope after I put it back the card might be alive 

I already wrote the new BIOS with the TL866A programmer. I took the BIOS from TPU but I still dont know if the card has Hynix or Samsung memory chips. If I mess up I'll have to remove again the BIOS chip. I wrote the SAMSUNG-BIOS as it had the correct CORE/MEMORY clocks.

The card is: *Ati Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB - PN 109-A09400-00*  - but I couldnt find a BIOS file for this exact PN. The one on TPU is for  *P/N 113-A09401-100*

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios...rsion=&interface=&memType=&memSize=256&since=
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/23/ati-9800pro-256-samsung22-030404


I tried to use the programmer and a clip to write the BIOS on the graphic card but it couldnt be done:

This guide served as inspiration.

"_*Step 3.*_ On page 10 of the datasheet linked in this guide, there it indicates the function of each pin using high and low signals.
The most important one we need to know about is VCC (described under /CS). Since we are going to be programming with the SOIC BIOS chip still soldered on the motherboard, VCC has to be either 1 of 3 things: 1) You either use the boards power through AC adapter being plugged in (notebook is not powered on) and battery disconnected (VCC is not used on the programmer) or 2) You use the programmers power (VCC) through the USB port (5v) which the programmer will correct to 3.3v for our specific SOIC BIOS chip or 3) You cut pin #8 (VCC) on the BIOS chip to allow the programmer to supply VCC and have operating read/write signals (high and low) when instructed (acting as if the BIOS chip was desoldered). "

http://voltground.com/haven/threads/73/

So to be safe I removed the BIOS chip. Less hassle


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 15, 2018)

Robert B said:


> So to be safe I removed the BIOS chip. Less hassle


Watching this with interest!


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## Robert B (Mar 15, 2018)

I still have to clean the leftover flux  but only after I solder back the chip 

The pads are fine. The procedure went smooth and fast even if it was done using "available" methods.

Inspiration from this:


















L.E.

The *ATI 9800 PRO 256MB* still doesnt work even after I've written another BIOS file and I've soldered back the BIOS chip. The solder job isnt my best but I'm going to take the chip off later for another try. For the time beeing I consider the board dead. I simply have no luck with ATI cards 





The  *K7-800* - Slot A - Thunderbird core CPU has been cleaned and put back together -It works like a dream   800MHz, 900MHz si 950MHz 







*Clean CPU in a dirty slot * the ASUS K7M hasnt been cleaned yet 







I changed two capacitors on the *I850*.





Now I know the state of each and every piece I bought recently. Next I'll have to clean the remaining pieces and tell you their story


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## delshay (Mar 16, 2018)

Asrock 939 / FX-60 3.2GHz (new personal best)

Small increase in performance with lower voltage. Note this is also the world first modified FX-60 to have a full deck of capacitors.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 16, 2018)

Secondary Q6600 rig all done! I'm saying secondary, because I already have Q6600 for modern gaming & every-day use  So like I explained in one of my previous posts, this is just going to be a secondary, backup system.

Originally built in 2007, it had a different mobo (ASRock 775Dual 880Pro)  & Pentium 4 @ 3.00GHz but was decommissioned soon after (about a year later) & taken apart for parts. Fast forward to 2009, I bought a brand new Gigabyte motherboard, along with ATI X1550 PCIe graphics, Cooler Master Gladiator case, 2GB DDR2 RAM, Cooler Master PSU & bunch of other things. CPU remained the same, P4 chip with single core @3.00GHz along with CPU cooler, ThermalTake BlueOrb FX. And the system remained like that for years, with only minor tweaks up until 2013 or 2014 when I swapped ThermalTake heatsink for Cooler Master Hyper TX3, along with "new" CPU, Dual core Pentium.


 

 

 

So now, in 2018 I finally did a complete overhaul. It got a new CPU (Q6600) & new video card (8800GT, 512MB), along with several minor tweaks & improvements to the overall system. I've added dust filter for the PSU, also restored the exhaust fan to working condition on the PSU that was entirely seized up, replaced the optical drive(s), swapped white floppy drive for black one, and of course done a whole new cable management since the old one was a complete mess!  See for yourself!


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2018)

Robert B said:


> The *K7-800* - Slot A - Thunderbird core CPU has been cleaned and put back together -It works like a dream  800MHz, 900MHz si 950MHz


Was that the stock heatsink? And did you try 1ghz? (dying to see you do it)


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## Robert B (Mar 17, 2018)

For the* K7-800 Thunderbird *I used the stock Cooler Master brick  with plain Arctic MX-4. Those frequencies are just a "dry run" to see how  far I can get the CPU to POST with stock voltage.  110MHz FSB yielded 900MHz (instead of 880) and anything between 115-117MHz yielded 950MHz (a little strange ) OC-ing the Slot A Thunderbird was a breeze, much easier than Pluto. I tried 120MHz FSB but I got NO POST. I still have to RTFM better and read some more about the K7M. I looked in BIOS for a AGP/PCI lock/ratio but I only found an ISA BUS CLOCK with various settings. I used a V3 3000 for this test. Later after I clean the motherboard I'll see if I can boot at bus speeds higher than 120MHz and I'll use a cheap PCI card so that I wont damage a better card. Take note that POST frequencies arent representative for a stable OC.





The K7M I have has SUPER BYPASS mode enabled by default 





What I can say is that last year I found a *K7-750 Pluto* core that had a 1GHz core on it. Unfortunately it came dead as the PCB was cracked and the cartridge was hit pretty hard. I knew this before I bought it but I hoped that the PCB was still intact. I'm still pissed that the CPU was dead.

Again I WISH I HAD A Gold Finger DEVICE!!!  GFD! GFD! GFD!

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-21958.html


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 17, 2018)

Speaking of Q6600, I found these pics on my phone, from the last year when I upgraded graphics on my primary Q6600 rig. What you see here is a Hyper 212EVO CPU heatsink & GeForce GTX760 


 

 

Aside from Q6600 restoration, I also got something else... Never seen one of these before, didn't even realize Casio was in the market of VHS machines! Obviously, this is going to be a re-branded unit from Funai/Shintom, but it's still very much nostalgic nevertheless. And yes, it does work. I had to swap out the entire mechanical deck inside (old one had damaged tape loading mechanism & severe belt meltdown), but I'm happy to report that the replacement deck works exactly the same, without any problems whatsoever! It even came with original (working) remote, which is quite rare for these units!


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## Robert B (Mar 19, 2018)

I still have more parts to clean: three motherboards, two 3dfx V3 2000/3000 cards and the dead ATI 9800 PRO.

*Preview:*

* Celeron A 333MHz
* Gainward Dragon 4000 - 3dfx VooDoo Banshee
* 3dfx V3 2000

*More later.*


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 20, 2018)

Back to working with old(er) hardware... RetroMaster 4000 in particular, I swapped the old Radeon X1550 for a new one. See if you can spot the difference & understand why 


 

 

 



Spoiler: Need a HINT?



VRAM difference - old model is 256MB & new one 512MB


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## dorsetknob (Mar 20, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> See if you can spot the difference & understand why



And there was me thinking it was something to do with the Broken Board (AGP LATCHING)


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 20, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I swapped the old Radeon X1550 for a new one.


The new one will give much better performance with double the ram.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 20, 2018)

@dorsetknob You mean PCIe latch, right?  And nope, both cards are intact. True, this other one ("old" card) was recapped due to previous owner using assorted caps & card throwing artifacts all over the screen, but that was also fixed. In fact, both cards are doing just fine!

@lexluthermiester My thoughts exactly! I couldn't use this card back when I put this thing together since I've had it inside that Pentium Dual Core (now Q6600). But now that I have it out, figured why not. In fact, I remember playing "F.E.A.R" on this card, while it was still paired with P4 Prescott @3GHz, and it ran perfectly fine. Maxed out even!


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## dorsetknob (Mar 20, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> You mean PCIe latch, right?


yes thanks for the Correction ( that Board is broken tho just means its a little insecure if used  )


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 20, 2018)

Uhh... But it's not! Perhaps it's just optical illusion, perspective thing. Both cards have the latch, even though (now that I looked at the pic) other latch seems darker & therefore harder to see.

Edit
Take a look at this pic here, you can clearly see both of them


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## dorsetknob (Mar 20, 2018)

Brown Board on Brown Background   i see it now (doh)


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 20, 2018)

Well, things certainly became VERY interesting... If everything works out, I'll be getting another "surprise" project, some time afternoon tomorrow. I won't share any news with you guys just yet (just in case deal flops), but it's most certainly nostalgic & old!  Stay tuned!


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## Red_Machine (Mar 21, 2018)

The Sound Blaster AWE64 I ordered for my retro rig FINALLY arrived.  Took me a while to get it properly set up, though.  The boot process threw up a lot of errors, and upon investigation it turned out I had to manually install a PnP manager and set it to load before anything else audio-related in autoexec.bat.  Now it all works nicely, but the MIDI is a little quiet, despite me setting the volume to max in the DOS mixer.


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## stinger608 (Mar 21, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> but it's most certainly nostalgic & old!  Stay tuned!



Can't wait...............Waiting, waiting...............


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 21, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Can't wait...............Waiting, waiting...............


Some time today, be patient  All I can say is that it's old - older than all my recent projects, including Slot-1.

Update
Well guys, there you have it! A fine (beautiful) example of some of the finest PC retro platform ever created, at least in my personal opinion! Hopefully this will calm your nerves @stinger608 


 


According to the previous owner there's a 4x86 somewhere inside that cable mess, but I still have to find it  Came with genuine Creative SB16 ISA card & more modern S3 PCI graphics, since the board seems to be newer gen, one of those hybrids between early "x86s" & Pentium era. In fact, I invited her to join our ongoing discussion, maybe even exchange some of the retro & nostalgic experience. Either way, this one is going to be rebuilt from scratch, the way it deserves to be! It's missing a hard drive, but I'm also going to add a retro CD-ROM unit, just to make things somewhat easier. Also, I still need to give it a proper test, to power it up & see if it works. Of course, one huge advantage of having a "modern" board is that it uses standard CR2032 lithium battery over the older Ni-Cd ones which were prone to leaking & destroying everything around them...

More updates coming up soon


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2018)

What, no comments?  Well, ookay then - this new update is way too big to edit my previous post, so I'll once again have to double post...

At first, I gave it a quick test - just to see if it's going to boot or not. I powered it up aaand - nothing! No fans, no feedback from the motherboard, no video signal, nothing except for power LED lighting up! But then it had me thinking, this system obviously sat for a looong time, it hasn't been used in ages. To make things even worse, it was stored in damp environment, and we know what that means, right? In fact, I was recently telling @Doc41 here about the symptoms of RAM contamination & typical signs of this problem. So once I removed all non-essential components, removed unnecessary cables, drives & RAM modules, system finally booted up to reveal - 5x86!  Deja vu, isn't it?


 



The reason I didn't get any activity from the fan(s), either the PSU and/or CPU one was because both were seized up. And trust me, they were both stuck & not going anywhere! So now that I knew motherboard was OK, I started pulling things apart, piece by piece. I'm also not getting any feedback from the CPU frequency display, including the turbo button itself. This is something I'll have to look into, down the road.


 



So, the next course of action was to take the PSU apart & see what's going on inside. My first assumption (when the system didn't boot) was that I'm missing +5V or +12V rail(s), due to the age & overall condition of PSU. But even with all the voltages up & running, I still had to take care of the cooling fan, so I removed it from the case entirely & opened it up, only to reveal 25yrs of dust  Which is to be expected, even (especially) on modern power supplies with 12cm intake fans! Now, I'll be honest, I didn't completely clean the inside, but still I removed a LOT of dust, especially around the cables, exhaust fan, and under the PCB board ... yes, I literally took the entire unit apart! Including the 80mm fan itself obviously, which (even though I haven't been able to remove the rotor & properly wash it under water due to unusually shaped locking nut) received a complete overhaul & lubrication, so now it spins without any resistance, just like you would expect to see on a computer fan.


 

 

 



The next step was obviously going to be yet another fan - this time CPU cooler. Removing it from the CPU was easy enough, but cleaning it properly & then restoring it back to working condition was tricky enough. Especially if you consider the fact that 4x86 & 5x86 CPU coolers are VERY rare & (from what I know) impossible to find nowdays. In fact, it's pretty much the ONLY reason why I couldn't build my own 4x86 DX2 system, mainly because it's missing "AT" PSU, case & Socket 3 CPU cooler. So with that being said, this one had to go back one way or another, I'm just glad things turned out OK 


 

 

 

 



OK, so now we have working fans... What about the motherboard? Well, except for minor issue with the mounting brackets (mobo somehow got derailed, so it had to be removed from the tray & reset back to original position), everything's mostly OK. According to the specs, this is a Lucky (Gold) Star board, LG nowdays  The only issue was the mosfet heatsink, I'm guessing it's the CPU voltage regulator. Someone either unscrewed the block, or it simply fell off throughout the years, doesn't matter really. One way or another it has been put back in place & properly secured to mosfet. I didn't use any TIM, since there doesn't appear to be any from before, I'm sure there would have been traces of thermal compound across either mosfet's surface or the heatsink itself.


 

 

 

 

 

At this stage, it was time for me to put this thing back together again. I'm going to try with an old Maxtor drive & see if it boots or not. IDK, to be honest I never tested it before, so there's a good chance that it won't work at all. If that's the case, I'll probably end up using 3.2GB Seagate drive intead. Talk about capacity, huh?  I'm also going to add a proper CD-ROM, but the color difference really annoys me. To the point where I'm honestly considering to use more modern LiteOn CD-RW drive, that has more "friendly" yellowish color. IDK, this is something I'll need to think about (I'm open to suggestions!)


 

 

 



I also ran into some issues while setting up 5.25" floppy drive. It seems that the EM protection plate, that's mounted on top of the magnetic head fell off & had to be glued back again. It had some foam, sponge-like material underneath which deteriorated over time to the point where the entire thing just fell off, when I ejected the disk. The ONLY working solution that I could think of was getting a small piece of rubber, and then putting it between the plate & head assembly. I also used a drop or two of super glue to hold it in place, something I really, REALLY didn't want to do on a floppy drive but I'm guessing it was necessary. This thing seems to be EM radiation shield, to block interference from the nearby components. Or to prevent dust from falling into the head assembly, but one way or another I just didn't want to leave it off.


 

 



And that's about it for now... Obviously, I'm going to re-use the original SoundBlaster 16, might even use the original video card, although I'm considering to go with Matrox Mystique instead. Mainly because it would give much better performance in games like Duke3D.


 

 



Still to do - finish off the component layout, cable management, get a new CMOS battery, boot up Win95 (or should I go with DOS 6.22/Win 3.11?) In the words of Star Trek, "To be continued..."


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## Doc41 (Mar 23, 2018)

Great find @Trekkie4 
man i wish i could find  another case like this with the display and turbo button, i might have had one when i was younger because i somewhat recall having the display board but alas no such case in my inventory... would be nice to work on one again


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## stinger608 (Mar 23, 2018)

Wow!!!!!!! That is frigging awesome @Trekkie4


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2018)

Doc41 said:


> Great find @Trekkie4
> man i wish i could find  another case like this with the display and turbo button, i might have had one when i was younger because i somewhat recall having the display board but alas no such case in my inventory... would be nice to work on one again


Right, exactly! From all the parts inside (except for maybe 5x86 CPU itself), I'd say the AT case, PSU & Socket 3 CPU cooler are among the rarest parts currently out there, on the market 

Ironically though, this here is a 2nd AT case that I've recently came across. The other one was also said to be 4x86, except this other one was in non-working condition. Obviously, I tried to work out something with the owner, but he just didn't want to offer me a better deal. Instead, he insisted on 16,50USD regardless of the condition & overall state, so I figured it would be way too much of a gamble. Because I already knew the mobo was shot, PSU might had been toasted as well. Therefore this could have been a total disaster so I gave it up entirely.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 24, 2018)

Not much to report with 5x86, I gave it a replacement S3 video card (with 2MB of VRAM over the old one, with 1MB), ethernet ISA card and a new CMOS battery 


 



I also tried to resolve the issue with frequency (speed) indicator, in the front - it wasn't lighting up, at all. Turns out someone permanently jumped the board to "turbo" mode, entirely disconnecting all the 3 components of the Turbo feature (screen, button & LED). Unfortunately, it also seems that the PCB is badly damaged, so I couldn't get the screen to light up in non-turbo mode (there's also an issue of cracked solder joints, take a closer look), not to mention I was missing the cable to bridge the actual display unit & motherboard. So really, there wasn't much of a point to repair/reflow PCB display unit in the first place. Instead, I wired the button & LED directly onto the motherboard & set the screen to permanently indicate "HI", instead of  "13" which was obviously referring to "133", as in the actual Am5x86 speed. So now the final result is almost perfect - Turbo function works the way it SHOULD, except for when you turn it off. So instead of seeing "LO", the screen still indicates "HI".


 

 

 

 



I used THIS website as a reference to LED Speed displays & jumper configuration


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## DR4G00N (Mar 24, 2018)

Spent yesterday putting together a new retro gaming rig. In hindsight using the SLI-DR Expert probably wasn't the best choice due to it being a HUGE pain about ram. Having nothing but trouble trying to get it to actually run. Might end up swapping the board out for one of my spare DFI nF4 Ultra-D's since they seem to be better with ram compatibility.

Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo w/ Thermalright XP-120
DFI nF4 SLI-DR Expert
4x1GB Kingston DDR400 CL3
nVidia 7900 GTX - Want to grab another for SLI
Enermax EG651P-V(E)
NZXT Lexa case

The only other thing I have to figure out is the front panel temp display, it works but is very dim.











I also have something coming in the mail.  Hint: Dual LGA 771 & FB-DIMM...


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 27, 2018)

So, I just spent the entire afternoon messing around with 5.25" floppy drive, trying to get it working. While the entire system is still in the process of cable management (and final repairs), figured I'd give it a test run, just to see if it works. And no, it doesn't. Or rather, it did not but now it does  Seems to be several issues going on, mainly the optical (IR?) sensors that are coated in dust, along with contaminated heads. So after dusting it off & wiping the heads with alcohol it kinda worked...

(Un)fortunately, as I was taking entire unit apart, the head piece clamped in together, slapping the heads against each other. I was absolutely sure that it wouldn't work any longer & was ready to scrap the drive lol, but nope! To my surprise that actually did the trick & is now reading disks. However, there still seems to be an issue with write protection mechanism, which (if I'm not mistaking) is done through optical sensor - all the disks, regardless of the notch are "write-protected" & can't seem to get them unlocked. Is that a common thing for 5.25" gear, or is it just me? I'm guessing it's the sensor, aka optical pickup because in order to register disk as "protected", it needs to see the light beam, lighting through the notch. So I don't think it's dust, but more likely sensor itself, or the controller. Either way not worth fixing, since the actual drive DOES appear to be working this point. So in the worst case scenario, I would only mess it up... Model number is Safronic DS-53A aka J.P.N. Corp DS-53A


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## DR4G00N (Mar 28, 2018)

This arrived today. 

Intel D5400XS Rev. D94664-402
2x Xeon E5420 Quad-core

Don't have the ram yet though so I can't play with it.  

Need to look around for a pair of QX9775's to get it running to it's full potential.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 28, 2018)

Almost a Skulltrail then


----------



## _JP_ (Mar 28, 2018)

If you managed to find the 1600MHz FSB Xeons, that build would be impressive!
EDIT: I mean, as it is, it's very impressive. Dual Xeons running 3GHz+ @ 400MHz base clock would render very interesting benchmark results


----------



## Robert B (Mar 29, 2018)

3dfx! UUuuuuhhh SHINY!!!!


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## Kissamies (Mar 31, 2018)

Aaaand what do we have here? 










Got this gem free.  (my previous nick was 9700 Pro as you may know)


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 31, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> Need to look around for a pair of QX9775's to get it running to it's full potential.


Unless money is no object, you'd be better off with a pair of X5470's. However the pair you've got now are damn nice.


Red_Machine said:


> but the MIDI is a little quiet, despite me setting the volume to max in the DOS mixer.


The AWE64 was like that. What most people did was turn up the volume on the speakers/stereo system and turn down all of the other volumes in the settings except MIDI. Balances everything out.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 31, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Unless money is no object, you'd be better off with a pair of X5670's. However the pair you've got now are damn nice.



Oh Dear some one is mixing their sockets and CPU'S  AND INADVERTANLY GIVING  incorect advice (it happens to us all   usualy caused by lack of Coffee)
X5670 is 1366 and he has a 771 Board  ( Hope your head slap don't hurt to Much)



DR4G00N said:


> Don't have the ram yet though so I can't play with it.



 NOTE MUST USE FBDIMM 533/677/800


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 31, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Oh Dear some one is mixing their sockets and CPU'S  AND INADVERTENTLY GIVING  incorrect advice (it happens to us all usually caused by lack of Coffee)
> X5670 is 1366 and he has a 771 Board  ( Hope your head slap don't hurt to Much)


Oops! Yeah, I was referring to the correct socket, just mis-typed it. I meant X5*4*70's. My bad.. Corrected.
https://ark.intel.com/products/35430/Intel-Xeon-Processor-X5470-12M-Cache-3_33-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB


----------



## DR4G00N (Mar 31, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> NOTE MUST USE FBDIMM 533/677/800


Yes, that's why I said that. The seller did not ship the ram with the board but separately instead so I need to wait around for it.




lexluthermiester said:


> Unless money is no object, you'd be better off with a pair of X5470's. However the pair you've got now are damn nice.


I mostly just want the QX9775's for completeness sake. It may happen or it may not, it all depends on if I can find them for a good price.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2018)

I'm finally done with 5x86 & ready to move on with software. Might still tweak the current config with either new hardware or changes to the current layout, but more-less this is going to be the final design... Oh, and let me know which version of the cable management you like better


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 1, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm finally done with 5x86 & ready to move on with software. Might still tweak the current config with either new hardware or changes to the current layout, but more-less this is going to be the final design... Oh, and let me know which version of the cable management you like better


The one on the right. So much better. Very nice! More or less how I do it.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> The one on the right. So much better. Very nice! More or less how I do it.


Thanks  Would you believe I even reduced the amount of internal cables? Quite a lot actually, there was yet another ATA cable, for the 2nd channel I'm guessing. It didn't go anywhere, because the system was missing a hard drive when I got it, not to mention the CD-ROM drive. But I'm guessing it probably had one, at some point because the 5.25" face panel insert was removed, leaving a gaping hole. So instead of using separate cables for HDD & CD-ROM, I've decided to go with one in Master/Slave config.

I also removed one of those molex power loops, for the front panel LCD screen, I'm guessing? Thing is, there was yet another 2pin +5V supply going directly from the PSU itself, so I didn't see any reason to keep the old one inside... As for everything else, it's exactly the same except the cables had been hidden, overlapped and/or tucked underneath other components. Such as CD-ROM audio cable, that's completely hidden under the sound card


----------



## phill (Apr 1, 2018)

Robert B said:


> I still have more parts to clean: three motherboards, two 3dfx V3 2000/3000 cards and the dead ATI 9800 PRO.
> 
> *Preview:*
> 
> ...



Where and how do you store all of this stuff??!!


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## Robert B (Apr 1, 2018)

I'll update my storing tactics over the following months  - My "collection" is still underweight becasue I dont want to store PC cases. The rest fits in small boxes.

I plan to buy modular boxes and about 200 ESD bags and pack them well. I think I can reduce the footprint of my stored stuff by at least 40% 

Also I dont want to buy everything that comes my way. There's so much stuff to be had that I had to almost quit paying full price and go to the flea market instead. This way my shopping was reduced big time.The full prices arent too big either but at the flea market you dont find good stuff too often. (Recently I did find the sweet SLOT A setup so as they say YMMV  ) 

I still buy stuff that I want like the i850 or the socket 4 P66 when I see it 

Meanwhile they sit like this: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...ly-old-hardware-emporium.228932/#post-3574704


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2018)

Interesting... My approach is completely different - I stack computer cases & generally avoid keeping individual part(s) inside the boxes &/or plastic containers. The way I see things - mounting the hardware into the case prevents it from being destroyed or scratched. In fact, mounting the hardware inside the computer case IS the best way to keep it alive, because it's going to be properly mounted & plugged into appropriate slots & brackets, which is something you can't do with boxes. Also, I find these (finished) systems easier to move around & test if & when necessary, than having to take them out of storage & plug them all together, power them up.

The only downside to this is that I ran out of storage room, long time ago lol. Which is why I retired from Retro PC hardware, which (despite my two recent projects) is still true, I'm not collecting old hardware any longer, UNLESS it is something very rare & truly vintage (3x86, 4x86, 5x86, OverDrive, PentiumPro, etc) and/or if I'm given loads of hardware for example, in which case integrating all these individual components into the single case makes a lot more sense than to have separate parts laying around the room. Which was the case with that Slot-1 system, I've had just about all the parts scattered around, except for the tower case itself.


----------



## Deleted member 67555 (Apr 1, 2018)

@Trekkie4 
Thanks for posting that AMD 5x86...
I had one back in the day... Good times


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2018)

jmcslob said:


> @Trekkie4
> Thanks for posting that AMD 5x86...
> I had one back in the day... Good times


My pleasure  I would never pass on opportunity to restore 4x86/5x86 system, especially if it's in a really bad shape & on its way to recycling center  Besides, I grew up, started with 4x86 DX2 @66 MHz, so just the sight of an old AT case with Turbo button & glowing LCD frequency display makes me nostalgic 

You might want to know that this is my 2nd 5x86 system actually. Which is why I said "Deja Vu" in that first, original post featuring 5x86 project. The other one was featured way, WAY back on page(s) 157 & 158


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## Deleted member 67555 (Apr 1, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> My pleasure  I would never pass on opportunity to restore 4x86/5x86 system, especially if it's in a really bad shape & on its way to recycling center  Besides, I grew up, started with 4x86 DX2 @66 MHz, so just the sight of an old AT case with Turbo button & glowing LCD frequency display makes me nostalgic
> 
> You might want to know that this is my 2nd 5x86 system actually. Which is why I said "Deja Vu" in that first, original post featuring 5x86 project. The other one was featured way, WAY back on page(s) 157 & 158


Talk about memories... My very first 386 16mhz, 20nhz turbo came in that case from page 157 or one so similar I can't tell the difference..
DOS 5.0.. 2mb memory..42mb HDD, Roland sound card with game port(no sound blaster on the market yet), 15" .28 dot pitch svga playing Doom, Wolfenstein 3d, Chucker yeager air combat, knights of the sky and Wing Commander....
Miss those days


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 1, 2018)

jmcslob said:


> Miss those days


Me too! Although, I feel like the USA missed out on the really fun Amiga and RiscOS platforms. Been looking into both a lot lately and we were diddling around on the CLI when everyone else had fully functional GUI's that put Windows and MAC to shame..


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Me too!


Who doesn't...?  @jmcslob


----------



## BiggieShady (Apr 1, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Amiga and RiscOS platforms


I remember those days when Amiga had 256 color games years before PC ... CGA/EGA graphics had such a limited palette, move from wolfenstein to doom was essentially move from 16 color CGA/EGA to 256 color VGA ... in crisp 320x240 resolution


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## Deleted member 67555 (Apr 1, 2018)

Prior to IBM compatible we had Atari computers...like the 800...it played Atari console games via a cartridge slot..We even had the tape recorder storage and a big ole 5.25 floppy drive.
I remember my Dad's first IBM an 8088...
You had to turn it on wait for the beep and load DOS from a floppy... monochrome...it was essentially useless for home use..my dad connected it to a PLC bank and made hydraulic Halloween montsers...


----------



## BiggieShady (Apr 1, 2018)

jmcslob said:


> my dad connected it to a PLC bank and made hydraulic Halloween montsers...


That's as much cool as you could possibly be as a nerd in the early eighties


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 1, 2018)

BiggieShady said:


> That's as much cool as you could possibly be as a nerd in the early eighties


You took the words right out of my mouth! 

PS, pozdrav kolega


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 5, 2018)

While I'm still in the process of finishing that 5x86, I'm also "cooking" something, but just like with 5x86 system I won't be going into any details just yet. It's another full restoration project - older & even more cooler than 5x86, if something like that is even possible


----------



## Retrorockit (Apr 5, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> While I'm still in the process of finishing that 5x86, I'm also "cooking" something, but just like with 5x86 system I won't be going into any details just yet. It's another full restoration project - older & even more cooler than 5x86, if something like that is even possible


Are you going to overclock that 5x86? I think 4x40 was the hot setup.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 5, 2018)

Retrorockit said:


> Are you going to overclock that 5x86? I think 4x40 was the hot setup.


Nope, not going to OC 5x86 system  I thought I made it clear, this is a whole new restoration project, with even older hardware components. In the worst case scenario I'll have to combine some of the parts from 5x86 unit, in order to make this work (which is why I haven't finished it yet), but other than that it's a whole new adventure


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 5, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> but other than that it's a whole new adventure


Bring it, when your ready.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 5, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> Bring it, when your ready.


It's not that I like to keep things dramatic around here, I just don't want to jump ahead of myself  Anyhow, I see here that you liked some of my old post(s) and all I can say is that you're on the right trail...


----------



## STIG_ZA (Apr 10, 2018)

Another Athlon XP system. Got the mothboard for free some time ago, pci and ide where dead. Luckily it was just due to a damaged track and a broken off smd capacitor which were easy fixes.

Athlon XP 3000+(333mhz fsb, barton core)
2x 512MB twin moss DDR400
Gigabyte 7N400 pro2(nforce 2)
Gainward 6800GT('Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2400 “Golden Sample”TM GLH TM'  yes thats its full name )
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
160GB maxtor IDE HDD
Windows XP pro


----------



## Robert B (Apr 10, 2018)

I managed to exorcise all the demons in my socket 4 Pentium 66 system. GLORIOUS DAY!!!  Now it runs smoothly like it should. I did about 20 DOOM Shareware 1.9 benchmark runs and I got a pretty good score of about *1450 realtics* with an ET6000 4MB PCI, after some tweaking in BIOS.

https://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/misc/doombench.html

I even managed to use an WDC 800JB - 80GB/8MB on the relic  it is seen as a 2GB drive but it is FAST. The HDD score in SpeedSys is with SMARTDRV ON.

In SpeedSys 4.78 - Processor Benchmark score for Pentium 66MHz - 36.85 and for AMD 5x86 133MHz 36.51. The P66 was a monster back in the day. To bad for the FDIV bug which by the way my CPU also exhibits. It doesnt get more "original" than this


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 10, 2018)

STIG_ZA said:


> Gainward 6800GT('Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2400 “Golden Sample”TM GLH TM'  yes thats its full name )



Nice card. I have the exact same one.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 10, 2018)

STIG_ZA said:


> View attachment 99593View attachment 99587View attachment 99588View attachment 99591View attachment 99592
> View attachment 99589View attachment 99590
> 
> Another Athlon XP system. Got the mothboard for free some time ago, pci and ide where dead. Luckily it was just due to a damaged track and a broken off smd capacitor which were easy fixes.
> ...


Used to have 7N400Pro2 mobo, but I gave it away some time ago. Considering the overall amount of retro systems, I just didn't have a purpose for it, especially since I didn't have a decent CPU to be used with this thing 



Robert B said:


> I managed to exorcise all the demons in my socket 4 Pentium 66 system. GLORIOUS DAY!!!  Now it runs smoothly like it should. I did about 20 DOOM Shareware 1.9 benchmark runs and I got a pretty good score of about *1450 realtics* with an ET6000 4MB PCI, after some tweaking in BIOS.
> 
> https://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/misc/doombench.html
> 
> ...


Well, darn it! You stole my idea lol  Okay okay, not quite - but you're close 

I suppose I might as well tell you guys everything. I'm about to (re)build a genuine Intel 4x86, DX2 (66MHz) from scratch! We're not talking modern stuff all over again, like that 5x86 with PCI interfaces, no. This one will have a proper ISA & VLB (VESA Local Bus) hardware, dedicated controllers, maybe a sound blaster too  I won't know any details for sure until I actually get the part(s) I need, which should be on Thursday, in 2 days!


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 10, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm about to (re)build a genuine Intel 4x86, DX2 (66MHz) from scratch!


Now you don't have to be concerned with Meltdown or Spectre.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 10, 2018)

I suppose not  Once I (hopefully) have it up & running, it's going to feature MS-DOS (v6.22) & Windows 3.11! And since I already previously made a DX4 system, having pre-configured Autoexec.BAT & Config.SYS (for DOS gaming) will come in very handy!


----------



## Doc41 (Apr 11, 2018)

i believe this collected enough dust and its time to "work" on it


http://imgur.com/a/MD5HX

Pentium 4 651 and 2gigs of "fasttech" ram
when it was in a system we couldn't get it to install an OS, it would just crash during installation no matter what i tried (even with different RAM) so i guess its time to do some more testing on it


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 11, 2018)

Doc41 said:


> i believe this collected enough dust and its time to "work" on it
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/a/MD5HX
> ...


I was given the same board couple of years back, for free. Well, technically the entire system, not JUST the board. It had a Core2 Duo in there & 2GB of RAM, from what I remember. The only problem I've had was with onboard ethernet controller, something about MAC address? It kept reporting error over & over, during every single POST. So I eventually referred to that yellow sticker, number printed on top of LPT1 port & system booted up perfectly fine. Never had this kind of issue since then... *shrug*

Edit
Found the pic!




Oh, and it also seems that PostImage changed their domain for some reason. Therefore none of the previously-uploaded pics will work from now on, without manually editing, correcting the address (which I think it's not possible, since some of these posts are 2, 3 yrs old)


----------



## Robert B (Apr 11, 2018)

Some P66 tweaking and now is even FASTER  (No Smartdrive loaded)


----------



## STIG_ZA (Apr 11, 2018)

Some updates to my other Athlon XP rig. Fitted back in its original case, found the original HDD as well 

AthlonXP 2500+(barton core)
2x 256Mb Trancend jetram + 1x 512Mb Apacer DDR400
Gigabyte 7VT600-L(fully recapped)
Pixel View FX5900
Sound Blaster live 5.1
80gb western digital ide hdd
350W Delta Psu.

The FX5900 is pretty disappointing performance wise it must be said, looks cool at least.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 11, 2018)

STIG_ZA said:


> View attachment 99637View attachment 99638View attachment 99639
> View attachment 99640View attachment 99641View attachment 99642View attachment 99643View attachment 99644
> 
> 
> ...


From all the components that you featured in these pics, nothing says Retro and/or Old School like that CD-RW/DVD "combo" player/recorder  Truly a relic from some other time & era when DVD recorders used to cost an arm and a leg!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 11, 2018)

Doc41 said:


> i believe this collected enough dust and its time to "work" on it
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/a/MD5HX
> ...


I would make sure the bios is updated and then load defaults.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2018)

I got my 4x86 tower, PSU & most of other bits & pieces  I also got 3x86 mobo (with integrated AMD CPU) in unknown working condition!  More pics & updates coming soon!


----------



## Robert B (Apr 12, 2018)

Pics soon?

HOW ABOUT NOW!!! take a picture as you got them


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2018)

Robert B said:


> Pics soon?
> 
> HOW ABOUT NOW!!! take a picture as you got them


Fine, fine! Jeez, tough crowd 


 

 

 

 



And yes, it has a brand new battery already soldered in place. So it hopefully won't leak any time soon, at least for the next couple of years!




Also got this box of various ISA cards & extensions... 




Speaking of old & nostalgic, my VTF gauge, scale or whatever you want to call it finally arrived today!


 ] 



Edit
A work in progress...   4x86 DX2 reports for duty!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 13, 2018)

STIG_ZA said:


> The FX5900 is pretty disappointing performance wise it must be said, looks cool at least.


In it's time it was one of the best. It still is for Windows98SE/WindowsME retro gaming. Match it with an AMD Athlon64 FX57 and you have one of the fastest single-core CPU based systems out there.


----------



## PHaS3 (Apr 13, 2018)

STIG_ZA said:


> The FX5900 is pretty disappointing performance wise it must be said, looks cool at least.



Back when they were a thing, I had a Leadtek 5900XT that I de-lidded and ran at 510MHz (IIRC the stock was 350MHz, so that was quite the OC). Then it was fast. But hot, I had to cool the hell out of it. 

Nice retro build man  2500+ Barton was a legend, also had one of those once.


----------



## Retrorockit (Apr 14, 2018)

I know a few of you like my Dell OC stuff. I've got some pics. up of an HD6990 /HD6970 Trifire setup in a Dell workstation. Not really old enough for this thread. But some of you may like it anyway.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttlestop-overclocking-desktop-pcs.235975/page-9


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 15, 2018)

4x86 project is coming along nicely, although I've been forced to change the specs (of both 4x86 AND 5x86) somewhere along the restoration process. Also, it seems that 3x86 board is unfortunately beyond repairs, as I'm not getting ANY feedback whatsoever. No sounds, not even power LED, even though I can feel the CPU getting warmer so it's most likely getting power... IDK, I've decided to hold onto it for now, but I'm not too optimistic.




Now, as for the actual 4x86, the system is mostly complete, in the process of final tweaks & cable management.


 



First order of business was to restore the (previously removed) NiCd battery, and I actually reused the one from 3x86 system since it's almost brand new, 6 months old according to the previous owner.




Then there was a big question... Which VLB card(s) to use, since I now had the luxury to choose between my own components (which had been previously tested) & these new ones, which haven't been tested & might work,  even though I've noticed few small scratches & cuts, probably from tumbling inside the empty case. Also worth pointing out is that BOTH of these VLB cards have the same GPU, so in the end it was a matter of choosing the better & more reliable over the other one.


 

 



Same thing with HDD/Floppy/Serial Port controller card, I've decided to use my own which seems to  be working just fine. I had a slight problem, getting the floppy drive(s) to get recognized but this turned out to be a jumper-related issue as someone previously disabled floppy feature on the controller itself.

I actually did a lot of work off-camera... Was hoping to stop for a minute or two & document everything, but with the amount of work that's been put into this thing so far, I just didn't want to waste any time. Such as taking apart the entire 5.25" floppy drive for the most detailed dusting & cleaning so far! Which turned out to be quite successful!  Also, I've noticed something very unusual with this 3.5" floppy drive unit - recognize the company brand?! Assuming it's the same "Citizen" company as the one which makes famous wrist watches, I had no idea they were into computer equipment, ESPECIALLY floppy drives!




And this is where things got uhh, somewhat complicated to say at least. I've been meaning to use this ESS sound card for 4x86, as (according to Phil's Computer Lab), it's the perfect choice for DOS gaming. However, after quick Googling for appropriate drivers, I've realized there's a ton of issues with these, mainly because of the amount of different sub-models & variations. Some of the folks managed to get their cards working straight out of the box, while the other group seems to struggle with whole bunch of difficulties.




And since I'm also going to use the sound card as a secondary IDE controller, I wanted to make ABSOLUTELY sure I don't run into any problems ... so I swapped cards between 5x86 & 4x86. Meaning the ESS card is now inside 5x86 & will be used under Win95 environment, where on the other hand this 4x86 will have Creative SB16, which has much superior driver support & SHOULD be (in theory, at least) much easier to set up. Furthermore, I find it easier to install Creative card over ESS, because of the IDE port orientation. ESS card had the pin-1 on the left, where Creative has the pin-1 on the right, so I didn't have to twist the IDE cable & make a complete mess.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 15, 2018)

One of those caps(labeled " C6 ") looks damaged and could be the faulty part. See the picture for the one circled in red;

When those types of caps get chipped like that they are very often in need of replacement.

EDIT; the damaged cap in question is labeled " C6 " not C1, corrected.


----------



## Robert B (Apr 15, 2018)

*New hardware found*

Took me 3 hours to straighten all the pins...P133, P166MMX, DX4ODPR100? K6-2 300MHz, Duron 1,1GHz, Athlon XP 1800+, P4 3.06GHz for my i850, Celeron 1.1GHz 128KB/100 - missing 4 pins, Intel DX4 100MHz. Next time I wont buy Coppermine PIII CPUs with bent pins as they break off way too easy  At any rate, the Celeron 1.1GHz looked like it was stepped on 

AMD 386-40MHz + Pine Techology PT-321 M3200793

It seem I even found an Intel 486 Overdrive CPU. The markings on the back suggest it is a 100MHz CPU - DX4ODPR100 V1.1  I had to remove, straighten the pins and solder back a mosfet. It came out excellent 
I'll test the overdrive CPU soon and I think I'm going to attach with a double sided adhesive thermal pad, a modified DeepCool V50 or one of the few available heatsink I have at my disposal  It will provide sufficient cooling  It should've had a black or a red passive heatsink. Look at the way the thermal adhesive was spreaded....HELLOW MR. BLOB!


----------



## Retrorockit (Apr 15, 2018)

I need a 12cm Crossfire bridge (NOT SLI please) for my project. I have a Sapphire SKU# W010-0043-00 that gets a lot of hits in Europe, especially CZ. But on dozens of sites that list it many say it's NLA, other seem to imply they can get it. None in stock anywhere. Almost nothing in the US or China. I'm in the US and only speak English. What do you think the chances are of actually getting 1 or 2 of these?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 15, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> One of those caps(labeled " C1 ") looks damaged and could be the faulty part. See the picture for the one circled in red;
> View attachment 99770
> When those types of caps get chipped like that they are very often in need of replacement.


Wow, that's interesting... Thanks for pointing it out, I totally missed it. Of course, now it's too late to swap the boards, since 4x86 is almost finished (and I'd hate to ruin all the work), but I still have 3x86 board, I've decided to keep it just in case (like THIS case, actually), so I might swap the affected cap & give it a try once again. Thanks!


----------



## phill (Apr 15, 2018)

I have to so get my butt in gear and grab a load of pics of the few bits of retro kit I have around here...  Man I love this thread and TPU!!


----------



## Athlonite (Apr 15, 2018)

Retrorockit said:


> I need a 12cm Crossfire bridge (NOT SLI please) for my project. I have a Sapphire SKU# W010-0043-00 that gets a lot of hits in Europe, especially CZ. But on dozens of sites that list it many say it's NLA, other seem to imply they can get it. None in stock anywhere. Almost nothing in the US or China. I'm in the US and only speak English. What do you think the chances are of actually getting 1 or 2 of these?



Are you sure it's 12CM and not 10CM I've never seen one that long before


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 15, 2018)

Retrorockit said:


> I need a 12cm Crossfire bridge





Athlonite said:


> Are you sure it's 12CM and not 10CM I've never seen one that long before


they do exist
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-CROSSFIRE-BRIDGE-INTERCONNECT-W010-0043-00/dp/B01CLA64RE
Try contacting Sapphire direct if you cannot get one

https://www.amazon.com/ATI-CrossFire-Interconnect-Bridge-Connecctor/dp/B003NLGR7I


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 15, 2018)

I love this guy so much!!


----------



## Retrorockit (Apr 15, 2018)

I reached out to Sapphire, no reply yet. I can get the 10CM and will probably do that anyway. I have also tried a vendor in NL, but due to time zones haven't heard back from them either.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> so I might swap the affected cap & give it a try once again.


Should be inexpensive and a quick soldering job.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 15, 2018)

True! Once I'm done with 4x86, 5x86 & re-arranging all the spare parts, I'll see if I can work something out


----------



## jsalpha2 (Apr 16, 2018)

1982 Litton Monroe OC 8828  Saw today on Craigslist.  Not sure what I would do with it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 16, 2018)

Both 4x86 & 5x86 are now (pretty much) done. Got few more cables to sort out inside 5x86, and still have to add CD-ROM audio cable into 4x86, but apart from that it's all done  Have to say, I really, REALLY like the way 4x86 ended up looking. Much better than 5x86, due to CD-ROM color, being snowy white where the rest of the case is dark yellow. On the other hand, 4x86 & Teac drive both blend in together & look perfectly natural!




The inside of 4x86...




The inside of 5x86 (notice the pattern? )




Since I was already working on 5x86, being encouraged by the recent success of restoring similar Mitsumi drive on 4x86, I once again took apart Safronics DS-53A 5.25" floppy drive unit, hoping to resolve the issue of copy, write protection being active all the time. So I took the entire thing apart (just like Mitsumi) and to my surprise it worked!! 




The problem I had was with optical pickup (or IR emitter), in the bottom-left corner. The one in the middle is indexing sensor from what I understand, and this one seemed to be working just fine. Not sure what exactly caused the problem, as there was apparently two problems (misaligned infrared beam pickup & emitter) and a lot of dust in between. One way or another, I  cleaned the entire bottom assembly & then used my phone's flash LED to align the light beam angle which resolved the issue. So now it DOES work, it's capable of both reading AND writing disks!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So now it DOES work, it's capable of both reading AND writing disks!


Nice repair! I would look into a retro-brite job that case and the face-plates for those floppy drives to restore the color back to the original and follow up with a gloss coat of UV resistant paint if you intend to preserve them long term.


----------



## Retrorockit (Apr 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice repair! I would look into a retro-brite job that case and the face-plates for those floppy drives to restore the color back to the original and follow up with a gloss coat of UV resistant paint if you intend to preserve them long term



That would destroy the patina!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice repair! I would look into a retro-brite job that case and the face-plates for those floppy drives to restore the color back to the original and follow up with a gloss coat of UV resistant paint if you intend to preserve them long term.


I would love the idea of restoring SOME of my systems (that 5x86 in particular), but since I don't have any experience in that field, I'm not sure if I'd be up for the task. Then there's also the issue of cost & storage of all these chemicals, it would require a dedicated workshop or working area, sooo I'm just going to leave them in original state for now.

Then one day, some day I might retro brite several cases & peripheral components. But this would (and will) be a separate project of its own.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I would love the idea of restoring SOME of my systems (that 5x86 in particular), but since I don't have any experience in that field, I'm not sure if I'd be up for the task. Then there's also the issue of cost & storage of all these chemicals, it would require a dedicated workshop or working area, sooo I'm just going to leave them in original state for now.
> 
> Then one day, some day I might retro brite several cases & peripheral components. But this would (and will) be a separate project of its own.


Look up " The 8bit Guy " on Youtube. He has a bunch of video's the show the retro-brite process. It's really very simple. There are many schools of thought on the process, but I like David's the best.
This is his restoration playlist and in many of them he goes into good detail on the process;











Retrorockit said:


> That would destroy the patina!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 17, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Look up " The 8bit Guy " on Youtube. He has a bunch of video's the show the retro-brite process. It's really very simple. There are many schools of thought on the process, but I like David's the best.
> This is his restoration playlist and in many of them he goes into good detail on the process;


Already know the guy (and watched quite a few of his videos, including the one you shared), but thanks anyway  Also love Techmoan, although he's the HiFi kind of guy, not really into old computers. Anyway, I still think it would be too much for me to handle. You need to understand that I own approx. 43 computers. Of which approx. half (21, 22) would need to be brightened up. So you can imagine the amount of hydrogen peroxide I would need, and/or the working space to soak all those panels... And that is without peripheral components, such as my trusty Logitech QuickCam, and/or even every individual CD-ROM & floppy drive. It would take a loong time & money to make it happen.

Again, not saying I'm not interested. Some day maybe, I like the idea of having "patina" on SOME of my systems, but that recent 5x86 is a perfect example of having too much. At this point it looks more like dark orange than beige and (especially) white!


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## Robert B (Apr 17, 2018)

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/prw-386-cpus-jpg.99771/
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/prw-386-cpus-02-jpg.99772/

The 80386DX 40MHz is running well  light corrosion from the barrel battery. Nothing that a little vinegar can't handle  To date, this is my oldest PC combo  The price was extremely low and I just couldnt let it go to waste.

The CPU without a heatsink that I bought last weekend is indeed an Intel 80486 overdrive / SZ959 / *DX4ODPR100*  just as I suspected  I had to remove a lot of thermal glue, resolder the MOSFET, straighten the pins and find a suitable heatsink 

Took me about 4 hours to straighten the pins for 8 out of the 9 CPUs I bought  The Celeron 1.1 SL5XU lost some pins and I'm sure it was stepped on. The other CPUs are in great shape - NO LOST PINS 

Even with the missing pins I'll test the "crippled" Celeron.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 17, 2018)

Wow, nice work!! The board is quite similar, almost identical to the one I got recently. even the same BIOS. Now if only I can get it working & (hopefully) build rest of the system around it


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## Robert B (Apr 17, 2018)

I had my share of problems with my P66 like is the case with your 386

At first the P66 wouldnt do anything, no PC speaker codes, no beeps, no keyboard led activity, nothing. I could feel the chips and the CPU getting warm but that was about it. *I had to rewrite de BIOS with a USB BIOS programmer and that fixed it.*

After this the P66 refused to get past the boot screen no matter what I tried until I looked at older pictures and I saw the jumper setup with which the motherboard came from the seller. After I set them as required the socket 4 motherboard did everything I wanted. The manual/jumper setup diagram of the motherboard wasnt very clear.

My 386, a Pine Technology PT-321, worked from the start. It is so small and it reminds me of my ZIDA 4DPS.

So, your 386 might suffer from a corrupt BIOS or an obscure jumper setting. My bet is the corrupt BIOS if all else is good. You're lucky if the BIOS chip is socketed on your 386 board. On mine it's soldered so it was a good thing it worked from the start


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 18, 2018)

Robert B said:


> I had my share of problems with my P66 like is the case with your 386
> 
> At first the P66 wouldnt do anything, no PC speaker codes, no beeps, no keyboard led activity, nothing. I could feel the chips and the CPU getting warm but that was about it. *I had to rewrite de BIOS with a USB BIOS programmer and that fixed it.*
> 
> ...


Pretty sure I tried all jumper configs, both CPU & battery-related, nothing worked. Of course, there's also that chipped off capacitor, which @lexluthermiester pointed out. It's a good place to start, but if it really IS a BIOS-related issue, then I'm screwed since I don't have programming tool. I know someone who could do it for me, but with that being said it wouldn't be cheap! 

And the pic of both mobo itself & the BIOS chip was already uploaded on the previous page, it appears to have a standard socket, therefore it's easily removable. Now I feel like an idiot  for not removing the BIOS chip off my old 3x86 board, which I had to throw away only couple of months ago since the battery leaked to the point where the acid ate through all the traces around the PSU connectors. Pretty certain it had EXACTLY the same, AMI BIOS as this one here.


----------



## Doc41 (Apr 19, 2018)

Doc41 said:


> i believe this collected enough dust and its time to "work" on it
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/a/MD5HX
> ...


welp, i got somewhat busy with other stuff and didnt get a chance to look at this one but when i did it outright refused to even POST.. no video no beeps nothing, BIOS reset didnt work as well.. time for round 2 i guess


Robert B said:


> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/prw-386-cpus-jpg.99771/
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/prw-386-cpus-02-jpg.99772/
> 
> The 80386DX 40MHz is running well  light corrosion from the barrel battery. Nothing that a little vinegar can't handle  To date, this is my oldest PC combo  The price was extremely low and I just couldnt let it go to waste.
> ...


sweet, i recall "fixing" an old 939 athlon with a broken pin by cutting one of the wires in a LAN cable and soldering it on xD (lucky for me it was outside on the edge) hey it worked after that at least.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 20, 2018)

So, I've been booting up that 5x86 system, figured it would be easier (and faster) to set up than 4x86 & DOS, but things turned other way around...

Seems the mobo on 5x86 is shot. Or at least part of it anyway, as it's not capable of giving out resources to expansion cards. At first I thought it was just the standard IRQ conflict, between two (or more) components, but no - I've been seeing whole bunch of nonsense. For example, you (manually) set up ethernet card, using the free address & IRQ, but it doesn't work. Instead it freezes the entire system on log-on & reboots automatically. Then you remove the component from Device Manager, refresh (and have the same component re-appear, with the same values) and voila - it's working! Up until the next reboot that is. Or randomly - sometimes it works for half an hour or more & then randomly reverts back or simply ignores the component altogether. Getting the same (similar) issue with the sound card, as well. Both are ISA, but both of them are PnP compatible. And I got both to work, but they all revert back to old values on reboot, or simply stop working, responding. Any ideas?


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 21, 2018)

Damn, that sucks @Trekkie4


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2018)

Yeah, very much I'm afraid  Will think of something eventually... But for now I'm considering options. One of them was flashing the BIOS, but I seem to be getting the same problem over & over, not being able to erase the BIOS chip (according to AWDFlash)


----------



## jboydgolfer (Apr 21, 2018)




----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 21, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


>


I had that XFX 8800GT. Such a golden performer and over-clocker. Oh yeah!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 21, 2018)

Well, it's official... Either the mobo on that 5x86 is completely shot, or I'm just having a bad luck with two of the ISA cards. Certainly worth investigating, but I'll be needing replacement sound & ethernet card(s) in order to do so.

Meanwhile, I've decided to move on with 4x86... Funny how things always end up opposite of what you expect. What I expected was a slow & painful process of booting up both DOS & Win 3.11, not to mention finding the appropriate drivers, especially for ethernet card. But nope, just the opposite really. It all worked out perfectly fine, and I finished the entire software build within couple of hrs! Obviously, I still got to tweak few more bits & pieces, but everything's here & fully operational - sound, video driver (for Win 3.11), even ethernet, CD-ROM & mouse support for DOS 


 



Almost finished with 4x86, still have to address the issue of Memory allocation, for DOS gaming. Until then, enjoy 




 


The sound card was too big & was somewhat flexing, leaning downwards. So I made a simple DIY support (since I didn't have a plastic one) using the standard M3 screw, couple of nuts & one of those motherboard washers.



 


Side by side comparison... I really do feel bad because of Am5x86, but there's still hope, who knows...? From what I learned so far is that the system boots (and works) perfectly fine up until I load & start the ethernet card. No matter which address I pick (either through jumpers or software), it ALWAYS ends up interfering with the serial mouse. This is the cause of system crashes & hangs, as I only just found out earlier today. But it DOESN'T explain the sound card issue, as I'm still getting the problem regardless of the ethernet adapter, I even tried removing it to see if it would do the trick!



 

 


Half way during the build, I've decided to swap out "modern" ISA ethernet card for this 3com adapter from around 1992. Turns out it was a good choice, and (to my surprise) it was automatically detected & configured by both DOS & Win 3.11. Ironically, much, MUCH easier to set up than 5x86 without any problems, whatsoever! IRQ, resources and/or anything else. And being the older build (with even more complicated layout, separate ATA controller & CD ROM drive interface from the sound card), it should have been more difficult than PnP, ISA/PCI system such as the one in 5x86. At least in theory *shrug*




You know, there's a reason why I always put 5.25 floppy drive on top of CD-ROM units. Mainly because floppies are exposed & look so good inside that frame, case support structure. If I'd have more time, money & patience, I would probably put a small glass window, on top of the floppy drive just to see this thing in action 












And FINALLY, the games... Still have to sort out Autoexec.BAT & Config.SYS for HIMEM suport (since most of the games that I've tried doesn't work), but this shouldn't be too difficult - uhh, right? But these simple ones seem to be running OK. Even Doom, and I'm even getting the sound through my SoundBlaster 16!


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 22, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So I made a simple DIY support


I've done that a few times. If it works it works!

I've been thinking about that really yellowed case, instead of retro-briting it, you could just paint it. Custom paint jobs can be a ton of fun. And that case would look good with a silver and brass metalic paint finish.


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## Kissamies (Apr 22, 2018)

Oh damn, getting an Athlon Thunderbird 1000MHz! 

That with my Radeon 9700 Pro and some good NF2 Ultra 400 MB will be the retro rig of my dreams.


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 23, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've done that a few times. If it works it works!
> 
> I've been thinking about that really yellowed case, instead of retro-briting it, you could just paint it. Custom paint jobs can be a ton of fun. And that case would look good with a silver and brass metalic paint finish.


Good idea, but as much as I hate to point this out, I got more serious priorities at the moment... That 5x86 has been confirmed to be damaged. Plot twist - so is Creative Sound Blaster 16 which came with this particular system in the first place  Board itself is working fine, SFX (Wave) is going through without any problems, but the MIDI output is completely silent, except for background static, hiss. I won't be throwing away the card just yet, in case I ever find another WaveBlaster daughter card expansion, but as it is (right now), the card doesn't work.

I'm inclined to say that at this point I got TWO defective ISA sound cards, however ... As it turns out, that other card, ESS seems to be working just fine in DOS... Go figure! I still have to confirm this with other OSes & systems, but one way or another, it seems that I won't be finishing either of the two AT builds any time soon. Not until I can source one, or even two replacement ISA cards which, obviously could take a while I'm afraid  As for 5x86 system, I'll probably end up swapping out the entire mobo at some point for a Pentium class processor. Perhaps a non MMX, 133 model? It would still outperform 5x86 at the same clock speed, but it's similar, as close as I can be to having a genuine 5x86 chip *shrug*


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## Fouquin (Apr 25, 2018)

I *finally* found a reasonable price on a single-socket VS440FX board for the plethora of P-Pros I've had sitting around the past few years.



Specs say it maxes out at 256MB, but I've got prior memory of these boards taking 512MB without any issues.


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## Red_Machine (Apr 25, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> Specs say it maxes out at 256MB, but I've got prior memory of these boards taking 512MB without any issues.


If it's any help, my 440BX board currently has 512MB in it.


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 25, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> I *finally* found a reasonable price on a single-socket VS440FX board for the plethora of P-Pros I've had sitting around the past few years.
> 
> View attachment 100223
> 
> Specs say it maxes out at 256MB, but I've got prior memory of these boards taking 512MB without any issues.


Very nice! I can confirm those boards will take upto 512mb of ram(4x128mb simms). Word of advice, make sure you get a quality heatsink and fan combo and use a good TIM(Arctic Silver 5) would work great. Those P-Pro's get HOT, even when not OC'd. And they can be OC'd a little.


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## Fouquin (Apr 25, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Very nice! I can confirm those boards will take upto 512mb of ram(4x128mb simms). Word of advice, make sure you get a quality heatsink and fan combo and use a good TIM(Arctic Silver 5) would work great. Those P-Pro's get HOT, even when not OC'd. And they can be OC'd a little.



Alright cool, that's what I was thinking. Still working on finding a heatsink for the goldtop and fiber Pros, but the PII Overdrive has its own. Every document I've read says the board is compatible with the Overdrive, so once I get that out of storage I'm hoping it'll just drop in and be good to go.


----------



## BiggieShady (Apr 26, 2018)

I was looking where to post this, somehow this thread seems appropriate because here we regularly see chips made in 10micrometer process or higher ...

... this dude got close to that level in his garage, he's making integrated circuits in his freaking garage: http://sam.zeloof.xyz/category/semiconductor/
His litography machine is made out of digital projector, microscope and surprisingly no duct tape


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 26, 2018)

Finally got some progress to share... While I'm still in the process of fine-tuning Autoexec.BAT & Config.SYS (I asked for help with this particular issue on Vogons forums), 4x86 is pretty much done & fully working  

Autoexec.BAT


```
@ECHO OFF
C:\DOS\MODE CON RATE=32 DELAY=2
C:\DOS\MODE CON CP PREP=((852) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)
C:\DOS\MODE CON CP SEL=852
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\KEYB YU,852,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS
ECHO.
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MOUSE
ECHO.
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\SB16
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\TEMP
SET TZ=CET-1CDT,3,-1,0,7200,10,-1,0,10800,3600
SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
C:\WINDOWS\net start
GOTO %CONFIG%

:EMSBOOT
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MSCDEX /D:CD-524E /M:15 /E /S /L:D /V
ECHO.
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 128 /V
GOTO END

:NOEBOOT
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MSCDEX /D:CD-524E /M:15 /S /L:D /V
ECHO.
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 /V
GOTO END

:MINBOOT
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 /V
GOTO END

:WINBOOT
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MSCDEX /D:CD-524E /M:15 /E /S /L:D /V
ECHO.
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 128 /V
WIN
GOTO END

:END
```

Config.SYS

```
[MENU]
MENUITEM=EMSBOOT, Start with EMS support.
MENUITEM=NOEBOOT, Start without EMS support.
MENUITEM=MINBOOT, Minimal Boot
MENUITEM=WINBOOT, Windows 3.11
MENUDEFAULT=EMSBOOT,30

[COMMON]
BREAK=ON
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=40
REM FCBS=1,0
BUFFERS=10,0
LASTDRIVE=J
STACKS=9,256
COUNTRY=038,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS
REM ** DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:1024 /P

[EMSBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\CDROM\GSCDROM.SYS /D:CD-524E
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\SB16\DRV\CSP.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220

[NOEBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\CDROM\GSCDROM.SYS /D:CD-524E
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\SB16\DRV\CSP.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220

[MINBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS /V

[WINBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\CDROM\GSCDROM.SYS /D:CD-524E
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\SB16\DRV\CSP.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220
```

As I already explained, I couldn't get SB16 to work. Actually, JUST the MIDI alone, everything else seems to be working OK. So I tried hooking my WaveBlaster card, I removed it from RetroMaster 2500 signature rig & paired up with SB16, but alas STILL nothing. Faint sound seems to be coming through, but it's just barely there. Something is obviously messed up, with either the chip itself or caps.




So, instead of wasting my time with SB16, I "borrowed" AWE32 from one of my WIn98 rigs & put it inside 4x86 - a perfect match! Well, almost ... AWE card is PnP, so I couldn't get the system  to recognize the card in DOS 6.22, but once I loaded all the drivers & apps, AWE32 booted up perfectly fine & fully working  On the other hand, Win98 rig now has SB Live! card, which is (let's be honest) far more better choice for audio than AWE32, since Win98 rig also has Voodoo2 SLI & runs all (most) of the games supporting 3D sound acceleration (EAX, A3D)


 



Now I can actually play some of the games I have... Most of them (all, so far) are working just fine & without any problems whatsoever!




The joke's on you pal, I don't even have one!


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 26, 2018)

Reading the confiig sys and autoexec.bat files
Noticed you load autoexec.bat first so it calls Config.sys


> GOTO %CONFIG%



that seems ass about face ( long time since i played with dos hardware).

I used to load config sys first   then autoexec.bat


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 26, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Reading the confiig sys and autoexec.bat files
> Noticed you load autoexec.bat first so it calls Config.sys
> 
> 
> ...


Sorry, I was in the rush & apparently copied the wrong autoexec/config ... this one here is the latest (and most efficient)

Autoexec.BAT

```
SET CTCM=C:\CTCM

LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MSCDEX /D:MSCD000 /M:15 /E /S /L:D /V

ECHO.

LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 128 /V

C:\DOS\MODE CON RATE=32 DELAY=2

C:\DOS\MODE CON CP PREP=((852) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)

C:\DOS\MODE CON CP SEL=852

LH /L:2 C:\DOS\KEYB YU,852,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS

ECHO.

LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MOUSE

ECHO.

LH /L:2 C:\DOS\NLSFUNC C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS

PROMPT $p$g

PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\CTCM;C:\SB16

SET TEMP=C:\TEMP

SET TMP=C:\TEMP

SET SOUND=C:\SB16

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6

SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0

C:\CTCM\CTCU /S

C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S /W=C:\WINDOWS

C:\SB16\AWEUTIL /S

C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q

C:\WINDOWS\net start
```

Config.SYS

```
BREAK=ON

DOS=HIGH,UMB

FILES=40

BUFFERS=10,0

LASTDRIVE=Z

STACKS=9,256

COUNTRY=038,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS

DEVICE=C:\CTCM\CTCM.EXE /V

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /V

DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 I=B000-B7FF /V

DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE /V

DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,2)

DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS

DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\CDROM\gscdrom.sys /D:MSCD000

SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:1024 /P
```


----------



## debs3759 (Apr 26, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Reading the confiig sys and autoexec.bat files
> Noticed you load autoexec.bat first so it calls Config.sys
> 
> 
> ...



config.sys always loads first. "GOTO %CONFIG%" goes to the appropriate menu section in autoexec.bat, as set by config.sys.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 27, 2018)

debs3759 said:


> config.sys always loads first. "GOTO %CONFIG%" goes to the appropriate menu section in autoexec.bat, as set by config.sys.


True. I was experimenting with multi-choices boot mode, having several different modes to choose from. But really, now that I think about it, this isn't going to be anything else other than a retro gaming system. Meaning I obviously won't be using it for DOS programs, text editing or similar, it's designed ONLY for DOS & Win 3.11 gaming so I decided to revert everything back, to a default layout. However, (as I previously explained), I got configs mixed up & copied the wrong one.

GOTO %CONFIG% was referring to choices menu, depending on which one was selected.


----------



## Athlonite (Apr 27, 2018)

@Trekkie4 when I used to use DOS 6.22 and Win 3.11 I found a great little dos program called Quickmenu III fantastic little setup for dos games that pretty much did away with all the dos commands to play a game it can create custom Autoexec.bat and Config.sys file for each game aswell


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 27, 2018)

debs3759 said:


> config.sys always loads first. "GOTO %CONFIG%" goes to the appropriate menu section in autoexec.bat, as set by config.sys.


as i said its a long time that i played with dos
I used to load config.sys
then Menu Bat ( which had the choices i needed to run programs and you could make them run with the appropriate Autoexec commands.)
Remember having lots of fun designing Menu's for dos
done them for other people as well
Including Press /select ( number ) for HELP ( with my phone number and terms for helping ie Beer/weed/other substances depending on friend).


----------



## dieselcat18 (Apr 28, 2018)

Just some old/older stuff, nothing special, which I have more of. I was running this board from '08 at time of this build untill last year, with various upgrades along the way,  when I sold it off. Never had a problem with it, built like a tank and ran great for the entire time I had it.
Can post more pics of older hardware if this is the place for this kind of thing.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2018)

I'd love to hear your personal input guys, what do you think? Is 32MB of RAM overkill for 5x86 machine running Win95B? What was the RAM "standard" for late '96, anyway?


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 29, 2018)

In 1995 the standard amount of RAM from OEM's was 8 MB double 1994's 4 MB. Is that right? 8MB at $400 per 4 MB?
http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/comparing-todays-computers-to-1995s/

At that time I was using a PowerComputing PowerBase 240 originally it only came with 16MB, and 1.2 - 2.0 GB HDD.





https://everymac.com/systems/powercc/powerbase/powerbase240.html

Before the PowerBase it was the Macintosh Performa 577. At the time it was advertised as upgrade-able to the PowerPC 601.





https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_performa/specs/mac_performa_577.html


----------



## Red_Machine (Apr 29, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> In 1995 the standard amount of RAM from OEM's was 8 MB double 1994's 4 MB. Is that right? 8MB at $400 per 4 MB?


Considering that the average home PC back then cost around $2-5000, that's not unrealistic that they'd have $400 RAM sticks in them.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 29, 2018)

Apparently SDRAM 168-pin DIMMS in late 96 started to replace 72-pin SIMMS. That PowerBase in 96 I posted above had SDRAM DIMM slots, two if I remember right.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 29, 2018)

dieselcat18 said:


> if this is the place for this kind of thing.



Well of course this is the place for "this kind of thing."  We always enjoy pics!!!!!!!! 

Yep, I think 32 mb of ram for a system of that era and running Win95 is kind of overkill @Trekkie4 . I would think that running 8 to 16 is plenty bro.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Yep, I think 32 mb of ram for a system of that era and running Win95 is kind of overkill


Not at all. 8MB was considered bare minimum, 12MB or 16MB was standard and 24MB or 32MB was higher end. 48MB and 64MB was power-user territory and 96MB to 128MB+ was overkill unless you needed it. With Win98 64MB became standard for smooth operations and 256MB became the upper range. Win98 Second Edition bumped that up again and 128MB became standard and 512MB was the upper range. With XP, the bare minimum was 256MB and 1GB became the upper range and so on..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 29, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Well of course this is the place for "this kind of thing."  We always enjoy pics!!!!!!!!
> 
> Yep, I think 32 mb of ram for a system of that era and running Win95 is kind of overkill @Trekkie4 . I would think that running 8 to 16 is plenty bro.


Not sure I would agree on this one... Yes, 32MB is overkill for 5x86 system (16 would be ideal in my opinion, but I'll get to this later), but 8 is way, way below the standard. Keep in mind, this isn't "4x86" series. Yes, they are technically the same, based on the same architecture & platform, but 486 came out in 1993? (correct me if I'm wrong), where 5x86, at least Am5x86 by AMD came out in November 1995. Come to think of it, 5x86 introduced after the first batch of Pentiums already came out from Intel. As for the Socket 3 motherboard I'm using, it actually has a copyright logo on the BIOS chip (which I recently removed), and it clearly says "96".

And yes, just as I was about to point out the same, @lexluthermiester's post came though lol. We are talking Pentium era here, NOT "x86" one. So yes, 32MB might be slightly over the top, but there's no way this system could ever handle Win95 & all the games from '96 with only just 8MB of RAM.

Speaking of '96, let's make it official. Remember that other ESS card which just didn't want to install but worked fine in DOS? At this point I honestly don't know which one of the two caused the problem(s), sound card itself OR the motherboard, but I replaced it for genuine Sound Blaster, model Vibra 16 XV.


 



However, this fix didn't resolve the OTHER problem, of random crashing & auto-detecting hardware. In fact, I came to a point where I couldn't complete Win95 installation because the system would just throw random errors at me. Now, here's the bizarre part - don't know which of the following things did the trick, but apparently after swapping out the single 16MB, 72-pin RAM module for 2x 16MB ones (therefore 32MB), switching off disk caching feature in BIOS, and re-formatting the hard drive to FAT16 partition(s), everything finally calmed down ... for now! I even went crazy & added Win95 Plus!, I've made sure that it's chronologically correct and turns out that it is! It was introduced just after the initial W95 version, which makes this one heck of a W95 build, from 1996. With low-end CPU, but it's compensating with everything else to the point where I can play Duke3D, Shadow Warrior and similar! 

And this here is my "x86" family ... minus that other 5x86 which I restored couple of years ago  From left to right, 1 - Intel 4x86 DX2 (66MHz), genuine VLB motherboard 2 - Intel 4x86 DX4 (100MHz), newer PC Chips Socket3 mobo with PCI/ISA 3 - Amd 5x86 (133MHz), newer Lucky GoldStar Socket 3 board with PCI/ISA


----------



## BiggieShady (Apr 29, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> 8MB was considered bare minimum


Many users still used 4 MB and that was more than enough in '93 with win3.11... with Win95 8MB became the norm on paper as recommended spec, but in practice 8MB was indeed bare minimum for usable system under win95


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 29, 2018)

I always put in as much as i could afford or had lying around    same applys  today  both for retro builds or the current build


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> but I replaced it for genuine Sound Blaster, model Vibra 16 XV.


Excellent card BTW. Always found them to be solid as a rock.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 29, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Excellent card BTW. Always found them to be solid as a rock.


Right, thanks! TBH, I was looking for a free solution, I remember people having dozens of ISA cards scattered all over the place, but apparently that's no longer the case. So a quick search revealed this Vibra 16 for $4,90 which is a fair price for what it's worth.

I might still source something better, I was told about a certain AWE64 (Value edition, not the Gold one) one of the guys from another forum offered it to me for free, which was a generous offer by the way. So we shall see, but even if AWE64 doesn't work out, I'm quite happy with Vibra 16 which pretty much doubles as AWE32, at least software-vise. Some of the games (Shadow Warrior, for example) even detected Vibra 16 as AWE32


----------



## Bungz (Apr 29, 2018)

Been looking for a 8K3A for years, then find two at once along with some Nforce buddies.

















Need work but all post which is a good start!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 29, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> If it's any help, my 440BX board currently has 512MB in it.


I had 512MB (2x 128 + 256) also back in the day with my old Asus P2B. 

@Bungz Daaaamn the caps!  Here in Finland we called EpoX as "Epoks!" since "poks" is like "boom" in Finnish.


----------



## debs3759 (Apr 29, 2018)

Just bought this 286-12 system. Working condition is unknown, the seller found it outside in the rain. It will be my first 16-bit system. Only cost £20 shipped from a popular auction site. Sellers photos.

I look forward to testing (and fixing if needed) it, and testing my CPUID code on it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 29, 2018)

debs3759 said:


> Just bought this 286-12 system. Working condition is unknown, the seller found it outside in the rain. It will be my first 16-bit system. Only cost £20 shipped from a popular auction site. Sellers photos.
> 
> I look forward to testing (and fixing if needed) it, and testing my CPUID code on it.


These things are usually bulletproof & otherwise indestructible so I wouldn't be surprised if it actually boots up OK! Someone was just telling me couple of days ago how they had (somewhat) older AM2 mobo, CPU & PSU stored inside the box for couple of years & when they powered it on (for the 1st time since the system was taken apart), everything went up in smoke due to failing caps.

On the other hand, I'm just playing Duke 3D on a 22yr old machine that's been out of service for AT least 15-ish years, if not more! I mean sure - it had its own share of problems & some issues had to be addressed one way or another, but you get the point. These older systems were built like tanks!


----------



## Fouquin (Apr 29, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> Apparently SDRAM 168-pin DIMMS in late 96 started to replace 72-pin SIMMS. That PowerBase in 96 I posted above had SDRAM DIMM slots, two if I remember right.



168-pin gold lead DIMMS popped up in 1995; the first generation P6 based HP Vectra XU 6 (Nov./Dec. 1995) has 168-pin slots but only supports EDO. 72-pin SIMM really only stuck around through '96/'97 in servers and in some cases as a legacy option along side 168-pin.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2018)

Bungz said:


> Need work but all post which is a good start!


Those caps need replacing, but don't just replace the bulging ones, replace them all to be safe.


----------



## Bungz (Apr 29, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those caps need replacing, but don't just replace the bulging ones, replace them all to be safe.



The boards will be fully recapped


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 30, 2018)

Just messing around with software & testing 5x86 system in the process... Had two more crashes during the testing phase, same ones as before but this time around they seem to be triggered by something specific - 1st one occurred as I was trying to set up DOS game "Aladdin", but for some reason the game had a lot of problems with the sound. So while I was trying to force the game into working, it simply rebooted the entire system. 2nd problem occurred as I was scanning the 5.25" floppy disk for bad sectors. No particular reason, I just wanted to make sure that it (still) works. Which it does, but again - this caused the system to crash for whatever the reason is. *shrug* I've been thinking about this & realized that it could be due to PSU - it's just barely working. I even had a situation where I plugged something else into the extension cord (along with 5x86 testing rig) and it crashed the system due to a voltage drop. Sooo yeah, quite possible if you ask me!

Anyhow, enjoy! 



 

 
Shake it baby, wanna dance? (you don't see THIS in modern games, do you?!)



 


Who wants some Wang?



 

 
Let me in ... I'm here to watch Madame's outrageous orations. 



 
Just couple of Win95 games worth pointing out, among dozens of other DOS titles ... Discworld II & Broken Sword. Both of which are working just fine, although they seem to be slowing down during the cutscenes.



 

 

 

 

 
Now here's something you no longer see every day ... those interactive encyclopedias & board games, which are loaded with multimedia content! Movies, sounds, texts, color, they got everything!




And of course, it's being powered by QuickTime... 



 

 

 

 
Just like this Edison's interactive encyclopedia. Again, loads of interactive content, speech & movies, all waiting to be seen & heard 




And AGAIN, QuickTime - this time I only had to upgrade from the previous version, above.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Cybwar Mission Thunder Gun, "BLAST ENEMY FIGHTERS IN THIS ACTION PACKED ADVENTURE GAME"


----------



## Athlonite (Apr 30, 2018)

Oh no the dreaded Quicktime plurk


----------



## dieselcat18 (Apr 30, 2018)

I had 3 of these, sold off 2 and kept this one that's still new and sealed in the box. Thinking of building a retro PC with a nice 939 socket board I have to play older PC games that won't run on W10.
Wish I had kept one of those other 4800+ chips, really don't want to break the seal on this one.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 30, 2018)

To bad I've always had more fun overclocking lesser chips. I had a Athlon 64 X2 4200+ running as fast as the 4800+.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those caps need replacing, but don't just replace the bulging ones, replace them all to be safe.


Agree. When I repaired my little brothers' original Xbox, I've should replaced all. But as my mom didn't give me money*, I used my own, and I just replaced those which were bulking. Well, at least it works now.

* well, she bought me few beers for the caps and work when I brought the console to my parents & bros. 



dieselcat18 said:


> I had 3 of these, sold off 2 and kept this one that's still new and sealed in the box. Thinking of building a retro PC with a nice 939 socket board I have to play older PC games that won't run on W10.
> Wish I had kept one of those other 4800+ chips, really don't want to break the seal on this one.
> 
> 
> View attachment 100373View attachment 100374View attachment 100375View attachment 100376


Damn, I've would liked to get one if you wouldn't live so damn far that the shipping is waaaay more than the CPU price..


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 1, 2018)

So, with all this recent debates on RAM usage & how much memory is enough for a '96 system running W95, I decided to officially investigate things out & talk solid numbers.




What you see here is the screenshot of W95, "system monitor" utility. The value on top shows "CPU usage", and the the lower one "amount of free RAM". According to this, the system idles between 0% and 25% of CPU activity & 10MB of free RAM. Remember, the physical amount of memory is 32MB, which we talked about the other day & agreed that it's too much. However, as soon as I launched Duke3D Atomic, CPU activity went sky high, to 100% and the amount of free RAM dropped all the way down to 0.




So, what's the conclusion? Would 16MB be enough for the job? Probably, maybe. After all, I DID have 16 for a while before I upgraded to 32, and the game was still playable. It took much longer to load, true. And there was NO WAY to run Duke3D in Win95, I had to log off into pure DOS mode, in order to unload W95 stuff from the RAM before I could get the smooth gameplay. Where on the other hand, 32MB does the job perfectly fine even in W95, with all the other stuff that's going on at the same time. Such as system monitoring itself, networking, drivers, default Windows processes, etc. So, after seeing this, I would most definitely have to say that it would be impossible to run this configuration with only just 8MB of RAM. Perhaps to only just START the Win95, yeah. But nothing more.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, with all this recent debates on RAM usage & how much memory is enough for a '96 system running W95, I decided to officially investigate things out & talk solid numbers.


Nice, well done!


Trekkie4 said:


> So, what's the conclusion? Would 16MB be enough for the job? Probably, maybe. After all, I DID have 16 for a while before I upgraded to 32, and the game was still playable. It took much longer to load, true. And there was NO WAY to run Duke3D in Win95, I had to log off into pure DOS mode, in order to unload W95 stuff from the RAM before I could get the smooth gameplay. Where on the other hand, 32MB does the job perfectly fine even in W95, with all the other stuff that's going on at the same time. Such as system monitoring itself, networking, drivers, default Windows processes, etc. So, after seeing this, I would most definitely have to say that it would be impossible to run this configuration with only just 8MB of RAM. Perhaps to only just START the Win95, yeah. But nothing more.


This is why some gamers dropped the cash for 48MB, 64MB or more. They wanted the performance and it was worth it. I wonder how your testing would turn out with 64MB+ in that system... Do you have it to test? Suspect that result would be interesting.


----------



## stinger608 (May 1, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I wonder how you testing would turn out with 64MB+ in that system... Do you have it to test. Suspect that result would be interesting.



I totally agree. It would be an interesting conclusion on that test!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 1, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice, well done!
> 
> This is why some gamers dropped the cash for 48MB, 64MB or more. They wanted the performance and it was worth it. I wonder how your testing would turn out with 64MB+ in that system... Do you have it to test? Suspect that result would be interesting.





stinger608 said:


> I totally agree. It would be an interesting conclusion on that test!


Hmm, good idea but it'll have to wait I'm afraid. I just wrapped things up & disconnected all my testing gear. Overall this was a triumph, I'm making a note here - huge success! It literally is, considering I found (and restored) two rare AT "x86" based systems 

Besides, adding more RAM into 5x86 system is a real PITA. EDO memory banks are located in upper-left corner, just below the PSU box. So in order to add (or remove) the RAM modules, I have to disconnect both the floppy & Primary IDE channel from the motherboard. Not to mention the two PSU leads, this thing is just crazy.




But do remind me about this, down the road, I'd love to do a proper comparison  What I'm guessing is that memory usage would proportionally increase up to a certain point, where the supply would overtake demand, and then you would see a noticeable "Free Memory" increase. In fact, this system might have originally came with 64MB of RAM, as it had all 4 memory banks populated with 72-pin modules.




What I'm guessing is that the former owner upgraded RAM mover time, especially later when EDO technology became cheaper. But with that being said, 64MB of RAM most definitely WOULD be overkill on a 5x86 system, since my Pentium II, 350MHz originally came with the same amount of RAM back in '98, '99 and it ran Win98 (along with 3D accelerated games using Voodoo2) just fine. Again, it could have been faster, but it was more than acceptable, I never even considered buying more RAM, not until I finally upgraded to WinXP in early 2000s 

Update
I'm going through my old pics, and yeah - I was right. It came with 4 memory modules, but since I wasn't getting any feedback from the motherboard, I took out all the RAM, cleaned the banks with contact cleaning solution & replaced two of them back, just to see if it would post or not. And it did, system recognized 32MB of RAM. So with two additional modules, it most probably had 64 total.


----------



## phill (May 1, 2018)

I thought I'd put a post in here, but I'm not sure some of this stuff belongs here..  But I'll post it anyways, as it's my complete collection of stuff I have laying about the house...

Some spares laying about...



Not quite old enough, but out of date already lol


My 'HomeServer'


a few Asus Strix RX480s


My OCF collection...


Some more OCF but also X58..  Must love and respect there!!


Well my Server rack (22u) and my SR-2   Puts a smile on my face regardless of how much power it takes 


Ah, my socket A rig   Abit NF7-S Rev 2...
 

And some more...

Now some 775 and 939 setups...


A few random bits of hardware I have laying about ...  Older GPUs, a sealed 56k modem and a few CPUs..  462, 939, 775, 1156 (I think... i3 550??), a 486 CPU and some Xeon's from my R710 and one's I've bought from China to help with Cancer Crunching, L5640's 


Here's a few from when I quit benching..  A few bits of everything I think...





Such a hardware *^%"" and proud of it   Wishing I hadn't sold quite a bit of the hardware there, but, I still think I've more than I ever should have but I just can't seem to want to sell it or part with it..  Must just be mad then I guess  

I hope these pictures are acceptable..  If anyone deems them not, I'll delete the post so apologises in advance if it is!!  
If not, I hope you enjoy


----------



## stinger608 (May 2, 2018)

Damn @phill , it's a good thing you don't live close to me or there would be a bunch of wet drool all over that ton of hardware man!!!!!!!! 

Some of it probably doesn't belong in this thread, but a ton of it does for sure man!!!!!! 

Thanks for sharing brother!!!!!!


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 2, 2018)

MLG phill?


----------



## Norton (May 2, 2018)

Ya know that post is pretty darn close to pron @phill ... I might have to consider giving you an infraction for it 



phill said:


> Some more OCF but also X58.. Must love and respect there!!


My Asus Rampage III Extreme humbly bows to your Gigabyte X58A-OC 

That board is pretty rare now- only one listed on ebay atm and it's in the UK... for $400 (290 GBP)!!!


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 2, 2018)

phill said:


> I hope these pictures are acceptable..  If anyone deems them not, I'll delete the post so apologies in advance if it is!!  If not, I hope you enjoy


I'd say you're good, just my opinion though. Good grief what a stash!


----------



## phill (May 2, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Damn @phill , it's a good thing you don't live close to me or there would be a bunch of wet drool all over that ton of hardware man!!!!!!!!
> Some of it probably doesn't belong in this thread, but a ton of it does for sure man!!!!!!
> Thanks for sharing brother!!!!!!



You'd be more than welcome to come over!!   I'm make sure a few beers and curry if wanted was available!!   I love my hardware, I think I have issues... 



Mr.Scott said:


> MLG phill?



My apologises @Mr.Scott , I'm unsure what MLG means!!  Too google!! 



Norton said:


> Ya know that post is pretty darn close to pron @phill ... I might have to consider giving you an infraction for it
> My Asus Rampage III Extreme humbly bows to your Gigabyte X58A-OC
> That board is pretty rare now- only one listed on ebay atm and it's in the UK... for $400 (290 GBP)!!!



Well I do try my best   I didn't pay that much for this one Norton, plus it came with a i7 950 as well   I've really got to get it tested and see if it's up and running!!  Oh it did come with a heatsink and fan combo too 



lexluthermiester said:


> I'd say you're good, just my opinion though. Good grief what a stash!



Thanks @lexluthermiester   I like to keep hold of stuff I enjoy..  Trouble is I like to keep too much!! lol


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 2, 2018)

phill said:


> Thanks @lexluthermiester   I like to keep hold of stuff I enjoy..  Trouble is I like to keep too much!! lol



Nah, there's no such thing as too much hardware ... says the guy who stacked more than 40 PC systems in his room  Besides, I'd say you, me, or anyone else here for that matter are nowhere close to @Artex & his famous collection Remember, guys?


----------



## stinger608 (May 3, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'd say you, me, or anyone else here for that matter are nowhere close to @Artex & his famous collection Remember, guys?



Yea, that is the king of nostalgic hardware for sure!!!!! 

Haven't seen Artex around since though.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2018)

phill said:


> My apologises @Mr.Scott , I'm unsure what MLG means!!  Too google!!


It's ok. You answered my question 
You would know if you were who I thought you were.
http://hwbot.org/user/phill_2/


----------



## phill (May 3, 2018)

I'm that person, I'm guessing you mean Midlife Gamers??!  So sorry @Mr.Scott , blonde and slow brain moment!! 



stinger608 said:


> Yea, that is the king of nostalgic hardware for sure!!!!!
> 
> Haven't seen Artex around since though.



That did look amazing but to have everything in boxes and not use it, well I couldn't do that!!   I might need some help finishing off these builds tho guys so.........

@FreedomEclipse  - This is what I'm powering


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2018)

phill said:


> I'm that person, I'm guessing you mean Midlife Gamers??!  So sorry @Mr.Scott , blonde and slow brain moment!!



Haha..I had a feeling. 
You're a good bencher, how come you quit?


----------



## phill (May 4, 2018)

I quit due to money and not getting anywhere really..  I was up in the top 200 of the world and top 10 (top 5 of the UK as people had quit)  but without any help with sponsorship and such I just had to call it a day..  When I bought my 5960X and thought yes I will bench this, then released if it broke I'd have lost all the cash I'd paid for it I was thinking, hang on....!!

The benching was keeping me going through the dark time of my daughter being taken by the ex and all the rubbish that surrounded that.  3 years later, not much has changed on that score but I try gaming instead, it seems to be a little cheaper!!  
Also about 10 months ago I took a job at the company I work for to go into the IT department, so I started at the bottom in first line support.  It's been something that I've wanted for nearly 20 years so I took a massive pay cut and I've gone for it..  Nearly a year on, I don't look back   I had hoped it would have helped with seeing my daughter more often, but until that pink with purple dotted elephant starts flying over my head in the sky, I'm not sure that's ever going to change.. 

But enough about me, are you still benching away @Mr.Scott ??  Is your name the same in Hwbot as well?  Haven't spoke to any of the guys but themaddutchdude from MLG for a long time....  I hope all is ok


----------



## Robert B (May 4, 2018)

I have been really busy: Socket 4 cleaned, 80386DX-40 Cleaned, AWE64 Value Cleaned, Various cards Cleaned, I850 Cleaned, Abit SA6 Cleaned.

The downside to being clean is that fingerprints are visible imediately. I had to wear gloves while I took pictures 

All that remains is the Mighty K7M AssssSSsuuuSSSssss 

I'll have to start posting the stories as there is a lot to get out of my system


----------



## Susquehannock (May 4, 2018)

Here is one for you. When was the last time you saw *Bigfoot*?  
Don't often see working 5.25" HDDs any more.

_Quantum Bigfoot CY - circa 1996._

These were a big deal back in the day. Especially the triple platter 6gb versions like this. Delicate as hell. One small drop and they were toast.

Almost cut this Bigfoot open about 10 years ago when scavenging the rare earth magnets from a stack of dead 3.5" drives. Glad I didn't. It was in my Father's system back in the mid-90s, and is running in my Win98 retro rig currently.



Look at those benchmarks. Average read = 6.1 MB/sec. Burst speed = 8.9 MB/sec (bottom bar)
Oh how far we have come!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2018)

Robert B said:


> I have been really busy: Socket 4 cleaned, 80386DX-40 Cleaned, AWE64 Value Cleaned, Various cards Cleaned, I850 Cleaned, Abit SA6 Cleaned.
> 
> The downside to being clean is that fingerprints are visible imediately. I had to wear gloves while I took pictures
> 
> ...


AWE64? Make that two! 


 



Also got loads of other stuff, including Plextor CD-RW from around early 2000s, yet another CD-RW drive from Teac but with SCSI interface & appropriate PCI controller, and Socket 7 mobo featuring Socket 5 Pentium (non-MMX) CPU @ 133MHz. Yup, just like 5x86, except one gen newer 

Funny though, that V7 Mirage of yours is EXACTLY the same as mine, featured in latest 5x86 build. Except for the memory, I believe mine says "2MB", where I'm assuming yours is 1MB?


----------



## Robert B (May 4, 2018)

Yep 1MB but it is dead. No signal.

My AWE64 value is CT4520.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2018)

Robert B said:


> Yep 1MB but it is dead. No signal.
> 
> My AWE64 value is CT4520.


That's a shame  But then again, better to have a dead Mirage than AWE64 ... these PCI cards are quite often to see (and find), where on the other hand AWE64 is more difficult to replace.


----------



## phill (May 4, 2018)

@Robert B you never seem to amaze me !


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 5, 2018)

phill said:


> But enough about me, are you still benching away @Mr.Scott ??  Is your name the same in Hwbot as well?  Haven't spoke to any of the guys but themaddutchdude from MLG for a long time....  I hope all is ok


Brendon is a good dude. Haven't heard from him since he quit too. I still bench, but I do it for the fun. Points don't mean anything to me.  Warp9-systems is my team and site. Check it out sometime maybe. 
http://warp9-systems.proboards.com/


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2018)

Play-me.mp3


----------



## Athlonite (May 5, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Here is one for you. When was the last time you saw *Bigfoot*?
> Don't often see working 5.25" HDDs any more.
> 
> _Quantum Bigfoot CY - circa 1996._
> ...




I've still got a couple of em that work an 1.2GB hdd and an 1.6GB one aswell


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 5, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Quantum Bigfoot CY - circa 1996.


Those drives were bada$$ back then.


Susquehannock said:


> Oh how far we have come!


Indeed!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2018)

I'm surprised, kinda disappointed no one recognized the musical theme from my previous post...  I know it's being played through PC speaker, but still ... ??! It's a classic! And the fact it's played through that tiny, ear-bleeding speaker makes it even bigger classic IMHO!


----------



## agent_x007 (May 5, 2018)

Checking 32-bit OS/Hardware limits with first Pentium 4 HT CPU (Northwood 3,06GHz on PGA 478) and... Radeon R9 390X 




Valid : https://www.3dmark.com/fs/15471792
Usable system memory : ~3,12GB (3200MB)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 5, 2018)

Just got some parts and more or less did some changes. Bought a pack of boards, some in their respective boxes. Sadly some of them didn't work, and are marked with asterisk:

(*)MSI P45 Platinum
(*)MSI P6N SLi
ABIT IP35 Pro
ABIT IP35 (non-Pro)
MSI P35 Neo2 Platinum -FR
ASUS P5K SE/EPU
DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS
Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L

These are the boards. The DFI and ABIT IP35 Pro didn't come in their respective boxes (the latter came in a MSI Z77 box).

So far you can find the P35 Neo2 and DFI in my sig - former is my 2nd system and latter is my main system. The ABIT IP35 (both of them) are as backup boards along with the Gigabyte and ASUS. Sadly I tried fixing the P45 Platinum but haven't succeeded yet. The P6N Sli has a dead CoreCell chip which prevents the MB from turning on, so I scrapped it (along with a defective K9N SLi).


----------



## phill (May 5, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Brendon is a good dude. Haven't heard from him since he quit too. I still bench, but I do it for the fun. Points don't mean anything to me.  Warp9-systems is my team and site. Check it out sometime maybe.
> http://warp9-systems.proboards.com/



I'll be sure to take a look   Yeah Brend and I keep in touch, been a long time since I've seen him face to face, been even longer till I can get to see him too!   Still never mind..  Be worth seeing him when I can make it over there !!



Trekkie4 said:


> I'm surprised, kinda disappointed no one recognized the musical theme from my previous post...  I know it's being played through PC speaker, but still ... ??! It's a classic! And the fact it's played through that tiny, ear-bleeding speaker makes it even bigger classic IMHO!



I still have that game for the Amiga..  Was one of my most favourite games ever!!  That said I wonder if number 2 was better.... 

Well I've had a disappointing day today guys..  MY X58-OC is in need of a replacement CPU socket..  I've hooked it up to one of my new PSUs and couldn't get a post and the rig would just instantly shut down..  I took off the cooler and took out the CPU and found this...



So I'd been prodding around in there and managed to get it working but with only 2 out of the 6 memory slots working.  Sadly me being me I wanted to try and get more of it working which had only lead to more of it not working..  I'm not sure if a CPU socket can be swapped out but I'm already writing it off as a dead board..  Good way to waste £160 I suppose on a good paper weight..  People lesson is, always check your Ebay purchases as soon as possible..  I remember unboxing it and looking at it (from the pics I've taken and saved) but I never checked the CPU socket..  What a numpty....  Still, if anyone knows of someone or even if Gigabyte might swap it out for me, I'd be dead excited to hear from you..  There's a few on Ebay and one finishing tomorrow, so I'll be grabbing that one I think..  Not what I had in mind but I'm not going to have something here that's dead and of no use to me..  I might even message the guy who I bought the board from and let him know that it's not working..  Still not sure he'll care to much right now....


----------



## debs3759 (May 6, 2018)

Just got a SB16 CT2230 Revision 49432 (the last and best revision). Need to find a CT1748A chip to fit in the socket. It looks a lot better than the photo 

This will be going in the 486 build I'm working on, with Win 95 OSR 2.1


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## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2018)

phill said:


> I'll be sure to take a look   Yeah Brend and I keep in touch, been a long time since I've seen him face to face, been even longer till I can get to see him too!   Still never mind..  Be worth seeing him when I can make it over there !!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Never played Lotus II, so I can't speak from personal experience, but I absolutely adored III. Used to play it ALL the time, before I eventually moved on to newer games such as "Stunts", and eventually to Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit. So I can't tell you how much I missed seeing (and playing) this game, which is always going to have a special place in my heart  And regardless of amazing AWE32 that's inside my 486, I say f*ck the Sound Blaster! The ONLY proper way to play this game is through the integrated PC speaker 



debs3759 said:


> Just got a SB16 CT2230 Revision 49432 (the last and best revision). Need to find a CT1748A chip to fit in the socket. It looks a lot better than the photo
> 
> This will be going in the 486 build I'm working on, with Win 95 OSR 2.1


Welcome to the 4x86 family  Yes, that SB16 is almost the same as mine, and will be a perfect match. Again, I really DO love my AWE32, but I find it to be overkill on a 4x86 system. 5x86 maybe, but 4x86 is just a perfect match for SB16. Too bad mine has a MIDI issue, but I've decided to keep the card & (hopefully) use it on a Windows (Pentium?) system, that's not going to run any of the DOS games, featuring MIDI soundtrack(s).

Just one question - why Win95?! Surely 3.11 & MS-DOS 6.22 would be more appropriate for this particular build.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm surprised, kinda disappointed no one recognized the musical theme from my previous post...  I know it's being played through PC speaker, but still ... ??! It's a classic! And the fact it's played through that tiny, ear-bleeding speaker makes it even bigger classic IMHO!


Never played the Lotus series..


agent_x007 said:


> Checking 32-bit OS/Hardware limits with first Pentium 4 HT CPU (Northwood 3,06GHz on PGA 478) and... Radeon R9 390X
> View attachment 100618
> Valid : https://www.3dmark.com/fs/15471792
> Usable system memory : ~3,12GB (3200MB)


WITHFHB?


----------



## agent_x007 (May 6, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> WITHFHB?


?
What "WITHFHB" means ?


----------



## phill (May 6, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Never played Lotus II, so I can't speak from personal experience, but I absolutely adored III. Used to play it ALL the time, before I eventually moved on to newer games such as "Stunts", and eventually to Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit. So I can't tell you how much I missed seeing (and playing) this game, which is always going to have a special place in my heart  And regardless of amazing AWE32 that's inside my 486, I say f*ck the Sound Blaster! The ONLY proper way to play this game is through the integrated PC speaker



Lotus 2 just didn't have the selectable music or the choice of cars that Lotus 3 did or could you make your own tracks but that said, still had a great time playing both   I have them on my Amiga upstairs, brilliant games, they really were


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> ?
> What "WITHFHB" means ?


See PM. How did you pull that off? Wasn't aware that anyone ever made a Socket 478 based board with a PCIE..


----------



## agent_x007 (May 6, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> How did you pull that off? Wasn't aware that anyone ever made a Socket 478 based board with a PCIE..


The same way I booted NVMe drive from it 
Actually, there is quite a few PGA 478 boards with PCIe slots around : LINK.

As for 390X, I simply went with the flow.
PCI-e is PCI-e, and Intel chipset have best compatibility on it.
Wasn't sure how to fill a 4GB VRAM when I only have a little over 3GB of system RAM on hand.
I'm glad I got Advanced version of 3DMark while it was on sale 
In custom mode, you can set even 8k as rendering resolution, and resolution "eats" only VRAM.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Actually, there are quite a few of them : LINK.


Wow! Rare stuff. I miss Albatron. They always made such wonderfully stable boards. Last I remember seeing from them was a solid 478 board, then they just dropped off the planet. Never found out why..


----------



## debs3759 (May 6, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Welcome to the 4x86 family  Yes, that SB16 is almost the same as mine, and will be a perfect match. Again, I really DO love my AWE32, but I find it to be overkill on a 4x86 system. 5x86 maybe, but 4x86 is just a perfect match for SB16. Too bad mine has a MIDI issue, but I've decided to keep the card & (hopefully) use it on a Windows (Pentium?) system, that's not going to run any of the DOS games, featuring MIDI soundtrack(s).
> 
> Just one question - why Win95?! Surely 3.11 & MS-DOS 6.22 would be more appropriate for this particular build.



I hope eventually to dual boot DOS (with Win 3.11) and Win 95. The system will be used to test (and bench) all my 486 class CPUs. Once all are tested, the system will be used with my fastest 486 (probably an AMD 5x86 P75) for testing VLB graphics cards.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Never played the Lotus series..
> 
> WITHFHB?


Aww, too bad  Your loss, the game was (is) awesome, one of the best racing simulators from that period IMHO. Come to think of it, the ONLY game which allowed creating your own tracks (well, kinda), very detailed graphics (for 1992, 1993, that is) and probably the coolest soundtrack ever! It also has audio (sound) hardware switching through the game itself.  Therefore, you don't need to exit the game & enter the setup mode, in order to switch from PC Speaker mode to SB. Instead, you just opened up the appropriate "window" within the game & set your choice to whichever you prefer 







phill said:


> Lotus 2 just didn't have the selectable music or the choice of cars that Lotus 3 did or could you make your own tracks but that said, still had a great time playing both   I have them on my Amiga upstairs, brilliant games, they really were


Never played Amiga before, my first gaming experience was 486, DX2 - same as the one that I've just made recently. Okay, except mine didn't have AWE32, and/or "Multimedia Package*" right out of the box, that came few years later.

*For those who don't remember, Multimedia Package = Sound Blaster, CD-ROM drive & desktop speakers, usually with built-in amplifier (aka active speakers)



debs3759 said:


> I hope eventually to dual boot DOS (with Win 3.11) and Win 95. The system will be used to test (and bench) all my 486 class CPUs. Once all are tested, the system will be used with my fastest 486 (probably an AMD 5x86 P75) for testing VLB graphics cards.


Oh, Ok. Yeah, agreed. 5x86 is more suited for Win95, I've done the same thing on my own build. With the exception of modifying Config.SYS/Autoexec.BAT, so that I could take advantage of both DOS & Win95 to their full potential - EMS, CD-ROM, Mouse driver & similar. Actually, I also modified DOSStart.BAT, in "Windows" folder. If you want/need me to share the config with you, let me know


----------



## phill (May 6, 2018)

Ah you need to try it on the Amiga   Sound was even better I think at that time   I might actually have to go and turn that on....


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2018)

Right, I only just found out about that, yesterday  That YouTube video, featuring the musical theme was taken from Amiga version, and the sound quality is indeed much better, smoother than PC version!


----------



## phill (May 6, 2018)

I think at that point of the 486 etc, the Amiga was the much better bit of kit..  Remember writing something in college saying the same thing lol  

I would very much recommend getting it


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 6, 2018)

So I've finally finished building Croix. I replaced the MSI board with the vanilla IP35 I mentioned earlier from ABIT, and it's looking pretty good. Just need a new GPU though, since the 7300 gives some artefacts. Should have a GB 8400GS 256MB coming through this week. The MSI board had a problem where as soon as I'd flip the switch it would turn on and proceed with POST, should look more into it sometime.

Specs:
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66GHz
MB - ABIT IP35 (M630)
RAM - 1GB DDR2 800 Kingmax
PSU - 500W I built myself with various parts and recapped
GPU - ASUS 7300GT Silent (artefacts tho, gotta replace it)
Case - JNC w/ Temperature sensors (bigger than the previous one)
ODD: 2x Hitachi-LG DVDRW, one GSA-4167B and the other is a GSA-H58N
HDD: Hitachi 160GB SATA + WDC WD1600AVJS 160GB SATA (storage) and 80GB Hitachi laptop drive as boot drive
Other: Pixelview PlayTV Ultra (CX23881 chipset) PCI


----------



## Robert B (May 8, 2018)

*ALL DONE!*


----------



## phill (May 8, 2018)

Did you buy these new @Robert B ??   Wow...


----------



## Robert B (May 8, 2018)

They werent new. I bought them from the flea market on 10.03.2018  I cleaned them up and look at them  Uhhhh SHINY! 

To clean the board it took:

1. 800 ml isopropyl alcohol
2. lots lots and lots of cotton sticks.
3. soft long hairs brush
4. soft used toothbrush with the head bent using a lighter so that I could enter tiny spaces.
6. metal polish paste for the screws and other metal parts
7. patience and elbow grease
8. the whole job took 3 cycles of washing with isopropyl alcohol 99% even if by the second cycle it was really clean. Brush using alcohol-Dry-Cotton sticks dipped in alcohol-Dry-Brush using alcohol-Dry-cotton sticks dipped in alcohol-brush etc. I let the alcohol evaporate as now the weather is nice. Otherwise I could've used my small air compressor.
9. attention to detail and removal of any spots, dirt and other blemishes using dry or lightly moist cotton sticks with isopropyl alcohol.
10. 5-6 hours including the drying time

I also took off the retaining clips and jumpers. I didnt take of the BIOS chip this time as the position was awkward. The area was cleaned well nevertheless. I can assure you 

The alcohol was sprayed.

After cleaning I used gloves to handle the board. It is a magnet for finger prints, dust, hairs etc.


----------



## phill (May 8, 2018)

I take it a can of air duster and a brush would have made it so shiney??  :lol:  Very impressed by this thread, I love it!!


----------



## Robert B (May 8, 2018)

Who knows  with just a brush and air duster your mileage might vary  The problem is the adherent grime.


----------



## phill (May 8, 2018)

What do people do with hardware that makes them so dirty?!?  I figure a dust off and your good to go??  

I did find something else I would like to share with you guys 












I kinda hope you like this


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## Athlonite (May 9, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *ALL DONE!*



WOW they look like actually they look better than new great work


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## GreiverBlade (May 9, 2018)

phill said:


> What do people do with hardware that makes them so dirty?!?  I figure a dust off and your good to go??
> 
> I did find something else I would like to share with you guys
> 
> ...


ARGH!, i am an Hercule collector, i have the 9700 of that line plus a PowerVR 4000XT, 4500 and GeForce 2 GTS, unfortunately i only have the 9700 box 

nice one!

edit, i should have, also, a Hercule Gamesurround Fortissimo II somewhere (still had the box before my last home moving ... but i am not sure since i can't find it  )

edit the 2nd.... dang i need that one ...


----------



## phill (May 9, 2018)

I'm keen to collect things but the amount of things I've sold and then rebought because I didn't want to sell them is a bloody nightmare!!  I've come to the conclusion that I'm not going to sell any hardware I buy ever lol  

Should never have sold those 5870's and 5970's as well..  And the 4870 X2 with block and oh the list goes on!! lol

Well as I'm late to bed anyways, I finally got something that was as it was described on the tin...  Here we go!! 























I've got my eye on another board next but I'm trying to be verry good.. Why does everything have to come at the most wrong time possible??!  Speaking of which, it's now 1:30am and gone, I'm up for 6:30am so I'm going to get to bed before it become a waste of time going to bed!! lol 
Reminds me, I'll have to have a look at that right hand side test station in that last pic...  Damn OCD.....


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 10, 2018)

Y'all remember when GPUs (and sometimes motherboards too) had girls drawn either on the GPU heatsink and on the box?

Well, I did the same for my ABIT IP35


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## Trekkie4 (May 10, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Y'all remember when GPUs (and sometimes motherboards too) had girls drawn either on the GPU heatsink and on the box?
> 
> Well, I did the same for my ABIT IP35





...


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2018)

phill said:


> What do people do with hardware that makes them so dirty?!?  I figure a dust off and your good to go??
> 
> I did find something else I would like to share with you guys
> 
> ...


That was such an awesome card!


----------



## dieselcat18 (May 11, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Y'all remember when GPUs (and sometimes motherboards too) had girls drawn either on the GPU heatsink and on the box?
> 
> Well, I did the same for my ABIT IP35


----------



## Norton (May 11, 2018)

Be careful with those GB X58A-OC boards @phill they can supposedly push up to 1200w into a cpu…. i.e. quite capable of killing any cpu w/o breaking a sweat! 

Check out the review here:
http://www.overclockers.com/gigabyte-x58aoc-motherboard-review-overclockers-overclockers/


----------



## phill (May 11, 2018)

I saw on the back of the box @Norton , 1500w!!  Amazing  

I need to get the original board fixed, but at least 1 out of 2 isn't bad


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 11, 2018)

dieselcat18 said:


> View attachment 100858View attachment 100859


I HAVE IT! minus the box  .... again ...


----------



## DR4G00N (May 11, 2018)

Norton said:


> Be careful with those GB X58A-OC boards @phill they can supposedly push up to 1200w into a cpu…. i.e. quite capable of killing any cpu w/o breaking a sweat!
> 
> Check out the review here:
> http://www.overclockers.com/gigabyte-x58aoc-motherboard-review-overclockers-overclockers/


"Supposedly" is the key word right there.

Typically you'll be looking at a realistic maximum continuous output of 540W @ 1.5V (30A per phase * 12 phase * 1.5V). ~720W as a nominal maximum @ 2.0V output.
Either way it's still _plenty_ of power for any lga1366 chip.

I believe the "1500W" was derived from the fact that the MOSFET's will provide an output of 5V for specific applications. 25A per phase * 12 phase *5V = 1500W.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 11, 2018)

A desktop shot since I've finally got the S-Video part to work.




Now to move on to sound cables. Also I tried to upload some internal shots from my phone but for some reason the "Attach files" button does absolutely nothing, and this was from the app I got on Play Store.

Dualbooting XP and 7 - thought of doing a triple boot between XP, Vista and 7 but in the end I'm going to leave the WD for files and the two Hitachis as boot drives.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 12, 2018)

phill said:


> I need to get the original board fixed


What's wrong with it?


----------



## phill (May 12, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> What's wrong with it?



Damaged socket   The seller from Ebay forgot to mention that the socket was missing pins and some had become bent and damaged...  My own fault for not checking it when I received it through and sadly Gigabyte won't help as people had said, so just hoping I can find somewhere in the UK which can fix it for me...


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2018)

Strictly speaking, this isn't old hardware related, but it's close enough in my opinion 

Remember when Grand Theft Auto III first came out, in 2002? Ever since the game release, people had been messing around with files & engine itself, modding the heck out of the game. First they've introduced individual vehicle (and texture) mods for GTA3 and (soon after) Vice City, which eventually led to so called total-conversion mods (quite popular phrase from back in a day) which were basically just your standard modpack with pre-installed mods, replacing all (or at least most) aspects of the game in one go, instead of doing it individually.

One of the most popular "Total Conversions" for GTA3, and also the first one to exist was "RealGTA3", first introduced on May 24th, 2003 which now makes it 15 years old!! Well, almost - it'll be officially 15yrs in 12 days from now  But anyhow, what makes this modpack so interesting is the age itself, another era from when it was first officially released to public. Simply by driving around the Libery City you can find some pretty cool ads & posters, mainly referring to the movies, company brands & products from around early 2000s .... especially hardware components & PC games  Enjoy!


----------



## phill (May 12, 2018)

I remember this game being the turning point in my PC building..  I remember thinking that an Antivirus would help speed up the game..  Oh how I laugh now... lol 

Still a great game   Think I should go play it some more


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2018)

phill said:


> I remember this game being the turning point in my PC building..  I remember thinking that an Antivirus would help speed up the game..  Oh how I laugh now... lol
> 
> Still a great game   Think I should go play it some more


The game itself aged pretty decently, but having the actual mod, RealGTA3 modpack is just cherry on top if you ask me. Basically screams "old-school", and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels that way, since the mod is unusually active (and popular) even today! In fact, I got RGTA3 installed, myself except I've additionally modded the game, mostly just adding new stuff & vehicles, something that wasn't possible (without hacking the EXE) back in a day due to game's internal limits.

Definitely check out the official website for more info, pics & download links, the guy even considered to make a special "Mobile/aka 10th anniversary edition" version, but I'm guessing he gave it up. Nevertheless, it's still out there & all the links are still very much active & up to date


----------



## phill (May 12, 2018)

It was one of the first games that made me get into that style of games, ever since then Saints Row and GTA have always been a bloody big part of my gaming life   More so Saints Row I think because its just stupid and daft lol  

I think I'm just going to have to start playing that tonight lol  It's not like I have any excuses not to, but I've been on eBay tonight and so far, it's really not gone well!! lol


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 12, 2018)

phill said:


> It was one of the first games that made me get into that style of games, ever since then Saints Row and GTA have always been a bloody big part of my gaming life   More so Saints Row I think because its just stupid and daft lol
> 
> I think I'm just going to have to start playing that tonight lol  It's not like I have any excuses not to, but I've been on eBay tonight and so far, it's really not gone well!! lol


Oh, I'm way ahead of you on that lol. My first was "Grand Theft Auto", I remember playing it in school on one of the systems they've got ... in software mode, obviously  But then I got GTA2 on my Voodoo2-powered Pentium II & absolutely loved it! Still remember the cheats lol, GOURANGA, VOLTFEST, FLAMEON, EATSOUP, CUTIE1 & MADEMAN, all downloaded from the website "Avault.com" (Adrenaline Vault?) ... sadly, the website now seems to be closed 

Edit
Yes, Adrenaline Vault... The website apparently went down recently, but I found old articles & reviews through WayBackMachine 
For example... 3Dfx Interactive Dominates U.S. Retail Market

Edit2
Need for Speed 2 PC Review (May 11, 1997)
Need for Speed 2 SE PC Review (Nov 11, 1997)
Carmageddon PC Review (Aug 23, 1997)
Carmageddon Splat Pack PC Review (Mar 2, 1998)
Broken Sword (II): The Smoking Mirror (Oct 14, 1997)
Microsoft Flight Simulator '98 PC Review (Oct 13, 1997)
Quake 2 PC Review (Dec 9, 1997)
Tomb Raider 2 PC Review (Dec 28, 1997)
Microsoft Monster Truck Madness 2 PC Review (Jun 2, 1998)
Need for Speed 3 PC Review (Oct 16, 1998)
Half-Life PC Review (Dec 4, 1998)
Tomb Raider 3 PC Review (Dec 18, 1998)
Test Drive 5 PC Review (Dec 15, 1998)
Speed Busters PC Review (Dec 16, 1998)
Sim City 3000 PC Review (Mar 12, 1999)
Microsoft Midtown Madness PC Review (May 28, 1999)
Need for Speed High Stakes PC Review (Jul 19, 1999)


----------



## stinger608 (May 13, 2018)

Wow @Trekkie4 them are some amazing ole reviews and articles man!!!!!!!


----------



## phill (May 13, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh, I'm way ahead of you on that lol. My first was "Grand Theft Auto", I remember playing it in school on one of the systems they've got ... in software mode, obviously  But then I got GTA2 on my Voodoo2-powered Pentium II & absolutely loved it! Still remember the cheats lol, GOURANGA, VOLTFEST, FLAMEON, EATSOUP, CUTIE1 & MADEMAN, all downloaded from the website "Avault.com" (Adrenaline Vault?) ... sadly, the website now seems to be closed



I was gaming a little bit before that but I always remember GTA 3 was the game taught me, if it's not running fast enough, that's probably because you need faster hardware  (I'm such a numpty at times!!) So I went from a Geforce 3 Ti 200 I think, to a Geforce 4 Ti 4200..  Or it might have been a Ti 4600 I forget which! lol


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 13, 2018)

phill said:


> I was gaming a little bit before that but I always remember GTA 3 was the game taught me, if it's not running fast enough, that's probably because you need faster hardware  (I'm such a numpty at times!!) So I went from a Geforce 3 Ti 200 I think, to a Geforce 4 Ti 4200..  Or it might have been a Ti 4600 I forget which! lol


Both GeForce3 Ti and GF4 Ti are overkill for GTAIII & Vice City. From what I remember, the game ran perfectly OK even on a TNT2 Pro/Ultra systems, not to mention much cheaper GF2 MX cards. 4200/4600 Titanium was actually capable of "pulling" San Andreas, which came out several years after GTAIII (in 2005)

So, if you had a lag or slower gameplay with either one of these, it was probably due to something else ... most likely the RAM or CPU power. I remember messing around with both III and Vice on an old Duron 750 system, first retro system (apart from my own, Pentium II) to pick up back in 2006, 2007 I think? That's how it all started lol  Don't remember the amount of RAM, but it had a Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead video card. And while GTA3 ran perfectly OK, Vice was showing unusual white strips, thin vertical lines across the screen. At first I thought it was due to CPU (recommended for Vice is 800MHz and above) where my Duron only had 750. But no, it was due to drivers & choice of video card apparently. Still got the system here in case you're wondering, more-less intact & identical to what it used to be back then


----------



## phill (May 13, 2018)

If I remember rightly I was using some AMD XP 2000 CPUs or something near to that, I remember having the XP-M CPUs and they used to overclock like crazy!!  I've got to go now and dig out some pics!! lol


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 13, 2018)

phill said:


> If I remember rightly I was using some AMD XP 2000 CPUs or something near to that, I remember having the XP-M CPUs and they used to overclock like crazy!!  I've got to go now and dig out some pics!! lol


Hmmm... Once again, more than enough power to run GTAIII. Wonder what caused the lag?


----------



## phill (May 13, 2018)

Ah...  I remember getting into PC's about the 1998 mark, my Amiga 1200 that I had was upgraded to PPC 603e+ with a BlizzardVision PPC and it was a monster..  The shame of it was when I had sent it away to get upgraded they didn't upgrade the PSU in it at all and the bodge that came back tripped the house out and then killed everything :'(  I was in pieces having just spent £1600 on it to get it done..  God I loved that system..  I still have a few Amiga's here to this day but nothing spec'd even close to that...  What I got back from the company after claiming through the house insurance was sold off and I got into PC's..  God I wish I could find something similar like it today, if I had the cash, I'd have bought it in a flash..  But that said, I'm wanting to grab myself a Amiga 4000T, if I can find one upgraded, I'm going for it... 



Trekkie4 said:


> Hmmm... Once again, more than enough power to run GTAIII. Wonder what caused the lag?



Probably the Norton Antivirus!! 

EDIT - 

Just found these few pics as well 







I have had far too much hardware over the years!! lol


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 13, 2018)

phill said:


> View attachment 100950View attachment 100951View attachment 100952View attachment 100953View attachment 100954View attachment 100955
> 
> Ah...  I remember getting into PC's about the 1998 mark, my Amiga 1200 that I had was upgraded to PPC 603e+ with a BlizzardVision PPC and it was a monster..  The shame of it was when I had sent it away to get upgraded they didn't upgrade the PSU in it at all and the bodge that came back tripped the house out and then killed everything :'(  I was in pieces having just spent £1600 on it to get it done..  God I loved that system..  I still have a few Amiga's here to this day but nothing spec'd even close to that...  What I got back from the company after claiming through the house insurance was sold off and I got into PC's..  God I wish I could find something similar like it today, if I had the cash, I'd have bought it in a flash..  But that said, I'm wanting to grab myself a Amiga 4000T, if I can find one upgraded, I'm going for it...
> 
> ...


OMG, they've killed Kenny! You bastards!! 

Seriously though, nice rig(s)! Especially the keyboard, reminds me of my own BTC keyboard from 1998, 1999 & Pentium II machine, while it still had the original case  Which (I'm sorry to say) replaced for much cheaper, generic one in 2006 because I thought the old one was too banged up & noisy. And it was ... but it was also highly unique!















Edit


 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Same system today




Edit2
I take it that AC "5NV Silencer" GPU cooler is aftermarket mod?


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 13, 2018)

You have some very nice vintage hardware phill. I have alot of the same.
Currently on my test bench is TH7 Raid and GF3 ti500.


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## phill (May 13, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> OMG, they've killed Kenny! You bastards!!
> 
> Seriously though, nice rig(s)! Especially the keyboard, reminds me of my own BTC keyboard from 1998, 1999 & Pentium II machine, while it still had the original case  Which (I'm sorry to say) replaced for much cheaper, generic one in 2006 because I thought the old one was too banged up & noisy. And it was ... but it was also highly unique!
> 
> ...



I believe so, it came with the card, I believe it was an eBay buy, wished I had kept hold of it all really but there's so much stuff I'd have no where to put it!



Mr.Scott said:


> You have some very nice vintage hardware phill. I have alot of the same.
> Currently on my test bench is TH7 Raid and GF3 ti500.



They are just pictures of the kit I used to have, I have some of the hardware but I'm over run with it at the moment!  My PC room is fulling up and there's no way I'm going to be able to afford a house extension or a bigger house at this rate lol !!

Here's one pic of some graphics cards I was very happy to have taken 








Wish I never sold the Rampage but the EVGA 759 I have still


----------



## DR4G00N (May 13, 2018)

I'm going to say that the FB-DIMM's I bought with my D5400XS won't be showing up since it's been over a month.  
The board seems to work okay though from what I can tell. I ordered some more, Genuine IBM Elpida 2x1GB PC2-5300F kit. Hopefully I get these ones. 

The same seller had a set of 2x512MB Buffalo Firestix PC2-8000 CL5 for sale too so I snapped them up as well. Should be Micron D9GKX on them. Already have a few nice kit's of Crucial Ballistix D9's but having more D9 never hurts.


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## Apocalypsee (May 14, 2018)

Yeah GTAIII are pretty easy on the hardware. I got it running on very slow 66MHz FSB Celeron 600MHz with intel i810 IGP abeit at very slow framerate (It was Dell Optiplex GX100 without AGP slot). So slow in fact I can admire the exhaust fumes coming out when accelerating. It might sounds funny but 3D was big thing back then and a huge jump from GTA2 which I played massively before.


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## Trekkie4 (May 14, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Yeah GTAIII are pretty easy on the hardware. I got it running on very slow 66MHz FSB Celeron 600MHz with intel i810 IGP abeit at very slow framerate (It was Dell Optiplex GX100 without AGP slot). So slow in fact I can admire the exhaust fumes coming out when accelerating. It might sounds funny but 3D was big thing back then and a huge jump from GTA2 which I played massively before.


Right, I got two GX110 myself (both "PizzaBox" Desktop & Tower models), but to tell you the truth, I never really tried to run GTA3 on those two  It's kinda funny actually (especially because of your avatar), since the tower GX110 came with Max Payne CD inside the NEC CD-ROM drive lol. Not original, it was just a standard Traxdata, home-made copy but I've decided to keep it afterwards & gave Max Payne a try since I never played the game before!

And yes, seeing Kuruma parked on the Callahan bridge during the opening cutscene was just breathtaking. I actually remember my initial thought from back in a day, I was absolutely sure that I'm (still) seeing cutscene and that (once the actual gameplay takes over) the camera would go back up, "topdown" mode like it did in both GTA, GTA London & GTA2  TBH, this is probably why Kuruma is my favorite car in GTA3...


----------



## phill (May 14, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> I'm going to say that the FB-DIMM's I bought with my D5400XS won't be showing up since it's been over a month.
> The board seems to work okay though from what I can tell. I ordered some more, Genuine IBM Elpida 2x1GB PC2-5300F kit. Hopefully I get these ones.
> 
> The same seller had a set of 2x512MB Buffalo Firestix PC2-8000 CL5 for sale too so I snapped them up as well. Should be Micron D9GKX on them. Already have a few nice kit's of Crucial Ballistix D9's but having more D9 never hurts.



I think I remember the stuff..  I used to have some Crucial ram, PC5300, used to clock like a crazy man, went to 1066Mhz without any issue!!  Wish I had some of that but then I don't have any DDR2 systems I don't think so best not go down that route!!  Please let us know how it goes??!



Apocalypsee said:


> Yeah GTAIII are pretty easy on the hardware. I got it running on very slow 66MHz FSB Celeron 600MHz with intel i810 IGP abeit at very slow framerate (It was Dell Optiplex GX100 without AGP slot). So slow in fact I can admire the exhaust fumes coming out when accelerating. It might sounds funny but 3D was big thing back then and a huge jump from GTA2 which I played massively before.





Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I got two GX110 myself (both "PizzaBox" Desktop & Tower models), but to tell you the truth, I never really tried to run GTA3 on those two  It's kinda funny actually (especially because of your avatar), since the tower GX110 came with Max Payne CD inside the NEC CD-ROM drive lol. Not original, it was just a standard Traxdata, home-made copy but I've decided to keep it afterwards & gave Max Payne a try since I never played the game before!
> 
> And yes, seeing Kuruma parked on the Callahan bridge during the opening cutscene was just breathtaking. I actually remember my initial thought from back in a day, I was absolutely sure that I'm (still) seeing cutscene and that (once the actual gameplay takes over) the camera would go back up, "topdown" mode like it did in both GTA, GTA London & GTA2  TBH, this is probably why Kuruma is my favorite car in GTA3...



I think I've got to see if I can get a small PC together and get GTA running on it with XP or something..  All this talk of retro games, it needs a retro system for it to run on!!


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 14, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I got two GX110 myself (both "PizzaBox" Desktop & Tower models), but to tell you the truth, I never really tried to run GTA3 on those two  It's kinda funny actually (especially because of your avatar), since the tower GX110 came with Max Payne CD inside the NEC CD-ROM drive lol. Not original, it was just a standard Traxdata, home-made copy but I've decided to keep it afterwards & gave Max Payne a try since I never played the game before!
> 
> And yes, seeing Kuruma parked on the Callahan bridge during the opening cutscene was just breathtaking. I actually remember my initial thought from back in a day, I was absolutely sure that I'm (still) seeing cutscene and that (once the actual gameplay takes over) the camera would go back up, "topdown" mode like it did in both GTA, GTA London & GTA2  TBH, this is probably why Kuruma is my favorite car in GTA3...


Haha that's really unexpected with cracked copy of Max Payne  I kinda miss the GX100 because it's the 'proper' early PC for me since my original PC was Pentium 166MHz non MMX. Some stories about my early PC on spoiler if you wanted to read further 



Spoiler



I tried to run Red Alert 2 on it and it doesn't go well. Took 15 minutes to load a level and another 5 minutes just to build power plant Harddisk was too small to install it and need to compress it so that's the major reason for the slowdown. The GX100 seems like a speed demon compared to it. 

The i810 graphics is unique since it have dedicated framebuffer (I remember there is a couple of RAM chips besides the northbridge) but can't remember how much. The Intel driver is a major letdown. I remember to properly play Return To Castle Wofenstein I need to load one specific level (where you get the elusive 'Snooper' rifle and play stealth entire level) in that level there is one tunnel that I need to run through and turn left to the exit for the texture to load properly. If not the entire game is just white texture. So everytime I wanted to play it I need to load this section first . Other Quake3 engine title like Medal of Honor Allied Assault don't exhibit this problem though



You nailed it. That opening scene is very nostalgic. The green Kuruma and when you enter the car the radio turns on and starts with' This is head radio...' near the end of the radio intro people saying 'thank you' it feels like the devs thanking me instead. A proper way to start a game IMO.


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## Trekkie4 (May 14, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Haha that's really unexpected with cracked copy of Max Payne  I kinda miss the GX100 because it's the 'proper' early PC for me since my original PC was Pentium 166MHz non MMX. Some stories about my early PC on spoiler if you wanted to read further
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, exactly. When I was given the 1st GX110, I kept thinking (and expecting) the onboard graphics to be a bunch of crap, just like most of the other "all in one" systems from around the same time. You know, just enough power to run Win98 in 1024x768 mode with 32bit color, but without 3D acceleration support. So instead of trying the onboard chip, I immediately picked up a PCI TNT2 M64 card to provide me with 3D environment. In fact, I still have that same setup inside Desktop (Pizza Box) GX110 today.

2 or 3 years later, one of the guys from the local forum asked me if I'd want to take a free GX110, this time tower case design because he was ready to throw it out into the bin. Apparently because he wasn't using it any longer, and also because the old hard drive, Quantum Fireball was shot & wasn't showing any signs of life. This is the system which had a copy of Max Payne inside, I even messaged the guy afterwards & asked him if he wants the CD back, but he told me to keep it  However, I couldn't find a PCI card for this other GX110, so I took one of the spare Voodoo2 cards I've had laying around & put it inside GX110. Obviously, it was working just fine, but when I tried to do a benchmark test in 3DMark 99, comparing single Voodoo2 (12mb) against the onboard video chip I've ended up with almost the same results. Okay, so the 3dfx card was just barely faster in some areas, but they were almost equal. Certainly not something I would expect to see (and find) inside Dell system from back in a day, especially since most of these units were made for corporate usage, offices, banks & similar. In fact, I'm planning to take the Voodoo2 out eventually & put it inside other, dedicated Voodoo2 system because having the Voodoo2 inside Optiplex GX110 is just a waste of resources IMHO.

And guys, I had the unexpected score today! I'll be honest, none of the 3 key components shown in the pictures below are in good condition (in fact, some of them are in really, REALLY bad & sorry state), but with that being said, they MIGHT still work OK, IDK.

Starting with Quantum's Bigfoot drive, appears to be 2nd "CY" series product line. Yes, it's really that rusty on the outside, and the PCB board seems to be in pretty bad state, but with that being said I'm going to hook it up next time I get the chance & see if it boots up! Fingers crossed ... I don't even know the capacity of this thing!


 

Followed by this lovely S370 VIA C3 processor. You might have noticed that it's missing couple of letters, right? That's because some idiot (and I repeat, IDIOT) glued one of those tiny, small GPU heatsinks across the CPU, to cool it down. You know, like the ones on nVidia M64 & Vanta cards... This thing melted to the heatsink, so when I pulled the heatsink off the CPU, it tore off the letters from the heat spreader! Guess I'm lucky it didn't tore off the entire CPU, exposing the chip underneath  Sooo, once again I have NO IDEA if it works or not. It came from a non-working system, with blown PSU & bulging motherboard, which is never a good sign to begin with! I know you can't read the specs, but this model appears to be VIA C3 1.0AGHz, in 100 x 10.0 configuration. I would appreciate more info on this chip here, is it compatible with ALL standard S370 boards, or does it require a "special" one?  And what about the voltages, does it share the socket with Coppermine series or Tualatin ones?


 

And last ... this GeForce2 MX card. Quite frankly, don't know why I took this one, but I'm sure it'll come in handy some day  These cards are very much powerful & provide more than enough gaming power for ALL the retro games, up to 2003, 2004. Including previously mentioned GTAIII, this thing here (assuming it's not fried), SHOULD run the game on max settings without any problems, whatsoever. Interestingly though, it is missing a GPU fan/heatsink. So I'm wondering if maybe someone removed it from the card in order to cool down the VIA CPU?!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 15, 2018)

Well, okay... Although I didn't get any feedback on the VIA processor, I'm somewhat closer to finding the right board & parameters. Seems to be Ezra-T core, where apparently "T" stands for Tualatin. Therefore, this board will only work on Tualatin-certified boards, and NOT the Coppermine/Mendocino ones.

Sadly, I only got ONE Tualatin system in my collection, and that's a Celeron 1000, running Win2k & 512MB of SD-RAM (with onboard graphics). Which means this VIA chip is next to useless unless I can find the appropriate board... There's always that original one which came with the CPU, but I wasn't going to keep it. About the same as Asus TUSI-M, mATX without the AGP interface & couple of blown caps. In fact, the system wasn't powering up to begin with, so I'm not too optimistic but I'm willing to give it a try... In the words of Star Trek, "To Be Continued..."


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## lexluthermiester (May 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I don't even know the capacity of this thing!


6.4GBmax. But it could be config'd for a legacy system which would give 4.3GB. It even had an AT mode which would render 2.1GB. It all depended on the C/H/S settings the bios is question supported. Quantum's drive config's were very flexible, which is why they were so popular among certain circles.



Trekkie4 said:


> Interestingly though, it is missing a GPU fan/heatsink.


That card desperately needs cooling. It will fry without it. You can get a good kit for a decent price these days. Definitely slap on a temp H/S and boot test it before investing any money into it..



Trekkie4 said:


> this model appears to be VIA C3 1.0AGHz, in 100 x 10.0 configuration. I would appreciate more info on this chip here


http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/C3/VIA-C3-1.0AGHz EBGA.html


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## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> 6.4GBmax. But it could be config'd for a legacy system which would give 4.3GB. It even had an AT mode which would render 2.1GB. It all depended on the C/H/S settings the bios is question supported. Quantum's drive config's were very flexible, which is why they were so popular among certain circles.


So, what you are saying is that ALL Bigfoot drives in this (CY) series are up to 6.4GB in storage (depending on a jumper & BIOS config)? Because I assumed that some units were 4.3 or less, due to hardware (physical capacity), where the better ones would have been 6.4GB



lexluthermiester said:


> That card desperately needs cooling. It will fry without it. You can get a good kit for a decent price these days. Definitely slap on a temp H/S and boot test it before investing any money into it..


I would agree on this one, but I think you're over reacting  These things usually had a passive cooler and/or a small heatsink fan, nothing more. In fact, these things usually have the same kind of cooling as TNT2 Pro, even M64 so I don't think it would fry without one. It certainly wouldn't help running the GPU without one, that's for sure but for as long as you're not using it 24/7 and/or playing games, it should run OK without the heatsink. With that being said, I got couple of those small, GPU heatsinks laying around, so I might give them a try 
Here you can see two GeForce2 MX cards, MX200 & MX400 both with their original heatsinks & fans.


 





lexluthermiester said:


> http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/C3/VIA-C3-1.0AGHz EBGA.html


Yup, that's the one. Except according to online database, mine claims to be Ezra-T, and not Nehemiah which has the bus speed of 133MHz (mine is 100MHz)


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## lexluthermiester (May 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, what you are saying is that ALL Bigfoot drives in this (CY) series are up to 6.4GB in storage (depending on a jumper & BIOS config)? Because I assumed that some units were 4.3 or less, due to hardware (physical capacity), where the better ones would have been 6.4GB


Was referring to the 6.4GB model. If it were less then the printed information would be reflected as such, IIRC. So if it were one of the 3.2GB models it would be 3.2GB then 2.1GB and then 1.6GB respectively in the C/H/S configs. I might be remembering wrong(it's been 20 years after all), but I'm pretty sure that's the way it worked. I bought a pair of those drives back then and in my system the full 6.4GB was available, but in my wife's system only 4.3 because her system was an older one with an older bios. Later when we upgraded her system and reformatted all of it was there. Old school systems were often squirrelly like that. Ah the memories..


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## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Was referring to the 6.4GB model. If it were less then the printed information would be reflected as such, IIRC. So if it were one of the 3.2GB models it would be 3.2GB then 2.1GB and then 1.6GB respectively in the C/H/S configs. I might might be remembering wrong(it's been 20 years after all), but I'm pretty sure that's the way it worked. I bought a pair of those drives back then and in my system the full 6.4GB was available, but in my wife's system only 4.3 because her system was an older one with an older bios. Later when we upgraded her system and reformatted all of it was there. Old school systems were often squirrelly like that. Ah the memories..


Wait, are you saying there's a printed capacity info on the unit itself?  Because I looked all over for anything that could help me with capacity &/or model number & couldn't come up with anything. Just that it's CY model, "Quantum Bigfoot, 5.25" series"


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## lexluthermiester (May 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wait, are you saying there's a printed capacity info on the unit itself?  Because I looked all over for anything that could help me with capacity &/or model number & couldn't come up with anything. Just that it's CY model, "Quantum Bigfoot, 5.25" series"


Yup, it's in the picture you provided above, right under "Power Req: 5/12V". That's what reminded me.


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## Susquehannock (May 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, what you are saying is that ALL Bigfoot drives in this (CY) series are up to 6.4GB in storage (depending on a jumper & BIOS config)? Because I assumed that some units were 4.3 or less, due to hardware (physical capacity), where the better ones would have been 6.4GB





lexluthermiester said:


> Was referring to the 6.4GB model. If it were less then the printed information would be reflected as such, IIRC. So if it were one of the 3.2GB models it would be 3.2GB then 2.1GB and then 1.6GB respectively in the C/H/S configs. I might be remembering wrong(it's been 20 years after all), but I'm pretty sure that's the way it worked. I bought a pair of those drives back then and in my system the full 6.4GB was available, but in my wife's system only 4.3 because her system was an older one with an older bios. Later when we upgraded her system and reformatted all of it was there. Old school systems were often squirrelly like that. Ah the memories..


The CY Bigfoot were series #2 and had 2gb platters. So came in 2gb, 4gb, or 6gb models. Triple platter added extra weight and put more stress on the bearings. Big reason the 6gb were so delicate.
The forth and final series, TS, were known to be loud and came in sizes up to 19gb. They had a shock protection system in an attempt to make them less delicate. By that time data densities had allowed 3.5" drives to reach ever larger capacities making 5.25" obsolete. Which is why the CY series was basically height of Bigfoot popularity.

Remembering the very first HDD that I ever owned back in late 1998. A 3.5" IBM 12.9gb. Friends were amazed at the size and transfer speeds. Still works.


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## biffzinker (May 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wait, are you saying there's a printed capacity info on the unit itself? Because I looked all over for anything that could help me with capacity &/or model number & couldn't come up with anything. Just that it's CY model, "Quantum Bigfoot, 5.25" series"






No label on the drive but there is the above. I tried looking up that VIA CPU but I didn't have any time to make a post until yesterday.

The corrosion on exterior looks like it has mold.


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## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yup, it's in the picture you provided above, right under "Power Req: 5/12V". That's what reminded me.


Right, I saw that but figured it was a "general" info which applies to all 3 models of Bigfoot drives, 2.4, 4.3 & 6.4GB models. It never occurred me that it's the SAME drive, but in different configuration... Thanks! 



Susquehannock said:


> The CY Bigfoot were series #2 and had 2gb platters. So came in 2gb, 4gb, or 6gb models. Triple platter added extra weight and put more stress on the bearings. Big reason the 6gb were so delicate.
> The forth and final series, TS, were known to be loud and came in sizes up to 19gb. They had a shock protection system in an attempt to make them less delicate. By that time data densities had allowed 3.5" drives to reach ever larger capacities making 5.25" obsolete. Which is why the CY series was basically height of Bigfoot popularity.
> 
> Remembering the very first HDD that I ever owned back in late 1998. A 3.5" IBM 12.9gb. Friends were amazed at the size and transfer speeds. Still works.


Right, got that. In fact, "CY" marking was the only specific name/value I could find, other than company name & product line  Guess I'm used to modern drives where it specifically says something like "Capacity: 40.00GB" or something along those lines. And to tell you the truth, I don't have ANY expectations for this thing, it's most likely going to be dead or full of bad sectors. But I'm probably going to keep it anyway as it makes interesting display & conversation piece, even in this sorry & rusty state 

One thing I've noticed is that Bigfoot drives are much thinner than what I expected. In fact, they appear to be thin enough for TWO units to fit inside ONE 5.25" bay, with one drive mounted on upper level & one mounted on the lower.


biffzinker said:


> View attachment 101059
> 
> No label on the drive but there is the above. I tried looking up that VIA CPU but I didn't have any time to make a post until yesterday.
> 
> The corrosion on exterior looks like it has mold.


I don't think it's mold, because I tried cleaning the drive & it didn't work. In fact, I only ended up erasing, wiping off "CY" label, so I guess you could say I only made it even worse lol. But yeah, this thing is just banged up & very rusty. It was probably abandoned & left in some garage or storage over the last 20-ish years so I'll be VERY surprised if this thing boots up & loads anything!


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## biffzinker (May 16, 2018)

Chances are that Bigfoot drive is in better shape than this 1957 Plymouth Belvedere car after sitting in a vault untouched for 50 years.


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## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> Chances are that Bigfoot drive is in better shape than this 1957 Plymouth Belvedere car after sitting in a vault untouched for 50 years.


Wow, this is just great...  They've buried the car underground hoping it wouldn't rot or rust, because it was wrapped into a huge plastic bag?! Such a waste


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## biffzinker (May 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow, this is just great...  They've buried the car underground hoping it wouldn't rot or rust, because it was wrapped into a huge plastic bag?! Such a waste


If the reinforced concrete vault hadn't sprung a leak from ground water it's possible. Hard to believe the concrete was suppose to be capable of withstanding a nuclear blast.


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## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2018)

Are you kidding me?! This thing probably wouldn't withstand even a smaller surface detonation, not to mention a full nuclear blast! In fact, I had a basement storage room in my old apt. building that was built deeper underground than Belvedere!

As for the concrete alone, it can NOT keep the water out ... or in! Something they obviously didn't take into consideration when they designed this time capsule (even though ppl obviously had swimming pools back then & were facing the similar problem when constructing one, so you would expect them to know  this)


----------



## phill (May 16, 2018)

Well I am not sure if this is allowed here, but I thought it might have been old enough to warrant throwing it in...









There's a few more on the way....


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## biffzinker (May 16, 2018)

Thanks for the post @phill.


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## Susquehannock (May 17, 2018)

The mention about bad sectors got me wondering about this Bigfoot. Hooked it up to my WinXP rig since better tools are available. Seems 100% healthy.

The higher burst rate, 13.0 vs 8.9 tested in the other Win98 system is interesting.

Cannot imagine what it would be like running the OS on this thing. Could probably go make dinner in the time it would take to move some files.


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## Trekkie4 (May 17, 2018)

Looks good to me  The only reason I brought up the issue of bad sectors on a Bigfoot drive was because of its bad condition, amount of rust on the outside. There's no telling what the inside looks like and/or if the seals are still intact, so I would really need to hook it up & properly test it ASAP.


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## biffzinker (May 17, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> so I would really need to hook it up & properly test it ASAP.


Well then, what are you waiting for?  I would be curious to know if it's functional considering outward appearance.


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## Trekkie4 (May 17, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> Well then, what are you waiting for?  I would be curious to know if it's functional considering outward appearance.


Just waiting for a case & spare PSU to come around  I don't have any spare units with me at the moment, and I'm not going to take apart a working system, just for the sake of testing a (spare) drive.

With that being said, I was promised a working Pentium 4 system, it even has a 17" LCD monitor... So I'll probably take it apart & strip for parts, but I'm hoping to hook up & test all the recent parts that I've got & see if they are worth keeping and/or repairs. Such as that Tualatin board for example & VIA CPU


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## lexluthermiester (May 18, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Could probably go make dinner in the time it would take to move some files.


Gotta remember, OSes and files were much smaller back then and those drives were considered good sized and good performers at the time.


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## biffzinker (May 18, 2018)

Expensive for a Intel math co-processor.


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## phill (May 18, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> Thanks for the post @phill.



Many thanks for liking it   There's a few more on the way, but nothing major    Got to stop spending now as spent far too much lol


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## GreiverBlade (May 18, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> Expensive for a Intel math co-processor.
> 
> View attachment 101201


i hold dearly on my Cyrix M II 300GP i have in my collection


----------



## Susquehannock (May 18, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Gotta remember, OSes and files were much smaller back then and those drives were considered good sized and good performers at the time.


True of course.  That was vague wording on my part. Was thinking to myself how long it would take to do modern files & processes with hardware of that era. Moot since modern OS would not even fit on that Bigfoot.


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## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> True of course.  That was vague wording on my part. Was thinking to myself how long it would take to do modern files & processes with hardware of that era. Moot since modern OS would not even fit on that Bigfoot.


Right, fair enough.


----------



## Robert B (May 20, 2018)

*Flea market day today*

*Diamond* Viper V550 ATXNLX 16MB SDR - RIVA TNT Rev. B
*AMD* K6-2/450AFX - 450MHz
*Intel* Pentium III SL4C8 - 1GHz/256/133
*AMD* Duron 1.2GHz - DHD1200AMT1B
*PS/2 Cable* for AT motherboards
Two *C.O.A.S.T.* modules


----------



## DR4G00N (May 23, 2018)

Finally got some FB-DIMM's!  Board works like a charm. Nice to have another dualie in my collection.


----------



## GREASEMONKEY (May 24, 2018)

Going to throw this in. Slapped together a Nostalgia system with some 3850's I had. And the board itself ought to fit for nostalgic purposes. I sure miss Abit.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 24, 2018)

Fairly rare board now. Nice.


----------



## Komshija (May 25, 2018)

Recently I found some interesting old hardware while searching for a small portable radio, that I knew I had somewhere, for my vineyard. Hardware was packed in one box for more than 8 years - an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton and ATI Radeon 9200 128 MB. Not mine, but from my father's old system. Unfortunately, as I recall, the CPU is dead since I accidentally dropped (I think that was the cause) a long time ago and the system wasn't booting anymore. However, there are no visible damages.











ATI Radeon 9200 128 MB


----------



## Robert B (May 26, 2018)

*Solid base - This is the summer*









*Brand spanking new!* 

Ceramic CPU overhaul  The Duron was so nasty that I said F..K IT!!! Metal polish paste FTW!!!  The results were above my expectations. Cinderella story  

WIN! WIN! WIN!


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 26, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Solid base - This is the summer*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


dunno .... i expected something else for the song ... 

tho i don't understand why you speak of "Polish Metal" .... 








certainly not ... computer related .... eh? 

wait a minute ....


----------



## Robert B (May 26, 2018)

I was referring to *metal polishing paste * I needed something a little abrasive to clean the surface of the Duron CPU and I had available only the *QUIXX All Metal Polish* that I use to restore the shine of the video card brackets. Maybe toothpaste might've worked too  I know that regular Colgate toothpaste is good as in the past, I restored the shine of a black keyboard palmrest.

Afterwards I cleaned the *polishing compound* with lots of isopropyl alcohol 99% and a brush.

The song took me back into the '90 and I listened to it while I cleaned the parts  The funny thing is that back then I didnt like the song too much.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 26, 2018)

Robert B said:


> I was referring to *metal polishing paste * I needed something a little abrasive to clean the surface of the Duron CPU and I had available only the *QUIXX All Metal Polish* that I use to restore the shine of the video card brackets. Maybe toothpaste might've worked too  I know that regular Colgate toothpaste is good as in the past, I restored the shine of a black keyboard palmrest.
> 
> Afterwards I cleaned the *polishing compound* with lots of isopropyl alcohol 99% and a brush.
> 
> The song took me back into the '90 and I listened to it while I cleaned the parts  The funny thing is that back then I didnt like the song too much.


i was joking all along ... i guess not everyone is a fan of wordplay ...  

well not even a tiny like for the clever post .... not nostalgic enough i see .... OH WELL THEN!

a friend found back a 2600XT AGP 


he sent me a "do ya want?" .... what should i answer ... really ... knowing him he will ask a "unreal" (tournament?) price ...

also watching over that beauty, though luck ... buyer go crazy on it (no joke) and the price is a tad too high for me 


9800GX2 indeed


----------



## Robert B (May 26, 2018)

Friday I took out the contents of a small box   35 CPUs, not counting the SLOT A, SLOT 1, socket4, socket 3 and a bunch of other CPUs that are on motherboards or completed builds.

The funny thing is that I didnt know I had so many  The box IS small


----------



## Robert B (May 27, 2018)

Lately I'm feeling like '90s Eurodance ... I dont know why?!?  Could it be all this retro madness? I WONDER! 

*Real McCoy Runaway*










*Rumble in the jungle with* *RaaaAAAaaAAmmmMMMMMMMMBbbBBBBUUuUuuuSSSS*


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 27, 2018)

HELL YEAH!!!! 

i managed to win the auction on the 9800GX2, a nice addition to my collection.... although i have probably to wait will the 6th June to effectively have it 

the seller put it as defective because he does not have a mean to test it, but oh well i am used to it ... after all my XFX 8800 GTX was defective but that didn't affect me as it's still a collection piece to me 
(plus it had the original box with it hehe )


----------



## Bones (May 28, 2018)

Picked this up not long ago and it seems to be a good one.
Got it, tested the chip and popped the top - Ready 2 go.


----------



## Robert B (May 31, 2018)

The BOOT message made me smile  

****Good News PC Healthy**** - Good news indeed!  I was like what's going on? Are you talking to me?


----------



## Bungz (Jun 1, 2018)

That feeling when a old board posts for the first time 

Picked this up, will make a good home for a couple of X1900pros I have at some point 

Works but is typically a bit flakey to boot/restart.


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 1, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> Finally got some FB-DIMM's!  Board works like a charm. Nice to have another dualie in my collection.
> 
> View attachment 101547
> View attachment 101548


what about those capacitors?
you recap them or something?


----------



## DR4G00N (Jun 1, 2018)

micropage7 said:


> what about those capacitors?
> you recap them or something?


All the caps are original AFAIK. Or at least if they've been done before it wasn't by my hand.


----------



## HUSKIE (Jun 3, 2018)

taken last year (2017) before 6800k die...


----------



## Komshija (Jun 4, 2018)

HUSKIE said:


> taken last year (2017) before 6800k die...


Overvoltage?


----------



## emissary42 (Jun 11, 2018)




----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 12, 2018)

ANNNNDDDD here they are .... they? yep they, i got a little extra for 7chf ....

9800GX2 (Zotac but without the shroud  more beautiful !)


09 and 10 bios revision

the status LED on the power connector (1x6 and 1x8)



EXTRA! Creative labs CT6610 Graphics Blaster EXXTREME. (3Dlabs Permedia 2) PCI



mmhhh a wire? from the C50 to a ram chips?


well too bad it's not the one with the 3Dlabs marking instead of Texas Instrument but whatever  (or one with the add on vRAM connector) for the price ... nothing to complain


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 18, 2018)

Oh damn. I'm getting an Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA* to my retro rig, and that supports AM3 CPUs (no Phenom II X6:s tho) for a very noice price, 18 eur including shipping. Including Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 4x1GB DDR2-800 and Xigmatek cooler.

Of course I'll be getting a Phenom II X4 965BE (or 955BE), and the best part is that I'm going to put that Radeon 9700 Pro to it. It would be interesting to see how it performs when the CPU is everything else than a bottleneck. Last time when I've benchmarked 9700 Pro, I had an Athlon 64 3000+ (Venice) @ 2.7GHz and 2x256MB DDR400 @ DDR540 2-2-2-5-1T 

*nForce 3 250, AM2 (supports up to Phenom II X4 970BE with updated bios), 4x DDR2, *AGP!* etc 

edit: Aaaaaand I just paid that.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 18, 2018)

Nice.
What test you want to perform on it ?
3DMarks, Quake ]I[, Doom 3... Crysis ?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 18, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Nice.
> What test you want to perform on it ?
> 3DMarks, Quake ]I[, Doom 3... Crysis ?


3DMark 2001SE, 3DMark03 at least, dunno about Doom 3 since I don't have that older Doom 3 on Steam, just the BFG Edition, which is a lot demanding AFAIK. But why not Crysis, I tried that on Pentium 4 & 9800 SE back in the day. 

But why not Far Cry, Dreamfall, CS: Source, HL2 etc.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 18, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Oh damn. I'm getting an Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA* to my retro rig, and that supports AM3 CPUs (no Phenom II X6:s tho) for a very noice price, 18 eur including shipping. Including Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 4x1GB DDR2-800 and Xigmatek cooler.
> 
> Of course I'll be getting a Phenom II X4 965BE (or 955BE), and the best part is that I'm going to put that Radeon 9700 Pro to it. It would be interesting to see how it performs when the CPU is everything else than a bottleneck. Last time when I've benchmarked 9700 Pro, I had an Athlon 64 3000+ (Venice) @ 2.7GHz and 2x256MB DDR400 @ DDR540 2-2-2-5-1T
> 
> ...



Nice board. I have two.
If you're doing heavy overclocking, you'll find it needs a vdimm and vcore mod. Neither supply enough from the factory.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 18, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Last time when I've benchmarked 9700 Pro, I had an Athlon 64 3000+ (Venice) @ 2.7GHz and 2x256MB DDR400 @ DDR540 2-2-2-5-1T


me it was on a MSI KT6V with a Athlon XP (barton) and 1gb DDR 400... oh wait i only have a 9700 standard (although a Hercule with the fancy original box and bundle  ) but i benched a 9800 Pro on it and the last card that build saw was a HIS X1600Pro IceQ 2... talk about a bottleneck 

i just realised i have a Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice) and well, aside my DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra which only handle PCIex, i also have a MSI KT8 Neo 2 that has AGP only ... out of the 8 board in my collection only 2 of them have AGP and are working.

my highest AGP card would be, i guess, my Xvi X1950 SuperAGP 512mb

well i am happy that my GPU/mobo/CPU collection is able to grow after a few month stalling hehe ...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 19, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> me it was on a MSI KT6V with a Athlon XP (barton) and 1gb DDR 400... oh wait i only have a 9700 standard (although a Hercule with the fancy original box and bundle  ) but i benched a 9800 Pro on it and the last card that build saw was a HIS X1600Pro IceQ 2... talk about a bottleneck
> 
> i just realised i have a Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice) and well, aside my DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra which only handle PCIex, i also have a MSI KT8 Neo 2 that has AGP only ... out of the 8 board in my collection only 2 of them have AGP and are working.
> 
> ...


I guess I'll be hoarding also some Socket A and 478 hardware later..  A HD 3850 AGP would be a nice card to try out also. 



Mr.Scott said:


> Nice board. I have two.
> If you're doing heavy overclocking, you'll find it needs a vdimm and vcore mod. Neither supply enough from the factory.


Ah. Well, I'll just search for guides, and then let the soldering iron get hot..


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 19, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> A HD 3850 AGP would be a nice card to try out also.



Like this one?


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 19, 2018)

Here are 3DMark 03/06 scores for my HD 3850 : LINK/LINK (I used OP setup )
Oh, and my 3850 AGP looks like this :




"Other new stuff" I got recently :



Both are "Hot cookies" :
HD 3870 x2 (paste/pad exchange required) :


http://imgur.com/pppsxB7

HD 4870 x2 (paste/pad done, still hot af, but I do have high ambient temp in room [30C+]) :


http://imgur.com/Dcp3XeS

Not sure if I can drop VRM temps on 4870 x2 much more... any suggestions ?
FYI : 100% Fan get's me 10C lower on every temp sensor in it's case.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 19, 2018)

My 3850 3D03.
Ironically,  ran on AM2NF3-VSTA board. The AMD version of your 4core Dual Sata2 board.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 19, 2018)

4,4GHz... Nice OC 
AMD version of my 4CoreDual-SATA2 is called ALiveDual-eSATA2 
Your board, is AMDs twist on ConRoe865PE.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 19, 2018)

Pretty nice clocks for a Phenom II X2 

I guess that AM2NF3-VSTA doesn't support core unlocking?


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 19, 2018)

It can't support it. 
It's based on nForce 3 chipset/platform, and core unlocking requires SB700/SB750 south bridge.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 20, 2018)

Weird, IIRC my old M3N78D (NForce 720D) supported core unlocking. 


Edit: Going to get some AGP cards, I think that I'll make a larger review sometime. I just need a Phenom II X4 955BE or better CPU first.


----------



## dieselcat18 (Jun 21, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Weird, IIRC my old M3N78D (NForce 720D) supported core unlocking.
> 
> 
> Edit: Going to get some AGP cards, I think that I'll make a larger review sometime. I just need a Phenom II X4 955BE or better CPU first.



This Ebay seller ships Int'l from the US.... 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom...586?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10#viTabs_0

Just a thought.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 22, 2018)

Hey guys, long time no see 

Right after that last restoration project, I kinda gave up on computer hardware altogether. Not saying I won't deal with computer hardware in the future of course, I might still do something eventually if it's interesting enough ... Such as 3x86, 4x86, 5x86 &/or early Pentium builds for example, those are always welcomed  In the meantime, I got some vintage & nostalgic stuff to share, if it's OK with everyone?

And the best way to start is with this nVidia GeForce2 MX card ... remember this one? I'll admit, I didn't have the patience to plug it in & see if it works (I do remember testing it initially, when I first picked it up & it seemed to be working fine), so I put one of these cheap GPU coolers onto it & saved the card for another occasion & second chance 


 



And then, only couple of days later, I came across this Sony HiFi, from around 1997, 1998... It was in terrible condition, both CD & tape decks were seized up, but long story short I got them working. Pretty impressive specs, 5.1 surround system with 75W per channel but at the time I was missing a pair of speakers which made it completely useless.




So I bought a pair of these ... Sony SS-H771. Again, same year - these are really impressive speakers for the price! Powerful enough to keep all my neighbors around me seriously annoyed 




And then, there's this Shure cart here... You might have heard the news, right? Shure decided to close down the phono cartridge/styli production & focus mainly on microphones, sound cards & similar hardware, which made me want to own a vintage Shure... I already got M94 mounted on my LP120 turntable, but that's not exactly "vintage", as it was made in Mexico, around early 2000s. Sooo, I got one of these instead 


 



M75 of course is a serious thing, designed in 70s and (unlike M94), it was proudly made in USA!




The idea is to (eventually) assemble a complete head around it, with (probably) N75ED/T2 elliptical stylus over the original, N75B one which would be 0.6mil conical one. With everything put together & fully assembled, it should look something like this, a true (and vintage) piece of art IMO! I got some phono mounting screws & nuts leftover from M94 project, which gives me a head start & will (hopefully) keep the cost down to acceptable level 


 



Speaking of cartridges, I also picked up cheap (brand new) Audio Technica, for approx. 8$ on AliExpress. Model number is AT 3600L, with genuine stylus. Kinda makes you wonder just how cheap these can get?! Had one on my old Akai table & quite frankly, it sounded better than twice as expensive AT 95E! And it seems I'm not the only one to feel that way, as there's a whole bunch of folks out there buying these & they are all happy with it. My recommendation to anyone, looking for a cheap MM cartridge ... you can't go wrong at this price!


----------



## Robert B (Jun 24, 2018)

*FRESH!!! *


----------



## DR4G00N (Jun 24, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *FRESH!!! *


Oooh, which is it? 3850x2 or 3870x2?


----------



## Robert B (Jun 24, 2018)

@*DR4G00N - you have the eye of a HAWK!!! *


3870X2. Bought cheap but it needs some repairs...as usual, *my LUCK WITH ATI SUXXXXXXXXXXXXX BIG TIME!!!!* ... this has started since the ATI RAGE II C time...a long time ago  ... so I'm an nvidiot through and through but I RESPECT ATI A LOT!!!

I dont know if I can save the BEHEMOTH...7-10 ceramic capacitors missing...one transistor bye bye...13 EUR...I had to take the risk...I saw the damage after I bought it...NEXT TIME I'LL HAVE TO LOOK CLOSER!!! and dont let my feelings get in the way...regardless I haggled BIG TIME...down from 40 EUR


----------



## DR4G00N (Jun 24, 2018)

I just saw the red pcb and plx chip and immediately knew it was an Asus 38xx X2 card lol.


----------



## Robert B (Jun 24, 2018)

That was my intention when I uploaded the picture 

The star of today is this BEAUTY!!! - 11EUR down from 54EUR  I'm getting better and better at haggling at the flea market 

Status UNKNOWN!

It will be restored and it will SHINE BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN!  I loved GAINWARD cards so much back in the day...today they lost their identity and are just another brand without a soul.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 24, 2018)

Robert B said:


> It will be restored and it will SHINE BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN  I loved GAINWARD cards so much back in the day...today they lost their identity and are just another brand without a soul.



THAT, is a wonderfully rare card.
Those used a 7900GS core. They overclock spectacularly.


----------



## Robert B (Jun 24, 2018)

@Mr.Scott _ I knew you would appreciate this card 

I found that is a great card only after I bought it. At that moment I had no idea what it was. I liked it as soon as I saw it.

I still dont know if it works. I never power-up cards that are dirty and with old TIM. Full story later


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 24, 2018)

I'm jealous.


----------



## Robert B (Jun 24, 2018)

Wait until we know if it works or not  The 3870X2 looks to be a dud...

As usual. I'll clean it better than the wafers at the Intel factory and only then I'll see if it is alive 

L.E. On the GAINWARD chip it is written:* G71-GT2-H-N-A2*

*This card is a WOLF IN SHEEP's CLOTHING *

*Pics later.*


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 25, 2018)

You may have 24PS/8VS AGP right there... (or "only" 20/7).
Check for unlocking options in RivaTuner (if it's 16/6 in GPU-z).
Question is : Does it work ?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 25, 2018)

it's me or i get luckier with auction .... 

incoming next week for 2chf ... fully functional 



not really a mac user (although i learned a bit the OS on a MacBook Pro early 2008 for a work on a hackintosh project) but well at the time they went out ... i remember wanting one   it's a Apple PowerMac G4 (Quicksilver 2002) and it wasn't ... "2chf" 

MacOS X 10.4 (Tiger)
800 MHz PowerPC G4
768 MByte RAM
HDD 1x 40 GByte, 1x 80 GByte
GPU RADEON 7500 32MB (VGA/ADC)
CD/CD-RW

2x FireWire 400 MBit/s
2x USB 12 MBit/s
1x Ethernet 10/100/1000 MBit/s
1x Audio 3.5 mm 
1x 2.5-mm Apple Pro
1x VGA 
1x ADC


----------



## Robert B (Jun 25, 2018)

@agent_x007 - untested yet. I'm almost done cleaning and *I'll see if it is alive tomorrow or the day after*.

It should be the 24/8. I'll post GPU-Z screens when I'm done....*IF the card works*. I dont have an AGP system at hand. My only one is AGP 2x. My AGP 8X motherboard needs a full a recap so I'll use my trusty KT333 AGP 4X for testing. I'll have to take out from various boxes all the bits I need so this will take time.

It was full of dirt and some cat hair...I managed to save all the pads from memory chips  YAY! The TIM was still soft but it was crumbling.

The memory chips are rated up to 700MHz *K4J52324QC-BC14 (Samsung)*


----------



## Robert B (Jun 26, 2018)

The GW 7800GS+ *XNA/780GS+T352-PM8370-GS *works like a dream 

WIN! WIN! WIN! FAT 24/8

My gamble has paid off!


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 26, 2018)

And it's 90nm (there are 110nm 24/8 as well) 
Q : Why only 8ROP/8TMUs ?
Here's my 7900 GS AGP (locked 20/7) :




3DMark 03 score with P4EE ~3,5GHz : LINK

EDIT : GPU-z is confused...
Transistor count and release date isn't in line with other specs... maybe this was reflashed ?
3DMark 03 fillrate values for my 7800 GTX : 



http://imgur.com/cTlhbjJ


----------



## phill (Jun 26, 2018)

It says on the sticker 7800 GS...  So I don't think it's AMD lol


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2018)

phill said:


> It says on the sticker 7800 GS...  So I don't think it's AMD lol


late to the party + not reading following post? 

they were talking about the second pics 

that one:


which turned to be that one:


----------



## phill (Jun 26, 2018)

DOH!!   My bad, many apologises!

I'm half asleep from a long ass day yesterday!! lol


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2018)

phill said:


> DOH!!   My bad, many apologises!
> 
> I'm half asleep from a long ass day yesterday!! lol


ahah! we all have that kind of moment...

for me, usually i refrain from reading or posting any complicated things before i had my morning coffee (well my friends know that they shouldn't ask me anything, if they have some self preservation instinct, before that too )


----------



## phill (Jun 26, 2018)

I had coffee before I started reading but me thinks I'll grab some more!!  So good shout!! 

But I think since I've had a few things over the past couple weeks, I feel I should put some pictures up on here to redeem myself! 















10 image limit..  Brb 

And here's some more...













I think a few people will like this one below .....







I still don't get tired of showing these   Probably not nostalgic enough considering the Z77, Z97 and definitely Z170 recent but...  Loving the three together although I'm very lucky and have another one that's crunching away for me as we speak 





I need to get the other items cleaned and tested as I have no idea if they work or not, so will give me something to do   I'll see if I can find some old ram at work or something to test the Pentium and the Celeron setups..  I believe those two use the PC100/PC133 style ram..  It will be interesting to say the least!! 
I think I also have a few GPUs to test as well, so I've got a little bit to do!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2018)

ohhhh these foxconn mobo'n boxes are hot stuff ... (okay the DFI too ...) 

redeemed!


----------



## phill (Jun 26, 2018)

Woo Hoo!!


----------



## Robert B (Jun 26, 2018)

The GW 7800GS+ seems to have a 7950 core so that is why is has 24/8. It seems they made a limited number of these cards 2500 pcs?

@phill -  YO phill! Take it easy  You buy way too much HW lately  (Just kidding  ) BRING IT ON! 

Is that a VooDoo 4 4500 PCI?

I managed to recover 7 ceramic caps, 1 resistor and one IC from a dead ATI Medion X740XL and I soldered them on the ASUS DUAL ATI 3870X2.

Tonight I'll test the beast again. I dont have high hopes but we'll find out soon 

*L.E.*

I fixed the BEAST ASUS TOP 3870x2 HD 

7 little cerramic caps / 1 resitor / 1 transistor 

Now I can clean the awesome BRICK 

No WIN 10 support / only 10 years old and seems ancient.

The solder job was rushed but it is strong and it has served its purpose. Details in my thread at a later date


----------



## phill (Jun 27, 2018)

Robert B said:


> @phill -  YO phill! Take it easy  You buy way too much HW lately  (Just kidding  ) BRING IT ON!
> 
> Is that a VooDoo 4 4500 PCI?



Most of this stuff has been given to me, so I'm rather lucky  lol

I have no idea what it is if I'm honest, so I think I might have to find a system and get it tested out!  Any tips for cleaning or just put it in the washing machine to give it that silky shine??


----------



## Robert B (Jun 27, 2018)

@phill - Dont forget FABRIC CONDITIONER 

By now you should know what to do. You're a regular on my thread on the Project Logs section 

If want to do a quick test for the 3dfx card, just see that the fan spins freely and the heatsink is free of dust. The card seems ok for a test.

Cleaning it is another matter entirely


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 27, 2018)

@Robert B
I have ASUS HD 3870 x2 as well, however mine uses Reference cooler :





Also, updated picture of my PCI cards collection :


----------



## phill (Jun 27, 2018)

Robert B said:


> @phill - Dont forget FABRIC CONDITIONER
> 
> By now you should know what to do. You're a regular on my thread on the Project Logs section
> 
> ...



I couldn't forget fabric conditioner!!  It would make it all bubbly!!  

I'll give it a look tonight if I can, are those cards worth a fair bit??


----------



## Robert B (Jun 27, 2018)

@agent_x007 - Mine got around that score too in 3dmark Vantage. No OC until the TIM is changed and I get to build a WIN 7 box (if it will happen in the near future) as there is no support in WIN 10. The default WIN 10 driver doesnt allow any change in graphic settings. I didnt had the time to modify a driver if that is even possible.  I'm glad I have the same score as your card as this means it is healthy and my repairs are OK!!! 

I tried to install ASUS GPU Tweak but it did nothing as the driver wasnt supported by the app.

Initially I was afraid the card had a problem as the single 3870 is a PCI-E 2.0 card and I saw that the 3870X2 is shown in GPU-Z as a PCI-E 1.1 card. I read a little and that is the limitation of the PLX chip.

You took out the PCI cards for a photo shoot - NICE!

@phill - the V4 4500 is worth quite a bit of money. Yours being the PCI version is even better. *I suggest you keep it.* It doesnt occupy a lot of space and if it is alive it would be awesome. It isnt fast but it is rare. I dont even want to think about the prices of the boxed V4 4500....

http://hw-museum.cz/vga/57/3dfx-voodoo4-4500-pci


----------



## havli (Jun 27, 2018)

Really nice stuff here. And Voodoo4, that is one of my favorites (both PCI and AGP). 

I wasn't very active here on TPU lately, but in the past months I managed to get my hands on some nice HW, mostly videocards. So let's start with these: 

Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 - the first 40nm GPU, yay 










Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 - this one is relatively rare, 4870 X2 was much more common.









Quadro FX 3700 - pretty much a "500MHz 8800 GT". Even at this low clock the heatsink is not so good (running at 98°C), maybe fresh thermal paste and some cleaning will help. It is in fact the same heatsink as first batch of 8800 GT used, later Nvidia redesigned it using bigger fan.









Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 - not much to say here, everyone knows it.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jun 27, 2018)

I have a Voodoo3 3000 (currently in my Pentium II Win98SE rig I built last summer) and a boxed Voodoo5 5500 that's currently in storage.  From what I read, 3dfx never properly implemented AGP on their cards, so they don't support sideband addressing or any of the other fancy features you'd expect from an AGP card.  They were essentially PCI cards that were bridged internally to AGP, even though they pushed the AGP versions more than the PCI versions (for obvious reasons, given the way the industry was headed at the time).  It's honestly no wonder they went bankrupt.


----------



## phill (Jun 27, 2018)

Robert B said:


> @phil - the V4 4500 is worth quite a bit of money. Yours being the PCI version is even better. *I suggest you keep it.* It doesnt occupy a lot of space and if it is alive it would be awesome. It isnt fast but it is rare. I dont even want to think about the prices of the boxed V4 4500....
> 
> http://hw-museum.cz/vga/57/3dfx-voodoo4-4500-pci



I have made a choice @Robert B never to sell anything I buy from now on, so dear lord help me!! lol  I'm sure I'll need a house just for the boxes of hardware and whatever else I end up buying but hopefully it'll be worth it for the long term for my daughter when I'm not around   (Positive thinking I'm not so sure of, but if I could get her a little interested in to gaming and PC's, it'll be a good thing!!  )

Oh and my name is Phill with two ll's not l lol  I think you might have tagged someone else!!


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 28, 2018)

Got myself a "Universal AGP care package" :




Contents :
Pentium 4 2.0A Northwood "B0" (w/cooler)
ECS P4S5ADX+
1x 256MB DDR PC2100 "no-name"
1x GoodRAM 1GB 400MHz CL3
1x Maxtor "Fireball 3" 40GB 5400RPM (2MB cache ?) [IDE]
1x Intel PCI LAN 10/100 (Compaq NC3121)
1x D-Link DWL-G510 Wi-FI PCI (w/antenna)
1x FSP 145-60SP PSU (145W, 10-18A 5V and 4.2A on 12V)
2x IDE type "80" ribbon cables
2x I/O shield for MB (?) with screws/standoffs
^Whole pack cost me ~17$ (that's with shipping, bought locally).
I think it was a pretty good deal


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 28, 2018)

^ And I usually trash hardware like that. 

But not this AGP motherboard. now we just need a Phenom II X4 CPU.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 29, 2018)

Nice board. I have 2. 
Needs vcore and vdimm mods for good overclocking.
It is my AGP card benching board.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 30, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice board. I have 2.
> Needs vcore and vdimm mods for good overclocking.
> It is my AGP card benching board.


Can you link those mods for me


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 30, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Can you link those mods for me


http://warp9-systems.proboards.com/thread/3/am2nf3-vsta-vdimm-vcore-mods


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 1, 2018)

Finally got my headshell earlier this week 




Few moments later & Shure M75 was securely mounted to it... Have to say, doesn't look bad for a 40yr old hardware component!


 



Also received this one from China, through AliExpress. For 10$, it's probably the cheapest MM cart on planet, but nevertheless a very good one too. Not to mention its upgrade potential, this thing can be made into anything. From the cheapest conical styli all the way to expensive & exotic shibata ones.




Anyhow... Just so that I'm not completely off-topic here. I was asked to patch up an old AM2 system earlier this week. In fact, I'm still in the process of doing so, but I'll most likely use the opportunity to test some of the leftover hardware I got laying around. Maybe even that Quantum's Bigfoot drive


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 1, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Anyhow... Just so that I'm not completely off-topic here. I was asked to patch up an old AM2 system earlier this week. In fact, I'm still in the process of doing so, but I'll most likely use the opportunity to test some of the leftover hardware I got laying around. Maybe even that Quantum's Bigfoot drive


off topic...

TPU's Nostalgic *Hardware* Club


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 1, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> off topic...
> 
> TPU's Nostalgic *Hardware* Club


Hmm, not sure what you're trying to say here, but I suppose it /is/ hardware, isn't it...? Computer hardware, audio hardware, and being 40yrs old, it's most definitely nostalgic


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 2, 2018)

Pretty good for BOX cooler (with 120mm fan on top), and three low-side MOSFETs on VRM 
Also, this CPU isn't supported on this MB (...works without BIOS mod).


----------



## phill (Jul 2, 2018)

Looking good


----------



## Retrorockit (Jul 2, 2018)

I saw something that piqued my interest. Upon investigation it turned out to be too old for my purposes, But might be a good fit here.
I've been seeing the NVidia Tesla C1060 4GB 512 bit DDR3 "Graphics Processor" for $60-$100. Basically it's a PhysX CUDA card with no display outlets at all. 187W power.
This will require a workstation type MB with2 PCIe 16x slots. It only supports DX10 / Win XP era so it  ends up in the retro ctaegory due to that. This would probably give an old P4 Xeon a real kick in the ass in any game that supports PhysX. There are Win 7 Driver for it.
https://www.ebay.com/i/142695815659?chn=ps


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## Robert B (Jul 2, 2018)

*Green Onions - Booker T & the MG's*

  

*More l a t e r . . . ....*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 2, 2018)

So, I finally booted up that Bigfoot drive aaaand .... nothing! It's obviously getting voltage, I can see the green LED lighting up, but I'm not hearing or feeling any movement from the inside the drive. Also, the system hanged up during the boot, waiting for drive to respond, so it's only safe to assume this one is toasted.

And I even tried removing & cleaning up the PCB contacts, just in case there's a bad contact somewhere but still not getting anything. So, there you have it guys, think I'm going to throw this one into the bin.


----------



## phill (Jul 2, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Green Onions - Booker T & the MG's*
> 
> 
> 
> *More l a t e r . . . ....*



You making me jealous!!  @Robert B that is an awesome post!!


----------



## Robert B (Jul 2, 2018)

- just some spit'n'polish 

I had to restore the copper heatsinks even if they will oxidize again later along the way  The pictures will be awesome when I'll put them on. BLING! BLING!

I'll use gloves when I'll install them. There were nasty fingerprints all over the place. It was very easy to remove the oxidation with the metal polishing paste. I was gentle with them 

I was afraid that the vinegar / vinegar and salt method might mess up the aluminium fins so I chose the polishing paste.

The bottom was left as it was.


----------



## phill (Jul 2, 2018)

Amazing 
@Robert B I was just wondering, with all the photo's you upload, do you have more stored away on your PC or is it all up in the cloud??  You must have hundreds of thousands of pictures of hardware!! 

I'm not sure I'd class this as nostalgic, but I was given it today at work for nothing...  There's hopefully going to be a home for it soon!!


----------



## Robert B (Jul 3, 2018)

I store all my pictures on my PC. 

From 2015 until today I have made 33.133 pictures / 62GB - these are all the pictures, and all the duplicates.

What I posted goes in another folder and it is around 4500 pictures. 

ASUS EAH3870X2 TOP 1GB is DONE!


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 3, 2018)

@Robert B Few scores for my HD 3870 x2:
3DMark 03 : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm03/6538147
3DMark 05 : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm05/5548548
3DMark 06 : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/18040806
Vantage P-Score : https://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/5697728
Vantage X-Score : https://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/5697835
Cloud Gate : https://www.3dmark.com/cg/4302601


----------



## phill (Jul 3, 2018)

Robert B said:


> I store all my pictures on my PC.
> 
> From 2015 until today I have made 33.133 pictures / 62GB - these are all the pictures, and all the duplicates.
> 
> ...



I hope you have a few backups    That's pretty impressive   I don't even want to look on the server for all the pictures I have for the PC hardware, I think it would be daft and stupid of me to even want too!! lol  I think I have a few pictures back from 2008..  I think that's as far back as I go...  I think!

Now of those 33k of pictures, how do you manage to store all that amazing hardware??!!  Hats off to you sir as I've said a few times before..  amazing work   And loving every single post!!

@agent_x007 - What about 2001SE??


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 3, 2018)

@phill I have it... but it's nothing to write home about (Win 10).


----------



## phill (Jul 3, 2018)

Yeah it is a lot better in Windows 7 even but best still in XP I believe   Oh how newer OS's mess up performance


----------



## Robert B (Jul 4, 2018)

@phill - I keep my pics on a *HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 4 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM SATA HDD and a backup on a 2TB WDC Black.*

*My collection is still somewhat small *

*All my parts have been, are or will be presented on TPU on my thread *

*ATM I have:*

*70* working graphic cards and *10* dead
*14* soundcards
*80* working CPU's and 1 dead
*19* working motherboards and* 6* damaged
*12* optical units
*10* working HDDs and *2* dead
*3* lan cards
*3 *completed builds - AT - 5x86, K6-2 400 and ATX - PIII-800.
*1* box of RAM
*4* extra PSUs - 2xAT / 2xATX
*1* box of coolers / fans
*1* box of cables

I store them at my workplace and they don't occupy a lot of space. They are kept in boxes. Because I focus mainly on components, the footprint of my collection is smaller.

I plan to change the way I store my parts and I want to buy 200 ESD bags and three bigger plastic containers. If I need to move them they must be safe.

All my stuff has been cleaned and restored. I got better and better at cleaning and restoring my parts. The first parts I got arent at the level of my later parts, but they are still very clean.

As soon as I get to change my storage tactics I'll post a special episode dedicated to this matter.

New entries at the CPU section! I'm still waiting for 6 Celerons PPGA CPUs  366, 400, 2x433, 2x500.

*More later.*


----------



## Susquehannock (Jul 4, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, I finally booted up that Bigfoot drive aaaand .... nothing! It's obviously getting voltage, I can see the green LED lighting up, but I'm not hearing or feeling any movement from the inside the drive. Also, the system hanged up during the boot, waiting for drive to respond, so it's only safe to assume this one is toasted.
> 
> And I even tried removing & cleaning up the PCB contacts, just in case there's a bad contact somewhere but still not getting anything. So, there you have it guys, think I'm going to throw this one into the bin.


Sorry to hear it turned out dead. Don't bin it. Rip that puppy open for some magnet & big platter goodness. Wanted to do that to my Bigfoot, but could not bring myself to destroy a working drive.


----------



## phill (Jul 4, 2018)

@Robert B - another post of just pure awesome!!  
Do you keep the damaged parts for just in case or do you use them for show?


----------



## Robert B (Jul 4, 2018)

For ex the newer damaged PCI-E stuff helped me to repair the 3870X2.

Some of the damaged/incomplete components are beyond repair. These are the organ donors 

The complete stuff is just kept as is. They might be repaired at some point for ex. a few motherboards. The graphic cards that would need BGA repair are just for show. Those wont be repaired at all.


----------



## Fouquin (Jul 4, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> @Robert B
> Also, updated picture of my PCI cards collection :



I actually envy your collection there. I never gave PCI cards the attention they deserved, and am now paying for my ignorance. The Pentium Pro PC only has PCI, and I'm left wanting for a reasonably modern option to enable gaming beyond 2001.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 4, 2018)

Look what the mailman brought today!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 4, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Sorry to hear it turned out dead. Don't bin it. Rip that puppy open for some magnet & big platter goodness. Wanted to do that to my Bigfoot, but could not bring myself to destroy a working drive.


Or mount it on a wall for decor. Clean & polish it up first, but it will make a great conversation piece.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 4, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> I actually envy your collection there. I never gave PCI cards the attention they deserved, and am now paying for my ignorance. The Pentium Pro PC only has PCI, and I'm left wanting for a reasonably modern option to enable gaming beyond 2001.


I had a FX 5200 PCI back in the day and oh boy it was slow.  I just couldn't play games with it, since I didn't even know that it could be so slow card. But I got it with a cheap price, so that wasn't SO bad.

Traded it to a Radeon 9500 Pro and then I could play games.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 4, 2018)

@Fouquin I always wanted a good PCI card, because it's VERY useful to have.
P: PCI-e/AGP GPU damaged and you got only one PCI-e or AGP slot on MB ?
A: PCI GPU will save your neck.
P: Got MB board that overclocks great but needs high AGP port frequency ?
A: PCI GPUs don't need AGP 
Q: You need a low power card for you rig, but you don't have PCI-e slots ?
A: PCI port can do 25W max. (3,3V + 5V + [12V]).
Q: Board doesn't POSTs (damaged GPU/slot or simply BIOS being stupid and doing "PCI init" first)
A: Working PCI card should bypass any PCI-e or BIOS problems with video you might have.
You can always easily bridge PCI to PCI-e if you want (change PCI into PCI-e "x1", with 133MB/s max. speed).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 4, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Sorry to hear it turned out dead. Don't bin it. Rip that puppy open for some magnet & big platter goodness. Wanted to do that to my Bigfoot, but could not bring myself to destroy a working drive.


Even better, I've passed it on to someone else & told them to either keep it as display piece, or to sell the drive to someone who wants it for parts. Or maybe just to frame it & mount it on a wall lol, whatever works I suppose  I just couldn't force myself to bin the Bigfoot either (knowing how rare these things are), but at this point & stage, it's pretty much next to useless I'm afraid 

@lexluthermiester Normally I would even do something like that, without any hesitation but not any longer. To tell you the truth, I've been cleaning out loads of computer stuff recently, mostly giving it away for free to anyone who needs or just wants something, for whatever the reason. The idea is to clean up all the clutter (as much as I can) & end up with fully assembled & working units alone. Because I reached the point where I had motherboards, hard drives & other stuff laying all over the floor in my bedroom  It would also be nice if I could maybe sell couple of 3dfx machines, in order to make even more space. Because I still got over 40 systems all over the place & ran out of room to keep them all, so I even ended up stacking them in the wardrobe closet


----------



## Retrorockit (Jul 5, 2018)

I haven't tried this yet but it might make something possible for someone. There is a known issue with Dell BIOS from the BTX era not working with AMD GCN2 and up GPUs.
The GPUs can't display the required BIOS video resolution. Sometimes an error message, sometimes won't boot. I heard that if there is a  PCI video card installed the BIOS is happy and allows things to proceed. So I need to get a PCIe 1x card or a PCI card to try this.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 5, 2018)

And 51k barier in 3DMark 01SE broke :




A picture of home made VRM cooling (which makes this possible, yes - I used Intel BOX cooler) :


----------



## jlewis02 (Jul 5, 2018)




----------



## phill (Jul 5, 2018)

@agent_x007 - that's impressive and very cool at the same time!!  What's the board you use for your AGP testing??  The Asrock special??

@jlewis02 - Is that the legenary Abit NF7-S Rev 2??


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 5, 2018)

Got some Socket A CPUs today. 


























That's my "huge" collection of old hardware what I have right now.  I'll be benchmarking all the AMD CPUs, tho I need a Socket A motherboard first. I got also some DDR1 memory, other stick is HyperX PC3200 1GB, don't know about the another since it has a Nexus heatspreader on it. PCB looks similar tho.

I'm getting 2x 200GB PATA HDDs and 6600 GT & 7600 GS AGP graphics cards later today. I guess my tests will be:

Each CPU tested with each card
Each CPU tested overclocked with each card
Each CPU tested with each card overclocked
Each CPU tested overclocked with each card overclocked

So, the tested CPUs would be Athlon 1000MHz, Athlon XP 2100+, Athlon XP 2400+, Athlon XP 2700+, Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and Phenom II X4 955BE. Cards (at this moment) will be Radeon 9700 Pro, GeForce 6600 GT and 7600 GS. I bet that it's going to be an interesting test.


----------



## Caring1 (Jul 5, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, I finally booted up that Bigfoot drive aaaand .... nothing! It's obviously getting voltage, I can see the green LED lighting up, but I'm not hearing or feeling any movement from the inside the drive. Also, the system hanged up during the boot, waiting for drive to respond, so it's only safe to assume this one is toasted.
> 
> And I even tried removing & cleaning up the PCB contacts, just in case there's a bad contact somewhere but still not getting anything. So, there you have it guys, think I'm going to throw this one into the bin.


I know it's probably way too late, but did you check the jumpers were positioned correctly?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 5, 2018)

Caring1 said:


> I know it's probably way too late, but did you check the jumpers were positioned correctly?


AFAIK, there was only one jumper, for Master/Slave IDE configuration. And regardless of the setting, the platter was supposed to spin up the moment system was powered on - which it never did. But yes, I did try removing the jumper & setting it to Slave mode, didn't do any difference whatsoever.

My guess is that either the motor itself was shot, bearings fused together and/or the motor wasn't receiving power. Most likely this last one, since the entire PCB board had been contaminated with rust & oxidation, some of the screws holding it in place have been entirely brown.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 5, 2018)

*FRESH MEAT!!!  - I managed to clean them a little. I removed all the labels. They must be cleaned further and some pins need straightening  *

*CELERON PPGA BONANZA!!! *


----------



## jlewis02 (Jul 5, 2018)

phill said:


> @agent_x007 - that's impressive and very cool at the same time!!  What's the board you use for your AGP testing??  The Asrock special??
> 
> @jlewis02 - Is that the legenary Abit NF7-S Rev 2??


Yes sir thinking about selling it all


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 5, 2018)

phill said:


> @agent_x007 - that's impressive and very cool at the same time!!  What's the board you use for your AGP testing??  The Asrock special??


@phill l I used 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 for my AGP testing (because QX9770 support) : LINK.
Some say 775i65G/Conroe865PE are better because Intel vs. VIA chipset, I say - I like my 45nm Quad Core more than a bit better chipset 
I do however own ALiveDual-eSATA2 (with Phenom II 965 x4 BE), so... not sure which combo I would use if I did AGP testing again.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 6, 2018)

Taking rarest card I own for a spin 














Credentials (since I had to mod NV driver) :


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 6, 2018)

Nice rig, but I do have to point something out - running a 3rd fan, right behind the CPU heatsink (with so called push-pull configuration) will eventually destroy the red fan behind.

I'm speaking from personal experience here, the amount of air resistance, continuous pressure on the fan blades from the exhaust fan (the one facing back) on the CPU heatsink will either destroy the bearings or most likely the motor itself, which was the case in my situation. Especially due to the offset, fans not lining up perfectly


----------



## Bones (Jul 6, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Got some Socket A CPUs today.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The Athlon XP 2400 and 2700 chips are good, they have a decent stepping (AIUHB) and both dates are before the superlock date (0339), yours are dated 0328 and 0305 respectively. 

You probrably know this but I believe the 2400 is a Thoroughbred core and I do know the 2700 is a Thoroughbred core chip too, both being desktop chips indicated by the third character "D" in the model name string. 
The core size is the tip-off to me since they are the same and the stepping is a T-Bred stepping with both chips. You'll find the 2400 is probrably the better of the two if you decide to see how high they can go, the 2700's tend to run hot making them not want to go as high.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 7, 2018)

Bones said:


> The Athlon XP 2400 and 2700 chips are good, they have a decent stepping (AIUHB) and both dates are before the superlock date (0339), yours are dated 0328 and 0305 respectively.
> 
> You probrably know this but I believe the 2400 is a Thoroughbred core and I do know the 2700 is a Thoroughbred core chip too, both being desktop chips indicated by the third character "D" in the model name string.
> The core size is the tip-off to me since they are the same and the stepping is a T-Bred stepping with both chips. You'll find the 2400 is probrably the better of the two if you decide to see how high they can go, the 2700's tend to run hot making them not want to go as high.


Yea, I'm pretty familiar with Socket A hardware. 

Something for this rig in my bag, pics soon.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 7, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nice rig, but I do have to point something out - running a 3rd fan, right behind the CPU heatsink (with so called push-pull configuration) will eventually destroy the red fan behind.


All case fans I use have magnetic bearings (five "nanoflux" type + one "twister" type).
Q: Does this apply to them as well ?

Just so you know :
1) All fans I use are PWM (including both Deltas). Most of the time, all fans work between 25-60% speed range (controlled by MB temp. sensors).
2) Red fan is Phobya Nano-G 12 Silent PWM Red LED.
It's six years old now (bought it new in May 2012), and it works in push-pull since 2015 (but always with at least one Delta 120x38mm fan on CPU).


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 7, 2018)

Pics of the hardware I got today, like I promised. 

2x 200GB PATA hard drives






XFX 6600 GT with a Zalman VF700-Cu cooler






Gainward 7600 GS, these last AGP cards usually had a PCI-E power connector


----------



## Robert B (Jul 7, 2018)

*Gigabyte GA-8TM REV 1.0 !!! *

*https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-8TM-rev-1x#ov*


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 7, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Gigabyte GA-8TM REV 1.0 !!! *
> 
> *https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-8TM-rev-1x#ov*


Wow, S423 and RDRAM.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 7, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Gigabyte GA-8TM REV 1.0 !!! *
> 
> *https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-8TM-rev-1x#ov*



Nice. A not run of the mill 423 board.
I have Abit TH7 Raid and Asus P4T.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 7, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> All case fans I use have magnetic bearings (five "nanoflux" type + one "twister" type).
> Q: Does this apply to them as well ?
> 
> Just so you know :
> ...


I wasn't referring to Push-Pull fans, on the CPU heatsink, I meant the glowing, red LED fan on the back, mounted on the case. Push pull is most likely going to be fine, because they are lined up together & not clashing directly into each other.

As for the bearings, I guess so... Remember, I said in my original post that it wasn't the bearing which failed (in my case), but the motor itself. It just wasn't able to keep up with wind forces, continuous pressure to the point where (and when) it completely failed. Of course, I didn't realize that, I only found out that something went wrong when I removed the side cover, to upgrade the video card from 8800GT to GTX760, some time last year. I remember powering up the system afterwards, to see if it'll work, boot OK & the fan rotor, propeller itself just shifted & began spinning clockwise, in the *opposite* direction. True, it was running extremely low, to the point where it would stall & then start spinning in other (and normal) direction, but I realized that the motor is shot & immediately unplugged it from the motherboard.

And yes, mine was also PWM, 120mm Scythe something, don't remember. With small hub in the middle & long, narrow & sharp-looking fan blades.

Edit
@Robert B @Mr.Scott
That brings back happy memories... Used to have a Pentium 4, think it was 1.4GHz model on Asus P4-T mobo with 128MB of RIMM, Rambus memory. Happy days ... until it was the time to upgrade the RAM & all the hell broke loose when I found out that the mobo is not compatible with DDR 

I still remember the full system specs... Apart from the mentioned mobo & CPU, it also had a Matrox Millennium G450DualHead AGP card, Hauppauge TV tuner card, SB 128 PCI sound card, 40GB Maxtor HDD (which broke down soon after), NEC DVD-ROM drive (first one I had, still do) Teac CD-RW, Teac 3.5" floppy & fax modem. Of all these components, I still have Matrox G450, SB 128, Hauppauge TV (and the original remote) & NEC DVD, but I sold (and got rid) of everything else.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 7, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> And yes, mine was also PWM, 120mm Scythe something, don't remember. With small hub in the middle & long, narrow & sharp-looking fan blades.



Slip Stream  
Love those fans.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 7, 2018)

@Trekkie4 Exactly, wind pressures.
I mentioned I have PWM Delta because 25-60% won't cause much wind. Even if it does, it's further decreased on 120mm since I have two 140mm fans on top (pushing air out).
I don't get however, why a fan motor can fail in way you describe on fan with magnetic bearing.
Fan motor can't be affected by that, because fan blades aren't directly connected to it.
They "float" on magnets and motor simply spins them around via magnetic force.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 7, 2018)

Just to share someone's post, from another forum... Check this guy out!









As I already said on another forum, the idea itself was totally awesome. HOWEVER, the realization, assembly itself is totally wrong IMO. I don't even know where to begin ... if he wanted to make a "real" Win98 system, then he SHOULD have used the Pentium II, Slot 1 system instead of S370 Pentium III, especially not Tualatin! Then there's motherboard, Intel Desktop Board for gaming?!? I can understand why he insisted on using modern PSU, and I respect his decision to do so, but the hard drive?!  Back in a day you were lucky to have a 10GB drive, most ppl had even less 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Then there's a question of the Voodoo card... Why using Voodoo5? This kind of layout would be more appropriate for Windows Millennium, and/or Win2k, and NOT for W98! Besides, he clearly said in his video that he's hoping to cover several generations with this machine, ranging all the way from DOS to Unreal 2, from around 2002, 2003. Sounds familiar? It should, because my RetroMaster project, rig from the profile page did (and still does) the same thing, but instead of using one card, I went with 3 of them - it's the only logical answer to this kind of problem. Running GeForce4 Ti4200 as primary AGP card for DOS & "modern" titles from early 2000s, along with two Voodoo2 in SLI for everything else. Besides, older games (Quake, Carmageddon, NFS II SE & similar) will only use the first, upper card & ignore the other one, where on the other hand, 2nd card will be used for SLI, 1024x768 resolution (in Quake II, Quake III, Unreal, Half-Life & other titles)

So there... I know I probably made it seem too complicated, but if you're going to make something, then at least do it properly 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Edit
@agent_x007 My guess is that it has to do with power draw. Keeping the fan spinning in right direction (and the specified speed) took much more juice than it should have, considering the air resistance from the CPU fan(s) So, I'm guessing something blew up on the PCB board, inside the hub. Because too much power draw equals heat - and for electronics, heat equals death


----------



## droopyRO (Jul 7, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Wow, S423 and RDRAM.


RDRAM that is not something i heard in many years, plus it has dip switches


----------



## Robert B (Jul 7, 2018)

*BACK FROM THE PIT!!!* missing retaining clips though...

L.E. I'll have to adapt a newer cooler for this enedavour as finding the retaining clips is waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy harder than I thought....I might try something and make my own retaining clips. I think is going to be a PITA...


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 7, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *BACK FROM THE PIT!!!* missing retaining clips though...
> 
> L.E. I'll have to adapt a newer cooler for this enedavour as finding the retaining clips is waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy harder than I thought....I might try something and make my own retaining clips. I think is going to be a PITA...


Socket 603/604 also typically use the same clips if that helps any. Same motherboard mounting holes too.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 7, 2018)

*Gramatik - Just Jammin' *


*Flea market day today! *

I had a lot to choose from - boxes full of loot so *I had to be SELECTIVE really really SELECTIVE:*

1. 2xPII 350 SL2U4 just in case my plan with the Celeron PPGA/Slotket goes up in smoke on P6DLS
2. Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 - Geforce 2 GTS - 32 MB - GB0010
3. Adaptec Raid 1200A - just in case I need it
4. Creative CT 6670 - V2 12MB - cheap - a few bent pins that I managed to untangle - not perfect but I hope it is ok. All the pins are solid. I was soooo afraid I might break one of them...
5. PDC38130BC - copper base - cheap - I just couldn' pass on it so I bought it!

All ~ 18USD / 15EUR - cheap cheap cheap....

The stuff I passed on was a box full of stuff....X800 AGP, Leadtek A360 AGP 5700, Leadtek GF4 4200 Ti,  6800GT PCI-E - all with missing components, ATI 8500LE, Inno 3D GF3 Ti 200, lots of other cards, about 40 of them....a year ago I would've bought them all.....remember I had to SELECTIVE? 

It hurt a little of all the SELECTIVENESS  I HAD TO APPLY but I got over it  Next week will be ANOTHER FLEA MARKET DAY !!! ....maybe  said the ADDICT!!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 7, 2018)

willing to tinker hard ... well i've really taken the right thing to do so ... even tho a Mac is known for being a ultra proprietary closed thing ...

since i received my PowerMac G4 Quicksilver 2002, i've spent some time on
http://themacelite.wikidot.com/start

first thing first, that caught my attention ...



i have that exact card ... tho it is marked as a XT ... yet i know i can make it work... with some tinkering cutting 3 and 11 pin trace or tapping them or desoldering the resistor assigned to them (thanks Apple for botching AGP 8X  ... amateur... ) and BIOS flash.


then i have to reckon, that case is gorgeous and the opening system was really neat at the time...

mmhhh a Barracuda ATA IV 40gb (the second drive, 80gb, is under that one, didn't check for now )


glamour shot, 768mb PC 133 RAM (3x 256, 512 from base + a ADATA 256mb stick from the previous user upgrade) V.90 modem and Airport PCMCIA slot

the Radeon 7500 and her "ADC" connector which oddly enough look like a DVI with rounded sides (probably a DVI but as apple like to call things as they want ... i.e.: Retina  it's a ADC with a proprietary shape ) strange tho the one with the PowerPC (7450/7455) 800mhz CPU is said to have a Radeon 7000, i guess they meant a 7000 series



mhhh to-do... flashing that 9800XT, trying to find a PCMCIA Airport card and seeking a dual 1ghz CPU board

something like that ...


----------



## Fouquin (Jul 8, 2018)

An old friend and coworker of mine from the recycling center retired today. I showed up for his little going-away party and while we were all BSing in the back room he pulled me aside and handed me a box.



I still had to pay for them of course, but not even remotely close to what they are worth. I'm pretty pleased right now.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 8, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> An old friend and coworker of mine from the recycling center retired today. I showed up for his little going-away party and while we were all BSing in the back room he pulled me aside and handed me a box.
> 
> View attachment 103644
> 
> I still had to pay for them of course, but not even remotely close to what they are worth. I'm pretty pleased right now.


I was like WTF, but then I realized that it's a mirrored pic.


----------



## Fouquin (Jul 8, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> I was like WTF, but then I realized that it's a mirrored pic.



It was a hasty image and the camera wasn't playing nice, so I had to do the thumb-bashing routine on the screen with the included editor to get it to look alright. I'll have a much better picture soon with all the cards lined up with their brothers.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 8, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> An old friend and coworker of mine from the recycling center retired today. I showed up for his little going-away party and while we were all BSing in the back room he pulled me aside and handed me a box.
> 
> View attachment 103644
> 
> I still had to pay for them of course, but not even remotely close to what they are worth. I'm pretty pleased right now.


Wow, seriously?! It breaks my heart to think someone would throw away (working?) 3dfx hardware in this day & age...


----------



## erek (Jul 8, 2018)

Does anyone here know of or own a Hercules 3D Prophet 4800 / Kyro II SE card?


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 8, 2018)

Only herc card i own is a 7000 AIW


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 8, 2018)

erek said:


> Does anyone here know of or own a Hercules 3D Prophet 4800 / Kyro II SE card?


Non existent.
Only 1 known card ever produced


----------



## erek (Jul 8, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Non existent.
> Only 1 known card ever produced



iXBT Labs and Hardware Upgrade.IT had a review, is it the same exact card or possibility for at least two in existence?


https://www.hwupgrade.it/news/skvideo/hercules-3d-prophet-4800-reviewed_6834.html 

http://ixbtlabs.com/news.html?01/37/78


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 8, 2018)

I got 1st gen Kyro, aka "Evil Kyro", but that's not what you asked for... From what I understand, pretty rare card (only found one, in all these years), but the performance output is just plain terrible. Easily the worst card in my entire retro gaming fleet


----------



## erek (Jul 8, 2018)

I received my 2nd XGI Volari Duo V8 Ultra (which was already unsealed, i will not unseal the other one)











Also, my 2nd nVidia GeForce FX 5800 Ultra / ES with the Green Shroud has been successfully repaired:












http://imgur.com/a/drk4XB2


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 8, 2018)

erek said:


> iXBT Labs and Hardware Upgrade.IT had a review, is it the same exact card or possibility for at least two in existence?
> 
> 
> https://www.hwupgrade.it/news/skvideo/hercules-3d-prophet-4800-reviewed_6834.html
> ...



Take those links with a grain of salt. There was no independent testing shown in either of those links. Just the same common pics and bench results.
One would not have to have the card in their possession to make those posts.

I can only tell you what is research available. All research points toward only 1 card in existence, and I cannot find who actually has it. Last known was someplace in Germany.


----------



## erek (Jul 8, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Take those links with a grain of salt. There was no independent testing shown in either of those links. Just the same common pics and bench results.
> One would not have to have the card in their possession to make those posts.
> 
> I can only tell you what is research available. All research points toward only 1 card in existence, and I cannot find who actually has it. Last known was someplace in Germany.




what about this one?

https://web.archive.org/web/2002083...ersonline.com/index.php?page=articles&num=147


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 8, 2018)

erek said:


> what about this one?
> 
> https://web.archive.org/web/2002083...ersonline.com/index.php?page=articles&num=147


There are no pages archived except for the first one, so I can't tell you.
For all anybody knows, it was just one sample that was passed around. *shrug* Don't know.


----------



## erek (Jul 8, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> There are no pages archived except for the first one, so I can't tell you.
> For all anybody knows, it was just one sample that was passed around. *shrug* Don't know.



Have this... would be crazy if it's true

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ret...tif_id=1531068520056180&notif_t=group_comment


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 8, 2018)

erek said:


> Have this... would be crazy if it's true
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ret...tif_id=1531068520056180&notif_t=group_comment



Eh....talk is cheap.
Never know though.


----------



## erek (Jul 8, 2018)

you all see this? 


*Creative CreativeBlaster AWE64 GOLD II CT4560 Sound Card*


----------



## Fouquin (Jul 8, 2018)

As promised here's a slightly better picture, and now including the complete (working) collection:




I have a few duplicates of the 3500 that I didn't include as they're all in various states of disrepair. The VooDoo 4 4500 PCI is going into the Pentium Pro PC for certain, and the STB VooDoo 2 12MB SLI pair are going into the IBM Aptiva. The rest will reside dormant for awhile, though I've got plans to get some stands so they can have a shelf in the display case.


----------



## phill (Jul 9, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> @phill l I used 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 for my AGP testing (because QX9770 support) : LINK.
> Some say 775i65G/Conroe865PE are better because Intel vs. VIA chipset, I say - I like my 45nm Quad Core more than a bit better chipset
> I do however own ALiveDual-eSATA2 (with Phenom II 965 x4 BE), so... not sure which combo I would use if I did AGP testing again.



I remember having one of the 4CoreDual-SATA2 boards, wasn't the best thing in the world and definitely needed a bit of a hand to get the best from it..  A few hardware mods for sure as everything was so locked down in the bios..  Not much you could do with any of it..  But didn't have it long..  Shame really, should have just kept it for memories really..

But I have a feeling that this following pic might put me in good books of the legendary @Robert B I think...









Time for bed I think but I hope that's a pleasing pic !! 



jlewis02 said:


> Yes sir thinking about selling it all



You might regret that if your like most of us here!!  I sell things and then wish I sure hadn't later on...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 9, 2018)

@phill I always wanted to find one of these & kept drooling over pictures & literature  For a while, I was even willing to invest serious money into buying V5 5500 but then I thought abut it & realized it's probably not worth it...

Glide was totally awesome for its time & age, and it made games look absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, as Direct 3D, DirectX took over the market, Glide lost its advantage so to speak, therefore running powerful "Voodoo" card seems kinda pointless, at least in my personal opinion. In other words, Voodoo is a perfect & natural choice for all the games up to early 2000s, but as of that moment, games were better with Direct3D hardware, mainly nVidias & ATIs. And let's face it, Voodoo2 in SLI and/or especially Voodoo3 (even the basic "2000" model) had more than enough power to handle just about any game up to this point!


----------



## Robert B (Jul 9, 2018)

@phill - *You're doing well my apprentice, you're doing well!* It's great to see the V4 4500 up and working - It makes me remember my V4-L. In my case it wasnt a smooth ride. NOOO SIIIRRR!!!

I've started cleaning the CPU cooler I got Saturday. Needless to say that now I have to keep the damn thing in a bag as it attracts fingerprints like a magnet. Sheeeshhh.

The Annihilator 2 almost got annihilated by dust. I sure hope it is still alive. (GF2 GTS - GB0010)

I found a CPU for my GA-8TM.


----------



## erek (Jul 9, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Eh....talk is cheap.
> Never know though.




Here's the claim now:

"Rob XXX: Yes. 4800. I DO have 4500s as well though. I also have two experimental prototype boards from Kyro development somewhere. But like most stuff I have it’s buried in piles of stuff. One of these days I’ll show you a pic of storerooms and you’ll see what real hoarding is :')"


----------



## phill (Jul 9, 2018)

Robert B said:


> @phill - *You're doing well my apprentice, you're doing well!* It's great to see the V4 4500 up and working - It makes me remember my V4-L. In my case it wasnt a smooth ride. NOOO SIIIRRR!!!
> 
> I've started cleaning the CPU cooler I got Saturday. Needless to say that now I have to keep the damn thing in a bag as it attracts fingerprints like a magnet. Sheeeshhh.
> 
> ...



Well I've not cleaned it yet and I think the fan might have a little issue, but I'm just glad it works!!  I'll see what I can do for cleaning it over the next few days 



Trekkie4 said:


> @phill I always wanted to find one of these & kept drooling over pictures & literature  For a while, I was even willing to invest serious money into buying V5 5500 but then I thought abut it & realized it's probably not worth it...
> 
> Glide was totally awesome for its time & age, and it made games look absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, as Direct 3D, DirectX took over the market, Glide lost its advantage so to speak, therefore running powerful "Voodoo" card seems kinda pointless, at least in my personal opinion. In other words, Voodoo is a perfect & natural choice for all the games up to early 2000s, but as of that moment, games were better with Direct3D hardware, mainly nVidias & ATIs. And let's face it, Voodoo2 in SLI and/or especially Voodoo3 (even the basic "2000" model) had more than enough power to handle just about any game up to this point!



Well looking at some of the prices for Voodoo cards, they have gone utterly bonkers!!  I found a few on Ebay...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3Dfx-Voo...m=332545365703&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-...693147?hash=item2aacdb819b:g:XokAAOSwYtla0l9o

Bloody crazy money!!  There was a 5500 going for about £100 ($135 I think it was) but that got sold within not very long at all..  Gutting really as I was just telling a friend about it!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 9, 2018)

phill said:


> Well I've not cleaned it yet and I think the fan might have a little issue, but I'm just glad it works!!  I'll see what I can do for cleaning it over the next few days
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Actually I was just talking about this phenomenon, couple of days on other forum & it wasn't about 3dfx, I was talking about the company Shure which (as of recently) decided to pull the plug on phono cartridge (and styli) production, causing the prices to skyrocket! Leaving people  buying (and selling) cartridges & styli for two, three times the price of what they USED to cost, only couple of months ago.

Bottom line - it's all about supply & demand. I remember the times when I could pick Voodoo2 & Voodoo3 cards for nothing, I even had forumers giving them away to me, for absolutely nothing. And yet, now we are facing completely opposite situation, where 3dfx hardware is being sold for absurd prices! But regardless of how much, they eventually DO get sold, because there's always someone out there who wants one! So you either need to have your pockets full of cash OR get extremely lucky (and act fast), to bid on one of those once-in-a-lifetime deals where you get 3dfx stuff for next to nothing


----------



## phill (Jul 9, 2018)

Just like with everything now I think @Trekkie4, make someone want something enough it quickly becomes very expensive and valuable..  Some of my Mega Drives games I have are over the £100 mark each..  When they were new they weren't new for that money..  Isn't it funny how things we sell and then wish we hadn't, looking back, I wish I'd kept pretty much everything I've ever bought...  That said, were the heck would I have put it all??.....  The mind boggles....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2018)

phill said:


> Just like with everything now I think @Trekkie4, make someone want something enough it quickly becomes very expensive and valuable..  Some of my Mega Drives games I have are over the £100 mark each..  When they were new they weren't new for that money..  Isn't it funny how things we sell and then wish we hadn't, looking back, I wish I'd kept pretty much everything I've ever bought...  That said, were the heck would I have put it all??.....  The mind boggles....


Oh, I know! As I already pointed out (several posts earlier), I wish I hadn't sold my S423 Pentium 4 rig, with Asus P4T mobo & Rambus memory...  The same goes for the first video card which I bought (and replaced) on my own, Abit Siluro (nVidia) FX5600, or even my own Diamond Monster 3DII, 12mb Voodoo2 card from back in a day. Fortunately, I'm lucky enough to still have the original Pentium II machine from back in a day, including the original sound card & Quantum Fireball hard drive, but the Voodoo2 & ATI Rage IIc AGP card had been replaced, to match the lost original(s) 

I also did the same, stupid mistake with HiFi... Used to have the legendary Shure M91 cartridge & brand new, never used stylus, removed from dad's turntable & kept it inside my desk drawer for years. Before one day (around 2010, 2011) I decided to sell it, thinking I won't be using it any longer *sigh*


----------



## phill (Jul 10, 2018)

Ain't hind sight a bitch??


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2018)

phill said:


> Ain't hind sight a bitch??


Yuup, it most certainly is!!


----------



## erek (Jul 10, 2018)

Anyone ever seen a genuine non-clone / non-replica MicroProse "The Entertainer" Sound Board?   Trying to locate one...

Some infO:   http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?40872-quot-The-Entertainer-quot-sound-card-exposed


----------



## havli (Jul 11, 2018)

This is not (yet) retro... but still nice HW to have. 

I was lucky to get the boards cheap as not tested... luckily, both are working perfectly. 

Tyan S7002 - entry level dual S1366 board, but supports both Nehalem and Westmere, including 6-cores. Also using regular ATX PSU and GPU compatible pci-e slot (no need for risers).




Supermicro X9DRL-iF - this one is dual S2011, so support for SB-E and IB-E.




I have the boards for some time now, so it is time to get some decent CPUs too. For now just a pair of Nehalem and Westmere Xeons. Later I'll buy SB-E E5-2670 to have a pair of them (at the moment I own only one piece). At some point both platforms will take part in my tests, should be interesting fight vs socket G34 Opterons.

Xeon X5560 (4C/8T, 8MB L3, 3,06 GHz all-core turbo)




Xeon X5660 (6C/12T, 12MB L3, 3,06 GHz all-core turbo)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 11, 2018)

I recently got back into retro stuff.

Here's the latest machine I built. Paid 130RON ($32.59) w/ shipping. Came with a K6-2 500AFR, a stick of 128MB RAM, and a cooler that surprisingly hasn't seized yet. 

Now, onto full specifications:
400W Torrent Computers LC-B400ATX (recapped and w/ 30A rectifier on 5v)
Lucky Star 5MVP3 Rev2.1
AMD K6-2 500AFR
3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 16MB AGP2x
128MB PC133 SDRAM
Hitachi-LG GSA-4167B DVD-RW
Realtek RTL8139C+ NIC
MSI D-Bracket (for USB ports, as I don't have a PS/2 port on this nor a PS/2 mouse or adapter)
Creative SoundBlaster 16 Value ISA CT2770
and Windows 98 SE, of course!

Now I can't decide whether I should buy a Pentium II (from the same seller) or buy a Medion 19" CRT (yes, I found one and it looks BEAUTIFUL). On one side I'd buy the P2 and do another build but the other side of me would get the Medion, although I ALREADY own a Phillips 107P4 CRT.

Pics:

Mobo

GPU BIOS:

MB BIOS:

Put together in a case 

The front

*ribbit*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 11, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I recently got back into retro stuff.
> 
> Here's the latest machine I built. Paid 130RON ($32.59) w/ shipping. Came with a K6-2 500AFR, a stick of 128MB RAM, and a cooler that surprisingly hasn't seized yet.
> 
> ...


I say go for Pentium 2! What can I say, I'm more than attached to those things (especially 350MHz model, Deschutes core), since I owned one right from the very beginning ... not to mention 4 or 5 other systems featuring the same CPU 

Thing is, you will always come across CRT monitors IMO, as they're not really that rare (yet), and you can get them for next to nothing. Where on the other hand, PII is slowly becoming harder & harder to find nowdays & it holds a vintage (retro) value.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 12, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> GPU BIOS:
> View attachment 103780


I'd advise you to update the GPU BIOS.  It can be easily found online.  I did mine years ago, easy as hell and rarely a problem.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 12, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I say go for Pentium 2! What can I say, I'm more than attached to those things (especially 350MHz model, Deschutes core), since I owned one right from the very beginning ... not to mention 4 or 5 other systems featuring the same CPU
> 
> Thing is, you will always come across CRT monitors IMO, as they're not really that rare (yet), and you can get them for next to nothing. Where on the other hand, PII is slowly becoming harder & harder to find nowdays & it holds a vintage (retro) value.


Yeah, CRTs are quite disappearing in here. And they're not cheap either (by our economy).
By the way, searched it - my Phillips does 1920x1440 @120Hz native (can't read anything at that res though hehe) , while the Medion seems to support 1600x1200  at about 160Hz.

In the end though, even if not related, I might get a VCR  There's a Grundig available, and maybe I can get it cheap. Hope these are durable. Shame that the Schneider broke down.



Red_Machine said:


> I'd advise you to update the GPU BIOS.  It can be easily found online.  I did mine years ago, easy as hell and rarely a problem.


Believe me, from someone who only ever flashed nVidia cards (yes, this was one of my flashing hobbies (beside cross MB BIOS flashing, which I am still good at ^_^ ), flashing a ATI or a 3dfx for me is like asking for trouble. 

Especially since this is the only 3dfx card I ever have. It works fine anyways.
 "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 12, 2018)

Seeing that Windows 98 really brings back memories. The sound of degaussing CRT monitor when it turn on, sound of rattling harddisk and floppy seek during bootup, Windows 98 startup sound and when you look inside the PC its filled with big fat PATA cable snaking around the innards of beige case.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 12, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yeah, CRTs are quite disappearing in here. And they're not cheap either (by our economy).
> By the way, searched it - my Phillips does 1920x1440 @120Hz native (can't read anything at that res though hehe) , while the Medion seems to support 1600x1200  at about 160Hz.
> 
> In the end though, even if not related, I might get a VCR  There's a Grundig available, and maybe I can get it cheap. Hope these are durable. Shame that the Schneider broke down.
> ...


Well, I still think PII would be better investment, but with that being said I can't say I blame you... 


 

 

 

 

 

 





Apocalypsee said:


> Seeing that Windows 98 really brings back memories. The sound of degaussing CRT monitor when it turn on, sound of rattling harddisk and floppy seek during bootup, Windows 98 startup sound and when you look inside the PC its filled with big fat PATA cable snaking around the innards of beige case.


"Windows 98 Starts Here!"


----------



## Robert B (Jul 12, 2018)

THE TOWER!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 12, 2018)

Robert B said:


> THE TOWER!


How's this then?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 12, 2018)

Now, now... Haven't you heard the news? The size doesn't matter 

Speaking of old hardware, check this guy out ... now THIS is the way games are meant to be played!


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 13, 2018)

New toy


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 13, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Now, now... Haven't you heard the news? The size doesn't matter
> 
> Speaking of old hardware, check this guy out ... now THIS is the way games are meant to be played!


That EF2000 game. Damn I used to watch my dad play those A LOT back in the day. That and TFX.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 13, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> That EF2000 game. Damn I used to watch my dad play those A LOT back in the day. That and TFX.


I don't remember playing EF2000 (I DO remember Gunship, GS2000 however, but that was a whole other story) but yes, I do remember TFX. Same thing, my dad used to play it on our 4x86 DX2 for hours ... and crashed every single time 

Good times, but as of his death I've been avoiding TFX & Flight Simulator 98


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 14, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I don't remember playing EF2000 (I DO remember Gunship, GS2000 however, but that was a whole other story) but yes, I do remember TFX. Same thing, my dad used to play it on our 4x86 DX2 for hours ... and crashed every single time
> 
> Good times, but as of his death I've been avoiding TFX & Flight Simulator 98


My dad is a licence aircraft engineer so he knows how things works. He took me to local A320 simulator few years back. Even with a lot of time playing 3D games the simulator visual is very different and made my head dizzy 

I'm sorry to hear about your dad


----------



## erek (Jul 14, 2018)

I took a gamble on the bulging capacitors and booted her up!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 14, 2018)

erek said:


> I took a gamble on the bulging capacitors and booted her up!


Worth a recap then!

But I also think you should replace the heatsinks with Vantec Iceberq 4 Pros. Unless you can bear their sound


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 14, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> My dad is a licence aircraft engineer so he knows how things works. He took me to local A320 simulator few years back. Even with a lot of time playing 3D games the simulator visual is very different and made my head dizzy
> 
> I'm sorry to hear about your dad


It's OK, thanks 

You mean the real thing, training simulator used for training real pilots? That's pretty cool! My dad wasn't a pilot, he simply enjoyed playing these games. But like I said, he would crash the plane most of the time lol, to the point where he gave up on flight simulators altogether. I remember giving him the latest FS 2000, and he gave it a try once or twice, but eventually gave up & switched to other games.

On the other hand, I was never really that much into flight simulators, until I discovered Flight Unlimited III, which was a really cool game. I found it to be very realistic & accurate (at the time), and since you could land on water it made flying a lot more easier than Flight Simulator series, from Microsoft. But TBH, I was never really crazy for flying & would always pick Need For Speed 3 and/or Carmageddon II over any flying game


----------



## erek (Jul 14, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Worth a recap then!
> 
> But I also think you should replace the heatsinks with Vantec Iceberq 4 Pros. Unless you can bear their sound



it's a lot more bearable and pleasant than the FX 5800 Ultra:


----------



## AlwaysHope (Jul 15, 2018)

So where's the line between nostalgic & not? 
Got me 1156 build going atm. Not sure where to post on this one..


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 15, 2018)

AlwaysHope said:


> So where's the line between nostalgic & not?
> Got me 1156 build going atm. Not sure where to post on this one..


Please do...

for me it's from 1981 (my birth year, maybe a little before too ) to 2012, 1156 and 1366 were discontinued in 2012  (iirc i did post a 1366 a few years back)


old saying "you can be nostalgic about yesterday"


edit ... my first 1366 mention post was from 2014  
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-2985234


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 15, 2018)

Anyone know where to find replacement sockets for 478? The socket on my P4C800-E broke a little while ago and I haven't been able to come up with much.
I'd much rather not buy another board since they're not very cheap anymore.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 15, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> Anyone know where to find replacement sockets for 478? The socket on my P4C800-E broke a little while ago and I haven't been able to come up with much.
> I'd much rather not buy another board since they're not very cheap anymore.


Good luck.
I've gone through 7 of these boards in my benching career. They are more difficult to find and definitely more expensive now.
Yes, they are fragile boards for sure.


----------



## erek (Jul 15, 2018)

@Mr.Scott @Fouquin 

Opinion?  Totally and completely worthless for collection, or is there some interesting parts to it?

*nVidia GF106-950-A1 Engineer Sample Video Card for Collection*


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 15, 2018)

Went through a few modifications of my "workstation" and this is what I ended up with.




The VCR pictured in there is the one I've told y'all I'm going to get - it's a Grundig GV729M. It looks pretty nice, and I bought it along with 4 tapes.

I think the RF side is partially gone though - I can only get picture but no traces of sound.

As for the machine above - that's my K6-2 500 rig. 
I just finished replacing the old Tayeh caps on it (with 07' black/white Rubies to keep the theme - it looks lovely with them now!!!) and replaced the sound blaster with a very nice 
Yamaha YMF719/ OPL3 SAx ISA soundcard, which IS PnP as opposed to my old SB16 Value CT2770. (and I bought a practically BRAND NEW card, as it didn't even have a speck of dust.)

Taped a few gameplays of NFS2, NFS5 and Abe's Oddysee already! Hope to fix TV tuner issues with my PC (Composite output doesn't work anymore, only RF) and record all the tapes' contents to my PC.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 15, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Good luck.
> I've gone through 7 of these boards in my benching career. They are more difficult to find and definitely more expensive now.
> Yes, they are fragile boards for sure.


Ha, of course as soon as I post that I find some on aliexpress @ <$1 a piece. Just had to search for exactly "mPGA478B" in order for it to show up. 
Ordered a few. Bad socket is already removed so just simply a matter of sticking the new one on.


----------



## Fouquin (Jul 15, 2018)

erek said:


> @Mr.Scott @Fouquin
> 
> Opinion?  Totally and completely worthless for collection, or is there some interesting parts to it?
> 
> *nVidia GF106-950-A1 Engineer Sample Video Card for Collection*



Did you buy it? Looks like it could be a Quadro 2000M, which means it should work in a few different workstation laptops.


----------



## erek (Jul 15, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> Did you buy it? Looks like it could be a Quadro 2000M, which means it should work in a few different workstation laptops.



Did i buy it? perhaps

any comments regarding being worth collecting?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 15, 2018)

Worth it is a matter of one's own opinion.  
While interesting, it's not my cup of tea.


----------



## erek (Jul 15, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Worth it is a matter of one's own opinion.
> While interesting, it's not my cup of tea.



interesting is at least a positive start, but i wonder if i am reaching in terms of wanting to collect and or have it validated and vindicated as worthy of collecting too much?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 15, 2018)

erek said:


> interesting is at least a positive start, but i wonder if i am reaching in terms of wanting to collect and or have it validated and vindicated as worthy of collecting too much?


All engineering samples are interesting, so there is merit there.


----------



## Red_Machine (Jul 16, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> As for the machine above - that's my K6-2 500 rig.


A 500MHz single-core running Windows 7?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 16, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> A 500MHz single-core running Windows 7?


 LOL no, it's running 98SE. The one on the monitor is my daily machine, a Xeon X5450. The K6-2 is hooked up to the VCR through a S-Video to Composite adapter I made myself.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Jul 16, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> Please do...
> 
> for me it's from 1981 (my birth year, maybe a little before too ) to 2012, 1156 and 1366 were discontinued in 2012  (iirc i did post a 1366 a few years back)
> 
> ...




Will do, but for me to do it from my birth year?... well, let's just say it could be a tad embarrassing... 

Waiting for win10 to update itself then pics...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 16, 2018)

AlwaysHope said:


> Will do, but for me to do it from my birth year?... well, let's just say it could be a tad embarrassing...
> 
> Waiting for win10 to update itself then pics...


well my birth year is not embarassing for me  ... i was born the same year as the first IBM PC (obviously computer are older than that but i meant it like "as we know them"... otherwise i would have written "same year as the Osborn 1" ... but well, not a fan of CP/M or the Epson HX-20 but his codename, "Geneva" ... is not my teacup...) more precisely exactly 5 month later...

me: 12 December 1981
IBM PC: 12 August 1981

ergo: i was born with it 

edit: oohhh funny... it was the model number 5150 and one of my retro rig is a Dell Dimension 5150 (2005 ), talk about coincidence ... 


Spoiler: 5150 and 5150


----------



## erek (Jul 17, 2018)

Just received the FX 5800 Ultra Engineering Sample (Left) back from the repair shop. Waiting on thermal pads to arrive before finalizing the reassembly
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10106678757922639&set=gm.2271158376244649&type=3&ifg=1


----------



## emissary42 (Jul 19, 2018)

Needs a recap, not sure if it is worth it


----------



## buzzi (Jul 19, 2018)

it is _always_ worth it!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 19, 2018)

Can't even remember how many times I repaired something, either a floppy drive, CD-ROM, mechanical mouse with serial interface and/or recapping the entire motherboard, because I personally felt it's worth the effort. Which should be your (only) guideline IMO.

If you feel the board is worth fixing, time & money then it is. Otherwise it's probably not, no matter how the rest of us feel (or don't feel) about your decision


----------



## emissary42 (Jul 19, 2018)

I am not gonna use it ever again, but will not just trash it and instead ask around for a bit if someone else wants to have & recap it.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 19, 2018)




----------



## erek (Jul 19, 2018)




----------



## phill (Jul 19, 2018)

E760??  I couldn't quite see the sticker!!


----------



## erek (Jul 19, 2018)

Finally got my collection together, all except the Daily Driver AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Engineering Sample...


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 19, 2018)

phill said:


> E760??  I couldn't quite see the sticker!!


Yes 




Air cooling : https://valid.x86.fr/m3x88i 
Must add : BIOS update is quite hard to do on this board, also - it doesn't support Xeon stuff out of the box (hardware mod required).
I updated BIOS using CF card with DOS 6.22.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 20, 2018)

erek said:


>


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 20, 2018)

erek said:


> Finally got my collection together, all except the Daily Driver AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Engineering Sample...


FX 5800 UItra Asylum... I guess they know that the cooler's noise will drive the user insane and insane asylum comes into play. 


Got an Asrock K7VT4A Pro + Sempron 2200+ + 2x512MB Valueram yesterday, I'll post pics later. Tried few Socket A CPUs and my 2x1GB sticks with it, POSTed nicely. Too bad that the 1GHz Thunderbird seems to be broken. 

edit: Wait, wut? Those Volari Duo:s used GDDR2?


----------



## Caring1 (Jul 20, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


>


Do you have the heatsinks too?
Nice board.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 20, 2018)

Caring1 said:


> Do you have the heatsinks too?
> Nice board.


Yes. 
I only have I/O shield from accesories though :/
I stripped heatsink to exchange paste and clean PCB.


----------



## erek (Jul 22, 2018)

GUS ViperMax !

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gravis-ultrasound-extreme-vipermax/253760676193?hash=item3b1550a161:g:qWAAAOSwvDpbJ-0q&_sacat=0&_nkw=vipermax&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR6.TRC0.A0.H0.Xvipermax.TRS0.TSS0


----------



## delshay (Jul 22, 2018)

erek said:


> GUS ViperMax !
> 
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gravis-ultrasound-extreme-vipermax/253760676193?hash=item3b1550a161:g:qWAAAOSwvDpbJ-0q&_sacat=0&_nkw=vipermax&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR6.TRC0.A0.H0.Xvipermax.TRS0.TSS0



HOW MUCH. Sorry way over priced. Not even this one is worth buying https://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-...itm=263528013074&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1


----------



## Robert B (Jul 22, 2018)

*FRESH!*

The V1 is missing 30-40 resistors - someone learned desoldering on this board. *How STUPID!*

I dont know if I'm going to repair the V1. The problem is that I dont have spare resistors or donor cards. We'll see... The missing  caps aren't a problem. I have plenty of them.I can fix the missing pads. The price paid was very low. At the very least, this card will be kept for spare parts.

I found my first RAMBUS PC1066 256MB sticks 

My second i740 

*L.E.*

*ATI Rage Fury MAXX* (1999) vs *ATI Radeon HD 3870X2* (2008)

New Old Stock Cooler *Neolec 890410-C* - socket 7/370 (PGA max 533MHz)

Pentium 4 S423 - 1.5GHz - *SL4SH*


----------



## Canon (Jul 23, 2018)

This makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Been wanting to build a system around a K6 for a while now.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 23, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> edit: Wait, wut? Those Volari Duo:s used GDDR2?


corrected 

DDR2 in 2003? what's the issue?  the FX 5700 Ultra and 5800 Ultra used it too (ok ok .... not ATI ) oh wait ... nope these 2 used GDDR 2 the only one with DDR2 were
GeForce 6200 LE AGP 512 MB (but oct 2004 ) and all XGI XG40-41 based cards

well that one used DDR2 tho it has been some report or "in case they use GDDR-II 1000MHz "  but i suspect a typo or a "never happend" case edit: wait there seems to have some used GDDR2 ...  tho the specsheet show DDR2 ...muuuuuhhh http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/volari-duo/index.html#p2
TPU database : Volari Duo V8 Ultra


it's a freaking DO WANT! in my list ... specially one with the original box


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 23, 2018)

Nope, not DDR2, GDDR2. IIRC normal DDR2 came to low/mid-end graphics cards in 2005-2006. Just like normal DDR3 came to low/mid-end cards later, and now the GT 1030 has a version which uses normal DDR4.

I'm not gonna google those, but cards that used GDDR2 I remember were FX 5700 Ultra, FX 5800, FX 5800 Ultra and Radeon 9800 Pro *256MB*.



Robert B said:


> The V1 is missing 30-40 resistors - someone learned desoldering on this board. *How STUPID!*
> 
> I dont know if I'm going to repair the V1. The problem is that I dont have spare resistors or donor cards. We'll see... The missing  caps aren't a problem. I have plenty of them.I can fix the missing pads. The price paid was very low. At the very least, this card will be kept for spare parts.


Maybe someone just thought that who cares about an old card, just like I desoldered some SMDs from my old Radeon 9200 SE for spare parts. I'd be more worried about those scratches over the traces though.


----------



## Komshija (Jul 23, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> New toy



Nice. My Xeon X5260, E8600's older brother, never arrived and was likely lost somewhere in Croatia during delivery. I bought a perfectly working CPU in excellent condition, just like yours, but only to made a keychain out of it.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 23, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Nope, not DDR2, GDDR2. IIRC normal DDR2 came to low/mid-end graphics cards in 2005-2006. Just like normal DDR3 came to low/mid-end cards later, and now the GT 1030 has a version which uses normal DDR4.
> 
> I'm not gonna google those, but cards that used GDDR2 I remember were FX 5700 Ultra, FX 5800, FX 5800 Ultra and Radeon 9800 Pro *256MB*.


well most Volari cards are listed with DDR2

also the box specify DDR2


erek said:


> Finally got my collection together, all except the Daily Driver AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Engineering Sample...


although some might have used GDDR2 hence my confusion on some review that say GDDR2 in the text but DDR2 in specsheet of the cards.

i didn't google it specifically, i tend to rely on TPU GPU database search rather


----------



## erek (Jul 24, 2018)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123260109711?ul_noapp=true


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 24, 2018)

Wish it was complete.


----------



## erek (Jul 24, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Wish it was complete.


any bets on how much it might sell for? any guesses at all?


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 24, 2018)

And another one 




Sadly, it's in worst state than Classy was 
Broken fins on heatsink, no reset button cover, bend pins on front panel, a hole in SATA connector, missing LED ROG cover on heatsink and let's not forget about, a missing pin in socket... still it works though 
Pretty sure it was used for LN2 or Dice at some point (play-doh type material under heatsinks).

Side note : Each phase of this board is capable of 100Amps at 100C (each low side MOSFET generates 40W of heat at those power outputs... and there are 16 of them in total ).


----------



## erek (Jul 24, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> 50 to 60 buck range.


@Fouquin

Seen this?

*ATI Radeon HD2900 XTX "ES"*


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 24, 2018)

erek said:


> any bets on how much it might sell for? any guesses at all?


50-60 buck range.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 24, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> well most Volari cards are listed with DDR2
> 
> also the box specify DDR2
> 
> ...


Well, some manufacturers just don't use the G in the front. I've seen lots and lots of "DDR3" and "DDR5" cards listed in their specs (and in the front of the box), which have GDDR3 and GDDR5 in reality.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 24, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, some manufacturers just don't use the G in the front. I've seen lots and lots of "DDR3" and "DDR5" cards listed in their specs (and in the front of the box), which have GDDR3 and GDDR5 in reality.


even tho it's listed as DDR2 in TPU GPU database 

bah it's still DDR ram with a G standing for "graphic" which mean optimized for higher bandwidth ... THO by the huge difference between the two variant, it is wrong to put DDR on a box with a card that would be featuring GDDR on the board .... (not that i wouldn't be happy in such turn of event .... nonetheless)


GDDR is not the same as DDR. Overall, GDDR is built for much higher bandwidth, thanks to a wider memory bus.
GDDR has lower power and heat dispersal requirements compared to DDR, allowing for higher performance modules, with simpler cooling systems.
DDR1, DDR2, and DDR3 have a 64 bit bus (or 128 bit in dual channel). GDDR3, comparatively, commonly uses between a 256 bit bus and 512 bit bus, or interface (across 4-8 channels).
GDDR3 has a 4 bit prefetch and GDDR5 has an 8 bit prefetch, making GDDR5 twice as fast as GDDR3 in apples to apples comparisons.
GDDR can request and receive data on the same clock cycle, where DDR cannot.


furthermore, in the reviews i saw, the reviewer always wrote GDDR chip while the manufacturer specsheet did show DDR ... 

it is a fraud ... by any standard for DDR used GDDR advertised (i understand the opposite would be more a "LUUUUUUUCKY!!!" scenario)

how i wish the 2gb DDR3 GT730 that sit in my mom's computer was a GDDR5 variante (or even a GDDR3 ) that would make my holidays a bit easier


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 24, 2018)

If anyone was wondering how much a 4GHz full fat 45nm Quad Core can score on LGA 775 in PassMark novadays :
https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V9/display.php?id=105322425745
Motherboard used : Striker II Extreme.


----------



## erek (Jul 24, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> 50-60 buck range.


heh, over 100 now


----------



## Robert B (Jul 24, 2018)

*FREEZE!*

*L.E.*


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze_spray

POP V5 5500 heatsinks

Freeze spray use 1

Freeze spray use 2


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 24, 2018)

One of the most problematic PC heaters money can buy :





3DMark Vantage P-Score : https://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/5703047
[LGA 775] GTX 1080 vs. GTX 295 Quad SLI : https://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dmv/5703047/3dmv/5702994


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 25, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> One of the most problematic PC heaters money can buy :
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's odd, my SLI window looks somewhat different... Perhaps I'm using older version?!


----------



## StrayKAT (Jul 25, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *FREEZE!*
> 
> *L.E.*
> 
> ...



How odd... probably something we won't see again. Like the Game Genie.

edit: Wait, is this stuff still on the market?


----------



## Robert B (Jul 25, 2018)

*MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This *

The V1 is missing A LOT of resistors. Almost all of them


----------



## erek (Jul 26, 2018)

The Voodoo 1 boots !!!


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 28, 2018)

CPU Bottlenecked hard 
PCI-e at x8, because NVMe 

Comparisons between this and Xeon X3370 (4,1GHz) :
Time Spy : https://www.3dmark.com/compare/spy/4120920/spy/4129397
Fire Strike : https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/16011333/fs/16000129
Sky Diver : https://www.3dmark.com/compare/sd/5179736/sd/5178041
3DMark 11 (P-Score) : https://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/12862749/3dm11/12860835
Vantage (P-Score) : https://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dmv/5703602/3dmv/5703363
3DMark 06 : https://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm06/18045944/3dm06/18045698




Passmark score : https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V9/display.php?id=105491440391


----------



## havli (Aug 2, 2018)

Another batch of videocards, most of them will show up in my tests... sooner or later (later is more likely )

Btw - what would be the most appropriate section of TPU forums to post a new thread about my oldschool GPU benchmarking project?

Anyway, the "new" stuff...

Quadro FX 5600 - the bigger brother of GF 8800 GTX. 










Gainward GeForce GTX 470, non-reference PCB and cooling, however no OC by default.









Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti SOC, not the 1GHz version but still a nice card.








Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 SOC


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 2, 2018)

Probably best place would be here
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/forums/project-logs.18/


----------



## Fouquin (Aug 2, 2018)

havli said:


> Another batch of videocards, most of them will show up in my tests... sooner or later (later is more likely )
> 
> Btw - what would be the most appropriate section of TPU forums to post a new thread about my oldschool GPU benchmarking project?
> 
> ...



The FX 5600 is an awesome card. I have it and it's counterpart, the V8650. When I'm done playing with SLI on the QuadFX I'll get around to booting those cards up on a more modern system and see how far their legs stretch with the nearly limitless VRAM. 

The upcoming contenders:


What's currently warming the bench:


----------



## Robert B (Aug 3, 2018)

Dole & Kom - Phara Oh (Original Mix) 

*NO SPEED LIMITS!!!*


----------



## Robert B (Aug 4, 2018)

*Flea market day today.* There was a lot to choose from but I bought only what I really really wanted.

*Compaq OEM Geforce 2 GTS 32MB* - looks close to my Creative 3D Blaster Annihilator2 Geforce 2 GTS.
WAIMEA 316903700001 R01
179642-001

Intel 80486 overdrive *DX4ODPR100* - SZ959 v1.1 - my second one, this time with the heatsink


----------



## havli (Aug 4, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Probably best place would be here
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/forums/project-logs.18/


Thank you, looks good.



Fouquin said:


> The FX 5600 is an awesome card. I have it and it's counterpart, the V8650. When I'm done playing with SLI on the QuadFX I'll get around to booting those cards up on a more modern system and see how far their legs stretch with the nearly limitless VRAM.


Yeah, I have the V8650 as well, it is great videocard too... although the heatsink could be better, much better in fact.

Btw - what cards are you running i 3-way SLI on the photo? I can't recognize them from this side.


----------



## Fouquin (Aug 5, 2018)

havli said:


> Yeah, I have the V8650 as well, it is great videocard too... although the heatsink could be better, much better in fact.



See, I repasted mine immediately. I'm no stranger to R600 thermals and with a ~65% fan curve with the new paste I see no higher than 77C across any sensor. It's still far worse than the FX 5600 (which chugs along at 54% fan speed and 74C load) but it's not any worse than the original 2-pipe 2900 XTX cooler.



havli said:


> Btw - what cards are you running i 3-way SLI on the photo? I can't recognize them from this side.



This pair of sisters, and then a random MSI 8800 GTX (middle) that I saved from a scrap bin awhile back.



I recently received a 790i FTW that is not in the greatest condition, but all the important bits work. I will probably transplant the triple SLI arrangement to that soon. Would like to get that board on the bench and really push it.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 5, 2018)

Got some pretty fine hardware today, just needed a few caps replaced.

ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe



and a MSI P965 Platinum w/ Pentium D 925 (Presler)


----------



## havli (Aug 5, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> See, I repasted mine immediately. I'm no stranger to R600 thermals and with a ~65% fan curve with the new paste I see no higher than 77C across any sensor. It's still far worse than the FX 5600 (which chugs along at 54% fan speed and 74C load) but it's not any worse than the original 2-pipe 2900 XTX cooler.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Mine V8650 is brand new, only shortly tested by me.... but still 10 years old, so the TIM might be in bad shape. Also the FX 5600 is running at 80+ °C, although relatively quiet. Perhaps I'll repaste them both.

Ah, EVGA 8800 GTX, very nice.  I'm planning to bench 3-way 8800 GTX (and also 3-way GTX 260) as a part of my benchmark project. My testing rig is based on Asus P9X79 with 4.8 GHz 6-core SB-E, so that should be fast enough to max them out.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 6, 2018)

Just bought some more used hardware, now we just need to wait for PSU to my test PC 

Gainward 7800 GT PCI-E (for in case of emergency, since X99 doesn't have IGPU option)
Gigabyte X800 XL AGP Silent
Gigabyte 6600 GT AGP
Creative SB Audigy2 ZS (I have so good memories with this back in the day, the best soundcard which I've owned besides SB Z)



Fouquin said:


> The FX 5600 is an awesome card.


At least when it's not GeForce FX 5600... Sorry, I just had to.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Got some pretty fine hardware today, just needed a few caps replaced.
> 
> ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
> View attachment 104904
> ...


I just absolutely adore these Spire S775 coolers... Bought one for a friend who needed (silent?) CPU cooler for his P4 chip, and was stunned just how silent & effective this thing really is. Soon after I bought yet another one, for myself which I still have inside the original package! 

Especially when you consider the price, it beats ANY other model & brand on the market!


----------



## Fouquin (Aug 6, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I just absolutely adore these Spire S775 coolers... Bought one for a friend who needed (silent?) CPU cooler for his P4 chip, and was stunned just how silent & effective this thing really is. Soon after I bought yet another one, for myself which I still have inside the original package!
> 
> Especially when you consider the price, it beats ANY other model & brand on the market!



The best part is that design is extremely similar to what Lenovo and Dell were using in their Core 2 desktops. You can salvage an equivalent cooler out of 2007-2009 Dell Vostro and Lenovo A55/57 desktops, near silent operation and all.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 6, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I just absolutely adore these Spire S775 coolers... Bought one for a friend who needed (silent?) CPU cooler for his P4 chip, and was stunned just how silent & effective this thing really is. Soon after I bought yet another one, for myself which I still have inside the original package!
> 
> Especially when you consider the price, it beats ANY other model & brand on the market!



They're pretty silent.

The only thing I need for it is something to hold down one of the clips (the retention bracket has one corner broken of and missing).

In regards to that MSI P965 Platinum, I've just replaced the fiery hot Presler (it isn't any better than a standard Prescott) with a Core 2 Duo E6750 (Conroe - it supposedly supports Wolfdales too, but my E7600 R0 stepping isn't showing on their CPU list) and updated the bios to 1.9B3.

Both await new CMOS batteries.

In the meantime, which one would fit for a mid 2000s rig? P4C800-E or P965?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> The best part is that design is extremely similar to what Lenovo and Dell were using in their Core 2 desktops. You can salvage an equivalent cooler out of 2007-2009 Dell Vostro and Lenovo A55/57 desktops, near silent operation and all.


If I'd have the opportunity to do so, sure! But really, these things are dirt cheap ... I bought mine for $5,50 on sale, they were apparently trying to get rid of the old stuff, to make room for next gen hardware. And honestly, I don't think you could find a better cooler/heatsink for P4, Celerons &/or Dual-Core chips for that kind of money.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Aug 6, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> They're pretty silent.
> 
> The only thing I need for it is something to hold down one of the clips (the retention bracket has one corner broken of and missing).
> 
> ...



I vote P4C800-E, but I'm biased x)


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 6, 2018)

Do you want/need Dual Core support or lower power consuption ?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 7, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> Do you want/need Dual Core support or lower power consuption ?


It would be for games from 2003-2007, and power consumption wouldn't be a problem considering it would be packed with drives.

I would go with the P4C800-E Deluxe but I'm not sure how well would it hold up to play games up to 2007 with an ASUS A9550GE/TD/256MB video card. (GE stands for "Gamer Edition" according to ASUS)


----------



## SniperHF (Aug 7, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I would go with the P4C800-E Deluxe but I'm not sure how well would it hold up to play games up to 2007 with an ASUS A9550GE/TD/256MB video card. (GE stands for "Gamer Edition" according to ASUS)



I'd definitely rather have the LGA 775 board even if it can't run the higher end Core 2's.  Much more pleasant to use at the desktop level. Is there an AGP/PCIe issue with the P965 board and your card though?

But I think the Video card would be the biggest limiting factor for most of the higher end 2007 stuff.   Probably 06 too.
IMO a 9550 is more of a 03 to 05 range card.   I replaced my 9800se in late 05 with an X850.  It was starting to chug.
It's below the requirements of UE3 stuff let alone something like Crysis.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 7, 2018)

SniperHF said:


> I'd definitely rather have the LGA 775 board even if it can't run the higher end Core 2's.  Much more pleasant to use at the desktop level. Is there an AGP/PCIe issue with the P965 board and your card though?
> 
> But I think the Video card would be the biggest limiting factor for most of the higher end 2007 stuff.   Probably 06 too.
> IMO a 9550 is more of a 03 to 05 range card.   I replaced my 9800se in late 05 with an X850.  It was starting to chug.
> It's below the requirements of UE3 stuff let alone something like Crysis.



Well, my P965 board does run a Core 2 Duo now (it's limited to the Conroe cores though), and there's no AGP/PCI-E issue with it. I have an Geforce 7300LE 256MB (I also have a 8400GS from Gigabyte but that one has artefacts) and a X600 that's totally b0rked 3D wise and still has artefacts in BIOS.

So you're saying I should go with the C2D?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 7, 2018)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon...m=281924296768&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982

Bought one of those, about ~10eur incl. shipping 

I can't even describe how important a 1GHz Athlon is in my gaming history.. with a Ti 4200..


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 7, 2018)

Bit the bullet and went ahead and built a machine arount the P4C800-E Deluxe.




I feel like I'm enough of a maniac to RAID 4 drives in a "gaming" Pentium 4 machine. Oh, have I mentioned the boot drive is a 80GB Hitachi from a laptop and is tucked behind the PSU?




Some stats on it. As you can see, the Northwood HT is pretty happy with the Canterwood chipset. Not sure I should worry about that voltage, but as long as it won't trigger SNDS, I guess it's okay.
Memory used is 4x 512MB sticks for a total of 2GB. Mostly good brands like takeMS, Kingmax and a pair of Micron sticks I had.

Next up might be the P965 Platinum once I can track down some RAM and maybe a Geforce 210 down the road.  
Also will have to look into an aftermarket cooler for the 9550 as I did notice some very little artefacting during a round of NFS: Hot Pursuit 2, but otherwise it's a nice card.


----------



## Fouquin (Aug 7, 2018)

Opteron 8222s arrived for the L1N64-SLI. Dropped in without any need for a BIOS update or RAM swap. Honestly not as fast as I was hoping, but they clocked well enough.



Looking at what I need to do to get some 65nm parts next. (Though I've got eyes open for a _reasonably priced_ pair of 8224s.)


----------



## havli (Aug 8, 2018)

Too bad this board doesn't support 45nm Shangai Opterons - they are much faster and overclock well. http://hwbot.org/submission/3700120_havli_cinebench___r15_2x_opteron_8380_637_cb


----------



## Fouquin (Aug 8, 2018)

havli said:


> Too bad this board doesn't support 45nm Shangai Opterons - they are much faster and overclock well. http://hwbot.org/submission/3700120_havli_cinebench___r15_2x_opteron_8380_637_cb



Everything 10h was faster on 45nm. 

No I'm fine with just getting _something _newer than K8 to work, especially if that means bumping up to 8 cores. These chips are so cheap now I might just start buying pairs just to see what works.


----------



## SamirD (Aug 11, 2018)

Fouquin said:


> The best part is that design is extremely similar to what Lenovo and Dell were using in their Core 2 desktops. You can salvage an equivalent cooler out of 2007-2009 Dell Vostro and Lenovo A55/57 desktops, near silent operation and all.


I just found this thread and have to second that this style of cooler is quite awesome.  I have a gateway sx2803 that came stock with one and I was able to upgrade to a 95w processor by just flooring the fan--even stressing all 4 cores of the q9400 in an 85 degree room, the highest temp of any core was under 60C.  And when the stress is removed, the temps come down fast, like within 5 seconds.  The taller the heatsink, the more heat it seems they can dissipate.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 12, 2018)

Cool, like I said before, I bought 6600 GT AGP, 7800 GT, X800 XL AGP and Audigy 2 ZS. What a surprise when I opened the box, there was 2 of those X800 XL:s 

Also, excluding the 7800 GT, all of those looks like brand new! Those even have the smell of new hardware.


----------



## SamirD (Aug 12, 2018)

That's awesome on the x800 xl!

As I look through this thread I see so much familiar hardware--I'm still running a lot of this stuff in daily drivers that I rdp into.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Aug 14, 2018)

Finally got a decent Windows 98 SE build completed...not the best hardware, but a throwback to the first system I ever bought with my own cash.  Got everything for $10.

- Intel Pentium III 733Mhz 133 FSB 256kb L2
- Intel D815EEA
- 1GB (2x512MB) SD RAM 133MHz
- 80GB IDE HDD
- Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 256MB AGP
- Creative Soundblaster Live! PCI
- Dell Dimension 4100 case
- Dell Dimension 4100 PSU
- DVD-ROM IDE
- CD-RW IDE
- 3.5" Floppy 
- Compaq S48a mouse
- Dell Quiet Key 1000REW keyboard
- Windows 98 SE
- still looking for a decent beige CRT


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 14, 2018)

That ripped Pentium III case badge needs a replacement.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Aug 14, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> That ripped Pentium III case badge needs a replacement.



Indeed it does...might end up just removing all the badges and stickers with some GooGone or something.  Would be nice to replace it though...


----------



## SamirD (Aug 15, 2018)

Very nice system!  Reminds me of my dad's first Dell that I just have to fire up and see if it's still working.  It was a pentium with a similar case, matching Dell trinitron monitor, and keyboard and mouse.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 15, 2018)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> Finally got a decent Windows 98 SE build completed...not the best hardware, but a throwback to the first system I ever bought with my own cash.  Got everything for $10.
> 
> - Intel Pentium III 733Mhz 133 FSB 256kb L2
> - Intel D815EEA
> ...


This thing is Trekkie-approved 

The only recommendation I would give you is to swap out the video card for something more Win98 appropriate. Radeon 9600 is way too powerful for ANY period-correct game/software. Also, from my own, personal experience I've noticed certain issues with using DirectX 9 under Win98, especially if you ever decide to upgrade your setup with Voodoo2 cards. Heck, even GeForce2 and/or Radeon 7500 would be more than enough power for something like this. Personally, I would recommend 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 (or 3500), but if you don't want to spend a fortune on genuine 3dfx, you could go with TNT2 or (if you prefer ATI) Rage128 series.


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 15, 2018)

I've got a viper v550.....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 15, 2018)

Oh, and another thing @Aaron_Henderson ... I sure hope you've installed RAM memory fix/hack for W98, because otherwise you're going to run into all sorts of crap & random errors. W98 only supported up to 768MB of RAM (correct me if I'm wrong)

Either that or remove one 512MB module. Again, most systems from back in a day only had 64, 128MB at MOST. My personal choice is 256MB, but that's only because I got more RAM than I'll ever need.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh, and another thing @Aaron_Henderson ... I sure hope you've installed RAM memory fix/hack for W98, because otherwise you're going to run into all sorts of crap & random errors. W98 only supported up to 768MB of RAM (correct me if I'm wrong)
> 
> Either that or remove one 512MB module. Again, most systems from back in a day only had 64, 128MB at MOST. My personal choice is 256MB, but that's only because I got more RAM than I'll ever need.


IIRC I had a W98SE retro build back in the day, and it ran fine with 896MB. 1GB was the amount where the problems started.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Aug 15, 2018)

I have the memory hack working, which is why I added the second 512MB stick of RAM...also...the GPU may seem like an odd choice, but it was the card I bought for myself "back in the day"...I'd still be open to using something more period correct, but for me, this setup is working great so far!  Installed a bunch of the old retail boxed games I have had sitting for so many years now.  Quake 2 being the main game I am playing on it right now...runs awesome at 1600x1200!  I should get out my old boxed retail games...I have to go through and separate the modern stuff from the "retro" though as they are all together in a giant bin right now...150-ish games, though most are "modern"...still a fair share of oldies though!  Also...I can take some better hardware photos if anyone is interested...the thing is nearly mint after my restoration...cleaned everything with water and dish soap, then rubbing alcohol and cotton swaps, and then finally I did the whole "DIY retrobright" on the keyboard, PC case plastics, and mouse.  The keyboard came out looking nearly new!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 15, 2018)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I have the memory hack working, which is why I added the second 512MB stick of RAM...also...the GPU may seem like an odd choice, but it was the card I bought for myself "back in the day"...I'd still be open to using something more period correct, but for me, this setup is working great so far!  Installed a bunch of the old retail boxed games I have had sitting for so many years now.  Quake 2 being the main game I am playing on it right now...runs awesome at 1600x1200!  I should get out my old boxed retail games...I have to go through and separate the modern stuff from the "retro" though as they are all together in a giant bin right now...150-ish games, though most are "modern"...still a fair share of oldies though!  Also...I can take some better hardware photos if anyone is interested...the thing is nearly mint after my restoration...cleaned everything with water and dish soap, then rubbing alcohol and cotton swaps, and then finally I did the whole "DIY retrobright" on the keyboard, PC case plastics, and mouse.  The keyboard came out looking nearly new!


Ah, OK then. Didn't realize there was personal nostalgia to it  In that case I say go for it, this thing will wipe the floor with just about any game from back in a day. Even Quake 3, at the highest resolution available.

My personal choice of "high resolution" is 1024x768 lol, but only because my Voodoo2 from back in a day ran at 800x600, so moving one step up made it seemed absolutely unreal & breathtaking. On the other hand, 1280x1024 would be my "modern" choice, for the systems between current ones & earliest Pentiums 4 (late 2000, 2001)


----------



## SamirD (Aug 15, 2018)

So awesome to hear you got w98 working with that much ram--I had forgotten about the problems I'd hit after 256mb.

1600x1200 is such an awesome resolution to be playing Quake 2!  That was next to impossible back in the day without really expensive hardware.  Even our $11,000 Cyrix p166 build couldn't do more than 640x480 without stuttering, but that was under raw dos.  I wonder if the #9 card we had would have done better under w98 (that system was built ground up for win 3.1).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 15, 2018)

SamirD said:


> So awesome to hear you got w98 working with that much ram--I had forgotten about the problems I'd hit after 256mb.
> 
> 1600x1200 is such an awesome resolution to be playing Quake 2!  That was next to impossible back in the day without really expensive hardware.  Even our $11,000 Cyrix p166 build couldn't do more than 640x480 without stuttering, but that was under raw dos.  I wonder if the #9 card we had would have done better under w98 (that system was built ground up for win 3.1).


Are you sure about that? I'm running Win98 on my signature (profile) rig, with 512MB DDR400 & not getting any issues, whatsoever.


----------



## SamirD (Aug 15, 2018)

I think it varies on the motherboard, and I could be mistaken and it was 512mb.  It's been decades and all the info is a bit fuzzy and jumbled.


----------



## havli (Aug 15, 2018)

I think 512 MB is pretty much guaranteed to work correctly on vanilla win98SE.


----------



## Dinnercore (Aug 16, 2018)

Anyone remember PD-Drives? I just got one from my granddad who had this beauty sitting in his basement for some years:







PD stands for Phase-change Dual and features CD-like optical discs that actually can be rewritten like a harddrive. So it was the CD-shaped USB-stick from 1995. Kinda. 






The black cases are actually 'CD-adapters' so that the PD-drive can also be used for normal CD-roms. Maybe someone will appreciate that I took the time to find a time-matching album from 1996 and put it in there. (Good old omni trio - haunted science!) 

And now for the real deal:






These are the PD-Cartridges. They hold 650MB and can be rewritten about 500.000 times according to wikipedia. That wiki article is sadly a bit short. 

They have a very unique look on the data-side and are probably very sensitive:






I´m a bit concerned about the dust buildup in there, but I´ll see if I even dare to try and clean it or just carefully do a testrun in that state and leave it be if it doesn´t work. I do have some spare ones to try tho. 






In this last pic you can just about see the different rings.


----------



## havli (Aug 16, 2018)

Very nice. I have something similar, also magneto-optical drive, however something diferent... not PD. Most likely older. It is connected by SCSI and the drive is double-height 5.25'' size.

Ah, managed to find old photos and one video of it 

So it seems to be Ricoh RO-5030E, made in 1989. I have just one media that came with it, the capacity is 277 MB for each side. Not bad for 1989. 

http://hw-museum.cz/data/temp/RO-5030E.mkv


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 16, 2018)

havli said:


> Very nice. I have something similar, also magneto-optical drive, however something diferent... not PD. Most likely older. It is connected by SCSI and the drive is double-height 5.25'' size.
> 
> Ah, managed to find old photos and one video of it
> 
> ...


Wow!! Back In '89, 277MB would have been more than average hard drive! Just imagine how many DOS games would fit on one of these


----------



## Susquehannock (Aug 16, 2018)

While it is possible to go higher, 512mb was the official limit for Win98. There are workarounds for up to 1.5gb. Personally, I have always found 512mb to be sufficient.

Have my Win98 rig torn apart waiting for 120mm fans to finally quiet this thing down. Bit of a mix, but it is what I have from purchases back in the day.

Mainboard = Abit KR7A​CPU = Athlon XP 1700+ DLT3C​RAM = 512mb DDR​GPU = Voodoo4​PSU = Fortron 300w (120mm fan)​Sound card = Turtle Beach (Aureal) N270​HDD 0 = Maxtor 20gb ata-133​HDD 1 = Quantum Bigfoot 6gb​OS = Win98se​Case = unknown. Bought in 2002. ​


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 16, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> While it is possible to go higher, 512mb was the official limit for Win98. There are workarounds for up to 1.5gb. Personally, I have always found 512mb to be sufficient.
> 
> Have my Win98 rig torn apart waiting for 120mm fans to finally quiet this thing down. Bit of a mix, but it is what I have from purchases back in the day.
> 
> Mainboard = Abit KR7A​CPU = Athlon XP 1700+ DLT3C​RAM = 512mb DDR​GPU = Voodoo4​Sound card = Turtle beach (Aureal)​HDD 0 = Maxtor 20gb​HDD 1 = Quantum Bigfoot 6gb​OS = Win98se​Case = unknown. Bought in 2002. ​


Agreed!

By the way, your rig closely resembles my RetroMaster 2500, from the profile (which is based on AthlonXP 1800+) & also comes with 512MB, DDR400


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 17, 2018)

Dinnercore said:


> The black cases are actually 'CD-adapters'


I remember those being referred to as CD-ROM caddy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddy_(hardware)


----------



## SamirD (Aug 17, 2018)

That's going to be a nice system for sure and already feels quite period correct from someone who saw that era as 'new computing' compared to dos/win3.1.

MO drives were awesome and that PD drive was imo the ultimate as it had cd-rom compatibility so one less drive.  And those caddies were also for cd-rom drives back in the day like the awesome drives made by Plextor, and the original Yamaha 4x4x cd recorder that started the whole genre.  I've got both of these still installed in our old Cyrix p166 build that I need to restore.  

Too bad PD was eclipsed by MO drives, which were pretty awesome in their own right for data archive.  There were machines that 100 discs and 1-4 drives and worked like a tape library except with MO.  Maxoptix was one of the bigger names for these and I still have a 4.6GB MO drive that wrote 2.3GB per side of the cartridge.  I still have some data to pull off those cartridges too.  Too bad the cartridges outlive the drive as the last time I tried to use the drive after it sat for just 2 years it had to go back for warranty repair.  I'm really afraid how bad it will be if I turned it on today.

The other popular cartridge solutions out there were the Syquest and Bernoulli drives, Bernoulli being the precursor to the zip disk.  The Syquest drives literally had a hard drive platter in the cartridge, but worked very well and were reliable albeit delicate.  I still have a few drives and cartridges...more data to migrate...


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 17, 2018)

SamirD said:


> The other popular cartridge solutions out there were the Syquest and Bernoulli drives, Bernoulli being the precursor to the zip disk. The Syquest drives literally had a hard drive platter in the cartridge, but worked very well and were reliable albeit delicate. I still have a few drives and cartridges...more data to migrate...


Don't forget the Jaz drive from Iomega, had one hooked up to my PowerBase 240 through a Adaptec SCSI Ultra PCI card, it replaced a SCSI Zip drive connected to the on board SCSI.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 17, 2018)

Syquest is Iomega
Or I should say, they were absorbed by Iomega around 1998 I think.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 17, 2018)

I admit I forgot that happened to Syquest, would explain where the Jaz drive came from based off the SparQ drive? 98 sounds right per Wikipedia. "SyQuest filed for bankruptcy in late 1998, and portions of the company were subsequently purchased by Iomega Corp. in January, 1999. SyQuest retained the rights to sell their remaining inventory, on condition of renaming themselves SYQT in order to continue operations. "


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2018)

I absolutely adored Iomega (ZipDrive) back in a day... To me, it was the "cool" and smart way to store megabytes & megabytes of data ... 100 to be exact  For a while I've had this "vision" to include a Zip100 drives on each & every system that I'm going to buy in the future.

Obviously, things didn't quite work out the way I was expecting, and only got two drives. Which became pretty much obsolete once I got my first 128MB USB flash drive. Don't remember what happened to those two original units, but I got loads of ZIP100 & ZIP250 units later (when I got into retro obsession), and so I included them on more than few of my Win98 builds. I still got approx. 5 ZIP100 disks (one of them is even brand new, still wrapped in plastic sheet) so having a ZIP drive comes in handy 

Edit
Think I got 6 internal ATAPI drives (think there's 3 of each, 100 & 250) & one of those purple parallel (LPT1) 100 drives.


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 17, 2018)

I went the LS120 Route rather than Zip Drive  Still got 2 working Drives and only 6 disks
got them fitted in Removable Drive Bays
They Still Come in handy as they can be used with Standard 3-1/2" 720k/1.44mb / 2.88mb and can be made Bootable for DOS
They never Caught on Due to CD Drives


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Aug 17, 2018)

Ah, I remember my zip disk drive, and also my CD-RW drive that requires a cd caddy...might be something else I need to add to my Win98 SE build at some point in the future.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 17, 2018)

Got a surprise box from an interned friend, he didn't even tell me that he send this. 

-Asus M2N-SLI
-Asus M3N78 SE
-3x Corsair DDR2-800 1GB
-Creative SB XtremeAudio PCI-E
-Radeon X800 Pro AGP
-Athlon 64 X2 6000+
-Phenom II X4 940

Pics later. 

Also the mailman finally brought my Athlon Thunderbird 1000MHz today.


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 17, 2018)

Dinnercore said:


> Anyone remember PD-Drives? I just got one from my granddad who had this beauty sitting in his basement for some years:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I threw away a whole stack, half a dozen of these. Basically DVDrewritables.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 17, 2018)

What pisses me is that it's just a X800 Pro, not X800 Pro VIVO... the VIVO models could be bios-flashed to XT PE's.

anyway, I made some cleaning for it and changed the TIM.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 18, 2018)

*Flea market day today* - I got some real nice parts 

nVIDIA *Quadro FX 1000* Zalman cooler - (600-50128-003-008A/900-50128-0101-100 Rev.B)

Butterfly Intel *i740* 8MB AGP

CD-ROM *Creative CR-563-B* - 3DO Blaster
http://www.ausretrogamer.com/retrospective-the-3do-blaster/
 Creative 3DO Blaster running 

They are waiting to be cleaned and restored. I hope that the graphic cards are alive.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Flea market day today* - I got some real nice parts
> 
> nVIDIA *Quadro FX 1000* Zalman cooler - (600-50128-003-008A/900-50128-0101-100 Rev.B)
> 
> ...


Ah ... a Panasonic/Mitsumi drive, if I'm not mistaking! Great find


----------



## StrayKAT (Aug 18, 2018)

I had a zipdrive too. In retrospect, it's kind of remarkable they survived as long as they did. Not usually the case for proprietary media.


----------



## delshay (Aug 18, 2018)

Below is a rough photo of my 939 computer FX60. It has a total of 11 fans, but five will disappear when the R9 Nano VRM cooling solution is fixed. Very stable with prime95 upto 3.1Ghz.

Those with a keen eye will see it has two of the first Wraith CPU cooler shroud which has been modified internally with-in the shroud to accept Noctua Fans. Cables need to be tidied up, but it has improved as the motherboard case header fan has been desoldered & moved to the back of the  motherboard.

specification

AMD FX60
R9 Nano
Seasonic PSU
Samsung 2TB (SSD) plus Samsung 2TB back-up drive (SSD)
Pioneer Blu-ray drive
Wi-fi/Bluetooth card
Infrared receiver (program most remote controls to control computer).
Matrix Orbital GTT 5.25 touchscreen display (displays anything you want on the front of computer case).


----------



## HUSKIE (Aug 19, 2018)

fitted with amd phenom 9850 quad core cpu...


----------



## StrayKAT (Aug 19, 2018)

Semi-unrelated: I was in the market for a 4:3 monitor.. I had no idea there are still new (LED) versions. Would I better off with that or an old CRT monitor? Usually it'd be used for older games. They'd still look good on 4:3 LED, right?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 19, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Semi-unrelated: I was in the market for a 4:3 monitor.. I had no idea there are still new (LED) versions. Would I better off with that or an old CRT monitor? Usually it'd be used for older games. They'd still look good on 4:3 LED, right?


If it's going to exclusively used for retro gaming (maybe even lower-res), I'd say you'd be better with CRT over LED/LCD.

Although I've tried modern Philips LCD, I ended up choosing LG StudioWorks 57M in the end. Gives it that warm "retro" atmosphere, if not anything else.


----------



## StrayKAT (Aug 19, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> If it's going to exclusively used for retro gaming (maybe even lower-res), I'd say you'd be better with CRT over LED/LCD.
> 
> Although I've tried modern Philips LCD, I ended up choosing LG StudioWorks 57M in the end. Gives it that warm "retro" atmosphere, if not anything else.



Yeah, pretty much. Mostly DOSBox stuff that isn't easy to adjust (Daggerfall, Wing Commander, etc).


----------



## Susquehannock (Aug 19, 2018)

Monitors ... timely subject since I was trying to decide which to use when I get the Voodoo rig back together.

The CRT does provide a better retro visual experience. But using an LCD was my one consession when assembling my retro gaming set up. The CRT is a beast. Near 60 pounds, and takes up near my entire desk front to back. It has VGA connector only. The LCD gives me my desk back, has both VGA and DVI-D inputs so I can still connect a modern PC. Plus it acts as a USB hub as well.

> Dell UltraSharp 1905FP (LCD)​> Dell Trinitron UltraScan P990 (CRT)​


----------



## phill (Aug 19, 2018)

Interesting ram heatsinks there....


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 20, 2018)

phill said:


> Interesting ram heatsinks there....


That's what REAL cooling looks like. None of the silly gamer glitz cooling you see now. 

Peeled the metal foil off my MSI B350 VRM just to expose what bit of extra cut surface area to CPU cooler.


----------



## delshay (Aug 20, 2018)

HUSKIE said:


> fitted with amd phenom 9850 quad core cpu...
> 
> View attachment 105631



Now that's something i'v never seen before. Integrated memory cooler with heatpipe. Why can't modern motherboards have this.


----------



## HUSKIE (Aug 20, 2018)

Now she's running now after struggling to get an DDR2 Ram, but only Got 2x2gb 800mhz. Will put them up the case later. Also I found one problem motheboard gave an error like usb over current shut down in 15sec. So took one of the shorted capacitor. Problem solved.


----------



## phill (Aug 20, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> That's what REAL cooling looks like. None of the silly gamer glitz cooling you see now.
> 
> Peeled the metal foil off my MSI B350 VRM just to expose what bit of extra cut surface area to CPU cooler.



You know it's proper cooling when the motherboard weighs more than the case your putting it in


----------



## delshay (Aug 20, 2018)

Will we ever see full copper heatsink on motherboards again. Even todays top end motherboards don't have them.


----------



## cornemuse (Aug 20, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Semi-unrelated: I was in the market for a 4:3 monitor.. I had no idea there are still new (LED) versions. Would I better off with that or an old CRT monitor? Usually it'd be used for older games. They'd still look good on 4:3 LED, right?


In front of me now is my Eizo 21" (21.*3*"!) 4-3 monitor. I have allus prefered 4-3 monitors for going online. 
Previously I had a 'Microtek' 19" 4-3 mon, had it for like 8-10 years. both were fairly expensive, guess I have more money than good sense, , , , ,

https://www.amazon.com/Eizo-FlexScan-S2133-BK-Monitor-1600x1200/dp/B00KDMMKD0

-c-


----------



## HUSKIE (Aug 20, 2018)

Oh well not too great after installing windows 7/8/10. All usb ports are not working. She's sat on the case now. Might be put the Motherboard in the wall for Collection.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Aug 20, 2018)

CRT is a must have for me...still waiting to score a nice beige one from the local e-waste / recycle spot.  I am even looking for one of those old 90's corner desks to complete the retro setup.  LCD just doesn't give the same feelings of nostalgia as an old CRT.

Also, about the dead usb ports...if the board is fully functional otherwise, maybe get a cheap PCIe USB 3.0 add-in card.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 20, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Yeah, pretty much. Mostly DOSBox stuff that isn't easy to adjust (Daggerfall, Wing Commander, etc).





Susquehannock said:


> Monitors ... timely subject since I was trying to decide which to use when I get the Voodoo rig back together.
> 
> The CRT does provide a better retro visual experience. But using an LCD was my one consession when assembling my retro gaming set up. The CRT is a beast. Near 60 pounds, and takes up near my entire desk front to back. It has VGA connector only. The LCD gives me my desk back, has both VGA and DVI-D inputs so I can still connect a modern PC. Plus it acts as a USB hub as well.
> 
> > Dell UltraSharp 1905FP (LCD)​> Dell Trinitron UltraScan P990 (CRT)​





Aaron_Henderson said:


> CRT is a must have for me...still waiting to score a nice beige one from the local e-waste / recycle spot.  I am even looking for one of those old 90's corner desks to complete the retro setup.  LCD just doesn't give the same feelings of nostalgia as an old CRT.
> 
> Also, about the dead usb ports...if the board is fully functional otherwise, maybe get a cheap PCIe USB 3.0 add-in card.


I know some of you here might think I'm weird lol, but I actually remember something from my childhood, which always makes me feel nostalgic...

A CRT refresh rate flickering, specifically at the lower resolutions (640x480), that was only visible (or at least occurring) with Diamond Monster Voodoo2 card. Don't remember if it happened all the time or just with that particular game, but I remember seeing flickering white/light blue sky in Carmageddon II. Very bright textures, felt as if it was glowing right in front of my eyes. I did some experimenting later on & found out that it's related to Voodoo2 settings (refresh rate & resolution settings) in properties/3dfx control panel tab.

So, whenever you just want that old-school look, backwards compatibility, better colors or anything similar, I'd say CRT works better for old-school hardware every time!


----------



## StrayKAT (Aug 20, 2018)

cornemuse said:


> In front of me now is my Eizo 21" (21.*3*"!) 4-3 monitor. I have allus prefered 4-3 monitors for going online.
> Previously I had a 'Microtek' 19" 4-3 mon, had it for like 8-10 years. both were fairly expensive, guess I have more money than good sense, , , , ,
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Eizo-FlexScan-S2133-BK-Monitor-1600x1200/dp/B00KDMMKD0
> ...



Damn.. that thing is still pricey.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 20, 2018)

delshay said:


> Now that's something i'v never seen before. Integrated memory cooler with heatpipe. Why can't modern motherboards have this.


The memory cooler part is actually an option on a couple boards. It is removable. More aesthetic than anything else. Marketing ploy.


----------



## cornemuse (Aug 22, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Damn.. that thing is still pricey.



Well, the Microtek cost $750+ but lasted about 10 years, $75 a year give or take. The Eizo has to last 14 years to match!! Best monitor image of all for me. The Microtek was the same. After it broke, I kept it a year before letting it go, , , , ,

-c-


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2018)

Just received a tip on something cool ... and old  Perhaps not as old as 486 or 586, but almost there! (IMO, it should be obvious hint)

So yes, stay tuned throughout these next couple of days for future updates!


----------



## Robert B (Aug 23, 2018)

BRING IT ON! EARTHLING!  

A K5 setup?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2018)

Robert B said:


> BRING IT ON! EARTHLING!
> 
> A K5 setup?


I wish!!  But nope... You're VERY close though. Try its counterpart


----------



## Robert B (Aug 23, 2018)

Regular Pentium or Pentium Overdrive?  Though I have a sneaking suspicion it is a Cyrix as the Pentiums are more common.

A K6(5+1 ) maybe?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2018)

Robert B said:


> Regular Pentium or Pentium Overdrive?  Though I have a sneaking suspicion it is a Cyrix as the Pentiums are more common.
> 
> A K6(5+1 ) maybe?


Nope, just the regular Pentium I'm afraid... But here's the thing, unlike my other 233MHz MMX units, this one is 133 ... and I have a sneaky suspicion that it's non-MMX one, ceramic package.

The guy who generously offered it to me said that its pretty much complete unit (mini AT tower), except for sound card (no big deal) and that the hard drive is shot. Again, no big deal. I still have that AWE64 that's looking for its place to stay, and I have more than enough 10/20GB drives, which should be more than enough for this Windows 95-to be system 

After working on that Am5x86 Socket 3 system (that's also running at 133MHz), it will be interesting to compare it against the next generation hardware... Primarily aiming for DOS & software-rendered games, although I'm planning to give it a try with 3D, as long as I can get enough power from my Matrox Mystique ... the only decent PCI video accelerator card available.


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 23, 2018)

A Devil on left, an Angel on right (bit damaged, but still works), and... something in-between at the center 
Wish everyone made VRM heatsinks like those three have...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 23, 2018)

Well, I'll be... Did some searching around & as it turns out, Matrox MGA Power Graphics IS-STORM R2 translates to Millennium series, NOT Mystique... It will be interesting to see how it performs against 3dfx Voodoo card. I have no doubt that 3dfx would have been better, but since I don't have any Voodoo cards available, this one will have to work.


----------



## Disparia (Aug 24, 2018)

Nice. Should look through my boot magazines to see if they ever did a review back then.










I had gone the other extreme route, Plextor SCSI drives.


----------



## HUSKIE (Aug 26, 2018)

new toy with 4930k


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 26, 2018)

HUSKIE said:


> new toy with 4930kView attachment 105951View attachment 105952


Official TechPowerUp-licensed hardware?! 




Edit
So, this came in my mail earlier today... Yes, I finally got around to fix (and upgrade) my M75 ... and all I can say is that it sounds absolutely amazing! Usually people say how one model sounds better over the other one, when in fact they are mostly the same. But not this time, sound coming through is clear, balanced & strong 




Japanese company JICO claims it to be 0.3x0.7 mil tip, but really - from my personal opinion it might as well be 0.2x0.7, because it sounds (almost) the same as my "modern" Shure M94 from 2001, while it still had the original 0.2mil stylus.




And this here is my entire collection, including some of the old, worn & torn styli which I already discarded. I find Shure M94 with generic N92/N99 stylus to be perfect for occasional playback, especially on badly worn albums. Audio Technica 95E is a fine cartridge & gives out decent sound, but I always preferred Shure due to nostalgia & memories


----------



## Robert B (Aug 28, 2018)

*FRESH MEAT!* (again) *Flea market perfume*! (as usual) 

1. *PoweColor* CTNT2SD V2.0 - RIVA TNT 2 PRO
2. *Gigabyte* GA-660 PLUS REV1.4 - RIVA TNT 2 PRO
3. Guillemot MAXI GAMER PHOENIX - 3dfx VooDoo *Banshee* PCI ( A story with a TWIST  )

All tested OK!


----------



## phill (Aug 28, 2018)

I love this thread  

Some lovely hardware turning up here  @HUSKIE , I had the exact same setup as that above!!  4930k, the Asus board and I think I had 8Gb or 16Gb of ram with it   Shame the 4930k sucked when it was overclocked!!   Still


----------



## Durvelle27 (Aug 30, 2018)

Hopefully this fits

Athlon 64 X2 4200
4x1GB DDR
ASUS A8N32-SLI
GeForce 9400 GT 512MB

Definitely an ancient gamer


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 30, 2018)

Quite there, but this would make an good ancient gamer.




Pentium 3 450MHz (Katmai), 256MB RAM. MB is a Jetway J-7BXAN.


----------



## Disparia (Aug 30, 2018)

Durvelle27 said:


> Hopefully this fits
> 
> Athlon 64 X2 4200
> 4x1GB DDR
> ...



Very nice. I have fond memories of my 3800 X2 @ 2.5Ghz + DDR-500. It was a leap and a bound ahead of my P4D system @ 4Ghz+.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 30, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Quite there, but this would make an good ancient gamer.
> View attachment 106141
> 
> Pentium 3 450MHz (Katmai), 256MB RAM. MB is a Jetway J-7BXAN.


Now, THAT is a proper ancient gamer


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 30, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Now, THAT is a proper ancient gamer


Thank you 

I also have a 500MHz Katmai and a 550MHz one, but both are just the bare CPU card, no plastic or anything. 
I'm currently looking for some stock Pentium 2 heatsinks to attach to them, and possibly some quiet 50mm fans. Until then, the 450MHz will do as well


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 30, 2018)

Nope, it won't work I'm afraid. You see, PII & PIII had heatsink mounting posts in different locations. Therefore heatsink for PII will not fit PIII & vice versa. Unless you're willing to hack them up & tie with zip ties or something, which I don't recommend (both Pentiums deserved better IMO)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 30, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nope, it won't work I'm afraid. You see, PII & PIII had heatsink mounting posts in different locations. Therefore heatsink for PII will not fit PIII & vice versa. Unless you're willing to hack them up & tie with zip ties or something, which I don't recommend (both Pentiums deserved better IMO)


They work on P II heatsinks, just that the back plastic won't fit, but I don't think that plastic would be needed.

This is the mounting style I am talking about.




What you're saying applies to the Slot A Athlon CPUs though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 30, 2018)

MaxiPro800 said:


> They work on P II heatsinks, just that the back plastic won't fit, but I don't think that plastic would be needed.
> 
> This is the mounting style I am talking about.
> View attachment 106153
> ...


I remember trying a P3 heatsink on a Pentium 2 cartridge long time ago... didn't work. *shrug* IDK, maybe the one I had was different (only designed for P3?)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 30, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I remember trying a P3 heatsink on a Pentium 2 cartridge long time ago... didn't work. *shrug* IDK, maybe the one I had was different (only designed for P3?)


Probably, as that one in the picture (minus the clips so I could anytime replace the CPU) is what I used to test the 500 and 550 models. I remember having another one from a PII 233 but couldn't find it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 2, 2018)

Finally went out & picked up that Pentium 133 build...  

Don't have a single clue what's going inside the case (didn't have time to open it up), but the video card came separate and it reads "VC962C", S3 Trio64V+. More info is yet to come, but overall this thing is a blank canvas, so needless to say I got big plans for it. AWE64, USB controller, SCSI kit and/or better graphics are only some of them, so stay tuned!


----------



## Dinnercore (Sep 3, 2018)

I just found someone on the german ebay selling a Voodoo 5 5500 Dual GPU. Thought I´d watch it and maybe take shot at it. Then it was already at 80€ 3 hours later and I googled the last prices on those and NOPE, not for me. How rare are these exactly? Or are there just THAT many collectors after them that as soon as one shows up they swarm it?


----------



## Retrorockit (Sep 3, 2018)

Voodoo was on the skids when those were made. They weren't available for very long. The PCI version seems more poular than the AGP. It was AGP1.0 and later AGP versions were lower voltage. So only the earliest AGP board (Socket7) can run those. Just about any MB has a PCI slot on it.
Originally Voodoo sold it's GPUs and SLI tech to any GPU mfg. Then they bought STB and cut everyone else out of the market they created. The Voodoo Glide API was preferred to Microsofts DirectX for most games back then. This made a lot of enemies in the gaming business. The 5500 only came in the 3DFX house brand. Nvidia bought out Voodoo in a hostile takeover and killed it off including SLI for a number of years. So  yes they were always rare. When Nvidia bought Voodoo they actually pulled the cards off of the store shelves as I recall.
Voodoo cards were always interesting. The first ones were add in 3d cards that piggybacked onto a 2D video card. Then I think you could add 2 of them. The single GPU cards supported SLI also if my memory is correct. But the Voodoo 5500 was the first 2 GPU consumer video card, and the first to need an external power cable (Molex 4 pin).
Rare, historic, high performance and expensive.
If you want to look for the rarest of the rare, there was a company named Obsidian I believe that built custom multi GPU Voodoo2 cards for commercial Video Arcade machines before the Voodoo 5500. This stuff seems to be in German, but a picture is wurth a thousand words.
https://pctuning.tyden.cz/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4814&Itemid=44&pop=1&page=4


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 3, 2018)

I was lucky, I got my boxed complete card a few years ago for just £55.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 3, 2018)

i got my 3500TV new and it cost £178 had many years of fun /productivity from it and now it sits in its Retail box with all bits inc. and its stored in a wardrobe


----------



## Midland Dog (Sep 3, 2018)

The oldest hardware i have is an old geforce 4 mx 400


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 3, 2018)

Dinnercore said:


> I just found someone on the german ebay selling a Voodoo 5 5500 Dual GPU. Thought I´d watch it and maybe take shot at it. Then it was already at 80€ 3 hours later and I googled the last prices on those and NOPE, not for me. How rare are these exactly? Or are there just THAT many collectors after them that as soon as one shows up they swarm it?


I had 4 of them.
FWIW, sold 2 last year for $200 USD each.
I had no trouble getting that price.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 3, 2018)

In my country the v5 5500 AGP sells for 100-130EUR if you can find them.

A boxed V5 5500 AGP was 220EUR this year.


----------



## phill (Sep 3, 2018)

I'd love to find a good Voodoo 5500 for keeps...  Would sadly have to be boxed though and I ain't got the cash for that lol


----------



## Dinnercore (Sep 3, 2018)

It´s at 150€ already today, with 6 more days to go.... I saw some ending closer to 1.000€. I envy you for those prices.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 3, 2018)

IMO, Voodoo 5 (especially 6000) are way overrated. I remember talking about this before, but I'm not sure if I ever specified why.

When the Voodoo1 came out, it was the revolutionary new product. Everyone went crazy for Voodoo & their new Glide system, some game developers even introduced new games featuring Glide support. Then the 2nd generation came out & once again introduced this new & insane feature called "SLI". At the time, 3dfx was at their best/peak efficiency and they've been making a lot of money & attracting a LOT of attention from their competitors & game developers.

But then things went downhill... Just before Voodoo3 came out, 3dfx acquired "STB" and things suddenly backfired. To make things even worse, a lot of their customers were frustrated because of the Voodoo3 & their prices (compared to dual Voodoo2 configuration in SLI). Then the Voodoo4 came out & soon after that Voodoo5... At this point 3dfx was seriously running behind its competitors, mainly ATI & nVidia, and was trying to gain advantage one more time by introducing Voodoo5. Which (as much as I hate to admit) was a failure right from the very beginning, but instead of realizing their mistake 3dfx only doubled it by introducing the famous "6000" model (which was, according to some sources going to be a whole new generation of the Voodoo cards, Voodoo 6).

At this point, even the budget cards from nVidia had better features & higher compatibility support ... not to mention the fact they've only had ONE GPU core and did not require external power supply to operate. Most IMPORTANTLY, at this stage most of the game engines developed (or modified) exclusively for Glide were changed, updated for DirectX, which was on the rise & catching up fast. OK, true ... some titles still featured Glide as one of the choices, but most of them moved on. To make things even worse, the unfinished Voodoo5 6000 only featured Direct3D support, because of their drivers & unfinished design. Which doesn't make ANY sense, since it was 3dfx who designed & introduced Glide in the first place!

So, in short ... Voodoo5 was a Glide's failure and DirectX disaster. Yes, you could buy one of them nowdays & keep it as a souvenir on your desk, but that's about it I suppose, a relic from another time & era. Because if you want to play the games from early 2000s, you'd be so much better with nVidia's 4200, 4600 & 4800 Titanium series.

But please, don't get me wrong... I still love 3dfx, and will always look for a way to obtain their cards. Mainly Voodoo1, 2 & 3, because those are the cards which made difference & were true gems IMO 

Anyhow, time to update you guys on that Pentium 133 project! 


 

 



As you can probably see, this thing is a rust bucket. At some point the water found its way inside the case, causing surface damage. CD-RW drive got it really bad, but again this is not a huge issue as I'm going to replace it for something more appropriate either way... Other than that It's mainly empty & without anything interesting going on, but that's what I expected.



 


In fact, I already began tearing it apart, cleaning out all the rot & dust. Not to mention testing the essential components, but I'll get to those later!



 

 

 


...and upgrading, expanding & modifying with new components. This here was the 1st system ever for me to test just by plugging it into the mains (and listen to POST signals from the internal speaker), rather than hooking it to the monitor. Oddly enough, I wasn't getting ANY feedback! So I removed everything, cleaned the board with contact cleaning solution & tried one more time - still nothing! And then, just as I was about to scrap the entire board (and replace it for another Pentium 133, which I got laying around in parts) I came up with the idea to try another speaker. Because why not, right? And it paid off, turns out there's nothing wrong with it! So I took the liberty of replacing the internal speaker as well. Probably the rusty water & dirt got inside coils & damaged the speaker *shrug*

More updates soon, throughout these next couple of days. But the plan is to take it easy & enjoy every minute of it


----------



## Retrorockit (Sep 4, 2018)

Voodoo was King of the Hill in PCI video days. But when dedicated graphics slots came out their history of add on and SLI cards didn't prepare them to compete with ATI and Nvidia in the single GPU market. The 5500 was their only answer to the newer cards coming out. But it cost too much to produce to be competitive. Intel's anouncement of AGP 2.0 having a lower Voltage made it  instantly obsolete. Voodoo pretty much invented 3D gaming, and the 5500 was the best they ever made. Any collector of Voodoo cards will want to have one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 4, 2018)

Retrorockit said:


> Voodoo was King of the Hill in PCI video days. But when dedicated graphics slots came out their history of add on and SLI cards didn't prepare them to compete with ATI and Nvidia in the single GPU market. The 5500 was their only answer to the newer cards coming out. But it cost too much to produce to be competitive. Intel's anouncement of AGP 2.0 having a lower Voltage made it  instantly obsolete. Voodoo pretty much invented 3D gaming, and the 5500 was the best they ever made. Any collector of Voodoo cards will want to have one.


I respectfully disagree... By the time Voodoo5 came out, 3dfx was running behind its competition by a long shot. 32-bit color, texture compression, AGP 4x support, the list goes on & on. V5 had a "cool" factor, I'm not going to say otherwise, but unfortunately this cool factor wasn't enough to gain advantage over ATI & nVidia.

In my (personal) opinion, Voodoo2 was their best card... Not only it introduced the SLI feature (which wiped the floor with any other video card on the market), but it was the most powerful 3D accelerator available ... period! Which (and I'm sorry to say this) just wasn't the case with Voodoos 3, 4 & 5. V4 had potential to become something much more & better, but for some reason they completely gave it up & focused on Voodoo5.


----------



## Disparia (Sep 4, 2018)

As far as hard drives goes these are nostalgic, or at least sentimental. In 2009 WD Blacks had a wider range of talents, being 6-drive RAID certified by WD. For less than the price of an Intel X25-M I picked up four of the 640GB capacity. They were my main drives for 2.5 years existing in Matrix RAID 0/5 (ICH10R).






They reformed as a single RAID-5 volume after getting a new lead singer, a Crucial M4 SSD. Another 2.5 years goes by, my main machine becomes SSD-only, and the drives are split up to separate RAID-1's in other systems. They held mostly steam library and main drive backups just in case any one of them punched their instant retirement cards, however, they persisted until the end. Even watched me shuck a drive, their eventual replacement.

After The Long Walk outside the only HDD to remain are NAS drives.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 4, 2018)

Just a quick update... Removed the heatsink to wash out all the dust (which turned out to be fairly clean by the way) & also to remove TIM. Yes, I don't like having TIM on these older ceramic CPUs... Besides, they already got huge contact surface, so I don't see this being an issue.


 



The CPU is non-MMX Pentium, "133" (as someone kindly wrote across the entire chip )


----------



## Dinnercore (Sep 5, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just a quick update... Removed the heatsink to wash out all the dust (which turned out to be fairly clean by the way) & also to remove TIM. Yes, I don't like having TIM on these older ceramic CPUs... Besides, they already got huge contact surface, so I don't see this being an issue.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Writing on a chip with a sharpie?! Dear god, that previous owner should watch out to not get lynched by angry Gamers Nexus watchers...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2018)

Right?! Would you believe this isn't the 1st time for me to see something like this?! I've seen ppl writing on all sorts of chips ... AMD Socket A Athlons & Durons, Pentiums, even Celerons! I did my best to scrub it off, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere... And I really don't want to use anything aggressive & damage the CPU! As annoying as it looks, it seems to be working just fine so I want to keep it that way 

I suppose I could take another P133 off another motherboard (got yet another Pentium 133 set inside one of the boxes) & replace it for this one, but that would be too extreme IMHO. Once I covered it back up with the heatsink, it looked as good as new


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 5, 2018)

@Disparia All SSD storage? That must be pricey..


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 5, 2018)

I've read that 3dfx never fully implemented AGP properly in their cards.  They lacked sideband addressing, and AGP texturing (I think), so I originally thought it was just using an early implementation of AGP 1.0 that wasn't compatible with them.  However, I recently learned that ALL 3dfx GPUs are internally PCI and simply bridged to AGP.  It's no wonder they couldn't compete, given that the cards were crippled at the architecture level.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 5, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> I've read that 3dfx never fully implemented AGP properly in their cards.  They lacked sideband addressing, and AGP texturing (I think), so I originally thought it was just using an early implementation of AGP 1.0 that wasn't compatible with them.  However, I recently learned that ALL 3dfx GPUs are internally PCI and simply bridged to AGP.  It's no wonder they couldn't compete, given that the cards were crippled at the architecture level.


Most of that is a myth. You can not get the performance numbers those chips gave over a PCI implementation, even bridged to AGP.


----------



## Disparia (Sep 5, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> @Disparia All SSD storage? That must be pricey..



The Crucial M4 128GB x 3 bought back in 2012 are still kickin' and the rest have been spread out since then. All in all, it's only 1TB of SSD total in the house compared to 16TB of NAS HDD.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 5, 2018)

Disparia said:


> The Crucial M4 128GB x 3 bought back in 2012 are still kickin' and the rest have been spread out since then. All in all, it's only 1TB of SSD total in the house compared to 16TB of NAS HDD.


Ah, that makes more sense.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2018)

Captain's log, supplemental...

Pentium 133 is coming along better than expected  Still have to deal with few tweaks & changes to the cable management, but otherwise I'm ready to fire it up & hope for the best! Here are couple of Before & After pics...

Before:


 

 




After:


 

 

 




Ah, yes, the good ol' times... Because nothing says "nostalgic" like the bundle of exposed live wires, carrying 230V AC voltage


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Captain's log, supplemental...
> 
> Pentium 133 is coming along better than expected  Still have to deal with few tweaks & changes to the cable management, but otherwise I'm ready to fire it up & hope for the best! Here are couple of Before & After pics...
> 
> ...


I would recommend putting a better/bigger heatsink & fan on that chip. The OG P133's ran very hot. Better safe than sorry.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I would recommend putting a better/bigger heatsink & fan on that chip. The OG P133's ran very hot. Better safe than sorry.


I considered to make a quick swap, using the fan/heatsink assembly from the other P133 set, but it would probably make marginal (if any) difference on the cooling performance so I gave it up & reverted back to the old one. if it was a standard, 3-pin connector which plugs  into the motherboard, replacing it would be simple enough. As it is, I would need to pull out the molex connector & make a whole new cable management...


 



And yes, I know I could use any Socket 7/370/462 heatsink but really, I don't think it'll get that hot. If it survived for 22 years with this smaller one, I doubt it'll suddenly crash & burn now


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I don't think it'll get that hot. If it survived for 22 years with this smaller one, I doubt it'll suddenly crash & burn now


While that perspective is understandable, it's always best to keep CPU's as cool as possible. No worries though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2018)

Well, it seems I got other things to worry about... Finally booted up that P133 & found out that the Matrox Millennium video card doesn't work - just getting a black screen. Also, it would seem that the motherboard is incapable of detecting more than 49MB of RAM. Either that or something else is going on, because regardless of the RAM sticks, it doesn't want to detect 64MB.

So, in the end I pulled out the two EDO RAMs & settled for 32MB in total, along with that "VC962C", S3 Trio64V+ PCI video card which came bundled with the system in the first place. Not sure what else to do with it & how to proceed, as I can't imagine Trio64V+ providing 3D acceleration


----------



## Retrorockit (Sep 6, 2018)

Did you remove the old GPU drivers in Safe Mode? Does the Matrox work in Safe Mode? Safe Mode video resolution is the default for all GPUs.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2018)

Nope, you misunderstood me. I'm not getting ANY signal off Matrox, not even during POST, boot-up cycle... I already pulled it out & tried one more time (thinking it may be contact issue), but at this stage I'm pretty sure it's toasted 

Edit
And I'm apparently also getting the hard drive issue, where the system is unable to detect more than 8GB of storage capacity. This one is related to the BIOS, I know (will have to flash the board), but there is also yet another issue with the SCSI CD drive... Even though BIOS successfully detected both the SCSI adapter & Teac CD-RW, the system is just not picking it up... Whenever I want to boot up "Banana" CD-ROM driver, it's telling me how "no CD-ROM devices had been found" ... any ideas?


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 7, 2018)

I think the Microsoft CD-ROM driver only works with IDE drives.  You would at least needs SCSI interface drivers to get it to recognise it if it does support them.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 7, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Whenever I want to boot up "Banana" CD-ROM driver, it's telling me how "no CD-ROM devices had been found" ... any ideas?


As in Booting to Dos ? (config .sys and Autoexec.bat       =   load driver's in config.sys
SCSI Device 1st then CD Rom).

edit
http://ask.microsemi.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/406/~/how-is-a-scsi-cd-rom-accessed-under-dos?

*This information applies to the following Operating System(s):*
- Microsoft DOS

In order to access a SCSI CD ROM under DOS, two drivers need to be loaded for Adaptec card in the Config.sys:
1. The ASPI DOS driver (ASPI manager, ie ASPIxxxDOS.sys) for the SCSI card
2. The DOS ASPI CD ROM driver (aspicd.sys)

A third file needs to be loaded: the Microsoft CD-ROM program (MSCDEX.EXE), manually from the DOS prompt or add to the Autoexec.bat file.

In the Adaptec web site, the DOS Configuration Utility does contain step by step instructions and the command lines needed to place in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files based on the particular Adaptec SCSI card being installed.

*Notes:*
1.) The DOS, ASPI driver for the card, will link the SCSI card into the DOS Operating System.
2.) The ASPICD.sys will link the CD-ROM device with the DOS ASPI driver.
3.) The Microsoft MSCDEX.EXE program loaded in the Autoexec.bat file will link the DOS ASPICD.sys driver and the DOS ASPI driver and then assign a logical drive letter to the CD-ROM.

Keep in mind that the switch "/d:mscd001: is not a drive letter designation of "d:", but a driver name designation of "mscd001" and must be the same for the ASPI CD-ROM driver in the config.sys file and mscdex.exe in the autoexec.bat file.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 7, 2018)

All sorted out guys, thanks for the help...

Would you believe that majority of the problems I've had came from the BIOS? Not being able to detect larg(er) capacity drives, or even to properly "handshake" with SCSI controller card. And no, this one is not Adaptec - it's called Kouwell, KW-801something, and judging by Teac's online information it might have been bundled with their CD-RW right from the very beginning. By the way, SCSI still doesn't work under DOS, but I "cheated" & temporarily hooked up IDE CD-ROM drive, just so I could "XCOPY" the entire installation folder from a CD onto the hard drive. But once I made it to Win95, Teac drive appeared normally 

So yes, regarding the BIOS flash... I had to go through several different versions, even models. The "Official" version does not support large capacity drives. Or even features such as "Passive Release", in fact it kinda resembles those older types from Socket 3 motherboards. You know, kinda like that 5x86 system from not so long ago. But I found another, updated version designed for another (and slightly newer) model, which seems to fit this one just fine. So far so good!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 7, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> All sorted out guys, thanks for the help...
> 
> Would you believe that majority of the problems I've had came from the BIOS? Not being able to detect larg(er) capacity drives, or even to properly "handshake" with SCSI controller card. And no, this one is not Adaptec - it's called Kouwell, KW-801something, and judging by Teac's online information it might have been bundled with their CD-RW right from the very beginning. By the way, SCSI still doesn't work under DOS, but I "cheated" & temporarily hooked up IDE CD-ROM drive, just so I could "XCOPY" the entire installation folder from a CD onto the hard drive. But once I made it to Win95, Teac drive appeared normally
> 
> So yes, regarding the BIOS flash... I had to go through several different versions, even models. The "Official" version does not support large capacity drives. Or even features such as "Passive Release", in fact it kinda resembles those older types from Socket 3 motherboards. You know, kinda like that 5x86 system from not so long ago. But I found another, updated version designed for another (and slightly newer) model, which seems to fit this one just fine. So far so good!


Sounds like jimmy-rig way of doing it, but you got there and that is what counts. Was going to give the same tip @dorsetknob did, but he beat me to the punch.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Sound like jimmy-rig way of doing it, but you got there and that is what counts. Was going to give the same tip @dorsetknob did, but he beat me to the punch.


Yeah, I know... I find it really weird that "A-Trend" never bothered to release updated version of ATC-1020! Fortunately for me, the ATC-1000+ BIOS seems to be compatible with 1020, and is (oddly enough) the only BIOS available to support "modern" features & large capacity hard drives.


 



I'll post another boot-up screen tomorrow, featuring the new BIOS signature. The one on the pic was still the old one... I also updated the cable management for the COM & LPT1 extensions, made it seem cleaner & hopefully more organized


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## Retrorockit (Sep 8, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nope, you misunderstood me. I'm not getting ANY signal off Matrox, not even during POST, boot-up cycle... I already pulled it out & tried one more time (thinking it may be contact issue), but at this stage I'm pretty sure it's toasted
> 
> 
> I did have an issue once where the BIOS video resolution wasn't supported by a slightly newer video card . I changed the resolution in the BIOS to one the card supported and it worked.
> Not all BIOS allow that, and it's still an unresolved issue with many LGA775 Dells and GCN3 and up Radeons since the BIOS doesn't allow it. It was probably a 486 computer.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2018)

This one most definitely does not allow changing the resolution ... I mean, this stuff is from 1995, 1996 which makes it 22yrs old now


----------



## AlwaysHope (Sep 8, 2018)

Found a C2D E7200 sitting on a shelf with other bits of rubbish next to our paper/cardboard recycling area at work yesterday..... 
Lucky they have pin less LGA775 underbody!


----------



## Susquehannock (Sep 8, 2018)

Let's talk HDDs. What are you using and where do you get them? Drives you have saved from the old days? Rescued from recycled systems?

When playing with this old hardware I like to have several available to make switching OS and video drives simple. Just change up the HDD.

Recently had a 20gb unit go bad. It was an IBM deskstar so no surprise there. It got me thinking. PATA are not made anymore. So eventually I am going to run out.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 8, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Let's talk HDDs. What are you using and where do you get them? Drives you have saved from the old days? Rescued from recycled systems?
> When playing with this old hardware I like to have several available to make switching OS and video drives simple. Just change up the HDD.
> Recently had a 20gb unit go bad. It was an IBM deskstar so no surprise there. It got me thinking. PATA are not made anymore. So eventually I am going to run out.


There are SD to IDE adapters that are very inexpensive and work perfectly. Most UHS1 SD cards are faster than even the fastest IDE drive ever made so it's an easy solution. There are also CompactFlash to IDE adapters which work perfectly as well. Clint over at LGR on YT have been using them for years. Interestingly, I think using an SD card would remove a bandwidth bottleneck from an old system.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 8, 2018)

Just hearing about IDE again makes me shudder. This nostalgia thing suddenly seems unappealing


----------



## hat (Sep 8, 2018)

I've used an IDE/CF card adapter before. I used it with a socket 423 system I installed DD-WRT on back in the day.


----------



## Susquehannock (Sep 8, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> There are SD to IDE adapters that are very inexpensive and work perfectly. Most UHS1 SD cards are faster than even the fastest IDE drive ever made so it's an easy solution. There are also CompactFlash to IDE adapters which work perfectly as well. Clint over at LGR on YT have been using them for years. Interestingly, I think using an SD card would remove a bandwidth bottleneck from an old system.


Yeah. I imagine they would reduce and otherwise eliminate spin up and seek times. Good to hear the adapters are working well. They were problematic early on if memory serves. May have to get one to do some benchmark comparisons. Wonder if there are any micro SD to IDE adapters. Or if SD to micro adapters work in them? Have 20gb that would be perfect for this.


----------



## SniperHF (Sep 8, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Let's talk HDDs.



I don't know all the details from where these came from.  Most of them I used myself at one point or another though mostly in secondary systems.  My primary dives had a habit of dying.


Quantum Fireballs:   These are my favorite old drives.  Never had one fail.  15 and 13 GB here.



Seagate 10GB and Seagate 20GB.  I'm not sure why they put these weird rubber band covers on them, the black covering is some sort of rubberized elastic or something.
Both were pulled from Color iMacs and worked great in my Dual PIII tower server.




I'm pretty sure this 80GB Maxtor is dying or already dead, haven't fired it up in a long time.  I had a lot of these Maxtors fail.


Toshiba 20GB (2.5") I used to swap this in my laptop for a secondary OS, usually Mandrake linux.



WD Drives:  Don't remember at all where the first 2 came from.    The 250 GB black drive has a weird quirk or bug or damaged controller.  The damn thing WILL NOT WORK in master mode.  This was an endless source of frustration for me till I figured it out.
 


TriGem 15GB:   I'm 90% sure I pulled this from an eMachines system back in the day for MOAR storage.   I always bought systems with a second IDE controller for more drives.




I also have some 500 GB IDE drives in my retro system but I don't remember what they are and I'm not taking them out


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 8, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Wonder if there are any micro SD to IDE adapters. Or if SD to micro adapters work in them?


They'll work fine.


----------



## Fouquin (Sep 8, 2018)

Retrorockit said:


> Voodoo was on the skids when those were made. They weren't available for very long. The PCI version seems more poular than the AGP. It was AGP1.0 and later AGP versions were lower voltage. So only the earliest AGP board (Socket7) can run those. Just about any MB has a PCI slot on it.
> Originally Voodoo sold it's GPUs and SLI tech to any GPU mfg. Then they bought STB and cut everyone else out of the market they created. The Voodoo Glide API was preferred to Microsofts DirectX for most games back then. This made a lot of enemies in the gaming business. The 5500 only came in the 3DFX house brand. Nvidia bought out Voodoo in a hostile takeover and killed it off including SLI for a number of years. So  yes they were always rare. When Nvidia bought Voodoo they actually pulled the cards off of the store shelves as I recall.
> Voodoo cards were always interesting. The first ones were add in 3d cards that piggybacked onto a 2D video card. Then I think you could add 2 of them. The single GPU cards supported SLI also if my memory is correct. But the Voodoo 5500 was the first 2 GPU consumer video card, and the first to need an external power cable (Molex 4 pin).
> Rare, historic, high performance and expensive.



You've got most of that correct. 3Dfx was the company, Voodoo was the product line. The 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 is AGP 1.0 @ 2x and does work on any board with an AGP Universal bus, which includes boards like the ABIT Sa7 and ASUS P4S533-E (both with an SiS chipset).

The nVidia purchase of 3Dfx was not a hostile takeover; it was actually a coordinated buyout by 3Dfx's board of directors. They divided the company resources up and presented them to nVidia, who then made a bid. nVidia had no use for the manufacturing portion of 3Dfx and left it alone, only taking technology, research labs, and personnel associated with those departments. The manufacturing portion (along with its associated departments) is what then filed for bankruptcy.



Retrorockit said:


> If you want to look for the rarest of the rare, there was a company named Obsidian I believe that built custom multi GPU Voodoo2 cards for commercial Video Arcade machines before the Voodoo 5500. This stuff seems to be in German, but a picture is wurth a thousand words.
> https://pctuning.tyden.cz/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4814&Itemid=44&pop=1&page=4



Quantum3D is the company in question and they were founded as a spinoff of 3Dfx for the professional market occupied by Sgi, 3DLabs, and Evans & Sutherland (to name a few) creating real-time 3D graphics accelerators and workstations. They actually still exist and operate primarily as a military contractor providing full-feature training simulators to the Air Force and Navy. They also contract with the FAA in providing the same real-time simulations for training commercial pilots and running flight-traffic simulations. The commercial cards from their first couple years in operation are certainly sought after by anybody collecting 3Dfx hardware. Quantum3D's contracts with 3Dfx were part of nVidia's acquired assets and they switched to using NV17 for their products in 2001 and 2002.


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 8, 2018)

65nm Core 2 Quad refuses to give up


----------



## SystemViper (Sep 8, 2018)

Hello everyone,  First time poster in this club, I am loving it.....
I am sure some of you know me and hope you had a great summer....


I have been collecting socket 478/479 and 775 stuff for a few years and it's all coming together for a fun winter hobby
of overclocking. I figured if I was going to pump 2v into a chip, that they should be not toooooo expensive, plus i just have a love for this stuff..
I Still need a few 775 chips but i must have at least 30 different ones now plus some sweet old time boards, same same with the 478/479 stuff.
Have my sweet phase tuned and ready to go and a rockin Kingpin Dragon F1 Extreme  and my trusty Fluke II....

That is a little background......

***********COOLER MASTER JET 4 80mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan*
this was the first time i ever saw this, wow how cool for the simple 478. It was really the cooler that made me make  this purchase.

I just love this find / motherboard and *COOLER MASTER JET *cooler, I saw this several months ago and jumped on it, i have never seen the Cooler Master Jet.... WOW! how cool....
Now this is old and they even started putting some LED's on this, how revolutionary, a red one in the exhaust nozzle  and a white one blinking on the front of it.
Check out the vid, the cooler is actually high end for it's time....









So I figured I would start my posting here with a* vintage* .....


*DFI 865PE - LANPARTY - motherboard - ATX - Socket 478 - i865PE*
*and a*
*COOLER MASTER JET 4 80mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan*

*I will start posting more as I start getting it together and getting my bench in the living room set up (wife loves that- lol)*

*ENJOY*


























if you got this far check out this vid


----------



## phill (Sep 9, 2018)

Does it shoot flames as well??   Oh I forgot...  No RGB  

Seriously though, I wonder if it sounds as noisy as I expect it too....??   I think I'd rather have my Tornado fan on there spinning at 5000 RPM instead of that thing! lol  Loving the DFI board tho!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 9, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Let's talk HDDs. What are you using and where do you get them? Drives you have saved from the old days? Rescued from recycled systems?
> 
> When playing with this old hardware I like to have several available to make switching OS and video drives simple. Just change up the HDD.
> 
> Recently had a 20gb unit go bad. It was an IBM deskstar so no surprise there. It got me thinking. PATA are not made anymore. So eventually I am going to run out.


When building a retro system, I always use old IDE drives... As far as I'm concerned, there's really no reason to complicate things with SATA units & ATA to SATA adapters, for as long as these old ones are available & still working OK



lexluthermiester said:


> There are SD to IDE adapters that are very inexpensive and work perfectly. Most UHS1 SD cards are faster than even the fastest IDE drive ever made so it's an easy solution. There are also CompactFlash to IDE adapters which work perfectly as well. Clint over at LGR on YT have been using them for years. Interestingly, I think using an SD card would remove a bandwidth bottleneck from an old system.


True, but I wouldn't trust CF/SD card adapter ... at least not as much as I trust the actual hard drives ... even if it's an old IDE one. Thing is, these cards are not meant to be written & deleted so many times & this will eventually cause them to lose data. Pretty much the same story as those early SSDs, when they were first introduced to the market.



SniperHF said:


> I don't know all the details from where these came from.  Most of them I used myself at one point or another though mostly in secondary systems.  My primary dives had a habit of dying.
> 
> 
> Quantum Fireballs:   These are my favorite old drives.  Never had one fail.  15 and 13 GB here.
> ...


Yup, you got it right! Quantums were awesome drives. I still got my Fireball 6.4GB running OK, and without bad sectors! Of course, I no longer use it on a regular basis, but it is still there & available when & if I need to boot it up. Paired with my original Pentium II machine from back in a day even, unfortunately inside the modern case, but that's a whole other story for some other time.

When it comes to my regular choice for Retro gaming system(s), I always go with Western Digital drives. Yes, I've had couple of them fail over time, but statistically speaking those are the best! On the other hand, Maxtors are absolutely awful ... except for "SlimLine" series. I've had a Maxtor drive fall apart, during the operation ... I was running Windows ME & just finished installing some of the games I've had, when the heads somehow jammed into the platter at full speed, sounded almost like the explosion. Windows stopped responding obviously, and when I restarted the system, the Maxtor drive was no longer there, being recognized *sigh*



SystemViper said:


> Hello everyone,  First time poster in this club, I am loving it.....
> I am sure some of you know me and hope you had a great summer....
> 
> 
> ...


Welcome to the club! To quote the words from the song "Hotel California", You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave! 

Speaking of Jet7 CPU cooler, I got one of those inside my RetroMaster 2500 rig (see my profile system for more info). Pretty cool piece of hardware, but unfortunately ONLY just that. For a heatink fan/blower, it's pretty noisy & ineffective I'm afraid 



phill said:


> Does it shoot flames as well??   Oh I forgot...  No RGB
> 
> Seriously though, I wonder if it sounds as noisy as I expect it too....??   I think I'd rather have my Tornado fan on there spinning at 5000 RPM instead of that thing! lol  Loving the DFI board tho!!


Yup, and very much even. I keep mine at the lowest speed, because I can't stand the racket of Jet7 running at max. speed!!


----------



## SystemViper (Sep 9, 2018)

for that time in cpu cooler evolution i bet there are
a lot  more examples of idea,s good and bad, i love 
that were trying to expand the enthusiast market...
sweetness


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 9, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> True, but I wouldn't trust CF/SD card adapter ... at least not as much as I trust the actual hard drives ... even if it's an old IDE one.


Let me assure you, having used them, they are completely reliable.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 9, 2018)

I feel like an idiot. I don't know why I never thought of that (converting IDE to sd card). My raspberry pi is pretty much the same thing. Maybe faster?

That said, if I were to shell out for vintage components, I'd be more interested in an old UNIX workstation or a Mac. I can do all the vintage PC stuff I want already on a modern PC. I just need a CRT monitor to better display DOSBox games.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 9, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> I feel like an idiot. I don't know why I never thought of that (converting IDE to sd card). My raspberry pi is pretty much the same thing. Maybe faster?
> That said, if I were to shell out for vintage components, I'd be more interested in an old UNIX workstation or a Mac. I can do all the vintage PC stuff I want already on a modern PC. I just need a CRT monitor to better display DOSBox games.


There are SD to SCSI adapters as well.


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 9, 2018)

SniperHF said:


> Seagate 10GB and Seagate 20GB.  I'm not sure why they put these weird rubber band covers on them, the black covering is some sort of rubberized elastic or something.


The rubber sleeve is for reducing vibration transferring between the drive and the PC chassis.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 9, 2018)

edit: Eh, nvm. Kind of derailing about a new monitor. Ordered a 4:3.. but found out it was 5:4. Damn false advertising  Hopefully it gets canceled.


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 9, 2018)

QX6850 @ 3,9GHz vs. Battlefield V (Beta) 4k - short gameplay


----------



## SystemViper (Sep 9, 2018)

QX6850 on a Rampage Extreme, that is soooooooo sweet....


----------



## Fouquin (Sep 9, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> There are SD to SCSI adapters as well.



There are also just straight up IDE SSDs, for those that are wary of SD cards for some reason.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 9, 2018)

When I wanted to build a working Pentium 133, I wanted it to be as authentic as it can be, all the way down to the finest of details. However, what I ended up with in the end is a little bit too authentic if you ask me because it turns out this system here doesn't have a working 3D accelerator, which means I'm stuck in software rendering mode 




Can't really say I'm surprised, since the Voodoo1 card that I've put inside doesn't work. At least it didn't work last time I gave it a try (so I just wanted to make sure one more time), and I certainly wasn't expecting S3 Trio64V+ to put up 3D accelerated environment ... Therefore, just like I said, authentic P133 system from around 1996, 1997 in all its software rendering glory 

And here is the picture of that updated BIOS, for the model ATC-1000+. If you compare the screen with the old one, you can clearly tell the difference between the two versions, even years.


 



And here they are, FINALLY! Some of the more famous & better-known titles from back in a day. These are all working more-less acceptable, except for Monster Truck Madness 2 ... which apparently doesn't start at all. Will have to look into that tomorrow. I also wanted to set up Need for Speed (II and III), but being limited to software rendering only (and system lagging due to CPU usage) I gave it up entirely...

Worms Armageddon


 



Monster Truck Madness 2




Tomb Raider II/II Gold


 

 

 

 



Quake


 



Dark Colony


 



Hard Truck


 



Grim Fandango


 

 

 



Curse of Monkey Island


 

 

 



Discworld II


 

 

 



Broken Sword I




Broken Sword II


 

 



Carmageddon




Shadow Warrior




Undersea Adventure


----------



## AlwaysHope (Sep 10, 2018)

Found an unused stick of DDR2 ram, rated at 533MHz in 1GB size whilst clearing out an old box in storage. 
I think this was current around 2005 for early LGA775 platforms.


----------



## hat (Sep 10, 2018)

@Trekkie4 that's pretty cool... but Quake on Normal? C'mon man...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2018)

hat said:


> @Trekkie4 that's pretty cool... but Quake on Normal? C'mon man...


Hey, I'm too young to die! 

I was actually testing that system, making sure everything's running OK for the sake of future development. Not to mention stopping every couple of minutes to take pics, so I almost had it "easy" So, let's put our differences behind us ... for science. You monster!


----------



## Robert B (Sep 10, 2018)

ECS *P4ITA V1.0* S423-I850-RAMBUS / 15-A09-010300 -  *It needed some repairs but it works!* P4 1.3GHz *SL4SF* and a few stricks of RAM. I'm still missing a clip for my heatsink but at least I have ONE 

Sound Blaster 16 Value - *CT2770* - I need it to test my Creative CR-563-B CD-ROM which requires a Creative / Panasonic interface  - old stuff is OLD!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2018)

Robert B said:


> ECS *P4ITA V1.0* S423-I850-RAMBUS / 15-A09-010300 -  *It needed some repairs but it works!* P4 1.3GHz *SL4SF* and a few stricks of RAM. I'm still missing a clip for my heatsink but at least I have ONE
> 
> Sound Blaster 16 Value - *CT2770* - I need it to test my Creative CD-563-B CD-ROM which requires a Creative / Panasonic interface  - old stuff is OLD!


This is very close to my own setup from around 2001, when I got it brand new 

Mine was Asus P4T with Pentium 4 @ 1.4GHz and 128MB RIMM memory. Also had Creative SoundBlaster128, Hauppauge TV Tuner card, Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead AGP graphics, NEC DVD-ROM (first DVD to have), and TEAC CD-RW drive. Oh yeah, and it also had a crappy Maxtor 40GB drive which fell apart in about a year or so ... what a surprise  Here's the pic from way, way back! And no, that wasn't the original case, the original one was just a standard, beige one 


 

 

 

 

 



Although I no longer have that system (sold it looong time ago), I kept some of the original components & eventually re-integrated them into other, retro system. This includes the following components: Matrox Millennium, Hauppauge TV tuner, Creative SB128 and NEC DVD-ROM


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 10, 2018)

When unlocking the multiplier was easy.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 10, 2018)

Luckily got a refund and got the right kind of a monitor. An old 4:3 Samsung 15" LCD (purposely went small because I wanted 1024x768).

It's strange how many monitors are out there are presented as 4:3, when they're actually 5:4 (usually 1280x1024).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 10, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> This is very close to my own setup from around 2001, when I got it brand new


Wow that cable management! Not making fun, because that was actually decent back in the day, with all the zip-ties. We've come a long way..



StrayKAT said:


> Luckily got a refund and got the right kind of a monitor. An old 4:3 Samsung 15" LCD (purposely went small because I wanted 1024x768).
> It's strange how many monitors are out there are presented as 4:3, when they're actually 5:4 (usually 1280x1024).


Dell made a few really good 1600x1200 19" LCD's. Those are great for classic gaming.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 10, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wow that cable management! Not making fun, because that was actually decent back in the day, with all the zip-ties. We've come a long way..
> 
> 
> Dell made a few really good 1600x1200 19" LCD's. Those are great for classic gaming.



I considered 1600x1200, but figured the type of games I'd play (mostly DOS) wouldn't look as good scaled up so high. Maybe I'm wrong?

edit: Nostalgia wise, this was really the last of the 4:3 resolutions I used for gaming. Although I did use Macs in the 90s, and went up a next step to 1152x864 or something like that. I never did have a 1600x1200 monitor back in the day. I think eventually transitioned to widescreen around this time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wow that cable management! Not making fun, because that was actually decent back in the day, with all the zip-ties. We've come a long way..


No way, that cable management was NOT considered decent now, or even back in a day! But hey, I was only getting started with hardware back then... To put it this way, if it wasn't for that Pentium 4, I probably wouldn't know as much about hardware as I do know - including the cable management


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 10, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> I considered 1600x1200, but figured the type of games I'd play (mostly DOS) wouldn't look as good scaled up so high. Maybe I'm wrong?
> 
> edit: Nostalgia wise, this was really the last of the 4:3 resolutions I used for gaming. Although I did use Macs in the 90s, and went up a next step to 1152x864 or something like that. I never did have a 1600x1200 monitor back in the day. I think eventually transitioned to widescreen around this time.


1280x960 -> 1600x1200 -> 1280x1024 -> 1920x1080 here.

First I had a 19" CRT, then a 21" Trinitron CRT which was awesome, supported 1600x1200 @ 85Hz so no flickering. Then it was time to say goodbye to CRTs and move to TFT, so a 17" Hyundai was next. When I got GTX 470, it was time to upgrade. That BenQ 22" FHD is still on my desk, the most left of my three-monitor setup.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 10, 2018)

And so the Pentium 133 project continues... 

Tomb Raider III (barely runs, at around 1 FPS )


 



CART Precision Racing DEMO




Monster Truck Madness II


 

 



Grand Theft Auto (1)


 

 



Grand Theft Auto London


 

 



Duke Nukem 3D


 



Dangerous Dave




Doom/Doom2


 

 



Heretic


 



The Lionking


 



The Secret of Monkey island


 




Prince (of Persia)


 



Stunts


 

 

 



And that's about it for now...  The only thing left is to resolve is the hardware upgrade, I would really, REALLY like to get my hands on a decent PCI video card, because this is just absurd IMO!  And I would prefer to stay "true" to the original formula & avoid using 3dfx ... but considering I don't have much of a choice, I might end up grabbing the Voodoo (2?) card from one of the other systems & putting it inside this one here *shrug*


----------



## phill (Sep 10, 2018)

Amazingly awesome!!   I remember the days.....


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> I never did have a 1600x1200 monitor back in the day. I think eventually transitioned to widescreen around this time.


I did, both CRT and LCD. Both ran and looked great, with the right hardware. I was always buying the best Radeon ATI had to offer.


----------



## hat (Sep 11, 2018)

I had a weird 1152x864? tube monitor once. It was a slight step up from the 15" 1024x768 screens I was used to. For me though, I think I've found the sweet spot to be 1920x1080 screens. I ran my 19" 1440x900 TV for a few days, but quickly went back to my 1920x1080 monitor. It felt like quite the upgrade when I started using it again...


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 11, 2018)

I'm running 4K mainly on a TV now.. so my next monitor will match it. It doesn't really feel any different than 1080p though.. since I'm scaling up Windows interface the same way (1080p scale is 150% and 4K scale is 300%).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2018)

hat said:


> I had a weird 1152x864? tube monitor once. It was a slight step up from the 15" 1024x768 screens I was used to.


I had on of those. Can't remember the brand, but it was a 17" with a trinitron tube.


hat said:


> For me though, I think I've found the sweet spot to be 1920x1080 screens. I ran my 19" 1440x900 TV for a few days, but quickly went back to my 1920x1080 monitor. It felt like quite the upgrade when I started using it again...


I currently have 1440p screens on one system and 1600p screens on another. While they are excellent, I could happily live with 1080p if needed.


StrayKAT said:


> I'm running 4K mainly on a TV now.. so my next monitor will match it. It doesn't really feel any different than 1080p though.. since I'm scaling up Windows interface the same way (1080p scale is 150% and 4K scale is 300%).


Windows 10 then?


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 11, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I had on of those. Can't remember the brand, but it was a 17" with a trinitron tube.
> 
> I currently have 1440p screens on one system and 1600p screens on another. While they are excellent, I could happily live with 1080p if needed.
> 
> Windows 10 then?



Yes.. I've grown accustomed. Even like it 

But I need a 4:3 for some old games. Daggerfall, Kotor.. I can mod many old games, but these are impossible for me.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Yes.. I've grown accustomed. Even like it


With recent updates it isn't so bad, privacy issues aside. Even those are looking like they might become manageable.


StrayKAT said:


> Kotor


Star Wars; Knights of the Old Republic? Both 1 & 2 are on GOG and have been updated for current hardware and wide screens. You should take a look.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 11, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> With recent updates it isn't so bad, privacy issues aside. Even those are looking like they might become manageable.
> 
> Star Wars; Knights of the Old Republic? Both 1 & 2 are on GOG and have been updated for current hardware and wide screens. You should take a look.



Ah that sucks. I don't want to purchase it again. But 2 works fine on Steam. Just the first one is a problem.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Ah that sucks. I don't want to purchase it again. But 2 works fine on Steam. Just the first one is a problem.


Maybe, but it's worth it. GOG strives to make older games work well on modern systems. While Steam does make an effort in this area, it's not on the same level of GOG.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 11, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Maybe, but it's worth it. GOG strives to make older games work well on modern systems. While Steam does make an effort in this area, it's not on the same level of GOG.



I have plenty of GOG games..I like it... but I'm not going to buy the same game twice (three times really.. since I used to have a boxed Kotor). Especially after I just purchased a monitor that will work with it.. and all of my DOS games.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> I have plenty of GOG games..I like it... but I'm not going to buy the same game twice (three times really.. since I used to have a boxed Kotor). Especially after I just purchased a monitor that will work with it.. and all of my DOS games.


Good point.


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 11, 2018)

To be fair, if any game deserves multiple purchases, that be might one of them.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> To be fair, if any game deserves multiple purchases, that be might one of them.


Right?


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 11, 2018)

I know that feeling to get a game twice and even maybe three times. Especially when it's a game which first was released on consoles, then on PC.

Oh boy those hours spent with Final Fantasy series on consoles, and now with PC..


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 11, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> I know that feeling to get a game twice and even maybe three times. Especially when it's a game which first was released on consoles, then on PC.
> 
> Oh boy those hours spent with Final Fantasy series on consoles, and now with PC..



Is it sad that I even bought FF13 on Steam (had it on console once). Those are underrated.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 11, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Is it sad that I even bought FF13 on Steam (had it on console once). Those are underrated.


I played FF XIII over 200 hours on X360, tried to hunt down that Treasure Hunter achievement... didn't get it. I'm not still even near to that on Steam version.

Truly an underrated game, love the story, characters, SOUNDTRACK! and gameplay. And I consider myself as a FF veteran.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 11, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> When unlocking the multiplier was easy.


ah! the graphite pencil trick!

darn i want that Athlon (i have a ceramic package Duron, my famous "cracked core edition" )



Chloe Price said:


> And I consider myself as a FF veteran.


so do i ... my forum name come from FFVIII (with a typo ... it's actually Grieverblade ) and my RL "callsign" is "Squall"


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 11, 2018)

So there, the video card issue has been (temporarily?) resolved...


 



IDK, I just don't like the way it looks, or even sounds to be honest. It was meant to be a unique build (especially since I've never done a non-MMX Pentium before), but this is just too much. Sure, it will work, and yes, it DOES work, but this 133MHz CPU doesn't have what it takes to tame a Voodoo2 card IMO. Besides, this means I had to "sacrifice" one of my previous builds, in order to grab a spare Voodoo card in working condition. So I took apart one of my old builds, a Pentium III 866 (Asus CUSL2-C) & removed its Voodoo2 card, replacing it for Hauppauge TV tuner card. I feel really bad for having to "steal" from myself, but this particular system also has GF4 MX400 AGP card, capable of so much more than a stand-alone, 8MB Voodoo2 card. So at least it's not a HUGE loss, but it's still a loss nevertheless...


 



On the other hand, my only other alternative is to keep the software rendering mode & put up with all sorts of issues. So IDK, you be the judge! At least I decided to use the 8MB version, somehow 12 seemed way too much for a system that's supposed to have around 2, 4MB of VRAM at max


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> I played FF XIII over 200 hours on X360, tried to hunt down that Treasure Hunter achievement... didn't get it. I'm not still even near to that on Steam version.
> Truly an underrated game, love the story, characters, SOUNDTRACK! and gameplay. And I consider myself as a FF veteran.


See, I'm way old school. FF6[3 in the US] was easily my fav Final Fantasy, with FF4[2 US] a close second.



Trekkie4 said:


> but this 133MHz CPU doesn't have what it takes to tame a Voodoo2 card IMO.


Not true, the Voodoo2 was my default 3D card in my old P133 system back in the day and it did very well. When I upgraded to a P200MMX most 3D accelerated games only got a small bump which showed that the CPU wasn't the bottleneck. Software rendered games got a larger boost from the upgrade. Keep the Voodoo 2!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 11, 2018)

Alrighty then! if I ever come across another, functional Voodoo (1) card, or perhaps Rush/Banshee, I'll most likely put them inside instead of the Voodoo2.

Until then,




...let it




...be magic! 


 



Meanwhile, my inner voice:


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 11, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> See, I'm way old school. FF6[3 in the US] was easily my fav Final Fantasy, with FF4[2 US] a close second.
> 
> 
> Not true, the Voodoo2 was my default 3D card in my old P133 system back in the day and it did very well. When I upgraded to a P200MMX most 3D accelerated games only got a small bump which showed that the CPU wasn't the bottleneck. Software rendered games got a larger boost from the upgrade. Keep the Voodoo 2!



Oh I like the whole series. I just meant "even FF13". It starts slow, but I think it gets unnecessary flack.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 11, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> And so the Pentium 133 project continues...
> 
> Tomb Raider III (barely runs, at around 1 FPS )
> 
> ...




What?....no Full Throttle?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 11, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> What?....no Full Throttle?


Nope!  Not even Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis (my all times, personal favorite!) Thing is, I ran into problems with SCUMM VM emulation (CPU bottleneck?), but couldn't get the game started under Win95 either *shrug* IDK, first time to encounter a problem like that.

But TBH, with all the 3D problems going on, I didn't have the time (or patience) to look into it, so I just moved on with other games.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 12, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> See, I'm way old school. FF6[3 in the US] was easily my fav Final Fantasy, with FF4[2 US] a close second.


Those are still excellent games. I'm just pissed that they haven't made I & II for PC, at least not yet, since they have ported so many FF games in recent years. FF II is such an underrated game, love the PS1 version which I have.



GreiverBlade said:


> ah! the graphite pencil trick!
> 
> darn i want that Athlon (i have a ceramic package Duron, my famous "cracked core edition" )


I have another 1GHz Athlon under the Thermaltake cooler on my Asrock K7VT4A Pro.  It has also a cracked core, but it seems to work. Those didn't usually give a crap if there were minor cracks on the die.  But as you can see, that one in the pick has the legendary AXIA stepping, those usually clock easily 1400MHz, IIRC there were rumors that the AXIA ones were meant to be for a 1500MHz model, but AMD never released such one as the 1.4GHz was the fastest Thunderbird. Bought that from ebay FYI 

I just need to get a bios update for that motherboard, since it doesn't like that I'm going to install WinXP from an USB drive. Hey come on, who has FDDs or DVD drives lying in closets anymore.. 

At least the X800 Pro (which I've planned to use with the Socket A platform) works when I tried with Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA, too bad though it's just a X800 Pro, not a VIVO model which could be flashed to XT PE..


> so do i ... my forum name come from FFVIII (with a typo ... it's actually Grieverblade ) and my RL "callsign" is "Squall"


I know, I remember when you had Griever as your avatar


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 12, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Those are still excellent games. I'm just pissed that they haven't made I & II for PC, at least not yet, since they have ported so many FF games in recent years. FF II is such an underrated game, love the PS1 version which I have.
> 
> 
> I have another 1GHz Athlon under the Thermaltake cooler on my Asrock K7VT4A Pro.  It has also a cracked core, but it seems to work. Those didn't usually give a crap if there were minor cracks on the die.  But as you can see, that one in the pick has the legendary AXIA stepping, those usually clock easily 1400MHz, IIRC there were rumors that the AXIA ones were meant to be for a 1500MHz model, but AMD never released such one as the 1.4GHz was the fastest Thunderbird. Bought that from ebay FYI
> ...


Also got one of those, except mine is super rare "White Edition" 


 

 



Model number reads: A1000AMT3C, AMD Athlon 1000MHz, Thunderbird


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 12, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Also got one of those, except mine is super rare "White Edition"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The 1GHz model is important to me, that powered my PC when I moved away from being only a console gamer.. looked tips for overclocking it, broke the multiplier lock also back then, and it was 24/7 stable at 1404MHz. Abit KT7A, 512MB PC133 and GF4 Ti 4200, oh the memories..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 12, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> The 1GHz model is important to me, that powered my PC when I moved away from being only a console gamer.. looked tips for overclocking it, broke the multiplier lock also back then, and it was 24/7 stable at 1404MHz. Abit KT7A, 512MB PC133 and GF4 Ti 4200, oh the memories..


Right, I hear you  We all got our personal (& sentimental) favorites... Mine are 66MHz (DX2) & 350MHz (Pentium II)  By the time I reached 1.4GHz, I had that Pentium 4 machine, which I mentioned yesterday. Socket 423, with 128 RIMM memory, Matrox G450 AGP card & 40GB Maxtor.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 12, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I hear you  We all got our personal (& sentimental) favorites... Mine are 66MHz (DX2) & 350MHz (Pentium II)  By the time I reached 1.4GHz, I had that Pentium 4 machine, which I mentioned yesterday. Socket 423, with 128 RIMM memory, Matrox G450 AGP card & 40GB Maxtor.


No experiences of RDRAM here, if you don't count PS2 which has RDRAM 

There's just something about that 1GHz clockspeed which still being memories. Hell, even some music tracks brings me back to that era when I listened those with Winamp on my 1GHz computer. 

But what's that core stepping of yours? ASH*A? Never heard of those. I've got experience only of AYHJA and AXIA Thunderbirds, recently I got an AXHA version which I've never heard before, that's the one what I mentioned with cracked die which works after all..

edit: Ah, Matrox... I had a G400 as a temporirary card back in the day, and damn the VGA video quality was great with my 21" Trinitron which I had then.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 12, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> No experiences of RDRAM here, if you don't count PS2 which has RDRAM
> 
> There's just something about that 1GHz clockspeed which still being memories. Hell, even some music tracks brings me back to that era when I listened those with Winamp on my 1GHz computer.
> 
> ...


IMO, 1GHz was a breaking point. Up until then, all the CPUs were measured in MHz, therefore 1GHz introduced a whole new generation, new range to the computer industry & opened up new possibilities.

Are you referring to Athlon? The model number reads A1000*AMT3C*, not ASHA


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 12, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> IMO, 1GHz was a breaking point. Up until then, all the CPUs were measured in MHz, therefore 1GHz introduced a whole new generation, new range to the computer industry & opened up new possibilities.
> 
> Are you referring to Athlon? The model number reads A1000*AMT3C*, not ASHA


No, not the first line on the die. My sitting-on-desk CPU says

A1000AMT3C
*AXIA*0118XPAW
*copyright markings* 1999 AMD

I remember how to read when it was manufactured, week 18 in 01.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 12, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> No, not the first line on the die. My sitting-on-desk CPU says
> 
> A1000AMT3C
> *AXIA*0118XPAW
> ...


Oh, right! Right, it says ASH*H*A 01325PE(W?) Can't tell the last one for sure...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 12, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> I just need to get a bios update for that motherboard, since it doesn't like that I'm going to install WinXP from an USB drive. Hey come on, who has FDDs or DVD drives lying in closets anymore..



I do.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 13, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> I do.


Well, I'm getting also now when you mentioned it!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 13, 2018)

Just messing around with 3dfx, not really much of a "progress", I guess 


 



In fact, I gave it a real challenge - to run Half-Life! I'll be honest, I was expecting this thing to crash &/or hang, but to my surprise it's working just fine! 




And for the sake of comparison, here are the two Half-Life loading screens - Software rendering on the left & 3dfx Voodoo2 on the right. I have to say, the accelerated one seems kinda blurry & out of proportions, but the framerate is mostly stable, at around solid 25, 30FPS.


 



Speaking of lags & slow framerate, Tomb Raider III is now running smoothly & feels more dynamic. Screenshot is not really doing it much justice I suppose, but comparing to what I had before, around 0.5 to 1 FPS this thing is just plain awesome!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 13, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> In fact, I gave it a real challenge - to run Half-Life! I'll be honest, I was expecting this thing to crash &/or hang, but to my surprise it's working just fine!


I'm not. HL1 was based on the Quake 1 engine, which the Voodoo 1 & 2 easily ran. Still, I wonder how Quake 2 and 3 would run?...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 13, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm not. HL1 was based on the Quake 1 engine, which the Voodoo 1 & 2 easily ran. Still, I wonder how Quake 2 and 3 would run?...


True! But Half-Life (or rather, GoldSource) was a heavily modified Quake engine... And they are BOTH originating from the Doom engine, aka id Tech 1 but now I digress.

By the time Half-Life got released, it was already miles ahead of Quake, I would dare to say even Quake2 so it would be interesting to see... Will give it a try later today


----------



## hat (Sep 13, 2018)

I remember really wanting to play Quake 3 when I had a 400MHz K6-II, but I had no graphics card. I played Unreal Tournament instead.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 13, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> True! But Half-Life (or rather, GoldSource) was a heavily modified Quake engine... And they are BOTH originating from the Doom engine, aka id Tech 1 but now I digress.
> 
> By the time Half-Life got released, it was already miles ahead of Quake, I would dare to say even Quake2 so it would be interesting to see... Will give it a try later today


Good points. I'm not sure that the HL1 engine was ahead of Q2 though. That would be an interesting analysis..


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 13, 2018)

hat said:


> I remember really wanting to play Quake 3 when I had a 400MHz K6-II, but I had no graphics card. I played Unreal Tournament instead.



I think I had a PowerMac funnily. Not many other games on Mac OS at the time.. that was one of them (classic Mac OS, that is).

HL1 was innovative to me narrative/story wise. It didn't stand out to me for other reasons. 2 did because of physics.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Sep 13, 2018)

I got this Duron 1800 CPU, but the board it came with does not have an AGP slot...it does have onboard...but that won't do...anyone recommend a decent but cost effective board for it?  Will eventually be a WinXP retro build to go along with my Win98. SE machine I built not long ago.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 13, 2018)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I got this Duron 1800 CPU, but the board it came with does not have an AGP slot...it does have onboard...but that won't do...anyone recommend a decent but cost effective board for it?  Will eventually be a WinXP retro build to go along with my Win98. SE machine I built not long ago.


Ebay is great for older parts. Just type in " Socket A motherboard " and you will find a good number of choices.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 13, 2018)

So guys, with this being my 1000th post I just wanted to make a toast, to the finest nostalgia crew in the fleet  Here's to hopefully thousand more!



lexluthermiester said:


> Good points. I'm not sure that the HL1 engine was ahead of Q2 though. That would be an interesting analysis..


Now, to answer your question ... yes, it runs Crysis! Uhh, I mean Quake2 


 

 

 



It also runs Tomb Raider 3 Gold (aka The Lost Artifact)


 



Viper Racing


 



...and Test Drive 5


 

 





Aaron_Henderson said:


> I got this Duron 1800 CPU, but the board it came with does not have an AGP slot...it does have onboard...but that won't do...anyone recommend a decent but cost effective board for it?  Will eventually be a WinXP retro build to go along with my Win98. SE machine I built not long ago.


Funny you asked that... Because I just spent the entire afternoon hunting down for reasonably-priced PCI video card(s). And came up empty, of course. But then I tried my luck with AliExpress, and found gold ... literally!
Check this out, a brand new nVidia FX5500 PCI for approx. $35 . Which would be perfectly fine for my application, if it wasn't for the fact I need several of those.

So then I've done even more searching & came up with this, a brand NEW ATI Rage XL, 8MB PCI card for as low as $16,80. Think I'll buy at least two of three of these, I'm anxious to see just how good these things really are ... in the retro fashion, of course. According to a guy on YouTube, it's powerful enough to run Half-Life, therefore it provides a decent 3D acceleration. Which is ALL I need for systems such as Pentium 133 & similar!


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 13, 2018)

got sat in the cupboard  a riva128 pci (4meg)   i keep in case i need it for flash recovery of pcix cards


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 13, 2018)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I got this Duron 1800 CPU, but the board it came with does not have an AGP slot...it does have onboard...but that won't do...anyone recommend a decent but cost effective board for it?  Will eventually be a WinXP retro build to go along with my Win98. SE machine I built not long ago.


Abit NF7-S or Abit AN7


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 14, 2018)

I'm trying to come up with solid answer, but can't seem to find anything... Is the USB bracket extension the SAME as USB 2.0 one? As in, does the 2x 5pin USB 2.0 plug corresponds to USB 1.1 connection on the motherboard?


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 14, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> does the 2x 5pin USB 2.0 plug corresponds to USB 1.1 connection on the motherboard?


There should be no difference in pinout


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 14, 2018)

Thanks! 

That Pentium 133 board has the onboard USB feature apparently (at least it says so in BIOS), but it's missing the USB bracket/header. So I was wondering if I could just use the 2.0 one...


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 14, 2018)

Only time i found a Board with a non standard pin out was  yup you guessed it DELL ( pin out was physicaly the same but wired different Typical DELL )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 14, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Only time i found a Board with a non standard pin out was  yup you guessed it DELL ( pin out was physicaly the same but wired different Typical DELL )


Right, got that. But this is a standard Socket 7 motherboard, A-Trend ATC-1020, so I don't expect it to use proprietary connection.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 14, 2018)

What pisses me?!

That nose rings are in fashion. I've had mine since 2010 long before it was a cool thing!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 14, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> What pisses me?!
> 
> That nose rings are in fashion. I've had mine since 2010 long before it was a cool thing!


You are a trendsetter.


----------



## Dinnercore (Sep 15, 2018)

I decided to step up my mobile computer experience and got this bad boy from my granddad:







Oh yeaaaa. Who needs a laptop when you can have this? Equipped with all you would ever need on the go, operating on dual AA batteries. If I find a way to grab txt files from this thing, I´ll make this my university companion. It´s more capable then all the fellow students with their laptops I got anyway. Srsly, ask any of the guys in my computer science lecture about a length unit conversion and they wouldn´t even get the idea to google it. It was cringe worthy when the tutor had to tell some bloke that the macbook in front of him could actually magically help him...






Working just fine. That 8086 gives me chills. What a number. 






Comes with some really _handy tools. _Calculator, Database with the worlds telephone area codes (at the time this was made ofc.), an organizer (who would have thought?), disk manager, an actually useful conversion list for money (not so useful today) and units of measurement.






What I like the most tho is the DOS Version on this. If I find some more memory and a way to use the data-port, I can try to run some programs.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 15, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> You are a trendsetter.


What you'd do when your friend buys Shadow of the Tomb Raider to you? I just smile!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 15, 2018)

Dinnercore said:


> I decided to step up my mobile computer experience and got this bad boy from my granddad:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That was a damn cool little device. It would have been better of the sceen had filled the entire front panel or a least been centered.


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 15, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Hey come on, who has FDDs or DVD drives lying in closets anymore..



I have enough FDD/CDROM/CDRW and DVDRW for several retro builds. Not in the closet though, I have crates full of parts mostly waiting for me to get a shed (so I will have room to set everything up)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 15, 2018)

*ahem*


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> *ahem*


Get FF X and X-2 for me..


----------



## Caring1 (Sep 15, 2018)

Dinnercore said:


> I decided to step up my mobile computer experience and got this bad boy from my granddad:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I still have an original CD copy of Microsoft Works software, it was good for it's time, and I had one of those devices in my hands a while back, but it didn't work.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 15, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Get FF X and X-2 for me..


Would you believe I never played Final Fantasy game(s), not even a single one in the entire franchise? As for the X-2, I almost ended up having a copy due to Rockstar printing out the wrong activation code on GTA V manual. Somehow, the activation code ended up being for Steam (instead of retail, physical copy which I bought at the store, not to mention for the wrong game entirely) so when I entered the code, it confirmed my purchase of "X-2" & immediately began downloading it lol.

Long story short, I got in touch with Rockstar & asked them to make things right, unfortunately (even though Rockstar told me to keep X-2, because they don't care what happens to it), Steam immediately revoked my activation code & removed it from my game library.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> (even though Rockstar told me to keep X-2, because they don't care what happens to it), Steam immediately revoked my activation code & removed it from my game library.


that's a Hairy B*mm*r


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Would you believe I never played Final Fantasy game(s), not even a single one in the entire franchise? As for the X-2, I almost ended up having a copy due to Rockstar printing out the wrong activation code on GTA V manual. Somehow, the activation code ended up being for Steam (instead of retail, physical copy which I bought at the store, not to mention for the wrong game entirely) so when I entered the code, it confirmed my purchase of "X-2" & immediately began downloading it lol.
> 
> Long story short, I got in touch with Rockstar & asked them to make things right, unfortunately (even though Rockstar told me to keep X-2, because they don't care what happens to it), Steam immediately revoked my activation code & removed it from my game library.


Am I a horrible person if I say that FF X-2 is better than GTA V?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 15, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Am I a horrible person if I say that FF X-2 is better than GTA V?


It's a matter of personal choice... Personally, I always preferred driving simulator(s), ever since the first days of Carmageddon, Grand Theft Auto (1) and/or Need for Speed


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 15, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Am I a horrible person if I say that FF X-2 is better than GTA V?


!!!!! DAMN RIGHT! 

edit ... DAMN RIGHT! that FF X-2 is better than GTA V ... (just in case if @Trekkie4 did read it the other way )

also .... Star wars > Star Trek !!! (/ joke )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 15, 2018)

I did ... as a matter of fact!


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 15, 2018)

Got some parts and I give my old adress... damn..


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I did ... as a matter of fact!


http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Forge..... 



Chloe Price said:


> Got some parts and I give my old adress... damn..


well ... one of my recent purchase ended in Ukraine ... luckily it was a small plastic box for my IEM ...  still showing in transit which mean it's probably going back to China and then ... maybe ... toward my address ...


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 16, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> well ... one of my recent purchase ended in Ukraine ... luckily it was a small plastic box for my IEM ...  still showing in transit which mean it's probably going back to China and then ... maybe ... toward my address ...


LMAO 

At least my things are in the same city...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 18, 2018)

Ordered couple of those Rage XL PCI cards, and will report back with additional feedback/results once I have them up & running 

Assuming they end up being decent enough (or at least half decent), I might cash out for one or two more over the next couple of months, seeing how rare PCI cards actually are these days.


----------



## Athlonite (Sep 18, 2018)

was lookin through some stuff I had stashed away and found this little cracker


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 18, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> seeing how rare PCI cards actually are these days.


That can depend on where you are. Here in the states, they're still common as muck and dead cheap.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 18, 2018)

That's a shame...  The cheapest one I could find (used, obviously) was around 11USD. And prices only go higher from this point on, I saw them going for $26 & more! This is generic hardware I'm talking about, nothing fancy or exotic. Cards like TNT2 M64, ATI Rage Pro, etc.

Problem is, no one has PCI video cards at this point, except for retro enthusiasts and those who sell & re-sell old stuff for living. It's all down to AGP & PCIe, but I've noticed that even AGP is on its way out & getting harder & harder to find for a decent price. Not that I need any more AGP cards, I have a full stack of those in all shapes & forms 

The only "common" PCI video cards you can find for decent price are those S3 Trio64 series, Trident & similar with 1 or 2MB of VRAM. You know, so called "video decelerators". So whenever I did a PCI-based system (as in without AGP), I had no choice but to slap one of those inside & pair them up with 3dfx, as that was the ONLY way to get a decent performance.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 18, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's a shame...  The cheapest one I could find (used, obviously) was around 11USD. And prices only go higher from this point on, I saw them going for $26 & more! This is generic hardware I'm talking about, nothing fancy or exotic. Cards like TNT2 M64, ATI Rage Pro, etc.


Out of curiosity, I just looked up prices on ebay, Rage cards are about $15 - $20. I consider that to be inexpensive, but that's just my perspective. There's plenty more in the $20 - $30 range.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 18, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Out of curiosity, I just looked up prices on ebay, Rage cards are about $15 - $20. I consider that to be inexpensive, but that's just my perspective. There's plenty more in the $20 - $30 range.


It's all a matter of perspective. Under some slightly different circumstances, I would have to agree... But keep in mind that for each ebay card, you also have to pay for postage/shipping fees, which (in my case, shipping to Europe) can get pretty nasty.

Where on the other hand, AliExpress sells Rage XL for $16,48 a piece, with free shipping - therefore no additional costs 

As for higher-grade models, I can get a new FX5500, the fastest PCI card available for $34.35 ... also with free shipping. TBH, I considered buying one of these, I still do. But since I need several PCI cards and not only just one, I've decided to go with Rage instead.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 18, 2018)

Talking about PCI cards, pixel pipes released 15 PCI graphics card comparison just 5 days ago. Quite interesting IMO


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 18, 2018)

Athlonite said:


> was lookin through some stuff I had stashed away and found this little cracker View attachment 107023



Always awesome to find hidden treasures that you forgot you had.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 18, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> But keep in mind that for each ebay card, you also have to pay for postage/shipping fees, which (in my case, shipping to Europe) can get pretty nasty.


True, and that's kinda what I was trying to illustrate.



Trekkie4 said:


> Where on the other hand, AliExpress sells Rage XL for $16,48 a piece, with free shipping - therefore no additional costs


They've been kicking it up a notch lately.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 18, 2018)

From what I heard, AliExpress is in the middle of changing the management, but as of this moment they are the cheapest (and safest) way to buy online IMO.

Prices are way, way below average rates, even the ones on ebay! Especially those "hidden gems" such as Rage XL card, Audio Technica AT3600 phono cartridge (for approx. $10), RGB LED spotlights, etc


----------



## DR4G00N (Sep 18, 2018)

Snapped up a few AGP cards off ebay recently for relativity cheap. Namely A Geforce2 GTS, Quadro2 Pro & FX 5200 128-bit.
Hopefully they work alright, especially that Quadro since it would pair very nicely with a PIII-S 1.4GHz when modded into a GF2 Ultra.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 20, 2018)

Athlonite said:


> was lookin through some stuff I had stashed away and found this little cracker View attachment 107023


damn where is the LOVE button ... i only find the like button ... (my only X800 is a AGP one   and a X800GT 256 )

little edit since someone wrote about AliExpress ... one of my colleague at the job asked me for a cheap portable console on that site (since i put almost 10-20 order on it once every 2-3 month )

well .. with a 168 in 1 cheapo gameboy lookalike console .... at 18$ what can go wrong ... 

funny part ... the Li-ion battery is a BL-5C 

yep the one for the Nokia 1200, 1208, 1209, 1650, 1680 classic, 2310, 2323 classic, 2330 classic, 2610, 2700 classic, 2730, 3109, 3110 classic, 3110 Evolve, 5130 XpressMusic, 6085, 6230i, 6267, 6270, 6555, 6681, E50, E60, N70, N91, N810, N97  

so ... well i did try it to ensure it was working perfectly 


and then .... i got myself stuck playing that one for hours ...


all copyright note are at the right place, it also has some homebrew and a few "china only" version of Mario i never saw until today


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 20, 2018)

Hmm... Something tells me your friend will have to wait for another one to arrive!


----------



## phill (Sep 20, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> The 1GHz model is important to me, that powered my PC when I moved away from being only a console gamer.. looked tips for overclocking it, broke the multiplier lock also back then, and it was 24/7 stable at 1404MHz. Abit KT7A, 512MB PC133 and GF4 Ti 4200, oh the memories..



Bit late to the party but I had that same system!!  I remember the TBirds you had that where the 1Ghz versions and you could just set the FSB to 133 and boom...  1.33Ghz   Oh the fun we had!!  I remember the tornado fans as well...  Man I can't believe we had the 5000 RPM fans running just to cool the CPU lol Good old aluminium heatsinks!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 20, 2018)

I propose a new test... Whenever you come across an old CPU cooler, you should power it up (at full speed) & stick your finger into the blades. If it bleeds, it means the cooler is genuinely nostalgic & worth keeping


----------



## phill (Sep 20, 2018)

I'll have to speak with a friend, I believe he still has the 92mm Tornado fan we used for our AMD XP machines


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 20, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm... Something tells me your friend will have to wait for another one to arrive!


nah i will order one for me ... either the same or something similar 
something like that one, that double as a 5000mAh powerbank


DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN now i did seek some .... ARGH! my credit card will not survive the next month ... (well their price are low, ~12$ but i have a lot on my mind ... among some HiFi BT cable, silver plated USB-C with a 24bit/192khz DAC cable for my IEM and probably a Fiio M7 from my fav etailer .... )

well i would either need a US SNES or an adapter for the EU one ... and find back a NES ...

Chinese will always amaze me ... (i still wonder how some of my multiples order did pass the custom clearance ... )



phill said:


> I'll have to speak with a friend, I believe he still has the 92mm Tornado fan we used for our AMD XP machines



Vantec Tornado?


----------



## phill (Sep 20, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> Vantec Tornado?
> View attachment 107284



Exactly that one


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 20, 2018)

Kinda off-topic, but my Asus Zenfone also doubles as 5,000mAh powerbank. Probably the only smartphone on the market nowdays which doesn't have to be charged every couple of hrs 

The more I browse AliExpress, the more I find it fascinating... I just don't understand how they do it. I mean, selling a brand new PCI video card for $16 & then shipping it to the other side of the world for free?! Or even that Audio Technica phono cartridge, for $10... There was a video on YT just the other day, a guy VWestlife made a comparison video between Rega Carbon & AT3600L, the same cartridge but sold under different names. Except Rega sells for $60 & AT sells (through Ali) for barely $10. And yup, you've guessed it - turned out they're both the same. In fact, 3600 seems to be slightly better!


----------



## hat (Sep 21, 2018)

I actually have an 80mm vantec tornado... but I won't be putting my fingers anywhere near those blades...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 21, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I just don't understand how they do it.


Exchange rates. $1 here might get you a discount drink. $1 in China will get you a full meal and pay for part of the next. Been to China, the money I took on the trip was way more than was needed.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 21, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Probably the only smartphone on the market nowdays which doesn't have to be charged every couple of hrs


wrong wrong wrong ... most my phone did go thru the week without a charge ... my actual Nokia 8 either goes for 7-8days in "music, light reading, mail, farcebook" usage (HSPA+ and Bluetooth active )
and easily goes thru the day in overly intensive usage ...   at the end of the day ... 57% left in that case (which i wrongly put in charge since i use my phone as a wake up alarm ... but since it has QC3.0 i shouldnt ... 20% to 100% in ~ 1hrs would be fast enough to have it back up before going to the job)




hat said:


> but I won't be putting my fingers anywhere near those blades...


why do you think it has a fan protector (rather finger than fan) directly put on it stock...


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 21, 2018)

phill said:


> Bit late to the party but I had that same system!!  I remember the TBirds you had that where the 1Ghz versions and you could just set the FSB to 133 and boom...  1.33Ghz   Oh the fun we had!!  I remember the tornado fans as well...  Man I can't believe we had the 5000 RPM fans running just to cool the CPU lol Good old aluminium heatsinks!!


I cranked the multiplier up (since I did the legendary pencil trick), can't remember the settings, and I was kinda noob back then so I'm sure that it wasn't even the maximum what that chip coul've done


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 21, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> wrong wrong wrong ... most my phone did go thru the week without a charge ... my actual Nokia 8 either goes for 7-8days in "music, light reading, mail, farcebook" usage (HSPA+ and Bluetooth active )
> and easily goes thru the day in overly intensive usage ...   at the end of the day ... 57% left in that case (which i wrongly put in charge since i use my phone as a wake up alarm ... but since it has QC3.0 i shouldnt ... 20% to 100% in ~ 1hrs would be fast enough to have it back up before going to the job)
> 
> 
> ...


I actually charge mine every 4-5 days. But only because I watch a lot of YouTube. Not to mention tweeting, exchanging DMs, etc. So really, it lives up to its reputation & expectations 

Speaking of fans... IDK about consumer models, but I happen to have several models (80, 92 & 120) inside that HP Visualize workstation. Both of them actually, and those are really, REALLY powerful. Kinda resemble server fans, for industrial application. Certainly wouldn't want to stick my finger inside one of them!!


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 21, 2018)

My Nokia 5 is as a hotspot since I don't have a "real" internet connection. ~60Mbit/s 4G is fine for everything.

So it has usually connected to my PC, though the bundled charger is pretty fast if I want to charge it up quickly. When just surfing the interwebs without downloading stuff etc it's fine.



GreiverBlade said:


> well i would either need a US SNES or an adapter for the EU one ...
> 
> View attachment 107284


My friend has an adapter which allows to US SNES games to run with the PAL SNES, can't remember the model.. at least he said that none problems with any game this far, cost about 30eur from ebay.


----------



## phill (Sep 21, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> I cranked the multiplier up (since I did the legendary pencil trick), can't remember the settings, and I was kinda noob back then so I'm sure that it wasn't even the maximum what that chip coul've done



I was no better (not that I confess to knowing much more now but!!) I love trying and that's what I did lol   I'll see if I can find the receipt for the hardware I had back then..  I'm sure I have it somewhere still


----------



## DR4G00N (Sep 23, 2018)

My Quadro/Geforce2 cards showed up yesterday, both work great thankfully. 
Though one thing I didn't realize when I bought them is that the GTS is actually a GTS-V which uses a lower bin core running at 175MHz & mems at 143MHz. It can be oc'ed to regular GTS spec's 200/166 but it can't do much past that really.
The Quadro on the other hand runs really nice, happily running up to 310/263. Just modded it into a GF2 Ultra a couple hours ago which worked great as well. Now I just need to dig up some games to run on it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 23, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> My Quadro/Geforce2 cards showed up yesterday, both work great thankfully.
> Though one thing I didn't realize when I bought them is that the GTS is actually a GTS-V which uses a lower bin core running at 175MHz & mems at 143MHz. It can be oc'ed to regular GTS spec's 200/166 but it can't do much past that really.
> The Quadro on the other hand runs really nice, happily running up to 310/263. Just modded it into a GF2 Ultra a couple hours ago which worked great as well. Now I just need to dig up some games to run on it.


To the limit!!


----------



## havli (Sep 23, 2018)

Bought these recently 

Asus Commando




Gigabyte 790X-UD3P with Phenom II X4 940BE




MSI K8N Platinum with Venice 3500+ and 4x512 MB DDR




GeForce 8800 GTX




Radeon HD 6970


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 23, 2018)

havli said:


> Bought these recently
> 
> Asus Commando
> View attachment 107392
> ...


Nice! Those video cards need cleaning and the 6970 needs a pair of 100mm low-profile fans instead of that giant 120mm.


----------



## havli (Sep 23, 2018)

Yeah, the 8800 definitely needs cleaning and fresh thermal paste perhaps. On the other hand I think the 6970 can stay as it is... not very good looking, granted  but my case is big enough to fit it and AC S1 with 120mm fan will get the job done.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 23, 2018)

FUN! FUN! FUN! 

Restoring 101!


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 23, 2018)

DR4G00N said:


> It can be oc'ed to regular GTS spec's 200/166 but it can't do much past that really.


Early nVIDIA cards are great for overclocking.  I have a Vanta that I was able to get up to 75% overlcock without a heatsink.  Epic stuff.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> Early nVIDIA cards are great for overclocking.  I have a Vanta that I was able to get up to 75% overlcock without a heatsink.  Epic stuff.


You probably mean M64, not Vanta... 

While the Vanta series was used in OEM machines (HP Vectra & similar) & didn't have ANY features,  the M64 one was aimed for budget gaming & supported OCing. Some models even had active cooling & TV-Out, but for the most of it, M64 was a stripped version of TNT2 Pro. I remember doing a test, complete review of M64 card with some impressive & highly surprising results! Especially since I used to avoid M64 like a plague & considered it to be a low-end piece of crap.




M64 scored 1768 points in 3DMark2000, under Windows ME & Duron 950  For the sake of comparison, that's about the same performance I would get from a 8MB Voodoo2 SLI configuration


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 24, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> While the Vanta series was used in OEM machines


Not exclusively. There were Vanta's in the retail sector. And they OC'd well as described above. I always mounted a heatsink on them regardless of whether or not an OC was to be applied.


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 24, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> You probably mean M64, not Vanta...


Nah, definitely an original Vanta-16, no M64 printed anywhere on the card.


----------



## Susquehannock (Sep 24, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> Early nVIDIA cards are great for overclocking.  I have a Vanta that I was able to get up to 75% overlcock without a heatsink.  Epic stuff.


Yes they were/are. Geforce2 GTS especially. AGP card prices have skyrocketed but GTS are still fairly reasonable. If memory serves Leadtek were the best overclockers. Followed closely by the ASUS cards. Wish I still had screen shots what this V7700 would do but I made the bad decision back then to save a few bucks and store everything on cheap generic CD-Rs which are unreadable now. Might put the card back in after the Voodoo4 and see how it will OC 17 years later.


----------



## Bungz (Sep 25, 2018)

Couple of eBay finds.

A Mesh Matrix64 system in original stock configuration. Even has keys and recovery partition intact. I made a Image of the disk so shall not lose that.









Athlon 64 Socket 754 3200+ Clawhammer
MSI K8T Neo FIS2R or similar
2 x 256mb Corsair XMS
9800 Pro 128mb
Audigy 2 Zs
Some suspect PSU, will be investigated if it looks reasonable inside I may let it stay as I would like to keep it original.

Needs a clean and strip down but its worth keeping I think. Very well made case, don't get OEMs doing that anymore.

Also so bloody loud will be doing something about that.





And a common A7N8X Deluxe with 2GB or ram and a nice 3200+ because it was very cheap. 

Think this maybe my first working 3200+ Socket A chip.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 25, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not exclusively. There were Vanta's in the retail sector. And they OC'd well as described above. I always mounted a heatsink on them regardless of whether or not an OC was to be applied.





Red_Machine said:


> Nah, definitely an original Vanta-16, no M64 printed anywhere on the card.



Alrighty then, my bad. Still, the M64 would have been better choice for retro gaming, as it offers better specs than Vanta series. Not to mention they already have a heatsink, which makes OC even easier. In fact, I find M64 (along with SB Live) the cheapest (yet most effective) hardware choice for building a retro gaming rig on the budget 



Bungz said:


> Couple of eBay finds.
> 
> A Mesh Matrix64 system in original stock configuration. Even has keys and recovery partition intact. I made a Image of the disk so shall not lose that.
> 
> ...


That CPU cooler on A7N8X looks like Spire FalconRock... If so, a very good & effective cooler for the money!


----------



## StrayKAT (Sep 25, 2018)

Bungz said:


> Couple of eBay finds.
> 
> A Mesh Matrix64 system in original stock configuration. Even has keys and recovery partition intact. I made a Image of the disk so shall not lose that.
> 
> ...



Hah.. That brought back flashbacks. A7N8X. I had one of those. edit: I had a Athlon 2200+ looking back at paperwork now. And a Ti 4200. That was my last PC desktop before I moved back to Macs and laptops for awhile.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 27, 2018)

*Dio - Rainbow In The Dark *[HD]

RESTORED!  *Gigabyte GA-660 PLUS REV1.4*

Some scars from the DUMPSTER trips but it is alive and kicking A$$!!!


----------



## agent00skid (Sep 27, 2018)

Built this some time ago. A starting point for bigger plans.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 27, 2018)

Wow ... just wow! Don't think I've ever seen anyone mounting a socket 7 AT board inside the modern ATX case!  I love this place!


----------



## agent00skid (Sep 27, 2018)

4 screw holes lined up, so it's reasonable secure. Have been thinking about putting some rubber feet behind it to prevent accidental bending onto the case where the mounting isn't as secure.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 27, 2018)

agent00skid said:


> 4 screw holes lined up, so it's reasonable secure. Have been thinking about putting some rubber feet behind it to prevent accidental bending onto the case where the mounting isn't as secure.


Oh, I know they're compatible... I even know there are certain I/O shields with only one hole (for the keyboard connector), but this looks completely crazy ... but why not!


----------



## phill (Sep 28, 2018)

agent00skid said:


> Built this some time ago. A starting point for bigger plans.
> View attachment 107630



The older PC's where never really pointed towards cable management with those massive 40 and 80pin IDE cables lol


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 28, 2018)

phill said:


> The older PC's where never really pointed towards cable management with those massive 40 and 80pin IDE cables lol


thats why you could upgrade to these   which were an improvement ( they come in UV for those into early case lighting  )


----------



## Ahhzz (Sep 28, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> thats why you could upgrade to these   which were an improvement ( they come in UV for those into early case lighting  )


I've got 2 sets in Glow in the Dark


----------



## phill (Sep 28, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> thats why you could upgrade to these   which were an improvement ( they come in UV for those into early case lighting  )



I believe I have some with my DFI boards   When RGB first existed


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 28, 2018)

I'm using a standard, black one inside my Q6600 rig, for the two DVD-RW drives. At first it seemed to be a good idea, but TBH it's way too thick & difficult to manage, lay out throughout the case.


----------



## DR4G00N (Sep 28, 2018)

A couple more things came in yesterday. A PCPartner mobo with a simple name, 815EPBMS3-T218CA, and an Asus V9520/TD/P/128M FX 5200.
The mobo is a surprisingly solid i815EP board including Tualatin support and a bios with pretty much any options you need sans cpu voltage.


----------



## Caring1 (Sep 29, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> thats why you could upgrade to these   which were an improvement ( they come in UV for those into early case lighting  )


I have similar in bright orange.
Unused still.


----------



## cornemuse (Sep 29, 2018)

Ran across these in the garage recently:

The 386 cpu is no big deal, but also, Cyrix math co-processer and some "SIPP" memory, one meg(!) each and made in USA (SIPP = single inline PIN, , , )

"Scamp" cooling fans made 1984 & 1986, still work 'quietly' 





The actual fans have overly large magnet in circumference, power on takes a few seconds to 'come to speed!'
Power down, they spin for ½ a minute before stopping.

Wonder if these fans could be modified for CPU kewling?



Ha!

-c-


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 1, 2018)

Today's dose of hardware porn for you guys 






Got an offer from HD 3850 AGP card. F@!K I'm broke atm, I try to make some exchange for my stuff for that dude.


----------



## Bungz (Oct 2, 2018)

I know the feeling of right item coming up at the wrong time 

Rarely stops me however 

I had a bit of a gap from my retro search and it seems prices have shot up through the roof for certain cards, particularly AGP 6800 / 7800 cards. Madness.

Paid very little for these however.





New retail boxed 7600GS, only the DDR2 version but as its 256bit it still is a very quick card for AGP. Works nicely.





9800se AIW. I have had about 4 dead AIW cards, a couple of 9800s and a 9000 certainly. All dead. This however works. Doesn't mod but its a nice enough thing as it is.





Bought this for the cooler as untested. Car was indeed dead. Quick bake in the oven for 10 minutes and I now have another working GTX 470 (both have been cooked )

Still need a cooler to fit a 460 however.





And a nice purple one


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 2, 2018)

Bungz said:


> 9800se AIW. I have had about 4 dead AIW cards, a couple of 9800s and a 9000 certainly. All dead. This however works. Doesn't mod but its a nice enough thing as it is.



https://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/105
and also use ATItool Softmod  (from 4 to 8 pipelines )

This is the Mods that drew lots of people here ( and many became members)


----------



## Bungz (Oct 2, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> https://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/105
> and also use ATItool Softmod  (from 4 to 8 pipelines )
> 
> This is the Mods that drew lots of people here ( and many became members)



I tried some omega 9800se specific modded drivers and it bluescreened on boot.

Not sure if this would be different.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 3, 2018)

Yayy, finally got my new ATIs 


 

 

 

 

 

Still didn't have the time to set them up (also waiting for some of the other parts to arrive), but I'll get to that eventually... I still have to find the appropriate driver(s), and mount it (or them, we'll see) inside the appropriate systems


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 3, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yayy, finally got my new ATIs
> 
> 
> 
> ...


IS IT SO HARD... to use TPU image upload ... above 10img i would almost understand ... but under : NO

or at last use something else than postimage that one irks me beyond all ... ton of sh!tcoins and "miracle solution for diabete/tinitus/whatever" adds and ... so funny but one photo triggered my miner script blocker ... h ttps://cryptoloot.pro/lib/worker.wasm (h ttps://postimg.cc/0Mswy0tZ) but that's the only one the 4 other didn't .... not sure if it's not a false positive ... (although the fact that clicking on an image redirect you to another website instead of opening in TPU gallery mode is utterly annoying )

sorry i might be overreacting ... i use Imgur sometime ... but rarely on a forum where we have an excellent image upload function.

some friends did some finds 


IBM 1501492 ISA Hard Disk Controller for IBM PC XT Systems


and ... SERIOUSLY ASKING ME 400chf for that ....

the only that would interest me would be the PPro (not the one with heatsink tho ... but i would still take it ...the others i probably have them already) and i am sure it would still be 400 if i asked to take only the PPro

and then : dive into a fad

still at the time that was cool ...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 3, 2018)

GreiverBlade said:


> IS IT SO HARD... to use TPU image upload ... above 10img i would almost understand ... but under : NO
> 
> or at last use something else than postimage that one irks me beyond all ... ton of sh!tcoins and "miracle solution for diabete/tinitus/whatever" adds and ... so funny but one photo triggered my miner script blocker ... h ttps://cryptoloot.pro/lib/worker.wasm (h ttps://postimg.cc/0Mswy0tZ) but that's the only one the 4 other didn't .... not sure if it's not a false positive ... (although the fact that clicking on an image redirect you to another website instead of opening in TPU gallery mode is utterly annoying )


As a matter of fact, it is... I'm using the same pictures for several different forums actually, sometimes even re-using pictures previously posted to illustrate or explain other, new projects so PostImage makes it easier to work it out. And the only reason I started using PostImage was because some of you guys here complained about Imagebam, which was my original choice ever since the early days of GTAForums.



stinger608 said:


> You really should find a different image host @Trekkie4 It takes forever for the images to load.





Trekkie4 said:


> I'm sorry  Do you have something better to recommend? I've been using ImageBam for quite some time now, so it kinda became a habit...



Which reminds me ... Ever heard of AdBlock?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 3, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> As a matter of fact, it is... I'm using the same pictures for several different forums actually, sometimes even re-using pictures previously posted to illustrate or explain other, new projects so PostImage makes it easier to work it out. And the only reason I started using PostImage was because some of you guys here complained about Imagebam, which was my original choice ever since the early days of GTAForums.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


going from one bad to a worse  none of them are good either way and ... AdBlock meh ... why use something in addition to block addition while it would be easy to use something without addition ... right? 

never had any issue with imgur (less fishy imho) nor reposting TPU hosted image to other site if needed

oh well i will content myself with the thumbnail ...

(damn i didn't thought my grief would make you skip the goodies  wrong impact sorry )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2018)

Well, darn... It would seem that none of the two Rage XL cards are working inside Pentium 133 system  There's absolutely no feedback from the card, whatsoever! Heck, it doesn't even get warm, meaning there's obviously no voltage to begin with.

And so just as I was going to leave a negative feedback on their website, I came up with the idea to try the cards inside other system. Because why not - right? And to my surprise, they BOTH checked out fine, when mounted on a newer ATX, Socket 370 board. Conclusion? Rage XL is most likely PCI 2.2 compliant, and is not compatible with earlier revisions of PCI slots. Either that or I'm missing something obvious. One way or another, this is now a serious problem as I honestly can't think of a good & proper use for a Rage XL card, on a "newer" ATX system. Especially since they already have AGP slot, and are therefore pretty easy to set up with decent 3D accelerator. Quite often way, WAY more powerful than Rage XL.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 4, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, darn... It would seem that none of the two Rage XL cards are working inside Pentium 133 system  There's absolutely no feedback from the card, whatsoever! Heck, it doesn't even get warm, meaning there's obviously no voltage to begin with.
> 
> And so just as I was going to leave a negative feedback on their website, I came up with the idea to try the cards inside other system. Because why not - right? And to my surprise, they BOTH checked out fine, when mounted on a newer ATX, Socket 370 board. Conclusion? Rage XL is most likely PCI 2.2 compliant, and is not compatible with earlier revisions of PCI slots. Either that or I'm missing something obvious. One way or another, this is now a serious problem as I honestly can't think of a good & proper use for a Rage XL card, on a "newer" ATX system. Especially since they already have AGP slot, and are therefore pretty easy to set up with decent 3D accelerator. Quite often way, WAY more powerful than Rage XL.


hard way to find something ... arf


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2018)

The main problem is that I can't even work out the issue here. Voltage compatibility? Lack of the contact pins (Rage XL only has essential pins, the ones card is  using - all other have been removed), or something else? At least I know the card is working, so it HAS to be compatibility thing, otherwise the card wouldn't work with another board. *shrug*


----------



## verycharbroiled (Oct 4, 2018)

visited Ye Olde Dungeon recently to bring some old friends home. lotta 80s stuff. heres a quick look  at one.. the LNW-80. its a TRS-80 model one (pretty sure) clone.

i have a bunch more stuff.. few macs (original and an SE, plus a mac II, with a mac digitizer and mac hard drive) a full TRS-80 model one system with expansion interface and tape drive plus 4 x 5.25" + 2 x 8" floppies, some early laptops and more misc stuff.

mind the cobwebs. these guys havent seen daylight for 20+ years.

sorry for poor quality pics im rushed. i will post much better pics later.


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 4, 2018)

Got these two nice PCI GPU's today, a Jaton 6200 256MB PCI and a Zotac GT 430 512MB PCI.

I'm going to take some time and do some comparisons between these and my AGP cards for something to do, mainly including:
GF2 GTS & Ultra/Quadro, FX 5200 128-bit & 6600 GT.
As well as some older ones if I feel like it.


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 4, 2018)

PixelPipes did a video about those. You can check out his result (to see if there are any differences between platforms).


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 6, 2018)

MicroSD 2GB to card reader, to Gotek floppy emulator, to Floppy/USB adapter 


http://imgur.com/d2YCJ3M

OR a Floppy pendrive in short (with legacy floppy connector support option [disconnect floppy to USB adapter])


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 6, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> MicroSD 2GB to card reader, to Gotek floppy emulator, to Floppy/USB adapter
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/d2YCJ3M
> ...



Man it gave me headache just reading and trying to translate it in french.


----------



## Ahhzz (Oct 7, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> MicroSD 2GB to card reader, to Gotek floppy emulator, to Floppy/USB adapter
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/d2YCJ3M
> ...


something very wrong with that....


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 7, 2018)

Bungz said:


> I tried some omega 9800se specific modded drivers and it bluescreened on boot.
> 
> Not sure if this would be different.


I had a 9800 SE which unlockened and OC'd beyond friend's XT.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 7, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> I had a 9800 SE which unlockened and OC'd beyond friend's XT.


Me too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2018)

agent_x007 said:


> MicroSD 2GB to card reader, to Gotek floppy emulator, to Floppy/USB adapter
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/d2YCJ3M
> ...


Kinda resembles this...  8-Track to compact cassette to MP3 conversion


----------



## Red_Machine (Oct 7, 2018)

I know it's not really "nostalgic", but I'm putting together a late XP-era/early 7-era PC with some parts I have and a few I've ordered from eBay.

Asus M4N98TD EVO motherboard
3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 CPU
4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
GeForce 8800 Ultra
2x 160GB Western Digital Velociraptors in RAID0
Sound Blaster Audigy Rx
CoolerMaster WaveMaster case
650w Antec TruePower PSU


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 7, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> I know it's not really "nostalgic", but I'm putting together a late XP-era/early 7-era PC with some parts I have and a few I've ordered from eBay.
> 
> Asus M4N98TD EVO motherboard
> 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 CPU
> ...


Nice, but you'll be wanting 1600 speed ram.


----------



## Red_Machine (Oct 7, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice, but you'll be wanting 1600 speed ram.


Unfortunately, my board doesn't support it.  Only up to 1333.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 7, 2018)

That board supports up to 2000 speed. 
Natively 1333 just like every other AM3 board.
The sweet spot for AM3 is between 1600 and 1800.


----------



## Red_Machine (Oct 7, 2018)

The website says "1066, 1333, 2000 (OC)".  It makes no mention of 1600, and says that the 2000 RAM is only supported through overclocking.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 7, 2018)

Trust me.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> I know it's not really "nostalgic", but I'm putting together a late XP-era/early 7-era PC with some parts I have and a few I've ordered from eBay.
> 
> Asus M4N98TD EVO motherboard
> 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 CPU
> ...


Nope, this thing is newer than Q6600, my daily runner (which I personally consider to be modern & current technology)...


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 7, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> I know it's not really "nostalgic", but I'm putting together a late XP-era/early 7-era PC with some parts I have and a few I've ordered from eBay.
> 
> Asus M4N98TD EVO motherboard
> 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 CPU
> ...


Phenom II
8800 Ultra!!
Audigy series...


that's awesome!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 7, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> The website says "1066, 1333, 2000 (OC)".  It makes no mention of 1600, and says that the 2000 RAM is only supported through overclocking.


He's correct. You take the minimum and the maximum and it'll do anything inbetween. It'll very likely do 2133 and might even do 2400. 1866 is likely the best price/performance balanced ram you're going to find for that board.



Red_Machine said:


> I know it's not really "nostalgic", but I'm putting together a late XP-era/early 7-era PC with some parts I have and a few I've ordered from eBay.
> 
> Asus M4N98TD EVO motherboard
> 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 CPU
> ...


While newer, most of that is 10+years old and is most assuredly nostalgic stuff, which fits nicely in this thread.


----------



## hat (Oct 7, 2018)

Years ago, I remember wanting a P4 EE when I had a socket 478 system...

Damn, they're super expensive now.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 7, 2018)

It really does make you think though... Back in the late 90's and early 2000s, a 10yrs old system, let's say a Pentium II would have been seriously outdated by 2007 or 2008. Heck, I already had a PCIe Radeon X1550 in 2007 & used SATA hard drive! Not to mention the 64-bit capable processor, with first gens of Dual Core chips already out there, on the market.

On the other hand, Q6600 will now be 10yrs old, and it can still compete with current systems. In fact, the only two upgrades I've done to it were adding GTX760 (instead of original 8800GT) and adding additional 4GB of DDR2... So yeah, it really makes you think just how much technological evolution slowed down, to the point where it's depressing to watch and/or talk about it...


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 7, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> On the other hand, Q6600 will now be 10yrs old, and it can still compete with current systems


Maybe software bloat still hasn't caught the older CPU as much as having more Ram?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 7, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> On the other hand, Q6600 will now be 10yrs old, and it can still compete with current systems. In fact, the only two upgrades I've done to it were adding GTX760 (instead of original 8800GT) and adding additional 4GB of DDR2... So yeah, it really makes you think just how much technological evolution slowed down, to the point where it's depressing to watch and/or talk about it...



That is a great point bro!!!!! Some of the older (10 years or so as you mention) still keep up with a lot of today's software and games. 
Kind of sucks but in the same breath it's kind of cool. It makes all of a lot of people's older systems still keep up and there are many that can't afford to get the greatest and fastest systems.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2018)

True, and entirely agreed! In the end it translates to more money for me to buy other toys 

It's kinda sad though... What I like about 90's hardware was the developing pace, and the ability to feature a whole new (and improved) platform over the old one, in only a year or two. Where on the other hand I'm playing games like "GTA V" or "BeamNG" which is a modern game (and still in development), on my Q6600 without any serious issues.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 8, 2018)

For me, the magical 1GHz CPUs are the thing. That's why I got one back in the day, and got one for my retro rig.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 8, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> For me, the magical 1GHz CPUs are the thing. That's why I got one back in the day, and got one for my retro rig.


The 1ghz CPU's for AMD and Intel both were just golden. They were great performers, and OC'd like champs.


----------



## Bungz (Oct 8, 2018)

Brand new Abits





Lots of dead caps. Old Teapos and Nichicon HM are rubbish.







Luckily all cleaned off fine no damage.



All the mains done, I subsequently did the last few 1000uf 6.3's that are still in situ here.





Woot.

Sorry for lots of pictures but you know, new Abits and all


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 8, 2018)

I still have a Skt 754...3200+ with 1mb cache at 2.2ghz. Problem is that nowhere I can find a 3200+ 2.2ghz with more than a 512k cache. So where this cpu come from...an engineering sample maybe.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 8, 2018)

E-Bear said:


> More than that is that they supposed to have make only 512kb cache on the market and mine is one with 1mb cache.


and which CPU would that Be ???


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 8, 2018)

Athlon 64 are not socket 462 /socket A
http://www.cpu-world.com/Sockets/Socket 462 (Socket A).html
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/TYPE-Athlon 64.html


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 8, 2018)

E-Bear said:


> I wrote Socket 754 not Socket 462.


Sorry but you wrote socket 462     and then Last edited: 14 minutes ago

We can always ask a mod to unedit your post to show the truth


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 8, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Sorry but you wrote socket 462     and then Last edited: 14 minutes ago
> 
> We can always ask a mod to unedit your post to show the truth



http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 3200+ - ADA3200AEP5AR (ADA3200BOX).html

This is the nearest I could find to the 754 I do have but all 3200+ with 1mb cache are clawhammer of 2000mhz. Mine is a 2200mhz 1mb cache but still a 3200+ on the lid.

EDIT:  Found it ! Seems all these cpu's were sold on the market with 512k cache because half cache was non-functionnal disable so I guess mine went through the cracks and still has his 1mb really stable. 
*AMD Athlon 64 processor (Clawhammer, revision CG, Socket 754)*
*3200+ 2200mhz 1mb cache. *


----------



## hat (Oct 8, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Sorry but you wrote socket 462     and then Last edited: 14 minutes ago
> 
> We can always ask a mod to unedit your post to show the truth


Currently, his post was edited 40 minutes ago, and your post was made 28 minutes ago, leaving a 12 minute gap between his edit and your post. One could argue that you were just a little slow on the draw on this one.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 8, 2018)

Covered by time for accurate Research and his original post was  1hr 09min ago
anyway its irrelevent 
If your that bothered ask a mod to un edit post
#7,317


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 8, 2018)

hat said:


> Currently, his post was edited 40 minutes ago, and your post was made 28 minutes ago, leaving a 12 minute gap between his edit and your post. One could argue that you were just a little slow on the draw on this one.



From my last post that I wrote it's clearly not an engineering sample so how could it be called when a cpu like this falls through the cracks of the production and leaked in someone hands?


----------



## hat (Oct 8, 2018)

Your own link shows it has 1MB cache?


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 8, 2018)

hat said:


> Your own link shows it has 1MB cache?



It shows 1mb cache but 2000mhz speed but mine is a 2200mhz supposed to be cached at 512k at factory but i got one that passed trough and still has the 1mb cache


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 8, 2018)

if you were referring to my link 2


hat said:


> Your own link shows it has 1MB cache?


Your absolutely right 
However this piddlingly small spat started with a claim of a 1mb cache socket 462 CPU and none Exist


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 8, 2018)

Come on guys stop the arguing for a mistake I made and I corrected already. We are not schoolgirls so don,t start bitcning please. Thank you.


----------



## Bungz (Oct 8, 2018)

All eary 754 chips were clawhammers with 1MB cache .


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 8, 2018)

Take a picture of the face of the cpu and post here that will put most here doubt to sleep.


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 8, 2018)

Bungz said:


> All eary 754 chips were clawhammers with 1MB cache .



Nope



eidairaman1 said:


> Take a picture of the face of the cpu and post here that will put most here doubt to sleep.


I dont want to undo the cpu cooler and repaste again to prove anything. So doubters will stay like that.


----------



## Bungz (Oct 8, 2018)

So tempting to be pedantic.


----------



## Norton (Oct 8, 2018)

Take the off topic to PM's please 

Only public warning,  points to follow


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2018)

@Norton Wow!! I've been around this thread since January 2015, would you believe this is the very first time to see admin/mod warning about going OT? 

Anyhow... Just so I'm not entirely off-topic myself - I worked out the trade with another forumer, and will give him one of those Rage XL cards in exchange for Matrox Millennium II (aka Mystique 220?) This is most definitely going to be an interesting experience, since Millennium II was known for 3D issues & texture bugs. But I still think it's totally worth Rage XL card!


----------



## Bungz (Oct 8, 2018)

At first I thought that said MEGA 64bit graphics.

Was having flash backs to that bitchin fast 3D advert.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2018)

Bungz said:


> At first I thought that said MEGA 64bit graphics.
> 
> Was having flash backs to that bitchin fast 3D advert.


This one?


----------



## Robert B (Oct 8, 2018)

- AT LAST! I got my hands on a GF256 SDR - the memory interface should be 128 bit...I'll see later.

It isnt made by a big manufacturer but heck a GF256 is still a GF256  - I bought it very cheap -12EUR.

More tomorrow. I hope that it is still alive


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2018)

Get the violins up & ready, I got a sad story to tell. About a year ago (or so), I received GeForce256 with what it appeared to be SDR memory chips. I plugged it into my testing rig, and everything worked fine. Happy to see the card working, I stored it inside one of my boxes & hadn't touched it for couple of months, when I was putting together another system & wanted to use GF256. Everything was looking OK, until I powered it up & saw artifacts all over the screen! Obviously, I removed the card from the AGP slot, tried cleaning the interface & plugging it back into the mobo - same thing! At this point I was ready to scrap the card for parts, but decided to hold onto it, just in case I spot any obvious issues & manage to find a working solution.

However, in the meantime I was still missing a video card for that particular system & decided to go with nVidia M64. Except for one tiny problem - it was missing a heatsink & a fan. On the other hand, I had a non-working GF256 with fully functional GPU heatsink & fan, so I figured why not. As long as I get the card up & running, I can always order a new (replacement) fan & heatsink assembly. However, when I tried to remove them from GF256 they didn't want to move. Seems they badly fused with GPU, so I tried to pry them off the GPU .... and in the process tore off the entire GPU off the card. Now, I suppose you could say "oh well, it wasn't working in the first place", but if you ask me, that is a sad, SAD ending for any video card ... especially GF256 which is considered rare & somewhat valuable!


----------



## Bungz (Oct 8, 2018)

My 256 is a lowly SD version.

Very rare cards, i managed to buy the only one I have ever seen and had to buy a load of old dead junk in order to get my hands on it.

Sad when anything old dies, one less in the world!


----------



## Robert B (Oct 8, 2018)

My GF256 had some sticky black pad like a sponge, under the heatsink. The heatsink is a joke. It is sooooo thin and light...

After I saw that I can move the heatsink a little, I applied some IPA 99% with a syringe under the heatsink, I left the card in the sun for a few minutes and I gently twisted the heatsink clockwise and counter-clockwise, then I was able to remove it.

Thank GOD it wasnt thermal glue! I can deal with that too but it is a PITA!

Tomorrow I'll test it and I keep my fingers crossed that it works!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 8, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> This one?


You'll love this then;








And this;


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2018)

WOW!! And LMAO! I don't get it, I really don't... Are these props, modified cards to resemble 3dfx? Because if that's the case they've done outstanding job (and apparently invested a LOT of money into it) *shrug*


----------



## Norton (Oct 8, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> @Norton Wow!! I've been around this thread since January 2015, would you believe this is the very first time to see admin/mod warning about going OT?


Once in 9 yrs/7,333 posts- that's the goalpost then.  

Need to delete a post once in a great while but y'all keep this thread in great shape- keep on posting your usual awesomesauce!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 8, 2018)

Norton said:


> Once in 9 yrs/7,333 posts- that's the goalpost then.
> 
> Need to delete a post once in a great while but y'all keep this thread in great shape- keep on posting your usual awesomesauce!


Yup, that's what I was referring to... TPU Nostalgic Hardware Club forum is the cleanest (and most interesting) thread I've seen on a forum ... ever!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 8, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> WOW!! And LMAO! I don't get it, I really don't... Are these props, modified cards to resemble 3dfx? Because if that's the case they've done outstanding job (and apparently invested a LOT of money into it) *shrug*


As far as I know both are real. The only thing that makes me raise an eyebrow is the running of Crysis. It wasn't high frame rate or resolution, and with the theoretical capabilities of 32 way SLI it's plausable as displayed. There doesn't seem to be any slight-of-hand, but who knows right?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> As far as I know both are real. The only thing that makes me raise an eyebrow is the running of Crysis. It wasn't high frame rate or resolution, and with the theoretical capabilities of 32 way SLI it's plausable as displayed. There doesn't seem to be any slight-of-hand, but who knows right?


Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me. Both videos were uploaded on April 1st, meaning it has to be (April) joke. I just don't understand how he pulled it off, for a one-time April joke this seems way too expensive. Even for someone who has access to PCB printing (and manufacturing) technology *shrug*

I've seen ppl commenting on YT how he probably took scrap material (parts from another cards) & put, glued them all together on a single card. Except I can already see several problems with this theory - both cards had been properly (and accordingly) labeled & feature unique silkscreens. And second - both cards are operational & actually working. IDK about all those extra GPUs, but something is obviously working, and there's voltage going through it... So IDK, to be honest IDK what to think. But still, it's pretty darn cool!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 9, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me. Both videos were uploaded on April 1st


I didn't even notice that.. 

Thing is, I've seen engineering cards of this size and they had beefy performance, so the existence of cards like this are at least plausible. I'll leave it at that.


----------



## Bungz (Oct 9, 2018)

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/911681-voodoo5-9000-sli-in-the-3dfx-way/

A very good fake


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 9, 2018)

Bungz said:


> https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/911681-voodoo5-9000-sli-in-the-3dfx-way/
> A very good fake


Fair enough. Still interesting.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 9, 2018)

My GF256 SDR is ALIVE!!! and RESTORED!!! 

The memory path is 128-bit. The SDR frequency is at 150MHz but the memory chips are W986432DH-5 rated for up to 200 MHz so a mild OC isnt a concern.

The image quality is very good and the text is crisp.

*EAGLES Geforce256* - SDR - 32MB - 30-155AD-155-41A  - I have no ideea who manufactured this card. *Maybe I should ask the EAGLES from the label?*

12EUR well spent! 

_(Tests ran on: Win 98 SE & Win XP/PIII-800MHz/384MB RAM/Slot 1 motherboard. I dont have a more powerful system assembled at the moment.)_

*Now I have to find a GF256 DDR... *


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 9, 2018)

Do 64-bit GF256's even exist? Never heard of one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2018)

Bungz said:


> https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/911681-voodoo5-9000-sli-in-the-3dfx-way/
> 
> A very good fake


Single-piece aluminum board?! Okay, but I still don't get it ... Even if the video output was supplied through another card, it obviously had power going through fake replicas. Because of the LEDs and fans, so it definitely wasn't just a dummy card. Either way, he did one heck of a job! I'm sure it was pricy one, too!


----------



## Robert B (Oct 9, 2018)

@Chloe Price 

There were a few 64-bit GF256 - for ex. the ASUS V6600MX comes to my mind.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/asus-v6600mx.b1878


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 9, 2018)

Robert B said:


> @Chloe Price
> 
> There were a few 64-bit GF256 - for ex. the ASUS V6600MX comes to my mind.
> 
> https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/asus-v6600mx.b1878


Ah, didn't even know that it had a 64-bit variant.


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 9, 2018)

Yeah... and I own that abomination :/
It's only good at one thing :
Being unique .


----------



## Robert B (Oct 9, 2018)

@agent_x007 - thanks for the 3dmark2000 120/150 comparison 

I found a GF256 DDR CT6970- from Creative but it is bundled with 3 other cards - two GF3 Ti200 and one GF4 Ti 4200.

All sell for about 45EUR. The catch is they are untested and sold ai is. They are a package deal or NO DEAL.  Sheeeshhhhh

The GF256 looks well and only has a torn wire from the fan.

The two GF3 Ti200 look great.

The GF4 Ti 4200 has a bigger fan put on it.

I had my share of gambles and up to this day I always won but this add made me ponder....

Hmm... what to do?  I'm close to 100 video cards - should I buy 4 more???


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 9, 2018)

Robert B said:


> 12EUR well spent!


Agreed! That's a very rare card indeed.



Robert B said:


> They are a package deal or NO DEAL.  Sheeeshhhhh


Get them. Not much of a gamble. They likely all work.



Chloe Price said:


> Ah, didn't even know that it had a 64-bit variant.


Yeah, they were the "value" variants.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 10, 2018)




----------



## HUSKIE (Oct 11, 2018)

gigabyte 3D galaxy II Watercooling loop, need to work with it as power connector to pump missing and need to replace the cpu block


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 12, 2018)

HUSKIE said:


> gigabyte 3D galaxy II Watercooling loop, need to work with it as power connector to pump missing and need to replace the cpu block
> 
> View attachment 108488View attachment 108489View attachment 108490


Wow that's old school! Haven't seen one of those in years.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2018)

For a moment, I thought that was some fancy aquarium hardware  (seriously!!)


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 12, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> For a moment, I thought that was some fancy aquarium hardware  (seriously!!)



at the age it is it most probably was converted aquarium gear


----------



## HUSKIE (Oct 12, 2018)

I dismantled the pump/Res last night and it looks like EK DCP Pump. (Forgot to take photo) it has gigabyte logo on pump too.

Edit:
Just converted the two pin connector she is running for leak testing.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 12, 2018)

Got one of those but in worse condition
Perfect water block  (with VRM Cooling Fan and controler) pump/res has damaged top  in need of serious ghetto repair
even comes with the same hose clips

Hint does your hoses say gigabyte on them   mine does

edit 
yes at least one of yours does


----------



## HUSKIE (Oct 12, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Got one of those but in worse condition
> Perfect water block  (with VRM Cooling Fan and controler) pump/res has damaged top  in need of serious ghetto repair
> even comes with the same hose clips
> 
> ...



Yes it does  gigabyte on hose..


----------



## Bungz (Oct 12, 2018)

Very cool.

I think I have one or two vintage water blocks around but none of the pumps and rads.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 12, 2018)

*HUSKIE*

do you have this with the kit as well









My Rad also came with a 4 blue led 120mm fan


----------



## HUSKIE (Oct 12, 2018)

Don't have that kit mate...


----------



## Robert B (Oct 13, 2018)

Flea market day TODAY!!!  - 14 EUR well spent 

PII 266-SL2HE, 2x PII 333-SL2S5, Celeron 300A - SL2WM (finally)
Amptron/Jamicon/FastFame 650B-ATX Rev1.1 / KM650B - 440BX mint condition - 3.2 EUR with the Celeron 300A - I just couldnt pass it...THE MANUAL is in the links bellow.
Kingmax 1GB DDR400, Kingmax 512MB Hard-Core DDR500
Aureal Vortex 1 - FSUGSM32 - AU8820B2 (P/N MPB000093 Rev 1.10)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 13, 2018)

Robert B said:


> Flea market day TODAY!!!  - 14 EUR well spent
> 
> PII 266-SL2HE, 2x PII 333-SL2S5, Celeron 300A - SL2WM (finally)
> Amptron/Jamicon/Fastfame 650B-ATX Rev1.1 / KM650B - 440BX mint condition - 3.2 EUR with the Celeron 300A - I just couldnt pass it...THE MANUAL is in the links bellow.
> ...


Ah the memories flood back.. That Celeron 300a was the CPU to have back then. OC'd like a champ and when OC'd beat out the Pentium 2 in all games and most everything else. Good times!


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 13, 2018)

I remember I bought my first mobo wirh my own money. It was a PC-Chips with an AMD 1ghz cpu soldered onboard. Overclocked it to 1.1ghz stable to play Ultima 8, Wings Commander, Syndicate.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 13, 2018)

E-Bear said:


> It was a PC-Chips with an AMD 1ghz cpu soldered onboard.


Never saw one of those, but then again PCChips was a company most shied away from..


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 13, 2018)

Kingmax Hardcore was very good ram. Pre-binned Hynix D5. Hard to find now.


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 13, 2018)

King of the old empire :





E5-1680 v2 + Titan Black vs. Windows XP.

Valid : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/18056950


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 13, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Never saw one of those, but then again PCChips was a company most shied away from..



It was the most complete mobo for cheap. Integrated cpu, gpu, LAN and sound. https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/on-board-processors/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 15, 2018)

Just picked up Thermaltake V6 BlackX edition tower ... for free. Now, for the million dollar question - what to do with it? My thoughts keep going back to RetroMaster 2500, because why not! With Cooler Master Jet7 CPU cooler, it would look awesome! 

What do you guys think?


----------



## Frick (Oct 15, 2018)

Robert B said:


> Flea market day TODAY!!!  - 14 EUR well spent
> 
> PII 266-SL2HE, 2x PII 333-SL2S5, Celeron 300A - SL2WM (finally)
> Amptron/Jamicon/FastFame 650B-ATX Rev1.1 / KM650B - 440BX mint condition - 3.2 EUR with the Celeron 300A - I just couldnt pass it...THE MANUAL is in the links bellow.
> ...



Where the heck do you live dude? Where I live that stuff was thrashed a decade ago.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 15, 2018)

Frick said:


> Where the heck do you live dude? Where I live that stuff was thrashed a decade ago.


I do believe he's in the United States. Parts such as these can still be found, if a bit rare.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 15, 2018)

@Frick -I live in *ROMANIA *(Europe)   - I've seen stuff at our local flea market, from Italy and UK. Also the local recycling centers are still full of old PCs  You can still find them by the dozen. Older parts like the 386, 486 are a little harder to find, but they are still plentiful.

@lexluthermiester - I wish I was linving in US 

The 300A overclocks like a champ to 450MHz without voltage increase. I just set the FSB to 100MHz from 66MHz using jumpers and that was it.

The motherboard 650B-ATX is kind of basic and the only thing that worried me was that when the system was overclocked, the icons on the Win 98 desktop looked kind of funny and some menus and windows were displayed with a checkered pattern. The PC didnt hang or gave an error. So I backed off and I need to buy a better 440BX motherboard from Abit, Asus or Soyo, which has more OC options and settings.

In the case of the Jamicon/Amptron/FastFame 650B-ATX I dont know the FSB/AGP ratio. For 66MHz it should be 1:1 and for 100MHz it should be 2:3. I still dont know what was the cause of the display errors regarding the Win 98 desktop icons. menus or windows. As the motherboard lacks voltage control I was forced to stop and I dont know if increasing the voltage would've made a difference. The display error were present with the I740 and a TNT2 PRO, both AGP.

The 3dmark99 result is with the CPU at 300MHz and a Butterfly i740 8MB AGP.

I also cleaned the 650B-ATX and the Celeron 300A. What a beast of a CPU.

After three 333MHz Celerons this 300A was a pleasant surprise.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 15, 2018)

Robert B said:


> @lexluthermiester - I wish I was linving in US


That's a bit of a surprise. For some reason I thought you did.



Robert B said:


> The 300A overclocks like a champ to 450MHz without voltage increase. I just set the FSB to 100MHz from 66MHz using jumpers and that was it.


Of course it did. They were famous for doing that. The few times I had any trouble only needed a single or double bump in voltage and then was perfect.



Robert B said:


> After three 333MHz Celerons this 300A was a pleasant surprise.


There was a trick with the 333's, drop the multiplier to 4 or 4.5 and bump the FSB 100. May also require a voltage bump, but they did work at those speeds.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just picked up Thermaltake V6 BlackX edition tower ... for free. Now, for the million dollar question - what to do with it? My thoughts keep going back to RetroMaster 2500, because why not! With Cooler Master Jet7 CPU cooler, it would look awesome!
> 
> What do you guys think?


No comments or suggestions, huh? Oookay, well I just ordered a bunch of case accessories for the Thermaltake case & will put them all together as soon as I receive the packages. Mainly just PCI blanking plates, floppy 3.5" caddy enclosure, fan filters, that sort of thing. Will post more pics once I have everything set up & ready for installation


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> No comments or suggestions, huh? Oookay, well I just ordered a bunch of case accessories for the Thermaltake case & will put them all together as soon as I receive the packages. Mainly just PCI blanking plates, floppy 3.5" caddy enclosure, fan filters, that sort of thing. Will post more pics once I have everything set up & ready for installation


For free it's not bad and workable. Not sure I'd pay much for it. Would most definitely get red led fans for it instead of the blue.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 15, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> For free it's not bad and workable. Not sure I'd pay much for it. Would most definitely get red led fans for it instead of the blue.


Yeah, I'm not a fan of Thermaltake, either. But like I said, it was a free so why not? Always wanted yet another "glowing" case to show off, ever since the old days & my Pentium 4 from those previously-uploaded pics 

But no, I don't think I'll be changing the fan color scheme... Mainly  because of the reason you pointed out, yourself - it would be too expensive. There's a 200mm fan on top already included, and if I'm not mistaking that one is blue. So is 120 one which I have inside my current Retro Master 2500 setup, so I would need to buy additional fans & replace everything. 3rd one is also from Thermaltake & came included with the V6, but it was entirely seized up so I had to take it apart & make it running again. So, assuming the motor isn't shorted, it should be running smoothly now 

I DID however take the liberty of ordering RGB LED strip for the inside, complete with remote control! So I'll be able to swap the color scheme on the fly & without too much hassle. They won't affect the fans, true but since V6 already has both blue & red color schemes, those two will blend together nicely


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I DID however take the liberty of ordering RGB LED strip for the inside, complete with remote control! So I'll be able to swap the color scheme on the fly & without too much hassle. They won't affect the fans, true but since V6 already has both blue & red color schemes, those two will blend together nicely


If the blue starts to irritate, you could always just disconnect one of the LED leads which won't affect the fan. Then the LED strip you ordered will be the sole source of light.


----------



## Komshija (Oct 18, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just picked up Thermaltake V6 BlackX edition tower ... for free. Now, for the million dollar question - what to do with it? My thoughts keep going back to RetroMaster 2500, because why not! With Cooler Master Jet7 CPU cooler, it would look awesome!
> 
> What do you guys think?


 It's an old case with messed-up & impractical 3.5" HDD mounting system and with no dust filter on top. Not the worst I've seen, but expect a lot of dust inside and complications when mounting an HDD. I sold one system based on this case a few months ago and wasn't overwhelmed with its design.  Also, GPU "lockers" (red plastic ones) are not the best solution and will not provide enough support for heavier GPU. That's my opinion.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 19, 2018)

Komshija said:


> It's an old case with messed-up & impractical 3.5" HDD mounting system and with no dust filter on top. Not the worst I've seen, but expect a lot of dust inside and complications when mounting an HDD. I sold one system based on this case a few months ago and wasn't overwhelmed with its design.  Also, GPU "lockers" (red plastic ones) are not the best solution and will not provide enough support for heavier GPU. That's my opinion.
> View attachment 108927


Thanks for the info, but do keep in mind that I'm going to assemble a retro system, meaning I won't be using any of the new, modern components  You're right though, mounting the hard drive(s) will be annoying, especially once I have the IDE cable running through the frame...

As for the red PCI lockers, fasteners, or whatever you want to call them, those will be removed & all the cards will be properly screwed into the frame


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 19, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> meaning I won't be using any of the new, modern components


Except for a PSU, you really want to go with something new..


----------



## Robert B (Oct 21, 2018)

Super Micro P6DLS V2.1 has been cleaned. 

What a board, what a motherboard. Even if it is based on the 440LX chipset, I still love it to bits.

The fact that it supports faster CPUs than the PII 333/66 that are stated in the manual adds to the appeal.

I managed to run dual 500 Celerons PPGA using slotkets. I can make a really out of the ordinary build with this puppy.

I honed my skills on the GA-8TM and now I can change caps without too much trouble. That means that I can revive more pacients in the future 

The GA-8TM still refuses to POST even after I've changed 7 caps. Seven more await to be changed. If this doesnt work I'll give it a proper burial. I spent too much time with it already.

I tried three CPUs: P4 423 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7 plus many RAMBUS kits and still NO POST.

To this date the GA-8TM needed: desoldering of the BIOS chip and soldering of a PLCC32 socket, new USB ports, a missing cap near the memory slots, 7 fresh 330uf 25V caps and the list will grow.

I'm sure that the board was scraped and perhaps it took some damage to the northbridge after it was tossed in a big pile of waste. Broken pieces from the LPT port, scratches on the northbridge heatsink, cracked hook on the CPU socket and a torn capacitor, suggest this.

There is still a 0.0000001% chance that I might rescue it 

The complete list of HW that I have aquired the last months which has been cleaned and restored. A few were beyond rescue but 95% of them are A OK!

*1.*    3dfx – Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoenix – VooDoo Banshee PCI
*2.*    3dfx - Diamond VooDoo 1- 4MB PCI
*3.*    3dfx - Creative CT6670- VooDoo 2 12MB
*4.*    Adaptec 1200A
*5.*    AMD K7700MTR51B – K7 Slot A 700MHz
*6.*    Aureal Vortex 1 FSUGSM32 P/N: MPB-000093 Rev 1.10 PCI
*7.*    Butterfly Intel i740 AGP
*8.*    Creative 2x CD-ROM – CR-563-B
*9.*    Creative Annihilator 2 GB0010 GF2 GTS 32MB / Creative GF2 GTS COMPAQ OEM
*10.*    Creative SB16 Value CT2770 ISA
*11.*    ECS P4ITA V1.0 – S423 motherboard
*12.*    Fastware Intel i740 Power 3D AGP
*13.*    Gigabyte GA-660 Plus Rev 1.4 – TNT 2 PRO
*14.*    Gigabyte GA-8TM Rev 1.0 - S423 motherboard
*15.*    Intel Celeron 300A – SL2WM
*16.*    Intel DX4-100 DX40DRP100
*17.*    Jamicon/Amptron/Fast Fame 650B-ATX /KM650B - Slot 1 440BX motherboard
*18.*    Mistumi 12x CD-ROM FX120T
*19.*    Nvidia Quadro FX 1000 AGP
*20.*    Pentium II 266, 333 – SL2HE, SL2S5
*21.*    Pentium II 350MHz SL2U4
*22.*    PowerColor TNT 2 PRO -  CTNT2SD
*23.* RAMBUS RAM
*24.*    Slotkets, DDR RAM
*25.*    Socket 423 coolers
*26.*    Socket A Cooler – PDC38130BC
*27.*    Super Micro P6DLS Rev 2.1 - 440LX dual Slot 1 motherboard


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 25, 2018)

Loads of stuff going on recently ... Pentium 133 will receive a small upgrade with Matrox Millennium II & USB bracket, RetroMaster is still on hold, waiting for necessary parts before I strip it apart & move to another case. Not to mention the upcoming project, featuring S754 Sempron & GeForce6 6600GT.

Also received a very generous offer from a fellow forumer, who offered to take a look at the two (dead) Voodoo1 cards. With any luck, he'll be able to remove all EDO VRAM chips & replace them for fresh ones. So yeah, plenty of projects & news all around ... I really should upload couple of pics & get you guys up to date


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 25, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Pentium 133 will receive a small upgrade with Matrox Millennium II


That's a good card to match up with that CPU. Remind me, 4mb or 8mb version?


Trekkie4 said:


> Also received a very generous offer from a fellow forumer, who offered to take a look at the two (dead) Voodoo1 cards. With any luck, he'll be able to remove all EDO VRAM chips & replace them for fresh ones.


I've done that before, though on something else. It was an old Super Magicom for the SNES. I soldered on and extra 4MB of RAM to make it work with larger games. Delicate procedure for sure, but if done carefully it should work for you like it did back then.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 25, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's a good card to match up with that CPU. Remind me, 4mb or 8mb version?
> 
> I've done that before, though on something else. It was an old Super Magicom for the SNES. I soldered on and extra 4MB of RAM to make it work with larger games. Delicate procedure for sure, but if done carefully it should work for you like it did back then.


Matrox is 4MB... Will upload more pics as soon as I have it set up & running 

The guy is a pro, who has access to SMD & delicate soldering equipment. Even if it doesn't work, I'm not losing anything, as none of the two cards (Orchid Righteous 3D & Diamond Monster 3D) are working ... most likely due to the same, VRAM problem which was often the case on Voodoo & Voodoo2 cards 

Update
There you have it... Still didn't have the time to upgrade P133 build, but here is the latest hardware acquisition 




Matrox Millennium II, PCI model. Will be used with Pentium 133 build, and (for now, anyway) will be paired with existing Voodoo2 card. Then eventually, or rather HOPEFULLY some day this will be updated with proper 3dfx hardware choice for this build, Voodoo (1)




Adaptec SCSI controller... Was going to use this one separately, inside other machine (and build) but instead think I'm also going to put it inside P133 system, and swap the existing generic-brand controller in favor of Adapec. While I'm at it, I might even upgrade to SCSI hard drive, because why not...




...this SCSI drive!




512+512+1024MB of DDR400

And this is one of the two non-working Voodoo cards... Both check out fine, get recognized by the system, or even go through "DXDIAG" basic DirectX tests, they are capable of displaying basic 3D image. Buuut, when you use them in-game, and the actual gameplay starts (featuring full 3D environment, with textures & filters) it works for a second or two, sometimes up to 3 or 4 but then the screen gets all garbled & system hangs 


 



And yes, those are Omron mechanical relays ... unlike other 3dfx cards, you can actually hear them being activated or deactivated! Pretty cool stuff


----------



## HUSKIE (Oct 27, 2018)

Gigabyte ga-p55-ud6 1156 Motherboard with triple channel slot.Got it from my supplier.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2018)

Speaking of "old" hardware... I'm thinking of modernizing my modern Q6600 rig with S771 Xenon CPU, X5460. It would be a huge upgrade from the current Q6600 in the terms of performance & would hopefully future-proof all my CPU needs for at least 10 more years


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Oct 27, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of "old" hardware... I'm thinking of modernizing my modern Q6600 rig with S771 Xenon CPU, X5460. It would be a huge upgrade from the current Q6600 in the terms of performance & would hopefully future-proof all my CPU needs for at least 10 more years



What motherboard are you running?  Possibly a huge upgrade...potential for 4.5+GHz with the right board and that CPU.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2018)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> What motherboard are you running?  Possibly a huge upgrade...potential for 4.5+GHz with the right board and that CPU.


My point exactly! 

Board is MSI P43 NEO-F (MS-7519), which might not be ideal OC candidate, but it'll do the job. I'm already running OCed Q6600 @ 3.00GHz perfectly stable & without any issues. Cooling is Hyper 212 Evo.


----------



## hat (Oct 27, 2018)

HUSKIE said:


> Gigabyte ga-p55-ud6 1156 Motherboard with triple channel slot.Got it from my supplier. View attachment 109438


That's... weird. 1156? Triple channel? Wat? I thought that was only on x58/1336?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 27, 2018)

hat said:


> That's... weird. 1156? Triple channel? Wat? I thought that was only on x58/13*6*6?



Corrected that for ya.


----------



## hat (Oct 27, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Corrected that for ya.


Lol, thanks. Too many numbers to keep tack of these days.


----------



## havli (Oct 27, 2018)

My oldschool VGA benchmark thread is online https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/benchmark-project-pci-e-videocards-since-2004.248956/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2018)

Pentium 133 fully updated, even modernized (with USB) 


 



I realize some of you here might not like the idea of having USB inside an old Win95 system, but all I did was adding an extension & hooking it into pre-existing header, on the motherboard. In fact, you can clearly see the USB cable being routed behind the cards, on the left... Everything else was a matter of BIOS tweaks & settings, simply activating the USB controller & assigning it IRQ.




As for everything else, I replaced both the graphics (Matrox Millennium II) and SCSI controller, in favor of Adaptec one.


Trekkie4 said:


> This one is related to the BIOS, I know (will have to flash the board), but there is also yet another issue with the SCSI CD drive... Even though BIOS successfully detected both the SCSI adapter & Teac CD-RW, the system is just not picking it up... Whenever I want to boot up "Banana" CD-ROM driver, it's telling me how "no CD-ROM devices had been found" ... any ideas?



Remember this issue? Someone here stated how SCSI CD-ROM drive can never work in DOS, unless configured properly through a separate drivers & instructions. But no, it would seem that all my SCSI Boot issues were related to a controller, as the current Adaptec one doesn't have ANY issues with booting from a CD-RW drive.


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 28, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Pentium 133 fully updated, even modernized (with USB)
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Does anyone of you remember when they decided to switch name from USB and call it USB 1.1 ?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 28, 2018)

E-Bear said:


> Does anyone of you remember when they decided to switch name from USB and call it USB 1.1 ?


I don't know specifically, but what I DO know is that USB originally suffered from loads of compatibility & connectivity issues. Things hadn't been looking promising for USB and the amount of problems was proportionally getting larger & larger, as they were adding to it.

That was before USB became a technological standard, but some time later they worked out all the issues & (I'm guessing, anyway) named it "1.1".


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 28, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> I don't know specifically, but what I DO know is that USB originally suffered from loads of compatibility & connectivity issues. Things hadn't been looking promising for USB and the amount of problems was proportionally getting larger & larger, as they were adding to it.
> 
> That was before USB became a technological standard, but some time later they worked out all the issues & (I'm guessing, anyway) named it "1.1".


well i remember the first iteration being nicknamed "Useless Serial Bus" ....


----------



## erek (Oct 28, 2018)

My collection

@stinger608






not yet arrived S3 GammaChrome S18 Pro:


----------



## kazz (Oct 29, 2018)

Was installed GameRanger (really nice LAN gaming emulator program, works without SSE2 nad win XP perfectly fine) to my Athlon XP rig couple of days ago and played some fairly classic games on it with some dudes. Need For Speed Hot Pursuit II, Flatout2, Colin Mc Rae Rally 2005 etc... as I have Radeon (AGP) HD4670 I was pretty much able to max out graphycs even on 1080p -cpu bottlenecks that videocard in amount where changing resoluton has very little effect on FPS  anyway very fun experience - I very much reccomend something like that to others as well! I hope it is not too offtopic - at least for me it was very much related with finding some use for old hardware 

And like usual - post made with that exact PC


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 29, 2018)

kazz said:


> installed GameRanger (really nice LAN gaming emulator program, works without SSE2 nad win XP perfectly fine)



I hadn't ever heard of GameRanger and was checking it out and listing of supported games. There are quite a few awesome games supported!!!!!! Surprised me that I didn't see any of the Unreal Tournament games listed though. 

Did see Quake 2 which is a hell of a hoot to do multiplayer on!!!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 29, 2018)

Personally, I couldn't care less for multiplayer (in fact, I'm having a rant on GTA Forums as we speak, regarding the whole multiplayer vs single player thing & how priorities had changed over time), but that is one beautiful retro machine


----------



## erek (Oct 30, 2018)

erek said:


> My collection
> 
> @stinger608
> 
> ...



Officially confirmed it's a S18 Pro


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2018)

Oh wow!! I had no idea S3 ever produced PCIe cards, I always figured their last model was Savage 2000...


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 30, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh wow!! I had no idea S3 ever produced PCIe cards, I always figured their last model was Savage 2000...


S3 continued on after Via took ownership. Via's iGPU is from S3.

Correction: HTC bought out ownership of S3 Graphics from VIA back on July 6, 2011.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2018)

So the real question is who owns them now? Because from what I heard, HTC had some serious problems... After owning HTC M8 for almost 2yrs, it's not difficult to understand why.


----------



## E-Bear (Oct 30, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> So the real question is who owns them now? Because from what I heard, HTC had some serious problems... After owning HTC M8 for almost 2yrs, it's not difficult to understand why.



Thank you I was about to order a new HTC Mate online. Won't order anymore but what are there problems?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2018)

E-Bear said:


> Thank you I was about to order a new HTC Mate online. Won't order anymore but what are there problems?


Well I suppose that is a matter of personal taste... Years ago I had HTC Desire HD - which was  totally awesome phone! Fun, interactive, had a really nice battery life, etc. In fact I've had Desire HD for over 2 and a half years, before I switched over to Samsung Galaxy Core. Was never quite happy with Samsung (not to mention the fact it had a serious issue, a defect straight from the factory), so eventually I got HTC M8s, thinking it would be as awesome & fun as Desire HD. But nope, it was just the opposite really. IMO, a boring (and overpriced) phone with some serious limitations & lousy battery. The only good thing(s) about M8 was its brushed steel casing & stereo sound, having 2 speakers with somewhat noticeable stereo image (due to the fact each speaker was placed on one side of the unit).

My current phone is Asus Zenfone, which has some really cool features & a 5,000mAh battery capable of running the phone for at least 3-4 days with all the bells & whistles turned on. However, if you keep the WiFi off & don't watch YouTube too much you could easily get it working for another day or two, up to a week in total. If you're interested in buying HTC, it's most definitely worth checking out the specs, maybe even seeing the actual phone at the store. But from what I heard, HTC had some corporate problems (money?) so I assumed they backed off from the phone production. TBH, don't really know for sure, just telling you what I heard.


----------



## SniperHF (Oct 31, 2018)

Here's the oldest picture of me with a computer I have:




I believe it's a 286.  Maybe someone knows exactly what it was.  Unfortunately the identifying marks on it aren't visible.  




stinger608 said:


> Surprised me that I didn't see any of the Unreal Tournament games listed though.



I don't think they prioritize games that still have working central server.  AFAIK all the UTs still work fine except 3, which is fixed with an unofficial patch.


----------



## Red_Machine (Oct 31, 2018)

SniperHF said:


> I believe it's a 286.  Maybe someone knows exactly what it was.  Unfortunately the identifying marks on it aren't visible.


That's a Tandy 1000 HX.  Not a 286, though.  Just a plain old 8088.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 31, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> That's a Tandy 1000 HX.  Not a 286, though.  Just a plain old 8088.


That's what I was thinking but wasn't 100%


----------



## SniperHF (Oct 31, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> That's a Tandy 1000 HX. Not a 286, though. Just a plain old 8088.



Interesting, I remember the slide off covers on top so that's definitely it.  
Think we had that in '89/'90ish 2nd hand, we used to share it with my Uncle's family.  

All I did on it was (poorly of course) play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and Hangman


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 3, 2018)

Just watched this from Clint over at LGR;








Early 1990's tablet's were a marvel!


----------



## Bungz (Nov 5, 2018)

Last of the boards of my youth that I was after. 

Having a clear out in the new year but this will be a keeper.

Will be recapped later in the week, KZG be nasty.


----------



## sepheronx (Nov 5, 2018)

SniperHF said:


> Here's the oldest picture of me with a computer I have:
> View attachment 109644
> 
> I believe it's a 286.  Maybe someone knows exactly what it was.  Unfortunately the identifying marks on it aren't visible.
> ...



We had that exact same Tandy at home too.  Man those were the days.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 5, 2018)

Bungz said:


> Last of the boards of my youth that I was after.
> 
> Having a clear out in the new year but this will be a keeper.
> 
> Will be recapped later in the week, KZG be nasty.


Every single one of those boards that's been through my hands needed a re-cap. That's the way they are.
I still have one.


----------



## erek (Nov 11, 2018)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Extremely-...eme-3-0-GUS-ISA-vintage-ViperMAX/223225225242


----------



## E-Bear (Nov 13, 2018)

Just got it out of my parts boxes.


----------



## phill (Nov 14, 2018)

I'm not sure if these are right here but...



































I've a few more bits and pieces laying about here, but I thought these might be nice to share   If any aren't allowed, I'll take them down if you can let me know


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2018)

phill said:


> I'm not sure if these are right here but...
> View attachment 110557
> View attachment 110561
> I've a few more bits and pieces laying about here, but I thought these might be nice to share   If any aren't allowed, I'll take them down if you can let me know


Captain Picard messaged me earlier & said he wants his Galaxy-Class exhaust manifold back!


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 15, 2018)

^New old stuff 




ATI's best DX9c (SM3.0) cards (complete collection)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 15, 2018)

phill said:


> I'm not sure if these are right here but...


I'd say most of it fits, even the Floppies, because they are hardware. 



agent_x007 said:


> ATI's best DX9c (SM3.0) cards (complete collection)


The one that has the "Connect3D" sticker on the fan needs a cleaning. Looks like it been in a smokers house with all that tar in the shroud.

What is the make on the HIS IceQ3 card?


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 15, 2018)

That HIS seems to be a HD 3870 by a quick google search.

So much dust in those coolers.


----------



## phill (Nov 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Captain Picard messaged me earlier & said he wants his Galaxy-Class exhaust manifold back!



I'm going to have to pleed a bit of ignorance because I'm guessing your on about the CPU cooler??  But I'm not sure!!   Many apologises!!



lexluthermiester said:


> I'd say most of it fits, even the Floppies, because they are hardware.



I'm glad it wasn't posted in the wrong section..  I think I have a few more things here I could show but I'll have a sort out first 



agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 110631
> ^New old stuff
> 
> View attachment 110632
> ATI's best DX9c (SM3.0) cards (complete collection)



I still have my GTX 580's   Is that one the 1.5Gb version or the 3Gb version??   I sold all 3 I had to a friend, then ended up buying them back with full cover water blocks on!  

That HIS card reminds me of one I used to have, X1900 XT   I loved that card!!

Such lovely hardware here!!


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 16, 2018)

Yeah. Colorfull is tinted and it needs a better cleaning...
Cards are GTX 580 3GB, HD 3870 IceQ3 and X1800 XT.
I cleaned X1800 XT after I already took the pics.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 16, 2018)

My X99 motherboard may be broken, won't post..

Writing this post with Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.8GHz, 4GB, GTX 980(!!), SB Audigy 2 ZS (with Daniel_K drivers) 

https://valid.x86.fr/jng0vk


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 16, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> My X99 motherboard may be broken, won't post..


That sucks. Do you know why?


Chloe Price said:


> Writing this post with Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.8GHz, 4GB, GTX 980(!!), SB Audigy 2 ZS (with Daniel_K drivers)


Decent system with potential. A few inexpensive upgrades(CPU & RAM) and you can do a healthy amount of modern gaming on it!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> That sucks. Do you know why?


I have a wild guess that few drops of coolant could've spilled..



> Decent system with potential. A few inexpensive upgrades(CPU & RAM) and you can do a healthy amount of modern gaming on it!


Yeah, the CPU is going to be in my "console killer" HTPC, I have that GTX 780 on my shelf already. Just need to have a PC, so I took the parts for my gaming pc's case and I use its 980.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 16, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> I have a wild guess that few drops of coolant could've spilled..


Oh that really sucks. That is one of the main reasons I use mineral oil for liquid cooling. Even if there's a leak, the fluid won't hurt anything.


----------



## phill (Nov 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh that really sucks. That is one of the main reasons I use mineral oil for liquid cooling. Even if there's a leak, the fluid won't hurt anything.



I use distilled water in mine..  I've had one or two leaks over the 10 years I've been water cooling but thankfully, no hardware killed or lost because of leaks


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 16, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh that really sucks. That is one of the main reasons I use mineral oil for liquid cooling. Even if there's a leak, the fluid won't hurt anything.


I'll let the RVE dry for this weekend.. if it's busted, I'll get a R5 2600 and a B450 mobo. 

I guess that I'd get 100eur or something as "it may work" bundle from those.

edit: Alphacool CKC coolant, I need to check is it conductive..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 16, 2018)

phill said:


> I'm going to have to pleed a bit of ignorance because I'm guessing your on about the CPU cooler??  But I'm not sure!!   Many apologises!!


Yes, sorry! I know I'm kinda late, but I was referring to the CPU cooler/heatsink. It has that out-of-this-world, aka "future" look, so I couldn't resist


----------



## phill (Nov 16, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, sorry! I know I'm kinda late, but I was referring to the CPU cooler/heatsink. It has that out-of-this-world, aka "future" look, so I couldn't resist



That is fine, I was more interested in the board when I saw it and for £30 with a X2 6000+ ram and the cooler with the board, I couldn't resist!!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 17, 2018)

Lowered the multiplier, raised the bus and HT Link & uncore got from 1600MHz -> 2432MHz. Feels significantly faster. The slow HT link is a terrible bottleneck when running an AM3 CPU in AM2+ platform.

https://valid.x86.fr/x97prf


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 17, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Lowered the multiplier, raised the bus and HT Link & uncore got from 1600MHz -> 2432MHz. Feels significantly faster. The slow HT link is a terrible bottleneck when running an AM3 CPU in AM2+ platform.


It's not the HT, it's the uncore. 
No performance improvement in anything when running high HT.
Huge improvement when the uncore (NB frequency) is increased.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 17, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's not the HT, it's the uncore.
> No performance improvement in anything when running high HT.
> Huge improvement when the uncore (NB frequency) is increased.


I always thought it was a balance between them that was key to better performance..


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 17, 2018)

HTT, like BCLK, doesn't do anything. Multipliers do the heavy lifting.
However, bus speed is critical to get all multpliers to "play nice" with eachother.
In short, in most cases we have four multipliers to worry about :
CPU Core, CPU "UnCore", Memory/DRAM and QPI/HyperTransport.

The trick to best performance is to set best multiplers for all, without losing stability on any one of the parts being OC'ed. BUT since everything has to be somewhat sync with eachother (like UnCore and DRAM Clock on Nehalem, or CPU Frequency with Memory Frequency on K8 CPUs).
"Best" - does not usually mean "the highest".
Then there are hard limits like max Vcore for CPU Frequency (and temp), VTT/UnCore/"QPI/DRAM" safe Voltage limitations, DRAM max. stable frequency adjusting by timings, HyperTransport/QPI limits, etc.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 18, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's not the HT, it's the uncore.
> No performance improvement in anything when running high HT.
> Huge improvement when the uncore (NB frequency) is increased.


Yeah but this Asus M3N78 SE doesn't have adjustments for uncore, goes in hand to hand with HT. 

Vcore adjustments, +50mV, +100mV... great.


----------



## havli (Nov 19, 2018)

Great stuff you have there guys! 

Now it's time to add a few pieces of mine:

GeForce 6800 GT PCI-E
Wasn't POSTing at first, but BIOS flash fixed that. No time for more testing at the moment, but there is a good chance it will work.




Radeon HD 4850
Classic, reference cooler. I really like the design... even though it is running rather hot and noisy. 




GeForce GTX 260 192sp
I've been looking for this one for a very long time. It is actually very difficult to find this original version of GTX 260. They look exactly the same as GTX 260 216... which is much more common. Well, I got lucky, this was sold as "pile of scrap" with no details given. 







GeForce GTX 280
Unfortunately this one reboots the PC a second after fullscreen 3D is launched. Perhaps I can find out what is wrong and fix it later.







GeForce GTX 580 SOC
One of the better GTX 580 variants, fits nicely to my Fermi 5xx collection... in line with GTX 560 Ti SOC and GTX 570 SOC.  It will show up in my benchmarking project at some point. I'm curious to see how it performs against HD 6970 in somewhat modern games.


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 19, 2018)

havli said:


> GeForce 6800 GT PCI-E
> Wasn't POSTing at first, but BIOS flash fixed that. No time for more testing at the moment, but there is a good chance it will work.


Funny that   i got one  as well    mine is fully working


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 19, 2018)

havli said:


> Radeon HD 4850
> Classic, reference cooler. I really like the design... even though it is running rather hot and noisy.


I'd put a custom cooler on that card.


----------



## havli (Nov 19, 2018)

I don't plan to use it outside of my benchmark suite.... which is just a few hours of action. And for that reference cooling is sufficient. For actual retro gaming I can use non-reference Sapphire HD 4850 which runs much cooler and quieter.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 20, 2018)

Those NV (and ATI) Silencers were great, had a X800 XT PE (AGP) and 6800 GS (PCIE) with those back in the day. Also had one in my GF 4 Ti 4200, though it's bearing broke pretty fast.. had to ghetto mod a normal fan for its heatsink.


----------



## hat (Nov 20, 2018)

XFX 6800XT would be really nostalgic for me... or maybe not. I remember having wild power supply issues at the time. I do remember using it, though... and it was finally a decent graphics card.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 21, 2018)

When something nostalgic (Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.8GHz, Asus M3N78 SE (AM2+) and 2x2GB DDR2) gets into my main PC's case..






My X99 motherboard busted so this is a temporary solution. An overclocked GTX 980 is more than an overkill for this.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 24, 2018)

*Flea market day today:*

* AMD *K6-2/500AFX*
* AMD *Athlon 1200MHz* - A1200AMS3C
* *Unidentified HUGE PCI DUAL PCB CARD* - bought mainly for resistors, inductors and capacitors. The price was very low. Those type of components are all over many V1 and V2 cards, so it is very good to have spare parts just in case. The board might be related to telecommunications systems?
* *Pentium 4 S423 1.4GHz* - SL4SC
* *S423 cooler* - taken from an Intel D850GB motherboard which looked kind of meh and I didnt want to buy it and find out that it needs repairs.
* Titan *CU5TB * - I still have my original CU5TB and man it was noisy as hell. I still dont know how I put up with those dbs back in the day...

*The AMD CPUs* had some bent pins but nothing too serious. 

There was plenty of stuff today at the flea market and I had to restrain myself and buy small pieces as I really have A LOT OF PARTS ALREADY!  ( the little green card isnt small by the way...34cm of glory )


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 24, 2018)

Robert B said:


> * *Unidentified HUGE PCI DUAL PCB CARD* - bought mainly for resistors, inductors and capacitors. The price was very low. Those type of components are all over many V1 and V2 cards, so it is very good to have spare parts just in case. The board might be related to telecommunications systems?


Looks like and early add-in IDE card based on the connector on the top of the board.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 24, 2018)

How old has to be a piece of Hardware if i want to post it?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 24, 2018)

Knoxx29 said:


> How old has to be a piece of Hardware if i want to post it?


Anything that causes nostalgia? Kinda subjective. If you get nostalgic about it, it qualifies, IMHO.


----------



## Bungz (Nov 24, 2018)

Spares repairs came good for once.

Very tarnished agp connector cleaned and seems to work fine.

7800GS+ so 7900GT core


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 24, 2018)

Nice card. Overclocks like a champ I bet. Me jealous.


----------



## Bungz (Nov 24, 2018)

I don't tend to clock my cards but I don't doubt it would clock like stink, barely gets warm with that cooler.

Silly quick for a ago card.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 24, 2018)

It is the top dog Nv AGP card.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 25, 2018)

I know it's not that old but i didn't know i had it, found it today while cleaning the Basement.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 25, 2018)

Does it still work?


----------



## FireFox (Nov 25, 2018)

Like a Champion it was inside my first and last Laptop i bought in 2010


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 25, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Flea market day today:*
> 
> * AMD *K6-2/500AFX*
> * AMD *Athlon 1200MHz* - A1200AMS3C
> ...


AXIA core on the Athlon, those are the best ones for overclocking.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 25, 2018)

*Flea market day today!*

1. Diamond Monster *MX300* AUREAL Vortex 2 - *AU8830A2*. Needs a few caps and a little TLC.  I paid less than 2 EUR. 
2. Aureal Vortex *BA88ST* - *AU8820B2*.  I paid under 1 EUR. Full of ELNA caps. 
3. 2x128MB PC800-45 RIMM and 2xCRIMM  - I paid under 3 EUR.

EPIC DAY TODAY!!! Friggin' MX300!!! 

*The dog was not for sale! *


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 25, 2018)

Playing PSP emulator on my phone with a Xbone S gamepad via bluetooth. I did not see this coming when PSP released 14yrs ago. 

Edit: wrong tab, my bad, but as I play FF IV this kinda belongs here I guess..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2018)

It's been way, WAY overdue but I'm FINALLY working on my profile rig, RetroMaster 2500 & moving it into the new Thermaltake case. Unfortunately, the entire process is taking ages & is proving to be very frustrating, as I had to fix several issues along the way. Damaged USB port on that Thermaltake case for example & a whole new cable arrangement due to different (modern) component layout inside the TT case.

Still got approx. 40% to go, and I have to source a double-sided tape for the RGB LEDs, but once I'm done it'll be one mean-looking system!  Eventually I might even swap the existing blue 120mm LED intake fan for a RGB one, but considering I also got blue LED 140mm fan on top, I would really have to swap them out in pair, otherwise it wouldn't make much difference TBH.


----------



## TOMCAT (Nov 26, 2018)

@ Robert B (Saturday post #7451)

unidentified Card is from Shiva Corporation (see Wikipedia).
Shiva Corp. was known for their LanRover products.
The Rockwell chips L3903-57 and RC288DPi usally used for 28.8 Modems.

Sorry, i do not remember the Part number.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 27, 2018)

Well, I'm finished ... sort of! Have to say, this turned out to be a major pain in the backside, probably a lot more than it's worth. Now you see why I had to be creative, this case was never designed to house an old ATA system, so routing cables (especually PSU one) was a real nightmare.


 

 

 



On a side note, it's that time of the year again...


----------



## SniperHF (Nov 27, 2018)

A while back I said I had more old crap to post.  Here's the oldest stuff I've got:

Atari 130XE


























AFAIK it all still works, I'll try and power it up later.  All *well* used as you can see 
The 8 key is missing, snapped off.  Might be floating around the other box.  Also one of the paddles is busted.
I left my disks/carts in another box somewhere so I'll have to find them first.


----------



## TOMCAT (Nov 27, 2018)

OK, when Atari is on vogue I will add three pics of original Atari boxes.

Someone interested in looking inside? 
 

It is the most common Atari stuff and i did not open the boxes for at least 8 years.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 28, 2018)

TOMCAT said:


> Someone interested in looking inside?



You, of course, know everyone is going to say yes to that question.


----------



## turbo098 (Nov 28, 2018)

i do hope it was ok to post in here.
i found some of my older hardware. it still all work too. the motherboard is a DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D 939, cpu is a amd athlon 64 x2 3800+ that oc'ed like a dream,and last is the ocz ddr booster.


----------



## TOMCAT (Nov 28, 2018)

Ok. here are the pictures of my ATARI 1040STF hardware.
Last three pictures show my second working 1040STF.
The Megafile 30 (30MB) seems to be defect. Three bombs when booting from it.
To show how big the Megafile case is, i put a 3,5 '' HDD on it.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, just made on the floor of my small storage room.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2018)

Just wanted to share this beauty, that's been (apparently) made in '89... A marvelous piece of engineering!


----------



## SniperHF (Nov 29, 2018)

Apparently my 130XE has some bum RAM 
I swear it was in working order when I put it away.    





It will play Star Raiders though, since Star Raiders bypasses some of the POST checks for whatever reason.





Seems I can buy some RAM pretty cheaply and replace the bad ones but that's a lot of soldering.  Will have to think about it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 29, 2018)

Robert B said:


> 3. 2x128MB PC800-45 RIMM and 2xCRIMM  - I paid under 3 EUR.


Nice. Do you have more? 256 total is a bit on the lean side, unless you're going to run Win 98.


Trekkie4 said:


> Well, I'm finished ... sort of! Have to say, this turned out to be a major pain in the backside, probably a lot more than it's worth. Now you see why I had to be creative, this case was never designed to house an old ATA system, so routing cables (especually PSU one) was a real nightmare.


Dual VooDoo2's in the original SLI. Very cool. That takes me back. Thanks for posting your built progress. It's been fun to watch!



Trekkie4 said:


> On a side note, it's that time of the year again...


Yes, yes it is!



TOMCAT said:


> Someone interested in looking inside?


Heck yes. Let's see!



SniperHF said:


> I swear it was in working order when I put it away.


You may want to check your capacitors on the motherboard as they may have leaked and be the cause of the memory errors. Those old Atari's were not difficult to disassemble.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice. Do you have more? 256 total is a bit on the lean side, unless you're going to run Win 98.
> 
> Dual VooDoo2's in the original SLI. Very cool. That takes me back. Thanks for posting your built progress. It's been fun to watch!
> 
> ...


Configuration is the same as it was before, the only thing that's different is the Thermaltake case, V8 model with side panel window  I just had to re-arrange everything due to different layout, since the old case had topside mounted PSU where this one here is modern &  has the power supply on the bottom.

It was a lot of work, probably a lot more than its worth, but in the end things worked out OK, because the old CoolerMaster case was seriously crowded inside, hard drives were interfering with the Voodoo2 card(s), and you couldn't even plug a cable into the motherboard without disconnecting several cards.


----------



## TOMCAT (Nov 29, 2018)

Ok, next look inside.
I opened the defect Megafile 30 to look whats going wrong with it.  Easy to open, just 14 screws and some hooks.
Big RLL HDD is working, but the data did not arrive at the 1040STF.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 1, 2018)

TOMCAT said:


> Ok, next look inside.
> I opened the defect Megafile 30 to look whats going wrong with it.  Easy to open, just 14 screws and some hooks.
> Big RLL HDD is working, but the data did not arrive at the 1040STF.
> 
> View attachment 111530View attachment 111531View attachment 111532


Man, this has been a very nostalgic week. Suddenly reminded of the old 47GB 5.25' full height SCSI drives I had 15 years ago.


----------



## delshay (Dec 1, 2018)

This item is currently on sale on EBAY. Never seen a 30 pin simm like this. I think it's a higher than normal capacity.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 1, 2018)

delshay said:


> This item is currently on sale on EBAY. Never seen a 30 pin simm like this. *I think it's a higher than normal capacity.*


They are. Those are the first experimental 8MB SIMM's if memory serves. Maybe they were 16mb. They were used for the first prototypes of the original Pentium processor. Very rare and interesting, but useless without the prototype boards and CPU's they were built for. The were made obsolete with the development of DIMM's and the advancement if memory technology.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 1, 2018)

delshay said:


> This item is currently on sale on EBAY. Never seen a 30 pin simm like this. I think it's a higher than normal capacity.


Brand new product line from Glitch experimental technology, Bitchin' Fast RAM for all your memory needs!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 6, 2018)

Just paid the hella low price from a HD 3850 AGP card (and some cooling crap) @ 39 eur including shipping.


----------



## 8bitgamer757 (Dec 6, 2018)




----------



## Kissamies (Dec 6, 2018)

8bitgamer757 said:


> View attachment 112039


Still better than this day's Macs.


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 6, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Just paid the hella low price from a HD 3850 AGP card


Nice i got a 512mb Sapphire HD 3650 AGP in my Retro Build


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 6, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Just paid the hella low price from a HD 3850 AGP card (and some cooling crap) @ 39 eur including shipping.


Still, I'm taking the annual award for scoring the best deal in 2018... 

Speaking of computer parts, I've been told about certain S370 Coppermine server board. I will most likely get it for free, but not until January, early Feb 2019. Complete with 1GB of RAM & (matching?) pair of Coppermine(s). Other than that, I have no clue *shrug* Oh, and I might also grab a free S939 board, complete with Athlon CPU. Also for free, I'm still debating with myself whenever I actually need another motherboard or not


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 7, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Just paid the hella low price from a HD 3850 AGP card (and some cooling crap) @ 39 eur including shipping.


That *is* a very decent price!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 7, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> That *is* a very decent price!


Getting it in next week. We had independent's day in Finland (6th of december) and it's a holiday, so post packets don't go anywhere.

I guess that I just can't run with Socket A hardware since it's gonna be a horrible bottleneck, so I guess that Athlon X2 6000+ with good old Asrock AM2NF3 with 4 gigs of DDR2 will be fine.  But of course I will be testing even with a 1GHz Athlon Thunderbird..


----------



## Bungz (Dec 7, 2018)

Doesn't trump the 7800GS+ I got for £18  Both it and the 3850 are stupid quick for AGP systems it's funny.

You can run it fine in a socket A board but there is a bug with socket A chips and the later drivers due to a conflict with the driver wanting to use SSE2 (which the XP chips do not have). It causes a CTD.

I posted a fix a while back, it is stickied in the OP.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 7, 2018)

Bungz said:


> Doesn't trump the 7800GS+ I got for £18  Both it and the 3850 are stupid quick for AGP systems it's funny.
> 
> You can run it fine in a socket A board but there is a bug with socket A chips and the later drivers due to a conflict with the driver wanting to use SSE2 (which the XP chips do not have). It causes a CTD.
> 
> I posted a fix a while back, it is stickied in the OP.


HD 3850 wipes its butt with 7800/7900 series, it's easy to see when comparing those PCIE models.

Those Nvidias aren't still bad for older games, since they're fastest Nvidia AGP cards.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 8, 2018)

*Leadtek WinFast GeForce 2 PRO* 64MB AGP 2842 PCB REV. B - *untested*. I hope that it is working. I keep my fingers crossed!

Missing only 2 ceramic caps. An easy fix. I paid 3 EUR for it and I found it at the Good Ol' Flea Market. FRIGGIINNNN'!!!!! AWESOME!!!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 8, 2018)

Is that the original cooler? Damn it looks weird.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 8, 2018)

All original! 

Weird is the least to be said. When I first saw it on the internet I said what the heck is that?!??!

When I saw it at the flea market I said MINE ALL MINE!!!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 8, 2018)

Sure! I've never had other GF2's than MX and MX400.


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Dec 8, 2018)

Sempron 2200

 
Maxtor 540 _MEGABYTES, _IDE, 3600RPM. 11.2 MBps transfer speed!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 8, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Leadtek WinFast GeForce 2 PRO* 64MB AGP 2842 PCB REV. B - *untested*. I hope that it is working. I keep my fingers crossed!
> 
> Missing only 2 ceramic caps. An easy fix. I paid 3 EUR for it and I found it at the Good Ol' Flea Market. FRIGGIINNNN'!!!!! AWESOME!!!





Chloe Price said:


> Is that the original cooler? Damn it looks weird.




 


WinFast cards are the best! I got A280LE ViVo edition (Video-In, Video-Out) inside my RetroMaster rig from the profile. The beauty about WinFast is that you can easily OC it up to much higher specs (originally GF4, Ti4200 which is OCed to Ti4600) without having to upgrade the heatsink &/or fan. This thing even plays Half-Life 2, but the only downside is that the card is limited to DirectX8.1b & older.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 8, 2018)

Robert B said:


> *Leadtek WinFast GeForce 2 PRO* 64MB AGP 2842 PCB REV. B - *untested*. I hope that it is working. I keep my fingers crossed!
> 
> Missing only 2 ceramic caps. An easy fix. I paid 3 EUR for it and I found it at the Good Ol' Flea Market. FRIGGIINNNN'!!!!! AWESOME!!!


One of the nicer GF2 cards. Good find.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> WinFast cards are the best! I got A280LE ViVo edition (Video-In, Video-Out) inside my RetroMaster rig from the profile. The beauty about WinFast is that you can easily OC it up to much higher specs (originally GF4, Ti4200 which is OCed to Ti4600) without having to upgrade the heatsink &/or fan. This thing even plays Half-Life 2, but the only downside is that the card is limited to DirectX8.1b & older.


Dude, I had the same Ti 4200


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 9, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Dude, I had the same Ti 4200


That's really cool, do you still have it?

I really do like Ti4200 (in all the shapes & forms), as the GeForce4 is highly flexible piece of hardware. It's old enough to work in Win98, ME without any issues (and the games from around 1996-2000), but it's also powerful enough to drive newer games, such as Half Life 2 & GTA San Andreas. In fact, I would say that being limited to DX8.1b is its biggest advantage AND disadvantage at the same time ... depending on which angle you're looking at it. Kinda like the best of both worlds 

3DGameMan on YouTube made a review video long time ago, of yet another Ti4200 card that's very similar to Leadtek's WinFast ... except his seems to be missing the back side cooler (for VRAM).


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2018)

Nah, I had that in 2005, traded that for 9700 Pro and I paid 30eur in exchange.


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## Apocalypsee (Dec 9, 2018)

I've been looking at a Dell Dimension 4100 at local forum that someone selling for MYR 150 (~USD36). It was mostly running stock, Pentium !!! 1GHz Coppermine, Intel 815e chipset, 512MB RAM, ATi Rage Pro 128 16MB graphics card, SB Live! Value soundcard and the only thing he changed is from 40GB to 160GB harddrive. Looks good for Windows 98, you think its worth it for the price? Kinda steep IMO.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 10, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Looks good for Windows 98, you think its worth it for the price?


Yup, seems a reasonable price for what you'll be getting.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 10, 2018)

Hmm... You know, I've had a similar discussion regarding audio gear, just couple of days ago. It all comes down to your location, availability, supply and/or demand. TBH, it does seem to be too expensive for my taste, as I managed to pick up far more better, older & fancier systems for nothing (as in literally free of charge, just take it & leave).

On the other hand, if SB Live (or one of the other components) is considered rare in your area, or if you can't find a decent S370 system for less money, then I would probably be tempted to go for it. But in general, I don't pay (much) money for old hardware. Not because I'm a cheapskate, but because every investment in old technology is a gamble. You can get lucky & score an old system that will work for another 15, 20 years without any issues. In which case, the money invested is worth the hardware received. On the other hand, you can get a "lemon" & PSU will blow up the next time you plug it into the mains, destroying all the internal components. You just never know for sure *shrug*

@lexluthermiester It would appear that we both posted at the same time... Interesting to see your point of view, which kinda fits the overall description, philosophy of what I said in my post above. It all comes down to locations, availability, and how much supply/demand there is for particular item.


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## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2018)

Trying to record a game clip but I keep dying! Well, I love that bossmatch, so no problems I guess.


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## Aaron_Henderson (Dec 10, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> I've been looking at a Dell Dimension 4100 at local forum that someone selling for MYR 150 (~USD36). It was mostly running stock, Pentium !!! 1GHz Coppermine, Intel 815e chipset, 512MB RAM, ATi Rage Pro 128 16MB graphics card, SB Live! Value soundcard and the only thing he changed is from 40GB to 160GB harddrive. Looks good for Windows 98, you think its worth it for the price? Kinda steep IMO.



I bought a Dimension 4100 for my retro Win98 SE rig...paid $13 for mine with a nice keyboard and ball mouse.  Mine came with a newer 9600XT vs a more period correct card like yours.  Also came with a Sound Blaster PCI card. Cleaned mine all up using the diy "retrobright" method and it came out looking nearly new!  If I can remember correctly, I added an 80GB HDD and runs either 1 or 2GB RAM.  The PC has served me well so far, I think it's an ok buy!  For reference, older PC parts are not so easy to come by in my area...not for reasonable prices, at least.  I got mine at a local PC recycler / refurbishing center...they usually won't sell untested PC, and most that " don't work" are sold for scrap...I had to haggle the crap out of the guy running the place to even consider selling me anything that wasn't already refurbished and overpriced...but after annoying him for awhile he finally gave in and sold it to me...$10 for the PC "untested" and HDD removed...$2 for the keyboard and $1 for the mouse.  For some reason he was very reluctant to sell what I assumed would be sold for scrap value...but whatever.


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## Red_Machine (Dec 11, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> ATi Rage Pro 128 16MB graphics card


That card was the lowest of low budget cards for the era of this computer.  Dell bought a crapton of them back in the 90s, and were still selling their stock well into the early 2000s.  I've seen relatively decent Pentium 4s with those cards in them.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 11, 2018)

Red_Machine said:


> That card was the lowest of low budget cards for the era of this computer.  Dell bought a crapton of them back in the 90s, and were still selling their stock well into the early 2000s.  I've seen relatively decent Pentium 4s with those cards in them.


True, but again, for he's paying and what he'll be using it for, that card will be good. It's also an easy upgrade should the need arise. Still saying go for it. I would.


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## Kissamies (Dec 12, 2018)

Got this puppy finally, let's clean it!


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## 8bitgamer757 (Dec 12, 2018)

AGP?


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## Red_Machine (Dec 12, 2018)

Yes, AGP 8X.


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## agent_x007 (Dec 12, 2018)

Watch out for that Rialto bridge.
They like to go very hot.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 13, 2018)

Just got this, earlier today... I know there's a glare across the model name label (unfortunately, I realized that too late), the model is Asus P4P800SE, S478 featuring P4 processor (at around 2.80GHz if I'm not mistaking...


 

 


It also has a Radeon 9600Pro, 1GB DDR400, 120GB hard drive, TV Tuner, DVD-ROM & CD-RW. Oh, and I also received Lenovo 15" LCD monitor, all that for the wonderful price of absolutely nothing 

I really don't have much (any) use for yet another S478 rig, so instead of adding it to my retro fleet, I will most likely strip it apart (for parts) and probably add a dual S370 board eventually. Or not, we shall see


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## Kissamies (Dec 14, 2018)

Good old times when everything got beige in some point. 




8bitgamer757 said:


> AGP?


Yep, AGP like said on upper post. The fastest AGP card.


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## 8bitgamer757 (Dec 14, 2018)

i used to have a p3 board with a 16mb nvidia agp card, a couple pci cards and no cpu or ram

iBook g4


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## Susquehannock (Dec 15, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Yep, AGP like said on upper post. The fastest AGP card.


Isn't the 3870  slightly faster? Not up on Radeon like I should be.


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 15, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> Isn't the 3870  slightly faster? Not up on Radeon like I should be.


3870 was never released to the public (retail). Only a few samples were ever given out.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 15, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> 3870 was never released to the public (retail). Only a few samples were ever given out.


*cough* Voodoo 6000... *cough*



Trekkie4 said:


> Here's something I'm working on... It's a Pentium 4 system for a family friend, an older gentleman who needs something to check his email, watch a YT video or two and maybe play Solitaire  He owns a very old Apple system which is now seriously outdated (in fact, running at ONLY 550MHz I'd say that thing belongs to a museum, or at least this thread here, but that's a whole other story)
> 
> Sooo, I offered him something better. Remember that Asus P4P800-SE board, running P4 chip at 2.6GHz? Took me a while to set it up & get everything up & running, but it's mostly finished now & ready for its new owner. Or at least temporary one, as he might buy something better eventually, in which case I'll probably be seeing this one again at some point
> 
> ...


Anyhow, I was looking for this post, here (see above). This is the system which I got (back), yesterday. Jeez, it feels like yesterday!


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## Susquehannock (Dec 15, 2018)

I know PCI Voodoo4 are rare, but wow.
Bet that puppy never even gets powered up.


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## Kissamies (Dec 15, 2018)

Didn't know that they are THAT rare  I can't even imagine how much an unopened wrapped one would cost..


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## Susquehannock (Dec 15, 2018)

This one blows my mind too. Then again I do not have that collector mindset.

Rare, but not that rare. Bid action on this one looked rather suspect. Probably shill bidding to inflate perceived value.

The SiS cards were poor performers relatively speaking. For some nostalgic reading, here is a comprehensive Xabre 600 review with several benchmarks.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 15, 2018)

Where there is demand, there will always be supply. And if the supply is being limited (being a collector's item, or just simply rare) prices will go through the roof...

In another 10, 15 years from now, the same thing will most likely going to happen with Voodoo 1 & Voodoo 2 cards, probably Slot-1 motherboards & CPUs eventually, as well. just give it some time


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 15, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Where there is demand, there will always be supply. And if the supply is being limited (being a collector's item, or just simply rare) prices will go through the roof...


Beat me to it. 
Capitalism at it's finest.


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## micropage7 (Dec 16, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Got this puppy finally, let's clean it!


Looks cool, the ugly just the sticker
But in that era ATI radeon cards using that


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## Apocalypsee (Dec 16, 2018)

USD960 for Xabre 600? That's some weird investment right there! I remember reading magazine reviews regarding Xabre GPUs back then, from what I recall it have DirectX 8 compliant Pixel Shader but Vertex Shader is done on software (CPU) if I'm not mistaken. The major problem with this card is the driver and lack of optimization on game of its times. But the buyer won't probably care as it most probably be displayed in a box or behind glass/perspex


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 16, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> USD960 for Xabre 600? That's some weird investment right there! I remember reading magazine reviews regarding Xabre GPUs back then, from what I recall it have DirectX 8 compliant Pixel Shader but Vertex Shader is done on software (CPU) if I'm not mistaken. The major problem with this card is the driver and lack of optimization on game of its times. But the buyer won't probably care as it most probably be displayed in a box or behind glass/perspex


Semi rare/rare card does not make it a good card. Just desirable due to lack of availability.


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## erek (Dec 16, 2018)

Here's my completed collection (probably done with collecting)

Starting at Top Left: ATI Rage Fury MAXX, XGI Volari Duo V8 Ultra,

3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP, 3dfx Voodoo5 6000, S3 GammaChrome S18 Pro

SiS Xabre 600, nVidia GeForce FX 5800 Ultra (ES), Intel Larrabee Prototype

Gravis UltraSound MAX, 3dfx Voodoo1, ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX (A12 Prototype)


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 16, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Semi rare/rare card does not make it a good card. Just desirable due to lack of availability.


It reminds me of Evil Kyro cards... The first gen that is, the one with terrible driver support. And/or Savage 2000. Never had Savage card (other than Savage4 Pro, but that's a whole other story), but I do own Kyro... From what I heard, even experienced from other folks (who asked me if I'd be willing to trade, or sell it), it is quite a rare & appealing model - despite having awful gaming performance due to its lousy drivers.

In fact, some of the games experienced a total "meltdown" with Kyro, such as NFS Hot Pursuit 2 for example. The colors were all messed up, and textures totally wrong. Quite psychedelic  environment, very similar to "drugs" powerup in Carmageddon II, in case any of you here remember?


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## delshay (Dec 16, 2018)

Sorry, no GFX card(s) is worth that much, no matter how rare it is. Everything get's rare after a period of time & automatically becomes antique after 100 years.


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 16, 2018)

delshay said:


> Sorry, no GFX card(s) is worth that much, no matter how rare it is. Everything get's rare after a period of time & automatically becomes antique after 100 years.


Worth is in the eyes of the beholder.


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## Kissamies (Dec 16, 2018)

micropage7 said:


> Looks cool, the ugly just the sticker
> But in that era ATI radeon cards using that


I liked the stickers Sapphire used back then. 

I still need a PSU for that, the Antec on my sig should be arrive next week.. after testing it with my Socket A system, I think I'll put that with my AM2NF3-VSTA setup with A64 X2 6000+ and 4GB DDR4-800..


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 17, 2018)

Working on "Lassie", the system which got back (home) to me  I honestly don't know what I'm doing, and/or why I even bother with another S478 build, but either way... Figured I'd share some of the progress I've done so far:

The entire case has been stripped apart, cleaned from dust & then re-assembled, adding additional (missing) standoffs for the motherboard.


 



Followed by the repairs on Radeon 9600Pro. This one turned out to be super annoying, even... The original fan was seized up, to the point where conventional methods wouldn't work. But then I realized that even swapping the heatsinks is out of the question, because of the PCB component layout around the GPU, it's as if they designed this thing like that on purpose, so that you couldn't use any other heatsink. Sooo, what I ended up doing is removing the rotor (fan itself) assembly alone, leaving the motor base & heatsink original.


 



And now I'm re-assembling everything back... Will report back once I got more pics/updates to share


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 18, 2018)

Still working on Lassie the Pentium...


 





 



Think I've created a monster...!!


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## Apocalypsee (Dec 19, 2018)

Nice rig trekkie4, is that ASUS P4P800 motherboard? The CPU must be 800MHz FSB Northwood, and coupled with 9600Pro its a beast. God I miss those days, I have P4 2A GHz coupled with Albatron PX845G and Powercolor 9600XT Bravo back in the day, overclock the CPU to 3GHz 1.75V and voltmod the 9600XT, it beat 9700 scores in 3DMark03. Playing Far Cry for the first time is such a treat!


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 20, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> Nice rig trekkie4, is that ASUS P4P800 motherboard? The CPU must be 800MHz FSB Northwood, and coupled with 9600Pro its a beast. God I miss those days, I have P4 2A GHz coupled with Albatron PX845G and Powercolor 9600XT Bravo back in the day, overclock the CPU to 3GHz 1.75V and voltmod the 9600XT, it beat 9700 scores in 3DMark03. Playing Far Cry for the first time is such a treat!


Yup, it's (still) a P4P800 *SE *inside, but I took the liberty of upgrading RAM, video card & changing, downgrading OS to Win XP 

It was originally a Pentium 4 2.6GHz, with Radeon 9600Pro & 1.5GB DDR400, running Vista. But now it's P4 2.6 (planning to upgrade the CPU with 3.00GHz one) with nVidia GeForce 6600GT & 2GB of DDR400, in dual-channel configuration, running WinXP.


 



For what it's worth, I was going to keep the "original" Radeon 9600, but due to all the trouble with the heatsink & thermal pads, which are necessary for correct heatsink alignment (in order to prevent the short) I've decided to remove it & replace it with 6600GT. At least until I sort out the heatink issues, then I'll decide what to do with it...


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## Kissamies (Dec 21, 2018)

Well, I had to make the best even better.


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## TOMCAT (Dec 21, 2018)

OK, back home (not only for christmas)

let me show the cooling solution for my red Radeon 3850 AGP



Go


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## Robert B (Dec 21, 2018)

I never had a Zalman VF700 back in the day and I always liked them but after I found this card at the flea market and it was warped because of the pressure of the VF700 I will think twice before I use one on any of the cards in my collection. While it is great for cooling I really think that the mounting system could've been better. Even if I will mount one I wont leave it installed for great lengths of time.

The card is a Quadro FX 1000 which is bye bye. Even the heastspreader on the graphic chip had its corners lift up over time. The card shows vertical coloured lines on the screen.

There is a small probability that maybe the card has sustained this damage while it was tossed around but it doesnt have marks on the PCB to indicate this. At any rate I really dont like the mounting system and the diagonal backplate.


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## Fouquin (Dec 21, 2018)

Susquehannock said:


> I know PCI Voodoo4 are rare, but wow.
> Bet that puppy never even gets powered up.
> 
> View attachment 112614



Holy crap, that's insane. Wish I had the box for mine, I could pay a few months rent with that! Joking, joking. Not for sale.


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## Aaron_Henderson (Dec 21, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, I had to make the best even better.


I used to put Zalman cooling on everything lol


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## SniperHF (Dec 21, 2018)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I used to put Zalman cooling on everything lol



Same.  But in hindsight a lot of them were underwhelming for the cost.
The only one that made a big impact for me was the CNPS9700


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 22, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, I had to make the best even better.


Does it run any cooler?


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 22, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yup, it's (still) a P4P800 *SE *inside, but I took the liberty of upgrading RAM, video card & changing, downgrading OS to Win XP
> 
> It was originally a Pentium 4 2.6GHz, with Radeon 9600Pro & 1.5GB DDR400, running Vista. But now it's P4 2.6 (planning to upgrade the CPU with 3.00GHz one) with nVidia GeForce 6600GT & 2GB of DDR400, in dual-channel configuration, running WinXP.
> 
> ...


Finishing on P4 rig, I've managed to boost up additional 500 3D marks, up to 14,000 in total. Just through the software & BIOS tweaks, nothing hardware related 

It runs all Half Life 2 games (original & Lost Coast are even maxed out), but then I had to reduce the texture quality for Episodes 1, 2 & Portal, because of the VRAM limitation (128MB in total). Otherwise this thing would run on full without any issues whatsoever.

It also runs Doom 3, F.E.A.R, Driv3r (aka Driver 3) and several others, all tweaked on max or second to max. In fact, this system now officially outperforms my RetroMaster 4000 rig, based on a S775 Pentium 4 (@3.00GHz) with Radeon X1550 PCIe graphics & 2GB of DDR400, therefore the same amount of RAM as this other rig here. Quite fascinating actually!


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## Kissamies (Dec 22, 2018)

Mr.Scott said:


> Does it run any cooler?


Haven't tried yet, just assembled the whole AGP PC, and I'll leave in few hours to my parents for Christmas.


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## Robert B (Dec 22, 2018)

Ehrling - Palm Trees

*Epic day today!!! Flea market big score!!! *

*1.* MSI MS-6168 VER:2 - 440ZX / 3dfx VooDoo 3 2000 8MB ONBOARD / CREATIVE ES1373 - It needs repairs and a northbridge heatsink. Easy fixes if the board is still alive. We'll see. I never thought that I'll find one.
*2.* Gigabyte GA-622-16 REV 1.0 / TNT 2 M64 with TURBO SETTING  - interesting card.
*3*. Asus GF256/DDR AGP-V6800DDR/32MB (TVR) I wanted a GF256/DDR and I got one 
*4.* Advanced Gravis Ultrasound ACE V1.1 - I wanted a Gravis and I got one.
*5.* Celeron 500MHz S370.(less epic but what the hell ) - maybe I'll need it some time down the line...who knows. I have fond memories tied to Mendocino.

10 EUR for everything


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## Apocalypsee (Dec 23, 2018)

After having a looong thought of buying the Dimension 4100, I think I better not buying that because it will be too much hassle for me (no CD/DVD for reinstalling Windows, not much IDE drive, probably no USB boot etc.). Instead, I'm buying this for 1/3 of the price (RM50 or around USD 12).





Its filled with dust bunnies as you might expect but at least it will POST, and support SATA. Its P5VDC-MX and thankfully revision 2.0 which means I could put a Core 2 Duo inside (currently its Pentium Dual Core E2140) but for Windows XP PC I think its enough. It only have 512MB DDR2 (it supports both DDR and DDR2) but I have plenty of DDR2 around, both value and performance ones.

The reason I bought the PC is this, Sapphire Radeon 9550. The GPU itself could be sold for almost the same price as the rig price. Again its dusty but cleaning is easy.


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 23, 2018)

Apocalypsee said:


> After having a looong thought of buying the Dimension 4100, I think I better not buying that because it will be too much hassle for me (no CD/DVD for reinstalling Windows, not much IDE drive, probably no USB boot etc.). Instead, I'm buying this for 1/3 of the price (RM50 or around USD 12).
> 
> View attachment 113186
> 
> ...


A while ago, I've had something similar... Asus "P5S800VM Vintage" mATX board, which needed (and was, eventually) entirely recapped. Unfortunately, I was never able to work out the weird graphics issue, and so because of that I gave it up (passed it on to others), before I got my hands on something similar, a P5GD1-VM/Vintage.


 







It was/is coupled with SL7Z9 Pentium 4, running @3.00GHz.




Eventually, this project became "RetroMaster 4000", which I mentioned recently  Scored 8,162 3D marks, which is way, WAY under "14,000" from my latest, S478 build


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## uuuaaaaaa (Dec 24, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Eventually, this project became "RetroMaster 4000", which I mentioned recently  Scored 8,162 3D marks, which is way, WAY under "14,000" from my latest, S478 build



I've have been out of this thread for way too long... Would you kindly share the specs of this 14000 points S478 build?


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 24, 2018)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> I've have been out of this thread for way too long... Would you kindly share the specs of this 14000 points S478 build?


Sure thing... 



 

 

 



CPU: Pentium 4, S478 @2.6GHz (not sure which model code exactly, but it does support HT)
MBO: Asus P4P800 SE, with latest BIOS
RAM: 4x 512MB DDR400, in dual 2x 1GB channel configuration
GPU: nVidia GeForce6 6600GT 128MB VRAM (by LeadTek, requires external/additional power supply through on-board molex)
HDD: Western Digital, 80GB (was downgraded from 120GB one, because I really don't need that much storage capacity)
ODD1: Plextor CD-RW 8/4/32A
ODD2: Hitachi DVD-ROM
OS: Windows XP Professional, SP3 (off-line, without any updates or security patches)

Other: Pinnacle TV tuner (because it came with the system) & Dial-Up Fax modem ... because why not! 

I got the system with Radeon 9600Pro, which does work, but will need some repairs to the heatsink/fan assembly. Or I will just scrap the entire thing & order a decent replacement, we shall see. Either way, the card DOES work & will be re-purposed eventually


 



And this here is the current 6600GT...


 



To those of you who celebrate, wishing you Happy Holidays!


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## uuuaaaaaa (Dec 25, 2018)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sure thing...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Damn!!! This surely is a nostalgic build! Brings back memories of DooM 3, FarCry, Half-Life 2 and Quake 3/IV. I absolutely loved that era! 
That P4P800SE reminded me that I have an inbox brand new ASUS CT-479 socket adapter and a Pentium M 780 waiting to be used...


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 25, 2018)

uuuaaaaaa said:


> Damn!!! This surely is a nostalgic build! Brings back memories of DooM 3, FarCry, Half-Life 2 and Quake 3/IV. I absolutely loved that era!
> That P4P800SE reminded me that I have an inbox brand new ASUS CT-479 socket adapter and a Pentium M 780 waiting to be used...


Oh yeah! It runs Doom 3 (even F.E.A.R, since we are discussing horror games lol) smoothly & without any problems, whatsoever. The only serious downside, aka limitation to the hardware is the amount of video memory, 128MB of VRAM which is not really that much even by retro standards. But it gets the job done, so I won't complain


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## Athlonite (Dec 25, 2018)

@Trekkie4 it's a shame your in the EU and not a bit closer to NZ otherwise I'd send ya an ATI Radeon HD2600XT 512MB GDDR4 PCIe card for the price of postage I have two and the long Crossfire bridge cables aswell


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 25, 2018)

Athlonite said:


> @Trekkie4 it's a shame your in the EU and not a bit closer to NZ otherwise I'd send ya an ATI Radeon HD2600XT 512MB GDDR4 PCIe card for the price of postage I have two and the long Crossfire bridge cables aswell
> 
> View attachment 113335


Nah, it's fine. But thanks anyway 

To tell you the truth, I don't even have a dual PCIe (x16) board, so it wouldn't be of much use to me either way.


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## Kissamies (Dec 26, 2018)

F#%k, where's my DVI-HDMI cable?!

My AGP powerhorse is ready, but I'd need a cable. HD 3850 has just dual DVI and S-Video.


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## Apocalypsee (Dec 28, 2018)

I have some annoying problems with the rig I purchased on last page, the thing I hoped for (USB boot) somehow don't work. It just gave repetitive beep after POST when there is bootable USB drive is connected. So I resorted to install Windows using DVD and I only found Windows 7 DVD. 

The 9550 overclocks like a champ, stock clock is 250MHz core and 200MHz memory, the core went all the way up to 450MHz, the memory is not so good at 243MHz (because using slow 256MB chips). But gaming didn't feel quite as snappy as I remember it should, everything feels jittery (like bad frametime), despite using 800x600 or 1024x768 resolution on the games I know it should run smoothly like Max Payne and MoHAA.

One thing I really wanted to test with this old GPU is Truform tech, ATi answer to tessellation back in the day. Back then when I'm using Radeon 9000 and 9600XT it didn't quite capture my attention because lack of exposure despite most of the games I loved at that time supports the technology! (RtCW, SS: TFE and SS: TSE, CnC Renegade, UT2004) I tried a couple of games, RtCW and SS: TSE for now. In RtCW whenever I enabled Truform, it just got reverted back and in SS: TSE the Truform setting is just greyed out. Very odd, GPU-Z driver detail marks N-patches as 'no' so I done some digging...

After few hours digging though various (old) site and forum threads, I found out that ATi for some reason decided to ditch Truform from their driver entirely starting from Catalyst 5.9. Sadly Windows 7 don't support such old driver, so I search for old stacks of CD boxes just to find Windows XP CD's, and I did! My dad keeps one stack of random XP/7/Linux of various versions inside CD/DVD for rainy days. Thank God for that!

After half an hour waiting for Windows to install, I installed all drivers and the crucial Catalyst 5.8 I needed (scouring for this driver alone took quite some time as a lot of mirrors has expires). I loaded up SS: TSE and bam! Truform is supported at last! Loaded up the Technology demo and go to the last room where it demonstrate what Truform can achieve and.....it was worth it. Seeing it side by side compared to non tessellated model truly shows what it can be achieved. Serious engine is very flexible too, you can chose to enable Truform on all models or the models the engine has specified. I read there is some artifacts like bloated/balooned model but I've yet to see it. I'll try to post some comparison pics if I have time, the PC isn't connected to the net.

Also gaming in Windows XP feels VERY snappy, like what I experienced back when using Radeon 9600XT. No more jittery performance and framerate is high as it should.


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## Atreides (Dec 28, 2018)

DNA FTW but you should know.


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## Apocalypsee (Dec 28, 2018)

Ive tried DNA, Omega before but I prefer stock Catalyst and use ATi Tray Tools to tweak driver.


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## Atreides (Dec 28, 2018)

Umm you can still use Tray with both..


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## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2018)

Just thought I'd stop by today & wish you guys a happy, fully compliant, non-corrupt & long-term upgradeable...






























Brought to you by yours truly,






Seriously though guys, have a good one!


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## MaxiPro800 (Jan 2, 2019)

Can you imagine I bought this for $1? It only had a bad cap near the power connector (G-Luxon, which is known to be crap) and a seized fan. It's a Sapphire Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB, AGP8x. I tested it on a PCChips M848A (w/ DFI 748-AL BIOS) and it POST'd fine, no artefacts or anything.

Fan was some seized Powerlogic fan that had sealed bearing so I replaced it with another fan I had from a dead Winfast A7600GT.

Stay tuned by the way as these days I'm having a retro package coming over. It's going to be lots of fun.

Trekkie4 - nice P4P800 SE you got there, but can it keep up with my P4C800-E?(jk)


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## Apocalypsee (Jan 3, 2019)

Ugh its starting to become an expensive hobby. I've been very itching to buy either X800Pro or X800XT PE. The XT PE close double the price of Pro (Pro RM80 ~USD19, XT RM149 ~USD36). I shouldnt...but cant resist...

Here is one truform model in Serious Sam The Second Encounter Technology demo. Sorry for camera pics as I dont have internet for the PC but you can see what Truform do if done correctly.


----------



## Mescalamba (Jan 3, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Ugh its starting to become an expensive hobby. I've been very itching to buy either X800Pro or X800XT PE. The XT PE close double the price of Pro (Pro RM80 ~USD19, XT RM149 ~USD36). I shouldnt...but cant resist...
> 
> Here is one truform model in Serious Sam The Second Encounter Technology demo. Sorry for camera pics as I dont have internet for the PC but you can see what Truform do if done correctly.
> View attachment 113909View attachment 113910



Wasnt Truform just tesselation? I had 9800 Pro back then, was kinda interesting..


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 3, 2019)

Mescalamba said:


> Wasnt Truform just tesselation? I had 9800 Pro back then, was kinda interesting..



Before the adoption of pixel shader-enhanced bump mapping methods such as normal and parallax mapping that simulate higher mesh detail, curved 3D shapes in games were created with large numbers of triangles. The more triangles are used, the more detailed and thus less polygonal the surface appears. TruForm creates a curved surface using the existing triangles, and tessellates this surface to make a new, more detailed polygonal model. It is designed to increase visual quality, without significantly impacting frame rates, by utilizing hardware processing of geometry.

TruForm was not significantly accepted by game developers because it ideally required the models to be designed with TruForm in mind. To enable the feature without causing visual problems, such as ballooned-up weapons, the models had to have flags identifying which areas were to be tessellated. The lack of industry-wide support of the technique from the competition caused developers to ignore the technology.

In later version of Catalyst drivers, the TruForm feature is removed.

Beginning with Radeon X1000 series, TruForm was no longer advertised as a hardware feature. However, Radeon 9500 and higher (as well as hardware supporting Shader Model 3.0) include Render to Vertex Buffer feature, which can be used for tessellation applications.[1] In the case of Radeon X1000 series, it supports binding up to 5 R2VB buffers simultaneously. Tessellation as dedicated hardware has returned in Xenos and Radeon R600 GPUs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 3, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Got this puppy finally, let's clean it!


Score!


Trekkie4 said:


> all that for the wonderful price of absolutely nothing


Score again!


----------



## havli (Jan 4, 2019)

Anyone interested in Hard Drives? This is just a quick project (took few days at most) to serve as a test data for my new interactive charts.  

http://hw-museum.cz/article/4/25-years-of-hdd-history-in-benchmarks/1


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 4, 2019)

Why no CrystalDiskMark or ATTO ?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 4, 2019)

Guess I scored again?



Acorp 6VIA81P w/ Pentium II 400MHz, SL357.

Already replaced the capacitors near the CPU with some nice Panasonic and Rubycon units from some discarded 2006-2007 motherboards:




GPU in the first picture is a Radeon 9250 128MB I used to test the motherboard.


----------



## havli (Jan 4, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> Why no CrystalDiskMark or ATTO ?


The main reason is they both test both read and write... which isn't suitable for me. Those disks are not empty and I don't want to erase them. I need read-only test with low-level access (not influenced by data on the HDD) . HD Tune can do it and thats it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Guess I scored again?


How much?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 4, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> How much?


$22 including shipping.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> $22 including shipping.


I'd call that a score then. As long as it works. The caps look good, which is always a bonus.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jan 4, 2019)

Sniped this guy off ebay for a decent price compared to what they usually go for. Seller had it listed as "For parts or repair" because the fan was not working. If you look closely you can probably tell why the fan didn't spin.



MSI Geforce4 Ti 4200 8X 64MB



After taking it apart I discovered that the heatsink fins detached from the base and slid forward into the fan. I didn't have any epoxy handy so double sided tape will have to do for now.



The fan bearings were a bit stiff as well but a couple drops of oil fixed that. Works just like new now.



The card overclocks pretty nicely on top of it all thanks to those 3.6ns Hynix DDR chips. I'll say it's just about as fast as a Ti 4800 though it can't quite do the same memory freq.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2019)

DR4G00N said:


> Sniped this guy off ebay for a decent price compared to what they usually go for. Seller had it listed as "For parts or repair" because the fan was not working. If you look closely you can probably tell why the fan didn't spin.
> 
> View attachment 114004
> 
> ...


Ti4200 is probably THE best DirectX 8.1 card in existence! Apart from the fact they're very common & fairly easily accessible (among other, high-end models) they OC easily, and are usually capable of delivering performance much higher than what they're officially rated for, just like yours from the example above, or even my Leadtek A280. They're also literally universal & can easily be paired with just about any AGP-compatible system, regardless of the OS choice of even the game you're playing. I had mine working in DOS, Windows 98, and/or XP, it really doesn't make much difference TBH!

I only feel bad for not buying/grabbing more of them while I still had the chance... They're becoming somewhat rare nowdays, just like any other hardware from around the same period. Although, to be honest I /do/ have a spare Gainward Ti4200 doing absolutely nothing, and yes - it already has a new GPU fan/heatsink in place, but I've been keeping it for something "special" if & when I'll ever need it. Which (with all these other nVIdias & ATIs) isn't likely to happen any longer 


 



GeForce4 Ti Product Overview


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jan 5, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ti4200 is probably THE best DirectX 8.1 card in existence! Apart from the fact they're very common & fairly easily accessible (among other, high-end models) they OC easily, and are usually capable of delivering performance much higher than what they're officially rated for, just like yours from the example above, or even my Leadtek A280. They're also literally universal & can easily be paired with just about any AGP-compatible system, regardless of the OS choice of even the game you're playing. I had mine working in DOS, Windows 98, and/or XP, it really doesn't make much difference TBH!
> 
> I only feel bad for not buying/grabbing more of them while I still had the chance... They're becoming somewhat rare nowdays, just like any other hardware from around the same period. Although, to be honest I /do/ have a spare Gainward Ti4200 doing absolutely nothing, and yes - it already has a new GPU fan/heatsink in place, but I've been keeping it for something "special" if & when I'll ever need it. Which (with all these other nVIdias & ATIs) isn't likely to happen any longer


True that, Ti420 was a legendary and exceptional card. I miss my Ti4200. Its an Abit Siluro Ti4200 but not the OTES version. It died while I heavily overclocked it and benching 3DMark2001SE  Sadly I can't find any Geforce4 Ti's on 2nd hand market. A lot of old cards are just bunch of Gefore2 MX'es and Geforce4 MX'es, along with Radeon 7000/7500 and 9200's.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Jan 5, 2019)

There is a GeForce 7950 GT for sale locally...what do you guys figure would be a fair offer on it?  Looks like it's in near mint condition.  I already own an X1900 AIW from this era...and owned ATI cards all throughout that time period (wish I still had X1950 GT AGP)...so what's missed out on all Nvidia cards all the way from the crap FX card I owned.,.until I purchased an 8600 GT SLI setup.  All cards in between were missed.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 5, 2019)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> There is a GeForce 7950 GT for sale locally...what do you guys figure would be a fair offer on it?


No more that $50, IMO. The 7950GT was a great card, but an 8800GT easily eclipses it.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Jan 5, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> No more that $50, IMO. The 7950GT was a great card, but an 8800GT easily eclipses it.


Well he's asking $50 Canadian...I was thinking of offering $30...think that's a lowball or reasonable offer?  It has been listed for two months so obviously not selling for the asking price.  I know the 8800GT whoops it...I had a short lived world record with volt modded 8600GT setup for awhile before I finally got an 8800GT.  Top cards I've ever owned...X1950 GT AGP, 8800GT, and 290x...they all held their own for many years...my 290x still doing fine for me.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> True that, Ti420 was a legendary and exceptional card. I miss my Ti4200. Its an Abit Siluro Ti4200 but not the OTES version. It died while I heavily overclocked it and benching 3DMark2001SE  Sadly I can't find any Geforce4 Ti's on 2nd hand market. A lot of old cards are just bunch of Gefore2 MX'es and Geforce4 MX'es, along with Radeon 7000/7500 and 9200's.


Surely there's at least one, somewhere out there on sale? If not check out ebay & amazon, Ti4200 is (or at least was) one of the most common models to be seen. Except for maybe "MX" series, which is a whole other story.

I do have a MSI-branded GeForce4 4800SE, which is a very rare model indeed. Never saw (or got to pick up) another one ... it was actually given to me for free from a guy on another (local) forum here in Croatia. According to him, it's been used for professional purpose at some point & then put away into a desk drawer for years, or rather decades.


 

 

In fact, I even had 4800SE mounted inside the Visualize Workstation, for several days before the system hanged up with black screen & stopped responding entirely. Which I don't believe it was due to AGP card, as 4800SE is still working today inside another (Athlon XP, Socket A) system.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 5, 2019)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> Well he's asking $50 Canadian...I was thinking of offering $30...think that's a lowball or reasonable offer?



I'd say, go for it man. All the seller can do is refuse the offer. Seeing as how it's been listed for a couple of months the seller could sure take the offer!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 5, 2019)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I was thinking of offering $30...think that's a lowball or reasonable offer?


$40 CD would be reasonable, $30 CD is a bit lowball. The seller might take it, might not.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 5, 2019)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> Well he's asking $50 Canadian...I was thinking of offering $30...think that's a lowball or reasonable offer? It has been listed for two months so obviously not selling for the asking price.


$30 in Mapleleaves is a reasonable offer in the circumstances (been for sale 2 months).
if he counter offers i would go up to $45 (shipped of course).
Cash (or paypal) in the hand has a weird habit of parting things from their current owners


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jan 5, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Surely there's at least one, somewhere out there on sale? If not check out ebay & amazon, Ti4200 is (or at least was) one of the most common models to be seen. Except for maybe "MX" series, which is a whole other story.
> 
> I do have a MSI-branded GeForce4 4800SE, which is a very rare model indeed. Never saw (or got to pick up) another one ... it was actually given to me for free from a guy on another (local) forum here in Croatia. According to him, it's been used for professional purpose at some point & then put away into a desk drawer for years, or rather decades.
> 
> ...


Cool! I really love MSI designed their GeForce4 Ti cards. If I'm not mistaken the Ti4800 are the later version that uses AGP 8X but since it comes close to FX releases and no performance difference its quite rare like you said. Lucky you get that card for free, it looks in good condition 

I tried scouring various local online shops and forums but there is none! The weird thing is, there is bunch of new old stocks GeForce FX cards complete with retail boxes and all. Maybe I should try ebay and amazon, though I didn't really trust the former.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 5, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Surely there's at least one, somewhere out there on sale? If not check out ebay & amazon, Ti4200 is (or at least was) one of the most common models to be seen. Except for maybe "MX" series, which is a whole other story.
> 
> I do have a MSI-branded GeForce4 4800SE, which is a very rare model indeed. Never saw (or got to pick up) another one ... it was actually given to me for free from a guy on another (local) forum here in Croatia. According to him, it's been used for professional purpose at some point & then put away into a desk drawer for years, or rather decades.
> 
> ...


MSI must've sure loved to use that cooler, since I have a FX5600 128MB from MSI that uses the exact same cooler.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Cool! I really love MSI designed their GeForce4 Ti cards. If I'm not mistaken the Ti4800 are the later version that uses AGP 8X but since it comes close to FX releases and no performance difference its quite rare like you said. Lucky you get that card for free, it looks in good condition


No, I don't think this is strictly related to AGP 8X. I mean you can find Ti4200 that are both AGP 4X & AGP 8X, so I don't think the actual model number had anything to do with AGP interface. But otherwise you're right, and this is also one of the reasons why I feel that 4800 is not worth the time or money. Yes, it is a great (and rare) card by itself, but it's easily outperformed by FX series. Or even Radeon 9600 Pro, another great (DX9) card to mention. So, IMO nVidia totally screwed up the marketing approach for 4800 cards, especially since they already introduced the FX series shortly after. One thing I'd like to point out however is that as of the (in)famous "FX" series, nVidia switched over to DX9 hardware, which was pretty much the only advantage over GF4 series. Even 4800, those were entirely DX8.1 cards, which is one of the reasons why they perform as good in older Windows (95, 98) & DOS. I clearly remember trying DX9 hardware with Voodoo2 SLI cards & having a lot of issues, which is why I eventually settled on using Ti4200.

And yes, my 4800SE works & runs like a charm. Although I could say a thing or two about the performance ... IDK why, but I expected to see better results. In fact, I would say that 4800SE is BARELY faster than OCed Ti4200, which kinda defeats the purpose of getting 4800 to begin with.



Apocalypsee said:


> I tried scouring various local online shops and forums but there is none! The weird thing is, there is bunch of new old stocks GeForce FX cards complete with retail boxes and all. Maybe I should try ebay and amazon, though I didn't really trust the former.


Right, see ... this is exactly what I'm talking about! Couple of years ago, when I started with Nostalgic Hardware Hardware obsession, you could easily find Ti4200s just about anywhere. I remember seeing several of them on sale locally, one of them was even identical to my Leadtek but without ViVo feature. So, as the time moves on, it's getting more & more difficult to find these cards, just like one day (some time soon) it will be difficult to find decent "FX" cards. So, my advice is to go ahead & grab whatever you had in mind before it gets too late 



MaxiPro800 said:


> MSI must've sure loved to use that cooler, since I have a FX5600 128MB from MSI that uses the exact same cooler.


You know what they say ... if it ain't broken, don't fix it!  Besides, it looks amazing! One of the beefiest & more impressive (stock) cooling solutions I've seen on AGP cards. Not to mention that it has a backplate ... how many cards back then came with huge heatsink and/or backplate straight out of the factory?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jan 6, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, see ... this is exactly what I'm talking about! Couple of years ago, when I started with Nostalgic Hardware Hardware obsession, you could easily find Ti4200s just about anywhere. I remember seeing several of them on sale locally, one of them was even identical to my Leadtek but without ViVo feature. So, as the time moves on, it's getting more & more difficult to find these cards, just like one day (some time soon) it will be difficult to find decent "FX" cards. So, my advice is to go ahead & grab whatever you had in mind before it gets too late


Damnit, that had me sold, I already ordered the X800XT PE  there are several AGP cards the store have on sale, but selling 9600Pro the same price as this? Its a no brainer  Also older cards like S3 Verge and GeForce 2 GTS, love that card name. GTS, sounds like a sports car.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 6, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Damnit, that had me sold, I already ordered the X800XT PE  there are several AGP cards the store have on sale, but selling 9600Pro the same price as this? Its a no brainer  Also older cards like S3 Verge and GeForce 2 GTS, love that card name. GTS, sounds like a sports car.
> View attachment 114092


Awesome, have fun!  People were giving me that "look" when I stockpiled items like Slot-1 motherboards, 3dfx cards, even Creative SB Live, as if I do it for profit, or some sick addiction. One person even (seriously) accused me of OPD, which stands for Obsessive Pentium Disorder!!

But the joke's on them, because those things are now becoming quite difficult to find, at least locally. Wouldn't know what's the situation like on Amazon or Ebay, but I don't remember when was the last time I saw either one of those 3!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 6, 2019)

Tried to find a decent slot A board lately?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jan 6, 2019)

I forgot to test 3DMark2001SE on the Radeon 9550. The stock clock is very low at 250MHz core and 200MHz memory. The stock score is slightly above 7000 3DMarks


Maximum it can run on 3DMark is 440MHz core and 250MHz memory. It only reaches 9874 3DMarks


----------



## Peter Lindgren (Jan 6, 2019)

Hi! I found some odd hardware you might help me to identify?


----------



## Jism (Jan 6, 2019)

The first is proberly a generic EGA/VGA card, by looking at the D-SUB connector. Proberly a dual featured BIOS as well lol.

The 2nd is a Add-on card holding a Socket 3 and features a Pentium (586) CPU with MMX. The backend of the card holds place for up to 4 SIMMS and the front of the card lists 2 COM/SERIAL ports.

I think these things where used in either mainframe type of boards. They are not really your upgrade path or something, as you could simply get the Pentium Overdrive for that matter.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 6, 2019)

The first card is an early VGA card. The connector on the top side was for a series of addin boards that could add things like video capture, video surveillance and TV tuner.

The second card is a Vesa Local Bus socket 7 CPU addin card which was used for mutli-CPU workstations that ran SMP versions of Windows NT. It could take upto a Pentium 233MMX and upto 128MB of EDO ram. Missing from the card is the custom CPU heatsink that came included. The systems these were intended for could take up to 4 such cards at once, but I only ever saw two matched together. The host system did not have CPU or RAM sockets and required at least one of these cards to run.

Haven't seen one of those cards in years. Thanks for posting the pic, that took me back to my early university days. Good times. It's really too bad you don't have a complete system for the card and more than one. For the time they were really very excellent performance machines.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 6, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Tried to find a decent slot A board lately?


Are you kidding me? I'd get better chances finding a rainbow-colored unicorn! 

In all the years, I only got to see one Slot A board. Long time ago, back in 2013, 2014 I was offered one (for free), but not realizing what it is (assuming it was just another Slot-1) I  turned the offer down *sigh* Then again, whenever the board was functional or not remains to be the question, because it was buried deep under the pile of computer parts, inside the cardboard box. Without any protection, or foam. Just the board & CPU...

Speaking of OC  & specific numbers, here's what I'm running my Leadtek Ti4200 at:

Core Clock frq is 285MHz, with Memory Clock frq at 580MHz. Using ForceWare Win2k/XP drivers v93.71, plus the app called "NVTweak", which allows OCing & other cool (and mostly hidden) features within ForceWare drivers.

On the other hand, I'm running v43.45 under Win98, without OC and/or any other external mods to the drivers.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 6, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Are you kidding me? I'd get better chances finding a rainbow-colored unicorn!
> 
> In all the years, I only got to see one Slot A board. Long time ago, back in 2013, 2014 I was offered one (for free), but not realizing what it is (assuming it was just another Slot-1) I  turned the offer down *sigh* Then again, whenever the board was functional or not remains to be the question, because it was buried deep under the pile of computer parts, inside the cardboard box. Without any protection, or foam. Just the board & CPU...



That's my point. 
I actually catch flak for selling them for like $50.
I gave up. I'll just keep them.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 6, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Tried to find a decent slot A board lately?





Trekkie4 said:


> Are you kidding me? I'd get better chances finding a rainbow-colored unicorn!


Um, I'll submit the following for your consideration;
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-4000629-Slot-A-650MHz-Athlon-Motherboard/192608165646
https://www.ebay.com/itm/FIC-SD-11-Slot-A-AMD-Motherboard/130914148913
https://www.ebay.com/itm/First-International-Computer-SD-11-Slot-A-AMD-Motherboard/292124188206
https://www.ebay.com/itm/FIC-SD11-Slot-A-Motherboard-6-Month-Warranty/223307610072
Not one of them is more than $65 shipped and several of them have a warranty.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Um, I'll submit the following for your consideration;
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-4000629-Slot-A-650MHz-Athlon-Motherboard/192608165646
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/FIC-SD-11-Slot-A-AMD-Motherboard/130914148913
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/First-International-Computer-SD-11-Slot-A-AMD-Motherboard/292124188206
> ...


And none of them are any good.
1 is OEM (no overclocking), and the other 3 are all FIC boards.
My point was more towards the price anyway. No Slot A boards are cheap anymore. I do appreciate your finds though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Um, I'll submit the following for your consideration;
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-4000629-Slot-A-650MHz-Athlon-Motherboard/192608165646
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/FIC-SD-11-Slot-A-AMD-Motherboard/130914148913
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/First-International-Computer-SD-11-Slot-A-AMD-Motherboard/292124188206
> ...


I'm afraid I'd have to agree with @Mr.Scott on this one. Yes, there /are/ actually several Slot A boards on sale (even locally), but for the absurd amount of money. One of them is Epox EP-7KXA, being advertised for $38. Which, I suppose is still way under previously mentioned $65 mark, but I would never cash out that much money on a 20+yr old component. Even if it's super rare.

On a side note, I had a pretty decent experience with FIC boards... Got two of those in my collection, VB-601 (Slot-1) and both in working condition. In fact, one of them is paired with Pentium II, 350MHz & is powering up my "oldest" RetroMaster, model 1000.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 6, 2019)

Sorry guys, I never had any problems with FIC boards. The only issue I'd forsee, and this problem would affect any board from that time, is the caps. Might need replacement, which would be an involved but not difficult task. The price is not a major problem either. However, my point was that it was implied that finding one would be difficult. Took a 30second search to find viable options.


Mr.Scott said:


> 1 is OEM (no overclocking)


Not everyone cares about OCing hardware this old.


Trekkie4 said:


> Which, I suppose is still way under previously mentioned $65 mark, but I would never cash out that much money on a 20+yr old component. Even if it's super rare.


Some people would be happy to just to have a working system for their old SlotA CPU, even if it might need a bit of TLC.

The SD11 was a solid board in it's time and would be nice to have. Not much to complain about really.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Sorry guys, I never had any problems with FIC boards. The only issue I'd forsee, and this problem would affect any board from that time, is the caps. Might need replacement, which would be an involved but not difficult task. The price is not a major problem either. However, my point was that it was implied that finding one would be difficult. Took a 30second search to find viable options.
> 
> Not everyone cares about OCing hardware this old.
> 
> ...


I suppose you're right.
Just speaking from my enthusiast backround. I like the extra.

BTW, that Epox board for $38 is a steal if it's working.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 6, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> BTW, that Epox board for $38 is a steal if it's working.


Agreed!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 6, 2019)

Nostalgic benching.
Slot A Pluto 700 w/GFD on an Asus K7V @ 998 on chiller running modded/overclocked Geforce 256 DDR.  
I love my old hardware.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 7, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Agreed!


Well, either way guys I'm flat broke at the moment... Partially because of the holidays, but also because of HiFi which turned out to be quite expensive hobby indeed.

So one way or another, I won't be buying any more components just yet, or even any time soon. Otherwise, I'd even be tempted to pick it up


----------



## erek (Jan 7, 2019)

_*The first programmable graphics processor chip*_ 








http://eecatalog.com/digital-signage/2019/01/04/famous-graphics-chips-ti-tms34010-and-vram/


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 8, 2019)

Just two motherboards in my possession that are like new. Gold board is a Winfast K8S760MG and red one is MSI KM4M. 



I also built this older socket 478 setup.

Unknown case but mobo Aopen AX4SPE-UN
Filled it with 3gigs ddr400, Radeon 9250 256mb 128bits. Modem 56k, firewire pci card and usb pci card.
Sata odd, sata 320gigs hdd and 3.5" fdd.
PSU Raidmax RX-480A

Decided to swap gpu for a HIS IceQ HD4670 AGP 1gig ddr3 with hdmi. Will see how it goes.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 8, 2019)

Found a 3DFX Vodoo 5500 with Drivers CD inc online for £215 ono  

if anyone interested pm me for link


----------



## Red_Machine (Jan 8, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> Found a 3DFX Vodoo 5500 with Drivers CD inc online for £215 ono


Wow, they've really gone up in price.  I got my boxed complete one for just £50 about 8 years ago.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 8, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> Just two motherboards in my possession that are like new. Gold board is a Winfast K8S760MG and red one is MSI KM4M.


That Winfast board is an odd duck. Hang on to that one.


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 9, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> That Winfast board is an odd duck. Hang on to that one.



Why it's an odd luck? Were they prone to break? After some research I found that until socket AM2 Winfast and Foxconn had same boards just different colours. Winfast did not update drivers but Foxconn did.


----------



## delshay (Jan 13, 2019)

Here's another rare item on EBAY. I have this attached to my old Antec True Power PSU, & it still works.

Thermaltake Fireball https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Therma...item1a59bccd00:g:Rj8AAOSwpAlbXfrt:rk:104:pf:0


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 13, 2019)

delshay said:


> Here's another rare item on EBAY. I have this attached to my old Antec True Power PSU, & it still works.
> 
> Thermaltake Fireball https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Therma...item1a59bccd00:g:Rj8AAOSwpAlbXfrt:rk:104:pf:0



Still the guy has 9 like that for sale.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 13, 2019)

delshay said:


> Here's another rare item on EBAY. I have this attached to my old Antec True Power PSU, & it still works.
> 
> Thermaltake Fireball https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Therma...item1a59bccd00:g:Rj8AAOSwpAlbXfrt:rk:104:pf:0


I remember those. First thing I did was take off that awful grill to improve airflow and noise.


----------



## Robert B (Jan 16, 2019)

MS-6168 V2.0 full recap 

*DIE CHHSI WG & HK CAPACITORS!!*! 

31 caps ranging from 10uf to 2700uf. 3 hours of work. *PANASONIC* FC & FR. *RUBYCON* ZL & YXJ. *NICHICON* UPW.

All caps have superior specs than the CHHSI crap and have been chosen based on: *1. Availability 2. Specs. 3. Brand 4. Price.*

*I had to shoe horn a couple of caps but nothing too difficult.*

I still have some odds and ends but I'm close to POWERING UP this puppy and see if she's ALIVE! 

The amount of work required to get to this point has been close to unreal. I must be mad to try and save a trashed board. I hope that it will work.


----------



## Robert B (Jan 17, 2019)

MS-6168 has been repaired


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Ugh its starting to become an expensive hobby. I've been very itching to buy either X800Pro or X800XT PE. The XT PE close double the price of Pro (Pro RM80 ~USD19, XT RM149 ~USD36). I shouldnt...but cant resist...


Got my X800 Pro for free  Too bad that it's not a VIVO model, I had a VIVO model once and ofc I bios flashed it to XT PE 



Trekkie4 said:


> Ti4200 is probably THE best DirectX 8.1 card in existence! Apart from the fact they're very common & fairly easily accessible (among other, high-end models) they OC easily, and are usually capable of delivering performance much higher than what they're officially rated for, just like yours from the example above, or even my Leadtek A280. They're also literally universal & can easily be paired with just about any AGP-compatible system, regardless of the OS choice of even the game you're playing. I had mine working in DOS, Windows 98, and/or XP, it really doesn't make much difference TBH!
> 
> I only feel bad for not buying/grabbing more of them while I still had the chance... They're becoming somewhat rare nowdays, just like any other hardware from around the same period. Although, to be honest I /do/ have a spare Gainward Ti4200 doing absolutely nothing, and yes - it already has a new GPU fan/heatsink in place, but I've been keeping it for something "special" if & when I'll ever need it. Which (with all these other nVIdias & ATIs) isn't likely to happen any longer
> 
> ...


Ti 4200 (Abit's 8X) model was my first gaming PC's card. Though I traded it with some euros to 9700 Pro and oh boy..



Robert B said:


> MS-6168 has been repaired


Whoa, that has an integrated Voodoo3?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 17, 2019)

Robert B said:


> MS-6168 has been repaired


Very nice! Is that process going to go on your thread?


Chloe Price said:


> Whoa, that has an integrated Voodoo3?


Yup, they made them. Very rare though.


----------



## Robert B (Jan 17, 2019)

A 3dfx VooDoo 3 2000 with 8MB. This motherboard was used in Packard Bell Systems back in the day.MS-6168 aka _Packard Bell Bora Pro_ .

I read about this type of motherboards quite recently. Imagine my surprise when I saw one at the local flea market 

I thought that I would never own one 

In other order of ideeas I'm waiting for a package with: an " MX RUSH", a "5500" which has problems but I still want it and a sky "V1" with some scratches. The price was ok-ish and I really want to complete my 3dfx line-up. So I'll have all of the 3dfx cards that I want: V1,Rush, V2, Banshee, V3 - I need a 1000 and a 3500, but I have plenty of 2000 and 3000, , V4 4500, v5 5500. The V5 6K will remain into the realm of fantasy for now. 

http://falconfly.vogonswiki.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB2111.html?num=1134682380
http://tdfx.de/ger/atc6254m.shtml
http://tdfx.de/ger/ms6168.shtml
https://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=57743&mode=view
https://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=57744&mode=view

*The story of my MS-6168 will be posted on my thread/Project Logs Section on TPU and I assure you that it will be EPIC! *


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 17, 2019)

Just bought this at second hand store. BFG Tech 3DFuzion GeForce MX4000 128megs AGP. Gonna put it in one of my older Compaq D51S sff and install Xubuntu to make a HTPC for living room tv.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 17, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> Just bought this at second hand store. BFG Tech 3DFuzion GeForce MX4000 128megs AGP. Gonna put it in one of my older Compaq D51S sff and install Xubuntu to make a HTPC for living room tv.


Does your TV have VGA in?


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 17, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Does your TV have VGA in?



Yes


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 18, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> Yes


Cool. Do you have a good CPU to match it with? Forgive me if you've stated this elsewhere..


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 18, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Cool. Do you have a good CPU to match it with? Forgive me if you've stated this elsewhere..


A Compaq D51S also branded as D510 is a single core skt 478 cpu. The one I have is a 2.8gigs paired with 2 gigs of ddr400 and a 80 gigs hdd plus the floppy and optical. The agp is low profile but I think I have couple brackets somewhere.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 18, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> A Compaq D51S also branded as D510 is a single core skt 478 cpu. The one I have is a 2.8gigs paired with 2 gigs of ddr400 and a 80 gigs hdd plus the floppy and optical. The agp is low profile but I think I have couple brackets somewhere.View attachment 114718


Are you doing 1080p HTPC or 720p?


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 18, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are you doing 1080p HTPC or 720p?



Im going regular vga display. I found out on older systems that connected to tv choosing 720 or 1080 is out of range or blurry so i go with the vga settings that fits the best


----------



## Robert B (Jan 18, 2019)

My little over 2EUR GUS ACE Version 1.1 has been restored  Thank You FLEA MARKET! THANK YOU!!! 

I never owned one or saw one back in the day.


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 18, 2019)

Robert B said:


> My little over 2EUR GUS ACE Version 1.1 has been restored  Thank You FLEA MARKET! THANK YOU!!!
> 
> I never owned one or saw one back in the day.



Sound card? Anything special about it?


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 18, 2019)

@E-Bear It's all in the name : GUS (Gravis Ultra Sound).


----------



## Robert B (Jan 18, 2019)

@E-Bear - The GUS ACE is a wavetable add-on board. *"ACE plugs directly into an expansion slot in your PC and works alongside your current 8-bit or 16-bit Sound Blaster or compatible sound card. Unlike other wavetable ugprade cards, ACE is the only one to give you the benefits of 16-bit, multi-channel digital audio, professional wavetable synthesis, and dedicated games support. "*

ACE is THE Audio Card Enhancer.
http://www.mindflux.com.au/products/gravis/gusace.html#overview
https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2014/07/28/advanced-gravis/

I'm not quite familiar with it and I"ll have to read how to set it up and use it. Back in the '90 sound was a BIG THING.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 18, 2019)

Robert B said:


> My little over 2EUR GUS ACE Version 1.1 has been restored  Thank You FLEA MARKET! THANK YOU!!!
> 
> I never owned one or saw one back in the day.


Looks like it came out of the anti-static bag new, good job on the restore.


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 18, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> @E-Bear It's all in the name : GUS (Gravis Ultra Sound).


GUS is for Groupe Urgence Sinistre . A company in Quebec to clean after sinister like fire or flooding.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 19, 2019)

Don't you just adore the 90s? By the time you plugged in AGP card, 3D video accelerator (or two, for the SLI config.), fax modem, DVD encoder card, Audio Card enhancer & sound card itself, you would fill the entire computer case with expansion cards. Not including the full-size ATX board (Slot-1?) with loads of IDE/ATA cables going in all directions... 

I love it!


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 20, 2019)

I dont know if you can be nostalgic about this but here's my new old psu. I have many in stock.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 20, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> I dont know if you can be nostalgic about this but here's my new old psu. I have many in stock. View attachment 114806View attachment 114807View attachment 114808


PFC-Matching the specification of the power factor correct of European *unon* 2001? Seems legit...


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 20, 2019)

I picked up an old system. It's a Dell XPS410. They started as P4 BTX Mid Tower, but can make the leap to 65nm Core2 Extreme ( very unofficial ) . It's nostalgic for me because it's the big brother to the Dimension E520 in my sig. that was in #2 spot at CPUZ for the QX6800 for a couple years. I have a couple better BTX cooling mods now, and a few more tricks up my sleeve so I may take another shot at CPUZ. It's in pieces right now. I have a couple other projects going on. This thing just showed up out of the blue and the capacitors look perfect.



E-Bear said:


> I dont know if you can be nostalgic about this but here's my new old psu. I have many in stock. View attachment 114806View attachment 114807View attachment 114808


 200W on the 5V. rail. Those were the good old days.


----------



## HUSKIE (Jan 25, 2019)

Someone gave these GPU blocks to me today. It's unused.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 25, 2019)

Wow, them are frigging awesome @HUSKIE


----------



## Robert B (Feb 1, 2019)

*HERE'S BATMAN!!!*

*Premiere PCI ED (Batman) 60MHz  *** Intel PREMIERE/PCI *** Intel Batman *** P5-PCI BATMAN*

AA 624415-211 *** PBA 623667-211 *** PB 631446-001

Fresh from the Post Office. MINT! It still needs cleaning but it is in great shape.

*More later.*

*L.E.*

*Flea market day today!*

* Thermaltake Super Orb
* Athlon XP 1900+ *** AX1900DMT3C *** AGOIA0152RPBW
* Athlon XP 2800+ *** AXDA2800DKV4D *** ADYHA0512RPMW
* Creative CT2890 - VIBRA 16


----------



## TOMCAT (Feb 3, 2019)

*Intel Batman's Revenge *

*AA 624437-001 *** PBA 623667-001 *** PB 619443-001*

As I saw your post, I remeber that I must have a similar board. Found it a little bit dusty in a box with my very old hardware.
My second PC was this Intel Pentium 60 build (overclocked to 66 MHz by onboard jumper) with floating-point bug.




Got it end of 1994 as used PC, with a Cirrus Logic GD-5430 PCI graphics card and 2x 4MB RAM. Change the RAM immidiatly to 2x 8MB so that i have the same amount of memory as in my 386 DX40 (with ATI Mach32 ISA) before. Sold the 386 with the case of the P60 because the P60 was VERY expensive even as used PC.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 3, 2019)

WOW! Can you please scan the manual and upload it?


----------



## TOMCAT (Feb 3, 2019)

Can you please scan the manual and upload it? (@Robert B)

Yes, sure. Here are the scans in standard quality. For better quality I will need about two days, if you need it.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 3, 2019)

@TOMCAT - the scans are great. Thanks a heap! I'll print them tomorrow.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 3, 2019)

Just found a nice place to work at and the owner said I can feel free to take any board I like.

Came home with these:
DFI Infinity NFII-M2
Jetway N2PAP-LITE
ASUS P4C800 Rev2.00A
ASUS M2N 1394
MSI G41M-P26
ASUS K8N
ASUS A7N8X-X
MSI P45 Neo-F
2 dead PS3s, one with a 250GB HDD inside

So far most of these work. There are two unlisted because these were dead (ASUS M2NPV-VM and MSI K9N4 Ultra) and at least three of them had bad caps. (Jetway N2PAP-LITE, ASUS A7N8X-X and MSI P45 Neo-F)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Feb 5, 2019)

Back with an update on one of the PS3s - just managed to fix one of them, an CECHG04, by reflowing the RSX/Geforce 7800GTX.

It did came back to life, and does manage now to boot into the system 

The bluray drive is dead though - it does take the disc in and eject it properly, but I suspect the bluray side is dead, and the DVD side may be too.

Oh well. I'm not going to use it too much though, and the reason behind this is the 90nm RSX. Good god, if you guys thought the Prescott P4s and Smithfield Pentium D's were hot, you really haven't met the first generation of PS3s (up to and including CECHHxx models)

I hope the reflow does last, as it's been done at 350*C for about 3-4 minutes. I also took some preventive measures to prolong its life by removing the cover from the PSU (an german Youtuber named UltraNSC has done the same and said it's a good measure to make it last longer).

Other than that, a peek at the system version revealed a somewhat nostalgic sight: it's still on 4.31! I was expecting at least 4.78 or 4.80 with the lowest I could expect being 3.55 or 3.56 though.
It's going to be modded anyways, so stay tuned, maybe I can keep this G04's roaring RSX at nice temps. (the fan doesn't ramp up a lot like my long gone G04 did)

And finally, I'm leaving a shot here so you can see how it looks now 



The top cover comes from the dead CECHH04, but the rest of the top case is the original one that came with the console.


----------



## 27MaD (Feb 5, 2019)

I like how you guys keep your old hardware stored for decades while i sale any parts i don't use anymore.


----------



## F7GOS (Feb 5, 2019)

Tear down of my first ever self built system from 2004

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
ATI 9800 Pro 128Mb


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 5, 2019)

Robert B said:


> HERE'S BATMAN!!!





TOMCAT said:


> Intel Batman's Revenge


What's with the "Batman" thing?


----------



## TOMCAT (Feb 7, 2019)

@lexluthermiester,  
Intel Batman and Intel Batman's Revenge are names given by Intel to this Boards. 

There are all Intel Chipsets with names and some original Intel Motherboards have a name, too.
I think nearly nobody uses the BP5D60ATCS2 as name for this board.

An other Motherboard with Intel name is the D975XBX, known as "Bad Axe". One of the first sockel 775 boards with three PCIe x16 slots (only mechanical, electrical only x8/x8/x8). 

For all Intel names see

*List of Intel codenames*

in Wikipdia


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 7, 2019)

Wow, learn something new everyday! That was back before most people paid attention to the code names.


----------



## erek (Feb 12, 2019)

(Not mine)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-Nvidia-geforce-FX-5800-Ultra-in-box-with-pack-ins-RARE/323690844750


----------



## E-Bear (Feb 12, 2019)

This thread is it only about computer and console?


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 12, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> This thread is it only about computer and console?


No its about Computer related hardware that you preferably own (  and Software on Hard media ie floppy or CD/DVD).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 12, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> This thread is it only about computer and console?


I even talked about old VHS VCRs, tape decks & turntables... Because I found them to be nostalgic


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 12, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> This thread is it only about computer and console?





dorsetknob said:


> No its about Computer related hardware that you preferably own (  and Software on Hard media ie floppy or CD/DVD).


From what I've seen through the years, it's about any hardware that gives a feeling of nostalgia. Generally from what I've seen it's been stuff 10 years or older, but that's not a stated rule.


----------



## E-Bear (Feb 13, 2019)

So here's my early 90's brand for 80's car speakers.  They also made accessories like tape decks, floor shifters etc. Even some older Ford like the Escort GT had Sparkomatic brand speakers. Here's 2 commercials to bring back memories.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 13, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> So here's my early 90's brand for 80's car speakers.


Not sure car speakers qualify.. I guess it's all good though.


----------



## E-Bear (Feb 13, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not sure car speakers qualify.. I guess it's all good though.


It could be used as retro set for home system.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 13, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> It could be used as retro set for home system.


Like an old school Dolby Prologic system? The OHMs difference might be a problem.


----------



## E-Bear (Feb 13, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Like an old school Dolby Prologic system? The OHMs difference might be a problem.



No these speakers are 4 ohms and the sound system radio and amp will be 4 ohms too


----------



## Robert B (Feb 14, 2019)

*EPOX EP-7KXA V1.04*
*AMD SLOT A 650MHz - AMD-K7650MTR51B A*
*Quantum LCT 15 - 15GB*
*WD200BB - WD 20GB*
*FDD*
*RAM*
*Inno3D TNT2 M64 32MB*
*Creative Labs SB0150 Sound Blaster PCI 512 - SB0150*
A gift from my best friend.  Free stuff IS ALWAYS NICE! Especially if SLOT A is involved.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 14, 2019)

Robert B said:


> EPOX EP-7KXA V1.04


One of the nicer boards made for slot one.


Robert B said:


> AMD SLOT A 650MHz - AMD-K7650MTR51B A


If memory serves, that is one of the CPU's that could go to 1ghz@133fsb will only a minor bump in voltage, which it could easily handle.


Robert B said:


> Quantum LCT 15 - 15GB


Those were good drives! Bet it still work great too.


Robert B said:


> Creative Labs SB0150 Sound Blaster PCI 512 - SB0150


That is an increasingly rare card. Basically a slimmed down version of the SB Live. Good card.

That friend of yours hooked you up! Score!


----------



## hat (Feb 14, 2019)

@MaxiPro800 nice work on the PS3. I was gifted a problematic PS3 a while back. It wasn't dead, but I was told it required a fan blowing on it for it to work for any length of time. Knowing this, I tore it apart, cleaned it, re-pasted it (with MX-4 I believe) and drilled holes in the top cover where the fan is so it can easily pull in cool air. Since I did that, I haven't had issues with it. It's jailbroken as well.


----------



## Bungz (Feb 18, 2019)

Anyone else attracted to Poverty spec single channel socket A Nforce2 boards?

No?

Not even a Purple Soltek one 





Bum caps need sorting, god knows where my soldering gear is having just moved house.


----------



## dorsetknob (Feb 18, 2019)

Don't forget your Thin Needle nose pliers 
Check out the IDE and Floppy pins


----------



## Robert B (Feb 20, 2019)

Those caps on the Soltek board look *slightly* better than mine. 

I will recap the entire *EPOX EP-7KXA* board with *PANASONIC FR* caps. When I mean all of the caps I mean all 48 of them. The PANASONIC FR caps are miles above the crap currently on the board. 

The replacement caps will arrive this week but it will take a while until I'll solder them. Luckily the STONE L.E.S.R. 2200uf/10V bloated caps didnt damage the board when they went bye bye. I removed 18 of them. The other caps are reputable brands like TAYEH LG/RB and GSC. *HIGH QUALITY STUFF!!!*

The K7 650MHz has an 800Mhz core. (I REALLY NEED A Gold Finger Device...but they are rarer than hens' teeth )

BAD CAPS ERA is back with a vengeance!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 20, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The K7 650MHz has an 800Mhz core. (I REALLY NEED A Gold Finger Device...but they are rarer than hens' teeth )


IIRC(someone correct me if wrong) that board, once it's up and running, has an FSB based OC in the bios, which you don't need a goldfinger for. So if you change the FSB from 100mhz to 133mhz, adjust the voltage slightly, and drop the multiplier to 5.5 or 5 instead 6.5.

EDIT; Self correction, found the manual and it seems this model doesn't have the FSB OC. I was thinking of a different board.
Here's the manual in case you need it;
https://soggi.org/files/motherboards/manual/epox/EP7KXA.zip
And here's the page it came from;
https://soggi.org/motherboards/epox/EP-7KXA.htm


----------



## Robert B (Feb 21, 2019)

Thanks!

I have already updated the BIOS with the file from the same site using my BIOS programmer. 

This KX133 motherboard is special for me because it is the only one I have ATM.

I have three irongate motherboards(two ASUS K7M REV1.04 - one a with a later revision chipset with Super Bypass and the other with an earlier chipset revision W/O Super Bypass, one PC-CHIPS M800LMR V1.3A)  and I really wanted a KX133 one. 

The EPOX EP-7KXA is the most abundant model where I live. In the last year I saw around 4 systems with this particular board and only one ASUS K7V-T.


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 21, 2019)

Bungz said:


> Anyone else attracted to Poverty spec single channel socket A Nforce2 boards?
> 
> No?
> 
> ...


Purple Ray day.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 21, 2019)

_*Deep Protoss voice:*_ *Carrier has arrived!*   Carrier has arrived


----------



## Ahhzz (Feb 21, 2019)

Just helped the boss solder in a cap on a Vizio soundbar yesterday, tons o' fun


----------



## Robert B (Feb 22, 2019)

I removed all the junk. It took me around an hour and a half. Now I can do it faster as I have enough exprience under my belt.  

The MS-6168 also required a full recap but the EP-7KXA is bigger and has more capacitors. By now I'm confident that I can tackle any recap task without headaches.

Next week I'll get to solder the Panasonic FR caps and pray that the motherboard is alive. I wasnt able to test it before I started this massive job.    

The CPU has been cleaned and it is working well.

I've even repaired the ball bearing fan by opening the bearing and packing it with fresh grease. I read that it could be done and I wanted to try it.  This is a fan that wont go into the bin. 

The full story will be told on the Project Logs section. I'll post here the POST screen if the motherboard will be among the living.


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 22, 2019)

Bungz said:


> Anyone else attracted to Poverty spec single channel socket A Nforce2 boards?
> 
> No?
> 
> ...


Back around 2000s when i was in college soltek is my fav


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 22, 2019)

Been going through old files and found a lot of interesting images and screenshots. I was avid about saving things.

This pic (Aug 18th, 2003)  brought back some memories. Had to be careful with those refurb board deals. This Soltek frn2-rl Golden Flame was $15 at NewEgg, if memory serves. Found a nice ball of solder wedged tightly under the socket tab. No way anyone had it working that way. These boards have no holes, so no bolt on cooler options. Decided to pop it out instead of dealing with a return since it appeared flawless otherwise. Turned out to be one of my  best overclockers.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 23, 2019)

*Flea market day today.*

Cooler S423 complete with clips.
Pentium 4 S423 1.6GHz - I have to clean it Monday and see the model number
Pentium 133 SY022
AMD 486DX2 66MHz - I have to clean it Monday and see the model number
Heatsink + Clips
SIMMs
4.2 EUROs for the lot


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 24, 2019)

Got two of these GPU coolers for 17€ total.

Don´t know if they are any good yet, but they might be useful for when I get more cards from 2003 and up.





'Cooler set for ACTUAL high-performance VGA cards'. So if the name is not on the list of compatible models, your card must be no good


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 26, 2019)

Half Life on an Athlon 700 with Voodoo II SLI.
I really enjoyed building this machine and the full tower was about to be binned, until I rescued it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 26, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> Half Life on an Athlon 700 with Voodoo II SLI.
> I really enjoyed building this machine and the full tower was about to be binned, until I rescued it.


A genuine Slot A Voodoo2 system... Now this is something that I always wanted to assemble, but never got around to finding Slot A motherboard, while I still had the chance 

Enjoy the moment & (most importantly), have fun!


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 26, 2019)

Longevity at it's finest :



64GB of SLC NAND 

Obligatory SSD tests :


----------



## 8bitgamer757 (Feb 26, 2019)

I'm getting a ThunkPad today pics coming when i get home 

So i got a beautiful IBM ThinkPad T22,, i am currently installing Windows XP Pro on it and need to get a bunch of drivers takenn care of after that. It has a 900Mhz Pentium_!!! _processor, 256Mb of pre-DDR ram a 20Gb HDD and a CD-RW DVD-ROM drive, will post updates as I progress through my journey


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 28, 2019)

I found an offer for some fans and heatsinks for just 5€ total and got this bundle (excluding the V60, that was 10€ extra):





Now the V60 and that Enermax 120mm fan are kinda recent still, but the collector part in me was excited to see that all the things were still sealed in its original packaging and unused. And those Thermaltake-Orbs are the OG ones from around 2000 ish. The blorb was not a well performing cooler, the oorb was received better but still had some majors flaws in terms of mounting hardware. This product line later developed into full sized CPU and GPU coolers in this shape. 
The two Papst fans are standard 80mm and fit the V60. Maybe I have a use for one of those in a very old PC-case too. 






That Asus V60 is a great addition to my testbench system with an E8500 in it. Had been using the intel stock heatsink before and on my mild 3.7GHz OC it got up into the 60°C+ range. With the V60 it stays at 45°C with 1.28V, plenty of room for higher OC now. 





The good part is that this thing fits my EVGA board really well, these 780i chipsets in combination with my super high-profile RAM leave little room for any oversized tower cooler. There is the RAM and opposite of that on the I/O side are the fins of the VRM heatsink that stand up quite a bit. Below the CPU is not much space due to the mainboard fan and chipset heatsink.

But the V60 is like it´s made for this board. It came with an adjustable fan, that has a little knob to control fan-speed, made by enermax. Not sure if that is the stock fan for this one.

Reviews mentioned this thing as the 'moped-engine' not just for the looks, but the noise too. It can rattle really bad, due to the fan being just dropped in from the top with that top-plate. Easy fix, just take a small patch of the soft side of velcro tape and stick it to the bottom of the top-plate = no more rattle.


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 28, 2019)

I have a CM V6 on a Phenom II x 4 965 (almost nostalgic now, lol) and man, does that thing cool well.
That V60 looks very tidy!


----------



## 8bitgamer757 (Mar 2, 2019)

Here are some pics of my thunkpad


----------



## Robert B (Mar 2, 2019)

The motherboard recapping was a complete success!

The EPOX EP-7KXA V0.4 Slot A motherboard is running like a dream.  Now with top of the line PANASONIC FR caps. No more bad caps era capacitors on this board! 48 caps have been replaced. After this job I can recap any board no matter the type of caps: SMD, Polymer, Electrolytic. It takes time but the rewards are far greater than the effort.


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## Dinnercore (Mar 9, 2019)

I´m not sure if this is already nostalgic hardware for most of you, but since I´m still rather young it is for me. It marks the time I got really into PC-Hardware, I was ~13 yo. No money for a high end PC-System but reading all about it in magazines and dreaming of having access to the good stuff.





I was really into the idea of multi-GPU back then, 3-way SLI was something I wanted to try. I´ve recently done a build based on the 780i chipset but found that it gets toasty quick when overclocking quad cores. So I looked around for the next step up and got this Striker II Extreme. 790i chipset and already prepared for integration into a waterloop. 
Now I know that the nForce stuff is not taking the crown in terms of CPU-OC, but from my testing so far it manages SLI very well. The full x16 PCIe lanes help a lot and with the 790i I can switch from DDR2 to DDR3.



 



The board itself is in good condition as far as I can tell, it came with the matching Supreme FX soundcard and I/O-Shield. Booted with full 8GB RAM without trouble (Geil EVO 2 1600 - CL7).


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## Robert B (Mar 9, 2019)

Today I found this puppy.

*Pentium 90 MHz Engineering Sample. *Lately the local flea market is full of surprises.  It costed little over 4 EUROs

*A80502-90 SX968 L5180097-0648 / 25010380ND MALAY 518 ES*


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 9, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The motherboard recapping was a complete success!


Very cool!


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## Robert B (Mar 13, 2019)

*Restored *and *Restored*.

The *P90* was gently cleaned using metal polishing cream and cotton sticks, the ceramic surface was gently massaged, followed by hot water and dishsoap and an IPA 99% wash. I straightened the pins to a point I considered it was sufficient. Afterwards I tried to see how it would fit using three S7 motherboards.

Every time I tried to insert it into the socket, one side wouldn't enter easily. On a close inspection I saw that one pin would get a little bent after I took the CPU out of the socket. This has happened on each of the three motherboards I tried. In the end I found the answer to my predicament . One pin of the CPU isnt centered in its socket and it is a little offset. *It seems ES comes with some quirks. Until now I didnt see something like this. * The CPU sockets of the three test motherboards are OK.

I didnt test the CPU but I'm 100% sure that it works. This CPUs are immortal. 


The *EP-7KXA* came out looking like *GLASS!* Those yummy PANASONIC FR caps look bitchin'  After the recap procedure it stood in a box and only today I had the time to do a final cleaning.


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## phill (Mar 13, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The motherboard recapping was a complete success!
> 
> The EPOX EP-7KXA V0.4 Slot A motherboard is running like a dream.  Now with top of the line PANASONIC FR caps. No more bad caps era capacitors on this board! 48 caps have been replaced. After this job I can recap any board no matter the type of caps: SMD, Polymer, Electrolytic. It takes time but the rewards are far greater than the effort.



I love how clean this hardware is @Robert B !!  Is that a Voodoo 5500?? I love this thread


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## Robert B (Mar 13, 2019)

@phill - it is indeed a V5 5500 AGP but to be true, technically speaking, it it has only one chip working so it is kind like a 5500/2=V4 4500 with 64MB  The price was good and I wanted to own it so it was mine ALL MINE!  I cleaned it and I will investigate the matter later. For now it is just a show piece. When I held it in my hands it struck me how fragile it really is.

With the main chip active it works like a dream. No problem. If I try to activate the second chip I get rows of vertical red lines and the PC freezes.

Some time in the future I'll change the capacitors and see what happens. Some guys have tried this and they got nothing in the end. The general consensus is that the second chip needs replacing but me being me I'll try every other options until I get to spend big for a chip swap. One big SMD OS-CON cap 470uf 6V doesnt get warm as it should when the card runs and maybe that is the problem. Also someone has fiddled with some of the SMD 10uf 16V caps. The 470uf 6V and 100uf 16V OS-CON are a little expensive and hard to come by but they can still be found. The 10uf 16V will be replaced with better ones LOW ESR Panasonic.

For now I just dont want to open a can of worms so I just enjoy having it in my collection.


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## phill (Mar 13, 2019)

It's definitely a card I need to get in my collection, boxed or unboxed I think...   @Robert B , I think it looks cleaner than the day it was released out the factory for sale!!


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## MrGenius (Mar 14, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The 470uf 6V and 100uf 16V OS-CON are a little expensive and hard to come by but they can still be found.


Ummm...not really. On both accounts. Readily available and cheap. Unless you consider < $2 a piece "a little expensive".


Robert B said:


> ...Panasonic.


United Chemi-Con makes the best caps(there's a reason most modern hardware is covered with them, and nothing else). I only get Panasonic when they're cheaper with the same specs, or have slightly better specs(which is almost never).

United/Nippon Chemi-Con > Panasonic ≥ Nichicon ≈ Rubycon ≥ OST(not Japanese, but still good caps, I don't care what you say)

Speaking of Panasonic caps and, coincidentally on the same page, ASUS coolers. I just recapped my P4S800-MX with Panasonic industrial caps and slapped an ASUS Silent Square on the P4EE 3.2 Gallatin I just spent and arm and a leg for. Keepin' 'er cooler than a cucumber. Haven't seen it break 40°C w/ 1.76V full load. Damn thing still won't OC for shit though. Can't even get 3.7 out of it(I can get 3.8 out of my 3.2 Prescott on the stock cooler for reference). Oh well.... Probably just needs a beefier VRM(seems to be tripping the OCP). Good news is @ 3.6 on air it still beats every other air cooled Socket 478 CPU, except the P4EE 3.4, pretty handily(in most use cases). 





Other notable hardware shown: XFX HD 4650 AGP 1GB DDR2 @ 775/563, G.SKILL F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX 2GB @ 450MHz 2.5-3-2-6 2T w/ 2.5V, SIIG SoundWave 7.1 PCI, TRENDnet  TEG-PCIXTR Gigabit PCI NIC, the rest is nothing special.


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## Animalpak (Mar 14, 2019)

One of my first High end system, the VERY first RAMPAGE EXTREME socket 775, Q6700 Core 2 Quad, Patriot DDR2 Nvidia SLI Edition i think 4 GB. A gtx 580

And a Corsair HX1000.


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## phill (Mar 15, 2019)

I'm not sure if this is nostalgic or not but...





Sadly I thought the box was in a bit better condition than it is but it's not the end of the world....    I'll not be buying another one like this again!!  Maybe the UD9 if it's boxed....


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 15, 2019)

phill said:


> I'm not sure if this is nostalgic or not but...
> 
> View attachment 118759
> 
> Sadly I thought the box was in a bit better condition than it is but it's not the end of the world....    I'll not be buying another one like this again!!  Maybe the UD9 if it's boxed....


Not sure that would qualify as it's a platform that is discontinued but still relevant. Still, damn cool find! Good price?


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## phill (Mar 15, 2019)

For the UD7 and the X5660 Xeon, I paid £135 posted, which isn't so bad as I bet around £10 to £15 of that was postage (depending on how the guy sent it  )  

I think @Tomgang might approve of it tho


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 16, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not sure that would qualify as it's a platform that is discontinued but still relevant. Still, damn cool find! Good price?


It's still a 10 year old platform though, relevant or not.

@ Phill -  My 5660


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## phill (Mar 16, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's still a 10 year old platform though, relevant or not.
> 
> @ Phill -  My 5660  View attachment 118772View attachment 118773



How much stuff you got there @Mr.Scott ?!!   Well at least I have some aim to try and beat ya   Do you still have all this hardware bud?


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 16, 2019)

phill said:


> How much stuff you got there @Mr.Scott ?!!   Well at least I have some aim to try and beat ya   Do you still have all this hardware bud?


Lol
That is a loaded question.
I very rarely get rid of any hardware. Anything that I've showed on pretty much any forum, I still have. All of it still works perfectly.
My wife once asked me "how much do you think all of that junk is worth?"
I was busy at the time so I just answered off the cuff, "eh, maybe 20-30K."
Her jaw hit the F***ing floor.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 16, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> maybe 20-30K


My guess is much more.


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 16, 2019)

I figured if I lowballed the impact would be less.


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## phill (Mar 17, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Lol
> That is a loaded question.
> I very rarely get rid of any hardware. Anything that I've showed on pretty much any forum, I still have. All of it still works perfectly.
> My wife once asked me "how much do you think all of that junk is worth?"
> ...



I'd love to know the worth of what I've got here just to make sure that I've got the right insurance for it all   That said, I'm going through everything at the moment and taking a note of what I have..  I think it's going to be a bit of a waste of time but hey at least I won't be able to get duplicates anymore   Well hopefully


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 17, 2019)

phill said:


> I'd love to know the worth of what I've got here just to make sure that I've got the right insurance for it all   That said, I'm going through everything at the moment and taking a note of what I have..  I think it's going to be a bit of a waste of time but hey at least I won't be able to get duplicates anymore   Well hopefully


I still get dupes all the time.
About the only thing I have ever actually inventoried are socket A processors. I have at least one of all ever released, and a couple the were never released to the public. None of it is insured.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 18, 2019)

Kind of off-topic, but still relevant to nostalgic hardware... Been playing "Duke Nukem Forever" for the first time, and I can't help but to notice how the game sucks, comparing to the original, from 1996.


 

 

 


I also can't believe it took them 15yrs to finish the game, so now we have a situation where the original game ran on early Socket 7 machines (I even successfully ran the game on AMD 5x86 @133MHz, with 32MB EDO RAM) with NO 3D acceleration whatsoever, where the sequel is aimed for current QuadCore/i3/i5 series & power hungry PCIe cards...


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## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 18, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> I figured if I lowballed the impact would be less.



Always lowball first offer, they can obly say no


----------



## HUSKIE (Mar 21, 2019)




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## biffzinker (Mar 21, 2019)

Hackaday said:
			
		

> The Compact Disc is 40 years old, and for those of us who remember its introduction it still has that sparkle of a high-tech item even as it slides into oblivion at the hands of streaming music services.


https://hackaday.com/2019/03/19/the-cd-is-40-the-cd-is-dead/


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 21, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> View attachment 119230
> 
> https://hackaday.com/2019/03/19/the-cd-is-40-the-cd-is-dead/


Can't say I feel bad for CDs & DVDs... IMO, they are one of the most unreliable media formats out there. Life span of a home-made CD is less than 10yrs, with DVDs having slight advantage, but are still prone to "disc rot", eventually.

Meanwhile the vinyl, or even those "dreaded" cassettes are making a comeback, a proven & successful formats which are probably going to outlive all of us!


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 21, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Can't say I feel bad for CDs & DVDs... IMO, they are one of the most unreliable media formats out there


I thought floppy disks had that hands down for being unreliable?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 21, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I thought floppy disks had that hands down for being unreliable?


Only if you mishandle them, and/or expose them to magnetic field(s). Most of my personal floppy diskettes work even today, with even some of the data, text files made on our 4x86 DX2 back in 1994, 1995 

At the same time, I'd LOVE to see a CD (or DVD for that matter) still running after 25+ years 

Edit
Oh yeah, and I forgot to add... Even if you somehow manage to preserve a working 25yr old CD (especially if it's a data disc), it is still going to shatter inside your CD/DVD drive eventually, it is only a matter of time. Even the Mythbusters addressed this "myth", when people said their CD drives suddenly blew up & that CD fragments flew all over the place. This actually happened to me once before, and let me tell you, it is most definitely NOT a myth. It only takes a small crack, or plenty of micro fractures (invisible to the naked eye), and the gravitational forces inside your drive will tear it apart as if it was made out of paper!

So, let me rephrase this... To preserve a functional CD/DVD, you would need to (chemically?) stop/prevent the metal surface from rotting, and you would have to use all your disks with much older units, incapable of reading/writing at high speeds.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 21, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> At the same time, I'd LOVE to see a CD (or DVD for that matter) still running after 25+ years


Wonder if any of my older game installation CD-ROMs have expired from old age? There stored in the dark away from exposure to the sun, the only thing that changes is the room temperature.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 21, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Wonder if any of my older game installation CD-ROMs have expired from old age? There stored in the dark away from exposure to the sun, the only thing that changes is the room temperature.


Are they original, from the factory or home made, written by a CD-RW unit? It all comes down to manufacturing process, and how CDs are made, vs the home-made copies which are "burned" by a laser beam.

And sorry to disappoint you, but the sunlight doesn't have anything to do with disc rot... Look it up (as I'm not quite sure, myself), but it's something to do with chemical reaction over time. The metal foil, data "surface" basically rots over time to the point where it changes chemical properties or something. As a result, the CD is no longer usable, it will simply won't detect any CD/DVD inside the drive.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 21, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Are they original, from the factory or home made, written by a CD-RW unit?


Original from the publisher, I think I only had one CD-R with patches for one of the games. I didn't think sunlight had anything to do with it but you did remind of the chemical reaction that leads to the rot.

Sorry for leaving so soon when I had a short chance to chat but I've got some stuff to take care of before heading to work.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 21, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Original from the publisher, I think I only had one CD-R with patches for one of the games. I didn't think sunlight had anything to do with it but you did remind of the chemical reaction that leads to the rot.
> 
> Sorry for leaving so soon when I had a short chance to chat but I've got some stuff to take care of before heading to work.


Nah, it's all good. We are just talking, there's no rush 

As for the CD(s), the original ones SHOULD be OK for a while longer. Really can't tell for how long but to be honest, I would never trust optical disc to hold (and preserve) valuable or irreplaceable information over the long period of time.




I have a huge collection of retro games, programs & even music, stored on home-made CDs, but with that being said, I had to pay the price for dealing with disc rot by renewing, copying my entire collection at least couple of times by now. Currently I'm using Verbatim discs for both CD & DVD media formats, but I also have digital ISO, BIN & MDF formats stored on my external hard drive ... just in case  I've learned my lesson the hard way, when I lost quite a lot of programs, back in 2008, 2009. I remember trying several encyclopedias & games on my Pentium 4 machine & only 2/3 of them were working correct. In fact, quite a lot of CDs already experienced read errors, so I caught the problem just in time. The solution was copying the entire collection to fresh discs, and downloading all the missing games/apps online through various sources & databases. At least I was lucky enough that it wasn't personal information, as in something irreplaceable.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 21, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> This actually happened to me once before, and let me tell you, it is most definitely NOT a myth. It only takes a small crack, or plenty of micro fractures (invisible to the naked eye), and the gravitational forces inside your drive will tear it apart as if it was made out of paper!


Got a good scare the one time it happened to me, and the drive didn't survive even after cleaning out the busted fragments.



Trekkie4 said:


> "dreaded" cassettes are making a comeback


Speaking of cassettes, did you know about the competitor to compact cassette? I didn't


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 21, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I didn't think sunlight had anything to do with it but you did remind of the chemical reaction that leads to the rot.


As long as the chemistry is right and the quality is good, sunlight should not effect a CDR/DVDR/BDR. I have CDR's recorded in the 90's that still work perfectly.



biffzinker said:


> Speaking of cassettes, did you know about the competitor to compact cassette? I didn't


Ah, Techmoan. Such a cool channel. I too had no idea Cassettes had competition either, or at least not beyond 8-track/vinyl.


----------



## phill (Mar 21, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> I still get dupes all the time.
> About the only thing I have ever actually inventoried are socket A processors. I have at least one of all ever released, and a couple the were never released to the public. None of it is insured.



You must sort that out mate   Just in case...
I'm wishing to find a boxed Abit NF7-S Rev 2 board..  I loved all of the ones I had..


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Only if you mishandle them, and/or expose them to magnetic field(s). Most of my personal floppy diskettes work even today, with even some of the data, text files made on our 4x86 DX2 back in 1994, 1995
> 
> At the same time, I'd LOVE to see a CD (or DVD for that matter) still running after 25+ years
> 
> ...



To an extent I have to disagree with how reliable floppys are.
I've got an entire box of them (100+ disks) and maybe 10% of them are still good and know this after going through the entire box to see. Most of them I can't format or do anything else with them, I will say however the floppy drive itself is also subject to failure, that being a factor too. If the drive goes bad then all the disks in the world are of no use.
What's funny about it is the newest drives I have by date are the ones that went bad from just sitting, the older ones still work and if the disk isn't bad will read those and such just fine.

I do agree that CD and DVD's you can buy are subject to the rot you speak of, chemical decomposition of the plastic they are made of and the data area/label are delicate too but actual movie/music disks are different in how "Durable" they are in terms of scratch resistance and overall rot.
The ones you use the make a movie or music disk are subject to get scratched in a hurry even if you make efforts to take care of them, the commercially made movie and music CD's are indeed superior in comparison.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Got a good scare the one time it happened to me, and the drive didn't survive even after cleaning out the busted fragments.
> 
> 
> Speaking of cassettes, did you know about the competitor to compact cassette? I didn't


Nope, I had no idea... Or rather - yes, I was aware of /other/ formats (which I also saw & found about in Techmoan's earlier videos), other than compact cassette, just like there was at least 2 other major competitors to VHS, but I never heard about this particular format, featured in the video. And yes, I'm subscribed to Techmoan  Same thing with VWestlife, and I occasionally watch LGR, Phil's Computer Lab, and/or 8-Bit Guy 



lexluthermiester said:


> As long as the chemistry is right and the quality is good, sunlight should not effect a CDR/DVDR/BDR. I have CDR's recorded in the 90's that still work perfectly.
> 
> 
> Ah, Techmoan. Such a cool channel. I too had no idea Cassettes had competition either, or at least not beyond 8-track/vinyl.


I used to have Traxdata Gold CD(s), which never had any read errors, despite being used hundreds of times, and obviously very old. One of their earliest editions I believe, which had a small black insert between the golden & blue labels. Anyhow, now I digress - one day I put the damn thing into my DVD-RW drive, which spun it up ... and it blew to zillion pieces! Exactly what (and how) @biffzinker described, it scared the crap out of me! Not only that, but it literally blew, ejected the CD tray half-way out, and pieces of shattered CD scattered around my computer case. By the time that happened, most of the energy already dissipated on the tray, and internals of the drive, so there wasn't enough mass (or speed) to injure my foot, or cause any injuries. But the actual drive was a total mess, a terminal damage. Lesson learned, always dispose the older discs and/or replace them at the first sign of trouble 

@Bones  Although I do agree with you to a certain point, I'm curious why replacing the (floppy) drive would be an issue? I mean, you can get these things for nothing, there's literally hundreds, thousands of them to choose from...?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2019)

Bones said:


> I've got an entire box of them (100+ disks) and maybe 10% of them are still good and know this after going through the entire box to see. Most of them I can't format or do anything else with them, I will say however the floppy drive itself is also subject to failure, that being a factor too. If the drive goes bad then all the disks in the world are of no use.
> What's funny about it is the newest drives I have by date are the ones that went bad from just sitting, the older ones still work and if the disk isn't bad will read those and such just fine.


I've just never had those problems. I have a few floppy drives and a bunch of discs. They work perfectly, no issues.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've just never had those problems. I have a few floppy drives and a bunch of discs. They work perfectly, no issues.


I got similar experience, myself. Most of my disks from back in a day (most, but not ALL) are still running OK, and they still hold DOS games, highscore results, even Word documents & similar.

On the other hand, most of the other disks which I received from friends & through donations are no longer working. In fact, some of them DID work, until I put them inside floppy drive(s), which then caused surface damage & permanently destroyed them. That was the case with several 5.25 disks, but eventually I took the unit apart, cleaned the heads & re-assembled it, so now it works OK & doesn't cause any damage to disks inside it 

Edit
Here, I even found the old pics...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> That was the case with several 5.25 disks, but eventually I took the unit apart, cleaned the heads & re-assembled it, so now it works OK & doesn't cause any damage to disks inside it


There's the key, gotta keep the drives clean. The disc's really should last for a few centuries if properly cared for.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> There's the key, gotta keep the drives clean. The disc's really should last for a few centuries if properly cared for.


Yup, agreed. Unfortunately, I was in the rush to finish the project(s), so I didn't want to take the entire thing apart for no reason. Still, in the end I had to... *shrug* See my original post, above  Apart from cleaning the heads, I also managed to fix an issue with write protection sensor, which was apparently clogged with dust & kept recognizing every single disk as write-protected, regardless of the notch, label.


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> @Bones  Although I do agree with you to a certain point, I'm curious why replacing the (floppy) drive would be an issue? I mean, you can get these things for nothing, there's literally hundreds, thousands of them to choose from...?



Never said replacing them would be a real issue and you are right, they can be found easily enough at this time. 
All I'm saying is if you don't have a working drive the disks themselves are useless, defective or not.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2019)

Bones said:


> Never said replacing them would be a real issue and you are right, they can be found easily enough at this time.
> All I'm saying is if you don't have a working drive the disks themselves are useless, defective or not.


Ah, OK... Sorry, I misunderstood you. It's a good thing I got 30+ units laying around, and god knows how much more among the spares... Better safe than sorry 

And speaking of floppies, we can debate all day & night whenever CD/DVD technology is better/more reliable than FDD, but when it comes to "coolness" factor let me ask you one thing - can your optical drive play "Video Killed the Radio Star"?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> And speaking of floppies, we can debate all day & night whenever CD/DVD technology is better/more reliable than FDD, but when it comes to "coolness" factor let me ask you one thing - can your optical drive play "Video Killed the Radio Star"?


Gotta add this one!








And we can't do those without this one!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2019)

Speaking of Floppotron ... two of my other favorites 










 








Fun fact, I went out shopping for vinyl earlier today, and asked them if they have Europe, "The Final Countdown" or Scarface OST. Unfortunately, they didn't have either


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 22, 2019)

phill said:


> You must sort that out mate   Just in case...
> I'm wishing to find a boxed Abit NF7-S Rev 2 board..  I loved all of the ones I had..


I see what you did, trying to get @Mr.Scott to send one of his duplicate NF7-S boards.


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I see what you did, trying to get @Mr.Scott to send one of his duplicate NF7-S boards.



He had to try you know.......


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I see what you did, trying to get @Mr.Scott to send one of his duplicate NF7-S boards.





Bones said:


> He had to try you know.......


"Curses! You've seen through my web of deceit!"


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 22, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> "Curses! You've seen through my web of deceit!"


 Don't know how it missed earlier, maybe being sleep deprived had something to do with it.


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2019)

That's OK - Just picked up a NF7 2.0 with all black RAM slots I'll have to fix if possible.
Like it was with the four AN7's I fixed earlier it's just something for me to do. 

If I get it running you'll hear about it here.

BTW three of the four AN7's are gone now, sent out to others over deals and such made but keeping the last one.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 22, 2019)

Should of hanged on to my Abit NF7-S V2 instead of sending it to recycling. What a noisy chipset cooler it turned into after a few weeks.


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2019)

Should have sold it instead of recycling - That's just another one gone for good.
The stock chipset coolers were known for that, I always set something else in place of those.


----------



## Caring1 (Mar 22, 2019)

phill said:


> You must sort that out mate   Just in case...
> I'm wishing to find a boxed Abit NF7-S Rev 2 board..  I loved all of the ones I had..


https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NOS-NEW...069421&hash=item21549730da:g:uCgAAOSw9qJabYBs

That price though *chokes*


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2019)

Down under, boards like those are much harder to come by. 
Two of the three AN7's I sold or traded off went there.


----------



## phill (Mar 22, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I see what you did, trying to get @Mr.Scott to send one of his duplicate NF7-S boards.



I've already got a board (another would be nice @Mr.Scott !!  but that wasn't my intention!!  Damn how sneaky was that??! lol) but I was after trying to find a boxed one..  I loved that board, so great at overclocking and the XP-M CPUs were amazingly tough CPUs..  Remember benching them under water..  2.3vcore off we went 







And a small group of cards 






Think some of those have gone now but..  I think there's a few more laying about somewhere lol 



Caring1 said:


> https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NOS-NEW...069421&hash=item21549730da:g:uCgAAOSw9qJabYBs
> 
> That price though *chokes*



If I had the money...  I did see one over in the USA..  I wish I had bought it   If anyone see's one......   I really do need to put up a wanted thread......


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2019)

All the ones I saw over here earlier were in the $80 or more price range with shipping included in the price. 
The board I grabbed yesterday wasn't that cheap for a non-working board but decided to take a chance on it anyway, could be a simple fix like I've found with other Abit boards I've worked on before.


----------



## phill (Mar 22, 2019)

If anyone see's a boxed Abit NF7-S Rev 2 please drop me a line   I've a list as long as my arm for hardware I'm still after, I really do have a problem    Sometimes things are just worth taking a chance on..  I really do miss the Abit boards....


----------



## s3thra (Mar 22, 2019)

I picked up this ATI X800 Pro HIS Excalibur the other week. Man this thing had some vintage dust caked in the heatsink fins, but I cleaned it up nice.

Plays well in my Win98/XP box now. I wish I had one of these back in the day - it's freaking beastly. I still have my both my Radeon 9600 XT and GeForce 6600 GT from that era. I replaced the 9600 with the 6600 to play Doom 3, but these beauties were just out of my price range at the time.

I wish I still had my Abit IS7 to use these on, but it fried about 10 years ago I suspect due to very heavy and prolonged experimental overclocking.

Anyway, pics:


----------



## Robert B (Mar 23, 2019)

*Bad day at the flea market today*.....I found a *3dfx VooDoo 5 5500* for little over 1 EURO...

I also found a *Medion* *GF4 MX460*. Back in the day I had a GF4 MX460 from Gainward. The MX460 doesn't pop up too often so I bought it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 23, 2019)

Shame that 5500 is destroyed.



phill said:


> I've already got a board (another would be nice @Mr.Scott !!  but that wasn't my intention!!  Damn how sneaky was that??! lol) but I was after trying to find a boxed one..  I loved that board, so great at overclocking and the XP-M CPUs were amazingly tough CPUs..  Remember benching them under water..  2.3vcore off we went



Like this?  
Board is totally volt modded for benching.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Shame that 5500 is destroyed.



it would appear that some wiseguy scrapped the card on purpose, recycled it for "gold"... *eye roll* I honestly can't understand why would ANYONE want to recycle /any/ PCB component for gold, as if they don't even realize how much (or rather, how little) gold is inside these things to begin with. And yet, there's a whole bunch of videos on YT, instructing people on how to get rich by recycling old computer parts for gold & other metals.


----------



## s3thra (Mar 23, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> it would appear that some wiseguy scrapped the card on purpose, recycled it for "gold"... *eye roll* I honestly can't understand why would ANYONE want to recycle /any/ PCB component for gold, as if they don't even realize how much (or rather, how little) gold is inside these things to begin with. And yet, there's a whole bunch of videos on YT, instructing people on how to get rich by recycling old computer parts for gold & other metals.


Oh that's awful


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2019)

s3thra said:


> Oh that's awful


Tell me about it... If you search for "recycling computer parts for gold" you will get the entire page of pure destruction. All in the name of "getting rich" & other crap...

I recently donated a non-working Voodoo card to a good cause. A fellow forumer wanted to frame the card & put it on his wall (or maybe a desk?), so I gave him 2 cards. Still better than cutting them up with pliers & roasting on the open fire


----------



## s3thra (Mar 23, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Tell me about it... If you search for "recycling computer parts for gold" you will get the entire page of pure destruction. All in the name of "getting rich" & other crap...
> 
> I recently donated a non-working Voodoo card to a good cause. A fellow forumer wanted to frame the card & put it on his wall (or maybe a desk?), so I gave him 2 cards. Still better than cutting them up with pliers & roasting on the open fire


Absolutely, these things are to be cherished, not destroyed for moronic reasons!

On the subject of Voodoo cards - I recently acquired a Voodoo 5500 from my friend. He actually just gave it to me. He knows how much they're worth now, but he just wanted to see it go to someone who is interested in getting it back up and running. I was so stoked.

Now my challenge is to pair it with a decent motherboard that is compatible with the 3.3V requirements. I have a Pentium 2 350MHz on a an Intel 440LX motherboard that will be electrically compatible, but the P2 is way under-powered for what this GPU can deliver. I managed to track down and buy a 440BX motherboard so I could then potentially pair it with a Pentium 3, but unfortunately it has freezing issues, so it's relegated to my "working but glitched" pile.

I'm hoping to track down something from the 2000-ish era with a universal AGP slot to test this bad-boy out properly, but stuff from back then is so rare and expensive most of the time. I'll keep an eye and out get there eventually though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2019)

s3thra said:


> Absolutely, these things are to be cherished, not destroyed for moronic reasons!
> 
> On the subject of Voodoo cards - I recently acquired a Voodoo 5500 from my friend. He actually just gave it to me. He knows how much they're worth now, but he just wanted to see it go to someone who is interested in getting it back up and running. I was so stoked.
> 
> ...


Wow!! I've never had a friend who would do something like that...  And yeah, I was going to recommend the same. Socket A (462) or 370 board, with universal AGP slot. I got loads of them in all shapes & forms, I even have an older Asus S478 board with universal AGP interface, that would accept Voodoo5. So you got multiple options to choose from


----------



## s3thra (Mar 23, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow!! I've never had a friend who would do something like that...  And yeah, I was going to recommend the same. Socket A (462) or 370 board, with universal AGP slot. I got loads of them in all shapes & forms, I even have an older Asus S478 board with universal AGP interface, that would accept Voodoo5. So you got multiple options to choose from


I have a nice Intel P4 845 Socket 478 board, but unfortunately it appears to be 1.5V only. Interesting about the 478 board that you have though - I think even the 423 boards that came before it were for the most part 1.5V AGP only. Do you know what the chipset is on your board?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2019)

s3thra said:


> I have a nice Intel P4 845 Socket 478 board, but unfortunately it appears to be 1.5V only. Interesting about the 478 board that you have though - I think even the 423 boards that came before it were for the most part 1.5V AGP only. Do you know what the chipset is on your board?


I'm trying to find the board model number as we speak... I got loads of them, too many to remember which. At least I think it's universal slot (pretty sure), it's been a while...  Will update my post if & when I find something

Edit
Found it!




So, the model number is P4SE/U2, using SIS chipset. Ironically, I don't think I have this board any longer, I think I gave it to someone... (It's been sitting around for ages, doing absolutely nothing)

Also, it would appear that SOME revisions of P4S533-MX also have universal AGP slots, but you need to be careful with those, since the newer revisions only had the "4X" one


----------



## s3thra (Mar 23, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm trying to find the board model number as we speak... I got loads of them, too many to remember which. At least I think it's universal slot (pretty sure), it's been a while...  Will update my post if & when I find something
> 
> Edit
> Found it!
> ...


Nice find with the P4SE/U2! Thanks! Just did my research on this board and yes, definitely a universal AGP on its SiS645 chipset.

I'll add this to my things to keep a look out for.

Cheers.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 23, 2019)

Asrock AM2NF3- VSTA board for the AGP 5500. 
 if you have a PCI 5500, you can run it in almost anything.


----------



## agent_x007 (Mar 23, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Asrock AM2NF3- VSTA board for the AGP 5500.
> if you have a PCI 5500, you can run it in almost anything.


Nope. nForce 3 is AGP 2.0 only (1,5V/0,8V). PCI is fine in anything


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 23, 2019)

My bad. You are correct. I had a PCI 5500 in that board. Just found the pic.


----------



## agent_x007 (Mar 23, 2019)

s3thra said:


> I have a nice Intel P4 845 Socket 478 board, but unfortunately it appears to be 1.5V only. Interesting about the 478 board that you have though - I think even the 423 boards that came before it were for the most part 1.5V AGP only. Do you know what the chipset is on your board?


ECS P4S5A/DX+ (LINK)


----------



## phill (Mar 24, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Like this?
> Board is totally volt modded for benching.
> 
> View attachment 119355



Well as the board has been modded, I'm not sure if I could offer you full price, so say about £5??  
What voltages are able to be changed with the modifications @Mr.Scott ??


----------



## s3thra (Mar 24, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> ECS P4S5A/DX+ (LINK)


This board is actually being sold on eBay at the moment from a couple of places in the EU.

I also happened to stumble across this article (German translated) which tries to list all high performance motherboards for the Voodoo5.


----------



## uuuaaaaaa (Mar 24, 2019)

Just by curiosity went and tried to find an ABIT IC7-MAX3 and the prices are insane!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-ABIT-...-ATX-Motherboard-Mainboard-w-BOX/123473271338
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ABIT-IC7-MAX3-Socket-478-Motherboard/292961395261

I'm glad that I have one with perfect box + all cables and manuals, but at the monent it is sitting in a nostalgic build


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 24, 2019)

Dismantling and cleaning an old HP keyboard. It's built like a brick outhouse.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 24, 2019)

phill said:


> Well as the board has been modded, I'm not sure if I could offer you full price, so say about £5??
> What voltages are able to be changed with the modifications @Mr.Scott ??


All of them. There are no limits via bios restriction any more. All of these will go 5v or better.
Vcore 
Vdimm
VDD
VTT tracking



s3thra said:


> This board is actually being sold on eBay at the moment from a couple of places in the EU.
> 
> I also happened to stumble across this article (German translated) which tries to list all high performance motherboards for the Voodoo5.


Great link. Thanks.


----------



## s3thra (Mar 25, 2019)

I pulled this AMD K6-2 from an old Compaq Presario (I think) last year. Works just fine - just a pity the mobo has no AGP. It came with a working S3 ViRGE PCI graphics card though, and I also have a Voodoo 2 on-hand, so maybe I could use them together for a sweet little late 90's odd-ware build.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 25, 2019)

s3thra said:


> I pulled this AMD K6-2 from an old Compaq Presario (I think) last year. Works just fine - just a pity the mobo has no AGP. It came with a working S3 ViRGE PCI graphics card though, and I also have a Voodoo 2 on-hand, so maybe I could use them together for a sweet little late 90's odd-ware build.
> View attachment 119444


Very nice! 

If you /do/ end up pairing that Voodoo2 with AMD chip, remember to use non-official 3dfx Voodoo2 driver - the original ones won't work under AMD, due to build architecture. So, if you're not familiar with this particular issue, it can take a LOT of time to troubleshoot & track down the issue. Even mislead you into thinking that the card itself doesn't work, when in fact everything's OK


----------



## s3thra (Mar 25, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Very nice!
> 
> If you /do/ end up pairing that Voodoo2 with AMD chip, remember to use non-official 3dfx Voodoo2 driver - the original ones won't work under AMD, due to build architecture. So, if you're not familiar with this particular issue, it can take a LOT of time to troubleshoot & track down the issue. Even mislead you into thinking that the card itself doesn't work, when in fact everything's OK


Thanks for the tip, really! I haven't done much research into Voodoo2 builds, so I'll file that one away in my memory bank for when the time comes to put something together. 

BTW, I managed to track down a board with a reasonable price tag that should be compatible with the Voodoo 5500! It's being sent from Germany, so there will be a while to wait before it shows up in Australia. It's a Gigabyte GA-8STXC, which was a board made for Fujitsu OEM machines and effectively the same as a GA-8ST. Fingers crossed it will be fine. I cross referenced compatibility with the Voodoo card on the link I posted earlier in the thread.

I have a 2.53GHz / 533FSB Northwoord Pentium 4 in the drawer which will sink into this board just fine too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 25, 2019)

s3thra said:


> Thanks for the tip, really! I haven't done much research into Voodoo2 builds, so I'll file that one away in my memory bank for when the time comes to put something together.
> 
> BTW, I managed to track down a board with a reasonable price tag that should be compatible with the Voodoo 5500! It's being sent from Germany, so there will be a while to wait before it shows up in Australia. It's a Gigabyte GA-8STXC, which was a board made for Fujitsu OEM machines and effectively the same as a GA-8ST. Fingers crossed it will be fine. I cross referenced compatibility with the Voodoo card on the link I posted earlier in the thread.
> 
> I have a 2.53GHz / 533FSB Northwoord Pentium 4 in the drawer which will sink into this board just fine too.


No prob 

Yes, I figured you wouldn't know about 3dfx/AMD issue, most people don't... Including myself, up until I've put together AMD-powered Voodoo2 SLI rig (RetroMaster 2500, from the profile) Of course, nowdays something like that would be out of the question, as AMD would most likely press charges against 3dfx, Voodoo series for discrimination or something, it's funny how world has changed ... for the worse, mostly *sigh*

And good luck with Voodoo5 rig, make sure to post pics as soon as you get it up & running


----------



## Artex (Mar 25, 2019)

stinger608 said:


> Yea, that is the king of nostalgic hardware for sure!!!!!
> 
> Haven't seen Artex around since though.



Still here!  Just... life...you know.  Here's a few to wet your whistle..

*NVIDIA NV1 - Diamond Edge 3D 2120XL Ver. 1.00 (STG2000X) 1MB PCI (Boxed) (1995)*


























To go with this..









*Primax Soundstorm Wave Sound M16-C GF1 1MB ISA (Boxed) (1992)*














*3DFX Voodoo5 5500 AGP Special Edition Mouse Pad with Apology Letter (2000)*






3D Blaster VLB





















































*3DFX Exit Packet* :depressed:  :depressed:  :depressed:  :depressed:  :depressed:





*3DFX Interactive MousePad (Old Logo)*





3DFX Voodoo3 - 3DFX V3000-16 Rev. 1.0 16MB AGP (Boxed) (1999)








*3DFX Voodoo Official Magazine Spring 1999*





*Abit NF7-S Version 2.0 NVIDIA Nforce2 Socket A ATX Motherboard (NOB) (2003)*














*Eagle JoinData Systems G486SLV Socket 3 with 256KB Cache (NOS) (1994)*





*EPoX EP-7KXA Via KX133 Slot A Motherboard (NIB) (2000)*











*Roland SCC-1A (Boxed) (1992)*











*Zalman CNPS 7000B-Cu LED CPU Cooler (NOS)*





*3DFX Voodoo2 - Quantum Obsidian2 90-2440 10MB PCI*





*3DFX Stationary*








*3DFX 'Take a Ride' Keychain*








*3DFX Matchbox*








*3DFX Voodoo5 6000 Case Badge*





*2 x 3DFX Voodoo2 - Diamond Monster 3D II 12MB PCI (Boxed) (1998)* Moar VOODOO 2s!








*Diamond Monster Sound MX400 PCI (NOS) (2000)* Working on rounding  out my collection of NOS Diamond Monster Sound cards.





*Turtle Beach Maui ISA (New, OEM) (1994)*





*Roland MPU-401 (Boxed) (1986)*Finally, a boxed version!








*Roland MA-8 Studio Monitor Speakers (Boxed) (1996)*I like Roland (duh) and these are in great shape!








*NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT - XFX nVidia GeForce 7950GT 512MB AGP (G71) (Boxed) (2006)*  Definitely overpaid for this but A) It's hard to find the AGP version vs PCIe, and B) it's complete in box.  Fastest AGP card folks...











*Media Vision Pro Audiospectrum 16 (650-0044-06) ISA (NOS) (1992)* I keep finding these for cheap prices.. so why not..





*NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT - Gainward BLISS 7800GS+ Silent 512MB AGP (G71) (Boxed) #2 (2006)*  Another boxed version of one of my favorite AGP card - NOT cheap back in the day!





*Creative CT2760 (Sound Blaster AWE32) ISA (Box Only) (1994)*  Snagged this box for dirt cheap - gonna add the card for my second boxed version of the 2760.





*3DFX Voodoo2 - Metabyte Wicked3D WickedVision H3D Eyewear System (1998)*





*2 x ASUS ROG MATRIX Platinum HD 5870 2GB P-2DIS-2GD5 PCI-E (Cypress XT) (Boxed) (2010)*  I had these cards back in the day for Crossfire before I moved to a single card solution.  These are the higher-clocked Platinum versions that are completely bad-ass, especially with the glowing MATRIX logos.  SOLID!











*2 x 3DFX Sticker Aluminium - Metallic Logo Case Badge - 1 inch x 1 inch*





*AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (AXDA3200DKV4D) Socket A (Barton) (AQYFA) (2003)* This one is rather rare and took me a few years to track down.  I will be throwing this in my EPoX 8k3A+ for use with my Voodoo5 6000 system!


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 25, 2019)

How about the LGR video to go along?


----------



## Artex (Mar 25, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> How about the LGR video to go along?


That's the exact card I bought.  Just picked up the boxed 2120 a few weeks ago.


----------



## hat (Mar 25, 2019)

Holy crap @Artex! There's a lot of interesting stuff there. Old hardware aside, all those oddball trinkets like the Voodoo coffee cup...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 25, 2019)

hat said:


> Holy crap @Artex! There's a lot of interesting stuff there. Old hardware aside, all those oddball trinkets like the Voodoo coffee cup...


Nah, that's nothing... You should go back & take a look at his earlier posts, from couple of years ago!  -LINK

Even now, 3 years later, I'm STILL drooling!


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 25, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah, that's nothing... You should go back & take a look at his earlier posts, from couple of years ago! -LINK
> 
> Even now, 3 years later, I'm STILL drooling!


Like this post?
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-3431870

Edit: Missed the link


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 25, 2019)

Holy retrograde remembrance time


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 25, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Like this post?
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-3431870
> 
> Edit: Missed the link


No, you're right... I totally missed this other one! 

The legend has it that @Artex owns a time machine ... and a very large storage room


----------



## Bones (Mar 25, 2019)

Got a socket A related goodie myself today. 
Was said it didn't work but that's what solder stations and the like are for - If it can be revived I'll do it.


----------



## AMD_4life (Mar 25, 2019)

Hey I'm new here i wonder if any of you fine lads could help get the best mobo for an AMD Phenom X3 8650


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 26, 2019)

AMD_4life said:


> Hey I'm new here i wonder if any of you fine lads could help get the best mobo for an AMD Phenom X3 8650



Asus Crosshair III Formula would probably be the best bet


----------



## AMD_4life (Mar 26, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> Asus Crosshair III Formula would probably be the best bet


Thanx Athlonite AND nos where can i round one? hehehehe


----------



## Artex (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Like this post?
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-3431870
> 
> Edit: Missed the link


I've moved since then!


----------



## AMD_4life (Mar 26, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> Asus Crosshair III Formula would probably be the best bet


I can't find that Asus crosshair iii fórmula Most blogs say that these are the best mobos for my cpu

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
ASUS M4A79 Deluxe
Foxconn A79A-S 
 I apreciate any suggestions


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 26, 2019)

UD4P is a fantastic overclocking board. I have a couple. Getting harder to find.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

Artex said:


> I've moved since then!


Still is an impressive display.


----------



## Artex (Mar 26, 2019)

Thanks all! 

If anyone would like to take a look at the entire collection, you can find my OneDrive link here:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArbMcC8Eb2J6gtshYn4vgvG29c5lQA

Enjoy all!


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

Artex said:


> Thanks all!
> 
> If anyone would like to take a look at the entire collection, you can find my OneDrive link here:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArbMcC8Eb2J6gtshYn4vgvG29c5lQA
> 
> Enjoy all!


I'll take you up on the offer when I get home from work.


----------



## Artex (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I'll take you up on the offer when I get home from work.


Awesome!  If anyone has any questions or thoughts they'd like to share, I'm game!  I'm passionate about this retro stuff and keeping the community alive.  Clearly, the nostalgia bug bit me HARD and I've never been the same since.  If the doorbell rings and you feel giddy like it's Christmas time when the postman comes, then you're in the right spot!


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 26, 2019)

AMD_4life said:


> I can't find that Asus crosshair iii fórmula Most blogs say that these are the best mobos for my cpu I apreciate any suggestions


https://www.ebay.com/p/ASUS-Crossha...of-Gamers-Socket-AM3-AMD-Motherboard/77556897


----------



## AMD_4life (Mar 26, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> https://www.ebay.com/p/ASUS-Crossha...of-Gamers-Socket-AM3-AMD-Motherboard/77556897


It's a crear mobo but ir doesn't support my cpu :/ thanx any way for the link

I have a phenom X3 8650 cpu and a gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P mobo if anyone can help me choose a good GPU and a good power supply it would be great


----------



## Bones (Mar 27, 2019)

Brand new in the box: Socket 754 DFI NF4X Infinity.





This one goes in the closet until needed.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 28, 2019)

Not sure if it's been mentioned before, but HERE you can fine "tech demos" for all the ATI/AMD Radeon cards from 2001 to 2009.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 28, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not sure if it's been mentioned before, but HERE you can fine "tech demos" for all the ATI/AMD Radeon cards from 2001 to 2009.


Nivida's oldest (Geforce 256) to newest demos can be found at this link (click me). No demos were made for the Riva TNT/TNT2?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 28, 2019)

Awesome, thanks for sharing! Hopefully @stinger608 will add these to the original post 

As for TNT/TNT2, I have no idea... *shrug*


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 28, 2019)

Nothing I was able to find except 3DMark 2000 as tech showcase.

Edit: Hopefully he's alright since March 17th last sign in.


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 29, 2019)

Or 3DMark 99 if you can get it to run was always a fun bench to run on my old TNT2 M64 back in the day or FR08 http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=1221 from and early demo party oh and it still runs on todays hardware too


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 29, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Nothing I was able to find except 3DMark 2000 as tech showcase.
> 
> Edit: Hopefully he's alright since March 17th last sign in.


Indeed... Probably due to personal reasons, I didn't want to intrude his privacy with unnecessary questions.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 29, 2019)

Finally I  got over my laziness and put the S462 rig together. Burning WinXP now, can't even remember when I burned a disc last time. 

e: Now installing drivers and benchmarks. Also it has an optical drive so I can install some old games.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 29, 2019)

https://hackaday.com/2019/03/29/teardown-of-a-50-year-old-modem/


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 29, 2019)

These are on FB marketplace in my city, £20 each.

BOXED JETWAY N2PAP-LITE 462 A ATX MOTHERBOARD
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/339836850210031/ 

BOXED ECS K7S5A 462 A ATX MOTHERBOARD 
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2316807365266082/ 

Both look like new


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 29, 2019)

tigger said:


> BOXED ECS K7S5A 462 A ATX MOTHERBOARD
> https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2316807365266082/


Is that the famous ECS K7S5A?

I got distracted looking at this site, https://soggi.org/ Has anyone heard of this site? Seems like a helpful resource for Windows XP and older hardware.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 30, 2019)

£20 for a Socket A motherboard?! Wow, seems I'm way behind on my value estimation... I mean, I know it's boxed & all, but still... 

Edit
Not sure what model it is exactly, but I have a dark blue/purple ECS Socket A mobo somewhere. It was going to be another project, which then became "the spare" eventually.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 30, 2019)

I need to get a good S462 mobo myself, something like NF7-S, AN7 or Lanparty NF2 Ultra B.

That VIA KT400A ASRock which I have, isn't good. Only +5% and +10% overvoltage choices and doesn't have the multiplier selection on bios. Well, at least my Athlon 1GHz AXIA clocks fine at 1.4GHz via FSB. It also doesn't like ATI cards (tried 9700 Pro and X800 Pro), 3DMarks crash in some point. With GeForce 6600 GT, no problems at all.

edit: It's this board: https://www.asrock.com/mb/VIA/K7VT4A PRO/


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 30, 2019)

Yes, you need a NF2 board for sure.


----------



## SniperHF (Apr 1, 2019)

Had a K7S5A, purchased in one of those Fry's Electronics bundles.  

Bricked it while trying to do a BIOS update


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 2, 2019)

SniperHF said:


> Had a K7S5A, purchased in one of those Fry's Electronics bundles.
> 
> Bricked it while trying to do a BIOS update


If you still have it, you can hotflash the BIOS in another board


----------



## TOMCAT (Apr 4, 2019)

OK, let me say something to the "famous" K7S5A (pro).

I would say "well known" for driver issues and not very stable in running windows.
Kept two boards for SD-RAM testing, but did not use them at least 5 years.
The pro version 5.0 in a K7S5A non-pro box



and the regular non-pro Version with bad caps.



 and a picture dedicated to Artex' collected Ageia PhysX card by BFG.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 4, 2019)

I really need to dig out that ECS of mine one of these days & see what I actually have... Think it COULD be "N2U400-A", but I'm not sure - it's been far too long.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I really need to dig out that ECS of mine one of these days & see what I actually have...


Have any luck finding out what you've got on hand?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 4, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Have any luck finding out what you've got on hand?


No, not yet. I know where it is (I think), I just need to take some time to actually do it. Been having crapload of problems ever since 2019 started, so I just need to wait for that right moment ... hopefully!


----------



## phill (Apr 4, 2019)

Artex said:


> I've moved since then!



Just a whole load of awesome right there...  Man that is massively impressive!!  I'm loving the Voodoo cards, I've struggled to see any boxed cards..  Such a shame I have no money


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 6, 2019)

Getting a HD 4890 soon, first consumer card which OC'd over 1GHz


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Getting a HD 4890 soon, first consumer card which OC'd over 1GHz


What are you pairing it with?


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 6, 2019)

Russ64 said:


> EVGA RTX 2080 XC Gaming


 Not quite Nostalgic ( unless your nostalgic about the coins used to pay for it )
Better place would have been
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-tech-related-purchase-thread.225885/page-108


----------



## Russ64 (Apr 6, 2019)

Thanks - already moved it ....


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> What are you pairing it with?


Phenom II X4 940 BE @ 3.5GHz


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 10, 2019)

Did some benchmarking last night. Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 4GB DDR2-800, Radeon HD 3850 AGP 



Spoiler
























Need to pencil-mod the card to push the GPU even further... VPU Recover kicks in @ 810MHz and more VRAM OC starts to lower the score.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 11, 2019)

Shuttle AN35N-Ultra - http://www.shuttle.eu/_archive/older/en/an35n.htm

Found this on ebay.
Shuttle AN35N-Ultra +CPU+1 GB


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 11, 2019)

nForce 2 Ultra and nF3 250/250Gb/Ultra are just pure gold.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 11, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Shuttle AN35N-Ultra - http://www.shuttle.eu/_archive/older/en/an35n.htm
> 
> Found this on ebay.
> Shuttle AN35N-Ultra +CPU+1 GB


All the caps look good and that board was a champ for OCing. Nice find. Doesn't say what the CPU is though, so who knows if that price is good.


----------



## NoJuan999 (Apr 11, 2019)

Here is some old hardware I was looking through yesterday.


----------



## kazz (Apr 12, 2019)

Bones said:


> Brand new in the box: Socket 754 DFI NF4X Infinity.
> (pic about DFI mobo)
> This one goes in the closet until needed.



Oh.. the era when mobos had that little nasty chipest fan ))) was typically rather noisy and wasnt last long. Good that its not maistream trend anymore. 
but nice find still!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 12, 2019)

Bones said:


> Brand new in the box: Socket 754 DFI NF4X Infinity.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh Gosh! I used to have that board, its my first PCIe board coupled with Radeon X550. Fond memories, its very picky about what RAM it uses, unable to boot from my Corsair XMS memory but able to boot cheapo value RAM at the same speed.


----------



## havli (Apr 14, 2019)

This test is by no means new, in fact it was published in czech about 4 years ago... 
Anyway, now I managed to translate it to english and republished it on my website http://hw-museum.cz/article/5/cpu-history-tour--1995---1999-/1

The ultimate plan was to cover CPU development between 1995 and present time (or at least close to it). I have two more parts complete and written in czech. And the foutrh one (which ends in 2007) measured completely, but no article written. There is a good chance I'll translate the other two parts sooner or later... but the rest is still unclear, will depend on my free time and will to continue.


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 14, 2019)

Nine years ago, when I was into transparent cases.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 14, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> Nine years ago, when I was into transparent cases.
> View attachment 121053
> 
> View attachment 121054


Also LED lighted fans, the early start of what's now known as RGB on everything.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 14, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> Nine years ago, when I was into transparent cases.
> View attachment 121053
> 
> View attachment 121054


Oh yeah, now that looks really awesome! Would love to see a 3dfx SLI config inside one of these... 

@biffzinker I actually got quite a lot of those "eye candy" gadgets back in a day... Cooler Master Aerogate, Musketeer, LED fans, CFL case lamps, etc.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 14, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh yeah, now that looks really awesome! Would love to see a 3dfx SLI config inside one of these...


Looking closer at that ECS motherboard it seems it had solder pads for a PCIe x16 slot. Doesn't look like a AGP slot to me unless the occupied slot is AGP.


----------



## havli (Apr 14, 2019)

Oh yeah, transparent case - I also loved it at the time. I even built one 10 years ago. It was impossible to buy one here, so I had to make my own design.
Btw - 3dfx SLI is not a problem here


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 14, 2019)

havli said:


> Oh yeah, transparent case - I also loved it at the time. I even built one 10 years ago. It was impossible to buy one here, so I had to make my own design.
> Btw - 3dfx SLI is not a problem here
> 
> View attachment 121056
> ...


EpoX motherboard? Going off the appearance of the northbridge heatsink.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 14, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Looking closer at that ECS motherboard it seems it had solder pads for a PCIe x16 slot. Doesn't look like a AGP slot to me unless the occupied slot is AGP.


Oh... No, no, you misunderstood me. What I meant to say is that I'd remove all this modern stuff  & put a genuine Slot 1, or early S370 inside & then pair it with 3dfx 

No disrespect to @Splinterdog's choice of hardware of course, but it's just not "my thing".

@havli AWESOME!! S478 rig?


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 14, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Looking closer at that ECS motherboard it seems it had solder pads for a PCIe x16 slot. Doesn't look like a AGP slot to me unless the occupied slot is AGP.


I'm pretty sure it's PCIe. In fact, I had two cases like that and ended up selling them when the fad passed.Oh and I lost count of how many ECS motherboards that I had to bin in my shop.
They really were pretty bad in those days.


----------



## havli (Apr 14, 2019)

@biffzinker 
Yes, it is Epox 8k5a3+, the best KT333 board (that I know of).  

@Trekkie4 
So not s478, but socket 462 retro PC. With Athlon XP 3000+, 512 MB DDR, Voodoo5 5500 AGP, SB Live 5.1, Adaptec 29160N and bunch of 10k and 15k SCSI drives.


----------



## Artex (Apr 14, 2019)

*NVIDIA RIVA TNT2-PRO 22nm - Gigabyte GA-660 Plus Rev 1.4 32MB AGP (2000)*





*Media Vision Pro Audiospectrum (8-bit) (Blue Caps) ISA (1991)*








*3DFX Voodoo - Diamond Monster 3D 4MB PCI (US) (Boxed) (1997)*














*Epox EP-8K3A+ Rev 1.2 Socket 462 #4 (2002)*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 14, 2019)

Artex said:


> *NVIDIA RIVA TNT2-PRO 22nm - Gigabyte GA-660 Plus Rev 1.4 32MB AGP (2000)*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Artex, wish I could like your content more than once!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 15, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> Nine years ago, when I was into transparent cases.
> View attachment 121053
> 
> View attachment 121054


I had one of those! It was 2004 for me. Had Red, Green and Blue versions with matching LED fans as well.



havli said:


> It was impossible to buy one here, so I had to make my own design.


Impressive! Nicely done.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 15, 2019)

My windows XP rig got a soundcard upgrade, its an Audigy 2 ZS. My first Audigy cards. Funny that soundcard is longer than graphics card (it's a Radeon 9550) 





EAX sounds a bit better runs natively in windows XP than using wrapper in latter Windows. It doesn't clip especially in Doom3. In GTA San Andreas it won't lose audio after rain. Excellent


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 15, 2019)

Maybe not all that nostalgic, but it's what I use for VHS transfer to HDD.
Asrock N68-S UCC 
Athlon II 250
3 Gb DDR2
Sapphire Radeon 5750 1Gb
Encore TV tuner/capture card
Windows XP SP2
It does the job using Windows Movie Maker, quite admirably.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 15, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> Maybe not all that nostalgic, but it's what I use for VHS transfer to HDD.
> Asrock N68-S UCC
> Athlon II 250
> 3 Gb DDR2
> ...


I'd say it qualifies. You're using an older system to transfer video from a way old format to something more modern for nostalgia's sake. I say well nice!


----------



## HUSKIE (Apr 15, 2019)

Spring cleaning and found this old Lan party Motherboard.


----------



## DR4G00N (Apr 15, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> Spring cleaning and found this old Lan party Motherboard.


That thing has seen better days, RIP nF4 SLI-D.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 15, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> Spring cleaning and found this old Lan party Motherboard.
> 
> View attachment 121108


Looks like it has some damage down by the SATA jacks and the bottom PCI slot. Seems like deliberate cuts with a tool of some sort. What happened to it?


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 15, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> Spring cleaning and found this old Lan party Motherboard.
> 
> View attachment 121108


Does the saw behind the board have anything to do the cut into the PCB between the SATA ports, and the PCI slots?


----------



## HUSKIE (Apr 15, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looks like it has some damage down by the SATA jacks and the bottom PCI slot. Seems like deliberate cuts with a tool of some sort. What happened to it?



If I remembered I cut it when I had a new angle grinder back 2009. That board had failed to read any rams. Lol


----------



## DR4G00N (Apr 16, 2019)

Got some Quad-SLI action going on!


----------



## E-Bear (Apr 16, 2019)

I don't know if you can call it Nostalgic and old enough but I built a 775 pc from all free parts found on side curb, trash and electronic recycling except cpu I bought last week.

Also found a pair of Xeon that I will order the adapter tape and drop one in there. 
E5430 which is same speed and fsb as a q9400 but double the cache.

Mobo Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L v.1.1
CPU Q9400
Memory 4 gigs ddr2-800 (2x2gb)
Hdd 500gb Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS
Psu Thermaltake TR2-430W (TR2-430NP)
Odd LG dvd-rw
Stock cooling


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 16, 2019)

E-Bear said:


> I don't know if you can call it Nostalgic and old enough but I built a 775 pc from all free parts found on side curb, trash and electronic recycling except cpu I bought last week.


It's old enough to qualify, so yes you found the right club thread. So pat yourself on the back for a job well done, you made it.


----------



## E-Bear (Apr 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> It's old enough to qualify, so yes you found the right club thread. So pat yourself on the back for a job well done, you made it.




At my age I'm not flexible enough to pat myself on the back.


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 16, 2019)

This is the icing on the cake


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 18, 2019)

Finally got myself a GeForce DDR (32MB)


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 19, 2019)

Nice. Same exact card I have. Clocks pretty good too.


----------



## Susquehannock (Apr 19, 2019)

Great thread. Love seeing all the old hardware.

Anyone here have experience with the Shuttle AN35N Ultra? Thoughts?

I just bought one on eBay for what seems like a decent price compared to the outrageous prices of other nForce2 boards. Hopefully will arrive by end of next week. Seller said fully tested and all caps look good in the images. From what I have read it's not a stellar overclocker but sounds like a simple and stable platform. And I like looks of the layout with most of the cable connectors at upper right.

TIA

[edit]
Did a TPU search. Lexluthermiester said in post #7,809 they are champ for OCing. Very encouraging. And there is a volt mod article too. Not sure I will go that far but nice to know if I want to go crazy.


----------



## Ahhzz (Apr 20, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Great thread. Love seeing all the old hardware.
> 
> Anyone here have experience with the Shuttle AN35N Ultra? Thoughts?
> 
> ...


@lexluthermiester you have any additional input on these lately?


----------



## Robert B (Apr 20, 2019)

Enhanced VGA Tseng ET4000AX 1MB - ISA P/N 2142S00105
SDRAM 2x256MB PC133 with blue heatspreader - 256UCURTWGBA
SDRAM 2x128MB PC150 with blue heatspreader


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 20, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Great thread. Love seeing all the old hardware.
> 
> Anyone here have experience with the Shuttle AN35N Ultra? Thoughts?
> 
> ...


They're no Abit, or DFI board but they can be effective.
I have a modded overclocking bios for that board if you're interested. 

Just adding a FYI for all you old schoolers:
I have an extensive modded bios collection for all the old school platforms. Hundreds actually. You can't find links for these any more.
Just ask. You can also visit my site.
http://warp9-systems.proboards.com/
All are welcome. If I can help you, I will.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 20, 2019)

Ahhzz said:


> @lexluthermiester you have any additional input on these lately?


As long as the caps are in good condition, that board had the chops for solid OC's, however...


Mr.Scott said:


> They're no Abit, or DFI board but they can be effective.


This. It's nForce 2 based. The couple of these Shuttle boards I crossed paths with BITD, OC'd very well.


Mr.Scott said:


> I have a modded overclocking bios for that board if you're interested.


Nice!


----------



## Susquehannock (Apr 20, 2019)

No Abit or DFI. That is a good way to put it. Always wanted a EPoX 8rda+ board too. Don't see those come up often.

Thank you for the BIOS and letting me register over at W9 Mr Scott.  Poking around there now.

Next project is getting the old Black Panther case ready. Have to remove the ASUS a7n8x board first. It has bulging caps all over, two by the socket are actually leaking. Amazingly, it still runs perfectly ... for now.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 20, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Have to remove the ASUS a7n8x board first. It has bulging caps all over, two by the socket are actually leaking. Amazingly, it still runs perfectly ... for now.


Replace those caps, that board is worth saving! Capacitor replacements are not difficult. Takes a bit of homework and a bit of skillful soldering, but carefully done it is easy and works wonders. I'd even recommend doing it on that Shuttle board, just to be safe. You can even buy kits if you look in the right place. Youtube is an excellent resource for learning if you have no knowledge of such. It's worth your time.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 20, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's worth your time.


And it saves old hardware.


----------



## Susquehannock (Apr 20, 2019)

Yes. Definitely worth saving. Built several systems around the a7n8x when I had my little side business back in the day. A few months ago a friend happened to mention he just threw away one I built for him, and about crapped when I told him people were asking $200-$250 for those boards now.  The 500mb TwinMOS modules with bh-5 chips and Antec plus1080AMG case would have sold well too.  Oh well. Hopefully someone at the scrapper saved it.

Agree. Re-capping is not that difficult. I did it successfully with my spare Abit KR7A. And if I can do it anybody can. It worked great for a while then it didn't. Set it aside and put the other newer revision KR7A back in. Figured my soldering job was to blame, or it was simply worn out since I did overclock the snot out of that board before moving on to the NF2s.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 20, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Agree. Re-capping is not that difficult. I did it successfully with my spare Abit KR7A. And if I can do it anybody can.


Ok, cool, so you know what you're getting into then. If you havn't heard of or seen it yet, I highly recommend no clean flux;
https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-836LFNC-Clean-Bottle/dp/B01MYEE84K
The stuff is a joy to work with and has no ill effects on working surfaces.
You'll need dispenser bottles too;
https://www.amazon.com/Needle-Dispenser-Solvent-Applicator-Dropper/dp/B00UG08QDC


----------



## Susquehannock (Apr 21, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ok, cool, so you know what you're getting into then. If you havn't heard of or seen it yet, I highly recommend no clean flux;
> https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-836LFNC-Clean-Bottle/dp/B01MYEE84K
> The stuff is a joy to work with and has no ill effects on working surfaces.
> You'll need dispenser bottles too;
> https://www.amazon.com/Needle-Dispenser-Solvent-Applicator-Dropper/dp/B00UG08QDC


Cannot thank you enough for that. And so timely. Was assessing my game plan thinking I need to do better this time around. Here's the hard part ... because I used plumbing flux knowing full well it was a bad idea. Twas all I had. Still no excuse.
Slaps self > 

One saving grace is I had good sense to stop short before doing the Soltek SL-75DRV4 too. Had everything lined up on the bench ready to go. Got that board for $12 new in a NewEgg clearance sale and never used it. Caps went bad sitting in the box. Pulled aforementioned Abit KR7A out of mothballs and can see a questionable solder joint on one of the caps I put in. Going to completely re do it. With proper flux, thanks to you.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 21, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Cannot thank you enough for that.


YW!


Susquehannock said:


> I used plumbing flux knowing full well it was a bad idea. Twas all I had. Still no excuse.


Everyone learns. No worries. Hopefully you cleaned the flux of after...


Susquehannock said:


> One saving grace is I had good sense to stop short before doing the Soltek SL-75DRV4 too.


Some people look at that as a chore. I look at it as a bit of fun restoring something to it's former glory. Have fun and show us pictures as you go!

EDIT; Also, for the work you're doing, Tin/Lead solder might work better/easier for you as the melting temp is lower and it's generally easier to work with.
https://www.amazon.com/MAIYUM-63-37-solder-electrical-soldering/dp/B075WB98FJ


----------



## DR4G00N (Apr 21, 2019)

The good old day's when quad gpu's was a thing and actually ran fairly well. 

Stalker COP bench with MSAA disabled. The actual game doesn't work with MSAA enabled, just sits at a black screen when starting the game, though the bench works fine with MSAA for some reason.

When playing the game it sit's around 100-150fps with GPU's 1 & 2 @ ~90%+ usage, GPU's 3 & 4 bounce around 70-95%. This is with every slider set to the maximum of course.

Tried to setup quad-sli in my Ryzen daily but it didn't like it, only let me use one card even using DifferentSLIAuto. One GTX 295 actually managed to run Metro Last light fairly well indoors @ 2560x1080 Very High. Outdoor scenes turn into a slog though because of the low VRAM.






With 4X MSAA


----------



## Susquehannock (Apr 25, 2019)

How about some retro keyboard love? Don't see them mentioned much.

The IBM model-M needs no explanation. Using it to type this post (_"click click")_ on the Dell T5500 in Win10.  AT to PS/2 adapter connected to board's PS/2 port.

Upper is an old HP #5187-0341 early 2000s era multimedia board. Also works in Win10. To my surprise most of the shortcut keys are functional. As are all the CD/DVD/mp3 control buttons which work with Windows Media Player automatically.

Really weird switching between the two. IBM has the classic buckling springs, and HP super soft spongy domes.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 26, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Really weird switching between the two. IBM has the classic buckling springs, and HP super soft spongy domes.


I've always preferred the soft-touch of the membrane-type keyboards. The clickity-click of mechanical keyboards just gets irritating after a while.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 26, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've always preferred the soft-touch of the membrane-type keyboards. The clickity-click of mechanical keyboards just gets irritating after a while.


Yes


----------



## SniperHF (Apr 26, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> To my surprise most of the shortcut keys are functional. As are all the CD/DVD/mp3 control buttons which work with Windows Media Player automatically.



I've had very good luck with these kinds of buttons over the years on old keyboards.  I've got an old Compaq kb with media buttons I still use as my primary kb for old systems.  It has really loud keystrokes but is not mechanical.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Apr 26, 2019)

My current retro keyboard is a near mint Dell Quietkey SK-1000REW...gave it a full disassembly and cleaning, scrubbed every key, etc., then gave it the "ghetto retrobright" treatment...I can get some photos if anyone is interested.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 26, 2019)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I can get some photos if anyone is interested.


Yeah, seems interesting.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 27, 2019)

I'm planning a restoration process of my Radeon 9600Pro some time soon, so stay tuned for upcoming updates. Just received the thermal pad(s) for the GPU core the other day & will have to slice them to correct dimensions, for the 9600's heatsink to sit properly (without touching all the contacts & capacitors around the core)

Edit
Just as I was writing the post above, I received a phone call from a friend, asking me if I'd be interested in computer parts. Shortly after, he dropped off two units, one (what it appears to be S370, either P3 or a Celeron) and the other one Slot-1, most likely a Pentium II. More pics & details coming up soon!

Edit2
It's a Pentium II, 350 (my favorite!) with generic (modern?) PCI sound card, ethernet & Rage IIc (PCI) graphics. It has a good potential, but with that being said, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it


----------



## emissary42 (Apr 28, 2019)

DDR2 Rejects


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2019)

The other machine seems to be Abit ST6, featuring a high-speed Coppermine, or maybe even Tualatin... This one is in total mess, full of nastiness & cobwebs, but otherwise in working condition. Again, will post more info & pics later on


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 28, 2019)

ST6 is a highly desired board. Nice catch. Pretty rare here.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2019)

As promised, Abit ST6...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> As promised, Abit ST6...


That thing OC's well. And with that P3, you should be able to get 1.4ghz easy with 1.5ghz being doable.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 29, 2019)

Nah... I mean seriously, what's the point? 

I know some of you here do OCing because of the enthusiasm & curiosity, but personally I like to keep my retro hardware running at stock speed(s). Especially since ST6 is considered rare, it would be a shame to toast the board (or CPU) for nothing.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah... I mean seriously, what's the point?
> 
> I know some of you here do OCing because of the enthusiasm & curiosity, but personally I like to keep my retro hardware running at stock speed(s). Especially since ST6 is considered rare, it would be a shame to toast the board (or CPU) for nothing.


If you're going to do classic gaming, there is a point. That board and CPU are very robust and OC effortlessly. *You will not hurt them* and for what you'd be doing, the OC would provide a measurable performance increase. The key is not to increase voltage unless you need it, and then only one or two ticks. Intel's voltage spec for the P3's was a bit generous and OC's were very easy as a result.


----------



## deflipe (Apr 29, 2019)

My 3rd V5 5500


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 29, 2019)

emissary42 said:


> DDR2 Rejects
> 
> View attachment 121899


i see... i see... Swissbit???

oh oh ohhhh nice !
formerly Siemens AG ... interesting.
Swissbit Group: Gais, Switzerland 
Swissbit AG: Bronschhofen (St. Gallen, Lake Constance area)


----------



## emissary42 (Apr 30, 2019)

GreiverBlade said:


> i see... i see... Swissbit???


Back in the days, they were not that uncommon here in germany. You would frequently find them even in prebuilt systems. Those Cell Shocks are a very different story in comparison.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 30, 2019)

That rusty & messy ST6 had been entirely disassembled, and some of the parts had been re-purposed, integrated into other machines. Everything else got scrapped 

What remained is obviously the motherboard itself, CPU (indeed a Tualatin, model SL5LT), two sticks of RAM and cheap Intel heatsink with plastic hooks - which immediately broke when I tried to unclip them from the CPU socket.


 

 



ST6 also had a shower, to wash away all the gunk off the PCI slots & memory banks, so now I'm waiting for the board to dry


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> which immediately broke when I tried to unclip them from the CPU socket.


Generally, any heatsink that will fit a Socket A will fit Socket 370, so a replacement should be easy to find.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 30, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Generally, any heatsink that will fit a Socket A will fit Socket 370, so a replacement should be easy to find.


Right, I know. It's all good, I got plenty of S370/462-A CPU coolers around... In fact, I might even have the original, Intel's heatsink with METAL clip, which might fit this old one. In which case I'll simply swap the clip/bracket & keep everything else fully stock.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 1, 2019)

This is one washed out ST-6 


 

 



I also fixed my Radeon 9600Pro... This one was kinda tricky, and I actually went through several different attempts, before I settled for this one, here. On a side note, I've only just noticed that the GPU reads Radeon "9550", and not "9600", even though this is most definitely a 9600Pro model.


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 1, 2019)

Odd, it supposed to write RV350 for 9600Pro. But I'm not surprised, my 9550 clocked to 9600Pro core clock successfully from lowly 250MHz to 400MHz no problem. The TSOP memory on the other hand don't clock as fast as BGA counterparts and hamper these card performance as compared to XT counterparts. 

I bought a X800XT PE but its full of artifacts even in BIOS, I don't know whether to fix it or not. It could be a simple reballing or it could be much worse. Your thoughts?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 1, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Odd, it supposed to write RV350 for 9600Pro. But I'm not surprised, my 9550 clocked to 9600Pro core clock successfully from lowly 250MHz to 400MHz no problem. The TSOP memory on the other hand don't clock as fast as BGA counterparts and hamper these card performance as compared to XT counterparts.
> 
> I bought a X800XT PE but its full of artifacts even in BIOS, I don't know whether to fix it or not. It could be a simple reballing or it could be much worse. Your thoughts?


If the question was aimed at me, I wouldn't know... You could try re-flowing the card, cooking it in the oven or something but without professional SMD gear, along with very steady hand & good sight, there's only so much you can do *shrug*


----------



## Bones (May 1, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I also fixed my Radeon 9600Pro... This one was kinda tricky, and I actually went through several different attempts, before I settled for this one, here. On a side note, I've only just noticed that the GPU reads Radeon "9550", and not "9600", even though this is most definitely a 9600Pro model.



Oddly enough this looks like the GPU chip in a PS3.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 1, 2019)

Bones said:


> Oddly enough this looks like the GPU chip in a PS3.


I wouldn't know about that, but the GPU design is just awful. Placing those small SMD capacitors right next to the GPU was a pretty stupid idea, because there's a high risk of shorting the terminals with aluminum heatsink.

Which is why they put some kind of heat-resisting tape around it, to cover them up, and then sandwiched everything with the actual heatsink. Unfortunately, damn thing got damaged when I removed it, so really - the only way around it was to find something else...

Edit
This is what the card looked like, when it was still original


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 1, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> If the question was aimed at me, I wouldn't know... You could try re-flowing the card, cooking it in the oven or something but without professional SMD gear, along with very steady hand & good sight, there's only so much you can do *shrug*


Im going to send it to professionals with proper tools and stations. I'll try to contact them. They live nearby. If possible I send it this weekend. The only thing I need to buy is old 5:4 monitor to complete my retro PC. Widescreen feels odd on old games that dont support it natively.

Oh you have the 256MB version hence the TSOP memory package. The 128MB have BGA memory. I used to have Powercolor 9600XT Bravo edition. Thinking about it, I cant remember what happened to it. Is it still in the attic somewhere?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 2, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> You could try re-flowing the card, cooking it in the oven or something but without professional SMD gear


I think that's what he meant by re-balling it. Seems likely anyway. Could be wrong..


----------



## Splinterdog (May 2, 2019)

Just for kicks, I found a 3DFX Voodoo 4, a 20 year old 10Gb HDD and a Pentium II 233 with an Intel AL440LX lying around.
All I need now is a case.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 2, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> Just for kicks, I found a 3DFX Voodoo 4, a 20 year old 10Gb HDD and a Pentium II 233 with an Intel AL440LX lying around.
> All I need now is a case.
> View attachment 122203


That's great, but would you mind if I ask you - why XP?! That Pentium II (not to mention the Voodoo card) would be SO much happier with Windows 98, Second Edition! (the one from the pic)


----------



## Splinterdog (May 2, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's great, but would you mind if I ask you - why XP?! That Pentium II (not to mention the Voodoo card) would be SO much happier with Windows 98, Second Edition! (the one from the pic)


I felt like a change. Besides, the Voodoo is on its way out unfortunately, so I'll have to use whatever Geforce cards I have.
As I said earlier, it's really just for kicks and to see how far I can push a Pentium II in XP.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 2, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> I felt like a change. Besides, the Voodoo is on its way out unfortunately, so I'll have to use whatever Geforce cards I have.
> As I said earlier, it's really just for kicks and to see how far I can push a Pentium II in XP.


Right, I understand.

It'll work, I'm not saying that it won't... In fact, I used to have XP on my Pentium II, 350 around 2003, 2004. But the poor thing will probably work at 100% all the time, having a tough time with even the basic operations, which is why I recommended 98.


----------



## Splinterdog (May 2, 2019)

I'll report back with my findings once I've got some games installed. I mean, I'm not doing this for word processing


----------



## Athlonite (May 3, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Im going to send it to professionals with proper tools and stations. I'll try to contact them. They live nearby. If possible I send it this weekend. The only thing I need to buy is old 5:4 monitor to complete my retro PC. Widescreen feels odd on old games that dont support it natively.
> 
> Oh you have the 256MB version hence the TSOP memory package. The 128MB have BGA memory. I used to have Powercolor 9600XT Bravo edition. Thinking about it, I cant remember what happened to it. Is it still in the attic somewhere?



It's a shame your not closer to me I have an MAG Innovision 17" Flat CRT that does 1024x768x32bit @100Hz just sitting here gathering dust


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 3, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> It's a shame your not closer to me I have an MAG Innovision 17" Flat CRT that does 1024x768x32bit @100Hz just sitting here gathering dust


Indeed a damn shame, would love to have that monitor. I thinking of nice high refresh CRT but local used market is only full of 15 inchers which is too small for my liking.


----------



## Splinterdog (May 3, 2019)

I've also just found a Lucky Star (?) 6ABX2V V1.2 motherboard with a Pentium II 350, which might have a bit more oomph than the Intel 440LX board.
I'll fire it up tomorrow and see what happens.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 3, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> I've also just found a Lucky Star (?) 6ABX2V V1.2 motherboard with a Pentium II 350, which might have a bit more oomph than the Intel 440LX board.
> I'll fire it up tomorrow and see what happens.
> View attachment 122209
> 
> ...


Yes, if you're going with XP, I would highly recommend that you switch to 350 Deschutes model. It will give you more "oomph", as you said to handle everything, especially the gaming 

Funny how Slot-1 keeps being mentioned over & over... I'm still thinking about mine, latest system from the previous page. I got the system right here, but I still haven't decided what to do with it... I was thinking of adding a Matrox Millennium AGP card & swapping out the sound card for something more chronologically accurate, but then again I already got plenty of Pentiums II... 5 of them to be exact, along with one Klamath, running at 266MHz


----------



## Splinterdog (May 3, 2019)

I've still got a Crystal Sound ISA sound card which would fit nicely in this Lucky Star, since it has no on board sound. I'm pretty sure I've got the drivers somewhere as well.
Yes, I'll give XP a shot on this PII 350 and start playing around.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 3, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> I've still got a Crystal Sound ISA sound card which would fit nicely in this Lucky Star, since it has no on board sound. I'm pretty sure I've got the drivers somewhere as well.
> Yes, I'll give XP a shot on this PII 350 and start playing around.


I realize that from today's perspective upgrading from 233MHz processor to a 350MHz one seems like a minor step, but try to look at the bigger picture - by upgrading to 350 model, you will get "extra" 117MHz over the 233model. Which is essentially 1/3 of the entire processor.

From a modern perspective (a modern CPU running at 3,00GHz), this would be a major upgrade, of approx. 1GHz clock speed


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 3, 2019)

Quickie, is this worth £20?


----------



## dorsetknob (May 3, 2019)

Some will say yes some gonna say hell no
me i say let me get my wallet


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 3, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> Some will say yes some gonna say hell no
> me i say let me get my wallet



I've messaged the guy, still has it, will pop for a look tomorrow. Also just read the review of it, boy was it a beast of a card on release.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 3, 2019)

tigger said:


> Quickie, is this worth £20?


Eh, why not? It's a decent price. Plus 4850 X2's are not too common.


----------



## Athlonite (May 3, 2019)

Is it worth 20 quid ? hell yes if it's working you don't see many x2 cards up for sale these days


----------



## Dinnercore (May 3, 2019)

tigger said:


> Quickie, is this worth £20?



I personally wouldn´t think twice, but I love mGPU cards. I´d even take it for 50 tbh, but 20 is a good price. 

Mine was offered for free even, but I paid the guy who wanted to get rid of it


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> Is it worth 20 quid ? hell yes if it's working you don't see many x2 cards up for sale these days


which is why i was happy when i got my 9800GX2 ... albeit untested ... for the price i paid, it was a good deal even not working ahah.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2019)

tigger said:


> Quickie, is this worth £20?



F***   yeah


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 3, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> I personally wouldn´t think twice, but I love mGPU cards. I´d even take it for 50 tbh, but 20 is a good price.
> 
> Mine was offered for free even, but I paid the guy who wanted to get rid of it



That looks good with them coolers on.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2019)

Decided not to build another Pentium II rig, after all... As much as I hate to say this, 6th would be one too many 


 



Still, I'm keeping the board (obviously!) With so many Slot-1 systems in my collection (at least 15 in total) it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong, so it'll be nice to have a fully working spare!


----------



## Splinterdog (May 4, 2019)

I'm pretty sure I once had a Legend QDI, but I must have sold it, probably as a working system a few years ago.
Anyway, I'm still without a case on my Pentium II 350 project with XP installed to SP3. I even managed to activate it over the Net, which surprised me and I've since learnt that you can only do this if SP3 is installed.
Then I forgot the LAN cable was still connected, went out to do a few jobs and came back to find 130 Windows updates, which took forever to install. Updates have been switched off now as more of a nuisance and I don't intend to use the Net with the one.
I also found my old Gainward Geforce 3 64Mb which I remember buying at Overclockers UK (Stafford) back in 2000. Anyway, Half Life runs a treat, so does DX Diag, so the card is still in good working order.
Except that TR2 will only play in pixelated mode for some reason.
This really is a lot of fun and I haven't done it for ages, what with writing the book and everything.


----------



## hat (May 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's great, but would you mind if I ask you - why XP?! That Pentium II (not to mention the Voodoo card) would be SO much happier with Windows 98, Second Edition! (the one from the pic)


Ain't that the truth. I once installed XP on a 300MHz Pentium 2 machine. Then I tried to browse eBay on it. Frustratingly slow...


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> I'm pretty sure I once had a Legend QDI, but I must have sold it, probably as a working system a few years ago.
> Anyway, I'm still without a case on my Pentium II 350 project with XP installed to SP3. I even managed to activate it over the Net, which surprised me and I've since learnt that you can only do this if SP3 is installed.
> Then I forgot the LAN cable was still connected, went out to do a few jobs and came back to find 130 Windows updates, which took forever to install. Updates have been switched off now as more of a nuisance and I don't intend to use the Net with the one.
> I also found my old Gainward Geforce 3 64Mb which I remember buying at Overclockers UK (Stafford) back in 2000. Anyway, Half Life runs a treat, so does DX Diag, so the card is still in good working order.
> ...


Hmm... I would highly recommend that you keep the XP stock & off the internet. Poor thing just doesn't have what it takes to handle SP3, it barely even runs SP2 to be completely honest. In fact, I just booted up XP Professional on an old Athlon 1000 last night, but it kept on stalling at 100% CPU usage all the time & couldn't handle anything else. And that was a 1GHz, yours is 350. Again, I know you're doing so for fun, but I hope you understand, Pentium II was not designed to handle XP, especially not the latest SP3.

And pixelated mode is known as "Software Rendering" mode, due to the fact that TR2 couldn't detect appropriate 3D accelerator. See, this is exactly what I was telling you about, these things happen when you mix together older & newer software/hardware. I'm assuming this problem wouldn't exist under Win98/ME, but then again it could have been due to your choice of graphics - TR2 was designed to run on older PCI cards & 3dfx Voodoo! Maybe you could try with unofficial patch or an update, to compensate for this issue?



hat said:


> Ain't that the truth. I once installed XP on a 300MHz Pentium 2 machine. Then I tried to browse eBay on it. Frustratingly slow...


I don't mean to brag, but I have tons of experience with Slot 1 systems, ESPECIALLY PII 350. In fact, my very first "modern" computer, after upgrading from 4x86 DX2 was a Pentium II, 350. I still have have that machine here in my room, except it is now unfortunately housed inside generic (and modern) ATX case ... the original one is long gone, and I was never able to find another, identical one 

Then, as I got into older computers, I've started making these for fun. So I've made another PII system, which is pretty much the clone of my own system from back in a day. Then I wanted to raise the stakes, so I made a Voodoo2 SLI system, powered by PII 350. I even made a Voodoo3 2000, also powered by the same processor. Overall I tried just about every single combination I could think of!  Which is why I'm familiar with these things & know what (and how much) to expect from them. I also had a WinXP on my system back in early 2000s, it was a temporary solution before I upgraded to S423 Pentium 4. Come to think of it, I still used my Pentium 2 for a while longer after that, and it had XP Home edition, SP2 but as MS was pushing out the updates every once in a while, things got slower & slower, to the point where it was taken out of service. In fact, I believe that was around 2005, 2006, when I decided to revert the Pentium II back to its original form & use it for retro gaming. Because it was either that, or to scrap the entire thing & throw it into the dumpster (which is exactly what everyone told me to do, back then). It was too modern to be a classic, yet it was too old & outdated to be anything else. Which is why hundreds (thousands) of these ended up being recycled or simply abandoned & sold for scrap/recycling.


----------



## Splinterdog (May 4, 2019)

You're right about XP @Trekkie4 , so I'll be installing Win 98 instead during the weekend.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 4, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> You're right about XP @Trekkie4 , so I'll be installing Win 98 instead during the weekend.


Depends on what you're doing. 
The PII's run just fine on XP sp3.....just slow. It's the preferred OS if you're benching these........with a few exceptions in the 3D benches.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Depends on what you're doing.
> The PII's run just fine on XP sp3.....just slow. It's the preferred OS if you're benching these........with a few exceptions in the 3D benches.


Which is what I said... Yes, it will work, but it has a huge impact on the performance & will slow PII down to a crawl. Especially if you want to play the game(s) such as Half-Life...


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 4, 2019)

Got the 4850 x2 today. Gave it a clean and a repaste. It sure is a big card. Will post some pics later.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Have any luck finding out what you've got on hand?





Trekkie4 said:


> No, not yet. I know where it is (I think), I just need to take some time to actually do it. Been having crapload of problems ever since 2019 started, so I just need to wait for that right moment ... hopefully!


OK, so let's take this from the top... ECS board. I was too lazy to remove it from the static bag, but it seems to be "N2U400 - A, REV: 1.0A" Last time I checked, fully operational. As I already explained in one of my previous posts, it was going to be another AMD build, which never happened. Sooo, there it is 


 



Moving on...

QDI board had been disassembled, CPU mounting rails removed, so that I could fit the entire thing inside the box.  This board seems to be in mint condition from what I can tell, so I really don't want to keep this outside, where it can easily get bumped, scratched and/or damaged in any way.




So, as I was digging through my spares, I found this Soyo SY-6BA+. Another Slot-1 board, except this one seems to have Pentium III support. Not sure how fast it can go, as I was given this long time ago & promised that it works, despite few blown capacitors, near the PSU connector. And since I happened to have a spare PSU nearby, including the AGP card, memory stick & power cord, I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to give it a try. Because why not?!


 

 



And yes, as you can see, the board DOES appear to boot up. Please ignore the weird-looking colors, this is due to my GF2 AGP card, which seems to have a solder connection issue. I'll most likely remove the heatsink & scrap the card, but it comes in handy for testing purposes, such as this one here 


 

 



Actually, speaking of Slot-1 & Pentium II, I also have yet another 350 in here. I believe this one came with Soyo board, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way, I'm guessing that it works OK. It was never tested, but I have no reasons to believe otherwise *shrug*. The board underneath is "Matsonic", Socket 370. Nothing special, just a regular Mendocino & Coppermine board which was once removed from the case & was placed in here for safekeeping.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 4, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> Some will say yes some gonna say hell no
> me i say let me get my wallet


I say yes, easily.


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 11, 2019)

I've been thinking whether to fix the artifacts GPU or not, here's the GPU and the problem 






But after watching Louis videos about reballing I have my doubts whether I should go for it or just buy another card. These cards are old to begin with.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> But after watching Louis videos about reballing I have my doubts whether I should go for it or just buy another card. These cards are old to begin with.


I've actually done reballing successfully. It has to be done right, but does work.


----------



## emissary42 (May 11, 2019)




----------



## Mr.Scott (May 11, 2019)

IX-48 Max is pretty rare. Nice.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 12, 2019)

getting this today for £20 to go with the 4850 x2
Core2Quad Q9400 Processor
Foxconn G31MX Motherboard
2GB Adata Ram
Akasa Cooler


----------



## havli (May 12, 2019)

HD 4850 X2 is huge card indeed, especially when compared to the mATX board.  

Btw - I decided to make GPU Duels with older HW as well, here is the first one - Radeon X1300 Pro vs S3 Chrome S25.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 13, 2019)

I'm not really that much into urban exploration & documenting the abandoned buildings, although I /did/ watch couple of vids last year because of the abandoned elevators & old electromechanic relays,  something which I always found fascinating & entertaining to watch. Anyhow, for some reason YouTube thought this video would be relevant to me & my interests, and so it ended up being on my "recommended" list. If you're not willing to watch the whole thing, just skip to 15:55 mark. This is where things get interesting, to say at least 









So apparently, this thing ran non-stop for 10, 15yrs?! Although I sincerely doubt that, my personal estimation would be much less because I doubt that ANY power supply (or cooling fan, for that matter) would keep up working for that long without breaking down. But then again, who knows...? One thing's for certain though, it looks awfully clean & dust-free for something that hasn't been touched in 15yrs.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 13, 2019)

Will the q9400 run the 4850 x2 ok? is it a good match. It'll be a nice old retro rig.

I'll put this here as i am not sure where else to put it.
The really interesting computer history museum, got donated a lot of Sinclair stuff, including a prototype spectrum. Very nice.
prototype spectrum


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 15, 2019)

Not sure if that much retro, but I managed to fix a LGA1156. Mind you, this was before UEFI was a thing on Core i3/5/7 CPUs 

The only thing I can't figure out is a problem with the reset signal - trying to reset the PC results in a hang. 4seconds OFF does work however.

Board boots and works fine in Windows 8.1 Pro. PSU is a CWT ISO disguised in a 450W Frontier LC-8460BTX made by L&C/Deer


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 15, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've actually done reballing successfully. It has to be done right, but does work.


You convinced me. I send it for repairs today, cross my fingers this will fix it. I want this card to work, its my dream card back in 2004, the best year for gaming IMO.

On unrelated note, I don't know if HD 6950 flashed to 6970 is considered 'nostalgic', the card was released 9 years ago. I put it in my main system just to give it some workout.





It worked beautifully with all shaders unlocked. Undervolted to 970mV from 1100mV reducing heat and noise. Overclocking old card like these are trivial, since there are no more driver optimisation for it.




And run some Crysis with it. There was a time where 30fps was considered a 'bare minimum' for gaming.


----------



## Jetster (Jun 6, 2019)

Big score Free

ASUS 939 Board 
Pretty sure its a Athlon 64 x2 4800+


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 6, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Big score Free
> 
> ASUS 939 Board
> Pretty sure its a Athlon 64 x2 4800+



Nice Patriot memory


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 6, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Big score Free
> 
> ASUS 939 Board
> Pretty sure its a Athlon 64 x2 4800+


This has the potential to be a very solid Classic Windows XP system. Score indeed! Especially that 7900GT if it's the 512MB model. IIRC that mobo supports the X4 quad core CPU.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jun 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> This has the potential to be a very solid Classic Windows XP system. Score indeed! Especially that 7900GT if it's the 512MB model. IIRC that mobo supports the X4 quad core CPU.


The mobo is 939 not AM2.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 6, 2019)

DR4G00N said:


> The mobo is 939 not AM2.


Oh, right. My bad!


----------



## Jetster (Jun 7, 2019)

Not sure what i'm going to do with it. To start with I'll see if it works


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 7, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Not sure what i'm going to do with it. To start with I'll see if it works


well ... if i was sure of what to do with most of my collection, i wouldn't had started a collection 

but i do love piecing together some build out of the whole bazaar i have at home 

i.e.: my PowerMac G4 Quicksilver (2001) is the heaviest paperweight i have around (ofc it works ... but i don't fire it up that often)


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 7, 2019)

I got my X800XT PE after repair. Damn this card was fast! I could play all games during that era at 1080p, FarCry included. But it dosn't last, it died after 4 days, I even undervolted it slightly. I guess the card really on its last legs. Back to my 9550, I repasted the card and it happily runs at 450MHz (up from 250MHz). I'm still hunting for AGP card but only found 9600Pro.


----------



## Jetster (Jun 7, 2019)

Athlon 64 X2 4200+

The PCIe retainer is broke











I think Ill put the Geforce 8800 GTX I have in it.  Play some 2006 games


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 15, 2019)

just found something


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 15, 2019)

micropage7 said:


> just found something
> 
> View attachment 124984View attachment 124985View attachment 124986


Nice! Have you tested them? Depending on how long they've been sitting, you may need to long format them to make them useful again.


----------



## Bones (Jun 15, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Athlon 64 X2 4200+
> 
> The PCIe retainer is broke
> 
> ...


Nice Toldeo core - The very best stepping and date you can find too. 
Typically a 3.2GHz or better chip with the right board and tweaks. 
I have one identical to that except it's date is 0721, yours is 0722.

Enjoy that one.


----------



## Jetster (Jun 15, 2019)

Powering it with a SFX power supply


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 15, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice! Have you tested them? Depending on how long they've been sitting, you may need to long format them to make them useful again.


haha.. not yet and i'm not sure they can work again after years
i may keep them for collection


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 15, 2019)

I had a Atari 800xl with a disc drive that used 5.25" discs, the disc drive cost £100 at the time.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 15, 2019)

micropage7 said:


> haha.. not yet and i'm not sure they can work again after years
> i may keep them for collection


They should be alright as long as they're not physically damaged.


----------



## delshay (Jun 15, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Powering it with a SFX power supply



DDR PCB I do believe is made by brain power. It's not common but it's also not that rare either.


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 15, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Powering it with a SFX power supply



I've got the A8R32-MVP very similar to this mobo


----------



## havli (Jun 15, 2019)

After many years in storage I fired up my Radeon 9800 XT. As it turns out, it still works perfectly and to my surprise beats GeForce 6600 by quite a big margin. 

Radeon 9800 XT vs GeForce 6600


----------



## phill (Jun 16, 2019)

havli said:


> After many years in storage I fired up my Radeon 9800 XT. As it turns out, it still works perfectly and to my surprise beats GeForce 6600 by quite a big margin.
> 
> Radeon 9800 XT vs GeForce 6600



Oh man seeing this video brought back some memories...  Some great games there..  Thank you


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 16, 2019)

micropage7 said:


> just found something
> 
> View attachment 124984View attachment 124985View attachment 124986


I still got 6 or 7 boxes of these, in all the brands & colors you can imagine. Some of them are physically damaged, due to worn (or damaged?) heads, but most of them are still usable...


----------



## Artex (Jun 16, 2019)

Alrighty you retro-maniacs!  Artex is back in the saddle on this wonderful Father's Day (Happy Father's day to all you fathers out there!).  Speaking of fathers, let's talk about the grand-daddy of sound card 'fathers' - or perhaps great, great, great Grandfathers...

So I have a bare version, a boxed but incomplete version, and now....the whole shebang!  Not only is finding one of these tough, but boxed is even tougher, boxed and complete is even tougher, but boxed, complete & with the optional surround/reverb module is pretty much unobtaniaum! 

So here you go!

*Ad Lib Gold 1000 8-bit ISA with Surround-Reverb Module (Boxed, Complete) (1991)*













































*Ad Lib Gold Midi Pack (Boxed) (1993)*









*Ensoniq SoundScape Elite (S2016-II) ISA #3 (1994)*

This is my 3rd bare (also have two boxed) Ensoniq SoundScape Elites.  I have a mild obsession with this card's wavetable patch-set and I still think it's on-par with the SC-55MK/MKII if not a better with this DSP dauhterboard.   The first machine (I bought myself) was back in 1995, and was a Gateway 2000 P5-75 with the OEM version of the SoundScape S-2000 with the 2MB patch set.  I was always in awe and wondered what the Elite version could offer.  DOOM, Duke3D, ROTT... so many memories of that sweet, sweet MIDI.




























I've also been on a processor kick lately, finding some good stuff.  Starting with the very rare Barton 3200+ and the AMD K6-III+550!  I also snagged a Cyrix 5x86-100GP, but the 4X version which is pretty rare nowadays.  The Intel 387 DX is pretty neat given it's still sealed from 1993 - and I love that you can see that little coproc peeping out from the box saying "drop me into an SX board!" Other than that, a set of twinsie K6-III+ 450s for a few retro boxes.

*AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (AXDA3200DKV4E) Socket A (Barton) (400Mhz FSB) (2003)*






*AMD K6-III+550 ACR 2.0V (1999)*






*AMD K6-III+450 ACZ 2.0V #2 (1999)*






*Cyrix 5x86-100GP 4X (G5FB607B) (7th week 1996)*






*Intel 387 DX Math CoProcessor (BOX387DX) (NOS) (1993)*


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 16, 2019)

I remember i had a barton 2500+ the special one that was basically a 3200+ sold as a 2500+ it ran at the same settings as a 3200 with no extra voltage at all.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 16, 2019)

tigger said:


> I remember i had a barton 2500+ the special one that was basically a 3200+ sold as a 2500+ it ran at the same settings as a 3200 with no extra voltage at all.


My 2500+ turned 3200+ required a minor voltage bump for stability.

@Artex, Is the above hardware recent acquisitions? Seemed implied but still wasn't sure.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 16, 2019)

Artex said:


> Speaking of fathers, let's talk about the grand-daddy of sound card 'fathers' - or perhaps great, great, great Grandfathers...


 expected to see Sound Blaster 1  not a out of wedlock beget..............


----------



## Artex (Jun 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> My 2500+ turned 3200+ required a minor voltage bump for stability.
> 
> @Artex, Is the above hardware recent acquisitions? Seemed implied but still wasn't sure.


Recent! In the last month or so.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 16, 2019)

tigger said:


> I remember i had a barton 2500+ the special one that was basically a 3200+ sold as a 2500+ it ran at the same settings as a 3200 with no extra voltage at all.


Those were fun CPU's!


Artex said:


> Recent! In the last month or so.


Good stuff! Thank You for sharing and giving those of us who were there for these when new a nice jaunt down memory lane.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 16, 2019)

OT, I noticed three of you in a row don't have system specs listed. What's that all about?


----------



## Artex (Jun 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> OT, I noticed three of you in a row don't have system specs listed. What's that all about?


Updated.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> OT, I noticed three of you in a row don't have system specs listed. What's that all about?


Not everyone uses that part of the site for various reasons.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 16, 2019)

Pretty big chip on the corner of that 3200+.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 16, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pretty big chip on the corner of that 3200+.


I saw that too. Believe it or not, they often still run fine that way.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> OT, I noticed three of you in a row don't have system specs listed. What's that all about?



from siggy 


> YES MY System Specs are filled in  " if you cannot see them then you don't have sufficient privileges"


I don't need to display them to answer posts and people's problems
People with Problems Should Display their system spec's So as to enable others to help them ( afterwards if problem solved they can chose to hide them if they so desire). and as far as i know my only Problem is lack of money


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 16, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Believe it or not, they often still run fine that way.


Not for every exposed die though.

I wasn't so lucky with the PowerPC 603e in the PowerBase 240 when I attempted to remount the heatsink. Two of the corners were chipped, at the time I didn't understand why stability had dropped.

 

 Photo is from a ebay listing.
The metal latches on the heatsink made it diffcult to clamp through the holes.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 17, 2019)

Saw a thread somewhere with vintage sound cards. Thought it was this one. You guys like this kind of stuff?


----------



## delshay (Jun 17, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Not for every exposed die though.
> 
> I wasn't so lucky with the PowerPC 603e in the PowerBase 240 when I attempted to remount the heatsink. Two of the corners were chipped, at the time I didn't understand why stability had dropped.
> View attachment 125165 View attachment 125166 Photo is from a ebay listing.
> The metal latches on the heatsink made it diffcult to clamp through the holes.



I have a few of those PPC chips from my amiga days. I reball & replace them with 300MHz chip. I still have stencils, preforms & fixtures for those PPC chip.

EDIT: I think the PPC745 software is almost compatible. I know it's hardware pin compatible, but you have to change core voltage.

EDIT2: There's should also be a hardware overclock if your into that. On the amiga there are four resistors which change the multiplier. I think this is fixed & should be on all cards that use the PPC chip. It should be easy to trace out if it's not near the PPC chip. 200MHz chip can overclock to 230MHz this I also know just by moving the jumpers.


----------



## phill (Jun 17, 2019)

I remember PowerPPC 603e..  They went in Amiga's and I had one   That made it run a load better than the 68060 CPU   Ah...  Memories


----------



## Robert B (Jun 18, 2019)

Restored!

*GAINWARD Model 6800GS PCI-E 512MB TV-OUT DVI / P/N:NE/6800SXTD52-PM8070-GLH*


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 18, 2019)

Robert B said:


> Restored!
> 
> *GAINWARD Model 6800GS PCI-E 512MB TV-OUT DVI / P/N:NE/6800SXTD52-PM8070-GLH*


Goodness that takes me back. 512MB was considered top-of-the-line. Now it's 24GB(RTX Titan).


----------



## phill (Jun 19, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Goodness that takes me back. 512MB was considered top-of-the-line. Now it's 24GB(RTX Titan).



I had the 7800 GS, was a lovely card   But I thought AMD had a card now that was 32Gb?  Maybe that might have been for a work station mind but still...

I do wonder how Robert manages to get these cards so damn clean, they might be 10+ years old or whatever but they look like they have just come off of the assembly line!!  @Robert B  An inspiration to us all!!


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 19, 2019)

Anyone interested in a reverse engineered Sound Blaster v1.0 Replica?



			https://hackaday.com/2019/06/19/reverse-engineering-the-sound-blaster/]Hackaday
		










						Announcing The Snark Barker, a 100% Compatible SB 1.0 Replica!
					

In December 1989, Creative Labs launched the now-famous Sound Blaster card. Almost 30 years later, I’d like to announce the Snark Barker, a replica of the original card designed to satisfy al…



					tubetime.us


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 19, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Anyone interested in a reverse engineered Sound Blaster v1.0 Replica?


That looks twice the size of the 8bit ISA Sound blaster 1 i had.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 19, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> That looks twice the size of the 8bit ISA Sound blaster 1 i had.


Same size as the original card, it might look bigger because of the higher resolution photo.


----------



## Grog6 (Jun 19, 2019)

That's awesome!

It's weird; I memorized the TTL catalog in about 1984, and I realize I still know all those chips, and the pinouts.

I never realzed a tl555 variant ran the game port... NE558 is a quad 555, iirc.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 20, 2019)

Trident TVGA 8900 and Cirrus Logic CL-GD5426
1991 and 1993 respectively
Both work just fine.


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 20, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> View attachment 125304
> 
> Anyone interested in a reverse engineered Sound Blaster v1.0 Replica?
> 
> ...



i may more interested if they release it in PCIEX version


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 20, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Trident TVGA 8900 and Cirrus Logic CL-GD5426
> 1991 and 1993 respectively
> Both work just fine.
> 
> View attachment 125310


Think I have one of these... I certainly have one or two VLB cards laying around (leftover from 4x86 build), I'm just not 100% sure which ones.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 20, 2019)

micropage7 said:


> i may more interested if they release it in PCIEX version


You mean PCI-X(as in the 133mhz 64bit PCI slots)?


----------



## Grog6 (Jun 20, 2019)

Nothing transfers data like a PCI-X SCSI card. 

I've got 3 of the ultra-320 cards in my dual socket 604 server, and it will do video from one to another one at 120MB/s, until the drives are full.

Great for video editing.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 21, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> Nothing transfers data like a PCI-X SCSI card.
> 
> I've got 3 of the ultra-320 cards in my dual socket 604 server, and it will do video from one to another one at 120MB/s, until the drives are full.
> 
> Great for video editing.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 21, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


>


BITD, I had the 29320 card and 3 36GB 15K RPM drives in RAID5. OH yeah. Socket 478 days...


----------



## Frick (Jun 21, 2019)

€30, seems to work apart from the monitor, but I think I can fix it if it's the bad contacts.


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 25, 2019)

Frick said:


> €30, seems to work apart from the monitor, but I think I can fix it if it's the bad contacts.
> 
> View attachment 125449
> 
> View attachment 125450


  first i think it's oven


----------



## Frick (Jun 26, 2019)

micropage7 said:


> first i think it's oven



Heathen.


----------



## havli (Jun 29, 2019)

Ready for some old school action?

Voodoo4 4500 AGP vs GeForce 256 SDR


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 29, 2019)

havli said:


> Ready for some old school action?
> 
> Voodoo4 4500 AGP vs GeForce 256 SDR


No TnL really hurts Voodoo...


----------



## havli (Jun 29, 2019)

It is hard to tell whether TnL is the bottleneck here or some other factor. I am no expert on GPU architectures, so I can only speculate. Perhaps it is just the fillrate advantage of GF256 (480 mp/s vs 333 mp/s). Maybe drivers or games a bit too modern for this GPU class.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 29, 2019)

havli said:


> It is hard to tell whether TnL is the bottleneck here or some other factor. I am no expert on GPU architectures, so I can only speculate. Perhaps it is just the fillrate advantage of GF256 (480 mp/s vs 333 mp/s). Maybe drivers or games a bit too modern for this GPU class.


The GF256 was just a better GPU. That's why the Geforce line took off like it did. Radeon was likewise just a cut above Voodoo. 3DFX failed because it didn't innovate in the right directions unfortunately.


----------



## Grog6 (Jun 30, 2019)

Yeah, the 4500-5000 series was toward the end of their run; a buddy bought a 5500 about the time I was still using the TNT2, and my next upgrade was a GF 2 Ti, iirc.

I want to say we were playing HL or Q2 then.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 30, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> I want to say we were playing HL or Q2 then.


Yeah, that sounds about right.


----------



## havli (Jul 3, 2019)

Radeon 9800 XT vs Radeon X800 XT PE


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 5, 2019)

X58 and i7 920


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 6, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> X58 and i7 920


And a Skulltrail board. Those were exceptionally solid and decent overclockers. Very nice. How much?


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> And a Skulltrail board. Those were exceptionally solid and decent overclockers. Very nice. How much?



A friend gave it to me for free


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 6, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> A friend gave it to me for free


Score! Well nice that!


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Score! Well nice that!



untested but working. been sat on his drawer for around 2 years collecting dust


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 6, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> X58 and i7 920


not the top tier but you can't miss intel motherboard especially that time


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 6, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> A friend gave it to me for free


Nice!
Don't get any better than that.


----------



## Artex (Jul 6, 2019)

Still running my Gulftown 980x in my MSI Big Bang XPower X58 LGA1366 board.  Remains rock-solid @ 4GHZ!  Such an awesome platform.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 6, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> untested but working. been sat on his drawer for around 2 years collecting dust


With an updated bios you could run a Xeon X5675 or X5680. 2 extra cores, more speed, generally better overclockability and they are not expensive ATM.


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> With an updated bios you could run a Xeon X5675 or X5680. 2 extra cores, more speed, generally better overclockability and they are not expensive ATM.



That's the plan mate...


----------



## emissary42 (Jul 11, 2019)

Somewhat infamous for the Samxon GF caps used in the VRM of the first batches and the typical stability issues.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2019)

emissary42 said:


> Somewhat infamous for the Samxon GF caps used in the VRM of the first batches and the typical stability issues.
> 
> View attachment 126621


Oh yes, replace those caps! Good board though. Chipset always ran a bit hot and I mounted heatsinks on both of them, big enough to do the job but low enough not to interfere with the cards..


----------



## emissary42 (Jul 11, 2019)

While the Caps are also green, this one is a later revision and does not use GFs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2019)

emissary42 said:


> While the Caps are also green, this one is a later revision and does not use GFs.


I'd still recommend replacing them as that is an old board and caps will wear out over time. Current caps will last a lot longer as well.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 14, 2019)

In case anyone's wondering, things are mostly quiet on my end... I sold one of my 4x86 machines (DX4, 100MHz) and was about to give up on retro computers entirely when I received an offer from a fellow forumer, who is willing to donate a baby "AT" form tower with (according to him) non-working Socket 7 board. I have no idea what's wrong with it, but even if I don't get to repair the board inside, I can always swap it out for one of the other two Socket 7 boards in my collection, with either 133MHz Pentium (non MMX) or 233MHz Pentium MMX, which would be the 4th one in my collection. I would love to get my hands on one of the AMD K6 CPUs from that era, but that is going to be easier said than done I'm afraid.

Or, I might go in entirely different direction & patch up that non-working 3x86 board with the built-in processor. We shall see... For now this is all just theoretical of course, because I've been promised old components before, from other folks of which (some of them, at least) I never received.

On a side note, I got a pair of nice vintage Pioneer HiFi speakers from 1981. Model CS-656  (pic below is for reference only, mine even came with protective grills)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 14, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> On a side note, I got a pair of nice vintage Pioneer HiFi speakers from 1981. Model CS-656  (pic below is for reference only, mine even came with protective grills)


Oh, nice. I had a set very similar to those. Wonderful sound reproduction!


----------



## Robert B (Jul 14, 2019)

A little AGP card...

Gigabyte GV-R465D2-1GI with a mighty 1GB DDR2 video memory... DDR2...

Nevertheless for 5 EUROS is not so bad. 

Untested.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 14, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh, nice. I had a set very similar to those. Wonderful sound reproduction!


Thanks! 

It is definitely a step in right direction, I've been meaning to grab a pair of 3-way speakers for quite some time but never got around to actually do so due to one reason or another. Didn't get to hook them up yet, I still have to buy the speaker cable but I do know they're working fine.


----------



## LittleKonae (Jul 15, 2019)

Dual pentium pro system, works great, Its a Intergraph TD300, Some weird videos card. Old P2 System im playing with and no to old but the gpus are still sealed in the boxes.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 15, 2019)

LittleKonae said:


> Dual pentium pro system, works great, Its a Intergraph TD300, Some weird videos card. Old P2 System im playing with and no to old but the gpus are still sealed in the boxes.


lovely! .... 


and now i am a bit jealous .... please don't mind me *go in a corner and weep*


more seriously ... all these post recently make me want to go hunting and scavenging again ...


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 15, 2019)

LittleKonae said:


> Dual pentium pro system, works great, Its a Intergraph TD300, Some weird videos card. Old P2 System im playing with and no to old but the gpus are still sealed in the boxes.


That funky card is 4x ATI 9700 Pro's strapped together and was used for flight sims. That would've cost you a pretty penny when it was new.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 15, 2019)

LittleKonae said:


> *Dual pentium pro system, works great, Its a Intergraph TD300*, Some weird videos card. Old P2 System im playing with and no to old but the gpus are still sealed in the boxes.


Good grief! I haven't seen one of those in 20years. Nice find! I'm guessing 48MB of RAM, or is it 24MB?


----------



## LittleKonae (Jul 15, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Good grief! I have seem one of those in 20years. Nice find! I'm guessing 48MB of RAM, or is it 24MB?


thats a reference pic of the motherboard, it has 128 megs in it, Ill post pics of the actual system when i get it out of storage.


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 20, 2019)

She's still here..


 I'm surprised after 10yrs and still working..


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 20, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> She's still here..View attachment 127262 I'm surprised after 10yrs and still working..


Wow, VU meters


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 20, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> She's still here..View attachment 127262 I'm surprised after 10yrs and still working..


just need some treatment, clean it up and she's good to show


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 20, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> She's still here..View attachment 127262 I'm surprised after 10yrs and still working..


Oh wow! Clean that up and give it some restoration love!


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 20, 2019)

Will give her TLC very soon.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 20, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> She's still here..View attachment 127262 I'm surprised after 10yrs and still working..


It's a thing of beauty, you don't get to see many boomboxes nowdays... But this thing will most likely need more than cleaning & dusting... You will have to take it apart & replace the belt(s) for the cassette deck.


biffzinker said:


> Wow, VU meters


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 23, 2019)

Bought this wonderful stuff this weekend:

Geforce 2 MX200 32MB


Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro 128MB



WD Caviar 2250 (dead) & WD Caviar 1210 (working)



Gravis Gamepad


Epox EP-3VCM w/ P3 1GHz Coppermine &
ECS G31T-M2 (FSC) w/ Q6600 2.4GHz G0 SLACR


and finally, a Gigabyte Radeon X300 128MB PCI-E.


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 23, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> ECS G31T-M2


What happened to the northbridge chipset?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 23, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> What happened to the northbridge chipset?


Looks like it needs a new heatsink.


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 23, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looks like it needs a new heatsink.


When I zoomed in on the exposed die it looked chipped in the left middle.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 23, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> When I zoomed in on the exposed die it looked chipped in the left middle.


To me that looks like leftover thermal stuff caked on. 
@MaxiPro800 Can you chime in? We're kinda curious..


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 23, 2019)

Yeah, that's just leftover thermal stuff. I applied a ASUS heatsink I had laying around and it POST'd just fine with a big FUJITSU SIEMENS logo, using the Radeon X300.


As for the EPoX EP-3VCM, I am aware it has bulging caps. They were already replaced with rather high quality capacitors - a few OST, 2 Panasonic FLs and 4 unused KZG 1800uF 16v. The board doesn't output too much heat so they're just fine.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 23, 2019)

Uhhh shiny copper! (drooling all over... ) Work in progress ...


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 23, 2019)

Robert B said:


> Uhhh shiny copper! (drooling all over... ) Work in progress ...


X1950GT-AGP?


----------



## Robert B (Jul 23, 2019)

YEP! I found this puppy at the local flea market last Saturday. Even if it is slower than a X1900 it still packs a punch in the correct build.

Just restored. It is still untested tough.  I pulled it from a HP tower myself. Chances are that it is working. I hope. 

I paid peanuts for it, an Antec 380W PSU and 2 Gigs of Crucial DDR400. I left a P4 CPU, cooler, the case, 2 ODDs, the HDD and a low end ASUS motherboard behind.


----------



## Artex (Jul 24, 2019)

*Creative CT6200 (3D Blaster VLB) 2MB (New, Unsealed) (1995)*


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 25, 2019)

Did it still have that new smell to it


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 25, 2019)

Install driver first.....


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 25, 2019)

Artex said:


> *Creative CT6200 (3D Blaster VLB) 2MB (New, Unsealed) (1995)*


Why do you have to tease everyone with your hardware collection?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 25, 2019)

Oh, wow!! The very first "3D Blaster" card from Creative if I'm not mistaking, years before 3dfx even existed... Now, that truly is a piece of history! 

@biffzinker Probably because he can...


----------



## Artex (Jul 25, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh, wow!! The very first "3D Blaster" card from Creative if I'm not mistaking, years before 3dfx even existed... Now, that truly is a piece of history!
> 
> @biffzinker Probably because he can...


Hahha.  Yeah, this is an early one - right around the time when the NVIDIA NV1 was released in 1995 - 100% before 3DFX.  This is the uber rare Vesa Local Bus version.  NVIDIA's NV1 was PCI-based.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 25, 2019)

Artex said:


> *Creative CT6200 (3D Blaster VLB) 2MB (New, Unsealed) (1995)*


Those cards were great! Excellent 2D performance, and for the time, good 3D performance. However when paired with a Voodoo it was a power-house combo that rocked every game thrown at it.



HUSKIE said:


> Install driver first.....


That was a real thing! If you didn't, it would hard-core bork the Windows registry which would necessitate a reinstall of the OS. DOS not so much, but by then no one was running DOS by itself


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 25, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was a real thing! If you didn't, it would hard-core bork the Windows registry which would necessitate a reinstall of the OS. DOS not so much, but by then no one was running DOS by itself


That happened to me, on several occasions. And not ONLY just under W95, I had a similar experience with Win98 as well. Which is why I developed fool-proof approach to booting up "new" retro builds - first I boot up all the drivers & software and only then I install the games & personalized stuff, settings. Because if something goes wrong, it would be easier to scrap everything & go all over again from scratch.


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 26, 2019)

Old analog black and white tv with housing. National brand. If I remembered this way back early 1980's


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 26, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> Old analog black and white tv with housing. National brand. If I remembered this way back early 1980's


I spy an old CRT TV above.


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 26, 2019)

Yes it is I just cropped it


----------



## Bones (Jul 26, 2019)

Tossed an old 21' CRT monitor not long ago even though it was still working perfectly.
Had a beautiful picture, no issues or anything else but just didn't have the room for it anymore. 

Was a freebie from a few years back so I didn't lose anything and got plenty of use out of it too.


----------



## deflipe (Jul 26, 2019)

Hi, I just replaced the original fans of my Voodoo 5 with some Noctua NF-A4x10 5V, Premium Quiet Fan. Now temperature and sound are not problems.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 26, 2019)

HUSKIE said:


> Old analog black and white tv with housing. National brand. If I remembered this way back early 1980's


For those who don't know, National is Panasonic. So is Technics, and/or Quasar... I was just discussing Panasonic on another forum, they made (and still make) reliable, high quality stuff. Unfortunately, the cost of servicing their components is mostly absurd, to the point where buying new & disposable is sometimes better than overhauling "vintage". Your TV included I'm afraid, but it holds a great historical value IMHO.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 27, 2019)

Did someone say VU? Here is my dad reel-to-reel tape deck and casette deck. The reel-to-reel sounds unreal, he was transcoding (don't know if that the right term) from LP to this two format.




Here's my dad tuning the casette bias with headphones for fine tuning where speaker doesn't cut it. Neat stuff.





I hope this isn't off topic, it is nostalgic but not PC stuff


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 27, 2019)

deflipe said:


> Hi, I just replaced the original fans of my Voodoo 5 with some Noctua NF-A4x10 5V, Premium Quiet Fan. Now temperature and sound are not problems.
> 
> View attachment 127795
> 
> View attachment 127796


Well done that. Well done indeed! Very deserving card.



Apocalypsee said:


> I hope this isn't off topic, it is nostalgic but not PC stuff


I'd like to suggest this fits perfectly. The name of the thread is "TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club". You showed hardware and it certainly qualifies as nostalgic.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Did someone say VU? Here is my dad reel-to-reel tape deck and casette deck. The reel-to-reel sounds unreal, he was transcoding (don't know if that the right term) from LP to this two format.
> View attachment 127840
> 
> Here's my dad tuning the casette bias with headphones for fine tuning where speaker doesn't cut it. Neat stuff.
> ...


Showoff!  Seriously, I like these! This Denon deck, on top - is that a closed loop dual capstan unit? I got something very similar myself, but from Pioneer. Model number CT91a, it's a reference cassette deck with 3 heads & dual capstan drive. Fairly modern (1989, I believe) but it was built like a tank!


 




lexluthermiester said:


> I'd like to suggest this fits perfectly. The name of the thread is "TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club". You showed hardware and it certainly qualifies as nostalgic.


My point exactly. This is all "hardware", and it most certainly is a nostalgic one... We already discussed VHS machines before, even cameras and old cellphones, so I really don't see any problems with that


----------



## dorsetknob (Jul 27, 2019)

we draw the line at old pacemakers ...........


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 27, 2019)

Just modified a old IBM Netvista 6578 I had. Didn't want to really go overboard by installing a i3 540 (I could, if I wanted.) so I sticked with a similar platform (Skt370, VIA694X instead of i815E) and replaced most of its internals, as well as adapted the front panel.

Specs:
IBM Netvista 6578-BHG case
EPoX EP-3VCM - VIA694X/686A, AwardBIOS 4.51PG, 3xSDR, Universal AGP4x, 3x PCI
Intel Pentium 3 1.0B GHz Coppermine (original board had a Celeron 800, also Coppermine)
ATI Radeon 7500 64MB AGP4x
384MB RAM
NEC DVD-RW
Samsung SP0411N 40GB IDE HDD (BIOS shot was taken before I replaced the HDD)
Realtek RTL8139D NIC
TEAC 3.5" floppy drive
Windows ME w/ KernelEX


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2019)

Some "kinky" SDR PC133


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 27, 2019)

ECC memory?


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 27, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> ECC memory?


They appear to be.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2019)

A gipsy woman was selling those sticks and I said that I must have them.  They costed around 3 EUROS. NO BRAINER!!!

I'm not sure if any of my motherboards will be able to use them, though.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 27, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Showoff!  Seriously, I like these! This Denon deck, on top - is that a closed loop dual capstan unit? I got something very similar myself, but from Pioneer. Model number CT91a, it's a reference cassette deck with 3 heads & dual capstan drive. Fairly modern (1989, I believe) but it was built like a tank!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had that deck for a short time! It came with the package I got at Silo(a major electronics retailer BITD). I wanted a dual cassette deck so ended up selling it.



MaxiPro800 said:


> Just modified a old IBM Netvista 6578 I had. Didn't want to really go overboard by installing a i3 540 (I could, if I wanted.) so I sticked with a similar platform (Skt370, VIA694X instead of i815E) and replaced most of its internals, as well as adapted the front panel.
> 
> Specs:
> IBM Netvista 6578-BHG case
> ...


If you're looking for great software, tweaks and utilities for WinME, try here;


			Operating System Revival: Windows ME | Free Retro Computer Software
		




MaxiPro800 said:


> ECC memory?





biffzinker said:


> They appear to be.





Robert B said:


> A gipsy woman was selling those sticks and I said that I must have them.  They costed around 3 EUROS. NO BRAINER!!!
> 
> I'm not sure if any of my motherboards will be able to use them, though.


Those are actually registered ECC modules. Early server ram. Should work in Pentium2/3 Xeon boards.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 27, 2019)

Artex said:


> Hahha.  Yeah, this is an early one - right around the time when the NVIDIA NV1 was released in 1995 - 100% before 3DFX.  This is the uber rare Vesa Local Bus version.  NVIDIA's NV1 was PCI-based.




is it the version where you can upgrade the memory from 2MB to 4MB by adding in the VRAM chips to little brown sockets like this one I used to own


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I had that deck for a short time! It came with the package I got at Silo(a major electronics retailer BITD). I wanted a dual cassette deck so ended up selling it.


You do realize that CT91a easily outpowers most if not all dual-deck units? Not saying of course that dual-deck design is bad, I've seen some of the nicer ones (made by Aiwa & Pioneer), but these ones are built to last. 3 heads, 3 motors and two capstans. It really is the "ultimate" tape experience IMHO, unless you can afford Nakamichi Dragon 

Speaking of price, would you believe I picked mine for free? It was in mint (alas, non-working) condition, but I worked it out eventually for the price of around $10


----------



## Artex (Jul 28, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> is it the version where you can upgrade the memory from 2MB to 4MB by adding in the VRAM chips to little brown sockets like this one I used to own


There was an upgrade kit for it but I've never seen it pop up anywhere.  I believe the upgrade was more of a daughterboard with onboard memory chips that you stuck onto the top of the board - kinda like the midi daughterboards of the time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2019)

Back on topic ... let me ask you a question, I would really love to hear your input:

Two Socket 7 machines, one with the faster CPU (233MHz, MMX) and the other is 133 non-MMX Two PCI cards (Matrox Millennium II (4MB) & ATI Rage IIc (2MB), both PCI interface. However, only one of these can have a 3dfx Voodoo card (meaning that all the 3d rendering will go through 3dfx and not through the primary PCI card). Which of the two systems would you pair with which card, and which one of these deserved most to have 3dfx card installed?

In short & simple, which of the two cards would provide better gaming platform by itself, Rage IIc OR Millennium II? And why?


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 28, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Back on topic ... let me ask you a question, I would really love to hear your input:
> 
> Two Socket 7 machines, one with the faster CPU (233MHz, MMX) and the other is 133 non-MMX Two PCI cards (Matrox Millennium II (4MB) & ATI Rage IIc (2MB), both PCI interface. However, only one of these can have a 3dfx Voodoo card (meaning that all the 3d rendering will go through 3dfx and not through the primary PCI card). Which of the two systems would you pair with which card, and which one of these deserved most to have 3dfx card installed?
> 
> In short & simple, which of the two cards would provide better gaming platform by itself, Rage IIc OR Millennium II? And why?


I would say the Pentium MMX 233 MHz but the 133 MHz Pentium (01-June-1995) seems more authentic to the time period of the Voodoo Graphics (End of 1996.) Between the two PCI cards I would have to pick the Matrox Millennium II (rebranded Mystique with the SGRAM swapped for WRAM) for the excellent 2D image quality.

Pentium MMX 233 MHz came out 02-June-1997


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 28, 2019)

Robert B said:


> A gipsy woman was selling those sticks and I said that I must have them.  They costed around 3 EUROS. NO BRAINER!!!
> 
> I'm not sure if any of my motherboards will be able to use them, though.


Yeah, gipsies sell the most interesting stuff. That's where I managed to get my 3D Prophet 9700 Pro from (along with the Pentium 3 and the rest of the stuff). 

That 9700 Pro was 2 euros, and to top that it's working, unlike all the other crappy 9600s I had that were either artifacting or dead as a brick. I did have a exception where I got a working X1650 Pro AGP that only had a seized fan.

Some board should have ECC support in the BIOS though. I know my Pentium 166 machine (VIA MVP3 based) does take ECC RAM and can even check for parity. (not a lot of boards I have check the RAM for parity)


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 28, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Showoff!  Seriously, I like these! This Denon deck, on top - is that a closed loop dual capstan unit? I got something very similar myself, but from Pioneer. Model number CT91a, it's a reference cassette deck with 3 heads & dual capstan drive. Fairly modern (1989, I believe) but it was built like a tank!


It was3-head but a single capstan from quick Google, I didn't know the specs of these things  He still playing with it, the heads are dirty when I posted that and after a quick clean it sounded better, the casette he using is also wrinkles that makes the sound imbalanced. He got another properly calibrated Technics M270X that sounds better than the Denon currently. Thing is, Technics gives extensive maintenance manual how to properly calibrate their casette deck with proper diagram showing chich components do what, the Denon manual is not as detailed.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I would say the Pentium MMX 233 MHz but the 133 MHz Pentium (01-June-1995) seems more authentic to the time period of the Voodoo Graphics (End of 1996.) Between the two PCI cards I would have to pick the Matrox Millennium II (rebranded Mystique with the SGRAM swapped for WRAM) for the excellent 2D image quality.
> 
> Pentium MMX 233 MHz came out 02-June-1997


Thanks!  So, what you're saying is P133 non-MMX with 3dfx & Mystique (Millennium II) and 233 MMX without the 3dfx & Rage IIc?

Regarding the video you posted, the more I look at it, the less I'm impressed (and interested in buying one). It's a great idea for someone who's into arcade & Atari stuff, but I was severely disappointed with "Doom" performance, since even the slowest CPU in my collection, 4x86 DX2 performs twice as better in the terms of speed & rendering... 



Apocalypsee said:


> It was3-head but a single capstan from quick Google, I didn't know the specs of these things  He still playing with it, the heads are dirty when I posted that and after a quick clean it sounded better, the casette he using is also wrinkles that makes the sound imbalanced. He got another properly calibrated Technics M270X that sounds better than the Denon currently. Thing is, Technics gives extensive maintenance manual how to properly calibrate their casette deck with proper diagram showing chich components do what, the Denon manual is not as detailed.


Your dad probably already knows this, but wrinkles & tears in tape are caused by excessively worn or dirty pinch rollers. Once the surface gets too slippery, it doesn't have enough friction to pull the tape, resulting with all sorts of problems. Cleaning the mechanism usually helps somewhat, but replacing the pinch (or at least restoring the rubber with chemical solutions such as "Rubber Renue") is the only working solution to this problem


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 28, 2019)

3.5" Floppy Disc Assembly Line


----------



## deflipe (Jul 29, 2019)

Hardware

Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D815EEA2 - ATX - Socket 370 - i815EP
Processor: Pentium III @933 MHz, 256K Cache, 133 MHz FSB
VGA:  3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP 64MB
WiFi / Bluethoot: MSI Dual NET 802.11b/g WiFi & Bluetooth PCI combo card
Memory: Kingston KVR133X64C3/512 512MB 133MHz
Sound: Creative CT4760 SoundBlaster Live X Gamer PCI
HDD: Seagate 80GB ST3802110A 7200RPM
CD/DVD: LG GH22NP20
Floppy Drive: NEC FD1231 (Without connection)



Cooling System

x 1 Noctua NF-F12 PWM Ultra Quiet
x 1 Noctua NF-A8 PWM Premium
x 2 Noctua NF-A4x10 5V, Premium Quiet Fan

S.O.

Windows 98 SE


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 29, 2019)

Very nice retro system! If the HDD ever gives you issues or you'd just like faster drive access times, a CompactFlash card and adapter can be had for good prices.


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 29, 2019)

deflipe said:


> Hardware
> 
> Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D815EEA2 - ATX - Socket 370 - i815EP
> Processor: Pentium III @933 MHz, 256K Cache, 133 MHz FSB
> ...


No 3.5" floppy drive? Any 5.25" optical drive?


----------



## deflipe (Jul 29, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> No 3.5" floppy drive? Any 5.25" optical drive?



It has a NEC floppy drive installed but not connected, LG IDE CD player connected.



lexluthermiester said:


> Very nice retro system! If the HDD ever gives you issues or you'd just like faster drive access times, a CompactFlash card and adapter can be had for good prices.



Thank you, but I read that they were not designed for continuous reading and writing (like a hard drive), or that they failed soon and I should review that, but I still like the idea, I saw it on the Phil's Computer Lab channel


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 29, 2019)

deflipe said:


> Thank you, but I read that they were not designed for continuous reading and writing (like a hard drive), or that they failed soon


Continuous writing to NAND flash wears it out, continuous reading however isn't destructive to the flash cells. Voltage drift in the flash cells when left without power would be the reason for the issue reading data back from the cells.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 29, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I would say the Pentium MMX 233 MHz but the 133 MHz Pentium (01-June-1995) seems more authentic to the time period of the Voodoo Graphics (End of 1996.) Between the two PCI cards I would have to pick the Matrox Millennium II (rebranded Mystique with the SGRAM swapped for WRAM) for the excellent 2D image quality.
> 
> Pentium MMX 233 MHz came out 02-June-1997



Definitely put the Voodoo with the Matrox and on the PentiumMMX 233MHz system


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 29, 2019)

Nice! Those Noctua fans looks fitting on these retro build where most PCB was green in color. They compliment each other.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 29, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> Definitely put the Voodoo with the Matrox and on the PentiumMMX 233MHz system


Thanks for the input! So, we got two votes for 3dfx with Mystique/Millennium II (and Rage IIc going solo) except @biffzinker thinks it would be more chronologically appropriate with P133, where on the other hand you suggested P233MMX 

Thing is, I already have couple of 233 MMX rigs, all with 3dfx Voodoo cards. But yes, I see your point - the MMX hardware is more likely to take full advantage of 3dfx technology than 100MHz slower counterpart, without the MMX support.

Alrighty then guys, I will keep you posted. This will require some modifications to the previously-assembled Pentium 133 rig (see below), but overall speaking it shouldn't be too difficult. Basically, I will swap the two cards from P133 into P233, and replace Matrox with Rage IIc, for the system in the picture below. As for the other & upcoming rig, the main objective will be to assemble this new P233 from scratch. I'm still waiting for the case & PSU, but other than that it will be a full rebuild, starting fresh from top to bottom


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 30, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


>


SCSI Ultra2 card?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 30, 2019)

As a matter of fact - yes, it is. But only used for SCSI CD-RW drive 

It originally had a different SCSI controller for the CD-RW drive (Kouwell KW-801), but it was causing all sorts of issues. The biggest one of all not being able to boot from CD drive in DOS, which was a real PITA because I had to temporarily hook up another CD-ROM drive, just to boot up Win95.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 30, 2019)

deflipe said:


> Thank you, but I read that they were not designed for continuous reading and writing (like a hard drive), or that they failed soon and I should review that, but I still like the idea, I saw it on the Phil's Computer Lab channel


Phil's done it, but Clint over on LGR uses them quite often and I'm sure he would chime in if there was a problem with them. CompactFlash was designed for high end camera's and thus is designed for repeated write/erase cycling. As long as you get one of decent quality you'll be fine for years to come. I've actually installed a few of these myself and they're very easy to use. Below are examples very similar to the ones I've used;








						Compact Flash CF to 3.5 Female 40 Pin IDE Bootable Adapter Converter Card  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Compact Flash CF to 3.5 Female 40 Pin IDE Bootable Adapter Converter Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				











						Monoprice IDE to Compact Flash CF Adapter w/PCI Bracket  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Monoprice IDE to Compact Flash CF Adapter w/PCI Bracket at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



And then there's cards which are also very reasonably priced;








						GENUINE MONSTER DIGITAL FLASH MEMORY 32GB CARD 500X  PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SEALED  | eBay
					

FOR SALE IS A GENUINE  MONSTER DIGITAL 500X 32GB COMPACT FLASH  ITS A PROFESSIONAL QUALITY.



					www.ebay.com
				











						SanDisk 64GB Extreme Compact Flash Memory Card #SDCFXS-064G-A46  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SanDisk 64GB Extreme Compact Flash Memory Card #SDCFXS-064G-A46 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				











						New Lexar 16/32/64/128GB 1066X Compact Flash CF Memory Card UDMA7 For Camera  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for New Lexar 16/32/64/128GB 1066X Compact Flash CF Memory Card UDMA7 For Camera at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



The Monster Digital is a solid brand that I've used with no failures. The Sandisk cards are very good as well but the Lexar is the ultimate in reliability and speed. Very worth the premium price.
Those classic old systems will never run better than with with what is effectively IDE SSD's



Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the input! So, we got two votes for 3dfx with Mystique/Millennium II (and Rage IIc going solo) except @biffzinker thinks it would be more chronologically appropriate with P133, where on the other hand you suggested P233MMX
> 
> Thing is, I already have couple of 233 MMX rigs, all with 3dfx Voodoo cards. But yes, I see your point - the MMX hardware is more likely to take full advantage of 3dfx technology than 100MHz slower counterpart, without the MMX support.
> 
> Alrighty then guys, I will keep you posted. This will require some modifications to the previously-assembled Pentium 133 rig (see below), but overall speaking it shouldn't be too difficult. Basically, I will swap the two cards from P133 into P233, and replace Matrox with Rage IIc, for the system in the picture below. As for the other & upcoming rig, the main objective will be to assemble this new P233 from scratch. I'm still waiting for the case & PSU, but other than that it will be a full rebuild, starting fresh from top to bottom


Here's my 2cents;
I would pair the Voodoo with the 233MMX & the ATI Rage2c and here is my reasoning;
1. The Matrox drivers didn't always play nice with the 3DFX drivers in games and even some desktop situations.
2. The ATI and Voodoo complement each other better in the onboard ram area.
3. The P133 would be better served by the Matrox card and it's 4MB as long as you pair them with a motherboard with at least 256KB of L2 cache(but 512KB is highly recommended if you have it).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 30, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Here's my 2cents;
> I would pair the Voodoo with the 233MMX & the ATI Rage2c and here is my reasoning;
> 1. The Matrox drivers didn't always play nice with the 3DFX drivers in games and even some desktop situations.
> 2. The ATI and Voodoo complement each other better in the onboard ram area.
> 3. The P133 would be better served by the Matrox card and it's 4MB as long as you pair them with a motherboard with at least 256KB of L2 cache(but 512KB is highly recommended if you have it).


Thank you! Yes, that is exactly the same thinking & reasoning as my own, because I honestly don't think Rage IIc would be able to handle "3D" with only just 2MB of VRAM.

Neither of these cards are great choice for games, I'm perfectly aware of that but since I only have one 3dfx & these two PCI cards available, it'll have to be...


----------



## deflipe (Jul 30, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Phil's done it, but Clint over on LGR uses them quite often and I'm sure he would chime in if there was a problem with them. CompactFlash was designed for high end camera's and thus is designed for repeated write/erase cycling. As long as you get one of decent quality you'll be fine for years to come. I've actually installed a few of these myself and they're very easy to use. Below are examples very similar to the ones I've used;
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Thank you, I will buy the Monster and the monoprice adapter to test how it works


----------



## SniperHF (Jul 30, 2019)

One of my old Franken-machines in the closet:
Athlon XP 2000+
Asus A7S333
Radeon 9200se (used to have a 9800se but that stopped working)
2xWD IDE drives
512mb DDR (pretty sure it's 333 but it has an aftermarket heat spreader and I forgot to check it in Aida)
Triple boot 98se,Windows 2000 (An elegant OS from a more civilized age), Mandriva
Airlink 802.11g PCI card  (this was always kind of a POS)
Linksys LNE100TX PCI
Some random white case I bought at Fry's Electronics.
A "Maxpower" PSU of some sort.
And a bit of dust.

Was all working when I put it away,  seems fine except for the win2k install won't boot even in safe mode. 
It's even pretty snappy at the desktop in Mandriva.








Spoiler: More


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 30, 2019)

What's with all the unplugged front panel connectors? It also seems you're missing essential part of every vintage system, a 3.5" floppy drive


----------



## SniperHF (Jul 30, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> What's with all the unplugged front panel connectors? It also seems you're missing essential part of every vintage system, a 3.5" floppy drive



I only have one good 3.5 floppy drive between my 5 retro systems so I keep it separate in the event I need it for something rather than have to yank it out. 

No idea why I left the other connections unplugged.  When I built this one ~5 years ago I was just grabbing parts that would work together and slapping them in something rather than leave them in anti static bags.

The CPU/board came from a system I built for a family friend that gave it back to me when he upgraded it.
The case was my brothers, then my mom's for around a decade.
The 9200se was purchased to upgrade my brother's 7000 LE that ran KOTOR at slideshow levels.
The hard drives were my daily drivers at one point as were the NICs.
The RAM was the first RAM I purchased with my own money.

Most of my old stuff is built out of my old parts rather than trying to outright build a retro box.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 31, 2019)

each time i see VU Meter ... i have a kick back to the mid to late 90s ... 





Deja VU .... Kilometer Per Hour ...


----------



## HUSKIE (Jul 31, 2019)

Bought whilst on holiday back home. Loads of cheap pc hardware here.

Motherboard, c2d E7500, 2gb team elite ram


----------



## SniperHF (Jul 31, 2019)

Speaking of meters.

Bought this used for $5 at a DeVry garage sale many years ago:




Works great.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jul 31, 2019)

I don´t know if this is the right place to ask about specific hardware problems for older stuff, but I have an Asus Rampage Formula that acts a little funny. 

I used it in a build for Win XP and every time it posts the board reports an error: South Bridge overheat warning! 
Now that must be an issue with reading the sensor, because when I check in bios and later in OS via HWmonitor the SB-temp never exceeds 45°C. It starts at around 30°C, and climbs to 40°C then settles there. I can not see any overheat issues. 
I had some crashes and bluescreens with XP but I think they are unrelated, because I got them fixed after finding all the drivers for my chipset, soundcard etc.. 

Is there a way to skip this message? Because it stops the POST every single time.


----------



## btarunr (Jul 31, 2019)

The first rig I put together on my own dime had an Athlon XP 2600+ and a crappy ECS motherboard with NVIDIA nForce 2 chipset. At least it had dual-channel memory, which was new to AMD at the time.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 31, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> I don´t know if this is the right place to ask about specific hardware problems for older stuff, but I have an Asus Rampage Formula that acts a little funny.
> 
> I used it in a build for Win XP and every time it posts the board reports an error: South Bridge overheat warning!
> Now that must be an issue with reading the sensor, because when I check in bios and later in OS via HWmonitor the SB-temp never exceeds 45°C. It starts at around 30°C, and climbs to 40°C then settles there. I can not see any overheat issues.
> ...


seems awfully similar to "CPU fan error Press F1 to continue"

i spent a long time pressing F1 ... for the CPU fan error ... never found how to bypass an error like that


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 31, 2019)

GreiverBlade said:


> seems awfully similar to "CPU fan error Press F1 to continue"
> 
> i spent a long time pressing F1 ... for the CPU fan error ... never found how to bypass an error like that


What about disabling CPU fan speed monitoring, under "Power" options, in BIOS? I've had several situations like that, where the CPU fan was rotating too slow for sensor to be registered & kept throwing errors. The only way around it was to disable  the fan monitoring in BIOS.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> What about disabling CPU fan speed monitoring, under "Power" options, in BIOS? I've had several situations like that, where the CPU fan was rotating too slow for sensor to be registered & kept throwing errors. The only way around it was to disable  the fan monitoring in BIOS.


oh it was years ago ... i overcame that with time ... (it was around my K6-2 build and followed me like a plague int the K6-III and Athlon XP era  )

should have wrote : "at the time i never found how to bypass that error"


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 31, 2019)

Ah, got it 

In fact, now that I think about it, I have the same problem on one of my Dell GX110 machines. BIOS was expecting a fan to report upon boot, but it wasn't reading anything since I'm not using one (Passively-cooled Slot-1 CPU). So, the only way to properly boot GX110 was to disable the sensor in BIOS, because it kept sounding alarms & sending error messages during each & every POST.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jul 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> What about disabling CPU fan speed monitoring, under "Power" options, in BIOS? I've had several situations like that, where the CPU fan was rotating too slow for sensor to be registered & kept throwing errors. The only way around it was to disable  the fan monitoring in BIOS.


Good idea, but didn´t work for my temp issue. I disabled the overheat protection which was set to 90°C in bios but disabling it did absolutly nothing. Well, atleast everything else is working.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 31, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> Good idea, but didn´t work for my temp issue. I disabled the overheat protection which was set to 90°C in bios but disabling it did absolutly nothing. Well, atleast everything else is working.


You mentioned having FAN error, nothing about overheating... Those are two different settings, there's one for thermal protection (and throttling, IF the system is modern enough to support this feature) and then there's another option to either monitor or to ignore fan speed. When set to "ignore", it won't report any issues with the CPU fan, even if it doesn't work at all. Under the normal circumstances, turning this feature off is asking for trouble, but since there is obviously something wrong with your motherboard, it would probably work in your favor.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> You mentioned having FAN error, nothing about overheating... Those are two different settings, there's one for thermal protection (and throttling, IF the system is modern enough to support this feature) and then there's another option to either monitor or to ignore fan speed. When set to "ignore", it won't report any issues with the CPU fan, even if it doesn't work at all. Under the normal circumstances, turning this feature off is asking for trouble, but since there is obviously something wrong with the motherboard, it would probably  work in your favor.


no i mentioned having a fan error (he's stalking me it's atrocious ) Dinnercore mentioned overhearing ..... the fan? oh wait nope ... overheating


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 31, 2019)

Oh... You're absolutely correct, my mistake! (Had to go back & double-check all the quotes to see who's talking to who lol)

Nvm then, regarding @Dinnercore , his mobo is most likely damaged or having some sort of weird issue with the BIOS.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 1, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> South Bridge overheat warning!


Get into the bios and clear that warning in the bios messages screen. Find and attach a heatsink to that southbridge chip. That problem should end. Some errors will continue to trigger an alert with each boot up until cleared by the user.


----------



## Dinnercore (Aug 1, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Get into the bios and clear that warning in the bios messages screen. Find and attach a heatsink to that southbridge chip. That problem should end. Some errors will continue to trigger an alert with each boot up until cleared by the user.


Thanks for the reply, there already is a heatsink attached by default. I even put new paste on it and the sensor never reports a high temp when I look at it in bios or OS. I did enter bios and tried to clear it, even disabled the OTP feature entirely for the SB. 
Still the warning gets triggered as the very first thing during POST. I can´t even enter bios without pressing F1 first. My theory right now is that the aged sensor reports some implausible value during start-up, which in return triggers the OTP.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 2, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> Thanks for the reply, there already is a heatsink attached by default. I even put new paste on it and the sensor never reports a high temp when I look at it in bios or OS. I did enter bios and tried to clear it, even disabled the OTP feature entirely for the SB.
> Still the warning gets triggered as the very first thing during POST. I can´t even enter bios without pressing F1 first. My theory right now is that the aged sensor reports some implausible value during start-up, which in return triggers the OTP.


In that case, and I hate giving bad news, but that may be an indication of your board going bad and this situation is a symptom of it being on the brink... On the other hand it could just be a bad sensor. In your case I think it will just take time..


----------



## Dinnercore (Aug 2, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> In that case, and I hate giving bad news, but that may be an indication of your board going bad and this situation is a symptom of it being on the brink... On the other hand it could just be a bad sensor. In your case I think it will just take time..


Thanks for the heads up, I´ll see how long it takes. I won´t loose much if it finally decides to go. That board was wonky to begin with, I received it with bend pins in the socket too, but was able to fix those myself.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 2, 2019)

@Dinnercore - When all fails, take it apart and give it a good clean with IPA 99% or even a good scrub with mild hot water and dishsoap followed by a IPA 99% wash. This is a last resort measure. Sometimes I got lucky this way. You never know how or in what environment it was used. I'm sure that this is child's play for you as I've seen your thread and what you are capable of.  Use an air compressor or leave it to dry by itself and see how that goes. You have nothing to lose.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 2, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> Thanks for the heads up, I´ll see how long it takes. I won´t loose much if it finally decides to go. That board was wonky to begin with, I received it with bend pins in the socket too, but was able to fix those myself.


Oh, so it was a freeby? Fair enough.


Robert B said:


> @Dinnercore - When all fails, take it apart and give it a good clean with IPA 99% or even a good scrub with mild hot water and dishsoap followed by a IPA 99% wash. This is a last resort measure. Sometimes I got lucky this way. You never know how or in what environment it was used. I'm sure that this is child's play for you as I've seen your thread and what you are capable of.  Use an air compressor or leave it to dry by itself and see how that goes. You have nothing to lose.


This couldn't hurt. A bit of deoxit on the contacts might help to.


----------



## SniperHF (Aug 2, 2019)

CPUs I currently Don't have a motherboard for







Top Left:  Celeron 466mhz  (No idea where I got this one)   
Top Mid: Athlon 64 3500+ S939 - I used this till I upgraded it to a 4000+  I remember thinking the 4000+ to feel a lot faster at the time.
Top Right:  E8400 - Used this one daily, don't remember which stepping it is.  Wasn't a great OCer but 4.1ghz isn't too bad.

Middle left: Sempron 2400+  (no idea where I got this one)
Middle Middle: Athlon XP 1800+ (Bought in one of those ever present K7S5A bundles)
Middle Right:  Duron 1600 (no idea where I got this one)

Bottom Left and Middle:  My dual PIII Coppermine 1ghz CPUs from my old server, if you played Ravenshield you might have played on these .  Unfortunately the Tyan Tiger 230 that housed them croaked out and I no longer have it.

Bottom Right:  Coppermine 128 Celeron 1ghz - Pulled from an eMachines tower.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 3, 2019)

Rainy day at the Flea Market! - What a great way to get low prices! 

One *Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA* -  One cap is swollen. No biggie. Eventually I'll replace all the caps if necessary. For now I'll use a Phenom II X4 CPU, 2GB DDR2-800 AData Vitesta and see if it works or not.  AM2 + AGP 8x = LOVE.  The Sempron SDA3000IAA3CN is nothing to write home about ...

Two *WD VR 150GB SATA* 2010/2011 - All in good working condition. 

Less than 10 EUROS for the lot.  WIN! WIN! WIN!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2019)

Robert B said:


> Rainy day at the Flea Market! - What a great way to get low prices!
> 
> One *Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA* -  One cap is swollen. No biggie. Eventually I'll replace all the caps if necessary. For now I'll use a Phenom II X4 CPU, 2GB DDR2-800 AData Vitesta and see if it works or not.  AM2 + AGP 8x = LOVE.  The Sempron SDA3000IAA3CN is nothing to write home about ...
> 
> ...


That's a steal of the deal! And Raptors!


----------



## Robert B (Aug 3, 2019)

The *Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA* - has some limitations but overall it can be a potent contender for a Win XP/AGP setup.



			ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA / ALiveDual-eSATA2 Note
		






						ASRock > AM2NF3-VSTA
					

Support for Socket AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor; NVIDIA nForce3 250 Chipset; Hyper-Transport Technology, AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology; Supports Dual Channel DDR2 1066/800/667/533 (4 x...




					www.asrock.com
				








						Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA \ 									VOGONS
					






					www.vogons.org
				











						Project: The Ultimate AGP System (PC-A05FNB/HD3850)
					

Are you thinking this is an AGP video card with a Lian Li case work log? You are damn right, and it is going to be Ultimate.   What so special about this work log? Since this will be my last casemod project before I go back to school and travel. I will put all my modding ideas I have on this...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The *Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA* - has some limitations but overall it can be a potent contender for a Win XP/AGP setup.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh yeah. It'd be great for that! Especially with an X4. Though if you're actually going to build it out, go with 3GB(1GBx2+512MBx2) of ram if you have it. The extra GB of ram will make a difference in many games that run on XP.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 3, 2019)

I have 3 of them.
Fantastic AGP benching board. All problems with the board can be remedied by modded bios and a few simple volt mods.
Link to my site for the volt mods.  





						AM2NF3-VSTA  Vdimm and Vcore mods | Warp9-systems
					

Vdimm mod.    Vcore mod.  The VDimm mod is on the left. You can also see the Vcore voltmod over on the right just remove the Zero ohm resistor in tha




					warp9-systems.proboards.com


----------



## Grog6 (Aug 3, 2019)

All the problems I've ever had with older hardware were capacitor issues.

I've bought tons of caps from digikey over the years, and in every case was rewarded with a newly stable piece of working hardware. 

The capacitor plague was way worse than imagined.  Of Course, caps are only rated for 1000 hours in most cases; how many of us are still below that on ANY of our hardware? 

My newest mobo is approaching 2500 hours of ontime; the i7-920 in the TV PC is approaching 3400 hours. 
They're on 24/7, unless they crash.

The K6-III/450 in the basement; jeez... 
It's been taking data since 2004, and is battery backed and will auto-reboot on a system crash, due to a watchdog card.
That's 4500 hours; I guess I should look at its caps, lol.
It's running DOS, under Win95, lol.


----------



## SniperHF (Aug 3, 2019)

Are old manuals interesting? 
I dunno but these are the ones I have laying around.




Wish I had the DUAL VSTA board, but I built that one for someone else.


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 3, 2019)

775Dual-VSTA ?


----------



## SniperHF (Aug 3, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> 775Dual-VSTA ?



In typical old school ASRock fashion it had both AGP and PCIe, and DDR and DDR2 support for the 775 socket.   Old ASRock boards are neat


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 3, 2019)

I also remember having Epox EP-3PTA manual somewhere, probably inside one of the boxes


----------



## Robert B (Aug 4, 2019)

Another EPIC flea market day.  2day! 

*ASUS P4P800 Deluxe Rev. 1.02 - i865PE 
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe Rev. 2.00 - i875P 
Intel stock coolers
PII 333 - SL2TV
PIII 800/133 - SL4CD
Athlon XP 2600+  AXDA2600KV4D - week 47 2003 - AQZFA 0347 TPMW - No ideea if it is unlocked or not.
P4 3GHz HT - SL7PM*

12 EUROS for the lot.  WIN! WIN! WIN!

The motherboards came without CPUs but with the stock coolers mounted. Sneaky seller ...  You live and learn. For the price I paid I have no regrets howsoever.

The P4C800 has a couple cosmetic issues with two SATA ports and one IDE port but otherwise all the parts are in great shape. The caps still look good and are from reputable brands, at least the critical ones.

I kept reading about these ASUS P4P800 / P4C800 boards so  I had to get me some of those too.  These were exactly what I was missing, next to 40 other mainboards and hundreds of other parts ... 

All will be restored to their former glory. Finding older 486/Pentium parts has been increasingly difficult the last few months so these components that are approaching the age of 15-20 years old are beginning to trickle in my collection. I still consider PCI-E too new for me. AGP is my limit for now. Also, the increased rate at which electronic components are being recycled made me look at some bits that otherwise meant nothing to me. I never had a P4 back in the day as I was an AMD Athlon XP guy.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 4, 2019)

Those P4 boards are getting harder to find these days.
P4C800 boards were the best overclocking P4 boards ever. Highly desirable.
Your  2600+ will be locked. 0339 is the cutoff date.


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 4, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Those P4 boards are getting harder to find these days.
> P4C800 boards were the best overclocking P4 boards ever. Highly desirable.
> Your  2600+ will be locked. 0339 is the cutoff date.


It's worth a try to see if it's unlocked at least, it might actually be, who knows?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 4, 2019)

DR4G00N said:


> It's worth a try to see if it's unlocked at least, it might actually be, who knows?


Highly unlikely. Although there were a few stray AXP's that made it out unlocked after 0339. I have a couple, but again, that's a rare situation.
Still, don't cost anything to try.

BTW, multi is always unlocked in the down selections. Locked multi is only locked in the up selections.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 4, 2019)

Look what the cat dragged in... 


 


It's a Pentium MMX running at 166MHz. My first PPGA Pentium MMX at 166MHz, as all my other ones are 233MHz. I've been told that the motherboard doesn't work, but from what I could tell so far, everything's working perfectly fine... This thing will need all the components & expansion cards, but eventually it'll make one decent (and hopefully happy) little system


----------



## Robert B (Aug 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Look what the cat dragged in...



Literally!!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 5, 2019)

Making progress...

The system had been fully disassembled & PSU checked (and oddly enough appears to be in mint condition). New hardware is standing by, this is going to be an interesting build!


 

 



I've decided to pair this one with Mitsumi drives (both floppy & CD-ROM), but I have no idea what I'm going to do with gaping 3.5" hole in front, as it seems to be too small for one of those 3.5" fillers which I got laying around.




Took the liberty of removing the motherboard, and adding (and replacing) the mounting standoffs. While the motherboard tray was removed, I also used the opportunity to mount (and screw in) all the drives. Oddly enough, this PSU requires external ground, which I connected to floppy... I really don't see the point for additional ground terminal, but whatever... Also, the live voltage cable is now routed around the frame & looped down into the switch. Rather than having a live cable dangling inside the case, and near low voltage areas, which could be sensitive to EM radiation from the mains (220V, 50Hz)


 

 



The sound card for this build is going to be ESS AudioDrive MS868P/D. The last time I had it hooked up, it kept causing weird problems & other issues, so I'm going to give it one more (and probably last) chance. If this one doesn't work out, I'm going to swap it out for SoundBlaster 16, which has a non-working MIDI. Which would under the normal circumstances be a serious issue, but since this particular build is going to feature Win95 & 1996 (and newer) software, I don't see any problems.


 




Oh, and almost forgot... Can't go without the CMOS speaker!  Fortunately, I had one, laying around.




And there you have it... Still tons of work to be done, but I'm slowly getting there!


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 6, 2019)

be careful with that PSU it may look in fine shape but electrolytic caps that don't get used for a while can dry out


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 6, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Look what the cat dragged in...


Was that an intended pun?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 6, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Was that an intended pun?


Of course not! 

@Athlonite Trust me, I've seen far worse... Heck, I own some of those 5x86 units with PSU which are beyond any help or repairs. I suppose I could hook up ATX to AT converter & use any modern ATX power supply, but seeing these are still working & not causing any issues, I've decided to keep them


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 7, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> It's a Pentium MMX running at 166MHz. My first PPGA Pentium MMX at 166MHz, as all my other ones are 233MHz.


I had one of those. They OC to 200mhz flawlessly. And if you can manage a small voltage boost(motherboard must support such) it'll get to 233mhz with grace. Wonderful OCer's. Needs a good heatsink though and most Socket A kits with a swivel latch will fit.

So this is a thing;








For anyone who is old enough to remember, maybe fortunate enough to have owned one and lament that it wasn't more popular stateside, this may be very tempting. I think I'm going to order one..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 7, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I had one of those. They OC to 200mhz flawlessly. And if you can manage a small voltage boost(motherboard much support such) it'll get to 233mhz with grace. Wonderful OCer's. Needs a good heatsink though and most Socket A kits with a swivel latch will fit.
> 
> So this is a thing;
> 
> ...


Maybe so, but naaah. I already got three complete (and fully working) Pentium MMX 233 units in my collection, so there really wouldn't be much point. It's running at stock 166MHz speed, has a small Socket 7 heatsink (with extremely loud, brand new fan) and seems to be doing just fine. In fact, I finished the build earlier today & I'm in the progress of booting it up. So far so good, the motherboard is working perfectly fine 




You may remember my question about graphics from last week, and which card I should use alone (Rage IIc or Matrox Millennium), and which one of these should be paired up with 3dfx? That's because I don't have any decent PCI cards in my collection, capable of doing "3D". Except this isn't entirely correct... About a year ago, I bought couple of brand new ATI Rage XL cards from AliExpress, thinking these would save me from ever having problem(s) with PCI graphics, ever again. For those of you who don't know, or do not remember, these are NOT "New Old Stock". They are in fact brand new cards, produced with old Rage XL GPU chips. Apparently Chinese folks bought thousands (millions, even?) of these and are now mounting them on brand new cards, which are NOT manufactured by ATI/AMD.


 



Unfortunately, it turned out that Rage XL from the picture above doesn't work on older, PCI 2.0 slots. They specifically require the newer 2.1 standard to work, so they've been pretty much useless to me. In fact, I traded one of them for that Matrox Millennium II, and kept the other one for myself, just in case. Well, it just happens that the motherboard which came inside this Pentium 166 recognizes & supports PCI 2.1 standard! So I gave it a try (seeing I got nothing to lose, even if it doesn't work out) and really, it booted just fine! So now I actually DO have a 3D capable video card in my system!


----------



## Susquehannock (Aug 13, 2019)

Free PCIe X600XT 256mb. Seller sent this instead of the gf4 AGP that I payed for and promptly returned my funds. Never asked for the card back. Not sure what to to do with it now.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 13, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Free PCIe X600XT 256mb. Seller sent this instead of the gf4 AGP that I payed for and promptly returned my funds. Never asked for the card back. Not sure what to to do with it now.
> 
> View attachment 129133


It'll make a solid spare card for diagnostic work.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 13, 2019)

Speaking of PCIe cards, I was recently donated a non-working Radeon X1600 Pro, which is in desperate need of recapping (assuming it can even be repaired, at all). Also got fully-working Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 with Athlon X2, but it is missing the rear I/O shield plate.

Wasn't going to mention it here (or even upload pics), because (to my standards & thinking) this is current & modern-day hardware. In fact, I picked them up to (re)build a daily runner for a member of the family. Something to watch YouTube in HD, check for emails & do paperwork.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 16, 2019)

Well, I was given these from a friend who upgraded to a i3 3250.

Allied LC-8400BTX 400W ATXv2.2/P4*
ASUS P5QL Pro*
Core 2 Quad Q9400 w/ cooler
6GB of DDR2 RAM
SoundBlaster Audigy SE PCI*


*these three were originally donated by me, as his PC (an SFF eMachines that literally had the MB glued to the chassis) died. The CPU he bought later on and so did the RAM. The PSU is safe to use (I had recapped it long before I gave it to him) although some of the components might be undersized for the job (although I'm not sure if it's just my eyes or they're actually that small)

What I'm going to reuse from these is just the CPU and its cooler. The rest will go into storage, as I'm going to use a DDR3 motherboard, and given that I want to install a GTX550Ti (or even a GTX580 I got my eyes on), the PSU won't cut it, and I already have a FSP Bluestorm II 500W I want to put to good use.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Well, I was given these from a friend who upgraded to a i3 3250.
> 
> Allied LC-8400BTX 400W ATXv2.2/P4*
> ASUS P5QL Pro*
> ...


To be fair, the difference in ram performance for the C2Q DDR2 vs DDR3 is minimal. If it's DDR2 800mhz you'll be good as long as it divided 2x2GB and 2x1GB. Save yourself the money on a DDR3 board and ram, unless you already have them. IIRC that Asus board is a solid overclocker and the Q9400 should give you 3.2-3.6ghz without much effort. Additionally, a GTX670 would be a better fit for that CPU as well and should only be an extra $10, if that. That setup will make a great Windows XP/Windows 7 retro system. You'll only need 4GB if you plan on XP though. XP just won't see the other 2GB.

Only friendly suggestions, you might have specific plans for it.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 16, 2019)

I've already mentioned I'm going for DDR3. There's no reason to stay on DDR2 with that CPU, at least for me. I have talked to someone and I'm waiting on him to ship a Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R, which has a few advantages over the P5QL Pro - for one, I can SLi, it has DDR3 slots only and the last one is it comes fully equipped from the seller - driver CD, I/O shield, board and even the box!

The only things that might set me a bit back would be the GPU (prices are a bit higher than you'd think here in Romania, even for second hand stuff) and a big good cooler for the Q9400, as otherwise DDR3 RAM is pretty cheap, and I already have a lot of parts - FSP Bluestorm II 500W PSU, 3 HDDs (1TB, 500GB, 320GB),  and a Delux MG760 case which currently houses a old Socket 462/VIA KT600 based Sempron machine.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I've already mentioned I'm going for DDR3. There's no reason to stay on DDR2 with that CPU, at least for me. I have talked to someone and I'm waiting on him to ship a Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R, which has a few advantages over the P5QL Pro - for one, I can SLi, it has DDR3 slots only and the last one is it comes fully equipped from the seller - driver CD, I/O shield, board and even the box!
> 
> The only things that might set me a bit back would be the GPU (prices are a bit higher than you'd think here in Romania, even for second hand stuff) and a big good cooler for the Q9400, as otherwise DDR3 RAM is pretty cheap, and I already have a lot of parts - FSP Bluestorm II 500W PSU, 3 HDDs (1TB, 500GB, 320GB),  and a Delux MG760 case which currently houses a old Socket 462/VIA KT600 based Sempron machine.
> 
> View attachment 129365


Fair enough. At least get yourself a GTX560 or GTX570. A 550 is such a slouch, even on XP.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 16, 2019)

The section in the video about working as a tech support agent I found amusing. What do you know, somethings never change. Someone calling into tech support complaining their $3000 dollar high-end desktop with a 166 MHz Pentium has been replaced by the new 200 MHz Pentium.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


>


Some of David's stories I could have told verbatim.  I used to do tech support for Dell in the Small Business / Enterprise division.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 16, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I used to do tech support for Dell in the Small Business / Enterprise division.


Of all job opportunities you picked tech support?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Of all job opportunities you picked tech support?


It was 2003 and paid $23 per hour.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 17, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Fair enough. At least get yourself a GTX560 or GTX570. A 550 is such a slouch, even on XP.


Gonna see which one would be cheaper. The 550Ti is $26 (115RON), while a GTX580 is $46.

Will probably go with the 580 if it doesn't pull a whole lot of power, although the PSU definitely looks up to the job.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 17, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Will probably go with the 580 if it doesn't pull a whole lot of power


It does. Tops out at 304W under load.








						NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1536 MB Review
					

Today NVIDIA releases their new GeForce GTX 580 which is based on their Fermi architecture. The card is 20% faster than the GTX 480, yet requires less power. NVIDIA has also optimized fan noise making this the quietest highest-end card on the market today.




					www.techpowerup.com
				



However, a GTX 670 does much better topping out at 162W;








						NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2 GB Review
					

Today NVIDIA launches their new GeForce GTX 670 which aims to bring incredible performance levels at more affordable pricing. We see the new $399 card cruise past HD 7970 in many of our tests which will put additional pressure on AMD. Even against NVIDIA's own GTX 680 the performance difference...




					www.techpowerup.com
				



It also performs much better which is why I mentioned it. It's a much better sweetspot, if you can find a good deal where you live.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 17, 2019)




----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2019)

Ha, it would seem I was "ahead" of Phil's Computer Lab by years... 97% of my Windows 98 (especially 3dfx ones) are based on Slot-1 motherboard, whenever it's Pentium II or Pentium III. I've been experimenting with various chipsets though (VIA, Intel, etc), but I would have to agree that Intel's 440BX is probably the most accurate & reliable solution, especially for 3dfx. In fact, I've been using Slot-1 for more than just 3dfx - I also got Savage4 system based on a Celeron 333 and nVidia M64 based on a Pentium II, 266. Not to mention those HP workstations, Visualize & Kayak with the support for two Slot-1 CPUs... All in all, a great & fun platform to work with IMO!

I always get nostalgic watching, working, or even talking about these things!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 17, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I always get nostalgic watching, working, or even talking about these things!


Same here!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2019)

IMHO, Slot-1 was unique, "cool" and inventive way of handling the CPU!




I feel sad they've left it behind so early, as Slot design had a lot to offer. Especially because of Intel's reaction, when Slot 1 failed to meet the marketing needs. Essentially, they've tried to convince people how S370 is the "future", even though only yesterday they've moved away from Socket 7 which was "ancient history". When you think about Socket(s) 7 & 370 from today's point of view, they are essentially the same as current platforms. OK, so Intel CPUs no longer have the pins, but AMD does. AM2/2+/3 platform is in fact very similar to Socket 7, except it uses retention bracket to hold the heatsink in place, where on the other hand Slot-1 had that unique & futuristic look which was never repeated again.

Come to think of it, Slot-1 was the ONLY platform where you could easily swap the CPU cartridge "on the fly", without having to remove the heatsink & re-apply TIM (and wipe the old one)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> IMHO, Slot-1 was unique, "cool" and inventive way of handling the CPU!


Completely agree! It made upgrades, swapouts and troubleshooting an absolute breeze! Actually miss it.



Trekkie4 said:


> Slot-1 was the ONLY platform where you could easily swap the CPU cartridge "on the fly"


Not true! There was Slot2 and AMD's SlotA.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Completely agree! It made upgrades, swapouts and troubleshooting an absolute breeze! Actually miss it.
> 
> 
> Not true! There was Slot2 and AMD's SlotA.


You're right, totally forgot about Slot A. But I disagree on Slot 2 as (to my understanding, at least) Slot 1 = Slot 2, except the S2 was for meant, designed for professional usage (with Xeon processors). AFAIK, it was never introduced to "consumer" grade hardware. Which essentially makes it Slot 1, just with more bells & whistles.


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> You're right, totally forgot about Slot A. But I disagree on Slot 2 as (to my understanding, at least) Slot 1 = Slot 2, except the S2 was for meant, designed for professional usage (with Xeon processors). AFAIK, it was never introduced to "consumer" grade hardware. Which essentially makes it Slot 1, just with more bells & whistles.



Slot 2 or SECC 330 was used for PII and PIII Xeon cpu's as Slot 1 SECC 242 couldn't handle the full speed of the Xeon CPU cache but that was the only reason for Slot 2


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> But I disagree on Slot 2 as (to my understanding, at least) Slot 1 = Slot 2, except the S2 was for meant, designed for professional usage (with Xeon processors).


They were electronically incompatible.


Trekkie4 said:


> AFAIK, it was never introduced to "consumer" grade hardware. Which essentially makes it Slot 1, just with more bells & whistles.


While that was generally true, it didn't take much for the general consumer to get a single or dual Xeon if they wanted it. A single P2/P3 Xeon was compatible with Windows 98SE which is what made them appealing to high-end gamers because the performance increase of the larger cache.


Athlonite said:


> but that was the only reason for Slot 2


Also incorrect, see below;




The CPU is the one mounted on top. The extra chip on bottom was a system interface controller that helped the CPU manage and map larger amounts of system ram and other resources not found in consumer grade equipment.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> They were electronically incompatible.
> 
> While that was generally true, it didn't take much for the general consumer to get a single or dual Xeon if they wanted it. A single P2/P3 Xeon was compatible with Windows 98SE which is what made them appealing to high-end gamers because the performance increase of the larger cache.
> 
> ...


You misunderstood my post from yesterday. I wasn't suggesting that Slot 1 & Slot 2 are electronically compatible, just that both of them are the same "family", which essentially makes them the same. As I said, Slot 1 was targeted for consumer-grade hardware (including gamers), where on the other hand Slot 2 was introduced to meet with professional requirements & needs.

Things might had been somewhat different in the States, but I remember the 90s, when I got my Pentium II... Even the most powerful (gaming) model available, "Star Gate" as they called it didn't include the Xeon and/or Slot 2 boards. Instead, it had a "standard" Slot-1 mobo with (I believe) 450MHz Pentium II and 128MB RAM. Mine was second to previously-described best - it was called "Open Space" and had 350MHz PII with 64MB of RAM along with 3dfx Voodoo2 and we bought it for the price of around $2,250.

I don't even want to imagine what, or rather how much would Slot 2 board with Xeon CPU cost back then, probably a fortune! Either way, not something you'd expect to find under someone's desk, for playing Quake 2, Need for Speed III, Tomb Raider and/or Half-Life


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 18, 2019)

Found these two at the dumpster, both working. The Soyo board I might need to change one of the capacitors.

Soyo SY-6VBA133 w/ Katmai 500MHz



Whole PC with Gigabyte 7N400, Athlon XP 2500 Barton, Radeon 9600 128MB, 512MB RAM, no HDDs, and a 52x ASUS CDRW drive.

PSU isn't original to it. It originally had some ultra-gutless PSU that used the tiniest fuse I've ever seen. The one I installed was personally recapped and upgraded by me, and provides a safe 250W of power.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2019)

Awesome stuff! Always makes me happy to see yet another Slot-1 rig saved from the dumpster! 

As for the Gigabyte board, I used to have something very similar, except it was S478 layout. Board was giving me problems, so I flashed the BIOS (hoping it would resolve the problem) and the entire thing froze during the flashing procedure, rendering the entire motherboard useless. Which is kinda absurd for Gigabyte boards, as most of them have two BIOS chips, in case something like this ever happens. In fact, the one I flashed had a dedicated area, empty space for the 2nd chip, which was obviously not installed/used for that particular model. And the other (only) one was soldered directly into the board, it didn't have a socket.

Pretty much all of my "current" S775 & AM2+ boards are Gigabyte branded, and I'm glad to say that I've never, ever had a problem with one of them. In fact, I would strongly recommend them!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Awesome stuff! Always makes me happy to see yet another Slot-1 rig saved from the dumpster!


Yeah, it's only the board. I couldn't bring myself to carry the monster case it had, and it was also beaten up to smithereens. Oh, and no harddrive. All the other components I used to test it (FX5500 128MB and PSU) came from other sources. The FX came from a Skt 478 machine and the PSU came from a Core2Quad Q9400 machine.

There's also a stripped screw right next to the front panel that somebody tightened it so hard that not even the strongest pliers I had could remove.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yeah, it's only the board. I couldn't bring myself to carry the monster case it had, and it was also beaten up to smithereens. Oh, and no harddrive. All the other components I used to test it (FX5500 128MB and PSU) came from other sources. The FX came from a Skt 478 machine and the PSU came from a Core2Quad Q9400 machine.


Nah, what's the point... There's tons of beige cases around, widely available for next to nothing (if anything, at all - most people are giving them away because they no longer blend-in with black components) And you can easily source the hard drive, as well. Alternatively, you could try with CF card to IDE adapter, to form old-school SSD drive. Not sure how reliable something like that would be, but most people reported good results.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah, what's the point... There's tons of beige cases around, widely available for next to nothing (if anything, at all - most people are giving them away because they no longer blend-in with black components) And you can easily source the hard drive, as well. Alternatively, you could try with CF card to IDE adapter, to form old-school SSD drive. Not sure how reliable something like that would be, but most people reported good results.


Yeah, it wasn't worth it, although it was a weird specimen that had both a Turbo LED and a Suspend button, separate from the power button. Even the motherboard has a special header for a suspend switch.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 18, 2019)

Yeah, pretty much all motherboards back then had a Turbo LED header, because most people upgraded from the older hardware (Socket 7), which still had & used Turbo LED feature. And instead of the Turbo Switch they've introduced suspend switch, I believe some models also had a "Green Switch" but I'm not sure if those two are one & the same.

In fact, some boards kept on recycling Turbo LED feature all the way to S478, except they've renamed it into "Message LED". Asus P4B was/is one of them, I clearly remember hooking up the Turbo LED on my MaCase tower into Message LED header.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 18, 2019)




----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 18, 2019)

at least it boots  so far.........need to fit moor hw to go further


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 18, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> at least it boots  so far.........need to fit moor hw to go further


Got a Voodoo3 3000, boatloads of PC133 SDRAM, and a few vintage HDDs such as the Quantum Fireball 15LCT, as well as a 20GB HDD from the IBM I did a overhaul on (a Netvista 6578 I posted a few pages back) but that one is pretty loud from itself.

Still need to find a drill to remove that stubborn screw near the front panel, and replace most of the caps. There's a weird issue where the front panel won't work unless I short the green and black wires once. I suspect the Wendell caps being dead, but can't blame them for being near 20 year old caps. It might be a great opponent to my other VIA 693 based machine, which sports 2x 10GB Xbox drives and is powered by a Acorp 6VIA81P board with the same VIA 693 chipset. That one was recapped with Rubycon/Panasonic caps tho.


Anyways, it will be a great project to work on before moving on to the EP41T-DS3R once it arrives. I already have a Q9400 for it, just need some more DDR3 sticks


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Aug 19, 2019)

I've actually been in the market for a Slot 1 Pentium 3 Katmai processor+mobo and I've been searching for days.
On Ebay they're damn expensive (I'm in Aus so there's shipping too), meanwhile the Pentium 4's (and Socket 370 Pentium 3's) are being sold for peanuts.

Guess I'll need to ring some computer recycling centres and ask if they have anything, let alone will even allow anything to be accessed by the public :/


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 19, 2019)

Board shipping from the US to AUS is about $45 average. I ship there all the time.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Aug 19, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Board shipping from the US to AUS is about $45 average. I ship there all the time.



I guess it's a similar cost for posting Slot 1 processors as well, because if anything the shipping is just as high!
Anyway, I contacted one recycling centre in the area that lets visitors through, so I'll duck over there today and see what they have.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 19, 2019)

Well, the bad news is that Slot-1 prices are on the rise. Which is to be expected, I guess ... they're not getting any younger, and they are obviously no longer in production. In other words, what is left of them is either sold to hardware collectors & enthusiasts or getting destroyed & recycled.

On the other hand, you might want to grab a S370 board &/or Pentium III because those are next in line, waiting for their "big moment". Joke aside, whatever you pay for a decent S370 now will double its value within next couple of years. And more ... at some point these things will be worth a fortune!


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Aug 19, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, the bad news is that Slot-1 prices are on the rise. Which is to be expected, I guess ... they're not getting any younger, and they are obviously no longer in production. In other words, what is left of them is either sold to hardware collectors & enthusiasts or getting destroyed & recycled.
> 
> On the other hand, you might want to grab a S370 board &/or Pentium III because those are next in line, waiting for their "big moment". Joke aside, whatever you pay for a decent S370 now will double its value within next couple of years. And more ... at some point these things will be worth a fortune!



Yeah, I should snag a few of them while they're cheap.
I'm honestly surprised that processors like the Pentium 4 HT Socket 478 and Pentium 3 Tualatin Socket 370 haven't gone completely nuts in price yet. You'd think that everyone and their brother would be seeking out those high-IPC single core chips for their "ultimate" builds.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 19, 2019)

They're getting pretty scarce here in Romania too, although I'll admit you can find the CPUs here pretty cheap, due to literally nobody caring anymore about them. Hence why most of the Katmai chips I have (excluding a literally free 650MHz Coppermine Slot1 I found) were either at a ridiculously cheap price or even free.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Aug 19, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> They're getting pretty scarce here in Romania too, although I'll admit you can find the CPUs here pretty cheap, due to literally nobody caring anymore about them. Hence why most of the Katmai chips I have (excluding a literally free 650MHz Coppermine Slot1 I found) were either at a ridiculously cheap price or even free.



Sounds nice. I had at least six Slot 1 processors back 12 years ago, most of them I bought at the dump refuse store for cheap.
But the big mama jama was an XP Kayak XM600 workstation that I got for $20 and I'd installed two 500MHz Slot 1 Pentium 3 processors. Wasn't super powerful, but it was epic to have an almost-free dual-processor system way back in '07. You noticed the speed difference too, versus a single processor.
Then eventually I lost interest and sold everything to fund another project, which was quite regrettable looking back.

Luckily I did take some pictures at the time, so it's not all bad:



Spoiler: Pictures


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 19, 2019)

PooPipeBoy said:


> Sounds nice. I had at least six Slot 1 processors back 12 years ago, most of them I bought at the dump refuse store for cheap.
> But the big mama jama was an XP Kayak XM600 workstation that I got for $20 and I'd installed two 500MHz Slot 1 Pentium 3 processors. Wasn't super powerful, but it was epic to have an almost-free dual-processor system way back in '07. You noticed the speed difference too, versus a single processor.
> Then eventually I lost interest and sold everything to fund another project, which was quite regrettable looking back.
> 
> ...


That was a Rambus based dual Slot1 board! I would have slapped two P3 1ghz cpu's, 3GB 1066 RDRAM into it, added a good GPU and called it good for a few years, BITD of course.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 19, 2019)

PooPipeBoy said:


> Sounds nice. I had at least six Slot 1 processors back 12 years ago, most of them I bought at the dump refuse store for cheap.
> But the big mama jama was an XP Kayak XM600 workstation that I got for $20 and I'd installed two 500MHz Slot 1 Pentium 3 processors. Wasn't super powerful, but it was epic to have an almost-free dual-processor system way back in '07. You noticed the speed difference too, versus a single processor.
> Then eventually I lost interest and sold everything to fund another project, which was quite regrettable looking back.
> 
> ...


Oh wow, now that's a rare unit! I actually got the same thing, but different speed. Kayak XU800, from what I can tell it's in perfect (mint) condition! I also had (well, I still DO, but it doesn't work) a Visualize P-Class workstation, which suddenly stopped booting up and/or responding to anything. A shame really, it has a pair of 1GHz CPUs inside, two voltage regulators, 1GB of SD ECC memory and nVidia Quadro2 AGP card! Not to mention the SCSI gear, which is to be expected on a system like that.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Aug 20, 2019)

I swung by the computer recyclers and had a dig through their stuff, but unfortunately they didn't have much. Old Slot 1 stuff just doesn't really exist anymore, these days it's all LGA775 and LGA1155. Great for budget machines but really sucky for late-90's nostalgia. I did pick up a Pentium 4 3.6GHz (SL7Q2) and Pentium 3 733MHz (SL3XY) for free though so it's not all bad. First time I've had a Pentium 3 in my hands for years!

I've already bought two Pentium 3 SL35E processors online, so my plan is to just look for a solid Slot 1 motherboard and call it good.
Edit: The goal isn't really to bring back a dual-processing beast, I purchased two just so that one could be used for display.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 23, 2019)

The $6 Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R just came in today. Was advertised as not working, when in fact it POST'd on first try!
P45 chipset, 4xDDR3, SLi/XFire support, anything you need, including TPM Lock.


----------



## havli (Aug 25, 2019)

GeForce4 Ti4200 vs GeForce3 Ti500









It seems there is some improvement of NV25/28 compared to the original NV20 GPU. 
HL2 on the GF3 seems to be bugged because it really shouldn't be faster and also the water surface looks diferent (missing some shaders most likely).


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Aug 26, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> They were electronically incompatible.
> 
> While that was generally true, it didn't take much for the general consumer to get a single or dual Xeon if they wanted it. A single P2/P3 Xeon was compatible with Windows 98SE which is what made them appealing to high-end gamers because the performance increase of the larger cache.
> 
> ...



Wrong actually

The top chip is the external cache.  Bottom chip is the processor.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 26, 2019)

SWZSSR said:


> Wrong actually
> 
> The top chip is the external cache.  Bottom chip is the processor.


I came across that myself when I was researching. I didn't want to be the one to point out it was wrong.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 26, 2019)

SWZSSR said:


> Wrong actually
> 
> The top chip is the external cache.  Bottom chip is the processor.


Looked into it and it seems you are correct. My bad. The thing is, the standard Pentium 2's look like the following;



So I naturally concluded that the one with the IHS on the Xeon was the CPU core.


biffzinker said:


> I came across that myself when I was researching. I didn't want to be the one to point out it was wrong.


If I'm wrong on something, or I've remembered something incorrectly, feel free to point it out. The worst reaction I'm going to give is to stand my ground. Despite what some "other" users might have painted me as, I'm not a monster who can't see reason.


----------



## Nostalgic Hardware (Aug 26, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looked into it and it seems you are correct. My bad. The thing is, the standard Pentium 2's look like the following;
> View attachment 130120
> So I naturally concluded that the one with the IHS on the Xeon was the CPU core.
> 
> If I'm wrong on something, or I've remember something incorrectly, feel free to point it out. The worst reaction I'm going to give is to stand my ground. Despite what some "other" users might have painted me as, I'm not a monster who can't see reason.




That's fine 

All of us are always learning something new in this hobby


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 26, 2019)

Grabbed a second D5400XS. It was being sold as-is for $40 cad and I decided to take the chance. So far in my quick testing it works great, just needs a bios update so I can set the memory to run 1:1 with the fsb.
It's a newer revision than my other one so it has that fancy chipset heatsink shroud. Overclocks a bit better too, boot's 420MHz FSB easily with dual cpu's whereas the other struggled to do over 405MHz.
Need to grab more FB-DIMM's so I can use it's quad-channel capability's.


----------



## dorsetknob (Aug 26, 2019)

DR4G00N said:


> D5400XS. It was being sold as-is for $40 cad and I decided to take the chance


YOU WOULD HAVE TO BE AN ABSOLUTE T**t not to have parted with $c40 for that. Did it come with CPU(s) and if so what ??


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 26, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> YOU WOULD HAVE TO BE AN ABSOLUTE T**t not to have parted with $c40 for that. Did it come with CPU(s) and if so what ??


It was just the bare board. Still, for the price I can hardly complain about it. Needs a good cleaning though.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 26, 2019)

Bought these two oldies for $4 both. One's a ASUS K8N-E with a Sempron 2800+ and 1GB RAM, and the other is a ECS 848P-A with a 2.4GHz Northwood Celeron.



Both work fine, although the K8N-E needs new caps around the CPU. Otherwise both POST fine.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 31, 2019)

Flea market day today! 

*ELSA Erazor X -A32 nVidia GeForce 256 SDR 32MB AGP
10X2GB FBDIMM SAMSUNG M395T5750GZ4 5-5-5-11 DDR2 667MHz / PC5300
Pentium 4 - SL793 3.4GHz  - Fastest Nortwood HT core

Less than 15 Euros for the lot. *


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 31, 2019)

That is a great deal! What are you going to use the ram for?


----------



## Robert B (Aug 31, 2019)

My first thought went to an Intel Intel D5400XS Skulltrail but I'll see what will pop up at the flea market. You never know what you will find there.  The guy I bought the RAM from had close to 100 sticks of ECC and FBDIMM. I was knocked off my feet so I had to buy some.  An impulse buy for sure. I also found a bunch of SCSI and SAS 15K HDDs but I didnt buy anything. That stuff is still off limits for me. 

Even today I was offered a complete *Fujitsu Siemens Primergy TX150 S5* (2006-2007)  for little over 5 EUROS but I got cold feet as the beast was huge and I dont have a use for it.   I took a pic with the side panel. All the parts where in their place: PSU, CPU, Cooler, RAM, Cables, HDD.s ... the lot. (Systemboard S26361-D2399)



			http://manuals.ts.fujitsu.com/illustrated_spares/content/TX150_S5/pdf/ss.pdf


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2019)

I see your TX150 and raise you my Soyo SY-6BA+IV


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I see your TX150 and raise you my Soyo SY-6BA+IV


It's been awhile since I last seen a HighPoint controller on a motherboard also Soyo.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2019)

More


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2019)

The only reason I mentioned the HighPoint controller was because I had a Abit Socket A motherboard with a HighPoint controller integrated that I used RAID-0 with two PATA hard drives plus a third drive.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2019)

How many drives does the HPT366 support? I have lots of older drives.


By the way, this Soyo is going to bring a new life into a old Gateway GP6-400 (Desktop variant, not tower) my friend happened to come across. Currently has a SE440BX (I don't like Intel Desktop boards.)with a sorry excuse of a GPU - Rage IIC AGP. I'm going to clean the case then give it a desired upgrade to a 500MHz Katmai and enough RAM (around the 384-512MB mark) to run 2000 Pro SP4 and 98SE.

Here's a photo of it right now. It's in a basement, so it's gonna take some work. Thank god it's standard ATX tho.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> How many drives does the HPT366 support? I have lots of older drives.


Up to four drives I'm guessing since you could have two drives assigned as master, and two assigned as slave drives. I set both drives as Master on the two separate controller PATA ports.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Up to four drives I'm guessing since you could have two drives assigned as master, and two assigned as slave drives. I set both drives as Master on the two separate controller PATA ports.


Thanks. If I'm right, it's limited to 137/128GB for each drive?


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Thanks. If I'm right, it's limited to 137/128GB for each drive?


Honestly I don't remember, I did a stripped RAID-0 on a Abit Socket A motherboard with the HighPoint controller. I'm pretty sure the hard disk drives were Maxtor's when I did it but I'm not remembering the capacities.

80GB?

The two drives looked like this.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2019)

Well yeah, 80GB is definitely gonna work through the HPT366 (unless there's a limitation like the Award BIOS does, limiting to 40GB though that would be stupid) since it's LBA28.

LBA48 wasn't introduced until 2003, so it's probably normal for it to be limited to 137GB.

Anyways, the board works great. Will probably recap it with a proper soldering iron, unlike the 6VBA133 (which is just a 6BA+III with VIA chips) I had that bit the dust unfortunately.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 1, 2019)

Awesome stuff!  

Pretty sure I got HPT366 on Abit BE-6 and/or BE-6II ... would have to check. At some point I had both, but I'm not sure if I still do (or if I got two -6II)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Pretty sure I got HPT366 on Abit BE-6 and/or BE-6II ... would have to check. At some point I had both, but I'm not sure if I still do (or if I got two -6II)



BE6 is the vanilla board without RAID, and the BE6-II has the same HPT366 controller as my Soyo SY-6BA+IV.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 2, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> BE6 is the vanilla board without RAID, and the BE6-II has the same HPT366 controller as my Soyo SY-6BA+IV.


Checked earlier today, turns out I got two BE-6II. Used to have one BE-6, but it seems I threw it away. (had a severe cap issues, to the point where I didn't want to invest any more time or money into it)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 2, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Thanks. If I'm right, it's limited to 137/128GB for each drive?


You're thinking of the artificial FAT32 limitation imposed by Microsoft. If you use a quality partition tool, such as AOMEI, FAT32 can be used in drives up to 2TB(2TB volume limitation).


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Checked earlier today, turns out I got two BE-6II. Used to have one BE-6, but it seems I threw it away. (had a severe cap issues, to the point where I didn't want to invest any more time or money into it)


That's the exact reason Soyo and ABIT went under in USA. Soyo was banned because of using crapcaps (my 6BA+IV is filled to the brim with Wendell caps) and ABIT went bankrupt after a lawsuit that covered a whole range of Slot1/Skt370 boards, notably BE6, BE6-II, VP6, BP6, and a lot others.

From those two, Soyo still sells boards (they produced H61 boards!) in the Asia and Eurasia market (I've seen russian people buy H61 and AMD A77 boards manufactured by Soyo).

Gotta love them though for the fact that their English manual is up there with Gigabyte and MSI. At least the PDF for my 6BA+IV was nicely written.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 4, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Soyo was banned because of using crapcaps


They were never "banned". They just couldn't sell anything and went out of business by natural attrition.


MaxiPro800 said:


> ABIT went bankrupt after a lawsuit that covered a whole range of Slot1/Skt370 boards, notably BE6, BE6-II, VP6, BP6, and a lot others.


Never heard about that either. Never had any issues with the boards you mentioned either.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 4, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Never heard about that either. Never had any issues with the boards you mentioned either.


Last I understood was the talent responsible for Abit's well regarded overclocking boards left for DFI.



			
				Wikipedia said:
			
		

> Abit had somewhat of a blow in March 2003, when _Oskar Wu, a leading engineer on the famous Abit NF7-S motherboard, resigned after the NForce series to become head of the LANParty range at competitor DFI._
> 
> On 15 December 2004, the Taiwan Stock Exchange downgraded ABIT's stock due to questionable accounting practices. Investigations revealed that the majority of their import/export business was conducted through seven companies, all located at the same address and each of which had a capital of only HK$2. This made it easy to inflate the reported number of motherboards sold.  The Hong Kong media also reported that the management was being _investigated for embezzling funds from the company._
> 
> ...











						Universal Abit - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 4, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Last I understood was the talent responsible for Abit's well regarded overclocking boards left for DFI.


That I'd heard about.

But this I'd not;





						*** Class Action Lawsuit Against Abit *** - Badcaps Forums
					

*** Class Action Lawsuit Against Abit *** Troubleshooting Desktop Motherboards, Graphics Cards, and PC Peripherals



					www.badcaps.net
				




Thanks for the info!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 5, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> They were never "banned". They just couldn't sell anything and went out of business by natural attrition.


Soyo still produces boards in Asia. Here's a FM2 Soyo board.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 5, 2019)

*LUNIZ -- I GOT 5 ON IT *

 *W.I.P. *aka *W*ork *I*n *P*rogress. 

I never thought that I'll love P4 stuff. Time proved me wrong.  P4P800 DELUXE and P4C800 DELUXE with an Asrock twist to spice things up.  Yummy!!!

Cleaning is the order of the day, today and tomorrow to the infinity included. 

I have tons of new HW to test but I decided to clean them first and ask questions later.   We'll see if this was the right decision or not ... 

*More later.*


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 5, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Soyo still produces boards in Asia. Here's a FM2 Soyo board.


Soyo's main website?


			梅捷科技
		




			梅捷科技


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 5, 2019)

Abit boards were notorious for their capacitor problems... BE-6 & BE-6II in particular!

I remember one time, when Abit board scared the crap out of me. I was working on an old Pentium III system, and had it plugged into the mains, but the system was shut down. Not standing-by, not hybernating, it was shut down. I turned my back to the tower case, and wanted to do a quick research on drivers & manuals. There was no one else in the room, or even close to me when all of the sudden & without any warnings, I heard the noise behind me ... the system turned itself on! To make things even better, this incident happened only a day or two after my dad passed away!

You can probably imagine the look on my face, when that happened  Then, years later I was working on a BE-6II board and the same thing happened all over again. Which finally helped me connect all the dots together. Funny though, I never had the similar experience with ANY other board. Regardless of the age, socket (or slot) and brand. Abit sucks ... period!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 5, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Soyo still produces boards in Asia. Here's a FM2 Soyo board.


That looks pretty solid to me.



Robert B said:


> *LUNIZ -- I GOT 5 ON IT *
> 
> *W.I.P. *aka *W*ork *I*n *P*rogress.
> 
> ...


Good stuff! That P4 was one of the best ones ever made. The Northwood cores were very easy to OC.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> That looks pretty solid to me.


Yeah, it is. They also sell under the Maxsun brand, and they've been making some awesome boards for the recent chipsets. (such as B350) 



Trekkie4 said:


> Abit boards were notorious for their capacitor problems... BE-6 & BE-6II in particular!
> 
> I remember one time, when Abit board scared the crap out of me. I was working on an old Pentium III system, and had it plugged into the mains, but the system was shut down. Not standing-by, not hybernating, it was shut down. I turned my back to the tower case, and wanted to do a quick research on drivers & manuals. There was no one else in the room, or even close to me when all of the sudden & without any warnings, I heard the noise behind me ... the system turned itself on! To make things even better, this incident happened only a day or two after my dad passed away!
> 
> You can probably imagine the look on my face, when that happened  Then, years later I was working on a BE-6II board and the same thing happened all over again. Which finally helped me connect all the dots together. Funny though, I never had the similar experience with ANY other board. Regardless of the age, socket (or slot) and brand. Abit sucks ... period!


Abit boards are actually great once you replace the capacitors. Their BIOSes are pretty good (I was surprised to find there's a backup FTP for ABIT) and they OC rather well.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Abit boards are actually great once you replace the capacitors. Their BIOSes are pretty good (I was surprised to find there's a backup FTP for ABIT) and they OC rather well.


I think ABit was a victim of the bad-caps thing like everyone else back then, perhaps it just hit them harder.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 6, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yeah, it is. They also sell under the Maxsun brand, and they've been making some awesome boards for the recent chipsets. (such as B350)
> 
> 
> Abit boards are actually great once you replace the capacitors. Their BIOSes are pretty good (I was surprised to find there's a backup FTP for ABIT) and they OC rather well.


Right, I get that. But what good (or use) of a motherboard if it isn't going to last for years and years (without investing a lot of time, money and/or effort) into it? I had several Abit boards. BE-6, BE-6II, VH6 & others, ALL sharing the one thing in common - bad caps and serious problems!

Here's the previously-mentioned VH6 board (along with one of the BE-6II systems), I did my best to patch it up, but for some reason I never worked out the issue & eventually scrapped it, replacing the board with another brand.


 

 



See what I'm talking about?




I do have to point out however, that not all Abit boards seem to have the same issues. This AB-BH6 for example never had any problems... It only proves that miracles do happen from time to time


----------



## Robert B (Sep 7, 2019)

*Flea market day today! 5 EUROS for the LOT!*

1. Celeron (Tualatin) 1000A/256/100 1GHz *SL5ZF*
2. Celeron (Coppermine-128) 800/128/100 800MHz *SL55R*
3. Pentium III 1GHz/256/133 *SL52R*
4. Misc stuff - SST BIOS chip / RAM levers
5. Asus P4B533-E v1.02 (a few scratches on the back but nothing terminal)+ Cooler + Pentium 4 2.4GHz/512/533 - *SL6DV*
6. Pentium II - 266/66/512- 266MHz - *SL2HE*

WIN! WIN! WIN!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 7, 2019)

Robert B said:


> 1. Celeron (Tualatin) 1000A/256/100 1GHz *SL5ZF*


This was a wonderful overclocker! Bump it to 133mhz FSB and you're golden. Sometimes needed a single bump in voltage, but otherwise effortless OC.


Robert B said:


> 2. Celeron (Coppermine-128) 800/128/100 800MHz *SL55R*


Same with this one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2019)

Taking a closer look at @Robert B 's pics & I've noticed that Pentium II cartridge came with retention frame, or bracket, whatever you want to call it. I seriously hope that it was properly unscrewed & not yanked off the motherboard...? 

You'd be surprised how many of those ended up broken, bent and/or permanently removed (and lost) due to mishandling Slot-1 motherboards. Some brands were more clever than other ones, so Chaintech (6BTM) for example introduced a foldable frame, which can be folded horizontally when you more or store the board.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 8, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> You'd be surprised how many of those ended up broken, bent and/or permanently removed (and lost) due to mishandling Slot-1 motherboards. Some brands were more clever than other ones, so Chaintech (6BTM) for example introduced a foldable frame, which can be folded horizontally when you more or store the board.



I think most boards came with foldable. I know that Jetway, Soyo and Acorp do come with foldable ones. A few exceptions I've had were an ASUS P2B and a P2L97, which had a non-foldable frame, but it compensated that by using screws instead of plastic push pins


----------



## Robert B (Sep 8, 2019)

The CPU came from an ACER V66LA motherboard. The motherboard was banged up and incomplete so I took what I needed and I left it behind. 

I removed the CPU from the retention bracket.  It was put like that during transport. The CPU has a temperature sensor in the middle of the heatsink and a proprietary cable plug. I can mount a new fan or use the old one so this is no biggie.


----------



## micropage7 (Sep 8, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Soyo still produces boards in Asia. Here's a FM2 Soyo board.


like when i was in college, soyo and soltek looks cool.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I think most boards came with foldable. I know that Jetway, Soyo and Acorp do come with foldable ones. A few exceptions I've had were an ASUS P2B and a P2L97, which had a non-foldable frame, but it compensated that by using screws instead of plastic push pins


Interesting... 

My experience was completely opposite. From all the Slot-1 systems in my collection, only one or two (QDI Advance, Chaintech 6BTM) had foldable frame. In fact, most of them had a fixed frame, made from a single piece of plastic (rather than two sides, each one bolted separately), which often resulted with damage on these things. In fact, I've managed to find & stack quite a few of these, just in case.

Because quite often, when I stumble upon Slot-1 board it is missing the frame and/or it needs replacing. Either partial replacement, or entire, which depends on design & brand. In fact, Abit BE-6II was one of them, I clearly remember replacing one side of the frame on 6II board.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 8, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The CPU came from an ACER V66LA motherboard. The motherboard was banged up and incomplete so I took what I needed and I left it behind.
> 
> I removed the CPU from the retention bracket.  It was put like that during transport. The CPU has a temperature sensor in the middle of the heatsink and a proprietary cable plug. I can mount a new fan or use the old one so this is no biggie.


The picture in that post seems to have the heatsink mounted the wrong way. Would not fit into the slot like that. Flip it around and you should be good.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 8, 2019)

Someone has eagle eyes!  That detail went under the radar. 

It fits like a glove in the slot.   I also had a Slot A CPU that had that exact "problem". To be exact, the metalic clips are mounted "wrong" (the other way arround). While in certain situations the ends can interfere with some components, in this instance they cleared the motherboard. That CPU didnt look to be touched for over 21 years so I'm sure it came like that from factory.

To be safe I'll mount the clips in the "correct" way.

The heatsink has some prongs that dont allow to be mounted the other way arround. That heatsink will not be removed as it is not budging and I dont want to warp it.  I dont need headaches. 

It is untested but I'm 100% sure it works. That stuff is bulletproof. I've yet to find a dead slot 1 or A CPU. It will be needed to be treaded over by a tank and then maybe I'll ask myself if it works or not. 

A pic I found in the Internet. http://lileenchantee.blog40.fc2.com/blog-date-201108.html


----------



## havli (Sep 8, 2019)

Anyone remember the ultimate leaf blower? :-D 

GeForce4 Ti4600 vs GeForce FX 5800 Ultra


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 8, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The CPU came from an ACER V66LA motherboard. The motherboard was banged up and incomplete so I took what I needed and I left it behind.
> 
> I removed the CPU from the retention bracket.  It was put like that during transport. The CPU has a temperature sensor in the middle of the heatsink and a proprietary cable plug. I can mount a new fan or use the old one so this is no biggie.


one of the beauty in my collection is a V66LT 4MB from a Veriton AIO


all caps in pristine condition board too, the 13.3" screen was busted but everything else worked ... ESS Solo-1 ahah i remember that one ...


DIP switches fun and BX AGP set ( well the AGP "card"  is integrated ... only 1 PCI/2PCI with riser as expansion ) the only annoying thing ... is the PSU connector    luckily the PSU was also perfectly working


i already posted some pics of the thing installing and running WinXP back

yep :



forgot, the CPU that was in :


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 8, 2019)

All-in-One PC with a sideways Slot 1 CPU, I admit I didn't know such existed. It does make sense though.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 8, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> All-in-One PC with a sideways Slot 1 CPU, I admit I didn't know such existed. It does make sense though.


yeah i remember one user mentioning that AIO must have been something during his time ...

yep: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-2835345

and my answer to it 


GreiverBlade said:


> well i like it more in little bits on my torture table ...
> 
> lets resume : PIII 600mhz integrated 3D rage Pro LT 128mb ram (2 slot avaiable so could be upgraded) hummm a 1999-2000 iMac? with more power and less space wasted than the 1998 CRT imac 1st model?
> 
> damn i love non conventional formfactor 90degree Secc1 1 pci and a Riser with 2 slot on it ... unusual plug layout ... non 24pin ATX Slim cdrom powered by the Pata cable, no I/O onboard except VGA and LAN .... all the rest is on separate wired extension.


 the last line was a sarcasme ... i absolutely hate the PSU connection and the slim CD drive ... i lost the cable iirc xD


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 8, 2019)

Robert B said:


> It fits like a glove in the slot.  I also had a Slot A CPU that had that exact "problem". To be exact, the metalic clips are mounted "wrong" (the other way arround). While in certain situations the ends can interfere with some components, in this instance they cleared the motherboard. That CPU didnt look to be touched for over 21 years so I'm sure it came like that from factory.


That is a bit scary!



biffzinker said:


> All-in-One PC with a sideways Slot 1 CPU, I admit I didn't know such existed. It does make sense though.


Oh yeah, they were great for slim form-factor systems. I crossed paths with a bunch of them.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 11, 2019)

The good stuff turned up in the mail and FINALLY I can play around with some Slot 1 gear.
2 x Pentium 3 SL35E processors, MSI MS6199VA motherboard and Geforce FX5200 graphics card.
It'll be nice to get Windows XP and games running on this 500MHz weapon.



Spoiler: Pentium 3 stuff


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 11, 2019)

Wow!! 

All this talk about Slot-1 systems recently, they are finally getting all the love & attention which they deserved! Keep it up guys


----------



## Robert B (Sep 11, 2019)

New Hardware Found!

*Pioneer DVD-104SZ. *It needs a little bit of cleaning but otherwise looks to be in very good shape for the awesome age of almost 20 years!  (Manufactured in October 1999)

I already have two more Pioneer Slot Load Units: Pioneer DVD-120S and Pioneer DVD-104SZ.

These units rock!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 11, 2019)

Slot-loading CD/DVD drives have that "cool" factor, there's no doubt about it, but I  remember taking one apart & what I found inside was every technician's nightmare.

To put it simply, they've turned something extremely simple & straightforward into the quantum physics. So, for as long as the unit works OK, no worries. But when something goes wrong, it would be almost impossible to fix it up. I've also noticed that Slot-loaders take a lot more space inside the case, units themselves are much longer than most standard 5.25" drives, even by retro standards. Probably to accommodate all these extra parts.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 11, 2019)

I fixed the 120S and it is quite complex. I posted all the info on the project logs section. In the end it is just mechanical stuff with springs and levers. In my case the rubber belt was past its prime plus dirt and grime. It also needed a little bit of silicone grease here and there.

The 105S is way simpler will less moving parts. It resembles the car stereo type CD-players. No rubber belt just plastic sprockets. The 104SZ looks to be like the 105S but I'll see when I'll clean it up. 

As long as the laser is good I can keep them alive for a long long time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 11, 2019)

Of course, that goes without saying. Rubber belts are usual suspects on a non-working CD/DVD drives, especially if they can't eject.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2019)

Robert B said:


> New Hardware Found!
> 
> *Pioneer DVD-104SZ. *It needs a little bit of cleaning but otherwise looks to be in very good shape for the awesome age of almost 20 years!  (Manufactured in October 1999)
> 
> ...


Oh dear goodness do I miss that drive(type). I had that drive for years, til I needed a burner.



Trekkie4 said:


> Slot-loading CD/DVD drives have that "cool" factor, there's no doubt about it, but I remember taking one apart & what I found inside was every technician's nightmare.


So true!


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 12, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow!!
> 
> All this talk about Slot-1 systems recently, they are finally getting all the love & attention which they deserved! Keep it up guys



Cartridge processors are quite likeable. Easy to identify processors, don't need to bother with thermal paste, compatibility is usually good.
Plus the processors just look cool. There's a sense of packaging style that chip manufacturers don't have anymore.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 12, 2019)

PooPipeBoy said:


> Cartridge processors are quite likeable. Easy to identify processors, don't need to bother with thermal paste, compatibility is usually good.
> Plus the processors just look cool. There's a sense of packaging style that chip manufacturers don't have anymore.


I remember years ago, when I first started with old computers & stockpiling old parts... I was telling everyone how Slot-1 systems are going to be obsolete & difficult to find one day, and also how their value will exponentially increase over time, to the point where they'll probably cost a fortune, again. But people didn't seem to share my opinion & they've been telling me how something like that isn't going to happen due to the huge amount of remaining systems (and parts), which is considerably dropping down their marketing value. Even among collectors.

10-ish years later, I would have to disagree with their statement! It would seem I was right all along, and that Slot-1 really is next in line to become highly desirable,  but difficult to come across sort of hardware ... just like 3dfx! It'll certainly be interesting to see the the situation development throughout the next, let's say 3-5 years from now!  

And let me tell you this - the very same thing will happen to ALL the "vintage" platforms out there. Socket 370 is the next one after that, so if you (or anyone else, reading this) ever considered to stack up on S370 hardware, now it's the time to do so. As for the AMD, they already have the advantage as Slot A boards & gear is now seriously rare stuff & highly desirable piece of equipment. Socket 462,A will probably take a while longer due to the same reason as Slot-1, but they'll eventually get there.


----------



## Bungz (Sep 12, 2019)

Will just leave this here:









						3dfx Voodoo 6000 tested working   | eBay
					

Voodoo 6000 tested working.  Condition is Used. Serial number: 0848001A000000000000009M1V8M.



					www.ebay.co.uk
				




Not mine. Sadly.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 12, 2019)

Wow... As much as I love Voodoo cards, there's no way I'd buy something THAT expensive!! Especially not a prototype (or rather, extremely limited edition)


----------



## Robert B (Sep 12, 2019)

31 bids! People really want them and I'm sure that the price of any V5 6000 will grow and keep on growing.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 13, 2019)

Something very strange is going on with that 3dfx card... It now says all the bids are cancelled, and also that the item is "no longer available"...?


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 13, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Something very strange is going on with that 3dfx card... It now says all the bids are cancelled, and also that the item is "no longer available"...?


Possible scam, have a look at this thread.









						Rare GPUs / Unreleased GPUs
					

Last bit I forgot to get a photo of because it's so incredibly faint, but here's the production date and "ES" etching into the package support and info band around the GPU:     I don't believe AMD ever did a reference cooler for that card. The fury X had the AIO and the fury Nano had a reference...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 13, 2019)

Nothing possible about it, it /is/ a scam. Dodgy serial numbers, wrong picture & (eventually) removing the item once its true origin was discovered.

See, that's exactly (or at least one of the two reasons) why I would never buy Voodoo card that expensive! There's no way of telling what the heck are you paying for.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 13, 2019)

My Q9400 build is finished.












Specs:
Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R
8GB RAM DDR3
MSI Twinfrozr GTX750Ti
Core 2 Quad Q9400
FSP Bluestorm II 500W
Winfast DVR 3200H PCI-E tuner
Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer SB0730
Linksys WMP54GS Wireless-G PCI Wifi card
Samsung SH-224DB DVDRW SATA
Seagate ST31000340NS 1TB SATA2
Samsung HD502IJ 500GB SATA2
Samsung HD322IJ 320GB SATA2
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA3
Delux MG760 case
unused Mitsumi floppy drive


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 13, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> 8GB RAM DDR3


Looking at your pictures you seem to have 1x4GB and 2x2GB installed, which means you're very likely running single channel mode. I, personally, would forego the 4GB stick and use the 2x2GB for dual channel mode. Double the RAM bandwidth, which will improve performance.

The rest of that system is very nice! Based on the model numbers, I hope you're using the Seagate as your boot drive. Easily the fastest drive in that list.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 13, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looking at your pictures you seem to have 1x4GB and 2x2GB installed, which means you're very likely running single channel mode. I, personally, would forego the 4GB stick and use the 2x2GB for dual channel mode. Double the RAM bandwidth, which will improve performance.
> 
> The rest of that system is very nice! Based on the model numbers, I hope you're using the Seagate as your boot drive. Easily the fastest drive in that list.



Yeah, that Seagate is the boot drive. I wanted something close to a 7200.11, as these drives were usually very reliable after the BSY fix. I did extensive research on my Barracuda ES2 and mine was just on the sweet spot (certain ES2 models and 7200.11 models were in the same boat - BSY error -- mine was just on the list of models not afected by the firmware bug). HDD Sentinel reported 100% health, as well as the drive came brand new, although wrapped in lots of bubble wrap, nearly resembling a rock lol.

As for the RAM, I'm hoping to score a 8GB kit (4x4) and have a cool dual-channel amount of 12GB RAM. The reason I'm running the memory sticks like this is because of compatibility - I had sticks not work on this board but work on others.

BTW, Seagate drives are usually fast. The only downside is they run pretty hot. Otherwise, Seagate drives of that era (notable drives being the ST31000528AS, the ST31000340AS and the NS variant) are very good. Those, along with 1TB WD Blue and Black drives like the WD10EALS and the WD10FALS are my favourite.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 14, 2019)

What a nostalgic feeling, installing XP from a cd 

Will be testing different parts, but let's start with Duron 1.2GHz, 2GB DDR & Radeon 9700 Pro. I probably end up with XP2700+ & X800 Pro, but let's have some fun first with something 2002ish 

I just hate those old VIA chipsets since they just don't like anything else than SATA 1.5Gbit HDDs, luckily those first SATA 3Gbit drives can be ran at 1.5Gbit/s mode. I've had the same problem before so it was pretty easy troubleshooting.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 14, 2019)

This system hasn't seen any action in years (was originally the family PC), but it would actually make a nice retro gaming rig with the current specs. Intel Celeron SL5ZJ 1.3GHz, Gigabyte GA-60XT motherboard, Nvidia Riva TNT2 32MB graphics card and it already has the maximum 512MB of memory.

It does have a few bulging capacitors that will need replacing (lower left of northbridge). I've heard that being shelved for a long time is bad for motherboard capacitors and they'll end up bulging/leaking, but I'm not so sure about that theory.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 14, 2019)

The bulging theory is 100% true. In the span of about a week after I bought a MSI P965 Platinum, I found it having a boatload of bulging caps. They were the dreaded KZG series from United Chemicon, known to go bad in storage.

My advice is recap it entirely. Tedious, but at least it will live for another decade.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 14, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> The bulging theory is 100% true. In the span of about a week after I bought a MSI P965 Platinum, I found it having a boatload of bulging caps. They were the dreaded KZG series from United Chemicon, known to go bad in storage.
> 
> My advice is recap it entirely. Tedious, but at least it will live for another decade.



Ah, I guess it affects some capacitors more than others because I have another motherboard that's been sitting for far longer and it's perfectly fine. Probably will end up replacing them all with better quality caps.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 14, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> What a nostalgic feeling, installing XP from a cd
> 
> Will be testing different parts, but let's start with Duron 1.2GHz, 2GB DDR & Radeon 9700 Pro. I probably end up with XP2700+ & X800 Pro, but let's have some fun first with something 2002ish
> 
> I just hate those old VIA chipsets since they just don't like anything else than SATA 1.5Gbit HDDs, luckily those first SATA 3Gbit drives can be ran at 1.5Gbit/s mode. I've had the same problem before so it was pretty easy troubleshooting.


And it also fits perfectly under my TV and PS3! 







Flashing BIOS was also a journey itself, I tried burning few bootable CDs with no luck, but using another HDD with a FAT32 partition, I put the BIOS file and flasher there and booted using FreeDOS from USB drive.


----------



## Susquehannock (Sep 14, 2019)

Bad caps. I find the whole 'capacitor plague' fascinating and have been following it from early on.



biffzinker said:


> Last I understood was the talent responsible for Abit's well regarded overclocking boards left for DFI.


From what I remember, buzz at the time was that he left because he did not like how Abit was being run. Not long after, the company was caught for bad accounting practices artificially boosting sales numbers by having several fake companies at same address. Likely an attempt to stop bleeding from the bad cap suits.


lexluthermiester said:


> I think ABit was a victim of the bad-caps thing like everyone else back then, perhaps it just hit them harder.


Agreed. Seems that Abit got most of the bad press since they admitted to using bad caps very early on. As did IBM. Many companies avoided the issue all together. Worse yet was Dell. They were caught lying to customers about failures due to bad caps and were fined $300-million for it. Their reputation now ruined, Dell fell from top PC maker to a distant third in short order and have not completely recovered.

I am not a foil hat type, yet some do believe the 'capacitor plague' was an intentional move by certain entities. Don't quote me on any of this. If memory serves the so called bad formula was stolen in China, then moved through Chinese division of Taiwanese manufacturers. A long game play to undermine smaller companies and eliminate competition? Lenovo did buy IBM's computer division at a discount not long after news of the plague broke. And now they are world's largest PC maker. Points to ponder.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 14, 2019)

I remember things been pretty much as you remember. That sucked hella lot, since Abit was an awesome manufacturer.


----------



## Susquehannock (Sep 14, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> I remember things been pretty much as you remember. That sucked hella lot, since Abit was an awesome manufacturer.


Sure does. Abit was great. Maker aimed squarely toward the overclocking enthusiast. Weren't they the first to introduce soft BIOS adjustments - no more DIP switches? I have a pair of Abit KR7A boards. Early one made with known (after the fact) bad caps, and a later revision with better caps.

Another maker I really miss is *Soltek*. Think I mentioned all this several pages back. Great customer service. They would send re-cap kits free of charge regardless of board model or proof of purchase. Got one for my FRN2 board but never did the switch. Plus they continued to revise their nForce2 boards where most other makers simply dropped it. Last revision the layout was reconfigured to use better branded caps of different values. Reminds me that I need to get that box back together.

Speaking of nForce2 boards ... surprised nobody has snatched up this EPoX nForce2 with Barton. Guess because it's 8RGA and not an Ultra 400. The EPoX 8RDA, along with DFI Lan Party are ones I would really like to have.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 14, 2019)

Last and most common Chipset that used dips or jumpers was 440bx ( it was 440bx board that let me overclock my P2 300   to 650Mhz with additional cooling fans)  "oh heady Days"


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 14, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Speaking of nForce2 boards ... surprised nobody has snatched up this EPoX nForce2 with Barton. Guess because it's 8RGA and not an Ultra 400. The EPoX 8RDA, along with DFI Lan Party are ones I would really like to have.


Nice find, almost looks like my EPoX 8RDA+. I think I remember I had it paired with a Athlon XP 2500+ that I ran OC as a 3200+


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 14, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> Last and most common Chipset that used dips or jumpers was 440bx ( it was 440bx board that let me overclock my P2 300   to 650Mhz with additional cooling fans)  "oh heady Days"


I remember overclocking via jumpers also on my Asus P2B, P3-500 @ 575 with its passive heatsink. Didn't have the skills to push more (read: didn't know that it needs more voltage)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 14, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> ( it was 440bx board that let me overclock my P2 300 to *650Mhz* with additional cooling fans)


How the bloody hell did you do *that*? You must have been using a ton of voltage! Or did you mean 450mhz?


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 14, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> How the bloody hell did you do *that*? You must have been using a ton of voltage! Or did you mean 450mhz?


That had to been a mistype. No way a 300 MHz Pentium II is going to scale up to 650 MHz without some extreme cooling.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 14, 2019)

PooPipeBoy said:


> I've heard that being shelved for a long time is bad for motherboard capacitors and they'll end up bulging/leaking, but I'm not so sure about that theory.


It's not the storage aspect, it's more just the chemistry of the time was imperfect and it was a serious problem. It's not difficult repair however. You really should get a bit more ram for it unless you're planning on running a 9X kernel version of Windows.



biffzinker said:


> That had to been a mistype. No way a 300 MHz Pentium II is going to scale up to 650 MHz without some extreme cooling.


That's what I was thinking. The most I ever saw, even with high voltage, was about 500mhz. I'd imagine the only way someone would get 650 is with LN2, and even then you'd have to chill everything else as well because of how all the clocks were linked.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 14, 2019)

Early P2 Celerons were known to clock higher
P2 and Celerons of this era had unlocked multipliers (you set the speed/multiplier/fsb by dip/jumpers)
and Certain Batches were Sold at lower Speed (Same SL code and Stepping as P2 450  and Same Voltage requirments ).
Shop that i bought it from i made them check the Sl code for the one i Specificly wanted and in the End i got them to order the one i wanted.

It pissed them off that i would not buy one they had in stock


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 14, 2019)

It is indeed possible, but I believe there is a little exaggeration going on.
There are PII 300's in the 600 range on air alone at HWB but you have to take those with a grain of salt because adequate proof is not there.
I personally have a few 300's in the 600 range, but they are on the chiller.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 14, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> It is indeed possible, but I believe there is a little exaggeration going on.


3 x 80mm fans and 2 x 1000w hair dryers blowing cold air ( very noisy )


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 14, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> Early P2 Celerons were known to clock higher


True, but that's because the L2 cache was on the die. The P2's however had external L2 cache and could not clock as high...


dorsetknob said:


> 3 x 80mm fans and 2 x 1000w hair dryers blowing cold air ( very noisy )


The highest I ever got a P2 300 was 549mhz on a 183FSB. It could get to Windows but wouldn't benchmark anything or run games. Had to get a leafblower to keep the thing cool enough. My wife at the time thought we were all crazy! The best stable OC of a P2 was 500mhz on a 166FSB, but only with lots of really noisy high-speed fans. Liquid cooling would have been fun back then!


----------



## havli (Sep 14, 2019)

How about direct clock-to-clock comparison of NV30 and NV35? 










It is interesting to see how much faster GTA VC is on the second generation FX. This is not some random mistake or a bug, for example FX 5700 is also twice as fast compared to FX 5600 when running 4xAA + 8xAF. Hard to tell what is the reason though, other games are running more or less as expected (only minor improvement).


----------



## agent_x007 (Sep 14, 2019)

It's probably linked to Ultrashadow, twice the capacity with 256-bit width memory bus (more memory bandwidth), and "shader tweaks" :




Source : LINK


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 14, 2019)

FX 5800 cards are hella expensive, but I've been thinking of Quadro FX 2000, they're FX 5800's Quadro variants.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 15, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's not the storage aspect, it's more just the chemistry of the time was imperfect and it was a serious problem. It's not difficult repair however. You really should get a bit more ram for it unless you're planning on running a 9X kernel version of Windows.



RAM is the major limitation with the 815 chipset, the maximum is 512MB. Should be enough but yeah I'd normally aim for at least 768MB.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 15, 2019)

PooPipeBoy said:


> RAM is the major limitation with the 815 chipset, the maximum is 512MB. Should be enough but yeah I'd normally aim for at least 768MB.


Oh damn, that's right. Forgot about that. I'll just shut up then. Carry on! LOL!



Chloe Price said:


> but I've been thinking of Quadro FX 2000, they're FX 5800's Quadro variants.


This. The Quadro's are excellent cards for the money! They generally came with more ram as well.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 15, 2019)

@AsRock, and maybe @Trekkie4 is this something you would be interested in? Just showed up over on Hackaday.






			
				Hackaday said:
			
		

> No, you aren’t looking at a 30 year old Teac graphic equalizer that somebody modified. The MWA-002 Network Music Player created by [GuzziGuy] is built entirely from new components, and easily ranks up there with some of the most gorgeous pieces of homebrew audio gear we’ve ever seen.
> 
> Internally, the MWA-002 is powered by a Raspberry Pi 3 running Mopidy to play both local tracks and streaming audio. Not satisfied with the Pi’s built-in capabilities, [GuzziGuy] is using a Behringer UCA202 to produce CD-quality audio, which is then fed into a TPA3116 amplifier. In turn, the output from the amplifier is terminated in a set of female jacks on the player. Just like the stereo equipment of yore, this player is designed to be connected to a larger audio system and doesn’t have any internal speakers.











						Scratch Built Media Player Channels 1980s Design
					

No, you aren’t looking at a 30 year old Teac graphic equalizer that somebody modified. The MWA-002 Network Music Player created by [GuzziGuy] is built entirely from new components, and easily…




					hackaday.com


----------



## Grog6 (Sep 15, 2019)

Guys, a note on the bulging caps; the bulges are due to the gas production of the dielectric reacting with the aluminum plates.

The aluminum plates are etched to increase surface area, and only one side has a oxide layer; that's done in a "forming" step, that makes it a capacitor instead of a firecracker. 

The reaction of the dielectric causes gas generation, but the bubbles also form in between the plates, decreasing capacitance.
The lowered capacitance makes them run hotter, and the leakage increased, so it's a degenerative process.

Much like the strip club, If you see bulges, run.  
Or recap the mobo. 
(Strip club, def run.)


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 15, 2019)

biffzinker said:


>


PhilsComputerLab & RandomGaminginHD are my favourite youtube channels what comes to old hardware 

HT was kinda ahead of its time when it was introduced in Pentium 4.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 15, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> HT was kinda ahead of its time when it was introduced in Pentium 4.


I don't imagine Windows XP was properly optimized for Hyper Threading as well even with the necessary service pack installed.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 15, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I don't imagine Windows XP was properly optimized for Hyper Threading as well even with the necessary service pack installed.


Actually and oddly enough it was. It was already optimized for dual CPU setups so it was a seamless transition. Even Windows 2000 was seamless.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 16, 2019)

Gonna leave this spicy photo here:



Tahiti core.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 16, 2019)

Hey if anyone else knows a thing or two about Slot 2 workstation motherboards, I'd like to pick your brain for a sec.
I'm considering a Xeon workstation motherboard, but I'm skeptical for a couple of reasons, most notably the issue that it's missing the voltage regulator modules.
Were these modules universal in terms of pin configuration and electrical function?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 16, 2019)

PooPipeBoy said:


> Were these modules universal in terms of pin configuration and electrical function?


That's a good question.


----------



## Grog6 (Sep 16, 2019)

No, I don't think they function the same.



			https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/design-guides/voltage-regulator-module-enterprise-voltage-regulator-down-10-0-guidelines.pdf
		


This says the modules differ by processor:








						CompTIA A+ Exam Cram (Exams 220-602, 220-603, 220-604)
					

&>    In This Book You’ll Learn How To:  Recognize the different types and forms of computer memory Identify different computer cables and connectors Troubleshoot IRQ conflicts and other computer resource problems Identify and troubleshoot common computer motherboard components Install core PC...



					books.google.com
				




This guy's pretty cool: 


			http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/misc/lacuna_vrm/
		










						Voltage regulator module - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## zanca.racing (Sep 16, 2019)

Hi to all.

First at all I want to say sorry for my bad English and apologise me if I write uncorrectly.

I follow this thread from the first page but I just want to write only now because I wanted to increase my hardware collection to show to you.

Where can I upload my photos? Have you a site?

Thank you!


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 17, 2019)

Upload to here and then copy >paste links into your post


			Free Image Hosting | TechPowerUp


----------



## zanca.racing (Sep 17, 2019)

Ok.

Here it’s the last arrival...






Two weeks and I will be on vacation so I will have more time to make all the pictures!


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 19, 2019)

The MSI MS6199VA I've got is officially the world's most temperamental motherboard.
It hates memory, it hates keyboards, it hates storage drives and it hates any changed values in the BIOS.
Fuck this thing...

Edit: I FUCKING FIGURED IT OUT!! FINALLY!!
Apparently you need to go into the BIOS and Load Default Values before changing anything. I thought clearing the CMOS was enough but was running into all sorts of issues.
Now it's finally installing Windows XP and life is good.
You don't even know how close I came to unplugging everything and chucking this board in the bin.


----------



## micropage7 (Sep 19, 2019)

zanca.racing said:


> Ok.
> 
> Here it’s the last arrival...
> 
> ...


I ever had it but i forgot where i keep that
All i can recall is on the chip written made in indonesia


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 20, 2019)

Not really hardware related, but this is an older software program that's interesting to play around with on old machines.
It's a programming software called Just Basic and it's runs on practically any operating system.
My favorite aspect is it includes a whole heap of example programs, the best one is "coolFractals" which draws different patterns in real time (see screenshot).
It maxes out older CPUs easily and so it could potentially be used as a stress-testing program.



Spoiler: Screenshot


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 20, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Gonna leave this spicy photo here:View attachment 131984
> 
> Tahiti core.


HD 7870 XT?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 20, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> HD 7870 XT?


HD 7950 3GB.


----------



## Frick (Sep 21, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> HD 7950 3GB.



Is that ... nostalgic?

Anyway, been tinkering with the old IBM I found and it's definitely the graphics card. Cleaned it up as good as I could but still no go. Some resoldering might work but I'm not sure I'm up to it. We'll see what happens. I'd really love to get it going.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 22, 2019)

Frick said:


> Is that ... nostalgic?
> 
> Anyway, been tinkering with the old IBM I found and it's definitely the graphics card. Cleaned it up as good as I could but still no go. Some resoldering might work but I'm not sure I'm up to it. We'll see what happens. I'd really love to get it going.
> 
> ...


Has an infamous Varta barrel battery been close..?

Playing some NFSU with my AGP AM2 rig, using a X800 Pro for fun. Runs perfectly even with everything stock, never played with a X800 Pro to be exact. At least the CPU (A64 X2 6000+) isn't a bottleneck here


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Sep 22, 2019)

100% Bus clock OC. 









						AMD Athlon 64 3700+ @ 1640.72 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[5r8q6k] Validated Dump by  (2019-09-21 08:42:37) - MB: DFI LP NF4 Series - RAM: 512 MB




					valid.x86.fr


----------



## erek (Sep 22, 2019)

Backfire said:


> I'm not really interested in the Permedia because there were better chips, but it's an interesting piece of hardware though. As I'm collecting old hardware, there will be always a place, even for the 2nd winner .
> From 3Dlabs/ dynamic pictures I've got some cad-cards. The OXYGEN 402 is really a beauty, and the Wildcat III 6110 would be nice to test in an older dual CPU- system. Unfortunately my dual socket A has no AGP Pro-slot. I think it would fit pretty well. I have got an Asus A7M266-D dual socket A board with AGP Pro- slot, but just because of the slot, I won't change from Tyan Tiger MPX to the boring Asus- board .
> 
> View attachment 57858 View attachment 57863 View attachment 57860 View attachment 57861
> ...


what's the most iconic 3DLabs card of all time?


----------



## Fangio1951 (Sep 22, 2019)

Frick said:


> Is that ... nostalgic?
> 
> Anyway, been tinkering with the old IBM I found and it's definitely the graphics card. Cleaned it up as good as I could but still no go. Some resoldering might work but I'm not sure I'm up to it. We'll see what happens. I'd really love to get it going.
> 
> ...


hi m8 = some ugly bits of corrosion there (


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 22, 2019)

Fangio1951 said:


> hi m8 = some ugly bits of corrosion there (


Looks to be from the backup battery leaking.

Edit: It could also be copper corrosion.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 23, 2019)

Never before played NFS Underground with solid 60fps on an AGP system. HD 3850 manages just fine which is no wonder, since the game is 4 years older than the card.

A PSOne gamepad (with an USB adapter) seems to be great for that, playing on TV so more like a console feel.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Sep 23, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Never before played NFS Underground with solid 60fps on an AGP system. HD 3850 manages just fine which is no wonder, since the game is 4 years older than the card.
> 
> A PSOne gamepad (with an USB adapter) seems to be great for that, playing on TV so more like a console feel.



Back when I first got Underground 2, I tried running it with a Riva TNT2 32MB graphics card and couldn't figure out why it didn't work. To be fair I didn't know anything about graphics cards at the time.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 23, 2019)

PooPipeBoy said:


> Back when I first got Underground 2, I tried running it with a Riva TNT2 32MB graphics card and couldn't figure out why it didn't work. To be fair I didn't know anything about graphics cards at the time.


Heh, that was a tough one even for the high-end cards of that time (Radeon X800 and GeForce 6800 series).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 29, 2019)

Despite being somewhat off-topic, I figured this pic would belong into this thread...


----------



## Robert B (Sep 30, 2019)

Just *a pile o' RAM ... *    a few extras and a piece from a *DD & TT ENTERPRISE USA COMPANY* motherboard? bought only for those tiny chips.  Scrappers take no prisoners...

I never bought so many 30 pin SIMMs in one haul. I will find their capacity when I get to test them out.

I have only one 386 motherboard with a soldered 40MHz chip that can use such memory sticks but I still bought them. 4 EUROs wasnt much for something that might prove useful down the road...this stuff is quite old. On a SIMM is written West Germany uhehheheh old stuff is old ...


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 1, 2019)

Scooped up some various simm's and dimm's from a box of stuff that was to be scrapped. No idea if any of it works and I don't even have anything that uses simm's but I grabbed them anyway, could prove useful at some point.


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 3, 2019)

There were some various hard drives with the memory I grabbed earlier, a few Fujitsu's, a WD Caviar 635MB with Win98 and this 27 year old relic Conner 210MB that still works fine somehow.

It even has MS-DOS 6.20 and Windows 3.1 installed on it still.


----------



## phill (Oct 3, 2019)

Well goes to show that they don't build them like they used to   Absolutely love that


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 3, 2019)

phill said:


> Well goes to show that they don't build them like they used to   Absolutely love that



I still have a seagate 545MB HDD that runs well noisy as all hell but still runs fine also and older 105MB Quantum XL Hardcard HDD that also still runs


----------



## phill (Oct 3, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> I still have a seagate 545MB HDD that runs well noisy as all hell but still runs fine also and older 105MB Quantum XL Hardcard HDD that also still runs



That's just awesome  

I think the smallest drive I have will be my 4Gb drive sat in my Amiga lol


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 3, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> older 105MB Quantum XL Hardcard HDD that also still runs


That is very old. And it still work properly? Bad sectors?


----------



## The Egg (Oct 3, 2019)

Pentium 166 (non-MMX)
430HX Chipset
32MB EDO 72-pin SIMMS
onboard ATI 3D Rage
onboard sound

Saved the above board/system from being thrown in the trash last year.  Apologize for the blurry crap photo (I'm not at home to take a new one).  Got Win98SE fully up and running.  I've made great progress clearing out my closets over the years, so I don't really have any other old running systems.  Lots of bare CPUs as souvineers.  Most everything else got tossed or eBay'ed.  Still have a softspot for anything Pentium Pro and earlier though, so I'm jealous of a few of you here.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 3, 2019)

The Egg said:


> Pentium 166 (non-MMX)
> 430HX Chipset
> 32MB EDO 72-pin SIMMS
> onboard ATI 3D Rage
> ...


That has potential! Plug in a Voodoo2, a SB Awe32/64, add a fan to the heatsink and maybe 32MB more ram and you have a very cool Win9X retro gaming PC!


----------



## The Egg (Oct 3, 2019)

While I do enjoy messing with old systems, I have no such love for old mechanical drives.  In fact I have a bit of a distain for them.  For the above system I used a Compactflash -> PATA/IDE adapter along with a 16GB card.  Worked flawlessly, and probably light years faster than a drive of the era.  I actually think I remember reading somewhere that Compactflash is really just a miniturized PATA interface.  Indeed, there doesn't appear to be any translator chips on my adapter, and the old mb BIOS didn't even cast a sideways glance.



lexluthermiester said:


> That has potential! Plug in a Voodoo2, a SB Awe32/64, add a fan to the heatsink and maybe 32MB more ram and you have a very cool Win9X retro gaming PC!


Sadly, I used to have a PCI Voodoo3 2000 laying around, but no longer.  Also had an AWE32 back in the day.  Anyone remember if the 430HX had AGP?  I almost expected it to, but maybe they never did.


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 3, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is very old. And it still work properly? Bad sectors?



Works perfectly fine no bad sectors or anything other than being really slow.  I take it to my mates place as he has a few PC's with ISA slots & a floppy drive which is needed for this card to run as it needs it's driver loaded at boot time in order for it to run


----------



## havli (Oct 3, 2019)

GeForce4 Ti4600 vs Radeon 9600 Pro

The Ti4600 can keep up in OGL games... but the rest is not that great (not surprising though).


----------



## Robert B (Oct 5, 2019)

Flea market day today! (_again & again 'till the end of days ..._  )

1. Creative Sound Blaster 16 *CT2830  - SB16IDE46 - my first long Creative SB. *
2. *US Robotics* - FCC ID: CJE-0286 - Internal FAX/Modem Card
3. *Intergraph* *Intense 3D 100 /  **(Rendition Verite V1000-E)*
4. *DFI* G586 VPS REV.C1 / G586VPS PRO - http://www.go-gddq.com/down/2011-04/11040300077148.pdf
5. PQI Turbo DDR400 dual channel 2x256MB - *PQI3200-512DBH

I stole them for little over 5 EUROS.  No missing parts just a few minor scratches here and there.*

If I would've got sooner at the flea market I would've found also the CPU which was sold before I got there. In any case this is a score!


----------



## Splinterdog (Oct 6, 2019)

Three beige bombshells that I put up for sale in 2010 at my shop. If I remember correctly, they may have been Pentium 4s which I cleaned up at a time when second-hand PCs were flying off the shelf, for me at least anyway.


----------



## Bones (Oct 11, 2019)

Got this a few weeks ago and framed it this morning. 
Silicon wafer made by AMD/Fujitsu - circa 2003.


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 11, 2019)

@Bones Aw NICE score


----------



## Robert B (Oct 12, 2019)

My first EE Edition CPU I found at the flea market. 

S775 - Intel Pentium D 955 Extreme Edition - *SL94N* - 6.25 EUROs



			http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL94N.html
		









						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				




A once 999$ CPU ...  sheeshhh ... 

The bad thing is that I must now find a good motherboard and crank this puppy really high!


----------



## freeagent (Oct 12, 2019)

What a beast @ 130w. No wonder they were so hard to cool, hsf have come a long way since those days.


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 12, 2019)

Robert B said:


> The bad thing is that I must now find a good motherboard and crank this puppy really high!


Rumour has it that is How Chenobal had its meltdown


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 12, 2019)

955 should OC around 4,2-4,5GHz mark without blowing up VRMs (proper ones with big heatsinks).
Higher than that... well, let's just say that going without water cooled CPU and top class VRM (air cooled), isn't possible to do (stability + heavy throttling awaits all inexperience challangers).

Great buy, good luck !

PS.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 12, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> 955 should OC around 4,2-4,5GHz mark without blowing up VRMs (proper ones with big heatsinks).
> Higher than that... well, let's just say going without water cooled CPU and top air cooled VRM cooling isn't possible to do (stability + heavy throttling awaits all inexperience challangers).
> 
> Great buy, good luck !
> ...


All that for a score of 142 cb. At least it was Presler instead of Prescott.


----------



## erek (Oct 12, 2019)

I received a GeForce4 Ti 4600 Engineering Sample and GeForce3 Ti Engineering Sample for my collection!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2019)

I received some some cool (and most importantly, vintage) stuff, from a fellow forumer. Think I should probably let the pictures do all the talking... 

Soyo SY-6BA+III


 


At first it didn't want to post, and almost ended up in waste bin. Not really sure what is going on here, but eventually it powered up fine & POSTed as expected. If I'd have to guess, I'd say the board is having cap issue(s), except they all appear to be fine *shrug*



 


This one was quite a mystery... After loads of Googling (random numbers & codes, from the PCB) it turned out to be a Siemens board. Weird one, but eventually tested OK!



 


Yet another Socket 7 board ... except this one comes with pretty cool (and I would even dare to say unique) IBM processor - 6x86. So now I got all the "x86" models, except for earliest 2x86 & 3x86





Teac 5.25" floppy drive ... this one will most definitely come in handy at some point!



 


Followed by this server back-up unit. It has a tape deck, which (to be completely honest) I've never seen before in my life. Unfortunately, the pinch roller (which drives the tape, pulls it across the head) seems to be shot and it even melted into a goo. Which will no doubt require some serious cleaning. Not sure about the replacement, something tells me that spare parts for this thing will be impossible to find!



 


Also received this S775 Gigabyte board. At first glance it seemed to be OK, but then I found one of the two BIOS chips wedged inside the PCI slot. The other chip was apparently de-soldered at some point & then re-attached. Don't know why, but eventually I'll give it a try to see if it boots up or not.



 

 


Speaking of 4x86 gear, this here is an old 4x86 board. I was surprised to see the unusual, even obsolete socket choice for this kind of board (since most of the other boards already had a ZIF one at this point) so I'm not sure how is this going to work out, especially without any cooling, heatsink on top. But either way, it's here & will most likely come in handy. Now I have a perfect excuse to build yet another 4x86 machine! 



 


Unknown ISA controller card. The parallel port controller looks familiar, but there appears to be more than just your average COM port controller. I'd appreciate any insight on this card!


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 12, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> If I'd have to guess, I'd say the board is having cap issue(s), except they all appear to be fine *shrug*


Could it be the electrolyte in the caps is close to drying out?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 12, 2019)

Could be... I also received two other boards, which I haven't mentioned. FIC VB-601 and unknown (PC-Chips?) Slot-1 board using the old AT form factor layout.

While the PC Chips one does power up, it doesn't give any feedback or signs of life (no sounds, or beeps either) ... VB-601 on the other hand has exactly the same problem as Soyo board did, at first. Doesn't power up, at all (no matter what)


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 12, 2019)

This thread really delivers. So many memories. Appreciate everyone sharing here. 

Couple weeks back thought to myself, why not hook up the old 36gb 10,000 RPM Raptor and see what's what. You know, the early ones with SATA and molex power connectors that people would release magic smoke from after ignoring bright & bold warning stickers warning them not to use both simultaneously.

Drive is hardly used at all. Too small. Forgot how hot these heavy beasts ran. Topping out around 65-C in the eSATA dock after a few passes in Crystal. Figured hey, why not set my mug on there. Good home roasted coffee deserves some love. Changing to the P4 heatsink dropped temps nicely.





However, first thing first. Ran some scans. Drive has WinXP install from 2005. Oh look, Worms. Wonder what that one was. Nuked it before even looking where it resided.



Found a few bits of PC nostalgia on there. Being on 56k at the time I saved many pages as complete MHT files to view at leisure later.

Boards.
Almost bought the Abit NF7S after reading this review from 2003 but ended up going with Soltek FRN2 instead.



GPUs.
Anyone remember certain plain 6800 (aka-'nu') where disabled pipelines could be opened with Rivatuner? Seeing the 12 change to 16 was like winning the silicon lottery. That along with some overclocking and we could reach 6800 GT levels thereby saving over $100. Mine didn't quite get that high until after doing some work to the big solid copper BFG heatsink and cooler. Sure miss those days.



CPUs.
How about the T-bred B? Those were fun. Remember when some retailer started price gouging certain known stepping that OCed well? 0307 VPMW were very popular. Until other later steppings were found to be even better. I remember putting a comparable 1700 in the cart for this screenshot. Roughly 17% markup? I also remember some retailers asking over $90 for exact same thing. And look at all those NF7 combos. They were board to have at the time. Sure miss Abit.



Plenty of other interesting bits but that is enough for now.


----------



## erek (Oct 13, 2019)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-ATI-R...420939?hash=item3b3aabff0b:g:UfYAAOSw7FFdhoBi


----------



## Robert B (Oct 13, 2019)

*Flea market day today!* 

1. Zalman ZM80C-HP nVIDIA and ATI editions - BULK - one used two NOS - 4 EUROS
2. Razer BlackWidow Chorma V1 - mechanical keyboard - 4 EUROS  - UNTESTED!

Not too bad. 

The Zalman ZM80C-HP will be used on anything but video cards. 









						CPU Intel Pentium 2 400 MHz (slot verzia) chladené Zalman-om ZM80C-HP
					

Spoločnosť Zalman určite nie je neznáma pre užívateľov vyznávajúcich veľmi tiché, alebo dokonca pasívne chladenie či už procesorov, grafických kariet, alebo aj zdrojov. Na fínskej stránke som našiel zaujímavý nápad, ktorý prerástol aj do reálnej podoby. Užívateľ použil chladič Zalman ZM80C-HP...




					pc.zoznam.sk


----------



## TOMCAT (Oct 13, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I received some some cool (and most importantly, vintage) stuff, ...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hello Trekkie4,
very nice vintage catch.
The "Unknown ISA controller card" is a very early QIC controller card "Wangtek Assy 30850-(008)". It's the controller card for your tape drive.
The tape drive should be a Wangtek QIC (-36 ???) Tape Drive of the 5000er series. One matching tape cartrigde (3m C6150) is in your drive.
With these info you can look for spare parts and the connecting cable, when needed.

Years later the tape cartridges became more common as QIC-40 or QIC-80, connected to PC with floppy disk port or SCSI. Used for daily or large backups and moving datafrom one location to an other. Internet and even CD-R(W)s were unknown at that time. A cartridge was cheap, a HDD costs more than one Dollar a MB!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 13, 2019)

TOMCAT said:


> Hello Trekkie4,
> very nice vintage catch.
> The "Unknown ISA controller card" is a very early QIC controller card "Wangtek Assy 30850-(008)". It's the controller card for your tape drive.
> The tape drive should be a Wangtek QIC (-36 ???) Tape Drive of the 5000er series. One matching tape cartrigde (3m C6150) is in your drive.
> ...


Wow, thanks bunches! I didn't even realize they have something (or rather, anything) in common! And yes, I do have appropriate ribbon cable with edge-connector. I figured it would be silly to take a picture of the cable, alone


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 14, 2019)

Among all those motherboards, power supplies & other assorted components, there was also this laptop. From what I can tell, it's in fully working condition, but it's missing the battery (runs fine on AC charger though)




Don't suppose someone here knows more about this particular model? I tried Googling it, but only came with one (somewhat) useful hit...


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 14, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Among all those motherboards, power supplies & other assorted components, there was also this laptop. From what I can tell, it's in fully working condition, but it's missing the battery (runs fine on AC charger though)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This might be the laptop over at MSI's website.





						MSI  Global - The Leading Brand in High-end Gaming & Professional Creation
					

As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, and roll out the amazing gaming gear like motherboards, graphics cards, laptops and desktops.




					www.msi.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 14, 2019)

Interesting, thanks! I tried to Google "MS-1011", but couldn't find anything useful...


----------



## erek (Oct 15, 2019)

@Trekkie4 









						D-Sub SDRAM Computer Graphics Cards for sale | eBay
					

Get the best deals on D-Sub SDRAM Computer Graphics Cards and find everything you'll need to improve your home office setup at eBay.com. Fast & Free shipping on many items!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## phill (Oct 15, 2019)

I'm guessing that'll sell.....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 15, 2019)

erek said:


> @Trekkie4
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ha-ha... All I can say is good luck to the seller! (Wouldn't give that much money for a Voodoo card, even if I had that much to spend)


----------



## erek (Oct 16, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ha-ha... All I can say is good luck to the seller! (Wouldn't give that much money for a Voodoo card, even if I had that much to spend)



Even the Rampage?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2019)

erek said:


> Even the Rampage?
> 
> View attachment 134241


Yup! Let me put it this way - all the 3dfx cards were notorious for heat damage & VRAM chip problems. Well OK, not /just/ the 3dfx cards, but pretty much any hardware that's 20+ years old. There's no telling what you're paying for, and if your investment will pay off (or bite you back).

From all we know, that Voodoo5 6000 could be a "diamond" in disguise, in which case the value will only increase over years as it gets older and older. On the other hand, it might as well be a fancy paper weight, or a cool-looking PCB that you can frame & put it on your wall. In worst case scenario, it'll be a combination of both - a good card that will eventually cook itself & lose most of its value. Either case, it would be a cool thing to have (and to show it off), but it's certainly not worth THAT much money. If I'd have $15,000 laying around, I'd probably buy a brand new gaming system instead, invest into some serious HiFi, and save the rest for rainy days!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 16, 2019)

"Worth", is in the eye of the beholder.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> "Worth", is in the eye of the beholder.


Exactly that! If you can, and want to spend 15,000 on an old card (which also happens to be a prototype, meaning you won't be able to source replacement parts if & when something goes south), then by all means, go for it. This is just my personal opinion


----------



## erek (Oct 16, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yup! Let me put it this way - all the 3dfx cards were notorious for heat damage & VRAM chip problems. Well OK, not /just/ the 3dfx cards, but pretty much any hardware that's 20+ years old. There's no telling what you're paying for, and if your investment will pay off (or bite you back).
> 
> From all we know, that Voodoo5 6000 could be a "diamond" in disguise, in which case the value will only increase over years as it gets older and older. On the other hand, it might as well be a fancy paper weight, or a cool-looking PCB that you can frame & put it on your wall. In worst case scenario, it'll be a combination of both - a good card that will eventually cook itself & lose most of its value. Either case, it would be a cool thing to have (and to show it off), but it's certainly not worth THAT much money. If I'd have $15,000 laying around, I'd probably buy a brand new gaming system instead, invest into some serious HiFi, and save the rest for rainy days!



i've got a Revisoin 3700 A that works, it's not a paper weight, does that count?



















is that better than a paper weight ???


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2019)

@erek, you're missing my point. Yes, your card does indeed works, and will hopefully work for many years to come. But pretty much all the graphics cards from around that time suffered from overheating, and were prone to cooking themselves. Mostly due to careless OC, small-size cooling heatsinks & fans, and (later on, as they got older) simply due to their age.

You want proof? I got 20+ Voodoo cards in my collection, and I even had 10 (or more) which failed on me at some point due to one reason or another. Mostly heat damage, VRAM modules going bad but I've had other & more serious problems as well. Usually starts out with random crash (and garbled textures), to the point where it doesn't want to work any longer, whatsoever. Not to mention a certain Diamond Monster (Voodoo1), which apparently has a problem with the actual GPU core. Because it works fine under "Glide", but refuses to run in Direct3D. Again, who knows what's going on with these things ... they will work for years and years, everything will seem OK and then one day they will simply shut off.

What makes V5 6000 even more problematic is that you're basically dealing with a prototype, so it doesn't matter how skilled you are with soldering iron &/or SMD work station - if it's a prototype, it will be next to impossible to find replacement parts. Assuming it's not something generic like a RAM module, or capacitor/resistor of course.


----------



## phill (Oct 16, 2019)

erek said:


> Even the Rampage?
> 
> View attachment 134241



I've never seen these before...  AGP GPUs???....  Wow...



erek said:


> i've got a Revisoin 3700 A that works, it's not a paper weight, does that count?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Amazing   How long have you had it and it seems like you've had too much spare time to play Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament...   



Trekkie4 said:


> @erek, you're missing my point. Yes, your card does indeed works, and will hopefully work for many years to come. But pretty much all the graphics cards from around that time suffered from overheating, and were prone to cooking themselves. Mostly due to careless OC, small-size cooling heatsinks & fans, and (later on, as they got older) simply due to their age.
> 
> You want proof? I got 20+ Voodoo cards in my collection, and I even had 10 (or more) which failed on me at some point due to one reason or another. Mostly heat damage, VRAM modules going bad but I've had other & more serious problems as well. Usually starts out with random crash (and garbled textures), to the point where it doesn't want to work any longer, whatsoever. Not to mention a certain Diamond Monster (Voodoo1), which apparently has a problem with the actual GPU core. Because it works fine under "Glide", but refuses to run in Direct3D. Again, who knows what's going on with these things ... they will work for years and years, everything will seem OK and then one day they will simply shut off.
> 
> What makes V5 6000 even more problematic is that you're basically dealing with a prototype, so it doesn't matter how skilled you are with soldering iron &/or SMD work station - if it's a prototype, it will be next to impossible to find replacement parts. Assuming it's not something generic like a RAM module, or capacitor/resistor of course.



We are all geeks here with collections of hardware, some have rare kit and some don't but have other things that are considered a gem  

I suppose if you have something that's rare like this, you could be called a serious collector or just an enthusiast because of it being a darn rare Voodoo card...  

I love this thread, brings up all sorts of awesomeness   Voodoo cards are just another card I'd love to get a few of but probably never will


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2019)

Technical issues aside, Voodoo5 6000 is without any doubt, the very top among 3dfx collectibles. 6000 and Obsidian 3D, not to mention very rare & expensive! The ultimate conversation starter


----------



## phill (Oct 16, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Technical issues aside, Voodoo5 6000 is without any doubt, the very top among 3dfx collectibles. 6000 and Obsidian 3D, not to mention very rare & expensive! The ultimate conversation starter



If I could afford things like that I possibly might among all of the other bits and pieces I'd like to get my grubby little hands on...  The list is still long as ever and it's not getting any shorter which is most disappointing!!


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 16, 2019)

Anyone want to play 2,500 MS-DOS games in a web browser?



			Software Library: MS-DOS Games : Free Software : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Anyone want to play 2,500 MS-DOS games in a web browser?
> 
> 
> 
> Software Library: MS-DOS Games : Free Software : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive



just tried Descent 1 and it was a turd fest FPS so low it was a flicker show


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 16, 2019)

Athlonite said:


> just tried Descent 1 and it was a turd fest FPS so low it was a flicker show


Which web browser are you using? The DOSBox emulator is running on JavaScript.



> *The program runs very slow.*
> The EM-DOSBOX emulator is a javascript program running in a browser - it requires a lot of CPU to run, and definitely requires the most up-to-date browsers to take advantages of speed enhancements. We highly suggest you update to the latest Chrome or Firefox to ensure the program runs at top speed. The difference between versions even a few months or a year apart can be multiple times. In a few rare cases, the game or program being run does certain video or programming tricks that confuse the emulator, and the whole program runs notably slow, slower than even a taxed system should run. This is due to incompatibility with the emulator, and unfortunately will require the DOSBOX project to improve emulation going forward.











						MS-DOS Emulation
					

What is MS-DOS Emulation on the Internet Archive?The Internet Archive's software collections have a number of in-browser emulators to allow limited access to software, by making the software play w...




					help.archive.org
				




This is what the Internet Archive is using.








						GitHub - dreamlayers/em-dosbox: An Emscripten port of DOSBox
					

An Emscripten port of DOSBox. Contribute to dreamlayers/em-dosbox development by creating an account on GitHub.




					github.com


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 16, 2019)

erek said:


> i've got a Revisoin 3700 A that works, it's not a paper weight, does that count?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think I had that same Viewsonic monitor roughly 20 years ago! I believe it had to ride shotgun when I moved to and from college each year.




My Dad brought me my old desk from when I still lived at home. In one of the drawers was some old software.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 17, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Anyone want to play 2,500 MS-DOS games in a web browser?
> 
> 
> 
> Software Library: MS-DOS Games : Free Software : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive


Thank You!
Leisure Suit Larry is king.


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 17, 2019)

Anyone care to guess what this card is? Hint: the SDRAM below is NOT a clue!


----------



## The Egg (Oct 17, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> Anyone care to guess what this card is? Hint: the SDRAM below is NOT a clue!


Hmm......”ANT1” on the top port, and one of the chips is made by Motorola.  Some sort of very early wireless communication card?  I don’t think there were any 802.11 standards until the mid-late 90’s, so it must be propriety. Very interesting, whatever it is.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 17, 2019)

The Egg said:


> Hmm......”ANT1” on the top port, and one of the chips is made by Motorola.  Some sort of very early wireless communication card?  I don’t think there were any 802.11 standards until the mid-late 90’s, so it must be propriety. Very interesting, whatever it is.


It does have something to do with _radio _frequencies.

Aerial Antennas help reception


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 17, 2019)

In my garage..... Used for tool storage now-a-days. 






The cpu that used to be in it looks like this... (from wiki)


----------



## phill (Oct 17, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Thank You!
> Leisure Suit Larry is king.



Surprised you don't have an Amiga @Mr.Scott !! 



Darmok N Jalad said:


> View attachment 134313
> Anyone care to guess what this card is? Hint: the SDRAM below is NOT a clue!



I was going to guess something to do with sound...  Are those 3.5mm jacks on the card??


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 17, 2019)

What's this Amiga you speak of? Does it have something to do with a Commodore?

I may of bought an Amiga emulator out of curiosity.
https://www.amigaforever.com/emulator/


----------



## phill (Oct 17, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> What's this Amiga you speak of? Does it have something to do with a Commodore?
> 
> I may of bought an Amiga emulator out of curiosity.
> https://www.amigaforever.com/emulator/



It was very much so something to do with Commodore  Then I believe it was bought by Escom later on.. It was one of the best pieces of kit for a computer I had ever used and still to this day  So efficient, so easy to use and much much fun  I have 5 of them at home, various models  Amiga A500, A1200 and a CD32 

EDIT - 

With a picture!!


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 17, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Which web browser are you using? The DOSBox emulator is running on JavaScript.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I use Vivaldi 2.8.1664.44 (Stable channel) (64-bit)

in Windows 10 X64 Pro (1903)
AMD Ryzen R7 2700 @4.1GHz, 16GB DDR4 3200, RX580 8GB, 512GB SSD should be more than enough to run a simple dosbox emulator



Darmok N Jalad said:


> My Dad brought me my old desk from when I still lived at home. In one of the drawers was some old software.



Aww you got 95 & plus on CD damn I only have it on 3.5" Floppy disc


----------



## erek (Oct 17, 2019)




----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 17, 2019)

phill said:


> Surprised you don't have an Amiga @Mr.Scott !!
> 
> 
> 
> I was going to guess something to do with sound...  Are those 3.5mm jacks on the card??


Yes, one is audio out. The other says “ANT.”


----------



## Jstn7477 (Oct 18, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> Yes, one is audio out. The other says “ANT.”



That's a Reveal RA300 PC Radio Card. I inherited one from my late great-grandfather and still have it somewhere, though the software disk is long gone. All it does is let you listen to FM radio using an antenna and doesn't require a sound card to use. You may be able to find some freeware to get it working in Windows 95/98.


----------



## phill (Oct 18, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> Yes, one is audio out. The other says “ANT.”



I wasn't looking very close at the picture but I do see that now   What a great card that would be!!


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 18, 2019)

Jstn7477 said:


> That's a Reveal RA300 PC Radio Card. I inherited one from my late great-grandfather and still have it somewhere, though the software disk is long gone. All it does is let you listen to FM radio using an antenna and doesn't require a sound card to use. You may be able to find some freeware to get it working in Windows 95/98.


You got it! I was hoping some of my other old hardware was in that desk, like my old ISA 56k modem. There is still an entire PC that I had that don’t know what ever happened to it. Had a Pentium 166 MMX.


----------



## The Egg (Oct 18, 2019)

Jstn7477 said:


> That's a Reveal RA300 PC Radio Card. I inherited one from my late great-grandfather and still have it somewhere, though the software disk is long gone. All it does is let you listen to FM radio using an antenna and doesn't require a sound card to use. You may be able to find some freeware to get it working in Windows 95/98.


Does it let you record audio from the radio?  If not, I'd have a hard time seeing the benefit over a regular standalone radio.  Still cool though.

I did have a few TV tuner cards which claimed to have a radio feature, but I believe they only worked when using an OTA antenna for your TV signal.  I was always using cable TV with the tuner cards, so I never really made use of it.


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 18, 2019)

The Egg said:


> Does it let you record audio from the radio?  If not, I'd have a hard time seeing the benefit over a regular standalone radio.  Still cool though.
> 
> I did have a few TV tuner cards which claimed to have a radio feature, but I believe they only worked when using an OTA antenna for your TV signal.  I was always using cable TV with the tuner cards, so I never really made use of it.


I believe you could, because the line out went to your sound card, so you could record whatever you wanted, provided your PC could handle it. This was an ISA card, so single core PCs for sure.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 18, 2019)

phill said:


> Surprised you don't have an Amiga @Mr.Scott !!



I did.
But that was before I became an enthusiast, so it was dumped for a DX2 66. I regret it still.


----------



## phill (Oct 19, 2019)

Amiga's forever @Mr.Scott !!    I still say to this day that the Amiga was so much better than a Windows based system (hardware excluded as the Amiga kit was very dated even back then sadly) but for the games and sounds, best ever


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 19, 2019)

Ok, so it's not hardware, but I did find the FAQ for a card I forgot I even owned, the STB Velocity 128. It's actually funny to see how far we've come. Remember having to manually assign an IRQ to a graphic's card?


----------



## Jism (Oct 19, 2019)

God some of these old boards, having a AT and ATX power configuration. I burned my first AT motherboard by not putting the power pins with both black sides in the middle, lol.


----------



## erek (Oct 19, 2019)

@Mr.Scott


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 19, 2019)

erek said:


> @Mr.Scott


The Thermaltake Orb coolers are the known Athlon core crushers?


----------



## erek (Oct 19, 2019)

NVIDIA 128MB Memory Computer Graphics Cards for sale | eBay
					

Get the best deals on NVIDIA 128MB Memory Computer Graphics Cards and find everything you'll need to improve your home office setup at eBay.com. Fast & Free shipping on many items!



					www.ebay.com
				












						Vintage 3DFX VooDoo 5 5500 PCI Video Card Macintosh Version Rare  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage 3DFX VooDoo 5 5500 PCI Video Card Macintosh Version Rare at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 19, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> The Thermaltake Orb coolers are the known Athlon core crushers?


They did have that twist-to-lock feature, which had the potential to crunch that shiny little die. I had an orb cooler, but it was for a K6-2 500mhz. I gave that system to my mom, and it got clogged with dust and cat hair. Fan never quit, but it was highly ineffective!


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 19, 2019)

How about this combination, a Pentium 4 with a Geforce FX, and it runs Windows 98.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Oct 19, 2019)

Thats a bit overkill for Windows 98, I would install XP on that setup. But it's better to be overkill so you can apply AA and AF


----------



## Robert B (Oct 19, 2019)

New Hardware Found! (this week)  - flea market find of course. The price was extremely low.

Leadtek Geforce 2 MX 400 / *Geforce 2 MX SH PRO* 5ns Ultra Speed - 32MB AGP  - Not your average GF2 MX 



			Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 MX SH Pro


----------



## havli (Oct 19, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Thats a bit overkill for Windows 98, I would install XP on that setup. But it's better to be overkill so you can apply AA and AF


I had similar build... but with Core 2 of course, there is no point in using 775 P4  And FX 5900 wasn't that great running with AA+AF at 1600x1200. In the end I used Radeon X850 XT which is much better.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 19, 2019)

havli said:


> there is no point in using 775 P4  And FX 5900


The Pentium 4 in the video was 2.4 GHz on Socket 478 with the famous Intel 865 chipset. It's easier finding a Pentium 4 than Pentium II/III unless your @Robert B.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 20, 2019)

Better make that... 


biffzinker said:


> The Pentium 4 in the video was 2.4 GHz on Socket 478 with the famous Intel 865 chipset. It's easier finding a Pentium 4 than Pentium II/III unless your @Robert B or @Trekkie4 .


IDK why, but most of the recent donation/finds were all related to Slot-1 era, featuring Pentium II (and early Celerons) in particular. S478 not so much, it's been a while since I found a P4 rig!


----------



## Grog6 (Oct 20, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> They did have that twist-to-lock feature, which had the potential to crunch that shiny little die. I had an orb cooler, but it was for a K6-2 500mhz. I gave that system to my mom, and it got clogged with dust and cat hair. Fan never quit, but it was highly ineffective!



The bigger problem was ripping the socket off the mobo, lol.

I disagree with the cooling; I have one of those cooling a K6-iii 450 right now, running Win95.
It's taking data on an ISA PCA3 card.  (Pulse height analyzer, for nuclear decay spectra)

It cools very well; the K6III is well known for running hot due to the phenomenal amount (256k) of Cache memory. (lol)

It's on a K6BV3+ motherboard; the interesting thing with those is that if you put over 256MB of memory on it, it slows down due to disabling the L3 cache on the MB.
Yes, the mobo has 2MB of Cache in chips, on the mobo, 6" away from the processor. 

That was my last socket 7 system; I keep it for the ISA slots.

Someone mentioned setting IRQ's on the board with jumpers; EISA was worse, you had to have a specific program to run to set all those, before it would boot.


 Good Times, lol.


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Oct 20, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> The bigger problem was ripping the socket off the mobo, lol.
> 
> I disagree with the cooling; I have one of those cooling a K6-iii 450 right now, running Win95.
> It's taking data on an ISA PCA3 card.  (Pulse height analyzer, for nuclear decay spectra)
> ...


No, the golden orb worked great---until it got clogged with cat hair and dust. It was disgusting. The system would crash every now and then, and once I cleaned out the Orb, it was back to normal again!


----------



## Jism (Oct 20, 2019)

Robert B said:


> New Hardware Found! (this week)  - flea market find of course. The price was extremely low.
> 
> Leadtek Geforce 2 MX 400 / *Geforce 2 MX SH PRO* 5ns Ultra Speed - 32MB AGP  - Not your average GF2 MX
> 
> ...



Leadtek always offered slightly better cards then other manufacturers back then. Not just the fancy heatsink but also memory chips with a bit better timings.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Oct 20, 2019)

Speaking of overkill, I'm going to make my own overkill Windows XP gaming PC using these setup:
i5 4670k
16GB DDR3 RAM
HD 4850 in Crossfire
Creative Audigy 2 ZS

The PC is collecting dust under my desk ATM, no PSU, no HDD and the soundcard is still in my old C2D setup. I don't know if HD 4850 in CF is good for XP or not. I'll probably buy X800/X850 PCIe so I could use Truform for older titles that using it   I already found Z87 chipset driver and all necessary driver for XP. But since I'm busy with baby and some other family stuff, this is going to be untouched a while.


----------



## havli (Oct 20, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> The Pentium 4 in the video was 2.4 GHz on Socket 478 with the famous Intel 865 chipset. It's easier finding a Pentium 4 than Pentium II/III unless your @Robert B.


Ah, I didn't watch the video... and by the picture that board is almost identical to ASRock 775i65G. Well, my mistake.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 20, 2019)

havli said:


> Ah, I didn't watch the video...


Ah well, I didn't watch the video at normal playback speed myself. Switched the playback rate from 1 second to 1.25


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 20, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Speaking of overkill, I'm going to make my own overkill Windows XP gaming PC using these setup:
> i5 4670k
> 16GB DDR3 RAM
> HD 4850 in Crossfire
> Creative Audigy 2 ZS


Wasting your ram. XP won't see more than 3.5 gig.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Oct 20, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Wasting your ram. XP won't see more than 3.5 gig.


I know, thats the only RAM it will boot up. I have another set of RAM that won't work for some reason. The board is wonky. Don't worry as I found patch PAE. I did on Windows 7 32-bit before. Work without a problem. But for older card and driver it could be a problem.



			Windows XP 128GB Ram Patch | Operating System Revival


----------



## Robert B (Oct 20, 2019)

I found this today. 

Trident HNG8916CX248LC2 - Trident TVGA 8900C REV. A - VGA ULTRA(I) - ISA - with 1MB or 512KB? Week 02 Year 1992


----------



## SniperHF (Oct 20, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Thats a bit overkill for Windows 98, I would install XP on that setup. But it's better to be overkill so you can apply AA and AF



It was still pretty common to put 98 on that type of system, my first P4 system had 98 even.  
Though I'd bet a good chunk of those systems were upgraded to XP at some point.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 20, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Wasting your ram. XP won't see more than 3.5 gig.


He could use Windows XP Professional x64.






						Windows XP Professional x64 Edition - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## PHaS3 (Oct 20, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Speaking of overkill, I'm going to make my own overkill Windows XP gaming PC using these setup:
> i5 4670k
> 16GB DDR3 RAM
> HD 4850 in Crossfire
> ...



Man I used to have a HIS 4850, loved it. Massive improvement over the previous HIS 3870 I had.  Wonderful to see them again


----------



## Athlonite (Oct 20, 2019)

PHaS3 said:


> Man I used to have a HIS 4850, loved it. Massive improvement over the previous HIS 3870 I had.  Wonderful to see them again



Hell yeah back when HIS actually used good fans instead of the garbage cheapo's they use now


----------



## Jism (Oct 20, 2019)

I had a Asus 4890 TOP edition, those 4890 could archieve crazy high clocks compared to stock ones AMD put out. Took one notch more voltage to crank up the core all the way up to 1200Mhz on air.









						ASUS EAH4890 TOP w/ Super ML Capacitor Review
					

ASUS has sent us one of the first samples of their new EAH4890 TOP which uses a SuperML capacitor that is supposed to offer cleaner voltage resulting in better overlocking. Also this is the first card to feature a 6+8 pin PCI-Express power connector for improved voltage delivery. Last but not...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## erek (Oct 21, 2019)

17≪PC周辺機器SALE≫Hercules 3D PROPhET 4500 3... - ヤフオク!
					

♪♪17≪PC周辺機器SALE≫Hercules　3D PROPhET 4500　32MB　グラフィックアクセラレータ 175MHz RAM クロック/Tile Architecture/AGB BUS 未使用 現状品♪♪♪営業日♪商品説明配送料・支払方法注意事項平日　9時～17時　土・日・祝はお休みさせて頂いております。平日17時以降、土・日・祝に質問や取引ナビの返信に関しましては翌営業日にご連絡をさせて頂きます。系列店もよろしくお願いいたします!！【大鰐店】　【栄町店】※商品保管・管理の倉庫が違うため同



					page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp


----------



## Splinterdog (Oct 21, 2019)

A remarkable 20-year collection of retro hardware. Mobos and CPUs galore!


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 22, 2019)

The Egg said:


> Sadly, I used to have a PCI Voodoo3 2000 laying around, but no longer.  Also had an AWE32 back in the day.  Anyone remember if the 430HX had AGP?  I almost expected it to, but maybe they never did.



No it doesn't, here's a ton of info on it 





						Chipset Guide
					






					www.anandtech.com


----------



## The Egg (Oct 22, 2019)

The Egg said:


> Sadly, I used to have a PCI Voodoo3 2000 laying around, but no longer.  Also had an AWE32 back in the day.  Anyone remember if the 430HX had AGP?  I almost expected it to, but maybe they never did.





xBruce88x said:


> No it doesn't, here's a ton of info on it
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Interesting, thanks for the link.  That makes sense, because back when we had an HX chipset in the family PC, it was paired with a Matrox Mystique 4MB PCI, despite probably having several AGP boards on hand not long after (I was doing alot of building at the time).  The Matrox was an excellent performer though.

Speaking of the board I currently have, I found a P166 MMX in my small souvenir CPU collection.  A standard non-MMX 166 is currently installed.  Your link says the HX can do MMX, but I seem to remember later model Pentiums running different (lower) voltages, which makes me lean towards leaving well enough alone.  If it were a 200 or 233, I’d probably give it a shot.


----------



## Jism (Oct 22, 2019)

MMX is just a addtitional instruction set onto the CPU, does'nt require a special board or so to trigger it or not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMX_(instruction_set)


----------



## The Egg (Oct 22, 2019)

Jism said:


> MMX is just a addtitional instruction set onto the CPU, does'nt require a special board or so to trigger it or not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMX_(instruction_set)


I’m not worried about the instruction set (HX apparently supports it by default), I’m worried about the voltage.
P5 Microarcitecture

The original 166 is a SY016 which is a ceramic P54CS at 3.3v
The MMX 166 is a SL27H which is a metal cap P55C and specifically lists out 2.8v on the chip.

Apparently there were also cache and pipeline improvements on the P55C beyond just the MMX, but I’ll need to research the board more to see if the voltage can be changed, otherwise I’m outta gas.


----------



## Jism (Oct 22, 2019)

I think you could drive 3.3V through it. They are much more resilient then CPU's these days are. And the extra voltage could help into a more stable overclock to perhaps 200 ~ 233Mhz or so.

Give it a try! Make sure it carries a heatsink with good paste and a fan.


----------



## The Egg (Oct 22, 2019)

Jism said:


> I think you could drive 3.3V through it. They are much more resilient then CPU's these days are. And the extra voltage could help into a more stable overclock to perhaps 200 ~ 233Mhz or so.
> Give it a try! Make sure it carries a heatsink with good paste and a fan.


That's not an insignificant voltage difference.  Best case scenario, the CPU lives a very short life.  Worst case, I make some magic smoke and take the motherboard with it.  I'm gonna pass unless I can verify the board is capable.


----------



## Jism (Oct 22, 2019)

Those CPU's can handle the 0.5v difference:



> OK, something else you should know: Even if your board doesn't support adjustable voltages, or a fixed voltage below the original 3.3v, you can run a Pentium MMX on it. Yes, 3.3v is more than the rated 2.8v. No, that won't hurt the CPU. I've sold hundred of overvoltage chip systems without a single return.








						Converting socket 5 to Socket 7 AMD
					

I've just read the article from Tom....about converting socket 5 to socket 7 and fitting a AMD K6-2 in it. The problem is I'm having a Triton 430BX chipset board.....will it work thou? how much can I squeeze out the power from this board?  Cheers




					forums.tomshardware.com
				






			3.3v on 2.8v cpu socket 7 - Google Search


----------



## Grog6 (Oct 23, 2019)

The Egg said:


> I’m not worried about the instruction set (HX apparently supports it by default), I’m worried about the voltage.
> P5 Microarcitecture
> 
> The original 166 is a SY016 which is a ceramic P54CS at 3.3v
> ...



I remember those chips.

The non-mmx chips were all 3.3v, the MMX ones were split core, 3.3 and 2.8.

There was also a bios difference; they would not boot with the mmx chips.
We tried, lol.
I ended up buying a new mobo.

I still have a 166 mmx chip; I need to dig out my collection and take some pix.

I found a tube with my 8088-1, 8087-1, and 8089-1 chips yesterday; they were 11MHz versions of the original PC processor, Math co, and communications processor.

Good times, lol.


----------



## Jism (Oct 23, 2019)

If you have a 2.8V chip on a 3.3V line then it would be a cool thing to have. You have some headroom related to overclocking. Some (good) MMX chips wanted all the way up to 233Mhz completely stable with just the switch of a jumper.

Good old times. OC'ing with no manual and trying every jumper combination out there.


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 23, 2019)

Finally put my old k6-2 to work today, tried to set it to 550 but the mobo ignored the jumper setting and ran it at 500 anyway. O well. 

Got 3x 128mb pc100 sticks in, a 4gb hdd, and a voodoo 3 3000 agp. Unfortunately the bios won't recognize drives larger than 32gb.

It's running windows me... I managed to get a gog installer to work with it, gonna try installing duke nukem 3d tomorrow, and maybe shogo mad to get that voodoo 3 a shot. It currently only has a demo of motocross madness on it. I've also got a PCI rage 128 all in wonder card that I want to try hooking up, curious to see how the built in DVD decoder works


----------



## Jetster (Oct 23, 2019)

It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all outta gum!

Loved DN


----------



## The Egg (Oct 23, 2019)

xBruce88x said:


> Finally put my old k6-2 to work today, tried to set it to 550 but the mobo ignored the jumper setting and ran it at 500 anyway. O well.
> Got 3x 128mb pc100 sticks in, a 4gb hdd, and a voodoo 3 3000 agp. Unfortunately the bios won't recognize drives larger than 32gb.


Nice.  I recommend using a *Compactflash to IDE/PATA* adapter in any of the various form factors.  I use one with a 16GB card on older systems and it works great.  You can also get adapters for SD cards, but those require a translator chip, whereas Compactflash does not, and is thus more compatible.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 23, 2019)

Can any of you here please ID this board? No markings/brand names, whatsoever. But I DO have a sneaky suspicion that it's PC-Chips... AT-form factor, Slot-1. ALI M1621 A1 chipset, SD-RAM (PC-100?)



 

 



I've been trying to get it started, but it's not giving me anything... Board powers up, and doesn't give any signs of life. So either I'm doing something wrong, or this one is toasted!

Edit
Seems to be very similar to PC-Chips M-726... But it's not the same.


----------



## The Egg (Oct 23, 2019)

I remember avoiding ALi chipsets like the plague.  It's probably doing you a favor by not working.


----------



## xBruce88x (Oct 23, 2019)

Yea sadly mine is an Ali chipset as well, it's a Matsonic MS6260S

@Trekkie4 is there a label on the cpu slot? Pull the cpu off and see, sometimes there are stickers on the sides of slots, pci, isa, etc... Can also try the back of the board


----------



## Robert B (Oct 23, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Can any of you here please ID this board? No markings/brand names, whatsoever. But I DO have a sneaky suspicion that it's PC-Chips... AT-form factor, Slot-1. ALI M1621 A1 chipset, SD-RAM (PC-100?)
> 
> 
> 
> ...




*You can start it up and on the POST screen on lower part of the screen look for the row of characters that is usually manufacturer specific.

I attached an example.*


----------



## Grog6 (Oct 23, 2019)

It's an Aladdin Pro II chipset; if it's a P II processor.

It would be a PC Chips mobo, IMHO.

One of these:

BXcelALi M1621 (Aladdin Pro II)PCChips M726 (Amptron PII-3726), M727 and M729

I had some PC Chips mobos bitd.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 23, 2019)

The Egg said:


> I remember avoiding ALi chipsets like the plague.  It's probably doing you a favor by not working.


Yeah, not much luck with PC-Chips... Too bad, it seemed unusual, it would have been my first AT-styled Slot-1 board so far.



xBruce88x said:


> Yea sadly mine is an Ali chipset as well, it's a Matsonic MS6260S
> I had yet another system with ALI chipset, Socket 462/A... It caused me a LOT of headache. I was going to pair that one with Savage4 Pro card, but due to incompatibilities with the card, I eventually settled for nVidia M64 instead. Seemed to work fine after that, it was the initial setup that was the actual PITA.
> 
> @Trekkie4 is there a label on the cpu slot? Pull the cpu off and see, sometimes there are stickers on the sides of slots, pci, isa, etc... Can also try the back of the board


Nope! No label, no codes, nothing. It came without the CPU, I was the one who placed it in there, to give it a try (just an old passively-cooled Celeron 300A) Well OK, there was ONE thing apparently - on the back it simply said "Elpina". That's it, nothing else. Which is why (and how) I connected it to PC-Chips in the first place.



Robert B said:


> *You can start it up and on the POST screen on lower part of the screen look for the row of characters that is usually manufacturer specific.
> 
> I attached an example.*


Yeah, I know. But that's the thing - it doesn't start! Nothing ... black screen, no beeps, no POST, nothing! And yes, I tried the obvious solutions - swapping out the CPU, RAM, video card, even tinkering with FSB and multiplier. Nothing! CPU heatsink gets warm, but the chipset(s) and RAM are stone cold.



Grog6 said:


> It's an Aladdin Pro II chipset; if it's a P II processor.
> 
> It would be a PC Chips mobo, IMHO.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the hint, but I decided to get rid of it. Besides, I already got more than enough Slot-1 boards laying around. I also managed to fix (well, more like get it to POST, really) FIC VB-601. My 3rd VB-601, I believe. The other two 601's are inside the 3dfx Voodoo2 SLI rigs


----------



## TOMCAT (Oct 24, 2019)

Trekkie4 wrote:
_"Nope! No label, no codes, nothing. It came without the CPU, I was the one who placed it in there, to give it a try (just an old passively-cooled Celeron 300A) Well OK, there was ONE thing apparently - on the back it simply said "Elpina". That's it, nothing else. Which is why (and how) I connected it to PC-Chips in the first place."_

Sorry, I am late for the clue party, but for the next time:

Elpina was a motherboard manufacturer. They did OEM boards for PC-Chips and many others.
On the backside of the motherboard should be a BA E-VO number like on the attached foto.

The old BA E-VO numbers can be used to identify computer hardware similar to the FCCID nowadays.  

For this board member Grog6 shows the list of the 4 possible Mainboards


----------



## Chomiq (Oct 24, 2019)

Jetster said:


> It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all outta gum!
> 
> Loved DN


Loved They Live.


----------



## kapone32 (Oct 24, 2019)

Just wondering but is there also a thread for nostalgic software? Like the great Space Racer game or even Silpheed (not the PS version).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 24, 2019)

TOMCAT said:


> Trekkie4 wrote:
> _"Nope! No label, no codes, nothing. It came without the CPU, I was the one who placed it in there, to give it a try (just an old passively-cooled Celeron 300A) Well OK, there was ONE thing apparently - on the back it simply said "Elpina". That's it, nothing else. Which is why (and how) I connected it to PC-Chips in the first place."_
> 
> Sorry, I am late for the clue party, but for the next time:
> ...


Thanks for the tip, didn't realize that! But yes, I found a manual online for one of the PC-Chips boards & the layout was very similar, almost identical to the one I had... Except for the chipset, that is.

Still, I'm pretty sure the board was gone. I even found some severe scratches on the back side, across the vital traces which lead away (or into?) the Slot 1. Not sure if my problem was because of those or not, but at this stage it really doesn't matter, I suppose. Sad thing is, even if the board turned out to be OK, I probably wouldn't have much use for it. I got dozens of ATX Slot-1 systems laying around, not to mention 3 spare Slot 1 boards in stock. At the same time, I have a shortage of "AT" small (baby) towers, for all my Socket 7, Socket 5 rigs... So given the choice, I would build a vintage 4x86, or 6x86 rig over the Pentium II every time!


----------



## Hyderz (Oct 24, 2019)

i dont have any of my old parts anymore... but i can tell you guys
2002 i was 17, My Brand new pc...
Amd Athlon Xp 2200+
512MB PC133 SD Ram
Geforce 4 Ti4600 
WD 60GB HDD
15" Crt 1024x768 resolution

Good days of Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos, Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor Allied Assault.
but it was 2003 that has a real solid list of pc games...


----------



## candle_86 (Oct 24, 2019)

Maybe I'll show off some pics but for now a list of completed retro rigs

Oldest working
Pentium 166 classic
Matronics 430TX board
32mb Edo dimm
Daytona GT64 video card
10gb hdd
Dos/Win 3.1/95

Next
K6-III 400 6X66
Matronics 430TX
128mb pc66
Riva TnT pci card
40gb hdd
Windows 98SE

Athalon 700
Compaq 750 irongate board
256mb pc100
Geforce 256 SDR
80gb hdd
Windows Me

HP A430N
Axp 3200
Leadtek FX5600
512mb pc3200
120gb hdd
Windows 2000 

Pentium 4 3.4C
MSI P865 neo
PNY 6800GT
1gb ddr 500
500gb hdd
Windows XP Home

Opteron 180
Epox nforce4 sli
7900GTX sli
2gb ddr 500
500gb hdd
Windows XP Pro

Phenom 9950
Asus M3N72D
8800GTS 512 SLI
4GB ddr2 1066
1tb hdd
Windows Vista Business


----------



## candle_86 (Oct 26, 2019)

Thought I'd share this mod, I showed it on another forum some of you may go to, but this is a 6800GT, i never found the 6800GT cooling adequate and had a dead 7900 GTX, it runs much cooler now


----------



## Robert B (Oct 28, 2019)

*Fresh from the gutter!* 

A pair of Intel XEON Foster core CPUs - 1.7GHz/256/400 SLT5E - taken from a dismembered IWILL DX400-SN motherboard. Damn scrappers, they killed such a beautiful board ... they even told me that the entire Fujitsu Siemens Celsius 670 Workstation was complete the day before. They also killed an ATI Fire GL4 S26361-D1268-V128 D1268 card ... I already straighten all of the bent pins from the CPUs. Zero casualties. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them but I had to buy them. https://www.anandtech.com/show/769/5
5 sticks of RAMBUS 256MB/PC800
Coolers
A socket 7 heatsink and what do you know, what do we have under it? A P120 SY033. Of course that I paid just for the heatsink.  Lucky me!  No bent pins here. Perfect.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 28, 2019)

I never really cared much about laptops ... Actually, I never even owned (or used) one before. Actually, for a long time I always considered them to be inferior & slower (yet mobile) counterparts of "real", full-size desktop machines. Mainly because those had a lot more to offer, not to mention they've been easily upgradeable & could handle the heat a lot better than slim & mobile counterparts.

Unfortunately, my theory proved to be quite accurate, when a fellow forumer kindly donated his fully working & surprisingly preserved MSI  M630 to me. You may remember me uploading a model number few pages ago, when I was first starting to work on this thing & had to find the appropriate drivers ... One Windows XP Home (SP2) later, along with few software modifications here & there and voila - a fully working retro-gaming platform "on the go", the first one of its kind in my collection 


 

 

 

 

 



Although everything seems to be working within acceptable range, it's obvious that the mobile CPU (AMD Sempron) is having a tough time with even the oldest of titles. Games which are 4-5 years older than the laptop itself! But overall, it seems to be working OK, and I have to admit that I've had loads of fun working with this one. Not that I would recommend using a laptop for retro gaming, you'd be so much better with an actual desktop, but if you need to keep it compact and mobile, it will do its job just fine. For as long as you don't expect too much!

@Robert B Hmm... Is that a Socket 423 heatsink/fan among all those parts...? And those RIMM modules ... you wouldn't be playing with Asus P4T by any chance, would you?


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 29, 2019)

candle_86 said:


> Thought I'd share this mod, I showed it on another forum some of you may go to, but this is a 6800GT, i never found the 6800GT cooling adequate and had a dead 7900 GTX, it runs much cooler now


Nice mod. Bet that made a huge improvement in cooling. What brand 6800GT if I may ask?

You inspired me to break out some old images. I still have my Leadtek 6800nu. They had about the best cooler out there. Big thick copper sinks on both sides of the card. Performed very well. Especially after using RivaTuner to unlock the extra pipes. Almost reached 6800GT levels but not quite.

Took the card apart and discovered height variations in the raised RAM pads resulting in uneven contact pressures, and gap over the GPU being too wide. Being a machinist by trade thought to myself, I can improve that. Made a lapping block and used micrometer to measure heights and got them all the same. Much better contact on all areas. Could now use premium paste instead of thermal pads. Afterward card overclocked even better. Do not have screenshots for that anymore but do remember it was significant. Above 6800GT levels. Tossed it aside when the 7800GS came out. Every time I feel nostalgic for the pre-heatpipe era of big copper sinks I remind myself of how that BFG 7800GS sounds like a hair drier under load when gaming my nForce2 retro rig. Sure wish they made water blocks or at least aftermarket coolers for these cards.


----------



## candle_86 (Oct 29, 2019)

Susquehannock said:


> Nice mod. Bet that made a huge improvement in cooling. What brand 6800GT if I may ask?
> 
> You inspired me to break out some old images. I still have my Leadtek 6800nu. They had about the best cooler out there. Big thick copper sinks on both sides of the card. Performed very well. Especially after using RivaTuner to unlock the extra pipes. Almost reached 6800GT levels but not quite.
> 
> ...



Temps at 425/1050 went from 77c in farcry to 58c in farcry, card is a bfg stock 370/1000


----------



## r.h.p (Oct 29, 2019)

MRCL said:


> Moar old stuff!
> 
> You know what this is...
> 
> ...



oh my , I was working in hay com pc in perth in 1997/98 when the Pentium 2 was released !! I was a pci slot card totally different from the p1 and previous ibm compatible 286/386/486 mhz
config lol . I was low level so missed the Intel show but they said there were Lots of Intel Bunnys cruising around with bags of Goodies ( which i saw back at the shop T-shirts ,. stickers , PC bunny bobleheads  and hats hehe .Promotion of the new Pentium 2 wow everyone said ... good old days nice pics bro


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 31, 2019)

Speaking of PCChips, I found this board for free from a friend.

Totem TM-S730LMV, aka Matsonic MS8308E, aka PCChips M810LR V8.0.





Also, I have successfully recapped my Soyo 6BA+IV, and have replaced the CPU fan with a quiet Foxconn fan from a IBM heatsink.



















Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks for the tip, didn't realize that! But yes, I found a manual online for one of the PC-Chips boards & the layout was very similar, almost identical to the one I had... Except for the chipset, that is.
> 
> Still, I'm pretty sure the board was gone. I even found some severe scratches on the back side, across the vital traces which lead away (or into?) the Slot 1. Not sure if my problem was because of those or not, but at this stage it really doesn't matter, I suppose. Sad thing is, even if the board turned out to be OK, I probably wouldn't have much use for it. I got dozens of ATX Slot-1 systems laying around, not to mention 3 spare Slot 1 boards in stock. At the same time, I have a shortage of "AT" small (baby) towers, for all my Socket 7, Socket 5 rigs... So given the choice, I would build a vintage 4x86, or 6x86 rig over the Pentium II every time!


Could've tinned the traces. My Soyo 6BA+IV came with a few scratched traces that would prevent it from detecting RAM in any slot, and I fixed that by tinning them and adding a coat of rosin core to isolate them from shorts.


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 1, 2019)

I'm going to replace a bunch of caps on an older Mobo tonight; is anyone interested in seeing pix?

I got my DigiKey order, so time to solder. 

I'll take some pix if anyone's interested, otherwise not, lol.

It's a P6WD2 Premium, and has a bunch of burst caps.

I'm refurbing it for a 775 to 771 conversion, with an SL968 3.73GHz Xeon 5080.









						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				




Not positive it will work with this mobo, but there's an EE processor in the CPU compatibility tabel with the same specs.
I have a thermatake like this for it:









						Thermaltake CL-P0024 Copper Cooling Heatsink - Newegg.com
					

Buy Thermaltake CL-P0024 Copper Cooling Heatsink with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				




This is the heaviest HS I ever bought, lol. ~2 kilos of solid copper.


----------



## Jetster (Nov 3, 2019)

Finally started working on this, just need a few cables and software 
939 + Nvidia 8800GTX


----------



## Robert B (Nov 3, 2019)

Holter & Mogyoro - All Our Mistakes

*FLEA MARKET DAY TODAY!*

I had to be very selective with what I buy! 

1. Pentium 4 s423 *Willamette* 1.9GHZ SL5VN - 4 EUROS. I have P4 s423 @ 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6,1.7 and 1.9. MIA are only the 1.8 and 2.0.  YAY!
2. STB Velocity-128 VBX AGP - *RIVA 128ZX* - missing a heatsink and one ceramic capacitor. Both easy fixes - 2 EUROS
3. *Enermax* EG365AX-VE(G) - 4 EUROS - NO BRAINER! Heavy as HELL!!!
4. *Heatsinks* - 3 EUROS. RIP!



 

 

 

 



*I left behind:*

1. Sapphire ATI 4870 1GB
2. Abit KD7 - swollen caps
3. nVIDIA 580 GTX
4. s775 stuff
5. HDDs galore
6. ODDs galore
7. s754 stuff
8. ATI RAGE 128 - 2 pcs
9. 8800GT
10. ASUS 1070 GTX - @ 110 EUROS - I dont know the state.
11. Lots of heatsinks
12. s462 stuff
13. Lots of RAM
14. Thermaltake ToughPower 550W
15. Some s1366 stufff from Dell or HP
16. ATI stuff
17. CPUs
18. 10-12 486 40 mm fans - NIB
19. SS7  LS 5MVP3
20. Riva TNT 2 - missing caps
21. Dual CPU motherboard(s)
22. Misc

Some were mint some had some cosmetic damage. 

I LOVE GOING TO THE LOCAL FLEA MARKET!!! !!!


----------



## buzzi (Nov 3, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just thought I'd stop by today & wish you guys a happy, fully compliant, non-corrupt & long-term upgradeable...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am terribly more than 11 months late and sorry for the bump, but damn that was really cool!  Reminds me of "slayer" font, hope you enjoyed this 2019 my friend


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 3, 2019)

buzzi said:


> I am terribly more than 11 months late and sorry for the bump, but damn that was really cool!  Reminds me of "slayer" font, hope you enjoyed this 2019 my friend


Ha-ha, you could have just waited for a month or two longer, as I'll probably re-post something similar 

Joke aside, it's been a terrible year for me, but thanks for the kind wishes, nevertheless. Apart from money trouble (and member of my family having a serious surgery), a close friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer. Even now, 10 months later it is still on-going fight but things are looking up ... or so I'd like to think anyway. As for the money issues, I'm hoping to sell approx. 1/3 of my retro collection some time soon. Didn't want to talk about it yet (figured I'd wait for a month or two longer), but yes - most of my retro collectibles (featured in this topic) are up for sale. Which is a good thing IMO, because I really need to clean up my room & hopefully start fresh in 2020!


----------



## buzzi (Nov 3, 2019)

Oh, that's a lot of bad news  I'd like to see your collection still in your hands. I hope they will be sold to someone who will take care of them like you did.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 3, 2019)

True. As I recently told my friend, 2019 officially "sucks". So it is pretty reasonable on my behalf to have high(er) expectations for upcoming 2020.

And yes, my collection will be sold to a fellow forumer (and hw collector), from another (and local) forum. Don't worry though, I'm planning to keep at least "one of each" models. I've reached the point where I had more than 40 machines laying around, not to mention separate (read: extra) parts. With all of those together, the entire amount would probably reach 50 or more. So I really do need to clean up, and having some extra cash to spend is always a good thing


----------



## candle_86 (Nov 3, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Finally started working on this, just need a few cables and software
> 939 + Nvidia 8800GTX



Your going to need better airflow, I had one in a centurion 5 back in 2010 and it constantly ran at 100c, I'd strongly suggest getting a better casr


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 3, 2019)

Here's a random thought that's been bugging me for ages... How come no one, and I really DO mean no one came up with simple (rubber?) pipe, to allow the CPU air intake from the outside? Just a simple, flexible pipe with either 80x80 or 120x120 terminals on each end, so that you can mount it onto the fan and/or fan grill.


----------



## candle_86 (Nov 3, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a random thought that's been bugging me for ages... How come no one, and I really DO mean no one came up with simple (rubber?) pipe, to allow the CPU air intake from the outside? Just a simple, flexible pipe with either 80x80 or 120x120 terminals on each end, so that you can mount it onto the fan and/or fan grill.



They did, look at server ducting, it's not really needed except by large data clusters but I've seen it a few times.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 3, 2019)

You're right. But I was referring to "consumer use", especially on tower design heatsinks. It would make sense to have the external intake going into the heatsink & then another pipe, exhaust leading outside. That way the heat generated by the CPU would be minimal & wouldn't affect other components as much.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 3, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a random thought that's been bugging me for ages... How come no one, and I really DO mean no one came up with simple (rubber?) pipe, to allow the CPU air intake from the outside? Just a simple, flexible pipe with either 80x80 or 120x120 terminals on each end, so that you can mount it onto the fan and/or fan grill.


Some people have used a dryer duct with the rear exhaust opening on the case for cooler air to the CPU.


----------



## The Egg (Nov 3, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a random thought that's been bugging me for ages... How come no one, and I really DO mean no one came up with simple (rubber?) pipe, to allow the CPU air intake from the outside? Just a simple, flexible pipe with either 80x80 or 120x120 terminals on each end, so that you can mount it onto the fan and/or fan grill.


I used several Antec cases in the mid-00's which had an adjustable plastic air duct attached to the side panel.  You would then pull the duct down and directly over the CPU cooler (it was bell-shaped at the end).  Not a direct connection, but still pretty good.  They seemed to fall out of favor as most CPU coolers transitioned from downward-firing to horizontal airflow.

I've also seen the plastic/vinyl dryer ducting used in custom work, as mentioned by biffzinker.


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 3, 2019)

This is not a bad idea; the computer will bring the outside air up to close enough to ambient so as to not be a load on the house's heating system.



A fan in the duct to provide positive pressure, and keep it moving along would make this hella efficient.

Some of you guys have Real Winter; -30C air would make for a hell of an overclock!

I'll see 30F here mostly; IDK if that gives me much at all.


----------



## hat (Nov 3, 2019)

There's definitely some imaginative cooling solutions one could come up with, given enough time and effort. I'd be afraid of condensation, though, if I were using ductwork to feed in cold winter air to the case.

I feel like a more fun, but definitely more daft idea would be to create a custom water loop featuring a big reservoir that sits outside in the cold. Or, how about a garage with an oldschool radiator heater for your rad?


----------



## Jetster (Nov 3, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a random thought that's been bugging me for ages... How come no one, and I really DO mean no one came up with simple (rubber?) pipe, to allow the CPU air intake from the outside? Just a simple, flexible pipe with either 80x80 or 120x120 terminals on each end, so that you can mount it onto the fan and/or fan grill.



Its been done. Dryer duct, rubber hose, pvc

lol








candle_86 said:


> Your going to need better airflow, I had one in a centurion 5 back in 2010 and it constantly ran at 100c, I'd strongly suggest getting a better casr



I'll fix that, the case is staying i think. Its part of the nostalgia. Maybe a fan on the side bigger than 80mm that is there


----------



## AsRock (Nov 3, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I received some some cool (and most importantly, vintage) stuff, from a fellow forumer. Think I should probably let the pictures do all the talking...
> 
> Soyo SY-6BA+III
> 
> ...


OMG not a IBM 150, geeze even back then it was a piece of crap, built my 1st new pc with that thing.  although price was much cheaper and was about the time the AND fun began too


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 3, 2019)

hat said:


> There's definitely some imaginative cooling solutions one could come up with, given enough time and effort. I'd be afraid of condensation, though, if I were using ductwork to feed in cold winter air to the case.
> 
> I feel like a more fun, but definitely more daft idea would be to create a custom water loop featuring a big reservoir that sits outside in the cold. Or, how about a garage with an oldschool radiator heater for your rad?



The water loop is a great idea, with proper antifreeze for our northern friends. 

Don't dismiss outside air, tho; cold air holds less water vapor than warm air, and condensation happens at the coldest point in the system.
You ARE taking in moisture; but the water in the air will condense where it condenses now; either on a window pane, or the bathroom pipes.

It won't condense on something 30 or 40 degrees hotter than it is.

Some very smart people I worked with were amazed when adding 50F to the ambient made the humidity go down to where your sinuses would crack and bleed; it's obvious when you look at the partial pressure of water vapor over temperature.

I learned partial pressure working with vacuum; as long as there's water in a vacuum system, it will never go below 150millitorr, lol.
That's the pressure side of PV=nRT; the Temperature side it the more common side.






We made a desert in a room full of ovens, basically. 
If you left the door into the offices section open, all the office plants would desiccate in an hour or two, lol.
They replaced them with plastic/silk plants, and no one noticed, lol.


----------



## buzzi (Nov 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> True. As I recently told my friend, 2019 officially "sucks". So it is pretty reasonable on my behalf to have high(er) expectations for upcoming 2020.
> 
> And yes, my collection will be sold to a fellow forumer (and hw collector), from another (and local) forum. Don't worry though, I'm planning to keep at least "one of each" models. I've reached the point where I had more than 40 machines laying around, not to mention separate (read: extra) parts. With all of those together, the entire amount would probably reach 50 or more. So I really do need to clean up, and having some extra cash to spend is always a good thing



Man with that number you could open a retro-museum


----------



## Jetster (Nov 4, 2019)

I need a IDE beige DVD ROM. Anyone want to trade something ?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 4, 2019)

buzzi said:


> Man with that number you could open a retro-museum


Wish I could ... unfortunately, I live in the apt. building, so it would be very difficult to pull it off. Besides, not many people around here seem to show the same interest(s), in retro/vintage hardware as I do. Part of the reason why I managed to grab all those cool & rare components for nothing 



Jetster said:


> Its been done. Dryer duct, rubber hose, pvc
> 
> lol
> 
> ...


It reminds me of this song here... 











AsRock said:


> OMG not a IBM 150, geeze even back then it was a piece of crap, built my 1st new pc with that thing.  although price was much cheaper and was about the time the AND fun began too


That 6x86 reminds me of AMD's 5x86 ... I got two of them. Comparing to a genuine Pentium, it really is a "piece of crap" as you say, as it struggles to keep up with even the basic operations. With that being said, I find it unusual & "cool", it is something that you don't get to see every day. And that's what all this is about, finding rare parts, assembling them together & getting them to work (again!)


----------



## TOMCAT (Nov 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a random thought that's been bugging me for ages... How come no one, and I really DO mean no one came up with simple (rubber?) pipe, to allow the CPU air intake from the outside? Just a simple, flexible pipe with either 80x80 or 120x120 terminals on each end, so that you can mount it onto the fan and/or fan grill.



Late as always, but do you mean such stuff?



These kits had in my opinion two major issues: First of all it makes the computer often more noisy, second (you can guess it on the thumbs) "How to close the case with installed graphics card?"

I bought one of these tunnel kits (must be ~2003) and try it in several cases, best result was  graphic card cooling in a chieftec Dragon case. Just blow fresh air from the front to a passiv HD3870.

Ohhh, found an low profile card  under the "Tunnel-Kit" box.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 4, 2019)

TOMCAT said:


> Late as always, but do you mean such stuff?
> 
> View attachment 135634View attachment 135635
> 
> ...


EXACTLY, yeah! Wow, didn't know these things existed... But why bother extending the pipe all the way to the front panel? It would be so much easier to route it sideways, or down below.


----------



## candle_86 (Nov 4, 2019)

That old kit is kinda funny though, back in 2003 front fans didn't do much with a solid price of plastic in the way


----------



## erek (Nov 5, 2019)

Original 1990 AdLib Sound Card. JKK34VCAI1 MOD-900808 Working!  | eBay
					

Fully Functional. It's 19 years old and looks it!



					www.ebay.com
				












						RARE Gravis Ultrasound EXTREME / ViperMAX Rev 3.0 (IAX-VIPER10) TESTED & WORKING  | eBay
					

VIPERMAX  (IAX-VIPER10). The last of the famous Ultrasound series of which not many have been produced, this very hard to find card features an. The card has been tested in DOS and Windows 98 and is in.



					www.ebay.com


----------



## candle_86 (Nov 6, 2019)

Today is a sad day, the fan on my axp 3200 died, it over heated playing cnc generals, I had to put in my axp 2800 so at least the board survived, I guess I need to invest in some new 40mm fans


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 6, 2019)

The Egg said:


> I used several Antec cases in the mid-00's which had an adjustable plastic air duct attached to the side panel.  You would then pull the duct down and directly over the CPU cooler (it was bell-shaped at the end).  Not a direct connection, but still pretty good.  They seemed to fall out of favor as most CPU coolers transitioned from downward-firing to horizontal airflow.
> 
> I've also seen the plastic/vinyl dryer ducting used in custom work, as mentioned by biffzinker.


I had one back in the day (Antec SLK3000B) which had such a duct. In fact I put a 80mm fan between the side panel and the duct, for a better intake to the CPU cooler. I had several builds (S478, LGA 775 both Pentium D and C2D, Socket A, S754 and S939) in it and most of those did benefit from the better intake. When I had it (IIRC I got it in late 2006) it was a pretty damn fine case for its price (50 euros).



candle_86 said:


> Today is a sad day, the fan on my axp 3200 died, it over heated playing cnc generals, I had to put in my axp 2800 so at least the board survived, I guess I need to invest in some new 40mm fans


Wait, it didn't have over temperature protection?


----------



## Jism (Nov 6, 2019)

The socket A chips had some issues related to heatsinks failing, lol.


----------



## The Egg (Nov 6, 2019)

Jism said:


> The socket A chips had some issues related to heatsinks failing, lol.


Yeap.  I’ve made some bonehead mistakes in my time, but thus far I’ve only managed to fry one CPU.  It was an Athlon XP 1600+ Palomino.  Didn’t quite have the heatsink mounted flush on the die, and it went quick.  Luckily I caught the scent almost immediately, and managed to save the board.  Speaking of boards, that’s another area where Socket A was ripe for disaster — stabbing motherboards with screwdrivers while removing heatsinks.  

I mean, uh, erm.... I don’t know anyone who’s done that.  Especially not after they knew full well it could happen.

Just had an amusing thought:  They should sell an electronic “Magic Smoke” scented spray as a gag gift.  Spray it in a room of fellow PC nerds after they’ve just built or messed with something, and watch the look of pure terror wash over everyone’s faces.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 6, 2019)

Thunderbirds and 1st gen Durons didn't have internal temperature sensors, Athlon XPs and 2nd & 3rd Durons had IIRC. Maybe it just depends on the motherboard does it have a shutdown capability if the CPU temp goes too high..

edit: Slipping screwdrivers, oh boy those days..


----------



## candle_86 (Nov 6, 2019)

HP Walmart PC, it shutdown but not fast enough


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 6, 2019)

The Egg said:


> Just had an amusing thought:  They should sell an electronic “Magic Smoke” scented spray as a gag gift.  Spray it in a room of fellow PC nerds after they’ve just built or messed with something, and watch the look of pure terror wash over everyone’s faces.


Muahahahaha!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2019)

Yay, some C2D goofin' coming next week!  Bought an Asus P5QL Pro, I have an E4300 already and some DDR2 

e: bought a Q6600 from Ebay, 7usd = 6.34eur including shipping.


----------



## candle_86 (Nov 7, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Yay, some C2D goofin' coming next week!  Bought an Asus P5QL Pro, I have an E4300 already and some DDR2
> 
> e: bought a Q6600 from Ebay, 7usd = 6.34eur including shipping.



Nice should be fun. 

Its interesting though to me that when I first joined tpu everyone wanted a core2 and an 8800gt and now they are just old retros.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2019)

candle_86 said:


> Nice should be fun.
> 
> Its interesting though to me that when I first joined tpu everyone wanted a core2 and an 8800gt and now they are just old retros.


Can't even remember when I first joined, 2008-2009 maybe, didn't remember my password and the mail address was gone so I lost that account.

That Phenom HTPC rig is going to get retired, Core 2 Quad has a better IPC and the most important, that Asus board has 4 RAM slots so it's cheap to have more than 4GB of DDR2.. I also bought a GT 1030 from a friend which is going to fit perfectly to that rig, with HTPC use and some gaming


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 7, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> ay, some C2D goofin' coming next week!


I thought you meant some COD2 goofing next week. How about an FX-6300 running Windows XP Home 32-bit?


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I thought you meant some COD2 goofing next week. How about an FX-6300 running Windows XP Home 32-bit?
> View attachment 135893
> 
> View attachment 135890
> ...


Heh, just tried CoD WW2 and I had some CoD 2 vibes


----------



## candle_86 (Nov 7, 2019)

nah play the last good COD, United Offensive


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 8, 2019)

You're going to see soon how HD 4890 CF rocks with Ryzen 2600. 

HD 4890 has a place in my heart, the first card I had to run over 1GHz, 10 years ago.. I have one, bought another one.


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 8, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> I got my DigiKey order, so time to solder.
> It's a P6WD2 Premium, and has a bunch of burst caps.
> I'm refurbing it for a 775 to 771 conversion, with an SL968 3.73GHz Xeon 5080.



I have never had as much trouble putting in caps in my life.

This mobo has ASUS' "Thermal Armor" design. 

That's a thick as heck ground plane, with no "Wagon Wheels" to aid desoldering.

This is a wagon wheel:






Without those, you REALLY have to heat the board up.

SO I pulled out the Big weller gun type Iron. (140W)

Still no go.
I could get the positive ones, but not the negatives.
The other side of the PCB wasn't even warm, lol.

So, I got out the heat gun. 
By warming the whole area until the solder started to melt, I could extract the solder in the hole with a soldapullt and the small iron.

20 capacitors, pulled one at a time: Heat gun, soldering iron, remove cap, Heat gun, Iron, soldapullt... repeat until done.

Man, this really made me appreciate how much heat you can actually move thru the PCB itself.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Nov 8, 2019)

I'm browsing eBay and found this, never heard of this thing before














						ATI Radeon 7000 Dual graphics card  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for ATI Radeon 7000 Dual graphics card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 8, 2019)

The drag with that card is the auction says it "Contains ONE proprietary cable" and it has 4 ports.

Making cables like that that work properly is not for the uninitiated. Or easy, lol.

I wonder what the missing chip was, that has a high speed pair of traces to each connector.
See what I mean? U26?


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 8, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> The drag with that card is the auction says it "Contains ONE proprietary cable" and it has 4 ports.
> 
> Making cables like that that work properly is not for the uninitiated. Or easy, lol.


Here's a couple of more photos I found. This other site claims there HDMI to VGA also has all the cables in the one photo.

 









						43.99US $ |100% New Multi-screen Display Card Ar 7000 Dual Gpu 64m Pci Video Card 4 Hdmi To Vga Output Ports Support 4 Monitors - Graphics Cards - AliExpress
					

Smarter Shopping, Better Living!  Aliexpress.com




					www.aliexpress.com


----------



## Apocalypsee (Nov 8, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> The drag with that card is the auction says it "Contains ONE proprietary cable" and it has 4 ports.
> 
> Making cables like that that work properly is not for the uninitiated. Or easy, lol.
> 
> ...


Yeah I see that one big missing chip right beside the output.




biffzinker said:


> Here's a couple of more photos I found. This other site claims there HDMI to VGA also has all the cables in the one photo.
> 
> View attachment 135937 View attachment 135938
> 
> ...


Funny thing is Radeon 7000 predates HDMI by one year. I guess this card was created recently, but why four HDMI and PCI slots with dual Radeon 7000? Can it do what Rage Fury Maxx did? Is this for multi-monitor work or some sort? Lots of questions when I saw this card. 

A quick Google of the card name (DU7KPCI on the bottom right of the card) reveals its usage. Apparently the maker (PCIDV) creates a lot of card specifically for multi monitor usage






						Products - QU7KPCI quad vga output multi monitors - China wholesale,DU7KPCI USB(r)
					

mini displayport to vga/dvi/hdmi



					www.pcidv.com


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 9, 2019)

A connector is whatever if it's not a standard connector.

HDMI has power in it, so that could be bad to plug into a random hdmi port.

I made a lot of stuff using various connectors you would NOT want to plug into a card or monitor, lol.


----------



## freeagent (Nov 9, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a random thought that's been bugging me for ages... How come no one, and I really DO mean no one came up with simple (rubber?) pipe, to allow the CPU air intake from the outside? Just a simple, flexible pipe with either 80x80 or 120x120 terminals on each end, so that you can mount it onto the fan and/or fan grill.



Actually, Thermalright has had one for quite some time  






						Amazon.com: Fan Duct 140 mm : Electronics
					

Buy Fan Duct 140 mm: Fans & Cooling - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



					www.amazon.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 9, 2019)

freeagent said:


> Actually, Thermalright has had one for quite some time
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thing is, I never saw one of those on sale... If I had, chances are, I would have tried them. IMO these things would be highly efficient on tower-design coolers (CM Hyper 212+)


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 9, 2019)

freeagent said:


> Actually, Thermalright has had one for quite some time
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I knew one of the respectable heatsink brands had made a duct for their heatsinks. I couldn't think of the brand at the time.


----------



## freeagent (Nov 9, 2019)

I kind of want to get one, but don't really need it yet. I did try running fan less out in the open on my 3770K @ 4ghz  and it worked fine. I didn't run prime 95 or anything, but for everyday stuff including gaming it was fine.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> I'm browsing eBay and found this, never heard of this thing before
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Does it run Crys.... oh hell no... sorry..


----------



## Apocalypsee (Nov 9, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Does it run Crys.... oh hell no... sorry..


The million dollar question that even today high end card still struggle to maxed it  

I'm buying this for my birthday, a Radeon 9100. The last R200 GPU that have hardware Truform acceleration. I'll try to use this first and see how things go, if not I'll have to use my Ultimate Windows XP rig and buy X850XT PCIe. From what I read the later cards using CPU to do the n-patch calculation thus slowing the framerate WAY down if used.









						Sapphire ATI Radeon 9100 128MB DDR AGP Universal Video Card TV-Out 99-K149-8D-FS  | eBay
					

Power Supplies / Netzteile. Cables & Adapters / Kabel. • optischer Zustand : Gebrauchspuren, welche die Funktion nicht beeinträchtigen (z.B.Kratzer o. leichte Beschädigungen / Verschmutzungen) sowie Aufkleber, sindmöglich Condition.



					www.ebay.com
				




Link to Truform performance if anyone interested






						Truform on ATi GPUs after Radeon 8500/9100 \ 									VOGONS
					






					www.vogons.org


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 9, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Does it run Crys.... oh hell no... sorry..


it would be a far cry from running ... it ... i reckon ... 


aherm ... and i'm gone ...


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2019)

GreiverBlade said:


> it would be a far cry from running ... it ... i reckon ...
> 
> 
> aherm ... and i'm gone ...


Hah, that was honestly a good one!


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Nov 9, 2019)

Jism said:


> The socket A chips had some issues related to heatsinks failing, lol.


I remember this “scandal” back in those days. Toms started that one. I remember the debates raging about how big of an issue this was. Personally, I thought it was ridiculous, until one day my cheap CompUSA copper cooler broke the lug off the socket and came crashing down. In perhaps the biggest twist of irony, the system was in sleep mode and somehow correctly shut down. I lost nothing in the accident. The CPU? Athlon 900! A7N8X was the mobo, I think.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> I remember this “scandal” back in those days. Toms started that one. I remember the debates raging about how big of an issue this was. Personally, I thought it was ridiculous, until one day my cheap CompUSA copper cooler broke the lug off the socket and came crashing down. In perhaps the biggest twist of irony, the system was in sleep mode and somehow correctly shut down. I lost nothing in the accident. The CPU? Athlon 900! A7N8X was the mobo, I think.


I found it hilarious when people said that the infamous FX chips were toasters and they posted this video from the early 2000s...

Yeah, FXs were toasters, but what the hell does old Thunderbirds & Pentium III/P4s relate to 2010s hardware..


----------



## freeagent (Nov 9, 2019)

FX chips weren't that hot.. Not that I had one, but I had a Sandy 3700 and Toledo 4400 that I ran at FX speeds.. Temps weren't limiting overclocks back then, it was genuinely the silicon. Those days you were lucky to get 400-500mhz even if temps were excellent. You just slammed into a wall even if volts were lowish, Even socket A wasn't so bad. I had a 2600 and mobile 2500 and the both loved voltage, heat was there but mostly because of the volts you needed to use.

Edit:

I used Thermalright back then too


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 9, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> ...A7N8X was the mobo, I think.



I have one of those mobos; it's bretty nice, but slow by todays standards.
It has a XP-M 2500 running 13.5 mul and 200FSB.

It was a nice off the shelf low power OC.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 9, 2019)

Jetster said:


> I need a IDE beige DVD ROM. Anyone want to trade something ?


I will look in my pile for you.

EDIT-
Sorry. No beige IDE DVD's. All in beige are IDE CDRW's.


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Nov 9, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> I have one of those mobos; it's bretty nice, but slow by todays standards.
> It has a XP-M 2500 running 13.5 mul and 200FSB.
> 
> It was a nice off the shelf low power OC.


Yeah, it was a nice (and popular) board for its time. The dual channel part wasn’t very helpful since the K7 couldn’t handle that much bandwidth.

My A7N8X board died in transit. I had given it to my brother, and when he had some problems with the system he had UPS pack and ship the tower to me. I don’t know what they did to it, but they completely mashed the box, obliterating the case. I’m surprised they delivered it to me anyway! The employee that boxed it up couldn’t believe it either.


----------



## The Egg (Nov 9, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> Yeah, it was a nice (and popular) board for its time. The dual channel part wasn’t very helpful since the K7 couldn’t handle that much bandwidth.
> 
> My A7N8X board died in transit....


Blah.  Yeah, looks like a decent board — even has a couple SATA ports and an onboard Gigabit NIC.  If it makes you feel any better, that was during the height of the capacitor plague, which was likely what caused problems for your brother prior to being damaged in shipping.  Likely would’ve required manually soldering in replacements to keep it running.


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Nov 9, 2019)

The Egg said:


> Blah.  Yeah, looks like a decent board — even has a couple SATA ports and an onboard Gigabit NIC.  If it makes you feel any better, that was during the height of the capacitor plague, which was likely what caused problems for your brother prior to being damaged in shipping.  Likely would’ve required manually soldering in replacements to keep it running.


Yeah, I was hoping to find out what was bad and then just reuse the rest. I think I was able to save a few parts, but the delivery man really did a number on it.


----------



## Jism (Nov 11, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> I'm browsing eBay and found this, never heard of this thing before
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nice. I think a small vendor bulk buying 7000 chips and assembling their own 2 in one, graphics card for multi-screen purposes. 7000 series is old, lol. But for basic 2D it's sufficient.



freeagent said:


> FX chips weren't that hot.. Not that I had one, but I had a Sandy 3700 and Toledo 4400 that I ran at FX speeds.. Temps weren't limiting overclocks back then, it was genuinely the silicon. Those days you were lucky to get 400-500mhz even if temps were excellent. You just slammed into a wall even if volts were lowish, Even socket A wasn't so bad. I had a 2600 and mobile 2500 and the both loved voltage, heat was there but mostly because of the volts you needed to use.
> 
> Edit:
> 
> I used Thermalright back then too



Correct. With C&C turned on they where pretty cool even on stock coolers. It changed when you started to OC, and reached for speeds above 4.8Ghz and running a IBT stress load. I think i saw over 230 watts being pulled through my board for the CPU alone.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Nov 11, 2019)

freeagent said:


> FX chips weren't that hot.. Not that I had one, but I had a Sandy 3700 and Toledo 4400 that I ran at FX speeds.. Temps weren't limiting overclocks back then, it was genuinely the silicon. Those days you were lucky to get 400-500mhz even if temps were excellent. You just slammed into a wall even if volts were lowish, Even socket A wasn't so bad. I had a 2600 and mobile 2500 and the both loved voltage, heat was there but mostly because of the volts you needed to use.
> 
> Edit:
> 
> I used Thermalright back then too



FX was hot once overclocked. The misconception about FX and temps is a little backwards if people didn't know about them. 
The FX cpu simply liked cold temps better, after 5ghz it's more voltage and they'd run hotter and the yields hit the floor.

The Toledo core would have been a cold bugged chip like many s939 and AM2 Athlons where (including s754), was just the nature of the chip. In fact, some of those chips would clock FSB better running warm and the chipset cold. I recently found that out and even got me a PR out of the deal. I always though cold Cpu, turns out that's not always the case.

For most all Athlons, it was really luck of the silicon. Had one s754 chip that didn't mind being -35c or so and clocked rather well too. 
3.2ghz on a 130nm Paris core. https://valid.x86.fr/show_oc.php?id=2606835 That was a lucky cpu I had there!! All the rest cold bugged around 5-10c give or take. Some at 0 on the dot.


----------



## Jism (Nov 11, 2019)

I reached 4.2Ghz with a Sempron 2800+ on a S754 using a chiller. At idle -45 and load -25. I think the voltage almost reached up of over 2 volts or so. Those chips really where fast at 4.2Ghz clocks.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Nov 11, 2019)

Jism said:


> I reached 4.2Ghz with a Sempron 2800+ on a S754 using a chiller. At idle -45 and load -25. I think the voltage almost reached up of over 2 volts or so. Those chips really where fast at 4.2Ghz clocks.


That's extremely fast! I got 2500+ s754 that clocked to 2.5GHz stock voltage with stock cooler, the stock clock is 1.4GHz. That was plenty fast for me at the time.


----------



## Jism (Nov 11, 2019)

Yes, i think i used a gigabyte board that at least had the capacity to reach FSB's of over 300Mhz or so. And DDR2 with latency's of 3/3/3/9


----------



## erek (Nov 12, 2019)

RARE 3dfx Voodoo2 Quantum3d Obsidian 200SBi Medusa Cable MINT vintage video card  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for RARE 3dfx Voodoo2 Quantum3d Obsidian 200SBi Medusa Cable MINT vintage video card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Bungz (Nov 12, 2019)

Ran rather hot like that


----------



## phill (Nov 12, 2019)

Those 3870 X2's ran warm at the best of times, that's certainly not going to help


----------



## Bungz (Nov 12, 2019)

Handy room heater this time of year kicks out some warmth now


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 12, 2019)

Bungz said:


> View attachment 136225View attachment 136226View attachment 136227View attachment 136228View attachment 136229
> 
> Ran rather hot like that


Last three photos belong over in this thread.








						The Filthy, Rotten, Nasty, Helpdesk-Nightmare picture clubhouse
					

This is not the sexy pic clubhouse.  This is where you post the nasty pics you took when working on some chumps PC.  Stuff like this:              All the same PC :(




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## phill (Nov 12, 2019)

Bungz said:


> Handy room heater this time of year kicks out some warmth now



I can vouch for that!!    When I run FAH on my two 1080 Ti's, you can definitely feel the heat    Even more so when the other rigs are on as well!!  Warm!!


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## Kissamies (Nov 12, 2019)

freeagent said:


> FX chips weren't that hot.. Not that I had one, but I had a Sandy 3700 and Toledo 4400 that I ran at FX speeds.. Temps weren't limiting overclocks back then, it was genuinely the silicon. Those days you were lucky to get 400-500mhz even if temps were excellent. You just slammed into a wall even if volts were lowish, Even socket A wasn't so bad. I had a 2600 and mobile 2500 and the both loved voltage, heat was there but mostly because of the volts you needed to use.
> 
> Edit:
> 
> I used Thermalright back then too


Well, I mean that FX's are slow and still consume much more power than Phenom IIs or Intels from that era..

Back in the day I had an awesome 3000+ Venice, ran @ 2.7GHz 24/7, it was stable even at 2.8GHz. A 50% (or a gigahertz) OC is always nice. 


edit: You guys are talking about heat from a GPU? I'm sure that my Radeon R9 290 is the winner here!


----------



## phill (Nov 12, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, I mean that FX's are slow and still consume much more power than Phenom IIs or Intels from that era..
> 
> Back in the day I had an awesome 3000+ Venice, ran @ 2.7GHz 24/7, it was stable even at 2.8GHz. A 50% (or a gigahertz) OC is always nice.
> 
> edit: You guys are talking about heat from a GPU? I'm sure that my Radeon R9 290 is the winner here!



I was tempted to mention the 7970's but I'm not sure they are the worst ones out there


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## Bungz (Nov 12, 2019)

I think the R290 is the worst.

I had four different cards all with the same blackscreen at idle due to some weird power management issue when they downclocked the idle voltage.

Was fine as long as I didn't stop gaming


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## Kissamies (Nov 12, 2019)

I had a reference on about 3 years and had similar problems. This Asus DCUII at least works like a graphics card should


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## phill (Nov 12, 2019)

Bungz said:


> I think the R290 is the worst.
> 
> I had four different cards all with the same blackscreen at idle due to some weird power management issue when they downclocked the idle voltage.
> 
> Was fine as long as I didn't stop gaming



#1stworldproblems having to game 24/7    I wish I had that chance 



Chloe Price said:


> I had a reference on about 3 years and had similar problems. This Asus DCUII at least works like a graphics card should



I know what you mean   The custom coolers are a brilliant thing with the AMD cards...


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## Bungz (Nov 12, 2019)

If there was a Speed 3 I would like to think it would involve Keanu Reeves a R290 and some sort of bomb triggered by a blackscreen.


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## phill (Nov 12, 2019)

Bungz said:


> If there was a Speed 3 I would like to think it would involve Keanu Reeves a R290 and some sort of bomb triggered by a blackscreen.



I'd so like to go see that, as bad as it would probably be, just seeing that R290 causing all that damage would be amazingly funny


----------



## erek (Nov 12, 2019)

NVIDIA FX5800ULTRA  Engineering Sample Graphics  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for NVIDIA FX5800ULTRA  Engineering Sample Graphics at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## hat (Nov 14, 2019)

Has anyone got a working 3DO? ...


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## Apocalypsee (Nov 15, 2019)

My Radeon 9100 arrived! I'm so happy  How funny it have ATi Rage Theater chip and S-Video out but didn't have DVI out. Notice the broken AGP lock but it doesnt matter as long as the card works.






It didn't go as well as I hoped, how I miss ATi drivers those days. As soon as I reinstall driver (had uninstall previous driver) I being greeted by a lockup, at desktop no less! At first I thought it was the good ol' AGP Fastwrite problem, disabling it in BIOS but it still occur. Tried uninstalling every ATi related software (ATiTool, AtiTrayTool) but it sill lock up, if it OK on desktop it will lock up when I run any 3D application. Cue Driver Cleaner! After tick every single ATi related checkboxes and clean them, reinstall the driver and now it works!

My LG W2343T have 4:3 mode so I could run it at 1024x768 no problem at all. You can see it here while the card running 3DMark2001SE benchmark





The card scored 9309 3DMark2001SE, higher than stock Radeon 9550 8427 3DMark. Weird. The 9550 is clocked way too low though, only 250MHz core and 200MHz memory. The 9100 runs at 250MHz for both core and memory.


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 15, 2019)

My 9100


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## Apocalypsee (Nov 16, 2019)

Incredible score! Well its all thanks to that fast 4.2GHz Phenom II, you know how CPU sensitive 3DMark2001 can be. My system only uses Pentium E2140 stock clock at 1.6GHz. Here is my attempt at 2GHz with 275MHz 9100. Cant even crack 9000 3DMarks   Its plenty fast for the games I play (you can see what game already installed).

EDIT: Odd, I get lower scores than stock 1.6GHz. Double check I really get 9309 3DMark with all at stock. Must be the memory speed and timing.




Now onto some Truform screenies. Below are CnC Renegade, there is differences when I play around in registry increasing the quality, despite I ticked the options in-game the registry entry still at 0. The two picture is without Truform and maximum quality 8 set in registry.

I tried RtCW as well, the performance drops but I don't see any differences on enemy soldier or statue. There is a separate menu where you can select Truform quality from 'good', 'better' to 'best' after enabling Truform. I tried it all but cant see any changes, the console tells me it uses Truform. So I don't know what model did Truform changes.


Spoiler


----------



## emissary42 (Nov 16, 2019)




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## Mr.Scott (Nov 16, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Incredible score! Well its all thanks to that fast 4.2GHz Phenom II, you know how CPU sensitive 3DMark2001 can be.


Very well. I'll take the CPU out of the equation. 3D03 is pretty much all GPU.
#1 9100 in the world.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2019)

It amazes me that 27yrs ago (when this game came out), you'd need to run it through a full-size computer (such as 3x86, 4x86 or similar), and play it on an old, flickering CRT monitor through MS-DOS... 




And yes, I also have the same game on my phone as well (which is even smaller, obviously) 

Edit
Once I posted the picture, I realized that it may not look as obvious as I hoped. This is just your standard, cheap Android-powered tablet. Fate of Atlantis is running through ScummVM, obtained through PlayStore.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> It amazes me that 27yrs ago (when this game came out), you'd need to run it through a full-size computer (such as 3x86, 4x86 or similar), and play it on an old, flickering CRT monitor through MS-DOS...


Wikipedia says a 286 don't know how well that would go. Anyways I didn't know this game existed.


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## Apocalypsee (Nov 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> It amazes me that 27yrs ago (when this game came out), you'd need to run it through a full-size computer (such as 3x86, 4x86 or similar), and play it on an old, flickering CRT monitor through MS-DOS...
> 
> And yes, I also have the same game on my phone as well (which is even smaller, obviously)


Yep its amazing how technology advances. I still remember when I got my first smartphones back in 2005 (it was an O2 Xphone). During that time there is a OG Doom port for Windows Mobile, playing it was a treat because there is directional button on the phone, but on tiny 2.2 inch screen   Phone is pretty good for its day; TI OMAP 133MHz, 64MB RAM running Windows Mobile 2003. I put Doom3 video in it imagining how it it will be if I can play it on the phone...

Few years ago there is Doom3 port (DIII4A) for Android, that is really something they managed to run it in Android. With some config tweak I lean back then when playing Doom3 on crappy hardware, I could make it look nearly as good as playing on desktop. I even hooked it up to keyboard and mouse!

Now we shall wait for Crysis port to android


----------



## jlewis02 (Nov 18, 2019)

Anyone have one of these back in the sk939 days?


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 18, 2019)

jlewis02 said:


> Anyone have one of these back in the sk939 days?


I did, what about the Big Typhoon?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Wikipedia says a 286 don't know how well that would go. Anyways I didn't know this game existed.


Wow!! I highly recommend that you go buy it right away! Or even better, just get it for free from one of those abandonware/old DOS game sites...! Awesome game, which introduced some unbelievable game mechanics, which are quite impressive even by today's standards. First of all, there are 3 different paths (routes) you can take, to finish the game. It's up to you, as player to decide which one do you prefer (Fists - action, Wits - thinking, more puzzles & Team - more conventional & traditional). Also, most of the puzzles are COMPLETELY RANDOM. Meaning that you can't simply follow a walkthrough, to finish the game. Each time you restart, things will be different. So, even when you DO finish the game, you can always go back & re-play it again & again, each time experiencing something different. Also, worth mentioning - there are two versions - standard and "Talking" one. I believe Fate of Atlantis was the very first adventure game by Lucas Arts to feature voice acting, so they released the text version first & then re-released voiced one about a year or so later. The one on my phone (and tablet) is text version, approx. a megabyte or two at most!!

Oh yeah, and almost forgot the most important thing... Fate of Atlantis features multiple endings. Many of them non-official, half way through the game (when you die, get blocked, etc), along with two "official" ones, at the very end. You can either save Sophia & escape together or you can choose to ignore her and leave her inside the prison cell. In which case she will die. Both options feature the similar ending, but with different text. Overall, a masterpiece!



Apocalypsee said:


> Yep its amazing how technology advances. I still remember when I got my first smartphones back in 2005 (it was an O2 Xphone). During that time there is a OG Doom port for Windows Mobile, playing it was a treat because there is directional button on the phone, but on tiny 2.2 inch screen   Phone is pretty good for its day; TI OMAP 133MHz, 64MB RAM running Windows Mobile 2003. I put Doom3 video in it imagining how it it will be if I can play it on the phone...
> 
> Few years ago there is Doom3 port (DIII4A) for Android, that is really something they managed to run it in Android. With some config tweak I lean back then when playing Doom3 on crappy hardware, I could make it look nearly as good as playing on desktop. I even hooked it up to keyboard and mouse!
> 
> Now we shall wait for Crysis port to android


Yup! I had the same experience with Grand Theft Auto III... I remember when GTA3 was top notch for most of the computers out there. Even higher-end ones! And yet, I'm running it on my phone now lol. Impressive AND hilarious!!


----------



## jlewis02 (Nov 18, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I did, what about the Big Typhoon?


That is a big typhoon but I don’t know where the fan went.

Thermaltake Volcano that was on a 2600+ chip many years ago.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Nov 18, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yup! I had the same experience with Grand Theft Auto III... I remember when GTA3 was top notch for most of the computers out there. Even higher-end ones! And yet, I'm running it on my phone now lol. Impressive AND hilarious!!


First it was GTA3, I already amazed by it and then they released the San Andreas on Android. GTA San Andreas like one of my favorite game of all time. Sadly I can't enjoy it on touch controls, feels so awkward. But from technological standpoint its amazing to play full fledged PC games on the phone with limited power and running on tiny battery


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 18, 2019)

jlewis02 said:


> That is a big typhoon but I don’t know where the fan went.


Is there a black/orange fan hiding somewhere?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> First it was GTA3, I already amazed by it and then they released the San Andreas on Android. GTA San Andreas like one of my favorite game of all time. Sadly I can't enjoy it on touch controls, feels so awkward. But from technological standpoint its amazing to play full fledged PC games on the phone with limited power and running on tiny battery


I know, I know... Same here lol  But just the fact that they've made it run on a small, hand-held device ... a mobile phone! Just wow... Next thing you know, you'll be playing Crysis on a calculator or smart watch!


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## jlewis02 (Nov 18, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Is there a black/orange fan hiding somewhere?


Couldn’t find one.

Mobo/CPU/Mem combo I found.


----------



## hat (Nov 18, 2019)

jlewis02 said:


> Anyone have one of these back in the sk939 days?


 I'm currently using one right now in my secondary system.


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## Robert B (Nov 19, 2019)

Found this bad boy. IDT WinChip C6 200MHz. No speed demon but wth, still something out of the ordinary.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 19, 2019)

Robert B said:


> Found this bad boy. IDT WinChip C6 200MHz. No speed demon but wth, still something out of the ordinary.





			
				From Wikipedia said:
			
		

> It performed adequately, but only in applications that used little floating point math. Its floating point performance was simply well below that of the Pentium and K6, being even _slower than the Cyrix 6x86_.[4]



Slower than a Cyrix 6x86?









						WinChip - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 19, 2019)

Robert B said:


> Found this bad boy. IDT WinChip C6 200MHz. No speed demon but wth, still something out of the ordinary.


Actually, those were not to bad. They performed within 85% to 90% of similar speed Pentiums at 60% less cost. They also overclocked decently as long as beefy cooling was provided, which was cheap at the time. Built a ton of general use PC's out of those chips. Hell, even made some value priced gaming PC's out of them.


biffzinker said:


> Slower than a Cyrix 6x86?


That wiki article exaggerates a tad. It was slower but not by much and at the time floating point wasn't as important as it became.

Edit; For example, the Winchip 2-233 200mhz was $105 on release and OC'd well with only two changes to bios settings. 1. Bump the voltage to 3.0v. 2. Bump the FSB from 66mhz to 100mhz. Said CPU then ran at 300mhz flawlessly and gave the first gen Pentium2's a run for their money. And that's the key point, cost. Winchips were of excellent quality and very low cost. For the money their performance was excellent. Give them a moderate OC and they perform in the level of Intel's offerings to say nothing of AMD and Cyrix. Very underappreciated CPU line IMHO.


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## biffzinker (Nov 21, 2019)

A look back at the history of modern graphics processors from 1976-1995.








						The History of the Modern Graphics Processor
					

3D graphics turned a dull PC industry into a light and magic show. TechSpot's look at the history of the GPU goes from the early days of...




					www.techspot.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 21, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> A look back at the history of modern graphics processors from 1976-1995.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is a very well done article and should not be missed! Seriously folks!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Nov 22, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> A look back at the history of modern graphics processors from 1976-1995.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Love the article. I don't know SGI was the one who release OpenGL


----------



## Grog6 (Nov 22, 2019)

Yup. BITD, there was a Solidworks type group, that wrote a opengl driver for the Tseng labs S3 video card.

I had one with 4MB of memory, and hunted this down, and got it running for Q2, in openGL mode.

After weeks of working with it, acquiring files; it did 4fps in Q2; but it rendered beautifully.

This led to my TNT2 Purchase, IIRC.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 22, 2019)

I guess you know what I'm up to..?


----------



## Robert B (Nov 22, 2019)




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## lexluthermiester (Nov 22, 2019)

Robert B said:


>


Not bad. Free 10% OC. With that one did you need to change voltage, or was it just the jumper?


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## Robert B (Nov 22, 2019)

A lucky mistake. 3.5V (stock) on ZIDA 5STX-J98 and bus 75MHz instead of 66MHz. With a suitable motherboard 83Mhz is in reach ...


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## Kissamies (Nov 22, 2019)

Don't have the Q6600 yet, goofin' around with E4300. Just warming up, FSB from 200 -> 333 isn't anything special.






And yes, it has 7GB (3x2GB + 1GB) of RAM.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 26, 2019)

Restored a '08 Acer Aspire 7520.

The problem it had was common - bad BGA solder. I reflowed it a 350*C, and it came back to life. Replaced the tired Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 with a Turion 64 X2 TL-60, bent the heatsink a little in the chipset to make proper contact, and so far temps are pretty good. Also added 4GB of RAM, and two HDDs (the caddy itself is made to support 2 HDDs), one being a 80GB Fujitsu from a PS3 I upgraded and a 320GB WD Scorpio Blue.

So far temps are acceptable  (GPU temps are normal for it since it's a nVidia chipset) and it's been working really nice so far.


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## Apocalypsee (Nov 26, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Restored a '08 Acer Aspire 7520.
> 
> The problem it had was common - bad BGA solder. I reflowed it a 350*C, and it came back to life. Replaced the tired Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 with a Turion 64 X2 TL-60, bent the heatsink a little in the chipset to make proper contact, and so far temps are pretty good. Also added 4GB of RAM, and two HDDs (the caddy itself is made to support 2 HDDs), one being a 80GB Fujitsu from a PS3 I upgraded and a 320GB WD Scorpio Blue.
> 
> ...


Usually when I see Acer of those year the white casing already turned yellow/orange. That one still looks mint! Yup, the bad solder joint of nvidia GPU of those days are well known


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## MaxiPro800 (Nov 26, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Usually when I see Acer of those year the white casing already turned yellow/orange. That one still looks mint! Yup, the bad solder joint of nvidia GPU of those days are well known


Yeah, since it was made from two 7520s. One was yellowed and had a quite beaten up keyboard (keys were worn) but the board worked fine after reflowing, while the other was pretty mint looking (along with a 5520 as well!) and had the same board but with a MXM slot.

Couldn't get that one to work after reflowing, so I took most of the better features it had:

* Turion 64 X2 TL-60 (the one with no MXM slot had a Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 which had some pretty crappy specs)
* mint LCD (the no MXM slot machine had a yellowed LCD)
* bottom mounted subwoofer (had to dremel into case to fit since the one with MXM slot had a beaten bottom case)
* Hitachi-LG GSA-T40N DVD-RW (the other one had a near dead GMA-4082N)

All of this went into a 7520 made from parts - I had the bottom case and (now) working board from the iGPU one, but modded to fit the subwoofer from the dead MXM-slotted unit, the top casing and LCD also came from that one. So did the CPU and heatsink, as well as fan (one came without fan).

There's also a 5520 in which I transplanted the dead MXM board into. I'll either try a much harsher reflow (at 550*C instead of 350) and if it doesn't yield any results, then I'll look into repairing one of the 2 Intel boards I have (which supports Merom and Penryn CPUs). One flashes the screen once but stays on, and the other turns off about 3 seconds after it's powered on.


----------



## Retrorockit (Nov 26, 2019)

I was checking Geekbench scores with my Optiplex 380- X5470 @ 3.36Ghz and came across this E7500 at 333fsb.
This is usually a pinmod at stock Voltage. Spanked my Xeon in single core, and an acceptable multicore score.


			Dell Inc. OptiPlex 380 vs Dell Inc. OptiPlex 380  - Geekbench Browser
		




Chloe Price said:


> Don't have the Q6600 yet, goofin' around with E4300. Just warming up, FSB from 200 -> 333 isn't anything special.


If you have Voltage control I would go for the Q6700. They're all G0 stepping and 10% faster.
With  a locked BIOS QX6800 G0 and Throttlestop 6.00 can go up to 4GHz if the cooling and VRM can handle it.
link in my sig.
 The QX6700 are all B3 stepping and dirt cheap because of it. Might go 3.45GHz.


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## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> If you have Voltage control I would go for the Q6700. They're all G0 stepping and 10% faster.
> With  a locked BIOS QX6800 G0 and Throttlestop 6.00 can go up to 4GHz if the cooling and VRM can handle it.
> link in my sig.


Yeah, it has voltage controls (Asus P5QL Pro), but I already bought a Q6600 from ebay. The next one shall be a modified LGA771 (X5450 perhaps?) Xeon.


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## Retrorockit (Nov 26, 2019)

The $200 Q6600 G0 got all the rep back in the day becuase it could pinmod to 3GHz on a locked down system,  while the top of the line $500 Q6700 wouldn't. On unlocked systems you saved a bunch of money. But now the Q6700 gets overlooked. The QX were $1000 chips back then. But the 65nm score about 10% behind the same speed 45nm. On an unlocked system the 45nm Xeon will be very good.


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 26, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> The QX were $1000 chips back then.


Top of the Range at the time  QX6700 Extreme  (with Unlocked Multiplier).


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2019)

Extreme CPUs were always 999 USD/EUR until Broadwell-E when that almost doubled with the highest end model. Now that has returned to that previous price point, thanks to AMD.

edit: And yeah, people got either Q6600 or E8400 back in the day, Q6600 was more future proof but E8400 clocked higher and quad-core wasn't neccessary back then.


----------



## Retrorockit (Nov 26, 2019)

But the E7500 would go 3.6 Ghz on a locked down office computer with a tapemod. If you're stuck at 65nm 266fsb the 65W 2 core X6800 is unlocked also. B3 stepping holds it back some but they can be found cheap. Just about any of the old Dell BTX Optiplexes can be overclocked one way or the other with these. The old P4 heatpipe coolers D9729 are more than enough for this. If anybody wants to do this the Zotac GTX1050 Mini fits and runs off of the Optiplex PSU in the MT size computers. If you're in the US and you can't find one of these computers for $20 you're not trying hard enough. Opti 745 8GB DDR2 800 (130W 65nm 266fsb unlocked CPUs for OC), Opti 755 8GB DDDR2 333fsb 95W CPU,Opti 760 UEFI, 16GB DDR3 333fsb95W CPU. No LGA771 Xeons, and pinmod for OC, But Q6600 3Ghz pimod is slower than 95W Q9650 3GHz by 10%.
Optiplex 380 333fsb,8GB DDR3 1066, Xeon X5470. Needs BIOS mod for LGA771.
There were some 9xx Optis. They added some PS2 ports that may block the GPU some, and RAID 0 inthe BIOS
Best BTX Dell is the T3400 workstation. X38 chipset has hidden 400fsb support, QX9650 goes 4.15GHz easily 16GB DDR2 1066 (if you can find any) Dual full size GPU support, RAID 0 BIOS and a stock PSU that can support a 150W GPU (GTX1070?). T9303 is the cooler for those. You need an unlocked CPU to get Voltage control on these for an OC.
There is an XPS BTX cooler that requires some bodging to fit. TJ258. 8mm heatpipes instead of 6mm. Trimming the 2nd FDD bay helps. There's a lump on the cooler shroud that has to go also.
The T3400 375W PSU drops right into the Opti MT and then an MSI GTX1060 Mini can fit (3GB for 8GB systems) with the bracket cut down to 1 slot and some plastic trimming.





						Amazon.com: MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 1060 3GB GDRR5 192-bit HDCP Support DirectX 12 Single Fan VR Ready OC Graphics Card (GTX 1060 3G OCV1): Electronics
					

Amazon.com: MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 1060 3GB GDRR5 192-bit HDCP Support DirectX 12 Single Fan VR Ready OC Graphics Card (GTX 1060 3G OCV1): Electronics



					www.amazon.com
				



Notice no ports on the 2nd slot, and the plastic is longer than the card.

Once you get away from the top end C2X CPUs they don't cost that much. $20-$30. QX6850 is a G0 stepping CPU. Sort of an unlocked, AND pinmodded Q6600 G0.








						Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz Dual-Core (HH80557PH0774M) Processor for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz Dual-Core (HH80557PH0774M) Processor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				











						100% OK SL9UL Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Processor CPU  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 100% OK SL9UL Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Processor CPU at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				











						Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3GHz Quad-Core (HH80562XJ0808M) Processor for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3GHz Quad-Core (HH80562XJ0808M) Processor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



 A SLACP QX6800,  or SLAWN QX9650 will cost more than twice that.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 29, 2019)




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## Kissamies (Nov 29, 2019)

biffzinker said:


>


Oh it's Phil, one of my favourite retro hardware dudes


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## Apocalypsee (Nov 30, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Oh it's Phil, one of my favourite retro hardware dudes


Yep he made regular Friday videos, but sometimes bonus video in-between. It really felt like video reviews for past hardware. Seeing X850XT PE in that review make me smile


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 30, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Yep he made regular Friday videos, but sometimes bonus video in-between. It really felt like video reviews for past hardware. Seeing X850XT PE in that review make me smile


X800/X850 has also a place in my heart just like 9700/9800 series, I also have a working X800 Pro AGP


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 30, 2019)

Not sure this qualifies, but this was very interesting;


----------



## Horemheb (Nov 30, 2019)

Yesterday I decided to clean up the garage. I found some odds and ends.

I will update this as I figure out what some of them are. I forgot I even had most of it.

Athlon 64 X2  4000
Athlon 64 X2  4200
Intel E8400  (2)
Intel Q6600  (2)
Intel Q8200
Intel E6500
Intel E2168
Intel I-5 2310
Intel I-5 2500
Pentium 4  (2.53/512/533/1.525V )   Not sure where this one came from.

Foxconn 7950GT  512MB
MSI 9800 Pro  ( I remember this being a really good card for me at the time.)
ASUS DirectCUII 780


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 30, 2019)

Horemheb said:


> Yesterday I decided to clean up the garage. I found some odds and ends.


Very cool find! You should list the parts. I can see several that are very overclockable and would make excellent choices for retro-computers.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Nov 30, 2019)

My black friday purchase here. Brand new agp oem graphic card, 2 FX5500 and an Ati 9600. Person I brought from said their spare for systems that are not used.  Finally got a gpu that can run with my asrock conroe board! Wish I had buy another one of that board when it was for sale last year. I miss out on ddr3 2400 ram purchase on newegg today  I am putting it off as it cost abit for me now with currency conversion.  You may ask isn't ddr3 recent, well it is 10 years old plus tech now and I need it for an old board too. Wished to go for the highest spec one for the tail end of ddr3.





View attachment IMG_20191130_125439.jpg


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 30, 2019)

Those cheap "new" FX 5500s looks just so funny... I'll probably get one some day since it's been over a decade since I played around with a FX card last time.

Though a FX 5900 XT would be a perfect choice since they're affordable and are easy to clock to FX 5950 Ultra speeds.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Nov 30, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Those cheap "new" FX 5500s looks just so funny... I'll probably get one some day since it's been over a decade since I played around with a FX card last time.
> 
> Though a FX 5900 XT would be a perfect choice since they're affordable and are easy to clock to FX 5950 Ultra speeds.




Anyplace where I can get an Fx 5900 xt?  Its hard to find agp locally for me now, any place online? I test the cards, the FX is recognized in bios not the ati though. The Fx caps have no bludges in them so far.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 30, 2019)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Anyplace where I can get an Fx 5900 xt?  Its hard to find agp locally for me now, any place online? I test the cards, the FX is recognized in bios not the ati though. The Fx caps have no bludges in them so far.


I checked from ebay those cards when I posted the last message.  Usually I buy old hardware locally from Finnish forums or used market, since it's not cheap to ship anything bigger from other countries.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2019)

Slightly off-topic (since @MIRTAZAPINE specifically mentioned FX 5900 XT), but those new FX5700 cards are widely available on ebay & aliexpress for around $40. Usually with free shipping.


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 30, 2019)

EVGA 8800 GTX :













3DMark 06 :








						I scored 15 010 in 3DMark06
					

Intel Core i7-4960X Processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX x 1, 24576 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com
				




3DMark Vantage P-Score :








						I scored P8 215 in 3DMark Vantage Performance
					

Intel Core i7-4960X Processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX x 1, 24576 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com
				




3DMark Vantage X-Score :








						I scored X3 001 in 3DMark Vantage Extreme
					

Intel Core i7-4960X Processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX x 1, 24576 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 30, 2019)

I have a couple FX's.

5700 Ultra
5950 Ultra


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 30, 2019)

GDDR2 or GDDR3 version of 5700 Ultra?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 30, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> GDDR2 or GDDR3 version of 5700 Ultra?


GDDR2


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 30, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> GDDR2


Would be still a nice card to have though  The fastest FX I've owned was FX 5600 Ultra (the 400/400MHz newer version).


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 1, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Would be still a nice card to have though  The fastest FX I've owned was FX 5600 Ultra (the 400/400MHz newer version).


Runs ok. Mediocre clocker.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 1, 2019)

4.5GHz on that Phenom II X2?!


----------



## Grog6 (Dec 1, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> 4.5GHz on that Phenom II X2?!



"Mediocre Clocker" he says.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 1, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> 4.5GHz on that Phenom II X2?!


Look at the voltage. That's how it's being done..



Grog6 said:


> "Mediocre Clocker" he says.


I think he was being sarcastic. 4.5ghz on an PhenomX2 is reaching the upper limits of what that silicon can do.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 1, 2019)

Well, I used ~1.5V for 24/7 with X4 chips so that's not too much IMO.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 1, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, I used ~1.5V for 24/7 with X4 chips so that's not too much IMO.


Are you sure? IIRC even for 45nm 1.54v is on the iffy side of high...


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 1, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are you sure? IIRC even for 45nm 1.54v is on the iffy side of high...


I'm pretty sure that isn't 24/7 

But back then 1.5V wasn't that special.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 1, 2019)

LOL.
I meant the 5700 was a mediocre clocker.
The 565 BE is a very good chip. 4.5 all day long on air, 4.8 or a little better on the chiller. 
1.5v isn't anything special. When you get up over 1.6v or so you'll need a really good cooling solution to go faster.
And no, that is not a 24/7 clock.  4.4 was.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 1, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> LOL.
> I meant the 5700 was a mediocre clocker.
> The 565 BE is a very good chip. 4.5 all day long on air, 4.8 or a little better on the chiller.
> 1.5v isn't anything special. When you get up over 1.6v or so you'll need a really good cooling solution to go faster.


Very good exactly, never had a 4GHz AMD before Ryzen.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 1, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Very good exactly, never had a 4GHz AMD before Ryzen.


I have a box full.
My AMD PII bin starts at 4.2 or so. Anything less is just average.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 1, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> I have a box full.
> My AMD PII bin starts at 4.2 or so. Anything less is just average.


I remember when I upgraded from LGA775 to AM3, I first had X6 1055T which clocked to 3.8GHz, then I traded it to X4 965 BE (because six cores in 2011, not necessary) and got some cash (40EUR IIRC) in exchange, and damn, that was even worse with 3.7GHz..

And now when we can call AM2+/AM3 as retro, didn't have any luck with 940 BE & 955 BE neither, the first went to 3.6GHz and latter to 3.8GHz.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 1, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> I remember when I upgraded from LGA775 to AM3, I first had X6 1055T which clocked to 3.8GHz, then I traded it to X4 965 BE (because six cores in 2011, not necessary) and got some cash (40EUR IIRC) in exchange, and damn, that was even worse with 3.7GHz..
> 
> And now when we can call AM2+/AM3 as retro, didn't have any luck with 940 BE & 955 BE neither, the first went to 3.6GHz and latter to 3.8GHz.



I have a bunch like that also. They are about average silicon. Luck of the draw is all it comes down to.


----------



## Grog6 (Dec 1, 2019)

That was back when it really was the luck of the draw; I never saw any of the really exceptional chips, but I knew they were out there.

That's kinda what made us Overclockers, the hope that "this one" might really go high.

I still remember my first over 1GHz OC, it was like riding a Unicorn, lol.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 1, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> That was back when it really was the luck of the draw; I never saw any of the really exceptional chips, but I knew they were out there.
> 
> That's kinda what made us Overclockers, the hope that "this one" might really go high.
> 
> I still remember my first over 1GHz OC, it was like riding a Unicorn, lol.


My HTPC is a perfect flashback from my first over 1GHz OC, the legendary E4300.. 

Oh boy, getting a 8800 GT. It's gonna be a damn interesting GPU review.

7800 GT
8800 GT
HD 4890
HD 4890 Crossfire
HD 6850
GT 1030
R9 290

maybe more if I just find some cheap PCIE cards


----------



## Grog6 (Dec 2, 2019)

I ran 3x Crossfire 4870 cards in one x58 system, was surprised to see that those three cards drew ~900W fully loaded. 
Keep that in mind.

One 7970 is only 300W, and is faster, lol.
I use a 6850 on my HTPC; it will do hardware 3d bluray decoding. (I have a 3d TV)

Have fun tesing; that looks like a cool project.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 2, 2019)

I'm gonna run those in this my rig* with R5 2600 and a Seasonic 750W PSU, no problems with R9 290 CF even with OV/OC.

* though gonna grab a HDD and install a fresh W7 because

a) there's lot of old cards
b) all that driver installation is gonna take a shit to the registry


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 2, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> I still remember my first over 1GHz OC, it was like riding a Unicorn, lol.


Same here. It was a Pentium3 800mhz/100mhzFSB that only needed a slight voltage bump and being set to 133mhzFSB to effortlessly get to 1.06ghz. It was as effortless as the P3 650/100 bumped to 866/133 and the Celeron300a from 300/66 to 450/100.


Grog6 said:


> Have fun tesing; that looks like a cool project.


Agreed.



Chloe Price said:


> b) all that driver installation is gonna take a shit to the registry


Unless you do a registry clean after every run.








						Download Puran Utilities  - MajorGeeks
					

A set of more than 20 software utilities including but not limited to utilities that can help you get the best performance out of your computer....



					www.majorgeeks.com
				



It's a bit older utility suite, but still works like a treat. The registry cleaner function is the best I've ever tried.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 2, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> Have fun tesing; that looks like a cool project.


To be honest, I want to fullfill my dream which is to benchmark a HD 4890 CF 1GHz 

My nostalgia goes back to 10 years ago, I had a reference HD 4890 which clocked 1040MHz


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 4, 2019)

Bonus tuesday video from Phil.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 4, 2019)

PCIe... Is THAT what people refer to as "Retro Gaming", nowdays?! What happened to Socket 5, 7, 370, 462 & Slot-1?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> PCIe... Is THAT what people refer to as "Retro Gaming", nowdays?! What happened to Socket 5, 7, 370, 472 & Slot-1?


To be fair, PCIe has been around for almost 15years now. In that time we have gone from 1600x1200 to 3840x2160 in upper range display resolutions, dual core to 64 core CPU's, and 512MB ram standard to 16GB ram standard. PCIe has seen the industry through a great deal of monumental changes.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 4, 2019)

Meh... Whatever. I'm still using two of my Q6600 builds (with nVidia 8800GT & GTX 760) for every-day purposes, and didn't have a single reason to upgrade ... I still don't. I'm not saying S775 platform isn't old, but it feels wrong to use something as modern & current for retro-gaming purposes. You'd be much better with S754 or S478 build instead. Which are still not my idea of retro gaming, at least IMHO.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Meh... Whatever. I'm still using two of my Q6600 builds (with nVidia 8800GT & GTX 760) for every-day purposes, and didn't have a single reason to upgrade ... I still don't. I'm not saying S775 platform isn't old, but it feels wrong to use something as modern & current for retro-gaming purposes. You'd be much better with S754 or S478 build instead. Which are still not my idea of retro gaming, at least IMHO.


Agreed. It feels better using period correct hardware when playing the games of its time.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Meh... Whatever. I'm still using two of my Q6600 builds (with nVidia 8800GT & GTX 760) for every-day purposes, and didn't have a single reason to upgrade ... I still don't.


I meant no offense. Useful is useful. Still, that hardware is very dated and such fit very well into this thread.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 4, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I meant no offense. Useful is useful. Still, that hardware is very dated and such fit very well into this thread.


It's all good, I never saw your statement as offensive. I just don't share the same opinion, that's all.

I miss the old(er) days, when people talked about obsolete stuff, and not necessarily old hardware. After all, Core i7 series is now getting seriously old, but it is still very much in production & represents the "flagship" of what Intel has to offer. Some of you will point out how Intel released several new versions, production series but to me Core i7 is i7 ... whenever we talk about current gen or the one from 10 years ago. Performance-wise, things hadn't changed much since then. Which is mainly the reason why I'm still running Q6600 in 2019, when you pair it with 8GB of DDR2 and serious video card, you get a modern (and very much capable) unit, that's capable of running just about every single app or game you throw at it. BeamNG Drive for example, I've been playing the heck out of this game & it never gave me any problems or serious lags on Q6600


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 4, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> PCIe... Is THAT what people refer to as "Retro Gaming", nowdays?!


I only posted the video for the earlier version of Crossfire, and Nvidia's SLI in the context of retro gaming. No one is bothering with Crossfire/SLI on modern hardware. I didn't think anyone would mind what the adapter interface was, and the Chinese made motherboad is using repurposed X79 chipsets. Intel's Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge are way back there in retro hardware as well.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 4, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I only posted the video for the earlier version of Crossfire, and Nvidia's SLI in the context of retro gaming. No one is bothering with Crossfire/SLI on modern hardware. I didn't think anyone would mind what the adapter interface was, and the Chinese made motherboad is using repurposed X79 chipsets. Intel's Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge are way back there in retro hardware as well.


Right, I understand. It wasn't aimed at you directly, I was just shocked (and disappointed) to see someone making a video where PCIe is being used (and described) as "retro gaming".


----------



## Dinnercore (Dec 4, 2019)

Found some more DDR2 for my growing collection of Crucial Ballistix Tracer RAM:







I really like them, not just for the unique LED feature but they tend to OC well too. 
6€ incl. shipping.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 5, 2019)

Anyone interested? Make an offer


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 5, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Anyone interested? Make an offer


I had that card once! Good card for it's time!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 5, 2019)

If you read my review on 'tech related purchase' you should know I bought new laptop, choosing between Alienware M17X R4 or Dell Precision M4700, I bought the latter. There is an interesting story at when I met the guy who sold the Alienware. 

We chat quite some time at his house and later he reveal that he have some old hardware that was unneeded, he put a sale thread but no takers for quite some time. So I say I take it, for free! These are what I got; two LGA775 CPU Pentium E5400 and Core2Duo E6750, dead socket AM2 motherboard with Athlon 64 5000, a couple of DDR2 667 1GB, single 512MB DDR400 and three 128MB PC133 SDRAM.

And today he text me saying there is a few more hardware that I can have from his office. From the picture he gave me, the card could be HP AGP TNT2 either the Pro version or highly likely TNT2 M64, and an unknown Socket 478 system.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 5, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> If you read my review on 'tech related purchase' you should know I bought new laptop, choosing between Alienware M17X R4 or Dell Precision M4700, I bought the latter. There is an interesting story at when I met the guy who sold the Alienware.
> 
> We chat quite some time at his house and later he reveal that he have some old hardware that was unneeded, he put a sale thread but no takers for quite some time. So I say I take it, for free! These are what I got; two LGA775 CPU Pentium E5400 and Core2Duo E6750, dead socket AM2 motherboard with Athlon 64 5000, a couple of DDR2 667 1GB, single 512MB DDR400 and three 128MB PC133 SDRAM.
> 
> ...


Nice. Did he tell you what you'll get?


----------



## Robert B (Dec 5, 2019)

Got me some of these from my last flea market visit. 

The flea market P35 is coming along nicely. I also found a 1kg CPU cooler who needed a lot of nursing back to health.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 5, 2019)

Got a Epox EP-8RDA3I w/ Evercool HSF (a shame it's loud, as it looks cool) and a AXP 1700+ (T-Bred). POSTs fine, although the J.D caps near the CPU bother me greatly, albeit being m-f'd in 2011, so it's gonna be fully recapped anyways.




I'm pretty sure this is one of the best OC-ers, up there with the Soltek SL-75FRN2, ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe, and the Gigabyte GA-7NNXP. 

I still wait for the day I'll get a SL-75FRN2 (the golden variant) for cheap (I have PLENTY of Bartons, so that'd be the least of my problems) and recap it. Paired with a 3D Prophet 9700 Pro 128M, this would make a killer Skt.A machine.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 5, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice. Did he tell you what you'll get?


He isn't really tech savvy to know the parts so the only way of knowing is for me to be there and get it


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 6, 2019)

Robert B said:


> Got me some of these from my last flea market visit.
> 
> The flea market P35 is coming along nicely. I also found a 1kg CPU cooler who needed a lot of nursing back to health.


Nice! 4-4-4-12 DDR2-800. AFAIK, the best timings you can get for the type of RAM.



MaxiPro800 said:


> although the J.D caps near the CPU bother me greatly


Those caps "look" alright. Are they leaking? Far be it for me to discourage you doing a recap job, but then there is the old saying, "if it's not broken don't fix it".



Apocalypsee said:


> He isn't really tech savvy to know the parts so the only way of knowing is for me to be there and get it


Still, let us know what you get.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those caps "look" alright. Are they leaking? Far be it for me to discourage you doing a recap job, but then there is the old saying, "if it's not broken don't fix it".


As alright as they might look, they're of crap quality. I'd rather have it recapped with Rubycon/Panasonic/Sanyo/UCC by myself and OC it up to the sky rather than roll with low-quality chinese caps.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 6, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> As alright as they might look, they're of crap quality. I'd rather have it recapped with Rubycon/Panasonic/Sanyo/UCC by myself and OC it up to the sky rather than roll with low-quality chinese caps.


Good point.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Good point.


Yeah, especially since I have some good PSUs (Modecom, Allied [all recapped too, and even upgraded where possible]) and a pretty good GPU to pair it up with.

I guess these would make for a good Skt 462 machine:
-400W Modecom (recapped with Rubycon caps)
-3D Prophet Radeon 9700 PRO 128MB (just need to find a good copper heatsink)
-80GB Seagate IDE HDD (board doesn't have SATA)
-JNC FQ-70 case w/ plexiglass and RGBY (Y = yellow) fan


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 6, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yeah, especially since I have some good PSUs (Modecom, Allied [all recapped too, and even upgraded where possible]) and a pretty good GPU to pair it up with.
> 
> I guess these would make for a good Skt 462 machine:
> -400W Modecom (recapped with Rubycon caps)
> ...


Very nice! I would add a SoundBlaster Live or X-Fi to that system, but that's just personal preference.. Additionally, you may want to look into a CompactFlash to IDE adaptor and get a 64GB CompactFlash card to use as a HDD. Access times will be faster and more consistent, and you will not have to worry about the HDD failing anytime soon.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Very nice! I would add a SoundBlaster Live or X-Fi to that system, but that's just personal preference.. Additionally, you may want to look into a CompactFlash to IDE adaptor and get a 64GB CompactFlash card to use as a HDD. Access times will be faster and more consistent, and you will not have to worry about the HDD failing anytime soon.


The 80GB drives I use were very rarely used, so I would the least worry about failing soon. That Seagate came from another AXP machine I dismantled (GA-7N400-L) and the last access date was somewhere in 2007-8. Still checks fine in HD Sentinel.

As for the X-Fi, I feel like that would be too new, and the only one I have is in use on my main PC (GB EP45T-DS3R/Q9400/8GB DDR3/1TB/Win10Enterprise LTSC) so I only have the Audigy SE left.

My 2 builds that I will look into making are this Socket 462, and another one which will likely be a AM3 Athlon (or Phenom, depending on which I can find) with a 8400GS (G98 core, much cooler)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 6, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> As for the X-Fi, I feel like that would be too new


Fair enough. The X-fi was released in 2005. So you're right, an Audigy or Audigy2 would be more period correct. Your Audigy SE would be a perfect fit.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 7, 2019)

*Motorola MC68040RC33. 33MHz PGA179. Apple/Amiga.*  I'm unable to test it but I had to buy it. 


			http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/68040/Motorola-MC68040RC33.html


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 7, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Fair enough. The X-fi was released in 2005. So you're right, an Audigy or Audigy2 would be more period correct. Your Audigy SE would be a perfect fit.


IMO Audigy is more than enough if you play EAX games. Only small number of games support EAX 5.0 like Battlefield 2 (one of the best games if you want to show EAX effects). Also, run on Windows XP because ALchemy wrapper on newer Windows don't work as great as running natively on Windows XP.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 7, 2019)

Robert B said:


> *Motorola MC68040RC33. 33MHz PGA179. Apple/Amiga.*  I'm unable to test it but I had to buy it.
> 
> 
> http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/68040/Motorola-MC68040RC33.html


That is a conversation piece and a rare one. Frame it and hang it on your wall!


Apocalypsee said:


> IMO Audigy is more than enough if you play EAX games.


For the system they're building, I agree.


Apocalypsee said:


> Also, run on Windows XP because ALchemy wrapper on newer Windows don't work as great as running natively on Windows XP.


Definitely this. @MaxiPro800 That single core AthlonXP will not handle well anything newer. I would recommend further that you get a copy of XP SP2 to keep the system workload lighter as SP3 does add to overall OS overhead. For multicore CPU's it's not a big deal, but for a single core like your AthlonXP, it's a measurable difference.

Saw this and thought it would fit well here in this thread;









"Don't copy that floppy" LOL!
The Channel has video's from all the way back in the 80's.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 7, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Definitely this. @MaxiPro800 That single core AthlonXP will not handle well anything newer. I would recommend further that you get a copy of XP SP2 to keep the system workload lighter as SP3 does add to overall OS overhead. For multicore CPU's it's not a big deal, but for a single core like your AthlonXP, it's a measurable difference.


Was thinking of XP SP2 and a 2k SP4 dualboot. Thanks for the tip!


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 7, 2019)

Robert B said:


> *Motorola MC68040RC33. 33MHz PGA179. Apple/Amiga.*  I'm unable to test it but I had to buy it.
> 
> 
> http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/68040/Motorola-MC68040RC33.html


The first computer I bought had a Motorola 68LC040 @ 33 MHz in a Macintosh Performa 577. I later handed off the Performa 577 to my parents when I upgraded to a Power Macintosh clone. Eventually my parents donated it, and bought a new HP Pavilion with a Athlon XP 2000+, and Nvidia nForce 420 chipset.









						Macintosh Performa 577
					

The Apple Macintosh Performa 577 computer is equipped with a Motorola 68LC040 33 MHz processor, 5 MB of RAM, a hard disk with 320 MB and two CD-ROM drives. The compact "All in One" housing also has space for a 14-inch color display.




					madeapple.com


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 9, 2019)

I came across an interesting book at my local book store. It was in the science section and not the computer area. "The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti". Much of the book is about the Olivetti family and Italian politics in the 1920s and '30s ( WW2 also) so I didn't buy it. But it does push the birth of the desktop computer back to the early 1960s. Olivetti presented it at the New York Worlds Fair in 1964 and sold about 44.000 of them.  Many went to NASA. But Olivetti's mechanical typewriter business was going downhill, and they became victims of their American "partners" and cold war politics (it seems). Mystery, intrigue,espionage (industrial and political), suspicious death(s) historical revision, and a dose of truly retro tech for good measure. They came with a built in keyboard (no surpise from Olivetti), and a built in printer also! Olivetti sued HP for patent infringement and won.
The computer was called the Programma 101. They often refered to it as a "calculator" to keep from having R&D  funding withdrawn, and to hide what they were really up to.








						Programma 101 - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				











						The Calculator That Helped Land Men on the Moon
					

Olivetti’s Programma 101 embodied the company’s holistic approach to technical efficiency, ease of use, and smart design




					spectrum.ieee.org
				








						Olivetti/Programma 101/Revive - DDHFwiki
					






					datamuseum.dk


----------



## kazz (Dec 9, 2019)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Was thinking of XP SP2 and a 2k SP4 dualboot. Thanks for the tip!


Athlon XP handles windows7 flawlessy if ram is enough - but..there is sadly one big issue 
despite OS wise its possible go up to win8 (beta at least worked, some sources tell final version not)
program selection you can install - if we talk about fairly new soft - is very limited due to SSE2 not supported. So...yes, not much benefits on Athlon XP with newer OS,lacking SSE2 limits everything by far more than XP 

/me typing this comment with Athlon XP3200+ (I had little bit cold here in my room today so I decided to turn that beast on!)


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 10, 2019)

I came across this photo while looking into successors of the 1964 Olivetti Programma101 desktop, and found this 1966 Programma 203 "programmable typewriter". Looks like a P101 with a typewriter attached, and a tower computer for a base. There was a P102 for the British military, a P101 with a serial port output added.
If that tower adds more memory the keyboard/printer may be able to go to more than the 22 decimal  places the tape output provides. I wonder if the serial port output became standard on these? Word processing programs? AIO in 1966! I suppose there were no components available to do it any other way. 



Judging by the scuff marks this may have been the less desireable kick start version.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 10, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> Judging by the scuff marks it may have been a kick start version.


LMBO!


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## Robert B (Dec 11, 2019)

*Got me one of these!*  A mighty beast, let me tell you.


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## basco (Dec 11, 2019)

is this the asus gtx 260 matrix? 55 or 65nm?


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## Retrorockit (Dec 11, 2019)

1966 Olivetti 203 running. The number keys on the keyboard move when it's printing.








The prototype P101. This was stolen and they had to chase the criminals down in the Swiss Alps and pay a ransom to get it back according to the book. The US military had a very serious interest in these. They were used to generate flight orders for secret B52 bombing missions into Cambodia. The missions were generated on a P101 at the airbase, and only known to the flight crew and CO. No paper trail, and no messages to intercept or leak.


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## Robert B (Dec 11, 2019)

*ASUS ROG MATRIX GTX 260 *** ENGTX260 MATRIX/HTDI/896MD3*

55nm.


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## Komshija (Dec 11, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> PCIe... Is THAT what people refer to as "Retro Gaming", nowdays?! What happened to Socket 5, 7, 370, 462 & Slot-1?


Many people are considering retro Sandy Bridge CPU's like second gen Core i7 and GPU's like HD 6000 / GeForce 500 series; not to even mention older hardware.
IMO, a 10+ year old hardware would fit into retro category, but not 7 or 8 year old hardware.



Trekkie4 said:


> It's all good, I never saw your statement as offensive. I just don't share the same opinion, that's all.
> 
> I miss the old(er) days, when people talked about obsolete stuff, and not necessarily old hardware. After all, Core i7 series is now getting seriously old, but it is still very much in production & represents the "flagship" of what Intel has to offer. Some of you will point out how Intel released several new versions, production series but to me Core i7 is i7 ... whenever we talk about current gen or the one from 10 years ago. Performance-wise, things hadn't changed much since then. Which is mainly the reason why I'm still running Q6600 in 2019, when you pair it with 8GB of DDR2 and serious video card, you get a modern (and very much capable) unit, that's capable of running just about every single app or game you throw at it. BeamNG Drive for example, I've been playing the heck out of this game & it never gave me any problems or serious lags on Q6600


Very old stuff might be fun for testing to see whether they can still run after 20 or 30 years, but no one sane will use such systems as their daily machine simply because they are way too slow or way too outdated (like old ordinary cars from the 1970's or 1980's; supercars like Lamborghini Miura and Ferrari 288 GTO, F40 are excluded). Intel introduced "mainstream" i9 CPU's, so i7's aren't the flagships anymore.
Performance difference from Nehalem to Kaby Lake i7? Not so big. Intel made a bigger performance jump in the last two years than they did in 10 years before that, and that's only because they were forced by AMD Ryzen CPU's which smashed Intel's much more expensive equivalents.

Even if you pair an old top-of-the-line 775 CPU like QX9770 with some more modern GPU like RX 580 or GTX 1060, you'll still have a major bottleneck - bottleneck being the CPU. Try running newer games like Far Cry 5, Battlefield V, Assassin's Creed Odyssey at FHD resolution and medium-high details with Q6600 and 8800GT and you'll immediately see the problems. Try making video editing or animations in Blender (free software ) with such system and you'll also immediately notice the problems. Multi-tasking with such hardware? Forget about it, unless you have a steel nerves. Realistically, LGA 775 based systems today are good only for some light internet, MS Office tasks and as your back-up computer. That's it.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 11, 2019)

Judging by the scuff marks it may have been a kick start version.


lexluthermiester said:


> LMBO!


The funny thing is they say that on  one at the Olivetti museum the keyboard will freeze up if it isn't run for a couple days. So there may be some truth to it. New meaning to the term booting up.


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## agent_x007 (Dec 11, 2019)

Komshija said:


> Even if you pair an old top-of-the-line 775 CPU like QX9770 with some more modern GPU like RX 580 or GTX 1060, you'll still have a major bottleneck - bottleneck being the CPU. Try running newer games like Far Cry 5, *Battlefield V*, Assassin's Creed Odyssey at FHD resolution and medium-high details with Q6600 and 8800GT and you'll immediately see the problems. Try making video editing or animations in Blender (free software ) with such system and you'll also immediately notice the problems.


QX6850 with GTX 1080 vs. BF V (beta) : LINK.
Not saying Core 2 Quad is enough, just showing how it looks like when you do it.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 11, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> QX6850 with GTX 1080 vs. BF V (beta) : LINK.
> Not saying Core 2 Quad is enough, just showing how it looks like when you do it.


 The QX6850 is a 65nm CPU. The 45nm gains about 10% performance just from that. (Q6600 G0 @ 3GHZ vs. Q9650 3GHz 9x333) can clock higher, and the QX9770 has 400fsb. There's more to be had in LGA775. That's basically an unlocked Q6600 G0 on 333fsb. SSE4.1 instructions may have a lot to do with it. But thanks for posting that.
Could you run it at userbenchmark.com to see what CPU score it gets and see what CPUs it actually stacks up against?


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## agent_x007 (Dec 11, 2019)

FSB doesn't matter, you should see that my QX6850 had 488MHz clock on it with that overclock ?
SSE4.1 allows Time Spy tests and Odyssey needs SSE4.2 (ie. IMC on Intel).
I didn't ran userbench (I tested this over a year ago), next time I could try to do it.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 11, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> FSB doesn't matter, you should see that my QX6850 had 488MHz clock on it with that overclock ?
> SSE4.1 allows Time Spy tests and Odyssey needs SSE4.2 (ie. IMC on Intel).
> I didn't ran userbench (I tested this over a year ago), next time I could try to do it.


 FSB doesn't matter to me either. QX6800 15x266.








						Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 3989.4 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[bg4n0r] Validated Dump by BTXTREME (2015-09-28 03:04:25) - MB: Dell 0WG864 - RAM: 8192 MB




					valid.x86.fr


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## agent_x007 (Dec 11, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> FSB doesn't matter to me either. QX6800 15x266.


?
I thought, you said QX9770 was better because it had higher FSB than Q6600/QX6850 ?


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## Retrorockit (Dec 11, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> ?
> I thought, you said QX9770 was better because it had higher FSB than Q6600/QX6850 ?


If you're using the unlocked multiplier on an FSB locked MB then it becomes important. It's just showing that the QX9770 has a different FSBspec than the QX9650, QX6850. There may or may not be an advantage for different users. On  a Dell T3400 X38 workstation  it could unlock a hidden 400fsb that you couldn't get any other way. It's only better if you can use it. My E520 was locked at 266fsb so it didn't matter "to me". I went for 4GHz without it. Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn't.
 I certainly wouldn't pay a boatload of money for a QX9770 if I didn't need the 400fsb.


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## agent_x007 (Dec 11, 2019)

Ah, so it's a OEM thing. OK.


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## Komshija (Dec 11, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> QX6850 with GTX 1080 vs. BF V (beta) : LINK.
> Not saying Core 2 Quad is enough, just showing how it looks like when you do it.


Again, who in their right mind would pair a very old CPU with newer top-tier GPU, except for testing purposes? This is one extremely unbalanced system. QX6850 was a top tier CPU back then, but that was a long time ago. Similarly my main system i7 6700K + GTX 1080 will be a tree trunk for the next 10 years, but I'll replace the whole system much sooner than that, likely in 2022.
I saw a few actual examples, not just for testing, where people paired C2Q with older mid-range GPU's like, for the example, GTX 750 or HD 7770 and were using them as a very low-budget gaming machine for playing CSGO, Minecraft, GTA San Andreas and alike. That's more reasonable configuration, but far from being good enough or fast for modern times. Simply it's a bad combination because such systems lack power for modern games and modern software.

Considering the upgrades today, I wouldn't go below the performance of an Core i5 2400 for CPU's and GTX 760 or R9 280 for GPU's, especially if someone will occasionally play some modern games.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 11, 2019)

My Optiplex 380, X5470, GTX 1060 runs Superposition 1080 Medium just fine.


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## DR4G00N (Dec 11, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> My Optiplex 380, X5470, GTX 1060 runs Superposition 1080 Medium just fine.


Sure, though the 1060 is being choked to death by that X5470. 

And don't think I'm hating on Core 2 cpu's, I have two Intel D5400XS', four various 775 boards and quite a pile of chips for them.
771/775 is fun to tinker with but even Dual X5460's @ 4GHz is only about equivalent to a Vishera FX 8-core @ 5GHz.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 11, 2019)

Komshija said:


> Again, who in their right mind would pair a very old CPU with newer top-tier GPU, except for testing purposes?


Who in their right mind would come to a Nostalgic Hardware Forum to bitch about all the old hardware? That's what this thread is all about. Enjoying old hardware. LGA775 is just now becoming old enough to be discussed here precisely because it IS obsolete. Many of us had a lot of fun with LGA775 and have a bunch of it sitting around to play with. QX6850 was launched in 2007. I'm glad somebody had the money to throw a GTX1080 at one of these things. I haven't been able to screw up the courage to try anything beyond GTX1060.



DR4G00N said:


> Sure, though the 1060 is being choked to death by that X5470.


But it runs better with the GTX1060 than without it.
The challenge with a Micro BTX is just finding a card that can fit in there.
I do have a single slot Fury Nano with a water block I could stuff in there.
 Here is the uderbenchmark chart.


			UserBenchmark: Dell OptiPlex 380 Compatible Builds
		

 It's better balanced than it was with the GTX1050 41%CPU/31% GPU
Now it's 40%CPU and 56% GPU. And I've got all the CPU there is for this system. Those were sold as 2 core, 4GB max. systems. None of the other Optis can take an X5470 swap.


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## Kissamies (Dec 11, 2019)

Does Crossfire with older cards work without the bridge? Still haven't tested those HD 4890s because of that.  And I can't find my CF bridge anywhere, dammit. I'm 100% sure I have one somewhere.

Got a 8800 GT today, that will be also in my GPU roundup, plans are:

7800 GT
8800 GT
HD 4890
HD 4890 Crossfire
HD 6850
GT 1030
GTX 980 Ti

Going to use my gaming PC with a fresh install of Win7 because driver support for those older cards on Win 10 is kinda... meh.


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## Jism (Dec 11, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> To be honest, I want to fullfill my dream which is to benchmark a HD 4890 CF 1GHz
> 
> My nostalgia goes back to 10 years ago, I had a reference HD 4890 which clocked 1040MHz



The Asus HD4890 TOP (not the reference card) did exactly what you want here. I had a card that ran over 1150Mhz or so.







It was one of the first cards that had a Capacitor on the back for that extra more steady voltage compared to a normal VRM:






I just never pushed it on a Vapochill or so. I'm sure it would have made over 1300Mhz or so. https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asus-eah4890-top-super-ml/3.html Here's a inhouse review of the thing.


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## Kissamies (Dec 11, 2019)

I remember having a card which had a similar capacitor, and it was just pure marketing BS.  OC'd just like any other card with the same GPU.


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## Jism (Dec 11, 2019)

Well i was able to push it on just 1150Mhz on AIR, which was pretty high compared to what TPU for example benched with. Marketing or not, related to power delivery every stage of ironing out the supplied voltage is welcome.


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## Komshija (Dec 11, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> Who in their right mind would come to a Nostalgic Hardware Forum to bitch about all the old hardware? That's what this thread is all about. Enjoying old hardware. LGA775 is just now becoming old enough to be discussed here precisely because it IS obsolete. Many of us had a lot of fun with LGA775 and have a bunch of it sitting around to play with. QX6850 was launched in 2007. I'm glad somebody had the money to throw a GTX1080 at one of these things. I haven't been able to screw up the courage to try anything beyond GTX1060.



First sentence, you've missed a train. 
Absolutely, enjoying old hardware. IMO old or retro hardware should be a matching pair, eg. LGA 775 CPU, GPU, RAM and the rest of the components from the same era. Meaning just like an ordinary person or a PC enthusiast would build their system in 2007 from the existing components on the market at that time. Because QX6850 + GTX 1080 are not retro but rather ridiculous combination unless someone wants to test an old CPU to see how it performs in modern games or with modern software.

Another thing is that there are people who want to build a fast machine which is also good for gaming but for under 300€; oh and that is often going to be their ONLY computer. So they invest 200-300€ for such PC and start thinking that it's still fast and good gaming machine. Unfortunately it isn't anymore. It was back then, but now it's just not going to cut it. Older systems are just not compatible with modern software. 
Imagine a situation where you build a Pentium 3 + GF 2 system, somehow manage to install Widnows 8 and start using it as your main PC. IMO pretty ridiculous, because such retro system should run with appropriate software like Windows 98 SE or similar. 
There are hardware enthusiasts who build retro systems or simply play with older components because they like that, but often such individuals also have a powerful modern machine as their main computer.


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## Kissamies (Dec 11, 2019)

I see what you are talking about. But if someone throws a high-end card to an older system, it's reasonable IF she/he is going to upgrade other components also, just gets the GPU first. And after the whole system is upgraded, it's easy to see how much that old CPU bottlenecks the new GPU.

I remember getting a GTX 470 when I had a Phenom II X4 965 BE, it ran games fine, but after I got an i5-2500K the GPU showed its full potential. Felt like totally a new GPU.

But of course, testing and benchmarking with mixing with old & new hardware is fun.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 12, 2019)

New GPUs are nice because they can be moved to a newer system later. Same with big ATX PSUs. Old CPUs on the other hand are tied to their old MB and other systems of their era. I'll spend on a newerGPU but cheap out on old CPUs, and MB. So you put  GTX750 on your overclocked QX6800. It's stuck at 720P basically. Or you put a GTX1060 in there and it's doing 50fps @ 1080P medium. Which one is better? Also newer DX## versions only come with new GPUs.


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## biffzinker (Dec 12, 2019)

Easy, the GTX 1060 but is it the crippled 3GB or the 1060 with 6GB?


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 12, 2019)

Komshija said:


> IMO old or retro hardware should be a matching pair, eg. LGA 775 CPU, GPU, RAM and the rest of the components from the same era.


My approach is a bit different. I figure out what OS needs to be used for a given purpose and then select the best hardware that have drivers for same. For example, you can choose a Pentium 3 for a Win9x build, but the series of OS will run on a 3.2+ghz Pentium4.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 12, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Easy, the GTX 1060 but is it the crippled 3GB or the 1060 with 6GB?


I used the 3GB because most of the old systems I play with have an 8GB limit. A 6GB GPU on an 8GB system is asking for trouble. In fact I moved to the GTX 1060 3GB  to get away from the 4GB GTX1050Ti. I own a pair of 6GB GTX1060 full size cards to use with X38 sytems, and x58 systems that can handle 12GB or more RAM. The GTX1060 3GB is actually a sweet spot for old systems IMO. But for a Dell BTX mini Tower The MSI OC1 GTX10603GB can be cut down to 1 slot and trimmed to fit.  I've actually stuffed it sideways into a Dell Optiplex XE desktop POS system. But got too busy to make it run.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 12, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> A 6GB GPU on an 8GB system is asking for trouble.


How so?


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## Retrorockit (Dec 12, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> My approach is a bit different. I figure out what OS needs to be used for a given purpose and then select the best hardware that have drivers for same. For example, you can choose a Pentium 3 for a Win9x build, but the series of OS will run on a 3.2+ghz Pentium4.


 Fortunately Vista drivers work just fine for Win7. Dell isn't writing any Win7 drivers for a lot of  their old stuff.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 12, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> Fortunately Vista drivers work just fine for Win7. Dell isn't writing any Win7 drivers for a lot of  their old stuff.


I think you may have misunderstood. I find hardware that have existing drivers for the OS needed.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 12, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> How so?



GPU texture caching to system memory. I had trouble running some Unigine benchmarks with the 4GB GTX 1050Ti. It seems they would like 12GB of RAM. But the 3GB GTX1060 runs them just fine with 8GB. Only some programs seem to have an issue. I learned this back in the Dell E520 32 bit OS days with a 2GB GTX 750. The 4GB RAM "limit" was being taken up by the 2GB GPU. I ran 5GB so the GPU could grab adresses from the top down for textures, and still leave 3GB for the OS. The OS couldn't see the extra RAM, but the GPU could find it. I got that from an old Anandtech article. I've been keeping my eye on it ever since. Seems to still be true.
The 32 bit OS could actually only use 3.5GB. But with 4GB a 512k Gpu could use the other .5GB with no hit to the system performance. A 1GB GPU wasn't too bad either. But 2GB is where the trouble began.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 12, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> GPU texture caching to system memory. I had trouble running some Unigine benchmarks with the 4GB GTX 1050Ti. It seems they would like 12GB of RAM. But the 3GB GTX1060 runs them just fine with 8GB. Only some programs seem to have an issue. I learned this back in the Dell E520 32 bit OS days with a 2GB GTX 750. The 4GB RAM "limit" was being taken up by the 2GB GPU. I ran 5GB so the GPU could grab adresses from the top down for textures, and still leave 3GB for the OS. The OS couldn't see the extra RAM, but the GPU could find it. I got that from an old Anandtech article. I've been keeping my eye on it ever since. Seems to still be true.
> The 32 bit OS could actually only use 3.5GB. But with 4GB a 512k Gpu could use the other .5GB with no hit to the system performance. A 1GB GPU wasn't too bad either. But 2GB is where the trouble began.


Have never had any of those experiences. Weird.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 12, 2019)

A lot of people would have though the 4GB 1050Ti was bottlenecked by the X5470. But I tried this old trick and the GTX1060 3GB runs just fine. The 2 fan 6GB card won't fit so I can't really test his theory 100%. I always try to proportion my GPU RAM to my system memory. Maybe the newer cards do it all on the GPU? Maybe not always. But if I did try the 6GB 1060 and it fell on it's face everybody would  blame the CPU i"m sure.

I'm #1178 on  this page. I don't see any other LGA775/771 near me. Lots of i5/ i7 stuff around though.








						UNIGINE Benchmarks
					

Performance benchmarks by Unigine




					benchmark.unigine.com


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 12, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> Maybe the newer cards do it all on the GPU? Maybe not always.


I think it also depends on the game and how it shuffles game assets around.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 12, 2019)

It did seem to be  specific to certain benchmarks. Anyway I added my Superposition ranking, it went to the previous post, and you can see the other CPUs near my ranking. I'm definitely not in some LGA775 ghetto there.
 About 6 places behind me is a Ryzen 2600 with the same GPU.


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## Jetster (Dec 12, 2019)

After High School I moved in with a girl who worked in Oakland, she ran this machine and typed all day, books for scientific research. 

It was 1982     The *Vydec 1800*








			http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/files/data-sheet-vydec-1800.pdf


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## Retrorockit (Dec 12, 2019)

What happens if you stick metal objecs into those holes next to the monitor? Enquiring minds need to know!



lexluthermiester said:


> How so?


I suppose the way to see if GPU/CPU "RAM balancing" is stilll relevant would be to take a newer system with 12GB+ memory and a 6GB GPU and pull out the RAM down to 6-8GB and see what happens. If 6GB GPU, and 6BG CPU doesn't cause an issue then I don't need to do this any more. But if it does then this may be the key to running newer GPUs on older hardware. Everybody freaked out in 2015 when I put an R9-285/380 on a QX6800. But it was a 2GB ITX version and worked just fine. But OS and games have all gotten greedy for RAM since it became cheap, so it may be worse than ever.

I'm going to wander off into a little speculation here and expand on what the 32 bit OS RAM balancing act could have to do with "newer" old computers. Windows 7 Home basic, and Starter have an 8GB RAM limit. Maybe you want to use the license that's already there. Say the MB can handle 16GB RAM. Many old computers "had" an 8GB limit until newer larger modules became available, or simply weren't tested/sold with the bigger modules. Dell never updates their spec. sheets for this. They tell you to buy a new computer. A Dell XPS 420 X38 for instance. You've got a QX9650 @ 4.15GHZ. ( I own one). To run the 6GB GTX 1060 GPU I would install 12GB RAM. 2x4GB and 2x2GB DDR2-800 (unless I  find some 4GB DDR2-1066). The OS can only adress 8 GB, but according to theory (and Anandtech) the GPU will find the unused RAM at startup (top adress down) and cache there. The BIOS/chipset will allow it since the 8GB limit is OS imposed.
On the Optiplex 380 there are only 2 RAM slots and I've already stretched the capacity from 4GB to 8GB 2x4GB DDR3-1066. Reused the Home Basic license. So the 3GB GTX1060 was the "conservative" choice.
It 's theoretically possible to run 16GB on the 380, but it requires x64 low density RAM, and DDR3 8GB modules tend to be newer x128 type. And do I really want to cut down another GTX1060 to fit an Optiplex? (Probably yes if I can find one that can overclock).


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## Robert B (Dec 15, 2019)

*nVIDIA Quadro FX 3000* 256MB AGP 8x - 370-6803-02 - *WOOL EDITION!*  - As soon as I saw this beast I knew exactly what is was. It works but I didnt have the time to thoroughly test it yet.
*Enermax* *EG465P-VE - 431W - *After cleaning it looks amazing*.  Look at those tasty 3.3V and 5V rails.  *Just what a hungry AXP / P4 / Dual CPU setup would want.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 15, 2019)

That's interesting. A  220W 5V. rail ,and a 240W 12V. rail. 460W the hard way! Nice. What GPU cables does it provide? Does it have dual 4 pin CPU cables?


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## DR4G00N (Dec 15, 2019)

Robert B said:


> *nVIDIA Quadro FX 3000* 256MB AGP 8x - 370-6803-02 - *WOOL EDITION!*  - As soon as I saw this beast I knew exactly what is was. It works but I didnt have the time to thoroughly test it yet.
> *Enermax* *EG465P-VE - 431W - *After cleaning it looks amazing*.  Look at those tasty 3.3V and 5V rails. *Just what a hungry AXP / P4 / Dual CPU setup would want.


I have the 550/650W version, EG651P-V(E), it's a nice unit for sure, plenty of power for even the most demanding dual slot 1/s370/s462 setup. Kind of a shame it only has 20-pin atx and 4-pin cpu connectors though.


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## Robert B (Dec 15, 2019)

Indeed, the *Enermax* *EG465P-VE* only has 20 pin ATX and 4 pin CPU connectors but I can use various adapters and expand its usability. Also it only has MOLEX and FDD connectors and a AUX conenctor for P4 Rambus style of motherboards. Old school all the way.  The main reason I bought it are those beefy 3.3V and 5V rails. Plus it is my first PSU that can deliver 220W Max on those rails. I think that it is a member of the last wave of PSUs to do so after which they started switching mainly to 12V rails.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 15, 2019)

Robert B said:


> Indeed, the *Enermax* *EG465P-VE* only has 20 pin ATX and 4 pin CPU connectors but I can use various adapters and expand its usability. Also it only has MOLEX and FDD connectors and a AUX conenctor for P4 Rambus style of motherboards. Old school all the way.  The main reason I bought it are those beefy 3.3V and 5V rails. Plus it is my first PSU that can deliver 220W Max on those rails. I think that it is a member of the last wave of PSUs to do so after which they started switching mainly to 12V rails.


  Dell stayed with 5V. on their BTX based systems which run up to Optiplex 780, and Precision t3400 LGA775. But 22A would have been on a dual CPU machine. EVGA has a pretty good 5V. rail on some of their recent PSUs. I've used them to power BTX systems in the past. But then decided the Dell stuff is pretty good and dirt cheap so I use those. But the power leads are cut to fit each sytem, and on BTX that means about a 6"long 24 pin cable. Also no 20+4, or 6+2, or 4+4. But over about 425W they have removable wiring harnesses.
Some of the Alienware and XPS systems were ATX based so sometimes thing can be worked out. The pre BTX Dells borked the MB connector pinout anyway.


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## Kissamies (Dec 15, 2019)

After seeing this, I think that I don't have much retro hardware.


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## Retrorockit (Dec 17, 2019)

Here is a mod that may be useful for retro gamers or other fans of single thread apps.
Some P4/PD LGA775 MB bridged the gap to 65nm Core2 CPUs. The Extreme versions can be software overclocked on locked BIOS systems with Throttlestop software in Windows. TS can be hacked with a software editor to overclock just 2 cores. Many benchmarks won't allow 2 different speeds so it may be hard to post results if you try this. CPUZ will take it I think.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 19, 2019)

This might be a must see for anyone looking for classic hardware that is being remade!


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## Retrorockit (Dec 19, 2019)

Did the originals have a Game controller port, and CD audio connector, or was that a later thing?


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## ShrimpBrime (Dec 19, 2019)

biffzinker said:


>



Love 4000+ processors. Nothing but a good time 

Socket 754





						CPU-Z Validator 3.1
					

CPU-Z Validation Checker (by canardpc.com)



					valid.x86.fr


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## biffzinker (Dec 19, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> Did the originals have a Game controller port, and CD audio connector, or was that a later thing?


The game controller port was on the first Sound Blaster. Creative has a list of highlights for the earlier Sound Blaster cards at the Creative website.





						Sound Blaster Internal and External USB DAC and Amp Sound Cards and Buying Guide - Creative Labs (United States)
					

The Sound Blaster product range has an audio upgrade solution – internal and external—for every setup. Don’t stop at stunning visuals. Redefine your audio experience with Sound Blaster.



					www.soundblaster.com


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## Kissamies (Dec 19, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> The game controller port was on the first Sound Blaster. Creative has a list of highlights for the earlier Sound Blaster cards at the Creative website.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ah, brings so much flashbacks.. Live! was legendary, still have an Audigy2 ZS for WinXP gaming and SBZ on my main PC. 

...in a way, that green Audigy2 ZS looks hella cool instead of that brown PCB.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 19, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> Did the originals have a Game controller port, and CD audio connector, or was that a later thing?


That was a later thing, but it came soon after. The SoundBlaster16 was the fisrt Creative card to have a Game/Midi Port(IIRC).


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 19, 2019)

I had one in my AST 486/33sx. It had no cache memory and no math co processor. I upgraded it to an AMD 586- 133 Evergreen adapter, 256K L2 cache,4MB RAM, and an STB 2MB ISA video card. Of  course the 32bit Pentiums were out by then. 3D gaming was done in DOS as I recall. It pretty much sucked.It played hell out of the fractal screen saver though!






						3d fractal video at DuckDuckGo
					

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.




					duckduckgo.com


----------



## Robert B (Dec 21, 2019)

Raekwon - Ice Cream 

My second *3dfx Gainward Dragon 4000 Voodoo Banshee AGP 16MB ICUVGA-GW816D P/N: 9816-21!* 

In awesome condition ... NOT! ... maybe after I restore it!


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 21, 2019)

I recently acquired a beaten up Celeron D socket 478 on an ECS motherboard, that had probably lain dormant for years, so I couldn't resist giving it a bit of TLC.
First I upgraded the CPU to a Pentium 4 3.0Ghz to see how it ran and then did a big clean up, which was very satisfying.
It's got 1.5Gb of PC3200 RAM, I added a PNY Geforce 7600GS I had in a box, removed the 80mm fans due to their noise and condition, then installed Win 7, which runs like a dream.
Before



During



After








I left two CD drives in for decoration since I don't have any spare case panels that fit, added a network card as the onboard went kaput some years ago and also changed the PSU.
Can it run Crysis?
Only just 




Previously it had XP installed, but I think Win 7 is far better for a PC of this type. Besides, I'll only ever install XP if I really have to, or it's in keeping with the CPU and general feel.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 21, 2019)

Performance wise, XP is right for that machine.   
I understand the ease and smoothness of W7 though.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 21, 2019)

Damn that bothers me when a stock heatsink with its Intel logo is upside down.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 21, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Damn that bothers me when a stock heatsink with its Intel logo is upside down.


LOL
You can probably get medication for that.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 21, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> LOL
> You can probably get medication for that.


First world problems, no joking there


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 21, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Damn that bothers me when a stock heatsink with its Intel logo is upside down.


Fixed!


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 21, 2019)

I think the fan should be blowing towards the heatsink. But then you can't tell if the logo is the right way or not.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 21, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> I think the fan should be blowing towards the heatsink. But then you can't tell if the logo is the right way or not.


I mean that I like the stock cooler's fan to be like this like in my HTPC.






Whoever designed that motherboard's 24pin placement, should be fired. And I know that one of the pushpins is broken, it's held with just two. After my Q6600 arrives, I'll be putting my old Alphacool Eisbaer to it.


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 22, 2019)

It's blowing toward the heatsink, and the logo is right side up. Perfect!
Here's a vid. of the CPU fan I'm running in my DellOptiplex 380 BTX Mini Tower.





						AFC1512DG at DuckDuckGo
					

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.




					duckduckgo.com


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 22, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Damn that bothers me when a stock heatsink with its Intel logo is upside down.


Put the case panel back on. Problem solved. 



Splinterdog said:


> I recently acquired a beaten up Celeron D socket 478 on an ECS motherboard, that had probably lain dormant for years, so I couldn't resist giving it a bit of TLC.
> First I upgraded the CPU to a Pentium 4 3.0Ghz to see how it ran and then did a big clean up, which was very satisfying.
> It's got 1.5Gb of PC3200 RAM, I added a PNY Geforce 7600GS I had in a box, removed the 80mm fans due to their noise and condition, then installed Win 7, which runs like a dream.
> Before
> ...


What was the Celeron model you swapped out?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 22, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Put the case panel back on. Problem solved.


With a windowed side panel?


----------



## Bones (Dec 22, 2019)

Does anyone (Except Mr. Scott ) know the name of this item?


----------



## bobbybluz (Dec 22, 2019)

Now I have to go dig my "museum" PC out of the basement and take a few pix. Asus A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0, XP 3200+ 400fsb Barton, 2GB Corsair XMS 440mhz RAM (with the nifty LED's on top), Thermaltake Volcano 11, ATI 9800 Pro, Audigy 2 Platinum eX, Antec True Control 550 PSU, huge full-size black server case. It had two WD 36GB Raptors in RAID 0 originally but they died long ago. I put two 30GB WD Caviar Blacks in it a few years ago because I had them in my parts pile. It originally ran Windows 2000 but I went to XP due to lack of driver support. I last had it running earlier this year for testing old GPU's I was putting up for sale on Ebay.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 22, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> Previously it had XP installed, but I think Win 7 is far better for a PC of this type. Besides, I'll only ever install XP if I really have to, or it's in keeping with the CPU and general feel.





Mr.Scott said:


> Performance wise, XP is right for that machine.


Have to agree with Scotty, XP would be much better performance wise. It's got less bulk to the kernel and thus will feel snappier on a single core CPU like that P4, especially with XP's 4GB limitation. It's more period correct as well. This is just my 2cents, if you like it with 7, go with it!

BTW, great job with the cleanup and nice cable management!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 22, 2019)

Bones said:


> Does anyone (Except Mr. Scott ) know the name of this item?
> View attachment 140090


Haven't seen one of those in years.


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 22, 2019)

That logo started to bug me in the end.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 22, 2019)

I like the socket 478 stock heatsink fan mechanism. Its so easy to install and hard to go wrong. Later stock LGA meanwhile, I always forgot which direction the arrow needs to go when you remove the heatsink and needs to watch youtube video  

I tried to test some of my old hardware. My precious Crosshair II Formula cant boot at all, LED all turned up but when I press the power button....no response  I have another AM2 motherboard but cant seem to find it. Tried to revive my socket A system, for some reason all the onboard devices are dead, except for USB and HDD controller. Meaning no sound, no LAN. I tried to upgrade my LGA775 platform with C2D CPU replacing Pentium. It booted once, working fine and then next reboot its just refuse to boot to Windows. After a few more fiddling with heatsink and BIOS setting it won't boot anymore. Its just not a good weekend for me. I'm so disappointed I don't took any pictures


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 23, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Tried to revive my socket A system, for some reason all the onboard devices are dead, except for USB and HDD controller. Meaning no sound, no LAN.


Does the board have leaking capacitors that need replacing?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 23, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Does the board have leaking capacitors that need replacing?


I don't think so from brief visual inspection, but I'll do detailed checkup on the board when I got time.


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 23, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> I tried to test some of my old hardware. My precious Crosshair II Formula cant boot at all, LED all turned up but when I press the power button....no response


 How about coin cell batteries?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 23, 2019)

Bones said:


> Does anyone (Except Mr. Scott ) know the name of this item?
> View attachment 140090


IIRC, that is a custom switchable dual bios socket for testing/using BIOS code mods. Yes?



Mr.Scott said:


> Haven't seen one of those in years.


Same here!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 23, 2019)

Retrorockit said:


> How about coin cell batteries?


Haven't thought of that. Usually I removed the coin battery when I put the board on storage (and I try to turn on without the coin cell), but I think the board will boot regardless whether the batteries is there or not. Or I am wrong there?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 23, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> Or I am wrong there?


You are correct. The battery is there only for the cmos data, date and time. When missing, bios/uefi defaults are loaded.


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 23, 2019)

Apocalypsee said:


> I like the socket 478 stock heatsink fan mechanism. Its so easy to install and hard to go wrong. Later stock LGA meanwhile, I always forgot which direction the arrow needs to go when you remove the heatsink and needs to watch youtube video
> 
> /QUOTE]
> I never liked LGA 775 and its successors. I've lost count how many push pins got worn out after repeated removals. 478 on the other hand, was almost foolproof.


----------



## freeagent (Dec 23, 2019)

For me it was the opposite, during 478 days I was leaving my PIII behind to rock 462  While you were busy wearing out pushpins, I was trying not to crunch the core on my Tbred 2500, and again on my AXP-M 2500. I succeeded most of the time. You'd be surprised how much of a die you can break off and it will still run  

I loved 939 but hated the pins. Leary on a Ryzen upgrade!

Its also surprising how many pins you can break off and the CPU will still run..



So because I am a bit of a klutz, Conroe was a blessing for me


----------



## hat (Dec 23, 2019)

I noticed pins on AM4 were a little thinner than I expected...


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 23, 2019)

I may be getting a 2600K bundle for my HTPC, that's gonna be a great lightweight gaming PC soon 

Though it does already run Crysis with C2D E4300 



freeagent said:


> You'd be surprised how much of a die you can break off and it will still run


This! I had all four corners round on my Thunderbird AXIA 1GHz and it still ran 24/7 stable @ 1404MHz 

E: got a "new" Thunderbird AXIA 1GHz last year, I've just been too lazy to get a good S462 motherboard.. my Asrock K7VT4A Pro sucks.


----------



## freeagent (Dec 23, 2019)

I sure do miss my NF7. All I have are my old pics and the memories, not to be confused with ram 

I did find my XP90 cooler with no mounting hardware.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 24, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> IIRC, that is a custom switchable dual bios socket for testing/using BIOS code mods. Yes?
> 
> 
> Same here!


Kinda..... yes. You can use it for that.
I think the answer he was looking for was 'Bios Savior'.


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 24, 2019)




----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 24, 2019)

freeagent said:


> For me it was the opposite, during 478 days I was leaving my PIII behind to rock 462  While you were busy wearing out pushpins, I was trying not to crunch the core on my Tbred 2500, and again on my AXP-M 2500. I succeeded most of the time. You'd be surprised how much of a die you can break off and it will still run
> 
> I loved 939 but hated the pins. Leary on a Ryzen upgrade!
> 
> ...


I've bend some pins when AIO drops to my LGA1150 motherboard. It scared the living hell out of me, I tried for a couple of hours bending it back to as close as I can possible can. It still work till this day, but somehow it became very picky about what memory I put on the board   Another problem with the mounting, or this may be specifically to ASUS board, they route memory controller neat the mounting hole on the motherboard, I accidentally overtighten the screws and two of the DIMM channel is dead.

The early socketed CPU fit their heatsink mounting on the socket itself, and the clip is extremely strong and very fiddly because the small size of the socket. I don't prefer such mounting mechanism, not only AMD but I still afraid to remove Pentium III heatsink out of their socket. I liked what AMD did with the later sockets (starting from 939/754) putting mounting bracket on the board so the heatsink can clip to those. More space and easier to mount.

I'd rather have pins on the CPU than the motherboard. I guess different people have different opinion about this.


----------



## bobbybluz (Dec 24, 2019)

For older boards that are wonky try replacing the EEPROM if you can. My A7N8X died years ago but I kept it for nostalgia purposes. 6-7 years ago I found another one on the local Craigslist with a 2600+ in it for $5. The CL board turned out to have non-functional USB ports. Out of curiosity I dug the old A7N8X out and swapped the EEPROM from the one I'd just gotten. I was very happy to find the old one was fully functional again. I went to my CPU stash, found the XP 3200+ Barton and put that in. I then went through my collection of vintage parts and put the best of what I had that'd work into what was to be my "museum" build. An entire PC was created for the grand cost of $5 that the mobo I took the EEPROM from. Since then I've sold off most of my other vintage parts on Ebay for far more than I ever thought they were worth. My mint condition Voodoo 5 5500 sold for $300 last year to somebody in Europe.


----------



## micropage7 (Dec 24, 2019)

Splinterdog said:


> That logo started to bug me in the end.
> View attachment 140115


nice, i wonder why there's no new purple motherboard anymore?
this one looks good


----------



## freeagent (Dec 24, 2019)

biffzinker said:


>



I kid you not, I owned the "tower" from this setup. If my memory can be trusted it had a Celeron 500 and 256mb pc133 in it. I used it for smart card emulation back in the early days of grey market tv. It looked like I beat some little girl up for it, but it was cool because it was small and quiet, tucked it behind my entertainment stand. Just needed the floppy drive and serial port


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 24, 2019)

freeagent said:


> I kid you not, I owned the "tower" from this setup. If my memory can be trusted it had a Celeron 500 and 256mb pc133 in it. I used it for smart card emulation back in the early days of grey market tv. It looked like I beat some little girl up for it, but it was cool because it was small and quiet, tucked it behind my entertainment stand. Just needed the floppy drive and serial port
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140238


There's a video for that PC from LGR.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 24, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> There's a video for that PC from LGR.


You beat me to the punch. I was about to post that video. LOL!


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 24, 2019)




----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 24, 2019)

micropage7 said:


> nice, I wonder why there's no new purple motherboard anymore?
> this one looks good


Perhaps RGB has taken over where multi-coloured Playskool boards left off? Oh, and ECS boards, not to mention PC Chips boards, had a nasty habit of dying very suddenly.
You'll need sunglasses for this Gigabyte board


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 26, 2019)

Got few old laptops and damn, there's one with a Mobility Radeon 9700, but it seems to be broken 

Well, grabbed an another one with Mobility Radeon 9200, and upgraded the hell out of it  From Pentium M 1.4GHz (Banias) & 768MB RAM to Pentium M 1.6GHz (Dothan) & 2GB RAM. Too bad that the 9200 is the 32MB version with 64-bit memory, but I guess it still can run some of the early 2000ish games without problems.

e: Dammit, I'll put a 7200rpm drive there too..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 27, 2019)

With the new year approaching, I've decided to do some "cleaning" around the house.

Sooo, I just sold 7 of my retro rigs today, + some of the genuine software. Have to admit, a pretty liberating experience!


----------



## Bones (Dec 27, 2019)

Mr.Scott said:


> Kinda..... yes. You can use it for that.
> I think the answer he was looking for was 'Bios Savior'.


That's it. 
Used as a backup to the original BIOS in case of a problem such as scrambing the old one while OC'ing and so on.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 27, 2019)

Getting a NForce 2 board for my Socket A goofing. Not the best one, but something which isn't expensive (MSI K7N2), 29EUR shipped with a Sempron 2200+ and a stock cooler.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 27, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sooo, I just sold 7 of my retro rigs today, + some of the genuine software.


Hopefully you made a tidy profit.


----------



## jlewis02 (Dec 27, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Getting a NForce 2 board for my Socket A goofing. Not the best one, but something which isn't expensive (MSI K7N2), 29EUR shipped with a Sempron 2200+ and a stock cooler.


I have an nf-7s and a 2500+ cpu and a bit of BH-5 memory


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 27, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Hopefully you made a tidy profit.


Well I wouldn't call it a "fortune", but without going into details I'd say most definitely yes! Enough to pay the bills & buy (late) XMAS gifts for friends and family, including a new HiFi toy for myself


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 27, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> including a new HiFi toy for myself


Are you going to tell us what it is when your ready?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 27, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Are you going to tell us what it is when your ready?


Sure... I mean, it's not really a secret, I just didn't think that it would belong in this thread, that's all. I bought myself one of THESE:






Some of you might remember, I used to have a similar model (AT-LP120), which I had to let go (earlier in 2019, due to financial reasons) so when I came across one of these on a XMAS/holiday sale, it was a no-brainer really


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 28, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I just didn't think that it would belong in this thread, that's all.


If your not aware this thread exists for tech related purchases.








						What's your latest tech purchase?
					

i specific ordering pulse with elpida memory to matching my old one, all in set now, x5 fans case, x2 small power x1 8pin pulse, im ready for my 1st crossfire, hope isnt gonna blow mine potato rig :roll:   Can you even run Crossfire on the 2200G with its 8 PCIe lanes?




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 28, 2019)

Vinyl is some pretty retro tech. Very mid last century. Nostalgic for me.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 28, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> If your not aware this thread exists for tech related purchases.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Right, I remember... In fact, I posted more than few posts in there, HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE 



Retrorockit said:


> Vinyl is some pretty retro tech. Very mid last century. Nostalgic for me.


Exactly, and for me too! As I mentioned yesterday, I bought myself Audio Technica AT-LP120 back in 2017, think it was roughly around the same time (early December) and it served me well over those couple of years. It would seem that self-proclaimed audiophiles always felt the need to say something about it (or to criticize it), but in all the honesty it was a best bang for the buck, despite being a "clone" of the real thing, Technics SL-1200. I even posted couple of pictures in this thread! (see below)


 

 



That said, I had to let it go. As I told @buzzi couple of pages back, I had a really awful year, which was unfortunately dominated by financial issues, along with serious medical conditions of the people close to me, even my close family. So I sold the LP120, hoping that I would eventually sell some of my retro "stock" & be able to regroup.

Happy to say, things are looking up for 2020 in all the previously-mentioned areas, although (that being said) I'm still being cautiously optimistic. After 12 months of crap & coming up with bad news, I'm sure everyone would!

As for the new AT-LP140XP, I'm still waiting for it - I don't have it yet... Courier service is most likely going to drop it off some time soon, most likely Monday or Tuesday. Otherwise it might have to wait for 2020 due to obvious reasons, but I'm hoping I won't have to wait for THAT long


----------



## bobbybluz (Dec 29, 2019)

A copy of a Technics 1200 isn't the same as a real one. I got my 1200 M3D for $50 about 6 years ago. I had to replace the RCA leads and already had a collection of Stanton 500, 680, 681, 880 and 890 cartridges already mounted in Technics headshells. I've seen a few 1200 mkII copies and they left a lot to be desired for professional use. For home use though they were OK for the price all things considered. Even better are the Technics SP10 and SP15 turntables and nobody has copied those yet.


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 29, 2019)

bobbybluz said:


> A copy of a Technics 1200 isn't the same as a real one.


 Probably more useable. We can't have that now can we?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 29, 2019)

bobbybluz said:


> A copy of a Technics 1200 isn't the same as a real one. I got my 1200 M3D for $50 about 6 years ago. I had to replace the RCA leads and already had a collection of Stanton 500, 680, 681, 880 and 890 cartridges already mounted in Technics headshells. I've seen a few 1200 mkII copies and they left a lot to be desired for professional use. For home use though they were OK for the price all things considered. Even better are the Technics SP10 and SP15 turntables and nobody has copied those yet.


Look, I get it. In fact, I've been discussing the very same thing on another (audio) forum for ages, trying to reason some of the individuals who kept trashing cheap(er) clones, because they don't have this or that, or simply because they lack Technics (Panasonic) manufacturing precision.

Thing is, Panasonic is very expensive. It always was and always will be, whenever you're buying video or audio gear - their products are notoriously expensive just about anywhere you look. In fact, their latest SL-1200, Mk.7 sells for approx. 1300, 1400 USD. Depending on a location & availability, prices can go through the roof. Meanwhile, Hanpin-made "clones" (which includes Audio Technica, Pioneer, Stanton, Denon, Reloop, Numark, Lenco, Akai, Roland and many other popular brands) sell for 1/3 of that price, in come cases even 1/4, which is a serious step-down in financial terms. They obviously had to cut corners here & there, resulting with inferior quality (or performance?) but then again you get what you pay for ... and in this particular case you're getting a lot of bang for the buck. I'm no stranger to genuine SL-1200, in fact I've been looking to buy one for a long time. It would have to be used, of course but I was primarily focusing on preserved units, kept (and maintained) in factory & almost mint condition. IDK about the States, but around here those turntables usually sell for $750 & above, depending on a condition & owner's attitude. And if something goes wrong (which it will, sooner or later - SL1200 can develop more than few serious issues, which are commonly known & recognized) you're looking at very expensive repairs, which usually involves ordering the replacement parts from Panasonic or one of their officially licensed repair shops.

In fact, the model which I ordered (Audio Technica AT-LP140XP) is a serious step up from their previous designs, which is now pretty much equally designed & equipped as original SL1200. I'm not saying they are equally durable or reliable (even though AT offers 2yr warranty for all the models), but they finally removed the internal preamp/USB feature, dampened the platter with sound-proof material (again, just like SL-1200) and gave it a more powerful direct drive motor. If I were into DJ stuff, I'd probably go for their higher-end & even more beefier model, LP1240 but for what I want (and expect) out of a turntable, I'm sure LP140 will do just fine. Remember, I had & used LP120 for 2yrs before this one, and even though 120 had some annoying quirks & design oversights, it was a great turntable once I customized it to my personal preferences


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 30, 2019)

With 2019 finally coming to an end (& new 2020 coming up soon), I just wanted to take the opportunity & wish everyone a Happy New Year for one more (and final) time.
Sorry guys, no fancy "artwork" on my behalf this time... Although, that being said I DID consider to re-use the one from the last year, IMHO it was the best idea I've had so far 




I would also like to announce that I'll be leaving TPU some time soon, probably around early January & shutting down my profile. It's nothing personal against anyone & I've had loads of fun with you guys, but in all the honesty things are just not the same any longer, so I guess it's time for me to move on. Why January, you may be asking? Well, mainly because I joined on Jan 1st, 2015 ... so it only feels right to round it all up so to speak - I consider it to be a "5yr mission" of mine (I'm sure @Mr.Scott will get the joke ) Anyway, I'm not exactly sure if my content will stay visible or get deleted, removed from the forums so if there's anything that you need (or want) to save or bookmark, I highly suggest that you do it now before it is too late. I'm planning to stick around for at least a week or so longer, so there's no rush, take your time & have a good one!


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 30, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I would also like to announce that I'll be leaving TPU some time soon, probably around early January & shutting down my profile.


Best of luck on your future endeavors, and have a Happy New Year.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 30, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I would also like to announce that I'll be leaving TPU some time soon, probably around early January & shutting down my profile.


Sad to see you go man.


Trekkie4 said:


> but in all the honesty things are just not the same any longer


Yeah, it's been interesting to watch TPU evolve over the last 12 years. The last 5 years have been a test of longevity. With the advent of streaming video services and tech related reporting now being done through video, standard tech news sites have had to adapt and evolve to stay relevant. Some of those changes do not resonate with everyone.

Regardless, I can personaly say it's been fun and interesting interacting with you, even when we disagreed. I'm sure many of us TPU regulars share that sentiment. You will be missed. I'll echo what biffzinker said above, best wishes to you in your future endeavors and may the coming year bring you great times!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 30, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Best of luck on your future endeavors, and have a Happy New Year.





lexluthermiester said:


> Sad to see you go man.
> 
> Yeah, it's been interesting to watch TPU evolve over the last 12 years. The last 5 years have been a test of longevity. With the advent of streaming video services and tech related reporting now being done through video, standard tech news sites have had to adapt and evolve to stay relevant. Some of those changes do not resonate with everyone.
> 
> Regardless, I can personaly say it's been fun and interesting interacting with you, even when we disagreed. I'm sure many of us TPU regulars share that sentiment. You will be missed. I'll echo what biffzinker said above, best wishes to you in your future endeavors and may the coming year bring you great times!


Thanks guys! 

And yeah, we came a long way... When I first joined TPU back in 2015, this club/thread was on its 116th page. 5 years & 232 pages later and we are STILL going strong 

That said, I feel as if the term "nostalgic" had shifted for most people, transformed during that time. Where on the other hand, my interests & focus still remained the same as before, on page 116. Besides, I'm not as active & involved with old computers as I used to be,  so it only made sense to give this up & move on.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 30, 2019)

I see no reason for you to remove your account. Why not just leave it.
Anyhow, always a pleasure interacting with you. 
Best wishes


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Dec 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm not as active & involved with old computers as I used to be,  so it only made sense to give this up & move on.



I've seen many of your posts here, very neat stuff, brings back a lot of old memories.
Agree that times are a lot different today than 20 years ago, heck even 10 or 15.....
I still enjoy lots of older hardware and like you not quite as frequently as once in the past. 
ALSO agree with Scotty, you should just leave your account. Never know, may want to pop in later down the road just to say hello!
Any how, be well, be merry and happy new year Trekkie4 sir.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks guys!
> 
> And yeah, we came a long way... When I first joined TPU back in 2015, this club/thread was on its 116th page. 5 years & 232 pages later and we are STILL going strong
> 
> That said, I feel as if the term "nostalgic" had shifted for most people, transformed during that time. Where on the other hand, my interests & focus still remained the same as before, on page 116. Besides, I'm not as active & involved with old computers as I used to be,  so it only made sense to give this up & move on.


Aww man, hate to see you go. Hope you have a great year ahead!

And happy new year everyone!


----------



## Jetster (Dec 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks guys!
> 
> And yeah, we came a long way... When I first joined TPU back in 2015, this club/thread was on its 116th page. 5 years & 232 pages later and we are STILL going strong
> 
> That said, I feel as if the term "nostalgic" had shifted for most people, transformed during that time. Where on the other hand, my interests & focus still remained the same as before, on page 116. Besides, I'm not as active & involved with old computers as I used to be,  so it only made sense to give this up & move on.


Thanks for leaving your images hosted. That's really cool on 116. I hate when people delete there accounts


----------



## freeagent (Dec 31, 2019)

Thank you for all of your contributions, they have been excellent. Best of luck in all you do!


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I would also like to announce that I'll be leaving TPU some time soon, probably around early January & shutting down my profile. It's nothing personal against anyone & I've had loads of fun with you guys, but in all the honesty things are just not the same any longer, so I guess it's time for me to move on. Why January, you may be asking? Well, mainly because I joined on Jan 1st, 2015 ... so it only feels right to round it all up so to speak - I consider it to be a "5yr mission" of mine (I'm sure @Mr.Scott will get the joke ) Anyway, I'm not exactly sure if my content will stay visible or get deleted, removed from the forums so if there's anything that you need (or want) to save or bookmark, I highly suggest that you do it now before it is too late. I'm planning to stick around for at least a week or so longer, so there's no rush, take your time & have a good one!


It will be a sad day when you leave  ( before you go PM w1zz to discuss leaving your content available ).


----------



## HUSKIE (Dec 31, 2019)

*Vintage Apple IIe Computer 1981*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2019)

I see a lot of recommendations from you guys, to leave my account open/alive...

Thing is, I didn't want to leave it behind in case of any cyber attack, or someone hacking into profiles. Usually when something like that happens, active user(s) immediately change their password, and/or get in touch with admins/moderators. But with abandoned & inactive accounts it's always a different story... So it has a greater potential to get hijacked, or compromised. I actually had a very similar situation couple of years ago on Yahoo, and it wasn't even abandoned - it was my active email address which I use almost every day. Fortunately there was no harm done, apart from couple of spam emails being sent to all my contacts in the address book.

And thanks for the tip @dorsetknob , I've already been in touch with w1zz, when I asked him about closing down the profile. He was extremely helpful, even answered some of the questions regarding the profile features & "closing down" policy, so I asked him to stand by until after the January 2020 & said I'd let him know when to do it.


----------



## buzzi (Dec 31, 2019)

@Trekkie4  this is so sad (and bad) news, but it's your choice, I respect it and I wish you the best. Losing one of the most relevant user around here hurts...you delighted us with your care and precision in building retro builds, I will miss you.
I'd like to see your data and posts left here, so we could have a "nostalgic memory of nostalgic stuff".
Happy new year my friend, happy new year tpu!


----------



## dorsetknob (Dec 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> when I asked him about closing down the profile. He was extremely helpful,


You could have a """SELF IMPOSED Locked Account """ (by w1zz) which by asking at a later date could be unlocked ? = a possible solution ?
would be like a admin imposed ban without the hassle


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2019)

buzzi said:


> @Trekkie4  this is so sad (and bad) news, but it's your choice, I respect it and I wish you the best. Losing one of the most relevant user around here hurts...you delighted us with your care and precision in building retro builds, I will miss you.
> I'd like to see your data and posts left here, so we could have a "nostalgic memory of nostalgic stuff".
> Happy new year my friend, happy new year tpu!





dorsetknob said:


> You could have a """SELF IMPOSED Locked Account """ (by w1zz) which by asking at a later date could be unlocked ? = a possible solution ?
> would be like a admin imposed ban without the hassle


Thank you for the kind words  

We'll see about the content/profile thing, guess I'll have to get in touch with @W1zzard again & work out the details. I actually like your idea @dorsetknob, it's an interesting solution!


----------



## cornemuse (Dec 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> shutting down my profile.


Why shut it down? If you leave & decide to come back, all you _might_ need is name & p/w.
I did this long time ago, came back 5-6 yrs later, wallaa! (I write site name username & p/w in a small *paper* notebook.

-c-

(which BTW, any former yahookans here?!)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 31, 2019)

cornemuse said:


> (which BTW, any former yahookans here?!)


I haven't regularly used Yahoo Mail in years. I still have accounts that I use as junk accounts.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 31, 2019)

I (still) use Yahoo on a daily basis... I hate all the visual, design changes they've done to it (once Verizon took over Yahoo), but I still choose & prefer Yahoo over Google.

In fact (to be perfectly honest), GMail is getting on my nerves.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Dec 31, 2019)

Trekkie4 said:


> I (still) use Yahoo on a daily basis... I hate all the visual, design changes they've done to it (once Verizon took over Yahoo), but I still choose & prefer Yahoo over Google.
> 
> In fact (to be perfectly honest), GMail is getting on my nerves.



I use Yahoo.mail. Have had it since the old days when you'd get the nifty Yahoo disk in the mail. Dial up connection.... Yessir, my Yahoo.mail account is that old!!! 

I don't like e-mail at all. Totally bloated with Ads just like everything else now-a-days. 

The comcast lady had this look.... when I told her I missed free TV, it was justifiable to watch commercials. Now I have to pay for the same TV (plus a bunch of channels I don't want or need) and STILL have to watch the Front door commercials... No thanks, I said... I'd like to cancel. I'll just get Amazon Prime or NetFlix, enjoy movies. I can stream any news channel. Nope done. "But sir, we have this package deal...." NO. No more crud. Just the Internet. And stop increasing my speeds (for free) but 6 months later raise my bill. That's starting to get on my nerves. The E-mail.... heck I open it at my desire. Battery saver on my phone shuts off all incoming notifications. I literally choose what I want to look at and when. Stop notifying me. I am fully aware and expecting that any ways. Please, default this stuff off. 

I like TechPowerUp because when I'm posting like right now, I don't have an ad on the side or top, bottom. It's nice. Thank you keep it that way.


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 31, 2019)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I use Yahoo.mail. Have had it since the old days when you'd get the nifty Yahoo disk in the mail. Dial up connection.... Yessir, my Yahoo.mail account is that old!!!
> 
> I don't like e-mail at all. Totally bloated with Ads just like everything else now-a-days.
> 
> ...


Your post reminds me of a idiom.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Dec 31, 2019)

Lol. Yea. 
Last gears I ground up where in the rear end in my El camino. Blew the posi locker up... So I welded it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 31, 2019)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Blew the posi locker up... So I welded it.


LOL. Budget spool.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Jan 1, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> LOL. Budget spool.



Free actually. Best money ever spent. I'll break an axle before the welds break. small, 26 splines.


----------



## erek (Jan 2, 2020)

Ad Lib Gold **RARE** Vintage Sound ISA Card  | eBay
					

For collection purposes only.



					www.ebay.com
				





__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1212590257377443847


----------



## cornemuse (Jan 2, 2020)

cornemuse said:


> (which BTW, any former yahookans here?!)



Not Yahoo, Yahooka! _Way back _in the day, it was a bunch of potheads!
Actually, Yahoo sued them for (name infringment?)

(My avatar from back then/there)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 2, 2020)

cornemuse said:


> Not Yahoo, Yahooka! _Way back _in the day, it was a bunch of potheads!
> Actually, Yahoo sued them for (name infringment?)


Ah, a play on words. Fair enough. Kinda funny actually!


----------



## vukos (Jan 2, 2020)

Hey all, unforgiveably-long time lurker, first time poster. I've been googling all over the nets to try to get my hands on an Intel Skulltrail mobo, the D5400XS. I figured I might as well ask here and see if anyone is willing to sell theirs, with or without the QX9775 CPUs. I hope this isn't too off topic, but if anyone wants to sell, do feel free to PM me. I am ready to PayPal

In other hopefully more on-topic news, it seems Intel has gotten rid of ALL driver and bios downloads on their site for their first-party boards. Nothing left on their DownloadCenter. See this discussion. Does anyone know of a mirror or reputable alternative source to download some of the legacy mobo BIOSes?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 3, 2020)

vukos said:


> Hey all, unforgiveably-long time lurker, first time poster. I've been googling all over the nets to try to get my hands on an Intel Skulltrail mobo, the D5400XS. I figured I might as well ask here and see if anyone is willing to sell theirs, with or without the QX9775 CPUs. I hope this isn't too off topic, but if anyone wants to sell, do feel free to PM me. I am ready to PayPal.


There is a thread for this kind of thing. See below;








						Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway Forum
					

Use this forum to buy/sell/trade items. No advertising of links. User to user only. No commercial posts.




					www.techpowerup.com
				



There are some requirements that need to be met and you can read about them below;








						READ BEFORE POSTING!! The Rules of this Forum
					

Creating a thread guidelines of this Forum:    This forum is provided as a community service. We are not responsible for any transactions or losses that result from postings in this forum. Advertising the sale of illegal items, such as but not limited to narcotics, pornography, and other items...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2020)

Bought a Phenom X4 9750, never had a first gen Phenom


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Bought a Phenom X4 9750, never had a first gen Phenom


That was a solid CPU BITD, especially for the price. How much did you get it for?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was a solid CPU BITD, especially for the price. How much did you get it for?


10EUR including shipping


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Bought a Phenom X4 9750, never had a first gen Phenom


Which board are you going to use?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Which board are you going to use?


My retired Asus M3N78 SE or Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA... too bad that the latter doesn't work with AMD cards with Phenoms, no use for my HD 3850 AGP there :|

That's why my AGP setup is powered by A64 X2 6000+


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 3, 2020)

You do know about the 9750*B* with the fix for the TLB issue the 9750 has?



			http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20X4%209750B%20-%20HD975BWCJ4BGH%20(HD975BWCGHBOX).html
		


Edit: The B represents the Black Edition?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2020)

Isn't the 9000 series the faulted revision, 9050 series are fixed?


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Isn't the 9000 series the faulted revision, 9050 series are fixed?


Yes, my bad


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Yes, my bad


NP, the 1st gen Phenoms are kinda a thing many had no experience. But FYI, it's not a BE, that 9750 

e: typo


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> 10EUR including shipping


That's a great price. Dead cheap.



Chloe Price said:


> Asus M3N78 SE


That is a nice board. IIRC it was well liked because it was very stable.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's great price. Dead cheap.
> 
> 
> That is a nice board. IIRC it was well liked because it was very stable.


The only problem with that board is that is has only 2 DDR slots :/


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2020)

Finally received my vinyl gear earlier today! Since we already talked about this the other day, figured I'd mention it in here 

Depending on the overall interest, I might upload some pics?


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Depending on the overall interest, I might upload some pics?


Yes please


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> The only problem with that board is that is has only 2 DDR slots :/


True, but it's limited to 8GB anyway, so that's not a big deal.








						M3N78 SE   | Motherboards | ASUS Global
					






					www.asus.com


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 4, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> True, but it's limited to 8GB anyway, so that's not a big deal.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No, Im not buying 4GB sticks for that ancient platform


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> No, Im not buying 4GB sticks for that ancient platform


Are you doing XP on it?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 4, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are you doing XP on it?


The non-AGP AM2? WinXP with last updates


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> The non-AGP AM2? WinXP with last updates


Ok cool, then 4GB would be perfect. Get a GTX 770 2GB or an RX460/470 2GB and you would have an excellent XP retro system.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Yes please


Okay then! 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This thing is extremely solid & built like a tank! Plinth (top side of the turntable, featuring the labels, logo & buttons) is metal, most likely made out of steel. Which was a genuine & pleasant surprise, I assumed that it would be plastic, even in this price group. They basically took the old "LP120", model which I had for over 2yrs, took care of all the commonly-mentioned issues & transformed it into this, which is now (in my personal opinion, at least) seriously close to a real SL-1200. Don't really know what else to say about it, other than I absolutely love it! I'm not a big fan of blue LEDs however, I'd prefer the red ones, but other than that I can't find anything wrong with it 

I also took the liberty of ordering & swapping out the included stylus (XP3, "DJ" one) with HiFi-friendly AT-VM95E, along with headshell/cartridge display case for my three Shures which I bought over the last couple of years. M75, M91 & M99. So really, most of the stuff is old & re-purposed, the only true investment was with the LP140 itself & VM95E stylus.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Okay then!


This is most certainly welcome. This is old-school hifi electronics, and high quality at that. Very cool!


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 5, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ok cool, then 4GB would be perfect. Get a GTX 770 2GB or an RX460/470 2GB and you would have an excellent XP retro system.


Nah, I'll grab a Radeon HD 4890 from my stash 

e: I have a HD 6850 but I love HD 4890s more


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 5, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Okay then!


Appreciate the photos.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 5, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Appreciate the photos.


No prob! There's probably going to be more of those, as I'm in the middle of cartridge re-alignment... It would appear that my old table used different geometry (tonearm configuration), because none of my old carts seem to match the protractors any longer. Which is a long and tedious work, but alas it has to be done properly.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> e: I have a HD 6850 but I love HD 4890s more


The specs say the 6850 would be the better choice..


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 7, 2020)

Got my better M.2 adapter, where should I test it... I know 





*DO NOT* try to redo this.
It does *NOT* work beyond this point (NVMe isn't visible under storage manager and GPU is at Code 43 error).
Here's a photo of system : LINK.

PS. This board is MASSIVE pain in the a&% to work under Windows 10 x64 (like, interrupt not working properly, which forces a PS/2 key to be pushed all the time so that hard drive reads/writes don't "stall" on eachother).


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 7, 2020)

Whaaaat, AGP AND a M.2 drive, hold on a minute 


e: Ah, it's that Asrock board..


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 7, 2020)

It works with PCIe 3.0 stuff, but it's x4 only :/




Limiting power on card limited by PCI-e power... (my model doesn't have 6-pin external power).
Of course interrupt issue is present even on GTX 750 Ti.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 7, 2020)

GTX 750 Ti is simply one of the greatest cards ever 
I'm gonna freeze my GT 1030 

View attachment 141563


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 8, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Whaaaat, AGP AND a M.2 drive, hold on a minute


Yup, that was my reaction!



Chloe Price said:


> GTX 750 Ti is simply one of the greatest cards ever


There is no denying it's a sweetspot card.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 8, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> There is no denying it's a sweetspot card.


I had a 750 Ti too back in the day, in fact I also used that same Twin Turbo with it. 

750 Ti is just the legendary card without a 6pin even tho some models have one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 8, 2020)

In case anyone's wondering, yes I'm still planning to freeze (or to shut down) my account, but I didn't get around to address this issue ... it would seem 2020 started out extremely busily, but also (and I'm happy to say) very much positive!  In fact, I have another project coming up tomorrow, that's related to HiFi, but doesn't have anything to do with Audio Technica.

Speaking of which, I didn't even have the time to enjoy my LP140XP yet, but after consulting some of the guys over at Audiokarma, I finally came up with the right protractor to re-calibrate all my previously aligned headshells, to fit new  geometry, suitable for 140. Which (as I already explained) was boring & tedious task, so there wasn't much point in taking pics. That being said, I was messing around with the included head (the one with replaced stylus, VM95E) & took this pic shortly after:




Blue LEDs are from the XMAS lights that I've had on my bookshelf at the time, which kinda fits the overall "blue" theme the LP140 is going for, so I figured why not! I'd still prefer red ones to be honest, it looks more "natural" and faithful to the original SL-1200 (even though 1200 Mk7 now has the ability to switch between red & blue LEDs, so in a way it still resembles the real thing)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 8, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> In case anyone's wondering, yes I'm still planning to freeze (or to shut down) my account, but I didn't get around to address this issue ...


Trekkie, give that a second thought... or third.... or even fourth.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 8, 2020)

I'd rather quit smoking than leave TPU myself.. I love this community and you guys just rock! And like lexluthermiester said, don't leave us :3


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 9, 2020)

I was given a very generous donation yesterday - a complete Dual HiFi component system from around late 80s or maybe even early 90s!

To make things even more interesting, some of the components are "doubled", meaning I got two amplifiers, and two CD-players, but only one tape deck, one pair of speakers and one turntable. Judging by the manufacturing quality, I'd say these were entry level at the time, but still high-quality comparing to some of the stuff that you see nowdays. Unfortunately, some of the components didn't seem to work (or power up, for that matter), but I already successfully repaired them & got everything working & playing 

(2x) CV 6030 Class A Stereo Integrated Amplifier:

CV 6030 (1), focusing on the problem (2 blown 500mA fuses)


 

 

 
CV 6030 (2), again - focusing on the problem (2 blown 500mA fuses)


 

 

 

CC 8010 Stereo Cassette Tape Deck:
(during & after the repairs)


 

 

 

 

 

 



CS 415 Turntable:
Unfortunately, it still has a problem with manual lift control, but automatic ones are working fine


 

 



The entire stack together, minus the second CD 1035 CD Player, playing Rolling Stones on the turntable (picture above)


----------



## HUSKIE (Jan 10, 2020)

Bought this without psu,gpu and hdd. 
Will be adding the Motherboard for my ROG Collection.

Asus Crosshair IV Formula AMD 890FX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Pro Extreme Performance CPU Cooler

On cooler master HAF case.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 11, 2020)

This was a thing, and fits very well here. LGR may jest, but I got one of these for a friend BITD and he loved it!


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 11, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> This was a thing, and fits very well here. LGR may jest, but I got one of these for a friend BITD and he loved it!


With the ashtray keyboard that goes with it


----------



## Robert B (Jan 11, 2020)

New Hardware Found! 

*Leadtek Winfast A350XT - FX5900XT - 128MB AGP*


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 11, 2020)

i7-2600K is better than I thought, hard to believe that this is a 9 year old CPU. Running with a mild overclock (4.1GHz) since I'm running with stock cooler for now. Still packs more than enough power for HTPC usage and some basic gaming with OC'd GT 1030 



Robert B said:


> New Hardware Found!
> 
> *Leadtek Winfast A350XT - FX5900XT - 128MB AGP*


Heh, I always liked those dust filters Leadtek used back in the day. 



lexluthermiester said:


> This was a thing, and fits very well here. LGR may jest, but I got one of these for a friend BITD and he loved it!


I used to smoke inside on my old apartment, that would've been hella useful for lighting a cigarette and holding my beer


----------



## Robert B (Jan 12, 2020)

*New Hardware Found! *

7900GTX PCI-E 512MB TV-OUT 2DVI / NE/79GTX+T352-P348-non GS /  Gainward Bliss 7900 GTX 

Missing 3 ceramic caps that can be easily replaced. The only problem is a missing solder pad but I have a solution for that also.  

Untested.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

Soldering SMD's is a total pain in the ass... still done that though, even with my old crappy soldering iron and I've brought hardware back alive. That cooler from 7800 GTX 512/7900 GTX/7900 GTO was awesome, quiet and performed well, there was totally no need to replace that with an aftermarket one. 

edit: Oh. Crap.

I just realized that I got a "new" Socket A motherboard, and it doesn't have SATA.. If a miracle is possible and one of those old DiamondMax9 drives work, then I have to use one of the doomed Maxtors.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I just realized that I got a "new" Socket A motherboard, and it doesn't have SATA.. If a miracle is possible and one of those old DiamondMax9 drives work, then I have to use one of the doomed Maxtors.


You should look into one of these;

Compact Flash -> IDE





						Amazon.com: StarTech.com 3.5in Drive Bay IDE to Single CF SSD Adapter Card Reader (35BAYCF2IDE): Electronics
					

Buy StarTech.com 3.5in Drive Bay IDE to Single CF SSD Adapter Card Reader (35BAYCF2IDE): Memory Card Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



					www.amazon.com
				



or





						Amazon.com: StarTech.com 40/44 Pin IDE to Compact Flash SSD Adapter - IDE to CF Card reader - CF to IDE Converter (IDE2CF),Black : Electronics
					

Buy StarTech.com 40/44 Pin IDE to Compact Flash SSD Adapter - IDE to CF Card reader - CF to IDE Converter (IDE2CF),Black: Memory Card Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



					www.amazon.com
				



And for the above you can get;


			https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-CompactFlash-Memory-SDCFXSB-064G-G46/dp/B00NUB2RPW
		

or


			https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-128GB-Performance-Professional-CFF/dp/B07M5M5KYZ
		


SD card -> IDE





						Amazon.com: Aneew Secure Digital Card SD to 3.5" 40Pin Male IDE Hard Disk Drive Adapter : Electronics
					

Amazon.com: Aneew Secure Digital Card SD to 3.5" 40Pin Male IDE Hard Disk Drive Adapter : Electronics



					www.amazon.com
				




SATA -> IDE


			https://www.amazon.com/HDE-Computer-Drive-Interface-Adapter/dp/B00JVUXMRI
		

The one below is really handy!





						Amazon.com: SYBA SATA II to IDE PATA ATA133 Bi-Directional Adapter for 2.5" 3.5" HDD SSD CD DVD SD-ADA50016,Black: Computers & Accessories
					

Amazon.com: SYBA SATA II to IDE PATA ATA133 Bi-Directional Adapter for 2.5" 3.5" HDD SSD CD DVD SD-ADA50016,Black: Computers & Accessories



					www.amazon.com


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

Yeah, many retro dudes in Youtube use those, but I dunno.. let's hope that at least another of these work. 






Hey, the graphics card matches fine with the MB's PCB  I'll probably put a Zalman VF700-Cu to it though.

e: About that adapter:


> $9.29 + No Import Fees Deposit & $14.90 Shipping to Finland


...yeaaah, I'll check ebay..


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 12, 2020)

Since you have almost two identical DiamondMax Plus 9 HDDs you could try out RAID-0. I did that with the same drives on a Socket A build although the motherboard I used was an Abit with the integrated supplementary Highpoint controller. You'll be limited to 80 GB on the 120GB if you pair the two together in RAID.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

Wasn't RAID-0 that one which boosts speed? 80GB is enough for S462 test bench, if they both work. 

I'll be testing tomorrow maybe, did some cleaning on my apartment and of course I packed all the stuff lying around in boxes and and put them in a closet, of course my old test-PSU was there too. 

e: BTW, does anyone remember why nForce 2 chipset was placed in 45 degree angle? I can't remember myself.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Wasn't RAID-0 that one which boosts speed?


Yes, if a drive goes kaput though the data is gone unless you have it backed up. Surprisingly it never happened to me even with the two Maxtor's that were known for failure of a component on the controller board. I think it was a MOSFET or some other power related component would go in a puff of smoke/burned PCB.



Chloe Price said:


> e: BTW, does anyone remember why nForce 2 chipset was placed in 45 degree angle? I can't remember myself.


Shorten the traces to the DIMM slots is the reason I think. I could be wrong though.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> e: About that adapter:
> ...yeaaah, I'll check ebay..


Maybe you could check Finlands Amazon site..


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

Well, there's going to be nothing important there more than benchmark screenshots, so I guess I'll try it, I guess that board supports it.

Damn, I can't even remember when I last time played around with a nForce 2 board.. dual channel isn't anything special, rather for the GF4MX IGP with the IGP version of the chipset. IIRC with the "normal" nForce 2, the boost was about 5-10% vs single channel?


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Damn, I can't even remember when I last time played around with a nForce 2 board.. dual channel isn't anything special, rather for the GF4MX IGP with the IGP version of the chipset. IIRC with the "normal" nForce 2, the boost was about 5-10% vs single channel?


The performance boost depended on the workload of the program. The IGP though did get a bigger performance boost because of the increase in bandwidth.





			nForce2: single-channel mode vs. dual-channel mode
		


There was a Soltek NF2 board limited to single channel.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

That Soltek board sure is a weird one.. I liked back then when manufacturers used more creativity with colours in hardware than these days.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 12, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> There was a Soltek NF2 board limited to single channel.


What was the bloody point of having an NForce2 chipset for single channel? For that you'd be fine with a VIA chipset. Total nonsense..


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 12, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> What was the bloody point of having an NForce2 chipset for single channel? For that you'd be fine with a VIA chipset. Total nonsense..


It was faster than the competing dual channel VIA chipset.





						News | Latest tech news & rumours | Trusted Reviews
					

Read about the latest tech news and developments from our team of experts, who provide updates on the new gadgets, tech products & services on the horizon.




					www.theinquirer.net
				






> Soltek's overall performance lead is not earth shattering, but like everything else in this industry, perception is everything. Of the 14 benchmarks that were run, Soltek's board won 11 of them, drew 2, and lost only one. For the record:
> Quake 3: Evenly matched results
> UT 2K3: 5.5 to 11.1% lead
> 3D Mark 2K1: Wins by a nose
> ...



Supposedly the Alpha EV6 FSB was incapable of utilizing all of the available memory bandwidth of a dual channel bus. Perhaps a dual Socket A motherboard would of put that dual channel bandwidth to better use?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 12, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> It was faster than the competing dual channel VIA chipset.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Still a bleeding waste as there is no real point to it.


----------



## Grog6 (Jan 12, 2020)

I have several 20+ year old maxtor drives that still work fine, and the smart data still looks good.

I would not go raid-0 on them; that's just asking for disappointment, lol.

I also have 2x st-225 drives still running, but that's just a miracle.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

Moved to my main PC, and in general usage, that 2600K @ 4.1 feels as snappy as R5 2600 @ 4.025.

Simply amazing that a 9 year old CPU is still so damn good.


----------



## hat (Jan 12, 2020)

I still use a 2600k in my main machine. Still does everything I need it to.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

hat said:


> I still use a 2600k in my main machine. Still does everything I need it to.


It shows it's age with newest games with everything maxed out, but yeah, overall still a fine CPU.

Wouldn't have any problems using that as an "emergency rig" paired with 980 Ti if needed.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> It shows it's age with newest games with everything maxed out, but yeah, overall still a fine CPU.


If you turn off or down the CPU heavy stuff, it's a great CPU.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> If you turn off or down the CPU heavy stuff, it's a great CPU.


One user from the Finnish io-tech's forum tests a LOT of older hardware, here's his 2600K test from last year:


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 13, 2020)

I was buying something else and saw this. Maybe somebody here could use one.








						AMD K6-2 533 MHz (AMD-K6-2/533AFX) Processor for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AMD K6-2 533 MHz (AMD-K6-2/533AFX) Processor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



He has a  K6-2 500 also. No K6-3 I looked.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jan 15, 2020)

Slapped this together today. Should be a nice Crysis crusher.  

It's a bit of a mess though, alas what can you do with a top mount psu with fixed cables.

2x Xeon X5460's
D5400XS
asetek 120x38mm Dual pump/block AIO
2x1GB DDR2 FB-DIMM (Going to get more  )
PNY GTX 295
Rosewill Xtreme 750W
Old Rosewill Blackbone case which was hacked up to make the board fit.
Temp 40GB hdd

I reused a stock cooler from an R9 295X2 and adapted it to fit the board, haven't done any real tests yet but it should work pretty well. 

And ignore the Evga card I was planning on running both but it's having issues so I took it back out. Probably needs to be baked, one of the gpu's doesn't work most of the time, but occasionally it starts working again if I fiddle with it enough.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 15, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> Slapped this together today. Should be a nice Crysis crusher.


Nice! That could do some recent gaming to if you're willing to turn down some FX.


DR4G00N said:


> It's a bit of a mess though, alas what can you do with a top mount psu with fixed cables.


You could still do some creative cable management. You're right though, it works.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 15, 2020)

Wait, wut, Skulltrail? Now that's hella awesome!

That setup NEEDS to be put in a modern case with proper cable management!


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 15, 2020)

That supports 400FSB, I would try a pinmod and see if you can get 3,66GHz out of it. 1333 to 1600 is a tapemod just like the old Q6600 3GHz mod, but you tape a different pin.
It doesn't look like enough radiator for 2x Xeons. I would go 2x big air heatsinks and a Delta AFC1512DG intake fan.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jan 15, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Wait, wut, Skulltrail? Now that's hella awesome!
> 
> That setup NEEDS to be put in a modern case with proper cable management!


Trying to just use parts I have kicking around for the most part. A new SSI EEB sized case would be 3/4 the cost of everything else.
I'm going to put the 5.25" cage back in after I make some modifications which should allow me to hide the cables somewhat better instead of just stuffing them above the dvd drive. 



Retrorockit said:


> That supports 400FSB, I would try a pinmod and see if you can get 3,66GHz out of it. 1333 to 1600 is a tapemod just like the old Q6600 3GHz mod, but you tape a different pin.
> It doesn't look like enough radiator for 2x Xeons. I would go 2x big air heatsinks and a Delta AFC1512DG intake fan.


The board is fully overclockable, no need for mods. Currently running them at 3.8GHz 1.3V, but I should be able to get them up to 4GHz provided the NB stays cool enough.
The cpu cooling should be fine, these cpu's don't get very hot. But worse case scenario I can swap the rad out for a 280x25mm unit I have lying around and mount it up top.

Edit: Did some Prime95 testing and the cooler seems plenty adequate, hottest cores on both cpu's topping out around the mid to high 50's.


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 16, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> That supports 400FSB, I would try a pinmod and see if you can get 3,66GHz out of it. 1333 to 1600 is a tapemod just like the old Q6600 3GHz mod, but you tape a different pin.
> It doesn't look like enough radiator for 2x Xeons. I would go 2x big air heatsinks and a Delta AFC1512DG intake fan.




link for that q6600 mod please. Thats what I got in my system right now.


----------



## TheMadDutchDude (Jan 16, 2020)

Maaaaan. I have been searching for a DX5400 forever! Awesome to see one in use.


----------



## Robert B (Jan 16, 2020)

Extremely HOT video memory heatsinks, very HOT VRM area, massive COIL NOISE but* I wouldn't like any other way.*  Now an ULTRA is in order but I'm not holding my breath just yet as I don't see that happening anytime soon. 

*Mercury* Geforce FX 5800 128MB DDR2 AGP. *KOB* *N5800TE-128MD*
http://www.mercury-pc.com/product/324


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 16, 2020)

BSEL mod from 266 to 333. The 2nd photo is the mod.





						Tape mod/BSEL mod intel q6600
					

ive been looking to see if i can boost the speed of this, and found this mod. I have an intel oem motherboard, so no overclocking. i wouldve much rather done that. Anyway, while reading up on doing this ive seen where you cover one pin, 2 pins, connect 2 pins, connecct 4 pins, and a bunch of...




					forums.tomshardware.com
				



This works on the G0 stepping, The B3 not so much. The E7500 Core2Duo 45nm is better for single thread.
This is valid for other 266 CPUs if you can raise the Voltage to support the new speed. Q6700 are all G0.

There are also VID pinmods. But they're kind of a lost art because the starting point varies from one CPU to the next, and the Voltage tables are not only more complex, but vary from one generation of CPU to another. Then throw in LGA771 where the map is the same but turned 90* ( just draw the LGA775 notches in  to fix it) and there is lots of fun to be had with this. Some drawings are from the socket side, and some from the CPU side, so photos are prefered.

Some PLL have a TIM function that locks the FSB to a fixed maximum value. It's very common for a MB that supports the Q6600 mod to also support the 3GHz Q9650 which will give about 10% better CPU score. But the E7500 @ 3.66Ghz for 1-2 thread apps is still hard to beat.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 17, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Extremely HOT video memory heatsinks, very HOT VRM area, massive COIL NOISE but* I wouldn't like any other way.*  Now an ULTRA is in order but I'm not holding my breath just yet as I don't see that happening anytime soon.
> 
> *Mercury* Geforce FX 5800 128MB DDR2 AGP. *KOB* *N5800TE-128MD*
> http://www.mercury-pc.com/product/324


If I may be so bold?








						Zalman Z-machine Gv1000 VGA Cooler 80mm Fan Heatsink for ATI AMD NVIDIA GeForce for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Zalman Z-machine Gv1000 VGA Cooler 80mm Fan Heatsink for ATI AMD NVIDIA GeForce at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



Got one very similar(different brand) for an FX5950 BITD. Worked very well and was much less noisy.

Ignore that suggestion if you're restoring and giving it your "factory fresh" treatment.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 17, 2020)

Here's a video everyone should enjoy.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 17, 2020)

New AGP card that is my collection 
6-pin is so overkill on it...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 17, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 142503
> View attachment 142504
> New AGP card that is my collection
> 6-pin is so overkill on it...


That's the good 7300 GT. Overclocks like a champ. 
 It's needs the extra power. 6 pin is better than a 4 pin molex.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 17, 2020)

We shall see when I get XP on my AGP test platform 
Side question : What "ns" is this rated at ?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 18, 2020)

No idea but, Qimonda memory typically doesn't overclock worth a damn. You should be able to scream the core clocks though.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2020)

A fully loaded HP Compaq nx7000, it was with Pentium M Banias 1.4GHz & 512MB RAM..


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 18, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> The board is fully overclockable, no need for mods. Currently running them at 3.8GHz 1.3V, but I should be able to get them up to 4GHz provided the NB stays cool enough.
> The cpu cooling should be fine, these cpu's don't get very hot. But worse case scenario I can swap the rad out for a 280x25mm unit I have lying around and mount it up top.


 I'm glad to hear that cooling is working for you.
 The Tapemod thing is stuck in my head because I wanted to do a Skulltrail clone with a Dell T7400 workstation. But someone was buying them all up locally, and freight would be a deal breaker on one of those monsters. Another theory I had was a reverse LGA775/771 swap. Use the Xeon adapter to convert a QX9650 to an unlocked LGA771. Electrically it's correct. If the BIOS or microcode can be managed IDK. Whether  this would access dual CPU support is unknown. But dual X5470 with a 400fsb tape mod would be a 4GHZ 8 core clone anyway. Getting the Voltage for it on a Dell would be whole separate project.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 19, 2020)

@lexluthermiester @Chloe Price
I was wrong about AGP NVMe, my NVMe Optane drive simply refused to cooperate 
Samsung didn't have this issue :



PS. Validation : https://valid.x86.fr/sdt9th


----------



## HUSKIE (Jan 21, 2020)

Found this evga 775 with Cpu and ram lying around.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 21, 2020)

HUSKIE said:


> Found this evga 775 with Cpu and ram lying around.
> 
> View attachment 142791View attachment 142792


Slap a quad in there and make a retro XP gaming system.



agent_x007 said:


> my NVMe Optane drive simply refused to cooperate


Optane is a bit of an odd duck.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 21, 2020)

@Mr.Scott "Pretty good" OC 
42,5% on GPU and 60% on memory.
Valid : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm03/6544352


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 21, 2020)

What sucks about these 6000+ and 6400+ chips is that they're already running so damn high clockspeeds, that they had little to none OC headroom. :/ My 6000+ (Windsor) goes ~3.2GHz.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 21, 2020)

@agent_x007
I had a board with the Nforce3 250 chipset however the one I had was from Gigabyte. It was also the only board I've had pop one of the CPU VRM MOSFETS  almost off the board. What a loud pop it was. I may of took the overclocking too far. 

The one circled in red popped.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 21, 2020)

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum was easily the best NF3 board I've ever used, paired with A64 3000+ Venice @ 2.7GHz (50% 24/7 OC) & HyperX BH-5 2x256MB @ DDR540 2-2-2-5-1T


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 21, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum was easily the best NF3 board I've ever used, paired with A64 3000+ Venice @ 2.7GHz (50% 24/7 OC) & HyperX BH-5 2x256MB @ DDR540 2-2-2-5-1T


A64 3200+ @2.5 GHz, didn't survive after the board went kaput. The RAM I had was Corsair XMS DDR400 2.5-3-3.


----------



## hat (Jan 21, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> What sucks about these 6000+ and 6400+ chips is that they're already running so damn high clockspeeds, that they had little to none OC headroom. :/ My 6000+ (Windsor) goes ~3.2GHz.


I had a 5200+ Windsor when I first got into overclocking. The maximum clock speed I could get out of it was 2950MHz, regardless of what I did. It was an older F2 stepping, not one of the better F3's.


----------



## Prime2515102 (Jan 22, 2020)

I just noticed this Logitech M-BD53 Mouseman Wheel Optical sitting in my closet. It was my first optical mouse. I remember paying $59.99 + tax for it back in 2000, which was pretty insane for a mouse back then (at least for me). Moving to optical from a ball mouse was the best thing that ever happened since sliced bread though.

It's been beat to hell and doesn't even come clean now, but it still works!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 22, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> The one circled in red popped.


Even though it's been a while, that still sucks.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 22, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Even though it's been a while, that still sucks.


I just realized I had the wrong CPU socket, and it was the NForce3 250Gb.

GA-K8NSC-939



The two boards almost look identical except for the socket difference.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 22, 2020)

250Gb and Ultra are similar, the only difference is that Ultra officially supports 1000MHz HT 

e: Even though I hate Intel these days, nobody can hate Sandy Bridge 









						Intel Core i7 2600K @ 4500.56 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[4qnsgv] Validated Dump by Maenad (2020-01-22 07:29:09) - MB: ASRock Z68 Pro3 - RAM: 8192 MB




					valid.x86.fr


----------



## Susquehannock (Jan 23, 2020)

Found one a couple days ago and thought of this thread.

Do UNIVAC cards count as hardware, software, or both? 





This will date me somewhat. My father was a mathematician and one day he took me on a tour of the Naval base where he worked. As a young boy I had no idea what those big noisy machines with men in long white coats operating them were used for.
Fast forward to today and I still occasionally open an old book to find cards he used as bookmarks.  When magnetic storage took over the old bulk was discarded like nobody's business. Piles of boxes on side of the road, loose cards blowing in the wind. We used them in crafts class at school. Helped my Father toss boxes and boxes he had stacked in his home office into the fire. There were even regional punch card origami competitions.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 23, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Do UNIVAC cards count as hardware, software, or both?


They were a data storage medium, it doesn't matter what they were made of. So indeed yes, both. In the case of these cards, the user can physically see the data stored and if needed replicate same. It was very clever and ingenious for it's time, if a bit cumbersome. Magnetic media soon made it obsolete.


----------



## Bungz (Jan 24, 2020)

I need to stop buying absolute crap on a whim!

The dfi doesn’t post but needs new caps so there is slim hope.

Was a nearly new 500gb HD and a old D5 pump there too, so no money lost if it doesn’t.

Steel case damn near broke my back moving it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2020)

Bungz said:


> View attachment 143090View attachment 143091View attachment 143093
> 
> I need to stop buying absolute crap on a whim!
> 
> ...


I don't see crap, I see a lot of potential!


----------



## Remeca (Jan 24, 2020)

I don't consider any of my PC's very nostalgic, even though the oldest one is a Pentium D. I wish I still had my slot 1 Pentium 3 system, or the first PC I built myself, which was an Athlon XP 1600+. This thing still brings back some memories though, and not all good ones:





And yes, it still works. 
MOSTEK 6502C 1.79 Mhz
16k RAM w/ 8 bit DB
Cassette and 5.25" floppy storage drives


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2020)

Remeca said:


> I don't consider any of my PC's very nostalgic, even though the oldest one is a Pentium D. I wish I still had my slot 1 Pentium 3 system, or the first PC I built myself, which was an Athlon XP 1600+. This thing still brings back some memories though, and not all good ones:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This very much counts! On that note, welcome to the tread!


----------



## E-Bear (Jan 24, 2020)

Remeca said:


> I don't consider any of my PC's very nostalgic, even though the oldest one is a Pentium D. I wish I still had my slot 1 Pentium 3 system, or the first PC I built myself, which was an Athlon XP 1600+. This thing still brings back some memories though, and not all good ones:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ready to hack the pentagon in analog.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 25, 2020)

I'd like to have something like these:


----------



## basco (Jan 25, 2020)

me too :








						EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win, 2x 1GB GDDR5 | Preisvergleich Geizhals Österreich
					

✔ Preisvergleich für EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win, 2x 1GB GDDR5 ✔ Produktinfo ⇒ Anschlüsse: 3x DVI, 1x Mini HDMI • Grafik: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 X2 - 2x 1GB GDDR5 - Desktop • Chip: 2x … ✔ PCIe ✔ Testberichte ✔ Günstig kaufen




					geizhals.at


----------



## Ahhzz (Jan 25, 2020)

Bungz said:


> View attachment 143090View attachment 143091View attachment 143093
> 
> I need to stop buying absolute crap on a whim!
> 
> ...


I do love those huge cases... look at all that drive room!!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 25, 2020)

Ahhzz said:


> I do love those huge cases... look at all that drive room!!


Exactly, those old and big cases make for excellent high power systems. Lot's of room for parts and drives. Oh yeah!


----------



## Robert B (Jan 25, 2020)

*Paradise Systems* PVGA1A-JK - *WDC* '89 62-003139-130 - WDC 1989 61-603235 - mnf 1990 week 30 FCC ID : DBM603235P - ISA 8 bit
*ATI* Graphics Solution Plus Rev. 1 - mnf 1987 week 40 - ISA 8 bit
*Chips*&Technologies P82C435 - P82A436 - ISA 8 bit - the BIOS chip was missing the protective tape but I covered it as soon as I bought - status unknown

These puppies are among my oldest video cards in my collection.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 25, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 142867
> @Mr.Scott "Pretty good" OC
> 42,5% on GPU and 60% on memory.
> Valid : https://www.3dmark.com/3dm03/6544352


Nice!
Get off that 6400+ and find yourself a PII  555, 560, or 565 BE. All of these run cooler and clock higher. I run my 565 BE @ 4.5 when I bench AGP.


----------



## Bungz (Jan 25, 2020)

Replaced the two caps and booted first time. Got to say I didn't expect that.

Now to find a new chipset fan, don't suppose anyone has one off a dead board I could persuade them to part with?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 25, 2020)

Bungz said:


> Now to find a new chipset fan, don't suppose anyone has one off a dead board I could persuade them to part with?


What is the model of that board? And are you stateside?


----------



## Bungz (Jan 25, 2020)

Its a DFI NF4 SLI-DR Lanparty

Im UK but would obviously cover any postage.

May have sorted it but an original would be great.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 25, 2020)

Bungz said:


> May have sorted it but an original would be great.


An original is going to be a pain in the bum to find, but I did find the following which should fit;








						1PC North bridge Chipset Aluminium Cooler Heatsink 40mm Fan For Computer~GQ  | eBay
					

40x40x10mm 12V 3-pin cooling fan for computer motherboard north bridge. Convenient to paste in to your north bridge. Bearing: Sleeve Bearing. Fan Size: 40×40×10mm. Fan Speed: 5500 RPM±10%. Material: Plastic + Aluminum Alloy.



					www.ebay.co.uk
				




This one should also work, but the fan stands a little taller. If you're willing to use the second PCIe 16x slot you'll be fine;








						3pin Connector Computer PC VGA Graphics Video Card Heatsink Cooler Cooling Fan  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3pin Connector Computer PC VGA Graphics Video Card Heatsink Cooler Cooling Fan at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!



					www.ebay.co.uk


----------



## DR4G00N (Jan 25, 2020)

Bungz said:


> Its a DFI NF4 SLI-DR Lanparty
> 
> Im UK but would obviously cover any postage.
> 
> May have sorted it but an original would be great.


The stock ones are not very good an the fans have a tendency to crack and start to rattle. 
I use Evercool VC-RE's on both my Ultra-D & SLI-DR Expert. Something similar will work fine.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 25, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> The stock ones are not very good an the fans have a tendency to crack and start to rattle.


This is true. Aftermarket HS/F units were actually the better option.


----------



## Bungz (Jan 25, 2020)

Think I may have to stump up for the evercool then.

My Ultra-D has a cracked fan but I managed to revive it.

Thanks


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 25, 2020)

Zalman NB heatsinks were the thing back then, with some modifying something like that should be great


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 27, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice!
> Get off that 6400+ and find yourself a PII  555, 560, or 565 BE. All of these run cooler and clock higher. I run my 565 BE @ 4.5 when I bench AGP.


Best upgrade ever


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 27, 2020)

I got a 555 BE, could try that myself with AGP. That board doesn't like Radeon cards with quad core what I've understood so Phenom II X2 SHOULD be ok.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 28, 2020)

Don't need any more than a fast dual core for any bench you're running AGP on.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 29, 2020)

AMD Phenom II X4 980 @ 79.98 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[elznqh] Validated Dump by agent_x007 (2020-01-29 19:31:11) - MB: ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA - RAM: 4096 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				



PII x4 80MHz ?
Sounds kinda like 486 DX2-80 

My slowest Valid yet 
Side note : My result from earlier post was on this CPU at 160MHz ;D

UPDATE 








						AMD Phenom II X4 980 @ 70 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[cbzb6l] Validated Dump by agent_x007 (2020-01-29 23:21:36) - MB: ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA - RAM: 4096 MB




					valid.x86.fr


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 30, 2020)

How about a journey inside the computer from Intel?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 30, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> How about a journey inside the computer from Intel?


Ah the Nerd. Did you know he wrote a book? Really good one too!


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 30, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah the Nerd. Did you know he wrote a book? Really good one too!


No, I didn't know of a book.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 30, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> No, I didn't know of a book.








						Amazon.com: The Nostalgia Nerd's Retro Tech: Computer, Consoles & Games: Computer, Consoles and Games (Tech Classics) eBook : Leigh, Peter: Kindle Store
					

Amazon.com: The Nostalgia Nerd's Retro Tech: Computer, Consoles & Games: Computer, Consoles and Games (Tech Classics) eBook : Leigh, Peter: Kindle Store



					www.amazon.com
				



Trust me, get the hard cover. Worth it.


----------



## vukos (Jan 30, 2020)

So I managed to get a hold of a D5400XS and one QX9775 (anyone got another they want to sell?)

I am in desperate need of an updated BIOS for this thing. There are a number of critical fixes in Bios 1140 and 1353 that, among other things, fix boot issues with PCIE storage adapters and also add FSB overclocking support. 

Problem is, Intel pulled all legacy bios files off their site last November. *Does anyone around here have updated D5400XS bios files sitting around on a drive somewhere? *This stuff is nowhere to be found now


----------



## DR4G00N (Jan 30, 2020)

vukos said:


> So I managed to get a hold of a D5400XS and one QX9775 (anyone got another they want to sell?)
> 
> I am in desperate need of an updated BIOS for this thing. There are a number of critical fixes in Bios 1140 and 1353 that, among other things, fix boot issues with PCIE storage adapters and also add FSB overclocking support.
> 
> Problem is, Intel pulled all legacy bios files off their site last November. *Does anyone around here have updated D5400XS bios files sitting around on a drive somewhere? *This stuff is nowhere to be found now


I wish I had a QX9775 or two. 

Here's the 1353 bios, I happened to still have it.


----------



## vukos (Jan 30, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> I wish I had a QX9775 or two.
> 
> Here's the 1353 bios, I happened to still have it.



Alright well this search was easier than I thought. You are the man, *THANKS*

So while I got the 1353 Bios successfully installed, it has not resolved my big outstanding issue: I am trying to get this thing to boot from a Samsung 950 Pro NVME SSD, which has the legacy boot rom so it should work. However no matter which PCIE port I have this PCIE-NVME adapter plugged into, the system doesn't get past the Intel bios splash screen. Can't even get into the BIOS with this adapter plugged in (I tried three different ones too). 

The motherboard shows debug code A3, which of course is undocumented anywhere. From other boards that have this code it seems to be storage related, but I am pretty stumped here. 

This 1353 BIOS lists as having fixed several issues with detecting and running PCIE storage adapters, but no luck for me.


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 2, 2020)

The need for speed is NOT strong with this one...









						AMD Phenom II X4 980 @ 49.99 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[vgpktr] Validated Dump by agent_x007 (2020-02-02 04:06:13) - MB: ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA - RAM: 4096 MB




					valid.x86.fr


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 2, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 143790
> 
> The need for speed is NOT strong with this one...
> 
> ...


Wow! Impressive!


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 3, 2020)

I found some more DDR2-PI RAM, this time with original box but a different skew. Had 1200 2.1V before, these are 1100 1.8V.

Oh and waterblocks for GTX260s, they look like OEM parts without branding. First thought they might be aluminum from the pictures, but they are too heavy for that. Must be plated copper.


----------



## brian_i6 (Feb 3, 2020)

Fully working Pentium Pro 200 MHz (256KB L2) & 96 MB SIMM & Tekram P6F40-B5. Works with custom Win XP (125 MB installer without checking of hardware configuration).


----------



## basco (Feb 3, 2020)

these gpu blocks look a lot like the innovatech cool o-matic series
like on the evga black pearl


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 5, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Don't need any more than a fast dual core for any bench you're running AGP on.


Should be a somehow noticeable upgrade from A64 X2 6000+ @ 3.2?

e: a teaser of my next retro OC project


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Should be a somehow noticeable upgrade from A64 X2 6000+ @ 3.2?


X4's are cheap, I'd lean towards that, if it were me..


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 5, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> X4's are cheap, I'd lean towards that, if it were me..


Those are problematic with Radeon cards with that board. And since my best AGP GeForce is a 6600 GT, so.. 

e: I have a Phenom X4 9750 for some quad-core testing with that 6600GT when I get to that


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 6, 2020)

Rainy day decisions ....


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 6, 2020)

Depending of the model, Abit would be something?


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 6, 2020)

More DDR2


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 6, 2020)

Both excellent kits usually. They should treat you well if they haven't been cooked already.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 6, 2020)

DDR2-1200, that's hella noice. How much voltage doest those aXeRams need? OCZs seems to need only 2.1v


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 6, 2020)

Axe Ram is 2.2v
You'll want 2.3-2.4v for benching. for either kit.  
Both are good Micron D9 kits.


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 7, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Depending of the model, Abit would be something?


Not NF7-S v2.0. That would be nice. Built a few systems with v 1.1 boards for friends but never one for myself.

In that particular box - Abit KG7-R. First mobo that I ever bought. Taught myself RAID arrays with it. Went to Abit KR7A and did not look back. Far far better overclocker. Still have two. One that I re-capped couple years back. Worked for a time, then it didn't. Surely due to my poor soldering job. Set it aside and grabbed the other. Need a re-visit.

For rainy day build I went with the FRN2-RL Golden Flame instead. One on the top was still virgin and figured her time had come. Fired right up with the T-bred 1700+ and Winbond BH-5 sticks. Remember those? Trying the 1gb modules for dual channel next.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 7, 2020)

BH-5...


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 7, 2020)

My FRN2-L never likes my Winbond's, always get's stuck on the post screen. Though TCCD works better anyway since it only goes up to 2.9v vdimm.

I have the 1.7 power user bios if you want it, assuming the L & RL use the same bios'.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 7, 2020)

Remember running HyperX 2x256 bh5 sticks at DDR-540 2-2-2-5-1T, would have easily OC'd more, but I got only 3.3V via hw mod (3.3V straight to DRAM).


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 8, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> My FRN2-L never likes my Winbond's, always get's stuck on the post screen. Though TCCD works better anyway since it only goes up to 2.9v vdimm.
> 
> I have the 1.7 power user bios if you want it, assuming the L & RL use the same bios'.


Good to meet some fellow FRN2 owners. Do you still have it? Any idea what version? If memory serves things got much better after revision D and later BIOS'. How about the NF2 chipset? Latest revision is 'C1' viewable in CPU-Z.

- - BIOS - - Thank you. Not sure if L & RL are same either. Have 1.7LFB running in my other RL board (v.E3). This new one (v.AP) came with 2.0L pre-installed.

- - Memories - - many of those 512mb TWINmos modules passed through my hands. Member at AMDMB (later PCPer) forums was selling them out the back door at a discount. Won't see stuff like that anymore. They were good ... 256mb Buffalo with BH-5 were better. And cheap. Marked best ones with '3700'.  Remains to be seen if still so after 15 years.

BH-5 were certainly picky. Common across the entire sector. Wasn't that why Winbond went to CH-5? The Samsung TCCD were great. These 512mb=1gb Gskill modules were screamers. Especially with the OCZ booster hooked up. Not sure I'll go that direction with this build since these boards are like hen's teeth now.

Had a couple "oh crap" blue screen moments until realizing I forgot to change CAS to 3.0 for the 1gb modules.

- - Voltages - - 3.3v and 5v read near perfect in software and Multimeter. The 12 volt sensor seems to be a bit off on this particular board. Shows around 12.4 in software but stays within 11.81 - 11.78 idle and under load with P95.

Brand new Sparkle FSP300-60ATV 300w PSU


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 8, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Good to meet some fellow FRN2 owners. Do you still have it? Any idea what version? If memory serves things got much better after revision D and later BIOS'. How about the NF2 chipset? Latest revision is 'C1' viewable in CPU-Z.
> 
> - - BIOS - - Thank you. Not sure if L & RL are same either. Have 1.7LFB running in my other RL board (v.E3). This new one (v.AP) came with 2.0L pre-installed.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I still have it. It's a Rev. AP with the Ultra 400 C1 NB. I haven't gotten it out in a while but I assume it still works.


----------



## Bones (Feb 9, 2020)

Showing off all three LanParty variants for Socket A here.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 9, 2020)

Bones said:


> Showing off all three LanParty variants for Socket A here.
> 
> View attachment 144357


The one on the right is my fav Socket-A board from DFI. Built-in SATA, double spaced AGP slot for cards that had big coolers and the BIOS options for OCing were fine-grained goodness! Oh yeah!


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 9, 2020)

I didn't even know that there was a Lanparty with a VIA chipset. 


That reminds me, I'll grab the chipset heatsink from my Asrock KT400A board to that AM2NF3-VSTA (NForce 3 250), even though NF3 doesn't get that hot..

e: done 



Spoiler


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 9, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> The one on the right is my fav Socket-A board from DFI. Built-in SATA, double spaced AGP slot for cards that had big coolers and the BIOS options for OCing were fine-grained goodness! Oh yeah!


Only thing that sucked about it was the vcore capped at 2.0v


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 9, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Only thing that sucked about it was the vcore capped at 2.0v


Was it? That doesn't sound right, but to be fair it's been forever. I guess the limitation was never a problem.


----------



## Bones (Feb 9, 2020)

Believe it or not the tweaking options in the A version aren't that bad either but the board itself just doesn't measure up in comparison. 
It even has 2.0v's for the CPU as well. 

Good board for high multiplier CPU's that don't like alot of bus speed, older/more limited CPUs but that's about it aside from daily use itself.


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 9, 2020)

Bones said:


> Showing off all three LanParty variants for Socket A here.


Very nice . Interesting to see the progression. Always wanted the Ultra B but they were too expensive for me at the time. About 50% more than the FRN2 full retail pack. Those LanParty boards looked really good in UV light. These Golden Flame are great in that regard as well but never advertised as such. Plenty of bright glowing slots. And the sparkle gold board transforms to near flat black.


lexluthermiester said:


> Was it? That doesn't sound right, but to be fair it's been forever. I guess the limitation was never a problem.


I too remember there was something about the voltage settings which set them apart. Went and found an older Hexus review with some BIOS screen shots. DRAM up to 3.3v. Wow!


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 9, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Those LanParty boards looked really good in UV light.


I still have two DFI SATA cables and they really do look good on blue/UV light.


----------



## Bones (Feb 9, 2020)

I believe some Soyo's were like that too - I'll have to try mine and see if it's UV reactive or not.
SY-K7V Dragon Plus!


----------



## Red_Machine (Feb 9, 2020)

I miss those days.  Motherboards are so boring to me now.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 11, 2020)

Found a Pentium E5200 in a stuff box








e: Just tested that the HD 3450 in the pic worked. Now running 3DMark03 with HD 4890, going for 1GHz core clock until I run it with stock (well, XFX OC model with 900MHz core) for reference  the final tests will be with CPU maxed out and with HD 6850 maxed out.

e: Crap, no 1GHz with either HD 4890s. Turned to be positive experiment, though I maxed out the Vcore range at 1.5 volts.











Later I'll be testing an E4300 with the same cooling 

e: No 100% OC with the E4300 so nothing special with that. Now testing Socket A hardware.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 12, 2020)

Some S462 overclocking, a 1GHz Athlon Thunderbird with AXIA core.












Having a working Maxtor Diamondmax 9 in 2020 feels unbelievable.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 12, 2020)

@Chloe Price nice hardware! You should use ATi card because you use Ruby wallpaper


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 12, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> @Chloe Price nice hardware! You should use ATi card because you use Ruby wallpaper


Trying later with X800 Pro, just had to OC that combo since I had Athlon 1GHz @ 1.4GHz, 896MB RAM & 6600GT in 2005


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 12, 2020)

SPI and CPU frequency right in the 5th to 7th in the world range at HWB.
Very nice.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 12, 2020)

Too bad that the board has 1.8V maximum vcore in bios, luckily it seems to give some extra 

I'll be later testing with AXP 2400+ and 2700+ CPUs, maybe a Duron 1200 too.


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 13, 2020)

@Vayra86 in the Netherlands if remember right?


----------



## DR4G00N (Feb 14, 2020)

Finally had the new ram for my D5400XS system show up, Kingston 16GB 4x4GB DDR2-667FB. At last some quad-channel goodness for this board. Got it for a good price too, just $20 CAD.






I also went ahead and cleaned up the cabling a bit and swapped the GTX 295 for an HD 5970 since my Dual GTX 295 plan didn't work out. Still need to get a new HDD.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 18, 2020)

Got me something special. 

*Gigabyte GA-7NNXP REV 1.0, Bigger FAN on the NB, Thermaltake Volcano 9 (modified by the previous owner to fit on the board), AXP 2600+ AXDA2600DKV3D  AIUHB 0336 which might OC nicely. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon XP 2600+ - AXDA2600DKV3D.html*


----------



## Bungz (Feb 18, 2020)

Love those boards with the separate VRM, have a couple

GA-8PENXP 478 board and a GA-K8NXP-9 939

Had a board like yours but it was unstable.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Got me something special.
> 
> *Gigabyte GA-7NNXP REV 1.0, Bigger FAN on the NB, Thermaltake Volcano 9 (modified by the previous owner to fit on the board), AXP 2600+ AXDA2600DKV3D  AIUHB 0336 which might OC nicely. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon XP 2600+ - AXDA2600DKV3D.html*


Giving you something special for your board.
TicTac modded bios. Give that OC a go.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 19, 2020)

*Thanks Mr. Scott!* 

This board made me think about my Abit NF7-S  which is still in the posession of my cousin. One of these days I'll get it back. Box and all ...


----------



## TOMCAT (Feb 19, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Got me something special.
> 
> *Gigabyte GA-7NNXP REV 1.0, Bigger FAN on the NB,...*




@Robert B 
I grabbed out my GA-NNXP  after reading bigger NB fan at your post, but i see no difference to my regular one.


**

The GA-IK1100, for example, has a NB Cooler than is double as high as on the NNXP (Sorry, no images at the moment, that is my "daily driver" XP machine).
My NNXP is a candidate for a blue alien style PC case, but at the moment I am building a 939 crossfire system.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 19, 2020)

I'll take better pictures this week. I'm pretty sure the fan is thicker on my board. The previous owner changed the fan.

On the left is my motherboard and on the right yours.

Also to make the Tt Volcano 9 fit on this motherboard, the previous owner shaved a little from the side of the cooler. I approve of this!  Once I start to restore it I'll make sure that the area will be polished and perfectly straight.

Only good quality caps are all over the board so I won't need to change any of them. WIN!


----------



## TOMCAT (Feb 19, 2020)

Robert B said:


> I'll take better pictures this week. I'm pretty sure the fan is thicker on my board. The previous owner changed the fan.
> 
> On the left is my motherboard and on the right yours.
> 
> Only good quality caps are all over the board so I won't need to change any of them. WIN!



Your are right, seems your board has a 40x40x*20*mm fan instead of a 40x40x10mm fan. And the metal fins are quite different.

Now I attach an image of the larger IK1100 NB cooler (P4, Intel 875) and a cheap passiv NB cooler version of a Gigabyte board with VIA chipset.

And yes, Gigabyte boards of that time had good quality caps.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 19, 2020)

LOL Intel went to all the bother of cranking the CPU socket 45* for the BTX computers, and AMD systems just turned the Northbridge chip!


----------



## Robert B (Feb 19, 2020)

The NB heatsink looks to be original. Anyway I'll see what's what when I take it apart for cleaning.

At full speed that Tt Volcano 9 really is a volcano in the noise department.  I'll definitely use a Low Noise Adapter in the future.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 19, 2020)

Nice vid card.


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 21, 2020)

Anyone on the forum use this laptop?


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 22, 2020)




----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 22, 2020)

Nice.
 I have Asus P4T and Abit TH-7 Raid.  
Socket 423 had a very short run.


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Feb 22, 2020)

I found the long-lost wall charger for this time machine (Palm Tungsten TX). Suddenly you realise just how far we've come with smartphone technology when you fire up one of these. The wifi standard it uses is so old that it can't even find the local network, it has a skeleton selection of basic applications and having to use a stylus is pretty tedious. And it doesn't have the ability to make phone calls. I used to love these things back in the day but now Palm and pocket PCs in general are dead for good reason.


----------



## agent_x007 (Feb 22, 2020)




----------



## Durkhead (Feb 24, 2020)

Not sure if this is the right forum but does anybody know why a qx6800 would not work in Intel dg41rq motherboard everywhere on line even PC partpicker says it's compatible but when I tried it I got the message PC is not supported


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 24, 2020)

I looked around in here.




__





						UserBenchmark: Intel DG41RQ Compatible Builds
					





					www.userbenchmark.com
				



And didn't see any Core 2 Extreme CPUs in the first 300 listings. Usually this indicates a MB with a 95W  CPU limit.
The G41 chipset supports Xeon swaps and I didn't see any of the X5460,X5470 swaps that would show 120W CPUs either.
It's possible the best 4 Core  for that will be The Q9650, X3370, or LGA771 X5450,E5450,
The E7500 with a pinmod to 3.68Ghz will  be much faster then any of those in single tread apps. It beats my Xeon X5470 in those.
But if you just want some old school cheap thrills, a Q6600 G0 can be tape modded to 3GHz which is a tick faster than the base clock on the QX6800. But really about 10% less computing power than the newer CPUs.
If you can raise Voltage in the BIOS then the forgotten Q6700 which are all G0 will get you 3.33Ghz. But most 95W MB are pretty locked down.
 Maybe a moddded BIOS can remove the limit.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 24, 2020)

Durkhead said:


> Not sure if this is the right forum but does anybody know why a qx6800 would not work in Intel dg41rq motherboard everywhere on line even PC partpicker says it's compatible but when I tried it I got the message PC is not supported


That one is easy answer, but the answer is not easily verified. The QX6800 is a 130W TDP CPU. The G41 chipset generally only supported up to 95W CPU's. As @Retrorockit suggested above, it would be best for you to limit yourself to a 95W CPU for that board. The Q9450, Q9550 or Q9650 would all be excellent choices for that board.

However, if you already have the CPU, then replacing the board is the better course of action.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 24, 2020)

I'm using a Dell Optiplex 380 which is a G41 also. They only sold it as 2 core 4GB RAM and didn't bother to install the 95W limit that other Optiplexes of that era had. I have a 120W X5470 running in it. So it's not the chipset itself. But the fact that it only supports 2 RAM slots means it did lend itself to that market. As far as confirming goes userbenchmark is pretty good if there's a large enough sample. In fact that's where I found out the Opti 380 would suuport an X5460. I just took that a step further. I didn't look at all 970 examples to be sure but it was looking pretty consistent, and the fastest systems come first although that's usually an over the top GPU as much as anything else.
Geekbench 4 is another place to look for CPU s and overclocks.He can look into it further if he wants to , but it looks that way to me.
My problem is the pimodded E7500 in my system at Geekbench is running the RAM @ 1333, and mine only goes 1066.
Now i have to obsess over that! IDK if the pinmod does that too or if there's a newer BIOS?



Durkhead said:


> Not sure if this is the right forum but does anybody know why a qx6800 would not work in Intel dg41rq motherboard everywhere on line even PC partpicker says it's compatible but when I tried it I got the message PC is not supported


The other issue you may have is Intel systems from that era needed low density RAM and that's getting hard to find now. I had some G Skill that worked, but when one failed the new kit (same part#) didn't work.
Crucial CT2K51264BD160B is an 8GB (2x4GB) low density kit that can run from DDR3-800 to DDR3-1600 speeds. 1.35V. also but can run as 1.5V. Working fine in my G41 Optiplex. But G41 came in DDR2 also. The same issue exists there.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 24, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm using a Dell Optiplex 380 which is a G41 also. They only sold it as 2 core 4GB RAM and didn't bother to install the 95W limit that other Optiplexes of that era had. I have a 120W X5470 running in it. So it's not the chipset itself.


That's Dell though. While the 95W limit is not hardcoded into the chipset, Intel did not intend for the G41 to handle/support the Xtreme CPU line. Intel did hardcode a lockout for the Xtreme CPU's on their own motherboards, IIRC.


----------



## E-Bear (Feb 24, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm using a Dell Optiplex 380 which is a G41 also. They only sold it as 2 core 4GB RAM and didn't bother to install the 95W limit that other Optiplexes of that era had. I have a 120W X5470 running in it. So it's not the chipset itself. But the fact that it only supports 2 RAM slots means it did lend itself to that market. As far as confirming goes userbenchmark is pretty good if there's a large enough sample. In fact that's where I found out the Opti 380 would suuport an X5460. I just took that a step further. I didn't look at all 970 examples to be sure but it was looking pretty consistent, and the fastest systems come first although that's usually an over the top GPU as much as anything else.
> Geekbench 4 is another place to look for CPU s and overclocks.He can look into it further if he wants to , but it looks that way to me.
> My problem is the pimodded E7500 in my system at Geekbench is running the RAM @ 1333, and mine only goes 1066.
> Now i have to obsess over that! IDK if the pinmod does that too or if there's a newer BIOS?
> ...


Its super easy to order low density unmarked brands on ebay.  They do work well.  I consider them at same level as Kingston value ram.


----------



## zanca.racing (Feb 24, 2020)

Hi at all.

I think I had a big fortune to find this baby:




































I'm so so so happy!


----------



## Durkhead (Feb 25, 2020)

It's not the ram I have a q6600 pin moded in it now, I just thought theqx6800 would work to since there basically the same i have a optiplex 745 and the qx6800 works in it so I know it's not the processor it's probably the tdp


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 25, 2020)

You might try a pinmod E7500. For single thread gaming it's a solid choice. 3.67Ghz.
The Opti 745 came with Pentium4 and 130W PentiumD so they couldn't have the 95W limit. It's just about the only one that can run them.


----------



## Durkhead (Feb 26, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> You might try a pinmod E7500. For single thread gaming it's a solid choice. 3.67Ghz.
> The Opti 745 came with Pentium4 and 130W PentiumD so they couldn't have the 95W limit. It's just about the only one that can run them.


So I have a e5300 and a e6400 can those be pin moded and would either be better than pin modded q6600


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 26, 2020)

zanca.racing said:


> Hi at all.
> 
> I think I had a big fortune to find this baby:
> 
> ...


Awesome!
The box is worth more than the board.


----------



## Bones (Feb 26, 2020)

Working on a project here, trying to revive a dead Powercolor HD 3850 AGP card. 


This is one of the things I'm doing to it for making sure it has a chance.
Not wanting to get it too hot since all I'm doing here is a reflow like when you pop it into an oven. 

ATM the GPU itself and RAM chips are warming up when testing but the MOSFET's at the back of the card are remaining cold - The heatsink for these has no heat to it at all after checking that so I know for now those are either dead or just not getting power to operate. I don't see any evidence of one being blown at least. However I really can't tell because the heatsink is stuck onto them and so far I haven't been able to remove it. Once I do I'll be able to check those as they should be checked and see.

If it lives in the end that would be great.


----------



## Schmuckley (Feb 26, 2020)

In b4 MrScott..err..or not. O wow, Nvidia DFI, nice!

I've had some DFIs, not many phases but strong!

Wow! Is that Team DDR2? That's a new one on me.
I had 2 DFI boards, both the same. Were they AMD?
Yes! 790fx.
DFI Inc. LP DK 790FXB-M2RS


----------



## Bones (Feb 26, 2020)

Can't be DDR2 if it's for the board, 939 is DDR only.


----------



## Schmuckley (Feb 26, 2020)

Bones said:


> Can't be DDR2 if it's for the board, 939 is DDR only.


Good point.



Durkhead said:


> So I have a e5300 and a e6400 can those be pin moded and *would either be better than pin modded q6600*



No.


----------



## E-Bear (Feb 26, 2020)

Durkhead said:


> So I have a e5300 and a e6400 can those be pin moded and would either be better than pin modded q6600


What part of the world you live in ?


----------



## Schmuckley (Feb 26, 2020)

The day I beat Mr. Scott's buddy: (MrPaco) El Bori









						Schmuckley`s PCMark05 (alpha) score: 10366 marks with a Athlon 64 LE-1600 (Orleans)
					

The Athlon 64 LE-1600 (Orleans) @ 3311.3MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the PCMark05 (alpha) benchmark. Schmuckleyranks #null worldwide and #3 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.




					hwbot.org
				




with a DFI

Okay, so we went round and round many times. MrPaco can bench!
He beat me a lot, too. With his RAM drive McGimmick.



Bones said:


> Working on a project here, trying to revive a dead Powercolor HD 3850 AGP card.
> View attachment 145953
> 
> This is one of the things I'm doing to it for making sure it has a chance.
> ...


3 words.
Hot air station. Focus on the areas that need reflow.
You have one, obviously. That's nice stuff. I gotta toaster oven..lol!
Have melted things in the name of reflowing before.


----------



## Durkhead (Feb 26, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> What part of the world you live in ?


Florida I just have a bunch of PC parts from various projects trying to put something together for my friend he wants something that can play Roblox I have to buy cheap gpu an case so don't Wana spend money on anything else I'm just Gona leave q6600 in it seems to work well just found it odd that dg41rq motherboard wouldn't work with qx6800


----------



## Bones (Feb 26, 2020)

Schmuckley said:


> 3 words.
> Hot air station. Focus on the areas that need reflow.
> You have one, obviously. That's nice stuff. I gotta toaster oven..lol!
> Have melted things in the name of reflowing before.



Yes I have one.
I'm not looking to blow the itty-bitty pieces off the card, those tiny little parts will "Jump" suddenly with a desoldering wand as experience has taught me so using the IR station for reflowing is the better choice.
I also noticed what appears to be a missing piece from the card, pics of others like it show those having a component where this one doesn't have it, plus the solder looks "Off" in that I believe the piece was knocked/ripped off the board.
Need to find some good, large pics of this card so I can check those out to compare and possibly get some part numbers from.
BTW I did get the heatsink off (Finally) and the MOSFETs look perfect, doesn't seem they've been replaced before.


----------



## E-Bear (Feb 26, 2020)

Durkhead said:


> Florida I just have a bunch of PC parts from various projects trying to put something together for my friend he wants something that can play Roblox I have to buy cheap gpu an case so don't Wana spend money on anything else I'm just Gona leave q6600 in it seems to work well just found it odd that dg41rq motherboard wouldn't work with qx6800


Ok then.  I had some parts but you are too far. Still keep us informed if you miss something.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 26, 2020)

Durkhead said:


> So I have a e5300 and a e6400 can those be pin moded and would either be better than pin modded q6600


The E5300 should go 3.45 or so but it will be a different pinmod from 200fsb to 266fsb.
The 8x multiplier and 65nm makes the E6400 a waste of time.
E7500 sell for $6.
The pinmod Q6600 is about 10% slower than a Q9650 at the same speed, An X5470 is 10% faster than that, and the E7500 pinmod single core speed is another 10% faster.
The QX6800 is a good match for the Opti 745. It's the only CPU that makes sense for that system. A Zotac GTX 1050 Mini drops right in. OC it to 3.45Ghz and it's a decent old box. ( I am assuming it's the tower and not the smaller ones.)
If you have the budget for a GTX1060 I can help you with that also.


----------



## TOMCAT (Feb 26, 2020)

Bones said:


> ...
> Need to find some good, large pics of this card so I can check those out to compare and possibly get some part numbers from.



I can offer you to make pics from a Powercolor AG3850 512MD-P (LF R67CG V1.0), european Version. 
Max res ~4.000x3.000 Pixels.
Backside is easy, front is tricky because of glued heat sinks.

These are only previews with 1280x960 Pixels!


----------



## Bones (Feb 26, 2020)

@TOMCAT Thank you so much for these pics! 
Now I can see the value of the missing crystal and know what goes there on this one. Went ahead and grabbed a copy of these for reference, I do believe these are either identical or so close it doesn't matter anyway.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 26, 2020)

Durkhead said:


> Florida I just have a bunch of PC parts from various projects trying to put something together for my friend he wants something that can play Roblox I have to buy cheap gpu an case so don't Wana spend money on anything else I'm just Gona leave q6600 in it seems to work well just found it odd that dg41rq motherboard wouldn't work with qx6800


Since you seem to be willing to part with the QX6800 why not build the Opti 745 for him?
A built out Opti 745 would look like this.
QX6800 Throttlestop overclocked to 3.45GHz.  D9729 heatpipe cooler ( you may already have that).
8GB DDR2-800 RAM x64 low density.
Optional mod.
AFC1512DG fan. 150x50mm. Precision 390 fan Dell# NC466,or DG168. can be found $10. Drop in to replace whole fan and housing.  Velcro it in, 2 sided tape ,whatever. Quiet fan. On my Opti 380 I just stuck a piece of packing foam on it and the side cover holds it in place
Zotac GTX1050 Mini. 2 or 4GB version. The Zotac is 2 slots wide but has a single wide bracket. No mod required.
Vented expansion slot blanking plates help with GPU temps. Or a Cyclone expansion slot blower.

Optional GTX1060 mod. requires PSU swap. Dell 375W from any BTX Mid tower will work (PrecisionT3400 is a good one). Or aftermarket 450W.
MSI GTX1060 3GB OCV1 can be modded to fit. Remove bracket and cut in 1/2 to make 1 slot card. Trim plastic at other end to length of circuit board and it fits.
I don't put 6GB GPUs in 8GB systems. The 3GB works for me with no issues. 4GB is pushing it a little IMO.


----------



## havli (Feb 26, 2020)

It is time to take a short brake from pci-e GPU testing and try some older stuff.  

Radeon 7500 vs GeForce2 Ultra


----------



## Durkhead (Feb 27, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> Since you seem to be willing to part with the QX6800 why not build the Opti 745 for him?
> A built out Opti 745 would look like this.
> QX6800 Throttlestop overclocked to 3.45GHz.  D9729 heatpipe cooler ( you may already have that).
> 8GB DDR2-800 RAM x64 low density.
> ...


I basically did that for my son I used a gt 1030 an qx6800 I messed around with throttle stop an got it to 3.7 ghz but it didn't seem to make a diff except in benchmarks and how hot it got the ram is only 667 and I didn't want to put any more money in it. The dg41rq board let me change the ram speed to 800 and with the pin moded q6600 ran a little better



Retrorockit said:


> The E5300 should go 3.45 or so but it will be a different pinmod from 200fsb to 266fsb.
> The 8x multiplier and 65nm makes the E6400 a waste of time.
> E7500 sell for $6.
> The pinmod Q6600 is about 10% slower than a Q9650 at the same speed, An X5470 is 10% faster than that, and the E7500 pinmod single core speed is another 10% faster.
> ...


I don't see the point in putting in 1050 or higher gt 1030 is plenty an doesn't use as much power


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 27, 2020)

Durkhead said:


> I basically did that for my son I used a gt 1030 an qx6800 I messed around with throttle stop an got it to 3.7 ghz but it didn't seem to make a diff except in benchmarks and how hot it got the ram is only 667 and I didn't want to put any more money in it. The dg41rq board let me change the ram speed to 800 and with the pin moded q6600 ran a little better
> 
> 
> I don't see the point in putting in 1050 or higher gt 1030 is plenty an doesn't use as much power


3.7GHz is maybe a step too far for the 3 phase VRM in that. I guess the 945 chipset does stop at 667 RAM, The 965 chiset in the same era E520 goes 800.
If the GT1030 is enough for you then I guess the rest really doesn't matter. The Gt1030 is a 720P card at best.
GTX750 is better but barely 1080P, and the GTX1050 much better than that.
The fan mod above with the correct P4 heatsink will cool it at 3.72Ghz. I would heatsink the VRM MOSFETS at that speed.


			UserBenchmark: Dell OptiPlex 380 Compatible Builds
		

You can see the difference the GPU makes here.
GTX1060 56%
GTX1050 31%
GTX750Ti 21%
GT1030    15%
The GPU and PSU are 2 places that I do spend money on these because they aren't tied to the old BTX architecture.
But a pinmod Q6600 is more than enough for a GT1030 level machine. Since you're giving these away the budget route may make sense. A CPU or overclock isn't going to lift up a GT1030 computer.


----------



## micropage7 (Feb 27, 2020)

zanca.racing said:


> Hi at all.
> 
> I think I had a big fortune to find this baby:
> 
> ...


Iconic sticker


----------



## Durkhead (Feb 27, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> 3.7GHz is maybe a step too far for the 3 phase VRM in that. I guess the 945 chipset does stop at 667 RAM, The 965 chiset in the same era E520 goes 800.
> If the GT1030 is enough for you then I guess the rest really doesn't matter. The Gt1030 is a 720P card at best.
> GTX750 is better but barely 1080P, and the GTX1050 much better than that.
> The fan mod above with the correct P4 heatsink will cool it at 3.72Ghz. I would heatsink the VRM MOSFETS at that speed.
> ...



The optiplex 745 I bought refurbished from Walmart I guess they did a good job cause when I went to look at the mosfets they were all ready heatsinked and the games I played need for speed and burnout paradise and some others from Xbox game pass all played fine in 1080p high settings with gt 1030 the usage mostly at 70% and u can't play newer games like Forza 4 cause the lack of instructions in the CPU that's why I would say for most core 2 systems anything over gt 1030 is overkill


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 27, 2020)

The G41 with an E5450 Xeon 80W swap may be the thing for you. My X5470 has enough instructions to run  Unigine Superposition. The Q6600,QX6800 are much older. The only LGA775/771 systems I saw there are Xeons and one E8400. CPU world lists the instruction sets for each CPU.


			http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon%20E5450%20-%20EU80574KJ080N%20-%20AT80574KJ080N%20%28BX80574E5450A%29.html
		

It's possible that the Intel BIOS is even more locked down than the Dell for Xeon swaps.
But here are a couple Superposition Core2 Xeon benchmarks to show what difference the GPU can make,
QX9770 3.4Ghz LGA775 Xeon with GTX960 at Superposition scoring just under 5000 points.








						UNIGINE Superposition benchmark score
					

UNIGINE Superpsition detailed score page




					benchmark.unigine.com
				



Opti 380 X5470 3.33GHz with GTX1060 scoring just over 8000 points.








						UNIGINE Superposition benchmark score
					

UNIGINE Superpsition detailed score page




					benchmark.unigine.com
				



The GTX960 struggles to stay above 30fps and never gets to 50fps.
The GTX 1060 3GB barely goes below 50fps and averages about 60fps.
The Q6600 pinmod vs QX6800 discussion is probably right for this thread, but the modern GPU/game question should probably go in the Throttlestop Overclocking thread.
Anyway G41/Xeon/modern GPU has some potential. Even if it's a low end Dell BTX office computer.
These scores ARE at the low end of the leaderboard for 1080P Medium settings for this benchmark.
Delidded.com shows that Xeon swap as confirmed.








						LGA 771 to 775 Adapter (MOD) - Run faster Xeon CPUs in a Core 2 Quad motherboard - Page 3 of 5
					

Learn how to MOD your LGA 775 motherboard to support faster LGA 771 Xeon CPUs. Also covers: the adapter, motherboard compatibility, and troubleshooting.




					www.delidded.com
				



 Here's an interesting CPU X5270 Xeon LGA771 3.5Ghz 2 core.








						Intel Xeon X5270 SLBAQ CPU   | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Intel Xeon X5270 SLBAQ CPU  at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 27, 2020)

TOMCAT said:


> I can offer you to make pics from a Powercolor AG3850 512MD-P (LF R67CG V1.0), european Version.
> Max res ~4.000x3.000 Pixels.
> Backside is easy, front is tricky because of glued heat sinks.
> View attachment 146004View attachment 146005
> These are only previews with 1280x960 Pixels!


Is that better than my Sapphire?


----------



## TOMCAT (Feb 28, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Is that better than my Sapphire?



Let me say quite different, but not "better".
The sapphire is a little bit faster than this powercolor, but needs 8-pin PCIe power. The powercolor needs only 6-pin PCIe power an is a better choice for passiv cooled silent GPU.
Never tried OC'ing on this cards. Kept the powercolor for a red MSI board, my sapphire HD3850 AGP is reserved for a blue Gigabyte or AsRock board.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 1, 2020)

RetroSpector78 said:
			
		

> It's one thing to install linux on a virtual machine, but to install it on a 30 year old computer is another. So join me on this journey back in the past, to the beginning of 1994 when Slackware 1.1.2 was released, and the entire kernel source tree could still fit on a single 1.44MB 3.5 inch floppy.


----------



## E-Bear (Mar 1, 2020)

I know its not computer hardware but it's an antique stool with internal adjustable screw.  Going to use it to fix computer and do my car mechanic.  Probably dated from the 20's art deco period based on the ridge design.  When I try to look online for art deco of that time everything is qualified as "industrial". Everything now is cheap shit made in other countries by underpaid workers so no wonder why everything of that era is qualified as Industrial since it was made in america or canada by skillfull hand work


.


----------



## the54thvoid (Mar 1, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> I know its not computer hardware but it's an antique stool with internal adjustable screw.  Going to use it to fix computer and do my car mechanic.  Probably dated from the 20's art deco period based on the ridge design.  When I try to look online for art deco of that time everything is qualified as "industrial". Everything now is cheap shit made in other countries by underpaid workers so no wonder why everything of that era is qualified as Industrial since it was made in america or canada by skillfull hand workView attachment 146324.



It's still hardware. Love it!


----------



## cornemuse (Mar 1, 2020)

Looks like an old piano stool?


----------



## Retrorockit (Mar 1, 2020)

It was probably a priceless antique, until they stuck that 4x4 on top of it.


----------



## Durkhead (Mar 3, 2020)

Schmuckley said:


> The day I beat Mr. Scott's buddy: (MrPaco) El Bori
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What's a ram drive gimick?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 3, 2020)

Durkhead said:


> What's a ram drive gimick?


PCMark 05 is all about fast storage for a good score. I-Ram or Acard is what you need.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2020)

So, I'll be first to admit straight & honest... I wasn't planning on returning to old computers and/or TPU in general.

That being said, strange thing happened about a week ago. I was going through the local ads & came across the computer case, same tower which I've been searching for at least 13 or 14 years! Now, I won't be going into details on the actual tower, I'm sure that it isn't all that exciting for the rest of you (as it is for me, due to sentimental reasons), but I do have a small favor to ask... Once I'm done & through with metal restoration, painting, sandblasting & motherboard recapping, I'm planning to assemble the system back together again, the way it used to be when it came from the store, in 1998  Unlike all the previous projects & restorations you've seen from me, this one is going to be a lot more different. Mainly because it is personal, sentimental and very much nostalgic. In fact, I'd say this one defines the thread name "Nostalgic Hardware", because it doesn't get any more nostalgic than it already is. And being such, only deserves the best IMHO.

Unfortunately, I'm still missing some parts, primarily the CD-ROM drive. So if you are reading this post & live in Europe (EU, in particular) and happen to have a spare drive somewhere nearby, please drop me a message & maybe we can work something out 
The unit which I'm searching for is this one here, BTC BCD36X





Or this one, here (3rd drive on the right, BTC BCD 40XH)




Or it can be another speed entirely, but identical-looking drive, for as long as it works, and nothing is broken... My primary focus is & will be on visual design, followed by the actual components. In other words, I want it to be & look exactly the same as it was 22 years ago.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, I'll be first to admit straight & honest... I wasn't planning on returning to old computers and/or TPU in general.


Either way welcome back to the thread.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Either way welcome back to the thread.


Thanks   

Funny how things always work out the opposite of what you expect... The same rule applies to both TPU & my "Adison" case, in particular. After 14 years of searching, I was absolutely sure that I won't find (and see) it ever again.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Or this one, here (3rd drive on the right, BTC BCD 40XH)


Apparently a company in Colorado, US has the drive refurbished.





						Amazon.com: B.T.C. - Btc 40X Ide Int Cd Rom Drive(Beige) : Electronics
					

Amazon.com: B.T.C. - Btc 40X Ide Int Cd Rom Drive(Beige) : Electronics



					www.amazon.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Apparently a company in Colorado, US has the drive refurbished.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks, but that's not the one, I think ... ? Unless they used other unit for illustration. Anyhow, I just came back from ebay UK, and there are more than several BTC drives being offered. However, the biggest issue is definitely going to be the postage - 82 USD! It's just not worth it, especially since there are loads of these things floating around, I just have to find one 

There's nothing special about this drive, it didn't have any special features, or performance. In fact, BTC was somewhat of a low-budget company back in a day, but the reason I want it is mainly because it belongs inside that computer. It originally came with BTC drive, and since I'm already rebuilding it from scratch (using some of the original parts even) it only feels appropriate to go with BTC CD-ROM drive.

Edit
Here are the two pics, scans from the company's promotional brochures... They feature the same tower case along with BTC BCD36X drive:


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 4, 2020)

What computer was that?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> What computer was that?


My beloved Pentium II, 350MHz  I mentioned it in this thread zillion times, I even searched for this case previously & someone in here (@mmx_91) found one in Barcelona. Unfortunately, I was unable to convince the seller to ship the case to Croatia, so it kinda ended up there... TBH, I gave it up entirely because I didn't think I'd find another case ever again. To my surprise, I found one only a mile or two from my location, talk about irony 

Edit
Found it, it goes all the way to 2016, page 178


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> My beloved Pentium II, 350MHz  I mentioned it in this thread zillion times,


Being new to the forums at the time, chances are I missed that post. Thanks for taking the time to look though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Being new to the forums at the time, chances are I missed that post. Thanks for looking though.


No prob  Actually, the first reference to "Adison" machine seems to be even older, on page 148. In reality however, things started way back in 2007, 2008. Been looking for one of these for ages, and now that I actually /do/ have one, I'm planning to restore the system back to its factory specs because I still have the original motherboard, CPU, sound card & a hard drive.

Those are truly original parts, which used to be inside that case since the first day. Video cards however (ATI Rage IIc & Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB) were both replaced with identical-looking counterparts because the originals were given away long time ago. Same thing with the RAM and (as of recently) case & floppy drive! Which hopefully helps explain my motivation for finding that BTC CD-ROM unit... I want it to be complete & original again.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2020)

Feels already that the Nvidia Maxwell series is pretty nostalgic.. my OC'd 980 Ti still runs *almost* everything smoothly with 1080p at 60fps with max details, I love these old highend cards and I rather have one than a similar (in performance) of a newer series (like a 1070 Ti in my case).

Of course retro hardware is a whole different thing, as you know from my posts


----------



## Artex (Mar 10, 2020)




----------



## TOMCAT (Mar 10, 2020)

Artex said:


> 2020 Collection Update!



@ Artex: Your collection looks amazing, you are invited to assist for an clear up.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 10, 2020)

@Artex 
You Got more Stock than many a Proper Shop   (Your just missing price tags )
Its a Amazing Collection.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 10, 2020)

@Artex 
Welcome back!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 10, 2020)

So much goodness there.


----------



## Bungz (Mar 12, 2020)

That hoard is crazy 

I picked up a very cheap MSI NF2 board today










Much better 

Dual channel still works and who uses three slots on a Nforce 2 board.

If I get a dead MSI board with a blue slot will transplant it across.


----------



## E-Bear (Mar 12, 2020)

Bungz said:


> That hoard is crazy
> 
> I picked up a very cheap MSI NF2 board today
> View attachment 147881View attachment 147880View attachment 147879View attachment 147878
> ...


How can someone solder all these pins one by one without touching each other with the soldering ? Usually machines do that.



Retrorockit said:


> It was probably a priceless antique, until they stuck that 4x4 on top of it.



The 4x4 is just to make the stool screw higher. I can probably remove it and put back to his normal height but then it could be only a child stool or a shoes shinner stool.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 12, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> How can someone solder all these pins one by one without touching each other with the soldering ?


No one solders those, there placed by hand in the openings on the board then ran through a bath of molten solder.










Skip ahead to 5:32 or 6:00 for the wave soldering


----------



## E-Bear (Mar 12, 2020)

Ok so thats how going to solder the ram slot.  Thx


----------



## Retrorockit (Mar 12, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> The 4x4 is just to make the stool screw higher. I can probably remove it and put back to his normal height but then it could be only a child stool or a shoes shinner stool.


 I was thinking a  farmers milking stool. Too elaborate for a childs use, and shoe shine stools have storage in them for polish and brushes. Did the screw originally go down into the center post? I though the whole screw and 4X4 were added.


----------



## E-Bear (Mar 13, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> I was thinking a  farmers milking stool. Too elaborate for a childs use, and shoe shine stools have storage in them for polish and brushes. Did the screw originally go down into the center post? I though the whole screw and 4X4 were added.


No the screw goes into the 4x4 because they drilled a hole in it but its inside the round wood usually.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 14, 2020)

Iron Maiden - The Trooper

*Fresh meat! *

Even if I didn't find so much stuff like in the past years, the Flea Market Gods have been kind to me! 

*1. Arctic Cooling* - Slim Silent Pro TC - NOS/NIB - full package
*2. Redragon VARA K551* - Outemu Blue / RED led - in full working condition - full package - already cleaned and put to work at my office. No more rubber dome for me there!  Shhh ... don't ask about the noise though. Even if at home I have a Cherry MX Black keyboard, I really like those Blue Outemu switches. 
*3. NEC D3142* - 44MB MFM HDD - 1988 *** 31+ years old! My first MFM HDD. The funny thing is that I didn't buy 4 MFM controllers that were sold for peanuts a few weeks ago. Life works in mysterious ways. The HDD starts and stops as it should but I am unable to test it. Probably ok. Probably... Ancient tech that dies hard. Also it is complete with a factory BAD. 
*4. As expected* I've been confronted with a massive shortage of japanese electrolytic capacitors so I'll have to use what I have in my box-of-parts or I'll have to scavenge some caps from other boards but this will be a last resort measure applied only in exceptional cases. Keep your fingers crossed as I need it to revive yet another slot A motherboard. Chances are 50/50 that I might be successfull ...
*5.* The Sk A CPUs were bought as a test. *Chipped to death*. How much chipping until being dead? Well, that amount of chipping will just about do it ... rest into *the great silicon void beyond* ...
*6.* *ASUS K7M Rev:1.04* - My 3rd K7M.  You can never have too many slot A motherboards!  I still need a GFD but I don't hold my breath for finding one ... if I'll ever find one.  Where I live those were rare as hen's teeth even back in the day  ...
*7.* AMD Slot A 600MHz CPU - *K7600MTR51B A
8.* PowerColor Riva *TNT2* 32MB - CTNT2SG Ver1.0 - missing some bits. Probably still alive.
*9.* SDRAM - 32MB,128, ECC/REG


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 19, 2020)

Seeing the condition of the cores on those Athlons makes me sad.


----------



## Grog6 (Mar 19, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Seeing the condition of the cores on those Athlons makes me sad.



Not as sad as owning one, and be mounting it for the 100th time as one of those big chips occurs.

And it never boots again...


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2020)

Grog6 said:


> Not as sad as owning one, and be mounting it for the 100th time as one of those big chips occurs.
> 
> And it never boots again...


I have one 1GHz Athlon which is chipped pretty bad but seems to work fine.. though it's not a good overclocker, that's why bought another one (the 1GHz AXIA one which clocks easily over 1400MHz  )




My S462 CPUs, the Sempron in the center seems to have a scratch in the surface, I need to investigate that..





Other CPUs, the Q6600 arrived DOA but well, it was like 6EUR so whatever. I need to get a 1150 board for that G3258.. AMD 6000+ & 555BE didn't make it to be pictured since they're in project builds


----------



## Bungz (Mar 20, 2020)

One of you guys has surely got a place for this









						Disney Dream Desk PC  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Disney Dream Desk PC at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!



					www.ebay.co.uk


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2020)

Bungz said:


> One of you guys has surely got a place for this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Perfect for a sleeper build.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 21, 2020)

Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine (Deepend ft Charles Sax Bootleg)

*'Twas a good day today!

I still have a lot more work to do but I'm getting close to finishing all of the parts that still need restoring. 

Flea market visits have been postponed so I'll focus on what I have at the moment.

READY! SET! GO!!!*


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 21, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine (Deepend ft Charles Sax Bootleg)
> 
> *'Twas a good day today!
> 
> ...


FX 5800 & FX 5900 XT?


----------



## Robert B (Mar 21, 2020)

Yeah.  I'm so glad I found those puppies.


----------



## Grog6 (Mar 21, 2020)

That has to be the worst version of that song I've ever heard...


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 22, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Yeah.  I'm so glad I found those puppies.


I'd love to have a fast FX card, the fastest I've owned so far was FX 5600 Ultra


----------



## Radical Vision (Mar 27, 2020)

My latest founds, it was really dry period, did not found a thing like in a year or so...


ATi Radeon x1950XTX Crossfire Edition
ATi Radeon HD3850 AGP
ASUS CUSL2-C
And some crappy EnermaX Noisetaker 375W
    



And here is my collection (or at least for the most part...)



Collection
Compaq Deskpro 486/33m
IBM dual V8 machine Death Star - work in progress
AMD K7 Armored Interceptor+
Ultra 386 build and no proper AT case
Compaq PII GTO Slot 1
HP PIII GT Slot 1
Compaq AP550 Pro need PSU
AMD Opteron/ LanParty NF4 R/T Charger
Socket 7 Mob machine


462 socket
3Dfx Voodoo cards
ATi/ Radeon cards

Keyboards









						AMD Opteron 165 (UP) @ 2700.66 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[s3yhar] Validated Dump by S939-RTR_64 (2017-06-01 19:41:31) - MB: DFI LP NF4 Series - RAM: 2048 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				











						AMD Athlon XP-M @ 2606.14 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[9s6qlr] Validated Dump by 462GT-ULTRA (2017-03-25 22:56:55) - MB: Abit NF7-S/NF7NF7-V (nVidia-nForce2) - RAM: 2048 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				











						Intel Pentium III-S @ 1403 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[j8sxn1] Validated Dump by  (2018-09-21 02:50:04) - MB: Unknown  - RAM: 2048 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				











						Intel Pentium II @ 451.1 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[zb9ve9] Validated Dump by HP-06AB02B74407 (2013-12-11 10:12:43) - MB: FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER 440BX - RAM: 512 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				











						Intel Pentium III EB @ 800.19 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[rd0y5f] Validated Dump by P2-GTO (2016-04-05 21:47:36) - MB: Unknown I440BX-W977 - RAM: 768 MB




					valid.x86.fr


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 27, 2020)

Artex said:


> View attachment 147706View attachment 147707View attachment 147708View attachment 147709View attachment 147710View attachment 147711View attachment 147712View attachment 147713View attachment 147714View attachment 147715View attachment 147716View attachment 147717View attachment 147718View attachment 147719View attachment 147720View attachment 147721View attachment 147722View attachment 147723View attachment 147724View attachment 147725View attachment 147726View attachment 147727View attachment 147728View attachment 147729


oh... a hoarder... (collection or old computer shop stock? )



Chloe Price said:


> Seeing the condition of the cores on those Athlons makes me sad.





Grog6 said:


> Not as sad as owning one, and be mounting it for the 100th time as one of those big chips occurs.
> 
> And it never boots again...


well i also have a Duron "cracked Die" edition ... still boot, it was from my first self built system back in the days, ah ... no wait ... my first self build was with a AMD K6 II, i got some other Athlon for my collection and fortunately none of them was cracked/chipped.



Chloe Price said:


> I'd love to have a fast FX card, the fastest I've owned so far was FX 5600 Ultra


well at the time i had a FX 5900  (Leadtek Winfast A350 TDH 128mb MyViVo, i kept it ) and i still have a lone MSI FX5600 sitting in a corner (i need to check the HSF and find some pushpin or screws for it )


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 27, 2020)

Just wanted to say hi to everyone and thank everyone for keeping this awesome thread alive and well!!!!

Sorry its been a year since posting on the forums but it has been an insane year to say the least. I'm not going into detail but I think I'm finally on the track to normalcy once again.


----------



## agent_x007 (Mar 27, 2020)

I overclocked my Tbird so hard, that AIDA64 thinks it's an Athlon Ryzen CPU (logo) 





^My Socket A collection (I got Palomino on it's way).


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 27, 2020)

A pretty old card (it's nearing the 10 year mark pretty soon) which still holds up today. 




It's a Radeon HD7870 2GB I picked up for cheap ($35) locally. Works as it should, and it seems a cheap gaming card to this day (I ain't planning no 4k gaming with this, but 1080p is just fine)


----------



## Grog6 (Mar 27, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> ...I overclocked my Tbird so hard, that AIDA64 thinks it's an Athlon Ryzen CPU (logo)



I've got a Barton core XP-2500M running 400fsb, and a 13.6 multiplier. 

It won't quite do 1080p mp4 files, but it was a tv pc for years.


----------



## Radical Vision (Mar 27, 2020)

Grog6 said:


> I've got a Barton core XP-2500M running 400fsb, and a 13.6 multiplier.
> 
> It won't quite do 1080p mp4 files, but it was a tv pc for years.



Damn even better clocker then mine, my best Mobile Barton gets to 2.6Ghz, and i hav one more 2.6 but is not 100% stable... Looking for to get a 2.7Ghz one, seems ur one is platinum one, as i consider the 2.6GHz golden samples and above Platinum... What voltage it needs to get there tho, mine needs like 1.875v -1.9v.... It is stable 48 hours prime 95 at 1.830v, but for some reason, movies at 1080P laggs, and some games like Crysis crashes, Most wanted also, while with the more voltage they are stable, not sure how the fk it can be 48 hours prime 95 stable at 1.830v, but not stable in other things...
I have also Mobile Barton 3000+, but is bad OC....

The CPU stepping is IQYHA right ?

Why wont run 1080P ?!?!? With x264 hardware aceleration on the Radeon GPUs u can run about all 1080P Blue ray stuff, mine runs no problem 30-40GB blue ray movies, last i watched was Avengers Infinity War 35GB....


----------



## Grog6 (Mar 27, 2020)

It's always been particular about that OC; it will not run any other multiplier at 400fsb. (200DDR)

It's an Nvidia chipset; a  A7N8X mobo.

13.5 seems like such a weird number, lol.

I don't have any good AGP video cards anymore; the last one that was in that PC died due to the fan dying, and melting the chip off the PCB.
It was an X800GT, and was a bit too slow for MP4, so as a PC it got replaced with a Pentium D820 setup, running XPx64, and PCI-e.

Not sure about the stepping; I should dig it out and get some pix.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Mar 27, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Just wanted to say hi to everyone and thank everyone for keeping this awesome thread alive and well!!!!
> 
> Sorry its been a year since posting on the forums but it has been an insane year to say the least. I'm not going into detail but I think I'm finally on the track to normalcy once again.


welcome back buddy, glad to see you back and glad to hear it's going better (at last i hope it will go that way for you)




adequate statement for the actual time ... i think ...



well at last my first PC did teach me that ... (which is not the same as my first self built i mention a few post above )


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 28, 2020)

I have a few socket A's. 
I have three more of these



.


----------



## Radical Vision (Mar 28, 2020)

Well before i got good parts long ago i used Radeon 9550, and did run in you tube 720P very well, without HW aceleration, and i think i read in some forum, a guy to said that he did run 1080P movies on his machine with Radeon 9550, but i did never try that, can imagine the 9550 can run HD as well, as Radeon cards are very strong for this, while nVIDIA card are meh all AGP nVIDIA cards sucks as far as i know..




Mr.Scott said:


> I have a few socket A's.
> I have three more of these
> 
> .



With that kinda of "care" for them, they wont last much, last time i did sort CPUs with pins like that (the ones i sell, not the personal) they all got bended pins, some of them even broken, the K7 CPUs the rubebrs did falle, and Athlons got broken parts of their crystals....




BTW how much of u have this, as i rarely see this panel, or this keyboard in ebay never saw any of these anytime soon...


----------



## Grog6 (Mar 28, 2020)

I've never seen any of those, although that KB is a direct knockoff of a Model M.

Nice!

A tube amp for a computer; that's neat.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 28, 2020)

*RESTORED! DONE & DONE! *


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 28, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> With that kinda of "care" for them, they wont last much, last time i did sort CPUs with pins like that (the ones i sell, not the personal) they all got bended pins, some of them even broken, the K7 CPUs the rubebrs did falle, and Athlons got broken parts of their crystals....



Lol. You a funny guy. All of these are fully functional. Been storing like this for more than a decade.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 29, 2020)

Robert B said:


> *RESTORED! DONE & DONE! *


FX 5900 XT?
More specifically, Winfast A350 XT?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 29, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Just wanted to say hi to everyone and thank everyone for keeping this awesome thread alive and well!!!!
> 
> Sorry its been a year since posting on the forums but it has been an insane year to say the least. I'm not going into detail but I think I'm finally on the track to normalcy once again.


Welcome back!!


----------



## Bungz (Mar 31, 2020)

Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe indoors where possible  

Due to the lock down I am now more or less housebound so found a bit of time to sift through some stuff I had dumped in my spare room.

First the lows!

Managed to get hold of a Geforce 256 DDR for semi reasonable money, so what does the seller do? Send it bare in a jiffybag like a moron and it arrives bent. One less 256 in the world.





Full builds used to be a good way to pick up decent hardware but I find anything interesting now is pretty slim pickings and they certainly aint given away like they used to be.

Made out a Geforce 4 in this mess and thought I would take a chance on it.





Naff case, loads of useless legacy cards but I like K7S5A boards, has a Geforce ti4200 and has a Pally XP2000 under the cooler.

Boots and bad cap aside seemed fine so thought I would clean it all up and leave it as a complete system for now.

Cap replaced.





Case looks like crap but all works as it should now.

Except it doesnt as I didn't notice its solitary USB socket was smashed in on the board. Put a new one in and it still doesn't play ball properly. Lame.

I have several K7S5A in the loft but thats not the point. Meh.

Picked up a Asus Geforce 4 ti4200 and was met with this on the back of it.





Was about ti give the seller a ton of grief but had a bash at it with a nail brush ( ! ) and some Isopropanol and it has come up pretty clean. That missing R113 was blank from factory.




Result!





Here with the one out the previous system. Both bench very similar despite the more substantial card / faster ram.





Bonus Quadro 700 GXL, so much crap on old forums about them being useless for games, benches faster than the above ti4200, think its based on a Ti4400?





Pair of brand new MSI Kt3 Ultras. I like KT333 boards as they have universal AGP slots  Smell great!





Had this a while but has huge hours on it ( about 28000 hours in the usage stats in bios) and had lots of corrosion like the Asus card. Gave it a good scrub with Isopropanol again and it came up like new.

I owned one of these back in the day the display never was much use to overclock with but they were really solid boards.

And bonus system i got for not alot and have had a ton of fun with playing some older games.





Nothing special at all, a CM Elite 330 case with broken power button, E5200, Poverty G31 mobo and a couple of gigs of DDR2.

Stuck a 8800GS in it and 4GB DDR2 and clocked the CPU to 3.33Ghz ( no voltage control). Has W7 32bit on it, works well for games of the era.

Had a blast playing Company of Heroes on it, even writing this post on it infact!

All for now


----------



## Bones (Mar 31, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> With that kinda of "care" for them, they wont last much, last time i did sort CPUs with pins like that (the ones i sell, not the personal) they all got bended pins, some of them even broken, the K7 CPUs the rubebrs did falle, and Athlons got broken parts of their crystals....



Trust me, he knows what he's doing and knows it well. 

BTW so do I. 









						Bones`s CPU Frequency score: 2840.9 MHz with a Athlon XP-M 2800+ (Barton)
					

The Athlon XP-M 2800+ (Barton) @ 2840.9MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the CPU Frequency benchmark. Bonesranks #null worldwide and #11 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.




					hwbot.org
				











						Bones`s SuperPi - 1M score: 35sec 625ms with a Athlon XP-M 3000+ (Barton)
					

The Athlon XP-M 3000+ (Barton) @ 2876MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the SuperPi - 1M benchmark. Bonesranks #null worldwide and #3 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.




					hwbot.org


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 1, 2020)

Bones said:


> Trust me, he knows what he's doing and knows it well.
> 
> BTW so do I.
> 
> ...




Dont look so with the CPUs sorted that way....

WTF with that cooling and speed, i think normal AIR cooler can handle such speed and voltage, no need of LN2 unless u go 3.5GHz ++... On 2.6GHz my cooler even under load is not even warm and if the CPU was able could go to ur speed and still not getting warm, now the VRM on the motherboard is another thing, need improvement, as when i did put the headsinks the CPU was normal barton on 2.2GHz...


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 1, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> WTF with that cooling and speed, i think normal AIR cooler can handle such speed and voltage, no need of LN2 unless u go 3.5GHz ++... On 2.6GHz my cooler even under load is not even warm and if the CPU was able could go to ur speed and still not getting warm, now the VRM on the motherboard is another thing, need improvement, as when i did put the headsinks the CPU was normal barton on 2.2GHz...


Lol. Talk is cheap. Show me.
BTW, I give away 2.6 chips. They are a mediocre commodity. 
The XP-M is your sig is all multi overclock with very little FSB increase, which typically is not the way you want to OC socket A.  You want as much FSB as the board can stand. Your memory timings and speed are actually quite slow and loose also. So much so in fact, that from a benchmark point of view, I believe I can crush any score you put out with that at 2.6, with only a well tweaked 2.4.

Maybe you like to put your money where your mouth is?  
Come talk again when you get close.


----------



## Bones (Apr 1, 2020)

The XP-M 2800 sub was done with chilled air to the cooler, the XP-M 3000 was on DICE (Dry Ice), no LN2 required.

And all these by me were done on chilled water.
Check the list from CPU-Z through 1024M WPrime and there are a few others down the list too.
The chip HATES the cold so chilled is the only way I can do it, don't have an SS or I'd use it.





						AMD Opteron 165 @ HWBOT
					

1,919 submissions, 11.607/100 hw index




					hwbot.org
				




And we are having a competition with older stuff that starts later this evening.
I'll PM you the link so if you want, you can get in on it and see how you stack up vs the others that will appear. I'll even waive the registration requirement about being a registered member of the forum at the start of the comp in your case so if you happen to get the PM a bit late, it's no big deal.

EDIT:
PM sent.
Also, I'm not sure if it's OK or not to post a link to the comp and if it's a problem, mods please delete the link.
In this time where we are all stuck at home with little to do, I believe this would be a way to help pass the time.

So - If any of you want to participate it's all good.

To be fair towards TPU members, since I didn't post about it until now I'll extend the deadline for three days to register so if not registered _by the end_ of April 3rd at midnight, US CST then it's too late period.
Just read the rules, you'll know what to do. 
Please PM me with the forum name you'll be using there so I'll know you're a TPU member and can allow this exception. 
The Warp 9 AMD/DDR challenge - 2020 | Warp9-systems


----------



## phill (Apr 1, 2020)

My AMD XP scores where never brilliant....

XP M 2500 Super Pi 1m

Loved playing with the CPUs though, they where bullet proof


----------



## Bones (Apr 1, 2020)

I know that feeling - Took forever it seemed to break 40 sec before I finally got past it.


----------



## phill (Apr 1, 2020)

I don't think I had masses of picked hardware when I was benching AMD CPUs, I did have fun doing it mind


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 1, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Lol. Talk is cheap. Show me.
> BTW, I give away 2.6 chips. They are a mediocre commodity.
> The XP-M is your sig is all multi overclock with very little FSB increase, which typically is not the way you want to OC socket A.  You want as much FSB as the board can stand. Your memory timings and speed are actually quite slow and loose also. So much so in fact, that from a benchmark point of view, I believe I can crush any score you put out with that at 2.6, with only a well tweaked 2.4.
> 
> ...



Really u dont say.... The thing is u seems not to even understand what is the reason of my 462 system, one tip if u was so good (as it seems u try to show) at computer hardware and stuff, u was going to notice that my memory is 2GB, now try to OC the FSB of any 462 system with 2 sticks of 1 GB DDR400...
But it seems u dont get the whole idea, will just say it, can ur great OC FSB system be used as daily machine, nah cuz with this 1GB RAM will totally die in about everything, specially browsing, and the multitasking will suffer a lot as well.... And yes i did OC my FSB with Mushkin DDR500 to 250 on the ABIT and was stable like 30 minutes, after that did start to give errors and crashes, so much with the FSB OC on such system.... Not to mention everyone can OC stuff that are stable enough for benchmarking and nothing else !!! About who will crush who, well ur CPU is only 2.4GHz then wut mine have 200MHz more and i have 1GB more memory so my machine can be used as daily driver, while ur can be used only for benchmarks.. 

And does ur machine have the most powerful AGP card, X-Fi card, CM tube AMP panel, LED memory, idiotproof case and other..

My money are in my machine that can be used for daily driver, while u cant sadly..... 
But it seems i hit a point u got salty when i said ur way of storing CPUs is not very good, now u compare OC and stuff, i dont OC most of my stuff, cuz i care for them to work the best possible stable way, and to be able to use them as daily driver...

(this picture is the resolution of an Sony Ericsson W200, so yeah we saw everything u know....)


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## DR4G00N (Apr 1, 2020)

Why would anyone want to run a 462 system as a daily?  A retro gaming machine I would understand but not as a daily.

And I store most of my pga cpu's just like they do and I've never had an issue, I think your's were damaged because they were mishandled and not because of the method of storage.


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## Bones (Apr 2, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> Why would anyone want to run a 462 system as a daily?  A retro gaming machine I would understand but not as a daily.
> 
> And I store most of my pga cpu's just like they do and I've never had an issue, I think your's were damaged because they were mishandled and not because of the method of storage.



Still using an A as a daily? 

Yes, OC'ing one with 2GB's in is entirely doable IF you have the right sticks and I do. 
You won't be hitting the same speeds as running a 1GB kit but it can be done regardless. 

An A can still be used as one's daily but it's not going to be nearly as fast as something newer. 

Believe it or not it _could_ run Win 10 and only a 32 bit version of it. 


			https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028142/windows-10-system-requirements
		

Would be crawling instead of running.... But doable by the specs.


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 2, 2020)

Bones said:


> Believe it or not it _could_ run Win 10 and only a 32 bit version of it.
> 
> 
> https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028142/windows-10-system-requirements
> ...


If you bypass DEP or NX-bit requirement before installation... OK ? (btw : same goes for Win8.x x86)
And assuming OS doesn't fall apart because your CPU doesn't support it.


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## Bones (Apr 2, 2020)

And that's why I made sure to place a bit of emphasis on _"Could_" as shown here.
That's what it says and I'm not going to argue with it, just put the info out there as is for you guys to decide for yourselves.


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## Kissamies (Apr 2, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 149507
> I overclocked my Tbird so hard, that AIDA64 thinks it's an Athlon Ryzen CPU (logo)
> 
> 
> ...


AXIA 1300MHz  I got my 1GHz one running at 1.46GHz, need a better motherboard since the CPU isn't at its limits yet. 

Reposts from several pages ago:













Tho I guess my board died after that since it doesn't post anymore.


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## agent_x007 (Apr 2, 2020)

And more stable one :


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## Kissamies (Apr 2, 2020)

Just you wait until I get a better NF2 motherboard 

Also I'm getting a free HD 6870 tomorrow, a slight upgrade for my 3rd PC from HD 6850.


----------



## jlewis02 (Apr 2, 2020)

Is this old enough yet?





I know this is what you want to see.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 3, 2020)

Nice black slot NF7.  XP-M 2500+ has good stepping and date also.


----------



## Bones (Apr 3, 2020)

Yes, nice indeed!


----------



## Athlonite (Apr 3, 2020)

That's really good NF7S mobo sound storm was great in its day for onboard audio


----------



## freeagent (Apr 3, 2020)

It was awesome, I still miss it. I had OCZ ram that was rated at cas 2.5 but would only run reliably at cas 2-3-3-11 up to I want to say 245fsb but I used to play with a bunch of bios so my results were a bit all over, meaning I don’t remember. I think I had more fun with it than 939. But 939 was ok too.. but not as good as 775 was.. but I loved 1366 so much I still have one in service, much more fun than my crap clocking tactical nuke that is my 1155. But she loves the abuse for now.

Pain meds for my sore back make me ramble


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2020)

I had 2x256 HyperX BH-5 sticks back in the day, now that's what I call overclocking RAM. DDR540 2-2-2-5-1T and that's just with 3.3V (a jumper wire straight from the ATX connector), damn that I sold those long time ago, would be cool to try those with a motherboard (DFI NF4 for example) which could've given more VDDR.

RAM overclocking has been boring after those puppies.


----------



## freeagent (Apr 3, 2020)

I remember watching everyone in envy because I could get nowhere near there. I tried though! I was there in spirit. 

Edit:

I was able to get my 2500M to around 2800 with around 2.3v and a lot of fans.

edit:

could have been 2750ish


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2020)

That was with MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, one of the best NF3 Ultra boards IIRC, had no problems to go 300+ FSB, I had a 3000+ Venice with 50% 24/7 OC (9x300) and those BH-5s. Even though 512MB was pretty meh when playing CS Source (long loading times), the game run so damn smooth with those + soft-modded 9800 SE @ XT speeds.

I'm sure you guys remember those Zalman northbridge heatsinks? That silence after swapping the annoying high-pitched stock HSF for a Zalman.


----------



## Bones (Apr 3, 2020)

Not the Zalmans but I do have a pair of Tt Extreme Spirit II chipset coolers.


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## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2020)

The Zalmans were the de facto replacements from those noisy little coolers (or improving from a small passive heatsink for OC'ing), in fact I had one also in my Abit KT7A back in the day. I was playing normally (Fahrenheit aka Indigo Prophecy for you Americans) and I heard a weird noise. The fan just died, quickly to the next checkpoint and had to get a Zalman. In fact the old Athlon 1GHz AXIA (not that which I own now) OC'd a little better with it, 20-30MHz or something.

e: Got that free HD 6870 which I mentioned, a HUGE boost from my 3rd PC's HD 6850  Too bad that the motherboard doesn't support Crossfire, I guess I'll try it one day in my main PC (and HD 4890 Crossfire too)..


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 5, 2020)

Let's be serious about OC'ing these older AMD chips.. 






That M4A77T & 555 BE is first. Then I need to swap the motherboard, dunno will I use that crappy Asus AM2+ board or Asrock AM2 AGP.. CPU testing anyway so which will OC better is my choice. 






Win7 SP1 without any updates so R15 won't run :|


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Let's be serious about OC'ing these older AMD chips..



How serious do you want to be?    

This is on XP. Had it been on W7 the score would be much better.


----------



## Bones (Apr 5, 2020)

Here's one of mine.


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## Kissamies (Apr 5, 2020)

Come on, that's not fair... I'm running only with custom loop and a basic-tier motherboard. 

e: I was too lazy to put a dvd drive on that (or making a bootable XP drive) so I just put W7 since I had that on a USB stick.


----------



## Bones (Apr 6, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Come on, that's not fair... I'm running only with custom loop and a basic-tier motherboard.
> 
> e: I was too lazy to put a dvd drive on that (or making a bootable XP drive) so I just put W7 since I had that on a USB stick.


Awwww.... OK -  I'll ease off the clocks and cooling.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 6, 2020)

Still unfair dammit  you have a Sabertooth and my M4A77T isn't exactly on the same level.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 6, 2020)

A good freebie 




ASUS EAH4850/HTDI/512M/A. Basically, a 512MB GDDR3 Radeon HD4850. Works fine, though I can tell you I have never seen a DVI-D to VGA adapter in my life. I've seen DVI-I adapters.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2020)

Benchmarking a 6600 GT AGP (@ 600/575) with Phenom II X2 555 BE @ 4GHz. I need more AGP cards even though I have a HD 3850 already, haven't tested these with such fast CPU before. Radeon cards have problems with quad-cores on this motherboard (Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA) so a dual-core Phenom II is an excellent CPU for running 3dmark2001SE/03/05 

I'll move to PCIe motherboard and cards after few more runs, that's going to take a while..

-Radeon HD 3450
-Radeon HD 4890
-Radeon HD 6850
-Radeon HD 6870
-GeForce 7800 GT
-GeForce 8800 GT


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 7, 2020)

Try running slower HT link speed (600 instead of 800).
Should help with stability on Quads.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> Try running slower HT link speed (600 instead of 800).
> Should help with stability on Quads.


It's a documented flaw in the MB's manual. https://www.asrock.com/support/note/AM2NF3-VSTA.html#Phenom

I have very high doubts that a HD 3850 would work. But I think that a fast dualcore like a Phenom II X2 would be more than enough for WinXP gaming with an AGP card.


----------



## Bungz (Apr 7, 2020)

Can anyone confirm that the XP activation servers have finally snuffed it?

Phone activation doesn't seem to work either.

Hmm.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 7, 2020)

Just bought this quite old ASUS K70IC. Needs a new GPU (thankfully it's removable! - MXM slot) but otherwise it's in quite good condition, bar the bottom covers.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 7, 2020)

Bungz said:


> Can anyone confirm that the XP activation servers have finally snuffed it?
> 
> Phone activation doesn't seem to work either.
> 
> Hmm.


Confirmed. That happened a while ago.



Chloe Price said:


> It's a documented flaw in the MB's manual. https://www.asrock.com/support/note/AM2NF3-VSTA.html#Phenom
> 
> I have very high doubts that a HD 3850 would work. But I think that a fast dualcore like a Phenom II X2 would be more than enough for WinXP gaming with an AGP card.


You're using my method. 
All my AGP's get benched on AM2NF3-VSTA and a 565 BE @ 4.5.
Any 3D bench that you would run on AGP is only designed for up to 2 cores anyway. MHz over core count will win every time on AGP cards.


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 7, 2020)

@Mr.Scott 3DMark 06


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2020)

3DMark06 is the only one where more cores would help, but well, as 03 is still my favourite, clockspeed over cores there.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 7, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> @Mr.Scott 3DMark 06


06 will use up to 4 cores, yes, but it's only 1 subtest. IMO, if you excel at the other subtests you can overcome the 4 core benefit of that single test.



Chloe Price said:


> 3DMark06 is the only one where more cores would help, but well, as 03 is still my favourite, clockspeed over cores there.


03 is virtually all GPU. Even clock speed makes little difference as long as it's not an obvious ridiculous bottleneck.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 7, 2020)

Yeah, there wasn't huge difference between 3.2GHz and 3.8GHz when testing 6600 GT, from 5% to 10%.


----------



## Bungz (Apr 8, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Confirmed. That happened a while ago.



A shame I activated a computer using it last year.

Poverty GF4 Ti4200 with a rusted fan.

Dremel knock off to the rescue.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 8, 2020)

Wait, you actually dremeled that shape around the fan? It looks really cool!


----------



## Bungz (Apr 8, 2020)

Ha no

The internals of the fan were rusted up ( fan solid ) so stripped it sanded the commutator and the magnets down with dremel and it works fine again!

Wish I had skills to make a shape like that however


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 8, 2020)

I miss that simple heatsink and fan. Inno3D wasn't a good brand, I have one Inno3D TNT2 M64 PCI that I used for Dell Optiplex GX100 (it only have PCI slots). The card died because overheating MOSFETs. It looks something like this (I take this from VGA museum site). You see that tiny black heatsink on the MOSFET? That is the one that runs hotter than the GPU and burnt


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 8, 2020)

A few of my upcoming projects 

"Anubis"






Basically an "all freebie" build. All of the parts were mostly from friends who upgraded their PCs or trashpicks.

Specs:

Core 2 Quad Q9400
MSI G41T-P26
ASUS Radeon HD4850 512M GDDR3
3GB DDR3-1333 RAM
160GB WD AV series HDD SATA
HKC 430W PSU
JNC case from ~2004 
Windows 8.1 Pro

"K7 is the new Core 2 Duo"




An laptop I picked up recently, more exactly the ASUS posted earlier. Don't let the nVidia/Pentium stickers deceive you! It sports a T9400 Core 2 Duo (2.53GHz/1066FSB), though it originally came with a T4300 Pentium. The GPU it came with turned out to be dead as a nail - a Geforce GT220M (aka rebranded 9600M GT) with about 1GB DDR2 of RAM. I already ordered a HD4570 out of a K70AB (same as my K70IC but with AMD CPU instead of Intel) and will update once it works properly.

"sixty-five-thirty-gee"




Probably the thing that will make me have white hair early in my life. Acer Aspire 6530G, and this is probably the 3rd mobo I'm installing. First one had bad NB, the other had a bad LVDS port, hope this one works fine. Specs are a Turion ZM-80, about 2GB of RAM, probably a HD4650 once I get the board working fine, and maybe 2 HDDs as well since why not.

Will come back with updates once I get the 6530G board I ordered as well as the HD4570.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 9, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Confirmed. That happened a while ago.


Are you sure? I've recently activated a copy of XP Home online.


Bungz said:


> Can anyone confirm that the XP activation servers have finally snuffed it?
> 
> Phone activation doesn't seem to work either.
> 
> Hmm.


If Scotty is right, there's always preactivated versions(this suggestion is not a promotion of piracy as legitimate license owners have the ethical, legal and moral right to continue using the OS). I personally have never used any version that is not preactivated. However, many of my clients have retail copies and require activation, which rarely fails.


----------



## Bungz (Apr 9, 2020)

I have a clean reactivated iso that works but on full builds have always used genuine keys.

Just says server isn’t there but I’m connected to the net, what made me think it was nerfed was phone activation doesn’t work either.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 9, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are you sure? I've recently activated a copy of XP Home online.


It's been almost a year since I could activate any of my retail copies.
I have valid keys for all of them.
No server and no phone activation.


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 9, 2020)

^King of Garbage.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 10, 2020)

Why GPU-Z reports it as a fake? With a quick look it looks just as it should be


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 10, 2020)

GPUz error.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 10, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's been almost a year since I could activate any of my retail copies.
> I have valid keys for all of them.
> No server and no phone activation.


I just tried testing that myself, looks like you're right.
It seems that we are all down to self-activation, which is now perfectly lawful as Microsoft is effectively denying us all access to our own software. And people wonder why I don't trust Microsoft....


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 10, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Why GPU-Z reports it as a fake? With a quick look it looks just as it should be


GPU-z claims it's GT216, that's why "FAKE" because it think it's half of GT216 (which, it clearly is not).
BTW : This card has too slow bandwidth to take advantage of 4 ROPs, in reality only around 2 ROPs can be used... sometimes.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 10, 2020)

Haven't seen a card with 32-bit bandwith in a while, I remember having a GF 7300 SE (or LE) with 32-bit and oh boy that was slow.  Still ran CoD4 playable with everything set to minimum though.


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 11, 2020)

Not often seen together these days


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 11, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> Not seen everyday together these days


I have these boring looking ones


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 11, 2020)

Fastest of the turtles (325MHz/650MHz [GPU/VRAM])


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 11, 2020)

5200 Ultra is quite rare, would love to have that and 5600 Ultra. That copper color looks great too. (look at the box) I got Tomb Raider AoD  with Powercolor 9600XT Bravo, still have the DVD too.


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 11, 2020)

Mine came with all stuff in BOX (game included) :





I got this Yuan 9600 Pro from the same guy too :




Doesn't clock to 9600 XT level sadly (470-ish MHz on GPU is it's max).


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 11, 2020)

5200 Ultra.
Very nice.   
I do not have one of those.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 11, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> 5200 Ultra is quite rare, would love to have that and 5600 Ultra. That copper color looks great too. (look at the box) I got Tomb Raider AoD  with Powercolor 9600XT Bravo, still have the DVD too.


I had a Creative (well, MSI with Creative's stickers) FX 5600 Ultra about 11 years ago, what's weird that I got about 40 Euros from it when I sold it, I thought that if I get 20EUR I'm happy. I remember that it ran Far Cry with medium settings fine.

e: Typo


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 12, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> 5200 Ultra.
> Very nice.
> I do not have one of those.


They were ultra rare. I think only 50,000ish of them were ever made.


----------



## zanca.racing (Apr 12, 2020)

Hi boys.

The coronavirus give me the time to make what I had to do for a long time.

So I'm glad to present you my entire collection!

Today two sister motherboards:

Asus A7V:











I found installed on this an Athlon Thunderbird 1400 Mhz 133 FSB. I find out the right maximus Thunderbird that A7V can carrier: 1400 Mhz 100 FSB!









































Asus A7V133:






A copper spacer for CPU!


----------



## zanca.racing (Apr 12, 2020)

And also for today the queen of Rimm technology!

Asus P4T533:






Upgrade to 2 x 512Mb 232 Rimm


























Happy Easter!

:-D


----------



## hat (Apr 13, 2020)

It's been a while since I've heard of Orthos...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 13, 2020)

zanca.racing said:


> Upgrade to 2 x 512Mb 232 Rimm


Wow! Only two RIMM slots. Every RDRAM board I've ever seen had 4. Back then I bought 4x512MB 1066mhz for mine and OC'd the P4 to 3.2ghz. It was pretty pimp for a while.


----------



## zanca.racing (Apr 13, 2020)

Hi and good Easter Monday!

Today I show you two beast:

Abit IC7-MAX3:






Upgraded the first one with the Extreme Edition 3,4Ghz  P4!






With the original cooler.
















Original brand new package with full bundle!
















And the second IC7...






Upgraded with 3,4 Ghz Northwood P4.






The first board came from Las Vegas (United Stated of America). Fortunately I have a cousin that live there. The original Extreme Edition cooler came from Osaka (Japan). I have a big friend that live there.

The second board came from Italy near me....not tested, It came without all fans. I bought them from ebay, cleaned, work perfectly. In total I spent  21€!!!!!!!!!



hat said:


> It's been a while since I've heard of Orthos...



For all motherboards I have installed a new copy of Windows...I know that all my hardware works but I want to show you!

So Orthos or prime95 for 2 minutes for me it's the same :-D



lexluthermiester said:


> Wow! Only two RIMM slots. Every RDRAM board I've ever seen had 4. Back then I bought 4x512MB 1066mhz for mine and OC'd the P4 to 3.2ghz. It was pretty pimp for a while.



*lexluthermiester *I'm sure that your motherboard can install 184 pin RDRAM

My P4T533 support only 232 pin RDRAM!!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2020)

Hah, the Emergency Editions were ~1000EUR/USD and they came with a cheap stock cooler like that?! At least AMD had the better heatpipe cooler in their high-end CPUs back in the day; the cheap aluminium cooler was bundled with the cheaper CPUs.


----------



## hat (Apr 13, 2020)

Ah, I remember wanting one of those P4 EE's back when I had a socket 478 system and not much money to upgrade the whole system. That idea never took off the ground, but I did wind up getting an Athlon64 x2.



zanca.racing said:


> For all motherboards I have installed a new copy of Windows...I know that all my hardware works but I want to show you!
> 
> So Orthos or prime95 for 2 minutes for me it's the same :-D



It's more of a nostalgic thing for me. I used Orthos back in the day when I first got started with my Athlon64 x2 5200+. I never did any overclocking on my 478 system. Unfortunately, it got left behind in the past as better hardware came out and other software advanced. I still like Prime95 today (which was another tool people used back in the day), in conjunction with Extreme Linpack by our own @Regeneration


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 13, 2020)




----------



## zanca.racing (Apr 13, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Hah, the Emergency Editions were ~1000EUR/USD and they came with a cheap stock cooler like that?! At least AMD had the better heatpipe cooler in their high-end CPUs back in the day; the cheap aluminium cooler was bundled with the cheaper CPUs.



The cooler have a copper plate in the bottom:






Show must go on!

Aopen i975Xa-YDG:






The original T5500 come with board






Upgraded with T7600 the maximus that board can support





















Full bundle








Asus A7V266-E






You can see also the Asus Ipanel... Apple dont' worry... :-D
















Asus A7V333
















Abit NF7-S 2.0


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 13, 2020)

Damn that AOpen board is stuff of dreams back then during Pentium 4 era.


----------



## zanca.racing (Apr 13, 2020)

MSI MS-6163

The board came without heatsink and fan for PII 200Mhz and tell me that there was something wrong but I was able to install the operating system anyway
















After I find out ther right heatsink and fan and all was good!


















Apocalypsee said:


> Damn that AOpen board is stuff of dreams back then during Pentium 4 era.



I have been searching this motherboard for 11 years. I accidentally saw a thread from one selling it 8 years ago. I wrote to him and after 4 months he replied that he was still selling it! I was very lucky!

DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR:











Athlon 64 3800+ upgraded to FX-55











Full bundle






DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert:





















And now the queen of 939 socket:

The DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert Venus!

Limited edition!

1000 pz in all over the world!











With FX-60 and 4 x 512 Corsair 3500 Cas 2 Platinum Edition. Old school BH-5!
















Full bundle





















Ram at default






Little overclock 2,91 volts






and at 3,21 volts






DFI LanParty DK 790FX-M2RS:











Install on this board I find an AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition






and also with 2 x 2Gb XMS2 DHX 6400 800Mhz
















DFI LanParty LT X48-T2R:






This board came with an Intel E8400 cpu






But I upgraded it with QX9770






with original Intel cooler






and 2 x 2Gb Mushkin 8500 DDRII
















Original package and bundle






Abit AN7:






installed on this motherboard is and Athlon 2600+ Barton @ 2300Mhz 200x11.5











Abit KV7:






The chipset fan don't work; so I put a bit of liquid grease on the rotor...






clean the old thermal paste






apply a new thermal paste











and all work fine!






Tested with an Athlon 2500+ Barton @ 3200+






and 2 x 512Mb BH-6






Evga 122-CK-NF68-A1 Lga 775 nVidia nForce 680i SLI:

I have two board: one, revision D00 that works better with quad core CPU, come with X6800 Extreme Edition:






and original Intel cooler:











Upgraded with QX6850 Extreme Edition:






with brand new original Intel cooler:
















original box with bundle











The second one, revision C00, is die 






Intel D845BG:






with P4 1,8Ghz











Asus P4PE:






Come with P4 2,8 Ghz Northwood upgraded with 3,2 Ghz Northwood (sorry for bad photos)











Gigabyte GA-6WMM7:






come with PIII 800Mhz











Asus P5GD2-X:






Come with P4 630 3,0Ghz Prescott











Ok and the last for today is the trimmer repair of:

Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar






Vipergear instruction:




































And the stick is done:











Work complete:


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2020)

I'd have hours of entertainment of overclocking all those platforms to the maximum stable frequencies.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 13, 2020)

Indeed. There is some nice vintage hardware there.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 14, 2020)

Double the bass, double the fun!




Specs

Left:
Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz, 1066FSB)
nVidia Geforce 9600M GT 512MB MXM-II 
1TB Seagate ST1000LM024 + 500GB HGST Z5K500-500
6GB DDR2-800 RAM
16" 1366x768 LCD
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Right:
Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 (2.00GHz, 1066FSB)
ATi Radeon Mobility HD4650 1GB MXM-II
Western Digital WD2500BEVT + 320GB Seagate Momentus Thin
4GB DDR2-800 RAM
16" 1366x768 LCD
Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 1809 + Windows 7 Ultimate x64


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 15, 2020)

Another update, swapped one of the subwoofers (on the one with the 1TB drive) with a spare one I had from a dead 6530G.
Here's a pic (credit goes to DoZe from NotebookReview forums)



The usual one that comes with most 6930G is the beige inwards one . I managed to find the left kind of subwoofer in a drawer (left from the dead 6530G) and mounted it as a test. The difference it made was night and day. If the old one had some slightly audible crackling, this one was literally the closest to being as powerful as a 25W desktop subwoofer. I wish I had another one, because I'd definitely recommend this variant of the subwoofer to anyone with a 6530/6920/6930/6935/8920/8930 and has the beige kind of subwoofer. Believe me, these black ones are literal monsters.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 16, 2020)

I like laptops of that era, there's just something about that design most laptops had ~10 years which pleases me.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 16, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I like laptops of that era, there's just something about that design most laptops had ~10 years which pleases me.


Panasonic Toughbook with a 266 MHz Pentium MMX?


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 16, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Panasonic Toughbook with a 266 MHz Pentium MMX?


Damn, a new video from Adrian which I haven't seen yet, let's check it out. 8)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 16, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I like laptops of that era, there's just something about that design most laptops had ~10 years which pleases me.


Well, be prepared, for a 8930G is coming my way on Friday 

They're getting more and more scarce so gotta rack up what I can on them  and while I still can!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 16, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Panasonic Toughbook with a 266 MHz Pentium MMX?


He got quite the haul too!


----------



## zanca.racing (Apr 17, 2020)

Hi at all.

Today is graphics cards day!

So let's start.

Diamond Edge nVidia NV1


























Hercules 3D Prophet II Ultra:





















Hercules 3D Prophet III Ti 500:
















Asus GeForce 4 Ti 4600 Ultra:





















PNY Verto GeForce FX 5800 Ultra:


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 17, 2020)

zanca.racing said:


> *Asus* A7V:


you spelt *Sturmpanzerwagen* A7V wrong

eh? ... well it's nostalgic and hardware ... ok ... less nostalgic and probably too much "hard war" ... maybe

on the other hand, could you please post pictures in thumbnail if you have a huge amount of them (not all can keep the initial in full image ) because it's quite a pain to read and i do not have a low resolution small screen ...

AND NICE 3D PROPHET III Ti 500!!! my 3D Prophet 9700, II GTS Pro 64mb, 4500 and 4000XT are waiting her since a long time now.... "cry" found none till today (but i compensated a lot with some other ) will keep trying.




edit.... still a long way to go ...


----------



## zanca.racing (Apr 17, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> you spelt *Sturmpanzerwagen* A7V wrong
> View attachment 151817
> eh? ... well it's nostalgic and hardware ... ok ... less nostalgic and probably too much "hard war" ... maybe
> 
> ...



Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro:


























Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 Pro:






Yes I know...the leds on fan don't work...fortunately my ex girlfriend live in Hungary and I found out a working fan led in HU. When she come back I replace the heatsink with the new one! 
















Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 XT:
















Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT:
















Hercules 3D Prophet 4500





















For today is all! Bye :-D


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 17, 2020)

you missed the middle point of my post ... i hope it's not on purpose because page Nr 363 has really become a p.i.t.a. to scroll thru ... it almost make me want to forget the thread (and that's my favorite thread here on TPU )

also for the in quotes answers : "give me time man" for what? for learning to press on thumbnail instead of full pic   because the "still a long way to go" was for myself 
still happy of the 4 i managed to get to add to my other GPU's on my shelf.

and my initial answer is a proof xD i literally looked at your first post skipped all the other with the details and notified the III Ti 500 because it was not highlighted 
it's not against you or your wonderful hardware collection of course ... 

(i dread to open the thread on my phone ... 6.4" 2130x1080 would be painfull  )


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 17, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> on the other hand, could you please post pictures in thumbnail if you have a huge amount of them (not all can keep the initial in full image ) because it's quite a pain to read and i do not have a low resolution small screen ...





GreiverBlade said:


> you missed the middle point of my post ... i hope it's not on purpose because page Nr 363 has really become a p.i.t.a. to scroll thru ... it almost make me want to forget the thread (and that's my favorite thread here on TPU )




I agree 100% with @GreiverBlade on these statements. 
@zanca.racing you really really need to put all these awesome hardware pictures into thumbnails as this is getting pretty hard to scroll through for many members that are visiting and posting in this thread.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 17, 2020)

WTF?! I just found out that not every LGA 775 CPU are soldered; just delidded an E4300 and it was like delidding a Haswell


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 17, 2020)

My 8930G came in


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 17, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> WTF?! I just found out that not every LGA 775 CPU are soldered; just delidded an E4300 and it was like delidding a Haswell


Most aren't. Didn't need to be as the C2D and C2Q line ran very cool.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 17, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Most aren't. Didn't need to be as the C2D and C2Q line ran very cool.


I thought that all LGA 775 CPUs were soldered 

There's something: https://www.overclock.net/forum/5-intel-cpus/305443-ihs-removals-how-do-should-i-do-facts.html


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 17, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I thought that all LGA 775 CPUs were soldered
> 
> There's something: https://www.overclock.net/forum/5-intel-cpus/305443-ihs-removals-how-do-should-i-do-facts.html


I don't think that list is completely correct. I've done a number of delids of many of the CPU's on the list and they were never soldered.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 18, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I don't think that list is completely correct. I've done a number of delids of many of the CPU's on the list and they were never soldered.


Could there be some revision/stepping changes whether the IHS is soldered or not..? Dammit, I don't know!


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 18, 2020)

@Apocalypsee After some cleaning (not tested yet, but should work)


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 18, 2020)

That flame cooler looks AWESOME.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 18, 2020)

Gorgeous little card, that's what I like about old cards. That flame theme looks great! Back then I once used MSI 5600NU that looks like this


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 18, 2020)

It's also legit part of heatsink (ie. it's made out of metal).
The other thing I got myself (both are mine, but the one on the left was with me since 2017) :


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 18, 2020)

I had a Creative FX 5600 UItra (which is a rebranded MSI card with a Creative sticker), it was surprisingly much faster than a FX 5600 nu 






I had also a Hercules 9500 Pro which was too surprisingly fast, I guess the 128-bus didn't choke it as much than I thought.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 18, 2020)

Yep that is MSI card alright   Hercules card of that era have blue color instead of usual ATi red PCB, that made them cool


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 18, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Gorgeous little card, that's what I like about old cards. That flame theme looks great! Back then I once used MSI 5600NU that looks like this
> 
> View attachment 151962


AH! i have that one, it came from a tower a colleague gifted me and the card donated her HSF pushpin 
it's a MSI FX5600-TD256 for mine (same HSF model include the TD128 and XT-TD128)

funny because the 5600 line box is exactly the same as my NX6600GT i have 
recycling recycling recycling 
i have a pair of them in that box


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 18, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Gorgeous little card, that's what I like about old cards. That flame theme looks great! Back then I once used MSI 5600NU that looks like this
> 
> View attachment 151962


Ironically, that cooler probably worked better.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 18, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> It's also legit part of heatsink (ie. it's made out of metal).
> The other thing I got myself (both are mine, but the one on the left was with me since 2017) :



And I have their grandfathers.


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 18, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> And I have their grandfathers.
> 
> View attachment 151981


Me too


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 18, 2020)

Nice! Wish I had the windowed one's.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 18, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice! Wish I had the windowed one's.



Yep, me also. I've looked for them for years. Used to be they were stupid expensive and lately they are just rare.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 20, 2020)

Have been searching through classifieds, and I can tell you that I have almost 3 more cool Acer laptops coming through. Boy, the pandemic isolation really did open my schedule to a lot of projects.

1. Aspire 5739G (P7350, 4GB DDR3, GT240M)
2. Aspire 7738G (T6500, no RAM, GT130M)
3. Aspire 6920G (unknown exact specifications)

A quick rundown:

-5739G works absolutely fine, seller put up pictures of it working with Windows 10
-7738G needs quite a LOT of work - LCD (have sourced one from the X70IC project which was scrapped), HDD (have a 250GB Hitachi on hand w/ Win7), RAM (need to source DDR3 SODIMMs) and finally, a battery.
-6920G is restarting after 1 hour. I totally know what causes this and for the price I found it it's a serious bargain, even more if the LCD is the FullHD variant (several special versions of the 6920,6930,8920,8930 models used FullHD panels - this also meant different LVDS cables most of the time). For those interested, 6920, 6935, 8920 and 8930 all used a NEC TOKIN Proadlizer capacitor which goes bad over time. My 8930G also has this cap but so far it hasn't experienced any issues. The 6920 will be a great candidate for replacing the NEC TOKIN with either 2x470uF or 4x470uF (or 4x330uF)

NOTE: For those who know a bit about the phat PS3 mobo, these NEC TOKIN caps are the same cursed caps that are used on phat PS3s. Slims finally did away with them, being substituted with 4x330uF tantalum caps as far as I remember.


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 22, 2020)

freeagent said:


> I remember watching everyone in envy because I could get nowhere near there. I tried though! I was there in spirit.
> 
> Edit:
> 
> ...



Well going more then 2.7GHz on a mobile Barton is not a good idea, if u will go for 24/7 stable work, cuz will short the life span of the CPU, and these parts will become extinct, cuz of gold scrappers and idiots that just trow to the trash parts... At least i wont go above 2.7GHz as is not worth it to brun the parts, adn as far as i know more voltage then 1.85v is not good, still 1.9v is a bit ok for me, but above 2v for 462 CPUs is way tooo much......




Apocalypsee said:


> Damn that AOpen board is stuff of dreams back then during Pentium 4 era.



Well AOpen boards are great, sadly they dont have too many models, still the ones they have are great. This dual 370 is a champion, the guy that did use it was smoker, and he did smoke like 24/7 did not leave the cigaretes, whole board was with tar, and nasty, also the guy did put one time a SDram stick on the wrong way and blown up a pin in the slot, and there was places where the PCB was naked and the copper was showing, yet after cleaning and recapping the board is wotking great, so AOpen is really great brand, and one of my favorites like ABIT... 

I found this board to be better then the ASUS CUV4X-DLS, that sure have AGP pro slot, up to 4GB of ram and SCSI, but the color is bad, and they tend to have problems, liek to randomly die, or to get stuff not working like PS2 connectors, USB and others...

 

Very interesting boards, only AOpen have so strange boards, and the rare AOpen Tube boards, for sure the inegrated audio is not very gooc, cuz is not separated, but is still very interesting and unique.. Also a black Slot 1 mobo, only AOpen have that as far as i know, pink and dark with some smile faces on it, really interesting boards, similar to ABIT casper, and others...

   





This is what i got so far, Cherry G80-1000 cant see an G80-1000 on ebay, seems they are very rare, (same as the Aopen dual 370 and the Tube boards) , IBM Model M Gen 2.
These 2 are my daily ones i use, just want to get 1 premium ALPS NorthGate Omnikey or Zenith and one Space Invaders NBM tech, and maybe IBM Model F AT....

   


Someone of you have maybe interesting Mechanical keyboards, like ALPS DELL BIGfoot, NorthGate Omnikey, Zenith, or NBM Space Invaders or IBM Model Fs that are rare specially the AT model, i did miss one Model F AT last days and am not very happy....


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 22, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Well AOpen boards are great, sadly they dont have too many models, still the ones they have are great. This dual 370 is a champion, the guy that did use it was smoker, and he did smoke like 24/7 did not leave the cigaretes, whole board was with tar, and nasty, also the guy did put one time a SDram stick on the wrong way and blown up a pin in the slot, and there was places where the PCB was naked and the copper was showing, yet after cleaning and recapping the board is wotking great, so AOpen is really great brand, and one of my favorites like ABIT...
> 
> I found this board to be better then the ASUS CUV4X-DLS, that sure have AGP pro slot, up to 4GB of ram and SCSI, but the color is bad, and they tend to have problems, liek to randomly die, or to get stuff not working like PS2 connectors, USB and others...
> 
> ...


Oh my God, that AOpen Tube board. I really fond of that because my dad is huge audiophile and have some tube amp/preamp. Would love to own one despite the crappy CODEC it was connected to. Seeing one really is a blast from the past, as I read it from HardwareMag I bought that year, they have review on their site too









						HardwareZone.com.sg | Product reviews | Technology News | Blogs
					

HardwareZone is the leading online technology portal in Asia Pacific gives you latest tech Updates, technology news, products & gadgets reviews and more.




					www.hardwarezone.com


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 22, 2020)

Love playing old games with old laptops. Upgraded this hp nx7000 to a retro beast; Pentium M (Dothan) 1.6GHz, 2GB DDR-266, Radeon 9200 Mobility (32MB/64bit unfortunately), 80GB 7200rpm HDD.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 22, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Love playing old games with old laptops. Upgraded this hp nx7000 to a retro beast; Pentium M (Dothan) 1.6GHz, 2GB DDR-266, Radeon 9200 Mobility (32MB/64bit unfortunately), 80GB 7200rpm HDD.


Hey that laptop isnt half bad, way overkill for Wolf 3D. I bet it can run Return to Castle Wolfenstein, with Truform too!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 22, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Hey that laptop isnt half bad, way overkill for Wolf 3D. I bet it can run Return to Castle Wolfenstein, with Truform too!


RtCW runs fine with low/med!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 22, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> RtCW runs fine with low/med!


Turn off AA and it will run fine on high details.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 22, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Turn off AA and it will run fine on high details.


I'll try tomorrow, I'm so busy with Worms World Party


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 22, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Oh my God, that AOpen Tube board. I really fond of that because my dad is huge audiophile and have some tube amp/preamp. Would love to own one despite the crappy CODEC it was connected to. Seeing one really is a blast from the past, as I read it from HardwareMag I bought that year, they have review on their site too
> 
> 
> 
> ...



AOpen stuff rocks... The sound chip on that board is garbage sadly, but maybe it can be replaced with some X-Fi creative chip or something else... 

That AOpen will fit great in a case with this shit..


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 23, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Love playing old games with old laptops. Upgraded this hp nx7000 to a retro beast; Pentium M (Dothan) 1.6GHz, 2GB DDR-266, Radeon 9200 Mobility (32MB/64bit unfortunately), 80GB 7200rpm HDD.
> 
> View attachment 152424


Great, now I'm itching to get my nx9010 into working worder *facepalm*


----------



## emissary42 (Apr 23, 2020)




----------



## Bungz (Apr 23, 2020)

I didn't realise the 5200 Ultra Fan club was so exclusive 





Remember as a student ( a long time ago!) seeing one on sale in Game for £129.99 with my geeky mates and laughing at the price of it. We all rocked 9800 Pros naturally

Love the corsair LED stuff, I have a few pairs but not the LL stuff 







Managed to get hold of a beige computer, cant turn them down these days. Awful photographs in the advert but I have got quite good at identifying a 17 year old graphics card from a quarter view of its rear side now.














Everything stripped down and repurposed for a Kyro 3 Build I wanted to do for a while.











Hope everyone is keeping safe and well.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 23, 2020)

What's that purple card, GF4 Ti but which one?


----------



## Bungz (Apr 23, 2020)

4600 

I like boards on odd coloured pcbs


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 23, 2020)

Bungz said:


> I didn't realise the 5200 Ultra Fan club was so exclusive
> 
> View attachment 152509
> 
> ...





Interesting Creative Video card on the GEforce 5 series, i did think they did end up making video cards after GEforce 3, seems this was the last they did...
Corsair LED memory yeah nice stuff, i have pair of these too. The more rare XMS Expert, with the programable LED screens is even better, sadly they are only x2 512MB, i dont think 2GB kit exists..
Crucial BalistiX is also LED, but have a kit of DDR800, not DDR400..




That GF4 look like Plit Daytona or ECS





Bungz said:


> 4600
> 
> I like boards on odd coloured pcbs




Same, so u will like AOpen boards, Soltek, Soyo Platinum Dragon, ABIT casper...


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 23, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> What's that purple card, GF4 Ti but which one?


Looks the same as this except for the purple dye PCB.




Creative?


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 23, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Looks the same as this except for the purple dye PCB.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's a Nvidia reference board, the purple one had just a purple PCB but still a Nvidia logo 

and remember, Creative cards = rebranded MSI 

e: This Triplex Ti 4600 is so pretty 









						Triplex GeForce4 Ti 4600 Millennium Silver Specs
					

NVIDIA NV25, 300 MHz, 4 Pixel Shaders, 2 Vertex Shaders, 8 TMUs, 4 ROPs, 128 MB DDR, 324 MHz, 128 bit




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 23, 2020)

That white PCB GPU will be great match with this Soyo Dragon platinum, or the Slotek or the ABIT Casper
 

And a modern one AM2..


This looks great, but there are no pink colored video cards or memory to match it...
 

This have options



And these video cards look insane, sadly the PCB is not the same color as the metal parts, or at least black, bt they are still very good looking...


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 23, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> What's that purple card, GF4 Ti but which one?


That is an MSI card, you can see the number 8872 on its PCB. From what I remember ASUS made purple Ti 4600 board too


----------



## Bungz (Apr 23, 2020)

It’s a pny 

Another company that used msi pcb, it has a msi bios on it even

I have a ecs board I’m sure that it will match...

Have a few solteks in odd colours too.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 23, 2020)

Bungz said:


> It’s a pny
> 
> Another company that used msi pcb, it has a msi bios on it even
> 
> ...


Yeah ECS almost always use purple colored PCB on all its motherboard including budget ones. Beats boring brown PCB used by ASUS or green by everyone else.


----------



## agent_x007 (Apr 23, 2020)

Purple 4400 Ti (128MB) :




^Not sure if I posted this... I got original cooler too, but it's too loud for me and this one lookes better (at least to me).

Edit : Original cooler


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 24, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> That is an MSI card, you can see the number 8872 on its PCB. From what I remember ASUS made purple Ti 4600 board too
> 
> View attachment 152546


Yeah I remember that Asus had those V model numbers. I remember also that GF 6800 AGP cards were the last, V9999 lineup. 

I had a V9999LE (6800 LE) softmodded to 6800nu and it OC'd hella lot, 375/940 (DDR).


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 24, 2020)

My Insperon 6000
circa 2005
Upgraded CPU to a Pentium M 760
Upgraded to 2 gig of ram
Everything still works as new.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 24, 2020)

Are those media buttons in the front?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 24, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Yeah I remember that Asus had those V model numbers. I remember also that GF 6800 AGP cards were the last, V9999 lineup.
> 
> I had a V9999LE (6800 LE) softmodded to 6800nu and it OC'd hella lot, 375/940 (DDR).


I chucked when I hear the V9999 back then because ASUS ran out of numbers to use 

Funny I used to have 6800LE as well, Gainward with red PCB. It unlocks to full 16 pipes and AFAIR core clocks reach 6800U speeds. Here is the pics using old 02 Xphone, blurry as hell because no autofocus. I remove the red plate on the cooler.




This is how it looks like at high resolution, I found the pics on ebay


----------



## GreiverBlade (Apr 24, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> View attachment 152540View attachment 152541 View attachment 152542View attachment 152543 View attachment 152544


i own a Leadtek Winfast A350 128mb TDH MyViVo  (it was my fist FX "high end" card at the time, well not a Ultra but a 5900 nonetheless ) i gave it to a friend and took his Radeon 9200SE in exchange (yeah i am quite generous) and when he upgraded his gears he gave it back to me, since then she's in my GPU collection shelf, insane by the amount of metal used for the whole heatsink, shroud and fan flow/placement

but those Pixelview PDF/PDFII, iirc a FX 5700 and FX 5900 XT, are quite nice (the LCD is about the only original thing that look insane, the shrouds aside material and color are a bit generic ) on the inside they are a bit "meh" compared to the A350,


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 24, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Are those media buttons in the front?


Yes they are.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 25, 2020)

My 6920G came in and I managed to hose up the BIOS somehow. 

I managed to find a pretty beaten up 6935G but with a working motherboard and am waiting for it to arrive. At least it's quite an considerable upgrade over the PM965 chipset the 6920G had, and nearly every part can be reused from 6920G. (except the PATA DVD drive since 6935G is SATA, and same goes for the RAM since 6935G uses DDR3, much like my 8930G does.)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 26, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> My Insperon 6000
> circa 2005
> Upgraded CPU to a Pentium M 760
> Upgraded to 2 gig of ram
> ...


I had one just like that! Good little notebook.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 27, 2020)

A few changes of plans:

-6935G is on it's way  seems it's as powerful as my 8930G - same 9600M GT, but 1GB VRAM instead of 512MB 

-6920G I have talked with a seller on a classifieds site (OLX since that's where I find my stuff on  ) and have managed to find a pretty good one w/ the rare FullHD panel. The only issue is a dead board (said to be chipset), but it's better for me, as I can just transplant the BIOS chip on my fixed one (no more NEC-Tokin for my 6920G!) and then use the board with the FHD panel. A nice win. Said he has the whole week busy and will send next week, will call him then and set up the postage.

-will prolly save my 8930G for sometime when I can visit my dad after all this isolation is lifted (hopefully traveling will be restored to an extent) and swap his P8700 w/ my P7350, and maybe snag a 4GB stick when possible.

-5920G will get a GF8600M GT 512 (rebranded as 9500M GT) probably, as much as I am not keen on using these crappy G84 chips. I still wonder why did they not use a cut down G96 chip like the desktop counterpart does.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 27, 2020)

Came across this combo at Computer Renaissance that I bought for $49. It says it has a Q9200 with 8GB over four sticks of DDR2 on a XFX Nvidia? mobo. I tried looking for a Q9200 but nothing came up so I'm wondering what's under the CPU heatsink now. The XFX mobo was more interesting to me.
 

Core 2 Quad 9400 after removing the heatsink, and cleaning off the compound.










Posting from this old build in Windows XP. The hoops you have to jump through though.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Came across this combo at Computer Renaissance that I bought for $49. It says it has a Q9200 with 8GB over four sticks of DDR2 on a XFX Nvidia? mobo. I tried looking for a Q9200 but nothing came up so I'm wondering what's under the CPU heatsink now. The XFX mobo was more interesting to me.
> View attachment 153040 View attachment 153041
> 
> Core 2 Quad 9400 after removing the heatsink, and cleaning off the compound.
> ...


That is a solid purchase! Mild OC to 3.2ghz(which it will handle) and you have a C2Q winner!


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 28, 2020)

Nice, now get the system to recognize the rest of the Ram and make use of all those sticks.








						Guide to enable windows XP to use more than 3.25GB ram
					

I don't know who to give credits to but the earliest this was found was from a chinese tech forum http://bbs.pediy.com/showthread.php?t=137830   Note:...




					www.xpforums.com
				



(just in case)


----------



## micropage7 (Apr 28, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> That white PCB GPU will be great match with this Soyo Dragon platinum, or the Slotek or the ABIT Casper
> View attachment 152532 View attachment 152533View attachment 152534
> 
> And a modern one AM2..
> ...


White and purple soltek are my fav, recalling when i was in college


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 28, 2020)

Well i dont think Soltek did an white motherboards, the white ones are Soyo Dragon Platinum series, and ABIT Casper. Soltek on other hand have gold PCB boards and 2 differend purple PCB boards dark purple, and light purple.. For sure the coloful boards look great, and whole colored setup is very good looking custom PC.. One of the possible very old setups are *GIGABYTE BX2000+* blue slot 1 mobo, GIGABYTE IDE blue cables, some blue GPU like Gigabyte FX5900, or some Hercules blue card, memory will be goood to be blue PCB or at least the headsinks to be blue, bue Audio card such as yamaha Miro Sound ISA, blue CPU cooler, a blue EnermaX PSU like noisetaiker or something similar... And there you go a great old all in blue system... For some flavor there can be added 3Dfx Voodoo Pro video blue. Black one is also possible if u find *AOpen - AX6BC PRO II* and use some black PCU GPU like POV FX5900...

       

Ofc a blue lighted pipe will be good to add here too..
But on other hand i prefer Slot A system, as is more rare and interesting then Slot 1, still nothing can beat the color of that Gigabyte BX2000+....

These days i found the holy grail of the mechanical keyboards, IBM Model F AT, but sadly someone did buy it before me...


Not very happy at all, but at least founded an AMD K6-III...



And a guy that have IBM 365 dual Pentium Pro system with only 1 CPU installed...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 28, 2020)

Soltek actually did make a white skt 478 mobo.


----------



## micropage7 (Apr 28, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Soltek actually did make a white skt 478 mobo.











						Network Server Boards for sale | eBay
					

Get the best deals on Network Server Boards and find everything you'll need to improve your home office setup at eBay.com. Fast & Free shipping on many items!



					www.ebay.com
				




Still available on ebay


----------



## Radical Vision (Apr 28, 2020)

Well this soltek is booring, lot of MSI boards have the red color, and with better components...









						SOLTEK  SL-85DR3 White Casper Socket 478 motherboard Intel Pentium 4  | eBay
					

Very Rare and most Beautiful White 478 Socket motherboard - SOLTEK  SL-85DR3, also known as "GLACIER SILVER". This motherboard has everything and even more, a lot of possibilities along with its color.



					www.ebay.com
				




This is interesting, but that price RIP...


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 28, 2020)

_JP_ said:


> Great, now I'm itching to get my nx9010 into working worder *facepalm*






Well, the gun works and I've managed to flash the BIOS to the latest, KH.F.25, so that means the floppy drive is just fine, along with everything else, however:

The CMOS battery is dead
The battery is shot (despite diagnosing 20% wear)
There should be only remnants of the thermal paste
I'm not sure the axial fan works, one of the blowers is slightly imbalanced and touching the metal
Screen showed green instead of black on post/bios for the first 5 minutes I turned it on, hasn't since but I have my attention on it
Haven't ran 3D on it, but so far XP loads hella fine
Want to bump the hard drive to 100GB+
Want to bump the RAM to 1GB (need to find 266MHz 512MB sticks, because 1GB seem not to be recognized on this fella)
Going to fetch a mini-PCI card to add wifi N to it (And access the NAS for my GoG installers, no internet)
Unsure if this thermal design handles 75W, so I'm probably not going to find a 3GHz
Also, side-side-side project, going to try and restore my sister's hp pavilion dv6600 series laptop (really like the design, 2005-2007 media key style), which was the AMD Turion variant, though an Intel swap was possible because the chassis didn't change (theoretically, a dv9x00 would do too, and I would have the 8600M GT, instead of the 8400M GS )...but the highest TL-xx's price is stupid for the top speeds...and change for the middle speeds, go figure. I didn't know there were demand for these and single figure performance increases. Is still have the TL-58 anyway, so...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 28, 2020)

I'd actually advise against going for the AMD platform if you plan on restoring the DV6600. I have had a Turion based DV6600 and the amount of heat it put out would literally rival a desktop Prescott, not to mention both the GPU and chipset used would literally die in a few weeks. I managed to switch it to a PM965 based variant (DV6728 I think) w/ 8400GS and never looked back since.


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 28, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I'd actually advise against going for the AMD platform if you plan on restoring the DV6600. I have had a Turion based DV6600 and the amount of heat it put out would literally rival a desktop Prescott, not to mention both the GPU and chipset used would literally die in a few weeks. I managed to switch it to a PM965 based variant (DV6728 I think) w/ 8400GS and never looked back since.


That's exactly what is on my mind, should I stay AMD or should I go Intel (The Clash) since originally it had the Turion and yes, I kept it running for 7 years for my sister, until one day it did heat up to the point the chipset burnt...that being the reason it's reamined stopped for the last 6 years.
Another thing I didn't like at the time was the SATA O.G. (150) port without AHCI the Nvidia chipset offered. Supposedly a modded BIOS would take care of that, to at least add NCQ, but since I couldn't risk stopping the laptop, I didn't attempt anything, but gosh HDD seek/usage was an exercise in patience.
I saw a dv98xx board with the 8600M for about the same price...still wondering if only the 17" variants had the 8800m  but thank you for your input @MaxiPro800 !!!  That was a huge help for me to decide!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 28, 2020)

Only the later Turion based DV6000s (the ones with HDMI built in and Turion CPUs) had a 8600M GS.

As for DV9000, quite the same thing. Later runs of the models (I think DV9600 and up) had either Intel + GF8600M GS or Turion S1G1 + GF8600M GS.
I have a DV9650 around here, as well as a DV6728. Both are retired though, as they have been replaced for the most part. The DV6728 got replaced by a Acer 6935G (DDR3, PM45, 9600M GT 1GB) and I'm expecting to replace the DV9650 with a Intel based 1st gen DV7 hopefully. Failing that, will probably use my 8930G to replace it, once I can get a new battery. Anyone heard of a company named "Green Cell"?


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 28, 2020)

Turns out the 8 GB of G.Skill DDR2 is 1066 MHz running downclocked to 800 MHz. Doesn't look like either the CPU, RAM or motherboard were ever overclocked. The XFX mobo had the safe voltage mode J01 jumper set the default position. This XFX i750 is sparse on overclocking options. Looked for a BIOS update but it's already running the last update from 02-04-2009.


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Turns out the 8 GB of G.Skill DDR2 is 1066 MHz running downclocked to 800 MHz. Doesn't look like either the CPU, RAM or motherboard were ever overclocked. The XFX mobo had the safe voltage mode J01 jumper set the default position. This XFX i750 is sparse on overclocking options. Looked for a BIOS update but it's already running the last update from 02-04-2009.











						XFX Unleashes the ''Mother'' of all nForce 750i Motherboards
					

Mom may have been able to help you with your algebra, but all the homemade cookies in the world can't compare with the performance features you get with ultimate "mother," the XFX nForce 750i SLI motherboard.  Our motherboard delivers performance straight out of the box, for the ultimate...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 29, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Only the later Turion based DV6000s (the ones with HDMI built in and Turion CPUs) had a 8600M GS.
> 
> As for DV9000, quite the same thing. Later runs of the models (I think DV9600 and up) had either Intel + GF8600M GS or Turion S1G1 + GF8600M GS.
> I have a DV9650 around here, as well as a DV6728. Both are retired though, as they have been replaced for the most part. The DV6728 got replaced by a Acer 6935G (DDR3, PM45, 9600M GT 1GB) and I'm expecting to replace the DV9650 with a Intel based 1st gen DV7 hopefully. Failing that, will probably use my 8930G to replace it, once I can get a new battery. Anyone heard of a company named "Green Cell"?


Yes, my dv65xx is of the later Turions, 65nm, but still heated-up very considerably. 8400M GS, though.
Also found hard to tell the graphics configurations, because used boards sometimes show the chip (and you can spot the P/N), sometimes it's just a whole-board-shot and I just count the memeory chips, 2 for the 8400M or 8600M, 4 for the 8600M or 8800M. (so sizes were in the 128~512MB range)

"Green Cell" is a regular brand here for new batteries on older computers, they do sell a lot. I was considering going to them for the nx9010. So far haven't experienced issues for consumer laptops, on the other hand, enterprise laptops like Lenovo's, the power utilities don't pick-up information about the battery by my experience, but still YMMV.


----------



## biffzinker (Apr 30, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> XFX Unleashes the ''Mother'' of all nForce 750i Motherboards
> 
> 
> Mom may have been able to help you with your algebra, but all the homemade cookies in the world can't compare with the performance features you get with ultimate "mother," the XFX nForce 750i SLI motherboard.  Our motherboard delivers performance straight out of the box, for the ultimate...
> ...


Just happened across the user guide when I was searching for something else.



			https://xfxstorage.com/Support/Manuals/Nforce7/750A/750a%20User%20Guide.pdf
		


It's not the 750i


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 30, 2020)

_JP_ said:


> Yes, my dv65xx is of the later Turions, 65nm, but still heated-up very considerably. 8400M GS, though.
> Also found hard to tell the graphics configurations, because used boards sometimes show the chip (and you can spot the P/N), sometimes it's just a whole-board-shot and I just count the memeory chips, 2 for the 8400M or 8600M, 4 for the 8600M or 8800M. (so sizes were in the 128~512MB range)


None of the DV6000s or 9000s had 8800M GPUs and none had 512MB VRAM. It was either 8400M (G or GS) or 8600M (GS or GT), and sizes were somewhere around 128MB-256MB. 2 memory chips meant 128MB, 4 meant 256MB.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> This XFX i750 is sparse on overclocking options.


That board should have some solid OC options. Very odd.



biffzinker said:


> Just happened across the user guide when I was searching for something else.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, the "JUSTwOOT" section shows them. They're not ultra fine-grained but they're there.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 30, 2020)

My 6935G arrived a few days ago, but couldn't post it as I had to do some work to it first.




Yes, that's pretty much a 6920G top case. I still have the 6920G mobo and am currently waiting for the next week so I can talk with a certain seller to post the other broken 6920G. That one has a FullHD panel for start so it's gonna be twice the fun.

As for the 6935G, specs:

Geforce 9600M GT 1GB (CUDA)
Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1GHz (originally had a T6500)
4GB DDR3 1066MHz
Pioneer DVD-RW
500GB WD5000BPVT HDD
16" 1366x768 LCD
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1

Runs most 2002-2008 games pretty good. Will throw NFS Hot Pursuit 2010 to see how the CUDA enabled 9600M GT fares in some newer titles.


----------



## _JP_ (Apr 30, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> None of the DV6000s or 9000s had 8800M GPUs and none had 512MB VRAM. It was either 8400M (G or GS) or 8600M (GS or GT), and sizes were somewhere around 128MB-256MB. 2 memory chips meant 128MB, 4 meant 256MB.


I stand corrected then, though I was very sure in the 17'' DV9s having the 8800M, with 512MB. *wonders*
Some time ago, I was able to find the silver stickers HP used with the AMD+nvidia+features or nvidia+features new, like the ones on Dv6000s, in sites like ebay or <inser_your_favorite_wholesale_from_china_here>, but lately I haven't.
For OCD purposes, do you guys know where I can find some?  Found some...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 30, 2020)

_JP_ said:


> I stand corrected then, though I was very sure in the 17'' DV9s having the 8800M, with 512MB. *wonders*
> Some time ago, I was able to find the silver stickers HP used with the AMD+nvidia+features or nvidia+features new, like the ones on Dv6000s, in sites like ebay or <inser_your_favorite_wholesale_from_china_here>, but lately I haven't.
> For OCD purposes, do you guys know where I can find some? Found some...


Nah. 8400 and 8600 only. Given how crap their cooling was I wouldn't have trusted them with a 8800M at all.

Only the 20" HDX models seem to use a MXM slot Geforce 8800M GTS.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2020)

Now ready for testing; got a CF bridge 






(I'll also try the HD 6850 + 6870 combo)


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Now ready for testing; got a CF bridge


Crysis man, that Crossfire setup will handle it well.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Crysis man, that Crossfire setup will handle it well.


Luckily I've repasted those and my headphones prevent noise pretty fine.. I remember how noisy one reference 4890 was, two can be... interesting


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Given how crap their cooling was I wouldn't have trusted them with a 8800M at all.


That depended on the OEM. Dell/Alienware/Gateway for example all had good cooling for their 8800M/9800M notebooks. HP, by contrast, sucked.



Chloe Price said:


> Luckily I've repasted those and my headphones prevent noise pretty fine.. I remember how noisy one reference 4890 was, two can be... interesting


Oh yeah, forgot about that... Those fan profiles are adjustable, you know that right? There are also third party coolers for those cards which will fit perfectly next to each other.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh yeah, forgot about that... Those fan profiles are adjustable, you know that right? There are also third party coolers for those cards which will fit perfectly next to each other.


Yeah, but with those I'll just probably run with the stock fan profile since I'm probably will be using those for a day or two.. My third party coolers (Zalman VF700Cu, Zalman VF1050, Accelero Twin Turbo 1) are probably too weak for HD 4890s, and I'm not going to buy coolers which cost more than the cards themselves.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 2, 2020)

There's also Farcry, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom3, Quake4, HaloCE and whole bunch of Star Wars games. Oh yeah and there's Star Trek Armada 1&2!


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2020)

I'll probably concentrate most of running synthetic benchmarks with and without Crossfire, tho I have to try some period-correct games which I own.


----------



## biffzinker (May 2, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I have to try some period-correct games which I own.


What were period correct games for 2008-2009?


----------



## stinger608 (May 2, 2020)

Oh how cool @Chloe Price !!!!
4890's were some of my favorite cards. That's cool that you have em in Xfire man!!!


----------



## biffzinker (May 2, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Oh how cool @Chloe Price !!!!
> 4890's were some of my favorite cards.


Is it as cool as a BFG Geforce GTS 250 that's close to period correct paired with the Intel Core 2 Q9400 setup I've been posting about. Found out it's much more stable if I run the DDR2-1066 at 1000 MHz otherwise stability is all over the place, and that's before attempting to overclock the Q9400. 

3rd Quarter of 2008 the Q9400 was released: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...sor-q9400-6m-cache-2-66-ghz-1333-mhz-fsb.html

Release Date Mar 4th, 2009? for the Geforce GTS 250: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gts-250.c241


----------



## E-Bear (May 2, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Pretty much as the title states, this club is for TPU members that have some nostalgic hardware they want to share pictures of
> 
> 
> *Nostalgic Hardware Information*
> ...



Link defective
 Site for Downloading old Windows Operating systems: http://www.mywindowspage.com/download/os.htm


----------



## stinger608 (May 2, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Link defective
> Site for Downloading old Windows Operating systems: http://www.mywindowspage.com/download/os.htm



Thanks for pointing that out. Should be fixed now. 
Actually a new link to the same site. it's on the OP.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 2, 2020)

Front row - 6935G, 5739G, 5920G

Back row - 2x 6930G, 8930G


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 2, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Link defective
> Site for Downloading old Windows Operating systems: http://www.mywindowspage.com/download/os.htm


That link doesn't work either...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 2, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That link doesn't work either...





			Operating Systems | My Windows Page


----------



## E-Bear (May 2, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That link doesn't work either...



Of course he just reposted my quote. Go back to the first original post and the good one is there now.

I think in 2020 my current rig is Nostalgic for some so here it is. Specs under avatar. Still can play Crossout at high settings.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 2, 2020)

Your link points to a inexistant .htm file, while mine points to a directory. I double checked the links as I was actually expecting mine to point to a existent htm file.


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> What were period correct games for 2008-2009?


GTA IV, Mirror's Edge, Far Cry 2, Assassins Creed II, Fallout 3, STALKER Clear Sky, Crysis Warhead, CoD WaW, Batman Arkham Asylum, CoD MW2, Dirt 2, Resident Evil 5...

I have pretty many of those so I guess there's plenty of benchmarking  Just hope that the Steam versions from these days aren't much heavier to run than the initial versions..


----------



## E-Bear (May 3, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Your link points to a inexistant .htm file, while mine points to a directory. I double checked the links as I was actually expecting mine to point to a existent htm file.



Of course it did point to inexisting file it was his original non working link in the OP. Before he changes it and after he changed it to this one http://www.mywindowspage.com/index.php/os/

Not hard to figure out I tought.


----------



## JonathanClayton (May 3, 2020)

And here was me thinking I was the only one messing around with old Socket A stuff at the moment 

I've got a few boards (ABIT NF7S, ABIT NF7 and EPoX 8RDA3+) and a number of chips to work my way through. Also, a LOT of DDR!

Last night was time for the mobile 2500+ Barton to go into the rig. Finished up at 2712MHz (227 x 12.0) with 2x256MB BH-5 at 5,2,2,2... I think I'm hitting the limit of the NF7S at 227 (going to take it back down and up the multiplier again..:





Some DDR:





and a 939 board to put on the bench later:


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2020)

Didn't even know that there were adapters that allows mounting a S478 cooler for a 754/939/940 board 

At least you have some RAM to try around..


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 3, 2020)

Awww yes!

Be back soon with pics!

Signature system.. waiting on my memory & GTX 650 Ti.

That is a Gainward HD 4850 Golden Sample 512mb.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2020)

NF7 will do more than 227. 
250 is the norm even on a bad sample.
More likely that your BH-5 is choking on the lack of voltage.


----------



## JonathanClayton (May 3, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> NF7 will do more than 227.
> 250 is the norm even on a bad sample.
> More likely that your BH-5 is choking on the lack of voltage.



Yeah, Ive got some variable resistors on order to do the vDimm mod. Not enough voltage! The DFI 939 board will supply up to 4v, so should test the RAM in that to see what it'll do!


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2020)

My HyperX BH-5 2x256 kit ran at DDR540 2-2-2-5-1T even with just 3.3V back in the day.

e: Yeah, that was a cool feature on those DFI boards  I had a wire coming straight from the 3.3V line.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Didn't even know that there were adapters that allows mounting a S478 cooler for a 754/939/940 board


Aftermarket coolers of that period used the same mount. EG. Thermalright XP-90 and XP-120.


----------



## JonathanClayton (May 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Didn't even know that there were adapters that allows mounting a S478 cooler for a 754/939/940 board
> 
> At least you have some RAM to try around..



Yeah I think it's the heatsink I got with it that came with the bracket!

Need to work my way through the RAM. All Corsair XMS 3500, Kingston 3500 and GEIL 3500!


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Aftermarket coolers of that period used the same mount. EG. Thermalright XP-90 and XP-120.


Ah, I just used either those which just clipped on, or Zalmans which used the holes around the socket.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2020)

JonathanClayton said:


> Yeah, Ive got some variable resistors on order to do the vDimm mod. Not enough voltage! The DFI 939 board will supply up to 4v, so should test the RAM in that to see what it'll do!


Indeed.
I do 939 also so I'd like to see results of both systems.


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 3, 2020)

I love DFI boards.. never owned one though and usually not exactly cheap even now.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2020)

JonathanClayton said:


> Yeah I think it's the heatsink I got with it that came with the bracket!
> 
> Need to work my way through the RAM. All Corsair XMS 3500, Kingston 3500 and GEIL 3500!


The Geils usually suck, the Corsairs are iffy (you have to test every batch), and the Kingstons (BH-5) are usually good for 260 +/- @ 2-2-2-5 @ 3.6v.
I been around a while.


----------



## JonathanClayton (May 3, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> The Geils usually suck, the Corsairs are iffy (you have to test every batch), and the Kingstons are usually good for 260 +/- @ 2-2-2-5 @ 3.6v.
> I been around a while.



Yeah me too! I had all this stuff first time around 2001-2003. Used to work at a place called Over-Clock.co.uk... the good ol' days!

I've got one Corsair stick that won't boot in this board! Also got some plain DIMMs, that are straight BH-5


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2020)

She's ready to go.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 3, 2020)

JonathanClayton said:


> Yeah me too! I had all this stuff first time around 2001-2003. Used to work at a place called Over-Clock.co.uk... the good ol' day


LOL
Nice.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Now ready for testing; got a CF bridge
> 
> 
> 
> ...


i am sure that "mousemat(tm) RXT4300ZZZ" motherboard will handle them just fine ... don't forget to plug the 2x2x6pin before booting up 




Decryptor009 said:


> I love DFI boards.. never owned one though and usually not exactly cheap even now.


well i am glad i got my DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra, albeit non functioning (working on it somedays), for cheap


----------



## JonathanClayton (May 3, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> i am sure that "mousemat(tm) RXT4300ZZZ" motherboard will handle them just fine ... don't forget to plug the 2x2x6pin before booting up
> 
> 
> 
> well i am glad i got my DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra, albeit non functioning (working on it somedays), for cheap



I picked up the DFI board with an Opteron 146, 2Gb Random RAM, heatsink and a free Radeon for £30 ... Last week


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> i am sure that "mousemat(tm) RXT4300ZZZ" motherboard will handle them just fine ... don't forget to plug the 2x2x6pin before booting up
> 
> 
> 
> well i am glad i got my DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra, albeit non functioning (working on it somedays), for cheap


The card most near uses in fact 6+8pin, weird since it's a reference board. Though reference had solder points for that 8pin, I guess XFX decided to use that. Still won't even OC to 1GHz.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> The card most near uses in fact 6+8pin, weird since it's a reference board. Though reference had solder points for that 8pin, I guess XFX decided to use that. Still won't even OC to 1GHz.


ahhhh yes i saw some with 6+8 instead of 6+6 

i wonder if my own "Mousemate(tm) Cerberus Gaming RRX4400ZZZ+" would handle the 4870 i have ... oh wait the card itself is non functional, although tested unlike most untested cards i have on my shelf, so it does not matter... she just good to be sitting and be pretty on my collection shelf 

edit, i need a bigger shelf ... some of my pretties are still in their original boxes .... well i could remove the books ... books are overrated nowadays...


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> ahhhh yes i saw some with 6+8 instead of 6+6
> 
> i wonder if my own "Mousemate(tm) Cerberus Gaming RRX4400ZZZ+" would handle the 4870 i have ... oh wait the card itself is non functional, although tested unlike most untested cards i have on my shelf, so it does not matter... she just good to be sitting and be pretty on my collection shelf
> 
> edit, i need a bigger shelf ... some of my pretties are still in their original boxes .... well i could remove the books ... books are overrated nowadays...


A shelf would be nice for GPUs, mine is pretty small and just houses only games/movies.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> She's ready to go.


Holy heatsink Batman!!


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Holy heatsink Batman!!


Good ol' Mugen 2, though it's a total PITA to install.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Good ol' Mugen 2, *though it's a total PITA to install.*


I believe *that*!


----------



## stinger608 (May 4, 2020)

Welcome to Techpowerup! @Decryptor009 and @JonathanClayton     

Glad you two found our little community on the web.


----------



## Kissamies (May 4, 2020)

Hm, found a listing of a HD 5770 + EK waterblock, it's only 20eur including shipping. If the seller still has it, that's going to be a nice new toy to my collection. 



stinger608 said:


> Welcome to Techpowerup! @Decryptor009 and @JonathanClayton
> 
> Glad you two found our little community on the web.


TPU rules, being in English forum makes my vocabulary better 

e: yay, bought the HD 5770. Now I need to put the Eisbaer on that 3rd PC and that HD 5770 with its block


----------



## JonathanClayton (May 4, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Welcome to Techpowerup! @Decryptor009 and @JonathanClayton
> 
> Glad you two found our little community on the web.



Thanks for the welcome! Stumbled across here in my search for information on my old socket A gear. Appears all the references I used to use have all gone now


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 4, 2020)

I learned that CPU-Z has a forum so...
Hell yeah!


----------



## Kissamies (May 4, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> I learned that CPU-Z has a forum so...
> Hell yeah!


We are a community who doesn't flip the bird to newbies, instead welcome aboard! 

Getting that HD 5770 w/ EK block probably tomorrow, yay! ^^


----------



## stinger608 (May 4, 2020)

Added a link in the OP for a site that compares 5 different web browsers they recommend for Windows XP.

https://appuals.com/the-5-best-browsers-for-windows-xp/


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 4, 2020)

RAM arrived!
Quite sexy...


----------



## JonathanClayton (May 4, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> RAM arrived!
> Quite sexy...
> 
> View attachment 153818


GEIL Black Dragon! I've not got anything that needs DDR2 at the moment...shame!


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 4, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Added a link in the OP for a site that compares 5 different web browsers they recommend for Windows XP.
> 
> https://appuals.com/the-5-best-browsers-for-windows-xp/


Good link!


----------



## Caring1 (May 4, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> RAM arrived!
> Quite sexy...
> 
> View attachment 153818


I had the exact same Ram, unfortunately my Ex threw it out one day as the computer was giving too much trouble to her, so she tossed the entire thing.


----------



## ozkisses (May 4, 2020)

Is that why she is your ex? Did you label everything "Don't touch' for the next one ? lol


----------



## Caring1 (May 4, 2020)

I don't have to train the next one as she is clever and a looker. Lucky me.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> We are a community who doesn't flip the bird to newbies


unless they flash a GPU BIOS without backup of the initial BIOS ... that's it ...

and come with a title and single line post : "Oh my dog, oh my dog! i flashed bad BIOS to muh GPU and it does not work anymore, plz HALP!"


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 4, 2020)

Well got my RAM up and running, sorted the overclock out, still at stock volatge and stable.

RAM at 800mhz with CPU at 3.68ghz.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 4, 2020)

Shall I introduce the 2020 reboot of XP? 





Just Win10 Pro 1909 off one of my Acer Aspire 6930G. Had a lot of work to do but now it's up and running great.


----------



## E-Bear (May 4, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> RAM arrived!
> Quite sexy...
> 
> View attachment 153818



Like Germans say : "Sick Geil !"


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 4, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Like Germans say : "Sick Geil !"


aherm Sick is English Geil is indeed German  but more common for Horny/Hot/Randy/Wicked (which the last one report to Sick in English)  and related to EDM (Electronic Dance Music)
full German would be "Krank Geil!" (which is also related to EDM )

"Quite Sexy" auf hochDeutsch wird wir sagen "Ziemlich sexy" nah klar, sexy auf english ist sexy auf deutsch

well the brand Geil is hilarious for German speaking peoples ... and it's not even a German manufacturer GeIL is the correct acronyme pattern : "Golden emperor International Limited" (hilarious for a Taiwanese brand ... )


i had some DDR3 stick from them with the red LED eyed dragons on it
yep ... that one, the dragons were a bit less marked than the DDR2 preceding it hehe.

klar eine saugeil RAM kit (saugeil: primary: totally horny/bloody randy secondary: totally awesome/bloody amazing )

and that brand is still kicking asses .... they were the first to use heatsink on RAM and their DDR4 (without heatsink ) Dragon lineup is sooooo "sick"


----------



## toastem2004 (May 4, 2020)

Finally have a bit of free time to get working on my nostalgia project.  Here's a tease of what I have got...
  

I have been motivated to finally get it started after seeing all these old systems being resurrected.  I just need to hunt down a period case to put it all in


----------



## hat (May 5, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> RAM arrived!
> Quite sexy...
> 
> View attachment 153818


I think I still have some of that somewhere... It wasn't a good overclocker, though. I think I hit 1000mhz max.


----------



## E-Bear (May 5, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> aherm Sick is English Geil is indeed German  but more common for Horny/Hot/Randy/Wicked (which the last one report to Sick in English)  and related to EDM (Electronic Dance Music)
> full German would be "Krank Geil!" (which is also related to EDM )
> 
> "Quite Sexy" auf hochDeutsch wird wir sagen "Ziemlich sexy" nah klar, sexy auf english ist sexy auf deutsch
> ...


My pun was more a word distortion of Sieg Heil.


----------



## Kissamies (May 5, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> aherm Sick is English Geil is indeed German  but more common for Horny/Hot/Randy/Wicked (which the last one report to Sick in English)  and related to EDM (Electronic Dance Music)
> full German would be "Krank Geil!" (which is also related to EDM )
> 
> "Quite Sexy" auf hochDeutsch wird wir sagen "Ziemlich sexy" nah klar, sexy auf english ist sexy auf deutsch
> ...


That white RAM.... droooooooooooool.........


----------



## erek (May 5, 2020)

AMD vega12 4GB Engineering Sample Graphics, WORKING!!!    | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AMD vega12 4GB Engineering Sample Graphics, WORKING!!!   at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 5, 2020)

erek said:


> AMD vega12 4GB Engineering Sample Graphics, WORKING!!!    | eBay
> 
> 
> Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AMD vega12 4GB Engineering Sample Graphics, WORKING!!!   at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
> ...


That could also be the circuit board from my microwave that i tried to cool with AMD flavored fans.... 









						DFI LanParty 925X-T2   LGA775, Intel Motherboard  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for DFI LanParty 925X-T2   LGA775, Intel Motherboard at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!



					www.ebay.co.uk
				




This is an awesome deal..









						ASUS P5G41T-M LX3 Motherboard With Free Quad core 4GB Ram, Heatsink Socket 775  | eBay
					

ASUS P5G41T-M LX3. Bundle Missing i/o SHIELD.



					www.ebay.co.uk
				




Also an ok deal...






						ABIT IP35-E, LGA 775/Socket T, Intel (IP35V) Motherboard for sale | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for ABIT IP35-E, LGA 775/Socket T, Intel (IP35V) Motherboard at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!



					www.ebay.co.uk
				





Crazy ass bargain...









						MSI 790FX-GD70, Socket AM3, AMD Motherboard for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for MSI 790FX-GD70, Socket AM3, AMD Motherboard at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!



					www.ebay.co.uk


----------



## Radical Vision (May 5, 2020)

Latest picks, nothing special, but at least did cost 15 euro....

Matrox Mystique
OAK ISA video 1MB
some shitty ISA realtek video cards..
x2 Creative Sound Blasters
WI-FI card
some DDR2 memory that only 2 512MB and 1 GB sticks work rest are nah..
ASSrock board AM2 does not post
some shitty no name PSU
478 crap CPUs, single core Athlon 64, crap Pentium IV 775
Thermalright cooler, Zalman VGA cooler, Zalman chipset coolers
and best is Adata Vitesta x2 256MB 
and DFI lanParty Ultra-D that seems is very dead, the power light is truning on, but the board dont start at all no fan spins no nothing ....


----------



## _JP_ (May 6, 2020)

erek said:


> AMD vega12 4GB Engineering Sample Graphics, WORKING!!!    | eBay
> 
> 
> Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AMD vega12 4GB Engineering Sample Graphics, WORKING!!!   at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
> ...


For how long have prototype Radeons not used red PCBs?
IIRC, Fury already had a black PCB.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2020)

I'd love to have even one prototype PC part, never had even an ES processor..


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 6, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> View attachment 153933
> 
> Latest picks, nothing special, but at least did cost 15 euro....
> 
> ...


Just the A-Data's were worth every penny. 



Chloe Price said:


> never had even an ES processor..


What platform would you prefer?


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Just the A-Data's were worth every penny.
> 
> 
> What platform would you prefer?


Probably LGA1155, why not 775..


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 6, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Probably LGA1155, why not 775..


25 USD shipping from me to you. I would send you a few at no extra cost if you'd like.
You can message me if you're interested.
Can't do anything about the shipping. Wish you were closer.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> 25 USD shipping from me to you. I would send you a few at no extra cost if you'd like.
> You can message me if you're interested.
> Can't do anything about the shipping. Wish you were closer.


Damn it sucks how much shipping around the globe costs. Do the Chinese ebay sellers have some kind of a contract with their postal services since they can sell cheap crap with no postage...

I'm broke atm but I'll keep that in mind, thanks already!


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 6, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Do the Chinese ebay sellers have some kind of a contract with their postal services since they can sell cheap crap with no postage...


It's a world conspiracy.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's a world conspiracy.


Well let's hope that my phone cover doesn't take half eternity to arrive (covid19 etc), usually stuff from China takes 2-3 weeks.. weird how my PS1 games from UK haven't arrived, usually when I buy games (UK or Australia almost always) they arrive in a ~week... maybe the pandemic slows down..


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 6, 2020)

Takes me about a week from AU also.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 6, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Just the A-Data's were worth every penny.
> 
> 
> What platform would you prefer?




Yeah the Vitesta is very good memory for overclocking, and specially this as is only 256MB modules, i know from OC champion that best modules for OC are the 256MB ones. So some day if i want to get some good FSB on a 462 system, this memory will be the best for that.

Sadly the DFI LanParty Ultra-D seems did go the green PCB field of the dead computer parts, probably the fucking nVIDIA chipset did die, they run hot and LanParty is known for not being very reliable too...


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2020)

NForce 4 does indeed run hella hot, nF3 was cool and could run passively without problems with a reasonable heatsink.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> View attachment 153933
> 
> Latest picks, nothing special, but at least did cost 15 euro....
> 
> ...


That's a solid haul!


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 7, 2020)




----------



## erek (May 8, 2020)

RARE 3dfx Voodoo2 Quantum3d Obsidian 200SBi Medusa Cable MINT vintage video card  | eBay
					

<p dir="ltr">Very RARE 3dfx Voodoo2 Quantum3d Obsidian 200SBi vintage video card for your retro gaming PC. The card is in MINT condition. Fully tested. <br> Comes with the original Medusa cable. </p> <p dir="ltr">Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.</p>



					www.ebay.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 8, 2020)

erek said:


> RARE 3dfx Voodoo2 Quantum3d Obsidian 200SBi Medusa Cable MINT vintage video card  | eBay
> 
> 
> <p dir="ltr">Very RARE 3dfx Voodoo2 Quantum3d Obsidian 200SBi vintage video card for your retro gaming PC. The card is in MINT condition. Fully tested. <br> Comes with the original Medusa cable. </p> <p dir="ltr">Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.</p>
> ...


That card BITD was the drool worthy shizznit of gaming cards. Oh yes, whoever buys that card is going to have the envy of anyone old enough to remember it! Bragging rights for days...
Just in case the Ebay page disappears;


----------



## Kissamies (May 8, 2020)

Now I understand how some use 2600K still as their daily driver, paired with 980 Ti this still packs quite a punch, not bad for a 9+ years old CPU.. both RE2 & RE3 runs hella great and I'll be testing more games later on.

Gonna stick with this for a while, probably waiting for B550.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 8, 2020)

Lmao 800$ the prices of the rare stuff are out of the roof.....
Not to mention parts like GEforce FX5800 Ultra, that are not even that good...


----------



## Grog6 (May 9, 2020)

As the man says, "Vintage".


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 9, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Lmao 800$ the prices of the rare stuff are out of the roof.....
> Not to mention parts like GEforce FX5800 Ultra, that are not even that good...


Actually, $800 is a bargain. That card is ULTRA rare.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 9, 2020)

I know Quantum 3D are no where to be found, but my point is that prices are insane, on parts that should normally cost like 100-200$ max not 1000-2000$ instead...


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 9, 2020)

Not at all. $100-$200 is less than half of what they were new. That card is an ultra rare collectors item, it's just not going to go for cheap or anything near it.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 9, 2020)

Well is just me then i like to buy good stuff for dirt cheap, i am not really into the thing of spending lot of money on old parts, no matter what i like, i prefer instead the hunt for parts that just show from time to time on places where people dont have a clue what the are selling... 1 example is my MSI GEforce FX5950 Ultra that i did buy for 10 euro, and i got another one for free as the guy did not evenc are, sadly the card have artifatcs but seems is from a memory chips. Other is IBM Model M that i got for 5 euro, and the near pristine condition Model M that i got for 10 euro... Or my dual socket boards that i got even more dirt cheap, i just love the hunt for rare and exotic parts from places where people dont even care much about the parts or dont know their value. And also to save the parts from the scrap or the idiots that will just destroy them.
Sure there are lot of people that are willing to pay lot of money for parts like Voodoo 5 6000, Quantum 3D, Creative VLB 3D blaster, GEforce 5800 Ultra, and other parts while i dont care at all about these ones, only Voodoo 5 5500 is in my wishlist...



Found a cooler Zalman VF900-Cu that works on Voodoo 3 cards and is overkill for these cards as they run hot as hell 70c in idle kekw....
Only need to cut parts of the mouting so the card can fit in AGP slots ofc.





And this is how i pack Voodoo cards so the buyers to feel as they buy something special, as 3Dfx is special brand...



Jist to say, these packagings are cuz the buyers was localy, otherwise i will use ofc over these ones bubble wrap, and some boxes, as this is not good for transporting ofc, but for visuals it is the best...


----------



## stinger608 (May 9, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Thanks to our member @lexluthermiester , here is an awesome link for the newest ZDoom:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Please note that I added this ZDoom link to the original post. Give a big thanks to @lexluthermiester for posting this in another thread.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 10, 2020)

Seems i got lucky soon new stuff will arrive, but most of all i am exited about the mechanical keyboard, as if is with the proper switches will be great, as i use vintage keyboards on my machine, and having only 2 types of quality keyboards is a bit booring...



NCR System 3300 an USA builded 486 based system
IBM 365 dual Pentium Pro system with only 1 CPU and no VRM module
IBM VGA monitor
Chikony keyboard with some switches i wish only if the mechanics to be Cherry MX Blue or atleast ALPS, as rest switches types they used on this model are shit..
Some 486 mobo with a CPU
Gigabyte Intel 740 AGP video really nice one, not only is is the only Intel separated card they ever made, but is also Gigabyte one never saw one of these before only shitty no names
S3 Savage 4
Radeon 9550
Radeon x1950 Pro AGP...










The guy have also IBM PS/2 9556-0B6, but i will get that system other time, as he dont have much time to deal with old computers (the usual stuff)
Wondering how much it will cost me if i am lucky not more then 50-80 euro...


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 10, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


>


This was a bad-ass card! One of the better AGP cards Sapphire made.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 10, 2020)

Well i myself prefer other vendors then Sapphire for my collection, as they seems did put more efford in the cooling department..

Like these 2



But with some proper cooling the poorly cooled Sapphire cards can be good too


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 10, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Well i myself prefer other vendors then Sapphire for my collection, as they seems did put more *effort* in the cooling department..
> 
> Like these 2
> 
> ...


Ah, but that was the point. A lot of people wanted the single slot cooling for various reasons.


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

Check this out! 








lexluthermiester said:


> This was a bad-ass card! One of the better AGP cards Sapphire made.


I have a Sapphire HD 3850 AGP


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 10, 2020)

@ RV - the only good thing about the HIS cards was the cooling. Their cards were no better than anybody elses and their customer service was freaking terrible. You were basically on your own after you bought one.


----------



## Grog6 (May 10, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> NCR System 3300 an USA builded 486 based system
> 
> View attachment 154565



I worked at a company that sold those; it may or may not boot regular dos.

They had their own version, IIRC, and it was just exactly not compatible. It's one of the reasons they didn't sell well.
By the time they changed that, cheap Taiwanese mobos were selling for cheap, and they still didn't sell.


----------



## basco (May 10, 2020)

the 5770 with ek looks very good Mr.Chloe - maybe have a look at the hwbot cheapazchips 5770 comp:





						Cheapaz Chips Round 1 HD5770 @ HWBOT
					

Level 1 OC-ESPORTS competition running from 3/1/20, 12:00 PM till 5/30/20, 12:00 PM.




					hwbot.org
				




found some long forgotten ram kit:


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 10, 2020)

basco said:


> the 5770 with ek looks very good Mr.Chloe - maybe have a look at the hwbot cheapazchips 5770 comp:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Never seen these sticks before, i like them!



Radical Vision said:


> Well i myself prefer other vendors then Sapphire for my collection, as they seems did put more efford in the cooling department..
> 
> Like these 2
> 
> ...


Beautiful cards!


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

basco said:


> the 5770 with ek looks very good Mr.Chloe - maybe have a look at the hwbot cheapazchips 5770 comp:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hm, I could check that out. Just put a loop for that GPU and put it into my 2600K rig..


----------



## basco (May 10, 2020)

just keep care the rules at hwbot for which windows version and which futuremark system info is ok gets really frustrating.
it should be just for fun and i would be interested to see what mhz ya get out of it with water.
i think i have 1 or 2x 5770 from xfx still in original ovp so i will try some benches.


Mr. Decryptor:  these Diablo sticks were guaranteed Micron D9TR\GTS which was very uncommon at this time


----------



## Radical Vision (May 10, 2020)

Got the new stuff, and even more then that...

A shitty 3Dfx Voodoo banshee no name brand is crap, but at least is 3Dfx, will be good for sale ot trade
The damn Chikony KB is with Cherry MX Blue damn that feel nice when typing. Not on par with my Cherry G80-1000 in build quality on the frame and keycaps but still ok.
x3 Pentium Pros 1 inside the IBM 365
x2 big 5 inch floppy
bunch of small HDD good to revive old systems with dead drives
Creative nVIDIA Riva TnT x2
Gigabte Intel 740 prob one of the best looking Intel 740 cards
Its ST 486 CPU nice one..
And the machines and monitors with them
All for 100 euro is a steal i can say, i normally dont spend so much money, but i can get back my money only with selling the Voodoo Banshee and the Radeon x1950 Pro AGP...








Now there is a collector guy i know, and he have 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP, keyboard NBM with Space Invaders switches and a Gigabyte BX2000+, now i dont need as much the BX2000+, but i really want his NBM keyboard and the Voodoo 5 5500, and i am wondering will a trade of the IBM PS/2 with the monitor, and the second monitor and 1 386 mobo and 1 486 mobo a good deal for his Voodoo 5 5500 and the Space Invader keyboard.........


----------



## stinger608 (May 10, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Now there is a collector guy i know, and he have 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP, keyboard NBM with Space Invaders switches and a Gigabyte BX2000+, now i dont need as much the BX2000+, but i really want his NBM keyboard and the Voodoo 5 5500, and i am wondering will a trade of the IBM PS/2 with the monitor, and the second monitor and 1 386 mobo and 1 486 mobo a good deal for his Voodoo 5 5500 and the Space Invader keyboard.........



Maybe if you're lucky. Them 5500's are going for $500 and up on Ebay right now..........Although I've got one for sale on a tech forum for $250 and haven't sold it yet.


----------



## E-Bear (May 10, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Got the new stuff, and even more then that...
> 
> A shitty 3Dfx Voodoo banshee no name brand is crap, but at least is 3Dfx, will be good for sale ot trade
> The damn Chikony KB is with Cherry MX Blue damn that feel nice when typing. Not on par with my Cherry G80-1000 in build quality on the frame and keycaps but still ok.
> ...



Why always a 3dFx voodoo? There is more powerful cards than these.


----------



## Jism (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Why always a 3dFx voodoo? There is more powerful cards than these.



It's something from the 90's, but technically any card not equal to really a collectors item / gem is'nt worth it. People think they'be getting 1000$ for their 2x 12MB SLI set. They wont. And proberly never will. You still can use them tho but it's more for a retro 90's gaming system. I've considered it building one, but what good is it launching up a piece of antique while a DOS or Virtual emulator does all the work for me on my own computer. I dont have the space to store a 90's PC either with it's loud fans and harddrive's. Mweh.

I see some cool stuff appearing here, but lots of garbage.


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Why always a 3dFx voodoo? There is more powerful cards than these.


It's the nostalgia. I've never been a Voodoo dude since I started PC hobbying in 2004, but I'm still much in the retro community. Just never had a Voodoo card* so I don't have that childhood nostalgia.

I love Socket A Athlon Thunderbirds, especially the 1GHz ones with AXIA cores, as much you could say that there's much faster CPUs around but it's not the same thing.

* I had one Voodoo2 several years ago and I sold it at too cheap price..


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 10, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Maybe if you're lucky. Them 5500's are going for $500 and up on Ebay right now..........Although I've got one for sale on a tech forum for $250 and haven't sold it yet.


It's a niche market.
Highly unlikely to sell on a forum except for maybe Vogon's.
If you e-bay it, it'll go quick at that price.


----------



## Jism (May 10, 2020)

I think years years years ago, i wondered on howto voltmod a Voodoo2 in the first place. Nobody ever could give a clear answer to that. To this day nobody still attempted it. What would it have bin if you have a SLI config running at 130Mhz or so. It would be blazing fast compared to the stock, 90Mhz models.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 10, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Now there is a collector guy i know, and he have 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP, keyboard NBM with Space Invaders switches and a Gigabyte BX2000+, now i dont need as much the BX2000+, but i really want his NBM keyboard and the Voodoo 5 5500, and i am wondering will a trade of the IBM PS/2 with the monitor, and the second monitor and 1 386 mobo and 1 486 mobo a good deal for his Voodoo 5 5500 and the Space Invader keyboard.........


If he is a good collector, you don't stand a prayer. He'll know exactly what a V5 5500 is worth.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 10, 2020)

Well the guy the collector have x2 Voodoo 5 5500, so my chances are big, as he will still have 1 piece of them, sure he have the second card as back up if the first die, but still he will get good IBM stuff for it and some more , so i think the deal is more then fair, and after all he trade something that he still will have cuz he have 2 pieces, while i will not have IBM PS/2 after the trade so it is fair. Also i told him that there is sold 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP for like 400$ and i can trade him old parts for the same amount based on who what sell in ebay of the stuff i have...
Why not IBM parts are not cheap too, also i promise him to trade him fair stuff he need if i found any of them.

The guy is looking for these specially "Gravis Ultrasound карти, Adlib, IBM EGA монитор, Ciryx 5x86 120 мхз , Pentium pro black, IBM model F AT" from all of these i wont trade only Gravis, but rest i dont care much for them, and i was close to get IBM Model F AT that is also very rare, so he have chances to get something good, so that deal we made about that V5 is not only about the stuff we will trade, is promise from me to trade him something cool some day if i found one, so who knows...

Also the guy i did buy these stuff above have more parts, as he is busy and he cant show them all to me, so who knows what there may be...



E-Bear said:


> Why always a 3dFx voodoo? There is more powerful cards than these.



Sure they are, but they are not branded as 3Dfx or Voodoo, that is the deal, and 3Dfx is a must have on every collector`s collection...




stinger608 said:


> Maybe if you're lucky. Them 5500's are going for $500 and up on Ebay right now..........Although I've got one for sale on a tech forum for $250 and haven't sold it yet.



Well i feel i am, so i guess i will get the damn card prob...

Too bad as a guy in my neighborhood, did trow the fucking rooms of old computer parts, month before i even know him, and he said there was Voodoo 5 in his stuff, IBM PCs, mechanical keyboards, other voodoo cards, pentium Pros and others... But he was not interested in collection he was former service, and when his work did become less and less, he scrapped all parts and now work something else...


----------



## E-Bear (May 10, 2020)

Personnaly the AGP card im using is newer end of life in 2007. 









						HIS HD 4670 IceQ Native HDMI Specs
					

ATI RV730, 750 MHz, 320 Cores, 32 TMUs, 8 ROPs, 1024 MB DDR3, 873 MHz, 128 bit




					www.techpowerup.com
				






Chloe Price said:


> It's the nostalgia. I've never been a Voodoo dude since I started PC hobbying in 2004, but I'm still much in the retro community. Just never had a Voodoo card* so I don't have that childhood nostalgia.
> 
> I love Socket A Athlon Thunderbirds, especially the 1GHz ones with AXIA cores, as much you could say that there's much faster CPUs around but it's not the same thing.
> 
> * I had one Voodoo2 several years ago and I sold it at too cheap price..



Still got a Tualatin 1ghz with 1meg cache. It was considered a high performance one back then because all others tualatin had 256k or 512k cache. I cant find this model anywhere so could it be possible that its an ingeneering sample. Who knows.


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Still got a Tualatin 1ghz with 1gig cache. It was considered a high performance one back then because all others tualatin had 512megs cache.


Hold on a minute.

Tualatin was a Pentium III
Those were on Socket 370
Tualatins had 256k cache (except the 1400MHz model which had 512k)

e: you managed to edit the misspelling of the socket.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 10, 2020)

All PIII-s have 512kb.
Only Celeron Tualatins are 256kB.


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> All PIII-s have 512kb.
> Only Celeron Titalitins are 256kB


WTF, didn't know that there were S Tualatins and "normal".. I thought that the 1.4GHz model was the only 512k 

I stand corrected, damn.


----------



## E-Bear (May 10, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Hold on a minute.
> 
> Tualatin was a Pentium III
> Those were on Socket 370
> ...


Corrected made a mistake with my other setup


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Corrected made a mistake with my other setup


No problem, I was just like wtf


----------



## E-Bear (May 10, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> All PIII-s have 512kb.
> Only Celeron Tualatins are 256kB.



Not all. Mine is 1meg.


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Not all. Mine is 1meg.


Cannot be, Tualatins have 256k or 512k L2


----------



## E-Bear (May 10, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> No problem, I was just like wtf


Wanna fight!!


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Wanna fight!!


I don't dare to fight with a bear.. 

Nah, let's cut the offtopic, I'll continue RE3


----------



## E-Bear (May 10, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Cannot be, Tualatins have 256k or 512k L2



It is one. Thats why nobody believe me. I need to rebuild the system and prove it. Im sure i can overclock it to 3gigs and run 60 Petaflops of processing on it


----------



## Radical Vision (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Personnaly the AGP card im using is newer end of life in 2007.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




And i use Radeon HD3850 AGP from the same brand HIS, does that make me less to collect 3Dfx and PCI video cards avdn even ISA nah...

There are differend collectors, some of them collect only max to socket 370 or 2000, nothing newer, others collect stuff from 1997 and newer, other collect only Videocards, some people collect only ultra rare stuff like XGI Volari V8 x2, 3Dfx Voodoo 5 6000, Quantum 3D cards, and engineering samples, and others like me collect everything from 8086 up to like AM2 (in mind with parts liek DFI lanParty, ABIT fatality, Sapphire pure white AMD board) ...


----------



## Kissamies (May 10, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> It is one. Thats why nobody believe me. I need to rebuild the system and prove it. Im sure i can overclock it to 3gigs and run 60 Petaflops of processing on it


Your software said something else. There simply wasn't one.


----------



## E-Bear (May 10, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> And i use Radeon HD3850 AGP from the same brand HIS, does that make me less to collect 3Dfx and PCI video cards avdn even ISA nah...
> 
> There are differend collectors, some of them collect only max to socket 370 or 2000, nothing newer, others collect stuff from 1997 and newer, other collect only Videocards, some people collect only ultra rare stuff like XGI Volari V8 x2, 3Dfx Voodoo 5 6000, Quantum 3D cards, and engineering samples, and others like me collect everything from 8086 up to like AM2 (in mind with parts liek DFI lanParty, ABIT fatality, Sapphire pure white AMD board) ...




ISA..omg..forgot about those


----------



## stinger608 (May 11, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's a niche market.
> Highly unlikely to sell on a forum except for maybe Vogon's.
> If you e-bay it, it'll go quick at that price.



I would but don't have an Ebay account any longer after having a lawsuit against them in later part of the 90s. I won and they banned me for life.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 11, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> I would but don't have an Ebay account any longer after having a lawsuit against them in later part of the 90s. I won and they banned me for life.


That sucks.
Want me to sell it for you?


----------



## Kissamies (May 11, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> I would but don't have an Ebay account any longer after having a lawsuit against them in later part of the 90s. I won and they banned me for life.


Whoa?! Now that's a weird case, reminds me of Fallout New Vegas' casinos if u win a hella lot of those, they ban you..


----------



## E-Bear (May 11, 2020)

Companies and governments don't like winners. They prefer those who bring them money by losing. Easier to control when you don't win.


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 11, 2020)

Finally got tired of my flat screens looking bad with old consoles so got a "4K" set.


----------



## hat (May 11, 2020)

Have you tried upscalers and such?


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 11, 2020)

hat said:


> Have you tried upscalers and such?


Believe me, nothing can touch RGB scart & zero input latency on a CRT.

OG XBOX looks crisp ASF and the colours pop.


----------



## Kissamies (May 11, 2020)

Exactly. I'm jealous since my friend got a 28" wide Trinitron CRT for free, I'd love to have one too. PS2 (even with component) & NES looks like ass on a HDTV.


----------



## Bones (May 11, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> Believe me, nothing can touch RGB scart & zero input latency on a CRT.
> 
> OG XBOX looks crisp ASF and the colours pop.



Agreed - Older consoles look like sh!t on an HDTV display becuase it reveals the graphical limitations of them, some games looking so horrid they are barely playable.

Still have a 27' that was just "Here" in the house and the wife had been nagging me to get rid of it. Although the set is in really good shape It had been long retired for obvious reason but I hadn't done anything with it. It wasn't that old when we were forced to retire it and that's the main reason I kinda kept it around - I knew I'd have a use for it one day.

I finally took it into the room here and hooked it up to the older consoles.
Since I can't use it for TV viewing anymore it's now a dedicated display for my old consoles and games when I play them.


----------



## Kissamies (May 11, 2020)

Bones said:


> Agreed - Older consoles look like sh!t on an HDTV display becuase it reveals the graphical limitations of them, some games looking so horrid they are barely playable.
> 
> Still have a 27' that was just "Here" in the house and the wife had been nagging me to get rid of it. Although the set is in really good shape It had been long retired for obvious reason but I hadn't done anything with it. It wasn't that old when we were forced to retire it and that's the main reason I kinda kept it around - I knew I'd have a use for it one day.
> 
> ...


I guess that scaling and the aspect ratio are the main problems why old consoles look like crap on modern TVs..?


----------



## Radical Vision (May 11, 2020)

Well seems i am lucky the collector that have Voodoo V 5500 AGP seems will agree to trade the Voodoo and and NBM Space Invader keyboard for IBM PS/2 Model 58, IBM 365 dual socket 8 with 1 Pentium Pro and no VRM module, IBM PS/2 Monitor, a Japanese CGA monitor and 386 or 486 mobo and something else by his choice... I dont see how someone that have 2 pieces of something rare like Voodoo V 5500, or GEforce FX5800 Ultra, AWE64 Gold and others to be not a serious collector, if he trade 1 part for bunch of vintage PCs that all together cost more then the Voodoo itself.. 

IBM PS/2 Model 56 is 200$      (did not find Model 58)
IBM PS/2 monitor is like 100$ 
IBM 365 dual socket 8 machine there is none in ebay, but there is mobo that is 90$, so i can assume is at least 150-200$ whole machine..
BMC BM-AU9191U Monitor (mine is differend RGB model but whatever) is 200$ 

So far only these parts are more money then a Voodoo V 5500, that i saw one to be sold for 400$, also 486 boards are like 80-100$ and i will give him something else too, so dont see what is the problem for him, is not like he is trading a horse for a chiken, seems fair trade to me, specially as he have x2 Voodoo V 5500 AGP.. ALso i give him a promice to trade him for something these parts, as they are in his wishlist if i found any of them, as i dont care much about these parts (want a bit only Pentium pro Black but not that much) ...








The guy wants these parts "Gravis Ultrasound карти, Adlib, IBM EGA монитор, Ciryx 5x86 120 мхз , Pentium pro black, IBM model F AT"
From these i need only GUS, and i dont need as much the IBM Model F AT, so i am willing to trade him prob one day one of these if i get it, rest parts i dont need...


----------



## E-Bear (May 11, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Exactly. I'm jealous since my friend got a 28" wide Trinitron CRT for free, I'd love to have one too. PS2 (even with component) & NES looks like ass on a HDTV.




Also the fact that you can't play NES with gun on flat screen tv.


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 11, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I guess that scaling and the aspect ratio are the main problems why old consoles look like crap on modern TVs..?


Here i have recorded it as best as i can.. with my not so good mobile phone..

There are artifacts that don't exist with the naked eye and it's very sharp.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 12, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Also the fact that you can't play NES with gun on flat screen tv.


Which is very sad, Duck Hunt is one of my favs... I was really good at it too.


----------



## hat (May 12, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> Believe me, nothing can touch RGB scart & zero input latency on a CRT.
> 
> OG XBOX looks crisp ASF and the colours pop.


I use RGB SCART as well, but with an upscaler/converter that puts out HDMI to my monitor.


----------



## Bones (May 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I guess that scaling and the aspect ratio are the main problems why old consoles look like crap on modern TVs..?


That's basically it. 
The ability of older consoles in resolution isn't that good vs the amount a new HDTV can have and it reveals just how limited they are in comparison. If the console can't make the resolution as fine or close to it as a new TV can you'll see all the details start to blend with others creating a real mess on the screen. The pic basically becomes a huge graphical "Blob" with little definition to distinguish one thing from another, it all just bleeds over and clumps together. 

You could almost compare it to using a microscope to take a really close look at things - The jagged edges of an image you woudn't see on an older set appears readily with a newer TV due to it's higher resolution.


----------



## E-Bear (May 12, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Which is very sad, Duck Hunt is one of my favs... I was really good at it too.



Yes. Infrared doesnt reflect on flat screens which are made of plastic but im curious about the older flat plasma with glass screen.


----------



## Kissamies (May 12, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Also the fact that you can't play NES with gun on flat screen tv.


That's why I gave my Zapper to my friend


----------



## biffzinker (May 12, 2020)

Bad news, something about the mounting hardware for the Scythe heatsink caused a short killing the XFX LGA775 nForce motherboard in the VRM section. There was faint smoke, and the nasty smell of something burned. Happened towards the end of last week, I moved the whole system to another room because of the smell. I haven't checked up on it since, hopefully the Q9400, and 8 GBs of DDR2 1066 Gskill sticks survived.

The cooler it came with was bugging me cause of the constant 2930 RPM. I tried swapping over the Scythe in hopes the 4-pin fan header might make a difference for regulating the noise from the fan.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 12, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Yes. Infrared doesnt reflect on flat screens which are made of plastic but im curious about the older flat plasma with glass screen.


It had nothing to do with IR. It was a single frame scanline sync issue. Flatpanel TV's don't work Like CRT's at all. There is no vBlank interrupt for the Light gun to sync to like there is on CRT's.



biffzinker said:


> Bad news, something about the mounting hardware for the Scythe heatsink caused a short killing the XFX LGA775 nForce motherboard in the VRM section. There was faint smoke, and the nasty smell of something burned. Happened towards the end of last week, I moved the whole system to another room because of the smell. I haven't checked up on it since, hopefully the Q9400, and 8 GBs of DDR2 1066 Gskill sticks survived.
> 
> The cooler it came with was bugging me cause of the constant 2930 RPM. I tried swapping over the Scythe in hopes the 4-pin fan header might make a difference for regulating the noise from the fan.


Find the right VRM's and you might be able to fix it. What do you have to loose?


----------



## Kissamies (May 13, 2020)

Installed my fav soundcard since this temporary set has PCI slots. I just love the sound of this.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 13, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Installed my fav soundcard since this temporary set has PCI slots. I just love the sound of this.
> 
> View attachment 155038


I still have mine. Such a solid card, even now.


----------



## Kissamies (May 13, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I still have mine. Such a solid card, even now.


Too bad that MS killed the HW audio with Vista back in the day :/


----------



## Radical Vision (May 13, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Installed my fav soundcard since this temporary set has PCI slots. I just love the sound of this.
> 
> View attachment 155038



Only in games, same as Live 5.1 but for music and movies the card sucks ass.... On other hands the X-Fi series sounds amazing in all, not only games.


----------



## Kissamies (May 13, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Only in games, same as Live 5.1 but for music and movies the card sucks ass.... On other hands the X-Fi series sounds amazing in all, not only games.


Much better sound quality in music than the Live! series had.

I have a SBZ but I removed it and put this A2ZS because I just love this.


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 13, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Only in games, same as Live 5.1 but for music and movies the card sucks ass.... On other hands the X-Fi series sounds amazing in all, not only games.


I own the Audigy 2 with the front panel expansion bay, it sounds good on all, it can be customized quite a lot too.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 14, 2020)

I dont see it that way, the Audigy and Live 5.1 both sound great in games, *but *using the Audigy in movies and music did not sound much differend then integrated audio cards from VIA or C media... Now the X-Fi is whole other story the chip sounds veryu very good in everything, cant say that for the Audigy cards, and i have both Audigy 1, and Audigy 2 ZS i am not impressed at all outside of Gaming, so is why i use X-Fi Xtreme Music on my main old system....


----------



## Kissamies (May 14, 2020)

Well, our hearing is unique. I just like the sound of A2 ZS, I can't describe that.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 15, 2020)

I'm pretty sure Audigy 2 ZS = X-Fi Xtreme Music (SB0460), at least from analog audio point of view (DACs/Caps, etc.)...


----------



## Radical Vision (May 15, 2020)

Prob it is, but the X-Fi chip is game changer is one of the best modern chips from what i can tell. But there is other ones that also sound very good like Onkyo Wavio 300pcie, the old Auzentech cards was also better then creative builded ones cuz of the better components they used...

BTW it is known TSeng cards are the best and fastest in DOS, but how are ATi carda for DOS i think they should be good too.. I have OAK Tachonolgy card they seems to be mid good.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 15, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> I'm pretty sure Audigy 2 ZS = X-Fi Xtreme Music (SB0460), at least from analog audio point of view (DACs/Caps, etc.)...


Not true, the processor is different and the way the audio is rendered is very different. The audio transmission lines are likely similar though.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 15, 2020)

I did add "from analog point of view at least".


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 15, 2020)

I use this combo with the Audigy 2.





__





						Buy the Fidelio Fidelio Headphones X2HR/27 Headphones
					

With the Fidelio X2HR headphones, you’re in for an authentic listening experience in exquisite sound and comfort, in your very own home. Immerse in pristine sound details and custom-fit design that’s crafted for your total enjoyment.




					www.usa.philips.com
				








__





						GigaWorks T20 Series II
					

This two-way speaker design comes with BasXPort technology for excellent full range audio with rich extended bass.



					uk.creative.com


----------



## biffzinker (May 15, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> nstalled my fav soundcard since this temporary set has PCI slots. I just love the sound of this.


Speaking of soundcards, has anyone known there was SoundBlaster compatibility in the integrated VIA older Southbridge chipsets?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 15, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Speaking of soundcards, has anyone known there was SoundBlaster compatibility in the integrated VIA older Southbridge chipsets?


Yeah, I saw that. It's a really cool thing that would have been awesome BITD!! Phil's a boss!


----------



## E-Bear (May 16, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, our hearing is unique. I just like the sound of A2 ZS, I can't describe that.



Thats true! A fact to prove it using my personnal experience. While I was working in the real cold of Quebec north I got otitis in both ears. So infected that it damaged permanently the inside of my ears. Now one side I have difficulty with high notes and the other one is with the low ones. So whenever people start on a rant about how I should change my audio setup I just let them talk and I'm like Meh! Maybe who knows I cant judge.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 17, 2020)

last picks for 20 euro...

The drives are dead all are 1-2GB, is really a surprise the maxtor 1GB is alive and no even bad sectors... Sadly the cool looking SeaGate Medalist is dead too, i am impressed how that drive look, first time i saw it i did think is some new drive made in 2015++....
The mobo is very dead, did not even try to start it, cuz when there was even power in shut down state there was some sparks and magic smoke, is some shitty Chaintech mobo.. The Aliance PCI card is also dead broken pins..

Now the good stuff 

Everyone can see the Voodoo II, but what u cant see is a 8MB version sadly (is ezz to mod them to be 12MB but that card is not in pristine condition so no point for me, will just sell/ trade it) 
The Rendition Verite card is very good to have, as they are the only real competitor (quality wise one) to the 3Dfx cards, but they did bankrupt very fast sadly.
The VLB cards are also good for selling/ trade, as i like only good mdoels like ASUS VLB S3 cards or other, ATi VLB too, but not these ones.. 





But when i think about Rendition is sad they did die so fast, as they did have promising cards....


----------



## emissary42 (May 17, 2020)

More of a youngtimer and ready for one last build...


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 17, 2020)

emissary42 said:


> More of a youngtimer and ready for one last build...
> 
> View attachment 155565


Nice heatsink, but I'd replace the fan with something smaller..


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 17, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice heatsink, but I'd replace the fan.


why ... the TY-147 are among the best fans around  (i still have mine i use on a Prolimatech MK-26 on a 8800 Ultra) at 1300rpm they are virtually silent and no need for pwm control...although they can 

with what would you replace it? (do not say "Noctua's fan" ... i'd hate you forever ...


ok ... maybe not forever ... )

beauty ... 


originally i did buy that one to use with a Thermalright IFX-14 heatsink


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 17, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> TY-147


Noctuna fans are pretty good, i get a little fishy over how Noctuna get's such great results.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 17, 2020)

GreiverBlade said:


> why ... the TY-147 are among the best fans around  (i still have mine i use on a Prolimatech MK-26 on a 8800 Ultra) at 1300rpm they are virtually silent and no need for pwm control...
> 
> with what would you replace it? (do not say "Noctua's fan" ... i'd hate you forever ...
> 
> ...


See edit...

It's the size. Too darn big in many situations. I would rather have a pair of 92mm or 100mm low-profile fans that are a bit louder but fit better into a case than the fan in the picture.


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 17, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> Noctuna fans are pretty good, i get a little fishy over how Noctuna get's such great results.


i just hate how overpriced and overrated Noctua is ... and many other get great result as they do and cheaper most of the time ...



lexluthermiester said:


> See edit...
> 
> It's the size. Too darn big in many situations. I would rather have a pair of 100mm low-profile fans that are a bit louder but fit better into a case than the fan in the picture.


i see ... hum ... i used 120mm and 140mm Corsair AF on the MK-26 but that was not better than the 150mm TY-147 (140mm hole space )

dual 100mm Scythe Kaze  Jyu Slim were good also 





Spoiler: and why i hate noctua beside the price and color scheme



DARN YOU NOCTUA! the Scythe Gentle Typhoon were perfect... oh well luckily still have the EKWB Vardar and Nidec ... because sure as hell i will not get a NF-A12x25 soon


----------



## emissary42 (May 17, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's the size. Too darn big in many situations. I would rather have a pair of 92mm or 100mm low-profile fans that are a bit louder but fit better into a case than the fan in the picture.


The case has more than enough space for both the fan and the Shaman. A pair of smaller fans would not reduce the width of the card at all because of the cooler itself and also look super silly on it, so there really is no point to your suggestion.


----------



## E-Bear (May 17, 2020)

Dont want to brag but thats my model 720 cfm


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 17, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Dont want to brag but thats my model 720 cfm View attachment 155591


Pffft.......that ain't sh1t. Here's mine.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 17, 2020)

Lmao that shit looks like jet powered turbine cooler.... Insane stufff....


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 17, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pffft.......that ain't sh1t. Here's mine.
> 
> View attachment 155603


Sheeeeeit!


----------



## Kissamies (May 17, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pffft.......that ain't sh1t. Here's mine.
> 
> View attachment 155603


I guess there's an i9-10900K


----------



## Radical Vision (May 17, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I guess there's an i9-10900K




No need even the normal 5GHz clocked 9900K is enough of a stove itself....


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 17, 2020)

Tossed a penny in there while running and it fired it right straight through everything and into the wall.  lol


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 17, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Tossed a penny in there while running and it fired it right straight through everything and into the wall.  lol


Great lockdown weapon.
Idiot at door not understanding the meaning of lockdown... here is your change you filthy animal...


----------



## GreiverBlade (May 18, 2020)

these last post cracked me up and having a burst of laughter at 1:28am was not a bright idea ....

anyway: like i care! my neighbor are here only on weekend and holidays and usually it's them who piss me off


----------



## E-Bear (May 18, 2020)

These turbines are air ventilation system booster. Mine was used by a dude who growed weed in his apartment then got visited by the cops. They thrown all of his stuff so I got it and desinfected. The model I have is quite expensive so it was worth the hassle.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 18, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pffft.......that ain't sh1t. Here's mine.
> 
> View attachment 155603


Does it actually work(at keeping the PC cool)?


----------



## Kissamies (May 18, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> No need even the normal 5GHz clocked 9900K is enough of a stove itself....
> View attachment 155614


Here in Finland on io-tech (the site made by Sampsa Kurri for Muropaketti back in the day), we say that when we talk about its process, just type 14nm and press + for second or two


----------



## erek (May 18, 2020)

*VisionTek HD 5770 Killer*


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 18, 2020)

erek said:


> *VisionTek HD 5770 Killer*


WOW! I knew something like that existed, but I'd never seen it. Are you sure that's real and not a mock-up?


----------



## biffzinker (May 18, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> WOW! I knew something like that existed, but I'd never seen it. Are you sure that's real and not a mock-up?


TPU press release from 2010.








						VisionTek Announces Killer 2100 HD 5770 Combo Graphics-Network Card
					

VisionTek Products and Bigfoot Networks today announced the launch of the VisionTek Killer HD 5770, the world's first single-card, PCI Express solution combining Bigfoot Networks Killer E2100 game networking technology and AMD Radeon HD 5000 graphics family technology to supercharge mainstream...




					www.techpowerup.com
				




KitGuru has a review:




__





						VisionTek Killer HD 5770 Combo Graphics-Network Card Review - KitGuru
					

Today we are going to be looking at a hybrid graphics/network card, featuring an amalgamation of tec




					www.kitguru.net


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 18, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Does it actually work(at keeping the PC cool)?


Eh........No different than any other big fan, just a  lot more pressure. It was an experiment mostly. Picture looks radical though.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 18, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Eh........No different than any other big fan, just a  lot more pressure. It was an experiment mostly. Picture looks radical though.


It looks impressive, no doubt! I wonder if there is a way to configure such a device to get a proper cooling effect from it? The idea behind that being that extreme OCing could be done with just air...


----------



## E-Bear (May 19, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> It looks impressive, no doubt! I wonder if there is a way to configure such a device to get a proper cooling effect from it? The idea behind that being that extreme OCing could be done with just air...



Yes. Instead of blowing cool air on cpu you suck hot air from it. You know some cases have a tube stuck inside the case to get cold air from side panel. You need to leave cpu fan connected so just plug a fan that goes on your vga for exemple. Leave the tube there and stick that big ass fan on side of panel in a way to getting all the heat out by the tube for the cpu.


----------



## biffzinker (May 19, 2020)

Pixel Pipes is selling two one Chaintech GeForce 4 Ti4600, and a Albatron GeForce 4 Ti4600. The Albatron has an issue with video output over the VGA port but otherwise is fine through DVI.





Thought someone here might be interested.









						PixelPipes
					

PixelPipes is all about the history of 3D graphics. We reminisce on fond memories, conduct reviews, and delve into the deeper architectural details in a way ...




					www.youtube.com


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 20, 2020)




----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> View attachment 155965


That is nostalgic, but it's also software...


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 20, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is nostalgic, but it's also software...


Well technically it is both if we count it is physical and it also has this in the back of the manual...

Quite a prophetic advertisement piece... Thinking ahead to Fermi!


----------



## Radical Vision (May 20, 2020)

3dfx Voodoo 4500 Agp L-Profile  | eBay
					

Broken agp connector retainer. Before buying, see all the flaws in the photo. Board tested in quake and 3dmark2001.



					www.ebay.com
				




Ok price prob, as Voodoo 4 are rare as fuck...

Also is really strange to see no Voodoo Rush cards, they are very few..

Rendition Vérité V2200  for some reason cost 50$, i think should be way cheaper....


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 20, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> 3dfx Voodoo 4500 Agp L-Profile  | eBay
> 
> 
> Broken agp connector retainer. Before buying, see all the flaws in the photo. Board tested in quake and 3dmark2001.
> ...


$250 is quite a lot for that...


----------



## Radical Vision (May 20, 2020)

All the prices are a lot, for everything, but i am talking about ebay prices of someone that know what he is selling...

Have u seen cheaper Voodoo 4 then this ? If i was on his place i was going to find at least the crappy metal braket, and then ask that price or something...


Well that was a steal that price for V4, seems they guy did not know what he was selling...


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> 3dfx Voodoo 4500 Agp L-Profile  | eBay
> 
> 
> Broken agp connector retainer. Before buying, see all the flaws in the photo. Board tested in quake and 3dmark2001.
> ...


I think that has been misidentified. IIRC they never made a 4500 in that form-factor. A 4200 maybe. But it looks more like 3000 to me.


----------



## dorsetknob (May 20, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I think that has been misidentified.


and i would not Describe it as low profile either


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2020)

dorsetknob said:


> and i would not Describe it as low profile either


Back then it was as low-profile as it got.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 20, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I think that has been misidentified. IIRC they never made a 4500 in that form-factor. A 4200 maybe. But it looks more like 3000 to me.




It is Voodoo 4 for sure, look the AGP slot it have both AGP 3v and AGP 1.5v, universal card, only Voodoo 4 have AGP univerasl slots..


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 20, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> It is Voodoo 4 for sure, look the AGP slot it have both AGP 3v and AGP 1.5v, universal card, only Voodoo 4 have AGP univerasl slots..


Do you have a use in mind or just buying for collection?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> It is Voodoo 4 for sure, look the AGP slot it have both AGP 3v and AGP 1.5v, universal card, only Voodoo 4 have AGP univerasl slots..


Good point. That was a bargin-bin card at the very least. If it really is a 4500 it was a very limited run, likely to burn off inventory.

Speaking of VooDoo cards, this is a thing;


----------



## E-Bear (May 21, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> Well technically it is both if we count it is physical and it also has this in the back of the manual...
> 
> Quite a prophetic advertisement piece... Thinking ahead to Fermi!
> 
> View attachment 155981



Got a Fermi and they abandonned it for the newer chip that they used on same cards. I.E. my GT630 got a Fermi chip that stopped being supported and the other chip that still get support even if it's also a GT630.

BTW if I swap my old 775 to another case and change PSU do I post it in here or Log project thread ?


----------



## phill (May 21, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Got a Fermi and they abandonned it for the newer chip that they used on same cards. I.E. my GT630 got a Fermi chip that stopped being supported and the other chip that still get support even if it's also a GT630.
> 
> BTW if I swap my old 775 to another case and change PSU do I post it in here or Log project thread ?


Why not both??


----------



## E-Bear (May 21, 2020)

phill said:


> Why not both??



Because i will end up with a moderator complaining that I double posted.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 21, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> Do you have a use in mind or just buying for collection?




Most of the stuff i buy is for collection, i dont use them, wont spend so much money for Voodoo 4, while when i get lucky i get lot of stuff for pocket change...

I am all about saving and preserving the computers and parts, from idiots and people that dont care, and will trow them in the garbage or to the scrap.
Also if i did have enough space i prob. was going to use many of the parts build into machines, but for the moment, every time i need even to test something i need to get all the stuff out of boxes, and is annoying... Other wise i use them, but cant, as the space is very limited... Want to make my Compaq Deskpro 486 into DOS gaming station, also is eISA machine so is more interesting too.


----------



## phill (May 21, 2020)

E-Bear said:


> Because i will end up with a moderator complaining that I double posted.


No complaints from me   Besides, you're under to different sections/threads, I don't think it would be a problem??


----------



## Hugis (May 21, 2020)

I'm after getting shut of most my old hardware ,here's a sneak peek, let me know if your interested..there is more





some cpus, i have more....


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 21, 2020)

Hugis said:


> I'm after getting shut of most my old hardware ,here's a sneak peek, let me know if your interested..there is moreView attachment 156123
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Interested in the ASUS board mate!


----------



## Hugis (May 21, 2020)

any one hit me up with a good cheap courier Spain  to UK ?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 21, 2020)

Hugis said:


> I'm after getting shut of most my old hardware ,here's a sneak peek, let me know if your interested..there is moreView attachment 156123
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Now that is quite a haul!


----------



## micropage7 (May 22, 2020)

Hugis said:


> I'm after getting shut of most my old hardware ,here's a sneak peek, let me know if your interested..there is moreView attachment 156123
> 
> 
> 
> ...


abit board scheme looks like intel board, sometimes you miss the color


----------



## cornemuse (May 23, 2020)

Anybody have an old(!) ECS NFORCE 6M-A2 mobo they would part with? I bought two brand new many years ago, few years back I bought one used off ebay. 2 of the 3 have since died. This board is *Perfect* for my particular use. XP-64 (yea yea,dont laff) ALWAYS off-line. Used to be quite a few listed but no more.  I thought 3 would last me to death (I'm 73) but I seem to be outliving them.

-c-


----------



## biffzinker (May 23, 2020)

Found out what burned on that XFX nForce LGA775 mobo.


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 23, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Found out what burned on that XFX nForce LGA775 mobo.
> 
> View attachment 156394
> 
> View attachment 156395


A real shame... sexy board.


----------



## biffzinker (May 23, 2020)

Decryptor009 said:


> A real shame... sexy board.


Somewhere on the internet I seen the XFX board is a rebrand from MSI.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 23, 2020)

Not only the same board was branded as EVGA too, and i think soemthing else as well.. And i dont see it to be very quality one too...









						3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 64mb PCI Video Card, With Box  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 64mb PCI Video Card, With Box at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				




Damn 70$ Voodoo 5 5500....


----------



## erek (May 24, 2020)

Scope this awesome comparison out! I think it's awesome!


----------



## Radical Vision (May 24, 2020)

XGI Volari V8 for sure is interesting card, many did say is trash card, well is not very powerful, as it seems is silmiar to what ATi Rage Fury MaXX did, only 1 GPU working, not both as it should... Still the card seems with ok performance in the games, lacking performance in 3D marks and others. Seems no one did make proper dual GPU cards back in the days only 3Dfx seems did it right...
But after all was card made by SiS and some Trident engineers, you cant expect much from them anyway, i think they did ok.




erek said:


> Scope this awesome comparison out! I think it's awesome!



That card will fit very well on my dark set up, as i am looking for dual GPU for it, and the black PCB is best match, as Voodoo 5 5500 is green....


----------



## Fouquin (May 29, 2020)

Uploaded a neat little OpenGL feature test and benchmark app that I've had on disc for the longest time. Built by a few of the Evans & Sutherland guys in 1998. I've tested it to work with pretty much any OpenGL 1.1 hardware, might also work on 1.0. Appears to contain up to 1.2.2 feature extensions. Some compatibility issues with Rage 128 XP drivers but Win98SE should be good. Also not limited to Intel, I have this working on the K6-2/500.

Point the benchmark to a .txt file (I.E. C:\ESGLAZE\result.txt) and hit the button! In the file if you see repeating FPS (I.E. Preset 4 and Preset 5 reporting exactly 64.757342 FPS) the latter test was likely skipped due to driver/feature issue. I see it on some cards such as the IBM RC1000 based Diamond/S3 FireGLs.

*Evans & Sutherland GLAZE v3.1*

Couple different results from my testing; ATi Radeon SDR and 3DLabs Oxygen VX1


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 29, 2020)

Fouquin said:


> Evans & Sutherland GLAZE v3.1


Wow! That takes me back..


----------



## Fouquin (May 29, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wow! That takes me back..



Been using this for years and somebody mentioned that they couldn't find it anywhere. Turns out it didn't EXIST anywhere; nobody archived it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 29, 2020)

Fouquin said:


> Been using this for years and somebody mentioned that they couldn't find it anywhere. Turns out it didn't EXIST anywhere; nobody archived it.


I haven't seen it since my University of Utah days. E&S had a research lab on campus and they were always letting us "geeks" try stuff out. Good times...

You should have seen the VooDoo cards they made. Quad SLI on a single card with 48MB of VRAM for flight sim stuff. Two of those in a single Pentium Pro machine with 192MB of system ram. We ran Quake on one of them. Back then, getting above 100FPS at 1600x1200 in timedemo1 was simply amazing. Getting above 200FPS was unthinkable. That system? 213FPS. Our minds were blown... Oh and they were OCing that Pentium Pro to 266mhz. HUGE heatsink with a very loud fan to keep it cool, but it ran!


----------



## Radical Vision (May 29, 2020)

Well yeah Evans & Sutherland cards are sick more sick then Quantum 3D...
That Voodoo I with 48MB for sure is rare AF, and very interesting...
Also quad Radeon 9800, Evans & Sutherland SimFUSION 6500q, never saw any ofe these cards in here, or to know someone to have them localy...

As you mentioned Pentium Pro, just cleaned 3 days ago my IBM PC 365, cleaned the mobo with water as was dirty, and now all drying.. 



The quality of the parts on the IBM machines is amazing all caps Japan brands, only thing that sucks is the S3 card, that have some crap brand chinese caps...


----------



## Decryptor009 (May 29, 2020)

Testing out the Sony Cyber-shot i bought off ebay very cheap.


----------



## Ahhzz (May 30, 2020)

Wanted to add a couple of minors in my collection of 'stuff'


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 30, 2020)

Ahhzz said:


> Wanted to add a couple of minors in my collection of 'stuff'
> View attachment 157220


Those MSI heatsinks always made me laugh! The funny thing is, they did a good job of cooling too! Put an 80mm fan on those things and they were great!


----------



## Radical Vision (May 31, 2020)

Well my IBM PC 365 is a happy machine. But for some reason the CPU does not seems happy it runs FK hot for some reason... Did change the CPU with the original one, cuz did think it may be issue from the new CPU nah... The system is dual socket 8, only 1 CPU is installed, as the VRM module is missing. So what it hink it happens is that when the machine is used with only 1 CPU it gets more voltage, then single socket 8 ones, and get more hot. Otherwise i just dont know what is wrong, as people with single socket 8 machines told me their machines are little warm after 1 hour of gaming on them WTF, while having only heatsink, no fans... Meanwhile my system have heatsink and a case fan that is near and blow air to it, and is hot to the point of burning fingers...... 

So if someone that have dual socket 8 machines with 1 CPU and no VRM can explain to me WTF is happening will be nice, as if i am wrong the machine will burn itself....


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 31, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> But for some reason the CPU does not seems happy it runs FK hot for some reason...


They all ran hot back then. Came with the territory. Mount a fan(80mm with a passthru molex connector) on the heatsink and you should be good. Though it couldn't hurt to check the jumpers(dip switches maybe?) on the motherboard to verify that they are set for the correct voltage.


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Pixel Pipes is selling two one Chaintech GeForce 4 Ti4600, and a Albatron GeForce 4 Ti4600. The Albatron has an issue with video output over the VGA port but otherwise is fine through DVI.
> View attachment 155834
> 
> 
> ...


He seems like a nice guy, been watching his videos for a while and now I'm on his discord channel.


----------



## Radical Vision (May 31, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> They all ran hot back then. Came with the territory. Mount a fan(80mm with a passthru molex connector) on the heatsink and you should be good. Though it couldn't hurt to check the jumpers(dip switches maybe?) on the motherboard to verify that they are set for the correct voltage.




Seems is ok to run hot as hell, just these 2 guys i did talk with they have single socket 8 with Pentium Pro 200Mhz machines told me that their CPUs have only heatsink no fan and did not get hot. Then i talked more with them, cuz was wodnering wtf, (also checked the switches was all set correctly for the proper CPU speed) and did seems their case fans was very powerful ones, that changed the things, as my fan on the case is Nidec is good fan, but for some reason it runs max with 200-300rpm lmao, did try the fan on fan controller with max speed and is the same, dont know what was IBM thinking adding fans that barely ever spin, the other quality fan of the PSU is Panasonic, same shit it barely rotates, maybe they did want the system to be quiet as possible, but then damn the 1.6GB WD Caviar is loud AF, no much point then.... Will just replace the case Nidec and add something with more RPM and see will that fix the hot burning Pentium Pro, or will need to add fan to the heatsink as well, as i like my computers to be loud and cool, after all preserving the parts/ computers is NO 1 priority for me...



On other hand the S3 Virge 64+ did have garbage image OUTput, one of these cards that have small flickering/distortion on the screen, like is in the sea moving little, that is caused of the garbage caps on the card, used quality Diamond S3 and MatroX cards to confirm my suspicious, of the original IBM S3 being with garbage caps that make distortion, and i was right, not sure why IBM did not use better vendor for the S3 card.....


These garbage caps, shame on IBM, at least the mobo and the PSU have Japan ones..



IBM Joke "Hey little Buddy" .... I have on my Compaq 486 Deskpro something similar, there is Train icon on one of the PCBs on that machine..




This memory is interesting, the look on my face, when i did put 128MB modules of SDram in there, and nothing did happen, then i used this IBM memory on SDram mobo, and nothing happened there too, then i look more, and this is SDram slot EDO, now GL with finding big enough modules to get the total max of 512MB EDO (SDram) , but for the moment i will be happy even at double the current size of 130MB... Also GL finding the VRM for that machine to add second CPU as i dont buy/ sell in ebay..


Found in my former Slot 1 system that i sended back to the boxes, as a guy give me 100$ for my ABIT BE6-II mobo and i did sell it, and found in the former HP case LiteON CD, added that to the IBM 365, great match with the LiteON PSU....
Also replaced the crappy SONY 3 inch fLoppy with Panasonic metal floppy, will do some more work on that socket 8 IBM to make it way better. I think i will replace the 1.6GB WD Caviar, it is workign still fine, but the damn noice it making it drills heads, installed Windows 98 on it, but cant stand that noice is just hell for ears....



Also hot lucky to find some not sure what it is spinn off branded IBM XT clone for just 25 euro, is more then what i did want to pay like 10-15 euro, but still that is also good price.. But wont be keeping this machine for my collection for sure, as i prefer only IBM XT machines, will just trade the XT machine for something cool or just sell ti for the right price.....

Not my pics, i am waiting delivery these days....


----------



## erek (Jun 1, 2020)

Anything special or nah?>








						s/n #009 V5-5800  AGP @128Mb @200MHz Special Edition by osckhar - V5-5500  3dfx  | eBay
					

Finden Sie Top-Angebote für s/n #009 V5-5800  AGP @128Mb @200MHz Special Edition by osckhar - V5-5500  3dfx bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!



					www.ebay.de


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 1, 2020)

erek said:


> Anything special or nah?>
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The stock Voodoo V 5500 is 166MHz on both chipsets, so this is OC one, that is all, and stock is 64MB, this one is upgraded with double the memory to match the Voodoo V 6K. And the heatsinks are not the stock, but some bigger ones.......

Now what i think, well the price is no comment, sure he spended time to mode that Voodoo V 5500 to reach the same memory size as the 6K, and OC`ed or replaced the VSA-100 chips in order to get that 200MHz speed, still i think many ppl with sodlering skill can do that, and soem BIOS mods...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 1, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> This memory is interesting, the look on my face, when i did put 128MB modules of SDram in there, and nothing did happen, then i used this IBM memory on SDram mobo, and nothing happened there too, then i look more, and this is SDram slot EDO, now GL with finding big enough modules to get the total max of 512MB EDO (SDram) , but for the moment i will be happy even at double the current size of 130MB... Also GL finding the VRM for that machine to add second CPU as i dont buy/ sell in ebay..
> View attachment 157448


Even that it's in DIMM form factor, it's still EDO and has nothing to do with SDRAM. Those first DIMM motherboards supported both EDO and SDRAM, probably that's why there was also EDO in DIMM form factor.


----------



## erek (Jun 1, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> The stock Voodoo V 5500 is 166MHz on both chipsets, so this is OC one, that is all, and stock is 64MB, this one is upgraded with double the memory to match the Voodoo V 6K. And the heatsinks are not the stock, but some bigger ones.......
> 
> Now what i think, well the price is no comment, sure he spended time to mode that Voodoo V 5500 to reach the same memory size as the 6K, and OC`ed or replaced the VSA-100 chips in order to get that 200MHz speed, still i think many ppl with sodlering skill can do that, and soem BIOS mods...



heard more than 32MB per VSA-100 isn't a big benefit?


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 1, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Even that it's in DIMM form factor, it's still EDO and has nothing to do with SDRAM. Those first DIMM motherboards supported both EDO and SDRAM, probably that's why there was also EDO in DIMM form factor.



I did mean it have same slot and pins as SDram moduels, not that is SDram. At first i did think it is prob SDram some very early ones, now i know is some BS EDO memory made on SDram PCB and slot that is what it is.... 




erek said:


> heard more than 32MB per VSA-100 isn't a big benefit?



Who knows, but it should make the card better for more modern games, of the 2000-2004 era. Anywya i think modding Voodoo V 5500 with faster SDram modules will be more beneficial, and the VSA-100 chips to have 200Mhz clock speed, then the double vRAM size.. Still if i can get Voodoo V with faster clock speed, faster memory and more memory why not...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 1, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> I did mean it have same slot and pins as SDram moduels, not that is SDram. At first i did think it is prob SDram some very early ones, now i know is some BS EDO memory made on SDram PCB and slot that is what it is....


Yeah I read your post wrong, my bad  but that's just DIMM module, not a "SDRAM module".


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## Radical Vision (Jun 1, 2020)

Well thing is i did not know how is called, i know old EDO and FPM are SIMM, did not know for the newer onews, did look firstly to me like normal SDram so is why i called it that way...

Well whatever as i dont use ebay, who knows when i will find bigger DIMM EDO modules to upgrade the great IBM machine, and specially the damn VRM module for the second CPU... The fact IBM did not include the VRM in the first place on these machines sucks, sure every company do stuff like that to reduce costs but still.


----------



## Robert B (Jun 4, 2020)

Got me one of these! Albeit not an oeltra but still frickin' AWESOME!

Impulse buy and totally untested! I'll find out later if it is alive. Now I just enjoy looking at it.

It will be restored to perfection. Then and only then I'll give it a spin and see if it is working. 

The suspense is killing me.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 4, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Got me one of these! Albeit not an oeltra but still frickin' AWESOME!
> 
> Impulse buy and totally untested! I'll find out later if it is alive. Now I just enjoy looking at it.
> 
> ...


That's gonna be pretty when it's all cleaned up!!


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 4, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Got me one of these! Albeit not an oeltra but still frickin' AWESOME!
> 
> Impulse buy and totally untested! I'll find out later if it is alive. Now I just enjoy looking at it.
> 
> ...



That looks like FX5950 Ultra ...

I have 2, but the Leadtek is broken is crashing after the leadtek BIOS post....






The XT machine, nothing special, but is really old, so is valuable, even the MFM disk is still working and no bad sectors who to think it will be still working..


----------



## Robert B (Jun 4, 2020)

The card is a GF FX 5900 128MB. MS-8929 VER:100


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 5, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


>


And TADA! That is a very beautiful bit of retro-tech! Well done cleaning it up, looks new!


Radical Vision said:


>


Remember that DanielK has a driver pack that has updated support for that Audigy card;





						SB Audigy Series Support Pack 6.2
					

This software/driver pack is unofficial, not supported by Creative Labs.   Use it at your own risk.     Supports any model of the following...




					danielkawakami.blogspot.com


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 5, 2020)

Audigy Rx drivers works at least with Audigy2 ZS, works flawlessly in Win10.


----------



## Bones (Jun 5, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> *That looks like FX5950 Ultra* ...
> 
> I have 2, but the Leadtek is broken is crashing after the leadtek BIOS post....
> 
> ...



It is, have one just like it. 
Good card but I hate that (With mine at least) it doesn't like tweaking in that what you try to do doesn't apply, it's like the card either ignores it or it's locked somehow against it. 
I literally have to flash it just to change clock speeds to any extent.


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 5, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> And TADA! That is a very beautiful bit of retro-tech! Well done cleaning it up, looks new!
> 
> Remember that DanielK has a driver pack that has updated support for that Audigy card;
> 
> ...



Well as far as i remember that card was in really good condition, and was not dirty, so not much work from me there.. But on other hand i did clean lot of dirty stuff, like very dirty keyboards, machines and other.. But the moment i get something that is really dirty, or have some cosmetic wear and i dont liek it i sell it the moment i clean and test it. For now i keep some ugly MatroX mystique, it have traces of hits on the pcb and some chips, only reason i keep that card is, as i dont have another Mystique, the moment i get one in good condition this one will be sold.

I found Voodoo II Diamond these days, and i did consider to keep it, BUT it is only 8MB, i dont plan to waste time, money and resources to upgrade it to 12MB, also the card have some little bended pins on the 3Dfx chips, and that is not acceptable to me so i sold the damn card.. Same with the 7-8 Voodoo III 2000 i have and like 3-4 Voodoo III 3000, they was from scrap and not in the best shape, so i just cleaned them added the metal brakets, and sell them, no point for me to keep parts that are not in factory condition... My Voodoo III 2K and 3K that i keep for me are in best possible shape, no scratches (as i fucking hate scratches on the PCB even small ones) heatsinks are there and the metal braket is there too, the Voodoo III 3K looks liek was pulled out of the box is really well preserved, dont know why is like that, also the heatsink was removed by someoen and there is normal paste under it, not the thermal glue normally...



That Audigy card is inside the IBM dual V8 machine Death Star, as the mobo PCB is black, the case too, the cables need only some black XGI Volari V8, but Voodoo V 5500 will work well too, sadly the color is not black...




Bones said:


> It is, have one just like it.
> Good card but I hate that (With mine at least) it doesn't like tweaking in that what you try to do doesn't apply, it's like the card either ignores it or it's locked somehow against it.
> I literally have to flash it just to change clock speeds to any extent.



Well OCking old parts is not best idea anyway, as something may die, it happens to ppl that i know and OC old stuff, so best bet is not to OC most things, or at least if OC to be only the things u really like, like me my K7 machine...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 5, 2020)

Never been that much a 3dfx fanboy, though I still hate the fact that I sold a Voodoo2 hella cheap (like for 20EUR) several years ago.


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Never been that much a 3dfx fanboy, though I still hate the fact that I sold a Voodoo2 hella cheap (like for 20EUR) several years ago.



Me too you see, i even laugh at 3Dfx, as they was nasty as a company, and they did cheap out on their products, made in Mexico.....
I am ATi and AMD fanboy myself, i prefer their parts and hardware over rest, and i am concentrated mostly at them. But as true collector i cant just ignore 3Dfxm, as they are major player in the 3D market of the 90`s, no matter i dont like them as company, i still want to have some piece of their unique hardware, as no matter i prefer mostly ATi and AMD parts, even i can tell ATi Rage 3D did suck hard vs 3Dfx, even vs Rush...


Meanwhile i got this for 30 euro, will sell couple of the crappy Vibra cards, and rest will become for free...
Crappy Vibra 16 cards
Crappy crystal cards
Now Yamaha OPL should be ok, cuz is OPL, but what do i know..
AWE64 value will sell for some money, or will be personal one...
Now the SB16 i have similar card but CT1750, so no matter i like this new one, well will serve me better if i trade it for something more useful..
And cool 20287 Math CPUs....


----------



## erek (Jun 6, 2020)

Can anyone find a Commodore Advanced Amiga Architecture – AAA Chipset?  prototype or ES?  Please

Need it


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 6, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Crappy Vibra 16 cards


The Vibra16 cards were very misunderstood. It's not that they were crap, it's that they were budget/economy focused cards. They offered a similar level of quality to the AWE32/AWE64 but without all the bells & whistles. They were a solid sound card for a budget gamer.

Watched this and had to post it here;


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## Radical Vision (Jun 6, 2020)

Well in my eyes they are nothing special, as i am on a hunt for the most rare and high end stuff that i can get my hands on, on cheap, without using ebay.... I have one of these in my collection, maybe i will add one more, but is way better to collect AWE64 Gold, SB16, AWE32, SB Pro and rest good stuff not Vibra 16... 

About that video yeah, nice system, *but *i still prefer my scrap* "IBM" Death Star V8 Dual system *, as all parts aside of the GPU are parts that was going to be thrown in the trash, if it was not for me... And also using water cooling for PIII what for, also water and electronics never mix anyway so i will never like water cooling in a PC no matter what. And besides that guy spends lot of money on ebay, if i did spend lot of money i will build something better then this there, for example the mobo is not so interesting, my AOpen look way better with the black PCB, and is not really common brand, not like Gigabyte or ASUS...  



http://imgur.com/a/uEOwmkG


I wonder how much did this guy spend on all his collection for sure is a lot, menwhile what i have is for free cuz of the stuff i sell that i dont need 80% of the time..


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## Kissamies (Jun 7, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> The Vibra16 cards were very misunderstood. It's not that they were crap, it's that they were budget/economy focused cards. They offered a similar level of quality to the AWE32/AWE64 but without all the bells & whistles. They were a solid sound card for a budget gamer.
> 
> Watched this and had to post it here;


Too bad that (especially the fastest) Tualatins are hella expensive. Never had one, the fastest P-III I've had was a 1GHz Coppermine.


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 7, 2020)

Really damn i did just look in ebay, well did really not expected to see that the 1.4GHz PIII S to cost like 50$ ffs....
I did think they prob sell for like 10$, but seems they are rare, no wonder i never saw other of these 1.4GHz PIII S, (aside of mine x2 i have)..
Sad stuff and i did really want to find x2 of these CPUs to replace mines, as they have wear look, and i hate parts that have wear on them, not to mention the guy that did give them to me, did use sand paper to the CPUs, as he said the cap was not flat.......


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 7, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Too bad that (especially the fastest) Tualatins are hella expensive. Never had one, the fastest P-III I've had was a 1GHz Coppermine.


I had a pair of 1.33ghz in an AOpen dual board that overclocked to 1.66ghz without much effort.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 7, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Really damn i did just look in ebay, well did really not expected to see that the 1.4GHz PIII S to cost like 50$ ffs....
> I did think they prob sell for like 10$, but seems they are rare, no wonder i never saw other of these 1.4GHz PIII S, (aside of mine x2 i have)..
> Sad stuff and i did really want to find x2 of these CPUs to replace mines, as they have wear look, and i hate parts that have wear on them, not to mention the guy that did give them to me, did use sand paper to the CPUs, as he said the cap was not flat.......
> 
> View attachment 158107 View attachment 158108


Well, lapping the IHS was a thing back in the day. Especially in the LGA775 era when the lapping helped the temps by several degrees Celsius.

I remember even lapping my old Phenom II X4 965BE tho with it, lapping helped only by 1-2C.


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## Radical Vision (Jun 7, 2020)

Is your AOpen that same board, or is other ? If it is too bad we cant trade, as i want to replace my AOpen DX34R-U with same board, but in factory/mint condition, and in return i trade my board and some other bonus part, so to make the trade fair and better, but i wont pay for shipping and stuff so yeah, seems will still wait to find another AOpen DX34R-U, in factory condition, as mine is not that well (is working ofc) in the cosmetic department....






Chloe Price said:


> Well, lapping the IHS was a thing back in the day. Especially in the LGA775 era when the lapping helped the temps by several degrees Celsius.
> 
> I remember even lapping my old Phenom II X4 965BE tho with it, lapping helped only by 1-2C.




Ok but does not worth the time, for the results you get. Is way better if you delid the CPU, and just put liquid metal instead if the IHS is not soldered...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 7, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Is your AOpen that same board, or is other ? If it is too bad we cant trade, as i want to replace my AOpen DX34R-U with same board, but in factory/mint condition, and in return i trade my board and some other bonus part, so to make the trade fair and better, but i wont pay for shipping and stuff so yeah, seems will still wait to find another AOpen DX34R-U, in factory condition, as mine is not that well (is working ofc) in the cosmetic department....


That looks similar, but mine had an AGP-Pro slot. Sold the whole rig many years ago.

EDIT;
Found it!



The built on SCSI was the deal-maker for me at the time as I had a bunch of SCSI 10KRPM drives in RAID. Ah the memories.


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## Radical Vision (Jun 7, 2020)

Hmmmmmmmmm interesting... Did not know AOpen have another then this dark dual 370 board, well now i know... Sure to have AGP Pro Slot and specially build in SCSI is good, BUT i still prefer the sexy stealth black color, nothing can change my mind about that, and after all there are PCI external controllers, so adding one will fix the lack of SCSI. And after all the DX34R-U have IDE RAID so that still count for something. In the end best dual MOBO with lot of features is ASUS CUV4X-DLS, it have up to 4GB of SDram, while my AOpen 2GB is max, not that i care much Pentium III dont need more then 2GB of SDram anyway..

Interesting yout ex AOpen board seems to have AUX power connector, while mine does not have, strange why that is...

There is the fix for the missing SCSI Adaptec.... 



in the end for me that black AOpen dual 370 beats both your regular green AOpen, ASUS CUV4X-DLS, and Gigabyte dual 370 too, as the ASUS boards tend to die and have problems, while this DX34R-U mobo is rock solid even after abuse...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 7, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> Ok but does not worth the time, for the results you get. Is way better if you delid the CPU, and just put liquid metal instead if the IHS is not soldered...


Phenoms and most of the LGA775 CPUs were soldered; I tried to delid my old Pentium D935 and the other core came along with the heatspreader even tho I warmed it up


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## Radical Vision (Jun 10, 2020)

Got new stuff for 12 euro...

Number Nine Ticket to Ride (Revolution 3D)
Intel Pentium 90MHz
AMD Mobile K8 Athlon XP-M 3000+
MatroX dual VGA Head
MatroX Mystique
S3 VirgeGX 4MB
And a crappy SB Live 7.1






Ofc from all these the most interesting is the Number Nine card, seems is not one of the common ones, as i dont see it in ebay...
The K8 Mobile Barton for sure is really interesting to me, if i can clock it higher can try comparing it to the Pentium 4 better, as the K7 Bartons are limited...



*Update*

So i did test as usual my new stuff, and all is working, except the damn *Number Nine Ticket to Ride (Revolution 3D)* ....  So i changed x3 motherboards, did think the card maybe have some problem, no post, changed multiple times the motherboards the PCI slots, and the jumper on the card too, also cleaned the slot of the card with alcohol nothing... then on the last third mobo (MSI with Intel 815 chipset, previous 2 was VIA something..) same crap no post and beeps, then i changed with no hope for that card the jumper on the card, and that it was there was post beep, and the mobo did seems to work fine, but no monitor... Then i decided to look the exact model of that card for something funny/ strange... And what i found was that the card is for shitty MAC, damn, at least i am happy now the card is prob working fine,and is not broken, as it seems rare piece of hardware....

Founded BIOS from VGAmuseum, so far so good. But now i have a problem, dont know how to flash the card with normal BIOS, as the flash tools are all for nVIDIA or ATi, i know ppl use to flash the Voodoo V 5500 PCI MAC edition with normal BIOS, but dont knwo with what tools...
If someone know what tools i need to give some links, ot upload them here, prefer WINflash myself, but if is not possible DOS flash will work too...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 11, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> So i did test as usual my new stuff, and all is working, except the damn *Number Nine Ticket to Ride (Revolution 3D)*


That is unfortunate. Still. Clean it up and frame it. It's an unusual and very rare card. History worth preserving and remembering.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 11, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> But now i have a problem, dont know how to flash the card with normal BIOS, as the flash tools are all for nVIDIA or ATi, i know ppl use to flash the Voodoo V 5500 PCI MAC edition with normal BIOS, but dont knwo with what tools..


Probably with a SPI flasher


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 11, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is unfortunate. Still. Clean it up and frame it. It's an unusual and very rare card. History worth preserving and remembering.




Ofc even if was not the case to be MAC card and to be broken i was going to save it, as i can see the card is rare and is interesting + is the first Number Nine i ever encounter since forever, so no chance for me to sell it or trow it to the scrap... And i dont use most of my stuff anyway, so is good to have it even if will stay with the crappy MAC BIOS... I am wondering how Voodoo 5 5500 MAC edition users fix the BIOS, i think should be by using second card to see the monitor ofc and flash the voodoo, so i think to do the same, just dont know what tools to use...

Also have this nice card, sadly some baboon did hit the pins there, i wonder how the FK did they hit that spot, as is not enough space there, so should be way more protected, then the other sides of the chip.. The damn card still work tho, and is amde in Germany very high build quality.... I tihnk i will trow it to the scrap, as is taking place and i wont prob ever find someone thet will want to fix this crap..


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 14, 2020)

I saw this card on sale on fb marketplace and going to purchase it, already contacted the seller. He is the only owner and the card looks mint and no viible rust like my previous AGP X800XTPE I bought. The owner don't know what is the exact card, it could be just plain X800PRO or it could be X800XT or XL, which even I don't know how to identify.

I still wanted to test ATi Truform with faster CPU so I need PCIe platform, going to couple it with fast i5 4670k and hopefully it will run Windows XP. Already have all the right ingredients for it. Hopefully everything going to be well with this build.









I found several other gems like 7900GTX, GTX 275 for about the same price but since I'm aiming for Truform the X800 was the ast card to support it.


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 14, 2020)

The card works nice, just need to flash somehow the normal BIOS, i hate the rotten apple, only BS from these mother *******, like was so hard to use the normal BIOS, but naa.... 

Number Nine is alive




Apocalypsee said:


> I saw this card on sale on fb marketplace and going to purchase it, already contacted the seller. He is the only owner and the card looks mint and no viible rust like my previous AGP X800XTPE I bought. The owner don't know what is the exact card, it could be just plain X800PRO or it could be X800XT or XL, which even I don't know how to identify.
> 
> I still wanted to test ATi Truform with faster CPU so I need PCIe platform, going to couple it with fast i5 4670k and hopefully it will run Windows XP. Already have all the right ingredients for it. Hopefully everything going to be well with this build.
> 
> I found several other gems like 7900GTX, GTX 275 for about the same price but since I'm aiming for Truform the X800 was the ast card to support it.




The thing is you can know, these cards look exactly the same, sadly is one of these moments ( i have many of them) where you see something and you dont know if is the top card, or is the cut down version...
Just ask the seller to put the damn card on a system and tell from the AIDA64 or GPUz what is the exact model...


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 19, 2020)

I just got the 'mystery' X800, everything seems like in good condition. I even check the stock thermal paste it still good, but I repasted with Kryonaut just in case.






Plug it inside the system, the soundcard below is Audigy 2 ZS I bought last year just in preparation for my ultimate XP Truform rig. Sorry about the mess, the cable in the middle is 8-pin EPS cable that is too short to hide around the board.





Sooo what did I got? Is it X800Pro? Is it X800XL, is it X800XT or even the weak X800SE? Luckily I get X800XT! Not the XT-PE because I already see the missing Rage Theater chip and 2ns memory but this is just one below that so everything is great!  





Ran a quick 3DMark2001SE and get this score. Don't really know if its good or not I just testing it to see any instability



I'll post some Truform goodies soon. With X800XT I should be able to play games with Truform enabled at 1080p instead of 1024x768 with Radeon 9100, coupled it with fast i5 4670k at 4GHz it should be fun!


----------



## Dinnercore (Jun 19, 2020)

_And the music don't feel like it did when I felt it with you
No, no
Nothing that I do or feel ever feels like I felt it with you
No, no
And the music don't feel like it did when I felt it with you
Nothing that I do or feel ever feels like I felt it with you _





Finally found the time to care for this sweet board. Bought it in february and today was the first time I got to turn it on.
Currently rocking an E8600, 2x 1GB OCZ DDR2 1200 and my trusty GTX260; first GPU upgrade I ever bought to replace my 8600GTS and I had to RMA it just 2 days later due to bad TIM application from the factory. Now the replacement is still with me after all these years. 

Might make it into an XP-machine and put it into the original case from my very first PC that I also still kept around.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 20, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Ran a quick 3DMark2001SE and get this score. Don't really know if its good or not I just testing it to see any instability


That's a good score.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 20, 2020)

I take some pics of the PC.
Focus on GPU




Focus on Audigy 2 ZS




3DMark 2001SE is really CPU dependent benchmark, I get over 51,000 3DMark when clocked the CPU to 4.5GHz instead of 4GHz


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 20, 2020)

Yes.
3D03 is a far better choice for testing legacy GPU's.


----------



## TOMCAT (Jun 20, 2020)

Sorry, always late at the show.

Easy hints "how to identify" not only X800s.

Frontside picture shows ATi/AMD board number (PCB number) 109 - A31900 - 00.
PCB number is A319 and internet searches will show in this case, that it must be a R423 card.

Backside picture shows the exact card modell, if you know that the CN number is from Dell. Newer cards have a QR code instead a bar code, but Dell CN numbers did not change.
Internet search will show several eBay offers "Dell X800 XT 256MB".  
Newer cards will still appear in Dell database.

OK, let my X800 GTO show begin:


X800 GTO with A319 board, R423 GPU, 256MB and Rage ViVo chip.

 
X800 GTO with A474 board, R480 GPU 256MB and Rage ViVo chip.


 X800 GTO² with A474 board, R480 GPU 256MB without Rage ViVo chip.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 20, 2020)

This is my 'experience' handling XP on modern system, can't believe there is still this issue.

At first Creative driver won't install because it detected newer driver (I think I try to use XFI Titanium HD on XP but it wont work, the residual driver messed things up) so I force install using Device Manager. I thought that's that but NOPE. I get weird audio delay and sound looping when playing games followed by a hard lock or crash. I use two driver cleaner (Driver Sweeper and Driver Cleaner) but even so it still have residual and everytime I try to reinstall driver it say the previous driver is still there and there was nothing in Add/Remove Program that mentions Creative. After quick Google I found out Creative did put their own Install/Uninstaller with their driver, after using that, do a clean boot, and do driver cleaner everything looks good...but it isn't. The weird audio delay/audio skipping still there after some time playing, or changing games, it gets higher chance of happening the longer I use my PC.

Thankfully I have experienced this before, the problem is IRQ conflict. So I change PCI slots, do the thing again (clean boot, uninstall driver, driver sweeper etc.) and finally everything works as intended. Damn that took some time to fix.

The problem doesn't stop there though. After the sound issue my system would randomly, even in Windows, freezes like half a second. This is worse in game where I get insta killed because the game freezes and during that period million bullets hitting me. So I do basic troubleshooting disabling few services and some of the faults lie with ATi Hotkey Poller and Creative services. Freezes in Windows is now totally gone, with Hotkey poller disabled it fixes some weird graphical glitches that text are hard to read in C&C Renegade. Game still have this freezes but I think its because of the old 5400RPM drive. With 16GB RAM I think I'm going to use RAMdisk and use the excess RAM for game. All the Truform games so far use less than 4GB of harddisk space so I'm good with that. If that doesn't work I have spare 120GB Samsung 840 Evo that I could use for game drive.

But I enjoyed it, it gives nostalgic feeling of younger me fixing this kind of quirks. Its tiring but...nostalgic   I hope I won't seeing that kind of thing happen on this PC ever again 



TOMCAT said:


> Sorry, always late at the show.
> 
> Easy hints "how to identify" not only X800s.
> 
> ...


Nice info, well you are about a week late haha, but I do google the PCB number and like you said few hits from eBay mentioning Dell X800XT and thats the main reason I proceed with the deal. I wont be getting any other of that price, its like less than a fifth the cost from eBay, not including shipping!


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 20, 2020)

X800 GTO2 (16PS) :







3DMark 03 score : 13160 (LINK).

6800 GX (8PS default, unlockable to 16PS) :


----------



## Robert B (Jun 20, 2020)

*New flea market HW FOUND!!!* Run autoconfig? Well, option is greyed. 

1. DataExpert / ExperBoard EXP 4045 *** 486 VLB  + AMD 486DX4-100MHz - small acid damage / the battery will be removed soon. For sure is working. These boards are immortal. 
2. Lucky Star 5VP3 REV: 2.1 + Pentium MMX 200MHz -  Cracked plastic at one ISA slot  and another slightly bent but totally fixable. Sk7+AGP=WIN!  Usually these boards are equipped just with PCI and ISA   slots

Bought extremely cheap. Now it is my turn to do my magic.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jun 21, 2020)

The OCZ kit is nice. Finally some DDR2 that goes beyond 600, all of my previous sticks failed around 580Mhz. This one keeps going (on 2.1V), I only encountered VTT issues to this point. Lacking the time to test further today but I can sleep in peace tonight.





That E8600 is trash tho sadly. It struggles to get 4,5GHz going even with 1.45V. I stopped at 4.6GHz and 1.52V before I went to test the RAM and board. No point in trying this CPU, most of my E8300s are faster then this piece of s***. 

I might make this into another one of my dream machines. Daily stable 5GHz Core 2 Duo system. I always wondered back then what it would be like, while sitting on my AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (wow and Intel is getting crap for its names).
Got one sweet E8500 saved for this occasion: https://valid.x86.fr/r7wdt1


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 21, 2020)

Pretty sure that 5GHz at 1,45V E8500 is quite the golden sample you got.
My E8600 is similar to yours : ~4,5GHz @ 1,47V.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 21, 2020)

None of my E8xxx's are that good.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 22, 2020)

Trying my luck at overclocking the Athlon II X4 635 on a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 Rev. 1.2 

So far overclocked +725 MHz over the stock 2.9 GHz.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 24, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Find the right VRM's and you might be able to fix it. What do you have to loose?


I forgot to let you guys know the Q9400, and XFX nForce mobo are still functional. The only issue I was running into was instability with the previous DDR2-1066 @ 1000MHz. Tried removing two sticks, was a bit more stable but not 100%.

Not sure what the shorted PCB that scorched the top layer, and caused a bump has to do with memory. The damage is near the CPU socket.





What happened with photos, and what I was doing.








						TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club
					






					www.techpowerup.com
				











						TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club
					

Also the fact that you can't play NES with gun on flat screen tv.  Which is very sad, Duck Hunt is one of my favs... I was really good at it too.




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 24, 2020)

Love those X800 series pics above and the Audigy2 ZS.  Still using mine since...





Oh boy, Phenom II was a bottleneck even for GTX 470  It's an unlocked X2 555BE, I need to test out the stability and try some more OC. Cinebench at least ran @ 4GHz.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 25, 2020)

I found out the culprit why I get sound looping and skipping and some game like Doom3 totally unplayable because it will hard lock in a few minutes, its the PAE patch to use more than 4GB of RAM is causing it. Since I'm only playing older titles (early 2000 games) I don't need that much memory in the first place. Overall I'm happy with this system. Playing games in its native environment with period correct GPU & significantly reduced CPU bottleneck is fun! Can't believe X800 was able to handle most games at 1080p. Doom3 is the limit where it gets quite choppy during combat at 1280x1024 high setting.

Tested 3DMark03 last night this is what I got. I'm using single core and set at 4.5GHz


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 25, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Tested 3DMark03 last night this is what I got. I'm using single core and set at 4.5GHz
> 
> View attachment 160112


Overclock that card and you'd be in the 18-19K range.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 25, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Overclock that card and you'd be in the 18-19K range.


As much as I like doing that, I prefer not to. It reaches high 70s up to 80C so I won't be doing any overclocking. I put extra 70mm fan blowing behind the card to cool down the card a bit.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 25, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> As much as I like doing that, I prefer not to. It reaches high 70s up to 80C so I won't be doing any overclocking. I put extra 70mm fan blowing behind the card to cool down the card a bit.


Have you changed the thermal paste? 

E: Also, there's no voltage control on X800/X850 cards IIRC so overclocking won't heat it much more than what it warms up at stock.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 25, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Have you changed the thermal paste?
> 
> E: Also, there's no voltage control on X800/X850 cards IIRC so overclocking won't heat it much more than what it warms up at stock.


Yes, thats the first thing I did. You know what, the stock paste is still alright and barely any difference from new paste. Only better idle. I use Kryonaut. Later I clean the dust on the fan. I ramp up the fan speed slightly when gaming. Yeah there is no soft voltage control, I'll try overclocking when I got time 

OK the card ia now dead. The next guy who suggest me to overclock old hardware again will need to pay for it if its dead


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 25, 2020)

New picks:




Palit GTX 570




Asus GTX 680 ref with a modified cooler from some other card



edit: probably get my GTX 950 tomorrow


----------



## Caring1 (Jun 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> View attachment 160210
> Asus GTX 680 ref with a modified cooler from some other card


1060 Dual


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2020)

Ok folks, for those of us who began computing before PC's, this will hit the nostalgia bone;


----------



## Splinterdog (Jun 26, 2020)

My *Leadtek WinFast A400GT TDH Geforce 6800GT* I bought in 2004 which still gives VGA output but sadly no more 3D.
I remember being so hyped for buying this card and at the time it was huge! Almost as long as its title.


----------



## Radical Vision (Jun 27, 2020)

Got new stuff, the ABIT boards are both pulled from working computers, and they are in factory/ mint condition, meaning i will just keep them, as i normally just dont sell stuff that are mint... 
Extra Athlon64 x2 4200+ 939, dont see much dual core 939 CPUs localy, and AMD K6-II 500.. And ofc some crappy brand (Fountain Technologies 139D-2) GEforce 256, as i have Creative one, will sell this to return money from all these...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 27, 2020)

Splinterdog said:


> My *Leadtek WinFast A400GT TDH Geforce 6800GT* I bought in 2004 which still gives VGA output but sadly no more 3D.
> I remember being so hyped for buying this card and at the time it was huge! Almost as long as its title.
> View attachment 160285
> 
> View attachment 160286


6800 GT was a BEAST back then...  actually I've never owned one...

e: I had an Ultra and I fucking hate myself because I sold it...


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 27, 2020)

Im truly devastated by the premature death of my X800XT. I disassemble the card, nothing is burned, nothing looks out of place. The card just dead after I put XT-PE core clock on it and just blck screen on 3Dmark03 

Im going to stop coming here for a while because it keep reminding about the card. I dont even finish any of those games I wanted to do with the card. Im both pissed and sad at the same time.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 27, 2020)

You could try oven-o-therapy...


----------



## Splinterdog (Jun 27, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> You could try oven-o-therapy...


I considered that for my 6800GT but chickened out at the last moment because I didn't know how to get all the plastic off the main board.
Would that solve the no 3D output issue, or isn't it even worth bothering?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 27, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> You could try oven-o-therapy...


Since I got nothing to lose I'll try. Problem is there is way too many guide with different range of temperature and time so I just use what the top of Google search suggest (190C for 10 minutes)


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 27, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Im truly devastated by the premature death of my X800XT. I disassemble the card, nothing is burned, nothing looks out of place. The card just dead after I put XT-PE core clock on it and just blck screen on 3Dmark03
> 
> Im going to stop coming here for a while because it keep reminding about the card. I dont even finish any of those games I wanted to do with the card. Im both pissed and sad at the same time.


To be honest, my X800 Pro AGP also died without warning. It was running stock since I ran it with an Athlon 1GHz. It just died and now I get just artifacts :/


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jun 27, 2020)

Too bad oven trick didn't work. Uurgh...I just wish someone make Truform wrapper/emulator like nGlide. Don't know who to contact. Game with Truform did make a difference, just like game with EAX just doesn't sound the same without.


----------



## Robert B (Jun 27, 2020)

Flea market stuff 2day. 

1. *Spire* FalconRock II
2. *Spire* CopperKing II *** New 
3. AMD *Athlon XP* 2200+ 1.8GHz/266 - Thorton core -  AXDC2200DUV3C


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 27, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> search suggest (190C for 10 minutes)


That temp range was wrong, you didn't get it hot enough to melt the solder to the point of free flow, which is what is needed. Proper range for the solder type ATI used requires and oven to be set for 230C for 6.5 minutes. A hot air gun will work too but you have to set the blowing temp to 400C to transfer enough heat energy(this is the way I prefer to do it as I can actually watch the chip to make sure the solder melts and the chip floats freely on the solder). Did you make sure to use lots of solder flux injected under the gpu so the solder will have the proper surface tension? You'll need to find something like the following locally;








						30ml Kester (1oz.) 186-18 Liq. Soldering Rosin Flux Needle Tip Bottle No Clean  667952965018 | eBay
					

We use this flux for EVERYTHING! It's simply the best flux for prototype, production, and re-work. The flux residue after soldering is non-corrosive and non-conductive - no cleanup necessary! The handy bottle dispenser utilizes a stainless steel needle tip for accurate flux dispensing.



					www.ebay.com
				



I've done many reflow jobs on NVidia laptop GPU's, PS3s and XBox360s. It takes patience but most of the time it works.



Splinterdog said:


> I considered that for my 6800GT but chickened out at the last moment because I didn't know how to get all the plastic off the main board.


The plastics that are non-removable are fine and will not be affected by a heat-gun or oven. If you think about it, they would have gone through at least one oven cycle in the factory.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 28, 2020)

Put this VCore to a modern CPU... (dunno about that TDP, probably since it's an unlocked CPU?)







Robert B said:


> Flea market stuff 2day.
> 
> 1. *Spire* FalconRock II
> 2. *Spire* CopperKing II *** New
> 3. AMD *Athlon XP* 2200+ 1.8GHz/266 - Thorton core -  AXDC2200DUV3C


Thorton AKA Barton-256  love your finds always! ^^


----------



## The Foldinator (Jun 28, 2020)

Does this count ? or isn't it _clear _enough ?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 28, 2020)

The Foldinator said:


> Does this count ? or isn't it _clear _enough ?


Damn I wanted that case (or a similar one) as a teen 

...the possible amount of fingerprints though.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 28, 2020)

It's not the fingerprints, it's the dust collected by static. It never ends.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 28, 2020)

The Foldinator said:


> Does this count ? or isn't it _clear _enough ?


Count it! I wanted one of those, I had to settle for something else, which actually worked out well.



Mr.Scott said:


> It's not the fingerprints, it's the dust collected by static. It never ends.


That was easily solved. Fabric softener in a spray bottle. Spray it on all the parts, wipe them down, then spray and wipe a second time. Static is done for at least a year.
EDIT; Left out a key part of the process, cotton cloth! You have to use cotton cloth to avoid polymeric electrostatic reactions.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 30, 2020)

Have acquired these goodies over the span of a few weeks 

Packard Bell Easynote MB65, ATI Rage Pro Turbo All-In-Wonder and a Powercolor Voodoo II 8MB.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 30, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Packard Bell Easynote MB65


What are the specs besides the dedicated Nvidia GPU?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 1, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> What are the specs besides the dedicated Nvidia GPU?


Core 2 Duo T6600 in my case, 4GB DDR2-800, Windows 7 on a 320GB HDD. Originally had a T5250 I think, 2GB DDR2 and a 160GB HDD. Oh, and the GPU is a Geforce 8400M G to be exact.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jul 2, 2020)

I always wanted one of the DFI Lanparty boards in my collection, but they are usually overpriced due to collectors grabbing them where they can. If an offer pops up it gets sniped within an hour typically. 

When I found a DK P45-T2RS Plus for a decent price in working condition I instantly went for it. But... the price might have been so low because the seller knew this board was sketchy. 

First start up and it stuck at code 88. Not a good sign. Tried different CPUs, RAM and GPU. Even no GPU, no RAM but still instant 88 and stuck.

Grabbed my SPI flasher and read the bios:




Turns out it was definitly corrupted, single bits were corrupted all over the usually empty blocks. The battery was at 0.2V too :/
How can you sell this as working?

Now trying to find the latest bios for this board was slightly more difficult compared to other vendors but I found it. Flashed it and tried my luck again. 

This time I got to C1, RAM init. Instantly stuck again tho... I tried a few tricks that I read about these boards like trying to post with no RAM, force shut-off, plug in RAM in slot 2 and try again. That got me all the way to codes 25/26/27 but on each of those it halts and reboots, getting finally stuck in a loop at code 27. 
According to the manual this is PCIe / Display adapter startup so I tried both PCIe slots and a different GPU (even tho I know this 9600GT is working) with no luck. 

So I decided I'll try a CMOS reset. Cut power at the PSU, removed the battery and set the clear CMOS jumper. Reversed everything and tried again: Now there is no power. The standby-LED lights up, but not the RAM-LED and pressing the power botton or shorting the power pins did absolutly nothing. It was completly dead.

Once again I cut power, this time removed every component and cable from the board, set the reset CMOS jumper one more time and kept it there for a whole minute. Now it does power-on again, the RAM-LED is on again but I'm stuck in the same 25 -> 26 -> 27 boot-loop...

I heard stories about these DFI boards being tricky, but never thought a physical piece of hardware based on defined states could behave so erratic.

Anyone here ever had one of these boards and might now another thing to try, except grabbing the hammer?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 3, 2020)

Have had one (though working). It's absurdly picky with RAM. I've had random crashes with Corsair XMS2 RAM which tested good on other boards (ASUS, ABIT, Gigabyte).

The only stuff it ever POST'd with from first try was usually those craptacular DDR2-667 modules (Kingmax, Sycron and such). If you have such kind of DDR2 sticks, try them.

As for GPU, any of these should work for testing:
-7300LE
-Radeon X600
-8400GS (both cores work - G86 and G98 based cards work)
-9500GT (G96)
-Radeon R7 240 DDR3


----------



## Dinnercore (Jul 3, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Have had one (though working). It's absurdly picky with RAM. I've had random crashes with Corsair XMS2 RAM which tested good on other boards (ASUS, ABIT, Gigabyte).
> 
> The only stuff it ever POST'd with from first try was usually those craptacular DDR2-667 modules (Kingmax, Sycron and such). If you have such kind of DDR2 sticks, try them.
> 
> ...


Thank you, I tried around some more and got it working with a different CPU and RAM. It liked my dual-sided Crucial Tracer and I had to change the CPU from an E8400 to an E8600. It does not run with my E8400 and I have no idea why. I switched back and forth and it's definitly the CPU it hates.
It also does not like lower FSB CPUs like E2XXX, I guess I'd have to try setting it up manually with the jumpers. 








Probably needed the extra lights on the RAM, lanparty boards need to be dressed in a flashy manner or they won't cooperate 

The flash was successful.




Now I need UV lights.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 3, 2020)

Glad to hear. Mine worked for at least 2 years with mixed modules after the first successful POST - 3x Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2-800 + ADATA DDR2-800 2GB (the ADATA stick had the same specs as the Corsair sticks, much to my amazement) with random crashes occasionally.

I finally sold it when I upgraded it to the now current i5-3470 + 16GB DDR3.  It had a Xeon X5450 and a huge ass Cooler Master HSF.

I also have another board that is as picky,  but is a beautiful gem once it works right - ABIT IP35 Pro. I am currently undecided between a Q9400 build with this or a humble HTPC with a i3 550 + H55M-S2V.

You could try a X5450 assuming you can find a modded BIOS for it. I'm pretty sure it should work as that's what I used for quite a long time before I got this i5.


----------



## Bungz (Jul 3, 2020)

Hey guys

Since intel took their entire bios library offline I have come unstuck trying to find a bios for a board.

D815EEA, I need the P10 bios.

Quite a common board but I cannot find it online now, prob due to always being on intels support page. Still cannot get my head around how they scrubbed all their support from the web.

Don't suppose anyone had a achieve of it?

**Found them all on archive.org some absolute star has uploaded everything.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 3, 2020)

Bungz said:


> Hey guys
> 
> Since intel took their entire bios library offline I have come unstuck trying to find a bios for a board.
> 
> ...


----------



## Bungz (Jul 3, 2020)

Ah that's super as well.

Many thanks


----------



## jlewis02 (Jul 4, 2020)

This count?
Msi r9 290x lightning.


----------



## milewski1015 (Jul 4, 2020)

Definitely not as old as some of of the other hardware in this thread, but considering I didn't get into PC hardware until 2018, this stuff's old to me.

Asus Rampage III Formula with an i7-950





EVGA E-GeForce 8800GT




Now I've just gotta scrounge up some RAM and a monitor with DVI-I. Any suggestions on what to do with this stuff?


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 4, 2020)

milewski1015 said:


> Any suggestions on what to do with this stuff?


You could try doing a retro build around that time frame the components were new.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 4, 2020)

milewski1015 said:


> Any suggestions on what to do with this stuff?


You could put in a GTX770, 3x1GB DDR3-1600 and make a very nice RetroWinXP system with it.


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 4, 2020)

milewski1015 said:


> Definitely not as old as some of of the other hardware in this thread, but considering I didn't get into PC hardware until 2018, this stuff's old to me.
> 
> Asus Rampage III Formula with an i7-950
> View attachment 161081
> ...


 i miss where the card just taking single slot, yeah those days are gone


----------



## hat (Jul 4, 2020)

@milewski1015 Ever feel like you need a server for anything? That board is probably compatible with the 6 core Xeons, which can be found for peanuts. It would be easy to load up with 12 or even 24GB RAM. It could be used as a media server (think Plex or something), or a secondary "beast of burden" streaming computer, if you're into streaming on Twitch or something. If you got storage needs, set up a nice RAID array, and you have a NAS, too. Got a basement or decent garage and some expendable cash? Stick it in a 4U server case with Delta fans, huge PSU and stuff it full of graphics cards. Perhaps you could mine crypto with it (don't expect to make money any time soon, but it would be a fun hobby, I'd do it if I won the Mega Millions or something), or crank out some serious work with F@H. 

If you're not into any of that, Lex's suggestion for turning it into a retro XP rig also makes sense. That hardware will still work okay with XP32, and some oldies don't work great with newer hardware/software. However, that CPU and GPU are probably powerful enough to handle some PS2 emulation.

If you're not into that either... I dunno? Maybe play around with using it as a router or something, and if you like what it can do, think about getting something more efficient for that task. Although, many router systems also have plenty of other functionality, like NAS.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 4, 2020)

hat said:


> However, that CPU and GPU are probably powerful enough to handle some PS2 emulation.


Easily! Wii/WiiU/Dreamcast emu too.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 5, 2020)

After the X800 premature death twice I'm no longer wanted to buy that high end card anymore, I'm buying X700 off eBay. Hopefully a midrange card with simpler PCB won't have any sudden death. It only have half the pixel and ROP units but the same 6 vertex units so hoping it'll do well with Truform.


----------



## phill (Jul 7, 2020)

I've put this up in a few threads, but I think it's worthy of it here more so...

     

I hope this is a good place for this   All 8 boards now...  I have a serious issue and problem!!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 7, 2020)

Cool board phill! I still have Crosshair II Formula, but no CPU. I have A64 x2 3800+ but it wont boot with two board so I suspect its dead.


----------



## phill (Jul 7, 2020)

Thanks guys  I've got a few CPUs for the AMD range of 939 but I do think I'm missing a few 754's and such but I don't believe I have the boards for them anymore..  I really hope this one works but I have another Crosshair which I know works, its just got no box or anything   But hey 

The AMD X2 CPUs aren't that expensive to be honest, you can pick them up for ten a penny so to speak I think?...  Knowing my luck, I'm completely wrong.....


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 7, 2020)

Some vintage stuff.

The PCChips M577 board, the Sound Blaster 16 PCI (Ensoniq) and the Caviar 2850 are recent purchases. Sadly the M577 had missing components (2 coils, lots of caps, AT power header, LPT, floppy headers, RTC holder, and one diode was desoldered) and although I placed most of them back, I couldn't get it to POST regardless of CPU.

The Texas Instruments board boots just fine but stops because it has had corrosion on the keyboard traces. I rebuilt most of the traces for the KB on the back of the board but so far I haven't got the KB working. If anyone has any ideas what should I do to get the KB working, let me know so I can post some better pictures of it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Some vintage stuff.
> 
> The PCChips M577 board, the Sound Blaster 16 PCI (Ensoniq) and the Caviar 2850 are recent purchases. Sadly the M577 had missing components (2 coils, lots of caps, AT power header, LPT, floppy headers, RTC holder, and one diode was desoldered) and although I placed most of them back, I couldn't get it to POST regardless of CPU.
> 
> ...


Wow does that take me back...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 7, 2020)

...aaand another goodie.

Acorp 5VIA77 with the PCChips M577 BIOS. POSTs fine, just need to flash the PM9900 128GB BIOS and I should be set.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> ...aaand another goodie.
> 
> Acorp 5VIA77 with the PCChips M577 BIOS. POSTs fine, just need to flash the PM9900 128GB BIOS and I should be set.
> 
> ...


That ATI Rage AIW was such a solid card for it's day. I always glued on a heatsink to the GPU as they can run hot, but I'm paranoid about heat like that.


----------



## Artex (Jul 8, 2020)

*Gravis Ultra Sound Extreme - Synegy ViperMAX GUS32SB Rev. 3.0 1MB ISA (Boxed) (1995)*












*Cyrix 5x86 133-4X (Evergreen 486 to 586 CPU Update) (Sept, 1996)*
























*Creative CT1900 - Creative Wave Blaster (I) (Boxed) (1994)*


















*3DFX Voodoo - Gainward CardExpert Dragon 1000 4MB PCI (NOS) (1996)*












*3DFX Voodoo - TechWorks Power3D 4MB PCI (Boxed) (1996)*











A few more for fun... 














*3DFX Voodoo2 - Quantum3D Obsidian2 S-12 12MB PCI (Boxed) (1998)*














*3DFX Voodoo2 - Quantum3D Obsidian2 200SBi 24MB PCI (1998)*












*3DFX Voodoo2 (x2) - Quantum3D Obsidian2 X-24 24MB PCI  (Boxed) (1998)



*


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 8, 2020)

Artex said:


>


This was a gamers wet dream, BITD.


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 9, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> This was a gamers wet dream, BITD.


I never bought any of the Voodoo 2 cards. Instead I went from a Vodoo to a  Diamond V770 TNT 2 Ultra.


----------



## Artex (Jul 9, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I never bought any of the Voodoo 2 cards. Instead I went from a Vodoo to a  Diamond V770 TNT 2 Ultra.


That's a pretty big jump!


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 9, 2020)

Artex said:


> That's a pretty big jump!


Moved from the TNT2 Ultra to the Hercules GeForce 2 GTS. First one I tried to modify the heat sink but instead ended up ruining the GPU. So I bought another because it was a nice card just I wanted more through Overclocking the GPU.

Actually what happened is Cirrus Logic Laguna 5466? was replaced with a Voodoo Rush but I didn’t care for the Voodoo Rush and instead replaced it with a Voodoo card. Put the Cirrus Logic  card back in for 2D.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 9, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Hercules GeForce 2 GTS


32MB or 64MB version? I had a 32MB version but when I saw the performance of the Radeon, I switched over to an AIW card and gave the GF2 to my wife.


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 9, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> 32MB or 64MB version?


I think it was the 64MB. A bit overkill for a AMD K6-III CPU at 450 MHz.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 9, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I think it was the 64MB.


Nice. That was the better version as it had the DDR ram instead of SDRAM. Gave it a serious boost.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 9, 2020)

I'm pretty sure all GF2 GTS cards have DDR memory.
GF256 had SDR and DDR versions (at the same capacity).


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 9, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> I'm pretty sure all GF2 GTS cards have DDR memory.
> GF256 had SDR and DDR versions (at the same capacity).


The only cards with SDR in the GPU family was the GeForce2 MX/MX200, and the MX400 was SDR or DDR.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 9, 2020)

I'm fairly certain that my 32MB GF2GTS was an SDR version. Not 100% though..


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 9, 2020)

Maybe it was S*G*R ?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 9, 2020)

The disco-V3 3000 build 























Specs:

Soyo 6BA+IV
320MB RAM
Seagate ST310211A as main drive
Maxtor Fireball 3 2F040J0 for Games drive
Western Digital WD400BB-60DGA0 for misc stuff (patches, etc.)
ASUS DRW-1814BL DVDRW
P&O LC-B400ATX PSU (recapped)
Voodoo 3 3000 16MB TV-in AGP2x
Realtek RTL8139D NIC
NEC USB card
SoundBlaster 16 Value ISA CT2770
Windows ME 4.90.3000


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 9, 2020)

Oh does that take me back. Bump that P3-650 to 866mhz. Change the FSB from 100 to 133mhz. You might need to bump the CPU voltage up one step, maybe two. Those P3-650s were near flawless overclockers. Yes yes.

EDIT;
Just looked up the specs for that board in an old review to remind myself and it will do a 133mhz FSB and light voltage bumps. OCing that P3-650 should be near effortless and will not do any harm to it or the board.





						Soyo SY-6BA+IV Slot-1 i440BX ATX
					






					www.anandtech.com
				











						Soyo's SY6BA+IV
					

The Soyo's SY-6BA+IV  The immortal motherboard! You know this 6BA+ name thing is getting to be like a movie seqoul for Soyo! Just




					hothardware.com


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 9, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh does that take me back. Bump that P3-650 to 866mhz. Change the FSB from 100 to 133mhz. You might need to bump the CPU voltage up one step, maybe two. Those P3-650s were near flawless overclockers. Yes yes.
> 
> EDIT;
> Just looked up the specs for that board in an old review to remind myself and it will do a 133mhz FSB and light voltage bumps. OCing that P3-650 should be near effortless and will not do any harm to it or the board.
> ...


Prolly takes higher? Do note it's not a slotket btw, it's a SL3KV part 

I'm expecting 933 or even 1GHz by the looks of it, especially since I recapped the board with japanese caps for most part. Thanks for the links!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 10, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Prolly takes higher? Do note it's not a slotket btw, it's a SL3KV part
> 
> I'm expecting 933 or even 1GHz by the looks of it, especially since I recapped the board with japanese caps for most part. Thanks for the links!


Possible! The most I got, IIRC, was 936(6.5x144). Then again, I never wanted to push the voltage too high so I was happy with 6.5x134 which just required one step up in voltage. Such a kick ass CPU.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2020)

Still seems to be stable in 24/7 usage. Just terrible vdroop, I put 1.6V(!!!!) on bios... Remember, this is a X2 555 BE.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 11, 2020)

Nice. What's the OC on 2 cores?
My 565 BE will do 4.6 on 2 cores. Sadly, #3 core is dead so it only unlocks to a tri core.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice. What's the OC on 2 cores?
> My 565 BE will do 4.6 on 2 cores. Sadly, #3 core is dead so it only unlocks to a tri core.


I posted some cinebench results at 4.2 on dualcore some time ago here.. custom loop cooling and a fan blowing to the VRM; otherwise it would throttle and in 2020 a Phenom II at 800MHz isn't very fast 

I still need to try if this will OC more, when I have the real stability issues, then I know that I've hit the maximum wall.


----------



## madness777 (Jul 11, 2020)

Only dreamed about it for 10 years to finally get to hold it!












Guess it was never washed


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2020)

1.62375V on bios, hella Vdroop!


----------



## droopyRO (Jul 11, 2020)

madness777 said:


> Guess it was never washed


What is that sticker covering ?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 11, 2020)

Looks like a warning buzzer/speaker.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 11, 2020)

New HW FOUND!  A bent cap has been replaced. Some pins from the memory slots have been straightened and that was about it.

The FIC PA-2005 is a well built mobo.  The Titan cooler is very well put together and the fan is still okay.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jul 12, 2020)

I took the EP45-Extreme for a spin on dry ice today and found out to my surprise that the build-in temp sensors do work below 0°C. Thumbs up to whoever decided to include the negative range in bios.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 12, 2020)

Asus GF 6800 AGP series had similar thing, a beeper which was covered. Damn it truly reminded if you forgot the molex plug to the card..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Asus GF 6800 AGP series had similar thing, a beeper which was covered. Damn it truly reminded if you forgot the molex plug to the card..


The purpose of those buzzers is to alert the user when the system is started without the supplemental power connector plugged in to the card.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 12, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> The purpose of those buzzers is to alert the user when the system is started without the supplemental power connector plugged in to the card.


I know... and I heard it... 

Radeon 9500/9700 just said "put the fucking cable to the card u idiot" as an error message but DAMN those 6800 cards screamed.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> but DAMN those 6800 cards screamed.


That about sums it up.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 12, 2020)

Phenomenal 8)


----------



## Robert B (Jul 12, 2020)

Not quite nostalgic but I had to save these from the crusher.  Flea market loot. I took them from discarded motherboards. All were dirt cheap.

1. *Athlon 64 x2 3800+* * ADO3800IAA5CU * http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 X2 3800+ - ADO3800IAA5CU (ADO3800CUBOX).html
2. *Athlon 64 x2 4800+* * ADO4800IAA5DO * http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 X2 4800+ - ADO4800IAA5DO (ADO4800DOBOX).html
3. *Phenom II X6 1045T* * HDT45TWFK6DGR * http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom II X6 1045T - HDT45TWFK6DGR.html


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 18, 2020)

Damn ebay Global Shipping Program is so slow, it took a week for them to process the card. Only today it have any updates after it arrived at the center. God knows how long the customs documentation and labelling will took.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 18, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Damn ebay Global Shipping Program is so slow, it took a week for them to process the card. Only today it have any updates after it arrived at the center. God knows how long the customs documentation and labelling will took.


While this is true, and it's irritating, look on the bright side: You can actually make that order happen whereas just a few years ago it would have been unheard of and not possible. I would submit that it's worth the wait, but I do feel your pain about waiting..


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 18, 2020)

Do they open the packages? DankPods on youtube had several iPod boxes which even had cuts on them..



edit: bought a GF3 Ti 200!!!!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 19, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Do they open the packages? DankPods on youtube had several iPod boxes which even had cuts on them..


From what I read they do open and repackaged on smaller box/parcel. So I quite worried. Hopefully everything turns out fine


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 19, 2020)

I just can't wait for my GF3...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 21, 2020)

Another goodie





Specs:

JNC DT-807 case (modified as you can see)
HKC SZ-430 PSU
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Epox EP-8RDA6+ Pro
3GB DDR400
3 HDDs - 160GB SATA + 2x80GB IDE (had none)
Gecube Radeon 9550 128M (had some cheap ASUS 9250 128M)
SoundBlaster Audigy SE (does have a ALC850 chipset onboard but I prefer a SB over AC97)
InnoDV SmartTV SAA7130HL
NEC DVDRW
XP Pro SP3


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 21, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Another goodie
> View attachment 162839
> 
> Specs:
> ...


Heey, isn't that the "9550 XT" which has a 9800XT/X800 style cooler?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 21, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Heey, isn't that the "9550 XT" which has a 9800XT/X800 style cooler?


I guess so. Haven't seen the 9800XT/X800 cooler, but I think Sapphire's X1650 had such a heatsink.

It's a placeholder card anyways, as I am planning to put a Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro in there, as soon as I can grt one of those big chinese HSF combos (which kinda copy Zalman's design)


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 21, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I guess so. Haven't seen the 9800XT/X800 cooler, but I think Sapphire's X1650 had such a heatsink.
> 
> It's a placeholder card anyways, as I am planning to put a Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro in there, as soon as I can grt one of those big chinese HSF combos (which kinda copy Zalman's design)


Radeon X800 looks like this:



Spoiler









And ah, a 9700 Pro. The most nostalgic card ever. 

e: I have a Zalman VF700-Cu which is going for my GF3 Ti 200 as I get it.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 21, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I just can't wait for my GF3...


You got your card yet? Ebay just updated my card already out of the Global Shipping Center and on its way. Perhaps another 7 more days, hopefully less.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 21, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> You got your card yet? Ebay just updated my card already out of the Global Shipping Center and on its way. Perhaps another 7 more days, hopefully less.


Probably tomorrow, the dude promised to ship it today.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 21, 2020)

Might as well post the 9700 Pro.




HSF comes from a 9600 I gutted (had too many missing components under the GPU chip) but again, not sure how good this cools the 9700 Pro, although the original HSF wasn't any bigger anyways.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 21, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Another goodie
> View attachment 162839
> 
> Specs:
> ...


I would replace that PSU very soon, just as a precaution!!


----------



## Caring1 (Jul 21, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Might as well post the 9700 Pro.
> View attachment 162858
> 
> HSF comes from a 9600 I gutted (had too many missing components under the GPU chip) but again, not sure how good this cools the 9700 Pro, although the original HSF wasn't any bigger anyways.


Matches the Motherboard now.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 21, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I would replace that PSU very soon, just as a precaution!!


It's been recapped and I made sure it has enough sillicon (as in rectifying diodes) to run an Athlon XP without dying.

The only alternatives are all Deer, with the exception of a 300W FSP that only has SATA chains and just 1 Molex (which is not enough)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 21, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> It's been recapped and I made sure it has enough sillicon (as in rectifying diodes) to run an Athlon XP without dying.


Very nice!!


MaxiPro800 said:


> The only alternatives are all Deer, with the exception of a 300W FSP that only has SATA chains and just 1 Molex (which is not enough)


Amazon and Ebay both would have solid choices to be had, if you needed them. Recently went looking and found quite a few good PSU's for older systems.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 21, 2020)

I received some free HW that has some problems. Two motherbaords and three graphic cards.

An *ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe* REV.1.02A that has problems with the PCI-E slots but works great with a PCI graphic card. RIP. It was embalmed and it is just a showpiece just like another *Abit KN8 Ultra*. Flaky 939 boards or it is just my luck ...

An *MSI P6N SLI Platinum* - MS-7350 VER:1.0  that is in great shape.

Three graphic cards that have various problems have proven to be alive and I will do everything in my power to repair them.

1. *XFX* PV-T70F-UDD7 GEFORCE *7800 GTX* 256MB DDR3 DUAL DVI PCI-E GRAPHICS CARD *** 600-10347-0002-300 Nvidia GeForce 7800 256MB PCI-E *** E-G012-05-3201
2. *Leadtek 7800 GTX* MyVIVO Extreme PCI-E 256MB *** 900-10347-0002-300 D
3. 600-10348-0023-401 *** 900-10348-0100-001 *** 180-10348-0000-A04 *** NVIDIA *Quadro FX 4500* PCI-E 512MB / *7900 GTX*

I also found a mighty *SX835* Pentium 60MHz sk 4. It has a shaved head but who cares!

And la piece de resistance! A great motherboard just like the one I used to have! The RAM was found by a twist of fate just when I found my "lost" Abit. 

I had to pay some $$$ for the kit bellow but I had to have it!

*Abit NF7-S v2.0* + *Athlon XP 2500* *AXDA2500DKV4D* + *Corsair Platinum DDR 400 CL2 - 2x512MB, CMX512-3200C2PT, XMS3200, XMS3202 v5.2.* *PROMOS 5ns Rev A*


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 21, 2020)

Probably the only thing you could try is a reflow at 350*C on the nForce 4 chipset, and see if PCI cards work. Those things run hotter than the sun. I'm surprised my ASUS K8N4-E still works, since it's nF4 as well. Did run actual Windows Vista builds (Longhorn build 4074 and 5048) pretty good.



lexluthermiester said:


> Amazon and Ebay both would have solid choices to be had, if you needed them. Recently went looking and found quite a few good PSU's for older systems.


Don't have access to either at this moment, so I gotta deal with local stuff. 
The FSP came from a 939 nForce 3 machine I parted out 2 years ago, and Deers usually came from P4 machines, though I had one actually come from a P3 machine. That, and usually Delux (local brand, uses YX-GP, Kissquiet and Sun Pro for their OEMs) for 775 stuff.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 21, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Don't have access to either at this moment, so I gotta deal with local stuff.


Ah, right, Romania.. Sorry.


----------



## Fouquin (Jul 21, 2020)

Three attempts to finally get a functional CFE. The fight with drivers to get 3D clocks to initialize for 3D loads will come later, for now I'm just happy to have a working combo.


----------



## madness777 (Jul 21, 2020)

My dad's old Apple Power Macintosh
These have been running for decades, some drives have north of 4000 days On time.
He was a heavy smoker


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 21, 2020)

madness777 said:


> My dad's old Apple Power Macintosh


What Power Macintosh model is it?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 21, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> What Power Macintosh model is it?


Nicotine 1


----------



## madness777 (Jul 21, 2020)

I'm unsure, didn't get to check. But you can see the board number in 1st pic


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 22, 2020)

A few ATi cards I've found around my apartment. All work.




ATi Rage Pro Turbo All-In-Wonder 8MB, AGP2x.



Gecube Radeon X1300 AGP8x, 256MB GDDR2



Sapphire Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB DDR2, AGP8x



ASUS AH3450 - Radeon HD3450 512MB GDDR2 AGP8x



ASUS EAH4850 - HD4850, 512MB DDR3, PCI-E


----------



## madness777 (Jul 23, 2020)

Got to refurbish an oldie today. Never disassembled with a layer of dust on the fins
Finally gets to have a breath of fresh air again!
And the phone camera went completely bonkers with the colors and white balance


----------



## biffzinker (Jul 23, 2020)

madness777 said:


> I'm unsure, didn't get to check. But you can see the board number in 1st pic


It's a Power Macintosh G3 Beige Tower. 








						Power Macintosh G3 - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## Caring1 (Jul 24, 2020)

madness777 said:


> View attachment 163231


What do the dip switches on the back do?


----------



## madness777 (Jul 24, 2020)

It's a ViBack/ViFront and PAL/NTSC DIP switch.
ViFRONT (Video In on the front) or ViBack (Video In on the back) controls which output will be active.
PAL NTSC forces the TV output mode


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 24, 2020)

Some HTPC building later today 





Also I'll put a Zalman VF700-Cu to the GF3 Ti 200


----------



## Robert B (Jul 25, 2020)

A minty fresh Zalman VF700-AlCu.


----------



## xkm1948 (Jul 25, 2020)

Robert B said:


> A minty fresh Zalman VF700-AlCu.



I had a set of those on my Radeon 9700. Makes the overclocking to 350MHz core much more stable.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 25, 2020)

Heh, the VF700Cu didn't fit on the GF3, I guess I should remove the ramsinks..



xkm1948 said:


> I had a set of those on my Radeon 9700. Makes the overclocking to 350MHz core much more stable.


My 9700 Pro OC'd past 9800 XT clocks back in the day with a Zalman cooler (and the shim removed)


----------



## xkm1948 (Jul 25, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Heh, the VF700Cu didn't fit on the GF3, I guess I should remove the ramsinks..
> 
> 
> My 9700 Pro OC'd past 9800 XT clocks back in the day with a Zalman cooler (and the shim removed)



Damn nice.

Sadly for me those ram heart sink fell off after about 2 years. My dad was using the computer at that time and has lots of blue screens due to the OC i applied without heatsink on ram


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 25, 2020)

xkm1948 said:


> Damn nice.
> 
> Sadly for me those ram heart sink fell off after about 2 years. My dad was using the computer at that time and has lots of blue screens due to the OC i applied without heatsink on ram


I ran my 9700 Pro without RAMsinks IIRC, the Zalman cooler kept the GPU side cool and I had a good airflow on the backside. 9700 Pro was a BEAST! ^^


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 26, 2020)

Fire Strike with Q9500/GTX 950, 6K is so close that I'll hit it!









						I scored 5 963 in Fire Strike
					

Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9500, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 x 1, 8192 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 27, 2020)

I just found out there is a local shop near me that sells Asrock 939Dual-SATA2. Very tempting....must....resist....need to buy new monitor first as my current one have two vertical lines


----------



## xrror (Jul 27, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> I just found out there is a local shop near me that sells Asrock 939Dual-SATA2.


(old geezer voice in rocking chair)
"Now there's a name I haven't heard in awhile..."
(grins wide)

Some good memories with that board 

EDIT ADD: (added last pic to show why the southbridge heatsink fins were bent the way they were)


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> I just found out there is a local shop near me that sells Asrock 939Dual-SATA2. Very tempting....must....resist....need to buy new monitor first as my current one have two vertical lines



*RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!*


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 28, 2020)

These came from the trash yesterday evening.





Conner CFA270A 270MB
Fujitsu M1606TAU 1GB
S3 ViRGE DX (Sparkle SP-325A)
3Com "Parallel Tasking II" 3C905B-TX.

Haven't fully tested them. Conner spins but I don't hear any seek test (may very well be the same issue as some older WDs I have - won't seek until you change the jumper to secondary or CS), the Fujitsu hesitates a bit but completes seek test successfuly (that, or that's its normal seek procedure, never had a Fujitsu or Conner drive so idk.)

The next thing I'd need is just a PCChips mobo (I know how to deal with these so that they work as I LIKE) and it would be just nice.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jul 28, 2020)

Expanding my DDR2 collection. Gonna compare these with some OEM micron sticks that carry the same ICs.


----------



## TheEndIsNear (Jul 28, 2020)

This probably doesn't go here but here is some pics of the mainframe I used to work on as a contractor plus some shrink wrapped copies of windows 2000 at work lol.


----------



## basco (Jul 29, 2020)

men those vitesta i loved. better then my yellow crucial





						CPU-Z Validator 3.1
					

CPU-Z Validation Checker (by canardpc.com)



					valid.x86.fr


----------



## Dinnercore (Jul 29, 2020)

basco said:


> men those vitesta i loved. better then my yellow crucial
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Do you remember what voltage you used for that speed? I have not tested the sticks above yet, but so far my best one is a G.Skill GBHZ that arrived broken and I torched it with 400°C hot air to revive it. 









						Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3114.31 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[ugy0cn] Validated Dump by Osmium-OC (2020-07-15 23:16:43) - MB: Gigabyte EP45-EXTREME - RAM: 1024 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				




It does the 692MHz @ 2.3V but my hot-air reflow was not a good fix as it still has trouble to boot at voltages below 2.1V


----------



## Retrorockit (Jul 29, 2020)

I've started something "oldish" in the Throttlestop overclocking forum. Too new for this thread. But It's OEM, Locked BIOS, BTX, overclocking. Dell XPS420. No photos yet. But if anyone is interested. Post#946








						Throttlestop overclocking Desktop PCs
					

Hey everyone, Sorry to intrude in the middle of any conversations that might be going on.  No worries at all!  I am new to the forum but not this page as I have read literally all 37 pages of this thread to help me with achieving the best performance out of my T3500.  Welcome to TPU, and we hope...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 29, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> but so far my best one is a G.Skill GBHZ that arrived broken and I torched it with 400°C hot air to revive it.
> 
> 
> It does the 692MHz @ 2.3V but my hot-air reflow was not a good fix as it still has trouble to boot at voltages below 2.1V


My HZ's are no better than yours.


----------



## basco (Jul 30, 2020)

i think up to 2,35 volt above that no gain without getting colder.
i had good luck with the first batch cellshocks 800c4 more then with the 1000mhz ones and the red ones i never had but just looked awesome.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 30, 2020)

As I waited for my X700 to arrive, I found a seller on local carousell selling NOS Powercolor X800! It only have 128MB RAM and 12 pixel pipes, but damn the card is virgin! The only thing that's missing is DVI to VGA adapter but I don't need that. The guy say he buy it as a backup card but never use it because he have another one



Just look at this, its brand new!


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 30, 2020)

X800 with 128MB GDDR? Definetly not an usual memory configuration.


----------



## basco (Jul 30, 2020)

always thought x800 has a 4 pin molex connector


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 30, 2020)

basco said:


> always thought x800 has a 4 pin molex connector


AGP ones do, PCIe versions had a 6pin PCIe connector. Didn't even realize that this card didn't have a connector at all. Though some lower end GF 6800 cards also didn't have a PCIe connector, probably they have TDP with in the PCIe 75W limit so the slot's power is enough.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> AGP ones do, PCIe versions had a 6pin PCIe connector. Didn't even realize that this card didn't have a connector at all. Though some lower end GF 6800 cards also didn't have a PCIe connector, probably they have TDP with in the PCIe 75W limit so the slot's power is enough.


the X850GT 256mb AGP i have has a molex, nonetheless it's one of my shame... that card has the selector for NTSC/PAL knocked off 



usually X800 non Pro or GT/GTO, probably following reference design, do not have any connector but sometime oddities, or rather AIB innovation, can happen (although all i could find of them, when i wanted to get one for my collection, were reference design compliant... thus i ended with a X850GT)
without
Standard:

SE:

with
Pro AGP:

XT AGP:



now i just noticed that my Xpertvision X1950GT Super AGP8X 512mb DDR3 has a 6pin and the HIS X1600Pro IceQ AGP 512mb DDR2, which was my first "performance" card after a long time with some SIS 6326, GF 2MX and co, has a 4 pin Floppy


mmhhhhh SIS 6326 .... nostalgia ... i need to find one sooner or later ...

it was a p.o.s but it was all i could afford in 1997 ...


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 30, 2020)

basco said:


> always thought x800 has a 4 pin molex connector


This one is based on 110nm instead of 130nm, and IIRC the 12 pixel pipeline is the maximum the card have (can't unlock anymore pipes) and was meant to fight midrange cards like 6600GT because ATi can't get decent yield from X700 die to make X700XT


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 30, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> This one is based on 110nm instead of 130nm, and IIRC the 12 pixel pipeline is the maximum the card have (can't unlock anymore pipes) and was meant to fight midrange cards like 6600GT because ATi can't get decent yield from X700 die to make X700XT


110nm R430 was used also in X800 XL which has 16 pipelines


----------



## hat (Jul 30, 2020)

Back then even the high end cards only needed 4 pin Molex, or 6 pin PCI-E. Now we have dual 8 pin PCI-E connectors, or worse, a new 12 pin connector? Sad really...


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jul 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> 110nm R430 was used also in X800 XL which has 16 pipelines


Yeah I guess I was wrong, hopefully I can unlock this bad boys. But that have to wait for two weeks since I'm on holiday


----------



## madness777 (Jul 31, 2020)

Q6600
OCZ Platinum Edition XTC 2x1GB 800MHz CL4-5-4-15


----------



## basco (Jul 31, 2020)

looks like brand new!
sli switch card-lol-times have changed


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 31, 2020)

Now that gives hella lot flashbacks, I had a P6N SLI Platinum with an E6400 back in the day. OC'd pretty fine for a nForce 650i SLI board.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 1, 2020)

madness777 said:


> Q6600
> OCZ Platinum Edition XTC 2x1GB 800MHz CL4-5-4-15


All that needs is a chipset heatsink and it looks good-to-go!


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 1, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> All that needs is a chipset heatsink and it looks good-to-go!


Weird how it doesn't have a VRM heatsink, the Platinum one has:


----------



## madness777 (Aug 1, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> All that needs is a chipset heatsink and it looks good-to-go!


Deliberately took the picture without it, I prefer looking at the flesh. Otherwise it has one of course, 650i is stupid hot even with the hs on


----------



## Robert B (Aug 1, 2020)

Today at the flea market, I found an *ASUS P5K/EPU* motherboard with a E2200 CPU(meh CPU but good as a pin protector ) and a DeepCool cooler (cheap but I think a little better than the stock cooler). I paid around 7 EUROS for the kit as it looked minty fresh. 

When I got home I checked the motherboard again and I saw that something wasn't. A light brown color was visible in the WINBOND chip area, bottom left corner. On close inspection I saw that a transistor was looking kind of bad and the top cover vanished in thin air when I touched it with my hand. I didn't power up the board yet. The board looks great besides this problem and there is a great chance that it is still okay.

*If someone has this motherboard I need some help identifying that transistor. Ideally I would need a clear picture or what are the markings on the transistor. I might save this board.  The missing transistor has a SOT-23 package.

Thanks in advance!*


----------



## Dinnercore (Aug 1, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Today at the flea market, I found an *ASUS P5K/EPU* motherboard with a E2200 CPU(meh CPU but good as a pin protector ) and a DeepCool cooler (cheap but I think a little better than the stock cooler). I paid around 7 EUROS for the kit as it looked minty fresh.
> 
> When I got home I checked the motherboard again and I saw that something wasn't. A light brown color was visible in the WINBOND chip area, bottom left corner. On close inspection I saw that a transistor was looking kind of bad and the top cover vanished in thin air when I touched it with my hand. I didn't power up the board yet. The board looks great besides this problem and there is a great chance that it is still okay.
> 
> ...



That is a really small one. I checked my P5 boards but I don't have a P5K/EPU and all of my boards are a different layout in that area. 

You can try the same type as the two further low and to the right. They have the same package and knowing manufacturers they like to use the same part everywhere plausible. I'd try that as a last resort if no one shows up to give you a pic of the part.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 1, 2020)

By deduction I also came to the conclusion that it might be a A1P transistor like the other two around the ALC883 chip but ideally I would need a confirmation. If this will not be possible I'll solder a A1P transistor or an equivalent and if the sound works then I'll consider the motherboard fixed.

Thanks for the advice Dinnercore. I couldn't leave the motherboard to rot at the flea market and now I have a project on my hands.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 1, 2020)

Robert B said:


> When I got home I checked the motherboard again and I saw that something wasn't. A light brown color was visible in the WINBOND chip area, bottom left corner. On close inspection I saw that a transistor was looking kind of bad and the top cover vanished in thin air when I touched it with my hand. I didn't power up the board yet. The board looks great besides this problem and there is a great chance that it is still okay.


That missing transistor is like the others around it, an A1P. If you can find a supplier(or have spares) then you are good to go. However, that part serves the built-on audio. If you disable it in the BIOS and use a sound card, you'll be fine. As a precaution, I would take a soldering iron and clean off those pad contacts to remove any of the broken part.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 1, 2020)

Hi,
Doubt it's nostalgic but it's pushing 11 years old and still alive 
2009 Acer Aspire AX3800 with WG43M mother board and came with E5200 dual core upgraded to Q9550 core 2 quad and 2x4gb crucial memory came with Vista
Was my first jump into modifying and upgrading first was transplanting into a D450 case for a real gpu yes a evga 980 hybird lol worked well 

For the lack of another gpu for x99 rig to be used woke this old thing up from hibernation and added it to my entertainment center on my new China clone hwbot test bench
Works pretty good still win-7 fired right up off an old system image and updated too 
Win-10 has been on this machine but I haven't reinstalled it yet probably will self activate


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 1, 2020)

I've got a few pics. up of the XPS 420 4.32GHz project in the Throttlestop Overclocking thread.
Some CPUZ shots also. post#947 there.








						Throttlestop overclocking Desktop PCs
					

Hey everyone, Sorry to intrude in the middle of any conversations that might be going on.  No worries at all!  I am new to the forum but not this page as I have read literally all 37 pages of this thread to help me with achieving the best performance out of my T3500.  Welcome to TPU, and we hope...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## phill (Aug 1, 2020)

Robert B said:


> I received some free HW that has some problems. Two motherbaords and three graphic cards.
> 
> An *ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe* REV.1.02A that has problems with the PCI-E slots but works great with a PCI graphic card. RIP. It was embalmed and it is just a showpiece just like another *Abit KN8 Ultra*. Flaky 939 boards or it is just my luck ...
> 
> ...


I love seeing your posts @Robert B and I see you've found an NF7-S!!  Oh I hope it's working like a dream!!    Plus with that legionary XP 2500....  I thought it might have been the mobile version??....

Such love in this thread, I love looking through here, it's amazing


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 2, 2020)

phill said:


> I love seeing your posts @Robert B and I see you've found an NF7-S!! Oh I hope it's working like a dream!!   Plus with that legionary XP 2500.... I thought it might have been the mobile version??....




I actually have an NF7-S sporting a 2500 mobile chip. Picked it up from an awesome member here on TPU a few years ago. Kind of thinking of parting with that combo. Hard to make a decision though on selling LOL


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 2, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Kind of thinking of parting with that combo. Hard to make a decision though on selling LOL


Unless you plan on using it sometime in the future or are a hardware collector there’s not much point to hanging on to it.


----------



## phill (Aug 2, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> I actually have an NF7-S sporting a 2500 mobile chip. Picked it up from an awesome member here on TPU a few years ago. Kind of thinking of parting with that combo. Hard to make a decision though on selling LOL


Make sure you don't get rid and then wish you hadn't!!   I used to do it and it drove me mad..  Wasted so much money trying to get hold of things I'd previously sold and wished I'd kept..  Drives me nuts I tell you !!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 2, 2020)

phill said:


> Wasted so much money trying to get hold of things I'd previously sold and wished I'd kept.. Drives me nuts I tell you !!


I feel your pain/frustration. Been there!


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2020)

Same here, also with older console games. Hella more expensive than 10-15 years ago.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 2, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> I actually have an NF7-S sporting a 2500 mobile chip. Picked it up from an awesome member here on TPU a few years ago. Kind of thinking of parting with that combo. Hard to make a decision though on selling LOL


Let me know when you're ready. I can always use another.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 2, 2020)

phill said:


> I love seeing your posts @Robert B and I see you've found an NF7-S!!  Oh I hope it's working like a dream!!    Plus with that legionary XP 2500....  I thought it might have been the mobile version??....
> 
> Such love in this thread, I love looking through here, it's amazing



Yeah I FOUND ONE! By a twist of fate my retro HW supplier found this gem and I was quick to snatch it. It is working well.

I never saw an AXP mobile version in the flesh.  Anyway that AXP 2500+ AQXDA 0322SPEW should be pretty good. 

I'm still waiting for my cousin to retire my original NF7-S. In the end I might have two of these babies. 

Today I wasn't planing to go at the flea market again but I went there and I found a *Pentium II 266MHz SL2HE CPU* complete with a Cooler Master heatsink. *The Ultimate Thermal Solution. *Wicked!


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 2, 2020)

Rear shot showing the 2nd water block with 4x Peltier chips, and their finsinks.  The pump has a pressurized resrvoir to compensate for any expansion, or loss to weepage. Picked this up for $20 on Ebay.









I apologize for the large images. I tried to edit them out and lost the first image not only in the post but from my computer also. I'll have set up the tripod and neutral background again to post it later.




For you fans of exotic old junk. Here is the Dell H2C,BTX,AIO,Peltier water loop. This shows the pump with pressurized reservoir to allow for expansion and weepage. The 2nd water block with 4x Peltier chis, and their finsinks.



The 45* cranked CPU area makes this the only BTX water block ASFAIK. The radiator is not that thick,but it "could" be.
The Delta 120x38mm 1.6A. fan is a pretty potent piece already. Proprietary connector for the fan, water loop, and RGB light show. it only cools down to ambient to avoid condensation, and the radiator would start actually adding heat to loop below that.
 The more I try to fix this the worse it gets.


----------



## kiriakost (Aug 2, 2020)

Robert B said:


> By deduction I also came to the conclusion that it might be a A1P transistor like the other two around the ALC883 chip but ideally I would need a confirmation. If this will not be possible I'll solder a A1P transistor or an equivalent and if the sound works then I'll consider the motherboard fixed.



If you have a soldering station worth 160$ at least,  you may have some chances of success.
I would clean these pads and test the motherboard first.


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 2, 2020)

When I have MB sound issues I just stuff a USB sound card in it and get on with my life.
Sound Blaster Xfi Go Pro if I can find them cheap.


----------



## kiriakost (Aug 2, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> The more I try to fix this the worse it gets.


Unsuccessful product design this is to blame.   
Just add this valuable experience in good storage for improved future judgements.


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 2, 2020)

I was referring to trying to fix the post. I tried to fix the large images, and lost one, and doubled up on the others. I did succeed in losing all the thumbnails somehow!

I don't have the computer that the H2C connects to. Dell intentionally made the XPS 7xx coolers too large to fit in any of their other computers. The XPS 720 is a full tower,with a wonky Nvidia chipset. People still want silly money for them too. If I decide to do a BTX water loop I will part this out for it. But I haven't exhausted the possibilites of my BTX big air cooler yet.


----------



## kiriakost (Aug 2, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> Dell intentionally made the XPS 7xx coolers too large to fit in any of their other computers. The XPS 720 is a full tower,with a wonky Nvidia chipset. People still want silly money for them too.



Dell makes mistakes which some of them they could benefit us too, but not all. 
Dell did use wonderful high quality Sanyo Denki 120mm x 38mm , which they sold retail at 35 USD as NEW,  and we can find them as used from Dell machines at 8 ~12 $ its one. ;-)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Today I wasn't planing to go at the flea market again but I went there and I found a *Pentium II 266MHz SL2HE CPU* complete with a Cooler Master heatsink. *The Ultimate Thermal Solution. *Wicked!


Interesting HS on that P2! Never seen one of them before, or at least as far as I can remember.. Nice find! Are you going to do your usual clean and display thing?


----------



## Robert B (Aug 3, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> If you have a soldering station worth 160$ at least,  you may have some chances of success.
> I would clean these pads and test the motherboard first.



Will do but instead of a soldering station I'll use something a little more getto. My 15W soldering iron. I feel pretty confident.  I did this before.

I'll remove the damaged transistor and put another one that it is good. I don't plan to replace the ALC883 chip entirely.



lexluthermiester said:


> Interesting HS on that P2! Never seen one of them before, or at least as far as I can remember.. Nice find! Are you going to do your usual clean and display thing?



Will do for sure!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Will do for sure!


Nice!


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 3, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> Dell did use wonderful high quality Sanyo Denki 120mm x 38mm , which they sold retail at 35 USD as NEW,  and we can find them as used from Dell machines at 8 ~12 $ its one. ;-)


 For the same money get the Delta AFC1512DG 150x50mm 259cfm fan. Dell #NC466,or DG168.





						youtube Delta fan fun at DuckDuckGo
					

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.




					duckduckgo.com


----------



## xrror (Aug 3, 2020)

I have a PK5-Pro which looks *very* similar to the ECO, at first look this area looks the same on both boards but I'm having a bad time finding a camera that can actually focus close enough to read the part.

I'll try and get an image, or at the very least find a magnifying lens to be able to read the part # from the missing component.



Robert B said:


> Today at the flea market, I found an *ASUS P5K/EPU* [...]
> *If someone has this motherboard I need some help identifying that transistor. Ideally I would need a clear picture or what are the markings on the transistor. I might save this board.  The missing transistor has a SOT-23 package.
> 
> Thanks in advance!*


----------



## Robert B (Aug 3, 2020)

Thanks a lot *xrror*.   If you use your phone like me, you will have to take the picture outside when it is sunny or at least a bright day and keep the camera at an angle. If the markings can't be captured use a piece of A4 paper an try to position it above the board so that you can control the angle at the which the light falls on the components. If this fails telling me the markings on the transistor is plenty enough. 

The thing is that I already soldered a "scavenged" 1P transistor from a discarded fan. *I didn't power up the board yet.*  I'll wait for you when you are able to tell me the markings on the transistor. I'm in no hurry to give it the beans yet. 

The *1P* transistor that I used as a replacement was a little bigger than the original and I had to do some offset soldering. All in all I say that it came out pretty good. My 15W soldering iron did the trick even if the tip wasn't designed for this job. The solder joints are a little blobby but I wasn't going to insist to much as I feared that I might damage the solder pads.

I didn't have an exact replacement in regard to the size and position of the terminals so this is as good as it going to get! 

Unless I soldered the wrong transistor ...

One day I'll buy that illusive soldering station!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Unless I soldered the wrong transistor ...
> 
> One day I'll buy that illusive soldering station!


Actually, that looks pretty good.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 3, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Doubt it's nostalgic but it's pushing 11 years old and still alive
> 2009 Acer Aspire AX3800 with WG43M mother board and came with E5200 dual core upgraded to Q9550 core 2 quad and 2x4gb crucial memory came with Vista
> Was my first jump into modifying and upgrading first was transplanting into a D450 case for a real gpu yes a evga 980 hybird lol worked well
> ...



Nice setup, I run the same oddball Acer motherboard in my $80 daily driver. It's actually a surprisingly nice motherboard, and took to a E5440 771 to 775 CPU upgrade with no issues (I did add microcode to newest BIOS). Performance is just fine for my usage patterns and board is stable and reliable! I paid $15 shipped for my board, and $5 shipped for the CPU!

Im assuming you have the DDR3 version? Mine is the DDR2 version which seems less common then the DDR3 version.
See my other specs to the left.

The left system is my Socket 423 based retro gaming PC running Windows 98SE. Both of my systems were built from matching cases I found literally in the trash. I live on an extreme budget so my complete setup works great for me and was inexpensive!

Why Socket 423? Why not? Mainly because while most retro hardware is getting pricey, the Socket 423 platform can be found cheaply. I have around $100 in my whole build - and that's not easy to do with PIII or other retro hardware.

Specs: Intel D850GB Socket 423 Gateway OEM motherboard
            Pentium 4 1.9GHz CPU with Gateway OEM cooler
            512MB Rambus memory (2 x 256MB)
            Asus Geforce FX5200 AGP video card (128MB memory on 128-bit bus)
            SoundBlaster Live PCI sound card (DOS emulation works fairly well)
            Samsung 40GB IDE hard drive, Samsung IDE optical drive
            Recapped Thermaltake 400W ATX power supply

I was running a Geforce 3 Ti200 until it died one day. The FX5200 was $12 shipped, and since it's one of the better ones with a 128-bit memory bus it actually performs better then the Ti200. I did redo the thermal compound and have a side panel fan blowing at the card as it's passively cooled. Overclocked slightly to 280 core / 460 memory. This system is CPU limited for newer games but can play Unreal Tournament 2004, Max Payne II, and Call of Duty 1 smoothly at 1024x768 with tweaked settings. All the DOS games I've tried run great, been playing though One Unit Whole Blood currently.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 3, 2020)

Other of those cases needs to have a sleeper build built in.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 3, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Other of those cases needs to have a sleeper build built in.



Someday if my health/finances improve, it will be home to an all AMD Ryzen build no doubt! 

I can dream anyways.....................


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 3, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Nice setup, I run the same oddball Acer motherboard in my $80 daily driver. It's actually a surprisingly nice motherboard, and took to a E5440 771 to 775 CPU upgrade with no issues (I did add microcode to newest BIOS). Performance is just fine for my usage patterns and board is stable and reliable! I paid $15 shipped for my board, and $5 shipped for the CPU!
> 
> Im assuming you have the DDR3 version? Mine is the DDR2 version which seems less common then the DDR3 version.
> See my other specs to the left.
> ...


Hi,
I got the memory amount backwards
It's 4x2gb = 8gb kit yep ddr3 crucial part # CT25664BA160BA.c16

There's a cpu pin mod to oc the chip lol might try it later might even rig a water block on it I have plenty of them around looks like an ek evo would be easy 
I never flashed the last bios on it just used inspectre to get rid of the performance hit.
Can't really remember when win-7 was released but I got this machine a few months before and it came with a win-7 free upgrade think it was 2009 ?
Think I bought it from home shopping network of all places for like 300.us lol


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 3, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Why Socket 423? Why not? Mainly because while most retro hardware is getting pricey, the Socket 423 platform can be found cheaply. I have around $100 in my whole build - and that's not easy to do with PIII or other retro hardware.


You only have a C-note into it because you're using an OEM board.
Check out the prices on good 423 boards.......if you can find one.


----------



## xrror (Aug 3, 2020)

Robert B said:


> found an *ASUS P5K/EPU* motherboard (...)  help identifying that transistor.


I *think* it says "42t" , the picture is mostly to make sure the layout looks correct.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 3, 2020)

Robert B said:


> One day I'll buy that illusive soldering station!



Naaah high end soldering equipent is over-rated ! I do lots of board level component repair using a cheap Weller 30W fine tip iron, and a cheap Chinese 60W pencil tip iron. Years of experience, I can even change tiny SMD caps using this junk equipment, though it's getting harder to do as my eyes age.

Just revived a dead Dell R7 250 with a damaged 128kb BIOS chip that wouldn't flash even with clip on external adapter, after taking a 256kb BIOS chip from a Geforce 750ti with bad memory. Had to double the size of the 128kb AMD BIOS to fill the 256kb chip, and soldering it was a challenge but everything worked! Did this with my 30W Weller.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2020)

xrror said:


> I *think* it says "42t" , the picture is mostly to make sure the layout looks correct.


Looks like " 42L " to me...


----------



## xrror (Aug 3, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looks like " 42L " to me...


fought with the camera, I think I got it this time... to clarify, it's either "L" or lower case "t"


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 3, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> I got the memory amount backwards
> It's 4x2gb = 8gb kit yep ddr3 crucial part # CT25664BA160BA.c16
> 
> ...



I investigated the pin mod myself and I suspect it only works on 1066FSB CPUS to take them to 1333FSB, which we already are at. Some research I did also suggests these boards will not boot with any 1600FSB CPU (like some Xeons) so I think 1333FSB is all thats gonna work. And yes inspectre is awesome, did same here!

I have the latest DDR3 BIOS version that has been modded with 45nm Xeon microcode if you are interested. Probably only useful if you did the 771 to 775 mod - best bet would be a Xeon E5450 because of the lower 80W TDP. Honestly not sure its worth it coming from your Q9550 or my practically identical E5440.........

Also I have seen proof online that 4x4GB DDR3 sticks will work in your board to take it to 16GB.........also board seems more commonly known as the DIG43L.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 4, 2020)

xrror said:


> fought with the camera, I think I got it this time... to clarify, it's either "L" or lower case "t"


42t is what I'm seeing.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 4, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> I investigated the pin mod myself and I suspect it only works on 1066FSB CPUS to take them to 1333FSB, which we already are at. Some research I did also suggests these boards will not boot with any 1600FSB CPU (like some Xeons) so I think 1333FSB is all thats gonna work. And yes inspectre is awesome, did same here!
> 
> I have the latest DDR3 BIOS version that has been modded with 45nm Xeon microcode if you are interested. Probably only useful if you did the 771 to 775 mod - best bet would be a Xeon E5450 because of the lower 80W TDP. Honestly not sure its worth it coming from your Q9550 or my practically identical E5440.........
> 
> Also I have seen proof online that 4x4GB DDR3 sticks will work in your board to take it to 16GB.........also board seems more commonly known as the DIG43L.


HI,
I tried some gskill long ago just steady tone on it 1333mhz can't remember the part number though.


			acer wg43m mainboard specs
		


Looks like I missed placed the pin mod image I made showing which one to cover :/
Here's the link 





						E8xxx/Q9xx0 FSB 1600 pin mod
					

E8xxx/Q9xx0 FSB 1600 pin mod    QX9650 Retail  http://www.coolaler.com.tw/coolalercbb/QX9650BOX/modfsb400/1.JPG  Just put a tape on the pins...  http://www.coolaler.com.tw/coolalercbb/QX9650BOX/modfsb400/2.JPG  ...and off you go .  http://www.coolaler.com.tw/coolalercbb/QX9650BOX/modfsb400/3.JPG...



					www.xtremesystems.org
				




No another note just finished and system imaging the old timer on win-10 2004 build lol


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> 42t is what I'm seeing.


Agreed. The angle change and closer/clearer shot shows it well.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 4, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Looks like I missed placed the pin mod image I made showing which one to cover :/
> Here's the link
> 
> 
> ...




Interesting, the board I saw running 16GB had 4 matched JEDEC standard Hynix 4GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600U DIMMs. Odd that GSkill wouldn't work unless it was performance memory and needed more voltage or XMP timings?

OK, I read about that pin mod and wanted to try it but I'm too lazy to figure out which pin it would be on my LGA771 Xeon as it's rotated in the socket compared to a standard LGA775 CPU. If you try it and it works please let me know!!!!!


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 4, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Interesting, the board I saw running 16GB had 4 matched JEDEC standard Hynix 4GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600U DIMMs. Odd that GSkill wouldn't work unless it was performance memory and needed more voltage or XMP timings?
> 
> OK, I read about that pin mod and wanted to try it but I'm too lazy to figure out which pin it would be on my LGA771 Xeon as it's rotated in the socket compared to a standard LGA775 CPU. If you try it and it works please let me know!!!!!


Hi,
Since the memory didn't work doubt the pin mod well, looks like it's up to the mother board capabilities but if I fashion a water block on it what the heck 
Someone already tried a 9550 and it failed on the link I posted too towards the end of the thread.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 4, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Someone already tried a 9550 and it failed on the link I posted too towards the end of the thread.



So that seems to confirm what I've read that this board simply won't POST at 1600FSB. I kinda wanted to try an LGA771 Xeon E5472 (3GHz, 1600FSB, Harpertown core) in this board but after my research I decided to play it safe and stay 1333FSB. Honestly the capabilities of this system surprise me.....with a little tweaking it plays Metro Exodus, Far Cry 5/New Dawn, and Wolfenstein New Order just fine (30FPS is my acceptable standard - low budget gaming heh!) on my low resolution TV/monitor! A better video card like yours would be fun, as my card is quite low end.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 4, 2020)

xrror said:


> fought with the camera, I think I got it this time... to clarify, it's either "L" or lower case "t"


You're right of course. The thing is, your board is different from the P5K/EPU. The Realtek audio chips are the same, but the supporting parts in the audio circuit are different components. That part is unlikely to be the same as the one @Robert B needs. Having looked at photo's elsewhere on the net, I have yet to find one that is high res enough to show the transistor in question, but I'm still reasonably certain that an A1P is the correct part.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 4, 2020)

@xrror - thanks a lot for the picture and your help. Much appreciated! I have only one more request from you. Can you tell me the markings on those two transistors that I have circled? If they also are 42t then I might be on to something. There is no problem for me to solder another transistor if it is necessary. 

@lexluthermiester - in the past I usually found clear pictures with stuff on ebay in some of the seller photos. In the case of the P5K/EPU I also wasn't able to find a clear picture of the whole area. I mean who would take high res pics of such an unimportant area.  There is a 50/50 chance that 1p/A1p is the correct part as that is the conclusion that I also draw. We'll see. 

Thanks for all your input guys! 

I'm still not going to power up the board until I'm absolutely sure that I soldered the right part. I have an itchy finger but I won't scratch that itch for now. At the very least I'll remove the transistor and power up the board to see if she's at least alive as @kiriakost  suggested.   I got ahead of me and I jumped straight to soldering. 

I'll also have to read some spec sheets to see what are the vital statistics of the 42t transistor and 1p transistor. More digging is required.

Also I looked at a couple of dead boards and I didn't find a 42t but I'll dig up more corpses from the organ donors inventory.  I might get lucky.

I'll keep you posted have no worries.


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 4, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> So that seems to confirm what I've read that this board simply won't POST at 1600FSB. I kind a wanted to try an LGA771 Xeon E5472 (3GHz, 1600FSB, Harpertown core) in this board but after my research I decided to play it safe and stay 1333FSB. Honestly the capabilities of this system surprise me.....with a little tweaking it plays Metro Exodus, Far Cry 5/New Dawn, and Wolfenstein New Order just fine (30FPS is my acceptable standard - low budget gaming heh!) on my low resolution TV/monitor! A better video card like yours would be fun, as my card is quite low end.


 The pinmod from 266 to 333 works on the $5 E7500 to get 3.67GHz 2 core. I've seen evidence of the 400fsb pinmod working on the Q9550 but only on X38 or X48 chipset machines that support the 400fsb. That mod is performed on a different pin. I have an Opti 380 X5470 swap and the E7500 mod outperforms it in single thread by about 10% at Geekbench. The only thing stopping the E7600 from being modded higher is lack of Voltage control which can be done by VID pimods also. You seem like the kind of guy who could pull off a VID hardmod if you wanted to.


----------



## xrror (Aug 4, 2020)

Robert B said:


> @xrror - Can you tell me the markings on those two transistors that I have circled?


----------



## Robert B (Aug 4, 2020)

@xrror Thanks a lot for the time you took to help me!  Indeed that transistor is 42t - I'll have to remove the 1p/A1p. Good thing that I didn't power up the board yet.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 4, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Interesting, the board I saw running 16GB had 4 matched JEDEC standard Hynix 4GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600U DIMMs. Odd that GSkill wouldn't work unless it was performance memory and needed more voltage or XMP timings?
> 
> OK, I read about that pin mod and wanted to try it but I'm too lazy to figure out which pin it would be on my LGA771 Xeon as it's rotated in the socket compared to a standard LGA775 CPU. If you try it and it works please let me know!!!!!


HI,
Pin mod did not work just kept restarting 
But ek evo water block did work with the hyper 212 evo back plate and ek magnitude mounting screws lol they were the same thread as the 212 evo black plate holes 
So yeah no pin mod but is water cooled so batting 500
Also scored a dirt cheap 980ti


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 4, 2020)

I had some Gskill DDR3 that was working just fine in my Opti 380.. 1 module failed so I returned the kit for a replacement and the new ones wouldn't run. Same part#. Apparently they switched from low density to high density at some point.
What pinmod did you try? There are only a couple CPUs where the stock Voltage is high enough to run the new speed.
Q6600 G0 stepping, and the E7500 are usually good going from 266 to 333fsb. But the 3Ghz Q6600 is slower than the Q9550/Q9650 CPUs.
As far as the Xeon goes. Look at the triangle in the corner, and mark the LGA775 notches on the CPU. Using those as a guide it's the same as theXeon then. But Xeons all start at 333fsb, so you would need an X38 or X48MB to try it, and it's a different pin.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 4, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> I had some Gskill DDR3 that was working just fine in my Opti 380.. 1 module failed so I returned the kit for a replacement and the new ones wouldn't run. Same part#. Apparently they switched from low density to high density at some point.
> What pinmod did you try? There are only a couple CPUs where the stock Voltage is high enough to run the new speed.
> Q6600 G0 stepping, and the E7500 are usually good going from 266 to 333fsb. But the 3Ghz Q6600 is slower than the Q9550/Q9650 CPUs.
> As far as the Xeon goes. Look at the triangle in the corner, and mark the LGA775 notches on the CPU. Using those as a guide it's the same as theXeon then. But Xeons all start at 333fsb, so you would need an X38 or X48MB to try it, and it's a different pin.


Hi,
Must be on one page back 
Here is another link 





						E8xxx/Q9xx0 FSB 1600 pin mod
					

E8xxx/Q9xx0 FSB 1600 pin mod    QX9650 Retail  http://www.coolaler.com.tw/coolalercbb/QX9650BOX/modfsb400/1.JPG  Just put a tape on the pins...  http://www.coolaler.com.tw/coolalercbb/QX9650BOX/modfsb400/2.JPG  ...and off you go .  http://www.coolaler.com.tw/coolalercbb/QX9650BOX/modfsb400/3.JPG...



					www.xtremesystems.org


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 5, 2020)

He's taping 2 pins but the one by the notch is already at 333fsb, just the 2nd pin from the notch should be needed to get 400fsb. But the MB chipset needs to support that speed. I see the E8xxx chips can go that fast on the stock 1.200V.
So add them to the list.
I just got a few E6500K in. Unlocked 65W LGA775. 266fsb on those so the pinmod will be first for 3.67GHz, then some multiplier overclocking on an Optiplex 380.
 I working on an X38 Dell . I'll try the pinmod on the QX9650. Not sure if the stock Voltage will support it though.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 5, 2020)

HI,
Yeah I really didn't expect it to work but saw the pin mod over two years ago and just never tried it until this morning


----------



## kiriakost (Aug 5, 2020)

Robert B said:


> I'm still not going to power up the board until I'm absolutely sure that I soldered the right part. I have an itchy finger but I won't scratch that itch for now. At the very least I'll remove the transistor and power up the board to see if she's at least alive as @kiriakost  suggested.   I got ahead of me and I jumped straight to soldering.


My suggestions they are expensive and I do not share them easily.




Robert B said:


> I'll keep you posted have no worries.


You better start a fresh topic because by hijacking this one of one transistor this is too much.


----------



## phill (Aug 5, 2020)

A guy I know was having a clear out, and decided to send me a little care package that he thought I'd be interested in...

             

I just need to test it all and see what is not working and what is I think....  Just thought I'd share some slightly older hardware


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 5, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> You better start a fresh topic because by hijacking this one of one transistor this is too much.


Good idea. New thread follows;








						RobertB's Asus P5K/EPU missing transistor problem
					

This discussion became a bit much for the other thread so let's bring it here;   @xrror Thanks a lot for the time you took to help me! :toast: Indeed that transistor is 42t - I'll have to remove the 1p/A1p. Good thing that I didn't power up the board yet. :) :rockout::peace:  Not so fast @Robert...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## kiriakost (Aug 5, 2020)

phill said:


> A guy I know was having a clear out, and decided to send me a little care package that he thought I'd be interested in...
> 
> View attachment 164622 View attachment 164626
> 
> I just need to test it all and see what is not working and what is I think....  Just thought I'd share some slightly older hardware



Next big thing that you will need for those two this is Win NT4


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 5, 2020)

phill said:


> A guy I know was having a clear out, and decided to send me a little care package that he thought I'd be interested in...
> 
> View attachment 164619 View attachment 164620 View attachment 164621 View attachment 164622 View attachment 164623 View attachment 164624 View attachment 164625 View attachment 164626 View attachment 164627 View attachment 164628 View attachment 164629 View attachment 164630View attachment 164631 View attachment 164632
> 
> I just need to test it all and see what is not working and what is I think....  Just thought I'd share some slightly older hardware


Nice haul!


----------



## TheKingGamerBr (Aug 5, 2020)

phill said:


> A guy I know was having a clear out, and decided to send me a little care package that he thought I'd be interested in...
> 
> View attachment 164619 View attachment 164620 View attachment 164621 View attachment 164622 View attachment 164623 View attachment 164624 View attachment 164625 View attachment 164626 View attachment 164627 View attachment 164628 View attachment 164629 View attachment 164630View attachment 164631 View attachment 164632
> 
> I just need to test it all and see what is not working and what is I think....  Just thought I'd share some slightly older hardware


I want to be his friend too


----------



## madness777 (Aug 5, 2020)

Ohhh that dual socket MSI board! 
Funky layout, 2nd CPU gets power straight from the main VRM and communicates directly with the 1st CPU, no dedicated RAM for it.
And I'm loving the GPUs! That Leadtek 8800GT is identical to my first ever GPU


----------



## Dinnercore (Aug 5, 2020)

This one was looking for a new home, so I took it in: 





DFI Lanparty JR X58-T3H6. Actually the first small formfactor board I own. Needs a bit of a clean in some places but otherwise in a good condition. Even the protective plastic is still on the NB sink and on the chip bottom left.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 5, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> This one was looking for a new home, so I took it in:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is a nice board!! Good find!


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 5, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> OK, I read about that pin mod and wanted to try it but I'm too lazy to figure out which pin it would be on my LGA771 Xeon as it's rotated in the socket compared to a standard LGA775 CPU. If you try it and it works please let me know!!!!!


I don't want to give you false hope about the Xeon pinmod. The 333 to 400fsb pinmod is real, but the X38/X48 chipsets that support 400fsb DON'T support the LGA771 mod. So to do that you would need an LGA771 motherboard.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 5, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> HI,
> Pin mod did not work just kept restarting
> But ek evo water block did work with the hyper 212 evo back plate and ek magnitude mounting screws lol they were the same thread as the 212 evo black plate holes
> So yeah no pin mod but is water cooled so batting 500
> Also scored a dirt cheap 980ti





Retrorockit said:


> I don't want to give you false hope about the Xeon pinmod. The 333 to 400fsb pinmod is real, but the X38/X48 chipsets that support 400fsb DON'T support the LGA771 mod. So to do that you would need an LGA771 motherboard.



Lines up with what I've read about this board, 1600MHz FSB is a no-go, thanks for proving it for certain. 

Bummer the X38/X48 don't support the LGA771 mod. And I doubt there is any LGA771 motherboards that can overclock other then the dual socket Intel Skulltrail board - and good luck with that $$$$$!

One of the other favorites that I have done in the past on good boards such as the Gigabyte EP45-DS3L is take a low powered Xeon L5430 (Harpertown 50W TDP) and set BIOS to run at 1600MHz FSB taking frequency from stock 2.67GHz to 3.2GHz. Not a crazy overclock but the FSB boost does help and the L5430 runs nice and cool at that overclocked frequency. I ran that combo for a years long ago, and should have never parted with it. But I'm happy with my current system considering how little money I have in it! It's running both Metro Exodus Sams Story and Dishonored 2 quite nicely as I play through them currently.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 5, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Lines up with what I've read about this board, 1600MHz FSB is a no-go, thanks for proving it for certain.
> 
> Bummer the X38/X48 don't support the LGA771 mod. And I doubt there is any LGA771 motherboards that can overclock other then the dual socket Intel Skulltrail board - and good luck with that $$$$$!
> 
> One of the other favorites that I have done in the past on good boards such as the Gigabyte EP45-DS3L is take a low powered Xeon L5430 (Harpertown 50W TDP) and set BIOS to run at 1600MHz FSB taking frequency from stock 2.67GHz to 3.2GHz. Not a crazy overclock but the FSB boost does help and the L5430 runs nice and cool at that overclocked frequency. I ran that combo for a years long ago, and should have never parted with it. But I'm happy with my current system considering how little money I have in it! It's running both Metro Exodus Sams Story and Dishonored 2 quite nicely as I play through them currently.


Hi,
If you're in the USA and have a micro center near you they have build subs for 500-100.00 gift cards might be worth a little road trip   








						Current Sales, Bundles, Giveaways
					

Blasphemous    nice game  https://www.indiegala.com/store/product/blasphemous/774361  nice deal -56%




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## phill (Aug 5, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> Next big thing that you will need for those two this is Win NT4


I think I have one somewhere around here :lol:  I really do need a big clear up as there's too much kit laying about the place lol Still, that said, if I can't find a copy I'll buy one cheap as possible...  If that's possible... 


lexluthermiester said:


> Nice haul!





TheKingGamerBr said:


> I want to be his friend too


I didn't think it was too bad as we swapped a few things and I gained a load more back than I was expecting !!  Now I just need to find a place to put it all!! 


madness777 said:


> Ohhh that dual socket MSI board!
> Funky layout, 2nd CPU gets power straight from the main VRM and communicates directly with the 1st CPU, no dedicated RAM for it.
> And I'm loving the GPUs! That Leadtek 8800GT is identical to my first ever GPU


He said there was a few motherboards and such that he had that he wanted rid of so I said, throw it all in a box, I'll give it a test and if it works, jobs a gooden!  If not, I might consider sending it to @Robert B to work his magic on it....  
I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it tested and tried out..  I have 'holiday' at the moment but trying to get an hour is somewhat difficult and I don't feel like trying to put things together during the evening/night when the children are asleep and I'm a little tired, that'll just lead to problems I think    One day....


----------



## Robert B (Aug 5, 2020)

phill said:


> .... I'll give it a test and if it works, jobs a gooden!  If not, I might consider sending it to @Robert B to work his magic on it....



I'm pretty sure that 95% of those babies are still alive and kicking.  We'll keep in touch if they might need some fixing.

I also found at the flea market a MS-6570 MSI K7N2 Delta L but even after extensive repairs, MOSFETS, capacitors, etc . it proved to be dead. In the pics is the board before surgey. After a stage 1 cleaning.

I know that overwhelming feeling when you already have a huge stash and new residents arrive in big number. You start to scratch your head and ask yourself where the heck am I'm going to put all of them?  Don't worry you'll find a box/place to stash them.

Over the last two years my inventory has more than doubled and I'll have to do a thorough head count soon. I still have loads of space but sometimes I just watch at all those boxes with all their gems inside and I just know I'm past what it is the "normal" limit whichever it might be.  The thing is that I consider that I don't have any problems myself so I keep gathering and fixing them one by one. I can stop any time I want I just choose not to. This is something above dedication it is a part of me. Each and one of us are addicted to something. 

In the future I'll post an episode with the not so glamorous world of restoring PC components.


----------



## kiriakost (Aug 5, 2020)

phill said:


> I think I have one somewhere around here :lol:  I really do need a big clear up as there's too much kit laying about the place lol Still, that said, if I can't find a copy I'll buy one cheap as possible...  If that's possible...



When you will rediscover the Non-Plug and play world , do not forget to take a selfie , the expression of  your face  will be interesting.


----------



## phill (Aug 5, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> When you will rediscover the Non-Plug and play world , do not forget to take a selfie , the expression of  your face  will be interesting.


I'm sure things will fly out the window just as well as they do when they are meant to be plug and play!!   



Robert B said:


> I'm pretty sure that 95% of those babies are still alive and kicking.  We'll keep in touch if they might need some fixing.
> 
> I also found at the flea market a MS-6570 MSI K7N2 Delta L but even after extensive repairs, MOSFETS, capacitors, etc . it proved to be dead.
> 
> ...


I find with this, I'm the same.  I could stop buying hardware I mean, it's not like I can use them altogether but as I say to my children, when I'm dead, there's a bit more money or memories whichever way they want to go.  Whatever happens, it's going to help them or make them smile when they see it there and where I would more often than not be 

It's not just the PC hardware I have here but the retro consoles, Amiga's and whatever else I might end up with by that point..  It's all for them


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 5, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Lines up with what I've read about this board, 1600MHz FSB is a no-go, thanks for proving it for certain.
> 
> Bummer the X38/X48 don't support the LGA771 mod. And I doubt there is any LGA771 motherboards that can overclock other then the dual socket Intel Skulltrail board - and good luck with that $$$$$!


Actually the Dell T7400 supports 400fsb and dual LGA771. I wanted to try it but someone was buying up all the LGA771 workstations locally. I wanted to pinmod a couple X5470 to 4GHz for a Skulltrail clone. I was working on a MB Voltmod but didn't understand the instructions at the time. The T5400 doesn't support 400fsb officially. No idea if the pinmod will bring it out or not. Not worth buying this stuff to try it. But if you already had one it could be fun. That's where I got the X5470 for the Opti 380. I had 2 for the T7400 project.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 6, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Let me know when you're ready. I can always use another.



Shoot me an offer via PM @Mr.Scott


----------



## Caring1 (Aug 6, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> OK, I read about that pin mod and wanted to try it but I'm too lazy to figure out which pin it would be on my LGA771 Xeon as it's rotated in the socket compared to a standard LGA775 CPU.


Same pins beside the top slot on the CPU adjacent to the plastic tab in the CPU socket. Socket 775 CPU shown.




Pin mod location on 771 CPU.


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 6, 2020)

Working from the triangle in the upper left corner (in the prvious post) it's the same way in the socket. But the notches are in a very different location.



                                                         LGA771
Part of the LGA771 swap is either removing the tabs from the LGA775 socket, or adding the LGA775 notches  to the Xeon.
The pins where the notches go are unused "reserved" on both CPUs. But the mod is to the same pins relative to the triangle corner marking. You can just draw the notches in to make it easier to find the pins.
 The only difference in the pinout are the 2 pins that get swapped by the Xeon tape adapter. But the chipset must be compatable., and the BIOS must recognize both the CPUID#, and the platform number which is also different between the 2 sockets.

Delidded.com is the resource for LGA771 swaps. Chipsets,CPUID, tested mother boards.








						LGA 771 to 775 Adapter (MOD) - Run faster Xeon CPUs in a Core 2 Quad motherboard
					

Learn how to MOD your LGA 775 motherboard to support faster LGA 771 Xeon CPUs. Also covers: the adapter, motherboard compatibility, and troubleshooting.




					www.delidded.com
				



Not 100% accurate. They show 95W CPU limit for Optipex 380 when it's 120W. So go to userbenchmark.com to see what others are running.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 6, 2020)

ATI 1986 - 2008  These are the oldest and the newest ATI cards in my collection.

Quite an evolution don't you think?


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 6, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Pin mod location on 771 CPU.



Perfect, picture saved for future reference! Thanks.

I have done this mod probably fifty times or so by now. I use a Harbor Freight needle file set and carefully file notches in the CPU, as I'm not a fan modding the LGA775 socket itself, too easy to slip and bend pins. After notches are filed I clean CPU well using IPA and low pressure compressed air, then install the adapter sticker.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 6, 2020)

Hi,
Yeah Intel mother board pins are a sad joke aren't they.
Seems x299 were really crappy.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 6, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Yeah Intel mother board pins are a sad joke aren't they.
> Seems x299 were really crappy.



Yeah, not a fan of LGA sockets. I use the current old Intel stuff I have as it's dirt cheap (and very old AMD quads are missing SSE 4.1 which games like Far Cry 5 need). Give me pins on the CPU any day......hence why my next build when I can afford it will be AMD Ryzen. I'm an AMD fan at heart as I like the underdog. I have fond memories of my various K6-2/K6-2+ systems back when everyone else was running Pentium II/Celeron Mendocinos! And my later Athlon XP systems offered way more bang for the buck then the over-priced P4. I started building PCs in 1990 or so, and was all AMD until the Core 2 Duo (was my first Intel system lol).


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 6, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Yeah, not a fan of LGA sockets. I use the current old Intel stuff I have as it's dirt cheap (and very old AMD quads are missing SSE 4.1 which games like Far Cry 5 need). Give me pins on the CPU any day......hence why my next build when I can afford it will be AMD Ryzen. I'm an AMD fan at heart as I like the underdog. I have fond memories of my various K6-2/K6-2+ systems back when everyone else was running Pentium II/Celeron Mendocinos! And my later Athlon XP systems offered way more bang for the buck then the over-priced P4. I started building PCs in 1990 or so, and was all AMD until the Core 2 Duo (was my first Intel system lol).


Hi,
Posted before but micro center has another build sub going on for August 1st-31st for 500-100.00  gift cards
PC Build Showcase Contest – Enter to win $500 gift card! — Micro Center


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 6, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Posted before but micro center has another build sub going on for August 1st-31st for 500-100.00  gift cards
> PC Build Showcase Contest – Enter to win $500 gift card! — Micro Center



I'll enter my old junk and see if they get a laugh lol. Right now a gift card would be the only way I could afford new hardware. And honestly my system runs fine, so I'm not any hurry for new stuff.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 6, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> I'll enter my old junk and see if they get a laugh lol. Right now a gift card would be the only way I could afford new hardware. And honestly my system runs fine, so I'm not any hurry for new stuff.


Hi,
Yeah mine is already up  








						Old timer Q9550 on custom loop - Micro Center Build
					

Bored really had a entertainment center project with no gpu for an x99 mother board so decided to wake up an old 2009 Acer aspire AX3800 mother board with on board graphic's to play with on a test benchUpgrades, well everything lolAlso has been installed




					www.microcenter.com


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 7, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Yeah, not a fan of LGA sockets. I use the current old Intel stuff I have as it's dirt cheap (and very old AMD quads are missing SSE 4.1 which games like Far Cry 5 need). Give me pins on the CPU any day......hence why my next build when I can afford it will be AMD Ryzen. I'm an AMD fan at heart as I like the underdog. I have fond memories of my various K6-2/K6-2+ systems back when everyone else was running Pentium II/Celeron Mendocinos! And my later Athlon XP systems offered way more bang for the buck then the over-priced P4. I started building PCs in 1990 or so, and was all AMD until the Core 2 Duo (was my first Intel system lol).


AMD K6III+400 for me with a Voodoo 5500 AGP. Full speed 256k on CPU L2 cache and kept the 1MB MB cache as L3 cache. Only sold to OEMs for mobile computers. Hard to find in the wild back then. The lower Voltage makes me think it was a die shrink. Outran the PII and early Athlons too. Could run at 6x100fsb also.

I wonder how Micro Center would like one of my BTX builds with almost none of their aftermarket parts in it?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 7, 2020)

My X700Pro arrived, the card looks in good condition!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 7, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> My X700Pro arrived, the card looks in good condition!
> 
> View attachment 164868


Ah, one of the very first Radeon PCIe cards that performed well and didn't run too hot or noisy. Thing of beauty!


----------



## Robert B (Aug 8, 2020)

*Acorp 5TX29* + AMD K6 la 200MHz *AMD-K6-200ALR*.

If the motherboard isn't something out of the ordinary, the AMD K6 CPU is the first to enter my ever growing collection. The K6 is minty fresh! I was filled to the brim with Pentium! 

Officially I'm on summer holiday! 2 weeks of glorious free time! 3 or 4 days will be diverted towards RETRO HW and the many boards that are waiting to be GREAT AGAIN!!!


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 8, 2020)

So i built myself a Windows XP gaming machine with a:

Pentium 4 3.2 GHZ HT sock.478
Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCu
ASrock P4i65G
2 GB DDR 400
MSI GeForce FX 5900XT 128 Mb DDR ( got it new still in the box with all the bundle )
WD Blue 1Tb 7200
ASUS DRW-24D5MT
LC POWER 600W

Playing some NOLF 1 & 2, D00M 3 & ROE, Quake 3 & 4, SOF 1 & 2, Half Life 1 OPFOR BS Half Life 2. Love every minute i play with it


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 8, 2020)

Cool rig @F-Zero, gotta love that FX 5900XT  

I done 3DMark01 comparison between X700Pro and X800 both stock clock, I stick with X800 for the time being. The card is cooler than X700Pro and quieter too.



 

I ran ATiTool too to see the fuses, sadly it cant be unlocked further


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 8, 2020)

Nice.......but, you couldn't do any better than a LC PSU?
That could cost you your whole rig.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 9, 2020)

Damn, it's finally clear that my Q6600 which I bought some time ago from ebay is toast. Tested it with two boards (Asus P43 and P45), no POST with either one. At least I can upgrade my keychain from P4 2.66 to Q6600.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 9, 2020)

That LC-Power should be fine.

LC-Power similar to his unit are made by Huntkey. The other kind of LC (LC-A/B/CxxxATX) however, is made by Deer.

Chloe Price - Guess I'm not the only one who might think Q6600s are sensible. I have at least 2 dead chips, while my Q9400 POSTs fine in almost anything I throw at it.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 9, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Chloe Price - Guess I'm not the only one who might think Q6600s are sensible. I have at least 2 dead chips, while my Q9400 POSTs fine in almost anything I throw at it.


Yea, dunno what's the problem with it, externally it looks totally fine. Not a bad loss since it cost just about 6EUR on ebay and I was too lazy to refund it.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 9, 2020)

Any recommendations on a mobo for a Q9400? I'd prefer a mobo without a nForce chipset.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 9, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Any recommendations on a mobo for a Q9400? I'd prefer a mobo without a nForce chipset.


With Asus P5Q series you can't go wrong.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 9, 2020)

ASUS P5QD Turbo if you want DDR2. Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R if you want DDR3. And if you can find one, EP45T-Extreme for maximum crazy.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 9, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> With Asus P5Q series you can't go wrong.



+2 on that!!! I got one that I'm using now for a NAS server with a Xeon after the chip mod and it works flawless! 

@biffzinker I'll look but I'm pretty sure I have another one that is just sitting in it's box. I'd shoot it to ya cheap bro if your in the US.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 9, 2020)

Got a DM from someone offering a GA-X48-DS4 (rev. 1.3.) Which one should I pick? The Gigabyte X48 seems like a nice board.









						GA-X48-DS4 (rev. 1.3) Overview | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global
					

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...




					www.gigabyte.com


----------



## Caring1 (Aug 10, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Got a DM from someone offering a GA-X48-DS4 (rev. 1.3.) Which one should I pick? The Gigabyte X48 seems like a nice board.


I'd go the Asus P5Q.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 10, 2020)

He’s offering the Gigabyte board at no charge besides shipping. I’d rather not turn him away.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 10, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> That LC-Power should be fine.
> 
> LC-Power similar to his unit are made by Huntkey. The other kind of LC (LC-A/B/CxxxATX) however, is made by Deer.



I second this, I recapped one of these a few years ago for a friend, and it's surprisingly well built. The caps I removed all were within spec and didn't need replaced but the Rubycons I installed were still a nice upgrade. I also recall upgrading the noisy fan with an aftermarket unit. Unit is still powering an Athlon X4 840 system with a Radeon 7770 to this day with no issues at all. With the power demands of your system it will probably be OK. Heres a recent review (english subtitles)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 10, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> I second this, I recapped one of these a few years ago for a friend, and it's surprisingly well built. The caps I removed all were within spec and didn't need replaced but the Rubycons I installed were still a nice upgrade. I also recall upgrading the noisy fan with an aftermarket unit. Unit is still powering an Athlon X4 840 system with a Radeon 7770 to this day with no issues at all. With the power demands of your system it will probably be OK. Heres a recent review (english subtitles)


Huntkey usually made good units. Dynex and a few others used Huntkey as their OEM as far as I remember. They were really great units, given that you'd recap them.

Speaking of Deers, I just did a restoration on one recently. Funny enough, it was a generic "Switching Power Supply" model LC-B400ATX.

Had cut wires, replaced all of them with ones from a dead Thermaltake. I was surprised to actually find good heatsinks and transformers.

The only thing to do is recap it (none of the caps are bulging,, but I'm not taking any chances). I was surprised to actually find 820uF Capxon primaries (Deer usually uses "Yang Chun/Saturn logo" there) and a 8A fuse no less.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 11, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> He’s offering the Gigabyte board at no charge besides shipping. I’d rather not turn him away.


I would go with it, GB boards are pretty good.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 11, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I would go with it, GB boards are pretty good.


The board is in shipping, hopefully it survives the journey. Would of been a shorter trip if I'd of taken @stinger608 up on his offer.


----------



## JustAnEngineer (Aug 12, 2020)

Just over 4000 miles for $15?  Think what a great bargain that is.


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 12, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Perfect, picture saved for future reference! Thanks.
> 
> I have done this mod probably fifty times or so by now. I use a Harbor Freight needle file set and carefully file notches in the CPU, as I'm not a fan modding the LGA775 socket itself, too easy to slip and bend pins. After notches are filed I clean CPU well using IPA and low pressure compressed air, then install the adapter sticker.
> 
> View attachment 164802View attachment 164803


I modded the socket on mine because I didn't know the pins there were blanks. I thought it was "safer". But later on while testing some fsb tape mods, and swapping CPUs in and out I somehow got it wrong and lost a $12 Optiplex 380 MB. IDK yet if the CPU survived. So I'm a believer in notching the CPUs now.
 I still don't believe in wearing bifocals.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 14, 2020)

Saw this and thought it might be useful info for some readers;


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 14, 2020)

Here’s the board with a bonus Q9300, and Thermalright heatsink.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 14, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Here’s the board with a bonus Q9300, and Thermalright heatsink.
> 
> View attachment 165573


That is a nice board! The Q9300 CPUs generally have no problems going to a 167mhz FSB with a minimal bump in voltage, if any.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 14, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> The Q9300 CPUs generally have no problems going to a 167mhz FSB with a minimal bump in voltage, if any.


I still have the Q9400 in the XFX nForce board. When I get a chance I'm moving the Q9400, and Gskill DDR2-1066 8GB four sticks kit into the Gigabyte board.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 15, 2020)

True Black 120.
 Nice extra. 
Still a very good cooler even for todays processors.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 15, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> True Black 120.
> Nice extra.
> Still a very good cooler even for todays processors.


Sender got in touch with me, it’s a Thermalright Ultima-90. Said it will accept a 120mm fan.

What’s a easy way to clean oxidation off of nickel, and aluminum? The heatsink base is fine. Wonder if I can restore the shine? It’s just cosmetic though.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is a nice board! The Q9300 CPUs generally have no problems going to a 167mhz FSB with a minimal bump in voltage, if any.


It would seem I mis-stated. I meant 400mhz FSB. You all likely knew what I meant... I need more sleep! LOL!



biffzinker said:


> What’s a easy way to clean oxidation off of nickel, and aluminum?


Besides an acid bath, which will be messy and has an element of potential injury? Not much..


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 15, 2020)

Do you have any experience with the Q9505S @ 400fsb?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 15, 2020)

An oldie I bought yesterday. It's 13 years old at this point, and had bad RAM sticks. It's an ASUS G1-AK005C/NOR, and after googling I've found out it's the older model w/ 945PM and Geforce Go 7700. Newer ones (G1S) have 965PM + 8600M GT.





Runs Windows 8.1 currently, as I had a 100GB HDD with 8.1 already fresh installed.

More projects that I will try to get done:

- Aspire 5738Z
- ASUS G60V + M60VP fusion
- ASUS G70S revamp w/ 9800M GTS


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> Do you have any experience with the Q9505S @ 400fsb?


Not that exact model but it's baby brother, the Q9400s. The "s" denotes a lower TDP(65w instead of the normal 95w for the C2Q's), which directly means that the sample is a more efficient die. Very easy to OC, but because of how it runs by default you will need a slight voltage bump. Should only need an additional .1v to .125v to get a solid 400mhz FSB OC. The Q9400s I had for easily bumped up to 400 and then got to 434mhz FSB, but it needed a ton of voltage which I didn't want to leave it at. Settled on 403mhz FSB which worked out to 3.22ghz which was a respectable 600mhz(ish) OC.



MaxiPro800 said:


> An oldie I bought yesterday. It's 13 years old at this point, and had bad RAM sticks. It's an ASUS G1-AK005C/NOR, and after googling I've found out it's the older model w/ 945PM and Geforce Go 7700.


That's still a decent system. Should be good for general computing even today. It'll game as long as you choose titles from that timeframe and back, which is a whole lot of good stuff.


MaxiPro800 said:


> Runs Windows 8.1 currently, as I had a 100GB HDD with 8.1 already fresh installed.


If it were me, I'd get an SSD for it, even if only a 128GB or something in that range. An SSD would massively improve system response times.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Here’s the board with a bonus Q9300, and Thermalright heatsink.



 That's a sweet old board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see what you do with it.



lexluthermiester said:


> Saw this and thought it might be useful info for some readers;



Haven't watched this yet, but expect it will be along the lines of my own experiences in my retro gaming PC. Had a Geforce 3 that died, and wanted an AGP card that is cheap (most desirable AGP cards like Geforce 4 TI's, etc. are getting expensive), has proper Win98SE support, supports Table Fog and 8-bit Palleted Textures, has a DVI-I port for use with an HDMI adapter, and good DOS support.









						ASUS V9520 128mb DVI VGA Graphics Video Card for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for ASUS V9520 128mb DVI VGA Graphics Video Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				




Ended up discovering these Asus/HP FX5200s and picked a few up for $12 each with free shipping. These have 128MB on a 128-bit bus (many FX5200s only have a 64-bit memory bus which really kills them). So far a good experience, card performs better then the Geforce 3 did, and I've had no compatibility issues at all using the 56.64 drivers. Card also overclocks well. Definitely plan on replacing the dried out thermal grease though! A nice choice for someone on a budget building a retro system!

Edit: Stock clocks are 250MHz GPU / 400MHz memory so it's faster then the card in Phil's FX5500 video.....I BIOS modded card and am now running at 275MHz / 450MHz memory. I think card has more on the table but I'm CPU limited with my Willamette P4 CPU so this is fine.


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 15, 2020)

Windows 8 got generally disregarded by many. But with Win7 support ended is it a viable option for older computers? Does it run Win7 utilities like Throttlestop and SetFSB?


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> Windows 8 got generally disregarded by many. But with Win7 support ended is it a viable option for older computers? Does it run Win7 utilities like Throttlestop and SetFSB?



I have a similar old laptop hardware wise as MaxiPro800 (Core 2 CPU, 945 mobile chipset, 4GB maximum RAM with only about 3.2GB usable because of chipset limits), and I have found that of all the supported Windows OS that I've tried on it, that Windows 10 LTSB 2015 32-bit runs the best.......with some tweaking of services I can get the machine down to about 600MB of RAM usage when it's idling after a fresh boot. I suggest you do some research on it, you won't be disappointed. All your Windows 7 32-bit software will work just fine. I run the 64-bit version on my Xeon desktop, it too runs awesome. The only bummer is the newest AMD drivers that work are 18.3.3 from 2018 (though I've had no problems gaming with these older drivers even in Metro Exodus). Nvidia drivers don't seem to have this issue however. LTSB 2016 is a little heavier on resource usage and telemetry, but current AMD/Nvidia drivers work fine at least last time I checked a few months ago.

Big problem with Windows 8.1 is there are no current AMD video drivers available.........last ones are from early 2017 as I recall.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> Windows 8 got generally disregarded by many. But with Win7 support ended is it a viable option for older computers? Does it run Win7 utilities like Throttlestop and SetFSB?


They should, but Windows 8 though... If you're not going online with it, go back to Windows 7. If you're going to get online...


budget_Optiplex said:


> Windows 10 LTSB 2015 32-bit runs the best


...Windows 10 LTSB or LTSC will be solid as there is no bloat and they both run lean and clean be default. But you should run the 64bit versions as your Asus has a 64bit CPU.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Windows 10 LTSB or LTSC will be solid as there is no bloat and they both run lean and clean be default. But you should run the 64bit versions as your Asus has a 64bit CPU.



The problem is the 945PM chipset is limited to apx 3.2GB of RAM available to Windows......so 64-bit is a bit heavier for such a limited amount of RAM. The later 965 chipset got rid of this artificial limitation......


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> The problem is the 945PM chipset is limited to apx 3.2GB of RAM available to Windows.


I've never heard or read about that. Do you have a citation?


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've never heard or read about that. Do you have a citation?



Lots of real world experience supporting people still using machines with this chipset in particular the Dell Latitude D520 (car tuners use these because of their serial port). I have set up more D520s for people doing car tuning then I can count. Great old machines, especially upgraded to an SSD and a T7200 CPU!

I still put 2 x 2GB in these machines mostly to get as much bandwidth out of the onboard video as possible. Running 2GB + 1GB sticks noticeably slows down video performance in benches. And the GMA950 doesn't have much of that to begin with lol.

https://www.google.com/search?q=945pm+chipset+4gb&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 15, 2020)

I tried to update my Opti 380 to Win 10 but it seemed to spit out the TS and Set FSB overclocking apps. Maybe a clean install would let me add them later. I can't run a Dell w/o some OC options.
I found a running Dimension E520 MB in my junk pile. This is nostalgic for me because it was first Dell overclock and landed at 2nd and 3rd place at CPUZ for the QX6800 CPU. 3.73GHz, and 3.998Ghz. That was in Sept. 2015. The CPUZ link is in my sig. Those are pretty much locked at 266fsb , and only support 65nm CPUs. But since they were Pentium 4 era MB high clock speeds and high watt CPUs are part of the deal. There are very few Dell BTX with 4 phase VRM. This is one of them. The XPS 410 is another ( I have one with fresh capacitors). I'm working out some massive cooling upgrades from what I had back then. Also I think I can get SetFSB to tweak the FSB some. I haven't been posting my LGA775 stuff here because it seemed too new. But it looks like the forum is moving in that direction so I'll start sharing my stuff. I'm hoping to get an R9 Fury Nano running in this thing but no luck so far. I ran out of Arctic Thermal Epoxy while reworking the VRM heatsinks to allow a bigger cooler. I had some in my tool box but it was dried out. So I'm stuck for the moment.


budget_Optiplex said:


> The problem is the 945PM chipset is limited to apx 3.2GB of RAM available to Windows......so 64-bit is a bit heavier for such a limited amount of RAM. The later 965 chipset got rid of this artificial limitation......


I'm with Lex on this. I think 945 can run 8GB DDR2 666. The 3.2 GB "limit" sound more like 32 bit Windows and not the chipset. The " " around limit are because I ran a 2GB GTX750 with 6GB RAM on Win7 32 and the GPU found the extra RAM for caching, and let Windows 7 -32 use the other 4GB.
My theory is you should be able to stuff 8GB of DDR2 666 in there and run a 4GB GPU , and the 32 bit OS wouldn't notice. Many systems back them "listed" a 4GB RAM limit, because 2GB modules didn't exist yet. With a BIOS update the newer 2GB modules should run. But  with 32 bit Windows they won't "show up".


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 15, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> If it were me, I'd get an SSD for it, even if only a 128GB or something in that range. An SSD would massively improve system response times.



I wouldn't really do that, rather I'd install a 160GB drive, 3GB of RAM and be happy with it. 

Had it been the 965PM version, I'd drop in a even bigger SSD hands down, but 945PM and Geforce 7 series aren't something I'd invest too much on. 
965PM + Geforce 8 series and above are the ones I'd gladly improve in the right way


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

Even if you install 64-bit Windows on a 945 chipset you only get around 3-3.2GB of memory available. Intel crippled this chipset in it's design, much like how the i815 was limited to 512MB........I've worked on a ridiculous amount of laptop and desktop hardware with this chipset.......you will never get your full 4GB of memory.

Examples: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...ore-2-duo-3-gb-memory-limitation-details.html






						i945 Memory Chipset Limitation
					

I've recently upgraded my Dell Latitude D620 with 2x2GB of RAM (4GB total) and was choked to see that my laptop would not recognize it all, even with a 64-bit OS. It would only see 3326MB for me, even in the BIOS.  From what I've read so far, it's a hardware limitation with the i945 chipset...




					forums.anandtech.com
				




You need at least a 946PL or 946GZ chipset to fully utilize 4GB of memory with a 64-bit OS.


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 15, 2020)

I'm sorry it's laptop, so my Desktop experience probably doesn't apply.
 Here's an optiplex 745 with a 945 chipset running 8GB DDR2.


			Dell OptiPlex 745 Performance Results - UserBenchmark


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

Optiplex 745 uses the 965 chipset like your Dimension E520, so it's not crippled like the 945.  

https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/optix/en/opti_745techspecs.pdf

The 965 chipset is really where the Core 2 CPU could release its power.................it's one of my favorite old school chipsets besides the 440BX.

And incidentally the Core 2 (especially the 45nm Penryn) is my favorite CPU of all time, probably why I still run one. Who would have thought a 2007 CPU would be perfectly usable in 2020?


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 15, 2020)

I thought they were the same, then I saw somewhere it was 945. Now I'm not sure.
I guess it is 965. I just ran an Opti 745 long enough to confirm QX6800 support, and an overclock to 3.72GHz and lost interest due to the E520 being better. So it looks like I have 0 experience with the 945 chipset. In fact my E520 project is happening in the hollowed out Opti 745 case


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

I really dig the machine in your sig Retrorockit! Since I'm too lazy to search, I'm curious how your overclocking? I'm assuming software FSB tools?


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 15, 2020)

What do you guys think will happen if you run Win7 and connect to the internet? I'm running Rollback RX. An outside of Windows utility that reverts my SSD at every reboot. This laptop was air gapped for about 2 years. I got my Windows updates and locked in the drive image.


budget_Optiplex said:


> I really dig the machine in your sig Retrorockit! Since I'm too lazy to search, I'm curious how your overclocking? I'm assuming software FSB tools?


I'm lazy too. But real persistent also. Here's the forum on this. It's all multiplier and Voltage on an unlocked CPU.








						Throttlestop overclocking Desktop PCs
					

Myself and a few others have used Throttlestop software and unlocked CPUs to overclock OEM locked BIOS PCs.  Throttlestop was designed for underclocking, and undevolting laptop computers to extend battery life. It also allows full control of Voltage and multiplier on unlocked CPUs. There is a...




					www.techpowerup.com
				



And this one.





						Overclocking Dell BTX Computers
					

Why overclock a Dell? Because they're there. Millions of them in fact. Just about every Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, etc. Intel computer for almost 10 years was a BTX. Many of them are being sold now as refurbished computers for less than you can buy an operating system license. BTX was originally a...




					forums.tomshardware.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Even if you install 64-bit Windows on a 945 chipset you only get around 3-3.2GB of memory available. Intel crippled this chipset in it's design, much like how the i815 was limited to 512MB........I've worked on a ridiculous amount of laptop and desktop hardware with this chipset.......you will never get your full 4GB of memory.
> You need at least a 946PL or 946GZ chipset to fully utilize 4GB of memory with a 64-bit OS.


This was right before mobile chipsets started supporting 8GB+ of RAM. Had forgotten about it..


Retrorockit said:


> What do you guys think will happen if you run Win7 and connect to the internet?


Right now? Not much. There haven't been any serious vulnerabilities found in Windows 7 that would make it a "no go" OS. As long as you have a competent security suite(I highly recommend Comodo Internet Security as it's firewall is currently second to no one!) you'll be fine.



Retrorockit said:


> I'm running Rollback RX. An outside of Windows utility that reverts my SSD at every reboot. This laptop was air gapped for about 2 years. I got my Windows updates and locked in the drive image.


You really don't need that. 7 is still Ok for a daily driver OS as long as you take precautions and use a good computing ethic.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 15, 2020)

canadiantech.info
					

This domain may be for sale!



					www.canadiantech.info
				




This guy is well respected on the askwoody.com forums. I have followed this procedure myself for a few people that I have running this way for quite some time with no problems at all using MS Security Essentials, weekly MalwareBytes scans, and Waterfox/Firefox with uBlock Origin. Their older systems have been rock solid stable running with no updates since that time! The security updates on Win7 the last few years haven't been that great for stability or performance.


__
		https://www.reddit.com/r/coolstar/comments/evaz0l

Here is something similar............have used the 08-2017 ISO and have had no problems. Actually ran this on my machine listed in system specs for several months of daily computing with zero issues. Only reason I went to Win10 LTSB was because I can slim it down to use less resources then even Win7. And on my 8GB machine, any resources I can free up for gaming are a good thing...............with my tweaked LTSB 2015 a clean boot on my 64-bit desktop idles at about 900MB of RAM usage even while having f.lux, Dolby Home Theatre, and Kodak printer monitor software running.

On 7 I do disable all remote desktop services, as well as the workstation/server services to close off some SMB holes. I disable various other uneeded services as well. However I am not on any type of home network so I don't care about disabling network related services.......

Also, though I've never messed with it, alot of people report good experiences using 0patch. https://0patch.com/

I also use and recommend Windows Privacy Dashboard. https://wpd.app/


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 16, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> You really don't need that. 7 is still Ok for a daily driver OS as long as you take precautions and use a good computing ethic.


 I had a special situation. A hacker who used to run the servers for Ebay. I actually ran from a Linux Live DVD with no HDD connected for about a year and a 1/2. Every time I connected the Windows HDD to get a file, I could see a Python script trying to run. A rootkit actually got through once. Then there were the $5K of night vision rifle scopes in  my Ebay shopping cart with the shipping address changed. Not to mention changing my mothers password, and security questions at Bank of America, twice. The foibles of Win7 are the least of my worries.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> I had a special situation. A hacker who used to run the servers for Ebay. I actually ran from a Linux Live DVD with no HDD connected for about a year and a 1/2. Every time I connected the Windows HDD to get a file, I could see a Python script trying to run. A rootkit actually got through once. Then there were the $5K of night vision rifle scopes in  my Ebay shopping cart with the shipping address changed. Not to mention changing my mothers password, and security questions at Bank of America, twice. The foibles of Win7 are the least of my worries.


Someone decided they didn't like you. Hope you got the FBI involved.


budget_Optiplex said:


> Rebuild — Windows Update (December, 2019) | Canadian Tech


There are a number of problems with that guide, not the least of which is the adamant advice to only use DVD "+R" disc's, a completely nonsense notion. I use and have been using DVD "-R" without any troubles. Then there is the notion of connecting to the internet and allowing Windows to "finish" updates before installing anything else, including a security suite. Such is not only very foolish but is blatantly unsafe.


budget_Optiplex said:


> Also, though I've never messed with it, alot of people report good experiences using 0patch. https://0patch.com/


Then there's this. I'm sorry man, don't mean to be insulting, but this should NOT be trusted. Please discontinue recommending it.

We now return everyone to their regularly scheduled thread topic..


----------



## Retrorockit (Aug 16, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Some decided they didn't like you. Hope you got the FBI involved.


I have the advantage of knowing exactly who it is. After a death in the family he applied for 4 credit cards the next day. Used his own address and phone number. So no mystery there. But he got caught before he could use them so no charges were filed by the local police. He may have lost his job because of the police report because the hacking got really serious about 9 months later. The police didn't give ashit until the night vision scope matter. Police being the obvious high value targets at night. They had another complaint with the same false shipping address. This time when I told them who specifically was doing it the hacking coincidentally stopped (AFAIK). The FBI was investigating an identity theft problem using Ebay employee credentials at the time and place he was in charge. I can just imagine him "helping" with the investigation.  But of course they don't report back to me. He also has an online gambling habit. I would guess he's hacking their algorithms. He used his status as a family member to social engineer his way to the deceased persons information. He asked to see the death certificate which has SS#, and mothers maiden name on it. I watched him do it.
 His wife used to work in customer service for American Express, so she's involved also.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 16, 2020)

I plugged in X700Pro card today in my retro gaming PC just for testing, got the thermal paste replaced with Arctic MX4. Surprisingly it runs stable at X700XT clock! Mainly thanks to Samsung memory that always can be clocked higher than advertised. The 2ns memory on this can comfortably run at 525MHz and got a score of 35915 in 3DMark2001SE. This is with 4.1GHz CPU clock, if I clock it at 4.5GHz it should easily break 37000 mark. Too bad this card drops its framerate below 30fps for Serious Sam TSE to at 1920x1080, well this kind of card rarely supposed to handle anything above 1280x1024 back in the day. My X800 breezes this game with 2xAA.






Family portrait with its bigger X800 brother


----------



## Robert B (Aug 16, 2020)

*HIS EXCALIBUR Radeon 9800 PRO IceQ Platinum 128MB AGP 8x*. (Samsung K4D263238E-GC2A) https://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/37031/SAMSUNG/K4D263238E-GC2A.html

Untested and with a missing heatsink from the video memory. Otherwise intact. Flea market loot in all its glory! 

I hope that it is still alive and kicking. My luck with ATI cards has been abysmal over the years ... not to mention that I find them very hard compared to nVidia products.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 16, 2020)

Robert B said:


> *HIS EXCALIBUR Radeon 9800 PRO IceQ Platinum 128MB AGP 8x*. (Samsung K4D263238E-GC2A) https://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/37031/SAMSUNG/K4D263238E-GC2A.html
> 
> Untested and with a missing heatsink from the video memory. Otherwise intact. Flea market loot in all its glory!
> 
> I hope that it is still alive and kicking. My luck with ATI cards has been abysmal over the years ... not to mention that I find them very hard compared to nVidia products.


It doesn't look all to good, IO plate is warped, but I hope it worked. You may never know. My X800XT PE look as bad as that, and works...for a month or so before artifact. ATi cards are indeed more fragile than nvidia ones, or perhaps the higher end cards. I never have problem with mid range cards like Radeon 9550/X600 cards that still work today.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 16, 2020)

If it is still alive I can make it GREAT AGAIN! If not then a show piece it will be! 

There is no guarantee with these relics. The only thing that it is certain is that if it works and I restore it, it will be put in a box with a WORKING tag. The rest? Well is history. I don't plan to power it up unless I sell it years from now.  Indeed these cards are quite fragile.

Usually at the flea market I don't find working ATI cards so I take this with a truck load of salt.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 16, 2020)

Heh, there really are no guarantees that they would work. I just bought an ABIT NF7 today and you can't tell it's used. Won't POST or beep.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 16, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Then there's this. I'm sorry man, don't mean to be insulting, but this should NOT be trusted. Please discontinue recommending it.





			https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/worth-considering-0patch-for-win7-after-january-2020/
		


Yeah doing some additional reading 0patch kinda looks like a cluster****. I have seen it discussed a lot on various Windows 7 support forums so that's why I threw it out as something to investigate.....not a recommendation. There does seem to be a very mixed opinion on it no doubt!



lexluthermiester said:


> There are a number of problems with that guide, not the least of which is the adamant advice to only use DVD "+R" disc's, a completely nonsense notion. I use and have been using DVD "-R" without any troubles. Then there is the notion of connecting to the internet and allowing Windows to "finish" updates before installing anything else, including a security suite. Such is not only very foolish but is blatantly unsafe.



And on this yeah I don't get the DVD-R vs DVD+R suggestion either, I've never had a problem with either type and I've used both since the days they came on the market. My ancient DVD-R burned discs work fine.

And I like his methodology as far as getting the base system updated to May of 2017, but I agree that next should be a good security suite before getting on the internet the first time to finish checking for updates. But then again I've purposely installed just a base un-updated Win7 SP1 on my test bench system and let it sit on the internet for days behind just a cheap Netgear wireless router just to see what happens.....and so far I've seen no evidence of a system compromise. Take it for what you want. Personally I think the fear mongering about updates at least as far as a simple home user is concerned may be a bit over-hyped. Now a large business or 'high-value' target, then yeah updates and security issues should be your 1st consideration.

I'm well aware of people out there that are still running Vista, XP SP3, and Win7 as daily drivers all in various states of patches and none of them has had a security issue. Then again these are people who have been around and know what they are doing and how to practice 'safe-computing' such as myself. I have yet to personally get a virus or malware infection in 30 years of using Windows daily (knock on wood).



Robert B said:


> *HIS EXCALIBUR Radeon 9800 PRO IceQ Platinum 128MB AGP 8x*. (Samsung K4D263238E-GC2A) https://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/37031/SAMSUNG/K4D263238E-GC2A.html
> 
> Untested and with a missing heatsink from the video memory. Otherwise intact. Flea market loot in all its glory!
> 
> I hope that it is still alive and kicking. My luck with ATI cards has been abysmal over the years ... not to mention that I find them very hard compared to nVidia products.



That's a nice card. Had one back in the day I bought used off ebay in 2004 or so, it was a very solid performer other then a few driver related issues. Played through F.E.A.R. using that card, one of my favorite games ever! I wish I would have held on to it, but traded it and some other stuff for a used Geforce 6600GT around 2006. Oh how I and probably everyone else wishes the ATI drivers were better quality back then. Very nice hardware short-changed by mostly mediocre drivers. I hope it works for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 16, 2020)

Tried a test POST for the Gigabyte X48 that @JustAnEngineer sent me. Came up on first power up. There’s way more options for overclocking compared to the limited options the XFX board had. Also auto detected the SPD profile for the DDR2-1066 DIMMS.

CMOS battery seems to be fine.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 19, 2020)

Full restoration in progress ... I didn't power up the HIS 9800 PRO and I left this for when I'm done with it. I found a couple of problems or should I say more  and I decided to keep it off from the electrical juice until she'll be @ 100%!

The rings of Saturn.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 19, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Full restoration in progress ... I didn't power up the HIS 9800 PRO and I left this for when I'm done with it. I found a couple of problems or should I say more  and I decided to keep it off from the electrical juice until she'll be @ 100%!
> 
> The rings of Saturn.


Very wise choice!


----------



## Robert B (Aug 22, 2020)

*Flea Market Day TODAY!!!*





1. *Windows 98 SE* - aka Deuxieme Edition. French. Sealed. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



2. Mitsumi CD-ROM 2x / *Double Speed*. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 2x?! HELL YEAH! How slow can you go?
3. *Pentium PRO 180MHz* - KB80521EX180 - SL22S - 256KB  - one VSS pin partially torn but I think that I can straighten the other pins without casualties. I might be able to solder the damaged pin back or the surrounding pins might take other its function. The problem is that I still don't have a sk8 motherboard to test it.  My gut feeling says that I'll find one, eventually.  All roads lead to Rome.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 23, 2020)

Robert B said:


> 3. *Pentium PRO 180MHz* - KB80521EX180 - SL22S - 256KB - one VSS pin partially torn but I think that I can straighten the other pins without casualties. I might be able to solder the damaged pin back or the surrounding pins might take other its function. The problem is that I still don't have a sk8 motherboard to test it.  My gut feeling says that I'll find one, eventually.  All roads lead to Rome.


Those pins are dead simple to replace/resolder. Straightening the rest of the pins is as simple as getting a 0.7mm mechanical pencil, taking out the lead and using the tube shaft to carefully bend them back into place.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 23, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those pins are dead simple to replace/resolder. Straightening the rest of the pins is as simple as getting a 0.7mm mechanical pencil, taking out the lead and using the tube shaft to carefully bend them back into place.


@Robert B seems like type that would be aware of using a mechanical pencil for straightening pins. I say that considering what he’s come across in need of repairs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 23, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> @Robert B seems like type that would be aware of using a mechanical pencil for straightening pins. I say that considering what he’s come across in need of repairs.


To be fair, it's not ultra common knowledge. Didn't want to assume he knew. Sharing is caring!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 23, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> To be fair, it's not ultra common knowledge. Didn't want to assume he knew. Sharing is caring!


True. It just feels like common knowledge because there are more enthusiasts here than not.


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 27, 2020)

Nvidia FX series, clock adjusted results :

1) 3DMark 01SE :




NV driver : 93.71.
Added few (OC'ed) cards from time period for better reference points.

Platform used :



*5800 Ultra used faster Phenom II 965 @ 4,1GHz + 2,5GHz NB on the same board (was tested by someone I know that has one).

2) 3DMark 03 (no 5800 Ultra score sadly ) : LINK.
Best I can do for it is this :




Enjoy


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 27, 2020)

Had a quick run at overclocking the Q9400. It does post at 450x8 = 3.6 GHz but then it reboots on the post screen.













It doesn't feel that slow. ^


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2020)

Hm, thinking about an ultimate XP gaming build, Q9500 and 2 or 4GB but what would be an ok GPU..? 8800 GT, HD 4890, HD 5770 or even HD 6850/6870? GTX 570 is way too much IMO. 



lexluthermiester said:


> Saw this and thought it might be useful info for some readers;


I paid less for a GF3 Ti 200..  When thinking that FX 5500 is just an overclocked FX 5200, that ain't cheap.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 27, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> It does post at 450x8 = 3.6


Ah there is a reason for that. 450mhzFSB is not a multiple of 33mhz(maybe it's 66mhz) and as a result many of the motherboard components(RAM, PCIe, PCI, SATA, USB) are being overclocked to odd speeds they can not handle as their clocks are all tied into the FSB. If you were to try 466mhz, you would likely have more success.



biffzinker said:


> It doesn't feel that slow. ^


It's not in the context of a C2Q. Very solid OC.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 27, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah there is a reason for that. 450mhzFSB is not a multiple of 33mhz and as a result many of the motherboard components(PCIe, PCI, SATA, USB) are being overclocked to odd speeds they can not handle as their clocks are all tied into the FSB. If you were to try 466mhz, you would likely have more success.
> 
> 
> It's not in the context of a C2Q. Very solid OC.


It wouldn't power on this morning after running at 3.46 GHz without instability. Backing it down to 400 MHz FSB though was fine. All I did was a shutdown last night.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 27, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> It wouldn't power on this morning after running at 3.46 GHz without instability. Backing it down to 400 MHz FSB though was fine. All I did was a shutdown last night.


What voltages did you try? As general rule, you can bump the voltage by 10% without fear of any adverse effects. 15% is easy as long as you have good cooling. Above 15% is where one needs to start being careful. Take a screenshot of your bios voltage defaults and lets see if we can dial things in for you.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 28, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> what would be an ok GPU..? 8800 GT, HD 4890, HD 5770 or even HD 6850/6870?



Heck, for an XP gaming machine I'd go with the 4890 or 8800 GT/GTS/GTX. The GTX would be the ultimate in the 8800 series of course. However, all the GPU's you listed would work great.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 28, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Heck, for an XP gaming machine I'd go with the 4890 or 8800 GT/GTS/GTX. The GTX would be the ultimate in the 8800 series of course. However, all the GPU's you listed would work great.


Would a 7950 aka R9 280 be to much for a Windows XP Vista gaming PC? Think I'm just going to roll with it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Would a 7950 aka R9 280 be to much for a Windows XP Vista gaming PC? Think I'm just going to roll with it.


Nope, you'll be good! Ideally, a GTX670/GTX760 is the best bang-for-buck in a Windows XP build as the driver support was still very good. But if you already have a Radeon R9 class GPU, those are very solid too.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Would a 7950 aka R9 280 be to much for a Windows XP Vista gaming PC? Think I'm just going to roll with it.



If you're rolling with Vista then a 280 would be great.


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> It wouldn't power on this morning after running at 3.46 GHz without instability. Backing it down to 400 MHz FSB though was fine. All I did was a shutdown last night.


I'm pretty sure X48 boards have seperate clock gens for both PCIe and PCI.
I would guess it's DRAM timing screw up.
CL5.7.7.21 is VERY weird setting for 1066MHz memory, what tRFC is used ?
Also, not sure how many MB of memory you have, but at 1066MHz a NB voltage increase may be required.
Similary at 450MHz FSB, FSB Termination/VTT increase may be required.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 28, 2020)

I'd personally consider using even that GTX 570 as an overkill for XP build


----------



## The Foldinator (Aug 28, 2020)

Also have the QC6600 that goes with the P5K , X58 board is still a strong one(still used by many as far as i can see) with a *Intel Xeon X5675* also somewhere in my room 



I sooo wanted leds on my memory i had 4x of them (long time ago) bought the day they came out in _Dutchland_ and i am still missing a arm and a leg 



Fast because of the leds


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 28, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> I'm pretty sure X48 boards have seperate clock gens for both PCIe and PCI.
> I would guess it's DRAM timing screw up.
> CL5.7.7.21 is VERY weird setting for 1066MHz memory, what tRFC is used ?
> Also, not sure how many MB of memory you have, but at 1066MHz a NB voltage increase may be required.
> Similary at 450MHz FSB, FSB Termination/VTT increase may be required.


The Gigabyte board is picking up the SPD Ext profile for the DDR2-1066 MHz. However it's adjusting the timings because of training? There's four sticks for 8 GB, each stick is dual rank.
Bumping the voltage a tiny bit for the FSB Termination/VTT, and MCH seems to have stabilize the inability to run at 433 MHz.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 28, 2020)

Do I remember wrong but isn't P45 generally the best overclocker from 775 era?


----------



## The Foldinator (Aug 28, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Do I remember wrong but isn't P45 generally the best overclocker from 775 era?


You are right   most of the time paired with a QC6600


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> The Gigabyte board is picking up the SPD Ext profile for the DDR2-1066 MHz. However it's adjusting the timings because of training?
> View attachment 166925View attachment 166926


Just to point out the obvious :



Whatever is used as profile (with or without training), should be seen in diagnostic programs.
In your case, left side does not correspond at all to what is seen on the right.
Short tale : BIOS is doing some pretty silly stuff in the background.

Drop DRAM Speed to 900MHz (with 450MHz FSB), fix primary timings to one value (5.5.5.15) with tRFC between 42/52. At this point it should work with 450MHz+ FSB (assuming you put 2,1V on DRAM Voltage and CPU isn't too crappy on VTT side). 
Oh, and up NB Voltage to 1,4V


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 29, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I'd personally consider using even that GTX 570 as an overkill for XP build


Nah. That would be a solid card, but not overkill IMHO. Actually, a 2GB GTX560ti would be a better card as it has more VRAM.



biffzinker said:


> Bumping the voltage a tiny bit for the FSB Termination/VTT, and MCH seems to have stabilize the inability to run at 433 MHz.


Very nice!



Chloe Price said:


> Do I remember wrong but isn't P45 generally the best overclocker from 775 era?


X48 actually, but the P45 was solid when the board it went to was well designed & built.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 29, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nah. That would be a solid card, but not overkill IMHO. Actually, a 2GB GTX560ti would be a better card as it has more VRAM.


IMO it really depends on which era of games you intended to play with your XP rig. A bit of overkill is in order since back then we don't use 1080p monitor, unless you have proper period correct monitor to couple with them


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 29, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> A bit of overkill is in order since back then we don't use 1080p monitor


I did. I was an early adopter of the 1080p standard and had one of the first Viewsonic 1080p LCDs released. Before that I had 900p(1440x900) screens, so the difference in performance was marginal. There are many games at that time that needed beefy GPU's to run. The thing is, the cost difference between earlier gen cards and the GTX5xx/GTX6xx is minimal so unless you already have a card, why not go for the better card?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 29, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I did. I was an early adopter of the 1080p standard and had one of the first Viewsonic 1080p LCDs released. Before that I had 900p(1440x900) screens, so the difference in performance was marginal. There are many games at that time that needed beefy GPU's to run. The thing is, the cost difference between earlier gen cards and the GTX5xx/GTX6xx is minimal so unless you already have a card, why not go for the better card?


Weren't some of those Viewsonic LCDs rebranded IBM screens? I found a few models IBM did that were sold under a few different brands, including iiyama and Viewsonic.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 29, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nah. That would be a solid card, but not overkill IMHO. Actually, a 2GB GTX560ti would be a better card as it has more VRAM.
> 
> 
> Very nice!
> ...


Hm, on the other hand I COULD put a HD 4890 Crossfire setup... hmm... 



Apocalypsee said:


> IMO it really depends on which era of games you intended to play with your XP rig. A bit of overkill is in order since back then we don't use 1080p monitor, unless you have proper period correct monitor to couple with them


It must run Crysis at medium 60fps  that 4890 CF would be the coolest thing ever..


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 29, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> It must run Crysis at medium 60fps  that 4890 CF would be the coolest thing ever..


I think CF 4890 could achieve that. HD 6970 could do 30fps very high 1080p. Crysis scales well when dialling down detail setting, as it was the last Cryengine thats build purely for PC.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 29, 2020)

It would seem this Q9400 was one of the better bins. The core voltage is nudged up to 1.3875 from stock 1.2875. No problems with 3.553 GHz.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 30, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Weren't some of those Viewsonic LCDs rebranded IBM screens? I found a few models IBM did that were sold under a few different brands, including iiyama and Viewsonic.


Not sure, never knew that. If they were, I would have been ok with it as IBM screens were very good in the late 2000's, IIRC.



biffzinker said:


> The core voltage is nudged up to 1.3875 from stock 1.2875.


Wouldn't go much higher than that. 1.4v would be the upper limit I would try, but that is just one perspective.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 30, 2020)

I need a better board... this Asrock KT400A shit just isn't good. 

Trying now with AXP2700+ at 2.23GHz, though the final build will be with Athlon 1000 @ 1400 


...if I get a hella good mobo, that is going to be at least at 1.5GHz, that AXIA OC's like mad.. 

Why the Athlon? some may ask. Just for the nostalgia. My first gaming PC had an Athlon 1000 @ 1404MHz


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Why the Athlon? some may ask. Just for the nostalgia. My first gaming PC had an Athlon 1000 @ 1404MHz


Athlon Thunderbird? I missed out on that CPU, however I did have the Palomino, and the one before that got panned for running hot/no OC potential, that was missing the extra metal layer on the silicon die. Or was that Palomino?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 30, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Athlon Thunderbird? I missed out on that CPU, however I did have the Palomino, and the one before that got panned that was missing the extra metal layer on the silicon die. Or was that Palomino?


Yup, Thunderbird


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Why the Athlon? some may ask. Just for the nostalgia. My first gaming PC had an Athlon 1000 @ 1404MHz


Wow, you are young... or maybe I'm getting old...


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 30, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> or maybe I'm getting old...


It not just you.  I’m trying to catch up for missing out on some of the past CPUs. That’s were the Q9400 comes in.

I should swap the Q9400 for the Q9300 @JustAnEngineer sent along with the board, and find what it is capable of.

Did you ever OC the Q9300 @JustAnEngineer?


----------



## JustAnEngineer (Aug 30, 2020)

I only overclocked the Q9300 for a few hours for entertainment purposes.  Twelve years ago, it was plenty quick enough at its 2.5 GHz stock speed.  My father certainly didn't need it to run any faster than stock when I built a new system for myself and gave the Core2Quad Q9300 system to him.  The i5-3570K that he has now is noticeably quicker for his office tasks, but a big part of that is that it boots from SSD.


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 30, 2020)

JustAnEngineer said:


> The i5-3570K that he has now is noticeably quicker for his office tasks, but a big part of that is that it boots from SSD.


Maybe that’s why the 9400 doesn’t feel that slow. Booting the board from a older Intel 520 series 120GB SSD.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 30, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Maybe that’s why the 9400 doesn’t feel that slow. Booting the board from a older Intel 520 series 120GB SSD.


SSD is just a magical thing. Even older dualcores get a hella huge boost just by having a SSD


----------



## biffzinker (Aug 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> SSD is just a magical thing. Even older dualcores get a hella huge boost just by having a SSD


The Intel SSD is one of those with a Sandforce controller but with Intel customized firmware.

The only time Intel sourced the SandForce controller?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 30, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> The Intel SSD is one of those with a Sandforce controller but with Intel customized firmware.


My laptop has a DRAM-less Gigabyte branded one and that's already a thing 

And about the Athlon... ofc it's an AXIA core


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> My laptop has a DRAM-less Gigabyte branded one and that's already a thing


I've been buying KingSpec SSD's from Amazon and they are zippy. I have a 360GB model in my AndroidX86 CM14.1R4 based Dell Vostro V131. Never had a problem. I'm not so concerned with DRAMless SSD's as I am QLC based crap...


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 30, 2020)

Some AXP/GF3 goofin'


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 31, 2020)

@Chloe Price or anyone else who wants to build a retro system based on Win9x or Win2k/XP,
Just an FYI, all SSD's made within the last 5 years have TRIM/Garbage collection functionality built into the drive controller, so you don't need to worry about performance degradation on OSes that have no TRIM support. Just get a modern SSD(anything with 3D NAND) and you're good to go.
(I think this might have been said already, but it's worth repeating here.)


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 31, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> @Chloe Price or anyone else who want to build a retro system *based on Win9x or Win2k/XP*,
> Just an FYI, all SSD's made within the last 5 years have TRIM/Garbage collection functionality built into the drive controller, so you don't need to worry about performance degradation on OSes that have no TRIM support. Just get a modern SSD(anything with 3D NAND) and you're good to go.


Hmm, I'd love to put 2000... or maybe dualboot?


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 31, 2020)

Crap, I have been looking for a copy with key of Win2K for a long time. Haven't came across a single one yet that I can grab.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 31, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Crap, I have been looking for a copy with key of Win2K for a long time. Haven't came across a single one yet that I can grab.











						Windows 2000 Professional CD KEY
					

Windows 2000 Professional CD KEY: G74HG-XXQTJ-RTX64-QKP3F-HKHXP  F6PGG-4YYDJ-3FF3T-R328P-3BXTG  VXKC4-2B3YF-W9MFK-QB3DB-9Y7MB  V8YCV-T66J9-YDHT3-D8X7W-QV89J  J4




					georgia.forumotion.net


----------



## Bb1 (Sep 3, 2020)

Hi guys, looking to sell on some of my old PC parts, but it's something I've lost touch with over the years so I'm a bit out of sync with prices etc. I understand there's been a bit of a resurgence in building retro PCs, so there might be more value than I first thought...!

The main components I wondered about a rough value on were...
Pentium 4 3.4ghz
Motherboard gigabyte ga-8i848pm
ATI sapphire HD3850 512mb AGP slot

I'm just curious more than anything - didn't realise there was an interest in it  sadly I've decided to leave my days of Baldur's Gate and Dungeon Keeper behind me, but certainly some very fond memories


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Sep 3, 2020)

Bb1 said:


> Hi guys, looking to sell on some of my old PC parts, but it's something I've lost touch with over the years so I'm a bit out of sync with prices etc. I understand there's been a bit of a resurgence in building retro PCs, so there might be more value than I first thought...!
> 
> The main components I wondered about a rough value on were...
> Pentium 4 3.4ghz
> ...



IMO, you'll have a hard time getting a decent amount of money from that stuff...I mean...I bought my entire Pentium 3 retro PC, with matching mouse and keyboard, for $13 CAD, from a PC recycler / refurbishing center.  The P4 is maybe worth $5...the board, maybe $20-25, the GPU, maybe $10-$15.  You might be able to get more if you put them on Ebay and aren't in a rush to sell...or they could never sell. Honestly, it's almost hard to give away hardware of that age, as it's not really "retro" to most people, but not new enough to make a modern PC...and super common.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 3, 2020)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> and super common.



The 3850 AGP might be worth something. 
I know @Chloe Price scored a good deal on one lately but they can sometimes sell upwards of a hundred or so. Possibly more if you have a retail box and what not to go along with it.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 3, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> The 3850 AGP might be worth something.
> I know @Chloe Price scored a good deal on one lately but they can sometimes sell upwards of a hundred or so. Possibly more if you have a retail box and what not to go along with it.


Yeah, those are kinda rare and sought after as it's the fastest AGP card (3870 AGP prototypes don't count) and like you said, those are usually about 80-100EUR/USD and even upwards on ebay..


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 3, 2020)

Best AGP i could find when i wanted one for a retro build
was Sapphire HD 3650  AGP ( with retail box and drivers Disk ).


----------



## Bb1 (Sep 3, 2020)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> IMO, you'll have a hard time getting a decent amount of money from that stuff...I mean...I bought my entire Pentium 3 retro PC, with matching mouse and keyboard, for $13 CAD, from a PC recycler / refurbishing center.  The P4 is maybe worth $5...the board, maybe $20-25, the GPU, maybe $10-$15.  You might be able to get more if you put them on Ebay and aren't in a rush to sell...or they could never sell. Honestly, it's almost hard to give away hardware of that age, as it's not really "retro" to most people, but not new enough to make a modern PC...and super common.


I think that's good to know just to put it into context. Like I say, I'm a bit out of touch with it. Will just sell for a modest amount then and hope it brings some joy to someone


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Sep 3, 2020)

Good catch on the 3850 AGP guys, I totally forgot that it was the fastest AGP card...might very well be able to sell it on Ebay for a decent amount, with some patience, of course.


Bb1 said:


> I think that's good to know just to put it into context. Like I say, I'm a bit out of touch with it. Will just sell for a modest amount then and hope it brings some joy to someone



I totally looked over the 3850 being AGP...thankfully the others didn't...turns out your GPU might be worth a fair bit of money on Ebay.  No harm in listing it, right?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 4, 2020)

Message me what you hope to get for the CPU and GPU. I might make your day.


----------



## phill (Sep 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> My laptop has a DRAM-less Gigabyte branded one and that's already a thing
> 
> And about the Athlon... ofc it's an AXIA core


I had a Duron 650Mhz for my first socket A rig, eventually went to a 1GHz Thunderbird whih did 1.33GHz without many hassles...  If I recall, just had to change the FSB from 100MHz to 133MHz 

I wish I had some pics of the system but the earliest I go back to is 2004   I think I had that one back in 1999...


----------



## JustAnEngineer (Sep 4, 2020)

Those were the days of easy overclocking.  1) Buy a Duron of any speed.  2) Pencil-trick it to 700.  3)  Bump FSB from 100 to 133 MHz.  4) Duron-933 all-day everyday with no complaints.


----------



## phill (Sep 4, 2020)

JustAnEngineer said:


> Those were the days of easy overclocking.  1) Buy a Duron of any speed.  2) Pencil-trick it to 700.  3)  Bump FSB from 100 to 133 MHz.  4) Duron-933 all-day everyday with no complaints.


And then when the AMD XP M's came out...  1.83GHz to 2.4GHz without any hassles at all and with nice cool temps and no extra volts if you had a good one!   Man I loved that era....  GTA 3 was out as well if I recall...  

Damn I'm old!!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2020)

phill said:


> Damn I'm old!!


Right there with you, and I'm only in my 40's..


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 6, 2020)

I'm only 30 and it feels like yesterday when PCIe came out and it was the end of the single core wars (P4 vs A64).. Pentium D & A64 X2 came in 2005 and damn, it's the half of my life and still feels like it wasn't THAT long ago.


----------



## AAF Optimus (Sep 6, 2020)

Just resold one of the capacitors that is damaged and works again.


----------



## JustAnEngineer (Sep 6, 2020)

I'm still using my Altec-Lansing ACS-400 speakers - with an Amazon Echo Dot.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 6, 2020)

You can now browse, and apply Winamp Skins to Webamp from the Winamp Skin Museum.


----------



## AAF Optimus (Sep 6, 2020)

That Winamp... Good times.


----------



## natr0n (Sep 6, 2020)

I still use winamp.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 6, 2020)

natr0n said:


> I still use winamp.


Same here. Some stuff just isn't on Spotify.



Spoiler









Been using this skin since 2007 or 2008


----------



## phill (Sep 7, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Right there with you, and I'm only in my 40's..


I've not long turned 40 but I'm sure my 50's will be around the corner more than face enough since my eldest will be 18....   Damn that's scary!!


----------



## bobbybluz (Sep 7, 2020)

You kids are young. It won't be long before I hit 70. The older you are the faster time flies by.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 7, 2020)

bobbybluz said:


> You kids are young. It won't be long before I hit 70. The older you are the faster time flies by.




Oh man, I hear ya there. I'm almost 63 and you are exactly correct, the older you get the faster it seems to go. Sucks.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 7, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> the older you get the faster it seems to go. Sucks.


Seems to be zipping by already, how much faster can it go? Besides I never have enough time in a day to do what I want as it is.


----------



## basco (Sep 7, 2020)

i feel ya - getting 47 in a few days and my tennis is getting bad. only excuse i have is my opponent is 29.
maybe i should also do a retro build


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 7, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Oh man, I hear ya there. I'm almost 63 and you are exactly correct, the older you get the faster it seems to go. Sucks.


Had no idea. 
You got a couple years on me.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 7, 2020)

I'm 33, surprised to see large age gap here but there is common things in this thread; we all love PC parts of yesteryear especially during our youth.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 7, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> I'm 33, surprised to see large age gap here but there is common things in this thread; we all love PC parts of yesteryear especially during our youth.


Exactly. And I was hella poor as a teen, my first "gaming" PC was an Athlon 1GHz/512MB/GF4 Ti 4200-8x in 2005 so my retro rig has to be somewhat similar. Same CPU (even the famous AXIA stepping which overclocks like mad) though GPU is a little slower. But more RAM. 

But it's not just about PCs. I began to be interested in PCs in around 2004, so I was a console gamer since the early 1990s, still play NES (the same one as then!) and PS1/PS2 games. NES games are even more awesome today, PS1 games looks crude but I don't mind and a soft-modded PS2 is a true gem. Kinda a perfect time to be alive, though a good wide CRT would be perfect for retroconsoles.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 7, 2020)

Alan Finote said:


> Just resold one of the capacitors that is damaged and works again.
> 
> View attachment 167812


Clean those puppies up! They deserve some love after all the years of service they've given!



Alan Finote said:


> That Winamp... Good times.


I still use it. There's a saying, if it works and it's useful, it's not outdated.



Chloe Price said:


> Same here. Some stuff just isn't on Spotify.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


SNES FF3/6 OST Nice!!



bobbybluz said:


> You kids are young. It won't be long before I hit 70. The older you are the faster time flies by.





stinger608 said:


> Oh man, I hear ya there. I'm almost 63 and you are exactly correct, the older you get the faster it seems to go. Sucks.


I suddenly feel like a kid again... Thank You both for that!


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 7, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> SNES FF3/6 OST Nice!!


One of the best games ever. Tho these days I love probably most IX/X/XIII soundtracks. 










Fun fact, there was some of the same guys behind X's and XIII's soundtrack..  tho not Nobuo the God on XIII


----------



## AAF Optimus (Sep 7, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I still use it. There's a saying, if it works and it's useful, it's not outdated.


You're right. I just installed it.



Chloe Price said:


> Same here. Some stuff just isn't on Spotify.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What is this skin? Reminds Windows Media Player 11 (XP).


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 7, 2020)

Alan Finote said:


> What is this skin?


Here you go bro 






						WinVista_WMP11 - WinampHeritage.com
					

WinVista_WMP11 - by Guljay Sergey Viktorovich, Belarus, Mozur Download WinVista_WMP11 Winamp skin for free on WinampHeritage.com




					winampheritage.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 7, 2020)

Alan Finote said:


> You're right. I just installed it.


I actually run two different versions of Winamp, 2.95 for music and 5.8 for video.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 8, 2020)

I was actually older when really got into gaming. It was when the original Doom first came out. I was on dial up of course and the first month was a damn killer! I was messing with the internet and gaming with Doom. I think that first month I had a damn phone bill of $300+!!!! 
Needless to say, things changed a ton right after that. 
Internet was a "pay per minute" charge on most accounts. I remember getting an AOL account which was a ton cheaper. Then I think I grabbed a NetZero account which was waaaaaaaay cheaper.


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 8, 2020)

I'll be 69 the first week of October, I remember the Apple 2e, I think you had to run it from a 5.25 floppy, I still have some of those disks.  Then on to the IBM 8088, a friend gave me one, then on to the 286, 386, 486, etc. I've finally realized at this point in my life, it nice to dig up some of the old bones and build a PC out of those. As I get older, faster just isn't what I need anymore, just good and slow, works fine.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 8, 2020)

Makes me feel hella young... like I said, born in -90 



Mr Bill said:


> I'll be 69 the first week of October, I remember the Apple 2e, I think you had to run it from a 5.25 floppy, I still have some of those disks.  Then on to the IBM 8088, a friend gave me one, then on to the 286, 386, 486, etc. I've finally realized at this point in my life, it nice to dig up some of the old bones and build a PC out of those. As I get older, faster just isn't what I need anymore, just good and slow, works fine.


Heh, you could be my grandpa and it's nice to see that people of their 70s still are hanging on internet with our younger ones. Gotta respect.


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 8, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Makes me feel hella young... like I said, born in -90
> 
> 
> Heh, you could be my grandpa and it's nice to see that people of their 70s still are hanging on internet with our younger ones. Gotta respect.


I'm actually a great grandpa, have 3 great grand kids.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 8, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I'm actually a great grandpa, have 3 great grand kids.


You must teach these about older tech unless you've done that already 


If I have a kid someday I'll make him/her play NES as soon as he/she can hold a controller. 

edit: 69 and great-grandpa, damn  you ~70 years old arent even old at this day's standard


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 8, 2020)

Does this forum have what you might call a "junkyard" you know, a place where folks can buy used PC parts/components from the members. I am in the A/C and Heating business in Houston and I'm on HVAC-TALK we have one there for parts, new and old.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 8, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> Does this forum have what you might call a "junkyard" you know, a place where folks can buy used PC parts/components from the members. I am in the A/C and Heating business in Houston and I'm on HVAC-TALK we have one there for parts, new and old.


Isn't it this? 









						Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway Forum
					

Use this forum to buy/sell/trade items. No advertising of links. User to user only. No commercial posts.




					www.techpowerup.com
				




There's much stuff already in Finland so I haven't bought/sell anything at least not yet here in TPU... also you seem to be a newcomer, welcome to TPU!


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 8, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Isn't it this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, "real newcomer" as in signed up today. I think my first PC Forum I joined around 20 years ago was AfterDawn.com I'm still a member, just don't know my user name or password.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 8, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> Yes, "real newcomer" as in signed up today. I think my first PC Forum I joined around 20 years ago was AfterDawn.com I'm still a member, just don't know my user name or password.


As I am hella young for you, I've already a veteran on IRC and many forums... I had also an older nick on here but damn I just forgot it... dammit.

Been on several forums since 2005 but after all, TPU feels comfortable. Also that English isn't my native language so it's nice to train my vocabulary when posting to an international forum.


----------



## phill (Sep 8, 2020)

Guys I just had a thought, are we now nostalgic hardware if we are over 40 or is that pushing it as well??


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 8, 2020)

phill said:


> Guys I just had a thought, are we now nostalgic hardware if we are over 40 or is that pushing it as well??


I'll be the mascot hanging around


----------



## phill (Sep 8, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I'll be the mascot hanging around


Not a problem


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 8, 2020)

phill said:


> Guys I just had a thought, are we now nostalgic hardware if we are over 40 or is that pushing it as well??


In the computer/microelectronics world, 10 years old is ancient, even with Moore's law slowing down.


----------



## JustAnEngineer (Sep 8, 2020)

January 9, 2021 will be the 10th birthday of Sandy Bridge Core i7-2600K.  My brother is still using that PC and gaming on it every day.


----------



## ThrashZone (Sep 8, 2020)

Hi,
lol yeah we're very old hardware 

13 y.o. water cooled Q9550 with evga 980ti are doing pretty well as a media center
Win-7 scales way better than win-10 to my cheapo lg quad core 43" smart t.v. for sure and way better than dealing with it's slow crap apps.


----------



## phill (Sep 8, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> In the computer/microelectronics world, 10 years old is ancient, even with Moore's law slowing down.


So if we are say 30 to 40+...... what the heck are we considered??!!  Relics??


----------



## Robert B (Sep 8, 2020)

*Cerrone - Supernature*

Hi guys I'm also 40! 



JustAnEngineer said:


> January 9, 2021 will be the 10th birthday of Sandy Bridge Core i7-2600K.  My brother is still using that PC and gaming on it every day.



DId anyone say SB? I'm still rocking my original 2600K from 2011. Albeit now it has a 1070 GTX instead of the beastly Lightning 580 GTX.  Bigger SSD's and a bigger HDD.

The 2600K is the best CPU that I ever purchased. Together with the ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z it is still doing history as we speak.  Hopefully in December when I'll be 41 (Yikes!) I'll change to some Ryzen goodness.

I've been keeping the 2600K since 2011 @ 1.3V and 4.4GHz full throttle. Truth be told I never bothered to take it higher. If it works why bother?  They say when you get older you also get wiser.  yeah right ...

I still own a FHD monitor and I hope to change that too.  

I'll keep my Bitfenix Colossus Pro Venom Edition as I STILL LOVE THE BEAST!!!!  

The PC has suffered some tweaks and changes and now it has 4x TY-150 fans inside and two TY-141SQ. I love Thermalright Stuff! Archon POWAH!!!  No water cooling for me. AIR COOLING! and NO ARGIBII !!!

The pics bellow are from 2011, 2016 and 2020.

The TIM on the CPU, Arctic MX-4, has been changed only in 2020. I did some tests and it was still fine after 9 years. No thermal throttling or other problems. I trust the MX-4 to keep my old HW frosty too and it is good to know that this stuff is viable for many, many, years. It would've been a PITA to know that I'll have to soon change again the TIM on all my retro HW, slot A, slot 1 Cpus, graphic cards and you name it. 

When I'll change my system I'll post a special episode for this PC on the Project logs section. These parts will never be sold and I'll hang to them like my first PC. The 2600K was my first ever no money limit system. I still feel the tingles I got when I placed the order for the motherboard and CPU combo.


----------



## AAF Optimus (Sep 8, 2020)

Robert B said:


> *Cerrone - Supernature*
> 
> Hi guys I'm also 40!
> 
> ...


OMG


----------



## phill (Sep 9, 2020)

I love this thread!!


----------



## micropage7 (Sep 9, 2020)

Robert B said:


> *Cerrone - Supernature*
> 
> Hi guys I'm also 40!
> 
> ...


the pics, looks like you keep them for years in pristine condition


----------



## phill (Sep 9, 2020)

micropage7 said:


> the pics, looks like you keep them for years in pristine condition


Isn't that always the case?   Gotta look after the hardware, can't go abusing it!!


----------



## ThrashZone (Sep 9, 2020)

phill said:


> So if we are say 30 to 40+...... what the heck are we considered??!!  *Relics*??


Hi,
50 something++ is lol


----------



## Caring1 (Sep 9, 2020)

I'm taking a leaf out of Intel's play book and saying i'm 40+++++++++++++++++


----------



## phill (Sep 9, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> 50 something++ is lol


I suppose that could be a blessing for some then... 



Caring1 said:


> I'm taking a leaf out of Intel's play book and saying i'm 40+++++++++++++++++


I suppose at the moment I could go with 40=, next year will be 40+ 

Apologies guys, I de-railed a little here!!


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 9, 2020)

Unless you’re a gamer, or doing CAD work, with the high speed Internet now days, the older machines still are great. I still have an old ASRock “XP 64 bit OS”  machine, it’s almost unbelievable how fast that thing still is, LGA 775 2.93 ghz core 2 duo, 4 gig ram.


----------



## phill (Sep 9, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> Unless you’re a gamer, or doing CAD work, with the high speed Internet now days, the older machines still are great. I still have an old ASRock “XP 64 bit OS”  machine, it’s almost unbelievable how fast that thing still is, LGA 775 2.93 ghz core 2 duo, 4 gig ram.


Even if you are a gamer I think, having an 'older' or retro or even 'relic' build, some of the older games are still among some of the best I've ever played..  I'd still go for a Mega Drive or old 98 PC if I wanted to have a game that I couldn't stop playing    It's a brilliant thing to have grown up in the 80s when it all started getting easier for everyone..  I just wish I had more money!!


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 9, 2020)

They are two mental states for someone whom wants to be called as fist class gamer. 
In the beginning you are blind from your passion for ultimate performance, and you will easily waste 300 Euro for one pair of the fastest DDR modules , total 1GB. 
Fifteen years later you are starting to feel as Grand-Idiot,  because your investment has some value only to your self. 

I got my second pair of  *OCZ EL PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum* Rev 2 (2x512) from eBay for 40 Euro shipped,  ten years later than when I got my first pair.
Nowadays all four modules they are serving at one PC that I am using as backup storage at my LAN. 

Unfortunately *OCZ technology* this is now a dead brand-name, no one can cover the lifetime warranty.


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 9, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> They are two mental states for someone whom wants to be called as fist class gamer.
> In the beginning you are blind from your passion for ultimate performance, and you will easily waste 300 Euro for one pair of the fastest DDR modules , total 1GB.
> Fifteen years later you are starting to feel as Grand-Idiot,  because your investment has some value only to your self.


Sometimes I wonder if the iPhone started all this, got to have the "latest and greatest" if not, it sure didn't help. I jumped on the latest and greatest and fastest train long ago, until I finally realized, the new wears off "way" to fast, then you start all over again. By the way, when you do purchase all the "latest and greatest" it will only be a few days before it isn't the latest and greatest.  I love my X58 PC, because there's so many changes/upgrades you can make by purchasing parts, that don't break the bank. When you're having to spend thousands to upgrade, it takes all the fun out of it, well unless of course you're Bill Gates.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 9, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I still have an old ASRock “XP 64 bit OS” machine


You should really bump that up to Windows 7 if for no other reason than software/driver compatibility.



Mr Bill said:


> Sometimes I wonder if the iPhone started all this, got to have the "latest and greatest


Nah. The whole "gotta have it" syndrome is a force of nature for human beings.


----------



## phill (Sep 9, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> They are two mental states for someone whom wants to be called as fist class gamer.
> In the beginning you are blind from your passion for ultimate performance, and you will easily waste 300 Euro for one pair of the fastest DDR modules , total 1GB.
> Fifteen years later you are starting to feel as Grand-Idiot,  because your investment has some value only to your self.
> 
> ...


That is an amazing find!!   I love those DIMMs and have them in my socket A and 939 systems.  I wish I could have found some boxed stuff....


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 9, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> You should really bump that up to Windows 7 if for no other reason than software/driver compatibility.


I still use MS Office XP Professional, Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Microsoft Graphics Studio, MS Picture It, MS Encarta 2000, MS Book Shelf 2000, Print Shop Deluxe Ensemble II, Easy CD Creator 5, Nero 6.3.0.2, and CyberLink PowerDVD XP, on that machine, I can't give that all up for 7...  I think I have every OS since Windows 3.0, maybe even some old Dos disks.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 9, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I still use MS Office XP Professional, Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Microsoft Graphics Studio, MS Picture It, MS Encarta 2000, MS Book Shelf 2000, Print Shop Deluxe Ensemble II, Easy CD Creator 5, Nero 6.3.0.2, and CyberLink PowerDVD XP, on that machine, I can't give that all up for 7...  I think I have every OS since Windows 3.0, maybe even some old Dos disks.


If memory serves, all of those work perfectly on Windows 7, however I can appreciate not wanting to change what works well. It was only a suggestion.


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 9, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I still use MS Office XP Professional, Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Microsoft Graphics Studio, MS Picture It, MS Encarta 2000, MS Book Shelf 2000, Print Shop Deluxe Ensemble II, Easy CD Creator 5, Nero 6.3.0.2, and CyberLink PowerDVD XP, on that machine, I can't give that all up for 7...  I think I have every OS since Windows 3.0, maybe even some old Dos disks.



With our hand-proof evidence nothing will stand in the court of law.



phill said:


> That is an amazing find!!   I love those DIMMs and have them in my socket A and 939 systems.  I wish I could have found some boxed stuff....


This is my high end vault 
HP d530


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 9, 2020)

Willie Nelson had a song out many moons ago, don't remember the name, but the lyrics went something like this, Slow down, slow down old world, There's no hurry, Cause my life ain't mine anymore
I lived too fast, Now it's too late to worry, And I'm too blue to cry anymore. It's taken me 69 years to learn to slow down, it was hard at first, very hard, but once I crossed that bridge, I see things so much more differently, and see things that were always right in front of me, that I never paid any attention to before. I wished I could have crossed that bridge 30 years ago, but I was to wrapped up in the world, life is so much more enjoyable now, I never knew this kind of life ever existed, but it does.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 10, 2020)

Name is in the first line, Slow Down Old World is the title.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 10, 2020)

phill said:


> I wish I could have found some boxed stuff....



I have the packaged set exactly like @kiriakost 's second thumbnail. Good stuff.


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 10, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Name is in the first line, Slow Down Old World is the title.


I hope my old school thoughts about computers and life, don't get me run off from here. Been through a lot of "people" losses in my 69 years, losses can really humble a person, unless of course you have ice water in your veins, I've become a person that I could never imagine in the past. Now I'm enjoying everyday life more, "even as hard as it is" I'm glad to be off that fast train that leads to nowhere. Uncomfortable seasons/situations teach us things our comfort zone can't.


----------



## TheKingGamerBr (Sep 10, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I still use MS Office XP Professional, Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Microsoft Graphics Studio, MS Picture It, MS Encarta 2000, MS Book Shelf 2000, Print Shop Deluxe Ensemble II, Easy CD Creator 5, Nero 6.3.0.2, and CyberLink PowerDVD XP, on that machine, I can't give that all up for 7...  I think I have every OS since Windows 3.0, maybe even some old Dos disks.



I Won't be surprised if  you say that you still use Dial-Up


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 10, 2020)

TheKingGamerBr said:


> I Won't be surprised if  you say that you still use Dial-Up


Naw, I've stepped up to the 2 cans and a string, but it's brought me a lot closer to my family and friends.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 10, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> Been through a lot of "people" losses in my 69 years, losses can really humble a person



Amen to that Mr Bill!!!!! I've lost some very dear friends and family over the last couple of decades and know exactly what you are saying sir.


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 10, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> Willie Nelson had a song out many moons ago, don't remember the name, but the lyrics went something like this, *Slow down, slow down old world, There's no hurry*,



This should become *the national anthem of NVIDIA*, because their hardware innovations they can hardly be adopted from the 3D developers* at such sort notice between its wave of release*.
Will ray-tracing turn a boring game in to something else?
Software and hardware capabilities of DirectX 10 they never got explored and used in full, and the same goes for DirectX 11.

The speed that the market this is capable to adsorb new technology and make good use, this is 10 times slower than the speed that the technology this is developed today.
This is what historians will record about 3D development and technology adoption rate at this century.


----------



## The Foldinator (Sep 10, 2020)

Found some more, after my _Blaster_ i never had a stand alone sound card , don't think i have the ears for it.. to hear the difference (old)  
_Asrock_ board and a _FX6350_ and some lets do the _Twisters(Ddr2)_ again 

Still used the board when i started posting on here again(few months back) , now selling it to upgrade my GPU(s) (fah related).


----------



## Robert B (Sep 10, 2020)

When I was about to say THAT'S A WRAP! I found more problems with this beauty. Still untested ...


----------



## phill (Sep 10, 2020)

I love that card, brings back so many memories after having one...  Also remember trying to beat a guy over at PC Stats by trying to break 20k in 3D Mark 2001SE with it and an AMD XP-M 2500...  Oh those where the days!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 11, 2020)

Finally restored this beauty to its former glory.












ASUS G70S, w/ Geforce 8700M GT 512MB, 500GB HGST HDD and a Core 2 Duo T8300 (originally had a T7700)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Finally restored this beauty to its former glory.
> View attachment 168357
> View attachment 168358
> View attachment 168359
> ...


If memory serves, that system will take a C2Q, such as a Q9000, Q9100 or QX9300


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 11, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> If memory serves, that system will take a C2Q, such as a Q9000, Q9100 or QX9300


PM965 doesn't support Q9000, 9100 or QX9300. 800FSB CPUs are the max it can take, so basically T9500 is the max it will take.

You're probably thinking of the G71G, which does have support for the 1066FSB CPUs like Q9000,9100 or QX9300.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> You're probably thinking of the G71G, which does have support for the 1066FSB CPUs like Q9000,9100 or QX9300.


I think you're right. They both came in nearly identical chassis' if not the exact same. I had one BITD and it came with a P9400 and I swapped it for a Q9200ES(2.4ghz engineering sample). It was a very zippy laptop til I traded it up for a Gateway FX P7808U which had a 17" 1920x1200 led backlit screen. The gameway came with a QX9300, but I swapped it out for the Q9200ES because it ran much cooler.

By the way, Clint just did a new vid and at the end he bid on and won a Voodoo 3500 card.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 11, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> PM965 doesn't support Q9000, 9100 or QX9300. 800FSB CPUs are the max it can take, so basically T9500 is the max it will take.
> 
> You're probably thinking of the G71G, which does have support for the 1066FSB CPUs like Q9000,9100 or QX9300.



Yeah, I have a Gateway FX7811 that is pretty much that same dang motherboard and I have it maxed with a T9500 in it. The Gateway 79xx series supported the quads but I don't want to 
purchase and install that motherboard as it would take away from the originality of the system. 
I purchased the 7811 almost brand new and it's still in absolute pristine condition with all the original items and box. Heck, I used that system for about 6 or 7 years all the time and the original battery and power supply are still good.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 11, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Yeah, I have a Gateway FX7811 that is pretty much that same dang motherboard and I have it maxed with a T9500 in it. The Gateway 79xx series supported the quads but I don't want to
> purchase and install that motherboard as it would take away from the originality of the system.
> I purchased the 7811 almost brand new and it's still in absolute pristine condition with all the original items and box. Heck, I used that system for about 6 or 7 years all the time and the original battery and power supply are still good.


Well, happy to hear that!

My G70S was initially a SLi machine w/ Bluray so it's pretty much near the higher end. The highest end this could have is 2x 9800M GTS' in SLi and a T9500 but I couldn't find any 9800M GTS pairs to go with it (T9500 would be easier to find than those lol) and I wasn't really going to order a T9500 solely for a single 8700M GT, when probably a T8300 will just do.

Sadly, whatever monkey owned it before me first off snapped both LCD retention clips (thankfully I restored those using a for parts G70SG I ordered) and literally popcorned both of the original SLi 8700M GTs it had in there. I replaced the HSF and GPUs with a a single 8700M GT 512MB (that was for a different ASUS model but was listed on AliExpress as being compatible for G70S too - the card's origin was surprisingly a F70SL, not the G70SG I harvested it from) and so far it runs great. For the time being I just dropped a T8300 in there, and so far everything works fine. The only thing that bugs me is why the heck is AHCI so slow on a 120GB SSD, given it ran absolutely fine on a Acer 8930G, without any slowdowns under Windows 7. (I dropped a 120GB ADATA SU650 SSD + 500GB Hitachi Z7K500-500 HDD shortly after posting the photos)

Any ideas? BTW I spotted a Packard Bell iPower running a mighty fine P8400 + 9800M GT combo (GPU soldered unfortunately) so might snag it if I can tomorrow.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 11, 2020)

Wow man, I don't know why it would be running so slow in AHCI mode. That doesn't make any sense. Hmm, maybe one of the others will have an idea. I usually always run the OS's in AHCI mode.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 12, 2020)

Just searched up the PB iPower GX I am going to buy - it's the same as Gateway's FX line, right down to the casing. Looks similar to your FX7811 but mine should sport PM45, DDR3 and 9800M GTS.


----------



## basco (Sep 12, 2020)

Old PC - CMOS Checksum Error, please help
					

I gave an old pc which hasn’t been switched on since 2004 - kept in a dry cupboard - and I want to check what’s on it before getting rid of it - it has turned on and please see screen pic for what it says - I have plugged in mouse and keyboard but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything - is this...




					www.techpowerup.com
				




maybe someone has interest for the hardware ?


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 12, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> mine should sport PM45, DDR3 and 9800M GTS.



The one I have does support DDR3 and has the 9800GTS. I'm not sure what motherboard it has though.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 12, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> The one I have does support DDR3 and has the 9800GTS. I'm not sure what motherboard it has though.


BIOS will say.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 12, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> BIOS will say.



Yep I know brother. Just haven't had it fired up in probably 6 months. LOL


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 12, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Wow man, I don't know why it would be running so slow in AHCI mode. That doesn't make any sense. Hmm, maybe one of the others will have an idea. I usually always run the OS's in AHCI mode.


I haven't done this in years, so I've forgotten how. But there's a way you can go into the registry and check to see if it's actually running in the ACHI mode, something along these lines,  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ storahci\  I can't remember it all, comes with getting old.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 12, 2020)

Today I found these puppies. 4 sticks of 2GB DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15 1.9V - *APOGEE - AU2G732-1G6H001* 

I don't know it they are any good but what the heck, they look awesome!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 12, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Today I found these puppies. 4 sticks of 2GB DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15 1.9V - *APOGEE - AU2G732-1G6H001*
> 
> I don't know it they are any good but what the heck, they look awesome!


Fairly common in the EU. Don't know if they were ever released in the US. I've never seen a set here.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 12, 2020)

Figured out why my G70S was running slow.

It wasn't the AHCI causing it strangely - it was the T8300 that didn't play nice. I replaced it back with the original T7700 it had and it's running snappy now.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 12, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> I've never seen a set here.


I have, once. It was OCZ in a friends system. The timings were 5-5-5-18(@2.10v) though.








						OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P10664GK - Newegg.com
					

Buy OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P10664GK with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				




I bought some 1200mhz for one of my systems, 5-5-5-18@1.85v(much better set in my opinion).








						OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1200 (PC2 9600) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P1200LV4GK - Newegg.com
					

Buy OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1200 (PC2 9600) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P1200LV4GK with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				



Wish I still had that set.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 12, 2020)

Heh, I finally found use for an Asus blower fan like this:





Fits on the VRM heatsink on P5Q Pro and there's even "PWR_FAN" header. Also it has a jumper to allow even more vcore if needed. I've been playing around with a Pentium E5200 and began testing with 4.18GHz (12.5x333), cooled with Mugen 2. Though I have only 380W Antec as a test PSU so I probably won't be testing with a GTX 570 but with a HD 6870 instead..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 12, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Figured out why my G70S was running slow.
> 
> It wasn't the AHCI causing it strangely - it was the T8300 that didn't play nice. I replaced it back with the original T7700 it had and it's running snappy now.


That kinda sucks..


----------



## Mr Bill (Sep 12, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Heh, I finally found use for an Asus blower fan like this:


I have the Asus P6T Deluxe V2, is that fan very loud?


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 12, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I have the Asus P6T Deluxe V2, is that fan very loud?


Not actually, audible mut not annoyingly loud


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 12, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That kinda sucks..


I know. I'm also thinking of ordering a T9500 and try that.


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 12, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I know. I'm also thinking of ordering a T9500 and try that.



They certainly are cheap enough now. I'd go for it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 12, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I know. I'm also thinking of ordering a T9500 and try that.





stinger608 said:


> They certainly are cheap enough now. I'd go for it.


I was going to suggest that, but they live in Romania, so cheap is relative.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 13, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Heh, I finally found use for an Asus blower fan like this:


its used when you water cool CPU on Asus boards


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 13, 2020)

dorsetknob said:


> its used when you water cool CPU on Asus boards


Well, I benchmark that P5Q Pro on air, at least no worries when cranking up more vcore


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 14, 2020)

Snagged this oldie while at a car boot.



Slight corrosion on 3-4 SB pins (cleaned up with Kontakt spray lol) but it booted first try, w/ P166 non-MMX (yes, that chip over there is not MMX) and a S3 ViRGE/DX PCI.

Also @stinger608, does your Gateway P-7811FX by any chance say Godzilla 1.5 in the BIOS or CPU-Z? If so, this means that both your P-7811FX and my Packard Bell GX-M-100FR are the same machine.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 14, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> P166 non-MMX (yes, that chip over there is not MMX)


Yeah, weird how there was MMX ones with a ceramic package and non-MMX with a heatspreader. For long I thought that only MMX ones have heatspreader and non-MMX are ceramic.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 14, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Snagged this oldie while at a car boot.
> View attachment 168674
> Slight corrosion on 3-4 SB pins (cleaned up with Kontakt spray lol) but it booted first try, w/ P166 non-MMX (yes, that chip over there is not MMX) and a S3 ViRGE/DX PCI.


Nice! Replace the 2032 cmos battery ASAP.



Chloe Price said:


> Yeah, weird how there was MMX ones with a ceramic package and non-MMX with a heatspreader. For long I thought that only MMX ones have heatspreader and non-MMX are ceramic.


Yeah the P166's were a weird product line. IIRC, it had to do with a shift in manufacturing locations.


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 14, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Today I found these puppies. 4 sticks of 2GB DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15 1.9V - *APOGEE - AU2G732-1G6H001*
> 
> I don't know it they are any good but what the heck, they look awesome!



Some one in their marketing team he were Greek,  both last sigma letter this is from Greek alphabet , even so I  have never seen that brand before.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 15, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice! Replace the 2032 cmos battery ASAP.


I actually removed the CMOS battery for the time being as I will replace the coin holder as well with a more firm one (I am not a fan of these type of holders)

Anyways - found some neat laptop SATA DVD drives - one is an iMac/Apple branded Optiarc AD-5690H which works fine, but its main caveat is, you guessed it - no eject switch, which means Windows/Linux soft eject.

The other is a Hitachi-LG GT31N. That one is neat as it very closely resembles a desktop drive audible wise. Had a bad laser, fixed by transplanting a working laser from a dead GT30N (failed attempt at making a HDD caddy a few years ago)


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 15, 2020)

Speaking of laptop drives, I need an external case myself as I got a bluray drive but it's too thick for my Thinkpad, dammit.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 15, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Speaking of laptop drives, I need an external case myself as I got a bluray drive but it's too thick for my Thinkpad, dammit.


I think Hitachi-LG did one at a point but I haven't seen many. If you do find one, IIRC the drive is pretty much swappable, so you just pop off the faceplate, remove the drive, basically move everything off the old DVD drive onto your bluray drive and there you go, cheap external bluray drive ready to be used.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 15, 2020)

Ebay is your friend








						USB 2.0 External Slim Caddy Case Drive Enclosure Laptop NoteBook SATA CD DVD Rom  | eBay
					

This SATA enclosure allows you to take any laptop optical drive such as CD-RW, DVD-RW, CD-ROM, etc. and convert it into a portable external drive. It features soft coated plastic which looks great while protecting the drive.



					www.ebay.co.uk


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 16, 2020)

dorsetknob said:


> Ebay is your friend
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, I already checked and I'll go with an USB3.0 one


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 16, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Yeah, I already checked and I'll go with an USB3.0 one


Out of curiosity, why USB 3.0? No optical media can saturate the USB 2.0 bus let alone 3.0. They only reason I could see is if you're worried about power delivery, which USB 3.0 has plenty of compared to 2.0's 900mA.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 16, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Out of curiosity, why USB 3.0? No optical media can saturate the USB 2.0 bus let alone 3.0. They only reason I could see is if you're worried about *power delivery, which USB 3.0 has plenty of compared to 2.0's 900mA*.


Exactly, I want it to be usable with just one cable.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 16, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Exactly, I want it to be usable with just one cable.


That makes sense.

It's time for an LGR Voodoo unboxing thing!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 19, 2020)

Might as well post it. Packard Bell GX-M-110FR, aka Gateway P-7811FX. It's the 9800M GTS 512MB version, has 4GB of DDR3, as well as a 320GB Hitachi HDD.





Currently installing Windows 10 1909 just to see how it runs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 19, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Might as well post it. Packard Bell GX-M-110FR, aka Gateway P-7811FX. It's the 9800M GTS 512MB version, has 4GB of DDR3, as well as a 320GB Hitachi HDD.
> View attachment 169197
> 
> Currently installing Windows 10 1909 just to see how it runs.


It should run well. Windows 10 run well on even on tablets, so that laptop will have no issues running it at all.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 20, 2020)

Yet there actually are a few driver issues - the Conexant audio chip only works through M$' default "High Definition Audio Driver", the touchpad driver will not scroll at all (Synaptics is what it installed) and I think there isn't any support for the o2micro SD reader.

Will try 8.1 to see if I have more luck since it at least works a bit better with older 7 drivers.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 20, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yet there actually are a few driver issues - the Conexant audio chip only works through M$' default "High Definition Audio Driver", the touchpad driver will not scroll at all (Synaptics is what it installed) and I think there isn't any support for the o2micro SD reader.
> 
> Will try 8.1 to see if I have more luck since it at least works a bit better with older 7 drivers.


Windows 10 will accept Windows Vista/7 drivers. Give them a try, you've got nothing to loose.


----------



## micropage7 (Sep 20, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Might as well post it. Packard Bell GX-M-110FR, aka Gateway P-7811FX. It's the 9800M GTS 512MB version, has 4GB of DDR3, as well as a 320GB Hitachi HDD.
> View attachment 169197
> 
> Currently installing Windows 10 1909 just to see how it runs.


after years it looks still pretty good


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 20, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's time for an LGR Voodoo unboxing thing!!



We will need *Virtual Reality* 3D demo for actual benchmarks 
I has own the Voodoo3  3000, it was a more popular choice due pricing, for us 3D world explorers.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 20, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> I has own the Voodoo3 3000, it was a more popular choice due pricing, for us 3D world explorers.



I bought the 3DFX 3500tv because of the TV tuner was built in and it was better than the crap pci add on cards
saved a slot for other cards 
Still got mine in original packaging (was / is fully working + and a home burnt CD  of the hacked win XP Drivers/utilitys) safely stored in a dark dry place

Just checked Ebay one with no Box or Drivers Disk ... on sale for £199 or offers


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 20, 2020)

dorsetknob said:


> I bought the 3DFX 3500tv because of the TV tuner was built in and it was better than the crap pci add on cards
> saved a slot for other cards
> Still got mine in original packaging (was / is fully working + and a home burnt CD  of the hacked win XP Drivers/utilitys) safely stored in a dark dry place



My Voodoo purchase was made 23 years ago, all that I do still remember this is my next step up at 2002 which was the Radeon 9600 Pro.
Back then I had a personal page hosted at Geocities server (20 years ago) .
I still have few small pictures which I did use as decoration at my personal PC hardware related page.

Here are some of my memories from INTEL and a Slot-1 quality cooling block, brand ALPHA (Made in japan).
At 1997 I did not have a digital camera.   

Back then we was making all modifications by our own bare hands.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 20, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Windows 10 with accept Windows Vista/7 drivers. Give them a try, you've got nothing to loose.


Tried that as well, same results.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 20, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Tried that as well, same results.


Keep in mind you have to disable driver signing enforcement as many of those older drivers were not digitally signed. Also, you have to tell Windows what driver to use, simply telling it what folder to look in will often fail for older systems/hardware. Effectively, you have to force Windows to use the driver you select. Windows 10 drivers are a pain in the nadds these days.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 21, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Keep in mind you have to disable driver signing enforcement as many of those older drivers were not digitally signed. Also, you have to tell Windows what driver to use, simply telling it what folder to look in will often fail for older systems/hardware. Effectively, you have to force Windows to use the driver you select. Windows 10 drivers are a pain in the nadds these days.


Conexants audio driver will flat out refuse to play any sound and touchpad won't activate scroll at all. And that is by using signed drivers, both types. Microsoft knows this and they did nothing else than saying to revert to the generic HD audio driver. As for the mouse, it simply won't scroll although it will sense I placed my finger in the scroll region.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 22, 2020)

Hi everybody, first time poster  Glad I found this thread and the fantastic community within! I've read all the 395 pages and witnessed some amazing hardware - and people - on these very pages 

Anyway, a bit late to the party, but here's my current "retro" rig built about five years ago. I didn't go for the bling with this one. Just wanted a Windows XP PC which could also be used for most everyday tasks in a pinch:

 

Now, would anybody care to identify the components before I list them?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 22, 2020)

Let me try a guess:
Geforce 6800GT (or anything from 5900 series and up), or Radeon
AM2NF3-VSTA (which is pretty obvious)
Antec(?) case
no idea on the sound card but I've seen it in some stock photos
CPU is either some higher end Athlon 64 x2 or possibly a Phenom (I have some doubt of the latter tho, but it's not impossible)
2 or 4GB RAM
Seasonic PSU (around 430W?)
Western Digital Velociraptor (74GB probably)
probably a SSD


----------



## Caring1 (Sep 23, 2020)

Antec Sonata 2 case?


----------



## basco (Sep 23, 2020)

love that thermalright Northbridge cooler and the zalman vf900 gpu cooler


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 23, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Antec Sonata 2 case?


Nope, it might be a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream though.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 23, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> AM2NF3-VSTA
> CPU is either some higher end Athlon 64 x2 or possibly a Phenom
> 2 or 4GB RAM
> Seasonic PSU (around 430W?)
> ...


You got those right! 



basco said:


> love that thermalright Northbridge cooler and the zalman vf900 gpu cooler


Nice catch! 



MaxiPro800 said:


> Nope, it might be a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream though.


Yup, it's a Thermaltake but the model would be hard to tell from the photo. I stripped the door and the drive and expansion card latches and also swapped the original orange fans 

So here's the full specs:

ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3850 (custom AC)
2x 2 GB Kingston HyperX T1 DDR2 1066 MHz
Kingston SSD V300 60 GB MLC
Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74 GB
Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 HiFi
Thermalright Macho Rev.A (BW)
Thermalright HR-05 SLI/IFX
Seasonic G-450 450W 80+ Gold modular
Thermaltake Soprano VB1000BWS Black
2x Scythe SlipStream 120 1,200 rpm
Windows XP Home SP3 (fully updated)

This used to be my main PC. I've owned all the parts since new (save for the current mainbord). It started around 2010 with the unique ASRock AliveDual-eSATA2 and an Athlon II X2 250. Sadly, when the old Tagan PSU powering it died, it took the AliveDual with it. I decided to rebuild the rig around 2015 for the nostalgia. Couldn't find the AliveDual anywhere, so got the next best thing.

Posting from this PC right now


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 23, 2020)

The ultimate 2009 budget gaming build with watercooling, putting XP & 7 dualboot there







Q9500 w/ Alphacool Eisbaer, P5Q Pro, 4GB DDR2-800, HD 5770 w/ EK-FC5770, 2x 160GB HDD, SATA DVD-ROM & PATA CD-RW, Antec Earthwatts 380W, Define XL


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 23, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Q9500 w/ Alphacool Eisbaer, P5Q Pro, 4GB DDR2-800, HD 5770 w/ EK-FC5770, 2x 160GB HDD, SATA DVD-ROM & PATA CD-RW, Antec Earthwatts 380W, Define XL


Nice! Need to get a PATA DVD drive for myself. Steam now refuses to launch altogether on XP and my mobo only supports 2 SATA devices...


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 23, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Need to get a PATA DVD drive for myself.



Are you in the US? If so, I think I have a couple. I'd be happy to part with one for ya man. 
Got to help fellow nostalgic builders out.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 24, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Are you in the US? If so, I think I have a couple. I'd be happy to part with one for ya man.
> Got to help fellow nostalgic builders out.


Thank you so much for your kind offer!  I'm in mainland Europe, will find something locally.

Mustn't... give... up...


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 24, 2020)

There are a few of the members here in the nostalgic thread that are in Europe so maybe one of them will chime in.


----------



## Caring1 (Sep 24, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Nice! Need to get a PATA DVD drive for myself. Steam now refuses to launch altogether on XP and my mobo only supports 2 SATA devices...


I literally threw one out a week ago, but I'm in Australia so no point anyway.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 24, 2020)

"But does it run Crysis?" 

FullHD + medium detail = around 30 fps


----------



## TheKingGamerBr (Sep 25, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> "But does it run Crysis?"
> View attachment 169715
> FullHD + medium detail = around 30 fps



I Remember playing with my 8500GT, and i wanted to play on high by any mean, so i played at 800x600 and high detail's, get around 20~25 fps


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 25, 2020)

How about a 1996 gaming PC build out.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 25, 2020)

My current laptop: Compaq CQ60 from 2008. Got it for peanuts in 2013 from a friend who said it was "useless". And it really was! It was the bottom-spec model with a Sempron SI-40, 1 GB DDR2-666, 120 GB HDD and the notorious GF 8M. Running Vista, this thing was idling at 65 deg C 

I set out to give it another lease of life, with maxed out specs. It received a Turion X2 Ultra ZM-85, 2x 2 GB DDR2-800, an SSD, and 64-bit Win7 HP. It also got a new oversized battery. But even after cleaning everything and replacing the TIM, the temps were quite high and the fan would soon get noisy. So I took more extreme measures and literally cut out a hole in the case, effectively removing the CPU vent. Put some wire mesh from a fan filter to keep the dust off.

Now it's been idling at 43 deg C I still use this laptop for office work, YT and web browsing. Never played any games on it though!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 25, 2020)

The AMD versions always ran as hot as the sun, regardless of the spectrum in which they were. My DV7-3165el would literally fry eggs with its Turion M520 + HD4650. And that's with a 9.1W/mK thermal paste (Zalman ZM-STC9) so you can guess that HP or AMD screwed up big time somewhere along the road, especially if the Intel counterparts (Core 2 Duo in your case, 1st gen i3 in the case of my DV7) run MUCH MUCH colder than the AMD versions. 

This was also the case with one of my DV6000s. It originally started its life as a AMD machine of the worst kind (S1G1 + Go7200, the worst combination there could ever exist) and eventually I got tired of having to constantly reflow it so I just stuck a Intel based board that had 8400M GS and PM965 chipset and the temperature difference is night to sky - if with the AMD I'd hit 70-80*C by literally doing NOTHING, the Intel counterpart barely reaches 60*C if used intensively.

I'm planning on finding a working i3 board for my DV7 as well, since it seems the AMD board also starts to give up the ghost. It's going to be a bit harder but I hope I can pull it off, along with sticking a i5 or i7 in it, 1TB + 750GB spinning drives (I'm not a big fan of SSDs), H-L GT31N DVD RW, as well as hopefully 8GB of DDR3.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 26, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> How about a 1996 gaming PC build out.


I would have thrown a P133 or P166 in it to bump up both the CPU and bus speed(or just OC'd it to 133mhz). This is becasuse P120s only ran on a 60mhz bus (2x60=120) instead of the standard 66mhz. At that speed everything in the system is being underclocked to accommodate the 120mhz CPU. Nice PC though. Wacky layout but it worked.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 26, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> The AMD versions always ran as hot as the sun, regardless of the spectrum in which they were. My DV7-3165el would literally fry eggs with its Turion M520 + HD4650. And that's with a 9.1W/mK thermal paste (Zalman ZM-STC9) so you can guess that HP or AMD screwed up big time somewhere along the road, especially if the Intel counterparts (Core 2 Duo in your case, 1st gen i3 in the case of my DV7) run MUCH MUCH colder than the AMD versions.


I hear ya. It's true that AMD mobile parts of the time ran much hotter than their Intel contemporaries. But I'd also blame HP and their crappy laptop design. Of the odd dozen laptops from that period I've upgraded, HP had some of the worst cooling solutions. I've seen bigger heatsinks on a Pentium  And let's not forget Nvidia and their ill-fated GF8M series...

Hopefully your future upgrades will go well!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 26, 2020)

GF 8M was far from being as hot as Turions were. I mean come on, I have a HP DV6000 and it's the Core 2 Duo w/ 8400M GS and it's nowhere as hot as my DV7 (in fact, it's unusually cool given it's BOTH a HP and G8x chipsets usually run pretty hot).  It's strange, as the DV7 has a much complex heatsink than the DV6000 by quite a lot.

As for the 8700M GT in my G70S running hot, I can only blame my absolutely stupid decision of using a brush type thermal paste instead of just buying a MX4 (or MX2, whichever I'd find available where I live) and applying that. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the temps drop to exactly the same temps as my DV6000. It's also interesting how the G70S card uses a G84-750-A2 which has a big surface and the G86-730-A2 in my DV6000 surprisingly has the same footprint, while the G86-603-A2 chips used for Acer's 5520 and some 7520 (the 8400MG variants more exactly) are half the size of the HP and ASUS chips.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 26, 2020)

The first laptop I owned was a Compaq Presario CQ62 almost similar to the one @QuietBob posted. I don't remember it suffering from a overheating issue. It would however eventually get a bit on the warmer side than I would of preferred. 







__





						Review HP Compaq Presario CQ62 Notebook
					

Detailed review of the HP Compaq Presario CQ62-A04sg (AMD Athlon II P320, ATI Radeon HD 4250, 15.6", 2.6 kg) with numerous measurements, benchmarks and ratings




					www.notebookcheck.net


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 27, 2020)

P320 is 4th gen, and those usually ran cool enough. @QuietBob 's machine is a CQ60 from the S1G2 era, and those were literal space heaters.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 27, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> P320 is 4th gen, and those usually ran cool enough. @QuietBob 's machine is a CQ60 from the S1G2 era, and those were literal space heaters.


45 vs 65 nm and 25 vs 35 W TDP sure makes a difference. Here's my current CQ60's temps at idle, following a single run of Cinebench R15 at 25 deg C ambient. The GPU is still the hottest chip even though it's the weakest 8200M G model. Due to questionable design, the GF die is being heated by the same heatpipe which cools the CPU.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 27, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> My current laptop: Compaq CQ60 from 2008. Got it for peanuts in 2013 from a friend who said it was "useless". And it really was! It was the bottom-spec model with a Sempron SI-40, 1 GB DDR2-666, 120 GB HDD and the notorious GF 8M. Running Vista, this thing was idling at 65 deg C
> 
> I set out to give it another lease of life, with maxed out specs. It received a Turion X2 Ultra ZM-85, 2x 2 GB DDR2-800, an SSD, and 64-bit Win7 HP. It also got a new oversized battery. But even after cleaning everything and replacing the TIM, the temps were quite high and the fan would soon get noisy. So I took more extreme measures and literally cut out a hole in the case, effectively removing the CPU vent. Put some wire mesh from a fan filter to keep the dust off.
> 
> Now it's been idling at 43 deg C I still use this laptop for office work, YT and web browsing. Never played any games on it though!


I used to use Athlon 64 QL-64 on ASUS K40AB and undervolt using k10stats. You can try using that to cool down further, and perhaps prolong battery life


----------



## Robert B (Sep 27, 2020)

*Flea Market Day 2 Day!* 

1. AOpen AK73-1394 A
2. Athlon 1GHz -  A1000AMT3B - has a cracked die. I think that there is a 20% chance that it is still functional.
3. Palit ATI 9550 - bought solely for the Titan TTC-CUV2AB cooler and the blue heatsinks
4. Pentium II 350MHz -  SL356
5. Two Slot 1 CPUs with unknown specs. Probably still functional. L.E. - probably PII 350MHz  - http://yamano.fortunecity.ws/P2LIST.htm - KM736V604YMT-44 / TC55V2377AFF-255
6. MSI N470GTX-M2D12 -  bought for peanuts.  I should've not ask the seller for the price ...~ 2.2 EUROS. Probably functional.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 27, 2020)

Robert B said:


> *Flea Market Day 2 Day!*
> 
> 1. AOpen AK73-1394 A
> 2. Athlon 1GHz -  A1000AMT3B - has a cracked die. I think that there is a 20% chance that it is still functional.
> ...


Everything is so dirty, needs some serious TLC!


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 27, 2020)

This is my last deposit of personal photographed crimes which I did fifteen years ago in the name of *Silent PC.*
Since 2012 I am under oath that when I move to a new VGA purchase, I will get the one with the best in design and performance cooling system offered as factory option.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 27, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Everything is so dirty, needs some serious TLC!



Diamonds in the rough.


----------



## Dinnercore (Sep 27, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> [...]Also it has a jumper to allow even more vcore if needed.[...]


A bit late, I had to catch up on the thread again.

BE CAREFUL with that jumper on the P5Qs. Its really nice for sub-zero OC but not really designed for ambient stuff. I used it once for 65nm to get just a bit more for a bench and I nearly fell from my chair when I saw how high it sets the voltage with the jumper. 
When you toggle this overvoltage to ON it first boots up with ~ 1.9Vcore. The way it works is, it takes the values in bios and applies an insane overshoot of up to 0.4V. And on first boot after enabling it, it seems to set the before highest possible value and then adds its overshoot automatically so you boot with ~1.6V plus the ~0.4V offset. I experienced that a few times. 

Once you set a more reasonable voltage in bios like 1.3V (will probably be more like 1.55V thanks to OV offset) it will remember that so its atleast controllable. I just left it enabled on my designated OC board and store it with a battery so it remembers my settings and I don't blow up any 45nm chip by accident.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 27, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> A bit late, I had to catch up on the thread again.
> 
> BE CAREFUL with that jumper on the P5Qs. Its really nice for sub-zero OC but not really designed for ambient stuff. I used it once for 65nm to get just a bit more for a bench and I nearly fell from my chair when I saw how high it sets the voltage with the jumper.
> When you toggle this overvoltage to ON it first boots up with ~ 1.9Vcore. The way it works is, it takes the values in bios and applies an insane overshoot of up to 0.4V. And on first boot after enabling it, it seems to set the before highest possible value and then adds its overshoot automatically so you boot with ~1.6V plus the ~0.4V offset. I experienced that a few times.
> ...


No worries yet, I'm running with just water... but I got ur point.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 28, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> I used to use Athlon 64 QL-64 on ASUS K40AB and undervolt using k10stats. You can try using that to cool down further, and perhaps prolong battery life


Thanks for the tip, might give it a try. To be honest, I'm quite happy with those temps at the moment. The laptop is used casually, so it never really heats up.

Alright, back to basics!
This was my second Socket A CPU. Had it at 2500 @ 1.80 V running 24/7 on decent AC (Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120). I never really pushed the chip further, although there still was thermal headroom. 


Luckily I've kept both pieces


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 28, 2020)

Yayyy getting some old CPUs (an E8400 at least) so I have fun soon.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 28, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Thanks for the tip, might give it a try. To be honest, I'm quite happy with those temps at the moment. The laptop is used casually, so it never really heats up.
> 
> Alright, back to basics!
> This was my second Socket A CPU. Had it at 2500 @ 1.80 V running 24/7 on decent AC (Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120). I never really pushed the chip further, although there still was thermal headroom.
> ...


Very good stepping and production date. Should do 2.7-2.8 if you can keep it cool (under 50c load).
They'll take 2.0v, again, if you can keep it cool.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 29, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Yayyy getting some old CPUs (an E8400 at least) so I have fun soon.


Don't forget to share some of the fun with us 



Mr.Scott said:


> Very good stepping and production date. Should do 2.7-2.8 if you can keep it cool (under 50c load).
> They'll take 2.0v, again, if you can keep it cool.


Thanks for the info! I had no idea back then. I don't have the means to test that XP-M now, though, for the lack of WC. Also, sold my A7N8X-E when I upgraded to AM2 

And now for something completely different... Remember those coveted UV-reactive cables?


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 29, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Don't forget to share some of the fun with us


Y'all are definetly going to see some benchmark results!


----------



## Dinnercore (Sep 29, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> And now for something completely different... Remember those coveted UV-reactive cables?


Those go well with the DFI-Lanparty boards.


----------



## Caring1 (Sep 29, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Don't forget to share some of the fun with us
> 
> 
> Thanks for the info! I had no idea back then. I don't have the means to test that XP-M now, though, for the lack of WC. Also, sold my A7N8X-E when I upgraded to AM2
> ...


I've got a couple right here still bagged brand new I was going to sell.


----------



## kiriakost (Sep 29, 2020)

I thought that UV-reactive materials was a forbidden topic. 

I bet that this is the first and last UV-reactive Blower ever made,  this now serving as fumes extractor and for general cooling of electronic projects.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 29, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> I've got a couple right here still bagged brand new I was going to sell.


I have a few brand new also. All from DFI boards. All screaming yellow.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 30, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> I bet that this is the first and last UV-reactive Blower ever made,  this now serving as fumes extractor and for general cooling of electronic projects.


Some neat DIY!

Speaking of cooling and electronics:
Radeon HD 2400 Pro, Dell OEM variant. This blast furnace will overheat and crash in 3D. Note the heatsink discoloration


----------



## Bones (Sep 30, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Thanks for the tip, might give it a try. To be honest, I'm quite happy with those temps at the moment. The laptop is used casually, so it never really heats up.
> 
> Alright, back to basics!
> This was my second Socket A CPU. Had it at 2500 @ 1.80 V running 24/7 on decent AC (Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120). I never really pushed the chip further, although there still was thermal headroom.
> ...


XP-M 3000 - Rare chip you have, you don't see many of those around.
Has a good date and stepping too, nice one indeed!

Mr. Scott isn't kidding either - Here's what mine has done before: Bones`s SuperPi - 1M score: 35sec 625ms with a Athlon XP-M 3000+ (Barton)


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2020)

Yay the letter arrived


----------



## TOMCAT (Sep 30, 2020)

Very nice,

the E8400 a good dual core, have one on a Nvidia 790i board running. Cooled with a Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120.

I personally like the 775 Xeon's. (OK, except the X3210). Long time user of a Xeon X3230 on an Intel XBX2. With Thermalright SI 128 and Corsair DHX memory. Still my backup PC with Win 7.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 30, 2020)

Bones said:


> XP-M 3000 - Rare chip you have, you don't see many of those around.
> Has a good date and stepping too, nice one indeed!
> 
> Mr. Scott isn't kidding either - Here's what mine has done before: Bones`s SuperPi - 1M score: 35sec 625ms with a Athlon XP-M 3000+ (Barton)


And mine on air only.




__





						CPU-Z Validator 3.1
					

CPU-Z Validation Checker (by canardpc.com)



					valid.canardpc.com


----------



## Bones (Sep 30, 2020)

Too bad I don't have the Northern advantage working in my favor. 
Have to resort to "Other" means most of the time here. 

BTW that's a great clockspeed for air.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2020)

Damn that the good 462 boards are kinda expensive these days


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 1, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Damn that the good 462 boards are kinda expensive these days


Depends on where you are. In the states most still go for 50 bucks or less.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 1, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Depends on where you are. In the states most still go for 50 bucks or less.


Maybe I'm just out of luck as most NF2 boards are about the same price. Not even premium ones.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 2, 2020)

Ever miss those squirrel-cage cooler designs with flashy graphics? Unfortunately, the donor of this one died. A power MOSFET literally burst into flames and burnt out


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 2, 2020)

*QUIZ for Strong Players.* 
Discover which CPU never clocked even 1Hz above the stock speed?


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 2, 2020)

Earlier socket 462/A boards are still fairly cheap. Ones based on the VIA kt266 being a favorite.

nForce2 was the game changer - AGP/PCI isolated so we could tweak RAM frequencies at leisure not worrying if the graphics card could keep up. Again, earlier boards with 166/333 chipset will be cheaper. Later nf2 'ultra 400' boards will be more.

My ASUS a7n8x deluxe with leaking Caps finally stopped working. After ever increasing issues dropping peripherals and optical drives. Plan is to do a re-cap along with a few other boards once colder inside days set in.

Loss of that board meant only one running nf2 system. The Soltek FRN2. Wanted another nf2 and Shuttle an35n ultra seemed to fit the bill. eBay seller listed the same one a few times at $35 with no takers since the front panel and USB connector pins looked really rough. Probably a recycler ripping it out of the case. Needle-nose pliers = no problem.

I put in a ridiculously low 'make offer' and it was accepted. All images showed CPU cooler and RAM but did not expect any since there was never a mention. To my surprise it arrived as shown. Two 512mb modules, a copper core Cooler Master X Dream, and 2600+ Barton with paste slathered all over. Multi locked but is humming along at 2.3ghz (11.5x200) in the Soltek box. Shuttle is running same speed with an unlocked 1800+ T-bred (11.5x200).  Nice clean board and would recommend the an35n ultra to those looking for decent inexpensive nf2 option.

Next project is socket 939. Bought an MSI k8t Neo2 and dual core 4400+ which is probably one of the last AGP boards. Not sure if I want to run the 7800gs or try to find a HD 3850.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 2, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> My ASUS a7n8x deluxe with leaking Caps finally stopped working.



Got that same dang board with the same dang problem! 
Was such a sweet a$$ board and I was really bummed when it quit working. Fiddled with it a few days and finally pulled the board to find 4 blown capacitors.   

Bummed me right the hell out!!!!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 2, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Earlier socket 462/A boards are still fairly cheap. Ones based on the VIA kt266 being a favorite.
> 
> nForce2 was the game changer - AGP/PCI isolated so we could tweak RAM frequencies at leisure not worrying if the graphics card could keep up. Again, earlier boards with 166/333 chipset will be cheaper. Later nf2 'ultra 400' boards will be more.
> 
> ...


That MSI board is a very good AGP benching board. IMO, second only to the Asrock NF3-VSTA board.
Find a 3850. It crushes the 7800. I have both. 

EDIT- Holy crap look at the paste on that CPU.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 3, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> *QUIZ for Strong Players.*
> Discover which CPU never clocked even 1Hz above the stock speed?


Was it the 486 SX2- 50MHz?



stinger608 said:


> Fiddled with it a few days and finally pulled the board to find 4 blown capacitors.
> 
> Bummed me right the hell out!!!!


Any good with a soldering iron?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 3, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Was it the 486 SX2- 50MHz?


 
That was my guess. LOL



biffzinker said:


> Any good with a soldering iron?



Not bad, but I don't have a good enough small tip soldering iron/gun. Plus I don't have the solder sucking thingy as well.


----------



## jlewis02 (Oct 3, 2020)

Found these today unknown if they work or not.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 3, 2020)

Top looks like a Voodoo 3 2000 or 3000, bottom should be a Matrox G400.

EDIT: Correction, the top card is a TNT2 Ultra.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 3, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> EDIT: Correction, the top card is a TNT2 Ultra.


Got it as a Christmas present from my parents.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 3, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> Discover which CPU never clocked even 1Hz above the stock speed?


Are those two on the right Northwood chips as well? If so, I'm gonna go with the 486


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2020)

Wow guys, can't believe it's been so much time already. So, first things first - I was quite serious when I announced my "retirement" from old tech. During this time I gave away several of my builds, and am hoping to sell at least 4 or 5 more builds by end of the year. Maybe even more, who knows...? I guess enough is enough, over the last 10 years or so I've done pretty much everything I wanted except for one (the most personal project, Pentium II restoration) which failed mostly due to financial reasons, so I'm just not into this as much as I used to be.

That being said... A while back (I think it was April, or perhaps early May?) I was given two really old & very cool-looking retro systems. AMD 386 SX (40MHz) & AMD 486 DX2 (80MHz). They both appeared pretty much complete, but required some maintenance & repairs, not to mention overall cleanup & decent cable management  Honestly, if it was any other system I would just let them go, I wasn't looking for more hardware. But these are really cool & brought back a lot of good memories from my childhood, just what the doctor ordered for 2020!

Don't know if there's any interest for those (I see people talking more & more about Pentiums 4 & Core2 gens, referring to those as "old" and "vintage") but if you guys want me to, I might drop additional pics & more information.


 

 

 



Considering the unfortunate circumstances in 2020 and continuous earthquakes (following the initial hit, back on March, 22.) it took me a very, VERY long time to address both of these builds properly, but I'm happy to report that as of recently, both 386 & 486 are now fully set & working properly! Of course, both cases were cleaned up (as much as possible), and patched up with all the extra openings & holes properly closed.
386 SX40 (before/after)


 



486 DX2 (before/after)


 



There is tons of pictures to share, depending on whenever you find this sort of hardware interesting or not. Both hardware & software of course, otherwise I'm going to stop here. Working on both of these was a blast from the past, quite literally even


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow guys, can't believe it's been so much time already.


I can't believe I'm seeing a post from our long time nostalgic hardware enthusiast poster. Glad to have you back.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I can't believe I'm seeing a post from our long time nostalgic hardware enthusiast poster. Glad to have you back.


Heh, thanks! 

Don't know if I'm "back" back, we shall see what happens next but since I've done so much work on those two systems figured I'd stop by & share all the fun & excitement with you guys


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 4, 2020)

Wow @Trekkie4 , it is awesome to see you posting man!!!!!!!! Been awhile bro! 

I don't know about everyone else, but of course I want to hear more and more about these two truly old systems man. 

As you mentioned, it is amazing how time has caused the.........well, newer hardware to become vintage or nostalgic.   

Wasn't that long ago that a core2duo was pretty much newer hardware.........And look where we are today! 

So, by all means man, post up some more pics and tell us about them systems.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I've done so much work on those two systems figured I'd stop by & share all the fun & excitement with you guys


Please do share. I’d like to hear more about these two systems.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 4, 2020)

First computer parts them crashed down my wallet and I will never forget this experience.
16MB ram stick module (First ever produced)

Panasonic 4X CD Rom player...

Diamond Stealth64 Video VRAM     S3-968     VLB/PCI ( First ever produced VGA for full speed video / AVI files)
This would be the RTX3090 developers edition 20GB of our times.


----------



## Bones (Oct 4, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> That was my guess. LOL
> Not bad, but I don't have a good enough small tip soldering iron/gun. Plus I don't have the solder sucking thingy as well.



Personally I don't really need the solder-sucky-sucky thing  just a good soldering setup to make it happen.
I normally use my station's airwand for that and alot of the time don't even have to worry about really soldering anything and if I do, it's an easy fix.

Get a good soldering station - You'll thank yourself later.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Wow @Trekkie4 , it is awesome to see you posting man!!!!!!!! Been awhile bro!
> 
> I don't know about everyone else, but of course I want to hear more and more about these two truly old systems man.
> 
> ...





biffzinker said:


> Please do share. I’d like to hear more about these two systems.


Right, OK then! more it shall be... 

Going back to the very beginning, I tested both units to see if they will boot or not. I've been told by the former owner that 486 is exhibiting video issues & that it will not output any video. Most likely a video card fault (the old card was just your average Trident ISA card, nothing special or exciting about it), so I pulled it out & immediately replaced for S3 VLB card which would be more accurate & better choice for this system anyway, especially since it already has VLB compatible board.

Sytem POSTed perfectly fine afterwards, but for some reason it couldn't read/write from the hard drive & kept reporting battery fault, which was hardly a surprise considering the sorry state of onboard battery. Long story short, the hard drive fault turned out to be related to that 5.25" caddy, so I removed it entirely & system FINALLY booted into MS-DOS & Win 3.1.


 

 

 



On the other hand, 386 had somewhat similar issues... Although the initial POST went fine, it kept reporting "HDD controler failure". Again, I'm not 100% sure what was going on, because I pulled the old controller out & replaced it for another one, from 486 (486 was upgraded with VLB controller card, just like graphics). Again, I wouldn't be surprised if the fault was related to that hard drive caddy, but since I never had any plans or intentions to keep them inside, I didn't want to waste any time on repairing them & troubleshooting loose connections.


 

 

 



Eventually I pulled out all the hardware & documented every single component, including the "upgrades" & various fixes:

386:


 

 

 



486:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Regarding 486 & CPU frequency indicator... For some reason, it was programmed to feature "65" for non-turbo & "66" for turbo speed, even though none of the two speeds were relevant to the ACTUAL speed of this DX2, which is 80MHz. Therefore it should had been 40 for non-turbo & 80 for turbo ... I guess?


 



Several months later, my replacement NiMh batteries arrived from China (oddly enough, I couldn't find these locally...) and so I could finally replace them! Not a moment too soon, before the old ones damaged the PCB underneath.


 

 



I also relocated & secured the internal PC speaker, as I initially found it on the bottom of the case, held to the frame by the speaker magnet, itself.


 



A lot of patience & one decent cable management later & 386 was officially completed 




I had some issues with non-functioning COM ports which turned out to be related to COM port extension header. So I replaced it for another & tried again - this time without any issues 
At this point I was finally ready to set up all the software, starting with DOS 6.22 & Windows 3.11...




...followed by the games 

Stunts




Prehistorik 2


 

 

 



Wolfenstein 3D




Indiana Jones & Fate of Atlantis


 



Doom (had some lag on 386, but it was perfectly playable)


 

 



Doom2 (too much lag, had to give it up)




Lotus Ultimate Challenge


 



Ski or Die




The Incredible Machine




The Lion King




Monkey Island


 

 



Dangerous Dave


 



Micro Machines


 

 



Prince of Persia (had some memory-related issues which were eventually resolved through EMS)


 



Dyna Blaster (Bomberman)


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 4, 2020)

Oh wow!!!!!!!! @Trekkie4 , your post was frigging awesome man!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Talk about bringing back some memories.   

I hope you continue to stay active in this forum and post often man.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 4, 2020)

That takes me back... 
My first PC wasn't too dissimilar to @Trekkie4's 386 - had an Am386DX-40 with 4 MB of RAM. It originally came without a sound card or even a hard drive, not to mention an optical one! Played the same exact games. Even made it to the final level of Doom II, where every frame would freeze the display for a couple of seconds


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2020)

Thanks guys  But it isn't over yet ... that was only 386, time to finish it off with 486!

Again, some soldering required...


 

 

 

 



About a week or so later, and the entire system was finally done. Normally it would have taken me a lot less, but I had some drama which needed my attention, therefore it took twice as longer.




You may have noticed that I put a small heatsink on top of that 486, but not the fan. Fair enough, the actual CPU only requires passive cooling, but why not make it easier for 486? I found a small 40x40 fan inside one of the boxes, and connected it to a molex pass-through power adapter, so now that DX2 is properly cooled & will (hopefully) remain in service for years & years to come!




Overall, I suppose it looks decent enough ... I even found a way around & managed to patch up that 3.5" opening on the front panel, using the blank filler plate from another, identical case (which received 2nd 3.5" floppy drive, but more about that in a minute...)

Win 3.11 (this time running in proper video 16-bit color mode), Audio Excel software


 



Followed by some of the games which hadn't been featured on 386 (or I couldn't get them to work properly)

Aladdin


 



Jazz Jack Rabbit (unplayable on 386)


 

 



Jungle Strike


 



Pipe Mania




The Lost Vikings


 



Commander Keen


 



Heretic


 



Bumpy's Arcade Fantasy


 



Rise of the Triad


 

 

 



Tristan Pinball




Super Mario




Pac-In-Time


 



Rally Championship




Soko-Ban (officially the oldest game in my database, from 1984)


 

 



Pizza Worm


 



Tetris


 



Hocus Pocus (from what I can tell, not related in any way to a movie from 1993.)


 



Wacky Wheels


 

 



Kingpin (finally, all those bowling events with cousin Roman paid off )


 



And that's about it, I guess. Plenty of other games to choose from, but I had to draw a line somewhere 

Anyhow, regarding that 3.5" blank plate... I had an issue where I needed to plug the hole on this 486 somehow but didn't have the appropriate plate, so I ended up using one of my other, earlier builds which share the same case (Pentium 166, or maybe 133?) and gave it a pair of identical Samsung-branded 3.5" 1.44 Floppy drives. Thing is, 486 already has two floppy drives, so therefore adding the 3rd drive would be kinda pointless, since it couldn't be used (or even connected) to the motherboard, so it would serve only as a decoration piece which isn't good enough (or acceptable) for my standards.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 4, 2020)

Ahh, more DOS gaming awesomeness! Happy with how your builds turned out. Thanks for this trip down memory lane, buddy


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Again, some soldering required...


Board appears it had a silk screen for a CSR2032 holder?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Ahh, more DOS gaming awesomeness! Happy with how your builds turned out. Thanks for this trip down memory lane, buddy


Thanks! That is part of the reason why I did all these builds, over the last decade or so!  Primarily to have fun, sure. But also to remind others of their similar (or sometimes even identical) experiences & memories 



biffzinker said:


> Board appears it had a silk screen for a CSR2032 holder?


That was going to be my assumption as well, yes. However, now that I look at the board, I'm not exactly sure. The upper pin, positive terminal seems too high up, when compared to standard CR2032 battery holder, I don't think that it would fit and/or line up with silk screen on the board. There is also an issue of charging the battery - both NiCd & NiMH are continuously being charged, when the system is powered up. So that lithium 2032 would immediately leak or explode... Unless I'm missing something obvious? *shrug*


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> There is also an issue of charging the battery - both NiCd & NiMH are continuously being charged, when the system is powered up. So that lithium 2032 would immediately leak or explode... Unless I'm missing something obvious? *shrug*


It might of been a configurable option on the board via a resistor? 

A few of the games you showed I've never heard of before.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> It might of been a configurable option on the board via a resistor?
> 
> A few of the games you showed I've never heard of before.


Well, I found the manual online (available HERE), but from what I could tell, there is no mention of CR2032, non-rechargeable option.

As for the games, you really should play more often... What are you waiting for?!


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 4, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> As for the games, you really should play more often... What are you waiting for?!


I'm waiting for you to send one of those systems my way.  At least I would know it passed your inspection, and is in working condition. I see it as I might at as well get the authenticate experience.

I'd need a appropriate monitor though. Shipping a CRT would be an expensive preposition though.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I'm waiting for you to send one of those systems my way.  At least I would know it passed your inspection, and is in working condition. I see it as I might at as well get the authenticate experience.
> 
> I'd need a appropriate monitor though. Shipping a CRT would be an expensive preposition though.


Hehehe 

I used to have several CRTs around... In fact, I used to have a CRT on my desk, as part of the famous Retro Master system. But over the last couple of years, I gave them all away and now I have a generic "Lenovo" 17" LCD. But yes, after trying both options for retro gaming, I have to agree that CRTs are way, way better than any LCD/LED on the market... 

The only remaining 15" CRT is in the basement storage room, and it is part of my old Pentium II system, which was supposed to be overhauled earlier this year, but never did. Like I said, mainly because of the money, having the case blasted & then painted (powder coated) would cost a lot more than I initially thought & expected. And besides, that CRT which I just mentioned doesn't work, there is something wrong with the voltage regulation in the power supply, so it would need to be professionally serviced (I'm not getting my fingers inside the CRT!) Sooo...

So, I forgot to add & mention several things... First things first - CD-ROM drive(s). 386 came with Mitsumi (get this) QUAD-SPEED unit. Have to admit, this is my very first Quad speed CD-ROM, ever! Even my own 486, DX2 (66) from back in a day had 16X GoldStar drive, as it was initially bought without the sound card & CD drive, but eventually got upgraded with so called "Multimedia Package" as they called it back in a day. Anyhow, I was sincerely hoping that I wouldn't have to replace it for something else, since even just the outer look of that Mistumi drive feels nostalgic enough  And sure enough, it seems to be working just fine!

486 on the other hand came with 8X GoldStar unit (as seen on some of the previously-uploaded pics). But the owner also gave me some spare parts, including 8x Mitsumi drive AND yet another ISA sound "ESS" card. Goldstar drive had the usual problem (the tray belt was shot & couldn't eject properly) but there is obviously an easy fix for that & shouldn't pose much of a problem. But since I already had Mitsumi drive available, I figured why not... Mitsumi (yet another name for Panasonic, along with National, Quasar, Technics, and many other brands I'm sure) is a very reliable & good unit, so it was a no brainer if you ask me  Obviously, I kept the old GS unit, and might use it eventually for something else if & when necessary.

Also, I forgot to add my Autoexec.BAT & Config.SYS configuration. I used the same model for both machines, with only the minor changes for the sound drivers & folder names.

Autoexec.BAT

```
@ECHO OFF
C:\DOS\MODE CON RATE=32 DELAY=2
C:\DOS\MODE CON CP PREP=((852) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)
C:\DOS\MODE CON CP SEL=852
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\KEYB YU,852,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS
ECHO.
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MOUSE
ECHO.
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\AP6400
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\TEMP
SET TZ=CET-1CDT,3,-1,0,7200,10,-1,0,10800,3600
C:\AP6400\APINIT /WE /WA:530 /WI:11 /WM:0 /VE /VA:220 /VI:5 /VL:1 /VH:5 /GE /MD /MA:330 /MI:9 /MX:100 /WIN=C:\WINDOWS
C:\AP6400\APMIX /V:15,15 /C:00,00 /F:15,15 /I:00,00 /M:00 /P:10 /R:A  /X
GOTO %CONFIG%

:EMSBOOT
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MSCDEX /D:MSCD000 /M:15 /E /S /L:D /V
ECHO.
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 128 /V
GOTO END

:NOEBOOT
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MSCDEX /D:MSCD000 /M:15 /S /L:D /V
ECHO.
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 /V
GOTO END

:MINBOOT
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 /V
GOTO END

:WINBOOT
LH /L:2 C:\DOS\MSCDEX /D:MSCD000 /M:15 /E /S /L:D /V
ECHO.
LH /L:0;2 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 128 /V
WIN
GOTO END

:END
```

Config.SYS

```
[MENU]
MENUITEM=EMSBOOT, Start with EMS support.
MENUITEM=NOEBOOT, Start without EMS support.
MENUITEM=MINBOOT, Minimal Boot
MENUITEM=WINBOOT, Windows 3.11
MENUDEFAULT=EMSBOOT,30

[COMMON]
BREAK=ON
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=40
REM FCBS=1,0
BUFFERS=10,0
LASTDRIVE=J
STACKS=9,256
COUNTRY=038,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:1024 /P

[EMSBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 I=B000-B7FF /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\CDROM\GSCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD000

[NOEBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\CDROM\GSCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD000

[MINBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS /V

[WINBOOT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\CDROM\GSCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD000
```


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

Which one I should use for my ultimate XP/7 retro build..? Phenom II X2 @ X4 or Xeon 3230..?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Which one I should use for my ultimate XP/7 retro build..? Phenom II X2 @ X4 or Xeon 3230..?


Depends on how old/new the game you intend to play on it IMO. Every now and then I see videos on Youtube saying 'Ultimate XP build' but to me, it really depends on the game you plan to play on it, whether its old games during early XP era, mid XP era or late XP era. I also read some early XP game wont work with XP that being patched with Service Packs.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Which one I should use for my ultimate XP/7 retro build..? Phenom II X2 @ X4 or Xeon 3230..?





Apocalypsee said:


> Depends on how old/new the game you intend to play on it IMO. Every now and then I see videos on Youtube saying 'Ultimate XP build' but to me, it really depends on the game you plan to play on it, whether its old games during early XP era, mid XP era or late XP era. I also read some early XP game wont work with XP that being patched with Service Packs.


What @Apocalypsee said... To me, the "ultimate" XP rig would be Socket 478 or 462/A. That is, if we are talking about early XP. On the other hand, late XP era would require Socket 775 with multi-core CPU (at least Core2 Duo) or AM2 with Athlon X2 (and above). From personal experience:

SP1 - Athlon, Duron, Pentium 3, Pentium 4 & Celeron between 500MHz & 1GHz
SP2 - Athlon, Athlon64, Sempron, Pentium 4, Pentium 4 HT & Celeron between 1GHz & 2GHz
SP3 - Athlon64, Sempron, Pentium 4 HT & Celeron between 2GHz & 3GHz


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 5, 2020)

Someone is selling the same 3dfx DIAMOND MONSTER 3D Voodoo Graphics card I had. 












						3dfx DIAMOND MONSTER 3D Voodoo PCI 4 MB Vintage Video Graphics Accelerator Card  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3dfx DIAMOND MONSTER 3D Voodoo PCI 4 MB Vintage Video Graphics Accelerator Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

I mean it won't hurt if it would run every XP era (even Crysis) with high details on 60fps 

The Athlon & GF3 build comes later on. It's gonna be a W2k build tho. 



biffzinker said:


> Someone is selling the same 3dfx DIAMOND MONSTER 3D Voodoo Graphics card I had.
> View attachment 170844
> 
> 
> ...


Oh fuck and I sold my Voodoo 2 12MB at 15EUR several years ago  Truly didn't have clue that they are that pricey.. even then..



I mean the LGA775 board has 2x PCIE and CF support, a 4890 CF would be a dream, I have those


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Which one I should use for my ultimate XP/7 retro build..? Phenom II X2 @ X4 or Xeon 3230..?


You could disable two cores in the BIOS to simulate a dual-core while retaining the ability to use it as a quad core for the Phenom II x4. The suggestion is related to Windows 7.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Someone is selling the same 3dfx DIAMOND MONSTER 3D Voodoo Graphics card I had.
> View attachment 170844
> 
> 
> ...


Are you referring to something in particular, specific revision? Or just the model, Diamond Monster 3D? Because Diamond Monster cards were/are quite common actually, one of the most commonly found Voodoo cards out there. Heck, even I got two of these. Had two more (all Diamonds), but they had a fault of some sort (most likely VRAM) so I gave them away as a retro "souvenirs" 



Chloe Price said:


> I mean it won't hurt if it would run every XP era (even Crysis) with high details on 60fps
> 
> The Athlon & GF3 build comes later on. It's gonna be a W2k build tho.
> 
> ...


You're lucky! I gave away my old Diamond Monster 3DII Voodoo2 12MB for NOTHING! That was in 2005, maybe 2006. Thing is, V2 was pretty much worthless back then. Not old enough, but definitely obsolete for anything useful


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 5, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Are you referring to something in particular, specific revision? Or just the model, Diamond Monster 3D? Because Diamond Monster cards were/are quite common actually, one of the most commonly found Voodoo cards out there.


I was looking to see it there was any of the Enhanced Am486 chips out there for sale. Just happened across the Monster 3D, yeah there's nothing rare about the cards.

White ISA slots?


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Are you referring to something in particular, specific revision? Or just the model, Diamond Monster 3D? Because Diamond Monster cards were/are quite common actually, one of the most commonly found Voodoo cards out there. Heck, even I got two of these. Had two more (all Diamonds), but they had a fault of some sort (most likely VRAM) so I gave them away as a retro "souvenirs"
> 
> 
> You're lucky! I gave away my old Diamond Monster 3DII Voodoo2 12MB for NOTHING! That was in 2005, maybe 2006. Thing is, V2 was pretty much worthless back then. Not old enough, but definitely obsolete for anything useful


I got mine also free in 2008 and it was a similar one, damn that I didn't know its value so I was just like damn lets sell it 

Tho not obsolete, with the XP drivers (can't remember which) Unreal was hella pretty with it 



biffzinker said:


> You could disable two cores in the BIOS to simulate a dual-core while retaining the ability to use it as a quad core for the Phenom II x4. The suggestion is related to Windows 7.


The thing which has a pro here is that P5Q has 2x PCIe x16 which allows using crossfire, the Phenom's board doesn't have. What retro PC is it if there's no two old Radeons (4890)?


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I mean the LGA775 board has 2x PCIE and CF support, a 4890 CF would be a dream, I have those


I have an ABit AT8 32X S939 board that has 2 16x PCI slots I paired with an Opteron 170 and 2 1900XTXs


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I got mine also free in 2008 and it was a similar one, damn that I didn't know its value so I was just like damn lets sell it
> 
> Tho not obsolete, with the XP drivers (can't remember which) Unreal was hella pretty with it
> 
> ...


The problem with old (now referred to as "retro") games back in a day is that I was tired of them, because I only just moved away from them  Referring to 2003-2006 era of course, I wasn't playing much of the old games, because I got my hands on new stuff, that was (in my opinion, back then) a lot more exciting than Glide-powered games & 3dfx. By the time I wanted to go back & got nostalgic for the older games, it was too late. Not only my old Pentium II was barely original spec-wise, but it didn't have 3dfx card inside. Instead, I had Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead, which I pulled out from my main rig (main rig from back in a day, obviously), Pentium 4 when I upgraded graphics to Abit Siluro FX5600


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> I have an ABit AT8 32X S939 board that has 2 16x PCI slots I paired with an Opteron 170 and 2 1900XTXs


The thing that I hate is that neither of those my 4890s won't OC to 1GHz 

Good 939 rig u have there


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> The thing that I hate is that neither of those my 4890s won't OC to 1GHz
> 
> Good 939 rig u have there


I always planned to put it back together but actually might sell it to a collector.








						TechPowerUp
					






					www.techpowerup.com
				



when it was my rig


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> The problem with old (now referred to as "retro") games back in a day is that I was tired of them, because I only just moved away from them  Referring to 2003-2006 era of course, I wasn't playing much of the old games, because I got my hands on new stuff, that was (in my opinion, back then) a lot more exciting than Glide-powered games & 3dfx. By the time I wanted to go back & got nostalgic for the older games, it was too late. Not only my old Pentium II was barely original spec-wise, but it didn't have 3dfx card inside. Instead, I had Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead, which I pulled out from my main rig (back in a day, obviously), Pentium 4 when I upgraded graphics to Abit Siluro FX5600


I got maybe ur point, I'm honestly a little drunk but I love to play old games with old hardware, if it's not the solid 60fps like it wasn't then, it's easy to fix as I could just swap a faster CPU or GPU these days to that retro rig. 

but my socket A/GF3 build will be totally my dream retro build as I put the best MS OS on that ever - Win 2000. 



INSTG8R said:


> I always planned to put it back together but actually might sell it to a collector.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That look is exactly why I love soft tubes as a watercooling dude!!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I was looking to see it there was any of the Enhanced Am486 chips out there for sale. Just happened across the Monster 3D, yeah there's nothing rare about the cards.
> 
> White ISA slots?
> View attachment 170846


Never mind the white ISA slots lol ... I'm more curious about the lithium CR2032!! (actually these are ISA & VLB)


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

ISA... oh boy. My last board with ISA was Abit KT7A, IMO the best SDRAM S462 board


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 5, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm more curious about the lithium CR2032!! (actually these are ISA & VLB)


Here's the ebay link.








						UMC UM4980 V1.4 Socket 3 486 VESA Cyrix ST DX 40MHz Cirrus Logic CL-GD5429 VLB  | eBay
					

UMC UM4980 V1.4 Socket 3 mother board. there is a reason for it, because it's one of the best VLB 486 boards ever made! It's really ultra fast, and plenty. Working perfectly with an also very cool Cirrus Logic CL-GD5429 2MB VLB video card and.



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

Funny how few years back then 486s were pure e-waste, now they cost more than an used 1gen Ryzen platform


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2020)

@biffzinker On a side note, that board would make a perfect choice for 486 DOS gaming rig! Featuring VLB & not having NiCd/NiMH batteries to worry about, yet STILL being old enough to retain the old format, and not having floppy/hard drive controller built in, unlike some of the other, slightly modern boards. @Chloe Price

Edit
124$?!? Yikes...

I actually have yet another 486 board inside one of the boxes, which I totally forgot up until the other day. Don't know the brand, but it has VIA chipset. The model is 486VC, or 486-VC, not sure. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a CPU, so there's no way of telling if it works or not. It also has one of those Dallas clock battery chips, soldered directly into the PCB which is going to be a PITA to replace if I ever end up using it.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> @biffzinker On a side note, that board would make a perfect choice for 486 DOS gaming rig! Featuring VLB & not having NiCd/NiMH batteries to worry about, yet STILL being old enough to retain the old format, and not having floppy/hard drive controller built in, unlike some of the other, slightly modern boards. @Chloe Price
> 
> Edit
> 124$?!? Yikes...


wuut... had to quote before you edit 

Hope u don't get mad as I'm just joking


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> wuut... had to quote before you edit
> 
> Hope u don't get mad as I'm just joking


Uhh ... why would I want to edit? I personally think that 124$ for an old 486 is a LOT of money. Heck, I remember when these things were next to worthless!


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 5, 2020)

Wow, I need to go see what's the model of my 486 board.  I also have a DX-50 & a DX2-66 for it.


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> That look is exactly why I love soft tubes as a watercooling dude!!


Was the only way to do it then.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh ... why would I want to edit? I personally think that 124$ for an old 486 is a LOT of money. Heck, I remember when these things were next to worthless!


Sorry, understood wrong ur post... I'd just get a Pentium if I want a Win95 PC as those 486 ones are hella expensive 



INSTG8R said:


> Was the only way to do it then.


And still is, my mental health doesnt go with 1:1 with the hardtubes.. I can swear if I'd go with hardtubes, I'd probably think that is this hell.. oh hell no for me, soft tubes look so much cooler as in old school way and they're just so easy as u don't kink them.


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Sorry, understood wrong ur post... I'd just get a Pentium if I want a Win95 PC as those 486 ones are hella expensive
> 
> 
> And still is, my mental health doesnt go with 1:1 with the hardtubes.. I can swear if I'd go with hardtubes, I'd probably think that is this hell.. oh hell no for me, soft tubes look so much cooler as in old school way and they're just so easy as u don't kink them.


Yeah still running soft tubing a can remove my block without needing to drain or unhook a bunch of stuff its almost as simple as an AIO


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> Yeah still running soft tubing a can remove my block without needing to drain or unhook a bunch of stuff its almost as simple as an AIO


I just can't imagine what a job it would be to drain/modify a loop with hard ones... nah, not my thing, never.


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I just can't imagine what a job it would be to drain/modify a loop with hard ones... nah, not my thing, never.


Yeah exactly and draining my loop is already the worst job. Hard tubing is just fashionable, everything else about it is a nightmare



Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh ... why would I want to edit? I personally think that 124$ for an old 486 is a LOT of money. Heck, I remember when these things were next to worthless!


My first ones were curbside finds


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> Yeah exactly and draining my loop is already the worst job. Hard tubing is just fashionable, everything else about it is a nightmare


I love the oldschool look anyway so that's why I go with soft ones, 13/10 here.


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I love the oldschool look anyway so that's why I go with soft ones, 13/10 here.


That was my first water rig and I’ve never been on air since and yes absolutely prefer the classic style


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> That was my first water rig and I’ve never been on air since and yes absolutely prefer the classic style


These days I have even my 2nd PC on water


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> These days I have even my 2nd PC on water


This is the way


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> This is the way


No anything special, just tap water dammit.


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> No anything special, just tap water dammit.


Well my last build I learned to never ever use coloured coolant. My switch to clear still comes out pink  Despite flushing it multiple times with vinegar and rinsed with water...and what I found in my already restrictive block....


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> Well my last build I learned to never ever use coloured coolant. My switch to clear still comes out pink  Despite flushing it multiple times with vinegar and rinsed with water...and what I found in my already restrictive block....View attachment 170849


Never had damage but color coolant built hella lot shit to the loop. I wondered why my ex-R9 290 jumped instantly to 94C and started throttling when gaming, there was hella lot of gunk on the block, similar as yours. :/

Nowadays I just use distilled water. The tap water is just if I don't have anything else and only a temporary solution.


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Never had damage but color coolant built hella lot shit to the loop. I wondered why my ex-R9 290 jumped instantly to 94C and started throttling when gaming, there was hella lot of gunk on the block, similar as yours. :/
> 
> Nowadays I just use distilled water. The tap water is just if I don't have anything else and only a temporary solution.


well that was basically blocked . I just use clear Cryofuel


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> well that was basically blocked . I just use clear Cryofuel


The same was with my EK-Supremacy VGA  drained the loop, cleaned the blocks and daaaamn the temp drop.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Sorry, understood wrong ur post... I'd just get a Pentium if I want a Win95 PC as those 486 ones are hella expensive
> 
> 
> And still is, my mental health doesnt go with 1:1 with the hardtubes.. I can swear if I'd go with hardtubes, I'd probably think that is this hell.. oh hell no for me, soft tubes look so much cooler as in old school way and they're just so easy as u don't kink them.


Nah, it's all good  

But here's the thing... If you get a Pentium over 386, 486 or 586, you don't get to use the Turbo. And let's be honest, who wouldn't want to have a Turbo boosted PC?! 



INSTG8R said:


> My first ones were curbside finds


A while ago, back in 2014 I actually BOUGHT an old 486, DX4 (100MHz) for around $15. I didn't have much of a choice because I was hosting an exhibition, and people wanted to see (and experience) 486, which (at the time) I did not have available. I even documented it here in this thread, I'll see if I can dig it up. That being said, I sold that same DX4 in 2019 for $62! I don't necessarily feel bad or sad, since according to my standards, it wasn't a genuine 486 to begin with. It had a modern motherboard, combining both PCI & ISA, along with integrated controllers & lithium CR2032 battery.

But yes, I prefer free stuff ... just as much as anyone else  I guess you just have to be at the right time in the right place for it to happen.

Edit - found it! I sold the 5x86 from the picture as well as DX4, but I kept the other 5x86, since I had two identical setups


Trekkie4 said:


> OK, so I finally tested the first two of upcoming 4 systems, which I picked up last week... 1st one booted up OK, but the hard drive was stuck & making squealing noises. And surprise, surprise - it was a Maxtor unit, would you believe that?!
> 
> Anyhow, the 1st Celeron system is just a basic one... Not much to tell, Intel Desktop board & S478 Celeron running at 2.0GHz. However, the 2nd one ... turned out to be quite a surprise actually. Asus P4P800 SE, with dual DDR memory channels, SATA interface, etc. The system wasn't turning on, and you could tell just by looking at the hardware inside that someone picked it clean, thinking it's completely toasted. The CMOS battery was missing, hard drive(s) removed, along with the video card & anything useful. However, it occurred me that the problem I'm having might had been related with fancy China-made computer case, which has one of those LCD panels & tons of buttons built into the front panel. So when I disconnected the actual "hardware" power switch & shorted the power-on pins with the screwdriver, system booted up perfectly fine!  Woohoo, this is going to make awesome toy, for me to play with! It has a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 chip, and I already mounted 512MB of RAM, might add additional pair into the other two banks, upgrading it to 1GB in total.
> 
> ...


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> The same was with my EK-Supremacy VGA  drained the loop, cleaned the blocks and daaaamn the temp drop.


Yeah I switched to AM4 so I have an EK Velocity AM4 but in my excitement to assemble it all I didn‘t check it or flush it. the very next day I was doing some final tidying and I turned it off. A “floaty” came out of the block. The thought of having to drain it and tear it apart 24 hours after putting it all together won out. Everything is running as expected but I still know that somewhere in my loop is a foreign object....


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 5, 2020)

Is anyone here still running an E7300? Or basically any dual core from that E7XXX line. I was an idiot and delidded all of mine before doing any thermal testing and now I have no idea if I improved things or not.
Has to be an E7XXX since those are NOT soldered but use TIM and they are 45nm.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 5, 2020)

Due this thread and my own memory of my first CPU 486 DX100  it was killing me thought that I was not remember the motherboard maker...  and after a week of defraging my brain cells, then it came to me..
Its the damn *SOYO *

And my first ever OS was *Win 3.1 for work-group*


----------



## debs3759 (Oct 5, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> Due this thread and my own memory of my first CPU 486 DX100  it was killing me thought that I was not remember the motherboard maker...  and after a week of defraging my brain cells, then it came to me..
> Its the damn *SOYO *
> 
> And my first ever OS was *Win 3.1 for work-group*



I have no idea what my first MoBo was (might have been a Tomato board, but not sure). I only remember it was cheap. I know I had a 486SX25 (had no idea of the difference between an SX and a DX for the first couple of years) and a Tseng ET4000


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 5, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> (had no idea of the difference between an SX and a DX for the first couple of years)



This information its hard to find, this is stored at printed press of 90s (magazines).
DX this is latest development and a step up regarding performance.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 6, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> Is anyone here still running an E7300? Or basically any dual core from that E7XXX line. I was an idiot and delidded all of mine before doing any thermal testing and now I have no idea if I improved things or not.
> Has to be an E7XXX since those are NOT soldered but use TIM and they are 45nm.



I might have one. I'll have to look in my stock pile of old CPUs bro. 




kiriakost said:


> DX this is latest development and a step up regarding performance.



The DX chips had a math coprocessor where the SX did not. Made a difference in speed on processing a lot of apps and games.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 6, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> The DX chips had a math coprocessor where the SX did not. Made a difference in speed on processing a lot of apps and *games*.



And therefore I do belong at the generation which started computing with math co-processor within the CPU.
The most breathtaking action game of this period it was Chess at 2D.


----------



## Chomiq (Oct 6, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> I have no idea what my first MoBo was (might have been a Tomato board, but not sure). I only remember it was cheap. I know I had a 486SX25 (had no idea of the difference between an SX and a DX for the first couple of years) and a Tseng ET4000


Same here, we upgraded sx25 to dx4/100 later. It served me well until early 2000's. It then was used by my dad for office work at our family shop. Sadly he threw it away at some point.


----------



## xrobwx71 (Oct 6, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> We will need *Virtual Reality* 3D demo for actual benchmarks
> I has own the Voodoo3  3000, it was a more popular choice due pricing, for us 3D world explorers.


Will, it run Crysis Remastered? Or MS Flight Sim 2020 ? 



QuietBob said:


> Hi everybody, first time poster  Glad I found this thread and the fantastic community within! I've read all the 395 pages and witnessed some amazing hardware - and people - on these very pages
> 
> Anyway, a bit late to the party, but here's my current "retro" rig built about five years ago. I didn't go for the bling with this one. Just wanted a Windows XP PC which could also be used for most everyday tasks in a pinch:
> 
> ...


Welcome aboard! It is a great community!


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 6, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> Yeah I switched to AM4 so I have an EK Velocity AM4 but in my excitement to assemble it all I didn‘t check it or flush it. the very next day I was doing some final tidying and I turned it off. A “floaty” came out of the block. The thought of having to drain it and tear it apart 24 hours after putting it all together won out. Everything is running as expected but I still know that somewhere in my loop is a foreign object....


I know exactly that feeling, the "floaties" always disturbs me.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 6, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> The DX chips had a math coprocessor where the SX did not. Made a difference in speed on processing a lot of apps and games.


Specifically, that would be true of the 486 line (with the single exception of the i487SX). The 386DX did not have an integrated FPU. 
Still, not having a math coprocessor didn't really matter to the average user. It wasn't until around 1995 and the onset of the 3d revolution that the FPU started to make a difference.



xrobwx71 said:


> Welcome aboard! It is a great community!


Thanks for the welcome!


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 6, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Thanks for the welcome!


Yeah, welcome  it's always nice to see new faces on my favourite threads here.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 6, 2020)

Chomiq said:


> Same here, we upgraded sx25 to dx4/100 later. It served me well until early 2000's. It then was used by my dad for office work at our family shop. Sadly he threw it away at some point.


The wise upgrade sequence was 486 DX100 =>  AMD 133 =>  Slot 1 Celeron * 266* this able to be clocked at 400MHz with the help of a large Cooling brick 
Then with a Voodoo2 you were capable to run the  3D demo of Star Wars.

OMG more memories.


----------



## NoJuan999 (Oct 6, 2020)

I bought a 386 when I started college in 1990 (studying Electrical and Computer Engineering) and then a few years later sold it and got a 486DX2 and the difference was huge for me.
I was using PSpice to simulate electronic circuits and it took 3 to 4 days to finish a simulation on the 386 and with the 486 they would complete in about 24 hours.
So for me at least that on chip FPU made a world of difference.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 6, 2020)

NoJuan999 said:


> I bought a 386 when I started college in 1990 (studying Electrical and Computer Engineering) and then a few years later sold it and got a 486DX2 and the difference was huge for me.
> I was using PSpice to simulate electronic circuits and it took 3 to 4 days to finish a simulation on the 386 and with the 486 they would complete in about 24 hours.
> So for me at least that on chip FPU made a world of difference.


Technology had huge leaps in every generation back then. I'm too young to had experienced those but countless hours of youtube videos about the hardware from back in the day makes that more than clear.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 6, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> Due this thread and my own memory of my first CPU 486 DX100  it was killing me thought that I was not remember the motherboard maker...  and after a week of defraging my brain cells, then it came to me..
> Its the damn *SOYO *
> 
> And my first ever OS was *Win 3.1 for work-group*


Mine was exactly the same! Intel 486 DX2, 66 with the Soyo board. It was running MS-DOS v6.22 & Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Didn't have the sound and/or CD-ROM at first, those two came couple of years later when we finally upgraded the system with GoldStar 16X CD drive & Audio Excel sound card, with Target-branded speakers.



kiriakost said:


> This information its hard to find, this is stored at printed press of 90s (magazines).
> DX this is latest development and a step up regarding performance.


Strictly said, you are right. What others said (@stinger608 ), DX line had a math co-processor built in where the SX did not. I never had 386 before (or 286, for that matter) - my first system was previously mentioned 486 DX2, which is part of the reason why I wanted to get my hands on 386 system nowdays, to see how it compares against DX2


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 6, 2020)

Also the difference between 386SX & 386DX can be a little confusing if comparing to 486; their difference is that SX uses only 16-bit wide bus. Even the DX doesn't have a FPU, it needs a 387DX (and SX needs a 387SX respectively).


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 6, 2020)

NoJuan999 said:


> I bought a 386 when I started college in 1990 (studying Electrical and Computer Engineering) and then a few years later sold it and got a 486DX2 and the difference was huge for me.
> I was using PSpice to simulate electronic circuits and it took 3 to 4 days to finish a simulation on the 386 and with the 486 they would complete in about 24 hours.
> So for me at least that on chip FPU made a world of difference.


Now that's a huge improvement!  Talk about money well spent. But CAD/engineering software has always been floating point math heavy. That's why I mentioned typical home/office use in my previous post.
And let's not forget we're comparing two different architectures here, spread *six* years apart. The 486 had roughly 2x the ALU performance of the 386 clock-for-clock. So a 33 MHz 486SX, even without the FPU, would still be twice as fast as a 33 MHz 386 at most tasks. And even faster when computing x87 code on the 486DX's FPU.

BTW, anyone noticed the post counter on this thread?


----------



## NoJuan999 (Oct 6, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Now that's a huge improvement!  Talk about money well spent. But CAD/engineering software has always been floating point math heavy. That's why I mentioned typical home/office use in my previous post.
> And let's not forget we're comparing two different architectures here, spread *six* years apart. The 486 had roughly 2x the ALU performance of the 386 clock-for-clock. So a 33 MHz 486SX, even without the FPU, would still be twice as fast as a 33 MHz 386 at most tasks. And even faster when computing x87 code on the 486DX's FPU.


Very True.
I just remember being Soooo happy when a circuit simulation finished in a day (or even less).
I had a few instances when a simulation on the 386 would run for a few days and then the PC would crash and I'd have to run it again.
That was excruciating.
I don't remember any of the simulations I ran on the 486 crashing, but that could be selective memory on my part.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 6, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> my first system was previously mentioned 486 DX2, which is part of the reason why I wanted to get my hands on 386 system nowdays, to see how it compares against DX2



First PC that I did use for two months prior ordering My Own new PC (486DX100)  this was a 286 and the only training which I could do this was playing Tetris.
CD Tertris / Tetris.exe    (All the action in Black and Green).
For the new PC I got a SONY Trinitron 15" 75Hz  and this was a great choice against eyestrain, and a true joy regarding vivid colors.
The most wise choice which I did over the decades, this is giving priority at getting always a very high quality PC monitor.



QuietBob said:


> BTW, anyone noticed the post counter on this thread?



Minor detail. 

Gentlemen lets enrich this thread with learning tools of 1995 era and later, in which we learned using and or repair PC computers with out us having an internet connection.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 6, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Made a difference in speed on processing a lot of apps and games.


I thought the most popular software back during 286/386, and early 486 was reliant on Integer code?


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 6, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I thought the most popular software back during 286/386, and early 486 was reliant on Integer code?


At 1988 we was learning at school in Greece, programing with C language.
Since 1988 up to 1995 most PC computers was in a accountant office they was running  C language software at DOS environment.
Since the year 1996 the operating system Win95 it did the big bang, the graphical environment this made computers user friendly.
In the same year the computing force and economy of Japan had it own big bang, the Japanese was masters at using DOS operating system and C language, and the newcomer Win95 this crashed down their monopoly and dominance at programing of electronic chips and be the No1 at electronics development.

When you see an AIWA cassette deck or Audio CD player *of 1990*, this has digital counters and VU meter and programing capability of you making your own play list.
They did all that with out them having Microsoft Windows.


----------



## NoJuan999 (Oct 6, 2020)

In 1984-88, I was in the US Navy and learned Assembly (and electronics repair) to help develop and maintain weapon systems and also stood watch (doing maintenance and repair) on a Reel to Reel Main Frame.
I didn't use a PC until I left the Navy and went to a University.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 6, 2020)

NoJuan999 said:


> on a Reel to Reel Main Frame.
> I didn't use a PC until I left the Navy and went to a University.



Our 1996 made PC at my school, it was a metallic mainframe something similar to MAC computer with attached keyboard, about *40 kilos of weight its one* and we had five for a class of 25 students. 
Such design this is self protected from get stolen.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 6, 2020)

NoJuan999 said:


> In 1984-88, I was in the US Navy and learned Assembly (and electronics repair) to help develop and maintain weapon systems and also stood watch (doing maintenance and repair) on a Reel to Reel Main Frame.


Lucky of you to have had access to a mainframe! Also, your Popeye avatar has suddenly become clear  



kiriakost said:


> For the new PC I got a SONY Trinitron 15" 75Hz  and this was a great choice against eyestrain, and a true joy regarding vivid colors.


Best CRTs there were. I used to have a 17" and 19" Diamondtron (NEC-branded Trinitron). Both could do 1600x1200 @ 75Hz.



kiriakost said:


> Gentlemen lets enrich this thread with learning tools of 1995 era and later, in which we learned using and or repair PC computers with out us having an internet connection.


Love the cheesy cover of that DOS manual!


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 6, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I thought the most popular software back during 286/386, and early 486 was reliant on Integer code?



Pretty much true. However, ID software was beginning and started developing games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and some other titles from early "3D" game developers. 
Of course ID Software, well specifically John Carmack, revolutionized the gaming world as we know it today!


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 7, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Love the cheesy cover of that DOS manual!



This is how *Microsoft* it did imagine to conquer the universe, but then they made Windows and they become lazy.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 7, 2020)

My first 3D accelerator card 

The Riva 128 is widely regarded as the first "modern" Windows GPU to successfully combine 2D and 3D acceleration. Too bad I don't have a mobo to put it on


----------



## dorsetknob (Oct 7, 2020)

Got one of those
Have kept it (working of course) as a  Flash Recovery spare  usefull for those mb that only have 1PCI x slot
Card has a massive 4mb ram


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 8, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> The Riva 128 is widely regarded as the first "modern" Windows GPU to successfully combine 2D and 3D acceleration. Too bad I don't have a mobo to put it on



*Riva 128* came with delay, every one of us clan of first explorers of 3D Gaming we had Voodoo2 or a better Voodoo3 among with a first pack of games them using *OPEN GL*.
Additionally, Riva 128 this were mostly DirectX and INTEL CPU & MMX commands dependent.

Actually when 3D gaming started, we had more benchmarks as 3D capabilities demonstration than real games to play.


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 8, 2020)

Why do things always go wrong on a regular schedule...

Coming home from work, happy to find a parcel only to open it and find that the RAM sticks inside have been packed touching each other.

Result:













Two caps holding on for dear life and the heatspread is bend so its no longer touching the chips. What makes this painful, these are Kingston HyperX 9600D2K2


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 8, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> Two caps holding on for dear life and the heatspread is bend so its no longer touching the chips. What makes this painful, these are Kingston HyperX 9600D2K2



Luck this is still standing at your side,  one sharp soldering iron tip, at the hands of an expert  him working with electronics professionally, he can fix that in 30 seconds.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 8, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> Two caps holding on for dear life and the heatspread is bend so its no longer touching the chips. What makes this painful, these are Kingston HyperX 9600D2K2


Oh crap... Some of the fastest DDR2 modules out there. Feel sorry for you man!


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 8, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> Luck this is still standing at your side,  one sharp soldering iron tip, at the hands of an expert  him working with electronics professionally, he can fix that in 30 seconds.


And that 'expert' will be me! I hope. I mean I'm not an expert but I have some soldering experience and all the tools right here. I'm glad they are still in place, makes the job easier.

EDIT: Ok so I did not find my narrow tip which is why I don't post an image of my solder job. I did re-attach it to the pads but also added some blobs to the top edges in the process. Looks horrible but its working.




Currently have them naked, I don't think I'll even bother with the stock heatsinks. These are so thin and flimsy, I'll transplant them some from an OCZ-Reaper kit. 





They can do ~625Mhz @2.00V CL5. That is above the rated 600 and still far below the stock 2.3V, I'm happy now


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 9, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> That MSI board is a very good AGP benching board. IMO, second only to the Asrock NF3-VSTA board.
> Find a 3850. It crushes the 7800. I have both.
> 
> EDIT- Holy crap look at the paste on that CPU.


Yeah, all the paste made me chuckle. They even spread it on the foam pads.

Thanks for confirmation on the MSI board. Thought it might be a good one. And you are right about the 3580. I simply will not be happy until one is in my hands. Remembering how dissapointing it was back in the day when discovering they were not compatable with my nForce2. How is the 12 volt load with the 3580 and it's 8pin? Using heavy 5 volt rail PSUs right now.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 9, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> EDIT: Ok so I did not find my narrow tip which is why I don't post an image of my solder job. I did re-attach it to the pads but also added some blobs to the top edges in the process. Looks horrible but its working.
> ......  I'm happy now



Good for you !
But do not push more than 10% OC or you will end up with Windows OS files corruption. 
Ghost 14 and a second HDD this is your only insurance (OS partition image) if you are up to for OC wild experiments.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 9, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> How is the 12 volt load with the 3580 and it's 8pin? Using heavy 5 volt rail PSUs right now.


Official specs call for a 450 W PSU with 30 A on 12 volt


----------



## Massdeth (Oct 9, 2020)

erocker said:


> I have an IBM PS/2 386SX still running my alignment machine at the shop! I haven't opened it up for at least 8 years. Running DOS and running strong!



Welp, you win brotha! Still runs, no TLC for 8 years and its actually running a machine for a active business..... you cant beat that, lol.


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 9, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> Good for you !
> But do not push more than 10% OC or you will end up with Windows OS files corruption.
> Ghost 14 and a second HDD this is your only insurance (OS partition image) if you are up to for OC wild experiments.


I don't use this system for anything else but OC. It's my dedicated OC-HDD for Win7 and XP.

And so far Windows has proven to be very resistant to corruption. I frequently push unstable RAM and FSB clocks. In fact I tested a few sticks recently to create a voltage / frequency curve for DDR2 Micron RAM and in the process I crashed and booted with unstable RAM ~200 times or more. 



 

 



There are some funny things that start to happen, but the very same install is still working on my benchtable. Did not have to re-install it yet. 

My current goal is to hit 700MHz+ on RAM and when I got that I will try my best to get a 700+ FSB validation.

On my retro-gaming PC with XP I would never try unstable OC, I'd rather like that one to stay intact


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Yeah, all the paste made me chuckle. They even spread it on the foam pads.
> 
> Thanks for confirmation on the MSI board. Thought it might be a good one. And you are right about the 3580. I simply will not be happy until one is in my hands. Remembering how dissapointing it was back in the day when discovering they were not compatable with my nForce2. How is the 12 volt load with the 3580 and it's 8pin? Using heavy 5 volt rail PSUs right now.


Bah, you haven't seen nothing yet. Take a look at this one...





To those of you who are Nostalgic Hardware Club seniors, this Athlon will probably look familiar  Picture was taken a while ago, back in 2015 and even now in 2020 it is STILL officially the worst TIM application that I've seen with my own eyes!





And yes, just in case some of you are wondering - that Athlon 1000 cleaned up just fine. In fact I've had it all this time up until recently, when I gave the entire machine to a fellow forumer, from a local forum, where it will hopefully continue working for many years to come


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 9, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Bah, you haven't seen nothing yet. Take a look at this one..


Someone put a genuine effort into this. Note the brush strokes on the TIM. And they took extra care not to daub the pads... 
Good job cleaning it tho!



Dinnercore said:


> On my retro-gaming PC with XP I would never try unstable OC, I'd rather like that one to stay intact


Same here. The Phenom on my primary retro-rig could be pushed higher, but that mobo was never meant for OCing. Even though I added small copper heatsinks on the VRMs, I wouldn't want to lose another AM2 AGP board. I've got another complete build with a Phenom II on an Asus Crosshair IV Formula, and that one is game-stable at 4.2 GHz.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Someone put a genuine effort into this. Note the brush strokes on the TIM. And they took extra care not to daub the pads...
> Good job cleaning it tho!


WD-40... Yes, I'm not kidding  It will dissolve ANY thermal compound, regardless of how old or how thick it is. Just make sure to wipe it off clean, otherwise you are going to end up with "warm WD-40" stench, coming from inside the computer case!


----------



## hat (Oct 9, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> WD-40... Yes, I'm not kidding  It will dissolve ANY thermal compound, regardless of how old or how thick it is. Just make sure to wipe it off clean, otherwise you are going to end up with "warm WD-40" stench, coming from inside the computer case!


One time when I had some really stubborn TIM that rubbing alcohol wouldn't clean, I used Goo Gone. Good to know WD-40 also works.


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 9, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Bah, you haven't seen nothing yet. Take a look at this one...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is pretty bad. Remembering back when nForce2 and socket A were still top dog there was a huge thread in another forum about bad customer returns. Wish I still had the screenshots. All manner of crazy stuff. From installers thinking the little AMD sticker was a thermal pad, to a huge wood screw used to hold down the NB heatsink, which ended up badly cracking the mainboard. Amazing the things some customers tried to pass off as defects. 

The WD-40 makes sense since it is mostly solvent. Despite so many using it as a lubricant. Some of the worst I have encountered is thermal adhesives. Tried everything in my shop to remove, including WD-40. Ineffective except full strength Acetone which melted it like butter. Acetone is like that among solvents. Unique properties. For instance. A good set of nitrile gloves protect against great many things but is near invisible to Acetone. For that butyl rubber gloves is the choice.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 9, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> That is pretty bad. Remembering back when nForce2 and socket A were still top dog there was a huge thread in another forum about bad customer returns. Wish I still had the screenshots. All manner of crazy stuff. From installers thinking the little AMD sticker was a thermal pad, to a huge wood screw used to hold down the NB heatsink, which ended up badly cracking the mainboard. Amazing the things some customers tried to pass off as defects.
> 
> The WD-40 makes sense since it is mostly solvent. Despite so many using it as a lubricant. Some of the worst I have encountered is thermal adhesives. Tried everything in my shop to remove, including WD-40. Ineffective except full strength Acetone which melted it like butter. Acetone is like that among solvents. Unique properties. For instance. A good set of nitrile gloves protect against great many things but is near invisible to Acetone. For that butyl rubber gloves is the choice.


Yes, but acetone will dissolve not only the adhesive, but the plastic surface as well ... not sure I'd want to use it on a PCB or any other electronic components, for that matter.


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 9, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, but acetone will dissolve not only the adhesive, but the plastic surface as well ... not sure I'd want to use it on a PCB or any other electronic components, for that matter.


Agreed. And of course not. That is why we are careful to dab onto the chip and/or IHS only. 

Parts for the A64 system are coming together. Going to stick with 6800 or 7800 GPU for now because of the extra 12 volt required for the 3850. Looking forward to some tweaking. Knew next to nothing about the platform but found some good YouTube vids which taught me much about socket 939, and building retro systems of many kinds. The video about building a DOS gaming machine from newer more readily available hardware is interesting. Channel has probably been posted before.









						PhilsComputerLab
					

Here we have videos about computers, old and new, with a focus on gaming. We build computers, running DOS, Windows 98, XP or even Windows 10. There are revie...




					www.youtube.com


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Remembering how dissapointing it was back in the day when discovering they were not compatable with my nForce2. How is the 12 volt load with the 3580 and it's 8pin? Using heavy 5 volt rail PSUs right now.











						Mr.Scott`s 3DMark 99 Max score: 21941 marks with a Radeon HD 3850 AGP
					

The Radeon HD 3850 AGP @ 837/1000MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the 3DMark 99 Max benchmark. Mr.Scottranks #null worldwide and #null in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.




					hwbot.org
				




HD3850 on NF2 bro.  

Doesn't load the 12v too bad. You'll be fine on the heavy 5v PSU as long as it's a decent brand.


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 9, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Mr.Scott`s 3DMark 99 Max score: 21941 marks with a Radeon HD 3850 AGP
> 
> 
> The Radeon HD 3850 AGP @ 837/1000MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the 3DMark 99 Max benchmark. Mr.Scottranks #null worldwide and #null in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.
> ...


Awesome. Love this forum. Nice OC on that Barton by the way.
Darn. Seems I was mistaken all this time. Thought there was something about the socket 462/A that did not jive with 3850. Or perhaps it was drivers at the time. Good to know it is a viable option. Any particular brand preferred?

The PSU will be an old PCP&C 425w from 2005. Bit long in the tooth yet still holds within about 2% on all rails under load. Best testing I can muster with equipment at hand.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 9, 2020)

It's a Turbo Cool.
You'll be fine. I still bench with a Turbo Cool 1200. 10 or 11 years old now. Still crankin out good clean Seasonic power.
Sapphire is the preferred and probably the most common.
Core clocks the same in pretty much all of them. VMem doesn't clock worth a damn in any of them.
Ignore the above line if you don't care about overclocking.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 10, 2020)

When having a turbo button on your computer isn't good enough & you HAVE to upgrade it with turbo-cool to the next level...

Sorry, just couldn't resit...


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 10, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> *When having a turbo button on your computer* isn't good enough & you HAVE to upgrade it with turbo-cool to the next level...
> 
> Sorry, just couldn't resit...



My 486 DX 100 never had one.
This was an *afterburner* function for  386 CPUs


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 10, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> My 486 DX 100 never had one.
> This was an *afterburner* function for 386 CPUs


Your system definitely had a turbo button, there's no doubt about it. However, your case apparently did not have a turbo button/switch, meaning that the motherboard was most likely permanently shorted (through a jumper) to "Turbo" mode.

This seems to be a popular mod on these things, you'd be surprised how many 486 & 5x86 systems had a jumper cap across the turbo switch & all the related hardware components (switch, speed indicator screen, Turbo LED) unplugged or even entirely removed. What I don't understand is why would anyone bother with removing the Turbo components, can't you simply press the turbo button & leave it like that?!


----------



## Massdeth (Oct 10, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's a Turbo Cool.
> You'll be fine. I still bench with a Turbo Cool 1200. 10 or 11 years old now. Still crankin out good clean Seasonic power.
> Sapphire is the preferred and probably the most common.
> Core clocks the same in pretty much all of them. VMem doesn't clock worth a damn in any of them.
> Ignore the above line if you don't care about overclocking.


YES! I have a old 750 from back in 07-ish that is a tank, itll run anything still. That was back when they sold them in giant brown cardboard boxes and you thought you were gonna have some crazy bonus gifts in the box, lol. I might even have the box still.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 10, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Your system definitely had a turbo button, there's no doubt about it. However, your case apparently did not have a turbo button/switch, meaning that the motherboard was most likely permanently shorted (through a jumper) to "Turbo" mode.
> 
> This seems to be a popular mod on these things, you'd be surprised how many 486 & 5x86 systems had a jumper cap across the turbo switch & all the related hardware components (switch, speed indicator screen, Turbo LED) unplugged or even entirely removed. What I don't understand is why would anyone bother with removing the Turbo components, can't you simply press the turbo button & leave it like that?!



I am fully aware that  a turbo button this was not increasing anything, instead it was slashing down a portion of MHz from the named CPU clock. 
I never gave any thought of why some one to do that as product design, but my guesswork this is that has something to do with compatibility with applications designed to run for 286 CPU.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 10, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> I am fully aware that  a turbo button this was not increasing anything, instead it was slashing down a portion of MHz from the named CPU clock.
> I never gave any thought of why some one to do that as product design, but my guesswork this is that has something to do with compatibility with applications designed to run for 286 CPU.


Yes, deactivating turbo feature will decrease the processing speed, thus making the hardware compatible with older software - specifically programmed for 286 machines (and older).

But I wasn't talking about that, what I said is that your system definitely had a "Turbo" switch option, because EVERY x86 sytem from back in a day had Turbo feature. So, chances are that your case didn't have a turbo button, but it had a turbo switch pinout inside, which can be easily shorted through a jumper, to allow the system to operate in normal (Turbo) mode. If not & pins are left open, the motherboard would interpret this as having a turbo switch in "OFF" position, and it would slow the speed down.

Oddly enough, some motherboards also seem to have the turbo function controlled through the BIOS. That latest 486 DX2 of mine, with the Soyo board from the previous page had a Turbo entry in BIOS, allowing me to deactivate it entirely, regardless of the hardware state & switch/jumper position.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 10, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, deactivating turbo feature will decrease the processing speed, thus making the hardware compatible with older software - specifically programmed for 286 machines (and older).


The turbo Was for software coded with timings tied to the clockspeed of the main CPU (8086.) That’s the way I understood he meaning of turbo.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 10, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> The turbo Was for software coded with timings tied to the clockspeed of the main CPU (8086.) That’s the way I understood he meaning of turbo.


Hmm. Could be, I'm really not that much into software & programming... *shrug* Anyhow, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding turbo, some people claim how turning it on will actually decrease the speed, where on the other hand others (including myself) claim that turning it ON will increase the speed, or at least allow the system to operate at its normal clock. Nothing turbo about it 

Thing is, the turbo switch has 3 poles. The middle terminal is common, but 1st and 3rd can be reversed, depending on how you plug the cable. Depending on the orientation, pressing the Turbo switch will either decrease the speed, or increase it to a normal one. But regardless of the switch position, enabling the turbo mode will force the system to operate in normal mode, where having it off (again, regardless of the actual switch state) will decrease the speed to make it compatible with older software


----------



## debs3759 (Oct 11, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> The turbo Was for software coded with timings tied to the clockspeed of the main CPU (8086.) That’s the way I understood he meaning of turbo.



That's right. Weirdly, as I understand it, Turbo mode was introduced to slow the system. Some systems are faster with the turbo pins shorted, but some are the other way round, so shorting the pins on some boards actually slowed the system. I've had both types of board over the years.









						Turbo button - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 11, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> That's right. Weirdly, as I understand it, Turbo mode was introduced to slow the system. Some systems are faster with the turbo pins shorted, but some are the other way round, so shorting the pins on some boards actually slowed the system. I've had both types of board over the years.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Huh... Guess you learn something new every day   

And right, see this is exactly where that 3-pin turbo header comes in place. If you rotate the header, it will compensate for the flipped motherboard function, allowing you to operate the Turbo function normally.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 11, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Huh... Guess you learn something new every day
> 
> And right, see this is exactly where that 3-pin turbo header comes in place. If you rotate the header, it will compensate for the flipped motherboard function, allowing you to operate the Turbo function normally.



The best way learning computing this is you getting  your first PC in a location surrounded by sea water, no local support technicians and neither internet available 
I did live for two years such a situation, at my first time business man and Boss of my self.
First use of my computer was of me creating advertising material and documents in favor of my electronics repairs workshop with one HP540C Color Printer.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 11, 2020)

kiriakost said:


> The best way learning computing this is you getting  your first PC in a location surrounded by sea water, no local support technicians and neither internet available
> I did live for two years such a situation, at my first time business man and Boss of my self.
> First use of my computer was of me creating advertising material and documents in favor of my electronics repairs workshop with one HP540C Color Printer.


Oh wow! You know, my first color printer (Ink Jet printer, that is) was HP 610C, very similar to your 540  We had Epson FX85 before HP, but that one was black & white, using dot matrix technology.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 11, 2020)

The title this is: *Made to Last in time* &  Be repairable.
This is the PCB board of an unbranded scanner.
Over the scanner there is a sticker Made in China, but entire pack of electronics they are from Taiwan.
In my eyes Taiwan this is No1 Leader as soon Japan this stopped getting involved with consumer electronics (1995) and changed it focus to industry and aerospace.
After the 1990 there is no genuine TEAC headphones, there is no magical Japanese banana plugs for audiophiles.

By a careful inspection you will notice gold plated test points for oscilloscope probes.
If this PCB was made in China?  half of the electronic parts they would be missing in the name of highest profitability.
This is RS232 port scanner and  slow and incompatible with our times, regarding offered productivity.

Even so all parts over the PCB they are branded and they were imported in Taiwan  from their location of production (Japan, USA, other), something that China this is in denial to do those days,  this is the reason that 400$ VGA card comes with poor quality DC fans,  or their PSU  them stops working in 2.5 years.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 11, 2020)

Some advanced Reaper technology:


----------



## INSTG8R (Oct 11, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Some advanced Reaper technology:
> 
> View attachment 171508


I sold my set to a member here actually. Definitely loved those and wished I’d kept them!


----------



## Hankieroseman (Oct 11, 2020)

I believe I bought these cases in 2001 or 02. Still being used and a third I'm wondering what to do with. Great ATX aluminum cases with the slide-out motherboard tray are still functinal but old.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 11, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Some advanced Reaper technology:
> 
> View attachment 171508




Had some first gen DDR that was just like them. Hard to find at the time and I F'd up and sent it with a system I sold.


----------



## debs3759 (Oct 12, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Some advanced Reaper technology:



I've got a couple of sets of them, but only PC2-8500. Only 9600 I have were designed for water cooling. Both sets are untested so far.


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 12, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> I've got a couple of sets of them, but only PC2-8500. Only 9600 I have were designed for water cooling. Both sets are untested so far.


The 9600 Flex work just as well with air cooling. Super beefy heatsinks and if they still work they could fly. My 2x1 set is among the best I have. 

I do also have some Reaper in 9600 but sadly I received them dead.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 13, 2020)

Any controller fans in here? Still in use in my daily - after I inadvertently fried the one on my video card


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 13, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Any controller fans in here? Still in use in my daily - after I inadvertently fried the one on my video card
> View attachment 171663View attachment 171664


Oh I love controllers for the front bay. And I use a lot of fan controllers in general because of my excessive use of 180mm fans for radiators. Mainboards can't power them all.

This is my most precious of them all:




The dials are so nice. And it has enough power for most of my setups


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 13, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> The dials are so nice


Now THAT is retro!


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 13, 2020)

In the past six years something when totally wrong regarding such DC fan controllers.
No one made any *Four* Chanel PWM with manual adjustment and digital display .
There is no electronic design limitation involved, I believe that the recent Trent of PC gaming case with out bays for optical drives this discouraged electronic engineers at designing one.


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 14, 2020)

Further expanding my DDR2 pool:





I'm on a mission. And I will not stop until I got there.


----------



## ThrashZone (Oct 14, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> Oh I love controllers for the front bay. And I use a lot of fan controllers in general because of my excessive use of 180mm fans for radiators. Mainboards can't power them all.
> 
> This is my most precious of them all:
> 
> ...


Hi,
Yeah I have a couple lamptron's too not that model though FC-2


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 14, 2020)

ThrashZone said:


> Yeah I have a couple lamptron's too not that model though FC-2


Pics please?


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 14, 2020)

So I delidded an E7300 and polished bottom + top of the IHS.

I like to think that I made a difference but I'm not sure since I failed to test it before. Anyway, this is what it does right now:






Watercooled using paste instead of LM under the IHS. 73°C under load is a lot, but running a voltage of 1.77V with ambient cooling.

It does run nice but probably not for too long. Did my benches at 1.7+ Vcore and it survived all of them so far.








I might just buy another one to compare. I really wonder if it helps at all, since these draw little power even at high voltages.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 15, 2020)

I may get my old 6800 Ultra back... lets just hope for the best


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 16, 2020)

I have a 6800 Ultra, and somewhere I have a 1.44 floppy with a modded 6800 GT BIOS that made the Ultra bench much faster than the stock BIOS.  Fun card to play with.  Here's a pic of it sitting in my Abit AI7.  
Good luck getting yours back.


----------



## kiriakost (Oct 17, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> So I delidded an E7300



When I got my quad Q6600, I had a major issue with a used motherboard that I got for it.
I was unaware of what was causing  the issue, and I was in need of one other CPU so to troubleshoot.
Here is my E7500 almost unused still in the box, this still waiting to become useful. 

Two years ago I got also one Q8200 , I was originally aiming to get and another ASUS P5QC as spare board (German auction lot of parts).
A thunder stroke my building ,  UPS was connected due USB with the PC,  USB subsystem at the motherboard was fried, the motherboard still usable no other damage. 

Previously some one from UK he sold me a damaged ASUS P5QC (burned USB ports), I kept it with partial refund.
Now I have one good ASUS P5QC (German auction) and another two ready to be send of south bridge replacement.
I got also two south bridge chips ( ready reballed from Asia) and they are ready to be soldered, but the special tool for the job this is at the capital of Greece, and I am sort at funding the repair for now.

ASUS P5QC  this is so wonderful that I do not care to own three of them.


----------



## micropage7 (Oct 17, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> Oh I love controllers for the front bay. And I use a lot of fan controllers in general because of my excessive use of 180mm fans for radiators. Mainboards can't power them all.
> 
> This is my most precious of them all:
> 
> ...


one of my fav when i was in college, and for now it looks (still) pretty good, but too bad today cases have limited 5.25 inch tray


----------



## ThrashZone (Oct 17, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Pics please?


Hi,
Old image I don't have any rgb fans up there anymore I'm using 3 knobs and 2  fans on each for push/  pull on my rads
I  give the mother board 2 fans just to keep it happy
I have mine in my top rad box I added to my case so it's not seen both  builds the same x299 & z490
Six knob version had to add some tape... so I could see the position they were in


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 18, 2020)

I'm done testing all of the DDR2 kits I got ( https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-403#post-4369005 )

Best one runs DDR2 1300 CL 5 @2.28V stable for SuperPI 32m.




Two other kits can do ~1290 at the same voltage. All of the others run 1200+ but worse and only the Teamgroup do not work at all. Got one of them to boot and its not very good. 

In my book thats decent. I have only a few sticks in my pool that I tested higher and they only passed 1M.

Tested them in pairs. Maybe if I bin each stick individually I find an even better combination.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 19, 2020)

Not sure if this channel has been featured here. Pure nostalgia. The videos tend to be a little on the long side, but you can't beat the lo-fi aesthetic


----------



## The Foldinator (Oct 19, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> Oh I love controllers for the front bay. And I use a lot of fan controllers in general because of my excessive use of 180mm fans for radiators. Mainboards can't power them all.
> 
> This is my most precious of them all:
> 
> ...


HARDware dial pron


----------



## Jetster (Oct 19, 2020)

Scored on some IDE Drives. I'll make you a great deal shipping plus $5
This weekend I will see how many work
Also curious what software is left inside


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 19, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> So I delidded an E7300 and polished bottom + top of the IHS.
> 
> I like to think that I made a difference but I'm not sure since I failed to test it before. Anyway, this is what it does right now:
> 
> ...


You madman. 1.7v on ambient.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Oct 19, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Any controller fans in here? Still in use in my daily - after I inadvertently fried the one on my video card
> View attachment 171664



I dig your old CoolerMaster CM 690 case! I built a Core 2 Quad system for a friend back in 2008 with the Nvidia version of this case that is still in service to this day with only a video card, additional 4GB memory, and SSD upgrade. We intend soon to build a new Ryzen system in this case.....might be little contradictory lol!



Also I finally got around to taking a picture of the internals of my low budget Socket 423 retro gaming PC mentioned here: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-384#post-4321658



I haven't made any changes to it as it plays all the old stuff I enjoy just fine. Currently playing through an old DOS game called Chasm the Rift which is basically a Doom/Quake clone that was mostly overlooked when it came out, but yet really is pretty decent. 

And lurking in this thread enjoying seeing peoples current projects!


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 19, 2020)

I've always wanted one of the CM690 cases. Had an opportunity a couple of weeks ago to get one cheap...........However the damn shipping was going to be twice the price of the case!!! 
Had to pass on it.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 20, 2020)

budget_Optiplex said:


> I dig your old CoolerMaster CM 690 case! I built a Core 2 Quad system for a friend back in 2008 with the Nvidia version of this case


That is one handsome box! I never knew CoolerMaster made an Nvidia-branded one. Mine is actually the CM 690 II Advanced USB 3.0. What I really love about this series is that it lets you mount an 80mm fan in the right panel. Cooling the PCB round the CPU socket area does wonders for VRM temps. I wish we could see more case designs with a similar feature.





budget_Optiplex said:


> We intend soon to build a new Ryzen system in this case.....


That's exactly what I have in mind!


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 21, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> I never knew CoolerMaster made an Nvidia-branded one



Yeah, and they were insanely expensive when they released them. If I recall, they were close to $400 for the case.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 21, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Yeah, and they were insanely expensive when they released them. If I recall, they were close to $400 for the case.


Apparently, they made another one of these. Found the 690 *II *on my local auction site (seller's photos):


----------



## JackOO7 (Oct 21, 2020)

What a coincidence, I have the same case lying around (which i don't use anymore).


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Oct 22, 2020)

So I found a Radeon 9550 just randomly lying on the sidewalk.  I still haven't tested it, or cleaned it, but thought it was the most random find ever.  It's also an odd card...specifically because of the molex connector. My assumption is that the card is from an OEM of some kind where the motherboard wasn't able to supply enough power on its own?  I wonder if it has potential to overclock better than normal 9550?  Only one way to find out, I guess.  If anyone knows what this is, they can have it (if it works, of course).  I already have a 9600XT in my "retro" PC.









JackOO7 said:


> What a coincidence, I have the same case lying around (which i don't use anymore).


I had that case when it was new...and then proceeded to hack it up over the next half decade, installed my first custom watercooling loop, gave it colour shift paint job, a small LCD, maybe 4-5" in the drive-bay area...it was an ugly mess but taught me nearly everything I know about case modding and custom computer design...going to go see if I can dig up some old photos of it.

EDIT - now that I think of it, I think it was the first CM690, and not the second version.


----------



## debs3759 (Oct 22, 2020)

There were quite a few cards with Molex connectors for power.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 22, 2020)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> So I found a Radeon 9550 just randomly lying on the sidewalk.  I still haven't tested it, or cleaned it, but thought it was the most random find ever.  It's also an odd card...specifically because of the molex connector. My assumption is that the card is from an OEM of some kind where the motherboard wasn't able to supply enough power on its own?  I wonder if it has potential to overclock better than normal 9550?  Only one way to find out, I guess.  If anyone knows what this is, they can have it (if it works, of course).  I already have a 9600XT in my "retro" PC.
> 
> View attachment 172786View attachment 172787
> 
> ...



That ATI heatsink fan would be an awesome add for northbridge cooling on a vintage motherboard.  Something to keep in mind if the video card is DOA.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 22, 2020)

68Olds said:


> That ATI heatsink fan would be an awesome add for northbridge cooling on a vintage motherboard.  Something to keep in mind if the video card is DOA.



Especially if it would fit a DFI board. Their northbridge fans were notorious for taking a crap. 

I've got 2 socket 939 boards with bad fans.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Oct 22, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> There were quite a few cards with Molex connectors for power.


 9550 though?  I can't really find any info...I know the higher end 9700/9800 used them.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Their northbridge fans were notorious for taking a crap.


While this is true, it was an easy fix. DFI used a type of bearing grease that dried up after a year or so. Taking the fan apart, cleaning and using a quality oil fixed it right up and made it a lot less noisy.


----------



## TOMCAT (Oct 23, 2020)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> 9550 though?  I can't really find any info...I know the higher end 9700/9800 used them.



short info to the card:

ATI Radeon PowerColor 9550 256MB DDR SDRAM AGP

Just type the UPC EAN code ((4) 710810 936166) to your favotited search engine.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Oct 23, 2020)

TOMCAT said:


> short info to the card:
> 
> ATI Radeon PowerColor 9550 256MB DDR SDRAM AGP
> 
> Just type the UPC EAN code ((4) 710810 936166) to your favotited search engine.


That returned about zero amount of info except that it's a Powercolor branded card...nothing about why there is a molex connector when it seems 99% of 9550 don't have them.  Even the photos are wrong (when I do as you said) and don't have the molex connector.  I really just wanted to know why it's there in the first place.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2020)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> That returned about zero amount of info except that it's a Powercolor branded card...nothing about why there is a molex connector when it seems 99% of 9550 don't have them. Even the photos are wrong (when I do as you said) and don't have the molex connector.  I really just wanted to know why it's there in the first place.


It was likely one of the factory OC'd Radeons. A standard AGP port can only deliver 48.25 watts of power to a card and some card needed more, thus the molex power jack. This was not uncommon.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Oct 23, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> It was likely one of the factory OC'd Radeons. A standard AGP port can only deliver 48.25 watts of power to a card and some card needed more, thus the molex power jack. This was not uncommon.


 
Then why is it so difficult for me to find any info?  Even typing in "radeon 9550 molex connector" into google isn't helpful.  Can anyone link me to any article talking about a molex connector on a 9550?  Google images shows it was not common for 9550 to have a molex connector as the cards didn't "need" it and were able to be completely powered by the AGP slot alone.  Is it for overclocking?  Is it for OEM motherboards that cannot provide the 48.25W spec through the AGP?  I am just curious and have been absolutely unable to find any info, really.  I know it's just a 9550, but that's the only reason the molex connector is interesting...because it IS just a 9550.  I don't even think my 9600XT has any power connectors...and it's significantly faster.


----------



## freeagent (Oct 23, 2020)

IIRC the 9550 was a cut down 9700 that could be unlocked with a flash? Kinda hazy these days..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2020)

freeagent said:


> IIRC the 9550 was a cut down 9700 that could be unlocked with a flash? Kinda hazy these days..


That was the 9500. The 9550 was it's own design, did not have the extra features and thus there was nothing to unlock.



Aaron_Henderson said:


> I don't even think my 9600XT has any power connectors...and it's significantly faster.


To be fair, the 9800/9600 series GPU's were made on a smaller lithography process and didn't require as much power, even when OC'd.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Oct 23, 2020)

freeagent said:


> IIRC the 9550 was a cut down 9700 that could be unlocked with a flash? Kinda hazy these days..


That was actually the Radeon 9500, I believe.  The 9550 is a down clocked 9600...can be bios flashed or overclocked to 9600 speeds, but no pipe unlock.

EDIT - ninja'd


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 23, 2020)

There had been some development with my "Adison" full restoration project. At this point, there are no guarantees that it will actually work out (primarily because of financial reasons), but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

To all of you who recently joined TPU & don't have a slightest clue what am I talking about, "Adison" machine was/is my own Pentium II, 350 machine from back in a day, which (to this day) I still own. Unfortunately, over the last 10, 15 years many original components were removed (and replaced with "upgrades") to the point where restoring it back to original specs was a serious challenge. To make it even more difficult, I got rid of the original case (which is what this restoration story is all about) and I hadn't been able to find another one in all these years ... until earlier in March. Unfortunately, the replacement case is extremely rusty, not to mention spray-painted in blue. Come to think of it, I talked about Adison system on more than one occasion here, it was first mentioned & introduced on the page 148, which was loooong time ago!






So other than soda-blasting the entire case to remove the rust & powder coating the metal panels in beige/white (along with the internal structure, in grey/silver) I'm also looking at re-capping the entire Chaintech 6BTM motherboard and maybe (if the budget allows me to) getting my old CRT professionally serviced. Overall, this is going to cost a lot of money - to be perfectly honest, more than I can afford at the moment. But hey, the whole world is coming apart, so I might as well do it now. After 15+ years of waiting & hoping, I say it is now or never!

And this is what the replacement case looks like, at the moment. As you can probably tell from the pictures, the entire case was disassembled because I was hoping to get it blasted immediately, but then the Covid pandemic happened, followed by the financial difficulties & devastating earthquake which put everything on hold


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> And this is what the replacement case looks like, at the moment. As you can probably tell from the pictures, the entire case was disassembled because I was hoping to get it blasted immediately, but then the Covid pandemic happened, followed by the financial difficulties & devastating earthquake which put everything on hold


Vinegar and light sanding would do well to clean up all that rust. Inexpensive and very effective.


----------



## biffzinker (Oct 23, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Vinegar and light sanding would do well to clean up all that rust. Inexpensive and very effective.


Vinegar to neutralize the rust with baking soda as an abrasive should work too.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Vinegar to neutralize the rust with baking soda as an abrasive should work too.


Yeah, that would work too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 23, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Vinegar and light sanding would do well to clean up all that rust. Inexpensive and very effective.





biffzinker said:


> Vinegar to neutralize the rust with baking soda as an abrasive should work too.


Maybe so (and actually, I've been told the same thing from several people), but there are several issues with DIY approach...

First & probably most important, I don't have the appropriate space, room to do it myself. I live in the apt. building, so it's not like I can do it outside in the back yard or the front porch.

Second, even if I do take care of the rust issue myself, there would still be a matter of painting (powder coating) the case. Because from what I've been told, the actual sandblasting is going to cost me next to nothing. In fact, I received an offer from a fellow forumer, who offered to sandblast the case for the price of a beer or two. That being said, I would still have to strip the blue (oil-based) paint from the case & then respray the whole thing from scratch, which would be a nightmare ... especially since I don't have the appropriate space for this kind of job.

Which is why I decided for a professional approach. Powder coating is /the/ way to go when it comes to respraying the computer cases nowdays, which oddly enough is about the same price (or even cheaper) than spray painting the case with traditional "wet" paint. The main issue is that no one was actually willing to accept the job, other than the bodywork restoration shop, which normally restores old timers & classics, such as Porsche 911, old Jaguars & similar, you get the point. It was actually recommended to me on another forum, after I sent out several offers to various shops & businesses, asking them if they would even be willing to take on a computer restoration. Which, as I already explained before wasn't the case, they immediately backed off claiming that it would be too risky/complicated & that the soda blasting could damage the metal framework. In other words, "too simple for us to make a healthy profit, look someplace else"


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 23, 2020)

Man @Trekkie4 , I wish you were on this side of the pond brother! 

The 


Trekkie4 said:


> "too simple for us to make a healthy profit, look someplace else"


attitude would not apply here. I could have it done for next to nothing. I know of a couple of specialty powder coating shops in Colorado. But of course shipping a case over here would be insane.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 23, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Man @Trekkie4 , I wish you were on this side of the pond brother!
> 
> The
> 
> attitude would not apply here. I could have it done for next to nothing. I know of a couple of specialty powder coating shops in Colorado. But of course shipping a case over here would be insane.


Lol yeah! Shipping the case to States & back would cost a fortune!

You know, someone right here, in this thread (edit, checked to make sure - it was @mmx_91 on page 178) found this exact case in Barcelona, and told me to get in touch with the seller. Which I obviously did, and I was even willing to pay for shipping & handling from Barcelona to Croatia, when the guy backed out, saying that he would rather sell the case locally (and also that he's not willing to have it shipped internationally) Which is a shame, because the case was in mint condition and it even had yet ANOTHER Pentium II inside! What a coincidence...

Anyhow, it doesn't matter. 4 years later, I finally found the other one  As for the price/value, to me it doesn't have a price tag because it is a priceless memory. Unfortunately, this "priceless memory" comes at the hefty price tag, which is why I'm struggling to work it out, but hopefully I got everything under control. We shall find out soon if that's really the case or not lol


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 23, 2020)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> So I found a Radeon 9550 just randomly lying on the sidewalk.  I still haven't tested it, or cleaned it, but thought it was the most random find ever.  It's also an odd card...specifically because of the molex connector.


An odd find indeed. The card would also be unique in its use of DDR2 memory. From what I gather, the only other card in the R300 lineup to use DDR2 was the X1050 PCIe.



lexluthermiester said:


> To be fair, the 9800/9600 series GPU's were made on a smaller lithography process and didn't require as much power, even when OC'd.


Wasn't the 9800 on a 150 nm, and the 9600 on a 130 nm node?



Trekkie4 said:


> There had been some development with my "Adison" full restoration project.


That's a nice looking keyboard. Did you keep it? I myself am a big fan of ergonomic ones.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Wasn't the 9800 on a 150 nm, and the 9600 on a 130 nm node?


That depended on the run. IIRC, ATI switched from 150 to 130 mid-product life cycle. They did the same for the 9550's as well.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 23, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> That's a nice looking keyboard. Did you keep it? I myself am a big fan of ergonomic ones.


No, unfortunately I did not  It was one of the components which got lost in the process of moving & upgrading over the years. But for what it's worth, I can give you the technical specs/details, so you can look it up. It was made by the company BTC, I believe the model number (according to Google) was *BTC 8110M*.

Interestingly enough, my CD-ROM drive was also manufactured by the same company (BTC), but despite all my efforts I couldn't find the same drive again. Probably because it was terrible lol, and they easily broke down, so just about everybody upgraded to better & faster units by early 2000s. (drive model was BTC BCD36X)


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 25, 2020)

Is there anything better then listening to Bob Acri after finally getting Windows installed on that system that gave you trouble all weekend?

Just a short peek for today, I'm exhausted:













This will be my current 'retro' rig for the games from my childhood. From Diablo 2 to Warcraft 3. Flatout to Counter Strike Source. Might even bring it to some LANs.

Had a big water + quad SLI setup in this case before, but that is not portable and not practical. Gave constant headaches with drivers and game support too.

So this is my more relaxed and air cooled rig in festive winter spirit.

DFI DK P45-T2RS PLUS
Core 2 Duo E8400
4x 1GB Ballistix Tracer DDR2
GTX 260 (The original first card I ever bought way back in my childhood, still alive and well)

Case: Silverstone TJ10B-WNV
Cooling: BeQuiet Shadow Rock TF 2


----------



## TOMCAT (Oct 26, 2020)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> 9550 though?  I can't really find any info...I know the higher end 9700/9800 used them.





Aaron_Henderson said:


> That returned about zero amount of info except that it's a Powercolor branded card...nothing about why there is a molex connector when it seems 99% of 9550 don't have them.  Even the photos are wrong (when I do as you said) and don't have the molex connector.  I really just wanted to know why it's there in the first place.


Excuse me, 
thought you would get a link to gpureview.com, but the review of your "special" 9550 DDR2 seems to be offline.

Info to your Powercolor 9550 version:

Let me call it "top of line" Radeon 9550 with Hynix DDR2 memory chips. RV350 Gpu (maybe RV360). At least 398 MHz Core / 300 MHz memory.
Exact specs may differ, there are at least two versions with the same UPC EAN number.  I know a dark brown PCB version with molex too.
Has a level near a 9600 pro or 9550XT.
Few info of DDR2 Radeon 9550s at vgamuseum.info. But no Powercolor version. Missing at TPU gpu DB.

The power connectors for Radeons 9550 to 9800:

With the 9000er Ati series the AGP port comes to power limits, especially when OCing. See also post 10085 from lexluthermiester.
The 9700 have FDD (floppy) power connectors in general, the 9800 changed in general to molex (HDD) power connectors. Usuall top right corner.
The 9500 may have a FDD power connector top middle of the card.
The 9600 (and 9550 as "downclocked" 9600) usually have no extra power connector, but many of the 9600 pcb custom layouts have the option. There was a "9600 pro FDD power mod" for hardcore overclockers to solder in a power connector for better OCing results.
Molex power connectors did work well, the FDD power connectors tend to get hot or burn when overclocking. Made bad experience with FDD power connectors on 9800 SE AiW when (soft)modded to full 9800s.

Back to the Powercolor 9550 DDR2 means, your card has two special points. DDR2 and Molex instead of FDD power connector. And even the option for power connectors is very rare at 9550s.

My personal thought is, that Powercolor made a very fast "so called" 9550 with a new PCB layout for DDR2 memory and factory OC. Called 9550 instead of 9600 to sell it on budget prices. And changed to molex like 9700 to 9800 series.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 26, 2020)

TOMCAT said:


> My personal thought is, that Powercolor made a very fast "so called" 9550 with a new PCB layout for DDR2 memory and factory OC. Called 9550 instead of 9600 to sell it on budget prices. And changed to molex like 9700 to 9800 series.


Pretty sure that's what happened. Those DDR2 9550's were amazing cards for the money.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 26, 2020)

Now that I think about it, I got one of 9550 cards myself. But pretty sure that it's just a standard, DDR1 model, nothing exciting about it. It is Asus branded, with "GE/TD" extension. It does the job, and it scored a somewhat decent score at 3DMark bench test, but it cannot compete with 9600 & other, similar models.

Therefore, his (@TOMCAT's) card is obviously something special or unusual & definitely worth further investigation 

Edit
Here's the pic, it goes all the way back to 2016 & page 188


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 26, 2020)

If memory serves the 9550 were among last of series to be released so makes sense they would have used a HDD connector by then. My 9500 still used the FDD connector. Never did try the 9700 hack but do remember the little home-made heatsinks affixed to both sides of the memory chips upped my overclock significantly. Card ran great when last tested about three years ago.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 26, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> If memory serves the 9550 were among last of series to be released so makes sense they would have used a HDD connector by then. My 9500 still used the FDD connector. Never did try the 9700 hack but do remember the little home-made heatsinks affixed to both sides of the memory chips upped my overclock significantly. Card ran great when last tested about three years ago.


Wow, those pictures! Please clean that card!


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wow, those pictures! Please clean that card!


Could be worse. Damn I hate smokers. Least the box is shiny.


----------



## basco (Oct 26, 2020)

scroll down plz for info on ddr2 9550 cards


			https://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-ATI/Radeon_9550.html


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 26, 2020)

basco said:


> scroll down plz for info on ddr2 9550 cards
> 
> 
> https://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-ATI/Radeon_9550.html


Nice! You found it! I knew I'd seen that data somewhere before just couldn't remember where. Well done indeed!

Thanks to that list, I was able to find the one I was selling BITD;








						GV-R955256DP2 Specification | Graphics Card - GIGABYTE Global
					

Discover AORUS premium graphics cards, ft. WINDFORCE cooling, RGB lighting, PCB protection, and VR friendly features for the best gaming and VR experience!




					www.gigabyte.com


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 26, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> So this is my more relaxed and air cooled rig in festive winter spirit.
> DFI DK P45-T3RSB PLUS
> Core 2 Duo E8400
> 4x 1GB Ballistix Tracer DDR2
> ...


Nice setup! Any OC on that C2D?



lexluthermiester said:


> Thanks to that list, I was able to find the one I was selling BITD;


Did you get your asking price? This PowerColor 9550 DDR2 sold for 66 EUR / $77 on my local auction site yesterday (seller's photo):


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 26, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Did you get your asking price? This PowerColor 9550 DDR2 sold for 66 EUR / $77 on my local auction site yesterday (seller's photo):


I meant that I sold them brand new on a retail level back when they were being produced.


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 26, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Nice setup! Any OC on that C2D?



Yes, just a little tho. I tend to babysit the parts I care about and while I have enough E8400s left over to burn I try to spare the boards VRM from high loads. 
Also I just noticed it is not a T3RS but rather a T2RS! No idea how I managed to mix that up, the 3 is green. Shows how much dealing with DFI boards can mess with your head. 





For starters I run 4,2GHz. RAM is a bit limited, the price I have to pay for the shiny LEDs. My tracers are a mixed bag of dual sided and single sided, 2.0V rated to 2.2V rated. I don't have a full set of one kind yet. I'm still hunting but some people claim stupid high prices for them so I wait to snipe good offers. 

I can not use the next higher ratio with this mixed set and they don't run CL4 at 470MHz. I do however still have headroom on 1:1 for a bit more FSB. 

I'm happy these 4 sticks work together. It was a nightmare of testing them in different combinations to finally find a set that behaves. Had others boot one time just fine and just upon a restart the board would get stuck on Code 88. 
This one finally works. Another pain with this build was the CPU cooler. I love it for its top-down airflow, this helps with chipset, RAM and VRM temps a bunch without having to stuff additional fans in awkward positions in there. But mounting it was tricky. The manual suggests to use a case with a mainboard cutout to help, because you need to scew it down from the backplate. The case had a cutout so I just mounted everything and decided I'll do cooler last... Which is when I found out that my mainboard cutout blocks off a screw from the backplate, so I could only reach three. Had to take most things out again and hold the board with my knees. 

Next up Windows XP refused to install on my SSD. No idea why. With another P45 board it worked flawlessly, same model of SSD. On this one it did not work. BSOD everytime, no matter if AHCI or IDE mode, legacy support or not.
Which is why I went with Win7 for now and will take the SSD to my testbench with the other board later where I will configure a dual boot with XP. 

And finally getting cables routed is a pain in this case. It is a really nice case quality wise, but it comes from an age where cable management was lousy or not even planned for at all. Had to get really creative with it.


----------



## basco (Oct 27, 2020)

maybe i have some cellshock or other ddr2 for ya dinnercore with reasonable price because i know they will be put to good use at your home.
which makes me more happy then collecting dust


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 27, 2020)

basco said:


> maybe i have some cellshock or other ddr2 for ya dinnercore with reasonable price because i know they will be put to good use at your home.
> which makes me more happy then collecting dust


Thats a nice offer, I'm always looking for fast DDR2. BUT you should know that I intend to use the fast stuff for X-OC benching. So they might die on me at some point and I probably wont be super nice to some of them. 
If you want to get them to a good home where someone will actually use them in a retro build for e.g. nostalgic LANs, I'm probably not the right address 

I have a lot of fast modules ready, and I could throw them into this build. But for this current build I want the LEDs from the Ballistix Tracer for looks. If you got some of those, preferrably dual sided, I would be very interested.

Otherwise, I'm always interested in even more fast DDR2 for benching. Be it Cellshocks, Crucial Ballistix, Axeram, Teamgroup etc.. Everything with a good chance of Micron chips on them.


----------



## Dinnercore (Oct 30, 2020)

Sorry for double-posting, can't edit my previous post anymore.

Got some new stuff that I had to pick up. 





Another small form factor board for a potentially even more portable LAN-PC. And a GTX285 as a potential 'upgrade' for my GTX260 (192 SP). 





I'm surprised tho how capable my good old GTX 260 is for its current purpose. Did some final tweaking and started testing my games.



 

 



It runs my stuff in 1440p at perfect 60 fps. On older and less demanding titles like Flatout 2 I can even add in AA and texture filtering. Only occasional dips in UT3, but that is to be expected from this resolution. 



 

 



As a final touch I added two fan-controllers for the front. Since the whole insides are glowing and blinking its only fair that it has something on the outside too 
I use the dials of the top one as temperature indicators and placed the probes around the case. One is stuck to a hard-drive in the front, one is behind the socket, one is behind the VRM and one is down between two sticks of RAM. You can see the last one coming through the 24 pin cable.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 30, 2020)

Been a little quiet here lately... Let me share my latest pickup then:

Modecom AZA miditower case from around 2006, targeted at enthusiasts on a budget. In perfect condition, only needed a clean. Snagged it for 6 EUR / 7 USD. Has an LCD display with a real-time clock and calendar, a 2-fan controller with dedicated potentiometers and 3 thermocouples. 
Also comes with a wired light sensor for monitoring ODD activity and another probe for network activity


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 30, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Been a little quiet here lately... Let me share my latest pickup then:
> View attachment 173869View attachment 173870View attachment 173871View attachment 173872
> Modecom AZA miditower case from around 2006, targeted at enthusiasts on a budget. In perfect condition, only needed a clean. Snagged it for 6 EUR / 7 USD. Has an LCD display with a real-time clock and calendar, a 2-fan controller with dedicated potentiometers and 3 thermocouples.
> Also comes with a wired light sensor for monitoring ODD activity and another probe for network activity


That is a very cool retro case!


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 30, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> As a final touch I added two fan-controllers for the front. Since the whole insides are glowing and blinking its only fair that it has something on the outside too


I see you put those Lamptrons to good use  Seemly rig overall, not to mention the respectable overclock!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 31, 2020)

Right guys, so once again I'm going to need your help with something. I'm on the hunt for BTC-branded CD-ROM drive. Model number* BTC-BCD36X* or *BTC BCD 40XH* whichever appears first.




As you can probably tell from the promotional brochure, the original CD ROM drive was *BCD-36X (same as 32X model, down below)*, which eventually got replaced with *BCD 40XH (same as 36X, down below)* when the old drive broke down & couldn't read anything.

Now, here's the thing - it doesn't necessarily have to be 36X or 40X, it can be slightly faster or slower, but I would like to preserve the original "look" by using one of the two identical models, that is more important to me than the actual access speed. Such as these two for example:


 



So, if anyone has a spare drive to sell or give away I would appreciate the help! I live in EU, therefore I would give advantage to members from EU due to customs & shipping fees, but if necessary I'm willing to have one shipped from the States or Asia. But this is something I might do eventually, since my biggest & highest priority is getting the actual case & electronics, actual system restored (as the CD drive can always be changed, replaced down the road if necessary)


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 31, 2020)

I'll check a couple of my ole systems I have in storage @Trekkie4 . If I happen to have one of them it would certainly go to you for free brother!!!!


----------



## Susquehannock (Oct 31, 2020)

Checked all my hardware but no dice. Only optical drive I have close to that design is a Memorex cdw-1622 re-writable. Hopefully someone else can hook you up.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 31, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right guys, so once again I'm going to need your help with something. I'm on the hunt for BTC-branded CD-ROM drive. Model number* BTC-BCD36X* or *BTC BCD 40XH* whichever appears first.


I've searched through my local websites, browsed the photos even. No luck so far, will check back some time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 31, 2020)

Thanks guys! 

The thing about BTC drives is that they were incredibly loud, and apparently didn't last for long. Probably one of the reasons why people were so eager to yank them out of their cases & replace with something better 

22 years later & this is now becoming a somewhat serious issue. Because I can't seem to find anything similar, and yet I'm trying to keep it original (or at least similar to the original specs)

Edit
Found the pic of my "original" BCD 40XH (3rd drive, on the far right), along what it appears to be Benq & Compaq in the middle.




I also took the liberty of scanning (rather than taking a photo with my phone) that promotional brochure, in order to enlarge the pic. This is what I'm aiming for ... minus the Iomega ZIP drive, mine didn't have one at first. But now that I think about it, I MIGHT put one inside, don't really know yet...


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 1, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I also took the liberty of scanning (rather than taking a photo with my phone) that promotional brochure, in order to enlarge the pic. This is what I'm aiming for ... minus the Iomega ZIP drive, mine didn't have one at first. But now that I think about it, I MIGHT put one inside, don't really know yet...


Not a bad looking PC for the time period.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 1, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> This is what I'm aiming for ... minus the Iomega ZIP drive


Why? BITD, I wouldn't even look at a prebuilt system unless it had one. ZipDrives were(and still are for retro systems) incredibly handy.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 1, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Not a bad looking PC for the time period.


Beautiful case IMHO and highly unique! Apart from the vertical door design, this particular case also features one unusual "quirk". HDD & Power LEDs are swapped other way around. As in, instead of having "Green" for power LED & "Red" for HDD activity, this one uses "Red" for power & "Green" for HDD. At first I thought that maybe someone mixed up the LEDs at the factory or something, but nope - even the replacement case which I have now has the same layout. From what I've seen, the ONLY case to feature this particular design 

Sure enough, swapping the LEDs is easy enough, and I could do it. This case is entirely modular, and everything (and I really DO mean everything) is removable - from the LEDs to motherboard tray, but I'm not going to do it. It gives it "character" & reminds me that it's different from all other systems 



lexluthermiester said:


> Why? BITD, I wouldn't even look at a prebuilt system unless it had one. ZipDrives were incredibly handy.


Sentimental thing, nothing more or less  Simply the fact that mine did not have a Zip drive at first, it came with 3.5" floppy (Sony) drive & previously mentioned BTC 36X CD-ROM drive, rest of the expansion bays were all empty.

Yes, this particular model originally had the Iomega ZIP drive (as you can tell from the brochure), but mom & dad specifically asked not to have one included, to keep the cost down since the entire system was already expensive enough. Thing is, the original specs for this particular model did not include Diamond Monster 3DII (12mb) card, but mine had a Voodoo2 card right from the beginning which cost a lot of money back in a day (the entire Adison system, tower, CRT monitor & keyboard cost around $2,310) And that is why I'm still debating on whenever I should place the ZIP drive or not. Yes, it technically belongs in there but mine did not have one ... not until 3 years later.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 1, 2020)

Well crap @Trekkie4 , I looked at the 6 older systems I have and none of them have the drive your looking for. Sorry man.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 1, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Well crap @Trekkie4 , I looked at the 6 older systems I have and none of them have the drive your looking for. Sorry man.


That's OK, don't worry about it. Thanks anyway!  

Seeing I can't find the BTC drive anywhere, I might postpone this issue for some other occasion, once I actually have the system up & running.

Edit
Googled for BTC drives & things are not looking good, I might even have to give this one up entirely. The problem with buying one from ebay is going to be shipping fee. Take THIS drive for example, it's being sold for $16, but the postage would cost additional $36, not including any customs fees. And I just can't seem to find anything closer in Europe, most of them are mislabeled (wrong drives and/or not what I'm looking for) OR they are older models, of speeds up to 16X.

THIS one too, jeez! The postage is $54,00. Seriously?!


----------



## debs3759 (Nov 1, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's OK, don't worry about it. Thanks anyway!
> 
> Seeing I can't find the BTC drive anywhere, I might postpone this issue for some other occasion, once I actually have the system up & running.
> 
> ...



That one offers free shipping within the USA, if someone is willing to forward it for you.

And This one from Germany is cheaper and looks very similar


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 1, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> And This one from Germany is cheaper and looks very similar


I was going to post about that one earlier but it’s half the speed of a 36x or the 32x @Trekkie4 was looking at.


----------



## debs3759 (Nov 1, 2020)

It looks like using a drop shipper might be the best option.

@Trekkie4 if you contact CPUShack on CPU-World, he will reship it as cheaply as possible. He's only one state over from the one with free domestic shipping


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 2, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> That one offers free shipping within the USA, if someone is willing to forward it for you.
> 
> And This one from Germany is cheaper and looks very similar





biffzinker said:


> I was going to post about that one earlier but it’s half the speed of a 36x or the 32x @Trekkie4 was looking at.


Exactly that, yeah. I don't mind having a slower unit, but IDK ... 16X is a lot slower than 32, 36, 40 or faster. My thoughts keep going back to playing Grim Fandango on that Adison machine, because the game loads all the necessary resources directly from a CD throughout the entire game. Same with Broken Sword 2 & Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine (however, these two depend on the installation choice), so having a somewhat-faster drive makes sense & pays off.

Regarding the other drive, with free shipping within the States ... I have a friend in Florida, but she is very sick at the moment & undergoing chemo therapy, so I can't (& don't really want to) bother her with unnecessary things. Apart from her, can't really say that I have anyone else who would do it, sooo... *shrug* Guess I'll keep trying to find one locally, who knows? I just hope that it won't take another 15 years, like it did with the actual case


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 2, 2020)

Some cards from my collection


----------



## basco (Nov 2, 2020)

Mr.voodofx whats the 1st and 2nd pic plz?


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 2, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> My thoughts keep going back to playing Grim Fandango on that Adison machine, because the game loads all the necessary resources directly from a CD throughout the entire game. . . . so having a somewhat-faster drive makes sense & pays off.


With Grim Fandango this can be easily circumvented using a fan-made installer/launcher. I remember playing this game entirely from my hard drive back when it came out.
And no, I do not condone software piracy


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 2, 2020)

basco said:


> Mr.voodofx whats the 1st and 2nd pic plz?



Sure!
1st is a ATi Rage Fury MAXX 
2nd is a XFX 7800GS AGP


----------



## basco (Nov 2, 2020)

ahh thx vodoo  fastest agp card from nvidia


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 2, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> With Grim Fandango this can be easily circumvented using a fan-made installer/launcher. I remember playing this game entirely from my hard drive back when it came out.
> And no, I do not condone software piracy
> View attachment 174171View attachment 174172


Probably, yeah. But I like to keep it entirely original ... there's something about hearing that CD-ROM drive squeak & crunch, each time you leave the room (area) & walk into the other one 

Speaking of Grim Fandango...




@voodooFX Even though I had tons of 3dfx cards (sold most of them, but I kept one of each), my all-time favore is DEFINITELY going to be that Diamond Monster 3DII, there's something about Voodoo2 & their ability to SLI! By the time Voodoo3 came out, it seemed just like yet another AGP graphics card, nothing fancy or special about it.

And besides, how often can you tell someone that you have a "3D Accelerator" inside your system?!


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 2, 2020)

basco said:


> ahh thx vodoo  fastest agp card from nvidia



I think that the fastest should be the 7950GT  ( https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-7950-gt-agp.c754 )


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 2, 2020)

I gave the JR P45-T2RS a clean and replaced the TIMs as usual. 

Surprised to find this uneven spread on the southbridge. I mean its not a component that gets critically hot in the first place but still would have expected the thing to be covered completly. 


 



Wiped the whole thing clean from the dust and grime with some iso and a fine brush. 





It again is very picky about RAM choices. For some reason it refused to work with my SuperTalent sticks. But Micron never lets me down. I love that logo-screen:





Now the only thing left I need is a fitting CPU-cooler. NONE of my current air-coolers work with it. The one I used for testing can't be mounted on this socket, I just had it sitting there loose on a thermal pad.

Chances are slim, but maybe someone in here has used a board like this in the past and can recommend some cooler? 

I thought about the Zalman 9700, it should fit but I have no clue if it is actually any good.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 2, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of Grim Fandango...


Didn't know there was soundtrack. 

Here's a site with the original soundtracks for download.





						Soundtrack – Grim Fandango Network
					






					www.grimfandango.net


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 2, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Didn't know there was soundtrack.
> 
> Here's a site with the original soundtracks for download.
> 
> ...


Huh... Didn't realize it was free!  Thanks for sharing the link anyway!

What I would LOVE to grab eventually is THIS:


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 4, 2020)

Update on the Adison restoration project.

Everything is worked out, case is going for a full rebuild tomorrow morning  You've already seen the pics depicting the current & rusty state of things, so I'm planning to post the "after" set of pics once I pick it back up!


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 6, 2020)

ECS ELITEGROUP *K7S7AG *w/ SiS *Xabre200* 64MB and *XP2400+*


----------



## Mr Bill (Nov 6, 2020)

Seeing that floppy drive port/connection reminds me "again" I probably have over a hundred floppy disks over in my storage room, I should go over there and grab them, might find something on one of them I would like to keep. I still have an old ASRock G41M-S3  PC with the floppy connection, that runs like new.


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 6, 2020)

*Matrox Parhelia 128 MB* *(w/ 2.8ns RAM, still have to test how far they can go)*







*3dfx voodoo3 3500 TV*

*

*


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 6, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> Seeing that floppy drive port/connection reminds me "again" I probably have over a hundred floppy disks over in my storage room, I should go over there and grab them, might find something on one of them I would like to keep. I still have an old ASRock G41M-S3  PC with the floppy connection, that runs like new.


Never know if you might something that hasn’t been put up on the old software internet archive.



			Download & Streaming : The Internet Archive Software Collection : Internet Archive


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 6, 2020)

Time for another Adison update 

The main case (chassis, side panels) are in the workshop & are going to be repaired & powdercoated in beige/white.

This excludes the motherboard tray & 3.5" drive(s) bay however, as the guy told me that it doesn't make sense to sandblast & treat those two because they have next to zero rust on them. Which is true for 3.5" drive bay, but only slightly correct for the MBO tray (has a small patch of rust on the PCI bay "lip", down at the bottom of the case) So, I might still have the tray sandblasted later on, we shall see... Depending on the outcome of the actual case frame & side panels along with overall cost of all these repairs together, obviously.

Meanwhile, I disassembled the entire system and am planning to recap the Chaintech 6BTM motherboard. I'm also taking my old CRT Shamrock monitor for the repairs on Monday to the local Radio/TV/HiFi shop, and (still) trying to work out that BTC BCD36X drive.

I also have some of the parts coming from China (case screws, PC speakers) so all in all this is now a major Work in Progress. Oh, and I also took the liberty of washing the plastic bits & trims in the dishwasher, they look as good as they can possibly be, if you don't consider somewhat yellow plastic which is to be expected for a computer case that's 23yrs old.

Planning to post some of the pics later on, if you guys are interested?


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 6, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Planning to post some of the pics later on, if you guys are interested?


Sure, let's see it before & after! I'm all for it


----------



## Susquehannock (Nov 6, 2020)

Speaking of optical drives. Pulled out the HP 9110i for some nostalgia. The Dell XPS400 in background was my very first PC. Delivered to my door end of November 1998.

Addition of the CD writer less than year later was my first modification. $224.60 seems uber expensive now. Writing your own CDs was a big deal back then. Shutter to think how much time was wasted downloading poor sounding low bit rate MP3s on Napster over dial-up, then burning them onto 100s of cheap generic disks. None of which are around anymore. Made mistake of storing a lot of data onto them too. Lost many Overclocking screenshots and the like. Fortunately the Maxtor 20gb HDD that I repleced the original Dell 12gb unit with was still good (still working today) or would have lost near all the old stuff completely.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 6, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> *3dfx voodoo3 3500 TV*
> 
> *View attachment 174659*


I'd recommend putting a fan on that VooDoo, those suckers ran way hot!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 6, 2020)

So, like I said earlier... Plenty of updates!

The front panel was entirely disassembled & washed inside the dishwasher. Funny, in all the years I've had this computer, I never got to see the case in this state before...


 

 

 

 

 



Then I did the same thing with the motherboard. First I removed the CPU, followed by the RAM module & Slot 1 rails.


 



Now, onto the caps... If you look closer, you will probably notice that the board uses different capacitors. And that's because I already had an incident with this particular board once before (around 2007, 2008, right after I removed the board from its original case) when the entire system stopped working. In fact, a large portion of the board lost power, while the "upper" half (CPU, CPU fan & probably the RAM) remained powered up, resulting with random alarms & system not POSTing, obviously. So back then I had it professionally patched up, although it would seem that the guy only replaced SOME of the capacitors, and not all of them. So now, 12-13 years later the remaining group of capacitors bulged up and the history is about to repeat itself once again.


 

 



And we can't allow that to happen, can we?  I already removed the old caps & am about to solder the new ones in place. Probably tomorrow, although I might decide to postpone this until the next week since there's nothing else I can do to in the meantime. I don't have the case, I STILL don't have the CD-ROM drive, and I don't have a matching 15" CRT.


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 6, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> And we can't allow that to happen, can we?  I already removed the old caps & am about to solder the new ones in place.


I was about to suggest replacing them all just to be safe, but it looks like you have that idea down.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 6, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I was about to suggest replacing them all just to be safe, but it looks like you have that idea down.


Exactly, I don't want to mess around with replacing the caps any time soon. The only "problem" is that the new, replacement caps are slightly wider than the older ones, so it will be a tight fit squeezing them all in. I was going to solder them all in place tonight, but decided to postpone this until tomorrow, so I might ask if they have any other 6.3V/1000uf capacitors in stock, which would be smaller & more appropriate for this application.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 6, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Exactly, I don't want to mess around with replacing the caps any time soon. The only "problem" is that the new, replacement caps are slightly wider than the older ones, so it will be a tight fit squeezing them all in. I was going to solder them all in place tonight, but decided to postpone this until tomorrow, so I might ask if they have any other 6.3V/1000uf capacitors in stock, which would be smaller & more appropriate for this application.


You may wish to consider solid state caps. They're a bit more pricey, but they'll outlive you.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 6, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> You may wish to consider solid state caps. They're a bit more pricey, but they'll outlive you.


Hmm... Alright, you got my attention 

Technically I could (regardless of the cost, at the moment I can afford those), but I was under the impression that the solid state capacitors are not interchangeable with classic electrolytic ones... Are you sure that the board would work OK?


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## biffzinker (Nov 6, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Planning to post some of the pics later on, if you guys are interested?


Heck yeah, post those pics please? Yes, I'm interested in the on going progress.


----------



## Jetster (Nov 6, 2020)

Finally got this together, next load some games


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 6, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Heck yeah, post those pics please? Yes, I'm interested in the on going progress.


Already have, will post more once I recap that 6BTM board & then once again, when I get the case back. 

Anyhow, here's one additional pic for you ... all the stuff which I pulled out from that Adison system.




That Pentium II processor, SoundBlaster128 card & Quantum Fireball hard drive are all original. As in my own, from back in a day. The rest of the hardware however was replaced with identical counterparts (ATI Rage IIc AGP, Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB, 64MB PC100 RAM)


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 6, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm... Alright, you got my attention
> 
> Technically I could (regardless of the cost, at the moment I can afford those), but I was under the impression that the solid state capacitors are not interchangeable with classic electrolytic ones... Are you sure that the board would work OK?


As long as the ratings are the same(or within reasonable spec), they should be interchangeable.

For example, a 16v cap will work in place of a 6v unit as you can always use a higher voltage cap in place of a lower voltage cap, but NEVER the other way around. Also, a higher rated unit can generally be used in place of a lower one(2000uf in place of a 1000uf), but again never the other way around.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 6, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> As long as the ratings are the same(or within reasonable spec), they should be interchangeable.
> 
> For example, a 16v cap will work in place of a 6v unit as you can always use a higher voltage cap in place of a lower voltage cap, but NEVER the other way around. Also, a higher rated unit can generally be used in place of a lower one(2000uf in place of a 1000uf), but again never the other way around.


Right, I understand that. But my question was aimed towards using polymer (solid) capacitors in place where the original ones were electrolytic, does it make any difference to the voltages & therefore motherboard itself?

Spec-wise, I would rather keep the original values if possible - 6.3V & 1000uf.


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 7, 2020)

Caps do not really 'hand out' the rated voltage. They are just kinda like large silos, storing the energy they get fed. So if you place a 20V rated cap but charge it in a 3V circuit, it will only charge up to that 3V. Like @lexluthermiester said you can use higher voltage rated ones and they _should_ work. In fact its a good practice to choose the rating a bit higher then your supply voltage for tolerances. But don't go too far, no need to get 75V rated ones for a mainboard... Capacity would ideally be matched as close as possible, where impossible use a slightly higher capacity.

The difference between electrolytics and solid caps shows in longevity, environmental tolerances and ESR values. So you can interchange them, only _theoretical _issue could be a different ESR rating. As the original circuit was designed and specced to tolerances with the elco caps. Since you will probably improve that by changing to solid caps it should not be an issue. There will always be the 0.0001% of cases where improving things too much can actually cause trouble but from what I heard on recapping mainboards this will not be such a case.

Take this with a grain of salt, as I myself have little experience with this topic but I think there are a few people on this board who have had great success with using solid caps as replacements by sticking to the rules @lexluthermiester mentioned.

If it works out you will also have the great benefit of never having to touch that board again for recapping. The solid caps will outlast elcos by a big margin (if quality parts are chosen).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 7, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I understand that. But my question was aimed towards using polymer (solid) capacitors in place where the original ones were electrolytic, does it make any difference to the voltages & therefore motherboard itself?


As mentioned by @Dinnercore, caps are just energy tanks and they put out what they're given, as general rule. As long as you stay at or close to specs(perhaps a little higher) you'll be fine.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 7, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> As mentioned by @Dinnercore, caps are just energy tanks and they put out what they're given, as general rule. As long as you stay at or close to specs(perhaps a little higher) you'll be fine.


Thanks for the info! 

Unfortunately, couldn't find the solid (polymer) caps at the store, so I went with electrolytic (Panasonic) ones instead. I could theoretically buy them online from China (something like THIS for example), however by the time I actually receive them the whole Adison system will be long finished ... hopefully!

Will post more pics once I have them soldered in place! 

Edit
Not exactly "factory" quality, but I suppose good enough...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 7, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not exactly "factory" quality, but I suppose good enough...


You're a little lean on the heat and quantity of solder.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 7, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> You're a little lean on the heat and quantity of solder.


Do you think I should "touch" them all up, at higher temp? I used to put more solder way back, that would often result with large blobs which often seem too messy or unprofessional. What I was aiming for was factory look, which (obviously) can't be done with amateur grade soldering iron.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 7, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Do you think I should "touch" them all up, at higher temp? I used to put more solder way back, that would often result with large blobs which often seem too messy or unprofessional. What I was aiming for was factory look, which (obviously) can't be done with amateur grade soldering iron.


No. If the board works no problem, don't mess with it.
I was just commenting on it for the next time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 7, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> No. If the board works no problem, don't mess with it.
> I was just commenting on it for the next time.


OK, thanks! I did a continuity sweep across the terminals using digital meter and they all seem to check out (no shorts, and the polarity orientation looks fine) Obviously, I won't know for sure until I hook it back up, which could take a while.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 7, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> so I went with electrolytic (Panasonic) ones instead.


Those are still very solid quality. Panasonic caps last a long time(3 to 4 decades).



Trekkie4 said:


> Not exactly "factory" quality, but I suppose good enough...


Looks good to me. It looks like you needed to use a bit more flux(always be generous with flux), and as Scotty stated above, a bit more heat, but otherwise I can't see anything that would indicate you would encounter any issues.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 8, 2020)

Time for another update. THESE are the caps used on Chaintech board, model number is Panasonic EEU-FR0J102

Meanwhile, I took the liberty of taking apart & cleaning that Pentium II SECC cartridge. There's plenty of "Intel" dust inside this thing, that's been stuck in there since my childhood & elementary school, so now it's probably the best time to clean it up 

Before...




... and after


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 9, 2020)

I build another system based on the DFI JR P45-T2RS and stuffed it in my first PCs case. (This is the case: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermaltake-matrix-vx/)

But before I did that, I prepared a few things. Mainly I attached a bunch of small heatsinks all over various parts on the board.





Can you spot them all? 

I don't think any of these will have a real world benefit but I had them around and wanted to do something with them. CPU is lapped and I got a Zalman CNPS9900 LED for it.


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## Caring1 (Nov 9, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> I build another system based on the DFI JR P45-T2RS and stuffed it in my first PCs case. (This is the case: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermaltake-matrix-vx/)
> 
> I attached a bunch of small heatsinks all over various parts on the board.
> 
> ...


17 of them?


----------



## Bungz (Nov 9, 2020)

The FR Series Panasonics are my usual go to for motherboards.

They are very high quality caps I have no doubt they will outlast the other components on the board in most cases of refurbishment which is why I have never bothered poly modding as I believe as mentioned above the low ESR can cause problems in some boards.

Had a bit of a score myself this weekend.


Someone was selling a beige special with a awful photo and no details.





My spidey senses told me that was a Abit KT7A and a voodoo 3 2000.....
















I was right 

No blown caps to be found so have left as it is currently, oiled all fans and cleaned everything out. Works lovely!

Only thing I changed was the heatsink, I don't like the single clamp style sinks for Socket A stuff pref the ones that clamp all 3 lugs.

Not had much time to mess but windows 2000 and UT99 bobbed along quite nicely as a test.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 9, 2020)

Bungz said:


> The FR Series Panasonics are my usual go to for motherboards.
> 
> They are very high quality caps I have no doubt they will outlast the other components on the board in most cases of refurbishment which is why I have never bothered poly modding as I believe as mentioned above the low ESR can cause problems in some boards.
> 
> ...


That "ASYNC" power supply is actually a re-branded "Codegen". I used to have those in my old rigs, including previously-mentioned PII Adison. Some folks would probably say that it's cheap, low-budget PSU that's better to avoid in the long run, but I honestly can't say anything bad. It's not great, there's a ton of room for improvement but I've seen worse ... MUCH worse! 

Edit


----------



## Bungz (Nov 9, 2020)

Yes I think I have come across codegen before, may have one or more in the loft!

Looks a half decent design, be reasonable for a 5V system like this though wouldn't use it for P4 stuff.


----------



## Mr Bill (Nov 9, 2020)

I have a question I've been wanting to ask, hopefully I'm in the correct zone.  I have the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 board, it only suppose to be able to use 24 gig of ram, of course I did update the bios due to wanting to use the 5670 Xeon, not sure I had to, but I did. Question is, I now have 28 gig of ram installed, and it see's it in the bios and in the OS, and seems to be working fine. I never tried using the 28 gig with the older bios version, so I'm not sure the bios update had anything to do with it or not, I'm wondering what the ram limit is now? Ok, I just looked, it appears this is a picture forum, I can delete this post, where do I need to post this question? Thanks Bill


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 9, 2020)

People report favorably on 48 gig installed ( cannot personalty vouch on this )


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## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> That "ASYNC" power supply is actually a re-branded "Codegen". I used to have those in my old rigs, including previously-mentioned PII Adison. Some folks would probably say that it's cheap, low-budget PSU that's better to avoid in the long run, but I honestly can't say anything bad. It's not great, there's a ton of room for improvement but I've seen worse ... MUCH worse!
> 
> Edit


I still remember how a Codegen 350W murdered my 6600 GT almost 15 years ago


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 9, 2020)

dorsetknob said:


> People report favorably on 48 gig installed ( cannot personalty vouch on this )



As noted above @Mr Bill , I would guess either 32 gigs or 48 gigs. Probably since a newer BIOS. Did you read what changes were made in the latest BIOS?


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## Jism (Nov 9, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I still remember how a Codegen 350W murdered my 6600 GT almost 15 years ago



Problem with those PSU's, is that they often came with ATX cases as a sollution all in one. You simply buy a case and have a suitable PSU for usually office or internet work, but when you'd apply some load esp on the 12V lines, things drop badly. HDD"s suffered from that, but also cheap board with a not so good designed VRM setup would flutuate like crazy in relation of voltages supplied to the CPU.

When i worked at a webshop many many years ago, we often saw people build systems of up to 2500 euro, to finally get a ATX case with a no-name "300W" build-in PSU, and have it returned in usually less then 3 months with a blown PSU. We at some point advised clients to not to buy these no-name cheap PSU's that come with a case.

I had a Q-tec 650W for years as well; i'm guilty too; Q-tec was a cheap knockoff brand that always released PSU's that advertised with a peak power rather then sustained one.






It had 3 fans, lol. And it could take a beating as well; but the efficiency was so terrible; it woud'nt be an exception pulling a 1000W from the wall alone just to power a 400W system. It's design was terrible, when you applied load the 12V rail would drop back to 11.2V and even 5V rail was like jumping back and forward to 4.4V > 5V.

For sensitive components like HDD's this was a terrible sollution. But somehow it managed to run 2 of my builds for years, lol. Ive never encountered the thing to explode or fire up tho.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2020)

I remember those infamous Q-Tecs as well as some bought those here in Finland... damn it was a too common mistake to get a crap PSU 15 years ago.


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 9, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> 17 of them?



Not bad, its 20. I would assume you missed the one top right, left of the upper cap and the one partly hidden by the heatpipe beneath 3 caps left of the NB. The last one clings to a 5V linear regulator above the ITE super I/O chip.

The whole system I build with this is.... interesting. I packed this poor midi-tower with 5 case fans (one being a 200mm that acts as a support structure to dampen any potential movement from the CPU heatsink) and a GTX280 bundled with a 9600GT as dedicated physX unit. 
Its one big ghetto mod, held together by cable ties, velcro tape, tight fits and willpower. 

Going to try and beat the OC on my other rig.


----------



## dorsetknob (Nov 9, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I remember those infamous Q-Tecs as well


Still got same one as above apart from cooling fan crapping out and replacing  >>> mine still works ( only use it as )a testing PSU


----------



## Jism (Nov 9, 2020)

dorsetknob said:


> Still got same one as above apart from cooling fan crapping out and replacing  >>> mine still works ( only use it as )a testing PSU



Yep. The fans where terrible. They made alot of noise, they where from a certain pink plastic and their airflow was ridiculous and had nothing much todo with the cooling of the PSU itself. It was more like for ATX cases that back then, often did'nt had room nor space for "exhaust" fans. We used to dremel our in and outtake fans into the ATX panel(s) back then.

Today's ATX case has all these features and room for even 3 watercooling setups.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 9, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> 17 of them?


I counted 19...



Trekkie4 said:


> That "ASYNC" power supply is actually a re-branded "Codegen". I used to have those in my old rigs, including previously-mentioned PII Adison. Some folks would probably say that it's cheap, low-budget PSU that's better to avoid in the long run, but I honestly can't say anything bad. It's not great, there's a ton of room for improvement but I've seen worse ... MUCH worse!


Those things were pretty generic BITD, but they were solid none the less. You've already taken it apart to inspect and it looks good. I say rock-on!



Dinnercore said:


> and the one partly hidden by the heatpipe


I think that's the one I missed. Still can't see it, unless it's the silver thing touching the three caps. Lighting in the pic isn't great.


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 9, 2020)

Dinnercore said:


> Its one big ghetto mod, held together by cable ties, velcro tape, tight fits and willpower.


Will you post the pictures here or in the ghetto thread? 



Jism said:


> We used to dremel our in and outtake fans into the ATX panel(s) back then.


Oh yes... Haven't we all tried this? Not owning a dremel myself, I resorted to using a jigsaw and a drill on my cases


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 9, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I have a question I've been wanting to ask, hopefully I'm in the correct zone.  I have the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 board, it only suppose to be able to use 24 gig of ram, of course I did update the bios due to wanting to use the 5670 Xeon, not sure I had to, but I did. Question is, I now have 28 gig of ram installed, and it see's it in the bios and in the OS, and seems to be working fine. I never tried using the 28 gig with the older bios version, so I'm not sure the bios update had anything to do with it or not, I'm wondering what the ram limit is now? Ok, I just looked, it appears this is a picture forum, I can delete this post, where do I need to post this question? Thanks Bill



Most likely when the spec was written for this mobo the largest dimm size in GB was 4GB so 6x4GB=24GB



lexluthermiester said:


> I counted 19...


 count red dots


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 9, 2020)

Athlonite said:


> count red dots


Yup, that's the one I missed. LOL! The one under the heatpipe next to the three CAPs.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 9, 2020)

I had an old Enermax PSU that looked exactly like that Q-Tec. It even had the gold color and the dual fans. Only thing it did have is the on/off button by the power port.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 10, 2020)

With the Chaintech board recapped, Pentium II dusted, CRT monitor taken to the electronics shop for repairs & Adison case being painted & repaired, I'm pretty much done on my end & can't do anything but to wait.

So, as I was thinking about the overall cost of all these repairs (especially the case), I came up with crazy idea. No, obviously I'm not going to do it at this stage, but I'm wondering ... just how difficult would it be to make a whole NEW case from scratch, using the old one as a template? Because the actual chassis could be laser cut in size, and then riveted into shape of just about any computer case - especially Adison. I've seen people doing much more complicated things when restoring old timers & other heavy machinery, so I can't think of the reason why it wouldn't work on something as simple as computer case.

Furthermore, all the plastic parts could be 3D printed & again, shaped into any form & size. Therefore, it would theoretically be possible to replicate the Adison case entirely! The only problem that I could think of would be the power button spring and/or power & HDD LEDs since they're not "standard" & both appear to be uniquely shaped.

Did anyone ever attempted something like this before? Any idea how much would it cost? Essentially, we are talking about sheets of metal (steel?, about 1, 1.5mm thick) And loads of 3D printing!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 10, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm pretty much done on my end & can't do anything but to wait.


Cool! Post pics when everything is all assembled.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 10, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Cool! Post pics when everything is all assembled.


Will do, of course. But keep in mind, this could take a while before I have all the components ready for installation.


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 10, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Will you post the pictures here or in the ghetto thread?


Going to post them here. Will take some later today. 

These DFI boards... Just when you thought you knew about all their quirks they suddenly come up with something new to bother you. 

I was getting close to an OC I was happy with when I decided to use SetFSB to feel my way forward instead of going into bios each time. I felt this was the safest move to boot up on stable settings and test things out in OS far away from the bios, since IF I somehow corrupt this bios chip it will be a huge pain to fix. It is wedged underneath the top PCIe slot, I would have to unsolder it in order to attach my flasher. 

Anyway, never use SetFSB on this board. It messes up with something, might have to do with the cached bios I don't know. First sign of trouble was, that the clock I set in software somehow retained after reboot. It should not do that, I went into bios and there it was still set to 4.2GHz while in fact it was now booting with 4.3GHz all the time. Next thing I knew it stopped posting for a while. Then I got it back to boot but now it was stuck to default FSB clocks. I could no longer change the FSB, not in software and not in bios. Each value I set it just ignored.

Had this happen just recently on a Gigabyte P45 board and there it had a corrupted SMbus driver showing in device manager. To fix that I just had to re-assign the chipset driver.

Well now this did not work for the DFI JR. There was no error showing up, reassigning or installing the drivers did nothing. I tried the usual, cut power and reset RTC + CMOS. Still, no control over FSB. Any other value I could change but FSB stays the same. 

I left it without power over night and this did fix it... No idea what it is with these boards, but some EEPROM or whatever on these boards does not reset when you cut power, take out the battery and bridge all reset jumpers. You need to leave it for a few hours without anything plugged in and battery removed. 

Lesson learned, NO software OC on DFI P45 boards if you want to keep your sanity.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 10, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Did anyone ever attempted something like this before? Any idea how much would it cost? Essentially, we are talking about sheets of metal (steel?, about 1, 1.5mm thick) And loads of 3D printing!


Found a company that will build a fully custom PC enclosure. I'd be curious of the price that want for a custom ATX enclosure because they advertise in images small form-factor cases on the website.




__





						Fully Custom Enclosures for Computer Applications, built in 2-3 days
					

Protocase custom builds fully custom enclosures for computer applications from your design in 2-3 days. Protocase's approach saves time and money and yields better results than can be obtained when buying and modifying off-the-shelf enclosures.




					www.protocase.com


----------



## Mr Bill (Nov 10, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Found a company that will build a fully custom PC enclosure. I'd be curious of the price that want for a custom ATX enclosure because they advertise in images small form-factor cases on the website.


I still think for the best unobstructed view of the inside of a PC is plexiglas, it's fairly cheap and easy to cut, minimal tools required, and many different YouTube videos for ideas.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 10, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Found a company that will build a fully custom PC enclosure. I'd be curious of the price that want for a custom ATX enclosure because they advertise in images small form-factor cases on the website.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Cool stuff!

You know, I always had this crazy idea inside my head, of building a sleeper PC out of my Adison system. I'm not going to do it with my one (and only) case, BUT if I'd ever find another one, I'd fill it up with all the latest hardware components & then finish it off from the outside to make it seem as if it's just another Pentium II or an old Celeron  Heck, I would even put a floppy drive, just for that finishing touch!

The only problem would be the ventilation... This particular case is notorious for the airflow, since it doesn't have any side vents. There are couple of holes on the back panel, and it has the ability for optional front (intake) 80x80 fan, which is pretty much worthless for today's standards.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 10, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I still think for the best unobstructed view of the inside of a PC is plexiglas, it's fairly cheap and easy to cut, minimal tools required, and many different YouTube videos for ideas.


Plus if it gets scratched it's can be easily polished and buffed up.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 10, 2020)

Personally I like acrylic/plexi more than glass.. easier to replace if something bad happens. Though acrylic can get scratched too easily.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2020)

So, I just discovered a potential issue...

While going through all the parts (currently scattered across my entire room) I realized that the Adison case is missing a power switch... And I'm not talking about the plastic knob/button on the front panel, I'm talking about the actual, mechanical switch that goes behind the panel & gets mounted onto the chassis.

I have a theory on this, which could explain the missing switch, along with couple of other bits & pieces but I can't be sure about this (nor it doesn't really matter). I believe that the former owner used to have & run an old "AT" board inside this case - probably an old Pentium/Pentium MMX, so therefore the power switch would had been part of the PSU & it would be removed once he took it out. But if that's the case, I could easily find another mechanical switch & hook it up onto the metal frame, because it was obviously designed to be interchangeable between AT & ATX standards. In fact, I believe I got one of those in stock but I have to check it out. Again - I can't do anything or try anything until I get the case back!


----------



## Jism (Nov 11, 2020)

Yep. Old AT cases (Not ATX) had their power switch coming directly from the PSU, and not the today's little wire you got in ATX boards.

Hmmmm, AT boards... I remember hooking up the PSU wires the wrong way instantly frying a Socket 7 board. It was that day that ive learned that AT PSU cable's needed to have the black sides in the middle, and not the outside.


----------



## phill (Nov 11, 2020)

Jism said:


> Problem with those PSU's, is that they often came with ATX cases as a sollution all in one. You simply buy a case and have a suitable PSU for usually office or internet work, but when you'd apply some load esp on the 12V lines, things drop badly. HDD"s suffered from that, but also cheap board with a not so good designed VRM setup would flutuate like crazy in relation of voltages supplied to the CPU.
> 
> When i worked at a webshop many many years ago, we often saw people build systems of up to 2500 euro, to finally get a ATX case with a no-name "300W" build-in PSU, and have it returned in usually less then 3 months with a blown PSU. We at some point advised clients to not to buy these no-name cheap PSU's that come with a case.
> 
> ...





Chloe Price said:


> I remember those infamous Q-Tecs as well as some bought those here in Finland... damn it was a too common mistake to get a crap PSU 15 years ago.


God I remember those damn things as well..  Thankfully I never had any issues with mine but they where crap...  

I remember I was having a bit of an overclock battle with one of the members from a forum called PC Stats and I had gone from one of those Q Tec things to an Enermax 480w unit...  (I think the Q Tec was 550w??) and wow what a difference..  Higher overclock and more stable to boot..  Quality A tier PSUs from then on...  

I can't find the photo of the result or the weblink for it since Futuremark have taken down support for 2001SE, PC Mark 2002 and 04... which is a darn shame!  I'll see if I can get another one score and go from there   

Loving this thread everyone!!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2020)

Jism said:


> Yep. Old AT cases (Not ATX) had their power switch coming directly from the PSU, and not the today's little wire you got in ATX boards.
> 
> Hmmmm, AT boards... I remember hooking up the PSU wires the wrong way instantly frying a Socket 7 board. It was that day that ive learned that AT PSU cable's needed to have the black sides in the middle, and not the outside.


Ooops! 

Happy to say, I never fried AT board like that. I almost did (the first time I assembled "AT" machine), but fortunately for me & my MMX, someone was kind enough to point it out on the forum & it's been stuck inside my head ever since!


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## Jism (Nov 11, 2020)

I cant find alot of pics in relation of that Q-tec triple fan thing, but geezus, it had some serious components, lol.






Check the double transformers which was added addtional compared to the lower end models. That thing seriously had an efficiency crisis; coud'nt hold a proper load. It did run 2 systems that i had in the past very well; i think it was a S754 Sempron 3000+ and AM2 X2 5000+ later. Even the sempron was overclocked using a chiller at -25 degrees at 4.1Ghz or so lol.

The q-tec never blew up or anything; but it was common to have voltage rails drop down below what was accepted like 4.4V or 11.3V or so lol.


----------



## phill (Nov 11, 2020)

dorsetknob said:


> People report favorably on 48 gig installed ( cannot personalty vouch on this )





stinger608 said:


> As noted above @Mr Bill , I would guess either 32 gigs or 48 gigs. Probably since a newer BIOS. Did you read what changes were made in the latest BIOS?


Just a thought guys, would it not be the limit of the CPU that's in the socket or did hey limit the motherboards to what they were able to take??  I know in a rare setup, that the SR-2 with Xeon's could handle 96GB RAM but..... just a thought 

Here's a few from last night...

              

Ah the memories....
And the memories of trying to figure out what this damn plug was for....

 

Still have no clue to this day!!  Could anyone enlighten me?? 

I'll get some more pictures for you guys soon...  I managed to test done of 3 of the 4 AGP cards I bought..  Sadly my Socket A system doesn't have a PCIe connection as I'd have tried with my 3850 AGP card I recently managed to finally get hold of...  Hopefully these will do for the moment


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## Jism (Nov 11, 2020)

Thats a AT power connector, your supposed to put the black ones in the middle, and fiddle it in this:





Should eventually look like this:





Ancient stuff. Was good from 8086 era till 586 or so.


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## biffzinker (Nov 11, 2020)

Jism said:


> Hmmmm, AT boards... I remember hooking up the PSU wires the wrong way instantly frying a Socket 7 board. It was that day that ive learned that AT PSU cable's needed to have the black sides in the middle, and not the outside.


I had a lapse in remembering the black goes in the middle, and fried the last Super7 motherboard I owned. Moved to a Athlon XP build afterwards.


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 11, 2020)

Abit made the best NF7S mobo's by far I think I still have an Athlon XP 3200+ Barton core somewhere's around the house


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 11, 2020)

I tried out a physX based mod for Unreal Tournament 3 to see if it even works with the 9600GT I added to my GTX 280 and yes it does!

Screenshots don't really show whats going on, but I don't have a capture card for videos and recording 1440p on hardware from 2009 is not really possible.
The mod works with a few maps and was made within a few days as a quick and easy showcase for Nvidia.




On this map it adds hail as a weather effect with the hailstones as active particles, a few new weapon effects like sparks, objects that react to forces like boxes and containers that can be moved and thrown around by explosions, destruction of objects like the billboards and a few cover elements that can be blown apart. Oh and there is a climbing element in this level that you can now use as a trap for enemies by shooting the wooden planks you need to walk on or jump to.





The shock rifle now also has a gravity effect, pulling particles towards the beam or the ball from the secondary fire mode. Overall a really nice addition to the visual effects, fits perfectly with unreal.

When disabling hardware physX on this modded map, all of the processing moves to the CPU which kills the framerate. It drops to 8-20fps with the CPU at 100% constantly. While on the GPU side it only uses 5-10% of the 9600GT.

This is such a cool experience to play with. Back in the day I only heard about this mod but never managed to get it to work. I think I'm one of the few people who actually miss PhysX and extra cards used for parallel computing tasks. I know all of the good reasons why it did not take off, but I still wish there would have been a future where this technology persisted in a small enthusiast market.

I for one would love a full mGPU setup with quad-SLI + and additional PhysX card. Something about distributing workloads over multiple components is oddly fascinating to me. Especially when realized in a game application where specific parts of an engine are handled on seperate components.

If I were free to design PCs, I would start over completly. Due to cost effectiveness and standards we are immensly limiting progress. Yes my PC would probably cost 10x the amount they do today, but who cares 
Why do we still need to design boards exactly the same way we did for 20 years. Why not do something bold and throw this all out the window, start over. Stop packing different things onto a single chip, start using ASICS for everything! No GPU, instead one card purely for texture mapping, one card for ray-tracing, one card for hardbody physics, on card for fluid dynamics, one card for final image composing and rendering! Stop putting VRAM onto the card, let the mainboard have a unfied, mirrorable DRAM cache attached to EACH expansion slot by an infinity fabric!

Anyway, physX is working fine. I have a blast with these demo levels! Gotta try and find more stuff like this.


----------



## phill (Nov 11, 2020)

Jism said:


> Thats a AT power connector, your supposed to put the black ones in the middle, and fiddle it in this:
> 
> View attachment 175203
> 
> ...


You utter star!!    Have a cookie   

I've seen that and remember seeing it on so many various PSU's I've had over the time and never used the damn thing...  I dunno..

Well that out of the way, I'm in the mood for more building retro kit..  I've my NF7-S and the Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA board I'd like to do something with...  Ideas anyone??


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 11, 2020)

phill said:


> I'd like to do something with... Ideas anyone??


How about starting with that Abit NF7-S. Do you have CPU for it?


----------



## phill (Nov 11, 2020)

I've 10 I think    Slight overkill perhaps but they are there   I've been using it with a fresh install of WindowsXP but I seem to get very odd behaviour with it when loading up CPU-Z...  I'll load some CPU-Z's  up for a screen shot and it'll be fine, but then I'll try and load one, it just locks the system...  Not sure what that is for the minute, I'll work on that...

Does remind me, I would love to track another boxed sample down...  Bloody love the boards!! 

I was thinking like a retro retro NF7-S build for gaming in XP, then maybe considering a dual boot in the 4CoreDual-SATA2 board....  Old old and old new type thing...  Good or bad idea??


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 12, 2020)

phill said:


> Good or bad idea??


I don't see anything wrong with that arrangement. The 4CoreDual-SATA2 gets a dual boot of XP, and Vista? XP, and 98SE?


----------



## phill (Nov 12, 2020)

I was thinking possibly a dual boot with the NF7-S, 98 and XP (both on SSD if I can manage it...) and then 4CoreDual-SATA2 (damn I need another way of saying that... lol) could have XP and 7....?  I don't think I could let Vista touch any of my hardware at the moment lol


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 12, 2020)

phill said:


> I was thinking possibly a dual boot with the NF7-S, 98 and XP (both on SSD if I can manage it...) and then 4CoreDual-SATA2 (damn I need another way of saying that... lol) could have XP and 7....?  I don't think I could let Vista touch any of my hardware at the moment lol


Vista is fine after SP1 or was it SP2. I installed it on the Core 2 Quad 9400 build swapped the graphics card for one with Vista drivers. Vista’s issues was early driver support when Microsoft changed the OS driver framework. My trouble was using a supported web browser because of Vista or HTTPS.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 12, 2020)

Well, so much for good news... I received a phone call earlier today from the local TV-HiFi repair shop, letting me know that my Shamrock 15" CRT monitor cannot be repaired. When I asked them what is going on, they didn't know what to say. Unknown reasons, power is being pumped into the CRT, but it is not powering up.

After I showed up in person to pick it up, we agreed to try it one more time. This time however things could get serious & expensive, and could even involve 3rd parties, someone more skilled with CRTs. Again, I cannot say anything for sure (whatever it is, I'm sure that it's POSSIBLE to fix it up) it just comes down the question of money ... like always!

Edit
This is the monitor I'm having problems with ... Shamrock 15" Flicker-Free (pics are from the web)


----------



## phill (Nov 12, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Vista is fine after SP1 or was it SP2. I installed it on the Core 2 Quad 9400 build swapped the graphics card for one with Vista drivers. Vista’s issues was early driver support when Microsoft changed the OS driver framework. My trouble was using a supported web browser because of Vista or HTTPS.


I must admit, I think Vista was one OS I gladly skipped..  I think I went from 95, to 98, then 98SE and then XP, then 7 and then sadly 10...  But enough of that..  98SE, XP SP3 and 7 are were it's at in my book...  

Need to get some brains going and I might be able to get a few things up and running...  I wonder how well PC Mark 2002 would run with an SSD up it's bum!!   

I think I might have issues....


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 12, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Edit
> This is the monitor I'm having problems with ... Shamrock 15" Flicker-Free (pics are from the web)



If shipping cost wasn't so expensive I'd say you can have my *MAG InnoVision 786PF2* it does a healthy 1024x768x32bpp @100Hz or if you want a little higher res and have very good eyes it'll do 1600x1200x32bpp @68Hz


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 12, 2020)

Need to get a new soldering iron for some magic 

Tho I need also a 939 AGP board..


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 12, 2020)

Athlonite said:


> If shipping cost wasn't so expensive I'd say you can have my *MAG InnoVision 786PF2* it does a healthy 1024x768x32bpp @100Hz or if you want a little higher res and have very good eyes it'll do 1600x1200x32bpp @68Hz


Thank you very much for the offer, but nah. 

People keep offering me great CRTs (quite decent ones actually, such as yours), Plextor CD-RW drives & other stuff, but most of them don't seem to realize. It's not about the CRT, or about the computer, computer case and/or CD-ROM drive. It's all about the memory & previous experience that matters with this one, regardless of how old or crappy these parts/components might seem to others


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## debs3759 (Nov 12, 2020)

phill said:


> I must admit, I think Vista was one OS I gladly skipped..  I think I went from 95, to 98, then 98SE and then XP, then 7 and then sadly 10...  But enough of that..  98SE, XP SP3 and 7 are were it's at in my book...



WfW 3.11, 95 OSR2, 2000, XP, 7 then 10 for me. I would consider 98SE on the right build, but no ME, Vista or 8.x, I just skipped them. Got some unused 7 Pro licenses recently so I can set up some benching systems for hwbot GPU benching - should have bought more before eBay shut down the listing and chased the seller away. Hoping I can find my licenses for everything earlier, now I'm making space for building systems for every socket type.


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 13, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> WfW 3.11, 95 OSR2, 2000, XP, 7 then 10 for me. I would consider 98SE on the right build, but no ME, Vista or 8.x, I just skipped them. Got some unused 7 Pro licenses recently so I can set up some benching systems for hwbot GPU benching - should have bought more before eBay shut down the listing and chased the seller away. Hoping I can find my licenses for everything earlier, now I'm making space for building systems for every socket type.



I think you'd be better served with 98SE rather than 95osr2


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## debs3759 (Nov 13, 2020)

Athlonite said:


> I think you'd be better served with 98SE rather than 95osr2



Even on 486 and socket 4?


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## 68Olds (Nov 13, 2020)

phill said:


> I was thinking like a retro retro NF7-S build for gaming in XP, then maybe considering a dual boot in the 4CoreDual-SATA2 board....  Old old and old new type thing...  Good or bad idea??


I always wanted an Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA for AGP video card benching.  I have a fare collection of AGP cards & a few C2D & C2Q CPUs.  You can get some great 3dMark2001 scores with something like a X6800 Extreme and an ATI 9600 Pro.


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 13, 2020)

Jism said:


> Thats a AT power connector, your supposed to put the black ones in the middle, and fiddle it in this:
> 
> View attachment 175203
> 
> ...


Simple phrase that was always useful for old AT PSU cables: " Black next to Black is a friend to Jack, Red next to Yellow will kill a fellow! "



debs3759 said:


> Even on 486 and socket 4?


Yes. While 98SE was more advanced and had more bulk to the installation, it was still very lean on CPU and RAM resources. You'll be good.


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## phill (Nov 13, 2020)

68Olds said:


> I always wanted an Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA for AGP video card benching.  I have a fare collection of AGP cards & a few C2D & C2Q CPUs.  You can get some great 3dMark2001 scores with something like a X6800 Extreme and an ATI 9600 Pro.


I've a few AGP cards but not masses.  I need to be a little careful what I'm buying since I need to move house and well, I think I'm going to need just another house for all the hardware I have, let alone the children, the Mrs's and me!!


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## Mr Bill (Nov 13, 2020)

phill said:


> I must admit, I think Vista was one OS I gladly skipped..  I think I went from 95, to 98, then 98SE and then XP, then 7 and then sadly 10...  But enough of that..  98SE, XP SP3 and 7 are were it's at in my book..


I go all the way back to DOS, and have experienced every MS OS since then, and still own them all, but I finally landed on LTSB, it's about the closest to 7 you will find. I like 7 and a couple others, but seems from my personal experiences, LTSB is just very smooth and efficient, and I'm still getting the security updates.   The best way to use these older OS's,  is just use them to surf the web, no personal information on them, get them where you want them, and back them up with Acronis often, and you're good to go.


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## QuietBob (Nov 13, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> The best way to use these older OS's, is just use them to surf the web


Or for benching older hardware and playing games. Using the internet on anything older than XP is problematic for the lack of modern browser support. Also, with all those bloated websites, even casual browsing seems to require a dual core setup at minimum. In my experience a single core just doesn't cut it for the web any more, no matter how high the clock.


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## stinger608 (Nov 13, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Or for benching older hardware and playing games. Using the internet on anything older than XP is problematic for the lack of modern browser support. Also, with all those bloated websites, even casual browsing seems to require a dual core setup at minimum. In my experience a single core just doesn't cut it for the web any more, no matter how high the clock.



Here is a site for browsers for XP. Older systems may work as well. 









						The 5 Best Browsers for Windows XP
					

Microsoft may have stopped supporting Windows XP but that is not to mean it is still in use But why would anyone still be using Windows XP? Well, for




					appuals.com


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2020)

Well guys there you have it. Adison system is all back together & seems to be working!




Or is it...? Things unfortunately got stuck - in fact, just about EVERYTHING related to that Adison system backfired & seems to be going against my expectations & hopes. Case is still not finished (in fact, I have to visit the place first thing tomorrow morning & provide them with all the missing case parts, which they didn't want to sandblast & powdercoat at first, but they changed their mind), CRT is still at the repair shop, to be seen if it can be repaired or not and everything else is well, simply said stuck! I don't have a CD-ROM drive, I don't even have enough hex screws to put everything together, or the replacement PC speaker which is on its way from China. Oh yeah, I'm also missing that power switch so I've decided to put everything together (as it was, all these years) and keep it safely inside until I'll be able to put everything back together again.




Oddly enough, when I assembled the system back together again it didn't want to boot. Kept sounding the endless "siren" loop, aka the RAM issue. I honestly don't understand why, or because of what (since I had that same RAM module previously inside & it never had any issues) sooo just when things got desperately serious, I've decided to give it another stick of RAM & it booted up fine. *shrug* So, at least the replacement caps are working fine & there are no obvious damage to the system from what I can tell...

So much for now. But in the words of Star Trek, it's "To be continued..."


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## biffzinker (Nov 13, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well guys there you have it. Adison system is all back together & seems to be working!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That was a fast PC back in the day with a Pentium II 350MHz. I didn't notice it was clocked at 350MHz. 

Any dust/dirt in the SDRAM slot that was missed or solder joints on the back cracked?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> That was a fast PC back in the day with a Pentium II 350MHz. I didn't notice it was clocked at 350MHz.
> 
> Any dust/dirt in the SDRAM slot that was missed or solder joints on the back cracked?


It sure was! This one was actually right next to top of the line model, which would had been @400MHz at the time. It was a professional system, designed for those who wanted (and needed) extra performance. But mom & dad paid extra to have it fitted with Monster 3DII, 12MB which made one heck of a system! This is also the reason why it didn't have Iomega ZIP drive, originally it was supposed to have ZIP100, but to keep the cost down mom & dad specifically asked for the Iomega drive to not be included. Adison was was already expensive enough, it cost us around $2,300 or €1,980 at the time.

No - and that's the bizarre part. From what I can tell, the RAM module is fine, I even soaked the contacts in contact-cleaning solution but nothing... It didn't want to boot in EITHER of the 4 banks, but it worked fine with another stick.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 13, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> It didn't want to boot in EITHER of the 4 banks, but it worked fine with another stick.


Maybe it's picky about the DRAM brand on the RAM module? I had a SCSI Zip drive for the PowerBase 240 (PowerMac clone) it was handy for backups or to boot off. Later moved to a Jaz Drive, and had to toss in a Adaptec SCSI Ultra2 PCI card to connect the drive. I held on to the Jaz drive after I donated the PowerBase. Later on I finally gave away the Jaz drive to someone.


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 13, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> No - and that's the bizarre part. From what I can tell, the RAM module is fine, I even soaked the contacts in contact-cleaning solution but nothing... It didn't want to boot in EITHER of the 4 banks, but it worked fine with another stick.


Sounds like all of my DFI Lanparty boards. They sometimes even refuse to turn on with certain RAM brands installed. BUT only sometimes, other days the same stick of RAM is just fine. And I tested all of my sticks and know they are all good and working, only with these DFI boards its a big mystery what will work in them. Even my two P45 ones, mATX and the full ATX version of one and the same board do only start up with different sets of RAM. If I were to swap the sets I have in both now, both of them would not work. But if I use them as is now, they are running fine...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Maybe it's picky about the DRAM brand on the RAM module? I had a SCSI Zip drive for the PowerBase 240 (PowerMac clone) it was handy for backups or to boot off. Later moved to a Jaz Drive, and had to toss in a Adaptec SCSI Ultra2 PCI card.


Yes, but that same RAM module worked fine the last time I had the system running, before replacing the caps... Oh well, doesn't matter I suppose. Sure glad that it's the RAM and NOT the actual motherboard! 

So, regarding Adison & model lineup, I found this:




It clearly shows the lineup of all their models available at the time. Starting from the top, we have "Aurora, for safe beginning" as in safe introduction to computers" for those who are only getting started.
Followed by Multimedia HIT 15 (described to be "for family people") - this one is specifically relevant to my current situation because that replacement case (which is now being powder coated & sandblasted) actually came branded as "Multimedia HIT", which worked to my advantage because this particular model didn't have much hardware installed, therefore all the optional plates & expansion bays remained intact.
Then the next one in line was "Multimedia Duo". (described as "for those who love beautiful things) And unlike other Adison systems, this particular one came in weirdly shaped purple (Codegen?) case... Sure glad mine wasn't one of those, because I don't remember the last time I saw one of these in person...!

And THEN we finally have the "Open Space", simply described to be "For professionals". Mine was/is Open Space, with its 350MHz Pentium II & 64MB of RAM. After that one, the only way up was "Star Gate", which would had been their top of the line model at the time. Featuring Pentium II @400MHz, and (I'm going to assume) 128MB of RAM this one would had been seriously expensive & a long term investment.

To show off their appreciation for buying their Open Space system, I received a cool looking gift which I still have today - a wrist watch.




And let me tell you, this thing went for a dive several times (up to 3, 4 meters deep), so not only it is water proof, but it's also water resistant. It also fell down on the floor more than couple of times and survived literally everything! In fact, it is working just fine, it just needs a replacement battery


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 13, 2020)

Frigging awesome job and project @Trekkie4


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Frigging awesome job and project @Trekkie4


Thanks, but I suppose not quite yet ... although I HOPE that it WILL be someday, when I finally put it back together 

This is going to take longer than I expected, but I'm hoping that things will eventually line up to my advantage & that I'll be able to fill in all the missing bits of this puzzle.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 13, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, regarding Adison & model lineup, I found this:


I tried looking for the Multimedia Duo 17 but there isn't anything for it on the internet.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I tried looking for the Multimedia Duo 17 but there isn't anything for it on the internet.


Ha, I'm not surprised 

First of all, Adison was a Croatian company (from what I know & remember), which was part of the bigger picture called "Polaris", which was the main importer at the time for the entire country & region even. And second, the entire company went bankrupt in 2003 due to competitive prices & new companies surfacing, to the point where they lost their market share & everything went downhill. So they only exist on paper nowdays, such as these brochures which I kept all these years 

But nevertheless, if you still want to take a look at their website & what they had to offer, use THIS LINK, through WayBack. Several captures are available, between 1998 & 2002.


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## biffzinker (Nov 13, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ha, I'm not surprised


I curious about the odd shaped front panel, and monitor/speaker hence why I was looking.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I curious about the odd shaped front panel, and monitor/speaker hence why I was looking.


Oh, those were not manufactured by them. They were only part distributors (and provided service of pre-built systems), not manufacturers. In fact, even my "Adison" case is not really Adison at all. I have no idea who made it (I wish I have, it would have made my search a LOT easier) but I'm going to assume that it's either AOpen, or maybe Codegen. That purple case was indeed manufactured by Codegen, and my "Adison" case originally came with Codegen PSU. Sooo it could be, IDK *shrug*


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 13, 2020)

Radeon 9800 Pro 256


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## QuietBob (Nov 13, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Here is a site for browsers for XP. Older systems may work as well.


Found this page with even more choices, regularly updated:





						Browsers for Windows XP — Retrobrowsers.com
					






					www.xpbrowsers.com
				



It also links to an informative XP Forever wiki


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## stinger608 (Nov 14, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Found this page with even more choices, regularly updated:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hope you don't mind bro, I put that in the original post as well man!!!!!


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## Mr Bill (Nov 14, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Here is a site for browsers for XP. Older systems may work as well.


Chrome works fine on my XP Pro 64 bit, could never get Firefox or the New Edge to work. If you're not familiar with using Chrome with XP, some sites will not allow you in, but if you look on the page that comes up that says this site is not compatible with this browser, it really is, you just had to read that page real good, and you can find your way in. Here is some information on how to stop Chrome from flagging this browser is not supported anymore.  https://www.askvg.com/tip-disable-w...be-supported-yellow-infobar-in-google-chrome/   This is the version of Chrome I'm using with my XP Pro 64 bit "Google Chrome (32bit) v48.0.2564.116"


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 14, 2020)

phill said:


> I wonder how well PC Mark 2002 would run with an SSD up it's bum!!


Very well actually, I've done that test just to see the results. They were as expected, through the roof!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 14, 2020)

Just a quick update. I had a talk with the guy & a final decision has been made. Adison case is going in for a full powder coat, inside & out (rather than just outside & sandblasting the interior). External panels will receive a fresh coat of beige/white, while the internal ones will feature silver-metallic finish. The same one that you would normally find on alloy wheels or older cars. Which is hardly a coincidence since the case is being processed & painted at the garage, specialized in restoring old Jags, Porsches & Mercs.

Nope, I'm not kidding


----------



## Mr Bill (Nov 14, 2020)

Ok, I went out to the barn this afternoon, and dug through a box of oldies but goodies...


----------



## sam_86314 (Nov 15, 2020)

I recently restored my old PC from 2006-ish to 2013. And yes, I know it's dirty. I'm too lazy to clean it.






HP Pavilion a1250n
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
RAM: 4x512MB DDR-266
GPU: ATi Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB (had others before that I don't remember)
OS: Windows 7 Pro (originally ran XP, then Vista, then 7 Starter, and finally 7 Pro).

I've had other PCs before this one, but this one is the oldest one I have detailed memories of.

I originally had some 80GB drive in it (probably a Maxtor). In 2011 or 2012, I switched to a fresh install on a 40GB Maxtor Fireball 3. Because I like sentimental things, I couldn't bring myself to erase that drive and do a fresh install, so I grabbed a blank 100GB Maxtor that I have and did a fresh install on it.






It originally had a 350W Enermax PSU, but the cable spaghetti got annoying, so I switched it out for one of my 350W InWin PSUs a few days ago. I also swapped the CPU fan because the bearings on the original were long gone.

I think my very first PC was the infamous Patriot Computing Hot Wheels PC. I still have the CD book from it (with the original discs it came with).


----------



## Mr Bill (Nov 15, 2020)

sam_86314 said:


> I recently restored my old PC from 2006-ish to 2013. And yes, I know it's dirty. I'm too lazy to clean it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I didn't even remember having the HP PC I found out there, I have no idea what the processor is, maybe tomorrow I should power it up, and see if it will go into the bios.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 15, 2020)

Yay, getting some Netburst LGA775 CPUs for free  one of those must hit the magical 5GHz


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 15, 2020)

sam_86314 said:


> I recently restored my old PC from 2006-ish to 2013. . . . Because I like sentimental things


You and us both my good sir!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 15, 2020)

sam_86314 said:


> I recently restored my old PC from 2006-ish to 2013. And yes, I know it's dirty. I'm too lazy to clean it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


DDR-266 is killing your performance. Even a 2006'ish machine should have been on DDR-400.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 15, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> DDR-266 is killing your performance. Even a 2006'ish machine should have been on DDR-400.


This, I've never actually even had DDR266 on daily use... I got straight from PC133 SDR to DDR400 back in the day.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> You and us both my good sir!


Myself included  If there's anyone who loves "Sentimental Things" around here, it's me lol!



Mr.Scott said:


> DDR-266 is killing your performance. Even a 2006'ish machine should have been on DDR-400.





Chloe Price said:


> This, I've never actually even had DDR266 on daily use... I got straight from PC133 SDR to DDR400 back in the day.


Agreed!! There really is no reason to use DDR266 unless the motherboard is incapable of supporting faster RAM modules ... in which case you seriously need to grab a better board lol


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 15, 2020)

I settled on an OC for my Lanparty JR P45. 





When I pushed higher FSB I encountered some issues which are probably RAM related. These 2x2GB sticks are rated for 533MHz at best and I might get there after fiddling with the boards many memory sub-settings but I'd rather avoid touching that in depth. Would be a very time consuming effort for little gains. 

I'm happy at 4.6GHz. Temps are also exactly where I want them with a ~10°C headroom on each component to compensate for higher ambients. 

I ran some more PhysX related demos and found one that I had on my PC back in the day:





It tasks the PhysX dedicated GPU very well. I saw up to 95% usage on the 9600GT during certain scenes. 



 

 

Still the most demanding thing to run for this PC are the UT3 PhysX maps in 1440p. It manages to hold 60 fps, dipping in the 50s just a few times but CPU is hovering at 80-100% usage, main GPU 70-90% and the pGPU 10-30%. Seeing up to 350W load when playing and the GPU climbs to 76°C.

It really took me back to the good days and I can't wait to use it at my friends place in an old fashioned LAN.
The noise from the GTX280 while playing UT3 was exactly the way I remember my PC. If you do not have this nostalgic feeling towards it, the noise would be unpleasent. I simply get a feeling of comfort out of it. It is one of those memories: I was often playing with a friend until early in the morning and I got these chills and the feeling of cold from being really tired, so I would put my hands behind the GPU exhaust on the case and let the GPU warm me up


----------



## Frick (Nov 15, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> This, I've never actually even had DDR266 on daily use... I got straight from PC133 SDR to DDR400 back in the day.



It was common in OEM machines.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 15, 2020)

Frick said:


> It was common in OEM machines.


Similar to populating one single channel on a dual channel capable motherboard with the older integrated graphics in the north bridge chipset.


----------



## sam_86314 (Nov 16, 2020)

Frick said:


> It was common in OEM machines.


This is likely why it's only DDR-266. It's an HP prebuilt in which my dad added a dGPU and better PSU.

I'm not going to upgrade it because I want this rig to stay the way it originally was when it was my daily driver. It's for nostalgia and as an old rig to mess around with.


----------



## phill (Nov 16, 2020)

Wonder if the board would support anything faster??  I know HP have done some weird stuff in the past....


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 16, 2020)

phill said:


> Wonder if the board would support anything faster??  I know HP have done some weird stuff in the past....


I have a feeling that it could, as the memory controller is in the CPU


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 16, 2020)

sam_86314 said:


> I'm not going to upgrade it because I want this rig to stay the way it originally was when it was my daily driver. It's for nostalgia and as an old rig to mess around with.


Well, that changes everything, and of course I fully understand you. I was under the impression that you were simply working on a DDR retro system (as in putting together something randomly) in which case going for faster modules would make sense.

That being said, sometimes it's not about the speed or performance. If you've been following my latest posts & Adison PII system, you should know that I'm planning & going for 64MB of SD-RAM, which (even by retro standards) would had been on a lower level, leaving the room for optional upgrade to 128. In fact, all my other retro rigs (especially Slot-1) feature 256MB but just like your HP, Adison is all about preserving the original memories & its performance from back in a day.


----------



## phill (Nov 16, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I have a feeling that it could, as the memory controller is in the CPU


One would hope that HP haven't done something daft to lock this or something, definitely worth a go considering a bit more performance is there for you if it works...  But if it's doing whatever it needs to do, then extra performance or not, not really a problem I guess


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 17, 2020)

sam_86314 said:


> This is likely why it's only DDR-266. It's an HP prebuilt in which my dad added a dGPU and better PSU.
> 
> I'm not going to upgrade it because I want this rig to stay the way it originally was when it was my daily driver. It's for nostalgia and as an old rig to mess around with.


FWIW, I wasn't dissing on your machine. I just found it odd that there was DDR-266 in a 2006 939 machine.
Carry on my friend.


----------



## Susquehannock (Nov 17, 2020)

Yay. The dirty Sapphire works in the Shuttle nf2 system. Just long enough to confirm it ran all games properly. Then time came to see what was inside.

Worse than expected. Complete with hairs in the thermal paste. After some scrubbing, new grizzly thermal pads and MX-4 paste, the 3850 seems to run pretty cool. Lapped the RAM sink, gave fan hub drop of silicone and smiley cover sticker for good measure.

Runs Unreal Tournament 2004 with every setting maxed out very well. With the 7800gs in near exact same set up in Soltek FRN2 system always had to back off a couple settings to prevent slow frame rate during heavy action. Not anymore. Yet still had an occasional stutter in the Shuttle. Believe it to be the old 20gb TriGem branded Samsung ata-66 drive accessing. Thing is noisy! Pulled from a eMachine box before recycling.

Barely goes above 50-c during heavy gaming and hottest is upper 60s after several hours heavy stress testing. Fan sticks at 47% and tops at 52%. What is a good way to get control of that?

Shuttle AN35 ultra 400
Sapphire HD 3850 agp
2gb RAM pc3200
T-bred B 1800+ at 11x200=2,200mhz
PCP&C 425 turbo cool
SK-7 with 80mm fan
WinXP sp2
20gb TriGem SV2044D


----------



## debs3759 (Nov 17, 2020)

Cor blimey! You and the previous owner sure overuse the thermal paste!


----------



## Susquehannock (Nov 17, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> Cor blimey! You and the previous owner sure overuse the thermal paste!


Merely a contact pattern test on those RAM chips. Should have seen it before the bowed saw tooth surface was corrected.


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 17, 2020)

@Susquehannock
Help! Somebody throw that poor GPU a life preserver! 
I like how you restored the card in the end. Those AGP boards surely deserve it. Your rig turned out fine, but this HD3850 is begging for more CPU power. You would see a big performance boost in a dual core/DDR2 setup.

EDIT: I just reviewed my benchmark results. Even a lower clocked single core on AM2 does much better with the card than a 2.5 GHz Barton.


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 18, 2020)

I remember having an XP-90 back in my socket 478 days.  I looked for it a couple years ago & couldn't find it.  I assumed it got tossed in an office cleanup years ago.  This weekend I was cleaning up a store room in the basement & found several boxes of old PC stuff.  One box was loaded with cat5, USB, various PSU adapter cables, and power cords.  In the bottom I found several old fans and a box.  To my surprise, I was reminded I didn't have an XP-90, it was an XP-120!  And here it is, put back in the original box.  I am very excited for this find!  Hopefully I can find some time to put together an air cooled s478 build for some fun.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2020)

Well guys... This day turned out quite unexpected, and for once in a good way 

While my own "Adison" case is still in for powder coating process, I found these two just earlier today!! 


 

 



Yes, both cases are unfortunately yellowed, and one of them even has broken clips/hooks, which holds the face plate against the chassis (so therefore as such will be most likely used for parts) but overall I was quite surprised to find these. I guess the right term would be "shocked" actually.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 18, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> This, I've never actually even had DDR266 on daily use... I got straight from PC133 SDR to DDR400 back in the day.


A lot of people did that. I actually went SDRAM133 -> RDRAM800 -> RDRAM1066 -> DDR400.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 19, 2020)

68Olds said:


> I remember having an XP-90 back in my socket 478 days.  I looked for it a couple years ago & couldn't find it.  I assumed it got tossed in an office cleanup years ago.  This weekend I was cleaning up a store room in the basement & found several boxes of old PC stuff.  One box was loaded with cat5, USB, various PSU adapter cables, and power cords.  In the bottom I found several old fans and a box.  To my surprise, I was reminded I didn't have an XP-90, it was an XP-120!  And here it is, put back in the original box.  I am very excited for this find!  Hopefully I can find some time to put together an air cooled s478 build for some fun.
> 
> View attachment 176076View attachment 176077View attachment 176078


I have XP-90 in original packaging. I would kill for that 120. Me jelly.


----------



## phill (Nov 21, 2020)

Hey all  

I was wondering if someone might be able to shed some light on a bit of an issue I'm having....

I'm going through a few AGP cards and I seem to be having issues with them installing drivers for some reason..  Now I've tried some of them in my Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 board and some work, but others have given weird graphical faults or just not accepted drivers at all...
What am I doing wrong!? lol

Example for one would be one of my 3850's.... One works perfectly, no issues at all...

   

But the other, when all I do is swap out the GPU and power back on, using the same PCIe cable, same DVI connection on the back, I get this....

     

What the heck am I doing wrong?! lol

I can't try the 3850 card in my NF7-S board as I don't have the PCIe connections for the card to power it and I have no adaptors either.... (I stick away from them personally)  But I've tried the 9800 AIW and the X1650 Pro card, they seem to be working perfectly in the NF7-S as they install the drivers... but they didn't in the Asrock board...  Any results guys why that might be??  Would the voltages be different with the two AGP slots??  

Oh, and here's a few shots that I think this thread would enjoy....

       
   

I've tried 3DMax 99 to run but that requires DirectX 6.1 to run but I think XP has something slightly newer than that and it just fails to load the program..  I might need to go to Windows 98SE I think and try....  Now that'll push my brain to remember how to get it working from there...  I might need to find another IDE drive as I'm damn sure 98 won't be having any SATA drivers!! 

Any help guys and gals would be massively grateful


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 21, 2020)

phill said:


> What the heck am I doing wrong?! lol


This might be a VBIOS VS motherboard incompatibility issue. Does the problem card work in another system?


----------



## Caring1 (Nov 21, 2020)

Might be incompatibility with the VIA chipset.
Early motherboards were fussy, particularly Nforce from memory.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 21, 2020)

phill said:


> I've tried 3DMax 99 to run but that requires DirectX 6.1 to run but I think XP has something slightly newer than that and it just fails to load the program.. I might need to go to Windows 98SE I think and try....


The DirectX runtime is backwards compatible with prior versions. It could be a driver issue causing it. You could try installing the DirectX Runtime distribution that has a date of 2010. Just watch out for the installer trying to install a browser toolbar. TPU should have it under downloads on the homepage.

The issue with the other 3850 could related to the drivers not picking up on the device ID.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 21, 2020)

Also, from the original post:



> Thanks to our Nostalgic member @Bungz , here is a download for users wishing to
> run the amazing ATI HD3850 AGP on an ole Socket A system. The System will crash
> without this patch!!!



however, the link isn't working any longer. Not sure if we can dig up this patch somewhere.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 21, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Also, from the original post:
> 
> 
> 
> however, the link isn't working any longer. Not sure if we can dig up this patch somewhere.


This link mentions a patch related to the 3850 AGP on Socket A.









						FIX/PATCH pro vsechny ovladace CATALYST 7.9 az | CZC.cz
					

Patch/fix je urcen pro vsechny verze ovladacu CATALYST, konkretne od verze 7.9 az po momentalne nejaktualnejsi verzi 9.2 vcetne, a jak pro WinXP tak pro WinV...




					www.czc.cz
				




Is this the patch @stinger608?


			https://lepszyserwis.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/csapatch-101.zip
		


VirusTotal: No engines detected this file




__





						VirusTotal
					

VirusTotal




					www.virustotal.com


----------



## Athlonite (Nov 21, 2020)

debs3759 said:


> Even on 486 and socket 4?



Yup also if you have a copy of ME laying around copy the defrag program to 98's windows/system folder for better quicker defragging


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 21, 2020)

@phill
Have you tried installing newer drivers for the GPU? I see you're on 9.4. The latest XP driver supporting HD3000 series is 14.4. I've had no issues with that one.



phill said:


> I've tried the 9800 AIW and the X1650 Pro card, they seem to be working perfectly in the NF7-S as they install the drivers... but they didn't in the Asrock board


Catalyst 9.4 only supports HD2000 series and newer.


----------



## F-Zero (Nov 21, 2020)

I took out my FX5900XT and installed a Sapphire HD3850 AGP and did some 3dmark 03, 05, 06 tests.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 21, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Is this the patch @stinger608?
> https://lepszyserwis.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/csapatch-101.zip



I don't know. All it wants to do is download the file. I don't need to download it. I'd like to find the 3850 patch to edit the original post and put in there.


----------



## phill (Nov 21, 2020)

Hi guys, still having the same issue with that card...  Tried 14.4 drivers, no good, same issue..  I'll see if I can get the working one installed and then copy down the ID tags as I did for the one that's not working and see if there's any differences....  

Whatever driver I have used for the working 3850, it's picked up and install perfectly...  Bit confused...  It's happening to a few cards but the 9800 AIW and X1650 Pro work fine in my socket A system...   I'm not sure what else I can do...



lexluthermiester said:


> This might be a VBIOS VS motherboard incompatibility issue. Does the problem card work in another system?


Another 3850 works perfectly fine in the board, this is the screen grabs I've put up in my first post...  I'm rather confused @lexluthermiester ...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 21, 2020)

phill said:


> Another 3850 works perfectly fine in the board, this is the screen grabs I've put up in my first post... I'm rather confused @lexluthermiester ...


Maybe I'm confused?... The card that wouldn't run on that board, have you tested it on another board to verify it's not a problem with the 3850 card?


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 21, 2020)

phill said:


> It's happening to a few cards but the 9800 AIW and X1650 Pro work fine in my socket A system


So these two cards don't install on the Asrock with driver 9.3 or earlier, as well?


----------



## phill (Nov 21, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Maybe I'm confused?... The card that wouldn't run on that board, have you tested it on another board to verify it's not a problem with the 3850 card?





QuietBob said:


> So these two cards don't install on the Asrock with driver 9.3 or earlier, as well?


Apologies guys, I'll start over 

I've now two 3850's...  One of them, seems to be working fine in the Asrock board and in Windows XP...  The other just seems to be throwing up errors and not picking up the driver..  Same install, same OS. cables etc...

I've just managed to get a Windows 7 install on the Asrock board as we speak, I'm just making a run of 3D Mark 2000 with the X1950 Pro card with the standard 7 drivers and just checking that that works, which it seems to fine...  
I'll test 2001SE as well just because I'm interested to see any differences between the two sets of drivers I'll be using now


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 22, 2020)

On the odd Asrock boards with AGP,


phill said:


> Apologies guys, I'll start over
> 
> I've now two 3850's...  One of them, seems to be working fine in the Asrock board and in Windows XP...  The other just seems to be throwing up errors and not picking up the driver..  Same install, same OS. cables etc...


Are the 2 3850's identical?
Check the bios revisions.

I have the same trouble with a HD4650 AGP that I'm working on now.
Make sure your're using an AGP hotfix driver if you're on XP, or an Omega driver.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 22, 2020)

I've probably mentioned this already a million times, but I have a similar Sapphire HD 3850 as well. Put a Zalman VF700Cu it tho as the original cooler is kinda meh. Overclocks pretty ok.

Got also a P4 631 & D 925, those free Netburst CPUs are waiting for me to grab those from the post office. Probably tomorrow I'll grab those.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 22, 2020)

Also @phill here is a fairly large list of early ATI/AMD drivers for XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

SOFTPEDIA Has a ton of the hotfix drivers. You might give some of them a try man. 

Also, here on Tomshardware is a discussion regarding the older drivers. 

Both links are drivers and discussions regarding AGP versions of these cards so if yours is PCIe then these may not fit your scenario. 

Also, here is a discussion on TechPowerUp! with these links I posted above and what was going on with the original poster @Master 

Hopefully there is a solution to your issue. If the card isn't bad.


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 22, 2020)

There are usually two things broken in ATI drivers :
1) Lack of matching hardware IDs for installed card ("AGP hotfix" or not).
2) Lack of files needed to install CCC (in "CCC included" package).
For first one, you simply have to force install driver from device manager.
The latter needs a different download source (usually, there should be a source where package size is bigger with the same version - biggest you can find should be correct one).

I usually go for Catalyst 9.1/10.2 CCC and check after initial unpack if files are actually there (CCC folder) :



On left proper folder after unpack, on the right a "broken" one.

*PS. Please keep in mind, that there are also Legacy versions for DX8/DX9c only (those usually don't have DX10 hardware drivers inside).*


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 22, 2020)

I just finished restoring this oldie. HP Pavilion DV5-1131EN.

Originally came w/ Pentium DualCore T3200, no RAM, no HDD, Sony AD-7561S DVDRW, Broadcom 4312 WLAN, Geforce 9200M GS 256MB and corrupt BIOS.

Current specs are - Core 2 Duo P8400, 4GB DDR2-800, 500GB HGST Z7K500, Pioneer DVRTD11RS DVDRW, Intel 4965AGN WiFi, same GPU and fully working F.21A BIOS (w/ no WLAN whitelist)





Sadly battery is in dire need of recelling (78% wear) and since I don't want to risk anything with DIY, I'll very likely have to send it all the way across my country to a specialised shop that can also increase the capacity with quality cells, as well as reprogram the BMS so it can fully charge to the new capacity.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 22, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> (w/ no WLAN whitelist)


Argh, it sucks that some laptops allow only a limited number of WLAN cards. Same goes with my ThinkPad.


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 22, 2020)

*ATi Radeon HD 4870 X2*











*ATi FireGL V7300 (~X1800XT)*


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 22, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Argh, it sucks that some laptops allow only a limited number of WLAN cards. Same goes with my ThinkPad.


Yeah, IIRC Lenovo and HP usually do that. HP is quite easy as long as you know your board ID (e.g mine was 3603 for this, and 363A for a DV7-3165el I also have) but for Lenovo/IBM... I really have no idea.(haven't got the chance to tinker with these lol)

Dell might also have some models with whitelist on WLAN cards but I'm not really aware of which are those, as at least my old E6400 used to accept whatever WLAN card I'd throw at it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 22, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Argh, it sucks that some laptops allow only a limited number of WLAN cards. Same goes with my ThinkPad.


To be fair, they do that for compatibility reasons.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 22, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> To be fair, they do that for compatibility reasons.


I'd love if it would be possible to override that from bios or something


----------



## phill (Nov 22, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> On the odd Asrock boards with AGP,
> 
> Are the 2 3850's identical?
> Check the bios revisions.
> ...


To be fair to the Asrock and the 3850, the one I'm currently testing seems to work with any driver I throw at it.  The other card I have, no matter what driver I try that just doesn't work at all...  I think the card is knackered because the card gets very warm in places on it, whereas the one that works and I'm doing 3D Mark tests and such with it, never gets hot like that...  It's quite strange to be honest....

I'll post up the info I have with the cards, then if need be I'll get things tested deeper as soon as I know which way down the rabbit hole I need to go 

Thanks guys for the help


----------



## Dinnercore (Nov 23, 2020)

I took my LAN-PC 2 on its first trip. Visited my brother at our parents place. The midi-tower is really nice to handle. It is old and beaten, but super lightweight. The case without components is so light that I can lift it with my pinky.

Overall it fits nice under one arm and thus can be carried without blocking you from opening doors. 





So here is the ghetto rig, I'll walk you through.

Starting at the front we have a few missing covers for drive bays, which now acts as an additional front intake. Only complete with the crudely improvised dust filter made from insect window net. The power and reset buttons are no longer functional. One day I decided I would like to use the front LEDs for a project and while cutting them free I snapped the cables for the buttons. This is why I rigged a case-open switch to the top of the panel which now acts as power on.
Of course this additional front intake is held in place with zip ties. Moving further inwards we find a large 200mm fan that is just ridiculous. I had it in storage and decided I'll use it as extra support for the CPU cooler. Some foam padding squeezed inbetween keeps things safe during transport and removes vibration noise. It is held in place with zip tie to the lower screw hole from the 120mm exhaust fan and on the bottom with some velcro tape to the foam while the foam itself is taped on.

Cables exist. They have a secure minimum distance to each fan. Thats about it. You already saw the heatsinks I glued to the board.

Outside is covered in scratch marks and dents. Has some stickers on it. The completly white one is from G.Skill and has glow-in-the-dark paint on it. Looks nice but does not glow very long.



 

 



The fans run rather slow and the machine is nice and quiet when idle but that GTX280 has its typical scream. 34 db idle noise from ~40cm away, during high GPU loads the 280 takes that up to 5X db.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 23, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> To be fair, they do that for compatibility reasons.


And what compatibility reasons would be exactly? Why would they force me to use a Broadcom adapter on my HP instead of letting me install whatever card I'd like? (e.g I originally wanted to install a Centrino N-100, but ultimately had to go with 4965AGN due to missing holes for half-height cards, holes which are present on DV6 starting with the 2000 series and DV7 starting with 2000 series)

Anyways, just ordered today another HP, this time it's a DV7-1214el, w/ Turion RM-74 (wonder if it takes a ZM-82?), HD3450 256MB, 3GB of RAM, HDD, as well as Bluray drive. 
Sadly the chipset (or GPU) needs a reflow. I hope this one will work after that (at least a Acer 5536G w/ same chipset but newer GPU did work after reflowing the chipset (which is kinda mislabeled as IGP - it never shows up any IGP when used w/ a discrete GPU like HD3450 or the 4570 the Acer had) but no biggie if it doesn't, at least it's gonna sit on display.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 23, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> And what compatibility reasons would be exactly? Why would they force me to use a Broadcom adapter on my HP instead of letting me install whatever card I'd like? (e.g I originally wanted to install a Centrino N-100, but ultimately had to go with 4965AGN due to missing holes for half-height cards, holes which are present on DV6 starting with the 2000 series and DV7 starting with 2000 series)


Has to do with interface specs. Not all of them were 100% compatible with one-another which could cause OS instability and security issues. There was also potential for damage to the mobo as well. Every manufacturer chose a different way of handling the problem. Dell, for example, handled it by baking universal compatibility into their systems so as not cause their users problems down the line. HP, Lenovo and a few others went the limitation/whitelist route. Dell's way of handling it required more effort but was easily the better way of doing it.



MaxiPro800 said:


> Sadly the chipset (or GPU) needs a reflow.


When you do that reflow, remember, be *VERY* generous with the liquid flux to get solid results!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 23, 2020)

Okay, damage to the mobo? How can that happen from a mini-PCI WLAN card?

As for universal compatibility, aren't all laptops (except HP and Lenovo) universally compatible?

As for reflow - I have flux paste (generally used for soldering, but has been recommended by a advanced tech that also does iPhones) which should do the job (saved a few machines with it, including a DV7-3165EL) so here's hope it's gonna work. I use pretty big chunks of it around every side of the chip.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 23, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Okay, damage to the mobo? How can that happen from a mini-PCI WLAN card?


Voltage signaling differences.


MaxiPro800 said:


> As for universal compatibility, aren't all laptops (except HP and Lenovo) universally compatible?


There were a few others that did the whitelisting thing for a limited time until specs were universally agreed upon.


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 23, 2020)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Anyways, just ordered today another HP, this time it's a DV7-1214el, w/ Turion RM-74 (wonder if it takes a ZM-82?)


Should be no problem with the same generation CPU and socket revision. Let us know how the upgrade ends up.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 23, 2020)

Just to be safe, I found some more S1G2 CPUs.





In order: Athlon X2 QL-64, 2x Turion Ultra ZM80, and of course, the ZM82.

And for worst case scenario, I'll also reflow the CPU socket:


----------



## Robert B (Nov 24, 2020)

After last week I got my old PC back(AXP 2800+ Abit NF7-S v2.0) I also got THE BOX!!! - the kit is almost complete. It is missing only the floppy disk and the manual. The rest is all there. Cables, the Serillel adapter. The cardboard frame for the inside of the box. The lot! 

13 years after I sold my baby I got to retire her too. Now she's mine and she ain't leaving my eye 4 ever! The box is in awesome shape. I told my cousin to take care of it and he did. I'm soooooo glad! 

I bought the motherboard in 2003 or 2004 I don't remember exactly.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 25, 2020)

Got some nice LGA775 freebies 

Celeron D 341 (2.93GHz)
Pentium 4 524 (3.06GHz)
Pentium 4 541 (3.2GHz)
Pentium 4 630 (3GHz)
Pentium D 830 (3GHz)

Now I have few LGA775 chips to play around after I get my benchmarking PSU 






The delidded one is E4300, top left is an unmodded LGA771 one and the Q6600 is dead. Still 12 CPUs to OC the crap out


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 25, 2020)

DV7 came in! Completely untouched inside. Seller said it had some 160GB HDD, got really surprised seeing a 320GB WD Black!

Anyways, reflowed the IGP (main source of the problem, GPU was fine!) and it came back to life! Gonna have to replace the thermal pad for the GPU though as it's horribly brittle, and might add paste on the IGP so it runs cooler (a bit).

EDIT:




The Black Scorpio might be bad though 

EDIT 2: Black Scorpio is definitely dead. Replaced with a standard 5400RPM 320GB Seagate out of a CQ57. Oh, and the GPU is actually a 512MB 3470, not a 256MB 3450.

@QuietBob the upgrade went just fine! It booted up on first try (after reflowing) although about twice I got a checksum error with a new CR2032 plugged in, but I don't really mind that. The only thing left is flash a whitelist-free BIOS so I can drop a newer card (IIRC I still have some AR5B95 cards left from ASUS machines), swap in a better LCD (this one's CCFL is pretty yellowed) and it's pretty much done.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 25, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Got some nice LGA775 freebies


I see a Q9500 in the top row. That would be worthy of a retroXP build.


MaxiPro800 said:


> Oh, and the GPU is actually a 512MB 3470


That's a nice system. What are you going to do with it?


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 25, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I see a Q9500 in the top row. That would be worthy of a retroXP build.


I'd probably go for the Xeon X3230 for the ultimate XP rig as it has MOAR L2 (Q6700 equilent)

Did I mention about the GPU part of my LGA 775 test session?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2020)

Robert B said:


> After last week I got my old PC back(AXP 2800+ Abit NF7-S v2.0) I also got THE BOX!!! - the kit is almost complete. It is missing only the floppy disk and the manual. The rest is all there. Cables, the Serillel adapter. The cardboard frame for the inside of the box. The lot!
> 
> 13 years after I sold my baby I got to retire her too. Now she's mine and she ain't leaving my eye 4 ever! The box is in awesome shape. I told my cousin to take care of it and he did. I'm soooooo glad!
> 
> I bought the motherboard in 2003 or 2004 I don't remember exactly.


So let me get this straight... You owned that computer 13 years ago, then you sold it to your cousin & now you got it back? That's a pretty heart-touching story if you ask me!   

Reminds me a lot of my Adison story actually, since both of us last saw our "metal friends" around 13, 14 years ago!


----------



## Robert B (Nov 25, 2020)

Yeah Trekkie4 that is correct. 

I saw your Adison PC story and I was so glad that you found the other two cases.  That doesn't happen very often!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Yeah Trekkie4 that is correct.
> 
> I saw your Adison PC story and I was so glad that you found the other two cases.  That doesn't happen very often!


3, actually! I also found the smaller, mATX "baby" one  Seems to share the internal structure with its bigger brother (especially the power switch, LEDs, and blanking plates), but everything else is unique to this particular model & not compatible with Midi tower design.


 

 



Unfortunately, I did not take the smaller one at the time, but since then I've been in touch with the guy who sold these to me, and he agreed to keep the smaller one aside for me  to buy, pay for it in couple of weeks. I'm already outside my financial comfort zone as it is, investing quite a lot of money into Adison project so I really can't afford any more additional costs at this time.

But I DID finally get my hands on one of those BTC drives which I asked for...   And the other model from the picture, BTC BCD-36XH is on its way from England (not on any of the two pics, but identical to the one on right) Oddly enough I even managed to find yet another "XH" series drive of the unknown speed, that is missing the CD tray front panel (right pic). Meaning that it's going to be used for parts, in case BCD-36XH turns out to be non-working.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 25, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I'd probably go for the Xeon X3230


I didn't see that one and I'd agree.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 25, 2020)

One thing fellas..... I want a third HD 4890.


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 25, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> But I DID finally get my hands on one of those BTC drives which I asked for..


I'm so glad you finally found it! And guess what... I may have found your original keyboard, the BTC 8110W. I could grab it for you from my local auction site.

I'll send it to you just for the price of shipping. I'm in continental Europe so the cost should be very low. Please let me know.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 25, 2020)

wow, that is a frigging awesome gesture @QuietBob    

I'm quite sure @Trekkie4  will jump on that offer!!!!!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 25, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> One thing fellas..... I want a third HD 4890.


Why? Got a project going on?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> One thing fellas..... I want a third HD 4890.


Funny that you guys are talking about SLI & Crossfire because (among all these Adison-related items) I was recently donated a pair of identical, passively cooled 8600GTS cards made by Gigabyte,  both featuring "Silent-Pipe3" huge heatsink(s) ... exact model is GV-NX86S256H. Now, don't get me wrong because this project is still MILES away from even being started ... not to mention the fact that I'm missing tons of parts, but eventually, I'm going to put together a 8600GTS SLI rig inside that 3rd Adison case, a sleeper build  Providing a decent airflow inside one of those towers is going to be a real nightmare, but I really don't see why not. I already got the Adison tower, I got the motherboard (AM2+ or AM3, if I'm not mistaking) and I got the cards + the SLI bridge. So I would only need a decent CPU, loads of DDR2 RAM, decent hard drive and a sturdy power supply to be able to run everything without blackouts or overheating. Sooo yes, eventually! Stay tuned...



QuietBob said:


> I'm so glad you finally found it! And guess what... I may have found your original keyboard, the BTC 8110W. I could grab it for you from my local auction site.
> View attachment 176998
> I'll send it to you just for the price of shipping. I'm in continental Europe so the cost should be very low. Please let me know.





stinger608 said:


> wow, that is a frigging awesome gesture @QuietBob
> 
> I'm quite sure @Trekkie4  will jump on that offer!!!!!


Wow!! Yes, YES I will!  This one is technically not the identical to the one I had back in a day, as mine didn't have those 3 buttons on the left ("Power Off", "Wake Up" & "Sleep") but they are completely the same otherwise, down to every single detail! 

@QuietBob  I'll send you PM in a moment, and we can discuss details through there. 

Edit
Hmm... Or not, it says "This member limits who may view their full profile", so I can't message you. Send me a msg instead, hopefully it will work other way around?


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 25, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> One thing fellas..... I want a third HD 4890.


Going for a triple Crossfire setup?


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 25, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Going for a triple Crossfire setup?


On that point, why stop at just three?


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 25, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> @QuietBob I'll send you PM in a moment, and we can discuss details through there.
> Hmm... Or not, it says "This member limits who may view their full profile", so I can't message you. Send me a msg instead, hopefully it will work other way around?


Already bought the keyboard  Should arrive this Friday or next Monday. I'll get back to you in a PM, I think I've disabled conversations in my profile settings.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 25, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Already bought the keyboard  Should arrive this Friday or next Monday. I'll get back to you in a PM, I think I've disabled conversations in my profile settings.


No prob, don't worry about it. I answered you back


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 25, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Going for a triple Crossfire setup?


Exactly


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 26, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> On that point, why stop at just three?


Were there any mobos made that support 4way crossfire?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Were there any mobos made that support 4way crossfire?


Quite a few actually.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2020)

My powder-coated Adison case is back from the body shop, and it looks absolutely gorgeous! To be perfectly honest, better than it looked brand new, back in 1998! 

Planning to take & upload couple of pics later today, when I find some free time!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Were there any mobos made that support 4way crossfire?


Now hold on a minute, the board doesn't even have more than two PCIe x16 slots dammit!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2020)

There you have it guys, enjoy! 

Still all wrapped up:


 

 



Comparison between the original case on the left (one of the two recent acquisitions) with the "new", freshly powder-coated one on the right. I find it very interesting that the color seems to be different from the original one, but then once you expose it to the light source it becomes almost identical! Original case has that matt, kinda tarnished finish where the new one is much shiner (but still within reason), and it looks absolutely gorgeous!


 

 

 

 



Same goes for the outer panels. At first glance, the newly painted case seems more beige, ivory than the original one (and feels smooth to the touch, almost plastic) where the original panels look brighter and have that sharp, bubbly paint texture. But actually, when you put them side by side they are pretty much identical. As for the paint texture, it looks sweet with its smooth finish, and it blends in perfectly! 


 

 



Unfortunately, things couldn't go without unexpected problems... Due to the thicker coat of paint, I couldn't fit the motherboard tray hinges onto the main frame chassis. Therefore, while maneuvering the tray into position & slamming it into the hinges, I damaged the outer lip of the case frame, as seen on pics below. Still, the overall damage is minimal & shouldn't pose much of an issue and probably won't be visible as much once I put everything back together again ... I hope!


 



And to finish it off with "before & after" pics! 


 





 





 



All in all, I find it very difficult - almost impossible to believe that only a month ago this used to be that hideous rust bucket, painted in blue


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Now hold on a minute, the board doesn't even have more than two PCIe x16 slots dammit!


Powered 1x to 16x risers solve everything.  Though whether it'll actually let you crossfire is questionable.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

Bought some shit 

-Asus P5B VM with 3.5GB DDR2, E2140 & stock cooler
-MSI K9N with Athlon X2 3800+ and some RAM
-500W and 430W shit thier PSUs
-Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT
-Radeon 9550
-250GB and two 80GB HDDs
-2x 512MB SODIMM DDR1

30EUR incl. shipping.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 26, 2020)

That case turned out amazing @Trekkie4 !!!!!!   

The powder coating shop did a fantastic job and the finish is awesome!!!!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> That case turned out amazing @Trekkie4 !!!!!!
> 
> The powder coating shop did a fantastic job and the finish is awesome!!!!


Totally agree, amazing oldschool look with modernishing the looks.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> That case turned out amazing @Trekkie4 !!!!!!
> 
> The powder coating shop did a fantastic job and the finish is awesome!!!!





Chloe Price said:


> Totally agree, amazing oldschool look with modernishing the looks.


Absolutely agreed, thanks!   

Now I'm only waiting for the screws to arrive from China & then I can hopefully get down to business! Two of the towers will probably be assembled immediately, but the 3rd one will remain in its current condition until I can find all the necessary parts for what I had in mind.

Alternatively, if I end up buying that 4th mATX case I might consider making a mATX build... Either a sleeper, or retro themed, we shall see


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Absolutely agreed, thanks!
> 
> Now I'm only waiting for the screws to arrive from China & then I can hopefully get down to business! Two of the towers will probably be assembled immediately, but the 3rd one will remain in its current condition until I can find all the necessary parts for what I had in mind.
> 
> Alternatively, if I end up buying that 4th mATX case I might consider making a mATX build... Either a sleeper, or retro themed, we shall see


It SCREAMS for an Athlon Thunderbird build! :3


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> It SCREAMS for an Athlon Thunderbird build! :3


I would have suggested Pentium 3 Tualatin 1.3 or 1.4 ghz, but it's all good.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I would have suggested Pentium 3 Tualatin 1.3 or 1.4 ghz, but it's all good.


Tualatins are kinda expensive (tho hella good!) so S462 with Thunderbird would be my thing


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2020)

Are we talking mATX or full-sized ATX build? Because I actually happen to have a Tualatin board, Abit ST6 (remember that one, from page 315)




It has a P3 1.13A Tualatin CPU, and I could easily load it up with (at least) 512MB of RAM if not twice as that. But again - it is a full-sized ATX board, not mATX. Therefore, the sleeper would then have to be fitted inside that mATX case, instead.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 26, 2020)

I still have a dual Tualatin 1U server in my storage........Damn, this makes me want to pull it out. LOL. I think it's running an early Microsoft server. Can't remember for sure though.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

I've never owned a Tualatin, I had a cumine P3 1000 @ 1150 (and a cumine Celeron 1000 @ 1200) but not a Tualatin never


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 26, 2020)

The Tualatin's were some great early PIII server chips! I think the ones in my server are 1.4's. Hell, I think I still have a pair of 1000's or 1.3's somewhere that I pulled out of that server to upgrade to the 1.4's. 

Well crap, now I'm going to go to my storage tomorrow and dig that ole beast out.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I've never owned a Tualatin, I had a cumine P3 1000 @ 1150 (and a cumine Celeron 1000 @ 1200) but not a Tualatin never


If it makes you feel any better, I never owned a Tualatin before, either. Not until couple of years ago when I first got my Tualatin board & CPU - Asus TUSI-M with the Celeron 1000. Shortly after, I picked up this ST6 from an old, dirty & very rusty case. Just about everything else was for scrap, but the board was tested & seems to be working fine


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 26, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Are we talking mATX or full-sized ATX build? Because I actually happen to have a Tualatin board, Abit ST6 (remember that one, from page 315)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had that board(or at least a variant of it)! Brilliant OC abilities and rock solid operation! That 1.13ghz chip will easily do 1.5ghz if you want to tweak it, and without fear of any damage. Just in case, have you checked your BIOS version? http://abit.ws/page/mi/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php@pMODEL_NAME=ST6&fMTYPE=Socket 370&pPRODINFO=BIOS
EDIT;
Just looked it up, I had the ST6-RAID variant.
http://abit.ws/page/en/motherboard/...pPRODINFO=Specifications&fSEARCHTEXT=ST6-RAID

If you're going to do Windows 9X, go with ME and give it 768MB. If Win2K, give it as much as it'll take, if you have it. 512MBx3 for 1.5GB was the most I loaded on mine. Ah, the memories. Good times!


----------



## F-Zero (Nov 26, 2020)

A colleague from work asked me if I knew someone who would be interested in older motherboards and cpu-s, so I told him:


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

F-Zero said:


> A colleague from work asked me if I knew someone who would be interested in older motherboards and cpu-s, so I told him:
> 
> View attachment 177109View attachment 177096View attachment 177097View attachment 177098View attachment 177099View attachment 177100View attachment 177101View attachment 177102View attachment 177103View attachment 177104View attachment 177105View attachment 177106View attachment 177107View attachment 177108


I fell instantly in love with that HD 3870


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I had a cumine P3 1000


Those Pentium III’s were referred to as Coppermine.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I fell instantly in love with that HD 3870


Me too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I had that board(or at least a variant of it)! Brilliant OC abilities and rock solid operation! That 1.13ghz chip will easily do 1.5ghz if you want to tweak it, and without fear of any damage. Just in case, have you checked your BIOS version? http://abit.ws/page/mi/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php@pMODEL_NAME=ST6&fMTYPE=Socket 370&pPRODINFO=BIOS
> EDIT;
> Just looked it up, I had the ST6-RAID variant.
> http://abit.ws/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php@pMODEL_NAME=ST6-RAID&fMTYPE=Socket 370&pPRODINFO=Specifications&fSEARCHTEXT=ST6-RAID
> ...


Nah, you should probably know me by now, after all these years... I do not support OC of retro components. Got nothing against those who do, but I like to keep my gear at stock speed 

As for the ST6 board, we shall see what happens next. My highest priority at the moment are the two Pentium(s) II 350


----------



## debs3759 (Nov 26, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Those Pentium III’s were referred to as Coppermine.



Cu == Copper


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Those Pentium III’s were referred to as Coppermine.


That's what I said, copper = Cu = cumine 



debs3759 said:


> Cu == Copper


You were faster.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Personally I like acrylic/plexi more than glass.. easier to replace if something bad happens. Though acrylic can get scratched too easily.



sorry but no way any plexi is better than glass. Plexi is rubbish in comparison. My glass panel on my evolv x is crystal clear and better than any plexi panel I have ever seen. Easy to keep clean with any window cleaning stuff, and definitely harder to scratch than plexi. Sometimes I can’t even tell it’s there, unlike plexi.


----------



## Frick (Nov 26, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I've never owned a Tualatin, I had a cumine P3 1000 @ 1150 (and a cumine Celeron 1000 @ 1200) but not a Tualatin never



I had a 1.3Ghz Tualatin, but I only had a truly terrible OEM board to use it with. I used it with a Radeon 9000 Pro and played WoW.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

Frick said:


> I had a 1.3Ghz Tualatin, but I only had a truly terrible OEM board to use it with. I used it with a Radeon 9000 Pro and played WoW.


My Thunderbird 1000 @ 1466 & GF3 Ti 200 OC kills it


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 26, 2020)

The ST6 is a very desirable board. Very rare here in the states. Me jelly.  
Oh, and the obligatory Tualatin bench from me.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 26, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah, you should probably know me by now, after all these years... I do not support OC of retro components.


Fair enough, couldn't remember.



Mr.Scott said:


> The ST6 is a very desirable board. Very rare here in the states. Me jelly.
> Oh, and the obligatory Tualatin bench from me.
> 
> View attachment 177122


1.7ghz. Not bad at all. I never dared push them that high. Was happy with 10x166fsb as all the other clocks in the system matched up perfectly and I never needed to push the voltage too high..


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 26, 2020)

> I do not support OC of retro components.



I do. That's what you have me for.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 26, 2020)

tigger said:


> sorry but no way any plexi is better than glass.


That is fully a matter of opinion and preference. I also prefer Acrylic or Plexiglass to real glass, for several reasons. However, glass has it's benefits too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 26, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> I do. That's what you have me for.


True 

And like I said earlier, I got nothing against those who do (OC) - but as for me personally, I like to keep everything fully stock. You know, I'm the kind of guy who would want his old timer to be restored to 100% factory specs ... if I would actually own one lol  I just can't understand when people take their old cars and then tune the heck out of them, for one reason or another! Factory stock is original & only way to go IMHO. Not necessarily the best way, but certainly the right way


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is fully a matter of opinion and preference. I also prefer Acrylic or Plexiglass to real glass, for several reasons. However, glass has it's benefits too.


Yeah thinking of having all my windows replaced with plexiglass, less chance of breaking them-edit i WAS being sarcastic btw in case someone did not grasp it.......
Personal choice I guess but I can see no advantage of cheap plastic over quality glass.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 26, 2020)

tigger said:


> Yeah thinking of having all my windows with plexiglass, less chance of breaking them


Yea and if and accident happens, plexi is kinda easy to replace


----------



## Caring1 (Nov 27, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Yea and if and accident happens, plexi is kinda easy to replace


Yep, I can take the side off my Corsair case and frisbee it onto my bed without fear of any glass breaking, and the Plexi is still scratch free.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 27, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Yep, I can take the side off my Corsair case and frisbee it onto my bed without fear of any glass breaking, and the Plexi is still scratch free.


Tho this acrylic is hella scratched but nah, it isn't the end of the world..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 27, 2020)

tigger said:


> Yeah thinking of having all my windows replaced with plexiglass, less chance of breaking them
> Personal choice I guess but I can see no advantage of cheap plastic over quality glass.


Seriously? LOL!  Context bro, we're talking about computer cases not homes.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 27, 2020)

I'd love to have a fully acrylic case but those have hella lot of disadvantages


----------



## Caring1 (Nov 27, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I'd love to have a fully acrylic case but those have hella lot of disadvantages


I had the chance to pick one up for free a couple of years ago and i'm still kicking myself for not taking it, it was complete with system in it, an old build, would be well and truly retro now.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 27, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> I had the chance to pick one up for free a couple of years ago and i'm still kicking myself for not taking it, it was complete with system in it, an old build, would be well and truly retro now.


If I'd had one I'd put either

a) a modern Ryzen shit to it
b) Pentium 4 shit
c) Athlon Thunderbird shit


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 27, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> c) Athlon Thunderbird shit


How about a Slot A Athlon 1 GHz build?



			https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/TYPE-Athlon%20(Slot%20A).html


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 27, 2020)

All I need to do is to build the loop.. 








biffzinker said:


> How about a Slot A Athlon 1 GHz build?


Why not! Never had any of those... :3

e: Did Chloe buy something again? Oh hell yes he did

7800 GS


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 27, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Seriously? LOL!  Context bro, we're talking about computer cases not homes.


seriously what are you babbling about. Acrylic is crappy compared to glass, whether it is in a house window or a PC case. Acrylic or plexi does not no way have the same crystal clear quality of glass, it scratches much easier and it is harder to clean as it scratches so easily. So here’s a slap for you in return  your opinion is like mine an opinion so we will just have ignore each other ok edited the post, you failed to grasp how sarcastic it was. Seriously why would anyone not feeble minded replace their house windows with plexi or acrylic


----------



## phill (Nov 27, 2020)

Wow guys there's been a party in here and I've flipping missed it all!!  What is all this amazing hardware I see and @Robert B showing off his flashy boxed NF7-S Rev 2...  I'm not at all jelly at the sight of that!!  Oh man....

Such great hardware here, I love this thread!!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 27, 2020)

Alright so the P5Q Pro does POST with P4. I had problems but it seems that it doesn't like those Corsair sticks, so I'll go with basic Kingston DDR2-800..

e: P4 630 @ 4.5GHz and installing Win7..


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> How about a Slot A Athlon 1 GHz build?
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/TYPE-Athlon%20(Slot%20A).html


Lol. When do you want to see it?
I have much Slot A hardware, including GFD for overclocking.  

Random example :
BTW, vid card is GF 256 DDR with a modded Thermalright cooler on it.
This was a sub from a contest a few years ago.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> e: P4 630 @ 4.5GHz *and installing Win7*..


Really? Why? I mean why not XP?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 28, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Lol. When do you want to see it?
> I have much Slot A hardware, including GFD for overclocking.
> 
> Random example :
> ...


A home-made torture chamber for the old(er) hardware? 

Nah, just teasing... it actually looks pretty sweet, kinda resembles a turbo charged, twin-cooled engine IMHO!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 28, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Really? Why? I mean why not XP?


To be honest, I was too lazy to put a dvd drive with it.  4.5GHz seems to be the maximum, even with 1.75 volts..


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 28, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> A home-made torture chamber for the old(er) hardware?


Kinda.  
It's my thing. I like extreme benching the old hardware.
Believe it or not, I don't kill that much stuff.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 28, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Kinda.
> It's my thing. I like extreme benching the old hardware.
> Believe it or not, I don't kill that much stuff.


I remember seeing a crazy mod (and OC) years ago on YouTube ... or maybe it was someplace else, I honestly don't remember. Someone OCed their S7 Pentium MMX to the absurd level and used the liquid nitrogen to keep the temperature down!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 28, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I remember seeing a crazy mod (and OC) years ago on YouTube ... or maybe it was someplace else, I honestly don't remember. Someone OCed their S7 Pentium MMX to the absurd level and used the liquid nitrogen to keep the temperature down!


It's not that absurd. In the competitive benching community it happens all the time.
I personally run most of my stuff on a water chiller. I can get down to about -30c on that.
I have some dry ice runs also. I will find a pic.

EDIT- Here. Notice all vintage equipment, including OCZ Booster.






						CPU-Z Validator 3.1
					

CPU-Z Validation Checker (by canardpc.com)



					valid.canardpc.com


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 28, 2020)




----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 28, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I remember seeing a crazy mod (and OC) years ago on YouTube ... or maybe it was someplace else, I honestly don't remember. Someone OCed their S7 Pentium MMX to the absurd level and used the liquid nitrogen to keep the temperature down!


Think I've seen that, and it was either 420MHz (no pun intended) or 450Mhz, forgot which.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 28, 2020)

In the original post I included a link that @agent_x007 posted in this thread:








						Project: The Ultimate AGP System (PC-A05FNB/HD3850)
					

The P4P800-VM can be flashed with the SE bios for full FSB control.   If you don't want to flash the bios SetFSB worked fine on mine.




					www.techpowerup.com
				




Here is the link:








						NVIDIA: Optimized nForce Driverpacks for Win7-10
					

@ all users with a NVIDIA nForce chipset mainboard:  Preliminary notes  Many users with an nForce chipset mainboard, who are running or going to install Vista, Win7, Win8 or Win10 (32/64bit), are searching for nForce chipset drivers, which are suitable for their special chipset and will give...




					www.win-raid.com
				




This is for NForce drivers that support Vista and Windows 7


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 28, 2020)

It's based on newest one for Win XP 64-bit, and is signed to make Win Vista/7 installer "happy".
It may NOT work for all NF AGP boards/configurations out there (like author states in it's post, so keep that in mind when using it).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 177338


Wait, were the Tualatin's multi-unlocked?


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 28, 2020)

Not really.
What's so weird about it ?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> Not really.
> What's so weird about it ?


Nevermind, I saw the clocks you got, but didn't see that it was a Celeron. Tunnel-vision.... For a moment it looked like the multi had been changed instead of the FSB. Still, that's an impressive OC!


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 28, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wait, were the Tualatin's multi-unlocked?


No, looks like FSB overclocking +33 MHz from 100 MHz. 


			https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Celeron/Intel-Celeron%201300%20-%20RK80530RY013256%20(BX80530F1300256).html


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> No, looks like FSB overclocking +33 MHz from 100 MHz.
> 
> 
> https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Celeron/Intel-Celeron%201300%20-%20RK80530RY013256%20(BX80530F1300256).html


Right... see above..


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 28, 2020)

I had an old PII Toshiba that I upgraded years ago.  I pulled the CPU & got a Power Leap s370 slocket & a 1.4GHz Tualatin Celeron.  I was able to use SetFSB to increase the FSB to 112MHz.  That was about 1.56GHz on the CPU.  I don't miss the Toshiba, but I wish I still had that slocket and Celery.


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 28, 2020)

Side note : This board doesn't support Fast Write - which SUCKS for 3D tests


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 28, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 177356
> View attachment 177357
> 
> Side note : This board doesn't support Fast Write - which SUCKS for 3D tests


Nice.

My EB 800


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 28, 2020)

Hmm looks like my Abit BH6 1.01 bit the dust, tried a bunch of cpu's and mem's and reflashed the bios but no luck. Oh well, time to find another board, the clockgen was limited to 133MHz so I was looking around anyway. 

My favorite run on it; Katmai 550 on chilled water @ 2.8V core via VID pin mod. Likely has more in it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 28, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> Hmm looks like my Abit BH6 1.01 bit the dust, tried a bunch of cpu's and mem's and reflashed the bios but no luck. Oh well, time to find another board, the clockgen was limited to 133MHz so I was looking around anyway.
> 
> My favorite run on it; Katmai 550 on chilled water @ 2.8V core via VID pin mod. Likely has more in it.


Too bad about the board. Likely caps. It was of that era.
Good OC on that. My 550 will only do 700.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> Hmm looks like my Abit BH6 1.01 bit the dust





Mr.Scott said:


> Too bad about the board. Likely caps. It was of that era.


I have to agree, likely the caps. That board would very much be worth a recap job!


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 28, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> I have to agree, likely the caps. That board would very much be worth a recap job!


Could be. I poked around on it with my dmm, all voltages and resistances looked good so idk.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2020)

DR4G00N said:


> Could be. I poked around on it with my dmm, all voltages and resistances looked good so idk.


Weird. Is the chipset bare or does it have a heatsink?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2020)

I've been going through some of my old photo albums yesterday & found something relevant for this thread, to share with you guys...

Starting off with what appears to be 1996 - Siemens Nixdorf CRT, that's been hooked to a Intel 486 (66), DX2. The printer that's just outside the frame (above the monitor) was Epson FX-85




Followed by more familiar sight...  


 



We are now in the year 2000 (or maybe even early 2001), and this is what my Adison setup used to look like... Shamrock CRT monitor (which I still own today, but it needs a replacement flyback transformer), Primax Colorado 1200p flatbed scanner, Epson Stylus Color 580 (it was brand new at the time, and only just recently replaced the old HP DeskJet 610C), Primax Raptor 3D joystick (still owned today, in fact I'm looking at it as I'm typing this), BTC keyboard (8110?), the one @QuietBob kindly offered to me, and most likely a Primax Navigator PS/2 mouse. Oh, and there's also that Logitech Quick Cam, which I STILL own today, unfortunately it yellowed quite badly to the point where it's orange and not bright white, as seen on the picture.

I can actually tell that it's a "late" picture and not the one from 1998/1999 due to the position where my desk used to be (I rearranged my room around mid-2000) and also because of the LED on that BTC CD-ROM drive, on the blurred picture. The LED is on the far left side, meaning that the original CD drive was already replaced for BTC BCD-40XH as seen on the picture below.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 29, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Followed by more familiar sight...


That speaker setup would have driven me bonkers...


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 29, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That speaker setup would have driven me bonkers...


Same...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2020)

In a good way, I hope?  I didn't really care much for speaker placement back then, neither i had the room on my desk to choose more preferred location... There was also the 3rd one, woofer (it was a 2.1 system)

Edit
Approx. 5 years into the future & here we are in 2005. With the SAME speakers from the picture(s) above, and you can actually see the woofer on this one  The system on the left was a S423 Pentium 4, it had that same Primax Colorado 1200p from the earlier pictures, same Logitech QuickCam & same Primax Raptor 3D joystick, but this time it had Epson Stylus C40UX, where the system on the right was PII "Adison" of course, with previously mentioned Shamrock CRT & BTC keyboard 




About a year later, and that Epson Stylus color 580 (on the right, and also from earlier set of pics) was decommissioned due to clogged up head and so I gave it away for free.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 29, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Primax Colorado 1200p flatbed scanner


I had a UMAX flatbed scanner back when I had a PowerMac clone. I have no idea where the scanner went come to think of it. It wasn't a high-end expensive model although it had a SCSI interface.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 29, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> In a good way, I hope?


Oh, hell no. I'm mildly OCD and where speaker placement is concerned, if they're not perfectly symmetrical to each other and equa-distant to the display, it drives me right bonkers.


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 29, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Approx. 5 years into the future & here we are in 2005.


How many remotes can you hold in one hand? 
And I like the fan controllers! Are those VU meters I see?



lexluthermiester said:


> Oh, hell no. I'm mildly OCD and where speaker placement is concerned, if they're not perfectly symmetrical to each other and equa-distant to the display, it drives me right bonkers.


I hear ya!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I had a UMAX flatbed scanner back when I had a PowerMac clone. I have no idea where the scanner went come to think of it. It wasn't a high-end expensive model although it had a SCSI interface.


Oh yeah, I remember those! My Primax kinda falls into that same category... It was a fairly cheap scanner from what I remember, but it was quite decent. I gave it away around 2006, 2007 mainly because we bought one of those early all-in-one HP machines, which had a flatbed scanner built in. Which is what we have today (Canon one), there's really no need & valid excuse to have a dedicated scanner any longer, unless it is a special unit, designed for special application & purpose.



lexluthermiester said:


> Oh, hell no. I'm mildly OCD and where speaker placement is concerned, if they're not perfectly symmetrical to each other and equa-distant to the display, it drives me right bonkers.


Oh... I see! Would you believe that I'm OCD myself? But I developed my OCD years later, around 2004-2005. In fact if you take a closer look at that picture from 2004 you will notice that ALL my remotes are sorted from the smallest & shortest to the largest & longest one 



QuietBob said:


> How many remotes can you hold in one hand?
> And I like the fan controllers! Are those VU meters I see?
> 
> 
> I hear ya!


Ha! Well, what can I say... First, small silver remote was for a HiFi system (still owned today), second (black) one was for Hauppauge TV tuner card, in fact you can see the IR receiver mounted on the monitor, where the rest of them (3rd, 4th & 5th remote) were all for VHS VCRs - Daewoo, LG in the middle & big black one for JVC 

And yes, I used to be crazy for case mods back in a day. What you see are Cooler Master Aerogate & Musketeer, along with crapload of LED fans & other case accessories ... along with incredibly messy cable management !


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 29, 2020)

Work on your cable-fu.
Holy christ!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> Work on your cable-fu.
> Holy christ!


You /do/ realize that the picture you saw was taken 15+ years ago? I actually learned a thing or two about cable management since then 
I had to start somewhere... And what you just saw was pretty much my first "real" project, where I stripped the entire system apart & then rebuilt it from scratch.


----------



## biffzinker (Nov 29, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> You /do/ realize that the picture you saw was taken 15+ years ago? I actually learned a thing or two about cable management since then
> I had to start somewhere...


Don't we all? The recent builds/rebuilds you've posted had tidy cable management.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Don't we all? The recent builds/rebuilds you've posted had tidy cable management.


Exactly, and thanks! I'm quite obsessed with cable management nowdays, maybe even partially because of that mess from back in a day. Sometimes I find myself assembling the entire system within half an hour, 45mins top, but then tweaking & messing around with cable management for hours & hours! I believe the longest one (absolute record so far) was around 2 and a half days!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 30, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> You /do/ realize that the picture you saw was taken 15+ years ago?


I did not.
My bad.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 30, 2020)

Ever since my early years, I was soo persnickety about rats-nest cabling. I started doing cable management in the 80's. I saw the above picture, just shook my head and laughed. @Trekkie4 if I had been there, you couldn't have stopped me from redoing the cabling in that PC.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> I did not.
> My bad.


Sorry, I figured it would be obvious with the yellow date stamp, in the bottom-right corner... No worries!   



lexluthermiester said:


> Ever since my early years, I was soo persnickety about rats-nest cabling. I started doing cable management in the 80's. I saw the above picture and just shook my head and laughed. @Trekkie4 if I had been there, you couldn't have stopped me from redoing the cabling in that PC.


Hehehe! But look at it this way - if you had done the job for me, then I would have never mastered the "art" of cable management and all my systems would be a total mess even today


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 30, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hehehe! But look at it this way - if you had done the job for me, then I would have never mastered the "art" of cable management and all my systems would be a total mess even today


Good point! Of course you could have watched and learned a few things...


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 30, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh, hell no. I'm mildly OCD and where speaker placement is concerned, if they're not perfectly symmetrical to each other and equa-distant to the display, it drives me right bonkers.


This! Even I’d like wider spacing....look I have no idea why this upside down will have to report the issue...




@W1zzard this photo thing is a problem

Edit: Fixed it’s definitely a FF Mobile issue


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> This! Even I’d like wider spacing....look I have no idea why this upside down will have to report the issue...
> View attachment 177545
> @W1zzard this photo thing is a problem


Upside down .... you're not from Australia, are you?!


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 30, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Upside down .... you're not from Australia, are you?!


I dunno what's going on I actually flipped it and uploaded it again upside down and it still loaded upside down....

Edit: it’s a FF Mobile issue I’m in the right side up now


----------



## QuietBob (Nov 30, 2020)

Hey guys, remember that funky case I picked up on the cheap a while ago in post 4381477? I finally decided to give it a purpose. Time for another build! For this one I envisioned a bare bones Win7 rig. As in, the slowest PC that can run Windows 7 64-bit. 

I'd like to hear from you. What's your experience running Win7 on basic hardware? Which components would you recommend for my build? Out of sheer curiosity, I wanna try the absolute minimum and see how/if it runs the 64-bit version  

Ideas welcome!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 30, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> I'd like to hear from you. What's your experience running Win7 on basic hardware? Which components would you recommend for my build? Out of sheer curiosity, I wanna try the absolute minimum and see how/if it runs the 64-bit version


Define "basic". Realistically, you could run Win7 well on a even a low end Core2Duo and just 2 or 3 GB of ram. It just depends on what you have in mind.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Define "basic". Realistically, you could run Win7 well on a even a low end Core2Duo and just 2 or 3 GB of ram. It just depends on what you have in mind.


...and that would actually be my upcoming project, so stay tuned!


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 1, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> I wanna try the absolute minimum and see how/if it runs the 64-bit version


If you want to try with the minimum system requirements:

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor*
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver






						Windows 7 system requirements - Microsoft Support
					

Check out the system requirements to see if your PC can run Windows 7.




					support.microsoft.com


----------



## phill (Dec 1, 2020)

I wished to share a few pics with you all   I've been able to buy myself a few things, so here's a few pics of the testing 






          

No matter what I do, I can't get my second 3850 to play nice and work with any driver or OS or version of driver at all...  Not sure why or what is stopping it but damn it's annoying...  I'll grab some more pics and put them up soon, bed time is calling right now and I've hit a 30 picture limit    I loved that benchmark as well, 3D Mark 2000...  Used to test my Duron 650 and Geforce 2 MX card in that!! 

 

Works well, fan bearings I think are on the way out, but we can hopefully replace it 

   

  

I'm not sure these two motherboards and setups are Nostalgic but....  Just awesome hardware regardless   I'll put up a few more before I head to bed...

I'll write a little more up about it soon   I'll have to grab some more picture of the AGP cards, tested about 6 I think in total and I have a few more to do 

And here was the third board....

      

Love this board!!    Toying with a E5-1680 V2 I think to go in it....
And here we are with my Crosshair and Rampage collection...  There's some hidden behind the Crosshair boards and there's one missing from the Rampage board as it's currently in the USA!  

 

I'm trying to get my hands on a Rampage 5 R5E 10 model and possibly a Extreme 6 Encore, but we'll see how that pans out and it's not Nostalgic at all, so I won't be posting it here!!  

I'll do my best to get some of the AGP cards I've tested, pictured here   Got a few more to test shortly as well


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 1, 2020)

Just dug up some old i3 stuff I initially discarded due to board issues, which I might have finally discovered how to fix.





i3 540, 2GB of DDR3, a 512MB HD4850, and a Gigabyte H55M-S2V, with ME region issues apparently.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 1, 2020)

Just a quick heads up, for all of you guys here who kindly offered to help me with my Adison project on one way or another.

Earlier today I received probably the most terrible news in my entire life. A senior family member who contracted Covid 19 was rushed into the hospital & the situation is critical, without the long-term prognosis. She is 89 years old, so there's hardly any room for miracles I'm afraid. We are talking days, hours or maybe even minutes.

Meanwhile, at the same time. My very dear & close friend , my soulmate was rushed into the intensive care after suffering from severe chemo therapy side effects and by the looks of it was pronounced brain-dead. From what I've been told, It is only a matter of time before unplugging her from the ventilator, so I hope that all of you understand, I'm backing off from retro hardware & quite frankly don't know when & if I'll ever get back to it.

Thank you for the understanding


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 1, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thank you for the understanding


Understood, you can always come back if you need a distraction from what’s going on.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 1, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Realistically, you could run Win7 well on a even a low end Core2Duo and just 2 or 3 GB of ram.


Thanks for the suggestion. I may try something even s/lower, if only for experiment.



biffzinker said:


> try with the minimum system requirements:
> 
> 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor*


Right, that's a good starting point. Since I decided on a 64-bit build, I'd now have to find the slowest 64-bit CPU. I don't think there were any running at 1 GHz though.



Trekkie4 said:


> hope that all of you understand, I'm backing off from retro hardware & quite frankly don't know when & if I'll ever get back to it.


Aww man, so sorry to hear the sad news... I'll keep that keyboard for you


----------



## agent_x007 (Dec 1, 2020)

@QuietBob It needs 64-bit support, so you are stuck at lowest end with Celeron D (*some* Prescott-256 E0 based should have it) or Semprons on LGA 754/939 (depending on Dual Channel support/AGP).
With that being said, do you plan on waitng on death before installation (RAM = 1x 256MB DDR1 option) ?
Or maybe just like watching paint dry : IDE 40GB 5400RPM HDD (or microSD card) ?
There is also the adventure of installing 64-bit OS on nForce 3 with AGP or trying your luck with NVMe on old platform to get better results...

I'm NOT couting weird VIA or Atom based systems, since that would be just painful to read about.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 1, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> @QuietBob It needs 64-bit support, so you are stuck at lowest end with Celeron D (*some* Prescott-256 E0 based should have it) or Semprons on LGA 754/939 (depending on Dual Channel support/AGP).


Not true, he could use the 32bit version of Win7. I ran Win7-32bit on my old ASUS EEEPC with an Atom N330 and it ran fine.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 1, 2020)

*EPoX EP-9NPA+SLI  










pentium w/ MMX tech (233MHz)*


----------



## agent_x007 (Dec 1, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Right, that's a good starting point. Since I decided on a *64-bit build*, I'd now have to find the *slowest 64-bit CPU*. I don't think there were any running at 1 GHz though.


Based on this^ :
@lexluthermiester You can't go older that what I wrote if you want to have 64-bit support (regardless of OS you want to use). Unless you do IA-64, but that's WAAY out of the scope of this... I hope 
I think : Celeron D 326 + 256MB RAM (or 128MB if you find a single stick of DDR1 at such low capacity)  are slower than any Atom platform.


----------



## debs3759 (Dec 2, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Right, that's a good starting point. Since I decided on a 64-bit build, I'd now have to find the slowest 64-bit CPU. I don't think there were any running at 1 GHz though.



P4 620 @2800MHz
Celeron D @3067MHz
Athlon 64 2800+ (Clawhammer ADAAA2800ACN5) @1600MHz
Sempron 3000+ (Paris SDA3000AIP2AX) @1800MHz

seem to be the slowest 64-bit options


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 2, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just a quick heads up, for all of you guys here who kindly offered to help me with my Adison project on one way or another.
> 
> Earlier today I received probably the most terrible news in my entire life. A senior family member who contracted Covid 19 was rushed into the hospital & the situation is critical, without the long-term prognosis. She is 89 years old, so there's hardly any room for miracles I'm afraid. We are talking days, hours or maybe even minutes.
> 
> ...



OH God all mighty brother, I'm so very sorry to hear about all of this!!!!!!!!!! My condolences to you and all the family members!!!!!

Remember, as already stated, we are always here and enjoy your posts and pictures a lot and hope you come on back in when you need a distraction from reality!


----------



## Radical Vision (Dec 2, 2020)

Things to get soon, EVGA GEforce 7950 GX2, not so rare, but is still great find
Number Nine S3 Savage 4 Extreme seems the top high end of the savage 4 line up, and Number Nine is like Diamond build quality
ASUS K7M Slot A board prob one of the best for that platform
ASUS CUBX-E seems one of the fines 440BX boards have support up to 1GHz coppermine, also x3 ISA slots and with some adapter will support Tualatin too (but my guess is this board will be sacrificed in order to refund the spended money for the rest)








 




Now stuff that i got..

Intel Desktop Board 478 (sadly not the damn black PCB one...)
Gigabyte

 

 

           
    
 

Sadly nothing interesting in all these computers... The good part was there was couple of Panasonic 3.5 inch floppies, TEAC and Mitsumi, there was like 2-3 good Quantum Fireballs that was under 1 year of use and in great condition. Did not take pictures of everything tho, there was x2 AMD K6-II 450 CPUs and one WIn Chip C6 CPU... The XT keyboard is really interesting (not to me as i dont like Xt stuff much aside from IBM) it have Cherry MX switches, i can assume i can trade it for some more modern AT mechanical such as NorthGate Omnikey maybe or Zenith data Systems...


----------



## phill (Dec 2, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just a quick heads up, for all of you guys here who kindly offered to help me with my Adison project on one way or another.
> 
> Earlier today I received probably the most terrible news in my entire life. A senior family member who contracted Covid 19 was rushed into the hospital & the situation is critical, without the long-term prognosis. She is 89 years old, so there's hardly any room for miracles I'm afraid. We are talking days, hours or maybe even minutes.
> 
> ...


If there's anything we can do....  We'll always be here should you need a distraction etc.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 2, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> Based on this^ :
> @lexluthermiester You can't go older that what I wrote if you want to have 64-bit support (regardless of OS you want to use). Unless you do IA-64, but that's WAAY out of the scope of this... I hope
> I think : Celeron D 326 + 256MB RAM (or 128MB if you find a single stick of DDR1 at such low capacity)  are slower than any Atom platform.


Oh, right forgot they mentioned 64bit... My bad...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Understood, you can always come back if you need a distraction from what’s going on.





QuietBob said:


> Aww man, so sorry to hear the sad news... I'll keep that keyboard for you
> 
> View attachment 177762





stinger608 said:


> OH God all mighty brother, I'm so very sorry to hear about all of this!!!!!!!!!! My condolences to you and all the family members!!!!!
> 
> Remember, as already stated, we are always here and enjoy your posts and pictures a lot and hope you come on back in when you need a distraction from reality!


Thank you all for the kind words. The irony of the situation is that (from what I've been last told) both of them are still alive. So there is some hope. Common sense is telling me otherwise, but for the moment, right now - there IS hope nevertheless. So what you can all do is send positive thoughts & energy, hoping for a miracle.

And thank you @QuietBob for the offer. I don't know what the future holds, so I can't  tell you when (or even if) I'll ever get back to working on that Adison computer, but again the common sense is telling me that I should do it. I wasted so much money into it, it would be a "crime" to let it all go to waste. Especially since I can't really sell any of that, as it doesn't hold any realistic value to anyone, other than me.


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 2, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'll ever get back to working on that Adison computer, but again the common sense is telling me that I should do it. I wasted so much money into it, it would be a "crime" to let it all go to waste. Especially since I can't really sell any of that, as it doesn't hold any realistic value to anyone, other than me.


You might as well finish the rebuild then call it quits since you’ve already invested the money.

Hopefully your grandma could pull through, and close friend might come out of it.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 2, 2020)

agent_x007 said:


> It needs 64-bit support, so you are stuck at lowest end with Celeron D (*some* Prescott-256 E0 based should have it) or Semprons on LGA 754/939 (depending on Dual Channel support/AGP).


Just what I need  I'll be putting this in a miditower case, so I'm gonna stick to socketed CPUs. Those embedded solutions @lexluthermiester mentioned may be a worthy opponent though.
From what I gather, the slowest 64-bit desktop CPU from Intel was the *Celeron D 326 @ 2.53* (Prescott-256) from 2004 - already suggested by you. For AMD, it was the *Sempron 2500+ @ 1.4*  (Palermo) from the same year. Now, which of these two would be slower?



agent_x007 said:


> With that being said, do you plan on waitng on death before installation (RAM = 1x 256MB DDR1 option) ?
> Or maybe just like watching paint dry : IDE 40GB 5400RPM HDD (or microSD card) ?


Yes to both!  Can you actually install Win7 on 256MB? I'll probably try the official minimum of 2 GB. And I need equally slow storage. Do you have any benchmarks for that drive?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 2, 2020)

This is a bit off-topic but I feel compelled to offer these thoughts.


Trekkie4 said:


> but again the common sense is telling me that I should do it. I wasted so much money into it, it would be a "crime" to let it all go to waste. Especially since I can't really sell any of that, as it doesn't hold any realistic value to anyone, other than me.


Honestly, it would be healthy for you to continue on. It's one thing to be worried and to morn, that is normal and good for you, but it's also healthy to carry on. Keep on living. Everyone here will come to the end of the road. It's the disheartening but unavoidable cycle of life. Think about this, if you were in their position, would you want those whom you love to give up on the fun things that make them happy? Or would you want them to continue on?



QuietBob said:


> Yes to both!  Can you actually install Win7 on 256MB? I'll probably try the official minimum of 2 GB. And I need equally slow storage. Do you have any benchmarks for that drive?


It would work on 1GB, but not very well, even if you had a dedicated GPU.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> This is a bit off-topic but I feel compelled to offer these thoughts.
> 
> Honestly, it would be healthy for you to continue on. It's one thing to be worried and to morn, that is normal and good for you, but it's also healthy to carry on. Keep on living. Everyone here will come to the end of the road. It's the disheartening but unavoidable cycle of life. Think about this, if you were in their position, would you want those whom you love to give up on the fun things that make them happy? Or would you want them to continue on?


My friend was pronounced dead 3 hours ago, at 1PM Florida time. I'm afraid there was nothing they could do about it, or to save her 
And you're right. We knew each other for 11+ years now, and you're right, she would want me to carry on. She knew about my Adison project, and was in fact very excited about it, when I first told her (back in March) that I found the case which I've been looking for all those years. But it's not going to be easy, and I don't know if I'm strong enough to keep on going without her. She meant to me more than I  could ever put into words, and it feels as if part of me died with her, today.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 2, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> But it's not going to be easy, and I don't know if I'm strong enough to keep on going without her.


See PM.


----------



## phill (Dec 2, 2020)

If there's anything we can do @Trekkie4 please do let us know..  TPU in certain areas feels like a bit of a family to me..  I think and I believe this goes without saying, we are all here for you should there be anything any one here can help or do for you   Just let us know.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2020)

Thank you for the kind words @phill ,but there is nothing that we can do about it. The only thing that could save her would be the time machine, to travel 48 hrs back in time & to warn her what's going to happen...

As for helping me, I can't think of anything that would cheer me up, but again thank you for the kind offer. I'll be honest, I was hesitating to put this into public place for everyone to see, but seeing how many people were (are) involved in my Adison project and either offered me free parts or various trade-ins for Adison-related components, I felt that it needs to be said & done. But I honestly wasn't expecting as much compassion & help from you guys, and I just wanted to say this, I'm grateful for all your help.


----------



## phill (Dec 2, 2020)

As I mentioned before @Trekkie4, for me, there are certain areas that feel like a family and it's a great thing to have.  It might only be sometimes words on a screen but sometimes that's all that's needed to feel a little bit better or what have you. 

I'm a man of my word so if there's anything I can do or anyone in the forum can do, just let us know   Doesn't matter if its a stick of RAM or a chat or for you to have a rage/off load, we are all here for each other I feel  

I understand the pain and the hurt, I've lost quite a few members of my family in my life, it's never a good thing to feel and everyone will react differently to it, but one thing I definitely think is that as long as you have good memories of that person and remember good and bad things about them, they are always going to be around and with you  
Perfect kids film for that is Coco   Pixar doing it again!!   But I digress, you know where to find us


----------



## Caring1 (Dec 2, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> As for helping me, I can't think of anything that would cheer me up, but again thank you for the kind offer. I'll be honest, I was hesitating to put this into public place for everyone to see, but seeing how many people were (are) involved in my Adison project and either offered me free parts or various trade-ins for Adison-related components, I felt that it needs to be said & done. But I honestly wasn't expecting as much compassion & help from you guys, and I just wanted to say this, I'm grateful for all your help.


I'm sure most people here feel for you and your loss.
Mourning is a natural process you shouldn't try to bottle in, it's not natural or healthy.
Let it work it's course but don't lose sight of what you still have around you and eventually you will feel better, remembering the good times you had, not the loss you felt in the moment.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 3, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> My friend was pronounced dead 3 hours ago, at 1PM Florida time. I'm afraid there was nothing they could do about it, or to save her
> And you're right. We knew each other for 11+ years now, and you're right, she would want me to carry on. She knew about my Adison project, and was in fact very excited about it, when I first told her (back in March) that I found the case which I've been looking for all those years. But it's not going to be easy, and I don't know if I'm strong enough to keep on going without her. She meant to me more than I  could ever put into words, and it feels as if part of me died with her, today.



Dammit brother, I'm so sorry to hear this news.   Makes me about in tears hearing this. 

I went through a very similar loss a few years ago with a dear friend that was like a true brother to me and my wife. We still talk about old memories and I think about him a lot. It was a devastating loss to us and several other friends. 

What I will say, and I did, was finish a build in his name! I still have the PC that I knew he would love and will probably never get rid of and I know I'll never forget him. 

Finish that Adison system in her name man. Cherish it and dedicate the build in her name. That is one way to have fond memories of her and every time you look at it or use it, it will bring back great memories of the time you spent together. 
It gets easier with time, as the old saying goes, but you will never forget! Try to have faith that she is looking down on you and as you said, "she would want me to carry on." 

Bless you brother and you will be in my thoughts and prayers this evening and the coming future.


----------



## F-Zero (Dec 3, 2020)

DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2RB


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 3, 2020)

F-Zero said:


> DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2RB
> 
> View attachment 177979View attachment 177980View attachment 177981View attachment 177982View attachment 177983


This is just beautiful! Wonderful board!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 3, 2020)

Radical Vision said:


> ASUS K7M Slot A board prob one of the best for that platform


The Via chipset boards are better. 
K7V kills the M model.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 4, 2020)

Continuing on my quest to put together the slowest 64-bit system. With the few benchmarks I found, Celeron D 326 (775) and Sempron 2500+ (754) seem to go neck and neck. I think I'm gonna settle on the Sempron for the slower clock speed 

Now for the video. I need to find the absolute slowest DX9 GPU...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 4, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Now for the video. I need to find the absolute slowest DX9 GPU...


FX 5200
LE 64 bit model if you can find one.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

Going to pick up some packages today 

Damn that Pentium D 925 overclocks like mad, just pushed CB15 @ 4.6GHz, 106pts


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 4, 2020)

I have a FX5200 & a s775 celery. Let me see if it fits the 64 bit bill...
I’ll report back tomorrow.

That’s awesome stuff Chloe!!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

Broke the 4.8GHz barrier


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Broke the 4.8GHz barrier
> 
> View attachment 178094


Good grief that voltage! Do you know what the temps are like?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Good grief that voltage! Do you know what the temps are like?


Nothing critical, cooled by custom loop h2o.


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Broke the 4.8GHz barrier


You’re only 200 MHz away from 5.


----------



## hat (Dec 4, 2020)

Anybody remember this cooler?







It's a Thermaltake Big Typhoon. I have one running in my secondary machine right now, but if possible, I'd like to use it in my main rig instead. But I only have the AMD mounting hardware. I would need to get it on to 1155 somehow, which if I'm not mistaken uses the same spacing as 1156, and every mainstream socket thereafter. Any ideas?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

hat said:


> I would need to get it on to 1155 somehow, which if I'm not mistaken uses the same spacing as 1156, and every mainstream socket thereafter.?


Yeah, 115x and 1200 has the same mounting system. A 1156 compatible cooler from 2009 is fine with a 1200 board bought today.


----------



## hat (Dec 4, 2020)

But, I've only got the AMD hardware for the Big Typhoon. That's the main problem.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

hat said:


> But, I've only got the AMD hardware for the Big Typhoon. That's the main problem.


The weird Chinese Frankenstein boards have adapters for that use, could something like that be a solution?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 4, 2020)

Finished rebuilding one of the nicest Arrandale 1st gen i3 machines - an Acer Aspire 5740G.




Specs:
Intel Core i3-380M 2.53GHz
ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470 512MB
4GB DDR3 (2x2GB)
500GB HGST HDD
Lite-On DVDRW
15.6" Samsung LED display
Nordic keyboard (love these ones)
various stickers for CPU, GPU, WiFi and original OS 
(CPU sticker is from a gen 2 laptop, GPU from a Turion II machine, Wi-Fi from an older Acer, and Win7 logo is printed at a shop)


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

Damn, feels like we've hit the wall at 4.8GHz, CB15 just isn't stable even with 4815MHz. I'm about on 1.69Vcore now.. 




MaxiPro800 said:


> (CPU sticker is from a gen 2 laptop, GPU from a Turion II machine, Wi-Fi from an older Acer, and Win7 logo is printed at a shop)


Would be an interesting one if it would have all those things which the stickers say it has


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 4, 2020)

hat said:


> Anybody remember this cooler? It's a Thermaltake Big Typhoon. I have one running in my secondary machine right now, but if possible, I'd like to use it in my main rig instead.


Sure do, I used it to cool my OCd Barton and then some dual cores. You can see it in this post. It wasn't enough to keep the Phenom II X4 in check, since it had very low thermal ceiling. Your Big Typhoon appears to be the updated VX revision (black grille and fan controller). It includes a more powerful fan (86.5 vs. 54.4 CFM), but the heatsink design is exactly the same. I wouldn't expect it to be able to cool your OCd 2600K. What temps do you get on that Athlon II X4 with synthetic loads?



MaxiPro800 said:


> Finished rebuilding one of the nicest Arrandale 1st gen i3 machines - an Acer Aspire 5740G.


I remember renovating a similarly spec'd HP G62, with an i3-350M and only integrated graphics. It wouldn't take 8 GB of RAM, even though HP states otherwise. With an added 256GB SSD the owner is still using it for everyday tasks and even some light Photoshop.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

Christmas came early 


GF 7800 GS:






Radeon 9550:






Radeon X1950 GT:






A freebie USB2.0 card with the 7800 GS:






Asus P5B-VM & C2D E4300:






3x1GB + 512MB DDR2 and the good ol' THICC Intel LGA775 stock cooler:






MSI K9N Neo V2 & A64 X2 3800+ & 512MB DDR2:







Got also few HDDs and PSUs but IMO they aren't worth of a pic.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Would be an interesting one if it would have all those things which the stickers say it has


Well, it technically has the stuff there. i3 380M matches the i3 sticker (after all, it doesn't state the generation   ), VISION should be the HD5470 (since I didn't have any HD5470 sticker on hand), Windows 7 is what it came with, and the Centrino sticker matches the Centrino N-1030 WLAN I have inside.



QuietBob said:


> I remember renovating a similarly spec'd HP G62, with an i3-350M and only integrated graphics. It wouldn't take 8 GB of RAM, even though HP states otherwise. With an added 256GB SSD the owner is still using it for everyday tasks and even some light Photoshop.


I have a CQ57 w/ a 350M (in fact, the 380M actually originates from that CQ57, I just had a i3-350M on hand to replace in the CQ57) though I recall that one did accept 8GB. What I'd like to find is a PM55 board for my DV7-3165el tho, I've seen one on google and these are much better cooled than the S1G3 AMD Turion II versions, as well as have RAID support (due to PM55 chipset)


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 4, 2020)

Bah I have very bad luck making retro gaming PC. Just this week the board cough up code 00 error means CPU is not detected. Buy a new CPU and still the same which means the socket is dead. Just when I thought playing GTA Vice City again


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Bah I have very bad luck making retro gaming PC. Just this week the board cough up code 00 error means CPU is not detected. Buy a new CPU and still the same which means the socket is dead. Just when I thought playing GTA Vice City again


Spent the whole night OC'ing Pentium D 925 myself. Seems just that it won't go over 4.8GHz, but I can't complain as the stock speed is 3GHz.


----------



## Caring1 (Dec 4, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> Bah I have very bad luck making retro gaming PC. Just this week the board cough up code 00 error means CPU is not detected. Buy a new CPU and still the same which means the socket is dead. Just when I thought playing GTA Vice City again


Clean the socket with contact cleaner or IPA.


----------



## madness777 (Dec 4, 2020)




----------



## hat (Dec 4, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Sure do, I used it to cool my OCd Barton and then some dual cores. You can see it in this post. It wasn't enough to keep the Phenom II X4 in check, since it had very low thermal ceiling. Your Big Typhoon appears to be the updated VX revision (black grille and fan controller). It includes a more powerful fan (86.5 vs. 54.4 CFM), but the heatsink design is exactly the same. I wouldn't expect it to be able to cool your OCd 2600K. What temps do you get on that Athlon II X4 with synthetic loads?



No idea what temps I get on that to be honest. Might be in the high 50s at most. You don't think it could handle the 2600k? I figured it would have to be better than the Cryorig M9 that's on it now. I can see temps in the high 80 s under heavy load at 4.4


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

BTW that HD 4890 Crossfire of mine generates HELLA LOT of heat even when just benching Cine R15, it's just that I have love for 4890 and Crossfire is perfect for LGA 775 build


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 4, 2020)

hat said:


> No idea what temps I get on that to be honest. Might be in the high 50s at most. You don't think it could handle the 2600k? I figured it would have to be better than the Cryorig M9 that's on it now. I can see temps in the high 80 s under heavy load at 4.4



Hard to say if it would be any better than the M9. I know them Thermatake's were a pretty hot item back in the day, but time moved on and much better coolers were made. I'd be more inclined to find a Hyper 212 than to try and find hardware for that old of a cooler.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 4, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Nothing critical, cooled by custom loop h2o.


Wait, you're using water cooling for a Pentium D? LOL! That is all sorts of funny!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wait, you're using water dooling for a Pentium D? LOL! That is all sorts of funny!


Bro, I'll test all of my LGA775 CPUs* on the P5Q Pro and with custom loop and in fact I don't have anything better as an air cooler than a stock cooler.  Pretty many tested already, that D925 has been the best this far, even though I got a P4 631 to Windows at 5GHz, that was everything but stable..  CB stable only at about 4.6GHz which was hella lower than I thought...


*except Celeron D 341 and Pentium 4 524 as the board doesn't support 533FSB CPUs


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 4, 2020)

hat said:


> No idea what temps I get on that to be honest. Might be in the high 50s at most. You don't think it could handle the 2600k? I figured it would have to be better than the Cryorig M9 that's on it now. I can see temps in the high 80 s under heavy load at 4.4


Isn't your CPU thermal throttling at this point? I'm sure you'd see even higher temperatures with the Typhoon. It's a 2005 design which wasn't meant for quads, for the simple fact they didn't exist at the time. And to be honest, that M9 wasn't meant for OCing either. I'd look elsewhere if you're trying to rein the temps.



Chloe Price said:


> BTW that HD 4890 Crossfire of mine generates HELLA LOT of heat even when just benching Cine R15, it's just that I have love for 4890 and Crossfire is perfect for LGA 775 build


3D benchmarks? When?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> 3D benchmarks? When?


Tomorrow probably, when I get to the Core2 CPUs


----------



## TheKingGamerBr (Dec 5, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Damn that Pentium D 925 overclocks like mad



Have you tried Celeron 420? 





hat said:


> Anybody remember this cooler?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Use this :


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 5, 2020)

TheKingGamerBr said:


> Have you tried Celeron 420?


I had one back in 2008, haven't had one since then.  My slowest C2D family CPU is E4300 and I have two of them. Though I haven't tested the other yet  That one which I tested, I delidded it and it OC'd to 3.48GHz CB-stable, no 100% OC on that one..


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 5, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Clean the socket with contact cleaner or IPA.


I'll try but there are few bend pins on the socket. Its a pain to straighten, or should I say, angled it back


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 5, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> I'll try but there are few bend pins on the socket. Its a pain to straighten, or should I say, angled it back


Oh crap, been there & done that. Not a nice job.


----------



## phill (Dec 5, 2020)

Well guys since everyone is posting some awesome hardware pics, I hope this is the place to share these....






 





I hope that there's something good there


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 5, 2020)

phill said:


> Well guys since everyone is posting some awesome hardware pics, I hope this is the place to share these....
> 
> View attachment 178257View attachment 178258View attachment 178259
> 
> ...


Christmas came early there too, it seems... damn :3


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 5, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> FX 5200 LE 64 bit model if you can find one.


1.0 Gpix/s seems about right for my project. Let's see if I can find something slower still  



phill said:


> I hope that there's something good there


That Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2 is Socket 754? Well that just gives me an idea. Need to check the specs.


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 5, 2020)

I found my Celeron D, it is the 3.2GHz 352.  You're looking for a slower model, correct?

That Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2 only has PCI & PCI-e, no AGP.  I'm sure you could find something to experiment with though.


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 6, 2020)

@QuietBob
Would one of the L2 cache crippled (128KB) Celeron P4 (Willamete/Northwood) run Windows 10 64-bit?



			https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Celeron/TYPE-Celeron%20(Willamette).html
		


Edit: Those Celerons are limited to 32-bit, the only ones to get 64-bit was the Prescott Celeron.



68Olds said:


> I found my Celeron D, it is the 3.2GHz 352.


That’s a Prescott Celeron, supposedly one of the most hated CPUs? I would of thought the Celeron Willamette or Northwood being L2 Cache limited was the most hated.


----------



## OrlyP (Dec 6, 2020)

How about a 12 y/o case that's still in use?

Gigabyte iSolo 210 from 2008... the Core 2 era. I built my first LGA775 here but it's now home to my Ryzen 5 3600.

It's getting a little long in the tooth but I've always been a function-over-form kind of guy. TPU ran a review of this case 13 years ago, which then led to my purchasing it a year later.

I like my case boxy with sharp corners that can maim anyone who touch it the wrong way.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 6, 2020)

68Olds said:


> I found my Celeron D, it is the 3.2GHz 352.  You're looking for a slower model, correct?


Thank you for checking it! Yes, I'm after the slowest 2.53 GHz Prescott Celeron.



biffzinker said:


> the only ones to get 64-bit was the Prescott Celeron.


Thanks for the research. As I understand, the slowest 64-bit desktop CPU from Intel was the Celeron D 326.

As for storage, this 5,400 rpm laptop HDD is the slowest I have on hand:





Minimum Win7 requirements call for 20 GB disk space. Does anybody have a small enough drive & could benchmark it for reference? I'm curious how much slower it would be


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 6, 2020)

Guess this is the right place to post these as well:



2x PS3 - CECHG04 and CECHC03
440LX Pentium II 266MHz AT build
EPox based Athlon XP build (w/ Ryzen 7 sticker  )


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 6, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> @QuietBob
> Would one of the L2 cache crippled (128KB) Celeron P4 (Willamete/Northwood) run Windows 10 64-bit?
> 
> 
> ...


This Celeron is a Cedarmill, not a Prescott.  It's on the 65nm process which is the same as gen 1 Core2 Duo.  It should overclock like mad!
I think Celeron D's problem was Intel's screwy naming.  I believe lots of people though they were getting a dual core CPU (because of the D) & were not happy once they got their Gateway, Compaq, HP, or Dell home.  The Willamette P4 & Celeron weren't around long enough to be come most hated.  Intel figured that mistake out pretty quickly. lol


----------



## phill (Dec 6, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Christmas came early there too, it seems... damn :3


I've treated myself a little too much recently but I have a few more things on the way and that's it for me...  I hope to post up some more pics when I can get everything sorted out  

I do however need to try and get a little bit of help with a few PSUs for the older kit, I don't wish to use my 850W P2 to test things if I'm going to kill hardware!!  I'd rather just check things out first and then get things if I need to rather than kill the kit...


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 6, 2020)

phill said:


> I've treated myself a little too much recently but I have a few more things on the way and that's it for me...  I hope to post up some more pics when I can get everything sorted out
> 
> I do however need to try and get a little bit of help with a few PSUs for the older kit, I don't wish to use my 850W P2 to test things if I'm going to kill hardware!!  I'd rather just check things out first and then get things if I need to rather than kill the kit...


I got a Nexus RX-8500 rev2 for 25EUR + shipping which was pretty cheap and it does its job perfectly for benchmarking.  Also I got two crappy PSUs for something older light-load usage.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 6, 2020)

68Olds said:


> I think Celeron D's problem was Intel's screwy naming.


That and the increased heat output compared to the previous gen, even though Prescott was on a smaller node. In the times when an all-copper cooler with a 60mm fan was considered high-end.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 6, 2020)

68Olds said:


> I think Celeron D's problem was Intel's screwy naming.  I believe lots of people though they were getting a dual core CPU (because of the D)


Tho they were released in 2004 as Pentium Ds came in 2005. It was more like D for desktop and M for mobile I guess.

But yeah a normal consumer probably thought exactly like you said.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 8, 2020)

A little update on my dead socket, its very weird, when the board finally detect the CPU it will run fine for a while, I could reassemble the heatsink and system back, restart, shut down and do whatever but as soon as I unplugged/turn off the wall plug the next time it boots it will give code 00 error again  

I have second mobo but that one don't have PCI slot for my Audigy 2 ZS and only one channel of its RAM working, and more unfortunate its in my parents home some 400km away


----------



## F-Zero (Dec 8, 2020)

Hey guys ! Something new in the mail today


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 8, 2020)

In my ongoing search for the slowest DX9 GPU I learned a few things. Thought I'd share some of this retro nerdiness with my fellow geeks 
Technically speaking, Win7 requires hardware support for Pixel Shader 2.0. Driver-side, it requests support for WDDM 1.0, a feature set first introduced in Vista. So, for my "Win7 min spec" project I figured I'd go for the slowest GPU in terms of pixel fillrate, with a Win7/Vista driver. Going by these criteria, here are my finds:

PCIe
NV GF 6200 LE (2005)
ATI Radeon HD 2350 (2007)
ATI Radeon X300SE (2004) - Vista driver
ATI Radeon X300SE HyperMemory (2005) - Vista driver

AGP
NV GF 6200 LE (2005)
ATI Radeon HD 2350 (2007)
ATI Radeon 9550SE (2004) - Vista driver

IGP
NV GF 6100 (2005)
NV GF 6150LE (2006)
ATI Radeon Xpress 2100 (2008)
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (2004) - Vista driver
ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 (2005) - Vista driver
Intel GMA 950 (2006)

I'll see which I can source locally 



F-Zero said:


> Hey guys ! Something new in the mail today


Tight fit with that Zalman! I dig the color scheme - now all you need is orange/amber RAM heat spreaders


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 9, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Tight fit with that Zalman! I dig the color scheme - now all you need is orange/amber RAM heat spreaders


Closest you'll get to that is a set of old school Ballistix.


----------



## Robert Bourgoin (Dec 9, 2020)

A blast from the past my Abit NFS-V2.0 with the reverse wire trick using conductive paste, still holding, home made heatsink, some good old Muskin BH-5
runs!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2020)

The MSI K9N NeoV2 & Asus P5B-VM seem to be alive. The MSI needs to have its BIOS flashed via DOS tho and I need to recheck how its done via USB stick as I can't remember.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 10, 2020)

Loaded up some BF2 on my AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and Nvidia 8800 GTX
Had to install XP SP2 than updated to SP3. To many software problems with 7
Runs smoth, I forgot how much fun this game was. Nobody online though
Took two hours to figure out a wireless problem. Do not miss how slow these were to configure


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2020)

Jetster said:


> Loaded up some BF2 on my AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and Nvidia 8800 GTX
> Had to install XP SP2 than updated to SP3. To many software problems with 7
> Runs smoth, I forgot how much fun this game was. Nobody online though
> Took two hours to figure out a wireless problem. Do not miss how slow these were to configure


I remember my friend buying BF2 only to see how his 6800 GT AGP performs when he bought the card in 2005.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 10, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> I remember my friend buying BF2 only to see how his 6800 GT AGP performs when he bought the card in 2005.


I had that card. Loved it

I remember my first real gaming card. I went from a FX5200 to a Nvidia 6600GT


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 12, 2020)

Put a temporary HTPC together from junk parts.






Xeon X3230 (similar to Q6700), Asus P5QL Pro, 6GB DDR2-800, Radeon HD 6870, USB3.0 card, 120GB SSD + 4 HDDs, DVD-ROM


----------



## hat (Dec 12, 2020)

Jetster said:


> Nobody online though



That's because Gamespy? or whatever service ran the master server is dead. 









						Battlefield | Forum | EA Answers HQ | EN
					

Check out the Answers HQ community forums for the Battlefield franchise.




					forums.battlefield.com
				




Try the links harry0ld mentioned. Unfortunately, something strange has happened to the linked Battlelog site. Seems to be a place to find cheats for games now, or possibly a giant scam.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 13, 2020)

Ladies and gentlemen! In the main event tonight, the match for the title of the slowest 64-bit CPU!
In the blue corner, weighing in at 2.53 GHz, the mighty Intel Celeron D 326:

And in the red corner, weighing in at 1.4 GHz, the stout AMD Sempron 2500+:

In the undercard, the match for the title of the slowest DX9 GPU!
In the green corner, with a reach of 0.85 Gpix/s, the nimble Nvidia GeForce 6100 IGP:

And in the ruby corner, with a reach of 0.6 Gpix/s, the fleet ATI Radeon Xpress 200 IGP:

This is gonna be fun 
EDIT: Colored the contenders, duh.



Robert Bourgoin said:


> my Abit NFS-V2.0 with the home made heatsink


I see what you did there 




Jetster said:


> Runs smoth, I forgot how much fun this game was. Nobody online though


Have you tried BF2Hub?


----------



## Jetster (Dec 13, 2020)




----------



## 68Olds (Dec 13, 2020)

Bob, please time your builds from power on to usable desktop.  That should be fun to see.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 14, 2020)

The red-green tag team looking strong! 



Now, which benchmarks should I use?

@Jetster Yeah, but can it run... Wait. Hey! 



68Olds said:


> Bob, please time your builds from power on to usable desktop


Will do  I'm still looking for a 20 GB 5,400 rpm drive, but they're kinda hard to come by. Using one would probably extend boot times by a stretch. For now I'm using the slowest laptop drive I had on hand.


----------



## ThrashZone (Dec 14, 2020)

Hi,
Yeah my old faithful 12 y.o. dual core gateway m-series laptop would be funny not sure what it shows core 2 and threads 2 or 4 ?
Yep core 2 threads 2 lol
I always get a kick out of looking at my q9550 showing core 4 threads 4 lol


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 14, 2020)

*GeForce 6800 LE 128MB*





Now I need to see how many pipelines it can re-enable correctly
would already be happy with with 12 / 5 / 12!


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Dec 14, 2020)

I take a look at this thread to remind myself the good old days of 90s and 2000s. Things seems so much fun and simpler.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 15, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> *GeForce 6800 LE 128MB*
> 
> Now I need to see how many pipelines it can re-enable correctly
> would already be happy with with 12 / 5 / 12!


So pretty! I used to have Gainward 6800LE fully unlocked 16 pipes, ah the good old days....Had to RMA because its dead prematurely, and the replacement card also unlock 16 pipes


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 15, 2020)

Apocalypsee said:


> So pretty! I used to have Gainward 6800LE fully unlocked 16 pipes, ah the good old days....Had to RMA because its dead prematurely, and the replacement card also unlock 16 pipes



Do you remember how much you were able to clock the RAM and what was the rated speed of the modules? Mine seems to have 2.2ns modules, (454MHz), looks too good to be true, no?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 15, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> Do you remember how much you were able to clock the RAM and what was the rated speed of the modules? Mine seems to have 2.2ns modules, (454MHz), looks too good to be true, no?


I can't remember, I'll try to find any screenshots if any but so far nothing. The only I remember it was 2.2ns too


----------



## Fouquin (Dec 16, 2020)

Been saving chips from gold scrap lots recently. One of my favorites is this 3.4GHz Northwood P4.

Arrived in pretty terrible condition, but no broken pins.



Got the pins straightened out, got it into a board and was having all kinds of issues. I had just picked up a Thermalright XC-90 and didn't realize the massive socket pressure that cooler imparts was causing the system to wig out.

So I delid the 3.4 (and a sacrificial 2.4 C0 for comparison because I was uncertain if the 3.4 was a remarked Gallatin core due to the 30-cap package.)



Overall after delid, cleanup, a small bit of foam relief around the core, and a copper shim to keep a little bit of socket pressure, she works like a charm. Will definitely drop back to 3.9GHz for this config where it's happy at 1.65v, but I wanted to see where it went with 1.7v and if it'd pass all the tests (it did!)









						Intel Pentium 4 @ 3978.52 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[wnfuzj] Validated Dump by Fouquin (2020-12-16 11:56:58) - MB: Asus P4P800-E - RAM: 2048 MB




					valid.x86.fr


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 16, 2020)

Officially presenting the (almost) slowest AMD desktop capable of running 64-bit Win7 with Aero Glass UI 
In line with the official minimum specs, sporting the weakest 64-bit CPU, the weakest integrated graphics with DX9 support from NVidia, and 2 GB single channel DDR1 memory at 133 MHz:



The IGP is evidently the weakest component here. GPU-Z seems to misreport its bus width, and consequently the memory bandwidth - should be 64-bit at 2.1 GB/s.
The mainboard won't let me pick a lower RAM clock. I'm not even sure if there were any s754 ones supporting 100 MHz DDR1.

The build is currently running off a 120 GB 5,400 rpm SATA laptop drive. Just how long did this monster take to install the system from a pendrive? 



This was using a fully updated ISO, save for about a dozen extra updates. The actual installation time was a bit shorter, maybe by 10 minutes? I was being busy with other things, so I didn't immediately respond to all the prompts. In spite of the above warning, I should be picking a 20 GB 5,400 rpm EIDE HDD next week, for an even slower experience 



Fouquin said:


> Been saving chips from gold scrap lots recently. One of my favorites is this 3.4GHz Northwood P4.


The fastest Northwood, nice find! You did an awesome job straightening those pins 



Fouquin said:


> No Athlon 64 1500+?


Wasn't planning a server build


----------



## Jetster (Dec 16, 2020)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I take a look at this thread to remind myself the good old days of 90s and 2000s. Things seems so much fun and simpler.



And boot times were way longer, IRQ conflicts, and dip switch settings


----------



## Fouquin (Dec 16, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> sporting the weakest 64-bit CPU



No Athlon 64 1500+? 



QuietBob said:


> The fastest Northwood, nice find! You did an awesome job straightening those pins



Thanks! It's a lovely chip. There wasn't much else to save in the lot it came in, so I'm glad I could get something.


----------



## Valantar (Dec 17, 2020)

Jetster said:


>


Have to love how this thread is now being used to cover games (and hardware for running those games) that were barely two years old when the thread was started


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 17, 2020)

Valantar said:


> Have to love how this thread is now being used to cover games (and hardware for running those games) that were barely two years old when the thread was started


Right? 421pages later...


----------



## Valantar (Dec 17, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Right? 421pages later...


And 10515 posts (well, 10516 with this one). That's 2.595 posts _every single day_ for the 4052 days this thread has been in existence. Probably not that evenly spread, but still...


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 17, 2020)

Some CPU benchmarks for your inner nerd  R20 took sweet 3 hours and 15 mins. More to come:




68Olds said:


> Bob, please time your builds from power on to usable desktop.


Currently at 1'45". Fully updated Win7 with MSE.



Jetster said:


> And boot times were way longer, IRQ conflicts, and dip switch settings


Party pooper


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 18, 2020)

I am surprised at that boot time, it's much faster than I expected.  The 2Gb minimum is better than the Vista 'claimed' minimum, which was only 512Mb.  Had a friend's Vista notebook that took 8 minutes to desktop (512Mb). lol  I put 2Gb in it for him & boot time came close to your min spec's time.


----------



## Valantar (Dec 18, 2020)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I take a look at this thread to remind myself the good old days of 90s and 2000s. Things seems so much fun and simpler.


Fun? Definitely. But I don't know about simpler.... These days you can reasonably build a PC including the OS install in maybe an hour, and it'll come with essentially every driver you need and "just work". I definitely don't miss the days of installing DOS to install a CD ROM driver to Install Windows to spend hours installing drivers. Oh, and then there's stability.

Don't get me wrong, I love 90s and early 2000s computing, but there wasn't much simplicity involved.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Dec 18, 2020)

Jetster said:


> And boot times were way longer, IRQ conflicts, and dip switch settings





Valantar said:


> Fun? Definitely. But I don't know about simpler.... These days you can reasonably build a PC including the OS install in maybe an hour, and it'll come with essentially every driver you need and "just work". I definitely don't miss the days of installing DOS to install a CD ROM driver to Install Windows to spend hours installing drivers. Oh, and then there's stability.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I love 90s and early 2000s computing, but there wasn't much simplicity involved.




Those are true. I know I might look at the past with rose tinted glasses as I made that comment I was also talking about how I felt about the world then such how the internet is actually a smaller place and social media have not fully grown as massive as it as now. It is those presocial media times I missed, there is distinct separation of the internet and real life unlike today where I am pretty much tied to phone and net 24/7. Unlike then where I have to get home get to sit in front of my fat crt screen, log in the net with 56kbps until I was lucky enough to have a dsl internet and just read those rather rudimentary tech website versus today with mostly text and a few images.  I can log into IRC or Msn chat to talk with my friends or like minded people then and when I am done I am disconnected from the internet.  As much as I love technology, I just feel rather exhausted and unhappy getting to connected with social media nowadays and there is no escaping as my peers only communicate with whatapp.

Yeah the old day is rather highly inconvenient with those master slave settings for hdd, driver install by floppy and jumper setting for motherboard and cards, crappy internet speeds and etc. I would not want to those much now but given with standards for those days in my eyes then I was rather contented and had fun learning new things despite how much more rudimentary hardware was then. Had fun exploring tech like zipdrive, microdrive and mp3 players. Things feels like worlds apart now compared to then. I remember taking the train without people staring at phones, now phones everywhere. The tech and idealist me is actually happy to see how high tech things like that is now in everybody hands though. Personally it drains me, so sometimes I just took a walk without my phone or with it off. Any this just my random mind ramblings.  I do hope good hardware and software remains archieve for people to remember how thing progress and changed.


----------



## Valantar (Dec 18, 2020)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Those are true. I know I might look at the past with rose tinted glasses as I made that comment I was also talking about how I felt about the world then such how the internet is actually a smaller place and social media have not fully grown as massive as it as now. It is those presocial media times I missed, there is distinct separation of the internet and real life unlike today where I am pretty much tied to phone and net 24/7. Unlike then where I have to get home get to sit in front of my fat crt screen, log in the net with 56kbps until I was lucky enough to have a dsl internet and just read those rather rudimentary tech website versus today with mostly text and a few images.  I can log into IRC or Msn chat to talk with my friends or like minded people then and when I am done I am disconnected from the internet.  As much as I love technology, I just feel rather exhausted and unhappy getting to connected with social media nowadays and there is no escaping as my peers only communicate with whatapp.
> 
> Yeah the old day is rather highly inconvenient with those master slave settings for hdd, driver install by floppy and jumper setting for motherboard and cards, crappy internet speeds and etc. I would not want to those much now but given with standards for those days in my eyes then I was rather contented and had fun learning new things despite how much more rudimentary hardware was then. Had fun exploring tech like zipdrive, microdrive and mp3 players. Things feels like worlds apart now compared to then. I remember taking the train without people staring at phones, now phones everywhere. The tech and idealist me is actually happy to see how high tech things like that is now in everybody hands though. Personally it drains me, so sometimes I just took a walk without my phone or with it off. Any this just my random mind ramblings.  I do hope good hardware and software remains archieve for people to remember how thing progress and changed.


Oh, I definitely see that. And I do agree that it can be seen as a sort of simplicity, not simplicity of operations, but simplicity of capability and usage. To me it's a bit akin to the idea of those "e-ink typewriters" that some writers use to avoid distractions and focus on one thing, as typing is literally all they can do. The sheer overwhelming capability of modern computers and their ubiquity (including smartphones, of course) does make for a very overwhelming and confusing world in many ways. But that's the nature of all technology; as it enhances some of our capabilities or affords us new ones, others are simultaneously reduced. Just like holding an axe makes cutting down trees a lot easier, but makes handshakes or brushing your hair rather difficult, having always-on, always-there, always-connected computers enables communication and data sharing on a scale never before dreamt of, but also reduces a lot of our ability to step back, focus and relax. There's always a trade-off, and as a (global) society we have yet to acclimate to these new gizmos sufficiently to really figure out just how much of their capabilities we are actually comfortable with long-term.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 18, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Some CPU benchmarks for your inner nerd  R20 took sweet 3 hours and 15 mins. More to come:
> View attachment 179968View attachment 179969View attachment 179970View attachment 179971View attachment 179972
> 
> 
> ...


You should find the following interesting!









A Pentium 4 matched up with 16GB DDR3 RAM and an RX580 8GB running Windows 10? Seriously Phil? 

"Gaming performance was quite bad...." PhilsComputerLabs Dec2020, understatement of the year!!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 19, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> You should find the following interesting!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Pentium 4 was good for game and operating system of its era. If you put it on modern operating system and games its going to fail HARD. I still remember moving from s478 Pentium 4 2GHz Northwood core that's being overclocked to 3GHz to bottom-of-barrel Sempron 2500+ Palermo core s754 with measly 1.4GHz clock and beats it in EVERYTHING; 3DMark, PCmark, whatever CPU benchies I can throw at. That's how bad it really was.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 19, 2020)

I see and increasing amount of contents regarding new OS/Games running on old hardware which all have the same (and easily predictable) outcome.
Personally I don't like them and also don't understand the fun, but I guess for some audience they are interesting, maybe for nowadays teenagers?

I'm curious about others opinion here, what do you think?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 19, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> I see and increasing amount of contents regarding new OS/Games running on old hardware which all have the same (and easily predictable) outcome.
> Personally I don't like them and also don't understand the fun, but I guess for some audience they are interesting, maybe for nowadays teenagers?
> 
> I'm curious about others opinion here, what do you think?


Don't like them either. I would run period correct OS for the hardware intended. Perhaps its just for testing, some people are curious so it could generate views on YouTube. Same goes running old OS on new platform (XP on Ryzen, DOS on Ryzen etc.) for me I don't find it interesting.


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 19, 2020)

I wonder how it compares to the current Atom, or Raspberry Pi "CPUs"?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 19, 2020)

Retrorockit said:


> I wonder how it compares to the current Atom, or Raspberry Pi "CPUs"?


That's a very interesting thought!


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 19, 2020)

Maybe a benchmark that scores in how many Razz it deserves.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 19, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> I see and increasing amount of contents regarding new OS/Games running on old hardware which all have the same (and easily predictable) outcome.
> Personally I don't like them and also don't understand the fun, but I guess for some audience they are interesting, maybe for nowadays teenagers?
> 
> I'm curious about others opinion here, what do you think?


Was thinking about this very thing myself a while back. Does not appeal to me but could see how some would be interested. To me nostalgia is running the very same old hardware and software that I've owned since they were new. Sure I could buy the games on Steam again and run in Win10. What fun is that? And why should I have to?

Speaking of ... Half Life 2. Would love to run it on my newly built A64 3850 AGP system but it requires Steam which does not support WinXP anymore. Only found that out *after* installing all six CDs. Remember thinking to myself back in 2004 how screwy it was needing to run an online app just to play. Hoped it did not become a trend. Fast forward to now we don't even get physical copies of games and have to deal with a myriad of launchers.

So my question is ... there a way to hack HL2 at install to eliminate Steam altogether?


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 19, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Was thinking about this very thing myself a while back. Does not appeal to me but could see how some would be interested. To me nostalgia is running the very same old hardware and software that I've owned since they were new. Sure I could buy the games on Steam again and run in Win10. What fun is that? And why should I have to?
> 
> Speaking of ... Half Life 2. Would love to run it on my newly built A64 3850 AGP system but it requires Steam which does not support WinXP anymore. Only found that out *after* installing all six CDs. Remember thinking to myself back in 2004 how screwy it was needing to run an online app just to play. Hoped it did not become a trend. Fast forward to now we don't even get physical copies of games and have to deal with a myriad of launchers. So my question is ... there a way to hack HL2 at install to eliminate Steam?


Found this at Vogons. Worth a try?





						How to install and run vanilla Half-Life 2 without Steam \ 									VOGONS
					






					www.vogons.org


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 19, 2020)

I did not tried myself but HL2 should be one of those games that can run simply copying the game folder from a PC where you have installed it with steam to another one where you don't have steam/internet

Here is a steam DRM-free list of games and some more info: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_DRM-Free_Games_on_Steam


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 19, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Speaking of ... Half Life 2. Would love to run it on my newly built A64 3850 AGP system but it requires Steam which does not support WinXP anymore.


Half Life 2 and its expansions are all DRM free on Steam. Download them on a PC that runs Steam, then find & copy the game folder over to the XP PC and run the EXE directly. You'll be fine!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 19, 2020)

Thats interesting, I never know that some games on Steam are DRM free. Thought they put something on DRM free games so it will require Steam to run them. Guess I was wrong.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 19, 2020)

Thank you thank you.  Do have HL2 and several expansions on a Win10 machine and will try it later. In mean time back to fighting Strogg in Quake2 on the Win98 machine.

mobo - Abit kr7a
gpu - voodoo4
cpu - Palomino 1900+
hdd - IBM deskstar 40gb
ram - 1x512mb DDR TwinMOS pc3200 w/bh5
os - Win98se unofficial sp3
psu - Fortron fsp 300w
optical - Plextor px-w4824ta
sound - Creative sound blaster live CT4830
speakers - Creative Inspire 2.1 2500
monitor - Dell 1905fp
cooler - CoolerMaster X Dream 2
cables - messy
fun - yes


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 20, 2020)

More CPU benchmarks from an older version of AIDA:





68Olds said:


> I am surprised at that boot time, it's much faster than I expected.


Yeah, me too. I'm quite surprised with how well this system copes in general, given its age and purposely weak components. I was expecting something utterly sluggish and unusable. Yet, this config is somewhat serviceable. It doesn't feel responsive, but other than longish load times it seems fairly functional. MS own Edge takes 69" to start to a blank page. It's slow as molasses and often freezes when loading a site. But Waterfox starts in 47" and feels adequate in basic web browsing. YT, however, is a no-go, maxing out the CPU even at 144p  



lexluthermiester said:


> A Pentium 4 matched up with 16GB DDR3 RAM and an RX580 8GB running Windows 10?


Two-threaded CPU at 3.2 GHz, with dual channel memory and an SSD??? Too rich for my blood 



Apocalypsee said:


> I still remember moving from s478 Pentium 4 2GHz Northwood core that's being overclocked to 3GHz to bottom-of-barrel Sempron 2500+ Palermo core s754 with measly 1.4GHz clock and beats it in EVERYTHING;


Wow, that Sempron is exactly the same as the one I'm testing now  Hoping to pit it against the slowest Celeron D at 2.53 GHz.



Susquehannock said:


> In mean time back to fighting Strogg in Quake2 on the Win98 machine.


I spy quad damage boosted by an unorthodox quad speaker setup!


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 20, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> I spy quad damage boosted by an unorthodox quad speaker setup!


To be honest the beige speakers are not hooked up right now and acting as speaker stands for a bit of nostagilia. They sound rather tinny compared to the black Creatives.  Adds some nice depth to that double shot gun in Quake 2 with the sub-woofer at my feet.


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 20, 2020)

My PC (FX8320) six years ago and I remember how chuffed I was at getting an HD7950 and remarking on how big it was, but before I got my hands on my first SSD.


----------



## erek (Dec 20, 2020)

Splinterdog said:


> My PC (FX8320) six years ago and I remember how chuffed I was at getting an HD7950 and remarking on how big it was, but before I got my hands on my first SSD.
> View attachment 180334











						Adlib Gold 1000 Sound Card Super Rare Collectors soundcard internal vintage  | eBay
					

Zustand: "Gebraucht". Ist ein eher ein Sammlerstück, eine der ersten Soundkarten für den PC. Ich biete hier das damalige "Premium Modell" AdLib Gold 1000.



					www.ebay.com
				












						AdLib Visual Composer MIDI Supplement IBM PC DOS Ad Lib Inc 1988 Vintage   | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AdLib Visual Composer MIDI Supplement IBM PC DOS Ad Lib Inc 1988 Vintage  at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 21, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> *GeForce 6800 LE 128MB*


You won't beat my 6100, nyah-nyah! 







phill said:


> For anyone able to run 3D Mark 99 Max, is there a setting or a few tweaks to get it running??


I used 98/ME compatibility mode, but this was on 7. Would have to get my XP build from the closet to check it.


----------



## phill (Dec 21, 2020)

For anyone able to run 3D Mark 99 Max, is there a setting or a few tweaks to get it running??  I've tried it in Windows XP and it's not working for some reason, but I've no idea...  Tried compatibility mode but it just loads the process and then stop...  Doesn't work at all....

Anyone have any ideas?


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 21, 2020)

phill said:


> For anyone able to run 3D Mark 99 Max, is there a setting or a few tweaks to get it running??  I've tried it in Windows XP and it's not working for some reason, but I've no idea...  Tried compatibility mode but it just loads the process and then stop...  Doesn't work at all....
> 
> Anyone have any ideas?


Nope, can't seem to run 3DMark99 Max on my XP build either. If anyone able to I would like to know as well.


----------



## Bungz (Dec 21, 2020)

The steam thing is absolute BS., found out about that a few weeks ago.
I found a redistributed pack of them all, as I had all the bloody original disks on my desk didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong!

On a mad onion note I have all the results browsers for 99 2001 and 2001se, maybe a good set to up load and stick on the front page if anyone uses them? Futuremark do not host them.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 21, 2020)

3D Mark 99 Max. Been a very long time. Seem to remember a patch to help run on XP?  Just downloaded and ran some benches on the system listed above. Armageddon segments in the Demo mode. Nostalgia to the Max (pun intended).


----------



## Jetster (Dec 21, 2020)

Ill try it


----------



## phill (Dec 21, 2020)

It must be down to Voodoo.... 

I see it's being run on Windows 7 64 and XP so I'd love to know what I need to do to get it running    After all this is a nostalgic hardware thread we must have the benchmarks to run with it!!


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 21, 2020)

phill said:


> It must be down to Voodoo....


The only Voodoo I know of is 3DFX.

There's this thread over at vogons.





						3D Mark 99 Max & 2001 SE Startup Hang Patch \ 									VOGONS
					






					www.vogons.org


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 21, 2020)

phill said:


> For anyone able to run 3D Mark 99 Max, is there a setting or a few tweaks to get it running??  I've tried it in Windows XP and it's not working for some reason, but I've no idea...  Tried compatibility mode but it just loads the process and then stop...  Doesn't work at all....
> 
> Anyone have any ideas?


I'll link you to my OneDrive. 3D99 with fix is there. Extract the file and then move the DDRAW.dll to the main folder.









						3DMark99max_fix.zip
					

Compressed (zipped) Folder



					1drv.ms


----------



## debs3759 (Dec 21, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> I'll link you to my OneDrive. 3D99 with fix is there. Extract the file and then move the DDRAW.dll to the main folder.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Is that needed for all XP and later Windows installs?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 21, 2020)

At least XP. I never run 3D99 on a newer OS than that.


----------



## debs3759 (Dec 22, 2020)

Thanks. Have added the fix to my 3DMark toolkit.


----------



## phill (Dec 23, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> I'll link you to my OneDrive. 3D99 with fix is there. Extract the file and then move the DDRAW.dll to the main folder.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Has anyone told you what a wonderful man you are sir?!   I'll give this a go and see... I've Windows XP, 7 and 10 going on at the moment on a few rigs, so it'll be great to see the old benchmarks again..  God they are so much better than they where!!


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 23, 2020)

*ATi Radeon 9000 Pro*








*ASUS V8460 ULTRA DELUXE / GeForce4 Ti 4600*







*intel Pentium 233 MMX*







*Corsair XMS 3500 C2 433MHz w/ Winbond BH-5*







*ASUS P2B-DS w/ Dual Pentium III 600MHz*


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 24, 2020)

VoodooFX, I'm sure you've heard it before, but you have some really nice camera skillz.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 24, 2020)

68Olds said:


> VoodooFX, I'm sure you've heard it before, but you have some really nice camera skillz.



hehe thanks! I'm just a beginner but I'm glad you appreciate the results


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 24, 2020)

Gaming on (probably) the slowest DX9 integrated graphics with the slowest 64-bit AMD desktop CPU 
The GF6100 was set to run at 200 MHz (DDR1) and use 128 MB of dedicated memory - the highest possible combination on this platform. All screenshots were taken at the lowest in-game resolution and detail settings:



Bonus 



*Christmas Challenge*
Identify all the games 

*Happy Holidays everybody!*


----------



## Apocalypsee (Dec 25, 2020)

Mr.Scott said:


> I'll link you to my OneDrive. 3D99 with fix is there. Extract the file and then move the DDRAW.dll to the main folder.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Im having problem downloading this, can anyone upload it somewhere else like on TPU? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Nvm my phone can download it fine but my desktop can't. Weird


----------



## Robert B (Dec 25, 2020)

Futuremark Legacy Benchmarks
					

Download legacy versions of 3DMark, PCMark, and other Futuremark benchmarks for free.




					benchmarks.ul.com


----------



## F-Zero (Dec 26, 2020)

So I finally got around to build a PC with my DFI board. I had luck and found some DFI UV cable sleeves. Now only to find a GTX 280 ( HD 6870 installed temporarily )


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 26, 2020)

All this XP talk. No Win98 love?  Away for holiday and when back home will run some more 99max benchmarks to go along with what I posted above. Have more games to install as well. Rather like how the system (post #10,534) turned out. Has to be my fastest booting rig here. Even with the extra Win98 Resource kit boot screen. Short time from on button to frags.


----------



## The Foldinator (Dec 26, 2020)

F-Zero said:


> So I finally got around to build a PC with my DFI board. I had luck and found some DFI UV cable sleeves. Now only to find a GTX 280 ( HD 6870 installed temporarily )
> 
> View attachment 181108View attachment 181109View attachment 181110View attachment 181111


 LanParty FTW.. i wish i still had mine ...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 26, 2020)

Have got this as a early Christmas present (he was in a rush to leave for vacation) from a friend I worked with several years ago. It's an ASUS X52JC, sporting a i5 430M and a Geforce GT310M 1GB, a 500GB Hitachi HDD out of an HP (evidenced by a HPN string printed ln it), 6GB of DDR3 RAM (came with 4GB ASint), all running Windows 10 Enterprise N 20H1 UEFI.

















P.S: I'm not promoting TPB or piracy


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 26, 2020)

Oh my God, the aliens are invading!!!!!!!!!!!



Spoiler: Alien Invasion


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 26, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Oh my God, the aliens are invading!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What's the plan? Are you collecting them?


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 26, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> What's the plan? Are you collecting them?



No, not really. 2 of them I've had for quite awhile. The one on the far left and the center one. The one on the far right, an Aurora, my boss just gave to me a couple of weeks ago. Had the liquid cooler in it but it had sat so long it wouldn't work. Had to put a Hyper 212 EVO in it and ram. Works like a champ though. 
Installed a 12 gig triple channel kit and tossed Windows 7 on it. Frigging thing flies. LOL


----------



## F-Zero (Dec 26, 2020)

@stinger608 I really love that silver one !


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 26, 2020)

F-Zero said:


> @stinger608 I really love that silver one !



That's one of the Alienware with the EVGA 790i Ultra SLI socket 775 that uses DDR3. Frigging awesome ole Alienware!!!


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 26, 2020)

Learned something while tinkering with my Win7 min spec machine. With an IGP, MS states 64 MB VRAM as the official minimum for Aero Glass UI. Since the BIOS allows me to limit the graphics memory even more, I thought - what if...
I can confirm now that Aero Glass can be used with only 32 MB of VRAM. But would it run on 16? 



Amazingly, yes. Though only at the lowest desktop resolution of 800x600  The Windows Experience Index still needs 32 MB to complete.



Susquehannock said:


> when back home will run some more 99max benchmarks to go along with what I posted above. Have more games to install as well.


I'd love to see some detailed results. Your Voodoo 4 4500 scored roughly 50% higher than my GF6100 IGP (at full tilt) - even though theoretically it should be slower. Our CPUs are a close match, it would be really interesting to compare.



MaxiPro800 said:


> It's an ASUS X52JC, sporting a i5 430M and a Geforce GT310M 1GB, a 500GB Hitachi HDD, 6GB of DDR3 RAM (came with 4GB ASint), all running Windows 10 Enterprise N 20H1 UEFI.


That's a capable PC already. Planning any more upgrades?



stinger608 said:


> Installed a 12 gig triple channel kit and tossed Windows 7 on it. Frigging thing flies.


Bench it man!


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 26, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> Bench it man!



I sure should LOL
It came with an i7-975!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 27, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> I sure should LOL
> It came with an i7-975!


I would start with a run at my R15 score.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 27, 2020)

Holy crap @Mr.Scott , you got that CPU up to 4.3GHz!!!!! Wow!!!


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 27, 2020)

@stinger608
Overclock challenge?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 27, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Holy crap @Mr.Scott , you got that CPU up to 4.3GHz!!!!! Wow!!!


On Air.
Board is Asus P6T7 WS SC. It is my goto single socket 1366 board.





						P6T7 WS SuperComputer - Support
					






					www.asus.com
				






biffzinker said:


> @stinger608
> Overclock challenge?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 27, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> All this XP talk. No Win98 love?


This is generally because there is very little that ran on 95/98/ME that would not also run perfectly on XP.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 27, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> I'd love to see some detailed results. Your Voodoo 4 4500 scored roughly 50% higher than my GF6100 IGP (at full tilt) - even though theoretically it should be slower. Our CPUs are a close match, it would be really interesting to compare.


Any particular benches and settings you would like me to run? Always fun to do some comparing. 





lexluthermiester said:


> This is generally because there is very little that ran on 95/98/ME that would not also run perfectly on XP.


Indeed. Nice bit of nostalgia for me revisiting Win98 since it's what I cut my teeth on first learning computers. Plus I am running many older arcade style games of the era which don't seem to jive well with XP.


----------



## micropage7 (Dec 27, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> *ATi Radeon 9000 Pro*
> 
> View attachment 180782
> 
> ...


i love the purple/blue glow effect on the background, and nice stuff too


----------



## TOMCAT (Dec 27, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Oh my God, the aliens are invading!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Attention, must confirm they are hiding everywere.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 27, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> This is generally because there is very little that ran on 95/98/ME that would not also run perfectly on XP.


I respectfully disagree with this statement. No offense meant, of course 
I can tell you from personal experience that there are PLENTY of games which could run on W9x/ME, but NOT under W2k, and/or XP. Some of the legendary Lucas Arts games for example, not to mention tons of other ones. Those which did & could, had various bugs & problems, which often required official (or 3rd party) patches & fixes to address the issue.

And yes, I'm kinda back... Lots of changes on my end, and most of them are for the worse. Emotions aside, when you think that things couldn't possibly get any worse ... a family member very close to me ended up at the hospital on Christmas Eve, and is still at the ICU, although (hopefully) no longer in life-concerning danger. As for my computer collection, I sold & gave most of them away. We are talking approx. 15-20 machines (sold AND donated, depending on what they had to offer) Still got 3 or 4 of them to sell, but after that I'm hoping to concentrate & focus on finishing that Adison project once & for all. However, considering the current state of things & emotional mess, this will have to wait for at least late January, early February.

From what I can remember at this point, the list includes the following systems:

AMD Duron 750 with Epox EP-8KTA2 board
AMD Duron 950 with Asus A7A266 board
AMD Duron 1200 with Matsonic MS8247C board
AMD Sempron (??) with one of those famous ASRock Upgrade boards, S754
AMD AthlonXP 2400+ with MSI MS-6712 board
Intel Pentium II 350 with iWill BD-100 board
Intel Pentium II 350 with FIC VB-601 board
Intel Pentium III 450 with Abit BE6-II board
Intel Pentium III 500 with QDI Advance board
Intel Pentium III 600 with another Abit BE6-II board
Intel Pentium III 933 with Epox board (can't remember the exact model, EP-3PTA maybe?)
Yet another, the same Pentium III 933 with the same Epox EP-3PTA board as above...
Intel Pentium 4, 2.00GHz with Asus P4S533-X board
Intel Pentium MMX 233 with (unknown?) Socket 7 board

Not including the previously donated, given systems ... Celeron 433 with DFI board, Pentium 3 866 with Asus CUSL2-C, Athlon 1000 with SL-75KAV Soltek board & couple of other systems, I honestly lost the track of what & how much I gave away recently. Plus a whole box of spare parts ... not that I don't have anything left, mind you.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 27, 2020)

Thing is that Windows XP era lasted from 2001 to... well for most people up to Windows7 which has been released in 2009
Windows 98 era lasted from 1998 to early XP era, would say that most people moved to XP in 2002, maybe with dual boot to keep the compatibility with older games/apps

Also, the XP era brought the computer and Internet access to the masses, so the volume of hardware (and software) stuff that came out was vastly higher
For all this reasons is much more common to have hardware and memories related to the XP era, although I have to say that for me the most precious ones are from Win98 times 

In my opinion, of course


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 28, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Win98 .... hooray for SE and addition of the back button. Was pretty sweet.
> 
> Then this happened. Noticed we skipped right over it. Better or worse than Vista?
> 
> View attachment 181289


I upgraded from Win98 SE to Windows Me then Windows XP Home Edition skipped Windows Vista after trying it a couple of times for Windows 7.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 28, 2020)

Win98 .... hooray for SE and addition of the back button. Was pretty sweet.

Then this happened. Noticed we skipped right over it. Better or worse than Vista?


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 28, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Better or worse than Vista?


I would have to say neither. Flaky hardware was more likely to blame. I did a in place upgrade from 98 to Me without any trouble.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 28, 2020)

Trekkie4 said:


> I respectfully disagree with this statement. No offense meant, of course


None taken.


Trekkie4 said:


> I can tell you from personal experience that there are PLENTY of games which could run on W9x/ME, but NOT under W2k, and/or XP.


Oh of course. My point was that *most* games from the 9X era will run fine on XP. There are some that do not, that's to be expected, but compatibility factors for 9X software on XP was a huge concern for Microsoft BITD and they delivered.


Susquehannock said:


> Win98 .... hooray for SE and addition of the back button. Was pretty sweet.
> 
> Then this happened. Noticed we skipped right over it. Better or worse than Vista?
> 
> View attachment 181293


Hey now... WinME, when properly configured, ran great and was easily more stable than 95 or 98. Problem was, it needed to be properly config'd as the OOB default experience was less than optimal.


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 28, 2020)

I’ve got to agree with Lex on WinME. I had a list of reg edits & other tweaks that made ME run really good. I had a WinME install running on a rig for 3+ years & for the most part it was fine. I had the occasional run in with freeware antivirus run amuck, but otherwise ran all sorts of games without issue. It was an antivirus that made me retire that machine.  Instead of just renewing the definition service, I opted to upgrade to the latest version. After that, all the PC could do was literally freaking run Norton. Not exactly WinME’s fault.

Vista has a similar bad rap, which was mostly due to not having enough RAM. The official minimum was 512mb, but the real world minimum was 2gb. I ran Vista on a 3.2ghz northwood with 4x512mb of ddr1-400 & it worked very good for me.

Edit: I do like that t-shirt though, Susquehannok. Funny stuff.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 28, 2020)

68Olds said:


> Vista has a similar bad rap, which was mostly due to not having enough RAM. The official minimum was 512mb, but the real world minimum was 2gb. I ran Vista on a 3.2ghz northwood with 4x512mb of ddr1-400 & it worked very good for me.


Vista SP2 runs on a similar level as Win7 and was a real joy to use. However, even with 4GB system RAM the release version of Vista was problematic. SP1 fixed things up quite a bit.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 28, 2020)

Couldn't resist testing some more games. I was curious to see how they'd run on an IGP with severely limited VRAM. This time the GF6100's memory was set to the slowest 133 MHz (64-bit DDR1). As before, all screenies with the lowest settings. Still plenty of fun to be had with only 16 MB 



As an afterthought, all this time fiddling with Win7 it didn't occur to me that I was dealing with a retro/legacy operating system. I find it hard to believe that Win7 is nearly 12 years old at this point and officially unsupported 



Mr.Scott said:


> I would start with a run at my R15 score.


Same score as an FX running at an equal clock. Quite impressive of Nehelem, considering the architecture was three years older.



Susquehannock said:


> Any particular benches and settings you would like me to run?


The more the merrier! Would definitely like to see detailed results from 99 max as I got the figures. We could also try some games.



Trekkie4 said:


> As for my computer collection, I sold & gave most of them away. We are talking approx. 15-20 machines


That's mighty generous of you Good to see those oldtimers will still receive some TLC.

@ThrashZone - that ESU hack you mentioned in the other thread works for me, no issues. Thank you so much for bringing it up!


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 28, 2020)

68Olds said:


> Edit: I do like that t-shirt though, Susquehannok. Funny stuff.


The shirt made me chuckle. My experience with ME is very limited and near none with Vista. Went from XP straight to Win7. Do remember System Restore in ME. If only Win98 had such a feature my early days would have been much easier.



QuietBob said:


> The more the merrier! Would definitely like to see detailed results from 99 max as I got the figures. We could also try some games.


Sounds good. Run some more 99max tests. Just downloaded WinTune98, 3dWinbench, Sandra, and CPU-Z 1.57. Will share some benches soon.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 29, 2020)

QuietBob said:


> As an afterthought, all this time fiddling with Win7 it didn't occur to me that I was dealing with a retro/legacy operating system. I find it hard to believe that Win7 is nearly 12 years old at this point and officially unsupported


It's not retro until it's not longer in common use. Windows 7 is still in use by at least 20% of the computers in the world. Regardless of it's "unsupported" status, it's still a current OS.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 29, 2020)

Good point. My laptop tells me Win7 is out of date every time it's turned on.

Back to XP. From reading several articles it seems XP usage has actually risen last couple years. Estimated to be over 1.25% total in October 2020 which is more than Win8, Vista, and Chrome combined. No surprise here since I have seen XP on commercial machines three times in as many months. ATM machine, electronic register at local pub, and most surprisingly, as network in major US grocery chain 'Food Lion'. Register screens went down when in line and XP reboot screen popped up. BIOS was dated 2009. Customer behind me was an IT guy and we were both amazed.


----------



## cornemuse (Dec 29, 2020)

Win 3.11 > 98 > XP > 7 > 10 > (neither 7 nor 10 computers have even been plugged in, let alone turned on in 1+ years) > XP


----------



## Bones (Dec 29, 2020)

Still have my copy of ME and I also agree, it wasn't that bad of an OS. 
I too ran it for a few years, only switching to XP once things forced my hand to doing it.


----------



## Fouquin (Dec 29, 2020)

Stack of Celeron S 1400s arrived in a chip lot. All bent up but otherwise fine. Started straightening up the pins and picking through them. Got a little carried away with benchmarking.

This is the best of the bunch. I may very well grab the mod BIOS for the TUSL2-C and maybe try some 2v sub-ambient madness in the future, but this is definitely my go-to Tualatin reference chip from here on.



Comparison to the S423 P4 2.0GHz.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 29, 2020)

Fouquin said:


> Stack of Celeron S 1400s arrived in a chip lot. All bent up but otherwise fine. Started straightening up the pins and picking through them. Got a little carried away with benchmarking.
> 
> This is the best of the bunch. I may very well grab the mod BIOS for the TUSL2-C and maybe try some 2v sub-ambient madness in the future, but this is definitely my go-to Tualatin reference chip from here on.



uh, nice stuff!!
can you do some more comparisons vs Pentium 4? I was expecting the Tualatin (even if it's the 256k varian) to be a bit better vs an almost identically clocked Pentium 4

also some PC133 CL2 would be nice if you have some around


----------



## Fouquin (Dec 29, 2020)

voodooFX said:


> uh, nice stuff!!
> can you do some more comparisons vs Pentium 4? I was expecting the Tualatin (even if it's the 256k varian) to be a bit better vs an almost identically clocked Pentium 4
> 
> also some PC133 CL2 would be nice if you have some around



I plan on getting some more tests onto the bench soon and can expand the comparison a bit. I don't currently have any PC133 CL2, and the TUSL2-C has the annoying bug of running 3-3-3-7 the moment you touch the FSB. My current Micron DIMMs are PC125 CL3-2-2-6 rated, but run at PC133 3-2-2-6 on the 133/133/33 stock settings for the PIII-S 1200 that I originally got with the board.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 30, 2020)

Gotta post this gem here.










And yeah, I ran that few weeks ago with an Athlon 1GHz & GF3 Ti 200.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Gotta post this gem here.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Irony ... I watched that less than an hour ago when running 99max and 2000 benchmarks on the voodoo4 system. Thanks to you I just now enjoyed it again on my win10 system and 43" monitor with full size stereo.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 30, 2020)

Fouquin said:


> I may very well grab the mod BIOS for the TUSL2-C and maybe try some 2v sub-ambient madness in the future, but this is definitely my go-to Tualatin reference chip from here on.


Here you go.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 30, 2020)

Chloe Price said:


> Gotta post this gem here.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am in awe that this was 20 years ago... It just doesn't seem that long ago...

This one is good too! Edit, found a better one.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 30, 2020)

New findings   It seems MS have set their min specs quite conservatively. Win7 64-bit with Aero will run on literally a quarter of the stated RAM and VRAM. I've also tried 256MB but, alas, when booting...



I'm still after a 20 GB 5,400 rpm HDD to test load times and general feel. Found one for sale, but the owner didn't get back to me.



Susquehannock said:


> I have seen XP on commercial machines three times in as many months. ATM machine, electronic register at local pub, and most surprisingly, as network in major US grocery chain 'Food Lion'. Register screens went down when in line and XP reboot screen popped up. BIOS was dated 2009.


A few weeks ago I spotted an infokiosk stuck at POST. It was running off a 2006 Dell with IDE and had a dead BIOS battery 



Fouquin said:


> This is the best of the bunch.


Nice overclock on that Tualatin! Here's my Sempron for clock-for-clock comparison. I also have the latest AIDA results.



EDIT: Added oc'd scores with stock voltage and cooler.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 30, 2020)

Damn this laziness. Soon I'll check how low a Duron 1.2* and Radeon 9550 will score on 3dmark06.. 

* it's my slowest CPU which has SSE


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 30, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Good point. My laptop tells me Win7 is out of date every time it's turned on.
> 
> Back to XP. From reading several articles it seems XP usage has actually risen last couple years. Estimated to be over 1.25% total in October 2020 which is more than Win8, Vista, and Chrome combined. No surprise here since I have seen XP on commercial machines three times in as many months. ATM machine, electronic register at local pub, and most surprisingly, as network in major US grocery chain 'Food Lion'. Register screens went down when in line and XP reboot screen popped up. BIOS was dated 2009. Customer behind me was an IT guy and we were both amazed.


One of the billboards in my town had to restart because of an error. What it was? A DX2200 running a P4 HT, all with Windows 7 surprisingly.


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 30, 2020)

Mad Onion ... watched again on the 43" Panasonic plasma business monitor. In full screen of course. The one you posted was awesome Lex. All back to back like that.


----------



## The Foldinator (Dec 30, 2020)

Susquehannock said:


> Mad Onion ... watched again on the 43" Panasonic plasma business monitor. In full screen of course. The one you posted was awesome Lex. All back to back like that.
> 
> 
> View attachment 181631


Old MadOnion(futuremark)  member here


----------



## Susquehannock (Dec 30, 2020)

Here are some 99max benchmarks on the system listed in post #10,534 running Win98. Any other settings you want to see let me know.

*7260 *= 640x480, 16 bit color, 16-bit Z buffer, double frame buffer

*7107* = 800x600, 16, 16, triple

*4528* = 800x600, 32, 16, triple

*5219* = 1024x768, 16, 16, triple

*2992* = 1024x768, 32, 16, triple

*3021* = 1280x1024, 16, 16, triple

*1696* = 1280x1024, 32, 24, triple


----------



## biffzinker (Dec 30, 2020)

A new Pixel Pipes video was posted yesterday.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 31, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> A new Pixel Pipes video was posted yesterday.


When there's already a 6800 GT on the thumbnail, you know he's got some good treasure.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 1, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Here are some 99max benchmarks


Thanks for those! Could you re-run it at default settings and post the subscores for every test? You need to go to Result Browser and then Details (second tab) to see them. I was thinking what other 3D benchmarks to try, but the ones I know of require DX7+ hardware. Your Voodoo seems to support DX6 only.
Ideas anyone? 
Oh, and a Happy New Year!


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 1, 2021)

ni


Susquehannock said:


> Mad Onion ... watched again on the 43" Panasonic plasma business monitor. In full screen of course. The one you posted was awesome Lex. All back to back like that.
> 
> 
> View attachment 181631


nice but what resolution that it runs?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 1, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Win98 .... hooray for SE and addition of the back button. Was pretty sweet.
> 
> Then this happened. Noticed we skipped right over it. Better or worse than Vista?
> 
> View attachment 181293





biffzinker said:


> I would have to say neither. Flaky hardware was more likely to blame. I did a in place upgrade from 98 to Me without any trouble.





lexluthermiester said:


> None taken.
> 
> Oh of course. My point was that *most* games from the 9X era will run fine on XP. There are some that do not, that's to be expected, but compatibility factors for 9X software on XP was a huge concern for Microsoft BITD and they delivered.
> 
> Hey now... WinME, when properly configured, ran great and was easily more stable than 95 or 98. Problem was, it needed to be properly config'd as the OOB default experience was less than optimal.





Bones said:


> Still have my copy of ME and I also agree, it wasn't that bad of an OS.
> I too ran it for a few years, only switching to XP once things forced my hand to doing it.


What everyone said above, I absolutely agree. There was nothing wrong with Millennium IMHO, and it was the first OS to introduce some of the modern features, which we take for granted nowdays. Could it had been better? I guess so, but again - definitely not the worst. That "award" would probably go to Windows 8, at least IMHO.



QuietBob said:


> That's mighty generous of you Good to see those oldtimers will still receive some TLC.


Thank you. And yes, exactly ... that was the idea. I honestly lost interest in old hardware since all the tragedies & scary experiences happened. Heck, we just had two more destructive (and devastating) earthquakes the other day. Not in my city, but 50 kilometers, 31 miles away from here. We got hit pretty nasty, but apart from re-living the same fears & terror from back in March, no damage or casualties. Which cannot be said for the epicenter, many people lost their lives & most of them houses, cars & ALL their personal belongings.

I still want to finish that Adison project though, and will get back to it eventually, when I have the money, patience & nerves to finish it off. And besides - I also got several other toys left around, which I won't be giving away or selling. 486 for example, loaded with MS-DOS 6.22 & Win 3.11, Pentium MMX 233 loaded with Win95 (and Voodoo 1) along with couple of Voodoo2 systems (mainly Adison ones), and one single P3 Voodoo3 3000 system. TBH, what more would or could I need, I had over 40-something systems at one point, all stacked up in my room


----------



## Susquehannock (Jan 1, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> ni
> 
> nice but what resolution that it runs?


>This panasonic. 1080p native. My bad. 42 inch. Moved it's 65 inch big brother into that spot last night. Took two of us to carry the 150-lb behemoth up a flight of stairs. Got both along with several Dell workstations free when a friend's company upgraded a few years ago. Was all destined for the recycler. Would imagine those guys make a killing off that stuff.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 1, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> definitely not the worst. That "award" would probably go to Windows 8, at least IMHO.


Can not agree more with this. Windows 8 is easily and by far Microsoft's worst OS version. IMHO, it is closely followed by Win10. I would really rather use Vista SP2 than 10 any day, everyday.

EDIT:
I'm going to requalify this statement by saying that Windows 8.1 with a number of important modifications can be made to run well and in an acceptable fashion. But a bog standard Windows 8 install is complete hot garbage.


----------



## micropage7 (Jan 2, 2021)

just found this one, it's been years i build without using it


----------



## Jetster (Jan 2, 2021)

Beep beep  burwapp


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 2, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> >This panasonic. 1080p native. My bad. 42 inch. Moved it's 65 inch big brother into that spot last night. Took two of us to carry the 150-lb behemoth up a flight of stairs. Got both along with several Dell workstations free when a friend's company upgraded a few years ago. Was all destined for the recycler. Would imagine those guys make a killing off that stuff.


I had a 59" Samsung 1080p plasma but my mom wanted it so bad that we traded televisions  I have now her old 40" and it's okay as my apartment is hella small. I broke its stand drunk and I had to get a wall mount for it.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 3, 2021)

Have you seen my ex?  


Spoiler: X-rated images





Why you filthy little...


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 3, 2021)

I got some free time, so I decided to buy and test these "little ones" :








From top left to right :
GT 710 2GB GDDR5 (GK208B [192CC]) || GT 520 1GB DDR3 (GF119 [48CC])
8400 GS 512MB DDR3 (GT218 [8SP]) || GT 210 1GB DDR3 (GT218 [16SP])




GPGPU AIDA :



I added GTX 750 v2 as slowest Maxwell 2.0 card (other ones are all 2.0 versions of base architectures, so it's fair - isn't it ?) 

Fillrate benchmark :




3DMark 03 : LINK,
3DMark 06 : LINK,
3DMark Vantage (P-Score) : LINK,
3DMark Cloud Gate : LINK,

(DirectX 11 only)
3DMark 11 (P-score) : LINK,
3DMark Sky Diver : LINK.

I must say, GT 710 can be considered fast when compared with those DDR3 cards, but holy s*** is it slow vs. GTX 750 v2 (Sky Diver/Vantage).
Also, that 8400 GS only has 8 SPs with 4 TMUs overall (GPUz is... optimistic in how it sees it).

Also also - I tested Crysis Low preset at Full HD :


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> 8400 GS 512MB DDR3 (GT218 [8SP])


I noticed GPUZ calling that a fake. What's the deal with there? Did you get it that way?


----------



## Valantar (Jan 4, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I noticed GPUZ calling that a fake. What's the deal with there? Did you get it that way?


Interesting. Just noticed that the 8400GS, GT 210 and the GT 520 seem to have identical PCBs too, which seems kind of odd given their launch dates and different chips.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jan 4, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Interesting. Just noticed that the 8400GS, GT 210 and the GT 520 seem to have identical PCBs too, which seems kind of odd given their launch dates and different chips.


Perhaps nvidia made those low end chip the same (same dimension, number of pins, or BGA grid, and same pinouts) so its interchangeable between PCB


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 4, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I noticed GPUZ calling that a fake. What's the deal with there? Did you get it that way?


It's not fake (you can see "8400 GS 32-bit" on sticker).
It simply uses cut down die of GT218 with GT 210 vBIOS, I think GPU-z detects it as 16SP version and says "it's fake" because it has 8SP actually active.

@Valantar Yup, they do use the same PCB. 
Weirdly, GT 520 and 8400 GS even share the same VRAM chips while GT 210 is oddball with Samsung 1600MHz ones. Also, GT 210 has UEFI support.

8400 GS :




GT 210 :




GT 520 :



GT 710 :


----------



## Susquehannock (Jan 6, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Thanks for those! Could you re-run it at default settings and post the subscores for every test? You need to go to Result Browser and then Details (second tab) to see them. I was thinking what other 3D benchmarks to try, but the ones I know of require DX7+ hardware. Your Voodoo seems to support DX6 only.
> Ideas anyone?
> Oh, and a Happy New Year!


Not sure the relevance or backward compatibility. This system is currently running DX v8.0 which I believe came with the unofficial Win98 Service pack 3.

Here is the 99max default subscores (800x600, 16, 16, triple) along with 3dmark 2000. WinTune, Sandra, and Ziff Davis bench for good measure. 3dmark 2001 kicks out a DX v8.1 required error at install.

[edit] Opps. Seems I dropped the 3dmark2000 shot. Ran another few minutes ago. Default settings - 1024x768, 16, 16.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 6, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Not sure the relevance or backward compatibility. This system is currently running DX v8.0 which I believe came with the unofficial Win98 Service pack 3.
> 
> Here is the 99max default subscores (800x600, 16, 16, triple) along with 3dmark 2000. WinTune, Sandra, and Ziff Davis bench for good measure. 3dmark 2001 kicks out a DX v8.1 required error at install.


Thanks for these, much appreciated! I'll be comparing them to my results. I'm trying to gauge that GF6100 against mainstream GPUs. There are hardly any tests to be found online, which is not that surprising. This IGP served as a display adapter in office/budget PCs, and as such was never really used for gaming. Any tests on similar hardware are really helpful to me 
I'm honestly surprised you managed to run 3DMark2000. I was sure it required DX7 hardware, but it seems it just needs the software package. If so, you could try installing DX9.0c and then you should be able to run a wider range of benchmarks.
Other than 3DMark I'd suggest Aquamark 2 and 3, DroneZmarK, Codecreatures and the X series.

EDIT: Which version of WinTune and Sandra did you use?


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 6, 2021)

I will add screenshots of comparisons for 3DMarks seperatly, since Futuremark/UL don't like my GTX 750 "GM206" card 

*3DMark 03 :*
*



3DMark 06 :




3DMark Vatange (P-Score) :




3DMark 11 (P-Score) :



Cloud Gate :




Sky Diver :*
*

*


----------



## Susquehannock (Jan 7, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Thanks for these, much appreciated! I'll be comparing them to my results. I'm trying to gauge that GF6100 against mainstream GPUs. There are hardly any tests to be found online, which is not that surprising. This IGP served as a display adapter in office/budget PCs, and as such was never really used for gaming. Any tests on similar hardware are really helpful to me
> I'm honestly surprised you managed to run 3DMark2000. I was sure it required DX7 hardware, but it seems it just needs the software package. If so, you could try installing DX9.0c and then you should be able to run a wider range of benchmarks.
> Other than 3DMark I'd suggest Aquamark 2 and 3, DroneZmarK, Codecreatures and the X series.
> 
> EDIT: Which version of WinTune and Sandra did you use?


Sandra = v 2001.0.7.10 ..... WinTune = v 1.0.42. Downloading the ones you suggested now.

Kind of fun running all these benchmarks. Many of which I have never seen before. Very leery of installing DX 9.0c on this system since it borked near all my old arcade style games. One of the times I really wished Win98 had system restore. That was back in january 2017 when I pulled this voodoo 4 out of storage along with a lot of other hardware where they sat since 2002. After a couple weeks all went back into storage, until recently. Near sent all to the trash couple times.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 7, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Very leery of installing DX 9.0c on this system since it borked near all my old arcade style games.


How? The DX9c libraries are just that, a library of code used when needed. They do not get used until called for.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 8, 2021)

How much clockspeed is required on a 486DX for mp3 playback?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 8, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> How much clockspeed is required on a 486DX for mp3 playback?


You'll probably see my comment there as I guessed 66MHz and I was kinda right.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 9, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> How much clockspeed is required on a 486DX for mp3 playback?





Chloe Price said:


> You'll probably see my comment there as I guessed 66MHz and I was kinda right.



I never used MP3s until the Pentium2-400/Celeron300A@450. Winamp always ran well though. Interesting insights.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I never used MP3s until the Pentium2-400/Celeron300A@450. Winamp always run well though. Interesting insights.


Pentium II 400 @ 450 was fast enough to have Winamp play music when I played Diablo II.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 9, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Pentium II 400 @ 450 was fast enough to have Winamp play music when I played Diablo II.


You must have had an SB Live or another dedicated sound card. Hardware sound acceleration was excellent! Those were the days...


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> You must have had an SB Live or another dedicated sound card. Hardware sound acceleration was excellent! Those were the days...


I had a Live! 5.1 Digital back then. Upgraded to PIII-500 @ 575 later and RAM also was boosted from 160MB to 512MB.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 9, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I had a Live! 5.1 Digital back then. Upgraded to PIII-500 @ 575 later and RAM also was boosted from 160MB to 512MB.


That was such a good card!


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was such a good card!


Though nothing beats Audigy2 ZS if you ask me.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 9, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Though nothing beats Audigy2 ZS if you ask me.


For 9X Windows? Yes. For XP, the X-Fi is the bomb!


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> For 9X Windows? Yes. For XP, the X-Fi is the bomb!


Ah, I have to admit that I haven't touched Win98 SE after 2006, I've had Audigy2 on from XP to 10.  Though I also had a X-Fi XtremeGamer back in the day and nothing to complain


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jan 10, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> You must have had an SB Live or another dedicated sound card. Hardware sound acceleration was excellent! Those were the days...



Did all the SBLive! cards do accelerated decoding? As an abject n00b in '98, I nabbed an SBL! Value based on rep and cost, and certainly don't remember any issues on a K6-2/400.



stinger608 said:


> No, not really. 2 of them I've had for quite awhile. The one on the far left and the center one. The one on the far right, an Aurora, my boss just gave to me a couple of weeks ago. Had the liquid cooler in it but it had sat so long it wouldn't work. Had to put a Hyper 212 EVO in it and ram. Works like a champ though.
> Installed a 12 gig triple channel kit and tossed Windows 7 on it. Frigging thing flies. LOL



Another Aurora sighting, given me by a co-worker. Given how bulky and heavy the sucker is, I'm half-surprised your desk supports an additional two even bigger Aliens.

The CLC still works, though the R9 280 I got it with was being more trouble than it was worth, so now it's just sitting there folding on an, um, GT 1030.  ... What, it's the only F@H-compatible card I had left. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


----------



## Robert B (Jan 10, 2021)

I never had one back in the day but I had to get me one of these *TODAY! (dirt cheap. flea market loot!)*

Modem *Highscreen Bahn-Boostar 56K* - Standard of the future! Vobis. Featured by ELSA. NOS.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 11, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Did all the SBLive! cards do accelerated decoding? As an abject n00b in '98, I nabbed an SBL! Value based on rep and cost, and certainly don't remember any issues on a K6-2/400.


I believe so. All of the SB Live cards were based on a similar sound processor design that was expanded upon with extra features to match the product on offer. This included the "Value" edtions of the cards. Same with the Audigy and X-Fi. After that, things got a bit weird in the product chain for Sound Blaster products.


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 11, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> For 9X Windows? Yes. For XP, the X-Fi is the bomb!


I still have two X-Fi Platinums in use in Win 7 rigs. One I bought new, the other I traded a socket 939 CPU that I paid $20 for to somebody on Craigslist in 2010.  On the other hand the Asus Xonar D2X is my all-time favorite audio card and I now have six of them.  For both the X-Fi and D2X I use third party software.



Chloe Price said:


> Though nothing beats Audigy2 ZS if you ask me.


I have an Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro in my vintage "museum of top-end 2003-2005 parts" rig.
​


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jan 11, 2021)

I know that all cases have windows now, and people do their aesthetics with RGB and custom sleeving, but I still miss colorful components, even though no one sees them.  One from my past (...present, since I still have it?!?):


----------



## Robert B (Jan 11, 2021)

*Flea market loot.

1*. Gigabyte *GA-6BXE* V2.1 - 440BX
*2*. Intel Pentium 3 *600MHz* 600E/256/100 1.65V *SL3H6
3*. Intel Pentium 2 *450MHz* - *SL2U7
4*. Intel Pentium 3 *450MHz* 450/512/100 2.0V - *SL364
5*. PowerColor *ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 - 2GB
6*. AMD* K6-2 350MHz* - missing one pin.(AM-2 / ADSC#    Cache Address Strobe) Showpiece nothing more. Bonus for the parts on points 1-4.

The big unknown is the ATI 5870. Me being me I said to bite the bullet.  It also needs a new fan. The old one has a huge wobble and ate through the metal and has scratched the top cover. If it is still alive then it will be a story to be told.  It was very cheap but I'm starting to think that there is a very good reason that it was cheap ...


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 12, 2021)

My first computer was a hand me down Desktop AST 486SX-33 with a backplane for the CPU. This was supposed to allow for later CPU compatability, But the leap from 16 bit to 32 bit Pentiums made it irrelevant. No ATX stuff for me! 
I did what I could with it. Evergreen 586-133 kit, added 256kb of L2 cache (it came with 0) STB Nitro 2MB ISA video card, and some kind of sound card.
It never would play games ( flight simulators) very well because of the ISA video bus. It may have had a VLB slot, but budget and lack of knowledge kept me from using that.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 12, 2021)

DAMN! Back in the day there was so much more innovation.


----------



## ThrashZone (Jan 12, 2021)

Hi,
Yeah those coolers look like space ships compared to the big square blocks of aluminum now days guess they look like borg ships lol


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 12, 2021)

Remember my OEM HD2400 Pro? It was unusable because of overheating. It'd go over 80 C and then start crashing randomly (with fresh TIM). So, I decided to slap a random fan on it. I uploaded the pics in the ghetto thread, where it caused quite a stir 



Now I've put it in my daily driver and been using it for about a week. Incredibly, this 2007 budget GPU with mere 256MB RAM does just fine in casual scenarios. I've watched 1080p YT on it and even did videoconferencing with 10+ streams. Quite amazing how an old bottom of the barrel video adapter can hold up even today


----------



## F-Zero (Jan 17, 2021)

Hey guys ! I'm not sure if the last 3 pictures are for this thread so forgive me. Anyway I tried some crossfire, got my first gen. i5 running and played with the devil


----------



## JustAnEngineer (Jan 17, 2021)

I had (or may still have) a Radeon HD 3870x2 that cost $462 in January 2008. There were a lot of games at the time for which Crossfire didn't help much at all.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2021)

JustAnEngineer said:


> I had (or may still have) a Radeon HD 3870x2.  There were a lot of games at the time for which Crossfire didn't help much at all.


I had mine in 2009 and in most games I had a significant boost over HD 3850.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 17, 2021)

Still have.


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 17, 2021)

I had a pair of  HD 3870's back then.  I still have one of them, gave the other to a friend in need of an upgrade.  I only turned in one 3dMark06 in '09 for the pair in xfire, 20,400 with an e8600 @ 4.5GHz.  

While not computer hardware, these are vintage hardware adjacent.  I found them in the cupboard & thought I'd share.  They are from the Marietta GA Microcenter, which is the 2nd oldest location.  I know we picked them up around the time the store opened & google tells me that was in 1988!  Had to get those floppies & tractor feed paper from somewhere! lol


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2021)

Got some freebies, an E8400 and an E8500. I'll put the 775 testbed together soon.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jan 17, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Got some freebies, an E8400 and an E8500. I'll put the 775 testbed together soon.



An E8500 was my primary for probably three-ish years, supplanting an E7300. I really liked Penryn, and the quad cores are still viable, IMO, as long as you're not memory-bandwidth-constrained.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> An E8500 was my primary for probably three-ish years, supplanting an E7300. I really liked Penryn, and the quad cores are still viable, IMO, as long as you're not memory-bandwidth-constrained.


These days I use LGA775 hardware just for benchmarking... just like you said, memory bandwidth is pretty bad bottleneck with those. That's why I like Phenom II AM3 more.


----------



## ThrashZone (Jan 17, 2021)

Hi,
Q9550 and 980ti is making a pretty good entertainment center, blows my smart t.v. out the door


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 17, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Still have.
> 
> 
> View attachment 184399View attachment 184400View attachment 184401


Pretty much linear scaling in 3DMark, cf my earlier post. But in most games it wasn't the case, sadly.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jan 17, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> These days I use LGA775 hardware just for benchmarking... just like you said, memory bandwidth is pretty bad bottleneck with those. That's why I like Phenom II AM3 more.



I think there's only one AM3 platform on my parts shelf, and it's a little cranky; haven't been able to figure out why.  Other than that, I haven't had the pleasure of tinkering with an AMD platform since Socket 754.  That may change come upgrade time, but the ol' 6600K is holding up well, so that may be awhile yet.  (Full disclosure, I only really mess about with "old" hardware in any significant fashion when trying to assemble Artemis bridges.)



ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Q9550 and 980ti is making a pretty good entertainment center, blows my smart t.v. out the door



Cripes, I'd think so.  If my experience with an R9 380 on 775 is any indication, that 980 ti's probably maxing out somewhere around half utilization.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 18, 2021)

Rig this up and it still works

I’m not sure what kind of paste was on it but i can barely get it off.

old socket 939 with a Athlon 64 X2 4200, Board is a ASUS A8N32-Sli Deluxe, and GPU is a Nvidia 8600 GS


----------



## Valantar (Jan 18, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Q9550 and 980ti is making a pretty good entertainment center, blows my smart t.v. out the door





80-watt Hamster said:


> Cripes, I'd think so.  If my experience with an R9 380 on 775 is any indication, that 980 ti's probably maxing out somewhere around half utilization.


I was pretty happy running my Fury X alongside my old Q9450 (@3.5GHz) for ... two years or so? Definitely CPU/memory bottlenecked, but 3D performance was decent nonetheless - didn't encounter anything that wasn't playable at great quality settings and good FPS. Though my 3DMark scores did skyrocket when I did my Ryzen upgrade, that is mostly down to physics subtests, as graphics tests only increased by 12-25%.


----------



## Bones (Jan 18, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Rig this up and it still works
> 
> I’m not sure what kind of paste was on it but i can barely get it off.
> 
> old socket 939 with a Athlon 64 X2 4200, Board is a ASUS A8N32-Sli Deluxe, and GPU is a Nvidia 8600 GS


Looks like a Manchester with the stepping it has. Since I can't see all the rest of the model string it's hard to say, I'm just guessing here. 
Have you tried blotting a papertowel with acetone on it?
That normally does the job.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 18, 2021)

Bones said:


> Looks like a Manchester with the stepping it has. Since I can't see all the rest of the model string it's hard to say, I'm just guessing here.
> Have you tried blotting a papertowel with acetone on it?
> That normally does the job.


I haven't tried acetone only Alcohol


----------



## Valantar (Jan 18, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> I haven't tried acetone only Alcohol


Acetone might be worth a try, but be careful so you don't spill any on the PCB, depending on the chemical makeup of the fiberglass resin that might not be a very good time.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 18, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Acetone might be worth a try, but be careful so you don't spill any on the PCB, depending on the chemical makeup of the fiberglass resin that might not be a very good time.


I normally pour it on a cloth first than wipe on the IHS to prevent getting on the PCB


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jan 18, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> I haven't tried acetone only Alcohol





Valantar said:


> Acetone might be worth a try, but be careful so you don't spill any on the PCB, depending on the chemical makeup of the fiberglass resin that might not be a very good time.



Some compounds that alcohol couldn't hack have wiped off nicely with Goo Gone, which shouldn't negatively affect components, but can leave a bit of oily film (that, incidentally, comes off with alcohol ).


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 19, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Rig this up and it still works
> 
> I’m not sure what kind of paste was on it but i can barely get it off.
> 
> ...


I have one of those mobos with an Athlon 64 X2 6400+ complete with heatsink sitting in a drawer somewhere here. It was 100% fully functional when I parked it around 10-11 years ago.


----------



## Bones (Jan 19, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> I have one of those mobos with an Athlon 64 X2 6400+ complete with heatsink sitting in a drawer somewhere here. It was 100% fully functional when I parked it around 10-11 years ago.


No you don't - A 6400+ is an AM2/AM2+ chip and that is a 939 board. 
Probrably an Asus variant but not that particular board with that chip.



Valantar said:


> Acetone might be worth a try, but be careful so you don't spill any on the PCB, depending on the chemical makeup of the fiberglass resin that might not be a very good time.


You're supposed to remove the chip before attempting to clean it. Also note I said to blot a paper towel which means one end of it wet/moist with acetone and go for it. 
In truth I've had to apply it directly to tings like chipsets that woudn't clean up easily and so on, never had an issue with it aside from affecting plastic.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 19, 2021)

Isn't isopropyl alcohol a good cleaner?


----------



## Jetster (Jan 19, 2021)

Bones said:


> No you don't - A 6400+ is an AM2/AM2+ chip and that is a 939 board.
> Probrably an Asus variant but not that particular board with that chip.
> 
> 
> ...



When Athlon 64 came out it was 939 for a short time. I had a 939 Athlon 64 3700 + and an FX55
And I still have a working Athlon 64 X2  4200+ that is 939



			https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon%2064%203700%2B%20-%20ADA3700DAA5BN%20(ADA3700BNBOX).html


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 19, 2021)

Bones said:


> No you don't - A 6400+ is an AM2/AM2+ chip and that is a 939 board.
> Probrably an Asus variant but not that particular board with that chip.
> 
> 
> ...


I know I still have an A8N32-SLI Deluxe here somewhere. I ran across the manual and install disc for it a few days ago. Thinking back and clearing the mental cobwebs I sold the CPU out of it then stashed the board. I originally had a FX-57 in it (still the most I've ever paid for a new CPU) then sold the CPU. I've been through so much hardware over the decades most of it is a blur now.  When I moved 5 years ago I filled a commercial dumpster with obsolete things I didn't feel any need to keep. I kept the good mobos though even though I've only used one of them in a repair since moving. I doubt I'll ever find a use for the A7V133's gathering dust on a shelf in my basement. I have drawers with CPU/mobo combos in them downstairs. That 6400+ makes a great space heater, the hottest running AMD rig I ever built. 

My standard go-to for removing stubborn residue is Prep-Solv and if that doesn't do it lacquer thinner followed with Prep-Solv.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 19, 2021)

As far as cleaning solvent. I would have never believed it but Artic Silver ArtiClean CPU paste remover is the shit. Citrus based and non toxic. I have not used Acetone since acquiring it. And it smells nice


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 19, 2021)

Anyone here have any of the IBM models with a 486 DX2/66? How about Qemm?


----------



## Jetster (Jan 19, 2021)

I use to have one, and a DX4/120 Not sure where they went to. I still have all the software


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jan 19, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Isn't isopropyl alcohol a good cleaner?



Like so much in chemistry, it depends.  Iso is mostly a solvent, while what we generally consider cleaners are surfactants.  Why iso works on some stuff but not others is beyond my pay grade, but it involves voodoo like surface tension and ions and molecular bonds and more that makes my head hurt.  Hopefully there's a chemistry nerd in here to correct me.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 19, 2021)

Bones said:


> No you don't - A 6400+ is an AM2/AM2+ chip and that is a 939 board.
> Probrably an Asus variant but not that particular board with that chip.
> 
> 
> ...


Welp acetone did not help


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jan 19, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Welp acetone did not help



Sounds like time for sandpaper, a Dremel and some polishing bits.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 19, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Sounds like time for sandpaper, a Dremel and some polishing bits.


I'm not even sure what the crap is on it. Doesn't look like normal time and it's very hard.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 19, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Isn't isopropyl alcohol a good cleaner?


Yes it is. Not universal, but great for most things.



Durvelle27 said:


> Welp acetone did not help


GooGone? Wonderful stuff for cleaning electronics.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 19, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yes it is. Not universal, but great for most things.
> 
> 
> GooGone? Wonderful stuff for cleaning electronics.


I'll try that


----------



## xu^ (Jan 19, 2021)

My "ahem" spare mighty GeForce 2 MX400 32mb pci


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 19, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Sounds like time for sandpaper, a Dremel and some polishing bits.


A Dremel with the small wire brush attachment works well. Keep the speed low or the wire will fly out of it. Wipe the surface with 90% rubbing alcohol afterward.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 19, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> I'm not even sure what the crap is on it. Doesn't look like normal time and it's very hard.


Could it be this from Arctic Silver? Why someone would of put it on a CPU is a hole another question.










						Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive
					






					www.arcticsilver.com
				



Edit: They even warn against using it for CPU application. A warning is not going to stop someone though.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 20, 2021)

People still use Arctic Silver? That was the shit here in Finland like 15 years ago and we just moved to pastes like those which are still used today (MX-4, GC-Extreme, NT-H1 etc).


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> People still use Arctic Silver? That was the shit here in Finland like 15 years ago and we just moved to pastes like those which are still used today (MX-4, GC-Extreme, NT-H1 etc).


I still have most of a 7 gram tube of AS5. It's been sitting since I switched to Gelid GC Extreme for my own PC's years ago. AS5 seemed like a good idea nearly two decades ago, not so much today. The stuff dries out and acts like glue in a couple of years.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 20, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> I still have most of a 7 gram tube of AS5. It's been sitting since I switched to Gelid GC Extreme for my own PC's years ago. AS5 seemed like a good idea nearly two decades ago, not so much today. The stuff dries out and acts like glue in a couple of years.


Didn't it also need a "burn-in" IIRC?


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 20, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> I'm not even sure what the crap is on it. Doesn't look like normal time and it's very hard.



It maybe thermal epoxy glue


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Didn't it also need a "burn-in" IIRC?


Yes, several days. Plus it's also slightly electrically conductive. There are several much better thermal pastes on the market today.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 20, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> Yes, several days. Plus it's also slightly electrically conductive. There are several much better thermal pastes on the market today.


Yeah, wouldn't get it even for free even 10 years ago.


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 20, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> It maybe thermal epoxy glue


It comes in two part tubes like epoxies do.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Didn't it also need a "burn-in" IIRC?



yes and no just daily usage is all you really needed after a week you'd see maybe a 2~5 degree drop in temps 


bobbybluz said:


> I still have most of a 7 gram tube of AS5. It's been sitting since I switched to Gelid GC Extreme for my own PC's years ago. AS5 seemed like a good idea nearly two decades ago, not so much today. The stuff dries out and acts like glue in a couple of years.



Never had that problem with AS5 but then I used to run the PC for half an hour before removing the HS and using a little twist first and light lift got it off real  easy


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 20, 2021)

Well, twisting the heatsink/block should be always done, no matter the TIM. I've heard too many times that a PGA CPU has came with the cooler..


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 20, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> It comes in two part tubes like epoxies do.



Yes not good if you want to later remove it it's for jobs that require permanent solutions not yearly repastes


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 20, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Never had that problem with AS5 but then I used to run the PC for half an hour before removing the HS and using a little twist first and light lift got it off real easy


There were times I was busy and forgot to twist the heatsink, the CPU pulled out of the socket still attached. Old AMD CPU's. Sometimes AS5 would be dried hard as a rock.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 20, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> Yes, several days. Plus it's also slightly electrically conductive. There are several much better thermal pastes on the market today.


It is not electrically conductive stop spreading FUD it is however very slightly capacitive


----------



## bobbybluz (Jan 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, twisting the heatsink/block should be always done, no matter the TIM. I've heard too many times that a PGA CPU has came with the cooler..


In a drawer somewhere downstairs I have an AMD Phenom 940 that's still glued to the heatsink with AS5. I have no idea why I keep some of the things I do.


----------



## freeagent (Jan 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> People still use Arctic Silver? That was the shit here in Finland like 15 years ago and we just moved to pastes like those which are still used today (MX-4, GC-Extreme, NT-H1 etc).


Its actually pretty decent stuff, but the application is critical lol. It is like an art it seems with that stuff. Get it wrong and its average or below, get it right and you will swear by it for life lol


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 20, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> Sometimes AS5 would be dried hard as a rock.


 Are you sure it's AS5 I've never had it dry out to that sort of stage even after 3 or 4 years of hard usage



freeagent said:


> Its actually pretty decent stuff, but the application is critical lol. It is like an art it seems with that stuff. Get it wrong and its average or below, get it right and you will swear by it for life lol


 True I always tried to get as thin a layer of it as possible which always works great to much and it's meh as a thermal paste



bobbybluz said:


> In a drawer somewhere downstairs I have an AMD Phenom 940 that's still glued to the heatsink with AS5. I have no idea why I keep some of the things I do.


use a hair dryer to heat up the HS and give it a twist and pull it should just come off if it doesn't then maybe it's not AS5


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 20, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> In a drawer somewhere downstairs I have an AMD Phenom 940 that's still glued to the heatsink with AS5. I have no idea why I keep some of the things I do.


Always seemed to turn dry, and flaky for me. Although one time the Athlon 64/X2 came out stuck to the heatsink.


----------



## Caring1 (Jan 20, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Are you sure it's AS5 I've never had it dry out to that sort of stage even after 3 or 4 years of hard usage


I've had AS5 go hard in the tube after a year or two as air gets in after it's initial use.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 20, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> I've had AS5 go hard in the tube after a year or two as air gets in after it's initial use.



Did you not put the lid on it up until last year I had a 10g tube that was 5 years old and was still as good as the day I bought it until I ran out and wasn't prepared to pay $49.95 for another tube now I just use Cooler Master MasterGel Pro which I can get cheaper than the equivalent amount of AS5 and works pretty good aswell


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 20, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Welp acetone did not help



Try WD-40. Amazing what it will take off!


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 20, 2021)

A new PixelPipes video was just posted looking at PowerVR’s Kyro tile based rendering graphics card.


----------



## JustAnEngineer (Jan 20, 2021)

There have been lots of good suggestions here.  The general rule for chemical solvents is that "like dissolves like".  Hydrocarbons like tar dissolve well in light oils (which are simialr but shorter), polar things dissolve well in water, etc.  Detergents work by having a hydrocarbon tail that mixes with oils and greases while having a polar end that mixes with water.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> People still use Arctic Silver? That was the shit here in Finland like 15 years ago and we just moved to pastes like those which are still used today (MX-4, GC-Extreme, NT-H1 etc).


Yeah, they still make it too. When something works well and people buy it...



Caring1 said:


> I've had AS5 go hard in the tube after a year or two as air gets in after it's initial use.


Never had that problem. Have a big tube of it bought years ago and it's still fine. Used it last week, no issues.


----------



## Susquehannock (Jan 20, 2021)

_"People still use Arctic Silver?"_

Yes. I have a large tube still and use it as TIM on automotive ignition modules.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 20, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> _"People still use Arctic Silver?"_
> 
> Yes. I have a large tube still and use it as TIM on automotive ignition modules.


Interesting use-case-scenario.

That reminds me....


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Could it be this from Arctic Silver? Why someone would of put it on a CPU is a hole another question.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Doesn't look like AS5. Its blueish in color


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 20, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Doesn't look like AS5. Its blueish in color


The Arctic Silver Adhesive looks difference from the TIM product. The adhesive is a two-part thermal epoxy type compound.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> The Arctic Silver Adhesive looks difference from the TIM product. The adhesive is a two-part thermal epoxy type compound.


looks more like dried tooth paste


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 20, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> looks more like dried tooth paste


Yeah, that sounds about right. You might need some sand-paper to get it off.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 23, 2021)

Posting from my Win7 min spec machine 

Aquamark bench results at the lowest resolution and settings. GF6100 using 128 MB of shared DDR1 RAM @ 200 MHz:



With a CPU overclock I can now watch YT @ 240p 
This guy needs more subs:


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 23, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> With a CPU overclock I can now watch YT @ 240p


Wonder what difference it would make as a dual-core?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Wonder what difference it would make as a dual-core?


I'd imagine quite a bit!


----------



## PooPipeBoy (Jan 24, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Wonder what difference it would make as a dual-core?



Kind of random, but this reminded me that a year ago I actually tried doing an LGA775 processor shootout to quantify the performance results of specific processor variables. It was quite a fun test idea.

Apparently I tested four processor configs to compare the following combinations:

1) Core count with stock E6600 vs stock Q6600,
2) Clock speeds with stock E6600 vs 3.0GHz O.C. E6600, and
3) Cache quantity with stock E6600 vs 2.4GHz O.C. E6400.

Results were quite interesting, it proves that the best processor for the job always depends on what the workload benefits from.



Spoiler: LGA775 processor shootout results





























Damn, now I feel like I want to play with some old processors again....


----------



## Susquehannock (Jan 24, 2021)

Still rocking 8-bit textures in Quake2 GZ on *this* retro Win98/voodoo4 system. Funny thing is I downloaded Doom Eternal several weeks ago and never installed it. Really enjoying the old school. If you are a Q2 fan the 1998 release expansion packs are worth a try. Going to include links to the Quake2 wiki if nobody minds.

The new 'turrets' are tough. Keeps me lurking around corners. Inclusion of defensive weapons like the 'prox' sticky mines and my favorite, the 'Tesla mines' really add a lot of game play options over the usual offense only strategy. Once I learned how to utilize them I went back and started over. Tesla is great for watching your back since there are many more hidden panels for enemies to pop up behind you than before. The new 'Daedalus' have a green shield up front. Can be tough with two or three coming down a corridor after you. Bit of lightning to break down the shield and keep them distracted while you blast them in their more vulnerable back is fun. Looking forward to what the game has to offer in higher levels.

[Edit]

^^ oops! Meant to post that in the "What are you playing?" thread instead. Guess it works here too?


----------



## Robert B (Jan 24, 2021)

I first played Quake 22 years after its release (in 2018) and I absolutely loved it! Back in the day I didn't have a good PC to play it and it sort of slipped under the radar. I knew about it but when I had something that could play it well I moved on. Back then I was a Doom guy. 



 

 



Then in 2019 I bought Quake II on Steam and I finished that game also.

I played the Q1/Q2 on my Z68/i7 2600K/ 1070 GTX but the next time I get he chance I'll build something with more era period correct HW.

It was epic stuff! I truely appreciated the impact those games had back in the day.

Since 2009 I played a lot a Quake Live the old version not the one on Steam until it closed down and before that some Quake III Arena.

I liked the DOOM (2016) but I find Doom Eternal not what I would've wanted even if I think that it still is a great game and a normal evolution of the series.

Now I'm waiting for a Quake reboot as it really needs it and there's enough "meat" in that story.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 25, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Wonder what difference it would make as a dual-core?


I'd guess night and day. AMD later released a few dual core Semprons on AM2, which were essentially binned Brisbane Athlon 64s. 
But an even bigger difference for YT would be to add a GPU capable of VP9 hardware acceleration. I don't have any in my possession now. I may give it a shot later when the prices come down. Just imagine pairing this with a current gen video card 

As it is, the CPU has to do most of the decoding. Depending on the content, 360p is still watchable (no stuttering once buffered), and sometimes even 480p (mostly static videos, with occasional hiccups).



PooPipeBoy said:


> this reminded me that a year ago I actually tried doing an LGA775 processor shootout to quantify the performance results of specific processor variables.


Great job testing these, thanks for the insight!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Jan 26, 2021)

I found that people managed to install XP on modern Ryzen system, I have the urge to install them since my retro gaming PC went bust a few month after I made them, but that defeats the purpose building period correct hardware playing their games. Still, its very tempting to have immense amount of CPU power since emulating Truform on other than R200 (Radeon 8500/9100) GPU require good CPU processing power. Time will tell if I really wanted to do this...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 26, 2021)

Apocalypsee said:


> I found that people managed to install XP on modern Ryzen system, I have the urge to install them since my retro gaming PC went bust a few month after I made them, but that defeats the purpose building period correct hardware playing their games.


If you want a rockin XP retro machine, get a Dell T3500 or HP Z400 and make sure you get a Quad or 6 core CPU with speeds north of 2.8ghz. For RAM go with 3x1GB+3x512MB DDR3 DIMMs(as the socket1366 is triple channel). Yes this will equate to a little wasted RAM, but you will get the max XP can use(outside of fiddly PAE settings) at triple channel speeds. For a GPU, go with a GTX 460 or 560 2GB card. You can go with a GTX 780 3GB but make sure the included PSU is at least 500w. For a sound card, onboard is passable but only just. Get yourself an SB Live at the very least, but an Audigy or XFi would do better. For system drives, any SSD made in the last few years will be XP compatible as TRIM is built into the NAND controller so you don't need OS support. However, recent models of mechanical HDD's such as WD Black or Blue are excellent performers and you can get a 1TB or 2TB drive for cheap.

All of this will run you $300 tops and that's if you splurge.


----------



## Susquehannock (Jan 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> If you want a rockin XP retro machine, get a Dell T3500 or <snip>


Would be a good set up. You make me want to run one of my extra T3500s this way. Must resist. Have not even done much with the socket 939 and HD 3850 system that I put together. Win98 rig has been too much fun. And to answer your question from a few pages back which I forgot:



lexluthermiester said:


> How? The DX9c libraries are just that, a library of code used when needed. They do not get used until called for.


The old arcade style games would revert back to desktop when opened, or reboot the system all together. No idea whether it had to do with DX9c or not but that is what happened and I could not get things right again without re-installing Win98. With the system running everything so smoothly I am sticking with DX8.0 for now. Used to have over 100 of those things but lost all but a few favorite games. Mostly mouse/cursor control. That was a big thing for me with PC. No more d-pads. Hardly looked back since yet still have all my old consoles and games.



Robert B said:


> I first played Quake 22 years after its release (in 2018) and I absolutely loved it! Back in the day I didn't have a good PC to play it and it sort of slipped under the radar. I knew about it but when I had something that could play it well I moved on. Back then I was a Doom guy.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Quake 2 re-boot would do well in my opinion. Already rekindled interest with the RTX version. Got my very 1st PC, a Dell pre-built, december 1998 and Q2 was my first game. Played for couple weeks at 640x480 software mode because I didn't know any better. Bought the GZ mission pack a few months later and hardly played at all. Went over to UT'99 soon after.


----------



## Bungz (Jan 29, 2021)

I am currently messing about with W98se for the first time in a while, most of my old builds I tend to opt for W2000 but for some older games would like to get a true legacy set up installed.

Have not missed the crossing fingers every driver install!

Only installing drivers and direct X and have already had to use safe mode twice to undo things, getting flashbacks to regular re installs from back in the day! Never used to mind it then seemed quite normal.

Think I will make a image of the drive once happy, would be mortified to kill it all and have to start over.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 30, 2021)

Bungz said:


> Have not missed the crossing fingers every driver install!


I never did that. Rarely had problems either..


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 30, 2021)

Going to run 3DMark06 with the slowest capable hardware I have that supports it (SSE, SM2.0). Installing WinXP atm.

AMD Duron 1200MHz
Asrock K7VT4A Pro (VIA KT400A)
2x1GB HyperX PC3200
Club3D Radeon 9550 (256MB, 128-bit)
Windows XP SP3

I'll run it first with everything at stock speeds, then I'll OC the CPU & GPU to their limits and check how performance increases. Also I'll run 3DMark 2001SE, 03 and 05, but the point here is to check how 06 runs on hella slow hardware.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 30, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Going to run 3DMark06 with the slowest capable hardware I have that supports it (SSE, SM2.0).
> . . .
> I'll run it first with everything at stock speeds, then I'll OC the CPU & GPU to their limits and check how performance increases. Also I'll run 3DMark 2001SE, 03 and 05, but the point here is to check how 06 runs on hella slow hardware.


Yeah boi! Can't wait to compare your results with mine


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 31, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Yeah boi! Can't wait to compare your results with mine


At stock clocks:
2001SE: 6437
03: 2171
05: 998
06: 313

WinXP crapped itself and too lazy to fix it yet as my main PC had also problems. Going to continue tests maybe later on tomorrow today.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 31, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> At stock clocks:
> 2001SE: 6437
> 03: 2171
> 05: 998
> 06: 313


Food for thought


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 5, 2021)

Something new in the mail today ! EVGA Geforce 6800 Ultra AGP 256 Mb


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2021)

There had been some updates on my end, but I'm mainly just taking one thing at the time ... as I wrote on another forum, I had even more crap in my life, which (needless to say) put everything on hold until further notice.

Nevertheless, I did get to finish the 1st of the 4 "Adison" systems. The smaller, mATX "sleeper" unit... 


 

 



Performance Rating (running Windows 7, 64bit with all the latest updates & fixes)




I've also made some progress on my original Pentium II 350. It's almost finished, I would say 98 or 99% there ... still have to tidy up the cable management & replace the CMOS battery. I also sourced the identical Chaintech 6BTM motherboard, which is going to be used in other, identical system.


 



Compared to my own 6BTM from back in a day ... about the same, except for slightly older BIOS revision:




Because, remember - I'm going to make two of them, as identical as possible... One for myself & the other one for my recently deceased friend. They are going to have some minor differences, but overall they are going to share the same construction - 6BTM motherboard paired with PII 350 CPU & 64MB of SD-RAM.

Both units will have ATI Rage IIc & Diamond Monster 3DII, 12mb cards & both of them are going to have Quantum Fireball hard drives. Mine has the original 6.4GB one, and the other one is going to have 4.3GB one ... mainly because I couldn't find a 6.4 anywhere locally. Furthermore, both units are going to share the same floppy drive, along with the same (BTC) CD-ROM drive which was a PITA to find & buy. But again - I took care of BTC & even got both generations, variations of BTC drives 





Unfortunately, the 2nd Adison PII machine will have to wait, indefinitely. The "problem" is of financial nature - I'm planning & going to give it a full respray & powder coat, just like I've done with that other one, "my own" system. I even had everything already set up & gave the guy a phone call, when everything went south. And so, without going into personal details, I had to bail out & spend the money on more immediate, real-life interventions. Therefore, I have no idea WHEN is the 2nd P2 going to be completed, but I'm hoping that it's going to happen "eventually". Fingers crossed...


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 5, 2021)

@Trekkie4 , got any better pics of this monstrosity?  I don't think I've ever seen an HSF anything like it.


----------



## QuietBob (Feb 5, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> EVGA Geforce 6800 Ultra AGP 256 Mb


Ah, Timbury! The only Nvidia 6-series tech demo that for some weird reason doesn't run on my 6100 
Have you tried it yet?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> @Trekkie4 , got any better pics of this monstrosity?  I don't think I've ever seen an HSF anything like it.
> 
> View attachment 187163


You may look it up HERE 

Nothing special I guess, just a passively-cooled 8600 GTS. Interesting cooling approach, nevertheless! I actually received two of these, identical (along with the SLI bridge). Unfortunately, the mATX board is/was too small  to accommodate two of these (and besides, the board only has one PCIe x16 slot available, in the first place) so the 2nd card was fitted in one of my other systems ... for now. Maybe one day I decide to pair them together & make a real SLI rig out of these


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 5, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> You may look it up HERE
> 
> Nothing special I guess, just a passively-cooled 8600 GTS. Interesting cooling approach, nevertheless! I actually received two of these, identical (along with the SLI bridge). Unfortunately, the mATX board is/was too small  to accommodate two of these (and besides, the board only has one PCIe x16 slot available, in the first place) so the 2nd card was fitted in one of my other systems ... for now. Maybe one day I decide to pair them together & make a real SLI rig out of these



There are at least two unusual things going on, IMO, three if you count passive cooling (which, admittedly, was probably more common when this card was new).  First, that's probably the largest cast heatsink I've seen on a PC component.  Not to mention the thickness and spacing of the fins.  Second, the smaller heatsink extends _outside_ the slot cover. Definitely never seen that.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 5, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> @Trekkie4 , got any better pics of this monstrosity?  I don't think I've ever seen an HSF anything like it.
> 
> View attachment 187163





Trekkie4 said:


> You may look it up HERE



I actually have one of those exact cards. It was a great video card in it's day!!!! I ended up putting a small 40mm fan on it to help cool it down. They got stupid hot when gaming


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> There are at least two unusual things going on, IMO, three if you count passive cooling (which, admittedly, was probably more common when this card was new).  First, that's probably the largest cast heatsink I've seen on a PC component.  Not to mention the thickness and spacing of the fins.  Second, the smaller heatsink extends _outside_ the slot cover. Definitely never seen that.


Agreed! Never seen something like that before - the heatsink is protruding from back of the PCI slot, outside. Not sure how efficient this layout going to be in the long run, but so far at least I didn't have any issues with it. And to be perfectly honest, I /was/ worried about heat being an issue - especially since this is an old case, designed for old(er) Slot 1 Celerons & Pentiums II with S3 & ATI Rage cards, NOT something like Core2 Duo with 8600GTS...



stinger608 said:


> I actually have one of those exact cards. It was a great video card in it's day!!!! I ended up putting a small 40mm fan on it to help cool it down. They got stupid hot when gaming


Absolutely! I'm going to use this thing for Source-powered games, and I have to admit - all of them are running perfectly fine, around 60FPS on average. Including Black Mesa ... the original one, not the current edition (available from Steam) which isn't free.




Speaking of Adisons, here's my Adison "stack" ... my powder coated unit on the bottom, 2nd P2 placed above it, and the sleeper on top. The one without the face plate is currently empty, and will (hopefully) be resprayed & powdercoated eventually. And yes, all of these (or at least most of them) are going to receive a retrobrite (or at least hydrogen peroxide) treatment, to brighten up the plastic panels as much as possible!


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 5, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Black Mesa



I know, I wish I would have gotten that when it was free. 

I don't even think you can get the original Black Mesa anymore?

Great to see you posting brother!!!!!!!!


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 5, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> I don't even think you can get the original Black Mesa anymore?


Chances are it's on the internet somewhere. I use to have the version.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> I know, I wish I would have gotten that when it was free.
> 
> I don't even think you can get the original Black Mesa anymore?
> 
> Great to see you posting brother!!!!!!!!


Well, apparently you can't ... they removed all the working links due to one reason or another, probably to force people into buying Black Mesa through Steam. But if you wish, I can upload the original installer someplace & make it available for you (and everyone else in here, who would wish to play the game). I don't think this would be a violation of copyright rights, since the original license clearly states that the game is FREE, and was widely available through mirrors & websites.

And thanks, it's been a nightmare really. Not over yet ... and I already see more crap coming, but at least things are (somewhat) calming down ... especially for now, so I've decided to take the opportunity & maybe finish what I started.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 5, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> And thanks, it's been a nightmare really. Not over yet ... and I already see more crap coming, but at least things are (somewhat) calming down ... especially for now, so I've decided to take the opportunity & maybe finish what I started.



Well, I hope things get better for you very very soon man!!! You are in my thoughts and prayers bro!

I'll probably just buy the Black Mesa from Steam to get the updates and what not.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 5, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well, I hope things get better for you very very soon man!!! You are in my thoughts and prayers bro!
> 
> I'll probably just buy the Black Mesa from Steam to get the updates and what not.


Thanks. And OK ... but if you change your mind, let me know. I got the original installer on my external HDD, fortunately I've decided to keep it, in case I ever have to set it up on a system which doesn't have inet connection - retro build or otherwise. Never had this situation before, but at some point I realized that the old Black Mesa is no longer available through mirrors & that it only exists on my hard drive. For whatever the reason.

I've decided NOT to buy the game out of protest. The actual product is superb, and the whole idea, thought was carried out beautifully. And I wouldn't even mind buying the game, IF they came out clean right from the beginning & said "OK, we are going to do all this work, and we are going to finish the game, but it's not going to be free". Instead, they chose a different approach, claiming that it's a mod, and that (as such) it's going to be free ... until they lost motivation, and people started to leave the project. Things were looking shaky, and for a while the whole Xen development seemed even less possible than Half Life 3, until they've turned it into the real, full-featured game & put a price tag onto it.


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 6, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Ah, Timbury! The only Nvidia 6-series tech demo that for some weird reason doesn't run on my 6100
> Have you tried it yet?


Yep, Doom3, Half Life 2, Quake 4, NOLF2 it works beautiful ! Always wanted one and it works great in combination with Q6600 & Asrock 4CoreDual-Sata2.

Totally forgot to put some 3DMark scores.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 6, 2021)

Another Adison build is done ... this time it is my own, original Pentium II 350 from back in a day. Still have to replace the CD-ROM drive - the one used for now is just a temporary solution, but I'm already waiting for another unit, and have plans to retrobrite one of the other, extremely yellowed BTC drives which I have available  



 

 



Normally I wouldn't bother taking a picture of the rear side panel, but this thing looks good from either angle IMHO! 




I sincerely hope that in couple of months from now I will get to finish the 2nd one. As finished, powder coated & complete as this one here!


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 7, 2021)

Anyone want to see SimCity 2000 maps rendered in 3D? There's a new program on the Steam store called SC2K Render that is free to download. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1527140/SC2KRender/


----------



## debs3759 (Feb 7, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Anyone want to see SimCity 2000 maps rendered in 3D? There's a new program on the Steam store called SC2K Render that is free to download. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1527140/SC2KRender/


I'd love to see how it renders the rockets taking off (or was that a different version?), but I'm too much of a cheapskate to use Steam.


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 7, 2021)

debs3759 said:


> I'm too much of a cheapskate to use Steam.


It's *free* to download other than needing a Steam store account.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 7, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> It's *free* to download other than needing a Steam store account.


Just like Black Mesa game, which I brought up yesterday... It only requires Source SDK 2007 (if I'm not mistaking) and a Steam store account. Both of which are free.


----------



## debs3759 (Feb 7, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> It's *free* to download other than needing a Steam store account.


Does it work on an install off an original disc then? Might be worth a look if it does. I'm not a big gamer, and only play games if I can own an original disc, but I do have a steam account.


----------



## framebuffer (Feb 8, 2021)

My first computer (re)build 

ASUS P3B-F
Intel Pentium III 450MHz
64MB PC100
3dfx Voodoo3 2000 AGP
Creative Sound Blaster Live!
























Full story: https://framebuffer.io/project/project-retro-build-1999

Short video


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2021)

Oh wow! Funny you brought up P3B-F & Voodoo3, because I'm actually planning a rebuild of an P3B-F system soon! It is one of my few remaining systems which I decided to keep for myself. Paired with P3 550, V3 3000 (AGP), 256MB of RAM & Creative SB Live, just like yours! 

I wasn't going to talk about this just yet, but as I already mentioned couple of days ago, I got one empty "Adison" case left... And since I can't seem to find a suitable place for existing P3B-F system anywhere, due to its bulky & unusually long case, I've decided to repack the entire thing into the Adison. Because why not! But in order to do so, I first have to take care of that other Pentium II 350, so it is all connected I'm afraid & will have to wait for now.


----------



## framebuffer (Feb 8, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh wow! Funny you brought up P3B-F & Voodoo3, because I'm actually planning a rebuild of an P3B-F system soon! It is one of my few remaining systems which I decided to keep for myself. Paired with P3 550, V3 3000 (AGP), 256MB of RAM & Creative SB Live, just like yours!
> 
> I wasn't going to talk about this just yet, but as I already mentioned couple of days ago, I got one empty "Adison" case left... And since I can't seem to find a suitable place for existing P3B-F system anywhere, due to its bulky & unusually long case, I've decided to repack the entire thing into the Adison. Because why not! But in order to do so, I first have to take care of that other Pentium II 350, so it is all connected I'm afraid & will have to wait for now.



Cool! 
Make sure you have the latest BIOS on the P3B-F, I had issues (BSOD during Win98SE install) with some early version


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 8, 2021)

Ironically, P3B-F was actually one of my first retro systems ever assembled, when I was first getting started around 2012, 2013. So I honestly don't remember the exact BIOS revision (will have to check) - that thing was buried under tons of other rigs & spare parts up until recently. But thank you for the tip!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 9, 2021)

debs3759 said:


> I'd love to see how it renders the rockets taking off


Unfortunately it doesn't.


----------



## framebuffer (Feb 10, 2021)

*GAINWARD GeForce 6800*


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 11, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> *GAINWARD GeForce 6800*
> 
> Smashing card ! C'mon you owe us at least a few 3dmark benchs


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 11, 2021)

I just fired up my only retro rig, a Pentium II 300, 256Mb, Voodoo 4500 and Win 98SE. Mobo is a lowly PC Chips BX and the Compace PSU has to be about 30 years old. In fact I still remember the day I bought the PC when it was pre-Pentium.
The whole AT case weighs a ton and was built to last.


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 11, 2021)

The monitor looks out of place next to the biege case, and keyboard.


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 11, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> The monitor looks out of place next to the biege case, and keyboard.


It's what I have available


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 11, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> The monitor looks out of place next to the biege case, and keyboard.


It's not that bad.


----------



## framebuffer (Feb 11, 2021)

> Smashing card ! C'mon you owe us at least a few 3dmark benchs



Sure, will do a proper testing (and pipe unlock attempt)


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 11, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> The monitor looks out of place next to the biege case, and keyboard.


Actually, it's perfect for my needs since it's a 27" Samsung TV monitor with HDMI and VGA inputs which I now use in my workshop instead of having to use adaptors when connecting customer PCs..
It's a result of upgrading my main monitor and they then move down the line as it were.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I just fired up my only retro rig, a Pentium II 300, 256Mb, Voodoo 4500 and Win 98SE. Mobo is a lowly PC Chips BX and the Compace PSU has to be about 30 years old. In fact I still remember the day I bought the PC when it was pre-Pentium.
> The whole AT case weighs a ton and was built to last.
> View attachment 187920


Awesome, this is what I call PROPER retro hardware!

May I suggest curling, twisting the ATA cables together into the bundle, and then taping them together with insulation tape? Probably the best cable management tip I can give you, and would work perfectly in your particular case.


----------



## QuietBob (Feb 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> would work perfectly in your particular case.


Pun intended?


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Awesome, this is what I call PROPER retro hardware!
> 
> May I suggest curling, twisting the ATA cables together into the bundle, and then taping them together with insulation tape? Probably the best cable management tip I can give you, and would work perfectly in your particular case.


I'll try that method on the upper cables but the two huge ones below are really big. They're connecting an ISA controller card which feeds to a PCMCIA drive at the front. (it works too!)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I'll try that method on the upper cables but the two huge ones below are really big. They're connecting an ISA controller card which feeds to a PCMCIA drive at the front. (it works too!)


Doesn't matter. Big or small, wide or narrow, more of them or just the few, you can always easily bend them sideways, sometimes even tuck them behind the cards like this:


 



But when you're dealing with huge amount of floppy & IDE cables, you can always tape them together (what I suggested earlier), and/or roll them into the bundle. Or combine both of these methods, together.

For example ... a bundled COM port header:




Taped floppy & COM port cable(s):




Taped IDE cables (notice the black insulation tape)


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 12, 2021)

I'll give that a crack when I'm in the mood, thanks @Trekkie4 
Here's my desktop and no, it can't play Crisis!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I'll give that a crack when I'm in the mood, thanks @Trekkie4
> Here's my desktop and no, it can't play Crisis!
> View attachment 188020


Nevermind Crisis, this particular system predates it anyway. The real question is - can it run Unreal Tournament? 

(judging from the 3dfx icon down below, I would have to say "YES", but I still had to point it out lol)


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 12, 2021)

Shit @Splinterdog , now I got to go fire up my ole win 98SE system after seeing that pic!!!!


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 12, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nevermind Crisis, this particular system predates it anyway. The real question is - can it run Unreal Tournament?
> 
> (judging from the 3dfx icon down below, I would have to say "YES", but I still had to point it out lol)


Haven't tried it yet, but I'll dig out the CD. 
And look what I found- Sept 2008.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Haven't tried yet, but I'll dig out the CD.


Please do, we demand the official proof!  (that it can run UT, that is)


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Haven't tried yet, but I'll dig out the CD.


Still have my original retail purchase packed away in a big cardboard box. Lower half of the box is old games.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 12, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Still have my original retail purchase packed away in a big cardboard box. Lower half of the box is old games.



God all mighty, sound just like me!


----------



## Splinterdog (Feb 12, 2021)

Runs like velvet!













The old thing just keeps chugging away!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 12, 2021)

Speaking of old computer magazines, I realize that many (most) of you here do not speak Croatian language, but here's something you might want to check out. It was called "Hacker", computer magazine dedicated exclusively to games & hardware (mostly for the purpose of gaming, of course). Unfortunately, they've shut it down around early 2000s so what you see here are remaining & "priceless" artifacts from the history 


 


Some of the translations from the left magazine, issue #41: "In this issue, more than 30 PC and PSX games", "What can Lara show in the latest sequel", "On a CD..."

Some of the translations from the right magazine, issue #56: "Games - Top 20 games from 1999, including the announcements of the titles coming up in 2000", "FilMovies - We are choosing movie of the year, and explaining how you can transform your PC into the home cinema", "Hardware - We are picking hardware component of the year, and showing 3D graphical trends of the 21st century", "Star Trek Contribution - The explosion of all the new Star Trek titles", "An interview - Horned Reaper: "I hate chickens!"

Edit
Fun fact - I even got the original CDs, included in these magazines:


----------



## QuietBob (Feb 13, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Still have my original retail purchase packed away in a big cardboard box.


I know, right?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2021)

Here's a random question for you guys ... I have a friend who is working on his FX5900 card, and would like a closeup photo (or technical info) on one of the missing SMD capacitors.

So, if anyone here owns one, could I trouble you into taking a close-up photo (or two) maybe?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 14, 2021)

I have no 5900. Just 5950.


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 14, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a random question for you guys ... I have a friend who is working on his FX5900 card, and would like a closeup photo (or technical info) on one of the missing SMD capacitors.
> 
> So, if anyone here owns one, could I trouble you into taking a close-up photo (or two) maybe?


I have a FX5900XT can that help ?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2021)

IDK guys, like I said, it's not me - just asking for a friend. From what I understood, he has MSI version which might be similar (or identical) to reference card. Post away & I will forward him all your pics, hoping that it might help.


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 14, 2021)

Here you go, hope it helps !


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Here you go, hope it helps !


Thanks bunches, I'll let you guys know if it did the trick 

Edit
Almost... Can I ask you for a close-up pic of the area marked on your pic? Especially the one marked with blue arrow, perhaps in macro mode?


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 14, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks bunches, I'll let you guys know if it did the trick
> 
> Edit
> Almost... Can I ask you for a close-up pic of the area marked on your pic? Especially the one marked with blue arrow, perhaps in macro mode?


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 14, 2021)

Even tho I don't like FX cards, it makes me sad if a better one is dead. I hope it gets revived!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2021)

Once again, thanks buddy  

Everything works out, except I can't see, identify the letters (or numbers?) on that Q507 component, a transistor by the looks of it. Can you tell me what they are, no need for additional pics, just write them down, if you can see them.




@Chloe Price  Me too! Again, it's not mine (I wish it was lol), but if anyone can bring that FX5900 back to life, it's that guy  Unfortunately one (or several) SMD components got chipped off, so he's on a lookout for reference values, to match & patch up the non-working card. Or at least that's the plan.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 14, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Once again, thanks buddy
> 
> Everything works out, except I can't see, identify the letters (or numbers?) on that Q507 component, a transistor by the looks of it. Can you tell me what they are, no need for additional pics, just write them down, if you can see them.
> 
> @Chloe Price  Me too! Again, it's not mine (I wish it was lol), but if anyone can bring that FX5900 back to life, it's that guy  Unfortunately one (or several) SMD components got chipped off, so he's on a lookout for reference values, to match & patch up the non-working card. Or at least that's the plan.


As long as the pads are there, there's hope.


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 14, 2021)

@Trekkie4 ( G419W )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> @Trekkie4 ( G419W )


Perfect, thanks!


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 14, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Perfect, thanks!


We'll be waiting for the results here


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 14, 2021)

Yeah, let us know how it goes!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 15, 2021)

He's working on it, that's all I know for now 

Hmm, maybe I could talk him into joining TPU, so he might be able to tell you more about it  On a side note, I'm working on all the prep work regarding that last Adison system, 2nd Pentium II. Might even send it for sandblasting & powdercoating sooner than I expected! Stay tuned for more info


----------



## r0x (Feb 15, 2021)

Hi, I'm the guy bugging you via Trekkie regarding my lil' sunshine MSI FX5900-TD128. (...potentially fx5950 one day...)

First of all, thank you for the help. I couldn't find exact component that was missing, but many FX cards have very similar fan controller circuit.
Specs for this component do vary, but main things are common or have similar range: SOT23, N-type transistor or MOSFET, Vceo=20-50V and Ic=0.5-1A. 
1p SOT23 was my choice for replacement part.

Before and after surgery:


 



Soldering is sloppy but contacts are good and the problem is gone (video).


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 15, 2021)

Welcome to TPU @r0x    

And, our little nostalgic community.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 16, 2021)

r0x said:


> Soldering is sloppy


It's not that bad. I've seen worse that is still functional.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 16, 2021)

Considering the amount of "nostalgic" hardware that he owns & technical expertise, I nominate @r0x to take my place here on TPU once I full "retire", after finishing my Adison systems!

That is, unless you want me to stick around & be a technical advisor on cable management


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 16, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> That is, unless you want me to stick around & be a technical advisor on cable management



Well of course we want you to "stick around" man!!!!!!!

You've been a great asset to this thread.


----------



## r0x (Feb 16, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Considering the amount of "nostalgic" hardware that he owns & technical expertise, I nominate @r0x to take my place here on TPU once I full "retire", after finishing my Adison systems!
> 
> That is, unless you want me to stick around & be a technical advisor on cable management


Just got info from Deep Thought: "Retirement rejected, chosen substitute has insufficient amount of 3dfx blood cells, minimum level expected in 2042."
VoodooKeeper position remains unchanged ^^

Meanwhile in engineering bay, restoration of noise machine:



Work in progress....


----------



## QuietBob (Feb 17, 2021)

r0x said:


> Work in progress....




Still computing?


----------



## r0x (Feb 18, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> View attachment 188775
> 
> Still computing?


I had minor issues with temporal displacement of sawing machine oil....yesterday it wasn't among lubricants, and today it has magically appeared near it's place... after extensive search ofc.
There is a saying: "Ko maže, taj i vozi!" Eastern Europe wisdom 

Cooler was completely disassembled, cleaned, bearing well oiled, sticker glued back, and whole thing reassembled, with minor upgrade.


 



Ready to bleed more ears on demand.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2021)

Wow, you think that's loud?
I'm used to a Vantec Tornado on a SLK900.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Feb 18, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Shit @Splinterdog , now I got to go fire up my ole win 98SE system after seeing that pic!!!!


The recycle bin icon looks like Windows 2000 (or Windows ME, which uses Windows 2000's icons and sounds)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 18, 2021)

@r0x @Mr.Scott Pretty sure my Cooler Master Jet7 is even louder.




Yes - it looks really awesome, and I thought that it would be a really good idea to actually use it for something ... until I powered it up for the first time. Thankfully it came with speed adjusting trimmer (potentiometer),  so instead of cranking it up to full speed I usually keep it somewhere around 25-30% at most. Any faster and it gives me a headache. In fact, I've been thinking about swapping out the entire thing for Spire FalconRock, because Jet7 only gets louder & louder over time.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2021)

Illusion.
Jet 7 - 41 dba  @ 22 cfm
Tornado - 55 dba @ 110 cfm


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 19, 2021)

Most hideous sound I ever heard from a PC was this ultra high speed fan I mounted on the northbridge. Not just volume but the pitch. Could make your ears bleed from the next room and hardly made a lick of difference in overclock. Silly me went through trouble of mesh cable sleeve and shrink tubing before even trying it.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 19, 2021)

r0x said:


> I had minor issues with temporal displacement of sawing machine oil....yesterday it wasn't among lubricants, and today it has magically appeared near it's place... after extensive search ofc.
> There is a saying: "Ko maže, taj i vozi!" Eastern Europe wisdom
> 
> Cooler was completely disassembled, cleaned, bearing well oiled, sticker glued back, and whole thing reassembled, with minor upgrade.
> ...



I have one of the copper base units still new in the package. I remember using one of these on a 3200 Athlon XP and it was stupid loud.


----------



## r0x (Feb 19, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Wow, you think that's loud?
> I'm used to a Vantec Tornado on a SLK900.


I was a bit dramatic about the noise level, it was relatively normal back then. After restoration it does sound a bit better.
I've got to ask: Why do you want to get used to that noise level? Cooling some golden P3 on 2GHz? 


stinger608 said:


> I have one of the copper base units still new in the package. I remember using one of these on a 3200 Athlon XP and it was stupid loud.


Is it afraid of camera?

P.S.
Sneak peek on one of my projects:


----------



## Bones (Feb 19, 2021)

My Tt Volcano 11's aren't exactly quiet when allowed to run full speed or without the controller making them run at full period.
Now - Try having two of those going at the same time on a Socket A dualie board......
Full blast.






Good thing I'm kinda deaf.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 19, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Jet 7 - 41 dba @ 22 cfm


I hate to disagree, but I've had one of those and a few similar models BITD, and they were MUCH louder that 41db! Those hamster-wheel type blowers were very effective, but loud as screaming banshee.



r0x said:


> P.S.
> Sneak peek on one of my projects:


I know what we're seeing here, but wondering how it works! You're gonna let us know the low-down on this soon, right?


----------



## Jetster (Feb 19, 2021)

I keep forgetting about this thread. I need to get back to work on my Retro PC


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 19, 2021)

Jetster said:


> I keep forgetting about this thread. I need to get back to work on my Retro PC


Yes, you most certainly do.








r0x said:


> I was a bit dramatic about the noise level, it was relatively normal back then. After restoration it does sound a bit better.
> I've got to ask: Why do you want to get used to that noise level? Cooling some golden P3 on 2GHz?
> 
> Is it afraid of camera?
> ...


Hmm... Is it just me, or that Cooler Master case seems awfully familiar?


----------



## _JP_ (Feb 19, 2021)

Jetster said:


> I keep forgetting about this thread. I need to get back to work on my Retro PC


I keep looking at this thread and seeing all the cool stuff being done, noticing how many projects I want to get done, left at the start or half-wa, and having no time to finish them.


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 19, 2021)

Have you seen this Voodoo5 6000 revamp yet? Complete with 4-pin molex power connector. Looks great with black PCB and copper heatsinks. Wonder what price these would fetch if went into some form of production. Seem to remember member on another forum purchased a working original one for over $3,000, then had to acquire a certain model EpoX board to run it.










						Legendary 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 Gets Modern Revamp In Amazing Reverse Engineering Effort
					

While 3dfx was able to push the Voodoo 5 5000 and Voodoo 5 5500 out the door, the Voodoo 6 6000 was never officially released.




					hothardware.com


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 19, 2021)

Bones said:


> My Tt Volcano 11's aren't exactly quiet when allowed to run full speed or without the controller making them run at full period.
> Now - Try having two of those going at the same time on a Socket A dualie board......
> Full blast.
> Good thing I'm kinda deaf.


I used to have TT Volcano, it did shift a lot of air but the noise it made make jet engine blush.

This one specifically


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 19, 2021)

r0x said:


> I was a bit dramatic about the noise level, it was relatively normal back then. After restoration it does sound a bit better.
> I've got to ask: Why do you want to get used to that noise level? Cooling some golden P3 on 2GHz?


Kinda. I am a competitive benchmarker.  
Would Barton core at 3 gig suffice?





						CPU-Z Validator 3.1
					

CPU-Z Validation Checker (by canardpc.com)



					valid.x86.fr
				






Apocalypsee said:


> I used to have TT Volcano, it did shift a lot of air but the noise it made make jet engine blush.
> 
> This one specifically


How about a pair of 'em.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 19, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> How about a pair of 'em.


Ok thats scary, I don't want to imagine how it sound at full blast. Even one of them hurt my ear.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 19, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I hate to disagree, but I've had one of those and a few similar models BITD, and they were MUCH louder that 41db! Those hamster-wheel type blowers were very effective, but loud as screaming banshee.











						COOLER MASTER JET 7 80mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan - Newegg.com
					

Buy COOLER MASTER JET 7 80mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				






Susquehannock said:


> Most hideous sound I ever heard from a PC was this ultra high speed fan I mounted on the northbridge. Not just volume but the pitch. Could make your ears bleed from the next room and hardly made a lick of difference in overclock. Silly me went through trouble of mesh cable sleeve and shrink tubing before even trying it.
> 
> View attachment 188957


Still have one, and you're correct.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 19, 2021)

r0x said:


> Is it afraid of camera?



You know, I'm not sure.   

I'll have to dig it out and take a couple of shots of it.


----------



## r0x (Feb 19, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I know what we're seeing here, but wondering how it works! You're gonna let us know the low-down on this soon, right?


It works like 7of9 back in 98' 
It'll take a week or two before all parts arrive for final assembly. OC is impossible and that's only negative side so far. So I was looking to get s754 athlon 4000+, but shipping from USA is way to expensive.


Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm... Is it just me, or that Cooler Master case seems awfully familiar?


RAM too :chears:


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 22, 2021)

Finally some good news... My 2nd Adison build, Pentium II 350 is on its way to sandblasting & powder coating 


 

 



Again, I'm going to post pics as soon as I get it back all clean 'n shiny


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 23, 2021)

Let's go ! Radeon X850 XT

I had to clean it first of course but I think it turned out great

EDIT: Does maybe someone know where can I get some round ATI stickers for the FAN cover ?


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 23, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Let's go ! Radeon X850 XT
> 
> I had to clean it first of course but I think it turned out great
> 
> EDIT: Does maybe someone know where can I get some round ATI stickers for the FAN cover ?



ATI stickers sounds like a challenge. My strategy would probably be to find something on GIS and print it on label or sticker stock. Otherwise eBay or AliExpress, maybe?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 23, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> ATI stickers sounds like a challenge. My strategy would probably be to find something on GIS and print it on label or sticker stock. Otherwise eBay or AliExpress, maybe?


I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but I keep looking at your name & find it hilarious! 

Kinda makes me wonder what would happen if I'd plug in a 80-watt hamster into the 40-watt power supply? Or is the Hamster the source of power in this equation & provides 80W of juice as it runs (and rotates) inside that hamster wheel thingy?


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 23, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> ATI stickers sounds like a challenge. My strategy would probably be to find something on GIS and print it on label or sticker stock. Otherwise eBay or AliExpress, maybe?


I tried eBay but I can't find any round ones. Something like this black one would be great


----------



## Valantar (Feb 23, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Let's go ! Radeon X850 XT
> 
> I had to clean it first of course but I think it turned out great
> 
> EDIT: Does maybe someone know where can I get some round ATI stickers for the FAN cover ? View attachment 189645View attachment 189646View attachment 189647View attachment 189648View attachment 189649View attachment 189650View attachment 189651View attachment 189654View attachment 189655


Wow, those old GPU coolers are always interesting. Makes you wonder how it took people so long to come up with the IMO simplest and most logical solution of having the fan force air into (or through) the heatsink, and then either guiding it out or letting exhaust fans handle it, rather than convoluted setups like this. I mean, anyone looking at this ought to have been able to think "if the fan were to blow into the fin stack, the fin stack could be twice as tall, and we could run the fan slower". Or am I just so conditioned by modern coolers that I can't see how difficult this is to figure out? Of course GPU coolers didn't improve all that much in the generations after this - my HD 4850s were still _terrible_


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but I keep looking at your name & find it hilarious!
> 
> Kinda makes me wonder what would happen if I'd plug in a 80-watt hamster into the 40-watt power supply? Os is the Hamster the source of power in this equation & provides 80W of juice as it runs (and rotates) inside that hamster wheel thingy?



'S all good; I chose it because it popped into my head ages ago and made me laugh.  Kept it because it's never taken.  Anyway, I like to think the Hamster runs on 80W of power (think 60W light bulb), but the idea of it being an 80W power supply is also fun!


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 23, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> 'S all good; I chose it because it popped into my head ages ago and made me laugh.  Kept it because it's never taken.  Anyway, I like to think the Hamster runs on 80W of power (think 60W light bulb), but the idea of it being an 80W power supply is also fun!


You know you can overclock a hamster but I think that works just once


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 23, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> You know you can overclock a hamster but I think that works just once


Not necessarily, if you cool it using liquid nitrogen...


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 23, 2021)

Sub-zero hamsters. This line of conversation reminds me of the highly controversial Cyberian Outpost 1998 super bowl commercial where they shot Gerbils from a cannon. There's a bit of nostagilia. In retrospect that company was nothing more than an attempt to capitalize on hype of the dot com era. Meager webpage, not much stock. Eventually bought out by Fry's at less than tenth the price the company commanded at it's height. Even had a catchy stock symbol - "COOL". An obvious rival to Egghead dot com's site at the time.


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 23, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Wow, those old GPU coolers are always interesting. Makes you wonder how it took people so long to come up with the IMO simplest and most logical solution of having the fan force air into (or through) the heatsink, and then either guiding it out or letting exhaust fans handle it, rather than convoluted setups like this. I mean, anyone looking at this ought to have been able to think "if the fan were to blow into the fin stack, the fin stack could be twice as tall, and we could run the fan slower". Or am I just so conditioned by modern coolers that I can't see how difficult this is to figure out? Of course GPU coolers didn't improve all that much in the generations after this - my HD 4850s were still _terrible_


The fan in the shroud duct is pulling in air over the heatsink, and then dumping it out the back. At a low spin it wasn't too noisy, it's the when the GPU heated up then it made a rattle/vibration sound with the plastic shroud. I had the X850 XT.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 23, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> EDIT: Does maybe someone know where can I get some round ATI stickers for the FAN cover ?











						"ATI" sticker for sale | eBay
					

Get the best deals for "ATI" sticker at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!



					www.ebay.com
				




Round is going to be tough unless you get a quality colour laser printer and some photo label paper and make them yourself.


----------



## Valantar (Feb 23, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> The fan in the shroud duct is pulling in air over the heatsink, and then dumping it out the back. At a low spin it wasn't too noisy, it's the when the GPU heated up then it made a rattle/vibration sound with the plastic shroud. I had the X850 XT.


Yeah, I figured it out eventually, but it still seems overly convoluted  At least the fan isn't one of those super-thin single slot blowers like the 4850 had.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 23, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Yeah, I figured it out eventually, but it still seems overly convoluted  At least the fan isn't one of those super-thin single slot blowers like the 4850 had.



I dunno, it worked great for G92.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 23, 2021)

Overclocked & nitrogen-cooled hamsters aside, here's some more Adison-related stuff 

I was kindly given, donated yet another BTC CD-ROM drive earlier today! 


 



Bright white unit ... those other two will require some effort to make them (at least) beige again, before they will blend in with the rest of the case. So, things are overall starting to round up & I'm getting close to finally end this once & for all. For those who don't know (or don't remember), I've been working on this project for approx. 15 years now, so now's the good (if not perfect) time as ever to finally get it all finished & set up!


----------



## Valantar (Feb 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Overclocked & nitrogen-cooled hamsters aside, here's some more Adison-related stuff
> 
> I was kindly given, donated yet another BTC CD-ROM drive earlier today!
> 
> ...


Wait, are  those drives painted some sort of weird ochre yellow, or are those #1 and #2 globally for the most UV yellowed pieces of plastic known to man? The top one looks like it's got a cheap spray tan ...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 23, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Wait, are  those drives painted some sort of weird ochre yellow, or are those #1 and #2 globally for the most UV yellowed pieces of plastic known to man? The top one looks like it's got a cheap spray tan ...


Nope,  no paint - just your cheap, generic drives from around late 90s, which are (apparently, judging from the yellowness) extremely prone & sensitive to UV light. I'm going to attempt the hydrogen peroxide treatment on those, but IDK if (and how much) is that going to work out... That being said, they need to be AT LEAST beige, before they can blend in with the rest of the case.

Interestingly enough, this latest one is bright white, as if it came straight from the factory!


----------



## ThrashZone (Feb 23, 2021)

Hi,
Nice old school fake gold leaf


----------



## bogmali (Feb 24, 2021)




----------



## F-Zero (Feb 24, 2021)

After a long sleepless night because I couldn't find a sticker for my X850 XT it finally came to me through a vision. I had a dream where the sticker flew through my window and landed on my desk. So with this gift bestowed on me I want to show you the final result.


----------



## framebuffer (Feb 24, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> After a long sleepless night because I couldn't find a sticker for my X850 XT it finally came to me through a vision. I had a dream where the sticker flew through my window and landed on my desk. So with this gift bestowed on me I want to show you the final result.



Touching story man 

I also had a dream; I bought the card with the most badass name ever and it arrived 

*Hercules Terminator BEAST (S3 Savage3D)





*



F-Zero said:


> Let's go ! Radeon X850 XT
> 
> I had to clean it first of course but I think it turned out great
> 
> EDIT: Does maybe someone know where can I get some round ATI stickers for the FAN cover ? View attachment 189645



Nice job btw, but what's the heatsink (for the 6800?) on this magazine? 
Looks awesome!


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 24, 2021)

Nice job btw, but what's the heatsink (for the 6800?) on this magazine? 
Looks awesome!
[/QUOTE]

It's a magazine from 2003. And they were showing how graphics cards started using more beefier cooling, this particular picture is from a FX 5900 Ultra i think but have to check it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2021)

bogmali said:


>


More pictures! Flaunt this puppy!


----------



## 68Olds (Feb 25, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> More pictures! Flaunt this puppy!


Is that a Hyper 48?  Crazy heavy chunk of copper.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2021)

68Olds said:


> Is that a Hyper 48?  Crazy heavy chunk of copper.


Can't tell. Maybe?


----------



## biffzinker (Feb 25, 2021)

Thermaltake Big Typhoon, Hyper is Cooler Master.


----------



## hat (Feb 25, 2021)

bogmali said:


>


----------



## bogmali (Feb 25, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Thermaltake Big Typhoon, Hyper is Cooler Master.


Ding, ding, ding


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 25, 2021)

I'll MAYBE get an 9800 XT..


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 25, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I'll MAYBE get an 9800 XT..


No maybes ! You have to get it !


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 25, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> No maybes ! You have to get it !


Agree.  Tho the seller is from USA so it will cost a lot, but... I want it


----------



## basco (Feb 25, 2021)

chloe- maybe have a lookout for 9800xl + xxl same chip as 9800xt but lower frenzy


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 25, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Agree.  Tho the seller is from USA so it will cost a lot, but... I want it


Then ...


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 25, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Agree.  Tho the seller is from USA so it will cost a lot, but... I want it


Yeah I know what you mean. I got my 6800 Ultra AGP from USA and paid a small fortune for it but I really wanted the card !


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 25, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Yeah I know what you mean. I got my 6800 Ultra AGP from USA and paid a small fortune for it but I really wanted the card !


I had one and I want to bash my head to the wall as I sold it.... maybe I can get it back as I know the dude.



basco said:


> chloe- maybe have a lookout for 9800xl + xxl same chip as 9800xt but lower frenzy


Yea I know those but I want a real XT as I'm getting one, no cheaping out now


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 26, 2021)

There is this second hand shop near me selling Dell Dimension XPS Gen 4 that missing a front panel that have X850XT card. The rest of the spec are Pentium 4 3.4GHz, 2GB DDR2, Creative Audigy soundcard among others that come standard. I really wanted that X850 but the set costs RM599 which is about ~USD150. Worth it? Not worth it?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 26, 2021)

Apocalypsee said:


> ~USD150. Worth it? Not worth it?


Depends. Are you collecting with the intention of restoring the system to an original(or near original) authentic state? If so, then yes that's a fair deal. If all you want to do is some classic Win9X/XP gaming then no, there are much better options out there.


----------



## hat (Feb 26, 2021)

For that price in the states, I can get a used workstation with a 1366 CPU and 8GB DDR3, so I would say no. It would have to be a 478 system with an Extreme Edition CPU for me to consider that price.

I wish there was a way I could fit my Big Typhoon on my 2600k. It's bound to be better than my Cryorig M9. Unfortunately, I don't have access to any metalworking tools, so I can't exactly just make one.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 26, 2021)

hat said:


> For that price in the states, I can get a used workstation with a 1366 CPU and 8GB DDR3, so I would say no. It would have to be a 478 system with an Extreme Edition CPU for me to consider that price.


True and for some classic XP gaming, hell yes. But the above system is a bit of a rare Dell system and it would be worth restoring as a show piece. It would also be a very cool Windows9X retro system.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Feb 26, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Depends. Are you collecting with the intention of restoring the system to an original(or near original) authentic state? If so, then yes that's a fair deal. If all you want to do is some classic Win9X/XP gaming then no, there are much better options out there.


I could restore it but my main intention is for XP gaming PC. So yeah, indeed there is a better deal elsewhere.


hat said:


> For that price in the states, I can get a used workstation with a 1366 CPU and 8GB DDR3, so I would say no. It would have to be a 478 system with an Extreme Edition CPU for me to consider that price.


Good point. The price is a bit steep. If it came complete with front panel and monitor I think it might worth that price.

Thank you both of you


----------



## basco (Feb 26, 2021)

how about wood Mr. hat ?
i was using an old xigmatek 775 cooler on a x99\ 5960x  without anytools just standing on it for over a year-but on a flat laying motherboard-dont know if yours is in a case.


----------



## hat (Feb 26, 2021)

No woodworking tools either, though I'm not sure I would want to make such a bracket out of wood... and the system is a standard ATX full tower, so it's not quite flat like that.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 26, 2021)

hat said:


> No woodworking tools either, though I'm not sure I would want to make such a bracket out of wood... and the system is a standard ATX full tower, so it's not quite flat like that.


Can't you just mcgyver something there?


----------



## F-Zero (Feb 27, 2021)

Some 3DMark benches with Geforce 6800 Ultra AGP vs Radeon X850 XT


----------



## Valantar (Feb 27, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Some 3DMark benches with Geforce 6800 Ultra AGP vs Radeon X850 XT View attachment 190215


So that's how you get a 6800 in your PC without paying scalpers or waiting for months! You've got it figured out 

Joking aside, those are some sweet builds - I guess that's what the opposite of a sleeper build must be!


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 27, 2021)

Valantar said:


> So that's how you get a 6800 in your PC without paying scalpers or waiting for months! You've got it figured out
> 
> Joking aside, those are some sweet builds - I guess that's what the opposite of a sleeper build must be!


The fastest buyers got a 6800 XT already in 2005


----------



## Valantar (Feb 27, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> The fastest buyers got a 6800 XT already in 2005
> 
> View attachment 190227


Honestly, you would think demand and supply had leveled out over the course of 16 years ...


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 1, 2021)

My office neighbor always has a way to surprise me. He's military, but very enthusiastic about restoring older computers and laptops that can still get some decent mileage. For him it's not a side-hustle, it's not a weekend hobby, but more of a lifestyle.
So, a few days ago he brought this into my office:



A 2009 Toshiba Satellite in better condition than my 2020 lappy. Not a scratch, not a speck of dust, brand new battery (non-original, but a near-ideal fit), and of course - perfect 17" 1600x900 display. All came bundled with an original 120W charger... Unfortunately - it's dead...  
I'm usually very unenthusiastic about fixing pre-2013 laptops, and I'm even more unenthusiastic about fixing pre-Zen AMD laptops, but this thing of beauty has to live. It's going onto my operating table this week. Finding a good-quality replacement NB for this platform is a nightmare, but still doable. I'll post updates if it shows any signs of life.
I think last time I was so excited about repairing an old laptop was with Acer 9920G - a 19" monstrosity(or 20.1" according to spec), with remote control and bad-ass 2.1 speakers.


----------



## Susquehannock (Mar 1, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> The fastest buyers got a 6800 XT already in 2005
> 
> View attachment 190227


Yes, yes I did.  Still have my Leadtek 6800nu. Big copper sinks on both sides of the card. Performed very well. Especially after using RivaTuner to unlock the extra pipes. Almost reached 6800GT levels but not quite.

Took the card apart and discovered height variations in the raised RAM pads resulting in uneven contact pressures, and gap over the GPU was much too wide. Being a machinist by trade thought to myself, I can improve that. Made a lapping block from solid aluminum and used micrometers to measure heights and got them all the same to match each chip. Much better contact on all areas. Now using premium paste. Card overclocked great afterward. Do not have screenshots for that anymore but do remember it was significant. Above 6800GT levels. Had my two weeks of fame being #7 on the top ten screen 3DMark 2003. Had so many e-mils asking that I made a Tripod page to show everything. Card still works today but have not opened the four pipes again. Have my 7800GS instead.


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 1, 2021)

Well there's serendipity! I hadn't seen the above post when I posted this!
I remember buying this *Leadtek WinFast A400 GT TDH* (Nvidia 6800GT 256MB) in Spain back in 2004 and it lasted me for several years and quite a performer. Trouble is, I don't have a motherboard to test it on any more, a situation I intend to remedy. Although I have a suspicion that I was only getting desktop but no 3D when I last fired it up.
Here's a review from Hexus:





						Leadtek WinFast A400 Ultra/GT TDH
					

The most obvious selling point of these two WinFast A400 boards is the cooling solution.  Not only does it look the part, but it's quiet and extremely effective too.  Both the GT and Ultra variants we've looked at have exhibited impressive overclocks, and the A400 GT is almost irresistible when...




					hexus.net
				



More to follow.
 

 



It's got one hell of a heatsink, that's for sure and if I ever run out of copper...


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 1, 2021)

OK, I think we should start a GeForce 6800 owners club


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 2, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> OK, I think we should start a GeForce 6800 owners club


I guess I need to get the camera & dust off the 6800 Ultra.


----------



## Valantar (Mar 2, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Yes, yes I did.  Still have my Leadtek 6800nu. Big copper sinks on both sides of the card. Performed very well. Especially after using RivaTuner to unlock the extra pipes. Almost reached 6800GT levels but not quite.
> 
> Took the card apart and discovered height variations in the raised RAM pads resulting in uneven contact pressures, and gap over the GPU was much too wide. Being a machinist by trade thought to myself, I can improve that. Made a lapping block from solid aluminum and used micrometers to measure heights and got them all the same to match each chip. Much better contact on all areas. Now using premium paste. Card overclocked great afterward. Do not have screenshots for that anymore but do remember it was significant. Above 6800GT levels. Had my two weeks of fame being #7 on the top ten screen 3DMark 2003. Had so many e-mils asking that I made a Tripod page to show everything. Card still works today but have not opened the four pipes again. Have my 7800GS instead.
> 
> ...


That offset fan mount is really weird - looks like whoever designed the heatsink and whoever designed the plastic mold didn't really communicate


----------



## Apocalypsee (Mar 2, 2021)

I got lucky and found this new old stock Sound Blaster Digital Music for measly ~USD10!





Everything is in the box


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 2, 2021)

Haha the surprise I had when I woke up and see all these Geforce 6800 series cards, c"mon I want to see MOAR !!!


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 2, 2021)

I seem to remember buying this Gainward GF3 at Overclockers UK in around 2002 and it's still going strong.


I've got my eye on one of these - Intel D865GBF, having once built a system with a D865PERL, which was a cracking motherboard and still running great in a customer PC for whom I built it.
The main difference is that the GBF has on board video and the PERLs available are asking too much.




I'm doubling posting again, but how do we opine on what's retro and what's not? I'm just about to build a system which is socket 478/AGP based, which begs the question: is 775/AM3/PCIE now retro?
Or is it a question of subjectivity?


----------



## agent_x007 (Mar 2, 2021)

100% subjective.
I think retro = cool old tech.
In my case, I made cut-off point of old and modern at AVX support (and UEFI BIOS).
Obselete is everything without intergrated IMC and SSE4.x support.
Difference between "Retro" and "Obselete" is the first one is cool in my eyes, while the obselete stuff isn't


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 2, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> 100% subjective.
> I think retro = cool old tech.
> In my case, I made cut-off point of old and modern at AVX support (and UEFI BIOS).
> Obselete is everything without intergrated IMC and SSE4.x support.
> Difference between "Retro" and "Obselete" is the first one is cool in my eyes, while the obselete stuff isn't


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 2, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Haha the surprise I had when I woke up and see all these Geforce 6800 series cards, c"mon I want to see MOAR !!!



ooOK  

*ASUS V9999 GE*


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 2, 2021)

Here's a *PC Format* review of the* GeForce 7800GTX* from August 2005, the month when HL2 was the favourite FPS, Deus Ex was the top RPG and the top HDD was the Deskstar 7K250 IDE (£92).
I'm pretty sure I was running a P4 3.2 back then.


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 2, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Here's a *PC Format* review of the* GeForce 7800GTX* from August 2005


Lol. I did my very first re-cap and smd rework on that exact same GPU... bought it broken for $10 off some dude back in 2006 or so.  
It looked like it went through a hailstorm or got "installed" into a brick wall instead of a PC, but it ran HLDM the next day just fine.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 2, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Here's a *PC Format* review of the* GeForce 7800GTX* from August 2005, the month when HL2 was the favourite FPS, Deus Ex was the top RPG and the top HDD was the Deskstar 7K250 IDE (£92).
> I'm pretty sure I was running a P4 3.2 back then.
> View attachment 190677 View attachment 190676



oh, have two of those, reference models as in this magazine; will do a proper revisit/review one day 
I think in 2005 the best HDD was the WD Raptor (1st Gen. 74G)


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 2, 2021)

I think the only reason I bought mine was because I've overheard somewhere on the internet that PS3 dev kits had those in them.
I know, it's the most ridiculous purchase validation, but it did well almost all the way 'till 2xHD3870 CF arrived at my doorstep.


----------



## hat (Mar 2, 2021)

I had an XFX 6800XT once upon a time. I have... bad memories. I had an Intel D865PERL motherboard with 1GB DDR400 Crucial Ballistix and a 3.0GHz P4 Prescott. The 6800XT was replacing my old FX5200 Ultra. It performed quite well, but it came with an Antec Smartpower 2.0 PSU. The power supply was _terrible_ and had coil whine from hell. I was constantly swapping hardware trying to figure out the problem. It would whine with the new 6800XT, but not with the FX5200. Eventually I actually fried the AGP port on that board, probably static electricity or something. I think the motherboard might have got replaced with another D865PERL, or... something... but I did some research and found that the Corsair VX430w would be a fine replacement for that terrible Antec unit. 

The hazy thing about it is that this was when I was still a wee lad, and had no money of my own to handle these things. I know the 6800XT and the Smartpower was a Christmas gift, and I also know I made sure on my next opportunity to get something it was that power supply. Pretty sure that was also Christmas time too. Or maybe it was my birthday. Hard to believe I went a whole year with a computer like that. Anyway, I didn't have the 6800XT for very long, because I got a system that used PCI-E soon after. It came with an artifacting ATI x1800XL, but man that was my first system that actually handled games well and without any stuttering or frame dips. I think I replaced the x1800XL with an Nvidia 8500GT, which was barely fast enough to run anything. It was a downgrade for sure, but it kept me in the game until I could get an 8600GTS. It was good enough until I got a 9800GT, which I promptly killed in a foolish overclocking accident. I sold the 8600GTS to somebody, so I went back to the 8500GT until I picked up a 9600GSO. That as an amazing price/performance card. It did a whole 5k PPD in F@H, which was an amazing value for the $34 or so I remember paying for it.


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 2, 2021)

Here's my eVGA 6800 Ultra AGP.  I put a Zalman cooler with vRAM sinks on it, but kept the original heatsink/fan.  I flashed it to a 6800 GT for a while, made a huge difference in benching scores.  It's been flashed back to the original BIOS for years though.  This was definitely one of my favorite video cards of all time.  I had it paired with a 3.4GHz Prescott running under water at 4.1GHz long past when most were running s478 motherboards.  My upgrade from this combo was a Core2Duo E6600 @ 3.6GHz with x1800XTs in Crossfire.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 3, 2021)

Apocalypsee said:


> I got lucky and found this new old stock Sound Blaster Digital Music for measly ~USD10!
> 
> View attachment 190609
> 
> ...


Fricken SCORE!!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 3, 2021)

My Gainward 6800 GT Golden Sample GLH with period aftermarket cooler. I still have the original cooler but both fans are shot.




__





						Gainward's GeForce 6800 GT Ultra/2400 Golden Sample Goes Like Hell 256MB
					

Gainward's GeForce 6800 GT Ultra/2400 Golden Sample Goes Like Hell 256MB is a fast and furious card that will ultimately appeal to the enthusiast who desires clock speed above all else. In that respect, it's a decent effort. Forget that it's named a GT; that's just clever marketing. The only...




					hexus.net


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 3, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> My Gainward 6800 GT Golden Sample GLH with period aftermarket cooler. I still have the original cooler but both fans are shot.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


For it's time, that was a bad-ass card! And despite the blower fan, it didn't get all that noisy!


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 3, 2021)

Dug through some old work photos, found a pic of that monstrous Acer 9920G I mentioned earlier(you can see how big it looks next to my old 23" monitor). Don't have any pics after repair. This one was taken along with a bunch of internal pics for the customer, to demonstrate that he bought a dud (GPU baked to crisp, messed up MoBo with several janky "repairs", wrong CPU, semi-alive HDD etc.) But eventually we've managed to bring it back to life and restore factory config with some upgrades. Even found a perfect top case, so he won't have to look at that ugly worn-out spot near touchpad.


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 3, 2021)

Well that's a result, the Intel D865GBF board boots up! I only say this because I bought it cheap from a bloke in the middle of nowhere following a long ride into the Wild West of BA, where a horse and cart is still a common sight. I kid you not.
I've always liked the Intel 865 socket 478 boards having had excellent experience with a D865PERL and this is the GBF version that came with a Celeron D which I've changed to a Pentium 4 3.0Ghz and a decent copper bottomed heatsink.
I was even more amazed when I found an I/O shield in my bits box with an exact fit. That rarely happens, so I was a bit chuffed at that.
All I need now is a case


----------



## sl1pkn07 (Mar 3, 2021)

vukos said:


> Alright well this search was easier than I thought. You are the man, *THANKS*
> 
> So while I got the 1353 Bios successfully installed, it has not resolved my big outstanding issue: I am trying to get this thing to boot from a Samsung 950 Pro NVME SSD, which has the legacy boot rom so it should work. However no matter which PCIE port I have this PCIE-NVME adapter plugged into, the system doesn't get past the Intel bios splash screen. Can't even get into the BIOS with this adapter plugged in (I tried three different ones too).
> 
> ...


Hi. i have purchase the same board weeks ago.

my config:






Intel D5400XS (Skulltrail) (Bios 1353)
2x Xeon x5482
32Gb Hynix HMP31GF7EMR4C (4x8Gb 4RX4)
Shapphire 5750 Vapor X (weah!)
2X CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (2fans push pull with printed brackets https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1950312)
Deepcool MATREXX 55 V3
Thermaltake 850W Toughpower Cable Management (with custom 2x 8p EPS)
Coolbox PCIE to M2 adapter (https://coolbox.es/cajas-pc-y-componentes/3570-adaptador-nvm-pcie-8436556148866.html)
Kingston A2000 NVME

I can boot the machine if populated the pcie M2 adapter to PCIE_2. (if not, i get *E6* error) AND use the Clover loader (https://www.win-raid.com/t2375f50-G...r-UEFI-BIOS-Clover-EFI-bootloader-method.html) into USB dongle

i hope this work for you

greetings


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 3, 2021)

@Chloe Price, any news on the Radeon 9800 XT ?


----------



## Susquehannock (Mar 4, 2021)

For the love of Abit. Sure miss them. Their message boards with techs answering questions was an amazing resource. Thread in another forum inspired me to use this KG7-R for my next build - after a good cleaning.

First board I ever bought. All the Nichicon and Rubycon caps look good. Have not put power to it in near 20 years.  Moved to Abit KR7A and never looked back. Much better board in my humble opinion.


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 4, 2021)

I've acquired a nice beige and very solid case and the pervious owner very kindly left all the components inside. It turns out to be a Duron 1200 on an unidentifiable board with no obvious markings, but at least it boots. I'm wondering if it's a PC Chips, because most of those are red. Either way, I'll be using the case for the Intel board and leave this one for later.
What's the best way to ID a board? An old copy of Everest perhaps? Or maybe CPU-Z would pick it up.
Edit:
Everest confirms it's a PC Chips M810LR.


----------



## sl1pkn07 (Mar 4, 2021)

maybe is a PC-Chips M810L unit?



			http://niger.com.ar/news/newpdf.php?13
		


greetings

taked from "duron rev 7.1a" information


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 4, 2021)

sl1pkn07 said:


> maybe is a PC-Chips M810L unit?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is indeed a PC Chips M810LR!
Well spotted.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 4, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> What's the best way to ID a board?


Maybe you could glean some information from the BIOS, some vendor-specific options? Or try putting the BIOS string into Google.

EDIT: Guess I was too late


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 5, 2021)

The P4 is taking shape and after I took this shot I realised that Mr intel was upside down  . Anyway, it's a good solid case apart from one of the side panels, which is badly dented and rusty.
I plan to put XP on this machine and see if I can get up to 2GB of RAM, but I'm doubtful about the Leadtek 6800GT.
Work in progress...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 5, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> The P4 is taking shape and after I took this shot I realised that Mr intel was upside down  . Anyway, it's a good solid case apart from one of the side panels, which is badly dented and rusty.
> I plan to put XP on this machine and see if I can get up to 2GB of RAM, but I'm doubtful about the Leadtek 6800GT.
> Work in progress...
> View attachment 190974


Those heatsinks are reversible. Turn it around man!

EDIT;
That system would also greatly benefit from a SB Live or SB Audigy for one of those bottom PCI slots.


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 5, 2021)

Radeon HD 2900 PRO


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 5, 2021)

My God that was gross! Nice cleaning job tho


----------



## DR4G00N (Mar 5, 2021)

sl1pkn07 said:


> Hi. i have purchase the same board weeks ago.
> 
> my config:
> 
> ...


Swap those CPU's out for a pair of X5470's or X5460's and OC them any D5400Xs will happily run them at 4.0 or 3.8GHz respectively all day long.
My D5400XS runs a pair of X5460's @ 4GHz (9.5*421 FSB) with 16GB's of ram without issue. 

Make sure you get a fan on the Northbridge btw, it gets quite hot even at stock and can effect stability when oc'ing.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 5, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Radeon HD 2900 PRO


Nice. I have the same card. They overclock like a champ.


----------



## Ashley98 (Mar 5, 2021)

Hey guys not sure why i have never made an account on here but i am a massive fan of the HD2900 Series have all of them
HD 2900 GT
HD 2900 PRO 256 BIT 256MB
HD 2900 PRO 512 BIT 512MB
HD 2900 PRO 512 BIT 1GB
HD 2900 XT 512MB 
HD 2900 XT 1GB
OEM HD 2900 XTX

HD 2900 PRO 1GB is missing from the picture i got it recently


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 6, 2021)

Ashley98 said:


> Hey guys not sure why i have never made an account on here but i am a massive fan of the HD2900 Series have all of them
> HD 2900 GT
> HD 2900 PRO 256 BIT 256MB
> HD 2900 PRO 512 BIT 512MB
> ...


Wow, that's a nice collection!  Thanks for sharing.


----------



## sl1pkn07 (Mar 6, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> Swap those CPU's out for a pair of X5470's or X5460's and OC them any D5400Xs will happily run them at 4.0 or 3.8GHz respectively all day long.
> My D5400XS runs a pair of X5460's @ 4GHz (9.5*421 FSB) with 16GB's of ram without issue.
> 
> Make sure you get a fan on the Northbridge btw, it gets quite hot even at stock and can effect stability when oc'ing.




Hi

i can ask why? i don't want OC

have you a the NB braket design? for print one

greetings

PS: is a 5870, not 5750 (i can't edit the post)


----------



## TheKingGamerBr (Mar 6, 2021)

Have you guys seen that?


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 6, 2021)

Alright nostalgia geeks I need some help identifying the origins of this chip.



So naturally I'd expect this to be some trade show floor sample, or an internal chip, or even a review chip... But it's a pretty late date code for a ClawHammer FX-55, combined with the fact that I can't find any visual reference of any review chips ever carrying a "not for sale" warning. The only AMD chips I've seen with that warning are some older engineering/qualification samples sent to vendors and specifically picked out chips like the Phenom II 42 TWKR.

Anyone have a reference of where this chip may have originated from?


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 6, 2021)

TheKingGamerBr said:


> Have you guys seen that?



Yeah i'm following Joe for quiet some time, crazy collection he got.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 6, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Alright nostalgia geeks I need some help identifying the origins of this chip.
> 
> View attachment 191127View attachment 191128
> 
> ...


You're probably correct on a trade show giveaway. Might have more luck asking at CPU World.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 6, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> @Chloe Price, any news on the Radeon 9800 XT ?


Not yet, haven't got cash yet. I'll keep ya guys updated.



Susquehannock said:


> Yes, yes I did.  Still have my Leadtek 6800nu. Big copper sinks on both sides of the card. Performed very well. Especially after using RivaTuner to unlock the extra pipes. Almost reached 6800GT levels but not quite.
> 
> Took the card apart and discovered height variations in the raised RAM pads resulting in uneven contact pressures, and gap over the GPU was much too wide. Being a machinist by trade thought to myself, I can improve that. Made a lapping block from solid aluminum and used micrometers to measure heights and got them all the same to match each chip. Much better contact on all areas. Now using premium paste. Card overclocked great afterward. Do not have screenshots for that anymore but do remember it was significant. Above 6800GT levels. Had my two weeks of fame being #7 on the top ten screen 3DMark 2003. Had so many e-mils asking that I made a Tripod page to show everything. Card still works today but have not opened the four pipes again. Have my 7800GS instead.
> 
> ...


GF 6800 cards were AWESOME. I remember some which I had:

Asus 6800 LE (aka V9999LE) AGP, pixel/vertex units upened to 12/5 and oc'd to 380/940(DDR). Was pretty nice.
Leadtek 6800 AGP which was pre-modded to 16/6 units and it had GPU speed of a GT
Palit 6800 GS 128MB 128-bit AGP, kinda a weird one but still pretty ok for an AGP card
Club3D 6800 GS PCIe, I actually finished Crysis with this (1024x768 low and effects high, tho I had to drop to 800x600 on the last level)
Gainward 6800 Ultra AGP, I was stupid af and sold this about a decade ago..
Asus 6800 GT 128MB (aka V9999GT) AGP, that was kinda lame card as it was practically just a pre-modded 6800 (LE) as it had only 128MB GDDR instead of 256 GDDR3 like a real GT

...your pic reminds me that I bought also a 7800 GS recently but the card seems to be dead.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> ...your pic reminds me that I bought also a 7800 GS recently but the card seems to be dead.


That seems to be the way with those. I've gone through 7 7800 GS's and 4 7950 GT's.
Prices on those are getting stupid. Most go for 100 bucks or better now.


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 6, 2021)

Unfortunately my Leadtek A400 TDH 6800GT has finally given up, but it was a great card while it lasted 
Anyway, I finally put a Winfast Geforce 3 in the P4/XP build, managed to get the 2GB of RAM in dual channel mode and XP Pro installed without any issue. I also found a great site with all the drivers for the Intel D865 mobo and the machine flies along.
It's good to keep reminding myself how far we've come in the last 20 years. The only time I use CD ROMs and floppies are when I play with old tech, but it's still very rewarding when it all comes together.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 6, 2021)

What would be a good game with a benchmark feature? Now I'll finally do that review with many GPUs (AGP and PCIe), using the same CPU on every one of those (A64 X2 6000+ @ 3.2GHz)

E: I'll go with Doom 3 at least


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> What would be a good game with a benchmark feature? Now I'll finally do that review with many GPUs (AGP and PCIe), using the same CPU on every one of those (A64 X2 6000+ @ 3.2GHz)
> 
> E: I'll go with Doom 3 at least



It depends of the era, can you be more precise?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 6, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> It depends of the era, can you be more precise?


About something from 2003 to 2005 and it has to have built-in benchmark (or timedemo feature).

Ran the benchmarks (3DMark 2001SE, 03, Doom 3 at 1024x768 medium) already on GF3 Ti 200... now it's 6600 GT's turn. I run every card at stock and with a mild OC.


----------



## Ashley98 (Mar 6, 2021)

Been collecting for about 4-5 years now
Have about
87 Nvidia AGP
63 Radeon AGP
Prices are getting out of hand
A 7950 GT on eBay just recently sold for £333.99
There is people scalping retro GPUs now not cool DO NOT pay these prices!

Whole Collection Sheets Doc + Prices i paid








						Copy of Inventory
					

AGP Graphics Cards - Nvidia EN/SE  Graphics Card,Core Clock,Mem Clock,Memory Size,Vendor ,GPU Core Info,Condition,Price Paid ,Place of Purchase,Works?,Notes,Location Geforce DDR - Dell OEM,120Mhz,150Mhz,32MB,Dell,NV 10,Mint,£14.95,Ebay,3DMark - Pass,SE Geforce DDR - Creative CT 6970 3D Blaster,12...




					docs.google.com


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 7, 2021)

Ashley98 said:


> Prices are getting out of hand
> A 7950 GT on eBay just recently sold for £333.99
> There is people scalping retro GPUs now not cool DO NOT pay these prices!


Also beware of the Chinese knockoff's. Had 2 7950 GT's that lasted me about 10 minutes each. 
Was denied refund. Claimed user error.

Hello Ash.  
Always a pleasure.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 7, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> About something from 2003 to 2005 and it has to have built-in benchmark (or timedemo feature).


I guess Far Cry and Half Life 2 are a must then. Both came out in 2004 and were true touchstones of their time. You can benchmark them with a simple scripted app. Other than these, AquaMark3 benchmark uses the same engine as the 2003 game AquaNox 2 and the 2004 Counter-Strike: Source has a built-in benchmark.


----------



## Ashley98 (Mar 7, 2021)

Hey Scotty
Nice to see you here, 

As for Geforce 7 Series AGP collecting. Avoid XFX 7900GS/7950GT there is some kind of massive factory defect with them both,  I had a 7900GS in was working for 3 mins then poof Lines through the screen there has been a few people with the same exact lines issue picture perfect might i add. So if someone with PCB diagnosis knowledge can find out what goes wrong with these cards would be great as seems consistent.

If you live in the US , You may be able to find an 7900GS/7950GT AGP by Galaxy. Leadtek Also made a 7950GT 
If you live in Europe , Then you should have no issues finding a Gainward 7800GS+ there is 2 main versions you want the 20 Pipe (7900gs with barcode 47846200-7739) and 24 Pipe (7950gt with barcode 471846200-7876). These are far the best 7 Series AGP cards they never go above 60c even with overclocks pushed to the max. Only issue i see sometimes caps need replacing as there from the cap plague


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 7, 2021)

Here are some benches with the HD 2900 PRO vs HD 3870 Toxic I did yesterday.

System specs are:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, default clock
DFI LanParty DK x38 T2RB
4x2 Gb DDR 2 800 Mhz
Crucial BX 500 480 Gb SSD
Windows XP Pro
HD 2900 PRO 13.1 Driver
HD 3870 12.1 Driver

Benches are: 
*Crysis*, 1280x1024, High Details, No AA
*D00M 3*, 1280x1024, Ultra Details, No AA
*3DMark06*, Default


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 7, 2021)

Ashley98 said:


> Then you should have no issues finding a Gainward 7800GS+ there is 2 main versions you want the 20 Pipe (7900gs with barcode 47846200-7739) and 24 Pipe (7950gt with barcode 471846200-7876). These are far the best 7 Series AGP cards


Gainward used to make some of the best AGP cards back then. I had a 7600GT Golden Sample. It was factory overclocked at 575/750, but could do 710/850 and match a regular 7800GT.



F-Zero said:


> Here are some benches with the HD 2900 PRO vs HD 3870 Toxic I did yesterday.


Got nearly identical results in 3dMark06 with an oc'd HD3850 on AGP, so I guess it checks out.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 7, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> I guess Far Cry and Half Life 2 are a must then. Both came out in 2004 and were true touchstones of their time. You can benchmark them with a simple scripted app. Other than these, AquaMark3 benchmark uses the same engine as the 2003 game AquaNox 2 and the 2004 Counter-Strike: Source has a built-in benchmark.


Yea, I need to test FarCry too and why not AM3 as well at least. Tho too lazy to do that now as I'm not going to retest with all the AGP cards now, as I'm already in HD 3850 and then I'll switch to PCIe platform.


----------



## Ashley98 (Mar 7, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Gainward used to make some of the best AGP cards back then. I had a 7600GT Golden Sample. It was factory overclocked at 575/750, but could do 710/850 and match a regular 7800GT.


I had one of my 7800GS+ AGP Cards doing 7900GTX Speeds just fine which is totally insane


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 7, 2021)

Remember my Win7 min spec project? I purposedly built a rig using the weakest components officially supported by Microsoft. My goal was to create the absolute minimum system able to run the 64-bit version with Aero Glass UI and see how it performs today.
At the time the slowest drive I had on hand was a 120 GB 5,400 rpm laptop HDD. MS's own minimum is 20 GB. I've been trying to source such a small drive for a while. Now I finally got it 



The guy said he'd trade it for a big chocolate. No, I'm not kidding. It's 20 GB and 4,200 rpm, and the only snag is connecting it to an ATX board. It's a laptop drive, so it uses a 2.5" 44-pin IDE connector, rather than the standard 3.5" 40-pin one. Luckily, I was able to procure an appropriate adapter. TBH, I didn't even know they existed.



The four additional pins on the 2.5" connector carry power, hence the molex.
Windows 7, here I come!


----------



## Susquehannock (Mar 7, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> That seems to be the way with those. I've gone through 7 7800 GS's and 4 7950 GT's.
> Prices on those are getting stupid. Most go for 100 bucks or better now.


Seven of them huh? Wow. My problem was getting a good one in the first place. Received three dead BFG 7800gs in a row. Some had obviously been returns and poor repair attempts. Made a post about it [h]ere back in the day.

Eventually ended up eating over $80 in return shipping and insurance charges. NewEgg and BFG kept running me around placing blame on one other. Spent near a year on it. Even showed them close to two dozen bad review posts with similar issues on Egg's site. Oh well. Almost embarrassed to say this but that card kept me going in a XP/nForce2 system until 2016 when I finally upgraded. Was during my Metalsmithing phase when I did not use PC much. And the card still works perfectly - so far.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 8, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> My problem was getting a good one in the first place.


Partially mine also. 4 of those were DOA's of both new and second hand. I killed the other 3 benching. I have one working one left. I haven't had a working 7950 GT in years.
Pretty much any on e-bay now will probably be dead, so beware all.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 8, 2021)

These are not mine (I wish they are ... I could sure use one, myself with all the DVDs around here!) but thought I'd post them nevertheless 


 



But the unanswered question still remains ... can you use your DVD rewinder on a CD and/or Blue Ray? Or would it rewind the movie the wrong way & corrupt all the data?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 8, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> can you use your DVD rewinder on a CD and/or Blue Ray? Or would it rewind the movie the wrong way & corrupt all the data?


I was wondering the same... it takes ages on PS3 to rewind blurays, dammit.


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 8, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those heatsinks are reversible. Turn it around man!


Solved!


lexluthermiester said:


> EDIT;
> That system would also greatly benefit from a SB Live or SB Audigy for one of those bottom PCI slots.


Don't have any fancy sound cards unfortunately, but I do have a nice little speaker which I simply use for testing sound on customer PCs.
Since it also has a rechargeable battery, it can also be used in conjunction with a portable transistor radio like a Walkman when there's a power failure


----------



## hat (Mar 8, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> These are not mine (I wish they are ... I could sure use one, myself with all the DVDs around here!) but thought I'd post them nevertheless
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Chloe Price said:


> I was wondering the same... it takes ages on PS3 to rewind blurays, dammit.


Probably won't work on blu-ray, it uses a different laser.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 8, 2021)

hat said:


> Probably won't work on blu-ray, it uses a different laser.


It doesn't have (or need) a laser to rewind, but I get your point!

Rewind too fast (or in the wrong direction) & you'll scramble all your data! So, just to be a on a safe side, use DVD rewinder strictly for rewinding DVDs. Then hopefully, some day perhaps ... we shall see more flexible solution


----------



## Valantar (Mar 9, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> It doesn't have (or need) a laser to rewind, but I get your point!
> 
> Rewind too fast (or in the wrong direction) & you'll scramble all your data! So, just to be a on a safe side, use DVD rewinder strictly for rewinding DVDs. Then hopefully, some day perhaps ... we shall see more flexible solution


But without the correct laser, how can it ensure it doesn't rewind too far? Does it just guess based on the capacity of a standard DVD? That sounds risky. I don't think I'd trust it without sufficient safety precautions.


----------



## Bones (Mar 9, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Partially mine also. 4 of those were DOA's of both new and second hand. I killed the other 3 benching. I have one working one left. I haven't had a working 7950 GT in years.
> Pretty much any on e-bay now will probably be dead, so beware all.


Then I have to be lucky since I do have a 7950 GT that works and has very little runtime on it since it was new. 
I bought it as a NOS item a few years ago from someone on fleabay and yes, it was indeed a brand new/unused GPU still in it's box. 

I've got it around here somewhere and will probrably keep it as a standby, you never know right?


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 9, 2021)

Picking through more scrap lots. Found a few okay chips...

But then this emerged from the bag of loose chips:



I've been back on a S939 kick lately and was just remarking to another group how I'd really like to find one some day. Well, here it is! Oh but it doesn't get to be all happy happenstance, oh no. This chip has been bouncing around in a box with 11lbs of other chips, shipped across the country with no padding. No this chip is _wrecked._




So after riding the high of fixing that FX-55 a few days ago I thought I'd sit down with the work light, my tweezers, a dull blade and about 3 hours of my time.



The soldering iron made a guest appearance at the very end when the absolute last pin was just a tad too wobbly to withstand socket pressure. The others bent at the knees were straightened with some broad head tweezers, carefully pressed back into shape with applied pressure. But then, it was done. Good enough for a quick and easy OC too!



Progress pics. Condition when it arrived, then after a cleaning, then finally all fixed up.





I love chip lots. One good find is worth more than any minuscule scraps of gold these chips could have given. Happy to save another great CPU from destruction.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 9, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> But then this emerged from the bag of loose chips:


Awww, it pains me just to look at it. Your work reviving this chip is nothing short of amazing!


----------



## Valantar (Mar 9, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Picking through more scrap lots. Found a few okay chips...
> 
> But then this emerged from the bag of loose chips:
> View attachment 191651
> ...


You should advertise to do this for people with bent pins on their CPUs. Could probably make some money off that - as long as you charge less than the cost of a new CPU  The quality of that work is outstanding.


----------



## Susquehannock (Mar 9, 2021)

4800+ .... sweet. Great job on that. 

Those are ridiculously expensive now so had to settle for 4400+ in my 939 build. And haven't even updated BIOS to make use of dual core yet so still on 3000+ thus far. One more iron in the fire which needs more attention.


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 9, 2021)

Valantar said:


> You should advertise to do this for people with bent pins on their CPUs. Could probably make some money off that - as long as you charge less than the cost of a new CPU  The quality of that work is outstanding.



I guess I could. Logistics costs can seriously hamper any value the service provides unless of course we're talking about some exceptional chips that need fixing.



Susquehannock said:


> 4800+ .... sweet. Great job on that.
> 
> Those are ridiculously expensive now so had to settle for 4400+ in my 939 build. And haven't even updated BIOS to make use of dual core yet so still on 3000+ thus far. One more iron in the fire which needs more attention.



Yeah no joke! I've also been stuck with a 4400+ as my X2 for S939 for years. My 4400+ clocks so poorly that I've been almost always just resorting to the FX-57 set to 3GHz as my baseline for the platform. Now the 4800+ even at 2.7GHz is pretty much the go-to.


----------



## Valantar (Mar 9, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> I guess I could. Logistics costs can seriously hamper any value the service provides unless of course we're talking about some exceptional chips that need fixing.


I've seen enough posts of people having dropped their brand-new Ryzen chips to make me think that it could make sense.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 9, 2021)

Bones said:


> Then I have to be lucky since I do have a 7950 GT that works and has very little runtime on it since it was new.


AGP? Then you ARE lucky.



Fouquin said:


> Happy to save another great CPU from destruction.


You have far more patience than I could ever have. lol


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 9, 2021)

Guys my_ overclocked MX400 vs GTS_ comparison is complete! 





In 2001 the Italian website “nv Italia” published a very interesting review: in the attempt to reach the more powerful GeForce2 GTS (but at much lower price point), a rather special GeForce2 MX400 and a Kyro II (Hercules 3D Prophet 4500) were competing against it. 
But wait, how do these cards were supposed to compete with the GTS? 
Well, I’m glad I asked: the Kyro II had it’s very promising tile based rendering technology, able to boost performance even at low clocks and lower specs but the ASUS V7100Pro MX400, although was basically a GTS with half of the rendering pipelines and half of the memory bandwidth had a secret weapon, very useful for the heavily bandwidth limited Celsius architecture: It had extremely-low-latency (underclocked) memory modules!
continue reading

Also captured the tests and made side-by-side video comparison










Now time for some GeForce6 6800 pipeline unlock fun!


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 10, 2021)

Thanks @framebuffer


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 10, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> AGP? Then you ARE lucky.


Very lucky indeed! AGP 7950's existed but were rare even when new. They are exceedingly rare now!


----------



## Space Lynx (Mar 10, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Guys my_ overclocked MX400 vs GTS_ comparison is complete!



When I read this... I was thinking oh, that sounds like hardcore nostalgia. Then I scrolled and spotted the actual youtube comparison video... I need one of those mind blown gif's   

that is so epic.  awesome, ty for sharing!


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 10, 2021)

My co-worker surprised me with this


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 10, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Picking through more scrap lots. Found a few okay chips...
> 
> But then this emerged from the bag of loose chips:
> View attachment 191651
> ...



Holy crap!! Never seen something like that 

BTW I just received two WD Raptors 500G* in a paper envelope*, haven't had the courage to open it and test them yet 




F-Zero said:


> Thanks @framebuffer
> 
> View attachment 191770



Hahaha thanks man 



lynx29 said:


> When I read this... I was thinking oh, that sounds like hardcore nostalgia. Then I scrolled and spotted the actual youtube comparison video... I need one of those mind blown gif's
> 
> that is so epic.  awesome, ty for sharing!



Thanks, I'm glad you like it 




F-Zero said:


> My co-worker surprised me with this
> 
> View attachment 191799View attachment 191800View attachment 191801View attachment 191802View attachment 191803



oh nice! 
but what I really like from this pics is the DFI!!


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 10, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> My co-worker surprised me with this
> 
> View attachment 191802



Mmm... G92...


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 11, 2021)

a new monster just arrived 





and it has 2.5ns memory so it should overclock easily to 800MHz+ (from 666MHz), should it make any difference with the PCI bus anyway, will see


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 11, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Guys my_ overclocked MX400 vs GTS_ comparison is complete!


Great read, thanks for the memories! I used to have an MX400 as well. That was 20 years ago?! Geez, I'm old... 
My GF2 was a Leadtek with 5.5ns memory and was factory oc'd at 200/183. It would only go to 215/190, so nowhere near your sample. Looking forward to more comparisons!


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 11, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Great read, thanks for the memories! I used to have an MX400 as well. That was 20 years ago?! Geez, I'm old...
> My GF2 was a Leadtek with 5.5ns memory and was factory oc'd at 200/183. It would only go to 215/190, so nowhere near your sample. Looking forward to more comparisons!



thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
yes the ASUS V7100PRO is a little monster, imagine when it was new and most probably the memory was able to stay at 250MHz+  

BTW as a future follow up of this compare, I plan to use a GeForce4 MX460 to simulate a GeForce2 MX400 with infinite (well, up to 7.2GB/s  ) bandwidth and verify
1. the point where it matches the GTS performance with half of the pipelines 
2. the point where eventually the 4 pipelines are no more bandwidth limited


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 12, 2021)

*AMD Athlon 800MHz • 512KB • 180nm/Pluto • Slot A • 2000





*


----------



## Bones (Mar 12, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> AGP? Then you ARE lucky.
> 
> 
> You have far more patience than I could ever have. lol


No, it's PCI-E but even those in the "Like New" condition this one is in are hard to find.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 12, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> *AMD Athlon 800MHz • 512KB • 180nm/Pluto • Slot A • 2000
> 
> View attachment 192136*


Nice. I love the Slot A's.
Got one of these?


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 13, 2021)

I love weird devices/modules, but I never saw that one.  Could you tell us about it?

I have had three different PowerLeap socket adaptors over the years.  My favorite was the Slocket, but the only one I still have is the s423 to s478 adaptor.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 13, 2021)

68Olds said:


> I love weird devices/modules, but I never saw that one.  Could you tell us about it?
> 
> I have had three different PowerLeap socket adaptors over the years.  My favorite was the Slocket, but the only one I still have is the s423 to s478 adaptor.


It's similar to the goldfinger. Allows for direct CPU overclocking instead of using motherboard features. For example, that device will allow an Athlon 800 to run at 1ghz by changing the multi directly on the CPU.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2021)

It is a Gold Finger Device (GFD) made for overclocking the slot A's. There were many different one's made but all look similar and did pretty much the same thing.
Device plugs onto fingers on top of the CPU card much like an SLI bridge. Yes, that means you either have to remove the case on the CPU or cut it. Switches control the multi and vcore. Some even controlled the cache multi. Pending the board that you're using, sometimes you can get quite a large overclock. Definitely an enthusiast niche product. All are almost extinct now. It took me near 10 years to find this one.
On a side note: there is somebody at CPU World that will be making these again. I actually have the prototype for testing right now. It looks sweet. Much more compact and easier to use than the originals.
I would post a picture but don't want to let the cat out of the bag, being that it's not my cat.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 13, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice. I love the Slot A's.
> Got one of these?



Unfortunately I don't...
Anyway having only two Athlon Slot A (the one in the photo and another 600MHz) I'm not sure if I would mess with the plastic shroud disassembly to reach the connectors for the GFD...


----------



## hat (Mar 13, 2021)

Now there's an idea. I wonder if we could see such a thing for modern CPUs.


----------



## Retrorockit (Mar 13, 2021)

Stop me (JUST TRY) if you've heard this before. John Titor comes back from 2036 to get an IBM 5100 computer.









I'll even start the debunking myself. The first portable computer was the Olivetti Programma 101 in 1964.


----------



## Caring1 (Mar 13, 2021)

Retrorockit said:


> Stop me (JUST TRY) if you've heard this before. John Titor comes back from 2036 to get an IBM 5100 computer.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That belongs in General nonsense.
Sure his name isn't John Connor?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 13, 2021)

hat said:


> Now there's an idea. I wonder if we could see such a thing for modern CPUs.


I doubt as they're so hardlocked that I'm pretty sure there's nothing like that would be possible.


----------



## debs3759 (Mar 13, 2021)

There are people on Vogons making new Goldfinger devices as well, and they look like they are much closer to having working devices ready, after just months of work by a few members.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2021)

debs3759 said:


> There are people on Vogons making new Goldfinger devices as well, and they look like they are much closer to having working devices ready, after just months of work by a few members.


The prototype I was sent works. 
Just testing every single combination first before I give my stamp of approval.


----------



## debs3759 (Mar 14, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> The prototype I was sent works.
> Just testing every single combination first before I give my stamp of approval.


Cool - it's only taken 4 years


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 14, 2021)

debs3759 said:


> Cool - it's only taken 4 years


I know. Definitely was not on the front burner for sure.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2021)

Heh, RGinHD reviewed a GF 6800 XT, loved the title.


----------



## Retrorockit (Mar 14, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> That belongs in General nonsense.
> Sure his name isn't John Connor?


Since none of the calamities he predicted have come to pass, the mission was obviously a complete success! You can thank him later.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 14, 2021)

Should anyone need to use secured Samba on Windows 98 I wrote a short guide how to enable and activate NTLM2 and mount a share from a modern Samba Server
link: https://framebuffer.io/blog/win98-smb

Note: when I started getting some documentation about NTLM2 and Windows 98 I ended up finding this document published by the CIA  ...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 15, 2021)

2nd (and some of the panels from the 4th, smaller) Adison tower(s) are back, and looking better than ever! 


 



More pics & information coming up tomorrow, as soon as I unwrap everything & put it back together


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 15, 2021)

Well this really sucks!!!

I've got my ole MSI K8T Master2-FAR and was getting it ready to do a dual processor Windows 2000 pro build and found one of the CPU cooler brackets has broke!!!






I have been searching all over the net and have not come up with anything as a stock replacement.

I ended up having to order two AM2/940 stock cooler brackets. Man, I hope them fit.

Of course I'm going to have to replace the coolers due to the mounting design, but I've got a pair of Rosewill Z1 coolers that I got here from @bogmali 3 or 4 years ago.

Now I just have to hope that both of them coolers will fit since the sockets are fairly close to each other. And that the stock socket 940 mounts will fit.

Unlike the 939's that use a single mounting screw, the 940's use dual screws at each end.


If anyone has an idea where to get an original mount, I'd certainly appreciate it!!!!


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 15, 2021)

Sapphire X1900 XTX


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 15, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well this really sucks!!!
> 
> I've got my ole MSI K8T Master2-FAR and was getting it ready to do a dual processor Windows 2000 pro build and found one of the CPU cooler brackets has broke!!!
> 
> ...



Man that board is fantastic!  
Don't get too mad for the bracket, today I received a MSI Neo 2 Platinum, a board I was looking for since years because it's one of the best Socket 939 / AGP combinations ever existed and also because it meant a lot for me back in 2004... and nothing, it's dead, no video output with 2 different CPUs (New Castle, Venice), 3 different video cards, including a PCI one and various RAM modules tried in all the slots :`(
Things can be much worse than a broken bracket 



F-Zero said:


> Sapphire X1900 XTX
> 
> View attachment 192558View attachment 192559View attachment 192560View attachment 192561View attachment 192562



A W E S O M E


----------



## Valantar (Mar 15, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well this really sucks!!!
> 
> I've got my ole MSI K8T Master2-FAR and was getting it ready to do a dual processor Windows 2000 pro build and found one of the CPU cooler brackets has broke!!!
> 
> ...


I have to ask: does that board let you choose between one x16 slot or two x8 slots by flipping over a little SODIMM-like PCB between the two? If so: that is BRILLIANT.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 15, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well this really sucks!!!
> 
> I've got my ole MSI K8T Master2-FAR and was getting it ready to do a dual processor Windows 2000 pro build and found one of the CPU cooler brackets has broke!!!
> 
> ...


Pentium 4 and Thermalright XP-90/XP120 use that same type of mount. Just tossing you a different avenue to explore. GL


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2021)

Valantar said:


> I have to ask: does that board let you choose between one x16 slot or two x8 slots by flipping over a little SODIMM-like PCB between the two? If so: that is BRILLIANT.


Those older SLI supporting boards couldn't detect automatically what's there. So yeah, you had to do it manually.

...and that IS a physical SODIMM slot as I remember having a similar thing on my nF650i SLI board, even the slot said "2.5V"


----------



## Caring1 (Mar 16, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Those older SLI supporting boards couldn't detect automatically what's there. So yeah, you had to do it manually.
> 
> ...and that IS a physical SODIMM slot as I remember having a similar thing on my nF650i SLI board, even the slot said "2.5V"


Had an old MSI board with one of those, I was tempted to frame the Motherboard it was that nice.
Ended up binning it after years of storage and it not working.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> Had an old MSI board with one of those, I was tempted to frame the Motherboard it was that nice.
> Ended up binning it after years of storage and it not working.


Yeah, mine broke too, mine was a P6N SLI Platinum. I was pretty pissed as the board broke when I just had bought GTA IV back then and was going to install it.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 16, 2021)

Valantar said:


> I have to ask: does that board let you choose between one x16 slot or two x8 slots by flipping over a little SODIMM-like PCB between the two? If so: that is BRILLIANT.



Yep, I believe that's correct. It is SLi on one side and single graphics card on the other. DFI had a similar setup only they had jumpers that did the same thing. 



Mr.Scott said:


> Pentium 4 and Thermalright XP-90/XP120 use that same type of mount. Just tossing you a different avenue to explore. GL



Oh hell, that is good to know for sure man!!!!! I'll look into that as well.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 18, 2021)

*GeForce2 Ultra* -* GeForce 8800 Ultra*


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 18, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> *GeForce2 Ultra* -* GeForce 8800 Ultra*
> 
> View attachment 192978


The pic is missing 6800 Ultra with its sexy Nalu the mermaid stock cooler


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 18, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> The pic is missing 6800 Ultra with its sexy Nalu the mermaid stock cooler



I don't have one 
It's on my most wanted list since a while, but anyway this picture has a specific point, let's see if someone can guess it (it's very easy actually)


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 18, 2021)

I'll just re-post this, cause it's cool as hell, and makes me excited like a little kid on Christmas. 
Got this in mail today. Already took it apart for some rework, and installed my rig in it. 
Previous owner already started some mods, I'm just gonna take over from where he stopped working on his pet project.
HDD rack is already removed (which I'm not a big fan of, but it'll do for now), front panel half-ready for a bunch of fans or 480mm rad, top has an extra hole for a grand total of 3 fans(2x140 + 1x120), or 280mm rad. Side panels are near-perfect, legs and arms are firmly attached, but one screw is missing. Front panel has all mesh inserts, except for one where ODD was previously installed. 
Top panel has a cutout with mesh insert (left it drying in the office, after attaching that part with epoxy). I'll add some fan grills tomorrow, and start working on a custom PCB to replace some front panel I/O. Just want to remove eSATA and Firewire, and replace with a pair of USB3.0 ports (or maybe a pair of 3.0 and one extra Type-C, if I can fit it all on one tiny board).
I'm gonna leave it as-is in semi-assembled state for awhile, until I get some parts ready and buy new fans for my AIO.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 18, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> I don't have one
> It's on my most wanted list since a while, but anyway this picture has a specific point, let's see if someone can guess it (it's very easy actually)


From the first GeForce Ultra to the last one?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 18, 2021)

Pretty GF2 Ultra. Looks unused.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 18, 2021)

Got a R7850 for 10eur incl shipping and I'll get a 650 Ti at 15eur later today. At least older mid-ends are free or cheap.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 18, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> From the first GeForce Ultra to the last one?


yees


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 19, 2021)

Status update...

3 of the Adison rigs are pretty much done - minus the obvious things such as missing CD-ROM trim & brightening up the yellowed surfaces.


 



Pentium II, 350 (Chaintech 6BTM, 1st out of 2)


 



Pentium III, 550 (Asus P3B-F)


 



And here's the other Pentium II 350, that's currently still a work in progress (pics are in chronological order)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 19, 2021)

Scored another white 17 inch Acer. This time I got pretty lucky and landed on a 7720G, w/ T5750 and a late G86 based 9300M G, and 3GB of RAM. Does need some work though but otherwise it works fine.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2021)

Well damn, it was in its original box. 

Repasted it and blew most of its dust off already, I'll put it soon to my 2nd rig.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 20, 2021)

You can never have enough G84/86 based C2Ds. 













HP Pavilion dv9730ef. One of the few 9000 models that came w/ 512MB of VRAM (most were 256MB usually.). G86-770-A2 chip, unsurprisingly artefacting due to some really shady cooling. Cleaned, reflowed and repasted with MX4 on both CPU and GPU.

Specs:

3GB RAM, borrowed from the Acer above until I can source 2x2GB sticks for that one
Core 2 Duo T5450 1.66GHz (for now)
Geforce 8600M GS 512MB
Toshiba TS-L802B HD-DVD drive
Toshiba MK2555GSX 250GB HDD
Windows 7 Ult. X64 SP1.


----------



## Caring1 (Mar 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> You can never have enough G84/86 based C2Ds.
> 
> 
> HP Pavilion dv9730ef. One of the few 9000 models that came w/ 512MB of VRAM (most were 256MB usually.). G86-770-A2 chip, unsurprisingly artefacting due to some really shady cooling. Cleaned, reflowed and repasted with MX4 on both CPU and GPU.


The early DV series were know for their overheating and failing, they had apparently fixed that by later versions after the DV6 series.
I hope yours is fine.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2021)

I got these also for free yesterday  U never know if u need an optical drive with older hardware.



I got these also for free yesterday  U never know if u need an optical drive with older hardware.




MaxiPro800 said:


> You can never have enough G84/86 based C2Ds.
> View attachment 193160
> View attachment 193161
> View attachment 193162
> ...


HD-DVD?! Nice!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 20, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> The early DV series were know for their overheating and failing, they had apparently fixed that by later versions after the DV6 series.
> I hope yours is fine.


After the reflow yes, it works fine. And it's surprisingly quiet and cool, but that's kinda expected for using MX4.


----------



## Valantar (Mar 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> You can never have enough G84/86 based C2Ds.
> View attachment 193160
> View attachment 193161
> View attachment 193162
> ...


Ah, I miss the days when laptop CPUs were socketed. I've had some real fun upgrading dumpster dive finds from that era to much more powerful CPUs and giving them a new lease on life.


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> You can never have enough G84/86 based C2Ds.
> View attachment 193160
> View attachment 193161
> View attachment 193162
> ...


Impressive and I've had fun sending laptops away for reballing which only ever worked 50% of the time. Is that the same as reflow?


----------



## Valantar (Mar 20, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Impressive and I've had fun sending laptops away for reballing which only ever worked 50% of the time. Is that the same as reflow?


Reflow should mean just (adding some flux and) heating the chip up until the solder between it and the PCB melts (in the hopes that this fixes any cold or broken solder joints). Reballing means removing the chip outright, cleaning it and the PCB of solder, then reapplying new solder balls to the chip (typically requiring solder paste plus a stainless steel solder ball stencil), putting it in place and heating it to solder it down. So they're related, but reballing is an order of magnitude more complex.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 20, 2021)

Yeah, the proper way to "permanently" fix it would mean a mix of reballing + changing the G86-770-A2 with a 771. I don't have enough tools for that so I'm going to have to make do with a normal reflow using an automotive heatgun.

Reballing is a waste of time if the chip itself has substrate issues, IMO. You're off better looking a bit into which chips have the fixed substrate, order those and then reball them instead of your original chip. This way you're basically making sure in proportion of about 95% it will survive for a long time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Scored another white 17 inch Acer. This time I got pretty lucky and landed on a 7720G, w/ T5750 and a late G86 based 9300M G, and 3GB of RAM. Does need some work though but otherwise it works fine.
> 
> View attachment 193063


OCD triggered!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> HD-DVD?! Nice!


Yeah. Did show its age tho, couldn't use it to install Windows 7. Had to borrow the LG T40N from the Acer to install. Still keeping it because it's an interesting piece of history, and I really haven't seen a laptop to have HD-DVD before. It would be either standard DVDROM or in rare cases, Blu-ray (usually HP DV7-1000s had these, and even then, not all had BD).


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yeah. Did show its age tho, couldn't use it to install Windows 7. Had to borrow the LG T40N from the Acer to install. Still keeping it because it's an interesting piece of history, and I really haven't seen a laptop to have HD-DVD before. It would be either standard DVDROM or in rare cases, Blu-ray (usually HP DV7-1000s had these, and even then, not all had BD).


Getting a Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive is something I've wanted to do for a long time, I guess I should look for one.


----------



## Valantar (Mar 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Yeah. Did show its age tho, couldn't use it to install Windows 7. Had to borrow the LG T40N from the Acer to install. Still keeping it because it's an interesting piece of history, and I really haven't seen a laptop to have HD-DVD before. It would be either standard DVDROM or in rare cases, Blu-ray (usually HP DV7-1000s had these, and even then, not all had BD).


Might just be a dirty lens, it shouldn't be too difficult to clean that with a cotton swab with some isopropyl alcohol.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 20, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Well damn, it was in its original box.


For EUR 10 I'd say that was an incredible deal. Just checked some local listings, these are selling as "new" :

GT 610 - EUR 40 - 39 sold
GT 710 - EUR 55 - 60 sold
GT 1030 - EUR 105 - 48 sold
GTX 645 - EUR 110 - 21 sold


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Scored another white 17 inch Acer. This time I got pretty lucky and landed on a 7720G, w/ T5750 and a late G86 based 9300M G, and 3GB of RAM. Does need some work though but otherwise it works fine.


Nice.
Which reminds me, I have a pair of 15" variants somewhere in a box. Just need to put them together. I think it's one of my longest delayed projects, which started when these were still relevant )))
Even ordered a pair of brand-new motherboards, but those came in damaged beyond repair (whole corner was broken on both), so I've fixed the old ones (one had a short on SATA power lane, another one had one of standby voltages missing). It's been sitting like that for a few years, totally forgot about it with moving between places.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 21, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> For EUR 10 I'd say that was an incredible deal. Just checked some local listings, these are selling as "new" :
> 
> GT 610 - EUR 40 - 39 sold
> GT 710 - EUR 55 - 60 sold
> ...


Insane prices.. I sold my GT 1030 (with 1gen Accelero Twin Turbo) for like 30EUR about an year ago.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Mar 21, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Scored another white 17 inch Acer. This time I got pretty lucky and landed on a 7720G, w/ T5750 and a late G86 based 9300M G, and 3GB of RAM. Does need some work though but otherwise it works fine.
> 
> View attachment 193063



I remember this Acer gemstone in late 2000s. I help a friend upgrade this with a corsair 120gb ssd that time and it really flies despite the sata 2 limitation. I think laptop during that time period have rather unique and experimental design that I never see it that much these days.


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 21, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Scored another white 17 inch Acer. This time I got pretty lucky and landed on a 7720G, w/ T5750 and a late G86 based 9300M G, and 3GB of RAM. Does need some work though but otherwise it works fine.
> 
> View attachment 193063


i found the same laptop several weeks ago on local online shop, actually i want to try it but since i have 3 laptops i skip it, i dunno i should be thankful or sorry for that


----------



## Frick (Mar 21, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> You can never have enough G84/86 based C2Ds.



I would honestly disagree with this. At least in consumer laptops.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 21, 2021)

Not if you have decent cooling and good paste.


----------



## hat (Mar 21, 2021)

Funny how a good old Core 2 Quad, maybe even a Duo can still be relevant in today's tasks, as long as it's not something that lives on the cutting edge. The original i7 lineup was still passable for gaming until games started requiring AVX.

The key to future-proofing a rig seems to lie in buying oversized RAM. Want to build a new gaming rig this year and keep it for years and years? Buy 32GB RAM, not 16GB. Get at least an 8c/16t CPU. The graphics card is the thing that evolves the most, but hypothetically speaking if they were available, a 3080 would do just fine for years to come. Maybe one significant graphics card upgrade over the life of the whole system.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 21, 2021)

took some pcs of an ASUS *Radeon X850XT *during the cleaning










also found that has 1.6ns RAM, rated at 625MHz, will see...


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 21, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> took some pcs of an ASUS *Radeon X850XT *during the cleaning
> 
> View attachment 193277View attachment 193278View attachment 193279
> 
> also found that has 1.6ns RAM, rated at 625MHz, will see...


Fabulous pictures. The clarity is insane.
Did you use a phone camera?


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 21, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Fabulous pictures. The clarity is insane.
> Did you use a phone camera?



Thanks!
Uhm no, used my SONY A6000


----------



## bogmali (Mar 21, 2021)




----------



## Pupo (Mar 22, 2021)

Barn find.

Shitty vendor, shitty card, non native AGP, but was factory sealed and Ruby is still sexy


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 22, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Thanks!
> Uhm no, used my SONY A6000


stock lens? it's too good
i may use them for wallpaper


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 22, 2021)

Pupo said:


> Barn find.
> 
> Shitty vendor, shitty card, non native AGP, but was factory sealed and Ruby is still sexy



hahah exactly!! Ruby on box is worth the purchase without even knowing the card model  



micropage7 said:


> stock lens? it's too good
> i may use them for wallpaper



No hehe, first one is with SIGMA 16mm F1.4, for the close-ups I used the Sony E 30mm F3.5 Macro 

If you want use them as wallpaper I can upload a proper 4K version, let me know


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2021)

Well guys, the Adison project is still coming along, with the few remaining bits & pieces on the way to me. Mainly the BTC drive(s), I found two additional units. So, those are hopefully going to take care of the "missing trim" situation (pic below), and I will even have a spare unit in case I ever need to replace it down the road. The actual drive itself DOES seem to be working fine, but its visual state is unacceptable for my standards.




I'm also trying to finish that other Pentium II build but I'm missing long-ish ATA33 cable, so that one's on hold for now. Oh, and I'm also trying to source a modem (or two?), to be as identical as possible to the other machine. I'm aiming at Rockwell 56k V90, but at this point I would accept any model that's 56k/v90 and has external headset/microphone connections. Therefore, no software emulation, it has to be fully old-fashioned.

Also, despite my best intentions @QuietBob and I haven't been able to work out that keyboard deal & the whole thing fell through. Which means that I'm still looking for BTC 8110M keyboard. So, if you have one to give away or to sell (for the reasonable price, or at least for the price of shipment itself) send me a msg & let me know  Picture of the actual keyboard is down below:





Furthermore, a fellow forumer (from another forum) was kind enough to provide me with "Adison" catalog of what the Adison store had to offer back in 1999. It is a PDF document, so if you guys are interested, I might hook it up here for everyone to see


----------



## Valantar (Mar 22, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> took some pcs of an ASUS *Radeon X850XT *during the cleaning
> 
> View attachment 193277View attachment 193278View attachment 193279
> 
> also found that has 1.6ns RAM, rated at 625MHz, will see...


Nice shots! What is that background lighting, btw? Certainly complimented the colors of the card well. Generally excellently lit shots


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2021)

Whoops, forgot to include additional pics of those BTC drive(s). Just for the sake of keeping records & preserving log history 


 

 



Someone recently asked me ... what's with my obsession with BTC, why do I keep forcing these terrible, unreliable & loud CD-ROM drives, when I could have much better, more reliable & quieter units such as Plextor, Panasonic, Pioneer & similar brands?

The answer is simple - because they are original, "true" to what I had back in a day. And like I said several times by now, this isn't just another retro build, it is a full rebuild (and reconstruction, in case of the other machine) of what I had back then. As accurate & true as you can get, without time-traveling to 1998


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> The answer is simple - because they are original, "true" to what I had back in a day.


Those of us who have been following your progress understand you. Carry on good sir!!



Trekkie4 said:


> what's with my obsession with BTC, why do I keep forcing these terrible, unreliable & loud CD-ROM drives


BTW, IMHO, BTC drives weren't as bad as people make them out to be.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those of us who have been following your progress understand you. Carry on good sir!!


Thanks 

I knew some people would get it, but on the other hand, some of the other individuals are repeatedly amazed, surprised and/or seem to think that I'm BTC fanboy 



lexluthermiester said:


> BTW, IMHO, BTC drives weren't as bad as people make them out to be.


Weeeell, that is open for interpretation. My very first BTC drive, BTC BCD 36X didn't last very long. Maybe couple of months at least, before it stopped working & was immediately replaced by another unit ... this time BCD BCD 36XH. Newer generation, with the oval trim (identical to those two drives, posted earlier)

Unfortunately, this replacement unit didn't last very long either, it broke down (again, during the warranty period) & was replaced with BCD 36X ... same unit as the original one, which came from the store. Due to one reason or another, this 3rd drive once again broke down & was then replaced with BCD 40XH, same unit as the one(s) above.

And that was the last "BTC" I had. By the time I pulled it out & swapped for modern LG 52x (GCR-8523B?) drive, the old (un)reliable BTC was still working but was extremely loud & would occasionally seize up. So the new LG seemed like alien technology at the time - super quiet, fast & (at first glance) reliable 


So, all in all it might be a good idea to have spare unit(s), or even spare parts. Justin Case things go south 

Edit
Found pics from back in 2005...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2021)

I don't remember them being that bad, or at least not anymore than that of some of the other budget brands.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 22, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I don't remember them being that bad, or at least not anymore than that of some of the other budget brands.


IDK, maybe I just wasn't lucky enough to end up with decent unit? 

But now that I think about it, most of my problems were related to the older model, BCD (speed)X series, not the "XH" one which supposedly has "Hitachi Loader" (perhaps that is what letter "H" stands for, could be wrong)



You can clearly tell them from this picture here... The first two are XH series, and these are mostly reliable. Loud & sometimes have tendency to seize up, but otherwise good enough. And then there's the 3rd drive, older gen. Which was much quieter, more smooth. But would easily break down.


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 23, 2021)

I can remember my first BTC cdrom drive it was an 8X speed it lasted forever until one day it didn't I ended up replacing it with an Pioneer which lasted for four system builds before finally succumbing to tray failure apparently I'd used it so much that I wore the drive gear out Ohwell in with the newest DVD burner which was also a Pioneer unit and it's still running to this day in a friends system to this day without problem


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 23, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Nice shots! What is that background lighting, btw? Certainly complimented the colors of the card well. Generally excellently lit shots



Thanks, the light in background it's just an IKEA LED strip


----------



## F-Zero (Mar 23, 2021)

So I finally got myself a GTX 280 (ASUS). The seller described it in working condition and he did not lie to say   The card works only in X8 mode and I think it's because of the torn SMD ( on the PCI-EX slot ). I tried to repair it but it seems the pads are ripped off.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 23, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> So I finally got myself a GTX 280 (ASUS). The seller described it in working condition and he did not lie to say   The card works only in X8 mode and I think it's because of the torn SMD ( on the PCI-EX slot ). I tried to repair it but it seems the pads are ripped off.View attachment 193511View attachment 193512View attachment 193513View attachment 193514


This is repairable. It would take some careful work and getting the right replacement part, but easily done.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 23, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> So I finally got myself a GTX 280 (ASUS). The seller described it in working condition and he did not lie to say   The card works only in X8 mode and I think it's because of the torn SMD ( on the PCI-EX slot ). I tried to repair it but it seems the pads are ripped off.View attachment 193511View attachment 193512View attachment 193513View attachment 193514



They managed to damage the only exposed part of the card, I'm always surprised how careless people is with computer components...
The good news is that 8X should not impact the performance and in theory you can solder new SMDs


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2021)

@F-Zero Check your PMs


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 23, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> The good news is that 8X should not impact the performance and in theory you can solder new SMDs


I would rather repair it, if it were my card. But you're not wrong, gaming performance shouldn't be impacted much if at all.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> IDK, maybe I just wasn't lucky enough to end up with decent unit?
> 
> But now that I think about it, most of my problems were related to the older model, BCD (speed)X series, not the "XH" one which supposedly has "Hitachi Loader" (perhaps that is what letter "H" stands for, could be wrong)
> 
> ...


Do you know if there were any Samsung based BTC drives? Supposedly I heard the BCE-5224 would be a Samsung but I'd like to know for sure. (had one but never cracked it open to find out)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Do you know if there were any Samsung based BTC drives? Supposedly I heard the BCE-5224 would be a Samsung but I'd like to know for sure. (had one but never cracked it open to find out)


I don't know about Samsung drives, but I DO know about TOP-G (Top Glory) BTC units. Perhaps TOP-G also manufactured Samsung drives at the time? Because they certainly manufactured CD-ROM drives for most of the other brands as well, including Sony, Creative & others.


 



At some point, during the early 2000s BTC stopped manufacturing their own units. Don't ask me why, but they handled manufacturing process over to Top Glory Electronics. So, if you Google for TOP-G CD-ROM drive, you will get interesting results.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I don't know about Samsung drives, but I DO know about TOP-G (Top Glory) BTC units. Perhaps TOP-G also manufactured Samsung drives at the time? Because they certainly manufactured CD-ROM drives for most of the other brands as well, including Sony, Creative & others.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Zip250's! Yes! Loved the ZipDrive line of removable discs.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Zip250's! Yes! Loved the ZipDrive line of removable discs.


Hehe, right! One of those went into the sleeper Adison, running Windows 7. Zip drive kinda works, but just barely & shows up as "removable device", pretty much like a standard USB thumb drive. The other unit went into that P3B-F rig, Pentium III 550 

Those are the only two Adison rigs to feature Iomega ZIP drive. I considered the possibility to put ZIP drives in all of them, but again - I wanted them to be as authentic as possible. And mine originally came without one, sooo...

As for the TOP-G BTC drives, I was originally going to use them in Adison(s), up until that very moment when I finally found the real thing. Because I refer to these as "fake BTC", as they're mainly just generic drives carrying their logo & design ("48x max" font, indicated on the front face plate).


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hehe, right! One of those went into the sleeper Adison, running Windows 7. Zip drive kinda works, but just barely & shows up as "removable device", pretty much like a standard USB thumb drive. The other unit went into that P3B-F rig, Pentium III 550
> 
> Those are the only two Adison rigs to feature Iomega ZIP drive. I considered the possibility to put ZIP drives in all of them, but again - I wanted them to be as authentic as possible. And mine originally came without one, sooo...
> 
> As for the TOP-G BTC drives, I was originally going to use them in Adison(s), up until that very moment when I finally found the real thing. Because I refer to these as "fake BTC", as they're mainly just generic drives carrying their logo & design ("48x max" font, indicated on the front face plate).


IIRC mine read 52x24x52 as far as I remember.

Would read everything I throw at it, even discs a LG drive couldn't. Finally retired when I got hold of a NEC DVD burner that was similar in style with the BTC.

EDIT: Yeah, mine was a TOP-G too. Did work on par with a 48x Samsung though so it probably was one of the best TOP-G models.

Anyways, waiting on my college atm, there's been a poll for courses going online due to most of us working (including me) so if it goes up in effect, I'll hopefully have some time to work on both HP and Acer. I have some parts from some other decommisioned machines (DV9650ea, Packard Bell w/9800GTS and a few others) including a T8300 for the Acer , and some T6400/6500 plus a nice 1920x1200 LCD for the 9730ei. Also hopefully expecting a RoG G73JH hardware repair + white paint once I get home.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 23, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> IIRC mine read 52x24x52 as far as I remember.
> 
> Would read everything I throw at it, even discs a LG drive couldn't. Finally retired when I got hold of a NEC DVD burner that was similar in style with the BTC.
> 
> EDIT: Yeah, mine was a TOP-G too. Did work on par with a 48x Samsung though so it probably was one of the best TOP-G models.


Yup, sounds about right. Those are not really BTC (or Sony, or NEC) drives, they only carried their company logo.

As for the BTC lineup, as far as I know, the "XH" series was the last model from BTC themselves before they switched over to Top Glory Electronics. Which makes me wonder, why bother? I mean, BTC obviously had production line for all their CD-ROM drives, so why would they partner up with TOP-G & license their units through them?


----------



## Blaylock (Mar 23, 2021)

Does this belong here?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 23, 2021)

Blaylock said:


> Does this belong here?
> View attachment 193557


Oh yeah, that lot fits in great here!


----------



## mclaren85 (Mar 23, 2021)

I'm not sure if that counts but here is my old and still working laptop. Born in 2007  It has a powerful AMD Turion 64x2 cpu, Ati X1100 256 mb (shared) Gpu and 1 Gb of DDR2 Ram.


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 23, 2021)

Blaylock said:


> Does this belong here?
> View attachment 193557


YES
Ah btw I'm a storage sysadmin, don't make me start with old RAID cards


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 23, 2021)

Blaylock said:


> Does this belong here?


Definitly! Any story behind to the insulated / plasti-dipped card? Which GPU is that? EDIT: Gonna guess its a 460. First thought it could be a 670, but looking at my old 670 the holes are different.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 23, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well this really sucks!!!
> 
> I've got my ole MSI K8T Master2-FAR and was getting it ready to do a dual processor Windows 2000 pro build and found one of the CPU cooler brackets has broke!!!
> 
> ...




Looking to see if anyone in here and in the US has a 3D printer? 

If so, I'd certainly pay for someone to 3D print up a new cooler mount for this board!!!! 

I can send one of the good cooler mounts and pay shipping both ways + what ever is needed to make this happen. 

There are 0 options that I can find to replace the broken cooler mount.


----------



## sl1pkn07 (Mar 24, 2021)

i can print one(or two xd) (if you send me a model) for you, but i'm not sure if can resist the pressure of the heatshink locking

also the problem of the sipping cost... (from spain)

gretings

EDIT: oh. US only. sorry


----------



## sam_86314 (Mar 24, 2021)

How about a couple of old NVIDIA GPUs?









Quadro FX 3400 and GeForce 6800 GS. The Quadro still works perfectly, the 6800 GS is missing a cap on the board.

I've wondered what the secondary die is on the Quadro. Is it some sort of cache?


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 24, 2021)

sl1pkn07 said:


> i can print one(or two xd) (if you send me a model) for you, but i'm not sure if can resist the pressure of the heatshink locking
> 
> also the problem of the sipping cost... (from spain)
> 
> ...



Thanks for the offer, but as you said, the shipping cost would be high.


----------



## sam_86314 (Mar 24, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Looking to see if anyone in here and in the US has a 3D printer?
> 
> If so, I'd certainly pay for someone to 3D print up a new cooler mount for this board!!!!
> 
> ...


Guess I could try this; it'd give me an excuse to get my printer out of storage.

But I print with PLA, so I don't know how it'll hold up to higher temperatures. Also might have issues with layer strength since it's a cooler mount.

I've also never shipped something across the country before.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 24, 2021)

sam_86314 said:


> Also might have issues with layer strength since it's a cooler mount.



Hmm, I wonder about that as well. Hadn't really thought about that.

I don't know what "PLA" is. LOL

The stock mounts are just plastic and I know it's pretty easy to lock the coolers down to the mounts, so I don't really know how much stress would be actually put on them.

And it wouldn't be across country as I'm up in Wyoming.


----------



## sam_86314 (Mar 24, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm, I wonder about that as well. Hadn't really thought about that.
> 
> I don't know what "PLA" is. LOL
> 
> ...


PLA is a plastic that's made from corn and melts at lower temperatures (around 190C to 220C, compared to ABS which melts around 240C to 270C).

@stinger608 See PM.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 24, 2021)

sam_86314 said:


> PLA is a plastic that's made from corn and melts at lower temperatures (around 190C to 220C, compared to ABS which melts around 240C to 270C).
> 
> @stinger608 See PM.



None the less, at 190C to 220C should be just fine........I would think. That system would melt before coming close to them kinds of temps. LOL


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 24, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Looking to see if anyone in here and in the US has a 3D printer?
> 
> If so, I'd certainly pay for someone to 3D print up a new cooler mount for this board!!!!
> 
> ...



I don't _have_ a printer, but potentially have _access_ to some. Mostly I think it would be a neat challenge to draw up the model. Could probably find someone to print it in either FDM or PLA, or construct the model for sam_86314 if need be.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 24, 2021)

Wow, this is amazing everyone!!!!!! I soooooooo much appreciate the help offers that you guys are giving. 

I'm going to shoot a picture tomorrow and post here and to a couple of PM's. 

That may give everyone a better idea of what I'm needing.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 24, 2021)

sam_86314 said:


> How about a couple of old NVIDIA GPUs?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


AGP to PCIe bridge chip, called HSI (high-speed interconnect) as that is actually a NV40 chip which was still designed for AGP. ATI/AMD used a similar one called Rialto when they bridged PCIe chips for AGP cards.









						Nvidia BR02 - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




edit: The GS uses a PCIe-native NV42 so it doesn't need a bridge chip. AGP versions of GS cards were usually just cut-down NV40s so they were also native AGP ones.


----------



## Blaylock (Mar 24, 2021)

Dinnercore said:


> Definitly! Any story behind to the insulated / plasti-dipped card? Which GPU is that? EDIT: Gonna guess its a 460. First thought it could be a 670, but looking at my old 670 the holes are different.


You guessed it! That's my old MSI GTX 460 Cyclone. Covered it in LET when I was getting into sub-ambient benching. Is/was a great card and got me several golds on HWBot on air. The plan was to take it to extreme if needed but eSports took over and I fell away from benching.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 24, 2021)

I received this from a fellow forumer, just earlier today 


 

 



Frankly speaking, I've been avoiding slocket adapters because I prefer the genuine hardware. I mean, why bother ... if you're going to use S370, simply go with 370 motherboard. On the other hand, if you prefer Slot 1, simply go with Slot 1 & problem solved, right?! So in a way this feels strange, I would even dare to say "wrong". But I'm curious to know just how good is it going to run with Coppermine P3 for example, running at 933MHz.

And to make sure that things look somewhat original, I even found this Intel heatsink among the parts, which is going to do just fine for this application.

Assuming everything checks out & works OK, this thing will replace the genuine P3 550 Slot 1 CPU inside the 3rd Adison (the one with Asus P3B-F board). Although I'm planning to keep the original CPU, just in case I ever need to revert back.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 24, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I received this from a fellow forumer, just earlier today
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Someone likes you! Those things are a pain to find these days.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 24, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Someone likes you! Those things are a pain to find these days.


I know, right? I even asked the guy, just to be absolutely certain that he wants to give it away for free. From what I can tell, it's a new old stock, never used.

Definitely going to keep the packaging for future reference, because these things can get worthless once the jumper configuration gets lost.

Edit
Hehe, I KNOW I'm onto something good with this thing, when I received a "like" from @Mr.Scott  Might even try overclocking & see how high I can get it to run before things get unstable. I'm also planning a 3DMark 2000 benchmark test (using the Voodoo 3 3000 AGP of course) & comparing the results against the stock P3 550 genuine Slot 1 CPU.


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 25, 2021)

I had a slocket with a Celeron tualatin 1.4 GHz in a freebie Toshiba box I came across. The original CPU was a PII 350ish MHz.  I could overclock the Celeron to almost 1.6 GHz with SetFSB software.  That was a great PC for Need for Speed 5 (Porsche).  I hate that the PC & Slocket/CPU got away from me, and I'm very jealous of your new toys!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 25, 2021)

Well guys, there you have it...  Another generous donation, this time Coppermine P3 @933




After crapload of issues, random crashes & BIOS flashing, things actually took the turn for the better!


 



And here's a direct comparison between the 3 CPUs. All of them Pentium III - running at 550MHz, 733MHz & 933MHz (though Slocket adapter kit)


 



I should probably point out that I forgot to bump up the core voltage from 1.70  to 1.75V in BIOS, so after taking care of this one last issue, it resulted with few additional points at *4,775 in total.*



68Olds said:


> I had a slocket with a Celeron tualatin 1.4 GHz in a freebie Toshiba box I came across. The original CPU was a PII 350ish MHz.  I could overclock the Celeron to almost 1.6 GHz with SetFSB software.  That was a great PC for Need for Speed 5 (Porsche).  I hate that the PC & Slocket/CPU got away from me, and I'm very jealous of your new toys!


Nice! I'm sorry that you no longer have the slocket, but for what it's worth those are really not THAT rare. I got at least 2 or 3 of them, and I even recently gave away 2 or 3 additional ones.

What's rare is to have the original package which indicates the jumper settings & makes it useful. Because I've tried Googling some of those random numbers & barcodes, but always came up empty, which rendered them pretty much useless


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 25, 2021)

Well, here are the dimensions and what the mounts look like on the MSI Master 2FAR.



Spoiler


















Screw holes are pretty much 1 1/2" to center, the overall is 3" and the main width is basically 5/8".

I thought this was a good mount but come to find out it is cracked through one of the screw holes as well. 


And, thanks to @sam_86314 , he found a great high res picture of this exact motherboard with the mounts attached.



Spoiler


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 26, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well guys, there you have it...  Another generous donation, this time Coppermine P3 @933
> 
> 
> 
> ...



uh, this core has been through some rough times   
it's nice to see it works, maybe double check if you still have 256K of cache or something like 235


----------



## sl1pkn07 (Mar 26, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well, here are the dimensions and what the mounts look like on the MSI Master 2FAR.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Hi. Print that with PLA material... I have bad feels about it. Better ABS or ASA or other technical plastic.


What happen if you use the generic AMD mounts like the comes with the AM2/AM4 motherboards?. The bad of this you can't mount the original coolers

something like this


			Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com
		


Greetings


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 26, 2021)

sl1pkn07 said:


> Hi. Print that with PLA material... I have bad feels about it. Better ABS or ASA or other technical plastic.
> 
> 
> What happen if you use the generic AMD mounts like the comes with the AM2/AM4 motherboards?. The bad of this you can't mount the original coolers
> ...



The screw holes are to wide. Already tried this type of mount.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 26, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> uh, this core has been through some rough times
> it's nice to see it works, maybe double check if you still have 256K of cache or something like 235


Nah, this is nothing compared to some of those Durons & Athlons... 

Overall, this Coppermine is in pretty good condition. Used to be mounted on an old Epox motherboard which I recently sold to one of the guys on forum (it also featured a Voodoo3 3000, identical to the one I'm running now) but since he upgraded to Tualatin, he was kind enough to give me that P3 CPU back.


----------



## sl1pkn07 (Mar 26, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> The screw holes are to wide. Already tried this type of mount.



Hi

i just found this









						Cooling the MSI Master2 FAR
					

It's got dual Opterons and a non-standard (for AMD) heatsink mount.




					icrontic.com
				




i hope helps you

greetings


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 26, 2021)

sl1pkn07 said:


> Hi
> 
> i just found this
> 
> ...


It won't. You can't find any of those parts any more. Thread is 17 years old.


----------



## sl1pkn07 (Mar 26, 2021)

Xeon 603/604 Heatsink Base Clasp Retention Bracket - Socket-603 Xeon Cooler
					

Xeon 603/604 Heatsink Base Clasp Retention Bracket This (38MM mounting pitch) retention clasp bracket is only for "Base's Clip" cooling fan as shown picture. It also fits for 1U Socket-423, 603 and 604 coolers. If uncertain about this bracket...




					store.cwc-group.com
				












						Koolance Adapter, Intel Socket 604/771 Xeon
					

This adapter enables Koolance CPU-300 and CPU-305 cooling blocks to mount most Intel socket 604 and LGA771 Xeon processors (Nocona, Irwindale, Woodcrest, etc.).




					www.performance-pcs.com
				




?

for example. not the same but almost the same


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 27, 2021)

Pulled the trigger on some stuff. Namely an Acer 7551G mobo (that probably just needs a new CMOS battery, the no-post fail mode is very common for Acer Wistron boards usually) and a retro kit comprised of:

Luckytech P5MVP3 Rev C mobo (that will get recapped as soon as I get it, along with an AT PSU I have) w/AMD K6-2 500MHz
64MB PC133 SDR (I have lots of 128MB sticks so it will go unused)
SB Live 5.1 PCI soundcard (not sure if I'll use this or an YMF719 ISA soundcard)
40GB WD HDD (again, not sure if I'll use this either, unless it has games on it)

Why these parts you ask? Well, I always loved the P5MVP3. Small little board, around the size of the HOT-591, and yet it can do alot of stuff. IIRC it even has 80pin IDE, as far as my memory goes, and thanks to its small form factor, you can turn it into a pretty versatile mini retro box.

Now, a few dilemmas I have regarding it:

1. OS - I've been initially thinking of going 98lite SE, mainly beacuse I have a "Win98 UBCD" DVD that takes care of that from the get-go - it's basically 98SE+utilities+updates+98lite, all selectable separately as you wish. At the same time, I also contemplate going 2k SP4, just because it can allow a bit more flexibility over apps than 98SE (thanks to BlackWingCat's extended kernel).

2. CPU - will I suffer any significant performance drops from this K6 over a P2 266MHz?

3. RAM - about what is the maximum the MVP3 chipset will take over the P2's 440LX.

4. Audio - is a SB Live 5.1 PCI any better over a YMF719? (or SB16 Value CT2770)

5. Recapping - what would be the best caps to use, Rubycon, Sanyo or Panasonic?

6. HDD - period correct drive or just stick with the 40GB WD?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 27, 2021)

Well guys, my Adison adventure is slowly coming to an end. It's been a wild & crazy ride, ad I have many regrets (mainly not being able to do it sooner), but alas what's done is done.

Earlier today I received those two BTC CD-ROM drives, so after sorting things out & making sure that everything works OK (one of the drives did not, unfortunately) things are pretty much done. Here are 3 of my Adison towers, together:


 



And these are the two Adison 350 systems ... as identical as I could make them:


 



All of them (even the sleeper rig, not featured on any of these pics) are pretty much identical to what you could expect on one of these, back in 1998/1999. Here are couple of shots from their catalog, pay close attention to the first picture, where you can clearly recognize the BTC CD-ROM drive(s)


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 29, 2021)

20.8fps on Quake with a 486, nice..!


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 29, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> 20.8fps on Quake with a 486, nice..!



awesome  
also confirms how much fun, satisfying and effective overclock used to be, before intel ruined everything with SandyBride (or Haswell? don't remember)


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 29, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> awesome
> also confirms how much fun, satisfying and effective overclock used to be, before intel ruined everything with SandyBride (or Haswell? don't remember)


With Sandy overclocking Intels with bus clock was killed. :/


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 29, 2021)

Woo look what I found in an old forum post, the list of my CPUs until 2008 and the clocks  


```
> Pentium 3 450Mhz@600Mhz [Katmai]
> Celeron II 800Mhz@1.2Ghz [L2 128K]
> Athlon XP 1600+@1800+
> Pentium 4 1.6Ghz@2.4Ghz [FSB 400]
> Pentium 4 2.4Ghz@2.8Ghz [FSB 533]
> Pentium 4 2.4Ghz@3.0Ghz [FSB 800]
> Pentium 4 2.8Ghz@3.2Ghz [FSB 800]
> Athlon 64 3500+@2.6Ghz [Newcastle]
> Athlon 64 3200+@2.7Ghz [Winchester]
> Athlon 64 3000+@2.8Ghz [Venice]
> Athlon 64 3700+@2.7Ghz [San Diego]
> Athlon 64 X2 3800+@2.5Ghz [Manchester]
> Athlon 64 X2 4200+@2.7Ghz [Manchester]
> Pentium D 920 2.8GHz@4.2~4.4Ghz
> Core2Duo E6300 1.86Ghz@3.0Ghz
> Core2Duo E2140 1.6Ghz@3.3Ghz
> Core2Quad 6600 2.40Ghz@4.00Ghz

side systems

> Pentium M (Dothan) 745 1.73Ghz@ 2.7Ghz (CT-479 + P4P800-SE)
> Tualatin (256K) 1.1Ghz@1.47Ghz
> Pentium II 300Mhz@450Mhz
```

Also found the same thing for video cards, but only until 2005


```
> 3dfx Voodoo3 2000AGP 16MB, 143/143 @ 180/180 (195/195 with new heatsink)
> Hercules 3DProphet II MX Geforce2MX 32MB, 175/166 @ 192/192
> ATI Radeon 32MB DDR, 166/333@ 180/360
> Creative GeForce3 Ti200 64MB, 175/400 @ ?
> ASUS T2 Pure Ti200 64MB, 175/400 @ 220/480
> ASUS V8420S GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB, 275/550 @ 320/700
> Hercules Radeon 9800PRO 128MB, no OC
> HIS X800PRO VIVO MOD X800XT PE 256MB, 475/900 12p @ 520/1120 16p
> Sapphire X800XT PE 256MB, 520/1120 @580/1160
> 2xMSI 6600GT 128MB PCIe (SLI), 500/1000 @ 560/1120
> 2xMSI 7800GT 256MB PCIe (SLI), 400/1000 @ 460/1200
> ATI Radeon X1800XL 256MB, 500/1000 @ 650/1300
```


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 29, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> 20.8fps on Quake with a 486, nice..!


Nice channel, worth checking out the other videos!

Coincidentally, I was testing Quake under DOS just yesterday. I don't have any real hardware from that period, but using DOSBox I was able to approximate the CPU performance quite accurately. At Quake's launch the fastest CPU was the Pentium 200 MHz. If you were among the lucky few to own it back in 1996, you would've seen around 45 fps at the default/lowest resolution of 320x200. Bumping it to 640x480 would only show about 15 fps on average.

I also tested Doom. Playing it on the then-fastest Pentium 66 MHz would've been a similar experience - about 45 fps in the original episode.

I played Doom when it came out on a 386DX-40, my first PC. I'm glad I had no idea of "frames per second" back then


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 29, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Nice channel, worth checking out the other videos!


Yeah, one of my favourite retro channels.  hella interesting video and that guy knows what he's doing.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Mar 29, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Woo look what I found in an old forum post, the list of my CPUs until 2008 and the clocks
> 
> 
> > Core2Duo E6300 1.86Ghz@3.0Ghz
> ...


For me, I was lucky to get my E2180 OC'ed to 2.90 Ghz. At 3.0, it degraded, even when the volts weren't insanely high! Then I watch Prime95 fail sooner and sooner and sooner, even when I dropped the frequency to 2.928! What a poo chip! That was on my Asus P5QL Pro motherboard.

And for Core 2 Quads:

Asus Maximus II Gene (from 2009) with a Q6600 G0 "L804" with VID at 1.3250V, just like my E2180, IIRC. "Bus/Interconnect Error" WHEA uncorrectable error common at 367 Mhz FSB, when I had it at 367x9.0, for 3.3 Ghz at 1.39V. (according to CPU-Z, IIRC and 1.40, according to the BIOS interface) (I think I lost the chip lottery on this one, too, despite being a G0)


----------



## framebuffer (Mar 30, 2021)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> For me, I was lucky to get my E2180 OC'ed to 2.90 Ghz. At 3.0, it degraded, even when the volts weren't insanely high! Then I watch Prime95 fail sooner and sooner and sooner, even when I dropped the frequency to 2.928! What a poo chip! That was on my Asus P5QL Pro motherboard.
> 
> And for Core 2 Quads:
> 
> Asus Maximus II Gene (from 2009) with a Q6600 G0 "L804" with VID at 1.3250V, just like my E2180, IIRC. "Bus/Interconnect Error" WHEA uncorrectable error common at 367 Mhz FSB, when I had it at 367x9.0, for 3.3 Ghz at 1.39V. (according to CPU-Z, IIRC and 1.40, according to the BIOS interface) (I think I lost the chip lottery on this one, too, despite being a G0)



wow you remember everything! 

I completely forgot the C2D period, maybe it was very short...
Instead I remember well the Q6600 because it was a CPU that I never booted into OS at stock, I overclocked it straight to 3.60 and then tuned up to 4.00 but I'm not sure if I used it daily at 4.0, most probably 3.80 or 3.6 and no idea of the voltages

I would have all the screenshots and results (and a lot of other stuff) but about 8 years ago I lost all during a data migration; I was sure that the folder was already copied on the new server but it wasn't, so I lost everything and it makes me furious even after all these years.
Since then I have always 3 copies on 3 different servers of all my data, so won't happen anymore, but still


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Mar 30, 2021)

I got the Maximus II Gene motherboard in 2013 and a used Q6600 in likely 2014. In 2013, I already had a Wolfdale E8400 C0 to pop in there, since I bought that one used in very-late 2012.


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 2, 2021)

Found this lovely machine on a Facebook retro group. Beautifully put together.


----------



## TheoneandonlyMrK (Apr 2, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well guys, my Adison adventure is slowly coming to an end. It's been a wild & crazy ride, ad I have many regrets (mainly not being able to do it sooner), but alas what's done is done.
> 
> Earlier today I received those two BTC CD-ROM drives, so after sorting things out & making sure that everything works OK (one of the drives did not, unfortunately) things are pretty much done. Here are 3 of my Adison towers, together:
> 
> ...


I don't remember person sized PC's? Still they don't look too bad , fairly modern, nice.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 2, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Found this lovely machine on a Facebook retro group. Beautifully put together.
> View attachment 194979


A true flashback to the early 2000s when some people had rigs just like that.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 2, 2021)

TheoneandonlyMrK said:


> I don't remember person sized PC's? Still they don't look too bad , fairly modern, nice.


Speaking of person sized PCs, I'm still working on these things... In the process of setting up the first (technically, 2nd) Adison system, but things had been going the wrong way, and all around if I may add.

First, I had an issue with the CD-ROM drives, those BTC units. Long story short, the "36X" one was upgraded with 40X unit, but kept its nice & bright white "36X" front plate.
Then there was an issue with the modem. One system had an old ISA modem, from around early 90s. Older than the actual Pentium II system, so I found additional 56k V90 modem to match the specs of the other system. Both of them are even "Voice" models & have connectors for the headset & microphone.

And last (for now, that is) ... I've started experiencing rather unusual, weird behavior while playing the animations (videos), through AGP card. In my case - ATI Rage IIc. I assumed that it was the card behind all the issues and not something else, but after swapping out the ATI card for another (identical) one, RAM, flashing the BIOS, even removing all other expansion cards I STILL had the same issue. Somehow, I found the way around the issue by upgrading Rage IIc to a different revision. It seems to be newer at first glance (because it uses standardized, blue VGA output connector instead of the black ones on other two cards), but oddly enough uses EDO VRAM chips, rather than SD-VRAM ones on the card(s) which caused the system to hang & garbled picture.

I'm guessing that it's motherboard (not mine, the other one which came from ebay) - could be that the northbridge is somehow damaged, compromised or corrupted, or maybe one of those small SMDs are chipped off ... who knows? I can't see anything obviously wrong with the motherboard & otherwise seems to be working just fine. Even the "3D" acceleration from that Rage IIc, which obviously isn't going to compete against the Voodoo2, but it DOES work OK.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2021)

About optical drives, I kinda liked how some manufacturers had damn cool faceplates on those instead of the typical, boring white/beige/black ones.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> About optical drives, I kinda liked how some manufacturers had damn cool faceplates on those instead of the typical, boring white/beige/black ones.


BTC drives in my opinion had "cool" looking faceplates. Something about the way they shaped it, and made those play & stop buttons shaped like small arrows


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2021)

I remember that my last CD-RW drive was a Philips CDRW5200, looks almost the same as its 4800 older brother:



Spoiler









Though it didn't have the volume knob, headphone jack or two LED indicators. It was anyway hella reliable drive, IIRC it never failed to burn a disc (though I always burned CDs at 16x).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I remember that my last CD-RW drive was a Philips CDRW5200, looks almost the same as its 4800 older brother:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Not sure I like the contrast between the white face plate & darker (silver?) tray & eject button but otherwise I would have to agree, it does have a lot of character. Also, one of the very few units to feature separate LEDs for read & write functions.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not sure I like the contrast between the white face plate & darker (silver?) tray & eject button but otherwise I would have to agree, it does have a lot of character. Also, one of the very few units to feature separate LEDs for read & write functions.


Looked IMO pretty nice in a black case. Also that was a nice bundle on some drives that they had few other faceplates bundled with them back in the day to match a different coloured case.


----------



## 68Olds (Apr 3, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Found this lovely machine on a Facebook retro group. Beautifully put together.
> View attachment 194979


Those Creative drives bring back memories.  The first CDROM I had was a Creative Multimedia kit, came with a controller board & the drive.  It is still in the basement in my AT tower case & 486 mobo.
Had a lot of fun with the DOS games on CD back then.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2021)

68Olds said:


> Those Creative drives bring back memories.  The first CDROM I had was a Creative Multimedia kit, came with a controller board & the drive.  It is still in the basement in my AT tower case & 486 mobo.
> Had a lot of fun with the DOS games on CD back then.


I got one of those Creative units, myself... Although mine doesn't appear to be something special, in fact it may even be a later BTC drive manufactured by the "TOP-G" corporation.


----------



## freeagent (Apr 3, 2021)

52x.. noice..


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I got one of those Creative units, myself... Although mine doesn't appear to be something special, in fact it may even be a later BTC drive manufactured by the "TOP-G" corporation.


Those drives were handy which had a headphone jack, a volume knob and that play/pause button 



freeagent said:


> 52x.. noice..


Noice noise, I remember that Liteon drives were like jets launching off


----------



## freeagent (Apr 3, 2021)

And the cheaper CD's would explode


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2021)

freeagent said:


> And the cheaper CD's would explode


I heard those horror stories but luckily I didn't experience that one.. at 52x, the disc spins at *27500RPM!!!!*


----------



## fma67 (Apr 3, 2021)

BTW, There exist somewhere a working copy of original Lemmings?

thanks


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2021)

freeagent said:


> And the cheaper CD's would explode


Back in 2005 or 2006, I had a brand new DVD-RW drive. The very first DVD-RW I ever had, and also the last BTC optical drive, because they disappeared from the scene soon after. This one, from the pic actually:


 

 



Anyway, what happened is that an old Traxdata CD blew up inside DVD-RW, causing terminal damage to the laser pickup, but also to the tray mechanism which literally opened up from the impact, with the shards of smashed CD flying out & onto the floor in front of the case.

I took the drive back to the store & somehow managed to get a replacement unit, blaming the actual BTC for what happened


----------



## freeagent (Apr 3, 2021)

Yup, that happened to my buddy down the street.. having a beer, burning a game and that drive was just screaming and it made a pretty fantastic noise. I don't remember if the drive died or not. I want to say it continued to burn on a new disk but at a slower speed, but I don't recall. I think those were the days it took 4 hours to burn a dvd.. but its a little hazy.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2021)

I forgot to ask & mention in particular... Due to the unexpected issues with one of the Adison systems, I'm on a lookout for Chaintech 6BTM Slot 1 motherboard. So if you happen to have one in working condition please drop me a msg & let me know. Depending on the asking price we might be able to work something out


----------



## F-Zero (Apr 3, 2021)

Hey guys ! So I wanted to show you my good colleague's retro project he is working on. He is a true master of the craft and I hope you like it ! 
PS: He is the one who hooked me on DFI motherboards so thank you !

Specs are: 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 
DFI LANParty DK P45 T2RS
4x2 DDR 2 @ 800Mhz
Palit GT 240
Custom black/orange cables
Verbatim 120 Gb SSD
Custom case for display ( he wants to put it on the wall )


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 3, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys ! So I wanted to show you my good colleague's retro project he is working on. He is a true master of the craft and I hope you like it !
> PS: He is the one who hooked me on DFI motherboards so thank you !
> 
> Specs are:
> ...


Feels more than absurd to see such old hardware in a modern-looking build like that. 

Time to crack a beer guys, CPU Galaxy has just posted a new video!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 4, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I got one of those Creative units, myself... Although mine doesn't appear to be something special, in fact it may even be a later BTC drive manufactured by the "TOP-G" corporation.


Zip250's, very nice.



Chloe Price said:


> Feels more than absurd to see such old hardware in a modern-looking build like that.
> 
> Time to crack a beer guys, CPU Galaxy has just posted a new video!


Cool!


----------



## fma67 (Apr 4, 2021)

I like the idea (a mixture of old and new, is even crossing my mind to hook an old radio and make a system in it) but i would "complete" the new look with a non-wooden inferior tray (black plexy maybe?).
anyway, nice job and fine work (watch the edges how well are done)


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 4, 2021)

Check out this cable management. (this is not my work)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 4, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Check out this cable management. (this is not my work)
> View attachment 195294 View attachment 195295


Wow!! This guy is either a true genius ... or a maniac.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 5, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Check out this cable management. (this is not my work)
> View attachment 195294 View attachment 195295


Awesome work by Ricardo Daniel Costa, more pictures and specs are available on his ig/fb


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 5, 2021)

Damn @framebuffer you were faster to recommend a PCIe SATA controller to him, saw your comment after I posted the same.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Apr 5, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Check out this cable management. (this is not my work)
> View attachment 195294 View attachment 195295



Oh, now that is just lovely.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 5, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Check out this cable management. (this is not my work)
> View attachment 195294 View attachment 195295


Never even knew that cable management like that is possible with oldschool cases. More than impressed!


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 5, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Damn @framebuffer you were faster to recommend a PCIe SATA controller to him, saw your comment after I posted the same.



heheh seemed the most obvious thing to try and nobody had mentioned it yet when I commented, but apparently Joe is keeping that as last resort, will see


----------



## 68Olds (Apr 5, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I got one of those Creative units, myself... Although mine doesn't appear to be something special, in fact it may even be a later BTC drive manufactured by the "TOP-G" corporation.


52X? No no no....
My Creative is a Quad Speed. lol


----------



## SenditMakine (Apr 5, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Remember my Win7 min spec project? I purposedly built a rig using the weakest components officially supported by Microsoft. My goal was to create the absolute minimum system able to run the 64-bit version with Aero Glass UI and see how it performs today.
> At the time the slowest drive I had on hand was a 120 GB 5,400 rpm laptop HDD. MS's own minimum is 20 GB. I've been trying to source such a small drive for a while. Now I finally got it
> 
> View attachment 191434View attachment 191438View attachment 191439
> ...


This frankenstein bro ahhahahahahahha


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 5, 2021)

68Olds said:


> 52X? No no no....
> My Creative is a Quad Speed. lol
> View attachment 195402


Sweet! I only got one Quad-speed drive, and it's made by Mitsumi (Panasonic) 

Definitely fits the environment!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2021)

Well for once, it's my turn to add in to the fun!

My USB bus-powered Zip250 drive kicked the bucket some time ago and I found a replacement on Ebay, in mint condition!



The new one is not USB bus powered, but I'm ok with that. Yes, that is a USB floppy sitting next to it. They both have their uses.

While looking, I also found the following;



Unopened for nearly 20 years! One just does not see that very often these days! Had to grab it! As I have plenty of Zip 100 & 250 discs, these will remain unopened.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 6, 2021)

nice!
I'm still looking to find one (or maybe two) internal (SCSI) but they seems to be still a little too pricey for some reason


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> nice!
> I'm still looking to find one (or maybe two) internal (SCSI) but they seems to be still a little too pricey for some reason


True. SCSI anything is pricey.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 6, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sweet! I only got one Quad-speed drive, and it's made by Mitsumi (Panasonic)
> 
> Definitely fits the environment!


You probably confused it with Matshita/Matsushita, Mitsumi is a different manufacturer.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> You probably confused it with Matshita/Matsushita, Mitsumi is a different manufacturer.


Interesting... Nope, I had it right ... or at least I thought I did! I know a LOT of brands which are "hiding" Panasonic underneath (Quasar, Technics, National, Matsushita) so I figured that Mitsumi was one of them.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 6, 2021)

Put better cooling on my HTPC yesterday






Forgot to plug that LED strip, I'll put it later.. 



Trekkie4 said:


> Interesting... Nope, I had it right ... or at least I thought I did! I know a LOT of brands which are "hiding" Panasonic underneath (Quasar, Technics, National, Matsushita) so I figured that Mitsumi was one of them.



TBH I wouldn't be surprised if Mitsumi would have been one of them


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 6, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Awesome work by Ricardo Daniel Costa, more pictures and specs are available on his ig/fb


Indeed! He has some remarkable stuff on his Facebook page.


----------



## Chomiq (Apr 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Put better cooling on my HTPC yesterday
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What about this?


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 6, 2021)

Chomiq said:


> What about this?
> View attachment 195477


On purpose, the backplate is broken so I have the block mounted on two opposite corners. Not something that I missed.


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 6, 2021)

Got a P3 build to show off.


Spoiler: Full specs:



CPU: Pentium III 500 MHz Slot 1
Motherboard: ASUS P3V 4X
RAM: 2x Kingston G2/2048 1GB PC133 SDRAM
GPU: Radeon 9250 AGP 8X, Ageia PhysX PPU (not in system as it overheats due to no fan yet, is coming)
Storage: Samsung SP0842N 80GB (Windows 2000), Fujitsu MPD3084AT 8.6GB (storage), Quantum Bigfoot TX 4GB (music)
Floppy drives: 1.2MB 5.25", 1.44MB 3.5"
Ethernet: Intel Pro/100+ 10/100 LAN card
Modem: USRobotics ISA modem
SCSI: Adaptec AHA-2040U(W) PCI SCSI controller
Optical drive: NEC MultiSpin 3x_i_ CDR-500
Sound card: Sound Blaster Live! CT4780
PSU: Enermax EG651P-VE 550W
Case: JC Segae (case that my dad bought in 1999, no identifiers other than a JC Segae badge)
Keyboard + mouse: Dell QuietKey SK-1000REW, Microsoft IntelliMouse 1.1A
Displays: Samsung S22B350 @ 1280x720 75 Hz, ASUS VS427 @ 1280x720 75 Hz





Spoiler: Pictures















Finished building it last Friday, and finished Driver Hell yesterday.
It's quite a capable machine, though I haven't played any games on it yet since school starts today. Going back full-time.
I get off June 2nd.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> Case: JC Segae (case that my dad bought in 1999, no identifiers other than a JC Segae badge)


JC, a bomb!


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 6, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> Got a P3 build to show off.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Full specs:
> ...



I'm the absolute king of _overkill stuff because I can_, so no judging, just out of curiosity: what the hell are you gonna run on a Pentium III 500MHz and a 9250 that can take any benefit from the Ageia PhysX PPU?


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 6, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> I'm the absolute king of _overkill stuff because I can_, so no judging, just out of curiosity: what the hell are you gonna run on a Pentium III 500MHz and a 9250 that can take any benefit from the Ageia PhysX PPU?


No idea.
I got the PhysX card as a trade for a PS/2 keyboard that I didn't need.
Figured it'd be fun to play around with.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Apr 6, 2021)

Picture spam incoming. I finally got my intel Q6700 for my 775i655G R3 board I am happy it booted! Why is this board special you asked? This is the last official supported board for windows 98 when boards with this board being able to accept the pentium 4 to pentium D to the first generation conroe intel core2duo to core2quad   . It came in a weird time where board are already moving to ddr2. This board supported DDR1 only.  I regret not getting another one as spare when it was cheap. My dream of powerful windows 98 coming true except it is not there yet.! Except I don't have windows 98 or an ssd to install now. SSD for windows 98 lmao... Also I probably need an ide based cd drive. I only have external usb cd drive. It detected but no os was detected on my windows xp disc too. Now how could I find an IDE one? If someone here can help with all those and also finding dos games or win98 games I would appreciate alot!

I got an AGP Nvidia FX5500 still unused in it box still. And 10 pieces of 1GB DDR1. I place heatsink at the mosfets I want this rare board to last long. Asrock even have crazy board design back then. I love collecting their crazy boards if I could.








Lifetime warranty.  If I could even find this company now with a time machine.










FX5500 Galaxy Gpu.

















Sweet core2quad Q6700 replacing my old core2duo E6320!

















This is gonna be cooled with a Scythe Fuma version 1. This is a crazy amount of cooling to bring to a 2006 cpu haha. Thank goodness for LGA 775 support until now. I think manufacturer are dropping 775 bracket support nowadays.








I place it all in my GMC eyerobo case. Since the board cpu placement is off centred I can only use an sfx psu. Why not an sfx corsair SF450 platinum that I left from my itx build? Pretty sure this 2006 hardware is happy getting some ultra stable electrical juices that never exist then.











I have no os or hdd now but I tried to overclock. Unfortunately though the board have no voltage controls at all, I can control the FSB but that only max out to FSB 300 giving my Q6700 3.01GHz. I guess there is no point for getting a QX6800 down the road as I cannot adjust the voltage even with unlock multiplier. Maybe I could it I wanted the stock extra 300Mhz clockspeed. Would help in windows xp but windows 98 is overkill....


----------



## R00kie (Apr 6, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> No idea.
> I got the PhysX card as a trade for a PS/2 keyboard that I didn't need.
> Figured it'd be fun to play around with.


Thing is, the 9250 isnt gonna be capable of running the games that actually benefit from PhysX.

You're better off finding a card that supports DX9.0c, so it at least runs the games.


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 6, 2021)

gdallsk said:


> Thing is, the 9250 isnt gonna be capable of running the games that actually benefit from PhysX.
> 
> You're better off finding a card that supports DX9.0c, so it at least runs the games.


I may end up putting it in my P4/XP build, but currently it's just a motherboard and CPU (and the motherboard needs a new northbridge heat sink since I can't use the waterblock that's on it) and thus it goes in my P3 build.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 6, 2021)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Picture spam incoming. I finally got my intel Q6700 for my 775i655G R3 board I am happy it booted! Why is this board special you asked? This is the last official supported board for windows 98 when boards with this board being able to accept the pentium 4 to pentium D to the first generation conroe intel core2duo to core2quad   . It came in a weird time where board are already moving to ddr2. This board supported DDR1 only.  I regret not getting another one as spare when it was cheap. My dream of powerful windows 98 coming true except it is not there yet.! Except I don't have windows 98 or an ssd to install now. SSD for windows 98 lmao... Also I probably need an ide based cd drive. I only have external usb cd drive. It detected but no os was detected on my windows xp disc too. Now how could I find an IDE one? If someone here can help with all those and also finding dos games or win98 games I would appreciate alot!
> 
> I got an AGP Nvidia FX5500 still unused in it box still. And 10 pieces of 1GB DDR1. I place heatsink at the mosfets I want this rare board to last long. Asrock even have crazy board design back then. I love collecting their crazy boards if I could.
> 
> ...


A dream board for a HD 3850 AGP..


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I heard those horror stories but luckily I didn't experience that one.. at 52x, the disc spins at *27500RPM!!!!*


Wow, that seems a bit exaggerated. At 52x a CD would rotate at 10,400 rpm. Still, at this CAV the outer edge of a standard 12 cm disk would reach a mind-bending 237 kph / 147 mph 



RealKGB said:


> Storage: Samsung SP0842N 80GB (Windows 2000), Fujitsu MPD3084AT 8.6GB (storage), Quantum Bigfoot TX 4GB (music)


Nice build you've put together. Those Bigfoots were large mofos!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 6, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Wow, that seems a bit exaggerated. At 52x a CD would rotate at 10,400 rpm. Still, at this CAV the outer edge of a standard 12 cm disk would reach a mind-numbing 237 kph / 147 mph


That's what google told me, I've been fooled, dammit.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 6, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> No idea.
> I got the PhysX card as a trade for a PS/2 keyboard that I didn't need.
> Figured it'd be fun to play around with.





gdallsk said:


> Thing is, the 9250 isnt gonna be capable of running the games that actually benefit from PhysX.
> 
> You're better off finding a card that supports DX9.0c, so it at least runs the games.





RealKGB said:


> I may end up putting it in my P4/XP build, but currently it's just a motherboard and CPU (and the motherboard needs a new northbridge heat sink since I can't use the waterblock that's on it) and thus it goes in my P3 build.



Here is a list (I guess it's complete) of games supporting PhysX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_hardware-accelerated_PhysX_support
Except few games from 2005, your target are 2006-2008 (PPU) games, so late Athlon64 or Core2Duo/Quad and GeForce 7xxx/9xxx or Radeon X19xx / HD3x00 period

Of course you can try them on a P4/XP and some older video cards, but probably will not be a very smooth experience 
but anyway post the results because it's interesting!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 7, 2021)

Back with some classic stuff, more or less.




Pictured:

Lucky Tech P5MVP3 mobo w/ AMD K6-2 500MHz & 384MB PC133 (recapped)
WDC WD400BB 40GB IDE HDD
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 CT4830 PCI
ASUS V9520 128MB (FX5200) AGP
"450W" noname SFX PSU (recapped + cleaned)


----------



## stef (Apr 7, 2021)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Picture spam incoming. I finally got my intel Q6700 for my 775i655G R3 board I am happy it booted! Why is this board special you asked? This is the last official supported board for windows 98 when boards with this board being able to accept the pentium 4 to pentium D to the first generation conroe intel core2duo to core2quad   . It came in a weird time where board are already moving to ddr2. This board supported DDR1 only.  I regret not getting another one as spare when it was cheap. My dream of powerful windows 98 coming true except it is not there yet.! Except I don't have windows 98 or an ssd to install now. SSD for windows 98 lmao... Also I probably need an ide based cd drive. I only have external usb cd drive. It detected but no os was detected on my windows xp disc too. Now how could I find an IDE one? If someone here can help with all those and also finding dos games or win98 games I would appreciate alot!
> 
> I got an AGP Nvidia FX5500 still unused in it box still. And 10 pieces of 1GB DDR1. I place heatsink at the mosfets I want this rare board to last long. Asrock even have crazy board design back then. I love collecting their crazy boards if I could.
> 
> ...



Nice setup. I have several of these rev 2.0 boards. Newer ones support 45nm Wolfdale CPUs. E5800 with 800MHz FSB is perfect for these since it doesn't strain voltage regulation.
Regarding Win98, there's no point in running it on Q since OS can't use more then one core. But Q should be nice for dual boot setup with XP.

BTW, hi guys .


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 7, 2021)

stef said:


> Nice setup. I have several of these rev 2.0 boards. Newer ones support 45nm Wolfdale CPUs. E5800 with 800MHz FSB is perfect for these since it doesn't strain voltage regulation.
> Regarding Win98, there's no point in running it on Q since OS can't use more then one core. But Q should be nice for dual boot setup with XP.
> 
> BTW, hi guys .


Hi there & welcome aboard!


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 7, 2021)

As Trekkie4 said above, welcome @stef  to TPU and TPU's Nostalgic Club!!!!!!!


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 10, 2021)

I've just acquired a very nice (2006) HP Compaq DC 5700 Microtower from a customer who was doing a house clearance. Before collecting it I asked them to send a photo in case it was more trouble than it was worth, so imagine my surprise.
It needs a good clean up but is in excellent condition and weighs a ton!
Intel Pentium 4 631 Cedar Mill socket 775 3.0Ghz which is currently running at 2.392Ghz, 160Gb WD SATA and 512Mb DDR2 (now 2GB since I had some lying around) Windows XP Pro Spanish.
Not sure what I'll use it for yet, but I'll enjoy tidying it up and adding a graphics card. I may well leave the OS as it is in case I want to sell it on. Or just add it to the collection  
*Edit:*
PCIe X16 video cards cannot be used on HP Compaq dc5700 Desktop PCs.
When trying to use PCI Express X16 (PCIe X16) video cards on HP Compaq dc5700 Desktop PCs, the following error message appears:
*922 - This System only Supports SDVO Add2 in the X16 Slot*
Never seen that before!


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Apr 10, 2021)

stef said:


> Nice setup. I have several of these rev 2.0 boards. Newer ones support 45nm Wolfdale CPUs. E5800 with 800MHz FSB is perfect for these since it doesn't strain voltage regulation.
> Regarding Win98, there's no point in running it on Q since OS can't use more then one core. But Q should be nice for dual boot setup with XP.
> 
> BTW, hi guys .



Ohh really! Could I buy it off you for retro builds? It a great board! I wish I could find the atx version too.


----------



## stef (Apr 10, 2021)

I'm not selling them for the time being. Another one just popped up on local market .
I've described my experince with r2.0 regarding Wolfdale support in Vogons thread: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=60953&start=20

Boards may lack some advanced BIOS features but are very compatible regarding CPUs / memory / GPUs.
I've tested all my AGP cards on them (with or without bridge chips) and they all worked great. Only exception is Hercules Kyro II, which worked on P4P800 but not on Asrock for some reason.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 11, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> BTW I just received two WD Raptors 500G* in a paper envelope*, haven't had the courage to open it and test them yet



Yesterday I tested them, along with some others I received recently
So the two 150GB I received in a paper envelope are working perfectly, have 0 bad sectors or errors and only 4 months and 24 days of uptime!  
$5 well spent 






Also received my MAXXMIMUM RAGE t-shirt from pixelpipes


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 11, 2021)

I've made some changes (hopefully improvements?) to 3rd Adison system. You know, the one with Slocket adapter & Coppermine P3 @ 933MHz. 3dfx Voodoo3 is removed in favor of TNT2 Pro and the two Voodoo2 cards were placed instead of a dial-up modem. I also took the liberty of swapping out SB Live for Aureal Vortex 2, which (if you ask me) is superior to EAX. I don't suppose someone's interested to know how V3 (or V2 for that matter, in SLI) compare against TNT2?


 



To make things even better, I OCed the TNT2 card (160/160) with quite disappointing results, actually.

Meanwhile, the RetroMaster 2500 (donor system, from which I removed the SLI & Aureal Vortex cards) received a slight update, now featuring Ti4800 SE instead of Ti4200, Creative SB Live! & a single V2 (12mb) card, instead of SLI.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 11, 2021)

I put my HTPC back to air cooling as I have one project in mind for that custom loop.



stef said:


> Nice setup. I have several of these rev 2.0 boards. Newer ones support 45nm Wolfdale CPUs. E5800 with 800MHz FSB is perfect for these since it doesn't strain voltage regulation.
> Regarding Win98, there's no point in running it on Q since OS can't use more then one core. But Q should be nice for dual boot setup with XP.
> 
> BTW, hi guys .


I'd love to have a 775 AGP board with Core 2 support. I had Asus P5P800 SE (LGA775, Intel 865PE) back in the day with a Pentium D 805 and Asus GF 6800 LE (unlocked to 6800 ps/vs and OC'd to 380/470).

Also, welcome to TPU!


----------



## hat (Apr 11, 2021)

@framebuffer Those Raptors are begging to be speed tested (individually), and then hooked up to a crazy RAID 0 array and tested again. 

It's funny how quickly SATA ports fill when you start messing around with RAID...


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I've made some changes (hopefully improvements?) to 3rd Adison system. You know, the one with Slocket adapter & Coppermine P3 @ 933MHz. 3dfx Voodoo3 is removed in favor of TNT2 Pro and the two Voodoo2 cards were placed instead of a dial-up modem. I also took the liberty of swapping out SB Live for Aureal Vortex 2, which (if you ask me) is superior to EAX. I don't suppose someone's interested to know how V3 (or V2 for that matter, in SLI) compare against TNT2?
> 
> To make things even better, I OCed the TNT2 card (160/160) with quite disappointing results, actually.



TNT2 Pro and Voodoo3 3000 have pretty much the same performance in 16bit but of course the TNT2 supports also 32bit, so as long as it has enough power to use 32 bit you improved
What's the default freq. of  your card? The Pro should be clocked at 143MHz / 167MHz so 160/160 would be a downclock for the RAM



hat said:


> @framebuffer Those Raptors are begging to be speed tested (individually), and then hooked up to a crazy RAID 0 array and tested again.
> 
> It's funny how quickly SATA ports fill when you start messing around with RAID...



yes I tested them when I checked the SMART status 

150GB (model from 2009): 109MB/s (R) / 75MB/s (W), 7.75ms (access) (2x)
600GB (model from 2011): 122MB/s (R) / 78MB/s (W), 7.20ms (access)
500GB (model from 2014): 172MB/s (R) / 112MB/s (W), 6.60ms (access)

of course these are averages, depending of the position in the platter the performance can be up to +/- 50% (forgot to write down exact start/end speed)


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 11, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I'd love to have a 775 AGP board with Core 2 support.


Asrock 775Dual-VSTA  









						ASrock 775Dual-VSTA motherboard socket 775 + Intel Core2Duo E6300 +2gb rama +I/O  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for ASrock 775Dual-VSTA motherboard socket 775 + Intel Core2Duo E6300 +2gb rama +I/O at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 11, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> TNT2 Pro and Voodoo3 3000 have pretty much the same performance in 16bit but of course the TNT2 supports also 32bit, so as long as it has enough power to use 32 bit you improved
> What's the default freq. of  your card? The Pro should be clocked at 143MHz / 167MHz so 160/160 would be a downclock for the RAM


You'd think that TNT2 & Voodoo3 3000 are on the same level, true. But they're not, TNT2 wiped the floor with V3, at least on my system. I will post benchmark results as soon as I get the chance.

As for the GPU clock, the stock (factory) speed is 125MHz and the card was manufactured by Asus, under "V3800 Pro" name. Again, you'd think that it's a M64 and not a Pro GPU, but once again things are not what they seem to be. When I removed the heatsink I clearly identified "Pro" GPU. See for yourself:


----------



## Vendor (Apr 11, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Geforce 8600M GS 512MB


i had 8400gs 1gb ddr3 when i got my sandy bridge i5 pc back in may 2011, it also advertised that pure video hd thing


----------



## Pupo (Apr 11, 2021)

Im working on my dream pc from college days, nvidia themed. But, due to lack of money at that time, I was "gaming" on integrated graphics and later on single 8500GT :/











If someone have or knows where I can find it, Im looking for nvidia themet computer case, let me know. They were available from variarity of vendors (Coolermaster, Chieftec, Thermaltake, etc.).
I found one on ebay, but its wayyy over my budget for this.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 11, 2021)

Pupo said:


> Im working on my dream pc from college days, nvidia themed. But, due to lack of money at that time, I was "gaming" on integrated graphics and later on single 8500GT :/
> 
> 
> View attachment 196284
> ...


Nice one but alas too modern for my taste... 

Da li se to meni čini, ili ovo postaje mini PCE kutak?


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> You'd think that TNT2 & Voodoo3 3000 are on the same level, true. But they're not, TNT2 wiped the floor with V3, at least on my system. I will post benchmark results as soon as I get the chance.
> 
> As for the GPU clock, the stock (factory) speed is 125MHz and the card was manufactured by Asus, under "V3800 Pro" name. Again, you'd think that it's a M64 and not a Pro GPU, but once again things are not what they seem to be. When I removed the heatsink I clearly identified "Pro" GPU. See for yourself:



pretty sure they perform very closely in 16bit, but post your result yes 
I can put together an equal system in case, so we can compare

regarding the TNT2 clocks, yes this should be a Pro, what software are you using to read them (and overclock)?


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 12, 2021)

Pupo said:


> If someone have or knows where I can find it, Im looking for nvidia themed computer case, let me know. They were available from variety of vendors (Coolermaster, Chieftec, Thermaltake, etc.).
> I found one on ebay, but its wayyy over my budget for this.


My son has one almost identical if not exactly the same as that case, but as we're in Australia it wouldn't be worth the shipping cost.
Perhaps look for a Razer themed case too as the green matches the Nvidia theme.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> pretty sure they perform very closely in 16bit, but post your result yes
> I can put together an equal system in case, so we can compare
> 
> regarding the TNT2 clocks, yes this should be a Pro, what software are you using to read them (and overclock)?


Okie dokie. So, here it is ... again, not something you'd expect to see.




As you can see, the results are pretty conclusive. First place TNT2 (OC, 160/160), second place fully stock Asus V3800 running at 125MHz (it says so in the specs, but also the OC app, more about that in a sec), third place Voodoo3 3000 AGP (running at stock clock speed) & last place Voodoo2 in SLI, 2x Creative 3D Blaster 12MB


 



Regarding software, I'm using the original Asus-branded OC app called Smart Doctor2.




And yes, please do... If you got the time & patience, see if you can reproduce these results on your own. Here are my full specs for this particular build:

Asus P3B-F (latest revision)
Intel P3 933 (Socket 370, running through a slocket adapter)
2x 128MB PC133
Asus V3800 Pro (TNT2 Pro)
2x 3dfx Voodoo2 12mb
Windows 98 SE


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 12, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Okie dokie. So, here it is ... again, not something you'd expect to see.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Unfortunately 3DMark 99 has been proven to be unreliable and buggy, I never use/consider it.
For 1999 cards ideal is use QuakeIII Arena, Unreal Tournament and 3DMark 2000
You can also throw in Incoming and Expendable or something older like Quake II

Regarding the clocks, it's possible that Smart Doctor is relying on a profile and not reading the real clocks, what I would do in your situation is to set Default (or "Defult"  ) values in SmartDoctor 2, uninstall the tool (reboot) and install RivaTuner (reboot when it asks for clock detection). I'd try also PowerStrip to see if the values do match with RivaTuner


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 12, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Unfortunately 3DMark 99 has been proven to be unreliable and buggy, I never use/consider it.
> For 1999 cards ideal is use QuakeIII Arena, Unreal Tournament and 3DMark 2000
> You can also throw in Incoming and Expendable or something older like Quake II
> 
> Regarding the clocks, it's possible that Smart Doctor is relying on a profile and not reading the real clocks, what I would do in your situation is to set Default (or "Defult"  ) values in SmartDoctor 2, uninstall the tool (reboot) and install RivaTuner (reboot when it asks for clock detection). I'd try also PowerStrip to see if the values do match with RivaTuner


Hmm, OK then. I'll play with OC tools once I safely (and fully) back up the system 

I've been told, or rather suggested by someone that TNT2 can take a LOT more OC. And since Smart Doctor2 doesn't allow anything beyond 160MHz (for the core clock), I already considered the option of trying out RivaTuner. But I definitely need to upgrade the GPU heatsink first...!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 12, 2021)

IIRC Powerstrip is also fine with those older cards. I remember using that with GF2 MX back in the day before I switched to Rivatuner.


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 12, 2021)

When you need to get down to the metal with an HP build, you realise they are all bomb proof and can't be faulted on build quality. If only the mobo wasn't ADD2 support only. That really pissed me off, so I'm selling it on.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> When you need to get down to the metal with an HP build, you realise they are all bomb proof and can't be faulted on build quality. If only the mobo wasn't ADD2 support only. That really pissed me off, so I'm selling it on.
> View attachment 196434 View attachment 196435


Wasn't that ADD2 just a DVI output for the iGPU or something useless like that?


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 12, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Wasn't that ADD2 just a DVI output for the iGPU or something useless like that?


Exactly that. In other words the motherboard has been hobbled and can't be upgraded in terms of GPU.
Pretty short sighted if you ask me, even if it is only supposed to be a business machine.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Apr 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Exactly that. In other words the motherboard has been hobbled and can't be upgraded in terms of GPU.
> Pretty short sighted if you ask me, even if it is only supposed to be a business machine.



Huh.  Why even stick an X16 slot on it then?  Does it still have full-width connection to the PCH?


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 12, 2021)

some anticipation of the next project  
started playing with pp/vp unlock on GeForce 6800LE

*3DMark03 E6600@default / 6800LE - 8pp/4vp - 300/700*





*3DMark03 E6600@default / 6800LE - 12pp/6vp - 325/700*





*F.E.A.R (medium preset, 1280x1024)* *E6600@default / 6800LE - 8pp/4vp - 300/700*




*F.E.A.R (medium preset, 1280x1024) E6600@default / 6800LE - 8pp/4vp - 300/700*





*DOOM3 (Ultra, 1280x1024)* *E6600@default / 6800LE - 8pp/4vp - 300/700*




*DOOM3 (Ultra, 1280x1024) E6600@default / 6800LE - 8pp/4vp - 300/700*




Unfortunately the last 4pp are not in good shape  ...but 12/6 is not bad after all!
Still have to find the GPU limit (don't expect much more, maybe maybe 350). RAM modules are rated at 357MHz so I don't expect much from them either, will see


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 12, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Huh.  Why even stick an X16 slot on it then?  Does it still have full-width connection to the PCH?


PCH?


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Apr 12, 2021)

Platform Controller Hub.  Which your board might not actually have; I don't know what chipset's on it.


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 12, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Platform Controller Hub.  Which your board might not actually have; I don't know what chipset's on it.


It's an Intel Q963 Express chipset.








						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				








						HP Compaq dc5700 Microtower PC Specifications | HP® Customer Support
					

Specifications for HP Compaq dc5700 Microtower PC.




					support.hp.com


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 12, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> some anticipation of the next project
> started playing with pp/vp unlock on GeForce 6800LE
> 
> 
> ...


Almost just like my 6800 LE back in the day. Unlocked to 12/5 and OC'd to 380/940, it was an Asus model (V9999LE).


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 12, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Almost just like my 6800 LE back in the day. Unlocked to 12/5 and OC'd to 380/940, it was an Asus model (V9999LE).



380/940 is not bad at all!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 12, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> 380/940 is not bad at all!


And it was totally stable with those clocks. I had a Pentium D 805 @ 3.4GHz as a CPU with it (Asus P5P800 SE, LGA775 and AGP).


----------



## stef (Apr 12, 2021)

@framebuffer
Great project 

I had similar project in mind, but critically lack time these days. I hope to start it in May/June.
Hardware is ready, and almost all period-correct. I'm targeting smaller AMD64 platform on VIA chipset:
* Asus K8V SE Deluxe (K8T800) -> wanted Abit K8T800Pro, but this will do
* Venice E6 3200+ with AC Freezer64 Pro -> technically, cheating on s754 but chip is too cool to resist ... literally
* 2 x 1GB G.Skill CL 2-3-2-6 (Infineon B-die)
* Leadtek WinFast A400 TDH (non-GT unlockable to 16,6) + new old stock NV silencer 5
All in beutiful biege AOpen H600A case.

I used to have DFI LP UT s754 with GF 6800 back in the day, and had gazillion problems with it. For some reason nforce3 chipset and 6800 did not like each other. Ati worked great on the board, and VIA chipset was best option for AGP GeForce 6800, stability wise. So, trying to go other route some 16 years later .

This is the card:


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Apr 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> It's an Intel Q963 Express chipset.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oh, weird.  It _looks_ like an X16 connector, but isn't one.  Despite ARK listing PCIe revision as 1.1, the Wikipedia page claims no PCIe support for the 963, and if you compare to 965 on ARK, there's no config listed for the 963.  Stupid market segmentation.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 13, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> And it was totally stable with those clocks. I had a Pentium D 805 @ 3.4GHz as a CPU with it (Asus P5P800 SE, LGA775 and AGP).



Pentium D 805? That's interesting, why you had a Pentium D in a period completely dominated by AMD with Athlon 64?
I also had a Pentium D at some point, but it was at the end of Athlon 64 single-core era and mostly just out of curiosity, you know the just to change and try something different, but mine was a 920, able to clock up to 4.20GHz 



stef said:


> @framebuffer
> Great project
> 
> I had similar project in mind, but critically lack time these days. I hope to start it in May/June.
> ...



That Leadtek is awesome!
And yes doing these tests and everything is incredibly time consuming but since I'm doing it for fun as hobby it's all fine 

In fact the platform I started using was a K8T Neo 2 w/ Opteron 185 (which equals to an Athlon 64 FX60) but I wasn't getting the performance I expected, really not a fan of VIA chipsets when performance is concerned, also the K8T800 is unstable over 220MHz so it pissed me off and I moved to the ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (which I know, is again VIA based but still basically the fastest platform for AGP that exists).

Of course even here I found various problems, first with memory modules, then the board refused to boot with C2D E7x00 series, even if it has the latest BIOS, so had to rollback to E6x00
Fortunately I'm crazy and I have so much hardware around that it's just a matter of time before I found the right combination


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Pentium D 805? That's interesting, why you had a Pentium D in a period completely dominated by AMD with Athlon 64?
> I also had a Pentium D at some point, but it was at the end of Athlon 64 single-core era and mostly just out of curiosity, you know the just to change and try something different, but mine was a 920, able to clock up to 4.20GHz


Curiosity for me too I guess, that was about 14 years ago. And as a teen I was even more broke than I am these days, I had just that Pentium D and that 6800 LE. Still ran games fine tho, I got at least C2D E4300 in 2008..

Built a faster system in 2009 (C2D E6400, MSI P6N SLI Platinum, MSI Radeon HD 3870X2 and 8GB DDR2), sticked with LGA775 until 2011 when I upgraded to AM3 with X6 1055T. Downgraded that later to X4 965 BE until I switched to 2500K in 2014.

In 2015 I had a break from desktop PCs; just had a crappy laptop and played games with X360, but that felt too boring and then I went back to desktop PCs with a G3258. And by upgrade after another, now I'm kickin' with a R5 3600 & 1080 Ti.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 13, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (which I know, is again VIA based but still basically the fastest platform for AGP that exists).


Debatable. AM2NF3-VSTA produces equal and sometimes better scores when benching 3D. Depends on the benchmark you're running.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Debatable. AM2NF3-VSTA produces equal and sometimes better scores when benching 3D. Depends on the benchmark you're running.


A great board. I've always liked nForce 3 250/250Gb/Ultra.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 14, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> A great board. I've always liked nForce 3 250/250Gb/Ultra.


The NF3-VSTA has a crappy 1.55v vcore limit, but I have a volt mod for that. The board itself will stay together up to around 1.75v. Anything over that just grenades the VRM section.
Good AGP benching board.



Chloe Price said:


> I've always liked nForce 3 250/250Gb/Ultra.


I have those too.


----------



## stef (Apr 14, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> A great board. I've always liked nForce 3 250/250Gb/Ultra.


And unlike VIA K8T800, you can even run modern SSD on it .
But, I'd be careful pairing 6800 with nforce3. For me, it was one big BSOD party although both, board and card, were good on their own. There were threads about it on NV forum, but I think it was never fully resolved.

This was my first attempt with s754 Venice E6:





A mix of old and new. (notice AMD Wraith cooler and SSD).
Board is very unatractive Asus K8N, non-Deluxe version. 1GB of Winbond BH-5 and Connect3D x850Pro Vivo flashed to 16p,6v. Very snappy system, I was surprised.

Cheap DRAM-less SSD:





System specs:





And some tests:


----------



## Liquid Cool (Apr 14, 2021)

stef...

Thanks for posting your build it brought back good memories....

Is that an old Chieftec case?  Those were my go to cases back in the 2000 to 2003 era.  I loved those cases.... Here's an inside shot of one of mine from way back when. That was my last Soyo Motherboard...a Soyo KT 400 Dragon Ultra, I loved that motherboard. VIA chipset if I recall.

Although....I did shortly leave Soyo motherboards right after that for A-Bit....I also...never looked back.



This pc in the picture here was a very early version of RGB.  I had to buy red, green, blue cold cathode tubes and the chipset fan to make that lighting effect.

Best,

Liquid Cool


----------



## stef (Apr 14, 2021)

Case is Antec SX630II, a tank of a case . Very similar to Chieftecs of the era.
Maybe not so period-correct for an early Athlon64 build, but I had nothing better to put into at the time.
Would probably better suit late PIII or K7 Athlon build.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 14, 2021)

stef said:


> Asus K8N


I had that board with a Sempron "64" 2800+ Venice-256, too bad that it had a 300FSB cap as it OC'd 50% without a problem with a stock cooler (1.6 @ 2.4GHz). I had almost the same GPU back then as mine was X800 Pro VIVO @ XT PE. I actually played Crysis on it back in 2008.

It was a great trade as I had the crappy K8V SE Deluxe, traded it to K8N and I paid 10EUR in exchange.


----------



## stef (Apr 14, 2021)

Yes, a relatively crappy board by mid 2000s standards, but it survived. A lot of DFIs didn't, mostly due to bad caps.


----------



## F-Zero (Apr 14, 2021)

Hey guys ! As you may know I got my hands on a Asrock 4CoreDual-Sata2 motherboard. I wanted to make a ultimate AGP test system.



So I put together a Q6600 ( searching for a QX6700 & QX6800 ) 2 Gb of 533 Mhz DDR 2 memory, Crucial BX500 480Gb SSD, Kolink Enclave 500W Gold MPS, Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer sound card.



It's a combination of old and new. And then I got an idea of testing my 6800 Ultra and X850 XT on the same platform so that everything stays the same just changing the gpu.

Test are: 
*3DMark2003(default) 
3DMark2005(default) 
D00M 3(1280x1024, Ultra) 
F.E.A.R.(1024x768, Maximum)*

Drivers are: *Geforce 93.71, ATI 10.2. *
Please note however that X850 XT only works in *PCIe X4* mode. ( I hope this won't bottleneck the X850 XT ? )

_*Geforce 6800 Ultra*_

*3DMark2003

3DMark2005

D00M3

F.E.A.R.


Radeon X850 XT

3DMark2003

3DMark2005

D00M3

F.E.A.R.





*


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 14, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Debatable. AM2NF3-VSTA produces equal and sometimes better scores when benching 3D. Depends on the benchmark you're running.



True, forgot about it


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 15, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> 2 Gb of 533 Mhz DDR 2 memory


I would recommend 4GB of DDR2-800. This will allow you to get the most out of that system. Other than that, excellent build!!


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I would recommend 4GB of DDR2-800. This will allow you to get the most out of that system. Other than that, excellent build!!



Unfortunately the board supports only DDR II 667 and it's often unstable with them, so you need to scale down to DDR II 533 or use DDR (400)
At the moment I'm using DDR 400 at CL2-3-3-6 1T on this ASRock


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 15, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Unfortunately the board supports only DDR II 667 and it's often unstable with them, so you need to scale down to DDR II 533 or use DDR (400)
> At the moment I'm using DDR 400 at CL2-3-3-6 1T on this ASRock


Ah, ok. Didn't know that. Learn something new every day!


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 17, 2021)

TNT2 family


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 17, 2021)

Have won a few retro goodies:

- ASUS ISA-486SV2 w/ Intel 486DX2 (unknown speed)
- PC Chips M577 w/ Cyrix M II (again, unknown speed)
- Leadtek Winfast A6200TD 128MB 128bit
- S3 Trio 3D 2x 4MB AGP
- S3 Trio 64v+ 2MB PCI

Photos once I receive them (Tuesday ETA) as well as cleaning them - at least the M577 is horribly dirty. 

Hopefully the cache on it is actually 1MB, as that enables me to go and source a nice K6-2 in place of the Cyrix (unless the M II is actually worth something against nearly any K6-2). As well as the 486 mobo, as I also have an DX2-80 (albeit it's an AMD) sitting in a drawer waiting to be used.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 17, 2021)

Actually speaking of Asus V3800 cards, I'm messing around with mine as we speak.  It may not be Ultra like yours, but I did get to OC the heck out of it, all the way up to 166/200MHz.


 



3DMark 99


 

 



3DMark 2000
This is where things got a lot more interesting...


 



I also took the liberty of comparing my own, overclocked V3700 Pro with Ultra ... at least according to the bench results found online, but this is ridiculous!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 17, 2021)

One of my older TNT Pro results. Note the overclocks on both the card and CPU. CPU is an Athlon 750 Pluto core.  I still have all of this.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 17, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> One of my older TNT Pro results. Note the overclocks on both the card and CPU. CPU is an Athlon 750 Pluto core.  I still have all of this.
> 
> View attachment 197122


Hmm, I see you're running the original 800x600 resolution here, I might give it a try with mine & see how close I can get to your results.

By the way, I also noticed that your memory is running at 186MHz (compared to mine, at 200) but your GPU is clocked at 178 (mine is running @ 166MHz) so I might bump it up, myself to 178 & see what happens... Theoretically, I SHOULD be seeing similar results, since I'm running a P3 @ 933MHz. Well, either that or magic smoke


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 17, 2021)

Core is more important than memory in most GPU benchs. 
So is resolution. Always try to run the res at the benchs original requirement. Scores will be higher for sure.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 17, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Core is more important than memory in most GPU benchs.
> So is resolution. Always try to run the res at the benchs original requirement. Scores will be higher for sure.


Thanks for the tip! 

I'll give it a try as soon as I restore back the system database, I got Acronis True Image working as we speak. Somehow, with all these driver updates & changes I've managed to mess up my Win98 installation


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 17, 2021)

stef said:


> This was my first attempt with s754 Venice E6:


I own the slowest s754 rig one could put together. Yours looks almost like a race car next to mine 



F-Zero said:


> I got my hands on a Asrock 4CoreDual-Sata2 motherboard. I wanted to make a ultimate AGP test system.


Nice rig, make sure to test it with the HD3850. I've got a similar build on the AM2NF3-VSTA. The Intel platform should be a bit faster in games, depending on how far you can push the CPU. Anyway, I'm always up for comparisons!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 18, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Core is more important than memory in most GPU benchs.
> So is resolution. Always try to run the res at the benchs original requirement. Scores will be higher for sure.


Nope, the highest I could go without artifacts was 170/200 ... your config (178/186) seems incompatible with my Asus card. Nevertheless, I scored 6080 3DMarks (using your same configuration, 800x600) along with 13864 CPU 3DMarks


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 18, 2021)

Core2 Duo E7500, a little closer than usual


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 18, 2021)

that's a nice camera you are using @framebuffer very well done


----------



## freeagent (Apr 18, 2021)

Wow I haven't seen PowerStrip in sooo long! Wow 

I haven't really had the urge to build old but the last year or so I have been feeling the itch to own hardware that I used to own, or maybe something a little nicer. Something from when I got into the hobby in the early to mid 2000s. I am a hoarder so I have most of my system pics from when I got my first digi cam back around when socket a was still hoppin.

I'm sure if I were to look now it would be slim pickins.. maybe I will have a peek..


----------



## stef (Apr 18, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> I own the slowest s754 rig one could put together. Yours looks almost like a race car next to mine


What are the specs?
I used to have Sempron 2500 as a backup rig. I guess thats as low as you could go on s754.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 18, 2021)

stef said:


> What are the specs?
> I used to have Sempron 2500 as a backup rig. I guess thats as low as you could go on s754.


Same CPU, running Win7 for good measure. I've posted this earlier, so here's the specs. When the most powerful component in your system is your hard drive


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 18, 2021)

look at this little beast  (Radeon X800 SE)





managed to clock it from 425/400 to 555/555 (limit is around +10MHz for both)
+30% is really impressive in my opinion, definitely deserved to get a better heat sink! (RAM chip's don't have any at the moment)


----------



## stef (Apr 18, 2021)

Nice. X800SE were known to be good overclockers.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 19, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> that's a nice camera you are using @framebuffer very well done



thanks! it's the usual trusty A6000



stef said:


> Nice. X800SE were known to be good overclockers.



to be honest I had not much memories about this model, at the time I had the X800Pro-VIVO @XT and I was not expecting such frequencies from the SE
well, having seen that they are 2ns I hoped that the RAM would have been able to keep at least the nominal frequency, but the GPU was a surprise.

now the 6800LE@12-6@355/730 vs X800SE@8-6@555/1110 comparison will be a little less obvious


----------



## Apocalypsee (Apr 19, 2021)

I believe the core itself plays big roles here, R420 based X800SE can be clocked higher than, say R430 110nm version. Can that one be unlocked to 12 pipes, or even 16 pipes?


----------



## stef (Apr 19, 2021)

I think not.
Only x800/x850 Pro Vivo AGP (and not all of them), and X800GTO2 models.


----------



## Liquid Cool (Apr 19, 2021)

stef said:


> Case is Antec SX630II, a tank of a case . Very similar to Chieftecs of the era.
> Maybe not so period-correct for an early Athlon64 build, but I had nothing better to put into at the time.


Stef...

I have a black m-ATX version of your Antec case, although there are some subtle differences.  Please also  pardon me for my poor photography skills...I ran out to the garage real quick and took a fast snapshot of the front plate with my tablet.  The front port cover/case badge locations are reversed from yours.  I thought that was interesting.

This pc case recently just came back to me.  I originally built the pc for someone back in 2009, I remember the date because it was the same week I received my first m-itx motherboard. The DFI LANParty MI P55-T36. For a mini-itx motherboard lover, it's just something you never forget.... The case might have a little dust on it, but I didn't see any scratches...overall, it appears to be in mint condition. I'll be packing it away until I can use it. I also saw a Lian Li V351 out there, I believe that one is from 2008 and I think it's still new.



Best,

Liquid Cool


----------



## stef (Apr 19, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> now the 6800LE@12-6@355/730 vs X800SE@8-6@555/1110 comparison will be a little less obvious



I think X800SE will score better.


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 20, 2021)

Here's my PCI PhysX card, good as new!


Spoiler








Repasted with MX-4, and has a fan that moves a lot of air at only 9V.
Sadly, I can't really use it until my P4/XP gaming rig is done (which won't be until June/July at the earliest), but at least it looks nice.

For reference, the fan cost me $5 and I traded the card for a Dell QuietKey SK-1000REW (that I got for free).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 25, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Core2 Duo E7500, a little closer than usual
> 
> View attachment 197210


That is a beautiful photo!


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 25, 2021)

Hi Falks!
My project regarding the GeForce 6800LE and the Radeon X800SE is online 
link: https://framebuffer.io ( https://framebuffer.io/project/project-6800le-x800se )





It's not a full review/comparison but more an explorative project to see how much hidden potential the cards have and how much was possible to unlock/overclock them
Any feedback is welcome


----------



## stef (Apr 25, 2021)

Great article @framebuffer.  
I've looked around, and it's actually easier to find Pro/XT then SE .


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 25, 2021)

Well, just assembled two retro machines and finished an earlier one done before these two.

First PC (the one I've finished touching up before the second and third PCs):
JNC RJA-52 case
AMD K6-2 500MHz "Chomper XT"
LuckyTech P5MVP3-99X mobo (MVP3, w/ patched BIOS)
3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 16MB w/TV AGP2x
Soundblaster Live! 5.1 CT4830
HKC SZ-430PDR 430W PSU
Realtek RTL8139D PCI NIC
80GB Seagate IDE HDD
NEC DVD-RW
Windows 98 SE

Second PC:

KME case (I think it's a CX-0853 but I'm not sure)
Pentium 3 500MHz "Katmai"
Acorp 6VIA81P-133 mobo (VIA 693)
Geforce FX5200 128MB
P&O LC-B400ATX 400W PSU
MSI DVD-RW + LG CD-RW
15GB Quantum/Maxtor HDD
384MB RAM
Sound Blaster SB16 PCI CT5803
RTL8139C PCI NIC
Windows 98 SE

Third PC:

Linkworld 3210 case
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton"
Gigabyte 7VT600P-RZ Rev1
ASUS Geforce 6200 128MB AGP8x
ANS LC-B400ATX PSU (recapped)
TSSTCorp SH-222 DVD-RW (similar to my main PC's 224DB but IDE instead of SATA)
74GB WD Raptor WD740
256MB RAM (currently)
Windows XP Pro SP2


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 25, 2021)

stef said:


> Great article @framebuffer.
> I've looked around, and it's actually easier to find Pro/XT then SE .



Thanks
Uhm yes, they are not very common these days


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 25, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> KME case (I think it's a CX-0853 but I'm not sure)
> Pentium 3 500MHz "Katmai"
> Acorp 6VIA81P-133 mobo (VIA 693)
> Geforce FX5200 128MB
> ...


Nice! I have the same Katmai P3.
Have you done anything with it yet?


----------



## Fouquin (Apr 25, 2021)

Thanks to the generosity of a user in one of the Discord hardware servers I have finally, after a decade of watching and waiting, finally have the AM2 upgrade card for my 939Dual-SATAII. 2021 ain't looking so bad. 

Fresh caps are ordered and on the way. Just couldn't wait to get pics.


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 25, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Thanks to the generosity of a user in one of the Discord hardware servers I have finally, after a decade of watching and waiting, finally have the AM2 upgrade card for my 939Dual-SATAII. 2021 ain't looking so bad.
> 
> Fresh caps are ordered and on the way. Just couldn't wait to get pics.
> 
> ...


What is that?
It looks like an AM2 socket + RAM that goes in an AGP slot, but that doesn't make much sense...


----------



## stef (Apr 25, 2021)

It's actually expansion slot above AGP.
BTW, nice find @Fouquin . There were also similar expansion cards for s462->s754.



RealKGB said:


> Nice! I have the same Katmai P3.
> Have you done anything with it yet?


Well, there are 3 of us now . Got mine few days back. It think it's Compaq edition with huge passive heatsink. It replaced PII 350 on FIC VB-601 (440BX).
Are those things good passive? I might use P4 stock fan and mcgyver it onto the heatsink, it fits perfectly.


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 26, 2021)

stef said:


> Well, there are 3 of us now . Got mine few days back. It think it's Compaq edition with huge passive heatsink. It replaced PII 350 on FIC VB-601 (440BX).
> Are those things good passive? I might use P4 stock fan and mcgyver it onto the heatsink, it fits perfectly.


I have no idea. I have the crappy cooler on this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/144019151700?hash=item218835db54:g:BGUAAOSwvSJfhNm-
And even with a repaste of MX-4, idle temps are 55C. I'd like to get a better heatsink for it at some point and then strap a 40mm Noctua or two to it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 26, 2021)

stef said:


> Well, there are 3 of us now .


4





						CPU-Z Validator 3.1
					

CPU-Z Validation Checker (by canardpc.com)



					valid.x86.fr
				




Been doing slot 1 for a long long time.


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 26, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> 4
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's a high core voltage.
Mine's at 2V.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 26, 2021)

Sometimes you gotta break a few eggs to get a decent cake when benchmarking. 
If you can keep it cool, it works.


----------



## stef (Apr 26, 2021)

@Mr.Scott
Nice.

@RealKGB
This is how mine looks like:






I tried to re-paste it, but culd not move backplate by 1mm. So, I gave up. It warms up, but not like burning hot.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 26, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> 4
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I have 7-8 of them, but I guess it still counts for one  
Nice overclock btw, no way for 133x5?



stef said:


> @Mr.Scott
> Nice.
> 
> @RealKGB
> ...



This is a semi-passive cooling solution, relying on case FAN(s) to have some recycle, usually used in workstation
and yes, some slot1 locking mechanism are crazy stupid to work on and encourage violence


----------



## F-Zero (Apr 26, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Hi Falks!
> My project regarding the GeForce 6800LE and the Radeon X800SE is online
> link: https://framebuffer.io ( https://framebuffer.io/project/project-6800le-x800se )
> 
> ...



Thanks @framebuffer I love this stuff keep it up !



MaxiPro800 said:


> Well, just assembled two retro machines and finished an earlier one done before these two.
> 
> First PC (the one I've finished touching up before the second and third PCs):
> JNC RJA-52 case
> ...


Some pictures would be great !

I got myself a *Inno3D Tornado Geforce 4 MX 440 64Mb DDR *for 3 dollars.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 26, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Thanks @framebuffer I love this stuff keep it up !
> 
> 
> Some pictures would be great !
> ...



Thanks 
nice little MX440, love the matt black PCB!


----------



## debs3759 (Apr 26, 2021)

Won an i/o card on eBay today. Listed as unknown VGA card, so no other bidders. Should be good for a 286 or 386 build.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 26, 2021)

debs3759 said:


> Won an i/o card on eBay today. Listed as unknown VGA card, so no other bidders. Should be good for a 286 or 386 build.


Nice find, you can never have too many ports in an AT-class machine!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 26, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> I have 7-8 of them, but I guess it still counts for one
> Nice overclock btw, no way for 133x5?


I have more the one also.   
133x5 was a no boot into windows. I'm sure it was temp/voltage related though. I was only on air for that validation. Next time around I will clamp the chiller on it.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 27, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> took some pcs of an ASUS *Radeon X850XT *during the cleaning
> 
> View attachment 193277View attachment 193278View attachment 193279
> 
> also found that has 1.6ns RAM, rated at 625MHz, will see...



Finally found a "time slot" to test it  

The good news is that the card can easily do X850 XT Platinum (540/590) frequencies, which is not bad!
The _meeh _thing is that the 1.6ns GDDR3 RAM were barely able to keep the nominal frequency of 625MHz, so I settled to 621 for the benchmarks.
I also took a look at reviews from 2004 of the X850 XT Platinum, which is the one that usually had these Samsung 1.6ns and found that even then they were not able to go much higher, sometimes not even to reach 1.20GHz, so I guess that 621-625 is still on the lucky side

The GPU managed only 660 stable, lowered to 652 for benchmarks

here is 3DMark 03 (default) and Doom3 (1280x1024 @Ultra Settings)







and here is the card on the bench table







Decided to get rid of the original cooler which was in a very bad shape (and never been a fan of the design anyway) 

And here is some new stuff I got recently

















- GeForce 7800GS AGP
- GeForce 9500GS 512MB
- Diamond Viper V550 (Riva TNT)
- Radeon HD5450 PCI edition
- ASUS P5A-B w/ K6-2 450 and accessories
- Crucial BallistiX Tracer 800 4-4-4-12 
- XFX GeForce GTX 260
- ASUS 8800 GTS

ah and the this DELL Latitude





It's very special for me because has a Pentium4 Northwood at 1.40GHz (slowest Northwood ever, second slowest Pentium 4 ever) so I'm very curious to see how it performs versus the Pentium III Tualatin 1.40.
The VGA is also interesting, it's a GeForce4 440 Go and from a first quick test with 3DMark2001SE I got a very strange result





This is the same result I've got with a Pentium4 3.0@3.43GHz and a GeForce2 GTS, so I'm not sure why a crappy Pentium 4 1.40 and a Geforce4 Go (which has half of the Pipelines/TMU of the GTS), scores the same.
I need to check how they compare in games...


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 27, 2021)

Don't accept poor imitations of the legendary Chip's Challenge. (can also be played on Windows 10 with DosBox portable)


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 28, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Finally found a "time slot" to test it
> 
> The good news is that the card can easily do X850 XT Platinum (540/590) frequencies, which is not bad!
> The _meeh _thing is that the 1.6ns GDDR3 RAM were barely able to keep the nominal frequency of 625MHz, so I settled to 621 for the benchmarks.
> ...


Does the 7800GS work? They're getting hard to come by. Most have been cooked by previous users.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 28, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Does the 7800GS work? They're getting hard to come by. Most have been cooked by previous users.


Yeah, mine seems to be dead. Though I did the stupid thing of repasting it before trying it, but I doubt that I broke it.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 28, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Does the 7800GS work? They're getting hard to come by. Most have been cooked by previous users.



yes, luckily it works 
although is missing a screw from the heatsink cover for some reason...

also have this one, brand new


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Apr 28, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Does the 7800GS work? They're getting hard to come by. Most have been cooked by previous users.



My Nvidia experience, such as it is, only goes back to 9000-series.  Was there something special about the 7800GS?


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 28, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> My Nvidia experience, such as it is, only goes back to 9000-series.  Was there something special about the 7800GS?



GeForce 7xx0 is the latest nVidia card serie that had AGP  
( https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/?generation=GeForce+7+AGP&sort=generation )


----------



## Pupo (Apr 29, 2021)

I finally managed to acquire "nvidia" edition case. Its not in great shape but it will suffice.
I have WD raptor boxed somewhere so I will swap disk and power supply is not historically acurate, but I dont want to fry components with bad PSU.


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 29, 2021)

Pupo said:


> I finally managed to acquire "nvidia" edition case. Its not in great shape but it will suffice.
> I have WD raptor boxed somewhere so I will swap disk and power supply is not historically acurate, but I dont want to fry components with bad PSU.


Is that top GPU an E.S.?


----------



## Pupo (Apr 29, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> Is that top GPU an E.S.?



If it is, I am not aware of it. Why do you think that this is E.S?


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 29, 2021)

Pupo said:


> I finally managed to acquire "nvidia" edition case. Its not in great shape but it will suffice.
> I have WD raptor boxed somewhere so I will swap disk and power supply is not historically acurate, but I dont want to fry components with bad PSU.


Why two SLI bridges? I'd understand it for the looks if they were identical.


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 29, 2021)

Pupo said:


> If it is, I am not aware of it. Why do you think that this is E.S?


The sticker on the back resembled one that states engineering sample, not for sale. They are usually yellow or green.


----------



## Retrorockit (Apr 29, 2021)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Picture spam incoming. I finally got my intel Q6700 for my 775i655G R3 board I am happy it booted! Why is this board special you asked? This is the last official supported board for windows 98 when boards with this board being able to accept the pentium 4 to pentium D to the first generation conroe intel core2duo to core2quad   . It came in a weird time where board are already moving to ddr2. This board supported DDR1 only.  I regret not getting another one as spare when it was cheap. My dream of powerful windows 98 coming true except it is not there yet.! Except I don't have windows 98 or an ssd to install now. SSD for windows 98 lmao... Also I probably need an ide based cd drive. I only have external usb cd drive. It detected but no os was detected on my windows xp disc too. Now how could I find an IDE one? If someone here can help with all those and also finding dos games or win98 games I would appreciate alot!
> 
> I got an AGP Nvidia FX5500 still unused in it box still. And 10 pieces of 1GB DDR1. I place heatsink at the mosfets I want this rare board to last long. Asrock even have crazy board design back then. I love collecting their crazy boards if I could.
> 
> ...


Go for the QX6800 SLACP. Throttlestop can get control of Voltage in Windows on the unlocked CPU.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 29, 2021)

My HD 7850 seems to be a somewhat good overclocker:





At least Superposition @ 1080p/med ran without any problems.


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 29, 2021)

Retrorockit said:


> Go for the QX6800 SLACP. Throttlestop can get control of Voltage in Windows on the unlocked CPU.


Are you sure about that?
I tried it in a laptop with an i7 and because of it's age ThrottleStop wouldn't work with that CPU.


----------



## Toothless (Apr 29, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> Are you sure about that?
> I tried it in a laptop with an i7 and because of it's age ThrottleStop wouldn't work with that CPU.


Worked with my i7 620m. Chip had to "load" to get to full speed without TS.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 29, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> My HD 7850 seems to be a somewhat good overclocker:
> 
> View attachment 198527
> 
> At least Superposition @ 1080p/med ran without any problems.



wow 30% it's not bad at all!
is this the limit? because looks like this GPU could do even 1200+  









						Club3D HD 7850 Royal Queen 1 GB Review
					

Club3D's HD 7850 RoyalQueen comes with a modest 1 GB of memory, which is half that of a typical HD 7850. Nevertheless we got some interesting results in our testing. The card is just as fast as the 2 GB HD 7850, at full HD resolutions and below. Coming at a more than reasonable $195, the card is...




					www.techpowerup.com
				











						PowerColor HD 7850 PCS+ 2 GB Review
					

PowerColor's HD 7850 PCS+ is the highest clocked HD 7850 card you can buy at this time. Thanks to its GPU clock speed of 1 GHz it provides excellent performance and the PCS+ cooler keeps everything cool and quiet. With just $20 over the AMD reference design, the price increase is also reasonable.




					www.techpowerup.com
				





Received yesterday these two little beasts, launched exactly 10 years ago. 
Will be perfect for an X58 Quad SLI setup


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 29, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Received yesterday these two little beasts, launched exactly 10 years ago.
> Will be perfect for an X58 Quad SLI setup


Ooh, quad-SLI Fermi! Predictions on temperatures?
How much did they cost you?

Also, any thoughts on where to find GTX 690s for $75-100 (other than r/hardwareswap because they don't have any)? I'd like to get one to avoid the GK106 memory leak bug (and to get a GPU upgrade) but don't have $150.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 29, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> wow 30% it's not bad at all!
> is this the limit? because looks like this GPU could do even 1200+


Not the limit, haven't tried more yet.  I'll try out later if I can push it even further.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 29, 2021)

> Ooh, quad-SLI Fermi! Predictions on temperatures?


yes! 



> How much did they cost you?


$70 



> Also, any thoughts on where to find GTX 690s for $75-100 (other than r/hardwareswap because they don't have any)? I'd like to get one to avoid the GK106 memory leak bug (and to get a GPU upgrade) but don't have $150.


I'm looking for one too, but they are still a bit too expansive, maybe because they are still seen as "not-so-old" and usable.
Also the thing that they are "Founders Edition" cards is keeping the value a bit higher, I think


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 29, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> I'm looking for one too, but they are still a bit too expansive, maybe because they are still seen as "not-so-old" and usable.
> Also the thing that they are "Founders Edition" cards is keeping the value a bit higher, I think


There was one on eBay for $90 but I didn't have that much then.
I was planning to offer $70 the next day, but someone bought it before then.


----------



## debs3759 (Apr 30, 2021)

Just bought a Miro Crystal 10SB VLB for my collection. No idea yet what it'll be like in DOS (obviously it's just a 2D card). It'll be the oldest S3 card in my collection when it arrives.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2021)

debs3759 said:


> Just bought a Miro Crystal 10SB VLB for my collection. No idea yet what it'll be like in DOS (obviously it's just a 2D card). It'll be the oldest S3 card in my collection when it arrives.


You should find some RAM chips to fill in those empty sockets. IIRC that would double the VRAM.


----------



## debs3759 (Apr 30, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> You should find some RAM chips to fill in those empty sockets. IIRC that would double the VRAM.


It's one of many cards that need a memory upgrade. Not sure whether I already have chips for this card, or whether I need to scour suppliers and eBay  You are right that it will double the memory.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

Still no problems, let's try more 






edit: 1200MHz crashed, 1190MHz is fine. Now let's fine tune the VRAM OC.
edit: And that 1300 seems to be the maximum.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2021)

Clint did a review of a card I once had. He more or less had the same experience. Granted I had a 486DX4-100...


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Clint did a review of a card I once had. He more or less had the same experience. Granted I had a 486DX4-100...


Is it just me but I'm feeling bored that it's always DOS games with those good retro youtubers... why never Win95?

Kinda nothing to complain but feels like that when you've watched one video of the topic, u've seen them all.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Apr 30, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Is it just me but I'm feeling bored that it's always DOS games with those good retro youtubers... why never Win95?
> 
> Kinda nothing to complain but feels like that when you've watched one video of the topic, u've seen them all.



Must be either what he's into right now, or what's getting the clicks/views.  LGR did a _bunch_ of Win32 stuff back in the day.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Must be either what he's into right now, or what's getting the clicks/views.  LGR did a _bunch_ of Win32 stuff back in the day.


I mean by overall, almost every retro youtuber has always only DOS stuff... maybe I'm just too young (31 next month) but that's just boring as they all run the same tests etc.


And usually not even Wolf 3D but Doom, dammit.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Is it just me but I'm feeling bored that it's always DOS games with those good retro youtubers... why never Win95?


In 1995 Windows gaming was still getting up to speed. DOS was the preferred platform for games on PC. It wasn't until 1998/1999 that devs almost completely switched over to Windows from DOS. That's just how it was back then.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> In 1995 Windows gaming was still getting up to speed. DOS was the preferred platform for games on PC. It wasn't until 1998/1999 that devs almost completely switched over to Windows from DOS. That's just how it was back then.


Ah, my point is that they should just show hos different 486s etc. run Win95 with typical usage. 

Some early Win95 days gaming would be interesting too, like Diablo I etc.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Apr 30, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Ah, my point is that they should just show hos different 486s etc. run Win95 with typical usage.
> 
> Some early Win95 days gaming would be interesting too, like Diablo I etc.



No argument there.  It does feel like YT is the most trend-driven platform out there right now.  Maybe when viewers get bored with DOS stuff we'll see more W32 content.

Bonus hypothesis:  W32 is, UX-wise, too similar to W64, so DOS content is more "interesting"?  Or it's the middle-aged-nostalgia sweet spot.  Probably that.


----------



## Hemmingstamp (Apr 30, 2021)

2011 DELL XPS L720x Benchmarks and front shot.

A family member passed this laptop to me a couple of days ago. A little beaten up, no charger and a dead battery.

Ordered a charger from the Bay. plugged it in to find the battery wouldn't charge. Booted to Windows 7 and had a tinker.
Pulled the thing apart and renewed the CPU, GPU thermal paste and cleared out all debris and dust.
Slapped an SSD in it and installed Windows 10. Downloaded a modded bios which solved the battery not charging and a few other things.

Works fine and sounds like a mobile disco. A few of the keys don't work but I'll have a look at those later.
This thing weighs a ton and was built to last


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

Hemmingstamp said:


> 2011 DELL XPS L720x Benchmarks and front shot.
> 
> A family member passed this laptop to me a couple of days ago. A little beaten up, no charger and a dead battery.
> 
> ...


Yayyy I can whack u with my Xeon 3230 & HD 7850!


----------



## Hemmingstamp (Apr 30, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Yayyy I can whack u with my Xeon 3230 & HD 7850!



I could only squeeze 720p out of it.  It'll do as a daily or office laptop, not much else.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

Hemmingstamp said:


> I could only squeeze 720p out of it.  It'll do as a daily or office laptop, not much else.


That setup is a temporary setup as well, I'll get a 8350K as my 2nd rig soon.


----------



## Hemmingstamp (Apr 30, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> That setup is a temporary setup as well, I'll get a 8350K as my 2nd rig soon.


I'm really gonna have to up my game aren't I 

I still have an 8700K sat here. Might make a good keyring


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

Hemmingstamp said:


> I'm really gonna have to up my game aren't I
> 
> I still have an 8700K sat here. Might make a good keyring


Whaat? Keyring? I need to upgrade if you are getting one, I have a P4 2.66 as a keychain.


----------



## Deleted member 202104 (Apr 30, 2021)

Seeing this thread:









						How to make Windows 10 look like Windows Vista (sorta)
					

I think Vista was the best looking Windows OS, although the latest version of the square-edged Windows 10 interface is a close second, for me and in some ways better. Check out how to nearly get there.  Can you guess which bit of the Vista look isn't copied before you watch the video?     No...




					www.techpowerup.com
				




reminded me that I still had most of the hardware from the machine I ran Vista on.  Dug it all up and going to give a Vista install a go.

Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, E6300 Pentium Dual Core,8GB DDR2 1066, Arctic Freezer Pro 7






Still under warranty, too:


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 30, 2021)

weekendgeek said:


> Seeing this thread:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Gimme that, Ive never had a high-end 200 card! :3


----------



## Deleted member 202104 (Apr 30, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Gimme that, Ive never had a high-end 200 card! :3



It was 896MB of pure power back in the day.


----------



## hat (Apr 30, 2021)

I have a BFG GTX260 216 in my parts bin.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 1, 2021)

I have 2 working, and a GTX 275 FTW.

Wish you were on this side of the pond Chloe, I have a bunch of hardware I'd just give you.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Gimme that, Ive never had a high-end 200 card! :3


I have, GTX 280. Power-hungry beast but it was brilliant for it's time!


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I have, GTX 280. Power-hungry beast but it was brilliant for it's time!


I had only one GTS 250 but never a real 200 card... but on the other hand, I do have some 4800s..


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I had only one GTS 250


That was a damn good card for it's price-point!


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was a damn good card for it's price-point!


Can't argue as I got mine for free.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Can't argue as I got mine for free.


Score!


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Score!


I still don't kinda care about those but 4890 Radeons..  I have two of them as I've posted already.


----------



## Hemmingstamp (May 1, 2021)

Hemmingstamp said:


> 2011 DELL XPS L720x Benchmarks and front shot.
> 
> A family member passed this laptop to me a couple of days ago. A little beaten up, no charger and a dead battery.
> 
> ...


Update: The keyboard is dead and the Windows logo key flew at me when I pressed it. 
You just can't get these UK spec backlit keyboards here. Had to settle for a non backlit US keyboard from an Inspiron which I purchased from a UK based seller on the Bay


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (May 2, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I had only one GTS 250 but never a real 200 card... but on the other hand, I do have some 4800s..





lexluthermiester said:


> That was a damn good card for it's price-point!



Let us now give thanks to our lord and savior, G92.

Pitcairn and Ellesmere were damn good, too, tho.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 2, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Let us now give thanks to our lord and savior, G92.


It was such a great GPU die series!


----------



## stef (May 2, 2021)

Very popular, but too high failure rate IMHO. Was 55nm version (G92b) any better in that regard ?


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Let us now give thanks to our lord and savior, G92.
> 
> Pitcairn and Ellesmere were damn good, too, tho.


Do I need to grab my 8800 GT and take a picture?


----------



## F-Zero (May 2, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Do I need to grab my 8800 GT and take a picture?


----------



## framebuffer (May 2, 2021)

thought I'd show my dual-slot "modern" (2006+) collection part  
+ various boxes or full-in-box cards






There is few more from ATi stored in another location





(have few more cards here and there which I left out)


----------



## stef (May 2, 2021)

Great collection for the period.

@F-Zero, what thicknes of thermal pads are you using for 8800 GT/GTS ?
I have Leadtek 8800 GTS 512 that needs cleanup. I need to acquire right pads.


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2021)

Alright, I admit that I'm jealous of @framebuffer 's collection.. 

Didn't know that Creative had a 9800 XT too


----------



## stef (May 2, 2021)

I think everybody had one at the time .

Some pics of Abit I tested some time ago (unfortunately, it had artefacts even on BIOS screen):


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2021)

stef said:


> I think everybody had one at the time .
> 
> Some pics of Abit I tested some time ago (unfortunately, it had artefacts even on BIOS screen):
> View attachment 198877
> ...


Sucks that working 9700/9800 cards are getting more and more rare... I have never had a XT unless a biosflashed 9800 Pro @ XT counts 


Tho I'm getting something way more special soon 



Spoiler



GF 6800 Ultra AGP


----------



## framebuffer (May 2, 2021)

stef said:


> I think everybody had one at the time .
> 
> Some pics of Abit I tested some time ago (unfortunately, it had artefacts even on BIOS screen):
> View attachment 198877
> ...



have you already tried to put it in the oven for 10min at 190C?
I fixed one with this method



Chloe Price said:


> Sucks that working 9700/9800 cards are getting more and more rare... I have never had a XT unless a biosflashed 9800 Pro @ XT counts
> 
> 
> Tho I'm getting something way more special soon
> ...


----------



## stef (May 2, 2021)

Card isn't mine. And I don't count that as repair . 
Artefacts looked memory related. Maybe lowering the clocks would have helped.


----------



## framebuffer (May 2, 2021)

stef said:


> Card isn't mine. And I don't count that as repair .
> Artefacts looked memory related. Maybe lowering the clocks would have helped.



well it's a last resort to make the card work again, better than leave it broken I guess.
then yes, even if it fixes the issue it's not guarantee to last forever...

have a few Radeon that aren't able to keep stock memory freq. but they don't have issues in 2D, so not sure that lowering the freq. would help if the problems are already visible during POST,  but ye could be


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2021)

I guess I post my gfx card collection too, do you want to see my CPU collection too? 

ELSA GF3 Ti 200, works and OC's between GF3 and Ti 500 levels, cooler taken from dead 9700 Pro:











XFX 6600 GT, works but no cooler as it had the Zalman I put on HD 3850:










Gigabyte 6600 GT, works fine:










Gainward 7600 GS, dead:










Club 3D 7800 GS, dead:










Sapphire HD 3850, works 










Club 3D 9550, works:










Gigabyte 9700 Pro, dead (before deshimming), stole the cooler from this to that GF3 Ti 200:










Connect 3D X800 Pro, works:










Gigabyte X800 XL, maybe dead..?:










Then, some PCIe ones:

Club 3D HD 3450, modifying it to a PCIe x1, work in progress 










A dead Sapphire X1950 GT:










Gainward 7800 GT, works though the locking piece of PCIe is broken:










MSI 8800 GT Zilent:










Radeon HD 5770 with a fullcover block:










2x XFX HD 4890:










I also have an Asus GTX 560 Ti DCUII and Powercolor HD 7850 but they're in use


----------



## BarbaricSoul (May 2, 2021)

can't believe no one wants this- https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/pay-it-forward-tpu-2-0.279999/#post-4485286


----------



## stef (May 2, 2021)

Nice collection. I totally miss HD48xx seris from my collection .


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2021)

stef said:


> Nice collection. I totally miss HD48xx seris from my collection .


4890 is without a doubt one of my favourite cards ever, in fact it was the first card to have an 1GHz factory OC model. 

Also when I had my first 4890 in 2009, that also OC'd to 1040MHz. Sucks that neither of those which I have now won't go 1GHz.


----------



## stef (May 2, 2021)

Found few fun ones to share from collection.
First two are PowerColor Radeon 9500, 128-bit and 256-bit version. Both unlockable to 8 pipes. 128-bit one even reaches 400+ Mhz on core with all pipes.








This I bought on other forum, It's Sapphire Vapor-X HD5770. Someone put Zerotherm cooler on it which was mainly used on PowerColor models.
But it works great on the card and looks much better then Sapphire's PoC cooler .


----------



## Kissamies (May 2, 2021)

stef said:


> Found few fun ones to share from collection.
> First two are PowerColor Radeon 9500, 128-bit and 256-bit version. Both unlockable to 8 pipes. 128-bit one even reaches 400+ Mhz on core with all pipes.
> View attachment 198880
> 
> ...


I remember those Zerotherm coolers, looks like a knockoff of VF900 which u seem to have too, but didn't those perform actually pretty ok?


----------



## stef (May 2, 2021)

Zerotherm is heavier and has thicker pipe. Looks better too.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (May 2, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Do I need to grab my 8800 GT and take a picture?


I'd join the party with a snap of my 9800 GT, but I can't find it.


----------



## freeagent (May 2, 2021)

I had this bad girl in the other day, she still knows how to rock it 

And I needed it to start my board because the 980 was incommunicado 

Happened twice so she is a life saver too..


----------



## framebuffer (May 2, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I guess I post my gfx card collection too, do you want to see my CPU collection too?
> 
> ELSA GF3 Ti 200, works and OC's between GF3 and Ti 500 levels, cooler taken from dead 9700 Pro:
> 
> ...



ooh I love ELSA cards, wish I have more than few
but this 721 had some very bad time, did you got it like this or you ripped off all the original cooling? 
it should look like this


----------



## QuietBob (May 2, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Sapphire HD 3850, works


I'd sink that Rialto bridge if you want the card to last. It hits crazy temps, higher than the GPU actually. Would be a shame to see it go.



freeagent said:


> I had this bad girl in the other day, she still knows how to rock it


So what does she have?


----------



## freeagent (May 2, 2021)

I burned the bios eons ago with my favorite core/mem/voltage/fan curve.. only problem with that is I need a specific driver and specific version of gpu tweak to reprogram it.. and I don’t remember which version doesn’t crash.. they all do except for one. It runs at 920/1100. I can tweak it a little but need to open the taps on the voltage.. I have been here before where I have to download and install every single version and uninstall until I find the right one.. for the most part I have moved on 

You don’t want to run it with minimal airflow, or worse in sli because it will easily hit 100c just running heaven in that config. So I can’t just sell it like this heheh.. but I’m pretty sure I have to roll all the way back to 314.xx.. something something.. ugh. Stock is like 817 core or something.. I think she got somewhere around 47-50K in 3dm06 with my 5600X.. somewhere around there..


----------



## Vendor (May 3, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> ooh I love ELSA cards, wish I have more than few
> but this 721 had some very bad time, did you got it like this or you ripped off all the original cooling?
> it should look like this
> 
> View attachment 198915


cute little gpu, i don't really like older GPUs coolers but this one looks fun


----------



## F-Zero (May 3, 2021)

@stef I think it's 1,00mm


----------



## framebuffer (May 3, 2021)

*ATi */ *3dfx */ *PowerVR */ *Matrox*: *AGP*/*PCI *NON-in-box





and since the image is a little useless, here is the list

`3dfx    Voodoo            1996    PCI    Diamond Monster 3D Voodoo`
`3dfx    Voodoo            1996    PCI    VooDoo Maxi Gamer EV-3DFX-4`
`3Dfx    Voodoo Rush        1997    PCI    3Dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo Banshee        1998    AGP    Diamond Fusion Banshee`
`3dfx    Voodoo Banshee        1998    AGP    Creative 3D Blaster Banshee CT6760`
`3dfx    Voodoo2            1998    PCI    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo2            1998    PCI    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo2            1998    PCI    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo2            1998    PCI    Diamond Monster 3D II (12MB)`
`3dfx    Voodoo2            1998    PCI    Diamond Monster 3D II (8MB)`
`3dfx    voodoo3 1000        1999    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 2000        1999    PCI    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 2000        1999    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 2000        1999    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 2000        1999    PCI    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 2000        1999    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 3000        1999    AGP    3Dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 3000        1999    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 3000        1999    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo3 3500TV        1999    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo4 4500        2000    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo5 5500        2000    AGP    3dfx reference`
`3dfx    Voodoo5 5500        2000    AGP    3dfx reference`

`ATi    Mach64            1995    PCI    ATi reference`
`ATi    Rage PRO Turbo        1997    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Rage PRO Turbo        1997    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Rage 128 Pro        1999    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Rage 128 Pro        1999    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Rage 128 Pro        1999    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Rage 128 Pro        1999    AGP    Reference`
`ATi    Rage Fury MAXX        1999    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Radeon 7200        2000    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Radeon 7200 AIW        2000    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Radeon 7200 AIW        2000    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Radeon 7000        2001    AGP    OEM`
`ATi    Radeon 7500 DDR        2001    AGP    ATi Reference`
`ATi    Radeon 8500        2001    AGP    HIS Radeon 8500 w/ 128MB DDR`
`ATi    Radeon 8500        2001    AGP    ATi reference (64MB)`
`ATi    Radeon 8500        2001    AGP    ATi reference (64MB)`
`ATi    Radeon VE        2001    AGP    HIS Radeon VE 64MB`
`ATi    FireGL X1         2002    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Radeon 9000 Pro        2002    AGP    HIS 9000 Pro VIVO 128MB`
`ATi    Radeon 9000 Pro        2002    AGP    Gigabyte GV-AF64D`
`ATi    Radeon 9000 Pro        2002    AGP    Hercules 3D Prophet 9000 PRO`
`ATi    Radeon 9700 Pro        2002    AGP    HIS / ATi Reference`
`ATi    Radeon 9200 SE        2003    AGP    Reference`
`ATi    Radeon 9200 SE        2003    AGP    HIS Radeon 9200 SE w/128MB (64bit)`
`ATi    Radeon 9200 SE        2003    AGP    ASUS A9200SE 128M`
`ATi    Radeon 9550        2003    AGP    ASUS 9550GE 256M`
`ATi    Radeon 9600 SE        2003    AGP    ASUS A9600SE/TD/P/128`
`ATi    Radeon 9600 XT        2003    AGP    256MB / VIVO`
`ATi    Radeon 9600 XT        2003    AGP    ASUS A9600XT/TVD`
`ATi    Radeon 9800 Pro        2003    AGP    ATi reference`
`ATi    Radeon 9800 Pro        2003    AGP    Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 Pro`
`ATi    Radeon 9800 Pro        2003    AGP    Reference`
`ATi    Radeon 9250        2004    AGP    MSI RX9250-TD128`
`ATi    Radeon 9250        2004    PCI    Sapphire reference`
`ATi    Radeon 9250        2004    PCI    Sapphire reference`
`ATi    Radeon 9250        2004    AGP    ASUS 9250GE 256M`
`ATi    Radeon X800 SE        2004    AGP    Reference / OEM`
`ATi    Radeon X850 XT        2004    AGP    ASUS AX850XT 256`
`ATi    Radeon X850 XT        2004    AGP    Reference + AC Silencer`
`ATi    Radeon X850 XT        2004    AGP    HIS Radeon X850 XT IceQ II VIVO 256MB`
`ATi    Radeon X1650 Pro    2006    AGP    HIS X1650Pro IceQ 512`
`ATi    Radeon X1650 Pro    2006    AGP    Sapphire X1650 PRO DDR2 512MB`
`ATi    Radeon X1950 Pro    2006    AGP    Sapphire 512MB`
`ATi    Radeon X1950 Pro    2006    AGP    HIS Radeon X1950Pro IceQ3 Turbo 512MB`
`ATi    Radeon X1950 Pro    2006    AGP    HIS Radeon X1950Pro IceQ3 Turbo 512MB`
`ATi    Radeon HD 2600 XT    2007    AGP    HIS 2600XT ICEQ3 Turbo 512MB (H26XQT512A)`
`ATi    Radeon HD 3450        2007    AGP    ASUS AH3450/DI/512`
`ATi    Radeon X1550        2007    AGP    GECUBE RX155PGA2`
`ATi    Radeon HD 3650        2008    AGP    HIS HD 3650 512MB (128bit) DDR2`
`ATi    Radeon HD 4650        2008    AGP    Sapphire 1G DDR2`
`ATi    Radeon HD 4650        2008    AGP    Gigabyte GV-R465D2-1GI`
`ATi    Radeon HD 5450        2010    PCI    Club 3D HD 5450 PCI Edition`
`ATi    Radeon HD 5450        2010    PCI    Club 3D HD 5450 PCI Edition`

`Matrox    Millenium        1996    PCI    COMPAQ reference`
`Matrox    G100            1998    AGP    Matrox reference`
`Matrox    Millenium G200        1998    AGP    Matrox reference`
`Matrox    G400            1999    AGP    G400 DH 32MB`
`Matrox    G400 MAX        1999    AGP    Matrox reference`
`Matrox    G200 QUAD        2000    PCI    Matrox reference`
`Matrox    G550            2001    AGP    G550 32MB DDR`
`Matrox    Parhelia        2002    AGP    Matrox reference`
`Matrox    Parhelia        2002    AGP    Matrox reference`

`PowerVR    Kyro            2001    PCI    Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT PCI`
`PowerVR    Kyro II            2001    AGP    Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 64MB`
`PowerVR    Kyro II            2001    AGP    Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 64MB TV-Out`
`PowerVR    Kyro II            2001    AGP    Herclules 3D Prophet 4500 32MB`


----------



## stef (May 3, 2021)

@framebuffer​Please, share your source for antistatic bags .
Regarding Elsa GF3 Ti 200, two were sold recently on ebay.de. One with the cooler, and one without. I even bid for one of them.


----------



## Kissamies (May 3, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> ooh I love ELSA cards, wish I have more than few
> but this 721 had some very bad time, did you got it like this or you ripped off all the original cooling?
> it should look like this
> 
> View attachment 198915


The was missing that original fan and that heatsink looked pretty underpowered so I reused that heatsink from that dead 9700 Pro.


----------



## framebuffer (May 3, 2021)

stef said:


> @framebuffer​Please, share your source for antistatic bags .
> Regarding Elsa GF3 Ti 200, two were sold recently on ebay.de. One with the cooler, and one without. I even bid for one of them.



took them from distrelec: https://www.distrelec.com/global/



Chloe Price said:


> The was missing that original fan and that heatsink looked pretty underpowered so I reused that heatsink from that dead 9700 Pro.



ok


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (May 3, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> *ATi */ *3dfx */ *PowerVR */ *Matrox*: *AGP*/*PCI *NON-in-box
> 
> View attachment 198983
> 
> ...



`3dfx    Voodoo Banshee        1998    AGP    Diamond Fusion Banshee`

My first card was a Diamond Monster Fusion.  Didn't age well, but nonetheless served me well.


----------



## Biolante (May 5, 2021)




----------



## framebuffer (May 5, 2021)

received few more things  

*Microsoft Natural Keyboard* and *IntelliMouse *(both brand new)











I'm preparing a few builds with proper retro case to pair with them 

And then received some "usual" hardware





*XFX 7300GS 512M DDR2
Radeon 9500 Pro
HIS HD 4850 IceQ 4
XFX 9500GT
ASUS P4P800 SE + Pentium4 3.06GHz*


----------



## Biolante (May 6, 2021)




----------



## stef (May 6, 2021)

looks at least 2kg of copper .


----------



## Susquehannock (May 6, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> received few more things
> 
> *Microsoft Natural Keyboard* and *IntelliMouse *(both brand new)
> 
> ...


Oh man. That 'natural' layout keyboard give me a headache just thinking about it. Couldn't stand them.


----------



## RealKGB (May 6, 2021)

BarbaricSoul said:


> can't believe no one wants this- https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/pay-it-forward-tpu-2-0.279999/#post-4485286


I would take it but I don't meet the requirements (and my dad doesn't want me getting anymore computers right now).

Ah, I see people are showing off their GPU collection.
Here's my BFG 6800 Ultra OC.




Yes I reconnected the fan.

It's going to be in my XP gaming rig (along with a 3.4 GHz P4 HT Prescott, an ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe, 3GB of DDR 400, and an Ageia PhysX PPU).

EDIT:
I figured I'd mention that it was repasted with MX-4.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> I would take it but I don't meet the requirements (and my dad doesn't want me getting anymore computers right now).
> 
> Ah, I see people are showing off their GPU collection.
> Here's my BFG 6800 Ultra OC.
> ...


Mine will look like this (I know as I owned it previously but as stupid I am, I sold it. Now I'll be getting it back.)


----------



## framebuffer (May 6, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Oh man. That 'natural' layout keyboard give me a headache just thinking about it. Couldn't stand them.



haha still have to try, but looking at it gives me the idea that I would probably break my wrists using it   
the cool thing here is that it's from like 1996, and brand new


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2021)

I've tried those natural keyboards few times and they're actually pretty damn fine.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I've tried those natural keyboards few times and they're actually pretty damn fine.


Not everyone can use them. I have huge hands and it hurts to use them. You wouldn't think it would, but it does.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not everyone can use them. I have huge hands and it hurts to use them. You wouldn't think it would, but it does.


Dunno do I have that big hands, though older Playstation Dualshock controllers (DS1-DS3) feel kinda tiny for my hands as an adult.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Dunno do I have that big hands, though older Playstation Dualshock controllers (DS1-DS3) feel kinda tiny for my hands as an adult.


I could never use them, they were very uncomfortable.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I could never use them, they were very uncomfortable.


Gimme a clone of a Xbox One gamepad with universal compatibility (PC/PS2/PS3/Xbox 360/One and newer ones) and I'd never complain about controllers ever.


----------



## Retrorockit (May 6, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> Are you sure about that?
> I tried it in a laptop with an i7 and because of it's age ThrottleStop wouldn't work with that CPU.


I use Throttlestop 4.0 There's a link in my sig. to prove it  works.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Gimme a clone of a Xbox One gamepad with universal compatibility (PC/PS2/PS3/Xbox 360/One and newer ones) and I'd never complain about controllers ever.


Interestingly, and ironically, I have a mini XB360 controller that fits perfectly and very comfortably in my hands. Been using it for years.




Retrorockit said:


> I use Throttlestop 4.0 There's a link in my sig. to prove it.


Right! With ThrottleStop, use old versions of it for older hardware.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Interestingly, and ironically, I have a mini XB360 controller that fits perfectly and very comfortably in my hands. Been using it for years.
> View attachment 199518
> 
> 
> Right! With ThrottleStop, use old versions of it for older hardware.


I kinda like wired gamepads more 

My hand next to a Dualshock 3


----------



## Retrorockit (May 6, 2021)

The reason I'm confident the QX6800 will work is because those old boards supported PentiumD CPUs and won't choke on a 130W CPU. Even a Dell Optiplex 745 can OC one of those.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> I kinda like wired gamepads more
> 
> My hand next to a Dualshock 3
> 
> View attachment 199520


See, you've got smaller hands. The ergonomics are very different for you. So the MS Natural KB and PS controllers will be a very different experience for you and people with hands like yours.


----------



## Kissamies (May 6, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> See, you've got smaller hands. The ergonomics are very different for you. So the MS Natural KB and PS controllers will be a very different experience for you and people with hands like yours.


Tho still older PS controllers feel small.


----------



## Valantar (May 6, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> Tho still older PS controllers feel small.


All PlayStation controllers up to the DualSense (havent tried it, can't comment) are pretty terrible ergonomically unless you have very small hands.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2021)

Valantar said:


> All PlayStation controllers up to the DualSense (havent tried it, can't comment) are pretty terrible ergonomically unless you have very small hands.


If you think about it, Sony was making a controller that fit the hands of most people in the world. Most of the worlds population(about 73%) is less than 5'7" tall and have smaller hands. The rest of us have to live with the design. Of course then again, my huge hands and that mini-XB360 controller are completely unintuitive...


----------



## Valantar (May 6, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> If you think about it, Sony was making a controller that fit the hands of most people in the world. Most of the worlds population(about 73%) is less than 5'7" tall and have smaller hands. The rest of us have to live with the design. Of course then again, my huge hands and that mini-XB360 controller are completely unintuitive...


Well, according to MS's research their controllers are designed to fit the vast majority of hand sizes globally, and is by no means skewed towards larger ones. Of course I have no idea if their hand size data is good, but there's little reason to suspect it isn't. And their controllers are a bit bigger. Though more importantly, they're shaped in a way that actually fits human hands far better.


----------



## Kissamies (May 7, 2021)

Valantar said:


> All PlayStation controllers up to the DualSense (havent tried it, can't comment) are pretty terrible ergonomically unless you have very small hands.


And after I laid my hands first time on a X360 controller, I can't go back on that symmetrical analog stick placement. I mean, it feels weird tho I spent my childhood and early teens with a dualshock/dualshock2. 



lexluthermiester said:


> If you think about it, Sony was making a controller that fit the hands of most people in the world. Most of the worlds population(about 73%) is less than 5'7" tall and have smaller hands. The rest of us have to live with the design. Of course then again, my huge hands and that mini-XB360 controller are completely unintuitive...


Japanese version of the original pre-dualshock1 PS controller is 10% smaller than the US/EU version. Now talk about a small PS gamepad!


----------



## Retrorockit (May 7, 2021)

I'm getting ready to do some retro computing. I ordered some 4GB DDR2 800 CL5 modules. Set of 4. I have some old Dells with x38 chipset that can handle 16GB of those. T3400 workstation and XPS420. Both BTX mid towers and locked BIOS. I think I'll do some BSEL tapemod explorations first since the 400fsb is supposedly hiding in there somewhere. I think I'l get a CPU running that I know can't handle the 400FSB directly, and underclock the multiplier with Throttlestop to get the tapemod running, and then work my way back up to whatever is possible at the stock Voltage. This will get me a baseline for locked CPUs. Then I'll get "serious" with some Core 2 Extremes.
 Another thing I have sitting around are some Dell Optiplex XE Desktops. XE stands for Extreme Environment. They actually had a snorkel kit to pipe air to these things if they got built into a cabinet.
4 phase VRM in a BTX Optiplex DT has got me curious. I also have a few E6500K sitting around. Unlocked LGA775 Pentium 2 core CPUs from China. I used to tell people at Tomshardware how to install full height GPUs in Dell Optiplex DT systems. Now it's time to try it myself. Probably zero nostalgia points here. Dual NICs, PS2 ports, and extra PCIe x1 slots in various places. Also a 24V USB port. Not your secretary's Optiplex. I already started to convert that 24V rail to run a GTX1060 3GB in this thing.


----------



## Kissamies (May 7, 2021)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm getting ready to do some retro computing. I ordered some 4GB DDR2 800 CL5 modules. Set of 4. I have some old Dells with x38 chipset that can handle 16GB of those. T3400 workstation and XPS420. Both BTX mid towers and locked BIOS. I think I'll do some BSEL tapemod explorations first since the 400fsb is supposedly hiding in there somewhere. I think I'l get a CPU running that I know can't handle the 400FSB directly, and underclock the multiplier with Throttlestop to get the tapemod running, and then work my way back up to whatever is possible at the stock Voltage. This will get me a baseline for locked CPUs. Then I'll get "serious" with some Core 2 Extremes.
> Another thing I have sitting around are some Dell Optiplex XE Desktops. XE stands for Extreme Environment. They actually had a snorkel kit to pipe air to these things if they got built into a cabinet.
> 4 phase VRM in a BTX Optiplex DT has got me curious. I also have a few E6500K sitting around. Unlocked LGA775 Pentium 2 core CPUs from China. I used to tell people at Tomshardware how to install full height GPUs in Dell Optiplex DT systems. Now it's time to try it myself. Probably zero nostalgia points here. Dual NICs, PS2 ports, and extra PCIe x1 slots in various places. Also a 24V USB port. Not your secretary's Optiplex. I already started to convert that 24V rail to run a GTX1060 3GB in this thing.


Sounds interesting, tho a real good board would be a more interesting platform. Anyway, I'll follow ur 775 adventures.


----------



## Retrorockit (May 7, 2021)

I just like doing things I haven't seen done a hundred times before. At userbenchmark no one has added a discrete GPU or overclocked the Opti XE at all. BTX was made for VRM cooling and clock speed. They just all have locked BIOS or CPU power limits to contend with. I'm hoping it will go well past 4GHz as an unlocked 2 core. The Midtowers already go 4.15GHz easily with a QX9650 and stock cooling. Hopefully I can squeeze some more out of those too. My other 4 core BTX went 4GHz with a 65nm quad core. 4 phase VRM with an unlocked 45nm 2 core??? Dell went to a lot of trouble to make the XE tough as hell. Will that turn into a decent overclock? Only one way to find out.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 7, 2021)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm getting ready to do some retro computing. I ordered some 4GB DDR2 800 CL5 modules. Set of 4. I have some old Dells with x38 chipset that can handle 16GB of those. T3400 workstation and XPS420.


Are you going to dual boot a 32bit and 64bit OS?


----------



## Athlonite (May 7, 2021)

@framebuffer  Watch out for the cable on that Intellimouse 1.0 I went through 3 of them back in the day they have a bad tendency to break a wire internally MS must have gotten sick of sending me new ones after the third one and replaced it with an Intellimouse 3.0 which is still going to this day


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 7, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> @framebuffer  Watch out for the cable on that Intellimouse 1.0 I went through 3 of them back in the day they have a bad tendency to break a wire internally MS must have gotten sick of sending me new ones after the third one and replaced it with an Intellimouse 3.0 which is still going to this day


I had that experience too, except I just soldered in a different(better) cable.


----------



## Athlonite (May 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I had that experience too, except I just soldered in a different(better) cable.



Had the mouse been out of warranty I probably would have done that too but why bother if it's under warranty and in the end I got a much better mouse out of it


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 7, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Had the mouse been out of warranty I probably would have done that too but why bother if it's under warranty and in the end I got a much better mouse out of it


Fair enough. For me, that's more hassle then I want to deal with. It's easier and faster to just fix it myself. And I'm very much a "Fix It Myself" kind of guy.


----------



## Athlonite (May 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Fair enough. For me, that's more hassle then I want to deal with. It's easier and faster to just fix it myself. And I'm very much a "Fix It Myself" kind of guy.


Luckily for me I was dealing with a local shop (Dick Smith Electronics) who'd ring MS and ask what they wanted done so 5 mins a faffing round at a shop versus 20~40 mins of fixing meh it wasn't worth the effort but don't get me wrong I'm also a fix it if I can kind a person I've recapped mobo's and GPU's and a IO card from the old ISA days replaced all sorts of bits n pieces the hardest being the read/write heads on an HDD repasted reballed and rerouted tracks that had burnt out. But I tend to use warranty replacement first if it's still under warranty if not then it's get out the soldering iron and fix it myself second


----------



## Retrorockit (May 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are you going to dual boot a 32bit and 64bit OS?


I hadn't thought about it. The T3400 has 2xGPU slots. I have an old Nvidia Tesla PhysX card. IDK, if those cache system RAM like a GPU or not.. That's where the 16GB will end up. Is there an OC (or other) advantage to having a 32bit OS?
Or is that for running older games?
By dual boot you mean 2 separate operating systems, not Virtualization with both at once? The XE Q45 chipset supports virtualization. I thought about splitting off just 1 E6500K core to see if it runs faster that way.  Maybe a 32 bit OS makes sense there too?
The E6500K will get a tape mod too from 1066 to 1333fsb.


----------



## Dragokar (May 7, 2021)

I would like to join this club 



Spoiler: Pictures


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 7, 2021)

Retrorockit said:


> I hadn't thought about it. The T3400 has 2xGPU slots. I have an old Nvidia Tesla PhysX card. IDK, if those cache system RAM like a GPU or not.. That's where the 16GB will end up. Is there an OC (or other) advantage to having a 32bit OS?


I was going to say, if you're planning to run Windows XP, 16GB is generally a bit much as it will only use 4GB(unless you go the PAE route which really wouldn't make sense). If you were going to dual boot 64bit Windows Vista or 7 as well, then you're good.


Retrorockit said:


> Or is that for running older games?


This. Retro gaming is a mostly 32bit affair. 16GB is not required if that's all you're doing. 4GB would be solid.


Retrorockit said:


> By dual boot you mean 2 separate operating systems, not Virtualization with both at once?


This. In my Dell T3500 that I use for retro stuff I have 3 drives, one each for Windows 7, Windows XP and Android. Windows 7 and Android see and use all of the 12GB of RAM that system has. Depending on what I'm doing the appropriate drive is selected at bootup.


Retrorockit said:


> The XE Q45 chipset supports virtualization. I thought about splitting off just 1 E6500K core to see if it runs faster that way. Maybe a 32 bit OS makes sense there too?


If that's what you want to do, more power to you. I find it much easier to use separate drives.


----------



## Retrorockit (May 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I was going to say, if you're planning to run Windows XP, 16GB is generally a bit much as it will only use 4GB(unless you go the PAE route which really wouldn't make sense). If you were going to dual boot 64bit Windows Vista or 7 as well, then you're good.
> 
> This. Retro gaming is a mostly 32bit affair. 16GB is not required if that's all you're doing. 4GB would be solid.
> 
> ...


I just like to take old junk and see how much I can get out of it. So Win7 Pro or Ultimate for me. Also the latest GPU I can afford to run. I'll just post the pinmod stuff here, and some weird Dell  BTX mods. I loved Win XP. I have some engine, camshaft, and dragstrip simulation software for that OS. So maybe that will get a revisit. But I'm mostly a hardmod kind of guy.
For the unlocked CPU overclocking I'll put that in the Throttlestop Overclocking thread. I usually just benchmark my stuff to prove the mods actually work. Then move on. The first Dell I overclocked had a 4 phase VRM and went to 2nd place at CPUZ for a couple years. The XE is only the 2nd one I've seen (not counting aftermarket XPS/Alienware stuff). So there's no telling what this thing might do. The DT format and 95W chipset CPU limit have me locked into 1/2 size heatsinks and fans. But I found a 6 tube BTX DT heatpipe cooler that fits, and a 130CFM fan so I think I have enough headroom to get a good overclock on the E6500K. It doesn't have SSE4 so for gaming I guess that makes it "sort of" retro.

The 4GB DDR2 modules may not all end up in the same computer. I could run 12 GB in 2 systems. But I need 4GB low density (x64) modules to get there. Many vendors don't list DDR2 any more and CL6 is mostly what's available. Since my OC methods don't change the RAM speed, low latency is what I look for. I have 2 GTX1060 6GB GPUs. 8GB of RAM is not enough for those, and some  of the benchmark like 12GB RAM. But 8GB with a 3GB GPU works just fine. That's probably where the XE will end up. It's DDR3 so no problems there.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 7, 2021)

Retrorockit said:


> I have 2 GTX1060 6GB GPUs. 8GB of RAM is not enough for those, and some of the benchmark like 12GB RAM.


While that's true on modern systems, a QX9650(even OC'd) will not be able to exhibit those limitations. 8GB system RAM with a 6GB GPU will work fine on that platform. However, I encourage you to test for yourself as such will demonstrate an interesting level of characteristics you would likely enjoy learning from.


----------



## Retrorockit (May 8, 2021)

I tested this with my X5470 Opti 380 and GTX1050Ti 4GB and 8GB RAM. In Valley benchmark (only) it had issues that looked like CPU bottlenecking. Valley would like you to have 12GB RAM.
I got the GTX1060 3GB to test for GPU RAM caching, and it seemed to work. No issues in any benchmarks. If it was CPU bottlenecking this would have made it much worse.  If it was RAM caching the extra GB for the OS solved it. Now if you're running a 32 bit OS that can't address over 3.5GB RAM this wouldn't apply at all. Then 8GB RAM 4GB GPU and maybe even 6GB might work if the older games don't use much system RAM. If you're blaming the CPU you might be wrong. Cleaning out background apps. can probably resolve this also.
I run the GTX 1060 so my benchmarks don't get buried in the back pages at userbenchmark.com. Userbenchmark compares your system against others with the same MB. Here is the Optiplex 380 page. You can see some wiseguy stuck a GTX1080 on that MB with an E7500 CPU that pushed me down to 2nd place.


			UserBenchmark: Dell OptiPlex 380 Compatible Builds
		

The Q9650   GTX1650 4GB in 3rd place may have some issues that my 1060 3GB doesn't.
Some people build old computers to run old games. I like to see how far they can go with current apps. Modding locked BIOS computers is my hobby. The rules are different.
But at Superposition that system is on page 25 of the lower tier benchmark. Ay userbenchmark you can see what others have done with any system. That's where I found out the Opti 380 supports 120W Xeons.


----------



## stinger608 (May 9, 2021)

I hope that @TxGrin doesn't mind, but I included the Doom Reborn Mod that he posted in the Free Games thread:








						Free Games Thread
					

In case it is still relevant, you can claim the main game again if you have done so the previous time it was free and that will unlock the Last survivor DLC   It didn't, not free.




					www.techpowerup.com
				




Here is the link to Doom Reborn Mod:








						Doom Reborn Pre Beta Version 1.65 Standalone file
					

- What's New I've added widescreen resolution support, adjusted the lighting in every level,Updated the apperence of the main menu,added new easter eggs and corrected a couple bugs along with various tweaks and changes.Updated a couple of textures




					www.moddb.com


----------



## Biolante (May 10, 2021)




----------



## Mr.Scott (May 11, 2021)

True copper is awesome.


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 12, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> I hope that @TxGrin doesn't mind, but I included the Doom Reborn Mod that he posted in the Free Games thread:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have soft spot for Doom3, IMO its the real evolution of the classic Doom. It captures the scary factor of old game and modernize it, for me that is what I remember Doom the most; dark, scary, flickering light, weird creepy noises. Downloading now.


----------



## Kissamies (May 14, 2021)

Picked up that HD 7970 Matrix yesterday, I'll try first that does it run fine at Platinum clocks, if it does, then I'll flash the Matrix Platinum bios to it.


----------



## Dragokar (May 14, 2021)

Another tiny sample from my collection inside the spoiler:



Spoiler: more power!


----------



## Kissamies (May 14, 2021)

Dragokar said:


> Another tiny sample from my collection inside the spoiler:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That AWE64 Gold is one hella great find, those cost usually over 200EUR on ebay.


----------



## Dragokar (May 14, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> That AWE64 Gold is one hella great find, those cost usually over 200EUR on ebay.


It is not a find as I saved it around 20 years ago, and it went into a deep sleep with some checks every 4 to 5 years. I have so many "old" stuff that I love but in the end I have to let something go.


----------



## stef (May 14, 2021)

They can be found for more reasonable prices on auctions. Got one recently for 80. Was afraid to touch it, as it looked "new old stock" when arrived.


----------



## framebuffer (May 14, 2021)

*Leadtek WinFast A250LE • GeForce4 Ti4200*




*Pentium II 400MHz


*


----------



## Kissamies (May 14, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> *Leadtek WinFast A250LE • GeForce4 Ti4200*
> View attachment 200309
> 
> *Pentium II 400MHz
> ...


I had that same Ti 4200 back in the day, though its original fan was dead when I got it so I screwed a 80mm fan to it.

Oh, and the 7970 Matrix seems to be stable at Platinum clocks. Time to biosflash it.

edit: Biosflash succeeded.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 16, 2021)

Fresh Katmai bench build.




NEC-Optiarc ND-3540A DVDRW + Hitachi/IBM Deskstar 20GB



Pentium 3 Katmai 500MHz 100FSB (667MHz@133FSB)

Radeon 7500 64MB GPU, Palit OEM (recapped)

Sound Blaster PCI 128 + Realtek NIC

POST screen

Windows ME instead of 98SE

Custom Space theme + sounds.

Specs:
Acorp 6VIA81P-PC133 mobo (VIA 693 NB/596B SB)
Pentium 3 500MHz (Katmai) 100FSB (can do 667MHz@133FSB)
20GB IBM Deskstar HDD (IBM Netvista pull)
NEC ND-3540A DVD-RW
384MB PC133 RAM
Palit Radeon 7500 64MB
Sound Blaster PCI 128 CT5803
AVI RTL8139 NIC
Windows ME 4.90.3000 w/ KernelEX 4.5.2

Custom Space theme sounds were comprised from a mix of the Space theme sounds, More Windows, as well as sound effects from the Ricochet Infinity game.


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Fresh Katmai bench build.
> 
> View attachment 200481
> NEC-Optiarc ND-3540A DVDRW + Hitachi/IBM Deskstar 20GB
> ...


ME?! NOOO! It screams for 2K!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 16, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> ME?! NOOO! It screams for 2K!


For 2000 I'm going 440BX. VIA 693 seems like a more suitable platform for ME.


----------



## Valantar (May 16, 2021)

Chloe Price said:


> ME?! NOOO! It screams for 2K!


W2k was awesome. 95% of the functionality of XP, 0% of the jank of ME and 98SE. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever actually ran XP while it was current, thanks to 2K just being that good (and not having a Fisher-Price style GUI, of course).


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> For 2000 I'm going 440BX. VIA 693 seems like a more suitable platform for ME.


Fuck Me (not literally!), 98SE or no older Windows!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 16, 2021)

AWAKEN, MY MASTERS!


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> AWAKEN, MY MASTERS!


Can't know them by looking, what do u have there?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 16, 2021)

Left: Epox EP-3VCM w/ P3 800EB Coppermine
Right: Epox EP-7KXA w/ AMD Athlon 750MHz Thunderbird
Middle: Palit Geforce FX5500 256MB


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 17, 2021)

I greatly liked WinME better than 98. It was far more stable, allowed for more RAM usage and didn't choke when removing Internet Explorer.


----------



## Athlonite (May 17, 2021)

Win2K>< windwoes ME


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 17, 2021)

Gee, everyone seems to hate ME like it's some sort of devil, lol. Honestly, it's pretty stable, and I don't see why shouldn't I use it. Doesn't seem really buggy to me, and I bet half of those complaints were due to bad caps and crappy mobos (yes, I'm looking at you, PCChips.), mostly crappy hardware in general. Pair Millenium with a solid machine (a good 440BX machine will do) and it should work fine.

A few positive things and negative things would be:

+ much more refined hardware driver setup than 98SE, as well as a much more broad driver library
+ a bit more stable than 98SE - about on par with 2k, just don't pair it with crappy hardware and don't shut it down abruptly (the registry might corrupt a bit, not too much and it generally fixes it pretty fast)
+ more faster boot than 98SE - I compared a 98SE install to the current ME install that I did. 98 SE took at least a minute and a half (and mind you neither of those are old installs, both are pretty fresh installs.) while ME barely took over 40 seconds.
- no real mode DOS
- not every card gets installed out of the box - the CT5803 got recognized as a Creative/ESS card and got supported out of the box, but my other CT4810 requires me to install Creative's own drivers (CT2770 doesn't count as ISA SB16/AWE32 are basically supported since the era of dinosaurs, aka 3.1)
- maybe I've did something wrong but Catalyst Omega tends to crash when I access certain pages that are not original to the Radeon driver - I am pretty sure this is purely my own fault and not WinME screwing me up on that.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (May 17, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Gee, everyone seems to hate ME like it's some sort of devil, lol. Honestly, it's pretty stable, and I don't see why shouldn't I use it. Doesn't seem really buggy to me, and I bet half of those complaints were due to bad caps and crappy mobos (yes, I'm looking at you, PCChips.), mostly crappy hardware in general. Pair Millenium with a solid machine (a good 440BX machine will do) and it should work fine.
> 
> A few positive things and negative things would be:
> 
> ...



My experience with ME was limited, as I was primarily on Linux at that point, and didn't dive back into Windows significantly until XP.  What I do remember was systems that worked fine under 98SE having no end of trouble with ME.  This was commonly blamed on drivers, but whatever it was probably got sorted out over ME's lifecycle, kind of like how Vista was hot garbage until SP1, and was then more-or-less perfectly fine (IMO).


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 19, 2021)

Old VxD drivers on ME's WDM structure don't play nice together.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Old VxD drivers on ME's WDM structure don't play nice together.


That depends. Properly built and tested WMD drivers played nice with VXD. The problem early on was that some hardware makers didn't do their proper testing & due diligence and thus there were some problems. XP and Vista had very similar problems with drivers early on. This was a very mild complaint with ME however as most companies who made hardware developed both VXD and WDM drivers. So if one set was having an issue, simply switching to the other almost always solved the problem. With XP & Vista, you were stuck with the problem until updated drivers where released.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 19, 2021)

At least my machine seems to work absolutely well regardless of the OS. ME runs at least twice as good as 98SE would do (I have a 440BX/98SE machine based on the Soyo 6BA+IV mobo), 2000 and XP run as blazingly fast as ME does, with the small exception that ACPI support on those two is basically NONEXISTENT on my mobo (a recently restored Jetway J-7BXAN as the original Acorp 6VIA81P died with strange POST/BIOS issues - my other choice besides the Jetway was the EpoX EP-7KXA pictured above, but which seems to be incompatible with the 133FSB setting - not sure if it's my T-Bird Athlon that is the issue or the board just flat out rejects FSB133.) while all other boards I've encountered would have correct ACPI functionality.


----------



## framebuffer (May 19, 2021)

2*VOODOO*2


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> 2*VOODOO*2
> View attachment 200954


Beautiful! Mind If I make a wallpaper out of it?

EDIT; Given that you've been cool with it in the past I figured you wouldn't mind. If you do, I'll take it down. You have a habit of taking wonderful photo's! 2160P for everyone's enjoyment!


----------



## framebuffer (May 19, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Beautiful! Mind If I make a wallpaper out of it?



Thanks 
Sure, no problem, I'll attach a 4K version for convenience


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> Thanks
> Sure, no problem, I'll attach a 4K version for convenience


That is soo pretty! Very cool!


----------



## Hemmingstamp (May 19, 2021)

I'm going to pull out that ZX Spectrum and see if the old dog still works.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (May 19, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> ME runs at least twice as good as 98SE


OTOH, Windows 2000 (the first version to be based on NT5) boots slowly in my book.

Windows ME also RTM'ed after Windows 2000. (Windows 2000 first RTM'ed in December, 1999, from what I can gather) 

ME was an interesting one, it literally has the equivalent error messages with modified statements. Strangely, the BSODs had the word "exception" removed, just like "illegal operation" in ME's app crash message box. I can understand the second one more. 98 SE was the last to show "illegal operation" for an app crash.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 19, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> my other choice besides the Jetway was the EpoX EP-7KXA pictured above, but which seems to be incompatible with the 133FSB setting - not sure if it's my T-Bird Athlon that is the issue or the board just flat out rejects FSB133.) while all other boards I've encountered would have correct ACPI functionality.


It is the board. More specifically the PLL used. Even though the chipset is KX133, which would support 133 FSB normally, the PLL used on the board was limited to 115 max and only in specific increments.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (May 20, 2021)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> ME was an interesting one, it literally has the equivalent error messages with modified statements. Strangely, the BSODs had the word "exception" removed, just like "illegal operation" in ME's app crash message box. I can understand the second one more. 98 SE was the last to show "illegal operation" for an app crash.


With ME, it was like Microsoft got worried about the people new to computers being scared when an app crash notification came up. 

At least, it wasn't dumbed down like post-Windows 7 Windows versions, where some apps, (most likely UWP) display "something happened" and literally nothing else other than a close button or whatever! 
Now I'm old enough that if there was a message like that, I normally would think a computer virus!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 20, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> It is the board. More specifically the PLL used. Even though the chipset is KX133, which would support 133 FSB normally, the PLL used on the board was limited to 115 max and only in specific increments.


So the 100/133 jumper is practically useless? lol


----------



## r.h.p (May 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Gee, everyone seems to hate ME like it's some sort of devil, lol. Honestly, it's pretty stable, and I don't see why shouldn't I use it. Doesn't seem really buggy to me, and I bet half of those complaints were due to bad caps and crappy mobos (yes, I'm looking at you, PCChips.), mostly crappy hardware in general. Pair Millenium with a solid machine (a good 440BX machine will do) and it should work fine.
> 
> A few positive things and negative things would be:
> 
> ...



back in the day it was the same everyone hated ME except ME hehe , no real reasons though always when asked just 98 is more stable or some crap


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 20, 2021)

About three relatives I've asked so far have said WinME was rock stable and 98 was utter crash-fest. I'm not the slightest kidding. WinME and 2000 is what they loved to run the most on their computers.


----------



## r.h.p (May 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> About three relatives I've asked so far have said WinME was rock stable and 98 was utter crash-fest. I'm not the slightest kidding. WinME and 2000 is what they loved to run the most on their computers.


----------



## basco (May 20, 2021)

found it after a long search:




and i think i want to pair it with this:


----------



## Dinnercore (May 20, 2021)

basco said:


>


Love the board, interesting heatsink composition


----------



## basco (May 20, 2021)

yeah long ago i cut the heatpipe i think because of ln2 pot not fitting.

what ya think should i pair it with intel or amd setup?
i think my strongest intel from ddr2 era is q9550 or a  amd x4 940 or 965


----------



## Dinnercore (May 20, 2021)

basco said:


> yeah long ago i cut the heatpipe i think because of ln2 pot not fitting.
> 
> what ya think should i pair it with intel or amd setup?
> i think my strongest intel from ddr2 era is q9550 or a  amd x4 940 or 965


I would go AMD, but it's your choice


----------



## Athlonite (May 20, 2021)

@basco definitely the AMD Phenom II 965 the 940 wasn't really that great a CPU


----------



## stef (May 20, 2021)

940 was first, and limited only to AM2+ boards. Not sure why.


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2021)

stef said:


> 940 was first, and limited only to AM2+ boards. Not sure why.


Because it (and 920) had only a DDR2 memory controller. The later ones supported DDR2 and DDR3.


----------



## stef (May 20, 2021)

I doubt that, since X3 variants did not have such limitations. Maybe it was disabled ?


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2021)

stef said:


> I doubt that, since X3 variants did not have such limitations. Maybe it was disabled ?











						Phenom II - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				






> Advanced Micro Devices released the Socket AM2+ version of Phenom II in December 2008, while Socket AM3 versions with DDR3 support, along with an initial batch of triple- and quad-core processors were released on February 9, 2009.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 20, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> So the 100/133 jumper is practically useless? lol


Pretty much, yes.


----------



## MentalAcetylide (May 20, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> 2*VOODOO*2
> View attachment 200954


Haven't seen the 3dfx name in quite a while. I still have a P3-500MHz system w/ Win98SE that has a Voodoo3 3000 AGP graphics card in it tucked away somewhere. I haven't booted it up in years, lol.


----------



## framebuffer (May 21, 2021)

*ASUS V9280S Super Fast • GeForce4 Ti 4200-8X • 275MHz/600MHz  




*
my all time favorite GeForce4


----------



## stef (May 22, 2021)

BGA memory chips. Those were generally found only on 4400/4600/4800.
Nice .


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2021)

stef said:


> BGA memory chips. Those were generally found only on 4400/4600/4800.
> Nice .


My bet would be that it's a 4400/4600/4800(SE) PCB but uses a Ti 4200(-8X) bios and the GPU is also labeled as 4200(-8X).


----------



## stef (May 22, 2021)

Isn't 4200-x8 basically a 4800SE ?


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2021)

stef said:


> Isn't 4200-x8 basically a 4800SE ?


Nope. The original and their AGP8X versions:

4200 -> 4200-8X
4400 -> 4800SE
4600 -> 4800


----------



## stef (May 22, 2021)

It's NV28 on both cards, clocked to same 275MHz.


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2021)

stef said:


> It's NV28 on both cards, clocked to same 275MHz.


That could be a factory-overclocked card. I remember having an Abit Ti 4200-8X card and it had 250/500(DDR) clocks.

Wikipedia says the same: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce4_series


----------



## basco (May 23, 2021)

found another:


----------



## Kissamies (May 23, 2021)

basco said:


> found another:
> 
> View attachment 201325
> 
> View attachment 201326


Seems that its slot bracket is missing? That backplate/heatsink looks pretty cool (pun intended).


----------



## basco (May 23, 2021)

haha good catch Chloe !
this weighs massive 950gramms

all my cards at some time were prepared for single stage or ln2 cooling and stuff like the bracket gets lost in the heat.
 i have it somewhere i know it


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 23, 2021)

I had some spare time to kill so, a full configuration of my Athlon 750 system was in order.

First, some specs:

MB - Epox EP-7KXA
RAM - 384MB PC133
GPU - Geforce 4 MX440 64MB (with a lovely golden PCB no less!)
ODD - NEC DVDRW ND-3540A
HDD - 40GB WDC
PSU - Frontier LC-B400ATX (rebuilt) 400W
NIC - Realtek RTL8139C
Audio - Sound Blaster PCI CT5803
Case - unknown model JNC case (really, had no dice in finding it based on the front panel, at all.)

Now, some photos. I split the HDD down in two partitions, so it's 20GB Win + 20GB Linux.


The case. It's pretty beaten up (at least the screw holes are totally RIP when it comes to screwing the panels down, to the point I have to use PSU fan screws to hold them down.) but otherwise it looks pretty rad, and even comes with a plexiglass panel.





GF4 MX440. I originally had the Radeon 7500 GPU from the Katmai build, but for some unknown reason it kept artefacting ONLY when it would reach Windows and ONLY on this mobo (the Jetway works fine with it, no artefacts)


POST screen. Notice the RAM running at 100MHz. This is because of the PLL chip being incapable of running 133, despite there actually being a jumper just for that setting.


Mandrake/Mandriva Linux 10.1 boot menu. For those wondering about the boot loader, it's LILO, and not GRUB.


Booting into Mandrake 10.1. I had quite some headaches setting this up, mainly because I forgot a USB stick and hand to restart setup to avoid screwing up my USB drive, and forgot disabling the onboard VIA Vinyl soundchip.


XP styled logon screen. Didn't even know Mandrake had this featured in up until now.


Fully booted. As opposed to Windows, getting the Geforce 4 GPU to play nice under Linux with my Samsung TV was an horrible nightmare, and I am not even kidding.


Windows side of software. It was much easier to configure as obviously WinME has support for most of the hardware inside (VIA 686A SB, SoundBlaster, Realtek NIC) except the GPU which I had to install separately.


Fully booted into WinME. So far I have installed KernelEX and Firefox 2.0 and no games yet.

That concludes the configuring of my Slot A machine. Up next will probably either casing the Katmai build with a relatively different config (either a CT4810 or a CT2770, Radeon 7500, RTL8139 and 2k SP4 instead of Me, also a different drive instead of that Deskstar angle grinder) or an reconfiguring of my Slot 1 P3 Coppermine 650MHz machine.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2021)

Question guys.

For the sake of argument, let's say that I'm on a lookout for Tualatin PIII cpu, 1.3 or 1.4GHz models ... What would be the cheapest (or easiest) source to grab one of them?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 23, 2021)

OEM machines like IBM/Lenovo, DELL, HP, Gateway, DTK, eMachines?


----------



## uco73 (May 23, 2021)

My first PC was (from march 2009.):

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400
RAM: 2x1GB Transcend 800MHz
GPU: XFX Nvidia GeForce 9600GSO 384MB DDR3, 192-bit, memory bandwith 38GB/s
HDD: WD 320GB sata2
PSU: Cooler Master xTremePower 460W
CASE: I don't remember. Some stupid case.
MONITOR: Samsung 22" 1680x1050
MOUSE AND KEYBOARD: some old version of Logitech (still working).
OS: Windows XP SP2 x86/ Linux Ubuntu 9.04


That computer is still fully functional.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2021)

basco said:


> found another:
> 
> View attachment 201325
> 
> View attachment 201326


Haven't seen one of those forever! Nice! Is that the 320MB or 640MB version?



Trekkie4 said:


> What would be the cheapest (or easiest) source to grab one of them?


If you were in North America I'd say Ebay...



MaxiPro800 said:


> OEM machines like IBM/Lenovo, DELL, HP, Gateway, DTK, eMachines?


This too if you can find them..


----------



## Caring1 (May 23, 2021)

Was given the complete system but I threw the case away as it was rusted and bent.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 23, 2021)

Price was right. Nice score.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> OEM machines like IBM/Lenovo, DELL, HP, Gateway, DTK, eMachines?


Right, but there are no guarantees. Usually these things are not listed, or explained in full (usually there are no technical specs), so it all comes down to pure dumb luck...



lexluthermiester said:


> Haven't seen one of those forever! Nice! Is that the 320MB or 640MB version?
> 
> 
> If you were in North America I'd say Ebay...
> ...


Not really, I already checked ebay, and the prices are quite steep. Seems to be related to the keyword(s) "Tualatin", because all the prices are around 30-40$ at least if not even more. Oh yeah, and pretty much all of them are advertised as "rare & vintage", which sets the price even higher.


----------



## Kissamies (May 23, 2021)

"Thunder", I believe that... those older cheap CM PSUs were something I'd not plug to an outlet if I'm honest.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> because all the prices are around 30-40$ at least if not even more.


$30-$40? Those are not bad prices. Grab one for that price. Hell $50 is very reasonable. Those were uncommon back then and are rare CPU's these days. IF you see one for those prices, pull the trigger and get it!



Chloe Price said:


> "Thunder", I believe that... those older cheap CM PSUs were something I'd not plug to an outlet if I'm honest.


I disagree. Use to use that range of PSU. Never had a problem. They were solid.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> $30-$40? Those are not bad prices. Grab one for that price. Hell $50 is very reasonable. Those were uncommon back then and are rare CPU's these days. IF you see one for those prices, pull the trigger and get it!
> 
> 
> I disagree. Use to use that range of PSU. Never had a problem. They were solid.


Seriously? For a mass-produced 21 year old CPU? Besides, the mentioned price does not include shipping & customs, so in reality the amount is likely to get even higher.

Oh well, so much for that idea. Think I'll rather stick to Coppermine, those can be found just about anywhere & are usually cheap(er) or even free ... depending on where you find them


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 23, 2021)

Tip:
CPU World forums usually has people from all over the world selling all kinds of older processors.......dirt cheap. Look there.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Seriously? For a mass-produced 21 year old CPU?


Seriously. If you want the best, you have to be willing to spend a penny...


Mr.Scott said:


> Tip:
> CPU World forums usually has people from all over the world selling all kinds of older processors.......dirt cheap. Look there.


..Or this.


----------



## basco (May 23, 2021)

its the 640mb 8800gts Mr. luther.
evga once had a give us the old card with this specific ACs3 cooler and get a gtx 980  i believe but could not find it back then.


----------



## framebuffer (May 23, 2021)

stef said:


> BGA memory chips. Those were generally found only on 4400/4600/4800.
> Nice .



yep, they should be 2.8ns


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2021)

basco said:


> its the 640mb 8800gts Mr. luther.
> evga once had a give us the old card with this specific ACs3 cooler and get a gtx 980  i believe but could not find it back then.


Did you mean 9800GTX?


----------



## Fouquin (May 26, 2021)

basco said:


> its the 640mb 8800gts Mr. luther.
> evga once had a give us the old card with this specific ACs3 cooler and get a gtx 980  i believe but could not find it back then.





lexluthermiester said:


> Did you mean 9800GTX?






			https://asia.evga.com/articles/01196/rewind-reward-8800GTX-GTS-ACS3/Default.asp
		


I also missed this one because I could not get either of my 8800 GTXs out of storage in time. I was living in another state on a contract job. Also funny that EVGA themselves completely forgot that ACS3 was introduced on the 7800 GTX, not the 8800 GTX. They even had special editions of the 7800 GTX ACS3 KO that never made it to the 8800.




Speaking of 7800s... My incredibly poor financial decision of the year just arrived.



Complete in box, accessories still wrapped and tape intact... I just couldn't pass it up.


----------



## Kissamies (May 26, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> https://asia.evga.com/articles/01196/rewind-reward-8800GTX-GTS-ACS3/Default.asp
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Saw you posting this on Discord, I've seen also versions with blue PCB which I find kinda strange. Anyway, truly a nice one!


----------



## basco (May 26, 2021)

@Fouquin   i think ya know this but plz be careful with the screws on the 7800gt dual if you ever would disassembly it and in the process of putting it back together there is a chance the screw is too long and pulls through the gpu memory !
so the screw can be pulled in far more then needed !
i hope thats understandable.

combatibility can be a pain with this gem too.

and good score on that card-looks like new


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 26, 2021)

basco said:


> @Fouquin   i think ya know this but plz be careful with the screws on the 7800gt dual if you ever would disassembly it and in the process of putting it back together there is a chance the screw is too long and pulls through the gpu memory !
> so the screw can be pulled in far more then needed !
> i hope thats understandable.
> 
> ...


I'll echo this. The TIM for that card will need replacement after all this time and it's important to be very careful remounting the heatsinks. Of course, Fouqin seems the careful type, so this might not need saying..


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2021)

Posted this on Discord but I may post this here as well, nothing beats a HD 3850 AGP


----------



## DR4G00N (May 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> $30-$40? Those are not bad prices. Grab one for that price. Hell $50 is very reasonable. Those were uncommon back then and are rare CPU's these days. IF you see one for those prices, pull the trigger and get it!


Seems excessive to me, I think I paid $10 max for my P3 1.4GHz years ago. Never would I pay $50 for a s370 or any other vintage cpu, because they're not rare at all.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> Seems excessive to me, I think I paid $10 max for my P3 1.4GHz years ago. Never would I pay $50 for a s370 or any other vintage cpu, because they're not rare at all.


My point exactly... For a moment there I thought it was just me & my weird logic. *shrug*


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> I think I paid $10 max for my P3 1.4GHz years ago.


That was years ago. Go hop on Ebay, let's see what you find..








						Pentium 3 1.4ghz in CPUs/Processors for sale | eBay
					





					www.ebay.com
				











						Pentium 3 1.3ghz in CPUs/Processors for sale | eBay
					





					www.ebay.com
				





DR4G00N said:


> because they're not rare at all.


Non-Tualatin core S360 P3's, sure.


----------



## RealKGB (May 27, 2021)

@MaxiPro800 try setting AGP to AGP 1X. AGP 2X can have weird compatibility problems with Slot A.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was years ago. Go hop on Ebay, let's see what you find..
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was going to pair one of those with 440BX motherboard, but after seeing just how expensive & difficult to find Tualatins are, I have to admit I completely lost interest.

It's a shame really, it would have been a pretty cool combination...


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I was going to pair one of those with 440BX motherboard, but after seeing just how expensive & difficult to find Tualatins are, I have to admit I completely lost interest.
> 
> It's a shame really, it would have been a pretty cool combination...


That wouldn't work anyway. The 440BX chipset was incompatible with the Tualatin cores. You'd need an i815 or i820 chipset based board.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That wouldn't work anyway. The 440BX chipset was incompatible with the Tualatin cores. You need an i815 chipset based board.


Uhh, sorry but you're wrong. It would work ... in fact, more than few Asus P3B-F owners swear by this, but it requires either a slocket mod OR one of those lin-lin socket converters ... which I could easily obtain. For free, even.

Edit
LINK to Vogons, running a Tualatin on P3B-F


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh, sorry but you're wrong. It would work ... in fact, more than few Asus P3B-F owners swear by this, but it requires either a slocket mod OR one of those lin-lin socket converters ... which I could easily obtain. For free, even.


I'll take your word for that. The few times I tried a Tualatin in a 440 board they always failed to boot. The 440BX was not officially compatible with the any of the Tualatin based CPU's. IIRC, the P3BF was a frankenstein board. Is that the board you have?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'll take your word for that. The few times I tried a Tualatin in a 440 board they always failed to boot. The 440BX was not officially compatible with the any of the Tualatin based CPU's. IIRC, the P3BF was a frankenstein board. Is that the board you have?


Yes, mine is Asus P3B-F, latest revision number. Officially no, I don't believe that it was ever supported. But unofficially people are having a blast, because it essentially allows you to build the world's fastest Slot 1, I've seen reports of up to 1.5, 1.6GHz (overclocked 1.4 Tualatin) but these are not for every-day use scenario, obviously. The only "catch" is the core voltage, as the board can only go as low (1.70V), but again there are ways to work around this issue. From soldering & using different voltage regulators, all the way to keeping the Tualatin chip @ 1.70 & giving it a beefy hunk of aluminum, to keep it cool & within safe temp. zone.

What really surprised me is the flexibility of 440BX chipset itself. You would think that after converting Slot 1 into S370, and then converting S370 into S370T would cause problems, or signal delays but apparently this seems to be working perfectly fine. Google it, there are tons of documented examples 

There are even All-In-One solutions available, although these are incredibly rare & difficult to find. A modified Slocket straight out of the box, which allows you to pair Coppermine compatible BX boards to run Tualatin cores





Edit
Yet another way to mod Tualatin CPU, to be used on a 440BX board. This time by physically modding the actual CPU, rather than using a commercial adapter which is how I would have done.

Edit2
Running a Lin-Lin socket converter through existing Slocket & into Slot-1 motherboard (SOURCE)


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> There are even All-In-One solutions available, although these are incredibly rare & difficult to find. A modified Slocket straight out of the box, which allows you to pair Coppermine compatible BX boards to run Tualatin cores


Ah, that's how it's done! Adapters rock! I've never seen one, would have loved to play with one. By the time the Tualatins came out I had already moved on to Pentium 4 so they were never a real priority...



Trekkie4 said:


> Edit
> Yet another way to mod Tualatin CPU, to be used on a 440BX board. This time by physically modding the actual CPU, rather than using a commercial adapter which is how I would have done.


50% OC is nice!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah, that's how it's done! Adapters rock! I've never seen one, would have loved to play with one. By the time the Tualatins came out I had already moved on to Pentium 4 so they were never a real priority...
> 
> 
> 50% OC is nice!


Yup! So, as you can see 440BX rocks! IMHO, one of (if not THE) most versatile chipsets in the history of PC 

From what I can tell, my P3B-F falls into that same category, especially with its latest revision number. Possibilities are literally endless, but I honestly don't see the point in pursuing this idea, not with Tualatin prices on the rise & being as difficult to come across. I almost scored a 1,266 model just the other day, but as it turned out, it was already sold to someone else.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was years ago. Go hop on Ebay, let's see what you find..
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When have Ebay prices been indicative of real world item values? Sure I could list my Maximus III Formula @ $200-250 like the rest of them, but as if anyone would actually buy it for that much.

The only pc components I would consider rare are ES or limited run samples (Ex. Asus Mars). Retail parts are uncommon at most.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 27, 2021)

Upgraded the RAM on my Glide machine and thought you would love some photos.


Front. The whole bezel (model RJA-52) originally comes from the casing used on my previously posted Athlon machine which currently uses that disco-styled bezel + plexiglass sidepanel. (which looks pretty rad)



Backside. The rest of the case used to house a beefy Barton 2500+ system. I still have most ofthe parts from it except the GPU (some cheap ASUS Radeon 9250) and the NIC. Also noteworthy is that the roof, chassis and panels themselves are from another JNC case, model RJA-DT807.

The whole machine in all its glory, before changing the RAM. Cards pictured: 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 16MB, SB Live 5.1 CT4830, NEC USB 2.0 PCI card and a Realtek RTL8139.

Soyo 6BA + IV. Much better than my long defunct 6VBA133, by being based on the 440BX. I am pretty sure this is just as good as an ABIT BE6-II, which I am still looking for as a replacement to both my defunct Acorp 6VIA81P-133 and Jetway 7BXAN rev2.(or anything ABIT ranging from 440BX to VIA KT133A) Originally came with Wendell caps (that were surprisingly in spec), all were replaced with Rubycon, Panasonic and Sanyo.

Coppermine based Pentium 3 650MHz, SL3XK. Had a pretty noisy Cooler Master fan, which got replaced with a pretty silent Foxconn branded Delta fan from an IBM Netvista I parted out (which might get rebuilt as a ridiculous Coppermine build, featuring no less than a Radeon 9550, WiFi and loads of RAM)

Overview of the machine. The PSU is a pretty solid HKC SZ-430PDR unit w/PPFC. Probably overkill but at least it's temperature-controlled and silent, which is a huge plus.

Maxtor 80GB IDE drive split in 2x40GB partitions.
View attachment 201817

POST for both the main BIOS and the HPT366, as well as booting into Win98SE.

An mouse I saved from the bin. It's nice that the scroll wheel is lit blue. USB interface but it's connected via PS/2 to USB adapter to avoid any issues with scarce USB mouse support under both DOS and 9x.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> When have Ebay prices been indicative of real world item values?


Fairly frequently actually.


DR4G00N said:


> The only pc components I would consider rare are ES or limited run samples (Ex. Asus Mars). Retail parts are uncommon at most.


We have different definitions. No worries. My whole point was that Tualatins can be difficult to find. I mean let's face facts, there are but three listings with those searches. And $65 for a P3-1.4ghz is reasonable, so if Trekkie4 can get one for $40 or $50 is a solid bargain and he should just jump at it...


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Fairly frequently actually.
> 
> We have different definitions. No worries. My whole point was that Tualatins can be difficult to find. I mean let's face facts, there are but three listings with those searches. And $65 for a P3-1.4ghz is reasonable, so if Trekkie4 can get one for $40 or $50 is a solid bargain and he should just jump at it...


Nah, I'll rather spend those $50 elsewhere. Speaking of which, I may have something truly iconic coming up shortly, but unfortunately it is still too early for anything specific. I will advise if & when situation changes


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 28, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Soyo 6BA + IV. Much better than my long defunct 6VBA133, by being based on the 440BX. I am pretty sure this is just as good as an ABIT BE6-II,


It's not. I have both. BE6-II is the pillar of the overclocking/benchmarking community.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (May 28, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> When have Ebay prices been indicative of real world item values? Sure I could list my Maximus III Formula @ $200-250 like the rest of them, but as if anyone would actually buy it for that much.
> 
> The only pc components I would consider rare are ES or limited run samples (Ex. Asus Mars). Retail parts are uncommon at most.



If you filter for Sold listings, you get a pretty good idea.  We could argue abut the definition of "rare", however, all damn day.



Trekkie4 said:


> Yup! So, as you can see 440BX rocks! IMHO, one of (if not THE) most versatile chipsets in the history of PC
> 
> From what I can tell, my P3B-F falls into that same category, especially with its latest revision number. Possibilities are literally endless, but I honestly don't see the point in pursuing this idea, not with Tualatin prices on the rise & being as difficult to come across. I almost scored a 1,266 model just the other day, but as it turned out, it was already sold to someone else.



I had BH6 once.  It may have gotten recycled...


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 28, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> If you filter for Sold listings, you get a pretty good idea.  We could argue abut the definition of "rare", however, all damn day.
> 
> 
> 
> I had BH6 once.  It may have gotten recycled...


That's a shame...  I had a BH-6 myself, but I sold it back in 2019 ... it was paired with PII 350.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 28, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> I had BH6 once. It may have gotten recycled...


THAT is a sad thing...


----------



## Kissamies (May 28, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That wouldn't work anyway. The 440BX chipset was incompatible with the Tualatin cores. You'd need an i815 or i820 chipset based board.


Otherwise, 440BX was AWESOME. I mean back then some boards could have more or less problems, but my Asus P2B (440BX) was a rock solid one.


----------



## micropage7 (May 28, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Upgraded the RAM on my Glide machine and thought you would love some photos.
> 
> View attachment 201804
> Front. The whole bezel (model RJA-52) originally comes from the casing used on my previously posted Athlon machine which currently uses that disco-styled bezel + plexiglass sidepanel. (which looks pretty rad)
> ...


it just looks like yesterday, and you can keep it for the next 10 years


----------



## Splinterdog (May 29, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I've just acquired a very nice (2006) HP Compaq DC 5700 Microtower from a customer who was doing a house clearance. Before collecting it I asked them to send a photo in case it was more trouble than it was worth, so imagine my surprise.
> It needs a good clean up but is in excellent condition and weighs a ton!
> Intel Pentium 4 631 Cedar Mill socket 775 3.0Ghz which is currently running at 2.392Ghz, 160Gb WD SATA and 512Mb DDR2 (now 2GB since I had some lying around) Windows XP Pro Spanish.
> Not sure what I'll use it for yet, but I'll enjoy tidying it up and adding a graphics card. I may well leave the OS as it is in case I want to sell it on. Or just add it to the collection
> ...


Sold today to someone who was looking for exactly this machine!
Much tidier than when it first came in, but not perfect and a tidy profit.


----------



## Liquid Cool (May 29, 2021)

At one time, I owned a dozen or so of the HP Compaq DC 5700 MT's.  We used them in our finance office.  Although, I didn't purchase them in 2006, I think it was 2008....right before the Stock Market crash.

Never really had any major issues go wrong with any of them.  I finally retired the last one in 2019 and it showed zero signs of dying...actually felt kind of bad unplugging the old beast.  I ran them with 8GB's of memory, and either WD Velociraptor Enterprise drives or Intel X25-M's, or later Intel 320 Series SSD's and NVS graphics.  Either 295's or I upgraded once to the 300 series.  Either card could handle our charts in the office without any hassles.  We beat the living hell out of those machines day and night.

I looked at the photo Splinterdog put up...ours had the black fan shroud connecting from the front fan to the passive CPU cooler, but didn't have the clear plastic piece that's holding the s-ata power cable.  I've never seen that before.  Everything else looks the same. Perhaps ours were a later model?  I say this because none of our units had Pentium 4's.  They came with e6600's that we later upgraded to e8400's(after a BIOS update).

Before posting this...I sat here for a few minutes and thought about repairs on these.  Out of all the units, I can only remember replacing one power supply and I'm pretty sure that was it.

Very reliable.

Best,

Liquid Cool


----------



## framebuffer (May 30, 2021)

*ASUS EN7800GTX "inside/out" *


----------



## Splinterdog (May 30, 2021)

Liquid Cool said:


> At one time, I owned a dozen or so of the HP Compaq DC 5700 MT's.  We used them in our finance office.  Although, I didn't purchase them in 2006, I think it was 2008....right before the Stock Market crash.
> 
> Never really had any major issues go wrong with any of them.  I finally retired the last one in 2019 and it showed zero signs of dying...actually felt kind of bad unplugging the old beast.  I ran them with 8GB's of memory, and either WD Velociraptor Enterprise drives or Intel X25-M's, or later Intel 320 Series SSD's and NVS graphics.  Either 295's or I upgraded once to the 300 series.  Either card could handle our charts in the office without any hassles.  We beat the living hell out of those machines day and night.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that!
Practically bombproof would be one way of describing these machines and I was a little sad to see it go. On the other hand, I'm glad it's being put to good use - the buyer's wife has a couple of medical procedure programs that will only run on XP, apparently. Furthermore, the SVDO Add2 issue put me off because it could never be run as a gaming machine.
I'm now asking my wife to contact all her friends again to ask if they have any old PCs lying around, which is how this one came about.
Scrounger? Me?


----------



## Robert B (May 30, 2021)

My very first GF3 Ti 500!!!  

Restoring it was quite a challenge but to what extent? Well, ... this is story for another time!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 30, 2021)

Testing a HD7870 I just did some MLCC repair on (quite messy, but so far it works...?) to check if it still chrashes in 3d games of any kind.


Test rig is an GB H55M-S2V, i3 540 skt1156, 3GB DDR3, Win10 Enterprise (already had it on the HDD), 250GB Seagate SATA II HDD, modified Allied AL-8400BTX PSU.


----------



## Kissamies (May 30, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> *ASUS EN7800GTX "inside/out" *
> 
> View attachment 202159


Those Silencer coolers were great


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 30, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Testing a HD7870 I just did some MLCC repair on (quite messy, but so far it works...?) to check if it still chrashes in 3d games of any kind.
> 
> View attachment 202202
> Test rig is an GB H55M-S2V, i3 540 skt1156, 3GB DDR3, Win10 Enterprise (already had it on the HDD), 250GB Seagate SATA II HDD, modified Allied AL-8400BTX PSU.


And the results are?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 30, 2021)

Well, NFS Hot Pursuit 2 does work fine, for now. I couldn't test the 2010 variant as it was getting late and I am quite worried of running that card with an Deer based PSU of all things. 

Not that it can't deliver at least 300-350W of power (I rebuilt it with some of the best parts I could scrounge for the respective platform while maintaining the low heatsinks profile) but the card demands much more in newer games.

I've yet to test it on a UEFI system (I have an AMD A4-3300 board, but the downside is ASRock boards are pretty picky on RAMs and GPUs (the original G41M-VS3 R2.0 I used before this H55M was a literal crashfest, at least with this card and a Q6600 - I feel that a E2180 + GF 9500GT would run just fine on it).

I'll test it on a few more systems (including a pretty interesting ASRock 939N68PV-GLAN) that use DDR2 and 3, and see if there's any artefacting. (I have had cards show false symptoms of artefacting because of broken SMDs)


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 31, 2021)

Robert B said:


> My very first GF3 Ti 500!!!
> 
> Restoring it was quite a challenge but to what extent? Well, ... this is story for another time!


Nice! I recently got to play around with Ti200 but I gave it back & swapped for GF2 GTS 


 



Speaking of GF2 GTS, it is now part of my Slot 1 "Adison #3" build. I've made quite a few of changes, updates & tweaks but never got around to document any of them...


 

 



Bench test results:


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2021)

My GF3 Ti 200 OC's between non-Ti and 500 clocks. An Elsa 64MB one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 1, 2021)




----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 1, 2021)

XFX commercial


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 1, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> XFX commercial


Ha! OMG... Considering everything, it would have been easier for her to simply plug the cable directly into the main grid, for the same effect 

That being said, I do believe this is fake, and for several reasons... Primarily because of branding - there's no way they would use Duracell-branded batteries (or any other brand, for that matter) due to licensing & copyright infringement. Still, pretty funny nevertheless!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 1, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ha! OMG... Considering everything, it would have been easier for her to simply plug the cable directly into the main grid, for the same effect
> 
> That being said, I do believe this is fake, and for several reasons... Primarily because of branding - there's no way they would use Duracell-branded batteries (or any other brand, for that matter) due to licensing & copyright infringement. Still, pretty funny nevertheless!


Under normal circumstances I would agree.......except I actually saw it on tv with my own eyes, pre-ban.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 1, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Under normal circumstances I would agree.......except I actually saw it on tv with my own eyes, pre-ban.








Jeez... I wonder why the commercial got banned in the first place.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 1, 2021)

Can't imagine why.  lol

At least now you know what they meant by 'play hard'.


----------



## basco (Jun 5, 2021)

"Fatbody"   always loved that name:  
 the seawood is from the great Capslockstuck !



remember the days when 2x512mb ram was considered much !


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 5, 2021)

basco said:


> "Fatbody"   always loved that name:
> the seawood is from the great Capslockstuck !
> 
> View attachment 202847View attachment 202848View attachment 202849
> ...


Actually, I still remember the good ol' days when 12mb was considered much ... I was one of the luckier guys to have just enough RAM to run Duke 3D 

That is, until I got my hands on PII that was running 64mb of RAM & mind blowing 6.4GB of storage space. "Wow, what more could I ask for", "It would take me years to fill up the entire hard drive", "I will never have to upgrade or buy another computer ever again"


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 5, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> it would take me years to fill up the entire hard drive", "I will never have to upgrade or buy another computer ever again"


how well did that work out for you LOL but I know what you mean


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 5, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> how well did that work out for you LOL but I know what you mean


Back then, I was upgrading from a 600mb HDD to a 6.4GB one, so you can probably imagine why I assumed that it would never get full 

And to answer your question, it actually worked out surprisingly well ... at least for a while. Back then I only had DOS games & Win 3.11 for comparison, so I figured that it would take me years & hundreds of games to fill it up. However, games were becoming larger & more complex year after year, so it didn't take long for the hard drive to end up cluttered & filled up.


----------



## Athlonite (Jun 6, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Back then, I was upgrading from a 600mb HDD to a 6.4GB one, so you can probably imagine why I assumed that it would never get full
> 
> And to answer your question, it actually worked out surprisingly well ... at least for a while. Back then I only had DOS games & Win 3.11 for comparison, so I figured that it would take me years & hundreds of games to fill it up. However, games were becoming larger & more complex year after year, so it didn't take long for the hard drive to end up cluttered & filled up.


yup I still have my 545MB Seagate HDD with DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 on it never thought I'd fill that but then windows 95 happened and yeah games started getting way bigger and coming on CD-Rom instead of a floppy disk so yeah along came Seagate to the rescue again with their 20GB Baracuda monster and it's just spiraled out of control from there on out ending with 16TB OF hdd space


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 7, 2021)

Flea market finding, MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. Don't have any CPU, HSF or compatible GPU to test it so it'll have to wait.





On another note, I'm hoping these days to receive an ASUS P2B/P2 400MHz/Matrox G200 kit as well as a Gateway GP6-400 in which the P2B will go.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 7, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Flea market finding, MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. Don't have any CPU, HSF or compatible GPU to test it so it'll have to wait.


Looks to be in excellent condition. I had Abit boards at the time.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 7, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Flea market finding, MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. Don't have any CPU, HSF or compatible GPU to test it so it'll have to wait.


That was a great Socket A board! If you find Barton core Athlon and some DDR400 you'll be set! 2 or 3 512MB or 1GB DIMMS of RAM would do nicely.


----------



## framebuffer (Jun 7, 2021)

also 4pin 12V con Socket A is interesting


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was a great Socket A board! If you find Barton core Athlon and some DDR400 you'll be set! 2 or 3 512MB or 1GB DIMMS of RAM would do nicely.


I have a XP 2800+ at home, just perfect for this board. I will do a full recap beforehand. Those OSTs are quite weird tho - they're rated at 2200uF but have the same height as 1500uF caps. Maybe it was done to avoid heatsink clearance issues? As well as the KZGs for the 12v side will be replaced.


framebuffer said:


> also 4pin 12V con Socket A is interesting


As far as I remember, apart from the ASUS A7N8X (X and E/E Deluxe), almost all nForce 2 mobos I've seen have 12v plugs, including the IGP ones. Most I can name are ABIT NF7-S, EpoX EP-8RGM3I, 8RDA3I and 8RDA6 + Pro, Jetway N2PAP-Lite, Soltek 75FRN2 series. ASUS didn't include any 12v connector on their boards, I think up until the 478 boards.


biffzinker said:


> Looks to be in excellent condition. I had Abit boards at the time.


Yeah, the seller I bought it from also had a A7V266-E along it. Didn't want it though because it was really scarce feature-wise, though it did surprisingly feature an active cooled northbridge heatsink.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 7, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I will do a full recap beforehand.


 Why? I don't see any bulging caps?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 7, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Why? I don't see any bulging caps?


I'm not trusting them to maintain a OC'd XP 2800+ stable. If it was a Sempron or a lower XP (older than Barton) I would trust them to keep stable.


Anyways, I've talked with the seller for the P2B, so shipping was delayed because he was at work. I'll probably advice him to send the package in the morning to avoid this issue.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 7, 2021)

Either I'm seeing double...

...or I just received yet another Adison case 



(seriously, this is getting ridiculous!)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 8, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Either I'm seeing double...
> 
> ...or I just received yet another Adison case
> 
> ...


Both of those need some retrobrite love..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 8, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Both of those need some retrobrite love..


Yes, they most certainly do. And soon ... stay tuned 

In the meantime...


 


 

 





 



FSB has been successfully clocked at 150MHz if I'm not mistaking, resulting with 1260MHz clock... System POSTed right away & without any issues, although the actual CPU model is no longer being recognized by the board or BIOS.


----------



## Peter1986C (Jun 8, 2021)

Do I see it right? Is that an add-on that converts one socket type into another?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 8, 2021)

Peter1986C said:


> Do I see it right? Is that an add-on that converts one socket type into another?


Yes, you are indeed correct. A socket converter, to convert your standard Socket 370 (Coppermine) into Tualatin-compatible layout. So essentially, Slot 1 is first converted into S370 (FC-PGA) and then once again converted into FC-PGA2 through Lin-Lin adapter before it goes into the CPU itself. Works perfectly!

The only three downsides (that I can tell) are:
1. The CPU brand or model is no longer being recognized, auto-detected upon boot & reports "Unknown"
2. BIOS reports CPU voltage error, due to the voltage being lowered down to 1.5V (of course, standard voltage for Coppermine ranges between 1.7 & 2.0V). From what I can tell, this part is handled by the actual adapter and NOT the motherboard.
3. Price. Theoretically, I could go as high as 1.40GHz, and then overclock the heck out of it, to 1.5, maybe even 1.6GHz. But as @lexluthermiester pointed out, these CPUs are getting quite expensive, so the only actual "bottleneck" in this equation is going to be my wallet


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 8, 2021)

All things considered, my advice is to go with a Coppermine. The adapters may allow a Tualatin to work, but there could other issues that might pop up long term, especially if you try to OC. Unless you are going with the one you already have...


----------



## micropage7 (Jun 8, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yes, they most certainly do. And soon ... stay tuned
> 
> In the meantime...
> 
> ...


it just me or i see bulging cap on the upper left side?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 8, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> it just me or i see bulging cap on the upper left side?


Looks fine to me...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 8, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> All things considered, my advice is to go with a Coppermine. The adapters may allow a Tualatin to work, but there could other issues that might pop up long term, especially if you try to OC. Unless you are going with the one you already have...


Nah, I'm going to leave Tualatin in there. Keep in mind, this system isn't going to be used every day, neither it is my "active" retro gaming system. I'm having fun with it at the moment, but sooner or later it'll go back into the closet, where it'll join all other Adison builds 

Also, keep in mind that none of the elements, technical specs on this P3B-F board had been permanently changed or altered. In other words, to revert back to Coppermine (or even a genuine Slot 1 cartridge CPU) all you have to do is remove this Slocket & replace with with different model of your choice. That's  probably one of the biggest advantages in this particular setup, nothing has been modded or soldered into the board, it is all modular & fully reversible if necessary.



lexluthermiester said:


> Looks fine to me...


Agreed, there's nothing wrong with that cap, other than the fact it's slightly tilted sideways.

That being said, the capacitor was in that same position since I opened up the package, so they probably messed up the alignment at the factory.


----------



## framebuffer (Jun 8, 2021)

today I'm starting a new little project  
will be testing around 40 CPU across 8 platforms, starting from the Pentium i200 and will probably end with early Athlon 64s (S754 I think), it depends

first CPU (Pentium 200MHz) on first platform (ASUS P5A-B) is ready for Win98 (which I guess _It just got better! _in the meantime )












and I could not miss a little more artistic shot 





can't wait to share the results!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 10, 2021)

Half of the parts have arrived!



ASUS P2B rev 1.02 with HIP6019CB VRM, 400MHz Deschutes SL3EE, Matrox G200 8MB, and a 40GB WD Caviar.

The only thing I have to do the mobo is replace the CR2032 holder and find a new GPU (as I was told, the G200 isn't worth beans in 3D).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 10, 2021)

Wow, don't know what's going on, but all of the sudden everyone seems to have a "thing" for Slot machines. Whatever it is, keep it up guys! 

In the meantime, I'm working on yet another Slot 1 rig, myself:




Still long way from being finished, but I'm getting there:


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 10, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Half of the parts have arrived!
> View attachment 203320
> ASUS P2B rev 1.02 with HIP6019CB VRM, 400MHz Deschutes SL3EE, Matrox G200 8MB, and a 40GB WD Caviar.
> 
> The only thing I have to do the mobo is replace the CR2032 holder and find a new GPU (as I was told, the G200 isn't worth beans in 3D).


I have owned everything in that picture! WOW did that take me back...


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 10, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Wow, don't know what's going on, but all of the sudden everyone seems to have a "thing" for Slot machines. Whatever it is, keep it up guys!


I missed out on Slot-1, and Socket 370. I stayed on the Super 7 with a K6-III until I upgraded to a Socket A Athlon XP.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 10, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> I missed out on Slot-1, and Socket 370. I stayed on the Super 7 with a K6-III until I upgraded to a Socket A Athlon XP.


Your loss 

My first Slot 1 system was none other than "Adison" ... original one that is (PII, 350)




The current build, P3 550 with Soyo board is also going to be Adison (the one on the left, empty case), and I'm actually paying a tribute to the original one by forcing the same "theme", part scheme throughout all the Adison builds so far. Which include (but are not limited to) BTC CD-ROM, Quantum Fireball hard drive, Slot 1 440BX motherboard & obviously the case itself


----------



## F-Zero (Jun 10, 2021)

Arrived today: MSI Geforce 4 Ti 4200 128Mb


----------



## framebuffer (Jun 10, 2021)

ASUS V8200 DELUXE mini-collection finally completed  





GF3 Ti500 / GF3 / GF3 Ti200


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 10, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Your loss


Not really with the K6-III 450 MHz overclocked to 504 MHz. The 256KB on die L2 Cache helped. It offered plenty of performance for integer heavy programs, and only was weak on the floating point unit.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 10, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> Not really with the K6-III 450 MHz overclocked to 504 MHz. The 256KB on die L2 Cache helped.


That's all you got out of it? Those K6-3-450's could get 567mhz without much effort. Maybe a motherboard limitation? Good chips though! They gave the Pentium2s a solid run for the money.


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 10, 2021)

That was all I could get out of it.



lexluthermiester said:


> Those K6-3-450's could get 567mhz without much effort.


You referring to the die shrunk mobile version? The original  larger non + desktop chip was lucky to over clock to 550 MHz.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 10, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> That was all I could get out of it.


Damn. I wish I'd known you back then, could have helped you optimize and get a bit more. With the right board and tweaking 533 would have been easy with 567 being attainable..



biffzinker said:


> You referring to the die shrunk mobile version? The original larger non + desktop chip was lucky to over clock to 550 MHz.


No, I was talking about the desktop version. It had to be done the right way, with lots of cooling, but it was doable.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jun 10, 2021)

biffzinker said:


> I missed out on Slot-1, and Socket 370. I stayed on the Super 7 with a K6-III until I upgraded to a Socket A Athlon XP.



Ha!  I did the exact same thing.


----------



## basco (Jun 12, 2021)

Hello old fashioned bios - did not see ya in a long time: but its good to be home again.


----------



## Outback Bronze (Jun 12, 2021)

basco said:


> Hello old fashioned bios



Reminds me of my Abit IC7-MAX 3 : )

I think even my X58A-OC has a bios like that.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 12, 2021)

Scored a free GTX670 and a SB Audigy 2 ZS (latter not pictured)

Probably dead seeing it's missing BOTH fans, but I haven't tested it yet.




basco said:


> Hello old fashioned bios - did not see ya in a long time: but its good to be home again.
> 
> View attachment 203525 View attachment 203526


Ah yes, DFI's Lanparty DK boards. IIRC the BIOS routine is slightly similar to Gigabyte boards of the same era. At least my P45-T2RS had the same beep pattern as most Gigabyte mobos (EP45T-DS3R and H55M-S2V are two examples).

EDIT: I got lucky with the 670. Booted it as far as the "Please plug your PCI-E connectors" screen (which is typical of ASUS) and it had NO artefacting or anything. Just a clear picture stating to connect the PCI-E cables.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 12, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Probably dead seeing it's missing BOTH fans, but I haven't tested it yet.


Look for any physical damage and if you find none, take the shroud off, strap a pair of fans to it and test it. You've got nothing to lose.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 12, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Look for any physical damage and if you find none, take the shroud off, strap a pair of fans to it and test it. You've got nothing to lose.


Tested it with no PCI-E attached. Got a crisp DOS screen saying to power off and plug the cables. If it would've been dead, it would artefact over that as well, or just go undetected.


----------



## RealKGB (Jun 12, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Scored a free GTX670 and a SB Audigy 2 ZS (latter not pictured)
> 
> Probably dead seeing it's missing BOTH fans, but I haven't tested it yet.


Nah, most likely the previous owner took off the fans to put on something else since they didn't need the card anymore. Fans are useful everywhere, whether they're in a PC or out. I scavenged a PSU fan to put in my GTX 690 while I waited for my replacement fan to come.
The double-sided tape eventually fell off and the fan murderized itself (one fan blade came off and yanked off a wire too), but it lasted for a week and a half.

EDIT:
My parents are going on vacation to Europe for my dad's 40th birthday, and me and my grandpa are going to a computer parts and repair store. According to the owner: "Yes we have parts! I will pay you to take these parts!"
I have half of a P4HT build in the basement right now (motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM) and I'm hoping to get storage, a case, PSU, and cooling. I want to watercool it if possible as the northbridge has a waterblock on (previous owner got the 3.4 GHz Prescott CPU in it to 4 GHz stable), but if they don't have any watercooling parts I'll try and get the waterblock off with canned air and stick a tower cooler on the northbridge. Southbridge has a heatsink, and so do the VRMs.
What I have right now:
Pentium 4 HT 3.4 GHz Prescott
ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC
Ageia PhysX PPU
2x1GB DDR 400, 2x512MB DDR 400

I'd like to get the WiFi module for it, but ASUS gave it the most ambiguous name possible.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 12, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> What I have right now:
> Pentium 4 HT 3.4 GHz Prescott
> ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
> BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC
> ...


Never seen wifi for one. I have P4C800-E Deluxe, fully boxed with all the accessories and paperwork, including a software bundle. Never seen one with wifi.


----------



## RealKGB (Jun 12, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Never seen wifi for one. I have P4C800-E Deluxe, fully boxed with all the accessories and paperwork, including a software bundle. Never seen one with wifi.


ASUS made a WiFi module as a separate accessory with a weird connector. Uses a bunch of pin sockets like on a breadboard.
I managed to find one on eBay as a complete bundle with a motherboard, CPU, I/O shield, box, etc., but it got bought.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 12, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC


This one is already a golden one if it's a working card.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 12, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> ASUS made a WiFi module as a separate accessory with a weird connector. Uses a bunch of pin sockets like on a breadboard.
> I managed to find one on eBay as a complete bundle with a motherboard, CPU, I/O shield, box, etc., but it got bought.


I think I might have one that came with a A7N8X-E. It's similar to the PC104 format but not quite. Never used it though, always opted for a PCI based 802.11n card, also from ASUS.


----------



## basco (Jun 14, 2021)

up and running at a wonderful 4,0ghz which suprised me a little.
this should be in ghetto mods:
 
and some quick benches on an old notebook hdd with win vista64 sp2: i think the driver catalyst 9.0 is too old for this 4890-next i test ati legacy driver 13.9


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 14, 2021)

basco said:


> up and running at a wonderful 4,0ghz which suprised me a little.
> this should be in ghetto mods:
> View attachment 203826 View attachment 203827


Yes, but you're cool.


----------



## QuietBob (Jun 14, 2021)

basco said:


> up and running at a wonderful 4,0ghz which suprised me a little.


Those Phenoms are quite capable units. They can be used even today in a family/office PC. I've got two quads: one at 4.0 running XP, and another at 4.2 with DDR3, running Win7. They can even play some modern games when paired with an appropriate GPU. I just tested Fortnite with the recent visual update, and it shows about 60 fps on the high preset with an HD7970.

What temps do you get with that AIO?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 15, 2021)

Maybe it's me but there's just something sexy about a fanless ASUS GTX670 and a Audigy 2 ZS.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 15, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Maybe it's me but there's just something sexy about a fanless ASUS GTX670 and a Audigy 2 ZS.
> View attachment 203931


You'll need fans at some point. You could get a pair low-profile 80mm or 92mm fans to mount without the shroud. Just a thought..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 15, 2021)

A huge thanks to @stef for his Retrobrite wizardry!


----------



## basco (Jun 15, 2021)

Mr. QuietBob  
its an antec h2o 620 v1 with a scythe 140mm fan and 1,40volt i get around 50° which seems very good to me.
 and i am surprised that this i think 10 year old cooler is still running.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 15, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> A huge thanks to @stef for his Retrobrite wizardry!


Very nice! Are you going yo do the newest additions to your collection, or they included in the above?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Very nice! Are you going yo do the newest additions to your collection, or they included in the above?


All of them, in addition to all the BTC CD-ROM drives ... and even an old Logitech QuickCam of mine, which I bought in 1999 (or early 2000, don't remember)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 15, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> All of them, in addition to all the BTC CD-ROM drives ... and even an old Logitech QuickCam of mine, which I bought in 1999 (or early 2000, don't remember)


Sweet! Do contiue to keep us all updated on the progress. I personally love watching restorations and happily cheer you on!!

EDIT:
For example, this is one of my favorite YT channels;


			https://www.youtube.com/c/OddTinkering


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Sweet! Do contiue to keep us all updated on the progress! I personal love watching restorations and happily cheer you on!!


Absolutely, I look forward putting back everything together. Exactly where (and how) it belongs 

Sadly, I didn't bother taking "before" pics of that QuickCam Express. A shame really, because the color resembled something you'd expect to find inside the heavily used deep fryer


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 15, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> A shame really, because the color resembled something you'd expect to find inside the heavily used deep fryer


Are you sure? I could swear I saw a picture like that some time ago...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are you sure? I could swear I saw a picture like that some time ago...


I was thinking the same thing, but couldn't find anything ... until I went all the way back to 2015. That being said, try to keep in mind that the state of things only got even worse since then...


----------



## QuietBob (Jun 16, 2021)

basco said:


> its an antec h2o 620 v1 with a scythe 140mm fan and 1,40volt i get around 50° which seems very good to me.
> and i am surprised that this i think 10 year old cooler is still running.


Glad your old cooler worked, 50C is really good. The problem with Phenoms is you gotta keep them under 60C when loaded to remain stable, and they output a ton of heat when OC'd. The one I have at 4.2 got to 58C yesterday with a beefy 140mm single tower cooler. And the NB reached 60C. 

But then again, my room temperature is currently at 28C


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 20, 2021)

I need to test this baby again


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 20, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I need to test this baby again


Been there, done that! Zalman scored big when they made that kick-ass heatsink!


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 20, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Been there, done that! Zalman scored big when they made that kick-ass heatsink!


Those were the shit in the mid-2000s  everyone (including me) had either the AlCu or that Cu version on their GPUs. 

I had also a 9700 Pro with a VF700-AlCu back then. 

edit: sold that card later and got a 9800 SE which unlocked to 8 pipes, it had a VF700-Cu and OC'd to XT clocks. It ran CS Source fine


----------



## basco (Jun 21, 2021)

i am after a zalman vf900 and vf3000 green one since a long time myself.
or the vf2000 cpu+gpu cooler


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 21, 2021)

basco said:


> vf3000 green one since a long time myself.


Zalman actually made a few cards with those coolers;








						Zalman HD 7950 VF3000 Specs
					

AMD Tahiti, 800 MHz, 1792 Cores, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 3072 MB GDDR5, 1250 MHz, 384 bit




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## basco (Jun 21, 2021)

the red + black one i have but i think they are all the same except colour because all 3 have different mounting holes


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 21, 2021)

I have also a MSI 8800 GT Zilent which has a Zalman VF 1050


----------



## INSTG8R (Jun 21, 2021)

Was talking “old days” with a fellow AMD tester and snapped this. If you know you know…I still have the Master Card too…


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 21, 2021)

Very cool.  I still have my x1900 Master & x1900 XT.  I had those in my first C2D build.  Probably one of my favorite builds.


----------



## INSTG8R (Jun 21, 2021)

68Olds said:


> Very cool.  I still have my x1900 Master & x1900 XT.  I had those in my first C2D build.  Probably one of my favorite builds.
> 
> View attachment 204862


Yeah I donated the other card to a fellow sim racer in need of an upgrade. I still have the Master still in the box









						TechPowerUp
					






					www.techpowerup.com
				




The build. The one after was my C2D rig


----------



## RealKGB (Jun 21, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> This one is already a golden one if it's a working card.


It was working according to the previous owner. Hopefully come Friday I'll have the rest of the parts I need.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 21, 2021)

Crossfire was kinda macgyvered thing first, those damn separate master cards and dongles..


----------



## INSTG8R (Jun 22, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Crossfire was kinda macgyvered thing first, those damn separate master cards and dongles..


That dongle is pure evil.  It was absolutely the stiffest cable I think I’ve ever used for anything. Just bending it connect the cards was a feat and was basically trying to “pull itself out” so a maintaining connection was an issue…


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 22, 2021)

INSTG8R said:


> That dongle is pure evil.  It was absolutely the stiffest cable I think I’ve ever used for anything. Just bending it connect the cards was a feat and was basically trying to “pull itself out” so a maintaining connection was an issue…


I believe as even in pics it looks hella stiffy  Those bridges were okay on pre-Hawaii cards though.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 22, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> The problem with Phenoms is you gotta keep them under 60C when loaded to remain stable, and they output a ton of heat when OC'd. The one I have at 4.2 got to 58C yesterday with a beefy 140mm single tower cooler. And the NB reached 60C.
> 
> But then again, my room temperature is currently at 28C
> 
> View attachment 204130


Nice OC.
Here is my 980 with a Thermalright 140 air cooler. Cinebench in at 50c.


----------



## INSTG8R (Jun 22, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I believe as even in pics it looks hella stiffy  Those bridges were okay on pre-Hawaii cards though.


I kid you not it ripped one of the fastening screws out…it would definitely make a good weapon…


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 22, 2021)

INSTG8R said:


> I kid you not it ripped one of the fastening screws out…it would definitely make a good weapon…


May I direct your eye... LOL


----------



## INSTG8R (Jun 22, 2021)

68Olds said:


> May I direct your eye... LOL
> 
> View attachment 204922


Yep that looks about right! LOL!


----------



## RealKGB (Jun 22, 2021)

Went to a Goodwill and a local thrift store and got some goodies. I have pictures of only a few things as the others are in use. I would stick it on the tech-related purchase thread but it's all old hardware. Here's a list (all prices are in USD:
- 6FT FireWire 800 cable (brand-new in box), $2.75
- 6FT FireWire 400 cable, $0.75
- 3FT 9-pin serial cable, $0.75
- USB to DS/DS Lite/DSi/3DS series charging cable, $0.75
- Weird S-video looking port to component female. It goes to a connector on my Power Mac G4's PCI video card that I think allows for component recording, or display? Not sure. Said Power Mac is currently broken - logic board is dead due to age and two stupid mistakes (screw on the board while powered on and accidentally hitting the PMU reset switch a few times too many). $0.75.
- Crayola USB keyboard. This one me and my aunt got for my dad as a Father's Day present, along with a note that reads "Got you a new keyboard with bigger letters 'cause you're old now. Enjoy."
He's 40, but my aunt loves to tease him about being old since he's the oldest of them. $5.25.
- Original LEGO USB camera for the RCX. Does work. $3.95.
Pictures of the keyboard (without note):


Spoiler








And camera (it has a LONG cable as it was designed to be put on mobile robots):


Spoiler









And now for some sad news. Two of my tech things have died today. One very important to me.
#1. My 250MB ATAPI Zip drive. It acted like a 100MB Zip drive, but worked great until last week or so.
I had it running on a SYBA PCIe IDE/SATA x1 card over an ENLabs PCIe x1-x1 riser. It shared the IDE bus along with my TSSTCorp CD/DVD combo drive.
Last week, I started having weird problems with it - it would click incessantly, show a red light upon bootup, my card's BIOS initialization would take a minute or more (instead of the 5 seconds it used to). My system still booted, but once it did my Zip drive did not appear in Windows.
Well, my parents went to Europe for their anniversary (and my dad's 40th birthday) and I did a 3-day sleepover at my mom's parents. We also went strawberry picking (we got lots of strawberries and made most of them chocolate strawberries). I had set the PC to F@H and BOINC while I was gone, and got back to the PC off.
I was a bit confused, but wasn't too concerned - power-outs were common right now due to it being summer with lots of people running their ACs and the grid being overstrained. So I hit the power button and then went to use the bathroom.
Came back to it booting... again. It POST beeped again.
So I sat down to watch what it did. As soon as it got to the part where my PCIe card's BIOS initialized it would reboot.
I was a bit confused, but disabled CSM to see if that fixed it. I got to the Windows-is-booting part but right towards the end of the boot process it would restart, just like before.
So I shut down and pulled the Zip drive. A messy uninstall - loose cables, a gaping hole in the front - but it was out. Booted up and yep, that was it. PC runs just fine.
That was #1. Not very important to me as I wanted to swap it for a 750MB ATAPI drive at some point (rare, I know, but I still want one).

#2 is very dear to me. It's my Nintendo 2DS. The original, black-and-red, slate model.
I loved that 2DS. I got it in 2015 along with Pokemon X. I beat Pokemon X on it, I beat Bravely Default on it. I spent about 200 hours using the thing.
And then I stuck it in a drawer once we got a Switch in 2017 since I wanted to play Breath of the Wild, and forgot it existed.
But recently, I decided to pick it up again. I mostly use my New 3DS XL (formerly my dad's, he gave it to me after we got the Switch) since he got Bravely Second as software download not a game card, and that's where I beat Sun (and later Moon, but Moon only to give myself Lunala). But Sun is not my game. X is my game. It was the first Pokemon game I ever played and it's one of my favorites.
So when I picked up X and Y again to get all the Legendaries and Mythicals, I decided to replay Pokemon X only on the 2DS. Only for nostalgia. (I had to make a new save as I needed to choose a different starter Pokemon to get the last two Pokemon I needed).
So I started playing Pokemon X on there again. I got to the second of 8 Gyms, and was making my way to the third. Currently at my grandparent's house.
It was the last day we were there (today) and I was bringing my stuff out to our van. Holding both my 2DS and New 3DS XL.
I set both consoles down on the trunk edge, put my suitcase in the car, grab my New 3DS XL, and hit the "close trunk" button (it's a 2011 Nissan Quest SL). I walk away to go back inside to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'm going up the steps when I hear the trunk fail to close and open again.
I go over and see I forgot to pick up my 2DS. I grab it, and go inside, not worried as the trunk stops at basically everything. It's not very strong either.

Fast-forward to 3 hours later, at home. I'm also getting all of the Mega Evolution-capable Pokemon, and one is Scizor. To get Scizor you take a Scyther, trade it with someone while it's holding a Metal Coat, and then it evolves. So I grab my 2DS to trade to myself with and switch it on.
Instead of the Trainer battle I was in before, I'm greeted with the sight of 2 very dead LCD screens. Both are black with wonderful rainbow lights where they're cracked.
I was able to navigate the battle and save my game as the digitizer (the touch-screen part) still worked, but both screens are broken beyond repair.
It is possible to replace the screens (both screens are on one module as the console doesn't flip shut) with a $40 eBay purchase, and I've already taken apart the 2DS and removed the busted screens, but 
I'm quite sad. This console has been with me since 2015 and despite me neglecting it for half of that time it's been amazing in the other half. Never freezing during gameplay, great battery life, comfortable in my small hands (and doesn't make a CLICK CLICK CLICK when you're opening it at night when you're not supposed to).

So yeah. Good news (thrift store finds) and bad (dead stuff).
Sorry for the long post that doesn't have too many interesting things. I'll have some fun stuff for you on Friday


----------



## QuietBob (Jun 22, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice OC.
> Here is my 980 with a Thermalright 140 air cooler. Cinebench in at 50c.


That clock looks good! You must be on air conditioning for 50c under load.
Mine will run some benchmarks at 4.3 and boot to Windows at 4.4 with auto Vcore. It sure has potential, but I don't have liquid cooling - or AC


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 23, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> That clock looks good! You must be on air conditioning for 50c under load.
> Mine will run some benchmarks at 4.3 and boot to Windows at 4.4 with auto Vcore. It sure has potential, but I don't have liquid cooling - or AC


AC was on. 
I can bench it at 4.6 on the chiller. It's a pretty decent sample.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 30, 2021)

Tested a Matrox G200 and a ATI Rage Pro AGP in 3D games.

Note to self: Never EVER try to use a Rage Pro for anything 3D, or any usage besides testing, in general. It sucks. HARD. Matrox G200 is a much better alternative if you don't have anything else on hand.


----------



## framebuffer (Jun 30, 2021)

Hi folks, thought I'd share these that I took for the last project   (should be online tomorrow)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 30, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Note to self: Never EVER try to use a Rage Pro for anything 3D


Why?


----------



## Bungz (Jul 1, 2021)

Which one of you rich bastards was it then?









						DFI LAN Party KT400A Motherboard NOS - RARE   | eBay
					

For Sale : This NOS rare find DFI LAN Party KT400A motherboard, a rare treat for the retro builder. Condition is "New".



					www.ebay.co.uk


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 1, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Why?


NFS Porsche 2000 literally looked a garbled mess and slow as hell, compared to a Matrox G200 8MB. Same went for High Stakes, and some 2D games flat out spit in my face, refusing to run on the ATI. That and it's literally incapable of displaying 1280x1024 (my current monitor's native resolution), and only goes up to 1024x768.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jul 2, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> NFS Porsche 2000 literally looked a garbled mess and slow as hell, compared to a Matrox G200 8MB. Same went for High Stakes, and some 2D games flat out spit in my face, refusing to run on the ATI. That and it's literally incapable of displaying 1280x1024 (my current monitor's native resolution), and only goes up to 1024x768.



Any chip on an AGP card that can't exceed 1024x758 is bollocks.  Most of my cards from that era are gone, but I'm reasonably certain I had a Rage II PCI that could drive 1152x864.  Or maybe it was a Rage 128...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 2, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Any chip on an AGP card that can't exceed 1024x*768* is bollocks.  Most of my cards from that era are gone, but I'm reasonably certain I had a Rage II PCI that could drive 1152x864.  Or maybe it was a Rage 128...


I don't know of any AGP cards that can not do 1600x1200. That resolution was part of the official spec. Pretty much anything below that was achievable.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 2, 2021)

Just as I said. Trying anything higher than 1024x768 on that card will yield me a "OUT OF FREQUENCY" on my 20 inch Belinea LCD. Same monitor runs fine at its native 1280x1024 resolution with the mentioned Matrox G200 8MB AGP card.


----------



## framebuffer (Jul 2, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> NFS Porsche 2000 literally looked a garbled mess and slow as hell, compared to a Matrox G200 8MB. Same went for High Stakes, and some 2D games flat out spit in my face, refusing to run on the ATI. That and it's literally incapable of displaying 1280x1024 (my current monitor's native resolution), and only goes up to 1024x768.



you complaining because an entry level card from 1997 does not work well with 1999-2000 era games? 

max video resolution is directly related to the amount of video RAM available, how much RAM has your card?
also buggy drivers could cause similar problems


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 2, 2021)

All datecodes are 1999 on the card though. As for VRAM, it appears to have 8MB, just like the Matrox G200.

As for drivers, I used ATI's drivers, at least the only ones I could find for it.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 2, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> All datecodes are 1999 on the card though. As for VRAM, it appears to have 8MB, just like the Matrox G200.
> 
> As for drivers, I used ATI's drivers, at least the only ones I could find for it.


The were a number of revisions of the same Rage Pro originally from 1997. It's just a much older and slower card than the G200, the Rage 128 is a better comparison.


----------



## Bungz (Jul 2, 2021)

Worth 5 quid I think 

933 Coppermine with 512MB of PC133

Need to check board chipset revision to see if i can stick a Tualatin in there...

Outside bit beat up but cleanable

Inside like new.

Think will stick a GF2 MX in there for now.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 2, 2021)

Christmas came early guys, I'm getting a Rampage III E & i7 920 as a freebie! Tho the board has only two working memory channels, but thats enough for me


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 3, 2021)

Wow, I have one almost identical to that @Bungz 
Guess I should check it out and see what it's running.......LOL


----------



## framebuffer (Jul 3, 2021)

New project is online 
I tested Quake (DOS) in software mode with 36 CPUs from 1996 to 2004 at the most common video resolutions, from 320x200 to 1280x1024 to see what is needed to get 30 and 60 FPS on each one



> Quake is a very famous game and for many reasons, first of all because it’s a good game, then because it started a successful serie; it was also one of the first games using a true 3D engine and it had a revolutionary look, at least for 1996.
> The look in fact is the trigger that motivated me to do this benchmark “challenge”, because despite being available in many “sauces”, such as the famous 3D accelerated version “GLQuake” or various porting for other platforms, none of these versions preserves all the characteristics of the original, software rendered one.
> In fact many think that visually the original version is also the best Quake version, and I tend to agree, but nobody seems to have truly explored what does it take (in terms of hardware requirements) to play it in software mode at higher resolutions and when exactly this became possible?
> 
> ...











						Quake CPU benchmarks – framebuffer.io
					

This project is a benchmark challange to enstabilish the first CPUs capable of delivering 30 and 60 fps in Quake (DOS) software mode, from 320x200 to 1280x1024




					framebuffer.io
				




Also made a video about it 
(although it does not include the complete list of results for time reasons)










Will attach the charts if you don't care about what I wrote and just want to see the numbers


----------



## basco (Jul 3, 2021)

thank ya framebuffer for this extensive work !


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 3, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> New project is online
> I tested Quake (DOS) in software mode with 36 CPUs from 1996 to 2004 at the most common video resolutions, from 320x200 to 1280x1024 to see what is needed to get 30 and 60 FPS on each one
> 
> 
> ...


IIRC, QuakeGL ran 1600x1200 at 60fps on a Pentium 3 1ghz with a Radeon 9800. It's been a while but I'm very certain it was P3 & Athlon days were Quake1 60fps at high res became a thing.


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 3, 2021)

Bungz said:


> Worth 5 quid I think
> 
> 933 Coppermine with 512MB of PC133
> 
> ...


the case looks like a perfect case if you want to build some sleeper


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 3, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> the case looks like a perfect case if you want to build some sleeper


Though it's a Dell so it could have some non-standard stuff. But something like that would indeed be cool for a sleeper


----------



## framebuffer (Jul 3, 2021)

basco said:


> thank ya framebuffer for this extensive work !



no problem I do it just for fun and passion  




lexluthermiester said:


> IIRC, QuakeGL ran 1600x1200 at 60fps on a Pentium 3 1ghz with a Radeon 9800. It's been a while but I'm very certain it was P3 & Athlon days were Quake1 60fps at high res became a thing.



sure, GLQuake is another story of course, but the game doesn't look 100% as the original


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 3, 2021)

@framebuffer I'll check your stuff too later on, seems hella interesting


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 3, 2021)

framebuffer said:


> sure, GLQuake is another story of course, but the game doesn't look 100% as the original


You're right about that, it looks better.


----------



## RealKGB (Jul 4, 2021)

Got myself a Dell Inspiron 531 and an eMachines something.
Neither work, and I only have pictures of the Inspiron, but I got some useful parts, including an Athlon XP 2000+, an Athlon 64 X2 2000+, 4 optical drives (2 SATA, 2 IDE), a whole bunch of screws, a floppy drive cable with only one connector for a 3.5" floppy drive (for P4HT), some storage, and more.
Here's the pictures I have:


Spoiler













Both systems sat in a garage for awhile with no protection, so I'm not surprised neither work. The optical drives do, though, and the two IDE ODDs are going to Y2K.

I got some stuff the Friday before last as well that I'll post here. I need to take pictures of it and then it's ready.
I will say that I got a Lian Li PC-62.


----------



## basco (Jul 4, 2021)

Whats that graphic card Mr realK ?
7600gt\gs maybe

and other question: is it ok to post z97 stuff here or is that not old?


----------



## RealKGB (Jul 4, 2021)

basco said:


> Whats that graphic card Mr realK ?
> 7600gt\gs maybe


According to TPU's GPU database it's an 8600 GT. The markings on the die say G84-303-A2.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 5, 2021)

Saw this and thought everyone might find it interesting. 









What do you all think?


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 7, 2021)

Hey guys ! Something new in the mail today: Asus PC-DL Deluxe. Too bad I have to go to work in an hour so it has to wait evening : (


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys ! Something new in the mail today: Asus PC-DL Deluxe. Too bad I have to go to work in an hour so it has to wait evening : (
> 
> View attachment 206921View attachment 206922View attachment 206923View attachment 206924View attachment 206925View attachment 206926View attachment 206927


Thing of technobeauty! What Xeons are those?


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Thing of technobeauty! What Xeons are those?


No idea, the seller told me they run on 2.8 Ghz. Have to run CPU-Z. Will post findings and benches this evening I hope.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> No idea, the seller told me they run on 2.8 Ghz. Have to run CPU-Z. Will post findings and benches this evening I hope.


The model numbers should be on the underside of the CPU's. Also, when you re-grease them, make sure you use a quality TIM. That generation of Xeons ran hot!


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> The model numbers should be on the underside of the CPU's. Also, when you re-grease them, make sure you use a quality TIM. That generation of Xeons ran hot!


Thank you for the information ! It's a 2800DP/512/533/1.50V Prestonia XEON


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Thank you for the information ! It's a 2800DP/512/533/1.50V Prestonia XEON


YW! Yeah those are fun CPU's. That whole setup would make a great XP retro system if you pair it with an equally solid GPU! The 3GB of RAM will be good for such a system, but you might add one more 1GB dimm to get to the 4GB max for a 32bit OS.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 7, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Thank you for the information ! It's a 2800DP/512/533/1.50V Prestonia XEON


Whoa, two cores and four threads? Damn, you're living in the future man!

Also, gotta love that ark.intel.com still lists CPUs from the early 2000s with detailed specs. No recommended price listed for that one (though they do have an Amazon buying link!), but the 1MB cache/1.525V version is listed at $307 ($450 adjusted for inflation). I wonder how much that system cost when new though - that motherboard can't have been cheap.
(sorry for the ninja edits!)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Whoa, two cores and four threads? Damn, you're living in the future man!


Try to remember, two cores and 4 threads @2.8ghz in late 2003 was the shiznit! Expensive, sure, but high end.


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> YW! Yeah those are fun CPU's. That whole setup would make a great XP retro system if you pair it with an equally solid GPU! The 3GB of RAM will be good for such a system, but you might add one more 1GB dimm to get to the 4GB max for a 32bit OS.



Got any recommendations for a AGP gpu ? I have a GF 4 Ti 4200 128 mb, FX5900XT, 6800Ultra.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Try to remember, two cores and 4 threads @2.8ghz in late 2003 was the shiznit! Expensive, sure, but high end.


Oh, absolutely. I didn't mean it as sarcasm (this is the nostalgic hardware club thread, after all!), but rather a... let's call it a 20-year-late take?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Got any recommendations for a AGP gpu ? I have a GF 4 Ti 4200 128 mb, FX5900XT, 6800Ultra.


Personally? I would go with a Radeon 9700 or 9800. The Pro cards are preferred. But a Radeon X1800 would be an excellent choice as well. If you want to go Geforce, a 6800 would be a solid choice. Try to use something with at least 256MB but lean towards 512MB. You'll pay a bit more, but it'll be worth it if you want to let that system shine! Availability in the EU is something you'll know better, but statside those cards can be had for mostly reasonable prices...



Valantar said:


> Oh, absolutely. I didn't mean it as sarcasm (this is the nostalgic hardware club thread, after all!), but rather a... let's call it a 20-year-late take?


No worries!


----------



## 68Olds (Jul 7, 2021)

Lex, do you mean X800/X850 series instead of X1800? I know those were available in AGP & PCIe, but I thought the X1800 was PCIe only. (or super rare in AGP)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 7, 2021)

68Olds said:


> Lex, do you mean X800/X850 series instead of X1800? I know those were available in AGP & PCIe, but I thought the X1800 was PCIe only. (or super rare in AGP)


The X1800, X1850, X1900 and X1950 were all commonly available in AGP varieties, at least in North America. I can't speak for the EU.

EDIT: They are getting rarer but can still be had. Example;








						ATI Radeon Sapphire x1950PRO 512 MB GDDR3 SDRAM AGP DUAL DVI +TV out  | eBay
					

ATI Radeon Sapphire x1950PRO 512 MB GDDR3 SDRAM AGP DUAL DVI +TV out. Condition is "Used". Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.



					www.ebay.com
				




This one is even in the EU;








						ATI Radeon Sapphire x1950 GT 256mb AGP Dual DVI, TV out Graphics Card TESTED  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for ATI Radeon Sapphire x1950 GT 256mb AGP Dual DVI, TV out Graphics Card TESTED at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				




This one is in Russia. It's an HD3650, which is also a solid AGP card;








						ATI Radeon Sapphire HD3650 512Mb DDR2 AGP video card  | eBay
					

I was unable to install the drivers on this video card. Without drivers, the video card works and the image outputs. The image is smooth and without defects, as can be seen in the photo. External condition carefully look at the photo.



					www.ebay.com
				




Here's one in Bulgaria, an HD2600Pro;








						Sapphire Ati Radeon HD 2600 Pro 512MB DDR2 AGP  | eBay
					

Model: Radeon HD 2600 Pro 512MB AGP. Exlellent card for AGP slot. Based on: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro DDR2. Manufacturer: Sapphire. High Dynamic Range (HDR) Support. Other features: HDCP. Other features / Support.



					www.ebay.com
				




Geforce cards can be found for similar prices.

EDIT2:
It's not that I'm an ATI fanboy, it's just that back then, the Radeons had the overall advantage. They were very balanced performance wise, the drivers were consistently stable & easy to use and the cards OC'd to a respectable degree with the stock coolers. The Geforce cards came into their own again with the 7000 series but by then ATI had been sold to AMD and things went south for the Radeon line for a time.


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 8, 2021)

Got busy making a Windows XP build, mainly for EAX games and the weird one that doesn't run on W10. I used leftovers from my old FAH/WCG farm:

Asrock 880GM-LE FX motherboard
Phenom II X2 521, fastest 65w AM3 CPU (OEM part, basically an Athlon II X2 with an 667Mhz memory controller, every Athlon X2 had 533Mhz controllers)
Standard 125w AMD heatsink
4GB DDR3-1333 RAM (only 3.25 usable due to 32bit limitation)
Dell HD 7570 1GB GDDR5 (not DDR3 as standard part) OCed to 750/940. Low profile
Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme Gamer with custom low profile bracket.
500GB 2.5" HDD
Asus DVD-R
El-cheapo unbranded low profile mATX case

Sorry for the potato camera pics











edit: I have more XP setups but I wanted something smaller and easy to move around. My other XP boxes weight a TON XD

edit2: specs & benchmarks







The overclock puts the HD7570 well ahead of the 4850 (OpenGL) which was a pretty high end card at its time. By rule of thumb I'd say it's 2~3x faster than an X1950XT at least, pretty much overkill for XP era games.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 8, 2021)

Just tested my ASUS DirectCU II GTX670 2GB GDDR5 yesterday on my main machine (i5 3470 w/ 16GB RAM and a few other stuff) to check for artefacts in all circumstances.

Passed Furmark just fine, with the cooler barely reaching 65*C despite having only one fan attached (from a socket A heatsink). 

So for $12, I already feel it's a steal considering it's working just fine. The only thing needed now is an aftermarket HSF for it and it should work just fine.


----------



## Caring1 (Jul 8, 2021)

TRWOV said:


> Got busy making a Windows XP build, mainly for EAX games and the weird one that doesn't run on W10. I used leftovers from my old FAH/WCG farm:
> 
> Asrock 880GM-LE FX motherboard
> Phenom II X2 521, fastest 65w AM3 CPU (OEM part, basically an Athlon II X2 with an 667Mhz memory controller, every Athlon X2 had 533Mhz controllers)
> ...


I like the inclusion of cat for size reference.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 8, 2021)

TRWOV said:


> Got busy making a Windows XP build, mainly for EAX games and the weird one that doesn't run on W10. I used leftovers from my old FAH/WCG farm:
> 
> Asrock 880GM-LE FX motherboard
> Phenom II X2 521, fastest 65w AM3 CPU (OEM part, basically an Athlon II X2 with an 667Mhz memory controller, every Athlon X2 had 533Mhz controllers)
> ...


Decent little system there. Nice build!


----------



## Valantar (Jul 8, 2021)

TRWOV said:


> Got busy making a Windows XP build, mainly for EAX games and the weird one that doesn't run on W10. I used leftovers from my old FAH/WCG farm:
> 
> Asrock 880GM-LE FX motherboard
> Phenom II X2 521, fastest 65w AM3 CPU (OEM part, basically an Athlon II X2 with an 667Mhz memory controller, every Athlon X2 had 533Mhz controllers)
> ...


Love to see some SFF retro builds! Nicely done. Was that SFX PSU included with the case?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 8, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Was that SFX PSU included with the case?


Very likely. It kinda has that "came with the case" look to it. Especially given the cable lengths..
@TRWOV 
Got a link for that case? It looks nice and I'd like to learn more about it.


----------



## TRWOV (Jul 8, 2021)

It's a K-MEX CM-918A, supposedly it's a Brazilian made case but I'm pretty sure some (or most) of their cases come from China as I'm pretty sure I've seen some of "their" designs on Aliexpress and such.

For example, this one is basically an InWin Chopin with a different front panel: http://kmex.com.br/exibir.asp?pag=Exibir&parent=gabinetes1&chave=130&sb=275&tsb=Mini-ITX&prod=973#
I've got a couple of those but  from the Acteck brand: https://www.amazon.com.mx/Gabinete-Acteck-Fiji-fuente-200W/dp/B00VVQAA4I

oh, and yeah, the SFX psu came with the case. I always replace the included SFX PSUs with FSP250-50GHS (cheap 80plus 250w psu) but this one had the power cable embedded in the PSU so no dice :/


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 8, 2021)

TRWOV said:


> It's a K-MEX CM-918A, supposedly it's a Brazilian made case but I'm pretty sure some (or most) of their cases come from China as I'm pretty sure I've seen some of "their" designs on Aliexpress and such.
> 
> For example, this one is basically an InWin Chopin with a different front panel: http://kmex.com.br/exibir.asp?pag=Exibir&parent=gabinetes1&chave=130&sb=275&tsb=Mini-ITX&prod=973#
> I've got a couple of those but  from the Acteck brand: https://www.amazon.com.mx/Gabinete-Acteck-Fiji-fuente-200W/dp/B00VVQAA4I
> ...


I don't think those are the same ones. The one you're using has a full size 5.25" drive bay for an optical drive. The ones you listed do not. This is a feature I'm interested in.


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## TRWOV (Jul 8, 2021)

Not exactly the same case but this one just has a differente front panel from what I can tell: http://kmex.com.br/exibir.asp?pag=E...sb=321&tsb=Gabinetes-Slim-Micro-ATX&prod=645#

There's also this from Acteck: https://www.amazon.com.mx/gp/product/B07YJ7FR7Q?pf_rd_r=AH3DK9X9FSETZ54DRV16
The PSU in those can be replaced with no problem


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 8, 2021)

TRWOV said:


> Not exactly the same case but this one just has a differente front panel from what I can tell: http://kmex.com.br/exibir.asp?pag=E...sb=321&tsb=Gabinetes-Slim-Micro-ATX&prod=645#


Yup, that looks right. Now to see if I can find it stateside! Thank You for the link!


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## TRWOV (Jul 8, 2021)

The build is barely larger than my modded Vostro 270s, about 1" taller and 1" longer... ahh, the Vostro has a Core i5-10400 






I used to love big builds (my main rig was a CM Cosmos) but nowadays space is a premium with the wife around and all that so SFF it is.

I still got my Cosmos in storage. I might reuse her for a Threadripper retro rig (whenever the Threadripper becomes retro xD)


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## basco (Jul 8, 2021)

Space is a premium with the wife around !
love it Mr. TRWOV


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## Valantar (Jul 8, 2021)

TRWOV said:


> The build is barely larger than my modded Vostro 270s, about 1" taller and 1" longer... ahh, the Vostro has a Core i5-10400
> 
> View attachment 207071
> 
> ...


I mean, why build a huge box full of mostly air when the same performance and noise level can be had in a fraction of the size? Excess has its good sides, but personally I don't see any benefit to making a PC huge just because that's normal. And with modern hardware and SFF cases, there are no real compromises in SFF unless you have quite specific hardware needs. If I had unlimited time and funds I'd want to try building a 486 DOS gaming rig from something like this  Or, at the very least, one of those strange industrial "card PCs" and a custom SFF daughterboard for expansion and power. Real retro PCs are cool, but I don't think I'll ever have the room for a stack of old beige (or ideally retrobrite grey-beige) boxes.


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## Robert B (Jul 9, 2021)

*Baby steps!* 

The guinea pigs have survived. I might do another pass of retrobright but I'm not so sure. The color matches the trays quite nicely. Just 2 hours of sun and some "lube".  1 EURO for the lot! Not a bad deal IMO!  The busted case and all the contents.

Also, I have been a very very bad boy!  Look at all these beauties which have passed through my hands.  Just the tip of the iceberg!


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 9, 2021)

Yay it POSTed and there were the settings of the previous owner


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## lexluthermiester (Jul 9, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Yay it POSTed and there were the settings of the previous owner


Oh my! update that BIOS!

EDIT: Here's a link to the latest version;


			https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1366/Rampage_III_Extreme/RampageIII-Extreme-ASUS-1502.zip
		


Looking at the specs, it a solid board but unfortunately doesn't support Xeons. However, an i7-970 should be reasonably priced in the EU. Even the 980 might be a good price. The 970s can get to 4ghz without much fiddling and only a minor bump in voltage.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 9, 2021)

@Robert B
That poor JNC case saw better days. I have two of those (one housing a Slot 1 Coppermine 650 build and the other housing a Slot A Athlon 750) and they're relatively good, and the one thing I love about these is they're very modular between themselves. My 2 cases I have are built from at least 4 various cases - the CuMine was made from a JNC DT-807 case (roof and frame), with panels from a RJA-52 (yes, those are the models for each) while the Athlon was made from a JNC TAC case (TAC being some standard imposed by Intel for computer case makers I think? Don't really know more about that.), namely the roof and metal frame, while the panels were spares for the RJA-52, and the faceplate is something I couldn't yet identify over the internet (it is a JNC/ANS faceplate though)

Long story short - the JNC and ANS cases (at least those that aren't crippled to have only one detachable panel, these usually bear the SJA marking on the inside of their faceplates) that have a metal frame with a grille similar to yours and mine (check page 458 to see the grilles on mine) are literally made like LEGOs. Once you scrounge a few of them, it's literally mix and match between them, just like some of the older AT-era cases were.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh my! update that BIOS!
> 
> EDIT: Here's a link to the latest version;
> 
> ...


I'll update later. I had to take the board out as the northbridge temps were ~85C even on BIOS and as you may guess, there was dried "bubblegum" there. Scraped that away with an useless LGA771 Xeon, and let's put some MX-5 there.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looking at the specs, it a solid board but unfortunately doesn't support Xeons.


It absolutely does, just like every other Asus X58 board.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 9, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> It absolutely does, just like every other Asus X58 board.


I'll get a X5650 before anyone even suggests it


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 9, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> It absolutely does, just like every other Asus X58 board.


Not according to the ASUS official CPU support page. Are you sure the microcode is present? ASUS is usual very good about listing all CPU's that are compatible.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not according to the ASUS official CPU support page. Are you sure the microcode is present? ASUS is usual very good about listing all CPU's that are compatible.


Never actually heard that anyone had any problems for like X5650 in a common X58 board  

At least googling "xeon x5650 rampage 3 extreme" looks promising


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 9, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Never actually heard that anyone had any problems for like X5650 in a common X58 board
> 
> At least googling "xeon x5650 rampage 3 extreme" looks promising


Fair enough. I saw the list and didn't want to make any assumptions of compatibility. It won't hurt to test.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Fair enough. I saw the list and didn't want to make any assumptions of compatibility. It won't hurt to test.


And they're dirt cheap these days, I may as well ask one from Finland so I don't need to buy one abroad. We still have OC culture like always and retro stuff is also a thing here.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 10, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> And they're dirt cheap these days, I may as well ask one from Finland so I don't need to buy one abroad. We still have OC culture like always and retro stuff is also a thing here.


Right and the X5675 is one of the best overclockers! You're in for some fun.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 10, 2021)

Also getting a Phenom II 955 BE for my AM2NF3 today from a local dude 

edit: I got two, I can try which OCs better, paid 10EUR... tho I probably pay another 10EUR next month for the another..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2021)

Robert B said:


> *Baby steps!*
> 
> The guinea pigs have survived. I might do another pass of retrobright but I'm not so sure. The color matches the trays quite nicely. Just 2 hours of sun and some "lube".  1 EURO for the lot! Not a bad deal IMO!  The busted case and all the contents.
> 
> Also, I have been a very very bad boy!  Look at all these beauties which have passed through my hands.  Just the tip of the iceberg!


I really like & admire your dedication to details, making things just "perfect" 

Can I ask for a favor? Would it be difficult for you to take addition pic of that Plextor DVD-RW? I have a sneaky suspicion that it's actually made by the company TOP-G, in which case it will probably say so on top of the unit, somewhere on the label.

Also, that V7700 GF2 GTS looks very familiar. I got the same card, currently inside one of my "Adison" builds, paired with talking P4B board & 2.6GHz P4


----------



## Robert B (Jul 10, 2021)

Hi @Trekkie4 ! Thanks! Anything you need I got it! 

As far as I know this is the last of the "true" Plextor drives.

Its story is kind of sad but I won't spill the beans just yet!

That V7700 was quite an unexpected find!  I really dig your Adison stuff. From experience when it rains it pours so when you really want something, life plays tricks on you and you get much more than you bargained for.  I guess now you have enough Adison builds to last a lifetime


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 10, 2021)

FPS gun from 8600 era


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Hi @Trekkie4 ! Thanks! Anything you need I got it!
> 
> As far as I know this is the last of the "true" Plextor drives.
> 
> ...


Interesting... Take a look at BTC DVD-RW model down below & tell me if it seems any familiar 


 





And yes, it's quite ironic how the Adison story played out in the end... My only regret is that my friend is not alive to be part of it, but even in my wildest dreams I wouldn't expect to have 5 of them, not after 15 years of searching & not being able to find (at least) one of them!

As for the whole project, I'm pretty much finished ... I still have to address the "sleeper", I'm currently waiting on (yet another) BTC CD-ROM unit from Germany, along with the face plate mask(s) for two of my Plextor CD-RW drives. Only one of them is actually used, the other one will be a spare - Justin Case 


 



And here's the latest Adison build, P4B aka the talking motherboard which really gives it "character". The SLI bridge is home-made ... after all these years of tinkering with 3dfx hardware, I finally perfected my cable-making skills ... except for the fact that I placed the central 180 twist upside-down, it's supposed to be up and not down (but it really doesn't matter)


 



As for the actual tower(s), they're pretty much done, apart from previously mentioned Plextor CD-RW which is currently missing the plate & outer trim. Yes, I realize that at first glance it looks odd, even ugly ... but the color difference between floppy, ZIP & CD-ROM drive(s) are really not THAT different from rest of the case. Somehow the camera (probably the flash) amplified the effect so everything seems out of place.




Adison #1
CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz (Slot 1)
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 1x 64MB PC133 (radi pod PC100)
VGA1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VGA2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster 128
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 6.4GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98

Adison #2
CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz (Slot 1)
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 1x 64MB PC133 (radi pod PC100)
VGA1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VGA2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster 128
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 6.4GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98

Adison #3
CPU: Intel Pentium III, 1133MHz (Socket 370)
MBO: Asus P3B-F (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 2x 128MB PC133
VGA1: Asus V3800 Pro (nVidia TNT2)
VGA2: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
VGA3: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Aureal Vortex2, Creative WaveBlasterII MIDI
HDD: Western Digital, 40GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98SE

Adison #4
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo (Socket 775)
MBO: MSI (not sure which one)
RAM: 2x 2GB DDR3
VGA1: nVidia GeForce 8600GTX
HDD: Western Digital Blue, 500GB
ODD: (currently none)
OS: Windows 7

Adison #5
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.6GHz (Socket 478)
MBO: Asus P4B (Intel 845)
RAM: 2x 256MB PC133
VGA1: Asus V7700 Deluxe (nVidia GeForce2 GTS)
VGA2: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
VGA3: A-Trend Helios 3D, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster Live!
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 16GB
ODD1: BTC BCD-40XH
ODD2: Plextor 52/32/52
OS: Windows Millennium


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 10, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Interesting... Take a look at BTC DVD-RW model down below & tell me if it seems any familiar
> 
> 
> 
> ...


BTC what a recall, when i was in college


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> BTC what a recall, when i was in college


Indeed... I seem to be obsessed (perhaps a little bit too much?) with BTC drives, but with good reason. When I first got my hands on "Adison" system back in 1998, it came with BTC BCD 36X (identical to the one posted earlier, only "24X")

About a year or so later, the 36X drive broke down & was replaced under warranty by 36XH and then shortly after with 40XH ... same as the other drive from the picture above. Apparently that "H" stands for Hitachi Loader ... whatever that means. And so I wanted ALL of my Adison builds to feature BTC drives, regardless of their questionable reputation. Finding these on the other hand was a nightmare, since no one bothered to actually keep them so in the end I had to buy units from UK, Germany, even locally here in Croatia and then do my best to combine everything together into the best possible combination.

Happy to say, it worked out OK ... for the most part. BTC can be quite stubborn sometimes & tends to surprise me when I least expect. Like, the other day for example ... one of the BCD-40XH drives ejected a CD at full speed, around 8,000RPM. This here is the end result:




But I'm not complaining. It really gives it character & brings back all those horrible memories of BTC & problems which I had to endure as a kid, in 1998/1999


----------



## r0x (Jul 10, 2021)

Not long ago, beautiful dual pentium 2 combo (asus p2b-ds + 2x p2 400mhz) was added to my arsenal of peculiar hardware. Since I dislike pausing my work to take pictures, worklog pics are few and not that good, but here's the build:
Stage 1, cleaning + disassembly:



Motherboard was very clean, except some dust and zerg infestation.




Coolers were really dirty, lubrication on fans non existent and again more traces of zerg infestation. These cocoons do damage plastic parts, surfaces are no longer smooth but coarse.

Stage 2, cleaning + reassembly:


 

 

 

 

 


Philosophy of no paste under chipset heatsink was quickly banished with a shot of mx-2, while bearings were soaking in fine machine oil.

Stage3, reassembly + quick test:


 

 

 



Final build (I guess):


 


P2B-ds, dual PII 400MHz, asus voodoo banshee, 256Mb RAM, SCSI 18Gb HDD, AWE 64.
Special thanks to @stef for awe64+case, and @Trekkie4 for SCSI HDD 

P.S. I didn't forget to post about asrock CPU bridge adapter. Free time issues in progress....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2021)

r0x said:


> Not long ago, beautiful dual pentium 2 combo (asus p2b-ds + 2x p2 400mhz) was added to my arsenal of peculiar hardware. Since I dislike pausing my work to take pictures, worklog pics are few and not that good, but here's the build:
> Stage 1, cleaning + disassembly:
> 
> 
> ...


I still say that V3 3000 would make better choice IMHO. Other than that spot on! You only seem to be missing one thing for that TRUE vintage experience. Care to guess which one?



Spoiler: The Ultimate Secret



A disc-shattering, self ejecting BTC drive!


----------



## r0x (Jul 10, 2021)

BTC is fine idea...but for home made ripper


----------



## Valantar (Jul 10, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Indeed... I seem to be obsessed (perhaps a little bit too much?) with BTC drives, but with good reason. When I first got my hands on "Adison" system back in 1998, it came with BTC BCD 36X (identical to the one posted earlier, only "24X")
> 
> About a year or so later, the 36X drive broke down & was replaced under warranty by 36XH and then shortly after with 40XH ... same as the other drive from the picture above. Apparently that "H" stands for Hitachi Loader ... whatever that means. And so I wanted ALL of my Adison builds to feature BTC drives, regardless of their questionable reputation. Finding these on the other hand was a nightmare, since no one bothered to actually keep them so in the end I had to buy units from UK, Germany, even locally here in Croatia and then do my best to combine everything together into the best possible combination.
> 
> ...


Can I suggest a mod where you spring-load the eject mechanism for extra exit velocity?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 10, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Like, the other day for example ... one of the BCD-40XH drives ejected a CD at full speed, around 8,000RPM. This here is the end result:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've done that, deliberately. It was a different brand drive, but I rigged it to pop open while the disc was still spinning at full speed. That disc shot out of the drive so fast that it flew across the room(seriously!) bounced off two walls and hit my poor cat in the nadds! We all laughed out butts off!! He couldn't sit properly for a week! Every time he tried he'd let out a yelp of pain... Felt so bad I took him to the pet store and bought him a new bed he could lay in and a months worth of premium cat food. My friends and I STILL laugh about it to this day.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 10, 2021)

You guys and cats and whatever living being are lucky to still be alive. If that CD was a saw blade you wouldn't be around to tell the tale. 









						Ripper
					

If you're looking for the weapon from Unreal and Return to Na Pali, you might want to check Razorjack. The Ripper (also called Ripjack) is a weapon appearing in the Unreal series. The weapon is the successor of the Razorjack. Its primary fire is the same: it launches a serrated disc at the...




					unreal.fandom.com
				




I also had a BTC 36X drive that was complete garbage but I still remember it fondly. It had a spring loaded door and the tray pushed it down as the tray slided out.

Also my first ASUS CD-S520/A5 52x broke a CD inside and it was replaced under warranty. It took some convincing of the Asus representative in Romania to replace it as the local seller didn't want to replace it saying that it was my mistake as I used a bad CD.
​


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've done that, deliberately. It was a different brand drive, but I rigged it to pop open while the disc was still spinning at full speed. That disc shot out of the drive so fast that it flew across the room(seriously!) bounced off two walls and hit my poor cat in the nadds! We all laughed out butts off!! He couldn't sit properly for a week! Every time he tried he'd let out a yelp of pain... Felt so bad I took him to the pet store and bought him a new bed he could lay in and a months worth of premium cat food. My friends and I STILL laugh about it to this day.


Oddly enough mine remained inside the tray, as you can probably tell by the scratches to the outer rim. True, it was spinning insanely fast & making grinding noises (imagine using an angle grinder on a CD) but from what I can tell, the actual CD was only touching the outer lip of drive's tray hence the smaller/minor damage, restricted to the outer section only.

Not that it really matters, it's just a home-made copy of Broken Sword 1. I got the real thing safely stored inside my desk drawer, specifically due to reasons such as this one. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time for optical drive to blow up one of my discs...



Robert B said:


> You guys and cats and whatever living being are lucky to still be alive. If that CD was a saw blade you you wouldn't be around to tell the tale.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yup, spring loaded flip-down door/trim, with the actual mechanism suspended on rubber suspensions. For what it's worth, BTC made surprisingly good units, but they've done some "questionable" decisions which caused some (if not all) issues with these things.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 10, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not that it really matters, it's just a home-made copy of Broken Sword 1. I got the real thing safely stored inside my desk drawer, specifically due to reasons such as this one. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time for optical drive to blow up one of my discs...


And that is the main reason I started doing backups BITD.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 10, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> And that is the main reason I started doing backups BITD.


Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING? That's certainly how rights holders view it.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 10, 2021)

I think I still a Black and a Silver version of those BTC flappy doors somewhere around my flat I stopped using the BTC drive after it annihilated a disk in the drive and promptly went out and bought a Pioneer DVD burner which cost no more than the BTC drive did a few years earlier



Valantar said:


> Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING? That's certainly how rights holders view it.


At one stage in PC history you were actually allowed to make a single backup copy as long as it was for personal use only as it fell under the Fair Use act


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 10, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Also getting a Phenom II 955 BE for my AM2NF3 today from a local dude


Pair that with the HD3850 for the ultimate AGP rig!  



micropage7 said:


> FPS gun from 8600 era


"Ergonomic gun"  I wouldn't even know how to hold it...


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 10, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> And that is the main reason I started doing backups BITD.





Valantar said:


> Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING? That's certainly how rights holders view it.


They can call it whatever they like, but there's no friggin' way I would ever put original Broken Sword inside a BTC drive ... or any high-speed unit for that matter. Period! One RPM too many, and that thing is going to end up in particles of dust!



Athlonite said:


> I think I still a Black and a Silver version of those BTC flappy doors somewhere around my flat I stopped using the BTC drive after it annihilated a disk in the drive and promptly went out and bought a Pioneer DVD burner which cost no more than the BTC drive did a few years earlier
> 
> 
> At one stage in PC history you were actually allowed to make a single backup copy as long as it was for personal use only as it fell under the Fair Use act


Hehe, true! My first DVD-RW drive, the one from the picture above (posted to @Robert B ) was BTC ... and it had a rather unfortunate fate. It exploded only a day or two after I bought it, the CD tray literally flew out with bits of plastic & foil flying everywhere!


----------



## Valantar (Jul 10, 2021)

Here's a question: with these retro rigs, are you intentionally using disks for the feel of it? Why not just use ISOs on some sort of stable storage medium instead? Or even just on network storage? I get that it's not authentic at all, but given the extreme unreliability of ODDs that doesn't sound like something I'd stick with for long.


----------



## RealKGB (Jul 10, 2021)

Valantar said:


> the extreme unreliability of ODDs


???
This is news to me, I've never had an optical drive fail on me, and the two I have that are broken sat in an attic for who knows how long. One of them is so old it uses disc caddies and uses SCSI, not IDE.
The discs can be a bit more unreliable but again, all the discs I've burned in the past 3 years are still working fine with minimal scratches. The most beat-up discs I have are my 98 SE, Me, XP, and 7 Home and those weren't mine until last year.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 11, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Here's a question: with these retro rigs, are you intentionally using disks for the feel of it? Why not just use ISOs on some sort of stable storage medium instead? Or even just on network storage? I get that it's not authentic at all, but given the extreme unreliability of ODDs that doesn't sound like something I'd stick with for long.


And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!

Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.

Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.


----------



## Fouquin (Jul 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!
> 
> Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.
> 
> Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.



You can do networked storage that has no external gateway. It's really not that difficult. CDs are still easier if you've got a spindle full already.


----------



## Ahhzz (Jul 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!
> 
> Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.
> 
> Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.


I'd just like to see someone hooking it up and can't get the LAN card to work properly, and not sure what these "4/16" numbers are for....


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING?


Arrr matey....


Valantar said:


> That's certainly how rights holders view it.


I couldn't care less what right holders think. Their rights end where user right begin.



Athlonite said:


> At one stage in PC history you were actually allowed to make a single backup copy as long as it was for personal use only as it fell under the Fair Use act


That hasn't change. Backup's are still perfectly lawful. And they will never not be so.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 11, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> ???
> This is news to me, I've never had an optical drive fail on me, and the two I have that are broken sat in an attic for who knows how long. One of them is so old it uses disc caddies and uses SCSI, not IDE.
> The discs can be a bit more unreliable but again, all the discs I've burned in the past 3 years are still working fine with minimal scratches. The most beat-up discs I have are my 98 SE, Me, XP, and 7 Home and those weren't mine until last year.


Strange - I've never had a 5 ¼“ ODD that hasn't failed. Some after a few years, some after a few months. Some after nearly no use at all, just being installed in a system. In the end I entirely gave up buying them from the combination of rarely needing them and seeing them fail constantly. Oddly enough, no mobile/slim ODD has ever failed on me, including the two I have lying around currently (at least they both worked the last time I checked).


Trekkie4 said:


> And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!
> 
> Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.
> 
> Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.


There are CF/SD to IDE adapters if you want that, or SD-based floppy emulators if that's more your thing (including for really vintage non-PC systems). The emulators are no doubt a lot more expensive than an old ODD, but the convenience factor would more than make up for that IMO. The SD adapters are dirt cheap even.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jul 11, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> ??
> This is news to me, I've never had an optical drive fail on me, and the two I have that are broken sat in an attic for who knows how long. One of them is so old it uses disc caddies and uses SCSI, not IDE.
> The discs can be a bit more unreliable but again, all the discs I've burned in the past 3 years are still working fine with minimal scratches. The most beat-up discs I have are my 98 SE, Me, XP, and 7 Home and those weren't mine until last year.



Plenty have gone south on me. Some with next to no use. Conversely, others have lasted over a decade. Mostly older ones.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 11, 2021)

Ah I just wanna be able to  play Aquanox and Decent I and II (I know they're available but Aquanox isn't) I enjoyed the shiz outta those two games


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> FPS gun from 8600 era
> View attachment 207336
> View attachment 207337


Yo I remember that one! Is it good?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 11, 2021)

Finally replaced the CR2032 holder on my P2B and equipped it. P2 400, 256MB PC133. Not sure if a Geforce 2 Pro is worth it but eh, why not.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Finally replaced the CR2032 holder on my P2B and equipped it. P2 400, 256MB PC133. Not sure if a Geforce 2 Pro is worth it but eh, why not.


P2B! 

Instant love :3


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Valantar said:


> but given the extreme unreliability of ODDs


Wait, what? What are you talking about?(Sorry I missed this earlier)



MaxiPro800 said:


> Not sure if a Geforce 2 Pro is worth it but eh, why not.


Sure it is. I'd stick a Geforce 3 or 4 into it honestly.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Sure it is. I'd stick a Geforce 3 or 4 into it honestly.


I'd love to have any GF2, even a MX would be okay. Tho Ti or Ultra would be the shit  And also I'd love to have any GF4 Ti card..

I guess you remember that I have a GF3 Ti 200


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 11, 2021)

Was just rummaging around in a old box of jank when a I came across my old Albatron skt 754 mobo it needs a recap if I'm going to use it though 



And a good clean and new cmos battery still has the two x 1GB Geil dimms in it too and if I remeber properly it also has an Athlon64 x2 4800+ in the socket aswell


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 11, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Was just rummaging around in a old box of jank when a I came across my old Albatron skt 754 mobo it needs a recap if I'm going to use it though
> View attachment 207418
> And a good clean and new cmos battery still has the two x 1GB Geil dimms in it too and if I remeber properly it also has an Athlon64 x2 4800+ in the socket aswell


How about a DFI Infinity NF4 SLi? 


Mine had about 3 bad caps which I replaced. In theory I should recap the whole CPU side but I don't have the right caps to do so right now.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 11, 2021)

Nice DFI thats a skt 939 mobo isn't it I have a skt 939 mobo here somewhere it's an Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe 






I'm probably going to recap all of the caps as they're all old as shit and the mobo hasn't been in use for probably over a decade now so they'll all need replacing but it should only take an hour or so once I buy the list of caps I need from Jaycar (electronics hobbyist/enthusiast store)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 11, 2021)

Just recap the CPU side, more specifically the bigger ones near the CPU socket. It's by far the only sensible part on it considering the caps I see in there, and the smaller ones shouldn't pose any issue.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 11, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just recap the CPU side, more specifically the bigger ones near the CPU socket. It's by far the only sensible part on it considering the caps I see in there, and the smaller ones shouldn't pose any issue.


Meh it's just as easy to do the lot and have no doubts about any of them than do a few and something is still not right


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

Man I love boards from that era, such clean looks and no any RGB bullshit or any "cool" heatsink designs. Just simple and clean design.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 11, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Ah I just wanna be able to  play Aquanox and Decent I and II (I know they're available but Aquanox isn't) I enjoyed the shiz outta those two games


Both Aquanox games are available on a number of digital distribution platforms, along with their predecessor and successor. Might wanna check them out now.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Both Aquanox games are available on a number of digital distribution platforms, along with their predecessor and successor. Might wanna check them out now.


Wasn't Aquamark3 based on those


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 11, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Yo I remember that one! Is it good?


i dunno, i have small table so the last time i just test it and works then back to its box until now


----------



## Valantar (Jul 11, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Man I love boards from that era, such clean looks and no any RGB bullshit or any "cool" heatsink designs. Just simple and clean design.


I particularly love the mix-and-match socket/connector housing colors. Designing for clarity and ease of use ("these connectors are different, so they have different colors" or "let's differentiate the IDE ports by color") rather than aesthetics can lead to some nice results.


lexluthermiester said:


> Wait, what? What are you talking about?(Sorry I missed this earlier)


Given how people here have been sharing war stories of various dramatic ODD failures I kind of assumed this was a common experience. I know some brands were better than others, but as I said, I haven't had a single (non-slim, but then those have seen very little use) ODD that hasn't died on me - most of them rather inexplicably and undramatically by just not working properly or by developing some nasty grinding noises. And that's across quite a few brands (no idea about the ODMs behind them though); Samsung, LiteON, and at least a couple of others that I can't quite remember. The last one I had installed (back in my old CM Stacker 830, so pre-2014) went unused for long periods, and at one point when I needed it just ... didn't work. It had worked the last time I used it, so my guess is that it died of boredom in the intervening period. Since then I haven't installed an ODD in a single build, though I haven't made any retro builds either. But as I said, if I did I would much rather use some sort of adapter for a more up-to-date storage medium for easier transfers and reliability.

Edit: I looked up the receipts for the PC build I did back in 2008, which must be the last time I bought an ODD, and it had a Samsung SH-S223F/BEBN drive, which according to a quick image search was a Toshiba Samsung design.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 11, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Wasn't Aquamark3 based on those


Yeah, AquaMark 2 is based on AquaNox, and AquaMark 3 is based on AquaNox 2. And to add to the confusion, AquaMark (1) has never been released


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

Got those yesterday, I can have one of these, the better overclocker as the seller said that test those and have the better one, paid 10EUR

Sorry for the shitty pic, 2x 955 BE






Tho probably I pay for the another one to him as well later on.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Was just rummaging around in a old box of jank when a I came across my old Albatron skt 754 mobo it needs a recap if I'm going to use it though
> View attachment 207418
> And a good clean and new cmos battery still has the two x 1GB Geil dimms in it too and if I remeber properly it also has an Athlon64 x2 4800+ in the socket aswell


Albatron! They made such wonderful boards!


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Albatron! They made such wonderful boards!


Albatron is something which is hardly known here in Finland, I remember the brand though. Never had any of their products though.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Given how people here have been sharing war stories of various dramatic ODD failures I kind of assumed this was a common experience.


No for me. I swear by them! Have only twice seen a disc go bad without some identifiable reason. However, I suspect the discs were recorded at their max speed, which is ok for quick and dirty burns you don't care about. But anytime I make a backup, I burn at the slowest speed the drive offers to ensure maximum stable burn for longevity. I still have CD's recorded in 1997 that are perfect.

Like anything else in life, using common sense and understanding the technology is what ensures long lasting usefulness..



Valantar said:


> Edit: I looked up the receipts for the PC build I did back in 2008, which must be the last time I bought an ODD, and it had a Samsung SH-S223F/BEBN drive, which according to a quick image search was a Toshiba Samsung design.


Out of curiosity, how did you install stuff back then? ODDs were still essential at that time..



Jill Valentine said:


> Albatron is something which is hardly known here in Finland, I remember the brand though. Never had any of their products though.


They barely had a presence stateside either and they didn't last long. I still don't understand why as everything they made was great!


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> They barely had a presence stateside either and they didn't last long. I still don't understand why as everything they made was great!


Nothing to complain of their old box art, I miss these sexy chicks of boxes


----------



## The red spirit (Jul 11, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Was just rummaging around in a old box of jank when a I came across my old Albatron skt 754 mobo it needs a recap if I'm going to use it though
> View attachment 207418
> And a good clean and new cmos battery still has the two x 1GB Geil dimms in it too and if I remeber properly it also has an Athlon64 x2 4800+ in the socket aswell


It's not socket 754 if it has Athlon 4800+. It's either socket 939 with Athlon 4800+ or socket 754 with some lesser Athlon 64.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Nothing to complain of their old box art, I miss these sexy chicks of boxes
> 
> View attachment 207431


Heck yeah!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 11, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Arrr matey....
> 
> I couldn't care less what right holders think. Their rights end where user right begin.
> 
> ...


I'm Guybrush Threepwood, a mighty pirate! 

Joke aside, you're probably right. The real problem however is proving so, when (and if) things get serious. Not saying of course they would or will ... most of those software companies couldn't care less about older games BUT there's always that 1-2% among 99%



Valantar said:


> Strange - I've never had a 5 ¼“ ODD that hasn't failed. Some after a few years, some after a few months. Some after nearly no use at all, just being installed in a system. In the end I entirely gave up buying them from the combination of rarely needing them and seeing them fail constantly. Oddly enough, no mobile/slim ODD has ever failed on me, including the two I have lying around currently (at least they both worked the last time I checked).
> 
> There are CF/SD to IDE adapters if you want that, or SD-based floppy emulators if that's more your thing (including for really vintage non-PC systems). The emulators are no doubt a lot more expensive than an old ODD, but the convenience factor would more than make up for that IMO. The SD adapters are dirt cheap even.


Right, I know. LGR even covered this subject in one of his earlier videos. But I hope you understand, CF/SD to IDE adapters are not really reliable & have more potential to fail than ODD or even a real thing, an old HDD.

It's because of the Read/Write cycles ... substituting CF or SD card for SSD is generally a bad idea because the system keeps reading & writing onto the card which obviously wasn't designed for intensive application such as this one, in the first place. You could theoretically hook up the real thing, SSD through SATA to P/ATA converter but this is going to affect the access/transfer speed. Again, speaking from personal experience ... I once tried using 80GB SATA drive through the converter & could feel the performance drop when accessing large amounts of data.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 11, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Heck yeah!


Asus had as well


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Ah I just wanna be able to  play Aquanox and Decent I and II *(I know they're available but Aquanox isn't)* I enjoyed the shiz outta those two games


Umm, yes it is. GOG for the Win!








						AquaNox
					

The undersea world has undergone a transformation from a tranquil environment to a plac




					www.gog.com
				



And it's only $6.

They have the whole series;








						AquaNox 2: Revelation
					

In 2666 a young freighter pilot called William Drake sets out to search for the heritag




					www.gog.com
				



$6








						Archimedean Dynasty
					

The all consuming darkness has you battle-scarred submarine in a vice-like grip. As you




					www.gog.com
				



$6








						Aquanox Deep Descent
					

Aquanox Deep Descent is a first person underwater vehicle shooter, in which players




					www.gog.com
				



$30 for the standard edition.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 11, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> No for me. I swear by them! Have only twice seen a disc go bad without some identifiable reason. However, I suspect the discs were recorded at their max speed, which is ok for quick and dirty burns you don't care about. But anytime I make a backup, I burn at the slowest speed the drive offers to ensure maximum stable burn for longevity. I still have CD's recorded in 1997 that are perfect.
> 
> Like anything else in life, using common sense and understanding the technology is what ensures long lasting usefulness..


I think I've seen some discs fail, but they have been rare. (Then again, not having used an ODD actively for a decade, it's kind of hard to recall!) For me, it's always been the drives that have died. Then again, I might have been living under a temporary curse of mechanical computer component failure, as I had quite a few HDDs die on me in various ways in the 2005-2015 period as well. Everything since has been rock solid though! Anyhow, I've always considered ODDs to be the light version of inkjet printers - something that can be mass produced relatively cheaply but that is relatively complex mechanically, meaning that in time it _will_ crash and burn, often spectacularly, especially when made from poorly/unlubricated cheap plastics.


Trekkie4 said:


> I'm Guybrush Threepwood, a mighty pirate!


Btw, have you heard the story of the origin of the name Guybrush? Apparently one of the artists drawing the sprites for the game named the original sprite file guy (as he had no name at the time) + "brush" to indicate that it was the "brush" file for the character sprite. And thus, through the magic of old-school file names, guybrush.bbm was born  Man, game development is fantastically janky at times. Gotta love it.


Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I know. LGR even covered this subject in one of his earlier videos. But I hope you understand, CF/SD to IDE adapters are not really reliable & have more potential to fail than ODD or even a real thing, an old HDD.
> 
> It's because of the Read/Write cycles ... substituting CF or SD card for SSD is generally a bad idea because the system keeps reading & writing onto the card which obviously wasn't designed for intensive application such as this one, in the first place. You could theoretically hook up the real thing, SSD through SATA to P/ATA converter but this is going to affect the access/transfer speed. Again, speaking from personal experience ... I once tried using 80GB SATA drive through the converter & could feel the performance drop when accessing large amounts of data.


Yeah, SD cards are well known to fail easily, as does all cheap flash media. I wouldn't imagine there being tons of write cycles on anything with a relatively modern storage capacity though - if your PC expects 650MB CDs or 4GB HDDs, I can't imagine it making much of a dent in the write endurance of a 32-64-128GB SD card, at least not if you buy a decent quality one. A crappy one I would understand, as the controllers no doubt do minimal wear leveling etc. But at least they're easily accessible still, affordable, easily replaced, compatible with modern systems for making new copies or adding files, and not physically fragile.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Valantar said:


> For me, it's always been the drives that have died.


I seriously can't remember the last time I had a drive fail on me. Then again, I never by cheap crap. I always by quality drives.



Valantar said:


> if your PC expects 650MB CDs or 4GB HDDs, I can't imagine it making much of a dent in the write endurance of a 32-64-128GB SD card, at least not if you buy a decent quality one.


This! Always buy quality. You get what you pay for 99.9% of the time...


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 11, 2021)

Finally got around and put the Asus board in a case ready for benching !




3DMARK03



3DMARK05



D00M 3 1280x1024 Ultra No AA



FAR CRY 1280X1024 MAXIMUM DETAIL NO AA AF



Cinebench R11.5



The whole PC got really hot during Cinebench got to say and the neighbours started to wonder were do I keep my fighter jet ?


----------



## micropage7 (Jul 11, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Finally got around and put the Asus board in a case ready for benching !
> 
> View attachment 207433View attachment 207434View attachment 207441
> 
> ...


nice, btw you don't add some intake fans to cool the temp inside?


----------



## Robert B (Jul 11, 2021)

*Today's haul.* After a disappointing Saturday, Sunday was the day I redeemed myself as I didn't leave the flea market until I found something worthwhile and find I did indeed! 

*SOYO SY-D6IBA* - it will be fully recaped. The CPU on the board is a PII-400. The other one was MIA.

*Does anyone have the DRIVER CD for this beast?* Looking further into the future we should mirror all the FTP sites of the once great manufacturers as in 10 years or so we won't be able to find much of the stuff that still is available.

Also, on a minor note, I found a Phenom X4 9550, a PIII 550 S370, P4 1.4GHz S478, Athlon 1100MHz/200, a Celeron 1200 Tualatin and I scavenged 4 BIOS chips from boards that weren't too valuable.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 11, 2021)

Robert B said:


> *Today's haul.* After a disappointing Saturday, Sunday was the day I redeemed myself as I didn't leave the flea market until I found something worthwhile and find I did indeed!
> 
> *SOYO SY-D6IBA* - it will be fully recaped. The CPU on the board is a PII-400. The other one was MIA.
> 
> ...


IDK about drivers, but I don't think (or expect) you'd need any ... maybe to just Google for Adaptec chipset instead?

Speaking of Tualatins, I wasn't going to mention anything yet ... but I have a "flagship" Tualatin coming up shortly, probably bundled with those BTC drives. PIII 1.4GHz, which I'm planning to pair with Asus P3B-F motherboard & 440BX chipset. Maybe even OC the heck of it, why not?


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> IDK about drivers, but I don't think (or expect) you'd need any ... maybe to just Google for Adaptec chipset instead?
> 
> Speaking of Tualatins, I wasn't going to mention anything yet ... but I have a "flagship" Tualatin coming up shortly, probably bundled with those BTC drives. PIII 1.4GHz, which I'm planning to pair with Asus P3B-F motherboard & 440BX chipset. Maybe even OC the heck of it, why not?


Nice. I need to fix mine, the pad came off with a pin and I need to reattach it without shorting the center contact to the outer ring (GND).


In other news it looks like my Abit BH6 isn't dead after all, it just hates practically all of my sdr mems, managed to get it to boot with a 66mhz stick I found and it only boots in the outer-most slot of course.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 11, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> In other news it looks like my Abit BH6 isn't dead after all, it just hates practically all of my sdr mems, managed to get it to boot with a 66mhz stick I found and it only boots in the outer-most slot of course.
> View attachment 207461


Have you tried replacing the capacitors on it? More than often they were the main issue on ABIT boards.


Robert B said:


> *Today's haul.* After a disappointing Saturday, Sunday was the day I redeemed myself as I didn't leave the flea market until I found something worthwhile and find I did indeed!
> 
> *SOYO SY-D6IBA* - it will be fully recaped. The CPU on the board is a PII-400. The other one was MIA.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately, you're probably better off making an DIY driver CD. I couldn't find any for my 6BA+IV either (that or I didn't look in the right place) so I just made a DIY driver disc with Intel chipset drivers from PhilsComputerLab and HPT366 drivers from DriverGuide. Didn't add anything else as that's the basic drivers, without any unnecessary software the original Soyo discs came with.


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 11, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> nice, btw you don't add some intake fans to cool the temp inside?


Not really possible, the case is closed up, no air openings. The case is really not fit for this setup but it's the only I had left. Thanks for the tip anyway 

On another note my Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz gets around 74~ FPS in D00M 3 same settings. I have to try overclocking the Xeons to see if they can match the performance of the P4


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 11, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> Nice. I need to fix mine, the pad came off with a pin and I need to reattach it without shorting the center contact to the outer ring (GND).
> View attachment 207460
> 
> In other news it looks like my Abit BH6 isn't dead after all, it just hates practically all of my sdr mems, managed to get it to boot with a 66mhz stick I found and it only boots in the outer-most slot of course.
> View attachment 207461


Yikes! Good luck with that Tualatin...


MaxiPro800 said:


> Have you tried replacing the capacitors on it? More than often they were the main issue on ABIT boards.
> 
> Unfortunately, you're probably better off making an DIY driver CD. I couldn't find any for my 6BA+IV either (that or I didn't look in the right place) so I just made a DIY driver disc with Intel chipset drivers from PhilsComputerLab and HPT366 drivers from DriverGuide. Didn't add anything else as that's the basic drivers, without any unnecessary software the original Soyo discs came with.


Agreed on capacitors being an issue on Abit boards, however I don't think this is the case with his BH6. I had the same "problem" with two of my Adison boards, Chaintech 6BTM. Apparently only some (few) of the RAM modules worked without causing weird issues and ironically only PC133 modules which isn't compatible with 6BTM (they work in PC100 mode, instead)

Just a reminder that both 6BTM systems had been completely recapped with Panasonic caps, and that I tried loads of memory modules before I settled for 64MB/PC133 one(s)


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 11, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Have you tried replacing the capacitors on it? More than often they were the main issue on ABIT boards.


Not yet but I may do that later, it seems more of a bios related problem rather than hardware.

One thing I want to do is swap the the W124G clock gen for a W196G to run higher than 133 fsb. Nobody would happen to have one just kicking around somewhere would they? 

Edit: Managed to get the PIII-S 1.4 to work again with a bodge, a dab of solder on the pad and another on the pin, put the pin in the socket and it manages to make a connection. Would've glued it on but I don't have any epoxy handy.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 11, 2021)

Robert B said:


> *SOYO SY-D6IBA* - it will be fully recaped.


THAT is a nice find! Deserves some love!


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 11, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Finally got around and put the Asus board in a case ready for benching !


For reference, here are my old Socket A results from 3DMark03 with an Athlon XP 3200+ and a 7600GT. Sorry, no screenies:



Your Xeons score the same as my stock Athlon. In game tests 1-3 the GF6800U is faster by 18%, 11% and 9%, while in game 4 it's marginally slower.

And here's 3DMark05:



This time the Athlon needed a 2.5 GHz OC to catch up. The GPUs score about the same in game tests 1 and 3, but in game 2 a stock 7600GT is 13% ahead.


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 11, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> For reference, here are my old Socket A results from 3DMark03 with an Athlon XP 3200+ and a 7600GT. Sorry, no screenies:
> View attachment 207512
> Your Xeons score the same as my stock Athlon. In game tests 1-3 the GF6800U is faster by 18%, 11% and 9%, while in game 4 it's marginally slower.
> 
> ...


Thanks @QuietBob !  Now  I have to fire up my P4 2.66 Ghz and 3.2 Ghz and see how it does against that Athlon. What memory speeds are you using ?


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 12, 2021)

I caught the repair bug again. Decided to dig out my PC-DL and try to fix it. Tried running a Nocona chip in it (which did work) but one of the mosfet's let the smoke out a bit after (Board still works fine with just 3 phases but I can't trust it with both cpu's).
I ran an external vrm on it since then for benching which is why it looks a bit rough.


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 12, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> It's not socket 754 if it has Athlon 4800+. It's either socket 939 with Athlon 4800+ or socket 754 with some lesser Athlon 64.


You are correct it's not it is actually an Athlon 64 3200 probably why I should clean tim off instead of trying to rememguess what the CPU was which means the the CPU in the A8R32 is probably the 4800+ ahwell it had been such a long time since I used those boards at my age things start to get a little skewiff



lexluthermiester said:


> Umm, yes it is. GOG for the Win!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Cheers for that but the last time I tried to run AquaNox on any OS over XP it failed to work even with the DX update patch it wouldn't even start on windows 7 so I very much have doubts about it being playable on Windows 8 or 10 like GOG are saying but I'll give it ago


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 12, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Thanks @QuietBob !  Now  I have to fire up my P4 2.66 Ghz and 3.2 Ghz and see how it does against that Athlon. What memory speeds are you using ?


The tests were run at DDR-400. Looking forward to your results!



Athlonite said:


> Cheers for that but the last time I tried to run AquaNox on any OS over XP it failed to work even with the DX update patch it wouldn't even start on windows 7 so I very much have doubts about it being playable on Windows 8 or 10 like GOG are saying but I'll give it ago


Have you tried running it in compatibility mode? According to PCGamingWiki the game should be playable on modern systems, and even in 4K/ultrawide.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 12, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> I caught the repair bug again. Decided to dig out my PC-DL and try to fix it. Tried running a Nocona chip in it (which did work) but one of the mosfet's let the smoke out a bit after (Board still works fine with just 3 phases but I can't trust it with both cpu's).
> I ran an external vrm on it since then for benching which is why it looks a bit rough.
> 
> View attachment 207550


As far as I can see, it's just the big drain pads that are gone. You could probably safely scrape away some of the lacquer above it, drop heavy amounts of solder on it and then solder the MOSFET's drain pads together. Also I'd populate that empty MOSFET spot next to the 8pin 12V socket for further enhancement of power.


----------



## F-Zero (Jul 12, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> The tests were run at DDR-400. Looking forward to your results!


Hey @QuietBob here are the test results for the:

P4 2.66 Ghz, 533 FSB, 512 KB L2 Northwood, DDR 333 Mhz, 
P4 3.2 Ghz, 800 FSB, 1 MB L2 Prescott, DDR 400 Mhz
for fun I added a C2Q Q6600, DDR2 533 Mhz


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 12, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> Cheers for that but the last time I tried to run AquaNox on any OS over XP it failed to work even with the DX update patch it wouldn't even start on windows 7 so I very much have doubts about it being playable on Windows 8 or 10 like GOG are saying but I'll give it ago


If it didn't run well, the reviews would would be telling of such. Haven't played any of them myself, so I can't personally say. I think you'll be fine though.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 12, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey @QuietBob here are the test results for the:
> 
> P4 2.66 Ghz, 533 FSB, 512 KB L2 Northwood, DDR 333 Mhz,
> P4 3.2 Ghz, 800 FSB, 1 MB L2 Prescott, DDR 400 Mhz
> ...



Thanks for those, it's always fun to compare different architectures! Here are my oc'd results on the same platform:


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## Trekkie4 (Jul 13, 2021)

99,9% to the finish line, only missing a CD-ROM drive & a Tualatin upgrade


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 13, 2021)

Not sure if I shown my VGA ISA cards yet :

















Here's my latest AGP card though :


----------



## Robert B (Jul 14, 2021)

Doom OST - MasterMind

*CJ #1* aka Client Job No. 1  - Usually I don't take jobs from other people yet but I made an exception this time.

I got this puppy in for some repairs and CPR and let's not forget some SPA treatment Robert B style! FTW!!!  It is not mine but heck I couldn't pass up the chance to have my way with it. 

Even if it doesn't look like it, this card is a train wreck! The damage is mostly on the back. I have all of the parts from a donor V5 5500 card and a Leadtek GF 4 Ti 4200, believe it or not!  Also it needs some trace repair on the back and even if I succeed in this endeavor with just my basic tools, there still is a big question if one of the memory chips has survived a shattering impact ... I like the odds!  *RIP and TEAR!!! *

*Old parts for a relic of times gone by! This seems appropriate don't you think?   *At DOOM's Gate


----------



## Ahhzz (Jul 14, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Doom OST - MasterMind
> 
> *CJ #1* aka Client Job No. 1  - Usually I don't take jobs from other people yet but I made an exception this time.
> 
> ...


Good luck man! My soldering skills (as evident by my failure to repair my old Acer monitor last year) have seriously degraded


----------



## Robert B (Jul 14, 2021)

Thanks a heap! As you know, practice makes perfect so don't give up!

I'll try my proposed repair on the donor card then I'll proceed to the main "attraction". While power inductor coils, ceramic caps and polymer caps are a walk in the park, trace repair is another thing. I'm 90% sure that jumper wires will be needed.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 15, 2021)

Last time I did fine trace work was on my Soyo 6BA+IV, right on traces under the 440BX that were severed which resulted in no RAM detected in any slot.

My advice is: quite a lot rosin core, fine wire, a sharp cutter/knife, and a scrap multi-stranded wire (preferably aluminium, most copper ones I've seen are pretty cheaply done.). I fixed my Soyo just nice and it's been working like brand new since then.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 15, 2021)

*Abit-TH7II* - i850/s478  RRrrrAAaaaaMBUUUUSSssssss!!!  Every time I see a Rambus board I act immediately! 

This Abit is the $hit even if it isn't the RAID version.

Needs a recap. 6 Nichicon HM 3300uf 6.3V lost their heads. The other No Name caps look fine! Go figure! I know that this doesn't mean that they are fine but wth, I'll keep it simple and for the time being I'll replace only the 6 bulged ones and maybe a few bigger ones just for peace of mind. 

I already have in stock fresh Nichicon HM caps so I got this covered.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 15, 2021)

Welp, you beat me to it  The reason I ultimately decided against buying it was that I am currently focusing myself on socket 7, slot 1 and laptop stuff  also got bored of Netburst as I probably have a buttload of em'  (a MSI 845 PRO w/ 478 to 423 interposer, a Gigabyte GA-8I848P-G, an ECS 848P-A, GB 8IPE1000, ASUS P4P800 SE, -E Deluxe, -E (no Deluxe), P4C800 and P4C800-E Deluxe, MSI 865PE Neo2-LS, ASRock 775i65G R2.0, MSI 865PE Neo3-V,ASRock P4V88+ and the list can go on more than I can count)

I already am planning some Deschutes and Katmai action, as well as some mobile stuff ranging from Coppermine to Arrandale (excluding Netburst, including Turion 64 x2 S1G1 and S1G3 hopefully)


----------



## Robert B (Jul 15, 2021)

IMO you NEVER EVER can have too many RAMBUS boards!  Come to think of it, I have 2 x 840 OR Slot 1, ECS P4ITA S423, Abit-TH7II S478, an Intel Desktop Board I850 S478 and a dead Gigabyte GA-8TM S423. In total just 5 fully working RAMBUS boards and this is after 6 years of "collecting"! The RAMBUS boards and Slot A boards are on top of my list anytime any day.  Of course that I also like Slot 1, Sk.3 and Sk.4 beasts ... and many many more ... too many to count ... too big to fit in memory. I grew up reading so much about them that when I find on of them I say: Hellow Old Friend, stay a while and rest! You are safe now! No recycler is going to get his grubby hands on you. 

I guess I don't know when to stop anymore.  I need to make a headcount and see what I have in my collection. The last time I did this was a few years ago.  I guess that I have around 60 motherboards and a couple of hundred CPUs plus at least 100 graphic cards, 50+ CPU coolers, 20-30 fully restored ODDs, cables and you name it!

Also I need to find a i820 slot 1 motherboard.  Sheeshhh begone demons of retro HW "hoarding" ( I still considet myself light weight)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 15, 2021)

My closet is full of boards lmao, so many that I've almost lost count on which work and which don't.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 15, 2021)

Robert B said:


> IMO you NEVER EVER can have too many RAMBUS boards!  Come to think of it, I have 2 x 840 OR Slot 1, ECS P4ITA S423, Abit-TH7II S478, an Intel Desktop Board I850 S478 and a dead Gigabyte GA-8TM S423. In total just 5 fully working RAMBUS boards and this is after 6 years of "collecting"! The RAMBUS boards and Slot A boards are on top of my list anytime any day.  Of course that I also like Slot 1, Sk.3 and Sk.4 beasts ... and many many more ... too many to count ... too big to fit in memory. I grew up reading so much about them that when I find on of them I say: Hellow Old Friend, stay a while and rest! You are safe now! No recycler is going to get his grubby hands on you.
> 
> I guess I don't know when to stop anymore.  I need to make a headcount and see what I have in my collection. The last time I did this was a few years ago.  I guess that I have around 60 motherboards and a couple of hundred CPUs plus at least 100 graphic cards, 50+ CPU coolers, 20-30 fully restored ODDs, cables and you name it!
> 
> Also I need to find a i820 slot 1 motherboard.  Sheeshhh begone demons of retro HW "hoarding" ( I still considet myself light weight)


Interesting... I don't suppose you have Asus P4T?


----------



## Robert B (Jul 15, 2021)

@Trekkie4 - No ASUS P4T yet! 

@MaxiPro800 - I know exactly the state of each of my parts and also what I have in stock.  Every nut and bolt.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 17, 2021)

I stitched the V5 5500. 

*Flea Market Day 2DAY!!!* - fresh electronic stuff from Germany!!!  The lot was dirt cheap. 

Pentium III Tualatin 1266MHz SL5QL + CPU terminator
Titan Slim Copper Cooler
3 Memory Modules of which one might be a VRAM upgrade for cards like Matrox G200
A bucket load of SIMM 30 Pin, 72 Pin and SDRAM
ISA Soundcard FCC ID: DXL9IL725N, Media-Vision Jazz 16, S26361-D821-V2, OPL.
Tseng ET4000AX ISA P/N 3081 REV C, ARA 3081, ISA
Medion GF4 Ti 4200 128MB
ATI PN 109-33100-00 PCI Mach 64
UMC SST-2845 Controller card
PII 300MHz SL2HA / PIII 500MHz SL35E
Asrock K7S8X SiS 746 Rev. 3.01 + AXP 2600+
Asrock K7VT2 Via KT266A Rev. 2.01 + Duron 1.2GHz (Morgan core)
Gigabyte GA-486AM/S UMC Sk.3 - it needs trace repair but nothing too difficult. I'm head over heels for Sk.3 stuff!

I left behind a lot more stuff but even so I took waaaaayyyy to many parts but I'm not complaining. 

​


----------



## freeagent (Jul 17, 2021)

Wow 1266.. impressive


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 17, 2021)

Robert B said:


> from Germany


I thought you were in South America? Weird..


----------



## Robert B (Jul 17, 2021)

I'm from Romania.  Europe. 

We get a lot of "unwanted stuff from EU" including electronics.  The wide majority is from Germany, Italy and sometimes France. I even found stuff from China with stickers and all. I don't have the slightest ideea how they get here but I'm not complaining. Romanians are very resourceful people.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 18, 2021)

Welp, you almost nailed it with Germany, but some come from Sweden and Nederlands too. 

One of my work laptops I'll have to upgrade (old is a Belgium HP DV7-4150eo, new is ASUS K73TK-TY027V) has a keyboard interestingly coloured with NL specific keys 

The K73TK will be my newest challenge - that thing is in dire need for a restoration but at least I sure hope that I can get it fully working once it's in my hands tomorrow.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 18, 2021)

Yeah, I recently discovered that German supplies of retro & obsolete hardware are much better than local ones, or even "fishing" for a particular part/model from the States. All of those BTC BCD... drives which I picked up (apart from single unit, which came from UK) originate from Germany. Furthermore, I picked up yet another Asus V7700 GeForce2 GTS for €16 yesterday ... also from Germany.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 18, 2021)

Flea Market 2day too! 

*Kapton tape. 
S3 Savage 4 GT 8MB PCI * GP3950PCI/8MB * S3 Savage Pro PCI/8MB * SP3971 REV 1
ATI Rage Pro Turbo PCI 8MB * 109-41900-10*

This weekend I made huge progress and it was awesome! Two days of only HW pr0n and repairs. I was in a trance. I have so much stuff that needs my attention. 

Abit TH7II - changed 6 caps and BIOS update. Those RAMBUS sticks are burning like hell! 10 minutes after power down they were still HOT! It was 29C where I was working but still, those sticks run HOT!
Asrock K7S8X - trace repair. I used a wire that was a little too thick but the stitch was successful. I managed to add some solder to the other two traces that weren't completely cut. It is an inexpensive board but it looks so well that it would've been a shame to leave it to rot and be destroyed. A multimeter continuity test revealed that all is OK!
The CJ#1 has been completed. Tomorrow it will leave towards a very happy owner. 3 ceramic caps, 1 resistor, trace repair, 1 OS-CON cap 470uf 6V and two power inductors. Fully restored. I'll present the story on the Project Logs section.
The Gigabyte GA-486AM/S also needs trace repair. 8 fine traces were cut. It is still under operation.
The SOYO SY-D6IBA has been cleaned preliminary. All that was bent has been straightened. I need to order fresh caps. FULL recap! I might try a POLY recap or I might keep it classy with Panasonic FR top to bottom.
Lots of misc stuff.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 18, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Flea Market 2day too!
> 
> *Kapton tape.
> S3 Savage 4 GT 8MB PCI * GP3950PCI/8MB * S3 Savage Pro PCI/8MB * SP3971 REV 1
> ...


Highly recommending Panasonic FR series... Not affiliated with Panasonic in any way (wish I was lol!), but I used their caps to recap both of my Chaintech 6BTM Slot 1 boards. I needed small caps that would fit the board, but also needed to retain the original, factory values of 6.3V & 1000uf. They also seem to have a good reputation, so it was a no-brainer for me.

Of course, it is still too early to tell anything for sure, but I expect at least 10 years of life before they will need to be replaced...


----------



## DR4G00N (Jul 18, 2021)

I wish I had actual flea markets in my area. There's a few spots where people set up tables on Sunday's but it's mostly just random junk.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 18, 2021)

Robert B said:


> The Gigabyte GA-486AM/S also needs trace repair. 8 fine traces were cut. It is still under operation.


Those should be an easy fix so long as you're careful(which we know you are) and use lots of flux.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 19, 2021)

I want to try something different and if that doesn't work out then I'll criss-cross the board with jumper wires.  There is another trace damaged 10 cm further. Being tossed in a box with other boards means lots of damage like this.

I want to try and cut an 80 pin ATA cable and make a small patch and solder all of the 8 wires in a go. This way they will also be insulated from each other. There is no harm in trying.  The 80 pin ribbon wire is just the right size and spacing. It is left to be seen if the wires respond well to soldering. I wanted to use a 40 pin cable but it was so malleable and too thick. I could be used but I didn't like the look.

I didn't order jumper wires yet.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 19, 2021)

Robert B said:


> I want to try and cut an 80 pin ATA cable and make a small patch and solder all of the 8 wires in a go. This way they will also be insulated from each other. There is no harm in trying.


That's an excellent idea. Would keep things neat and tidy too!


----------



## stef (Jul 19, 2021)

Picked up GeForce256 SDR from Amibay. Was originally looking for Creative CT6970 which comes with DVI (and IBM's FRU number), but prices are prohibiting. This should go in Slot-A Aptiva ... an ongoing project.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 20, 2021)

Well, how's a MSI Geforce 2 Pro 64MB look? 



HSF on it isn't original though, it's from a defunct FX5500 from Xpertvision.


----------



## stef (Jul 20, 2021)

I serviced few cards from 1999-2001. period and also did some testing.




*Test system:*

Asus P4P800 Deluxe
P4 2.6GHz Northwood (800MHz FSB)
512MB DDR400

*OS:* Windows XP SP2
*Nvidia driver:* Detonator 45.23
*PowerVR driver*: 2.00.20.0516

*3DMark 2000 (1024x768@16-bit):*

Asus V7700TI/64M (GeForce2 Ti) ....................8493
Hercules Kyro II 4500 64M................................6334
Asus AGP-V6600/32M (GeForce256 SDR).......4563
Asus AGP-V3800/32M (TNT2 Pro)....................3150


*3DMark 2001SE (1024x768@32-bit):*

Asus V7700TI/64M (GeForce2 Ti).....................5364
Hercules Kyro II 4500 64M................................3980
Asus AGP-V6600/32M (GeForce256 SDR).......2640
Asus AGP-V3800/32M (TNT2 Pro)....................1682

Unfortunately, I don't have GeForce2 GTS, which should be closest to Kyro II performance-wise.



MaxiPro800 said:


> Well, how's a MSI Geforce 2 Pro 64MB look?
> 
> View attachment 208890
> 
> HSF on it isn't original though, it's from a defunct FX5500 from Xpertvision.



Better than original .


----------



## Robert B (Jul 21, 2021)

Huh! Repairing cut races is no easy task but after a few f@ck-ups(big and small) I managed to get decent results. Those traces were as thin as a strand of hair. I did all the mistakes I could and then some. I tried to get perfect results with stone age tools and it was a bumpy ride to say the least. To be fair the tools weren't so much to be blamed as I was. I should've stopped when I was ahead.  Good thing that the board was cooperative.  The information I got first hand from this experience will be put to good use into the future.  I really didn't want to use long jumper cables.

In my case, it seems that I get straight to operating on the pacient instead of working on guinea pigs.  I got to tell you, repairing any broken component and then hearing the happy post beep makes it all worthwhile. 

Now I know what to do for future repairs.

The GA-486AM/S is quite happy now and not to mention quite lucky. A few more days tossed in that big pile of scrap and it would've been toast. Also it needed some extra stuff to be done but now it is purring like a kitten together with the Intel DX4 100MHz - P24C.  This GG board is quite nice! My first UMC 881/886A Sk.3 chipset and I am quite impressed.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 22, 2021)

Damn I used hours just scratching my head why Win10 won't install on my 2nd (X58) rig, I disabled virtualization as mentioned in those tips I read through Interwebz.


....until I realized that Intel VT-d is a separate thing. At least installation of build 1809 starts fine now. I'll make a media of 21H1 and let's see.

And I posted a pic of a X58 rig last time 6½yrs ago 







edit: And now it has the most recent build of Win10


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 23, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Half of the parts have arrived!
> View attachment 203320
> ASUS P2B rev 1.02 with HIP6019CB VRM, 400MHz Deschutes SL3EE, Matrox G200 8MB, and a 40GB WD Caviar.
> 
> The only thing I have to do the mobo is replace the CR2032 holder and find a new GPU (as I was told, the G200 isn't worth beans in 3D).


A random question... A friend of mine is looking for affordable, standard Asus P2B motherboard with or without the CPU... I don't suppose you (or anyone else who is reading this) can point me out in the right direction? Ebay prices are through the roof, don't know what's going on recently but everything Slot 1 related is becoming ridiculously expensive!


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 23, 2021)

Buy slotket adapter and S370 CPU.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 23, 2021)

Mine came off an classified that advertised it as untested and had a damaged CR2032 slot, as you might know from my pics.

So to put it shortly, classifieds might be a good place to look, I guess? At least on our local platform (OLX) I can find a few retro boards that are affordable, currently an babyAT Luckytech 440LX, an EPoX EP-MVP3C and a Fugutech/PCChips M520 mobo.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 23, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> Buy slotket adapter and S370 CPU.


I'm not the one searching for P2B. Personally, I got more than enough vintage Asus boards on my hand ... P3B-F, P4B & P5GD1/VM. This one is for someone else, a fellow forumer from another forum.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 24, 2021)

Hello guys! I'm a bit of a Collector and play older games, but not older than about 2000. 
I'm building AM2 & AM3 systems and like to stay with PCIE and SATA motherboards. I had a VIC 20 and would type in the game before I could play it.
Then, I skipped about 20 years before I got back into it. ( I do play Unreal & Quake II often. )
I have been lurking for about 15 years and checked ALL pages of this thread.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 25, 2021)

All copper HSF - check!
Fan controller - check!
Optical drive - check!

Welcome to the club! 



And I also read all the pages in this thread before joining


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 25, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> All copper HSF - check!
> Fan controller - check!
> Optical drive - check!
> 
> ...


Thanks QuietBob!


----------



## Robert B (Jul 26, 2021)

Sometimes I wish that ignorant and stupid people would be struck down from above ... sometimes I wish that ignorance and stupidity would hurt in such a way that people would run on the streets yelling, so that it would be easy to identify the ignorant and stupid ... rant over ... excuse me ...  Guns N' Roses - November Rain

*Saturday was an epic day. Lots of loot to be found at the flea market.*

If you are wondering what made me post this message with such a somber tone, I'll leave these pictures here and let you tell me what is wrong ... swiss cheese! I was too late to save this beauty ...

^$@^$&@*&$^&*@^$*(@&$)@&*()!!!!##!!!!!!!

I'll post pics with the loot later this week. Now I'm in mourning ...  Guns N' Roses - Don't Cry

_(goes and grabs a beer and ponders at the futility if it all ...)  G_uns N' Roses - Estranged


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 26, 2021)

I've read all of Robert B's work log threads and he does some amazing Retro re-work. I feel bad that he feels bad. 
subject: Even though my stuff isn't as Retro as most here, I still started with ATI and I miss that Company.


----------



## freeagent (Jul 26, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> I still started with ATI and I miss that Company



Me too.. I think AMD changed its name to get their name out there more. Really, they should change it back to ATi. But then again its not a Canadian company anymore.. at least we know.


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 26, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> I've read all of Robert B's work log threads and he does some amazing Retro re-work. I feel bad that he feels bad.
> subject: Even though my stuff isn't as Retro as most here, I still started with ATI and I miss that Company.


Ruby  She was an iconic mascot, Nvidia's Nalu was too (the mermaid).


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 26, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Ruby  She was an iconic mascot, Nvidia's Nalu was too (the mermaid).


Ha! I still have the notorious "Eye Candy" Dawn Tech Demos on a couple of my PC's.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 26, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Sometimes I wish that ignorant and stupid people would be struck down from above ... sometimes I wish that ignorance and stupidity would hurt in such a way that people would run on the streets yelling, so that it would be easy to identify the ignorant and stupid ... rant over ... excuse me ...  Guns N' Roses - November Rain
> 
> *Saturday was an epic day. Lots of loot to be found at the flea market.*
> 
> ...


Okay... why on earth would someone drill NOT ONE, BUT SEVERAL HOLES IN A MOTHERBOARD? I wonder if they didn't even disassemble the CPU and drilled that too. 

Seriously, some people could go to that mad extents and it's literally making my skin crawl in pain.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 26, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Okay... why on earth would someone drill NOT ONE, BUT SEVERAL HOLES IN A MOTHERBOARD? I wonder if they didn't even disassemble the CPU and drilled that too.
> 
> Seriously, some people could go to that mad extents and it's literally making my skin crawl in pain.


I wondered what the heck that was for! You had it looking almost like new too. Very sad.  I meant Robert B had it looking good.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 26, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> Ha! I still have the notorious "Eye Candy" Dawn Tech Demos on a couple of my PC's.


By "eye candy" you surely mean the naughty version/hack?


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 26, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> By "eye candy" you surely mean the naughty version/hack?


There was one for Nalu too IIRC


----------



## debs3759 (Jul 26, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Sometimes I wish that ignorant and stupid people would be struck down from above ... sometimes I wish that ignorance and stupidity would hurt in such a way that people would run on the streets yelling, so that it would be easy to identify the ignorant and stupid ... rant over ... excuse me ...  Guns N' Roses - November Rain
> 
> *Saturday was an epic day. Lots of loot to be found at the flea market.*
> 
> ...


WTF! WHY would anyone do that kind of sh!t?


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 26, 2021)

_"Yeah.. Yeh know, Ah was un Facebook the other day 'n' some dude sedd yah need to make holes in ya hard drive if yah do away yer old computer. Cuhs yeh know, them thieves of yer data that ya hearin' so much eh-bout these days"._
All mockery aside, I have met people who thought I was a thrift store or recycler (in my teens, I believe they were some distant aquintances of my mum) bring their e-waste to my parents' house with the "hard drive" (read: PSU) removed because of "their data". Needless to say, that was the least of what they seemed to have done to it (leaking caps, corrosion I seem to remember although I made be wrong since it was more than a decade ago). Dad quickly resolved the matter by saying that if their data is so precious to them; why did the PC sit in an attic or basement for at least a few years, and why did they come "dump" it at a place obviously not a thrift store or e-waste recycler?
Because I was not really into computers deeply enough to have had a purpose for pre-1995 hardware, and because the machine was obviously not in a very repairable state, we had to let mom call them to make sure they came back to pick up their stuff. Even today I am not sure how much I would have been able to salvage from it.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 27, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> By "eye candy" you surely mean the naughty version/hack?


Back in the day yes...but just the regular version now. I wouldn't remember which files to remove.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 27, 2021)

Peter1986C said:


> _"Yeah.. Yeh know, Ah was un Facebook the other day 'n' some dude sedd yah need to make holes in ya hard drive if yah do away yer old computer. Cuhs yeh know, them thieves of yer data that ya hearin' so much eh-bout these days"._
> All mockery aside, I have met people who thought I was a thrift store or recycler (in my teens, I believe they were some distant aquintances of my mum) bring their e-waste to my parents' house with the "hard drive" (read: PSU) removed because of "their data". Needless to say, that was the least of what they seemed to have done to it (leaking caps, corrosion I seem to remember although I made be wrong since it was more than a decade ago). Dad quickly resolved the matter by saying that if their data is so precious to them; why did the PC sit in an attic or basement for at least a few years, and why did they come "dump" it at a place obviously not a thrift store or e-waste recycler?
> Because I was not really into computers deeply enough to have had a purpose for pre-1995 hardware, and because the machine was obviously not in a very repairable state, we had to let mom call them to make sure they came back to pick up their stuff. Even today I am not sure how much I would have been able to salvage from it.


Basement storaging was probably the case with my GP6-400 too. The case does have some pretty nasty corrosion spots. Thankfully tho, both board and P2 400 were working fine, the only damage being an unusable 2nd RAM slot.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Okay... why on earth would someone drill NOT ONE, BUT SEVERAL HOLES IN A MOTHERBOARD? I wonder if they didn't even disassemble the CPU and drilled that too.
> 
> Seriously, some people could go to that mad extents and it's literally making my skin crawl in pain.


I'm guessing someone wanted that motherboard to never work again due to one reason or another, those were specifically made on purpose. As for "why?", I suppose we'll never find out for sure... A shame either way


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 27, 2021)

Gärbäge Inc. rescue **




Radio works, tape however... not sure. It had some generic music tape inside but I probably didn't notice it had about 10 or so seconds of dead air at the beginning.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Gärbäge Inc. rescue **
> View attachment 210021
> 
> Radio works, tape however... not sure. It had some generic music tape inside but I probably didn't notice it had about 10 or so seconds of dead air at the beginning.


You may want to check (and replace) the drive belts inside this thing, especially if you're planning to use it. Also, wipe the pinch rollers with either alcohol or tape cleaning solution


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 27, 2021)

The only issue is the 1st deck (which doesn't record anyways). 2nd deck works fine and I expect it to record audio fine. Wasn't very dusty but the buttons were pretty loose.

EDIT: nvm, it fixed itself


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2021)

Pryda ~ Loving You (Original Mix)

*If you can't find an AMD Slot A 1GHz CPU then build your own from scratch!*

4 years ago I bought a 750MHz CPU that was toast.

Today I'm confident to tackle extensive trace repair(even if my tools are a little prehistoric) and a 1GHz hard mod. The 750MHz CPU has a 1000MHz die. I'll go for broke and repair the traces and shuffle the resistors for the magical 1000 number! No gold finger device available and even if I had one I would do the same. My gut feeling says this is it! 

My CPU has the same spec of CACHE chips. I'm ready to give it my best! *All systems NOMINAL!*

Wish me luck!  (in case you are wondering, the WI in the name of the pics is the short from What If?) 

That busted GG board made want to do something outrageous and prove that nothing is lost until you say it is so!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 27, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> The only issue is the 1st deck (which doesn't record anyways). 2nd deck works fine and I expect it to record audio fine. Wasn't very dusty but the buttons were pretty loose.
> 
> EDIT: nvm, it fixed itself


Seized up mech, no doubt. I've seen my share of VHS machines & tape decks suffering from the same problem... What usually happens is that the grease hardens up & seizes the moving parts. Sometimes it can work itself loose (in your case, for example) but usually requires taking everything apart & overall maintenance.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 28, 2021)

I'm on a roll BABY!!!   Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay

*Chaintech 5SEM3-Z1 Sk.7 - ODIN mod done by me.
Fujitsu Siemens - GM1000-16 2816 PCB REV:B - Riva TNT 2 M64 LP 16MB AGP
ELSA Gladiac 511TV-OUT - Geforce 2 MX400 64MB AGP
ASUS AGP-V7700/32MB(TVR) REV 1.01 - Geforce 2 GTS 32MB AGP
Matrox G250 - G250+MILA/8/OE5 - P/N 5064-9191 - 8MB AGP
ELSA Synergy II-32 - Riva TNT 2 32MB AGP
Diamond Viper V550 SDR ATXNLX 16MB - Riva TNT 16MB AGP
MS8806 VER:1.1 - MSI Riva TNT 2 PRO 32MB AGP
Alpha PAL6035 Sk.370/A
Spire FalconRock II
Canopus Spectra 5400R2 N17-AG-904 - Riva TNT 2 32MB AGP
Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro AGP ATX 8 MB  - 3DLabs Permedia 2 8MB AGP
SL656 Intel Celeron 1.2 GHz - Tualatin-256
SL6C7 Intel Celeron 1.3 GHz - Tualatin-256
Abit KR7A-RAID - VIA KT266A - needs a few caps, nothing too serious.*

The SLOT A 750MHz CPU has been prepared for operation.  This will take a while to pull off. (The pic is from the Black Cat, White Cat movie, one of my all time favorites.  )

The stuff above is from the last Saturday plus a BIG BONUS from the the guy that sent me to repair his V5500.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 28, 2021)

Robert B said:


> I'm on a roll BABY!!!   Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay
> 
> *Chaintech 5SEM3-Z1 Sk.7 - ODIN mod done by me.
> Fujitsu Siemens - GM1000-16 2816 PCB REV:B - Riva TNT 2 LP 16MB AGP
> ...


Nice! Another Abit board. I had an Abit AN8 back in the early 2000's but kept trading-in PC's (should have kept it).


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 28, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> There was one for Nalu too IIRC





Audioave10 said:


> Back in the day yes...but just the regular version now. I wouldn't remember which files to remove.


The two hacks were distributed as a single patch which also allowed the demos to run on ATI hardware. Now, curiosity got the better of me and I installed it on one of my Win7 machines with an HD6850. Not only did it not work, but it also messed up some essential system fonts.

Serves me right for trying I guess 



MaxiPro800 said:


> Gärbäge Inc. rescue **
> View attachment 210021
> 
> Radio works, tape however... not sure. It had some generic music tape inside but I probably didn't notice it had about 10 or so seconds of dead air at the beginning.



e*X*tra *H*igh *B*ass = XHG
Yep, makes sense


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 28, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> The two hacks were distributed as a single patch which also allowed the demos to run on ATI hardware. Now, curiosity got the better of me and I installed it on one of my Win7 machines with an HD6850. Not only did it not work, but it also messed up some essential system fonts.
> 
> Serves me right for trying I guess


There is an enhanced version from Nvidia themselves (which they also removed) that I downloaded recently that works on W10. 
The older version i have on my XP machine. I had only removed some files at the time but can't remember what they were. Did not use any hacks. 
I didn't try running on ATI hardware (but I had heard about it).


----------



## Athlonite (Jul 29, 2021)

I really miss those tech demo's that ATI/AMD and nVidia used to put out


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 29, 2021)

Athlonite said:


> I really miss those tech demo's that ATI/AMD and nVidia used to put out


PixelPipes on Youtube has a video which covers most of the old Tech Demos.


----------



## Peter1986C (Jul 29, 2021)

Here is the linke thereto:


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 29, 2021)

Thanks for the Link Peter1986C.
I have some old Nvidia cards:
GT 240 512MB.......7600 GS 512MB
8500 GT 256MB.......9600 GT 1GB


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 30, 2021)

As some of the regulars here may remember, a while ago I had a wacky idea. It occured to me while trying to establish the minimum requirements for 64-bit Windows 7 with the default transparent interface. As a quick reminder, here are the official guidelines from MS:

*CPU* - 1 GHz x86-64
*RAM* - 2 GB
*GPU* - DX 9.0 compatible with hardware PS 2.0 support and WDDM 1.0 driver, 128 MB (discrete) or 64 MB (IGP) VRAM for Desktop Windows Manager (Aero Glass GUI)
*HDD*- 20 GB free space

I decided to build the simplest system capable of running it. Not subscribing to the "any hardware will do" paradigm, after some research I cobbled together a rig using the actual slowest components that fit the bill. I shared the result of my work here 

The only part in this build that wasn't really fitting was the 120 GB 5,400 rpm laptop HDD. It was the slowest drive I had on hand at that time, but I really wanted to try something even slower and less spacious. The problem with such small drives is that they aren't generally in good supply. I managed to get a 20 GB EIDE 4,200 rpm 2.5" drive and was hoping to put it in my minimum Win7 machine.

Alas, the disk wasn't correctly recognized by the Socket 754 board I'd used for that build. It also didn't work in another 2004 board because of BIOS limitations. I find this baffling, because at that time EIDE was the standard and SATA was only being introduced. Long story short, I procured another HDD, a 20 GB 5,400 rpm 2.5" SATA drive:





Oh well, it benchmarks almost the same as the 120 GB drive I originally put in that PC. Let's use it for another minimum build My previous system is based on the slowest 64-bit AMD CPU and the weakest DX9 Nvidia iGPU, so this one will employ the Intel/ATI combo.

I'll keep you guys posted


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 31, 2021)

Alright, so here are the parts for my "Win7 min spec" system #2:

- the slowest 64-bit Intel desktop CPU:


- the weakest DX9 ATI IGP:


- 2x 1 GB DDR1 @ 200 MHz:


- Intel D101GGC motherboard:


In fact, this is my second LGA 775 board with the same IGP. The first one I bought turned out to be a lemon. There was no signal from the IGP and I figured it'd be simpler just to get another one.


This is gonna be fun


----------



## Valantar (Jul 31, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Alright, so here are the parts for my "Win7 min spec" system #2:
> 
> - the slowest 64-bit Intel desktop CPU:
> View attachment 210578
> ...


Looking good, but where's the CRT monitor at the lowest supported resolution and color depth?


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 31, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Looking good, but where's the CRT monitor at the lowest supported resolution and color depth?


Ah, forgot that one!  Don't have a CRT, but my FPD can do 640x480. And I did manage to run Aero on much less than the required minimum VRAM


----------



## Valantar (Jul 31, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Ah, forgot that one!  Don't have a CRT, but my FPD can do 640x480. And I did manage to run Aero on much less than the required minimum VRAM


Hey now, what it _can do_ is Irrelevant. It needs to be its maximum spec or it obviously doesn't count. Never let silly things like what is practically feasible get in the way of perfection!


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 31, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Hey now, what it _can do_ is Irrelevant. It needs to be its maximum spec or it obviously doesn't count. Never let silly things like what is practically feasible get in the way of perfection!


I must admit I also found it easier to get a good Dell 19" 1280 x 1024 then a CRT that takes too much room on a desk or kitchen table.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 1, 2021)

Yeah, an old 4:3 or 5:4 TFT is IMO fine for a retro build.


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 1, 2021)

My first (Super) Socket 7 board/CPU/AT case I ever owned 

CPU :


Does work (even with bulged cap) :


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 2, 2021)

Do not check Ebay...
Do not check Ebay...
Do not check Ebay...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 2, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> Do not check Ebay...
> Do not check Ebay...
> Do not check Ebay...


?!? Why not?


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> ?!? Why not?


I need to start doing some more builds I guess. I've also got 2 new cases in the boxes just sitting there Lonely.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> Do not check Ebay...
> Do not check Ebay...
> Do not check Ebay...


Have to admit that a little jealousy bite me..


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 2, 2021)

Gigabyte 970A D3 AM3
AMD Phenom II 820 2.8Ghz x 4 (will clock to 3.2Ghz easily) 
Patriot DDR3 1600Mhz 8G
Xigmatek Loki Cooler
Intel 60GB SSD
my choice of at least 15 different era correct Graphics Cards
Windows Vista Business 64bit SP2 - this is a great OS IMHO now-a-days
a new EVGA 450 watt PSU ready for case and another hard drive


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> Gigabyte 970A D3 AM3
> AMD Phenom II 820 2.8Ghz x 4 (will clock to 3.2Ghz easily)
> Patriot DDR3 1600Mhz 8G
> Xigmatek Loki Cooler
> ...


Nice base for a retro gaming PC rig. At least that 820 is the better 8xx Phenom IIs as some are just rebranded Athlon IIs without L3 cache.

I have two 955 BEs to test myself which one I'll put to my ultimate AGP rig. Haven't tried those yet.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 2, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Nice base for a retro gaming PC rig. At least that 820 is the better 8xx Phenom IIs as some are just rebranded Athlon IIs without L3 cache.
> 
> I have two 955 BEs to test myself which one I'll put to my ultimate rig. Haven't tried those yet.


Yes! I always go for the biggest L3 cache.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> Yes! I always go for the biggest L3 cache.


That one has 4MB as 9xx ones have 6MB. Better than nothing though without a doubt.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 2, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> That one has 4MB as 9xx ones have 6MB. Better than nothing though without a doubt.


I found 2 of those cpu's for $13 each. One had 2 bent pins - no problem to fix.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> I found 2 of those cpu's for $13 each. One had 2 bent pins - no problem to fix.


Yeah, fixing those is easy. I can't remember how much I paid for one 955BE, 10 or 15EUR... the dude said that test those out and keep the better one, though I'll probably ask that can I buy the other one too with the same price.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 2, 2021)

I still have this stuff to play with...CPU is a FX6300


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> I still have this stuff to play with...CPU is a FX6300


Love those boxes, similar to my HD7970 box


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 2, 2021)

Welp, I had to jump through some hoops with this one. Right at the beginning I was greeted with this warning:





Isn't 20 GB the official minimum? Wait, you mean 20 GB *formatted*? Microsoft, you cheat! Looks like I'm 1063 MB short... Still, I clicked "next" and setup copied all the necessary files, only to stop with an error at the "expanding files" stage 
But I knew it'd be possible to fit the system on this drive. A complete installation takes less than 20 GB. So I temporarily installed it on a bigger drive and downloaded all the left-over updates, including the most recent ESU dated 2021-07. Then I set up the drivers, some utilities and cleared the remaining junk. Finally, I used Macrium Reflect to clone the drive onto the smaller one:





_Et voila_, fully updated 64-bit Win7 Home Premium, including a 2GB swap file and around 1.5 GB user data. 
Benchmarks incoming!


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 2, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Welp, I had to jump through some hoops with this one. Right at the beginning I was greeted with this warning:
> 
> View attachment 211001
> 
> ...


Damn, and I was already pissed off with my first SSD (64GB) back in the day as I could install only BF4 there with Win7...


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 2, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Yeah, an old 4:3 or 5:4 TFT is IMO fine for a retro build.


And you can use three 4:3 monitors with Eyefinity or Surround.  This picture is my C2Q Q9650 (with water cooling in a bucket) & Xfire HD6950s from about 10 years ago.


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 3, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Damn, and I was already pissed off with my first SSD (64GB) back in the day as I could install only BF4 there with Win7...


My first SSD was also 60 GB. I put it in a laptop, which I only used for light office work. It never ran out of space, and now it's in my XP desktop.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 3, 2021)

So I finally got myself a Geforce 3 Ti 200 from Ebay. It arrived today and after changing thermal paste and cleaning the card and heatsink I put the card in my P4 pc. After consulting HWINFO and GPU-Z I came to the realization that my GF3 Ti 200 is not a TI 200 but an original Geforce 3 ( 200/460 Mhz ) ASUS V8200 Deluxe.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> So I finally got myself a Geforce 3 Ti 200 from Ebay. It arrived today and after changing thermal paste and cleaning the card and heatsink I put the card in my P4 pc. After consulting HWINFO and GPU-Z I came to the realization that my GF3 Ti 200 is not a TI 200 but an original Geforce 3 ( 200/460 Mhz ) ASUS V8200 Deluxe.
> 
> View attachment 211044View attachment 211045View attachment 211046View attachment 211047


Looks like it's been recap'd. Nice!


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 3, 2021)

Beautiful Pics - looks almost new - some of the best Retro hardware I've seen is in the European countries.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 3, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looks like it's been recap'd. Nice!


I have no idea to tell you the truth. I did find the same card with yellow and purple capacitators.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 3, 2021)

Welcome to the GF3 club then  I have an ELSA Ti 200 myself.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 3, 2021)

Some quick benches

1: HW Info + GPUZ
2: 3DMARK01SE
3: D00M3 640X480 LOW ALL OFF
4: D00M3 800X600 LOW ALL OFF


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 3, 2021)

Since I've built two minimum Win7 systems now, I thought I'd do a side-by-side comparison. Here are the full specs:

*System #1* *AMD+Nvidia*
s754 Sempron 2500+ @ 1.4 GHz
GeForce 6100 IGP (128 MB shared RAM)
2x 1 GB (single channel) DDR-400 @ 3-3-3-8
120 GB 5,400 rpm (32 MB/s, 18 ms)


*System #2 Intel+ATI*
LGA775 Celeron D 326 @ 2.53 GHz
Radeon Xpress 200 IGP (128 MB shared RAM)
2x 1 GB (single channel) DDR-400 @ 3-3-3-8
20 GB 5,400 rpm (31 MB/s, 17 ms)


Let's start with boot times:

A very slow start for the Intel system, taking twice as long to display the desktop and 2.5x longer until everything loads. Probably because the SATA controller on the board doesn't operate in native mode, relying on the legacy IDE protocol instead. ATI's reportedly subpar southbridge may also be at fault here. Or it could be some pesky driver.

Power consumption next:

Total system consumption at the wall. True to its Prescott fame, the Intel platform draws more than 1.5x the power, both at idle and maximum.

Let's look at some synthetic benchmarks:




On paper, the Celeron looks faster due to its much higher clock. But the Sempron's IMC gives it a clear advantage when it comes to RAM latency.

Now for the actual CPU tests:

Intel wins three out of five times here, but only marginally in the SHA3 and ZLib tests. AMD takes a clear lead in the other two tests.

Synthetic FPU tests follow:

The poor Sempron gets dominated in all tests but one, and by a wide margin.

CPU-Z's FPU benchmark tells the same story:

Is there any hope for the lowly AMD processor? Could it redeem itself in practical benchmarks?

Stay tuned for more!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Stay tuned for more!


While this is interesting & fascinating and I'm looking forward to more info, one has to wonder what inspired you to begin this endeavor?


----------



## Athlonite (Aug 4, 2021)

We used to call Semprons Stumprons because they always got stumped on anything but the easiest of tasks


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 4, 2021)

I have a Sempron 3000 1.8 Ghz and was thinking of going with my old Gigabyte AM2 (DDR2) Mobo.
I'd put XP on it however.


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 4, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> While this is interesting & fascinating and I'm looking forward to more info, one has to wonder what inspired you to begin this endeavor?


I appreciate your interest! For me it was mostly curiosity. As I said earlier, it started with the official minimum requirements. Windows 7 is my favorite OS and it's been around for nearly 12 years now. It's becoming sort of retro with only 16% global market share, but can still be used for pretty much everything. I was wondering how it would run on low-end hardware. The kind of components that had long been considered obsolete by 2009? For reference, the Athlon 64 was introduced in 2003 and the Pentium 4 Prescott in 2004. By the time Win7 launched, we had quads that overclocked to 4 GHz on air.

From the current technological perspective, the two boards I used are an unusual mix. Imagine Intel asking AMD to design the chipset for their own board. Or how about AMD employing NVidia graphics on theirs? Conveniently, these motherboards enabled me to build two different entry level systems based on four different architectures. I've never owned either a Pentium 4, or an Athlon 64, and I've never used integrated graphics in a desktop. So, for me it was also a learning experience!

On a personal note, I love experimenting and tinkering with stuff. "That would never work", "it can't be done" and "it doesn't make sense" are not in my dictionary 
And I have great appreciation for old technology. I mean, who needs the fastest PC when you have two of the slowest?


----------



## debs3759 (Aug 5, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Since I've built two minimum Win7 systems now, I thought I'd do a side-by-side comparison. Here are the full specs:


What do you use to generate the charts?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 5, 2021)

debs3759 said:


> What do you use to generate the charts?


Can't say for sure but looks kinda Excelish to me..? Not sure tho.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 5, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Can't say for sure but looks kinda Excelish to me..? Not sure tho.


Since this is the nostalgic thread my guess is gonna be Lotus 1-2-3.


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 5, 2021)

The battle for the title of the slowest 64-bit desktop rages on:

Things are heating up with the two CPUs finishing neck and neck in Cinebench! But you really wouldn't like to use a single core processor for rendering.

Let's dive into cyberspace now. Surf's up!

Although no longer indicative of modern browsing experience, the Sempron fares better in the Octane benchmark, while the Celeron trumps it in the Kraken test.

How will the two contenders do in data archiving?

Here the AMD processor takes a decisive lead, despite a 1.13 GHz clock deficit. With both systems using the same memory, the result speaks volumes for the AMD64 architecture.

And now for a full system benchmark:

The Intel/ATI combo comes out on top, but you can see that the AMD/Nvidia rig has an ace up its sleeve.
Graphics benchmarks to follow! 



debs3759 said:


> What do you use to generate the charts?


MS Word 2003. I thought I'd go with something appropriate for the era


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## Kissamies (Aug 5, 2021)

Just bought a X5650 for my 2nd PC


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## lexluthermiester (Aug 5, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Just bought a X5650 for my 2nd PC


Gonna run it stock or do you plan to OC it?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 5, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Gonna run it stock or do you plan to OC it?


I'd call it illegal to run that chip under 4GHz


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 5, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I'd call it illegal to run that chip under 4GHz


Let us know how it goes. And run some benchmarks while you're at it.


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 5, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Just bought a X5650 for my 2nd PC


Price/perf for those is crazy assuming you've got a board lying around already. Think I paid around $100 years ago for mine, now they're around $10-15.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 5, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Let us know how it goes. And run some benchmarks while you're at it.


Oh hell yeah! Here's FireStrike and TimeSpy with i7 920 @ 3.8, I'll run those with the Xeon next week 









						I scored 8 283 in Fire Strike
					

Intel Core i7-920 Processor, AMD Radeon HD 7970 x 1, 8192 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com
				











						I scored 2 507 in Time Spy
					

Intel Core i7-920 Processor, AMD Radeon HD 7970 x 1, 8192 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com
				






DR4G00N said:


> Price/perf for those is crazy assuming you've got a board lying around already. Think I paid around $100 years ago for mine, now they're around $10-15.


Yeah I got a Rampage III Extreme which I got for free from another Finnish retro hobbyist  he said that this has some bent pins and two memory slots aren't working, haven't tried to inspect those yet.


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 6, 2021)

So, can you game on the weakest DX9 integrated graphics? Setting up the Radeon Xpress 200 was a bit more difficult, because AMD doesn't provide Win7 drivers for it. And the IGP wasn't detected upon installation, meaning no out of the box support. Windows Update downloaded an old Catalyst 8.6 driver from 2008, but I decided to try the latest 2010 Vista driver instead. It worked!

Both IGPs are thus utilizing their most recent drivers. The GF6100 is using the WHQL ForceWare 309.08 Win7 driver from 2015, and the RX200 - the Beta Catalyst 10.2 Vista driver from 2010. Driver settings were optimized for maximum performance. 

In hardware, the GF6100 is based on the 6200 TurboCache (NV44) GPU that debuted in 2004. It has 2 ROPs, 2 TMUs, 2 Pixel Shaders and 1 Vertex Shader running at 425 MHz. The RX200 derives from the X300 (RV370) chip that was also launched in 2004 (essentially a Radeon 9550 (RV350) with a PCIe interface). It has 2 ROPs, 2 TMUs, 2 Pixel Shaders and 2 Vertex Shaders running at 300 MHz. Memory-wise, both IGPs are using 128 MB of shared DDR1 memory at 400 MHz, granting 3.2 GB/s theoretical bandwidth.

As a reminder, the GF6100 is paired with a 1.4 GHz Sempron 2500+, and the RX200 with a 2.53 GHz Celeron D 326. I benchmarked at 1024x768 to shift the stress away from the CPU.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for:


The 1998 benchmark runs smoothly on both IGPs. I couldn't disable Vsync for the ATI chip, so the maximum frame rate was limited to 60 on both.

Here's the 2003 sequel:

The GF is now pulling ahead by more than a half, but even at minimum detail it cannot maintain 30 fps.

Next, AquaMark 2:

The difference is clear in this 2001 benchmark, with the GF again scoring at least 50% higher.

And the sequel from 2003:

Here the two systems are more evenly matched, while the processors are starved for GPU power, as evidenced by the bottleneck.

On to CodeCreatures:

Both systems are struggling to run this graphically demanding test from 2002. The GF is still ahead, although CodeCreatures was optimized for Nvidia hardware.

Let's look at DroneZmarK, a visually stunning benchmark released in 2001:


This demo was specifically meant to showcase the graphic capabilities of the GF3. In the above run the settings were equalized on both systems for a fairer comparison. DroneZmarK is also optimized for the Pentium 4 architecture and perhaps this is why the Intel rig put up a good fight here.

I'm going to present the 3DMark results without a comment, so that everybody can compare their results and draw their own conclusions:






Since benchmarks don't translate directly to real game performance, I'm planning to run some on both platforms for more insight


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 6, 2021)

And R9550 is just an underclocked 9600 

edit: I have one myself (Club3D 256MB version), overclocks over 9600 clocks, not to Pro levels tho. I like that card


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 6, 2021)

@QuietBob Really appreciate what your doing Quiet ! Thanks !


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## Robert B (Aug 7, 2021)

Fresh additions. 

*YAMAHA CDRW IDE - CRW8824E* - interesting ODD with a little fan in the back. It will be a treat to restore it. I expect to find marvelous mechanics inside. 
*Intel 386 25MHz CPU* - A80386DX-25 IV SX218
*AMD 386 40MHz CPU* - Am386DX/DXL-40 C 220HRYF
*AMD K6 200MHz* - AMD-K6-200ALR
*Matrox G550* G55+MDHA32DB - AGP 8x 32MB
*Matrox Millennium II PCI* - MGA MIL/2I
*Albatron Geforce FX5600P
Intel Celeron Slot 1 300A/66 - SL32A - MALAY aka THE LEGEND! 
Intel Celeron Slot 1 300/66 - SL2YP
AMD Athlon 500MHz Slot A K7500MTR51B C*
Curious looking *DDR 1?* stick with a *Thermaltake LED strip* and a silver chromed shroud, plus a bracket with a switch. - I'm quite curious to test this puppy out. By the looks of it it wasn't daisy chained with another module and I only found one stick at the vendor. L.E. - *Thermaltake TrueLight CL-C0001 memory heatspreader
TWO tape reels* for really old computers. I bought these on a whim as I never ever saw one in the flesh. One is a *MEMOREX* and the other is from *HP3000 System CM STORE FORMAT MPE/IX 4.0 Release P/N 30126-10337 6250CPI 2400ft REORDER 92150 F. *Combined I think that I have about 1.5km of tape.


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## lexluthermiester (Aug 7, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Intel Celeron Slot 1 300A/66 - SL32A - MALAY aka THE LEGEND!
> Intel Celeron Slot 1 300/66 - SL2YP


Golden find there! Both of them! The 300a was a legend sure, but the 300 was just as overclockable and even without the L2 cache it still performed very well!


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## Kissamies (Aug 8, 2021)

Did I post this one before?






@Robert B love that FX 5600


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## QuietBob (Aug 8, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Fresh additions.
> 
> *YAMAHA CDRW IDE - CRW8824E* - interesting ODD with a little fan in the back. It will be a treat to restore it. I expect to find marvelous mechanics inside.
> *Intel 386 25MHz CPU* - A80386DX-25 IV SX218
> ...


Good loot! The Am386DX-40 was in my first PC. I also have fond memories of the Mendocino 300A.



Jill Valentine said:


> Did I post this one before?
> 
> View attachment 211662
> 
> ...


Not bad! Nearly as fast as my Celeron D


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## MaxiPro800 (Aug 8, 2021)

Let the flames commence!






One of the most well known heaters in the world, an AMD based HP Pavilion dv5, model no. dv5-1026eo. Originally had a Turion RM-70, got replaced with a Turion Ultra ZM-82 just for laughs. I don't even want to know how bad the ZM-84, 87 and even 88 are thermally-wise.

Specs:
- 15.4 1280x800 CCFL AUOptronics B154EW08 LCD
- 2x2GB Samsung PC2-6400/DDR2-800
- TSSTCorp TS-L633L Lightscribe DVDRW
- Hitachi 5K500 B-250 250GB HDD
- AMD RS880(?) chipset
- Atheros AR5BXB92 300Mbps WiFi card (upgraded from 5BXB63)
- Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64


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## F-Zero (Aug 9, 2021)

Hey guys.
So I decided I wanted to build a socket 370 pc and just today my postwoman delivered this    Asus TUSL2-C with 2x256 Mb SDR 133 Mhz, Intel Celeron 1200Mhz/256/100, I/O shield, cables and a cpu cooler.

I'm not planning to use the Celeron as I got a Tualatin 1.4 Ghz on the way ( hope it arrives this week ! )









This is with everything laid out





My main problem is that I don't have any IDE hard disks and I'm waiting for a Pata IDE to Sata Hard Drive Adapter. I hope to use the SSD if the motherboard detects it, not sure. If not I have a classic hard drive SATA from wester digital. Another problem is I don't have any cases left and I really want something from the year 2000/2001.
In the end it should have these parts:

Intel Pentium 3 1.4Ghz 512kb/133FSB Tualatin
Asus TUSL2-C
512 Mb 133 Mhz SDR
Asus Geforce 3 200/460 Mhz
Crucial BX240 SSD
Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer
Floppy disk drive
and some case


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## stef (Aug 9, 2021)

It'll be great system.
Regarding SSD, take a look at Promise FastTrack S150 controllers.


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## MaxiPro800 (Aug 9, 2021)

A freebie I got today. SL4SH, Socket 423.




The only true Socket 423 chip I have. The other is a 478 to 423 adapter.


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## QuietBob (Aug 9, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Let the flames commence!
> View attachment 211697View attachment 211698
> 
> One of the most well known heaters in the world, an AMD based HP Pavilion dv5, model no. dv5-1026eo. Originally had a Turion RM-70, got replaced with a Turion Ultra ZM-82 just for laughs. I don't even want to know how bad the ZM-84, 87 and even 88 are thermally-wise.
> ...


I have a nearly identical one! Mine's a Compaq Presario CQ60-100EM, upgraded with a ZM-85, 2x 2 GB DDR2-800 and a BX500 240 GB. Originally it was the entry model with a Sempron SI-40, 1x 512 MB DDR2-666 and a 120 GB HDD 

@Jill Valentine
One of my HD7970s is a DirectCU II and the other one DirectCU II Top. The Top uses custom air cooling and overclocks higher, the regular one has a stock HSF.


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## MaxiPro800 (Aug 9, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> I have a nearly identical one! Mine's a Compaq Presario CQ60-100EM, upgraded with a ZM-85, 2x 2 GB DDR2-800 and a BX500 240 GB. Originally it was the entry model with a Sempron SI-40, 1x 512 MB DDR2-666 and a 120 GB HDD


The CQ60 and 61s are the two models I am literally avoiding at all costs.
I had to work on one of these a year or two ago, and on the same S1G2 platform as my DV5, except the chipset was nVidia instead of ATi. 

The best I can say is that whoever came up with designing the plastics and disassembly on those two CQ series literally hired a bunch of monkeys. It was horribly painful, at least for me, to open it up enough to replace its CPU (the one I worked on had an Athlon as opposed to a Sempron) and piece it back. The original DV5 and DV7s literally open A LOT easier. (on the same note, I also avoid any Turion based DV7s. In their case it's not the plastic design that's the issue. It's the motherboards being horribly fragile compared to their Intel + nVidia counterparts.)


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## Mr.Scott (Aug 9, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys.
> So I decided I wanted to build a socket 370 pc and just today my postwoman delivered this    Asus TUSL2-C with 2x256 Mb SDR 133 Mhz, Intel Celeron 1200Mhz/256/100, I/O shield, cables and a cpu cooler.
> 
> I'm not planning to use the Celeron as I got a Tualatin 1.4 Ghz on the way ( hope it arrives this week ! )
> ...


It will detect SSD just fine. I bench mine on a SSD.
Make sure you use the good X-86 secret bios.


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## F-Zero (Aug 10, 2021)




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## Bungz (Aug 10, 2021)

Oooh

Not had one of these before.





Picked up a few bits lately but supposed to be moving so don't have much time to play 

New house is far bigger tho so lots more room to store old stuff


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## MaxiPro800 (Aug 10, 2021)

Do I spy a A7V8X-X or A7V600 in there?


----------



## Bungz (Aug 10, 2021)

A7V600-X

Top bearding there 

Funny as it would support the bog standard 200mhz FSB 3200+ Barton rather than the odd bod 166 version.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 11, 2021)

A question for you Serious Retro guys. My PC world starts at about 2002. I've never used DOS or played DOS games. (yes, I am ashamed) 
These are dated from 1981 to 1992...did you play any of these games?


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 11, 2021)

Received today, PATA/SATA converter so I could finally test everything. Works perfect and installed Windows Xp !  Now just waiting for the case.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 11, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Received today, PATA/SATA converter so I could finally test everything. Works perfect and installed Windows Xp !  Now just waiting for the case.
> 
> View attachment 212153View attachment 212154


That Asus copper cooler looks awesome!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 11, 2021)

Latest free score. A Panasonic NV-MV16EP VCR, with cords and remote. Plays tapes with the clearest picture, has an quite nice (albeit quite barren for my taste) OSD, and also has a Jet Rewind feature.


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 11, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> A question for you Serious Retro guys. My PC world starts at about 2002. I've never used DOS or played DOS games. (yes, I am ashamed)
> These are dated from 1981 to 1992...did you play any of these games?



Without even looking close, I'm gonna claim about half or more of the AD&D list (love Azure Bonds), Jewel of Darkness, Guild of thieves....Star Command, Wizard's Crown......Cyber Empires, and that Sierra on the top shelf, next stack in Red looks familiar...


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 11, 2021)

Ahhzz said:


> Without even looking close, I'm gonna claim about half or more of the AD&D list (love Azure Bonds), Jewel of Darkness, Guild of thieves....Star Command, Wizard's Crown......Cyber Empires, and that Sierra on the top shelf, next stack in Red looks familiar...


Quest For Glory III


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 11, 2021)

Play it again, Sam?
I've installed nineteen games on my two "Win7min" systems with integrated graphics to see if they could handle them. The titles span nine years, eight APIs and fifteen different game engines. I was able to use the built-in benchmark for Quake, Quake II, SiN, MDK 2, Serious Sam and Unreal. For the rest I simply compared the framerates at the very beginning of a new game, when you first gain control of the player character. While those numbers do not reflect actual gameplay, they could provide a general idea of how each title performs. I tested at the lowest resolution and detail settings to get true to life results. They should be considered a "best-case" scenario for the hardware.

On paper, the Radeon Xpress 200 is about 30% slower than the GeForce 6100, though both IGPs released in the same year. Their specifications are nearly identical, apart from the faster core clock on the GF6100 and one more Vertex Shader on the RX200. Both IGPs are using 128 MB of shared DDR1 memory at 400 MHz. As previously, the RX200 is paired with the slowest 64-bit Intel desktop CPU, and the GF6100 with the slowest offering from AMD.

Let's look at theoretical figures first:


Would real software mirror these differences? Let the games begin!



What a beating! The Intel rig stands no chance against the AMD system in OpenGL. Nvidia's integrated solution proved 1.5 to 2.5x faster.

What about Direct3D?



Payback time! The RX200 is able to match and even outperform the GF6100 in some titles. But let's keep in mind that those older games utilized the fixed-function rendering pipeline of DX6/7, and leaned heavily on CPU power. The Celeron's stronger floating-point unit paves the way to ATI's victory here. Once we get to the DX9 era, the RX200 performs much worse than its rival.

On the whole, the Radeon Xpress 200 is the clear winner in our competition for the weakest DX9 GPU 

Although the GeForce 6100 doesn't look much better in specs, it was able to eclipse ATI's IGP by a wide margin. Even the huge clock speed benefit provided by the Celeron D 326 didn't make a difference most of the time. On the other hand, games tend to favor low memory latency and the AMD system profits from the CPU's integrated memory controller. Nvidia's IGP seems to have capitalized on the much lower RAM access time afforded by the Sempron 2500+ (92 vs 166 ns on the Intel platform).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 11, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> did you play any of these games?


I never played any of them, but that is a very nice collection! DOSBox will be your friend!


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 12, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> PATA/SATA converter



LOL, I think I still have about a half a dozen of them converters. Never did have a single one of them go bad and I'm sure they probably still work just fine.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 12, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Latest free score. A Panasonic NV-MV16EP VCR, with cords and remote. Plays tapes with the clearest picture, has an quite nice (albeit quite barren for my taste) OSD, and also has a Jet Rewind feature.


Each time I see features like "Jet Rewind", "Turbo Drive", "Flash Rewind" or similar, I get chills knowing what's going on the inside of these things. Fact is, VHS inventors (JVC) never intended the tape to travel THAT fast, which was one of the reasons why pretty much all of the earlier VHS machines had slower mechanisms. These older units would also unload tape from the tape drum before doing so, and then would have to thread the tape back, around the head drum in order to play.

However, this takes time, and people were getting impatient (read spoiled) ... SO, certain companies decided to save a lot of time by rewinding the tape while keeping the tape looped around the head drum. And even though this approach wasn't ideal, it didn't cause any stress or damage, until they've increased the rewind speed to absurd level. Nowdays, we have a whole new "flash" standard, where the 180-minute tape gets wound back in 60 seconds OR less. And THAT is causing a lot of stress on the tape, especially if it's older cassette, used many times before.

And don't get me even started on the physical damage, I've seen situations where the VHS machine tore the tape from the spools, because the sensors failed to detect the tape position & the whole thing slammed to a halt, breaking pretty much all the gears in the process. Sony unit by the way, not Funai or something similar.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 12, 2021)

3DMARK01SE

Intel Pentium III-S 1.4Ghz
Asus V8200 Deluxe 200/460 Mhz


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 12, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> 3DMARK01SE
> 
> Intel Pentium III-S 1.4Ghz
> Asus V8200 Deluxe 200/460 Mhz
> ...


I was about to ask about benchmarks and you beat me to it  Could you run some CPU tests on the fastest Tualatin?


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 12, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> I was about to ask about benchmarks and you beat me to it  Could you run some CPU tests on the fastest Tualatin?


I would gladly ! Can you tell me some benches for testing ?


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 12, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> I would gladly ! Can you tell me some benches for testing ?


You could try some of the benchmarks I used. 3DMarks have a CPU test, AIDA and PerformanceTest 9 will run on XP, CPU-Z has a 32-bit exe. I also bench with FlopsCPU.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 12, 2021)

Here we go !

I tried PT9 but it would not run so I used PT8.


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 12, 2021)

This fastest Pentium III is only 17% behind my Celeron D 326 in 3DMark03. Considering a three year architectural gap and the +1.13 GHz clock on the Prescott, this is an awesome score! 
I'll run the other benchmarks & will get back.


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 13, 2021)

Similar, yet different


----------



## Splinterdog (Aug 13, 2021)

This Gainward Geforce 3 has really stood the test of time and has moved house with me more than half a dozen times since I first bought it 20 years ago.
Pretty sure I bought it from Overclockers UK.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 13, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> This Gainward Geforce 3 has really stood the test of time and has moved house with me more than half a dozen times since I first bought it 20 years ago.
> Pretty sure I bought it from Overclockers UK.
> View attachment 212375


Love the card ! How about a 3dmark01 run ?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 13, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> This Gainward Geforce 3 has really stood the test of time and has moved house with me more than half a dozen times since I first bought it 20 years ago.
> Pretty sure I bought it from Overclockers UK.
> View attachment 212375


Beautiful card!


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 13, 2021)

@F-Zero
I ran these bechmarks in 64-bit Win7, but I used the 32-bit exe:


Posted from the actual rig


----------



## Cheese_On_tsaot (Aug 13, 2021)




----------



## F-Zero (Aug 13, 2021)

Thanks @QuietBob ! I'm really impressed on how the Pentium 3 holds his own being 3 years older how you said. But I got some good news. I got my final piece for my P3 pc.

*Antec PlusView 1000 AMG*

I hope you like it as it was really a crazy time collecting everything.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 13, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Each time I see features like "Jet Rewind", "Turbo Drive", "Flash Rewind" or similar, I get chills knowing what's going on the inside of these things. Fact is, VHS inventors (JVC) never intended the tape to travel THAT fast, which was one of the reasons why pretty much all of the earlier VHS machines had slower mechanisms. These older units would also unload tape from the tape drum before doing so, and then would have to thread the tape back, around the head drum in order to play.
> 
> However, this takes time, and people were getting impatient (read spoiled) ... SO, certain companies decided to save a lot of time by rewinding the tape while keeping the tape looped around the head drum. And even though this approach wasn't ideal, it didn't cause any stress or damage, until they've increased the rewind speed to absurd level. Nowdays, we have a whole new "flash" standard, where the 180-minute tape gets wound back in 60 seconds OR less. And THAT is causing a lot of stress on the tape, especially if it's older cassette, used many times before.
> 
> And don't get me even started on the physical damage, I've seen situations where the VHS machine tore the tape from the spools, because the sensors failed to detect the tape position & the whole thing slammed to a halt, breaking pretty much all the gears in the process. Sony unit by the way, not Funai or something similar.


I've had crappier machines kill tapes (in my case IRRADIO (Goldstar OEM'd clone) and a Funai) but breaking gears on a Sony really is a first. Thankfully this Panasonic is as good as the previous Grundig I had (I bet that one used either Panasonic or some high quality Philips gear inside as the quality was way too good for a cheap machine.) and since I don't use the Jet Rewind feature (I don't even need it lol) I have high hopes it will be just fine. I will have to crack my i5-3470 machine open and figure out how to record audio from its PCI-E Winfast PxDVR3200H Tv Tuner, and set up a RF cable to be able to record AV (since the only things available on that Panny is RF In/Out and a AV SCART output)


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 13, 2021)

F-Zero, I have the beige, non-windowed, non-side vent version of your Antec case.  I have an i5 4670 CPU & RX 480 8GB GPU in it.  I bought several 80mm PWM fans for it & added USB 2.0 & 3,0 to the front 3.5" bays.  It is a cool case for a retro, but also very useful for a more modern system too.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 13, 2021)

Love that Antec SOHO tower!!! I have that same one without the side window. 
I've had a couple of systems installed in it, but it's currently sitting empty at the moment.................Dang, makes me want to put a system together in it again.......


----------



## Splinterdog (Aug 13, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Love the card ! How about a 3dmark01 run ?


Would that be 3dMark2001?

Correction, it's this one








						Futuremark 3DMark 2001 Free Version (v3.3.0) Download
					

The Gamers Benchmark  3DMark®2001 SE Pro (build 330) is the latest installment in the popular 3DMark series. By combining DirectX®8.1 suppor




					www.techpowerup.com
				




Here's the result!


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 13, 2021)

@Splinterdog Here's a free key : https://benchmarks.ul.com/legacy-benchmarks

EDIT : 
Result Browser 2001 SE download : LINK.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 14, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> @Splinterdog Here's a free key : https://benchmarks.ul.com/legacy-benchmarks
> 
> EDIT :
> Result Browser 2001 SE download : LINK.


 
Awesome information @agent_x007 !!!!!!!

Hope you don't mind, but I put that link and a thanks to you on the original post.


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 14, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Awesome information @agent_x007 !!!!!!!
> 
> Hope you don't mind, but I put that link and a thanks to you on the original post.


No problem 
I would put an adnotation about result browser for 3DMark 01 SE, which allows easy comparisons between systems (if results were saved in .3dp file format).
Example :


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 15, 2021)

Alright guys, now I have the Xeon on my X58 rig 

Fire Strike compare: https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/26077596/fs/25949450
Time Spy compare: https://www.3dmark.com/compare/spy/22164041/spy/21676321

Went totally HC with the cooling 



Spoiler










Yeah... I should get new hoses as they've had UV from a led-strip and they're crappy as well..

(and yeah, I have four optical drives (three attached) because I don't have any 5.25" blanks  )


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Yeah... I should get new hoses as they've had UV from a led-strip and they're crappy as well..


I'd recommend the black type. They don't get ugly and they don't degrade. They would also go well with the theme you've got. That's a lot of optical drives though.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'd recommend the black type. They don't get ugly and they don't degrade. They would also go well with the theme you've got. That's a lot of optical drives though.


Though transparent hoses are easier when getting the air out of the loop as it's easy to see all the bubbles.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Though transparent hoses are easier when getting the air out of the loop as it's easy to see all the bubbles.


Bubbles generally work their way out of a loop anyway.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Bubbles generally work their way out of a loop anyway.


Either my pump (Alphacool DDC) sucks or there's just too much restriction, but I have to turn the PC all around that the bubbles move from the loop to the reservoir.. That usually takes longer that building the loop itself 

Anyway, it doesn't matter that much as that case has a solid side panel. Though I'll get a smaller case for it later, though R3E is "Asus EATX" sized, so it didn't fit on that case which I built my AGP rig.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Either my pump (Alphacool DDC) sucks or there's just too much restriction, but I have to turn the PC all around that the bubbles move from the loop to the reservoir.. That usually takes longer that building the loop itself
> 
> Anyway, it doesn't matter that much as that case has a solid side panel. Though I'll get a smaller case for it later, though R3E is "Asus EATX" sized, so it didn't fit on that case which I built my AGP rig.


Here's the thing about bubbles in a loop, as long as they're small they do no harm and eventually work their way out, it's just fluid physics.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Here's the thing about bubbles in a loop, as long as they're small they do no harm and eventually work their way out, it's just fluid physics.


I wish they had been, I mean there was many centimetre long air pockets so I had to get them out..


----------



## Ahhzz (Aug 15, 2021)

Getting ready to toss these, I think heheh.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 15, 2021)

Ahhzz said:


> Getting ready to toss these, I think heheh.
> 
> View attachment 212720


Hell no! Hold onto those! They are a part of history! At least don't throw them in the rubbish bin.

This is a video that seems to fit in well here:








I'll post part two when MJD uploads the video.​


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 16, 2021)

My wife used to bring one of those Compaqs home from work about thirty years ago.  The Compaq name meant Compact, but she always just called it Luggable. lol
It only had 2 floppy drives, no HDD.  You would run DOS on one floppy & the word processing program on the other floppy with that 'giant' amber screen.  Good times!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2021)

68Olds said:


> but she always just called it Luggable. lol


A lot of people said that. But it was truly portable!


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 16, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> View attachment 212153


It's always nice how back in those days Asus was about the only vendor that mostly used quality Japanese caps on most of their products.....such as this motherboard and video card. All my old P2/P3 era Asus boards still work as new on their original caps.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2021)

budget_Optiplex said:


> All my old P2/P3 era Asus boards still work as new on their original caps.


To be fair, even high quality electrolytic caps will fail. You parts will need a recap job someday. It's better to do so sooner rather than later to avoid leakage and corrosion from the electrolyte fluid..


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Aug 16, 2021)

Not worried about the Nichicons on my old Asus boards, but the ECS K7S5A I recapped for a friend recently for his retro build, now that was some junk caps. Recapped board is probably the most stable I've ever seen a K7S5A work so the G-Luxon caps they came with even new were trash!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 16, 2021)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Not worried about the Nichicons on my old Asus boards


Nichicon caps die too. I've had to replace them. And with Pentium2/3 boards, they are getting to the tail end of their viability being this old. It's time to start thinking about a recap job in the next few years. Not trying to be a know-it-all here, just trying to remind you of a fact of electronics, you know, pro-your concern and better safe than sorry kind of thing.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 16, 2021)

And there was the "capacitor plague" in the early 2000s.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 16, 2021)

Hey guys, hope you all have a good day. So did you ever ask yourself how does a *P4 3.2 Ghz* (Prescott core)clocked @ 1.4 Ghz does against a *P3 1.4 Ghz* (Tualatin core). Well let's see, or how Joe from RETROHARDWARE would say: Let's go for it   












*PassMark P3 vs P4 @ 1.4 Ghz*




*SuperPi P3 vs P4 @ 1.4 Ghz



3DMARK03 CPU TEST P3 vs P4 @ 1.4 Ghz



CPU-Z bench P3 vs P4 @ 1.4 GHz

*


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 16, 2021)

Nice comparison, though P4 is totally bottlenecked with such low FSB


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 16, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Nice comparison, though P4 is totally bottlenecked with such low FSB


Yeah I know, would have to get a P4 Willamette @ 1.4 Ghz to try it out. Have to take a look for a socket 423 mobo


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 16, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Yeah I know, would have to get a P4 Willamette @ 1.4 Ghz to try it out. Have to take a look for a socket 423 mobo


Never even seen a S423 board IRL, just only on the interwebz. Though I had a S478 Willamette (1.7GHz) back in the day, oh boy it was slow.


----------



## delshay (Aug 16, 2021)

I just found a old floppy drive while going through my old stuff.   ..It's a Sony drive Model No MP-f40W-05. but unlike any normal floppy drive this has motorized eject. I can't remember if it can also do motorize insert.  It has a very small electrical contact button to eject the floppy, but I know you can send  a command to it & eject the floppy. The outer casing has MP-F40W-07 written on it, but the first P/N  I think is the correct one. It should be fully working by  the way it was wrapped up.

EDIT: There's a toggle switch on the side, I can't remember what this does, but I think it toggle compatibility between different computers. . I should have three of theses drives, but I only know two is fully working.

Manufactured by SONY for IBM..


----------



## agent_x007 (Aug 16, 2021)

Just get 2,8GHz 800MHz FSB Prescott and try again.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 16, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> Just get 2,8GHz 800MHz FSB Prescott and try again.


Good point, as it's 14x200, then just run it with 100FSB 

e: CPU-Z shows that it has multiplier of 14-16x, can that 3.2GHz one be dropped to 14x, @F-Zero ?


----------



## stef (Aug 16, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys, hope you all have a good day. So did you ever ask yourself how does a *P4 3.2 Ghz* (Prescott core)clocked @ 1.4 Ghz does against a *P3 1.4 Ghz* (Tualatin core). Well let's see, or how Joe from RETROHARDWARE would say: Let's go for it
> 
> View attachment 212876View attachment 212877View attachment 212878View attachment 212879
> 
> ...




Celeron 420 @1.4GHz (VIA PT880 chipset) for comparison:




*3DMark 2003 CPU test:*




*Passmark CPU:*










*SuperPi:*




*CPU-Z Bench:*


----------



## Hamburger Burglar (Aug 16, 2021)

Tomorrow I will build a Windows 2000 gaming rig with this Pentium II 350. Sorry for the annoying watermark lol.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 17, 2021)

Hamburger Burglar said:


> Tomorrow I will build a Windows 2000 gaming rig with this Pentium II 350. Sorry for the annoying watermark lol.
> View attachment 212925


I'd personally go for Win98SE with such a slow CPU, I'd have 700+ MHz if I'd go with Win2K. At least it's with the newer 250nm core, it should overclock somewhat ok


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 17, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Good point, as it's 14x200, then just run it with 100FSB
> 
> e: CPU-Z shows that it has multiplier of 14-16x, can that 3.2GHz one be dropped to 14x, @F-Zero ?


It depends on the motherboard whether there is a multiplier setting in BIOS.  Both my Abit S478 boards have the setting.  Running my P4 3.4e @ 14x286 with 1:1 RAM divider in the AI7 was a lot of fun.  Hot... But a lot of fun. lol  I couldn't do that with my IC7g MaxII because of the 250MHz RAM bug.

I'd like to see a 2.8C northwood at 14x100 compared too (if one could be found).  I bet it would beat the prescott in some benches with both running the lower FSB.
If I remember correctly the Willamette couldn't hold a candle to the Tualatin.  That PIII was an awesome CPU.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 17, 2021)

68Olds said:


> It depends on the motherboard whether there is a multiplier setting in BIOS.  Both my Abit S478 boards have the setting.  Running my P4 3.4e @ 14x286 with 1:1 RAM divider in the AI7 was a lot of fun.  Hot... But a lot of fun. lol  I couldn't do that with my IC7g MaxII because of the 250MHz RAM bug.
> 
> I'd like to see a 2.8C northwood at 14x100 compared too (if one could be found).  I bet it would beat the prescott in some benches with both running the lower FSB.
> If I remember correctly the Willamette couldn't hold a candle to the Tualatin.  That PIII was an awesome CPU.


Northwood vs. Prescott head to head, clock per clock, the only bench the Northwood wins is Wprime. 
Trust me. It is a stage for a contest at HWB right now.

BTW, my 3.2 Northwood @ 4.1 does Wprime 32m in under a minute. 
Comparable Prescott at same clocks does in in about a minute ten average.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Never even seen a S423 board IRL, just only on the interwebz. Though I had a S478 Willamette (1.7GHz) back in the day, oh boy it was slow.


I had Asus P4T, S423 board back in the early 2000s ... and oh boy, was it a headache! Everything seemed perfect for the first year or two - until it was finally the time to upgrade. Because unlike nowdays, you couldn't run the same system for a whole decade, you had to upgrade often in order to run even the "basic" games from that era.

But anyhow, I remember searching around for Rambus modules (only to find out that the RIMM memory is incredibly rare ... and expensive) along with the fact that I was stuck with Socket 423 platform and couldn't upgrade to anything better. Couple of years later I bought a whole new system instead (Athlon 64) seeing that it was cheaper than throwing money into P4T/S423 hardware


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 17, 2021)

I made an assumption that the northwood shorter pipeline might benefit from the underclocked FSB.  If not, I guess the greater L2 cache in the prescott makes the difference.

I saw that there was going to be some vintage hardware benching at HWB.  Thought it might be fun to participate, but work doesn't provide me the time right now.

I had a s423 system back in the day.  It was a Dell running WinME. Doh!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2021)

68Olds said:


> I made an assumption that the northwood shorter pipeline might benefit from the underclocked FSB.  If not, I guess the greater L2 cache in the prescott makes the difference.
> 
> I saw that there was going to be some vintage hardware benching at HWB.  Thought it might be fun to participate, but work doesn't provide me the time right now.
> 
> I had a s423 system back in the day.  It was a Dell running WinME. Doh!


There is nothing wrong with Windows ME if you ask me  I've been running ME myself, years after XP came out.


----------



## Hamburger Burglar (Aug 17, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I'd personally go for Win98SE with such a slow CPU, I'd have 700+ MHz if I'd go with Win2K. At least it's with the newer 250nm core, it should overclock somewhat ok


Yeah I thought that I could use 98 but because of the native usb support and large disk support (even my 1TB USB HDD ia being detected) I chose W2K. Also iam a huge fan of W2K.

Or maybe I should use the 450mhz model?


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 17, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys, hope you all have a good day. So did you ever ask yourself how does a *P4 3.2 Ghz* (Prescott core)clocked @ 1.4 Ghz does against a *P3 1.4 Ghz* (Tualatin core). Well let's see, or how Joe from RETROHARDWARE would say: Let's go for it
> 
> View attachment 212876View attachment 212877View attachment 212878View attachment 212879
> 
> ...



Ooh, the 1.4 GHz single core club? I want in


----------



## stef (Aug 17, 2021)

Interesting. That Sempron may be closest thing to Tualatin III-S. I mean, it's better overal but close in some tests.
AMD64 likes low-latency memory modules. You can try 2.5-3-3-8 1T maybe. Most of the PC3200 modules should be able to do that.

I have Geode NX1750 @ 1.4GHz. Need to test that. It's pretty much same gen. as Tualatin, and also socket A.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2021)

Speaking of Tualatins ... behold the one & only 1.4 




Yes, it took me a while to find one, and it was much more expensive than I expected but nevertheless...


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 17, 2021)

What was new to me (several years ago) that also some Coppermines (Coppermine-T) have IHS as well. I thought for a long that it was a Tualatin exclusive.


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 17, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Good point, as it's 14x200, then just run it with 100FSB
> 
> e: CPU-Z shows that it has multiplier of 14-16x, can that 3.2GHz one be dropped to 14x, @F-Zero ?


Sorry the mobo doesn't have that option.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 17, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> What was new to me (several years ago) that also some Coppermines (Coppermine-T) have IHS as well. I thought for a long that it was a Tualatin exclusive.


Same here, this came to my attention when I first began to Google for the fastest Coppermine PIII. At the time I didn't have a S370 socket converter, so when the model with IHS popped out I double-checked to make sure that it wasn't a typo or mislabeled product. As it turned out, it wasn't


----------



## Jetster (Aug 17, 2021)

Selling a C2Q 9550 board and memory if anyone is interested  









						[FS][US] - C2Q 9550 CPU and board (SOLD)
					

SOLD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  Intel Motherboard  DP43BF Core 2 Quad 9550 CPU Mushkin PC3 12800 Matched set 2X4 9-9-9-24 Rosewill RCX Z775 80 mm cooler  The GPU I would like to keep for testing.  SOLD  Let me know if anyone is interested




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Aug 19, 2021)

Jetster said:


> Selling a C2Q 9550 board and memory if anyone is interested
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Retro hardware aside, I've been looking to upgrade my daily runner Q6600 and your Q9550 would certainly hit the spot.
But since you're from the States, it wouldn't make much (or any, for that matter) sense to have it shipped to EU due to the price of shipping & customs


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 19, 2021)

Got a free laptop a few days ago.



Acer Aspire 8530G. Was reflowed beforehand as it would not POST.

Upgraded specs:
AMD Turion Ultra ZM-80
Radeon HD3470 256MB (+ option to do Crossfire w/ onboard HD3200 IGP)
4GB Hynix DDR2 800MHz
500Gb WD Scorpio Blue
currently running Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64.


----------



## Cheese_On_tsaot (Aug 19, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> To be fair, even high quality electrolytic caps will fail. You parts will need a recap job someday. It's better to do so sooner rather than later to avoid leakage and corrosion from the electrolyte fluid..


Same issue on original XBOX consoles with the clock cap also a P3 system 



Jill Valentine said:


> Did I post this one before?
> 
> View attachment 211662
> 
> ...


I owned the 930 way back when, that CPU could rival a GTX Fermi for heat output.



F-Zero said:


> So I finally got myself a Geforce 3 Ti 200 from Ebay. It arrived today and after changing thermal paste and cleaning the card and heatsink I put the card in my P4 pc. After consulting HWINFO and GPU-Z I came to the realization that my GF3 Ti 200 is not a TI 200 but an original Geforce 3 ( 200/460 Mhz ) ASUS V8200 Deluxe.
> 
> View attachment 211044View attachment 211045View attachment 211046View attachment 211047


Ahhh the GPU that everyone thought was in the XBOX but it was a Geforce 3/4 hybrid.









						NVIDIA Xbox GPU Specs
					

NVIDIA NV2A, 233 MHz, 4 Pixel Shaders, 2 Vertex Shaders, 8 TMUs, 4 ROPs, 64 MB DDR, 200 MHz, 128 bit




					www.techpowerup.com
				




My new (Retro) laptop comes in Monday it is assumed.. Lenovo Thinkpad T500 with Core 2 Duo and HD 3650 graphics, I will have to have a play with it, it is for work and study but I love to mess.. see if it can run Crysis lol. Screen res of 1280x800 it may do!


----------



## Caring1 (Aug 19, 2021)

I got given an Acer Extensa 5235 Laptop a few days ago.
It initially came with a Celeron T3100 @1.9GHz and 2GB of Ram running Windows 7 Home Premium.

Using parts I had already, it now has a C2D  T7250 @2.0ghZ AND 4GB Ram running Windows 10 Pro.
I also updated the BIOS to the latest version 3310


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 19, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> I got given an Acer Extensa 5235 Laptop a few days ago.
> It initially came with a Celeron T3100 @1.9GHz and 2GB of Ram running Windows 7 Home Premium.
> 
> Using parts I had already, it now has a C2D  T7250 @2.0ghZ AND 4GB Ram running Windows 10 Pro.
> ...


That system isn't too different from the Vaio that I was using to test Windows 11 on and it runs perfectly. You should give it a try. Do you have an ISO to test with?


----------



## Caring1 (Aug 19, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That system isn't too different from the Vaio that I was using to test Windows 11 on and it runs perfectly. You should give it a try. Do you have an ISO to test with?


Not yet, I can wait for the public release.


----------



## delshay (Aug 19, 2021)

Hold-on, just like post #11,849 I have found another drive, but this one is even more rare. I never knew I had this drive.. I can also see another rare external floppy drive for the amiga. This one has a built-in track counter. I will do my best to pull this one out also, but let me get photos of AE drive first.

"Applied Engineering" Floppy drive made for "Amiga Computers" (external floppy drive with motorize eject system). Dual colour LED for read/write operations.   ..You should be able to send a command to this drive also to eject floppy.



MaxiPro800 said:


> Got a free laptop a few days ago.
> View attachment 213237
> View attachment 213238View attachment 213239View attachment 213240
> 
> ...



I use this rare laptop for all surfing & web posting. You may want to check if you can upgrade the processor to ZM-87 (see last screeshot)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 19, 2021)

While it does support ZM-87 according to one Russian buyer on AliExpress, I'm not pushing my luck. The ZM-80 is quite hot as it is, and I'm not sure whether the 8530G's CPU cooling, despite being considerably big (compared to a 6530G for example), is up to par with cooling a ZM-87, and I fear for trying a 87 in my other dedicated HD3450 based HP DV5-1026eo. 

It's getting hot with a 82 as it is (I've copper shimmed it on the GPU and northbridge to prevent it from killing itself because of the crappy thermal pads HP has decided to stick in there) and I've seen one for sale with a 86, with the seller complaining it gets real hot (somewhere in the mid 80s to low 90s, and that's with new thermal paste!) and constantly restarts.

The whole Socket S1 lineage runs that hot by default it seems. It doesn't sting as much with S1G1 (I have an HP DV9730 with a TL-64 and 8400M GS, it was warm, but not that much) but good god, the S1G2 (in my case HP DV5, Compaq 6735s, and recently the Acer 8530G as well) run hotter than the sun. Same applies to S1G3 (Turion II M520 "Caspian" in an HP DV6-2115sa w/ HD4650 1GB and a Acer 7540 w/ Athlon M320 and HD4570 512M), and S1G4 is a downright nightmare (Phenom II X3 N830 in a Acer 5551G, Phenom II X2 N620 in a HP DV7-4150eo, Phenom II X4 N970 in a Acer 7551G) in terms of cooling. 

The only ones I've seen running slightly cooler are the first generation of APUs - A4-3300M and A6-3420M would be two fine examples.


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 19, 2021)

delshay said:


> You may want to check if you can upgrade the processor to ZM-87 (see last screeshot)


67c at 15% CPU load seems high. What is your room temperature?



MaxiPro800 said:


> It's getting hot with a 82 as it is (I've copper shimmed it on the GPU and northbridge to prevent it from killing itself because of the crappy thermal pads HP has decided to stick in there) and I've seen one for sale with a 86, with the seller complaining it gets real hot (somewhere in the mid 80s to low 90s, and that's with new thermal paste!) and constantly restarts.


I agree that the S1g2 lineup is a blast furnace, but they can be tamed to some degree. Here's my 2.3 GHz ZM-85 idling with 26c ambient:


----------



## delshay (Aug 19, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> 67c at 15% CPU load seems high. What is your room temperature?
> 
> 
> I agree that the S1g2 lineup is a blast furnace, but they can be tamed to some degree. Here's my 2.3 GHz ZM-85 idling with 26c ambient:
> ...



You worry too much. When the CPU hits around 84c it's starts to throttle. I have tested the CPU by covering the air vents & letting the CPU hit around 92c, it just throttles. Laptop will shut-down at around 94c.

I use Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. I never changed the thermal pads, but next time I will to Fujipoly 17W m/k, I have lots of this stuff.

EDIT: My laptop was originally 2.0 or 2.2Ghz can't remember which one, but as you can see it's now 2.4GHz. Remember I use this for internet access , so I'm posting with it. (windows 10).    ..I need the extra speed for YOUTUBE.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 20, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> Not yet, I can wait for the public release.


The public release will have to be hacked to run on that machine as it doesn't meet Windows 11 requirements. The current beta builds however does run with only a slight alteration to the setup files. Let me know(PM) if you'd like to try it out and I'll help you with the proper install ISO.



QuietBob said:


> Here's my 2.3 GHz ZM-85 idling with 26c ambient


That's impressive for a Turion! Voltage mod the bios maybe?



delshay said:


> You worry too much.


To a degree(pun intended) he's right. 67C at 15% load is just a tad high, even for a Turion.


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 20, 2021)

delshay said:


> When the CPU hits around 84c it's starts to throttle. I have tested the CPU by covering the air vents & letting the CPU hit around 92c, it just throttles. Laptop will shut-down at around 94c.



Gotta love your nonchalant manner and the maverick way to test throttling behavior! 



lexluthermiester said:


> That's impressive for a Turion! Voltage mod the bios maybe?



I wish. Other than the usual fixes, I cut out the plastic grille obstructing the intake and affixed tall rubber feet. I think I showed this earlier:





Had to replace the battery after the original one died. The oversized pack props the rear even higher, also increasing airflow. Should've posted this in Ghetto Mods


----------



## delshay (Aug 20, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Gotta love your nonchalant manner and the maverick way to test throttling behavior!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I bought two ZM-87 about 8 years ago for next to nothing. I test to breaking point as I need to know what will happen when it overheats. I have many spare parts including spare laptop PCB. If the new CPU did not work so well, no problem, put the old one back, but I like dealing with problems when I make changes.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 20, 2021)

Looks pretty familiar mod, my friend does that to almost every laptop I've seen him have. 


Let's make a bootable XP USB stick as I already grabbed my AGP setup to the table. I'll do some Phenom II OC as well.

edit: Hmm, the other memory channel doesn't work. I'll try it later, I have also another 955 BE which I can try..

edit: I totally understand now why so many still loves X58. This could be a daily driver without any problems.






7970 not 100% stable at Matrix Platinum mem clocks so I had to decrease a little..


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 24, 2021)

I have a 1156 doing nothing because I need bigger DDR3, and a decent PSU lmao. i3 540 that is, and the board isn't in the best shape (GB H55M-S2V with reset Management Engine AND two replaced MOSFETs that look a bit ugly). Not that the HD7870 I have looks any better but it's surprisingly working as intended, or at least I think it does.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 24, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I have a 1156 doing nothing because I need bigger DDR3, and a decent PSU lmao. i3 540 that is, and the board isn't in the best shape (GB H55M-S2V with reset Management Engine AND two replaced MOSFETs that look a bit ugly). Not that the HD7870 I have looks any better but it's surprisingly working as intended, or at least I think it does.


I wish I had a 7870 but I have just a 7850 1GB lying around.. the thing is that I'll be building the first desktop PC for my twin little brothers as a birthday gift, but I don't have a better spare card than that 7850 1GB. Well, I guess it's better than nothing.

What's it gonna be? Well, a lightweight gaming PC

-Intel i3-8350K
-MSI Z370-A Pro
-12GB DDR4
-Powercolor HD 7850 1GB
-No SSD yet, I'll get one
-Kolink Inspire K7
-Kolink 600W
-Samsung 22" 1080p (no use for that so I give that too)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Aug 25, 2021)

A few freebies I got, along with some rather uninteresting WLAN cards. No boards to test the P75 and QL-64 unfortunately, though I might have a 754 board for the ML-37.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2021)

Oh great, managed to break a pin on R3E and now the board doesn't POST and the CPU LED stays on. From datasheet it seems to be a ground pin though. I'll try to straighten those up with extra care later, now I'm too pissed and posted elsewhere a thread for buying a X58 board.

Sucks to be broke, I'd get drunk otherwise as I'm pissed off right now for possibly losing that board. 

edit: Probably getting a P6X58D-E with 18GB (3x4 + 3x2) RAM


----------



## Robert B (Aug 28, 2021)

*Fresh loot*. 

1. Super P4DCE+ Intel i860 chipset. https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/860/P4DCE_.cfm
2. ASUS A7V133-C + AMD Athlon 1GHz VIA KT133A https://soggi.org/motherboards/asus/A7V133-C.htm
3. ASUS A7N266-C + AXP Palomino 2000+ nForce 415-D Chipset plus extras: ACR-A6CH - 6 channel audio and PCI1394-S - firewire connection
4. ASUS A7N8X-X + AXP 2800+ nForce 2 400
5. SOYO 5TF2 - Sk. 7 + P133. Intel 430HX
6. Creative CT2890
7. Adaptec AHA-2940
8. Intel RC440BX + P2 350MHz - integrated Creative ES1371 + Riva 128ZX 8MB!
9. Foxconn Riva TNT2 32MB AGP BRD-05-E15 Rev.C + ATi Rage PRO Turbo AIW PCI + Tseng ET4000 ISA


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 29, 2021)

Robert B said:


> 1. Super P4DCE+ Intel i860 chipset.


With CPU's? If not, what are you going to go with? A pair of 1ghz P3s would do nicely.. Also, don't you have some other RDRAM DIMMs? IIRC you had a set of 512MB 800MHZ RDRAM sticks.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 29, 2021)

The CPUs are still there. I don't know the model but I have a pair of 1.7GHz SL5TE XEONs if needed. 

I didn't check them as I know from experience that if I try to pull them out now, I risk getting them out of the socket still glued to the heatsinks. I still need a beefy PSU until I start the beast. I'll put those babies at work and then I'll remove them.

I could heat the coolers with a hair dryer but I'll wait until I power it up.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 29, 2021)

Robert B said:


> The CPUs are still there. I don't know the model but I have a pair of 1.7GHz SL5TE XEONs if needed.
> 
> I didn't check them as I know from experience that if I try to pull them out now, I risk getting them out of the socket still glued to the heatsinks. I still need a beefy PSU until I start the beast. I'll put those babies at work and then I'll remove them.
> 
> I could heat the coolers with a hair dryer but I'll wait until I power it up.


Oh wow, that's a XEON board! It looks like a P3 board.. The 860i was the clue. Looked at the picture instead of the list. My bad..


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 29, 2021)

What's most interesting is that there's an AGP (Pro) slot in a server board like that. Also never seen a Thunderbird with that code (ASHHA) before.

Kinda jealous of that A7N8X-X


----------



## Robert B (Aug 30, 2021)

3 Socket A Asus motherboards at a time and all of them quite desirable is quite uncommon to say the least.  I grabbed them in the blink of an eye.  Still untested though. 

This year socket A is in.  I bought quite a few socket A motherboards. These puppies do need a lot of space to store so that reorganization that I keep postponing is looming ever so close.  In total I guess that I'm way over 75 motherboards. I still have space to store them as I don't keep them in my house.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 30, 2021)

Robert B said:


> 3 Socket A Asus motherboards at a time and all of them quite desirable is quite uncommon to say the least.  I grabbed them in the blink of an eye.  Still untested though.
> 
> This year socket A is in.  I bought quite a few socket A motherboards. These puppies do need a lot of space to store so that reorganization that I keep postponing is looming ever so close.  In total I guess that I'm way over 75 motherboards. I still have space to store them as I don't keep them in my house.


My Socket A boards are dead, dammit. I need to grab a "new" one sometime, probably something from the famous classics (like Abit NF7-S or AN7, A7N8X-X, Lanparty NFII etc) 


Waiting for tomorrow so I can buy the i7-950/Asus P6X58D-E/18GB (3x4GB 1866 + 3x2 1600) DDR3 combo. 

edit: Paid that


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 31, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Gotta love your nonchalant manner and the maverick way to test throttling behavior!
> 
> I wish. Other than the usual fixes, I cut out the plastic grille obstructing the intake and affixed tall rubber feet. I think I showed this earlier:
> 
> Had to replace the battery after the original one died. The oversized pack props the rear even higher, also increasing airflow. Should've posted this in Ghetto Mods


For those who using later Turion can try k10stat to control voltages. If I recall correctly, I using it to control Athlon X2 QL-65. You can try this to undervolt it so it runs cooler and more efficient  

Talking about laptops, I recently turn my wife laptop to Windows 7 retro gaming laptop. Its an HP-15 with AMD A10-9600P with dedicated R7-M340. Funny thing about this laptop, its integrated GPU is faster than its dedicated GPU. Still boggles my mind why HP did this. Still, if I run the CPU only and dedicated GPU its better because the CPU can boost properly without hitting the pathetic 15W TDP (I read HP actually limit to 12W because of cTDP). Another HP crapping on consumer, all its driver on their site is for Windows 10 only, I need to check the hardwareID for driver from other vendor/website


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 31, 2021)

Apocalypsee said:


> For those who using later Turion can try k10stat to control voltages. If I recall correctly, I using it to control Athlon X2 QL-65. You can try this to undervolt it so it runs cooler and more efficient
> 
> Talking about laptops, I recently turn my wife laptop to Windows 7 retro gaming laptop. Its an HP-15 with AMD A10-9600P with dedicated R7-M340. Funny thing about this laptop, its integrated GPU is faster than its dedicated GPU. Still boggles my mind why HP did this. Still, if I run the CPU only and dedicated GPU its better because the CPU can boost properly without hitting the pathetic 15W TDP (I read HP actually limit to 12W because of cTDP). Another HP crapping on consumer, all its driver on their site is for Windows 10 only, I need to check the hardwareID for driver from other vendor/website


What model is your laptop? You shouldn't have to extract device IDs from the drivers. Doesn't HP list the exact specs?


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 31, 2021)

Hey guys ! Got myself an Asus V7700 Deluxe ( Geforce 2 GTS 32mb) delivered today.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 31, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys ! Got myself an Asus V7700 Deluxe ( Geforce 2 GTS 32mb) delivered today.
> 
> View attachment 214951View attachment 214952View attachment 214953View attachment 214954View attachment 214955View attachment 214956View attachment 214957View attachment 214958


That thing looks like it in mint condition! Nice find! Where'd you get it from?


----------



## F-Zero (Aug 31, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That thing looks like it in mint condition! Nice find! Where'd you get it from?


The seller was from Greece. He really took great care with everything !


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 31, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys ! Got myself an Asus V7700 Deluxe ( Geforce 2 GTS 32mb) delivered today.
> 
> View attachment 214951View attachment 214952View attachment 214953View attachment 214954View attachment 214955View attachment 214956View attachment 214957View attachment 214958


Oh fuck. So hard to say that do I love those oldschool GPU boxes more or than the mid-2000s sexy anime chick ones. Anyway, love that ur box is in so good condition!


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 31, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Hey guys ! Got myself an Asus V7700 Deluxe ( Geforce 2 GTS 32mb)


Nice find! And still faster than my GF6100 in dx7


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 1, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> What model is your laptop? You shouldn't have to extract device IDs from the drivers. Doesn't HP list the exact specs?


Yes they have, its HP-15-ba010ax. Its easier for me to get the drivers that way, at least to me haha. Because sometime just downloading driver via its name doesn't work especially laptops with dual GPUs


F-Zero said:


> Hey guys ! Got myself an Asus V7700 Deluxe ( Geforce 2 GTS 32mb) delivered today.
> 
> View attachment 214954View attachment 214955View attachment 214956


Oh my God, these were my wet dream back then. Love the name GeForce 2 GTS. Sounds like a fast car   Those are the cards that come with those 3D glasses? Man, super rare


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 1, 2021)

Apocalypsee said:


> Yes they have, its HP-15-ba010ax. Its easier for me to get the drivers that way, at least to me haha. Because sometime just downloading driver via its name doesn't work especially laptops with dual GPUs


HP's dynamic switchable GPU setups are hot garbage by default. I don't think I've ever had so much headaches and ragequits from their G6-1000 and G6-2000 lineage. EVER. 

Surprisingly, their older DV6 and DV7s (more exactly DV6-3000 and DV7-4000) were on fixed switching GPU setups and were WAYYY easier to manage.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 1, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> HP's dynamic switchable GPU setups are hot garbage by default. I don't think I've ever had so much headaches and ragequits from their G6-1000 and G6-2000 lineage. EVER.
> 
> Surprisingly, their older DV6 and DV7s (more exactly DV6-3000 and DV7-4000) were on fixed switching GPU setups and were WAYYY easier to manage.


I never wasted any time with that dynamic GPU crap. Wasn't worth the effort.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 1, 2021)

Hey @F-Zero, be careful with that card 
_"Warning: GeForce2 GTS consumes a lot of power"_








Little did they know...


----------



## F-Zero (Sep 1, 2021)

Hehehe


----------



## RealKGB (Sep 1, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Hey F-Zero, be careful with that card
> _"Warning: GeForce2 GTS consumes a lot of power"_


6800 Ultra with 2 external Molex power connectors be like:


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 2, 2021)

_Voodoo 5 6000 wants to know your location_


----------



## F-Zero (Sep 2, 2021)

Here what I got delivered 20 minutes ago  

3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 2, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> HP's dynamic switchable GPU setups are hot garbage by default. I don't think I've ever had so much headaches and ragequits from their G6-1000 and G6-2000 lineage. EVER.
> 
> Surprisingly, their older DV6 and DV7s (more exactly DV6-3000 and DV7-4000) were on fixed switching GPU setups and were WAYYY easier to manage.


That's right, AMD latest driver also unable to change which GPU to use. I resorted to use old driver from 2017. All of this thanks to windows 10 being able to change which GPU via windows settings. But perhaps due to 'unique' way of HP designing motherboard Windows 10 only seeing the integrated ones both for power saving and performance 


Look at this driver, it looks modern and functional, even have tabs to switch which GPU to run which apps. The new driver looks poor by comparison.





For Bristol Ridge APUs I found an application similar to k10stat named k15tk that being able to manipulate the APU Pstates. Here is the default voltage. Mind you this is 15W APU with that much voltage  because of this its rarely stays boosted.





After some finetuning this is what I got with my limit being 1V for pBoost states. It can be undervolted 0.1V on p0 states. Boosted it runs 0.125V lower while runs at 100MHz higher. AMD bin their APU poorly IMO. I also adjust P1, P2, P3 so it won't drop too much clock.





I managed to overclock the memory of its dedicated GPU via MSI Afterburner. Its rated at 1000MHz but being Samsung module its stable at 1200MHz. GPU-Z seems confused by its capability though  It only have like 320 shaders, 20 TMU and 8 ROP according to TPU.


----------



## delshay (Sep 2, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Gotta love your nonchalant manner and the maverick way to test throttling behavior!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Just upgrade my laptop Acer "Ferrari 1200" again from Intel 9260 to the latest card AX 210. Don't do this as I can't take advantage of it.
I'm just preparing for the future.


----------



## F-Zero (Sep 2, 2021)

Benches incoming: 3DMARK00, 3DMARK01SE


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 2, 2021)

Building the world's prettiest HTPC tomorrow, waiting for the case, got the mb today


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 2, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Benches incoming: 3DMARK00, 3DMARK01SE
> 
> View attachment 215258View attachment 215259



Finally, a worthy opponent! ATI Radeon Xpress 200 says "hi" 
3DMark01SE w/ Celeron D 326 2.53 GHz:





EDIT: Uploaded 3DMark00 results by mistake, duh.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 2, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Finally, a worthy opponent! ATI Radeon Xpress 200 says "hi"
> 3DMark01 SE (w/ Celeron D 326 2.53 GHz):
> 
> View attachment 215268


Should I murder that with GF3


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 2, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Building the world's prettiest HTPC tomorrow, waiting for the case, got the mb today
> 
> View attachment 215267


Solid heatsinks! Whatcha got for the CPU?


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 2, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Solid heatsinks! Whatcha got for the CPU?


Check my sig - Xeon X5650


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 2, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Benches incoming: 3DMARK00, 3DMARK01SE
> 
> View attachment 215258View attachment 215259


Nice card.
Here is my 3D01 on the PCI version of VooDoo 5500.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 2, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Here is my 3D01 on the PCI version of VooDoo 5500.


That was a great version of the card to have! It allowed people who were, at the time, still on Socket 7 boards that wanted to max out their system rather than upgrade their platform. For many it was a solid last hurrah for PCI video cards.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 2, 2021)

Yo fuck that its booooooring ;(


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 3, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was a great version of the card to have! It allowed people who were, at the time, still on Socket 7 boards that wanted to max out their system rather than upgrade their platform. For many it was a solid last hurrah for PCI video cards.


It actually clocked better than my AGP version. I had both. I kept the PCI and sold the AGP a while ago. Got 350 bucks for it.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 4, 2021)

Almost there! Just need to build the loop and install the PSU


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 4, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Almost there! Just need to build the loop and install the PSU


Do some wire twisting with those power lines from your pump.
EDIT;
See pics below.

Before:




After:


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 4, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Do some wire twisting with those power lines from your pump.


Good advice, yeah, I'll do


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 4, 2021)

The lighter is used to heat the plastic sheath of the wire to prevent it from springing back to an untwisted state. You don't want to melt it, so keep the flame moving and never stop in one spot, just warm it up so the molecules in the plastic get set into a new tension state. And bam! Wire management done!


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 4, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> The lighter is used to heat the plastic sheath of the wire to prevent it from springing back to an untwisted state. You don't want to melt it, so keep the flame moving and never stop in one spot, just warm it up so the molecules in the plastic get set into a new tension state. And bam! Wire management done!


I'll try that trick


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 4, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I'll try that trick


This was perfect timing as I'm doing a system rebuild for a client and needed to do this anyway.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 5, 2021)

New HW found! 

1. Micropolis ST506 - 85MB - 1985 - 5.25" MFM HDD - full height. 900435-01-7B - Rated Input Power 32W!!!  Someone opened the HDD for who knows what reason. The top platter is scraped a little but there is no r/w head there, so the chances are that it is still ok. I found some case screws that fit perfectly and after I gently used an air compressor to clean it, I put the lid on, never to be opened again. Ideally I would've needed some screws with a sunken head but these are good too and they also look the part.  At first I thought that some exotic screws would be needed but in the end it was a case of regular chunky threaded screws. Well, a beast like this doesn't need flimsy stuff bolted to it. 
2. MagTron Inc MT-4170S - 170MB - 5.25" SCSI HDD - half height. 2 pieces 
3. Gainward Silent Copper nVIDIA 6800GT PCI-E
4. Shuttle Spacewalker AK32V2.1 - VIA KT266 - The "good" chipset!  Who in their right mind would prefer the KT266A?!?!??! 
5. Finally an ASROCK 4CoreDual-SATA2 REV. G/A 2.00

I tested the HDDs and they powered up nicely. For the SCSI HDDs I have a suitable motherboard and add-on cards to test them, but for the MFM HDD I have nothing to try it on. Read write heads activity could be heard.

After 30 minutes of running the sound they made became better and once they were "hot and toasty" I enjoyed them so much more. Music to my ears.  Imagine running something like this every day.


----------



## basco (Sep 5, 2021)

love the gainward copper cooler and card !
and the asrock mobo


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 5, 2021)

I had a 6800U AGP with the same cooler, love that one


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 5, 2021)

Robert B said:


> 1. Micropolis ST506 - 85MB - 1985 - 5.25" MFM HDD - full height.


That sure is an odd find! This drive is massive, look at how thick the case is. I've looked up the specs: 
transfer rate 625 KB/s
weight 2.6 kg
acoustic noise 51 dB


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 5, 2021)

Robert B said:


> 1. Micropolis ST506 - 85MB - 1985 - 5.25" MFM HDD - full height.


Had one of those! Monster of a thing. It was a Micropolis 1374a 127MB but still. It was a SCSI unit instead of MFM, so it was much faster(for the time).


----------



## stef (Sep 5, 2021)

New toy. Category: "modded and un-original". Best kind .
Actually, it came with busted cooler so I took the liberty to pimp it up.










And some scores.
First take with default clocks 250/512. Second with 290/550.







Temps: 46°C under load, 42°C when idle.


----------



## RealKGB (Sep 5, 2021)

I went to a friend's house to take care of their cat and it turns out they have:
- A Commodore 128 (they still have the original box)
- Pentium II system
- NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii
- PS2, PS3
- 2x Sega somethings
According to him, anything he owns that can be modded is modded.
Here's some pictures I took (cat pictures too!):


Spoiler














Cat


Spoiler











I know the pictures are bad, my iPhone 6S isn't great in low light


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 5, 2021)

stef said:


> New toy. Category: "modded and un-original". Best kind .


Nothing wrong with that.


stef said:


> Actually, it came with busted cooler so I took the liberty to pimp it up.


And your work looks good! Well nice this!


----------



## F-Zero (Sep 7, 2021)

So the fans on the Voodoo 5 5500 are going to drive me insane and that is a fact    So to remedy the situation I ordered some Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro fans 40mm. Now this would be a strait forward DIY but it seems people don't know how to count these days so I got only 7 rubber spacers instead of 8.

This is very easy to fix don't get me wrong but the fans were pricey and I want it to look good. I contacted Blacknoise and are now waiting for a response. Here are some pictures of the DIY


----------



## Robert B (Sep 7, 2021)

Thicc!!! 





On the V5 5500 I'd mount a couple of Noctua (puke edition) https://noctua.at/en/nf-a4x10-5v/specification 5V version. They come in 10mm and 20mm thickness.  I preffer the 10mm.

I have a 12V 40x40x10 on my 5x86 and it is pretty silent.






						3dfx Voodoo 5 5550 PCI Fan Replacement
					

The bearings in the fans on my Voodoo 5 were shot, and they didn't respond to being greased. As I use this card, they needed replacing.  Starting point;    Off with the stock fans;    It uses Aavid 1447122 0.13A 5V 40mm fans that are around 8mm high.    I couldn't any like for like replacements...




					forums.overclockers.co.uk
				




Also I would mod them with the wires from the old fans to keep everything tidy or I would buy new fan headers and wires that plug into the existing ones that are on the board. 

Just my 2 cents. 

Anyway. Both of these methods, yours and what I would do if I'd use a V5 5500 in a build, accomplish the same thing. *Keeping cool and quiet a great card.*

The NB fans that you bought are 12V.


----------



## F-Zero (Sep 7, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Thicc!!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You know I was looking at Noctua fans but I just couldn't get over the brown color. I wanted something black and industrial looking and they are really quiet. The best part is that I didn't have to mod anything I just screwed the fans in the exact same spots so no additional screw damage to the original passive heatsinks. Thanks !


----------



## erek (Sep 7, 2021)

Gravis Ultrasound 16-bit Recorder / WSS emulator daughterboard  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Gravis Ultrasound 16-bit Recorder / WSS emulator daughterboard at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 8, 2021)

With those few bits & pieces of what's left to do on my Adison systems, I'm actually working on something modern, which doesn't quite fit into this thread ... but depending on the overall interest, I may (or may not) document everything & make it a project of its own.

Long story short, I'm finally stepping up from Q6600 and upgrading to Core i5. Both the mobo, CPU (i5, 760) and 8GB of DDR3 RAM have been kindly donated to me by someone from TPU (I already asked him, and will gladly credit him in public unless he prefers to stay anonymous)

So, with that being said ... I bought all the remaining bits & pieces and now I'm slowly putting everything together. Still waiting on SSD drive, I/O Shield plate & CPU cooler (Hyper 212 EVO), but otherwise I'm good to go 

What I've been given for free:
*CPU*: Core i5 760 (Socket 1156) ... in addition to 760, I was also kindly given i5 750 & i5 661
*MBO*: Gigabyte P55M-UD4
*RAM*: 2x 4GB HyperX Beast 2400 CL11

What I already have in stock & will recycle, re-purpose from the existing Q6600 setup:
*GPU*: Gigabyte GTX760
*PSU*: CoolerMaster 600W
*Case*: CoolerMaster Cosmos
*ODD1*: Philips ATA DVD/DVD-RW
*ODD2*: Philips ATA DVD/DVD-RW
*HDD*: Western Digital 320GB

What I bought in addition to all the previously-mentioned components:
*RAM*: 2x 4GB HyperX Fury 1866
*SSD*: Western Digital Blue SSD 500GB (+ mounting bracket conversion kit)
*HDD*: Western Digital Gold 2TB (Enterprise)
*Other*: Hyper 212 cooler/heatsink, L-Shaped SATA cables

Meanwhile, my existing Q6600 system (MSI P43 Neo) will replace yet another Q6600 in another case, where the motherboard (Gigabyte P31-ES3G) is being limited by the amount of DDR2 modules (2x DDR2) ... vs the MSI board, which supports of up to 4x and therefore 8GB of DDR2 in total.

Furthermore, the existing, Gigabyte Q6600 system is being cooled by Hyper TX3 vs the MSI rig, which already has 212 EVO, identical to the one which I bought for i5. So, by swapping out the entire assembly I'm going to upgrade in more ways than one ... or at least that's the plan 

At the same time, the old Gigabyte Q6600 will be stripped for parts & repurposed elsewhere. 2x 2GB of DDR2 will be given to a family member, P31-ES3G will be safely stored inside the original box, Q6600 will be mounted inside the Adison "sleeper" (replacing the existing Core2 Duo) along with the cooler, Cooler Master Hyper TX3, because I'll have to upgrade the existing cooling to match the new requirements for Q6600.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 9, 2021)

Remember how I said back in post #9027 that I'd be getting white hair early in my life until I will see an Acer 6530G that still works perfectly as it should? Well, I still have my brown hair, but I finally live to own a working 6530G.




The smallest issues with it were a HD3470 that was about to go bad (thankfully I had a spare one) and a long dead small CMOS battery (which in shortage of such small batteries (it's way smaller than a 2032, about half its size.) I replaced with a normal wired 2032 size battery) which were solved fast enough. I'll probably up the GPU to a 3650 though, and maybe go for Win10 LTSC.

EDIT: Found out the type of the old battery, it's a CR1220.


----------



## stef (Sep 11, 2021)

Arrived yesterday, "new old stock" FireGL X3:







Card was unlockable to 16 pipelines:







D3D games work as good as on standard Radeon with Catalyst. 
OpenGL should be problematic on FireGL, I didn't test it yet. But, there are scripts to patch the driver via Riva Tuner. I need to look into it.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Sep 11, 2021)

stef said:


> Arrived yesterday, "new old stock" FireGL X3:
> 
> Card was unlockable to 16 pipelines:
> 
> ...


Do let me know, I'm kinda wanted to buy this card before because its the last arch to support Truform, but ever since dgVoodoo support Truform emulation I don't need it anymore   For those who wanted to see how Truform looks like can download it here. Its supported since WIP80, it only work for DirectX games I believe since OpenGL games like RtCW doesn't work.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 11, 2021)

This "gem" came in yesterday.



PCChips M726MRT. Slot1+370 in AT format, ALI Aladdin Pro chipset.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> This "gem" came in yesterday.
> 
> View attachment 216420
> 
> PCChips M726MRT. Slot1+370 in AT format, ALI Aladdin Pro chipset.


WOW! That takes me back... I had a bunch of those boards BITD. They were great for upgrading old AT PC's! People could keep their old cases and upgrade to some new-hotness. That board and a similar one from Epox made me a TON of money. My shop was one of the only places in town that did in-case upgrades from 486 CPUs to Pentium 2/3 CPUs. They were good boards as well.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 12, 2021)

I'm on a roll baby! 

Fresh loot! Untested but who cares! The mobos need some caps but I'm not worried. Latelty Sk. A stuff has come in big numbers. My stash of KT133/A boards is growing fast. 

1. AOpen AK73(A) - S462 - VIA KT133A + Duron 1.4GHz
2. ASUS A7N8X Ver 2.0 DELUXE Gold - S462 - nForce 2 Ultra 400 + AXP 2000+
3. ASRock P4AL-800 - S478 - ULi® A800N chipset - needs caps
4. Intel i7-860 - SLBJJ + H57 Mobo + 4GB DDR3
5. QDI KinetiZ 7T - QDI K7V8363A/K7E-A - VIA KT133 - needs caps
6. MSI MS-6318, MED 2000 VERL2 - S370 - VIA Apollo Pro133A + CPU (I don't know the model yet) - needs caps
7. AOpen MX46 U2 - SiS 650GX SIS 962L + CPU ( I don't know the model yet) - needs caps
8. Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 64MB TV-OUT - Kyro II
9. AMD K6-2/300AFR
10. Intel Q6600 x2, Q8300, Q8400
11. Cyrix 486 DX4 100MHz - Cx486DX4-100GP
12. AXP 2000+ Palomino
13. Creative Labs – Creative Labs ct2290 Sound Blaster 16 SB16IDE - CT2291 - FCC ID:IBACT-SB16IDE
14. OCZ Platinum Edition PC2 8500 2x2GB 5-5-5@2.2V
15. OCZ PC2 5400 2x2GB
16. Labway Audio Sound Card LWHA151A00 A151-a00 16-bit ISA - YAMAHA YMF719E-S
17. MSI MS-8818 VER:10B - Geforce 2 MX
18. MSI 8800GTS - Zalman Cooler
19. ATI Mach64 VT4 PCI
20. AIW ATI 3D Rage PRO + VRAM ext.
21. Logitech C7-3F-9F mouse
22. Sealed NIB Iomega zip 250 - 3.5" internal
23. CD-ROM Plextor PX-54TA
24. Mushkin Enhanced 2x1GB PC6400
25. 10 MFM HDD cables - the wider ones. I still need to find the pair. (the slim one)
26. AXP 2400+ https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon XP 2400+ - AXDA2400DKV3C.html 2GHz/266
27. No name ISA FDD/SER/PARALEL/IDE controller
28. Future Domain TMC-850MEX 8-BIT ISA SCSI CONTROLLER 01-00850-043-00 PC or Apple


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 12, 2021)

Robert B said:


> I'm on a roll baby!
> 
> Fresh loot! Untested but who cares! The mobos need some caps but I'm not worried. Latelty Sk. A stuff has come in big numbers. My stash of KT133/A boards is growing fast.
> 
> ...


Hey, that's a great haul of cool hardware. I've got a few pairs of that OCZ Ram - nice stuff! I have 2 of the 8800GTS Nvidia cards w/640MB RAM (one is the MSI)
 - nice cards
that have lasted forever.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 12, 2021)

Robert B said:


> I'm on a roll baby!
> 
> Fresh loot! Untested but who cares! The mobos need some caps but I'm not worried. Latelty Sk. A stuff has come in big numbers. My stash of KT133/A boards is growing fast.
> 
> ...


Is it strange that the three items that stand out to me the most are the Cyrix 486DX4-100, the Geforce 8800GTS with Zalman cooler and the Zip250 drive?


----------



## Robert B (Sep 13, 2021)

Much of the stuff above will be repaired, cleaned, tested and sold. I won't keep it all.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 13, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Much of the stuff above will be repaired, cleaned, tested and sold. I won't keep it all.


I think most of us knew this. There's only so much stuff one person can collect.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 13, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Is it strange that the three items that stand out to me the most are the Cyrix 486DX4-100, the Geforce 8800GTS with Zalman cooler and the Zip250 drive?


Same here, except for Cyrix DX4. Both 8800GT and Iomega drive in retail package got my immediate attention


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 13, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Cyrix DX4


Those CPUs were uncommon BITD. They're flat-out rare now..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 14, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those CPUs were uncommon BITD. They're flat-out rare now..


486 is always somewhat rare, there's no doubt about that 

No, what I meant to say is that to me personally, 8800GT and Iomega drive are the two most interesting items. I still have my own Gainward-branded 8800GT with 512MB of VRAM inside secondary Q6600, and it is a great performer! The only reason I upgraded to GTX760 was Grand Theft Auto 5 and later BeamNG Drive.

As for Iomega drive, seeing the original, retail box is quite rare & fascinating find nowdays. I remember buying Zip100 back in a day, and those were sold in "Bulk",  just the drive alone, inside some blue plastic bag. No box, no instructions, no software, nothing. Not that I needed any of those, but it has that "cool" factor


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 15, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> No, what I meant to say is that to me personally, 8800GT and Iomega drive are the two most interesting items.


Oh, no worries, understood you. It's all good.


----------



## RealKGB (Sep 15, 2021)

I'm trying to decide between buying some stuff:
A. Replacement caps for my P4C800-E Deluxe
B. Thermal upgrades for my GTX 690
C. Replace the battery in my iPhone 6S (it currently lasts an hour max, so I taped a battery pack to the back and now get 2 hours)

Any thoughts?


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 15, 2021)

Well for sure cap replacements and thermal upgrades @RealKGB  

If the phone is still being used, then yeah, I'd replace the battery for sure.


----------



## RealKGB (Sep 15, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> If the phone is still being used, then yeah, I'd replace the battery for sure.


The 6S is my daily phone, though I don't use it all that much because school.
I'm also not sure if I should invest too much into it since I don't plan to keep it for too long - it's the 16GB version and I have to work to keep it below 15.5GB.
I think I'll go for the thermal upgrades. I don't have the time/money to work on P4HT right now and I still need to practice a LOT before recapping my P4C800-E Deluxe, and since the battery doesn't bother me too much I can do that with Christmas money.

Then again, I play Ingress and that eats battery like a 3090 does power.
Decisions, decisions.


----------



## Kurt63 (Sep 15, 2021)

This brings back so many memories !!!!! In 1996, I had a system built for I believe around $1200. It was an Intel 166 mmx, Windows 95, If I remember right it had  512 mb RAM, and a amazingly fast Viper 3D ...... later I added a Monster 3dFx card , all on dial up playing Rogue Spear. For about a week, i had the fastest computer one could buy.....just about a week !!!!!!! .....LOL ...... it has all come a long way and you folks played a huge roll it the development ..... I read one time that the single biggest driving force for computers in general and peripherals specifically is gaming....... I am not an educated man so that seems to make sense to me.....


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 15, 2021)

Kurt63 said:


> This brings back so many memories !!!!! In 1996, I had a system built for I believe around $1200. It was an Intel 166 mmx, Windows 95, If I remember right it had  512 mb RAM, and a amazingly fast Viper 3D ...... later I added a Monster 3dFx card , all on dial up playing Rogue Spear. For about a week, i had the fastest computer one could buy.....just about a week !!!!!!! .....LOL ...... it has all come a long way and you folks played a huge roll it the development ..... I read one time that the single biggest driving force for computers in general and peripherals specifically is gaming....... I am not an educated man so that seems to make sense to me.....


Yeah, this thread will do that too you! Welcome to TPU!

@Robert B
That CyrixDX4 has been playing on my mind. That is a rare enough CPU and looks in good enough condition, I'd clean it up and frame it! Make it a conversation piece! Only an idea and suggestion..
EDIT:
Just looked on ebay, there are a few examples of it, and the prices aren't bad.. I guess it wasn't that rare after all.


----------



## F-Zero (Sep 15, 2021)

Thanks to @stef for info on a cooler for my P3 1.4 Ghz. Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 3. Got it for less then 3 dollars here on a Croatian market place. And I got a little something delivered yesterday.


----------



## Kurt63 (Sep 15, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Thanks to @stef for info on a cooler for my P3 1.4 Ghz. Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 3. Got it for less then 3 dollars here on a Croatian market place. And I got a little something delivered yesterday.
> 
> View attachment 217048View attachment 217049View attachment 217050View attachment 217051


Just..................... WOW !!!!!!!! Brings back some very great memories !!!!!!


----------



## erek (Sep 17, 2021)

is this irrelavant?  games are basically physical hardware?

https://kotaku.com/youtube-duo-find-100-000-of-vintage-games-in-hoarder-s-1847690206


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## Robert B (Sep 18, 2021)

Creative 3DBlaster GeForce Annihilator - GF256 32MB SDR
Ati Radeon 9600XT 256MB with AC VGA Silencer
Intel 486 DX2 66MHz ES Sk.3
Gigabyte GA-5AX Rev 4.1 - SS7 with mistery K6-2 or (wishful thinking) K6-3. The cooler is stuck firmly and I'll power it up next week to see what's what.  Also it need a few caps.
Misc. i7-3770K and 6x I5-650 CPUs.


----------



## debs3759 (Sep 18, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Intel 486 DX2 66MHz ES Sk.3


Ooh, do share pics of that rare beast!


----------



## Robert B (Sep 18, 2021)

After I straighten the pins and I'll clean it a little, I'll post the pics. 

L.E. 

Fresh stuff.

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ AXDA3200DKV4E 
ECS K755A with a mistery pink ceramic CPU
Albatron FX5600CP AGP- it needs a cap
No name ISA controller FCC ID ID2-W83757AA / IOW87/78 ver 1.1 - these puppies keep popping up and usually I pick them up. Older motherboards need them as that stuff wasn't integrated back then.
Western Digital PTV-WD3X ver.H1 WD90C31A-LR ISA VGA card 1MB? 
GVC Corporation Sound Card Jazz 16 S-16FC/M FCC ID: DK4S-16FCM ISA soundcard - some kind of clone.


----------



## stef (Sep 19, 2021)

Nice finds.
ECS K7S5A is an interesting board. SiS chipset, and supports SDR/DDR. It should be Geode-capable and has universal AGP slot.
I have K7S6A that followed, with Geode NX1750 and Voodoo 3000. Great combo.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 19, 2021)

I had a K7S5A + Duron 1.2GHz, in 2001-2002 or so, when my Celeron 366 gave up after an OC attempt at 550MHz at the shop from where I bought the K7S5A from.  The tech guy from there bragged that he could OC it to 550 easy so I told him to do it. The boss of the shop wasn't so pleased but I was.  I got a nice discount on the combo. 

I like how you cool that V3!


----------



## Bungz (Sep 21, 2021)

Found the Coolermaster case local with a old board inside.

The case is largely immaculate, just has a tone of gunky old sound deadening foam to remove...

The board was a P5Q-Deluxe. Works perfectly.

Had two nocuta fans prob worth more than I paid for the lot.

The HD3870 was found on the floor at a local refuge / waste centre. Also works perfectly.

Need to have a think what build to do with the cooermaster, does anyone know the model of it?


----------



## stef (Sep 21, 2021)

Looks fairly modern with real glass, and not plexi

EDIT:
It's Coolermaster ATC 220, released around April 2003. It colud cover anything from late Pentium III to early Athlon64. Great find .
(IMHO, ATC was/still is the best looking line they had.)

Here's an idea: an early Athlon64 build (s754/s939) with some bling. Corsair XMS Xpert modules with LEDs, and maybe Wraith Prism as CPU cooler on old Athlon? It fits.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 22, 2021)

K6-2 will be back on my menu  

Meanwhile, I got the whole PCChips machine set up just fine and stable:

CPU - Celeron 533 Sk370
MB - PCChips M726MRT "BXcel"
GPU - Prolink GF2 MX400 64MB
RAM - 384MB PC133 @ 100 MHz
Sound - onboard C-Media/C3DX CMI8738 PCI
NIC - RTL8100C PCI
PSU - 200W ASTI LC-200C
HDD - Quantum Fireball lct15
ODD - LG GSA-4167B + ASUS DRW-1814BL
Case - CSX917D
USB 2.0 - VIA VT6212 PCI
OS - Win98SE


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 24, 2021)

And here's the K6-II+ machine I've got.



Recapped with japanese caps, flashed with latest BIOS. GPU is a Chaintech FX5500 256M I had around. Probably one of the best FX5500 implementations though you DO need a fan on that thing (I only had a passive cooler for it.) as it gets as hot as the RAM regulator that's on the P5MVP3 ("KILAR" KV1083).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 24, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> And here's the K6-II+ machine I've got.
> View attachment 218104
> Recapped with japanese caps, flashed with latest BIOS. GPU is a Chaintech FX5500 256M I had around. Probably one of the best FX5500 implementations though you DO need a fan on that thing (I only had a passive cooler for it.) as it gets as hot as the RAM regulator that's on the P5MVP3 ("KILAR" KV1083).


Very nice! I would most definitely add a fan to the GPU though. IIRC, that board can handle 256MB dimms of PC133.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 24, 2021)

Perhaps not quite nostalgic, but I FINALLY got around & upgraded my daily runner (Q6600) with i5 760, running 16GB of DDR3 and (for the first time) SSD drive. Huge thanks to @basco for the free motherboard, i5 CPU and 8GB of HyperX DDR3 RAM 

WD Blue SSD drive, mounted inside 3.5" mounting bracket, placed inside 5.25" frame adapter. Long story short, I couldn't place the damn thing anywhere else, since it would require bottom side installation, and the Coolermaster Cosmos case "drawers" are only compatible with 3.5" sized drive(s)




Rest of the components:


 

 

 

 



I'll admit, cable management could have been better, but for now it'll do just fine. I messed up the hard drive boot priority so I had to sort them out, but eventually everything worked out OK. SSD is System/Boot, WD Gold main Storage and additional 320GB WD used exclusively  for Windows XP & its Program Files.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 26, 2021)

Yesterday I found a bunch of stuff that it is good to have. 

1. 2x Diamond Viper V330 NLX, Riva 128, AGP 4MB 
2. ATI Graphics Solution-SR P/N 168328 - ISA 8bit
3. Hercules Stingray 64/Video - Ark Logic 2000 ARK2000MT - PCI 2MB * FCC ID:LBG-2000PC2M
4. Promise Ultra 100 Controller PCI
5. IDE Iomega Zip 100 internal unit - unfortunately defective. Click, click, ...
6. 2x VLB Controllers - DI-600 / DI600 Rev. 1.0 - FCC ID:H9NDI-600 * Elitegroup Computer Systems Inc VESA Local Bus I/O Card DI-600
7. A bunch of network cards. They were practically free of charge. What I'm going to do with them I have no idea.
8. Nidec Beta V cooling fan , just for kicks. I know they are loud.  12V 3.3A 120mm.
9. Diamond Monster 3D 3dfx VooDoo 4MB PCI
10. SIPP and SIMM memory
11. GW302(AP) ISA LPT port card


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 26, 2021)

Wow! 30pin SIMMs with the stand-off pin extensions. That takes me back...



Robert B said:


> 5. IDE Iomega Zip 100 internal unit - unfortunately defective. Click, click, ...


If you're up to it, that might be fixable if the heads are not damaged. I can walk you through it if you'd like..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 26, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Yesterday I found a bunch of stuff that it is good to have.
> 
> 1. 2x Diamond Viper V330 NLX, Riva 128, AGP 4MB
> 2. ATI Graphics Solution-SR P/N 168328 - ISA 8bit
> ...


Where do you keep finding these gems?! Great find as always, by the way!


----------



## Robert B (Sep 26, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wow! 30pin SIMM with the stand-off pin extensions. That takes me back...
> If you're up to it, that might be fixable if the heads are not damaged. I can walk you through it if you'd like..



Yeah. Those SIPPs are the first ones I see in the flesh.  Now I need a few suitable mobos to complete the "kit". 

If you have any ideas in regard to the ZIP 100 I'd appreciate your insight. 

The unit has already been tampered with. By the looks of it, it has been used quite a lot.

When I got it, I tried to insert a disk but it wouldn't go in. I opened up the unit and I saw that a bit of plastic was missing from a piece o springy steel. I used a zip tie to repair a zip drive. I had to grind the head of the zip tie a bit, to mimic the missing part.  Once I could insert and eject the disk I tried to read or write something but it just wouldn't recognize the disk or it would say disk drive not ready.

I cleaned and lubed with silicone grease every moving part. I lubed even the ends of the plastic "rails" onto which the heads slide. I cleaned the steel core from the coil inside. I cleaned the heads with drops of IPA and then gently moving the heads 1-2 mm back and forth in a careful way so that they will not get off the little fabric patch where they rest while the drive is not in use.

I tried to add a tiny damper made from felt so that the heads wouldn't hit violently when they would return to their initial position.

The mechanism had a lot of play in it and the tiny steel wire rail onto which the  heads move / are guided, was kind of loose.

After all the trial and error I managed to read a disk and write something but that was it. It wouldn't recognize the fresh written data just the old data present on the disk. After this just click, click an the drive would become unresponsive and it wouldn't eject the disk or it would eject it after many button presses. 

After I inserted a disk in 9/10 cases it would make a click sound and then would spin the disk. Sometimes it would freeze the PC, sometimes not. Sometimes the system would become laggy while I tried to read a disk.

It would recognize the size of the disk but it wouldn't perform a quick or a full format.

Sometimes it wouldn't spin up after a disk was inserted.

The IOMEGA Windows software wouldn't recognize the unit. This wasn't required as the unit can work without drivers. It doesn't need them.

I think that I exhausted all the possibilities. The heads are either damaged or decalibrated. RIP drive. I think that it is unable to detect the first track on the disk.

I gave the unit for free for the buyer of the sealed Zip 250. A father wanted the 250 for his kid who's into retro computing. I told him that maybe he will find another drive that needs the electronic part and maybe he will be able to fix it. 

All in all, after 3 hours I said that's enough as I wouldn't trust this drive with my data even if I would've fixed it. 



Trekkie4 said:


> Where do you keep finding these gems?! Great find as always, by the way!



The local flea market.  After 6 years of going there I think that in a way I contributed to this situation as many sellers that didn't have PC related stuff in their inventory now bring a lot of computer hardware and from time to time I find things that I thought they were minced meat a loooonnng time ago.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 26, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Where do you keep finding these gems?! Great find as always, by the way!


Flea markets very likely. Same places I got TWO genuine copies of Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with complete booklets, one opened one still wrapped.

EDIT: Robert said it already, it seems . Anyways, here's a photo of them. The other purchase was a lucky OG Xbox rev 1.1 with a 120GB WD and a modchip installed already.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 26, 2021)

Robert B said:


> I think that I exhausted all the possibilities. The heads are either damaged or decalibrated.


Yeah you went to task on it. And you've done everything I was going to suggest. I've repaired more "Click-of-death" Zip drives than I can count. It was almost always one of the retention clip springs coming off it's clip assembly. Every once in a while the head bearings would be jammed open or I'd see the heads themselves damaged. It was always a result of people shoving the discs into the drive with more force than is needed. Gently does the job every time..

Sucks you couldn't fix it..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 26, 2021)

*sigh* Yes, I remember the good ol' days when you could go hunting for retro bargains (such as these), you could find just about anything on the flea market. Unfortunately, things have changed for the worse. Prices went up, and people (especially those who sell old computer parts) recognized their value to the point where they ask insane amounts of money.

In fact, I was talking about this very issue not so long ago with fellow forumer who confirmed my doubts and even agreed on the current state of things - that it's cheaper to shop online, through AmiBay & ebay than flea markets 

My advice guys? Better stock up while you have the chance, grab EVERYTHING you can, and WHILE you can. Because tomorrow may already be too late.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 26, 2021)

Robert B said:


> 8. Nidec Beta V cooling fan , just for kicks. I know they are loud.  12V 3.3A 120mm.


A 40w computer fan?   
I think my 40cm/16" floor fan is rated about the same...


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Sep 26, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> *sigh* Yes, I remember the good ol' days when you could go hunting for retro bargains (such as these), you could find just about anything on the flea market. Unfortunately, things have changed for the worse. Prices went up, and people (especially those who sell old computer parts) recognized their value to the point where they ask insane amounts of money.
> 
> In fact, I was talking about this very issue not so long ago with fellow forumer who confirmed my doubts and even agreed on the current state of things - that it's cheaper to shop online, through AmiBay & ebay than flea markets
> 
> My advice guys? Better stock up while you have the chance, grab EVERYTHING you can, and WHILE you can. Because tomorrow may already be too late.



 That is true even here I see. Old graphic cards especially is commanding a very high price like it was new.


----------



## Robert B (Sep 26, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> A 40w computer fan?
> I think my 40cm/16" floor fan is rated about the same...



Check this out!  Not my video but you get the idea.   Nidec BetaV VA450DC  ***  Nidec BETA V VA450DC 12V DC 3.3 Amps 40 Watts! 

Good thing it has a fan guard and it is encased in that green plastic frame. I wouldn't power it up bare. My fingers would be gone or seriously hurt in seconds. I saw some videos with people handling these monsters without a fan guard. They are asking for trouble!

Who's for some serious air cooling?  Also I'd need a couple SAN ACE Sanyo Denki 6000 rpm fans and I'm going to kiss my ears good bye.  Good thing that I have a pair of big Safety Ear Muffs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 26, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Check this out!  Not my video but you get the idea.   Nidec BetaV VA450DC  ***  Nidec BETA V VA450DC 12V DC 3.3 Amps 40 Watts!
> 
> Good thing it has a fan guard and it is encased in that green plastic frame. I wouldn't power it up bare. My fingers would be gone or seriously hurt in seconds. I saw some videos with people handling these monsters without a fan guard. They are asking for trouble!
> 
> Who's for some serious air cooling?  Also I'd need a couple SAN ACE Sanyo Denki 6000 rpm fans and I'm going to kiss my ears good bye.  Good thing that I have a pair of big Safety Ear Muffs.


Server grade rack fan. They crank out the revs and the air. With server racks, noise is never a concern!


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 28, 2021)

Totally love the case (Corsair 4000D Airflow) on my 2nd rig. Running Prime95 @ 20x210


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sep 28, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Totally love the case (Corsair 4000D Airflow) on my 2nd rig. Running Prime95 @ 20x210


Does it make espresso or cappuccino?


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 28, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Does it make espresso or cappuccino?


Ask her? I suppose it's a girl as it's so cute build :3

She's running Prime95 atm until the morning (0.05am here ATM)

X5650 @ 4.2 ran Prime95 SmallFFT for 6hrs, I guess its stable 

Also, GN for u TPUers ^^


----------



## Robert B (Sep 29, 2021)

Found this AXP 2000+ but I think that it needs a little more thermal paste. What do you guys think? 

Also NEW HW FOUND! FIC SD11 V1.8 Slot A - AMD 750 Irongate.  Bought as defective. Well, it doesn't look defective to me! I changed the BIOS chip and updated the BIOS to the latest version NC611. The original chip was a 2 Mbit Winbond and the replacement is an SST 2 Mbit with better specs and longer retention of data. I also checked the original BIOS chip which tested OK. Heck knows what was the problem. The owner looked to be the type that has some electronics knowledge.  He was sure that there was a short on the 3.3V line. ???????!?!?!?!?!? It works a treat!

So, another Slot A mobo joins the herd!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 29, 2021)

Robert B said:


> FIC SD11


WOW! FIC.. That takes me back.. BITD, we used to call that brand "Fuc*ers In Charge". Good find!


----------



## Kurt63 (Sep 30, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Yesterday I found a bunch of stuff that it is good to have.
> 
> 1. 2x Diamond Viper V330 NLX, Riva 128, AGP 4MB
> 2. ATI Graphics Solution-SR P/N 168328 - ISA 8bit
> ...


OMG !!!!! .....The Viper V330 !!!!!!..... that was the card I used to crush Rogue Spear !!!!! .... brings back memmories of playing online with dial up ..... added the Monster 3DFX to crush Janes AH-64 Long Bow !!!!  LOL


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 30, 2021)

Kurt63 said:


> OMG !!!!! .....The Viper V330 !!!!!!..... that was the card I used to crush Rogue Spear !!!!! .... brings back memmories of playing online with dial up ..... added the Monster 3DFX to crush Janes AH-64 Long Bow !!!!  LOL


Welcome to TPUs Nostalgia Club. Stay a while!


----------



## stef (Oct 1, 2021)

Finaly found time to finish software side of my socket A/3dfx combo. I have forgoten how finicky Windows 98 is. It would be wise to write everything down for future use.

Great thing about Geode processors (besides low power) is ability to change multiplier via software:







And some tests with Voodoo 3 3000:


----------



## erek (Oct 1, 2021)




----------



## Kurt63 (Oct 1, 2021)

stef said:


> Finaly found time to finish software side of my socket A/3dfx combo. I have forgoten how finicky Windows 98 is. It would be wise to write everything down for future use.
> 
> Great thing about Geode processors (besides low power) is ability to change multiplier via software:
> View attachment 218951
> ...


I am 58 years old and pretty much "back in the day" this was THE hardware to have ...... now I know when I was a kid how my Dad talked about his 1962 Impala 409 SS ..... LOL ...... CLASSIC !!!!!!! Thanks for taking the time and resources to share this !!!!!! ...... DAMN !!!!!! , so many good memories !!!!!!!!


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 1, 2021)

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM US2H...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 1, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM US2H...


That was back when GigaByte made great boards. That said, you should consider a capacitor replacement on that board.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 1, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was back when GigaByte made great boards. That said, you should consider a capacitor replacement on that board.


Wise advice that is even though I haven't "seen" any bad ones yet. I plan to build a couple of newer AM3 boards first.


----------



## erek (Oct 1, 2021)

Anyone know about this one?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That said, you should consider a capacitor replacement on that board.





Audioave10 said:


> Wise advice that is even though I haven't "seen" any bad ones yet.


 I was just going to say, Why????? There isn't a single bulging cap on that awesome board. 

Hell, I've got a couple of Gigabyte 462 boards that all the caps are in great shape.


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 2, 2021)

My ISA collection got a bit bigger 
From top :
ET4000W32i 2MB [previously mentioned]
ATI 28800-5 512kB (left), ET4000AX 1MB (right)
Trident 8900D 1MB (left) [previously mentioned], Avance Logic AGL2101 (right) 
(ET4000, ATI and AG2101 are not tested yet, but should work)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 2, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> I was just going to say, Why????? There isn't a single bulging cap on that awesome board.


Preventative maintenance. Those caps are old and while they were of good quality, that board came at a time when caps with iffy chemistry were still out in the wild. It's best to replace them with modern caps to be safe.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Preventative maintenance. Those caps are old and while they were of good quality, that board came at a time when caps with iffy chemistry were still out in the wild. It's best to replace them with modern caps to be safe.



While I totally believe in preventative maintenance, I also believe in the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" way as well. 

Back in the days of these boards, both Gigabyte and Asus used some of the best quality parts in their boards. Are the newer caps better quality? Probably so, however, why take a chance of frying a motherboard for "preventative maintenance?"


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 2, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> While I totally believe in preventative maintenance, I also believe in the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" way as well.
> 
> Back in the days of these boards, both Gigabyte and Asus used some of the best quality parts in their boards. Are the newer caps better quality? Probably so, however, why take a chance of frying a motherboard for "preventative maintenance?"


Good point!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 2, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> I also believe in the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" way as well.


And as a general rule, I fully agree with that ideal. However, exceptions exist. Capacitors are one of those exceptions. It's something to think about for the future.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 3, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> And as a general rule, I fully agree with that ideal. However, exceptions exist. Capacitors are one of those exceptions. It's something to think about for the future.


Usually when there's a sentimental reason, bond. If you remember, I recapped both of those "Adison" Chaintech 6BTM boards, even some of the caps which seemed "OK", just to be on the safe side.

Under the normal circumstances, I would only do something like that on a non-working board, or at least if the caps appear to be bulging and leaking.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 3, 2021)

IMO I'd only recap anything that is known to be considered bad. Which usually is UCC KZG and those chinese crapcaps like ChengX, I.Q, DS, STONE and GSC/Evercon/Sacon (with GSC being the epitome of crap.).

Audioave10's board isn't the case though, as it seems to have Sanyo WG all around the board.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 5, 2021)

Got a 5600 XT as a freebie 



Spoiler



who wants that RX 5600 XT crap, mine was a FX 5600 XT!



Oh, some pics too 



http://imgur.com/IdS9Cd0




http://imgur.com/n0eoOp3


----------



## Bungz (Oct 7, 2021)

I picked up a Shuttle SN85g4 v2 the other day as intermittent booting.

Nforce 3 based 754 stuff quite nice and not that common.

PSU is the main culprit which I could have guessed.

Lots of failed caps in it. Only one I haven't to hand is the main filter and I am hoping this is the cause of the lack of life from it, only 4.7V on the 5vsb.

Motherboard has a few bulging OST so they must really have had it (OST rarely bulge) but still boots fine with another psu.

One of the reasons I think the flex/shuttle thing died on its arse is the PSU are all different for each model of shuttle, its a nightmare and the one for this is not used in many other models and does not come up on eBay very often.....


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 8, 2021)

Bungz said:


> Motherboard has a few bulging OST so they must really have had it (OST rarely bulge) but still boots fine with another psu.


They were likely exposed to more heat then they could handle. Cap replacement is in order.



Bungz said:


> One of the reasons I think the flex/shuttle thing died on its arse is the PSU are all different for each model of shuttle


Just fix the PSU. PSU's are like all other electronics, repair them and they're off and running.


----------



## Bungz (Oct 8, 2021)

Yeah heat has definitely cooked them, and the fact they are all pretty turdy brands, OST Teapo and some Jamicons.

Shame as shuttles were not cheap back in the day.

The issue was a couple of dead 470uf Jamicons  on the 5vsb that looked fine till I put them on the meter.

Well that was stopping it powering up, not much filtering being done by the rest.

All redone now with Panasonics, board too.

Just need to find time to stick it all back together.

Clawhammer was a bonus too


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 9, 2021)

Got also an old HP dc7600c workstation/office PC. Could be a base for a good XP system. I'll put pics later, already put some upgrades there, now checking Win11 as I installed that just a moment ago.

But by the first looks:

Pros:
+the looks
+it can be used vertically or horizontally
+the 5.25" drive bays can be swapped from vertical to horizontical

Cons:
-proprietary PSU form though the connectors are standard ATX
-PSU is only 365W
-it's P4 (640)
-the case is also proprietary, a standard mATX would work but the base of the motherboard has an integrated I/O shield
-pretty nonexistent ventilation

It supports Pentium D 8xx's at least, I need to check for a bios update as I have also a D935. I put already 4x1GB DDR2-800 and 8800 GT there.


----------



## QuietBob (Oct 10, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Got also an old HP dc7600c workstation/office PC. Could be a base for a good XP system. I'll put pics later, already put some upgrades there, now checking Win11 as I installed that just a moment ago.


Win11 on a Pentium 4 HT? Sounds like a lot of fun! Really curious about your experience with this system.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 10, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Win11 on a Pentium 4 HT? Sounds like a lot of fun! Really curious about your experience with this system.


Ah no, oh hell no  installed it on my main rig (Ryzen 3600 etc, on my specs)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 10, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> It supports Pentium D 8xx's


There were some solid offerings there. An 830 or 840 would be optimal and give new life to that old system. XP would be right at home on it.

Are you thinking of a small SSD for it? A 120/128GB model would be all you need.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 10, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> There were some solid offerings there. An 830 or 840 would be optimal and give new life to that old system. XP would be right at home on it.
> 
> Are you thinking of a small SSD for it? A 120/128GB model would be all you need.


I have a D 830 on my desk ready to go, I need to check if I have faster supported ones 

Not gonna to get a SSD for those XP POS's, a HDD gives an authentic experience


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 11, 2021)

I had an HP 7600 a few years ago.  I put a GTX 650 in it & played NFS Porsche 2000 running XP.  I upgraded the P4 640 to a PD 945 that I found. (My job has given me to chance to save old stuff that would otherwise be headed to a dumpster).  Downside to the Pentium D is the stock CPU fan was really loud as the CPU heated under load.  I agree with Lex, an SSD would be a really nice addition.  Spinners... OMG!

I'm going to stick with my s478 systems for playing with WinXP in the future.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 11, 2021)

68Olds said:


> I had an HP 7600 a few years ago.  I put a GTX 650 in it & played NFS Porsche 2000 running XP.  I upgraded the P4 640 to a PD 945 that I found. (My job has given me to chance to save old stuff that would otherwise be headed to a dumpster).  Downside to the Pentium D is the stock CPU fan was really loud as the CPU heated under load.  I agree with Lex, an SSD would be a really nice addition.  Spinners... OMG!
> 
> I'm going to stick with my s478 systems for playing with WinXP in the future.


Did it support D 900 series straight or did you update the bios? That sounds cool as I could maybe use my D 945 there 

edit: put already 4x1GB DDR2-800 and a 8800 GT there. Pics later like I promised, too lazy now


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 11, 2021)

I don't remember needing to do a BIOS update on the one I had, I just dropped the CPU in & it worked.  HP still has all the BIOS and XP drivers on their site though.






						HP Compaq dc7600 Convertible Minitower PC Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support
					

Download the latest drivers, firmware, and software for your HP Compaq dc7600 Convertible Minitower PC.This is HP’s official website that will help automatically detect and download the correct drivers free of cost for your HP Computing and Printing products for Windows and Mac operating system.




					support.hp.com


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 11, 2021)

Some of the grip.

View attachment 20211010_181019.jpg


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 11, 2021)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Some of the grip.
> 
> View attachment 220287


Being a little jealous is okay on this thread as I am.  Nice set there


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 11, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Being a little jealous is okay on this thread as I am.  Nice set there


Couple of twins, a set of triplets even! XD


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 11, 2021)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Couple of twins, a set of triplets even! XD


I just want a NF2U400 462 boaaaard... :3


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 11, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> I just want a NF2U400 462 boaaaard... :3


I want to get some socket 7 stuff some day myself.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 11, 2021)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I want to get some socket 7 stuff some day myself.


I have a 1GHz Thunderbird with the legendary AXIA stepping, 1466 wasn't a problem with it but my board died


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 11, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> I have a 1GHz Thunderbird with the legendary AXIA stepping, 1466 wasn't a problem with it but my board died


Lot of boards out there, but mostly with a Via chipset, so no OC


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 11, 2021)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Lot of boards out there, but mostly with a Via chipset, so no OC


That was a MSI one with NF2 but wasn't the best. Well, I'm not sad that it died, I just need a better board  AN7/NF7-S/Lanparty NFII or something...


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 11, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> That was a MSI one with NF2 but wasn't the best. Well, I'm not sad that it died, I just need a better board  AN7/NF7-S/Lanparty NFII or something...


That one is Abit AN7. Got it from a close friend. It's very dear to me. And it clocks decent too!


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 11, 2021)

ShrimpBrime said:


> That one is Abit AN7. Got it from a close friend. It's very dear to me. And it clocks decent too!


Noice, I would love to have one too


----------



## Bungz (Oct 11, 2021)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Lot of boards out there, but mostly with a Via chipset, so no OC


Via boards can OC fine if you work around the locks, had some monster clocks with a Epox 8K3A with a JIUB tbred 

Used to be quite common to get NF2 boards but now they usually go for a bit of cash.

NF7-s / AN7 are strong to reasonable money but Asus a7n8x tend to go quite cheap.

Abit boards are a lotto to what caps are on them too, some use Nichicon HM series and those are always bad so factor that in too.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 11, 2021)

Bungz said:


> Via boards can OC fine if you work around the locks, had some monster clocks with a Epox 8K3A with a JIUB tbred
> 
> Used to be quite common to get NF2 boards but now they usually go for a bit of cash.
> 
> ...


NForce/NForce2 has also the benefit of having a dual channel mem controller


----------



## F-Zero (Oct 12, 2021)

I got myself a new, unopened still in wrapper Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 PRO Red Edition


----------



## Robert B (Oct 12, 2021)

*NEW HW FOUND!!!*

1. MSI MS6191 VER:1 Slot A AMD 750 + AMD K7800MPR52B A
2. Gigabyte 6VX7-4X S370 + P3 800/133
3. Arctic Cooling Super Silent Pro CPU Cooler

The AGP slot on the MSI board has already been fixed. Plastic surgery completed!!!


----------



## delshay (Oct 14, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM US2H...



Just bought one of these but it's version 1.1.   ..It's looking like a dud motherboard because the northbridge/southbridge can't clock pass 2300Mhz, it should be doing 2700MHz+. Not sure if I should send it back.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 14, 2021)

Yesterday's loot 




X05-29232 is the wise word.


----------



## Fouquin (Oct 15, 2021)

Finally after so many years of watching their price tick up, up, and away... I got a desktop Gallatin.

Miracles do still happen. Just gotta be eagle eyed and find them hiding in eBay auctions.



Fairly innocuous looking listing. Nothing in particular stands out except the Willamettes, which I am personally a sucker for. But let's take a quick scan through the photos.




Woah woah, hold up. There's a thirty-capper in there. Northwood M0 probably? Couldn't be a Gallatin, surely... No way an Extreme Edition is sitting in a scrap lot next to a measly pile of Celerons and Willamettes.




Squint _really _hard. Well I'll be damned.


The happy conclusion: It works! Another Pentium 4 Extreme Edition saved from being "gold scrap".



_Now to figure out why my P4P800-E stopped booting..._


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 15, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Finally after so many years of watching their price tick up, up, and away... I got a desktop Gallatin.
> 
> Miracles do still happen. Just gotta be eagle eyed and find them hiding in eBay auctions.
> 
> ...


Perhaps the CPU does indeed work, but you missed the golden opportunity to recycle that CPU for gold (using your generic kitchen blender) & make a fortune out of it!


----------



## Fouquin (Oct 15, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Perhaps the CPU does indeed work, but you missed the golden opportunity to recycle that CPU for gold (using your generic kitchen blender) & make a fortune out of it!



Darn you're right. I should get to work on recovering the 4 micrometers of gold plating off those tiny pins!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 15, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Darn you're right. I should get to work on recovering the 4 micrometers of gold plating off those tiny pins!


Damn right! What you're waiting for?!


----------



## Robert B (Oct 15, 2021)

Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For?  

Nice catch Foquin!  I got my Gallatin(s) this year. Still untested but I'm sure they work.  I mean, CPUs NEVER DIE!!!  or should I say the probability is quite low.


----------



## Fouquin (Oct 15, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For?
> 
> I mean, CPUs NEVER DIE!!!  or should I say the probability is quite low.



Never say that too loud around a 130nm Intel chip.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 16, 2021)

Was cleaning out some old stuff around the house today & behold, I was surprised to find an old early 2000s beige coloured box stuck in a dusty corner of a storage area. I must have forgotten I even had this box or how I acquired it well over a decade ago... this was from the days when my ex & I frequented charity shops selling old stuff & assorted electronic gear back in the day. I obviously bought it, put it down somewhere then got swept up in other matters of life at the time.

Opening it up revealed a pristine MSI KT4V based system (socket 462) with a SURPRISING over powered Cooler Master's first 1kw PSU on the market, way back from 2007 jammed into the PSU area of the box....
I have no idea whatsoever how on earth this came to be inside this old box or who installed it back then. 


Yep, 6 x 12v rails!!

Apart from that shocking (pardon the pun) surprise, the case itself is most interesting in the sense that it is made of thick steel all round, unlike the thin stuff often seen today in system cases, the case itself has very limited option for fans, here is the front of it when the cover is closed.

Opening the cover reveals this with an out of place optical drive in black, no colour coordination here my friends!

Opening the side cover revealed this system...

I removed the somewhat lacklustre Nvidia MX440 8X 64Mb card & replaced it with this Asus ATI 9600SE 128Mb unit I had stored away for years already ... all AGP of course @ 8X speed.

Before attempting to boot it up I wanted to check the ID of the ram modules & clean out any sort of dust anywhere in the system before attempting to boot to bios & ensure they were seated properly. This is what they are, nearly a matched set of 3!

The optical drive... CD only!

I don't know what model Athlon XP is in it, presuming the sticker at the front is correct for the cpu ID.
IF all boots up well, I was thinking of resurrecting Windows 2000 Pro for it!
Oh what fun....

Ok, update on installing Win2K Pro. The ATI card was giving a bit of trouble when rebooting so lucky I had another AGP card handy. This time it's Winfast A280 LE, based on Nvidia's Geforce 4 Ti 4200-8x gpu. System seems to like it & at least it has 128bit/128Mb memory.


Anyway... on to the software side of things & the Win2K Pro disk (original MS disc) throws up this error msg...

Quick bit of trouble shooting without mucking around online, I replaced the optical drive with this model...

Same error msg turns up again...


----------



## Robert B (Oct 16, 2021)

*The Trunk O' Loot!*


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 16, 2021)

Robert B said:


> *The Trunk O' Loot!*


Nice swag Rob! Today's haul from the flea-market?


----------



## Robert B (Oct 16, 2021)

*Yeah baby!* Pouring rain and low temps but I went there no matter what!  Fully equipped!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Was cleaning out some old stuff around the house today & behold, I was surprised to find an old early 2000s beige coloured box stuck in a dusty corner of a storage area. I must have forgotten I even had this box or how I acquired it well over a decade ago... this was from the days when my ex & I frequented charity shops selling old stuff & assorted electronic gear back in the day. I obviously bought it, put it down somewhere then got swept up in other matters of life at the time.
> 
> Opening it up revealed a pristine MSI KT4V based system (socket 462) with a SURPRISING over powered Cooler Master's first 1kw PSU on the market, way back from 2007 jammed into the PSU area of the box....
> I have no idea whatsoever how on earth this came to be inside this old box or who installed it back then.
> ...


Love the case, it reminds me (a lot, actually) of my Adison(s)! 


 





Robert B said:


> *The Trunk O' Loot!*


Whenever there's a Slot 1 (or Slot A for that matter) involved, it's always a guaranteed success IMHO!


----------



## seth1911 (Oct 16, 2021)

Still which year its nostalgic ?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2021)

seth1911 said:


> Still which year its nostalgic ?


This is highly subjective question. To me personally, that would be 1996-1999, perhaps up to 2002-2003 at most. Come to think of it, even older than 1996, considering I started with 486, DX2.

But when I think of old(er) computers, I immediately visualize Pentium II and not DX2 ... despite the fact that I absolutely adore DX2 and got fond memories of playing all those well-known DOS games


----------



## seth1911 (Oct 16, 2021)

my HW is to young oldest is from the Year 2008


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2021)

seth1911 said:


> my HW is to young oldest is from the Year 2008


Well then, in your particular case the answer is 2008  And likewise, some of the guys in this thread will have fond memories of 286 and 386 machines ... some of them maybe even older than that (Commodore, Atari gaming console, Amstrad CPC464 & similar)

Hence what I initially said, this is highly subjective question with no particular (or correct) answer IMHO.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 16, 2021)

seth1911 said:


> Still which year its nostalgic ?


Generally, anything around 10 years old or more, but that's not a hard rule...


Trekkie4 said:


> This is highly subjective question.


Also this.


seth1911 said:


> my HW is to young oldest is from the Year 2008


That works. If it's nostalgic to you and you want to share it, feel free. Most(All?) of us who frequent this thread try hard to keep it a welcoming place. If you have something that is only 7 years old and you feel nostalgic about it, post it! It's all good! It's fun to see what other people have fond and good memories of!


----------



## Bungz (Oct 16, 2021)

Latest find


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2021)

Oddly enough, this is the second time in less than a week to encounter someone talking & posting pics of their acrylic cases 

As I already wrote on the other forum, I remember these when they were first introduced, back in 2004, 2005. I wanted to buy one and fill it up with neon lamps and LED fans ... that is, up until I saw the price tag! 

In fact, I have a computer magazine from around that era (2005, I think?!) when they reviewed one of the models, and pointed out its advantages and disadvantages. At the time, people wanted everything to be transparent, so even after all these years, I still remember various mods to some of the internal components, such as taking your hard drive apart & replacing a standard, metal lid with acrylic one (which was a really, REALLY bad idea) and even some of the PSU vendors who replaced the old-fashioned metal cover with transparent counterpart, so that you can see caps & fans on the inside ... good times!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 16, 2021)

Bungz said:


> View attachment 221116View attachment 221118View attachment 221119View attachment 221117
> 
> Latest find


I haven't seen one of those in more than a decade! LOVED those cases. Wish they still made them!

Damn you Bungz! I soooo want my old Clear Acrylic case back... The things we could do with those cases and modern hardware with RGB lighting! Hell yeah!!


----------



## seth1911 (Oct 16, 2021)

Im Nostalgic with my A8 3800 IGP @ OC, its is a Monster it rules everthing to the A10 7870K

A8 3800 IGP @ OC = 748 GFLOPs ( DDR3 2467)
A8 7600 IGP @ OC = 697 GFOPs ( DDR3 2216)

But the 6550D can only work till DX 11 and OpenGL, no Vulkan or DX 12 support


----------



## Arrakis9 (Oct 16, 2021)

Bungz said:


> View attachment 221116View attachment 221118View attachment 221119View attachment 221117
> 
> Latest find


Were did you pick that case up from?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 16, 2021)

So anyhow, over the last couple of days I've been working on these... 




Yes, two more BTC (XH Series) CD-ROM drives! They were kindly donated to me, and even though none of the two units worked on first try, I'm happy to report that BCD 40XH was successfully fixed, simply by taking the case apart & gently wiping the lens.




Unfortunately, the same thing couldn't be said for the other (36XH) unit, which seems to exhibit odd ... or rather unusual behavior. Although everything seemed to look normal at first, things got weird when it tried to spin up the actual CD inside. Instead of rotating clockwise as it should, it tried to spin up other way around, in the opposite direction. Then decided to pull the "emergency brake", and spin the motor the right way. But then soon after changed its mind again and tried anticlockwise. And so on, it kept on going and going until it eventually gave up & declared that the tray was "empty".

@r0x here believes that the problem is due to motor controller (or at least something to do with voltages), and I even tried alternative mechanism entirely - just to make sure that it's not something with the motor, laser pickup or one of the sensors.


 



But no - even with entirely different mech, the problem was still pretty much the same. And just when I was about to give it up entirely, I gave it another try earlier today and manually spun the motor clockwise, as soon as the tray closed. I'll let you be the judge of what happened next 




It looks as if everything's working normal ... but from what I can tell, something is still very much causing issues. Either one of the solder pads are cracked, shorted or damaged OR the actual motor controller is indeed damaged somehow and is causing issues. Furthermore, I tried to play a standard Audio CD through the internal controls and external speakers, hooked onto the headphone jack. Again - nothing! I can hear crackling, almost static-like noise for couple of seconds as it tries to play, but then rejects & stops entirely. Oddly enough, the actual drive does seem to recognize between "audio" and "data" CDs, as the audio will spin at much lower rate, where on the other hand data will spin at max. RPM. Most importantly, in both cases the actual CD is being recognized, as you can tell by the LED.




Just for the sake of reference, LED Off = No Disc inside (or detected), LED On = Disc Inside, drive is in idle state & Blinking LED = Reading/accessing data


----------



## Bungz (Oct 16, 2021)

Arrakis9 said:


> Were did you pick that case up from?


A localish FB listing.


Wanted it mainly for the 6800gs agp but the case is immaculate which is unusual for acrylics, they usually have cracks.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 17, 2021)

Ok, I figured out what was going wrong with installing Win2K Pro or XP onto the MSI KT4V board. Seems these operating systems need an IDE filter driver preloaded when prompted via the F6 key during install. XP sp1 fixed that but none of my copies of XP sp1 want to boot properly although the original XP MS disc does. Freaking optical drives!!! 
Problem is the only as far as I know at this point working floppy drive is in that box, although I have several other boxes here circa 2000 era, with floppy drives in them but they haven't been booted up in over a decade.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 17, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Ok, I figured out what was going wrong with installing Win2K Pro or XP onto the MSI KT4V board. Seems these operating systems need an IDE filter driver preloaded when prompted via the F6 key during install. XP sp1 fixed that but none of my copies of XP sp1 want to boot properly although the original XP MS disc does. Freaking optical drives!!!
> Problem is the only as far as I know at this point working floppy drive is in that box, although I have several other boxes here circa 2000 era, with floppy drives in them but they haven't been booted up in over a decade.


Nah. XP will load on that board without anything at f6 at all. Your install media is messing with you.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 17, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nah. XP will load on that board without anything at f6 at all. Your install media is messing with you.


Ok, but I posted a screenshot yesterday of the error msg I'm getting when using the MS original XP install disc. This is with a VIA SB remember.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 17, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That works. If it's nostalgic to you and you want to share it, feel free. Most(All?) of us who frequent this thread try hard to keep it a welcoming place. If you have something that is only 7 years old and you feel nostalgic about it, post it! It's all good! It's fun to see what other people have fond and good memories of!





seth1911 said:


> my HW is to young oldest is from the Year 2008



As @lexluthermiester just stated, there really isn't a hardware date to make it "nostalgic." If it's something that brings back fond memories for you, that would be nostalgic for you man! 

That is pretty much what this thread has been about since it's beginning in 2009. So, by all means, post anything you wish man.    



Mr.Scott said:


> Nah. XP will load on that board without anything at f6 at all. Your install media is messing with you.



Oh yeah, I remember that old prompt! Man, that takes me back.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 17, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> XP sp1 fixed that but none of my copies of XP sp1 want to boot properly although the original XP MS disc does. Freaking optical drives!!!





AlwaysHope said:


> Ok, but I posted a screenshot yesterday of the error msg I'm getting when using the MS original XP install disc. This is with a VIA SB remember.


It's not the optical drive. That was a known problem with SP1. Get an ISO for XP SP2 or SP3 and your problem will be solved.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 17, 2021)

@AlwaysHope You're not using a self-ejecting, anti-clockwise, shaky & crackling BTC CD-ROM drive ... are you?!

Because in all the seriousness, this is one of the common issues with BTC drives...


----------



## Robert B (Oct 17, 2021)

Robert B said:


> *The Trunk O' Loot!*





			https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/prw-2021-310-jpg.221085/
		


I couldn't edit the post so the Trunk O' Loot is looking something like this:

1. Chaintech CT-5RSA2 - Super Socket 7 + AMD K6-2 500MHz - to this date just the 3rd SS7 motherboard that I own.
2. AMAX / A-Trend LX-440B with Pentium 2 233MHz/66 - slow and steady wins the race!
3. MSI MS-6156 - 440ZX + Pentium 3 450MHz - back in the day I had an MS-6154 S370 board so this is as close as it gets to rebuilding my 2nd ever PC!
4. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe + AXP 2500+ Arctic Cooling Copper Silent - Sk. A while still overlooked now, will get pretty rare over the following years. My 3rd A7N8X class motherboard.
5. ASUS GF2 GTS 32MB V7700 - my 3rd or 4th? I lost count.  - I have plenty of GF2 GTS cards of all kinds and shapes.
6. P3 500MHz Slot 1 - a little slow but it was free so why not?
7. 2x Matrox Millennium 2 PCI - these beg for V2 SLI action and I got this covered!
8. Trident 3D Image 9750 AGP - just a curiosity for me. 
9. Creative Sound Blaster 32 CT3620  with two SIMM memory sockets - unnecessarily long card is long but I LIKE IT!
10. Creative Sound Blaster 32 PnP CT3670 with two SIMM memory sockets - long card is long but you've guessed it I LIKE IT!
11. Creative Sound Blaster AWE64 CT4520 - hmmm AWE64 value or whatever, still an AWE64
12. ELSA WINNER 1000 S3 Trio64V+ 2MB SDRAM PCI - the "humble" S3 Trio from a reputable manufacturer.
13. STB SYSTEMS NITRO 3D/GX 4MB PCI S3 VIRGE/GX - this also wants some V2 SLI action and I also got this covered.
14. MSI MS 8806 - Graphics adapter - TNT2 Pro - AGP 4x - 32 MB SDRAM - a fully fledged TNT2? OH yeah!
15. Diamond SpeedStar A90, S3 Savage4 Pro+ at 110 MHz 16MB AGP - another out of the ordinary card.

As it is always the case with flea market loot, they have some wear and tear but have no fear as I'll rip an tear through all of them and eventually each and one of them will have its story told. As it should.

Also I will need to make an investment in some desoldering/soldering tools as I want to take things further and I want to make my life easier and also safer for the components that I'll restore.

All of the above stuff will be kept for the time being. None will be sold for the quick and easy $$$. 

This year was ludicrous in regards to the quantity and quality of the stuff I got and by the looks of it there are no signs that things will be slowing down. 

Another reorganization of my stuff is looming over my head but I'm not complaining.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 17, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Ok, but I posted a screenshot yesterday of the error msg I'm getting when using the MS original XP install disc. This is with a VIA SB remember.


Chipset makes no difference on install. Drivers are installed after the OS. In your case, you'll be installing the VIA 4in1 drivers. Only thing that ever gets installed at f6 if you need it is SATA controller driver.



Robert B said:


> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/prw-2021-310-jpg.221085/
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am so glad that we don't have the flee markets that you have there. My wife would shoot me dead. I'm already a hoarder.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 18, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> I am so glad that we don't have the flee markets that you have there. My wife would shoot me dead. I'm already a hoarder.


While that's a good reason for it, it's still a shame you don't. I remember the local "flea market" that operated in a drive-in theater during the day when I lived in SoCal. Good grief do I miss that place!


----------



## Robert B (Oct 18, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> I am so glad that we don't have the flee markets that you have there. My wife would shoot me dead. I'm already a hoarder.



Not yet a hoarder in the true meaning of the word but I know where this is going. Also it is perfectly clear that I'm way past the point of no return. When the parts come in, by the dozen, you really start thinking about your "problem". I can stop anytime I want, I just choose not to. 

What I am also aware is the fact that this trend is not sustainable and at some point in time getting these parts will be just a distant memory. For now I'm just happy and grateful that I am still able to find them. Also if needed I will have to enforce a stronger filter and buy only the best stuff. This will be kind of hard as I want to save them all!  I'd better check myself ...

One guy that comes to the flea market, once a year in summer, told me about a huge warehouse in Italy that is full of computers destined for recycling. The stories he told me were close to those of the Aladdin 's cave. I bought some nice components from him and I have no doubts that he was speaking the truth. He brought here, tens of fully built PCs that were also dismembered and recycled. He got bored of how many screws he had to remove.  His neighbors were hearing only the zip zip of the electric screwdriver. 

At this point in time my whole stash can be stored in a drawer with a width of 70 cm, length of 300 cm and a height of about 220 cm. In reality they are scattered on three separate shelves at a location other that my apartment. This is a good thing as otherwise I would be all over them all the time. 

I have in plan a huge reorganization that I want to do IKEA style, in the sense that no space will be wasted in any of the storing boxes, like it is the case now. This will make my stash even easier to handle. At some point in the near future I will have to move the whole lot and I don't want to deal with this headache only then.

Getting them was the easy part. Dealing with the logistical aspect will be a PITA but I'm not complaining. Also, this year I got my first taste of selling some of the parts and I got over this quite nicely. I have no regrets.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 18, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Not yet a hoarder in the true meaning of the word but I know where this is going. Also it is perfectly clear that I'm way past the point of no return. When the parts come in, by the dozen, you really start thinking about your "problem". I can stop anytime I want, I just choose not to.
> 
> What I am also aware is the fact that this trend is not sustainable and at some point in time getting these parts will be just a distant memory. For now I'm just happy and grateful that I am still able to find them. Also if needed I will have to enforce a stronger filter and buy only the best stuff. This will be kind of hard as I want to save them all!  I'd better check myself ...
> 
> ...


I have 2 large walk-in closets packed floor to ceiling.


----------



## Yukikaze (Oct 18, 2021)

So, this might not be as old as some of the stuff in this thread, but it is fairly interesting nonetheless. I've had these for a while, but forgot this thread existed!






This is an Atto Thunderlink unit (TLFC-1082-D00). It is a Thunderbolt1 to PCIe enclosure which originally came with a 8Gb Fibre Channel SAN card. These used to cost thousands of dollars back in the day. I have three of them I picked up over the last few years for the total cost of 120$ off ebay.

The reason why this is nostalgic for me is that I am an eGPU (external GPU) enthusiast, and these Thunderbolt1 devices are from the earliest days of Thunderbolt eGPUs. Specifically, if we look under the hood, we will find this:



Now searching for Z145I001L and L145IA03 doesn't lead anywhere, but the year marking is 2010. There is only one Thunderbolt controller from 2010 that I could find: This one. *So, if I am not mistaken: This is the very first officially launched Light Ridge Thunderbolt controller! This is Thunderbolt history right there *

And yes, it works as an eGPU in 2021, with a 2012 Mac mini (unfortunately, I don't have a 2011 Mac with Thunderbolt, which would've been the oldest system where this could've been possible). Note that you need some way to enable eGPU support on pre-Thunderbolt3 Macs. I used Kryptonite.




I did have to butcher one of the boxes to make this a reality, but I have two more in the original condition and this one was scratched to hell anyway (plus, ebay has plenty more). The end result is quite nice, if you're into the industrial look:


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 18, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's not the optical drive. That was a known problem with SP1. Get an ISO for XP SP2 or SP3 and your problem will be solved.


I have several XP discs with SP1, SP2 & SP3 on them, but now the problem is the silly bios or optical drive are not synchronising in time when indicated to boot from CD prompt appears on screen. I mean I see the optical drive's green light coming on but only for a few secs when the bios sequence approaches that point, then the bios moves on to alternate boot options... It is inconsistent with booting from optical discs this board bios & its the latest version I could find. 


Trekkie4 said:


> @AlwaysHope You're not using a self-ejecting, anti-clockwise, shaky & crackling BTC CD-ROM drive ... are you?!
> 
> Because in all the seriousness, this is one of the common issues with BTC drives...


No, as can be seen in my previous posts, only HP or LIte-On optical drives from approximately around the same era as the board. 


Mr.Scott said:


> Chipset makes no difference on install. Drivers are installed after the OS. In your case, you'll be installing the VIA 4in1 drivers. Only thing that ever gets installed at f6 if you need it is SATA controller driver.
> 
> 
> I am so glad that we don't have the flee markets that you have there. My wife would shoot me dead. I'm already a hoarder.


There is a pointer on majorgeeks.com about an IDE filter driver needed by Win 2K during install with VIA chipsets.


----------



## Fouquin (Oct 19, 2021)

Nine. Years.

I have been looking for one of these boards for almost a decade. Who would have thought Goodwill would have one incorrectly listed on eBay of all places? I've been through half a dozen Aladdin Vs, all great fun to build with, but not exactly novel.


PowerColor P561A, ALi Aladdin 7 ArtX



Novel graphics engine, early integrated TnL, dual channel SDRAM. My kind of weird.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 19, 2021)

Nice years? WOW! That's commitment!

Nice board!  Never saw one around here. Not even back in the day. 

Also please don't forget to change those caps. A few are bulging.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 19, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> No, as can be seen in my previous posts, only HP or LIte-On optical drives from approximately around the same era as the board.


I know, it was meant as a joke...  But seriously, one of the most common issues with BTC drives are read/access difficulties.

Sometimes it works flawlessly and sometimes it  works up to a certain point and then freezes everything, or ejects CD entirely. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting that most of you never experienced its uhh ... charms, or at least "quirky personality", so the whole joke was kinda misplaced in the end.



Fouquin said:


> Nine. Years.
> 
> I have been looking for one of these boards for almost a decade. Who would have thought Goodwill would have one incorrectly listed on eBay of all places? I've been through half a dozen Aladdin Vs, all great fun to build with, but not exactly novel.
> 
> ...


Nine years, you say? Nice one, Junior 

As some of you here already know (because I always end up repeating myself, over and over lol), it took me 15 years to find my "Adison" case. Yes, fifteen years... Then I found one, followed by yet another one. Then one more (this time mATX) and then couple of months later - yup, onother one! So now I  got 5 of them in total, but each one has a story to tell!

Unfortunately, I also had to pay the "ultimate price" for each and every case I found. We had a devastating earthquake right after the first one, then just as I was debating on whenever I should spend money into that pile of rust OR send it to a very close friend of mine who was very sick at the time, she made me promise that I'm going to finish what I started. And so I did - and she lived long enough for me to tell her about it, but unfortunately died soon after.

Ironically ... and oddly enough, I found all those cases only a day or two before she died, and then found the last case about a month or so after, in late January. In either case, sorry to disappoint but nine years is nothing compared to 15 (14 and a half to be exact) ... you just have to be stubborn enough and never give up 



Robert B said:


> Nice years? WOW! That's commitment!
> 
> Nice board!  Never saw one around here. Not even back in the day.
> 
> Also please don't forget to change those caps. A few are bulging.


Nah... Couple of months, maybe up to a year - that's a commitment. But nine years (and more) is a strong determination. As in "I'm going to find (Item name here) no matter what, and no matter how long it will take!"

Edit
Found the original post from 2016, where someone (under the name of @mmx_91) found me one of those cases in Barcelona, Spain. Since this was my first encounter with that particular case since 2006, I was even willing to pay extra and have the whole thing shipped to my address. Unfortunately, after talking to the seller he or she backed off, because it seemed like too much work, and too much of a risk.



mmx_91 said:


> I found this exact same case advertised in Wallapop today!! Sadly, it's in Spain but it's the same model, and no more information is shown. I can send you the link if you want to





Trekkie4 said:


> OH MY GOD!! Yes, that's the one!! Wow, I've been searching for this thing for years & nothing! Yes, please send me the link & I'll see what I can do...
> 
> Edit
> @mmx_91 I've been browsing through Wallapop & can't seem to find it anywhere  So yeah, if you would be so kind to send me a link... I want to know how much they're asking for it, at this point I'd even be willing to buy it & have it shipped to Croatia (if possible)
> ...


Sadly, it would also seem that mmx_91 never posted again, he (or she) apparently registered here jus to tell me about Wallapop ad...


----------



## Fouquin (Oct 19, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> In either case, sorry to disappoint but nine years is nothing compared to 15 (14 and a half to be exact) ... you just have to be stubborn enough and never give up



Appreciate that your accomplishment was somehow more impressive than mine, but I don't see any podium nor medals around here to suggest this is a competition. I've got long yearnings too, but most of what's on my list has been scarce or long been stuck with private collectors.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 19, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Appreciate that your accomplishment was somehow more impressive than mine, but I don't see any podium nor medals around here to suggest this is a competition. I've got long yearnings too, but most of what's on my list has been scarce or long been stuck with private collectors.


Hey, we're all friends here. No worries.


----------



## AugeK (Oct 19, 2021)

Stumbled upon this thread by accident, inspiring me to browse the very back of my cellar.
Here is the results
Dual Slot I Board with 2 Pentium III 600 installed:



Pentium III Dual Board with 2 933 CPU installed:


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 19, 2021)

Just a TNT :


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 19, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Appreciate that your accomplishment was somehow more impressive than mine, but I don't see any podium nor medals around here to suggest this is a competition. I've got long yearnings too, but most of what's on my list has been scarce or long been stuck with private collectors.





lexluthermiester said:


> Hey, we're all friends here. No worries.


@Fouquin Agreed with lex, you took my post way too serious & literal. What I meant to say is that you're not the only one who spent a lot of time, almost 10 years to search and eventually find what you're looking for.

Some people would think we're crazy ... but I'd like to think of people in this thread as nostalgic & occasionally too stubborn to give up on something  Otherwise, this is not a competition nor accomplishment ... just like you said. The only accomplishment for me, or you is to see our projects FINALLY come to life, and nostalgia (and memories) related to whatever is important to us.

@AugeK Wow! Uhh ... Asus P2B-DS? It's difficult to tell.
@agent_x007 I assume this is (Riva) TNT and not TNT2?


----------



## AugeK (Oct 19, 2021)

MS6120, featuring 2 SCSI channels
694D, no SCSI ☹


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 19, 2021)

AugeK said:


> MS6120, featuring 2 SCSI channels
> 694D, no SCSI ☹


No, I was talking about the other (Slot 1) board, the one with 3 SCSI ports... 

Edit
Oh, OK! Gotcha... Funny, reminds me a lot of Asus!


----------



## AugeK (Oct 19, 2021)

Bought them because of their dual-CPU capability


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 19, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> @agent_x007 I assume this is (Riva) TNT and not TNT2?


Yes, this is orignal TNT, *NOT* TNT2.
Comes with 7-pin S-Video input (weirdly enough ?), standard S-video out, and composite In/Out.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 19, 2021)

AugeK said:


> Stumbled upon this thread by accident, inspiring me to browse the very back of my cellar.
> Here is the results
> Dual Slot I Board with 2 Pentium III 600 installed:
> View attachment 221498
> ...


Those are beautiful! They deserve to be made into retro systems!



agent_x007 said:


> Yes, this is orignal TNT, *NOT* TNT2.
> Comes with 7-pin S-Video input (weirdly enough ?), standard S-video out, and composite In/Out.


That card was intended to do professional level video capture. Exceptional card in it's day!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 19, 2021)

AugeK said:


> Bought them because of their dual-CPU capability


Sweet! I always wanted to make a dual-CPU Slot 1 system for retro gaming  How much those older games would benefit from running on a dual CPU configuration is open for debate, but we are talking strictly theoretically of course, not to mention that it would look awesome! 



agent_x007 said:


> Yes, this is orignal TNT, *NOT* TNT2.
> Comes with 7-pin S-Video input (weirdly enough ?), standard S-video out, and composite In/Out.


Wow, nice find! You know, these cards are ridiculously rare nowdays & almost impossible to find ... at least I didn't get to find one (or even see, for that matter) myself. But I remember the good ol' days when having a TNT made you the coolest guy in school, and all of the sudden everyone wanted to be your friend


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 19, 2021)

I usually see TNT2s and Riva128s (with single VGA out).

But this card was first TNT I saw with S-Video, so I had to buy it 
A week ago, there was a Riva128 with S-video (similar to this one) and also from ASUS, but I wasn't able to buy it in time :/
Regardless, I think this TNT is the better buy from the two (even if I had to pay 2x more than for it).


----------



## Fouquin (Oct 19, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Also please don't forget to change those caps. A few are bulging.



Absolutely, new caps went on before it ever got to the bench.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 19, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Absolutely, new caps went on before it ever got to the bench.
> 
> View attachment 221512View attachment 221513


Panasonic FR-Series?


----------



## Fouquin (Oct 19, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Panasonic FR-Series?



Close. Smaller Panasonic FS.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 19, 2021)

Fouquin said:


> Close. Smaller Panasonic FS.


Yup, I figured they were Panasonic the moment I saw lid cutout (perforation) shape! Also, they're small in size ... pretty much the ONLY decent small caps on the market, nowdays.

I bought 12 of FR-Series, 6.3V/1000uf for two of my Chaintech 6BTM boards, 24 caps in total.


----------



## AugeK (Oct 20, 2021)

Some more stuff from the big bang:


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 20, 2021)

AugeK said:


> Some more stuff from the big bang:
> View attachment 221645


I can't tell, is that a Radeon 9700 or a 9500? Either way, Nice!


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 20, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That card was intended to do professional level video capture. Exceptional card in it's day!


Side note to that : In order to make S-Video work, user needs to install ASUS driver, and NOT nVidia one (since default driver doesn't know how to do a S-Video out/in).
I found it on web, and I will add it to this post for someone interested in them (they probably only work on ASUS cards).










PS. Old drivers are cool :
You can add TWO of them (98 and XP) and still not get "over the attachment limit" warning on post 
I did not tested XP driver specificly yet, but it should work.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 20, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> Side note to that : In order to make S-Video work, user needs to install ASUS driver, and NOT nVidia one (since default driver doesn't know how to do a S-Video out/in).
> I found it on web, and I will add it to this post for someone interested in them (they probably only work on ASUS cards).


True! This is important! It sould be noted that the the driver set released with that card was thoroughly tested but ASUS and should be considered rock solid.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 20, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> Side note to that : In order to make S-Video work, user needs to install ASUS driver, and NOT nVidia one (since default driver doesn't know how to do a S-Video out/in).
> I found it on web, and I will add it to this post for someone interested in them (they probably only work on ASUS cards).
> 
> 
> ...


You didn't have to bother finding the correct drivers for V3400, as Asus (for whatever the reason, which I absolutely admire) STILL supports ALL their legacy hardware from back in a day 

Here's the LINK


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 20, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's the LINK


Didn't see that coming! Hope they continue to maintain it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 20, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Didn't see that coming! Hope they continue to maintain it.


Me too! Whenever you need V3400, V3800 (TNT2), V7700 (GF2 GTS) or something entirely different - a motherboard perhaps, certain edition of BIOS or flashing tool, they got everything! What I find most useful however are the manual(s), especially when it comes to motherboards (P3B-F, P4B in my case) and pinout for the front panel and/or CPU support.

It also comes in handy for downloading 3rd party OCing tools, such as "SmartDoctor", which allows active monitoring & OC of their cards. Well, at least some of them that is. I gave it a try on TNT2 and GF2 GTS and they both support OC, although TNT2 couldn't tweak fan/cooling adjustments.


----------



## AugeK (Oct 22, 2021)

My wife is busy watching some bullshit movie, I went down and pulled the bits and pieces out of the Time Capsule:




Can't believe it still works!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 22, 2021)

AugeK said:


> My wife is busy watching some bullshit movie, I went down and pulled the bits and pieces out of the Time Capsule:
> View attachment 221947
> 
> View attachment 221948
> ...


Nice, very nice.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 22, 2021)

AugeK said:


> My wife is busy watching some bullshit movie, I went down and pulled the bits and pieces out of the Time Capsule:
> View attachment 221947
> 
> View attachment 221948
> ...


So is it 2x 1000's or 2x 600's........or are we talking 2 different machines?


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 23, 2021)

Who could forget these infamous sticks!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 23, 2021)

Went home for a few days, now going back to college and figured I should bring my ol' trusty dv6-2115eg with me.





Turion M520, Radeon 4650 1024MB, 2x2GB DDR2-800, 320GB 7200RPM HDD and all running Windows 7.


----------



## AugeK (Oct 23, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> So is it 2x 1000's or 2x 600's........or are we talking 2 different machines?


It's 2 different machines, one Slot 1 and one Socket 370


----------



## F-Zero (Oct 23, 2021)

Hey guys ! I have a question. I got myself a second HD 3870 and it should be here in a few days. I want to build a HD 3870 Crossfire system but not sure what combo of mobo & cpu to use, here are the options.

1: Intel i5-760 & Asus P7P55D-E & 16 Gb DDR3 1600 Mhz
2: Q9550 & DFI LanParty X38 & 8 Gb DDR2 800 Mhz

This will be mounted in a NZXT S340 Black

Keep in mind that the ASUS board second PCI-EX works only in X4 mode. Will there be any problems/bottlenecks with this combination if I choose to go with this board ?


----------



## AugeK (Oct 23, 2021)

I would opt for the ASUS board.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 23, 2021)

From a nostalgic stand point I would opt for the DFI board.  I had a pair of HD 3870's (still have one of them) in an Abit AW9D-Max i975 (8x8 PCIe in XFire), which I moved to an Asus X38 16x16 PCIe.  I then flashed the Asus X38 to X48.  I had a lot of fun playing with & benching those systems.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 23, 2021)

AugeK said:


> It's 2 different machines, one Slot 1 and one Socket 370


Nice



AlwaysHope said:


> Who could forget these infamous sticks!
> View attachment 222023


Junk for overclocking.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Who could forget these infamous sticks!
> View attachment 222023


Why infamous?



Mr.Scott said:


> So is it 2x 1000's or 2x 600's........or are we talking 2 different machines?


Two different mobo's with CPU's. They were pictured earlier; here.



MaxiPro800 said:


> Went home for a few days, now going back to college and figured I should bring my ol' trusty dv6-2115eg with me.
> 
> View attachment 222038
> 
> Turion M520, Radeon 4650 1024MB, 2x2GB DDR2-800, 320GB 7200RPM HDD and all running Windows 7.


That system would run Windows 11 smoothly with a lean & clean install. If you'd like to try it head on over to the Windows 11 Discussion thread and I'll walk you through installation and configuration.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 23, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That system would run Windows 11 smoothly with a lean & clean install. If you'd like to try it head on over to the Windows 11 Discussion thread and I'll walk you through installation and configuration.


I know it can run 11, but for 10 and 11 I usually prefer using either 1066FSB C2Ds or 1st/2nd gen Core systems. That, and 7 runs way too well than expected on it, and it would be a shame replacing it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 23, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I know it can run 11, but for 10 and 11 I usually prefer using either 1066FSB C2Ds or 1st/2nd gen Core systems. That, and 7 runs way too well than expected on it, and it would be a shame replacing it.


Fair enough. Far be it for me to recommend anyone away from Windows 7..


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 24, 2021)

Hmm, would a Quadro M4000 be a good purchase for 179EUR? Specs are similar to GTX 970 but it has double the VRAM, also it has lower clocks than 970 but I'd OC that.

Would be a good upgrade for my 2nd rig.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 24, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Hmm, would a Quadro M4000 be a good purchase for 179EUR? Specs are similar to GTX 970 but it has double the VRAM, also it has lower clocks than 970 but I'd OC that.
> 
> Would be a good upgrade for my 2nd rig.


Not that price. The spec are similar to a GTX970, but the performance is 30% lower. If it were say, 110Eur, that would be fair.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 24, 2021)

Alas, it wasn't a flea market & lucky find like the ones @Robert B usually scores ... and I had to pay considerable amount for some of these items, but regardless ... it /is/ nostalgic nevertheless 

The latest (and from what it seems) last batch of BTC CD-ROM drives. I bought 3 of them, one BCD 40XH and two of those older ones, BCD 24X. Unfortunately, only one of the two 24X drives are actually working, the other one seems to have an issue with the laser pickup or the PVC pickup cable 

BCD 40XH was the first one to be tested...




...followed by one of the two earlier 24X models (I'll talk more about this in a minute)




Nevertheless, this is my stack of spare (and fully working) BTC CD-ROM drives ... Justin Case things go south  I'm also working on that additional BCD 36XH which may (or may not) work again ... IDK, we shall see, but it's not listed anywhere.




Speaking of south & Justin Case. I've decided to buy additional GF2 GTS Asus V7700 card. Because why not - the price was right (dirt cheap imho) and besides - you don't get to see GF2 GTS every day!


 



Some of you here may also recall that I mentioned Tualatin PIII ... right? Well, it's finally here ... and it'll make the world's fastest Slot 1, 440BX system possible. Period!  I suppose I could even OC this thing up to 1.5 maybe even 1.6GHz which is well beyond (and into) Socket 478 Pentium 4 era, while still maintaining that retro Slot 1 charm & layout.




And I saved the best for last. It's Voodoo time! (I always wanted to say that )




Creative CT6670, aka Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 card

...12mb model, of course!




In the meantime, I took the liberty of taking apart BTC BCD 24X drive to see if I can patch it up. This is the problem right here - strictly speaking, part of the Philips loader (model number ROL 1318/2)


 

 



I remember seeing the same, identical mechanism layout (and drive) somewhere else, inside different (and non-BTC) drive but I can't seem to remember the name OR model/brand. So ... if you know something about ROL 1318 and/or where to find this please let me know - I would gladly just replace the whole thing & have a brand "new" drive on the inside, while preserving the history & nostalgia on the outside


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 24, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not that price. The spec are similar to a GTX970, but the performance is 30% lower. If it were say, 110Eur, that would be fair.


Hm, there's just no supply for a reasonable priced cards anywhere, damn


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 24, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Hm, there's just no supply for a reasonable priced cards anywhere, damn


Yup. It sucks. To be fair, if you're willing to pay it and it's the best deal you can find, it's a solid card.. It won't let you down.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 24, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yup. It sucks. To be fair, if you're willing to pay it and it's the best deal you can find, it's a solid card.. It won't let you down.


Found already a modified bios with higher clocks and info about modifying it


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 24, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Found already a modified bios with higher clocks and info about modifying it


Grab it then and have fun!


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 24, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Junk for overclocking.


They are pretty good over clockers, though depends on the board & cpu.


lexluthermiester said:


> why infamous?


They were popular on the OC scene here in Australia back in the late 2000s, just before DDR3 intro.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 24, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I remember seeing the same, identical mechanism layout (and drive) somewhere else, inside different (and non-BTC) drive but I can't seem to remember the name OR model/brand. So ... if you know something about ROL 1318 and/or where to find this please let me know - I would gladly just replace the whole thing & have a brand "new" drive on the inside, while preserving the history & nostalgia on the outside


Found it... Acer 636A-002. They are literally identical, except for digital sound volume output.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 24, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> They are pretty good over clockers, though depends on the board & cpu.
> 
> They were popular on the OC scene here in Australia back in the late 2000s, just before DDR3 intro.


They are low voltage CL5 PSC chips. They suck for overclocking. Only DDR2 worth anything is Micron D9 based.
But hey, if you're happy with them that's all that matters. At least I'll know you are not a threat to any of my benching scores. lol


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 24, 2021)

Here's a question for you guys. The mobo is Chaintech 6ASV0 - one of those mATX type "got it all bundled together" type of boards. Slot 1, featuring FSB of 66 and 100MHz. Strictly speaking (and according to online database) it only supports Celeron & Pentium II of up to 450MHz.

However, I've tried putting a Katmai Pentium III, running at 550MHz and the system boots up fine, but reports Pentium II, running at 550MHz (CPUID 673, MicroCode ID:0000). Are there any obvious downsides of running a mismatched configuration like this, or should I downsize to PII 350 (Deschutes) & keep PIII for something else?

If you need or want more info on the board, here are some of the specs:

Supports up to 450MHz Pentium II & Celeron Processors with MMX technology
Supports 66/100MHz system clock speeds
Supports 75/83/103/112/124/133 MHz system clock speeds for OC possibility
BX Plus Chipset (VT82c692, VIA Apollo?)
On-Board Audio chip (ESS Maestro2 , which supports ALL games in A3D API)
On-Board 3D AGP VGA (ATI Rage Pro Turbo?)


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 24, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Here's a question for you guys. The mobo is Chaintech 6ASV0 - one of those mATX type "got it all bundled together" type of boards. Slot 1, featuring FSB of 66 and 100MHz. Strictly speaking (and according to online database) it only supports Celeron & Pentium II of up to 450MHz.
> 
> However, I've tried putting a Katmai Pentium III, running at 550MHz and the system boots up fine, but reports Pentium II, running at 550MHz (CPUID 673, MicroCode ID:0000). Are there any obvious downsides of running a mismatched configuration like this, or should I downsize to PII 350 (Deschutes) & keep PIII for something else?
> 
> ...


As long as it's running stable at the correct speed I don't see how it would be a problem. I'm pretty sure windows will see it as the correct cpu and not a PII.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 24, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> As long as it's running stable at the correct speed I don't see how it would be a problem. I'm pretty sure windows will see it as the correct cpu and not a PII.


Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. Also, I remember something about the instructions ... PII only had MMX but from what I understand PIII was the first one to feature SSE as well as MMX. Which raises a logical question - will the older-gen motherboard recognize & work with PIII even though SSE technology came much later?


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 24, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. Also, I remember something about the instructions ... PII only had MMX but from what I understand PIII was the first one to feature SSE as well as MMX. Which raises a logical question - will the older-gen motherboard recognize & work with PIII even though SSE technology came much later?


I didn't think about that, it might not recognize that it has SSE. Worst case you'll just effectively have a "Pentium II" 550MHz which is still faster than any stock PII.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 24, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> They are low voltage CL5 PSC chips. They suck for overclocking. Only DDR2 worth anything is Micron D9 based.
> But hey, if you're happy with them that's all that matters. At least I'll know you are not a threat to any of my benching scores. lol


I had a set of 4-4-4-12 PC6400 1GB Micron based OCZ that OC'd to 933mhz no problems.



Trekkie4 said:


> Are there any obvious downsides of running a mismatched configuration like this, or should I downsize to PII 350 (Deschutes) & keep PIII for something else?


No. If it posts, it passed all the bios boot-time checks and it will be stable. As always, boards were(and still are) often more capable than publicly declared at the time of manufacture as the companies didn't have the newer CPU to test with. They almost always worked. So the P3-550mhz is good to go.

Even though the board manual states a 5x mutli limit(found here), that board has the VIA VT82-BX chipset which is known to have a higher multi limit. So you could likely put in a P3 600, 650 or 700 and be just fine.

Also, ignore the 384MB limit. Each of those DIMM slots could handle upto 512MB DIMMs. Again, the chipset is the key factor with that board. So if you want to go with 512MB, 768MB or even 1.5GB of RAM you will be able too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 24, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I had a set of 4-4-4-12 PC6400 1GB Micron based OCZ that OC'd to 933mhz no problems.
> 
> 
> No. If it posts, it passed all the bios boot-time checks and it will be stable. As always, boards were(and still are) often more cabable than publically declared as at the time of manufacture as the companies didn't have the newer CPU to test with. They almost always worked. So the P3-550mhz is good to go.
> ...


Thanks!


----------



## Robert B (Oct 24, 2021)

Far East Movement ft. The Cataracs, DEV - Like A G6 (Official Video)

This weekend was EPIC, again. I'm so used to this and it is better than any drug. 

To get the idea of the amount of stuff that sometimes comes my way. Check the pics. 

1. *401-386SX-09* motherboard - soldered Intel 386SX-16MHz- battery acid damage, needs trace repair. Manufactured in 1989!
2. FDD/HDD/Serial/Parallel ISA *controller*
3. *Seagate ST-351A/X* - 40 MB suitable for AT and XT systems - unfortunately it doesn't spin up. As a last resort I opened it up and the motor spins freely. Probably some IC was damaged on the PCB
4. Diamond *3dfx VooDoo 1* 4MB PCI  - needs 1 cap - no biggie.
5.  Two *Compaq Video Memory Expansion cards* - 004829-001 *** 213859-001 / 002593-001 *** 141335-001 - no idea for what configs they are used but wth these look kind of exotic.
6. *AV-8540* - Sk.3 motherboard UMC chipset - mint - a mosfet received a HS and it had its legs made longer. 
7. *MSI MS5169* VER:2.1 AL9 - SS7 motherboard - mint
8. *Aquarius MB-4D33/50D *Sk.3 motherboard - Opti & Samsung chipset with LOCAL BUS SLOT whatever that is?! - mint - even the eyelets where the barrel battery should've been installed are free of solder.
9. *Guillemot COUGAR Video Edition PCI* - nVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 32MB PCI - I already mounted a new heatsink. A really out of the ordinary card.
10. *ASUS K7M Slot A + AMD K7500MTR51B C* - CPU ok - motherboard not ok - some damage on the NB chipset from a screwdriver when they removed the HS. The motherboard starts but no RAM is detected. If I remove the RAM I get the no RAM error but other than that nothing. The NB chipset will be professionally reflowed at some point in the future. Otherwise the MB has minimal damage.I'm confident that it will work as the damage is just on the edge.
11. *MSI MS8806* - nVIDIA Riva TNT2 PRO 32MB AGP

Another great weekend has ended!

What will I find next week?!?! 

*More later.*


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 24, 2021)

Robert B said:


> 1. *401-386SX-09* motherboard - soldered Intel 386SX-16MHz- *battery acid damage, needs trace repair.* Manufactured in 1989!


Oh noes, the infamous (usually Varta) barrel battery. Can't even imagine how many videos I've seen where that bastard has leaked and eaten traces away. 

edit: typo


----------



## AugeK (Oct 24, 2021)

Local bus, original Vesa Local Bus (VLB), to be more precise was meant to be the successor of ISA bus, with 33 MHz instead of 11 (ISA). As Speed was shared between cards it died after a year or two with the advent of 1st gen PCI.
Must have been around 95/96.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 24, 2021)

AugeK said:


> Local bus, original Vesa Local Bus (VLB), to be more precise was meant to be the successor of ISA bus, with 33 MHz instead of 11 (ISA). As Speed was shared between cards it died after a year or two with the advent of 1st gen PCI.
> Must have been around 95/96.


Wasn't the standard speed for 16-bit ISA around ~8MHz after CPUs got faster? Originally it ran at the CPU (or bus, as they didn't have multipliers) speed (4.77MHz on PC and XT, 6MHz and later 8MHz on AT)

VLB ran also at the bus speed, that's why the 486DX 50 (not DX2) and VLB were usually an unstable combination.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 24, 2021)

I think that the LOCAL BUS SLOT isn't VLB. It looks like an EISA slot but I am pretty sure that it isn't an EISA slot as back in the day thing weren't so regulated like today. For all intents and purposes it may be a proprietary slot. 

L.E. I found this webpage where is says that is an OPTi Local Bus Slot 









						Opti Local Bus – ancientelectronics
					

Posts about Opti Local Bus written by justinwl




					ancientelectronics.wordpress.com
				




"The two slots at the bottom that I have circled are the Opti bus connectors in question. If you know a lot about this era of motherboards you may mistake them for EISA slots which is what I thought they were at first. One of the biggest issues with this slot type is that it looks exactly like the somewhat more common EISA slots of the time and will physically accept EISA cards without issue. The problem is installing a EISA card in a Opti bus slot and powering on the board could very well result in a blown out card, motherboard or both. This being the case make completely sure what kind of expansion slot your motherboard is sporting. Fortunately when I found this board in a box of random PC parts at a local monthly electronics fest I also found an accompanying Opti Local Bus video card."

I don't know if I'll find the manual for that dinosaur.  Heck even jumper settings will be hard to be found. I'll try all the combinations.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 24, 2021)

Saw this and thought it would fit in here;


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 24, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Saw this and thought it would fit in here;


RETRO Hardware also put together a cool 775 setup:


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 24, 2021)

I was just playing around with crossfire for fun with 2x HD 5870's & a Q6600 (choked them to death of course).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 24, 2021)

Robert B said:


> What will I find next week?!?!
> 
> *More later.*


At this point, I'm too afraid to ask...


----------



## agent_x007 (Oct 24, 2021)

Vsync be damned, nothing can stop me from having my Hz and smooth FPS


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 25, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> They are low voltage CL5 PSC chips. They suck for overclocking. Only DDR2 worth anything is Micron D9 based.
> But hey, if you're happy with them that's all that matters. At least I'll know you are not a threat to any of my benching scores. lol


PSC? suck for OC? don't think so... 
I'll post some screenshots when I'm able to access that machine again although its on a P45 board.


----------



## AugeK (Oct 25, 2021)

Remember this?


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 25, 2021)

AugeK said:


> Remember this?
> View attachment 222330View attachment 222331


Yonah and Penryn? Sure.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Oct 25, 2021)

Bungz said:


> Yeah heat has definitely cooked them, and the fact they are all pretty turdy brands, OST Teapo and some Jamicons.
> 
> Shame as shuttles were not cheap back in the day.
> 
> ...


That 3D Mark 2001 SE score looks about right for a stock ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, which regularly got beat by a Radeon 8500 in benchmarks.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 25, 2021)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> That 3D Mark 2001 SE score looks about right for a stock ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, which regularly got beat by a Radeon 8500 in benchmarks.


9000 Pro is just an overclocked 9000 (which got replaced by 9200, same clocks, only difference is AGP8X support) so no wonder. 8500 was a high-end card and 9000/9200 were lower end.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 25, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> 3, actually! I also found the smaller, mATX "baby" one  Seems to share the internal structure with its bigger brother (especially the power switch, LEDs, and blanking plates), but everything else is unique to this particular model & not compatible with Midi tower design.


Remember this small, mATX Adison case from several months ago?

Weeell, I found another one! A fellow forumer called me on my cell around 8AM and told me that he ran into one of the "Adison" cases and asked me if I wanted it or not. Seriously, as if he had to ask me... 


 



Mobo inside was that Chaintech 6ASV0 which I mentioned & talked about yesterday. Entirely original layout from the store, as it was back in 1998.




After taking the whole thing apart, cleaning every corner & part of the frame and washing the plastic front in my dishwasher, this is how it looks now. Quite the improvement, don't you think so? 


 

 

 

 

Would you believe that it even had original CR2032 CMOS battery inside?!




The idea was to preserve the original specs, but upgrade the overall performance. Especially when it comes to 3D & gaming, but I'm afraid that will have to wait as I don't have any decent PCI cards available, at the time. Also, you may have noticed that it's missing a floppy cable. Other than that, it's all done & fully operational!

Detailed specs, along with "before & after" comparison:

CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350 (was originally Celeron 333A)
MBO: Chaintech 6ASV0 (original)
RAM: 1x 128MB PC133, SD-RAM (was originally 1x 32MB PC100)
VGA: ATI Rage Turbo (On-Board) (original, but hoping to upgrade to something better...?)
HDD: Quantum Fireball 4.3GB (HDD was missing)
ODD: BTC BCD 24X (ODD was missing)
FDD: Teac 1.44MB Floppy (FDD was missing)
PSU: Codegen 300W, ATX (was originally 200W)
OS: Windows 98 First Edition
Other: Diamond 56k V90 dial-up modem (didn't have any expansion cards)


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 25, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Remember this small, mATX Adison case from several months ago?
> 
> Weeell, I found another one! A fellow forumer called me on my cell around 8AM and told me that he ran into one of the "Adison" cases and asked me if I wanted it or not. Seriously, as if he had to ask me...
> 
> ...


What a nice setup! Though I'd change that PSU immediately, Codegens were F-tier even in the early to mid-2000s. One such unit (350W) murdered my 6600 GT back in the day.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 25, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> What a nice setup! Though I'd change that PSU immediately, Codegens were F-tier even in the early to mid-2000s. One such unit (350W) murdered my 6600 GT back in the day.


My own setup "Open Space" from back in a day (which was a noticeable step-up in terms of price & performance) originally came with 200W Codegen PSU. On the other hand, the one I found inside this smaller, mATX case is some other brand entirely, can't remember the name at this point.

In either case, it was a small ATX factor PSU, with the maximum capacity of 200W or less. This particular model was called "Multimedia Hit 15" (with the number "15" referring to 15" CRT screen) and it was never meant to be a powerhouse and/or high performance machine, which would certainly explain the PSU choice.  Besides, I'm not sure I'd trust PSU that's been out of the service for over 20 years, regardless of which brand it was.

So really, that Codegen is actually quite the improvement over the original PSU 

Edit
Here's the model lineup from entry level (Aurora) to expert, high-performance model (Star Gate 21)




The one I got yesterday was second model (Multimedia Hit 15), where on the other hand mine was second to last (and best), Open Space 17


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 26, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> PSC? suck for OC? don't think so...


DDR2 ?  Yes, suck.
DDR3 PSC is a different animal though.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 26, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> DDR2 ?  Yes, suck.
> DDR3 PSC is a different animal though.


You didn't explain what PSC means. Please do. And by 'suck', what % of OC is considered this by you?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 26, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> You didn't explain what PSC means. Please do. And by 'suck', what % of OC is considered this by you?


Uhh... I'm going to take a wild guess & say Printer/Scanner/Copier?


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Oct 26, 2021)

The amount of copper in this 775 build wow....


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 26, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> You didn't explain what PSC means. Please do. And by 'suck', what % of OC is considered this by you?


Powerchip Semiconductor Corp.. They're an IC manufacturer like Micron, Samsung, Hynix, Ect.
I'm sure back in they're day PSC DDR2 was pretty decent for a daily system but it still can't compare to Micron D9 DDR2 for benching purposes, 1200 CL5 or 6 with PSC doesn't cut it, any good D9 will do around 1300+ CL5 @ 2.2-2.3V.


----------



## seth1911 (Oct 26, 2021)

within the next 4 weeks ill get a Board for my Athlon 7750, 8GB RAM and HD 5870 2GB


----------



## bobbybluz (Oct 26, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Saw this and thought it would fit in here;


Now I know where I was 20 years ago yesterday: At the official Microsoft TS2 party here for the release of Windows XP. I used to go to all of the TS2 events mainly to get free stuff plus fed with the cheap buffet food they always had. I still have some of the contents of the SWAG bag everybody was given including two of the XP t-shirts that have somehow survived intact but far from their original bright white. Oh what a different world it was back then, many fond memories.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 26, 2021)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> The amount of copper in this 775 build wow....


That is just cool!


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Oct 26, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is just cool!



It sure looks like miniature rollercoater track. Have this PC run some rollercoaster Tycoon game and it would be perfect. Damn do I miss where motherboard and heatsinks are all copper like this.

Edit : I am still looking for the Scythe copper Ninja cooler until today. No one is selling it at all.


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 26, 2021)

Noticed I had a surplus of HD 5000 gpu's, decided to put them to use.   
2x HD 5970's + 2x HD 5870's for 6x GPUPI. I don't have the psu's for this though, but I did just buy an ancient relic from 2007 that should help with that.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 27, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> Powerchip Semiconductor Corp.. They're an IC manufacturer like Micron, Samsung, Hynix, Ect.
> I'm sure back in they're day PSC DDR2 was pretty decent for a daily system but it still can't compare to Micron D9 DDR2 for benching purposes, 1200 CL5 or 6 with PSC doesn't cut it, any good D9 will do around 1300+ CL5 @ 2.2-2.3V.


Thank you.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 27, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Thank you.


So much for my Printer Scanner Copier theory 

I used to own HP PSC2355 All-In-One ages ago, so "HP" was the first thing on my mind when it came to PSC.


----------



## seth1911 (Oct 27, 2021)

may not retro but today no one will use this, my A8 5500 IGP in Crossfire with an HD 6570 2GB 

Its still 25% better than the 7870K IGP with DDR3 2400


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 27, 2021)

Is this all up to date as of October 21 * Windows XP Integral Edition
and will this work as a new XP for my Retro PC?*


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 27, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Is this all up to date as of October 21 * Windows XP Integral Edition:?*


Three questions:
1. Who are you talking to?
2. What are you talking about?
3. What does it have to do with this thread?


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Oct 27, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Far East Movement ft. The Cataracs, DEV - Like A G6 (Official Video)
> 
> This weekend was EPIC, again. I'm so used to this and it is better than any drug.
> 
> ...



Slot A Athlon and an Asus P5A.....very nice. My father has multiple P5A's for running Orcad back in the day.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Three questions:
> 1. Who are you talking to?
> 2. What are you talking about?
> 3. What does it have to do with this thread?


*Nostalgic Hardware Information*


lexluthermiester said:


> Three questions:
> 1. Who are you talking to?
> 2. What are you talking about?
> 3. What does it have to do with this thread?


stinger608  TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club​*Nostalgic Hardware Information*​*Is this all up to date as of October 21  Windows XP Integral Edition:?*​


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 27, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> *Nostalgic Hardware Information*
> 
> stinger608  TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club​*Nostalgic Hardware Information*​*Is this all up to date as of October 21  Windows XP Integral Edition:?*​


I'm still not understanding what you're responding to because you didn't quote a comment with that question.

What is it specifically that you want to know?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 28, 2021)

I'm also a little confused as to what you are asking as well @Greenslade ? 

Did someone post a link or something to Windows XP Integral Edition?


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 28, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh... I'm going to take a wild guess & say Printer/Scanner/Copier?


Those who are not up to speed with the nomenclature of this industry.... end up being the subject of your sense of humour. 


DR4G00N said:


> Powerchip Semiconductor Corp.. They're an IC manufacturer like Micron, Samsung, Hynix, Ect.
> I'm sure back in they're day PSC DDR2 was pretty decent for a daily system but it still can't compare to Micron D9 DDR2 for benching purposes, 1200 CL5 or 6 with PSC doesn't cut it, any good D9 will do around 1300+ CL5 @ 2.2-2.3V.


Thanks. clears things up. I pried the HS of that Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 ver5.2 kit I uploaded an image of back in this thread & the chips had Corsair stamped on them.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 28, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> I'm also a little confused as to what you are asking as well @Greenslade ?
> 
> Did someone post a link or something to Windows XP Integral Edition?


Ok, cool. Thought I was missing something. We might have a language barrier issue here.

@Greenslade
I meant no offense to you at all. That said, are you asking if the October 21 release of XP Integral Edition is good for retro builds?

If so, I want to say yes. Windows XP Integral Edition has proven to be very solid and trustworthy custom build of XP. Just make sure you have an actual XP Pro COA/CDKey for it so you are legal & legit.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 28, 2021)

Did I tell ya that I got an old HP dc7600c from my uncle? Sucks tho that even it has a 945 chipset, it still won't support Core2 even with the latest bios.

Did some upgrades, it had P4 640, 2.5GB DDR2 (512MB stock) and no graphics card, only the shitty iGPU. Also 80GB HDD and a PATA DVD drive. I updated its bios, put a D925 and 3GB RAM there, also a 7800 GT. Without mentioning a 160GB HDD and two DVD drives because why not? 

edit: Don't even ask, it has a fresh install of XP Pro SP3 on it


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 28, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ok, cool. Thought I was missing something. We might have a language barrier issue here.
> 
> @Greenslade
> I meant no offense to you at all. That said, are you asking if the October 21 release of XP Integral Edition is good for retro builds?
> ...


Sorry if i did not make myself clear.No problem at all Lex  Yes that was my question.I have got a COA/CPKey.Thanks for your answer Lex.I got the graphics card a few days ago, it is not sticky like the seller was saying.  I have no idea why he said it was?Just Ordered the EVGA BR 500W PSU from Scan Computers.For some unknown reason it is 13 pounds more for the same modal from them on Amazon .


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 28, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Those who are not up to speed with the nomenclature of this industry.... end up being the subject of your sense of humour.


Maybe you misunderstood me, I wasn't making fun out of someone who doesn't know what PSC means. Primarily since I had no idea what "PSC" stands for, either.

But "HP" machine was the first thing on my mind (despite the obvious conclusion, telling me otherwise) so I posted it here... For what it's worth, I have a pretty strange sense of humor, which quite often other folks interpret the wrong (and/or hostile) way. Life is already way too short & fragile to be taken seriously IMHO.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 29, 2021)

Mid 2008 Asus mATX AM2+ board (M3N78-VM) with Phenom II 905e. I'll be using the stock FX-8350 cooler I have sitting here doing nothing, should be fun for little OC experiments. Not sure on the OS, maybe stick with win7 for now. Fitting the cpu cooler was one of the most pleasant installations of any cpu cooler I have ever done, easy as!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 29, 2021)

An nice and iconic HP laptop has found its way to me.






HP Pavilion dv6 Artist Edition, model dv6-1299ea. Came with a HD4650 1GB, a Turion RM-75, no HDD and RAM. Also needed a reflow on the AMD M780G and needs some fresh thermal paste as my MX4 tube seems to be empty.


----------



## Valantar (Oct 29, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> An nice and iconic HP laptop has found its way to me.
> View attachment 222879
> View attachment 222880
> HP Pavilion dv6 Artist Edition, model dv6-1299ea. Came with a HD4650 1GB, a Turion RM-75, no HDD and RAM. Also needed a reflow on the AMD M780G and needs some fresh thermal paste as my MX4 tube seems to be empty.


Oh, that looks really nice!


----------



## AugeK (Oct 29, 2021)

From the very back of my storage: my treasure!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 29, 2021)

AugeK said:


> From the very back of my storage: my treasure!
> 
> View attachment 222899


Those are rare!


MaxiPro800 said:


> An nice and iconic HP laptop has found its way to me.
> View attachment 222879
> View attachment 222880
> HP Pavilion dv6 Artist Edition, model dv6-1299ea. Came with a HD4650 1GB, a Turion RM-75, no HDD and RAM. Also needed a reflow on the AMD M780G and needs some fresh thermal paste as my MX4 tube seems to be empty.


I dare you to try Windows 11 on it!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 30, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Windows XP Integral Edition has proven to be very solid and trustworthy custom build of XP. Just make sure you have an actual XP Pro COA/CDKey for it so you are legal & legit.


Does not matter on an unsupported EOL OS. You get no updates or anything.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 30, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Does not matter on an unsupported EOL OS. You get no updates or anything.


What doesn't matter?


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 30, 2021)

Digging around in my CPU collection this morning trying find my old Phenom II X6 chip, I discovered this rather rare AM2 socket Athlon 64 X2, low energy chip. The stepping code is not listed on cpu-world.com database as yet so I made a submission with all the info.


A sample of some of the cpus in my collection. These are afaik some of the oldest so far, everyone needs a hobby right...


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 30, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Mid 2008 Asus mATX AM2+ board (M3N78-VM) with Phenom II 905e. I'll be using the stock FX-8350 cooler I have sitting here doing nothing, should be fun for little OC experiments. Not sure on the OS, maybe stick with win7 for now. Fitting the cpu cooler was one of the most pleasant installations of any cpu cooler I have ever done, easy as!
> View attachment 222840
> View attachment 222842View attachment 222844


I see Phenom II, I like.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 30, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> I see Phenom II, I like.


Yes nice indeed, too bad back then I was a "blind" intel fan.... lol.. only stumbled across them in systems with some visits to 2nd hand shops yrs ago. But today trying to find a decent AM2+ or AM3 board is a pain.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 30, 2021)

Ok, I have another video that fits into the "Nostalgic" and "Hardware" but isn't technically PC parts. 
Still it's interesting and I think you all might enjoy it;


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 30, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ok, I have another video that fits into the "Nostalgic" and "Hardware" but isn't technically PC parts.
> Still it's interesting and I think you all might enjoy it;


Good find! I love how folks can rejuvenate old gaming console like that. Besides less ewaste to worry about.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 30, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Good find! I love how folks can rejuvenate old gaming console like that. Besides less ewaste to worry about.


It's the 8-bit Guy(David Murray). He knows how to fix things. I love how he fixed the cart latch!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 30, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> What doesn't matter?


Doesn't matter if you have a valid key or not. M$ does not activate XP anymore. You can activate by less conventional means without issue......if you get my drift.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Doesn't matter if you have a valid key or not. M$ does not activate XP anymore. You can activate by less conventional means without issue......if you get my drift.


I remember having a similar discussion years ago... Don't remember where or when, but what I /do/ remember is someone claiming how Microsoft released a generic, "one-size-fit-all" activation keys for Windows 98 & Windows 98SE, once all the Win9x operating systems reached their EOL.

Although no one ever confirmed this (and people said it was highly unlikely), it was never debunked either. In fact, I sent out email to Microsoft Support once, asking them about this particular subject which (again, from what I remember) they never answered me back.

So... *shrug*


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 30, 2021)

A simple Google will get you keys or a loader. 
Windows loader works great.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 30, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Doesn't matter if you have a valid key or not. M$ does not activate XP anymore.


Yes they do. You have to use phone-in activation, but it still works. And failing to have a proper license for an EOL OS is still not completely honest.


Mr.Scott said:


> You can activate by less conventional means without issue......if you get my drift.


I do and won't argue that point. With XP being EOL microsoft really has no room to complain how we use it.

My earlier point to the user asking about XP Integral Edition was, be ethical and get a legit XP COA/CDKey.



Trekkie4 said:


> Don't remember where or when, but what I /do/ remember is someone claiming how Microsoft released a generic, "one-size-fit-all" activation keys for Windows 98 & Windows 98SE, once all the Win9x operating systems reached their EOL.


That is false on two levels.
1. Windows 9X never had activation of any kind, the user was only required to input a valid CDKey during installation, which leads us to...
2. There were no generic EOL CDKeys released for the 9X versions of Windows.


Trekkie4 said:


> Although no one ever confirmed this (and people said it was highly unlikely), it was never debunked either. In fact, I sent out email to Microsoft Support once, asking them about this particular subject which (again, from what I remember) they never answered me back.
> 
> So... *shrug*


They really don't care. But that is no reason not to be legit where-ever possible.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 30, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yes they do. You have to use phone-in activation, but it still works. And failing to have a proper license for an EOL OS is still not completely honest.
> 
> I do and I won't argue that point. With XP being EOL microsoft really has no room to complain how we use it.
> 
> ...


What happened here I believe, is that Microsoft (or one of their employs) released one of their "internal" keys, perhaps used among testers or developers themselves. I'm not suggesting that they actually added a whole new key, in addition to all the previous ones ... assuming that the information was correct, of course.

As for Win98 activation, I was actually referring to the product key, and not the phone-activation procedure which was first introduced with XP ... if I'm not mistaking?

There was also a similar discussion on MS Office 2007 once, and so called "Blue Edition". Again, some folks claim that Blue Edition never existed, but others say that it was a custom version (given to MS vendors, devs & software engineers for the sake of testing) which doesn't require activation OR validation of any kind. To be clear, I'm not saying that the program is pre-installed, only that it lacks activation components "straight out of the box".


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 31, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yes they do. You have to use phone-in activation, but it still works. And failing to have a proper license for an EOL OS is still not completely honest.
> 
> I do and won't argue that point. With XP being EOL microsoft really has no room to complain how we use it.
> 
> ...


That's pretty funny because I have like 2 dozen legit retail bought and paid for licenses and not a single one will activate or is considered 'valid' by M$.
And by retail I mean bought disk at brick and mortar way back when.
M$ does not care if they stole my money, so.............................................

And before anybody says "call support", I have. Know what I get?, " Windows XP is no longer supported", 'click'....................................


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 31, 2021)

Regarding Office & "Blue Edition" ... I found this (SOURCE)



> While the company never directly acknowledged the existence of the blue editions of Office 2007 or Windows XP, numerous technical sources stepped forward to clear up the confusion.
> 
> The Office 2007 Enterprise Blue Edition, as it is known in both technical manufacturing circles and hacker circles, is actually not a real Microsoft product at all. There is no Office 2007 Blue Edition, whether Enterprise or not. However, what does exist is a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise that is provided to certain Microsoft technicians and to computer manufacturers known as OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). That DVD that the software comes on is colored blue.
> 
> As is often the case in technology circles, whatever the official name of this special version of Office was, those around it developed their own slang terminology instead. Hence, the DVD with Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise for OEMs and Microsoft technicians became known as the Microsoft Office Blue Edition.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 31, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> which was first introduced with XP ... if I'm not mistaking?


Yup, spot on.



Mr.Scott said:


> That's pretty funny because I have like 2 dozen legit retail bought and paid for licenses and not a single one will activate or is considered 'valid' by M$.
> And by retail I mean bought disk at brick and mortar way back when.
> M$ does not care if they stole my money, so.............................................


Oh I'm right there with you! I have two such COA's currently. Both retail box versions of XP and both purchased directly from microsoft(BITD). Both have been black-listed and I was never told why. But microsoft giving us the finger does not justify us not being legit with proper COAs/CDKeys. I'm all for cracking the hell out of activation because of things like this, but I'm not advocating piracy either. I say crack it to all to hell, or use custom ISOs and whatnot, but be legit about it by paying for the software you use.

That's all I'm saying. Didn't mean to offend or start drama.


Mr.Scott said:


> And before anybody says "call support", I have. Know what I get?, " Windows XP is no longer supported", 'click'....................................


Support maybe, but the product activation line still works. I used it a few weeks ago for a copy of XP Home.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 31, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's the 8-bit Guy(David Murray). He knows how to fix things. I love how he fixed the cart latch!


David seems to be a hella nice guy as I've watched his videos for years


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 31, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> David seems to be a hella nice guy as I've watched his videos for years


He is a funny looking guy with a funny voice JillHe knows his tech I will give him that.


----------



## Valantar (Oct 31, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> David seems to be a hella nice guy as I've watched his videos for years





Greenslade said:


> He is a funny looking guy with a funny voice JillHe knows his tech I will give him that.


I binged so many of his videos back in 2019/early 2020 when I was sick, really love his in-depth knowledge and way of covering things in a technical but understandable way. Love his restoration videos too, but I think my favourite is the Commodore history series.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 31, 2021)

Valantar said:


> I binged so many of his videos back in 2019/early 2020 when I was sick, really love his in-depth knowledge and way of covering things in a technical but understandable way. Love his restoration videos too, but I think my favourite is the Commodore history series.


Agree though even with I haven't been playing with Commodore hardware in ages


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 31, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh I'm right there with you! I have two such COA's currently. Both retail box versions of XP and both purchase directly from microsoft. Both have been black-listed and I was never told why. But microsoft giving us the finger does not justify us not being legit with proper COAs/CDKeys. I'm all for cracking the hell out of activation because of things like this, but I'm not advocating piracy either. I say crack it to all to hell, or use custom ISOs and whatnot, but be legit about it by paying for the software you use.
> 
> That's all I'm saying. Didn't mean to offend or start drama.
> 
> ...


No offence taken bro.
We just have different stances on this.........and that's ok.


----------



## DR4G00N (Oct 31, 2021)

Grabbed this ancient Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W off ebay a few days ago, "Tested Working" yeah, okay. 
Plugged it in and... nothing, of course. Checked the outputs and didn't find any shorts but 5VSB was working so I decided to dig into it.
Spent a few hours poking around and didn't see anything obvious, after plugging it in I noticed the output of the input rectifiers was quite low, only about 166V DC at the main capacitor instead of a typical 350V+.
Figured one of the rectifiers failed but they're in parallel and screwed together so I tried de-soldering them (8 through-hole connections) but after a few failed attempts with a de-soldering pump and later cooking them with hot air I just gave up and re-soldered all the joints.
Low and behold this time when I switched it on at the 24pin it fired into life to my surprise. Checked the rectifier output and it was a good 390V DC.
All the outputs are perfect too.
Not sure what did it but hey if it works, it works. 




Tested it out with a 775 system. Q6600 @ 3GHz + an 8800 GTX, worked great, the fan didn't even ramp up.

The most surprising part about this PSU I've found is that it's full of Teapo caps but they are all pristine after 14 years.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 31, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> Figured one of the rectifiers failed but they're in parallel and screwed together so I tried de-soldering them (8 through-hole connections) but after a few failed attempts with a de-soldering pump and later cooking them with hot air I just gave up and re-soldered all the joints.
> Low and behold this time when I switched it on at the 24pin it fired into life to my surprise. Checked the rectifier output and it was a good 390V DC.
> All the outputs are perfect too.
> Not sure what did it but hey if it works, it works.


Cold/broken solder joints. You re-soldering them fixed the problem. Try not to blame the seller. Soldering joint breaks can happen in shipping if the package is bumped around too much or in the wrong way.

But you fixed it! Bonus round!


----------



## erek (Oct 31, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Cold/broken solder joints. You re-soldering them fixed the problem. Try not to blame the seller. Soldering joint breaks can happen in shipping if the package is bumped around too much or in the wrong way.
> 
> But you fixed it! Bonus round!











						AdLib Gold 1000 SEALED Ad Lib Stereo Sound Adapter RARE COLLECTOR'S Item BOXED  | eBay
					

This is a rare find of a SEALED box of AdLib gold 1000 stereo sound adapter. The box has never been opened and is in pretty good shape for the age of this item. serial number is shown in pictures. Pictures show the exact item you will be receiving.



					www.ebay.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 31, 2021)

erek said:


> AdLib Gold 1000 SEALED Ad Lib Stereo Sound Adapter RARE COLLECTOR'S Item BOXED  | eBay
> 
> 
> This is a rare find of a SEALED box of AdLib gold 1000 stereo sound adapter. The box has never been opened and is in pretty good shape for the age of this item. serial number is shown in pictures. Pictures show the exact item you will be receiving.
> ...


Yeah, that's an old one. Reading the description the seller made, I can understand why it's listed that way. Ebay policy's now require a seller to accept returns except on items listed as "For parts or not working". Currently at $710. My guess is this will not slow anyone down..


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## DR4G00N (Oct 31, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Cold/broken solder joints. You re-soldering them fixed the problem. Try not to blame the seller. Soldering joint breaks can happen in shipping if the package is bumped around too much or in the wrong way.
> 
> But you fixed it! Bonus round!


I don't really blame the seller in any way, it's very old and they did provide a DOA warranty but return shipping was enough that I decided to keep it regardless. 

I don't believe there were any cracked solder joints which is why I was surprised that it started up after that. But it works fine now which is great.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 1, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> I don't really blame the seller in any way, it's very old and they did provide a DOA warranty but return shipping was enough that I decided to keep it regardless.
> 
> I don't believe there were any cracked solder joints which is why I was surprised that it started up after that. But it works fine now which is great.


Cold joints can be surprising hard to see, even if inspected closely. One could be forgiven for overlooking one. Based on your description, you had to have fixed a circuit break somewhere when you resoldered everything back together.

Have you load tested it yet?


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 1, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Cold joints can be surprising hard to see, even if inspected closely. One could be forgiven for overlooking one. Based on your description, you had to have fixed a circuit break somewhere when you resoldered everything back together.
> 
> Have you load tested it yet?


Yeah I mentioned in the first post that I ran it with a q6600 + 8800 GTX setup through 3dmark06 (actually 2 8800's but I forgot P45 can't run SLI by default). I'll try with something heavier later.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 1, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> Yeah I mentioned in the first post that I ran it with a q6600 + 8800 GTX setup through 3dmark06 (actually 2 8800's but I forgot P45 can't run SLI by default). I'll try with something heavier later.


Oh, ok. So you have put some load on it! You're likely golden then.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Nov 1, 2021)

Update on OC the infamous Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 on P45 platform however these are the 4.3 version. The 5.2 version was not so able. With the v4.3 I needed 2.30 vdimm to get at least 1hr p95 large ffts stable. Tried to keep the cpu @ stock clocks as much as possible. The board has about 5 different dividers for DRAM ratios but 3:4 was ok with this. 25% OC on the ram is pretty good imo. 
Just happy that approx 13 yr old hardware is still capable to OC like this!

Also ran CPU-Z bench @ stock to compare the 2008 X3360 xeon with a 2014 A10-7850K apu, amazing even at lower clocks the old xeon still beats this 2014 processor!


----------



## delshay (Nov 1, 2021)

Here is my second project: AM2 Platform.  ..SSD data is from DDR1 project but can also be shared with Laptop as all have the same northbridge/southbridge chipset.

Just like the DDR1 project, this project suffers from the same problem as not able to run four DIMMS with CMD 1T, so am hardware modding both projects at the same time in-order to fix this. Nothing in the screenshot is impressive. CPU is running max 1.1v & GPU 0.900V (Vega Nano), but they can run faster at these voltages, but for now it was about getting it running & stable. Two bugs were discovered in the Radeon Software & I can't believe it, it looks like one was never fix, so it's running this older version until I find a workaround, but this older version still has one bug.

The most outstanding thing in the screenshot is I don't think there is any screenshot of "four DIMMS" running with 4-4-4-xx at those speed. The DIMMS are reprogrammed & what you see is the new default, so this makes entering the BIOS redundant. ie not required. It will automatically boot-up at those speed/settings by default, barring any overclocking.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Nov 1, 2021)

delshay said:


> Here is my second project: AM2 Platform.  ..SSD is data is from DDR1 project but can also be shared with Laptop as all have the same northbridge/southbridge chipset.
> 
> Just like the DDR1 project, this project suffers from the same problem as not able to run four DIMMS with CMD 1T, so am hardware modding both projects at the same time in-order to fix this. Nothing in the screenshot is impressive. CPU is running max 1.1v & GPU 0.900V (Vega Nano), but they can run faster at these voltages, but for now it was about getting it running & stable. Two bugs were discovered in the Radeon Software & I can't believe it, it looks like one was never fix, so it's running this older version until I find a workaround, but this older version still has one bug.
> 
> The most outstanding thing in the screenshot is I don't think there is any screenshot of "four DIMMS" running with 4-4-4-xx at those speed. The DIMMS are reprogrammed & what you see is the new default, so this makes entering the BIOS redundant. ie not required. It will automatically boot-up at those speed/settings by default, barring any overclocking.


Interestingly, how much vdimm did those sticks get for that?


----------



## delshay (Nov 1, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Interestingly, how much vdimm did those sticks get for that?



All my DIMMS are tested with tight timings with "minimum JEDEC standard voltage". It's important that all DDR's regardless of platform pass this test otherwise you will have boot-up problems. For DDR1 that's 2.4v & DDR2 that's 1.7v & DDR3 that's 1.25v or straight 1.2v.

Test is conducted with the RAMCHECK LX, but in the last week or so I discovered the RAMCHECK LX can test DDR2 "@CL2". AFAIK there's not a single CPU out there that used DDR2 memory module that supports CL2. So it's a little strange that the RAMCHECK LX supports this.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 1, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> Also ran CPU-Z bench @ stock to compare the 2008 X3360 xeon with a 2014 A10-7850K apu, amazing even at lower clocks the old xeon still beats this 2014 processor!


Not that surprising if you think about it. The Xeon was a premium CPU for it's time and the A10-7850K, even though unlocked, was still a budget CPU.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 1, 2021)

DR4G00N said:


> Grabbed this ancient Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W off ebay a few days ago, "Tested Working" yeah, okay.
> Plugged it in and... nothing, of course. Checked the outputs and didn't find any shorts but 5VSB was working so I decided to dig into it.
> Spent a few hours poking around and didn't see anything obvious, after plugging it in I noticed the output of the input rectifiers was quite low, only about 166V DC at the main capacitor instead of a typical 350V+.
> Figured one of the rectifiers failed but they're in parallel and screwed together so I tried de-soldering them (8 through-hole connections) but after a few failed attempts with a de-soldering pump and later cooking them with hot air I just gave up and re-soldered all the joints.
> ...


Glad to hear you sorted it out.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 1, 2021)

New HW FOUND!!!

Slim pickings this time but wth. Something is better than nothing. 

1. LuckyStar LS486E rev.C2 + AMD 486 DX4 100MHz + HS and clip - slightly bent corner on the motherboard but otherwise ok.
2. SOYO 025K2 + Cyrix CX486DX2-80MHz - battery leak damage but totally fixable. The CPU is quite and oddball on that 40Mhz bus.
3. Two Trident ISA TVGA 9000 class video adapters - nothing spectacular but they were practically free
4. A BNC Lan Card + ISA FDD/HDD/Serial/Parallel controller
5. AKASA Sk.370 CPU cooler. The bearings are still running great. Go figure. Full of dust and you name it.
6. A big pile of cables - FDD/HDD/Serial/Parallel/Audio etc.


----------



## seth1911 (Nov 1, 2021)

My 620, but its useless in a few things cause only SSE4a







delshay said:


> Here is my second project: AM2 Platform.  ..SSD data is from DDR1 project but can also be shared with Laptop as all have the same northbridge/southbridge chipset.
> 
> Just like the DDR1 project, this project suffers from the same problem as not able to run four DIMMS with CMD 1T, so am hardware modding both projects at the same time in-order to fix this. Nothing in the screenshot is impressive. CPU is running max 1.1v & GPU 0.900V (Vega Nano), but they can run faster at these voltages, but for now it was about getting it running & stable. Two bugs were discovered in the Radeon Software & I can't believe it, it looks like one was never fix, so it's running this older version until I find a workaround, but this older version still has one bug.
> 
> The most outstanding thing in the screenshot is I don't think there is any screenshot of "four DIMMS" running with 4-4-4-xx at those speed. The DIMMS are reprogrammed & what you see is the new default, so this makes entering the BIOS redundant. ie not required. It will automatically boot-up at those speed/settings by default, barring any overclocking.


X6 is a totaly useless CPU cause it have only SSE4a, a I7 860 would be a better Retro System that meets a Vega  

If it should be a AMD then is the only way up to a FX 6100


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 2, 2021)

seth1911 said:


> My 620, but its useless in a few things cause only SSE4a
> 
> View attachment 223286
> 
> ...


I am thinking of getting an i7 860 for £18 pounds the i7 870 would be five pounds more the difference is only 3%  on the game debate.so I will go for the i7 860, Up from i5 550.


----------



## delshay (Nov 2, 2021)

seth1911 said:


> My 620, but its useless in a few things cause only SSE4a
> 
> View attachment 223286
> 
> ...



It's on the "AM2" Platform for a reason. That processor is AM3.   ..If I move to AM3 i'm not sure if i could swap/share the SSD as northbridge/southbridge would be different. The processor i'm using is a 3.3GHz processor but it's underclocked because it's @1.1v max. Currently I can play most of my games max video settings with vsync enabled 60fps locked to my TV refresh rate 60Hz.

I have seen what the AM2 platform can do on another motherboard. One of the most important is the communication link between CPU & GPU. Get this to 2.6GHz+. The motherboard i'm currently using can't do that speed.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Nov 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not that surprising if you think about it. The Xeon was a premium CPU for it's time and the A10-7850K, even though unlocked, was still a budget CPU.


I would not class the A10 line of apus as budget for its time (2014) on the FM2/FM2+ platforms. The Sempron, Athlon & A4,A6 & A8 lines were imo.
I use to own an A10-7850K & still got the OC results saved for it. An advantage the A series has is the extra sets of instructions that the pre 2010/11 processors lack.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 2, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> I am thinking of getting an i7 860 for £18 pounds the i7 870 would be five pounds more the difference is only 3%  on the game debate.so I will go for the i7 860, Up from i5 550.


For modern games, the 133mhz difference will be minimal if you're not going to OC. Either one will be a very serious upgrade from that i5-550. But you must look seriously at OCing that i7 when you get it as long as your mobo can OC. You'll need to apply a bclk OC and bump from 133mhz bclk to 167mhz bclk. I've never seen a 1156 CPU that can't hit a bclk of 167mhz.



Robert B said:


> 2. SOYO 025K2 + Cyrix CX486DX2-80MHz - battery leak damage but totally fixable.


I don't know Rob, that damage looks really bad..



AlwaysHope said:


> I would not class the A10 line of apus as budget for its time (2014) on the FM2/FM2+ platforms. The Sempron, Athlon & A4,A6 & A8 lines were imo.


I did. I was selling the entire FM2 line as a budget platform. There was no other place for it. AM3 was AMD's performance line at that time.



AlwaysHope said:


> An advantage the A series has is the extra sets of instructions that the pre 2010/11 processors lack.


That's really not saying much in favor of that line of CPUs. I'm not saying they were crap because they had great value as a budget line of CPU's, but to try to say they were not a budget line is just silly.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Nov 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I did. I was selling the entire FM2 line as a budget platform. There was no other place for it. AM3 was AMD's performance line at that time.
> 
> 
> That's really not saying much in favor of that line of CPUs. I'm not saying they were crap because they had great value as a budget line of CPU's, but to try to say they were not a budget line is just silly.


Your talking about an entire socket line of cpus, AMD had their tier model in place for this socket, also the chipset was the deciding factor in unleashing performance as can be proven here. AM3 cpus had limited instructions sets despite having more cores & higher clock speeds. Your decision to have the entire line as "budget" is a call on your part. The igpu in them at the time was superior in performance (Radeon R7) than Intel's offerings, there are links to prove this if you look.
How is having extra instructions sets NOT in favour of a line of cpus? there is no logic in that. They are what they are.


----------



## seth1911 (Nov 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I did. I was selling the entire FM2 line as a budget platform. There was no other place for it. AM3 was AMD's performance line at that time.


Not true , it was a different line.
The focus by the APU Line was Compute and Games.

My A10 7870K its still faster than any Intel CPU (without Iris IGP) in *Solidworks.*
The Apu Line was a great thing for Programms they can use the IGP for compute like Solidworks; CPU even 40 % under Heavy Load and the IGP on 100%,
 we have in the School SFF Systems with a I5 10400 and its slower to work with it than at home with the poor APU from 2015


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 2, 2021)

I'm going to answer you both by saying that I'm a not just an enthusiast but also a business owner/retailer. As such, I don't care about opinions or sentimentality, I care about actual product performance. NOTHING in the FM2 line of CPU models can be compared favorably to Intel's budget & mid-tier product line(let alone the performance offerings) or even AMD's own performance offerings in the AM3 line. *Not one FM2 CPU compares.* The FM2 platform was always a budget platform. *Always.* It was never not a budget platform. 



seth1911 said:


> My A10 7870K its still faster than any Intel CPU (without Iris IGP) in *Solidworks.*


Here's a comparison between the one you mentioned and a mid-tier i5 that is 5 years older:




__





						AMD A10-7870K vs Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.10GHz [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software
					





					www.cpubenchmark.net
				



Here's the i5-2500k compared to the A10-7890K:




__





						AMD A10-7890K vs Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.30GHz [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software
					





					www.cpubenchmark.net
				



Now let's compare to an i3-4370 just one year older than the A10-7870k:




__





						AMD A10-7870K vs Intel Core i3-4370 @ 3.80GHz [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software
					





					www.cpubenchmark.net
				



Hmm...

You both were saying?


----------



## seth1911 (Nov 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm going to answer you both by saying that I'm a not just an enthusiast but also a business owner/retailer. As such, I don't care about opinions or sentimentality, I care about actual product performance. NOTHING in the FM2 line of CPU models can be compared favorably to Intel's budget & mid-tier product line(let alone the performance offerings) or even AMD's own performance offerings in the AM3 line. *Not one FM2 CPU compares.* The FM2 platform was always a budget platform. *Always.* It was never not a budget platform.
> 
> 
> Here's a comparison between the one you mentioned and a mid-tier i5 that is 5 years older:
> ...


Open u Eyes and look what i wrote, if u can´t read and understand then dont quote my post.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 2, 2021)

seth1911 said:


> Open u Eyes and look what i wrote, if u can´t read and understand then dont quote my post.


I read what you said and understood it perfectly. Context is important...


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> For modern games, the 133mhz difference will be minimal if you're not going to OC. Either one will be a very serious upgrade from that i5-550. But you must look seriously at OCing that i7 when you get it as long as you mobo can OC. You'll need to apply a bclk OC and bump from 133mhz bclk to 167mhz bclk. I've never seen a 1156 CPU that can't hit a bclk of 167mhz.
> 
> 
> I don't know Rob, that damage looks really bad..
> ...


I put the wrong number in there I should have said it is an i3 550 so even more of an upgrade. I have just seen that CEX has reduced the price of the i7 860 by two pounds to 16 pounds with a 24-month guarantee . I will pick it up tomorrow


----------



## P4-630 (Nov 2, 2021)

HD 4870 1GB from 2010, it was originally a HIS IceQ 4+.  (used for 11 years, it's dead now)


----------



## Robert B (Nov 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I don't know Rob, that damage looks really bad..



It looks awful that is why nobody bought it.  The SIMMs on this puppy look to be 4MB 30 pins SIMMs but I won't be sure until I'll power up the motherboard. Back in the day these were very expensive. Even if they turn out to be 1MB sticks it will still be a WIN in my book.

I'm not too worried.  After the vinegar treatment I got good initial results. The traces can be saved with solder. One is tougher to fix as it goes under some IC's but that can be restored with a jumper wire no problem. The motherboard was cheap and I really didn't want to leave it to the recyclers.  Early Sk.3 motherboard with 30 and 72 pin SIMMs plus VLB? NO BRAINER!

The only drawback is the fact that I don't have green/brown solder mask to really make it like new.


----------



## Valantar (Nov 2, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> HD 4870 1GB from 2010, it was originally a HIS IceQ 4+.  (used for 11 years, it's dead now)
> 
> View attachment 223384
> 
> ...


Too bad it died! Are you planning to save that cooler? Looks like it would be worth keeping around, for sure.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 2, 2021)

Is that a *Thermalright HR-03 GT VGA Cooler*?

I love Thermalright stuff!


----------



## P4-630 (Nov 2, 2021)

Robert B said:


> Is that a *Thermalright HR-03 GT VGA Cooler*?
> 
> I love Thermalright stuff!



Yes it is, quality coolers.



Valantar said:


> Too bad it died! Are you planning to save that cooler? Looks like it would be worth keeping around, for sure.



Have it for sale locally, maybe someone can still use it.


----------



## phill (Nov 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I don't know Rob, that damage looks really bad..


I think for @Robert B that just means, Challenge Accepted     Show us your magic skills mate!!


----------



## Robert B (Nov 3, 2021)

@phill - I'll do my best or fail like the rest.  - This will be my first foray into the unknown.  I have a couple of battery leak damaged boards and the whole endeavor will be quite a learning experience for me.  In any case I am quite optimistic about the odds of success. 

Today I tested the Cyrix CX486DX2 80MHz from earlier. Man, at 5V, this puppy puts out a decent amount of heat!

Also, recently I tested a few cards from the last hauls and surprise, surprise, I found only one dead graphic card, an ATI 9600XT. The rest are still alive and kicking. FTW! I'm still not done with the 9600XT but I won't waste too much time with it. ATI 9600, 9700, 9800 cards that are still working well are pretty rare where I live. At the very least I'll have two AC VGA Silencer coolers for my two working 9800 PROs. This way I'll resurrect my dead His EXCALIBUR ATI 9800PRO IceQ and I'll have a backup too. 

The Super is actually an ASUS K7M with a temporary Super HS. Unfortunately the K7M has been mutilated. It can still be saved with a new NB chip or a professional reflow but this will come some time into the distant future. I have plenty of K7M boards with and without the Super Bypass feature.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 3, 2021)

phill said:


> I think for @Robert B that just means, Challenge Accepted   Show us your magic skills mate!!


True!


Robert B said:


> @phill - I'll do my best or fail like the rest.  - This will be my first foray into the unknown.  I have a couple of battery leak damaged boards and the whole endeavor will be quite a learning experience for me. In any case I am quite optimistic about the odds of success.
> 
> Today I tested the Cyrix CX486DX2 80MHz from earlier. Man, at 5V, this puppy puts out a decent amount of heat!
> 
> ...


Good grief what a haul! Tons of good stuff there!


----------



## AlwaysHope (Nov 4, 2021)

*digital *DECpc 425sxLP. 
My oldest intact system to date except the HDD. Produced in the days when nothing like this was made in China. Picked this one up browsing 2nd hand stores back in the day. They seem to be pretty scarce on ebay too. 
Haven't successfully booted this yet, but last time I tried was about a decade ago. Been in storage ever since. 
Fascinating history behind the *digital* business entity... a story of some firsts in the digital computer era since in the post WW2 era. 
Anyway I digress, some quick pics of the system but pretty sure just by looking inside the case, the CMOS battery has most certainly died, many many moons ago in an era when CR2032 button batteries were unheard off. I'll have to hunt one down somewhere though, my curiosity is getting the better of me!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 5, 2021)

Michael MJD just did a video about an unopened copy of XP Pro installed on his 1999 Gateway PC;








He had a lot of fun. Took me back...
He also did the phone activation thing.


----------



## r0x (Nov 5, 2021)

@AlwaysHope 
Try pulling out the overdrive, i doubt it's compatible upgrade for sx-25 without heavy modding. Also, it would be smart to remove old battery and test PSU.
I bet it will start normally, those boards were built to last.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 6, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> True!
> 
> Good grief what a haul! Tons of good stuff there!


Lex can you help me with this.
I upgraded the PSU to an EVGA that seems to be working fine the Cpu fan is spining.
I put a new CPU in all it is doing is beeping 6 beeps:
Could it be that the cpu is not seated properly?
I wish i tried it with the old cpu i.Someone is taking about the cmos battery.on a utube videoI
I will try taking out the ram first off.
How can i tell if the CPU is not seated properly?
No Signal to the monitor so cant change the bios.
I have put the old cpu back in it was stoping and starting .
Since then i have taking the cpu heatsink out now it is giving 4 beeps?
I just can,t believe all this i don,t think i am up for building a PC.
The button is orange not blue.
I have taking out the ram and reseated it.It now turns on but after a short time it turns off.All the cabals are properly in.I still have the CPU heatsink off.I see that problems can be bad PSU but as this is a new one i don,t see it could be that.Then it says check if there is anything loose in the case to see if something is shortening it.Any ides Lex i am at a loss.Two of the ran slots can,t be working when i added them  i got the orange bleeping.      







.   All ram is working in one slot not tried them in the other slots.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 6, 2021)

r0x said:


> @AlwaysHope
> Try pulling out the overdrive, *i doubt it's compatible upgrade for sx-25 without heavy modding*. Also, it would be smart to remove old battery and test PSU.
> I bet it will start normally, those boards were built to last.


Could putting a 66MHz crystal work as then it would drive the SX-25 at 33MHz and I don't see why it wouldn't overclock to 33MHz. But on the other hand, I don't see why the Overdrive wouldn't work downclocked to 50MHz.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 6, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Lex can you help me with this.
> I upgraded the PSU to an EVGA that seems to be working fine the Cpu fan is spining.
> I put a new CPU in all it is doing is beeping 6 beeps:
> Could it be that the cpu is not seated properly?
> ...


See PM.


----------



## r0x (Nov 6, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Could putting a 66MHz crystal work as then it would drive the SX-25 at 33MHz and I don't see why it wouldn't overclock to 33MHz. But on the other hand, I don't see why the Overdrive wouldn't work downclocked to 50MHz.


Honestly, I have no idea if a crystal change overclock would work, there is huge lack of 486 systems in my surrounding to conduct such experiments on them 
I've tried many (IBM,AMD, Intel) DX2 and DX4 CPUs in 425sx/si, while manually grounding inner pin in CPU upgrade socket, and MBO doesn't POST while inserted CPU gets hot. So my guess is that only 50MHz(25MHz x2) Overdrive, with the inner pin, would work.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Nov 7, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Could putting a 66MHz crystal work as then it would drive the SX-25 at 33MHz and I don't see why it wouldn't overclock to 33MHz. But on the other hand, I don't see why the Overdrive wouldn't work downclocked to 50MHz.


Wow, that's so new to me it's fascinating!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 7, 2021)

r0x said:


> Honestly, I have no idea if a crystal change overclock would work





AlwaysHope said:


> Wow, that's so new to me it's fascinating!


Changing clock crystals was a common way to OC back in the day. It was also very safe as if anything went wrong, change the clock crystal back and all is well.

A few pages ago, someone showed an ASUS V7700 32MB. Clint over at LGR got one of the 64MB versions donated to him recently.








While I will encourage watching the whole video because it's filled with some very interesting stuff(and you get to hear him use the term "Rad" in proper context), the part where he unpacks the V7700 is at 32minutes.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 7, 2021)

*NEW HW FOUND!!!* 

1. Gainward 6800GT Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2400 “Golden Sample” GLH  P542020MQ0M4 - it needs a few ceramic caps and a couple of resistors - nothing too serious. Not 100% sure if it is an Ultra but the info on the internet points that it is. I'll find out when I get to test it.
2. Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB AIW PN 102-95719-10-AT - it needs a few ceramic caps and a few resistors - easy fix. I have three dead ATI 9800 PRO cards that are donor cards.
3. Creative Audigy 2 ZS SB0350 -  it needs a few caps - easy fix
4. ASUS Geforce 2 GTS 32MB AGP V7700/32M(TVR) REV 1.01 - 4th or 5th card? It is raining GF 2 GTS cards lately!
5. Creative CT 6950 32MB PCI - Vanta 32MB PCI
6. Gigabyte GA-7IX AMD 750 REV 1.1 + AMD Athlon 800MHz - AMD-K7800MPR52B A - A OK!
7. MSI 815EPT PRO VER:5 - MS-6337 PRO + Celeron Tualatin 1000A SL5VP - mint - my only P3 Tualatin motherboard. Go figure!
8. Intel Pentium 100MHz SX963 with glued HS
9. A bunch of salvaged MOSFETs for my Intel VS440FX motherboard.  Not the ideal solution but wth! For 1EURO I got a bunch of them. I'll test them before I'll use them. The seller even said that for those money I can take a bunch more! Well I left the others for someone else. You never know who might need them!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 7, 2021)

Nice Gainward card. Fairly rare. I have the exact same one here. Hope you can get that going.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 7, 2021)

I'll post results as fast as possible. I too hope that the mighty Gainward is still alive.


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 7, 2021)

You find SO many parts & projects...I'm filled with envy.  
Meanwhile...I just can't take the best pics, but I'm working on it!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2021)

r0x said:


> Honestly, I have no idea if a crystal change overclock would work, there is huge lack of 486 systems in my surrounding to conduct such experiments on them
> I've tried many (IBM,AMD, Intel) DX2 and DX4 CPUs in 425sx/si, while manually grounding inner pin in CPU upgrade socket, and MBO doesn't POST while inserted CPU gets hot. So my guess is that only 50MHz(25MHz x2) Overdrive, with the inner pin, would work.





AlwaysHope said:


> Wow, that's so new to me it's fascinating!


On older hardware (like 286, 386 and 486), there was a crystal which created the CPU bus speed. The crystal's frequency was divided by 2, so with let's say a 66MHz crystal, you'll get 33MHz. After 486-DX50 they started to use multipliers as that 50MHz one was unstable in many cases as it used 50MHz FSB with a multiplier of 1.



lexluthermiester said:


> Changing clock crystals was a common way to OC back in the day. It was also very safe as if anything went wrong, change the clock crystal back and all is well.
> 
> A few pages ago, someone showed an ASUS V7700 32MB. Clint over at LGR got one of the 64MB versions donated to him recently.
> 
> ...


That's already on my tabs, I'll watch it soon.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 9, 2021)

Fastest Pentium II in existence ... period!




Strange looking thing ... I've never seen a Pentium II like this before


----------



## Robert B (Nov 9, 2021)

That one is a mean mother ... !


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Fastest Pentium II in existence ... period!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Had to check HWbot, seems that 725MHz is the record for Pentium II 









						kotori`s CPU Frequency score: 725.43 MHz with a Pentium II 450MHz
					

The Pentium II 450MHz @ 725.4MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the CPU Frequency benchmark. kotoriranks #null worldwide and #1 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.




					hwbot.org
				





I remember that many software misrecognizes many P6 based processors, Core 2 Duos were usually recognized as PIII Xeon


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 9, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Had to check HWbot, seems that 725MHz is the record for Pentium II
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Not surprised. He's on the W9 benching team.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 9, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Had to check HWbot, seems that 725MHz is the record for Pentium II
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nope, mine's faster! Like I said, the fastest PII out there ... period! 

On a more serious note, it amazes me just how fast 440BX board can run! This thing is ridiculously fast, it even outperforms Socket 478 Pentium 4, that's inside one of the other Adison builds! Not sure why or how come, I'm just comparing the two builds which are somewhat similar. P3B-F with 1.4 Tualatin vs P4B with 2.6 (Northwood?)


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nope, mine's faster! Like I said, the fastest PII out there ... period!
> 
> On a more serious note, it amazes me just how fast 440BX board can run! This thing is ridiculously fast, it even outperforms Socket 478 Pentium 4, that's inside one of the other Adison builds! Not sure why or how come, I'm just comparing the two builds which are somewhat similar. P3B-F with 1.4 Tualatin vs P4B with 2.6 (Northwood?)


440BX was indeed great. I had an Asus P2B back in the day, first with P2-400 @ 450, later a P3-500 @ 575.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 9, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> 440BX was indeed great. I had an Asus P2B back in the day, first with P2-400 @ 450, later a P3-500 @ 575.


Oh yeah, my original "Adison" was ... and still is to this day Chaintech 6BTM which is again - based on 440BX chipset.

As for P3B-F, swapping out 1,100 Tualatin for 1,400 one gave additional 1,000 3D marks (for TNT2 that's been OCed ... I talked about this before, even documented it for everyone to see), and now equals approx. 5,000-something points in total.


----------



## Susquehannock (Nov 9, 2021)

Been playing with this EPoX 8rda3l board off and on for last couple months. Legendary nForce2 overclockers. Won top spot on several review sites at the time. Really like it so far. Wanted to try one since back in the day. Price was right. Seller accepted low ball offer. Came with 2x512mb RAM and 2500 barton. Complete with finger print on core. Neither of which I can really use. 1gb modules are so inexpensive now. And the barton seems to be one of the later 'super locked' units. No changes to multi or FSB allowed.

Popped one of my old trusty low volt t-bred 1800s in there and with some voltage adjustments was running at 2.3ghz (200x11.5) in no time. About far as I want to go with the dreaded Teapo capacitors. One at left in image below is not looking good. Same CPU easily hits 2.5ghz on air in my Soltek FRN2 boards which have lower top voltage BIOS settings vs the EPoX. Could really cook this chip at 2.20 Vcore. Probably why I never did with the FRN2. Tops at 1.8 vcore.

Interesting that MBM-5 and CPU-Z both show higher 1.79 Vcore than 1.70v setting shown in BIOS. Did same when Vcore was set to 1.6v at lower overclocks. Not the case with any of my other nForce2 boards. Bad cap perhaps? Runs flawlessly ... so far. Scheduled for a re-fit along with a few other boards. Might put the Shuttle AN35 board back in for time being. Easy swap with no changes needed.





Mobo = EPoX 8RDA3I
CPU = T-bred B 1700+ @ 2.3ghz
GPU = BFG 7800GS
PSU = Fortron fsp300
RAM = 2x1gb dual channel
HDD = 80gb Seagate Barracuda
Audio = soundblaster live
Cooler = Thermalright SK-7 with 80mm case fan
Vcore = 1.7v,  Vdimm = 2.63v,  VDD = 1.8v​


----------



## Bungz (Nov 9, 2021)

That entire board needs recapping really, those teapos are prob spent and that bottom one is definitely blown.

Epox always cheaped out on caps, never really used top brands.

I love Epox boards, not easy to find now, though oddly I just picked up a 8RGA and a 8RGA+ together.

Just ordered a load of caps for them both.

My first board was a KT333 8K3A and not that long ago I got one again and recapped it completely, need to have a play with it again!

I have a few more nforce2 epox boards, the nicest one is a 8RDA6+Pro with 6 satas


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 9, 2021)

Bungz said:


> That entire board needs recapping really, those teapos are prob spent and that bottom one is definitely blown.
> 
> Epox always cheaped out on caps, never really used top brands.
> 
> ...


If it were mine (and my decision to make), I'd use Panasonic-branded caps. That way, you should be safe for around 10 years or so... if not longer.

In fact, I just recapped that Chaintech 6ASV0 the other day, replaced around 20 caps all over the board because USB was acting dodgy.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> If it were mine (and my decision to make), I'd use Panasonic-branded caps. That way, you should be safe for around 10 years or so... if not longer.
> 
> In fact, I just recapped that Chaintech 6ASV0 the other day, replaced around 20 caps all over the board because USB was acting dodgy.


Nice to know that bad caps can cause USB problems.  that's a problem I see from time to time with older hardware.


----------



## Bungz (Nov 9, 2021)

I tend to use Panasonic FR or FJ usually.

Will outlast the boards


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 9, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Nice to know that bad caps can cause USB problems.  that's a problem I see from time to time with older hardware.


Since there were no obvious symptoms with either of the caps, I wasn't 100% sure about this. However, pretty much all the USB devices would suddenly stop responding at some point & turn off, resulting with Win98 reporting them as "Unknown Device", and would require reset in order to get them working again.

This issue would also occur in DOS and/or Acronis True Image boot loader, so it wasn't driver related. I also noticed that the problem was more pronounced with external hard drive for example (which draws more power than optical mouse, obviously), so I decided to play it safe & recapped just about everything I could. Sanyo caps (6.3V/1200uf) were replaced by "Yage" ones, where on the other hand, Tayeh RAM ones (6.3V/1000uf) were replaced by Panasonic.


 





Bungz said:


> I tend to use Panasonic FR or FJ usually.
> 
> Will outlast the boards


Exactly!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2021)

Now this is a platform, Slot 1 was cool.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 10, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> If it were mine (and my decision to make), I'd use Panasonic-branded caps. That way, you should be safe for around 10 years or so... if not longer.


I agree with this but with one alteration, Panasonic brand caps have a history of lasting 20ish or more years. So Panasonic? Two Thumbs Up!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 10, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I agree with this but with one alteration, Panasonic brand caps have a history of lasting 20ish or more years. So Panasonic? Two Thumbs Up!


Well, I did say "for around 10 years or so... if not longer" - and 20ish years are certainly in "longer" category


----------



## Splinterdog (Nov 11, 2021)

Dusting off the old Pentium II and giving Lara some fresh air. Just to make sure it still works because the PSU is now around 22 years old


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Dusting off the old Pentium II and giving Lara some fresh air. Just to make sure it still works because the PSU is now around 22 years old
> View attachment 224799


There is a reason why I don't miss ribbon cables and your pic is a good example


----------



## Splinterdog (Nov 11, 2021)

Yeah, those big ones at the bottom are for a PCMCIA controller card which are so hefty you can't do much with them


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Yeah, those big ones at the bottom are for a PCMCIA controller card which are so hefty you can't do much with them


From what I can tell, you did great with cable management! Maybe you should tidy up those PSU cables up there, behind the CD-ROM drive but other than that it looks "clean" 

Anyhow, speaking of old(er) computers... What do you make of this one?




Pentium II? Pentium III? Maaybe Pentium 4 ... or perhaps Athlon64?
-Nope! 




And when I take the case cover off, things get a lot different!


 



Even the rear side & I/O Shield both look highly unusual for 1997/1998 machine


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 11, 2021)

I've got that exact Gigabyte video card laying around somewhere @Trekkie4 . 8600GT as I recall.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> I've got that exact Gigabyte video card laying around somewhere @Trekkie4 . 8600GT as I recall.


Close! That's Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H, 8600GTS card in there 

Eventually, I might even upgrade to something better ... 8800GT, or higher. Hopefully with active cooling, since this older Adison case was obviously never designed to accommodate PCIe cards and/or CPU with multiple cores. That being said however, Q6600 is running incredibly cool ... up to 140F at most. Not sure why, or because of what - as you can tell, everything is cramped up inside, but it seems to be running cooler than inside my Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 case. 

Edit
This here was the initial version of "Adison Sleeper", I posted these a while back & talked about it several times


 



However, a lot of things have changed over time. Yellowed case has been brightened up, DVD-RW has been replaced by CD-ROM (to preserve the "sleeper" look & idea ... and having a DVD drive in there doesn't help), floppy cable has been reoriented so that it no longer blocks the airflow across the GPU (from the intake fan, on the front) and most importantly - Core2 Duo & its cooler have been replaced with Q6600 and Coolermaster Hyper TX3.


----------



## TheinsanegamerN (Nov 11, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Now this is a platform, Slot 1 was cool.


I miss Slot 1. It was before my time, but having used it I dont know why it died off. Even if the CPu became more tightly integrated slot 1 allowed for way mroe cooling then socket 370 did, and was far more durable as well. Seeing a tualatin 1.4s in a powerleap slotket adapter was something else.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2021)

TheinsanegamerN said:


> I miss Slot 1 (...)


Me too, me too! 

I'm not even trying to hide my affection for Slot 1 systems... Most of them - especially "Adison" builds are Slot-1 based. Even that Tualatin 1.4, I could have easily chosen a lot more different (and cheaper) route and go with dedicated S370 board instead. But I wanted it to be Slot 1 & 440BX...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 11, 2021)

TheinsanegamerN said:


> but having used it I dont know why it died off.


Cooling & cost. While the Slot1 cartridge format had wonderful utility in making easy and safe(because the connectors were very well protected) CPU swap-outs. However, the SECC package was expensive to make as opposed to the standard pins/socket type. It was also more difficult to cool because of the orientation of how the heatsink attached to the CPU package. As heat emissions increased with the speed and amount of wattage used by the CPU dies increased, cooling became increasingly problematic. As interesting and functionally durable as the Slot 1 & 2 type connectors were, physics and costs demanded returning to the simpler and more cost efficient pin/socket type. AMD's Slot A was just as interesting and fun, but suffered from the same limitations.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Yeah, those big ones at the bottom are for a PCMCIA controller card which are so hefty you can't do much with them


Zipties? Those did wonders at least with PATA cables 


TheinsanegamerN said:


> I miss Slot 1. It was before my time, but having used it I dont know why it died off. Even if the CPu became more tightly integrated slot 1 allowed for way mroe cooling then socket 370 did, and was far more durable as well. Seeing a tualatin 1.4s in a powerleap slotket adapter was something else.


IIRC when they started to integrate the L2 to the processor die (unlike Pentium II, Katmai Pentium III and pre-Thunderbird Athlons which had their L2 cache chips on the same PCB) that Slot cartridge wasn't needed anymore.


----------



## Splinterdog (Nov 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> From what I can tell, you did great with cable management! Maybe you should tidy up those PSU cables up there, behind the CD-ROM drive but other than that it looks "clean"
> 
> Anyhow, speaking of old(er) computers... What do you make of this one?
> 
> ...


Yes, that's another job on the list and coping with the limited space available. If it's quiet today I might give it a crack later.
My other retro is a Pentium 4 and the biggest issue is keeping the CPU cool when light gaming. TR 2 and 3 for example, when it regularly goes up to 70c, so I have to stop.
It's a copper based cooler with MX4 paste and third party P4 coolers are impossible to find down here.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Yes, that's another job on the list and coping with the limited space available. If it's quiet today I might give it a crack later.
> My other retro is a Pentium 4 and the biggest issue is keeping the CPU cool when light gaming. TR 2 and 3 for example, when it regularly goes up to 70c, so I have to stop.
> It's a copper based cooler with MX4 paste and third party P4 coolers are impossible to find down here.
> View attachment 224816


Strange... Which core? Prescott? Or Northwood one?

I got S478 inside one of the other "Adison" builds, running stock CPU cooler within reasonable limits. As in not great, but certainly not THAT bad, either


----------



## Splinterdog (Nov 11, 2021)

That'll be Prescott, so I just replaced the paste, turned the heatsink around and it's improved very nicely now. Didn't go over about 58c when running TR3.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> That'll be Prescott, so I just replaced the paste and turned the around and it's improved very nicely now. Didn't go over about 58c when running TR3.
> View attachment 224820


That sounds about right, same as my Northwood & Asus P4B...

IMHO, there was probably more to it than just thermal paste. Perhaps the cooler wasn't seated properly, one of the latches (or hooks) out of place or weakened? I'm using generic paste for electronics (same, white stuff that's used to cool mosfets, transistors and/or amplifiers) and never had ANY issues with overheating whatsoever. In fact, I'm running the same stuff on Core i5 rig...


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 11, 2021)

I never had a Slot 1 PII or PIII system when they were current.  I went from a Pentium 200 to an AMD K6-450 to a Pentium4 s423 (what the hell was I thinking getting that P4 - LOL).  

I saved a Toshiba PII system from the trash mid-2000s.  I swapped the PII 300-350(?) for a slocket & Tualatin 1.4 celeron.  It was able to run just shy of 1.6GHz using SetFSB software.  I dropped an ATI 9600XT in it, maxed out the RAM and I had my first retro gaming rig.  Loved that box & really miss the slocket.

Within the past 3 years I saved another Slot 1 from the trash.  This one has a PIII 550 in it & an Abit motherboard.  I recently saw the board needs to be recapped so I can really get into playing with this one.  It has a Matrox video card in it, but I also have a GF2 GTS & a GF3 Ti 200 to use with it.


----------



## caroline! (Nov 11, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Yes, that's another job on the list and coping with the limited space available. If it's quiet today I might give it a crack later.
> My other retro is a Pentium 4 and the biggest issue is keeping the CPU cool when light gaming. TR 2 and 3 for example, when it regularly goes up to 70c, so I have to stop.
> It's a copper based cooler with MX4 paste and third party P4 coolers are impossible to find down here.
> View attachment 224816


Ah, Prescott... the Coffee Lake of the mid 00's. My 519K build gets so hot that's able to slowly heat up my whole room while I play TR II, that's probably because my build lacks a graphics card though, the northbridge easily hits 85C so I let it cool down every half an hour, it's inside a slim case and has the original noisy stock cooler. Bad combo.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 11, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> 8600GTS card in there



Yeppers, that's right! Same card.  

Not even quite sure where I put it now. LOL. Haven't used it in a few years......Dang, makes me want to build another nostalgic rig.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 11, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Yeppers, that's right! Same card.
> 
> Not even quite sure where I put it now. LOL. Haven't used it in a few years......Dang, makes me want to build another nostalgic rig.


If you ask me, that 8600GTS is a great card! I received two of those, both identical & was going to put together SLI rig, however at the time I couldn't find find S775 motherboard which had 2x PCIe x16 slots, so the whole idea kinda backfired & I ended up with Core2 Duo (now Quad, Q6600) mATX sleeper.

Still, it has more than enough power to run all the Source-powered games (HL2, ep1, ep2, Portal & Portal 2), all maxed out. As for passive cooling, I had my doubts about this & was afraid that cramped mATX "Adison" case would overheat 8600GTS but from what I can tell, this isn't the case.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 11, 2021)

Yeah, the entire time I used it, it never seemed to overheat. Hell, I think I used that card for around 2 or maybe 3 years. Never had a heat problem with it. Although, they do run kind of warm.


----------



## Splinterdog (Nov 12, 2021)

caroline.v said:


> Ah, Prescott... the Coffee Lake of the mid 00's. My 519K build gets so hot that's able to slowly heat up my whole room while I play TR II, that's probably because *my build lacks a graphics card *though, the northbridge easily hits 85C so I let it cool down every half an hour, it's inside a slim case and has the original noisy stock cooler. Bad combo.


Just curious, how can you play TRII without a graphics card? Or does the mobo have it on-board?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 12, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> that 8600GTS is a great card!


And it was BITD too! The price was low but the performance was solid.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 12, 2021)

Tualatin OC'd over 2GHz


----------



## caroline! (Nov 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Just curious, how can you play TRII without a graphics card? Or does the mobo have it on-board?


Onboard graphics provided by the 865G chipset aka Intel Extreme Graphics 2, maxes out at 32MB, most games run fine at low resolutions, I had an MX440 in that build but ended up selling it, not a high end card but was good enough to run UT 2k4, return to castle wolfenstein and even doom 3, by the time I had enough money for better hardware I went for a new AMD rig instead of upgrading that Intel because the AGP slot was already obsolete.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 13, 2021)

I brought this one out of the boneyard a few years ago , and put it into service for glide stuff and general period games , it's fun fighting to remember how to load older OS's !

Abit VP6 ( recapped ) , 2 x PIII 1ghz + Golden Orbs @1140mhz , Voodoo 5500 AGP , dual boot W2K pro / XP pro , 2 gig Infineon memory , 3 x 18g scsi raid 0 , Creative Sound , Kenwood TrueX 72x cd-rom






and of course the obligatory 21" Sony Trinitron (one owner)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 13, 2021)

Another Caspian based laptop freebie. Packard Bell LJ71. Athlon II M300, Radeon HD4570 512MB, 4GB DDR2. Had no drives in it so I just dropped 2x 320GBs and installed 10 Enterprise.

Wondering if a GT130 would work in it, as the GPU is in a removable MXM-A form factor, after all.


----------



## seth1911 (Nov 13, 2021)

No such old System but ill get a MSI 890 GXM G65 and a FX 8150 in 2 weeks


----------



## FireFox (Nov 13, 2021)

Does anyone knows where can i find the driver for a MSI Ti4800SE-VTD8X?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Does anyone knows where can i find the driver for a MSI Ti4800SE-VTD8X?


Over at nVidia's official website?

Just about any ForceWare since v4x.xx will do fine ... I personally recommend v43.45. Or if you don't want to play around with it, just go for latest one (v81.85), from the link above.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 13, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Over at nVidia's official website?
> 
> Just about any ForceWare since v4x.xx will do fine ... I personally recommend v43.45. Or if you don't want to play around with it, just go for latest one (v81.85), from the link above.


I am on my way home as soon as i arrive i will give a try, only thing i hope it works with W7


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I am on my way home as soon as i arrive i will give a try, only thing i *hope it works with W7*


Don't ask for impossible, 4800SE doesn't support DX9 (which is the the basic requirement of Win7, along with WHQL driver).
Driver from 2005 doesn't have WHQL, so it's installation may not be possible (but VGA Generic driver in Win7 may take care of your card for higher monitor resolutions [?]).
On top of that, Win7 doesn't really like many DX6/7 benchmarks (must be patched/ran in compatibility mode to work), so you may be stuck on weird errors for a while.
For AGP Win7, you are way better off with Radeon 9000 series or newer, or GF6/7 series (out of those I recommend ATI card with Catalyst 9.1/9.3 driver).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I am on my way home as soon as i arrive i will give a try, only thing i hope it works with W7


Nope, this one won't... I assumed that you need Windows 9x/ME driver ... let's face it, most of us who run GF4 cards will run either Win9x or Win2k/XP configuration. You can try with v97.78 which would be (from what I remember) the latest Win2000/XP driver for legacy nVidia cards such as GF4. But otherwise I would have to agree with @agent_x007 above (and below) ... this is a really, REALLY bad idea.



agent_x007 said:


> Don't ask for impossible, 4800SE doesn't support DX9 (which is the the basic requirement of Win7, along with WHQL driver).
> Driver from 2005 doesn't have WHQL, so it's installation may not be possible (but VGA Generic driver in Win7 may take care of your card for higher monitor resolutions [?]).
> On top of that, Win7 doesn't really like many DX6/7 benchmarks (must be patched/ran in compatibility mode to work), so you may be stuck on weird errors for a while.
> For AGP Win7, you are way better off with Radeon 9000 series or newer, or GF6/7 series (out of those I recommend ATI card with Catalyst 9.1/9.3 driver).


True! Fifth generation (sometimes referred to as GeForce5 or officially "FX 5000 Series") was the first card to introduce DirectX 9 hardware support.

And I also agree on the recommendation list ... Radeon 9000, GF6/7 and similar cards are far more appropriate choice for Windows 7. And even THOSE will struggle to keep up with even the basic operations. Personally, I wouldn't run Win7 with anything below Radeon X1550 or GeForce 6 (PCIe) ... That being said, you're welcome to give it a try of course


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

If it's for XP gaming, I'd go for 71.89. I remember those being great on my Ti 4200-8x back in the day.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> If it's for XP gaming, I'd go for 71.89. I remember those being great on my Ti 4200-8x back in the day.


Right, pretty much all the versions from 70 and above are more than adequate for Win2k/XP. I can even upload my own copy of v97.78 which is part of "emergency driver kit" on a home-made CD. But he specifically asked for Windows 7, which (IMHO) is going to be an issue.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, pretty much all the versions from 70 and above are more than adequate for Win2k/XP. I can even upload my own copy of v97.78 which is part of "emergency driver kit" on a home-made CD. But he specifically asked for Windows 7, which (IMHO) is going to be an issue.


Yeah, I'd go with a newer card for Win7. At least with DX9 support like GF FX or Radeon 9500 and above.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 13, 2021)

another oldie but goldie ...it is easier for me to assemble parts into systems and then cases than it is to store them in boxes !

Abit BE6 i440BX , PIII 700 flip chip on Abit Slotket slot 1 adapter, Voodoo 3 3500TV , I forget the mem , creative sound

*** the i440BX north bridge was an overclockers dream...this picture shows 1 memory clip not quite set , it has been corrected!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> another oldie but goldie ...it is easier for me to assemble parts into systems and then cases than it is to store them in boxes !
> 
> Abit BE6 i440BX , PIII 700 flip chip on Abit Slotket slot 1 adapter, Voodoo 3 3500TV , I forget the mem , creative sound
> 
> ...


Welcome to TPU Nostalgic Hardware community, that's a beautiful setup!   

It amazes me how many people still have fully preserved Slot 1 (or Slot A) systems in perfect condition! I could argue about the case color choice, and claim how Slot 1 doesn't fit inside modern, black case but since I've done it myself and even had several Pentium II setups inside modern-day Coolermasters, I'm just going to shut up & enjoy the view


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 13, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Yeah, I'd go with a newer card for Win7. At least with DX9 support like *GF FX* or Radeon 9500 and above.


GF FX series driver is _*VERY*_ broken on Vista/7, DO NOT try to use FX series on newer than WinXP M$ OS if you can help it.
There is only one out there, and it feels like NV made it to tick "WHQL" box and keep M$ happy with DX9 GPU support on Vista/7.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> GF FX series driver is _*VERY*_ broken on Vista/7, DO NOT try to use it if you can help it.
> There is only one out there, and it feels like NV made it to tick "WHQL" box and keep M$ happy with DX9 GPU support on Vista/7.


I have to admit that I haven't actually ever tried Vista/7 with a FX card but I thought that it's somewhat working. I guess not.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 13, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Welcome to TPU Nostalgic Hardware community, that's a beautiful setup!
> 
> It amazes me how many people still have fully preserved Slot 1 (or Slot A) systems in perfect condition! I could argue about the case color choice, and claim how Slot 1 doesn't fit inside modern, black case but since I've done it myself and even had several Pentium II setups inside modern-day Coolermasters, I'm just going to shut up & enjoy the view


thanks for the welcome...looks like a fun active thread...and to think that some people say this stuff is junk!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> another oldie but goldie ...it is easier for me to assemble parts into systems and then cases than it is to store them in boxes !
> 
> Abit BE6 i440BX , PIII 700 flip chip on Abit Slotket slot 1 adapter, Voodoo 3 3500TV , I forget the mem , creative sound
> 
> ...


Amazing cable management for a retro rig.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> GF FX series driver is _*VERY*_ broken on Vista/7, DO NOT try to use FX series on newer than WinXP M$ OS if you can help it.
> There is only one out there, and it feels like NV made it to tick "WHQL" box and keep M$ happy with DX9 GPU support on Vista/7.


Good to know, I had no idea...



Jill Christine Valentine said:


> I have to admit that I haven't actually ever tried Vista/7 with a FX card but I thought that it's somewhat working. I guess not.


Exactly, me either. Huh, guess you learn something new every day. But then again, how many ppl are going to run Vista and W7 on legacy hardware such as GF4 or FX Series? Even the modern-day on board solution is miles ahead...



onemanhitsquad said:


> thanks for the welcome...looks like a fun active thread...and to think that some people say this stuff is junk!


Exactly! Some people are just hopeless & don't seem to appreciate "vintage" technology


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

Playing around with that "junk" is more like a hobby for most of us in this thread


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 13, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Welcome to TPU Nostalgic Hardware community, that's a beautiful setup!
> 
> It amazes me how many people still have fully preserved Slot 1 (or Slot A) systems in perfect condition! I could argue about the case color choice, and claim how Slot 1 doesn't fit inside modern, black case but since I've done it myself and even had several Pentium II setups inside modern-day Coolermasters, I'm just going to shut up & enjoy the view


I only have one older case left available to use , an Antec P160 , been on the look for some oldish Lian Li's like I had , but availability is rarer than hens teeth or the asking prices are scary.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I only have one older case left available to use , an Antec P160 , been on the look for some oldish Lian Li's like I had , but availability is rarer than hens teeth or the asking prices are scary.


That's still a case I'd want, even after all these years. I thought already in the mid-2000s that that's one damn cool looking case.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I only have one older case left available to use , an Antec P160 , been on the look for some oldish Lian Li's like I had , but availability is rarer than hens teeth or the asking prices are scary.


I had several black Coolermasters (Elite Series, although I can't seem to remember exact models) laying around, including one Thermaltake V6... However, I just couldn't get used to seeing & running retro build inside modern-day case so eventually I gave them all away and/or rebuilt them using appropriate period-correct beige towers.




My Adison project was one of them, actually. Took me almost 15 years to find what I wanted, but eventually I did


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Does anyone knows where can i find the driver for a MSI Ti4800SE-VTD8X?



Check on this if using XP/2000:






						Windows XP/2000 Driver Archive|NVIDIA
					

NVIDIA



					www.nvidia.com
				




This link, along with others, are in the original post.


Love that dual PIII system @onemanhitsquad


----------



## caroline! (Nov 13, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I brought this one out of the boneyard a few years ago , and put it into service for glide stuff and general period games , it's fun fighting to remember how to load older OS's !
> 
> Abit VP6 ( recapped ) , 2 x PIII 1ghz + Golden Orbs @1140mhz , Voodoo 5500 AGP , dual boot W2K pro / XP pro , 2 gig Infineon memory , 3 x 18g scsi raid 0 , Creative Sound , Kenwood TrueX 72x cd-rom
> 
> View attachment 224981


Golden heatsinks were great 
_No RGB LEDs in sight, just components enjoying the moment._

Your cable management is quite decent too, could nevere say the same about mine... I just wire everything and then hide the mess with the side panel, it's easier if I have to troubleshoot a component.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

Cool, a new video from CPU Galaxy


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 13, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Cool, a new video from CPU Galaxy


RAID0 might have been more interesting..


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 13, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Changing clock crystals was a common way to OC back in the day. It was also very safe as if anything went wrong, change the clock crystal back and all is well.
> 
> A few pages ago, someone showed an ASUS V7700 32MB. Clint over at LGR got one of the 64MB versions donated to him recently.
> 
> ...


LGR is one of my fave YouTubers.I loved his thrifting videos all those big Goodwill stores wish they had them in the UK. All the electrical stuff they have in there. 
A lot UK Charity shops don,t take in electrical goods.



Bungz said:


> That entire board needs recapping really, those teapos are prob spent and that bottom one is definitely blown.
> 
> Epox always cheaped out on caps, never really used top brands.
> 
> ...


Nice lot of Retro motherboards  MrBungz


----------



## FireFox (Nov 13, 2021)

I am installing windows xp pro and now i am to the point where it ask me the product key and i don't find it ( lost it ) where can i get a product key? )


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I am installing windows xp pro and now i am to the point where it ask me the product key and i don't find it ( lost it ) where can i get a product key? )


Try this. It's from my XP rig.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 13, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Try this. It's from my XP rig.


Thanks but it says the cd key is not valid


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> where can i get a product key?


Going to have to buy one on Ebay.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Thanks but it says the cd key is not valid


Then I'd google for one. Probably mine doesn't work as it's a HP OEM key :/


----------



## FireFox (Nov 13, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Then I'd google for one. Probably mine doesn't work as it's a HP OEM key :/


Googled and got lot of them, alll the same error.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Googled and got lot of them, alll the same error.


If they're on Google, microsoft has blacklisted them. Also, internet activation is not available for XP anymore. You need to use the phone activation method.

See PM..


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 13, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Googled and got lot of them, alll the same error.



I shot ya a PM bro. I'll get you one of mine that are left over from the days. LOL


----------



## FireFox (Nov 13, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> If they're on Google, microsoft has blacklisted them. Also, internet activation is not available for XP anymore. You need to use the phone activation method.


Wait, maybe i just forgot how to activate WXP, do you need to be connected to the internet to enter a product key? I have thought that it was forbidden to connect a pc running WXP


----------



## AugeK (Nov 13, 2021)

The key depends in the type of build.
Microsoft, OEM or Retail.
A valid key works only with the correct type of build.
If the pair doesn't match: no joy!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 13, 2021)

Oh, for crying out loud... All the drama over nothing, not to mention drawing unnecessary attention.

@FireFox You can activate XP (OEM or Retail, doesn't matter) with couple of clicks. Send me a PM if you don't know how and we'll take it from there.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 13, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh, for crying out loud... All the drama over nothing, not to mention drawing unnecessary attention.
> 
> @FireFox You can activate XP (OEM or Retail, doesn't matter) with couple of clicks. Send me a PM if you don't know how and we'll take it from there.


Exactly.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 14, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Thanks but it says the cd key is not valid


Look online for lots of free keys.  Not all of them work though you just have to go through them to see which ones work. A lot of people putting XP on their PC,s in here. Are you doing it to do Retro Gaming like myself?


----------



## Susquehannock (Nov 14, 2021)

Bungz said:


> That entire board needs recapping really, those teapos are prob spent and that bottom one is definitely blown.
> 
> Epox always cheaped out on caps, never really used top brands.
> 
> ...


Awesome collection. Had to look a couple of those up. Only really kept track of nForce2 boards I had considered buying at the time. May pick up another EPoX if the price is right.

Glad the conversation went to caps for bit. What is a good source for those Panasonics? Hopefully large bulk order not required for decent pricing. That was my problem re-capping the Abit. Had to source from three different places because I don't do this enough to have a lot of extra stock sitting around.


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 14, 2021)

I kept finding these while I was looking for an older Abit AN8 board. They are all harder to find now.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 15, 2021)

My wife's FX 5800 Ultra.....it is a pre-order white box ...and we still have it...haha "The Hoover"


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 15, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> My wife's FX 5800 Ultra.....it is a pre-order white box ...and we still have it...haha "The Hoover"
> 
> 
> View attachment 225185


Worth a lot of money.


----------



## Bungz (Nov 15, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Awesome collection. Had to look a couple of those up. Only really kept track of nForce2 boards I had considered buying at the time. May pick up another EPoX if the price is right.
> 
> Glad the conversation went to caps for bit. What is a good source for those Panasonics? Hopefully large bulk order not required for decent pricing. That was my problem re-capping the Abit. Had to source from three different places because I don't do this enough to have a lot of extra stock sitting around.


Where are you based if you don't mind me asking?

There is a UK seller on eBay who sells a lot of genuine Panasonic stuff at reasonable cost.

Tekkikid is his ID, nice bloke always sends stuff quick.

Had a Gigabyte ga-8ik1100, a 875 chipset jobby come in. 6 dimms lol.

Had a few blown smaller caps but tried to power it up anyway to see if it had any life before I started recapping.

Was like a popcorn machine all the nichicon hm series started venting, nearly got a eye full of electrolyte! 

All fine now.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 15, 2021)

Question
What actually is a Retro PC? is it a PC that has an OS up to XP?
Or is there more to it than that,and depends on who you ask?



Bungz said:


> Where are you based if you don't mind me asking?
> 
> There is a UK seller on eBay who sells a lot of genuine Panasonic stuff at reasonable cost.
> 
> ...


Looks a interesting unit Mr Bungz


----------



## Bungz (Nov 15, 2021)

I think retro is quite relative to how old you are and what era your own personal rose tinted spectacles focus on.

I am touching 40 and my first machine was when I was around 17, which was a Celeron 466 in 1999.

So a Celly or P3 with a Voodoo 3 is my peak retro machine, though my peak interest is prob a year or two later and is reflected in how many socket A boards I repair and post here 


That said if you had your first machine say 5-10 years before me that you probably think a W98 machine with a voodoo 3 is quite modern!


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 15, 2021)

Bungz said:


> I think retro is quite relative to how old you are and what era your own personal rose tinted spectacles focus on.
> 
> I am touching 40 and my first machine was when I was around 17, which was a Celeron 466 in 1999.
> 
> ...


Well explained that is what i thought about the age thing.Anything with a voodoo card has to be retro.I
All this guys stuff is Retro 







. i enjoy his very informative videos.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 15, 2021)

So this is what i have been working on and the reason why i was asking for a product key.
don't pay attention to how it looks because i still have to clean the case and all the components and also do the cable management.

LGA 775 Intel Pentium 4 HT 600 Prescott 1 core 2 threads 3.0GHz
Asrock 775i65GV
Nvidia geforce4 ti 4200 with AGP8X.



























Found it on the street ( outside the building where i live ) 

It seems that it was left outside overnight because there was some condensation on the right panel but in the inside there was none, to make sure i wouldn't burn something at home or short circuit plugged it to one power socket found outside my apartment, if something went wrong the whole building would remain without power

So, the Pc booted and went into W7 Ultimate , the previous owner didn't delete the HHD so lots of documents and pictures were found, i removed the old HHD and installed an old SSD 840 EVO i had laying around, i installed W7 Pro but no go, had issues with some drivers, moved to WXPbut had issues installing the Product key ( Product key invalid ) at the end i was able to install the OS
thanks to @stinger608 






*Aida64 Extreme*




CPU Z, GPU Z, and Core Temp are missing some info, same HWinfo





Ram are mismatched but that is not a problem because i have 2x Corsair 1GB DDR400 184 PIN that should work, i didn't need to install the GPU driver and that was a good thing.

Thanks to @Jill Christine Valentine for providing me the product key even if it didn't work and also thanks to @Trekkie4


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 15, 2021)

FireFox said:


> So this is what i have been working on and the reason why i was asking for a product key.
> don't pay attention to how it looks because i still have to clean the case and all the components and also do the cable management.
> 
> LGA 775 Intel Pentium 4 HT 600 Prescott 1 core 2 threads 3.0GHz
> ...


Did it come with all the stuff you have in it ,or did you put a new Psu in ?Seems like a nice thing to find.  
Glad to hear you did not blow the block up.I found a PC about ten years ago but it was just a basic PC.It did not work, but at the time i had no idea about repairing  a PC.It is only recently i had any idea what to do in a PC to get it to work.I am a late starter on all this .It is never to late to learn.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 15, 2021)

FireFox said:


> So this is what i have been working on and the reason why i was asking for a product key.
> don't pay attention to how it looks because i still have to clean the case and all the components and also do the cable management.
> 
> LGA 775 Intel Pentium 4 HT 600 Prescott 1 core 2 threads 3.0GHz
> ...


I didn't help much, but you're welcome, glad you finally got it up & running!


----------



## FireFox (Nov 15, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> I didn't help much, but you're welcome, glad you finally got it up & running!


We're not done yet, you're getting a PM in a few minutes


----------



## Bungz (Nov 15, 2021)

Lovely find.

Nice choice of OS too  

I spy a domed cap near the NB, good time to learn to solder a little 

I like those Asrock boards, full fat 865 chipset with dual channel ram in matx.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 15, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Did it come with all the stuff you have in it ,or did you put a new Psu in ?Seems like a nice thing to find.


Yup, everything inside of it it's the original parts except the SSD


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 15, 2021)

Bungz said:


> Lovely find.
> 
> Nice choice of OS too
> 
> ...


Sucks though that it doesn't support Core 2 based ones. Though I'd get a cheap Pentium D for it and clean the whole rig from dust. 

edit: Also, get proper drivers for that GF4. I recommend those 71.89s I mentioned before


----------



## FireFox (Nov 15, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> edit: Also, get proper drivers for that GF4. I recommend those 71.89s I mentioned before


Only driver i found was this:


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 15, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Only driver i found was this:
> 
> 
> View attachment 225275








						WinXP/2k - (71.89)|NVIDIA
					

NVIDIA



					www.nvidia.com


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 15, 2021)

Just looked on eBay someone is trying to sell a damaged untested.CPU?
Who in the right mind would buy it Having said that I just saw this video by Mr. Tech the one and only Linus


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 15, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Just looked on eBay someone is trying to sell a damaged untested.CPU?
> Who in the right mind would buy it


Which CPU? If it has like few broken pins, it could be a repairable one.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 15, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Which CPU? If it has like few broken pins, it could be a repairable one.


I did not take note of what CPU it was Jill. This is my one that is too far gone. All through the CPU is working, but with two Ram slots not working. From what he said in the video that could be to do with the pins in the CPU unit. I have given it up as a step too far for me.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 15, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> I did not take note of what CPU it was Jill. This is my one that is too far gone.


Yeah looks way too bad. Maybe that could be repailable, but I wouldn't bother as it looks like an OEM 115x board.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 15, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> Yeah looks way too bad. Maybe that could be repailable, but I wouldn't bother as it looks like an OEM 115x board.


Yes, it is. People on here told me it was too far gone, but were surprised I got it working. I am not going to try I have given it up as a bad job. I now see the limitations of those motherboards. I tried to put an i7 in there but it did not work. On Dell.s page it did say the board only supported i5,s. But a couple of people said they had put an i7 in there and it worked. And this guy on youtube did with success.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 16, 2021)

2006 AMD gaming looked like this and is still alive ...the wife had this setup as well , I think that may be the memory that she bought as I had Corsair...good to have something in common!

939 Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 , Asus A8AR32-MVP Deluxe (first full 2x pcie x16) ATI Crossfire Xpress 3200 chipset , ATI X1950 Crossfire Edition , Patriot Extreme PDC1G3200LLK 2x1gig sets , Creative X-Fi Extreme Music , Enermax PSU (still measures to spec) , WinXP Pro , newer case


----------



## r0x (Nov 16, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> 2006 AMD gaming looked like this and is still alive ...the wife had this setup as well , I think that may be the memory that she bought as I had Corsair...good to have something in common!
> 
> 939 Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 , Asus A8AR32-MVP Deluxe (first full 2x pcie x16) ATI Crossfire Xpress 3200 chipset , ATI X1950 Crossfire Edition , Patriot Extreme PDC1G3200LLK 2x1gig sets , Creative X-Fi Extreme Music , Enermax PSU (still measures to spec) , WinXP Pro , newer case
> 
> View attachment 225337


Brutal setup, except cpu cooler 
Upper right cap on mobo looks bad.
Judging by cables and connectors, you have enermax liberty inside, great PSU with 1 common problem: 12v rail caps. Even with bad caps, spikes are minimal and ripple/noise acceptable.


----------



## Bungz (Nov 16, 2021)

Chemicons 
Prob wanky KZGs


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 16, 2021)

r0x said:


> Upper right cap on mobo looks bad.


Yup, looks like it's ready to pop. Put a load on and it likely will.


onemanhitsquad said:


> 2006 AMD gaming looked like this and is still alive ...the wife had this setup as well , I think that may be the memory that she bought as I had Corsair...good to have something in common!
> 
> 939 Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 , Asus A8AR32-MVP Deluxe (first full 2x pcie x16) ATI Crossfire Xpress 3200 chipset , ATI X1950 Crossfire Edition , Patriot Extreme PDC1G3200LLK 2x1gig sets , Creative X-Fi Extreme Music , Enermax PSU (still measures to spec) , WinXP Pro , newer case


You will want to replace the cap circled in green very soon!



Just a heads up. Would hate to see that classic board go belly-up on you..


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 16, 2021)

A new video from CPU Galaxy












onemanhitsquad said:


> 2006 AMD gaming looked like this and is still alive ...the wife had this setup as well , I think that may be the memory that she bought as I had Corsair...good to have something in common!
> 
> 939 Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 , Asus A8AR32-MVP Deluxe (first full 2x pcie x16) ATI Crossfire Xpress 3200 chipset , ATI X1950 Crossfire Edition , Patriot Extreme PDC1G3200LLK 2x1gig sets , Creative X-Fi Extreme Music , Enermax PSU (still measures to spec) , WinXP Pro , newer case
> 
> View attachment 225337


Totally love these reverse sleepers. I'll probably make something similar one day.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 17, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yup, looks like it's ready to pop. Put a load on and it likely will.
> 
> You will want to replace the cap circled in green very soon!
> View attachment 225372
> Just a heads up. Would hate to see that classic board go belly-up on you..


yep...there are a couple of them...it went in line on the bench when I got it out for the picture...there are a couple of more systems to examine before they are powered...this forum thread got me looking at these machines again


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 17, 2021)

"New" PSU I bought 
LC Power LC6550 version 2.03



Insides :







*Connectors :*
7x "Molex" (one has SATA adapter on it )
2x "Berg" a.k.a. Floppy
1x EPS 4-pin
1x 20-pin ATX
1x 6-pin "P10" (for AT stuff I think)
Cables :
2x "2x Molex + 1x Berg"
1x "3x Molex"
1x EPS 4-pin + 1x ATX 20-pin + 1x 6-pin "P10"

Nothing fancy (I think) ?
It's for old things that require high-ish 3,3/5V rails and -5V for ISA ports.
An addition to my AX860 modern test PSU.


----------



## Valantar (Nov 17, 2021)

Aren't LC Power PSUs among the ones famous for exploding?


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 17, 2021)

I think it depends on model than brand itself ?
(at least for this old thing)
Also, I probably won't get anywhere close to max power of 550W on it, so it should held up pretty good.
From visual inspection, only one cap is slightly bulged so far (and there are quite few 105C rated ones in there).


----------



## pavle (Nov 17, 2021)

That is a group regulated 275W power supply. With too much load all voltages will have high ripple. LC Powers that are better are the newer active-pfc units.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 17, 2021)

Love the cat :3



Valantar said:


> Aren't LC Power PSUs among the ones famous for exploding?


F-tier AFAIK. Those were never recommended (as like any low-end PSUs).


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 17, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> "New" PSU I bought
> LC Power LC6550 version 2.03
> View attachment 225543
> Insides :
> ...


What a lovely puss


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 17, 2021)

@pavle I will keep that in mind. Good thing it doesn't have 6-pin or 24-pins on ATX 
Can't really overload 12V without those (and like I wrote eariler, I don't need to since my AX860 does all modern testing).

Any hardware combinations that can get it into red zone (like old dual CPUs or OC'ed single ones) that I should be wary of ?
It did cost me 18$ overall (with shipping), so I can't argue with it not being cheap 

PS. Thanks, it simply walked with me and my mom from one point, and we decided to keep it.
Belive it or not, that cat is over 9 years old (nothing wrong with it, aside from chasing it's own tail a little too hard at times).


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 17, 2021)

TPU's Feline Appreciation Club? 

Xmas Tree inspector:




Tech Support (where's that darn mouse?!)




Stealth Mode ... Activated!




Phew! All that work sure is exhausting...


----------



## seth1911 (Nov 17, 2021)

No Hardware but a Cooler from  2006


----------



## r0x (Nov 17, 2021)

@seth1911
ZEROtherm BTF**, barbie world collectible ^^
Despite their looks, those coolers had great value.

Ongoing project of mine, dream PC from 1997, 166MHz Overdrive, 128mb RAM, diamond voodoo1, matrox mil2, awe64, chaintech 5sim, macase AT case, enermax 300w (original macase PSU has load issues that i'm trying to fix):




Chaintech 5sim doesn't (officially) have header for power LED, but god knows why, it has 5pin keylock:




That was bugging me a lot, what kind of keylock has 5 pins? J&J Taylor keylock for PC? So I decided to check on that....one harvesterOfSorrow later, keylock pinout was revealed: +5V,GND,GND,GND,+3.3V. So I connected power LED to first 3 pins and it was good.


----------



## Susquehannock (Nov 18, 2021)

Remember CCFLs? Anybody miss them and the failure prone inverters? My partner was clearly disgusted. Pulled a few images from 2005. Once had four 12 inch UV tubes in my nForce2 system. Thought about using some again for a retro rig but probably go LED instead. Safer that way.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 18, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Remember CCFLs? Anybody miss them and the failure prone inverters? My partnew was clearly disgusted. Pulled a few images from 2005. Once had four 12 inch UV tubes in my nForce2 system. Thought about using some again for a retro rig but probably go LED instead. Safer that way.
> 
> View attachment 225593View attachment 225594View attachment 225595


Oh hell yeah I remember cathodes, I had those too back in the day. Back in the day lighting was way cooler than the modern RGB.

Love the cat too :3


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 18, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Anybody miss them and the failure prone inverters?


No, not at all. LED's are SOOO much better. The only exception is UV/Black lights. LED UV doesn't have the same soft hue that CCFL's did, but that's the only exception.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 18, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> No, not at all. LED's are SOOO much better. The only exception is UV/Black lights. LED UV doesn't have the same soft hue that CCFL's did, but that's the only exception.


And the cable mess CCFLs + inverters had..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 18, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> And the cable mess CCFLs + inverters had..


That was never an issue for me. With careful planning, cable management wasn't a problem.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 18, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was never an issue for me. With careful planning, cable management wasn't a problem.


On the other hand, the cases back then didn't have as good cable management possibilities than cases these days do. Though back then I didn't use as much effort to put a clean build as I do these days.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 18, 2021)

Is the Thermaltake Golden Orb II recommended?


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 18, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> TPU's Feline Appreciation Club?
> 
> Xmas Tree inspector:
> 
> ...


It,s a hard life being a cat ,all that sleeping.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> It,s a hard life being a cat all that sleeping.


Absolutely!


----------



## pavle (Nov 18, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> Any hardware combinations that can get it into red zone (like old dual CPUs or OC'ed single ones) that I should be wary of ?
> It did cost me 18$ overall (with shipping), so I can't argue with it not being cheap


I'd say just don't plug any Fermi card onto it and you'll be fine.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 18, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Is the Thermaltake Golden Orb II recommended?


They did a great job. See for yourself.








						Thermaltake Golden Orb II Review
					

Quite some time ago Thermaltake produced the Golden Orb CPU Cooler. Now the successor Golden Orb II is released for Socket939 and LGA775. It features a huge heatsink with a nice looking gold-fin design and two blue LEDs which light up the cooler during operation. Is it as cool as it looks?




					www.techpowerup.com
				



It was a good replacement for the Intel stock cooler if you wanted to reduce noise. Not a great OC heatsink though..


----------



## seth1911 (Nov 18, 2021)

I got a second A8 5600k for 15$, what should i do with that .....

Maybe ill take a old board, put the 2. a8 on it and clock as high as it can with a seidon 120,
i did this in summer with a a6 5400K  it was useless cause it was slow with 1 Modul but it was able to clock it to 5.5 GHz @ 1,5625V


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 18, 2021)

For the first time in about two years, I'm back behind CRT monitor ... and have to say, it looks amazing!




At some point I gave away this LG StudioWorks CRT to acquaintance of mine, who then tried to sell it. Needless to say, he never did (at some point he even offered to give it away for free lol), but since my LCD Lenovo monitor ended up with nice blue vertical line across the entire LCD panel, I decided to go back to basics & never to consider LCD again ... at least when it comes to retro gaming that is 




There's something magical about that flickering refresh rate & CRT screen. Maybe I'm starting to show my age, but either way it really IS the proper way to play retro games 

Also, for the first time in 15 years, that "Adison" case is once again beneath my desk. Including Logitech QuickCam which was there ever since 1999 or early 2000 .... not sure!

1999/2000:




2004/2005:


----------



## F-Zero (Nov 19, 2021)

Salutation my fellow retro hardware friends  So as you may or may not know I got an hold of a never opened Hercules 3D Prophet Radeon 9800 PRO Red Edition. And as you may or may not know I was for sure to keep it that way  

Except I just could not handle it anymore so I opened it and took some pictures and some benches of course hehe. After changing the thermal paste benching begun : So I hope you like it !

Benches are; 

3DMark01 SE 
3DMARK03 
3DMARK05 
D00M 3 1024x768, High, ALL ON, NO AA
D00M 3 1280x1024 Ultra, ALL ON, NO ALL
Far Cry 1280x1024  Ultra, NO AA
FEAR 1024x768 HIGH


----------



## Valantar (Nov 19, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Salutation my fellow retro hardware friends  So as you may or may not know I got an hold of a never opened Hercules 3D Prophet Radeon 9800 PRO Red Edition. And as you may or may not know I was for sure to keep it that way
> 
> Except I just could not handle it anymore so I opened it and took some pictures and some benches of course hehe. After changing the thermal paste benching begun : So I hope you like it !
> 
> ...


Gorgeous card! Were you able to redeem your free copy of Half-Life 2?


----------



## F-Zero (Nov 19, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Gorgeous card! Were you able to redeem your free copy of Half-Life 2?


Lol I didn't try haha


----------



## Bungz (Nov 19, 2021)

Had a few of those Herc 9800 Pros

Need to find another


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 19, 2021)

I meant to post this pic several weeks ago when a couple of you guys were cleaning up your 3dfx cards & putting new fans on them.  I saved this box of heatsink/fans from the trash about 10 years ago.  I used one of the fans as a northbridge cooler for a while years ago.

BTW, F-Zero, love that 9800 Pro! What a sweet card!


----------



## stef (Nov 19, 2021)

@F-Zero
Oh no, you opened the box  .
What does it smell like?


----------



## freeagent (Nov 19, 2021)

F-Zero said:


> Lol I didn't try haha


I am curious if it would work.. I bet it would..


----------



## Valantar (Nov 19, 2021)

freeagent said:


> I am curious if it would work.. I bet it would..


I would give it a try. Worst case scenario, you give some customer service rep a good laugh


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 20, 2021)

I keep on hearing about CPUs, bottlenecking. So I thought I would find out by typing my
 CPU i5 2310 and the GPU 7850 about bottlenecking. And came to a site that tells you whether a
Cpu, bottlenecks with your GPU or not. Lucky enough mine both work fine together. How did we manage without the internet? On another subject about CPUs, I was thinking at a later stage of upgrading the CPU to an i5 2500k would I have to upgrade the Dell.s CPU heatsink, or could I use the one on there already?. I don,t suppose I could overclock on the Dell,s motherboard anyway. Not that I would want to anyway.


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 20, 2021)

Yes, the heatsink from the 2310 will work on the 2500k, they are both 95w TDP CPUs.  The only way I would do that upgrade would be if someone gave the 2500k for free.  The minor speed bump would be imperceptible and no way you could overclock to make it worth a penny.  Going from an i3 to i5 or i7 might be worth it because of the increases in threads, but 4 threads to slightly faster 4 threads is not.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 20, 2021)

68Olds said:


> Yes, the heatsink from the 2310 will work on the 2500k, they are both 95w TDP CPUs.  The only way I would do that upgrade would be if someone gave the 2500k for free.  The minor speed bump would be imperceptible and no way you could overclock to make it worth a penny.  Going from an i3 to i5 or i7 might be worth it because of the increases in threads, but 4 threads to slightly faster 4 threads is not.


Thanks for your answer. I realized I would not be able to overclock on the Dell motherboard, Unfortunately, the Dell motherboard want work with the i7,s it only works with Sandy bridge ones, not the i7,s Ivy bridge. I might upgrade to an i5 2500 at a later date, but bearing in mind what you say about threads probably not.
But I am going to use it as an XP Retro system. 
Bottleneck Calculator is an excellent site.


----------



## freeagent (Nov 20, 2021)

Remember these? I kind of want to plug it in to see if it works


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 20, 2021)

Where in the world did you find that drive @freeagent ? 

Always wanted one or more of them and never had the chance to grab any.


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 20, 2021)

It's very cool @freeagent, but I've never seen a windowed HDD.  What is it?


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 20, 2021)

68Olds said:


> It's very cool @freeagent, but I've never seen a windowed HDD.  What is it?



That's a WD Raptor X. One of the original ones. I think they only had the windowed version on the 150gb drives back in the day.

Here is an old Newegg link:









						Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000 RPM 3.5" HDD - Newegg.com
					

Buy Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive - Desktop Internal Hard Drives with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				





Kind of cool: here is an original review over at Tweaktown:






						Western Digital Raptor X - Return of the 10,000 RPM King
					

Western Digital's Raptor is back in the shape of the Raptor X which builds on the success of the original HDD.




					www.tweaktown.com


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 20, 2021)

Thanks stinger.  I have several WD 36GB raptors & a few 74GB raptors, but never saw the windowed 150GB.  Very nice!


----------



## freeagent (Nov 20, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Where in the world did you find that drive @freeagent ?
> 
> Always wanted one or more of them and never had the chance to grab any.


It was in my old toolbox that I use for RC stuff lol.. I’ve been wondering where it went for so long I thought I threw it away or something. The tool box just had my soldering stuff, my meter, and some other random stuff like nitro spray, and a brushless Medusa heli motor lol


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Nov 20, 2021)

freeagent said:


> Remember these? I kind of want to plug it in to see if it works
> 
> View attachment 225952


I still have a few raptors...some still in use , some of all sizes...always liked them..I have 2 in raid zero for storage in another machine...use her!


----------



## freeagent (Nov 20, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I still have a few raptors...some still in use , some of all sizes...always liked them..I have 2 in raid zero for storage in my AMD Ryzen machine...use her!


Yeah I'm gonna plug her in and see what happens, hoping for the best!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 20, 2021)

I still have a bunch of 36's and 74's. Always wanted a windowed one. 
The 36's run fucking burn your fingers hot.


----------



## freeagent (Nov 20, 2021)

I used to have two regular 150 ADFD I think they were? I ran all three together for quite awhile using Intel Matrix. They ran good, sounded like a really loud coffee machine.. I did have to have a fan on them.. If I remember,  they were faster than first gen SSD from G.Skill and WD.I did plug the drive in, and it just spin up spin down, head smash, over and over. Its a sweet drive though, too bad. I wonder if I can get it fixed.. might have to shoot them an email..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 20, 2021)

freeagent said:


> Remember these? I kind of want to plug it in to see if it works
> 
> View attachment 225952


Glass-top WD Raptor. Very nice. Unless it's damaged it should still work.



Mr.Scott said:


> I still have a bunch of 36's and 74's. Always wanted a windowed one.
> The 36's run fucking burn your fingers hot.


Are yours without the heatsinks? You can run them without them but you have to mount them to metal-wall drive cage to keep them cool.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 20, 2021)

Today's somewhat unexpected score:

Matrox G200, AGP (thought it was G400...)




VLB drive controller/VGA card (I really do need a replacement VLB VGA card, so this worked out perfectly!)




Creative CT4620 SoundBlaster Live!




Asus TUSL2-C




...and yes, it boots up fine!




Acorp 6BX-7X-VIA86 "AT" form factor Slot 1 board




...which again - boots up fine, although it seems to be missing CR2032 battery holder




"J-656VXC" Intel (Socket 7) board ... so far in unknown condition.




and last but not least ... DFI PA61, Slot 1 mobo which has "NO" written all over it.


 



You'd assume that it doesn't work ... and yes - you would be somewhat right, I guess. That being said, I got the board to boot up by clearing the CMOS, although it hangs during the POST with continuous, short beeps and the keyboard doesn't respond. As if the keyboard circuit is fried or damaged. Oh yeah, and ATX power switch header doesn't appear to work, I had to start the board through CMOS reset jumper


----------



## freeagent (Nov 20, 2021)

That PA-61 gave me my first taste of overclocking


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 20, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I still have a few raptors...some still in use , some of all sizes...always liked them..I have 2 in raid zero for storage in another machine...use her!



Yeppers, I still have about 8 or 10 velociraptors. Used to have 5 of them in a Raid system, but now they are just sitting doing nothing. 

Well, that isn't totally correct, I do have 1 in each of 2 Windows XP system. Sure makes a big difference in the performance of an ole nostalgic system.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 20, 2021)

freeagent said:


> That PA-61 gave me my first taste of overclocking


It really is a nice board, I'd love to get it up & running again! Not sure I'll be able to, of course but considering the number of "NO" across the board, I was expecting it to burst up in flames as soon as I power it up or something 

By the way ... because I know someone will ask me sooner or later. Yes, I bit the bullet and finally got one of those modern gaming consoles. It looks really nice actually, can't wait to try it out!


 

 



It contains the following games:


----------



## freeagent (Nov 21, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> It really is a nice board, I'd love to get it up & running again! Not sure I'll be able to, of course but considering the number of "NO" across the board, I was expecting it to burst up in flames as soon as I power it up or something
> 
> By the way ... because I know someone will ask me sooner or later. Yes, I bit the bullet and finally got one of those modern gaming consoles. It looks really nice actually, can't wait to try it out!
> 
> ...


My friend gave me the board, and I used it with my very first CPU, the 450 Katmai that I transferred from my HP Pavilion lol.. Later I got a Coppermine and a Tualatin until I checked out AMD for a bit with their NF2 stuff  I did have a Soyo Dragon, that was my last board from that era. Boot block error and no floppy drive FTL


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 21, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are yours without the heatsinks? You can run them without them but you have to mount them to metal-wall drive cage to keep them cool.


They are sinked. Still hot as hell.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 21, 2021)

*NEW HW FOUND!!! *


AOpen AX6BC Intel 440BX + Pentium II 400MHzv SL357
Supermicro / Super Micro H8DAE REV:2.01 - Dual S940 Opteron - It needs a lot of repairs but nothing too complicated. Lots of missing ceramic caps, a few bent electrolytic caps and some RAM socket clips that are damaged. All fixable. https://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron/8131/H8DAE.cfm. In any case I have no CPUs to test it. All I have is one FX51 and one FX53 S940 CPUs.
Asus A7N8X + AMD Athlon XP 2600+ AXDA2600DKV3D - one missing ceramic cap.
MSI ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB - in pretty bad shape, missing the backplate clip. RX9800PRO-TD128
3dfx VooDoo Banshee - ELSA VICTORY II-A16
Albatron Gefroce FX 5600XT 128MB - FX5600XTP - it needs a few ceramic caps.
Asus A7A266 Rev 1.03 + Athlon 1.4GHz Thunderbird A1400AMS3C - The motherboard it's missing two plastic prongs from the CPU socket and it needs a socket replacement. The Athlon has a massively damaged die but it works flawlessly. I bought the motherboard for spare parts but when I saw that it works, I quickly changed my mind!   I even have a devious plan to change the socket without desoldering. 
AMD Duron 1.3GHz DHD1300AMT1B
Pentium 133MHz SK106
ASUS P5A SS7 - I wasn't expecting this gem to pop up but it did!!! 
Creative CT6950 PCI - nVIDIA Vanta 32MB PCI - a Vanta but with a core from a TNT 2.
nVIDIA Geforce 8800GTX 768MB PCI-E - in fully working condition! - A pretty rare sight in this neck of the woods!


----------



## Caring1 (Nov 22, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> For some reason my post about  XP was deleted because a mod said i was mentioning about piracy which i was not.


Was that the one with the big picture showing XP Pirate edition?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 22, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> For some reason my post about  XP was deleted because a mod said i was mentioning about piracy which i was not.





Caring1 said:


> Was that the one with the big picture showing XP Pirate edition?


I remember that post and it seems to be gone. TPU can not be seen as promoting piracy, nor can they allow such from their user base.

There is of course a difference between using a custom config Windows installer, which is perfectly legal fair-use and clearly pirated materials(or materials that promote such) which is not fair-use.

Careful in future what you post mates.

For the sake of nostalgia I have taken all of the 3DFX wallpapers I have and remade them into 16:9 2160p images. See attached images or the ZIP file for them all!
Once again, I make no claims to ownership. Just reworked them for everyone's enjoyment.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 22, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> Was that the one with the big picture showing XP Pirate edition?


That was  what someone else put on there ,that was not me.



lexluthermiester said:


> I remember that post and it seems to be gone. TPU can not be seen as promoting piracy, nor can they allow such from their user base.
> 
> There is of course a difference between using a custom config Windows installer, which is perfectly legal fair-use and clearly pirated materials(or materials that promote such) which is not fair-use.
> 
> ...


That was not me ,it was someone else,who posted that. i never mentiond anything about pirating stuff.It has gone but that was nothing to do with what i said.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 22, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> That was  what someone else put on there ,that was not me.


True. It was Firefox and it's still there, I just didn't look back far enough.








						TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club
					

Lol I didn't try haha  I am curious if it would work.. I bet it would..




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 22, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> True. It was Firefox and it's still there, I just didn't look back far enough.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No problem Lex


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 22, 2021)

Robert B said:


> *NEW HW FOUND!!! *
> 
> 
> AOpen AX6BC Intel 440BX + Pentium II 400MHzv SL357
> ...


That black PCB on the 8800GTX is looking nice! That's a rare find these days.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 22, 2021)

It had some rust and signs of water contamination but I did my magic(some anti rust solution on the screws and some on solder pads) and the rust is gone. The water damage was localized only on the aluminium heatsink.

I didn't take it apart as I need fresh thermal pads.

When I saw it POST and running well my eyes popped out!   KSI - Lamborghini (Explicit) ft. P Money  This was quite a monster of the card about 15 years ago. DAMN TIME FLIES!!! To me it seems like it was yesterday ...

In other turn of events the GW 6800 ULTRA shows artefacts like there is no tomorrow. The shock it sustained has damaged the solder balls from the video memory.

Also the Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 PRO AIW has damaged solder balls on the the video memory. If I twist the PCB the image is clear, if I leave it as it is, it shows artefacts.

I keep these for the future when I'll buy soldering equipment and maybe I'll start a YT channel ... who knows what's in store for me and you ...


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 22, 2021)

You may have to perform Miracles (again). My GTX470 & GTX480 have black PCB's, but otherwise, only other I've found was this GT240.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 23, 2021)

My uncle called and said that he's bringing some junk later today. I'll post here what I'll get 

The last time I got a HP dc7600c (P4 640, 2.5GB DDR2, upgraded to D925, 3GB DDR2, 7800 GT) and a GeForce FX 5600 XT

Alright  So I got a monitor (Dell P2412H), hella lot of different RAM (SO-DIMM and DIMM, it takes forever to check those since there's a LOT of RAM sticks!), two crappy PCIe GPUs, a TNT2 M64, 250GB 2.5" HDD, 120GB SSD, an USB hub with powered connectors and other shit. I'll check those better later on. I hope there's 3x4GB DDR3-1600 so I could upgrade my 2nd rig to 18GB to 24GB


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 23, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> It really is a nice board, I'd love to get it up & running again! Not sure I'll be able to, of course but considering the number of "NO" across the board, I was expecting it to burst up in flames as soon as I power it up or something


Well, so much for QDI PA61... Unfortunately I can't seem to pinpoint the exact problem, and so even after recapping all the caps & cleaning the board it seems to be having issues. I can get it to boot Win98 but then it simply hangs and all the hell breaks loose.

Thanks to @r0x, we were able to locate the problem which seems to be related to Super I/O chip ... or at least one of the voltages corresponding to it. Since neither Floppy OR Serial ports seem to be working, but everything else does. Of course, Super I/O chip regulates those two where all the other I/O outputs are controlled by NB and SB chipsets and yet those are working perfectly fine.

Furthermore, ATX power switch still doesn't work, and I'm reading approx. 1.3V across the pins, where it should have been 5.0V. So... If you have any ideas, I'm open for suggestions!


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 23, 2021)

My XP PC is in the old Corsair 600T case. Its very open and cool-running, but difficult to clean.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 23, 2021)

Jill Christine Valentine said:


> I hope there's 3x4GB DDR3-1600 so I could upgrade my 2nd rig to 18GB to 24GB


There you go! For that rig it'll be the last RAM upgrade you need.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 24, 2021)

Yay! Bought a Xeon case sticker from ebay, though it's a modern one but it's still fit for my X58 setup


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 26, 2021)

Can anyone help me with this, I am at a loss I tried to get XP on my pc without success,
Unfortunately with all that stuff, I did try to get XP on my PC. It seems to have mucked up my Windows10 which is on another drive. I could not get it to boot, it said it needed to repair it, in the end,
all I got was flickering from this - to the dell startup boot-up screen.to -?:I have a Dell Windows7 disc just installed it but no internet connection no Ethernet controller and no GPU showing my question is
Do you have to sign in to Connect to a broadband connection? Or will that make no difference to install
I have found the BT stuff but no password.I just run the DELL drivers disc and says this Dell PC is not a Dell PC weird?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 27, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Can anyone help me with this, I am at a loss I tried to get XP on my pc without success,
> Unfortunately with all that stuff, I did try to get XP on my PC. It seems to have mucked up my Windows10 which is on another drive. I could not get it to boot, it said it needed to repair it, in the end,
> all I got was flickering from this - to the dell startup boot-up screen.to -?:I have a Dell Windows7 disc just installed it but no internet connection no Ethernet controller and no GPU showing my question is
> Do you have to sign in to Connect to a broadband connection? Or will that make no difference to install
> I have found the BT stuff but no password.I just run the DELL drivers disc and says this Dell PC is not a Dell PC weird?


You'll need to start a help thread on this problem.


----------



## DR4G00N (Nov 28, 2021)

Tried out Win 10 21H2 on my Skulltrail setup for fun, works remarkably well for a 13 year old platform and installed without any issues.
Paired with a GTX 1050 it can even playback 4K youtube videos smoothly and it only having PCIE 1.1 doesn't seem to hold it back much if at all.
Had to dial the cpu's back to 3.8GHz instead of 4GHz though because the NB was getting too hot for 420 FSB to run stable (the stock NB heatsink is bad even with it's own fan).

If it had an SSD instead of the 160GB HDD I'm using this could be a totally useable snappy daily system, well other than the power consumption that is, probably near 200W @ idle.  

The board does support UEFI boot so it should actually work with an nvme pcie ssd boot drive, too bad I have neither of those things to test it out.



Considering it doesn't have AVX it does pretty well.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 29, 2021)

Before





After




Couldn't do much with the cable management.

I disassembled the GPU + CPU cooler and cleaned it, also applied new thermal paste wherever it was needed, replaced the old mismatched Ram with a new one i had laying around.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Before
> 
> View attachment 226970
> 
> ...


Very nice clean up! If you're willing to invest a little bit in the build, I would recommend a pair of 120mm fans(LED/RGB if you like) for the vent(front & back) to keep things as cool as you can. Maybe something like these might suit you;


			Amazon.com
		

Or if you want some RGB;


			Amazon.com
		


Also, if you want to keep the functionality of that IDE ODD, you can get a set of round IDE cables to help keep cable management tidy and looking good. 
Something like the following would work well with the internals of that case;


			Amazon.com


----------



## FireFox (Nov 29, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Very nice clean up! If you're willing to invest a little bit in the build, I would recommend a pair of 120mm fans(LED/RGB if you like) for the vent(front & back) to keep things as cool as you can. Maybe something like these might suit you;


The build was incomplete when i posted the last pic, i have lot of Noctua NF-F12 iPPC-2000, installed 2 of them, now it sounds like a real WXP Computer 





i am insecure but maybe i will get something like this:




Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-01​

I couldn't resist to increase the CPU clock speed








lexluthermiester said:


> Also, if you want to keep the functionality of that IDE ODD, you can get a set of round IDE cables to help keep cable management tidy and looking good.
> Something like the following would work well with the internals of that case;
> 
> 
> Amazon.com


Couldn't find it


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Before
> 
> View attachment 226970
> 
> ...


Just curious... What's with that ground strap, tied to one of the CD/DVD mounting screws?


----------



## FireFox (Nov 29, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Just curious... What's with that ground strap, tied to one of the CD/DVD mounting screws?


It's from the Power supply.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> It's from the Power supply.


Weird... Never seen ATX PSU with ground strap before. Usually the unit casing itself is grounded, which then (once it's placed inside the case & screwed in position) will be in direct touch with all the metal surfaces & therefore ground the entire case.

I did however see older "AT" styled power supplies which used to have dedicated ground strap, which is understandable - since they had a separate live-voltage cable going from back of the case to the front panel power switch.


----------



## FireFox (Nov 29, 2021)

The PSU is pretty old, around ( 2002 ) or even older, that explains a lot.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> The PSU is pretty old, around ( 2002 ) or even older, that explains a lot.


Not necessarily, I'm still using  some of the older Codegen-branded units from around 1998, 1999 today and none of them had a ground strap  In fact, just the opposite really ... 2002 is quite modern by my standards.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 29, 2021)

Trekkie4 said:


> Weird... Never seen ATX PSU with ground strap before.


It was uncommon but had a purpose.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 29, 2021)

Yeah, I've seen a few power supplies with the little grounding wire. Haven't for many years, but I've seen a few.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 29, 2021)

Robert B said:


> In other turn of events the GW 6800 ULTRA shows artefacts like there is no tomorrow. The shock it sustained has damaged the solder balls from the video memory.
> 
> Also the Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 PRO AIW has damaged solder balls on the the video memory. If I twist the PCB the image is clear, if I leave it as it is, it shows artefacts.
> 
> I keep these for the future when I'll buy soldering equipment and maybe I'll start a YT channel ... who knows what's in store for me and you ...


Bake 'em.   
Got nothing to lose.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 29, 2021)

I think that I'll reflow them professionally instead given that most likely the damage was from being tossed around.  

My oven is a gas oven and I really do not like toasty cards.  Also the temperature control is analog.  I'd have better chances with a heat gun.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 29, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> *Apply a generous amount of liquid flux then* Bake 'em.
> Got nothing to lose.


One modification to that...


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 30, 2021)

Well, figured I better put this ole girl up here! 

Had this since 2009. Purchased it from a member on another site and it was only about a month old at the time of purchase.




Spoiler: P7811-FX






















This ole system is very close to being in complete pristine condition. 
Even, as can be seen, has the original paperwork, operating system (Vista LOL), and protective screen sleeve.


----------



## droid-I (Nov 30, 2021)

An older a bit tuned HP dc7600 CMT. Donated to me as it did not pull for gaming anymore. Made a couple of upgrades.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Nov 30, 2021)

droid-I said:


> An older a bit tuned HP dc7600 CMT. Donated to me as it did not pull for gaming anymore. Made a couple of upgrades.


I had a couple of those ASUS EN8600 GT and they overclocked like mad on stock cooling...I got the one to 1GHz with a "pencil v-mod", and the other did over 800MHz without the v-mod.  This was many years ago and have no clue where to apply the pencil mod anymore.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 1, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well, figured I better put this ole girl up here!
> 
> Had this since 2009. Purchased it from a member on another site and it was only about a month old at the time of purchase.
> 
> ...


I guess my Packard Bell does look familiar to you then.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 1, 2021)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I guess my Packard Bell does look familiar to you then.



Sweet!!! 

Yeppers, and both were made by Acer.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 1, 2021)

Told about that pile of junk what I got from my uncle. Well, the GPUs were R7 240 OEM (in fact an okay spare card in case of emergency), HD 3450 (it has that DMS-59 connector dammit) and there was hella lot of different RAM:
-SDRAM SODIMM 128-256MB sticks
-SDRAM 128-512MB sticks
-DDR SODIMM 256MB-1GB sticks
-DDR 256MB-1GB sticks
-DDR2 SODIMM 256MB-1GB sticks
-DDR2 256MB-2GB sticks
-DDR2 FB-DIMM 512MB-4GB sticks
-DDR3 SODIMM 1-2GB sticks
-DDR3 1-2GB sticks

So unfortunately no 4GB DDR3s, though 18GB is more than enough for that rig. At least I have more than enough RAM for any retro project for the rest of my life (I had also hella lot RAM already)  I could also use that powered USB hub as a charger if it gives at least 10W.. need to google that. A D-Link one so not some nonbranded Chinese crap.


edit: "The DUB-H7 features seven Fast Charge USB ports that are designed to provide an increased maximum charging current of 2.4 A to connected devices when the DUB-H7 is in Fast Charge Mode.", that's great as my best chargers are 2A ones


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 2, 2021)

I have just watched  these two video on adapters  and a bit worried because i was going to use one.After watching  those videos i have decided not to use one.Has anyone had one of them catch fire? 















.
I never new about how dangerous they are. 
You never stop learning. I put one on my PSU i thought i would not be able to get it off ,thank god i did


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 2, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Well, figured I better put this ole girl up here!
> 
> Had this since 2009. Purchased it from a member on another site and it was only about a month old at the time of purchase.
> 
> ...


I had one like that one. Mine was a P7908U, but still. Best laptop I've ever owned. I miss it.



Greenslade said:


> I have just watched  these two video on adapters  and a bit worried because i was going to use one.After watching  those videos i have decided not to use one.Has anyone had one of them catch fire?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I use adapters like that all the time. Never once had a problem with them.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I had one like that one. Mine was a P7908U, but still. Best laptop I've ever owned. I miss it.
> 
> 
> I use adapters like that all the time. Never once had a problem with them.


Were they the ones that are not moulded in to the plastic?Or the moulded ones?All the ones i see on line are the moulded ones.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 2, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Were they the ones that are not moulded in to the plastic?Or the moulded ones?All the ones i see on line are the moulded ones.


To be honest, I haven't paid much attention to whether or not they're the molded type. Upon closer inspection the ones I buy are the molded type.



Been buying them for years. Never had a problem with them.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> To be honest, I haven't paid much attention to whether or not they're the molded type. Upon closer inspection the ones I buy are the molded type.
> View attachment 227311
> Been buying them for years. Never had a problem with them.


You have been very lucky, hope it stays that way  . I just got my USB3 PCI working, I don,t know why the excellent Snappy Driversmissed that one, Now I have to get a SATA power splitter so I can use the other connectors for the hard drives. I just wanted to check before I get it. Now I have to try and get my 7850 graphics card working.20cm just under 8 inches that should be enough I wish they would use feet and inches. You still use feet and inches in the US don,t you Lex?


----------



## FireFox (Dec 2, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> I have just watched  these two video on adapters  and a bit worried because i was going to use one.After watching  those videos i have decided not to use one.Has anyone had one of them catch fire?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Been using molex to sata adapters my whole life,  0 issues


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 2, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Been using molex to sata adapters my whole life,  0 issues


I've had several go up in flames


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> To be honest, I haven't paid much attention to whether or not they're the molded type. Upon closer inspection the ones I buy are the molded type.
> View attachment 227311
> Been buying them for years. Never had a problem with them.


Can i ask you a question how long is 20cm in inches  and does that just mean the cabale


Splinterdog said:


> I've had several go up in flames


Have you really? I will cross that off.  Lex must just have been lucky


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 2, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Have you really? I will cross that off.  Lex must just have been lucky


Or others have been unlucky. I've never had one catch fire, never seen it or even heard of it before today. 

That video above is an example of someone stirring the pot for views. He said it himself, he threw his adapters away. He's not reciting personal experiences, he's just rabbiting on about something he read. The arcing he was talking about only happens in a power surge condition. 12v/5v/3.3v lines do NOT have enough current to jump the gaps between them under normal conditions. That video was a thinly veiled advertisement for SilverStone and was otherwise complete hogwash..

Electrical fires and/or meltdowns are the rare exception, not the rule.


----------



## FireFox (Dec 2, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I've had several go up in flames


You have been unlucky


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Or others have been unlucky. I've never had one catch fire, never seen it or even heard of it before today.
> 
> That video above is an example of someone stirring the pot for views. He said it himself, he threw his adapters away. He's not reciting personal experiences, he's just rabbiting on about something he read. The arcing he was talking about only happens in a power surge condition. 12v/5v/3.3v lines do NOT have enough current to jump the gaps between them under normal conditions. That video was a thinly veiled advertisement for SilverStone and was otherwise complete hogwash..
> 
> Electrical fires and/or meltdowns are the rare exception, not the rule.


It just shows you should never believe everything you see or hear on Youtube. I just got an update on Windows 7 i thought the support for it had stopped. 



lexluthermiester said:


> Or others have been unlucky. I've never had one catch fire, never seen it or even heard of it before today.
> 
> That video above is an example of someone stirring the pot for views. He said it himself, he threw his adapters away. He's not reciting personal experiences, he's just rabbiting on about something he read. The arcing he was talking about only happens in a power surge condition. 12v/5v/3.3v lines do NOT have enough current to jump the gaps between them under normal conditions. That video was a thinly veiled advertisement for SilverStone and was otherwise complete hogwash..
> 
> Electrical fires and/or meltdowns are the rare exception, not the rule.


That reminds me of someone on another tech site, I want name the site. His 1070  caught fire it fried it.


----------



## Valantar (Dec 2, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Or others have been unlucky. I've never had one catch fire, never seen it or even heard of it before today.
> 
> That video above is an example of someone stirring the pot for views. He said it himself, he threw his adapters away. He's not reciting personal experiences, he's just rabbiting on about something he read. The arcing he was talking about only happens in a power surge condition. 12v/5v/3.3v lines do NOT have enough current to jump the gaps between them under normal conditions. That video was a thinly veiled advertisement for SilverStone and was otherwise complete hogwash..
> 
> Electrical fires and/or meltdowns are the rare exception, not the rule.


Yep. The only real risk with adapters like these is that SATA power connectors are rated for lower power than Molex, and aren't really suited for high power applications at all. I see no reason why a Molex to SATA power adapter would cause problems unless it was just inherently faulty, whether from a bad design or production errors.


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 2, 2021)

FireFox said:


> You have been unlucky


The horror!


----------



## r9 (Dec 2, 2021)

Robert B said:


> I think that I'll reflow them professionally instead given that most likely the damage was from being tossed around.
> 
> My oven is a gas oven and I really do not like toasty cards.  Also the temperature control is analog.  I'd have better chances with a heat gun.


You don't have to spend a lot of money to do it right. 
Need a heat gun and k-type thermometer (flux optional).
Make sure you pre-heat first the whole pcb to  120C then start heating the GPU.
Slowly raising the temp by not more than 1-2C per second up to ~225C and keeping it there for 10-15 seconds.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 2, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> The horror!
> View attachment 227331


Wow not good  I bet you won't use them anymore after that.


Valantar said:


> Yep. The only real risk with adapters like these is that SATA power connectors are rated for lower power than Molex, and aren't really suited for high power applications at all. I see no reason why a Molex to SATA power adapter would cause problems unless it was just inherently faulty, whether from a bad design or production errors.


I have ordered a Sata one now it was only 2.40.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 3, 2021)

Why the hell I didn't think of this before, that R7 240 is perfect for my XP machine (with a Pentium D 925 & 3GB), I suppose it has XP drivers?


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 3, 2021)

Maenad said:


> Why the hell I didn't think of this before, that R7 240 is perfect for my XP machine (with a Pentium D 925 & 3GB), I suppose it has XP drivers?



Yeppers, it's got XP drivers:



			https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics/amd-radeon-r7-series/amd-radeon-r7-200-series/amd-radeon-r7-240


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 3, 2021)

stinger608 said:


> Yeppers, it's got XP drivers:
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics/amd-radeon-r7-series/amd-radeon-r7-200-series/amd-radeon-r7-240


Excellent. That would be a perfect card for that HP machine. 

The Xeon sticker arrived!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 3, 2021)

Maenad said:


> Why the hell I didn't think of this before, that R7 240 is perfect for my XP machine (with a Pentium D 925 & 3GB), I suppose it has XP drivers?


That would be yes.


			https://www.amd.com/en/support/previous-drivers/graphics/amd-radeon-r7-series/amd-radeon-r7-200-series/amd-radeon-r7-240
		

Scroll down to the Windows XP Professional/Home and the 13.12WHQL drivers are waiting for you.



stinger608 said:


> Yeppers, it's got XP drivers:
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics/amd-radeon-r7-series/amd-radeon-r7-200-series/amd-radeon-r7-240


Ninja'd.. This is what happens when I take a phone call before posting a response.. LOL!


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 3, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> The horror!
> View attachment 227331


What happened to the component you plugged it into?


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 3, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> What happened to the component you plugged it into?


As far as I remember, this has happened at least three times and the drives survived. Two DVD drives and a 2TB HDD.
Interestingly, I was given a flooded Toshiba 1TB HDD a few years ago that had been underwater for a week following a flood and it still works flawlessly in an old machine I use occasionally


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 3, 2021)

People say that the sticker is too modern for X58 Xeon - well, the case is too.  I love that Corsair 4000D Airflow.


edit: The other case badges:


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 4, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> As far as I remember, this has happened at least three times and the drives survived. Two DVD drives and a 2TB HDD.
> Interestingly, I was given a flooded Toshiba 1TB HDD a few years ago that had been underwater for a week following a flood and it still works flawlessly in an old machine I use occasionally


You were certainly unlucky there.   that is weird that the Toshiba 1TB HDD works fine after being underwater for a week it must have dried out after that time.I have a 1 TB 2.5 I am putting it in one of these trays. Do I need to put this in 291 jpg?
It was taken out of a Mac Mini and had that under it.


----------



## stef (Dec 4, 2021)

I ran into sasquatch (or two) lately. It doesn't happen often .

PowerColor Evil Master II Pro (AR2TD):







Sparkle GeForce FX5700 Ultra:











This was original packaging :








						Фото дня: Sparkle SP8836U-PT на GF FX 5700 Ultra. Карта в банке
					

Компания Sparkle продолжает выпуск своих топовых видеокарт в оригинальной баночной таре. Идет время, растут габариты карт, соответственно, вырастают габариты упаковок.




					www.ixbt.com


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 4, 2021)

Valantar said:


> Yep. The only real risk with adapters like these is that SATA power connectors are rated for lower power than Molex, and aren't really suited for high power applications at all. I see no reason why a Molex to SATA power adapter would cause problems unless it was just inherently faulty, whether from a bad design or production errors.


Thinking about it in hindsight, with what you say about Molex. I could have got one with it and used the PSU Molex connecter. And would not have needed a splitter for the Sata one I have. And saved 1 pound and 2,40 for the splitter. Too late now ofcourse.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2021)

stef said:


> I ran into sasquatch (or two) lately. It doesn't happen often .
> 
> PowerColor Evil Master II Pro (AR2TD):
> View attachment 227578
> ...


Weird how it says DDR2, not GDDR2. Cool card btw!


----------



## stef (Dec 4, 2021)

Not sure why. But it is "cool". Runs in high 40s and cooler was never off. Screws look untouched. Fan needs some lubrication.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2021)

stef said:


> Not sure why. But it is "cool". Runs in high 40s and cooler was never off. Screws look untouched. Fan needs some lubrication.


Repaste it, I can imagine how dry the 18yr old TIM is..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 4, 2021)

Maenad said:


> Repaste it, I can imagine how dry the 18yr old TIM is..


This! A repasting for cards that old is always a good idea!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> This! A repasting for cards that old is always a good idea!


It doesn't need to be even that old card for me to repaste it... Everytime I buy an used card, no matter how old it is, I test that it works and then I clean and repaste it


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 4, 2021)

Maenad said:


> It doesn't need to be even that old card for me to repaste it... Everytime I buy an used card, no matter how old it is, I test that it works and then I clean and repaste it


Isn,t that what we all do, well repasting on a used card anyway?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Isn,t that what we all do, well repasting on a used card anyway?


What I meant is that I also usually disassemble the cooler and clean it from dust and clean the fan with q-tips etc


----------



## droid-I (Dec 4, 2021)

^^and, the purpose of "open-the-hood", to see what you have there, service, and make it run (a bit more)


----------



## stef (Dec 4, 2021)

Screws are black, I don't want to nick them . Also, I'm not sure if lubrication will solve fan rattle. I already have FX5900XT with Zalman VF900 as a working/expendable example of FX series.
This one is for glass cabinet. I know ... lame .


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2021)

stef said:


> Screws are black, I don't want to nick them . Also, I'm not sure if lubrication will solve fan rattle. I already have FX5900XT with Zalman VF900 as a working/expendable example of FX series.
> This one is for glass cabinet. I know ... lame .


Lame? Oh hell no, 5700U looks cool and it is kinda of a collectible these days! Either it's the GDDR2 or 3 version, a cool card anyway.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 4, 2021)

Maenad said:


> What I meant is that I also usually disassemble the cooler and clean it from dust and clean the fan with q-tips etc


I get your point there the guy I bought my one said he had done that already. Whether or not is another thing altogether.


----------



## stef (Dec 4, 2021)

I hate when people do that just to hand it over to me . I've seen lots of messed up and overtighten screws. Also chips with no corners.


----------



## FireFox (Dec 4, 2021)

Pulled out the last 2 HDD from a 20TB backup server i built back in 2010, i didnt even remember those HDDs existed it was a coincidence to find them.

They should be about 8 or 9 years old, i don't remember if there is any data on it, will check later.







lexluthermiester said:


> This! A repasting for cards that old is always a good idea!


When i disassembled my old Ti4800SE-VTD8X to clean it and re-paste it the thermal paste was so dry that there was almost nothing left of it


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 5, 2021)

Do these count for hardware?


----------



## droid-I (Dec 5, 2021)

^^


> Pulled out the last 2 HDD from a 20TB backup server i built back in 2010, i didnt even remember those HDDs existed it was a coincidence to find them.
> 
> They should be about 8 or 9 years old, i don't remember if there is any data on it, will check later.


cool. from the date code on those, mfd. year 2012, week 35, day or line 6. factory Wuhan, CN, maybe.
Good for a RAID-0 set in a "classic" game machine


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 5, 2021)

I got a PCI USB3 for my usb2 PC. I was disappointed that you can,t boot from an external drive from it. From someone with the same problem.
*So I am just wondering if there is any method to boot up my USB 3.0 devices? Is there any bootup software that extends the support of USB 3.0 expansion cards? *
From the forum post, someone said*The _card itself_ must support booting, via its own boot ROM.*Are there any cards that you know that have a Rom on there for Booting?*Someone in another post gave a link to one but it was discontinued. Even if there are any cards with the Rom on them I suppose there will cost a lot more than my 10 one. My one is a powered one. And what can you do with a non-powered one?


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 6, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> I got a PCI USB3 for my usb2 PC. I was disappointed that you can,t boot from an external drive from it. From someone with the same problem.
> *So I am just wondering if there is any method to boot up my USB 3.0 devices? Is there any bootup software that extends the support of USB 3.0 expansion cards? *
> From the forum post, someone said*The _card itself_ must support booting, via its own boot ROM.*Are there any cards that you know that have a Rom on there for Booting?*Someone in another post gave a link to one but it was discontinued. Even if there are any cards with the Rom on them I suppose there will cost a lot more than my 10 one. My one is a powered one. And what can you do with a non-powered one?


This is WAY off topic. Stick to your original post thread and questions, please, don't continue this here.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 6, 2021)

Ahhzz said:


> This is WAY off topic. Stick to your original post thread and questions, please, don't continue this here.


Where do i post it then?


----------



## Caring1 (Dec 6, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Where do i post it then?


In the thread you have that mentions the add in card.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 6, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> In the thread you have that mentions the add in card.


Fair enough, i get your point.


----------



## FireFox (Dec 7, 2021)

The motherboard has just 2 sata ports.
is there any way how to add extra sata ports?


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 7, 2021)

FireFox said:


> The motherboard has just 2 sata ports.
> is there any way how to add extra sata ports?
> View attachment 227965


Add on SATA PCI cards, altho those will be a bit slow.


----------



## FireFox (Dec 7, 2021)

Ahhzz said:


> Add on SATA PCI cards, altho those will be a bit slow.


Do you mind to link one for me.

appreciate it


----------



## Remeca (Dec 7, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Do you mind to link one for me.
> 
> appreciate it


If I needed more SATA and I only had PCI, I'd use something like this:


			https://www.amazon.com/GODSHARK-Controller-Internal-Expansion-Converter/dp/B07R3YFFR7?tag=tec06d-20


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 7, 2021)

Ahhzz said:


> Add on SATA PCI cards, altho those will be a bit slow.


This. They're not as slow as you might think, especially if you don't have anything else in other PCI slots.

However, there is the following option that seems to have been missed. I have used this one in the past and it works perfectly.





						Amazon.com: IDE to SATA Adapter, YAODHAOD Bidirectional Conversion SATA to IDE/IDE to SATA Interaction Converter Adapter Card for Driver 、Host、 Hard : Electronics
					

Buy IDE to SATA Adapter, YAODHAOD Bidirectional Conversion SATA to IDE/IDE to SATA Interaction Converter Adapter Card for Driver 、Host、 Hard: SATA Cables - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



					www.amazon.com
				



This allows a user to plug in SATA devices directly into the existing IDE ports on the board, which is very handy!


----------



## FireFox (Dec 7, 2021)

Remeca said:


> If I needed more SATA and I only had PCI, I'd use something like this:
> 
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/GODSHARK-Controller-Internal-Expansion-Converter/dp/B07R3YFFR7?tag=tec06d-20


Have that one on my wish-list, reasonable price for you, expensive in Europe 33,64€



lexluthermiester said:


> This. They're not as slow as you might think, especially if you don't have anything else in other PCI slot





Remeca said:


> If I needed more SATA and I only had PCI, I'd use something like this:
> 
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/GODSHARK-Controller-Internal-Expansion-Converter/dp/B07R3YFFR7?tag=tec06d-20


What about this one: https://www.amazon.de/PCI-Controlle...bd6f139cc7&pf_rd_r=S93VJPWQYA7V7QKD0K23&psc=1


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 7, 2021)

See edit.. That adapter is my recommendation.

Here's one on Amazon.de, but it's only a single port.





						CSL - IDE to SATA SATA SATA to IDE Adapter Converter - HDD CD DVD - Bi-Directional: Amazon.de: Computer & Accessories
					

CSL - IDE to SATA SATA SATA to IDE Adapter Converter - HDD CD DVD - Bi-Directional: Amazon.de: Computer & Accessories



					www.amazon.de
				




Here's a higher quality StarTech unit which has dual ports;


			https://www.amazon.de/-/en/PATA2SATA3/dp/B00310MFPY


----------



## Remeca (Dec 7, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Have that one on my wish-list, reasonable price for you, expensive in Europe 33,64€
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I didn't know where you were located, obviously buying from Amazon.com will be more expensive than .de if you're in Germany. The one you linked looks fine. It doesn't explicitly state W10 support, but it should still work. The ide to sata adapter is also a good idea.


----------



## FireFox (Dec 7, 2021)

Another thing i forgot to ask is that i have a PSU with 8 pin connector and the Board has an ATX 12V 4 pin connector, can i use a CPU Cable 8 Pin to 4 Pin?

Like this one




Remeca said:


> The one you linked looks fine. It doesn't explicitly state W10 support,


it is not for a W10/11 build but WXP


----------



## Remeca (Dec 7, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Another thing i forgot to ask is that i have a PSU with 8 pin connector and the Board has an ATX 12V 4 pin connector, can i use a CPU Cable 8 Pin to 4 Pin?
> 
> Like this one
> View attachment 227987
> ...


Your PSU should have a 24 pin connector, plus 4 for the CPU. If it only has 8, it's either proprietary or you're looking at the PCIe 8 pin.


----------



## DR4G00N (Dec 7, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Another thing i forgot to ask is that i have a PSU with 8 pin connector and the Board has an ATX 12V 4 pin connector, can i use a CPU Cable 8 Pin to 4 Pin?


Edit: Wait I didn't read that right lol. That would work I suppose but are you sure your psu doesn't have a split 8-pin or 4-pin on it?


----------



## FireFox (Dec 7, 2021)

Remeca said:


> Your PSU should have a 24 pin connector, plus 4 for the CPU. If it only has 8, it's either proprietary or you're looking at the PCIe 8 pin.



I meant this






DR4G00N said:


> Edit: Wait I didn't read that right lol. That would work I suppose but are you sure your psu doesn't have a split 8-pin or 4-pin on it?


The power Supply has just 8 pin connector


----------



## Remeca (Dec 7, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I meant this
> 
> View attachment 227989
> 
> ...


It looks like your modular power supply is missing the 24 pin and cpu 4 pin. That is a PCIe 8pin I believe. If you know the model, you should be able to get replacement cables. If it isn't modular missing cables, I have no idea what kind of weird PSU you are using.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 7, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I meant this
> 
> View attachment 227989
> 
> ...


You'll notice that 8pin connector has a seam. It can be split into two parts. One will fit into the 4pin connector on the board.


----------



## FireFox (Dec 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> You'll notice that 8pin connector has a seem. It can be split into two parts. One will fit into the 4pin connector on the board.


My bad, you are right


I didn't pay much attention to it

Btw, i will use this


Sorry if this is off topic.

I just wanted to share what i will do next with the retro build.

Going to move it to one of this
*Corsair Carbide Series, 175R RGB, (Mid Tower ATX, Tempered Glass, Window) Black     *





Also will use/add one of the power supply i have laying around ( *Enermax Revolution X’t II 750W 80 PLUS Gold ) *and 2 x* Seagate Barracuda Green 1.5GB.*
in case it is true what Corsair claims about mounting a 360 rad in top then i will use an* Alphacool Eisbaer LT360* that i have.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2021)

Check this out you all older AMD GPU owners:










Works flawlessly on my 2nd rig's HD 7970.

Also I ran some Crystaldiskmark for all the disks it has (the SSD's are over a Marvell controller as X58 doesn't have native SATA3)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 9, 2021)

Welp, time to yank out my old 7870 out for a spin.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Dec 11, 2021)

thanks for the driver update! ...may have to resurrect the 7970 build...dang...not enough hours in the day...made me bust out the bones for a pic


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 11, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> thanks for the driver update! ...may have to resurrect the 7970 build...dang...not enough hours in the day...made me bust out the bones for a pic
> 
> View attachment 228432View attachment 228433View attachment 228434View attachment 228435


Those Lightning cards look hella great with that MPower board as they share the same color scheme. 

Like Bryan said on that video I posted that there CAN be problems installing those, well, at least I didn't have any. Just cleaned the old drivers with DDU before installing those modded ones.


----------



## micropage7 (Dec 11, 2021)

FireFox said:


> The motherboard has just 2 sata ports.
> is there any way how to add extra sata ports?
> View attachment 227965


this one




https://www.amazon.com/Control-Internal-Transmission-Support-Windows/dp/B07NQL1YW6


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 11, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> this one
> View attachment 228499
> https://id.aliexpress.com/item/33009101068.html


Yeah, something like that works great. I have also a similar problem on my main PC as it has only four SATA connectors (and I have 4x SSDs), maybe I'll get one or just get a M.2 drive as I have both slots free.

Why today's mid-tier boards can't have at least six connectors like in the old days, dammit.


----------



## FireFox (Dec 11, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> this one





micropage7 said:


> https://www.amazon.com/Control-Internal-Transmission-Support-Windows/dp/B07NQL1YW6



Exactly the one i posted  #12,484





						PCI Controller Card PCI SATA 4 Port PCI to 4 Internal SATA Port 1.5Gbps Sil3114 Chipset RAID Controller Card with SATA Interface Support Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP/NT4.0/XP 64bit: Amazon.de: Computer & Accessories
					

PCI Controller Card PCI SATA 4 Port PCI to 4 Internal SATA Port 1.5Gbps Sil3114 Chipset RAID Controller Card with SATA Interface Support Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP/NT4.0/XP 64bit: Amazon.de: Computer & Accessories



					www.amazon.de


----------



## Robert B (Dec 11, 2021)

*FRESH LOOT!!!!* 

1. Cirrus Logic CL-GD5422 * CL-GD542x EVALUATION BOARD 1MB ISA
2. Panasonic JU-475-5 - 5.25" FDD 1.2MB
3. Server in the trunk.  - TYAN THUNDER K8SD PRO S2882-D (THUNDER K8SD PRO) - Opteron S940 + Opteron 244 OSA244CEP5AU - 400W PSU from another server.
4. ASUS V7700/32 (TVR) - V7700/PURE/32/G - Geforce 2 GTS 32MB
5. XAR2TD-B3/P1 - Powercolor Evil Master II Radeon 8500 PRO 275Mhz (AR2TD)
6. EPOX EP-8KTA+  *** Socket A VIA KT133 - needs a lot of caps


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 11, 2021)

Ah, yeah, it had to be PCI, not PCIe.


----------



## Ahhzz (Dec 12, 2021)

so.... cards.... and a Cooler


Spoiler









Spoiler









Spoiler









Spoiler









Spoiler







Sorry, the dual VGA is a bit fuzzy...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 12, 2021)

I have a pair of those Xigy's on my SR-2. Underrated cooler for it's time. Very good.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 13, 2021)

Bought this relatively powerful laptop a few days ago.

Gericom 1st Supersonic M6-T 1200MHz. OEM'd by (surprisingly) FIC (First International Computer). Pretty sturdy construction and easy to swap parts if needed.

Specs:

Pentium III Tualatin 1.2GHz SL5GN (yes, it runs a fully packed desktop chip)
ATI Radeon Mobility M6-P 32MB AGP4x
VIA VT82C694T chipset (also desktop chipset)
40GB Hitachi DK23EA-40 HDD
Panasonic UJDA710 DVD/CDRW
Win98SE + NUSB3.6E + KernelEX 4.52


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 13, 2021)

I'm pretty sure that I have enough RAM for any project for the rest of my life 






The box has much more under those modules which are in their packages. Everything from PC133 SDRAM to DDR3-1600 with DIMM and SODIMM form, some are also ECC/ECC registered. In that bag there's also some FB-DIMM DDR2 sticks.


----------



## droid-I (Dec 13, 2021)

^go and check how much all that RAM cost back in the day No, do not. Now to find a way to make use for all that Random Access Memory


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 13, 2021)

droid-I said:


> ^go and check how much all that RAM cost back in the day No, do not. Now to find a way to make use for all that Random Access Memory


Some day I'll check most of those how they overclock.. though I also need a motherboard which used DDR as all I have are dead (I need a Socket A board), and I could also use an AM3 board. Probably next on my list when getting old hardware. 


edit: Let's have some fun before I put this card to my XP machine.. I was surprised to see that this has 384 shaders, all the info about R7 240 OEM was about a 320 shader one. Cool.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Dec 14, 2021)

loved the 5870 ...these will be going back into the X58 P6T6 WS build


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 14, 2021)

Damn, I was able to push the max on Afterburner, removing the limits didn't help as in 3D the clock stayed at 1GHz. 3DMark reports this R7 240 it as HD 8570 as it's the same card with different name.

Stock (730 (780 boost)/900): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/26791913

OC @ 1000/1170: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/26792126


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 14, 2021)

Maenad said:


> I'm pretty sure that I have enough RAM for any project for the rest of my life
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It looks  like it from that lot. 



Maenad said:


> Damn, I was able to push the max on Afterburner, removing the limits didn't help as in 3D the clock stayed at 1GHz. 3DMark reports this R7 240 it as HD 8570 as it's the same card with different name.
> 
> Stock (730 (780 boost)/900): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/26791913
> 
> OC @ 1000/1170: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/26792126


Why did they change the names of there cards?,It gets confusion


----------



## Valantar (Dec 14, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> Why did they change the names of there cards?,It gets confusion


It's been quite common throughout the years to re-brand previous generations cards as lower tier cards in newer generations. It's a massive cost savings (no need to lay out and produce a brand-new die) and enables a wider scale of price and performance without the negative PR effect of forcing people to buy "old" products. A new lower midrange product will typically be (far) more attractive to any potential buyer than an old upper midrange product, even if they are literally the same thing beneath the stickers.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 14, 2021)

Valantar said:


> It's been quite common throughout the years to re-brand previous generations cards as lower tier cards in newer generations. It's a massive cost savings (no need to lay out and produce a brand-new die) and enables a wider scale of price and performance without the negative PR effect of forcing people to buy "old" products. A new lower midrange product will typically be (far) more attractive to any potential buyer than an old upper midrange product, even if they are literally the same thing beneath the stickers.


Thanks for explaining all that to me.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 15, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> This. They're not as slow as you might think, especially if you don't have anything else in other PCI slots.
> 
> However, there is the following option that seems to have been missed. I have used this one in the past and it works perfectly.
> 
> ...


----------



## mstenholm (Dec 15, 2021)

Greenslade said:


> I just took the card  to CEX and told them that i had put the connecter in the wrong way round.  I think they must have thought i was an idiotAnd told them i got it from ebay, one of the staff said why did i not send it back.For one i have had it to long.And that i had asked on a tech site and people had said that the card has been damage.I asked them to test it which they are doing now.What if it does work when they test it?Some one on youtube got a PC for 30 pounds with a graphics card in it but it did not work ,he tried it in another PC and it worked, i hope that is not the case for me.Have you seen my post on which GPU i should buy?
> GTX 660 TI v HD7870 for XP/Best  GPU/CPU comparison sites.*Game Debate*says the GTX 660TI  is 10% better than the HD7870.But when i look on youtube there very close  with the HD7870 edging ahead by a small margin in the games it is showing.https://youtu.be/H2blPzxouyc?t=3​Which one should i go for ? Both are the same price on CEX .I can collect one from there shop .The GTX660 TI will have to be posted.
> And whats your views on *Game Debate*and other GPU /CPU comparison  sites?And the best ones.?


Wrong forum


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 15, 2021)

mstenholm said:


> Wrong forum


I have removed it


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Dec 16, 2021)

the beginning of the "3D" movement I believe...some cards of the time came with glasses , I have a couple of them , but I also bought the Revelator kit and had fun with the "wave of the future", I am looking at aquiring the Elsa Victory II card (3Dfx) , preferably boxed , but can't be too picky.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 16, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> the beginning of the "3D" movement I believe...some cards of the time came with glasses , I have a couple of them , but I also bought the Revelator kit and had fun with the "wave of the future", I am looking at aquiring the Elsa Victory II card (3Dfx) , preferably boxed , but can't be too picky.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 229165View attachment 229166View attachment 229167


I remember having stereoscopic 3D glasses too back in the day, they were Gainward's. And it actually worked pretty damn fine, I had a 21" Trinitron which handled high refresh rates.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 16, 2021)

Maenad said:


> I remember having stereoscopic 3D glasses too back in the day, they were Gainward's. And it actually worked pretty damn fine, I had a 21" Trinitron which handled high refresh rates.


Always wanted to try a set of those just to see the effect. Never saw a set of them though.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 16, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Always wanted to try a set of those just to see the effect. Never saw a set of them though.


My uncle got those for me in Christmas 2005 IIRC. Though had to play with a lower resolution as those needed high refresh rate and I still had a GF4 Ti 4200-8x which wasn't a powerhouse anymore 

Too bad that I've lost those


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 16, 2021)

onemanhitsquad said:


> the beginning of the "3D" movement I believe...some cards of the time came with glasses , I have a couple of them , but I also bought the Revelator kit and had fun with the "wave of the future", I am looking at aquiring the Elsa Victory II card (3Dfx) , preferably boxed , but can't be too picky.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 229165View attachment 229166View attachment 229167



Great score with that Erazor package, shrink-wrapped no less!

My introduction to true 3D graphics on the computer was the 1995 S3 Virge, which my roommate had in his PC back in college. But my first actual experience would have to be the 1992 Virtua Racing game in the arcade. And I can vaguely recall the revolutionary music video to Dire Straits' Money for Nothing, which came out in 1985:


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 16, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Great score with that Erazor package, shrink-wrapped no less!
> 
> My introduction to true 3D graphics on the computer was the 1995 S3 Virge, which my roommate had in his PC back in college. But my first actual experience would have to be the 1992 Virtua Racing game in the arcade. And I can vaguely recall the revolutionary music video to Dire Straits' Money for Nothing, which came out in 1985:


ViRGE, the legendary 3D "decelerator". Never had one as I got into PCs in 2003 after I got my relatives' old junk IBM which was hella old with its Pentium MMX. Few months later and I already had Pentium II, 160MB and a GeForce 2 MX so I could already play some games.

What's weird that I'm missing a GF2MX on my AGP cards box. Need to get one, a standard MX with 32MB of 128-bit SDR.


----------



## QuietBob (Dec 16, 2021)

Maenad said:


> ViRGE, the legendary 3D "decelerator". Never had one as I got into PCs in 2003 after I got my relatives' old junk IBM which was hella old with its Pentium MMX. Few months later and I already had Pentium II, 160MB and a GeForce 2 MX so I could already play some games.
> 
> What's weird that I'm missing a GF2MX on my AGP cards box. Need to get one, a standard MX with 32MB of 128-bit SDR.


Oh, the great days of early 3D! 
The first 3D accelerator card I owned was the Riva128, had it paired with a Celeron 300A. My next PC was an AthlonXP 1700+ paired with the GF2 MX400. Late 1990s is when 3D gaming really took off on the PC!


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 16, 2021)

QuietBob said:


> Oh, the great days of early 3D!
> The first 3D accelerator card I owned was the Riva128, had it paired with a Celeron 300A. My next PC was an AthlonXP 1700+ paired with the GF2MX400. Late 1990s is when 3D gaming really took off on the PC!


Yeah, I've got a picture what those early days of 3D cards were, thanks to youtube and people who make videos of those 

Would be nice to have another desk though so I could have an AGP setup always ready for use, instead of keeping all the old hardware in the closet, out of the way


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Dec 16, 2021)

"Great score with that Erazor package, shrink-wrapped no less!"

I bought those new and never opened the ErazorX as I had other cards already in play...luckily my wife is "ate up" with the hobby as well. When I met her she was rocking one of the big azz custom Gateway 2000 machines with 3Dfx.

**** after a quick check hers was a 1998 Gateway tower which came after the "2000" when they were updating their product line


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 19, 2021)

Maenad said:


> I'm pretty sure that I have enough RAM for any project for the rest of my life
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ha ha. You only THINK you have enough. Here is a drawer full. Everything from SDR to DDR4, and then some.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 19, 2021)

Mr.Scott said:


> Ha ha. You only THINK you have enough. Here is a drawer full. Everything from SDR to DDR4, and then some.
> 
> View attachment 229462View attachment 229463View attachment 229464


No spare DDR4 as I sold my old 4x4GB kit when I purchased my current 2x16GB


----------



## RealKGB (Dec 19, 2021)

Not exactly hardware...


Spoiler













But still cool!
I think it might support PPC too - I can't remember if 10.5.7 supported PPC or if that was Intel-only.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 19, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> Not exactly hardware...
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


10.5.8 was the last supporting PPC. 10.6 was Intel-only.


----------



## Googletrusting (Dec 22, 2021)

These 2 relics
(The cpu in the bag is a Pentium III
(The HDD is a Toshiba HDD2191)


----------



## erek (Dec 22, 2021)

Genuine Rare Bigfoot Networks Killer K1 High Performance Network Card!  | eBay
					

<p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">You will receive the card in the pictures in an antistatic bag. Worked great when pulled and put in storage. Very rare sought after card. Any questions, shoot me a message. Thanks!</p>



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 22, 2021)

Is it wrong that I want a GF2 MX.. 

My first REAL card when it came to PC gaming back in the day.


----------



## agent_x007 (Dec 22, 2021)

My ISA card collection (VGA/Sound - December 2021) :


----------



## erek (Dec 22, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> My ISA card collection (VGA/Sound - December 2021) :
> View attachment 229827
> View attachment 229828


Would you ever consider an Adlib original / non-clone for collecting?


----------



## agent_x007 (Dec 22, 2021)

Depends on price. 
If it's too expensive to me - I won't buy it.


----------



## erek (Dec 22, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> Depends on price.
> If it's too expensive to me - I won't buy it.


Would be cool to uncover an AWE64 Gold II, The Entertainer sound board or even an innovation ssi-2001 sound board


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 23, 2021)

Why so many ISA video card has that connector on it, probably for some daughtercard or something? I'm pretty sure that it's not for SLI-like purpose


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 23, 2021)

Maenad said:


> Why so many ISA video card has that connector on it, probably for some daughtercard or something?


Yes. It was an early bridge connector that cards used to enhance functionality, such as video capture, TV tuners and early 3D processing.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 23, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yes. It was an early bridge connector that cards used to enhance functionality, such as video capture and early 3D processing.


I guessed that it's for something similar.

Oh boy, I can't wait that I see my uncle as he promised to give me more junk (even more memory!) and some drives and maybe a PC or two.  it's handy to have an uncle who works as an IT guy as he gives me all kinds of junk which becomes leftovers.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 23, 2021)

Maenad said:


> Oh boy, I can't wait that I see my uncle as he promised to give me more junk (even more memory!) and some drives and maybe a PC or two.  it's handy to have an uncle who works as an IT guy as he gives me all kinds of junk which becomes leftovers.


I am one of those Uncles/Dads/GrandDads/Inlaws.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 23, 2021)

I may also put up a server/NAS if I get enough drives because why not  I suppose that a Xeon X3230 @ 3GHz & 8GB DDR2 will do the job?


----------



## Retrorockit (Dec 26, 2021)

I never though to look for one of these. PCI adapter to AGP 1.0. IDK if it's actually available, but the post is fairly recent. Maybe I can actually get some use out of my Voodoo 5500 AGP.



			PCI to AGP adapter – sdz-mods.com


----------



## pavle (Dec 26, 2021)

agent_x007 said:


> My ISA card collection (VGA/Sound - December 2021)...


I had one of those Ultrasound cards in my DX2/66 486 computor (first one) and it wasn't very compatible, but the sound - unbeatable - Creative can hide its ugly face.


----------



## seth1911 (Dec 27, 2021)

The APU in the Notebook ive got has in 5 months its release 10 years ago. 

I ordered a SSD for the Notebook cause it runs very fine for its age, only limitation is DX11 on IGP and the dedicated HD 7670M.


Funfact in Multicore Benchmarks is a 5980HS about 21,4 times faster.


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 27, 2021)

A friend dumped an old HP Compaq Deskpro Pentium III (AD 2000) on me, so I stripped it down and gave it the usual soapy treatment.
It runs okay, but I can't remember all the details and I'll update when it's all put back together. No AGP, so I'll dig out a PCI VGA card.
I'll probably sell it on as I know it will definitely move down here and it's built like an actual house, as usual with HP.


----------



## pavle (Dec 27, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> A friend dumped an old HP Compaq Deskpro Pentium III...


Interesting - there appears to be an intel i740 (with 2 SDRAM chips) integrated right on that P3 mainboard - so you have graphics there already, there must be a VGA connector on the I/O panel.


----------



## Splinterdog (Dec 27, 2021)

pavle said:


> Interesting - there appears to be an intel i740 (with 2 SDRAM chips) integrated right on that P3 mainboard - so you have graphics there already, there must be a VGA connector on the I/O panel.


Do you mean these? And yes, it does have a VGA output.


----------



## erek (Dec 27, 2021)

Genuine Vintage AdLib MOD-870324 Sound Card with 5.25" Disks 1987 RARE  | eBay
					

Original Adlib sound card in excellent condition. Almost impossible to find in this condition with the original disks.



					www.ebay.com


----------



## pavle (Dec 27, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> Do you mean these? And yes, it does have a VGA output...


Yes. Now I see it is an intel 810 chipset (first) with integrated i740 graphics. A friend used to have a dedicated i740 card and it was quite fast but somewhat late to market, so lacked features.
The history will repeat itself now when they finally get out Larraalchemist; late to market and slow.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 27, 2021)

pavle said:


> Interesting - there appears to be an intel i740 (with 2 SDRAM chips) integrated right on that P3 mainboard - so you have graphics there already, there must be a VGA connector on the I/O panel.





Splinterdog said:


> Do you mean these? And yes, it does have a VGA output.
> View attachment 230374


For it's time, it was a good GPU. Might be worth it to use the i740.


----------



## erek (Dec 28, 2021)

it's the Black Edition even,









						Rare Metal Box AMD FX 8350 8 Core CPU AM3+ W/Heatsink NOS Sealed Please Read!  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Rare Metal Box AMD FX 8350 8 Core CPU AM3+ W/Heatsink NOS Sealed Please Read! at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## AugeK (Dec 28, 2021)

Since my wife is watching some mind-busting bullshit on TV I decided to return to the cellar and play around with the rubbish from the "good old times" when times were hard.
Here's my playing-around rig:


Thanks to my old Windows NT4 CD I was able to re-partition the whopping big harddrive of 80 GB so it would meet the requirements of my good old beloved OS:


OK, not really hardware related, but anyway...


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 29, 2021)

Hmm, what I should do with 3x 128GB SSDs.. two in RAID0 with a PCIe SATA card to my main rig and the third to my 2nd rig?



erek said:


> it's the Black Edition even,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Practically every FX CPU is a BE as they're all unlocked. I guess AMD just wanted to continue using that in branding  Phenom II BE CPUs kicked ass.


----------



## AugeK (Dec 29, 2021)

With the SSD's, I would opt for a RAID5 if supported by your controller.
Yes, you would lose capacity but gain safety in return.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 29, 2021)

AugeK said:


> With the SSD's, I would opt for a RAID5 if supported by your controller.
> Yes, you would lose capacity but gain safety in return.


Purely for games so speed is more important. Having two drives for 128GB is just meh.

edit: I'll probably put the single drive to my PS3 to replace its 80GB HDD.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 30, 2021)

Yeah so I did put that single LiteOn drive to PS3. Before I did everything the hard way (just took all savefiles etc. to a flash drive and changed the drive) but now I took a backup to a FAT32 formatted HDD via USB adapter, then recovered the backup to the SSD. Worked like a charm, though it took pretty damn long.

I've had a SSD on PS3 before, not huge improvements but still a nice thing.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 31, 2021)

That's one way I'll probably do with my backwards compatible CECHC03 PS3.
Something about that model is just so sexy to leave it rot away, especially after the ungodly amount of TLC I put into the console.
A few of the stuff I've done to it include a 250GB HDD (it's the only thing I had available at the moment when I started working on it), a dual laser bluray deck from a CECHK04, as well a slightly more efficient PSU from a CECHG04.

The only thing it's missing is a HDD cover. I couldn't manage to find one locally anywhere, and G04 HDD covers don't fit.


----------



## Yukikaze (Jan 1, 2022)

I was digging through some old computer hardware I had in boxes and found this pair of beauties that I have fond memories of. I used them for secondary displays back in the day, and for some very weird systems I put together over the years. They're not quite rare enough to go into the Rare GPUs thread, but I think they fit nicely here.

First, we have an ECS 8400GS 512MB DDR2:







And now we have a Sparkle 8500GT 256MB DDR2:







Now, if you got this far wondering what's so special about a pair of low-end cards from 2008, look at the connectors again. These are PCI (as opposed to PCIe) video cards! I don't even have anything I can run them on nowdays, but as far as I know, both are still functional (I do have a PCIe x1 to dual PCI adapter, so I might give them a shot sometime). PCI cards were hard to find even back then, and now relatively modern PCI cards are all but extinct (The GT520 and GT610 were the last PCI cards that I know of, circa 2013, and they are not very easy to find today AND people want like 100$ a unit).

As a side note, the most powerful PCI video card I am aware of is the Zotac GT430 512MB, with a whopping 96 CUDA cores. I'd like to have one for my collection!


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 1, 2022)

Yukikaze said:


> I was digging through some old computer hardware I had in boxes and found this pair of beauties that I have fond memories of. I used them for secondary displays back in the day, and for some very weird systems I put together over the years. They're not quite rare enough to go into the Rare GPUs thread, but I think they fit nicely here.
> 
> First, we have an ECS 8400GS 512MB DDR2:
> View attachment 230874
> ...


Nice PCI cards. Do some benchmarks if you have the time 

edit: also, that "as opposed to PCIe", some younger TPUers probably haven't ever seen PCIe unless they come to this thread.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 1, 2022)

Yukikaze said:


> First, we have an ECS 8400GS 512MB DDR2


Those caps are bulging. They'll need replacement soon. You might want to check the caps on that 8500 as well, just to be safe.


----------



## Yukikaze (Jan 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those caps are bulging. They'll need replacement soon. You might want to check the caps on that 8500 as well, just to be safe.



Oh damn good eyes. I didn't even think about checking for that! Looks like some cap transplant surgery is in order. Thanks!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 3, 2022)

Yukikaze said:


> Oh damn good eyes. I didn't even think about checking for that! Looks like some cap transplant surgery is in order. Thanks!


YW.  Have you looked under the heatsink on that 8500?


----------



## Yukikaze (Jan 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> YW.  Have you looked under the heatsink on that 8500?


Not yet - Too busy with work.


----------



## stef (Jan 3, 2022)

Two ATI R300-based cards (FireGL X1-128 and Radeon 9700 XT) with performance coolers:








And some quick testing:




Great alternatives to Radeon 9700 Pro, and usually much cheaper .



erek said:


> it's the Black Edition even,
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The only CPU that made my PSU squeal, literally. Bought Gold-certified Corsair RM650x ... same issue, just a bit more silent.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jan 3, 2022)

That score looks more like an X800 series or later! Including X8xx GTO? A 9800 Pro, usually don't have more than the 17000s.


----------



## stef (Jan 3, 2022)

CPU score drives Mark2001, 2003 would be more appropriate. Also, everything is overclocked .


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jan 3, 2022)

stef said:


> CPU score drives Mark2001


Yes, it's indeed true with the Car Chase test. But, the others, hardly in comparison if even at all. The other tests in 3D Mark 2001 SE, are GPU-influenced.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 3, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> That score looks more like an X800 series or later! Including X8xx GTO? A 9800 Pro, usually don't have more than the 17000s.


Ummmm.......
No







stef said:


> CPU score drives Mark2001, 2003 would be more appropriate. Also, everything is overclocked .


I benchmark. I understand you.


----------



## stef (Jan 3, 2022)

Here's puny Radeon 9500 with Omega driver:




Hmm ... not sure why Dragotic - Low detail and Nature tests differ so much from Mr. Scottie's. Especially Nature.

And this is FireGL X3-256@16 pipes and stock clock (X800XT equivalent):


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 3, 2022)

stef said:


> Hmm ... not sure why Dragotic - Low detail and Nature tests differ so much from Mr. Scottie's. Especially Nature.


Because I tweak level of detail.


----------



## stef (Jan 3, 2022)

You cheater, you .
But relatively small difference from 24k to 30k for double the hardware.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jan 3, 2022)

Note that the score numbers I mentioned were from back in the more-period-correct times. Based on scores that were submitted. I didn't need to posses such card to see how much better it was doing than my lowly-even-at-the-time ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. (64 MB, IIRC) With no modded drivers, I bet. I just don't remember the scores being so high like that!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 3, 2022)

Yukikaze said:


> Not yet - Too busy with work.


No worries. Show us the finished work when you get time!


----------



## stef (Jan 3, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Note that the score numbers I mentioned were from back in the more-period-correct times. Based on scores that were submitted. I didn't need to posses such card to see how much better it was doing than my lowly-even-at-the-time ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. (64 MB, IIRC) With no modded drivers, I bet. I just don't remember the scores being so high like that!


Mark2001 is still very popular mostly because it's a numbers game. Just checked, current record is 243.108 with sub-zero cooled i9 12900K and stock clocked GTX 980 Ti.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 3, 2022)

Driver optimizations affect the score greatly. Both runs use default 3DMark settings, but in the first one driver settings have been tweaked for maximum performance. The second one is with maximum image quality. The staggering difference in Dragothic is reflected in the total score.








Posted from the actual rig 
EDIT: re-uploaded the second image with correct GPU clocks.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 4, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Driver optimizations affect the score greatly. Both runs use default 3DMark settings, but in the first one driver settings have been tweaked for maximum performance. The second one is with maximum image quality. The staggering difference in Dragothic is reflected in the total score.
> 
> View attachment 231136


Good score.   

Here is my 3850 full out on NF3-VSTA board.

.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 4, 2022)

I've spent the last two days using the internet exclusively on my Windows XP machine (the one on the previous page). Browsing is practically trouble free and doesn't feel much different from any current system/browser. I took some benchmarks with Firefox 52.9.0 ESR, the last official browser for XP:



YouTube plays smoothly even in 4K:





I'm not subscribed to any VOD service, but I checked that Netflix is officially supported under XP 
So yep, a 20 year old operating system can still be used for your daily browsing needs!


----------



## dorsetknob (Jan 4, 2022)

As long as you have a decent firewall and up to date malware/Anti virus and your tech savvy about browsing there should be no problems.
its when the user is not tech savvy and don't Run Current up to date firewall and up to date malware/Anti virus that problems arise.
Most virus/malware now skip anything earlier than Vista/win 7 ( but not all so be warned users )


----------



## stef (Jan 4, 2022)

Last thing I used on XP was Malwarebytes ... on-demand scanning, not real-time protection. It had smallest footprint. Not sure if it still works today, though.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 4, 2022)

stef said:


> Last thing I used on XP was Malwarebytes ... on-demand scanning, not real-time protection. It had smallest footprint. Not sure if it still works today, though.


I have Norton Security installed on it with a current subscription. The latest definitions downloaded just fine. Curiously, they officially retired XP support in February 2021


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 5, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> I have Norton Security installed on it with a current subscription. The latest definitions downloaded just fine. Curiously, they officially retired XP support in February 2021


Comodo still has a version that supports XP for retro XP users;








						Windows XP Antivirus | Instantly Remove Virus and Spyware
					

Windows XP Antivirus from Comodo instantly removes virus and spyware thereby offering 100% complete threat protection for devices. Download Today!



					antivirus.comodo.com


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 5, 2022)

dorsetknob said:


> Most virus/malware now skip anything earlier than Vista/win 7 ( but not all so be warned users )





lexluthermiester said:


> Comodo still has a version that supports XP for retro XP users;



Also, Avast Free still supports XP.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 5, 2022)

Just saw this and thought it might be useful for some who visit this thread.














						Plop Boot Manager 5.0 - Download
					






					www.plop.at
				




Yes, the name is funny, but it's kinda cool!


----------



## stef (Jan 5, 2022)

The problem I have with most of the AV software is they try to be everything else besides main function. They are resource hogs and unusable on old systems.
EDIT: Just checked. Last "good" Malwarebytes version was 2.2.1.* from 2017. It is still getting database updates. But don't let it to upgrade itslef.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 5, 2022)

stef said:


> The problem I have with most of the AV software is they try to be everything else besides main function. They are resource hogs and unusable on old systems.


Norton uses around 80 MB running in the background and up to 234 MB during full system scan on my XP machine. Idle usage is below 1%, but this is on an overclocked quad. 

On the other hand, earlier I tested two minimum Win7 rigs with slowest single core CPUs. Microsoft Security Essentials would often stall the whole system and make it unusable, claiming all CPU power. I'd imagine any dual core with 2 GB of RAM could handle real-time protection without a hassle.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 5, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Just saw this and thought it might be useful for some who visit this thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


He,s one of my favorite YouTubers That's where I first saw the video on Easy2Boot since it was easy to get XP and 7 on one drive.



lexluthermiester said:


> Just saw this and thought it might be useful for some who visit this thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, it's a weird name *Plop* Phils is one of my fav YouTubers The GRX 960 is all good working fine.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

Yeah, Phil kicks ass. His videos are damn comfy every time.

Let's fine tune the X58 rig now for its maximum 24/7 clocks. I'll go with 22x multi so the bus isn't going to be the problem. When I find out the max stable CPU clock, I'll fine tune the RAM and find a compromise between them.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> The problem I have with most of the AV software is they try to be everything else besides main function. They are resource hogs and unusable on old systems.
> EDIT: Just checked. Last "good" Malwarebytes version was 2.2.1.* from 2017. It is still getting database updates. But don't let it to upgrade itslef.



That is a pretty awesome boot manager!!! 

As long as you don't mind, I'm putting Plop in the original post.


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

One more card refurbished. I got this from @Trekkie4 in exchange for Asus V8200T2 Deluxe:










Nice overclocker:




It starts to fall apart at ~340MHz.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> One more card refurbished. I got this from @Trekkie4 in exchange for Asus V8200T2 Deluxe:
> View attachment 231388
> View attachment 231389
> View attachment 231390
> ...


Ah, GF4 Ti. Those were great cards. Need to source one too, funny how they used those external temperature sensors back in the day, as an internal sensor came into play in NV30.

Talk about reusing older, smaller drives in a second PC.






3x 120GB SSD, 2x 128GB SSD, 2x 2.5" 250GB HDD, 250GB 3.5" HDD, 500GB 3.5" HDD


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

Any idea how to fix warped PCB on a graphics card? I got X1900XT that's pretty warped. It seems factory thermal pads were a tad too thick (or did not deform much) and heatsink pressure caused PCB to warp.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> Any idea how to fix warped PCB on a graphics card? I got X1900XT that's pretty warped. It seems factory thermal pads were a tad too thick (or did not deform much) and heatsink pressure caused PCB to warp.


Does it work? At least I haven't had any problems with any bent/warped motherboards even once.


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

Yes, it seems to work just fine. Original pads were ~1.5mm. I intend to put on 1mm ones from Arctic.
It's fairly long PCB and warping is visible. I thought of heating it up a bit with hairdryer or loading it with some books .


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> Yes, it seems to work just fine. Original pads were ~1.5mm. I intend to put on 1mm ones from Arctic.
> It's fairly long PCB and warping is visible. I thought of heating it up a bit with hairdryer or loading it with some books .


Could work. And yeah, I remember X1800/X1900 being long cards when they were the enthusiast-class cards


----------



## Dragokar (Jan 6, 2022)

I have something to show again. Just tested them and afterwards I put them back into safe storage.

The HD2900XT is kinda weird labeled  and the HD 4770 is one of the uncommon ones with the first AMD ref cooler. Not the egg shape one.



Spoiler: pictures


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

Why weird? Looks like a referent design.
Few screws on metal frame look messed up ... that's first thing I look on those cards .


----------



## Dragokar (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> Why weird? Looks like a referent design.
> Few screws on metal frame look messed up ... that's first thing I look on those cards .


Look at the white and the green label.


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

Good thing is: it's a 1GB GDDR4 card. Somebody just added frame form another card. I don't think it was factory labeld that way.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> Good thing is: it's a 1GB GDDR4 card. Somebody just added frame form another card. I don't think it was factory labeld that way.


That's what I was going to post as well. Though could be from factory but those are pretty rare situations.

GDDR4 was pretty rare. IIRC only X1950 XTX, 2600 XT, 2900 Pro/XT and 3870 used it (and their FireGL counterparts).


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

It would be great if it was.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 6, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Ah, GF4 Ti. Those were great cards. Need to source one too, funny how they used those external temperature sensors back in the day, as an internal sensor came into play in NV30.
> 
> Talk about reusing older, smaller drives in a second PC.
> 
> ...


Nice case! Holy drives Batman! 5 SSDs & 4 HDDs. Is this your Xeon X5680 system or am I thinking of someone else?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice case! Holy drives Batman! 5 SSDs & 4 HDDs. Is this your Xeon X5680 system or am I thinking of someone else?


X5650* but yeah. Got that Define XL for free few years ago and it was missing parts, but as it has a closed side panel, it's not that bad. I got the Corsair 4000D for that system but I liked it that much that I put my main system to it.


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

What voltage are you running it on (for 4GHz)?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> What voltage are you running it on (for 4GHz)?


For 4GHz, a little above 1.3V is enough. For 4.2, it needs more. Talking about it, I'll boot it up and put prime95 running (and play PS3 while prime is running)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 6, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Talking about it, I'll boot it up and put prime95 running (and play PS3 while prime is running)


For proper stablity testing, you only need a 10 to 15 minute run.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> For proper stablity testing, you only need a 10 to 15 minute run.


Well, I still concentrate of beating one superboss so I'll just check that has it crashed. I'll do some "real-use" testing with some demanding games later.


----------



## stef (Jan 6, 2022)

Maenad said:


> For 4GHz, a little above 1.3V is enough. For 4.2, it needs more.


You got great chip there.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 6, 2022)

stef said:


> You got great chip there.


Trying to get 4.2 stable with minimum voltage needed. It's actually easy to check as I have the rad outside of the case, if it's not hot then it has crashed. No need to switch the source from TV.


----------



## stef (Jan 8, 2022)

Maenad said:


> That's what I was going to post as well. Though could be from factory but those are pretty rare situations.
> 
> GDDR4 was pretty rare. IIRC only X1950 XTX, 2600 XT, 2900 Pro/XT and 3870 used it (and their FireGL counterparts).


Missed HD4670 512MB. Sapphire had GDDR4 version with Accelero cooler and blue memory heatsinks. Nice looking card. I managed to find one, looking for another ... for CF .


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 9, 2022)

I'm looking or a program that used to exist but seems to be extinct. C2D Vmod Calculator.xls
It's a spreadsheet that takes your original Core2Duo Volatge and calculates the pinmod to a higher setting.
Great for bsel tapemods. Does anyone know where to find this?


----------



## TheKingGamerBr (Jan 9, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm looking or a program that used to exist but seems to be extinct. C2D Vmod Calculator.xls
> It's a spreadsheet that takes your original Core2Duo Volatge and calculates the pinmod to a higher setting.
> Great for bsel tapemods. Does anyone know where to find this?



Try this:





__





						Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 M0 Stepping CPU Review - Madshrimps Forum Madness
					

When Geeks Computer Parts lists Intel E4300, E4400, and E4500 within $1 difference in price ($124), I could not help to request the E4500 for a spin. Intel



					www.madshrimps.be


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jan 9, 2022)

E4500 M0=That was literally an upgrade I got in August, 2009, which was a pull from a 2007 Acer! In 2009, I popped that 2007 E4500 M0 into my 2008 Asus P5QL Pro. The Pentium E2180 got popped into that Acer, so I still have a backup. The ECS-based Acer, IIRC, was my backup PC. That was given to me in August, 2009, that's how I got the CPU upgrade. It had a very low VID of 1.20 V!


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 9, 2022)

I came across an interesting tool while looking for something else. It's for a VRM hardmod that isn't well known except to some GPU overclockers.
The mod is kind of simple.
 The VRM controller chip has a VSENSE pin. This reads the CPU Voltage and the controller maintains it at the specified value.
If you install a resistor to GRD there it will pull down the Voltage the regulator senses, and the VRM will add more power until it senses the proper value again.
The actual Voltage supplied will be higher due to the spoofed feedback signal. You can install a potentiometer to make it adjustable. In the past a V. gauge was added to know the actual Voltage produced.
Now there is an app that calculates the Voltage change with various potentiometers.
You input the existing CPU Voltage in mV, and the resistance to GRD at the VSENSE feedback pin. The app produces a chart with the resulting mV each potentiometer ( or resistance) setting will produce at the CPU.








						vMod Calculator - Apps on Google Play
					

Easy calculation to choose you potentiometer and predict voltage output




					play.google.com
				



You could use a resistor to overshoot some and pull it back down with Throttlestop software. 


TheKingGamerBr said:


> Try this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's the program. But reading there it only runs on older MS Office versions. I get the sample page but not the app itself. Maybe digging up Office 2003 is the way to go. Thanks for the link.
I have the download, now I just have to get it to run.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 9, 2022)

You know you can figure this out with VID pin table and this image, right ?



^PDC 45nm


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 11, 2022)

Thank you for posting that. I've never seen it before. It's much better than working from the drawing of the socket that needs to be reversed to make the nod on the CPU.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Comodo still has a version that supports XP for retro XP users;
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Can someone give me a link on here  about the latest XP  download i know it is on here somewhere but i can,t find it.Not having luck getting XP in here i keep getting a message asking special pack four.


----------



## Ahhzz (Jan 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can someone give me a link on here  about the latest XP  download i know it is on here somewhere but i can,t find it.Not having luck getting XP in here i keep getting a message asking special pack four.


is this what you're after? 








						Windows XP Antivirus | Instantly Remove Virus and Spyware
					

Windows XP Antivirus from Comodo instantly removes virus and spyware thereby offering 100% complete threat protection for devices. Download Today!



					antivirus.comodo.com
				




or this?








						Download Windows XP Service Pack 4 Unofficial  - MajorGeeks
					

Windows XP Service Pack 4 Unofficial is a cumulative update rollup for Windows XP (x86) English as well as security enhancements not addressed by Microsoft....



					www.majorgeeks.com


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 13, 2022)

There are a couple of links to XP with SP3 in the original post @Greenslade


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 13, 2022)

Ahhzz said:


> is this what you're after?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I downloaded service pack 4 put it in Easy2Boot but it still asked for the CD for it  It asks where it is?That message comes up whatever ISO i use.I can,t even find the the origanal dvd o burned to get It on my PC in the first place. I put it on as dual boot with Windows7 when i did i lost XP and not been able to get it back on there.There is a full version in this forum.That one worked but i could not get the network for it .How can i get a network driver for XP?.I downloaded Intel drivers  but  of course would not let them
be installed they wanted to know where they came from.Ir can,t be done without an internet connection.
TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club the drivers​


stinger608 said:


> There are a couple of links to XP with SP3 in the original post @Greenslade


Can you give me the  link to the full  version you have in this forum.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can you give me the  link to the full  version you have in this forum.











						Windows XP SP3 ISO Download | Get into PC
					

Windows XP SP3 Professional ISO 32 Bit Free Download. It is Genuine Bootable Windows XP Pro SP3 ISO 32 Bit updated until Nov 2013 having all SATA drivers.




					getintopc.com


----------



## stef (Jan 13, 2022)

You can get it here also. Seems legit Microsoft according to SHA1: 66ac289ae27724c5ae17139227cbe78c01eefe40


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 13, 2022)

stef said:


> You can get it here also. Seems legit Microsoft according to SHA1: 66ac289ae27724c5ae17139227cbe78c01eefe40


I have tried tried that one, i have tried most of them with Easy2boot  with Rufus 2.5 and  dvd Rufus did not boot  Easy2boot got to the point of checking my PC it never moved on from there.There is another one on this forum which did work with Easy2Boot.Over 500 pages to check on here.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 13, 2022)

stef said:


> You can get it here also. Seems legit Microsoft according to SHA1: 66ac289ae27724c5ae17139227cbe78c01eefe40


I can confirm that one works. You need to provide your own CDKey and you need to call the Activation center on an actual phone, but yes, that will work.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 13, 2022)

Something you're doing wrong then. All of these work for me. I use them all the time.
The one I linked you even provides the key.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have tried tried that one, i have tried most of them with Easy2boot  with Rufus 2.5 and  dvd Rufus did not boot  Easy2boot got to the point of checking my PC it never moved on from there.There is another one on this forum which did work with Easy2Boot.Over 500 pages to check on here.


XP never had the support to boot and install from anything but CD. Easy2Boot is not 100% perfect. If it's not working, you'll need a CD/DVD drive and to burn the XP ISO to a blank CD.  Alternatively(if you don't have a drive or blank disks), you can open the ISO in 7Zip and copy all the files there in to a spare hard drive, boot from a USB drive formatted with a WinXP or Win2K boot floppy and run Setup from the command line.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 13, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Something you're doing wrong then. All of these work for me. I use them all the time.
> The one I linked you even provides the key.


I will put some photos on here i will do it tomorrow .i have tried to many times  today.Mr Stinger would know the one i am talking about.


----------



## stef (Jan 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> XP never had the support to boot and install from CD.


I think it was bootable from day 1, actually. Even Windows98SE OEM CD is bootable.



Greenslade said:


> I have tried tried that one, i have tried most of them with Easy2boot  with Rufus 2.5 and  dvd Rufus did not boot  Easy2boot got to the point of checking my PC it never moved on from there.There is another one on this forum which did work with Easy2Boot.Over 500 pages to check on here.


What do you need Rufus for? Easy2boot does not need Rufus, burning ISO images does not need it either.
You either burn the iso file, or put it in correct directory on E2B thumb drive.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> XP never had the support to boot and install from CD. Easy2Boot is not 100% perfect. If it's not working, you'll need a CD/DVD drive and to burn the XP ISO to a blank CD.  Alternatively(if you don't have a drive or blank disks), you can open the ISO in 7Zip and copy all the files there in to a spare hard drive, boot from a USB drive formatted with a WinXP or Win2K boot floppy and run Setup from the command line.


It seems strange Easy2boot worked first time with the updated one that i can,t find in here.Since that time i have had no succes  one asked for a key which i don,t have.Another time it could not continue it was asking  me to   put a cd in the drive .I have tried burning quite a few discs some came with errores.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 13, 2022)

stef said:


> I think it was bootable from day 1, actually. Even Windows98SE OEM CD is bootable.


See edit. My mind was going faster than my fingers...


lexluthermiester said:


> XP never had the support to boot and install *from anything but* CD.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 13, 2022)

stef said:


> I think it was bootable from day 1, actually. Even Windows98SE OEM CD is bootable.
> 
> 
> What do you need Rufus for? Easy2boot does not need Rufus, burning ISO images does not need it either.
> You either burn the iso file, or put it in correct directory on E2B thumb drive.


That is what i do.I thought i would try Rufus, it is supposed to  make it bootable i thought  All i get with Rufus is the flashing - minus sign.?


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I will put some photos on here i will do it tomorrow .i have tried to many times  today.Mr Stinger would know the one i am talking about.



It's the same one that @Mr.Scott linked:









						Windows XP SP3 ISO Download | Get into PC
					

Windows XP SP3 Professional ISO 32 Bit Free Download. It is Genuine Bootable Windows XP Pro SP3 ISO 32 Bit updated until Nov 2013 having all SATA drivers.




					getintopc.com
				




It's an ISO image that you will have to burn to a DVD. 

If you don't have an ISO burning program, you can use CDBurnerXP:



			CDBurnerXP: Free CD and DVD burning software
		


It's a free CD/DVD burning software for home use.


----------



## SteveSi (Jan 14, 2022)

If the Xp Setup asks for a key then you are nearly there!
Just use a key that is suggested on the download page where you got the ISO.








						Windows XP SP3 ISO Download | Get into PC
					

Windows XP SP3 Professional ISO 32 Bit Free Download. It is Genuine Bootable Windows XP Pro SP3 ISO 32 Bit updated until Nov 2013 having all SATA drivers.




					getintopc.com


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 14, 2022)

Need better cooling soon (or I just remove the side panel for testing) as I'm checking the stability of X5650 with 6+ hours of prime95 for every +1MHz on the bus clock. Already hit 95C at 4.16GHz and those Westmeres have tjmax of 96C.

Of course under normal usage it won't ever hit that high temps but I need to run prime without throttling.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 14, 2022)

Me personally, I prefer the customized versions of XP, like the Integral Edition for example, which is my current and likely final goto version of XP for retro installations. And before anyone gives me the business about it being shady or illegal, no it's not. Customized Windows ISOs are mostly safe to use as long as you get one from one of the larger mod groups as they work hard to protect their reputations. Also, I currently own 9 legit COAs for XP. 2 Retail Pros, 1 Retail Home, 1 Retail Media Center and 5 OEMs. It might be breaking a few rules that have no validity in law, but no one is calling me a thief or a pirate.



Maenad said:


> (or I just remove the side panel for testing)


This. Crack a window to let in some cool air if you need too.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> This. Crack a window to let in some cool air if you need too.


I do have an intake fan on the side panel for now (a Noctua P14) but I guess that an Eisbaer with 140x55 rad just isn't enough.


----------



## seth1911 (Jan 14, 2022)

Yeah Old is relative but its today my Main System i think its old enough to post here:
A8 3800 @ 3,36GHz (2011)
Asrock A75M HVS (2011)
XFX R7 260X (2013)

RAM:
4GB Kingston Hyper X from 2010
4GB Mushkin from 2014

The Diskdrive is a BD Combo from Pioneer, i use it for MDisc 100GB and for BD-RE 50GB.


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 14, 2022)

seth1911 said:


> Yeah Old is relative but its today my Main System i think its old enough to post here:
> A8 3800 @ 3,36GHz (2011)
> Asrock A75M HVS (2011)
> XFX R7 260X (2013)
> ...


I recently managed to save an AMD system that would have been heading for a dumpster.  It had an A6-6400 in it, but I was able to find an inexpensive A10-6800k to upgrade it.  It has a F2A55-m Asus motherboard & 8GB of generic DDR-1600 that I have been able to boost to DRR-1866.  Had Win7 installed on a 500GB spinner & I was able to do a free upgrade to Win10.  I have an HD 7770 & have read I might be able to force hybrid crossfire.  My HTPC needs an upgrade & this might be it.


----------



## seth1911 (Jan 14, 2022)

Why not ?  

Its my main sys cause its old and work very well.
Atm i work with Solidworks primary on my Notebook with an A4 4300M , HD 7670M and 32GB RAM,
but in a month i get another Board for the A8  with 4 RAM Slots then it will my main sys for Work too.

Every work what i do on the PC, can use the GPU for Compute.


Edit:
A comparison between my A4 with HD 7670M and the I5 9600 with IGP in the School working via Solidworks:
A4 4300M usage about 47%, HD 7670M Full Load = 60 FPS
I5 9600 usage about 82%, IGP Full Load = 48 FPS


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 14, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> It's the same one that @Mr.Scott linked:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have burned it to a DVD  *there was an error burning the Disc *I wish the video talked it over rather than just words.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 14, 2022)

Error burning the disk is bad media, bad burner, or you need to slow down the burn rate.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 14, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Error burning the disk is bad media, bad burner, or you need to slow down the burn rate.


What is the best burning speed 48 or  lower ?


----------



## DR4G00N (Jan 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What is the best burning speed 48 or  lower ?


I use 4x and never had a problem burning cd's. The higher the speed the more chance for errors.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 14, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Error burning the disk is bad media, bad burner, or you need to slow down the burn rate.


I am wasting a lot of Discs all with error s they can,t all be bad discs


DR4G00N said:


> I use 4x and never had a problem burning cd's. The higher the speed the more chance for errors.


Thanks for that.  I will have to see how that goes. This will be the last time I try burning the file it is a waste of discs, if this has errors there must be something up with the disc image.No good all that was in it was the one file before the disc ejected it said 30 seconds
to go what am I doing wrong?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 14, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> or you need to slow down the burn rate.


Most likely this.



Greenslade said:


> I am wasting a lot of Discs all with error s they can,t all be bad discs


Slow down your burn speed to 2x or 4x.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Most likely this.
> 
> 
> Slow down your burn speed to 2x or 4x.


I did  to 4x.  I will try ImgBurn.If i remember rightly that used to come with Windows XP, that was the first system i had.It said it had burned all ok  







. Thats where i went wrong i directly burned it to the DVD i did not extract the files.I never new that anyway.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did  to 4x.  I will try ImgBurn.If i remember rightly that used to come with Windows XP, that was the first system i had.It said it had burned all ok
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You are supposed to directly burn an ISO file to disc. You just have to have the correct utility. See below;






Following these step should result in a perfect disc recording.
As I detailed elsewhere in the forums(likely this thread), there are many good disc burning/recording utilities out there. IMHO, CDBurnerXP is the best.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 14, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> https://getintop  c.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-xp-sp3-4707278/


Thanks very much Mr Scott.



lexluthermiester said:


> You are supposed to directly burn an ISO file to disc. You just have to have the correct utility. See below;
> View attachment 232388
> View attachment 232390
> Following these step should result in a perfect disc recording.
> As it detailed elsewhere in the forums(likely this thread), there are many good disc burning/recording utilities out there. IMHO, CDBurnerXP is the best.


Thanks once again for your good advice Lex


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks once again for your good advice Lex


You're Welcome! No worries.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks very much Mr Scott.


Yup. Anytime.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 14, 2022)

Damn, for X5650, 1.4V is too much for the cooling as it starts throttling and 1.39xxxV isn't enough for 4.18GHz. So I'll go with 4.16GHz at 1.38xxx volts for now as it ran prime95 for 6+ hours.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 14, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Damn, for X5650, 1.4V is too much for the cooling as it starts throttling and 1.39xxxV isn't enough for 4.18GHz. So I'll go with 4.16GHz at 1.38xxx volts for now as it ran prime95 for 6+ hours.


Pretty crappy X5650 sample. You should be able to do 4 gig at 1.3v without any problem at all.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 14, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pretty crappy X5650 sample. You should be able to do 4 gig at 1.3v without any problem at all.



God, and I think I have a couple of them somewhere.   

Of course finding them, is another issue.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 14, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pretty crappy X5650 sample. You should be able to do 4 gig at 1.3v without any problem at all.


I'll try that later, I'm now running with that 4.16GHz


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 14, 2022)

Maenad said:


> I'll try that later, I'm now running with that 4.16GHz


Yeah. I kinda meant that 1.4v was pretty high for just 4.1.
What cooler?


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 15, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Yeah. I kinda meant that 1.4v was pretty high for just 4.1.
> What cooler?


Alphacool Eisbaer with a 140x55mm rad & Corsair SP140 LED fan.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 15, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Alphacool Eisbaer with a 140x55mm rad & Corsair SP140 LED fan.


I was going to ask about your cooling, but this should be more than good. MrScott might be right, silicon lottery just wasn't in favor of that CPU.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You're Welcome! No worries.


I tried to put the the service pack 4 on there but it did not work 







 As you can see in his video he has two folders on there where as i just had one on the desktop .And nothing else when it rebooted .That was just one file which i extracted.
I had burned the full version of it all fine.I decided to delete the version of XP i had on there.I tried to replace it with the full version of XP SP4 ,but when i tried to put it on my PC  it said *There Is No Disk in the Drive. Please Insert a Disk into Drive*  I thought i would try the dvd i had got it on here earlier and lo and behold it worked. Why did the other disc give me that message?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 15, 2022)

Crappy reader.
Just so you know, there was no official SP4. Somebody made that out of SP3 and nlited all of the last updates.
Not knowing how it was built, I would avoid it and just use a legit SP3 iso.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 15, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Crappy reader.
> Just so you know, there was no official SP4. Somebody made that out of SP3 and nlited all of the last updates.
> Not knowing how it was built, I would avoid it and just use a legit SP3 iso.


Well, it does not work on my PC anyway. Where can I get these drivers? Snappy drivers failed to get them. I got the GTX ones myself. Will I be able to get them on with this?Windows Driver Disc - For systems running Windows XP, Vista, 7 & 8 - 32 & 64 Bit
Where can I get a Realtek Ethernet controller 32bit XP  Dell will I be able to install it from the driver pack above?  I got one for Windows7  64 no good for this one of course.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Will I be able to get them on with this?Windows Driver Disc - For systems running Windows XP, Vista, 7 & 8 - 32 & 64 Bit



Hmm, possibly. Do you have that disc, or is it just for reference?

I specifically have not heard of that but it might have the drivers needed for your system.

Might also check this site:





__





						VOGONS Vintage Driver Library
					





					www.vogonsdrivers.com
				




That is a link, thanks to @Trekkie4 , that has tons of nostalgic drivers for motherboards, CPU's, etc...


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 15, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm, possibly. Do you have that disc, or is it just for reference?
> 
> I specifically have not heard of that but it might have the drivers needed for your system.
> 
> ...


Just for reference ,i have not idea how they work That is a lot of drivers to sort through, thanks anyway.


----------



## stef (Jan 15, 2022)

I have taken apart P3 550 ... and destroyed plastic clips holding the heatsink in the process .
Arctic thermal pads (1mm) on L2 cache and 2mm spongy furniture pads on the other side to help even out the pressure, some M3 screws and butterfly nuts:














Works great .


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 15, 2022)

stef said:


> I have taken apart P3 550 ... and destroyed plastic clips holding the heatsink in the process .
> Arctic thermal pads (1mm) on L2 cache and 2mm spongy furniture pads on the other side to help even out the pressure, some M3 screws and butterfly nuts:
> View attachment 232531
> 
> ...


Nice job!
I run mine plasticless. Bolt on heatsink similarly to you using nylon hardware. Also run them on the chiller using the 'clamp' method. lol


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 15, 2022)

stef said:


> I have taken apart P3 550 ... and destroyed plastic clips holding the heatsink in the process .
> Arctic thermal pads (1mm) on L2 cache and 2mm spongy furniture pads on the other side to help even out the pressure, some M3 screws and butterfly nuts:
> View attachment 232531
> 
> ...


That looks hella cool with bolts and wingnuts, gives it a little industrial look.


----------



## stef (Jan 15, 2022)

Thumb nuts would look even better . Like this:








						5.99US $ |Tuerca moleteada de acero inoxidable, rosca de paso a través de la mano, para apretar el pulgar, M3, M4, M5, M6, 20 Uds.|knurled nut|thumb nutm6 stainless - AliExpress
					

¡Compra fácil, vive mejor!  Aliexpress.com




					es.aliexpress.com


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Where can I get a Realtek Ethernet controller 32bit XP Dell


Try these:
https://www.realtek.com/en/directly-download?downloadid=eda0753fd48cd22792216744935751e9


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 16, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Try these:
> https://www.realtek.com/en/directly-download?downloadid=eda0753fd48cd22792216744935751e9


Thanks for that Bob I will give it a try These are the four drivers I need.


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that Bob I will give it a try These are the four drivers I need.


This is the audio driver:
https://dl.dell.com/audio/R299669.exe

This should take care of SM Bus and PCI Simple Communications Controllers:
https://dl.dell.com/chipset/Intel_Chipset-Software-Insta_A01_R301321.exe


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that Bob I will give it a try These are the four drivers I need.


What you need to do with offline systems like the one you're working on is download the full Snappy Driver set.


			https://sdi-tool.org/download/
		

That link has a torrent file that you can use. It's about 26GB. When finished you will be able to copy it to a spare USB drive. As SDI is and runs portable, you will be able to run it in place.



QuietBob said:


> This is the audio driver:
> https://dl.dell.com/audio/R299669.exe
> 
> This should take care of SM Bus and PCI Simple Communications Controllers:
> https://dl.dell.com/chipset/Intel_Chipset-Software-Insta_A01_R301321.exe


Wait, It's a Dell system?

@Greenslade
What's the model and service tag number for that system? With that info I can point you straight to the drivers you need for that system.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> What you need to do with offline systems like the one you're working on is download the full Snappy Driver set.
> 
> 
> https://sdi-tool.org/download/
> ...


INSPIRON 620 MT   42VP45J I have looked it up on the Dell site, this modal came with Windows 7.
This was the XP version I was after which worked with Easy2Boot.
Which is on here.
WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL SP3 X86 - INTEGRAL EDITION 2021.12.19​I am downloading this one, I did not realize you needed a VPN to download it. I have never needed it before to download iso,s It is not as if it is pirated copy.I have just downloaded it on my Mac it took no time at all. And yet it has only just started downloading on my Windows PC it says 15 days left?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> INSPIRON 620 MT 42VP45J


Ah! THIS is why you're having problems with XP drivers, there are none from Dell. Dell did not engineer this system with XP support. See for yourself;


			Support for Inspiron 620 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell US
		

That's not to say XP drivers don't exist for that system's components, just that Dell never bothered with them. 

Your best option is to do that full Snappy Driver Install download. If that doesn't work, you'll be limited to Windows 7 and above.

In future, if you want a rockin XP machine, get a Dell T3500 and an X5675 CPU. Paired with good GPU and 3x1GB of RAM(because X58 is triple channel and XP is 32bit), XP will run like a dream!


Greenslade said:


> WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL SP3 X86 - INTEGRAL EDITION 2021.12.19


See PM.


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> In future, if you want a rockin XP machine, get a Dell T3500 and an X5675 CPU. Paired with good GPU and 3x1GB of RAM(because X58 is triple channel and XP is 32bit), XP will run like a dream!


 32 bit XP may be limited to addressing 3.5GB of RAM. The 4GB limit was OK back when GPUs had 512Mb of RAM. But with newer GPUs having 2 GB and more there is an advantage to stepping up to 6GB of RAM or more if needed. The GPU takes memory addresses from the top down for texture caching. It can use the extra RAM. Anandtech had an article on this back in the day. The OS may have a RAM limit, but the computer, and the GPU don't share it.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah! THIS is why you're having problems with XP drivers, there are none from Dell. Dell did not engineer this system with XP support. See for yourself;
> 
> 
> Support for Inspiron 620 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell US
> ...





Retrorockit said:


> 32 bit XP may be limited to addressing 3.5GB of RAM. The 4GB limit was OK back when GPUs had 512Mb of RAM. But with newer GPUs having 2 GB and more there is an advantage to stepping up to 6GB of RAM or more if needed. The GPU takes memory addresses from the top down for texture caching. It can use the extra RAM. Anandtech had an article on this back in the day. The OS may have a RAM limit, but the computer, and the GPU don't share it.


I installed it but no sound   I see from Lex,s post I can get the sound driver but unfortunately, it want let me install the Pci.e usb3 drivers.Here it is 







 chromium-browser sucks I downloaded My pali wish i could get the PCI-e drivers to work.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I installed it but no sound   I see from Lex,s post I can get the sound driver but unfortunately, it want let me install the Pci.e usb3 drivers.Here it is
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah you might just need to reside yourself to modern Windows on that system.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah you might just need to reside yourself to modern Windows on that system.





lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah you might just need to reside yourself to modern Windows on that system.


No, I already have a good Windows10 PC HPZ230 with an E3-1246 v3
and a gtx1060.I only got the Dell for XP. Everything is Working on the integral
version. There is one thing though, Nvidia High Definition Audio Driver has an X on it? So what does the Nivida driver do? As I have sound anyway. Is the integral version of XP just an updated version of XP, does it work the same as the original version?.



Greenslade said:


> No, I already have a good Windows10 PC HPZ230 with an E3-1246 v3
> and a gtx1060.I only got the Dell for XP. Everything is Working on the integral
> version. There is one thing though, Nvidia High Definition Audio Driver has an X on it? So what does the Nivida driver do? As I have sound anyway. Is the integral version of XP just an updated version of XP, does it work the same as the original version?.


Snappy drivers got all the drivers except* Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller* failed to install error
PC & Laptop Driver Pack - Install & Update Drivers for Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 #
Reply from the seller
*Hi the disc can be used offline and should have the drivers you need. Feel free to buy and try if not we offer a full refund guarantee.*


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Nvidia High Definition Audio Driver has an X on it? So what does the Nivida driver do?


That's for HDMI audio out. If you're using the audio on the motherboard or a sound card, just leave it disabled.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's for HDMI audio out. If you're using the audio on the motherboard or a sound card, just leave it disabled.


Exactly. I did the opposite on my X58 system as I disabled the onboard audio as I use a TV as a monitor.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Exactly. I did the opposite on my X58 system as I disabled the onboard audio as I use a TV as a monitor.


Even when I was using a TV for a monitor a good while ago, I was like, "No way that I'm using anything other than my SoundBlaster ZXR or good onboard audio!", as I also wanted to use my stereo receiver for my PC audio. (either that or at least the Logitech Z506 speaker system)


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Even when I was using a TV for a monitor a good while ago, I was like, "No way that I'm using anything other than my SoundBlaster ZXR or good onboard audio!", as I also wanted to use my stereo receiver for my PC audio. (either that or at least the Logitech Z506 speaker system)


Yeah I have no speakers anyway and actually my TV's speakers are fine. And also I live in a pretty small apartment so there's not even room for any hifi equipment


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Yeah I have no speakers anyway and actually my TV's speakers are fine. And also I live in a pretty small apartment so there's not even room for any hifi equipment


Even the TV speakers, especially on better-spec'ed TVs, will sound better than the typical tiny speakers that came with 486 PCs in the mid-1990s at my last school-type-setting, LOL. Those speakers sucked!
They sounded like the tiny speakers that I hooked to my bike rack, back in 1992, briefly.


----------



## Bungz (Jan 18, 2022)

X800Xt AIW
2 x 9800Pros ( wonder if I have double figures of these yet lol)
Winfast Geforce 3 Ti200


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2022)

Bungz said:


> X800Xt AIW
> 2 x 9800Pros ( wonder if I have double figures of these yet lol)
> Winfast Geforce 3 Ti200
> 
> View attachment 232969


I have to admit that I'm a little jealous of those gems


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 18, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm, possibly. Do you have that disc, or is it just for reference?
> 
> I specifically have not heard of that but it might have the drivers needed for your system.
> 
> ...


Pretty sure I wasn't the first one in this thread to mention Vogons Drivers, but thank you regardless   


stef said:


> I have taken apart P3 550 ... and destroyed plastic clips holding the heatsink in the process .
> Arctic thermal pads (1mm) on L2 cache and 2mm spongy furniture pads on the other side to help even out the pressure, some M3 screws and butterfly nuts:
> View attachment 232531
> 
> ...


As I told Stef recently on another forum, I once did the very same mistake on my PIII 500 cartridge. These are not meant to be taken apart. So if you ever need to clean them for whatever the reason or to wash all the dust from inside the heatsink just keep everything together, as it won't hurt the CPU. But before you plug it back in, make ABSOLUTELY sure that the CPU is dry.



stef said:


> Thumb nuts would look even better . Like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Give it a try HERE and HERE ... depending on which design you prefer. Since the plastic shroud is black, I would personally go with either black or black zinc, depending on a model 

So, it's been a while since I last posted in here... Had a crapload of problems (still do, tbh), but I'm trying to get back on track. So many hardware components to talk about, but for now I'm just going to leave you drooling over this beautiful Asus V8200 Deluxe, GForce 3 Ti200


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, it's been a while since I last posted in here... Had a crapload of problems (still do, tbh), but I'm trying to get back on track. So many hardware components to talk about, but for now I'm just going to leave you drooling over this beautiful Asus V8200 Deluxe, GForce 3 Ti200


Does it OC to Ti 500 clocks?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Does it OC to Ti 500 clocks?


Honestly, I have no idea... It's still sitting there, on top of my desk & waiting to be paired with Asus P4B & Pentium 4 @ 2.6GHz. But yes, I will definitely give it a try eventually


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Honestly, I have no idea... It's still sitting there, on top of my desk & waiting to be paired with Asus P4B & Pentium 4 @ 2.6GHz. But yes, I will definitely give it a try eventually


Repaste it and let's have a battle, I have an ELSA GF3 Ti 200 which clocks between GF3 and Ti 500 clocks


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Repaste it and let's have a battle, I have an ELSA GF3 Ti 200 which clocks between GF3 and Ti 500 clocks


Actually, there's no need to repaste anything, as @stef here already took the liberty of doing so, himself. I gave him my Leadtek WinFast A280 GF4 Ti4200 in exchange (while he gave me V8200), so everyone's happy 

You're welcome to compare the specs of the two cards, this HERE is the link to official (Asus) website where you can probably find all the specs & manual...

Oh, and before I forget... I'm waiting for something really special. Some of you may have already guessed it ... yup, yet another Adison! Sadly, this thing is entirely chopped up & drilled all over ... not to mention painted entirely in black. So I'm not sure if I'll be able to revert the case back to its factory look. Nevertheless, it does look cool and has some pretty interesting components inside. Abit IS7 mobo with some generic, low end graphics - Radeon 9800 Pro


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No, I already have a good Windows10 PC HPZ230 with an E3-1246 v3
> and a gtx1060.I only got the Dell for XP. Everything is Working on the integral
> version. There is one thing though, Nvidia High Definition Audio Driver has an X on it? So what does the Nivida driver do? As I have sound anyway. Is the integral version of XP just an updated version of XP, does it work the same as the original version?.
> 
> ...





lexluthermiester said:


> That's for HDMI audio out. If you're using the audio on the motherboard or a sound card, just leave it disabled.





lexluthermiester said:


> That's for HDMI audio out. If you're using the audio on the motherboard or a sound card, just leave it disabled.


Thanks for that.I was wondering if there is a way to copy the Ethernet controller from
my integral version  XP to my normal XP? 365  is the one I need for the normal version of XP. Unfortunately, I can,t copy that very long number.I have looked it up but I could not find the exact number366 is showing that Snappy drivers got it in the integral version of XP..Why could Snappy Drivers fail to get it on the original XP? It said there was an error It has got to be the same driverIs the integral XP version the same as the original XP version but just an updated version, or a new clone version of it? If it is an updated version of it I want bother about the original version.If you see what I mean.
373 failed to install error   DP-LAN-Realtek-XP-21120.7z


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2022)

@Trekkie4 our cards probably share the same basic specs, I'm just wondering that would my only AGP setup be too powerful as I have only an Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA and AM2 Athlon X2s and Phenoms/Phenom IIs for CPUs


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> @Trekkie4 our cards probably share the same basic specs, I'm just wondering that would my only AGP setup be too powerful as I have only an Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA and AM2 Athlon X2s and Phenoms/Phenom IIs for CPUs


Nice. Maybe you like to go head to head with me sometime? I have same hardware.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nice. Maybe you like to go head to head with me sometime? I have same hardware.


You're welcome!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> @Trekkie4 our cards probably share the same basic specs, I'm just wondering that would my only AGP setup be too powerful as I have only an Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA and AM2 Athlon X2s and Phenoms/Phenom IIs for CPUs


Most of them do, yeah. Although, from what I remember, Asus used custom clocks for some of their cards. Such as V3800, TNT2 for example. Their TNT2 Pro is somewhere between M64 and reference card, nVidia TNT2 Pro. Of course, it had a great OC potential & could be boosted way up to the "Ultra" specs, but that is beside the point.

On the other hand, I was recently given Asus Radeon 5670 which according to some bench tests actually performs much, MUCH better than reference card due to memory clock (1000MHz ) and DDR3 VRAM.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 18, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Most of them do, yeah. Although, from what I remember, Asus used custom clocks for some of their cards. Such as V3800, TNT2 for example. Their TNT2 Pro is somewhere between M64 and reference card, nVidia TNT2 Pro. Of course, it had a great OC potential & could be boosted way up to the "Ultra" specs, but that is beside the point.
> 
> On the other hand, I was recently given Asus Radeon 5670 which according to some bench tests actually performs much, MUCH better than reference card due to memory clock (1000MHz ) and DDR3 VRAM.


Never had a proper TNT2, I could try my Vanta-16 tho too then we we're going to have our battle!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Never had a proper TNT2, I could try my Vanta-16 tho too then we we're going to have our battle!


Okay lol, I can even give you some of my earlier bench tests featuring TNT2 (Pro), GF2 GTS in addition to Ti200 which I'm hopefully going to bench test within the next couple of weeks 

But do keep in mind that most of my cards (if not all) are paired with chronologically-appropriate CPUs. TNT2 is currently paired with Tualatin 1.4 (through the slocket adapter & into Slot 1 motherboard), and Ti200 will be paired with previously-mentioned P4 @2.6GHz. Meaning that you're most likely going to wipe me in all the bench tests due to faster processor.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 18, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Even when I was using a TV for a monitor a good while ago, I was like, "No way that I'm using anything other than my SoundBlaster ZXR or good onboard audio!", as I also wanted to use my stereo receiver for my PC audio. (either that or at least the Logitech Z506 speaker system)


That is how I run my systems. speaker built into displays are passable in a pinch, but not for daily driving. My main use system has a JVC mini surround system. My gaming rig has a similar mini surround system but from Pioneer. The PC in the family room has a full featured Onkyo 7.1 surround system. They all have dedicated SoundBlaster cards.



RJARRRPCGP said:


> Even the TV speakers, especially on better-spec'ed TVs, will sound better than the typical tiny speakers that came with 486 PCs in the mid-1990s at my last school-type-setting, LOL.


While this is very true, it doesn't make them good.



Bungz said:


> X800Xt AIW
> 2 x 9800Pros ( wonder if I have double figures of these yet lol)
> Winfast Geforce 3 Ti200
> 
> View attachment 232969


That AllInWonder-X800 is especially nice!



Greenslade said:


> Why could Snappy Drivers fail to get it on the original XP?


To be honest, I'm not sure. While I don't use SDI very often, it has never failed to find a driver.


Greenslade said:


> It said there was an error It has got to be the same driverIs the integral XP version the same as the original XP version but just an updated version, or a new clone version of it?


Again, not sure. If Integral is working for you, stick with it. Those guys work hard to keep things clean and tidy. You have nothing to worry about using it.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 18, 2022)

Maenad said:


> Never had a proper TNT2, I could try my Vanta-16 tho too then we we're going to have our battle!


You won't get much out of the Vanta they're TNT2's poorest cousin they require far to much voltage to get anywhere and heat up like a volcano shortly before they go poof


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 18, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> You won't get much out of the Vanta they're TNT2's poorest cousin they require far to much voltage to get anywhere and heat up like a volcano shortly before they go poof


I never had that experience. Vanta's were a solid mid-tier option and OC'd well for me.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I never had that experience. Vanta's were a solid mid-tier option and OC'd well for me.


You must have gotten all the good ones because all the Vanta's I ever owned (6) were rubbish OC'ers needing way to much voltage and way to much cooling al the TNT2 Pro's I had were great though


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 18, 2022)

TNT2 Pro, TNT2 M64 and Vanta are three different cards, so let's not mix apples and oranges. Basic, most cheapest of the bunch was "Vanta". These usually came without the heatsink and had next to nothing when it came to additional features. I've seen most of them inside HP (Vectra?) units from that time, it served as a low cost video output adapter.

The second model is going to be M64, which is (I believe) what lex is talking about. Slightly beefier specs, usually with TV-Out and proper, active (or at least passive) cooling solution. These could be OCed, but were obviously not a match for genuine TNT2 Pro.

The next official step up is TNT 2 Pro ... although I've seen Asus cards, such as my V3800 which are actually TNT 2 without "Pro", kinda between the M64 and TNT2 Pro. Apart from Pro, there is only TNT2 Ultra, the ultimate TNT2 experience


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 18, 2022)

Does anyone have experience with Tiny XP vs. Micro XP as a benching platform? I got TinyXP Beast Edition II and MicroXP v0.86 from the eXperience Multi-boot CD. I'd set up both and test them against one another, but I'd rather save the time if someone has already done so.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 18, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Does anyone have experience with Tiny XP vs. Micro XP as a benching platform? I got TinyXP Beast Edition II and MicroXP v0.86 from the eXperience Multi-boot CD. I'd set up both and test them against one another, but I'd rather save the time if someone has already done so.


Never heard of them. Sounds interesting though.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 18, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Does anyone have experience with Tiny XP vs. Micro XP as a benching platform? I got TinyXP Beast Edition II and MicroXP v0.86 from the eXperience Multi-boot CD. I'd set up both and test them against one another, but I'd rather save the time if someone has already done so.


TinyXP rev. 09 is the fastest.  Come see me if you need a copy.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 18, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> TinyXP rev. 09 is the fastest.  Come see me if you need a copy.


I think I found it.








						Tiny XP Rev 11 Multi Incl Tiny B II And Micro XP 086 E XPerience 2010 : eXPerience : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
					

eXPerience Presents...  Windows TinyXP Rev11 - September 2010 ________________________________________________________________________ This CD includes 10...



					archive.org
				



And this is Rev11


----------



## Bones (Jan 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I think I found it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





JohnnyBhoy said:


> Just an update. It was the motherboard.
> 
> My new board solved everything. I also tested the old CPU in it and it works.. So it seems my faulty board did not take my CPU out with it as well which is what worried me.
> 
> ...


I have both, Tiny XP 9 and 11 and 9 is the better of the two. 
11 isn't "Bad" and works well itself but has a little more that was left in vs what 9 has, meaning a few more processes have to be managed to get the most out of it... And it still comes up just a hair short of what 9 can do. 
Either way you'll be fine though.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I think I found it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is the one I got. But I would assume that Rev.11 includes too many updates as its the latest version and thus might be slower compared to Rev.9.

Anyhow, MicroXP still boasts even less RAM usage after clean install compared to TinyXP so I'll test them anyway.

I just struggle with XP once more, it refuses to install from CD and USB. Setup starts but then the Windows N upgrade error message shows, which usually indiciates a missing driver for e.g. AHCI but I run this board in IDE mode only...
Me and XP will not be friends it seems. I now added the drivers via nLite but still no luck. I'm a bit clueless whats going on, maybe its a DFI thing and I gotta try a different board. I remember from using a Gigabyte last year it was less of a struggle.

EDIT: Found an ominous 'USETHISFORXP.inf' deep in my various benchsetup folders. Adding this to the install worked, can even install it from USB in AHCI now. If only I had seen that 2 hours earlier.

EDIT2: Yeah no, now its crying about a Hal.dll missing. It is actually where it should be, the OS just can't seem to find it during boot. All files are there it just wont boot. I hate XP. Arch-Linux will atleast work after some effort, but XP just gives you the finger.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 19, 2022)

Bones said:


> I have both, Tiny XP 9 and 11 and 9 is the better of the two.


Fair enough. Have never seen it before.



Dinnercore said:


> That is the one I got. But I would assume that Rev.11 includes too many updates as its the latest version and thus might be slower compared to Rev.9.


Assuming you keep it completely offline, having the latest updates would be of no consequence.



Dinnercore said:


> Me and XP will not be friends it seems.


We may have touched on this already, but have you given Integral Edition a try? It's my go-to XP version. It's not the lightest version out there but it's dead easy to use and has all of the basic drivers included.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> We may have touched on this already, but have you given Integral Edition a try? It's my go-to XP version. It's not the lightest version out there but it's dead easy to use and has all of the basic drivers included.


I would probably have less trouble with that, but I try to figure this out because I want to bench on this system and I need every last bit of possible optimisation. XP already helps a ton with RAM heavy benches like SuperPI and it also proves a tiny bit more stable, since it only takes a few MB active RAM to run. And I'd like to keep that number as low as possible.

I'll check the boot.ini and bcd for the error regarding a missing hal.dll and hope I can somehow find a good way to get these MicroXP builds running on SATA drives. It's just painful the first time through I hope, once I got the process written down I'll be fine.


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 21, 2022)

I'm looking at doing some tapemod (VID and BSEL) overclock projects. Many  of them will be 200fsb, or 266fsb C2D to 333fsb. The problem is all of the under 333fsb CPUs don't support SSE4.
There will be a couple of 333fsb to 400fsb mods too with SSE4. But not many OEM motherboards support that speed.
So what would SSE3 be good for, and what won't it do?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 21, 2022)

Here's something Nostalgic for everyone.








Ah that Quantum Bigfoot drive noise.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 21, 2022)

I got my XP versions up and running. Even if USB installs are very convienient, they are not worth the hassle. It was also a pain to integrate the optical drive on my testbench setup, but in the end that fixed most of the remaining headaches.

These tests were done with the exact same hardware settings with SuperPI 32M:

MicroXP: 12m 34.938s
TinyXP Rev.11: 12m 33.610s

Win7 control: 12m 31s

So if you don't run any tweaks, not even TinyXP is faster then Windows 7. BUT there are some tweaks you can run, that are just not possible with Windows 7. Partly due to RAM size limitation, partly due to the OS itself.

MicroXP with maxmem, in diagnostic mode and launching SPI from a tiny ramdisk: 12m 18.609s

Did not even include the OCX tweaker yet, as I forgot to set up another partition for copy waza. Also there is another small tool I saw Luumi use that I want to try too.


----------



## stinger608 (Jan 22, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm looking at doing some tapemod (VID and BSEL) overclock projects. Many  of them will be 200fsb, or 266fsb C2D to 333fsb. The problem is all of the under 333fsb CPUs don't support SSE4.
> There will be a couple of 333fsb to 400fsb mods too with SSE4. But not many OEM motherboards support that speed.
> So what would SSE3 be good for, and what won't it do?



Dang, you bring up some good and interesting points man!!!!!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 22, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I got my XP versions up and running. Even if USB installs are very convienient, they are not worth the hassle. It was also a pain to integrate the optical drive on my testbench setup, but in the end that fixed most of the remaining headaches.
> 
> These tests were done with the exact same hardware settings with SuperPI 32M:
> 
> ...


The takeaway I'm getting is that these micro-distros of XP don't really provide a performance boost so much as they are able to run on systems that have low amounts of RAM and drive space. Thinking I'm going to stick with Integral Edition.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 22, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The takeaway I'm getting is that these micro-distros XP don't really provide a performance boost so much as they are able to run on system that have low amounts of RAM and drive space. Thinking I'm going to stick with Integral Edition.


Yeah I would also advise for 'normal retro use' to stick to full size versions. You need to really limit your hardware in terms of RAM and specs if you want to see an improvement in games:

Numbers at ~ 1:40









The specs of the system in the video include an AMD Athlon 1800+ with 768mb RAM.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 22, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> The specs of the system in the video include an AMD Athlon 1800+ with 768mb RAM.


Oh yeah, that's WAY old hardware. The machines I run XP on are quad and hex core CPU's with a minimum of 3 GB of RAM. For an AthlonXP and 768MB of RAM, I would go with a Win9X kernel based OS. But that's just me.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 22, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Here's something Nostalgic for everyone.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I personally prefer 3.5" Fireball Series!

Either way, thank you for sharing this clip. I got couple of Quantum drives myself and always find myself enjoying their ... unique sound


----------



## seth1911 (Jan 22, 2022)

I had a few days ago a GTX 460 2win from EVGA here to repair and forgot to make a pic, here it is, it is a card with 2 GF 104 Chips


----------



## agent_x007 (Jan 22, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I'm looking at doing some tapemod (VID and BSEL) overclock projects. Many  of them will be 200fsb, or 266fsb C2D to 333fsb. *The problem is all of the under 333fsb CPUs don't support SSE4.*


Core 2 Duo E7xx0 series supports SSE4.1, and uses 1066MHz FSB.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 22, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The takeaway I'm getting is that these micro-distros XP don't really provide a performance boost so much as they are able to run on system that have low amounts of RAM and drive space. Thinking I'm going to stick with Integral Edition.


The Tiny's and Micro's are not recommended for daily usage. They are partially stripped for size and ram is all. They are mostly used in benchmarking applications, and even then, I usually strip those down even further.
Done properly, they are most definitely faster than a full bloat OS.


----------



## stef (Jan 22, 2022)

seth1911 said:


> I had a few days ago a GTX 460 2win from EVGA here to repair and forgot to make a pic, here it is, it is a card with 2 GF 104 Chips
> 
> View attachment 233498



Very nice example. Ticks all the right boxes.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 22, 2022)

seth1911 said:


> I had a few days ago a GTX 460 2win from EVGA here to repair and forgot to make a pic, here it is, it is a card with 2 GF 104 Chips
> 
> View attachment 233498


That was a great card BITD. Still is for a solid amount of semi-retro computing. I imagine it'll still run most modern games on lowered settings in DX11.


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 22, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> Core 2 Duo E7xx0 series supports SSE4.1, and uses 1066MHz FSB.


You're right they do. That get's me to 3.83GHz on tape and 333fsb. Thanks for that .Maybe the 4 core stuff got me confused.
I was looking to go past 4GHz on 333fsb and the 200fsb stuff including the E6500K don't have it. The older 65nm don't either.
But it gives me some nice options on a 400fsb systems. E8600@4GHZ, and E7600 up to 4.6GHz.
I want to hit 4GHz on a Dell Optiplex LGA775 computer and I'm going to lose SSE4 to do it. I guess that's what I was looking at.
But still how bad is SSE3? What would I be giving up to break the 4G barrier?


----------



## QuietBob (Jan 22, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> But still how bad is SSE3? What would I be giving up to break the 4G barrier?


Apart from some new software that needs SSE 4.1 I don't think you're going to lose any functionality. Not even Windows 10 requires it for installation. SSE 4.1 may be required by some benchmarks, though, or they may yield higher scores when utilizing it.


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 22, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Apart from some new software that needs SSE 4.1 I don't think you're going to lose any functionality. Not even Windows 10 requires it for installation. SSE 4.1 may be required by some benchmarks, though, or they may yield higher scores when utilizing it.


As usual I'll probably find out the hard way.  Thanks for the repl;y.

Then there's this little gem. It's clear as mud to me. SSE4.2 fix for older CPUs.









						Steam Community :: Guide :: SSE4.2 fix (help for old CPU without this instruction)
					

Guide for these who have old CPU without SSE4.2 instruction. Work on 100%...




					steamcommunity.com


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah you might just need to reside yourself to modern Windows on that system.


Windows Intergral both the may and the September Editions , came up with the blue screen message about having to shut down because it could harm my PC. I think the problem was the PCIe Usb hub it did not want to install.Meanwhile i put the one Mr Scott recommend back on here.Rerun the Snappy Drivers everything instaled with no problem, even the PCIe usb hub.What i would like to say is the Intergral versions have to much new stuff in them which is not needed for me.Chromium-browse is not my cup of tea. My Pal is the best for XP.And the one Mr Scott recommend is the best one for meBasic is beat for meI have Windows7 on another drive in the PC.I was trying to get a dual boot with XP.But had no success.I suppose it is best to have them on separate drives.Here is my fav Aussie
YouTuber here he is with XP and my GTX960 all though he is using Haswell where as i am using Sandy Bridge. 







 good stuff as usual


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Windows Intergral both the may and the September Editions , came up with the blue screen message about having to shut down because it could harm my PC. I think the problem was the PCIe Usb hub it did not want to install.Meanwhile i put the one Mr Scott recommend back on here.Rerun the Snappy Drivers everything instaled with no problem, even the PCIe usb hub.What i would like to say is the Intergral versions have to much new stuff in them which is not needed for me.Chromium-browse is not my cup of tea. My Pal is the best for XP.And the one Mr Scott recommend is the best one for meBasic is beat for meI have Windows7 on another drive in the PC.I was trying to get a dual boot with XP.But had no success.I suppose it is best to have them on separate drives.Here is my fav Aussie
> YouTuber here he is with XP and my GTX960 all though he is using Haswell where as i am using Sandy Bridge.
> 
> 
> ...


Yup.
Old man don't know nuthin. Just talks to hear himself talk.

BTW, I acquired a VooDoo 4500 in PCI flavor the other day out of a box of junk. Good shape and here's a quick bench with a light overclock.


----------



## stef (Jan 23, 2022)

Pic of the card?


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 23, 2022)

I got lucky and found another decent DDR2 set.

For me this was a weird find, first time I have seen this style heatspreader on a Kingston 9600 kit. Also the SPD has no profile relating to the sticker, it just reads standard 4-4-4 667 and 5-5-5 800. 





It does perform fine, just a little worse compared to my other KHX9600 kit. On another note, I love my DFI JR P45-T2R. Just that E8400 is a bad sample.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 23, 2022)

stef said:


> Pic of the card?


That would have been nice, right?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Windows Intergral both the may and the September Editions


What I want to know is where you find your newer version of Integral? I newest one I can find is May of 2021. But you've mentioned both Sept and Dec. Where are you finding them?



Mr.Scott said:


> BTW, I acquired a VooDoo 4500 in PCI flavor the other day out of a box of junk.


That is a great card for system with no AGP! One of the best!



Mr.Scott said:


> That would have been nice, right?
> 
> 
> View attachment 233635


Yeah, pics can be nice.


----------



## stef (Jan 24, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> That would have been nice, right?
> 
> 
> View attachment 233635



Great looking card. I missed my oportunity at Amibay about a year ago. Prices are crazy unreal today. Brand spanking new cards from "russian" guy are cheaper then 20y old ones. And he's doing like batch of 10s maybe with all the bells and whistles (silent coolers, working HDMI and double the VRAM).

One new card from me (Radeon X1950 Pro Ultimate):




I like simplicity and functionality of it. Very cool card temperature-wise (46°C max during UT3).
What do you think would be best platform for it, LGA775 or s939 .... pure PCIe or ambidexterous (AGP + PCIe)?


----------



## Yukikaze (Jan 24, 2022)

I have a thing for old small form-factor systems, and I always wanted a Pico-ITX one. This one was rescued off ebay from a seller in Romania for peanuts. It stunk of cigarettes to high heaven, but is otherwise functional. It is a Via Artigo A1150, powered by a 40nm Via Eden x2 U4200 CPU with two cores running at 1Ghz. In this photo it sits on top of a Mac Mini. It is pretty tiny:




After a good cleaning of everything that could be cleaned and replacement of all (extremely old, and extremely stinky) thermal pads and paste, I plugged in a KingDian H100 32GB SSD (don't ask why I have that piece of crap in the first place, but its good enough to run Linux on) and fired it up.




I had Win10 from another tinkering session on that SSD, and amusingly enough it booted just fine. Don't try this at home, since it is slow as hell, but boots!




The permanent, and much more sane, OS is going to be Ubuntu Mate but a CPU-Z screenie is fun to have


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 24, 2022)

Has anyone. tried this  







 i will try it on VM Fusion on my 27 IMac.This guy does good Videos  on Retro stuff


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2022)

Yukikaze said:


> The permanent, and much more sane, OS is going to be Ubuntu Mate but a CPU-Z screenie is fun to have


Mint XFCE would be a better choice as XFCE is a much more lean desktop UI. Only a suggestion though...


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 24, 2022)

Yukikaze said:


> I have a thing for old small form-factor systems, and I always wanted a Pico-ITX one. This one was rescued off ebay from a seller in Romania for peanuts. It stunk of cigarettes to high heaven, but is otherwise functional. It is a Via Artigo A1150, powered by a 40nm Via Eden x2 U4200 CPU with two cores running at 1Ghz. In this photo it sits on top of a Mac Mini. It is pretty tiny:
> View attachment 233699
> 
> After a good cleaning of everything that could be cleaned and replacement of all (extremely old, and extremely stinky) thermal pads and paste, I plugged in a KingDian H100 32GB SSD (don't ask why I have that piece of crap in the first place, but its good enough to run Linux on) and fired it up.
> ...


KingDian  SSD,s get good reviews on Amazon, I did not see a 32gb one though.Here is a review of it on yourube








 only one review of it on Amazon 32gb.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Mint XFCE would be a better choice as XFCE is a much more lean desktop UI. Only a suggestion though...


Xubuntu (also XFCE) and PeppermintOS are also good alternatives


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 24, 2022)

stef said:


> Great looking card. I missed my oportunity at Amibay about a year ago. Prices are crazy unreal today. Brand spanking new cards from "russian" guy are cheaper then 20y old ones. And he's doing like batch of 10s maybe with all the bells and whistles (silent coolers, working HDMI and double the VRAM).
> 
> One new card from me (Radeon X1950 Pro Ultimate):
> View attachment 233683
> ...


I would pair it with a first or second gen Core2Duo.  It would be a great match with an E6600 or E8500.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Xubuntu (also XFCE) and PeppermintOS are also good alternatives


True!


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 24, 2022)

Looking further into the SSE4 question, I found Intel SDE.








						Intel® Software Development Emulator
					

Product overview for the Intel® Software Development Emulator (Intel® SDE).




					www.intel.com
				



It appears to add SSE4.2 and AVX support to ANY x64 CPU. AMD, P4, whatever. At least that's what I think it says.
Some AMD guys at Steams say it gives them SSE4 support. Spoofs the CPUID to show the change too.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 24, 2022)

Yukikaze said:


> I have a thing for old small form-factor systems, and I always wanted a Pico-ITX one. This one was rescued off ebay from a seller in Romania for peanuts. It stunk of cigarettes to high heaven, but is otherwise functional. It is a Via Artigo A1150, powered by a 40nm Via Eden x2 U4200 CPU with two cores running at 1Ghz. In this photo it sits on top of a Mac Mini. It is pretty tiny:
> View attachment 233699
> 
> After a good cleaning of everything that could be cleaned and replacement of all (extremely old, and extremely stinky) thermal pads and paste, I plugged in a KingDian H100 32GB SSD (don't ask why I have that piece of crap in the first place, but its good enough to run Linux on) and fired it up.
> ...


Interesting. I have something similar. 








						VIA's EPIA-M10000 platform
					

Manufacturer VIA Model EPIA-M10000 Pro Price (street) US$162 Availability Now HOW FAST is fast enough? How much power does one need for basic office applications? What about high quality DivX...




					techreport.com


----------



## pavle (Jan 24, 2022)

Last part of my AA on GeForce's research - here are some pics of my "new" Gainward GTX 275.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 24, 2022)

I am after an XP  32 bt GPU benchmark tester , Unigine Heaven Benchmark is 64bt.


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am after an XP  32 bt GPU benchmark tester , Unigine Heaven Benchmark is 64bt.


Lots of old Future Mark benches you can download. 








						Futuremark Legacy Benchmarks
					

Download legacy versions of 3DMark, PCMark, and other Futuremark benchmarks for free.




					benchmarks.ul.com


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am after an XP  32 bt GPU benchmark tester , Unigine Heaven Benchmark is 64bt.


For XP 32bit I would suggest 3D06


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Lots of old Future Mark benches you can download.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And they're not gimped in any way.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 24, 2022)

I got this beauty in a few days ago, but only today did I refresh it with some Arctic APT2560 pads & MX-4. I managed to get it for way cheaper than most other 4870x2's, at least what I saw on eBay, so I assumed there had to be something wrong with it. Of course, there was, luckily easy to repair and not a dead GPU. The fan's bearing had just begun to go and was quite loud and obnoxious. I don't mind fan noise, but bad bearing noise is terrible. For some reason it was hard for me to find a new 1.0A fan that would fit in there online, most were twice the price of say a HD5870 fan (0.8A and red). Luckily I had a spare new FirstDo 0.8A ATI fan laying around, and that spun right up no problem. This is an oddball now, it's supposed to be a black fan and HIS branded 

Also grabbed an actually sealed V8600, I think I'm gonna leave it in there for now! A present for a few years from now, I have a different V8600 which will whet my curiosity for the time being.








May follow up with my 4870x2 overclocking efforts, as long as the VRM doesn't try to nuke itself like the HD5970 I think it'll be okay


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 25, 2022)

I was playing with my AMD APU A10-6800k & ran 3dMark03 at stock.  Then I added in an HD 7750 & set up hybrid Xfire.  Otherwise, everything was still stock and I was a little surprised with the result!  Planning to see what kind of overclocks I can get with a meh motherboard & a meh APU cooler.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 25, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Lots of old Future Mark benches you can download.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks very much.hope your day is going well.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 25, 2022)

Grabbed a few more E8500s. I'm not sure yet how many Wolfdales are enough for me, but it can't hurt to have another tray.





And also got some new old stock DDR heatsinks:





Not sure what it is about RAM heatsinks in particular that I love, but I'd take these over any CPU cooler for my collection.


----------



## basco (Jan 25, 2022)

hey dinner i hope these are all stepping E0 for high fsb clocking.
C0 does not even come close from my experience.

aahhh good times when stepping meant something !


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 25, 2022)

Well my Hybrid Xfire quit working, not sure why.  I need to reinstall Win10 anyway - I found an inexpensive SSD to replace the spinner HHD.


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 25, 2022)

basco said:


> hey dinner i hope these are all stepping E0 for high fsb clocking.
> C0 does not even come close from my experience.
> 
> aahhh good times when stepping meant something !


Yeah I know, I was a bit nervous about that. Source did not specify the stepping but in the end I got 19 E0 and only 2 C0 stepping.


----------



## basco (Jan 25, 2022)

i wish ya a 700 fsb chip if ya have the mainboard for it


----------



## Dinnercore (Jan 25, 2022)

basco said:


> i wish ya a 700 fsb chip if ya have the mainboard for it


Thats a goal on my list. But it's also depending on my RAM too, since I'm weird and like DDR2. 









						Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 4763.3 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[kxabjw] Validated Dump by Osmium-OC (2020-08-04 18:51:42) - MB: Gigabyte EP45-EXTREME - RAM: 1024 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				




This is how far I've gotten in the past.


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 25, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Grabbed a few more E8500s. I'm not sure yet how many Wolfdales are enough for me, but it can't hurt to have another tray.


 The E7600 is R0 stepping. The E7500 will BSEL tapemod to 3.67GHz. But not all of the E7600 will make it to 3.83GHz on stock Voltage.. Now that would be a good reason to buy a tray of them!



Retrorockit said:


> It appears to add SSE4.2 and AVX support to ANY x64 CPU. AMD, P4, whatever. At least that's what I think it says.
> Some AMD guys at Steams say it gives them SSE4 support. Spoofs the CPUID to show the change too.


 I got some feedback on Intel SDE at OCN X58 Xeon club. A user there (The OP of X58 Xeon Club) says he used it and it's terribly slow for gaming.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 26, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> Retrorockit said:
> 
> 
> > The E7600 is R0 stepping. The E7500 will BSEL tapemod to 3.67GHz. But not all of the E7600 will make it to 3.83GHz on stock Voltage.. Now that would be a good reason to buy a tray of them!
> ...





Retrorockit said:


> The E7600 is R0 stepping. The E7500 will BSEL tapemod to 3.67GHz. But not all of the E7600 will make it to 3.83GHz on stock Voltage.. Now that would be a good reason to buy a tray of them!
> 
> 
> I got some feedback on Intel SDE at OCN X58 Xeon club. A user there (The OP of X58 Xeon Club) says he used it and it's terribly slow for gaming.


If you lived in the  UK you could get an  E7600 for 10p from Cex.


----------



## IvanP91v (Jan 26, 2022)

Got this old beauty up and running.

Glad I got the "mystery machine" achievement because of it.

GPU validation: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/bvrn9
CPU: http://valid.x86.fr/95s0hk
Userbench: https://www.userbenchmark.com/userrun/49968549 less than 1fps avg!


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 26, 2022)

Ivan, what's a little box like thats main use?  Is it basically a little web browser?


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 27, 2022)

I'm doing a VID and BSEL tapemod project on an E7600 right now. VID tapemod was always a complicated pain in the ass. But I've simplified it. So now it's just a PITA
I may need to try a thicker copper material. I wanted to do an E5800 at the same time but I can't find it. Maybe it's stuck in a MB somewhere. Maybe I gave it away with some old P4 stuff.
 It didn't interest me much when I first got it. Pulled it out of my Opti 380 for the X5470 Xeon swap. Didn't think I'd ever want to put it back in.

Just ordered a couple  Pentium E5300 (SLGTL) 13x200fsb CPUs. to continue the Tapemod Madness. The E5800 would have Gone 16x266 for 4.26GHz But 13x333fsb =4.33Ghz I have to give up SSE4 support to do this. But I won't be happy until I have 4+Ghz Dell Optiplex.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 27, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Ivan, what's a little box like thats main use?  Is it basically a little web browser?


Pretty much. Even that is slow though.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 27, 2022)

To everyone on here ,who has a youtube channel?You guys know your stuff.They would be interesting watching.


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 27, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> VID tapemod was always a complicated pain in the ass. But I've simplified it. So now it's just a PITA


Well.... first try- No smoke,but no computer either. I'll fire up a 2nd rig to get the bugs out. My daily computer is a good candidate for this. But R&D needs to be done on something else.
I'll see how much abuse a MIL Spec. Otiples XE (Extrme Environment) can actually take.


----------



## IvanP91v (Jan 27, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Ivan, what's a little box like thats main use?  Is it basically a little web browser?


Mostly light browsing and some classic or low requirement games (Undertale/Deltarune).

More pics, of the PCB this time.


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 27, 2022)

IvanP91v said:


> Mostly light browsing and some classic or low requirement games (Undertale/Deltarune).
> 
> More pics, of the PCB this time.


Here's a little blast from the past. 








						SkiFree
					

Working as a programmer at Microsoft, Chris Pirih created SkiFree. An online classic reload game, was created in October 1991. A game with a very simple objective which is to ski down a seemingly endless slope avoiding the obstacles. No need to download, play SkiFree right here on Classic Reload.




					classicreload.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> To everyone on here ,who has a youtube channel?You guys know your stuff.They would be interesting watching.


I got YouTube channel, but trust me you wouldn't be interested 









The *real* question you should be asking is who's making (retro) reviews and tech discussions? Because I'd seriously like to know the answer to that one, myself!


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 28, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I got YouTube channel, but trust me you wouldn't be interested
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I see what you mean if that is the best you can do.Keep the day job.Yes that is it Retro reviews and discussions.I am also in to Retro HifI Quad etc.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I see what you mean if that is the best you can do.Keep the day job.Yes that is it Retro reviews and discussions.I am also in to Retro HifI Quad etc.


Ha, not quite "the best I can do", no ... but back in a day it served its purpose 

I had a weird tonearm resonance issue while playing LP album "The Wall", which couldn't be explained through common sense or hardware/tech components themselves. So I messaged Audio Technica representatives who asked me to make a video on the issue ... which is why & how the video was made. Oddly enough, the problem disappeared over time which makes me think that it may have been related to (then) brand new AT-95EX cartridge & its stylus suspension. At the time, it was still very rigid & apparently couldn't handle all the warps & wrinkles on the record, so the stylus assembly plowed through all of them & picked up every single vibration.

Think of it as shock absorbers on your car. Every car has suspension system so that it could drive over bumps & potholes without transferring all those vibrations onto the passengers inside. Thus, on a "normal" stylus assembly, you will have a rubber suspension system which allows the stylus to track bumps & vibrations without transferring any of them to the tonearm. However, since the suspension was too firm, it experienced resonance which made the whole tonearm shake out of control. No harm done, although in more severe situations resonance CAN destroy records and/or even the stylus itself.

So there, hopefully this answered your question(s)


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 29, 2022)

Got this EVGA 750i SLI board off eBay (where else...) and just cleaned it up. Previous owner definitely dusted their PC once a decade at most, so there was a good amount of buildup. But no permanent damage, so I don't mind. Gave it the ol' Arctic MX-4 and APT2560 0.5mm treatment   I always wanted an nForce board so I'm super excited to finally have one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2022)

Speaking of modern-day SLI setups... What do you guys think of 8600GTS in SLI mode? Any idea how fast this combo would perform and/or would it be a match against 8800GT?


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 29, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of modern-day SLI setups... What do you guys think of 8600GTS in SLI mode? Any idea how fast this combo would perform and/or would it be a match against 8800GT?









Last screenshot is from the perspective of 8600 GTS. The 8800 GT should be 325% faster so I don't think even 4 in SLI would surpass it (if that's even possible?)

edit: I'd guesstimate like 40-70% scaling depending on how well SLI is implemented on these cards and also on the game. So probably around GT 220 levels


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 29, 2022)

Too bad... I got two of those 8600GTS cards laying around & considered to put together my very first SLI system (apart from Voodoo2 in SLI which of course isn't the same).

Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H, just a basic passively-cooled 8600GTS with the SLI interface. The only thing I'm missing is SLI-capable motherboard.


----------



## Athlonite (Jan 29, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Too bad... I got two of those 8600GTS cards laying around & considered to put together my very first SLI system (apart from Voodoo2 in SLI which of course isn't the same).
> 
> Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H, just a basic passively-cooled 8600GTS with the SLI interface. The only thing I'm missing is SLI-capable motherboard.


If it's at all anything like running XFire on 2 x HD2600XT's then you could expect anything upto 1.65~1.75x the single GPU's perf


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 29, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> If it's at all anything like running XFire on 2 x HD2600XT's then you could expect anything upto *.75~1.75x* the single GPU's perf


Fixed that for you.  This is coming from some who Xfired the x1900, 3780, 4870, and 6950 cards.
Even though it didn't work consistently, it was still a lot of fun to play around with.  @Trekkie4 if you have the mobo & a pair of cards, try it out IMO. 
I'd be interested in seeing some 3dMark (03, 05, 06) comparisons with SLI on & off.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 29, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> The only thing I'm missing is SLI-capable motherboard.


What platform / era do you have in mind? It's surprisingly easy to find quality SLI-capable mainboards for <$100, as long as you don't mind P55 / Z68 / Z77 platforms (or X58 + X5675 if you're lucky). For P55 grab a Xeon X3470 / X3460 for $20, or on 1155 a i7-2600k for $60. It's not pocket change but if you want an SLI mobo for benching it's a good way to go.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jan 29, 2022)

X5675's are in the 20 buck range now too. 
X58 boards still ain't cheap though.


----------



## Retrorockit (Jan 29, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> X5675's are in the 20 buck range now too.
> X58 boards still ain't cheap though.


Don't forget the faster 4c/8t X5687.

Xfire is reported to have issues with "micro stutter". An annoying phase shift between the frames. The only known solution-


			https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/trifire-001-jpg.99712/
		

Trifire!


----------



## DR4G00N (Jan 29, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> Don't forget the faster 4c/8t X5687.
> 
> Xfire is reported to have issues with "micro stutter". An annoying phase shift between the frames. The only known solution-
> 
> ...


That's pretty much how I did it with my HD 7950's though not that I noticed any stutter in the first place even with two. 

Me now realizing that my even 780 Ti's are now equally as old as an 8800GT was when it launched compared to the RTX 3080 is now.


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## MachineLearning (Jan 29, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> X5675's are in the 20 buck range now too.
> X58 boards still ain't cheap though.


Occasionally you can find ASUS P6TD or Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R for under $80, but otherwise yeah... Finding good X58 mobos can be rough. But the Xeons make it more than worth it  my X5675 is running @ 4.5GHz, 1.38v. What a dream...


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## Retrorockit (Jan 29, 2022)

I just saw a closeout sale on the 6990 Acceleros, and had a Dell OEM HD6990 sitting around, and a couple HD6970s so I stuck that together.
I never found an actual reason to run it. Maybe it will use enough electricity to shut down a couple of Bitcoin miners.


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## Mr.Scott (Jan 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> my X5675 is running @ 4.5GHz, 1.38v. What a dream...


Got something I can see?
CPUz, whatever........
Pic of rig?


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## MachineLearning (Jan 29, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Got something I can see?
> CPUz, whatever........
> Pic of rig?


You needn't say another word... 
CPU-Z Validation Link












ASUS and EVGA have quickly become some of my favorite brands when it comes to motherboards, and for good reason...





I know CPU-Z has them, but here's the full specs listed out:

- ASUS P6X58D-E, w/ Arctic MX-4 for NB/SB and APT2560 0.5mm pads on VRM. Also, I added two little thermal adhesive aluminum heatsinks to the 3-phase memory VRM.
- 2x EVGA GTX 580 @ 920C, 2350M (not fully finished tuning/stabilizing but it finishes FFXIV Endwalker benchmark)
- EVGA Supernova G6 750W, which is extremely unhappy about the 580's and is running at its limit...
- 3x4GB Kingston 1866MHz CL10 DDR3, running at CL8 1600MHz (not tuned either)
- Thermalright Peerless Assassin PA120, which by now is probably mentioned in 50% of my posts
- Phanteks P400A Digital
- SK hynix Gold S31 1TB

Before this chip I tried to OC a 980X... did not go as well, could barely do 4.4GHz @ 1.4v on my X58 SLI LE. Instant Xeon fan after I got this one.


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## Mr.Scott (Jan 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> You needn't say another word...
> CPU-Z Validation Link
> View attachment 234470
> View attachment 234471View attachment 234472View attachment 234473
> ...


Wow........it's awesome.


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## stinger608 (Jan 29, 2022)

That is just F'n sexy as hell @MachineLearning


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## erek (Jan 29, 2022)

Got these handed over to me to add to the collection yesterday:


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## QuietBob (Jan 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> You needn't say another word...
> CPU-Z Validation Link
> View attachment 234470
> View attachment 234471View attachment 234472View attachment 234473
> ...



That's a really nice setup! Would you mind running the CPU-Z benchmark on it?


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## Caring1 (Jan 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Occasionally you can find ASUS P6TD or Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R for under $80, but otherwise yeah... Finding good X58 mobos can be rough. But the Xeons make it more than worth it  my X5675 is running @ 4.5GHz, 1.38v. What a dream...


I saw this DFI X58 for repairs the other day on eBay, it's still current for another 9 hours, I've always liked the look but don't have the skills to repair boards:








						DFI LANparty JR X58-T3H6 Motherboard, i7-920 2.66GHz CPU, Untested/Parts/Repairs  | eBay
					

We adopt fluorescent slots and connectors in all LANParty series. LANPARTY JR X58-T3H6. LANParty JR X58-T3eH6 brings the best gaming experience to you! LANParty adopts solid capacitors & MLCC for the best stability.



					www.ebay.com.au


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## Mr.Scott (Jan 29, 2022)

Caring1 said:


> I saw this DFI X58 for repairs the other day on eBay, it's still current for another 9 hours, I've always liked the look but don't have the skills to repair boards:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's a Jr.
If I remember correctly, there was something inherently wrong with those.
That's why you never see them around.


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## MachineLearning (Jan 30, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> That's a really nice setup! Would you mind running the CPU-Z benchmark on it?


You got it 
New CPU-Z validation @ 2048MHz CL9, 1.375v QPI






And CDM for ya, maxing out SATA II with this SK hynix S31. I use Intel ICH10R and ignore the Marvell SATA III controller, it's just a lot more consistent in real use.





Endwalker with same GPU OC as before:





Cinebench R23.2





And here's power consumption in 3 scenarios. Respectively: during Endwalker benchmark, during Cinebench R23.2 run, and desktop idle. Yeah, I'm glad this is a quality 750W unit with OPP around 1000W...










Also I want to give a huge thanks to @Regeneration for making these X58 BIOS mods. This is all with Spectre / Meltdown protections active.


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## Dinnercore (Jan 30, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> It's a Jr.
> If I remember correctly, there was something inherently wrong with those.
> That's why you never see them around.


X58 in general is a bit of a dodgy platform I feel. There are so many broken/for parts/missing RAM channel boards appearing. More than any other platform I searched for. Also 3/4 of my X58 boards so far turned out to be paper weights more or less. One is missing first RAM channel, one won't post at all, one ignores all clock settings no matter how many times I replace the bios or what CPU I try.
Not counting the SR-2 in there, and that also drops RAM channels every 2nd boot.

And I don't get why they are so super expensive now. Maybe because they all start to die and supply dies down? Broken Rampage III Extreme goes for 160€. I've been thinking of getting back to that platform but I'd have to buy in for over 300€.

Anyway, I picked up another P45. Expanding my collection to MSI:





Came with a Q6600. Got it for 40€, not sure if that was a good price but other offers I found locally all exceed 100€.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 30, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Fixed that for you.  This is coming from some who Xfired the x1900, 3780, 4870, and 6950 cards.
> Even though it didn't work consistently, it was still a lot of fun to play around with.  @Trekkie4 if you have the mobo & a pair of cards, try it out IMO.
> I'd be interested in seeing some 3dMark (03, 05, 06) comparisons with SLI on & off.


Sorry to disappoint, but for now I only got couple of 8600GTS cards and SLI bridge ... nothing else. It was just a crazy idea really, since I never played around with SLI before 



MachineLearning said:


> What platform / era do you have in mind? It's surprisingly easy to find quality SLI-capable mainboards for <$100, as long as you don't mind P55 / Z68 / Z77 platforms (or X58 + X5675 if you're lucky). For P55 grab a Xeon X3470 / X3460 for $20, or on 1155 a i7-2600k for $60. It's not pocket change but if you want an SLI mobo for benching it's a good way to go.


Nothing in particular, whichever comes first & cost less (or nothing) 
That being said, I would prefer Socket 775 with Q6600 ... or something similar. In fact, I just paired one of my Q6600 rigs with GTX 550 Ti the other day and (so far, at least) things had been pretty good!






erek said:


> Got these handed over to me to add to the collection yesterday:
> 
> View attachment 234476
> View attachment 234477


I could easily understand that someone gave away their video cards ... but to give away your cat?! I'm shocked!


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## MachineLearning (Jan 30, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nothing in particular, whichever comes first & cost less (or nothing)
> That being said, I would prefer Socket 775 with Q6600 ... or something similar. In fact, I just paired one of my Q6600 rigs with GTX 550 Ti the other day and (so far, at least) things had been pretty good!


Hey, fair enough, 775 is one of my favorite sockets to OC so far... other two being 1366 and 1156. I assume that EVGA is less common in the EU than in the USA, are there many 750i/780i boards for sale over there? Or did XFX take EVGA's place for EU? Otherwise, look for like an ASUS P7P55D Deluxe, ASRock Z77 Extreme4 (really mediocre VRM so don't expect a great CPU OC especially on SandyBridge), Z68 Extreme3 if you can get em cheap. Those 3 I've found for around $70USD in the states but I'm not sure how your market is.


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## Trekkie4 (Jan 30, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Hey, fair enough, 775 is one of my favorite sockets to OC so far... other two being 1366 and 1156. I assume that EVGA is less common in the EU than in the USA, are there many 750i/780i boards for sale over there? Or did XFX take EVGA's place for EU? Otherwise, look for like an ASUS P7P55D Deluxe, ASRock Z77 Extreme4 (really mediocre VRM so don't expect a great CPU OC especially on SandyBridge), Z68 Extreme3 if you can get em cheap. Those 3 I've found for around $70USD in the states but I'm not sure how your market is.


IDK, to be perfectly honest I didn't pay much attention. But yes, Asus was always my first choice - they've made some of the best boards out there. All the way from P3B-F, "talking" P4B, and beyond 

Actually there's a P7P55D on sale right now for $67 which is pretty much what you described. Too much for what it is, not worth the money IMHO.


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## QuietBob (Jan 30, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> You got it
> New CPU-Z validation @ 2048MHz CL9, 1.375v QPI
> View attachment 234483View attachment 234484
> 
> ...



Very respectable performance from that Xeon! In CPU-Z ST is comparable with Zen 1 or Haswell, while MT matches my 3300X at the same clock speed. Only the power consumption...  214w idle


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## MachineLearning (Jan 30, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Very respectable performance from that Xeon! In CPU-Z ST is comparable with Zen 1 or Haswell, while MT matches my 3300X at the same clock speed. Only the power consumption...  214w idle


Definitely! Those 580's in SLI probably have a lot to do with it.... Getting a current clamp in, might try that on the EPS 12v to see how much the Xeon alone draws.


Trekkie4 said:


> Actually there's a P7P55D on sale right now for $67 which is pretty much what you described. Too much for what it is, not worth the money IMHO.


Just be careful with the vanilla P7P55D, it does not support SLI. The Deluxe, Premium or Sabertooth 55i are your best bets from ASUS for P55 SLI support I believe.


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## onemanhitsquad (Jan 30, 2022)

Tandy MMS-10  July 1994  (from the 1994 catalog "this 3-speaker system fits between monitor and cpu" )...I never tried setting my 21" Sony Trinitron on it for obvious reasons!!

this one is very clean , I have seen a few others that are yellowed , my knobs were painted to see them in low light all night gaming sessions (looking at stripping the paint back to original). It has 2 inputs than can be selected individually or "mixed" and supports external speakers that can be separated from the built-in or run together. At the time I used it with my PC I used it to power a pair of Minimus 7W speakers.

I am considering grabbing another one (maybe one of the yellowed ones) and stuffing some modern speakers in the sucka for fun.

The other Tandy piece is their Power Switching System , also from 1994 , basically what we would know as a surge protector strip today. Individual sockets for PC and peripherals with individual on off switches or power on all with one button. It also has a swivel base. So the stack would look like your Power Switching System then MMS-10 speaker system on top of it and then your monitor on top of that...hey, it's 1994 man!


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## MachineLearning (Jan 31, 2022)

My tiny Tesla collection, just starting this one out... I love the XFX and PNY designs. I guess I only buy acronymic video cards?


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## Retrorockit (Jan 31, 2022)

I stuck together a backup web crawler. It's so I can do an experiment on the one I'm using now.
It's an Optiplex XE Desktop. Q9505s 65W 4 core, 12GB ddr3 1333, and a "too new for you" GTX1050Ti 4GB on a Dell 90* DT riser card. I like new GPUs in old computers. Especially ones w/o GPU power cables.
XE is a SOHO Server model. Stout cooling features and a 4 phase VRM.



MachineLearning said:


> My tiny Tesla collection, just starting this one out..


   I have couple Tesla cards too. I'm not sure what they would be good for. What benchmarks would show an advantage to them? I can overclock a Dell LGA775 workstation easily. I would love to stick one of these in there and see what it can do. I just don't know what questions to ask it.


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## MachineLearning (Jan 31, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I have couple Tesla cards too. I'm not sure what they would be good for. What benchmarks would show an advantage to them? I can overclock a Dell LGA775 workstation easily. I would love to stick one of these in there and see what it can do. I just don't know what questions to ask it.


Yeah, I was really struggling with that too... Mainly, I don't use my extra GPUs/systems for gaming, I'm more interested in the physical hardware, and naturally I like when number go higher. So with these Tesla arch cards I've used Unigine Heaven DX9 mainly for these old cards, if you have older computer games DX10 and before, there must be something that'll run. I know F.E.A.R., Bioshock and Crysis should run. Check out the 280 review as well, some games are featured there naturally.

It's a shame you can't search Cloud Gate results anymore afaik. That would be very helpful.


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## Kissamies (Jan 31, 2022)

Hmm, been watching Rampage III Gene boards from ebay and they're actually not that pricey..


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## MachineLearning (Jan 31, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Hmm, been watching Rampage III Gene boards from ebay and they're actually not that pricey..


There's a person in Finland selling many "manufacturer refurbished" boards on eBay, iirc a couple were X58. Shipping costs are a little high for me, but they look quality and you may be able to avoid shipping...


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## Kissamies (Jan 31, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> There's a person in Finland selling many "manufacturer refurbished" boards on eBay, iirc a couple were X58. Shipping costs are a little high for me, but they look quality and you may be able to avoid shipping...


Yea, I saw those  could be useful to get one from the same country. 

There was at least one Rampage II Gene I saw from that Finnish seller, though I saw a Rampage III Gene from UK with a very nice price (even after applying shipping and customs).


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## MachineLearning (Feb 2, 2022)

CPU-Z Validation

Attached Cinebench R23.2, CPU-Z benchmark, and a couple pictures of the build... aand it's probably my least favorite I've ever done, I really dislike this case and its fans. Not fun to work in, not quality and the whole thing has no aesthetic, but that's kinda charming too I suppose. I'm not sure if this is a great sample or not, as I'm not very into AMD CPU overclocking yet. 

Though no matter what speed they're at, FX CPUs play like it's golf...

Full specs:
- ASUS M5A97 R2.0 2x4GB (40mm Noctua fan ziptied to VRM)
- FX-6300 running at 4.7GHz, 1.36V
- AMD R9 "Gamer Series" 2x4GB @ 2133MHz CL10, 1.65v
- Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB
- XFX HD 7750 Ghost, 950C 1500M (modded VBIOS)
- Corsair CX600, ca. 2014
- Deepcool Gammaxx 400


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## Retrorockit (Feb 2, 2022)

I did something today on my old Optiplex 380. It's running newer RAM on an older system. It's DDR3 but DDR2 works the same way.
My Opti 380 runs RAM at 1066 speed. No setting in the BIOS, no timings to tweak. Take it or leave it. So I bought some DDR3 1600 RAM for it.
2 slots only so 4GB was required, and the $9 each price for used Crucial Ballaistix didn't hurt either. But the CAS 9 @ 1600 got my attention. 11 is common at  that speed, and CAS9 is common at 1333.
So what happens when you stick this in an underclocked situation? It runs at CAS 6-6-6-16@1066MHz. Much better than the 7-7-7-21 I had before. About 15% better. Nobody publishes this spec. but HWInfo64, or PC Wizard can uncover the timing tables for you. These would run CAS5 at 800 speed. A lot of DDR2 800 is CAS6. It has XMP profiles too but no way I know of to access them in a Dell Optiplex. This doesn't apply to overvolted RAM with low CAS#, watch out  for that.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 2, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I did something today on my old Optiplex 380. It's running newer RAM on an older system. It's DDR3 but DDR2 works the same way.
> My Opti 380 runs RAM at 1066 speed. No setting in the BIOS, no timings to tweak. Take it or leave it. So I bought some DDR3 1600 RAM for it.
> 2 slots only so 4GB was required, and the $9 each price for used Crucial Ballaistix didn't hurt either. But the CAS 9 @ 1600 got my attention. 11 is common at  that speed, and CAS9 is common at 1333.
> So what happens when you stick this in an underclocked situation? It runs at CAS 6-6-6-16@1066MHz. Much better than the 7-7-7-21 I had before. About 15% better. Nobody publishes this spec. but HWInfo64, or PC Wizard can uncover the timing tables for you. These would run CAS5 at 800 speed. A lot of DDR2 800 is CAS6. It has XMP profiles too but no way I know of to access them in a Dell Optiplex. This doesn't apply to overvolted RAM with low CAS#, watch out  for that.


Ever heard of Memset?
Try it.


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## Dinnercore (Feb 2, 2022)

I gave the P45 Platinum a small treatment. New pads and paste, the original red/purple paste on there was rock solid. While I was at it I also thought about a way to get voltage readings from boards without me having to hold my probes in place.
775 boards rarely offer any dedicated connectors for voltage measurement. Luckily I found cable connectors that my probes stick very well into. 
I now have Vcore from the back of the socket, Vdimm from a choke on the RAM VRM, Vnb from a choke on the nb VRM and two separate grounds (one from the screw hole near the CPU power plug and one from the back of the socket).

Board is up and running after a few headaches. First I had a dead CPU (was a gift from someone who was not sure if it still works, but I only remembered that a few minutes later...). Next it seemed to struggle with my memory sticks. They were tested working, but the board got stuck cycling RAM detection.

Got it to boot finally, but it seems the MSI P45 behaves similiar to DFI boards when it comes to RAM. After trying a 2nd stick it cycled again but got stuck to the point where it would no longer post with any configuration. Single stick, any slot -> nope.
Turn off power at the PSU, remove battery, reset CMOS -> nope.
Turn off power at the PSU, wait 15 minutes (or until the DMM measures >0.0004V between ground and RAM) -> boots like nothing ever happened.





These LEDs are nearly bright enough to hurt. It's running now and I hope I can get a grip on the memory issues. It seems very aggressive with auto timings, it ran the single stick Cell Shock auto at 4-4-4-10-28 which is not even on the SPD for that stick.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Ever heard of Memset?
> Try it.



Memset looks interesting. But. It recognizes my DDR3 1600 as DDR2. It says MCHBAR is locked, which is really no surprise on a Dell. But the biggest problem is me. I've been flogging Dells for so long I have no idea how to use it! If I could find the XMP profiles I would have a starting point. I'll see if I can get it going. But Brave Browser doesn't have a translator yet. So the French website is not much help so far. But thanks I do like this type of  program.


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## Bones (Feb 3, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> Memset looks interesting. But. It recognizes my DDR3 1600 as DDR2. It says MCHBAR is locked, which is really no surprise on a Dell. But the biggest problem is me. I've been flogging Dells for so long I have no idea how to use it! If I could find the XMP profiles I would have a starting point. I'll see if I can get it going. But Brave Browser doesn't have a translator yet. So the French website is not much help so far. But thanks I do like this type of  program.


To me this sounds more like a Dell thing (BIOS) making it read that way.

Memset does work, allows timing adjustments on the fly in the OS so you don't have to reboot to tweak RAM timings in the BIOS. It's not perfect and in some cases doesn't work properly but in these cases it's normally as I'm thinking it is that causes the problem.

XMP is mainly for newer systems but there are some DDR3 setups/sticks that have it, there's just not too many that do and I'm not aware of many, if any 775 systems that have an XMP option in the BIOS.

Big thing is to figure out the starting point of your timings and work it from there, takes time but once you see gains it becomes easier to do as you go - Can't hurt to try it and see what happens.

Just don't count on radical gains like you see from actual OC'ing setups, your board/system is what it is so that's what you've got and have to work with I'm afraid. I will say so far you've done pretty good, so keep up the good work.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2022)

The Crucial Ballisticx DDR3 in my Opti 380 has XMP. I tried to increase a setting from 6 to 7 and nothing moved. {t didn't even allow an entry. I've used Throttlestop to change Voltage and multiplier for years on Dells, so I'm not skeptical about it working. It just hasn't happened for me yet. I see it has winring0dll which is what Throttlestop uses to reach back to the BIOS form Windows. I didn't spend much time on it because I'm working an a different system right now. It's interesting but not at the top of my list. I don't expect the Dell to "HAVE" XMP, but if I knew the XMP settings I would have a starting point It might have to wait until I do an X58 project. maybe XMP needs an  IMC to work?


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## MachineLearning (Feb 3, 2022)

I want to preface this by saying I know I post a lot in this thread, lots of pictures which take up much room, so if it bothers people I'd be more than happy to make a different thread. Just let me know please, I want to post, not to take over. 

Now, for more X58 adventures... This computer is a complimentary "sister" build to the other X58 one I posted about: same model case, similar motherboard, previously the same cooler (TR PA120), same CPU, same RAM - all the RAM even has sequential serial numbers. However, I ran into a heat wall when I wanted to bring a W3680 to the max, so that's where a new cooler - and newer CPU (2012 vs 2010 prod. date) come in.

Full specs:
- ASUS P6X58D Premium (favorite motherboard I have as of 10 minutes ago )
- Xeon X5675 (different sample than the previous build, but may be sister CPU)
- 3x4GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3 1866 @ 1.60v, 2090MHz, CL9-10-10-28-160-1T
- Thermalright Frost Commander 140 w/ MX-4 (holy moley this is supermassive... legitimately <=1mm of clearance to the glass!)
- ATI Radeon HD 5970 Reference @ stock
- Crucial MX500 1TB
- Super Flower Leadex SE 1000W Gold PSU
- Phanteks P400AD w/ 1x Arctic P12 PWM exhaust







Please ignore the cable spaghetti to the left, I swear I'll do better in the future 






Also, HD 5970 needs some dusting, but the real star is this little Xeon...







Now, my last X5675 I didn't push very hard at all. It struck me as a good sample, and I'd rather keep as many CPUs in near-perfect condition as possible. But with these Xeons so cheap, and such a wonderful motherboard in the arsenal, of course I've gotta push _something_.

*5.089GHz Suicide Run Validation*
- this was the max I could attain on air, not even close to P95 stable. With a custom loop or a great AIO I think 4.8GHz+ is realistic, 1.5v+ just overloads seemingly any air cooler in P95.
*4.614GHz Daily Validation*
- 4.70GHz was just beyond reach. I needed more voltage, just air cooling can't handle it... maybe I'll try some MX-5 or something to see if that helps any?

The BCLK went higher than I assumed it would, I was booting close to 230BCLK (unstable due to the resulting core clock, didn't try to get it as high as I could). I think I conflated the approx. 205MHz BCLK "wall" on P55 with X58?
Anyway, I'm really happy about that 5+GHz run. That was exactly what I was hoping for, even if it's beyond unstable!


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## Bones (Feb 3, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> The Crucial Ballisticx DDR3 in my Opti 380 has XMP. I tried to increase a setting from 6 to 7 and nothing moved. {t didn't even allow an entry. I've used Throttlestop to change Voltage and multiplier for years on Dells, so I'm not skeptical about it working. It just hasn't happened for me yet. I see it has winring0dll which is what Throttlestop uses to reach back to the BIOS form Windows. I didn't spend much time on it because I'm working an a different system right now. It's interesting but not at the top of my list. I don't expect the Dell to "HAVE" XMP, but if I knew the XMP settings I would have a starting point It might have to wait until I do an X58 project. maybe XMP needs an  IMC to work?


Use the SPD tabs in CPU-Z, it should show you all the settings for what speeds are programmed into the sticks. 
You can use those values as a baseline and go from there.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> maybe I'll try some MX-5 or something to see if that helps any?


Might help a little, but I think your limiting factor is the heat saturation capacity of the cooler itself, not the heat transfer aspect.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2022)

Bones said:


> Use the SPD tabs in CPU-Z, it should show you all the settings for what speeds are programmed into the sticks.
> You can use those values as a baseline and go from there.


CPUZ SPD just shows the timings at the rated 1600 speed. Nothing for what's happening at 1066.  PC Wizard is an old CPUID program that goes into the settings for all available speeds. HWInfo 64 does this also. For older hardware that's useful info.  It even included OC timing for these modules. Up to about 1950 speed.


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## Dinnercore (Feb 3, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> CPUZ SPD just shows the timings at the rated 1600 speed.


In that case your sticks don't have SPD profiles for different speeds. CPU-Z does show them usually:


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2022)

That's not what I got from CPUZ SPD it had different timings all at 800 speed. including XMP. But just buying these and sticking them in the Dell I'm getting 6-6-6-16 at 1066 speed. CPUZ SPD doesn't have room for all the info. I'm talking about.
 Here's a CPUZ Validation showing the timings I actually have. They don't show up in CPUZ SPD.








						Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505S @ 2825.98 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[74uad7] Validated Dump by 20DOLLARDELL (2022-02-03 15:44:41) - MB: Dell 0HN7XN - RAM: 8192 MB




					valid.x86.fr


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## stinger608 (Feb 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I want to preface this by saying I know I post a lot in this thread, lots of pictures which take up much room, so if it bothers people I'd be more than happy to make a different thread. Just let me know please, I want to post, not to take over.



It's all good bro!!!!!!! Everyone loves the pictures I'm sure.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I want to preface this by saying I know I post a lot in this thread, lots of pictures which take up much room, so if it bothers people I'd be more than happy to make a different thread. Just let me know please, I want to post, not to take over.
> 
> Now, for more X58 adventures... This computer is a complimentary "sister" build to the other X58 one I posted about: same model case, similar motherboard, previously the same cooler (TR PA120), same CPU, same RAM - all the RAM even has sequential serial numbers. However, I ran into a heat wall when I wanted to bring a W3680 to the max, so that's where a new cooler - and newer CPU (2012 vs 2010 prod. date) come in.
> 
> ...


Love your pics and info. Keep it coming. That's what this threads all about. 
BTW, have you increased your PCIe bus for high bclk stability? Bump that to 110MHz and test. You can go to about 120MHz if you have to.


----------



## Susquehannock (Feb 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I want to preface this by saying I know I post a lot in this thread, lots of pictures which take up much room, so if it bothers people I'd be more than happy to make a different thread. Just let me know please, I want to post, not to take over.
> <snip>


x2 on what Mr Scott just said. Know I don't post in this thread much. but I like the pictures.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2022)

If it wasn't for the photos i wouldn't know what most of this tsuff is.


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## Bones (Feb 3, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> That's not what I got from CPUZ SPD it had different timings all at 800 speed. including XMP. But just buying these and sticking them in the Dell I'm getting 6-6-6-16 at 1066 speed. CPUZ SPD doesn't have room for all the info. I'm talking about.
> Here's a CPUZ Validation showing the timings I actually have. They don't show up in CPUZ SPD.
> 
> 
> ...


We get that, note I said to _use these values a a baseline to tweak from_.
The timings shown using Dinnercore's example:



Dinnercore said:


> In that case your sticks don't have SPD profiles for different speeds. CPU-Z does show them usually:


Says for XMP-1600 timings of 9-9-9-24 are for running the sticks at 1600 BUT that doesn't mean you'd always use those timings/specs to go higher - You can certainly try it but eventually you run into the limit of what the sticks are capable of.
Only real way to continue is of course to loosen timings, maybe bump RAM voltage a bit and go from there.

Also bear in mind the values such as 593, 667 and so on as shown in the columns you see are based on DDR (Double Data Rate) - That means the actual speeds are doubled for what's shown. That's why beneath where it's saying "XMP-1600" you see 800MHz as the value given in that slot (800 X2 = 1600) so the value(s) you're looking for are there, just need to interprit them as outlined and go with it.

Hope this helps.


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## Kissamies (Feb 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I want to preface this by saying I know I post a lot in this thread, lots of pictures which take up much room, so if it bothers people I'd be more than happy to make a different thread. Just let me know please, I want to post, not to take over.
> 
> Now, for more X58 adventures... This computer is a complimentary "sister" build to the other X58 one I posted about: same model case, similar motherboard, previously the same cooler (TR PA120), same CPU, same RAM - all the RAM even has sequential serial numbers. However, I ran into a heat wall when I wanted to bring a W3680 to the max, so that's where a new cooler - and newer CPU (2012 vs 2010 prod. date) come in.
> 
> ...


That is a great board. I have the cheaper P6X58D-E and it's simply an awesome 1366 board.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 3, 2022)

You don't just "bump" RAM Voltage on a Dell. The BIOS has absolutely no settings except boot sequence.
This was very good simple mod for that type of computer. It is what it is. It doesn't matter what software you look at it with. It's not going to change.
Memset may or may not work out. But right now I've Got an XPS430 running 4.15GHz on a QX9650, and GTX1660Ti. I'm looking to add 2x 120GB SSDs in RAID0.
 I want to get 4.33Ghz if I can. The next step for the Opti 380 is to see if i can get a BIOS that will allow a QX9650 to run in it. X5470 Xeon swap-Been there, done that. Tweaking the RAM timings further is not what I'm really interested in.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 3, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> It's all good bro!!!!!!! Everyone loves the pictures I'm sure.





Mr.Scott said:


> Love your pics and info. Keep it coming. That's what this threads all about.
> BTW, have you increased your PCIe bus for high bclk stability? Bump that to 110MHz and test. You can go to about 120MHz if you have to.





Susquehannock said:


> x2 on what Mr Scott just said. Know I don't post in this thread much. but I like the pictures.



Thank you all   I'm thinking of doing roughly 1 post / feature per day here, to pace myself and help keep this thread lively.

On the PCIe bus: I've had either crap luck with it helping, or something in my specific configuration limits it from letting me raise BCLK higher. I just tested with low RAM / core speed, and wasn't able to beat 221 BCLK with either 112MHz PCIe (max this system seems to like) or flat 100MHz PCIe. Perhaps I'm missing something, or maybe I need to disable some devices like the Marvell SATA III controller (connected via PCIe x1)?

And, here's a XFX HD 4890 for y'all...




















We'll see how far I can bring her... Hoping for 1GHz core w/ increased voltage, no idea what the memory should attain. However I definitely am very happy to finally get some Infineon / Qimonda VRAM!

As you can somewhat see in the last photo, the PCB is bent a bit upwards towards the end of it. I received it that way (sans electrical tape), but it works so I don't mind. I taped it up to stop it from eventually splintering or suffering some more damage. It looks like someone bumped it forcefully on a flat surface so if that ever happens on my watch, there's now a buffer...

Also something to note, this is not the XFX Black edition (1GHz core/mem @ stock), but it does have an 8+6pin PCIe input as opposed to the reference 6+6pin PCIe. It still looks like an identical PCB otherwise (barring color / minor component choices, like that inductor in the topmost right of the front XFX PCB).


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## Retrorockit (Feb 4, 2022)

I fired up my Dell XPS420. I've got the QX9650 running 4.32GHz. It's holding 70* with just a dry thermal pad for TIM. The 420 wasn't one of Dells big gaming rigs, it was a mid range multimedia system.
But it's locked BIOS, BTX, and DDR2 12GB. Because it's BTX no aftermarket coolers. The air cooling is cobbled together out of Dell workstation, and XPS parts. IDK if I can squeeze more out of it. But I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. I'm faking SATA3 with a 2x120GB SSD RIAD0 setup courtesy of the Dell BIOS.
My CPUZ was 270, and 1049. Now it's 390 and 1495.


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## Kissamies (Feb 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Thank you all   I'm thinking of doing roughly 1 post / feature per day here, to pace myself and help keep this thread lively.
> 
> On the PCIe bus: I've had either crap luck with it helping, or something in my specific configuration limits it from letting me raise BCLK higher. I just tested with low RAM / core speed, and wasn't able to beat 221 BCLK with either 112MHz PCIe (max this system seems to like) or flat 100MHz PCIe. Perhaps I'm missing something, or maybe I need to disable some devices like the Marvell SATA III controller (connected via PCIe x1)?
> 
> ...


How about two of them?


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## MachineLearning (Feb 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> How about two of them?


That's awesome! I thought they were identical at first glance, what's up with the different fan and sticker? Is that your own replacement or another revision? I couldn't find anything on google although maybe didn't look long enough


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## Kissamies (Feb 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> That's awesome! I thought they were identical at first glance, what's up with the different fan and sticker? Is that your own replacement or another revision? I couldn't find anything on google although maybe didn't look long enough


Another revision I guess, it also has a slightly different PCB. It had that cooler when I bought it (and the other one) used.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Another revision I guess, it also has a slightly different PCB. It had that cooler when I bought it (and the other one) used.


Do you have shots from underneath the cooler perchance? Mainly I'd be curious to see the PCB number which I believe is this here




That's my PCB, the reference is the same string except minus the "P" at the end


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## Kissamies (Feb 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Do you have shots from underneath the cooler perchance? Mainly I'd be curious to see the PCB number which I believe is this here
> View attachment 235289
> That's my PCB, the reference is the same string except minus the "P" at the end


Sorry, too lazy to tear those down as it's not that long ago when I did that and repasted both.


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## Dinnercore (Feb 4, 2022)

Been playing with the MSI P45 Platinum and I gotta say... I completely understand why this boards FSB world record on HWbot is only at 511 MHz. The process of overclocking this board is the worst I have ever experienced. The bios settings regarding GTLs were made by an insane person. No other way to put it. And the way this board behaves makes it a good addition to a dadaism art exhibit.

The good thing, it has a very solid power management and monitoring. All values set in bios are very close to the actual real values applied, very little droop, overshoot or undershoot. For example 2.00V DRAM results in 2.03V actual voltage. Compared to e.g. the Asus P5Q-E which has 2.07V actual voltage when setting 2.00V in bios.
This graph is from Vcore during the start of a Cinebench run. Small ~15mV droop:




Of course my DMM is not fast enough to pick up the quick transient loads, maybe with an oscilloscope I could see those.

Back to overclocking...
Let's start with the bios options (those are the same between bios versions):
Auto settings are very aggressive. RAM timings and speeds get set according to SPD information on the sticks maybe? But the board fails to apply the correct voltage for these settings, so it sometimes tries to run sticks at 5-4-4-12 - DDR2 1200 but at 1.8V... And fails every single time, not understanding that it has to use safe defaults.
Setting voltages and timings yourself and its fine, unless you want to tune your GTLs. Oh boy.

The GTL settings are very important to stabilize or even enable FSB speeds beyond 500Mhz according to my 775 experience. They are reference voltages that have to be set according to the VTT and are sometimes shown as a multiplier like x0.67 or x0.63 and sometimes as absolute voltage like 0.756V (=1.2V VTT x0.63). Asus likes the multipliers, Gigabyte uses the voltages.
Now MSI also uses voltage numbers, so you have to calculate yourself where you want to end up. BUT the options for these voltages make ZERO sense.

First of all, you can not enter the values via numbers, no you gotta use '+' and '-' or page up and down to scroll through ALL the options. Either from the max value or the min value. BEWARE it makes a difference which way you scroll, because when you use '-' you get a different range of voltages compared to when you use '+'.
For some reason it also switches the steps right in the middle, from 1.6mV steps it suddenly shifts to 0.5mV steps. Now thats all fun and games already, but lets add another complication they thought at MSI. If you scroll over to the end with '+' and roll over from max. values, they don't go to the min. value. It just starts back somewhere up top in the 0,700V range. You can only access the minimum values if you use '-', roll over from a random mid-point and suddenly find yourself at the max. value from where you NOW can use '+' to suddenly being able to enter 0.200V. Which is SO far down that it makes zero sense to ever enter values this low.
And if you use '+' to roll over, you can never get back to 'auto' settings ever again. You also can not enter 'auto', you have to reset ALL settings in bios to default in order to set the GTL field back to auto.
Oh but the fun is not over. These voltages are linked to VTT and respectivly the range changes up and down with VTT. Here is the big deal why this board is impossible to OC:

At 1.24 VTT the maximum GTL ref value you can set for CPU is 0,742V which leads to a multi of x0.598. Standard for these CPUs is x0.67 and they usually run well at x0.63 for FSB OC. The MAX multiplier value of x0.598 is not a stable setting. Not for both GTLs. You can set one usually very low for C2Ds but I had no luck with running GTL1 below x0.61 ever.
Same for the MCH GTL ref. It makes no sense, the highest value is below what all my other P45 boards run stable at. WHO made these settings? They also violate Intel spec in every way.

Enough rant about the bios settings. Maybe I'll find something that works, so far I hit a wall at 475Mhz FSB and touching any GTL settings is an instant no post.

Which brings me to the strange antics of this board posting. Sometimes it just freezes on CPU initialization after changing bios settings. This is normal and not a fault of your settings, in that case you need to hold down 'RESET' (not power!) for 4 seconds and it cycles power, posting fine with your new settings.
It sometimes gets stuck on RAM initialization, again this is more often not a problem with your RAM but the board just needs a full power reset. Meaning PSU off, wait until all caps have drained. Power back on and it suddenly accepts your RAM.
You smashed 'DEL' as fast as you can, but it just opens the Windows bootmanager? Oh yeah, the time window to enter bios is less than half a second.

I kinda want to just toss it in my collection and never touch it again, but on the other hand I want to see how far I can push this thing. It's very time consuming as I have to wrestle with it after every simple crash.


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## Kissamies (Feb 4, 2022)

Back in the day MSI boards truly sucked. I stayed away from them until AM4 X470 Gaming Plus (and that was finally a good board).

I had a P6N SLI Platinum (LGA 775, NF650i SLI) and that was okay, but as we remember, nForce wasn't the best which came to FSB overclocking. Then I had a P67 (can't remember the exact model) and the bios was hella un-user friendly to use.


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## stinger608 (Feb 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Back in the day MSI boards truly sucked. I stayed away from them until AM4 X470 Gaming Plus (and that was finally a good board).
> 
> I had a P6N SLI Platinum (LGA 775, NF650i SLI) and that was okay, but as we remember, nForce wasn't the best which came to FSB overclocking. Then I had a P67 (can't remember the exact model) and the bios was hella un-user friendly to use.



I don't know man. I've had an MSI 1150 gaming mATX board for about 5 or 6 years with a 4790K chip in it, and it has been rock solid. 

Hell, I remember back in the socket A days having many MSI boards and I think only one of them shit the bed. I've personally had great luck with MSI boards.


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## Kissamies (Feb 4, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I don't know man. I've had an MSI 1150 gaming mATX board for about 5 or 6 years with a 4790K chip in it, and it has been rock solid.
> 
> Hell, I remember back in the socket A days having many MSI boards and I think only one of them shit the bed. I've personally had great luck with MSI boards.


I mean by overclocker's point of view, MSI boards were pretty ass back in the day. For example that 775 board I had was a good board in overall, but just for high FSB overclocking, it sucked. :/

edit: But I have to say that MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (S939, NF3 Ultra) was a great board, overclocked like a dream with a 3000+ Venice.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 5, 2022)

NIB FirePro 2270 for <$20USD shipped, why not... It's basically a HD 5450 but called something else. I gave it a Noctua 40x10mm fan, aluminum heatsinks, MX-2 and APT2560 pads.

It doesn't support overclocking natively, so I'll have to do some VBIOS fiddling... it just won't be as easy as increasing the sliders like most consumer AMD/ATI cards of the era.


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## Kanan (Feb 6, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> View attachment 235363
> View attachment 235364
> View attachment 235365
> View attachment 235366
> ...


These red pcbs look really good.


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## Greenslade (Feb 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ha, not quite "the best I can do", no ... but back in a day it served its purpose
> 
> I had a weird tonearm resonance issue while playing LP album "The Wall", which couldn't be explained through common sense or hardware/tech components themselves. So I messaged Audio Technica representatives who asked me to make a video on the issue ... which is why & how the video was made. Oddly enough, the problem disappeared over time which makes me think that it may have been related to (then) brand new AT-95EX cartridge & its stylus suspension. At the time, it was still very rigid & apparently couldn't handle all the warps & wrinkles on the record, so the stylus assembly plowed through all of them & picked up every single vibration.
> 
> ...


AT-95EX was a good budget cartridge back in the day a lot of us had one, at one time or another  Very true there.A cool looking wooden arm?.


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## sam_86314 (Feb 7, 2022)

This is hardware, right? It's an old computing device...






One of my thrift store finds from many years ago; an Omron 86R calculator circa 1974 with a lovely little vacuum-fluorescent display.

Still has the old batteries it had when I found it. They "expired" in 2015, yet they're still going strong.

Also has a fun little glitch where if you subtract a number from zero and re-add it, you'll get "-0".


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## INSTG8R (Feb 7, 2022)

I’ve probably posted  this before but still think  it’s a beautiful card… I also realized its my only fallback card which wouldn’t be as beautiful.  I have a 7970 but it”sdied of sag., didn’t turn over the last time I tire$ it…


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## MachineLearning (Feb 7, 2022)

XFX 750i motherboard, as you can see...   I just got this today so I haven't had time to play around with it except to make sure it works, but I already know it's gonna be an odd duck...

So judging by 1.) the sticker on the front that says "_Designed_ by nVidia Authorized Board Partner," 2.) the fact that this breaks significantly in design from the EVGA 750i [itself being strictly reference, as far as I know], and 3.) what I remember reading, this is a board designed by XFX's team. That itself makes it interesting to me, but also it's weird that they went through the trouble of designing a dual heatpipe cooler with black fins, logos all over the place, nickel plating for said heatpipes, but _then_ decided not to cool the fourth power stage? I seriously don't understand this decision, it isn't like newer boards where that would be IGP phase(s) and therefore more understandable. But I'm very confused by this design choice. I think they must have had their GPU team make this in their free time  Lot of things make sense and/or are fine, but some stuff is just confusing.

I gave the southbridge and VRM some Arctic APT2560 0.5mm pads, the northbridge and NF200 chip both got MX-2, and the shunned power stage got 2 small aluminum heatsinks. Also, the thermal... substances on this cooler were absolutely rock solid. There is no getting these off via any mortal means. I need like industrial grade solvent, or maybe just some gumption, but I have neither and I like to live on the edge. So I did the best that I could, which wasn't much, and if the board complains then oh well, it still works and I can always try again...

XFX... why is the POST code on the rear I/O? I mean, I'd rather have this than no post code at all. And if it were in the traditional position, you may not even be able to see the POST code at all if you have multiple GPUs, so I suppose that's a plus... But how could anyone reasonably read this if it's installed in a case? If it were on a test bench it'd actually be the best position imo, but clearly that wasn't their intention, since unlike the EVGA 750i this doesn't have onboard power / reset buttons. 

While researching this board, I found this laughable press release from XFX back in the day. Everyone at TPU hated it...  I think that marketing guy either wasn't involved in the box design (thank god), or they axed him before he got his hands on it. I'm more than fine with that, this box looks pretty sweet in my opinion.

XFX, very conveniently and taking after the style of Foxconn, decided that publicly hosting like 1GB of downloads for their older consumer mainboards is just way too damn expensive. So it's impossible to download any BIOS updates directly from their site, they took down those pages. Well, at some point, some person in 2014 wanted to update their XFX 750i BIOS on Tomshardware but posted about how they couldn't find it. A XFX representative actually responded helpfully with what seems like an internal(?) link to all of their motherboard BIOSes. Seriously, what a great resource... I know their boards weren't popular or really all that great, but to have these organized and technically still on the internet is great. The link to that is here, BIOSes in the Motherboard folder. Hopefully anyone else who would need one of those files can come back to this. Flashing can be done either through DOS or AWDFLASH, DOS of course being recommended. I didn't upload those BIOSes but considering the context, they appear legitimate. Mine was already fully updated luckily, so I didn't have to meddle with this hidden science.

I know I'm bashing on this board a lot, but I wanna make it clear I'm still happy with it no matter what because it's funky. If the hardware is funky, it gets a pass from me. I'm gonna do some overclocking on this after I do a few other projects and see if it's as unstable as I've read online


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## Kanan (Feb 7, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> View attachment 235566
> View attachment 235567
> 
> View attachment 235568
> ...


That's a great find. Well I'm not surprised you're bashing it a lot, they simply had not enough experience designing mainboards and its way harder than doing GPUs. XFX is a funny brand, not in a negative sense, just when you observe their history, it's a up and down story. At the moment they're doing pretty well and I like most their new designs a lot.


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## INSTG8R (Feb 7, 2022)

Geez I completely forgot about these. Totally complete minus the cables. I was really lost when Abit disappeared I basically basically always used them from zP4 up to C2D


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## Kanan (Feb 7, 2022)

INSTG8R said:


> Geez I completely forgot about these. Totally complete minus the cables. I was really lost when Abit disappeared I basically basically always used them from zP4 up to C2D
> View attachment 235605
> View attachment 235606


What happened to ABIT anyway?


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## INSTG8R (Feb 7, 2022)

Kanan said:


> What happened to ABIT anyway?


They basically disappeared without a teak reason. I was for quite awhile hosting their entire BIOS collection via Torrent. 
All that’s left…





						Universal abit > Motherboard, Digital Speakers, iDome, AirPace, Multimedia
					

Universal abit > Motherboard, Digital Speakers, iDome, AirPace, Multimedia



					abit.ws


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## Kissamies (Feb 7, 2022)

I miss Abit the most of the manufacturers that isn't in the game anymore. In general they made great boards with usually great overclocking capabilities.


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## Kanan (Feb 7, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I miss Abit the most of the manufacturers that isn't in the game anymore. In general they made great boards with usually great overclocking capabilities.


same with DFI and their LAN PARTY boards


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## Kissamies (Feb 7, 2022)

Kanan said:


> same with DFI and their LAN PARTY boards


Yeah, I remember those, especially the NF4 Lanparty boards were pretty common back in the day.


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## INSTG8R (Feb 7, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I miss Abit the most of the manufacturers that isn't in the game anymore. In general they made great boards with usually great overclocking capabilities.


That AMD Board had 2 16x slots way back then! Built my first “crazy rig” with it…








						TechPowerUp
					






					www.techpowerup.com


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## Kissamies (Feb 7, 2022)

INSTG8R said:


> That AMD Board had 2 16x slots way back then! Built my first “crazy rig” with it…
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Gotta love that old-school custom loop.


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## Kanan (Feb 7, 2022)

INSTG8R said:


> That AMD Board had 2 16x slots way back then! Built my first “crazy rig” with it…
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is "old school cool". Who knows it appreciates it


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## INSTG8R (Feb 7, 2022)

Kanan said:


> This is "old school cool". Who knows it appreciates it


That External Unit was actually Asetek.  Back when they actually made stuff and weren’t just patient trolling. It had six crazy/server fans I replaced with all Silen-X another company that’s gone
And I still have the X1900XTX Master Card
Actually I couldn rebuild that whole rig again on air.


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## Kanan (Feb 7, 2022)

INSTG8R said:


> That External Unit was actually Asetek.  Back when they actually made stuff and weren’t just patient trolling. It had six crazy/server fans I replaced with all Silen-X another company that’s gone
> And I still have the X1900XTX Master Card


I had a 92mm fan by Silen-X for my old Chieftec case, quality and not expensive.



INSTG8R said:


> And I still have the X1900XTX Master Card


I missed all gens between Geforce 3 and Geforce 7 (and Radeon equivalent) because I didn't game anymore for a while, so I had a GF 3 Ti 200 for a long time and then switched to GF 7800 GT... it's like you're reminding me of a whole in my head


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## Greenslade (Feb 7, 2022)

Can anyone give me some advice i have this Thin client 







  i want to upgrade the flash dom.Do i go for the 8GB one NMB   one i have never heard of that make before, that would be £16.84.Or do i go with the more common Apacer 4GB which is £13.30 .The extra storerage would be nice for just £3.54 for the extra 4gb.?I will be using Windows 98 .Do any of you use a thin Client for Retro gaming?Both are from the same seller. The unit is cheap but the storage isn'tI have just looked up NMB they made memory chips for Intel until they terminated there agreement with them in 1994.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 7, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I miss Abit the most of the manufacturers that isn't in the game anymore. In general they made great boards with usually great overclocking capabilities.





Kanan said:


> same with DFI and their LAN PARTY boards


Same board designer. 
Oskar Wu went from Epox to Abit and then to DFI. When he left each one, they turned to crap and disappeared.
That's your history lesson for today.


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## Kanan (Feb 7, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> That's your history lesson for today.


You're a funny guy, Scotty.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 7, 2022)

Kanan said:


> You're a funny guy, Scotty.


lol
Sometimes.


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## Greenslade (Feb 7, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> lol
> Sometimes.


Beam me up Scotty


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Beam me up Scotty


If I had a nickle for every time I heard that......................


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 7, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> If I had a nickle for every time I heard that......................


I bet


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 9, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> AT-95EX was a good budget cartridge back in the day a lot of us had one, at one time or another  Very true there.A cool looking wooden arm?.


Sorry, I completely missed your post 

AT-95EX really IS a great cartridge, but I'm afraid you got something wrong ... there is no "back in a day" with 95EX. It is a fairly new, modern design which upgraded their previous, highly acclaimed model AT-95E 









So I'm guessing that you meant AT-95E and not 95EX ... in which case you are absolutely right. To quote Audio Technica, "EX" is made out of modern materials, featuring an extended frequency response and improved transient response" has 0.3x0.7mil elliptical stylus, and is color-coded in red. It was first introduced a while ago, when AT first came out with their AT-LP5 turntable, as LP5 came with 95EX already fitted on its tonearm.

Speaking of 95E series, I also have VM95E and I have to say that I'm highly disappointed with its performance. They must have changed something within the cartridge (generator) itself, because it sounds warmer, it lost that bright (almost digital-like) sound of the previous AT-95E/95EX generation 



Mr.Scott said:


> If I had a nickle for every time I heard that......................


And what about "Scotty, beam me up!"


----------



## 68Olds (Feb 9, 2022)

@INSTG8R posted his Abit motherboards the other day & that prompted me to take some pictures and post my Abit collection.

First up is the BE6 slot 1 with a PIII 550.  The entire system was a dumpster find, and sadly it is not the BE6-II.  It also needs to be recapped.  But its Win98 install is still operating.






Next up is the Abit AI7 i865PE.  I have a 3.2 northwood (along with several other northwoods) for it.  One of my favorite boards.  The black goo around the socket is left over insulation from a chiller run.





Next is the Abit IC7 MaxII (no, not the infamous MaxIII).  I have a 3.4 prescott for it which ran at 4.1GHz 24/7 under water.  Like my "prescott mosfet sinks"?  It has a 250MHz FSB 1:1 memory bug which is really annoying, but otherwise a great board.  I had a 2nd one which I sold to a bencher - he killed it in two days. 
Edit:  I forgot to mention, both the AI7 & IC7 had the northbridge fans replaced years ago.  The originals didn't last very long & there was a great discussion over which VGA fans made the best replacements.  These both have a little bling with blue LEDs in the fan hub.





Here's one of two Abit AA8XE motherboards.  Both of these were dumpster saves (in the boxes!)  I have a 3.73 P4EE and a 3.4 prescott for these boards.  I wish the chipset supported the Pentium D, but it does not.  Weird capacitor placement won't allow me to install either of my LGA775 water blocks either.  I have a giant copper air-cooler for it though.





I have a uGURU panel that works on the AA8XE, and I think it also works on the next mobo.





Last is the Abit AW9D-Max, which I ran an E6600 at 3.6GHz under water for so long I forgot the CPU's stock speed. lol  I also have an X6800 (@4.0GHz) and an E8600 (@4.0GHz) for this board.  I'm guessing my collection of Pentium Ds will work in it too, but haven't tested them out yet.  Sorry, didn't pull it out of the box.  This board ran X1900XTs in crossfire & also HD 3870s in xfire.





Thanks for looking at my trip down memory lane.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 9, 2022)

Uguru panel works on all Abit boards that have the header for it.
I would kill for one.

IC7 Max III is overrated. Had 2, blew one up benching and sold the other. Asus P4C800 boards are way better.
I still have a running BE6-II.


----------



## 68Olds (Feb 10, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Uguru panel works on all Abit boards that have the header for it.
> I would kill for one.
> 
> IC7 Max III is overrated. Had 2, blew one up benching and sold the other. Asus P4C800 boards are way better.
> I still have a running BE6-II.


There was a time when I really wanted a p4c800-e deluxe and a socket 479 adapter.  I still remember those mobile CPU setups just crushing various benchmarks.  Looked like a lot of fun at the time and I have a sneaking suspicion that some of those benches were yours.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Feb 10, 2022)

You had to play the Abit card didn't ya...my IC7 Max 3 is in the line for a resurrection... gonna leave in an X800XT and an Audigy 2 ZS , Prescott 3.4 , and throw back in 2 Raptor WD360 raid , a Swiftech MCX4000-T TE heatsink and bigazz Sunon fan , a Swiftech NB copper chunk and bigazz Sunon fan , the TE gets a Meanwell power supply of it's own.

I posted some other Abit systems further back in the thread , Abit was the overclockers friend


----------



## basco (Feb 10, 2022)

i wanna know more about this northbridge cooler if it is that in the middle pic besides the power supply ?
i think i saw something similiar 10 or more years ago.


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 10, 2022)

You guys must have big houses, with all the computers you have. I only live in a studio flat which is a living room and bedroom in one.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> *You guys must have big houses*, with all the computers you have. I only live in a studio flat which is a living room and bedroom in one.


Oh hell no, I live in a 34m2 apartment though I still don't have this full of junk.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 10, 2022)

68Olds said:


> There was a time when I really wanted a p4c800-e deluxe and a socket 479 adapter.  I still remember those mobile CPU setups just crushing various benchmarks.  Looked like a lot of fun at the time and I have a sneaking suspicion that some of those benches were yours.


Indeed.   
Still have both items.


----------



## 68Olds (Feb 10, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Indeed.
> Still have both items.


That does not surprise me at all.  I feel you could sell tickets to tour your parts collection.


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 10, 2022)

Can anyone give me links to Vista  GTX960 either 32 or 64 bit.And the ethernet driver.I tried 368.39 win8 win 7 vista 32bit.i have no idea why that does not work.


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## 68Olds (Feb 10, 2022)

Here's the 64 bit 365.19.








						GeForce Game Ready Driver | 365.19 | Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit | NVIDIA
					

Download the English (US) GeForce Game Ready Driver for  Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit systems. Released 2016.5.13



					www.nvidia.com
				



Here's the 32 bit 365.19








						GeForce Game Ready Driver | 365.19 | Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 8.1 32-bit, Windows 8 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit | NVIDIA
					

Download the English (US) GeForce Game Ready Driver for  Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 8.1 32-bit, Windows 8 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit systems. Released 2016.5.13



					www.nvidia.com


----------



## RealKGB (Feb 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> You guys must have big houses, with all the computers you have. I only live in a studio flat which is a living room and bedroom in one.


The secret is stacking things. You can fit a lot of hardware in a small space that way!


----------



## QuietBob (Feb 10, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Oh hell no, I live in a 34m2 apartment though I still don't have this full of junk.


Hah, so we live on exactly the same space!  I keep most of my tech in a coat/utility closet. I have three desktops in the room, but still plenty of space.



RealKGB said:


> The secret is stacking things. You can fit a lot of hardware in a small space that way!


Exactly! Shelves and drawers also help. And filling larger containers with small sundry boxes.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Feb 10, 2022)

basco said:


> i wanna know more about this northbridge cooler if it is that in the middle pic besides the power supply ?
> i think i saw something similiar 10 or more years ago.



I had several of these at one time , loved all of the Swiftech copper chunk (my words) heat sinks...I sold a couple and am sorry I did. Here are some examples , I had some of their other models like MCX370 and MCX462-V. The wife had the MCX4000 , not sure if that one is still around the bone yard but  it may be.

Swiftech MCX159  "fan not included"  at the time Sunon Maglev fans were where it was at





Swiftech MCX775-V   for 775 processors







Swiftech MCX4000-T  Thermo-electric  (putting this on the Abit IC7 Max 3)





​


----------



## MachineLearning (Feb 11, 2022)

Get ready y'all, I have a long one for you today.  This has taken most of the day, plus a few hours last night, to set up and gather... I hope you enjoy.

As many people know, LGA775 has so many CPUs that are very overclockable, inexpensive, and they largely don't draw a lot of power, unless you're looking at Netburst. But the 45nm Yorkfield CPUs especially seem to run cool, and are super easy to OC on pretty much any board. So, I purchased 6x Core 2 Duo E8500 processors to satiate my own curiosity, and get some form of binning done for the first time in my life.

Components:
- ASUS P5Q Turbo v1.02g (P45 Chipset), with modded BIOS ("5th anniversary edition Final")
- 1x2GB OCZ Reaper DDR2, rated for 1066MHz
- XFX GTX 285 (stock)
- Super Flower Leadex III Bronze Pro 650W
- Sandisk X400 SSD (128GB)
- DeepCool Gammaxx 400 w/ 2x Arctic P12 in push-pull config locked at 100% PWM, MX-2 thermal paste














Constant settings:
- vCore: 1.550v*
- FSB Term. Voltage / CPU VTT: 1.40v
- NB Voltage: 1.40v
- SB Voltage: 1.10v
- CPU GTL Reference: 0.65x
- vDIMM: 2.20v
- PCIe SATA Voltage: 1.50v
- CPU PLL Voltage: 1.50v
- LLC: Enabled
- Spread Spectrum (CPU & PCIe): Disabled
- PCIe Frequency: 100
- FSB Strap to NB: 333MHz, DRAM frequency set to slowest available ratio
- Memory Timings: CAS 5-5-5-18
- CPU Margin Enhancement: Performance Mode
- DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
- DRAM Read Training: Disabled
- Mem. OC Charger: Enabled
- AI Clock Twister: Strong
- C1E: Disabled
- Hardware Virtualization: Disabled
_*was conditionally altered for 1 CPU, which exceeded thermal capacity._

All other OC settings, not relating to FSB frequency or CPU multiplier for OC, are auto.

Miscellaneous:
- Thermal paste application: Always approx. pea-sized dot in center of IHS. Cooler mounted with pins pushed in diagonal order. All MX-2 used is from the same 65G syringe, itself being less than 1 month old.

- Ambient temperature 22-23⁰C (~71-74⁰F), as measured by cheap IR thermal gun pointed at the table the test bench is on.

- OS was kept disconnected from the internet at all times.

Thermal paste application photos, these are from SLB9K_#4, which incidentally was the hottest CPU. This is only an example, I did not photograph every CPU's mount. For SLB9K_#4, at least a bad mount can be ruled out:











This is the order in which the CPU push-pins were depressed. This was consistent for every single CPU. Additionally, the CPU cooler was always mounted in the same direction (DeepCool logo same orientation as Yageo inductors in next picture).





Stability measurement:
- 30 min Prime95 blend torture test, HWiNFO as only other active program
- CPU-Z validation for reference
- Max Bootable Frequency is defined as getting into Windows 10 64-bit desktop and the mouse can be moved, amount of time pre-BSOD is inconsequential.
~~~
Ordered and tested by production date.

#1: E8500, SLB9K (E0)
- Serial: Q939A475
- Made: 2009, wk 39
- Max stable frequency: 4.370GHz
- Max bootable frequency: 4.560GHz (480 FSB)
- Multiplier/FSB: 9.5x / 460MHz
- End DRAM Frequency: 920MHz
- CPU-Z Validation

#2: E8500, SLB9K (E0)
- Serial: Q945A839
- Made: 2009, wk 45
- Max stable frequency: 4.512GHz
- Max bootable frequency: 4.607GHz (485 FSB)
- Multiplier/FSB: 9.5x / 475MHz
- End DRAM Frequency: 950MHz
- CPU-Z Validation

#3: E8500, SLB9K (E0)
- Serial: Q035B863
- Made: 2010, wk 35
- Max stable frequency: 4.560GHz
- Max bootable frequency: 4.750GHz (500FSB)
- Multiplier/FSB: 9.5x / 480MHz
- End DRAM Frequency: 960MHz
- CPU-Z Validation

#4: E8500, SLB9K (E0)
- Serial: Q038C609
- Made: 2010, wk 38
- Max stable frequency: 4.560GHz
- Max bootable frequency: 4.655GHz (490FSB)
- Multiplier/FSB: 9.5x / 480MHz
- End DRAM Frequency: 960MHz
- CPU-Z Validation
*Note: Oddly drew 10-20W more than previous CPUs @ identical settings + frequency (measured by OnSemi ASP0800, = EPU2). Also peaked about 5-7⁰C higher than all previous CPUs, again same settings. 80⁰C vs 72-75⁰C previous.
First chip that was thermally limited (none before were @ 80⁰C), so to test I lowered voltage to 1.500V. Consumed similar power, and was at similar temps as others @ 1.550V. Not an issue of thermal paste application. End OC achieved @ 1.550V. Max 91W, previous 70-80W.

#5: E8500, SLB9K (E0)
- Serial: Q040D896
- Made: 2010, wk 40
- Max stable frequency: 4.607GHz
- Max bootable frequency: 4.892GHz (!) (515FSB)
- Multiplier/FSB: 9.5x / 485MHz
- End DRAM Frequency: 970MHz
- CPU-Z Validation
*Note: This was even worse than the last one on power, consuming 115W and instantly hitting 96⁰C on both cores @ 1.550V, 450FSB for initial sanity check. Dropping to 1.500V for final clocks.
Consumes as much @1.500V as E8500#4 does @ 1.550v (@ same frequency). Yet, it clocked the highest thus far for raw frequency booting. Seems to have good potential for high clocks with actual tuning, just uses stupidly more power for some reason. Final OC still hit peak 95⁰C, 115W @ OnSemi ASP0800 (ASUS EPU2).

#6: E8500, SLB9K (E0)
- Serial: Q041B237
- Made: 2010, wk 41
- Max stable frequency: 4.322GHz
- Max bootable frequency: 4.560GHz (480FSB, insta-crashed after 10s of desktop)
- Multiplier/FSB: 9.5x / 455MHz
- End DRAM Frequency: 910MHz
- CPU-Z Validation
* Note: Finally, a return to thermal normalcy... didn't instantly hit 95⁰C. Unfortunately, this chip is still not very good. Should have been a mobile CPU 

Something interesting that I didn't realize until after testing: apparently today (February 10th, 2022) is the exact 10-year anniversary of the last date of Intel shipping out SLB9K processors out to OEMs. The longevity of this platform is insane; Ivy Bridge came out that same year... I was very surprised to learn how long they had truly been making these.

Comments on this testing: I know that 1.55v or even 1.50v vCore is quite high for these CPUs. My objective was not to measure how well the CPUs would perform once tweaked (lowest voltage for given frequency, adjusting VTT, etc.), but rather to see what differences exist between different samples when operating within otherwise identical conditions. This is only a sample size of 6, and I purchased them all from the same eBay seller, so I don't know the history of any of these chips either. Therefore I don't feel comfortable extrapolating this data to Yorkfield overall, nor even to SLB9K CPUs as a whole. Also, I didn't track temperatures formally throughout testing; I merely kept an eye on them to see if there were notable differences. Again, max frequency within identical parameters - CPU excepted - was the goal, not tracking power or thermal differences, so I can't really comment on the differences between my samples scientifically.




This is what happens when you complete buildzoid's pentagRAM... I'm surprised OCZ ever went out of business, their modules clearly bend time and space. 

I may do this again in the future with 6x Xeon X5675's...


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 11, 2022)

Thanks for the link, I'll grab a modded bios for my P5Q Pro and I'll have an OC session as well in the future!


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 11, 2022)

I dont' have much space either, but somehow its working out. I hang my boards up on the wall. 

Just a few days ago I decided to tidy up my RAM collection for DDR2. Got one of these neat boxes:




Factory seals, Micron label on the side. These things come from the sacred halls. From Micron it was given, Micron it shall contain! Left row -> D9GMH and Tracers. Right row -> D9GKX
I thought 50 slots would be plenty... Guess I'll grab another. Biggest downside -> Can't store sticks with large heatsinks and put the lid on.

While I was browsing, this thing popped up. Rampage III Extreme, missing NB heatsink and a damaged component near the audio section. I only plan to OC on it and it was tested working so I grabbed it. Did not really plan to get back into X58 but for 115€ I kinda had to. Came with a 920 and some RAM.





Great, now I got even more things to do. I want to set up another X-OC session or two on 775, still have to bin a lot of CPUs, need to bin a LOT of RAM.

In the meantime I also modded my P5Q-E with voltage readpoints like I did on the MSI and I practiced my soldering skills. Took a few caps from random scrap pcbs. There are some really tiny SMDs on DDR2 sticks. 0,15µF. Being able to measure capacitance with my new DMM is nice. The P5Q-E has unpopulated solder pads on the back of the NB that are connected, so I added a few caps out of the socket from a dead 775 board. Just to see if I can manage that without doing any harm to the chip on the other side. So far it was a success, tho I doubt that the P45 NB has any significant ripple that could be improved on. The whole C2D platform seems pretty tame in terms of power requirement.


----------



## MachineLearning (Feb 11, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I dont' have much space either, but somehow its working out. I hang my boards up on the wall.
> 
> Just a few days ago I decided to tidy up my RAM collection for DDR2. Got one of these neat boxes:
> View attachment 236164
> ...


I don't think anyone really ever stays away from X58 for long 
And what a beautiful board, even sans part of the NB heatsink... Total steal for benching. Which component has been damaged?

I know I linked it in my previous post, but this modded BIOS may help you on your ventures. I didn't make it myself and the usual disclaimers come into play, but may be worth a shot if you're up for it. The forum post doesn't immediately state it, but the P5Q-E is in that BIOS package.


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 11, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I don't think anyone really ever stays away from X58 for long
> And what a beautiful board, even sans part of the NB heatsink... Total steal for benching. Which component has been damaged?
> 
> I know I linked it in my previous post, but this modded BIOS may help you on your ventures. I didn't make it myself and the usual disclaimers come into play, but may be worth a shot if you're up for it. The forum post doesn't immediately state it, but the P5Q-E is in that BIOS package.


The damaged part is a tiny SMD transistor, like this: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Not sure what it does yet, but it is in a non-critical area for me. And thanks for the link, I know about these already. In fact this P5Q-E has been running one from ket for a year or more, modded with Xeon microcode. Which is why it does no longer recognize my E8500s, these have been dropped to make space.


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## bobbybluz (Feb 11, 2022)

Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe w/ Athlon X2 6400+ and 2GB of Corsair Dominator CM2X1024-6400C4D. Everything bought new, used for a few years then pulled and stuck into a drawer. It was 100% fully functional when retired. That CPU also did double duty as a space heater.

Gigabyte GA-M790GP-UD4H w/ Phenom II 965 and 8GB of G.Skill F2-6400CL5D. Used board off Craigslist missing one SATA port when I got it many years ago. Also fully functional when retired around 2015. The heatsink base is missing because I had a Corsair H80 AIO on it. I have the base in a bag of AIO parts here. That platform was replaced by an Asus P8P67 Deluxe w/ i7 2600K in it. An ex girlfriend ended up with it and her idiot grandson destroyed the PC it was in trying to "fix" it (there was nothing wrong with it).


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## Greenslade (Feb 11, 2022)

RealKGB said:


> The secret is stacking things. You can fit a lot of hardware in a small space that way!


That is a lot of hasal of setting them up all the time surely?



68Olds said:


> Here's the 64 bit 365.19.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for that.I had to get SP pack 1 all works fine with that.Is there any way you can give a link for the ethernet driver?It is a dell Inspiron 620. Thanks


----------



## 68Olds (Feb 11, 2022)

Hopefully this will work for you, @Greenslade.  Just click the operating system & it will start a zipfile download.
Realtek PCIe Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000M Network Driver 10.031 Download | TechSpot


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 11, 2022)

Why does Windows forever check the disc saying it needs repairing? I never get that with Mac os or Linux?


----------



## RealKGB (Feb 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is a lot of hasal of setting them up all the time surely?


??
Most of my stuff that I've stacked is in storage for one reason or another. My upcoming P4HT build is in there as I haven't bought caps for recapping yet, my iMac G5 is in there since my replacement logic board hasn't arrived yet, I have a bunch of cases in there since I don't need them, etc.


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 11, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Hopefully this will work for you, @Greenslade.  Just click the operating system & it will start a zipfile download.
> Realtek PCIe Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000M Network Driver 10.031 Download | TechSpot


I did get the one Snappy Drivers said I needed but when I tried to extract the file it asked me for a password? After that, it came up with the blue screen message saying it had to shut down in case it damaged my PC.?I had the same message on XP integral, so I installed the one Scotty gave me a link for, I had no problems with that one. I will try the 64bit version of Vista it is so easy to do with Easy2Boot.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is a lot of hasal of setting them up all the time surely?


LOL
I have hardware for probably 50 or more platforms. There is no way you can leave that all set up all the time.
I set up what I'm going to play with, and when I'm done I tear it down and store it again.


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 11, 2022)

RealKGB said:


> ??
> Most of my stuff that I've stacked is in storage for one reason or another. My upcoming P4HT build is in there as I haven't bought caps for recapping yet, my iMac G5 is in there since my replacement logic board hasn't arrived yet, I have a bunch of cases in there since I don't need them, etc.


I get your point there, they are the ones you can,t use tell you  get the parts to repair them.



Mr.Scott said:


> LOL
> I have hardware for probably 50 or more platforms. There is no way you can leave that all set up all the time.
> I set up what I'm going to play with, and when I'm done I tear it down and store it again.


I get your point there Scotty.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 11, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I dont' have much space either, but somehow its working out. I hang my boards up on the wall.
> 
> Just a few days ago I decided to tidy up my RAM collection for DDR2. Got one of these neat boxes:
> View attachment 236164
> ...


I'd need a similar holder for RAM too, where those can be bought? Also makes me sad as I broke my R3E which I got for free, though my current P6X58D-E is also awesome.


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 11, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I'd need a similar holder for RAM too, where those can be bought? Also makes me sad as I broke my R3E which I got for free, though my current P6X58D-E is also awesome.


I got that one from the bay, just search for 'ram tray' or 'DIMM tray'. Be careful that you don't get an SO-DIMM one by accident. These are for the short notebook sticks.


----------



## Robert B (Feb 11, 2022)

*NEW HW FOUND!!! *



AMD Athlon XP 2100+ - AX2100DMT3C
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ - AXDA3200DKV4E
ExpertMedia MED1600 Ver 1.1 - OPTi 82C928A ISA Sound card
MATROX MGA-MIL/MOD2/HP - Matrox IS-STORM / MGA-2064W (MGA Millennium) 4MB PCI - MGA/MIL2/HP5
Abit Siluro FX5700 ULTRA
Gigabyte GA586AM REV. 1A Socket 5 + Pentium 75MHz SX961
Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 2L
Chaintech ELT-286B + AMD 80286/16MHz - AMD N80L286-16/S - incomplete, slight corrosion damage, bent
PNY Technologies Geforce 4 4200 Ti 64MB AGP
Leadtek Winfast A400 TDH - Geforce 6800 AGP
3dfx Skywell Magic 3D II - VooDoo 2
Miro Pico 100 FXX ID:LAHV22MV-PCI-1 *** IV22MV-PCX1.04617200.055780199 - Tv tuner + S3 Trio *** Pinnacle Systems GmbH V22MV-PCI-1
AMD Athlon 950MHz *** A0950AMT3B
ASUS P3B-F Slot 1 REV 1.03 440BX
Matched pair of Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD
Shuttle AK32E V1.1 - VIA KT266A + AXP 2000+
ATI AIW 3D RAGE PRO TURBO 109-52300-00 PCI Cable Tuner TV Card
Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB(256 bit) GDDR3 AGP
Adaptec AHA-2940W/2940UW
Mitsumi CD-ROM DRIVE 16BIT I/F CARD *** 74-1881A *** KU-03294V-ON - a perfect match for my untested Mitsumi CRMC-FX001D CD ROM 2x that I got in 2020
3dfx VooDoo 3 2000 16Mb AGP
Intel Pentium II 400MHz - SL3EE
Pair of 2x1GB Corsair CM2X1024-6400C5DHX ver 2.1 *** XMS 2 / DHX
Medion 9800 XL Ver.100
Pine nVIDIA Geforce 3 Ti 200 128MB

More to come!!!


----------



## MachineLearning (Feb 11, 2022)

ASUS P5K, wanted a beater board to mess around with. Probably gonna throw a modded BIOS on it and socket mod to accept LGA771 CPUs


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 11, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Hopefully this will work for you, @Greenslade.  Just click the operating system & it will start a zipfile download.
> Realtek PCIe Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000M Network Driver 10.031 Download | TechSpot


Thanks once more for the link to the network driver,


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 11, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> View attachment 236249
> View attachment 236250
> View attachment 236251
> View attachment 236258
> ...


A true classic, almost everyone had that board in one point. And back then having only PCIe 1.1 wasn't a bottleneck (unlike P45/X38/X48 which had PCIe 2.0).


----------



## 68Olds (Feb 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks once more for the link to the network driver,


Glad I could be of help.



MaenadFIN said:


> A true classic, almost everyone had that board in one point. And back then having only PCIe 1.1 wasn't a bottleneck (unlike P45/X38/X48 which had PCIe 2.0).


I started my C2D experience with a 975 chipset Abit AW9D-Max and a pair of X1900s in crossfire, then I moved to an X38 (which I eventually flashed to X48) because of crossfire, then I moved to an actual X48 - again because of crossfire. I feel I missed out on a lot of fun with some of the P35 & P45 boards that were around at the time, including that P5K. There were a lot of great mobo’s that could do some insane CPU overclocks with those chipsets running a single GPU, but they took a real hit trying to run crossfire compared to X38/48.


----------



## MachineLearning (Feb 13, 2022)

The beauteous Abit IP35-Pro. Abit seems to have been a fan favorite for many people for many years, but this is my first from them so it's nigh time to find out why...

Already, I've been in the BIOS and this uGuru monitoring is absurd. Absolute dreamboat. Tells you both EPS12V voltage and 24-pin voltage - I've never seen that before. The color scheme is awesome, blue and orange look fantastic together. Gigabyte wishes they did blue PCBs this well  

Allegedly this has vDroop problems with quad cores, but I'd be surprised if it's any worse than that P5K I posted about. With a Q6600, vDroop on the P5K was massive: -50mv from set in BIOS at idle, then -80mv on that (!!!). So this can't possibly be any worse, right?

Also to my understanding lot of people experienced issues where the heatsink wouldn't make good contact with the VRM or northbridge due to it being bent (poor QC or poor design). My sample luckily seems to be perfectly fine, I did add 1mm APT2560 thermal pads which I'm hoping will account for any variances vs the stock 0.5mm pads.

Another motherboard maker under the belt... And solid caps, too! 

edit: I just realized that the NB and VRM heatsink make a crescent moon and rising sun. Pretty neat touch!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2022)

Speaking of which... Well, kinda 

Recently I've been playing around with my Q6600 sleeper rig, especially since I upgraded the graphics from 8600GTS to GTX 550Ti. I already finished Portal 2, and am working hard on Grand Theft Auto 4, putting up with Roman's gambling debts and Russian mafia 




8600GTS:




GTX 550Ti:




I also took the liberty of OCing that Q6600 to its full potential of 3.00GHz. Risky move, I know (considering the state of things inside that Adison mATX tower) but overall things are working out. And besides ... even IF something gives out, this stuff is fairly easy and cheap to replace, it's not like I'm OCing Slot 1 or Slot A motherboard 

By the way, this MSI MS-7592 (G41M-P28) board here is the latest S775 platform available. Unlike many others, it features DDR3 RAM with newer G41 chipset and (according to manual) it can handle up to 8GB of RAM. Unfortunately, I only got 4GB at the moment (2 + 2 configuration) but this may change down the road.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

3GHz shouldn't be any problem if you have the G0 stepping SLACR version of the Q6600. They do that on stock Voltage.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> 3GHz shouldn't be any problem if you have the G0 stepping SLACR version of the Q6600. They do that on stock Voltage.


Hmm... Don't remember the exact model code/number, but maybe I could search through all the previous TPU posts & find out.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

The SLACR is 95W the older one is 105W. Some computers won't even boot the older version.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> The SLACR is 95W the older one is 105W. Some computers won't even boot the older version.


Found it! Good thing I documented everything  LINK




And yes, apparently it really is SLACR, G0 stepping (according to HWiNFO64)

Speaking of specs, here are all the details on HW & timings:
CPU:
Q6600 Kentsfield, G0 Stepping (95W TDP)

MBO:
MSI G41M-P28
Intel G41 (Eaglelake) Chipset + ICH7
BIOS Version 12/10/2012, v26.11 (latest one, I've just upgraded it)

RAM:
4GB, DDR3 SDRAM
Clock: 532.8MHz = 1.60X x 333.0MHz
Mode: Dual-Channel
CR: 2T
Timing: 7 - 7 - 7 - 20
tRFC: 86

Memory Modules:
MemorySolution TMS2GB364E082139EM (1)
MemorySolution TMS2GB364E082139EM (2)
Size: 2GB
Clock: 667MHz
ECC: N
Type: DDR3-1333/PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM UDIMM

GPU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (GF116) Point Of View
PCIe v2.0 x16 (5.0 GT/s) @ x16 (2.5 GT/s)
1GB GDDR5 SDRAM, 128-bit

GPU Clock: 405.0MHz
VRAM: 162.0MHz
Shader: 810.0

OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Build 7601 (Service Pack 1)

Drives
SATA 6Gb/s @ 3Gb/s WDC WD5000AAKX-001CA0 (500GB)
ATAPI CD-ROM Drive/F5A (CD-ROM)
ATAPI IOMEGA ZIP250 (Disk Drive)


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## MachineLearning (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> 3GHz shouldn't be any problem if you have the G0 stepping SLACR version of the Q6600. They do that on stock Voltage.





Trekkie4 said:


> Found it! Good thing I documented everything  LINK
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've got 3x G0 Q6600's, and all of them can hit 3.5 - 3.6GHz with a bit of fiddling. I betcha yours can hit 3.4GHz at least if you're comfortable upping the voltage   

Anandtech did a wonderful piece back in the day on G0 vs B3 stepping for this CPU if you're interested in reading up some more.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

I don't think the G41 chipset will go 16GB RAM. I think 2x RAM slots was part of the spec. for those. But it is a 130W chipset. I got an X5470 Xeon to run in my G41 Optiplex 380. The Dell BIOS won't allow a QX9650 to boot.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I don't think the G41 chipset will go 16GB RAM. I think 2x RAM slots was part of the spec. for those. But it is a 130W chipset. I got an X5470 Xeon to run in my G41 Optiplex 380. The Dell BIOS won't allow a QX9650 to boot.


No, you're right. 8GB is max, I got something wrong & corrected my previous post.

By the way, I gave it a try with different CPU configuration(s) and no, it doesn't work. All I can squeeze out of Q6600 is approx. 3.00GHz, 333MHz. Regardless of the voltage, it simply hangs on POST & reverts back to fail-safe config. Same thing actually as my other Q6600 which ALSO happens to be SLACR and is (oddly enough) also paired with MSI motherboard. This one however is much older model (P43 NEO) and uses DDR2.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

Some OEM market MB have a locked PLL chip and can't raise the fsb. You could try the E7600 2 core and see if you can get 3.83GHz (11.5x333fsb).  It has SSE4 and would be better for old single thread gaming.


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 13, 2022)

I hope you guys are having a good weekend.  I have another problem.i am trying to dual boot Windows 7 and XP.I have downloaded EasyBCD but it fails to install.it nearly gets to the end, but it says*Installation Aborted set up was not completed successfully.Show more says *Testing internet connection  installation cancelled?*The version is 2.4.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> No, you're right. 8GB is max, I got something wrong & corrected my previous post.
> 
> By the way, I gave it a try with different CPU configuration(s) and no, it doesn't work. All I can squeeze out of Q6600 is approx. 3.00GHz, 333MHz. Regardless of the voltage, it simply hangs on POST & reverts back to fail-safe config. Same thing actually as my other Q6600 which ALSO happens to be SLACR and is (oddly enough) also paired with MSI motherboard. This one however is much older model (P43 NEO) and uses DDR2.



Interesting... Both G41 and P43 have FSB walls so I wonder if that's the problem. Apparently it was intentional to limit competition with P45.

From that G41 overclock.net link:


> *Steps:
> 
> 1) Turn off the usual bits (C1E, HPET, etc.)
> 2) Set mems to 1:1 ratio
> ...



edit: also, strictly for testing, using 1 DIMM may help you at least boot higher frequencies, if DRAM is a limiter (which I frankly doubt)


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

I got a nice bump on my G41 from Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 Ram. The CAS9@1600 modules run 6-6-6-16 at 1066 speed in my Dell.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I got a nice bump on my G41 from Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 Ram. The CAS9@1600 modules run 6-6-6-16 at 1066 speed in my Dell.


That's no bump. Cl9@1600 is faster than Cl6@1066.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

According to this it's actually the same. 11.3ns latency..








						RAM Speed Calculator | XBitLabs
					

This is a calculator to determine an absolute RAM latency or RAM speed.




					www.xbitlabs.com
				



 The "bump" is going from the typical 7-7-7-20 @ 1066 to 6-6-6-16 timing at the same speed.
 If you have an old computer that can't run RAM at 1600 speed it's a big bump


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> According to this it's actually the same. 11.3ns latency..
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ahhh.............didn't know you couldn't run @ 1600.
My bad.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> Some OEM market MB have a locked PLL chip and can't raise the fsb. You could try the E7600 2 core and see if you can get 3.83GHz (11.5x333fsb).  It has SSE4 and would be better for old single thread gaming.


Right, OK. But these are not OEM boards... Especially not P43 Neo, it was hand-picked for a gaming rig back in 2009.



MachineLearning said:


> Interesting... Both G41 and P43 have FSB walls so I wonder if that's the problem. Apparently it was intentional to limit competition with P45.
> 
> From that G41 overclock.net link:
> 
> ...


Interesting... Yes, this could certainly explain a thing or two. I'm not going to remove RAM module because I'm already running under full load all the time (it would seem that 4GB isn't what it used to be, 10 years ago) but I may try disabling all these other options & reducing the multiplier.

Edit
Nothing... Even with C13, HPET disabled, PCIe frequecy at 104MHz, multiplier at 8X and memory to (as close as possible) to 1 : 1, I can't even get to 3.00GHz mark any longer.


----------



## MachineLearning (Feb 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Interesting... Yes, this could certainly explain a thing or two. I'm not going to remove RAM module because I'm already running under full load all the time (it would seem that 4GB isn't what it used to be, 10 years ago) but I may try disabling all these other options & reducing the multiplier.
> 
> Edit
> Nothing... Even with C13, HPET disabled, PCIe frequecy at 104MHz, multiplier at 8X and memory to (as close as possible) to 1 : 1, I can't even get to 3.00GHz mark any longer.


Hmm, what are your CPU VTT, vCore and NB voltages at? And how much vDroop is there for vCore under full load, is LLC a BIOS option?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 13, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Hmm, what are your CPU VTT, vCore and NB voltages at? And how much vDroop is there for vCore under full load, is LLC a BIOS option?


They were all default during that last test. There was no need to increase voltage because I could barely even get to factory clock of 2.4GHz.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Ahhh.............didn't know you couldn't run @ 1600.
> My bad.


I can't adjust my RAM timing either. Those are the timings those run at 1066 speed as is. No one publishes those specs.



Trekkie4 said:


> They were all default during that last test. There was no need to increase voltage because I could barely even get to factory clock of 2.4GHz.


You might just try a Q6700. They're all G0 and if you have a little extra Voltage it should go 3.33GHz.

G41 is famous for the FSB not moving. It's tied to some bus that crashes everything.


----------



## MachineLearning (Feb 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> They were all default during that last test. There was no need to increase voltage because I could barely even get to factory clock of 2.4GHz.


If you feel like taking another crack at it, this is what I'd try:
- PCIe frequency 100
- multiplier 9x
- LLC enabled if possible
- northbridge voltage @ 1.3-1.35v
- CPU VTT @ 1.4-1.45v
- vCore @ 1.50v, check vDroop. Will probably be a couple dozen mv lower from what you set in BIOS, dropping even further under load. Might end up around 1.4v under load.
- DRAM to spec'd timings for primaries (manually)
- all other voltages (SB, etc.) to their default setting (again manually)

This configuration should alleviate any bottleneck sans:
- vrm overheating / inadequate (vDroop over 200mv for instance)
- chipset limitations not affected by voltage (i.e. intel meddling)

edit: not suggesting 1.50v for daily use necessarily, but at least to eliminate that variable from causing an issue.



Retrorockit said:


> I can't adjust my RAM timing either. Those are the timings those run at 1066 speed as is. No one publishes those specs.
> 
> 
> You might just try a Q6700. They're all G0 and if you have a little extra Voltage it should go 3.33GHz.


Q6700 is not worth the trouble, they have 2 SLACR CPUs and I refuse to believe that both are of such low quality that 3GHz is their max. Especially when the one in their photo was made in 2008, that's a mature 65nm right there


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## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> They were all default during that last test. There was no need to increase voltage because I could barely even get to factory clock of 2.4GHz.


How are those capacitors looking?



MachineLearning said:


> Q6700 is not worth the trouble, they have 2 SLACR CPUs and I refuse to believe that both are of such low quality that 3GHz is their max. Especially when the one in their photo was made in 2008, that's a mature 65nm right there


G41 raises the PCIe bus with the fsb. If you can adjust that down as you go you might get somewhere. It's not the CPU it's the G41 chipset. I work around it other ways because I odn't have other options.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 13, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> G41 raises the PCIe bus with the fsb. If you can adjust that down as you go you might get somewhere. It's not the CPU it's the G41 chipset. I work around it other ways because I odn't have other options.


I've not been able to find another mention of this, only people saying they were trying different PCIe bus frequencies to get a higher FSB. Are you sure it's not something specific to your board or am I missing something? Also they're having issues with P43 OC as well so I bet it's either Intel artificially limiting both chipsets or the OC configuration


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## DR4G00N (Feb 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> They were all default during that last test. There was no need to increase voltage because I could barely even get to factory clock of 2.4GHz.


From searching around pretty much all of MSI's 775 boards are pretty meh at best, even the high-end ones.

The P43 Neo is also pretty low end so I think running a quad is a bit much for it. Just because it's on the support list doesn't mean it'll work well.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 13, 2022)

P43  I have no idea.
G41 is known to be hard to overclock. Most people give up on it. I'm so used to locked BIOS Dells I do other things already. So I can't say what will work if you insist on fsb overclocking a G41.
But I do see it in the SetFSB posts to lower the bus 1 for very 3-4 FSB. The furthest I got with SetFSB was 337fsb. I didn't know the 3:1 PCIe trick then. Unfortunately SetFSB isn't working for me  right now or I would be trying it myself. I  would love to see how far my 65W Q9505s will go on a MB that supports a 120W Xeon.


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## Robert B (Feb 13, 2022)

Volunteer - 657c 123 r

*NEW HW FOUND!!!* 

1. ELSA VICTORY Erazor-4 - nVIDIA RIVA 128 4MB PCI *** VICTORY Erazor-PCI-4
2. Intel Pentium ES - SX963 - 100MHz - ES is written on the back.
3. AMD DX-2 80MHz *** A80486DX2-80 *** Am486DX-2 80
4. Team Xtreem 1GB DDR500 - TXDR1024M500HC3 *** 3-4-4-8  - just one stick
5. Intel Pentium III 550MHz - SL3F7 - Katmai - Slot 1
6. A couple of copper CPU coolers - Titan CU5TB ( a very very very whisper silent cooler  not ) and a Spire one. You musn't leave a slab of copper to go to waste.
7. ELSA Winner 1000PRO - in bad shape. Repair in progress.
8. Gigabyte 7N400 Pro 2 - nForce 2 Ultra 400 - Sk.A + AXP 2200+ with all the bells and whistles. One memory slot is missing the clip and piece of plastic from the slot. The memory slot works well without it. Not ideal but for the price I got it I can't complain.
9. Gigabyte GA-586ATV Rev. 4B - Sk.7 + IBM 686L PR166+ *** 6x86L-2VAP166GB 133MHz 2.8V
10. ASUS A8V sk. 939 AGP8x R2.01 + A64 3200+ - needs 15 caps. The original Nippon Chemi-Con 820uf 6.3V are bulged. I hope that the board will POST after repairs. Minor damage on some plastic bits.


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## erek (Feb 13, 2022)

Just ordered this for $160 shipped


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 13, 2022)

Nice price.


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## NoiseBox (Feb 13, 2022)

This hardly qualifies for "antique" but just got a free system, a Socket 775 (Xeon e3110) Asus P5QL-VM DO (uATX) system with 8GB DDR2 in some kind of cube case that I've not seen before. Sadly, the NIC card seemed damaged (code 10 under windows 10) and the front USB cables, when plugged into the mobo give me the "overvoltage detected, shutting down" even when nothing is plugged into them.
I'm a rather big fan of the old Shuttle XPC boxes, and had considered picking one up to make the ultimet C2Q system, but this box will do for now.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 13, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> This hardly qualifies for "antique" but just got a free system, a Socket 775 (Xeon e3110) Asus P5QL-VM DO (uATX) system with 8GB DDR2 in some kind of cube case that I've not seen before. Sadly, the NIC card seemed damaged (code 10 under windows 10) and the front USB cables, when plugged into the mobo give me the "overvoltage detected, shutting down" even when nothing is plugged into them.
> I'm a rather big fan of the old Shuttle XPC boxes, and had considered picking one up to make the ultimet C2Q system, but this box will do for now.


775, 1366 and AM2/AM3 are totally suitable for this thread.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 14, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> This hardly qualifies for "antique" but just got a free system, a Socket 775 (Xeon e3110) Asus P5QL-VM DO (uATX) system with 8GB DDR2 in some kind of cube case that I've not seen before. Sadly, the NIC card seemed damaged (code 10 under windows 10) and the front USB cables, when plugged into the mobo give me the "overvoltage detected, shutting down" even when nothing is plugged into them.
> I'm a rather big fan of the old Shuttle XPC boxes, and had considered picking one up to make the ultimet C2Q system, but this box will do for now.


ASUS sometimes has jumpers next to the internal USB ports to select between them using 5VSB or 5V for power. If yours has those, give that a shot


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## NoiseBox (Feb 14, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> ASUS sometimes has jumpers next to the internal USB ports to select between them using 5VSB or 5V for power. If yours has those, give that a shot


I found the manual, and indeed it does, I'll swap it over and see what happens, thanks for the heads up!


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> How are those capacitors looking?


You mean, on G41 board? Last time I checked, looking good (all original). This is a fairly modern board, so I don't expect them to go bulging up any time soon.


----------



## Retrorockit (Feb 14, 2022)

The thing about G41 is with only 2 RAM slots it would  have been a 4GB system back then. With an onboard GPU using some of that it would have been for 32 bit OS office computers. Mine they even left off an expansion slot so they could use the same MB# for Desktop and Mini Tower. G41 was all about cutting corners. Many of them had a 95W CPU limit, even though the chipset can go higher.
You started overvolting an already overclocked system and it crashed. Did they cut corners on the capacitors too? You may be already pushing 120W through a 95W VRM. The truth is any computer that can run the Q6600 at 3Ghz can probably also run the 95W Q9650 or in the case of G41 the E5450 80W Xeon as a starting point. That doesn't mean it won't crash when you move the fsb about 4 clicks.They're known for this. Try a 65W 2 core and see if it crashes when you bump the fsb. If it does, think about the E7600 at 3.83GHz with SSE4. If it doesn't think about a more modern CPU to match the more modern MB.
I got away with an X5470 which is equal to 2x E8600  CPUs. OC never happened.
Averaged 60fps at Superposition 1080P Medium setting. It took a couple tries to break the 8000 point barrier. I didn't see any other LGA775 systems around me there. i3 and i5 mostly. Some AMD stuff too.








						UNIGINE Superposition benchmark score
					

UNIGINE Superpsition detailed score page




					benchmark.unigine.com


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 14, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> View attachment 235566
> View attachment 235567
> 
> View attachment 235568
> ...


That is such beautiful board!



onemanhitsquad said:


> I had several of these at one time , loved all of the Swiftech copper chunk (my words) heat sinks...I sold a couple and am sorry I did. Here are some examples , I had some of their other models like MCX370 and MCX462-V. The wife had the MCX4000 , not sure if that one is still around the bone yard but  it may be.
> 
> Swiftech MCX159  "fan not included"  at the time Sunon Maglev fans were where it was at
> 
> ...


Good grief! Haven't seen those in a long time. They failed to catch on for good reason; dust magnets!



Robert B said:


> *NEW HW FOUND!!! *
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Holy Moses did you get a haul on that lot!! Nice!



Trekkie4 said:


> from 8600GTS to GTX 550Ti.


That's a nice upgrade!


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## MachineLearning (Feb 14, 2022)

Brand new-in-box Tyan S5191 Toledo i3000R! This is a funky little server motherboard I picked up for around $25 shipped. I gotta say, I didn't expect to see a quote from Anandtech on the back. 








Holy accessories Batman, as well as the most useful motherboard sticker I've ever seen (seriously going to keep and use that diagram!!)

Now, on to the board itself:
















Capacitors, both electrolytic and solid, are all by Nippon Chemi-Con. None of them are bulging, they all look fantastic. Board fires right up!





Where to begin:
- 5 phase Volterra VRM for CPU (!!!!!!)
- PCI-X slot, and reversed PCIe x4 for expansion, as well as a proprietary(?) PCI-X SODIMM expansion slot
- Onboard XGI Volari Z7 graphics w/ 16MB hynix DDR(1?)
- 2x Intel gigabit LAN ports
- POST code (not that I expect this to OC...)
- Naturally, supports standard and ECC DDR2 ( so easy to get 16GB, although formally supports up to 8GB)

Forgot to take pictures of the naked board, but here's the block diagram from the manual for anyone interested:




VRM got 1mm APT2560 pad, all other chips got MX-2  Somehow the Panasonic battery still had 2.6v, despite being ca. 2008 (wk15 / 2008 on main PCB). I still replaced it with a fresh ~3.3v Toshiba lithium cell as with most of my boards.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> (...)
> 
> That's a nice upgrade!


Indeed it was! The actual GTX 550Ti card was given to me for free, but it came with funky DIY GPU cooler, as someone removed the original one. Difficult to say why, but long story short I didn't want to run (nor had enough clearance inside the case) for standard 80x80 fan that's been ziptied onto the heatsink, so I removed the whole thing & eventually swapped it for AMD counterpart which (oddly enough) was a perfect fit 



Retrorockit said:


> The thing about G41 is with only 2 RAM slots it would  have been a 4GB system back then. With an onboard GPU using some of that it would have been for 32 bit OS office computers. Mine they even left off an expansion slot so they could use the same MB# for Desktop and Mini Tower. G41 was all about cutting corners. Many of them had a 95W CPU limit, even though the chipset can go higher.
> You started overvolting an already overclocked system and it crashed. Did they cut corners on the capacitors too? You may be already pushing 120W through a 95W VRM. The truth is any computer that can run the Q6600 at 3Ghz can probably also run the 95W Q9650 or in the case of G41 the E5450 80W Xeon as a starting point. That doesn't mean it won't crash when you move the fsb about 4 clicks.They're known for this. Try a 65W 2 core and see if it crashes when you bump the fsb. If it does, think about the E7600 at 3.83GHz with SSE4. If it doesn't think about a more modern CPU to match the more modern MB.
> I got away with an X5470 which is equal to 2x E8600  CPUs. OC never happened.
> Averaged 60fps at Superposition 1080P Medium setting. It took a couple tries to break the 8000 point barrier. I didn't see any other LGA775 systems around me there. i3 and i5 mostly. Some AMD stuff too.
> ...


Nah, too much work for (most likely) marginal improvement ... if any. You're under the wrong impression here, I'm not bench testing this thing or experimenting with various OC methods ... just the opposite really.

It was designed to serve as a "Steam" gaming platform, primarily for the Half Life 2 & similar, Source Engine powered games. Nothing more & nothing else  Of course, preserving that 1997-1998 look from the outside was my highest priority, and I wasn't willing to mod (hack, cut or modify in any way) the case, especially if I ever decide to revert the whole thing back to its original purpose. Unfortunately, because of that, the whole rig is overheating & having a hard time with keeping the internals within safe temperature limits but I'm OK with that & willing to pay the price if necessary.


----------



## Greenslade (Feb 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can anyone give me some advice i have this Thin client
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I went for the 8gb one ,it seems like that is a good deal for the extra 4gb for £3.54 . I take it no  one on here has one of these thin clients.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I went for the 8gb one ,it seems like that is a good deal for the extra 4gb for £3.54 . I take it no one on here has one of these thin clients.


Personally I don't miss Win98SE at all so I have absolutely no need for a machine like that.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 15, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nah, too much work for (most likely) marginal improvement ... if any. You're under the wrong impression here, I'm not bench testing this thing or experimenting with various OC methods ... just the opposite really.


 I was under the impression you were trying to get more than 3GHZ out of it. The E7600 to 3.83GHz is exactly the same OC method you  already used to get 3GHz out of the Q6600. Just a newer more efficient, and probably cheaper CPU. On any single thread game it would leave my 3.33GHz Xeon in the dust.I It might solve your cooling problem too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Feb 15, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> I was under the impression you were trying to get more than 3GHZ out of it. The E7600 to 3.83GHz is exactly the same OC method you  already used to get 3GHz out of the Q6600. Just a newer more efficient, and probably cheaper CPU. On any single thread game it would leave my 3.33GHz Xeon in the dust.I It might solve your cooling problem too.


Well yes, you're absolutely right. But only if the system (BIOS) would allow me to do so, without having to swap the memory modules and/or CPU itself 

Unfortunately, since the chipset appears to be limited in terms of OC, there's not much point in pushing this forward. Funny though, even at 3.00GHz my Q6600 does not exceed 55C, 131F at full load. Alas, the same thing cannot be said for GTX 550Ti which goes well above 80, up to 86C (187F) after intensive gaming, especially GTA IV... Unfortunately this also affects the CPU temp because Hyper TX3 then intakes that warm air & essentially warms up the CPU. Heck, it warms up the entire case, you can literally feel the case cover heating up over time.

I may consider swapping out Core2 Quad for Core2 Duo, even though I'm not 100% convinced that it would give me an advantage over Quad series. I'm running 64-bit system and most of the apps running are 64bit, therefore multiple cores are essential to keep everything running as it should.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well yes, you're absolutely right. But only if the system (BIOS) would allow me to do so, without having to swap the memory modules and/or CPU itself
> 
> Unfortunately, since the chipset appears to be limited in terms of OC, there's not much point in pushing this forward. Funny though, even at 3.00GHz my Q6600 does not exceed 55C, 131F at full load. Alas, the same thing cannot be said for GTX 550Ti which goes well above 80, up to 86C (187F) after intensive gaming, especially GTA IV... Unfortunately this also affects the CPU temp because Hyper TX3 then intakes that warm air & essentially warms up the CPU. Heck, it warms up the entire case, you can literally feel the case cover heating up over time.
> 
> I may consider swapping out Core2 Quad for Core2 Duo, even though I'm not 100% convinced that it would give me an advantage over Quad series. I'm running 64-bit system and most of the apps running are 64bit, therefore multiple cores are essential to keep everything running as it should.


Pretty nice temps for a Quad, I remember having the older model (Hyper TX2) and I couldn't get over 3.4GHz prime95 stable with E6400 without throttling. IIRC it was also lapped. Though that was in 2009 so I can't remember clearly  here's one pic I have from that, 3.5 ran benchmarks without hiccups.


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## NoiseBox (Feb 15, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> ASUS sometimes has jumpers next to the internal USB ports to select between them using 5VSB or 5V for power. If yours has those, give that a shot


So I gave it a shot and no go, the system wouldn't power up. According to the manual, the power supply has to be able to provide the proper power to the 5VSB, and apparently it doesn't/cant.
I did notice the case has FireWire connectors that are pin-identical to the USB, and I"m willing to wager the last owner connected that to the USB pins and fried stuff. It's not a show-stopper, the rear USB ports still function, but it vexes me to own partially-broken hardware.


----------



## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> So I gave it a shot and no go, the system wouldn't power up. According to the manual, the power supply has to be able to provide the proper power to the 5VSB, and apparently it doesn't/cant.
> I did notice the case has FireWire connectors that are pin-identical to the USB, and I"m willing to wager the last owner connected that to the USB pins and fried stuff. It's not a show-stopper, the rear USB ports still function, but it vexes me to own partially-broken hardware.


That sucks if that shit has happened. Pretty stupid to have a similar pinout as the headers are physically compatible.


----------



## NoiseBox (Feb 15, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Pretty stupid to have a similar pinout as the headers are physically compatible


I fully agree. Reminds me of the 1st PC I ever built, using AT power supply, if you've ever seen one, the power is supplied by two power leads, which can be inserted incorrectly to the mobo. The result of which blew a dime-sized hole in the mobo and tripped every circuit breaker in my house....

....whooops.
I have used firewire before, and the pinouts have always been different than USB. I suspect because of issues like this. No matter, the system was free (and fully functional/stable otherwise) so I'll pass it on, making the new owner aware of the issues.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 15, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Pretty nice temps for a Quad, I remember having the older model (Hyper TX2) and I couldn't get over 3.4GHz prime95 stable with E6400 without throttling. IIRC it was also lapped. Though that was in 2009 so I can't remember clearly  here's one pic I have from that, 3.5 ran benchmarks without hiccups.
> 
> View attachment 236758


Actually, I had a similar issue with that same Hyper TX3 and my other Q6600 system, P43 Neo board. For some reason (still unknown even after all these years), P43 Neo board would default VCore voltage to 1.45V which is above the recommended value. And sure enough, this voltage increase equaled (much) more heat to the point where TX3 couldn't handle overclocked Q6600 so eventually I replaced it with Hyper 212EVO. Just to make it clear, we are talking 75, 77C/170F at full load, which was unacceptable.

On the other hand, G41 board runs much lower and therefore generates less heat. Which works beautifully for this particular build, otherwise the whole thing would probably burst in flames


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## Dinnercore (Feb 15, 2022)

Some 775 boards have OC-Overvoltage jumper settings. If that jumper is in the wrong spot or maybe not set at all, they apply high voltage. On my P5Q-E these jumpers are only meant for X-OC and unlock voltage settings beyond 1.65V (these are locked otherwise) and if you boot with these there is an overvoltage error message that halts the post process until you acknowledge it. So you don't end up frying your CPU by accident.


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## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Some 775 boards have OC-Overvoltage jumper settings. If that jumper is in the wrong spot or maybe not set at all, they apply high voltage. On my P5Q-E these jumpers are only meant for X-OC and unlock voltage settings beyond 1.65V (these are locked otherwise) and if you boot with these there is an overvoltage error message that halts the post process until you acknowledge it. So you don't end up frying your CPU by accident.


My P5Q Pro has also those jumpers. Tho even for custom loop, those are way overkill, probably for dice/LN2..


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## NoiseBox (Feb 15, 2022)

I'll look into those jumpers, if they exist.
BTW, look what we just retired at our agency....I'll give you a hint, that's not five and a quarter...


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 15, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> I'll look into those jumpers, if they exist.
> BTW, look what we just retired at our agency....I'll give you a hint, that's not five and a quarter...
> View attachment 236791


8" floppy discs. Those were the original floppy drives.

Make sure you grab and save those drives and discs.


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## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> 8" floppy discs. Those were the original floppy drives.


I feel so young as I haven't seen even 5.25" floppies ever live. And I'm soon 32.


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## NoiseBox (Feb 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Make sure you grab and save those drives and discs.


Discs I can save, the drives are built-in to the lab instruments and cannot be removed sadly...


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 15, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I feel so young as I haven't seen even 5.25" floppies ever live. And I'm soon 32.


You just barely missed the 5.25" era.


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## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You just barely missed the 5.25" era.


...I feel like I'm blessed 

Tho I still remember that the first PC Game I've ever played was Doom II on my cousin's dad's 486DX2/66 in 1994.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 15, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> ...I feel like I'm blessed


Why? At the time they were a godsend as they were MUCH faster than the alternative, cassette tapes. Even 8" drives/discs where super fast storage by comparison. It was SOOO much better than waiting for tapes to load.. And floppy tech only got better from there!


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## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 15, 2022)

Rant incoming.

I'm just about ready to drop two hundred twenty freaking dollars on this:





Why?  Because gorrammit, they _literally_ don't make them like this anymore. It's only 205mm wide. It's got 5.25 bays (plus four more 3.5s inside). Theres no window. No RGB. No plethora of vents. There's a reset button and a drive activity LED. It comes with proper expansion slot covers and is built like a tank. Front panel buttons and ports are actually on the front.

Issues?  Yeah, it's got some.  Cooling's a bit anemic with two 92mm intake and one 120mm exhaust.  Cable management is nigh-nonexistent (but nobody can see any of it anyway).  Retention tabs on the drive sleds are prone to bending before they should.  Front panel USB is 2.0, and that 1394 connection isn't going to do many folks any good these days.  Some of the clever things Antec tried (like the elastic drive suspension system) don't really work.  PSU intake is internal.  There aren't any 2.5 mounts, because those weren't really a thing when this came out.  Not on desktop, anyway.

How do I know all this?  I've had one since new.  It's the best case I've ever worked with bar none, and nothing, I repeat: NOTHING I can find checks all of those boxes.  220USD for a ten year old case seems bananas, right?  But seeing as my other is still in use and performing admirably, maybe it's worth ~$20/yr...


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 15, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> and cannot be removed sadly...


I'll bet they can... The removal might require taking the system/equipment apart, but it had to be put in, so there has to be a way to remove it..


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## Kissamies (Feb 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Why? At the time they were a godsend as they were MUCH faster than the alternative, cassette tapes. Even 8" drives/discs where super fast storage by comparison. It was SOOO much better than waiting for tapes to load.. And floppy tech only got better from there!


Exactly. When thinking about the modern storage media, I'm happy that things have got better 


...but on just on the old hardware, gimme that mobo and GPU


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## QuietBob (Feb 15, 2022)

For those of us concerned about the security of older systems (and those bold enough to use them online) I've compiled a list of Internet Security software that can be installed on Windows XP and Vista. The packages below still receive current malware definition updates. I've indicated the last supported version in the corresponding link.

Note that I haven't tested these personally, nor can I testify for their efficacy. They require SP3 and most likely SSE2 support. Commercial licences also need a valid product key.

*Avast *
Free Antivirus / Pro Antivirus / Internet Security / Premier
Version 18.8

*AVG *
Free Antivirus / Internet Security
Version 18.8

*Comodo *
Free Antivirus / Internet Security
Version 12.2

*Kaspersky *
Free / Anti-Virus / Internet Security / Total Security
Version 19.0

*Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool *(free threat removal tool)
Version 15.0

*Malwarebytes *
Free / Premium
Version 3.5.1

*Malwarebytes AdwCleaner* (free threat removal tool)
Version 7.4.2

*Norton *
AntiVirus / Internet Security / 360 (old) / Security
Version 22.15

*Norton Power Eraser* (free threat removal tool)
Version 5.3

*Panda *
Dome Free / Essential / Advanced / Complete / Premium
Version 20.01

*TotalAV*
Ultimate Antivirus
Version 4.14

*VIPRE *
Internet Security
Version 9.3

Gotta say I'm pretty amazed with the number of solutions. I may add to this list if I manage to track something down.



lexluthermiester said:


> Why? At the time they were a godsend as they were MUCH faster than the alternative, cassette tapes. Even 8" drives/discs where super fast storage by comparison. It was SOOO much better than waiting for tapes to load.. And floppy tech only got better from there!



This floppy was actually introduced by IBM in 1971. The original IBM 23FD 8" drive shipped with the IBM 2835 Storage Control Unit and was used to load microcode (firmware) onto the IBM System/370 mainframe. First floppies were read-only, single-side single-density (SSSD) with 80 KB capacity. The drive was capable of 4.2 KB/s maximum transfer, with the disc rotating at 90 rpm.

8" floppy capacity ultimately grew to 1.2 MB in 1977. The IBM 53FD drive could read these at 62.5 KB/s with 360 rpm. Quite impressive performance there. 5.25" drives that hit the market the previous year read 90 KB floppies at 16 KB/s


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## NoiseBox (Feb 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'll bet they can... The removal might require taking the system/equipment apart, but it had to be put in, so there has to be a way to remove it..


Well, yeah. ANYTHING can be removed if you are good enough (or have a big enough hammer)
What I meant was since I work for a gov't agency, the lab gear gets surplussed intact, and cannot be dismantled for parts, unless the instrument already doesn't work, then it's okay, but only if the parts are going to repair another identical instrument (the rules under which we work make zero sense)

EDIT:

@QuietBob 
"For those of us concerned about the security of older systems (and those bold enough to use them online)..."

Some years ago (say...10?) I took a Dell D630 laptop, installed WInNT 4.0 on it, and used it online.
Briefly.
Opera was the only browser I could find that worked, and I had my original copy of AdMuncher, and USB drivers as well.
Tracking down the patches to NT 4.0 was a monumental PITA, having to visit some very iffy sites to find them (nevermind having to remember what order things had to be installed in)
Much of the Internet just didn't work right, and the AV I used (I think an old copy of AVG) complained bitterly, but the system was never compromised. Security by obsolescence I think...


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 16, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> This floppy was actually introduced by IBM in 1971. The original IBM 23FD 8" drive shipped with the IBM 2835 Storage Control Unit and was used to load microcode (firmware) onto the IBM System/370 mainframe. First floppies were read-only, single-side single-density (SSSD) with 80 KB capacity. The drive was capable of 4.2 KB/s maximum transfer, with the disc rotating at 90 rpm.
> 
> 8" floppy capacity ultimately grew to 1.2 MB in 1977. The IBM 53FD drive could read these at 62.5 KB/s with 360 rpm. Quite impressive performance there. 5.25" drives that hit the market the previous year read 90 KB floppies at 16 KB/s


Ah that's right. We'd need to see it out of the sleeve to know for sure.


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## NoiseBox (Feb 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah that's right. We'd need to see it out of the sleeve to know for sure.


I'll grab some more pics later today


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## Splinterdog (Feb 16, 2022)

This HP Compaq case used to contain a Pentium 4 and in its day was the mutts nuts. I kept the case and put an FX 4300 in it for my long suffering wife. But that's all changing as I'm building a new machine for her and certainly have a retro use for this case because it's practically indestructible


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## droid-I (Feb 16, 2022)

^true, these era(2005-2010?) HP / Compaq cases are sturdy, have front panel connectors that still fit to many newer motherboards as is. Easy to mount components within the case, not using tools of many a kind.
Somewhat good design of airflow as well, for a not so hot gaming/crunching machine, and size vise easier to move around. Even the BTX layout still matches with most uATX boards.
I have a couple of similar units gutted from original hardware and rebuilt with new stuff inside.


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## Splinterdog (Feb 16, 2022)

droid-I said:


> ^true, these era(2005-2010?) HP / Compaq cases are sturdy, have front panel connectors that still fit to many newer motherboards as is. Easy to mount components within the case, not using tools of many a kind.
> Somewhat good design of airflow as well, for a not so hot gaming/crunching machine, and size vise easier to move around. Even the BTX layout still matches with most uATX boards.
> I have a couple of similar units gutted from original hardware and rebuilt with new stuff inside.


The only thing I had to do was split out the front panel connector block because it doesn't fit standard fpanel pins on most motherboards.


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## droid-I (Feb 16, 2022)

^ok. I had used a MSI and Gigabyte board, and it was just plug and play. But likely my cases are a couple years newer.


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## RealKGB (Feb 16, 2022)

It's a Via S3 P86C805, I know that much.


Spoiler












It's VLB, I know that much.

I personally don't have a use for it so off to the eBay it goes, just thought I'd share.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 17, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Unfortunately, since the chipset appears to be limited in terms of OC, there's not much point in pushing this forward.


My MB was locked at 266fsb. I put it in 2nd place at CPUZ anyway. Raised the bar quite bit too in 2015.


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## QuietBob (Feb 17, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> My MB was locked at 266fsb. I put it in 2nd place at CPUZ anyway. Raised the bar quite bit too in 2015.
> View attachment 237041


I see you're on an old version of CPU-Z. Could you run the benchmark using the current one? I'm curious how it stacks up today.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 17, 2022)

That MB died from the Dell bad cap disease. If you click the link in my sig. and then click the image it will bring up the top 15 lists with newer CPUZ post on that CPUs. A few guys with ASUS P5s got past me by a few MHz. It held up for a couple years. But it's still top 10. I have enough junk around to build another one with fresh caps, and a few tricks up my sleeve to go faster. I have better cooling and the option of overclocking just 2 cores. But that CPU only accepts whole multipliers, so it's 4.26GHz or bust.
The real world speed was 3.72GHZ which was also good for 2nd place at that time.


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## NoiseBox (Feb 17, 2022)

As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 17, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!


Yeah, that's a standard 8" floppy. IBM's early discs did not have all of the functionality features shown there.


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## QuietBob (Feb 17, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!


Nice! Does it mention capacity anywhere on the sleeve? Year of production maybe?


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 17, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> That MB died from the Dell bad cap disease.


Re-cap it. Cap replacement is easy.


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## Retrorockit (Feb 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Re-cap it. Cap replacement is easy.


I have a recapped board, and a virgin MB with no Dell Service tag#. But the T3400/XPS 420 run faster, hold more RAM, and have SSE4. I also don't have to chop up video cards (as much) to get something decent in there. I have one stuck together with a San Ace 150 300cfm fan in it and an XPS cooler, and heatsinked VRM. But  whether I'll make it run and try for 4.26GHz remains to be seen.
It was a 10 year old computer in 2015.


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## Fangio1951 (Feb 17, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!


Brings back memories indeed - These + 5 1/4" ones were prone to contamination = Mould between the disc and outer jacket = had quite  few fail due to the mould !!!


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## NoiseBox (Feb 17, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Nice! Does it mention capacity anywhere on the sleeve? Year of production maybe?


Dyson I think, I'll double check when I get back to work, I think it said Double Sided Double Density, but let me verify before you quote me on that


Fangio1951 said:


> Mould between the disc and outer jacket = had quite few fail due to the mould !!!


I have a 200$ bet with my boss that the data is still readable...
I pulled data of 27 year old 3.5" floppy drives last year (there were 30 disks, 29 were readable.)

EDIT: Those 3.5" disks had been stored in a basement with no climate control...for god only knows how long. Considering how sturdy they have been, I'm going to archive all my data on floppies from now on!


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 18, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> I pulled data of 27 year old 3.5" floppy drives last year (there were 30 disks, 29 were readable.)


That's not uncommon. Floppy technology is far more durable and hardy than the general reputation would suggest.


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## framebuffer (Feb 18, 2022)

my _mostly _'99 permanent build











• ASUS P3B-F
• Pentium III 600/100
• 128MB PC100 2-2-2-5
• 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 w/ active cooling
• Sound Blaster Live!
• Adaptec SCSI Controller
• IBM 30GB HDD
• Iomega Zip 250
• Plextor PX-708A CD/DVD RW
• HP CD-40X (SCSI)
• Intel PRO/1000 GT

P.S. yep the front cover of the case needs a second _retrobright _cycle


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## stef (Feb 18, 2022)

Nice job. Retrobrite so so. IMHO, it's overdone already. Liquid peroxide gives best results, no marble effect. And never go all the way. Plastics start looking un-natural at some point.
Personally, I hate the process.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 18, 2022)

/The/ ultimate Windows 98 card?









One way or another, my very first "Audigy" card ... ever!


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## kiriakost (Feb 18, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> "Audigy"



Year 2022


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 18, 2022)

kiriakost said:


> Year 2022
> 
> View attachment 237146


Darn! Now I need to find one of these 5.25" drive bay modules...


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> /The/ ultimate Windows 98 card?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I'll raise you a pair.


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## stef (Feb 18, 2022)

Oh, I need to flash my Vortex collection .


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 18, 2022)

stef said:


> Oh, I need to flash my Vortex collection .


I fold.


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## framebuffer (Feb 18, 2022)

stef said:


> Nice job. Retrobrite so so. IMHO, it's overdone already. Liquid peroxide gives best results, no marble effect. And never go all the way. Plastics start looking un-natural at some point.
> Personally, I hate the process.



It was my very first attempt and I did some mistakes, I guess  
anyway the "marble effect" doesn't bother me so much, it also depends on the light, most of the time is barely visible.


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## stef (Feb 18, 2022)

Last time I was doing it in June ... probably too hot, and way too much sun. May / August seems best for outdoors retrobriting.


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 18, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> I'll raise you a pair.
> 
> 
> View attachment 237148View attachment 237149View attachment 237150


Nice!! I should have known you'd have couple of those laying around 

I especially remember that "EAX HD" logo from early 2000s, it was even featured on Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (during the intro splash screen)



stef said:


> Oh, I need to flash my Vortex collection .


Not technically a Vortex collection ... but here's my Vortex 2 paired with Creative WaveBlaster II MIDI daughterboard


 

 



Of course, I also got my share of SB Live! cards but to be honest I don't really give them much credit. They're usually dirt cheap, available pretty much anywhere & not worth much. Nevertheless, a solid performer, especially when you need environmental audio effects "on the budget"

Edit
Almost forgot about this guy... ESS Maestro 2, Vortex 2 clone that's fully compatible with A3D standards. Unfortunately, this one is integrated into the board, so you can only see the actual chip in the upper-right corner:


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## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's not uncommon. Floppy technology is far more durable and hardy than the general reputation would suggest.



Ya, I've been surprised more than once when slotting in a 3.5" from who-knows-when.  Seems like the drives might be bigger issue, rather than the format or media.  Try to read a bad write with an iffy read head...


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## kiriakost (Feb 18, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Darn! Now I need to find one of these 5.25" drive bay modules...


As far I remember they never sold as stand alone, I got it from local friend when he got the card for radio broadcast system, and he was not in need for the Audigy panel.
I have also the remote control RM-900.

But eBay it might become your friend.


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## framebuffer (Feb 19, 2022)

stef said:


> Last time I was doing it in June ... probably too hot, and way too much sun. May / August seems best for outdoors retrobriting.



oh same here, maybe July, I remember it was hot like hell but with my ignorance I thought that it would be a good thing for the retrobright process


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 19, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> my _mostly _'99 permanent build
> 
> View attachment 237118View attachment 237119View attachment 237120View attachment 237121
> 
> ...


The fan you mounted on that VooDoo card is exactly how I used to do it! The only thing I would change is the RAM, I'd add in 2 more 128MB DIMMs for a total of 384MB. Otherwise, nice build, very well done! Having said that;

So a kid walks into my shop today wanting to sell a PC that he's been using for a few years...





Normally, we don't take pay money for systems that old, but I was intrigued by the reason he wanted to sell it, to help his mom fix her car. To be fair, it's not a bad little system. He wanted $200. But he was willing to take $150, which is WAY more than it's worth. I was really impressed by his level of knowledge and asked him if he'd like to do some work for me sorting through systems & electronics we take in from off-lease purchasing and e-waste recycling. He was excited. Had him show me what he could do for an hour or so with some of the stuff we'd taken in. He's handy with a soldering iron as well! Called his mom to verify he was at least 14(minimum working age for minors here). She had no idea he was selling his computer to help her with the car. She was even happier to hear that I was willing to give him work a couple days a week after school. I told him that he could work for inventory as well so he could put together a newer system for himself soon.

Decided to bring this one home and turn it into a RetroXP build. It's a very compact little system and won't take up much room. Going to order either a Radeon R7-250 or a GTX750, the newest low-profile GPUs that can both fit into this system AND have XP drivers. Also going to upgrade the E8400 it has to a Q9400 or Q9550. Going to knock the RAM to 4GB because Windows XP and I don't want to fiddle with PAE. So yeah, more to come!



80-watt Hamster said:


> Try to read a bad write with an iffy read head...


I always clean the heads before putting a disc in a drive I haven't serviced myself.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 19, 2022)

Not sure if this qualifies as nostalgic yet, but it is getting up there in age.

These are my 2 X58 machines, built on opposite ends of the spectrum. The left one is a top of the line late X58 machine, the right is an earlier X58 machine with lower tier components.

Left:
i7 990x 6 Core Processor
Cooler Master ML240L
24gb Corsair Dominator
Asus P6T6 WS Revolution 
EVGA Geforce GTX590 Classified (SLI Enabled)
Samsung PM830 128gb SSD
Western Digital Black 1TB HDD 7200RPM 
EVGA GT650 80+ Gold

The case, PSU, and AIO are not period correct. This system will get a different more time period correct case at some point in time, looking at fractal design specifically. The NZXT S340 was what I had on hand. The 1yr old AIO does not bother me as similar AIOs were around back then and quite frankly I have little desire to deal with a very old AIO for pretty obvious reasons. I have no real desire for an old power supply either.

Right:
i7 920 @ 4.0Ghz
Cooler Master N520 Cooler
Asus Rampage III Formula (has memory issues, will probably be replaced with a working one at some point)
8gb Kingston DDR3
Corsair Airflow Kit
Samsung PM830 128gb SSD
EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 55nm 3 way SLI
EVGA GQ850 80+ Gold
Antec Three Hundred 

I find the older system much more fun of a system from an enthusiasts perspective. While the i7 990x both clocks better than the 920 and performs much much better, the GTX590 really takes away a lot of the fun from the system. The card runs so insanely hot from the factory there is no real fun to be had with tweaking it at all. The GTX260 SLI has been much more fun for tinkering. I have each one binned and overclocked to their maximum.

Before you ask why I have these systems... I don't have a good reason aside from collecting and tinkering with, which is a good enough reason for me!


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## stinger608 (Feb 19, 2022)

That's awesome of ya @lexluthermiester    

Sounds like quite the story man!!!!!!!!!


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 19, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Not sure if this qualifies as nostalgic yet, but it is getting up there in age.


Close enough! No worries.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 19, 2022)

Just got an MSI P45 Platinum. Got it for $15 plus shipping listed for parts and thanks to some help here its working as it should now.

I love the crazy looks of this board, which was the main reason I bought it. The NB heatsink reminds me of a V-twin, like a Harley Davidson. MSI did some crazy things back in this era. The P35 Platinum with its roller coaster loop da loops for example.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 19, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 237220View attachment 237221
> Just got an MSI P45 Platinum. Got it for $15 plus shipping listed for parts and thanks to some help here its working as it should now.
> 
> I love the crazy looks of this board, which was the main reason I bought it. The NB heatsink reminds me of a V-twin, like a Harley Davidson. MSI did some crazy things back in this era. The P35 Platinum with its roller coaster loop da loops for example.


I 'liked' your post because the board is intact and not all bent to sh1t like most are. The board it self is a pos overclocking wise.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 19, 2022)

I am aware of that and just bought it for the looks. It is in excellent shape, not a bent pin in sight. I will probably take the heatsinks off to repaste. It needs a dusting too. Came with the IO shield even.

I have a much nicer Asus P5Q-E P45 for ocing.




This board was much more expensive though. Probably not worth what I paid, but this board is everything I can want from 775. It works with just about any CPU for the socket too. Right now I'm running it with a pentium 4 630 and gtx970 for some "fun".

I would still like to have the P5Q Deluxe, which is essentially this board but with a couple of extra bells and whistles, including a 16 phase vrm.

I have an original Striker Exteme that won't post and Asus P5N-T that has a dead shorted vrm that I don't feel like trying to fix, as well.


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## framebuffer (Feb 19, 2022)

A friend of mine just sent me this





This was my setup in 2005 (Sept. 26th, 2005)

It was from the period I started getting interested also in Apple stuff, as you can see from the amazing G5 DP 2.0GHz and the ACD 20"
The specs of the PC should be : Q6600 @4.0GHz + 2x 7800GT (SLI) and a lot of FANs as you can guess based on the FAN controllers 
Unfortunately in 2011, due to a tragic backup mistake ( ), I lost most of my "computer related data", including pictures, screenshots and oc results, so when I saw this coming back from the oblivion I had all sorts of memories related to the period, my God I was 20yo 

I have no memories regarding that VAIO, I think I used it just at school for programming/studying and notes taking (did not last too long I guess)


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## QuietBob (Feb 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I was really impressed by his level of knowledge and asked him if he'd like to do some work for me sorting through systems & electronics we take in from off-lease purchasing and e-waste recycling. He was excited. Had him show me what he could do for an hour or so with some of the stuff we'd taken in. He's handy with a soldering iron as well! Called his mom to verify he was at least 14(minimum working age for minors here). She had no idea he was selling his computer to help her with the car. She was even happier to hear that I was willing to give him work a couple days a week after school. I told him that he could work for inventory as well so he could put together a newer system for himself soon.


Great story Lex, you did well to let the kid rummage in your shop! It's so rare these days to see youngsters interested in old tech.



framebuffer said:


> The specs of the PC should be : Q6600 @4.0GHz + 2x 7800GT (SLI) and a lot of FANs as you can guess based on the FAN controllers


I bet that wallpaper had a lot of fans too


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Going to order either a Radeon R7-250 or a GTX750, the newest low-profile GPUs that can both fit into this system AND have XP drivers.


Very nice story! Glad you were able to help one another out.

Have you considered a Radeon R5 240? Can pick them up for pennies. Honestly for XP I don't know that a q9400 or q9550 would see any benefit over the E8400, as the clockspeed is lower. I have used both interchangeably in my XP system and they do the job just about as well. (my XP system is overkill in every regard)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 20, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Great story Lex, you did well to let the kid rummage in your shop! It's so rare these days to see youngsters interested in old tech.


Actually it was more than just rummaging. Today was his first day working for me. He's really very good sorting through & fixing things up. I had one of the full time guys double check his work. He only missed one thing the whole day and it was something easily missed(BIOS setting). He got through a half palette of stuff today so I think this will be a very mutually beneficial thing. He elected to accept inventory for today's work. I let him have an Optiplex 3050 with an i5-7500, 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD and a GTX560/2GB, which he put together himself. Certainly better than what he brought in earlier this week, but he earned it. He put in 11hours of work and I'm paying him $14ph. My employees get used equipment at cost so he had just enough to cover it. His mom said he can only work afternoons and Saturdays.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Have you considered a Radeon R5 240?


I did until I looked at the performance differences, the 250 is much better and not much more expensive($40 shipped currently). However, I'm leaning toward a Geforce 750ti because it is the best low-profile GPU that has XP support. I don't mind the extra cost. The problem is finding one in a single slot design... So the R7-250 might end up being the choice if I can't find a 750ti soon.


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Honestly for XP I don't know that a q9400 or q9550 would see any benefit over the E8400


For what I'm going to be running, the extra cores will more than out-weigh the loss of 166mhz per core. However, I'm also giving serious consideration to a Xeon X5460 that's been premodded.


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## 80-watt Hamster (Feb 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> For what I'm going to be running, the extra cores will more than out-weigh the loss of 166mhz per core. However, I'm also giving serious consideration to a Xeon X5460 that's been premodded.



771 mods are pretty great, though I nearly wrecked some pins modding the socket.  An X5450 still runs my fileserver.  Will the patient accept a Xeon without microcode injection?


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 20, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Will the patient accept a Xeon without microcode injection?


That's what I'm wondering. Went over to the Xeon thread to ask for input.. Standard DIY 775 motherboards generally don't need a microcode update, but OEM systems are iffy and I'm not sure it would work.


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## Bones (Feb 20, 2022)

Yeah - I was leaning on it a little with chilled water cooling.
To clarify, the board I used is a DFI SLI-DR.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 20, 2022)

Bones said:


> Yeah - I was leaning on it a little with chilled water cooling.
> To clarify, the board I used is a DFI SLI-DR.
> View attachment 237297


? Who are you talking too?


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## Bones (Feb 20, 2022)

No one in particular, just whomever reads the post.


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## MarsM4N (Feb 20, 2022)

NoiseBox said:


> As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!



Had a *Commodore64* in my teenage times (well I still have it in the attic somewhere) incl. a 8" drive. One day a buddy told me I could just cut a kerb in the opposite site of the disk, insert it upsite down in the drive, it will write on the back of the disk & in doing so basically "doubling" the disk capacity. Thought he was fooling me into destroying a disk, but it really did work. Mind boggling!

Looked at my box of (full) disks & it felt like I just discovered a gold mine. Had now massive "free" storage space for shared/ripped games from class mates.


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## framebuffer (Feb 20, 2022)

Bones said:


> Yeah - I was leaning on it a little with chilled water cooling.
> To clarify, the board I used is a DFI SLI-DR.
> View attachment 237297



That's not bad at all!
Also like the RAM at 308 CL2.5 / 1T, what modules are you using?


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## droid-I (Feb 20, 2022)

A socket 462 and 939 board from days past, these are still in working condition, I think. The EPoX I made a re-cap, not really in use since.
The S939 board was a bit tricky with its SATA connections at POST.


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## stef (Feb 20, 2022)

Nice job! Epox 8RDA3 series was notorious for crappy caps.

I have refrubished MSI FX5900XT. Put a decent cooler on it.








Also tested this beast:










What a fun card . And heavier then Leadtek, which carries a lot of copper.


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## de.das.dude (Feb 20, 2022)

stef said:


> Nice job! Epox 8RDA3 series was notorious for crappy caps.
> 
> I have refrubished MSI FX5900XT. Put a decent cooler on it.
> View attachment 237335
> ...




Zalman coolers were *chef's kiss*


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## stef (Feb 20, 2022)

Not a huge fan of Fatal1ty brand, but it looks nice .


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## droid-I (Feb 20, 2022)

Here an nvidia N6600/TD/128M AGP version, needs a bit of care, perhaps I will get into it some day,  have  a couple of soldering irons to work with this 
When I tested this card some time ago, it actually worked for while, until it warmed up, display froze.


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## Mr.Scott (Feb 20, 2022)

droid-I said:


> Here an nvidia N6600/TD/128M/A  that needs a bit of care, perhaps I will get into it some day,  have some four soldering irons to work with this
> When I tested this card some time ago, it actually worked for while, until it warmed up, display froze.


Yeah, caps are shot.


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## droid-I (Feb 20, 2022)

Here another s939 board. No visible damage seen on the board. Installs windows and Linux without hick-up every time, but as soon as desktop is on, it'll lock-up. Tried both PCI-e and PCI vga and different CPUs including the whole drill with RAM, PSU.
There are a lot of caps on this board, renewing them all is a bit daunting while the end result is unknown. (the bridge chip cooler I have removed after testing the board)


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## stef (Feb 20, 2022)

Didn't nvidia chipsets of the era suffer from bumpgate?


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## droid-I (Feb 20, 2022)

hmm, can't recall. This is the only nforce4 chipset board I have. Another one, by now lightly scrapped MSI nforce4 was doa when bought it 2nd hand. Not sure what happened to it.
EDIT : Had to look up "bumpgate". Yes, the RoHS matter did bring up some issues at the time, might well be a reason these boards fail.


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## Robert B (Feb 20, 2022)

Those caps look to be Panasonic and Rubycon, so they are good for sure. I'm pretty sure that the problem lies somewhere else.

I also have one board like that which won't post at all.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 20, 2022)

*CPU-Z Validation Here*

Got around to overclocking on my Jetway NC62K-LF mini-ITX board. I already posted about it here, so if you're interested in seeing the box + board alone + VRM configuration, that post holds it all 

However I will copy/paste the quirky bits about this motherboard from that post since they really show why it's a unique piece of kit.


MachineLearning said:


> - PCI slot only, no PCIe expansion!
> - nVidia chipset for an AMD socket, but after AMD bought ATI (nVidia 8200)
> - ITX (only one I own)
> - both PCI and PCIe gigabit LAN controllers are on the rear of the board, as well as the onboard audio and Fintek super I/O chip (ITX space saving stuff, still weird to me)
> ...



Well, it does indeed have OC options in BIOS, which honestly surprised me. This is a 6-layer single-DIMM DDR2 ITX board so memory overclocking at least should be strong imo, I don't see why it wouldn't be. CPU overclocking I was a bit more worried about going into this, it boots with a Phenom 9950 BE but I really don't want to nuke the VRM so I went straight to my Athlon II X2 270 for overclocking.

CPU-Z reads this board as being an nVidia 720a which I suppose isn't entirely inaccurate. The nVidia 8200 chipset, which is what this board really has, is the MCP78 (same codename as 720a), but with a GeForce 8200 mGPU vs the 8100 on the 720a. Wikipedia has a comparison of nVidia chipsets here for reference. Also despite the fact that this CPU cannot be unlocked, CPU-Z calls it a Phenom II x4 970 as well.





The end core OC was 4.19GHz (4.3GHz booted but overheated, damn these low AMD temp limits). On the memory, I was able to get to 986MHz 5-4-4-12 @ 2.22v using my v3.3 Corsair XMS2 800MHz stick. CL4 and/or CR1 refused to boot, and I'm not willing to add more voltage to this DIMM. In HWiNFO, VIN1 = vCore, and as you can see it fluctuates quite a bit even at idle, about 20mv and never at or below the set voltage. Under load it's pretty much the same story, but now 30mv fluctuation overall. The above image (final OC) was with a BIOS setting of 1.475v vCore, 1.45v CPU/NB, and 1.31v NB. I'm honestly fine with the poor voltage regulation, I expected it to be absolute crap but if this sensor is to be believed, it's at least not drooping down to like 1.2v or anything like that. NB never went above 43⁰C during all stress testing but the CPU was kicked in the teeth thermally, as expected 

Overall I'm pretty happy, this little board can do way more than I thought but that absolutely garbage mGPU holds it back   all it needed was a full length PCIe slot and that would have been perfect...

edit: I forgot to get a screenshot, but CPU-Z benchmark was at 191 single core and 370 all-core at the final OC.

Full specs:
- Athlon II X2 270 @ 4.19GHz, HT @ 1233MHz (as high as it needs to be)
- Jetway NCP62K-LF (GeForce 8200 NB) BIOS version A09
- 1x2GB Corsair XMS2 v3.3 @ 5-4-4-12-22-2T
- GeForce 8200 mGPU
- Super Flower Leadex III Bronze Pro 650W
- DeepCool Gammaxx 400 w/ 1x Arctic P12 PWM (FDB), MX-2 thermal paste
- MX-2 and 40mm Noctua fan for the NB heatsink
- SanDisk X400 128GB SSD


----------



## Bones (Feb 20, 2022)

CPU-Z is mis-identifying the chip.
Could be something in the BIOS making it read incorrectly what the chip is and CPU-Z is just reporting what it's seeing.

Can't be an X4 chip anyway if it's an X2 270.

The X2 270 is a Regor core chip that only has two cores period in the die, there are no hidden cores to unlock with it so no way it can be an X4 chip.



framebuffer said:


> That's not bad at all!
> Also like the RAM at 308 CL2.5 / 1T, what modules are you using?


Corsair XMS v1.1 PC4400 2x 512MB sticks rated @2.5-4-4-8 stock.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 20, 2022)

Bones said:


> CPU-Z is mis-identifying the chip.
> Could be something in the BIOS making it read incorrectly what the chip is and CPU-Z is just reporting what it's seeing.
> 
> Can't be an X4 chip anyway if it's an X2 270.
> ...


Thank you, I didn't catch this and was going off of the CPU-Z readout. Edited


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 21, 2022)

MarsM4N said:


> Had a *Commodore64* in my teenage times (well I still have it in the attic somewhere) incl. a 8" drive.


I didn't know Commodore made an 8" floppy drive. Was that is the early days before the 5.25"?


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## IvanP91v (Feb 22, 2022)

Got my old MacBook to run again... but with Windows

Not truly impressive on the inside, except battery won't hold a charge and it wouldn't start with it, removing it and running on power adapter works fine though.
GPU-Z validation: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/dq84v
CPU-Z: http://valid.x86.fr/pqcdai
Userbench: https://www.userbenchmark.com/userrun/50643254

Can't believe this thing managed to get 20fps in Original Crysis (on low)


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## MarsM4N (Feb 22, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I didn't know Commodore made an 8" floppy drive. Was that is the early days before the 5.25"?



Before the 8" floppy they even had cartridges & tape drives. I got the 8" floppy drive _*"Commodore 1571"*_ you can see in the video above @10:49.
He even demonstrates @10:19 how to use the back side of the disk. *170Kb* per side, wouldn't get you far nowadays, lol.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 22, 2022)

MarsM4N said:


> Before the 8" floppy they even had cartridges & tape drives. I got the 8" floppy drive _*"Commodore 1571"*_ you can see in the video above @10:49.
> He even demonstrates @10:19 how to use the back side of the disk. *170Kb* per side, wouldn't get you far nowadays, lol.


The 1571 is 5.25". I think you got your drives mixed up.. I went digging. Commodore doesn't seem to have ever made an 8" drive.


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## MarsM4N (Feb 22, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The 1571 is 5.25". I think you got your drives mixed up.. I went digging. Commodore doesn't seem to have ever made an 8" drive.



Ohh yea, you're right. Didn't know they even existed. They look the same, but are *side by side gigantic*, size wise.


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## stef (Feb 22, 2022)

Flashing my Vortices 














In order of apperance:
* Pine Technologies PT-2628
* Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500 by Aureal
* Diamond Sonic Impact S90
* generic Aureal Vortex 2 by Aureal
* Diamond Monster Sound MX300


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## MachineLearning (Feb 22, 2022)

ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3... at this point I have about a dozen ASUS boards from a few different eras (by far the most of any manufacturer, I love old ASUSTeK). With this little guy we have:

- AMD 890GX NB, coupled w/ SB850
- ASUS core unlocker, despite AMD's SB850 not having ACC
- 8+2 phase VRM according to marketing, to me it looks correct (1 high 1 low, doubled?) but I'm not an expert so I'll leave a picture and allow you to draw your own conclusions.
- USB 3 thanks to NEC
- Realtek lan & audio
- As far as I can tell, the top white PCIe x16 slot is actually only wired for x8 operation, and the blue one is electrically x16. Seemingly that's why the VGA switch card is included?
- This was the last AMD chipset to include onboard graphics, before APUs were around.

That tall 8-pin EPS connector is pretty funky too, I guess they thought it'd be hard to reach if it were standard height? Though the VRM heatsink isn't as intrusive as that would imply. It would have been cool if they put capacitors in that chamber for instance, but I'm sure that's not what happened  

I already tried two Phenom II 960T's on this board, one unfortunately is unable to unlock at all but the other one I got all 6 cores running at 4.1GHz+... when I finalize voltages, HT and uncore speeds, and get it stable, I'll post about it alongside another AM3 board I picked up... this time with an nVidia chipset. 

EDIT: I didn't realize this at first, this motherboard has sideport GDDR3 for the onboard HD4290. It appears to be Samsung 1Gbit E-die according to the part number.


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 23, 2022)

I'm looking for CRT monitor in 2nd hand market, but all I can find was old TV CRT, or just monitor that badly damaged and or not working. So I just looking for old LCD with 4:3 or 5:4 ratio so at least I have one monitor thats easy for old games. The I stumble upon this, EIZO Radiforce MX215, a 21.3 inch 3:4 display that was meant for MRI or CT scan. I paid RM172 or USD 41 dollar only for this beautiful monitor.





Because its 3:4 I need to rotate it so the button on the side, it looks odd but whatever as it does came with rotatable monitor stand. So much more space on my tiny computer table I like it!






Though its only 60Hz compared to 165Hz on my previous monitor, but this one support 10-bit color and its IPS instead of VA. Watching videos is a big difference. This was a professional monitor for medical application so I expect nothing less, but still, the colors are simply amazing  even old games like Fallout 3 looks amazing on this monitor. The color just simply pop. Man I love this monitor!


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 23, 2022)

Nice find. I quite like older high end monitors myself as well. I have 2 19in 1280x1024 Dell Ultrasharps on my desk. One has DOM on 06 and the other is from roughly the same time period. One was given to me by my grandparents, the other was $10 from a flea market. Latter of which is really nice with  the clip on sound bar (way better than normal monitor speakers) and built in USB hub. Also it's 75hz.


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## Apocalypsee (Feb 23, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Nice find. I quite like older high end monitors myself as well. I have 2 19in 1280x1024 Dell Ultrasharps on my desk. One has DOM on 06 and the other is from roughly the same time period. One was given to me by my grandparents, the other was $10 from a flea market. Latter of which is really nice with  the clip on sound bar (way better than normal monitor speakers) and built in USB hub. Also it's 75hz.


Yeah those are kind of monitor I was looking for initially but then this came along and I'm really sucker for EIZO monitor as I have Eizo Flexscan E55D before, even though its only 15 inch but it uses Sony aperture grill, image quality is simply amazing.


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## Robert B (Feb 23, 2022)

After God knows how much gruesome stuff that medical grade EIZO RadiForce MX215 has seen I guess games and movies are like a breath of fresh air.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 23, 2022)

Apocalypsee said:


> Yeah those are kind of monitor I was looking for initially but then this came along and I'm really sucker for EIZO monitor as I have Eizo Flexscan E55D before, even though its only 15 inch but it uses Sony aperture grill, image quality is simply amazing.


I might have to be on the lookout for one sometime. Most brands are hit or miss unfortunately, so its nice to see a brand that makes mostly great monitors. On that note I do truly think that Dells monitors are the best product they manufacture in modern era.


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## Greenslade (Feb 24, 2022)

I was just  looking at this video from one of my fav Retro YouTuber,s 







 and decided to look on Facebook on market place and saw this  for £73 ?  



CyberpowerPC Wyvern Gaming PC – Intel Core i5-10400F, Nvidia GTX 1650 4GB, 16GB  £73 ?New conditionThats must be a fake add. I would give him that just for the GPU.The Retro you tuber had another video on the same modal as the one in the video ,that he also got for 10 pounds, of Facebook  Market place but was working.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thats must be a fake add.


Very likely a scam. Don't waste your time..


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## Greenslade (Feb 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Very likely a scam. Don't waste your time..


It has to be, and no i want   You don,t get anything for nothing in this life.I was hoping i could get a bargin like the guy in the video.The one he has in the video are 25 pounds cheapest i have seen them on eBay,  and they only have E 4600 in them and no GPU.



lexluthermiester said:


> Very likely a scam. Don't waste your time..




This is the one i could not find 







. Trying it with a new Gpu.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 24, 2022)

HIS Radeon X1650 Pro 512mb 






I wanted to build a socket 939 system around a year ago. I picked up an Asus A8N SLI Premium with an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ atop it.  However the board doesn't function properly. Eventually I'll find a nice board and finish the system.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 24, 2022)

View attachment Screenshot (17).png

*CPU-Z Validation*

Got around to overclocking my unlockable Phenom II 960T on my previously featured ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3. Voltage regulation on this board isn't the worst I've seen, but I wouldn't call it great. However I suppose this is one of the higher-power draw scenarios that this VRM may ever face (highest would prob be an FX-8100) so that's worth considering. vCore fluctuated by about 40mv during testing, at idle it was typically closer to 1.535-1.55v and under load 1.55-1.575 (with approx. 1.575v set in BIOS, & LLC enabled). CPU/NB was set to 1.45v, this sample hates 2800MHz uncore so I kept it around 2700MHz. The best I achieved was 4.177GHz on all 6 cores, not too shabby. There are two problems that I have with the overclocking on this board:

1. BCLK is absolutely never what you set, under any circumstance. Yes, spread spectrum is turned off for all applicable components... and it's far more severe than that anyway, deviating by anywhere from +4MHz to +0.7MHz BCLK (power cycle causes the deviation to shift).
2. vCore and CPU/NB voltages are set via offset, no option to change that. Annoying, but the BIOS at least will tell you what voltage you're currently at so you can go from there.
~
I also cleaned up, repasted and overclocked a bit using this ASUS M4N98TD Evo, but was confronted with a bigger roadblock than on the board before, that being very poor voltage regulation. It's a keeper still, this has the 980a chipset which was nVidia's last for AMD, and as far as I can tell, overall. It's basically the 780a rebranded, main difference being that most boards with the 980a use DDR3.




This is as the board came in, with some dust across the board that may not be easily visible on camera and what I'm pretty sure are Noctua AM3 mounting brackets. Also a small detail, it seems the previous owner decided the CPU fan header needed to be reversible (??), so the plastic guide is missing there.




There is a highly technical term I've heard a couple of times to describe the NB temperature in this picture: "not good."




Well, here's why. Whatever thermal interface once existed is now a dry yellow splotch, and will not come off in this century. I put MX-2 on top of it in the hopes that it'd suffice, and do that it did!




Ahhh... much better.  







Marketing claims that this is a 8-phase, I personally think this is a 4+1 phase VRM with 2 high, 2 low side MOSFETs, 2 inductors/phase? I don't fully understand VRMs, this is one of my weakest areas, so if anyone knows what they're talking about I'd love to hear your opinion on this.










As it came out. I stole some AM3 brackets from my nuked MSI VRM fail edition 970 board  I assume that stock, it would have had the classic round mount. I gave the whole surface a light brushing, and blasted it with an air duster front and back, plus the heatsink assembly separately. A couple fins on the VRM were very slightly bent, so I tried to straighten those out too.

This board refuses to post with any 8GB DIMM that I have, so I've been running it mainly with my Kingston HyperX Genesis 2x4GB kit.

View attachment Screenshot (21).png

*CPU-Z Validation*

For this motherboard, I decided to try and unlock my Phenom II 555 BE. Indeed, this board was able to get all 4 physical cores up and running. One small annoyance is that while this board does have NVCC and therefore core unlock, you can't choose which cores you want active, it's all of them or stock only. Core #3 is the worst on this CPU, always giving up earliest, so I would have liked to disable it to try for a 3-core higher OC. The M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 allows per-core enabling/disabling in BIOS.

Voltage regulation, as I mentioned before, is bad. I started out with that same PhII 960T BE as the beginning of this post, and voltage was immediately -25mv from what I set, and then -60mv from there. Rough. Then of course, the Phenom II X4 B55, which I hoped would be a bit better... nope, in fact it's virtually the same. The above image is with 1.65v vCore set, 1.5v CPU/NB, 1.4v LDT/HT Voltage, stock 980a chipset and NF200 voltages (1.1v and 1.2v respectively). This sample seems to be kind of crappy, even though it's a C3 revision all 4 cores top out at 3.8GHz (4.0GHz was bootable, but quickly problematic). I bet that with disabling core #3 on a board with better voltage regulation, 4.0GHz stable might be within reach for this CPU.

Despite my complaints, again, this board is a keeper, if only for that low-effort 980a...


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 24, 2022)

@MachineLearning I have faced this dried out yellow stuff a few times already on chipsets. It's really horrible to get off, Isopropyl does nothing against it. I resort to mechanical removal with a very fine blade.

On another note, I've been binning and benching the first 7 of my 21 E8500s. I'm fascinated by the extreme differences in the properties of each individual CPU. Not just the frequency capabilities, but power consumption and heat at a fixed given voltage. 
The max. frequency @1.35V (measured real voltage, not bios or CPU-Z value) ranges from 4.08GHz (C0 stepping sample) to 4.5GHz. As expected. But very interesting is that one of the very low VID CPUs shows an extreme case of leakage? Or whatever the technical term may be. At just 1.25V (the board with enabled LLC actually overshoots the voltage by 5-8mV in IDLE) the system draws 120W idle. Where other CPUs idled around 90W @ 1.35V. As expected it also heats up a lot more. Load power draw is already at 164W just at 1.25V. 
Just by increasing the frequency 200MHz on that sample, the temps went up 4-5°C on the same voltage. I'm kinda curious to see how this chip will perform under cold. 300W C2D? Or does the cold reduce the leakage to more reasonable levels? I'll try to find out.


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## MachineLearning (Feb 25, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> @MachineLearning I have faced this dried out yellow stuff a few times already on chipsets. It's really horrible to get off, Isopropyl does nothing against it. I resort to mechanical removal with a very fine blade.
> 
> On another note, I've been binning and benching the first 7 of my 21 E8500s. I'm fascinated by the extreme differences in the properties of each individual CPU. Not just the frequency capabilities, but power consumption and heat at a fixed given voltage.
> The max. frequency @1.35V (measured real voltage, not bios or CPU-Z value) ranges from 4.08GHz (C0 stepping sample) to 4.5GHz. As expected. But very interesting is that one of the very low VID CPUs shows an extreme case of leakage? Or whatever the technical term may be. At just 1.25V (the board with enabled LLC actually overshoots the voltage by 5-8mV in IDLE) the system draws 120W idle. Where other CPUs idled around 90W @ 1.35V. As expected it also heats up a lot more. Load power draw is already at 164W just at 1.25V.
> Just by increasing the frequency 200MHz on that sample, the temps went up 4-5°C on the same voltage. I'm kinda curious to see how this chip will perform under cold. 300W C2D? Or does the cold reduce the leakage to more reasonable levels? I'll try to find out.


The only thing worse I've seen is this deep red "paste" some boards used, it basically welds the chipset and heatsink together and it's terrifying to take off. This yellow crap is definitely second worst, though. .

I'd love to see your E8500 findings and compare them to my 6, I have a much lower sample size and we won't have the same setup but surely something can be extrapolated.  I also saw massive power draw differences at identical settings, the difference between samples is insane sometimes.


----------



## Dinnercore (Feb 25, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> The only thing worse I've seen is this deep red "paste" some boards used, it basically welds the chipset and heatsink together and it's terrifying to take off. This yellow crap is definitely second worst, though. .


Just had that on the SB of my Rampage III Extreme. In these cases its probably enough to just throw some paste on top, but I always go through the pain and clean it off. I simply have to do it


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Marketing claims that this is a 8-phase, I personally think this is a 4+1 phase VRM with 2 high, 2 low side MOSFETs, 2 inductors/phase?


Nope, it's 8 phase. 2 mosfets per phase with a choke each. The extra choke is likely a line conditioner for the input voltage.


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## Kissamies (Feb 25, 2022)

Some boards use doublers and market their VRM as the doubled amounts. Dunno more, I don't know much about VRMs but that's what I remember reading. 

2nd PC with CPU & GPU watercooled 





I'll need to check how the VRM/VRAM manages or do I need to search for the PCI-slot fan bracket for blowing some air to that heatsink..

edit: gets hot but not unbearable hot during 3dmark, I guess it's fine for gaming as games doesn't stress the card as much.

3DM FS: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/27291076
3DM TS: https://www.3dmark.com/spy/26580624


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Some boards use doublers and market their VRM as the doubled amounts. Dunno more, I don't know much about VRMs but that's what I remember reading.


While that did happen, the circuit pathways tell the story on that board. Those traces are running parallel instead of in series, with directly indicates 8 phases instead of 4 phases doubled up.


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## Kissamies (Feb 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> While that did happen, the circuit pathways tell the story on that board. Those traces are running parallel instead of in series, with directly indicates 8 phases instead of 4 phases doubled up.


I mean that some people (like me) with less knowledge could fall to that marketing bullshit.  Ah, good old times.

Luckily I have good boards (P5Q Pro and this P6X58D-E) for some serious 775 and 1366 overclocking.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I mean that some people (like me) with less knowledge could fall to that marketing bullshit.  Ah, good old times.


To be fair, whether it's true 8 phase or 4 phase with dual line regulation, the overall effect is similar, quality power delivery. So in the end it would be ok either way as long as quality parts were used and proper engineering done.


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## Kissamies (Feb 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> To be fair, whether it's true 8 phase or 4 phase with dual line regulation, with overall effect is similar, quality power delivery. So in the end it would be ok either way as long as quality parts were used and proper engineering done.


Yeah and the components in the VRM part matter too. Just like with capacitors.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Feb 26, 2022)

Asus baffles me.

They make most of their mid range or high end normal board for 1366 have 16 phase vrms (really 8 with doublers iirc). Only the cheapest models they make for 1366 have 8 phases like the Asus P6T.

So they make the Rampage III Formula with all of these extreme overclocking features and ln2 mode etc... and what do they use for the vrm? 8 phases. With similar rated power stages to the mid range 16 phase boards not intended for such overclocking.

Asus used 16 phases (usually 8 doubled) basically at any chance they could get back then. My Asus P8Z68-V Deluxe Gen3 has a 16 phase vrm too. They even put it on LGA 775 with boards like the P5Q Deluxe.


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## Kissamies (Feb 26, 2022)

Edited the Fire Strike and Time Spy results of that setup few posts above.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 26, 2022)

Got a Q9550 and Radeon R7-250 ordered for the Lenovo I discussed previously. I will post more pictures and screenshots of performance results. Not expecting blazing fast performance because, let's be honest, it's a Q9550 and a Radeon R7-250 2GB. Yet it is a small form factor PC, so if it does well enough, I'll be happy. If not, I'm going to hunt down a GTX750...

EDIT: Low-profile GTX-750..


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## Dinnercore (Feb 26, 2022)

I may have gotten really lucky. This one low VID E8500 out of the recently tested bunch could be worthy of the 'golden' sample title.

Batch is Q836A222.




Passed R15 with 1.25V @ 4.50GHz. Probably not prime stable as R15 is not the most demanding bench. I reserve further testing for subzero cooling.





Now the batch is where things get interesting. I have another one (not tested yet) on my tray of 21 that matches the exact batch number:





Not sure how much truth there is to CPUs from the same batch performing similar. I would imagine defects occur at random across all wafers in a kind of equal fashion, so there should be the same differences between CPUs from the same batch as with CPUs from other batches. But who knows, maybe on that fateful day/week the environmental conditions inside the cleanroom were better compared to other days.

Also on top of these two with identical batch, I have three more from Q836AXXX. All three are Q836A079. None of them tested yet.

The latest batch I found on my E8500s is Q114E134, which should be from 2011 if I'm not mistaken.

While I was at it, here is a picture of the first 'Intel Confidential' in my collection. Pentium 4 550 qualification sample.





From 9 binned E8500s so far, my worst one is of course the C0 stepping. 4.08GHz @ 1.35V. Worst E0 out of the bunch does 4.20GHz @ 1.35V. The rest of them fall within 4.30GHz - 4.40GHz @ 1.35V.


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## seth1911 (Feb 26, 2022)

@Dinnercore

Make R20 plese, im sure my A10 7870k will be slower 


Edit: No Comment (FF in background cause download) (Celeron G6900@ 5,35 GHz 1449)
So my new 10400F will have on 1 core an apu from 2016


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## Dinnercore (Feb 26, 2022)

seth1911 said:


> Make R20 plese, im sure my A10 7870k will be slower


Can we meet at R23? Don't have R20 on my Win 10 ssd yet. Maybe I'll install it later between tests, but no promise. 

This is one of the worst E0 samples. Needs a lot of voltage to get going, but it has very low power consumption and heat at the same time. Still water cooled and ~62°C under load.


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## seth1911 (Feb 26, 2022)

in 1 Thread: A A10 7870k fcked from a Core 2 Duo


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 26, 2022)

Heh, if I only had this guy's budget to spend on a sleeper build... Still, pretty awesome idea if I may say so!


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## Ahhzz (Feb 27, 2022)

Can't seem to figure out why this disc won't fit in the DVD drive.....



And for my next trick....



btw, I will be posting up a small SCSI collection and the WinTV cards in the {FF} section a little later if any of you nostalgic types are looking for anything stupid old heheh


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 27, 2022)

Ahhzz said:


> Can't seem to figure out why this disc won't fit in the DVD drive.....
> 
> View attachment 238098
> 
> ...


Huh... This WinTV card of yours looks like Hauppauge but I can't seem to find their logo (or signature) anywhere.


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## Ahhzz (Feb 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Huh... This WinTV card of yours looks like Hauppauge but I can't seem to find their logo (or signature) anywhere.



 

 good eye!


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## Trekkie4 (Feb 27, 2022)

Ahhzz said:


> View attachment 238144
> 
> good eye!


Not really, I just recognized the label from back in a day 




And sorry, I didn't realize that you posted a thumbnail ... now that I enlarged your photo, I can see it even says so on the label.


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## Dinnercore (Feb 28, 2022)

Halfway through the stack I found another E8500 that does 4.50GHz @ 1.25V. And it takes the crown for my new best sample at ambient cooling. I thought my three X5270s that manage 5.0GHz at 1.45-1.47V are as good as Wolfdales can get, but here we are.

Measured real voltage under load with LLC is 1.42V. Ambient 20°C water cooling. I think this one is special. If it fails to scale under cold I'll build a system around this one.












						Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 5006.66 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[wg3qvj] Validated Dump by Osmium-OC (2022-02-27 22:27:44) - MB: Asus P5Q-E - RAM: 2048 MB




					valid.x86.fr


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## Greenslade (Feb 28, 2022)

I have been trying to fix the DLL problems on Vista and downloaded a PC repair tool and it came up with this about the sequential read speed of the ssd  being very lowI was fowling this guys video 







 As you can see from the Crystal Disk info and Mark.Why is it so low when the SSD has hardly been usedI just saw this guys video 







 it certainly does not feel slow to me.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> DILL


What?


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## Greenslade (Feb 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> What?


The Dll  not found Missing . The thing is i put Vista ob a separate drive and all was ok no problems with them.Then i decided to do a dual boot on another SSD and it came up with the messages about the DLL.It seems to be touch and go if it does work.The only one that works every time is the Intragal XP edition.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The Dll  not found .


Oh, ok. DLL's..


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 1, 2022)

The error is because you're missing Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 on your Windows.

And stop using those bullsh1t PC repair tools programs. They do more harm than good. You have to learn to do this stuff the manual way, otherwise you'll always be in trouble.


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## Kissamies (Mar 1, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> The error is because you're missing Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 on your Windows.
> 
> And stop using those bullsh1t PC repair tools programs. They do more harm than good. You have to learn to do this stuff the manual way, otherwise you'll always be in trouble.


I remember those being okay in the XP era, but yeah, they've been crap for ages.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 1, 2022)

Yeah, pretty much all of those "Repair Your Computer" type of apps are full of crap ... sometimes bundled with PUPs and/or even viruses. ESPECIALLY those claiming to speed up your performance and warning you of multiple security issues and asking you to download 3rd party, generic AV security - those are red flag and always result with data thefts and scams.


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## Kissamies (Mar 1, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, pretty much all of those "Repair Your Computer" type of apps are full of crap ... sometimes bundled with PUPs and/or even viruses. ESPECIALLY those claiming to speed up your performance and warning you of multiple security issues and asking you to download 3rd party, generic AV security - those are red flag and always result with data thefts and scams.


The only thing they were useful in XP era was to fix (or delete) registry errors. After CCleaner became a piece of crap, I haven't used any of those utilies anymore.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> After CCleaner became a piece of crap, I haven't used any of those utilies anymore.


CCleaner is still decent and useful as long as you use the portable version and deny it access to the internet. It's handy for uninstalling unwanted built-in apps from Windows 10/11. The registry cleaning function works great. I love Puran Utilities. It hasn't been updated in a little while, but doesn't need to be either. The Puran Defrag utility is currently second to none.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 1, 2022)

Not a fan of registry cleaners. Rarely see any benefits and they can screw things up massively. Microsoft released their one and promptly revoked it for a reason.


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## Kissamies (Mar 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Not a fan of registry cleaners. Rarely see any benefits and they can screw things up massively. Microsoft released their one and promptly revoked it for a reason.


Well, do you remember the XP days when you had to reinstall the OS all the time as it was full of crap?


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Rarely see any benefits


It is possible you have not given them a fair go then. I swear by them. A system that gets bogged down with entries that have to be processed but are either null(because they are present & serve no purpose) and/or broken is a real PITN. Higher end systems feel the effect to a lesser degree, but it's still present. A lower end system with modest specs will feel the effect greatly. Cleaning up the registry for systems like that can make a world of difference in overall performance.


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> and they can screw things up massively


That has not been true for nearly 2 decades.



MaenadFIN said:


> Well, do you remember the XP days when you had to reinstall the OS all the time as it was full of crap?


I do. STILL deal with that from time to time. BITD, Wise Registry Cleaner was a GodSend. Today I use CCleaner because it's portable, effective, through and doesn't mess things up. An older version of it still works perfectly on XP. It has a backup feature but I've never had to use it as it doesn't screw up the registry.

Look at it this way everyone, the Windows registry is very much the internal mechanism for the "engine" of the OS. Like every complicated engine, it needs servicing and a tune up from time to time. Otherwise it gets out of wack and can break the OS, even on modern versions of Windows. A quality registry cleaner is like a good mechanic, it'll fix things up, clean things up and get the registry working like new again.


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## Kissamies (Mar 1, 2022)

Made some nice upgrades for an old HP dc7600c I received some time ago. It had originally a P4 640 (upgraded to D 925), 2.5GB DDR2 and 945G board with integrated GPU and no Core2 support. Modified the motherboard tray a little, now it houses an Asus P5QL Pro, C2Q Q9500 @ 3.1GHz, 4GB DDR2 & HD 3450 PCIe x1. What do I need that system to? Well, it has a PATA connector so I can transfer games to my PS2's harddrive. I could put a HD 7850 or a R7 240 as a GPU though, the HD 3450 was just at hand 

I'll post some pics later, though I don't have any "before" pics. :/


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Made some nice upgrades for an old HP dc7600c I received some time ago.


Is that a low profile system?


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## Kissamies (Mar 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Is that a low profile system?


Nope, a standard ATX sized case with full-height slots.

edit: though I have the low-profile brackets for the 3450 if needed


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## MachineLearning (Mar 2, 2022)

Mainly have some CPU-Z validations today. I already posted about this motherboard so I'll save you some space here.

I have a total of four Phenom II X4 960T CPUs: one does not unlock at all, and the rest unlock up to 6 cores and are all stable at 4.0GHz+ (yay!). All three that do so, have a core that eventually craps out past ~4.10-4.20GHz, limiting reasonable all-core OC to about 4.1GHz. To list:

*#1*, prod wk 39 / 2011: Tops out at 4.177GHz, 6-cores
*#2*, prod wk 40 / 2011: Took this down to 5 cores but got them stable at 4.31GHz, ~1.6v (most efficient sample I tested)
*#3*, prod wk 40 / 2011 (not a typo): Did mainly suicide runs with this one as it didn't do so well all-core ( < = 4.1GHz 6c stable) and was hotter overall, so I gradually took down each individual core that died first at a given voltage/frequency in Prime95 blend. Luckily core 1 was pretty robust, as it is impossible to disable it in BIOS unless you press the power button  Max speeds that I could validate were 4.4GHz 5c (!), and  4.55GHz with 3 cores enabled, all at 1.6v. Deactivating the last worst core unfortunately was not fruitful at higher frequencies, therefore I probably reached this sample's limits on air or core 1 was the next worst core.
*#4*, prod wk 44 / 2011: doesn't unlock either core so I didn't bother overclocking it yet  it's in time-out.

I clearly did not push HT or NB speeds for any of this, just wanted to get the core up there. Specs:
- AMD Phenom II X4 960T @ variable settings
- 2x4GB DDR3 AMD R7 Performance Edition rated 1600MHz CL8 (Patriot OEM)
- ASUSTeK M4A89GTD Pro/USB3
- 128GB SanDisk X400 SSB
- DeepCool Gammaxx 400 w/ 2x Arctic P12 PWM fans (FDB), MX-2 thermal paste
- Super Flower Leadex III Bronze Pro 650W PSU
- Ugly DIY testbench (secret ingredient: MSI)

Would love to hear from others who know what these chips do under typical conditions, this is the most recent platform I've been playing around with and learning about. For example what's considered a good RAM speed for these CPUs? From what I can gather, Phenom II best likes low-med frequency, tightest possible timings. I couldn't push higher-rated RAM very much past 1600MHz even at a high CPU/NB voltage, so I expect the ceiling to be low on that front...


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 2, 2022)

Pretty fine Phenoms there. I have two 955 BEs, I'll check those some day though I don't have a good AM2+/AM3 board around..


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> CCleaner is still decent and useful as long as you use the portable version and deny it access to the internet. It's handy for uninstalling unwanted built-in apps from Windows 10/11. The registry cleaning function works great. I love Puran Utilities. It hasn't been updated in a little while, but doesn't need to be either. The Puran Defrag utility is currently second to none.


I did tried  to download CCeaner but could not get it to download on VISTA .I want to buy some DVD-r discs but the TDK ones i want to buy are 1x8,i see that most of the other ones are 1x16 ,what are the differences ,should i go for the 1x16?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did tried  to download CCeaner but could not get it to download on VISTA .I want to buy some DVD-r discs but the TDK ones i want to buy are 1x8,i see that most of the other ones are 1x16 ,what are the differences ,should i go for the 1x16?


No actual difference, they just mean the maximum supported burning speed. I burned CDs at 16x and DVDs at 4x anyway back in the day, never used the maximum speed.


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## Greenslade (Mar 2, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Not a fan of registry cleaners. Rarely see any benefits and they can screw things up massively. Microsoft released their one and promptly revoked it for a reason.


I haven,t used one for years ,but you don,t need one on a Mac.I have had a Mac for four years now and have had zero problems.Its backed up all the time so if i do get any problems i just roll back.



MaenadFIN said:


> No actual difference, they just mean the maximum supported burning speed. I burned CDs at 16x and DVDs at 4x anyway back in the day, never used the maximum speed.


Thanks for that ,i will buy them,i wanted the spindal  ones anyway which they are.I have never burned full speed anyway, chances of errors if you do.


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## Kissamies (Mar 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that ,i will buy them,i wanted the spindal  ones anyway which they are.*I have never burned full speed anyway, chances of errors if you do.*


Exactly  Just make sure to get good quality discs, though probably those TDKs are fine. I remember back in the day when many relatives were downloading, well, all kind of things, they mostly used cheap bulk discs and the quality wasn't that great.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 2, 2022)

TDK, anyone?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did tried to download CCeaner but could not get it to download on VISTA .


You mean recently? You'd need an older version to work with Vista.


Greenslade said:


> I want to buy some DVD-r discs but the TDK ones i want to buy are 1x8,i see that most of the other ones are 1x16 ,what are the differences ,should i go for the 1x16?


Not really. It's best to burn at slower 2x or 4x speeds to get stable recordings anyway. So that difference in speed doesn't matter much.



Trekkie4 said:


> TDK, anyone?


THAT takes me back... I suddenly feel old again... Damn you Trekkie.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 2, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> TDK, anyone?


Does anyone still buy them cassettes that is?  I suppose some of you in this forum do.I have got this classic Dolby s machine ,i have had it since new and hardly used it.The cheapest price £85on eBAY.Mind you it is like new so i should be able to get a fair bit more.It was a good machine with the Dolby S ,mind you do loose something in the sound when it is on.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Does anyone still buy them cassettes that is?  I suppose some of you in this forum do.I have got this classic Dolby s machine ,i have had it since new and hardly used it.The cheapest price £85on eBAY.Mind you it is like new so i should be able to get a fair bit more.It was a good machine with the Dolby S ,mind you do loose something in the sound when it is on.


That was a good deck! Nice!


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> THAT takes me back... I suddenly feel old again... Damn you Trekkie.


Go ahead, blame it all on me... It's not my fault that you're getting old 



Greenslade said:


> Does anyone still buy them cassettes that is?  I suppose some of you in this forum do.I have got this classic Dolby s machine ,i have had it since new and hardly used it.The cheapest price £85on eBAY.Mind you it is like new so i should be able to get a fair bit more.It was a good machine with the Dolby S ,mind you do loose something in the sound when it is on.


Pre-recorded tapes or blank ones? I no longer buy blank ones (although I used to, back in late 90s up to early 2000s) but I wouldn't mind buying pre-recorded ones with music. Just like I wouldn't mind buying vinyl albums, or even (in worst case scenario) CDs. One of the media sources which I'll never accept & embrace is digital streaming/on demand but that's a whole other story, for some other occasion.

Regarding that cassette deck, it looks nice. Dolby S, soft touch control with full-logic mechanism, pretty decent unit from what I can tell. The only potential issue that I could think of would be the actual condition ... has it been recently serviced? Belts need to be replaced every once in a while, pinch roller carefully cleaned (or even replaced), etc, etc. I once bought a dual Kenwood deck at the local flea market for next to nothing, but unfortunately it turned out to be a "lemon". All of the 4 belts were shot, rollers extremely dirty & worn out, I've had my hands full getting it back in shape. Eventually I did (also worth pointing out is that I've done all the work myself) but it cost me a LOT more than it's worth.

However, I also scored audiophile-grade Pioneer CT91a, reference-design deck from that "TDK" photo posted earlier, and I managed to get it for free. Therefore I only had to pay for parts, rubber belts & idler tire which (compared to the actual value of 91a) cost me nothing. So ... it's always a gamble with these things, but sometimes it pays off


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 2, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Mainly have some CPU-Z validations today. I already posted about this motherboard so I'll save you some space here.
> 
> I have a total of four Phenom II X4 960T CPUs: one does not unlock at all, and the rest unlock up to 6 cores and are all stable at 4.0GHz+ (yay!). All three that do so, have a core that eventually craps out past ~4.10-4.20GHz, limiting reasonable all-core OC to about 4.1GHz. To list:
> 
> ...


My 960T unlocked.
CPUz misread core count. It is 6c/6t
Sweet spot for ram speed is 1600-1800
Sweet spot for CPU/NB is 2800, + or -


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 2, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> My 960T unlocked.
> CPUz misread core count. It is 6c/6t
> Sweet spot for ram speed is 1600-1800
> Sweet spot for CPU/NB is 2800, + or -
> ...


Could the misread be because it's detected as "model unknown"? Never seen with Phenom that the core/thread ratio is reported incorrectly.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 2, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Could the misread be because it's detected as "model unknown"? Never seen with Phenom that the core/thread ratio is reported incorrectly.


Probably. There were a lot of flakey CPUz versions.
Could also be bios version on the board I was using. Who knows.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 2, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Would love to hear from others who know what these chips do under typical conditions, this is the most recent platform I've been playing around with and learning about. For example what's considered a good RAM speed for these CPUs? From what I can gather, Phenom II best likes low-med frequency, tightest possible timings. I couldn't push higher-rated RAM very much past 1600MHz even at a high CPU/NB voltage, so I expect the ceiling to be low on that front...


Nice overclocks on these Phenoms!

I've got a Phenom II system that I use regularly. It's an X4 975 oc'd to 4163 MHz on Asus Crosshair IV Formula. CPU-NB is at 2925 MHz and RAM at 1800. It fails Prime at these settings, but is stable in everyday use and games. It boots at 4500 MHz and loads Windows at 4388 MHz with Vcore on auto. I didn't bother to find the limits of the CPU or memory, as I prefer to have a working backup rig.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 2, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Go ahead, blame it all on me... It's not my fault that you're getting old
> 
> 
> Pre-recorded tapes or blank ones? I no longer buy blank ones (although I used to, back in late 90s up to early 2000s) but I wouldn't mind buying pre-recorded ones with music. Just like I wouldn't mind buying vinyl albums, or even (in worst case scenario) CDs. One of the media sources which I'll never accept & embrace is digital streaming/on demand but that's a whole other story, for some other occasion.
> ...


Thr pre recorded ones well the ones in the 70,s anyway,you could record better ones your self .I suppose they must be hard to get now, the blank ones that is.They started to get better the pre recorded ones in the 80,s with using beter tapes like Chrome and metal ones ,I see you can get new ones on eBay.5 Chrome c90 for 25 pounds.The Metal ones cheapest on eBAY pre owned 12 pounds for a c90. Vinyl are the best thanks to the Dj,s in the 90,s for keepong them alive.I have not bought any for years though.I used to get them very cheap but now people are more knowledgeable how much stuff is worth.So it is hard to get a bargin It,s to much trouble looking thriugh charity shops record bins ,most of it is crap.Cd,s are as cheap as chips on the uk.Kenwood was a good make,nothing to do with the cookware of the time.Thats good when you get stuff free like a lot of Retro utubers and LGR in particuler,That utuber is my all time go to Rerto person.


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## Ahhzz (Mar 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thr pre recorded ones well the ones in the 70,s anyway,you could record better ones your self .I suppose they must be hard to get now, the blank ones that is.They started to get better the pre recorded ones on the 80,s withusing beter tapes usung Chrome and metal ones ,I see you can get new ones on eBay.5 Chrome c90 for 25 pounds.The Metal ones cheapest on eBAY pre owned 12 pounds for a c90. Vinyl are the best thanks to the Dj,s in the 90,s for keepong them alive.I have not bought any for years though.I used to get them very cheap but now people are more knowledgeable how much stuff is worth.So it is hard to get a bargin It,s to much trouble looking thriugh charity shops record bins ,most of it is crap.


whoa... I had a few of those chromes... wonder if I have any left unopened...


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 2, 2022)

Ahhzz said:


> whoa... I had a few of those chromes... wonder if I have any left unopened...





Ahhzz said:


> whoa... I had a few of those chromes... wonder if I have any left unopened...


Ir,s the metal ones that are hard to come by.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 3, 2022)

Finally got myself a proper AM3 board.

I have previously been using AM3 CPUs with my AM3+ 990FX Sabertooth R2.0 since the only AM3 boards I owned until now were OEM. Although the Sabertooth works great, it cannot unlock cores, only the r1.0 version can.







I got it for pretty cheap with an fx4100, all listed for parts. Seller said the board doesn't boot half of the time and the CPU was untested. Turns out the 4100 is dead (Don't really care since I already have a 4130 and only really wanted the board) but the board seems to post and operate fine every time with a working CPU installed. Despite being am3 the board supports up to an 8350 with the later versions and seems to work properly with my 4130.

Will do more testing later, but so far I chucked in my Athlon ii X3 450 and have been tinkering.


Was able to unlock the 4th core:



For the photo, I have my rather scratched up Phenom ii X6 1045t installed. This also was sold as only booting half of the time from a friend. Although it would only boot half of the time initially, it has self healed and works perfectly now.

I have tried to oc it a little on the Sabertooth but never sunk much time into it. I think I'll give ocing it a shot here. Might get 4ghz or so.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Marketing claims that this is a 8-phase, I personally think this is a 4+1 phase VRM with 2 high, 2 low side MOSFETs, 2 inductors/phase? I don't fully understand VRMs, this is one of my weakest areas, so if anyone knows what they're talking about I'd love to hear your opinion on this.





lexluthermiester said:


> Nope, it's 8 phase. 2 mosfets per phase with a choke each. The extra choke is likely a line conditioner for the input voltage.


You're definitely correct, I found this AM3 VRM spreadsheet which I had previously looked over because I was focused on the AM3+ list, and it confirms it's an 8+1 phase. Also, confirms that the M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 is 8+2  Source w/ other sockets too



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I got it for pretty cheap with an fx4100, all listed for parts. Seller said the board doesn't boot half of the time and the CPU was untested. Turns out the 4100 is dead (Don't really care since I already have a 4130 and only really wanted the board) but the board seems to post and operate fine every time with a working CPU installed. Despite being am3 the board supports up to an 8350 with the later versions and seems to work properly with my 4130.


I didn't know that about the Sabertooth revisions, thank you for sharing.

A word of caution if you didn't already know: MSI usually had terrible VRMs from the 700-900 ATI/AMD chipset series (until late in the 900 life cycle), they were poorly engineered and I personally experienced a VRM failure out of the blue years ago using an FX-8350 on a 970A-G43 (not overclocked). The 890FXA GD70 suffers from some VRM issues as well, mainly no VRM thermal throttling/shutdown and some failures with overclocking Phenom II 6-core parts (and presumably, 6/8c FX parts). This is not to degrade your purchase whatsoever, just advice, I would rather you not break such a pretty board or any valuable CPU. And it's not that bad, you can definitely OC, you just gotta point a fan at the VRM and make sure it's not going over 100°C and that's fixed  The links I gave above to @lexluthermiester have spreadsheets with all brands' boards of a given socket, in case you would like to read up. For convenience here's MSI.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> You're definitely correct, I found this AM3 VRM spreadsheet which I had previously looked over because I was focused on the AM3+ list, and it confirms it's an 8+1 phase. Also, confirms that the M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 is 8+2  Source w/ other sockets too
> 
> 
> I didn't know that about the Sabertooth revisions, thank you for sharing.
> ...



This thread gives a lot more information about it. The 990FX Sabertooth R2.0 and R3.0 don't have the bios option nor can it easier enabled. I considered bios modding but after looking at that, it doesn't seem easy since they could not get it working quite right. I like the board, and that's about the only thing it's missing. I just need to get a FX9xxx for it or even just an 8xxx. 

Thanks for a heads up about the VRM on the MSI. No thermal protection is suprising considering AM3 is not completely archaic yet.

I did not specifically seek out this model, I just saw the auction was ending soon and super cheap so I placed a bid. Any reccomendations for software to see the vrm temp? Is hwinfo good enough?

I don't have any really valuable CPUs to chuck in here, although at some point a higher end x6 would be nice. The 1045t I have is pretty meh silicon iirc.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 3, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> This thread gives a lot more information about it. The 990FX Sabertooth R2.0 and R3.0 don't have the bios option nor can it easier enabled. I considered bios modding but after looking at that, it doesn't seem easy since they could not get it working quite right. I like the board, and that's about the only thing it's missing. I just need to get a FX9xxx for it or even just an 8xxx.
> 
> Thanks for a heads up about the VRM on the MSI. No thermal protection is suprising considering AM3 is not completely archaic yet.
> 
> ...


That is indeed pretty unfortunate. Was my dream board back in the day for the same reason (still want one), it has nearly everything.

MSI apparently fired those engineers, so I think management was pretty surprised too... As for telling the VRM temp, yeah I always use HWiNFO64 for software, but there's not always a sensor for it and it's not always labeled "VRM" / "VREG" if there is (ASUS sometimes labels it as "AUX"). In such cases I use a cheap IR thermal gun to measure VRM, NB, SB and RAM temps.

You can often find a Phenom 960T Black Edition on eBay or AliExpress for around $20-$25, if it's a later production date you might get good silicon quality for much cheaper than a guaranteed 6-core.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 3, 2022)

Also didn't know that the newer Sabertooths lacked the option to unlock cores. Probably they were more FX optimized so they didn't think that it's an neccessary option?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 3, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Also didn't know that the newer Sabertooths lacked the option to unlock cores. Probably they were more FX optimized so they didn't think that it's an neccessary option?


The thread I linked above notes something about Windows 8 compatability. Maybe the issue lies there?

The 2.0 is mostly the same as the 1.0 but with added support for FX9000 and a few other tweaks. 3.0 is the 2.0 but with PCIe 3.0


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 3, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Go ahead, blame it all on me... It's not my fault that you're getting old
> 
> 
> Pre-recorded tapes or blank ones? I no longer buy blank ones (although I used to, back in late 90s up to early 2000s) but I wouldn't mind buying pre-recorded ones with music. Just like I wouldn't mind buying vinyl albums, or even (in worst case scenario) CDs. One of the media sources which I'll never accept & embrace is digital streaming/on demand but that's a whole other story, for some other occasion.
> ...



CT91 is a nice deck. imo best ever made was the Nakamichi dragon


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 3, 2022)

For PhenomII it's tough to beat the 890 Gigabyte boards.



MaenadFIN said:


> Also didn't know that the newer Sabertooths lacked the option to unlock cores. Probably they were more FX optimized so they didn't think that it's an neccessary option?


Exactly correct.
I have a ver. 1 board.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 3, 2022)

Tigger said:


> CT91 is a nice deck. imo best ever made was the Nakamichi dragon


You are right there,that is a highly sort after product
 i wonder if the *Trump*is a referance to Donald  Very high prices for them on eBay.What a classic.


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 3, 2022)

I gave my dual-deck cassette player (JVC I think), along with a receiver & amp, to Goodwill years ago.  I still have some cassettes & a cassette player in the car though. lol

I used to record my albums to cassette to save the vinyl from getting scratched, so I have some albums that may have only been played once or twice.  Like everyone else, when I listen to music now I usually just stream it.

I had to go look, my Sabertooth 990 is a R2.0.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 3, 2022)

Tigger said:


> CT91 is a nice deck. imo best ever made was the Nakamichi dragon


Best ever made, indeed ... and probably /the/ most expensive deck available  At some point, you have to stop yourself & wonder if it's worth all the extra money? Because I'll be blunt - the sound coming from my CT91a is only marginally better than consumer-grade Kenwood with auto-reverse or Aiwa AD-F550. Fair enough, most of my cassettes are worn out, some of them are even chewed up & survived though decades of use & abuse so I'm guessing that having a dual capstan in this situation helps a lot, because it keeps the tape under tension & therefore allows better contact with the head.

There is actually a similar (if not identical) story with the turntables... Some people swear by Technics SL-1200/1210. Alas, I couldn't stretch my budget to buy one in mint condition so I bought Audio Technica AT-LP140XP, instead. It may not be as solid as SL-1200 but it's all pretty much there. Quartz-locked direct drive, S-shaped tonearm with VTA (aka height) adjustment, heavy & dampened aluminum platter etc. Oddly enough, some people who actually have the access to both units tested out SL-1200 against LP-140XP and found out that (with upgraded cartridge, of course), 140 can easily perform the same as SL1200 at 1/2 ... or even 1/3 of its price. Depending on whenever you're buying used SL-1200 or a brand new one, Mk.7.



68Olds said:


> I gave my dual-deck cassette player (JVC I think), along with a receiver & amp, to Goodwill years ago.  I still have some cassettes & a cassette player in the car though. lol


That's a shame, you really should have kept it... It's all coming back now, apparently tapes & LPs are becoming more popular than CDs.



68Olds said:


> I used to record my albums to cassette to save the vinyl from getting scratched, so I have some albums that may have only been played once or twice.  Like everyone else, when I listen to music now I usually just stream it.


Haven't we all? 

Regarding streaming, count me out. One "thing" with streaming is that you never own a copy of album, or a song. It's not like you can play it anywhere you like, at any moment. Where on the other hand, having a physical copy allows you to keep your investment & enjoy music EVEN when there is no internet ... or streaming license, for that matter.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 3, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Go ahead, blame it all on me... It's not my fault that you're getting old


Aww now you can just hush with that nonsense.. I'm not even 50 yet.. 



Trekkie4 said:


> but I wouldn't mind buying pre-recorded ones with music.


Ebay and thrift stores. I see them all the time when I go treasure hunting.


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 3, 2022)

I do believe my case now rates enough to be nostalgic and deserves to be here. System specs are current 







Sorry for TPU turning my pic sideways….


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 3, 2022)

INSTG8R said:


> I do believe my case now rates enough to be nostalgic and deserves to be here. System specs are current
> 
> View attachment 238589
> View attachment 238590
> Sorry for TPU turning my pic sideways….


Oh, I remember that one. That was truly a dope case in the mid-2000s!


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 3, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Oh, I remember that one. That was truly a dope case in the mid-2000s!


2007. weighs a metric crap tonne and has zero cable management. Over the years I have just updated the CPU block.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 3, 2022)

INSTG8R said:


> 2007. weighs a metric crap tonne and has zero cable management. Over the years I have just updated the CPU block.


There's some reviews from 2005 but anyway, from somewhere around that era. The original pump still works?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Aww now you can just hush with that nonsense.. I'm not even 50 yet..
> 
> 
> Ebay and thrift stores. I see them all the time when I go treasure hunting.


Excuses, excuses...


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Aww now you can just hush with that nonsense.. I'm not even 50 yet..
> 
> 
> Ebay and thrift stores. I see them all the time when I go treasure hunting.


I did asume you were older than that Lex.  Of course we have no idea how old people are on here.I can safely say no one is in there early years on this particular forum.I love all those Goodwill stores you have over there, from watching  LGR thrifting videos. i was thinking how old this guy is ,this is from 2014. I have come to the concision.He must be in his early 40,s with all the stuff he used when he was a kid.There seems a lot  Tut in there.








. That particular store seems a bit gross, with all stuff in those plastic units


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did asume you were older than that Lex.  Of course we have no idea how old people are on here.I can safely say no one is in there early years on this particular forum.I love all those Goodwill stores you have over there, from watching  LGR thrifting videos. i was thinking how old this guy is ,this is from 2014. I have come to the concision.He must be in his early 40,s with all the stuff he used when he was a kid.There seems a lot  Tut in there.


Not necessarily, Green. Take me for example, I'm 36 ... Most people probably wouldn't guess that, considering my state of mind which almost always revolves around retro & vintage technology. Sometimes I even find myself completely disconnected from other people of my age, who either have entirely different way of life, or culture - or both!

But from my point of view, "older" equals "more experience" and "more experience" equals "better performance". So, to put it simply - why fix it, if it ain't broken?


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 3, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> The original pump still works?


Yes which is why I've never retired it. It's always kept everything I've put under it cool, it whiny AF tho....


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did asume you were older than that Lex.  Of course we have no idea how old people are on here.I can safely say no one is in there early years on this particular forum.I love all those Goodwill stores you have over there, from watching  LGR thrifting videos. i was thinking how old this guy is ,this is from 2014. I have come to the concision.He must be in his early 40,s with all the stuff he used when he was a kid.There seems a lot  Tut in there.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Don't be so sure... I turned 21 last month 
I grew up in a weird period where I often used VHS tapes, cassettes, had exposure to records from my grandparents, yet I also had an iPhone and PC at a young age. I'm not one of those weird cassette hipsters of my generation to be "cool" [read: cringy], I just appreciate the old tech, how it used to work, and how it evolved to now. I'm sure I'm not the only one  Also, seeing a CD or a vinyl record spinning, and knowing that's what is playing back music with high fidelity, is still amazing to me and always will be.

Love LGR, I've been following him since around 2015.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Don't be so sure... I turned 21 last month
> I grew up in a weird period where I often used VHS tapes, cassettes, had exposure to records from my grandparents, yet I also had an iPhone and PC at a young age. I'm not one of those weird cassette hipsters of my generation to be "cool" [read: cringy], I just appreciate the old tech, how it used to work, and how it evolved to now. I'm sure I'm not the only one  Also, seeing a CD or a vinyl record spinning, and knowing that's what is playing back music with high fidelity, is still amazing to me and always will be.
> 
> Love LGR, I've been following him since around 2015.



CDs are peak consumer audio if you ask me.  They're basically as ideal an intersection of relevant properties (fidelity, play count, density, robustness) as one could hope for.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did asume you were older than that Lex.


A lot of people guess that. Thing is, I got my start in tech and computers very early, 6years old. By 12years old, I was as experienced as most people 3 times my age.


Greenslade said:


> That particular store seems a bit gross, with all stuff in those plastic units


I LOVE LGR thrifts!! He inspired my regular "treasure hunting" trips to my local thrift stores.



Trekkie4 said:


> Take me for example, I'm 36 ... Most people probably wouldn't guess that


I would have guess early 40's.


Trekkie4 said:


> So, to put it simply - why fix it, if it ain't broken?


This! Absolutely this!



80-watt Hamster said:


> CDs are peak consumer audio if you ask me.


I would say SaCD's, but that's only because they sound wonderful. They just never caught on as they were so expensive and the world was changing. However, I agree with you, Audio CD's are excellent!


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 3, 2022)

Ah hell, then your just a pup @lexluthermiester


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## Greenslade (Mar 3, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Don't be so sure... I turned 21 last month
> I grew up in a weird period where I often used VHS tapes, cassettes, had exposure to records from my grandparents, yet I also had an iPhone and PC at a young age. I'm not one of those weird cassette hipsters of my generation to be "cool" [read: cringy], I just appreciate the old tech, how it used to work, and how it evolved to now. I'm sure I'm not the only one  Also, seeing a CD or a vinyl record spinning, and knowing that's what is playing back music with high fidelity, is still amazing to me and always will be.
> 
> Love LGR, I've been following him since around 2015.


Seems i have opened up a can of worms That sounds cool to me. Never had or used a VHS or Beta my self player myself.Had a lot of cassettes back in the day only because i got them cheap.I have never had a iphone.
I started late on this  to.I can.t think any one in 2022   would want cassettes anyway.You must be the you the youngest on here by far..Nothing cool about cassettesI am new To this Retro Tech myself.I myself am a vinyl Junkie myself.LGR is great


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Never had or used a VHS or Beta my self player myself.


I remember having a 14" CRT + VHS combo which my mom got me in my pre-teens in the early 2000s. Played hundreds and hundreds of hours of PS1/PS2 with that. Sold that to my friend's dad later.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 3, 2022)

I have a Kenwood KX-600 that came with my Kenwood amp and tuner as a set. Some artists still release on cassette, a while ago I got these e.g.: https://amdiscs.com/product/nmesh-collectors/

I wouldn't really consider it a 'hipster' thing, for me it is not about owning things that are special or odd to someone else, I simply collect things that are interesting to me. Something that simply exists and that I can get some enjoyment out of. I dunno. I'm a dragon, I hoard random things that I like. No nostalgia involved.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> A lot of people guess that. Thing is, I got my start in tech and computers very early, 6years old. By 12years old, I was as experienced as most people 3 times my age.
> 
> I would have guess early 40's.
> 
> ...


WowHe has not been on for some time for .Thrifting that is .I do prefer vinyl especially the 180gram ones.But they cost an arm and leg.Yes CD,s were over priced.I wish there were stores like Goodwill here in the uk.Plus you have so many Garage sales on the US. 







 it seems like they are every where in the US.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 3, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I have a Kenwood KX-600 that came with my Kenwood amp and tuner as a set. Some artists still release on cassette, a while ago I got these e.g.: https://amdiscs.com/product/nmesh-collectors/
> 
> I wouldn't really consider it a 'hipster' thing, for me it is not about owning things that are special or odd to someone else, I simply collect things that are interesting to me. Something that simply exists and that I can get some enjoyment out of. I dunno. I'm a dragon, I hoard random things that I like. No nostalgia involved.


That's a REALLY nice deck! Kinda reminds me of dad's old KX50 MK2, except yours is higher class, a real thing!

Unfortunately no, the one I got at the moment is nowhere near KX50 and/or especially your KX-600. Model number is KX-W4080. A fairly modern unit, mostly made out of plastic. Unlike some of the (even) cheaper Sony decks, it has two separate mechanisms & motors, I'll give him that much ... but other that it is a lower end "consumer" grade unit. You know, "Set & forget" type of deck, where you play the tape & enjoy music indefinitely, since it has auto-reverse & will play tape(s) over & over again. Which is why I said so in one of my earlier posts, it required a lot of TLC to get it up & running again, to the point where it made me wonder if it was worth the money invested in all the parts & cleaning materials.






I also got couple of other decks laying around (Dual CC8010) along with Aiwa AD-F550 which used to be my main deck up until I got CT91a. Both are fully operational ... or at least they've been fully operational last time I used them. It's been couple of years ever since, so there's no way of knowing for sure, not without hooking them up & testing.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2022)

Continuing from this post;
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-4706123

The Q9550 and Radeon R7-250 2GB GPU arrived.

They are installed and running perfectly. They both raise the performance of this system well about what I need from it for the task needed.



I'm glad I chose the Q9550 instead of the Q9500/Q9505. The extra 6MB of L2 cache made a difference in the games I wanted to run.




GDDR3 version! Heck yeah!

At full load they both run surprisingly cool. All totaled, I'm into this PC just $200. That was even after over-paying for the base system. Not bad these days!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2022)

IDK about Q9550 & Radeon card, but I love that background with TDK SA90


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> IDK about Q9550 & Radeon card


? Why? Those are the best the system could take.. I mean I could have gone with a Q9650, but it wasn't worth the extra $30. However, the R7-250 was the best low-profile card that could both physically fit into system and has XP drivers support.


Trekkie4 said:


> but I love that background with TDK SA90


Here you go. Disclaimer, I didn't make it and don't know who did. I make no claims of ownership as I found it on a Wallpaper website. I did resize and rework the colors, saturation and gamma a bit.

Enjoy!


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 4, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Regarding streaming, count me out. One "thing" with streaming is that you never own a copy of album, or a song. It's not like you can play it anywhere you like, at any moment. Where on the other hand, having a physical copy allows you to keep your investment & enjoy music EVEN when there is no internet ... or streaming license, for that matter.


When you think about it, that's not really any different than the radio.

Oced the 1045t this afternoon.

I eventually caved and gave up on ocing with the 890fx board. It was giving me weird issues when I was pushing the fsb, plus I was in constant fear of vrm ignition, so I just decided to use the 990fx sabertooth r2.0. Didn't need to core unlock so it was a better choice.





View attachment 238675



Nothing really remarkable or record breaking, but it did valiantly.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Nothing really remarkable or record breaking, but it did valiantly.


4ghz is not shabby for 2.7ghz baseclock CPU!


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 4, 2022)

I believe it may be possible to send it a bit further with some more time invested into it, but the silicon is pretty much at its limits there. The memory controller does not like pushing very fast frequencies at all. Kit used was a 2x8 kit of 2400mhz CL11 Hynix BFR but even 1866 CL11 is not working properly so I settled in at ~1600 8-8-8-24 as you see above. I managed to get it working in 1t mode too. Uncore was ~2950mhz, pretty good.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I believe it may be possible to send it a bit further with some more time invested into it, but the silicon is pretty much at its limits there.


4ghz is damn decent for that CPU. I would call it good and be happy with such a solid OC, as long as it's stable.


----------



## Courier 6 (Mar 4, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> That's a REALLY nice deck! Kinda reminds me of dad's old KX50 MK2, except yours is higher class, a real thing!
> 
> Unfortunately no, the one I got at the moment is nowhere near KX50 and/or especially your KX-600. Model number is KX-W4080. A fairly modern unit, mostly made out of plastic. Unlike some of the (even) cheaper Sony decks, it has two separate mechanisms & motors, I'll give him that much ... but other that it is a lower end "consumer" grade unit. You know, "Set & forget" type of deck, where you play the tape & enjoy music indefinitely, since it has auto-reverse & will play tape(s) over & over again. Which is why I said so in one of my earlier posts, it required a lot of TLC to get it up & running again, to the point where it made me wonder if it was worth the money invested in all the parts & cleaning materials.
> 
> ...


I have this one  Sony TC FX 510R





__





						Sony TC-FX510R Stereo Cassette Deck
					

Sony,TC-FX510R Stereo Cassette Deck,Auto Reverse,Dolby-C NR,Full Logic Control,Metal Tape,Stereo,Digital Meters




					www.cassettedeck.org


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 4, 2022)

Wolfdale C0 stepping C2D E8300, ES...




And a Conroe M0 stepping C2D E4600, ES.

The E8300 ES didn't OC well - as expected, being early and C0. Still, I got it to 3.9GHz stable. It booted 4.0GHz, but wasn't stable at ~1.5v vCore.

The E4600, however, set a new low. I watched it degrade before my very eyes. The board I'm using is an IP35 Pro from Abit, and it has some vDroop: about 40-50mv with dual cores and ~70mv with quad cores. So I started by setting a voltage of 1.550v in BIOS to get it at minimum 1.50v. This apparently was a mistake, I remember overclocking this a little while ago (don't recall the results) and while I did get somewhere, I didn't spend much time with it. Either I did some really stupid settings then or >1.5v was too insane this time, because now it will not POST with this CPU even after clearing CMOS. POST code sometimes gets stuck on a different code (C3, 2b, 2a) but never FF, and most often C1. So I'm assuming it can't even do stock clocks anymore  Visibly it's had a hard life so I wouldn't be surprised if the person(s) before me ran it into the ground.

Oh yeah, and this has become my favorite LGA775 overclocking board by a country mile. The VRM isn't nearly as good as on the P5Q Turbo, but uGuru BIOS settings make up for it. As well as the POST code (largest one I've seen), VRM temp + voltage readout in HWiNFO (all of them. not kidding), and 45nm CPU compatibility on the latest beta BIOS (v20).


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 4, 2022)

@MachineLearning 
Maybe you set the VTT to high? The codes hint more towards FSB/RAM problems. The E4600 is a 65nm chip, believe me you will not have instantly killed that with just 1.5V core. I tried once... for eh science? I had some grudge against this particular E4300 sample which had a super low FSB wall. I ran it ambient cooled at 2.0V.









						Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 @ 3068.56 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[2nkcvi] Validated Dump by Osmium-OC (2020-01-03 19:53:54) - MB: Asus P5Q-E - RAM: 2048 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				




This thing refused to die. I mean it probably would have died within a few hours but I did not want to wait. Its still alive after all and boots/runs stock settings.




To sum it up, 65nm C2Ds are short term very voltage tolerant on Vcore. But I think there are stories where high VTT has been a quick killer.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Continuing from this post;
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-4706123
> 
> The Q9550 and Radeon R7-250 2GB GPU arrived.
> ...


Hm, even that it has *G*DDR3, it's not clocked that much higher than my R7 240 which has only DDR3. Luckily my card even has 384 shaders instead of the usual 320. Did some testing with it some time ago.









						I scored 1 878 in Fire Strike
					

AMD Ryzen 5 3600, AMD Radeon HD 8570 x 1, 32768 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}




					www.3dmark.com
				




Though it was recognized as HD 8570.


----------



## Bones (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Also didn't know that the newer Sabertooths lacked the option to unlock cores. Probably they were more FX optimized so _they didn't think that it's an neccessary option_?


No, that's no why it was not supported by the later versions.

AMD made a "Request" during the AM3 days for it to no longer be supported and the board vendors complied.
There was a chip on these boards that enabled LCC to access these hidden core(s) but the later revisions didn't have this chip so it didn't work and there is no option in the BIOS for it.

BTW are any of you aware there are actually 2 versions of the Sabertooth 3.0?
There certainly are.
The "Other" version was the original out of the two but was so bad/buggy Asus literally stopped production of it right after it was released and if you find one it's a bit of a rarity - More of a collector's item TBH. 
They held back until the newer version of the 3.0 most are familiar with now was done, that was the last official release of an AM3/AM3+ board by Asus.

There is also a sidenote, that is this board model also has an m.2 slot and makes it the only one Asus ever made with this slot for AM3/AM3+.
I believe there is another make/model with the m.2 slot based on socket AM3/AM3+ but I honestly can't put a name to it.

And here's my 3.0 while frozen.
Enjoy.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Bones said:


> No, that's no why it was not supported by the later versions.
> 
> AMD made a "Request" during the AM3 days for it to no longer be supported and the board vendors complied.
> There was a chip on these boards that enabled LCC to access these hidden core(s) but the later revisions didn't have this chip so it didn't work and there is no option in the BIOS for it.
> ...


Okay, that's interesting. That's interesting that even the R3.0 had different versions and I definitely didn't know that one had even a M.2 slot. To be honest, after I saw what a flop FX was, I didn't pay much attention to AM3+ boards anymore.

Personally I went with AM3 and Phenom II X6 1055T then, and downgraded to X4 965 BE as I didn't have use for six cores in the early 2012.


----------



## Bones (Mar 4, 2022)

Yes, in the pic just look right below the SB heatsink and you'll see the m.2 slot and drive mounting studs - Obvious really but yep - It's all there .


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Bones said:


> Yes, in the pic just look right below the SB heatsink and you'll see the m.2 slot.


Ah, so it's there. What I did know was that some boards supported PCIe 3.0 via an external switch though.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Ah, so it's there. What I did know was that some boards supported PCIe 3.0 via an external switch though.


Iirc the HT link between the NB and CPU was not fast enough for PCIe 3.0 to make much of a difference.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Iirc the HT link between the NB and CPU was not fast enough for PCIe 3.0 to make much of a difference.


Would be interesting to see comparison with a bandwith limited card like 5500 XT 4GB or 6500 XT.


----------



## Bones (Mar 4, 2022)

Most likely it's more effective with things involving drive read/write speeds, I don't believe there is much difference at all regarding GPU performance. 
I do know one thing, it's boot speed was really fast when I had an m.2 drive in it.


----------



## ThrashZone (Mar 4, 2022)

Hi,
Yep sold my 13 year old acer 775 socket board/ Q9550/ 4x2gb crucial memory last week 80.00
Not bad the whole system case/... was only 250.us new guess a little more seeing I added the crucial memory.
Almost shed a tear but at least the old girl saw it's day being water cooled


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Yep sold my 13 year old acer 775 socket board/ Q9550/ 4x2gb crucial memory last week 80.00
> Not bad the whole system case/... was only 250.us new guess a little more seeing I added the crucial memory.
> Almost shed a tear but at least the old girl saw it's day to being water cooled


Not bad at all considering you had an OEM board with that. That would've be an okay price even with a good board with good overclockability.

edit: I had almost that same 980 Ti (mine was FTW) before I upgraded to my current 1080 Ti


----------



## ThrashZone (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Not bad at all considering you had an OEM board with that. That would've be an okay price even with a good board with good overclockability.
> 
> edit: I had almost that same 980 Ti (mine was FTW) before I upgraded to my current 1080 Ti


Hi,
Yeah it's a 980ti gaming 
I still have it on my x99 rig in spec's it's getting to be at 6 years old now I think


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> ? Why? Those are the best the system could take.. I mean I could have gone with a Q9650, but it wasn't worth the extra $30. However, the R7-250 was the best low-profile card that could both physically fit into system and has XP drivers support.
> 
> Here you go. Disclaimer, I didn't make it and don't know who did. I make no claims of ownership as I found it on a Wallpaper website. I did resize and rework the colors, saturation and gamma a bit.
> View attachment 238655
> Enjoy!


You misunderstood me Lex  What I meant to say was "I wouldn't know about Q9650 & Radeon card" because I never had anything more powerful than Q6600, not on S775 platform that is. Same thing with Radeon cards. Those ATI cards which I owned and/or used were primarily older, AGP models. In fact, the fastest Radeon I've had was X1550 PowerColor edition which I bought brand new, in 2007. Other than that, they're all nVidia models, ranging from 8600GTS, 8800GT, 8800GTS, GTX 550Ti and GTX 760. And older ... most of my AGP cards used in retro gaming systems are either GF2 or TNT2.
Therefore I really don't have any background, experience to comment on R7 and/or Q9650, hence "I wouldn't know" about them, nothing more or less  



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> When you think about it, that's not really any different than the radio.


Well, yes - and no. Indeed, radio was a "product" of its own era, from back in a day. Yes, I can see the similarities with digital streaming, but you have to understand that the radio was limited by its technological limits, as there was obviously no "streaming services" back then. Besides, you could still record the radio on a blank tape & play back your favorite song whenever you wanted to, some radio stations even encouraged you to do so.

Where on the other hand, digital streaming was made like this on purpose, primarily to make money & limit, prevent folks from owning an album or a song. Why would you want to charge ONE time for an album & have people owning that same album forever, when you can simply provide an easy access to digital content & then revoke that same license after couple of months. That way customer has to pay AGAIN (and again), in order to play their favorite song or album.

Furthermore, digital streaming license dictates that you never really "own" anything and your license can be revoked, taken down for whatever the reason - or no reason at all. I have to be honest, I wasn't aware of this up until couple of years ago, when I entered a heated debate on Grand Theft Auto 5, and was explained by company representative that even though I bought the game, I don't actually *own* it. Therefore they have the right to revoke my access to GTA V if they choose to do so, because it corresponds to streaming services & digital content. Which isn't the same with physical media ... when you buy something on a CD, DVD, cassette tape or LP, it's yours for as long as the media itself exists.



Curier 6 said:


> I have this one  Sony TC FX 510R
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice! If you're referring to my post about "cheap Sony", I was actually talking about modern decks such as WR465. Although it may look high end from the outside, this thing is a piece of crap. It has two separate decks, but they both share ONE single motor, which drives BOTH decks at the same time. To make it even more absurd, each deck has 2 capstans because they're both auto-reverse, so one motor drives 4 (plastic) flywheels and take-up spool.





And if you record from one deck to another, things will get even worse as the motor will now drive 4 flywheels & 2 take-up spools ... all at the same time! I had one of these opened (and tested) and I can tell you that wow & flutter was all over the scale, there just wasn't enough torque to keep everything rolling consistently. Heck, even my KX-W4080 holds up much, MUCH better due to having separate motors & independent mechanisms.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> E4300 sample which had a super low FSB wall. I ran it ambient cooled at 2.0V.


Holy crap that is high voltage!! How is that chip not dead?



Trekkie4 said:


> You misunderstood me Lex  What I meant to say was "I wouldn't know about Q9650 & Radeon card" because I never had anything more powerful than Q6600, not on S775 platform that is. Same thing with Radeon cards. Those ATI cards which I owned and/or used were primarily older, AGP models. In fact, the fastest Radeon I've had was X1550 PowerColor edition which I bought brand new, in 2007. Other than that, they're all nVidia models, ranging from 8600GTS, 8800GT, 8800GTS, GTX 550Ti and GTX 760. And older ... most of my AGP cards used in retro gaming systems are either GF2 or TNT2.
> Therefore I really don't have any background, experience to comment on R7 and/or Q9650, hence "I wouldn't know" about them, nothing more or less


Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant you thought they were "iffy" somehow.. No worries.



MaenadFIN said:


> Hm, even that it has *G*DDR3, it's not clocked that much higher than my R7 240 which has only DDR3. Luckily my card even has 384 shaders instead of the usual 320. Did some testing with it some time ago.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is one of the reasons I chose the 250 over the 240. Runs DX9 Crysis perfectly too!


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Holy crap that is high voltage!! How is that chip not dead?
> 
> 
> Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant you thought they were "iffy" somehow.. No worries.
> ...


I got my R7 240 for free so the price/performance is perfect  though its bearing needs oiling as its hella noisy.

Hmm, now just thinking that which is actually better DDR2 platform, LGA 775 or AM2+? I have Xeon X3230 (Q6700 equivalent), Q9500 & 955 BE to choose from. I'd like to have an AMD retro machine for a change.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Hmm, now just thinking that which is actually better DDR2 platform, LGA 775 or AM2+? I have Xeon X3230 (Q6700 equivalent), Q9500 & 955 BE to choose from. I'd like to have an AMD retro machine for a change.


Better in what respect? Depends on your goals.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Better in what respect? Depends on your goals.


In older games


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 4, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> @MachineLearning
> Maybe you set the VTT to high? The codes hint more towards FSB/RAM problems. The E4600 is a 65nm chip, believe me you will not have instantly killed that with just 1.5V core. I tried once... for eh science? I had some grudge against this particular E4300 sample which had a super low FSB wall. I ran it ambient cooled at 2.0V.
> 
> 
> ...


2.0v, that's insane!! For VTT, I kept it static at 1.42v - so not too high for this CPU. A month or two ago I found that Anandtech article about high VTT killing CPUs, so I'm usually pretty cautious about it. This board in BIOS prohibits the CPU VTT from being > (vNB - 100mv), so I don't think it could have been high enough to kill the CPU.

2v.... can't get over that


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> 2.0v, that's insane!! For VTT, I kept it static at 1.42v - so not too high for this CPU. A month or two ago I found that Anandtech article about high VTT killing CPUs, so I kept VTT at 1.42v for this testing. This board in BIOS prohibits the CPU VTT from being > (vNB - 100mv), so I don't think it could have been high enough to kill the CPU.
> 
> 2v.... can't get over that


I could try that as well the next time I'll bench an E4300.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> In older games


Intel games better than AMD in most cases. 
Unless you're talking AM2NF3-VSTA, then it will be close. You'll have to test.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Intel games better than AMD in most cases.


Well I guess I'll leave the P43 board with Q9500 in the case.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> In older games





Mr.Scott said:


> Intel games better than AMD in most cases.


Ditto that Scotty. Doesn't matter if it's Phenom I, II, or FX, I seriously would rather use a 4GHz+ Wolfdale C2D for older games. Core 2 single threaded performance is underrated IMO, older games love that


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Ditto that Scotty. Doesn't matter if it's Phenom I, II, or FX, I seriously would rather use a 4GHz+ Wolfdale C2D for older games. Core 2 single threaded performance is underrated IMO, older games love that


I do have 2x E8400 & E8500 too but I don't have any good cooler lying around. So it just has a Q9500 @ 3.1GHz with the beefy stock cooler.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I do have 2x E8400 & E8500 too but I don't have any good cooler lying around. So it just has a Q9500 @ 3.1GHz with the beefy stock cooler.


Copper slug? You're just fine then, those were pretty decent for what they were. Plus C2D/C2Q don't draw too much power overall.

Q9550 is pretty much the best you can get (cheaply) for 775 because of the extra cache, but Q9500 is quite good as well.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Copper slug? You're just fine then, those were pretty decent for what they were. Plus C2D/C2Q don't draw too much power overall.
> 
> Q9550 is pretty much the best you can get (cheaply) for 775 because of the extra cache, but Q9500 is quite good as well.


Yeah, copper core. I'm probably not getting any more 775 CPUs anymore.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Q9550 is pretty much the best you can get (cheaply) for 775 *because of the extra cache*, but Q9500 is quite good as well.


That is actually the reason I chose the Q9550 for my Lenovo build.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That actually the reason I chose the Q9550 for my Lenovo build.


When those were the thing, I can't remember anyone getting those 2x3MB Quads. Some people got the 7xxx dualcores though, but for 9xxx Quads, it was the 2x6MB or nothing.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 4, 2022)

Pretty easy overclockers too. Here is my Q9550 running a GTX580.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pretty easy overclockers too. Here is my Q9550 running a GTX580.
> 
> View attachment 238744


Pretty nice clocks for a GTX 580.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 4, 2022)

Golly, I think one of my nostalgic systems is running either a Q9550 or Q9650. Don't think I have even giving overclocking a shot on that. Seeing them numbers @Mr.Scott , I might have to give it a whirl.


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## MachineLearning (Mar 4, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Pretty easy overclockers too. Here is my Q9550 running a GTX580.
> 
> View attachment 238744


I see you've got the P5QC there, seems like an awesome board. Funky layout (24-pin is... where now??), 3 different storage controllers, Realtek ALC1200, D2+D3, Atheros LAN...

In your experience, do you prefer using DDR2 or DDR3 with LGA775? I've never had the opportunity to use DDR3+775 myself, so I have no experience with it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I see you've got the P5QC there, seems like an awesome board. Funky layout (24-pin is... where now??), 3 different storage controllers, Realtek ALC1200, D2+D3, Atheros LAN...
> 
> In your experience, do you prefer using DDR2 or DDR3 with LGA775? I've never had the opportunity to use DDR3+775 myself, so I have no experience with it.


P5QC is a mediocre board. Only reason I kept it is because it runs DDR2 or DDR3. 775 isn't my favorite platform, so it's my only 775 board I have left.
I prefer DDR3 on 775 by a long shot. Big difference compared to DDR2.
Easier to find decent DDR3 ram also.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> P5QC is a mediocre board. Only reason I kept it is because it runs DDR2 or DDR3. 775 isn't my favorite platform, so it's my only 775 board I have left.
> I prefer DDR3 on 775 by a long shot. Big difference compared to DDR2.
> Easier to find decent DDR3 ram also.


And also much easier getting more RAM as in general 2GB DDR2s are the maximum consumer-grade modules.


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 4, 2022)

Here's my Q9650 still chugging along.  It's paired with a GTX 970 running Folding@Home 24/7 in the basement.  I'll shut it down & bench it every so often though.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> And also much easier getting more RAM as in general 2GB DDR2s are the maximum consumer-grade modules.


Board will run 2 dimm max of 8GB DDR3
or
4 dimm max of 16GB DDR2

Although i have never seen 4 gig sticks of DDR2.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Board will run 2 dimm max of 8GB DDR3
> or
> 4 dimm max of 16GB DDR2
> 
> Although i have never seen 4 gig sticks of DDR2.


Ah, so it has 4x DDR2 and 2x DDR3 slots. Reminds me of Asus P5GDC* which had 4x DDR and 2x DDR2. I've seen 4GB DDR2s on ebay but they're "AMD Only" and many people have said that they literally are, they don't work on Intel platforms.

*


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 4, 2022)




----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> View attachment 238756


Who in their right mind chose that placement for the 24-pin connector? I know that it's usual with older boards, but that's a question I have every time I see a board with that "problem"..

I have a P5QL Pro in the 775 setup now and it has a similar placement.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> When those were the thing, I can't remember anyone getting those 2x3MB Quads.


My first quad was a Q6600 which was FSB OC'd to 3ghz. The second was a Q9400S that was FSB OC'd to 3.4ghz, which was one of those 2x3MB models. Swapped it out later for a Q9650 because I needed the extra L2.



Mr.Scott said:


> Although i have never seen 4 gig sticks of DDR2.


I have, they're fairly rare though.


----------



## Bones (Mar 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Copper slug? You're just fine then, those were pretty decent for what they were. Plus C2D/C2Q don't draw too much power overall.
> 
> Q9550 is pretty much the best you can get (cheaply) for 775 because of the extra cache, but Q9500 is quite good as well.


Ever considered a 771 Xeon with the 771 to 775 mod?
I have a couple of those and they are good chips plus they didn't cost much. Only thing is to do the mod, aside from that if your board supports the mod it's really good.
Most any P43/P45 board I'm aware of does.
All you have to do is check and see if your board does and if so, you're all but set.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> My first quad was a Q6600 that which was FSB OC'd to 3ghz. The second was a Q9400S that was FSB OC'd to 3.4ghz, which was one of those 2x3MB models. Swapped it out later for a Q9650 because I needed the extra L2.
> 
> 
> I have, they're fairly rare though.


Q6600 was indeed hella popular back in the day when its price dropped from the original MSRP.


----------



## Bones (Mar 4, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Q6600 was indeed hella popular back in the day when its price dropped from the original MSRP.


The Q6600 was known to be the best value for the buck regarding what you got and how much it could be made to do overall. 
Still wish I had my REX but had to sell it, in good hands so I'm good with it.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

Bones said:


> The Q6600 was known to be the best value for the buck regarding what you got and how much it could be made to do overall.
> Still wish I had my REX but had to sell it, in good hands so I'm good with it.


Yeah... people got either a Q6600 or E8400 back then. AMD wasn't even a budget option as there were those Pentiums which overclocked pretty nice.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 4, 2022)

Bones said:


> Ever considered a 771 Xeon with the 771 to 775 mod?
> I have a couple of those and they are good chips plus they didn't cost much. Only thing is to do the mod, aside from that if your board supports the mod it's really good.
> Most any P43/P45 board I'm aware of does.
> All you have to do is check and see if your board does and if so, you're all but set.


Actually yes, I have a modded X5470 from AliExpress but I haven't tried it with many boards (and I don't think with P45 yet). I'll give it a try soon, I just need to find a BIOS that formally supports it for the P5Q Turbo.



MaenadFIN said:


> Q6600 was indeed hella popular back in the day when its price dropped from the original MSRP.


For $7 USD today, it's one I'm quite fond of just because of that. I usually put them in locked (usually OEM) systems because of their reasonable performance, and for some mobos where Kentsfield is the end of the line. Plus BSEL tape mode allegedly is awesome, haven't tried it myself yet.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 4, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> For $7 USD today, it's one I'm quite fond of just because of that. I usually put them in locked (usually OEM) systems because of their reasonable performance, and for some mobos where Kentsfield is the end of the line. Plus BSEL tape mode allegedly is awesome, haven't tried it myself yet.


I have that Xeon X3230 which I mentioned, practically a Q6700 and it's BSEL modded. Got it as a freebie with few other 775 chips some time ago.

Personally I like overclocking Pentium 4/D more just because they achieve higher clock speeds.


----------



## Bones (Mar 4, 2022)

I have a couple of Harpertown chips which is the same thing as a Yorkfield except it's a 771 chip. 
These can and do clock well for what they are but like the Yorkies you gotta keep them cool.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 5, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Actually yes, I have a modded X5470 from AliExpress but I haven't tried it with many boards (and I don't think with P45 yet). I'll give it a try soon, I just need to find a BIOS that formally supports it for the P5Q Turbo.


Here is your bios modded for Xeon. 
As far as bios's go, I almost always have what you need.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 5, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Here is your bios modded for Xeon.
> As far as bios's go, I almost always have what you need.


Holy shit, thank you so much! How hard is it to inject microcode into a BIOS? Namely, I usually use this modded BIOS for the P5Q Turbo. It has some minor adjustments I appreciate. You don't need to do it for me, if you show me the tools


----------



## Bones (Mar 5, 2022)

Working with a BIOS can be a very tricky thing, unless you've successfully done it before yourself I'd leave it to the experienced guys.
If for example you get the checksums wrong to the file it won't work. If it's saved incorrectly after the modifications are done, it won't work and may even lock the chip it's flashed to... 
Permenantly. 

There is alot that can go wrong so unless you really have some experience modding a BIOS just leave all that to the "Experts". 

As for the X5470 that's going to be a teriffic chip when you get all that going. 
My X5462 and X5420 were good as well, just not as high of a model as yours so can't get the speeds you will have but still good chips themselves.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 5, 2022)

Bones said:


> Working with a BIOS can be a very tricky thing, unless you've successfully done it before yourself I'd leave it to the experienced guys.
> If for example you get the checksums wrong to the file it won't work. If it's saved incorrectly after the modifications are done, it won't work and may even lock the chip it's flashed to...
> Permenantly.
> 
> ...


Luckily it seems that it has a socketed BIOS chip if something goes permanently wrong. P5Q Turbo, I mean.


----------



## Bones (Mar 5, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Luckily it seems that it has a socketed BIOS chip if something goes permanently wrong. P5Q Turbo, I mean.


Doesn't matter, if the file is borked you can literally lock the chip into a frozen state once that's flashed in. 
When that happens it can't be written to, meaning the BIOS chip itself is* locked.*
You can't even erase it with an external programmer like I have if it happens.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 5, 2022)

Bones said:


> Doesn't matter, if the file is borked you can literally lock the chip into a frozen state once that's flashed in.
> When that happens it can't be written to, meaning the BIOS chip itself is* locked.*
> You can't even erase it with an external programmer like I have if it happens.


I mean that it can be fixed by buying a working chip from ebay etc.


----------



## Bones (Mar 5, 2022)

Yes, that would be the only way to recover.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 5, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Holy shit, thank you so much! How hard is it to inject microcode into a BIOS? Namely, I usually use this modded BIOS for the P5Q Turbo. It has some minor adjustments I appreciate. You don't need to do it for me, if you show me the tools


Yeah, I know, ket bios.
Try your Xeon on that bios first. I believe it supports them already.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 5, 2022)

Bones said:


> Working with a BIOS can be a very tricky thing, unless you've successfully done it before yourself I'd leave it to the experienced guys.
> If for example you get the checksums wrong to the file it won't work. If it's saved incorrectly after the modifications are done, it won't work and may even lock the chip it's flashed to...
> Permenantly.
> 
> ...


At one point, the experienced folk were in the same spot as me. I'm not afraid to make mistakes, I do that all the time  

The main reason I got this chip was for the 10x multiplier, and hoping that Xeon silicon quality shines through... We'll see where it ends up.

@Mr.Scott , I'll give it a whirl later today and post whatever I can get out of it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 5, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> @Mr.Scott , I'll give it a whirl later today and post whatever I can get out of it.


And I will have a look at that ket bios. I have no problem injecting the code. It's just a little harder on a bios already modded by somebody else.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 5, 2022)

I'm going to play a little game here, called "Out with the old & In with the new" 

Starting with this CT4760 SB Live card, out with the old...




...and in with the new Audigy2 ZS:




Again, out with this old Asus V7700 (GF2 GTS)




...and in with this new V8200 Deluxe (GF3 Ti200)




Out with the Intel's original P4 heatsink:


 

...and in with this lovely Zalman CNPS 7000 (AlCu)


 

 



Overall speaking, this is now a real thing - proper P4 machine from top to bottom, featuring some of the finest brands & components from around late 90s to early 2000s. All the way from Audigy2 ZS, 3dfx Voodoo2, Plextor CD-RW drive, to GeForce3 Ti200 & Zalman CPU cooler. Don't think I'll ever be able to top this one up, even if I wanted to!


----------



## Bones (Mar 5, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> *At one point, the experienced folk were in the same spot as me. I'm not afraid to make mistakes, I do that all the time*
> 
> The main reason I got this chip was for the 10x multiplier, and hoping that Xeon silicon quality shines through... We'll see where it ends up.
> 
> @Mr.Scott , I'll give it a whirl later today and post whatever I can get out of it.


There ya go - Never forget even the masters were beginners at one time, if they can do it so can you.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not necessarily, Green. Take me for example, I'm 36 ... Most people probably wouldn't guess that, considering my state of mind which almost always revolves around retro & vintage technology. Sometimes I even find myself completely disconnected from other people of my age, who either have entirely different way of life, or culture - or both!
> 
> But from my point of view, "older" equals "more experience" and "more experience" equals "better performance". So, to put it simply - why fix it, if it ain't broken?


Yes you are right there.My thoghts exactly ,if it isn,t broken why fix it.  Heres one of my fav young retro utubers 







 he must be late 20,s early thirtiesThats a crap PC he bought there.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 6, 2022)

@Mr.Scott 's Xeon BIOS worked like a charm. The previous one I had did see and boot with this X5470, but had the annoying "Update BIOS to unleash CPU..." and SSE4.1 instructions were missing. This new one fixes both issues and retains compatibility with LGA775 CPUs, it booted with an E8500 as well 





Made wk 23/2009, E0 stepping.



These are the voltage settings for final stable OC, 4.3GHz. 1.3v VTT would work and was nearly stable, but P95 blend would eventually crash. 1.4v VTT fixes this.

*4.3GHz CPU-Z Validation*




@MaenadFIN this shows perfectly why I like 775 for older games. That single threaded... 

I also ran Cinebench R23 and R15 with the above settings, but only multi-threaded since I'm too impatient:












As you can see I have 0 respect for the GT 210...




If anyone speaks Martian, I need your services. Still not the weirdest I've caused...

The highest I was able to boot and validate was 4.8GHz, which crashed just after I got a validation. Nothing higher worked, but with better cooling (direly needed) and per-core disabling (core #2 sucks) I'm sure I could push it.

*4.8GHz Validation*

Specs:
- Xeon X5470 (SLBBF, E0)
- ASUS P5Q Turbo rev. 1.02g
- 1x2GB OCZ Reaper PC2-8500
- SanDisk X400 128GB
- DeepCool Gammaxx 400 w/ 2x Arctic P12 PWM, MX-2 thermal paste
- Super Flower Leadex III Bronze Pro 650W PSU
- PNY GT 210


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 6, 2022)

@MachineLearning 
You can disconnect that VGA header from that GPU and it will not hurt anything. Better than having it flop around..



MachineLearning said:


> 4.8GHz Validation


And damn!


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> @MachineLearning
> You can disconnect that VGA header from that GPU and it will not hurt anything. Better than having it flop around..
> 
> 
> And damn!


True, I just know I'm gonna lose it the instant I set it down


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 6, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> True, I just know I'm gonna lose it the instant I set it down


Fair enough. Been there. Shutting up.


----------



## Courier 6 (Mar 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> You misunderstood me Lex  What I meant to say was "I wouldn't know about Q9650 & Radeon card" because I never had anything more powerful than Q6600, not on S775 platform that is. Same thing with Radeon cards. Those ATI cards which I owned and/or used were primarily older, AGP models. In fact, the fastest Radeon I've had was X1550 PowerColor edition which I bought brand new, in 2007. Other than that, they're all nVidia models, ranging from 8600GTS, 8800GT, 8800GTS, GTX 550Ti and GTX 760. And older ... most of my AGP cards used in retro gaming systems are either GF2 or TNT2.
> Therefore I really don't have any background, experience to comment on R7 and/or Q9650, hence "I wouldn't know" about them, nothing more or less
> 
> 
> ...


Nope, decks in general, mine is fully functional and the sound quality is very good, mine is a 3 motor, i was surprised that someone here did have one  I have other vintage stuff too

heh, I need to take some pics later, Radeon 8500, Voodo 3 3000 and voodoo 3 2000, I still have the green zombie box too


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## Dinnercore (Mar 6, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> The highest I was able to boot and validate was 4.8GHz, which crashed just after I got a validation. Nothing higher worked, but with better cooling (direly needed) and per-core disabling (core #2 sucks) I'm sure I could push it.
> 
> *4.8GHz Validation*


That's a solid result and especially so for using air cooling. I didn't get that much further on water back when I benched my sample. They do become difficult to cool at those voltages.


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 6, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes you are right there.My thoghts exactly ,if it isn,t broken why fix it.  Heres one of my fav young retro utubers
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Crap or not, it's not necessarily worthless. It could make a decent multimedia center or internet browsing platform. 



Curier 6 said:


> Nope, decks in general, mine is fully functional and the sound quality is very good, mine is a 3 motor, i was surprised that someone here did have one  I have other vintage stuff too
> 
> heh, I need to take some pics later, Radeon 8500, Voodo 3 3000 and voodoo 3 2000, I still have the green zombie box too


Surprised that someone here also had cassette deck ... or surprised that someone also had a 3-motor deck?  I'm also into VHS recorders, used to have bunch of them but gave most of them away. Still, I kept some of them. LG, Sharp, Sony, Telefunken, etc. But I also got plenty of other HiFi toys to play with. I actually have a whole other component HiFi system in the living room, which isn't related to Pioneer in any way.


 


And nice, would love to see those 3dfx pics!


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## Kissamies (Mar 6, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes you are right there.My thoghts exactly ,if it isn,t broken why fix it.  Heres one of my fav young retro utubers
> 
> 
> 
> ...


RGinHD is also one of my favourites.



Trekkie4 said:


> Crap or not, it's not necessarily worthless. It could make a decent multimedia center or internet browsing platform.


A Braswell dual-core is as crappy as it sounds. I have a quadcore one on my notebook and it's slow. It's fine for basic internet browsing but doing anything more demanding just wants me to use any of my other computers.


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## Greenslade (Mar 6, 2022)

I have just looked on eBAY and saw this  seems to good to be true.
Dell Optiplex 3020 desktop PC  I3 4150  8GB  500GB  SSD  Intel £30
It seems to cheap they have four if them .The main thing is if it is a SSD  let alone 8gb of ram it would be worth the price for them.Let alone the PC.I have sent a message to them to confirm it is a SSD.
“Fully Working. Shows signs of use but otherwise no issues. Grade B Cosmetic Condition. Collection Only from our in-store .30 days refund.
webuyanyelectronics. com Ltd    so it is a shop and they have four if them.I don,t drive  so will be a bit if a job getting  it hime. it home. At *WeBuyanyElectronics*.com we are the trusted partners of businesses both large and small. We comply with all WEEE regulations with respect to asset destruction and recycling. Secure handling of personal data is of paramount importance to us and we know it is an absolute requirement for our clients



D


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## Kissamies (Mar 6, 2022)

For a mATX Dell system that looks pretty stylish. Would be cool to build a sleeper on a system like that.


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## Greenslade (Mar 6, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> For a mATX Dell system that looks pretty stylish. Would be cool to build a sleeper on a system like that.






Greenslade said:


> It is nor the best of those  Dells with that extra cable you  have to get for the PSU . suppose i will have the same problem  as he has with video card back plate  with the latch not being able to close.Good job using the screws from the old PSU  .I will be putting  in GTX960 http://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/GTX-960-Logo1.jpg.


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## Kissamies (Mar 6, 2022)

What I meant was use the case for a sleeper build, I'd throw the components to the bin immediately as a those components of a modern-ish office PC aren't interesting at all. Just put a PSU and a motherboard with standard connectors and it would be way better.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 6, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just looked on eBAY and saw this  seems to good to be true.
> Dell Optiplex 3020 desktop PC  I3 4150  8GB  500GB  SSD  Intel £30
> It seems to cheap they have four if them .The main thing is if it is a SSD  let alone 8gb of ram it would be worth the price for them.Let alone the PC.I have sent a message to them to confirm it is a SSD.
> “Fully Working. Shows signs of use but otherwise no issues. Grade B Cosmetic Condition. Collection Only from our in-store .30 days refund.
> ...


That's a fair basic model. 30quid seems ok.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's a fair basic model. 30quid seems ok.


I have a 3020 sff  which i bought which i bought some time ago, i was hoping i could a 1050 ti in it.But the 3020 sff can only fit the 1030 the PCIe  slot is to near the PSU.It has a i5 4570 on it so i will put it in the PC if i decide to buy or.If i new that at the time i would never have got it the 3020 sff. 







 The seller just got back to me and said there is a SSD in there. 



MaenadFIN said:


> What I meant was use the case for a sleeper build, I'd throw the components to the bin immediately as a those components of a modern-ish office PC aren't interesting at all. Just put a PSU and a motherboard with standard connectors and it would be way better.


If i was to build a new PC why would i use the old Dell case?
It,s worth it for the 500GB SSD and 8gb of ram alone  It is a shame it does not have an i5 in it though.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is a shame it does not have an i5 in it though.


That system can take an i5. If you can get a reasonable GPU for it, it could become a solid 1080p gaming system.


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## Greenslade (Mar 7, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That system can take an i5. If you can get a reasonable GPU for it, it could become a solid 1080p gaming system.


I have a 3020 sff  which has a i5 4570 the adapter for the  PSU  
24 Pin To 8 Pin ATX Power Supply Adapter Cable For DELL Optiplex PC A4L4, £5
And i can use it with the Haswell   for XP gaming ,Heres a video by nt  my fav Aussie youtuber


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have a 3020 sff  which has a i5 4570 the adapter for the  PSU
> 24 Pin To 8 Pin ATX Power Supply Adapter Cable For DELL Optiplex PC A4L4, £5
> And i can use it with the Haswell   for XP gaming ,Heres a video by nt  my fav Aussie youtuber


Heck yes, Phil is awesome! XP on Haswell is interesting.


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## Kissamies (Mar 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> If i was to build a new PC why would i use the old Dell case?
> It,s worth it for the 500GB SSD and 8gb of ram alone  It is a shame it does not have an i5 in it though.


Like I said, for building a sleeper.


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## Greenslade (Mar 7, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That system can take an i5. If you can get a reasonable GPU for it, it could become a solid 1080p gaming system.


I will  transfer my GiX960 from my Dell 620  and sell that if  all goes well.The ram in the 3020 mt is worth 10 pounds and a 500 gb  ssd has to be worth 20 pounds.The 3020 has to be better than the 620 plus the fact the 3020 has 2 usb3 ports.The problem is going to be getting the PC home as i have to rely on public transport, i don,t want to be caring it to far, luckily i live in London so plenty of transport about. 



MaenadFIN said:


> Like I said, for building a sleeper.


I just looked it up i did not know what a sleeper was.  A sleeper PC usually refers to a powerful computer that’s presented in an unassuming case or enclosure. The term originates in the automotive world, where sleeper cars are high-performance vehicles that look normal from the outside. Under the hood is where the real story lies, and the same is true of the PC world.
I have never made a PC before ,it would be a daunting task for me.How did we exist with out the internet


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## droid-I (Mar 7, 2022)

Here some AGP stuff, still functional, tried the Prolink in a WinXP machine a couple of days ago.
The Geforce2 is a bit special as it has DVI, which was not too common for VGA cards of that time.
Its heat sink I added later on. It did not have one initially.

Prolink nvidia tnt2 ma 32MB
Diamond Multimedia Viper550 nvidia tnt 16MB  (AGP 2X, seems)
nvidia Geforce2 MX400 32MB


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## Kissamies (Mar 7, 2022)

droid-I said:


> Here some AGP stuff, still functional, tried the Prolink in a WinXP machine a couple of days ago.
> The Geforce2 is a bit special as it has DVI, which was not too common for VGA cards of that time.
> Its heat sink I added later on.
> 
> ...


Gotta love the clever usage of a heatsink from an old Asrock board.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 7, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Gotta love the clever usage of a heatsink from an old Asrock board.


I was about to say that too. It looks wonky on that card!


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## Greenslade (Mar 7, 2022)

I just saw this about the PC i have ordered.It is C.O.D,i sent a message to a-range a time i could pick it up.He never got back to me.Then after seeing this guys video ,sent another email on eBay for them to check the bios.That was yesterday but still no reply  
Bios in the 3020 mt the guy says it is hard to update it.  







 I have the  3020 SFF and looked to see what bios it has ,and saw it had the last update from 2019.
I bought it about then anyway.I am just praying the Bios will be the updated versionA20, A20 the latest version 19 Jun 2019.How come his bios had never been upgraded his was A02.I don,t suppose they check the bios of if it comes from a office.
I got the SFF from a private seller.The geezer in the video looks a bit geeky.
If it is not the latest bios should i leave it?or will it be ok with the A15
?.How critical is it to have the latest bios? .It is a shop that repaires Apple stuff only a few Windows PC,s.

​


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 8, 2022)

How hard could it be? Bios for those is a self extracting exe. Download it to desktop and run it. Application does everything for you.


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## ThrashZone (Mar 8, 2022)

Hi,
Just from the image shown on the vid preview maybe anger management is in order


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## Kissamies (Mar 8, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> How hard could it be? Bios for those is a self extracting exe. Download it to desktop and run it. Application does everything for you.


Yeah, that's usually how it works on those OEM systems.


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## Greenslade (Mar 8, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> How hard could it be? Bios for those is a self extracting exe. Download it to desktop and run it. Application does everything for you.



I am a member of Dell Optiplex  group on facebook and been told there is no problem with the 3020 bios, so the guy in the video is talking B.S.
It just goes to show  you not to believe everthing you see on youtube



MaenadFIN said:


> Yeah, that's usually how it works on those OEM systems.





ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Just from the image shown on the vid preview maybe anger management is in order


Your right there he needs it what a jerk.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 8, 2022)

Another video about the modded drivers for older GCN cards:


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 8, 2022)

Am I the only person that does not see the appeal of 771 to 775 mods? Good core 2 Quads are cheap enough that there can't be any real value reason to get a Xeon.


----------



## Bones (Mar 8, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Am I the only person that does not see the appeal of 771 to 775 mods? Good core 2 Quads are cheap enough that there can't be any real value reason to get a Xeon.


That depends on what you mean by "Cheap" and don't forget availability of "Good" 775 chips is a factor too.
I'll admit when this first began you could almost get the Xeons for free but since the mod has become well known prices of these chips has gone up.
However it's still a viable option.
I still have mine and they are good chips, personally I just don't have a board that can run them to full potential but it can run them.


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## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 8, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Am I the only person that does not see the appeal of 771 to 775 mods? Good core 2 Quads are cheap enough that there can't be any real value reason to get a Xeon.



You can get a pre-modded Xeon on eBay for half or less what a Q9650 runs.  A few minutes with a good tutorial on the microcode injection (if necessary) and you've saved yourself 20+ bucks.  Whether that's worth it is left as an exercise for the reader.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 8, 2022)

Yes, but you can also buy a slightly slower CPU like a 9550 for the price of the Xeon and not have to do an ounce of bios modding or run into compatibility issues. Can spend just a minute or 2 in bios and generally get it well past the speed of a 9650 anyhow.


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## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 9, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Yes, but you can also buy a slightly slower CPU like a 9550 for the price of the Xeon and not have to do an ounce of bios modding or run into compatibility issues. Can spend just a minute or 2 in bios and generally get it well past the speed of a 9650 anyhow.



Yeah, 9550 is probably the most sensible option at this point.  The price delta was larger several years ago.  My E5450 OC'ed like a champ, though, even on a middling board.  Still running today as a fileserver, but at stock clocks.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 9, 2022)

Plenty of power for a file server. Many NAS boxes now come with atoms/atom based CPUs that are probably worse.


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## Greenslade (Mar 9, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm going to play a little game here, called "Out with the old & In with the new"
> 
> Starting with this CT4760 SB Live card, out with the old...
> 
> ...


I went to my local second hand market ,that is on 3 days a week.And saw a number of motherboards, i would not know what to look for .This particular seller all ways has a lot electronic goods ,but it is expensive.I don,t think the Motherboards would be cheap.I went to another stall  they had leather jackets 5 to 10 pounds ,and got a Ben sherman zip up one for 5 pounds in excellent condition   That is my sort of price.You never know what turns up there.We all like a Bargin


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## Trekkie4 (Mar 9, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I went to my local second hand market ,that is on 3 days a week.And saw a number of motherboards, i would not know what to look for .This particular seller all ways has a lot electronic goods ,but it is expensive.I don,t think the Motherboards would be cheap.I went to another stall  they had leather jackets 5 to 10 pounds ,and got a Ben sherman zip up one for 5 pounds in excellent condition   That is my sort of price.You never know what turns up there.We all like a Bargin


Sorry, I couldn't resist...


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## Greenslade (Mar 10, 2022)

What do you people on here think of this.
HP Pavilion retro PC, 1Ghz Duron, GeForce 2, Sound Blaster, Win 98 & 2k + extras £80 make an offer.
This HP desktop (Pavilion 7915) was originally bought in 2002 and shipped with Windows XP Home Edition. It has since been upgraded with better graphics and sound cards. It currently has a dual boot of Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 98 SE. The computer successfully boots into both of these and is functional. The drivers for graphics and sound are installed, and also the wireless adapter in Win 2000. I suppose it could be a great retro PC gaming rig.
Everything else seems functional from what I can tell, including the floppy drive, the CD/DVD drive, and the graphics and sound PCI cards.
These are the internals of the PC:
-AMD Duron 1 GHz CPU (original)
-30 GB Maxtor hard disk (original), currently dual booting Windows 2000 Pro and Windows 98
-128 MB RAM
-Floppy disk drive (original)
-HP CD writer (original)
-NEC CD/DVD writer
-NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX 400 graphics card
-Creative Sound Blaster Live! sound card
-There are also two Ethernet and Modem PCI cards (although no drivers currently installed for these)
Accessories included:
-Microsoft Wheel Mouse
-Microsoft Intellimouse Optical Mouse (can't get it to work on Win 98 but fully works on 2000)
-HP keyboard (original, Dutch layout)
-Windows ME bootable floppy disk
-BUFFALO USB WLAN adapter (ready to use with Win 2000)
-Sound Blaster Live! CD-ROM (Dell OEM)
-4x games on CD (Grand Theft Auto, Mobil 1 Rally, Sports Car GT, Toy Story 2 Colouring)
Plus I'm also including an 80 GB hard disk (IDE), though I'm not sure if it's functional and don't know what's on it, if anything. Also included is an ancient 1 GB hard disk that I acquired from Germany and is left untouched - it has Windows 95 installed on it. This PC boots into this Win 95 installation fine though it doesn't load the desktop.
The PC case itself is in decent condition. The top bit where you can store discs has a door but the hinges are broken, and at the bottom where there's 2 USB ports, that door also doesn't close properly because of hinges. The doors do come as part of the sale and I suppose someone who knows can fix the hinges perhaps with a good glue.The PSU looks an unusealy size.creative sound blaster live! sound card


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 11, 2022)

My first and only DFI board: the Lanparty Jr. GF9400 T2RS. I scored this for ~$65 shipped, which is not cheap for LGA775 overall, but appears to be very inexpensive for a DFI Lanparty board.

@Mr.Scott helped me find an appropriate BIOS for this board (big thanks  nearly impossible otherwise... ), but in the end I didn't update it, as the one it came with appears to be slightly newer.







That thermal pad was mighty stubborn, luckily the paste was compliant. I used a screwdriver and other implements to no avail; some pad residue still remains. It's as good as I can get it for now.

As you may be able to glean from the photos, the cooling assembly is a little odd. The black Lanparty element is not a part of the nickel-plated copper (+Al ?) heatsink, just bolted on. It made thermal contact via thermal paste originally, now by a large 0.5mm APT2560 thermal pad. This seems inefficient to me, but for a relatively low heat output I don't think it matters too much.




MCH gets very hot without airflow, eventually reaching 75⁰c @ 15min idle. Luckily there are 50mm mounting holes on the black segment, if needed. During testing, I just pointed an Arctic P8 PWM PST CO at this area instead. Both the VRM and MCH area received 1.0mm APT2560 pads. I had to be very careful not to warp the board by cranking down those nuts and screws, I think I found the correct balance eventually. If anything, Bumpgate would be what kills this board 







MCH is dated wk44/2008.




Haven't heard of Vitesse before, pretty interesting to see.




"Linne_out" in the top right corner, never heard of that either. 

This appears to be an exceedingly uncommon board, and I can guess why: SFF (for the day) gaming motherboard, $140 new, nVidia chipset (specifically, their last for Intel desktop CPUs), solid OC features such as a post code and onboard pwr/rst buttons. Thus I only really have user experiences from Newegg, as well as a review from TweakTown to go off of. The consensus is that everyone had extreme difficulty doing either of the following:

•stabilize DDR2-1066
•boot >1600FSB reliably

And, well, I'm not special  1700MHz FSB is completely out of the question. The absolute highest I could get the RAM was 933MHz, and the highest I could get the FSB was 1680MHz QDR.








*CPU-Z Validation*

RAM overclocking was really messed up. HWiNFO reads the exact settings that I input in BIOS, but CPU-Z reads something completely different, which I may not at all change. I'm wondering if it's the motherboard being odd and the chipset not having 100% support. I'll talk about this more at the end, but basically I just don't think nVidia cared about chipsets anymore, so BIOS+Windows interactions are just plain wonky. For instance:




Considering how the below settings look (yes, this is the final validated OC), something's just not right with this BIOS. Those subtimings are concerning  clearly these are imaginary only.






For voltages, I assumed that "Core Aux +1.2v Dual" = vMCH, but I cannot verify this.

So this begs the question: why does this chipset suck at overclocking? DFI clearly put effort into it (vDroop < = 25mv for vCore), all power delivery and hot components are cooled adequately. Well, as I said before, I really don't think nVidia wanted to make chipsets or put a single dollar of R&D into them.

Last chipsets for AMD:
•Chipsets GF8100, 8200, 8300 = MCP78.
   - MCP78 = 710a / 720a / 720d. Only change for GF8_00 is mGPU, per SKU.
•Chipset 980a
   - Rebranded 780a, just with nVidia pushing for more DDR3 motherboards.

Last chipsets for Intel (desktop):
•Chipsets GF9300, *9400 *= MCP7A
   - MCP7A = 730i / 740i / 760i. Again, GPU is the main change. Also, MCP7A-ION was used for GF9400M ION.

So, excluding GeForce 320m (MCP89 one-off, ca. 2010), nVidia didn't put much further effort into new chipsets for the last ~2 years of producing them. I would assume they really gave up once their legal skirmish with Intel started to look bad.

DFI and I both tried our best with this chipset, it just seems nVidia wasn't willing to fully bake it. 

EDIT: Here is a repository of info in case anyone wants to read more about nVidia Bumpgate.


> _May complete this post at a later date with more details.
> Basically issue is a combination of thermal dissipation of the chip with hotspot, generating mechanical stress due to thermal expansion, wrong underfill material and wrong bump material.
> It's not the solder balls between the chip and the board.
> 
> ...


According to this information, it appears this motherboard is unaffected, however my XFX & EVGA 750i boards are affected.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 11, 2022)

Today my boxed copy of Crysis arrived. I had never owned nor played crysis before and have always wanted too.



Fired up my period correct system:




Core 2 Quad Q9550
Deepcool Ice Matrix 400
4gb (2x2) OCZ 800 5-5-5
Asus P5q-e
EVGA GTX 295
Superflower 650w Bronze
Cooler Master HAF XB Evo
Windows 7 (both drives temporarily thrown in)

Crysis looks great but ran poorly at first with 1080p high detail. I reduced a few settings to medium and it ran better. Very playable but still not the smoothest. Fired up MSI afterburner to find the fps in the mid 40s and one of the CPU threads was pegged to 100%.

Time to overclock!

I was initially very limited with what overclocking I could do. As I raised the fsb the memory frequency also had to come up, and going at all past the 800mhz rated kept causing crashing. The OCZ kit couldn't even do 850mhz with default timings and 2v. Not worth my time even bothering with that junk. Threw in my trusty and ugly green PNY 2x2 800 5-5-5-5 kit and went to town.





Ended up getting
CPU: 4ghz all core @1.35v
470mhz FSB
Mem: 1129mhz 6-7-4-18 2.0v
I may spend a bit more time dialing this OC in, but I don't think I can get much further. But the CPU and ram are basically at hard wall territory.

Loading save game at same exact location I'm getting around 60fps over ~45, so a nice improvement, although I'll have to increase some settings to get the 295 to stretch it's legs still.


----------



## Bones (Mar 11, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> @Mr.Scott helped me find an appropriate BIOS for this board (big thanks  nearly impossible otherwise... ), but in the end I didn't update it, as the one it came with appears to be slightly newer.


A newer dated BIOS does not mean it's better.
Some later BIOS files are actually worse than older ones - Do try the one he let you get and just see how it does. 
BTW he was a member of the old DFI Street forum from way back so he'd know what to give you to wake it up if anything is going to.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 11, 2022)

Bones said:


> A newer dated BIOS does not mean it's better.
> Some later BIOS files are actually worse than older ones - Do try the one he let you get and just see how it does.
> BTW he was a member of the old DFI Street forum from way back so he'd know what to give you to wake it up if anything is going to.


Specifically it was T-Mod's disk v11.2.1
Here's the only BIOS available for this board on that .iso:



There's a month's difference, so it actually could be the same (I didn't look at my version, just the date). I'll flash it anyway in case it has optimizations, either later tonight or tomorrow.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 11, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Today my boxed copy of Crysis arrived. I had never owned nor played crysis before and have always wanted too.


Then you're in for a genuine treat! Crysis is a fun game and the storyline is excellent! Do yourself a favor, don't miss out on Crysis-Warhead either. It's a very good side story that takes place in the same location and time but from the perspective of the character "Psycho".
If you can't find the physical game, GOG has it.








						Crysis Warhead®
					

Includes Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars  The sharp images and first-person shooter action




					www.gog.com
				





RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Cooler Master HAF XB Evo


Nice selection of case good sir! I have that same case for my main system. Beautiful thing. I have all red led fans though.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 11, 2022)

Bones said:


> A newer dated BIOS does not mean it's better.
> Some later BIOS files are actually worse than older ones - Do try the one he let you get and just see how it does.





MachineLearning said:


> There's a month's difference, so it actually could be the same (I didn't look at my version, just the date). I'll flash it anyway in case it has optimizations, either later tonight or tomorrow.


So, I tested it out because I was extremely curious. I did validate that it's an older BIOS, not the same one.

*New CPU-Z Validation* (with multiplier 9.5 instead of 9, T-Bios)

It didn't change any options that I could notice, and RAM timings are still broken to CPU-Z even after installing the latest version. Interestingly, the imaginary RAM overclocking is slightly worse, I could do CL4 before but now it has to be CL5 (all else equal). FSB was unable to budge. Seems like the newer version could be marginally better, but both are busted  

Oh also, the board doesn't do 1T. At any frequency, at any timings...

Gonna reflash the newer one and roll with that


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 11, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> My first and only DFI board: the Lanparty Jr. GF9400 T2RS.


Uhh nice board. I wished I had more SFF 775 boards, but all of the decent ones are tricky to find.

The temps on these JR boards from DFI seem to be a little weak point in general. I personally would not trust these with an overclocked X5470 e.g. inside a case. Small VRM, small heatsink, little airflow if you use a big tower cooler for the CPU... good chance for trouble. My P45 JR initially hit 60°C+ on the VRM sensor just with an overclocked dual core. I gave it some 'thermal armor' with a surprisingly good result on the VRM. I'll have to take a picture and make a post about that later.

Also, any specific reason you choose the pads over classic paste application for the MCH and its extra heatsink?


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 11, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Uhh nice board. I wished I had more SFF 775 boards, but all of the decent ones are tricky to find.
> 
> The temps on these JR boards from DFI seem to be a little weak point in general. I personally would not trust these with an overclocked X5470 e.g. inside a case. Small VRM, small heatsink, little airflow if you use a big tower cooler for the CPU... good chance for trouble. My P45 JR initially hit 60°C+ on the VRM sensor just with an overclocked dual core. I gave it some 'thermal armor' with a surprisingly good result on the VRM. I'll have to take a picture and make a post about that later.
> 
> Also, any specific reason you choose the pads over classic paste application for the MCH and its extra heatsink?


Totally agree on that, without a fan directly screwed to the MCH heatsink I wouldn't trust this in a classic [read: low-airflow] case. Please do post the "thermal armor" - was it like a metal backplate, or heatsinks attached on top of the pre-existing one?

I went with pads for the MCH assembly for a few admittedly minor reasons:
- hoping the pad helps even out the mounting pressure on the silicon
- preventing any paste overflow over the sides if I mess up. Would really just be an annoyance more than anything
- Nobody ever has to do it again, MX-2 / 4 / 5 all last 8 years but I reckon a pad would even outdo that (if this otherwise makes it that long)
- heat transfer with the pad is still quite good, more than enough for such silicon which doesn't have large fluctuations in power draw and heat. Vs for example a full-fat GPU, which can have insane temp deltas within mere seconds


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 11, 2022)

Just collected my Dell 3020 mt i3 4150  8gb it all so came with a wifi card, not that i use WHFI  anyway.But the best thing was it had a Samsung 850 EVO  500GB that is worth the 30 pounds i got the PC for   See the Crystal dick info on the EVO.As you can see from the case has a ton of dust in it.I will have to wait tell we get a dry day to get rid of all that dust outside.I just ordered a 8 to 24 pin so i can put a new PSU in .And replace the i3 for a i5 4570 which i am taking out of the 3020 SFF and putting the i3 in there. I want try it until i get that dust out.I think i need one of those dust blowers to get rid of all that dust in there. When i got it home, i found out the Dell 580 mt was heavyer than the 3020 mt which is lighter i am nor sure why though. I see whfi cards are as cheap as chips and the one in the PC has no Anteners.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 11, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> was it like a metal backplate, or heatsinks attached on top of the pre-existing one?


I attached heatsinks to anything that remotely looked like it would produce heat. And I also cut a super low profile heatsink into fitting pieces for the back of VRM areas.

Top


 



Bottom




The cute sinks on the top did nothing noticable with the onboard sensors, but that backside heatsink on the VRMs was a measurable improvement. Purely passive it dropped load temps by ~3°C but on my bench I can also cool boards from the underside, and just a little airflow over it did wonders:





40°C VRM after 10 minutes pulling ~ 175W system power. In a setup like this I wouldn't mind overclocking a quad core on the poor 4 phase.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 11, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I attached heatsinks to anything that remotely looked like it would produce heat. And I also cut a super low profile heatsink into fitting pieces for the back of VRM areas.
> 
> Top
> View attachment 239480 View attachment 239483
> ...


Quite good results. What thermal adhesive did you use for the rear attachment? Adhesive thermal pads? I like the 4-color VRM, lol.

Also is that a Zalman CNPS9900 Max I see? Got one of those as well, I just need to find mounting brackets for it.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 11, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Quite good results. What thermal adhesive did you use for the rear attachment? Adhesive thermal pads? I like the 4-color VRM, lol.
> 
> Also is that a Zalman CNPS9900 Max I see? Got one of those as well, I just need to find mounting brackets for it.


I used this white glue. It is a bit more permanent compared to the adhesive pads, but also you can squish it very thin and it transfers heat better. Plus it can still be removed safely.




And yes, the cooler is a Zalman CNPS 9900 but without the MAX. I think the MAX is nickel plated or something.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 11, 2022)

Kindly, @Mr.Scott (who must want to block me by now  ) found yet another BIOS for that LP Jr. board. 

It's the newest so far, dated 04/21/2009.

*CPU-Z Validation*

FSB @ 1696 QDR! Unstable, but I was just barely able to validate. 1698 booted, but 1700 refused to POST. This was how I got there:
*

*
I only ran this briefly, so I'm not concerned about damaging components. The voltage for the MCH was maxed out at 1.66v (typical ~1.2v). I am even more sure now that "Core Aux +1.2V Dual" = vMCH; raising it past 1.6v was absolutely required to POST > 1690FSB. This BIOS is clearly an improvement, marginal but still existant.




DRAM timings are still messed up, unfortunately, and 1T does not POST at all.

I'm happy to see any improvement, at all.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 11, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Kindly, @Mr.Scott (who must want to block me by now  ) found yet another BIOS for that LP Jr. board.
> 
> It's the newest so far, dated 04/21/2009.
> 
> ...


Why would I block you? You're a good guy. 
After a ton of digging, I believe that is the last bios for that board. There were only a couple released along with 5 or 6 betas that are non existent now..
Board was not popular or stellar at all.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 11, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Why would I block you? You're a good guy.
> After a ton of digging, I believe that is the last bios for that board. There were only a couple released along with 5 or 6 betas that are non existent now..
> Board was not popular or stellar at all.


Just joshin' around  thank you for the kind words.

I'm not surprised by that, I'm not sure what could have really helped this poor thing  not worth trying to fix for them, clearly.


----------



## seth1911 (Mar 11, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Board will run 2 dimm max of 8GB DDR3
> or
> 4 dimm max of 16GB DDR2
> 
> Although i have never seen 4 gig sticks of DDR2.


A good friend use 4x Gskill 4GB 800 per dimm on its Q8300


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Like I said, for building a sleeper.


Sometime I want to do this. I lack any remotely modern hardware just lying around, though.  About the fastest stuff I have just lying around is maybe Sandy Bridge era.

Alternatively something like this would be very neat indeed.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Sometime I want to do this. I lack any remotely modern hardware just lying around, though.  About the fastest stuff I have just lying around is maybe Sandy Bridge era.
> 
> Alternatively something like this would be very neat indeed.


I have 2x AM2, 1x AM2+ and 3x LGA 775 boards in my closet so I have some stuff to play around  should just get a good Socket A board for older stuff.


----------



## Splinterdog (Mar 12, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> my _mostly _'99 permanent build
> 
> View attachment 237118View attachment 237119View attachment 237120View attachment 237121
> 
> ...


The photography here is just sublime. Are you using a pro camera or a phone? Curious...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 12, 2022)

Just built this "retro" (can I call it that...?) and wondering if I should bite the bullet and upgrade it to a i3 540 + GB H55M-S2V kit (with the same RAM amount, which is 4GB)

MB: ASUS P5E-VM DO
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz
RAM: 4x1GB, 4GB total DDR2-800
GPU: ASUS Radeon R7 265 2GB GDDR5 DirectCU II (basically a rebranded HD7850 - exactly the R7 version of the HD7850-DC2-2GD5)
PSU: heavily modified Allied AL-8500BTX w/ 12cm fan
Case: some Delux I was given for free, dunno the model.
ODD: Hitachi-LG GH24NS SATA
HDD: Seagate ST3500630AS 500GB

Running Windows 10 with latest Adrenalin drivers. I wonder if my old 7870 from GB still suffers from black screens when trying to play NFS Hot Pursuit (the 2010 version)?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just built this "retro" (can I call it that...?) and wondering if I should bite the bullet and upgrade it to a i3 540 + GB H55M-S2V kit (with the same RAM amount, which is 4GB)
> 
> MB: ASUS P5E-VM DO
> CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz
> ...



The i3 540 would be a bit better for retro games since it has better single core, but the Q9400 is fast enough that you probably wont realize much of a difference in 00s games.

If you are having performance issues I would upgrade to dual channel ram and maybe try some ocing before spending money on a platform upgrade. Your board is pretty low end and the VRM might not tolerate CPU ocing much, but you could probably overclock ram.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 12, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just built this "retro" (can I call it that...?) and wondering if I should bite the bullet and upgrade it to a i3 540 + GB H55M-S2V kit (with the same RAM amount, which is 4GB)
> 
> MB: ASUS P5E-VM DO
> CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz
> ...


My LGA775 setup is pretty damn similar. 

MB: Asus P5QL Pro (P43 chipset)
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9500 @ 3.1GHz (clocks more, I have the stock cooler though)
RAM: 4x1GB DDR2-800
GPU: Powercolor HD 7850 1GB
PSU: HP branded Lite-On 365W
Case: Slightly modified HP dc7600c case
ODD: DVD-ROM SATA
HDD: Samsung 80GB & Samsung 160GB

I run Win7 on that as my X58 rig is a Win10 rig.

edit: I'd also put the H55 + i3 setup if I were you, also on 1st gen the H-chipset boards are also able to overclock the CPU. Those i3s OC pretty fine and the Q9400 will be left in the dust.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 12, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Just joshin' around  thank you for the kind words.
> 
> I'm not surprised by that, I'm not sure what could have really helped this poor thing  not worth trying to fix for them, clearly.


All the joke aside, @Mr.Scott is truly one of the nicest guys around here, so I doubt he would block you for whatever the reason. Even when we had different opinions of something, we always found that common, diplomatic way to agree & comment on things 

So there you have it! Leave blocking to me, I'm already doing a pretty good job so far  (but let's leave it at that)


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Today my boxed copy of Crysis arrived. I had never owned nor played crysis before and have always wanted too.View attachment 239405
> 
> Fired up my period correct system:
> View attachment 239408
> ...


Turns out I have more work to do. Although Prime 95, Testmem5, Ycruncher and Cinebench were all stable initially, the oc must not have been 100% stable.

First I was getting some odd stutters in Crysis. Then Tomb Raider crashed after about 15 min of gameplay. Then finally it blue screened with "page fault in non paged area" after I let prime blend run for an extended period of time.

I believe the CPU is stable, but the dram is not. I have been tinkering with settings and timings and the like but haven't had success getting it stable just yet. 

This ram is a mystery. It's PNY 2x2gb 6-6-6-24 DDR2 800. From some testing I was advised elsewhere to do, it is possibly nanya, but I have no idea really.





On the positive, the CPU runs super cool even with the Deepcool Ice Matrix 400 I got on Amazon for a whopping $16 a few months back.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Turns out I have more work to do. Although Prime 95, Testmem5, Ycruncher and Cinebench were all stable initially, the oc must not have been 100% stable.
> 
> First I was getting some odd stutters in Crysis. Then Tomb Raider crashed after about 15 min of gameplay. Then finally it blue screened with "page fault in non paged area" after I let prime blend run for an extended period of time.
> 
> ...


Too low CPU VTT and/or MCH?


----------



## DR4G00N (Mar 12, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Just built this "retro" (can I call it that...?) and wondering if I should bite the bullet and upgrade it to a i3 540 + GB H55M-S2V kit (with the same RAM amount, which is 4GB)


If you've got it then why not, certainly wouldn't hurt anything. 1156 chips are very cheap too so something like an i5 750 would be a nice upgrade.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 12, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> If you've got it then why not, certainly wouldn't hurt anything. 1156 chips are very cheap too so something like an i5 750 would be a nice upgrade.


Aren't the Xeons also very cheap? I'd go even for 4c/8t 









						Products formerly Lynnfield
					

Products formerly Lynnfield product listing with links to detailed product features and specifications.




					ark.intel.com


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 12, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> If you've got it then why not, certainly wouldn't hurt anything. 1156 chips are very cheap too so something like an i5 750 would be a nice upgrade.





MaenadFIN said:


> Aren't the Xeons also very cheap? I'd go even for 4c/8t
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I second that, X3470 all the way.
Can be found for just a hair over $20, I've dropped them directly into two ASUS P55 boards with no problem. Binned higher, probably never been OC'd before. @MaxiPro800 I think X3470 + H55 / H57 are your best bet (or P55 if you want to spend a little extra). Otherwise, you could always keep your current CPU and look for a decent P35 / P45 motherboard to wring out some more performance.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

Even the i7s aren't an arm and a leg for that platform.

32nm chips will be the best for a retro system and provide the most overclocking fun, however. You will be able to get much more clockspeed out of them than a 45nm quad core would ever get you.

I got an i7 860 atop an Intel H55TC board included with a big lot of boards I got aboth 6 months ago now. It has fsb adjustment but no voltage control, so it's limited in what it can do. I also have an i3 550.

Some day I'll get a proper board for the platform and crack 5ghz out of the i3.


----------



## DR4G00N (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> 32nm chips will be the best for a retro system and provide the most overclocking fun, however. You will be able to get much more clockspeed out of them than a 45nm quad core would ever get you.


They do clock better but are worse in performance, roughly 4.7GHz Clarkdale = 4GHz Lynnfield. I think it has to do with the memory performance which is about half of Lynnfield.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 12, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Why would I block you? You're a good guy.
> After a ton of digging, I believe that is the last bios for that board. There were only a couple released along with 5 or 6 betas that are non existent now..
> Board was not popular or stellar at all.


Everyone is good on this forum.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> They do clock better but are worse in performance, roughly 4.7GHz Clarkdale = 4GHz Lynnfield. I think it has to do with the memory performance which is about half of Lynnfield.


Hmm? Usually the 32nm Clarksale CPUs have slightly higher IPC, at worst it's the same.

Example with a Sandy CPU thrown in for comparative purposes.









Both 1156 were stock with same exact board, cooler, and dual channel 1600mhz ram. The Sandy i3 results are on the low side because it was tested on my itx system which uses a single stick of slow sodimm and a h61 board meant for industrial purposes. Board uses a proprietary tiny heatsink that can't be upgraded.

Looking at single core to eliminate the obvious core count differences.

The i7 860 boosts to 3.46 on single core tests, the i3 550 is at 3.2 and the i3 2120 is at 3.3.

The performance per clock is better on the 32nm i3, although not significantly.

i7 860: 85/3.46 = 24.5
i3 550: 89/3.2 = 27.8
I3 2120: 111/3.3 = 33.6

Cinebench isn't particularly memory intensive, so it is possible other applications may fair worse if the memory latency is worse, but I have never seen performance like you are saying.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Even the i7s aren't an arm and a leg for that platform.
> 
> 32nm chips will be the best for a retro system and provide the most overclocking fun, however. You will be able to get much more clockspeed out of them than a 45nm quad core would ever get you.
> 
> ...


I have a dell 580 with that cpu. unfourunatly  i must have somehow damaged the pins in the cpu unit when i upgraded to an i7 860, lucky enough i did not damage that ,so was able to get a refund 
.I just hope i don,t when i replace the i3 4150 with an i5 4570 on my new dell 3020 mt.Our good frirend on this subject 







 This is it here.I don,t see how i could have done all that damage.I place it in the socket the way the does it in the video 







 thats the way i did it.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

It does seem Clarksale memory latency is far worse, however how much that impacts performance would depend a ton on workload. It's possible it could be quite significant in some games, but others might not care much.

Manually adjusting the NB GTL and CPU GTL reference voltages slightly has fixed the stability issues and is actually letting me dial the memory OC even further.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 12, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I second that, X3470 all the way.
> Can be found for just a hair over $20, I've dropped them directly into two ASUS P55 boards with no problem. Binned higher, probably never been OC'd before. @MaxiPro800 I think X3470 + H55 / H57 are your best bet (or P55 if you want to spend a little extra). Otherwise, you could always keep your current CPU and look for a decent P35 / P45 motherboard to wring out some more performance.


Thanks for the tip!

Here are my options as far as it goes:

1. Stay on 775 and pick up an ASUS P5K64 WS locally (supposedly reported as defective - doesn't save CMOS, according to the seller )
2. Move to 1156, and buy a X3430 (the cheapest I could find) and maybe a H55M-UD2H as well (I'd like to keep the microATX format  )


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

If 1156 is similar cost it will perform a bit better and might be the better choice.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 12, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Thanks for the tip!
> 
> Here are my options as far as it goes:
> 
> ...



1156 if you find a good board with Xeon-compatible BIOS.  6-core X56xx are pretty solid.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> 1156 if you find a good board with Xeon-compatible BIOS.  6-core X56xx are pretty solid.


Those are socket 1366. 1156 maxed at 4 cores.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 12, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Thanks for the tip!
> 
> Here are my options as far as it goes:
> 
> ...


Well in that case, it comes down to which one is cheaper and if you want to OC.  because you certainly would get better performance out of Lynnfield / Clarkdale. But that ASUS board looks quality for sure, if you're getting it for cheap then I'd actually use LGA775 personally. That GB board doesn't have VRM heatsink, so I'd be concerned about that limiting max OC, although check out what reviews say on that. CPUs are even cheaper still for 775, so if you degraded what you have then replacement is easy.

Imo both are fantastic, stable platforms. Neither are a bad choice. Do you absolutely need any newer features from H55? Or instructions that 1156 can handle, which 775 may not? Do you need mATX?  If the answer to all three is no, and the answer to "do you want to OC?" is yes, then: 775 all the way.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

Dialed in my overclock. The CPU won't go any lower than 1.35v. The dram timings and performance mode are all dialed in and while there may be a TINY bit more to give, its basically set. It is stable in every test I have thrown at it, including extended prime 95 runs. However, I will game some later and see if it gives me any issues.

I got 1129mhz 6-6-4-14 2.0V out of a 800 6-6-6-24 1.8V rated kit. No heatspreaders, very basic stuff but it overclocks nicely. It does scale to higher voltages from some tests, but I am not looking to cook this kit, so I won't go further for an OC I plan to run for awhile.
I wonder how much Crysis benefits from the memory tuning. Cinebench benefited but not a ton.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 12, 2022)

I would like to see that at CAS 5 on the memory.
Your 9550 OC is about right for an average chip.
Mine is about the same.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> I would like to see that at CAS 5 on the memory.
> Your 9550 OC is about right for an average chip.
> Mine is about the same.View attachment 239602


It can't run any lower on the cas latency without reducing frequency or increasing voltage.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It can't run any lower on the cas latency without reducing frequency or increasing voltage.


I understand that. Can you do 900 @ CAS 5?  Bet it's faster than your 11xx @ CAS 6.
Even 800 @ CAS 4 I'd like to see.
Speed isn't everything if you're not increasing performance.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Those are socket 1366. 1156 maxed at 4 cores.



Derp.  You are entirely correct.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> 32nm chips will be the best for a retro system and provide the most overclocking fun, however. You will be able to get much more clockspeed out of them than a 45nm quad core would ever get you.


None of the Clarkdale's are quad-cores. They are all dual-core only. Lynnfield is the only 1156 option if you want a quad-core, and really who doesn't?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 12, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> I understand that. Can you do 900 @ CAS 5?  Bet it's faster than your 11xx @ CAS 6.
> Even 800 @ CAS 4 I'd like to see.
> Speed isn't everything if you're not increasing performance.


Unfortunately I can't test this because of a few problems.

The minimum memory strap with 470mhz fsb is 941mhz, so in order to get 800 and 900 the rest of the system has to slow down.

But the main issue is that this ram REALLY hates a tight cas latency.

Fastest I can get cl5 to even post on is 800mhz. Even 849mhz cl5 won't post if with otherwise loose timings. 800mhz 4-4-4-12 won't work either.

However without being able to test it you can still get rough numbers assuming a other timings are the same:

Overall Ram Latency = Cas Latency times 2000 over ram frequency

Or RL = CL X 2000 / Mhz

5 X 2000 / 900 = 11.1
6 X 2000 / 1129 = 10.6

1129mhz CL6 would have lower latency overall than 900mhz CL5, and of course better max bandwidth.

The fact this ram is semi ok and can't do 850 cl5 maybe makes me think my OCZ isn't complete crap since I gave up when it couldn't do 850 cl5


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2022)

Ehhh.........that ram is crap, and so is the OCZ. No disrespect intended.
Decent DDR2 should do 1000 give or take a little @ CAS 5.

And, I know the formula, but that is theoretical numbers. Actual performance may surprise you. Increased bandwidth only helps you if you can actually use it.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 13, 2022)

1129 cl6 is probably no slower than 1000 cl5.

1 cl is not a huge jump.

But yes the ocz is complete and utter garbage. It will not oc at all. I can't get 941 out of it with cl7. Horrible stuff


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> 1129 cl6 is probably no slower than 1000 cl5.
> 
> 1 cl is not a huge jump.


It is in certain benchmarks. SuperPi for example.
Again, just depends on your usage for the machine is all.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 13, 2022)

Like probably most people here, I've had my fair share of scam / terribly packed / just generally bad experiences with sellers. Kinda makes it hard to trust any of them. However, there are of course a great many honest sellers as well. But this one... whoever the hell you are, thank you for selling this brilliant board for next to nothing.  

So, it's a Sabertooth 990FX r1.01, one of the best FX boards ASUS ever made. I wanted this motherboard when I was looking at parts for my first PC, but just couldn't afford or justify it. A good example still goes for $150-$250 on eBay. This one? $25, plus $16 shipping. So this must be the most busted-up, vaseline-covered, demolished, heatsink-less board ever, right?

Here's the original listing:





Uhh, okay? Soldering iron accident perhaps? Shit happens, let's check the board:




What?! That's it?! It posts, I'm sold!!




Before I get to the beauty shots, let's peep the damage. To me it doesn't even look that severe, I bet the chip still functions fine.

Plus, it's actually a very easy fix!



Should heal in a week. 

Really though, I don't use FireWire anyway, so just to be safe(r) I disabled it in BIOS.













Socket is pristine.




Now, it has MX-4 for the NB & SB, 1.0mm APT2560 for the doublers(?) on the rear and 0.5mm for the top. The board performs absolutely flawlessly, and is 99% intact (I did the math). Plus it's r1.01, so I still have Core Unlock... Feel like I just robbed a bank...

OC adventures to come, that I can promise


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 13, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Like probably most people here, I've had my fair share of scam / terribly packed / just generally bad experiences with sellers. Kinda makes it hard to trust any of them. However, there are of course a great many honest sellers as well. But this one... whoever the hell you are, thank you for selling this brilliant board for next to nothing.
> 
> So, it's a Sabertooth 990FX r1.01, one of the best FX boards ASUS ever made. I wanted this motherboard when I was looking at parts for my first PC, but just couldn't afford or justify it. A good example still goes for $150-$250 on eBay. This one? $25, plus $16 shipping. So this must be the most busted-up, vaseline-covered, demolished, heatsink-less board ever, right?
> 
> ...


Excellent board, does everything you could ever want an AM3+ board, aside from run FX9xxx, which is not a big loss IMO. My R2.0 Has been rock solid reliable, great for overclocking, and has a very easy to use graphical BIOS. Proper modern features too, usb 3, sata iii, uefi, etc. Nice find! Happy overclocking!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Excellent board, does everything you could ever want an AM3+ board, aside from run FX9xxx, which is not a big loss IMO. My R2.0 Has been rock solid reliable, great for overclocking, and has a very easy to use graphical BIOS. Proper modern features too, usb 3, sata iii, uefi, etc. Nice find! Happy overclocking!


My rev. 1  runs FX 9xxx.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 13, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> It is in certain benchmarks. SuperPi for example.
> Again, just depends on your usage for the machine is all.







Just bought a lot of 40 untested "Used condition - Most pulled for working PCs then placed in storage - some may not work" sticks for $25+10 shipping on eBay including 2 kits identical model to my OCZ. I bet they are all different dies, none of which will overclock worth anything  Guess they went out of business for a reason, hey.

Picture is not high enough resolution to make out what much of it is, but some of them should be decent, and just about all of the OEM stuff is probably better than the OCZ lol. I have a Samsung E die 2x1gb kit that is only 666 rated but can do nearly double that with lax timings. I got it booted at 1320mhz CL7 but it wasn't stable.


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2022)

Bet the Patriots will do 900 @ CAS 4.


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## MachineLearning (Mar 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Just bought a lot of 40 untested "Used condition - Most pulled for working PCs then placed in storage - some may not work" sticks for $25+10 shipping on eBay including 2 kits identical model to my OCZ. I bet they are all different dies, none of which will overclock worth anything  Guess they went out of business for a reason, hey.
> 
> Picture is not high enough resolution to make out what much of it is, but some of them should be decent, and just about all of the OEM stuff is probably better than the OCZ lol. I have a Samsung E die 2x1gb kit that is only 666 rated but can do nearly double that with lax timings. I got it booted at 1320mhz CL7 but it wasn't stable.


I have some OCZ DDR2 ram too (at least 3 different Reaper 1066MHz versions, OCZ Platinum rev1 800 / 1066MHz) and they're all extremely mediocre... Going back in the day is a trip, brands which are habitually overpriced nowadays such as Corsair and ASUS were actually some of your best choices in their specialties.

Those SpecTek kits will probably not be too good either, but the low-profile KVR Micron(it looks like) could be a diamond in the rough?


Mr.Scott said:


> Bet the Patriots will do 900 @ CAS 4.


Idk what magic they have at Patriot, their RAM always seems to do exceedingly well, across all time. From D2 to Viper Steel 4400CL19 D4.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 13, 2022)

That VT6308 chip - you could probably print out a sticker similar to PCChips saying "OmegaFirewire" or something cheesy like that  

Anyways, just stumbled over my old Abit IP35 Pro that's had POST issues for longer than I can ever know. Might repair it just for the lulz and replace the P5E-VM DO if I get it to run perfectly stable.


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## MachineLearning (Mar 13, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> That VT6308 chip - you could probably print out a sticker similar to PCChips saying "OmegaFirewire" or something cheesy like that
> 
> Anyways, just stumbled over my old Abit IP35 Pro that's had POST issues for longer than I can ever know. Might repair it just for the lulz and replace the P5E-VM DO if I get it to run perfectly stable.


I've got two of those in case one breaks, that's how much I love that board. HWiNFO reads a stupid amount of (correct) voltages. 100% worth trying to get going. Small tip: If you're repasting / repadding, I would actually recommend using 1.0mm thermal pads on NB, SB, VRM, because some of those boards did not ship with a level heatsink assembly (i.e., NB makes full contact but not VRM, etc.). The thicker pad helps it apply more pressure, more evenly.

You can find the latest BIOS here, I know Abit ones can be tricky to find. That one supports E0 stepping which I've personally confirmed. For flashing, you can of course use DOS or uGuru in Windows.

Sauce


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 13, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Those SpecTek kits will probably not be too good either, but the low-profile KVR Micron(it looks like) could be a diamond in the rough?


It does all appear to be Micron. It's a possibility it's Micron e die, which should be pretty decent.

Although it is reject, I have heard sometimes the SpecTek kits can overclock decently if you get lucky.


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 13, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> You can find the latest BIOS here, I know Abit ones can be tricky to find.


FWIW, I have the entire Abit db backed up here.


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## Kissamies (Mar 13, 2022)

Nice. I have 4x2GB ValueRAM DDR2, I thought that they were 533MHz but they're actually 800MHz. Now I have four similar modules and I can have 8GB of DDR2-800 

Currently testing with Q9500 & HD 7850 1GB. Probably some benchmarks coming later.


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## Greenslade (Mar 13, 2022)

Imagine cleaning this ancient  PC .Gross. 







 Up date on my new computer 3020 mt all working fine ,updated the Bios very simple, from A07. to the latest 2019 one A20. I took one of my fave you tubers advice ,to try it before i cleaned out the dust to make sure it works. 







 cleaning them out side is a no brainer with all that dust ,yuk. Windows 10 pro all-ready activated. certanly a bargin for 30 pound s, when you consider it has a samsung evo 850 500gb which is worth that on its own , let alone getting the whole PC for that price


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## stinger608 (Mar 14, 2022)

Wow, here is a local listing on Craigslist:









						Sony CPD-G400 19-inch Trinitron CRT Monitor - computer parts - by...
					

Here's a Sony CDP-G400 from 2000. It's in working condition, though a bit aged. The monitor is a 19-inch Trinitron CRT flat screen. Yes, it's the old-fashioned glass flat screen Sony was known for....



					wyoming.craigslist.org
				




Sony CDP-G400

19" CRT flatscreen monitor!

Hell, I might just pick this up.


Here is another kick ass deal on a Lian Li Aluminum case:









						Lian Li PC V1000b ATX Aluminum Mid Tower Case (Black) - computer...
					

For sale is a bit of personal computer history. This was my first PC case as a teenager, it is about 15 years old, but still able to hold a modern PC build. Case is made of aluminum painted black,...



					fortcollins.craigslist.org


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## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, here is a local listing on Craigslist:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


1600x1200 @ 87Hz, would be a great monitor for retro gaming rig. Also that inverted ATX LiLi case looks hella cool.


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## Greenslade (Mar 14, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Wow, here is a local listing on Craigslist:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is a beast at 70lbs ? Thats a bargin at that price looking on eBay.


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## MaxiPro800 (Mar 14, 2022)

Scored these yesterday:

- Chaintech 5AGM2 mobo (Super Socket 7, VIA MVP3, unknown caps that surprisingly aren't bad yet.)
- Biostar M7MKA mobo (Slot A, AMD 751, yucky Choyo caps)
- Gigabyte 8IPE1000 rev 1 (Socket 478, 865PE, has a myriad of dead Nichicon HM caps dated 2003.)
- Gigabyte 7VAX (Skt 462, KT400, ripped AGP port)
- Dell Inspiron 1420 w/ C2D T5750
- Seagate ST31000524 HDD
- Galaxy S4 GT-i9505


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## Greenslade (Mar 14, 2022)

I have just upgraded my CPU  but when i turn it on the CPU makes noise ,i just touch the CPU fan and it goes quite, all thiugh the fan goes quite when Windows has loaded withour me touching fan.
.I losing the CPU screws ,did i put   enough thermal paste on there? or do i need to tighten the screws on the fan?When i restart it makes a noise but for only a few seconds.It does start up without me touching the fan.I put the CPU that came out if my 3020 mt onto the 3020 sff if just makes a start up sound when it is powered up.I am pleased it has all gone well. All i need now is the 8 ro 24 lead which ordered from eBay so i can put a new PSU in it.


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## Athlonite (Mar 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just upgraded my CPU  but when i turn it on the CPU makes noise ,i just touch the CPU fan and it goes  quite.I losing the CPU screws ,did i put   enough thermal paste on there? or do i need to tighten the screws on the fan?When i restart it makes a noise but for only a few seconds.It does start up without me touching the fan.


most likely an insecure fan and it's vibrating try tightening the screws a bit more


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 14, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> most likely an insecure fan and it's vibrating try tightening the screws a bit more


Thanks for that ,it did not make any differerance I put my GPU in the PC unfortunatley one of the sata cabals came out of the socket.I tried to take the GPU out but the back part of it would not budge,it is a gtx 960.I had to get the video card out to give me more room to try and get the sata cabal back in the socket.I did not want to forve the GPU .




I can see the advantages of getting  smaller cards.It seems to be solid on there,hope i have done no damage to the card.It came out easy in my other PC I will have yo wait ontil the 8 to 24 cabal comes later on on the week.And if all goes  well i will have to get a Sata PCIe exspanzion card,as without the one i can,r conect i will only have twoThe nosie is only on start up.I can,t see how to get to the release leaver with thos card.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 14, 2022)

The posts from @RyzenMaster.sys inspired me to test my 2GB DDR2 sticks. I wondered if I could get any decent frequency with a full 4x2GB config. I don't have many kits with that density in my collection for obvious reasons.
Board for today is the Asus P5Q-E. Ignore the date settings on those screenshots, I grew tired of setting it after a few CMOS resets.

First I tried my Geil Black Dragon Evo One. I have two 2x2GB kits rated @ DDR2-800 CL4 4-4-12 - 2.0V. Just searched the DDR2 Geil Evo One on ebay and I'm shocked to see how much people ask for them here.

Well, maybe its the look. In my opinion one of the best, if not THE best looking DDR2 kit.




They run fine at DDR2-800 CL4 but I was interested in max. frequency. They initially managed DDR2-1020 CL5 but failed the next step up. I bumped the voltage up to 2.1V and they ran 1040MHz. 





An expected result, they don't scale much with voltage. The 1066 kits of the same series from Geil are rated 2.2V-2.4V, maybe my kit would hit that frequency in the same range. However I'm super cautious when it comes to DDR2 and voltage and I'd rather like to see these kits live another 10 years.

Another series of which I have a few 2GB sticks is the G.Skill PI-Series. I got two 2x2GB DDR2-1100 CL5 kits (rated 1.8V to 1.9V) and two 2x2GB DDR2-1200 CL5 kits (rated 2.1V). I focused on the latter, since I recently revived one of the sticks with a reflow and I wanted to try and get a full 8GB DDR2 running at 600MHz CL5.

I tried all I could on the P5Q-E but with 5-5-5-15 timings they refused to work beyond 500MHz. However increasing RAS to 18 and RFC to 65 they suddenly went to rated speed with just 2.0V. I wonder if they behave any different on my other P45 boards.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> The posts from @RyzenMaster.sys inspired me to test my 2GB DDR2 sticks. I wondered if I could get any decent frequency with a full 4x2GB config. I don't have many kits with that density in my collection for obvious reasons.
> Board for today is the Asus P5Q-E. Ignore the date settings on those screenshots, I grew tired of setting it after a few CMOS resets.
> 
> First I tried my Geil Black Dragon Evo One. I have two 2x2GB kits rated @ DDR2-800 CL4 4-4-12 - 2.0V. Just searched the DDR2 Geil Evo One on ebay and I'm shocked to see how much people ask for them here.
> ...


I agree on the looks. That's easily the best looking DDR2 I've ever seen. What cooling do you have with that E8500, custom loop?

edit: Bryan put a video of X58 and Xeon. I'll try his bios settings as I have the same motherboard on my X58 rig.


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## Mr.Scott (Mar 14, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> edit: Bryan put a video of X58 and Xeon. I'll try his bios settings as I have the same motherboard on my X58 rig.


Here comes a disaster.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 14, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I agree on the looks. That's easily the best looking DDR2 I've ever seen. What cooling do you have with that E8500, custom loop?


Yes on this bench I usually use custom water. Currently have a single 420mm radiator in the loop, complete overkill. C2Ds are fine with a good air cooler too. My earlier screenshot of the DFI P45 JR was run with the Zalman CNPS 9900. It topped out at ~1,55V with the cores hitting 78°C. My water setup saw 61°C core temp at the same voltage (but a different CPU sample so not the best comparison).


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Yes on this bench I usually use custom water. Currently have a single 420mm radiator in the loop, complete overkill. C2Ds are fine with a good air cooler too. My earlier screenshot of the DFI P45 JR was run with the Zalman CNPS 9900. It topped out at ~1,55V with the cores hitting 78°C. My water setup saw 61°C core temp at the same voltage (but a different CPU sample so not the best comparison).


Sucks that I don't have a spare bench PSU, I could try an E8500 too. Also I don't know how my DDR2s overclock, so that could be a problem as I have only 533/667/800 modules.


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## MachineLearning (Mar 14, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I agree on the looks. That's easily the best looking DDR2 I've ever seen. What cooling do you have with that E8500, custom loop?
> 
> edit: Bryan put a video of X58 and Xeon. I'll try his bios settings as I have the same motherboard on my X58 rig.


If you mean the settings @ 6:49, maybe don't bother... 
Here's what I would change just in that screenshot, if you're wanting to OC on that board (I've got the same and the Premium):
- Extreme Phase -> Enabled
- Push DRAM frequency way higher than 1600 if you have a decent kit, even triple channel you can feasibly get 2000MHz+ with Westmere.
- I personally would set uncore to the lowest divider possible for the current DRAM divider, that's just me though. Helps me understand whether a RAM OC is limited by uncore or DRAM itself. 3000-3400MHz is good for daily, apparently you can get far higher (3800MHz+) if you're lucky. I've never pushed this to the max.
- QPI should be at the lowest divider (but not slow mode)
- I usually change "ASUS/3rd party UI priority" -> 3rd party but doesn't matter for OC.

Also I like to manually set voltages to their stock value if I'm not overvolting them, it prevents the motherboard from doing something I'm not aware of. In your case, the 20x multiplier is unfortunate but workable, on that board I've gotten up to 220MHz+ BCLK so you probably can max out your chip, or get pretty close. My Westmeres need 1.35-1.4v vCore for 4.4-4.5GHz and 1.325-1.375v QPI.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2022)

Yeah, some of his settings looked that I'm not touching mine. I have 3x2 1600 + 3x4 1866 kits and I'm not taking the 6GB 1600 kit away if it doesn't OC decently. At least the RAM works fine at 1680.

I have Extreme Phase enabled, uncore 2x the RAM speed and QPI at the lowest setting. Testing stability now at 22x189


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## MachineLearning (Mar 14, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Yeah, some of his settings looked that I'm not touching mine. I have 3x2 1600 + 3x4 1866 kits and I'm not taking the 6GB 1600 kit away if it doesn't OC decently. At least the RAM works fine at 1680.
> 
> I have Extreme Phase enabled, uncore 2x the RAM speed and QPI at the lowest setting. Testing stability now at 22x189


What cooler do you use?

If you're stable at 22x189, I wonder if throwing it right into 22x200 @ 1.375v would work.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> What cooler do you use?
> 
> If you're stable at 22x189, I wonder if throwing it right into 22x200 @ 1.375v would work.


Alphacool Eisbaer with 240x30 + 240x45 rads


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## Greenslade (Mar 14, 2022)

I got it out but busterd the  lever  It seems solid ,will it be ok?


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## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I got it out but busterd the  lever  It seems solid ,will it be ok?


What's that, the PCIe locking mechanism? Actually I've broken that on purpose from few boards as it's hella annoying with some cards.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 14, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> What's that, the PCIe locking mechanism? Actually I've broken that on purpose from few boards as it's hella annoying with some cards.


Yes it is  The GPU come out of another PC with no trouble I got ir in my latest PC. The reason i tried to get it out was for the third Sata cablal . if i had smaller hands i might have been able to get it in in the socket.
With the card coming out i was able to do .It is in solid now.
So i want have trouble using it without it?.There was no way of geting it out anyway.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes it is  The GPU come out of another PC with no trouble I got ir in my latest PC. The reason i tried to get it out was for the third Sata cablal . if i had smaller hands i might have been able to get it in in the socket.
> With the card coming out i was able to do .It is in solid now.
> So i want have trouble using it without it?.There was no way of geting it out anyway.


Just secure the card firmly to the case with screws and you shouldn't have problems. If you move your PC around, you might want to check that it's seated properly after that.

Otherwise it's fine without that (sometimes annoying) locking mechanism


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 15, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Just secure the card firmly to the case with screws and you shouldn't have problems. If you move your PC around, you might want to check that it's seated properly after that.
> 
> Otherwise it's fine without that (sometimes annoying) locking mechanism


Thanks for your advice   It seems a lot of people on the internet have had the same problem.It was a right pain for me.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 15, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Here comes a disaster.


Why, whatever do you mean good sir?!? 



MaenadFIN said:


> I agree on the looks. That's easily the best looking DDR2 I've ever seen. What cooling do you have with that E8500, custom loop?
> 
> edit: Bryan put a video of X58 and Xeon. I'll try his bios settings as I have the same motherboard on my X58 rig.


What I find very interesting with this video is that it makes Linus @LTT look like a monkey diddling a football. See the following.









Brian not only proved up with game footage but showed the benchmarks as well. One point he made that I'll disagree with is the parts life span. CPUs and RAM rarely die and motherboards can be recapped.

TechYesCity showing the love!!


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Why, whatever do you mean good sir?!?
> 
> 
> What I find very interesting with this video is that it makes Linus @LTT look like a monkey diddling a football. See the following.
> ...


Not that I disagree with your overall point, however on the majority of modern boards electrolytic caps are rare, and usually failures are something not so straightforward.

As an owner of several x58 systems, I can say that while the platform definitely has its woes, it's rather capable, especially when overclocked.

For example, yesterday I was curious if COD Warzone needed avx so I fired up the game on a stock i7 960 with 12gb ram and a 1060 6gb. Not only did it run, but it ran very smoothly and was a very good experience. And that's a 45nm 4 core, westmere would be much better even.

Some time if I ever get a GPU that isn't a potato I would like to bench my 4.5ghz 990x in modern games.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 15, 2022)

I just looked at my older Dell as you can see in the photo it has a clip that is not part of the PCIe slot.Why they did not stay with that i don,t know   0422 the one that broke off.Ir seems a backward step to me.I could try and super glue it back on ,even if i could chances of breaking again are high.The all in one design in the one that broke is a stupid design.At least i did not brake any of the plastic bits that that hold the front panal I have done that once before on one of those brittle plastic bits ,i did super glue it back on.Because the PC i took the GPU out of had the Separate clip must have been why it came out with no problem. I suppose it was a cost cutting thing  to do.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just looked at my older Dell as you can see in the photo it has a clip that is not part of the PCIe slot.Why they did not stay with that i don,t know   0422 the one that broke off.Ir seems a backward step to me.I could try and super glue it back on ,even if i could chances of breaking again are high.The all in one design in the one that broke is a stupid design.At least i did not brake any of the plastic bits that that hold the front panal I have done that once before on one of those brittle plastic bits ,i did super glue it back on.Because the PC i took the GPU out of had the Separate clip must have been why it came out with no problem.


Nah, don't waste your time with that stupid clip as it works as fine without it like I said above.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 15, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Nah, don't waste your time with that stupid clip as it works as fine without it like I said above.


Thanks again hope your day is going well.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks again hope your day is going well.


Thanks, overclocking the X5650 and running stability tests


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 15, 2022)

Just ordered  PCI-e to SATA 3.0 Internal 6Gbps Ports Disk Expansion Card from eBay.I need more than the three it has on the PC. Hopefully, the 8 to 24 cabal for the PSU will arrive tomorrow.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 15, 2022)

What system is this for?


Greenslade said:


> Just ordered  PCI-e to SATA 3.0 Internal 6Gbps Ports Disk Expansion Card from eBay.I need more than the three it has on the PC. Hopefully, the 8 to 24 cabal for the PSU will arrive tomorrow.  View attachment 239864


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 15, 2022)

I said to myself no more purchases, my pile of 775 hardware is big enough. But for this board I made an exception, because I'm not sure how often I get a chance to grab one.

Two months ago I had put up an offer, searching for one. I offered 250€ for an Asus Maximus II Gene. No one had one or wanted to sell one. Three weeks ago I cancelled the advert as it returned no results. And now on friday last week I did my weekly ebay scan for a few grails and guess what popped up.





Instead of spending 250€, I got it for 50€ including 4x2GB DDR2, an E6750 and the Intel stock cooler. Oh and a fresh battery 





I feel complete now that I own both the MIIG and the JR P45.
They share the warm VRM area, and if you don't get any airflow over the heatsink it gets toasty. 45°C - 50°C idle on NB and SB seemed to be common when people tested it after its launch back in 2009. After exchanging the pad and thermal paste (Again I had to fight the dried yellow plague on the NB) mine is not as bad, but still creeps up to 40°C on idle. Small Noctua fan and it drops to 30°C.

I'm running out of time for OC testing, this will have to follow maybe the coming weekend. The bios settings are a pleasant surprise, it has all the OC settings you could ever want. They even included a single toggle for all non-essential onboard devices, so when benching cold you can disable them at once. Things like LAN-controller, audio, IEEE 1394, serial port etc.. That is a feature I'd like to see on a lot of other boards.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 15, 2022)

I know this doesn't really have anything to do with nostalgic hardware, but also would like followers to take a look at this thread that @neatfeatguy posted yesterday:









						Looking for possible donations for a good cause - Sorry, event fell through and it's a no go
					

**UPDATE** 4/1/22 My friends have been working on trying to get things going again, but they've had troubles getting the venues that normally sponsored the rally, pre-covid, to back it again. Since they can't land enough sponsors to help cover costs of things, like they have in the past, they...




					www.techpowerup.com
				




This is for a really great cause and I thought it might get more attention posting the TPU link here in this thread.

Maybe between all of us we could give this awesome TPU member a hand with some stuff.


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## Kissamies (Mar 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Just ordered  PCI-e to SATA 3.0 Internal 6Gbps Ports Disk Expansion Card from eBay.I need more than the three it has on the PC. Hopefully, the 8 to 24 cabal for the PSU will arrive tomorrow.  View attachment 239864


I have a similar card on my main rig. Sounds funny but I'm hella out of space (thanks to modern games....) so I installed that and put 2x 128GB Toshiba SSDs to that. Though my card supports eSATA (though I haven't ever had any use of such devices).


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## Greenslade (Mar 16, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> What system is this for?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2022)

You forgot the reply bro


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 16, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I know this doesn't really have anything to do with nostalgic hardware, but also would like followers to take a look at this thread that @neatfeatguy posted yesterday:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sounds good to me 



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> What system is this for?


Dell 3020 mt it had a i3 4150 in it, i upgraded it with a i5 4570 which i had in a SFF 3020 .I did not realise at the time it could only take a one slot card.As the slot you put the Gpu was right next to the PSU  unlike the 7020 and 9020.The Dell 3020 mt only cost 30 pounds and included a Samsung Evo 850 500GB.The seller had two more of them if they had a i5 4570 i would have got them to.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 16, 2022)

Posted on FB that I want a bench PSU and why not a case; I could build an ultimate LGA 775 rig..


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 17, 2022)

By the way, what is a recommended voltage for the PLL with X58? I have it at 1.88V but does increasing it help with oc'ing?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> By the way, what is a recommended voltage for the PLL with X58?


IIRC, default CPU PLL is 1.8v and IOH PLL is the same. The QPI PLL should be 1.10v or 1.15v depending on the board.


MaenadFIN said:


> I have it at 1.88V but does increasing it help with oc'ing?


No, the PLL voltages will do nothing but dump more heat into the CPU die. It will not help with OCing. My strong advice is to leave those voltage on auto/stock.

What CPU are you wanting to OC and what board do you have for it?


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> IIRC, default CPU PLL is 1.8v and IOH PLL is the same. The QPI PLL should be 1.10v or 1.15v depending on the board.
> 
> No, the PLL voltages will do nothing but dump more heat into the CPU die. It will not help with OCing. My strong advice is to leave those voltage on auto/stock.
> 
> What CPU are you wanting to OC and what board do you have for it?


It's my HTPC. Xeon X5650 and Asus P6X58D-E, cooled with Alphacool Eisbaer with 240x45 + 240x30 rads


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> It's my HTPC. Xeon X5650 and Asus P6X58D-E, cooled with Alphacool Eisbaer with 240x45 + 240x30 rads


With that combo, a bclk OC of 167 or 201 with a bump in CPU voltage and a drop in multiplier. That CPU should get a solid 3.34ghz(167x20) or 3.41ghz(201x17) with about 1.33v or 1.35v, depending on which bclk it can run stable at.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> With that combo, a bclk OC of 167 or 201 with a bump in CPU voltage and a drop in multiplier. That CPU should get a solid 3.34ghz(167x20) or 3.41ghz(201x17) with about 1.33v or 1.35v, depending on which bclk it can run stable at.


It's at 4.1GHz (20x205) now and it's rock stable 

Just wondering that should we make a X58 thread in the overclocking subforum


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 17, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> It's at 4.1GHz (20x205) now and it's rock stable


Oh, then allow me to shut my cake-hole...


MaenadFIN said:


> Just wondering that should we make a X58 thread in the overclocking subforum


Maybe. I thought we had one already. Might want to check(search)..


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 17, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> It's at 4.1GHz (20x205) now and it's rock stable
> 
> Just wondering that should we make a X58 thread in the overclocking subforum





lexluthermiester said:


> Oh, then allow me to shut my cake-hole...
> 
> Maybe. I thought we had one already. Might want to check(search)..



I know there's one for X79; not aware of an X58-specific thread.  The Xeon Owners' Club has a healthy amount of discussion on X56xx OC-ing.


----------



## erek (Mar 17, 2022)

RARE 3DFX Voodoo QUANTUM3D Obsidian2 MERCURY AALCHEMY BRICK vintage video card  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for RARE 3DFX Voodoo QUANTUM3D Obsidian2 MERCURY AALCHEMY BRICK vintage video card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 17, 2022)

Well, I got a ton of stuff in recently. Will try to be concise.

This is the ebay lot of DDR2 I got plus 4 sticks I got included with a bunch of 775 CPUs.



Spoiler: info about ram in the lot



According to the seller the GEIL is 4-4-4-12 800mhz rated but doesn't oc well. The Kingston ocs to 1100mhz 5-5-5-15. Both kits are only 2x1gb.

Full list:
2x2gb Patriot 800 4-4-4-12 2.2v
2x2gb OCZ Gold 800 5-5-5 1.9v
1x2gb OCZ Gold 800 5-5-5 1.8v
1x2gb OCZ Gold 1066 5-6-6 2.1v
1x1gb Nanya 666 5-5-5 
1x1gb Nanya 800 6-6-6
1x1gb Elpida ACSE 666 5-5-5
2x2gb Corsair XMS 800 5-5-5-18 1.8v V5.1
6x2gb Adata 800 CL6
5x2gb Spectek Select 800mhz 
1x1gb Hynix 666 5-5-5
1x1gb Hynix 800 6-6-6
1x1gb Hynix 533 4-4-4
1x2gb Hynix 800 6-6-6.
1x1gb Kingston KVR 533 4-4-4 Elpida AGBG
1x512mb Qmonda 666 5-5-5 
1x512mb Promos 666 5-5-5
4x2gb Kingston KVR 800 6-6-6 1.8v (Micron)
2x2gb Crucial 800 6-6-6 1.8v (same as above KVR)
1x1gb Crucial Unknown (Samsung)






Yesterday I picked this up for twenty bucks off of Facebook. Some junk, tons of modems, but some really neat stuff.





Spoiler: Some notable contents



Trident Daytona TGUI9680
STB Tseng Labs ET6000
Ati Radeon 7000 32mb PCI
Yamaha 719 ISA Sound card
USB 2 card with 9x drivers

As far as ram, there is a nice 2x1 kit kf Patriot 333 Cl2.5 DDR ram, and a lot of other stuff ranging from PC133 to non branded DDR3, although no ddr2. One of the Samsung DDR sticks smells like its been on fire, so that's nice. I'll test this stuff when I get to it, although I have no machine that takes pc133 to test that.



Edit, just tested everything in the top photo. Everything posted without error except for 2 Spectek sticks. Those sticks post on my P5q-e but blue screen if I try to boot. Tried cleaning contacts. Definitely faulty.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 18, 2022)

Browsing eBay listings as I too frequently do, I found yet another board that I've been fond of from afar: the Abit AB9 QuadGT. 

I saw the Anandtech review while researching the IP35 Pro, and from the moment I saw it I was hooked...



Stunning color scheme - same as the IP35 Pro. This is as it was when I finished, however it came with some free dust for my collection.






As you see above, and numerous other crannies. Not terrible, but needed some brushing.

Before I show the disassembly, I'll touch briefly on this CPU cooler which came with the board. It's a ZEROTherm BTF95 (link is for BTF90).






Full-copper, passive cooler, with the BTF80 & BTF90 versions having an optional MagLev fan.



This old paste glistens in the light, so I assume it has metal particles. Considering this, and the year this was likely last mounted, maybe it's Arctic Silver 5? I didn't spend time deep-cleaning this cooler yet, but I think it has potential if I can put a 120mm fan on it or something.

The CPU it came with was a C2D E6300.















The sunrise-style heatsink motif continues, but I can't find a moon here as with the IP35 Pro. Perhaps because they weren't quite in their twilight years yet 



Now, it shines.



RTL8110SC gigabit ethernet,



ALC888 audio,



ICH8R southbridge,



...and, the Intel P965 chipset. C2 stepping - not that it matters. I didn't immediately find a date code on the main PCB, but the board was probably made sometime around week 36 (NB date) to 39 (SB date) of 2006. The E6300 in question was made week 26 / 2006, so late '06 is most likely when this was first installed.



The CPU VRM is a 5-phase Volterra affair.



I'm pretty sure I remember Buildzoid saying in one of his videos that Volterra components are extremely hard to find datasheets for. I can't find any for the VT1135SF, although I can find old retail pages so I know I've not misread the part number. Judging by the name I'd assume it's 35a nominal current, but I'm uncertain.

One benefit of the Volterra VRM is per-phase temperature monitoring, & total current monitoring (as you saw above) - which is compounding the inherently excellent uGuru voltages. HWiNFO reads all of these values, which makes me very happy.



That's not so bad - if accurate. 33500 hrs = 3.8 years uptime, so around 25% of the time this board has existed. I am confused as to why the "AC Power On Total Time" is lower than "PC Up Time Total", though. I expected the reverse. All-solid capacitors, so either way it's still young in my eyes.



I guess this is some sort of alien VRM which can handle high temperatures.  Either this is an element of a beta BIOS (running v18, the "latest"), or an error at Abit... or, Volterra parts are ridiculously thermally durable.

I intended on overclocking with an E0 Q9550, as this BIOS release adds support for E0, but unfortunately this release is also exceedingly buggy:



BIOS freezes up any time I bring up a menu such as F6, F7, F10, Esc, but all the submenus work fine (uGuru, Standard CMOS Features, etc.). A lovely mirrored message appears desperately asking I load a profile, which is hilarious to me. I'm going to try an older BIOS release. It unfortunately seems E0 stepping isn't overclockable (or fully usable, as RAM will be @ 1:1, 2.0v always) with this specific ROM. Still, there is much hope, since it works and I have G0 CPUs to play with. Using a Pentium D 930 and the original v10 bios, I was able to successfully save and change settings, so it's not something physical with the board.

If anyone knows a fix for the funny bug in v18, I'd love to find that  but, the board works, and I love this hardware. P965 seems to have been one of the first Intel chipsets to reliably hit 500MHz+ FSB reasonably on air cooling, and it has insane CPU compatibility (w/ updates) as well. 

All these photos, and somehow I forgot to take photos of the blue LED light show on the whole rear of the board. When I get OC settled and maybe even put it in a case, I'll show those effects off.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 18, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Browsing eBay listings as I too frequently do, I found yet another board that I've been fond of from afar: the Abit AB9 QuadGT.
> 
> I saw the Anandtech review while researching the IP35 Pro, and from the moment I saw it I was hooked...
> View attachment 240203
> ...


Haha! I saw that listing and was tempted to buy it, but I didn't like the price. Nice find.


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 18, 2022)

MachineLearning, I’m fairly certain the 965 chipset did not support 45nm quad cores. I have the AW9D-Max 975 chipset & I know it doesn’t have that support. It also has the blue leds on the back of the board, fun look. 
Pretty sure the Q6600 is supported though. And of course all sorts of Core2Duos work in it too.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 18, 2022)

erek said:


> RARE 3DFX Voodoo QUANTUM3D Obsidian2 MERCURY AALCHEMY BRICK vintage video card  | eBay
> 
> 
> Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for RARE 3DFX Voodoo QUANTUM3D Obsidian2 MERCURY AALCHEMY BRICK vintage video card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
> ...


Yup, that's rare these days. That card array was used in flight simulator rendering. Extremely powerful for the day.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 18, 2022)

68Olds said:


> MachineLearning, I’m fairly certain the 965 chipset did not support 45nm quad cores. I have the AW9D-Max 975 chipset & I know it doesn’t have that support. It also has the blue leds on the back of the board, fun look.
> Pretty sure the Q6600 is supported though. And of course all sorts of Core2Duos work in it too.


Damn, it seems you're right... When I saw E0, I didn't think it'd only be C2D. Good catch  

That explains it, I'll try an E8500 E0!

edit: in case you / anyone is interested, here's the BIOS changelog


----------



## Outback Bronze (Mar 18, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I said to myself no more purchases, my pile of 775 hardware is big enough.



Yeah, that's what I said then I saw this for $80 AUD : )


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 18, 2022)

Outback Bronze said:


> Yeah, that's what I said then I saw this for $80 AUD : )
> 
> View attachment 240247
> View attachment 240248
> ...


Very nice! Does it allow you to save BIOS profiles? My XFX 750i does not, so every failed boot resets all settings 

BTW you can find the latest BIOS for that board here. I know XFX took their pages for motherboards down long ago.


----------



## Outback Bronze (Mar 18, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Does it allow you to save BIOS profiles?



Unsure cant remember    I doubt it thought.

I can boot it over the weekend if your keen?

The last time I booted up this mobo it had horrible vdroop so I've been looking for a pencil mod where I place conductive silver. Done it a few times with other mobo's (P45 comes to mind) with great success. Just need to know where the mod goes. I've been unable to find anything on a pencil mod for the 790i and most web pages don't exist anymore because the board is now 14 years old : (


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 18, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Well, I got a ton of stuff in recently. Will try to be concise.
> 
> This is the ebay lot of DDR2 I got plus 4 sticks I got included with a bunch of 775 CPUs.
> 
> ...





MachineLearning said:


> Browsing eBay listings as I too frequently do, I found yet another board that I've been fond of from afar: the Abit AB9 QuadGT.
> 
> I saw the Anandtech review while researching the IP35 Pro, and from the moment I saw it I was hooked...
> View attachment 240203
> ...


As an avid fan an owner of many Abit boards(including an IP35 Pro I still have posted somewhere in this thread) That one went totally under my radar  it’s definitely unique!


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 18, 2022)

Outback Bronze said:


> Unsure cant remember    I doubt it thought.
> 
> I can boot it over the weekend if your keen?
> 
> The last time I booted up this mobo it had horrible vdroop so I've been looking for a pencil mod where I place conductive silver. Done it a few times with other mobo's (P45 comes to mind) with great success. Just need to know where the mod goes. I've been unable to find anything on a pencil mod for the 790i and most web pages don't exist anymore because the board is now 14 years old : (


If you're wanting to give it a go, sure I'd be interested in seeing how it goes along.  I just did some light digging and as you say, all the images are totally gone... very unfortunate. 750i has unbearable vDroop too.


INSTG8R said:


> As an avid fan an owner of many Abit boards(including an IP35 Pro I still have posted somewhere in this thread) That one went totally under my radar  it’s definitely unique!


Absolutely! I've become a fan after the IP35 Pro, it's an amazing board. The only issue I have with it is the vDroop with quad cores / Pentium D, but it's really not the worst in that regard either. That one is (or will have been...) my favorite board to test LGA775 with by far.

I just ordered that same Ballistix yellow RAM as well, just a slightly different style heatspreader 

The Corsair seems to be Nanya, thanks Warp9


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 18, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> If you're wanting to give it a go, sure I'd be interested in seeing how it goes along.  I just did some light digging and as you say, all the images are totally gone... very unfortunate. 750i has unbearable vDroop too.
> 
> Absolutely! I've become a fan after the IP35 Pro, it's an amazing board. The only issue I have with it is the vDroop with quad cores / Pentium D, but it's really not the worst in that regard either. That one is (or will have been...) my favorite board to test LGA775 with by far.
> 
> ...


Oh I had the IC-7 the AT-8 32X, IP35 Pro and one I just can’t remember was a long time user and very lost when they were gone…I’ve all the original parts to rebuild the AT+8 on air just no case or space









						TechPowerUp
					






					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 18, 2022)

Outback Bronze said:


> Yeah, that's what I said then I saw this for $80 AUD : )
> 
> View attachment 240247


Nice find! I have to come back to Nvidia chipsets some day. This is asking for some kind of SLI setup.

Random note to Core 2 Duo binning: From my very limited sample size of CPUs with the same batch I found no perceived similarities in OC. They show the same deviations. But I don't have enough samples to make a meaningful conclusion. 5 CPUs split across 2 batches. Batch A has one very good and one below average result. Batch B produced 2 mediocre and one good result.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 18, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Random note to Core 2 Duo binning: From my very limited sample size of CPUs with the same batch I found no perceived similarities in OC. They show the same deviations. But I don't have enough samples to make a meaningful conclusion. 5 CPUs split across 2 batches. Batch A has one very good and one below average result. Batch B produced 2 mediocre and one good result.


Most E8xxx will overclock very well given an appropriate board. 6xxx I haven't tested much yet.

My 2nd E8400 dialed to 4.5ghz, but I got it to bench at 5ghz with an aio chucked in top. The first e8400 didn't post at all   



Sometimes you can get a dud, but most of them are fairly okay silicon.

I'd like to bench more E8xxx.

I just got a C2D E6600 and C2Q Q6600 I will have to overclock. Also a Celeron 420. My Celeron 450 topped out around 3.5ghz, which is not half bad for the garbage tier silicon those are.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 18, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Sometimes you can get a dud, but most of them are fairly okay silicon.


All of the E0 are okay from what I can see. I have 25 of them binned and 6 C0 on top. The C0 struggle to get far into 4Ghz. While 90% of my E0 could hit 4.25GHz with 1.35V. With enough voltage you can get many of them close to 5GHz, but the ones that can hit 5GHz on a 'daily safe' voltage are rather rare.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 18, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Well, I got a ton of stuff in recently. Will try to be concise.
> 
> This is the ebay lot of DDR2 I got plus 4 sticks I got included with a bunch of 775 CPUs.
> 
> ...


Seems like you have an eye for a bargin cool ,good for you.What section do i look for on Facebook Market place for the ram motherboards etc?PC hardware?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Seems like you have an eye for a bargin cool ,good for you.What section do i look for on Facebook Market place for the ram motherboards etc?PC hardware?


You have to look all over, even sometimes beyond the electronics category, for reasons I'll explain.

Few tips. First and foremost, for bargain hunting, in most cases,
eBay < Everything else

eBay has a much wider audience which usually leads to a lot of bidders and buyers to pick up any good deal. Plus eBay fees and shipping etc inflate prices. However, If you know what to look for and have a bit of luck, you CAN get good deals. 

Usually Facebook or Craigslist has better deals. Both for shipping and local deals. Sometimes you can get good prices from people that don't know what they have and just think they have old junk of unknown functionality, when it's actually an item that a collector or enthusiast still would pay good money for. Or sometimes people just want to sell something quickly.



Spoiler: Tips that can help 



Few strategies that can help. Mislabeled items can be a great opportunity. For example, say there is an auction for a motherboard but it's listed under the monitor category, it won't show up for people looking for motherboards and probably will get few bids or offers, allowing for a good deal to be had. Sometimes you will find people with bad photos, terrible descriptions, or lacking information so nobody else will buy them, which sometimes means a good deal for you. I've gotten scammed like this before, but eBay is great about refunds. Another way involves some risk too, and that is with "untested" or "for parts listings". You have to be very careful and can get burned even if you know what you are looking for, but sometimes you can get very good deals this way. For example, a motherboard worth $70 might only sell for $25 if it has bent pins, which you could possibly fix and get a super cheap board. Or you can get a GPU for cheap because someone pulled out of their PC when they upgraded and they haven't used in years since, so they listed as untested. Or maybe they are listing as untested since they know it's broken but don't want to lose as much money.


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 19, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Before I show the disassembly, I'll touch briefly on this CPU cooler which came with the board. It's a ZEROTherm BTF95 (link is for BTF90).
> View attachment 240206
> View attachment 240207
> Full-copper, passive cooler, with the BTF80 & BTF90 versions having an optional MagLev fan.
> ...


The thermal paste is Titans own Titan Silver thermal paste AC silver is a dark grey paste not shiny like this but the good thing about it is it never goes off it performs just as good 5 years down the track as it did on day one


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 19, 2022)

I remember when the butterfly cooler came out.
That is a collector piece now. Pretty rare.


----------



## Outback Bronze (Mar 19, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> This is asking for some kind of SLI setup



Yeah, that's what these bad boys are for.





Or Tri SLI : )


----------



## micropage7 (Mar 19, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Browsing eBay listings as I too frequently do, I found yet another board that I've been fond of from afar: the Abit AB9 QuadGT.
> 
> I saw the Anandtech review while researching the IP35 Pro, and from the moment I saw it I was hooked...
> View attachment 240203
> ...


damn good find  actually that's the effect of market place that sometimes you find something that interesting with low tag, but buying 2nd stuff sometimes hang on your luck


----------



## TOMCAT (Mar 19, 2022)

I am quite sure I saw such a BTF-95 butterfly before, hanging in a christmas tree. 

It is a good quality cooler with the special look and the problems of all copper only coolers. In short: it catches the heat very good, but keeps it.
92 mm fan mount is easy.  Front has 8 holes through all the fins and I used bare copper wire for self-bend hooks.
Tail mount needs a bit of bending fins and cutting fan frame for a 92 mm slim fan.

And the next item on your search list is a dark red PCB Abit 775 fatal1ty board.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 19, 2022)

TOMCAT said:


> I am quite sure I saw such a BTF-95 butterfly before, hanging in a christmas tree.
> 
> It is a good quality cooler with the special look and the problems of all copper only coolers. In short: it catches the heat very good, but keeps it.
> 92 mm fan mount is easy.  Front has 8 holes through all the fins and I used bare copper wire for self-bend hooks.
> ...


True... making fan hooks with wire as you mentioned would be mighty easy.

I see it's beauteous enough to be your profile picture - I'll clean it up and try to make it look really nice so I can give it a go 

Damn, red PCB would go super well with this... It's a shame those Abit Fatal1ty boards are really hard to find, in my experience at least.


----------



## stef (Mar 19, 2022)

Macgyvering Arctic F8 fan to PII 450 heatsink:













Fits perfectly to Asus P2B . I've never seen such a badass heatsink. CPUs came Compaq branded.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 19, 2022)

*FRESH LOOT! or should I say LOOT GALORE?* 

1. AMD K7600MTR51B A - Slot A - I'm a slot A "whore". I hoard them like crazy. I lost count of how many motherboards and CPUs I got. Which is a good thing in my book!
2. AMD K5 PR166 - AMD-K5-PR166ABR - always wanted one. Now I got one!
3. ASUS K7M Rev 1.04 Slot A + K7 700MHz CPU - need I say Slot A? I'm such a slut!!!  4th ? 5th? I lost count again. I have all flavors, with and without Super Bypass.
4. ASUS Geforce FX 5600 128MB AGP - V9560 128M Rev. 1.02 - a Geforce FX? HECK YEAH!
5. ASUS M2N32-SLI DELUXE REV. 1.04G with Athlon 64x2 3800+ - great piece of tech. Solid and heavy like tank. Did I mention that it gets quite hot? Under load of course.
6. A stomped on MFM controller which made a full recovery. Now to check if one of my Winchester drives is able to talk to this puppy. I wonder ...
7. Another Athlon XP 3200+ - AXDA3200DKV4E - the 4th I got.
8. A BIOSTAR Sk.3 MB-1433/50UVC-D PCB VER:2 - which is still going strong! Some battery leak damage but nothing terminal.
9. ASUS P5E DELUXE REV. 2.00G with a Celeron E3300. That made me laugh hard! Am X48 with a crappy CPU! AWESOME! I LIKE IT!
10. ASUS A8V S939 + Athlon 64 3200+ a second one. It needs a new Winbond W83627THF-A IC which I ordered from China.
11. Gigabyte GA-BX2000 /  440BX Slot 1 + P3 550MHz SL3FJ - Immortal 440BX!!!
12.  ELSA Winner PRO PCI - in bad shape. It has been fully restored and it works like a dream.
13.  A bunch of Winbond W83783S chips have arrived from China. Now MY ABIT BE6 is complete and firing on all cylinders. This is a story to be told! Soon!
14.  Matrox Mystique 220 4MB PCI - missing the bracket but otherwise working well.
15.  A dead 3dfx VooDoo 3 2000 16MB AGP - the heatsink was bent and because the thermal glue is stupidly strong it also lifted at least 10-15 traces and pads from the PCB. RIP.
16.  Leadtek WinFast A280 Ultra - UNICORNS DO EXIST! - Finally a working Geforce 4 4600Ti! It needed 3 caps changed. This is a Win(ner)Fast awesome card!
17.  Full Copper Sk.A CPU coolers?! COUNT ME IN! I got 3 of these beasts.
18.  MiroSound PCM Pro1 ISA - almost repaired. I still need a 3.3uf 35V SMD cap
19. ASUS ATI Radeon 2600XT PCI-E - repaired. A torn transistor and also torn pads.
20. HIS ATI Radeon X800GTO IceQ II 256MB PCI-E - this makes me want to drive a GTO on Route 66 right into the sunset!!!
21. Misc - P2 400MHz, AMD 486 DX4 100MHz, Be Quiet 350W with strong 3.3V and 5V rails, dual fan. 2x Creative Audigy 2. A Gainward S3 Virge AGP... Lots of other trinkets of all shapes and sizes! 
22. *For sure I forgot something but I'll get to them eventually!

More later dudes!* 
​
More pics.


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 19, 2022)

Robert B said:


> *FRESH LOOT! or should I say LOOT GALORE?*
> 
> 1. AMD K7600MTR51B A - Slot A - I'm a slot A "whore". I hoard them like crazy. I lost count of how many motherboards and CPUs I got. Which is a good thing in my book!
> 2. AMD K5 PR166 - AMD-K5-PR166ABR - always wanted one. Now I got one!
> ...


Oh how I wished I still had my 2900XT! Terrible card but one of the most beautiful ones ever! That 2600 brings.me the feels. I usually pass down my old hardware to someone in need so not sure who got it.  That HIS is a looker too but they always  were.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 19, 2022)

That is quite the selection. Nice!

I am mildly jealous of that ASUS A8V, as I want a nice 939 board at some point. I actually have a really nice one but it is broken.

I always love the HIS IceQ cards. That was mostly why I got the specific X1650 I have. The coolers are actually made by Arctic and they are very good, although the fan can be a bit noisy.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 19, 2022)

Figured I'd post my "Netburst Mercedes" here as well.











Specs:

Gigabyte GA-8IG1000 Pro
Pentium 4 HT 3GHz (Prescott)
L&C LC-B400ATX PSU (rebuilt, hence the sleeved cables - they come from a dead Thermaltake TR2-420NP)
Linkworld 3210 case (restored, with new power/HDD LEDs)
2GB DDR-400 RAM
Sapphire Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB DDR2
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE SB0570
Pinnacle 330i TV Tuner
Hitachi Deskstar 80GB IDE HDD (boot drive)
WD Raptor WD740GD-00FLA1 74GB (storage drive)
Lite-On DVDROM/CDRW
Running vanilla XP SP3 VLK.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 19, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> You have to look all over, even sometimes beyond the electronics category, for reasons I'll explain.
> 
> Few tips. First and foremost, for bargain hunting, in most cases,
> eBay < Everything else
> ...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 19, 2022)

Robert B said:


> *FRESH LOOT! or should I say LOOT GALORE?*
> 
> 1. AMD K7600MTR51B A - Slot A - I'm a slot A "whore". I hoard them like crazy. I lost count of how many motherboards and CPUs I got. Which is a good thing in my book!
> 2. AMD K5 PR166 - AMD-K5-PR166ABR - always wanted one. Now I got one!
> ...


Oh wow. Take those filters off that Winfast card. Those were never a good idea..



MaxiPro800 said:


> Figured I'd post my "Netburst Mercedes" here as well.


That is just funny!


----------



## stef (Mar 19, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> That is quite the selection. Nice!
> 
> I am mildly jealous of that ASUS A8V, as I want a nice 939 board at some point. I actually have a really nice one but it is broken.
> 
> I always love the HIS IceQ cards. That was mostly why I got the specific X1650 I have. The coolers are actually made by Arctic and they are very good, although the fan can be a bit noisy.



I managed to get my hands on Abit AV8 3rd eye (with working uGuru clock) .... it took some time to come across one.
Arctic coolers start to rattle with time. There is theory that fan controller (on card) is the culprint, it causes spikes in voltage which kills the fan.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 19, 2022)

All good points there.  I have not sold anything on eBay yet.So don,t know what the fees are.And a lot of luck to get a good a deal.I have never looked on not craigslist thats one i will look at, and there is another one.Gumtree.Trouble is a lot of people are more knowlageable  about stuff these days.But i know what you mean about others who have no idea about what they are selling.I have heard about people on you tube getting higher end product because the seller put the wrong specs in for the goods that was for GPU,s.Mind you a lot of them get stuff for nothing.


----------



## ThrashZone (Mar 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> All good points there.  I have not sold anything on eBay yet.So don,t know what the fees are.And a lot of luck to get a good a deal.I have never looked on not craigslist thats one i will look at, and there is another one.Gumtree.Trouble is a lot of people are more knowlageable about stuff these days.But i know what you mean about others who have no idea about what they are selling.I have heard about people on you tube getting higher end product because the seller put the wrong specs in for the goods that was for GPU,s.Mind you a lot of them get stuff for nothing.


Hi,
I use both ebay and local craigslist
I sell cheaper on CL for obvious reasons I've not bought much of anything on CL but have bought a few items on ebay, no gpu's though.

I've never used heatware or what ever it is that's required on TPU market place to sell items here though.

eBay has changed now it's not tied to paypal so much and ebay deposits money directly to which ever account you want it to so no paypal fee.
It was probably always an option they "eBay" just pushed paypal over direct deposit.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 19, 2022)

You don't have PayPal taking a cut on top of eBay fees anymore, but eBay takes plenty of money from you.

After an item sells, eBay takes 12.9% of the items sale and then 12.9% of the shipping cost. Plus, listing fees can sometimes apply, and eBay also upcharges you for certain listing features, such as adding a reserve to an auction. The price of the items on eBay usually winds up inflated partially because of this.

I haven't sold on eBay in awhile myself.

Gumtree is mostly just an Australian site.


----------



## ThrashZone (Mar 19, 2022)

Hi,
You don't have to use eBay shipping.
Or additional promote an add you post.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 19, 2022)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> I use both ebay and local craigslist
> I sell cheaper on CL for obvious reasons I've not bought much of anything on CL but have bought a few items on ebay, no gpu's though.
> 
> ...


There is  not much in the way of Pc stuff on craigslist in my area London that is.Yes i know that people don,t have to use Paypal on  ebay now.Sellers are glad of that ,but me as a buyer like Paypal.when i do eventually get round to selling on eBay i would like like other payments.Buyers good for Paypal, sellers not.On the subject of eBay they keep on asking me to verify my phone number ,i have had the same number since i was first on there.And they show it, i click for them to send me a text but they never do. 



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> You don't have PayPal taking a cut on top of eBay fees anymore, but eBay takes plenty of money from you.
> 
> After an item sells, eBay takes 12.9% of the items sale and then 12.9% of the shipping cost. Plus, listing fees can sometimes apply, and eBay also upcharges you for certain listing features, such as adding a reserve to an auction. The price of the items on eBay usually winds up inflated partially because of this.
> 
> ...


Why is it that some people charge a lot more on the same item for postage?.I prefer the postage to be on the item.I got something from Germany and the postage was a pound less than the item.But the item was unavailable in the UK.
Gumtree is here in the uk.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Why is it that some people charge a lot more on the same item for postage?.I prefer the postage to be on the item.I got something from Germany and the postage was a pound less than the item.But the item was unavailable in the UK.



Actual shipping cost can vary quite a bit based on where a seller is vs. the buyer, what services are available to both parties and what the seller prefers, and also can be simply inflated.  Many sellers list a low selling price and jack shipping cost to make the item look more attractive.  Others have a percentage markup in shipping as part of their business model.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 19, 2022)

So I got done overclocking some of the ddr2 today... Rather unimpressed. The XMS kept going higher clocks but at the expense of timings. The patriot and bottom 2 ocz kits refused to oc last 1000mhz regardless of timings and voltage.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 19, 2022)

So, all of the issues with the AB9 QuadGT were fixed by moving to BIOS 17 instead of 18. For some reason, 17 supports E0 even though the changelog states that the only addition in 18 is E0 support. I have no idea why they even bothered to release 18... but perhaps there were other changes under the hood which weren't fully implemented correctly.

Regardless, I took one of my best E8500's and validated it near both its max speed and the max stable speed. This board had no problems handling this, but it did require 1.60v NB (130nm so it's basically a tank) and TRAS 18 to hit such speeds. The RAM in question is 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix CL4-4-4-12, 800MHz (yellow heatspreader, p/n BL12864AA80A.8FE5, I have no idea which precise IC).

*4.6GHz Validation*

*4.75GHz Validation*

This motherboard kicks ass. I have no doubt that I could do villainous things to this CPU with an AIO...



Robert B said:


> *FRESH LOOT! or should I say LOOT GALORE?*
> ASUS P5E DELUXE REV. 2.00G with a Celeron E3300. That made me laugh hard! Am X48 with a crappy CPU! AWESOME! I LIKE IT!


Amazing haul... As a relapsed LGA775 whore myself, that P5E is absolutely beautiful.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 20, 2022)

*I'm on a roll baby! *

This haul is such a trip into the past that makes me want to jump into a time machine and relive those days to the absolute maximum. Looking back those times were the absolute best for me, too bad we realize such things only when they have passed us by ... life is short ... do your best and enjoy it!

The 386 16MHz board is mint with zero battery leak damage. THANK YOU DALLAS RTC! I BOW TO YOU!!!

The V1 has a screw that went though it. Some jerk fixed that "priceless" artefact to a f......g wall using a damned screw. There are so many options to do this that DO NOT INVOLVE destroying the card ... I still HAVE A DREAM and a sliver of hope to fix it ...

Also believe it or not, to this date that VLB VGA card is my first of its kind!

Today was a GOOD DAY!

*More to come*. I do not plan to slow down anytime soon!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 20, 2022)

Robert B said:


> *I'm on a roll baby! *
> 
> This haul is such a trip into the past that makes me want to jump into a time machine and relive those days to the absolute maximum. Looking back those times were the absolute best for me, too bad we realize such things only when they have passed us by ... life is short ... do your best and enjoy it!
> 
> ...


What's with the video card with the screw through it?


----------



## Robert B (Mar 20, 2022)

Some guy fixed it on a concrete wall to display it.  Heck if I know what was the purpose of such an action. People are s....d ... I do not know the guy I just got it this way. The trace repair is easy to fix. The all important question is what happened with the layers under them!

I think that it is still working and I intend to find this ASAP! 

...


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 20, 2022)

Robert B said:


> *I'm on a roll baby! *
> 
> This haul is such a trip into the past that makes me want to jump into a time machine and relive those days to the absolute maximum. Looking back those times were the absolute best for me, too bad we realize such things only when they have passed us by ... life is short ... do your best and enjoy it!
> 
> ...



Jeebus cripes; right through the traces?  Double-yew. Tee. Eff.  Not sure how that card's anything but a goner, but mad props if you can bring it back!


----------



## Robert B (Mar 20, 2022)

My hope is that maybe just the ground plane is affected and restoring the top traces might bring it back to life.

I'll find out and so will you.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 20, 2022)

A teaser of my next build.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 20, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> A teaser of my next build.
> View attachment 240663


Holy Super Socket 7 Batman!



Robert B said:


> The all important question is what happened with the layers under them!





Robert B said:


> My hope is that maybe just the ground plane is affected and restoring the top traces might bring it back to life.


You might be right. As good as you are, I'm not going to hold my breath with this one though.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 21, 2022)

We'll see together.  The only problem for me are those heatsinks as they interfere with my soldering iron which isn't the right tool for the job. 

Regardless, this means that I'll have to get creative.


----------



## stef (Mar 21, 2022)

P3 / Windows 98 build progressing nicely:




* P3-S 1266 / Voodoo 3000 / Aureal Vortex 2


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 21, 2022)

stef said:


> P3 / Windows 98 build progressing nicely:
> View attachment 240708
> 
> * P3-S 1266 / Voodoo 3000 / Aureal Vortex 2


Good GPU cooler!


----------



## stef (Mar 21, 2022)

It works .


----------



## Courier 6 (Mar 21, 2022)

stef said:


> P3 / Windows 98 build progressing nicely:
> View attachment 240708
> 
> * P3-S 1266 / Voodoo 3000 / Aureal Vortex 2


heh yes, voodoo 3 3000, recognized it because of the heatsink, still have mine back from the day, have a 2000 too


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Mar 21, 2022)

Slowly bringing my old P2B build on track.

Replaced the 20GB HDD with a 40GB WDC, installed an Audigy 2 ZS and installed 2000 SP4 as well. There's still some more stuff to do but hopefully I'll get it running fine in no time.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 21, 2022)

I got  Windows7 on my dual boot of XP.Yesterday it said there were updates.I was surprised  at that .But today i tried it and  my Pal browser said this is an unsafe site and was unable to get off it.I put AVG on there and it said my date was wrong.The scan did not find anything. AVG says *Please update your computer, s time to prevent security.*The next bit made me laugh,*And time travelling issues*  I don,t know about you lot on here ,but i would love to go time traverling.Your all Retro in here so i guess you would to.It says on the os* this copy of Windows is not genuine*build 7601 .It did not say it was on the Internet Archive archive.org if i new that i would not have used it.The date and time says 27.05.19.Has anyone had that message of the anti virus *Time traverling* It got the right time itself and doing a lot of updates .  I have home premium 7 on two  official discs and the keys but could not get them to work on my latest PC. This one is os Home basic.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 21, 2022)

Got an XP laptop finally! It's a Dell Latitude D620 that cost me a whopping $25 locally. This one was specced with a 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo, 1.5gb ram, and GMA950. It came with a battery, charger, and HDD mounting hardware, but no HDD itself.










It does work, even the battery which appears to be a third party replacement. The condition is a little more grim than the photos looked like, so I have some work to do.

The screen is in good shape, but the hinge on the right side is rattly and the screen is loose overall. The trackpad is very worn, but the keyboard is in good shape. It appears to need a CMOS battery given the message you can see vaguely on screen. Overall the machine is decent but the keyboard etc are quite dirty. It is going to take a lot of tlc but I think this should be a nice laptop when all is said and done.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The date and time says 27.05.19.Has anyone had that message of the anti virus *Time traverling* It got the right time itself and doing a lot of updates .


When you enter the BIOS, does it display the correct date and time? If not - and you're sure that you set it previously - it could be a failing CMOS battery.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 22, 2022)

Looking like the Latitude is not going to be an easy restoration... Sigh...

Starting out positive, the exterior cleaned up okay. I got a lot of gunk off and wiped it all down. The keyboard is still a bit dirty but mostly clean now. Overall exterior looks decent all things considered. Also good,  the ram under the keyboard is a Quimonda 512mb stick I assume is factory, but the ram under the door in back is a nice G.skill 1g stick that presumably was an upgrade at some point.

The screen is in very nice shape and I quite like the keyboard feel. A lot of travel.

The bad:

The CMOS battery measures 0.15v, so I'll have to replace that. But it's got leads soldered to it and plugs into ard through a cable, so that's not straightforward.

I helped make the right hinge less wobbly by just tightening screws, but the plastic of the left one is physically broken and the screen falls flat at random because of this...
There is also some corrosion on the bottom of the keyboard and additionally some elsewhere on the chassis. Not horrible, but I think liquid was spilled here at least once.

But the worst part is when I try to actually use it. I figured the battery was dead and wasn't alarmed when it didn't turn on. When I reseated the battery it turner on for the photo in the first post. But it turns out giving and cutting power is the only way for this to turn on. The power button does nothing. When given power most of the time it will power on and give the message shown earlier. From here, usually no keys do anything. One or 2 times I got into the bios by pressing f2 on a USB keyboard, but usually it's just frozen and won't even let me do that. Sometimes it gets stuck on the bios screen and doesn't even get to the CMOS error. The power button does nothing to turn the pc on or off, I just have to cut power and give it back. If I leave the battery in, the PC will turn on and off randomly every few minutes. I've tried switching around ram, removing the wifi card, etc. No avail. The PC won't turn on at all without a keyboard, and when keyboard is connected it immediately turns on, making me think something might be bridged, possibly by corrosion.

I'm going to have to do further investigation and troubleshooting. If anyone has ideas I'm all ears.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 22, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> When you enter the BIOS, does it display the correct date and time? If not - and you're sure that you set it previously - it could be a failing CMOS battery.


I just checked it and it is all fine.When Windows7  did the update it shut down ,and went back to the proper time.I thought Windows 7 was not longer being up dated.  I see that the 27.5.19  was still in the update period and the last update should have been 14 January 2020.It is a shame
i can,t get the key for it  though, because that was the only one i could get everything to work on Windows 7.I tried many iso files.Mind you it keeps on doing updates when i shut i down 50 updates.


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 22, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just checked it and it is all fine.When Windows7  did the update it shut down ,and went back to the proper time.I thought Windows 7 was not longer being up dated.  I see that the 27.5.19  was still in the update period and the last update should have been 14 January 2020.It is a shame
> i can,t get the key for it  though, because that was the only one i could get everything to work on Windows 7.I tried many iso files.Mind you it keeps on doing updates when i shut i down 50 updates.



If you use AIDA64 and then go to the section: Motherboard / ACPI you may get lucky and drag it out from there some laptop makers used to store a key in there


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Got an XP laptop finally! It's a Dell Latitude D620 that cost me a whopping $25 locally. This one was specced with a 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo, 1.5gb ram, and GMA950. It came with a battery, charger, and HDD mounting hardware, but no HDD itself.
> 
> It does work, even the battery which appears to be a third party replacement. The condition is a little more grim than the photos looked like, so I have some work to do.


For $25, that's a score! Slap in 2x2GB sodimms(cheap on ebay), an inexpensive 2.5" SSD and you have a solid portable.


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> The screen is in good shape, but the hinge on the right side is rattly and the screen is loose overall.


That is likely the hinge screws having come loose. That the top part of the base off and the screen bezel and tighten them up. You should be good to go!


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It appears to need a CMOS battery given the message you can see vaguely on screen.


Those are dead cheap and easy to replace.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 22, 2022)

I wish it was only lose but this one is is broken.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 240837View attachment 240838
> I wish it was only lose but this one is is broken.


Oh wow! Don't see that very often. Replacements should be inexpensive. Presuming you're stateside;








						Dell D620 D630 Hinges For Lids Jd104 Yt450 (tu507) for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell D620 D630 Hinges For Lids Jd104 Yt450 (tu507) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



If you're not in the US, you can likely still find them for a good price, and if you've got that far into taking apart the system, you can see they're not difficult to replace.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 22, 2022)

I am in the US. I'll save that listing thanks.

I'll buy that if I end up fixing the system and making it operate properly. First I'm thinking remove the mobo and clean it.

Luckily replacement boards are dirt cheap if that's what it comes too, keyboards are even less.








						Dell Latitude D620 Laptop Intel Motherboard NVIDIA Gk189 Tested for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell Latitude D620 Laptop Intel Motherboard NVIDIA Gk189 Tested at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Courier 6 (Mar 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 240837View attachment 240838
> I wish it was only lose but this one is is broken.


Maybe some superglue or JB weld could fix that, no?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 22, 2022)

I don't think that I can just glue/epoxy it because the metal is constantly pressing on it. But I can try.

Another idea:



A different seller is selling this for $25 locally too. No battery or charger. It's a core duo machine with 2gb ram. Don't know if the motherboard would be work with the core 2 duo?  I'm sure some other parts would interchange. Could take 2 laptops and make 1 good one.


----------



## Courier 6 (Mar 22, 2022)

I have a IBM thinkpad 560 Type 2640, it works without issues, but no USB or CD drive, can´t do anything with it realy


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2022)

Curier 6 said:


> Maybe some superglue or JB weld could fix that, no?


No. That would not work. The pressures involved in a hinge are far more than SuperGlue or JBWeld can handle. It would just end up being a mess.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Don't know if the motherboard would be work with the core 2 duo?


Yes, it would. Make sure the BIOS is updated and the C2D should work perfectly.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 22, 2022)

When I got it, the right hinge was incredibly wobbly because the screw was very loose. I think having no support on the right was what lead to the left hinge's demise. I tightened the right hinge screw and that's pretty tight and not wobbly anymore but the screen basically rotates freely and won't stay in any position because of that.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> When I got it, the right hinge was incredibly wobbly because the screw was very loose. I think having no support on the right was what lead to the left hinge's demise. I tightened the right hinge screw and that's pretty tight and not wobbly anymore but the screen basically rotates freely and won't stay in any position because of that.


Sounds about right. Easy to recover though. That second system should offer a good set of spare parts or as a base to put parts unto.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 22, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> If you use AIDA64 and then go to the section: Motherboard / ACPI you may get lucky and drag it out from there some laptop makers used to store a key in there


No it want because it is a Haswell machine ,it came with Windows 8.I will have to try again with another Iso.If it keeps on doing the same updates it will fill the space of the disc.It takes me back to when some one repaired  my first Pc many years ago ,and put a non genuine Windows on there.I did think that it was odd that someone who repaires Pc.s would do that.  When i qua-rid him about it he said he put Norton on there for no extra charge.I think we all agree Norton is not good.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 22, 2022)

Testing the MIIG (https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-533#post-4720644) was a handful. Seems the mATX layout plus late release with little support from Asus did it no good in terms of OC.
It did not even run 400 FSB with auto GTLs, and the problem became quickly apparent. The MCH reference line was impossible to get really stable, signal integrity is horrible on this board. With some tweaking I got 480 stable. With extreme tweaking and hours of playing with it I got a single 32m pass at 535, but this result was not reproducible. I got it to boot at 560, but it always freezes within 2 seconds. Higher VTT (1.24V+) makes it even more unstable. NB voltage does absolutely nothing. Impossible to boot this board with even just 1.3V VTT due to the signal quality issue. Like it literally stops working even below 400 FSB.

But in reality the ~500 FSB is still plenty for a normal setup. Air or water OC for a neat LAN-System is no issue.




Funny enough this E8500 is the hottest one I have. I actually ran into thermal issues with my water setup at around 1.5V and I had to disable LLC. With vdroop it hit 65°C core temps under load @ 1.40V. 230W system power draw. It has a 1.1V VID. Clocks okay but it stops scaling at around 4.8GHz / 1.4V.


----------



## Bones (Mar 22, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Testing the MIIG (https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-533#post-4720644) was a handful. Seems the mATX layout plus late release with little support from Asus did it no good in terms of OC.
> It did not even run 400 FSB with auto GTLs, and the problem became quickly apparent. The MCH reference line was impossible to get really stable, signal integrity is horrible on this board. With some tweaking I got 480 stable. With extreme tweaking and hours of playing with it I got a single 32m pass at 535, but this result was not reproducible. I got it to boot at 560, but it always freezes within 2 seconds. Higher VTT (1.24V+) makes it even more unstable. NB voltage does absolutely nothing. Impossible to boot this board with even just 1.3V VTT due to the signal quality issue. Like it literally stops working even below 400 FSB.
> 
> But in reality the ~500 FSB is still plenty for a normal setup. Air or water OC for a neat LAN-System is no issue.
> ...


Chips like being warm (Not hot) to get good bus speeds from them.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 22, 2022)

This laptop seriously must have been designed by people who intentionally tried to make it hard to repair.





Want to replace thermal paste? Okay just take off the screen and the entire rest of the chassis.

Want to replace the fan? Okay. Just remove screen, then the chassis has to come apart, then the freaking motherboard has to come out. And then you can remove it.

But, I got to where I need to be.  


After a visual inspection, it all looks fine to be honest, just very dirty. I'll clean it and hope for the best.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 22, 2022)

Pretty good video from Linus about 2010'ish GPUs 












lexluthermiester said:


> Good GPU cooler!


I have a similar one, cost like 3EUR from ebay (as getting a branded 100% same thing is like 10EUR)


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> This laptop seriously must have been designed by people who intentionally tried to make it hard to repair.



Well yeah, frigging Dell.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> This laptop seriously must have been designed by people who intentionally tried to make it hard to repair.
> 
> View attachment 240889
> 
> ...


Reassembled after cleaning/scrubbing the board with alcohol. Same issue. I honestly don't know what the issue would be.

Perhaps it could just be CMOS battery related? Or maybe the motherboard is faulty? Maybe it's the keyboard, although I doubt.

After talking to the seller, due to logistics the other $25 Latitude D620 isn't happening, so that's a bummer.



stinger608 said:


> Well yeah, frigging Dell.


My daily driver laptop is a HP Elitebook  8470P (i7 3720qm, 8gb ram, 240g SSD) I absolutely love how repairable it is. One latch, battery out. Another latch, the whole bottom cover slides off. From there, ram and storage can be upgraded without tools. Every single screw size is labeled on the plastic. 2  screws the CPU fan comes out. 4 more the cooler off and socketed CPU can come out. 

I figured something older would be comparable but apparently not. Tbh it's not impossible to do, I got it all apart and back together, but it's not easy.


----------



## stinger608 (Mar 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> My daily driver laptop is a HP Elitebook 8470P (i7 3720qm, 8gb ram, 240g SSD) I absolutely love how repairable it is.



Yeppers, I have a pal that has that same laptop and have had to replace his hard drive and I couldn't believe how easy that puppy came apart.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 22, 2022)

My Thinkpad E540 is also very easy to clean/repair as it has the door for easy acceptable RAM/SSD/CPU.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 23, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> This laptop seriously must have been designed by people who intentionally tried to make it hard to repair.


It was designed to be compact. I might have a bias due to experience as I consider the D620 easy to service. You want difficult to work on, try HP laptops...


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 23, 2022)

Possibly compact for the time, but it is harder to repair than any other laptop I've ever owned. My HP is both thinner and far far easier to repair.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 23, 2022)

I hate when you have to disassemble the whole laptop to do some maintenance/upgrades. And it's 100% sure that there will be at least one screw left over.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 23, 2022)

How many of you have or had one of these classic Pc,s .  







 i understand they weren,t so populer in the US.It is only recently i have heared about it.As i have only had a PC since 2005.It looks a good Pc.What with the new Mini 500 







 it looks cool. I wish it had the full funtions like the origanal ,not just the games.Will any of you be getting one of thses?
Since joining this site i have been getting more and more into Retro stuff.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How many of you have or had one of these classic Pc,s
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To be honest, I haven't even seen an Amiga live ever. I had a C64 though but I sold it to my friend.


----------



## Chomiq (Mar 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How many of you have or had one of these classic Pc,s .
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My friend had Amiga, we used to blast North & South, MK 2 and Worms on it. All I remember about was that mouse was terrible and fatality in MK 2 had you swapping floppies.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 23, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> To be honest, I haven't even seen an Amiga live ever. I had a C64 though but I sold it to my friend.


That is another intrsting one the C64. The maxi one looks good 







 Hope they  rlease a full size Amiga 500 with all the funtions like the PIMega with the full funtion of the Amiga ,from another of my fav you tubers ET Prime 







 the Pi rules such a amazing Pc.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is another intrsting one the C64. The maxi one looks good
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah I've seen that C64 mini video before. 8-Bit Guy is a great youtuber what it comes to old (usually not x86 PC) hardware.

edit: This is a great playlist from him if Commodore interests more:


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 23, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Possibly compact for the time, but it is harder to repair than any other laptop I've ever owned. My HP is both thinner and far far easier to repair.


Fair enough. Things do change over time..


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Fair enough. Things do change over time..


It depends a lot on the model, too


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How many of you have or had one of these classic Pc,s .
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Amiga was an amazing computer for its time. It was far ahead of the competition when it came out, especially in the graphics and sound department. So much in fact, that we wouldn't see anything with similar performance for another two-three years. Only when the fourth generation consoles hit the market and VGA and Adlib became standard on PC compatibles, did they come close to the Amiga. Because of its superior multimedia capabilities, this computer is also widely credited with popularizing the demo scene.










I played many games on my buddies' Amigas and I remember being mightily impressed with them. Never had one myself, though. I almost persuaded my mom to get me the Amiga 1200 as my first computer, but on her friend's advice I ended up with a 386 PC instead.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Fair enough. Things do change over time..


Not for the beter a lot of the time.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 23, 2022)

I made a separate thread for X58, check it out everyone if interested. On this subforum.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 23, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> The Amiga was an amazing computer for its time. It was far ahead of the competition when it came out, especially in the graphics and sound department. So much in fact, that we wouldn't see anything with similar performance for another two-three years. Only when the fourth generation consoles hit the market and VGA and Adlib became standard on PC compatibles, did they come close to the Amiga. Because of its superior multimedia capabilities, this computer is also widely credited with popularizing the demo scene.
> 
> I played many games on my buddies' Amigas and I remember being mightily impressed with them. Never had one myself, though. I almost persuaded my mom to get me the Amiga 1200 as my first computer, but on her friend's advice I ended up with a 386 PC instead.


It Certainly seems it from the you tube videos i have seen.  I look forward to a new full sized version of it.With all the stuff they had on them not just the games.After all there are lots of places you can play games on.Could the c64 do more than just play games?


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 23, 2022)

I'm getting in a bunch of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 (mostly the newer yellow model 8/16FE5, couple Crucial 10y Anniversary, couple low-capacity Tracers). This video was taken during my testing of 2x2GB Ballistix D2 sticks, at default timings just to make sure they work as expected. To the naked ear, you can clearly and frequently hear an electrical ~pszh~. It's most obvious in the very beginning of the recording, I hope it's easy to make out! It seems to happen every time it switches test patterns - and during normal use, I can tell when the CPU is idle by the noise 

Volterra VRMs can be noisy apparently, a lot of folks on Newegg were complaining about this board being loud. I actually like it a lot 

Results to come, once I've sifted through the ~10 sticks I'll end up with. Most of them should be similar dies, though, mainly being the newer 1Gbit Micron dies (specific IC uncertain to me).


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It Certainly seems it from the you tube videos i have seen.  I look forward to a new full sized version of it.With all the stuff they had on them not just the games.After all there are lots of places you can play games on.Could the c64 do more than just play games?


Oh yes. The C64 was a very capable machine. Though originally envisioned as a game console, and primarily remembered for its extensive games library, the C64 was a personal computer after all. It was used for office productivity, desktop publishing, graphics design, music composition, and even for accessing online services (among them some of the earliest MMORPGs). And did I mention demoscene?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 24, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Oh yes. The C64 was a very capable machine. Though originally envisioned as a game console, and primarily remembered for its extensive games library, the C64 was a personal computer after all. It was used for office productivity, desktop publishing, graphics design, music composition, and even for accessing online services (among them some of the earliest MMORPGs). And did I mention demoscene?


To me, the Amiga line was when Commodore really hit success as a personal computer maker.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> To me, the Amiga line was when Commodore really hit success as a personal computer maker.


Their IBM clones were interesting too


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 24, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Their IBM clones were interesting too


Never saw one. While I used and knew DOS well, I was never impressed by it like I was with GUI based OSes.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Never saw one. While I used and knew DOS well, I was never impressed by it like I was with GUI based OSes.


Well, before youtube, I didn't even know that such machines existed  I just watch so many retro hardware videos..

Interesting lineup of Commodore nevertheless.


----------



## Jetster (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Never saw one. While I used and knew DOS well, I was never impressed by it like I was with GUI based OSes.


You know they made GUI programs for DOS. I still have one.


----------



## Athlonite (Mar 24, 2022)

Jetster said:


> You know they made GUI programs for DOS. I still have one.


Oooo I used to use Quickmenu III for DOS


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 24, 2022)

I am really cheesed off i ordered a PC part from china ,and the delivery service said they had delivered it  showing a picture of a door not mine 
The first one is where they delivered it .And my door with no letterbox.The item was only a PCIe unit it does not look very well packed to say the least.I don,t know Whether the seller put the wrong address on it, or the delivery person can,t read or what.Usually our postal service are good.They do sometimes deliver to the wrong address on occasions. The item would have been delivered very quickly if i had received it.Have you had stuff been delivered to the wrong address?I am sorry about my rant, hope you are all having a good day.433 another picture of the wrong door delivery, showing the poor packing.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 24, 2022)

Jetster said:


> You know they made GUI programs for DOS. I still have one.


Until Windows, I have never seen one for PC. Even then it wasn't impressive until Windows 3. IMHO, Commodore had the clear advantage in GUI OSes. 
(No, I do NOT count Apple MacOS as the early Macs were only Black & White screens, but were also pathetically small. I'm also NOT one of those people who look back fondly at CGA/EGA.)


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 24, 2022)

Is it too bad that I got really into PCs in 2003 so I don't have much DOS experience..?

It's enough for me that I know how to use a motherboard/graphics card bios flasher..


----------



## Audioave10 (Mar 24, 2022)

Crucial got rid of the Ballistix name about 2 months ago - I don't understand it.  I've never yet had a failure.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Mar 24, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Is it too bad that I got really into PCs in 2003 so I don't have much DOS experience..?
> 
> It's enough for me that I know how to use a motherboard/graphics card bios flasher..



No; MS-DOS kinda sucked.  UNIX-likes are a much better CLI experience, as is the CLI in modern Windows.  OS/2 was supposedly similar-but-superior to MS-DOS.  I've no experience with it, though.



Audioave10 said:


> Crucial got rid of the Ballistix name about 2 months ago - I don't understand it.  I've never yet had a failure.



Too many cheap competitors in the "gamer" space, maybe?  One seems to pop up every other month.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 24, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Is it too bad that I got really into PCs in 2003 so I don't have much DOS experience..?


Not at all. Everyone starts their experience with technology at different times. It's all good. Trust me, you didn't miss out on much.



80-watt Hamster said:


> UNIX-likes are a much better CLI experience, as is the CLI in modern Windows.


Yeah, but it's still CLI... The CLI is for nitty-gritty work, not for enjoyment and relaxing.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not at all. Everyone starts their experience with technology at different times. It's all good. Trust me, you didn't miss out on much.


Tho I had 98SE on my first "gaming PC" then and its HDD wasn't fully partioned  I successfully got the rest usable using fdisk.

I had PII400 @ 450, 160MB, Asus P2B, GF2 MX & SB Live! 5.1 Digital (bought that new in 2004) then  ran Diablo II hella fine even with Winamp in background..


----------



## Audioave10 (Mar 24, 2022)

I know the feeling! I went from a VIC20 in 1981 to nothing for 20 years. My first (again) was 2001 with a Pentium MMX 233 Sony VIO with TV out.
That might have been an ATI All-in-Wonder card. I don't even know. Windows 98.


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 24, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I know the feeling! I went from a VIC20 in 1981 to nothing for 20 years. My first (again) was 2001 with a Pentium MMX 233 Sony VIO with TV out.
> That might have been an ATI All-in-Wonder card. I don't even know. Windows 98.


Well, I had a P1 MMX 166 from 2003-2004 but I don't count that.. as it didn't run 3d games.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 24, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Oh yes. The C64 was a very capable machine. Though originally envisioned as a game console, and primarily remembered for its extensive games library, the C64 was a personal computer after all. It was used for office productivity, desktop publishing, graphics design, music composition, and even for accessing online services (among them some of the earliest MMORPGs). And did I mention demoscene?


So why is it that all the other non gaming  stuff is not included with the c64 and the new Amiga  500?.That is what i would like to see.And just 25 games with the mini Amiga ?I see that the new c64 comes with a lot more  games than the Amiga.Good stuff Bob.  Who sings the commodore song?.It is a good song.


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not at all. Everyone starts their experience with technology at different times. It's all good. Trust me, you didn't miss out on much.


The "good old days" when we had a stack of floppy boot disks with various autoexe.bat & config.sys files to boot with extended memory or expanded memory, a list of irq interrupt assignments & sound card configuration.  All of that was required due to different DOS games have different requirements and accessories.  I remember keeping a list of irq's on _graph paper_ to keep track of all the various devices.


----------



## Jetster (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Until Windows, I have never seen one for PC. Even then it wasn't impressive until Windows 3. IMHO, Commodore had the clear advantage in GUI OSes.
> (No, I do NOT count Apple MacOS as the early Macs were only Black & White screens, but were also pathetically small. I'm also NOT one of those people who look back fondly at CGA/EGA.)


Clearly The Commadore 64 had its advantages in the GUI department, but I still have a program that works good for a Menu interface for IBM PC. Also the 8088 had a hard drive which the Commadore did not. This was way before Windows. Nothing back then was PNP, it was a pain to set up. God we are old


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 24, 2022)

I still have a Commodore C64 stashed away in the basement.



I also have a still in the box TI99/4a.  I haven't played with either in quite a few years, but hate to get rid of them too.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> To me, the Amiga line was when Commodore really hit success as a personal computer maker.


It's just too bad that they went down so quickly. They had an excellent, and in many ways unparalleled product - and still managed to screw up royally. The history of Commodore International post-C64 is a very sad tale of gross mismanagement, internal conflict, unadaptability, and ineptness in marketing and selling own products.

I mean, how do you bankrupt a company with a clear technological edge over the competition? A business with a brilliant R&D team, great support from software developers, selling the world's most successful 8-bit home computer?

For anyone interested, there are some great YT documentaries depicting Commodore's demise. See for yourselves!



Greenslade said:


> So why is it that all the other non gaming stuff is not included with the c64 and the new Amiga 500?


My guess is copyright issues first and foremost, and also limited interest. Office apps or content creation software from the period would only matter to a few retro geeks or long-time artists. Games appeal to a much larger audience. They bring out childhood memories and all the related emotions. And emotions always sell 



Greenslade said:


> Good stuff Bob.  Who sings the commodore song?.It is a good song.


Thanks! I sing this song every time I hear it The original one was used by Commodore Australia in a series of TV commercials.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 24, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> It's just too bad that they went down so quickly. They had an excellent and in many ways unparalleled product - and still managed to screw up royally. The history of Commodore International post-C64 is a very sad tale of gross mismanagement, internal conflict, unadaptability, and ineptness in marketing and selling own products.
> 
> I mean, how do you bankrupt a company with a clear technological edge over the competition? A business with a brilliant R&D team, great support from software developers, selling the world's most successful 8-bit home computer?
> 
> ...


I will have to go with PiMiga 1.5.   







 this looks cool.  Will any of you be buying the new Amiga mini .or the C64 maxi?I should think you want, want to buy the C64 mini.  







I have downloaded Amiga Forever Value Edition from the exealant Internet Archive, if i upgraded could i use it with the Amiga or the C64 ?







 Easy to use thats me. there,s a lot to do in the settings.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 24, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I successfully got the rest usable using fdisk.


That's kinda cool. Most people would have had no idea what Fdisk was, let alone known how to use it.



68Olds said:


> The "good old days" when we had a stack of floppy boot disks with various autoexe.bat & config.sys files to boot with extended memory or expanded memory, a list of irq interrupt assignments & sound card configuration.  All of that was required due to different DOS games have different requirements and accessories.  I remember keeping a list of irq's on _graph paper_ to keep track of all the various devices.


Yup, I remember that too. I just don't look back fondly on it. For me, the Atari 2600 was my first gaming system.



Jetster said:


> Clearly The Commadore 64 had its advantages in the GUI department


What? I don't remember that. The C64 was all CLI. If you're talking about Geos, that didn't come along until after Amiga and it wasn't impressive due to the lack of computing power of the C64.


Jetster said:


> God we are old


HA! Speak for yourself, I was a kid in the 80's..



QuietBob said:


> It's just too bad that they went down so quickly. They had an excellent, and in many ways unparalleled product - and still managed to screw up royally.


True!


----------



## Kissamies (Mar 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I still have a Commodore C64 stashed away in the basement.
> 
> View attachment 241134
> 
> ...


I sold my C64C to my friend (that guy who has the tuxedo cat... posted pics of it in the cat and general nonsense threads)


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yup, I remember that too. I just don't look back fondly on it. For me, the Atari 2600 was my first gaming system.


  I forgot to add /sarcasm after the "good old days" comment. lol  It's more like a  flashback than a fond memory!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I forgot to add /sarcasm after the "good old days" comment. lol  It's more like a  flashback than a fond memory!


No worries!


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am really cheesed off i ordered a PC part from china ,and the delivery service said they had delivered it showing a picture of a door not mine
> The first one is where they delivered it .And my door with no letterbox.The item was only a PCIe unit it does not look very well packed to say the least.I don,t know weather the seller put the wrong address on it,



All You can Do is
1, Contact Seller and verify the Delivery address
2, contact Delivery service asking for Confirmation of  Delivery address and inform them it was not delivered to your Address (include photo of your Door)
Open Claim on Ebay/paypal if thats where you ordered from.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have downloaded Amiga Forever Value Edition from the exealant Internet Archive, if i upgraded could i use it with the Amiga or the C64 ?


Amiga Forever is probably the simplest way to get into emulation. It is also the only fully legal option, as it includes licenced Amiga ROM and OS files, with a selection of games and other software. Those are the systems emulated by Amiga Forever and C64 Forever:




Not sure if you can upgrade from the version you found online, as the Value Edition is also a paid option.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 24, 2022)

dorsetknob said:


> All You can Do is
> 1, Contact Seller and verify the Delivery address
> 2, contact Delivery service asking for Confirmation of  Delivery address and inform them it was not delivered to your Address (include photo of your Door)
> Open Claim on Ebay/paypal if thats where you ordered from.


I did and sent the photos that you can see on here ,and gave him my address .I got a message from the delivery company asking how it went ,they asked would you recommend them to  overs i gave them 0  because they delivered it to the wrong address.And they asked me why because i they delivered to the wrong address. Unfortunately  there was no way of getting my photo of my door on there.  No attach files. Genrally
speaking the postal service is good.Sometimes mail is sent to the wrong address or in  one of the other postal boxes .because this is a house with four other flats.I managed to get the photos on the Royal Mail message asking how it went ,it is actually from eBay.I looked down the short road i live in and could not find a door that looked like the one the delivery person posted it.So where the delivery person posted it is a mystery  The seller got back to me after i sent him all the details i mentioned  on here with the photos.He said do i want to wait  and see if it arrives.I can,t see anyone sending  it on from where it was delivered to me.I just can,t believe the delivery person delivered it to the wrong address.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 25, 2022)

Gave a home to my Abit AB9 QuadGT  It's running an X5470 with no complaints - absolute champ. For P965, it doesn't get much better 

Like I said in the last post, I have more Ballistix D2 on the way... this sytem will get some of the best... or 8GB total, haven't decided yet.




[obligatory mid-2000's-style dark photo]




Not my best cable management, but not my worst.




Snagged the CNPS9900A as NOS, then realized I could just buy it new off Amazon for $20 less... oof. It's here though   and has everything included, even thermal paste from ~2012.





Yes, I know this is wasteful. But it's 10 year old paste, I wasn't going to use it even if it were fine. My goal was to find out if 10 year old paste is a rock or not. Pushed the beginning of the tube out in a straight line, then piled the rest as you see. It seems only the beginning was drier, the rest actually remained intact. I reckon this was usable paste after discarding the first portion. A lot of it for just one cooler - 3.5g.




No joke, worst mounting experience ever... lol. Firstly, the bracket was too long, so I had to slightly bend out the top of the motherboard cutout outward. Then I had to take the top off as you can see, the stupid allen key they give you doesn't have any easy access to 2/4 of the bolts. There's no straight shot to them either, it's always at an odd 45⁰ angle. I ended up having to mount twice because the first one was bad. Even be quiet! does better.... 




Only one tells the truth...

Specs:
- Xeon X5470 (LGA775 modded)
- Abit AB9 QuadGT (P965+ICH8R, BIOS 17)
- HIS Radeon 4870X2 (hynix DRAM)
- Zalman CNPS9900A (blue LED) w/ MX-2
- 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 ending in 16FE5  [temporary]
- Team Group Vulcan G 1TB SSD
- Phanteks P300A, w/ 2x Phanteks 120mm + 1x Arctic P12
- EVGA B5 650W
- 2x internal USB -> external USB 2.0 ports (x4). 1x internal USB -> USB 3.0 internal for front panel.


----------



## Bones (Mar 25, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Snagged the CNPS9900A as NOS, then realized I could just buy it new off Amazon for $20 less... oof. It's here though   and has everything included, even thermal paste from ~2012.
> 
> Specs:
> - Xeon X5470 (LGA775 modded)
> ...


Looks good!

Have any problems with the cheap (Pot metal) screws and nuts with the cooler?
I did and solved it by getting and doing it in a different way than stock, still mounts up the same but don't have those annoying potmetal hexhead screws, went phillips with the replacements from the hardware store.

This is exactly what I did:
I replaced the pot metal allen screws with quality pieces and *used nylon spacers of the same length as the unthreaded part of the old screws*, everything worked out _perfectly_. Used fine threaded philips headed screws (5mm) in place of the cheap hexhead screws. Used screws that were slightly longer than the cheap ones replaced with these nylon spacers, all else is still "As was" from the original install including the threaded studs for the backplate that goes through the mounting holes.
Best of all if I ever should have to install or remove the cooler for any reason it won't be a problem to remove and remount as it should have been in the first place.

The cooler install and removal is also easier and faster too.

As for how it does, it's a great cooler - No doubt about it.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 25, 2022)

Bones said:


> Looks good!
> 
> Have any problems with the cheap (Pot metal) screws and nuts with the cooler?
> I did and solved it by getting and doing it in a different way than stock, still mounts up the same but don't have those annoying potmetal hexhead screws, went phillips with the replacements from the hardware store.
> ...


That mounting system makes way more sense vs what Zalman paid (paid!) their engineers to do.  I think after reading the installation manual I can see in the 5th dimension.

When I inevitably take this cooler off at some point, I'll absolutely rig up something like you describe. Honestly wonder if I could skip the hardware store trip altogether and just do it with that I've got spare...


----------



## Bones (Mar 25, 2022)

This is how mine is done.
The cooler ATM is dusty because it hasn't been in use for awhile, that setup was torn down and hasn't been reused (Maximus VIII Impact/ 7700K) and made sure I kept the mounting hardware together as you see it.
It's really simple as you can see and works great. You'll have to angle the screwdriver to the screw heads but it's not a big deal, as long as the tip has a good bite on the screw heads it's fine, just run them down to the limit - Done.
The nylon spacers I got were the correct length when I got these from the local hardware store so that was nice but can be worked with sandpaper or a file to the correct length if need be. 

As for mounting, I did it with a small/mini screw driver and it worked.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 25, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Yes, I know this is wasteful.


It really was, that's a good TIM, even by today's standards.


MachineLearning said:


> A lot of it for just one cooler - 3.5g.


BITD, Zalman presumed that users would need to do more than one or two applications and they wanted to provide their users with enough to last a while. They were a great company.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 25, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Amiga Forever is probably the simplest way to get into emulation. It is also the only fully legal option, as it includes licenced Amiga ROM and OS files, with a selection of games and other software. Those are the systems emulated by Amiga Forever and C64 Forever:
> 
> View attachment 241156
> Not sure if you can upgrade from the version you found online, as the Value Edition is also a paid option.


I have just looked on there site and i can 19.95 saving 10 pound.s. and checked to see what extras i get for upgrading that will give me the full experience of Amiga. I don,t want to go to the Premium Edition
40 pounds  is to much.I just got this back from the Royal Mail message i sent
**Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:*
Your message couldn't be delivered. When Office 365 tried to send the message, the external email server returned the error below. This is probably due to a problem or policy setting on the recipient's email system.
Check the error for information about the problem. The error might tell you what went wrong and how to fix it. For example, if it says the message was blocked due to a potential virus, try sending the message again without attachments.*That was the only reason i sent it to show the photos.


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just looked on there site and i can 19.95 saving 10 pound.s. and checked to see what extras i get for upgrading that will give me the full experience of Amiga.


The Plus Edition is all you need. When upgrading from the Value Edition you will get a very nice C64 + Amiga Forever Plus Edition bundle for GBP 17. The Premium Edition only adds some videos on DVD:


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> It really was, that's a good TIM, even by today's standards.
> 
> BITD, Zalman presumed that users would need to do more than one or two applications and they wanted to provide their users with enough to last a while. They were a great company.


It being from 2012 makes me distrust this sample. I have no doubt it was a fine paste when new, do they still sell this edition?

Zalman has fallen far, but they are not trash and their history is admirable.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 25, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> It being from 2012 makes me distrust this sample. I have no doubt it was a fine paste when new, do they still sell this edition?


As a rule, TIM's are made of non-organic, non-reactive materials. This means that as long as they're still spreadable, they'll work fine. But that is not common info and no one can blame you for not trusting it. It's all good.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 26, 2022)

Ram Jam - Black Betty

I think that my serious case of the "loots" is kind of gettings worse! 

*Flea market day 2day!* 

1. Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI 1 with mystery CPU - I scavenged the missing clips from two other motherboards. The board is not super high end but it looks awesome so I had to have it!!!
2. MSI Geforce 4 4200 Ti AGP 8x
3. AXP 2000+ Palomino
4. OCZ - DDR2 RAM - misc
5. Gainward nVIDIA 8800GTX 768MB PCI-E
6. Intel Pentium III 1GHz/133 - SL52R
7. Misc stuff


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 26, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Ram Jam - Black Betty
> 
> I think that my serious case of the "loots" is kind of gettings worse!
> 
> ...


I see a Pegatron card in there! Vas ist Das?!?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 26, 2022)

Making progress with the Latitude. First I replaced the CMOS battery and heat shrinked it back up. After setting the date+time (using externally keyboard since the internal one works just sometimes) it no longer errors on boot and holds bios settings.



However it still wouldn't boot to anything and tried to go to the bios nearly every boot. It also randomly kept rapidly beeping like a stuck key, but would stop if I pressed any key on the build in keyboard. It still turns on every time the keyboard is connected and the power button does nothing.


I think I know why. Likely the corrosion is shorting the keyboard matrix and causing it to behave oddly. 

Thats when I tried to plug the keyboard in so it would turn on, and then immediately unplug it. And to my surprise, it worked perfectly when I did that. 


Bios functioned properly and it even booted perfectly to an XP DVD. 

So it looks like the motherboard is fine, but the keyboard is completely messed up and was causing all of the issues before. New keyboard will be ordered soon. And probably some nicer ddr2.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I see a Pegatron card in there! Vas ist Das?!?



I'm selling locally some stuff that I do not need.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 26, 2022)

Got Windows installed. Seems all to be working pretty well! Pretty happy to bave mostly fixed it, although I might be speaking too soon. Need to get a keyboard to know fully.




Put some heat shrink on the charger since the insulation was otherwise cracking and broken around the strain relief. Charger works great and the battery works, although I don't know how long it will hold a charge for.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 26, 2022)

Robert B said:


> I'm selling locally some stuff that I do not need.


What card was it?
(Pegatron made great stuff BITD, I'm was a big fan)



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Got Windows installed. Seems all to be working pretty well! Pretty happy to bave mostly fixed it, although I might be speaking too soon. Need to get a keyboard to know fully.


You should be able to use a USB keyboard till you replace the builtin unit.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Put some heat shrink on the charger since the insulation was otherwise cracking and broken around the strain relief.


I do this too! It's a great way to quick-fix a dodgy cable in a way that looks good.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You should be able to use a USB keyboard till you replace the builtin unit.


Yes but no. The laptop won't turn on without the internal keyboard plugged in, probably since the power button is part of the keyboard. The power button doesn't actually do anything, but the laptop turns on immediately when I plug in the keyboard, so presumably the power button pins are bridged all the time in it's broken state.

So I have to plug it in to turn the laptop on, and then remove it so it actually functions. Then can just use a USB from there, which is how I got windows installed and working. I'll probably try to put some drivers on it later today.


----------



## Robert B (Mar 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> What card was it?
> (Pegatron made great stuff BITD, I'm was a big fan)



Nothing spectacular. A GT315 1GB DDR3.


----------



## 68Olds (Mar 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Yes but no. The laptop won't turn on without the internal keyboard plugged in, probably since the power button is part of the keyboard. The power button doesn't actually do anything, but the laptop turns on immediately when I plug in the keyboard, so presumably the power button pins are bridged all the time in it's broken state.
> 
> So I have to plug it in to turn the laptop on, and then remove it so it actually functions. Then can just use a USB from there, which is how I got windows installed and working. I'll probably try to put some drivers on it later today.


I can't look until Tuesday, but I might have a keyboard that will work.  Might have a faster CPU too.  I'll let you know once I get a chance to check.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 26, 2022)

Battery holds an okay charge. Not great, but it is functional. Lasted about 50 minutes before it went under 10% and gave a warning.


----------



## Jetster (Mar 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Got Windows installed. Seems all to be working pretty well! Pretty happy to bave mostly fixed it, although I might be speaking too soon. Need to get a keyboard to know fully.
> 
> View attachment 241436
> Put some heat shrink on the charger since the insulation was otherwise cracking and broken around the strain relief. Charger works great and the battery works, although I don't know how long it will hold a charge for.View attachment 241437




Those old D620 were bullet proof. I still have a D600 laying around somewhere from 2004


----------



## erek (Mar 26, 2022)

Retro computing museum in Ukraine destroyed by Russian bomb
					

Containing 120 retro computers and consoles, and over 500 tech exhibits in total, the privately owned collection now only exists in memories online.




					www.pcgamer.com


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 26, 2022)

erek said:


> Retro computing museum in Ukraine destroyed by Russian bomb
> 
> 
> Containing 120 retro computers and consoles, and over 500 tech exhibits in total, the privately owned collection now only exists in memories online.
> ...


This is super sad news 
The guy's been collecting it for nearly twenty years...


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 27, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> The Plus Edition is all you need. When upgrading from the Value Edition you will get a very nice C64 + Amiga Forever Plus Edition bundle for GBP 17. The Premium Edition only adds some videos on DVD:
> 
> View attachment 241317View attachment 241316


Thanks for that Bob ,but would the Ami kit be better? i understand from this video you all so need  Amiga Forever  to work with Ami Kit os is that right?








 50 pounds is to much for me  to buy the two together ,In the video he mentions. Amiga Forever essentials,i am confused do i need all three things?Or WinUAE 







 do i need anything else with this?  







 I am confused by all thisIf someone can answer this i would be grateful thanks.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Nothing spectacular. A GT315 1GB DDR3.


That's still fairly rare.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 27, 2022)

Anyone got any idea what this Piece of junk is?.


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 27, 2022)

Bones said:


> Chips like being warm (Not hot) to get good bus speeds from them.


This was a very useful push for my thoughts. I might have done the board wrong, it was most likely the CPU that behaves different from most of my other chips due to its very low VID. While the actual temperatures were fine when I tried high FSB (lowered vcore, set 6x multi), I used the wrong VTT voltage!
The leakage/quality does not only have an effect on temperature to Vcore but also the VTT part. I just set 1.2V VTT as my starting point, since most of my Wolfdales have their sweetspot right around this value. Now I tested this chip on a different board and guess what, I run into the same reference related stability issues around 530 MHz FSB. Only similar value was VTT. So since this is a higher quality chip I lowered VTT to 1.10V and it instantly passed 32m etc..

You learn something everyday. I never would have thought that a VTT of 1.2V for a Wolfdale might already be harmful.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Anyone got any idea what this Piece of junk is?.


I saw that. It's a very old, desperately obsolete computer. Unlike retro PC's from the CPM/DOS days, that thing is only a technological curiosity and novelty.


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 27, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> This was a very useful push for my thoughts. I might have done the board wrong, it was most likely the CPU that behaves different from most of my other chips due to its very low VID. While the actual temperatures were fine when I tried high FSB (lowered vcore, set 6x multi), I used the wrong VTT voltage!
> The leakage/quality does not only have an effect on temperature to Vcore but also the VTT part. I just set 1.2V VTT as my starting point, since most of my Wolfdales have their sweetspot right around this value. Now I tested this chip on a different board and guess what, I run into the same reference related stability issues around 530 MHz FSB. Only similar value was VTT. So since this is a higher quality chip I lowered VTT to 1.10V and it instantly passed 32m etc..
> 
> You learn something everyday. I never would have thought that a VTT of 1.2V for a Wolfdale might already be harmful.


I often push VTT a bit high when I OC Wolfdale/Yorkfield (I don't OC 65nm C2 nearly as often), usually ending between 1.3v-1.4v. I've honestly not tried much lower voltages, but in light of this infornation I'll certainly try that going forward.

Wonder if some of my borderline stable 775 OC's are prey to me setting VTT too high.


----------



## Jetster (Mar 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Anyone got any idea what this Piece of junk is?.


Looks like it's out of a IBM mainframe. 80s Landfills are filled with this stuff


----------



## QuietBob (Mar 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am confused by all thisIf someone can answer this i would be grateful thanks.


Neither UAE nor AmiKit will run without original Amiga ROM and OS files. These, together with UAE, are included in the Amiga Forever bundle. AmiKit is essentially a sleek modernized AmigaOS.

Again, Amiga Forever Plus is the simplest way to emulate the computer.


----------



## RealKGB (Mar 28, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> ...and in with this lovely Zalman CNPS 7000 (AlCu)


Do you happen to know where I can buy the metal plate that goes over the CPU contact plate? I have a ZM-WB3 waterblock but it's missing the retention plate. It has the screws and side arm things shown here:


Trekkie4 said:


>


But that's it for mounting hardware.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 28, 2022)

This is an interesting  project from another of my fav youtubers  







 I did not know about this modal where you can put your own stuff 







 there.  It is expensive as he says.So i want be buying it.I can,t see any where you can buy it anyway,


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 28, 2022)

2x512MB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2, NOS  I broke the seal on it so I can guarantee these never saw abusive voltages. It's single-sided, and I highly expect there to be D9GMH chips beneath.  Going to have to make a Windows XP (or 7?) test environment for this one...


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> View attachment 241634View attachment 241635
> View attachment 241636View attachment 241637
> 
> 
> ...


You mean these? I have 4 sets. All do around 1250 @ 5-5-5 @ 2.3v
4-4-4 @ 950-1000.





Unfortunately, at only 512 a stick, the only thing it's good for is benching Pi.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 29, 2022)

i would use gloves touching The worst Vic20 i have ever seen  







 it is gross.


----------



## phill (Mar 29, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> You mean these? I have 4 sets. All do around 1250 @ 5-5-5 @ 2.3v
> 4-4-4 @ 950-1000.
> 
> View attachment 241641
> ...


I remembere these sticks well, had some 1GB ones, running a stock 5300 speed, but would overclock to nearly over 9000!!    Utterly brilliant they where... 

And oh the Amiga...  Oh how I wish I have more time in life to use mine lol  






Gotta love the retro


----------



## Mr.Scott (Mar 29, 2022)

You are a man of many platforms Phil. Very nice.


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 29, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Neither UAE nor AmiKit will run without original Amiga ROM and OS files. These, together with UAE, are included in the Amiga Forever bundle. AmiKit is essentially a sleek modernized AmigaOS.
> 
> Again, Amiga Forever Plus is the simplest way to emulate the computer.


Thanks for clearing that up Bob.Yes i see that AmiKit is very sleek.I will go for Amiga Forever Plus then ,it is all so 10 pounds cheeper then AmiKit.



phill said:


> I remembere these sticks well, had some 1GB ones, running a stock 5300 speed, but would overclock to nearly over 9000!!  Utterly brilliant they where...
> 
> And oh the Amiga...  Oh how I wish I have more time in life to use mine lol
> 
> ...


Nice lot of Amiga, s  you have there Phill.Are they going to release  a new full size Amiga 500?.


----------



## phill (Mar 29, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> You are a man of many platforms Phil. Very nice.


Love all tech my good sir, the collection has grown a little since then but whatever the tech, I do like to pick up what I can.  I just wish more of it was boxed rather than just on its own...  


Greenslade said:


> Thanks for clearing that up Bob.Yes i see that AmiKit is very sleek.I will go for Amiga Forever Plus then ,it is all so 10 pounds cheeper then AmiKit.
> 
> 
> Nice lot of Amiga, s  you have there Phill.Are they going to release  a new full size Amiga 500?.


I hear they are going to release a mini 500, I'm not sure how much or when it's due but   Like I say, I'd like to get the Amiga 4000T but damn those things are expensive as hell....


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 29, 2022)

@Bones did something better than stock for the CNPS9900 Max, which I didn't have any mounting hardware for except the AM3 bracket. This setup uses the stock backplate and Noctua screws, pretty clean looking in the end. This board goes well with it


----------



## Bones (Mar 29, 2022)

Hey, glad I could help and show how to set one of those up without going bald over it.
Looks good too on the board you have it on.

Since that's an AMD setup you probrably didn't need the spacers but for an Intel you gotta have them.


----------



## phill (Mar 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> View attachment 241670
> View attachment 241671
> View attachment 241672
> @Bones did something better than stock for the CNPS9900 Max, which I didn't have any mounting hardware for except the AM3 bracket. This setup uses the stock backplate and Noctua screws, pretty clean looking in the end. This board goes well with it


Is that a Sabertooth board??


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 29, 2022)

phill said:


> Is that a Sabertooth board??


You betcha 
This combo has been doing well so far, I've yet to finalize but here's me taking back the throne for this lovely little FX-6300 
It will go even further once Arctic's support gets back to me about an AM3 bracket for the LFII 280...


----------



## Bones (Mar 29, 2022)

Yep - Sabertooth 2.0 and those are solid boards to run, I've done well with mine in the past. 
The newer 3.0 is good too if you can find one, mine has at least been an equal of a 2.0 itself.


----------



## phill (Mar 29, 2022)

I think I have just the Crosshair boards for the AM2/AM3 side of things.  I'm glad it's been working well    Sometimes older kit I find doesn't get the love and appreciation that it should have..  I find that a bum deal considering we'd have all been using it back in the day...

What else do you both use with them?   Different CPU combos?


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 29, 2022)

Bones said:


> Yep - Sabertooth 2.0 and those are solid boards to run, I've done well with mine in the past.
> The newer 3.0 is good too if you can find one, mine has at least been an equal of a 2.0 itself.


My only issue with the later versions is that they lose core unlock, but I'm probably in the minority since I really like Phenom II  I'd consider the 3.0, but only if I do serious LN2 benching since apparently there's a cold bug on 1.01



phill said:


> I think I have just the Crosshair boards for the AM2/AM3 side of things.  I'm glad it's been working well    Sometimes older kit I find doesn't get the love and appreciation that it should have..  I find that a bum deal considering we'd have all been using it back in the day...
> 
> What else do you both use with them?   Different CPU combos?


So far, I've been so stuck on LGA775... but I also did give an FX-8300 a go, and made sure a Phenom II 960T unlocked to 6 cores.
I think people just move on and forget what came before because they're wrapped up in what's new/next. To people who like old hardware, it's the depth of knowledge that's more intriguing - a lot easier to do with stuff that's been around for a decade+. It's impossible to know everything, and that's awesome. That's my 2c at least.

For instance, did you kow (/remember  ) that at least some northbidges have their own internal timings depending on the FSB? I didn't until a few days ago.


----------



## Bones (Mar 29, 2022)

This is one reason why I love my Sabertooths: Bones`s SuperPi - 1M score: 9sec 437ms with a FX-9590

They are capable boards, the only real drawback is the lack the extra CPU power connector needed for absolute top-shelf clocks but they are strong enough to make a good showing - And in some cases get it done anyway.
I leaned on this board for over 7 years repeatedly with anything from air to Ln2 and it lived up to the TUF name over and over again, only failing when it finally stopped recognizing CPU swaps.
It started giving the "CPU has been changed" error message and wouldn't save settings for a different CPU once I had tweaked the BIOS.

It still works of course but had to sideline it for that reason.
Not bad at all for a board I bought as "Open Box" from the egg.


----------



## phill (Mar 29, 2022)

I think the newer kit does seem to take away all the overclocking that we used to have to do in the older platforms, such as X48/X58/X79 era's, then it started getting watered down I feel from the making of the CPUs.  I think Ryzen is a perfect example and I'm not knocking them in anyway at all, they are amazing CPUs, same as the newer Intels, but they just aren't the same as the older gens..  Overclocking seems to be a bit of a memory for CPUs now, same as GPUs to a degree.  This is why I love older kit and if I get time ever, I'll go through seeing what I can and can't do with each of the setups I have here   It's just fun and passes the day away far too quickly lol


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 29, 2022)

phill said:


> Love all tech my good sir, the collection has grown a little since then but whatever the tech, I do like to pick up what I can.  I just wish more of it was boxed rather than just on its own...
> 
> I hear they are going to release a mini 500, I'm not sure how much or when it's due but   Like I say, I'd like to get the Amiga 4000T but damn those things are expensive as hell....


The Mini 500  has all ready been released. 







 I did not realise it had only been released earlier this month. Here,s the origanal Amiga 400T


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 29, 2022)

@MachineLearning I love the DDR2 Tracers. Sadly all of mine have crap ICs on them. So far I have not found a tracer kit with GMHs or GKXs. Please let us know how they do in terms of OC when you get to it


----------



## MachineLearning (Mar 30, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> @MachineLearning I love the DDR2 Tracers. Sadly all of mine have crap ICs on them. So far I have not found a tracer kit with GMHs or GKXs. Please let us know how they do in terms of OC when you get to it


Will do  On that note, have you or anyone else here tried using Linux for OC testing? I'm thinking it'd be easier than making a Windows 7 or XP test environment, and I think 1GB RAM is just too little for W10. 

This kit too, is coming soon to a theatre near you...


----------



## Dinnercore (Mar 30, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Will do  On that note, have you or anyone else here tried using Linux for OC testing? I'm thinking it'd be easier than making a Windows 7 or XP test environment, and I think 1GB RAM is just too little for W10.
> 
> This kit too, is coming soon to a theatre near you...
> View attachment 241742


I just roll with Win7 most of the time. Easy to install from a stick and so far it has been the most resistant to corruption from unstable RAM. I recently killed all 3 of my XP installs and did not bother with restoring them yet cause it needs a CD-Drive. I have one but I'm just lazy 

And these anniversary editions are nice. I got a kit myself, I think they all are GMH. Mine run okay from what I remember. They are above average but not my best sticks.


----------



## phill (Mar 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The Mini 500  has all ready been released.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Beast of a system, made me want to never to use Windows yet here we are...  (So sad remembering back...)  Ah well    I learnt from my mistakes with my upgraded Amiga.  I really wished I'd kept more of a foot in the door with it, so to speak    Lost complete touch with things going on these days


----------



## Trekkie4 (Mar 30, 2022)

RealKGB said:


> Do you happen to know where I can buy the metal plate that goes over the CPU contact plate? I have a ZM-WB3 waterblock but it's missing the retention plate. It has the screws and side arm things shown here:
> 
> But that's it for mounting hardware.


Honestly, I have no idea... My Zalman came pre-mounted on a different S478 board so all I had to do was disassemble everything & mount it back together, on Asus P4B. Maybe ebay?


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 30, 2022)

All though i am of an age when i could have got one back in the day.I did not use a computer until 2005.This is my question ,if i got the c64 maxi could i use Amber Forever with it to get the full experience of that era ,is that posible?And why is there no option of Carousel on Amiga Forever.?.I am rather interested in floppy discs.I realise that you can,t put much stuff on them.The chance of me ever going that route are slim, so unless i could get a lot of them for next to nothing ,that  would be out of the question.


----------



## phill (Mar 30, 2022)

There's a fair few retro emulators to choose from, some aren't too badly priced I guess.  All depends on what your looking to get from it or what your looking to play I guess


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 30, 2022)

I need a nice case to make a high end PGA478 machine. I've had some parts for awhile.

MSI PT880 Neo MS-7008




Corsair XMS Platinum 2x1gb DDR-400 CL2
Crucial Ballistix Tracer LED 2x512mb DDR-500 CL2.5











View attachment 241861
The XMS was purchased brand new sealed off of eBay just a few months ago. Don't know who buys ram and doesn't open it for 20 years. (And yes I know the ram is in the wrong spots, but it looks nicer that way for photos)

The CPU is a Northwoods Intel Pentium 4 2.8ghz. I'd like to upgrade it at some point.




I do have a full PGA478 machine currently. I paid like $10 for it originally and it was in horrible shape. All scuffed up, side panels didn't slide on and off properly. The more I looked at it, the more everything looked misaligned.



I pulled the front panel off and uh, horror insued.



Thing must have been thrown off of a cliff or something. The hardware was mostly unharmed but the optical drive was both bent and had a piece rattling around in it, so it doesn't work.

After a lot of bending, gluing, cleaning, dusting, and spray painting, I got it to look pretty good, at least from a few feet away.





Original it had a Celeron D, 256mb ram, no hard drive, and an Eagle PSU which I'm told is a rebrand of a Deer unit.


Now it has:
Intel Pentium 4 2.26ghz Northwoods
2x1gb DDR-400
MSI 845GVM-V
Seagate 40gb 7200RPM
VisionTek Radeon X1300 PCI
LiteOn 250w OEM


----------



## Greenslade (Mar 31, 2022)

phill said:


> There's a fair few retro emulators to choose from, some aren't too badly priced I guess.  All depends on what your looking to get from it or what your looking to play I guess


Yes i know.i have a PI4, I want the all round experabce as how it used to be back in the day.not just the games.I see that you can now use a mouse with the C64 now with the update.








.   It looks cool using a Floppy Disk with the excellent LGR    







 I have just seen these in eBay New Sealed Pack of 20 Floppy Disks 1.44MB Pre-formatted High Density [UK Seller] 12 pounds.Plastic seal has come off slightly at the top but sealed at bottom - never used and as new.That is my sort of price .  

This is the best review of it in my opion the C64 Maxie that is


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 31, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> New Sealed Pack of 20 Floppy Disks 1.44MB Pre-formatted High Density [UK Seller] 12 pounds.


Heck yeah! That's a good price! Snatch it up!


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (Mar 31, 2022)

I have a USB floppy drive and a bunch of blank floppies that I forgot I had until those last couple posts.  Not really sure what to do with them, but I have them for whatever reason.  I also just bought a tablet with bluetooth keyboard and mouse for playing Quake while I am camping / fishing over LTE+ USB tethered to my phone.  Maybe I'll throw the floppy drive and disks with it one day just to see if I get any reactions from passerby.  Probably not lol  I don't even know if I have any games on the floppies or not, it's been that long...some Jazz Jackrabbit or Duke Nukem out in the woods or at the river side could be interesting.  Or maybe play some Alone in the Dark...alone in the dark...woods.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Mar 31, 2022)

I promise this is the last of the Latitude I'll post here for awhile. My repairs for now are finished.





The laptop now functions perfectly and has no major issues. The battery holds a charge, the screen is in perfect condition. It's very snappy on XP and with a modified version of 360 Extreme Explorer web browsing is even tolerable, assuming you don't have too high of expectations.



Spoiler: Summary of what I've done to it so far




Throughly cleaned the laptop's interior and exterior using IPA
Tightened hinge screws
Replaced thermal paste
Replaced CR2032 CMOS battery
Replaced liquid damaged keyboard
Installed a 240GB SSD
Installed Windows XP SP3 32 bit
Repaired damaged charger cord strain relief



Possible Future plans:

Replace broken left screen hinge
Replace worn trackpad
Upgrade the T5500 to a faster C2d and upgrade the ram from 1.5gb to 4gb


----------



## freeagent (Apr 1, 2022)

I have to come into this thread more often, you guys are awesome. So many goodies! I have some older stuff, I don’t know if 10 years is retro enough?


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Heck yeah! That's a good price! Snatch it up!


I know you can,t get much on them.It would just be a novalty.I am thinking of getting the c64 maxi,The cheapest i can get a new floppy USB drive is 14 pounds from China.This is another of my fav utuber 







 only one of that lot worked out of all of them ,i want be buying seconrf hand ones after all thatthats for sire  He tried instaling Windows 95 with 29 floppy discs ,with no success after a lot of time tryingAll that time he wastered trying to get it work.g.I take it i can only get one Game on eash disc.`?.Love his retro stuff whish is whaat he does all the time.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I promise this is the last of the Latitude I'll post here for awhile. My repairs for now are finished.
> View attachment 241957View attachment 241958
> The laptop now functions perfectly and has no major issues. The battery holds a charge, the screen is in perfect condition. It's very snappy on XP and with a modified version of 360 Extreme Explorer web browsing is even tolerable, assuming you don't have too high of expectations.
> 
> ...


Looks great! Are you going to run it as a retro XP build? Speaking from experience, Windows 11 will run on a mobile C2D and fairly well. If you're interested head over to the Windows 11 Discussion thread and we can help you get it installed and running.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 1, 2022)

Message above.



lexluthermiester said:


> Looks great! Are you going to run it as a retro XP build? Speaking from experience, Windows 11 will run on a mobile C2D and fairly well. If you're interested head over to the Windows 11 Discussion thread and we can help you get it installed and running.


I was thinking of using them on XP .That is quite a Job to get Windows 11 on my PC ,that would be quite a job to do that for me.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looks great! Are you going to run it as a retro XP build? Speaking from experience, Windows 11 will run on a mobile C2D and fairly well. If you're interested head over to the Windows 11 Discussion thread and we can help you get it installed and running.


Retro XP laptop most likely. I already have a daily driver laptop and an assortment of XP desktops, but no laptops, so this is the first.

I might dual boot Windows 7 on it if I want to use it for any modern purpose. 

I might put 11 on it just to see how it runs, but certainly not any more than for experimental purposes.My elitebook runs 11, and I was able to get it running on am2 athlon 64, so it should be very straightforward to get running on here using the same methods.


----------



## phill (Apr 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes i know.i have a PI4, I want the all round experabce as how it used to be back in the day.not just the games.I see that you can now use a mouse with the C64 now with the update.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you have the right Amiga external drive, it'll be able to format those to a HD density, 1.76MB rather than 1.44MB if my memory serves me correctly....    Nice find!!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Message above.
> 
> 
> I was thinking of using them on XP .That is quite a Job to get Windows 11 on my PC ,that would be quite a job to do that for me.


Nah, it's easy. Just gotta do it the right way and Bob's your uncle.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I was able to get it running on am2 athlon 64, so it should be very straightforward to get running on here using the same methods.


True.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Heck yeah! That's a good price! Snatch it up!


It is yes Lex  


lexluthermiester said:


> Nah, it's easy. Just gotta do it the right way and Bob's your uncle.
> 
> 
> True.


Evan if Bob,s not my uncle


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 1, 2022)

freeagent said:


> I have to come into this thread more often, you guys are awesome. So many goodies! I have some older stuff, I don’t know if 10 years is retro enough?



Hey man, if it's nostalgic for you, of course it's nostalgic enough for this thread.


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 1, 2022)

Here is a funny thing, has anyone ever encountered a CPU with broken multiplier? I have this E8500 I'm testing and it gave me a bunch of headaches until I figured one specific multiplier must be broken.

It boots and is benchstable for 8.5x @4.5GHz, it can run 9.5x @5.05GHz with high voltage but the 9.0x will never post. Instant hard lock on the board. First time in 50+ CPUs that I stumbled upon one like this.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 1, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Here is a funny thing, has anyone ever encountered a CPU with broken multiplier? I have this E8500 I'm testing and it gave me a bunch of headaches until I figured one specific multiplier must be broken.
> 
> It boots and is benchstable for 8.5x @4.5GHz, it can run 9.5x @5.05GHz with high voltage but the 9.0x will never post. Instant hard lock on the board. First time in 50+ CPUs that I stumbled upon one like this.


I've not heard of that myself, but if all else is equal I'm not sure what else it could be. Does 8.0x work flawlessly? And even at like 200MHz FSB, 9.0x fails?


----------



## oobymach (Apr 1, 2022)

I just rebooted my Mini Disc walkman, had to rebuild the ac adapter cable the original was crumbling to dust, installed XP on a virtual machine and can now use it again. Woot.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nah, it's easy. Just gotta do it the right way and Bob's your uncle.





Greenslade said:


> Evan if Bob,s not my uncle


I'm confused, am I supposed to be the uncle or not? 
Guess we're all a big family here!


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 1, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I've not heard of that myself, but if all else is equal I'm not sure what else it could be. Does 8.0x work flawlessly? And even at like 200MHz FSB, 9.0x fails?


It does not make sense to me either, but it is the same at 500FSB, 450 etc.. I don't know which setting could even provoke this behavior if it is not the CPU. And yes, 8x is working, 7x too.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 1, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Here is a funny thing, has anyone ever encountered a CPU with broken multiplier? I have this E8500 I'm testing and it gave me a bunch of headaches until I figured one specific multiplier must be broken.
> 
> It boots and is benchstable for 8.5x @4.5GHz, it can run 9.5x @5.05GHz with high voltage but the 9.0x will never post. Instant hard lock on the board. First time in 50+ CPUs that I stumbled upon one like this.


Interesting. Have not heard of this since the socket A days when the 10x multi was a problem.


----------



## 68Olds (Apr 1, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Here is a funny thing, has anyone ever encountered a CPU with broken multiplier? I have this E8500 I'm testing and it gave me a bunch of headaches until I figured one specific multiplier must be broken.
> 
> It boots and is benchstable for 8.5x @4.5GHz, it can run 9.5x @5.05GHz with high voltage but the 9.0x will never post. Instant hard lock on the board. First time in 50+ CPUs that I stumbled upon one like this.


Are C1E/EIST disabled?  

I had an odd occurrence with my AW8D & an E6600 years ago, 2007 to be specific.  The CPUs default for me was 3.6Ghz @ 9x403Mhz, but I got into a competition to bench SuperPi at 3.2Ghz.  Everyone had to run 8x400Mhz to level the field & find advantages with only tweaks, not CPU speed.  My machine would not boot at 8x400, corrupted my 3 raptor RAID5 array & was generally being a pain in the ass.  Turned out C1E/EIST were enabled from my 24/7 daily settings and that caused the problem.  I had to search another forum to find the solution because I couldn't remember to the solution, only the problem. lol


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 1, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Are C1E/EIST disabled?


Yes they are disabled. So are all other options for the CPU like thermal protection, virtualization etc.. I still think it could also be some borderline stable subsetting on the MCH that I have running for SPI performance and maybe this specific multi is just enough to trip things over.
It is again one of the very low VID CPUs that won't even run with VTT at 1.2V or higher and this one needs a large CPU clock skew to get going. Maybe its the whole combination of things going on. When I'm done with my ambient results for a competition I'll dig back into the issue, right now I don't have the time to investigate further.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Yes they are disabled. So are all other options for the CPU like thermal protection, virtualization etc.. I still think it could also be some borderline stable subsetting on the MCH that I have running for SPI performance and maybe this specific multi is just enough to trip things over.
> It is again one of the very low VID CPUs that won't even run with VTT at 1.2V or higher and this one needs a large CPU clock skew to get going. Maybe its the whole combination of things going on. When I'm done with my ambient results for a competition I'll dig back into the issue, right now I don't have the time to investigate further.


What's CPU clock skew? I've left that always on auto when OC'ing 775 hardware.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Heck yeah! That's a good price! Snatch it up!


Can you answer this i see that a lot id sellers are selling
2HD   floppy disks  Diskettes 1.44Mb does that mean you can record something on both sides is that right?
The ones the seller is selling are not.What i am asking is if i got 10 of the 2HD  ones for the same price that would be better than buying  the 20 shown which can only record one side?
And i see some are formated for Dos ,IBM can they br used with Windows  or if i decided to buy the C64 Maxi?
All so i see that Floppy s can get damaged easy and prone to dust.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

I should delid my PS3 as it sounds like a jet engine even after repasting and cleaning, and even when just watching a movie.



Greenslade said:


> Can you answer this i see that a lot id sellers are selling
> 2HD   floppy disks  Diskettes 1.44Mb does that mean you can record something on both sides is that right?
> The ones the seller is selling are not.What i am asking is if i got 10 of the 2HD  ones for the same price that would be better than buying  the 20 shown which can only record one side?


The both sides of a diskette are counted in that 1.44MB.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I should delid my PS3 as it sounds like a jet engine even after repasting and cleaning, and even when just watching a movie.
> 
> 
> The both sides of a diskette are counted in that 1.44MB.


So you would only get half that if it was just HD  like the 20 pack one i put on here? But the ones i put on here say New Sealed Pack of 20 Floppy Disks 1.44MB.? Pre-formatted High Density, they don,t mention about 2HD?


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> What's CPU clock skew? I've left that always on auto when OC'ing 775 hardware.


First you need to know what the signals typically look like.






Your signals travel along the traces and have to arrive at very specific timings. You want to skew your signal (offset it at the timebase) so that ideally the center of the eye aligns perfectly with the timing that the receiving part expects. E.G. your MCH receives a DDR signal but reads it not in the center of the eye but more towards a crossing point. Now when signal quality gets worse (the eye gets smaller and more jitter appears) you can suddenly read a 0 where it was supposed to be a 1. Worst case the signal is completly out of alignment and you can not get a single correct bit (thats definitly a no post scenario).
This happens all the time when running out of spec and you eat away at the error margins in place. Such a 'shifted' clock on the time base can be corrected with a skew setting, so you delay or advance when your part expects or sends a signal by X amount of time. The timeframe for the clock skews on our PC hardware for the clocks we work with is usually ps (Picoseconds).

For example I gave my CPU signal a 100ps advance which helped it stabilize above 550 FSB. You can really go nuts on OC settings on the high end boards if you want to dive deep. Adjust skews and subtimings for each DIMM individually e.g.. But its a double edged sword, just because you spend 4 hours stabilizing your 550 FSB does not mean that these settings are good for 560. In fact they can actually do more harm on 560 then auto so you have to try them all over again.

This is the problem with us mortals, we can't run our hardware hooked up to million dollar lab equipment and actually see what we are doing to each individual signal. That would be a dream come true for me but all I can do is take steps in the dark.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So you would only get half that if it was just HD  like the 20 pack one i put on here? But the ones i put on here say New Sealed Pack of 20 Floppy Disks 1.44MB.? Pre-formatted High Density, they don,t mention about 2HD?
> View attachment 242024


DD (double density) disks are 720kB, the typical HD (high density) disks are 1.44MB. There was also 2.88MB disks in the 90s but those were pretty uncommon, and mostly IBM PS/2 systems used those.



Dinnercore said:


> First you need to know what the signals typically look like.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Okay.. I need to try different settings when I'll have some fun once again with my P5Q Pro.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> DD (double density) disks are 720kB, the typical HD (high density) disks are 1.44MB. There was also 2.88MB disks in the 90s but those were pretty uncommon, and mostly IBM PS/2 systems used those.
> 
> 
> Okay.. I need to try different settings when I'll have some fun once again with my P5Q Pro.


Thanks for that I have not seen the  DD (double density) disks are 720kB are they 3.5?Here is a very intresting
video on fixing Floppy dics and the drve,it seems they need a lot of looking after.
Can you write on the discs more than once?   







 Thanks again.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that I have not seen the  DD (double density) disks are 720kB are they 3.5?Hrtrs a very intresting
> video on fixing Floopy dttcs and the drve,ot seems they need a lot of looking after.Can you write on the discs more than once?


Yeah, DD (720kB) disks were the first to come as 3.5" format in the 80s.

And yeah, floppies are rewritable.


----------



## phill (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> DD (double density) disks are 720kB, the typical HD (high density) disks are 1.44MB. There was also 2.88MB disks in the 90s but those were pretty uncommon, and mostly IBM PS/2 systems used those.
> 
> 
> Okay.. I need to try different settings when I'll have some fun once again with my P5Q Pro.


Can easily tell the difference if they are HD (High Density) or not, as they will have a tab on both sides of the disk  
The Amiga uses a different file system so it will allow more space on the disk compared to Windows/DOS formatting.  880kb and 1.76MB I believe for the Amiga


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Apr 1, 2022)

Finally decommissioned my 2600K rig recently. Motherboard ran a full VRM and chipset water block setup most of its life. Still runs strong but just really shows it's slowness on general usage. Might hang it on the wall in a place of honor.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

Let's download the newest NimeZ modified drivers for 7970. Hella cool that someone keeps the older GCN cards alive, as the card still has some horsepower even 10 years later.

BTW: fellow 7970/280X users, how's your FS/TS scores?

FS: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/27457455
TS: https://www.3dmark.com/spy/27142572

Would be interesting to try this with my main rig. Though the card takes 3 slots and my PCIe SATA controller is next to my 2-slot 1080 Ti..


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> NimeZ modified drivers for 7970



Have you got a link bro? 

I'm not seeing them online. 

I've still got a couple of them cards in a system. LOL


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Have you got a link bro?
> 
> I'm not seeing them online.
> 
> I've still got a couple of them cards in a system. LOL


Here u go 









						Amernime Zone AMD Software: Adrenalin / Pro Driver - Release Discovery 22.12.2 WHQL
					

[IMG]  Amernime Zone Radeon Software Adrenalin / Pro Remixed 2nd-Source for Multi-Driver Preset  [ATTACH]  Driver Catalog Compiled Under Windows &...




					forums.guru3d.com


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Here u go
> 
> 
> 
> ...



For sure going to give these a shot!!!!!!! Thanks.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can you answer this i see that a lot id sellers are selling
> 2HD floppy disks Diskettes 1.44Mb does that mean you can record something on both sides is that right?


Looks like everyone got you good answers. And just to confirm what everyone else said, 1.44MB floppies are all 2HD disks. Depending on how they are formatted, they can be resized to 1.6MB, 1.76MB and even 1.81MB, though that's the biggest I've ever used and maintained stability. BITD, formatting floppies 1.6MB and 1.8MB was a godsend. Required a special utility and floppy drive support, but it worked like a charm.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> For sure going to give these a shot!!!!!!! Thanks.


No problem bro, I was like wow when I saw Tech Yes City's video about these and immediately installed those on my 2nd PC, nothing special about performance but having modern drivers is always cool.

Even though I don't use Fermi/Kepler GPUs myself, it would be cool if there would be modified drivers for those as well. Though IIRC Nvidia's drivers are harder to modify? Remember when there was also Omega drivers for Nvidia?  I used those for Radeon 9800 SE though back in the day, never used the Nvidia ones.

edit: Just DDU your official drivers and the NimeZ drivers should work okay. At least that's how they worked for me.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 1, 2022)

Oh yeah, I used a bunch of the Omega drives years ago! Golly, I had totally forgot about them


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Oh yeah, I used a bunch of the Omega drives years ago! Golly, I had totally forgot about them


9800 SE with the pipes unlocked and XT clocks... those were the days. 

I had also a R360 9800 Pro with 128MB XT bios flashed.

edit: though there was a patched file which unlocked the cards without using Omega drivers, I used that method too.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> BTW: fellow 7970/280X users, how's your FS/TS scores?


There ya go


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> There ya go
> 
> View attachment 242069


Damn, you have some CPU IPC advantage  which are your card's clocks?

edit: those on your system specs?


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 1, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Damn, you have some CPU IPC advantage  which are your card's clocks?
> 
> edit: those on your system specs?


Yep, 1135/1750. 100% glitch free in a huge number of games. I could push these clocks a little higher, but I prefer stability over benchmark scores


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 1, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Yep, 1135/1750. 100% glitch free in a huge number of games. I could push these clocks a little higher, but I prefer stability over benchmark scores


I'm jealous of your memory OC, if mine would clock as high, I would use Matrix Platinum bios (I had it but my VRAM gives errors* after gaming for a while). So 1575 is safe and stable, probably 1600 could work tho. But 1200/1575 are stable 24/7 clocks. 

edit: *artifacts and HWInfo gives errors on the VRAM. Works fine for a while but after the card heats up, it starts artifacting.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Looks like everyone got you good answers. And just to confirm what everyone else said, 1.44MB floppies are all 2HD disks. Depending on how they are formatted, they can be resized to 1.6MB, 1.76MB and even 1.81MB, though that's the biggest I've ever used and maintained stability. BITD, formatting floppies 1.6MB and 1.8MB was a godsend. Required a special utility and floppy drive support, but it worked like a charm.


Thanks for that Lex.  I have just seen a better deal on eBay for the same price but unopened but a better make Verbatim DataLife MF 2HD 3.5” Microdisks Floppy Disks 1.44MB 20 Pack BRAND NEW but he has a picture of a 10 pack on there.I just sent the seller a message asking if it is 20 for that price.It seems very cheap for a good brand like that.13 pounds make an offer. I will take. it at that price.
The seller got back to me   this is his reply
* Hi, thanks for picking up on this error. The item being sold is a 10 pack.*
  I thought it was to good to be true.It just goes to show you to check before you buy.I will have to buy that pack of 20 .i put on here earler .I will make a offer as thry have been opened.Thry are 8,99 and 3.20 postage.I will offer 7 50 i doubt if he will acept that.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 2, 2022)

It's actually funny that floppies are being so obsolete that you actually need to hunt for those from second-hand market... and I'm not that old, 32 next month.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 2, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> It's actually funny that floppies are being so obsolete that you actually need to hunt for those from second-hand market... and I'm not that old, 32 next month.


Wow your a baby  at 31   But you are well into this Retro stuff.It is my birthday today but i am not going to say how old i am.Put it this way i never thought i would make it to this age.Dagny Carlsson, world’s oldest blogger, dies aged 109
Swedish centenarian had thousands of social media followers and regularly appeared on television
Dagny Carlsson, described as the world’s oldest blogger, who wrote about her life in Sweden based on the attitude that you should never think you are too old to do what you want to do, has died at the age of 109.
When she was 99, Carlsson attended a computer course. A year later, she started her blog where she called herself Bojan. Her friend Elena Ström wrote in an email to the Expressen daily that they had been “inseparable since 2011 when she became a student in one of my computer coursesIt just shows you its never to late to learn.
she must have had good genes.I will be happy if i make 75.




a


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Wow your a baby  at 31   But you are well into this Retro stuff.It is my birthday today but i am not going to say how old i am.Put it this way i never thought i would make it to this age.Dagny Carlsson, world’s oldest blogger, dies aged 109
> Swedish centenarian had thousands of social media followers and regularly appeared on television
> Dagny Carlsson, described as the world’s oldest blogger, who wrote about her life in Sweden based on the attitude that you should never think you are too old to do what you want to do, has died at the age of 109.
> When she was 99, Carlsson attended a computer course. A year later, she started her blog where she called herself Bojan. Her friend Elena Ström wrote in an email to the Expressen daily that they had been “inseparable since 2011 when she became a student in one of my computer coursesIt just shows you its never to late to learn.
> ...


Happy birthday! I've lived through the Athlon XP, 64, LGA 775 and later era, so that's why hardware from that era is interesting as now it's half-free actually. It's now fine to get a CPU and overclock it to its max, back in my teens I was a budget gamer and well, I still am, my current PC (AMD R5 3600, 32GB, 1080 Ti) is a powerful system but not high-end.

I still need one thing to get truly to the past and that's GF4 Ti card. GF3 is weaker, I have one though.

Also, the lady was how old in this picture? She died at 109 but I've seen many 80yers who look older.

edit: I still have my NES I got in -93 ^^


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that Lex.  I have just seen a better deal on eBay for the same price but unopened but a better make Verbatim DataLife MF 2HD 3.5” Microdisks Floppy Disks 1.44MB 20 Pack BRAND NEW but he has a picture of a 10 pack on there.I just sent the seller a message asking if it is 20 for that price.It seems very cheap for a good brand like that.13 pounds make an offer. I will take. it at that price.The other one i put on here did not have
> *MF 2HD. double Face* on it.
> 
> 
> ...


I can't remember what the "MF" in the name of the product stands for. I remember it was a premium disk surface coating feature designed to make the disks far more durable. I also remember Verbatum floppies being among the best, so grab those! They will serve you well and last a long time!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I can't remember what the "MF" in the name of the product stands for.


I could say something but then I remembered that we're not in the Lounge part of forums.. I guess what you guess what I was going to say about MF floppies..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 2, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> I could say something but then I remembered that we're not in the Lounge part of forums.. I guess what you guess what I was going to say about MF floppies..


That is EXACTLY what I thought the first time I saw them. Had full on Samual L Jackson moment right in the middle of CompUSA. My wife was sooo embarrassed.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 2, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> And these anniversary editions are nice. I got a kit myself, I think they all are GMH.


I think so too. 

With that pictured kit, I was able to get #1 spot on PYPrime 2B for DDR2. 




Submission | Leaderboards

Here are all of the settings, which took me a few hours to get right:









I don't think I love anything more than overclocking...

Specs:
- E8500 @ ~4.7GHz
- ASUS P5Q Turbo r1.02g
- 2x1GB Crucial 10 Year Anniversary DDR2, spec. 667MHz, 3-3-3-12 @ 2.2v (Micron D9GMH). With two 92mm fans blowing on the sticks and NB
- Super Flower Leadex III Bronze Pro 650W
- SanDisk X400 128GB
- Gammaxx 400 w/ 1x Arctic P12 in pull configuration, MX-4 paste
- Gigabyte GTX 750 "Tie"

Warp9 reigns supreme.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 2, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Happy birthday! I've lived through the Athlon XP, 64, LGA 775 and later era, so that's why hardware from that era is interesting as now it's half-free actually. It's now fine to get a CPU and overclock it to its max, back in my teens I was a budget gamer and well, I still am, my current PC (AMD R5 3600, 32GB, 1080 Ti) is a powerful system but not high-end.
> 
> I still need one thing to get truly to the past and that's GF4 Ti card. GF3 is weaker, I have one though.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the birthday greetings Hope you have a good 32 seconed one next month.This is only 3 years ago at 106?so that picture could be anything from 99?That must be a wig she is wearing.I see people in there 70,s who look a lot older than her,I would like to know her sercret of how she has lived so long



lexluthermiester said:


> I can't remember what the "MF" in the name of the product stands for. I remember it was a premium disk surface coating feature designed to make the disks far more durable. I also remember Verbatum floppies being among the best, so grab those! They will serve you well and last a long time!


See above that was not to be. Yes Verbatum are the best.Have you heard of *PC Line *make the ones i put on here opened.I don,t know whether to go for Verbatum £9 for 10 .or the Pc line ones for 12 pounds for 20?
I have put a offer for 7 ,30 with 3,20 pounds for shipping that would be  10,50 all in.He accepted   the offer i should have going lower but a saving of 1.70  is good on 9 pounds ,and with a good message to sellers saying
 something like *hope your day i s going well* helps.Its worked all the time but should  have gone lower on the GPIU  it was 120 i offered 112 i should have gone at least 10% especially  on something  in that price range.


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 2, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> With that pictured kit, I was able to get #1 spot on PYPrime 2B for DDR2.


Congrats on the sub! I did not even know about this benchmark until now, gotta give it a try too.

And you probably already read about DDR2 voltages but 2.6V on air is up there  I'm a little baby and the collector part in me does not want to loose a single part I OC so I never went beyond 2.4V on air cooling for these microns. It's all luck beyond 2.4V if your sticks survive that or not. Even at 2.4V many kits died within a few weeks leading to manufacturers quickly dropping the kits that were specified that high. It is not the heat that kills here, but the voltage.

Did you try the 333 strap too? Usually that is the one which works best for me.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 2, 2022)

I may get a 290X in a month. Not sure but... 

When my 2nd PC has that card, it can run practically any game without problems.

edit: typo


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 2, 2022)

I just orded this one on eBAY it is a open box one. Unusal to get new goods on there cheaper than Amazon.
Moligh doll USB Floppy Drive 3.5inch USB External Floppy Disk Drive Portable 1.44 MB FDD USB Drive Plug and for PC Windows 10 7 8 Windows XP Vista Black
Six pounds cheaper than on Amazon, and it had 90 reviews which is the best on there for a floppy drive.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Have you heard of *PC Line *make the ones i put on here opened.


I have not. No idea as to their quality.


Greenslade said:


> I don,t know whether to go for Verbatum £9 for 10


That's not a terrible price. Though you could hold out for a better offer...


Greenslade said:


> I just orded this one on eBAY it is a open box one. Unusal to get new goods on there cheaper than Amazon.
> Moligh doll USB Floppy Drive 3.5inch USB External Floppy Disk Drive Portable 1.44 MB FDD USB Drive Plug and for PC Windows 10 7 8 Windows XP Vista Black
> Six pounds cheaper than on Amazon, and it had 90 reviews which is the best on there for a floppy drive.


Link?


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 2, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Congrats on the sub! I did not even know about this benchmark until now, gotta give it a try too.
> 
> And you probably already read about DDR2 voltages but 2.6V on air is up there  I'm a little baby and the collector part in me does not want to loose a single part I OC so I never went beyond 2.4V on air cooling for these microns. It's all luck beyond 2.4V if your sticks survive that or not. Even at 2.4V many kits died within a few weeks leading to manufacturers quickly dropping the kits that were specified that high. It is not the heat that kills here, but the voltage.
> 
> Did you try the 333 strap too? Usually that is the one which works best for me.


Yup! I initially told myself I wouldn't go above 2.4v, but I couldn't help myself   333 strap def worked better for me, but I actually didn't try it once during any of these tests. Only afterwards, when I attempted to wring a raw frequency result (unsuccessful), did I try 333 - jaw dropped when it booted what 400 couldn't. 

And thank you! I'm certain that you, Mr. Scott or ksateaaa23 could beat that score. In fact, I would love for you to do so, here are things that helped me go from > 39s to < 33s:

- You want good single core. Spots #2 and #3 are running around 4GHz, probably because it's a DRAM benchmark, but this is a mistake IMO. I saw massive gains after changing only the CPU multiplier. Your 4.8GHz E8600(?) would be amazing for this. I'm not sure how a heavily overclocked Phenom II would do, there are a couple on the rankings but I feel as though they're unoptimized. Lower IPC and probably lower max clock too, but I do wonder if an on-die memory controller overcomes these issues - @Mr.Scott may be the best one to test this, with his AM3 experience.
- Timings obviously, but the ones I noticed helping the most aside from the obvious (tCAS) were tRRD, tWR, and tRP. I didn't test it as much, but I reckon tRAS has particularly high effect on the result as well.

Good luck, I think sub 30 might be possible with the right overclocker! You can do it


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 2, 2022)

I'll give it a try, but today I try my luck with quad cores. Got a Q9550 installed at the moment. Currently running 4350MHz at 512MHz FSB.

Btw my good C2Ds are all E8500. I only have two E8600 as they cost 5x as much and they are becoming a bit sparse. And these two E8600 are trash.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 2, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I'll give it a try, but today I try my luck with quad cores. Got a Q9550 installed at the moment. Currently running 4350MHz at 512MHz FSB.
> 
> Btw my good C2Ds are all E8500. I only have two E8600 as they cost 5x as much and they are becoming a bit sparse. And these two E8600 are trash.


Good stuff - who knows, maybe a C2Q would do way better. I also pretty much ignore E8600's, they're not cost effective as you say and 9.5x is fine enough.

Keep us posted on how it goes


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 2, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Currently running 4350MHz at *512MHz FSB*.


Good grief!! I didn't know they could do that...


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Good grief!! I didn't know they could do that...



They can, 1.28Vtt currently. At and beyond 500 the Vtt curve climbs fast tho. I don't think I can get this to 520 at a reasonable Vtt voltage. My way of clocking these is start with VTT and VNB very low, go up in 10MHz steps on the FSB until you hit instability. Then tune GTLs and go further until you encounter the bus related hard freezes (reset will not work). Then go higher on VTT and VNB. 

P45 Chipset is nice for quad cores.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Good grief!! I didn't know they could do that...


Hell yeah they can. Check out our team best!



Dinnercore said:


> They can, 1.28Vtt currently. At and beyond 500 the Vtt curve climbs fast tho. I don't think I can get this to 520 at a reasonable Vtt voltage. My way of clocking these is start with VTT and VNB very low, go up in 10MHz steps on the FSB until you hit instability. Then tune GTLs and go further until you encounter the bus related hard freezes (reset will not work). Then go higher on VTT and VNB.
> 
> P45 Chipset is nice for quad cores.
> 
> View attachment 242223


My favorite is when you're on that razor edge of stability and your BIOS thinks it's corrupt.


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 2, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Hell yeah they can. Check out our team best!
> 
> 
> My favorite is when you're on that razor edge of stability and your BIOS thinks it's corrupt.


I think @lexluthermiester meant the quad core FSB. Its way more difficult to reach high FSB on quads, their 500 is like 600 on a C2D.

And yeah funny things happen on the edge. My favorite is when you can boot into a corrupted OS.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 2, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I think @lexluthermiester meant the quad core FSB.


Yes, that is what I meant.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2022)

Here's something you don't get to see every day ... motor swap for an old CD-ROM drive. More about that in a second, but first let me give you a heads down.

I got couple of BTC BCD 24XH drives which didn't seem to work, or detect any media whatsoever. Whenever it's an audio CD or data one - doesn't make any difference. So long story short, I came across this 50X Acer unit which seems to share the same, Philips loader as BTC and I was hoping to do a clean swap. Old assembly out & new one in, end of story!


 



Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan ... do they ever? Acer (being a newer, faster model) has updated mechanism with newer firmware AND mechanical revision. Gear reduction for the servo mechanism has been changed to allow faster seek times, and there has been changes in wiring diagram, as servo motor & laser pickup now both have their separate connectors - where the older BTC does not, they share a single ribbon connector making them mutually incompatible.

Of course, I didn't ... and couldn't allow something like that to get in the way, so I started thinking... With a bit of drilling, hacking, grinding & fabricating new mounts, I could easily transfer JUST the motor alone, since the motor was the only thing I needed, in the first place. And so there you have it, one "Acer" motor mounted on "BTC" frame chassis 





 

 



To be honest, mounting holes for this particular motor already existed before, but they hadn't been used on BTC, so it was mainly just a matter of hacking out the excess plastic & mounting the motor on the existing mounts.

Long story short, it didn't work ... unfortunately  Yes, the CD drive DOES appear to be working, and it even plays audio CDs just fine. Therefore I've already made a huge deal of progress because it was completely dead before, I couldn't read any discs. Data CDs on the other hand does not appear to be working ... it gets recognized and the unit spins it up but then gets confused & after several attempts to read the content gives up. Now sure what is going on, but I'm guessing this is due to RPM difference between the two motors. The old one was much slower (for 24X drive) where the new, replacement one is 50X and spins at noticeably faster RPM. If only I could limit the damn thing, prevent it from speeding up & allow the BTC firmware to actually read/access the content in time - would something like that even be possible?! Either way, I call this somewhat successful! No, it's not perfect, and it didn't work according to plan, but the unit is still more operational than it was before!
And so there you have it, BTC playing audio CD... You can even see that "invisible laser radiation" beam, looks pretty decent IMHO  


 

 



Oh, and for those of you who are curious, this is actually Philips loader/mech, model number is ROL 1318/2. It was a somewhat common mechanism back in a day, used on many different drives including Philips, itself:







The easiest way to recognize these is by big, round LED and tray door flap, which folds down and reveals the actual tray inside. Rather than door flap/trip being a single piece and sliding out together.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I have not. No idea as to their quality.
> 
> That's not a terrible price. Though you could hold out for a better offer...
> 
> Link?


​



_4.3 out of 5 stars_  90 ratings





lexluthermiester said:


> I have not. No idea as to their quality.
> 
> That's not a terrible price. Though you could hold out for a better offer...
> 
> Link?


​






lexluthermiester said:


> That's not a terrible price. Though you could hold out for a better offer...
> 
> Link?


They are the ones i put in here earlier
The only info  i can see on them.I have bought them now anyway. 10.50 for 20.









Link   _4.3 out of 5 stars_  90 ratings


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 3, 2022)

Not much writing on this one... You folks know what I do. Enjoy. 









1.0mm APT2560 thermal pads









NF200, the spicy boy that allows us our 5x PCIe x16 slots. 









vDIMM in the upper. NF200 & SB vREG in the lower?



NB vREG?



QPI vREG?



Our USB 3.0 buddy



Dual Intel 82574L gigabit LAN



Realtek ALC889









No Volterra, but it's a baby Classified in a way, with the NF200. Nice. 
Time for some Xeon binning!


----------



## karakarga (Apr 3, 2022)

One really bad thing happening soon is, end of life of Internet Explorer 11 in June 2022. 

It is bad, because, x86 only processors from Pentium 3 ~ 4 era can not enter into web without that browser. The last browser to use with a P3-1000 CPU is to install Windows 7 with at least 1 GB ram and to use Internet Explorer 11 with it. There is still support for Windows 7 but it is in the last year of extended support.

People still can not managed to find a good solution to crack Windows 10 to run such old hardware because of newer requirements but:

*XD ? --> BypassXDCheck for Intel
NX ? --> BypassNXCheck for AMD
XN ? --> BypassXNCheck for ARM (absurd!)
PAE ? --> BypassPAECheck
SSE ? --> BypassSSECheck for AMD Athlon
SSE2 ? --> BypassSSE2Check

- Did anyone tried those commands like bypassing TPM? -*

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig]
"BypassTPMCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassSecureBootCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassRAMCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassStorageCheck"=dword:00000001
"BypassCPUCheck"=dword:00000001

like that we know.

*--> Volunteers wanted to test those in bold above to crack Windows 10 x86 edition to run old hardware! <--

Note: A modified iso image must be prepared and written on 4.7GB DVD before installation!*


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2022)

karakarga said:


> One really bad thing happening soon is, end of life of Internet Explorer 11 in June 2022.
> 
> It is bad, because, x86 only processors from Pentium 3 ~ 4 era can not enter into web without that browser. The last browser to use with a P3-1000 CPU is to install Windows 7 with at least 1 GB ram and to use Internet Explorer 11 with it. There is still support for Windows 7 but it is in the last year of extended support.
> 
> ...


This is entirely my personal opinion of course, but Pentiums II, III and even 4 (from S423 & 478 era) have no business being online, to begin with. Why bother ... I find myself struggling with some pages running i5 760 (with GTX 760), so you can only imagine how P3 or P4 would perform in the same situation


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 3, 2022)

I can't even imagine a PIII still as a web surfer.


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 3, 2022)

Talking of Asus P5QL Pro motherboards, this one came in yesterday not having been looked at for nearly ten years, at a guess. Running Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on a Core 2 Quad Q8200 with some weird Chinese screen saver and monitoring _software_ virus called 360N or something, a 350w Power Cooler (July 2005) PSU which was on its last legs and the usual gunked up heatsink and GPU, so it desperately needed some tlc.
I stripped it down, rebuilt the XFX 9600GT (512Mb), changed the PSU for a nice Thermaltake TR2 600 I had stashed away, installed Windows 10 and enjoyed every minute getting it back into shape. Fortunately nothing needed backing up, which made the job a lot easier and it's not often that I come across machines like this that still function. The case, which doesn't have a side panel is a Vitsuba.
This motherboard has the 24 pin power socket in an odd place and I always wondered why Asus and others designed them like this in the past. It makes cable management a bit tricky. It only has 4Gb RAM, but at this stage it's not for gaming but in a photo shop, so I may make an offer for it when the time is right.






The old PSU readings which told the same story on a multimeter.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 3, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I find myself struggling with some pages running i5 760 (with GTX 760)


When testing Windows 11 beta last year, the Core2 T7200 I used to prove 11 could run on older systems was a bit slow, but it got there. So yeah, anything older is REALLY going to struggle. However, My Q9550 based Lenovo does fine.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 3, 2022)

Actually, I'm running Win7, SP1 ... with no intention of (ever) upgrading to something newer 

Speaking of beta Windows ... are these worth anything? To be completely honest, I don't even know what some of these do!

Windows Millennium, Beta 2 & Beta 3


 



Windows 2000 Evaluation & Deployment Kit


 



Windows 2000 Corporate Preview Program (for all the 3 "flavors" of Win2k)


 

 



Windows 2000 Channel Readiness Kit




Office 2000, Release Candidate 1 (is that unofficial, "official" retail release?)


 

 



Year 2000 Resource CD




Free Internet!


----------



## Audioave10 (Apr 5, 2022)

Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 - I got this about one year ago (Ebay) for $69 new and complete Open box. This one is a lesser micro board but still has a lot of features.
760G/SB710 AM3. As much as Gigabyte has lost their reputation lately, these mobos have always been great. I have 7 of them and my AM2 790X is 12 years old 
still doing fine and slightly OC'ed. Its hard to find anything these days.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 5, 2022)

The Gigabyte AM2 through AM3+ boards were a good run for them. I have a bunch.
785GM-US2H
790X-UD4P
790FXT-UD5P
890FXA-UD5  black socket

All easy to use and very overclockable.
They are some of my favorite boards to bench on.


----------



## Audioave10 (Apr 5, 2022)

Risky business...I bought this case 6 years ago and opened it TODAY. Lucky me that it is in perfect shape.
Sometimes I think I've got TOO much "stuff".


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 5, 2022)

So guys, which one does it better? 3dfx Voodoo2 in SLI ... or nVidia GTX760?


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 5, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> It's actually funny that floppies are being so obsolete that you actually need to hunt for those from second-hand market... and I'm not that old, 32 next month.


Do floppy discs Deteriorate if they have not been opened?
These are even cheaper than the ones i got ,and they have not been opened.Do all floppy discs work with any OS? they must have been in storage as they were 2.99?



















































View attachment 242614


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 5, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Do floppy discs Deteriorate if they have not been opened?
> These are even cheaper than the ones i got ,and they have not been opened.Do all floppy discs work with any OS? they must have been in storage as they were 2.99?
> 
> 
> ...


Hard to say. I haven't used floppies in ages but I never had any problems.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 5, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Hard to say. I haven't used floppies in ages but I never had any problems.


Thanks i was just wondering ,i know if you don,t use batteries they can even if they are unopened.They must have been in storage for some time  at that price of 2.99 The seller is selling them for 4.99 for 10 seems like a good deal ,and unlike the ones i bought have not been opened I am thinking of getting a couple.I have a thin client which i am going to put Windows 98 on.I will use them with this machine








.   There Is a lot to get Windows 98 on there, well it is for me.


----------



## Audioave10 (Apr 5, 2022)

Interesting! Is that a difference in the Monitors, the technology, the drivers? Is that the same version of the game?
All of the above?  Question is for Trekkie4.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 5, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Interesting! Is that a difference in the Monitors, the technology, the drivers? Is that the same version of the game?
> All of the above?  Question is for Trekkie4.


Haha, are you kidding me? All of the above! 

First things first - on the left there's a Pentium 4, running previously mentioned Voodoo2 in SLI and the original Half-Life that's been updated with "High Definition" texture pack. High Definition for that era, of course - it was the official update released by Valve themselves. You're seeing 15" LG StudioWorks monitor, running in 1024x768, 60Hz mode.

The one on the right however is Core i5 760, running Gigabyte GTX760 OC Edition, with the modern remake of Half-Life, under the name of Black Mesa (Source). It was a free game which eventually developed into the standalone, retail edition and it's available through Steam. Or you can just grab the free (perfectly legit) version that hasn't been entirely finished & only features the story up to Lambda Core, ending with "long jump" into the Lambda teleporter beam. "Monitor" is actually a Philips FTV, running in 1920x1080 mode.

You'd think that dynamic lighting, shadows & all that modern stuff would outperform the original game, but I have to be honest with you & admit that the game lost that "special something" in the process. IDK, maybe I'm just too sentimental but if I'd have to choose ONE of the two, I would pick the original version, running on 3dfx any time!


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> So guys, which one does it better? 3dfx Voodoo2 in SLI ... or nVidia GTX760?



 That's kind of a no-brainer.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 6, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> That's kind of a no-brainer.


I know, right? SLI is OP!


----------



## Susquehannock (Apr 6, 2022)

Somebody say floppy? Had these for about 25 years and still work fine.





A couple shots from the Win98 voodoo 4 rig last couple days. Been playing Red Faction and UT'99.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> nVidia GTX760


All day long..


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> All day long..


I just saw this on utube 







 how important is it to have a drive that writes and reads faster or is it not important for my basic use?.







 There is one on ebay for 15 make an offer with box of  10 floppy discs as seen in the photo.Is it worth going for ,i have a disc drive coming.Along with the 20 pack open box.I just saw  the Amstrad ones i put on here unopend 1 for 4.99   2  for 8,48  three for  11.97    that is packs of 10 o think i will go for  2 for 8.48  for 20 more discs.I wish i had waited befiore i got them,That looks a cool drive. It proberly isnt a good idea to get another drive just brcause it reads and writes faster.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 6, 2022)

10 years old... Z77 feels far more recent. It's hard to believe it was back in 2012.

The Biostar TZ77XE4, one of their very good motherboards, a rarity this late in their existence. TPU reviewed this back in the day and loved it, as did many other reviewers.

However, the previous owner of this unfortunately didn't give it a lot of love, the blockhead couldn't even plug in a USB port which you may have noticed evidence of above. 



Kaboom. Remnants of an SMD capacitor? Luckily, this wasn't not on my watch. The board powers up just fine, except those two USB ports + PS/2 port don't function.



(evidence of high intelligence in humans)
"Don't force it." I have been told this many times while building things growing up and it's saved my ass many a time. The original owner is lucky the board works.
I got it relatively inexpensively, so I don't really care. I still have 4 rear USB ports and I can OC like mad. Just glad this isn't a Robert B type job where I need to do socket voodoo... 
My "cure" is to put electrical tape over the ports and blasted capacitor, as it makes me sad to see and I'd rather pretend it never happened.






I took one of my i7-2600k's, and was off to the races.
Only really gunned for PYPrime, because I wanted to see how well this board would RAM OC. Initially it went extremely poorly, as I was trying 2133MHz+ without bumping VCCSA... lol oops. I'm not fully used to Sandy Bridge yet. Put the CPU @ 4.8GHz, and got a respectable 55th for PYPrime 2b DDR3.

HWBot Submission Here



I used a few kits before deciding to take out my initial frustration on random OEM Kingston Elpida BDSE sticks.



I think I'm some variety of hardware psycho, as I was running this at 2.0v... yes, I know it's not DDR2 
The voltage was necessary to stabilize these timings, which are all as low as they can boot into Windows reliably. These fans too, were a necessity, because these chips scale tRCD and seemingly a couple other timings with temperature.



Full timings as I tuned them:










I walk away impressed not only with these OEM sticks, but with this motherboard. vReg is good, around -30mv off BIOS under load and -10mv at idle. It doesn't get hot with my 0.5mm APT2560 pads, and the board overall is subjectively attractive. I wish Biostar still had whatever talent created this product, I'm a big fan, and the BIOS - usually a weak point - is actually quite replete and organized. Good job, seriously.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just saw this on utube
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have a TEAC 2X Floppy. It's pretty quick. Copies data at 61kps so it's actually a bit faster than 2X speed.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I have a TEAC 2X Floppy. It's pretty quick. Copies data at 61kps so it's actually a bit faster than 2X speed.


It is not worth me getting it ,as i have orded  a floppy Drive all ready .If i had seen it before i got the drive  i have coming i would have.
Normal drive 1.42 format. 25  copy
        Sony 2x      1 minute.     15 so nowhere near double the speed.



Susquehannock said:


> Somebody say floppy? Had these for about 25 years and still work fine.
> 
> View attachment 242638
> 
> ...


That was me.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I know, right? SLI is OP!


Uhh ... OP? (Original Poster?)



Susquehannock said:


> Somebody say floppy? Had these for about 25 years and still work fine.
> 
> View attachment 242638
> 
> ...


I never had a Voodoo4 before, but judging by the bench test results, I have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed ... 3473 points?! I was always under the impression that Voodoo4 was much more powerful than V3, and V3 obviously being more powerful than V2. Yet, I'm getting 2,659 points on my V2 SLI setup. Which (when you think about it) isn't that far off from your results. From what I remember, V3 3000 (AGP) was around 3,000-something...

Either way, thanks for sharing. There's only so much documentation & information on V4 cards out there  



lexluthermiester said:


> All day long..


Wait ... From what I understood, you prefer GTX760?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> you prefer GTX760?


Compared to a VooDoo card? Seriously?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Compared to a VooDoo card? Seriously?


Seriously... GTX may have all the magic tricks such as dynamic lighting & whatnot but 3dfx has loads of nostalgia & "character". Somehow I was expecting everyone in this thread to agree that 3dfx does it better


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 6, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> 10 years old... Z77 feels far more recent. It's hard to believe it was back in 2012.


It does, but with 10 years back I personally think it fits in this thread. I have one Z77 board, got it with a destroyed socket and invested in a socket replacement.

Manufacturers went insane on VRMs with these, while the CPUs of that generation actually were very efficient compared to X58 before.





@Trekkie4 

I would pick the Voodoo setup too, BUT I can understand why one would go with the GTX option. With the GTX you can have the same visuals as the Voodoo, you can run the old versions of the game. That is the great benefit, you can run your older titles plus some from a later period. Yes it lacks some nostalgic feeling by not using 'period correct' hardware.
But if you want to have that you would need to build a whole system with peripherals for every 2 years in the past. A dedicated 2000 machine, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 etc.. Who has the time, parts and space for that?
Also as a collector, such rare parts as the Voodoo I would not dare to use in a daily used retro system, I would be horrified of something bad happen to it. Not talking about wear but rather an accident like spilling water, power surge frying components etc.. However unlikely that would be. A GTX is easy to replace.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh ... OP? (Original Poster?)
> 
> 
> I never had a Voodoo4 before, but judging by the bench test results, I have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed ... 3473 points?! I was always under the impression that Voodoo4 was much more powerful than V3, and V3 obviously being more powerful than V2. Yet, I'm getting 2,659 points on my V2 SLI setup. Which (when you think about it) isn't that far off from your results. From what I remember, V3 3000 (AGP) was around 3,000-something...
> ...


Thouse Voodo4 cards are mightily expensive  3dfx voodoo 4 4500 agp graphics card £500 wow  
On another subject of rechargeable batteries i bought some EBL ones   abought three years ago ,they are charged up accoding to my charger put them in my keyboard and nothing? Would they still say they were charged if they had died?.Anyway rather than wasting money on batteries ,i decied to buy a wired one,i had the same problem with a battery mouse the light was on but it failed to work.Replaced it with a cheap logitech wired one.So you use a wired or battery one?.I am on my Mac now, i use the Apple Magic Keyboard and trackpad with Bluetooth.I also have the magic mouse but there is nothing magic about it.You have to put the cabal under the mouse to charge it.I am surprised they have not changed that by now.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> but 3dfx has loads of nostalgia & "character".


And it can't run Black Mesa. That's what was being compared. The OG Halflife and the Black Mesa fan-made remaster. A GTX760 can run both, effortlessly. The Voodoo, nostalgic or not, can't. Function before fashion my friend, function before fashion.

Edit:
Sorry man. Didn't mean to insult or disappoint you. But I was never nostalgic about HL1. It was good, but to me, not as good as Quake1, the engine of which it was based on. Heck, to me, Heretic 2 was better! Now compared to Black Mesa? I like that remake! Very well done, IMHO..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> @Trekkie4
> 
> I would pick the Voodoo setup too, BUT I can understand why one would go with the GTX option. With the GTX you can have the same visuals as the Voodoo, you can run the old versions of the game. That is the great benefit, you can run your older titles plus some from a later period. Yes it lacks some nostalgic feeling by not using 'period correct' hardware.
> But if you want to have that you would need to build a whole system with peripherals for every 2 years in the past. A dedicated 2000 machine, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 etc.. Who has the time, parts and space for that?
> Also as a collector, such rare parts as the Voodoo I would not dare to use in a daily used retro system, I would be horrified of something bad happen to it. Not talking about wear but rather an accident like spilling water, power surge frying components etc.. However unlikely that would be. A GTX is easy to replace.


Hmm... I see your point and I even know someone who feels the same way about retro hardware (the guy prefers Glide emulators & VMs over the real thing), but that's not my cup of tea.

Although I do consider myself as retro hardware collector, it does make me wonder - what's the point in stockpiling these things if you're not going to use them? Doesn't have to be every day obviously ... and I'm certainly not going to use my Pentium II to send emails or watch YouTube  But I do find myself playing Half-Life, Carmageddon II, NFS3 & other titles from time to time. Sometimes only for a day or two and sometimes for the whole month, day after day. Yes, of course I would feel bad if one of the cards would suddenly release the "magic smoke" but IMHO it's worth the risk. Where's the fun otherwise?

Besides, back in a day when I first joined TPU & had roughly 35-40 retro systems, I've had situations where the system would either fail to boot or to power on, entirely because of sitting inside the closet for too long. Nothing ever lasts forever ... unfortunately 



Greenslade said:


> Thouse Voodo4 cards are mightily expensive  3dfx voodoo 4 4500 agp graphics card £500 wow
> (...)


Yup! pretty much the reason why I never got my hands on V4, V5 5000 and/or 5500 & 6000 

From what I've seen and heard so far, I didn't miss much. Voodoo2 is the way to go if you want Glide support in your system. Especially if you want to play older, DOS (or Win95) games as the newer Voodoo cards seem to be having issues with those. Where do you want to go from that point on is entirely your decision. Heh, I could theoretically plug in my Voodoo2 setup into Core i5 motherboard & pair it with GTX760. Of course, something like that wouldn't make any sense but hey - it's possible!



lexluthermiester said:


> And it can't run Black Mesa. That's what was being compared. The OG Halflife and the Black Mesa fan-made remaster. A GTX760 can run both, effortlessly. The Voodoo, nostalgic or not, can't. Function before fashion my friend, function before fashion.
> 
> Edit:
> Sorry man. Didn't mean to insult or disappoint you. But I was never nostalgic about HL1. It was good, but to me, not as good as Quake1, the engine of which it was based on. Heck, to me, Heretic 2 was better! No compared to Black Mesa? I like that remake! Very well done, IMHO..


It's all good, I know what you meant 

It's all in the eye of the beholder so to speak. To one person this may seem like pure nostalgia & bring back memories, to others it's just an old hardware, being limited by tons of oversights & technical limitations. Same thing with those BTC CD-ROM drives. I was just talking to someone the other day & he told me how BTC is literally "trash" (or garbage, if you prefer) and how I should look into getting a Teac, Plextor or something more decent. But that's the irony, Plextor isn't nostalgic, not to me anyway.

We all know it existed, and we all knew how it looked like (and that it was probably the best ODD back in a day), but nothing more or less. Same thing with Half-Life running on Voodoo cards. For me it's the ticket back in time ... to some it's a complete insanity 

On a side note, I found one of the very few remaining links for the free version of Black Mesa (Source) available on MODDB


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yup! pretty much the reason why I never got my hands on V4, V5 5000 and/or 5500 & 6000


They were worth the cost though! Especially the Voodoo 4000 AGP 64MB DDR version. Best bang for buck of that gen of Voodoo cards.



Trekkie4 said:


> On a side note, I found one of the very few remaining links for the free version of Black Mesa (Source) available on MODDB


Sweet!! I've been looking for that!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> They were worth the cost though! Especially the Voodoo 4000 AGP 64MB DDR version. Best bang for buck of that gen of Voodoo cards.
> 
> 
> Sweet!! I've been looking for that!


I got BM Installer on my external hard drive, I even burned the whole thing to a DVD. But I wanted this to be transparent & legit without any legal doubts, so finding MOD DB links worked out perfectly!

As for all the differences between retail, paid version & free unfinished one let's just say that apart from missing XEN levels there's not much else to say. Franky I was disappointed with the paid retail edition, and even found bugs throughout the game which hadn't been there in the older, free version. So ... if you don't mind not being able to play through Xen, I'd say that the free version is the way to go.


----------



## Susquehannock (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh ... OP? (Original Poster?)
> 
> 
> I never had a Voodoo4 before, but judging by the bench test results, I have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed ... 3473 points?! I was always under the impression that Voodoo4 was much more powerful than V3, and V3 obviously being more powerful than V2. Yet, I'm getting 2,659 points on my V2 SLI setup. Which (when you think about it) isn't that far off from your results. From what I remember, V3 3000 (AGP) was around 3,000-something...
> ...


My resolution perhaps? = 1024x768. How does score 5,000 range sound? Seem to remember 800x600 being common test resolution with these cards.

Has been amazing to watch average Ebay selling price of the V4 4500 AGP rise about 400% since I pulled mine out of storage five years ago. Even if price was reasonable I don't see a need to buy one except to round out a 3dfx card collection. Certainly not a stellar performer. Basically half a V5 5500 geared toward the budget sector was it not? Only reason I have this one is because it  was free back in year 2000. Thought about selling many times. My GF2 GTS blows it away but nostagilia factor always wins out. Even more so re-visiting my own UT'99 maps made with the V4 card back in 2001.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2022)

Susquehannock said:


> My resolution perhaps? = 1024x768. How does score 5,000 range sound? Seem to remember 800x600 being common test resolution with these cards.
> 
> Has been amazing to watch average Ebay selling price of the V4 4500 AGP rise about 400% since I pulled mine out of storage five years ago. Even if price was reasonable I don't see a need to buy one except to round out a 3dfx card collection. Certainly not a stellar performer. Basically half a V5 5500 geared toward the budget sector was it not? Only reason I have this one is because it  was free back in year 2000. Thought about selling many times.
> View attachment 242705


5,000 certainly sounds a lot better, but nope - it was definitely 1024x768 ... I bench test all my 3dfx cards in this mode 



Susquehannock said:


> My GF2 GTS blows it away but nostagilia factor always wins out. Even more so re-visiting my own UT'99 maps made with the V4 card back in 2001.


Yup, exactly what I was talking about earlier... I also got GTS, along with TNT2 & GF3 Ti200. It really doesn't matter if something is more powerful than 3dfx, people run Voodoo cards for pure fun & nostalgia


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 6, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh ... OP? (Original Poster?)


Sorry - OP in this case = overpowered. 


Dinnercore said:


> It does, but with 10 years back I personally think it fits in this thread. I have one Z77 board, got it with a destroyed socket and invested in a socket replacement.


That's such a hot board... God damn.
For sure, I've noticed Z68/Z77 usually have fantastic VRMs for little reason. I guess they were just used to overbuilding them after Westmere and Lynnfield (which actually ran pretty hot for 4c/8t). Then you look at Skylake and Kaby lake boards, and it's like the CPU runs off of a hamster wheel.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 6, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Sorry - OP in this case = overpowered.
> 
> That's such a hot board... God damn.
> For sure, I've noticed Z68/Z77 usually have fantastic VRMs for little reason. I guess they were just used to overbuilding them after Westmere and Lynnfield (which actually ran pretty hot for 4c/8t). Then you look at Skylake and Kaby lake boards, and it's like the CPU runs off of a hamster wheel.


Hehe, and here I was thinking Original Poster, Original Picture ... but never overpowered  Thanks!


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> On a side note, I found one of the very few remaining links for the free version of Black Mesa (Source) available on MODDB



Seems that's the one I grabbed several months ago and had nothing but issues with it. Sound issues and game freezing.



Trekkie4 said:


> I got BM Installer on my external hard drive, I even burned the whole thing to a DVD. But I wanted this to be transparent & legit without any legal doubts, so finding MOD DB links worked out perfectly!



Oh hell, maybe I got it from you? LOLOL


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 7, 2022)

Okay, I'm done buying motherboards for a very long time now... If I post another one, someone please yell at me  



Got a smoking deal on this ASUS Rampage II Extreme. I love X58, I love (old) ASUS, and it was about 50-60% of the average selling price of these boards on eBay. The only flaws were 1 USB port being broken (wtf is wrong with people?), and the top PCIe retention being broken (don't care).









This was a pretty bizarre board disassembly, similar to the DFI LP Jr. GF9400 T2RS in that the NB has a second heatsink w/ thermal paste. You can grasp what I mean after seeing the heatsinks.



The large part is obvious. The middle square heatsink is what I'm talking about, on top of the NB heatsink. In order to cool vNB, I had to stack 3x 1mm APT2560 pads on top of one another, as the cooler does not extend below to meet the power stages (it had a pretty thick pad @ stock).

The lowest heatsink with the nasty thermal pad is actually for cooling the QPI power stages (and ROG LED), which you may have noticed are missing from the main PCB... 






I was NOT ready for this daughterboard to exist. My mind was blown. lol






Yup - I initialed it. It's corny, but if there's a place to sign I'm gonna sign the damn board!! 

This board expectedly OC's like mad. I have no idea how high the BCLK will go but it's definitely 210+. It makes my i7-920 absolutely scream. If you're wondering how I got a LFII to work on 1366, it was more simple than you might think:
- LFII comes with a total of 8x washers. grab these and the Intel mounting hardware included
- find an old Asetek (or any usable) WC backplate
- double-stack the washers on the backplate's poles, on the rear of the board only
- install the normal (longer) Intel standoffs included
- done 

If you put one washer on the back and one on the front, or two washers on the front, the cooler does not make adequate contact with the CPU. The reason this is possible is because the LFII supports LGA2011, which has identical mounting hole spacing to LGA1366.

I had no idea my 920 was this good.

i7-920 @ 4.5GHz, #1 ranking in 7-zip for this CPU


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 7, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Seems that's the one I grabbed several months ago and had nothing but issues with it. Sound issues and game freezing.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh hell, maybe I got it from you? LOLOL


As a matter of fact yes, I did upload Black Mesa files at some point, back on page 430, I think? But I don't see any reasons why the game shouldn't work. Do you have Steam Client & Source SDK2007 installed? The only other thing I could think of are drivers themselves... I even proved that you can run BM on passively-cooled 8600 GTS with no more than 256mb of VRAM 

Either way, give it a try with MODDB link & see if it works or not.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Either way, give it a try with MODDB link & see if it works or not.




Yeppers, I'll give that a shot and see.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 7, 2022)

Here's something I've been tinkering with lately. The slowest desktop processor with two threads - the *Pentium 4C 2.4 GHz* (Northwood). In tandem with the slowest DX9 desktop GPU from ATI - the *Radeon 9550 SE*. I tested them in Win7 to find out if a 1c/2t CPU *from 2003* could be used for basic web browsing today 





A quick FSB overclock resulted in 3.0 GHz. I couldn't stabilize 3.1 as the board lacks any CPU voltage control:



Then I ran some benchmarks on it:



Surprisingly, the operating system is very responsive. The 32-bit Win7 installation has been fully updated with the latest ESU and MSE for real-time protection. The NetBurst architecture is obviously slow compared to anything more recent, but this 1c/2t system does not feel overly laggy in everyday use. I timed some operations using the 7,200 rpm PATA/100 WD HDD:

desktop from cold boot *1'04"*
OS ready *1'21"*
Firefox 98.0 loading TPU forums (from clicking the desktop icon) *1'06"*
reloading TPU forums *9"*
loading TPU homepage *8"*

So far so good! But what about media-rich websites? Can this PC be used to watch YT?

loading YT homepage *22"*
loading YT video *11"* (though the whole page will take up to a minute to load while the video is playing)

The bottom-of-the-barrel GPU offers hardly any assistance in decoding video streams, but clips can be watched in 360p with only occasional stutter (less than 5% frames dropped):





So, can the oldest single core dual-threaded CPU be used as a simple web browser today? With a bit of patience, I'd say yes! But you probably would't want to use a Pentium 4 as a daily driver, at least not a Northwood. Using a modern GPU with a hardware VP9/AV1 decoder would likely speed up YT a good bit, but I'm limited to the AGP slot on this board.

Posted from the actual machine!


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 7, 2022)

How to put a game on a Floppy disc?
And what is the maximun size of the game i can put on there?
I understand when you format a disc it will be a fair bit smaller them the 1.44. of the discs.
I am waiting for my Floppy Disc drive to come .Apparently they said they tried to deliver it yesterday, but like a lot of the delivery services in the UK, most of the time they never leave a card saying they had called .They say they are trying again today and given a two hour  time frame.I am just hoping they do.Are delivery companys like this where you live.?.This particular one are so bad they had to change there name from Hermes to Evri  .I would rather use a pick up and collect one ,but the seller was charging a extra two pounds for that  I have never seen a seller charing extra for click and collect.It got delivered my buzzer does not work i put a notr on the door about it.Someone else lrt him in.He had a go at me telling me to get it fixed.I am not going to use them again anyway.I prefer mt buzzer not to work it has not worked for years,I don,t get people coming here anyway.The floppy drive is a weighty unit.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How to put a game on a Floppy disc?
> And what is the maximun size of the game i can put on there?
> I understand when you format a disc it will be a fair bit smaller them the 1.44. of the discs.


Uhh... Simply drag & drop files from your hard drive? Or use DOS command, copy C:\Game\*.* (all the files with all the extensions) to A:\Game\. Here's the working example:


```
copy c:\games\tetris\*.* a:\games\tetris
```

alternatively, you may use xcopy command which will copy the entire folder/directory to floppy drive. And yes, fully formatted floppy disk will hold capacity of roughly 1.44mb give it or take it. Other than that, floppy will behave like any other CD-ROM drive, USB flash disk or hard drive.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Uhh... Simply drag & drop files from your hard drive? Or use DOS command, copy C:\Game\*.* (all the files with all the extensions) to A:\Game\. Here's the working example:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...


Thanks for that info.  Can i only use Dos for a PC?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that info.  Can i only use Dos for a PC?


You've got to be kidding me ... right?!

If not, then I'm going to assume that you never had a 386, 486, or 5x86 machine before? As for the modern systems, I suppose you could ... depending on the motherboard age & chipset. But in short & without too much details - yes, you could. But the real question is why would you want to?


----------



## SomeOne99h (Apr 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that info.  Can i only use Dos for a PC?


DOSBox-X​Cross-platform DOS emulation package​Complete, accurate emulation and more​




						DOSBox-X - Accurate emulation & DOS development
					

DOSBox-X: Free, cross-platform and complete DOS, Windows 3.x and 9x emulation package



					dosbox-x.com
				


DOSBox-X emulates a PC necessary for running many DOS games and applications that simply cannot be run on modern PCs and operating systems, similar to DOSBox. However, while the main focus of DOSBox is for running DOS games, DOSBox-X goes much further than this. Forked from the DOSBox project, it retains compatibility with the wide base of DOS games and DOS gaming DOSBox was designed for. But it is also a platform for running DOS applications, including emulating the environments to run Windows 3.x, 9x and ME and software written for those versions of Windows. By adding official support for Windows 95, 98, ME emulation and acceleration, we hope that those old Windows games and applications could be enjoyed or used once more. Moreover, DOSBox-X adds support for DOS/V and NEC PC-98 emulations so that you can play DOS/V and PC-98 games with it.

^^^^^
It is a more complete version of Dosbox. You can even install Windows 3.x/95/98/Me.
I know this is for old hardware. but if Greenslade wants an easier way to play old Windows ME and under /DOS games, this is best solution I know.
*EDIT:* I forgot to say that you will have better results running DOS games on DOSBox-X than the original Dosbox. And you don't even have to use command lines like in the original. I don't see any reason for me to use the original Dosbox instead of DOSBox-X.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> You've got to be kidding me ... right?!
> 
> If not, then I'm going to assume that you never had a 386, 486, or 5x86 machine before? As for the modern systems, I suppose you could ... depending on the motherboard age & chipset. But in short & without too much details - yes, you could. But the real question is why would you want to?


No i am not.It is a novelty thing for me ,i was around at the time but i never got in to Pc,s  tell 2005.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No i am not.It is a novelty thing for me ,i was around at the time but i never got in to Pc,s  tell 2005.


Right, sorry  In that case you really should consider what @SomeOne99h wrote, above. Using the "real" DOS (especially when you don't know commands) can be tedious work.

The reason I brought up 386, 486 & 586 machines was because of DOS ... these things mostly ran MS-DOS (v6.22) as primary OS, sometimes in combination with Windows 3.11. But most of the work was still done through DOS commands, which answers your previous question. Yes, you most certainly can use DOS on a PC. But we are talking really old systems in this case, not the modern ones ... I have no idea if it would work on a modern platform.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, sorry  In that case you really should consider what @SomeOne99h wrote, above. Using the "real" DOS (especially when you don't know commands) can be tedious work.
> 
> The reason I brought up 386, 486 & 586 machines was because of DOS ... these things mostly ran MS-DOS (v6.22) as primary OS, sometimes in combination with Windows 3.11. But most of the work was still done through DOS commands, which answers your previous question. Yes, you most certainly can use DOS on a PC. But we are talking really old systems in this case, not the modern ones ... I have no idea if it would work on a modern platform.


I will be using it on my thin Client  with Windiws 98 which i have not got round to getting Win 98 on there yet.I realise that.I just put a bid in for 2 x boxes of 10 x MF - 2HD 3.5" MF2HD1.44MB discs  they were asking 10 i offered 8 . that will be it for floppy discs ,what with the 20  i will be picking up tomorrow.40 floppy, s  is more than enough for me.  Click and collect with no postage. I have never seen the make before 





SomeOne99h said:


> DOSBox-X​Cross-platform DOS emulation package​Complete, accurate emulation and more​
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for your in-depth info.


----------



## karakarga (Apr 7, 2022)

karakarga said:


> One really bad thing happening soon is, end of life of Internet Explorer 11 in June 2022.
> 
> It is bad, because, x86 only processors from Pentium 3 ~ 4 era can not enter into web without that browser. The last browser to use with a P3-1000 CPU is to install Windows 7 with at least 1 GB ram and to use Internet Explorer 11 with it. There is still support for Windows 7 but it is in the last year of extended support.
> 
> ...


In appraisers.dll file there are NX, SSE2, LahfSahf, PrefetchW and CompareExchange128 options to play with. I have to delete those all!

Example:

[DT_ANY_PRF_ProcessorRequirementIssues]
I:SSE2ProcessorSupport=FALSE
I:NXProcessorSupport=FALSE
I:CompareExchange128Support=FALSE
I:LahfSahfSupport=FALSE
IrefetchWSupport=FALSE

I will soon try those like being at this link: 







 but maybe I can be successful for Pentium 4 only "without NX bit" being ones only, not for Pentium III!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 8, 2022)

Let me ask you guys a question... I don't suppose someone in here would have Iomega ZIP drive demo application, which was available on some ZIP disks straight out of the box?

Basically interactive demo/commercial, which would say something like "Iomega, makes data managing faster and easier than ever"? And then you had various ZIP diskette icons (to find out more about Iomega products, and technical information) but when you moved the pointer across each & every one of them, it would make a drum-like sound. And if you tried it for couple of times, it would ask you if you want to play the game? (where you have to repeat the given melody, following the ZIP diskette pattern)


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 8, 2022)

Damn bro. 

I wish I had Iomega software but I don't man.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 8, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Damn bro.
> 
> I wish I had Iomega software but I don't man.


It's all good, same here. Used to have this app back in the early 2000s but I lost it over time...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 8, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Let me ask you guys a question... I don't suppose someone in here would have Iomega ZIP drive demo application, which was available on some ZIP disks straight out of the box?
> 
> Basically interactive demo/commercial, which would say something like "Iomega, makes data managing faster and easier than ever"? And then you had various ZIP diskette icons (to find out more about Iomega products, and technical information) but when you moved the pointer across each & every one of them, it would make a drum-like sound. And if you tried it for couple of times, it would ask you if you want to play the game? (where you have to repeat the given melody, following the ZIP diskette pattern)


I've got a bunch. PM me.

EDIT: pretty sure this will be ok;




__





						Internet Archive Search: iomegaware
					





					archive.org


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 8, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Let me ask you guys a question... I don't suppose someone in here would have Iomega ZIP drive demo application, which was available on some ZIP disks straight out of the box?
> 
> Basically interactive demo/commercial, which would say something like "Iomega, makes data managing faster and easier than ever"? And then you had various ZIP diskette icons (to find out more about Iomega products, and technical information) but when you moved the pointer across each & every one of them, it would make a drum-like sound. And if you tried it for couple of times, it would ask you if you want to play the game? (where you have to repeat the given melody, following the ZIP diskette pattern)


I saw this on the exalant LGR  video the other day. 







 One of the discs equivalent to 70 floppy discs


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've got a bunch. PM me.


Done, thanks!



Greenslade said:


> I saw this on the exalant LGR  video the other day.


Oh, Iomega was the best! I remember all the hype when I first bought ZIP100 Atapi for my system. Having 100mb diskette felt "unreal", and being able to record/write your own content on a removable media. Obviously, I didn't have a CD-RW drive back then and USB flash memory was still just a movie prop from Star Trek Deep Space 9 and Voyager (isolinear chips, I strongly believe that it inspired modern-day thumb drives as we all know & use nowdays)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 8, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Having 100mb diskette felt "unreal"


Yeah it did! And the IDE version of the drive was easily the fastest. Bootable too! With a ZIP250 IDE you could install DOS/Windows3.11/95/98 to it and have a totally portable OS install. It was sweet!



Trekkie4 said:


> Star Trek Deep Space 9 and Voyager (isolinear chips, I strongly believe that it inspired modern-day thumb drives as we all know & use nowdays)


Star Trek inspired or flat out invented a lot of things. The Tablet for example..


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah it did! And the IDE version of the drive was easily the fastest. Bootable too! With a ZIP250 IDE you could install DOS/Windows3.11/95/98 to it and have a totally portable OS install. It was sweet!
> 
> 
> Star Trek inspired or flat out invented a lot of things. The Tablet for example.


Funny you should mention Star Trek , a friend of mine said the same thing as you the other day.We were talking about how many of the origanal  actors were still with us ,because one of them died the other day.
Good old Scotty


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Star Trek inspired or flat out invented a lot of things. The Tablet for example..


The flip phone.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 8, 2022)

I have noticed my CMOS Battery needs to be changed , it was playing up for a few weeks now.Is it worth taking one out of another of my PC,s  which is keeping the time and date or should i just get a new one?.This is the first PC that one of them had gone wrong.It is saying monday .April 02 . But In the settings it  said May 2019?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 8, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> or should i just get a new one


This. You can go to just about any store that sells batteries and find 2032 types for cheap.


----------



## dorsetknob (Apr 8, 2022)

£1 spent at Poundland gets you 
4 x 2032 (200mah) + 2 x 2025 (150mah) + 2 x 2016 (70mah) all on one card 
Brand = Grundig
Note Other Brands may be available


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> This. You can go to just about any store that sells batteries and find 2032 types for a cheap.


After a time it does go back to the  right time and date 



dorsetknob said:


> £1 spent at Poundland gets you
> 4 x 2032 (200mah) + 2 x 2025 (150mah) + 2 x 2016 (70mah) all on one card
> Brand = Grundig
> Note Other Brands may be available


Thanks i will look in there,4 for a pound wow But are they any good.Mind you worth a try at one pound.Some years back i bought a mouse in there it lasted  for a couple of years.I bought another one after that one packed up ,it only lasted about a month.Can you guys help mr on another.  subject i put on here about
AsMedia 106x PCIe-Sata Controller keeps coming up before i can boot
Disable Hot Swap AsMedia 106x PCIe-Sata Controller it keeps coming up








  I put this in my PC
pci-e to SATA 3.0 Internal 6Gbps Ports Disk Expansion Card From the videos on youtube it seems a simple thing to do. This guy has no problem putting it in a dell 3020 SSF ,why am i having all these problems putting one in a 3020 mt? 







It is calling it *SCSI and Raid controller?SMART Supported? 420 ACHI pci e. gen2?
Someone else putting one in with no problems 







.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 9, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah it did! And the IDE version of the drive was easily the fastest. Bootable too! With a ZIP250 IDE you could install DOS/Windows3.11/95/98 to it and have a totally portable OS install. It was sweet!
> 
> 
> Star Trek inspired or flat out invented a lot of things. The Tablet for example..


Yes, it did... Touch screen panels & operating system (in Star Trek referred to as LCARS). Among many others, such as the sliding (automated) doors, holograms & holographic projections, heck even Google glasses!






According to some researches, the shields are not that far-fetched either ... and the Warp drive is actually plausible & would work (in respect to the laws of physics) but would require too much energy, which (at this point in time) cannot be artificially generated.



Greenslade said:


> Funny you should mention Star Trek , a friend of mine said the same thing as you the other day.We were talking about how many of the origanal  actors were still with us ,because one of them died the other day.
> Good old Scotty


Oh ... may I ask which one? I used to follow ST in great lengths, but ever since 2020 I kinda gave it up due to personal reasons. I even had the opportunity to talk to some of the cast (not in person, however) ... and managed to piss off Brent Spiner (lt. commander Data). But that's a whole other story, for some other occasion 



Mr.Scott said:


> The flip phone.


Yup! Motorola willingly admitted how their "flip" model (razr?!) was inspired by the original Star Trek communication device!


----------



## Bones (Apr 9, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh ... may I ask which one? I used to follow ST in great lengths, but ever since 2020 I kinda gave it up due to personal reasons. I even had the opportunity to talk to some of the cast (not in person, however) ... a*nd managed to piss off* Brent Spiner (lt. commander Data). But that's a whole other story, for some other occasion


How dare you overload his emotion chip!!!! 

Anyway, I just uploaded a vid of a run from last February of a session I did with one of my 939 setups on chilled, taking on and out a couple of Ln2 subs in the process.
BTW it may say "Video Unavailable" but pay that no mind, it's available as long as the link itself is available. Also know the entire vid is a little over 2 hours long but you get to see the entire process of my tweaking and tuning along the way and I do apologize for the less than desirable vid quality - Not alot I can do about that with my current recording equipment and will need to work on that part of it.
Enjoy.

OC'ing session on chilled water - Socket 939 Opty 175 - YouTube


----------



## Audioave10 (Apr 9, 2022)

LGR is opening Mail again...


----------



## oobymach (Apr 9, 2022)

Some old Nimoy commercials.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 9, 2022)

Bones said:


> How dare you overload his emotion chip!!!!
> 
> Anyway, I just uploaded a vid of a run from last February of a session I did with one of my 939 setups on chilled, taking on and out a couple of Ln2 subs in the process.
> BTW it may say "Video Unavailable" but pay that no mind, it's available as long as the link itself is available. Also know the entire vid is a little over 2 hours long but you get to see the entire process of my tweaking and tuning along the way and I do apologize for the less than desirable vid quality - Not alot I can do about that with my current recording equipment and will need to work on that part of it.
> ...


Right?! For the guy who spent most of his career playing emotionless android, he sure had a short fuse! Anyhow, we worked it out. I took advantage of MySpace (at the time) & messaged him in private, to settle the score. He primarily misunderstood me & my point of view and I apparently misunderstood & underestimated him. So it all worked out in the end, I guess.

Anyhow, among several other Trek Stars which I only met for a short while & exchanged few words (Rene Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, Jeri Ryan, Rod Roddenberry) I also had the opportunity to meet Manu Intiraymi ... an actor who played the oldest borg "kid", Icheb on Voyager. Despite being odd, he seemed like a really cool guy, who enjoys talking to his fans & listens to what they have to say. Anyway, enough about Star Trek ... I'm already waaay off-topic here


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 9, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> This. You can go to just about any store that sells batteries and find 2032 types for cheap.


I have  sent you a question about
Asmedia 106x SATA Controller preventing boot
S.M.A.R.T. supported
Using PCIe Gen 2 x2
Can't find any device
I bought a new keyboard because .i thought my battery one had stopped working,because the batteries were charged according to my charger .But i thoight i would see if it would work after usring the new one  that has F1 and F11 on the same key? The F2 and the F12 on the same key?I took the Pcie card out and the new keyboard was still showing *Settings* nothing else.My old Keyboard works with all the other settongs you normaly get.I piy the Pcie card back in and got all that stuff about Asmedia 106x.I will try the Pcie card in another slot ,but not very hopefull .That new keyboard is cjeap and nasty. I will have to send it back ,and it looks like the Pcie card to thats going to be a pain as it is from China.Unless anyone on here can sort all this
Asmedia  stuff out. It is still showing it as
SCSI  and Raid  controllers
Asmedia 106 x Sata controllers.
Why do they sell stuff that does not work how it should There are so many people wiyj yjr same problem as me with this,The time is still wrong ,could that be part of the problem?it says May 2019?
Even on this kytboard  F2 goes onto prepaoring to go into setup then straihjy into  *Settings * only. 438.
437 Asmedta It is no good you likeing it Lex ,i want an answer from someone on here.

I am checking a SD card i got from eBay , with H2testw  it has been going for will over an hour.
I never used to check them until they started saying a lot of them on eBay and even Amazon were fake on youtube


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 9, 2022)

I know this is not a dedicated OC thread, but I still would like to share a personal achievement.





I finally hit the sub 30 second PYPrime with DDR2 and on my beloved EP45-Extreme. On ambient cooling still.








						OsmiumOC`s PYPrime - 2b with BenchMate score: 29sec 998ms with a DDR2 SDRAM
					

The DDR2 SDRAM @ 667.2MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the PYPrime - 2b with BenchMate benchmark. OsmiumOCranks #937 worldwide and #2 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.




					hwbot.org
				




This took me some time, I had to push a few limits. But I can actually confirm some of the bold marketing from Gigabyte:





Yes, indeed DDR2 1333+ is very much possible for this board. Funny tho that they included that in the marketing. I believe there are only a few DDR2 kits that can reasonably run this speed. It is more of a memory limit than a board limit.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 10, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Yes, indeed DDR2 1333+ is very much possible for this board. Funny tho that they included that in the marketing. I believe there are only a few DDR2 kits that can reasonably run this speed. It is more of a memory limit than a board limit.


But the trick is finding DDR2 DIMMs that can do 1333 without crap timings and redonkulous RAM voltage...


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 12, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> LGR is opening Mail again...


He is a lucky guy to get all that stuff for free.  As if he has not got enough stuff as it is.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 12, 2022)

Celeron D 347
Celeron 420
256mb DDR2
Trident 9680 2mb PCI (slowest GPU I own)



Anyone want to make a guess at what's going on here?


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Anyone want to make a guess at what's going on here?


CPU shootout in Win98?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 12, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> CPU shootout in Win98?


Heh, not exactly 98 I'm going to be running on here.

I'm planning on seeing which CPU runs 11 faster. I'll upgrade the rest of the parts eventually.

So far the trident is about the worst GPU I've ever used. It doesn't even produce a good VGA signal. Text in the bios is fuzzy and shaky.

Windows 7 looks wonderful.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Windows 7 looks wonderful.


This is 8-bit color depth, try bumping it in the monitor tab. If your video card has 2 MB, it should be able to output 768p in 16-bit.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Apr 13, 2022)

rebuilding my X58 to my original config and going to use the EK Supreme HF but found these in the water cooling stash... a few Danger Den


----------



## caroline! (Apr 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Celeron D 347
> Celeron 420
> 256mb DDR2
> Trident 9680 2mb PCI (slowest GPU I own)
> ...


You can overclock that 347 to the moon with a decent mobo


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 13, 2022)

I cannot get it to install 11 even with these requirements bypassed.  Any ideas.






And yes, it is monochrome. 11 installer doesn't even have color with this gpu. The purple background is black with some scrolling pattern here.

I've tried 512+256mb and 1gb and it won't work.

256mb won't even open the installer.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 13, 2022)

Don't know if anyone in this thread would be interested in playing one of the Unreal Tournament versions, but I started a thread regarding the possibility of starting a server:









						TPU Unreal Tournament Server?????
					

EDIT: April 16, 2022:  Rented a UT2004 server for a month to test it out!!!   It is a public server.   Name on the server is: TPU-UT2004 IP address is: 108.61.104.100  You can add that IP address in your favorites within the game to make it easier to find.   It has been a ton of years since...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Courier 6 (Apr 13, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Don't know if anyone in this thread would be interested in playing one of the Unreal Tournament versions, but I started a thread regarding the possibility of starting a server:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Does it rum in modern hardware? I still have my PIII 550 and ahtlon 64 single core, both are still built, but I don´t have PSUs for them, have my ahtlon XP 2100+, but it´s in a bag somewere, haven´t looked at it for ages lol


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I have a TEAC 2X Floppy. It's pretty quick. Copies data at 61kps so it's actually a bit faster than 2X speed.


Never even imagined that a double speed floppy drives a thing, I mean, even though a FDD is slow but I thought that it's quick enough for 1.44MB medium.. 

On the other hand, if you have older software which has multiple disks, then it pays off when it installs at half the time as usual.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 13, 2022)

Courier 6 said:


> Does it rum in modern hardware? I still have my PIII 550 and ahtlon 64 single core, both are still built, but I don´t have PSUs for them, have my ahtlon XP 2100+, but it´s in a bag somewere, haven´t looked at it for ages lol



Yeah, heck, I've ran UT99 on a Ryzen 3700X without any issues. Solid game. Online connections still work great as well.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 13, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> rebuilding my X58 to my original config and going to use the EK Supreme HF but found these in the water cooling stash... a few Danger Den
> 
> View attachment 243445


Haven't seen those in a long while! Damn!



MaenadFIN said:


> Never even imagined that a double speed floppy drives a thing, I mean, even though a FDD is slow but I thought that it's quick enough for 1.44MB medium..
> 
> On the other hand, if you have older software which has multiple disks, then it pays off when it installs at half the time as usual.


Oh yeah, even 3x and 4x drives were a thing and they were excellent!


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh yeah, even 3x and 4x drives were a thing and they were excellent!


Damn, I guess I'm still few years too young as I barely remember the competition with the multipliers in optical drives. 

Still burned cds and dvds with low speed though even in the later 2000s.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I cannot get it to install 11 even with these requirements bypassed. Any ideas.


The official minimum requirements for Win11 call for a DX12 compatible GPU with a WDDM 2.0 (=Win10) driver. The video card may be the culprit. Also, Win11 needs 4 GB RAM at minimum. While I was able to boot Win7 on a quarter of the required memory (i.e. 512 MB), it was completely unusable. I wouldn't expect Win11 to even load on less than 2 GB.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 13, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Still burned cds and dvds with low speed though even in the later 2000s.


I still do. CDs I burn at 4x or 6x max, DVDs at 2x or 4x max and BDRs at 2x always. I don't mind the longer recording times.



QuietBob said:


> The official minimum requirements for Win11 call for a DX12 compatible GPU with a WDDM 2.0 (=Win10) driver.


That's not a hard coded limitation. I have tested Windows 11 running on a Sony VIAO laptop that had a Geforce Go7600, which is only DX9c and it ran well.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I still do. CDs I burn at 4x or 6x max, DVDs at 2x or 4x max and BDRs at 2x always. I don't mind the longer recording times.


Totally agree. With today's machines you can do whatever you want and the burn won't fail like back in the day when you barely could have Winamp playing tunes at the same time.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2022)

Me again  I need your opinion on something...

For the sake of argument, let's say that you've been searching for the certain keyboard over the last decade or so. And nothing ever came up ... OR the seller asked for too much money. Or you encountered a dodgy deal & circumstances (right here on TPU actually) and backed off. And nothing ever came up again. Not until few days ago, that is.

Model number is BTC 8110M and I found it on ebay, but the seller turned out to be local and therefore agreed to sell 8110 for the price without international postage & customs.




So, what's the problem I hear you asking...? Yes, well the asking price is around 55USD, or 50€. Would you spend that much money for an old keyboard OR would you keep on searching & hoping to find one locally for the price of a beer or coffee?


----------



## 68Olds (Apr 13, 2022)

Trekkie, that entirely depends on your personal current level of disposable income.  IMHO 50€ is a lot for an old keyboard, but it seems you've been looking a long time for a part to match your BTC restorations.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Trekkie, that entirely depends on your personal current level of disposable income.  IMHO 50€ is a lot for an old keyboard, but it seems you've been looking a long time for a part to match your BTC restorations.


"BTC" keyboard does correspond to the same system which had (and still has, today) BTC CD drive but other than that there's no connections between the two ... just a bizarre coincidence 

But yes, you're right. 50€ IS a lot of money and I'm having second (and even third) doubts about the whole thing. But then again I couldn't find the damn thing anywhere else... After 22+ years, would it make sense to hope that one of these would suddenly pop up somewhere cheaply & still be in perfect (and working) condition?


----------



## Robert B (Apr 13, 2022)

Space - Magic Fly Music Video  

*SNAKE EYES!!!* 

The OG Pentium 60 Socket 4! This time without FDIV BUG.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Me again  I need your opinion on something...
> 
> For the sake of argument, let's say that you've been searching for the certain keyboard over the last decade or so. And nothing ever came up ... OR the seller asked for too much money. Or you encountered a dodgy deal & circumstances (right here on TPU actually) and backed off. And nothing ever came up again. Not until few days ago, that is.
> 
> ...


It is a weird looking Keyboard  Seems a lot for such a old  keyboard.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Seems a lot for such a old keyboard.


He is going for period correct items that match the rest of the systems he already has. You might have missed some of that discussion which has been on-going for almost 2 years now. And for what it is, it's a fair price.



Robert B said:


> Space - Magic Fly Music Video
> 
> *SNAKE EYES!!!*
> 
> The OG Pentium 60 Socket 4! This time without FDIV BUG.


WOW! Rare indeed!


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> He is going for period correct items that match the rest of the systems he already has. You might have missed some of that discussion which has been on-going for almost 2 years now. And for what it is, it's a fair price.
> 
> 
> WOW! Rare indeed!


Yes you are right there i have missed the on going discussions you talk about.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is a weird looking Keyboard  Seems a lot for such a old keyboard.


It sure is ... which is one of the reasons I can't seem to find it anywhere 

That ... plus it was made by the company "BTC" (Behavior Tech Computer) ... which according to some people had a bad reputation due to producing cheap(er) and low budget hardware. Whenever this attitude was justified or not is open for debate - personally I've seen my share of BTC optical drives & I can tell you that there was absolutely nothing "cheap" or low budget about them.



lexluthermiester said:


> He is going for period correct items that match the rest of the systems he already has. You might have missed some of that discussion which has been on-going for almost 2 years now. And for what it is, it's a fair price.
> 
> 
> WOW! Rare indeed!


True. And not just period-correct but literally a copy of the exact same setup from back in a day  Soo ... you think that the price is right?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Soo ... you think that the price is right?


That depends. I would be ok with it because it's not something you're going to cross paths with often AND it looks like it's in good condition. So for somewhat rare and vintage keyboard, I think you got a fair and reasonable deal. Not great, but not bad either.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That depends. I would be ok with it because it's not something you're going to cross paths with often AND it looks like it's in good condition. So for somewhat rare and vintage keyboard, I think you got a fair and reasonable deal. Not great, but not bad either.


Thanks... I was hoping someone would "approve" my totally unreasonable madness


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks... I was hoping someone would "approve" my totally unreasonable madness


Collecting parts for a system that's not just retro but vintage is not cheap with old parts getting rare, especially if you want to be authentic.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Collecting parts for a system that's not just a retro but vintage is not cheap with old parts getting rare, especially if you want to be.


True... Besides, you & Stinger here (of all the people here on TPU) already know how much sanity & money these things cost me so far. Compared to that, the keyboard seems like pocket change 

By the way, @Greenslade I found couple of pics with the exact, same keyboard from back in a day:
Taken in 2000...




Taken in 2004... (on the right, inside the sliding tray)




...along with the promotional brochure




Apart from the keyboard above, the only other thing that's missing to complete the set is Shamrock C509-DA, 15" CRT monitor. I still have the original one from back in a day, but unfortunately it would seem that the flyback transformer is toasted. I asked @r0x to take a closer look & (hopefully) get it working again, but that's a work in progress


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 13, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Space - Magic Fly Music Video
> 
> *SNAKE EYES!!!*
> 
> Chech The OG Pentium 60 Socket 4! This time without FDIV BUG.


Nice tune ,a charity shop had chucked some records out in a bin outside the shop   and that was one of the LP,s along with this one from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BigBambu.jpg and a number of other  LP,s
which were in exealant condition. And the local market when they don,t sell stuff they leave the stuff not sold on the Floor ,i got a bag full of DVD,s.And one of them was *Cheech & Chong,s*_  Up in Smoke_ (1978).I see the old chaps are still alive and touringCheech is 75  and Chong is 83?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Apr 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Nice tune ,a charity shop had chucked some records out in a bin outside the shop   and that was one of the LP,s along with this one from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BigBambu.jpg and a number of other  LP,s
> which were in exealant condition. And the local market when they don,t sell stuff they leave the stuff not sold on the Floor ,i got a bag full of DVD,s.And one of them was *Cheech & Chong,s*_  Up in Smoke_ (1978).I see the old chaps are still alive and touringCheech is 75  and Chong is 83?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 13, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> You're definitely correct, I found this AM3 VRM spreadsheet which I had previously looked over because I was focused on the AM3+ list, and it confirms it's an 8+1 phase. Also, confirms that the M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 is 8+2  Source w/ other sockets too
> 
> 
> I didn't know that about the Sabertooth revisions, thank you for sharing.
> ...


I'm betting this VRM is a lot better. Can you confirm?

Got an Asus m5A97 R1.02 + Phenom ii x4 945 for 10 bucks on an eBay auction, supposedly either the CPU board or both was faulty but they didn't know which.







I plugged it in and it just booted straight up. No clue why it was sold as parts. Knock on wood it seems to work perfectly.



Despite being AM3+ and 970 chipset, it supports core unlocking and probably is a better overclocked than the MSI. This might be my new go-to for AM3 tinkering.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I'm betting this VRM is a lot better. Can you confirm?
> 
> Got an Asus m5A97 R1.02 + Phenom ii x4 945 for 10 bucks on an eBay auction, supposedly either the CPU board or both was faulty but they didn't know which.
> 
> ...


It definitely is better, it's a 4+1 on the M5A97 (and R2.0). I own the R2.0 and it's not a bad board at all, it also has core unlocking as you mentioned.  Iirc it's two high side / two low side MOSFETs from when I repadded + repasted.

Two things to keep in mind for 970:
- you probably won't be able to get CPU NB frequency as high as 990FX, with an identical chip (FX-6300) and voltage I reached 2800MHz vs 2600MHz max on 970.
- second PCIe slot is x4, so Crossfire is sub-optimal but achievable. I've done it with 2x HD 7750's and they still perform well, but if you for example want high-end crossfire w/o bridges that will be an issue.

Otherwise just pay attention to the VRM temperature and you'll be fine, shouldn't surpass 105⁰c. Btw a huge help with FX / PhII is pointing a fan at the back of the CPU socket, a huge amount of heat is dissipated there. If you have random shutdowns while overclocking, increase the CPU overcurrent % (I think 140% is the max?) and again check VRM temps. For Phenom II though I wouldn't even be concerned as long as there's airflow in the general area.

Also interesting thing I noticed from staring at motherboards, the M5A97 R1.x has the ChV-Z NB+VRM layout and the R2.0 has the Sabertooth layout.


----------



## Audioave10 (Apr 13, 2022)

I've bought a FX-6300 for this board...


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 13, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I've bought a FX-6300 for this board...


That board is killer. You can bring that CPU as far as you want.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 13, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> a huge help with FX / PhII is pointing a fan at the back of the CPU socket, a huge amount of heat is dissipated there.


Absolutely, I've got a case-mounted 80mm fan there and it works miracles. Room temperaure was 23c:


----------



## Bones (Apr 13, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I've bought a FX-6300 for this board...


Crosshair V-Z, nice!
Even you can't read the board's label due to the camera flash there are other ways that says what it is - Location of it's power buttons up high and right vs low and centered for the older version is one telling difference. 

I hope it does well for you, those are great boards.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 14, 2022)

@Trekkie4 , as rare as vintage parts are getting and as expensive as they are getting, I'd say; go for it man!   

You may not get another chance to find one and if you do, it may be way more expensive. The more time slips away, the harder and more money it will cost brother!


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 14, 2022)

Oh I nabbed an interesting relic. They are only like 10 bucks and a CPU I find very interesting.



I just need a good board to play around with it. You bet it's getting overclocked!

I always found the 1156 CPU lineup rather unusual, especially the i5 lineup. You have quad cores, and then the over glorified i3s which wre on a better node with ipc that is all over the place because of the memory controller being on a different continent.

I never understood why when Intel could do a monolithic 45nm quad core with integrated imc but couldn't fit it in when with just 2 cores and a smaller node.

I find the 655k in specific the oddest. Unlike now where the "premium" unlocked i5s are always greater than or equal the clockspeed of the locked parts, the he 655k is tied for the slowest clocked dual core i5. Like why.

I could ramble on and on about 1156 tbh. It's such a weird socket that was released at an odd time.

I have my eyes on a semi broken gene for cheap, so I might grab that.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 14, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I've bought a FX-6300 for this board...





MachineLearning said:


> That board is killer. You can bring that CPU as far as you want.





Bones said:


> Crosshair V-Z, nice!
> Even you can't read the board's label due to the camera flash there are other ways that says what it is - Location of it's power buttons up high and right vs low and centered for the older version is one telling difference.
> 
> I hope it does well for you, those are great boards.


Case in point, here's a similar VRM with the same CPU. 
*5,116.15 MHz CPU-Z Validation* - it's totally stable at 1.5v set in BIOS. (LLC brings it there under load, 1.488v @ idle)
I use 25% LLC but Bones may have a better recommendation.


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Oh I nabbed an interesting relic. They are only like 10 bucks and a CPU I find very interesting.
> View attachment 243537
> I just need a good board to play around with it. You bet it's getting overclocked!
> 
> ...


I love 1156, specifically because I feel as though it's neglected compared to many other sockets. I use the Sabertooth 55i and P7P55D Deluxe, those are both kickass boards if you can find them on the cheap. The Gene III would be great obviously as well. i7-860 and also X3470 are two CPUs to look out for - the Xeon can actually be had for around $20 last I checked and can be dropped into at least the two boards I mentioned.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 14, 2022)

Would I kill my Xeon if I'd run it at 1.53V? VRM has a fan..


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 14, 2022)

MaenadFIN said:


> Would I kill my Xeon if I'd run it at 1.53V? VRM has a fan..


Nope, as long as you're not holding it above >90c the whole time. 80c for 24/7. I wouldn't be as worried about the VRM with your board, especially with the fan - CPU heat will probably be your first limiter.

You can also put QPI/VTT @ 1.4v max, although I'd try 1.35v and 1.375v first, in that order. Scaling is more limited above 1.375v and heat goes up quickly

edit: I binned a bunch of my 1366 CPUs the other day on my R2E, including three Xeon X5675 CPUs. I also have two more which I tested months ago, actually in the same board you have. I can't confidently say that this is a universal rule, but from my testing, a decent Westmere chip will do at least 4.4GHz at 1.4v. A great one will do 4.5GHz+ @ 1.375v, and a bad one does <4.4GHz @ 1.425v+. Beware of the 226FSB wall (I did not discover this), afaik this is chip-dependent and sometimes motherboard too. These CPUs are cheap anyway so as long as the motherboard doesn't go with it, killing a bad sample isn't terrible.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 14, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> i7-860 and also X3470 are two CPUs to look out for - the Xeon can actually be had for around $20 last I checked and can be dropped into at least the two boards I mentioned.


I actually already have an i3 550 and i7 860 that came with an Intel H55TC desktop board.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 14, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I actually already have an i3 550 and i7 860 that came with an Intel H55TC desktop board.


That  i3 550 is selling for 10p  in Cex ,it is guaranteed for 24 months though everthing they sell is.i7 860. £22.Where else could you get a guarantee like that for second hand goods.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 14, 2022)

It's a shame Cex doesn't operate in the states.

I7 and board came from a big bundle lot of 20 boards+CPU+ram that I got for 80 bucks last year. In fact a lot of my older stuff came from that lot.

All in all I have always considered X58 to be the superior platform for getting into first gen. If you want 45nm i7 920s are pennies, and westmere Xeons are very inexpensive if you want to go that route. Plus playing around with triple channel ram is fun stuff. And if you want the next platform to mess with sandy dt and e are both super fun. So I've kind of skipped over paying much attention to 1156.

But I'm basically all x58'd out for now, so I'm moving on.

My DH55TC can overclock somewhat. It has bclk adjustment so I've tinkered some. But generally there's 0 memory adjustment and 0 voltage controls... really nothing outside of the bclk adjustment.


----------



## Bones (Apr 14, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Case in point, here's a similar VRM with the same CPU.
> *5,116.15 MHz CPU-Z Validation* - it's totally stable at 1.5v set in BIOS. (LLC brings it there under load, 1.488v @ idle)
> I use 25% LLC but Bones may have a better recommendation.


I can say using my Asus Crosshair V-Z as the example here that I don't use DIGI settings to excess, even if doing runs on Ln2.
For most anything done on air/water "Standard" or "High" is about as far as I go, for DICE (Dry Ice) "High" will suffice in about any instance I've ever ran into. You CAN use the "Extreme" setting if you want and it's still fine, it's when you combine that with the percentages from 100 to 140% is where the real danger is, esp, if not running it on Ln2 and even then you could fry something, Ln2 cooling isn't as "Foolproof" as you'd think.

You must be careful once you start messing with percentage settings regardless of how you have your LLC settings themselves.
Higher settings of anything makes whatever part of the system it's affecting run a little warmer so bear that in mind.

It's not unlike it is with the older DFI LanParty boards when you start wanting voltages above 1.55v's for the CPU for example with a Socket 939 setup.
The percentage with those is based on what voltage you set manually in the BIOS to use and then set a percentage to go along with it.

For example, with the DFI if you were to set CPU voltage manually for 1.50v's and then use 110%, that means based on 1.50v's as set manually in the BIOS it adds 10% of 1.50v's to CPU voltage and that's what you get in real voltage to the chip.
Mind you this can vary to a degree with a DFI but that's how it's supposed to work and you can think of your DIGI settings in a 990 FX Asus board the same basic way whether it's CPU, CPU-NB or RAM voltage ran with a percentage increase.

In the case of the CPU *You can even induce instability if not careful* making the VRMs work too hard, leading to issues about it flaking out under load and so on because it also makes the VRM's run hotter, it can induce throttling or even system crashing due to a hot VRM setup, not to mention it's just not good for the board in general.

LLC in itself isn't as harmful as overuse of the percentages you set for your DIGI Settings can be but at the same time your LLC settings do matter in the same way.

Also bear in mind a Crosshair V-Z is made to go for world records and the settings are there to do so if you want, it doesn't mean you can jack those setings to the max on air/water and come out to the good because you won't.

You'll have to experiment and see what the system likes and as long as VDroop isn't taking place it's OK and should be fine but overuse of these settings can lead to all kinds of issues that will make you go crazy trying to figure out what's going on when the problem in this instance is really you.

Don't get crazy thinking along the lines of "Moar voltage", that's not always the solution to a problem you'd have and that goes for about any setting you can tweak regardless.

TIP:
If it's not wanting to boot the OS and keeps flaking out at the boot screen, _take note of how far into the booting process it gets before it crashes_. Normally you'd bump voltage up a tick to try and make it go but if it then starts crashing faster/sooner, that means you're already at the limit and dropping voltage _below _where you had it is the most likely solution, provided you haven't already maxxed the chip out on what's it's capable of with the setup "As is", cooling being the biggest factor in most cases here.
Also realize this isn't limited to just the CPU, other things could be affected too but typically it's the CPU whenever this happens.

And don't be afraid to realize you've reached the limit no matter what you do - Everything has a limit and once you're there, that's it and simply throwing more voltageat it is just making it all run hotter for absolutely nothing.
As you guys know I do hold some WR's and speak from experience on the subject, perhaps what I've posted won't be the case in any example cases you can name but that's more or less the generality of it.

Hope this helps.


----------



## Audioave10 (Apr 14, 2022)

If I can ever find the space to do so, I want to build this but only OC to a moderate level...I don't like heat! 
I'm still trying to do the Pics better.


----------



## Dinnercore (Apr 14, 2022)

Rhetorical question, when do you have enough samples of one board? 

I saw another one and had to get it. Time for a family photo. I can't help it I love my DDR2 Extremes . I said I'll stop with 2, one for cold and one for ambient. I got another one, 'just to be safe' if one fails. Now I have a backup for the backup. All work flawless and are in good condition. Just the cold prepped one has a mangled heatsink after my modification.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 14, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Rhetorical question, when do you have enough samples of one board?
> 
> I saw another one and had to get it. Time for a family photo. I can't help it I love my DDR2 Extremes . I said I'll stop with 2, one for cold and one for ambient. I got another one, 'just to be safe' if one fails. Now I have a backup for the backup. All work flawless and are in good condition. Just the cold prepped one has a mangled heatsink after my modification.
> 
> View attachment 243623


Very nice. I recall hearing gigabyte 775 oc quads the best. 

Those remind me of MSI platinum models


----------



## Audioave10 (Apr 15, 2022)

Good Old LGR...


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 15, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Good Old LGR...


We are all fans of Clint


----------



## delshay (Apr 16, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I'm betting this VRM is a lot better. Can you confirm?
> 
> Got an Asus m5A97 R1.02 + Phenom ii x4 945 for 10 bucks on an eBay auction, supposedly either the CPU board or both was faulty but they didn't know which.
> 
> ...



I delidded my Phenom 1100T two days ago.

My question is do you know what is a good binned Phenom II is.    ..My chip needs 1.525v to do 4GHz all cores prime95.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 16, 2022)

That's not a good bin but not the worst I've seen.

My 1045t did 4.0 at 1.50v, which should be a lower bin.

I'd say 4.0 at 1.45 or so is a good bin.


----------



## Bones (Apr 16, 2022)

delshay said:


> I delidded my Phenom 1100T two days ago.
> 
> My question is do you know what is a good binned Phenom II is.    ..My chip needs 1.525v to do 4GHz all cores prime95.


What board are you running with it?
Even though these chips are good they do draw some power under load, if the board's VRM setup isn't truly up to task you'll have this kind of problem going on.
Some AM3 boards were notoriously too weak to properly handle the wattage load of a 6 cored Thuban under a real load when stressed.

MSI boards were among the worst of these (4+1 VRM) and issues with MSI boards having this problem are well documented as being wide-spread among them. 
Yes, I had one (790FX-GD70) and it died that way with my 1100T, was running at stock when it gave up.
Luckily for me the chip itself was fine afterwards.


----------



## delshay (Apr 16, 2022)

Bones said:


> What board are you running with it?
> Even though these chips are good they do draw some power under load, if the board's VRM setup isn't truly up to task you'll have this kind of problem going on.
> Some AM3 boards were notoriously too weak to properly handle the wattage load of a 6 cored Thuban under a real load when stressed.
> 
> ...



I'm using Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H  ...  DDR2.

I'v only just started messing around on the AM2 platform after being so long modding 939 platform.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 16, 2022)

That kind of explains it. That board is low end and not tailored to overclocking. It looks to have quite a low end vrm without any heatsink that I would not trust to reliably power an oced 6 core


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 16, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> That kind of explains it. That board is low end and not tailored to overclocking. It looks to have quite a low end vrm without any heatsink that I would not trust to reliably power an oced 6 core


Mmmmm...........not exactly true. Wife's daily is a 1055T on that same board. Been running @ 3.7 for a long time. Still runs like a champ.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 16, 2022)

Not saying you can't overclock on it, but I would not reccomend it. You might not get as far as you would with a proper board.


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 16, 2022)

delshay said:


> I'm using Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H ... DDR2.





RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It looks to have quite a low end vrm without any heatsink that I would not trust to reliably power an oced 6 core


The VRMs are fine, but they desperately need heatsinks if you're going to be OCing!


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 16, 2022)

A fan on them would be an easy way to help as well


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## delshay (Apr 16, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Not saying you can't overclock on it, but I would not reccomend it. You might not get as far as you would with a proper board.



I'm using Noctua C14 to cool the VRM.

For the first time I'm using this modded heatsink with the screws/springs that came with the cooler. This a game changer & my mistake not to use the orignal screws with built-in springs that come with the heatsink. What sets this modded heatsink apart from a normal Noctua C14 is the IHS, which is sanded down (ultra low profile), then soldered to the Noctua C14. This heatsink is now showing it's true potential & showing stunning performance when now used with LM.

I have now found/fixed my issues when mounting naked die CPU..

1. I'm not using the original IHS what was desoldered from the original CPU.. I simply grabed another fresh IHS that has never been soldered. So it's nice & flat with the nickel plating.

2. The super stiff springs that come with the heatsink plays a critical role in getting the heatsink to sit flat across the die. This takes out all human errors when getting the heatsink to sit perfect flat across the die.


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## framebuffer (Apr 16, 2022)

got something pretty special worth to share I think 









Full ATX mainboard with mobile socket 479 CPU (and socket 478 mounting cage)
Unfortunately (as expected) no overclocking features in the BIOS...


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> got something pretty special worth to share I think
> 
> View attachment 243792
> View attachment 243793
> ...


That is super super cool. As far as overclocking, try setfsb. I believe this is the clockgen.


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## Kissamies (Apr 16, 2022)

Stable.. 









						I scored 7 881 in Fire Strike
					

Intel Xeon Processor X5650, AMD Radeon HD 7970 x 1, 18432 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com


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## MachineLearning (Apr 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> got something pretty special worth to share I think
> 
> View attachment 243792
> View attachment 243793
> ...


Really interesting looking board.
I found the manual, this is an industrial board (CB1051 G4) by Beckhoff who I've not heard of before.



Block diagram for anyone interested. All-solid caps, this is a neat little board. Keep us posted on SetFSB


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## stinger608 (Apr 16, 2022)

Kind of cool and funny at the same time.

Have you ever checked out some of the "old" threads that are here on TPU? 

Most are around the 2004 era:









						General Hardware
					

Hardware discussion not covered by any other forum.




					www.techpowerup.com
				












						Graphics Cards
					

General discussions not specific to one manufacturer or other companies not covered by the subforums.




					www.techpowerup.com
				












						Overclocking & Cooling
					

Want to make your computer go faster? Come here.




					www.techpowerup.com
				












						Motherboards & Memory
					

Don't know which motherboard you should buy? Is your memory giving you headaches? This is the place to post.




					www.techpowerup.com
				





Some pretty cool and interesting threads. 

Talk about nostalgic.


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## Kissamies (Apr 16, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Kind of cool and funny at the same time.
> 
> Have you ever checked out some of the "old" threads that are here on TPU?
> 
> ...


Sucks that I don't have my first TPU account, dammit.. well, this turns 10yrs this year so I'll have the badge at last


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## Bones (Apr 16, 2022)

delshay said:


> I'm using Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H  ...  DDR2.
> 
> I'v only just started messing around on the AM2 platform after being so long modding 939 platform.


This explains it.
It's the same VRM phase setup as the MSI that folded on me (4+1 Phase) so it's definitely drooping under load, hence the need to volt it up in the BIOS.
Under a load when OC'ed and all 6 cored loaded down (Stress test) it's not going to do well, no way around it.

If you had it in for example, a Crosshair V you'd see a HUGE difference in how the chip behaves since that board has the VRM's to keep up with what it needs - Even a Crosshair IV or AM3+ Sabertooth would be an improvement over the one you're running with it now and you'd see a difference with those as well.



Mr.Scott said:


> Mmmmm...........not exactly true. Wife's daily is a 1055T on that same board. Been running @ 3.7 for a long time. Still runs like a champ.


I can believe that, your wife isn't trying to run Prime 95 to stress test it - Plus the clockspeed being used with hers is lower too than Delshay is running with his chip.
And I'd have to guess yours is the 95W version too. His 1100T is a 125W chip like all the other 1100T's, there are no low(er) wattage variants of it.
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T (125W) vs 1055T (95W)


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## Kissamies (Apr 16, 2022)

Hm, 1055T.. I had one in 2011..  It was too good back then so I traded it for a 965 BE


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## framebuffer (Apr 17, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> That is super super cool. As far as overclocking, try setfsb. I believe this is the clockgen.
> View attachment 243795



Yep will try with SoftFSB 




MachineLearning said:


> Really interesting looking board.
> I found the manual, this is an industrial board (CB1051 G4) by Beckhoff who I've not heard of before.
> View attachment 243796
> Block diagram for anyone interested. All-solid caps, this is a neat little board. Keep us posted on SetFSB



Never heard about Beckhoff me either; in fact I bought the board ($12) without doing any research but just because I liked the NB heatsink (I thought it was an early socket 775 industrial/OEM board)

Thanks for the manual!


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## delshay (Apr 17, 2022)

Bones said:


> This explains it.
> It's the same VRM phase setup as the MSI that folded on me (4+1 Phase) so it's definitely drooping under load, hence the need to volt it up in the BIOS.
> Under a load when OC'ed and all 6 cored loaded down (Stress test) it's not going to do well, no way around it.
> 
> If you had it in for example, a Crosshair V you'd see a HUGE difference in how the chip behaves since that board has the VRM's to keep up with what it needs - Even a Crosshair IV or AM3+ Sabertooth would be an improvement over the one you're running with it now and you'd see a difference with those as well.



MOSFET has blown up in the last half a hour this morning. I was undervolting computer & suddenly it shut off for no reason whatsoever. It looks like a capacitor may have cause a short because the CPU is still working in another motherboard.

Anyone interested the part number is K3918 & K3919.   ...I now have a choice of buying a replacement or swapping them out.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 17, 2022)

I wouldn't bother replacing the failed MOSFET as there may be more damage revealed.

It most likely failed due to being overstressed and if repaired will likely fail again if you continue to subject it to the same current draw.

Buy a better board.


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## MaxiPro800 (Apr 17, 2022)

Pretty happy these days, I just ordered myself an ABIT BE6-II for cheap. Has had some traces for a IDE channel fixed, and needs new caps, but otherwise I'm happy I could find one that doesn't require me to break the bank in my country's currency.


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## Mr.Scott (Apr 17, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Pretty happy these days, I just ordered myself an ABIT BE6-II for cheap. Has had some traces for a IDE channel fixed, and needs new caps, but otherwise I'm happy I could find one that doesn't require me to break the bank in my country's currency.


Hope the repair goes well. Pretty hard to find this board these days. My own still runs like a champ.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 17, 2022)

Abit was an interesting company. Their boards were all over the place in quality. They had some pretty interesting lga775 boards up untill their demise as well.

Hope your repair goes well.


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## Bones (Apr 17, 2022)

delshay said:


> MOSFET has blown up in the last half a hour this morning. I was undervolting computer & suddenly it shut off for no reason whatsoever. *It looks like a capacitor may have cause a short because the CPU is still working in another motherboard.*
> 
> Anyone interested the part number is K3918 & K3919.   ...I now have a choice of buying a replacement or swapping them out.


Nope - Mine died of MOSFET failure too in the VRM setup but the chip itself was fine afterwards. 
The MOSET in that board's VRM died for the reasons I gave, not strong enough in the VRM/Phase dept to keep up with the strain of the chip while it was being stressed tested and the strain eventually caught up with it. 

Instead of fixing that mess just to lather, rinse and repeat these results get a board that's capable of handling it reliably.


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## Robert B (Apr 17, 2022)

Look what the cat dragged in! 

*Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI ROYAL.* Now my P4 EE (I might have 4 pcs - I have to check) will have a place to call home.  This board is heavy and running hot. The NB is an absolute furnace even with active cooling. The CPU cooler is a heavy aluminum monster even for a stock cooler. All in all I really dig this beast. Unfortunately the board came without the DPS module but hey at least I have a socket for it when it will pop out eventually down the line ...

This board is all 'bout the D, the Pentium D that is! Don't get your D's mixed up folks!

This board was the most unexpected thing this weekend. I also got a bunch more stuff from Sk3 with VLB to late PCI era but that is kind of mundane in this neck of the woods.


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## MaxiPro800 (Apr 17, 2022)

Gee, did we both score big this time?  

Mine will arrive on Tuesday but still... In the meantime, I'm doing lots of preparations - the caps for my BE6-II are already sorted - 3300uF and 1500uF Rubycon MBZs.


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## Robert B (Apr 17, 2022)

Do you have the DPS module on yours?


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## MaxiPro800 (Apr 17, 2022)

Uh... ABIT ain't running a DPS module?


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## Robert B (Apr 17, 2022)

My bad. I thought that you also got a GA-8N-SLI Royal.

I read about your Abit BE6-II. Nice score bro!


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 17, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Look what the cat dragged in!
> 
> *Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI ROYAL.* Now my P4 EE (I might have 4 pcs - I have to check) will have a place to call home.  This board is heavy and running hot. The NB is an absolute furnace even with active cooling. The CPU cooler is a heavy aluminum monster even for a stock cooler. All in all I really dig this beast. Unfortunately the board came without the DPS module but hey at least I have a socket for it when it will pop out eventually down the line ...
> 
> ...


Oh goodness, take that shroud off that northbridge heatsink fan. Ugly, restricts airflow and causes needless noise... Use the fan, just without the shroud..


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## Greenslade (Apr 18, 2022)

I recently bought a floppy drive and am very disappointed the disc want go in the drive.  it looks like it is bent in the drive Surely the disc should just pop in


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I recently bought a floppy drive and am very disappointed the disc want go in the drive.  it looks like it is bent in the drive Surely the disc should just pop in


Is there anything lodged inside the drive that might be causing that problem? Perhaps maybe a piece of the drive or disk tray frame is bent?


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## Greenslade (Apr 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Is there anything lodged inside the drive that might be causing that problem? Perhaps maybe a piece of the drive or disk tray frame is bent?





> There is nothing loose in the drive ,i don,t want to open it as it is new.Look at the photo it looks bent  to me. I am going to go for a second  hand one and ask the seller to  show one  in the drive ii.444 as far as i can get it in.Surely it should go in with out any force? .I will have to send it back..I can,t believe the disk want go in there.I


I sent a message  to a seller on eBay  and told him all this and asked him to show a photo of one in the drive.This is his reply
*I Regret that I have got rid of all my old floppy discs so not able to help on that score however if you want to risk purchasing the disk drive I will accept it back from you if you are not happy with it*
It is a very old Sony from 2005?He does say it is working but not used much.It is 11 pounds  including shipping .I told a seller on eBay about all this  and asked him if he would show me a photo of a disc in the drive.I have decided not to go for the Sony.I have just seen this   Perfect working order. Includes protective case/stand. Connects via USB. Model PCGA-UFD5.And it is only £5? At least i will be able to see if the disc fits in it.  It looks a dinky little thing. Some people are thick i asked the person what there address was they gave me the name of the road and the postcode ? I guess it must be an old person  I just hope the disc fits in it.


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## MaxiPro800 (Apr 18, 2022)

Been given a case and a pair of IBM Infinity speakers for free. My BE6-II build practically builds itself.


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## DR4G00N (Apr 18, 2022)

Spent all yesterday afternoon trying to figure out the issue with a P3 Win98 system I put together. It keeps suddenly restarting and I'm not sure why, it's always when trying to open/close something though.
Tried swapping ram/hdd/psu but nothing helped, going to try the cpu next since I've got a stack of them around, might also load up memtest on a cd and actually see if my sdr mems are any good.

Currently:
PIII 650MHz (100 FSB) (probably will run an 866 instead).
PC Partner i815T s370 matx mobo
256MB PC100 SDRAM
Fujitsu 8.45GB MPD3084AT HDD
Quadro2 Pro 64MB (mod to GF2 Ultra)
S3 Trio64V2/DX 1MB (For DOS games, but the Quadro might be better anyway so it might not stay).


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## Trekkie4 (Apr 18, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Been given a case and a pair of IBM Infinity speakers for free. My BE6-II build practically builds itself.


Nice! You really should treat yourself with decent-looking beige/white CD-ROM drives. Modern-day black DVD-RW and Slot 1 do not blend together that easy IMHO.


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## MaxiPro800 (Apr 18, 2022)

I'll look onto that soon. I do recall having white/beige faceplates for those LG drives by the way.


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## DR4G00N (Apr 19, 2022)

Seems like this was the issue, I was wondering what that loud pop was and would you guess it it was a teapo. Replaced it with a lelon, not much better but I have a whole bag of them.

So far it's back to working fine, even managed to run 3dmark99 with an ATi Rage Pro Turbo AGP as a quick test.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 19, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Spent all yesterday afternoon trying to figure out the issue with a P3 Win98 system I put together. It keeps suddenly restarting and I'm not sure why, it's always when trying to open/close something though.
> Tried swapping ram/hdd/psu but nothing helped, going to try the cpu next since I've got a stack of them around, might also load up memtest on a cd and actually see if my sdr mems are any good.
> 
> Currently:
> ...



Are there any caps bulging on the motherboard?

Never mind, I see you just posted a picture of a bulging cap. LOL


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 19, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Seems like this was the issue, I was wondering what that loud pop was and would you guess it it was a teapo. Replaced it with a lelon, not much better but I have a whole bag of them.
> 
> So far it's back to working fine, even managed to run 3dmark99 with an ATi Rage Pro Turbo AGP as a quick test.
> 
> View attachment 244062


Y'know, I felt shivers like Bugs Bunny finding out he's in Hoboken when I heard you have a WHOLE bag of Lelons!

Like, why would you keep those?? They're among the worst caps ever (AOpen mobos were totally plagued by those at one point), right up there with Licon, Evercon (ASRock uses these, along with Taicon ocasionally - some of the Taicons were rumored to be rebranded Nichicons but I never found out if that is true), G-Luxon pre merger (they merged with Teapo somewhere in the early 2000s I think) and GSC.


----------



## DR4G00N (Apr 19, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Y'know, I felt shivers like Bugs Bunny finding out he's in Hoboken when I heard you have a WHOLE bag of Lelons!
> 
> Like, why would you keep those?? They're among the worst caps ever (AOpen mobos were totally plagued by those at one point), right up there with Licon, Evercon (ASRock uses these, along with Taicon ocasionally - some of the Taicons were rumored to be rebranded Nichicons but I never found out if that is true), G-Luxon pre merger (they merged with Teapo somewhere in the early 2000s I think) and GSC.


I bought them a while ago for just general electronics stuff since they were cheap and wouldn't care about wasting them. They are indeed trash tier but it had the right specs and it's still better than a blown cap. 

I'll be ordering some new good caps now that I know the board is working fine and worth recapping.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 19, 2022)

I just  sent back my floppy disc drive back to eBay ,the disc would not fit in there, with the photo below which i had to resize for some reason ,i have never had to resize photos on there before.Now i am left with 40 floppy discs with nothing to play on them.   Perhaps i should not have got more discs before i tried them with the first lot.  You live and learn in life. I have just seen this one on eBay £10 make an offer .IBM USB Portable Diskette Drive model MPF82E ASM P/N 39T2508 new condition ,i asked him if he can show a photo putting a disc in the drive i don,t suppose he has any.The person selling the £5 one got back to me hopefully the disk will fit in that drive, fingers crossed.  I have been working out my route to get there.Two buses and a five minute walk no Tube stations round that way.I don,t drive, or want to .


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just sent back my floppy disc drive back to eBay ,the disc would not fit in there, with the photo below which i had to resize for some reason ,i have never had to resize photos on there before.Now i am left with 40 floppy discs with nothing to play on them.


Don't let one bad experience discourage you. Get another USB Floppy, enjoy. I have always had good luck with the TEAC branded drives. Try one of those if you can find them in your area.


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## MaxiPro800 (Apr 19, 2022)

Slowly taking shape 

By the way, the ODDs are both RW drives that Trekkie complained they're black. Now they're white with black trays  

Anyways, for now it's in testing phase. 2x LG DVDRWs, a 15GB Quantum (since apparently my 20GB Maxtor just decided to say adios out of the sudden - ), GF4 MX440 64MB, SB Audigy 2 ZS (Dell OEM, unfortunately), RTL8139 NIC, NEC USB2.0 PCI, 98SE w/ KEX 4.52.

I am still quite undecided, I might swap parts with the 6BA +IV build, as much as I wouldn't really have wanted to. The ABIT mobo just has something to it that makes it special, even if technically the 6BA +IV benched better according to Anandtech.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Don't let one bad experience discourage you. Get another USB Floppy, enjoy. I have always had good luck with the TEAC branded drives. Try one of you can find them in your area.


I am getting the blue one for £5 i showed you eadler on here. Sony Vaio 







 it also comes with a stand and casr.  Someone else on facebook has one for £25? and does not even have a stand or case. The person that is selling the one i am buying has had it on there for 18 weeks The lead looks a bit short.


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am getting the blue one for £5 i showed you eadler on here. Sony Vaio


Ah ok. Nice!


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## Greenslade (Apr 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah ok. Nice!


I hope so  Lex


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 20, 2022)

This was originally an rather useless Mendocino slotket (and no, it has no identifying marks anywhere. I looked over it numerous times.) up until today.








What's with the tape you ask?
This link should pretty much solve all your questions:

krick.3feetunder.com/370mod/

Basically I pinmodded a old slotket to run Coppermines all around. The only one I couldn't get working is a 1100MHz SL5QW, though I'm not sure if it's the CPU or the mobo (ABIT BE6-II r1.0) that doesn't support it (it has 133FSB support tho, and it booted straight away with the SL4C8).

Now to find a lower profile HSF....


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 20, 2022)

Altar of Apple


Spoiler








Can you name the devices?


----------



## oobymach (Apr 20, 2022)

Add another old timey music playing device to the pile, bought after finding it on kijiji, works fine. (click to enlarge)


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 20, 2022)

All good Lex  But i did have a 10 minute when i got off the buss.It took me over an hour and a half to get there ,it is the other side of London.And so much traffic and road works going on, there forever digging up the roads here.Glad i do not drive.I should have thought about the very short lead on it.At least it is working ,i put a game on one of the diskettes to see how much i can get on one 193kb what is the maximun i can get on one?.I am glad the one i got from eBay was Faulty ,i saved £8 buying this one for £5.I will now be able to put in a review of the Floppy Diskettes i got from eBay I don,t have to pay any fares because i get a free buss pass.
​


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 20, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Slowly taking shape
> 
> By the way, the ODDs are both RW drives that Trekkie complained they're black. Now they're white with black trays
> 
> ...


Oh, yeah!! You can't have a proper Slot 1 without white optical drives & Quantum hard drives   And Maxtor sucks ... period. Except for those "slim" units - oddly enough I've never had one of them go bad 

Now it only needs a 3dfx card of your choice & you're good to go!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 20, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Except for those "slim" units - oddly enough I've never had one of them go bad


Yeah those slim drives were great! They performed well and were reliable.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 20, 2022)

Does anyone know how to open  Bin   and Diz files?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Does anyone know how to open  Bin   and Diz files?


Bin & Cue files are virtual CD/DVD images ... and you should open both with virtual drive and/or burning software. Not sure about DIZ however


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Does anyone know how to open  Bin   and Diz files?


In DOS days *.bin was a type of binary file containing the actual logic of a program. You shouldn't have to open these, unless for some hex editing ("hacking" the code). *.diz was a text file containing a brief description of the accompanying software. It can be viewed with any text editor.



Greenslade said:


> i put a game on one of the diskettes to see how much i can get on one 193kb what is the maximun i can get on one?


Unless the floppy has been pre-formatted by the manufacturer, you will need to format it in DOS or Windows. As has been pointed out, a standard 3.5" formatted floppy is 1.44 MB.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 20, 2022)

New acquisition! It's an original Asus Striker Extreme complete with the matching Asus Supreme-FX sound card and IO shield. Atop it is I believe a QX6800 Extreme Edition, stock cooler, and 1gb of Corsair XMS2 ram. 

To the right is my faulty Striker Extreme. That board looks like it's been stored in a moist basement perhaps and you can see how tarnished the heatpipes are. 






Was sold as untested from a recycler who apparently pulled it from a recycled PC. Was a $27 auction snipe. Will be thrilled if it works.




It works



In case anyone is wondering, it does indeed work with 45nm quad cores, despite none being on the supported list.





Now I can do some SLI tests on 775, that's really nice.


----------



## oobymach (Apr 21, 2022)

Took the cd player apart to clean the battery holder and snapped a pic of the internals.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 21, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> In DOS days *.bin was a type of binary file containing the actual logic of a program. You shouldn't have to open these, unless for some hex editing ("hacking" the code). *.diz was a text file containing a brief description of the accompanying software. It can be viewed with any text editor.
> 
> 
> Unless the floppy has been pre-formatted by the manufacturer, you will need to format it in DOS or Windows. As has been pointed out, a standard 3.5" formatted floppy is 1.44 MB.


Windows


Trekkie4 said:


> Bin & Cue files are virtual CD/DVD images ... and you should open both with virtual drive and/or burning software. Not sure about DIZ however


I will levBin & Cue files are virtual CD/DVD images ... and you should open both with virtual drive and/or burning software. Not sure about DIZ however



Greenslade said:


> Windows
> 
> I will levBin & Cue files are virtual CD/DVD images ... and you should open both with virtual drive and/or burning software. Not sure about DIZ however


Thanks for all that


Greenslade said:


> Windows
> 
> I will levBin & Cue files are virtual CD/DVD images ... and you should open both with virtual drive and/or burning software. Not sure about DIZ however





QuietBob said:


> In DOS days *.bin was a type of binary file containing the actual logic of a program. You shouldn't have to open these, unless for some hex editing ("hacking" the code). *.diz was a text file containing a brief description of the accompanying software. It can be viewed with any text editor.
> 
> 
> Unless the floppy has been pre-formatted by the manufacturer, you will need to format it in DOS or Windows. As has been pointed out, a standard 3.5" formatted floppy is 1.44 MB.


Thanks for all  that info Bob   It was pre-formatted by the manufacturer it is Fat.I will leave games with the Bin files out.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Apr 22, 2022)

back in ancient times these fans were the like the Vlad Tepes of radiator and heat sink fans...there were a few other brands but these were well sought after... way back then I found 4 of them on Ebay and got them cheap...kind of pissed off some forum peeps , haha!

....fast forward to 2022 , I am going to butt them up on a Black Ice 240 rad and make some noise , and use it on my X58 revival...BUT!!!!!...I am on the hunt for the 4th one!...somewhere in the bone yard , or in a case , or gone? (gonna tear the place apart)

120mm x 38mm           102cfm     39db      and hella static pressure


----------



## Courier 6 (Apr 22, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> back in ancient times these fans were the like the Vlad Tepes of radiator and heat sink fans...there were a few other brands but these were well sought after... way back then I found 4 of them on Ebay and got them cheap...kind of pissed off some forum peeps , haha!
> 
> ....fast forward to 2022 , I am going to butt them up on a Black Ice 240 rad and make some noise , and use it on my X58 revival...BUT!!!!!...I am on the hunt for the 4th one!...somewhere in the bone yard , or in a case , or gone? (gonna tear the place apart)
> 
> ...


I have one of those, it´s not in use right now, but ready to go, very good fans, I have some others, quality stuff NMB model 3615KL-04W-B59 server fans


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 22, 2022)

Another neat and great score.



ASUS A7N8X-VM/400 - nForce II + GF4 MX440 integrated (Crush17), an Applebred Duron 1.6GHz (rather surprising to find a Duron in there, of all things.), 2x512MB.

Works just fine, came with a Galaxy FX5200 128M/64bit and ASUS' custom TV output bracket. No I/O shield but I have a few anyways. The GB fan + shroud is my work (not very restrictive IMO) as well as the BIOS was replaced with the latest BIOS for the Chaintech 7NIF2/7NIL2 mobo. Works better than the stock ASUS AMIBIOS (which is pretty barren from what I saw), except for the thermal sensors that are frozen at 100*C all around.

Also, 98SE runs absolutely blazing fast on this mobo. I haven't seen 98 boot that fast (and with most drivers installed) since ever.


----------



## stinger608 (Apr 23, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Another neat and great score.



Oh man!!!!!! I have one of those exact mobo's. Haven't had it fired up in probably 6 or 7 years. Only issue I had with them was their frigging power supply plug in placement. Horrible spot to put the plug in. LOL


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 23, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Oh man!!!!!! I have one of those exact mobo's. Haven't had it fired up in probably 6 or 7 years. Only issue I had with them was their frigging power supply plug in placement. Horrible spot to put the plug in. LOL


ASUS was doing this in 2002 (I assume, based on nForce2), so this is a bit more acceptable imo.



Old habits die hard  ca. 2008 lol


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 23, 2022)

Welp, I have done yet another board. ECS K7VZA with a pretty tricky socket plastic replacement.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 23, 2022)

Does anyone watch this guys excellent Retro youtubr channal  







 it is amazing what different recording systems ,and the like there have been over the years and he seems to have them all  .No mater how oscure they may be.  The guy is up there with LGR Clinr. 








  another one to watch Prison Tech. I have been watching his videos for years.His house must br like a miseum with all the Tech he has .


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 23, 2022)

finally got a GTX 690, I mean, two 









and a new Professional Studio Light


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Apr 23, 2022)

I have about 10 dual gpu cards , most were in my main rig when they came out , but I never grabbed a 690...figure I may need to remedy that soon..."I mean 2" !!!


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 24, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I have about 10 dual gpu cards , most were in my main rig when they came out , but I never grabbed a 690...figure I may need to remedy that soon..."I mean 2" !!!



I was looking for one at decent price since years and eventually found a good deal for two


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 24, 2022)

Atnother one of Clints unuseal oddware videos ,and something cheap for a change a Clip-on Joystick .  
Not that i could use it ,as my keyboard is one of the smaller ones.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 24, 2022)

I had a spare 2GB pendrive from one of those fake USB pendrives, and two dead BIOS chips.








This is the result. For the record, here's the original drive, which now houses the PCB from a old 8GB TDK flash drive I had (a bit slow but highly reliable quality wise.)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 24, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I had a spare 2GB pendrive from one of those fake USB pendrives, and two dead BIOS chips.


You should solder those legs together. Less chance of them bending and going wonky.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 25, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I have about 10 dual gpu cards , most were in my main rig when they came out , but I never grabbed a 690...figure I may need to remedy that soon..."I mean 2" !!!


I've had only a HD 3870X2 which I actually bought new. It was on sale and cost only like 130EUR in summer of 2009. Kinda stupid upgrade (I had a HD 3850 512MB already) but I couldn't pass it at that price.. sucks though that I had a NF650i SLI board so no CF support, otherwise I would've had a TriFire setup.

My other multi-GPU setups have been HD 5870 CF, GTX 970 SLI & R9 290 CF.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You should solder those legs together. Less chance of them bending and going wonky.


Done already, though they are already bent to look like that


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Apr 25, 2022)

Hope you kept yours Lenne...I used mine for quite awhile













​


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 25, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> Hope you kept yours Lenne...I used mine for quite awhile
> 
> View attachment 244857
> 
> ...


Nah, damn, I already sold it in 2009 and got a HD 4890 :/

Mine was a MSI OC model with this sticker:


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 25, 2022)

T


Lenne said:


> Nah, damn, I already sold it in 2009 and got a HD 4890 :/
> 
> Mine was a MSI OC model with this sticker:
> 
> View attachment 244872


They looked so cool back in the day.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> T
> 
> They looked so cool back in the day.


Totally agree, I liked those designs way more than modern RGB beasts. Of course those coolers were crappy and noisy, but purely from aesthetic point, I'd have something like that even now on my main setup.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 25, 2022)

Here's another one of my fav  Retro you tubers.  Has anyone had one of these?







Another Goodwill user.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Here's another one of my fav  Retro you tubers.   Has anyone had one of these?


Watched that yesterday. In fact, iMac G4 was the first all-in-one computer I saw and that was the early 2000s, Michael's video was the second time I've ever even seen that Monorail system (LGR was the first).

Back in the day manufacturers had waaaaaay more innovation!


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 25, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Watched that yesterday. In fact, iMac G4 was the first all-in-one computer I saw and that was the early 2000s, Michael's video was the second time I've ever even seen that Monorail system (LGR was the first).
> 
> Back in the day manufacturers had waaaaaay more innovation!


I might of guest Clint would be the fist to put it on there.I just looked in his channel sure enough he had it on there 2 years ago.Here he is with the worlds smallest Windows PC in 2007.    







one can never have to much of his channel. Wow that is tiny for 2007.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 25, 2022)

Boxed Pentium E5200. Boxed CPUs this old are not particularly common so I buy them to collect whenever I can, even if it's not a CPU I would otherwise have interest in. 

The description read that the CPU was used from 09-13 and then they upgraded to a quad core, so it's set in storage since. Since the box isn't sealed I will probably use it, these apparently are good overclockers.

The cooler has not been used and still has the factory 13 year old paste on it. I wonder how bad that would be now.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 244957View attachment 244958
> View attachment 244960
> Boxed Pentium E5200. Boxed CPUs this old are not particularly common so I buy them to collect whenever I can, even if it's not a CPU I would otherwise have interest in.
> 
> ...


Intel BX80571E5200 SLAY7 Pentium E5200 2.5GHz 800MHz​2M New Retail Box there are a couple of people selling them for over 45 pounds from the US on eBay.I know yours is used.  All through the CPU,s are going for peanuts as you can imagine​


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 25, 2022)

I suppose those have all-aluminium stock coolers?

I have one E5200 myself too, haven't tested out that much its potential. Delidded it also as it was with TIM, not soldered (same goes for E4300).


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 244957View attachment 244958
> View attachment 244960
> Boxed Pentium E5200. Boxed CPUs this old are not particularly common so I buy them to collect whenever I can, even if it's not a CPU I would otherwise have interest in.
> 
> ...



It's cool having the box of old CPU indeed, but other than that I don't know, it's a stripped off Wolfdale, you can buy an E8400 (3.00/6M/1333) for less than $5 and clock it at 4GHz pretty easily


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Intel BX80571E5200 SLAY7 Pentium E5200 2.5GHz 800MHz​2M New Retail Box there are a couple of people selling them for over 45 pounds from the US on eBay.I know yours is used.View attachment 244961  All through the CPU,s are going for peanuts as you can imagine​


I wouldn't pay that for it. This was a 99 cent auction snipe. 


Lenne said:


> I suppose those have all-aluminium stock coolers?
> 
> I have one E5200 myself too, haven't tested out that much its potential. Delidded it also as it was with TIM, not soldered (same goes for E4300).



You are correct that it is all aluminum. Might try a delid, that would be neat.






framebuffer said:


> It's cool having the box of old CPU indeed, but other than that I don't know, it's a stripped off Wolfdale, you can buy an E8400 (3.00/6M/1333) for less than $5 and clock it at 4GHz pretty easily


I only bought it because it had the box and was super cheap. I have an e8400, and in fact already have an e5200, just no box.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 26, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> It's cool having the box of old CPU indeed, but other than that I don't know, it's a stripped off Wolfdale, you can buy an E8400 (3.00/6M/1333) for less than $5 and clock it at 4GHz pretty easily


Who in there right mind would pay that price  wow thats a bargin for 99 cents


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 26, 2022)

After shipping and tax it was like 6 bucks


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Who in there right mind would pay that price  wow thats a bargin for 99 cents



you mean that "less than $5" is too much for the E8400?


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 26, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> you mean that "less than $5" is too much for the E8400?





framebuffer said:


> you mean that "less than $5" is too much for the E8400?


To Ryzen master, not you   framebuffer
I was talking about the ones in a box I put on here for 45 pounds on eBay.
$5 is a good price for the E8400 but in a UK shop called  CEX  it is only £2  with a 24-month guarantee, like all the stuff they sell in there.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 26, 2022)

I have 2x E8400 and one E8500 which I got for free, IIRC the guy who gave those doesn't collect old stuff for overclocking but rather builds whole computers from old stuff, so a quadcore is better in most cases than a (probably faster) dualcore.


----------



## framebuffer (Apr 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> To Ryzen master, not you   framebuffer
> I was talking about the ones in a box I put on here for 45 pounds on eBay.
> $5 is a good price for the E8400 but in a UK shop called  CEX  it is only £2  with a 24-month guarantee, like all the stuff they sell in there.



Ah ok, I asked because you quoted me


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 26, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Ah ok, I asked because you quoted me


It gets a bit confusing, there are so many comments to someone else s comments.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 26, 2022)

The boxed E5200 is not a bad overclocker. 4.2 is max it would do stable at 1.425v. It stopped scaling much from there.



I tried for max frequency bootable and got ~4.8. 

It's a much better chip than the e5200 I had previously that won't even do 3.8 without failing ycruncher.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Apr 27, 2022)

while looking for a missing fan...another dually from the bone yard...HD6990 and EK block + back plate


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 27, 2022)

I have downloaded a game from the Internet Archive.   and it has come up with this
*WinUAE Executable
*Amiga Rom File
*Amiga  Key
Where can I get them from?
Assassins (cd4)?
Where is everyone?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 28, 2022)

Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames

Another day, another board revived. And a PSU as well.




First, the mobo. It's a compact yet rather versatile mainboard. Based on the VIA 694X chipset, with three SDR slots. Supports anything bar Tualatin officially.

It had come in a rather nasty state - Tayeh caps all around, bigger ones bulging like crazy and some even spilled guts over the mobo. All went out and were replaced.

PSU before and after coming later.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 28, 2022)

This guy does an amazing job on this ancient computer.








 It cleans up well But was it worth doing, as it did not work. At least he is going to make it for another build.


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> This guy does an amazing job on this ancient computer.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Need to check that out, restorations are always cool.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 28, 2022)

Canceled the message I put it on my post about Floppy  Diskettes.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have downloaded a game from the Internet Archive. and it has come up with this


Emulating an older platform always takes a bit of tinkering. Rather than downloading odd games from random sites, I'd suggest focusing on a single system/emulator at a time, in order to learn its intricacies. There are emulation tutorials for specific hardware on YT, which I'm pretty sure you've already stumbled upon.

For a plug-and-play experience you'd want to buy one of the "mini" retro consoles/computers. They offer a selection of popular titles and are easy to navigate with the included controller. For DOS get your games from GOG or Steam, they come pre-configured with emulation software and take just a click to run. Good luck!


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 28, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Emulating an older platform always takes a bit of tinkering. Rather than downloading odd games from random sites, I'd suggest focusing on a single system/emulator at a time, in order to learn its intricacies. There are emulation tutorials for specific hardware on YT, which I'm pretty sure you've already stumbled upon.
> 
> For a plug-and-play experience you'd want to buy one of the "mini" retro consoles/computers. They offer a selection of popular titles and are easy to navigate with the included controller. For DOS get your games from GOG or Steam, they come pre-configured with emulation software and take just a click to run. Good luck!


Thanks very much, Bob  But I do want to get stiff on the floppy Diskette. Is there any way to open these files on XP or 7 ?. I tried getting Amber forever on XP and 7 as you can see no way to open them. And I can,t get to My abandonware on 7?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 28, 2022)

Time for me to take on "oddware" themed hardware, as LGR would call it 

I've been busy over the last couple of days cleaning & fixing old CD-ROM drives. Among several other ones ... including the (in)famous BTC units, there was this guy, right here... GoldStar, model number CRD-8482B




Now, here's the thing. Most people probably wouldn't bother with this thing or they would simply ignore it & move on to something more interesting, but this one caught my attention - can you tell why? If not, let me enlighten you  Back in the late 80s and early 90s, there was a company called GoldStar, which used to make HiFi, VCR, TV & many other products. However, that was only part of the story, as GoldStar coexisted with yet another company, called LuckyStar. Now, you may remember this particular brand ... they used to make motherboards & other electronics. In fact, I believe I got one of their Socket 3 motherboards inside my AMD Am5x86 machine! Apparently they used to make all sorts of electronics until LuckyStar & GoldStar merged into one, single company (some time in mid 90s, 1995-1996) called Lucky Gold Star. Or ... "LG" in short as we all know nowdays.

So, with that out of the way here's the thing. This particular unit is clearly labeled as GoldStar. And according to label it was manufactured in August 2000 ... August, 2000 when GoldStar obviously no longer existed! In fact, the label clearly states that the unit was manufactured by "LG", so why bother with GS brand to begin with?



 


Originally with blank, dark grey faceplate - I basically merged two different GoldStar units into one, as I couldn't save the old one (from what I can tell, either the main board died or something went horribly wrong with the motor controller, it wasn't a mechanical failure) I suppose I could have fitted the LG internals inside GoldStar unit, but then the BIOS & Firmware would obviously indicate LG, and not GoldStar.

Other than that, GoldStar & LG units are absolutely identical - as you can probably tell from the picture:




Oh, and I even confirmed at some point that the mechanical parts, including (but not limited to) laser pickup itself is literally the same as the one inside LG drive. Therefore, maintaining & patching up any mechanical components isn't going to be an issue. Here's the main loader, drive assembly of the original GoldStar unit:




Sooo, to tell you guys the truth I'm puzzled with this one. What do you make of it?

Anyhow, on top of everything else I also picked up this Socket 7 board right here. Seems like your standard, Socket 7 mobo that's compatible with Intel & AMD - right?

Again, wrong! Upon closer inspection and a LOT of Googling, I found out that IT586GXM is actually a Cyrix board ... manufactured by Cyrix, using their "LSI" chipset and for some reason has integrated Sound AND video. Which is highly uncommon and almost unheard for boards from that era, as most of you here already know.


 

 



You can actually see the Video/Audio header on this pic right here:




Again, I have no idea why ... or how come thing even existed but I've been told several theories & heard many different stories. @r0x here believes that the board originates from some arcade machine. On the other hand, others told me that apparently CompaQ used to make tiny "clients", small systems which apparently used Cyrix hardware & came with everything already integrated into the board. This would certainly explain a thing of two but unfortunately I couldn't confirm either of the two claims. Perhaps someone here knows more?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks very  much  But i do want to get stiff on floppy Diskette.Is there anyway to open these files on XP or 7 ?.I tried getting Amber forever on XP and 7 as you can see no way to open them.And i can,t get to My abandonware on 7 ?


Clean that screen! A soft damp cloth is calling you!!


----------



## Bones (Apr 29, 2022)

Trekkie's post and pics of his motherboard reminded me of what I have here.
It's a Premio 219-H board with a SiS 5571 chipset and yes, it still works.

Note the screened "Chart" for it's dipswitch settings to set the speed it runs the CPU at, showing it can run all the standard desktop CPU makes available at the time.


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Clean that screen! A soft damp cloth is calling you!!


Ok, lex I will get it sorted. What about my question though?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 29, 2022)

Bones said:


> Trekkie's post and pics of his motherboard reminded me of what I have here.
> It's a Premio 219-H board with a SiS 5571 chipset and yes, it still works.
> 
> Note the screened "Chart" for it's dipswitch settings to set the speed it runs the CPU at, showing it can run all the standard desktop CPU makes available at the time.
> ...


That's a MSI MS-5146 - I remember I had one of those back in 2012 - it was singlehandedly the most stable with any Windows you could throw at it. 95, 98, ME, 2k, all ran crash free. IIRC, mine had come with a Pentium 233 MMX (set through the manual I think) and 96MB worth of EDO, as well as a 8.4GB Samsung SV0844A HDD.


----------



## Bones (Apr 29, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> That's a MSI MS-5146 - I remember I had one of those back in 2012 - it was singlehandedly the most stable with any Windows you could throw at it. 95, 98, ME, 2k, all ran crash free. IIRC, mine had come with a Pentium 233 MMX (set through the manual I think) and 96MB worth of EDO, as well as a 8.4GB Samsung SV0844A HDD.


That bit of info is useful - I had thought it was something MSI had farmed out to Premio and it's BIOS ident when I checked also came up as MSI.
It's still a Premio by name but nice to know what it is and how it came to be.

And here it is: MSI MS-5146 - The Retro Web


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Apr 29, 2022)

So I was cleaning the shed earlier where my wife's old workstations have laid to rest and came across this old geforce card, so thought I'd show you lot. I'm guessing it's been heavily lived on by geckos for a few decades. I'll give it a scrub and put it into a cupboard maybe one day if I find an old board that works and try it out, wonder if it will run commander keen.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 29, 2022)

ThaiTaffy said:


> So I was cleaning the shed earlier where my wife's old workstations have laid to rest and came across this old geforce card, so thought I'd show you lot. I'm guessing it's been heavily lived on by geckos for a few decades. I'll give it a scrub and put it into a cupboard maybe one day if I find an old board that works and try it out, wonder if it will run commander keen.View attachment 245417


Chaintech GeForce2 MX400 (32MB)
You appear to have the 64MB version, with a fan - I assume there are VRAM chips on the back as well.

Here is the Anantech review, which is nearly as old as me. Crazy... This is a wonderful read for someone who knows borderline nothing about this era of computing.


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Apr 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Chaintech GeForce2 MX400 (32MB)
> You appear to have the 64MB version, with a fan - I assume there are VRAM chips on the back as well.
> 
> Here is the Anantech review, which is nearly as old as me. Crazy... This is a wonderful read for someone who knows borderline nothing about this era of computing.


No chips on the back just a ton of rusted smd caps I'll need to be careful cleaning one fell off just when I picked it up. As I said it's had a pretty ruff storage I'll take a look at the review at some point maybe I can work out some replacement components for the really bad sections.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What about my question though?


Opps, sorry. Was so distracted by the screens I forgot about it. An Amiga emulator maybe?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Apr 29, 2022)

Bones said:


> Trekkie's post and pics of his motherboard reminded me of what I have here.
> It's a Premio 219-H board with a SiS 5571 chipset and yes, it still works.
> 
> Note the screened "Chart" for it's dipswitch settings to set the speed it runs the CPU at, showing it can run all the standard desktop CPU makes available at the time.
> ...





MaxiPro800 said:


> That's a MSI MS-5146 - I remember I had one of those back in 2012 - it was singlehandedly the most stable with any Windows you could throw at it. 95, 98, ME, 2k, all ran crash free. IIRC, mine had come with a Pentium 233 MMX (set through the manual I think) and 96MB worth of EDO, as well as a 8.4GB Samsung SV0844A HDD.


Believe it or not, that was the idea... All I wanted was a generic Socket 7 motherboard capable of running Pentium 233 MMX! And to be honest, at first glance nothing really stood out or seemed out of place. In fact, it wasn't up until much later when I finally realized what is going on, essentially rendering the whole thing pretty much useless (at least to me).

I'm sure there's a Cyrix fan somewhere out there who would love to get their hands on IT586GX, but I don't even know if it works or not. Not to mention that I don't have the appropriate Cyrix GX Socket 7 CPU to try it out


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Opps, sorry. Was so distracted by the screens I forget about it. An Amiga emulator maybe?


I have got Amiga Forever but it came up with all that stuff about can,t  open it
Why won't it  work on Windows 7?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have got Amiga Forever but it came up with all that stuff about can,t  open it
> Why won't it  work on Windows 7?


Have you tried FS-UAE?





						FS-UAE Amiga Emulator
					






					fs-uae.net
				




The latest version can be had below;





						Download | FS-UAE Amiga Emulator
					






					fs-uae.net


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have got Amiga Forever but it came up with all that stuff about can,t  open it
> Why won't it  work on Windows 7?


You didn't say you were trying to run this in an emulator. Amiga Forever works on Win7, the latest version needs Vista at minimum. Could you share the link to the game you downloaded?


----------



## Greenslade (Apr 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Have you tried FS-UAE?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for that, I will give it a try But i do want to get games on my 40 Floppy diskettes I should have just got 20 of them. It is just a shame I did not wait and get the second 2 x 10 packs first at 8 pounds. Instead of getting the opened 20 pack which cost me 2.50 more and there the later version ones with the plastic shutters,


----------



## Kissamies (Apr 29, 2022)

Just checked my old imgur pics and saw this, actually my daily driver years ago isn't so different when compared to my current HTPC 

Old:






Current 2nd rig:


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that, I will give it a try But i do want to get games on my 40 Floppy diskettes I should have just got 20 of them. It is just a shame I did not wait and get the second 2 x 10 packs first at 8 pounds. Instead of getting the opened 20 pack which cost me 2.50 more and there the later version ones with the plastic shutters,


There are disk imaging programs that will allow you to write Amiga disk image files to an actual floppy disk.


----------



## oobymach (Apr 29, 2022)

Dug up some old pics of an old pc before I put a decent gpu in it, bought new and pretty much immediately added the exhaust fan, replaced the cpu with a better one, added another 2gb of ram, and upgraded to windows 7. Click to enlarge.


----------



## MachineLearning (Apr 29, 2022)

oobymach said:


> Dug up some old pics of an old pc before I put a decent gpu in it, bought new and pretty much immediately added the exhaust fan, replaced the cpu with a better one, added another 2gb of ram, and upgraded to windows 7. Click to enlarge.
> 
> View attachment 245489View attachment 245488View attachment 245490
> View attachment 245491View attachment 245492View attachment 245493
> ...


ECS MCP61SM-AM, nForce 520 LE / 6100S



CPU was prod. week 05/2007.
Nice.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 30, 2022)

Welp, I lived enough to see failed, dried out Panasonic FL caps turn my ABIT BE6-II into a total crashfest. 8 dried FL buggers had to be replaced including a Rubycon MBZ which I relocated. Board now POSTs all times, and has no issues anymore.

Source of the donor caps which work now was an discarded ASUS M2NPV-MX (which is the more gutless variant of the M2NPV-VM which I already own) which had about 11 of those good working FL caps.

What is left untouched is a row of 3 Rubycon MBZs 6.3v 1500uF in the EC12, EC15 and EC16 spots. Those seem to be fine and I don't have any doubts of those. It's just the FLs that seem to have gone bad, surprisingly.

Now to decide which GPU... Geforce 2 Pro 64MB from MSI or a Palit Daytona Radeon 7500 64MB...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Palit Daytona Radeon 7500 64MB...


This. At the time, the Radeons were the better choice as they performed better and had more features. When the Geforce 3 came out, the game changed a little bit. But between those two cards the Radeon is the clear choice as shown in the reviews below.





						NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro
					






					www.anandtech.com
				



In this review the GF2pro is shown getting much better results than OG Radeon, but not better than what is shown in the following review of the Radeon 7500.





						ATI Radeon 7500
					

We've just recently posted our review of the R8500, ATi's flagship graphics card. As the reviewer in charge I enjoyed the change from the NVIDIA cards that I've had in my system just recently. I get to continue my NVIDIA hiatus again with an ATi card, this time with the Radeon 7500. The 7500 is...




					hexus.net


----------



## Bones (Apr 30, 2022)

While I'm on a roll here:


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Apr 30, 2022)

It is time for another episode of "What's In The Tub?"

Always fun to see what you stashed and lost track of. I was looking for this video card , GeForce 4 TI 4600 because it never worked properly from out of the box , I figured I would give it another look , I love to be disappointed!
The Thermaltake fan was a add-on that they sold

The tub!


assorted network cards , wired and wireless...cool Abit AirPace pci-e card



sound cards and a misc ATI card



a couple of Ageia Physx cards and the Ti 4600




assorted vid cards and a WinTV card

[Forum Moderator: I've removed the attachments, see https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-tpu-main-site-forum-2022.290495/post-4747889, please reupload them to this post]


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> It is time for another episode of "What's In The Tub?"
> 
> Always fun to see what you stashed and lost track of. I was looking for this video card , GeForce 4 TI 4600 because it never worked properly from out of the box , I figured I would give it another look , I love to be disappointed!
> The Thermaltake fan was a add-on that they sold
> ...


Your pics aren't showing..


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Apr 30, 2022)

They are multiplying




Bought a complete haswell i5 system for $50 off of marketplace that is too new to discuss here. 

But it came with this board installed in a crap case included as well. 

The board was untested but works perfectly. It's actually in better shape than mine which has a slightly bent but functional x16 slot, slightly bent Northridge heatsink, and cosmetically broken bottle ram "latches".

I really don't need 2 of these, unsure of what I'll do with it lol.


----------



## QuietBob (Apr 30, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> This. At the time, the Radeons were the better choice as they performed better and had more features.


IIRC the Radeon 7500 also scaled better with faster CPUs.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I really don't need 2 of these, unsure of what I'll do with it lol.


I've also got two of the same model, one in daily use in my secondary PC. One of the best AM3+ boards, no doubt.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Apr 30, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> IIRC the Radeon 7500 also scaled better with faster CPUs.


That was my experience as well. It was a great card when paired with a Pentium2 400, but match it with a Pentium 3 650 OC'd to 866 and the Radeon 7500 really shined! I look back at it as a best-of-generation card.


----------



## Robert B (Apr 30, 2022)

*FRESH LOOT!*

1. PC Siemens Nixdorf PCD-3Msx - 386 - It is like a fine jewel.Nicely built and sturdy. A 420MB Conner has a place to call home. 
2. GA-486SV REV.7 + AMD DX2 80MHz, S3 VLB - battery damage repair - all good. I used a dark green lacquer to cover the traces easily removed with IPA or acetone. Luckily no trace has been damaged. YAY! \O/.
3. Abit KG7-RAID - mighty AMD 760 from 2001 - 20 years have passed in the blink of an eye! Uhhh ABIT! The Legend is dead, LONG LIVE THE LEGEND! 
4. MSI K7 PRO Slot A + AMD 600MHz - AOpen HQ45A case and AOpen 250W PSU
5. FDD 5.25" + 100 floppy disks, many new
6. *PEAKTRON ELECTRONICS PA286-SA1. My name is Harris!* 80286 Harris! *My 16MHz are ready to rumble the bits and bytes! 4x1MB 60ns FTW!!!!*

Wish me luck next week when I power the relics on! 

This is just a sample of the stuff I got lately.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Apr 30, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That was my experience as well. It was a great card when paired with a Pentium2 400, but match it with a Pentium 3 650 OC'd to 866 and the Radeon 7500 really shined! I look back at it as a best-of-generation card.


I'm running a 1100, so that should be mighty enough.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (May 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> New acquisition! It's an original Asus Striker Extreme complete with the matching Asus Supreme-FX sound card and IO shield. Atop it is I believe a QX6800 Extreme Edition, stock cooler, and 1gb of Corsair XMS2 ram.
> 
> To the right is my faulty Striker Extreme. That board looks like it's been stored in a moist basement perhaps and you can see how tarnished the heatpipes are.
> View attachment 244315
> ...


I managed to fix the non working corroded striker extreme through a ton of scrubbing and cleaning some solder joints.







I also gave the copper a good brushing to remove all of the corrosion. I need some polish to make it shine.





It's still giving me issues with core based CPUs It will post once, freeze and then not post again.

It works ok with netburst tho.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

That Striker Extreme for example makes me think that why the hell many X570 boards have a fan, back in the day motherboards had way more aggressive cooling..


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (May 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That Striker Extreme for example makes me think that why the hell many X570 boards have a fan, back in the day motherboards had way more aggressive cooling..


It's not as impressive as it looks.

The mile long heatpipes are not the greatest for efficiency. Even with this much copper, 680i runs hot enough to melt into the center of the earth, plus they like to fail often. There was a fan included in the box from the factory. I put it on the Northbridge.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It's not as impressive as it looks.
> 
> The mile long heatpipes are not the greatest for efficiency. Even with this much copper, 680i runs hot enough to melt into the center of the earth, plus they like to fail often. There was a fan included in the box from the factory. I put it on the Northbridge.


680i was a nuclear reactor... even 650i SLI was!

It does throttle..


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2022)

Robert B said:


> *My name is Harris!* 80286 Harris!


THAT is uncommon! Such a good find!


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

4.66GHz crashes even with 1.7V  This seems stable though









						I scored 2 730 in Time Spy
					

Intel Xeon Processor X5650, AMD Radeon HD 7970 x 1, 18432 MB, 64-bit Windows 10}




					www.3dmark.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> 4.66GHz crashes even with 1.7V  This seems stable though
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is likely just a silicon lottery clock ceiling thing... Still, 4.5ghz is great!


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is likely just a silicon lottery clock ceiling thing... Still, 4.5ghz is great!


4.55 to be exact.


----------



## QuietBob (May 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> 4.66GHz crashes even with 1.7V  This seems stable though
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice clock on the 7970, mine shows artifacts over 1135 MHz in some games. And very respectable oc on your Xeon, though that temp


----------



## Robert B (May 1, 2022)

I think that my EPROM problems are over, at least for a while.  200+ pcs of 16K, 32K, 64K and 128K EPROMS have been rescued.  DIP 28 DIP 32 DIP 40 plus a few Z80 class CPUs

I also found a sealed TANDON TM848E 8" FDD - A true monster!  I am unable to test the monster as I do not have floppies or a suitable system. Anyway, this will go to a loving home and someone who can use it. An S100 class computer would be great for it.

By the looks of it I also scored 2x4MB 30 pin SIMMS. Untested.


----------



## freeagent (May 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That Striker Extreme for example makes me think that why the hell many X570 boards have a fan, back in the day motherboards had way more aggressive cooling..


They were marketed as top OC'ing boards, that's why the beefy coolers. My Rampage Formula X48 has beefy cooling too, but not like the Extreme. My R3F had an awesome cooling setup too, loved that board.. I thought my Strix -F had decent coolers compared to the dead TUF board I bought from Newegg. That board literally felt like a frisbee.. for a moment it almost became one.. The sinks on my XE are much beefier than on the -F, at least on the VRM's, and the chipset too I guess...


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 1, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Your pics aren't showing..


I know..for some reason it is hung up...I cant even get into the website on my PC...gonna have to ask the mods for some help clearing it

On my phone now...never had a problem like this


----------



## Greenslade (May 1, 2022)

Our friend Clint's new abode 







 Plenty of room in there   .


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## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Nice clock on the 7970, mine shows artifacts over 1135 MHz in some games. And very respectable oc on your Xeon, though that temp


It's an Asus Matrix card so I guess that it's more or less a binned chip... not Matrix Platinum though.

I had Platinum's bios on that card but had to go back to the original as its RAM doesn't clock to Platinum's speed (6600MHz effective).


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It's still giving me issues with core based CPUs It will post once, freeze and then not post again. It works ok with netburst tho.


I used to have the "little brother" of that board, a P5N32-E SLI, and it always sucked...all my 775 Asus Nvidia SLI boards were kind of "jank", now that I think of it.  I loved Asus back then, but all my P5N SLI boards weren't great.  It was a long time ago, but I remember liking the XFX boards a lot more.  I do remember that P5N32-E just always acted weird...like, certain multipliers wouldn't work, overclocking sucked...they were pretty though.  I also had P5N-E, and P5N-T Deluxe, and they all gave me headaches.  I still love all those Nvidia chipset boards though.  I ran them for years, and once the jank was sorted out, they ran fine.  I think they honestly just had a lot of issues in general, in their production, in the BIOS or whatever.  If I started collecting PC hardware again, I'd probably start with these old Nvidia chipset SLI 775 boards.  Get all the ones I used to have and all the ones I didn't, even the OEM. There aren't that many, and they are the best looking boards of their time, IMO.  I really hope you can get that thing fully working again, the Striker Extreme.  Have you tried removing and re-inserting that BIOS chip thing?  If you are completely spent on fixes, one last thing to even try is replacing that chip...I'd go ham cleaning some more first, use something "heavier duty" than isopropyl on the CPU and RAM sockets...but I found a BIOS chip thing for your board after a quick search, probably many more options out there, but here's a link  if you want to try it - https://picclick.com/BIOS-Chip-ASUS-Striker-Extreme-381117382769.html - there's likely some on Ebay and other places too, that's just the first that came up for me and seemed reasonably priced.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (May 1, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I used to have the "little brother" of that board, a P5N32-E SLI, and it always sucked...all my 775 Asus Nvidia SLI boards were kind of "jank", now that I think of it.  I loved Asus back then, but all my P5N SLI boards weren't great.  It was a long time ago, but I remember liking the XFX boards a lot more.  I do remember that P5N32-E just always acted weird...like, certain multipliers wouldn't work, overclocking sucked...they were pretty though.  I also had P5N-E, and P5N-T Deluxe, and they all gave me headaches.  I still love all those Nvidia chipset boards though.  I ran them for years, and once the jank was sorted out, they ran fine.  I think they honestly just had a lot of issues in general, in their production, in the BIOS or whatever.  If I started collecting PC hardware again, I'd probably start with these old Nvidia chipset SLI 775 boards.  Get all the ones I used to have and all the ones I didn't, even the OEM. There aren't that many, and they are the best looking boards of their time, IMO.  I really hope you can get that thing fully working again, the Striker Extreme.  Have you tried removing and re-inserting that BIOS chip thing?  If you are completely spent on fixes, one last thing to even try is replacing that chip...I'd go ham cleaning some more first, use something "heavier duty" than isopropyl on the CPU and RAM sockets...but I found a BIOS chip thing for your board after a quick search, probably many more options out there, but here's a link  if you want to try it - https://picclick.com/BIOS-Chip-ASUS-Striker-Extreme-381117382769.html - there's likely some on Ebay and other places too, that's just the first that came up for me and seemed reasonably priced.


I have a P5N-T Deluxe i got with an e8400 on eBay. The e8400 was shorted and while it just tripped protections on an OEM board I tried it on, it blew out a fet on the P5N-T and now that vrm is shorted. Oh well.

I have done more testing. It boots up perfectly even into an OS with a single core. It works perfectly fine with p4 630, Celeron d 347, and Celeron 450 (Conroe). But duals and quads either get to the splash screen and freeze or don't post at all. I got a pentium d to boot once but after that it wouldn't display again in this board.

I have reflashed the bios to the latest with a pentium 4 installed, but it didn't change anything. 

It's a very weird issue. Usually it gives me code 1d on my post card.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 1, 2022)

I am finding "1D - OEM pre-memory initialization codes".  So it's possibly still socket or RAM slot issues and not necessarily anything damaged.  I assume you've went well over it for any obvious damage?  I would personally do a big no-no and use something real heavy, like brake cleaner on the RAM and CPU sockets.  And even though you were able to update the BIOS, I would still consider pulling it from its socket and giving it a cleaning too.  And I would still consider replacing that BIOS chip as a last resort.  If I was still collecting, I'd keep the board even if it wasn't fully functional.  Lots of nostalgia for that era of hardware.  I am also assuming you've tried a ton on it already and are running out of ideas, but make sure to try some different RAM too, if you haven't already...might be some weird incompatibility there or something, wouldn't surprise me at all.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (May 1, 2022)

Bios chip is soldered on this one.

My other fully working striker extreme has a socketed bios chip but not this one.

Might try cleaning ram slots and socket again.

Have tried a dozen ram sticks and cpus in different configurations. 

As far as obvious damage, corrosion. There is a lot of it. Every solder joint looks tarnished etc. I've alcohol scrubbed this board but it really needs a complete reflow with fresh solder. which I lack the ability to do.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Bios chip is soldered on this one.
> 
> My other fully working striker extreme has a socketed bios chip but not this one.
> 
> ...


News to me that they made a version of that board with a soldered BIOS chip!  Tells me they may have knew the socketed chips were causing issues on those boards.  Or maybe they were just cutting costs once all the issues were "ironed out" lol  I assume the board with a soldered one has a later manufacturing date?


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> News to me that they made a version of that board with a soldered BIOS chip!  Tells me they may have knew the socketed chips were causing issues on those boards.  Or maybe they were just cutting costs once all the issues were "ironed out" lol  I assume the soldered one has a later manufacturing date?


I love old hardware when they had socketed chips..


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (May 1, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> News to me that they made a version of that board with a soldered BIOS chip!  Tells me they may have knew the socketed chips were causing issues on those boards.  Or maybe they were just cutting costs once all the issues were "ironed out" lol  I assume the board with a soldered one has a later manufacturing date?


If I had to guess its more likely to be cost cutting. How would I check mfg date?


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 1, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> If I had to guess its more likely to be cost cutting. How would I check mfg date?


It's probably "hidden" in the serial or product number but it was prob on a sticker that may or may not still be there.  It might be printed right on the PCB somewhere too.  Not important though, was just curious.  Also...my theory with BIOS chips and them failing, but still being able to write (update) - ever run into an SD card that lets you put stuff on it, but it's degraded to the point your stuff will just disappear? Or parts of it?  Well, those little BIOS chips went through hell being in an SLI "enthusiast" system from back then...a lot of heat output directly in the area of the poor BIOS chip.  Add in the fact that it's socketed, and oxidization is naturally going to occur between the points of contact, they weren't set up for longevity.  There is a reason you can buy these BIOS chips readily all over the internet with the BIOS for your board already flashed.


----------



## MachineLearning (May 1, 2022)

After realizing that my P5Q Turbo has no BIOS options in a couple key areas (NB GTL, command rate), I decided to get a Gigabyte EP45-UD3P... These Gigabyte boards, what absolute OC monsters. RAM slots kissing the NB.  I'll clean it up and have photos for you all once it arrives, although I don't think it's unfamiliar to many.

I do want to ask here, what are the differences between v1.0, 1.1, and 1.6? I see that 1.0 and 1.1 have different heatsink designs, but is there any change to their feature sets or OC ability? I got 1.1, which at least looks better than 1.0 subjectively.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> After realizing that my P5Q Turbo has no BIOS options in a couple key areas (NB GTL, command rate), I decided to get a Gigabyte EP45-UD3P... These Gigabyte boards, what absolute OC monsters. RAM slots kissing the NB.  I'll clean it up and have photos for you all once it arrives, although I don't think it's unfamiliar to many.
> 
> I do want to ask here, what are the differences between v1.0, 1.1, and 1.6? I see that 1.0 and 1.1 have different heatsink designs, but is there any change to their feature sets or OC ability? I got 1.1, which at least looks better than 1.0 subjectively.


What CPU you have to tinker with


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 1, 2022)

I forgot about the P5N72-T Premium I ran for awhile as well (780i), and actually found a photo of it from about 11+ years ago.  Most expensive board I have ever bought.  Yes that is auto heater hose lol CM690 Nvidia Edition, Swiftech Apogee GT I think CPU block...I think this was before I got my second GTX 570 and was running a GTX 460 for Physx lol  That Antec Truepower New went though several of my next computers...I'd probably still be running it if I didn't sell the final PC it was in.  This was also my first water cooling loop.  Those are Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000 fans, too...I think I still have them somewhere.










(don't kill me for the overclock.net decal lol)


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I forgot about the P5N72-T Premium I ran for awhile as well (780i), and actually found a photo of it from about 11+ years ago.  Most expensive board I have ever bought.  Yes that is auto heater hose lol CM690 Nvidia Edition, Swiftech Apogee GT I think CPU block...I think this was before I got my second GTX 570 and was running a GTX 460 for Physx lol  That Antec Truepower New went though several of my next computers...I'd probably still be running it if I didn't sell the final PC it was in.  This was also my first water cooling loop.  Those are Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000 fans, too...I think I still have them somewhere.
> 
> View attachment 245781
> View attachment 245780
> ...


Now that's a sweet build!


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Now that's a sweet build!


I learned so much building and modding with that PC, it eventually got dismantled, cut down to about 1/3 the size, filled "body" with bondo and plastic welding, painted it white with purple mesh, and gave it to a girlfriend of mine about 5 years ago.  I wish I got more photos of the builds I have done over the years.  Most of the stuff is only accessible by memory.  Here's another random "older" oddball computer photo I found...I think this is an Aluminum HTPC case, maybe Silverstone, with a huge Intel S5000PSL dual 771 with dual X5470.






And here's a Lenovo M58P (I think) that I modded to fit a full size GPU with a custom GPU mount made from parts of cases I had lying around.  I think it had either a QX6700 or a tape modded Q6600.







And a couple "dump" builds (literally built with free or next to free parts...some literally from the dump, and then sold for cheap to people who couldn't otherwise afford a gaming PC for their kids.  I can't really remember what exact hardware.









All three of the above cases were missing side panels, badly dented...I used that super cheap "handy panel" board from the hardware for like $1.


----------



## Kissamies (May 1, 2022)

That white Lenovo looks hella cool (especially with that X360 controller), so does that inverted mATX HP!


----------



## MachineLearning (May 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> What CPU you have to tinker with


Mainly I want to bring my Q9550 samples higher  The P5Q Turbo works well enough for them but I can't help but feel the CPU is being held back a bit. I also want to go for PYPrime 2B DDR2 again, that was a lot of fun and with a better board maybe I can do more


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That white Lenovo looks hella cool (especially with that X360 controller), so does that inverted mATX HP!


That inverted MATX in the OEM HP case...I had a mother ask me to build her son the best PC I could for $150 CAN as a grade 8 grad gift.  I said I would do the best I could, but that $150 isn't going to get him what is typically referred to as a gaming PC.  When I gave her that thing she cried...it wasn't the best PC at the time (keep in mind, years ago), but it had at least a decent GPU for the time.  I can't remember the platform, but at least a dual core.


----------



## Greenslade (May 1, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Been given a case and a pair of IBM Infinity speakers for free. My BE6-II build practically builds itself.


Sounds good to me anything for nothing is cool


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 2, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> It is time for another episode of "What's In The Tub?"
> 
> Always fun to see what you stashed and lost track of. I was looking for this video card , GeForce 4 TI 4600 because it never worked properly from out of the box , I figured I would give it another look , I love to be disappointed!
> The Thermaltake fan was a add-on that they sold
> ...


Thanks!!!!


----------



## Greenslade (May 2, 2022)

Happy Birthday 
The Commodore 64 : 40th Anniversary    ​















 ​Do you prefer to have the actual game in a box ,rather than a downloaded one? 
Has anyone on here been involed in making a game? 










​


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 2, 2022)

Thanks to all who helped straighten out my tech issue!...great group


----------



## oobymach (May 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Happy Birthday
> The Commodore 64 : 40th Anniversary    ​
> 
> 
> ...


Back in the day I used Garry Kitchens Game Maker on the C64 and drew up some backgrounds, spiky death balls and a mario character with 3 frames of animation but never completed the project (I gave up after failing to create good music). I'd much rather play games than make them.


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (May 2, 2022)

For you nostalgic programmers: https://blog.danielwellman.com/2008/10/real-life-tron-on-an-apple-iigs.html


----------



## MachineLearning (May 3, 2022)

A beautiful example of the nForce 780a-based Foxconn Destroyer. 






I bought this board off of eBay, and as soon as I got it I suspected it was used in a prebuilt of some kind. Mainly because of the condition, coupled with some light hot glue residue around a couple SATA ports + front I/O.

There's just something about nForce boards that appeals to me... I know that basically all of them are worse at overclocking (and self-immolating) than their Intel/AMD chipset alternatives - but they're unique, and often a fun struggle of sorts.



The heatsink assembly is substantial, and that NF200 ensures it's necessary. There was an optional heatpipe extension module which came in the box, which is the reason for the four screws on the NB HS.






Northbridge is dated Wk14/2008. I haven't yet seen a PCB date code printed on the board.



Wtf is going on in the VRM area...? Let's take a close look.



Foxconn calls this an 8-phase in marketing, which I don't think it possibly could be. Looks like a 4+1, 2high/2low side. What an odd layout, though.



There is a mixture of 2x Nikos P75N02LDG and 2x unidentified MOSFETs. I say unidentified because I'm unfamiliar with that "A" logo, and searching the numbers printed brought no results. Someone here may know instantly what that part is 

This is the datasheet for the Nikos parts. They're rated for 75a continuous @ 25⁰c, and 50a continuous load @ 100⁰c. The rest of the data, is beyond my limited knowledge...

The Destroyer suffered from the usual Foxconn issue of having crap BIOSes for much of its lifetime. Issues that existed took way too long to be fixed (only the final(?) version, G18, has NB multiplier support), and of course you can't find any of them from Foxconn's support as the pages are gone. It took me a couple hours of searching to find this thread, and get a working link out of it for G18. If someone here somehow also has a Destroyer in 2022 and wants the BIOS, please PM me.

My board came with D30, which is about mid-late development, and P13 on the backup BIOS. You may not have noticed - but there are indeed two BIOS chips  they're just oceans apart. I managed to kill one of them by carelessly flashing in Windows  but the other chip still works flawlessly. Just had to swap the two over. An EEPROM programmer is on the way to remedy this 

It's a shame that this board never got proper support, much like the Bloodrage. Foxconn had a habit of making physically great boards, and then apparently putting 0.25 BIOS engineers on the job. I guess they're used to only needing to provide the hardware aspect.

I managed 410.61MHz at the stock NB voltage, which is the highest of any Destroyer I've seen and is in the top 5 highest for 780a overall. I'm really impressed with this little board, I wasn't expecting 400MHz+FSB out of such a chipset 

edit: after a good night's sleep (and remembering to turn on 2T), I squeezed 429.8MHz out of the board.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 3, 2022)

ABIT wasn't really bright with their BIOSes either - my board was acting up for no reason because some stupid chap thought 3.5V I/O is a good idea for default instead of 3.3V. 

It might have been ideal in its heyday (though I doubt it, unless you had a pretty good PSU), but not by today - the components on it are around 20 years old already - they're pretty much starting to be unable to OC or unable to keep running at higher voltages than inteded.

It's kinda like the caps - don't expect them to last if you're running them at more than their spec allows.


----------



## erek (May 3, 2022)

QUANTUM 3d Obsidian 2 X-24 SLI2 3Dfx Voodoo 2 SLI  | eBay
					

QUANTUM 3d Obsidian 2 X-24 SLI2 3Dfx Voodoo 2 SLI with cooling adapter. the fan has been replaced with a Noctua fan.



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Audioave10 (May 4, 2022)

My Crosshair V Formula Z is just right for these...DDR3 2400Mhz!


----------



## MachineLearning (May 4, 2022)

Gigabyte was on the ball for 775, especially the tail end of it (P35 onward). The GA-EP45-UD3P is the single most benched P45 motherboard on HWBot, and for good reason - reaching absurd FSB speeds in the right hands. It helps that it's beautiful, too...

This board is great, I'm hoping to go through my 12 sticks of Ballistix (most of which are unfortunately .8FE5 or .16FE5) and try to get sub-30s PYPrime 2B.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 4, 2022)

I have 7 of those "UD" type of boards from Gigabyte and not one has ever failed. Nice looking too!
My 790X UD4P is running for 12 years (slightly OC'ed DDR2).


----------



## MachineLearning (May 4, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I have 7 of those "UD" type of boards from Gigabyte and not one has ever failed. Nice looking too!
> My 790X UD4P is running for 12 years (slightly OC'ed DDR2).


I've actually been looking at one of those too, they seem quite nice. I assume you recommend it since you've had it for so long...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 4, 2022)

I wanted to take a slight pause from fiddling with slot stuff just to look into this 2007/8 HP Pavilion dv9830ea. It's running a rather hot Turion X2 TL-64 and a 8400M GS. I remember adding 4GB worth of DDR2-667 and just recently, a WD Black 320GB, as well as a copper shim on the chipset (as the GPU's now exposed copper plate touches the GPU without the need of a shim) to replace the rather dry (but not crusty) thermal pad. I'll see how it keeps up after those additions, as I remember having to reflow it about twice.





Also, taken a day earlier, a rather funny accident. I was testing the stability of my BE6 after lowering the I/O voltage to 3.3v. I installed a 40GB WDC not even knowing what was on it, expecting it to boot either a dualboot of Mandrake 10.1 and Windows ME. I was instead greeted by it booting into Windows 7 Home Premium , lol.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 4, 2022)

Well guys, I finally bought myself a decent vintage CRT for playing retro games 


 



ADI MicroScan MS-4P (otherwise known as "ADI 4P"), appears to be in mint condition and bright white as if it came straight out of the original box! Featuring 15" CRT screen with digital controls (but mechanical power switch), and unlike my previous LG StudioWorks 57M, this one auto-detects & reports as "ADI MS-4P", rather than "Plug & Play Monitor" generic label which was the case with LG.

Justin Case you're wondering, there was nothing wrong with LG ... it's a nice little thing & fully operational. Just not what I wanted to see on my current retro setup. LG is entirely digital, capable of up to 1280x1024 @60Hz, where this one on the other hand can only go up to 1280x800 (and even that is pushing it to the max) so I've decided to stick with 1024x768, 60Hz which is more than enough for my retro needs


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 4, 2022)

Welp, seems the dv9830ea held up rather good, temps were 66 max running YT with it slightly raised, no lock-ups as far as I can tell. It is running the latest BIOS that's been modded to remove the whitelist from it, so I could replace the old Broadcom card with an Atheros AR5B91.

The main hot spots were the HDD (it's a WD Black, enough said) and the northbridge (despite being copper shim'd) though the fan seems to do a good job if the thermals were 66*C tops. Not very comfortable with temps this high, but compared to Radeon based machines, I can totally live with it.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 4, 2022)

I wish I could come across a CRT locally...but I never do.  I used to have a 23 or 24" beast back in the day that could do high refresh rate at decent res...it was awesome.  But it was giant and I'd have nowhere to put such a thing these days.  I also had a 34" HD CRT TV at one point.  I miss that tech.  I still have a tiny CRT TV that I only keep around for light gun games.  These days, when I look for a CRT, all I want is "beige and less than 17".  I've even asked recycling centers and they get a more $$$ from them as scrap then they do if they stored them and tried to sell them. So they won't hold them.


----------



## Bones (May 4, 2022)

Had a 21'CRT that worked well, was capable of some good resoultions too but didn't have a use for it nor a place to keep it so it had to go. 
As much as I'd love to save stuff like this I don't have unlimited space so it's not possible to keep it all.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 5, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Gigabyte was on the ball for 775, especially the tail end of it (P35 onward).


Yes they were!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2022)

Bones said:


> Had a 21'CRT that worked well, was capable of some good resoultions too but didn't have a use for it nor a place to keep it so it had to go.
> As much as I'd love to save stuff like this I don't have unlimited space so it's not possible to keep it all.


I used to own 19" ADI CRT back in 2001 (up to 2005, 2006). It was easily the heaviest CRT I ever owned. Heavier than average TV from the same era, but eventually something blew inside & it wouldn't turn on any longer.

Probably a minor issue, blown moset or something similar but I immediately replaced the whole thing with 19" Philips LCD. Mostly due to the same reason(s) as you - that 19" CRT was just too big & heavy and therefore had to go.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 5, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> 'Heavier than average TV'


I don't miss that aspect...that huge CRT monitor I had weighed way too much...but...I had another one, brand new from Future Shop at the time (long time ago...around 15-20 years back)...I spent $450ish CAD on a "flat" CRT, I think it was 19"...well...I brought it home, so psyched, hooked it up, got about 20 minutes or so of Quake or something in before it shut off and wouldn't turn back on again.  I had purchased an extended warranty (scam) on top of the price...I was a teen, and this was a lot of money for me to have saved on my own.  Anyway...I contact Future Shop, and they tell me I have to ship the monitor back to manufacturer...and pay for shipping, possibly both ways.  Keep in mind the weight of these things, that I just purchased it brand new with an extended warranty. So...being a teen unable to drive with a crumby family, I had no way to deal with it other than bringing the thing back to Future Shop myself with all the paper work...so...I put it in a shopping cart...and took a bus an hour across town...to return it.  They wouldn't take it.  I wanted to ram that heavy thing through their front display window.  I took it all the way back home and kept if for a couple years and looked at it out of sadness until I finally got the nerve to send it to the recyclers. I did get some people to help me return it several times, and got the same runaround each time.

Oh, I had that HD CRT TV, must have weighed around 130lb, same with a 36" standard def TV I had...well in the 130lb range. I am also in the 130lb range, so imagine me lifting those things lol  I did though.

TLDR - CRT monitors are far too heavy to deal with in most cases, but I had a doozy of a time with one in particular.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I don't miss that aspect...that huge CRT monitor I had weighed way too much...but...I had another one, brand new from Future Shop at the time (long time ago...around 15-20 years back)...I spent $450ish CAD on a "flat" CRT, I think it was 19"...well...I brought it home, so psyched, hooked it up, got about 20 minutes or so of Quake or something in before it shut off and wouldn't turn back on again.  I had purchased an extended warranty (scam) on top of the price...I was a teen, and this was a lot of money for me to have saved on my own.  Anyway...I contact Future Shop, and they tell me I have to ship the monitor back to manufacturer...and pay for shipping, possibly both ways.  Keep in mind the weight of these things, that I just purchased it brand new with an extended warranty. So...being a teen unable to drive with a crumby family, I had no way to deal with it other than bringing the thing back to Future Shop myself with all the paper work...so...I put it in a shopping cart...and took a bus an hour across town...to return it.  They wouldn't take it.  I wanted to ram that heavy thing through their front display window.  I took it all the way back home and kept if for a couple years and looked at it out of sadness until I finally got the nerve to send it to the recyclers. I did get some people to help me return it several times, and got the same runaround each time.
> 
> Oh, I had that HD CRT TV, must have weighed around 130lb, same with a 36" standard def TV I had...well in the 130lb range. I am also in the 130lb range, so imagine me lifting those things lol  I did though.
> 
> TLDR - CRT monitors are far too heavy to deal with in most cases, but I had a doozy of a time with one in particular.


There, I actually found the pic from back in 2004...




The one on the left (obviously lol), with Logitech QuickCam on top. The very same QuickCam from yesterday, now paired with ADI 4P


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 5, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> There, I actually found the pic from back in 2004...


All the remotes lol  That's a balling setup from back then.  I had a prebuilt HP with a Celeron lol  Shortly after though, I really got into computers and built an MSI  Mega 651 system with Pentium 4 HT (only 533MHz FSB on that mini system), and had it hooked up to an 800x600 Epson projector on a 130" inch screen, as well as that HD CRT TV, it was a Panasonic something rather, and I can't remember what monitor.  That might have actually been around 2004, now that I think about it.  No way I have any photos of it from back then, though.  Here's what that MSI Mega 651 looked like though...I'd love to find another one...came with a remote, and a bunch of cool features.  Could use any CD/DVD drive as a CD player without powering on the main PC.  It fit a decent GPU too, I think I had a crappy FX 5700 or something, can't recall.





(not my photo)

EDIT- yeah, that was definitely around 2004, I remember building it for Doom 3, which came out in 2004.  I remember my friend seeing Doom 3 on the HD CRT, and he eventually got it for his Xbox thinking he was playing the same game and going on and on about the graphics and stuff lol


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## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> All the remotes lol  That's a balling setup from back then.  I had a prebuilt HP with a Celeron lol  Shortly after though, I really got into computers and built an MSI  Mega 651 system with Pentium 4 HT (only 533MHz FSB on that mini system), and had it hooked up to an 800x600 Epson projector on a 130" inch screen, as well as that HD CRT TV, it was a Panasonic something rather, and I can't remember what monitor.  That might have actually been around 2004, now that I think about it.  No way I have any photos of it from back then, though.  Here's what that MSI Mega 651 looked like though...I'd love to find another one...came with a remote, and a bunch of cool features.  Could use any CD/DVD drive as a CD player without powering on the main PC.  It fit a decent GPU too, I think I had a crappy FX 5700 or something, can't recall.
> 
> View attachment 246172
> (not my photo)
> ...


Oh, yeah! Even today, I remember each & every remote I had. From left to right - Sharp HiFi Stereo, Hauppauge TV Tuner card remote (you can actually see the remote sensor, attached to previously-mentioned 19" ADI monitor), Daewoo VCR (right under the remotes & flatbed scanner), LG VCR (the one on the right, silver unit) and last but not least - JVC VCR (the one on the right, black unit)

By the way, that's a sweet looking system! (MSI Mega PC). Looks pretty much like a standard mini HiFi ... I always wanted to get myself one of these but never found one. Not for a reasonable price, that is.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 5, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh, yeah! Even today, I remember each & every remote I had. From left to right - Sharp HiFi Stereo, Hauppauge TV Tuner card remote (you can actually see the remote sensor, attached to previously-mentioned 19" ADI monitor), Daewoo VCR (right under the remotes & flatbed scanner), LG VCR (the one on the right, silver unit) and last but not least - JVC VCR (the one on the right, black unit)
> 
> By the way, that's a sweet looking system! (MSI Mega PC). Looks pretty much like a standard mini HiFi ... I always wanted to get myself one of these but never found one. Not for a reasonable price, that is.


I paid quite a bit for that system...but the barebones came with motherboard, case, and PSU, and was about $340ish CAD, again, if my memory serves.  So really not that bad.  The CPU was like, $500 or something, the most expensive CPU I ever bought.  I initially bought an even more expensive one, but since I was new to building, I overlooked the 533FSB and got an 800FSB CPU...luckily the store I got it from allowed me to return it for a small restocking fee even though it was open.  What were you using all the VCR for, if you don't mind me asking?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> (...)
> 
> What were you using all the VCR for, if you don't mind me asking?


Not at all! Guess I might as well answer your question without the fear of FBI or TV networks 




I would copy some (most) of the VHS tapes I could get my hands on. Mostly the well-known movies and/or TV series such as Star Trek (considering I'm "Trekkie", not much surprise there, huh?). For personal use only, I never sold any of the tapes or used them for profit. I simply wanted (and enjoyed) the freedom of watching my favorite movies & TV shows when & as often as I wanted.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 5, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Not at all! Guess I might as well answer your question without the fear of FBI or TV networks
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You scoff-law you!! Naughty, naughty boy!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You scoff-law you!! Naughty, naughty boy!


Even now, I still have more than enough VCRs to keep me busy & entertained for at least the next 20 years or so, although my "pirate" days are long gone & forgotten. Arrr! 

That being said, I still prefer physical media over streaming & similar digital "wizardry", so I'm more likely to watch a DVD, VHS or play the cassette tape (or vinyl record) than to stream online content on my phone or laptop. In fact, I recently got my hands on a complete "Outlander" DVD box, from Seasons 1 to 5...


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## lexluthermiester (May 5, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> That being said, I still prefer physical media over streaming & similar digital "wizardry", so I'm more likely to watch a DVD


Right there with you. I prefer disc's to streams.


Trekkie4 said:


> VHS or play the cassette tape (or vinyl record) than to stream online content on my phone or laptop.


Not with you on that one. CD's and DRMFree MP3's are my music jam!


Trekkie4 said:


> In fact, I recently got my hands on a complete "Outlander" DVD box, from Seasons 1 to 5...


Nice. I got the whole MagnumPI series on DVD recently myself.



Still one of my favorite TV shows from the 80's.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not with you on that one. CD's and DRMFree MP3's are my music jam!


I may not agree, but I certainly understand. Vinyl & component (HiFi) setup is probably the most expensive way to enjoy music, and I often found myself spending more money than I intended or could afford. Still, there is something about pure analog signal and ability to affect the sound one way or another either by tinkering with tone controls on the amplifier or swapping out different phono cartridges & seeing which one sounds the best to you. Or even changing between several of them, I just swapped the headshell on my turntable earlier today!






lexluthermiester said:


> Nice. I got the whole MagnumPI series on DVD recently myself.
> View attachment 246196
> Still one of my favorite TV shows from the 80's.


Sweet! Personally, I was never much of a fan myself, but I absolutely adore that late 70s and early 80s vibe in Magnum & other, similar TV shows such as Miami Vice. You can't get any better than that IMHO


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 5, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I may not agree, but I certainly understand. Vinyl & component (HiFi) setup is probably the most expensive way to enjoy music, and I often found myself spending more money than I intended or could afford. Still, there is something about pure analog signal and ability to affect the sound one way or another either by tinkering with tone controls on the amplifier or swapping out different phono cartridges & seeing which one sounds the best to you. Or even changing between several of them, I just swapped the headshell on my turntable earlier today!


You've got a nice vinyl player and thus can get a quality experience, most aren't like that.


Trekkie4 said:


> Sweet! Personally, I was never much of a fan myself, but I absolutely adore that late 70s and early 80s vibe in Magnum & other, similar TV shows such as Miami Vice. You can't get any better than that IMHO


True! My next DVD TV Series hunt is for Night Court.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 5, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You've got a nice vinyl player and thus can get a quality experience, most aren't like that.
> 
> True! My next DVD TV Series hunt is for Night Court.


Well, it may not be a real Technics SL-1210 (I had to draw a line somewhere, the real thing costs approx. 1,400$ which was too rich for my blood thank you) but thanks - it really is a nice one! Took me a while to decide whenever I want to invest into decent phono setup or not but seeing that prices were ... and still are on the rise due to world-wide crisis, for once I did the right thing & bought it! And that was before Covid ... from what I've seen recently, the same model today is approx. 50% more expensive and mostly unavailable or sold out


----------



## oobymach (May 5, 2022)

Cleaned up my psp a bit, still in good shape, glad I got the logitech case for it. (click to enlarge)


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 6, 2022)

I can post photos of my retro game collection on here, if you guys want, and it's allowed.  I haven't been collecting since COVID, and a bunch of games (just the "junk" games I planned to use as trade fodder, mostly) were stolen from storage, but I still have a few hundred games and a bunch of consoles and a few handhelds, including a PSP 1000.  I used to have it all connected simultaneously through a bunch of switch boxes I shoved inside a custom case I made for them all (the switch boxes, not consoles).  And switches to go from CRT to LCD TV when I wanted.  I try to have the best video cable type that isn't SCART or actively converting.  I got most of my consoles quite a long time ago when the prices were at about the cheapest. I got my PS2 for $40 CAD and it came with 38 games or something...and two Sony Dual Shock and two Sony mem cards.  I got my Xbox for $10 CAD.  I don't really have anything rare...maybe a couple games (Obscure for PS2 is probably my rarest).  My Sega Saturn is my fav console but only have a few games...but I have the Sega light gun and Virtua Cop and Area 51 and a few others.  I have a bunch of retail box PC games, but my small collection of big box games were stolen from storage.  I still have the og Rainbow Six Gold, but that's it.  Everything else on PC is either lose disc, or more recent where they are DVD or dual DVD size.  Just before Steam kind of wrecked that....physical PC games.  My consoles and games are still on display, but if I am honest, I haven't played any of them in ages.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 6, 2022)

The "Show us your Collections" thread is best for that. We want to see your collection!


----------



## Dinnercore (May 6, 2022)

Haven't posted in a while, I got kinda scammed and had to take a break from it all for a moment. Story is, I saw a REX up for sale and everything looked good, sold as working on ebay and the seller showed it running etc.. So I jumped at it, blinded by the chance to finally get a Rampage Extreme.
However the seller never showed a picture of the socket. All pictures were with a CPU installed. If I wouldn't have been so excited that would have raised a flag for me. Well, even after another guy who bid on it pulled back his bid I did not question it. 

The board showed up and it did not post. Turned on but nothing else. I took the CPU out and nearly had a heartattack, many pins were bend. 3-4 were really bad but only one was in a critical spot, the area towards the RAM where VTT and memory data lines run.
I was really torn on either sending it back or keeping it and trying to fix that socket. The chance to finally have this board was too good to pass so I fixed the socket with a lot of slow and careful work. It does finally work now and I'm happy about that but also a bit exhausted about the whole ordeal.





I still need to change the thermal pads and paste, I ran out of pads and have to order some first. But I'm happy I got this running reliably again. Last one of these I saw for sale was the offer from Japan that Luumi sniped.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> Haven't posted in a while, I got kinda scammed and had to take a break from it all for a moment. Story is, I saw a REX up for sale and everything looked good, sold as working on ebay and the seller showed it running etc.. So I jumped at it, blinded by the chance to finally get a Rampage Extreme.
> However the seller never showed a picture of the socket. All pictures were with a CPU installed. If I wouldn't have been so excited that would have raised a flag for me. Well, even after another guy who bid on it pulled back his bid I did not question it.
> 
> The board showed up and it did not post. Turned on but nothing else. I took the CPU out and nearly had a heartattack, many pins were bend. 3-4 were really bad but only one was in a critical spot, the area towards the RAM where VTT and memory data lines run.
> ...


That's a really nice motherboard you got there, @Dinnercore With all the heatsinks, start button & color theme, it reminds me of high performance engine, inside the sports car. 

So guys, speaking of old hardware ... back on topic. I'm doing a complete overhaul of one of my earlier (and oldest) builds from around 5-6 years ago. Not "Adison" related, this one literally just sat inside the closet for years, doing nothing. Therefore it needs a lot of TLC - as you can probably imagine. Both optical drives are shot, CMOS battery dead and everything was covered in dust. So I've decided to take it easy & address one issue after another, starting with the case itself - everything was taken apart, washed in hot water & will eventually be put back together again. I also need to replace the PSU and brighten up the yellowed face plate.

Eventually I'll have to replace TEAC W540 drive which seems to be beyond repairs, and take care of additional few bits & pieces. But until then there's a lot of work to be done. I can take couple of shots if you guys are interested but keep in mind that we're mostly talking individual parts at the moment, it's like the entire case blew up across the room, spewing components everywhere 

In the meantime, here's the very same system as it was back in 2015:


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 6, 2022)

So far I've been working on the "driver repository" side of my BE6-II build, using it as a testbed as well to test stability. So far I still get occasional hangs but not as much as the old BIOS chip caused. I replaced the original BIOS chip (W29C020C-90U) with a newer one pulled from a ECS KT266A mobo (labeled W49F002U12BN) and so far I've got it to work rather well. It still locks up from time to time if I leave it unattended (it seems to have done that while I was away talking to someone about a batch of GPUs, GF4 Ti4600 included!) but a restart has fixed that, it seems.

Still not sure if it's the VRM being slightly tired from the 1100MHz Coppermine, but I'll see what happens over time. I'm just happy it doesn't act up so bad now, but instead it's useable. I can't wait to get my hands on a GF4 Ti4600 to replace the Radeon 7500 I'm currently using (its XP performance is atrocious, and that's with OMEGA drivers installed.)


----------



## Outback Bronze (May 6, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I got kinda scammed



Good story matey. I'm sure we've all got a story to tell along those lines.

Well done on getting the board up and running!


----------



## 68Olds (May 6, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> So far I've been working on the "driver repository" side of my BE6-II build, using it as a testbed as well to test stability. So far I still get occasional hangs but not as much as the old BIOS chip caused. I replaced the original BIOS chip (W29C020C-90U) with a newer one pulled from a ECS KT266A mobo (labeled W49F002U12BN) and so far I've got it to work rather well. It still locks up from time to time if I leave it unattended (it seems to have done that while I was away talking to someone about a batch of GPUs, GF4 Ti4600 included!) but a restart has fixed that, it seems.
> 
> Still not sure if it's the VRM being slightly tired from the 1100MHz Coppermine, but I'll see what happens over time. I'm just happy it doesn't act up so bad now, but instead it's useable. I can't wait to get my hands on a GF4 Ti4600 to replace the Radeon 7500 I'm currently using (its XP performance is atrocious, and that's with OMEGA drivers installed.)
> View attachment 246305


One of my favorite video cards was a PNY Ti4400.  I think it was paired with a 1.6GHz Willamette back then.  I used to use CoolBits to overclock it past Ti4600 clocks. 

Good luck on your batch of GPUs & here's hoping that the Ti4600 is a winner.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (May 6, 2022)

Got a Palit GTX260 Sonic 896mb Core 216







All of my other 260s are blowers so I figured I'd get an open air. I don't see these cards very often, especially in USA.

Card works perfectly. What I find amusing is these 260s outpace my gtx 295 with SLI off.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 6, 2022)

Dinnercore said:


> I was really torn on either sending it back or keeping it and trying to fix that socket. The chance to finally have this board was too good to pass so I fixed the socket with a lot of slow and careful work. It does finally work now and I'm happy about that but also a bit exhausted about the whole ordeal.


Been there, I feel you on that. It can be nerve racking for sure. Glad you got it working and sorted out. Elbow-grease and some TLC can work miracles!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 6, 2022)

Well, I now know what case I might be sticking my Ti4600 build in. 22 years of being lost after my dad sold it to a (now dead, unfortunately, cause of death being pneumonia), it is now time to come home.





Case is an Key Mouse/KMEX CX-6459 case. As far as I know, this could very well be the only example of it left in my country, if not the entire Europe. 

From what I've gathered with the seller, these are the (rather vague) specs it ended up with:

-1.8GHz Intel chip
- unknown mobo (though I suspect an ASUS, considering the sticker on the front)
- 2x DVD drives (Hitachi-LG and what I think is a NEC/Optiarc)
- 160GB SATA + 80GB IDE HDD
- 3GB worth of DDR2
- 450W Modecom PSU (which I might or might not reuse, depending on who OEM'd the insides of it)
- Windows 7 (unknown version)

All in all, I'm happy that I can finally reunite with my childhood's computer, even if it has undergone major upgrades (mind you, this started as a Celeron 300).


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Well, I now know what case I might be sticking my Ti4600 build in. 22 years of being lost after my dad sold it to a (now dead, unfortunately, cause of death being pneumonia), it is now time to come home.
> 
> View attachment 246334
> 
> ...


We all have that special case, monitor or something to remind us of people who are no longer among us. For what it's worth, I know exactly how you feel and I can imagine how thrilled you are (were) to find & own that case once again  

I've had & maintained my Adison obsession for almost 15 years - if someone had told me that all of the sudden I would find 6 of them (and again - I couldn't even find a SINGLE one) I'd think they're either delusional or friggin' crazy!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 6, 2022)

KME cases aren't really hard to find. But that specific CX-6459 model, believe me, I'd be crazy if I'd say another one would exist. And yet, I've seen people have it in a silver flavour (which IMO doesn't fit the theme of it) on this very forum. Forgot which user was it but it was a rather low power machine, just like this. Except the case was silver.

And you know what's the funniest part? I bet the CRTs I've had on it (Dell Ultrascan P1110 and after that one sadly broke, I had a Viewstar 775CB, not counting the billion other CRTs that my dad ever tested the living bejeezus out of inbetween those two - Samsung Syncmaster 15 GLe, and NEC Multisync 3V 15' SVGA CRTs being two I remember the most, along with a Fujitsu Siemens 1705 with bad caps and a SOLAR branded CRT that blew its neck straight into my face cheeks when I tried a refresh rate higher than 60hz  (which it barely managed to keep anyways, not to mention it was magnetised as all hell) would be FAR more easier to find than the case itself. And I wish I'd be joking. One of those CRTs would probably show up at a ridiculously low price, with the sacrifice being my spine going into thermonuclear meltdown (and I would love to do that for the Dell alone.)


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 6, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> KME cases aren't really hard to find. But that specific CX-6459 model, believe me, I'd be crazy if I'd say another one would exist. And yet, I've seen people have it in a silver flavour (which IMO doesn't fit the theme of it) on this very forum. Forgot which user was it but it was a rather low power machine, just like this. Except the case was silver.
> 
> And you know what's the funniest part? I bet the CRTs I've had on it (Dell Ultrascan P1110 and after that one sadly broke, I had a Viewstar 775CB, not counting the billion other CRTs that my dad ever tested the living bejeezus out of inbetween those two - Samsung Syncmaster 15 GLe, and NEC Multisync 3V 15' SVGA CRTs being two I remember the most, along with a Fujitsu Siemens 1705 with bad caps and a SOLAR branded CRT that blew its neck straight into my face cheeks when I tried a refresh rate higher than 60hz  (which it barely managed to keep anyways, not to mention it was magnetised as all hell) would be FAR more easier to find than the case itself. And I wish I'd be joking. One of those CRTs would probably show up at a ridiculously low price, with the sacrifice being my spine going into thermonuclear meltdown (and I would love to do that for the Dell alone.)


I hear you. For what it's worth, at least you have the luxury of knowing for sure who made it & under which model number. Because in my case, there was no brand name or number ... other than the company which assembled all the components & sold the entire system. I have a sneaky suspicion that mine was manufactured by "Codegen" (because it came with pre-installed Codegen PSU) but that's open for debate. And I never found any information on the metal frame, which would indicate who made the damn thing.

As for finding CRTs being "easier" option, don't be too sure... I'm on a lookout for a specific CRT myself (Shamrock C-509DA, 15") and I can't seem to fine one ANYWHERE. I still got my own from back in a day, but it would seem that the flyback transformer blew up, so now I'm either on a lookout for the replacement donor unit or (more likely) flyback compatible with 509DA. Needless to say, all the links, part numbers & catalogs are long gone &/or dead, so it's me against the whole world


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 7, 2022)

my TI4600 never worked right from out of the box...kept it anyway...I need to check it out here in 2022 and see if the let down is just as frustrating!
I don't remember the manufacturer , and the Thermaltake fan is a copper version that they sold for these cards.


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## Kissamies (May 7, 2022)

I remember that Thermaltake GF4 Ti cooler too. The stock one sucked as GF4 Ti ran somewhat hot.


----------



## MachineLearning (May 7, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> my TI4600 never worked right from out of the box...kept it anyway...I need to check it out here in 2022 and see if the let down is just as frustrating!
> I don't remember the manufacturer , and the Thermaltake fan is a copper version that they sold for these cards.
> 
> View attachment 246352
> ...


Hey, no IP bans this time... 

I think VisionTek, because of the "VT QC" on the back. See here for Anandtech's overview, looks to be about the same.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 7, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Hey, no IP bans this time...
> 
> I think VisionTek, because of the "VT QC" on the back. See here for Anandtech's overview, looks to be about the same.


you may very well be correct !


----------



## Kissamies (May 7, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Hey, no IP bans this time...
> 
> I think VisionTek, because of the "VT QC" on the back. See here for Anandtech's overview, looks to be about the same.


When I compared that 4400 and the 4600 above, I realized that they don't use the same PCB. I always thought that they do.


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## MaxiPro800 (May 7, 2022)

BFG actually, someone on reddit had the same card and it read BFG Tech. Probably subcontracted to Visiontek (or the other way around), just how my MSI GF4 Ti4600 would share the same PCB as Creative's GF4 Ti4600.


----------



## Kissamies (May 7, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> BFG actually, someone on reddit had the same card and it read BFG Tech. Probably subcontracted to Visiontek (or the other way around), just how my MSI GF4 Ti4600 would share the same PCB as Creative's GF4 Ti4600.


Most 4400/4600 cards were reference ones. And actually Creative cards were rebranded MSIs.


----------



## Mussels (May 7, 2022)

Ran into a mobo that could use DDR2 and DDR3, gave it an upgrade to DDR3
These are sexier than any modern RAM by far.


Unsexy shot so you can see specs:









My dog also wanted to show off her sexy feet or something, and barged into push the RAM away


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## Mr.Scott (May 7, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Ran into a mobo that could use DDR2 and DDR3, gave it an upgrade to DDR3


What board?
I have P5QC. Runs way better on DDR3 than DDR2.


----------



## RulloExp (May 7, 2022)

Hi everyone, I need some help with my GTX 260, exactly the same that is showed in the above picture. Can someone tell me where I can found the electronic circuit of this gpu?


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## MachineLearning (May 7, 2022)

RulloExp said:


> Hi everyone, I need some help with my GTX 260, exactly the same that is showed in the above picture. Can someone tell me where I can found the electronic circuit of this gpu?


Please create a dedicated thread, will the full GPU specs and photos
That way the most people can help you
Best of luck


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## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2022)

A work in progress.


 




As I already explained in one of my previous posts, everything was taken apart, cleaned & will (eventually) be put together. Some of the components had been ... and will be replaced. Such as the power supply, Iomega drive, USB card, CPU heatsink and even the CPU itself.


 

 

Side by side ... before (2015) & after (2022)


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## RulloExp (May 7, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Please create a dedicated thread, will the full GPU specs and photos
> That way the most people can help you
> Best of luck


Ok thanks


----------



## Hyderz (May 7, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> my TI4600 never worked right from out of the box...kept it anyway...I need to check it out here in 2022 and see if the let down is just as frustrating!
> I don't remember the manufacturer , and the Thermaltake fan is a copper version that they sold for these cards.
> 
> View attachment 246352
> ...



ah my first high end gpu back in the days, i had the msi cooler on it


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## 68Olds (May 7, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Well, I now know what case I might be sticking my Ti4600 build in. 22 years of being lost after my dad sold it to a (now dead, unfortunately, cause of death being pneumonia), it is now time to come home.
> 
> View attachment 246334
> 
> ...


The system in your old case should be a fun bit of (now) vintage hardware to play with overclocking.  A 1.8GHz Intel CPU & DDR2 is most likely a Core2 Duo E6300.  All the fun with an E6300 is hinged on the motherboard though, because you really want to be able to push the FSB well past 400MHz.
Congrats on getting your grail case (and another system to play with).


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> As for finding CRTs being "easier" option, don't be too sure... I'm on a lookout for a specific CRT myself (Shamrock C-509DA, 15") and I can't seem to fine one ANYWHERE. I still got my own from back in a day, but it would seem that the flyback transformer blew up, so now I'm either on a lookout for the replacement donor unit or (more likely) flyback compatible with 509DA. Needless to say, all the links, part numbers & catalogs are long gone &/or dead, so it's me against the whole world


FWIW I am quite a bit sure I'd be able to find them easier than the case because the ones I listed are mostly well known brands - Dell, Viewstar (the 775CB model was sold under a few more brands), Samsung and NEC.

As for your Shamrock - do you at least have the model printed on the monitor's PCB? I suppose I could try and look if there are some parts you could fix, if it's the same case like the Viewstar 775CB I owned being resold under a lot other brands (Horizon being one that I know of being popular) and thus all of them sharing the same internals.



68Olds said:


> The system in your old case should be a fun bit of (now) vintage hardware to play with overclocking.  A 1.8GHz Intel CPU & DDR2 is most likely a Core2 Duo E6300.  All the fun with an E6300 is hinged on the motherboard though, because you really want to be able to push the FSB well past 400MHz.
> Congrats on getting your grail case (and another system to play with).


Wouldn't really place my bet on being a Core 2 Duo because of the machine using integrated graphics and the RAM amount. Had it been a C2D (I suspect a Celeron 430 chip in this case) not only it would have been pricier, but I'd also would have expected 4GB instead of 3, as well as a dedicated GPU.


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## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> FWIW I am quite a bit sure I'd be able to find them easier than the case because the ones I listed are mostly well known brands - Dell, Viewstar (the 775CB model was sold under a few more brands), Samsung and NEC.
> 
> As for your Shamrock - do you at least have the model printed on the monitor's PCB? I suppose I could try and look if there are some parts you could fix, if it's the same case like the Viewstar 775CB I owned being resold under a lot other brands (Horizon being one that I know of being popular) and thus all of them sharing the same internals.
> 
> ...


I don't have have Shamrock with me at the moment, I gave it to @r0x here for him to have a look at it (and if possible) fix it up. But I do have the part number ... the flyback I'm after was listed as "HR46464".


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## 68Olds (May 7, 2022)

Celerons...  I always forget about the Celerons. lol   
Having 3GB isn't that unheard of from the 32bit OS days.  Some people had 2x1GB kits & then added 2x512MB kits to that.


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## MaxiPro800 (May 7, 2022)

Welp, had some issues with XP SP2, and decided to do a clean install on the 80GB drive. And what better chance to go with Server 2k3?


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## Kissamies (May 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> A work in progress.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sweet.. though it would be damn cool to build a sleeper on that case, and put those components to a modern case.


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## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Sweet.. though it would be damn cool to build a sleeper on that case, and put those components to a modern case.


You mean, something like this?




Already ahead of you! 


 



It's a Q6600, featuring 4GB (DDR3), GTX 550Ti & 500GB WD Caviar Blue, running Win7 Premium


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## Kissamies (May 7, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> You mean, something like this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's something I'd call a XP/7 dualboot retro gaming machine, but I meant putting modern hardware to an early 2000s case.


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## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That's something I'd call a XP/7 dualboot retro gaming machine, but I meant putting modern hardware to an early 2000s case.


Well, perhaps not as retro if you ask me ... after all, my main "everyday" rig is Socket 1156, i5 760 (along with yet another Q6600 that's older than the one in sleeper build). I actually played through (& finished) both Portal 2 & Grand Theft Auto IV on a sleeper rig, runs beautifully! 

As for the Windows of choice, I swore never to upgrade from Win7 ever again. I tried out Win10 for couple of times & almost immediately regret my decision.


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## MaxiPro800 (May 7, 2022)

Which version of 10 did you try? I learnt about Enterprise LTSC from a friend and it's been sweet ever since. No Windows Store or anything like that, just barebones 10 w/ Internet Explorer. I do prefer killing MS Defender from it though, then I also install Classic Shell for the 7 start menu.


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## Trekkie4 (May 7, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Which version of 10 did you try? I learnt about Enterprise LTSC from a friend and it's been sweet ever since. No Windows Store or anything like that, just barebones 10 w/ Internet Explorer. I do prefer killing MS Defender from it though.


Honestly? I have no idea, as it came pre-installed on a HP laptop. But what I'm having issues is design & navigation, in combination with forcing online content/crap & other nonsense. Whatever happened to offline installations & physical media?! Second time to try out Win 10 was over at my neighbor's place, the guy had Win10 installed on his system & I couldn't even understand how to shut it down, turn the system off.

Windows had always been pretty much the same. Ever since Windows 95, you had a toolbar, start button & my computer. But for some reason MS decided to change all that with the introduction of Win 8. On top of everything, Win 10 just made it (in my opinion) even worse & more confusing, so instead I've decided to keep using Win 7 & wait for MS to revert back to the "old" fashioned design, as it was throughout Win9x & XP era.

Frankly speaking, I'm more than okay to keep using Win 7 indefinitely, for as long as it takes. I'm not worried about security (in fact, I'm running the most basic AV protection "MS Essentials") and I'm certainly not planning to upgrade from i5, Socket 1156 any time soon as we're talking about reasonably modern & up to date hardware. Sooo... *shrug*


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## Kissamies (May 7, 2022)

Installed 10 the day it was released and never went back except for older machines. I have four systems, three has 11 and X58 rig has 10 as 11 won't install without tweaking and I'm fine with it as it is.

XP was good back in the day as was 7, but personally I don't like hanging with ancient OS's, though I did skip Win8 and used 8.1 for maybe ½yrs before 10 was released. But I guess these are just opinions.


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## oobymach (May 8, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> You mean, something like this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ouch that drive cable overlapping the gpu fans, it needs the cable management, take it out and use a box cutter or a decent small knife and carefully cut between the wires (depending on the cable you may just need to make a small cut and spread the resulting gap with your fingers) right down to the socket and you can just bunch them together by twisting a couple times in a nice tight bundle which can be easily routed around things.


----------



## Kissamies (May 8, 2022)

Yeah, I remember doing DIY round cables back in the day as well. Just do like said above and use some electrical tape or zipties.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2022)

oobymach said:


> Ouch that drive cable overlapping the gpu fans, it needs the cable management, take it out and use a box cutter or a decent small knife and carefully cut between the wires (depending on the cable you may just need to make a small cut and spread the resulting gap with your fingers) right down to the socket and you can just bunch them together by twisting a couple times in a nice tight bundle which can be easily routed around things.


No need to - it works (and performs) surprisingly good actually 

I should point out that this isn't the original heatsink for the card. The factory one was removed & replaced with ugly looking 80x80 fan, ziptied onto the heatsink.


 

 



So... I removed the whole thing & replaced it with this one, which came off AMD Radeon. Don't ask me which model, I forgot! Also, the actual fan is recessed inside the plastic shroud, housing so the floppy cable does not interfere with the fan in any way. As for the temperatures, it only goes up to 85C (185F) and that's under the full load during the intensive gaming. At this stage everything (CPU, chipset, RAM) becomes an issue really, because it is a fairly small case without any fan mounts and/or decent airflow so it tends to heat somewhat higher than you'd expect. But still within the safe margins and does not throttle down.

And before anyone suggests, no - hacking or drilling any holes or mounts inside that case is out of the question as it's very rare, almost impossible to find & very special to me. Besides, I may eventually decide to revert the whole thing back to its "vintage" self again, so I don't want any permanent decisions 

Edit
Can't believe I forgot to mention the obvious. One more thing, there's a network, WiFi PCI adapter card under that GTX 550, which also acts like a barrier, protection for the fan. It may not look that way from the pic, but if you take a closer look you will notice additional card right under GTX, and this one overlaps with the floppy cable. Because MSI put the floppy interface way down, on the very edge of the motherboard, so in order to hook up the floppy I had to route the cable this way - there was no other way around the issue, I'm afraid.


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## Kissamies (May 8, 2022)

That new Intel stock heatsink looks sweet with an older platform.


----------



## framebuffer (May 8, 2022)

long time postponed, it's finally time for cleaning / caps check / reorganisation of my mainboards


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## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That new Intel stock heatsink looks sweet with an older platform.


I'm confused... The one from i5, 1155? Or the Pentium one, S478? Because you said "older platform", so I'm guessing you meant P4...


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## MaxiPro800 (May 8, 2022)

Probably the 1151 cooler on the 1155 board.


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## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Probably the 1151 cooler on the 1155 board.


Oh... Thanks! To be honest, I didn't even realize that was 1151 cooler, I'm only familiar with 775, 1155 & 1156 sockets.

As for the ASRock motherboard from that photo, it was given to me for free. Unfortunately, due to the lack of ATA/IDE & PCI interfaces it's pretty much useless to me, so I repurposed GTX 550 instead. All I know is that it has i5 under there, but I have no idea which generation.


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## DR4G00N (May 8, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Probably the 1151 cooler on the 1155 board.


Close but it's an lga 1200 one.   (not that it really matters)



Trekkie4 said:


> I'm confused... The one from i5, 1155? Or the Pentium one, S478? Because you said "older platform", so I'm guessing you meant P4...


I mean lga 1155 is pretty old now, over a decade. The time span between when socket 7 and lga 775 was released is 9 years for reference.


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## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> I mean lga 1155 is pretty old now, over a decade. The time span between when socket 7 and lga 775 was released is 9 years for reference.


You're absolutely right! Geez, I must be getting really old


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## stinger608 (May 8, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I must be getting really old



LOL, man, I know that feeling.   Seems like a couple of years ago the Socket 1155 was the hit.


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## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> LOL, man, I know that feeling.   Seems like a couple of years ago the Socket 1155 was the hit.


Nevermind Socket 1155 ... it seems like a couple of years ago the Slot 1 was the major breakthrough & "must have" standard when it comes to modern, high-speed computing


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## lexluthermiester (May 8, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Nevermind Socket 1155 ... it seems like a couple of years ago the Slot 1 was the major breakthrough & "must have" standard when it comes to modern, high-speed computing


Time flies when you're having fun, and the last 25 years have been great fun in the tech industry!


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## Trekkie4 (May 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Time flies when you're having fun, and the last 25 years have been great fun in the tech industry!


Ha! Not so fun when you're stuck in the past & heavy nostalgia...


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## lexluthermiester (May 8, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ha! Not so fun when you're stuck in the past & heavy nostalgia...


The great thing about tech life is that you can embrace the future without completely leaving the past behind.


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## Kissamies (May 8, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Probably the 1151 cooler on the 1155 board.


Yeah, that black one.


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## Dinnercore (May 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Time flies when you're having fun, and the last 25 years have been great fun in the tech industry!


Realistically I have only experienced 15 years of the whole progression as an enthusiast user. And just looking back these 15 years, the progress feels so surreal.

Slightly off-topic thoughts:
If we keep politics and company behavior aside and focus on the good parts, the pure technological advancements are insane. This thread and my collection constantly remind me of where my journey started and what was available back in the day.
I currently do a deep dive into 3D-Software and focus especially on Blender, and this has opened my eyes like nothing else about how far we have come and how far we can potentially reach in the future. First of all, Blender is a free and open-source software that starts to catch up and overtake the big ones in the industry. There are tons of CC0 licence resources available today, literally terabytes of 16K textures with normal, roughness, displacement, bump and occlusion mapping. We can access and utilize thousands, if not millions of hours, of work and leverage that for fun hobby projects for free. Actually for free, not like the other 'free' services that profit from your data and ads.
Second part is the hardware. I use Blender on my laptop. A laptop that I configured to 100W max. power draw for GPU and CPU combined, so that no part exceeds 60°C when rendering over night. This small laptop with mobile low power chips just recently completed a complex fluid simulation with ~860.000 fluid particles and ~3.600.000 whitewater particles (foam, bubbles, spray) interacting with each other. It took only 7 seconds per frame. The geometry data for the mesh of the fluid reached 11GB.
For the final rendered scene I set up a water material with realistic volume ray scattering and each of the bubble particles was using a glass shader. I used CUDA due to a mistake, so no RT core support, and it still spit out full HD frames with 4.000 samples per Pixel in 8 minutes. With RT cores utilized by OptiX this dropped to 4 minutes per frame.
Early animated films could not even hope to achieve effects like this, even tho they used large computing clusters. Today I sit on my couch and have my laptop run the simulation in a couple hours and render it overnight.


----------



## Kissamies (May 8, 2022)

I guess I'm kinda young in this thread (32 in the end of this month) but I remember clearly the launch of Preshott, DDR2, GF 6800/Radeon X800 and these days that hardware is perfect in this thread. Damn how fast 18 years have went.

And PCIe cards came also in 2004. Still feels like it's not that long ago when we stopped using AGP graphics cards.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 9, 2022)

What's in the box?...I dunno









Slot 1 PIII 









ultra badazz PIII cooler ! ...hahaha!





some miscellaneous items





Asus flip chip slotket





some memory





some vid card (have fun identifying it ! )





creative sound card





and a mitt full of flip chips





and a spare VP6 motherboard





like a Viking gold hoard !!


----------



## Mussels (May 9, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> What board?
> I have P5QC. Runs way better on DDR3 than DDR2.


P5G41C-M LX
Without the latest 0702 (2011) BIOS, it wouldnt run DDR3 above 800Mhz, now it runs the same ram at 1500 when OC'd, i got bored
Just one version older, and the DDR3 support was total garbage.



framebuffer said:


> long time postponed, it's finally time for cleaning / caps check / reorganisation of my mainboards
> 
> View attachment 246562


I think your posters having a stronk

Imagine cops raiding your house thinking theres suspicious packages lining the hallways, and finding nostalgia nerd porn instead of drugs


----------



## stinger608 (May 9, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The great thing about tech life is that you can embrace the future without completely leaving the past behind.



That is an F'n great statement Lex!!!!!!! I'm going to quote that on the OP!!!!!

And OP edited for that quote.   

Also added color and size to help the OP out a little.


----------



## Mussels (May 9, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> That is an F'n great statement Lex!!!!!!! I'm going to quote that on the OP!!!!!


I wanna fill in on that with an experience last week:  I had a cleaner come over, she's early 50's and never got into any sort of gaming stuff. Kids are girls, so zero experience other than TV advertising.
She saw me playing Dying Light 1 with all ultra settings at 160FPS/Hz, and was blown away by how fast it all was... and that her 'old eyes' could keep up with it and marvelled at modern games and technology

Once i told her it was a 7 year old game, she pretty much had a stronk. Her limited experience with console gaming was garbage because she gets nausea and eyestrain from the low FPS and motion blur, and seeing how PC's let you play the old games years and decades later looking and playing better at 'faster speeds' as she understood it totally explained the appeal to the platform.

If you embrace a platform with backwards compatibility, you get to keep enjoying the past as technology improves.

Unlike my view of game consoles which seems to be aimed at buying the same game again every year, since once the hype does down the servers are empty


(For context, i've got nerve damage and medical issues in my lower back and feet from it - otherwise it'd feel too damn weird to be playing games while someone cleaned for me)


----------



## Fouquin (May 9, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> some vid card (have fun identifying it ! )



Dell GeForce 256 64MB DDR.

Actually quite timely of you to post that. I have a very specific request to anyone who might be willing to help...

I need some benchmark results from a stock GeForce 256 *SDR*, PCI version if you're a baller, running on Aladdin V or (M)VP3, with a K6-2+ or K6-III+ 500/550. 3DMark99, 2000, 01SE, Deus Ex, Half Life, Quake 3 Arena, whatever you got. I know that's a super specific ask but I only have a GF256 DDR AGP, and I kept the wrong version of the P5A so all of my 180nm K6 chips run slow as heck on it. This data will be extremely helpful for a small review I'm working on.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 9, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> and a spare VP6 motherboard
> 
> View attachment 246690
> 
> like a Viking gold hoard !!



Definitely recap that beauty. I'm seeing Jackon capacitors that are utter garbage, even if they're new.

My BE6-II surprisingly came with Tayeh caps. Maybe the earlier rev 1.0 boards had Tayeh all round and switched to Jackon (plus that slightly cheesy "BE6-II (RAID)" sticker, so you couldn't really tell which HPT controller you had - 366 or 370.) though neither are good cap brands.


----------



## framebuffer (May 9, 2022)

Mussels said:


> I think your posters having a stronk
> 
> Imagine cops raiding your house thinking theres suspicious packages lining the hallways, and finding nostalgia nerd porn instead of drugs



What's the meaning of _having a stronk _?

(sorry English is not my native language and sometimes I have hard time to catch up the correct meaning of some expressions)


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 9, 2022)

Probably meant stroke. As far as my internet slang knowledge goes, stronk = strong.


----------



## framebuffer (May 9, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Probably meant stroke. As far as my internet slang knowledge goes, stronk = strong.



yep that's what I found too, but can't quite contextualise


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 9, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> That is an F'n great statement Lex!!!!!!! I'm going to quote that on the OP!!!!!
> 
> And OP edited for that quote.
> 
> Also added color and size to help the OP out a little.


Nice!!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 9, 2022)

One of the few final projects I'm doing before leaving 2 months for college, again. It's a bit of a memorial build, as the specific mainboard came from my dad's ex-girlfriend, who unfortunately passed away from cancer. Most parts aren't original (and I definitely need to replace the CPU as it seems to be throwing bogus 0x000000A5 errors when trying to install Server 2003) but the.mainboard is definitely original (except the HSF which was sourced from a dead ABIT NF7-S)

Specs at this moment:

MSI K7N2-Delta ILSR
ASUS Geforce 6200 128M (originally was supposed to have an ASUS HD3450, but that one needs a heatsink at the moment)
3GB DDR400/PC3200 (originally had 2x256MB)
NEC DVDRW
SB Audigy 2 ZS Dell OEM SB0358
NEC USB2.0 card
Athlon XP 2800+ (bad chip, unfortunately...)
450W Premier LC-8460BTX (modified)
Linkworld 3130E case (originally had an JNC RJA-8673 case that was unfortunately too damaged and dirty to keep anymore)


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 9, 2022)

Not exactly nostalgic "hardware", but it's close enough if you ask me... I picked up couple of these for 1.5$ each!

Office 97 Professional Edition


 



Office 97 Standard Edition


 



From what I can tell both in mint condition! The 3rd one was also Professional edition but in paper sleeve, so I passed it on to a friend of mine, seeing that I already had a "jewel case" edition at the time


----------



## 68Olds (May 9, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> View attachment 246754
> 
> One of the few final projects I'm doing before leaving 2 months for college, again. It's a bit of a memorial build, as the specific mainboard came from my dad's ex-girlfriend, who unfortunately passed away from cancer. Most parts aren't original (and I definitely need to replace the CPU as it seems to be throwing bogus 0x000000A5 errors when trying to install Server 2003) but the.mainboard is definitely original (except the HSF which was sourced from a dead ABIT NF7-S)
> 
> ...


In case you didn't know, there are some gf 6200 models that can be soft-modded into gf 6600.  Been ages since I did it, but can confirm it can be done.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 9, 2022)

68Olds said:


> In case you didn't know, there are some gf 6200 models that can be soft-modded into gf 6600.  Been ages since I did it, but can confirm it can be done.


I know, and mine isn't one unfortunately. IIRC the unlockable ones are marked NV44 and don't have Turbocache, but I could be wrong.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 9, 2022)

More software... Finally I can update my Internet Explorer to the latest version! 


 



They even included this floppy label, for me to make a bootable disk. Have to admit, very convenient 




Uhh ... starts where??


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 9, 2022)

Aaand the other machine is done as well! The one left is the CX-6459, which I'm praying to all gods that it will arrive on time and intact.


Specs on this one:

MB - Epox EP-3VCM
CPU - Pentium 3 1GHz (Coppermine, SL5DV)
RAM - 1.20GB PC133
GPU - GF4 MX440 for now, probably gonna upgrade to a Radeon 9550 just for fun
Cooler - custom assembled Titan S462 cooler
Sound - Sound Blaster 128 PCI (ES1373)
NIC - Realtek RTL8139D PCI
HDD - 80GB WDC
ODD - MSI DR16-B2, to be replaced with a H-L DVDRW
OS - Windows Server 2003 Enterprise


----------



## Robert B (May 9, 2022)

What's better than loot? MORE LOOT! Of course.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 9, 2022)

8" Floppies and drives? 
Love the keyboards!


----------



## Robert B (May 9, 2022)

The floppies are 5.25". I do not own a single 8" floppy yet.

The Tandon TM848E are true monsters and they are the "slim" version aka half height!  One is NOS the other two are missing a few ICs but I plan to restore them and then sell the NOS one.

Also I do not have anything to test the 8" FDDs. The power plug is ancient. They look alien and familiar at the same time. 

One chip in particular an Intel D8748H is missing on both. The main problem is getting a programmer that supports the D8748H to at least copy the info from the NOS one. One that doesn't cost an arm and a leg that is ...

The keyboards are mechanical but with a German layout. Even if I like more the US layout these puppies are a treat to type on!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 9, 2022)

I absolutely and positively despised cleaning this keyboard (you have no idea how filthy it was!) but in the end it paid off, I now love using it even if it's an XP era keyboard.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 9, 2022)

Any of you like the Voodoo cards? 


 



I know, I know ... the real question should be who doesn't - right?! I picked it up recently for around 63$, which (IMHO) was a sweet price when it comes to 3dfx as most of them recently went up & through the roof!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 9, 2022)

You were saying? 







V3 3000 16MB. Except mine was a technically free find in a shoebox full of GPUs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 9, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Any of you like the Voodoo cards?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Beautiful card!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 9, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Beautiful card!


Agreed! And you know what, I have to be honest with you ... I've had this particular Voodoo card for some time now but it did not technically belong to me. So when the real owner finally dropped by (expecting to pick it up), I asked him if he'd be willing to sell it to me. And obviously - if "yes" for how much. I just couldn't force myself to give it back, it was too painful!


----------



## Mussels (May 10, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> What's the meaning of _having a stronk _?
> 
> (sorry English is not my native language and sometimes I have hard time to catch up the correct meaning of some expressions)





MaxiPro800 said:


> Probably meant stroke. As far as my internet slang knowledge goes, stronk = strong.


----------



## delshay (May 10, 2022)

Bones said:


> Nope - Mine died of MOSFET failure too in the VRM setup but the chip itself was fine afterwards.
> The MOSET in that board's VRM died for the reasons I gave, not strong enough in the VRM/Phase dept to keep up with the strain of the chip while it was being stressed tested and the strain eventually caught up with it.
> 
> Instead of fixing that mess just to lather, rinse and repeat these results get a board that's capable of handling it reliably.



I'v decided to repair the motherboard. This is due to I have a large amount of MOSFETS "all brand new" still sealed in the original package when I bought them around 5+ years ago.

I also have a number 939 motherboards all working.

The question is, should I upgrade all my old classic motherboards with better MOSFETS. The only thing I fear here is, will it de-value the motherboard. Every motherboard that I have upgraded sofar where the MOSFET has changed, there is a change in performance, not so much in clock speed, but massive drop in voltage required at the same clock speed.

I have already removed the power connector, but i'm out of flux to remove all MOSFETS. I will be removing most MOSFETS, this includes power for Northbridge/southbridge/Hypertransport/Memory & minor rails.

Below is the PDF Docs for the new replacement MOSFET for the CPU only "High & Low side". This will be the first time I have used these MOSFETS as I normally use the 70A MOSFET from the same range.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 10, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Definitely recap that beauty. I'm seeing Jackon capacitors that are utter garbage, even if they're new.
> 
> My BE6-II surprisingly came with Tayeh caps. Maybe the earlier rev 1.0 boards had Tayeh all round and switched to Jackon (plus that slightly cheesy "BE6-II (RAID)" sticker, so you couldn't really tell which HPT controller you had - 366 or 370.) though neither are good cap brands.


I have one in this thread recapped and running...


----------



## Greenslade (May 10, 2022)

Heres some cool Retro mouse Mats.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 10, 2022)

After a lot of fiddling (curse you Dell for making your own EEPROM for the SB Audigy 2 ZS!) and removing RAM sticks (because apparently I have 2GB worth of bad DDR400/PC3200 sticks , and the only good ones are a PC3200 and a PC2100. Great.) as well as replacing the CPU without knowing it wasn't the culprit...

I've finally gotten it to run.

Final specs for now:
MB - MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR (with Fasttrak 376 controller)
RAM - 1GB DDR400 Single Channel (basically a single stick of 1GB worth of DDR400)
CPU - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton @ 1.8GHz
GPU - ASUS Geforce 6200 TC 128MB AGP8x
ODD - NEC/Optiarc ND-3540A
HDD - 160GB WDC
PSU - Premier LC-8460BTX 450W (modified)
SPU - SB Audigy 2 ZS SB0358 (Dell OEM, I someday hope I'll find a retail Audigy 2 ZS EEPROM image to flash on it.)
Case - Linkworld 3130E
os - Windows XP Pro SP3


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 10, 2022)

Willamette P4 restoration project is coming along nicely... 

Update #1
All the cards had been re-installed & cable management restored. Well, some of it anyway:




Update #2
Power supply had been replaced, the replacement unit has been hooked up & tested.


 



Update #3
Power supply cable management had been taken care of, but I still have to replace the CMOS battery & restore all the plastic trims & face plates:


----------



## agent_x007 (May 11, 2022)

It's been a while since I posted in here 
Here's my (probably ?) 200-th "GPU" :


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 11, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> It's been a while since I posted in here
> Here's my (probably ?) 200-th "GPU" :


I don't get it ... how much VRAM does it have, 22mb?!


----------



## Greenslade (May 11, 2022)

intresting tests  







   you would think Windows 7 would be the winner.in the first group.One person said they liked 8.1 does anyone?. Does anyone still use 8.1 or 8 for that mater


----------



## P4-630 (May 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Does anyone still use 8.1?



My dad on his asus netbook!    (unable to upgrade to 10)


----------



## Greenslade (May 11, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> My dad on his asus netbook!    (unable to upgrade to 10)


That is a good enough reason.It must be a very old pc.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> It's been a while since I posted in here
> Here's my (probably ?) 200-th "GPU" :


WOW! A Mach64 with SIPP ZIP memory! Haven't seen those in a while!


----------



## P4-630 (May 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is a good enough reason.It must be a very old pc.



2016, but it only has 32GB of slow eMMC storage.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I don't get it ... how much VRAM does it have, 22mb?!


128k, maybe 256k. Ignore the silk screen info, it's totally misleading. Those numbers indicate the memory speed in seconds on a per SIPP basis, not the memory capacity.
Scratch that, I was thinking of a different card from the same time frame. This card is either a 2MB or 4MB card, see below..


----------



## P4-630 (May 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is a good enough reason.It must be a very old pc.



However, when I just checked windows 10 hardware requirements:


*RAM:* 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
*Hard disk space:* 16 GB for 32-bit OS or 20 GB for 64-bit OS

It is a 32 bit device, so hey I could try to install win10 32 bit on it next year january when windows 8.1 becomes EOL.

So there might be some hope!


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> It is a 32 bit device, so hey I could try to install win10 32 bit on it next year january when windows 8.1 becomes EOL.


Windows 8.1? Eww. Or you could just do Windows 10 LTSB/LTSC now..


----------



## Fouquin (May 11, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> 128k, maybe 256k. Ignore the silk screen info, it's totally misleading. Those numbers indicate the memory speed in seconds on a per SIPP basis, not the memory capacity.



This would be ZIP, no? 128KBx16 for 2MB.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 11, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I don't get it ... how much VRAM does it have, 22mb?!


It's 2MB.
Like @Fouquin commented before me. Memory is 256k x 4 as spec = 128k 8-bit (or 128kB per chip, again 2MB in total).
I also have another card with this memory (Samsung ZIP) :




^This one is 1MB in total.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2022)

Fouquin said:


> This would be ZIP, no? 128Kx16 for 2MB.


You're right, they are ZIPs. Just looked up the part number for those chips. 256Kx4. That card has 16 chips so it is likely a 4MB card. I was way off. To be fair, it's been what, 3 decades? LOL!
Here's the data sheet;




__





						KM424C257Z-6 DataSheet & Equivalents - Samsung Semiconductor Division - Datasheets360.com
					






					www.datasheets360.com


----------



## Greenslade (May 11, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> 2016, but it only has 32GB of slow eMMC storage.


Thats very tiny for a 2016 PC ,oh i see it is a notebook but even so 32gb of storerage is very small for 2016


----------



## P4-630 (May 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thats very tiny for a 2016 PC ,oh i see it is a notebook but even so 32gb of storerage is very small for 2016



Yeah it is, but my dad doens't complain and it only costed 199 EUR new which isn't bad.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thats very tiny for a 2016 PC ,oh i see it is a notebook but even so 32gb of storerage is very small for 2016


It was ok actually. Not great, especially for Windows 10 which was new at the time, but ok. Windows 7 ran well on 32GB of storage.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 11, 2022)

@lexluthermiester Don't worry, it's fine - nobody uses this style of memory capacity now.
"4" in "256k x4" referes to number of bits each chip holds.
You need 8-bits to get a byte, so you have to half the number of memory chips to get to proper capacity (or convert capacity of each chip to 128kB, when switching from bits to bytes).


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> My dad on his asus netbook!  (unable to upgrade to 10)


Why not? I'm sure it can be done. I've never seen a system that runs 8.1 that could not also run 10..


----------



## P4-630 (May 11, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Why not? I'm sure it can be done. I've never seen a system that runs 8.1 that could not also run 10..



Will try next year Jan when win 8.1 is EOL.

(I was more worried about huge updates since it only has 32GB of eMMC storage)


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 11, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> "4" in "256k x4" referes to number of bit's each chip holds.


You mean number of bits each address line supports.


agent_x007 said:


> You need 8-bits to get a byte, so you have to half the number of memory chips to get to proper capacity (or convert capacity of each chip to 128kB, when switching from bits capacity to bytes).


You might be right. It might be a 2MB card. It's been a long time since I've had to do this kind of tech math.   Am having to remind myself.. 



P4-630 said:


> (I was more worried about huge updates since it only has 32GB of eMMC storage)


That would be a valid concern. IF you used a copy of LTSB/LTSC, you could set it up to only download and install critical bug fixes and security patches. If you'd like to know more, I'd be happy to share some insights and install tips.

Also, a highly customized version of Win11 would work too.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 11, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> 128k, maybe 256k. Ignore the silk screen info, it's totally misleading. Those numbers indicate the memory speed in seconds on a per SIPP basis, not the memory capacity.
> Scratch that, I was thinking of a different card from the same time frame. This card is either a 2MB or 4MB card, see below..





Fouquin said:


> This would be ZIP, no? 128KBx16 for 2MB.





agent_x007 said:


> It's 2MB.
> Like @Fouquin commented before me. Memory is 256k x 4 as spec = 128k 8-bit (or 128kB per chip, again 2MB in total).
> I also have another card with this memory (Samsung ZIP) :
> 
> ...


Ah, got it. Thanks guys, I knew it looked too good to be true 

I used to have Mach64 PCI card, but mine was apparently newer revision, since it was using standard EDO RAM chips just like Voodoo2.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 12, 2022)

dug out a couple more of the dualies

VisionTek X1650XT    no box or accessories around , I think this one was from before I started saving the stuff










PowerColor  HD5970      the wife rocked this with her X58 while I was rocking xfire HD5870 with mine






























haha!...then I spotted the free Dirt 2 disc !


----------



## Mussels (May 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is a good enough reason.It must be a very old pc.


There was an era there of super garbage intel atom CPU's paired with windows 8 laptops, and its half the reason everyone hated windows 8 for running poorly.

I still have one of those tablets here, and even on a debloated lightweight OS it can barely do 1080p youtube (60FPS videos dont play)


----------



## Greenslade (May 12, 2022)

Mussels said:


> There was an era there of super garbage intel atom CPU's paired with windows 8 laptops, and its half the reason everyone hated windows 8 for running poorly.
> 
> I still have one of those tablets here, and even on a debloated lightweight OS it can barely do 1080p youtube (60FPS videos dont play)


I did not kniw that.I see that a lot  of the eatler  thin clints use the Atom or Eden chips.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 12, 2022)

Mussels said:


> I still have one of those tablets here, and even on a debloated lightweight OS it can barely do 1080p youtube (60FPS videos dont play)


Try AndroidX86. Your experience will improve on that device.

This is the version I personally use.





						Release CM-x86-14.1-r5 | Android-x86
					






					www.android-x86.org
				



But there are others and newer versions are in the works.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 12, 2022)

Got another slotket, and a much "advanced" one at that. Still from the PPGA only days despite advertising as FCPGA compatible, so I also had to do the krick-3ft-under Mendo-Coppermine conversion. Also modded my Soyo 6BA+IV's standby LED as its original one was broken off when I got it 

What makes this an absolute killer slotket (if it works, I haven't tested it further than POST screen) is the last few pics. The jumpers are for auto/manual V_core setting. I can basically run my chip at whatever I desire. And it's DIP switches! This + ABIT's BE6-II should make an killer combo if everything checks out good on the stability side. I've set the V_core as low as 1.6V (so you can easily tell this would nearly be Tualatin ready - it takes just enough fiddling to get the right DIP combo to get 1.5v vcore!) and the 1100MHz SL5QW didn't even give a damn - POST, everything booted with flying colors on the Soyo.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 12, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Also modded my Soyo 6BA+IV's standby LED as its original one was broken off when I got it


You mean this?


You should have picked a red or green LED. That sucka would be the first thing that got some heat-shrink tubing on it, and I mean in a hurry...


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 12, 2022)

I have both a red and a green, and both lit up just as bright. They were from some RGB LED lightbulb that had a quarter of the LEDs shorted, which killed some IC on it that is almost unobtanium, so I figured I'd salvage the LEDs at least.

I've tested the LEDs with a 3v RTC battery and they don't get hot, neither does this one, despite being "blindingly" bright. And after all, red and green LEDs are kinda boring - what mobos of that era (440BX - i815E) have you seen with a blue standby led? None.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 12, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I have both a red and a green, and both lit up just as bright. They were from some RGB LED lightbulb that had a quarter of the LEDs shorted, which killed some IC on it that is almost unobtanium, so I figured I'd salvage the LEDs at least.
> 
> I've tested the LEDs with a 3v RTC battery and they don't get hot, neither does this one, despite being "blindingly" bright. And after all, red and green LEDs are kinda boring - what mobos of that era (440BX - i815E) have you seen with a blue standby led? None.


In that case, yup, I'd going with the heat-shink tubing option. LOL! But that's just me..


----------



## Kissamies (May 13, 2022)

Interesting. An AMD K6-2+ can be modified to K6-3+ (aka enable the full 256k L2 instead of just 128k)


----------



## Audioave10 (May 13, 2022)

for Apple Lovers...


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 13, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Interesting. An AMD K6-2+ can be modified to K6-3+ (aka enable the full 256k L2 instead of just 128k)


Those were the days! Good times. I think I did this once or twice. Or maybe it was a Duron/Sempron... It's been too long! The epoxy was a bad idea though. I used SuperGlue. Worked great.


----------



## Kissamies (May 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those were the days! Good times. I think I did this once or twice. Or maybe it was a Duron/Sempron... It's been too long! The epoxy was a bad idea though. I used SuperGlue. Worked great.


The Applebred Durons were actually Thoroughbreds, their L2 could be unlocked from 64k to 256k  Socket A Semprons had the full cache* but clocked lower than Athlon XPs.

*except Thorton which was a Barton core with half of its 512k cache disabled. And it can be also unlocked.


----------



## Greenslade (May 14, 2022)

What do people think of this. Retro Beige Dell Optiplex GX1 Windows 98, P3 450 CPU, 64MB Ram, Floppy, USB
Updated to include USB compatibilty with drives, pen drives, keyboards and mice etc.
A rare and sought after retro Dell PC. This Optiplex GX1 is built for Windows 95/98 from scratch and has a fresh install of 98 SE, 64MB ram, 30GB HDD, Crystal Soundcard and cleaned CD and floppy and a Slot 1 450Mhz Pentium 3 MMX Intel CPU. Perfect system for retro Windows 98 gaming, they don't come much better. Cleaned, serviced and ready to go. Updated so you can use USB drives, mice and other devices. Given the age, the system obviously has marks and yellowing consumate with age.
I will include a Windows 98 SE CD GPU: ATI Rage 3D   As you can see it looks in good nick.Of course you don,t know until  you try i It is 100 pounds make an offer  10 pounds shipping.Is that good value for the product?It does not look like any caps have blown.I suppose the thing to worry about is the Psu.Or i could try and get win98  on my thin client but that would be a big task for me.or i could get an XP  PC and downgade it to Win  98.


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## Kissamies (May 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What do people think of this. Retro Beige Dell Optiplex GX1 Windows 98, P3 450 CPU, 64MB Ram, Floppy, USB
> Updated to include USB compatibilty with drives, pen drives, keyboards and mice etc.
> A rare and sought after retro Dell PC. This Optiplex GX1 is built for Windows 95/98 from scratch and has a fresh install of 98 SE, 64MB ram, 30GB HDD, Crystal Soundcard and cleaned CD and floppy and a Slot 1 450Mhz Pentium 3 MMX Intel CPU. Perfect system for retro Windows 98 gaming, they don't come much better. Cleaned, serviced and ready to go. Updated so you can use USB drives, mice and other devices. Given the age, the system obviously has marks and yellowing consumate with age.
> I will include a Windows 98 SE CD GPU: ATI Rage 3D   As you can see it looks in good nick.Of course you don,t know until  you try i It is 100 pounds make an offer  10 pounds shipping.Is that good value for the product?It does not look like any caps have blown.I suppose the thing to worry about is the Psu.
> ...


If it doesn't have AGP, I wouldn't take it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What do people think of this. Retro Beige Dell Optiplex GX1 Windows 98, P3 450 CPU, 64MB Ram, Floppy, USB
> Updated to include USB compatibilty with drives, pen drives, keyboards and mice etc.
> A rare and sought after retro Dell PC. This Optiplex GX1 is built for Windows 95/98 from scratch and has a fresh install of 98 SE, 64MB ram, 30GB HDD, Crystal Soundcard and cleaned CD and floppy and a Slot 1 450Mhz Pentium 3 MMX Intel CPU. Perfect system for retro Windows 98 gaming, they don't come much better. Cleaned, serviced and ready to go. Updated so you can use USB drives, mice and other devices. Given the age, the system obviously has marks and yellowing consumate with age.
> I will include a Windows 98 SE CD GPU: ATI Rage 3D   As you can see it looks in good nick.Of course you don,t know until  you try i It is 100 pounds make an offer  10 pounds shipping.Is that good value for the product?It does not look like any caps have blown.I suppose the thing to worry about is the Psu.Or i could try and get win98  on my thin client but that would be a big task for me.or i could get an XP  PC and downgade it to Win  98.
> ...


I used to have the same model a while ago... For what it's worth, it was a great performer. I gave it a new CPU (733MHz), DVD-RW drive, nVidia TNT2 PCI card & SB Live soundcard which transformed it into a decent retro gaming system!


----------



## Greenslade (May 14, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I used to have the same model a while ago... For what it's worth, it was a great performer. I gave it a new CPU (733MHz),DVD-RW drive, nVidia TNT2 PCI card & SB Live soundcard which transformed it into a decent retro gaming rig!


That is all extra exspence.I will lleave it then.I can only see this one 
HP NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 16MB AGP 1.0 2.0 GRAPHIC CARD VIDEO CARD DIRECT 3D OPENGL 1x 2 25 pounds it includes 12 78 postage from germany.Intel Pentium III SL3XY 733MHz/256KB/133MHz FSB Socket/Socket 370 CPU Processor again from germany 11 pounds.


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## Kissamies (May 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is all extra exspence.I will lleave it then.I can only see this one
> HP NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 16MB AGP 1.0 2.0 GRAPHIC CARD VIDEO CARD DIRECT 3D OPENGL 1x 2 25 pounds it includes 12 78 postage from germany.Intel Pentium III SL3XY 733MHz/256KB/133MHz FSB Socket/Socket 370 CPU Processor again from germany 11 pounds.View attachment 247428View attachment 247427


That's useless if the system doesn't have AGP.


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## Trekkie4 (May 14, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That's useless if the system doesn't have AGP.


Exactly! You'd need PCI version and not the AGP one. I already had one laying around (at the time), so for me it wasn't an issue. Oh and by the way - you need Slot 1 cartridge CPU not the S370 one. Unless you want to use the Slocket conversion inside Dell, which is something I wouldn't recommend.


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## Greenslade (May 14, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Exactly! You'd need PCI version and not the AGP one. I already had one laying around (at the time), so for me it wasn't an issue. Oh and by the way - you need Slot 1 cartridge CPU not the S370 one. Unless you want to use the Slocket conversion inside Dell, which is something I wouldn't recommend.


Thanks for your advice i will give it a miss. I don,t want to spend extra ,i want it ready to go.


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## Kissamies (May 14, 2022)

An easy find would be a FX 5500 PCI from ebay. It's a little overkill for P3-733, but FX cards are pretty good for Win98 gaming.


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## onemanhitsquad (May 14, 2022)

I found some old pics of the RevoDrive X2 I bought...love it , worked great for some time then lost one of the 4 "raid" modules...sent it in under warranty and got a replacement that ran great for about a year and then did the same thing. I still have the second one , may have to get it out and make sure it is still dead!


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## Greenslade (May 14, 2022)

Lenne said:


> An easy find would be a FX 5500 PCI from ebay. It's a little overkill for P3-733, but FX cards are pretty good for Win98 gaming.


Thanks again Lenne Does anyone have any idea what make of pc this is. It is XP 50 on Facebook for all of it
i don,t want the printer  just the pc no details of the PC apart from it being XP.I don,t know why people don,t go into details about it.I have never seen a PC like it before


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## Kissamies (May 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks again Lenne Does anyone have any idea what make of pc this is. It is XP 50 on Facebook for all of it
> i don,t want the printer  just the pc no details of the PC apart from it being XP.I don,t know why people don,t go into details about it.I have never seen a PC like it before
> 
> 
> ...


No problem. I have no idea, I'd guess that it's just a generic case and could have anything inside of it.


edit: Now let's put together a XP/7 dual-boot system as I have a spare case and PSU. Xeon X3230 (similar to Q6700), P5Q Pro, 8GB DDR2-800 & HD 7850 1GB.
edit2: I'll put two systems as I have enough hardware. Xeon, 8GB & HD 4890 CF (for Win7), and 955 BE, 4GB & HD 7850 (for XP).


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## Greenslade (May 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> No problem. I have no idea, I'd guess that it's just a generic case and could have anything inside of it.
> 
> 
> edit: Now let's put together a XP/7 dual-boot system as I have a spare case and PSU. Xeon X3230 (similar to Q6700), P5Q Pro, 8GB DDR2-800 & HD 7850 1GB.
> edit2: I'll put two systems as I have enough hardware. Xeon, 8GB & HD 4890 CF (for Win7), and 955 BE, 4GB & HD 7850 (for XP).


I have just messaged the person asking for a photo of the system info .,and whether it has a sound card ,and GPU  in it.I am only interested in buying the PC depending what is in it.I don,t drive so i have to use public transport .


Edited out the political stuff - Mussels


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## Kissamies (May 15, 2022)

But yeah, I put 2x 4890 on that setup as having an one card is boring. I'll set up this later. Have to use molex->PCIe adapters as I bought the PSU used and didn't receive all the modular cables, I could do my own though.


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## Trekkie4 (May 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> [Edited content]


I too, like puppies and kittens


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## Greenslade (May 15, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I too, like puppies and kittens


Me too. I sure am glad we aren't talking about politics on a tech forum and risking bans, infractions and getting this thread shut down


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## framebuffer (May 15, 2022)

Yee I finally got a GeForce FX 5950 Ultra!

...well, at least this is what I thought until I saw it 







This thing was watercooled, delidded and caught fire at some point of his life 

...after some serious amount of IPA and paper towels I managed to clean it at this level








The previous owner sold me the card in a set (MB/CPU/RAM/VGA) and at first he was sure the system booted some times ago, but when we discovered the barbecue he was not so much sure 

Anyways, what do you think?
Should I try to see if the card is able to POST before replacing the roasted components? Any idea if those components are vital for a POST / no load?
Is it even possible that this thing is not dead after part of the power delivery exploded? 
(btw Cxxx stands for capacitor?)


----------



## Kissamies (May 15, 2022)

Damn, that card has been tortured hard..

I'm not a pro in electronics but if all the broken components are changed, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. And AFAIK, yeah, Cxxx does stand for caps.


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## Mr.Scott (May 15, 2022)

Throw that away.


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## Trekkie4 (May 15, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Yee I finally got a GeForce FX 5950 Ultra!
> 
> ...well, at least this is what I thought until I saw it
> 
> ...


Kinda reminds me of that song "Humpty Dumpty" ... Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men *couldn't put Humpty together again" *


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## DR4G00N (May 15, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Yee I finally got a GeForce FX 5950 Ultra!
> 
> ...well, at least this is what I thought until I saw it
> 
> ...


They just look like input filtering caps and the pcb looks fine, so the vrm will probably still work for testing post assuming nothing else is shorted out.


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## framebuffer (May 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Damn, that card has been tortured hard..
> 
> I'm not a pro in electronics but if all the broken components are changed, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. And AFAIK, yeah, Cxxx does stand for caps.


That's also what I think/hope, but I wonder why they failed in first place




Mr.Scott said:


> Throw that away.


  




Trekkie4 said:


> Kinda reminds me of that song "Humpty Dumpty" ... Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men *couldn't put Humpty together again" *






DR4G00N said:


> They just look like input filtering caps and the pcb looks fine, so the vrm will probably still work for testing post assuming nothing else is shorted out.


That's the thing I was hoping to hear 
any idea what should I search for to replace them? I'm not familiar with those components, I see "100", "10 + strange symbol", I guess those are some resistance parameters of some sort?


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## Kissamies (May 15, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> That's the thing I was hoping to hear
> any idea what should I search for to replace them? I'm not familiar with those components, I see "100", "10 + strange symbol", I guess those are some resistance parameters of some sort?


Is it a micro symbol (µ)?


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## Mr.Scott (May 15, 2022)

When there is visible damage like that, chances are high that there's damage not visible.
Don't waste time or money on it.


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## Kissamies (May 15, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> When there is visible damage like that, chances are high that there's damage not visible.
> Don't waste time or money on it.


5950 Ultras sell for pretty high price, so I'd try to repair it if it's possible.


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## DR4G00N (May 15, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> That's the thing I was hoping to hear
> any idea what should I search for to replace them? I'm not familiar with those components, I see "100", "10 + strange symbol", I guess those are some resistance parameters of some sort?


100uF 10V is what it means I'm pretty sure. Not sure what the input voltage on the VRM is, 5V? 12V?, maybe they were being run over spec and they went after a while. If it still works I would suggest replacing them all (including the ones that didn't blow) with 100uF 16V Tantalum caps instead just to be safe, make sure they're the same size too.

Pop it in a cheap board and see if it even turns on first though before you go spending money on a possibly dead card (the caps won't change whether it works or not).


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## Trekkie4 (May 15, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> When there is visible damage like that, chances are high that there's damage not visible.
> Don't waste time or money on it.





Lenne said:


> 5950 Ultras sell for pretty high price, so I'd try to repair it if it's possible.


I'm with Mr. Scott on this one. Apart from the obvious (wasting time or money) he could easily damage the entire motherboard with that thing. Is it possible to fix it? Sure ... just not worth the risk IMO. We are talking huge amounts of highly precise soldering, testing & patching up the PCB where (& if) necessary.


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## Kissamies (May 15, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm with Mr. Scott on this one. Apart from the obvious (wasting time or money) he could easily damage the entire motherboard with that thing. Is it possible to fix it? Sure ... just not worth the risk IMO.


I'd try it in an useless crappy board, not in the main AGP system.


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## lexluthermiester (May 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Anyways, what do you think?


That should be a doable repair, if you can source more of the same SMDs. I would totally do that. Minimal cost and effort and you'd have a very classic card once repaired.



Mr.Scott said:


> When there is visible damage like that, chances are high that there's damage not visible.
> Don't waste time or money on it.


This is one of those rare times we disagree. The time, cost and effort will be worth it if the repair works for such a rare classic card. Given the photos, it looks like those caps went off and didn't take anything else with them.


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## Fouquin (May 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Interesting. An AMD K6-2+ can be modified to K6-3+ (aka enable the full 256k L2 instead of just 128k)



The discovery of this mod a few months ago was really good timing as I'd just managed to snag a load of K6-2+ chips. I managed to get one of the K6-2E+/570s to unlock to a K6-III+, and it is still stable at 450-533, with 540/550 technically stable but sometimes causing crashes. Neither my actual 533 or 550s managed to unlock with any stability.


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## lexluthermiester (May 16, 2022)

Fouquin said:


> The discovery of this mod a few months ago


The idiom "Better late than never!" rings true here.


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## Fouquin (May 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The idiom "Better late than never!" rings true here.



Yep! Same with the resistor mod on the P5A 1.06s with the Rev.G chipset that apparently happened in 2017 and I completely missed. Combining the two takes you from a system stuck on K6-2 250nm to now being a K6-III+ capable system with much improved performance. ~18 years to fix the board bug, and 23 years to unlock cache. Gotta be very patient to get the most out of your parts.


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## Mussels (May 16, 2022)

I fixed some content on the previous page, rather than delete posts and issue infractions.
Politics does not belong on TPU, it only ever leads to arguments and people leaving the forum, voluntarily or not.


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## MachineLearning (May 16, 2022)

My Mach64... I pulled this out of my grandfather's old Gateway beige monstrosity. It was a system I received when I was younger and extremely dumb, as I ended up getting rid of most of the parts and didn't even keep the CPU... Ugh. I still kick myself often for all of the good tech I tossed when I was in that stage. This card and 64MB of Legend + VisionTek SDR is all that survived.






Any GPUs and CPUs < 2006 instantly become unknown territory for me. AM2 and mid-775 onward is my comfort zone. So, many people here will hopefully have more info than what I have above


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## lexluthermiester (May 16, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> My Mach64... I pulled this out of my grandfather's old Gateway beige monstrosity.


Now that was a 4MB version of the Mach64. Nice!



MachineLearning said:


> 64MB of Legend + VisionTek SDR is all that survived.


Actually, that's 60ns EDO DRAM made in 1996.


			https://www.datasheetarchive.com/HM5118165BJ6-datasheet.html
		

SDRAM didn't come around for a couple more years. Still, very nice find!


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## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Now that was a 4MB version of the Mach64. Nice!
> 
> 
> Actually, that's 60ns EDO DRAM made in 1996.
> ...


SDRAM in DIMM form came in 1997


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## lexluthermiester (May 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> SDRAM in DIMM form came in 1997


According to Wiki it says 1992, but in DIMM form I think you're right.








						Synchronous dynamic random-access memory - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> According to Wiki it says 1992, but in DIMM form I think you're right.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think that the early forms were for specific use, just like N64 from 1996 uses RDRAM but desktop RIMMs came three years later.


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## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I too, like puppies and kittens


Wish I could "like" my own post, kudos to admin for ingenuity  

So ... speaking of damaged hardware components let me ask you this - did any of you ever had a situation where the certain component (dial-up modem in my case) would keep the Power LED turned on even when the system is shut down? Yes, it would turn off upon shutting down but then maybe half the second later it would turn on again & remain powered up indefinitely.

Obviously, I didn't realize what was the problem & was even about to take the entire motherboard out when I removed, unplugged the modem & power LED suddenly turned itself off... Weird!


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## DR4G00N (May 16, 2022)

No, but I did have a Gigabyte X58A-OC motherboard that would trip the rooms circuit breaker when running multiple high power gpu's. No idea how it would do that but it did.
Swapped in my X58 Classified 4-Way and it stopped doing it.


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## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> No, but I did have a Gigabyte X58A-OC motherboard that would trip the rooms circuit breaker when running multiple high power gpu's. No idea how it would do that but it did.
> Swapped in my X58 Classified 4-Way and it stopped doing it.


Hmm... Are you sure that it's not a PSU related issue? Mine on the other hand definitely seems motherboard related. Fortunately (from what I can tell) there's no permanent damage ... as soon as I removed the modem, everything went back to normal.

Edit
And another thing ... could someone please explain me what's the difference between nVidia FX5600 & nVidia FX5600 XT? I tried comparing the specs of the two cards but alas couldn't find anything for "XT" series.


----------



## Apocalypsee (May 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What do people think of this. Retro Beige Dell Optiplex GX1 Windows 98, P3 450 CPU, 64MB Ram, Floppy, USB
> Updated to include USB compatibilty with drives, pen drives, keyboards and mice etc.
> A rare and sought after retro Dell PC. This Optiplex GX1 is built for Windows 95/98 from scratch and has a fresh install of 98 SE, 64MB ram, 30GB HDD, Crystal Soundcard and cleaned CD and floppy and a Slot 1 450Mhz Pentium 3 MMX Intel CPU. Perfect system for retro Windows 98 gaming, they don't come much better. Cleaned, serviced and ready to go. Updated so you can use USB drives, mice and other devices. Given the age, the system obviously has marks and yellowing consumate with age.
> I will include a Windows 98 SE CD GPU: ATI Rage 3D   As you can see it looks in good nick.Of course you don,t know until  you try i It is 100 pounds make an offer  10 pounds shipping.Is that good value for the product?It does not look like any caps have blown.I suppose the thing to worry about is the Psu.Or i could try and get win98  on my thin client but that would be a big task for me.or i could get an XP  PC and downgade it to Win  98.


Wow this made me remind of my old Optiplex GX100, my first 'proper' PC, with Celeron 600MHz socket 370, intel i810 graphics with 4MB VRAM, Creative 128 soundcard. If I found one, I want it. So many nostalgic memory on that PC. Especially Intel mediocre graphics driver with missing textures, white textures


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## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Apocalypsee said:


> Wow this made me remind of my old Optiplex GX100, my first 'proper' PC, with Celeron 600MHz socket 370, intel i810 graphics with 4MB VRAM, Creative 128 soundcard. If I found one, I want it. So many nostalgic memory on that PC. Especially Intel mediocre graphics driver with missing textures, white textures


Soundblaster 128 was meh, just an Ensoniq card in disguise.


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## framebuffer (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm... Are you sure that it's not a PSU related issue? Mine on the other hand definitely seems motherboard related. Fortunately (from what I can tell) there's no permanent damage ... as soon as I removed the modem, everything went back to normal.
> 
> Edit
> And another thing ... could someone please explain me what's the difference between nVidia FX5600 & nVidia FX5600 XT? I tried comparing the specs of the two cards but alas couldn't find anything for "XT" series.











						NVIDIA NV31 GPU Specs
					

4 Pixel Shaders, 2 Vertex Shaders, 4 TMUs, 4 ROPs




					www.techpowerup.com
				




XT should simply have lower freq.


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Some 5600 XT cards have only 64-bit memory bus. I have one of those unfortunate cut-down ones.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hmm... Are you sure that it's not a PSU related issue? Mine on the other hand definitely seems motherboard related. Fortunately (from what I can tell) there's no permanent damage ... as soon as I removed the modem, everything went back to normal.
> 
> Edit
> And another thing ... could someone please explain me what's the difference between nVidia FX5600 & nVidia FX5600 XT? I tried comparing the specs of the two cards but alas couldn't find anything for "XT" series.


That was a number of years ago, psu was an Evga 1300 G2 which was plenty, still running this psu in the system I'm using right now so I don't think it had anything to do with it. 
I think it was a fault of the northbridge because it failed not a long time after. Again, how it would cause the breaker to trip and not just shut the psu off I have no idea.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> NVIDIA NV31 GPU Specs
> 
> 
> 4 Pixel Shaders, 2 Vertex Shaders, 4 TMUs, 4 ROPs
> ...


Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

And too bad ... just earlier today I picked up Gigabyte GV-N56X128D-P, which is essentially FX5600 XT sold under "Gigabyte" brand. However, I remember my own Abit Siluro FX5600 from back in a day, which was definitely "authentic" FX5600, not the XT one (as you can tell from the photo, below) so I was hoping to find out what was the difference between the two.


 





Lenne said:


> Some 5600 XT cards have only 64-bit memory bus. I have one of those unfortunate cut-down ones.


According to Gigabyte's official website, N56X128D-P features 128bit memory bus so I'm among the luckier ones, I guess. That is, assuming the card even works ... I have no idea, didn't have the time to test it yet.



DR4G00N said:


> That was a number of years ago, psu was an Evga 1300 G2 which was plenty, still running this psu in the system I'm using right now so I don't think it had anything to do with it.
> I think it was a fault of the northbridge because it failed not a long time after. Again, how it would cause the breaker to trip and not just shut the psu off I have no idea.


Right, I understand but there had to be something with the power supply because for the motherboard to trip your circuit breaker, the problem would need to show itself through the power supply, that's the only common point with the household electricity. Either it was drawing too much amps, OR there was a short somewhere.


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.
> 
> And too bad ... just earlier today I picked up Gigabyte GV-N56X128D-P, which is essentially FX5600 XT sold under "Gigabyte" brand. However, I remember my own Abit Siluro FX5600 from back in a day, which was definitely "authentic" FX5600, not the XT one (as you can tell from the photo, below) so I was hoping to find out what was the difference between the two.
> 
> ...


Yeah, that Gigabyte looks like a 128-bit version as I searched pics of that model. Here's my 64-bit PNY:


----------



## framebuffer (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.
> 
> And too bad ... just earlier today I picked up Gigabyte GV-N56X128D-P, which is essentially FX5600 XT sold under "Gigabyte" brand. However, I remember my own Abit Siluro FX5600 from back in a day, which was definitely "authentic" FX5600, not the XT one (as you can tell from the photo, below) so I was hoping to find out what was the difference between the two.
> 
> ...



This one (from 2005 pictures) is your one from back in the days? Because I see that uses 5ns memory modules (rated at 200MHz), instead of 4ns (250MHz), so it also seems to be some kind of slightly cut down version
Maybe it was 256MB? Sometimes vendors used to double to memory amount and "compensate" with slower modules


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> This one (from 2005 pictures) is your one from back in the days? Because I see that uses 5ns memory modules (rated at 200MHz), instead of 4ns (250MHz), so it also seems to be some kind of slightly cut down version
> Maybe it was 256MB? Sometimes vendors used to double to memory amount and "compensate" with slower modules


Yup, that's the one. Abit Siluro FX5600 ... it was my first major hardware upgrade, going from Matrox Millennium G450 to FX5600 

From what I remember yes, it had 256MB of VRAM. That being said, I honestly don't remember for sure. It's been ages since I sold this card, after having multiple overheating incidents. It hasn't been overclocked or anything like that, all stock. But that tiny cooler could barely keep the card running & kept seizing up. In fact, I had the first cooler replaced under warranty, while the second one (this one, from the photo) was done by myself & once the warranty expired.


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yup, that's the one. Abit Siluro FX5600 ... it was my first major hardware upgrade, going from Matrox Millennium G450 to FX5600
> 
> From what I remember yes, it had 256MB of VRAM. That being said, I honestly don't remember for sure. It's been ages since I sold this card, after having multiple overheating incidents. It hasn't been overclocked or anything like that, all stock. But that tiny cooler could barely keep the card running & kept seizing up. In fact, I had the first cooler replaced under warranty, while the second one (this one, from the photo) was done by myself & once the warranty expired.


Those were the days of aftermarket GPU coolers.. almost every card had pure crap as a stock cooler.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Those were the days of aftermarket GPU coolers.. almost every card had pure crap as a stock cooler.


Sooo true!!

By the way, I realize that the original cooler from Abit probably seems huge but it really wasn't. After you removed the top panel, metal shroud you could see the actual heatsink under, which was no bigger than factory NB chipset cooler, with the small (30x30?) fan mounted on top of it. Everything else was just a gimmick to make it look better.


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Sooo true!!


What you said above about FX 5600 overheating, I got actually a minor burn from GF4 Ti 4200's stock cooler (it was actually an Abit card too), IIRC I put a NV Silencer for it and that removed that problem. It was this card, a 4200-8X 128MB:


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> What you said above about FX 5600 overheating, I got actually a minor burn from GF4 Ti 4200's stock cooler (it was actually an Abit card too), IIRC I put a NV Silencer for it and that removed that problem. It was this card, a 4200-8X 128MB:
> 
> View attachment 247662


Yeah, apparently Abit had some QC issues all around. From overheating video cards to their motherboards & (in)famous capacitor plague


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, apparently Abit had some QC issues all around. From overheating video cards to their motherboards & (in)famous capacitor plague


Though their products were great for overclocking even with those flaws. I had a KT7A (VIA KT133A) board back then and Athlon 1000 @ 1404MHz as CPU.


----------



## Greenslade (May 16, 2022)

Dell Dimension 9100 Tower Computer  would it be posible to put Wondpws 98 pn this?Or would i need an older PC?The proce is 50 pounds with shipping make an offer .The seller does not say what cartd is in it.
VGC Visually and electronically, Vast scope for upgrade, Running Windows 8.1
Processor:
Intel Pentium R 3.28ghz
RAM Size:4 GB
Workstation
The sp[ec sheet looks good for it;


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Dell Dimension 9100 Tower Computer  would it be posible ro put Wondpws 98 pn this?OPr would o need an older PC?The proce is 50 pounds with shipping make an offer .The seller boes not say what cartd is in it.
> VGC Visually and electronically, Vast scope for upgrade, Running Windows 8.1 although is capable of ”VGC
> Processor:
> Intel Pentium R 3.28ghz
> ...


Could work, but I'd have 512MB max with Win98, it needs tweaking for more RAM or otherwise it starts to freak out.

But hard to say about the compatibility for sure, I'd put a GeForce 6 series card for it as it's the last to have a native Win98 support.


----------



## Greenslade (May 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Could work, but I'd have 512MB max with Win98, it needs tweaking for more RAM or otherwise it starts to freak out.
> 
> But hard to say about the compatibility for sure, I'd put a GeForce 6 series card for it as it's the last to have a native Win98 support.


  So it would be to powerful for Windows 98 I thought it would be. It looks a good machine for XP though.Thanks again.I see ir can work with a minimum of 512mb.


----------



## Kissamies (May 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So it would be to popwerful for Windows 98 I thought it would be. It looks a good machine for XP though.Thanks again.I see ir can work with a minimum of 512mb.


Just get 2x256MB DDR2 sticks and it should work (what I searched, it uses DDR2).


----------



## Greenslade (May 17, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Just get 2x256MB DDR2 sticks and it should work (what I searched, it uses DDR2).


I will have to work our how to get Windows 98 on my HP 5710 thin clint ,ir want be easy. Thanks once again for your output on this.Lenne


----------



## Mussels (May 17, 2022)

My first PC used that era hardware, Pentium 90Mhz with 16MB EDO RAM and a something GPU with socketed VRAM you could theoretically upgrade

As for the too-fast-for-98 PC, just heckin try every OS from the era. 98SE, ME, NT, 2K XP etc.

2K might make a fantastic OS choice, as long as you keep it offline/work with its security limitations


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Dell Dimension 9100 Tower Computer  would it be posible to put Wondpws 98 pn this?Or would i need an older PC?The proce is 50 pounds with shipping make an offer .The seller does not say what cartd is in it.
> VGC Visually and electronically, Vast scope for upgrade, Running Windows 8.1
> Processor:
> Intel Pentium R 3.28ghz
> ...


Yes. But...


Lenne said:


> Could work, but I'd have 512MB max with Win98, it needs tweaking for more RAM or otherwise it starts to freak out.
> 
> But hard to say about the compatibility for sure, I'd put a GeForce 6 series card for it as it's the last to have a native Win98 support.


...this! However, if you used Windows ME(don't scoff, properly configured WinME runs like a dream) you could use upto 2GB without any stability issues.


Greenslade said:


> So it would be to powerful for Windows 98 I thought it would be. It looks a good machine for XP though.Thanks again.I see ir can work with a minimum of 512mb.


Oh yeah, it'd be a rockin Win98SE/WinME machine!


----------



## Greenslade (May 17, 2022)

Lenne said:


> No problem. I have no idea, I'd guess that it's just a generic case and could have anything inside of it.
> 
> 
> edit: Now let's put together a XP/7 dual-boot system as I have a spare case and PSU. Xeon X3230 (similar to Q6700), P5Q Pro, 8GB DDR2-800 & HD 7850 1GB.
> edit2: I'll put two systems as I have enough hardware. Xeon, 8GB & HD 4890 CF (for Win7), and 955 BE, 4GB & HD 7850 (for XP).


One thing for sure the person who is selling it isnt going to get back to me.I proberly asked to many questions about the PC.One wants to know what is inside it beforer they buy it.. 



lexluthermiester said:


> Yes. But...
> 
> ...this! However, if you used Windows ME(don't scoff, properly configured WinME runs like a dream) you could use upto 2GB without any stability issues.
> 
> Oh yeah, it'd be a rockin Win98SE/WinME machine!





Greenslade said:


> One thing for sure the person who is selling it isnt going to get back to me.I proberly asked to many questions about the PC.One wants to know what is inside it beforer they buy it..


I  just saw this video about Windows ME by our friend Clinr  







 and he mentions all though it has MS dos you have to do a lot to get it runnung with and still does not work as in
Windows 98.



Mussels said:


> My first PC used that era hardware, Pentium 90Mhz with 16MB EDO RAM and a something GPU with socketed VRAM you could theoretically upgrade
> 
> As for the too-fast-for-98 PC, just heckin try every OS from the era. 98SE, ME, NT, 2K XP etc.
> 
> 2K might make a fantastic OS choice, as long as you keep it offline/work with its security limitations


I thought Windows 200 was just for business users?I haver got xp .I wanr Windows 98 for games.



lexluthermiester said:


> Yes. But...
> 
> ...this! However, if you used Windows ME(don't scoff, properly configured WinME runs like a dream) you could use upto 2GB without any stability issues.
> 
> Oh yeah, it'd be a rockin Win98SE/WinME machine!


How does this compare to the Dimension 9100 wich one is best?The Dell only has Pentium 4 3.28ghz the Dell is 20 pounds more.Ther Dell looks a better machine with thje tooles cvonstuction bit the Q6600 is better than the Pentium 4
Acer Aspire M3640 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Q6600

Acer Motherboard for Aspire M3640, mATX MSI N1996 LGA775
Q6600 quad core processer - although this is old (from 2008) it still works fine
3GB DDR2 RAM - a 2GB stick and a 1 GB stick
DVD-RW Drive
Card Reader - great if you have old camera equipment for example
No working graphics card included but processor has integrated graphics.  There are HDMI, VGA and DVI outputs - I've been able to test both HDMI and VGA work.  * Additionally I have the original Graphics card which is an NVIDIA Geforce 8600 GS but it is not functioning due to blown capacitors. It may be possible to get this working again if you have a soldering iron and know what you're doing.  I would be happy to include this if desired. It would be nice if they showed a photo of the inside of it.The price for this is 25 poinds i would have to collect it..I can all so seeing it running.Would this go well with 98  or  ME  or 2000 i wpild preer 98.


----------



## Kissamies (May 17, 2022)

2000 was indeed for professional use, but XP is actually a 2000 derivative.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 17, 2022)

Got this in the mail today, Slot A system. Athlon 700MHz Thunderbird & Shuttle AI61. 








Paid $25 shipped as tested not working, first time booting it up it just gave continuous fast beeps from the speaker. Figured I'd try reflashing the bios just to see and believe it or not it booted up just fine afterwards.
I'd say that was $25 well spent, I just bought it as a collectible since it was very cheap and didn't expect it to actually work.

I guess this means I need to go build a GFD now, luckily there's plenty of user made ones floating around now so that shouldn't be too hard.


----------



## Greenslade (May 17, 2022)

I habe jusr seen a Dell dimension e520 with a moniter fort only 10  poinds And i could see it working. but inforunatly it is our of my area.That would be a bargin if ir was in london.Facebook market place.


----------



## oobymach (May 17, 2022)

I used to have one of those dells. (click to enlarge)


----------



## Greenslade (May 17, 2022)

oobymach said:


> I used to have one of those dells. (click to enlarge)
> 
> View attachment 247783View attachment 247786View attachment 247784


That looks a bit dusty  on the outside but dust free insideI I have seen another one on a new site SHPOCK i tried to make an account but it said my phone number might not be valid?Has anyone heard of this make. Midion cybermaxx.  ?   Pentium 4 3ghz 512MB Ram pc tower NO HARD DRIVE.That looks dusty on there.
I take it would have to be an ide  drive? Ir could i use a CF card? Ir would be ideale for Win 98.
Belkin wireless 54 MBPS adapter All working - no hard drive
NVidia GeForce FX5200.  £20  pounds  on face book.I bet it weighs a ton though.  As i would have to collect it
 from the other side of London.I don,t drive so have to use public transport.Goes it take a normal sized PSU?


----------



## Kissamies (May 17, 2022)

I guess getting an old HDD isn't a hard thing to do. I have too many small drives lying around myself.


----------



## oobymach (May 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That looks a bit dusty  on the outside but dust free insideI I have seen another one on a new site SHPOCK i tried to make an account but it said my phone number might not be valid?Has anyone heard of this make. Midion cybermaxx.  ?   Pentium 4 3ghz 512MB Ram pc tower NO HARD DRIVE.That looks dusty on there.
> I take it would have to be an ide  drive? Ir could i use a CF card? Ir would be ideale for Win 98.
> Belkin wireless 54 MBPS adapter All working - no hard drive
> NVidia GeForce FX5200.  £20  pounds  on face book.I bet it weighs a ton though.  As i would have to collect it
> ...


I remember finding one free on the side of the road that might have been it, it had issues so I replaced the ram and it ran fine after that, single core pentium 4 cpu @ 2.93 ghz. I put a geforce 8400 in it because it didn't have any 6pin power connectors and that card was widely available and cheap at the time. Desktop grab from that pc.


----------



## MachineLearning (May 18, 2022)

I'm super happy, got a CH341A programmer and - after frying a BIOS chip - successfully flashed a donor chip to P16 for my Foxconn Destroyer.  Now I can have dual BIOS again, after a bad flash! I'm such shit when it comes to keeping BIOS chips alive lol..

I noticed something new during boot with BIOS G18 - this display is faster from standby than my usual one:



I've never seen this "Engineering Release" message on any board I own. Does anyone here happen to know what that message is referring to? I figure it's the chipset potentially being ES, or the BIOS... I'm kind of hoping the board is a late ES, rather than the BIOS not being 100% finalized. 

NB date code is Wk14/2008 if that helps anyone.


----------



## Greenslade (May 18, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I guess getting an old HDD isn't a hard thing to do. I have too many small drives lying around myself.


Have you herd of the PC make?
It is made for wondows 98.Could i use a CF card?
And what do you think of the PC should i take a chance on it?I realise the Pentium 4 is  crap,or is it not so bad with with Windows  98?
.Or sjhould i go for the Dell Dimension e520   with dual core i don,t know which  one it has in it 15 poinds ..








 from our OZ  freind Phil I just wished i lived near the seller who is selilng the Dell for 10 poinds incliding the moniter.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> all though it has MS dos you have to do a lot to get it runnung with and still does not work as in
> Windows 98.


This is true. But here's the details: WinME still has a DOS mode, but you have to reboot to get into it, which is something Win98 didn't have to do. But once in DOS mode, it's smooth as silk. When you take into account the fact that WinME can use more RAM and is in general more stable, the inconvinience of having to reboot into DOS is far over shadowed by the benefits and WinME becomes the clear choice for Win9X kernel based OSes.

I do not use Win95 or Win98 at all anymore for retro systems. It's always: install WinME, set some post install tweaks, install drivers, removal of IE and Bob's your uncle.



Lenne said:


> I guess getting an old HDD isn't a hard thing to do. I have too many small drives lying around myself.


I wouldn't bother with an old HDD. These days I go with a CompctFlash to IDE adapter and a 16GB, 32GB or 64GB CompactFlash card.








						Compact Flash CF to 3.5 Female 40 Pin IDE Bootable Adapter Converter Card  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Compact Flash CF to 3.5 Female 40 Pin IDE Bootable Adapter Converter Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



and








						SanDisk 32GB 64GB 128G CF Extreme 120MB/s Compact Flash Memory Card SDCFXSB  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SanDisk 32GB 64GB 128G CF Extreme 120MB/s Compact Flash Memory Card SDCFXSB at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



Together you're talking about $45 to $50 shipped at the most.

This will vary depending on location in the world, but you get the idea.



Greenslade said:


> Acer Aspire M3640 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Q6600
> 
> Acer Motherboard for Aspire M3640, mATX MSI N1996 LGA775
> Q6600 quad core processer - although this is old (from 2008) it still works fine
> ...


That will not run a Win9X OS at all. No driver support for multiCPU or PCIe. Look for an AGP based system for Win9X support. However, that does look like a solid buy for $25.



DR4G00N said:


> Got this in the mail today, Slot A system. Athlon 700MHz Thunderbird & Shuttle AI61.
> 
> View attachment 247777
> View attachment 247778
> ...


If I'm not mistaken, that was one of the golden Athlon A's that could OC without any additional voltage and a change to the FSB(100->133) and a multiplier drop(5.5 or 6). For $25 that's a score!


----------



## DR4G00N (May 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> If I'm not mistaken, that was one of the golden Athlon A's that could OC without any additional voltage and a change to the FSB(100->133) and a multiplier drop(5.5 or 6). For $25 that's a score!


Interesting, I hope I can try that out sometime.

ATM just trying to get XP installed is a real pain, it doesn't know what to do with my 40GB drive and I don't have any other available drives big enough for XP. One of the newer bios' may fix this but I can't find them anywhere.

I'm going to give my Promise tx2000 ide raid card a try and see if that does better, it worked well for my BH6 which did the same thing so I'm hoping it does just as good with this.


----------



## Kissamies (May 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Have you herd of the PC make?
> It is made for wondows 98.Could i use a CF card?
> And what do you think of the PC should i take a chance on it?I realise the Pentium 4 is  crap,or is it not so bad with with Windows  98?
> .Or sjhould i go for the Dell Dimension e520   with dual core i don,t know which  one it has in it 15 poinds ..
> ...


You can use a IDE-CF adapter practically in any build, though some CF cards can be problematic in very old computers.

To be honest, I'm a wrong guy to talk about Win98 as I haven't used it since 2006. But Pentium 4 should be okay with it. Just make sure to install Win98 SE, not the older non-SE.


----------



## Greenslade (May 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> This is true. But here's the details: WinME still has a DOS mode, but you have to reboot to get into it, which is something Win98 didn't have to do. But once in DOS mode, it's smooth as silk. When you take into account the fact that WinME can use more RAM and is in general more stable, the inconvinience of having to reboot into DOS is far over shadowed by the benefits and WinME becomes the clear choice for Win9X kernel based OSes.
> 
> I do not use Win95 or Win98 at all anymore for retro systems. It's always: install WinME, set some post install tweaks, install drivers, removal of IE and Bob's your uncle.
> 
> ...


Thats what our friend Clint says


Lenne said:


> You can use a IDE-CF adapter practically in any build, though some CF cards can be problematic in very old computers.
> 
> To be honest, I'm a wrong guy to talk about Win98 as I haven't used it since 2006. But Pentium 4 should be okay with it. Just make sure to install Win98 SE, not the older non-SE.


Thats what our friend Clint says about CF cards being problematic with some very old PC,s 







 Thanks once again for all your help. 



lexluthermiester said:


> This is true. But here's the details: WinME still has a DOS mode, but you have to reboot to get into it, which is something Win98 didn't have to do. But once in DOS mode, it's smooth as silk. When you take into account the fact that WinME can use more RAM and is in general more stable, the inconvinience of having to reboot into DOS is far over shadowed by the benefits and WinME becomes the clear choice for Win9X kernel based OSes.
> 
> I do not use Win95 or Win98 at all anymore for retro systems. It's always: install WinME, set some post install tweaks, install drivers, removal of IE and Bob's your uncle.
> 
> ...


Thanks for all your info on this  I will take your advice and go the Cf routeShould i go with this
Midion cybermaxx Pentium 4 3ghz 512MB  Ram it looks very dusty in there   
NVidia GeForce FX5200 DVD RW 
Belkin wireless 54 MBPS adapter All working - no hard drive  £20
In the listing he says it is in stock, as if it is a shop.Or should i wait  for a dell dimension e521 to come up?
I take it you  you have not heard of the * Midion cybermaxx* make of PC?


----------



## Kissamies (May 18, 2022)

That could work. The case looks pretty ass though as there's no holes for exhaust fan unless you make a hole for one.


----------



## Greenslade (May 18, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That could work. The case looks pretty ass though as there's no holes for exhaust fan unless you make a hole for one.


I get your point,thats a bummer


----------



## Kissamies (May 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I get your point,thats a bummer


It could probably be replaced by a standard mATX/ATX case though. The motherboard looks pretty standard though it's not a great pic.


----------



## Greenslade (May 18, 2022)

Lenne said:


> It could probably be replaced by a standard mATX/ATX case though.


I am not up to that.I will give it a miss after you mentioning about a exhaust fan. I have finally  found a video about it all being in German. i realise is not the same modal


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for all your info on this


You're welcome, no worries. Once you get it all together and running, chime in and show us pictures!


----------



## AlwaysHope (May 19, 2022)

Today I got a hold of Asrock 890GM Pro3 mATX board. The SB850 southbridge is the world's first native Sata 3 specification chipset for desktop systems. Now I can mount my Phenom II 1055T on that baby, see how we go with it.... then try my Phenom II 905e next...  scored this board for imo bargain basement $ too! 








Not too bad as a windows 10 backup machine for light desktop duties...


----------



## MachineLearning (May 19, 2022)

AlwaysHope said:


> Today I got a hold of Asrock 890GM Pro3 mATX board. The SB850 southbridge is the world's first native Sata 3 specification chipset for desktop systems. Now I can mount my Phenom II 1055T on that baby, see how we go with it.... then try my Phenom II 905e next...  scored this board for imo bargain basement $ too!
> View attachment 247977
> 
> View attachment 247979
> ...


Best ASRock SB heatsink design ever, IMO. The Z77 Extreme4 is second place I think.

No VRM HS, perhaps undervolting / underclocking a Thuban would be kind to the board 

Also knowing the size of those mosfets, heatsinks like these should fit well and go miles. ASRock alongside MSI made some firecrackers for AM3... but this board shouldn't be one with chronic problems.


----------



## Kissamies (May 19, 2022)

Hmm, my Xeon X3230 may be dead, the P5Q Pro setup didn't post with it. But with Q9500, posted immediately.

I'll put it back together later, as I disassembled the whole setup and tested it on desk.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Hmm, my Xeon X3230 may be dead, the P5Q Pro setup didn't post with it. But with Q9500, posted immediately.


Or the board might not have the microcode for that Xeon.. maybe..


----------



## Kissamies (May 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Or the board might not have the microcode for that Xeon.. maybe..


It worked before. And it's a native LGA775 chip, just has a BSEL mod on its LGA pads.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> It worked before. And it's a native LGA775 chip, just has a BSEL mod on its LGA pads.


Weird. Was that the one you were OCing to high heaven?


----------



## Kissamies (May 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Weird. Was that the one you were OCing to high heaven?


Nothing special on that, as I don't have that good DDR2 what it comes to overclocking, I think you mix that with my Pentium D925 which I ran CB at 4.8GHz


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Nothing special on that, as I don't have that good DDR2 what it comes to overclocking, I think you mix that with my Pentium D925 which I ran CB at 4.8GHz


I might also be thinking of a different thread..


----------



## Kissamies (May 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I might also be thinking of a different thread..


Probably, as I love OC'ng Netburst chips just because they achieve higher clocks.


----------



## Greenslade (May 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You're welcome, no worries. Once you get it all together and running, chime in and show us pictures!


After Lenne,s  comments about it i will leave it.And wait tell a Dell Dimension comes up at the right price.I just wish that the one for £10 with a Monitor was in the London area, instead of being miles away.


----------



## Kissamies (May 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> After Lenne,s  comments about it i will leave it.And wait tell a Dell Dimension comes up at the right price.I just wish that the one for £10 with a Monitor was in the London area, instead of being miles away.


Yea... try to get one with a decent case  as you said, you don't wanna to change the case, so it's good if it has support for some fans.


----------



## Greenslade (May 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Yea... try to get one with a decent case  as you said, you don't wanna to change the case, so it's good if it has support for some fans.


Dells are poor in that respect it seems  .What do you think of this one
Dell dimension 8300 Old pc unused working but  no hard drive installed  on facebook but i would have to ask what the specs are.£20  his had ot on there  for 14 weeks.
Just that one photo of it.There is this one on there to 3000 £15 make an offer also on Facebook.Currently it has no OS, so the new owner will need to install there desired OS It has a 80GB PETA HDD It has 512MB RAM Open to any offers or questions.This one is out of my area but not to far out ,i would have to get a train there.Train fares in the uk are exspencive.  If it was maximun of 10 pounds return it could be worth while ,that is if it is near the station, as i should think it is a heavy bugger to carry..

Which is the better modal ?

Which one is a newer modal?
It seems the train fare is under 10 pounds.
The one i have to get a train to see has put more  photos up it it looks very spass in there with no cards in there. But dust free.The 8300 one is a very grainey crap photo.


----------



## Kissamies (May 19, 2022)

Fuck, if you could visit Finland, I could assemble u a good retro setup for free.

But for now, ur in UK? I want you to come with me to take few beers when I visit UK.


----------



## Greenslade (May 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Fuck, if you could visit Finland, I could assemble u a good retro setup for free.
> 
> But for now, ur in UK? I want you to come with me to take few beers when I visit UK.



I have just noticed it is missing the green shroud over the Cpu as in this photo,i will give that a miss.




Can anyone tell me what these cards are in the back of the PC
I asked the seller what the specs were he said they were just the ones it came with.  I tried to work it out with it coming with VISTA  hoping that it was a Q6700 CORE2DUO.Is that a sound card in there?


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just noticed it is missing the green shroud over the Cpu as in this photo,i will give that a miss.
> 
> Can anyone tell me what these cards are in the back of the PC
> I asked the seller what the specs were he said they were just the ones it came with.  I tried to work it out with it coming with VISTA  hoping that it was a Q6700 CORE2DUO.Is that a sound card in there?


Looks like a GPU and a capture card! Does it have the white side panels?  I had a similar Dell Dimension awhile back...think it was the same model.  I liked the case and wanted to do a custom build of it, but I don't think I ever got around to it.


----------



## NotHereMan (May 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I wouldn't bother with an old HDD. These days I go with a CompctFlash to IDE adapter and a 16GB, 32GB or 64GB CompactFlash card.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Is it possible to make these yourself? Notice there is no brand for the items on eBay.


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> Looks like a GPU and a capture card! Does it have the white side panels?  I had a similar Dell Dimension awhile back...think it was the same model.  I liked the case and wanted to do a custom build of it, but I don't think I ever got around to it.


Thanks for that, If is that modal does it have an Q6700 i would buy it,but why is the seller so vage about it?There are so many versions of it.Plus the fact it is a dodge area of London,as i would have to collect Not that the area i live in is a good area,but at least i know it.Why would you not know your own system ,as he said it worked when he last used it. I got back to the seller asking him if he could take the cover off and take a photo of the inside of the PC.This is his reply
*Hi it’s not worth the grief, it’s a buck standard model so you can find all that on a google search*
with that attatude if his too lazy to take the cover off and take a photo of it he can shove it. It would be over 30 with shipping anyway.


----------



## Mussels (May 20, 2022)

NotHereMan said:


> Is it possible to make these yourself? Notice there is no brand for the items on eBay.


You cant make a CD to IDE adaptor yourself, no.

Can you buy a CF card and IDE adaptor seperately and combine them yourself? Yes.


----------



## MachineLearning (May 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> It worked before. And it's a native LGA775 chip, just has a BSEL mod on its LGA pads.


My P5Q Turbo will POST even with an X5470 (LGA771) and unedited BIOS, so unfortunately your CPU may indeed be dead  Have you cleaned the contacts with isopropyl?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Dells are poor in that respect it seems  .What do you think of this one
> Dell dimension 8300 Old pc unused working but  no hard drive installed  on facebook but i would have to ask what the specs are.£20  his had ot on there  for 14 weeks.
> Just that one photo of it.There is this one on there to 3000 £15 make an offer also on Facebook.Currently it has no OS, so the new owner will need to install there desired OS It has a 80GB PETA HDD It has 512MB RAM Open to any offers or questions.This one is out of my area but not to far out ,i would have to get a train there.Train fares in the uk are exspencive.  If it was maximun of 10 pounds return it could be worth while ,that is if it is near the station, as i should think it is a heavy bugger to carry..
> 
> ...


There is no AGP slot on that system. Avoid it.


----------



## MachineLearning (May 20, 2022)

Got around to restoring my PowerColor HD 5970 that I've been sitting on for a few months.  The first GPU that I ever restored was actually an ATI HD 5970, just last October - it was extremely nerve-wracking being dual-gpu. This time I got to do it with much more confidence and relative skill, and I get to do quad-CrossFire in the end. 



The decal sticker was peeling slightly at one end. Rather than peeling it all off, it's now kept down with electrical tape.



Blower designs are my absolute favorite in terms of aesthetics, and this card takes the cake. This whole generation from ATi was beautiful, and very well-built.






Vapor-chamber cooler, which according to AMD was built to dissipate ~ 400W. This card has a 300W TDP, and so AMD in marketing was saying it's "meant to be overclocked." The only kicker is that the VRM cooling is a bit lackluster - it will overheat at high voltages (which is possible via software control thanks to Volterra  ) and is the real limiter for OC on this card. The GPU cores are binned for lower power leakage than the average Cypress, and as expected they often will OC higher on lower voltages than say a HD 5870.

In my experience with my reference ATi HD 5970, if I set the GPU voltage to > 1.200v, the VRM knocks against 124⁰, thermal throttles and overall tries to self-immolate. The GPUs, however, will run at a very reasonable temp for a multi-GPU card, at or below 78⁰c on either GPU IIRC. This is with the fan manually maxxed out in Afterburner. I've yet to stress the PowerColor card, but I'm hoping it fares a bit better with the thicker pads.

That reference one was done with 0.5mm APT2560 (slowly being rebranded as Arctic TP-2) pads only, as well as MX-4 for the GPUs. This PowerColor card received 1.0mm TP-2 pads for the entire front side (GPU MX-4), and the rear memory modules received 0.5mm TP-2 pads. The backplate of these cards gets massively hot without reasonable airflow - those 8 GDDR5 modules can really get up there when overclocked.









Stunner.

21 screws total for disassembly. This is including the 3 that hold the fan in place, and excluding the two PCIe baffle screws + DVI nuts.



1GB per GPU (1GB usable b/c CF) of Hynix AFR GDDR5.



PLX chip dated Wk46/2009.






Both GPUs are dated Wk23/2010.

If I recall correctly, my first reference HD 5970 had the PLX dated 44/09, one GPU was 40/09, and the other was 39/09. I did not notice the PCB date code on that GPU when I restored it.


 This PowerColor card has a PCB date of Wk20/2010.



Me like ATi. 

edit: Since when goes this GPU have a little green LED?!


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> My P5Q Turbo will POST even with an X5470 (LGA771) and unedited BIOS, so unfortunately your CPU may indeed be dead  Have you cleaned the contacts with isopropyl?


Nope, but the socket looks fine.... well, I can live with 2x3MB cache. :/


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> This is true. But here's the details: WinME still has a DOS mode, but you have to reboot to get into it, which is something Win98 didn't have to do. But once in DOS mode, it's smooth as silk. When you take into account the fact that WinME can use more RAM and is in general more stable, the inconvinience of having to reboot into DOS is far over shadowed by the benefits and WinME becomes the clear choice for Win9X kernel based OSes.
> 
> I do not use Win95 or Win98 at all anymore for retro systems. It's always: install WinME, set some post install tweaks, install drivers, removal of IE and Bob's your uncle.
> 
> ...


Lex or anyone else on here  that Acer Aspire M3640 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Q6600 he is offrting it for 15 pounds are you sure i want be able to put Windows me on it?
Tested with Windows 10 32-bit version and in working order.  I was not able to get the 64 bit version to work, but didn't invest much time in this so not certain if it's possible.

Details of components listed below:
Acer Aspire M3640 DDR2-SDRAM Q6600 Tower Intel® Core™2 Quad 4 GB 640 GB Windows Vista Home Premium PC​

Acer Motherboard for Aspire M3640, mATX MSI N1996 LGA775
Q6600 quad core processer - although this is old (from 2008) it still works fine
3GB DDR2 RAM - a 2GB stick and a 1 GB stick
DVD-RW Drive
Card Reader - great if you have old camera equipment for example


----------



## Audioave10 (May 20, 2022)

Something that old may have a weak or faulty DVD-Drive. Otherwise, I would just leave Vista 32bit on it and clean the heck out of that OS.
That is because I have all those 2005-2011 games I could play on it.  Your situation might be different.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2022)

Tech Quiz!

Can you tell me what's wrong in this photo, here?


 



What I can tell you is that you're looking at the CD-ROM drive main PCB, and the unit doesn't work. Or rather sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't. There, should be more than enough to pinpoint the culprit


----------



## P4-630 (May 20, 2022)

My i7 6700K, nostalgic hardware soon to retire......


----------



## Audioave10 (May 20, 2022)

My W10 best hardware is older than your retirement and Nostalgic hardware (I7 2700k)


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> There is no AGP slot on that system. Avoid it.


I have thanks.


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> My W10 best hardware is older than your retirement and Nostalgic hardware (I7 2700k)


And I have Win11 in a Braswell (practically Atom) notebook..


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Something that old may have a weak or faulty DVD-Drive. Otherwise, I would just leave Vista 32bit on it and clean the heck out of that OS.
> That is because I have all those 2005-2011 games I could play on it.  Your situation might be different.


Is that to me or someine else? I have spare DVD Drives. And HDD drives to and they are all fine according to the app you check the health of drives


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> And I have Win11 in a Braswell (practically Atom) notebook..


More-less the same here. Running Core i5 (Socket 1156) & Windows 7 Home Premium


----------



## Audioave10 (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is that to me or someine else? I have spare DVD Drives.


you ...sorry  Its good if you have extra drives.


----------



## 68Olds (May 20, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Tech Quiz!
> 
> Can you tell me what's wrong in this photo, here?
> 
> ...


Looks like at least 3 of the 4 large solder joints need to be reflowed.  Is there a molex plug on the other side of the board right there?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Looks like at least 3 of the 4 large solder joints need to be reflowed.  Is there a molex plug on the other side of the board right there?


Yup ... and yup! 


 



Sorry, I realize that it looks kinda blurry, but for some reason I couldn't focus on all those solder pads. Happy to report, it seems to be working OK now  What happened (and I'm guessing) is that over time solder joints cracked, eventually causing the molex connector to lose power entirely which obviously resulted with the CD-ROM drive not getting recognized and/or working entirely.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 20, 2022)

More old goodies to look at...


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

Got a Sandy i5 from my friend, need a board for it tho.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 20, 2022)

snip


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I do believe you can use a dual core CPU for Win9x, but it'll only recognize one thread.  *I believe I also remember some PCIe GPU working*, but can't remember how or what needed to be done, if anything.  I am sure some google fu will get you some answers.  But I do believe Win98 could be installed on that system if that is something you really wanted to do.  In my area, actual Win98 era hardware is really tough to come by, so if you're in a similar position, it might be worth it to look into a bit more.
> 
> Here's a thread - https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=44407 - I found almost immediately talking about PCIe cards on Win98 SE.  There is also a "hack" for running more RAM, if I remember correctly as well...up to almost 4GB.  This is all from memory though, so grain of salt or whatever.


GF6 series should work IIRC. a 6600 GT is something which is great for that era of games.


----------



## P4-630 (May 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> GF6 series should work IIRC. a 6600 GT is something which is great for that era of games.



Used to have a 6800 GS XXX, didn't had it for long and exchanged it for an ATi GPU at the time.
I used to favor ATi with GPU's, when it went AMD I went with Nvidia from there on.


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> Used to have a 6800 GS XXX, didn't had it for long and exchanged it for an ATi GPU at the time.
> I used to favor ATi with GPU's, when it went AMD I went with Nvidia from there on.


6800 GS, AGP or PCIe?

I had a Club3D 6800 GS, 2GB DDR2-900 and E4300 @ 3GHz back in the day and I finished Crysis with it!


----------



## P4-630 (May 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> 6800 GS, AGP or PCIe?


6800 GS XXX PCIe


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> PCIe


Check my edit


----------



## P4-630 (May 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Club3D



Had an Club3D ATi X1600 XT in the past, somehow it's core speed was locked, unable to overclock, if I remember correctly I changed it for some ATi Sapphire GPU.


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> Had an Club3D ATi X1600 XT in the past, somehow it's core speed was locked, unable to overclock, if I remember correctly I changed it for some ATi Sapphire GPU.


Club3D was a great AIB as they had cheap, mostly reference cards 

IIRC my Radeon 9550 is more or less a Club3D one.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 20, 2022)

snip


----------



## Kissamies (May 20, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> Speaking of, might go pick this up when I get paid...it's been on there for awhile now and local to me - $25 CAD 7600GT PCIe - https://www.kijiji.ca/v-computer-co...-128bit-ddr3-dual-dvi-tv-pci-e-gpu/1613382654
> 
> I remember wanting this exact card back then.  I think I have a dual core AMD system here somewhere to put it in.  Maybe I'll mess with installing Win 98 on it and see what kind of things I run into to get it working.  Can't remember what socket it is, hoping 939 but it's probably AM2.


I want to see some benchmark results if you buy that


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Tech Quiz!
> 
> Can you tell me what's wrong in this photo, here?
> 
> ...


Cold/broken solder joints that need resoldering. Simple task as long as you have a soldering gun and rosin flux.



68Olds said:


> Looks like at least 3 of the 4 large solder joints need to be reflowed.  Is there a molex plug on the other side of the board right there?


Ninja'd! LOL!


----------



## P4-630 (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Acer Aspire M3640 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Q6600



My first desktop PC was an Acer Aspire with Pentium 4 630 and an ATi X300 SE  (2006)


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Cold/broken solder joints that need resoldering. Simple task as long as you have a soldering gun and rosin flux.


Indeed, but it was somewhat difficult to realize what was going on. Because I only once encountered a similar situation before, and it was on a hard drive, not CD ROM. And being a hard drive, it had exposed molex connector & PCB which made it so much easier to pinpoint the issue & fix it.

Where in this case, I literally had to take everything apart. Remove the mech, disassemble all the flat ribbon connections & only then remove the board from the metal housing, in order to reach the other side & solder all the joints back together.

Edit
Just realized I should point it out, but unlike most optical drives nowdays, BTC BCD 40XH doesn't have bottom plate. Instead, the whole 5.25" package is made out of single piece, with only the top being removable, above the mech. So, in order to reach down there & extract the board, you literally have to dig through the entire unit & remove everything.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Mo problem  I did have one that was on its way out when i checked on the health app.I chucked it out
> 
> So do you still say i want be able to put Windows ME on
> ​
> ...


I only go back to Windows XP 32bit myself because of how many old games I have from that era.


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> My first desktop PC was an Acer Aspire with Pentium 4 630 and an ATi X300 SE  (2006)


The qustion is will i be able to put Windows ME on it?
Lex said earler that i would not. Acer Aspire M3640 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Q6600 ATX MSI N1996 LGA775 Mother board It Is just a shame that card is not working It seems a steal at just 15 pounds even so.
* Additionally I have the original Graphics card which is an NVIDIA Geforce 8600 GS but it is not functioning due to blown capacitors. It may be possible to get this working again if you have a soldering iron and know what you're doing.  I would be happy to include this if desired.


----------



## P4-630 (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The qustion is will i be able to put Windows ME on it?
> Lex said earler that i would not.


Not sure about that. I had XP/Vista on it IIRC.


----------



## stinger608 (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The qustion is will i be able to put Windows ME on it?
> Lex said earler that i would not.



Hmm, I don't know why you wouldn't be able to. 

Pop in a ME disk and see. 

Even though, I have no idea why in the hell you'd want to install ME.


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Hmm, I don't know why you wouldn't be able to.
> 
> Pop in a ME disk and see.
> 
> Even though, I have no idea why in the hell you'd want to install ME.


This is what Lex said earlier on here i wanted to put Windows98  on there quote from Lex
*WinME still has a DOS mode, but you have to reboot to get into it, which is something Win98 didn't have to do. But once in DOS mode, it's smooth as silk. When you take into account the fact that WinME can use more RAM and is in general more stable, the inconvinience of having to reboot into DOS is far over shadowed by the benefits and WinME becomes the clear choice for Win9X kernel based OSes.

I do not use Win95 or Win98 at all anymore for retro systems. It's always: install WinME, set some post install tweaks, install drivers, removal of IE and Bob's your uncle.*
I bow to his judgement. Does any one know how i can get Windows ME on a thin clint?
What do people think of this PC it certainly is in my price range.
HP Pavilon 403 PC AGP PCI Athlon XP 1800+ nvidia nforce 512MB 20GB XP COA retro
View attachment 248174
View attachment 248175
View attachment 248176
*In good condition, considering its age.*
Specification :

20GB HDD
512 MB ram
Athlon XP 1800+
DVD ROM
3.5" floppy disc drive
There is a FREEDOS on the drive at the moment, Windows XP COA on the side of the machine.

Integrated audio, VGA , ethernet and 3 PCI and an AGP slot.
What is  *Freedos*?
It looks a cute little PC  £50   make an offer.It has been on there sometime.
Would it be straight forward to  put Win 98 or Windows Me  on there?
If i get it i will go  the way Lex said a 32gb flash card and the 40 pin IDE unit.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The qustion is will i be able to put Windows ME on it?
> Lex said earler that i would not. Acer Aspire M3640 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Q6600 ATX MSI N1996 LGA775 Mother board It Is just a shame that card is not working It seems a steal at just 15 pounds even so.
> * Additionally I have the original Graphics card which is an NVIDIA Geforce 8600 GS but it is not functioning due to blown capacitors. It may be possible to get this working again if you have a soldering iron and know what you're doing.  I would be happy to include this if desired.





P4-630 said:


> Not sure about that. I had XP/Vista on it IIRC.





stinger608 said:


> Hmm, I don't know why you wouldn't be able to.
> 
> Pop in a ME disk and see.


If the system has PCIe, none of the 9X kernel Windows will run on it as there are no PCIe drivers for Win9X. For Windows 95->ME you need an AGP based system.


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> If the system has PCIe, none of the 9X kernel Windows will run on it as there are no PCIe drivers for Win9X. For Windows 95->ME you need an AGP based system.


So none of thouse Dell dimentions would run it?What PC.s would?
Just the really old retro pc,s with Win 98?I have seen a few  with Windows Me on them.I will just have to pursever with getting Win 98 on my HP5710 thin clint.


----------



## stinger608 (May 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> If the system has PCIe, none of the 9X kernel Windows will run on it as there are no PCIe drivers for Win9X. For Windows 95->ME you need an AGP based system.



Oh, hell, I guess I didn't read enough to realize it was a PCIe motherboard. My mistake.

Yes @Greenslade , Lex is correct, it would not run ME or anything older than that.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So none of thouse Dell dimentions would run it?What PC.s would?


Anything Pentium 4 or Athlon64 with AGP and you're good.


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Oh, hell, I guess I didn't read enough to realize it was a PCIe motherboard. My mistake.
> 
> Yes @Greenslade , Lex is correct, it would not run ME or anything older than that.


No problem What do you think of the PC i am intrested in buying


----------



## stinger608 (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No problem What do you think of the PC i am intrested in buying



I think it's okay. Only issue I'd see, is the fact that it has a PCIe motherboard which limits you to operating system installs. I guess it depends on what you want to do with it. If you are wanting to install a Windows ME system, then you should be looking for something different.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> If the system has PCIe, none of the 9X kernel Windows will run on it as there are no PCIe drivers for Win9X. For Windows 95->ME you need an AGP based system.






?


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I think it's okay. Only issue I'd see, is the fact that it has a PCIe motherboard which limits you to operating system installs. I guess it depends on what you want to do with it. If you are wanting to install a Windows ME system, then you should be looking for something different.


Oh i thought Lex said anything with a AGP  slot was fine.


----------



## stinger608 (May 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Oh i thought Lex said anything with a AGP  slot was fine.




Right. I thought you were referring to the one that has the PCIe.


----------



## Greenslade (May 20, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Right. I thought you were referring to the one that has the PCIe.


Your thinking about this one Acer Aspire M3640 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Q6600
It has been ruled out all though 15 is very cheap.I have four PC s as it is so don,t need another one for later systems.

No it is this one HP Pavilon 403 PC AGP PCI Athlon XP 1800+ nvidia nforce 512MB 20GB XP COA retro.It has one AGP slot.






lexluthermiester said:


> There is no AGP slot on that system. Avoid it.


So any PC with a AGP slot is fine.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 20, 2022)

Nobody wants to make any corrections? lol


----------



## Athlonite (May 20, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yup ... and yup!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


works when cold fails after it warms up =  dry solder joint resolder and it should be fine


----------



## AlwaysHope (May 21, 2022)

AlwaysHope said:


> Today I got a hold of Asrock 890GM Pro3 mATX board. The SB850 southbridge is the world's first native Sata 3 specification chipset for desktop systems. Now I can mount my Phenom II 1055T on that baby, see how we go with it.... then try my Phenom II 905e next...  scored this board for imo bargain basement $ too!
> View attachment 247977
> 
> View attachment 247979
> ...


I have the system up & running now, but inserted the Phenom II 905e in first to see how it goes on this platform. After first bootup the bios was the first original bios v1.10, so flashed it to the latest beta bios v1.55. After doing that, enabled UEFI bios defaults then rebooted again. In going to change the DRAM frequency, the board seems to be stubbornly stuck on 1066MHz despite checking I entered 1333MHz for some early testing with 16GB set of sticks I have here, but early MT86 testing reveals the board is still stubbornly sticking to 1066MHz DRAM frequency! annoying to say the least....

So I decided to "downgrade" the bios to v1.50 which is not listed as beta by Asrock, however with early MT86 testing, the system is sill indicating 1066MHz for DRAM! Never seen this kind of behaviour before in any system I've ever owned. It's like the bios is ignoring any tweaking to the DRAM whatsoever. Not sure if its because of the Kingston set of 16GB sticks I have or not or if it's because of the type of CPU I'm using. Nevertheless, I have other DDR3 kits here to try in any case then. I'm thinking at this stage, does the system need the old trick of removing CMOS battery, shortening the CMOS jumper & doing all that for at least 10 mins??


----------



## MachineLearning (May 21, 2022)

AlwaysHope said:


> I have the system up & running now, but inserted the Phenom II 905e in first to see how it goes on this platform. After first bootup the bios was the first original bios v1.10, so flashed it to the latest beta bios v1.55. After doing that, enabled UEFI bios defaults then rebooted again. In going to change the DRAM frequency, the board seems to be stubbornly stuck on 1066MHz despite checking I entered 1333MHz for some early testing with 16GB set of sticks I have here, but early MT86 testing reveals the board is still stubbornly sticking to 1066MHz DRAM frequency! annoying to say the least....
> 
> So I decided to "downgrade" the bios to v1.50 which is not listed as beta by Asrock, however with early MT86 testing, the system is sill indicating 1066MHz for DRAM! Never seen this kind of behaviour before in any system I've ever owned. It's like the bios is ignoring any tweaking to the DRAM whatsoever. Not sure if its because of the Kingston set of 16GB sticks I have or not or if it's because of the type of CPU I'm using. Nevertheless, I have other DDR3 kits here to try in any case then. I'm thinking at this stage, does the system need the old trick of removing CMOS battery, shortening the CMOS jumper & doing all that for at least 10 mins??


The CPU should support DDR3-1333, so I think it's potentially BIOS weirdness if it's indeed sticking at 1066MHz. However I've sometimes had MemTest86 read my memory timings + frequency entirely wrong, is it DDR3-1066 in-OS as well?


----------



## AlwaysHope (May 21, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> The CPU should support DDR3-1333, so I think it's potentially BIOS weirdness if it's indeed sticking at 1066MHz. However I've sometimes had MemTest86 read my memory timings + frequency entirely wrong, is it DDR3-1066 in-OS as well?


Testing at the moment with MT86, but as you can see in these screenshots, at least especially with MT86 v5.01, it indicates conflicting info. I tried using v9.4 of MT86 as its the latest for UEFI based systems but that version reports limitations with this particular UEFI version technology on this board. So I reverted to the non UEFI MT86 with version 5.01 that is designed for pre UEFI based systems.  Upping the FSB to 216 definitely shows the CPU increase in speed as well of course as the DRAM frequency (1151) as shown in the main entries for 1st page of bios. When moving to the OC tweaker section that demonstrates that DDR3 1439 frequency has been entered but it doesn't  save properly when rebooting despite pressing F10 to get the prompt to save changes... most puzzling indeed!  
Bios setup:


----------



## MachineLearning (May 21, 2022)

AlwaysHope said:


> Testing at the moment with MT86, but as you can see in these screenshots, at least especially with MT86 v5.01, it indicates conflicting info. I tried using v9.4 of MT86 as its the latest for UEFI based systems but that version reports limitations with this particular UEFI version technology on this board. So I reverted to the non UEFI MT86 with version 5.01 that is designed for pre UEFI based systems.  Upping the FSB to 216 definitely shows the CPU increase in speed as well of course as the DRAM frequency (1151) as shown in the main entries for 1st page of bios. When moving to the OC tweaker section that demonstrates that DDR3 1439 frequency has been entered but it doesn't  save properly when rebooting despite pressing F10 to get the prompt to save changes... most puzzling indeed!
> Bios setup:
> View attachment 248203
> 
> ...


Interesting... I don't have a great solution right off the bat so I'll just ask, is it a fresh battery with voltage > = 3.0v? And does XMP work for any module? Have you tried the other pair of DIMM slots, or just one stick?


----------



## AlwaysHope (May 21, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Interesting... I don't have a great solution right off the bat so I'll just ask, is it a fresh battery with voltage > = 3.0v? And does XMP work for any module? Have you tried the other pair of DIMM slots, or just one stick?


Yes, its a fresh CMOS battery alright. Board doesn't seem to have XMP profiles that I can find at least. Haven't tried other kits of RAM yet but that is an option to explore of course in time.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 21, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> View attachment 248179
> ?


Now show us the device manager...



Aaron_Henderson said:


> Nobody wants to make any corrections? lol


Don't get snarky. Real life is a thing and it sometimes means I don't always respond right away.

Edit:
I also stand behind my statement and am, at this moment, installing Windows ME in my Lenovo Core2Quad Q9550 based system to show what happens.

Edit2:
After setup completes and the system reboot, Windows ME gets stuck in a crashing boot loop, even when I try safe mode.
Tried again on a spare drive with my X58 based Dell T3500 and the same thing happens.

Not surprising at all...

SOOOOO...

@agent_x007
How'd you pull that off?

For the record, no PCIe based motherboard supports Windows 95/98/98se/ME as there is *ZERO official driver support*. None! If someone wants a Win9X based system for retro computing, single core CPUs on an AGP based system is the option.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 21, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Now show us the device manager...


And how's that supposed to relate to this :


lexluthermiester said:


> If the system has PCIe, *none of the 9X kernel Windows will run on it* as there are no PCIe drivers for Win9X. For Windows 95->ME you need an AGP based system.


?

Either way, I don't think I have a screnshot of device manager - but here's a video with what you want to see : 







And earlier in the video, you can see 3DMark 03 and DOOM3 running on this just fine, so I don't see the point you are trying to make ?

EDIT :
I worked around limitations of software with hardware where I could, and tweaked non-hardware software problems based on other people's experience.
Here's some background thread on Vogons : https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=56460


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No it is this one HP Pavilon 403 PC AGP PCI Athlon XP 1800+ nvidia nforce 512MB 20GB XP COA retro.It has one AGP slot.View attachment 248182
> 
> 
> So any PC with a AGP slot is fine.


That one will work! The Athlon 1800+ was an excellent CPU. An Athlon64 based system would be better though and should be in the same price range.



agent_x007 said:


> Either way, I don't think I have a screnshot of device manager - but here's a video with what you want to see :  And earlier in the video, you can see 3DMark 03 and DOOM3 running on this just fine, so I don't see the point you are trying to make ?
> 
> EDIT :
> I worked around limitations of software with hardware where I could, and tweaked non-hardware software problems based on other people's experience.
> Here's some background thread on Vogons : https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=56460


Yeah, that is a crap ton of custom config and patching stuff there and a lot of it is super janky. Not something for the average RetroPC user. *Props for getting it working!* However, most people are not going to have the BIOS options to make for a compatible operating environment as most OEM systems don't have many of those options.

Someone who just wants something to Plug&Play is just going to want to stick in the Windows ME CD, boot up, install and away they go.. For that, an AGP based system is the best option and the only option with *Official* driver support for the chipsets and CPUs.


----------



## agent_x007 (May 21, 2022)

Thank you, it wasn't easy (like you said - not for most people).
I only would like to add that I'm not sure how much of this stuff is actually needed for someone that simply wants one or two OS'es installed, or if someone is using LGA 775 platform (with PCI-e slot for single GPU).
I had A LOT of things connected, because I did 6 operatings systems on the same PC after all 

PS. AGP GART support on Win98 with later chipsets can be funky, even with official drivers.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 21, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> PS. AGP GART support on Win98 with later chipsets can be funky, even with official drivers.


True! And that's one of the things Windows ME fixed, IIRC.


----------



## Greenslade (May 21, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That one will work! The Athlon 1800+ was an excellent CPU. An Athlon64 based system would be better though and should be in the same price range.
> 
> 
> Yeah, that is a crap ton of custom config and patching stuff there and a lot of it is super janky. Not something for the average RetroPC user. *Props for getting it working!* However, most people are not going to have the BIOS options to make for a compatible operating environment as most OEM systems don't have many of those options.
> ...


There are so few on eBay when i type in AGP desktip PC.I have also typed Windows Me and Windows 98.This is another one on my price range but the Duron CPU is weaker than the Athlon 1800.This is it here
Midi Tower AMD Duron 1.3Ghz 128MB Ram
“Marks,scratches from everyday usage, but in good overall condition. Powers on and works perfectly.”
Powered on and works perfectly.

Specifications:
CPU   :    AMD Duron 1.3Ghz
RAM   :   128MB
HDD   :   20GB
Graphics : ATi Rage 128 (also has an onboard graphics chip)
Has CDROM drive, Floppy disk drive, 20GB Maxtor Hard drive, 2 x USB 2.0 ports
Internal expansion slots are 3 x PCI slots, 1 AGP slot occupied by the ATi card.
Has Windows XP installed, though it will need to be activated. It looks dusty free in there the caps look ik to me.Good old beige  The other one has better specs,the only thing it does  not have is the ATI Rage card do i need one as the other one has built in Nvida graphis.This one here is £65 with shipping no make any offer.The other other one is £50 make an offer .If i have to get the rage card in this one it will cost me an extrer
£10 are the built in Nivida good enough to not need an ATI card?I do like the switch on this PSU that the other one does not have.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 21, 2022)

I wasn't being snarky...you commented, completely didn't mention my comment even though your comment was posted purely to say I was wrong.  I wasn't.  You're now getting snarky, Lex.  I was making a funny...guess humor isn't allowed 'round here.  I don't have to post here, I can keep my info to myself, no biggie.  Also...I'm sure I'm not alone when I say this is the nostalgic hardware club, and I have ZERO nostalgia for Windows ME as I never ran it during its time.  So I don't care if one OS is easier, it's easier to run a modern OS and use a VM and not even buy retro hardware.  Yet here we are.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 21, 2022)




----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 21, 2022)

Well, I'll take the hint. All my content will be removed and I'll not be wasting my time here.  I'll run into the users that matter elsewhere.  Gate keep all you want.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 21, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> Well, I'll take the hint. All my content will be removed and I'll not be wasting my time here.  I'll run into the users that matter elsewhere.  Gate keep all you want.


Dude, just calm down, OK? That's all I meant to say, this thread has already seen way too many off-topic discussions lately.


----------



## Aaron_Henderson (May 21, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Dude, just calm down, OK? That's all I meant to say, this thread has already seen way too many off-topic discussions lately.
> 
> On topic, I really love that TDK optical drive  of yours. It always amazed me that a cassette tape company would make (or at least license) optical drives, it's kinda bizarre.


I'm calm, just moving on...is there a way to have all of my posts deleted or at least editable?  I'll be gone the moment that is figured out.  I'd like to remove my content first, if possible.  Someone can sort out the off topic whenever they want, I'm not concerned with it right now.


----------



## P4-630 (May 21, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I'm calm, just moving on...is there a way to have all of my posts deleted or at least editable?  I'll be gone the moment that is figured out.  I'd like to remove my content first, if possible.  Someone can sort out the off topic whenever they want, I'm not concerned with it right now.



You can edit or delete your own posts, but not all, there's a specific time on it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 21, 2022)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> Lex. I was making a funny...guess humor isn't allowed 'round here.


If you were making a joke, that didn't come across. It seemed like you were being antagonistic. I apologize for my comment. Perhaps in future when you throw out a joking comment, throw out the laugh emoji with it so your intent is clearly understood. Only a suggestion.


Aaron_Henderson said:


> I don't have to post here, I can keep my info to myself, no biggie.


No, don't go. Misunderstandings happen, it's all good.


----------



## framebuffer (May 21, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Yee I finally got a GeForce FX 5950 Ultra!
> 
> ...well, at least this is what I thought until I saw it
> 
> ...





Mr.Scott said:


> When there is visible damage like that, chances are high that there's damage not visible.
> Don't waste time or money on it.





DR4G00N said:


> 100uF 10V is what it means I'm pretty sure. Not sure what the input voltage on the VRM is, 5V? 12V?, maybe they were being run over spec and they went after a while. If it still works I would suggest replacing them all (including the ones that didn't blow) with 100uF 16V Tantalum caps instead just to be safe, make sure they're the same size too.
> 
> Pop it in a cheap board and see if it even turns on first though before you go spending money on a possibly dead card (the caps won't change whether it works or not).





Lenne said:


> I'd try it in an useless crappy board, not in the main AGP system.



*it works! *
   

even found a suitable/good matching heatsink





Now, @DR4G00N would you be so kind to help me find the right replacement caps?
I usually buy this stuff here: https://www.distrelec.ch/en
Also, what's your opinion, is this a heat-gun job or it can be done with a normal solder station?


----------



## DR4G00N (May 21, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Now, @DR4G00N would you be so kind to help me find the right replacement caps?
> I usually buy this stuff here: https://www.distrelec.ch/en
> Also, what's your opinion, is this a heat-gun job or it can be done with a normal solder station?


One of these will do I think: 


			https://www.distrelec.ch/en/passive-components/capacitors/polymer-capacitors/smd-tantalum-electrolytic-capacitors/c/cat-DNAV_PL_03020703?q=*&filter_Rated+Voltage+DC%7E%7EV=16&filter_Package+Type=2917&filter_Capacitance%7E%7EuF=100&filter_category4Code=cat-DNAV_PL_03020703&filter_category3Code=cat-L3D_616574
		


But like I said measure your caps to make sure they're the same size or at least very close.

For this type of component I typically use just hot air for the whole process, the pcb can soak up quite a bit of heat without a pcb heater so an iron is not very effective. Cover the area around where you're soldering with aluminum foil to shield everything else from direct heat. If you want to be fancy you can use soldering paste too but I normally just tin the pads and use a bit of flux.


----------



## Greenslade (May 21, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> If you were making a joke, that didn't come across. It seemed like you were being antagonistic. I apologize for my comment. Perhaps in future when you throw out a joking comment, throw out the laugh emoji with it so your intent is clearly understood. Only a suggestion.
> 
> No, don't go. Misunderstandings happen, it's all good.


Lex can you tell me which one to go for this one HP Pavilon 403 PC AGP PCI Athlon XP 1800+ nvidia nforce 512MB 20GB £50 pounds make an offer.Or this one Computer System Midi Tower AMD Duron 1.3Ghz 128MB Ram it comes with a ATI Rage card how does that compare to the bulit in Nivida card of the HP the Athion xp 1800 Is better than the Duron.The Duron case looks better to me in beige. And i like the switch for the PSU.And looks better inside the case than the HP.
 *Powers on and works perfectly.”The seller says for the Duion.All the drller days for the Hp one is* “In good condition, considering its age.”nothing about the main thing like the seller says for the Duron modal .If it was on looks alone i would go for the Duron modal.
But unfourunaly the Hp has the better specs out of the box add to that it is a fair bit cheaper.I did try to have a conversation but it timed out.
So what should i go for?There the only two on my price range This is the maximun.
Never seen a TDK dtive on a PC before.













Or this onr


----------



## stinger608 (May 21, 2022)

I'd try and score the system with the Athlon 1800+ vs the Duron @Greenslade 

It will be much faster and you will have a much better experience vs trying to run the Duron chip.


----------



## Greenslade (May 21, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I'd try and score the system with the Athlon 1800+ vs the Duron @Greenslade
> 
> It will be much faster and you will have a much better experience vs trying to run the Duron chip.





stinger608 said:


> I'd try and score the system with the Athlon 1800+ vs the Duron @Greenslade
> 
> It will be much faster and you will have a much better experience vs trying to run the Duron chip.


Thanks for that i did look it up before on CPU world and other sites like that. I was chating to Lex in conversation on here he said that the HP one was the beter one.But he just got back to me ,saying i would get a better experance with ine if these Dell Dimensions 4500 4700 i can,t see any in the UK anyway.I should have a good enouh experaince with the HP i should think,Besides i don,t really want one of thouse big heavy old PC,s



lexluthermiester said:


> That one will work! The Athlon 1800+ was an excellent CPU. An Athlon64 based system would be better though and should be in the same price range.
> 
> 
> Yeah, that is a crap ton of custom config and patching stuff there and a lot of it is super janky. Not something for the average RetroPC user. *Props for getting it working!* However, most people are not going to have the BIOS options to make for a compatible operating environment as most OEM systems don't have many of those options.
> ...


Thats me Lex something simple Plug and play I have just sent the seller a message looking at his other PC,s he says *Tested working*all he says about this one is
*In good condition ,considering the age*
i have eyes i can see what condition it is in.  I want to know if it is working how it should be, thats what i have asked him As it is a big seller rather than someone selling it for them selves proberly blown it with that email to them.Isee that when i click used on the item on eBay it says USED
*The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. * in that case i will put in a bid as it is not a personal seller i want get much off.  I will be luckey to get a fiver off it.


----------



## Kissamies (May 22, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> *it works! *
> 
> 
> even found a suitable/good matching heatsink
> ...


Great!  That Zalman looks great on it.


----------



## Greenslade (May 22, 2022)

Is it posible it upgrade the CPU in this? I cab see this  *M7UIG    VERY 1* is this the number of the Motherboard?ATA 133.I do prefer this one to the other one but it is lower specs.It looks a lot cleaner inside more room inside there.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 22, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is it posible it upgrade the CPU in this? I cab see this  *M7UIG    VERY 1* is this the number of the Motherboard?ATA 133


Absolutely, though only up to an Athlon XP (200 or 266MHz FSB). So like a 2600+ 266FSB.

Might also want to upgrade it with DDR ram if you end up getting it.

That would make a pretty decent Win 2000/XP machine.


----------



## Greenslade (May 22, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Absolutely, though only up to an Athlon XP (200 or 266MHz FSB). So like a 2600+ 266FSB.


Thanks for that. I take it that is not the motherboard number i gave on here?Do you know the mptherboard it is?i know ir is Socket 462
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.08GHz/256KB/333MHz AXDA2600DKV3D Socket 462/Socket A CPU     only avaleable from Germany £10.
This is inside of the other case with the better specs do you think it looks cluctered in there thouse ide cabals.
A lot clearer on the one with the blue fan.It looks like the psu will have to removed to get the fan heat sink out.Very cramped in both cases.


----------



## 68Olds (May 22, 2022)

The first motherboard is a Biostar M7VIG ver. 1.0.  Interesting board, it had memory slots for DDR1 or SDR RAM.


			Biostar USA
		


The second motherboard is an MSI MS-6367, the ver. # is blocked in the image. Manuals for different versions below.


			http://msi-ftp.de/Manuals/6367-englv1.0.pdf


----------



## Greenslade (May 22, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The first motherboard is a Biostar M7VIG ver. 1.0.  Interesting board, it had memory slots for DDR1 or SDR RAM.
> 
> 
> Biostar USA
> ...


Thanks for that it is going to be hard to get to change the CPU on the Bioster one ,which one do you think is best should i go for the other one with the better cpu?Or try and put a better cpu for the Biostar one?There is very little room inside both of the cases


----------



## stinger608 (May 22, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is it posible it upgrade the CPU in this?





DR4G00N said:


> Absolutely, though only up to an Athlon XP (200 or 266MHz FSB). So like a 2600+ 266FSB.



Yes @Greenslade , as @DR4G00N stated, however, he stated that you would only be able to upgrade to a 2600+ chip. If my memory isn't failing, I think that is false. I had an early 133FSB motherboard (266) and had no issues upgrading to a 3200+ 133FSB chip. 

Heck, I've even used a 200FSB (400) 3200+ chip on some later motherboards. You can also find some amazing 2800+ mobile chips from time to time. They overclock insanely.


----------



## 68Olds (May 22, 2022)

I can't get the Biostar manual to download from the ftp link (anyone else have any luck?).  I'm guessing it is the better choice between the two because it should have a Biostar BIOS.
The MSI MS-6367 is an HP board & will have very limited BIOS options.


----------



## stinger608 (May 22, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The MSI MS-6367 is an HP board & will have very limited BIOS options.



I have to agree on this one! Go with the system that has the Biostar motherboard.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 23, 2022)

Biostar board is VIA chipset. You can mod any chip you want to run in it. 
Use bigger multi because FSB will be limited by no PCI lock.


----------



## stinger608 (May 23, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Biostar board is VIA chipset. You can mod any chip you want to run in it.
> Use bigger multi because FSB will be limited by no PCI lock.



Oh hell, I forgot that the Biostar's ran the VIA chipset! Great pointing that out brother!!!!!


----------



## Mussels (May 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> There is no AGP slot on that system. Avoid it.


Please post that on every motherboard review TPU ever does


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Use bigger multi because FSB will be limited by no PCI lock.


This. It was a real problem BITD for OCing.


Mussels said:


> Please post that on every motherboard review TPU ever does


Right? In all seriousness, older systems that have the pinholes for an AGP slot but didn't actually have one should be avoided at all costs. The reason is simple, you'd be stuck with IGP or PCI based GPU's and both of those choices are lame-duck compared to AGP on systems of that time.


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Yes @Greenslade , as @DR4G00N stated, however, he stated that you would only be able to upgrade to a 2600+ chip. If my memory isn't failing, I think that is false. I had an early 133FSB motherboard (266) and had no issues upgrading to a 3200+ 133FSB chip.
> 
> Heck, I've even used a 200FSB (400) 3200+ chip on some later motherboards. You can also find some amazing 2800+ mobile chips from time to time. They overclock insanely.


This is what it says. M7VIG is an all-in-one Micro ATX motherboard supports up to Athlon XP 2600+ processor with 266 MHz front side bus. M7VIG is powered by the VIA KM266 chipset, with its integrated S3 Graphics,I understand that AMD CPUS are fitted in the socket a different way to intel ones.Unforunatly the Athlon XP 2600+is as far as it goes for this board.If i went this route 10,50  for the cpu and with having to get more ram that would put the price of the PC way over the ready to go  HP 432 that is max price of 50 pounds.The Midi Tower AMD Duron 1.3Ghz 128MB Ram price 65 plus 10,50 the extra for the ram.How much better would the Athlon XP 2600+be to the Athlon XP 1800 ? And would the extra price be justefied?The guy who is selling the Hp 432 got back to me after i sent him this message *
You say *In good condation considering the age* but nothing about it wotking?
On some of your PC,s you say tested wotking.Has it been tested .and Is it working?
Reply from seller
*Yes, I forgot to clarify , but the PC workign well, boot without trouble.
I wiped the HDD ,and installed a freedos.
All components tested and working as well.*
Question to peiple on here what is *Freedos*?
And also bearing in mind all the info on here, is it worth the extra money to get the other PC up par ,with the HP432 ready ro go our of the box?








 I like this guys very informative videos,


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Please post that on every motherboard review TPU ever does


Seriously, I told someone very similar thing recently. I believe we were discussing floppy drives & IDE/ATA ports, and I mentioned that it's best to avoid motherboards without them. Or in worst case scenario, have the two optical drives routed through SATA.

Yes, yes, I know ... none of modern boards no longer have IDE controllers, and some people don't even use optical drives to begin with. Which is a mystery of its own, how you guys can manage without CDs and DVDs is beyond me!


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Seriously, I told someone very similar thing recently. I believe we were discussing floppy drives & IDE/ATA ports, and I mentioned that it's best to avoid motherboards without them. Or in worst case scenario, have the two optical drives routed through SATA.
> 
> Yes, yes, I know ... none of modern boards no longer have IDE controllers, and some people don't even use optical drives to begin with. Which is a mystery of its own, how you guys can manage without CDs and DVDs is beyond me!


I am there with you about CD,s and DVD,s


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> how you guys can manage without CDs and DVDs is beyond me!


Right? I don't get it either. How the hell do people do backups?


----------



## Audioave10 (May 23, 2022)

I move a lot of game files with USB, but even with cutting the cable some years ago I might want to stick in an old movie to watch. I don't hardly use my TV anymore.
Plus I own hundreds of games on disc. I hate the idea that "online" means someone else can cancel your ownership. NOPE! 
That's why this case still sets in the box new...


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Right? I don't get it either. How the hell do people do backups?


Backups, games, DVD movies, CD (digital audio) music, etc, etc... The list goes on & on!

I mean, it's not like I'm expecting a compact cassette player or a turntable, just your good ol' CD or DVD drive.

Edit
@Audioave10 My point exactly... It's as if everyone threw their CDs and DVDs out through the window & are now streaming/downloading everything online... *shrug*


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Right? I don't get it either. How the hell do people do backups?


My backup s atr done on a HDD,s on a Seagatre Backup+Plus Hub  6tb.With four Partition,s.So LEX what should i do buy the ready to go Hp 432 ,or go with the other one *upgrade the cpu 10,50 plus more memery i don,t know how much that will cost but i would say anout 10 pounds so thats 65 for the PC  Plus say 20 so that would be 85 all together as opossed to 50 , i will make an offer of 40 so i am guessing i would be able to get it for 45,Is it worth 30 pounds for the other one?Would it be that much better than the Athlon x 1800+?


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Plus I own hundreds of games on disc. I hate the idea that "online" means someone else can cancel your ownership. NOPE!


That's the idea... What most people don't seem to understand is that you don't legally "own" streamed/downloaded content. Where on the other hand, you /do/ own physical media, such as CDs and DVDs.

So, when you buy audio CD, DVD movie, cassette tape or even vinyl LP, it is yours ... and will be yours for as long as you own it. For a month, a year or even 30 years from now - doesn't matter.


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I move a lot of game files with USB, but even with cutting the cable some years ago I might want to stick in an old movie to watch. I don't hardly use my TV anymore.
> Plus I own hundreds of games on disc. I hate the idea that "online" means someone else can cancel your ownership. NOPE!
> That's why this case still sets in the box new...


I don,t own or want a TV , and have not had one for for over 30 years.I watch you tube and DVD,s on my 27 inch Imac thats big enough for me plus it os a loverly screen. I have about 80 PC games on Discs I am with you on that online stuff ,i like Physical
stuff like vinyl records you can,t beat them.



Trekkie4 said:


> That's the idea... What most people don't seem to understand is that you don't legally "own" streamed/downloaded content. Where on the other hand, you /do/ own physical media, such as CDs and DVDs.
> 
> So, when you buy audio CD, DVD movie, cassette tape or even vinyl LP, it is yours ... and will be yours for as long as you own it. For a month, a year or even 30 years from now - doesn't matter.


You can,t beat  vinyl records I have not had cassettes for years i don,t miss them ,no love for them at all.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> You can,t beat vinyl records I have not had cassettes for years i don,t miss them ,no love for them at all.


I'm completely the opposite. I miss tapes and never liked vinyl.


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm completely the opposite. I miss tapes and never liked vinyl.


Wow you must be the only person who has never liked vinyl   I have only bought lp.sApart from the odd single here and there .


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Wow you must be the only


Not really, but I digress, we're getting off-topic..


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm completely the opposite. I miss tapes and never liked vinyl.





Greenslade said:


> Wow you must be the only


Got to agree with Green on this one, vinyl really is one of the purest & most involving ways to play music. As far as I know, it's also the only source which allows you pretty much endless tweaking possibilities, allowing you to replace the heads (audio cartridges & styli) according to your personal taste & needs. Which would equal swapping out the laser pickups on a CD or tape heads on a tape deck.

As for tapes, I shall only quote the famous YouTuber by the name of Techmoan, and tell you how the "Cassettes are better than you don't remember"









Even the Normal, "Type I" tapes ... given that you have a proper Tape deck that's been cleaned & properly serviced, they could (and will) sound very good. I actually have a whole variety of tape decks, ranging all the way from the cheapest mechanical ones to super high end audiophile grade unit, and I can tell you from personal experience that the difference between the two is not as impressive as you'd expect. Noticeable yes, but definitely not day & night.



lexluthermiester said:


> Not really, but I digress, we're getting off-topic..


Weelll, sort of. I guess most of us here would agree that the HiFi & audio gear could be considered "nostalgic hardware". Because it's certainly not "software", that would be the music itself


----------



## Audioave10 (May 23, 2022)

I used to own this Marantz two-speed cassette deck. Record at faster speed and the specs improved just about like Vinyl.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I used to own this Marantz two-speed cassette deck. Record at faster speed and the specs improved just about like Vinyl.


Nice! I got something very similar, but it's made by SuperScope (by Marantz), and it's currently on top of my closet ... not sure if it runs or not. As for my "weapon of choice" that would be Pioneer CT91a, from 1989. Very nice unit, with all the bells & whistles you could ask for.


 



Sadly, I'm not using it as much as I'd want to. Mainly because I prefer vinyl, so given the chance (and free time) I shall almost always end up playing with the turntable, instead of tapes.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 23, 2022)

Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!


Exactly! See, @lexluthermiester? We are not off-topic after all


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Got to agree with Green on this one, vinyl really is one of the purest & most involving ways to play music. As far as I know, it's also the only source which allows you pretty much endless tweaking possibilities, allowing you to replace the heads (audio cartridges & styli) according to your personal taste & needs. Which would equal swapping out the laser pickups on a CD or tape heads on a tape deck.
> 
> As for tapes, I shall only quote the famous YouTuber by the name of Techmoan, and tell you how the "Cassettes are better than you don't remember"
> 
> ...


I like techmoan he must have most the most Retro gear ever,his house  must be like a museim. 
Apart from Lex who has never liked vinyal,is he going to say he has one of these
boom boxes. *Beat it* 
Heres are  friend Techmoan 







 



Audioave10 said:


> Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!


I got a floppy drive a few Months ago  and 40 diskettes but never got round to using it yetI wish i had not bought so many of them.Plus the fact i will have a floppy drive in the Retro PC i am buying.I am not sure which one of the two to buy yet.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Got to agree with Green on this one, vinyl really is one of the purest & most involving ways to play music.


Records are just to large, fragile and the pop & clicks are too distracting & irritating. Tape never had those problems, were recordable, were very compact and portable. For me those features counted for a lot. CD's then took over as the HIFI quality default.


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Records are just to large, fragile and the pop & clicks are too distracting & irritating. Tape never had those problems, were recordable, were very compact and portable. For me those feature counted for a lot. CD's then took over as the HIFI quality default.


There not that large 12 inches ,pops and clicks are part of the exsperance
 Plus the fact they have some nice art work on a lot the albums you only have to look at the artwork on my Roger Dean Greenslade cover.That art work is lost on the CD version. 
And you don,t have to strain your eyes to read the liner notes like you do on CD.s and tapes.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Apart from Lex who has never liked vinyal,is he going to say he has one of these
> boom boxes


I had one, Panasonic dual cassette unit with digital tuner, detachable speakers and AUX inputs. Used it as an A/V stereo system for movies and gaming. But for tapes, I mostly had a portable Panasonic ultra slim.



Trekkie4 said:


> Nice! I got something very similar, but it's made by SuperScope (by Marantz), and it's currently on top of my closet ... not sure if it runs or not. As for my "weapon of choice" that would be Pioneer CT91a, from 1989. Very nice unit, with all the bells & whistles you could ask for.


Pioneer was one of my favorite rack system makers. Onkyo was too!



Trekkie4 said:


> Exactly! See, @lexluthermiester? We are not off-topic after all


My only concern is not straying too far. I'm not trying to mini mod. The idea is if we rope ourselves in, the mods don't and won't have to intercede.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Look at all those old PC's with DOS and floppy drives back there!





lexluthermiester said:


> My only concern is not straying too far.


By the way, just so that we're not entirely off-topic here...  From left to right, those are:

1. AMD Duron 950. I believe it had Asus A7A266 mobo
2. Intel 486, DX2 (66 MHz)
3. AMD Am5x86, 133MHz

(the ones on the right)
1. Pentium II 350, I believe it had QDI Brilliant Slot 1 mobo
2. Pentium III 550, it had a Abit BE6-II Slot 1 mobo

That being said, all of the builds from the photo above had been given away, sold and/or rebuilt into other projects. Therefore I still have some of these today (486 DX2, Am5x86, PII 350) but in different ... and hopefully more suitable layout


----------



## Audioave10 (May 23, 2022)

This AMD Sempron 3000 is the oldest chip I have and won't work in an AM2 board. This is strictly for Socket 754 mobo.  1.8Ghz


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

The power suply seems to be in a odd postion the power supply conections seem to be under it,and the heatsink is a bit under it?,it must be a special PSU,s so that would be a problem if ir needed to be changed.Can i use the same heatsink if i change the CPU?That case must be very small.   The cpu i would install if i was to buy it.
Athlon XP (200 or 266MHz FSB). So like a 2600+ 266FSB.
It is a very odd size the PSU And a odd postion to put it in i have never seen a PSU faceing down like it does. The other PC does not look like it has a normal sized PSU


----------



## 68Olds (May 23, 2022)

I agree the PSU is in an odd position, but I don't think it is an odd size.  It looks like a regular ATX PSU but turned on its side.


----------



## Greenslade (May 23, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I agree the PSU is in an odd position, but I don't think it is an odd size.  It looks like a regular ATX PSU but turned on its side.


But the PSU connection s seem to be under it and heatsink fan seems very close.Can you give me a link for the Ram i need to put in it if i am to update the cpu
Athlon XP (200 or 266MHz FSB). So like a 2600+ 266FSB.There is so many different versions of ram, looking at the prices it is a lot less than i thought. It has 128mb on on now.How much more Ram do i need for the 2600+ 266FSB cpu.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 23, 2022)

2 x 512 sticks of DDR 400.
Cheap and common.


----------



## Greenslade (May 24, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> 2 x 512 sticks of DDR 400.
> Cheap and common.


Thanks for that Scotty


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I agree the PSU is in an odd position, but I don't think it is an odd size.  It looks like a regular ATX PSU but turned on its side.


That's really all it is.


Greenslade said:


> The power suply seems to be in a odd postion the power supply conections seem to be under it,and the heatsink is a bit under it?


It's ok. Just a different configuration from HP's design team.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's really all it is.
> 
> It's ok. Just a different configuration from HP's design team.


Agreed, I used to have tons of cheap, generic cases with sideways mounted PSU. It's not ideal because it overlaps the CPU (and most of the motherboard for that matter) so if you want to work on the actual board, inspect the caps or replace the CPU, you first have to remove the power supply which is of course time consuming process but that's about it really. Everything else is about the same...

These are some of my earliest photos uploaded here on TPU from way, way back on page 116 but you probably get the idea:


----------



## Greenslade (May 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's really all it is.
> 
> It's ok. Just a different configuration from HP's design team.


Do you think it is worth the extra money  i would have to pay over the Hp.With the cpu and Ram upgrade top price £80 as opposed to less than £50 top price for the HP?
Is the 2600 worth the £30  extra over the 1800?



Trekkie4 said:


> Agreed, I used to have tons of cheap, generic cases with sideways mounted PSU. It's not ideal because it overlaps the CPU (and most of the motherboard for that matter) so if you want to work on the actual board, inspect the caps or replace the CPU, you first have to remove the power supply which is of course time consuming process but that's about it really. Everything else is about the same...
> 
> These are some of my earliest photos uploaded here on TPU from way, way back on page 116 but you probably get the idea:


That is my point about it over lapping  the CPU .It is not a good design .There is a lot of room further down the case.And i knew the PSU has to be removed for me to change the cpu as the Duron 1,3 is weak.At the end of the day it needs a bigger case.How do the caps look in there?.I have loads of time that is not a factor. 
There is a bit of brown on the motherboard by the Capacitor near the PSU and bit on that cap.But can not see any bulging  of the caps that i can see in the case.
I get your point there.Not a good design to over lap the motherboard.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That is my point about it over lapping  the CPU .It is not a good design .There is a lot of room further down the case.And i knew the PSU has to be removed for me to change the cpu as the Duron 1,3 is weak.At the end of the day it needs a bigger case.How do the caps look in there?.I have loads of time that is not a factor.


Well, that depends. The whole idea behind shifting the power supply sideways was to reduce the height. I actually had a full-size ATX "Midi" tower that was smaller - yes, smaller than a standard "AT" standard tower. Or even some of the mATX towers for that matter. From the outside it looked fascinating because it would seem impossible, but once you removed the side panel it all became apparent.

That thing was so cramped on the inside that I couldn't fit my hands in there to unplug the power supply from the board. Not to mention the whole thing was easily overheating, and transferring most of the heat on the side panels, so the whole thing would get really hot, it felt as if the whole thing was on fire. But from what I remember, I never had a cap issue inside one of those cases. That being said, I no longer have ANY of these cases with me, which kinda speaks for itself. Better to go bigger & taller, allow the components to breathe properly than to be cramped & worry about potential failures down the road.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is the 2600 worth the £30 extra over the 1800?


Yes. Easily.


----------



## Greenslade (May 24, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Well, that depends. The whole idea behind shifting the power supply sideways was to reduce the height. I actually had a full-size ATX "Midi" tower that was smaller - yes, smaller than a standard "AT" standard tower. Or even some of the mATX towers for that matter. From the outside it looked fascinating because it would seem impossible, but once you removed the side panel it all became apparent.
> 
> That thing was so cramped on the inside that I couldn't fit my hands in there to unplug the power supply from the board. Not to mention the whole thing was easily overheating, and transferring most of the heat on the side panels, so the whole thing would get really hot, it felt as if the whole thing was on fire. But from what I remember, I never had a cap issue inside one of those cases. That being said, I no longer have ANY of these cases with me, which kinda speaks for itself. Better to go bigger & taller, allow the components to breathe properly than to be cramped & worry about potential failures down the road.


I have seen videos of cases that looked like the one you describe and when you take the side panel off there is a lot less room in there.That is not good.  Yes it does.
And to go for bigger cases.You don,t want it to get to hot on there.



lexluthermiester said:


> Yes. Easily.


I just hope i am confident enough to take the PSU out and put the AMD CPU in there as i have never had an AMD cpu before.Will the heatsink on the cpu   now. work with the new cpu?



Greenslade said:


> I have seen videos of cases that looked like the one you describe and when you take the side panel off there is a lot less room in there.That is not good.  Yes it does.
> And to go for bigger cases.You don,t want it to get to hot on there.
> 
> 
> I just hope i am confident enough to take the PSU out and put the AMD CPU in there as i have never had an AMD cpu before.Will the heatsink on the cpu   now. work with the new cpu?


Lex and anyone else i have just seen this it seems to good to be true
Retro Vintage Packard Bell Pentium 4 Desktop Gaming Home PC with DOS Win 3.1

Packard Bell UTOW-SUN PC
 

        Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz
 


 


 

        Processor - 1 x Intel Pentium 4 HT / 3.06 GHz
 

        RAM - Total of 2 GB (installed) DDR2 SDRAM
 

        Storage Controller - Serial ATA ( Serial ATA)
 

        Hard Drive - - standard - Serial ATA
 

        Optical Storage - DVDRW Drive
 


 

 
 

 
 

        6 USB Sockets

“Working Packard Bell Desktop PC with formatted 80GB hard drive, and set up as a retro machine with DOS 6 and WIN 3.1 installed. Has working DVD ROM and DVD R/W drives, plus USB, Firewire ports and Card readers. Obviously these last don't work under DOS, but you could reinstall Win XP on the hard drive if you wanted these. Maybe make it a dual boot machine. Note that Win XP is not supplied. The computer supplied is the main unit only, no keyboard, mouse, monitor, and the outer covers are held in place with duct tape as the plastic clips are broken. See photos for cosmetic condition. Comes with the Packard Bell guides, DVD and Microsoft 8 license card as shown.”Price reduced as I need the space - surely a bargain for someone!  
View attachment 248640
View attachment 248641
Model:
UTOW-SAN
View attachment 248643Brand:


Packard Bell.     No.  mention. of  AGP?



Graphics Processor:      Price £24? What do you think the case is in a bit of a sate
Does it have a AGP?       Windows  3,1.    Dos.    ?
AMD Radeon Graphics
Firewire, USB 2.0


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have seen videos of cases that looked like the one you describe and when you take the side panel off there is a lot less room in there.That is not good.  Yes it does.
> And to go for bigger cases.You don,t want it to get to hot on there.
> 
> 
> ...


Perhaps we should move the system hunting discussion to it's own thread..









						Tech Power Up Hardware Purchase Advice
					

The whole purpose of this thread is for users to seek help searching for computer systems new and old, for any purpose.  Please use the "Reply" button whenever possible to reduce confusion for new users. Forum rules apply so let's all be friendly and helpful!  (Note to mods, sorry for starting...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (May 24, 2022)

Where do you guys find retro gear besides eBay?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 24, 2022)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> Where do you guys find retro gear besides eBay?


Stateside? Amazon, computer shops, Craigslist, yard sales and thrift shops. (in no particular order)


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 24, 2022)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> Where do you guys find retro gear besides eBay?


Flea markets, local listings, generous neighbors, family, friends, etc. You name it


----------



## Greenslade (May 24, 2022)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> Where do you guys find retro gear besides eBay?





lexluthermiester said:


> Stateside? Amazon, computer shops, Craigslist, yard sales and thrift shops. (in no particular order)


I was thinking about that ,it gave me an idea looking at *Vintage computers*I have seen some that would have interested me but unfounatly our of my area .I have seen one that i would like you to check out for me on the new thread you made  for me.  Winfast K7S741MG/K7S741 6L.  motherboard.


----------



## RealKGB (May 24, 2022)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> Where do you guys find retro gear besides eBay?


Almost all of mine I dug up in the attics of my relatives. Got myself 2 486 systems (both sold on since I do not care for Socket 3), a Pentium III Katmai system (kept, upgraded, still use), Power Mac G4 Yikes! (kept, upgraded, still use), iMac G5 ALS 17" (kept, almost repaired, plan to use)


----------



## Greenslade (May 24, 2022)

RealKGB said:


> Almost all of mine I dug up in the attics of my relatives. Got myself 2 486 systems (both sold on since I do not care for Socket 3), a Pentium III Katmai system (kept, upgraded, still use), Power Mac G4 Yikes! (kept, upgraded, still use), iMac G5 ALS 17" (kept, almost repaired, plan to use)


I got no relatives . none of them had a computer or much else for that matter. here is the motherboard there is a site in the UK selling this board for £7 50?


----------



## DR4G00N (May 24, 2022)

Got a fun package from Digi-key today involving Slot A and dip switches. 

Boards probably won't be here for a while yet, coming from JLCPCB via snail mail because I'm cheap.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 24, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Got a fun package from Digi-key today involving Slot A and dip switches.
> 
> Boards probably won't be here for a while yet, coming from JLCPCB via snail mail because I'm cheap.
> 
> View attachment 248708


Ha ha, making your own GFD?
I have an original vintage one, and a prototype built by somebody from CPU World.
Want to copy it? I'll send it.


----------



## DR4G00N (May 25, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Ha ha, making your own GFD?
> I have an original vintage one, and a prototype built by somebody from CPU World.
> Want to copy it? I'll send it.


Exactly. Found this one on Vogons: Freespeed Pro that I'm going to build. All the hard stuff's done already so it's just a matter of buying the parts and sticking it together.


----------



## stinger608 (May 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Perhaps we should move the system hunting discussion to it's own thread..
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I sure as hell didn't see the specific reason behind starting another thread since we already have the System Builders Advice forum??????????????









						System Builder's Advice
					

Are you planning to build a new computer or looking to upgrade yours? Get feedback from the community here for your whole project.




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## IvanP91v (May 25, 2022)

Got my hands on HP Pavilion desktop. This PC aged well, usable for older games, web browsing, etc. This brought back so many good memories

Userbench: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/52503680

Onboard Graphics: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/hmhs4

The 710 I added: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/a3snv

CPU-Z: https://valid.x86.fr/2newhv

Put XP on this thing, now I can play some of the older titles that don't play so well with Vista and up


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 25, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Exactly. Found this one on Vogons: Freespeed Pro that I'm going to build. All the hard stuff's done already so it's just a matter of buying the parts and sticking it together.


Nice. When you're ready, I will play slot A's with you.


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (May 25, 2022)

Interesting, 24pin ATX but now AUX12V?

I bagged a Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample off ebay last week. The shroud and one fan blade were pretty beat up, but it should work. Might have been in a smokers home, or just never cleaned. Swapped my Zalman to it already, but I'll compare against the stock copper skived sink setup.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I sure as hell didn't see the specific reason behind starting another thread since we already have the System Builders Advice forum??????????????
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I didn't know it existed? Had never seen it and to be fair, there's nothing wrong with a new thread focused specifically on purchasing advice(as opposed to building advice), which has been taking up a lot of space here in this thread and is not really on topic. Creating a new thread for discussions to take place is not a problem, it solves a problem.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2022)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> Interesting, 24pin ATX but now AUX12V?
> 
> I bagged a Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample off ebay last week. The shroud and one fan blade were pretty beat up, but it should work. Might have been in a smokers home, or just never cleaned. Swapped my Zalman to it already, but I'll compare against the stock copper skived sink setup.


Personally, I would probably keep the original heatsink on top of that thing. Of course, after washing the shroud and replacing both fans...

Can you at least mount the original VRAM heatsinks back in place? It's difficult to tell from the photo whenever there's enough clearance or not.

Edit
Looking at the shroud from the inside, I see that it uses uniquely designed fan(s).




What you could try is to mount a standard 60x60 or 70x70 fan & see if the two diagonal holes will match the original ones on the shroud. If not, you could always drill your own ... it would still appear more original & authentic than Zalman. That's just my personal opinion of course, the card is yours to do as you please


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Personally, I would probably keep the original heatsink on top of that thing.


Agreed! So would I. That cooler setup is very good.


Trekkie4 said:


> Of course, after washing the shroud and replacing both fans...


Cleaning, yes. Replacing fans? No. I would just clean and relube the barrings on those fans and put them all back together. Fans are like many things mechanical, they need a good service once in a while to keep them going strong.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Agreed! So would I. That cooler setup is very good.
> 
> Cleaning, yes. Replacing fans? No. I would just clean and relube the barrings on those fans and put them all back together. Fans are like many things mechanical, they need a good service once in a while to keep them going strong.


Without scrolling back, I believe he mentioned how one of the fan blades was badly damaged. Therefore, replacing at least one of the two fans would be highly recommendable. Otherwise the whole thing would (and will) eventually shake loose & fall apart from centrifugal forces.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Without scrolling back, I believe he mentioned how one of the fan blades was badly damaged. Therefore, replacing at least one of the two fans would be highly recommendable. Otherwise the whole thing would (and will) eventually shake loose & fall apart from centrifugal forces.


Based on the photo, it doesn't look that bad and as long as it's not broken off, smoothing out the rough parts and restoring it to operation shouldn't be difficult. That's just me. I'm one of those "fix it rather than throw it away" kinds of people.



Trekkie4 said:


> Looking at the shroud from the inside, I see that it uses uniquely designed fan(s).
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That shroud is very cool looking! It'd be a shame not to use it. Maybe some slimline fans to replace the existing fans?








						EverCool EC7010HH12CA 70x70x10mm High Speed Ball Bearing Slim Computer Fan 3-Pin 795508170163 | eBay
					

Evercool EC7010HH12CA. Mounting Style: Rib Type, Counterbore. Bearing: Ball. Speed: 4500 RPM. Feature: Speed Sensor (Tach). Air Flow: 28.83 CFM.



					www.ebay.com
				



70x70x10mm

Or








						Delta EFB0612MA-F00 Case Fan - Black for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Delta EFB0612MA-F00 Case Fan - Black at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				



60x60x10mm
This one has unsoldered wires which could be easily wired into the existing wiring system.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Based on the photo, it doesn't look that bad and as long as it's not broken off, smoothing out the rough parts and restoring it to operation shouldn't be difficult. That's just me. I'm one of those "fix it rather than throw it away" kinds of people.


Me too, that is why I advised him to keep the original heatsink. But when it comes to chipped or broken fans, I have to draw a line. Doesn't matter how you patch it up, it won't be perfectly balanced any longer. And you know what that means, especially at high RPM.

Besides, there's no way of telling if some of the other blades had been cracked, or perhaps bent at some point. Which could eventually lead to some of them flying off at high speed, damaging the board (card) underneath ... it's just not worth it IMHO.



lexluthermiester said:


> That shroud is very cool looking! It'd be a shame not to use it. Maybe some slimline fans to replace the existing fans?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Exactly what I meant, yeah. A standard 60 or 70mm fan would probably fit in there, and may even line up the holes with the original layout. But it would require diagonal installation, with only the two screws bolting the fans.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Doesn't matter how you patch it up, it won't be perfectly balanced any longer. And you know what that means, especially at high RPM.


You'd be surprised how little that would effect the rotational balance. I've done repairs like what I'm suggesting above. Works a fair treat most of the time.



Trekkie4 said:


> Besides, there's no way of telling if some of the other blades had been cracked, or perhaps bent at some point. Which could eventually lead to some of them flying off at high speed, damaging the board (card) underneath ... it's just not worth it IMHO.


I don't think those fan spin that fast. Weak fan blades flying off the hub does happen, but it's not common.



Trekkie4 said:


> Exactly what I meant, yeah. A standard 60 or 70mm fan would probably fit in there, and may even line up the holes with the original layout. But it would require diagonal installation, with only the two screws bolting the fans.


Yeah, replacements would require a bit of jimmy-rigging, but with that shroud it's very doable and wouldn't look bad.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 25, 2022)

A friend got this PC from his wife's family for free. Its a good Dell to get if you are lucky! DELL Studio XPS w/X58 i7920 4/8 quad-core
 (socket 1366 w/triple-channel RAM). Added more RAM and started to clean-up the Vista 64bit OS. So much junk software onboard. 
Malwarebytes, C-cleaner, msconfig, services.msc, Dfraggler...etc. 
The ATI 4850 (512M) was overheating but looked very clean. I replaced with an Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB MSI card. The dual-slot cooler keeps it cool
and its playing older games nicely.  Its a much faster OS but still has a little hesitation now & then.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> A friend got this PC from his wife's family for free. Its a good Dell to get if you are lucky! DELL Studio XPS w/X58 i7920 4/8 quad-core
> (socket 1366 w/triple-channel RAM). Added more RAM and started to clean-up the Vista 64bit OS. So much junk software onboard.
> Malwarebytes, C-cleaner, msconfig, services.msc, Dfraggler...etc.
> The ATI 4850 (512M) was overheating but looked very clean. I replaced with an Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB MSI card. The dual-slot cooler keeps it cool
> and its playing older games nicely.  Its a much faster OS but still has a little hesitation now & then.


That system is just begging to be pimped out!


----------



## Audioave10 (May 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That system is just begging to be pimped out!


It has a quiet WD 640GB HD. The OEM's always have restrictions on cooling and mostly no OC options in the BIOS. The 2-slot 8800 GTS barely fits and I
used Afterburner to get the fan speed up. It will only run the DDR3 RAM up to 1333MHZ. Also a newer 600watt PSU.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> It has a quiet WD 640GB HD. The OEM's always have restrictions on cooling and mostly no OC options in the BIOS. The 2-slot 8800 GTS barely fits and I
> used Afterburner to get the fan speed up. It will only run the DDR3 RAM up to 1333MHZ. Also a newer 600watt PSU.


True, but that board will take a 6core CPU, upto 24GB of RAM and if you get the right card, a MUCH better GPU. Oh that system has potential!

Take some photo's of the inside and I can help with what you can do in a future upgrade if you ever want too.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> True, but that board will take a 6core CPU, upto 24GB of RAM and if you get the right card, a MUCH better GPU. Oh that system has potential!


The research for that indicated an earliest model that only takes 2 GB dimms for a total of 12GB. 2008 or 2009. Later models yes.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> The research for that indicated an earliest model that only takes 2 GB dimms for a total of 12GB. 2008 or 2009.


That's the official documentation. That documentation was made before the system was released, which does not account for the fact the fully compatible 4GB dimms did not exist at that time. 4GB dimms will work.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 25, 2022)

Interesting...I'll have to try that.  Thanks!


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 25, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Interesting...I'll have to try that.  Thanks!


How much is in there now? You didn't say earlier..


----------



## Audioave10 (May 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> How much is in there now? You didn't say earlier..


The old RAM in there was 4 1GB Dimms and I added a 2GB Samsung. It works at tri-channel OK, 6Gb total. These are all single-sided Dimms. 
I don't have any more single-sided Dimms to try.


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (May 25, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Personally, I would probably keep the original heatsink on top of that thing. Of course, after washing the shroud and replacing both fans...
> 
> Can you at least mount the original VRAM heatsinks back in place? It's difficult to tell from the photo whenever there's enough clearance or not.
> 
> ...



I agree. I want to try both setups and see which works. A blade was bent but not broken and I was able to bend it back so it won't bind against the shroud. What I don't like is how the heatsink gets more indirect airflow from the fans pushing air towards each other. Given the power consumption of a card like this with a nice slab of copper I'm sure it works fine anyway. I might still have a DD Maze gpu block around here to use, too.
Might even try to volt mod it.


----------



## Greenslade (May 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I didn't know it existed? Had never seen it and to be fair, there's nothing wrong with a new thread focused specifically on purchasing advice(as opposed to building advice), which has been taking up a lot of space here in this thread and is not really on topic. Creating a new thread for discussions to take place is not a problem, it solves a problem.


Interesting video from one of my two favorite AUSSIE You Tubers. This video testing new and old PSUs, on a Socket A Motherboard, as regards the 5w rail,   it seems the older ones work better on that. 








good informative video as usual.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Interesting video from one of my two favorite AUSSIE You Tubers. This video testing new and old PSUs, on a Socket A Motherboard, as regards the 5w rail,   it seems the older ones work better on that.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ha! I always use old power supplies in my retro builds, along with the original, mechanical hard drives for storage (instead of those IDE to CF card adapters or SSD). Sometimes even cheap, generic PSU units such as Codegen, for as long as I know that it works OK...


----------



## Greenslade (May 25, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ha! I always use old power supplies in my retro builds, along with the original, mechanical hard drives for storage (instead of those IDE to CF card adapters or SSD). Sometimes even cheap, generic PSU units such as Codegen, for as long as I know that it works OK...


Funny you should mention SSD,s this is another of my fav you tubers. He tries  using an SSD for Win 98  installation. 







 needless to say the  SSD was about the same as the HDD.Like a lot of older stuff they were made to last.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Funny you should mention SSD,s this is another of my fav you tubers. He tries  using an SSD for Win 98  installation.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Of course... Using modern components inside the truly vintage, period-correct system is the waste of time & money if you ask me. Nothing ... and I repeat /nothing/ works better than the real deal! My Pentium II 350 will boot Win98 off the mechanical hard drive (Quantum Fireball) in less than a minute. In less than HALF a minute, to be exact. I would love to see the same result on a modern-day system ... even with SSD!


----------



## framebuffer (May 25, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> One of these will do I think:
> 
> 
> https://www.distrelec.ch/en/passive-components/capacitors/polymer-capacitors/smd-tantalum-electrolytic-capacitors/c/cat-DNAV_PL_03020703?q=*&filter_Rated+Voltage+DC%7E%7EV=16&filter_Package+Type=2917&filter_Capacitance%7E%7EuF=100&filter_category4Code=cat-DNAV_PL_03020703&filter_category3Code=cat-L3D_616574
> ...



OK thanks! (sorry for the late reply)
They are 6mm x 3mm, let's see if I can find a replacement of the same size

EDIT: uhm they are ALL 7.3mm x 4.3mm 
EDIT2: OK, looks like 6mm x 3.2mm are only available at 10V: https://www.distrelec.ch/en/passive...e~~uF=100&filter_Length~~mm=6&sort=Price:desc

Can I use one of those?


----------



## Greenslade (May 25, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Of course... Using modern components inside the truly vintage, period-correct system is the waste of time & money if you ask me. Nothing ... and I repeat /nothing/ works better than the real deal! My Pentium II 350 will boot Win98 off the mechanical hard drive (Quantum Fireball) in less than a minute. In less than HALF a minute, to be exact. I would love to see the same result on a modern-day system ... even with SSD!


The guy is just doing it as an experiment  for a video.13k of people have given it a thumbs up. Like the one he tried to do installing 95 with floppy diskettes that failed. Here it is 







 29 diskettes 
Wow that is a fast boot and for an HDD


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The guy is just doing it as an experiment  for a video.13k of people have given it a thumbs up.


I know, I know. But what I meant to say was in real-world application. He certainly wasn't the first one to put SSD inside an old computer, and probably not the last one either. It's possible, but does not give much or any advantage over the real thing, from back in a day.


----------



## Greenslade (May 25, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I know, I know. But what I meant to say was in real-world application. He certainly wasn't the first one to put SSD inside an old computer, and probably not the last one either. It's possible, but does not give much or any advantage over the real thing, from back in a day.


I guess you are right there, It is a waste of time. Good for him with all the people
watching  the video,


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is a waste of time.


More like a waste of money if you ask me ... or both


----------



## DR4G00N (May 25, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> OK thanks! (sorry for the late reply)
> They are 6mm x 3mm, let's see if I can find a replacement of the same size
> 
> EDIT: uhm they are ALL 7.3mm x 4.3mm
> ...


Okay so they're 2412 package. Can you buy them from anywhere else? Mouser has exactly what you need, 2412 100uF 16V and they ship worldwide. 


			https://www.mouser.ca/c/passive-components/capacitors/tantalum-capacitors/tantalum-capacitors-solid-smd/?capacitance=100%20uF&case%20code%20-%20in=2412&height=2.5%20mm&voltage%20rating%20dc=16%20VDC&instock=y


----------



## framebuffer (May 25, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Okay so they're 2412 package. Can you buy them from anywhere else? Mouser has exactly what you need, 2412 100uF 16V and they ship worldwide.
> 
> 
> https://www.mouser.ca/c/passive-components/capacitors/tantalum-capacitors/tantalum-capacitors-solid-smd/?capacitance=100%20uF&case%20code%20-%20in=2412&height=2.5%20mm&voltage%20rating%20dc=16%20VDC&instock=y



Yep sure I can buy them there, thanks!
Can you shortly remind me why 16V and not 10V (my understanding was that the original ones are 100uF 10V)


----------



## DR4G00N (May 25, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Yep sure I can buy them there, thanks!
> Can you shortly remind me why 16V and not 10V (my understanding was that the original ones are 100uF 10V)


There's no real downside to using a higher voltage rated cap, I don't know if the input voltage for the VRM is 5V or 12V so that's why I suggested 16V since it's fine with either.


----------



## Aquinus (May 25, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> There's no real downside to using a higher voltage rated cap


Except for possibly being larger for the same amount of capacitance.


----------



## Mussels (May 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Interesting video from one of my two favorite AUSSIE You Tubers. This video testing new and old PSUs, on a Socket A Motherboard, as regards the 5w rail,   it seems the older ones work better on that.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yup, 5V was a way bigger deal in the old ATX standards - new ones barely have any 5V capacity at all


----------



## Greenslade (May 26, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Yup, 5V was a way bigger deal in the old ATX standards - new ones barely have any 5V capacity at all


So I gather from Phil,s informative video,i had no idea till then.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 26, 2022)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> Interesting, 24pin ATX but now AUX12V?
> 
> I bagged a Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample off ebay last week. The shroud and one fan blade were pretty beat up, but it should work. Might have been in a smokers home, or just never cleaned. Swapped my Zalman to it already, but I'll compare against the stock copper skived sink setup.


How beat up is it? I have the same card with a dead fan. I would like to buy them if you're not going to use it.


----------



## Kissamies (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Ha! I always use old power supplies in my retro builds, along with the original, mechanical hard drives for storage (instead of those IDE to CF card adapters or SSD). Sometimes even cheap, generic PSU units such as *Codegen*, for as long as I know that it works OK...


I got chills when I saw that manufacturer, one of their units murdered an innocent 6600 GT over 16 years ago. 

After that I haven't used any low-tier PSUs, so a lesson learned there


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I got chills when I saw that manufacturer, one of their units murdered an innocent 6600 GT over 16 years ago.
> 
> After that I haven't used any low-tier PSUs, so a lesson learned there


I know, I believe you already told me so once before 

What can I say, I never had a PSU damaging the entire system (or any hardware component, for that matter) although I did have several of them go bad, to the point where the system couldn't POST.

Anyhow, I guess the brand name doesn't really mean anything, as it's all pretty much the same on the inside. What you want (and need) is to make sure that the unit is either recapped or fully functional before you plug it into the system. Because replacing old power supplies with modern ones is NOT the answer, due to multiple reasons even. As Phil demonstrated in his video, some of the new units can't even handle the high current requirements, not to mention the fact that most units sold nowdays no longer have molex or floppy connections. Leaving you with bundles of SATA & VGA connectors which are not going to be used & cluttering up the case.


----------



## Greenslade (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I know, I believe you already told me so once before
> 
> What can I say, I never had a PSU damaging the entire system (or any hardware component, for that matter) although I did have several of them go bad, to the point where the system couldn't POST.
> 
> Anyhow, I guess the brand name doesn't really mean anything, as it's all pretty much the same on the inside. What you want (and need) is to make sure that the unit is either recapped or fully functional before you plug it into the system. Because replacing old power supplies with modern ones is NOT the answer, due to multiple reasons even. As Phil demonstrated in his video, some of the new units can't even handle the high current requirements, not to mention the fact that most units sold nowdays no longer have molex or floppy connections. Leaving you with bundles of SATA & VGA connectors which are not going to be used & cluttering up the case.


What do you do if an old PSU stops working or goes bad in an old ATX PC? From that video, I would go for an old refurbished modal. Until I saw that video I would have gone with a new one. Oh, that is another thing with the new ones not having Molex or floppy connections, I did not think of that.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What do you do if an old PSU stops working or goes bad in an old ATX PC? From that video, I would go for an old refurbished modal. Until I saw that video I would have gone with a new one. Oh, that is another thing with the new ones not having Molex or floppy connections, I did not think of that.


Personally I would just grab another one & try my luck one more time. Over time, I've had multiple systems with PSU issues but I remember one of them in particular. Slot 1, which would power on (LED indicator would light up) except none of the fans would turn on and there was absolutely no signs of life, whatsoever. As in no picture, no beeps, no hard drive ... nothing except the LEDs.

I immediately replaced the PSU for another one & system POSTed perfectly fine afterwards.


----------



## Greenslade (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Personally I would just grab another one & try my luck one more time. Over time, I've had multiple systems with PSU issues but I remember one of them in particular. Slot 1, which would power on (LED indicator would light up) except none of the fans would turn on and there was absolutely no signs of life, whatsoever. As in no picture, no beeps, no hard drive ... nothing except the LEDs.
> 
> I immediately replaced the PSU for another one & system POSTed perfectly fine afterwards.


I hope the *Delux PSU *on the Retro PC I have ordered on eBay has no problems,
The seller said it is working fine.I had never heard of the make *Delux*before but it has been going for years has anyone else heard of the make before?
It is a custum build.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I hope the *Delux PSU *on the Retro PC I have ordered on eBay has no problems,
> The seller said it is working fine.I had never heard of the make *Delux*before but it has been going for years has anyone else heard of the make before?
> It is a custum build.


Never heard of Delux, although I've seen Delux*e* computer cases & other accessories.

Either way, you shouldn't worry about it. If the power supply blows up, you'll just have to replace it. As simple as that ... or if you happen to have a PSU tester you could hook it up & check to see if all of the values are in order & put your mind at ease.

I've been following your quest on buying an old Windows 98 gaming system, but what I don't understand is why do you seem so afraid of making the wrong choice. Or why would you even go for pre-built system instead of building one yourself, to fit your needs? One of the beauties when putting together an old retro-gaming system is that you can make anything you want, according to your personal taste & needs. Not to mention that it's highly entertaining & valuable experience, that's how I made all my retro builds. I'd start with empty case frame & work my way up to full build.


----------



## Greenslade (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Never heard of Delux, although I've seen Delux*e* computer cases & other accessories.
> 
> Either way, you shouldn't worry about it. If the power supply blows up, you'll just have to replace it. As simple as that ... or if you happen to have a PSU tester you could hook it up & check to see if all of the values are in order & put your mind at ease.
> 
> I've been following your quest on buying an old Windows 98 gaming system, but what I don't understand is why do you seem so afraid of making the wrong choice. Or why would you even go for pre-built system instead of building one yourself, to fit your needs? One of the beauties when putting together an old retro-gaming system is that you can make anything you want, according to your personal taste & needs. Not to mention that it's highly entertaining & valuable experience, that's how I made all my retro builds. I'd start with the empty case frame & work my way up to full build.


Delux  without an e.Well i have never done it before, i get your point  though.It is a bit of a daunting task to do for someone who has never done it before.I will try it as some point.I could start by taking a motherboard out of the case and putting it back in there only one channel works on it ,there are bent pins on the CPU unit.,i will be chucking it out anyway to many bent  Pins.
To test if i can do it as a trial for trying the real thing with a new mother board.
That would be a nasty experanxe for one to blow up  Has anyone on here had that happen to them?
Another video about the 5v rail.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Of course... Using modern components inside the truly vintage, period-correct system is the waste of time & money if you ask me. Nothing ... and I repeat /nothing/ works better than the real deal! My Pentium II 350 will boot Win98 off the mechanical hard drive (Quantum Fireball) in less than a minute. In less than HALF a minute, to be exact. I would love to see the same result on a modern-day system ... even with SSD!


I would agree with one exception, CompactFlash. They're a wonderful substitute for IDE hard drives.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I would agree with one exception, CompactFlash. They're a wonderful substitute for IDE hard drives.


Maybe so, and perhaps it would work for generic (and testing) applications. That being said, I've heard of Read/Write cycle issues with CF cards and because of that I can't imagine one substituting a genuine mechanical hard drive on a daily basis, especially when it comes to retro gaming which repeatedly reads & writes to a hard drive for literally thousands of times.

Edit
Speaking of vintage storage solutions... I just bought these on ebay, yesterday 


 

 



Because who doesn't like self-ejecting, quirky BTC CD-ROM drives?!  It's the same unit(s) as the one I featured in here the other day, the one with cold solder joint(s).


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Maybe so, and perhaps it would work for generic (and testing) applications.


It works perfectly. Have you tried it? I posted some links to an adapter and flash card a few pages back. Not expensive.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> It works perfectly. Have you tried it? I posted some links to an adapter and flash card a few pages back. Not expensive.


Adapters themselves are quite cheap, yes. But 40GB CF cards not so much ... at least they hadn't been last time I checked.

So, what you're saying is that the CF card could perform the same amount of Read & Write cycles as mechanical hard drive, without sustaining any damage?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> But 40GB CF cards not so much ... at least they hadn't been last time I checked.


Don't buy 40GB cards then. it's an uncommon size. Get a 32GB or 64GB. Much more common and inexpensive.



Trekkie4 said:


> So, what you're saying is that the CF card could perform the same amount of Read & Write cycles as mechanical hard drive, without sustaining any damage?


I've never seen any problems.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Don't buy 40GB cards then. it's an uncommon size. Get a 32GB or 64GB. Much more common and inexpensive.


I was comparing it against 40GB hard drive, which is my personal standard for Win9x/ME retro gaming systems. Anywhere between 3 & 10GB is considered authentic but not convenient. 20GB is considered acceptable (alas barely enough), 30 (uncommon) too difficult to find, where 40GB is "just right" & leaves enough room for future upgrades/more games to be installed.



lexluthermiester said:


> I've never seen any problems.


Just saying what I heard from others. I'm not 100% sure on this, but even LGR may have talked about this subject at some point. Would have to trace back & double check.


----------



## Greenslade (May 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I would agree with one exception, CompactFlash. They're a wonderful substitute for IDE hard drives.


Here,s our friend Phil he sounds different in this video than he does now. But this was made 7 years ago. Hard drive options for Retro PCs has anyone used a SCSI drive?
Phil says CF compact flash is only good for Ms DOS? I know you and clint disagree with Phil on that Lex








 why he has that background music going on in the background I don,t know. 








  CF vs. SD vs. HDD speed test.CF is a clear winner Nice puss in the video. Very cluttered in the case with very little airflow 









  SCSI I see there are ideal for severs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I was comparing it against 40GB hard drive, which is my personal standard for Win9x/ME retro gaming systems. Anywhere between 3 & 10GB is considered authentic but not convenient. 20GB is considered acceptable (alas barely enough), 30 (uncommon) too difficult to find, where 40GB is "just right" & leaves enough room for future upgrades/more games to be installed.


Fair enough. However, Windows 98/ME will operate perfectly on a 64GB or even 128GB card.


Trekkie4 said:


> Just saying what I heard from others. I'm not 100% sure on this, but even LGR may have talked about this subject at some point. Would have to trace back & double check.


As long as you use a brand name, high quality card, you shouldn't encounter any issues.



Greenslade said:


> Phil says CF compact flash is only good for DOS? I know you and clint disagree


For DOS use, smaller cards are needed, like 1GB, 2GB or 4GB as DOS was never designed to handle anything larger than 8GB storage volumes.


----------



## Kissamies (May 26, 2022)

Finally got the LGA775 setup working, currently installing XP and then all the drivers for it. Then after that, I'll install Win7 x64. And I'll also first install the GPU drivers with one card installed, then I'll add the another.

-Asus P5Q Pro
-Core 2 Quad Q9500 @ 3.4GHz, I'll find out its max later, currently at 400FSB
-4x 2GB DDR2-800
-Radeon HD 4890 Crossfire
-2x 80GB & 2x 160GB old SATA HDDs
-Samsung DVD-RW
-Nexus 850W

I'll take this to my parents the next time I'll go there.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Core 2 Quad Q9500 @ 3.4GHz, I'll find out its max later, currently at 400FSB


3.4ghz is entirely respectable for a daily OC.


----------



## Kissamies (May 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> 3.4ghz is entirely respectable for a daily OC.


I have a flashback that the RAM goes for around 850-900MHz so I'll put more OC later. Also I'll OC the cards to their max. Though they don't OC to 1GHz. :/


----------



## NotHereMan (May 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> For DOS use, smaller cards are needed, like 1GB, 2GB or 4GB as DOS was never designed to handle anything larger than 8GB storage volumes.


You could still use larger storage, but you would just need to have a partition of 2GB for DOS, correct? It's been a very long time, but at one point I was able to successfully multiboot DOS 6.22/Win98/XP. I think multiple paritions were definitely involved. From what I remember, the way I set it up is where the system gives me a Microsoft Boot prompt to boot to either XP or 98, then it gave me the option to boot from either 98 or DOS.

I had to create the 2GB DOS parition first, then I used that same partition to install 98. I believe XP went onto a different partition. All on mechanical hard drives of course, but would this same approach work on the CF stuff?


----------



## stinger608 (May 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Hard drive options for Retro PCs has anyone used a SCSI drive?



Yeppers. I've got an ole Dell Dual Slot processor system that runs the old 50 pin SCSI hard drives.


----------



## freeagent (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Finally got the LGA775 setup working, currently installing XP and then all the drivers for it. Then after that, I'll install Win7 x64. And I'll also first install the GPU drivers with one card installed, then I'll add the another.
> 
> -Asus P5Q Pro
> -Core 2 Quad Q9500 @ 3.4GHz, I'll find out its max later, currently at 400FSB
> ...


Makes me want to put my X48 and Xeon X3360 into my old Stacker.. I might even have a spare 850w unit that isn't bagged. I do have a spare Z77 system, but that's no fun  That Xeon will run up to 4100MHz on that board iirc..


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Sucks that updating Win7 seems to be a hard thing to do. I remember having similar problems few years ago when I last time tested it, but now it's even harder.

Well, if it doesn't get the updates now, I'll get to the benchmarking. One card at stock & OC'd, then in Crossfire at stock & OC'd.


----------



## Greenslade (May 27, 2022)

The first time I had heard of SCSI  was when I saw Phil s video about the different drives for Retro PCs which I put on here. But the video   I put on here explains all about SCSI.drives.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Finally it works..









Greenslade said:


> The first time I had heard of SCSI  was when I saw Phil s video about the different drives for Retro PCs which I put on here. But the video   I put on here explains all about SCSI.drives.


Yeah, that was the professional HDD and other devices' interface mostly in professional use back in the day. One advantage was that SCSI controllers had their own processors, so they didn't use the main CPU for communicating with the system.


----------



## Mussels (May 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So I gather from Phil,s informative video,i had no idea till then.


I'm glad PSU's evolved, the good? old days when system shutdown left you looking at orange text and you had to crank that physical switch like Frankenstein flipping a bigass lever on the wall





Those were the days i got electrocuted far more often.
No wonder i'm odd.



lexluthermiester said:


> I would agree with one exception, CompactFlash. They're a wonderful substitute for IDE hard drives.


Are they a good option for Windows 7 systems?

I have a core 2 quad system i've had to fix where the motherboard is technically just IDE with sata convertors, so without TRIM support etc it's apparently a good way to get an SSD to die a fast death.
They have a modern 1TB mech in there, but the concept of a CF boot drive in lieu of an SSD never occured to me


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Ah, the good old AT PSUs. As a kid I wondered why there was that text, but then I realized that the power button is hard-wired to the PSU itself and there was no soft power on/off like with ATX.


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Maybe so, and perhaps it would work for generic (and testing) applications. That being said, I've heard of Read/Write cycle issues with CF cards and because of that I can't imagine one substituting a genuine mechanical hard drive on a daily basis, especially when it comes to retro gaming which repeatedly reads & writes to a hard drive for literally thousands of times.
> 
> Edit
> Speaking of vintage storage solutions... I just bought these on ebay, yesterday
> ...


That time when BTC meant sth else lol...

Still odd to me that optical drives are considered vintage nowadays, but fair enough. I still keep my trusty Pioneer DVR-216D in current PC as last resort solution. Rarely used it in recent years, but better to have it and not suddenly need it than other way round.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

ExcuseMeWtf said:


> That time when BTC meant sth else lol...


Noticed that as well. Felt like that there was an infinite amount of manufacturers/brands of optical drives back in the day


----------



## Greenslade (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I was comparing it against 40GB hard drive, which is my personal standard for Win9x/ME retro gaming systems. Anywhere between 3 & 10GB is considered authentic but not convenient. 20GB is considered acceptable (alas barely enough), 30 (uncommon) too difficult to find, where 40GB is "just right" & leaves enough room for future upgrades/more games to be installed.
> 
> 
> Just saying what I heard from others. I'm not 100% sure on this, but even LGR may have talked about this subject at some point. Would have to trace back & double check.


This is our friend Clint he must be using this in Dos as it is only a 4Gb card. I think this is the one you are thinking about Trekkie4. Depending on how many ide cabals are on the PC and whether they reach I will get the PCIe one for easy access to change it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2022)

ExcuseMeWtf said:


> That time when BTC meant sth else lol...
> 
> Still odd to me that optical drives are considered vintage nowadays, but fair enough. I still keep my trusty Pioneer DVR-216D in current PC as last resort solution. Rarely used it in recent years, but better to have it and not suddenly need it than other way round.





Lenne said:


> Noticed that as well. Felt like that there was an infinite amount of manufacturers/brands of optical drives back in the day


There's one other (local) forum where some of the guys would get crazy when you mention the word "BTC" to them. As in "Are you f***ing crazy?! That thing is a piece of crap, throw it away" or "I gave you a perfectly fine Teac all those years ago, and here you talking to us about BTC?!"  Well, what can I say ... everyone has their own opinion of computer hardware & are chasing their own fantasies or unicorns.

Nostalgia aside, BTC really was a rather "odd" CD-ROM drive to say at least. It was built like a tank, but I guess you could call it quirky. It would either suddenly release, eject CD at full speed (and have it grinding inside the tray for at least 10-15 seconds) or it would get stuck and make crunchy sounds as if it was grinding gears inside, and the whole thing was falling apart. But then you would eject and reload, and it would work perfectly fine afterwards. In fact, you can clearly see the aftermath of ejected CD (at full speed) and what happened to the edges, while spinning out of control inside the tray:




Don't worry, it's just a generic Verbatim disc for every-day use, nothing too valuable that couldn't be replaced. Then again, there are moments where it would work perfectly normal for days. In fact, these things make interesting sound when seeking (moving laser up & down) due to the way the laser transport was built. Instead of having a servo motor bolted to the worm gear (as you'd normally expect on any modern CD/DVD unit) this thing uses 3 or 4 small plastic gears between the motor & worm gear to form a working transmission, speed reduction & torque increase. And that is what makes that specific, almost robotic sound. I guess the best way to describe it would be "WEE-HE", or "WOO-WHO", depending on the pitch & seek cycle. 


 



It would seem as if I'm stockpiling these but the thing is, despite already having 7 or 8 of them pretty much all of them so far had been used or taken apart & used for parts (non-working units). But having quite a few of "Adison" cases from my childhood & rebuilding several of them according to the exact specs from back in a day, I absolutely had to use BTC on all of them. Yes, I suppose Plextor, Hitachi or Teac would have been a better choice, higher end but these things are not nostalgic to me, since I didn't have a Plextor back then ... I had BTC.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> There's one other (local) forum where some of the guys would get crazy when you mention the word "BTC" to them. As in "Are you f***ing crazy?! That thing is a piece of crap, throw it away" or "I gave you a perfectly fine Teac all those years ago, and here you talking to us about BTC?!"  Well, what can I say ... everyone has their own opinion of computer hardware & are chasing their own fantasies or unicorns.
> 
> Nostalgia aside, BTC really was a rather "odd" CD-ROM drive to say at least. It was built like a tank, but I guess you could call it quirky. It would either suddenly release, eject CD at full speed (and have it grinding inside the tray for at least 10-15 seconds) or it would get stuck and make crunchy sounds as if it was grinding gears inside, and the whole thing was falling apart. But then you would eject and reload, and it would work perfectly fine afterwards. In fact, you can clearly see the aftermath of ejected CD (at full speed) and what happened to the edges, while spinning out of control inside the tray:
> 
> ...


I remember my cousin's dad having a flying saucer as well, as he got the first 52x drives back in the day. Personally I didn't cheap out and paid a little more to get a good unit (I had a Philips 52x/32x/52x cd-rw) when those were the thing.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> This is our friend Clint he must be using this in Dos as it is only a 4Gb card. I think this is the one you are thinking about Trekkie4. Depending on how many ide cabals are on the PC and whether they reach I will get the PCIe one for easy access to change it.


Nope, wasn't that one. It was when Clint (or someone else, maybe?) talked about the Read & Write cycles & pointed out how CF cards cannot replace the hard drives due to that specific issue. Because after a while, they develop "bad sectors" (is that even the right term for CF card storage or SSD?) and essentially the memory chips degrade to the point where they lose all the data.

Since none of the memory cards were made for continuous writing. When you use the same thing inside digital camera for example you write to the card every once in a while. Where on the other hand Windows (and other apps, especially games) keep reading & writing to the storage all the time.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

CF actually uses IDE/PATA protocol so that's why a PATA->CF adapter doesn't need anything special on those.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I remember my cousin's dad having a flying saucer as well, as he got the first 52x drives back in the day. Personally I didn't cheap out and paid a little more to get a good unit (I had a Philips 52x/32x/52x cd-rw) when those were the thing.


Most people seem to think that BTC mechanism simply can't keep it together & that the CD flies out on its own, but that wasn't the case. From what I can tell there was a programming (firmware?) issue, where the unit wouldn't spin down on certain occasions before ejecting the tray. Usually happens when pressing the eject button (which doesn't do anything) but then after a while it "remembers" that you wanted to eject & pops out the tray at random moment. Regardless of the disc inside & any consequences lol.

Still, I love these things. There's always so much work around BTC to keep you busy ... almost like driving & owning a vintage oldtimer - the work is never done 



Lenne said:


> CF actually uses IDE/PATA protocol so that's why a PATA->CF adapter doesn't need anything special on those.


Oh, I know. I never said that it wasn't easy to set it up. IDK, maybe I'm just too old-fashioned. To be honest, I don't think I could have an old Pentium II or III without hearing that whining noise from inside the case, hard drive doing its magic 

Especially my Quantum Fireball drives, these things have their own, whining sound specific to that era (late 90s and early 2000s) before Quantum was taken over by Maxtor.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Most people seem to think that BTC mechanism simply can't keep it together & that the CD flies out on its own, but that wasn't the case. From what I can tell there was a programming (firmware?) issue, where the unit wouldn't spin down on certain occasions before ejecting the tray. Usually happens when pressing the eject button (which doesn't do anything) but then after a while it "remembers" that you wanted to eject & pops out the tray at random moment. Regardless of the disc inside & any consequences lol.
> 
> Still, I love these things. There's always so much work around BTC to keep you busy ... almost like driving & owning a vintage oldtimer - the work is never done


I remember my Philips also not being a flawless drive, it didn't eject its tray with a disc inside until you ejected it via software. Weird bug, though I never tried to search a solution for that.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I remember my Philips also not being a flawless drive, it didn't eject its tray with a disc inside until you ejected it via software. Weird bug, though I never tried to search a solution for that.


Fun fact... Earlier verions of BTC CD-ROM drives (and some of the RW ones as well, model BCE 62IE in particular) were using Philips loader, mechanism. Unfortunately these things were prone to motor failures and pretty much all of of them suffered from the same demise - the spindle motor would give out 


 

 



You can clearly recognize the older generation from the newer "XH" series (letter "H" indicating Hitachi Loader ... probably) by the way it was designed. BCD XM (Philips) is the one with square door flap/trim, where the oval one(s) are XH series.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Those cd player buttons were nice, I remember using a spare PSU and a CD drive so I could listen some tunes when I tinkered around with my main system


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Those cd player buttons were nice, I remember using a spare PSU and a CD drive so I could listen some tunes when I tinkered around with my main system


Indeed, these things had the entire audio conversion circuitry inside. Basically a DAC (Digital to Analogue converter) and a small amplifier. The idea was to take away all the stress, workload away from the CPU & onto the CD drive, so that the actual computer could perform better. That was very important back in the old days, when everyone still had 386/486 & 5x86 systems. As the technology moved forward (around early 2000s) they removed everthing, leaving pretty much just the LED and eject button.

Edit
Fixed all the typos, sorry. That's what you get when you multi-task


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2022)

NotHereMan said:


> You could still use larger storage, but you would just need to have a partition of 2GB for DOS, correct?


As a rule, yes. DOS can address and run from larger partitions upto 8GB though. 2GB is ideal however.


NotHereMan said:


> All on mechanical hard drives of course, but would this same approach work on the CF stuff?


Perhaps some clarity is needed. The interface that CF cards use is the PATA spec protocol. The connector pinouts are identical. The adapter only provides a pin-passthrough and power for the card. It is literally a native PATA IDE SSD, and the original form of such.


Mussels said:


> Are they a good option for Windows 7 systems?


As for Windows 7? Why would you want to?


Mussels said:


> I have a core 2 quad system i've had to fix where the motherboard is technically just IDE with sata convertors


Ok, I might be missing something...


Mussels said:


> so without TRIM support etc it's apparently a good way to get an SSD to die a fast death.


All SSDs made since about 2016ish have TRIM built into the NAND controller firmware and will automagically take care of trash data cleanup. Even cheaper DRAMless SSDs all have that feature. It's not really something you should worry about.


Mussels said:


> They have a modern 1TB mech in there, but the concept of a CF boot drive in lieu of an SSD never occured to me


It would work, certainly, but you'd be limited to the ATA7 bandwidth, which is 150mbps IIRC. If that's not a problem for you then, heck, go for it. You'll be fine.



Trekkie4 said:


> Especially my Quantum Fireball drives, these things have their own, whining sound specific to that era (late 90s and early 2000s) before Quantum was taken over by Maxtor.


For those of you wondering or feeling nostalgic...

























Is it bad that I actually miss the sound of those old Quantum 5.25 Bigfoot drives?...








Drive sounds starts at 0:45.
And from Phils Computer Labs


----------



## The red spirit (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I got chills when I saw that manufacturer, one of their units murdered an innocent 6600 GT over 16 years ago.
> 
> After that I haven't used any low-tier PSUs, so a lesson learned there


They are extremely common in Lithuania. Probably have 25% market share. Most of them work perfectly fine. They are just not very efficient, lack high end features and etc., but they are usually adequate. In one of the older computers tha I had, one of them survived for over 13 years. I have newer 500X model as spare also from torn down computer. It's just that there isn't any sense in buying them today. You can get much more efficient, better specced Xilence PSUs for same price. Xilence is just Be Quiet's value sub-brand, so quality should be there too.

BTW most people don't ever read rail amperage and I'm sure that some people "kill" (trip, if it has proper protections, which is now very common) power supplies due to that. That's particularly important for older systems around Fermi and Terascale era and absolutely mandatory for SLi or CrossFire rigs. Not to mention that CPus of that era were also woefully inefficient and guzzled a lot of power. So 500 watt unit might be only enough for Core 2 Quad with HD 4870 only. Even Athlon 64 era chips were really bad at power efficiency. Once you add other components with basic card like FX 5200, you are already at ~250 watts. Pentium D systems are probably the worst in that aspect.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> They are extremely common in Lithuania. Probably have 25% market share. Most of them work perfectly fine. They are just not very efficient, lack high end features and etc., but they are usually adequate. In one of the older computers tha I had, one of them survived for over 13 years. I have newer 500X model as spare also from torn down computer. It's just that there isn't any sense in buying them today. You can get much more efficient, better specced Xilence PSUs for same price. Xilence is just Be Quiet's value sub-brand, so quality should be there too.
> 
> BTW most people don't ever read rail amperage and I'm sure that some people "kill" (trip, if it has proper protections, which is now very common) power supplies due to that. That's particularly important for older systems around Fermi and Terascale era and absolutely mandatory for SLi or CrossFire rigs. Not to mention that CPus of that era were also woefully inefficient and guzzled a lot of power. So 500 watt unit might be only enough for Core 2 Quad with HD 4870 only. Even Athlon 64 era chips were really bad at power efficiency. Once you add other components with basic card like FX 5200, you are already at ~250 watts. Pentium D systems are probably the worst in that aspect.


Even with older builds, I prefer a reputable brand. Just got an old Acer pc (which I'll upgrade as the board supports only Celeron/P4), it has a 300W FSP, I'll check is its internals ok.. I'll probably build a little C2D rig using that case & PSU.

edit: But yeah, modern hardware handles better with lower wattage PSUs. No problems running R5 3600 & 1080 Ti with a 550W Fractal Ion Gold PSU.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> For those of you wondering or feeling nostalgic...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh, yeah!! I got several of these, including lct model. But the original (and my own) Quantum from back in a day is "EX" Series. Some people cannot stand Quantum's high pitch whining  but I find it enjoyable & nostalgic 

One thing which SSD will NEVER have... These youngsters nowdays don't know what they're missing!


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## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Playtime's over...







Ran all the tests with one card, now let's get to business.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> One thing which SSD will NEVER have... These youngsters nowdays don't know what they're missing!


And now we're grumpy old men! 



Lenne said:


> Playtime's over...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice!!


----------



## The red spirit (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Even with older builds, I prefer a reputable brand.


That's totally understandable, I personally wouldn't buy Codegen stuff either, but if I got one for free, I wouldn't feel too bad about using it. 



Lenne said:


> Just got an old Acer pc (which I'll upgrade as the board supports only Celeron/P4), it has a 300W FSP, I'll check is its internals ok.. I'll probably build a little C2D rig using that case & PSU.


FSP is great OEM, so it should be decent unit, as long as wattage and rail amperage is sufficient. But since it's Pentium 4 computer and you most likely don't want to be stuck with onboard graphics, it will most likely be replaced. Pentium 4 alone probably uses half or more of its capacity.



Lenne said:


> edit: But yeah, modern hardware handles better with lower wattage PSUs. No problems running R5 3600 & 1080 Ti with a 550W Fractal Ion Gold PSU.


I ran Athlon X4 845 with RX 580 off 450W Thermaltake Litepower, it worked fine despite PSU calculator estimating whole computer's wattage to be at 355 watts. That's definitely a close call and I wasn't comfortable doing that, but it worked great. Computer also worked great with Furmark and Prime small FFTs running at the same time.


----------



## r9 (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Fun fact... Earlier verions of BTC CD-ROM drives (and some of the RW ones as well, model BCE 62IE in particular) were using Philips loader, mechanism. Unfortunately these things were prone to motor failures and pretty much all of of them suffered from the same demise - the spindle motor would give out
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Love them cup holders.


----------



## Greenslade (May 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> And now we're grumpy old men!
> 
> 
> Nice!!


Speak for yourself Lex


----------



## The red spirit (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> One thing which SSD will NEVER have... These youngsters nowdays don't know what they're missing!


And it's mostly for the better. I ran two WD Raptors (they run at 10k rpm) in RAID 0 and they still were quite slow. Things like Bigfoot HDDs are quite interesting for first 10 minutes of booting up computer and hearing all those different sounds, but it gets really old really fast. I'm not even 100% sure that people back then really liked all those computer sounds.


----------



## r9 (May 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh, yeah!! I got several of these, including lct model. But the original (and my own) Quantum from back in a day is "EX" Series. Some people cannot stand Quantum's high pitch whining  but I find it enjoyable & nostalgic
> 
> One thing which SSD will NEVER have... These youngsters nowdays don't know what they're missing!


Out of all the things you picked platter driver as an example. lol
What else ball mouse ? lol
I definitely don't miss either of those.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 27, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> And it's mostly for the better. I ran two WD Raptors (they run at 10k rpm) in RAID 0 and they still were quite slow. Things like Bigfoot HDDs are quite interesting for first 10 minutes of booting up computer and hearing all those different sounds, but it gets really old really fast. I'm not even 100% sure that people back then really liked all those computer sounds.


Well, I do! IDK, to me it's perfectly normal, something you'd expect to hear from inside the computer case. Kinda like the whole gasoline/diesel engine vs electric one. You expect to hear your engine while driving around, so when you don't it feels as if something's not "right".

I guess you could say the same for hard drives. It's a good thing I've decided to add 2 additional (mechanical) drives on top of SSD because I don't think I could handle it otherwise. Same thing with CD-ROM (and DVD), I couldn't imagine having desktop PC without having to listen to DVD drive seeking data, or spindle motor accelerating at over 10 000 RPM.



r9 said:


> Out of all the things you picked platter driver as an example. lol
> What else ball mouse ? lol
> I definitely don't miss either of those.


Well, I never said it was a rule or a law to have one lol But yeah, personally I couldn't imagine PC without one. This here is actually my one (and only) SSD:




But in addition to WD Blue I also took the liberty of adding two mechanical drives. WD Gold (2TB) & generic 320GB WD for WinXP setup:




As for my other system, I'm running 3 mechanical drives ... and STILL find the system to be too quiet for my taste.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> I ran two WD Raptors (they run at 10k rpm) in RAID 0 and they still were quite slow.


Compared to what?!? Other HDDs of the time? No they fricken were *not* slow. Raptors were even competitive with SCSI-320 drives. Only SCSI-320 15,000RPM drives were faster. Compared to modern HDD's, yeah ok, they're slower NOW, but certainly NOT then... And to compare to SSD's is just silly.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Compared to what?!? Other HDDs of the time? No they fricken were *not* slow. Raptors were even competitive with SCSI-320 drives. Only SCSI-320 15,000RPM drives were faster. Compared to modern HDD's, yeah ok, they're slower NOW, but certainly NOT then... And to compare to SSD's is just silly.


They were practically the best you could buy before consumer SSDs came.

I still want a Raptor, must get one some day.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> They were practically the best you could buy before consumer SSDs came.
> 
> I still want a Raptor, must get one some day.


The 300GB and 600GB versions are the best to get.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The 300GB and 600GB versions are the best to get.


The Velociraptors? They looked cute as they were 2.5" drives with a 3.5" enclosure which acted as a heatsink.

edit: Also the Raptor X drives looked hella cool with their windows.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> The Velociraptors? They looked cute as they were 2.5" drives with a 3.5" enclosure which acted as a heatsink.


Yeah. As long as you mount them in a metal chassis case with proper airflow, the heatsink tray wasn't needed.



Lenne said:


> edit: Also the Raptor X drives looked hella cool with their windows.


Heck yes they did!!


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah. As long as you mount them in a metal chassis case with proper airflow, the heatsink tray wasn't needed.
> 
> 
> Heck yes they did!!


Damn you, now I'm seriously thinking of getting one when I have some extra to spend..


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Damn you, now I'm seriously thinking of getting one when I have some extra to spend..


Here's stateside, they're still reasonably priced. In the EU? no idea..


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Here's stateside, they're still reasonably priced. In the EU? no idea..


A quick check from ebay shows that they aren't THAT bad in EU... well, I can get a similar or bigger SSD with the same price or cheaper, but with retro hardware, that isn't the thing.


----------



## Greenslade (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> They were practically the best you could buy before consumer SSDs came.
> 
> I still want a Raptor, must get one some day.


I have never heard of them so if anyone mentions anything I don,t know about I look it up.  
The *Western Digital Raptor* (often marketed as *WD Raptor*, 2,5" models known as *VelociRaptor*) is a discontinued series of high-performance hard disk drives produced by Western Digital first marketed in 2003. The drive occupies a niche in the enthusiast, workstation, and small-server market. Traditionally, the majority of servers used hard drives featuring a SCSI interface because of their advantages in both performance and reliability over consumer-level ATA drives.
Although pitched as an “enterprise-class drive”, it won favor with the PC gaming and enthusiast community because the drive was capable of speeds usually found only on more expensive SCSI drives


----------



## bobbybluz (May 27, 2022)

I still have two 300GB Velociraptors in RAID 0 in use in the rig I had in my office at the radio station when I retired. Storage use only and not a lot of time on them. I haven't fired up that PC in several months.

I have a pair of dead original 36GB Raptors and some dead 74GB ones here too. I have no logical idea why I keep some of the things I do.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have never heard of them so if anyone mentions anything I don,t know about I look it up.
> The *Western Digital Raptor* (often marketed as *WD Raptor*, 2,5" models known as *VelociRaptor*) is a discontinued series of high-performance hard disk drives produced by Western Digital first marketed in 2003. The drive occupies a niche in the enthusiast, workstation, and small-server market. Traditionally, the majority of servers used hard drives featuring a SCSI interface because of their advantages in both performance and reliability over consumer-level ATA drives.
> Although pitched as an “enterprise-class drive”, it won favor with the PC gaming and enthusiast community because the drive was capable of speeds usually found only on more expensive SCSI drives


They're 10000rpm drives, something what consumer drives weren't ever as they're just 7200rpm on their best.

Practically server-grade drives made for desktop enthusiasts.


----------



## Greenslade (May 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Here's stateside, they're still reasonably priced. In the EU? no idea..


The cheapest one on eBay here in Blighty is £8.99 *Excellent Condition. Fully tested and working. (may show signs of usage as in scratches or sticker ”That seems a good price,it is all so make an offer.
Western Digital WD1600HLFS WD VelociRaptor 160GB 2.5" Internal Hard Drive HDD £10.​


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Even though there's practically no sense of getting one these days, we hobbyists still get "useless" shit because we love older hardware 

I may seriously consider of getting a Raptor.


----------



## bobbybluz (May 27, 2022)

From extensive personal experience avoid any pre-2009 Velociraptors and any under 300GB. I started buying them when the original 36GB models came out and went through several under warranty. WD finally quit making them and switched to the 74GB models. They replaced my last two dead 36GB's with those plus let me keep the dead drives. Those were prone to failure as well. WD surprised me and sent me a nice new 300GB drive when my last 74GB died. I bought another and put them in RAID 0. Both were still working fine as of last January. I'm getting ready to take the rig they're in apart and may sell them. Western Digital 300 GB VelociRaptor SATA 3 Gb/s 10,000 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Enterprise Hard Drive - WD3000HLFS : Electronics (amazon.com)


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## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> From extensive personal experience avoid any pre-2009 Velociraptors and any under 300GB. I started buying them when the original 36GB models came out and went through several under warranty. WD finally quit making them and switched to the 74GB models. They replaced my last two dead 36GB's with those plus let me keep the dead drives. Those were prone to failure as well. WD surprised me and sent me a nice new 300GB drive when my last 74GB died. I bought another and put them in RAID 0. Both were still working fine as of last January. I'm getting ready to take the rig they're in apart and may sell them. Western Digital 300 GB VelociRaptor SATA 3 Gb/s 10,000 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Enterprise Hard Drive - WD3000HLFS : Electronics (amazon.com)


How long they lasted until they died?


----------



## 68Olds (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Even though there's practically no sense of getting one these days,* we hobbyists still get "useless" shit because we love older hardware*
> 
> I may seriously consider of getting a Raptor.


or we just never throw anything away. 

Five out of six of mine still work.


----------



## QuietBob (May 27, 2022)

The fastest Velociraptors were the xHTZ series (the latest one). They came in 250, 500 and 1000 GB capacities. I have two of these, one in my secondary rig (21k hours with zero errors), and another one used for cold storage. I also have the second generation 74 GB model in my XP retro PC. While the older drives were quite noisy, the latest ones are actually quieter than many contemporary HDDs.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

68Olds said:


> *or we just never throw anything away*.
> 
> Five out of six of mine still work.
> 
> ...


True, it must be literally broken if I throw something old PC shit away! 

I mean, some components have been revived after sitting in the closet..


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 27, 2022)

Wish you guys were stateside. I have 36's and 74's I'd just give you.
They're hot bitches. Burn your hand hot.


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Wish you guys were stateside. I have 36's and 74's I'd just give you.
> They're hot bitches. Burn your hand hot.


Would be too expensive to export those to here


----------



## Greenslade (May 27, 2022)

How come lower-rated CF Compact Flash cards work out dearer to buy?
2Gb  £9   and yet 32Gb only costs £16? The same make from the same seller.
And why are the MB ones dearer than the Gb?
High Speed CF Memory Card Compact Flash CF Card for Digital Camera Computer​These are the cheapest ones on eBay.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How come lower-rated CF Compact Flash cards work out dearer to buy?
> 2Gb  £9   and yet 32Gb only costs £16? The same make from the same seller.
> And why are the MB ones dearer than the Gb?
> High Speed CF Memory Card Compact Flash CF Card for Digital Camera Computer​These are the cheapest ones on eBay. View attachment 249040​View attachment 249038​


DON'T go with the cheapest ones!! Get name brand and buy the high quality! Seriously!


----------



## Greenslade (May 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Would be too expensive to export those to here


It would cost an arm and leg to send to the UK, I suppose it would be about the same to Finland .


----------



## Kissamies (May 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It would cost an arm and leg to send to the UK, I suppose it would be about the same to Finland .


I guess... even you guys had Brexit, it was somewhat similar to buy something from mainland Europe or from UK few years ago.

Though weird that I've bought few old console games from Australia and they were cheap to import, did UK affect those or did I just had good luck? That was also few years ago, before Brexit.


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## stinger608 (May 27, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> The fastest Velociraptors were the xHTZ series (the latest one). They came in 250, 500 and 1000 GB capacities. I have two of these, one in my secondary rig (21k hours with zero errors), and another one used for cold storage. I also have the second generation 74 GB model in my XP retro PC. While the older drives were quite noisy, the latest ones are actually quieter than many contemporary HDDs.



Yeppers, I still have half a dozen of the 250gig XHTZ drives and they all still work great. 

Jeez, now it makes me want to do a RAID system with them........  

They have been sitting for a couple of years without doing anything with them. Dang it. 

Maybe a Win pro 2000 RAID or something like that.


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 27, 2022)

I had a bunch of 36's in Raid0 for benching PCMark5 back in the day. Then SSD's showed up and the fat lady sang.


----------



## freeagent (May 28, 2022)

I used to run 4x Raptor 150s in raid, one of them had the window, and out of those 4, 3 died, and I had traded one to a friend and it had died a year later. I am pretty sure they were from before 2009. I got into SSDs when they were like 250 bucks for 64GB. Those Raptors sounded like an industrial coffee perc when they moved in unison.. so loud! Especially in my old Stacker STC-T01.. it was like an echo chamber


----------



## Mr.Scott (May 28, 2022)

My first 4 SSD's I didn't pay for. They were review samples when I was at ClassicPlatforms. All from Patriot.
Still use them to this day. Not the fastest, but still kills a spinner. No question they're durable. Been almost 10 years.


----------



## freeagent (May 28, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> My first 4 SSD's I didn't pay for. They were review samples when I was at ClassicPlatforms. All from Patriot.
> Still use them to this day. Not the fastest, but still kills a spinner. No question they're durable. Been almost 10 years.


The oldest I have now is an Intel 520 120GB.. it’s not bad! It’s in my moms Ivy Bridge Dell laptop. I did have a 120GB Revo Drive, but it died.. well half of it did. Still a little bummed because it was pretty badass. I bought it new in package for like half the price locally from a crackhead on Kijiji. We met at a donut shop frequented by cops and he was nervous af heheh.


----------



## stinger608 (May 28, 2022)

freeagent said:


> The oldest I have now is an Intel 520 120GB.. it’s not bad! It’s in my moms Ivy Bridge Dell laptop. I did have a 120GB Revo Drive, but it died.. well half of it did. Still a little bummed because it was pretty badass. I bought it new in package for like half the price locally from a crackhead on Kijiji. We met at a donut shop frequented by cops and he was nervous af heheh.



I wish I could have given a thumbs up and a laugh at that statement!!!!!!   

I'll be he was nervous as hell. LOL


----------



## Kissamies (May 28, 2022)

Too lazy to check the hours now, but I have some serviced drives on my main rig... remind me later today friends


----------



## The red spirit (May 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Compared to what?!? Other HDDs of the time? No they fricken were *not* slow. Raptors were even competitive with SCSI-320 drives. Only SCSI-320 15,000RPM drives were faster. Compared to modern HDD's, yeah ok, they're slower NOW, but certainly NOT then... And to compare to SSD's is just silly.


Perhaps if you look like that, they were okay, but that's not what I think about them nowadays or when I tested them. And to be fair, those were 72GB Raptors, not Velociraptors. If you really wanted the absolute fastest shit out there, then they weren't it. You wanted RAID 0 of server 20k rpm drives. One of the reasons why I think that those old Raptors were quite pathetic isn't just that SSDs are faster, but even modern basic 1TB drive is faster in sequential read and write. I'm not exactly sure why that is like that, but that's what I found out. Modern drive still couldn't touch Raptor RAID 0 at burst read and write, but I'm not convinced that modern HDDs in RAID 0 wouldn't beat Raptor RAID 0. Another thing, they didn't really do much for improving system responsiveness as you would have expected. Such setup was a way cooler conversation piece than actually doing anything really noticeably good for computer. I had 2 drives in RAID 0, but some people have tested 4. Turns out that performance scaling is poor beyond 2 drives. And if you wanted a legitimate upgrade for your system, it actually made more sense to just ignore RAID 0 altogether, since you can do two big writing or reading operations in parallel, instead of trying to conjoin two drives into one. System would be more responsive. Say what you want, but RAID 0 of 10k rpm drives is a bit like SLI, awesome concept that end up being somewhat disappointing in practice.


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## lexluthermiester (May 28, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Perhaps if you look like that, they were okay, but that's not what I think about them nowadays or when I tested them.


BITD they were the fastest non-SCSI devices available, hands down. What was your basis of comparison?


The red spirit said:


> And to be fair, those were 72GB Raptors, not Velociraptors.


You mean 74GB? They never made 72GB versions..


The red spirit said:


> Modern drive still couldn't touch Raptor RAID 0 at burst read and write, but I'm not convinced that modern HDDs in RAID 0 wouldn't beat Raptor RAID 0.


Of course not, it's been about 15 years. Hard Drive tech has advanced greatly in that time. Modern performance drives SHOULD beat out a Raptor of any version, such as a modern WD Black 4TB. But that's a far cry from saying that Raptors in their heyday were not the fastest consumer drives available.


The red spirit said:


> Turns out that performance scaling is poor beyond 2 drives.


For RAID 0 yes, for RAID 5, not as much. But then again, there has always been a diminishing returns effect on the speed of RAID arrays.


----------



## The red spirit (May 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> BITD they were the fastest non-SCSI devices available, hands down. What was your basis of comparison?


There wasn't even much comparison, just some testing for fun in 2018 or 2019. 



lexluthermiester said:


> You mean 74GB? They never made 72GB versions..


And now guess what their size was once formated.



lexluthermiester said:


> Of course not, it's been about 15 years. Hard Drive tech has advanced greatly in that time. Modern performance drives SHOULD beat out a Raptor of any version, such as a modern WD Black 4TB. But that's a far cry from saying that Raptors in their heyday were not the fastest consumer drives available.


I really have no idea what advanced there. It's still the same spinning rust to me. BTW I compared to 1TB Seagate Barracuda, definitely not high end stuff like WD Black or Barracuda Pro. But to be fair,  iwould have zero idea why one or another hard drive at same rpms would be faster. Only cache size variates and cache is only very occasionally useful, since it's so tiny.



lexluthermiester said:


> For RAID 0 yes, for RAID 5, not as much. But then again, there has always been a diminishing returns effect on the speed of RAID arrays.


But why? It basically combines RAID 0 and RAID 1. It should be slower than RAID 0, but more durable than RAID 0.


----------



## Kissamies (May 28, 2022)

I love watching The Computer Chroncles from youtube.

Just pisses me off that almost nobody does understand how important dude Gary Kildall was... RIP.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 28, 2022)

Just poly'd my BE6-II.


----------



## P4-630 (May 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How come lower-rated CF Compact Flash cards work out dearer to buy?
> 2Gb  £9   and yet 32Gb only costs £16? The same make from the same seller.
> And why are the MB ones dearer than the Gb?
> High Speed CF Memory Card Compact Flash CF Card for Digital Camera Computer​These are the cheapest ones on eBay. View attachment 249040​View attachment 249038​



I used those for my palmtop PC in the 90s.
Also had a dialup modem in compact flash size so I was able to use the internet on my palmtop. 





Casio casiopeia E-100, Windows CE


----------



## framebuffer (May 28, 2022)

speaking about Raptors, does anyone have one of those with clear window on top that allows to see inside?


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## Greenslade (May 28, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> My first 4 SSD's I didn't pay for. They were review samples when I was at ClassicPlatforms. All from Patriot.
> Still use them to this day. Not the fastest, but still kills a spinner. No question they're durable. Been almost 10 years.


Wow thats good going Scotty


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## 68Olds (May 28, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> speaking about Raptors, does anyone have one of those with clear window on top that allows to see inside?


Freeagent posted a picture of his windowed Raptor X a while back in this thread.
TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club | Page 496 | TechPowerUp Forums


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## lexluthermiester (May 28, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> There wasn't even much comparison, just some testing for fun in 2018 or 2019.


Ah but there is the issue, you were comparing them recently to modern drives. Context is always important. You have to compare them to other drives of the same time period to get a proper perspective of just how impressive they were. They really kicked ass!


The red spirit said:


> And now guess what their size was once formated.


Ah, ok. I see what you mean.


The red spirit said:


> I really have no idea what advanced there. It's still the same spinning rust to me. BTW I compared to 1TB Seagate Barracuda, definitely not high end stuff like WD Black or Barracuda Pro. But to be fair, iwould have zero idea why one or another hard drive at same rpms would be faster. Only cache size variates and cache is only very occasionally useful, since it's so tiny.


I don't wish to insult you, so please take no offense: Hard drive tech has come a long way in the last 10 to 15 years. Head armatures are faster and more precise, data densities are more compact and as result, more data can be read per rotational pass than it older drives, then as you mentioned, drive caches have increased, but also caching has been optimized. I could keep going and get into the real nitty-gritty of things, but I think you get the point.

Yes, HDDs are still just spinning disks, but they are greatly more advanced than drives of 10 to 15 years ago.


The red spirit said:


> But why? It basically combines RAID 0 and RAID 1. It should be slower than RAID 0, but more durable than RAID 0.


Not quite. RAID5 involves data striping but not the same way as RAID0. WIth RAID5 you get a solid speed advantage when you use more than 4 drives in an array. However, even when only using 3(minimum for RAID5) or 4 drives, the speed advantage is still present over the speed of a single drive and matches a 2 drive RAID0 array.


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## The red spirit (May 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah but there is the issue, you were comparing them recently to modern drives. Context is always important. You have to compare them to other drives of the same time period to get a proper perspective of just how impressive they were. They really kicked ass!


From my own subjective observations simple 7200k IDE drive was slow and those 10k rpm SATA drives were still slow. Less slow, but still slow. It really wasn't a proper solution to hard drive slowness. Frankly, probably basic 7.2k drives in RAID 0 would have been similarly fast. Despite sequential performance being good, it really doesn't matter as much as access time and burst operations. SSD will always have superior access time, since it uses electricity to access all those cells, hard drive will always have to pin platters and move head. You can make hard drive 2 times as fast if you want, but in that one metric, SSD beats them by thousands if not million times. Even SD card does. In burst operations access time and IOPS matter, again SSDs even slow ones are thousands of times faster. Only in sequential operations some low end SSDs can be crap, but really not that much behind or behind old hard drives at all.


Spoiler



Not sure about you, but it triggers me when people say that X SSD is slower than hard drive and they judge only by sequential operation speed and difference is small. They ignore access time, IOPS, which are inherently superior traits of SSDs and that's why SSD would still be a lot faster than any hard drive even in severe choking conditions like in adapting SATA SSD to IDE.



Anyway, yeah I realize that dual super fast hard drives were really cool and almost science fiction back in 2004, but it's also something that only then people could enjoy to the fullest too. Today it just looks like overcomplicated, flawed technique to get not so great performance gains with antiquated technology. Now you would want SSDs in RAID 0 and that's what I wanted to so in that old machine too, but it didn't happen, because it couldn't detect SSDs at all. I even bought SATA card and still nope. SSDs were perfectly functional in other systems.

You know what, those more modern Velociraptops are nearly two times as fast in sequential operations than Raptor. Those would be interesting to RAID. But I still wouldn't expect magic is lack of IOPS would still hurt such setup the most. Considering that, RAID 0 of SSHDs would be even more exciting to explore and might mask lack of IOPS, but that's not retro hardware at all.



lexluthermiester said:


> I don't wish to insult you, so please take no offense: Hard drive tech has come a long way in the last 10 to 15 years. Head armatures are faster and more precise, data densities are more compact and as result, more data can be read per rotational pass than it older drives, then as you mentioned, drive caches have increased, but also caching has been optimized. I could keep going and get into the real nitty-gritty of things, but I think you get the point.


I have been trying to learn about HDD advances and which specs matter beyond rpms, cache and platters. I haven't been able to find anything so I would love to learn about that. I also have no idea how exactly different types of hard drives differ on hardware/firmware level like basic, surveillance, enterprise, fast and NAS drives. I have read a lot and there's just too much contradictory information to reach conclusions. It's not only about hard drives either, I fail to find much info about SSD internals too, yet I would like to learn more. If you have time, you can PM me or just drop a link to some good resources.



lexluthermiester said:


> Not quite. RAID5 involves data striping but not the same way as RAID0. WIth RAID5 you get a solid speed advantage when you use more than 4 drives in an array. However, even when only using 3(minimum for RAID5) or 4 drives, the speed advantage is still present over the speed of a single drive and matches a 2 drive RAID0 array.


Ah, so that's what you mean. So if you have 3 drives, then RAID 0 is still faster than RAID 5, right? For that matter, how does RAID 10 compare to them both (with 4 HDDs)?


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## Greenslade (May 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Too lazy to check the hours now, but I have some serviced drives on my main rig... remind me later today friends


Its not good enough, you youngsters have got no stamina


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## lexluthermiester (May 28, 2022)

@Greenslade
Phil just did a video about installing Win98SE;








Everything here applies equally to Windows ME.


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## Greenslade (May 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> @Greenslade
> Phil just did a video about installing Win98SE;
> 
> 
> ...


I will check it out.  But when is he going to do one on Windows ME? 
You should do one on there Lex.  I can,t beleave you or anyone else on here ,hasn,t got a dhannal on you tube.


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## onemanhitsquad (May 28, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> speaking about Raptors, does anyone have one of those with clear window on top that allows to see inside?


I have 2 left...both have issues...does that count?


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## lexluthermiester (May 28, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I have 2 left...both have issues...does that count?


They're display pieces now. But as such, they're still awesome!


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## Greenslade (May 28, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I have 2 left...both have issues...does that count?


I don,t see why not.


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## Kissamies (May 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I will check it out.  But when is he going to do one on Windows ME?
> You should do one on there Lex.  I can,t beleave you or anyone else on here ,hasn,t got a dhannal on you tube.


Forget Me, 98SE is better.


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## MaxiPro800 (May 28, 2022)

My 3d Prophet Radeon 9700 just got a new HSF, close to what the original was... almost.




I say almost, because Hercules' HSF was originally copprr, while this is aluminium. Not very close but I applied some MX4 and will maybe test it out tomorrow on a nF2 system to see how its temps are with Deepcool's V50 heatsink+fan.



Just for lulz I would have installed this on the BE6-II machine since it seems to allow it run. Thing is, the 7500 it had in there already suffers from the limited interface, and on top of that, I'm already trying to move it to Geforce.


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## Kissamies (May 28, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> My 3d Prophet Radeon 9700 just got a new HSF, close to what the original was... almost.
> View attachment 249147
> 
> I say almost, because Hercules' HSF was originally copprr, while this is aluminium. Not very close but I applied some MX4 and will maybe test it out tomorrow on a nF2 system to see how its temps are with Deepcool's V50 heatsink+fan.
> ...


The most legendary Radeon ever. Though I'd put a far beefier cooler for it, but I guess that's fine. I remember running mine at 9800 XT clocks (412/730DDR) and it beat my friend's 9800 Pro (even tho R350 has some improvements over R300).


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## Greenslade (May 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Forget Me, 98SE is better.


Lex keeps on saying it is better than 98se and never uses it
anymore.And why in the world is Phil using an 1TB SSD on 98SE?Or even an SSD for that matter.Why did he not go for compact Flash?Let alone using a 1TB one


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## Kissamies (May 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Lex keeps on saying it is better than 98se and never uses it
> anymore.And why in the world is Phil using an 1TB SSD on 98SE?Or even an SSD for that matter.Why did he not go for compact Flash?


Yea, I remember Lex saying that, but there's nothing Me can do that 98SE doesn't.

Hard to say, maybe Phil used a SSD just because he could. I don't also use always the wisest choices with computers.


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## lexluthermiester (May 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Forget Me, 98SE is better.


That depends and we've had that discussion. Unless you need real mode DOS within Windows, ME is entirely superior.


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## MaxiPro800 (May 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> The most legendary Radeon ever. Though I'd put a far beefier cooler for it, but I guess that's fine. I remember running mine at 9800 XT clocks (412/730DDR) and it beat my friend's 9800 Pro (even tho R350 has some improvements over R300).


I would, if those flower styled chinese coolers wouldn't be almost long since extinct in my country. Ever since Deepcool became a thing, I don't think I've seen any of those Zalman clones sold anymore.

Onwards with my ABIT - somehow I "cracked the DaVinci code" as to why Geforce cards didn't work - a combo of running In Order Queue Depth on 1 (which made the system run like pure turd, and that was absolutely visible in Ford Racing 2 for example.), plus chipset voltage set to 3.3 which it didn't like as it was a bit (no pun intended) too low for its own taste. Upped the IOQD to 8 and NB voltage to 3.4V (a "safety measure" as I am not very keen on running it at 3.5 - 3.4 would be what I consider a 10% voltage margin.) and it seems to run absolutely gorgeous thanks to the golden PCB'd MX440SE 64MB I have in there.


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## freeagent (May 28, 2022)

Raptors were fast as feck back in the day before ssds. Nothing was faster, they were the king. No one was running 20K server drives because they didn’t exist lol. 10k maybe, but they were server stuff that didn’t run on a desktop without expensive cards. Raptors/X/Velociraptors were the pinnacle hdd for desktop use in their time am I wrong? The 150s weren’t too bad for heat if you had a fan on them. I had a few of them squished into those old tin cans with a fan that you got with your stacker. My fan was a little better though.. Anyways, I suppose it doesn’t matter much now, but they kicked the snot out of everything that I remember being relevant back then. I didn’t have a Velociraptor though, I wanted one but they were as much as an ssd.. back then I would rather have less space and waaay more speed for the price. A windows install wasn’t 40GB, and games weren’t 100GB so you could make do with a few spinners for your stuff.


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## Kissamies (May 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That depends and we've had that discussion. Unless you need real mode DOS within Windows, ME is entirely superior.


Well, not gonna argue this time 



MaxiPro800 said:


> I would, if those flower styled chinese coolers wouldn't be almost long since extinct in my country. Ever since Deepcool became a thing, I don't think I've seen any of those Zalman clones sold anymore.
> 
> Onwards with my ABIT - somehow I "cracked the DaVinci code" as to why Geforce cards didn't work - a combo of running In Order Queue Depth on 1 (which made the system run like pure turd, and that was absolutely visible in Ford Racing 2 for example.), plus chipset voltage set to 3.3 which it didn't like as it was a bit (no pun intended) too low for its own taste. Upped the IOQD to 8 and NB voltage to 3.4V (a "safety measure" as I am not very keen on running it at 3.5 - 3.4 would be what I consider a 10% voltage margin.) and it seems to run absolutely gorgeous thanks to the golden PCB'd MX440SE 64MB I have in there.


Damn, that sucks. Have you removed the shim from the GPU?



freeagent said:


> Raptors were fast as feck back in the day before ssds. Nothing was faster, they were the king. No one was running 20K server drives because they didn’t exist lol. 10k maybe, but they were server stuff that didn’t run on a desktop without expensive cards. Raptors/X/Velociraptors were the pinnacle hdd for desktop use in their time am I wrong? The 150s weren’t too bad for heat if you had a fan on them. I had a few of them squished into those old tin cans with a fan that you got with your stacker. My fan was a little better though.. Anyways, I suppose it doesn’t matter much now, but they kicked the snot out of everything that I remember being relevant back then. I didn’t have a Velociraptor though, I wanted one but they were as much as an ssd.. back then I would rather have less space and waaay more speed for the price. A windows install wasn’t 40GB, and games weren’t 100GB so you could make do with a few spinners for your stuff.


Wut, does 20k drives exist? I know that 15k does, but..


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## freeagent (May 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> know that 15k does, but..


No but someone mentioned it earlier


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## MaxiPro800 (May 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Damn, that sucks. Have you removed the shim from the GPU?


Nope. Being my only 9700 Pro I'm not taking the risk of damaging the only card I have, and for what it's worth, the shim might actually keep my heatsink even so it makes perfect contact with the die. I applied MX4 and am gonna plop it into my K7N2 Delta ILSR and test it out, temps and all. Ford Racing 3 seems like it would be a good contender for it IMO, graphics cranked up to the max possible of course, and audio backed up by a Audigy 2 ZS.


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## lexluthermiester (May 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Well, not gonna argue this time


Everyone has their preferences and Win98SE is a favorite for many, but on merits ME does better. However I respect your opinion.


Lenne said:


> Wut, does 20k drives exist?





freeagent said:


> No but someone mentioned it earlier


I think 20kRPM drives were prototyped by IBM(back when they had a HDD business) but never put to production.

SCSI 15kRPM drives however were the only thing the beat out Raptors until SAS.


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## Greenslade (May 28, 2022)

To the person who asked has anyone heard of 
*Gary Arlen Kildall* (/ˈkɪldˌɔːl/; May 19, 1942 – July 11, 1994) was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur.I had never heard of him but i am new to this Retro PC,s stuff.Reading about him on Wikapeda he sounded like an intresting person.


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## Trekkie4 (May 28, 2022)

So, guys... I don't get to share something so cool and/or potentially useful with you very often. 

I guess you could call it a science experiment if you want to. Or pure retro madness ... the choice is yours!  Anyhow, I retrofitted a "new" LG CD-ROM drive onto the old (vintage?) 8X GoldStar from around 1993, which obviously wasn't working & couldn't be fixed. At least not to my knowledge ... I've tried just about everything! It is a perfect unit for 386, 486, 5x86 or whatever you guys may have.

So, this here was the donor unit. Just your standard 52X CD drive, manufactured on Dec 2001 - nothing vintage or exciting about it I'm afraid: 


 

 



The next step was taking LG apart & making sure that it's actually compatible with GoldStar. Because as you already know, both GoldStar and LG are essentially the same company, true but these things are approx. 10 years apart. And therefore (as you may have already guessed) there was a LOT of revision updates throughout those 10 years. Primarily using SMD LED instead of the old-fashioned, square one.


 

 



From the outside it looks square, yes - but that is just a plastic diffuser. Therefore, to hook up an old-fashioned LED I had to make some sort of socket or adapter. Such as 12V motor connector from an old VHS VCR for example which worked beautifully. 




Unfortunately, it didn't hold for long. Wires got torn off and PCB pads lifted. I even tried using nylon zipties but alas still nothing ... there was just not enough clearance inside and the tray mech would interfere with the wires.




Long story short, it took me a while but eventually I've decided to take entirely different route instead. LED was now mounted in a different way, and wires routed around the microswitch to prevent any issues.




Which (believe it or not) actually worked out  ... and so I ended up with this:




At first glance, old-school CD-ROM drive, which is obviously just a cover up for the real technology, inside. Unfortunately, the system will still recognize the modern 52X LG drive and not GoldStar, but apart from that it now looks like a whole different drive, far more suitable for an older system.

So there you have it guys. If you happen to have an old, non-working GoldStar and you want to make it work again just do the same thing. Because (if not anything else), at least I proved that it is possible to make it work


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## QuietBob (May 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I think 20kRPM drives were prototyped by IBM(back when they had a HDD business) but never put to production.
> SCSI 15kRPM drives however were the only thing the beat out Raptors until SAS.


Personally, I haven't heard of 20K drives even being prototyped. They would have been very hard to engineer, for most likely marginal gains in performance. Even the latest 15K units weren't significantly faster than the 10K drives.

However, if any company was actually involved in this kind of research, it would likely have been Seagate. They were the first to introduce a 10K HDD in 1997 - the Cheetah 9 ST19101 (9 GB, 22 MB/s), and had the first 15K HDD in 2000 - the Cheetah X15 ST318451 (18 GB, 64 MB/s).


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## Mr.Scott (May 28, 2022)

I have a working 9 gig Cheetah here somewhere.
Probably in with the slot A stuff.
I will have to look now.


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## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> So, guys... I don't get to share something so cool and/or potentially useful with you very often.
> 
> I guess you could call it a science experiment if you want to. Or pure retro madness ... the choice is yours!  Anyhow, I retrofitted a "new" LG CD-ROM drive onto the old (vintage?) 8X GoldStar from around 1993, which obviously wasn't working & couldn't be fixed. At least not to my knowledge ... I've tried just about everything! It is a perfect unit for 386, 486, 5x86 or whatever you guys may have.
> 
> ...


It seems a lot of work to just put it in an old case. And when does something became vintage?


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## Kissamies (May 29, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Nope. Being my only 9700 Pro I'm not taking the risk of damaging the only card I have, and for what it's worth, the shim might actually keep my heatsink even so it makes perfect contact with the die. I applied MX4 and am gonna plop it into my K7N2 Delta ILSR and test it out, temps and all. Ford Racing 3 seems like it would be a good contender for it IMO, graphics cranked up to the max possible of course, and audio backed up by a Audigy 2 ZS.


Is the die on the same level as the shim? They were known of having their shims slightly higher..

IIRC R600 and Tahiti had the same issue.


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## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

Another good video from Phil *720p monitor*  







How many of you use one for your Retro gaming?Very few on eBay.


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## Kissamies (May 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Another good video from Phil *720p monitor*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


1080p on every screen which are on daily usage. I do have one 1050p in storage which needs recapping though..


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## onemanhitsquad (May 29, 2022)

dug out another dually... sealed ...packaging was so cool  I never used it!

Sapphire HD4850 X2    2008


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## Kissamies (May 29, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> dug out another dually... sealed ...packaging was so cool  I never used it!
> 
> Sapphire HD4850 X2    2008
> 
> View attachment 249191View attachment 249192View attachment 249193


Heh, I miss the sexy chicks in GPU boxes. Though this is still my favourite, Asus 9800 XT box:


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 29, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Is the die on the same level as the shim? They were known of having their shims slightly higher..
> 
> IIRC R600 and Tahiti had the same issue.


IIRC it is on the 9700 Pro, or at least that's how my eyes perceived it when I installed the Deepcool V50 HsF. 

As for newer cards, the only ones I have are both Pitcairn, one Pro and one XT (former is a R7 265 DirectCU II and the other is a HD7870 from Gigabyte)


----------



## QuietBob (May 29, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> dug out another dually... sealed ...packaging was so cool  I never used it!
> 
> Sapphire HD4850 X2    2008
> 
> View attachment 249191View attachment 249192View attachment 249193


Wonder what free game they put on that CD-ROM. Pokemon Ruby?


----------



## onemanhitsquad (May 29, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Wonder what free game they put on that CD-ROM. Pokemon Ruby?


Haha...got me wondering


----------



## MachineLearning (May 29, 2022)

My brother had an old TI-84 from who knows where (probably "borrowed" from a school  ). And of course, it can be overclocked...




This is at stock speeds, as you can see the CPU hovers around 15.085MHz. At TI-83 game compatibility speeds it operates around 6MHz. This is dead-on average - the CPU may run at +/-20% the set clock speed, which for the TI-84 Plus was 15MHz. That variance is due to these two resistors, R07D and R08D. The former adjusts the fast frequency, and the latter adjusts both slow and fast frequencies. It's not recommended to touch R08D because it's more likely to make the calculator unstable in games which use this slower clock speed.



PCB Wk47/2005. This model was introduced in 2004, so this is relatively early-on. The CPU is a Zilog Z80, as I said @ 6/15MHz. The flash is a product of Fujitsu and AMD's joint venture Spansion, back when AMD made DRAM, and long before the Radeon rebranded Patriot / Dataram modules.

The limitation for these calculators is not typically the CPU, it's the flash. If the CPU operates too quickly (generally >23MHz), the flash feeds it incorrect data, as it's only specced to keep up until around ~20MHz. TI was conservative on the CPU clock side (highest stock I read about is around 17MHz). But you may push it higher, if you dare.  I was conservative and wanted to bring it to the 20MHz zone. And to add heatsinks, of course...



Snip goes the foam, and I pried some of that plastic support on the backing with pliers to make room...



Pencil time  

R07D Initial value: ~ 1.17mOhm
Final value: ~ 0.72mOhm




Messy, but...?



~ 33% overclock. Nice  I noticed at the time of editing ( a few hours after-mod) that the clock speed has increased to 20.250MHz, likely due to temperature / battery voltage shift. These RC's are inaccurate, so I'm learning 

Good resources here and here. The program for testing the CPU speed is here.

83+ and others

Spansion flash NAND Datasheet


----------



## looniam (May 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Pencil time
> 
> R07D Initial value: ~ 1.17mOhm
> Final value: ~ 0.72mOhm
> ...


i don't care.  


MachineLearning said:


> ~ 33% overclock. Nice
> 
> Good resources here and here. The program for testing the CPU speed is here.


fantastic and amazing job.




thanks.


----------



## Audioave10 (May 29, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> dug out another dually... sealed ...packaging was so cool  I never used it!
> 
> Sapphire HD4850 X2    2008
> 
> View attachment 249191View attachment 249192View attachment 249193


I just love those old Eye-Candy boxes...Nice Card!


----------



## QuietBob (May 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> My brother had an old TI-84 from who knows where (probably "borrowed" from a school  ). And of course, it can be overclocked...


A really interesting experiment. IMO what makes an enthusiast is not the hardware they own, but rather what they can accomplish with it. Well done!


----------



## Kissamies (May 29, 2022)

I haven't got ever a scientific calculator, but it's interesting what you can do with those


----------



## Audioave10 (May 29, 2022)

A Tech closet is dangerous as you pile up boxes and containers as I appear to have found something. I think its new!


----------



## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That depends and we've had that discussion. Unless you need real mode DOS within Windows, ME is entirely superior.


I put a comment on Phil s 98se video, asking when he will do one on Windows ME.This is his reply *Not sure I will 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 I see no advantage over 98 and the next best thing is XP.* No thumb,s up from him either.  I did say i enjoyed his informative videos.It seems you are in the minority there ,with you likeing cassettes over vinyl to.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It seems a lot of work to just put it in an old case. And when does something became vintage?


In my opinion? When sometimes becomes very rare and/or difficult to find. Such as the original GoldStar drive for example - these things are really getting hard, almost impossible to find nowdays.

Where on the other hand, that "modern" 52X LG from 2001 is just about anywhere you look, you can literally choose between them or pick several. I guess it all comes down to the price, and how many people bought one, back in a day. Because I can assure you that the older 8x unit was considerably more expensive back in a day than any modern 52x CD ROM or even RW. In fact, I /did/ get a RW drive in addition to 52x CDR but since it hasn't been related to the build process in any way, I didn't see a reason to talk about it.


----------



## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> In my opinion? When sometimes becomes very rare and/or difficult to find. Such as the original GoldStar drive for example - these things are really getting hard, almost impossible to find nowdays.
> 
> Where on the other hand, that "modern" 52X LG from 2001 is just about anywhere you look, you can literally choose between them or pick several. I guess it all comes down to the price, and how many people bought one, back in a day. Because I can assure you that the older 8x unit was considerably more expensive back in a day than any modern 52x CD ROM or even RW. In fact, I /did/ get a RW drive in addition to 52x CDR but since it hasn't been related to the build process in any way, I didn't see a reason to talk about it.


I see your point there,when it is hard to find that is when it is called  vintage.
I suppose that would mean  up to say 1998 .in HIFI  and computers and the like.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I see your point there,so if it is rare that is what is called vintage.I suppose that would mean  up to say 1998?.


I suppose so, yeah. Technically speaking, everything from around that time is considered "vintage". That being said, not everything is worth collecting or restoring.

Kinda like having a box of vintage paper towels or tissues for example ... it doesn't really have much or any value - vintage or otherwise. But if you happen to have a bottle of wine that's been properly stored & kept at ideal temperature, you got yourself a fortune!


----------



## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

I just collected  my PC i got on eBay the shop is five minutes from the bus stop .i took a really big bag in there.The assistant was very helpfull but we could not get it in the bag.So  i thought about tearing it so i can get it the bag,,thank god i got it in there see the photo.What i did was drag it to the Bus stop. It is a big bugger but not that heavy .until you carry it for a bit.Th,nithing io ere good bags to carry big stuff in like a big old PC  .There just the job for that.I just hope it is all working well.It is 12kg.The cover is a bit bent in places nothing to do with me draging it .That is a bit if a pain .it is so thin i might snap it if i tried to straightin it.It seems to go on flash ,better than some other side panals fit.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 29, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I never used it!


This is sad..



Greenslade said:


> I see no advantage over 98


That doesn't mean there isn't a few. His experience is limited. The first time he used it was in 2017;








That's a far cry from having it back when it was new.

Also, he has compared the two.








Where WinME has the advantage is in stablity and the fact the it can see & use more system RAM. There are other features that give WinME an edge over 98. WinME was entirely misunderstood and underappreciated.



QuietBob said:


> Personally, I haven't heard of 20K drives even being prototyped.


They did. However....


QuietBob said:


> They would have been very hard to engineer, for most likely marginal gains in performance.


... that's likely why they were never released. Though...


QuietBob said:


> Even the latest 15K units weren't significantly faster than the 10K drives.


...this is not true. The SCSI 15k drive were a solid 15% faster.


----------



## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

There is very little stuff in there and i tiny Black GND cable not conected? there is a front cut out but no floppy drive in there .The IDE lead on the Hard drive want be long enough ro reach for a pcie Cf card,.And a *power led *is not is not connect? That is a green and white leads.*MS Reset *not connected I am wondering if i did the right thing buying thisThose leads could have come out in teansit,but i can,t see how.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 29, 2022)

That power LED does have the lead connected - it's one of those cases where the big 3 pin power LED header has an extension (about a quarter cm long, I think?) to acommodate newer mainboards that use only two pins for the power led, like this Winfast, and most ASRock mainboards.

If anything, you could reroute the whole front panel wiring behind the HDD pillars.


----------



## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> That power LED does have the lead connected - it's one of those cases where the big 3 pin power LED header has an extension (about a quarter cm long, I think?) to acommodate newer mainboards that use only two pins for the power led, like this Winfast, and most ASRock mainboards.
> 
> If anything, you could reroute the whole front panel wiring behind the HDD pillars.


Thanks for that Maxi This is a Winfast Foxten mothernoard.Wnat about the *MS Reset *red one.?And the*GND*one on the other side of the case,?
I am a newbe to all this Maxi


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 29, 2022)

Reset switch. Should go right next to the HD_LED wires, as I see an unpopulated row of pins just to the left of the orange and white wires in the 3rd photo.


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> My brother had an old TI-84 from who knows where (probably "borrowed" from a school  ). And of course, it can be overclocked...
> 
> View attachment 249203
> This is at stock speeds, as you can see the CPU hovers around 15.085MHz. At TI-83 game compatibility speeds it operates around 6MHz. This is dead-on average - the CPU may run at +/-20% the set clock speed, which for the TI-84 Plus was 15MHz. That variance is due to these two resistors, R07D and R08D. The former adjusts the fast frequency, and the latter adjusts both slow and fast frequencies. It's not recommended to touch R08D because it's more likely to make the calculator unstable in games which use this slower clock speed.
> ...


Really nice! It kinda reminds me of my HP from around 2001, 2002


----------



## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Reset switch. Should go right next to the HD_LED wires, as I see an unpopulated row of pins just to the left of the orange and white wires in the 3rd photo.


Is that the right place where i have put it ?That is right ,the left side you said has no socket to put it in.This is a good video for me although the board is lot different to mine.I agree with hin about the connecter leads being very flimsy .He did say the reset conecter does not need to connected same with the* power led*conecter. 







 I wish i had a Manual
 for my one. So the reset conention can go any way.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 29, 2022)

Not those ones, that's the Clear CMOS header you attached it to.

What I wanted to mean is there should be a row of two free pins on the same header the power switch, HD and power leds - more exactly, it should be just behind the wires going to the power switch, looking from the direction of your photo.(which would make it be the pins behind the power switch, according to the mainboard's manual - Winfast/Foxconn K7S741MG-6L if you need it.)

EDIT: It's those two circled in blue, which would be right behind the power switch, depending on how you look at the mobo.


----------



## Greenslade (May 29, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Not those ones, that's the Clear CMOS header you attached it to.
> 
> What I wanted to mean is there should be a row of two free pins on the same header the power switch, HD and power leds - more exactly, it should be just behind the wires going to the power switch, looking from the direction of your photo.(which would make it be the pins behind the power switch, according to the mainboard's manual - Winfast/Foxconn K7S741MG-6L if you need it.)
> 
> EDIT: It's those two circled in blue, which would be right behind the power switch, depending on how you look at the mobo.


Hopefully this  should be right this time.Those wires are so delicate for someone with big hands like myself. Yes i would like the manual ,thanks for all your help.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 29, 2022)

Off by at least one pin or two, but you're almost there.

Going by the first photo, move it to the left ever so slightly, so the red wire on the reset header aligns with the green wire from the power switch. Don't move it down or upwards, just slightly to the left, so both black and red match the black and green.

Here's the manual:








						FOXCONN K7S741MG MOTHERBOARD EASY INSTALLATION MANUAL
					

View and Download Foxconn K7S741MG easy installation manual online. Foxconn K7S741MG Motherboards: Install Guide. K7S741MG motherboard pdf manual download. Also for: K7s741gxmg-6l, K7s741gxmg.




					www.manualslib.com


----------



## Valantar (May 29, 2022)

So here's a bit of a quiz for the good people of this club: what, exactly, is this piece of hardware?


----------



## stinger608 (May 29, 2022)

Valantar said:


> what, exactly, is this piece of hardware?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 29, 2022)

Valantar said:


> So here's a bit of a quiz for the good people of this club: what, exactly, is this piece of hardware?


Looking at the bottom of it, I would say it's a RAM stick of sorts - question is, what system would use this format? 

Can't be a SSD, that's for sure.


----------



## Valantar (May 29, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Looking at the bottom of it, I would say it's a RAM stick of sorts - question is, what system would use this format?
> 
> Can't be a SSD, that's for sure.


You're onto something, but what kind of RAM, and from where?


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 29, 2022)

Valantar said:


> So here's a bit of a quiz for the good people of this club: what, exactly, is this piece of hardware?


It looks like a DRAM module, but it might actually be an SRAM module, either for caching duties or DOM duties. Can't remember what system it was for though.



stinger608 said:


>


Nice retro movie clip to match a module that is likely from the same time period...ish...
(Now I want to Watch True Lies...)


----------



## Valantar (May 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> It looks like a DRAM module, but it might actually be an SRAM module, either for caching duties or DOM duties. Can't remember what system it was for though.
> 
> 
> Nice retro movie clip to match a module that is likely from the same time period...ish...
> (Now I want to Watch True Lies...)


.... and the answer is:





512MB of Fujitsu DDR2!

Why the weird form factor, you might ask? Because it's from this lovely little unit:




That's a Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P1500 Windows XP 2-in-1, ca. 2005.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 30, 2022)

Valantar said:


> .... and the answer is:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ah! One of those janky proprietary DIMMs. Interesting.


----------



## MachineLearning (May 30, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Really nice! It kinda reminds me of my HP from around 2001, 2002


Now you got me looking at my HP's 

I have the 18c and 12c as hand-me-downs from my grandfather.


















The 12c battery cover is a replacement I ordered online - the original was lost to time decades ago.

18c has that IR port


----------



## hat (May 30, 2022)

I have a Ti nSpire somewhere...


----------



## Valantar (May 30, 2022)

Here's another little treat: ultra mobile cpu cooling, ca. 2005:


http://imgur.com/UOaZRiW


They beat Apple to the punch!

I do kind of want to try squeezing an actual heatsink in there, but then it would be a shame to ruin a rather unique piece of hardware.


----------



## framebuffer (May 30, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I have 2 left...both have issues...does that count?


yes  



Greenslade said:


> Another good video from Phil *720p monitor*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I use an *AOC C24G1* (1ms VA panel, 24" 1920x1080 144Hz with VGA/HDMI/HDMI/DP) which allows some interesting things
1. Use 1280x1024 in 1:1 (so pixel perfect and basically full vertical panel coverage) over *VGA* at *85Hz* (for Windows 98 systems and VGA only video cards)
2. Use 1024x768 in 1:1 (so pixel perfect with borders, but still equivalent to 17"-18") over *VGA* at *85Hz-100Hz* (for Windows 98 systems and VGA only video cards)
3. Use 1280x1024 in 1:1 (so pixel perfect and basically full vertical panel coverage) over (HDMI-to-) DVI at 85-100Hz (for early Windows XP games, using DVI video cards)
4. Use 1680x1050 (pixel perfect) or native 1920x1080 for late XP games (over HDMI or DVI at 85-120Hz)
5. Use a modern system for 1080p gaming at 144Hz over DP

It costed around $200 and I think it's as good as it gets for versatility


----------



## Valantar (May 30, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> yes
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When the solution to "building a native 720p monitor" is just to take a higher resolution monitor and set it to not scale the input, your solution is exactly what I would do as well, as that could be done on literally any monitor with the same or higher pixel count in both directions. I see no reason to go for an old (and likely quite low quality) LCD for that use case (barring a lack of suitable inputs, of course, which is another issue entirely). Heck, my work laptop's crap Intel iGPU lets me do that exact thing on both internal and external displays. Of course, if you have a 1440p display and a GPU supporting integer scaling, that also allows for using the full panel size while gaming at "native" 720p as well. And of course the same applies for more retro-friendly resolutions as well, though 1080p is sadly just a tad too low for 2x scaling of PAL 576i.


----------



## Greenslade (May 30, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Off by at least one pin or two, but you're almost there.
> 
> Going by the first photo, move it to the left ever so slightly, so the red wire on the reset header aligns with the green wire from the power switch. Don't move it down or upwards, just slightly to the left, so both black and red match the black and green.
> 
> ...


Is this right? red next to the green.I don,t know why it was not connected in the first place.


----------



## framebuffer (May 30, 2022)

Valantar said:


> When the solution to "building a native 720p monitor" is just to take a higher resolution monitor and set it to not scale the input, your solution is exactly what I would do as well, as that could be done on literally any monitor with the same or higher pixel count in both directions. I see no reason to go for an old (and likely quite low quality) LCD for that use case (barring a lack of suitable inputs, of course, which is another issue entirely). Heck, my work laptop's crap Intel iGPU lets me do that exact thing on both internal and external displays. Of course, if you have a 1440p display and a GPU supporting integer scaling, that also allows for using the full panel size while gaming at "native" 720p as well. And of course the same applies for more retro-friendly resolutions as well, though 1080p is sadly just a tad too low for 2x scaling of PAL 576i.



yes I mean the "integer scaling feature" is useful only if you want to play older games (provided that they even start on Win10) on modern low end hardware, but I think there are much better solution for that anyways


----------



## Valantar (May 30, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> yes I mean the "integer scaling feature" is useful only if you want to play older games (provided that they even start on Win10) on modern low end hardware, but I think there are much better solution for that anyways


It's also useful for running emulated games in some situations, but IMO it's a bit underappreciated in terms of running lower-than-native resolutions on LCDs while avoiding sharpness loss. Of course there is the option of even better scaling modes - which all three major GPU vendors are hard at work at currently - but those tend either need complex per-game implementations or work poorly with low source resolutions, in which case integer scaling is still handy. Then again it's a damn shame that integer scaling isn't available on a lot of older hardware that could really make use of it (or that monitors don't offer it as an option). Not everyone can afford to spend €110 for an OSSC box


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is this right? red next to the green.I don,t know why it was not connected in the first place.


Not yet. Basically both have to match in a parallel way. Check up the manual for the mobo I put up in the previous and you'll find where the reset goes - you should be seeing two free pins parallel to where the power switch wires are installed right now (which, by the orientation of your photo, would make it behind the power switch header). Those two free parallel pins are exactly where the reset button goes.

To make you understand easier how, here's a photo of an Asrock mainboard with a similar header, and where the RESET button goes. It's the same type of header as on your mobo. The last pin on the header goes unused, so you plug the reset buttons right next to the HD LED connector.


----------



## Greenslade (May 30, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Not yet. Basically both have to match in a parallel way. Check up the manual for the mobo I put up in the previous and you'll find where the reset goes - you should be seeing two free pins parallel to where the power switch wires are installed right now (which, by the orientation of your photo, would make it behind the power switch header). Those two free parallel pins are exactly where the reset button goes.
> 
> To make you understand easier how, here's a photo of an Asrock mainboard with a similar header, and where the RESET button goes. It's the same type of header as on your mobo. The last pin on the header goes unused, so you plug the reset buttons right next to the HD LED connector.


There are 3 pins  an orange and two other pins .Sorry to be a pain Maxi.
First one orange the other 2 grey ,do i put  it on the orange one or the nest two pins
I had to clean Magnifying Glass so i can see in there better.there is no pin in front of the orange one.As you can see.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 30, 2022)

These are the pins where RESET goes, circled in blue. The one next to those circled goes unused.


----------



## Greenslade (May 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> There are 3 pins  an orange and two other pins .Sorry to be a pain Maxi.
> First one orange the other 2 grey ,do i put  it on the orange one or thae nest two pons
> I had to clean Magnifying Glass so i can see in there better.there is no pin in front of the orange one.





MaxiPro800 said:


> These are the pins where RESET goes, circled in blue. The one next to those circled goes unused.


Thanks for your pationce ,you have been very helpfull  Maxi. Photo with it in I just don,t know why it was not pluged in there in the first place.I just hopethe PC is working well. I can see clearly with the Magnifying Glass all cleaned. 



lexluthermiester said:


> This is sad..
> 
> 
> That doesn't mean there isn't a few. His experience is limited. The first time he used it was in 2017;
> ...


If i use Windows Me i will have to get more ram as only 512 mb


lexluthermiester said:


> This is sad..
> 
> 
> That doesn't mean there isn't a few. His experience is limited. The first time he used it was in 2017;
> ...


So if i do install Windows ME i will have to get more Ram as there is only 512 mb in the PC.


----------



## 68Olds (May 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> If i use Windows Me i will have to get more ram as only 512 mb
> 
> So if i do install Windows ME i will have to get more Ram as there is only 512 mb in the PC.


No, WinMe will work fine with 512 mb.  It can use up to 2 gb, but it doesn't need it.

If you can find a really inexpensive RAM upgrade you _can_ do it, but you don't _need_ to do it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 30, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> yes
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you buy a 1440p, you can do authentic 720p because 1440p scales down to 720p perfectly.



Greenslade said:


> So if i do install Windows ME i will have to get more Ram as there is only 512 mb in the PC.


512MB would be solid. 1GB would be better, but that's an upgrade you can do later.


----------



## Greenslade (May 30, 2022)

68Olds said:


> No, WinMe will work fine with 512 mb.  It can use up to 2 gb, but it doesn't need it.
> 
> If you can find a really inexpensive RAM upgrade you _can_ do it, but you don't _need_ to do it.


Thanks for that It was just Lex saying you could use more Ram with it.I will leave that out and get a CF Compact flash and one of these 40-Pin CF compact flash card to 3.5 IDE converter adapter PCI bracket or
CF Card to 3.5" IDE Female Adapter, Compact Flash Memory Disk to 40 Pin PC.
Providing the PC works with no problems.
What is your view on Windows Me ?Do you agree with Lex or disagree like most on here?









lexluthermiester said:


> If you buy a 1440p, you can do authentic 720p because 1440p scales down to 720p perfectly.
> 
> 
> 512MB would be solid. 1GB would be better, but that's an upgrade you can do later.


I don,t think much of the case of my new PC.the case is a bit flinsy that side panal i put on here,it does fit snug in there after a bit of straightning it.The rest of the case is fine.There is very little inside the case.I just hope that ide cabal reaches the pcie cf unit i intend to put in there.If i bend that corner to much it will snap.
But if all is working how it should be it will be fine.

Replace or upgrade IDE to SATA dvd Drive or Hard Drive it seems quite a job well his making a big job of it. All that master and slave stuff.He reckons he cleans his Pc ever month i don,t think so ,and all that dust in his place i don,t think he has dusted for years..


----------



## framebuffer (May 30, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> If you buy a 1440p, you can do authentic 720p because 1440p scales down to 720p perfectly.



I never use 720p

I play late-90' / early-00' games in 1280x1024 (or 1024x768) and from 2004 most of my favorite games (FarCry, D3, HL2 etc.) have native 1080p support; for those who don't have it, I fallback to 1280x1024
Regarding mid-90' games (640x480) they really would require a CRT, but since I don't have space for one I simply accept the fact that have to play them "fractionally-upscaled by display scaler" (which is not the end of the world anyways  )


----------



## 68Olds (May 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that It was just Lex saying you could use more Ram with it.I will leave that out and get a CF Compact flash and one of these 40-Pin CF compact flash card to 3.5 IDE converter adapter PCI bracket or
> CF Card to 3.5" IDE Female Adapter, Compact Flash Memory Disk to 40 Pin PC.
> Providing the PC works with no problems.
> What is your view on Windows Me? Do you agree with Lex or disagree like most on here?


I did like Windows ME, I had good luck with it on my PC in the early 2000's.  I ran Need for Speed 3, 4 & 5 and many FPSs on my WinME PC.  I know it had its problems, but you can disable things to make it work much better.  I seem to remember Hibernate needed to be turned off.  Also, System Restore didn't work right & needed to be disabled.  Hopefully @lexluthermiester can help with which setting that made ME run its best.  It's been so long I don't remember them all.  There were only about 5 main tweaks that made ME run really well.


----------



## stinger608 (May 30, 2022)

Yeah, I don't remember all of the ME tricks either. 
I only ran it for a short time and then went to XP. 

The one's you mention @68Olds were kind of the same ones I remember LOL.


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 30, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I never use 720p
> 
> I play late-90' / early-00' games in 1280x1024 (or 1024x768) and from 2004 most of my favorite games (FarCry, D3, HL2 etc.) have native 1080p support; for those who don't have it, I fallback to 1280x1024
> Regarding mid-90' games (640x480) they really would require a CRT, but since I don't have space for one I simply accept the fact that have to play them "fractionally-upscaled by display scaler" (which is not the end of the world anyways  )


I abandoned non-widescreen resolutions long ago. Even for classic gaming I use widescreen resolutions, even making the effort to force them on games that didn't originally support widescreen.


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2022)

NOICE! I'm getting a 290X Matrix soon  I can't even say how cheap price 

(and a 660 as a bundle)


----------



## Trekkie4 (May 31, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I abandoned non-widescreen resolutions long ago. Even for classic gaming I use widescreen resolutions, even making the effort to force them on games that didn't originally support widescreen.


I'm using 1024x768, 60Hz ... or 800x600, 85Hz. Guaranteed to be compatible with just about any "classic" game


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> DON'T go with the cheapest ones!! Get name brand and buy the high quality! Seriously!


Is that because the cheapest cards want last as long or because they will fail?
Or that you you prefer to go for a branded card?,The sanDisk ones are mostly refurbished thats what i would go for ,the new ones are far to expensive.


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is that because the cheapest cards want last as long or because they will fail?


Usually the cheap ones have crappier coolers than premium ones.


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Usually the cheap ones have crappier coolers than premium ones.


So you are with Lex on this one.Refurbished £20 you can,t go wrong with this one 1 year guarentee.
SanDisk 32GB CF Extreme Compact Flash Memory Card For Camera 4K Full HD 120MB“refurbished by SanDisk, 30 Days free return, Seller guarantee for 1 year, Excellent Quality”​


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2022)

"refurbished", so it's been used, but probably still a working solution. I wonder does CF cards show usage hours like HDDs/SSDs do..


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Lenne said:


> "refurbished", so it's been used, but probably still a working solution. I wonder does CF cards show usage hours like HDDs/SSDs do..


I don,t know ,but i don,t see why not in the Cysrtal Disk mark one that tells you the health of SSD ,s and HDD.Has anyone tried it ?


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I don,t know ,but i don,t see why not in the Cysrtal Disk mark one that tells you the health of SSD ,s and HDD.Has anyone tried it ?


Didn't you live in UK? There's CEX where's the price of used hardware is cheap


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Didn't you live in UK? There's CEX where's the price of used hardware is cheap


Yes i do ,i did not think of them selling CF  Cards ,Thanks for that, they do have some on there. There are very few on there just two one 8gb  £8 and a 64 gb one for £30  i think a 32gb one will do me.


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes i do ,i did not think of them selling CF  Cards ,Thanks for that, they do have some on there.


Yeah, check for it. And in overall it's a great place for ur Brits to get cheap used stuff 

Steve (RandomGaminginHD) also uses it.


----------



## framebuffer (May 31, 2022)

have not followed the CF Cards discussion, but if it's of any help, for Windows 95/98/Me/2000 builds I'm using SLC CF cards from PCEngines ( https://www.pcengines.ch/cf16slc.htm and https://www.pcengines.ch/cf8slc.htm )

https://www.pcengines.ch/order.htm (the site is a little odd to navigate at first)

If you look for *SLC* CF cards from "commercial" brands, if things have not changed since the last time I checked, good luck finding one for decent price (or at all)


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Yeah, check for it. And in overall it's a great place for ur Brits to get cheap used stuff
> 
> Steve (RandomGaminginHD) also uses it.
> 
> ...





framebuffer said:


> have not followed the CF Cards discussion, but if it's of any help, for Windows 95/98/Me/2000 builds I'm using SLC CF cards from PCEngines ( https://www.pcengines.ch/cf16slc.htm and https://www.pcengines.ch/cf8slc.htm )
> 
> https://www.pcengines.ch/order.htm (the site is a little odd to navigate at first)
> 
> If you look for *SLC* CF cards from "commercial" brands, if things have not changed since the last time I checked, good luck finding one for decent price (or at all)


Thanks for that a lot of info to read.


----------



## Valantar (May 31, 2022)

Speaking of CF cards, does anyone know of a CF adapter for 1.8" IDE hard drives like the one used in that convertible I posted previously? It has a 60GB Toshiba 1.8" HDD with a 44-pin mini IDE interface (female connector on the drive), and I can't seem to find a suitable adapter for it. I'm rather interested in retrofitting that device with some flash storage to keep it around (though I'd need to find a way to reinstall Windows XP with all the necessary drivers for that, which is another hurdle).


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Speaking of CF cards, does anyone know of a CF adapter for 1.8" IDE hard drives like the one used in that convertible I posted previously? It has a 60GB Toshiba 1.8" HDD with a 44-pin mini IDE interface (female connector on the drive), and I can't seem to find a suitable adapter for it. I'm rather interested in retrofitting that device with some flash storage to keep it around (though I'd need to find a way to reinstall Windows XP with all the necessary drivers for that, which is another hurdle).


The only 44 pin ones i can see on eBay are 2.5.The 1.8 ones are 50 pin.


----------



## Kissamies (May 31, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Speaking of CF cards, does anyone know of a CF adapter for 1.8" IDE hard drives like the one used in that convertible I posted previously? It has a 60GB Toshiba 1.8" HDD with a 44-pin mini IDE interface (female connector on the drive), and I can't seem to find a suitable adapter for it. I'm rather interested in retrofitting that device with some flash storage to keep it around (though I'd need to find a way to reinstall Windows XP with all the necessary drivers for that, which is another hurdle).


Didn't older iPods use that format too?


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Didn't older iPods use that format too?


The Ipod ones were 50 pin on eBay.

Is it possible to make an internel card reader into an external one?








 can i get a lead that converts the connection that goes in to the reader to a usb lead ?do they do such a lead?"
Something else i thought of doing was to take the motherboard out of the PC there are only four conecters plus the fan conecter, The is the one i showed you on here with the bent pins on the CPU unit.So much dust in there with my newly cleaner  Magnifying glass I thought there were more connections on a mother board.All that dust there in there. yuk thats gross  .I don,t have a soldering iron so if is posible to get a usb cable to whatever connection it is on the card reader it would be nice.I have just taken an old usb lead and can,t beleave it shows no conections like ir does on his. It took a lot to get lead like it is in the photoTen pound for that lead is a total rip off Thabks for putting it on anyway.I should have cut it away from the conecter..


----------



## Valantar (May 31, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The Ipod ones were 50 pin on eBay.
> 
> Is it possible to make an internel card reader into an external one?
> 
> ...


Looks to me like the card reader has the same USB 2.0 header as you'd find on a motherboard, which would mean it's easily converted to a regular USB 2.0 cable with an adapter like this. There is one issue though: that 9-pin connector carries two USB 2.0 lanes, so you might need two cables for every port on the reader to work.

A cable (or two) like this should do the trick though:








						USB 2.0 2.54mm 5 Pin Internal Header to USB Type A Adapter Cable 50cm
					

Buy USB 2.0 2.54mm 5 Pin Internal Header to USB Type A Adapter Cable 50cm for $9.99 with Free Shipping Worldwide (In Stock)




					www.moddiy.com
				







That's a 5-pin, which will fit half of that connector. You'll also find variants with a 9-pin internal connector, however AFAIK those just leave half the pins not connected to anything, as the regular USB 2.0 connector has insufficient data lanes to connect all the pins.



Greenslade said:


> The only 44 pin ones i can see on eBay are 2.5.The 1.8 ones are 50 pin.





Lenne said:


> Didn't older iPods use that format too?


Taking a second look at the drive, an interesting discovery: the drive itself has a 50-pin connector, but the flex cable connected to it leaves off the 6 pins on one side. And, taking a second look at those 50-pin adapters, they seem to actually leave 6 pins off to one side disconnected! Seems I have my solution, which is that 50=44.

An even simpler solution - if the BIOS supports it! - is that the laptop actually has a CF card slot built in! Eh ... yeah. I kind of thought that was an expansion card slot? Yep, I'm an idiot. Cant check for BIOS options until I've put it all back together though. Then the next challenge becomes getting my hands on a suitable CF card, plus either getting my hands on an USB-installable XP image with the required drivers baked in or figuring out how to bypass the password on the current install (WXP Enterprise with a domain login, sadly nobody remembers the password).


----------



## lexluthermiester (May 31, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Hopefully @lexluthermiester can help with which setting that made ME run its best. It's been so long I don't remember them all. There were only about 5 main tweaks that made ME run really well.


I can make a guide in a new thread if you'd all like.



Greenslade said:


> Is that because the cheapest cards want last as long or because they will fail?


Yes, they tend to fail sooner and do not perform as well.


Greenslade said:


> you prefer to go for a branded card?


Yes. Lexar, SanDisk, Verbatim, Toshiba, Transcend, Axiom, Dane-Elec, Kingston or even Kodak.


Greenslade said:


> The sanDisk ones are mostly refurbished thats what i would go for ,the new ones are far to expensive.


No, don't do refurbished, buy new! Amazon is a great place to find 32GB cards from brand names for a reasonable price.


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I can make a guide in a new thread if you'd all like.
> 
> 
> Yes, they tend to fail sooner and do not perform as well.
> ...


Yes that would be nice Lex Thats all the top names you have covered


----------



## MaxiPro800 (May 31, 2022)

3rd build I've been doing maintenance and fixing up. Had to soup up the ASTI LC-200C PSU a bit, replace molex wiring as it was crummy as all hell (the AT plugs were fine, it was the HDD/floppy ones that were absolute garbage) and do some power upgrades. 

Specs:
Cybernet/CSX 917D AT case
ASTI LC-200C 200W PSU (modified internally and restored wiring)
ASUS DRW-1814BL white DVD-RW
Luckytech P5MVP3 mobo
AMD K6-II+ 500MHz (stock 500MHz part, not downclocked 570 as most people were used to.)
STB/3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 16MB AGP TV-Out
Realtek RTL8139C NIC
NEC USB2.0 PCI card
Labway/Yamaha YMF-719 ISA soundcard
Win 98 SE 4.10.2222A + KEX 4.52 + NUSB3.6


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Looks to me like the card reader has the same USB 2.0 header as you'd find on a motherboard, which would mean it's easily converted to a regular USB 2.0 cable with an adapter like this. There is one issue though: that 9-pin connector carries two USB 2.0 lanes, so you might need two cables for every port on the reader to work.
> 
> A cable (or two) like this should do the trick though:
> 
> ...


My one is the same as the one the guy has in the video.


----------



## Valantar (May 31, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> My one is the same as the one the guy has in the video.


From what I could see the video never shows the back of their reader clearly, however it looked like there was an integrated USB cable with strain relief on the back of their reader. If the second photo you attached to your previous post was the back of the card reader (which it looks like), then that looks like a standard internal USB 2.0 header, and you can attach it to any PC through an adapter cable like the one I linked.


----------



## Greenslade (May 31, 2022)

Valantar said:


> From what I could see the video never shows the back of their reader clearly, however it looked like there was an integrated USB cable with strain relief on the back of their reader. If the second photo you attached to your previous post was the back of the card reader (which it looks like), then that looks like a standard internal USB 2.0 header, and you can attach it to any PC through an adapter cable like the one I linked.


It  is working  as you can see but sellotaped as you  as you can see. Ir is a Bodged job i know but i have proved a point.
I will have to get a soldering iron.For some reason the light is not showing in the photo, s


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It  is working  as you can see but sellotaped as you  as you can see. Ir is a Bodged job i know but i have proved a point.
> I will have to get a soldering iron.For some reason the light is not showing in the photo, s


Soldering is nice in general if you just know what to do. 

edit: paid that 290X.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 1, 2022)

Valantar said:


> From what I could see the video never shows the back of their reader clearly, however it looked like there was an integrated USB cable with strain relief on the back of their reader. If the second photo you attached to your previous post was the back of the card reader (which it looks like), then that looks like a standard internal USB 2.0 header, and you can attach it to any PC through an adapter cable like the one I linked.


Thanks for that. But i want need it now as the Pc i bought on eBay is not working no light s on in the machine nothing.Good job i checked to see if it was working before
i bought that lead.This was the first time i tried the PC today.



Lenne said:


> Soldering is nice in general if you just know what to do.
> 
> edit: paid that 290X.


I want need to now anyway as the PC i got on eBAY is sad;y not working.



Lenne said:


> Soldering is nice in general if you just know what to do.
> 
> edit: paid that 290X.


Who would not know how to solder


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 2, 2022)

Data cabal for some reason this cabal want fit in after the power cabal is put in.but the data cabal will go in with out the power cabal?Do they sell a thiner angled data cabal?
It has to be angled.I did have a cabal for it before but i was swoping out cabals a couple seen to have  got broken.The non angled will fit in with the power cabal.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Data cabal for some reason this cabal want fit in after the power cabal is put in.but the data cabal will go in with out the power cabal?Do they sell a thiner angled data cabal?
> It has to be angled.


Really hard to see as the pictures are out of focus sadly, but they really shouldn't be interfering - spacing between those connectors is standardized after all, and all cables should be compliant to that standard.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 2, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Really hard to see as the pictures are out of focus sadly, but they really shouldn't be interfering - spacing between those connectors is standardized after all, and all cables should be compliant to that standard.


Sorry about the pictures the straight ones go in fine as you can see Hope it is a better photo


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 2, 2022)

If you really want to learn about the 8" Floppy Disc Drive...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 2, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> If you really want to learn about the 8" Floppy Disc Drive...


Adrian Black knows his craft! Love his channel!


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Adrian Black knows his craft! Love his channel!



To anyone on here is it right that the *Power Led* and *GND* connectors do not need to be connected?They were not connected when i received the PC.People on here said they don,t need to be.If you can confirm this i will send the PC back for a refund.
Having the *Power Led *would not stop the PC from working would it?


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 3, 2022)

No, the Power Led is just what it says. It's just the wire to turn the Led on when the power button is pushed. 

If that system is not working, I'd just send it back for a refund.


----------



## toastem2004 (Jun 3, 2022)

Finally got around to working on my Alienware M9700 laptop i got to replace my XP desktop my wife made me get rid of.  It has some issues and suffered from a liquid spill on the keyboard, but it is up and running.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 3, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> If you really want to learn about the 8" Floppy Disc Drive...


To be honest, I haven't seen even a 5.25" FDD live, those 8 inch monsters look even beefier..


lexluthermiester said:


> Adrian Black knows his craft! Love his channel!


Yeah he's a damn comfy guy


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 3, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> No, the Power Led is just what it says. It's just the wire to turn the Led on when the power button is pushed.
> 
> If that system is not working, I'd just send it back for a refund.


I sent a message to the seller  this is what he said
*
*I'm just catching up on my eBay (I am an amateur seller and do not have 24-hr support)
Sorry to hear of your disappointment - can you please confirm that the rocker switch on the rear panel is set to I and not 0, ie. set to the 'on' position
The fact that you have had absolutely no signs of life from the machine made me want to check this seemingly obvious detail
The machine left my workshop tested and 100% functional so I am a little concerned*
My reply
Yes it was i confirm that.. You can never tell how the delivery person is going to treat the parcel,I can see why people say collection  only with Pc ,s and other heavy electrical goods.If i was selling stuff like that i would do collection only.  Quote  from you the seller
*The machine left my workshop tested and 100% functional *
Well it was not working when i tried it nothing at all  as i said in the message to you.
Does he think i am so kind of idiot that i can,t tell the off switch from the on one?


----------



## Valantar (Jun 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I sent a message to the seller  this is what he said
> *
> *I'm just catching up on my eBay (I am an amateur seller and do not have 24-hr support)
> Sorry to hear of your disappointment - can you please confirm that the rocker switch on the rear panel is set to I and not 0, ie. set to the 'on' position
> ...


That sounds like a completely reasonable response from the seller IMO. If I was selling something and the buyer reported it not working, my first response would be to check all the basic stuff, then move into possible troubleshooting. If you're taking this personally, you're approaching this all wrong. The seller isn't telepathic and isn't in the room with you, so they literally can't know what you know or what you have tried.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 3, 2022)

Valantar said:


> That sounds like a completely reasonable response from the seller IMO. If I was selling something and the buyer reported it not working, my first response would be to check all the basic stuff, then move into possible troubleshooting. If you're taking this personally, you're approaching this all wrong. The seller isn't telepathic and isn't in the room with you, so they literally can't know what you know or what you have tried.


I tried all the basic stuff bar putting  in a clip to test the PSU and taking *power conecter and touching the pins with the screw driver.All i am saying is it is not working this end.I would rather it was working and not having to send it back.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 3, 2022)

Lenne said:


> To be honest, I haven't seen even a 5.25" FDD live, those 8 inch monsters look even beefier..


They really were. Solid reliable though. I never had any problems with 8" discs like I did with 5.25" discs.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I tried all the basic stuff bar putting  in a clip to test the PSU and taking *power conecter and touching the pins with the screw driver.All i am saying is it is not working this end.I would rather it was working and not having to send it back.


I'm not saying you didn't, I'm saying there's no way for the seller to know that you did, what you had tried, etc. If your response to basic troubleshooting questions is "do they think I'm an idiot", then you're entering into the conversation with unreasonable expectations. They do not know what you know, and an exchange of information is the very minimum of what is necessary before a possible return. You need to have patience and be willing to communicate.

There is nothing wrong about them asking obvious questions, they're just trying to make this work out to your mutual benefit. Can you imagine how shit it would be for both of you if that had actually been the issue? You'd have to return it unnecessarily, they'd have to refund you and troubleshoot the machine unnecessarily, etc. Them asking you questions, no matter how basic, at this point is a good thing. Period. They're demonstrating a good-faith approach to the deal and a desire for things to work out.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 4, 2022)

The seller just got back to me  this is what he says 
Just wondered if we could try anything else before the return..? It just seems strange that it chose this moment to stop after working perfectly for 15 years - I built this pc for my brother and he's finally upgraded! What were you planning to use it for ? Maybe we could try and sort it over the phone. I would try a different IEC mains cable in case the fuse has blown​


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Jun 4, 2022)

They are going above and beyond what they are required to by attempting to help you. Maybe try what they suggest?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 4, 2022)

ExcuseMeWtf said:


> They are going above and beyond what they are required to by attempting to help you. Maybe try what they suggest?


I have never had anything like this before ,if i say sonething is not working the seller acepts it and it goes through with no problem.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 4, 2022)

PSU can always be the problem with older computers. Even tho if it worked with the paperclip thing, it's not sure that does it work in actual usage.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 4, 2022)

Lenne said:


> PSU can always be the problem with older computers. Even tho if it worked with the paperclip thing, it's not sure that does it work in actual usage.


Thanks for that ,what about the one where you take the power one out and put a screwdriver on the pins?I don,t see what the seller can do on the phone to me,,well he can,t do anything as i don,t have a Smart or iPhone


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 4, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that ,what about the one where you take the power one out and put a screwdriver on the pins?


That's what I meant above, even if the PSU turns on, it can still have problems.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 4, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That's what I meant above, even if the PSU turns on, it can still have problems.


I will continue  with the return.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 4, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I will continue  with the return.


Yeaaah, it's better to get a working one instead of it needing you to fix it


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 4, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Yeaaah, it's better to get a working one instead of it needing you to fix it


You are right there.  I don,t know how i could fix it anyway.I don,t know where  to start.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 5, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have never had anything like this before ,if i say sonething is not working the seller acepts it and it goes through with no problem.


Honestly, is that what you prefer? To have to go through the hassle of a return without even trying to troubleshoot it first? Remember: unless you've explicitly detailed everything you have done to figure this out to the seller, they have no way of knowing what you have done or not. Starting from the assumption that you might only have plugged it in and tried to turn it on is the only sensible starting point.

To me, junpingb straight to the return without any attempts at fixing it first sounds like a shit experience for no good reason. From a retail/customer service perspective, you always try to fix the problem first, as the hassle of troubleshooting is always a tiny fraction of the hassle of a return, for everyone involved, and it has a very real possibility of fixing the issue.

It also seems like they're not actually contesting the return, so I see no reason to be annoyed at this. It's a shame it didn't work, but these things happen, sadly. Heck, one of my old PCs died outright being carried about 100m from my dorm to a LAN. Just flat out refused to ever power on again. Could be a dry solder joint somewhere, could be almost anything.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 5, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Honestly, is that what you prefer? To have to go through the hassle of a return without even trying to troubleshoot it first? Remember: unless you've explicitly detailed everything you have done to figure this out to the seller, they have no way of knowing what you have done or not. Starting from the assumption that you might only have plugged it in and tried to turn it on is the only sensible starting point.
> 
> To me, junpingb straight to the return without any attempts at fixing it first sounds like a shit experience for no good reason. From a retail/customer service perspective, you always try to fix the problem first, as the hassle of troubleshooting is always a tiny fraction of the hassle of a return, for everyone involved, and it has a very real possibility of fixing the issue.
> 
> It also seems like they're not actually contesting the return, so I see no reason to be annoyed at this. It's a shame it didn't work, but these things happen, sadly. Heck, one of my old PCs died outright being carried about 100m from my dorm to a LAN. Just flat out refused to ever power on again. Could be a dry solder joint somewhere, could be almost anything.



As i have said in here before i am new to problem solving  with PC,s i am a newbie to it all ,i am not a tech person.I did trouble shot ,i took the Ram out one by one to test if it was the Ram. Disconnected  the PSU from the motherboard  and put it back on there.Loosed the screws on the motherboard  to move it about then tighten the screws back.Tried different  mains leads ,i have lots of them like most of us.That is what i call basic stuff.You are right there ,it is a risk you take buying on line.I can see why quite a few people say collection only.And in this sellers info he did say collection in person.I was surprised that he would send it by post.But him living in the other side of the country limits someone collecting it in person.As opposed  to me living in London.I see your point there.Like i said to the seller something can be working one day and the next  it does not work.I replied to the seller and told him i was sending it back.This is his reply he says what you said.             All packed and ready to go tomorrow 
Sure, look forward to receiving it and refunding you. I was merely trying to avoid any further inconvenience on your part.​


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 5, 2022)

Adrian has a long video where he gets an ancient DOS working for a 1975 Computer. Amazing stuff! (if you have the time)









  As Retro as you can get.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 5, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Adrian has a long video where he gets an ancient DOS working for a 1975 Computer. Amazing stuff! (if you have the time)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


So retro there is no video output. Getting those drives working was a pain for him. The problem is that those computers originally used 8" floppy drives, making 5.25" work took some doing. Props to Adrian for even getting it all working! I've been following that series of videos.


----------



## toastem2004 (Jun 6, 2022)

Tore down the M9700. The existing thermal paste was like concrete! Finally got the GPU's, CPU, and chipset cleaned and reapplied some thermal paste (cooler master ice fusion).  Hoping temps come down a bit.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 6, 2022)

toastem2004 said:


> (cooler master ice fusion)


I've got a small tube of that. Good stuff!


----------



## masterdeejay (Jun 8, 2022)

I built an old top end AGP rig for testing.
Asrock 865PE motherboard, modded bios to support wolfdale.  I dont have better AGP motherboard, but i think a fast core 2 is not limiting these cards.
I have a lot of lga775 cpus i did not want to use quad core because it was almost useless for retro gaming so i stayed with dual core, first is used an E6750 but when i modded the bios i selected newer wolfdale Core2 E5300@3,4ghz cpu (i do have E8400 but it not works in this motherboard, there is no support for 1333 fsb wolfdale, only with the conroe)
Stock Intel Cooler, the cpu is cool even with overclocking (i only raised the fsb to 1066, no extra voltage or ram divider change)
2x1Gb Kingston brand average DDR1 400@440
120Gb Kingston SSD
Evga 600w psu

So i have test a few VGA cards with 3dmark01se, WindowsXP

So first a very slow FX5600XT (i think it is the slowest 5600 ever made, 64bit ram)
It is hot, slow and ugly.


For next it was the budget king, i chose a very low end Msi MX440 64bit, but i overclocked a bit (300/600). Funny it is FASTER than the FX5600XT
Yes the low end fx series is that bad that a low profile 64bit mx440 can beat it. So it is possible a beter mx440-460 can beat the non LE/XT version of the FX5600.



Next is a still low end FX5600 but with 128bit memory. Much better than the XT variant.


Ok so i bored with the low end stuff next is Leadtek A280Le despite is an LE card it is much more better than the Fx5600 nearly double performance in 3dmark01se (DX7/DX8)
It is a Ti4200-8x so it can overclock for 300/600, almost all 4200 can handle these clocks. i have lost the picture about the card, it is a single fan version with big heatsink that cools the vrams.



And time for non native AGP cards ( PCIe-AGP bridge chip on the card)
Inno 7600Gs overclocked


MSI 6600GT but it was with the slower cpu E6750 (2,66ghz 1333fsb) Not overclocked.


I do have a lot of AGP cards but very little time for testing.

The bad thing is the motherboard not supports 3.3v cards only the universal and the 1.5v cards. Is there any voltage converter adapter?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 8, 2022)

I am really getting into all this Retro stuff. I was thinking of building a 462a socket Retro PC after watching Phil,s and this guy's videos.








I see that the crapy est one is the one I have in the PC I have coming. This one is from another of my fav you tubers 







  I have been checking what I should get to replace it and decided on the 9600  







 Providing the PC is working that is. Not that I know anything about overclocking. I will go for the 9600 after watching Phill,s video, it is good that the 9600 does not have the thermal pad on them.  







There are more of them on eBay anyway, and cheaper than the 9550. I just looked on ebay and saw that the 9600 ones on there are not the pro version,i thought they were cheap Van anyone tell me what the difference between the 9600 pro and the 9600SE?
I have just seen this on eBay  ATI Radeon 9600SE 128MB DDR AGP Graphics Card
Boxed  Opened – never used £15  3.95  make an offer. Do i take a chance and buy it, with out knowing if the PC i have bought is going work, after my last experanxe with the last PC i bought there not working.?I like the idea of buying things that are boxed and unused. 


I




I have gone to another site and someone asked why so many versions of the same card? Here's is what someone said  
9600SE <crap < 9600 <dirt < 9600pro <9600xt
I will leave this one out.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 8, 2022)

The ATI Radeon 9250 was not a good gaming graphics card even when it was new.  I remember many people complaining that it could not play games from the time period.  
Wish I could see the white sticker on the back of the card & get more info on this model.  This card isn't in the TPU GPU database, only the 128mb memory PCI & 64mb memory AGP versions.








						ATI Radeon 9250 Specs
					

ATI RV280, 240 MHz, 4 Pixel Shaders, 1 Vertex Shaders, 4 TMUs, 4 ROPs, 64 MB DDR, 200 MHz, 64 bit




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 8, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The ATI Radeon 9250 was not a good gaming graphics card even when it was new.  I remember many people complaining that it could not play games from the time period.
> Wish I could see the white sticker on the back of the card & get more info on this model.  This card isn't in the TPU GPU database, only the 128mb memory PCI & 64mb memory AGP versions.
> 
> 
> ...


It is not the  9250  it is the 9600se  look on the label on the card  it is very clear.What one would you  recommend then and how do you rate this one?
ATI Radeon 9600SE 128MB DDR AGP Graphics Card.
The Radeon 9600 SE was a graphics card by ATI, launched on October 1st, 2003. Built on the 130 nm process, and based on the RV350 graphics processor, in its RV350 SE variant, the card supports DirectX 9.0. Since Radeon 9600 SE does not support DirectX 11 or DirectX 12, it might not be able to run all the latest games. The RV350 graphics processor is a relatively small chip with a die area of only 76 mm² and 60 million transistors. It features 4 pixel shaders and 2 vertex shaders,  4 texture mapping units,  and 4 ROPs. Due to the lack of unified shaders you will not be able to run recent games at all (which require unified shader/DX10+ support). ATI has paired 64 MB DDR memory with the Radeon 9600 SE, which are connected using a 64-bit memory interface. The GPU is operating at a frequency of 325 MHz, memory is running at 200 MHz.
Being a single-slot card, the ATI Radeon 9600 SE does not require any additional power connector, its power draw is not exactly known. Display outputs include: 1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video. Radeon 9600 SE is connected to the rest of the system using an AGP 8x interface.
On Guzoo the 9600se  beats the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 on everything apart from the memory 64   3.2        to  128.   6.4.
9250 is in the box it must be the wrong box. 






I have gone to another site and someone asked why so many versions of the same card? Here's is what someone said 
9600SE <crap < 9600 <dirt < 9600pro <9600xt
I will leave this one out.
From what I am learning the SE version of any card is the basic one.


----------



## masterdeejay (Jun 8, 2022)

Ok
So 9600xt vs 9600se stock clocks
It is like ti4200 vs mx440 on scores.


Asus 9600xt not the fastest 9600 because 9600TX (renamed 9800se) was the fastest.
Gpu 500mhz that is high, ram 600mhz but it has 2.2ns 900mhz ram so high overclock is possible. I tried oc years ago it but the ram got lower voltage than the stock 900mhz spec so its only stable at ~700mhz. I even modded the vbios rom timings but not worked. If i have time i will try some vmod for the vram because an vaerave oc for a 2.2ns ram is above 1000mhz! 
 It is rv360, an optimalized version of rv350.
For dx7 games a ti4200 is still faster than this 9600xt. 


And the worst 9600 was the SE.
325 mhz gpu clock ram is only 400mhz ddr1. But the worst part is the 64bit bandwidth.
It kills the performance, better buy a 9550 with slower gpu clocks but 128bit ram bandwidth than this shit edition.

I have also a total dead 9600 pro and a 9700 bad vram card.


----------



## bobbybluz (Jun 8, 2022)

I was digging around looking for parts for a new build in progress and came across this Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe complete with an Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (aka the Space Heater) in it. Fully functional when I stashed it away around 12 years ago.


----------



## DR4G00N (Jun 8, 2022)

GFD PCB's showed up finally. Took a bit of time to solder all of the parts by hand and I think it came out pretty nice looking. I can see why people opt for solder paste instead.

Best of all it actually works. 
So far I've bumped my Athlon 700 to 750MHz just to try it out, seems stable. It's a shame my motherboard is unable to finely adjust the FSB so that limits the possibilities a bit.


----------



## bobbybluz (Jun 8, 2022)

Here's another long retired fully functional mobo/CPU combo. The board was a Craigslist find and the SATA port was missing when I got it. Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H/Phenom II 965. I had this in a rig I built for a former girlfriend. The heatsink mount is missing because I had a Corsair H50 cooling it. This setup was replaced with an Asus P8P67 Deluxe/2600K shortly before we parted ways forever. I later found out her idiot crackhead grandson destroyed the entire PC while attempting to "improve" it. That 2600K was my first legit 5.2GHz CPU.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 8, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> Ok
> So 9600xt vs 9600se stock clocks
> It is like ti4200 vs mx440 on scores.
> 
> ...


It is all confusing for me with renaming their cards. 
So a 9550 do they have different versions of that like the 9600?
What about other AGPs,s like the fx5500?   The PC I am getting on eBay is the fx5200 which is the pits according to youtube videos and people on the forums. what about 4 mx440? for windows 98?
Are there any other cards in that price range?
Phils using 9550 on this system    







How much better will the 9550 be compared to the FX5200 and is it as bad as people say? so the 9600se is on par with MX 440? the MX 440  is £10 on eBay
I see that is 64MB. The Radeon 9550 cheapest on eBay is £18. The FX 5500
AGP £20. This one is £24 I don,t want to pay more than £25.


----------



## pavle (Jun 8, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is all confusing for me with renaming their cards.


You won't be confused if you just first look at how many functional units a card has and then the frequency and mem. bandwidth.
Radeon 9550 is the same GPU as Radeon 9600 (XT), with 2 vertex shaders and 4 pixel shaders and 4 TMU's, just lower frequencies (should use 128-bit RAM but could differ).
The only nvidia card comparable would be the GeForce FX 5600 or rather 5700 (non-ultra) with 2 or 3 vertex shaders and 4 pixel shaders and 4 TMU's.
I had a GeForce FX 5700 in a Pentium 3 933MHz system and I could play DOOM3 with 2xAA 4xAF, but Half Life 2 would still be a bit choppy because of nvidia's dodgy DX9 implementation (they dodged the good things).
An even better suited nvidia card would a GeForce 6600 AGP or 6100 (with possible unlock?), at least these do DX9 properly.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 8, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is all confusing for me with renaming their cards.
> So a 9550 do they have different versions of that like the 9600?
> What about other AGPs,s like the fx5500?   The PC I am getting on eBay is the fx5200 which is the pits according to youtube videos and people on the forums. what about 4 mx440? for windows 98?
> Are there any other cards in that price range?
> ...


IMO some of the naming was confusing on purpose.  You have to look at the specs for the different versions of the same card (Geforce FX 5200 for example) & figure out which ones are crippled. 
Here's a link to the Geforce FX 5000 series.  Look at all the 5200's.








						TechPowerUp
					

Graphics card and GPU database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes clocks, photos, and technical details.




					www.techpowerup.com
				




Here's the ATI 9500 & up cards.








						TechPowerUp
					

Graphics card and GPU database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes clocks, photos, and technical details.




					www.techpowerup.com
				



On the 9550 & 9600 cards look at the RAM amount (64mb or 128mb) and the RAM bandwidth (64bit or 128bit).  The 128/128 versions are the better ones.

Edit: Pavle, that's the Geforce 6200 that could unlock.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 9, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> Ok
> So 9600xt vs 9600se stock clocks
> It is like ti4200 vs mx440 on scores.
> 
> ...





Greenslade said:


> It is all confusing for me with renaming their cards.
> So a 9550 do they have different versions of that like the 9600?
> What about other AGPs,s like the fx5500?   The PC I am getting on eBay is the fx5200 which is the pits according to youtube videos and people on the forums. what about 4 mx440? for windows 98?
> Are there any other cards in that price range?
> ...





masterdeejay said:


> Ok
> So 9600xt vs 9600se stock clocks
> It is like ti4200 vs mx440 on scores.
> 
> ...


Thanks for explaining all that to me ATI Radeon 9550 DDR 256MB with DVI Graphics Card - FAST and FREE SHIPPING“The card is in excellent condition.”
£18,
Sapphire 11029-14 Radeon 9600XT 128MB DDR AGP Graphics Card £28 make an offer.*Tested and working*

​








pavle said:


> You won't be confused if you just first look at how many functional units a card has and then the frequency and mem. bandwidth.
> Radeon 9550 is the same GPU as Radeon 9600 (XT), with 2 vertex shaders and 4 pixel shaders and 4 TMU's, just lower frequencies (should use 128-bit RAM but could differ).
> The only nvidia card comparable would be the GeForce FX 5600 or rather 5700 (non-ultra) with 2 or 3 vertex shaders and 4 pixel shaders and 4 TMU's.
> I had a GeForce FX 5700 in a Pentium 3 933MHz system and I could play DOOM3 with 2xAA 4xAF, but Half Life 2 would still be a bit choppy because of nvidia's dodgy DX9 implementation (they dodged the good things).
> An even better suited nvidia card would a GeForce 6600 AGP or 6100 (with possible unlock?), at least these do DX9 properly.


Thanks for your info .


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 9, 2022)

I like that Sapphire 9600 XT.  Here's a pic of mine.


----------



## pavle (Jun 9, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Edit: Pavle, that's the Geforce 6200 that could unlock.


Thank you, I knew I was missing that one, just couldn't remember it and didn't check on the net either... 


Greenslade said:


> Thanks for your info .


You're welcome; I still have some of those generation cards, the R 9700, 9800 and GFFX 5800 (one working and one broken for room display/fan still works and hooking it up to a wall adapter it makes some noise).


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 9, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I like that Sapphire 9600 XT.  Here's a pic of mine.
> 
> View attachment 250349


Would be the maximum i would go for price wise that is the XT. .
So it has to be one of the two.Is the fan noisy?This is why i ask as Phil had problems with the fan.  







 His lucky he gets sent a lot of stuff, for nothing ,wish i did.  What motherboard and CPU are you using with it? 98se or  XP ? not Lex,s favourite  *ME *i take it.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 9, 2022)

The fan on mine still sounds fine because it spends most of its time in the box.  I will build an old PC, run some benchmarks & run through an old game or two, then put everything back in boxes.  I'm lucky to have a little room in the basement for all my old PC stuff.

There is a 9550 version that is 128MB/128bit.  I'm not aware of a 256MB version.  If you get close to pulling the trigger ask for more pictures, including any stickers that may be on the card.
Here's the back of mine - with sticker.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 9, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The fan on mine still sounds fine because it spends most of its time in the box.  I will build an old PC, run some benchmarks & run through an old game or two, then put everything back in boxes.  I'm lucky to have a little room in the basement for all my old PC stuff.
> 
> There is a 9550 version that is 128MB/128bit.  I'm not aware of a 256MB version.  If you get close to pulling the trigger ask for more pictures, including any stickers that may be on the card.
> Here's the back of mine - with sticker.
> ...


I looked in the link you gave me there is no 256 Mb for the 9550.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 9, 2022)

I think a lot of people selling old PC hardware on the internet don't really know what they are selling.  Some sellers are trying to deceive buyers, but I think most just don't know the full details of what they are trying to sell.  That's why you need to ask for more pictures, do a little research, and make your own decision.  Yes, I don't think there is a 256MB version of the 9550, so you have to figure out which one (64MB or 128MB) he's actually selling.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 9, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I think a lot of people selling old PC hardware on the internet don't really know what they are selling.  Some sellers are trying to deceive buyers, but I think most just don't know the full details of what they are trying to sell.  That's why you need to ask for more pictures, do a little research, and make your own decision.  Yes, I don't think there is a 256MB version of the 9550, so you have to figure out which one (64MB or 128MB) he's actually selling.


You are right there. I have heard of people buying stuff from eBay and getting a better modal of something than the seller put on there. I do the research. I might as well go for the best I can get the 9660 XT 128 Mb. I have just removed my first motherboard from the Dell one I put on here with the bent pins on the CPU unit. I was surprised there were so few connections to disconnect off the board. Four connections plus fan and the PSU connections. I will try to straighten the pins I don,t suppose I will be able to do It. It is a lot easier to work on a PC that is out if it is out of the case.
I will have to get a cheap blower gun, so much dust There were lots of screws on the motherboard. I think that is too far gone the pins that is. I will put it back in and see if the one channel that worked before still works.
then I will be confident to build my own in the future. I take it the light side is for one channel and the dark side the one with bent pins is the other channel that is not working.



68Olds said:


> I think a lot of people selling old PC hardware on the internet don't really know what they are selling.  Some sellers are trying to deceive buyers, but I think most just don't know the full details of what they are trying to sell.  That's why you need to ask for more pictures, do a little research, and make your own decision.  Yes, I don't think there is a 256MB version of the 9550, so you have to figure out which one (64MB or 128MB) he's actually selling.


The seller has offered me 9660 xt
Sapphire 11029-14 Radeon 9600XT 128MB DDR AGP Graphics Card“Tested and working in good, used condition.” I have bought it.​

*Brand:* Sapphire£25,16. that is a weird price the 16p that is  it was £27.95.I think i will take a chance on it.Keeping fingers crossed that the PC from eBay will work.I think i will go for it.Saving £2,79 that is better than the £4 i got off  the £60 PC .
*MPN:* 11029-14
*Chipset/GPU Model:* ATI
*Memory Size:* 128 MB
* Compatible Slot:* AGP


----------



## masterdeejay (Jun 9, 2022)

My testing platforms for old hardware just a few:

Top end Pentium3 universal Agp windows98/2k
Abit ST6 i815, P3 1.4S



Top end socket478 Agp-Pro cards win98/2k/xp
Abit IC7 3Ghz P4 prescott HT



Low freq P2 downclockable to 133mhz Pci Dos win98 voodoo1 etc...
Chaintech 6ltm 440Lx P2 266 and this killer heatsink.
This was my high school rig in year 2000.


P2 s370/slot1 OC platform low to high end pentium2
Compaq brand 440Bx motherboard that support overclocking.
Celeron 300A / Pentium2 450



Non intel/amd platform
Chinese goverment Pc Zhaoxin X86 soc. I have win10 cmit edition windows but it works with average win7/10/11
Not old but the technology is from the old via cpu/gpu


SocketA
Abit NF7 + 2500@3200+ (2.2Ghz)
I want to find a better cpu for this. I did have a 2600+ MP server cpu but i sold it. That was an overclocking king (2.9Ghz!)

I have a few boxes of old hardware but not much time for playing.
I also have a few c64 with original commodore crt monitor a few joysticks etc. Wizzard of wor one of my all time favorite.


Eary breadbin black key old Sid c64 and quicshot turbo joy. I have two custom 2Mb cartridge with a lot of games.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 9, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> SocketA
> Abit NF7 + 2500@3200+ (2.2Ghz)
> I want to find a better cpu for this. I did have a 2600+ MP server cpu but i sold it. That was an overclocking king (2.9Ghz!)


You have a few nice pieces there.
Any screenshots of that 2.9 chip? That's a rare OC on ambient cooling.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 10, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> My testing platforms for old hardware just a few:
> View attachment 250423
> Top end Pentium3 universal Agp windows98/2k
> Abit ST6 i815, P3 1.4S
> ...


Lot of nice retro stuff there. I was thinking of getting one of the new c64 .I proberly want though.


----------



## masterdeejay (Jun 10, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> You have a few nice pieces there.
> Any screenshots of that 2.9 chip? That's a rare OC on ambient cooling.


That was in 2004 and not stable. Zalman 7000 cu cooling. I modified the motherboard (NF7-S) moved a capacitor.
I dont have any screenshot. I used the cpu at 2,6ghz with Abit ti4200-8x Otes. I needed all the high fps in cod1/uo clanbase multiplayer.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 10, 2022)

7970 Matrix will retire as it's bigger brother (290X Matrix Platinum) arrived 






Tested that it works, I'll clean it soon. I got also a rare(?) Asus GTX 660 3GB (GK104) as a bundle, cleaning it currently (as you can see, it's hella dusty).







edit: Cleaned both cards, also took that ugly support off from that 660. Pretty terrible cooler for a GK104 card though. Also my heart skipped a beat when tearing the 290X down, a small SMD cap tore off from the VRM. I put it back in its place, put the VRM heatsink back and I hope it works. At least it ran Time Spy flawlessly, I'll put the 3dmark stress test running to make sure it's stable. Scored 4194 with stock (1050/1350) clocks, I'll OC it more later if it's stable.


----------



## masterdeejay (Jun 10, 2022)

IBM T60


And a trash found P1 233 Top motherboard, integrated matrox and sound but no agp.


I love matrox cards for 2D best image quality

But for GTA1 3Dfx Voodoo1 card is the best.



Blood1 with 3Dfx



And i use old joyticks and mechanical keyboard for the new games like star citizen dual joy control is the best.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 10, 2022)

I've had 3x T61p (2x normal, one widescreen) in my clothes closet but I don't have a charger for those, so I can't test them. I remember putting some upgrades for those though already.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 10, 2022)

Upgraded my Athlon XP machine with a heavily rebuilt PSU (it took me almost 3 hours of non-stop desoldering and soldering parts on it.) and a Radeon 9700 Pro from Hercules.

Also dusted off my Duron 1600 SDR build as well.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 10, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Upgraded my Athlon XP machine with a heavily rebuilt PSU (it took me almost 3 hours of non-stop desoldering and soldering parts on it.) *and a Radeon 9700 Pro from Hercules*.
> View attachment 250496
> Also dusted off my Duron 1600 SDR build as well.
> View attachment 250497


I had its little brother once, Hercules 9500 Pro


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 10, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Upgraded my Athlon XP machine with a heavily rebuilt PSU (it took me almost 3 hours of non-stop desoldering and soldering parts on it.) and a Radeon 9700 Pro from Hercules.
> View attachment 250496
> Also dusted off my Duron 1600 SDR build as well.
> View attachment 250497


That must have been a job to do that You obviously know your stuff to do that.
After taking the motherboard out of a Dell with bent pins on the CPU unit. I managed to put it back in there, but when I did the CPU fan spins on and off. I did the basic troubleshoot stuff with no success, There are no beeps
or any sounds I am not sure if that was a success or not. At least I got it back in the case. But it did work on one channel before. See the state of the CPU unit, I was expecting the fan to stay on at least. I will take the CPU
I3 550, ram. and the DVD drive, Card Reader. and the fan. I will send the rest for recycling. I know this is no big thing to do, but I have never taken a motherboard out of the case. I wanted to try it on this PC because it does not work properly. Now I know can do it I will build a PC in the near future. It is a shame the PSU is 24 as i want be able to use it on a Retro PC as they are 20 pins.


----------



## masterdeejay (Jun 10, 2022)

DDR3 SSD.
It gets the voltage from the ddr3 slot but connected with Sata.





And i have a few white pcb s478 motherboard waiting for capacitor fix.


One of my all time favorite game Imperium Galactica II. Real time 3d strategy game.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 10, 2022)

I'm cleaning old hardware the best that I can but Phil has a dishwasher!


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 10, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I'm cleaning old hardware the best that I can but Phil has a dishwasher!


Trying a vinegar bath -> rinse -> iso as we speak... some dipshit sold me a broken (and shittily repasted with what seems like AS5  ) AB9 QuadGT. I have one but I want this one to work too... Sticking on C1. Was already thinking of it but Phil pushed me over the edge.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 10, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Trying a vinegar bath -> rinse -> iso as we speak... some dipshit sold me a broken (and shittily repasted with what seems like AS5  ) AB9 QuadGT. I have one but I want this one to work too... Sticking on C1. Was already thinking of it but Phil pushed me over the edge.
> View attachment 250561View attachment 250562


Nice! I hope it works as I miss the Abit days.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 11, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I'm cleaning old hardware the best that I can but Phil has a dishwasher!


I've tried it myself and have to admit, it works magic! Especially on plastic, here are my "before & after" shots 


 



ABS plastic can easily withstand temperature of up to 50C (122F) and more, which is how I usually set my dishwasher...


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 11, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I've tried it myself and have to admit, it works magic! Especially on plastic, here are my "before & after" shots
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes! Good confirmation as that looks very good.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 11, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Yes! Good confirmation as that looks very good.


Indeed. However, you might want to be careful when washing the metal panels ... or anything that contains metal. I've tried it couple of times & ALWAYS ended up with the same result - rust spreading everywhere.

You can shower the metal case in warm water, but you need to dry out all the water afterwards, as soon as possible.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 11, 2022)

Hm, tried different drivers on 290X and its crashing now. Well, I had a thought of reinstalling fresh Win10 anyway, I got a 128GB SSD with 256MB DRAM cache so I'll install it to that drive. Also I noticed I had some air on the loop, so I got rid most of that and added more water.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 11, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Hm, tried different drivers on 290X and its crashing now. Well, I had a thought of reinstalling fresh Win10 anyway, I got a 128GB SSD with 256MB DRAM cache so I'll install it to that drive. Also I noticed I had some air on the loop, so I got rid most of that and added more water.


I only use older video cards/drivers on Windows XP 32bit or Vista 64bit and have never had problems or crashes. Are there issues if you go to
W10 or W11?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 11, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I only use older video cards/drivers on Windows XP 32bit or Vista 64bit and have never had problems or crashes. Are there issues if you go to
> W10 or W11?


Check my sig. I don't use THAT ancient OS on that system 
"HTPC: Asus P6X58D-E | Xeon X5650 @ 4.1GHz w/ h2o | 18GB DDR3-1600 | Asus R9 290X Matrix Platinum | Seasonic 750W | Corsair 4000D Airflow White | 40" 1080p | Win 10 Pro"


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 11, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Check my sig. I don't use THAT ancient OS on that system
> "HTPC: Asus P6X58D-E | Xeon X5650 @ 4.1GHz w/ h2o | 18GB DDR3-1600 | Asus R9 290X Matrix Platinum | Seasonic 750W | Corsair 4000D Airflow White | 40" 1080p | Win 10 Pro"


I only saw the 1080Ti and thought the R9 290X was older. Its been a long time since I used AMD. I didn't look at your SIG...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 11, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I only saw the 1080Ti and thought the R9 290X was older. Its been a long time since I used AMD. I didn't look at your SIG...


Ah, that happens. 

But yeah, just put a fresh Win10 (on an empty drive, didn't format the previous install yet) and now downloading 3dmark. I'll put its stress test running when it's done downloading.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 11, 2022)

Saw this and though everyone would find it interesting;








That drive is massive but not the largest hard drive ever made...
People complaining about hard drive noise should consider themselves lucky they never had to work with those beasts!

This will be before the time of many users in these forums, but for me and I imagine a few others, this is nostalgic!


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 11, 2022)

That 128GB SSD is probably cursed.. installed W10Pro to it, it had slowdowns, total lockups and other weird behaviour. Took it off, installed a fresh install to an old Kingston SSDNow V300, worked fine, put all the other drives, no problems, put that 128GB one, formatted it, booted and WTF - the Kingston was empty too?!

I guess it's better to leave it be as now the X58 rig is up and running, downloading a ton of games.  and why I reinstalled Windows? I had problems with GPU drivers, now it runs 3dmark stress test (Time Spy x20) without a doubt, previously it crashed instantly. Also the modified NimeZ drivers works flawlessly.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 11, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Nice! I hope it works as I miss the Abit days.


No dice  C1... at least she's pretty.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Jun 11, 2022)

wow,,,,,,,,,,wow









						RARE Original Apple-1 Computer from 1976, Fully Operational and Signed by Woz   | eBay
					

In 2021, we had the opportunity to showcase our collection to Steve Wozniak who autographed both Apple-1 computers in our collection. Woz chose to sign the CPU of this particular Apple-1, and was enthusiastic to see two of his creations in such remarkable condition.



					www.ebay.com


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 11, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Saw this and though everyone would find it interesting;
> 
> 
> 
> ...


A HAWK drive that weighs 135 pounds.............Crazy!


----------



## Robert B (Jun 11, 2022)

*New HW Found*! 

ASUS K7M + AMD 750MHz - busted USB ports. Easy fix. A minor problem at the AGP port. Easy fix.
Gigabyte 6VTXE + Celeron 1200 - needs caps and some attention at the AGP port. Easy as pie.
ASUS A8N-SLI S939 with PCI-E A64 3200 - in great shape.
NOS Kingston 2x32MB SIMM 72 pins
AMD 486DX2-80
Creative Sound Blaster SBS38 Speakers
Funky Ball mouse
512MB PC 133
DELL Geforce 2 GTS 32MB
Creative Sound Blaster 128 PCI
ISA TV Card Fast Movie Machine - HUGE!
A bunch of i3s to save an i7 that it's missing a few capacitors on the back. 
Pentium 2 400

Just another day at the flea market.  Not the best not the worst. In any case I am not complaining.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 11, 2022)

Robert B said:


> *New HW Found*!
> 
> ASUS K7M + AMD 750
> Gigabyte 6VTXE + Celeron 1200
> ...


Good day for you it seems ,cool.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 11, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> wow,,,,,,,,,,wow
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Auction is now at $300,000.10 ...let me check my spare change -


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 12, 2022)

I have just seen a soundcard on Ebay and it says 
*Taken in working order from a working PC but can't guarantee whether it will work in a new *Creative Labs Audigy Sound Blaster Sound Card SB1394 EAX Advance HD SB0090  £5 make an offer £3.25 shipping .Phil recomends this one  







  Is it worth taking a chance on it?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just seen a soundcard on Ebay and it says
> *Taken in working order from a working PC but can't guarantee whether it will work in a new *Creative Labs Audigy Sound Blaster Sound Card SB1394 EAX Advance HD SB0090  £5 make an offer £3.25 shipping .Phil recomends this one
> 
> 
> ...


I got Audigy 2 ZS model myself and it is a nice performer.













Now ... would I recommend (or not) that you get yourself Audigy is open for debate. In all the honesty, Audigy performs about the same as SoundBlaster Live (just better), and offers more features. And while you can grab "Live!" cards for next to nothing, these things will cost you some money, so it all comes down to how much you're willing to spend & how important the sound it is to you.

I got mine for free so it was no brainer, otherwise I'd never bother spending money on Audigy, seeing I already had a very nice Live! card inside, before.


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## Greenslade (Jun 12, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I got Audigy 2 ZS model myself and it is a nice performer.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for that, but it is worth taking a chance on one that says
*Taken in working order from a working PC but can't guarantee whether it will work in a new  one* 
And as a rule of thumb is  it worth taking a chance on buying something that says that? Providing it is a good price.                            £8.25 or less.ptoce for the card.
The cheapest one on there is near double that price.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 12, 2022)

Audigy2 ZS is awesome.



Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that, but it is worth taking a chance on one that says £8.25 or less.
> *Taken in working order from a working PC but can't guarantee whether it will work in a new  one* And as a rule of thumb is  it worth taking a chance on buying something that says that? Providing it is a good price.                            £8.25 or less.ptoce for the card.
> The cheapest one on there is near double that price.


If you just have a "classic" PCI slot, it should work fine.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 12, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Audigy2 ZS is awesome.
> 
> 
> If you just have a "classic" PCI slot, it should work fine.


I am waiting for the PC i orded on ebay ,it was suposed to have come yesterday.
I don,t know about *Clasic PCI slot*all PC ,s have PCI slots.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am waiting for the PC i orded on ebay ,it was suposed to have come yesterday.
> I don,t know about *Clasic PCI slot*all PC ,s have PCI slots.


Not modern PCs, they have only PCIe.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 12, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Not modern PCs, they have only PCIe.


I see i did not know that.It is a retro one with Athlon 2400
.I don,t know why there are  so many drive bays in   the case.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 12, 2022)

Yeah, those white slots are "classic" PCI slots


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 12, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Yeah, those white slots are "classic" PCI slots


Thanks once again.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks once again.


No problem, glad to be for any help.


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## Greenslade (Jun 12, 2022)

Lenne said:


> No problem, glad to be for any help.


I have put an offer for £3.75 there asking £5..00. plus shippong.I am taking a chance that it will work anyway.If they come back and say £4 pound i will accept  that.I only got a messily  £4  of the PC i am waiting for , they were asking £60  i first offered £52 for it.they refused i put another for £56  i should have said £54  i think 10% is fair.What percentage do you ask for things on eBay  you and anyone else on here?  Private sellers are more flexible than business  sellers.


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## Kissamies (Jun 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have put an offer for £3.75 there asking £5..00. plus shippong.I am taking a chance that it will work anyway.If they come back and say £4 pound i will accept  that.I only got a messily  £4  of the PC i am waiting for , they were asking £60  i first offered £52 for it.they refused i put another for £56  i should have said £54  i think 10% is fair.What percentage do you ask for things on eBay  you and anyone else on here?  Private sellers are more flexible than business  sellers.


I have no idea of purchasing a whole computer on ebay, I only buy small things or movies/old console games there and not locally.


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## Greenslade (Jun 12, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I have no idea of purchasing a whole computer on ebay, I only buy small things or movies/old console games there and not locally.


I am talking about buying any seconed hand stuff on there.Percentages .If you only buy small stuff you would not on the postion of the make an offer , unless it is collectable.


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## Kissamies (Jun 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am talking about buying any seconed hand stuff on there.Percentages .


Ah, I've just bought everything with "buy it now" and paid the required amount including shipping without haggling.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 12, 2022)

The power (only literally  ) of Netburst...
Pentium D 930 on an Abit IP35 Pro. Granted, it's only a 4-phase VRM, but for a dual-core to bring any heatsinked VRM to 75⁰c+ is astounding. You'd never guess that I'm at 1.670v vCore set in BIOS. 
This is also with two 92mm fans blowing on the bottom, right near the PWM.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 13, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Ah, I've just bought everything with "buy it now" and paid the required amount including shipping without haggling.


No problem  I have taken your advice ,the seller has accepted the offer of 3.75 plus 3,25 for shipping i just hope it works haggling.is the name of the game I know someone on very good salary £50 grand a year.who haggles about everthing he is the tightest person i know.


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## Kissamies (Jun 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No problem  I have taken your advice ,the seller has accepted the offer of 3.75 plus 3,25 for shipping i just hope it works


Alright, report how it goes


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## onemanhitsquad (Jun 13, 2022)

Lavcon (KLH) Soundbites speaker system  1996

My first pc speaker system  , they came in this color , black , wood veneer look , and carbon fiber . 30 watts (15x15) for the satellites and the sub is powered 130 watts . The sub was an option and helped round out the sound. I used to have it on the desk , sort of behind the monitor . Had a nice Quake 2 rocket jump rumble . The bottom of the power amp is a heat sink , and it needs it!


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## Valantar (Jun 13, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> Lavcon (KLH) Soundbites speaker system  1996
> 
> My first pc speaker system  , they came in this color , black , wood veneer look , and carbon fiber . 30 watts (15x15) for the satellites and the sub is powered 130 watts . The sub was an option and helped round out the sound. I used to have it on the desk , sort of behind the monitor . Had a nice Quake 2 rocket jump rumble . The bottom of the power amp is a heat sink , and it needs it!View attachment 250831View attachment 250832View attachment 250833View attachment 250834View attachment 250835View attachment 250836View attachment 250837View attachment 250838View attachment 250839View attachment 250840View attachment 250841View attachment 250842View attachment 250843View attachment 250844View attachment 250845View attachment 250846View attachment 250847


Wow, those look amazing! And that little amp unit is really cool (even if I'd be a bit wary of sinking it's heat output into the desk, at least if it's wood).


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 13, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> Lavcon (KLH) Soundbites speaker system  1996
> 
> My first pc speaker system  , they came in this color , black , wood veneer look , and carbon fiber . 30 watts (15x15) for the satellites and the sub is powered 130 watts . The sub was an option and helped round out the sound. I used to have it on the desk , sort of behind the monitor . Had a nice Quake 2 rocket jump rumble . The bottom of the power amp is a heat sink , and it needs it!View attachment 250831View attachment 250832View attachment 250833View attachment 250834View attachment 250835View attachment 250836View attachment 250837View attachment 250838View attachment 250839View attachment 250840View attachment 250841View attachment 250842View attachment 250843View attachment 250844View attachment 250845View attachment 250846View attachment 250847


Have to admit, it looks pretty awesome ... although I don't get it..? Why would anyone choose something like that over the standard Integrated HiFi amplifier?


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## onemanhitsquad (Jun 13, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Wow, those look amazing! And that little amp unit is really cool (even if I'd be a bit wary of sinking it's heat output into the desk, at least if it's wood).


I remember having it sitting on an over turned glass ashtray!


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Have to admit, it looks pretty awesome ... although I don't get it..? Why would anyone choose something like that over the standard Integrated HiFi amplifier?


Because it's compact and will fit into small spaces.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Because it's compact and will fit into small spaces.


Yeah, but words "compact" and "hifi" do not blend together easily. I could give you several reasons to "why", but one of the most obvious ones is heat dissipation & longevity. Considering how small that thing is, I would assume that the bottom-side heatsink gets pretty hot, as @Valantar already suggested.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 13, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Yeah, but words "compact" and "hifi" do not blend together easily.


That can be true. However, well engineered and quality built products can qualify.


----------



## masterdeejay (Jun 13, 2022)

I have a very old Pentium D extreme edition engineering sample cpu. It was the last of the netbrust series.
It has the highest default multiplier (x21) but the lowest (533mhz like a celeron) FSB. Spec _QGSZ_ HH80555KE0724M
Temperature sensor not working or not calibrated (it is not under 100C), and the cpu is a little thicker than the the other cpus in this socket, and it is brown/dark green pcb not green.
It can overclock a little to 800fsb - 4,2Ghz. 2c/4t
It is not an ES D 920 but an Extreme 920 that is not released.


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## Greenslade (Jun 13, 2022)

I was thinking about building a Retro PC at some time in the future,And  saw our favourite you tuber Phil building one in a new case as opposed  to building on a bench as in most of his other videos.


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## masterdeejay (Jun 13, 2022)

Not bad, but he shoud put copper shim to the cpu. SocketA cpus is sensitive to die breaking.
That Sound card and that psu is a little overkill. 
That kyro card is interesting.


----------



## Splinterdog (Jun 13, 2022)

A nice retro AM2 machine came in today for repair with an Athlon 64 x2 4800+, 3Gb OCZ memory and an MSI R5670 1Gb card.
Unfortunately the MSI K9AGM3 mobo is as dead as doornail and I haven't got another compatible motherboard to test the CPU and memory.
The graphics card works just fine, so I might do a deal on that.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2022)

Bought a cheap LGA1155 motherboard, now I can build a little box which I'll take to my parents and leave it there. 

-that board
-i5-2320
-4GB DDR3-1600
-GTX 660 3GB
-128GB SSD
-few HDDs
-Nexus 850W PSU
-Acer matx case from 2005

A damn solid budget gaming rig, I'd say!


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 14, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> Not bad, but he shoud put copper shim to the cpu. SocketA cpus is sensitive to die breaking.


Socket370 CPU's as well. I always put a square of metal tape on the bottom of the heatsink, which acted as a cushion and never hurt thermals.



Lenne said:


> Bought a cheap LGA1155 motherboard, now I can build a little box which I'll take to my parents and leave it there.
> 
> -that board
> -i5-2320
> ...


That's a nice semi-retro setup. What are you planning with it?


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## Greenslade (Jun 14, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Bought a cheap LGA1155 motherboard, now I can build a little box which I'll take to my parents and leave it there.
> 
> -that board
> -i5-2320
> ...


850w Psu is a bit of an over kill for that system surely.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> 850w Psu is a bit of an over kill for that system surely.


Maybe, but the system will never exceed the PSU rating.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> 850w Psu is a bit of an over kill for that system surely.





lexluthermiester said:


> Maybe, but the system will never exceed the PSU rating.


Yeah and I don't have any other PSU lying around. 

I have no clue what I will play on it, actually I purchased 2x4GB RAM to it so we'll get 8GB though.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 14, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I have no clue what I will play on it, actually I purchased 2x4GB RAM to it so we'll get 8GB though.


Considering that you have a 3GB GTX660, 8GB is solid for most games.


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## Greenslade (Jun 14, 2022)

I just collected  the PC i got from eBay ,the box is a lot smaller than the last one i got on there.   I got a bus outside the pick up point ,instead of dragging it to the bus stop that takes mr all the way home ,i just hope it is all working fineThe last PC was big and ugly.This is the case i tried to look it up on line but there was no number of the case in the info on eBay..Cooler Master Elite 335,Nice looking case.I wondered why there were all those drive bays in there ,but then realised it was because the floppy drive has to be further down to the slot on the case. I see the case is 12 years old. 







 no reviews if it just  this basic video.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Cooler Master Elite 335


Very solid and well built case, especially for the money.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Considering that you have a 3GB GTX660, 8GB is solid for most games.


I do have the 7970 Matrix as a spare, but nah, I'll keep that one in its box now. 

The 660 is better than it sounds, it has a GK104 GPU


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 14, 2022)

Lenne said:


> The 660 is better than it sounds, it has a GK104 GPU


Nice.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice.


And the best thing is that it was a freebie.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 14, 2022)

Lenne said:


> And the best thing is that it was a freebie.


Score!


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Score!


That dude who sold me the 290X bundled the card with it  paid 10EUR + postage for both


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 14, 2022)

Very nice near new DELL Quietkey PS2...


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## Greenslade (Jun 14, 2022)

I just looked up to see how my PC return was going .because  usealy paypal gives me the refund three days after the seller recives it .Heres the message.
*Sorry, we tried to deliver your parcel on *08-06-2022* but there didn't seem to be anyone in. Please choose an option below.
At this time we recommend you book a Redelivery.  Download the Royal Mail App to book a Redelivery and see our revised opening hours for Customer Service Points.  If collecting remember to check and bring the 'Something for you card' we left or, the equivalent SMS or email notification if you received one, and one of these forms of I.D.. For Channel Islands and Isle of Man please contact your postal service provider.
Tracking number:QQ063619532GB *
I should not have to do anything this side i don,t want it coming back here. I have sent the seller the above message. It is a pain in the you know where.I got that sorted  he got back to me and said no card  had been left, it is a good job i checked this side the tracking number.If i had not ii would have been sent back here.His got in touch with them to collect on Saturday.Do you have the same problem with delivery people saying they had called when you have stayed in waiting for the item?Apparently
it seems the norm and for them to not leave a card i saying  they had called


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 14, 2022)

The seller gave me a pic. This H61 board is coming here, I also bought 2x4GB DDR3


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## Greenslade (Jun 14, 2022)

The PC is working  but the CPU fan is nosey and the mouse is not working ,well it does light up.  Also i don,t know why they said there was a floppy drive in there ,although i  should have known  that by looking in it from there pictures There is not one on there.
The PC has an Athon XP 2400 CPU, Soundcard, 2GB Ram, working and tested *floppy*? and a 80GB HDD.I thought something was rattling the second panal has falling out And there are to cabers not connected yellow and black.That lead sticking outlooks like a PSU. conecter. on 501.502 Panal has come out.
Does it mean i will i will have to get one of those old school mice?All are  very few connecters.That PSU conecter is weird it just has that one big conecter.someone mentioned  that on here. I see i will be able to put a PCI CF expansion card in there ,but i would like to keep the HDD  drive as a second drive that as a slave the CF card as the master.I have to think how to get the front of the case off i can,t see any lugs in there. *Can anyone answer any of there questions i have put on here?*
Does anyone know what keys i have to use for an Asus motherboard?
Althon XP 2400 CPU
2GB  Ram
AGP 5200 AGP Graphics Card
Sound Card
80 GB HDD
*Floppy?    i don,t know why they mentioned the Floppy if there is not one in there?
DVD Drive
CD Drive
Windows XP SP3


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## 68Olds (Jun 14, 2022)

That 4 pin connector in image 501 is the "Pentium 4 CPU Power" connector.  Your motherboard doesn't need it, so you can just tuck it out of the way. 

Congrats on the vintage system.  You & my ATI 9600XT got me to put an AMD 1700+ beige box together for a few 3dMark benches.


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## Greenslade (Jun 14, 2022)

68Olds said:


> That 4 pin connector in image 501 is the "Pentium 4 CPU Power" connector.  Your motherboard doesn't need it, so you can just tuck it out of the way.
> 
> Congrats on the vintage system.  You & my ATI 9600XT got me to put an AMD 1700+ beige box together for a few 3dMark benches.


What about the problems i have keyboard works on and off ,mouse the light comes on sometimes it is no good if they don,t work  how do i get to all the settings if the mouse and keyboard don,t work?And what about them mentioning about a floppy when there is not one in there ,that one is down to me of course i should have noticed that.
*How do i get to the setting of the motherboard if the Mouse and keyboard don,t work?I have tried different USB ports?*Plus it is taking ages to load and some clicking  stick on this page.Do i have to buy the old school keyboard and mouse?I put another usb device in and now they are suddenly working.booted on to windows nor working again. I got the same problem as this kid with his crappy video ,well just the mouse working in the settings only  







 do all old PC s sound like his it is like white noise.


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## 68Olds (Jun 15, 2022)

The PC did not come with keyboard & mouse, correct?
Do you have a Windows XP disc?  It could be the PC never had USB keyboard & mouse.  If you put the WinXP disc in and restart the PC it _might_ install drivers for the keyboard & mouse.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Very solid and well built case, especially for the money.


I have just noticed something else the two conecters that screw  the drives in are missing  That was my own fault ,but i was not exspecting the drive to be not screwed in The other thing was there was no Floppy drive in there nit i should have checked.as they say
Retro Windows XP PC,Athlon XP 2400,2GB Ram,*Floppy*?,80GB HDD,New Coolermaster Case​The PC has an Athon XP 2400 CPU, Soundcard, 2GB Ram, working and *tested floppy*? and a 80GB HDD.
I can,t get the mouse to work i tried all the ports when on xp. But it works in the settings ? Do i have to get a PS2 mouse?

Specs

Althon XP 2400 CPU
2GB  Ram
AGP 5200 AGP Graphics Card
Sound Card
80 GB HDD
*Floppy.    ?   no Floppy drive in there.*
DVD Drive
CD Drive
Windows XP SP3
This kid crappy video  has the same problem as me ,well at least my keyboard works








mouse works in settings but not when it is loaded to XP.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Missing screws doesn't ruin a PC tho every screw should still be used.


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## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Missing screws doesn't ruin a PC tho every screw should still be used.


That might be so but they could have put some in to hold it in there ,it could have done some damage if it had falling out.It pushed the pana; out thats why it fell out.
How do i get round the problem of the mouse not working?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That might be so but they could have put some in to hold it in there ,it could have done some damage if it had falling out.


Yea, true. I remember my uncle being lazy too and he just had motherboard installed with 2 screws.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Yea, true. I remember my uncle being lazy too and he just had motherboard installed with 2 screws.


 Thats int good. 
I have lots of screws for dvd drives


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have lots of screws for dvd drives


Yeah some cases use that same thread for screwing a motherboard, otherwise it's the same thread which HDDs use.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The PC did not come with keyboard & mouse, correct?
> Do you have a Windows XP disc?  It could be the PC never had USB keyboard & mouse.  If you put the WinXP disc in and restart the PC it _might_ install drivers for the keyboard & mouse.


No just the PC.Yes i do ,Well the keyboard worked  but not all the time,The mouse did not work when loaded to XP some of the time the light was on the mouse.I het your point but think it will want to do a reinstall ,off course it  could not  do that as it is the main drive.I tell you the seller is not very helpful i  sent two message s to them with no reply.s.The seller is a woman she does not sound that friendly. I will give this kids video a go tomorrow if it works for a keyboard it should work for a mouse.  












68Olds said:


> The PC did not come with keyboard & mouse, correct?
> Do you have a Windows XP disc?  It could be the PC never had USB keyboard & mouse.  If you put the WinXP disc in and restart the PC it _might_ install drivers for the keyboard & mouse.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Is your keyboard a PS/2 one or USB?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Is your keyboard a PS/2 one or USB?


Usb that works ,it is the mouse the keyboard is wiewless the mouse is wired .and not working.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Usb that works ,it is the mouse the keyboard is wiewless the mouse is wired .and not working.


On older hardware, PS/2 works better


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> On older hardware, PS/2 works better


I get your poinr,but ny dell i5 4570 works fine with usb.and it has xp.All this is not a good oman for me putting  ME on there let alone 98se.Plus the fact if iwas to put 98se on there ,i will have to downgrade on the Ram as i have 2gb in there.I have seen there is hack tthat can be done to Have up   to 4gb on there.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I get your poinr,but ny dell i5 4570 works fine with usb.and it has xp.


Depends of the computer. Some older hardware doesn't work with USB at all in BIOS..


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Depends of the computer. Some older hardware doesn't work with USB at all in BIOS..


Where do i get that old stuff?Even if  i did they would cost an arm and leg.We have a mafket where i live where they sell all kinds of stuff you never know what you will find there.I saw a an old Apple PC they call them cheese graters i checked it out and decided against it i was hoping it I was hoping it was  a Mac Pro.Why i menrion all this is they might have some PS2,s there.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Hard to say, depends on luck, I guess.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Hard to say, depends on luck, I guess.


Just an idea.I have never had such an old PC as this.,My first PC was in 2006,heres an intretresting video by Linus


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Just an idea.I have never had such an old PC as this.,My first PC was in 2006


2003 here. And I got interested of hardware in 2004.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 15, 2022)

You could post to the For Sale section here at TPU.  Who knows, someone nearby might send them to you for the cost of shipping.  Something like...


> [WTB][UK] PS2 Mouse & Keyboard
> Looking for a PS2 mouse & keyboard for my vintage gaming PC.  Looking to spend as little as possible for a known working mouse & keyboard. Thanks


My first PC was in the 1980's. lol


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

68Olds said:


> You could post to the For Sale section here at TPU.  Who knows, someone nearby might send them to you for the cost of shipping.  Something like...
> 
> My first PC was in the 1980's. lol


I guess I'm still somewhat young as I'm "only" 32yrs


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 15, 2022)

I'm older than the car in my avatar.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm older than the car in my avatar.


I don't know much about cars, but we have always room for one grandpa here


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 15, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm older than the car in my avatar.


My first car was older than the car in your Avatar.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> My first car was older than the car in your Avatar.


I had only a Sunny SLX 1.6 -89 as a rally car :3


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

68Olds said:


> You could post to the For Sale section here at TPU.  Who knows, someone nearby might send them to you for the cost of shipping.  Something like...
> 
> My first PC was in the 1980's. lol


I did not know there was a for sale section on here ,i did ask about if there was one on here.What was it a Vic 64?



68Olds said:


> You could post to the For Sale section here at TPU.  Who knows, someone nearby might send them to you for the cost of shipping.  Something like...
> 
> My first PC was in the 1980's. lol


I typed in *For Sale *no results I don,t supose you can get an addapter usb to PS2?
Another good video from Linus 







This one is for me.  They do them then , do they work though?
USB PS/2 PS2 Male to USB A Female Converter Adapter for Mouse & Keyboard​


Lenne said:


> I don't know much about cars, but we have always room for one grandpa here


Nore me  i did have lessons  back in the 70,s  i was even ready for the test.Bur decided against it .And never driven since.,i am lucky i don,t live in the sticks where public transport is virtually non existent and i am talking about just outside the London area.
There are lots of Grandpas  on here.


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## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did not know there was a for sale section on here ,i did ask about if there was one on here.
> 
> 
> I typed in *For Sale *no results I don,t supose you can get an addapter usb to PS2?
> ...


About driving, I don't even have a driving license but I still know how to drive a manual-driven car 

Loved my old "rally car" Nissan Sunny -89 SLX 1.6

edit: My stepbrother had a Mazda 626 -89 and drove some rally with it too  hella good car to drive!


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> The seller gave me a pic. This H61 board is coming here, I also bought 2x4GB DDR3


Lenne and stinger608

Why are you two angry  at my post?


----------



## Valantar (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> About driving, I don't even have a driving license but I still know how to drive a manual-driven car
> 
> Loved my old "rally car" Nissan Sunny -89 SLX 1.6
> 
> edit: My stepbrother had a Mazda 626 -89 and drove some rally with it too  hella good car to drive!


Isn't rally driving a mandatory part of childhood in Finland?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Why are you two angry  at my post?


Not practically, don't get it as personal 



Valantar said:


> Isn't rally driving a mandatory part of childhood in Finland?


Oh hell yeah it is!  Tho I was 18 already but anyway, the car was NOT a smokeless one as I had always a cigarette hanging from my lip


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

How  many of you use PS2  Mouse and Keyboard  with your Retro gear?And does anyone use the USB to PS2  Adapter?If so do they work with no problems?
I have looked on eBay for PS2  Mouse s very few in there ,and the ones i see would be around about the £10 mark with shipping.As opposed to £2 for an adapter.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Why are you two angry at my post?


They're not angry at you, just the situation you're in. They're angry for you, not at you.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> They're not angry at you, just the situation you're in. They're angry for you, not at you.


I get you poinr, thanks for explaining that. As regards to all that ,the seller of that PC seems a decent guy,shame the the PC did not work.


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## The red spirit (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> The seller gave me a pic. This H61 board is coming here, I also bought 2x4GB DDR3


I hope it's just your camera, because it looks really warped.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Not practically, don't get it as personal
> 
> 
> Oh hell yeah it is!  Tho I was 18 already but anyway, the car was NOT a smokeless one as I had always a cigarette hanging from my lip


I hope you have given up the weed  now


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I hope you have given up the weed  now


Smoked only 4 joints and two bong hits in an year, I'm not a total weedhead.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Smoked only 4 joints and two bong hits in an year, I'm not a total weedhead.


Fair enough ,everything in moderation Ijust came back from the market no PS2 Moce But they did have a ATI RADEON 9250 GRAPHIC CARD| 64/128MB, i did not ask how much ot was i would have got it for a pound.I  dougt if they new what Is was for it was in a box of odds and sods.I don,t need it of course ,
Should I go for a PS2 adapter ?And do you use PS2 devices.?


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Lenne and stinger608
> 
> Why are you two angry  at my post?



???? What makes you think I'm angry at your post?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> ???? What makes you think I'm angry at your post?


Because it said *angry*.But Lex explaind it was the sittuation i was i.in ,*not me personly. *Should I go for a PS2 Mouse this is the cheapest one i have seen.Genius NetScroll PS2 Scroll Mouse - Working - O4B1O491-2D £6 make an offer ,They all seem to be  Genuine part  working order.
*Genius  *That must have been the make back in the say.
Or should i go for an PS2 Asapter £2?.I don,t know if you have been fowlowing all this mouse boes not work when it loads XP.But it works in the settings ,no problem with the wireless keyboard .Sometimes the mouse s light is on.Have you used one of theas
PS2 Adapters and are they reliable?.I must admit i am not keen on thouse ball  Mice.
This is the cheapest one £1.90 shiped.from the UK not china


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 15, 2022)

If you can get the mouse for less than the adapter, then I'd get the mouse.  

Can you get into Windows desktop without the mouse?  If so, put your WinXP CD in the drive.  Unplug the USB mouse, then plug it back in.  Hopefully Windows will see new hardware & install a driver for it.

BTW, here's a link to the Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway section of the forum.








						Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway Forum
					

Use this forum to buy/sell/trade items. No advertising of links. User to user only. No commercial posts.




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

68Olds said:


> If you can get the mouse for less than the adapter, then I'd get the mouse.
> 
> Can you get into Windows desktop without the mouse?  If so, put your WinXP CD in the drive.  Unplug the USB mouse, then plug it back in.  Hopefully Windows will see new hardware & install a driver for it.
> 
> ...


Thanks for all that info  I would be surprised f i could get it for the same price let alone cheaper.at £6 i would be lucky to get it fir £4.I will give that a try if that does not work i will have to get an adapter.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Jun 15, 2022)

Sorry...but I'm jumping on the "old" thing!

I'm 10 years older than my car !


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 15, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> Sorry...but I'm jumping on the "old" thing!
> 
> I'm 10 years older than my car !


68' or 69' - beautiful! I remember when the 67 was new & special.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 15, 2022)

68Olds said:


> If you can get the mouse for less than the adapter, then I'd get the mouse.
> 
> Can you get into Windows desktop without the mouse?  If so, put your WinXP CD in the drive.  Unplug the USB mouse, then plug it back in.  Hopefully Windows will see new hardware & install a driver for it.
> 
> ...


I tried that it did not work. This is what the seller says
*The operating system has a totally clean driver list and works perfectly. *
Well it is not working perfectly now ,with the mouse not working?The light is on the mouse.I tried this 







    look ar pictures i am stuck here the keyboard want move down so i can enable  the 2 unkown devices ,i did managr to do it earler and it said it still was not working. The i cant click down the keys are not working. I keep tryong to get into the settings but it just goes straight in to xp. The mouse is only showing in one port in the device  device manager.All other USB devices show on all  the ports?The port that the USB  is showing is the only one where the light does not come on?*When i shut it down it comes back on why?  



onemanhitsquad said:


> Sorry...but I'm jumping on the "old" thing!
> 
> I'm 10 years older than my car !


What year is the car?



Lenne said:


> Depends of the computer. Some older hardware doesn't work with USB at all in BIOS..


Well the keyboard is working ,no good with out the mouse though. 510


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> but we have always room for one grandpa here


There is more than one here.


----------



## bobbybluz (Jun 15, 2022)

My fully functional "museum piece" rig that's been collecting dust down in my basement.

Asus A7N8X Rev 2.0
AMD XP 3200+ Barton 400 fsb
Antec TrueControl 550 watt PSU. There's a bay in the front of the PC for adjusting voltages complete with a little plastic screwdriver.
ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256. I also have a Radeon 9800 Pro 128 for it.
Plextor PX-708A DVD burner. I can't recall what the other one is but I also have a PX-716A for it.
Combined parts from Thermaltake Volcano 9 & 11 HSF. After some experimenting I got the lowest CPU temps with it. The AS5 thermal compound has been in there for at least 15 years. The adjustable speed control is on the back of the case. 
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro
Two WD Caviar 30GB IDE drives in RAID 0. I originally had two 36GB WD Raptors in it (this was Asus's first AMD SATA board as far as I know) but they died long ago. I may eventually put a Corsair Performance 3 P3-128 SSD in it when I feel like playing with it again.
I originally had Windows 2000 on it, did a short stint with ME, went back to 2000 then put XP on it the last time I fired it up a few years ago.
I'd gotten very good at cutting perfectly round fan holes in cases with a Dremel by the time I built this starting around 19 years ago. When I took these pictures this afternoon I discovered where the Scythe Ultra Kaze I've been looking for went.
I pulled the Corsair CMX1024-3500LL Pro 438Mhz RAM out of it a couple of years ago to test another mobo and never put it back in. It's still got a single stick of Corsair Platinum Series CMX512-3500C2PT 433Mhz in it though. The three RAM sticks worked well together.

Now part of my vintage RAM collection. 
The other two sticks of the Corsair Platinum Series CMX512-3500C2PT 433Mhz. 
Two 1024MB sticks of Corsair Dominator DDR2 CM2X1024-6400C4D 800MHz.
Four sticks of Corsair Dominator DDR2 CM2X2048 8500C8D 1066MHz. I also have another four in a functional Asus M4A79 Deluxe with a Thuban 1090T in it. These were the very last sticks of this RAM Corsair had. They had a few bad batches and after my last RMA was told they couldn't get anymore. I switched to G.Skill then have have never had to RMA any G.Skill RAM.
Finally the Corsair CMX1024-3500LLPro 438MHz DDR with the LED's on top. I loved that RAM for troubleshooting back in the DDR days. If I saw the LED's light up I knew the mobo was likely good.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Mouse This device is not configured correctly (Code 1)
If i get one of  the USB TO PS2 will that sort the problem out?
It comes to this i can only click  reinstall  it comes to hardware update of as the mouse is not working it just goes away.
up date driver i can,t it comes to the screen in the photo.
How can i get to  *UPDATE THE DRIVER SOFTWARE?*it says search for the  driver how can i without a mouse?


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 16, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> 68' or 69' - beautiful! I remember when the 67 was new & special.


I'm gonna guess it's a 1969.  No head rests on seat backs in 1968.

What is the make and model number of your mouse @Greenslade ?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm gonna guess it's a 1969.  No head rests on seat backs in 1968.
> 
> What is the make and model number of your mouse @Greenslade ?


It is a LOGITECH  B100  i got it early this year it works fine on my Dell.
I don,t have another mouse to try..The mouse is a wired one ,the keyboard  is wireless.
Sometimes the mouse s light is in and other times it is off.I can,t get to the settings i don,t know what they are on ASUS.I have had enough of this for today ,its driving me nuts.  i just saw this in a forum in answer to the same question as me
it seems a common problem  
*Have you tried plugging in a ps/2 mouse, then starting the machine. Once booted plugging in the usb mouse?
Should get a new hardware found message and the drivers for the usb mouse will be loaded.* If so (usb mouse is working) do not unplug the ps/2 mouse until the machine has been shut down.I will have to get one of those adapters and keep my fingers crossed.Or i could try taking a windows install from my other PC ,and confecting it to a usb port and deleting the internal drive then instaling a new copy of XP from the dvd drive.I am not sure that will work as it is ide pc.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Jun 16, 2022)

Anyone remember DVD Ram tech? scored a couple of these yesterday before being trashed!


----------



## bobbybluz (Jun 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm gonna guess it's a 1969.  No head rests on seat backs in 1968.
> 
> What is the make and model number of your mouse @Greenslade ?


1969 is correct, the 68 had a small light/reflector on the lower front fender underneath the engine emblem. On the 69 it's smaller, more rectangular and directly behind the emblem.


AlwaysHope said:


> Anyone remember DVD Ram tech? scored a couple of these yesterday before being trashed!
> View attachment 251205
> 
> View attachment 251206


I still have 5 of those. I used them in a stand-alone DVD recorder circa 2006. They're re-writable but take forever to format.



Mr.Scott said:


> There is more than one here.


Harry Truman was President when I was born.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Jun 16, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> ....
> 
> I still have 5 of those. I used them in a stand-alone DVD recorder circa 2006. They're re-writable but take forever to format.


Well, like all tech, it had its negatives & positives... but the market had decided so they didn't take off like conventional DVDs had.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

AlwaysHope said:


> Anyone remember DVD Ram tech? scored a couple of these yesterday before being trashed!
> View attachment 251205
> 
> View attachment 251206


I do though I never had any RAM discs.. almost every drive back then was capable of writing to those.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 16, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> Sorry...but I'm jumping on the "old" thing!
> 
> I'm 10 years older than my car !


Wow! I suddenly feel young again! LOL!



Lenne said:


> I do though I never had any RAM discs.. almost every drive back then was capable of writing to those.


I had a few. They were slow, but solidly reliable.


----------



## QuietBob (Jun 16, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> My fully functional "museum piece" rig that's been collecting dust down in my basement.
> 
> Asus A7N8X Rev 2.0
> AMD XP 3200+ Barton 400 fsb
> ...


Nice config!
I had a very similar one, including a hole in the side panel fashioned with a jigsaw, and manually controlled exhaust fan 
It was an A7N8X-E Deluxe with a Barton XP-M 3000+ that ran at 2.5 GHz with a Thermaltake Big Typhoon, plus 2 GB of HyperX memory and a 2nd gen 74 GB Raptor. It had a Gainward Golden Sample 7600GT and later an HD3850.

I haven't kept the original rig, but I still have the CPU, the cooler, the Raptor and the HD3850, all functional.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is a LOGITECH  B100  i got it early this year it works fine on my Dell.
> I don,t have another mouse to try..The mouse is a wired one ,the keyboard  is wireless.
> Sometimes the mouse s light is in and other times it is off.I can,t get to the settings i don,t know what they are on ASUS.I have had enough of this for today ,its driving me nuts.  i just saw this in a forum in answer to the same question as me
> it seems a common problem
> ...


I tried to find a driver from Logi & couldn't find anything for WinXP.

BTW, if you plan on running Win98 you will need PS2 mouse and keyboard.  USB devices don't work by default on Windows 98 SE, each USB device has to have a driver (and those drivers can be really hard to find these days).  I had a USB flash drive working on my AMD 1700+ rig & screwed something up.  Now it blue screens when I plug the drive in.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I tried to find a driver from Logi & couldn't find anything for WinXP.
> 
> BTW, if you plan on running Win98 you will need PS2 mouse and keyboard.  USB devices don't work by default on Windows 98 SE, each USB device has to have a driver (and those drivers can be really hard to find these days).  I had a USB flash drive working on my AMD 1700+ rig & screwed something up.  Now it blue screens when I plug the drive in.


Agree. I remember that I had to install drivers to get the mouse working in USB at W98SE.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Agree. I remember that I had to install drivers to get the mouse working in USB at W98SE.


I can,t install anything without the mouse working.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I can,t install anything without the mouse working.


I know  I had a PS/2 keyboard back then though so it worked.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I tried to find a driver from Logi & couldn't find anything for WinXP.
> 
> BTW, if you plan on running Win98 you will need PS2 mouse and keyboard.  USB devices don't work by default on Windows 98 SE, each USB device has to have a driver (and those drivers can be really hard to find these days).  I had a USB flash drive working on my AMD 1700+ rig & screwed something up.  Now it blue screens when I plug the drive in.


If i can,t get it working i will have to send it back.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> If i can,t get it working i will have to send it back.


It's not a hardware fault if they aren't working in 98. Driver issue mostly.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I know  I had a PS/2 keyboard back then though so it worked.


Should i go for a PS2 mouse like Mr olds saud ,i will need a PS2  Mouse for 98 sde or ME. Why does the wireless keyboard wirk and not the USB Mouse?
I will get a PS2 mouse if i can,t get this USB Mouse working in here i will need it in the future ,and it would be better to go for a mouse rather than an adapter which might not work with this USB  mouse.This message keeps on coming up and other stuff.
*Disk read error occurred*Ir is comong up with this now but i had snappy drivers in the PC .I wish i could open snappy drivers and get the driver installed.I don,t like this IDE stuff there so ugly  the cabals and this master and slave stuff. On 521 the only thing that worked was esc?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Should i go for a PS2 mouse like Mr olds saud ,i will need a PS2  Mouse for 98 sde or ME. Why does the wireless keyboard wirk and not the USB Mouse?
> I will get a PS2 mouse if i can,t get this USB Mouse working in here i will need it in the future ,and it would be better to go for a mouse rather than an adapter which might not work with this USB  mouse.This message keeps on coming up and other stuff.
> *Disk read error occurred*


You can use your USB ones, just get these adapters


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> You can use your USB ones, just get these adapters
> 
> View attachment 251258


Yes i know but baring in mind with the USB Mouse not wotking it might not work with that,I thing i would be better off buying PS2 mouse from Amazon ,hope fully one with out thous crap ball mice. The snappy drivers are showing up now.It is another thing to able to click the one with the drivers, with no mouse.  I can,t do itWhen i shut down the fan is still spinning.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 16, 2022)

Do you see the dashed box around "Read our privacy policy"?  You can use the Tab key to move the dash box to one of the "Yes" circles, Space Bar to click the circle, then Tab Tab... to the Next button, Space Bar to click.  There are keyboard strokes for almost all mouse commands.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes i know but baring in mind with the USB Mouse not wotking it might not work with that,I thing i would be better off buying PS2 mouse from Amazon ,hope fully one with out thous crap ball mice. The snappy drivers are showing up now.It is another thing to able to click the one with the drivers, with no mouse.  I can,t do it


Just get an adapter so you don't need a new mouse. 



68Olds said:


> Do you see the dashed box around "Read our privacy policy"?  You can use the Tab key to move the dash box to one of the "Yes" circles, Space Bar to click the circle, then Tab Tab... to the Next button, Space Bar to click.  There are keyboard strokes for almost all mouse commands.


Exactly, keyboard works fine there.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Do you see the dashed box around "Read our privacy policy"?  You can use the Tab key to move the dash box to one of the "Yes" circles, Space Bar to click the circle, then Tab Tab... to the Next button, Space Bar to click.  There are keyboard strokes for almost all mouse commands.


I see that thanks   Snappy drivers got this far selected drovers but when i click nothing. Sometimes it works other times it does not  The mouse was not showing again ,all though it is in the same portLike in the other ports that it does not show in the device manager  the light is on the mouse.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I had a USB flash drive working on my AMD 1700+ rig & screwed something up. Now it blue screens when I plug the drive in.


Ah, the joys of older OSes and their immaculate stability. "You connected a device I do not recognize, and while it changes absolutely nothing meaningful about the workings of the rest of the system, I will now hard crash just for the sake of it. Hope you didn't have any unsaved work!" Can't say I miss that era


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Ah, the joys of older OSes and their immaculate stability. "You connected a device I do not recognize, and while it changes absolutely nothing meaningful about the workings of the rest of the system, I will now hard crash just for the sake of it. Hope you didn't have any unsaved work!" Can't say I miss that era


Yeah, the day when I moved from 98SE to 2000 was a victory.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Yeah, the day when I moved from 98SE to 2000 was a victory.


I just oarded one ,just hope it works.Funny you should mention about 98se someone who bought one about 98se saying it was more like 98se not liking it because it did not work. 90 of them sold from this seller.I have just disconected the PC and praying that it works with that adapter.Heres a video from one of my fav Aussies Brian about PS2 devices intresting video








 PS2 is more complex than a USB one.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just oarded one ,just hope it works.Funny you should mention about 98se someone who bought one about 98se saying it was more like 98se not liking it because it did not work. 90 of them sold from this seller.


Even though I'm a retro PC dude, I don't miss 98SE at all.. 2000 was hella fine.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Even though I'm a retro PC dude, I don't miss 98SE at all.. 2000 was hella fine.


What about Lex,s fav os  *ME*?.I will have to go with that as i have 2gb of Corsar Ram .


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 16, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Ah, the joys of older OSes and their immaculate stability. "You connected a device I do not recognize, and while it changes absolutely nothing meaningful about the workings of the rest of the system, I will now hard crash just for the sake of it. Hope you didn't have any unsaved work!" Can't say I miss that era


I can still use the OS, just can't plug in the flash drive.  Probably corrupted the driver for the flash drive & just need to reinstall it.  We will see.  The only programs installed on this PC are 3dMark 1999, 2000, & 2001 - nothing to lose other than a benchmark screenshot.   This is an old Win98SE install & I'll probably format the drive & start over with it.

I'm planning to install Win2k on another hdd & WinME on yet another hdd.  I have a few stacks of old IDE spinners from 20GB up to 250GB that I've collected & saved over the years.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Heres an old school video about ide drives 







 by some weird looking geezer. 



68Olds said:


> I can still use the OS, just can't plug in the flash drive.  Probably corrupted the driver for the flash drive & just need to reinstall it.  We will see.  The only programs installed on this PC are 3dMark 1999, 2000, & 2001 - nothing to lose other than a benchmark screenshot.   This is an old Win98SE install & I'll probably format the drive & start over with it.
> 
> I'm planning to install Win2k on another hdd & WinME on yet another hdd.  I have a few stacks of old IDE spinners from 20GB up to 250GB that I've collected & saved over the years.


Bios/Settings
Do you know how i can get to the settings  on my ASUS  Desktiop?,
Aparently as he says in the video Laptops are *Delete* to get to  the settings ,
What are they on a Asus desktop?
My Fav uk tech man talking about bios.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 16, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Even though I'm a retro PC dude, I don't miss 98SE at all.. 2000 was hella fine.


W2K was amazing. Heck, I never actually used XP as a daily driver simply due to how great 2K was - by the time it started missing out on features, I was already using Vista. Which was ... eh, not quite as great, at least in the early days. But to this day I'm still happy I never had to interact with that primary colored Fischer-Price-design OS more than intermittently.


Greenslade said:


> Bios/Settings
> Do you know how i can get to the settings on my ASUS Desktiop?,
> Aparently as he says in the video Laptops are *Delete* to get to the settings ,
> What are they on a Asus desktop?


I can't recall ever coming across a PC where the BIOS key isn't either F2, F12 or Del. Just mash all three like there's no tomorrow as you're turning the PC on, and you should be able to get into settings. The POST screen should also say "Press [key] to enter Setup" or some such - typically in the lower right corner.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Valantar said:


> W2K was amazing. Heck, I never actually used XP as a daily driver simply due to how great 2K was - by the time it started missing out on features, I was already using Vista. Which was ... eh, not quite as great, at least in the early days. But to this day I'm still happy I never had to interact with that primary colored Fischer-Price-design OS more than intermittently.


What the fuck, are you me? Sounds so familiar


----------



## Valantar (Jun 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I can still use the OS, just can't plug in the flash drive. Probably corrupted the driver for the flash drive & just need to reinstall it. We will see.


Yeah, I got that, but it's still rather funny how what was a surefire full system crash back in the day would currently cause ... possibly a weird bleep as you connected it, a "this hardware isn't working correctly" popup notification, and a yellow triangle in Device Manager. Times have changed!


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

Valantar said:


> W2K was amazing. Heck, I never actually used XP as a daily driver simply due to how great 2K was - by the time it started missing out on features, I was already using Vista. Which was ... eh, not quite as great, at least in the early days. But to this day I'm still happy I never had to interact with that primary colored Fischer-Price-design OS more than intermittently.
> 
> I can't recall ever coming across a PC where the BIOS key isn't either F2, F12 or Del. Just mash all three like there's no tomorrow as you're turning the PC on, and you should be able to get into settings. The POST screen should also say "Press [key] to enter Setup" or some such - typically in the lower right corner.


Thanks for that.  but they move to another page very quickly..I know thouse settings are for Dell.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that.  but they move to another page very quickly..I know thouse settings are for Dell.


You need to start pressing those keys before anything shows up on screen. LCDs go into sleep mode when they don't receive a signal, and often take a few seconds to wake up. That is often sufficient time for the system to have POSTed and moved on. You need to be mashing those keys rapidly and repeatedly as soon as you've pressed the power button on the PC, and don't stop until you see on-screen confirmation that you've entered the BIOS.


Lenne said:


> What the fuck, are you me? Sounds so familiar


You're probably my long-lost Finnish twin or something


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 16, 2022)

Valantar said:


> You're probably my long-lost Finnish twin or something


Probably  damn I loved 2K


----------



## Valantar (Jun 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> This guy says the Bios is different to Dell and HP


He says the BIOS layout and design is different, which will be true across all manufacturers and even typically between different motherboards. Broadly speaking, they all work in the same way, and are all accessed by pressing a designated keyboard key on POST. But the key differs, the layout and available options will differ, and so on. But why are you looking at laptop troubleshooting videos? And videos on BIOSes from an entirely different era than your retro PC? You're not likely to find much of use there outside of very general things.


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 16, 2022)

I'll tell ya @Greenslade , if you're going to mess around with old nostalgic systems, you should get a PS/2 mouse and keyboard. At least 1 of each. 

LOL, yeah, I remember messing with IDE drives when using multiple drives. Had to set the master for the OS and slaves for storage drives.   

Hell, I still have a fair size pile of old IDE drives. I should check to see if any of them are still good. LOL


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 16, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I'll tell ya @Greenslade , if you're going to mess around with old nostalgic systems, you should get a PS/2 mouse and keyboard. At least 1 of each.
> 
> LOL, yeah, I remember messing with IDE drives when using multiple drives. Had to set the master for the OS and slaves for storage drives.
> 
> Hell, I still have a fair size pile of old IDE drives. I should check to see if any of them are still good. LOL


I have orderd  a PS2 mouse adapter for starters.Hopefully yjay will sirt the problem with the mouse not working. I got all that now.Yes i was thinking about having two drives on it.But i understand that new ide cables new cabals don,t have the the pin
like the old ones is what this guy is saying.It seems silly to chane it for no reason.








 When and if i get the mouse to work I will take Lex,s  advice and get a CF Card and one of these , I think the IDE cabale will reach.  Then i can have a couple of systems on the cards.But i would like to have the HDD as the slave.But i will have to work out what size of ide cable i will need,to get the old cable with the pin on it.I don,t fancy drilling out a hole in the cable.


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 16, 2022)

Valantar said:


> W2K was amazing. Heck, I never actually used XP as a daily driver simply due to how great 2K was - by the time it started missing out on features, I was already using Vista. Which was ... eh, not quite as great, at least in the early days. But to this day I'm still happy I never had to interact with that primary colored Fischer-Price-design OS more than intermittently.


It had classic Windows theme built in. You can just select it and it would look exactly the same as 2k. But to be fair, I'm not too fan of XP either. It was surprisingly hard to troubleshoot sometimes, it lacks proper problem reporting, task manager HW monitor was frankly poo and it seemingly got rid of many more poweruser suited menus and options from 2K and yet somehow at idle it seems to use more RAM, despite seemingly being less feature rich.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have orderd  a PS2 mouse adapter for starters.Hopefully yjay will sirt the problem with the mouse not working. I got all that now.Yes i was thinking about having two drives on it.But i understand that new ide cables new cabals don,t have the the pin
> like the old ones is what this guy is saiong.It seems silly to chane it for no reason.


That guy is working on a DOS-based PC much older than the one you've got - ca 1998 - and it seems to use an older version of IDE with a pin that has since been left out (it's likely pin 20, which is a non-connected pin used for keying the connector so it only goes in one way, meaning his motherboard had a non-standard connector). It would be _very_ strange if your much newer WinXP PC had that same obsolete pin in its motherboard-side IDE connector. You really need to work on being more focused and selective in where you go looking for information - issues and methods for a system a decade newer or half a decade older than yours are not necessarily likely to be applicable to your PC. Most likely your motherboard and drives all use the bog-standard IDE cable with the one pin removed. All you need is a working IDE cable and two drives with master/slave jumpers set correctly, and you should be off to the races.



The red spirit said:


> It had classic Windows theme built in. You can just select it and it would look exactly the same as 2k. But to be fair, I'm not too fan of XP either. It was surprisingly hard to troubleshoot sometimes, it lacks proper problem reporting, task manager HW monitor was frankly poo and it seemingly got rid of many more poweruser suited menus and options from 2K and yet somehow at idle it seems to use more RAM, despite seemingly being less feature rich.


I know it could be changed, but I saw no reason to upgrade to XP at the time (especially as it wasn't exactly cheap!), and I couldn't go around setting every XP PC I came across back to the classic theme. And IIRC the classic theme was also kind of iffy in certain areas that were more heavily tuned towards the stock XP visual design, which just made the simplicity of 2K all the more attractive to me.

I think you're right about XP being dumbed down from 2K though - 2K was a direct descendant of NT after all, and never marketed towards consumers, while XP took that kernel and codebase and tried to make it "friendly". And as with most ill-informed/poorly thought through attempts at doing so, that meant hiding or removing useful advanced options.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

Valantar said:


> You need to start pressing those keys before anything shows up on screen. LCDs go into sleep mode when they don't receive a signal, and often take a few seconds to wake up. That is often sufficient time for the system to have POSTed and moved on. You need to be mashing those keys rapidly and repeatedly as soon as you've pressed the power button on the PC, and don't stop until you see on-screen confirmation that you've entered the BIOS.
> 
> You're probably my long-lost Finnish twin or something





Valantar said:


> That guy is working on a DOS-based PC much older than the one you've got - ca 1998 - and it seems to use an older version of IDE with a pin that has since been left out (it's likely pin 20, which is a non-connected pin used for keying the connector so it only goes in one way, meaning his motherboard had a non-standard connector). It would be _very_ strange if your much newer WinXP PC had that same obsolete pin in its motherboard-side IDE connector. You really need to work on being more focused and selective in where you go looking for information - issues and methods for a system a decade newer or half a decade older than yours are not necessarily likely to be applicable to your PC. Most likely your motherboard and drives all use the bog-standard IDE cable with the one pin removed. All you need is a working IDE cable and two drives with master/slave jumpers set correctly, and you should be off to the races.
> 
> 
> I know it could be changed, but I saw no reason to upgrade to XP at the time (especially as it wasn't exactly cheap!), and I couldn't go around setting every XP PC I came across back to the classic theme. And IIRC the classic theme was also kind of iffy in certain areas that were more heavily tuned towards the stock XP visual design, which just made the simplicity of 2K all the more attractive to me.
> ...





Valantar said:


> That guy is working on a DOS-based PC much older than the one you've got - ca 1998 - and it seems to use an older version of IDE with a pin that has since been left out (it's likely pin 20, which is a non-connected pin used for keying the connector so it only goes in one way, meaning his motherboard had a non-standard connector). It would be _very_ strange if your much newer WinXP PC had that same obsolete pin in its motherboard-side IDE connector. You really need to work on being more focused and selective in where you go looking for information - issues and methods for a system a decade newer or half a decade older than yours are not necessarily likely to be applicable to your PC. Most likely your motherboard and drives all use the bog-standard IDE cable with the one pin removed. All you need is a working IDE cable and two drives with master/slave jumpers set correctly, and you should be off to the races.
> 
> 
> I know it could be changed, but I saw no reason to upgrade to XP at the time (especially as it wasn't exactly cheap!), and I couldn't go around setting every XP PC I came across back to the classic theme. And IIRC the classic theme was also kind of iffy in certain areas that were more heavily tuned towards the stock XP visual design, which just made the simplicity of 2K all the more attractive to me.
> ...





Valantar said:


> That guy is working on a DOS-based PC much older than the one you've got - ca 1998 - and it seems to use an older version of IDE with a pin that has since been left out (it's likely pin 20, which is a non-connected pin used for keying the connector so it only goes in one way, meaning his motherboard had a non-standard connector). It would be _very_ strange if your much newer WinXP PC had that same obsolete pin in its motherboard-side IDE connector. You really need to work on being more focused and selective in where you go looking for information - issues and methods for a system a decade newer or half a decade older than yours are not necessarily likely to be applicable to your PC. Most likely your motherboard and drives all use the bog-standard IDE cable with the one pin removed. All you need is a working IDE cable and two drives with master/slave jumpers set correctly, and you should be off to the races.
> 
> 
> I know it could be changed, but I saw no reason to upgrade to XP at the time (especially as it wasn't exactly cheap!), and I couldn't go around setting every XP PC I came across back to the classic theme. And IIRC the classic theme was also kind of iffy in certain areas that were more heavily tuned towards the stock XP visual design, which just made the simplicity of 2K all the more attractive to me.
> ...


Thanks once again for your good advice.


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 17, 2022)

Valantar said:


> I know it could be changed, but I saw no reason to upgrade to XP at the time (especially as it wasn't exactly cheap!), and I couldn't go around setting every XP PC I came across back to the classic theme. And IIRC the classic theme was also kind of iffy in certain areas that were more heavily tuned towards the stock XP visual design, which just made the simplicity of 2K all the more attractive to me.


Wait, you actually bought Windows? In Eastern Europe, basically everyone back then just asked friends to burn cracked Windows on DVD, which they downloaded from FTP and then just installed it and got key from keygen or from already pre-generated code. That's not even a small operation. Those were like literally everyone, unless they got work laptop or worked in legit IT company. Same deal with games too. Also same deal with PS2 or Xbox. Like 60-70% of PS2s or Xboxes were flashed and most likely never saw a single original DVD ever. I still have one of those cracked Windows XP installs from back then and it still works fine. But now if you are more sophisticated, you can just download legit Windows ISO and find key on old computer ads. At this point nobody cares if someone nicks their XP key.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

Valantar said:


> He says the BIOS layout and design is different, which will be true across all manufacturers and even typically between different motherboards. Broadly speaking, they all work in the same way, and are all accessed by pressing a designated keyboard key on POST. But the key differs, the layout and available options will differ, and so on. But why are you looking at laptop troubleshooting videos? And videos on BIOSes from an entirely different era than your retro PC? You're not likely to find much of use there outside of very general things.


I get your point there.


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## P4-630 (Jun 17, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> In Eastern Europe, basically everyone back then just asked friends to burn cracked Windows on DVD, which they downloaded from FTP and then just installed it and got key from keygen or from already pre-generated code. That's not even a small operation. Those were like literally everyone, unless they got work laptop or worked in legit IT company. Same deal with games too.


I used to live in Bangkok, cheap cracked software everywhere, I miss using SolidWorks....


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## The red spirit (Jun 17, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> I used to live in Bangkok, cheap cracked software everywhere, I miss using SolidWorks....


Wait, you had to pay for it? We only had to pay for burned console games. PC stuff was free and just shared between friends. X360 and PS3 games were only paid, because they required special burners and specific and expensive discs. Due to that burning them wasn't available to everyone and those who burned actually had quite a nice and basic illegal business. They didn't make a lot of money mostly just pocket change. Profit margins were pretty low, like 5-10%. And since one disc wasn't very expensive, you didn't make much even if you sold a lot of them. Some of more profitable ones actually opened small shops that flash consoles, modify their software. Some of them also host online forums about games and pirating them. I have to admit that I wasn't a cool guy and just bought used X360 games, but in the end after my X360 started malfunctioning I bought cheap X360, which had Reset Glitch Hack 2 with Freestyle FW. That really does make X360 a lot more functional. In theory it can now play almost any video/audio file, can run homebrew software, shows HW info, records gameplay, can unlock DLC, has game trainers and most importantly launches pirated games off USB without disc. If you badly want online, you could setup XLink Kai, but it's probably dead now. X360 also can run quite a lot of emulators too and it was supposed to run Xbox Original games too. I tried that, but it didn't work for me. In short, X360 with RGH2 becomes a lot liek PC or X360 devkit, but for cheap and available rather easily. I don't use it anymore, but I really appreciate having something like that. I'm not alone. hacked X360 is MVG's second favourite console with og Xbox being is most favourite console, of course, hacked too.


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## P4-630 (Jun 17, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Wait, you had to pay for it?


I paid 2 Euros per burned cd, it didn't matter what software it was generally.


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## Valantar (Jun 17, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Wait, you actually bought Windows? In Eastern Europe, basically everyone back then just asked friends to burn cracked Windows on DVD, which they downloaded from FTP and then just installed it and got key from keygen or from already pre-generated code. That's not even a small operation. Those were like literally everyone, unless they got work laptop or worked in legit IT company. Same deal with games too. Also same deal with PS2 or Xbox. Like 60-70% of PS2s or Xboxes were flashed and most likely never saw a single original DVD ever. I still have one of those cracked Windows XP installs from back then and it still works fine. But now if you are more sophisticated, you can just download legit Windows ISO and find key on old computer ads. At this point nobody cares if someone nicks their XP key.


Lol, no, but WXP was when the whole scene of crappy virus-laden OS ISOs started spreading like wildfire. I was far too poor to pay for Windows, but had other quasi-legal means of getting W2K keys at the time - not so for XP. But I saw/helped rescue enough friends from virus-laden "OS" installs to shy away from that whole thing at the time. Mind you, I was in my mid teens and didn't know crap at the time, so that was also a factor


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## The red spirit (Jun 17, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> I paid 2 Euros per burned cd, it didn't matter what software it was generally.


That sounds reasonable, but frankly you miss out on some real pirate experience this way. FTPs, torrent sites and torrent clients are really interesting and the most impressive thing are all those small hacker groups. Some of them are insanely skilled. Fitgirl actually repacks cracked games and often they become 2-3 times smaller. I remember there was one small group, which achieved crazy compression ratios like 10-15 times without losing any content. Not to mention that many of them also manage to crack games very early. They make me truly admire those communities. You don't see skills like that everyday.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 17, 2022)

PNY 7600 GS 512MB Pci Express with newer camera - Practice for Pictures.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

it seems likr a lot of people have the same problem as me
xp-sp3 - USB and PS2 mouse/keyboard won't work​




Keyboards and mice work in BIOS or booting from something else. I have reset the BIOS, run virus scans through HirensCD, enabled USB and PS2 settings in BIOS, safe mode, last good configuration, et al.
Is there a tool so that I can edit the device manager's settings? I am betting if I could disable or delete the keyboard and mouse, it would reload them on next boot.
Or something else? Replace the drivers for the standard keyboard and mouse? If so, what files? I have access to xp machines that work well.
At least my Keyboard works  . I do have sp3
someone else said this
if the issue is on a desktop, then usb mouse connectivity may be secondaray to the motherboards primary ps2 mouse and keyboard connections.
I will sei the Pc up again and try to get into the bios.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 17, 2022)

That would be something to try, open the Device Manager and navigate to the "Mice & other Pointing Devices" section & delete everything under it.
The Win10 PC I'm on right now has two entries in that section.  I got there using the arrow keys & hitting the Del key will delete an entry.  Have your WinXP install disk handy.


----------



## Valantar (Jun 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> it seems likr a lot of people have the same problem as me
> xp-sp3 - USB and PS2 mouse/keyboard won't work​
> 
> 
> ...


I'd really recommend you use the quote tool in the post editor to highlight things you're quoting from others. Merging it with your own text like this makes it really difficult to parse what you're saying and what is things you're picking up elsewhere.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 17, 2022)

Good ole LGR...


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## 68Olds (Jun 17, 2022)

Greenslade, have you downloaded your manual?  Here's a link.
A7V600 FRONT.P65 (asus.com)

Page 2-9 explains the Del key is how you access BIOS on your board.

Driver Downloads...
A7V600 - Support (asus.com)


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## MaxiPro800 (Jun 17, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> No dice  C1... at least she's pretty.


Kinda late reply, but have you tried different RAM sticks? I remember ABIT boards of the 775 era (like my old IP35 Pro that I retired long time ago) were absurdly picky about what RAM they like.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

68Olds said:


> That would be something to try, open the Device Manager and navigate to the "Mice & other Pointing Devices" section & delete everything under it.
> The Win10 PC I'm on right now has two entries in that section.  I got there using the arrow keys & hitting the Del key will delete an entry.  Have your WinXP install disk handy.


Not an origanal i have the *Get into PC *the one Scotty  put on here ,and a couple of the specialy upgraded iones   from *Internet achive*Windows XP Professional SP3 x86

I was walking down the high street five Minutes down from where i live , and saw this PC was chuked out.It nearly killed me caring it back home.The ram and Hdd drive have been takrn out it is a shame the HDD is not in there though.:Every things else incluceding the flopy druve are in there ,Hopefully i will be able to use the ide cables.
It has a Pentium 4 in it.
*IS IT SAFE FOR ME TO TRY THE PSU?
I  don,t want to blow the place up.
If the HDD it might have been been the answer to the moise not working in my other PC.If i can get the other PC,s mouse working i will put the Floppy brive in there.
The motherboard seems to be HP. Theres not a lot you can do with a Hp motherboard with the preprioty stuff on them.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 17, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Kinda late reply, but have you tried different RAM sticks? I remember ABIT boards of the 775 era (like my old IP35 Pro that I retired long time ago) were absurdly picky about what RAM they like.


Yep - tried Tracer 512MB sticks, Ballistix 1GB SS and DS, PNY & G.Skill 2GB sticks, all of them in all 4 slots. My IP35 Pro XE is also quite picky about RAM slots as you say   I still appreciate the advice.


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## The red spirit (Jun 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> *IS IT SAFE FOR ME TO TRY THE PSU?
> I  don,t want to blow the place up.


wtf? I don't know about PC but it looks like you already had some kitchen accident there.


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## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> wtf? I don't know about PC but it looks like you already had some kitchen accident there.


My question was about the PSU. 
OK the cooker needs cleaning ,if thats what your on about ,thats nothing.Besides that no one every comes in here.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> it seems likr a lot of people have the same problem as me
> xp-sp3 - USB and PS2 mouse/keyboard won't work​
> 
> 
> ...


I never have any problems, and I have XP running on all platforms down to slot processors.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Greenslade, have you downloaded your manual?  Here's a link.
> A7V600 FRONT.P65 (asus.com)
> 
> Page 2-9 explains the Del key is how you access BIOS on your board.
> ...


Thanks once again for help. The driver downloads said try another one.O will get the manual downloaded ,just have to make room for the printer,as the space was used to try the PC out.Did you see the PC i found ,it is a shame the HDD was not in there as i could have put it in the other PC as a seconed drive ,with all thouse ide cables in that PC ,And wiped the drive and put xp in that secend drive.oh well that was not to be. ,



Mr.Scott said:


> I never have any problems, and I have XP running on all platforms down to slot processors.


It seems a lot of people do have the problem i have with the mouse not working.
And some saying neither work,or others saying the Keyboard does not work.They work fine in both of my Dells.Do yiu use PS2 Keyboard and mouse.?And what motherboard are you useing.?You have been very lucky Scotty


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## ExcuseMeWtf (Jun 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> My question was about the PSU.
> OK the cooker needs cleaning ,if thats what your on about ,thats nothing.Besides that no one every comes in here.


PSUs in such machines are usually decent, but capacitors could be in sorry state. Best to open and show pics of the inside of PSU.


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## Audioave10 (Jun 17, 2022)

Another Fujitsu KB 4700 keyboard (the second one). This one was damaged from shipping but I was able to fix it. Works well 
with the basic 5-Pin DIN to PS2 adapter.


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## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

ExcuseMeWtf said:


> PSUs in such machines are usually decent, but capacitors could be in sorry state. Best to open and show pics of the inside of PSU.


I have tried it light in the case fan spinIng in the PSU ,CPU fan spining. Four or five beeps on the case.Of course there is no Ram or HDDI am going to get this 







 This is the one Phil recomeneds in his video about alturnative drives for Retro PC,s.  
3.5" Drive 40 Pin Serial ATA SATA to PATA IDE Card Adapter Converter


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 17, 2022)

The beep codes are probably for "Missing Ram".


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## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

Not an origanal i have the *Get into PC *the one Scotty  put on here ,and a couple of the special upgraded iones   from *Internet Archive *Windows XP Professional SP3 x86
I was walking down the high street and saw a PC thrown out.It nearly killed me caring it back home.The Ram and Hdd drive have been taken out it is a shame the HDD is not in there though.:  Every things else including the floppy drive are in there ,Hopefully i will be able to use the ide cables.It has a Pentium 4 in it.*
If it had the HDD it might have been been the answer to the mouse not working in my other PC.If i can get the other PC,s mouse working i will put the Floppy Drive in there.
The motherboard is HP. Theres not a lot you can do with a Hp motherboard with the Proprietary: stuff on them.see 528.  I see it is a HP Compaq the PSU is Compaq 240W PSU Power Supply 38437-001 PDP123P good for a back up PSU. 




68Olds said:


> The beep codes are probably for "Missing Ram".


You are properly right there,I think it was 5 i will check on Hp site.This opens up a lot prospects ,The case has no side panal.If it is working i can put it in another  case as my first build.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It seems a lot of people do have the problem i have with the mouse not working.
> And some saying neither work,or others saying the Keyboard does not work.They work fine in both of my Dells.Do yiu use PS2 Keyboard and mouse.?And what motherboard are you useing.?You have been very lucky Scotty


PS2 peripherals are a requirement on the old platforms. 
I recommend you find them. For everything you seem work on, it will make your life easier.


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## Greenslade (Jun 17, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> PS2 peripherals are a requirement on the old platforms.
> I recommend you find them. For everything you seem work on, it will make your life easier.


It is with my experience with this PC. 
That is what I thought. I am surprised the Wireless Keyboard is working on it.
I looked again and there are quite a few open box ones. I don,t want to buy a second-hand one as this is one of the things that have more germs on them than most things yuk. 



Audioave10 said:


> Good ole LGR...


Clint and Phil are our fav Retro you tubers on here.
 Here's one from Phil  







 nice looking case. Another very interesting video from Phil 







 Of course all of Phil's are interesting. Like Clints 
​
This is the modal of the PC I found yesterday, I don,t know why it is so heavy.  The Dells I have are a lot lighter. HP Compaq dc5000 MT Pentium 4 2.8GHz 1GB 40GB CDRW/DVD FDD XP Professional.
*Can anyone tell me what Ram this takes? DDR1 or  2?*


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## Audioave10 (Jun 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is with my experience with this PC.
> That is what I thought. I am surprised the Wireless Keyboard is working on it.
> I looked again and there are quite a few open box ones. I don,t want to buy a second-hand one as this is one of the things that have more germs on them than most things yuk.
> 
> ...


There specs page says DDR SDRAM


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 18, 2022)

I thought I would have to get some extension cables, but they were hidden under the hard drive. I am glad I found them the cables are not cheap. I just hope I can get the mouse to work. If not getting into the bios, or when the PS2 adapter comes next week. Fingers crossed. It looks a mess with me having to undo the tie to see what the cable situation was. Which one 1 or 2 Sdram?
I just hope the PS2 Mouse Adapter gets my Mouse working,


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 19, 2022)

68Olds said:


> That would be something to try, open the Device Manager and navigate to the "Mice & other Pointing Devices" section & delete everything under it.
> The Win10 PC I'm on right now has two entries in that section.  I got there using the arrow keys & hitting the Del key will delete an entry.  Have your WinXP install disk handy.


Hope your weekend is going well  I am in the setup utility I am at a loss to know what to do in there. I got this message when I got into the settings about the CPU settings I put it to manual. I do, I din,t know how the CPU speed changed. The mouse is not even working in the settings now.  What do I look for in the settings to get the mouse working?


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 19, 2022)

There are three thing you should do in BIOS to start.
1. Put the CPU Speed back to AUTO !!!    You can play with that at some point in the future.
2. Look at the PS/2 Mouse Function Control and cycle through the options.  I'm guessing they will be Auto, Enable, and Disable.  Verify all the settings for that & let us know if there are more or different choices.
3. Look at USB Legacy Support and cycle through the options.  Again, I'm guessing Auto, Enable, and Disable.  I remember having to set it from Auto to Enabled to correct a problem many years ago.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 19, 2022)

68Olds said:


> There are three thing you should do in BIOS to start.
> 1. Put the CPU Speed back to AUTO !!!    You can play with that at some point in the future.
> 2. Look at the PS/2 Mouse Function Control and cycle through the options.  I'm guessing they will be Auto, Enable, and Disable.  Verify all the settings for that & let us know if there are more or different choices.
> 3. Look at USB Legacy Support and cycle through the options.  Again, I'm guessing Auto, Enable, and Disable.  I remember having to set it from Auto to Enabled to correct a problem many years ago.


CPU Speed  No *Auto*Just *Manual* It says on here it must be *  Manual*
CPU  Vcore Setting     is  *Auto*
PS2  *Enable* snd *Auto*only. I changed it to *Enabled* from *Auto*that did not work
so I have changed it back to what it was before *Auto*
USB Legacy Support   Yiu are right there those three options are there it was *Auto*
I have changed it to *Enabled* Saved and exited.
Sorry to say that has not worked. When I unplug the Mouse it shows up as a
Human Interface it flickers a few times. In this video, I get to this point in the video
They say      *ALT + Right Arrow *To expand group then *Down arrow* none of that works for me.








 from the video I don,t get that does not come up
540,I can,t get rid of that bix on top of the device manager. That box on top of the device manager want go away. It is still flickering on the device manager off and on. Thanks for helping me out anyway If I can,t get this mouse working with the PS2 I will have to send it back, I have spent ages trying Needless to say the CMOS battery needs changing I don,t want to change it tell I can get the mouse working.At some point in time, i saw it say it found new hardware. I can get rid of
the Hardware one but not the one in front of it 

I have just received  the PS2 Adapter i have inserted in to the PC  see 555 but it srill does not work no light on the mouse.when i put my external  drive in the adapter the light is in the drive,so that nust be conected.I just went to the Pound Shop for a Mouse and found out they only had one for £3 poiund .


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 20, 2022)

557 the T5 has a blue light it was pluged tn to the PS2 plug does that mean the adapter plug is working?the pins don,t look bent the thing next to it i  found it loose case i can,t get it back on there.Plus the fact the seller did not screw the DVD drive in. Which knocked one of the panals off the front of the case.It could have fallen out and done damage.Times running out if i have to send it back,as the seller only gave 14 days for a return.


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## Robert B (Jun 21, 2022)

I do not mean to brag but the flea market in my town is awesome!  After 7 years I am still amazed of the stuff that can pop up there!

*Well*, it seems that I am *Well(er)* on my way to having all the tools I need for quite a while.  No more hot swapping hot tips when I need it. I just have to power up station 1, 2 or 3!  They are analog but the tips used, control the temperature based on the number market on them. For example 7 means 370C. These soldering irons are awesome! Based on the year they were made they are from 1979, 1983 and 1985. I cleaned them up and repaired some cracks and missing bits from the plastic cases but the insides are pristine. This is a testimony that well built things really can last a lifetime.

Now I need for a hot air station to pop up at the flea market and I am golden!


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 21, 2022)

Robert B said:


> I do not mean to brag but the flea market in my town is awesome!  After 7 years I am still amazed of the stuff that can pop up there!
> 
> *Well*, it seems that I am *Well(er)* on my way to having all the tools I need for quite a while.  No more hot swapping hot tips when I need it. I just have to power up station 1, 2 or 3!  They are analog but the tips used, control the temperature based on the number market on them. For example 7 means 370C. These soldering irons are awesome! Based on the year they were made they are from 1979, 1983 and 1985. I cleaned them up and repaired some cracks and missing bits from the plastic cases but the insides are pristine. This is a testimony that well built things really can last a lifetime.
> 
> Now I need for a hot air station to pop up at the flea market and I am golden!


That's great for you because you have the SKILLS! I have lots of trinkets I've been gathering the last 18 years. I'm digging out all of them and good for 
me they don't require talent to use....


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## Greenslade (Jun 21, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> That's great for you because you have the SKILLS! I have lots of trinkets I've been gathering the last 18 years. I'm digging out all of them and good for
> me they don't require talent to use....


How do you find thouse PS2  Mouse Adapters?
Because i bought one and it does  not work. Why have you got three PS2 Mouse Adapters?


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How do you find thouse PS2  Mouse Adapters?
> Because i bought one and it does  not work. Why have you got three PS2 Mouse Adapters?


Some came with the keyboard or Mouse plus I've been playing with hardware for those 18 years. (and Ebay) Some of those are just adapters, you may need "converters" to go to USB.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 22, 2022)

While everyone else is busy with the /other/ BTC (the one that's commonly mentioned & used nowdays), I got my hands on this brand new, boxed up BTC rodent


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## Greenslade (Jun 22, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> While everyone else is busy with the /other/ BTC (the one that's commonly mentioned & used nowdays), I got my hands on this brand new, boxed up BTC rodent


Has anyone had any problrms with the  the PS2 Adapter or the PS2 Mouse?Because i can,t get my USB mouse to work it just shows in the Human Interface i see that it happens to a lot if peiple.No way of sirting it out woth out a mouse. I also have a wireless miuse that does not work propertly on anther PC  but when i plug it in the PC  that is not working with the USB mouse i get a message saying found new hard ware .i don,t get that with the PS2 Adapter when the USB mouse is pluged in.I have a wireless ketboard that is working fine.I am in a dilemer .do i take a chance on buying a £3 pound
wiewless mouse from Poundland if you are in the UK it seems like a lot of there sruff is a lot more than i Pound now.Why i am thinking of giving that mouse ago is that the wirekess mouse that is not working properly on another PC is the only one to show found new Hardware in the PC that the morse id not working.Other than that do i take a chance and buy a PS2 mouse for Amazon for £6.50?I is a shame that Poundland stopped selling a pound mouse,if they had i woukd have gone for that








 there crap mice but what do you exspect for just a pound.I did have one some years  ago and it lasted for some years.They make some half decent computer Tech stuff now days.








Here are some of there Tech stuff.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 23, 2022)

You need a PS2 mouse bro. Simple as that.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 23, 2022)

I have just conected a new drive  with a sata to ide  and this is the screen that has just come up it says no *master or slave* ? see the phoro s ,It is the one Phil recommened
Multibao PATA IDE to SATA Interface Adapter Converter, Serial ATA SATA to Parallel ATA PATA/IDE Hard Drive for 3.5"/2.5" Hard Drive HDD DVD - Plug And Play​





Mr.Scott said:


> You need a PS2 mouse bro. Simple as that.


How wiuld that get me the mouse   working on there?
And this problem *
*IMF FILE txtsetup .sif is corrupt of missing, status 1024?*​Is that just a problem with HDD   drives? Because i had the same problem in my  Dell i was hoping to get XP on it there ,and transfer the drive as the main drive on the PC i got from Ebay ,And why does ut not sgow that it is a Master or Slave?The jumper is set to Master the conection is nearer the Molex conecter.Why does  it show None?When it is sey to Master? You are right there though.about thr mouse.Why does the  PS2 Adapter not work with the USB mouse though?


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 23, 2022)

That WinXP error seems to be an issue with your XP disk (according to what I found with google).  Do you have another XP disk?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 23, 2022)

68Olds said:


> That WinXP error seems to be an issue with your XP disk (according to what I found with google).  Do you have another XP disk?


Yes i do .i have quite a few,I thought it would be a problem with HDD drives As not put an OS  in a HDD drive.But why does it say none in the photo i put on here.?I don,t know why the PS2 Adapter did not work.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 23, 2022)

Wish I knew Greenslade.  I'd like to see you have something actually work out with your old stuff.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 23, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Wish I knew Greenslade.  I'd like to see you have something actually work out with your old stuff.


I wish he was stateside, would have just sent him a perfectly working system.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I wish he was stateside, would have just sent him a perfectly working system.


Those are great gestures and I have so much extra hardware I could surely send him something too.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Those are great gestures and I have so much extra hardware I could surely send him something too.


My shop takes in old PC's and electronics for recycling. We get old PC's on a regular basis. Sometimes we part them out and break them down and sometimes we rebuild them & sell them as retro systems..


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## The Egg (Jun 23, 2022)

That sounds like a really enjoyable job If it’s able to sufficiently pay the bills. None of the Goodwills around here have much of any computer stuff, so I knew it was being sent somewhere. What part of the country are you in?


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## AlwaysHope (Jun 23, 2022)

Not really hardware but I can't find any threads on this site that welcome retro software like old games.
Scored this yesterday before being chucked in the bin at my workplace. Game suitable for only Mac systems of the mid 90s!


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## Audioave10 (Jun 23, 2022)

I have a few of those too...


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## Greenslade (Jun 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I wish he was stateside, would have just sent him a perfectly working system.


That is a very nice gestuer  Like you say it is a shame we live in different countriesYou are a good friend on here lex .



The Egg said:


> That sounds like a really enjoyable job If it’s able to sufficiently pay the bills. None of the Goodwills around here have much of any computer stuff, so I knew it was being sent somewhere. What part of the country are you in?


I thought Lex worked in the field of being a Pro Tech PC repaier ,and having his own shop.Yes Clint  says the same about Goodwills having very little PC stuff in his Thrifting
video s 







 His first in in some time.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 23, 2022)

I got something pretty unusual, coming up soon. AT-styled build except it's Slot 1. A 300A (or maybe 333) Celeron to be exact, with 440LX motherboard, paired with 64mb of RAM, SiS 6326 AGP graphics, SoundBlaster 16 ISA and fax modem.

It was made that way on purpose, just to make things somewhat different. Because we always talk about SoundBlaster Audigy, Live & Aureal Vortex sound cards, 3dfx Voodoo graphics (or GeForce/Radeon counterparts) and things are always the best. Top of the line, the best possible components you can find ... well, not this time!  Ironically, sourcing these "original" parts turned out to be more challenging than taking the easier route with Pentium II or even III, Rage128 or TNT2 graphics and SB live because (apparently?) no one bothered to actually keep & preserve these generic, low-end components.

Anyhow, I got most of the parts already here but I'm still missing the CPU, along with the set of case screws and few bits & pieces. And to make this even more interesting, this will be a "full" project, made from scratch - I'm not taking any shortcuts & re-purposing existing system into something else.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Those are great gestures and I have so much extra hardware I could surely send him something too.


Thanks for the offer anyway Shame you're not in the UK. 
Multibao PATA IDE to SATA Interface Adapter Converter, Serial ATA SATA to Parallel ATA PATA/IDE Hard Drive for 3.5"/2.5" Hard Drive HDD DVD - Plug And Play
Got it working now, well it is showing up that it is a master But I have to get XP on the drive, I think I will have to do it on the other PC and keep my fingers crossed.

​



Lenne said:


> Missing screws doesn't ruin a PC tho every screw should still be used.


I have just noticed something this is my PC I got from eBay there picture is different to mine look at the drive, not the cables I untied them to add drives in there.



68Olds said:


> The beep codes are probably for "Missing Ram".


Yes, you are right there, I looked it up on the HP site 5 red beeps ram.
Do you know what Ram it takes? I have a feeling it will work. It would have to go in another case. That is if I can because it is a propirty P C 

I thought I would try the DVD drive on the PC I found the other day. The red light was on I pushed the front button on the drive it works. In fact, if I could get some ram for it, I   think it would work. Tried the DVD on the PC I got from eBay all good showing in bios. Took the DVD Drive out of the adapter connection on the drive, left the Adapter as it was in the DVD drive,put that in the SATA HDD all good showing in the bios as a master drive. Put XP, os in the drive, don,t know where to go from here as the XP disc want start. See photo 598.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 24, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> AT-styled build except it's Slot 1.


Those were not common! Go with the Celeron 333A if you have one and give it some more RAM. 192 or 256 would be good. 384MB would be ideal!


----------



## jallenlabs (Jun 24, 2022)

Heres some old hardware. I still own the cases.  Dell XPS710 modified for atx and a CoolerMaster Stacker CSX SKull and Flames Case.


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## Greenslade (Jun 24, 2022)

Can anyone help me with this   
*no boot device*
You can,t boot a drive that does not have an OS on it.
I want to put the os on the only Drive I have on my PC.
How do I go about getting the OS on the only drive on the PC?



jallenlabs said:


> Heres some old hardware. I still own the cases.  Dell XPS710 modified for atx and a CoolerMaster Stacker CSX SKull and Flames Case.View attachment 252174View attachment 252175


There very unique Along with your carpet


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## 68Olds (Jun 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I thought I would try the DVD drive on the PC I found the other day. The red light was on I pushed the front button on the drive it works. In fact, if I could get some ram for it, I   think it would work. Tried the DVD on the PC I got from eBay all good showing in bios. Took the DVD Drive out of the adapter connection on the drive, left the Adapter as it was in the DVD drive,put that in the SATA HDD all good showing in the bios as a master drive. Put XP, os in the drive, don,t know where to go from here as the XP disc want start. See photo 598.


You need to get into BIOS and change the boot order to CDROM first.  The WinXP install disk should be able to boot.


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## Audioave10 (Jun 24, 2022)

The Complete History of the Home Microprocessor - good video but its 1 hr 25mins long​


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those were not common! Go with the Celeron 333A if you have one


That was the idea...  The whole point behind this build is to make something unusual & quirky, and not just another brick in the wall. IF I can source 333 over 300A, I will! That being said, I gave away all my Slot-1 Celerons & the only CPU I got available is PII 350, Deschutes core which isn't what I had in mind for this particular build.



lexluthermiester said:


> and give it some more RAM. 192 or 256 would be good. 384MB would be ideal!


Short and simple, no. If I start adding more RAM, then the next thing will be to add a better video card (I also have Rage128 available), and/or better (PCI) sound card. SB Live, for example which would wipe the floor with SB16. But that would defeat its whole purpose, the one which I already explained earlier.

Don't worry, this one won't even be running Win98. It'll have 95B or C edition, aiming for that low-end 1997 era when the Slot 1 first came out. Motherboard is Asus, model number P2L-B


----------



## Splinterdog (Jun 24, 2022)

I have a couple of Athlon 64x2 CPUs - one a 4400+ and the other a 4800+. On an Asus M2N MX SE Plus mobo they both run very hot until the point of auto shut down, getting to 80c with no load at all.
I've tried three different heatsinks with decent paste but it makes no difference and the heatsink is firm. Scratches head...


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> You need to get into BIOS and change the boot order to CDROM first.  The WinXP install disk should be able to boot.


Thanks for that,   I will keep my fingers crossed that it will all work s out. I just received my Used like new PS2 Mouse and was surprised it was not in a box-like it says when you buy something Used like new. See photo. It looks like new, I just hope it works in the socket as when I first put the adapter in the PC it did not look right, well it was not.
*Used - Like new*: An item in perfect working condition, the packaging may bear some damage. The item fully functions, and all its essential accessories are complete.
As long as it works it will be fine.   It was nearly half the price, with more reviews than any other.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jun 24, 2022)

Finally got myself a proper 90s machine, and it's weird looking! I traded 4 sticks of PC133 ram I didn't want for a "broken" Toshiba Infinia 7130 Desktop from 1996.











The seller said he thought the motherboard was dead. After some diagnosis, the issue was simply a broken reset button that was causing the PC to turn on and off and not post. Just unplugged that for now.

Spec wise it's a 133mhz Pentium and 32mb ram atop a Socket 7 board with onboard S3 Virage 2mb GPU and Yamaha YMF701 OPL sound.

It original came with a floppy and CD-ROM drive, but a prior owner installed a DVD rw combo drive which is dated 2007. It was installed poorly since the brackets are missing, so I just double sided taped it into place so it's not rattling around. I have installed a 40gb ide drive which it suprisingly had no objections too.

Originally this machine would have had 95, and there was even a 95 install disc left in it, but I chose to install 98 SE using a CD combined and Gotek floppy emulator dangling out of the case.




Issues: 
The Toshiba CD ROM drive makes bad noises and has to be manually opened. I believe the gears are stripped by the sound of it.

 The added combo drive works under DOS and is how I installed 98, but 98 doesn't recognize it. Probably a driver issue. Had to jump through hoops to get 98 to find the drivers it was looking for on the disc after it installed.


----------



## Splinterdog (Jun 24, 2022)

Splinterdog said:


> I have a couple of Athlon 64x2 CPUs - one a 4400+ and the other a 4800+. On an Asus M2N MX SE Plus mobo they both run very hot until the point of auto shut down, getting to 80c with no load at all.
> I've tried three different heatsinks with decent paste but it makes no difference and the heatsink is firm. Scratches head...


Problem solved. I initially used some locally brewed thermal paste which clearly was useless and have now applied MX-4 with temps showing as normal around 37c.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 24, 2022)

I currently own about 200 floppies & diskettes with this large game collection. I have never owned a Floppy Drive of any kind.
I feel kinda dirty but I never had the Nostalgia of experience with MS DOS and games of that time period.


----------



## agent_x007 (Jun 24, 2022)

Got this few days ago, forgot to share (it is 8MB version) :













^My first Verite card . Sure, it's not OG one, but I prefer to have backwards compatibilty with some tweaks vs. waiting forever.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 24, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Finally got myself a proper 90s machine, and it's weird looking! I traded 4 sticks of PC133 ram I didn't want for a "broken" Toshiba Infinia 7130 Desktop from 1996.
> 
> View attachment 252245
> View attachment 252246
> ...


It is an unusual little PC  ,and to have the Floppy on the top.



68Olds said:


> Wish I knew Greenslade.  I'd like to see you have something actually work out with your old stuff.


The PS2 Mouse is working ,but it seems to have stoped at this point for ages i don,t think it is going to get any further  thats a pain,  Trying again perhaps there is something up with the disc.The drive is not blinking not sire if that is the problem
It has started again and stuck at this point but it did move on from here after some time i did hope this would work.It has stopped at the same point 607 it is not going to do it.
Registers components.I will have to give this one up it is not going to move on from this point. I winder if the disc is faulty, or there is a problem with the adapter as it is not flashing  does any one know if the adapter should flash or not?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 25, 2022)

Wipe that drive with DBAN and try your install again. Too many attempted installs that failed. Just a format will not fix it.


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## Greenslade (Jun 25, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Wipe that drive with DBAN and try your install again. Too many attempted installs that failed. Just a format will not fix it.


Never heard of it Scotty .i will give it a try. thanks.That is to tech for me. 












Audioave10 said:


> I currently own about 200 floppies & diskettes with this large game collection. I have never owned a Floppy Drive of any kind.
> I feel kinda dirty but I never had the Nostalgia of experience with MS DOS and games of that time period.


I bought a floppy drive earyer this year and bought 40 floppy diskettes but never used it.That sounds cool ,but you have all thouse games and never used themWhat a wasteI never had a floppy drive before,My first PC was in  2005.
You should get ont of these and put them on there.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jun 25, 2022)

I would also reccomend a Gotek floppy emulator. For the most part they are pretty simple to use, and I've never had it fail to work with a system.

I would reccomend the software here though. It's easier to use.








						GOTEK Floppy Emulator
					

I've been using the GOTEK USB Floppy Emulator Simulator since the beginning of 2013 and they have never let me down. I haven't encountered a single glitch, bug or issue and can highly recommend them....



					www.philscomputerlab.com


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 25, 2022)

Cool...meanwhile, I keep pulling these out of the closet...GA MA785GMT-UD2H ( NB785 - SB750 )


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 25, 2022)

The LGA1155 build POSTed on first try  can't post pics of the setup ATM as I'm not home, but here's what I bought for it 










Got those low-profile RAM with the board so buying those heatspreadered ones weren't neccessary after all, but it doesn't hurt to have some 4GB DDR3s as spare.

3DMark didn't even recognize the GPU (GTX 660 3GB GK104, 1152 shaders and 192-bit bus so it's more like a weird GTX 760 what it comes to the GPU)








						3dmark.com
					






					www.3dmark.com


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 25, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Cool...meanwhile, I keep pulling these out of the closet...GA MA785GMT-UD2H ( NB785 - SB750 )


There no good in the closet ,you want to use them.  Along with those 200 floppy games.Wish i could find some at my local bric brak  market ,i have only seem the odd floppy there


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jun 25, 2022)

Got a non sandwich gtx295 in yesterday. 



It's in very rough shape. Seller shipped it in a bag, not a box,, so the rear metal is all bent. Also the entire shroud is held on with clips that have all been broken. There is evidence that someone tried to super glue this previously.






The card was supposed to be working, but in fact the B core is flakey and crashes to a black screen under any load. I got a complete refund because of this, so I might as well try and fix it up since I've got nothing to lose.

Today's objective is to tear it all apart, clean it up, bend the metal back, find a way to mount the shroud, and clean up the shroud. 

Hopefully the b core I can fix, but I have minimal hope.


----------



## Robert B (Jun 25, 2022)

Today I went from having just a couple of AXP-M CPUs to having 9. 

AMD Low-power Athlon XP 2500+ AXDL2500DLV4D
AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2800+ AXMA2800FKT4C
AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2400+ AXMD2400FJQ4C
AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2400+ AXMD2400FVF4CE X 3pcs
AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2500+ AXMH2500FQQ4C


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 25, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Today I went from having just a couple of AXP-M CPUs to having 9.
> 
> AMD Low-power Athlon XP 2500+ AXDL2500DLV4D
> AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2800+ AXMA2800FKT4C
> ...


The 2400 FV's wil OC like champs. All later dates with good steppings.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 25, 2022)

Sucks that the card is in such a bad condition. I hope you get it working! 



Mr.Scott said:


> The 2400 FV's wil OC like champs. All later dates with good steppings.


Is it bad that I don't like AXP's these days, only Thunderbird AXIAs?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 25, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Is it bad that I don't like AXP's these days, only Thunderbird AXIAs?


Nope. Everybody has their niche.
I enjoy both.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 25, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Nope. Everybody has their niche.
> I enjoy both.


Though I might get into Durons..


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I would also recommend a Gotec floppy emulator. For the most part they are pretty simple to use, and I've never had it fail to work with a system.
> 
> I would recommend the software here though. It's easier to use.
> 
> ...


There no good for me with nothing on my 40  diskettes


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Seller shipped it in a bag, not a box


That would be instant negative feedback for them!



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I got a complete refund because of this


Well that's good then!


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jun 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That would be instant negative feedback for them!


Seller had 2 295s, both as "used" not broken. Someone in a discord server I am in bought the other. Was also packaged in a bag and damaged because of that. B core was also dead on theirs, and it later went out with a bang and went short. Terrible seller.


Seller will get negative feedback and never get another dollar from me.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That would be instant negative feedback for them!


Creative Labs Audigy Sound Blaster Sound Card SB1394 EAX Advance HD SB0090.You talk about that this sound blaster was sent me in just in a jiffy bag. Some people have got no common sence I am surprised nothing has been smashed.“Taken in working order from a working PC but can't guarantee whether it will work*​It looks like  it has not been damaged,weather or not it works is another thing.
It did only cost £7 including postage.It should have been put on a box like 610
There is still toom to packaging in there.There is a pro seller on eBay who puts a DVD in a box like 610.There are three caps slightly bent over,weather or not that will mean it does not work is another thing.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> You talk about that this sound blaster was sent me in just in a jtffy bag.


Properly bubble-wrapped, sound cards would be fine but not big, bulky and heavy GPUs. That's just not on..


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 25, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Properly bubble-wrapped, sound cards would be fine but not big, bulky and heavy GPUs. That's just not on..


Just  thin bubble which is part of the very thin jiffy bag.No extra packing. It must be the thinest jiffy bag i have ever seen.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Just  thin bubble which is part of the very thin jiffy bag.No extra packing. I must be the thinest jiffy bag i have ever seen.


That's just messed up. I send things in padded envelopes, always double wrap with newspaper and bubblewrap before putting it into the shipping envelope. Any less is foolish, careless and unacceptable.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Got a non sandwich gtx295 in yesterday.
> View attachment 252332
> It's in very rough shape. Seller shipped it in a bag, not a box,, so the rear metal is all bent. Also the entire shroud is held on with clips that have all been broken. There is evidence that someone tried to super glue this previously.View attachment 252333
> 
> ...


Why don,t you send it back for a refund?  


lexluthermiester said:


> That's just messed up. I send things in padded envelopes, I always double wrap with newspaper and bubblewrap before putting it into the shipping envelope. Any less is foolish, careless and unacceptable.


Thats what i was saying ,some people don,t have any common sense.All thouse cabals on there i din,t think they are any good for me.What i need os one that goes to the DVD drive there is one in the PC i found the other week.I understand the motherboard want be able to be put in another case.As it is an Hp motherboard,


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 25, 2022)

More early 90's hardware from Adrian Black...


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 26, 2022)

BTW I hope you don't hate me as I put my 7970 Matrix to its box instead of putting it to use, It's still a somewhat rare one even its'nt a Platinum one?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jun 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Why don,t you send it back for a refund?


Seller offered to refund without me needing to return the item as soon as I told them the card was crashing. They refunded quickly, which is about the only positive I can say about that seller.

It needed some good dusting. After scrubbing the PCB with IPA and a toothbrush, I repasted both cores, as well as the other bare die chips.






I also removed the stickers and cleaned the shroud up. A pair of pliers fixed the shipping damage to the metal bracket. I think I'll attempt to attach the shroud with double sided tape once I'm done opening it up.






Much better physical condition. As far as functionality goes, it's still not working properly. It's still finicky and does not display every single time I turn the PC on. With SLI off, the card works perfectly.



However it throws a fit with SLI enabled.
Core 1 only runs heaven if underclocked to 300mhz.

I am wondering if this may be due to shipping. Lose solder joint from such poor packaging or something. Will probably try a heatgun tomorrow.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Seller offered to refund without me needing to return the item as soon as I told them the card was crashing. They refunded quickly, which is about the only positive I can say about that seller.
> 
> It needed some good dusting. After scrubbing the PCB with IPA and a toothbrush, I repasted both cores, as well as the other bare die chips.
> View attachment 252378
> ...


Thats fair enough  It is worth all the work you put in to ir to get it back to working condition.This guys good ,very informative videos ,but you would expect that from  someone doing it for training pauperises 







 and this one is relavent to me.  I am going to get this one for two HDDs.
45CM IDE Ribbon Lead - Connect IDE Devices to Motherboard with 80 CORE Cable   it is  my  price  point​£2.89 ​


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 26, 2022)

To be honest, I don't miss IDE stuff at all.. those cables and molex power connectors... nah, those suck.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> To be honest, I don't miss IDE stuff at all.. those cables and molex power connectors... nah, those suck.


I agree with you,plus the fact they are ugly the IDE cables that is.So you don,t use systems that have AGP slots?I am having a seconed atempt to get XP on the drive with the IDE  SATA Adapter ,keepong my fingers crossed.It got stuck at the last step last time. Registers components it got stuck here at the same spot before..


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I agree with you,plus the fact they are ugly the IDE cables that is.So you don,t use systems that have AGP slots?I am having a seconed atempt to get XP on the drive with the IDE  SATA Adapter ,keepong my fingers crossed.It got stuck at the last step last time.


Yeah I don't currently have an AGP system, I put together an i5-2320/8GB/660 3GB previously on this week.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Yeah I don't currently have an AGP system, I put together an i5-2320/8GB/660 3GB previously on this week.


Any idea why it stops at this point.     Registers components less  than a half way through it?  Could it be the disc?Exactly at the same point as list time. 
Both stopped at the same spot exactly.  If this going to be this hard to get XP on here whats it going to be like putting an earlier system on there.Trying a different DISC and drive.Unless it is the DVD drive, if it is i,m stuffed.  Lets see where it stops this time.Shame the seller did not send me a boot disc.That one failed


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 26, 2022)

How long you've waited?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> How long you've waited?


About  ten minutes  ,the last one came up with screen of death


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> About  ten minutes  ,the last one came up with screen of death


Hmm, weird. Have you tried burning an another XP install cd?


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Hmm, weird. Have you tried burning an another XP install cd?


These are burned discs all have workred befote on SSDs.I am tryIng to get  XP on my oiher PC on the drIve i hope will work on the Retro PC.I will see if it works here.If it installs on the Dell i will know if ir os a problem with the Retro PC.It is not off to a good start.

The drive with the Adapter keeps on falling to get XP on the drive .The first disc came up with a message saying there was an errer in the disc.The Second Disc i tried stoped at exactly the same point the two times i tried it.
609 was the first time 611 second time i tried it.The third disc i tried  after saying getting things ready  went to the blue screen message.I am now trying the third  DISC on my Dell PC to find out if it is the something on the Retro PC that is the problem.It has gone past the the point of the two photos below as it is the same disc. So it is someone to do the Retro PC. I don,t know how that can be resolved..any ideas? 
I doubt if the disc will work in the other PC anyway. Everything is so bloody slow on the Retro PC ,it is like watching paint dry. This particular one os the Integral Edition this one takes a fair bit of time on here.I have put it in the Retro PC and got the error below.How do i run CHEKDISK on the Retro PC? It did a cheak on the DELL everything is fine on there,Put the drive back in the Retro PC it comes up with the same message as below.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jun 26, 2022)

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I actually like molex. Sata connectors have a zillion pins for no apparent reason, and the connectors are so long and flat they break if you pull up or down on them. Molex is simple, just 4 large pins, plus it's super durable. It just can be a pain to connect sometimes.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I actually like molex. Sata connectors have a zillion pins for no apparent reason, and the connectors are so long and flat they break if you pull up or down on them.


Do you know anything about my problem xp in the drive with this adapter?.I am trying to get XP on my ATHLON 2400   PC with this 
Has anyone on here got one?If so has anyone managed to get XP on it?Is it posible ?


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> These are burned discs all have workred befote on SSDs.I am tryIng to get  XP on my oiher PC on the drIve i hope will work on the Retro PC.I will see if it works here.If it installs on the Dell i will know if ir os a problem with the Retro PC.It is not off to a good start.
> 
> The drive with the Adapter keeps on falling to get XP on the drive .The first disc came up with a message saying there was an errer in the disc.The Second Disc i tried stoped at exactly the same point the two times i tried it.
> 609 was the first time 611 second time i tried it.The third disc i tried  after saying getting things ready  went to the blue screen message.I am now trying the third  DISC on my Dell PC to find out if it is the something on the Retro PC that is the problem.It has gone past the the point of the two photos below as it is the same disc. So it is someone to do the Retro PC. I don,t know how that can be resolved..any ideas?
> I doubt if the disc will work in the other PC anyway. Everything is so bloody slow on the Retro PC ,it is like watching paint dry. This particular one os the Integral Edition this one takes a fair bit of time on here.I have put it in the Retro PC and got the error below.How do i run CHEKDISK on the Retro PC? It did a cheak on the DELL everything is fine on there,Put the drive back in the Retro PC it comes up with the same message as below.


Try making an USB version with Rufus. 




RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I actually like molex. Sata connectors have a zillion pins for no apparent reason, and the connectors are so long and flat they break if you pull up or down on them. Molex is simple, just 4 large pins, plus it's super durable. It just can be a pain to connect sometimes.


I do agree with the durability though.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Try making an USB version with Rufus.
> 
> 
> 
> I do agree with the durability though.


If it does  not work with a disc why would it work with Rufus?   i could try with Easy2boot.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jun 26, 2022)

I use an IDE to M.2 SATA adapter but I've found it really does not like to work with a lot of the systems I've tried. I've only had 4 systems that work with it, and 3/4 of them are new enough to have SATA ports on board as well as ide.

Some systems hang on startup, since they see a drive but don't know what to do with it and throw a disk error. Some see the drive and don't throw an error, but otherwise can't boot to it properly. 

This might just be the case with that adapter that the system doesn't know what to do with it.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jun 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> These are burned discs all have workred befote on SSDs.I am tryIng to get  XP on my oiher PC on the drIve i hope will work on the Retro PC.I will see if it works here.If it installs on the Dell i will know if ir os a problem with the Retro PC.It is not off to a good start.
> 
> The drive with the Adapter keeps on falling to get XP on the drive .The first disc came up with a message saying there was an errer in the disc.The Second Disc i tried stoped at exactly the same point the two times i tried it.
> 609 was the first time 611 second time i tried it.The third disc i tried  after saying getting things ready  went to the blue screen message.I am now trying the third  DISC on my Dell PC to find out if it is the something on the Retro PC that is the problem.It has gone past the the point of the two photos below as it is the same disc. So it is someone to do the Retro PC. I don,t know how that can be resolved..any ideas?
> I doubt if the disc will work in the other PC anyway. Everything is so bloody slow on the Retro PC ,it is like watching paint dry. This particular one os the Integral Edition this one takes a fair bit of time on here.I have put it in the Retro PC and got the error below.How do i run CHEKDISK on the Retro PC? It did a cheak on the DELL everything is fine on there,Put the drive back in the Retro PC it comes up with the same message as below.


That error is the drive not seeing the correct format. Sata or AHCI driver missing usually. Set to IDE in bios and try again. Adapter might be screwing you. To be honest, I never have any of the problems you are having. Running out of guesses.


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## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I use an IDE to M.2 SATA adapter but I've found it really does not like to work with a lot of the systems I've tried. I've only had 4 systems that work with it, and 3/4 of them are new enough to have SATA ports on board as well as ide.
> 
> Some systems hang on startup, since they see a drive but don't know what to do with it and throw a disk error. Some see the drive and don't throw an error, but otherwise can't boot to it properly.
> 
> This might just be the case with that adapter that the system doesn't know what to do with it.


Thanks for that any idea how to get it to  get XP on it or will i only be able to use it as a Slave?That beats the whole object of me buying it.I only got it last week so i can return it  by 21 July og o can,t get a os on it.If i had known there woyld be all these problems with it i would never have bought it in the first place. And just gone for a CF card with the card on one of the PCI slots.



Mr.Scott said:


> That error is the drive not seeing the correct format. Sata or AHCI driver missing usually. Set to IDE in bios and try again. Adapter might be screwing you. To be honest, I never have any of the problems you are having. Running out of guesses.


Thanks Scotty i am one of thouse people who never seem to get it right.


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks Scotty i am one of thouse people who never seem to get it right.


You will eventually. There is a learning curve.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 26, 2022)

Greenslade, are you doing a clean install?  By that I mean are you deleting all partitions on the HDD with the WinXP install disk, then creating a new partition, then formatting before you start the windows install.

Go to 3:50


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## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Greenslade, are you doing a clean install?  By that I mean are you deleting all partitions on the HDD with the WinXP install disk, then creating a new partition, then formatting before you start the windows install.
> 
> Go to 3:50


Thanks for that, i will give it a try later  on i have been trying this for to long i want a break from it. I just do the basic stuff to install. Normally . I just format in the Dell.something else  about the drive the PC came with ,i tried to put MYPALon the drive it said something about Athlon 2400. not supporting it?That is my go to browser on XP.
What browser can i use on there?


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 26, 2022)

I delete the partition(s) on every new install.  There can be stuff left behind causing problems when you just do a re-install over an old Windows. 

But yeah, it can get frustrating.  Step away, take a breath, come back relaxed.


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## Greenslade (Jun 26, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I delete the partition(s) on every new install.  There can be stuff left behind causing problems when you just do a re-install over an old Windows.
> 
> But yeah, it can get frustrating.  Step away, take a breath, come back relaxed.


Yes i will it is all driving me nuts.


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## bobbybluz (Jun 26, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> That error is the drive not seeing the correct format. Sata or AHCI driver missing usually. Set to IDE in bios and try again. Adapter might be screwing you. To be honest, I never have any of the problems you are having. Running out of guesses.


I've done countless hundreds of XP installs and have never seen what that guy is going through. There'd always be that lag when the install (or dirty repair) reached 34% left but when 33% showed up you knew it was going to work. I do recall having to install drivers from floppys at the beginning of the install for some mobos though. I've never seen a XP install fail at the final end of the process. If OP lived within 50 miles of me I'd go build the PC for him.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 26, 2022)

Bobby, Greenslade has a SATA HDD with an IDE to SATA adapter & an IDE only mobo.  The SATA HDD seems to have an existing install of WinXP which was installed as a SATA HDD install.  I'm guessing very few of us have ever tried doing such an install (I know I've never done that).  Yes, I remember F6 to insert the floppy to load the SATA drivers.  Things really are easier with newer hardware IMO, but it is still fun going back & reliving the pains we went through.  I just installed WinME on an old Athlon XP 1700+, that was entertaining & a giant pita. lol


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> To be honest, I don't miss IDE stuff at all.. those cables and molex power connectors... nah, those suck.


They really did.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Sata connectors have a zillion pins for no apparent reason


No, they have a reason. A variety of voltages. It was a very good idea at the time they designed it.


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Molex is simple, just 4 large pins, plus it's super durable.


True!


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It just can be a pain to connect sometimes.


Also true!



Lenne said:


> Try making an USB version with Rufus.


That doesn't work with XP. XP never had USB installer support. So while an XP ISO can be written to a USB drive and XP install will actually start up, it gets stuck part way through with no option to recover.



Greenslade said:


> i could try with Easy2boot.


For USB drives that would be your only option


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 26, 2022)

I forgot ... how many LEDs do you need for a computer case? 5, 6, 10?


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I forgot ... how many LEDs do you need for a computer case? 5, 6, 10?


The correct answer is: As many as it takes.


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## Trekkie4 (Jun 26, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The correct answer is: As many as it takes.


Yup! Each group is consisted of two LEDs, and there are 3 groups in total. One for "Power", one for "HDD activity" and one for "Turbo". Therefore 3x 2, 6 LEDs in total


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 26, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I delete the partition(s) on every new install.  There can be stuff left behind causing problems when you just do a re-install over an old Windows.


Exactly why I suggested DBAN that drive.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2022)

i guess i can put them here too (not the DDR3 and the i7-3770 )






lexluthermiester said:


> The correct answer is: As many as it takes.


no the correct answer is: "YES!!!" 

example:
tech guy at the brick'n mortar computer shop: "how many led do you need in your computer?"
me, grinning like a madman: "YES!!!"


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 26, 2022)

This guy always finds the most unusual hardware (RETRO Hardware on YOUtube)


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## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> This guy always finds the most unusual hardware (RETRO Hardware on Utube)


ooohhhh i remember that one ... i also remember wanting one  

that youtuber has a Titan Golden Orb as profile picture ,,,, I LIKE IT! (i have a Chrome Orb, socket A in my collection )


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Jun 26, 2022)

RGHD showed similar one a while ago, my buddy used to have it too:










I remember I instead went for Zalman flower design in those Athlon XP days 

This one:








						ZALMAN CNPS7000C-Cu 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Newegg.com
					

Buy ZALMAN CNPS7000C-Cu 2 Ball CPU Cooler with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 26, 2022)

I used to have a brand new, never used before Jet 7 "Jet Engine" CPU cooler ... and let me tell you, that thing was terrible. Despite all the marketing claims (of performing better than a traditional fan, with the "blind spot" in the middle, right under the motor) this thing was about the same as better fan only much, MUCH louder.


 



I guess you could argue & say how back then CPU coolers used to have smaller (and much faster) fans than nowdays, so if you put it that way, I guess Jet 7 was indeed better. That said, everything else is just eye candy and nothing else. I had to keep it at low speed all the time (about 1/3) because I couldn't stand that high pitch "plastic" whine, coming from inside the case.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 26, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I used to have a brand new, never used before Jet 7 "Jet Engine" CPU cooler ... and let me tell you, that thing was terrible. Despite all the marketing claims (of performing better than a traditional fan, with the "blind spot" in the middle, right under the motor) this thing was about the same as better fan only much, MUCH louder.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


performances? naaaaahhhh at the time it was all about the look ahahahahah!  

eh? no? ... okay... *dejected* ... 

luckily i did listen and learn in the way to today


----------



## bobbybluz (Jun 27, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Bobby, Greenslade has a SATA HDD with an IDE to SATA adapter & an IDE only mobo.  The SATA HDD seems to have an existing install of WinXP which was installed as a SATA HDD install.  I'm guessing very few of us have ever tried doing such an install (I know I've never done that).  Yes, I remember F6 to insert the floppy to load the SATA drivers.  Things really are easier with newer hardware IMO, but it is still fun going back & reliving the pains we went through.  I just installed WinME on an old Athlon XP 1700+, that was entertaining & a giant pita. lol


Back in my post #14,634 I showed my oldest still fully functional rig. My sister has a close twin of it I built at the same time for her but it's in a Sky Hawk aluminum Eagle case with the removable motherboard tray (mine was originally in one of those as well) that's been sitting unused in a closet since around 2004 after her daughter trashed the monitor. I can have it back for free but only if I go pick it up in Colorado (I'm in Wisconsin). I eventually will sometime later this year then when I get it back home put ME on it for giggles. Fortunately I still have the driver disc with the Silicon Image SATA drivers on it that came with the Asus A7N8X mobo.
Sometimes I wonder how much combined time I spent watching the install screen progress in 98, 98SE, 2000, ME and XP. It has to be a few months at the very least.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 27, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> I've done countless hundreds of XP installs and have never seen what that guy is going through. There'd always be that lag when the install (or dirty repair) reached 34% left but when 33% showed up you knew it was going to work. I do recall having to install drivers from floppys at the beginning of the install for some mobos though. I've never seen a XP install fail at the final end of the process. If OP lived within 50 miles of me I'd go build the PC for him.


Thanks for that Bobby  Shame you so far away from the UK. Is that your cat in the picture he looks cuteThere does not seem to be many Brits on this forum.
Mind you if there was they would not offer to send me anything anyway, not that i would expect anyone to anyway.


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 27, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> Back in my post #14,634 I showed my oldest still fully functional rig. My sister has a close twin of it I built at the same time for her but it's in a Sky Hawk aluminum Eagle case with the removable motherboard tray (mine was originally in one of those as well) that's been sitting unused in a closet since around 2004 after her daughter trashed the monitor. I can have it back for free but only if I go pick it up in Colorado (I'm in Wisconsin). I eventually will sometime later this year then when I get it back home put ME on it for giggles. Fortunately I still have the driver disc with the Silicon Image SATA drivers on it that came with the Asus A7N8X mobo.
> *Sometimes I wonder how much combined time I spent watching the install screen progress in 98, 98SE, 2000, ME and XP. It has to be a few months at the very least.*


That comment really made me laugh.  So true for many of us.   My 98SE was an upgrade version, so I had to install it twice for each install.
I came to a crossroads in 03/04 between Intel & AMD.  The Asus A7N8X-e Deluxe was one direction & Abit IC7-g MaxII was the other.  I decided to save a few bucks & went Intel.  Long story, but it ended up costing me a lot more. lol


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 27, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Bobby, Greenslade has a SATA HDD with an IDE to SATA adapter & an IDE only mobo.  The SATA HDD seems to have an existing install of WinXP which was installed as a SATA HDD install.  I'm guessing very few of us have ever tried doing such an install (I know I've never done that).  Yes, I remember F6 to insert the floppy to load the SATA drivers.  Things really are easier with newer hardware IMO, but it is still fun going back & reliving the pains we went through.  I just installed WinME on an old Athlon XP 1700+, that was entertaining & a giant pita. lol


I have managed to get XP on but I have two problems see photo. Is there
a browser I can get on this Athlon 2400? And no internet connection there is no
light in the connecter. This was a very basic and quick install it was a new one I have never used before. I tried putting the os on a 3,5 drive it seemed to be a bad connection it showed as a Master but went off.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have managed to get XP on but I have two problems see photo. Is there
> a browser I can get on this Athlon 2400? And no internet connection there is no
> light in the connecter. This was a very basic and quick install it was a new one I have never used before. I tried putting the os on a 3,5 drive it seemed to be a bad connection it showed as a Master but went off. I don,t know why there is no light on the ethernet cabal.


Netscape Navigator
Old version of Firefox
Internet Explorer

You will probably need ethernet drivers. Find out if you have Realtek, Intel, Marvell, Qualcomm, Atheros etc. and get those drivers.

Or go to your motherboard's support page, and look for ethernet drivers.

Also Win key+r -> MSCONFIG -> Normal Startup, if it is not already.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have managed to get XP on but I have two problems see photo. Is there
> a browser I can get on this Athlon 2400? And no internet connection there is no
> light in the connecter. This was a very basic and quick install it was a new one I have never used before. I tried putting the os on a 3,5 drive it seemed to be a bad connection it showed as a Master but went off. I don,t know why there is no light on the ethernet cabal.


Ethernet cabal???

oh dear...
cabal
/kəˈbal/
_noun_

a secret political clique or faction.
"a cabal of dissidents"



light browser for Win XP on an Athlon? mmhhh maybe the one i use on my Samsung N350 with his shitty Atom
*Opera 36*​*Pale Moon*​*K-Meleon*​
i mainly used Pale Moon and K-Meleon


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 27, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> Ethernet cabal???
> 
> oh dear...
> cabal
> ...


Ethernet cabal is especially a nasty one. Not to be confused with their counterpart phoney cabal, as they only share so much in common


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 27, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> Ethernet cabal???





Trekkie4 said:


> Ethernet cabal is especially a nasty one.


Not as nasty as this Cabal..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not as nasty as this Cabal..
> View attachment 252702


I'm afraid I'm not a fan of Tiberian's Sun, so this reference kinda backfired & I ended up Googling for the source pic 

Nevertheless, judging by this guy's facial expression I would have to agree


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 27, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> I'm afraid I'm not a fan of Tiberian's Sun


You missed out!! C&C2 Tiberian Sun + Firestorm is one of the greatest games of all time, certainly in the RTS genre. It's been released as a free download by EA. It plays flawlessly on modern systems as long as you have DirectX9c installed.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> They really did.
> 
> 
> No, they have a reason. A variety of voltages. It was a very good idea at the time they designed it.
> ...


Rufus does make working XP installers


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 27, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Netscape Navigator
> Old version of Firefox
> Internet Explorer
> 
> ...





GreiverBlade said:


> Ethernet cabal???
> 
> oh dear...
> cabal
> ...


It was just a typo. Thank,s, for that I will give them a try.I am new to all this Retro stuff, I had no idea It would be so hard to find a browser that worked with my CPU.I had no idea what they meant about   the instructions they give about CPUs
SSE2/SSE3/SSE4 etc.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It was just a typo. Thank,s, for that I will give them a try.I am new to all this Retro stuff, I had no idea It would be so hard to find a browser that worked with my CPU.I had no idea what they meant about   the instructions they give about CPUs
> SSE2/SSE3/SSE4 etc.


If you check CPU-Z, it will tell you the instructions your CPU supports, for future reference.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Rufus does make working XP installers


Really? When did THAT happen?


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> s there
> a browser I can get on this Athlon 2400?



On the original post of this thread:









						The 5 Best Browsers for Windows XP
					

Microsoft may have stopped supporting Windows XP but that is not to mean it is still in use But why would anyone still be using Windows XP? Well, for




					appuals.com


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Jun 27, 2022)

I think there was something worse than the 95 & 98 install wait...the "updates" downloading on 56K modem !...yikes ....leave it over night and lose connection half way through and get up the next morning pissed !


----------



## stinger608 (Jun 27, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> I think there was something worse than the 95 & 98 install wait...the "updates" downloading on 56K modem !...yikes ....leave it over night and lose connection half way through and get up the next morning pissed !



Oh man, been there, done that. LOL


----------



## Fangio1951 (Jun 28, 2022)

Wait - there was something worse than WIN 95/98 installation = it was WIN 3.1 !!!!!! = a mountain of 3 1/2" floppy discs...........


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 28, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> Ethernet cabal???
> 
> oh dear...
> cabal
> ...


I have not tried Opera 36 yet, what versions  of Pale moon and k-Meleon?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 28, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> On the original post of this thread:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


aaaaaaannnnddd they list at least one browser i use for retrorigs! yay!



Greenslade said:


> I have not tried Opera 36 yet, what versions  of Pale moon and k-Meleon?


used the latest one most of the time (although the Samsung N350 runs Win 7 Starter, i did use it on my Barton build under XP SP3 ) if you mean the 32/64 bit then 32bits


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 28, 2022)

Fangio1951 said:


> Wait - there was something worse than WIN 95/98 installation = it was WIN 3.1 !!!!!! = a mountain of 3 1/2" floppy discs...........


It was only 7 floppy discs, not that big a deal to many people..


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Really? When did THAT happen?


Rufus does not all ways work,It happened again the 3.5 drive showed  for a second then went off weird stuff.  I put the 2.5 one with the os in that works fine.I try another 3.5 drive that shows but that one is in its way out the health that os.Like you say the CF card is the way to go but  is a 16gb one enough?I suppose i should go for 32gb.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> It was only 7 floppy discs, not that big a deal to many people..


my Commodore AT clone, using DOS 1.0 later Win 3.1, used 5.1/4" drives 170.75kb disks it was ... errrr better not speak of it ...


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 28, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> On the original post of this thread:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for that  I will give them a try The first one would not download.
I did not realize it would be so hard to get a browser for ATHLON 2400  SSE
instructions only. I just hope I can get one to work with it. I had no idea what those instructions meant until now. It is a bit ironic that the Pentium 4 on the PC I found a couple of weeks ago has the sse2 instructions needed for a later browser. I just wish it was not an HP motherboard as I see I can,t put it in another case.I have a feeling if I was to put some Ram in there it would work.








 This is the one I have what ram does it use?


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 28, 2022)

The HP Compaq D530 has DDR RAM.
Socket 478 Pentium 4 HT support.
865g chipset, supports dual channel RAM.
AGP 8x video card slot.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 28, 2022)

Something new...


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> It was only 7 floppy discs, not that big a deal to many people..


Seem to remember you only needed disks 1 to 6 ( disk 7 was just the mirid of printer drivers )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 28, 2022)

Celeron update!


 



There you have it guys, finally an explanation for all those LEDs from my previous post(s). This particular case uses strange & rather unusual method of indicating activities using the plastic lenses & dual LEDs but hey, it works...




And there she is guys, Asus P2L-B already mounted on the tray & ready to go inside the case.




At this point, all I have to do is to find a suitable CPU, get all the missing cables, sort out the cable management & I should be good to go.


 



Oh, and almost forgot ... this SiS 6326 will be my weapon of choice when it comes to graphics. I wonder if it could run Half-Life at 640x480?


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 28, 2022)

Thought you folks might like some high-freq (for ambient...) FX. 

5634.56 MHz FX-6300

5601.09 MHz FX-8350





With this beauty above. I just wish the Sabertooth had 1C per module mode (and better sPi efficiency, but that's beside the point).

Entered into the Intel Open. It's not looking great for my current samples  but PSCheck helped loads.

Still actively pushing what I've got!


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Thought you folks might like some high-freq (for ambient...) FX.
> 
> 5634.56 MHz FX-6300
> 
> ...


Is that all it can do? Seems ridiculously disappointing. I managed to achieve 5.2GHz with just Hyper 103 and Asrock 970 Pro R2.0 board. Your setup should be decent for 6GHz or a bit more.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 28, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Is that all it can do? Seems ridiculously disappointing. I managed to achieve 5.2GHz with just Hyper 103 and Asrock 970 Pro R2.0 board. Your setup should be decent for 6GHz or a bit more.


The FX-6300 score is the third highest on ambient for that CPU, losing to 1st by about 100MHz. So I wouldn't say it's disappointing.


----------



## QuietBob (Jun 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I just wish the Sabertooth had 1C per module mode


Impressive clocks with these FX chips! You can disable CMT in the BIOS when you go down to a single module. You'll end up with 1c/1t.


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> The FX-6300 score is the third highest on ambient for that CPU, losing to 1st by about 100MHz. So I wouldn't say it's disappointing.


Seems bizarre. You should have no problems clocking it higher. It's not like you are limited by voltage or cooling. Here's my score:








						AMD FX @ 5288.33 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR
					

[reiqf3] Validated Dump by The red spirit (2019-02-26 15:26:19) - MB: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 - RAM: 16384 MB




					valid.x86.fr
				




I must have forgotten that, but it's actually 5.28 GHz.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 28, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Impressive clocks with these FX chips! You can disable CMT in the BIOS when you go down to a single module. You'll end up with 1c/1t.


Sabertooth BIOS does not support such a thing unfortunately  am currently using the e-waste GA-970A-DS3P for this exact reason to see if I can go further. Need a good AsRock/GB 990FX board. 1102, 0813 both don't have the feature and 0402 doesn't even support FX CPUs.

Unfortunately, module 1 is second best and module 4 is best; ASUS core disabling allows per-module, GB is total core #. So with ASUS I can't get 1c per module and with GB I can't get the module I want with any core reduction 


The red spirit said:


> Seems bizarre. You should have no problems clocking it higher. It's not like you are limited by voltage or cooling. Here's my score:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's a nice score for such cooling. These FX chips just get so damn hot past ~5.6GHz, it's basically a thermal wall that ambient temps cannot deal with (excluding Siberia).

Only exception could be if I had like a car radiator WC setup with a great quality pump + CPU WB and great paste, maybe I could hit 5.7+. Or just a platinum sample...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 28, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Oh, and almost forgot ... this SiS 6326 will be my weapon of choice when it comes to graphics. I wonder if it could run Half-Life at 640x480?


SiS 6326, although mine had a heatsink on it, was my first GC in my first self build, paired with a K6-2 (until i got enough money for a TNT 1  )


----------



## QuietBob (Jun 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Sabertooth BIOS does not support such a thing unfortunately



I mean this specific menu on the Sabertooth 2.0:





When you disable the 2nd core, you're left with 1 core/ALU and 1 thread. Unless you mean disabling CMT for a specific module? If that's the case, the Sabertooth doesn't let you do it, unfortunately.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 28, 2022)

btw @MachineLearning , really dig your avatar  

thus


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> That's a nice score for such cooling. These FX chips just get so damn hot past ~5.6GHz, it's basically a thermal wall that ambient temps cannot deal with (excluding Siberia).


Probably. I only ran 1 module since I was badly VRM limited. My board was way over 100C at VRMs just in desktop. I looked at wattmeter and yeah it sucked 200 watts just during boot up. Yikes. My score was also a suicide run. It wasn't stable at all, it was just stable enough to validate score, that's it. It crashed several times during boot up or opening CPU-Z. I also had voltage with LLC set as high as they went and board was throttling badly. I obviously maxed out multi overclocks, so had to resort to modifying bus clock. My FX 6300 was still stable at 4.8-4.9 GHz, past that I went just for nice numbers. That was quite a bit of fun, but took years of that board's life. I probably also disabled thermal protection too. I attempted to do something similar in past with Gigabyte 78LMT-S2P board, but since it was low end 3+1 phase board with no VRM cooling, I only reached pitiful 4.3 GHz. Even at that speed VRMs were over 150C with 163C hotspot. Board literally had roasted mark in VRM area after that, but still worked for a year or two until it died. 

BTW I also had Mugen 4 PCGH cooler available, but it didn't seem to do anything for stability in my case and I really hate having to do anything with it on.

PS: For pulling shit like this with my boards, I'm not sure if I want overclocking capable board again. It's a lot of fun, but I get addicted to that and until I reach the point of board literally melting, it's not satisfactory enough. That's partly why I got locked i5 instead of Ryzen for my daily.



MachineLearning said:


> Only exception could be if I had like a car radiator WC setup with a great quality pump + CPU WB and great paste, maybe I could hit 5.7+. Or just a platinum sample...


Or just ignore thermals completely, do suicide runs for higher speed, screw stability and HW for those 6 GHz. But for real, some people actually ran FX chips at 5GHz daily. Pushing to 6GHz seems to be totally possible with suicide runs with your cooling. People achieve around 6Ghz with water. You really need LN2 for 6.5GHz+


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 29, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> SiS 6326, although mine had a heatsink on it, was my first GC in my first self build, paired with a K6-2 (until i got enough money for a TNT 1  )


Sweet! Something tells me that it's going to blend in with the rest of the components just fine 

I remember testing that same 6326 a while back, approx. 10 years ago and I was genuinely surprised just how good it was. Because everyone kept saying it was worthless & compared it with those S3 cards only capable of 2D with next to none 3D acceleration. But it actually worked out fine, maybe not the best video card I've seen but still better than ATI Rage, Rage Pro & S3 Trio cards for example.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 29, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> I mean this specific menu on the Sabertooth 2.0:
> 
> View attachment 252865
> 
> When you disable the 2nd core, you're left with 1 core/ALU and 1 thread. Unless you mean disabling CMT for a specific module? If that's the case, the Sabertooth doesn't let you do it, unfortunately.


Interesting, my r1.01 does not have the disable 2nd core option in BIOS 1102 or prior. What BIOS are you running on r2.0? I will look for a similarly-timed release for my board and see if it gives the option.

Unfortunately, I would indeed have to disable the 2nd core per-module to benefit, since module 4 > module 1 for both of my good FX CPUs.



The red spirit said:


> Probably. I only ran 1 module since I was badly VRM limited. My board was way over 100C at VRMs just in desktop. I looked at wattmeter and yeah it sucked 200 watts just during boot up. Yikes. My score was also a suicide run. It wasn't stable at all, it was just stable enough to validate score, that's it. It crashed several times during boot up or opening CPU-Z. I also had voltage with LLC set as high as they went and board was throttling badly. I obviously maxed out multi overclocks, so had to resort to modifying bus clock. My FX 6300 was still stable at 4.8-4.9 GHz, past that I went just for nice numbers. That was quite a bit of fun, but took years of that board's life. I probably also disabled thermal protection too. I attempted to do something similar in past with Gigabyte 78LMT-S2P board, but since it was low end 3+1 phase board with no VRM cooling, I only reached pitiful 4.3 GHz. Even at that speed VRMs were over 150C with 163C hotspot. Board literally had roasted mark in VRM area after that, but still worked for a year or two until it died.
> 
> BTW I also had Mugen 4 PCGH cooler available, but it didn't seem to do anything for stability in my case and I really hate having to do anything with it on.
> 
> ...


Ignoring thermals - check. 

Idgaf about the 8350 especially, it has a dead memory channel so it's due to become kindling anyway. What I really need is to figure out how to get PSCheck to give me > 1.55v for an FX CPU, VID offset in BIOS does not help.

Now I've noticed a 6.1GHz H2O 8350, which might be what you're mentioning. Shit, there goes the next week of my life


----------



## QuietBob (Jun 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> What BIOS are you running on r2.0?


It's the latest, version 2901 dated 5/8/16


----------



## MachineLearning (Jun 29, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> It's the latest, version 2901 dated 5/8/16


Can confirm latest r1.01 BIOS (1604) does not have 2nd core disable option


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 29, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> my Commodore AT clone, using DOS 1.0 later Win 3.1, used 5.1/4" drives 170.75kb disks it was ... errrr better not speak of it ...


Ok, that was the exception, not the rule. Most PC's running Windows 3.1/3.11 have/had a 1.44MB floppy drive..



dorsetknob said:


> Seem to remember you only needed disks 1 to 6 ( disk 7 was just the mirid of printer drivers )


I think you're right.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ok, that was the exception, not the rule. Most PC's running Windows 3.1/3.11 has a 1.44MB floppy drive...


that's all me, all exception and no rules!   exceptio'n'al[l] i am!
joke aside, well yeah since it came with DOS 1.0 and GW Basic and not Win 3.1 hehehe


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 29, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Ignoring thermals - check.
> 
> Idgaf about the 8350 especially, it has a dead memory channel so it's due to become kindling anyway. What I really need is to figure out how to get PSCheck to give me > 1.55v for an FX CPU, VID offset in BIOS does not help.


CPU isn't that great for anything else other than overclocking, but I wouldn't really want to abuse board. AM3+ are expensive on eBay and have been like that even before 2020. You have TUF board and those are even more expensive. 



MachineLearning said:


> Now I've noticed a 6.1GHz H2O 8350, which might be what you're mentioning. Shit, there goes the next week of my life


You can always check OCN (Overclock.net) or CPU-Z leaderboards 6GHz is definitely doable with water on suicide run. If you wanted, you could probably even run it at 5GHz 24/7. It's essentially the same as running FX 9590 and that chip came with stock 120mm AIO. It wasn't exactly enough even if you allow your ears to be raped by noise, but with 240mm+ it wouldn't be a problem.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 29, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> well yeah since it came with DOS 1.0 and GW Basic and not Win 3.1 hehehe


Did you ever upgrade that system to a newer floppy drive and HDD?


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 29, 2022)

Some AM2/AM3 coolers ready for builds...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Did you ever upgrade that system to a newer floppy drive and HDD?


nah, i was quite little at the time ahah ... it was a 1985, so i was 4, Commodore PC40 we got the 1.2mb 5.1/4 floppy later, it was already running 3.1  (another exception, usually all PC40-40 came with 1.2mb 5.1/4", not ours  )
the price at the time was not ideal and the PC was a gift from a friend (initially for my parents )


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 29, 2022)

Blah, I REALLY hate these extension brackets!

After couple of hours with PS/2, Parallel & Serial port headers, it would seem that everything is hooked up as it should be ... I hope! Also, if any of you here also happen to have an old Asus board laying around & would want to hook up PS/2 mouse extension port, this here is the wiring diagram obtained from the Vogons forum.





Keep in mind however that the wiring color code doesn't mean anything and differs from one header to another. Therefore, if you really want to be 100% certain that you're not going to short or fry something you'll just have to probe each & every pin with the meter & confirm the correct layout.

To make things even more complicated, one (PS/2 mouse) header is being shared ... or rather, used in parallel with secondary IR and two USB ports, so you really have to be careful around these. It's like a really nasty front panel connection, where you can make a lot more damage than just reversing LEDs other way around.

As always, before ... and after!


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 29, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The HP Compaq D530 has DDR RAM.
> Socket 478 Pentium 4 HT support.
> 865g chipset, supports dual channel RAM.
> AGP 8x video card slot.





68Olds said:


> The HP Compaq D530 has DDR RAM.
> Socket 478 Pentium 4 HT support.
> 865g chipset, supports dual channel RAM.
> AGP 8x video card slot.


Yes, I know the modal that it is and the rest of the stuff in there, I understand
 the Ram is DDR2. The question is would it be possible to put the HP motherboard 
in a new case? As it is a Oem Hp Motherboard. 



GreiverBlade said:


> Ethernet cabal???
> 
> oh dear...
> cabal
> ...


K-meleon was the only one that worked.​


Trekkie4 said:


> Blah, I REALLY hate these extension brackets!
> 
> After couple of hours with PS/2, Parallel & Serial port headers, it would seem that everything is hooked up as it should be ... I hope! Also, if any of you here also happens to have an old Asus board laying around & would want to hook up PS/2 mouse extension port, this here is the wiring diagram obtained from the Vogons forum.
> 
> ...


This was a very interesting video about how the PS2 keyboard interface works?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> K-meleon was the only one that worked.​


yeah, K-meleon is the one i used for most my XP retrorigs, i mentioned Pale Moon because that's the one i use on the Samsung N150 plus (yup mixed up the dual core, 2C/4T, N550 powered N350 and the single core, 1C/2T, N450 powered N150 plus   ) but i did forget it was running Win 7 Starter (still a sh!tty netbook, ahah ...)
and the Atom N450 do have SSE2








						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jun 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> This was a very interesting video about how the PS2 keyboard interface works?


People take for granted what we have nowdays... Let's be honest, most people wouldn't even consider adding a keyboard or mouse header to their system (nor would they ever need to), but back in a day these things were considered standard.

Unfortunately, this "standard" was prone to loose translation, so just about every single brand used a different one & featured different color scheme. PS/2 mouse port is not an exception, I've seen at least two different versions of color coding, with one of them suggesting that the black wire is +5V while the other one claimed it was yellow. Get these wrong (or other way around) & you're going to fry something for sure!

Those who flipped their USB headers other way around (uhh ... me) know what happens when you mess it up, my WiFi USB adapter literally caught fire.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 29, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> yeah, K-meleon is the one i used for most my XP retrorigs, i mentioned Pale Moon because that's the one i use on the Samsung N150 plus (yup mixed up the dual core, 2C/4T, N550 powered N350 and the single core, 1C/2T, N450 powered N150 plus   ) but i did forget it was running Win 7 Starter (still a sh!tty netbook, ahah ...)
> and the Atom N450 do have SSE2
> 
> 
> ...


I just looked at your Atom N450 SSE3 as well. If I would have known how hard it was to get a browser to work with Athlon 2400 I would have gone for Phil.s fav Retro one Athlon 64
I have it all sorted now with all the essentials I have for it. What do you think of this or this one?
PS2 Computer Keyboard Model: TS-K800 108 KEY Black / Silver. PS/2 port​
Opened –never used £10
“COMPLETE WITH BOX LOOKS AS NEW WITH A PS2 COMPUTER CONNECTION AS PICTURED”


Right-Tec PS/2 PS2 Old Connector Multimedia Full Size Qwerty Keyboard - RTK2708 £8 I have seen it on another site for £5 but with postage it with postage it would be about the same.​PS/2 Multimedia Keyboard (Black/Silver)
UK QWERTY Layout
Spill-resistant design.
One touch controls for music and video.
Volume control jog-wheel.
Dimensions (W, H, D): 485 x 190 x 31mm
​


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 29, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes, I know the modal that it is and the rest of the stuff in there, I understand
> the Ram is DDR2. The question is would it be possible to put the HP motherboard
> in a new case? As it is a Oem Hp Motherboard.
> 
> ...


If the HP is actually a D530 it has DDR1 RAM, not DDR2.  

The motherboard should fit in a standard ATX/mATX case.  The motherboard is most likely mATX with standard mounting holes.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 29, 2022)

68Olds said:


> If the HP is actually a D530 it has DDR1 RAM, not DDR2.
> 
> The motherboard should fit in a standard ATX/mATX case.  The motherboard is most likely mATX with standard mounting holes.


Thanks for that This is from A HP forum.
HP has its motherboards made to their specifications.  Therefore, they are not necessarily the same as retail motherboards.  The first thing to consider is the Form Factor; Mini-ITX, MicroATX, or ATX.  There are instances where HP will customize its motherboards.  This is normally noted in the Motherboard Specifications under the section titled "Form Factor".
Once you have made this determination, you have to make certain that the holes in the motherboard will match the stand-offs in the new case.  As I stated, HP has its motherboards made to their specifications.  There have been reports of these not matching.  This can cause major problems.  If the motherboard is not mounted properly on the stand-offs the other parts of the motherboard can come in contact with the case and cause a short.  This can not only damage the motherboard but all of the other components, as well!
Another thing to consider is the front connectors, such as the power button and hard drive activity indicator.  There have been reports of these not matching.  In most instances, the case manufacturers know which motherboards will fit into their cases.
That is the right way you say with   Pentium 4 -Processor Speed - 2.8 GH Ran DDR SDRAM  like you say  DDR1  DDR2 did not come in tell 2007.The
HP Compaq d530 came out in 2003.I will get some ram for it and see what happens. CEX din,t sell that Ram anymore.It is not very cheap no wonder the geezer took it out ​
512-MB DDR Synch Dram PC2700 (333-MHz) Non ECC
The cheapest I can see is a fiver,


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 29, 2022)

oh, i know how hard it is  look at the middle row left side  (i have a MSI KT6V just for these )


----------



## 68Olds (Jun 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that This is from A HP forum.
> HP has its motherboards made to their specifications.  Therefore, they are not necessarily the same as retail motherboards.  The first thing to consider is the Form Factor; Mini-ITX, MicroATX, or ATX.  There are instances where HP will customize its motherboards.  This is normally noted in the Motherboard Specifications under the section titled "Form Factor".
> Once you have made this determination, you have to make certain that the holes in the motherboard will match the stand-offs in the new case.  As I stated, HP has its motherboards made to their specifications.  There have been reports of these not matching.  This can cause major problems.  If the motherboard is not mounted properly on the stand-offs the other parts of the motherboard can come in contact with the case and cause a short.  This can not only damage the motherboard but all of the other components, as well!
> Another thing to consider is the front connectors, such as the power button and hard drive activity indicator.  There have been reports of these not matching.  In most instances, the case manufacturers know which motherboards will fit into their cases.
> ...


During the time this PC was manufactured, HP had Asus build some of their motherboards.  They were not proprietary, they just had the Asus model # with -LA or -LE tacked to the end of the Asus model.  Those will fit and ATX case without a problem & were very nice hardware.  Take a closer look at the motherboard in your HP & see if you can find a make & model number.  
Also, post in the Techpowerup sales section... 
[WTB][UK]Looking for DDR1 RAM.  
There are many members here in the UK even if there aren't a lot in the old hardware club.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 30, 2022)

68Olds said:


> During the time this PC was manufactured, HP had Asus build some of their motherboards.  They were not proprietary, they just had the Asus model # with -LA or -LE tacked to the end of the Asus model.  Those will fit and ATX case without a problem & were very nice hardware.  Take a closer look at the motherboard in your HP & see if you can find a make & model number.
> Also, post in the Techpowerup sales section...
> [WTB][UK]Looking for DDR1 RAM.
> There are many members here in the UK even if there aren't a lot in the old hardware club.


Thanks once again for all your help. There is a Hp sticker over what could be the board number I will have a look tomorrow.I will take a look in the sales section on here, Over than that, I will have to pay a fiver for a stick of 512 Ram..Glad I got the PC sorted with XP that is.The big challenge will
be to get ME  or 2000 on there. What do you think if those two PS2 keyboards i put on here?
Or should o go for this modern new one? £12 used like new from Amazon?
 Or this Reto one £10  opened never used. this one 
PS2 Computer Keyboard Model: TS-K800 108 KEY Black / Silver. PS/2 port  £10​


 Right-Tec PS/2 PS2 Old Connector Multimedia Full Size Qwerty Keyboard - RTK2708r t £8 They a few of these on eBAT.






Perixx PERIBOARD-409P Wired PS2 Mini Keyboard, Black, UK Layout


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 30, 2022)

The Voodoo Banshee...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks once again for all your help. There is a Hp sticker over what could be the board number I will have a look tomorrow.I will take a look in the sales section on here, Over than that, I will have to pay a fiver for a stick of 512 Ram..Glad I got the PC sorted with XP that is.The big challenge will
> be to get ME  or 2000 on there. What do you think if those two PS2 keyboards i put on here?
> Or should o go for this modern new one? £12 used like new from Amazon?
> Or this Reto one £10  opened never used. this one
> ...


the last one is yummy .... (once you go 65% compact you never go back, tho that one is slightly taller than 65% like my main keyboard   )

as for me i have an old Compaq PS/2 keyboard for that
i need to find it back but iirc it was a Mitsumi like that one


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 30, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> the last one is yummy .... (once you go 65% compact you never go back, tho that one is slightly taller than 65% like my main keyboard   )
> 
> as for me i have an old Compaq PS/2 keyboard for that
> i need to find it back but iirc it was a Mitsumi like that one
> View attachment 253018


So you don,t think I should go for one of those Retro ones then? I do have two of the smaller-sized ones. One is the Apple magic one, god knows why they call it magic, there is nothing magic about it I do like it though. The only thing i don,t like about it is, that the Keyboard Covers are very pricey, and hard to get one that is the same as my 2017 one, I am not paying nearly £10 just for a cover.  
The Keyboard Cover I am using now cost less than than half that price.
And this one is a nice keyboard but it is a pain to keep on having to take the small dongle out of my Dell PC.That's why I want one for my Retro PC and want a PS2 modal.
TECKNET 2.4G Wireless Keyboard


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So you don,t think I should go for one of those Retro ones then? I do have two of the smaller-sized ones. One is the Apple magic one, god knows why they call it magic, there is nothing magic about it I do like it though. The only thing i don,t like about it is, that the Keyboard Covers are very pricey, and hard to get one that is the same as my 2017 one, I am not paying nearly £10 just for a cover.
> The Keyboard Cover I am using now cost less than than half that price.
> And this one is a nice keyboard but it is a pain to keep on having to take the small dongle out of my Dell PC.That's why I want one for my Retro PC and want a PS2 modal.
> TECKNET 2.4G Wireless Keyboard View attachment 253036​


you could also try to find one like i posted above  but the compact you posted use PS/2 interface thus, it's a retro for me, with a "modern" twist


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 30, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> you could also try to find one like i posted above  but the compact you posted use PS/2 interface thus, it's a retro for me, with a "modern" twist


And here is a classic keyboard by our old friend Linus with a jacket on for the first time, 








 
I have never liked those full-sized Keyboards, it is probably because the ones I had were cheap and crap.  What do you think of this one ,Compaq 9009 PS2 Keyboard Purple Desktop PC opened as new £10


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> And here is a classic keyboard by our old friend Linus with a jacket on for the first time,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


the IBM Model M is a legend ahah!
it had very interesting switches *Buckling-spring, Dome-switch*




well the Mitsumi Compaq use what i like to call "Memchanical" since it use a membrane and a spring (and had a tactile feel like a mech) iirc the term got re used recently in some cheap keyboard (my Razer Tartarus V2 also use that kind of switches )

@Greenslade the Compaq you list above is a nice, standard one, iirc it's a full membrane but still a good retro (let say P4 era) i prefer my beige tho  (that's about the only time i like brown/beige ... in RETRO )


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 30, 2022)

68Olds said:


> During the time this PC was manufactured, HP had Asus build some of their motherboards.  They were not proprietary, they just had the Asus model # with -LA or -LE tacked to the end of the Asus model.  Those will fit and ATX case without a problem & were very nice hardware.  Take a closer look at the motherboard in your HP & see if you can find a make & model number.
> Also, post in the Techpowerup sales section...
> [WTB][UK]Looking for DDR1 RAM.
> There are many members here in the UK even if there aren't a lot in the old hardware club.


You are right in what you say, I tried to get the HP stickers off but they were stuck in too good.
HP Compaq D530 Socket 478 Motherboard With Tray 305374-001 323091-001 qhat do they mean by Tray?Is that the back plate if the motherboard?Would i have that on mine?
“Brand: HP P/N: 305374-001 Compatible: Compaq D530 Socket Type: Socket 478 Memory Type: DDR ”... R Form facter ATX I will have to get some ram and see if it is working.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jun 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> You are right in what you say, I tried to get the HP stickers off but they were stuck in too good.
> HP Compaq D530 Socket 478 Motherboard With Tray 305374-001 323091-001 qhat do they mean by Tray?Is that the back plate if the motherboard?Would i have that on mine?
> “Brand: HP P/N: 305374-001 Compatible: Compaq D530 Socket Type: Socket 478 Memory Type: DDR ”... R Form facter ATX I will have to get some ram and see if it is working.View attachment 253045
> 
> View attachment 253044


They just mean a removable tray that holds the motherboard - you would need to remove that to install it in another case


----------



## Valantar (Jun 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> You are right in what you say, I tried to get the HP stickers off but they were stuck in too good.
> HP Compaq D530 Socket 478 Motherboard With Tray 305374-001 323091-001 qhat do they mean by Tray?Is that the back plate if the motherboard?Would i have that on mine?
> “Brand: HP P/N: 305374-001 Compatible: Compaq D530 Socket Type: Socket 478 Memory Type: DDR ”... R Form facter ATX I will have to get some ram and see if it is working.View attachment 253045
> 
> View attachment 253044


Yes, the "backplate" is a motherboard tray that is meant to slide into and mount to a specific case. It's more a part of the case than a part of the motherboard - it's just removable for ease of installation/servicing (and it seems to hold the I/O shield). If your PC is a D530 and that is for a D530, then the mounting is the same, and most likely your motherboard is the same form factor (which looks like a slightly odd ATX - it's shorter, almost mATX length but ATX width, and has that strange connector on the bottom edge).


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 30, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Yes, the "backplate" is a motherboard tray that is meant to slide into and mount to a specific case. It's more a part of the case than a part of the motherboard - it's just removable for ease of installation/servicing (and it seems to hold the I/O shield). If your PC is a D530 and that is for a D530, then the mounting is the same, and most likely your motherboard is the same form factor (which looks like a slightly odd ATX - it's shorter, almost mATX length but ATX width, and has that strange connector on the bottom edge).


Thanks for your info once again  It is that modal with the Pentium 4   2.8  it is the base.modal I understand. If that is the case will it mean the mounting holes will not line up with the new ATX  case?
I don,t see people transferring HP motherboards to new cases on youtube ,



Audioave10 said:


> They just mean a removable tray that holds the motherboard - you would need to remove that to install it in another case


I  get you  Mine is in a PC that had been chucked out. I just put it on here to confirm it was a 478 socket board which is what our friend 68olds said thanks for explaining


----------



## Robert B (Jun 30, 2022)

*When one is not enough.* 

20(18 pictured) NOS Western Digital WD1600AAJB Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache IDE / PATA / ATA.

The performance of the WDs is top notch. They are probably single platter and short stroked. Look at that HD Tune graph. Plus 70MB/s for about 75% of the graph. These will fly on a retro system. Tested on  a i815EP + Celeron 1000A @1333.

Also 20x NOS Kingston KTH-VL4/64 64MB SIMM 72  60ns.  2x32MB. HP(R) P/N: D4543A

Also 10x NOS Kingston KTH5365/128 128MB PC100 SDRAM. HP(R) P/N: D5367A

This makes me feel like a HW distributor.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 30, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> oh, i know how hard it is  look at the middle row left side  (i have a MSI KT6V just for these )
> 
> View attachment 252964


That's MIGHTY SPICY of a AGP shelf you have there. 
Am I correct in guessing the leftmost Hercules card is the same Radeon 9700 Pro as the one from my Athlon XP build? Bar the RAMsinks of course (mine are blue, yours are... standard aluminium?). That, or it's the 9500 version probably?


----------



## ThrashZone (Jun 30, 2022)

Hi,
Not sure why you'd bother with 160gb hdd's unless they were free or something, sure aren't worth anything now days.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jun 30, 2022)

Probably cheap, and less prone to go bad, as I notice most of them are WD Blues, not their original "Caviar SE" versions or whatever they were named at the time. I think I have a 250GB variant in a TSOP modded crystal Xbox 1.4.

If anything, he'd be able to slot some of those in OG Xboxes if he feels like it, the OG Xbox deserves some love for being a Coppermine P3 as well 

I almost have 4. Almost, because one of them needs a complete case, DVD-ROM and HDD - the HDD would be the least of my problems (the mainboard that doesn't have a home is a v1.0, chipped as well), and if I'm lucky, I'm pimping it with a Hitachi DVD-RW if I can source every of those parts cheap. I already have a black 1.1 w/ actual modchip (which I'm keeping almost as is, just for posterity and the sake of older times when we didn't know TSOP-flashing was a thing.), the TSOP'd crystal v1.4, and a stock 1.4 I pieced with parts from what was left of the original 1.1's casing. (the 1.1 resides where the 1.0 mainboard once was, and with whatever parts I could salvage from the 1.1's casing, I completed a EvoX modded 1.4 that's been dormant for a lot of time due to missing parts.)


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jun 30, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> That's MIGHTY SPICY of a AGP shelf you have there.
> Am I correct in guessing the leftmost Hercules card is the same Radeon 9700 Pro as the one from my Athlon XP build? Bar the RAMsinks of course (mine are blue, yours are... standard aluminium?). That, or it's the 9500 version probably?


it's the 9700 classic  with blue PCB instead of red 

the others are a GeForce II GTS, a Kyro 4500 and 4000

also! YES! the IT department dump was a trove 


even tho one connector has bent pins it's still a S3 Virge/GX


not sad it's a compaq OEM card rather than a Diamond Stealth3D 2000 with a Virge/325


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 30, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> the IBM Model M is a legend ahah!
> it had very interesting switches *Buckling-spring, Dome-switch*
> View attachment 253042
> 
> ...


My Athlon 2400 is the same era as the P 4.


Robert B said:


> *When one is not enough.*
> 
> 20(18 pictured) NOS Western Digital WD1600AAJB Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache IDE / PATA / ATA.
> 
> ...





68Olds said:


> During the time this PC was manufactured, HP had Asus build some of their motherboards.  They were not proprietary, they just had the Asus model # with -LA or -LE tacked to the end of the Asus model.  Those will fit and ATX case without a problem & were very nice hardware.  Take a closer look at the motherboard in your HP & see if you can find a make & model number.
> Also, post in the Techpowerup sales section...
> [WTB][UK]Looking for DDR1 RAM.
> There are many members here in the UK even if there aren't a lot in the old hardware club.


*With a TDP of 70 W, the Pentium 4 HT 2.80 consumes typical power levels for a modern PC. Intel's processor supports DDR1 and DDR2 memory*. I have some spare memory DDR2 and low and behold no bleeps I think I will see the thermal paste situation on the CPU and reply with some new paste .


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 1, 2022)

i have the right to laugh?





 yaaay 189.99$ spared woohoo!

i moved the sticker on the chip to the back but it had it and was in an antistatic bag, seal intact ... for a OEM you can call that BNIB (brand new in bag?)
still had to open it i like my collection bare naked on shelf (aside the Athlon 64 i have which came also BNIB (brand new in box) sealed and all )


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 1, 2022)

Maybe not the fastest rig for the newest AAA titles, but it's still a sleeper.


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## Audioave10 (Jul 1, 2022)

Not really old enough to be here since its about 6 years old but its the first Cherry clone switch available. The Kailh blue switches are 
OK I guess. The board has excellent RGB but cheap ABS keycaps, an aluminum top plate that has the entire switch on top of it so it
needs cleaning very often. I haven't used it for a couple of years since its a pain-in-the-butt.  Eagle Tech from China...pretty in the dark but that's
about it...


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## Kissamies (Jul 1, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Not really old enough to be here since its about 6 years old but its the first Cherry clone switch available. The Kailh blue switches are
> OK I guess. The board has excellent RGB but cheap ABS keycaps, an aluminum top plate that has the entire switch on top of it so it
> needs cleaning very often. I haven't used it for a couple of years since its a pain-in-the-butt.  Eagle Tech from China...pretty in the dark but that's
> about it...


I love the sound of Blue switches especially when I don't have a girl living with me.


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## Greenslade (Jul 1, 2022)

What is the stuff you have on top of the PC?   And what are the components of this sleeper PC?


Lenne said:


> Maybe not the fastest rig for the newest AAA titles, but it's still a sleeper.


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What is the stuff you have on top of the PC?


probably a mouse mat with a cushioned wrist rest


----------



## The red spirit (Jul 1, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Maybe not the fastest rig for the newest AAA titles, but it's still a sleeper.


If it does have legit Celeron D, well it would be fun... yeah fun...


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## Psychoholic (Jul 1, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> oh, i know how hard it is  look at the middle row left side  (i have a MSI KT6V just for these )
> 
> View attachment 252964



Nice collection -- I Spy a couple of cards i owned at one time.
2900XT (Possibly Vanilla 2900) bottom row on the left, I had a 2900 flashed to 2900xt back in the day.


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 2, 2022)

Psychoholic said:


> Nice collection -- I Spy a couple of cards i owned at one time.
> 2900XT (Possibly Vanilla 2900) bottom row on the left, I had a 2900 flashed to 2900xt back in the day.


mmmhh bottom row left, Asus HD4870  above her Sapphire HD3650, HIS HD3870 IceQ 3 above her Sapphire X800GT, Asus 8800 ultra under a Prolimatech MK-26

hidden under (so, bottom bottom row   ), 1 Leadtek WinFast A350 FX 5900 (iirc Ultra) 2 9600GT from Dell (oem) 1 9600GT HP (oem) 1 Asus Silent 8600GT one Asus 9800GT Matrix a MSI FX 5600, one i can't remember her ID (probably a 5200 OEM) and ... a LP Radeon 9200SE 

2900/2900XT i still seek  (not actively tho ... constrained budget recently  )


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 2, 2022)

What does it mean on the temperature -- c? Still have not managed to get a 3.5 drive to work with that adapter. It did show when I put it to *Slave* and tried to get XP on it just wiped the drive the PC came with. It has to be faulty I will send it back.
IDE score.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 2, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What does it mean on the temperature -- c?


That it can't read a temperature. I would guess the drive doesn't have a thermal sensor? If it does, you should be able to find it in the SMART data table below (there's a bit of it that isn't visible in the screenshot). But given the lack of a reading in CDI, I'd guess it just doesn't have one.


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 2, 2022)

Valantar said:


> That it can't read a temperature. I would guess the drive doesn't have a thermal sensor? If it does, you should be able to find it in the SMART data table below (there's a bit of it that isn't visible in the screenshot). But given the lack of a reading in CDI, I'd guess it just doesn't have one.


Thanks for your answer. The 3.5 drive os working now ,  There mist be a dodge connection somewhere ,it does not explain why the 2.5 drives work with no problemWeather or not it still works when i fix it in the case is another matter all together.Good ild Snappy DriversShame they don,t do one for earlier  systems it would make things easier.


----------



## 68Olds (Jul 2, 2022)

@Greenslade that ribbon cable is not properly seated in the adaptor at the HDD.  It's at an angle & only part way down.  
Also, the middle connector is the slave (end of ribbon cable is for the master), so the master/slave jumper on the adaptor needs to be switched according to which connector you are using.  It's fine with only 1 HDD connected but will be a problem with 2 devices on the ribbon cable.


----------



## Psychoholic (Jul 2, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> mmmhh bottom row left, Asus HD4870  above her Sapphire HD3650, HIS HD3870 IceQ 3 above her Sapphire X800GT, Asus 8800 ultra under a Prolimatech MK-26
> 
> hidden under (so, bottom bottom row   ), 1 Leadtek WinFast A350 FX 5900 (iirc Ultra) 2 9600GT from Dell (oem) 1 9600GT HP (oem) 1 Asus Silent 8600GT one Asus 9800GT Matrix a MSI FX 5600, one i can't remember her ID (probably a 5200 OEM) and ... a LP Radeon 9200SE
> 
> 2900/2900XT i still seek  (not actively tho ... constrained budget recently  )



Darn, got that one wrong by a couple gens!
The 2900/2900xt imo had one of the best looking reference coolers, red with the flames on it.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 2, 2022)

Psychoholic said:


> Darn, got that one wrong by a couple gens!
> The 2900/2900xt imo had one of the best looking reference coolers, red with the flames on it.


i love the Asus design with the "dynasty warrior" vibe and the Sakuras   hehehe

alright time to look the "local ebay" Ricardo.ch for some more stuff 

managed to find a cable modem/router from 2012 from Cisco that one is 1yr younger than my Thompson cable modem/router i still use ahah (in the IT Dept. dump as always  )


----------



## framebuffer (Jul 3, 2022)

Robert B said:


> *When one is not enough.*
> 
> 20(18 pictured) NOS Western Digital WD1600AAJB Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache IDE / PATA / ATA.
> 
> ...



Assuming that the price was very low I would have bought them too, one can not simply pass on sealed IDE disks 

That said, although the sustained throughput looks good, the "sensation" of speed is pretty much all related to the access time, which is not that great. 
Probably would help if you use only the first 30-50GB of the platter (don't think one need more on retro systems anyways) and leave the rest unformatted


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 3, 2022)

It seems to be working now   Speed test and health.I do want to test a drive on the PC i found before i fit it in the case. I don,t know weather it was because i put a bit of packing tape to stop the pins of the Molex cable from shorting.As you can see this is the best speed ,with the ide beng a lot slower.
How Would a CFCard compare  say the Sandick extreme 32gb 120mb to this drive?





I tried the PC i found the other week.Internet cable light showing and the light in the case showing and the DVD drive working with light.When turning on there is no beeping as a PC does before seeing stuff on the screen.VGA cable plugged in but the  monitor says no connection,Lights. on the PS2.  Mouse and Wireless Keyboard.,The PC has a wereing  noise .Any ideas?











Trekkie4 said:


> People take for granted what we have nowdays... Let's be honest, most people wouldn't even consider adding a keyboard or mouse header to their system (nor would they ever need to), but back in a day these things were considered standard.
> 
> Unfortunately, this "standard" was prone to loose translation, so just about every single brand used a different one & featured different color scheme. PS/2 mouse port is not an exception, I've seen at least two different versions of color coding, with one of them suggesting that the black wire is +5V while the other one claimed it was yellow. Get these wrong (or other way around) & you're going to fry something for sure!
> 
> Those who flipped their USB headers other way around (uhh ... me) know what happens when you mess it up, my WiFi USB adapter literally caught fire.


I have just seen this on eBay 
IBM Model M Keyboard PS2 ~ 1391406 ~ BRAND NEW IN BOX ~ Holy Grail Of Keyboards any one interested  it £499 make an offer .Shipping £20​​​​


Is this the same ram as this 
DDR Synch Dram PC2700 (333-MHz) Non ECC

DDR1 SDRAM
PC2700 (DDR-333) DDR RAM, 333MHz, DIMM 184-pin i have bought it in auction i was the only bidder starting price was £1.99 my bid £2.00 plus the lowest postal price i have ever seen £1.05? I did not know there was postal price so low.


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just seen this on eBay
> IBM Model M Keyboard PS2 ~ 1391406 ~ BRAND NEW IN BOX ~ Holy Grail Of Keyboards any one interested  it £499 make an offer .Shipping £20​​​​View attachment 253465​


oh my D.O.G!
do want but 499£ daaaaaaaaaamn 

i would rather try to find a Unicomp model M @104$


ah... AAAAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA


already 3 bid on it .... i doubt i can get it 

bloody hell!


i still remember when i paid 7chf for my 3D Prophet 9700 and now everything nostalgic is in the 3 digit price  damn

also i paid 2chf for a Powermac G4 Quicksilver (2002), fully functional, plus 20chf shipping 
ahah found the post i made here about that one : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-3861078

and that one, also concerning it and the 9800Pro that i have on the shelf








						TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club
					

Gigabyte GA-8TM REV 1.0 !!! :D  https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-8TM-rev-1x#ov




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 3, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> oh my D.O.G!
> do want but 499£ daaaaaaaaaamn
> 
> i would rather try to find a Unicomp model M @104$
> ...



Will be interesting to see how much he gets for that IBM Keyboard.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 4, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> will be interesting to see how much he gets for that IBM Keyboard.


165chf, which is an ok price for a used one (still 61chf more than a Unicomp Model M ) but 499£ for a BNIB is just...


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 4, 2022)

I know this is not Retro but it might as well be.  A keyboard silicone cover for a magic keyboard eBay only have the new ones with the touch recognition And if they do have them there about £10 with the exact layout I need for a 2017 iMac s UK Magic Keyboard cover. I thought I would look on Ali express and saw the one below they gave me a voucher and only had to pay £1.06 for free postage.
I did not get one in blue, by the way, The one I got was black, like the fading one I have now.£10 pounds just for a Keyboard cover is madness. After all, I could buy this for just £2 extra Which I have £12 used like new,
Perixx PERIBOARD-409P


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jul 5, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> i still remember when i paid 7chf for my 3D Prophet 9700 and now everything nostalgic is in the 3 digit price  damn


Going by my country's currency, my 3D Prophet 9700 that's residing in the K7N2 build from post number #14,521 was much cheaper, about 2 chf (10 RON) if I remember right. The HSF it currently has was pricier, a Deepcool V50 that set me back about 6 chf (30 RON in my country's currency) but does its job rather well.


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 5, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Going by my country's currency, my 3D Prophet 9700 that's residing in the K7N2 build from post number #14,521 was much cheaper, about 2 chf (10 RON) if I remember right. The HSF it currently has was pricier, a Deepcool V50 that set me back about 6 chf (30 RON in my country's currency) but does its job rather well.


Wow that must take some doing ,rebuilding a PSU


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 5, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Going by my country's currency, my 3D Prophet 9700 that's residing in the K7N2 build from post number #14,521 was much cheaper, about 2 chf (10 RON) if I remember right. The HSF it currently has was pricier, a Deepcool V50 that set me back about 6 chf (30 RON in my country's currency) but does its job rather well.


well, as i mentioned i paid more for the 3D Prophet 9700 (7chf) than i did for the PowerMac G4 Quicksilver (2002) (2chf) if i do not count shipping 
the 9700 was BNIB with every accessories/CD and Co 

i have a 9800Pro from Asus as i mentioned in the "upgrading the PowerMac" which i never got to do, flashing plus the AGP of a Mac has a special proprietary connector for additional power (who knew, Apple? Proprietary? nooooooo? ) not a molex not a floppy 4pin, a freaking 6 "pin" on the mobo (left side of the AGP)

although i did read that once flashed that particular 9800Pro would work, just the additional power would have to go thru the molex, like in a standard PC (non mac)

why i mention that one? because i was the only bidder on it and it was starting at 0.50chf (hilarious, the seller mentioned free shipping, i still offered him to pay the 9chf, better a 0.50 gain than a 8.50 loss  )


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Jul 7, 2022)

Adrian Black with another fascinating retro hardware piece:


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 8, 2022)

LGR's success has given him plenty of new TOYS to play with. Good for him (and us).


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## bobbybluz (Jul 8, 2022)

I found this HIS 4890 while looking for another GPU yesterday. I thought I'd sold all of my HIS GPU's on Ebay a few years ago, looks like I missed one.


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## Audioave10 (Jul 8, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> I found this HIS 4890 while looking for another GPU yesterday. I thought I'd sold all of my HIS GPU's on Ebay a few years ago, looks like I missed one.


Nice... I've got a nice HIS 4870.


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 8, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Nice... I've got a nice HIS 4870.


oohhhh the successor of my HIS 3870 IceQ3 and the sibling of my Asus 4870 "Sakura Dynasty" (my own nickname for that cooler design)

i love HIS cards, my first modern card (although after a TNT1 and a MX400) was a HIS X1600 Pro IceQ, i still have it but not the cooler (sadly )


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## The red spirit (Jul 8, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Nice... I've got a nice HIS 4870.


IceQ? This is the tits


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 8, 2022)

What,s the difference between DDR  Ram v  SDRAM?


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## Mr.Scott (Jul 8, 2022)

*Difference between DDR and SDRAM:* 


SDRAM is waiting wait for the completion of the previous command to be able to do another read/write operation.DDR is not waiting wait for the completion of the previous command to be able to do another read/write operation.SDRAM prefetch timing is 1nsDDR prefetch timing is 2nsData rate of SDRAM is (0.8-1.3) GB/sData rate of DDR is (2.1-3.2)SDRAM’s Internal rate range is (100 Mhz-166 Mhz)DDR’s Internal rate range is(133 Mhz – 200 Mhz)SDRAM speed is considered as 66 MHz, 100 MHz, 133 MHzDDR working on speed as 200 MHz, 266 MHz, 333 MHz, 400 MHzit’s working on 3.3 voltsit’s working on 2.5 Volts (standard); 1.8 V (low voltage)SDRAM has less speed in comparison DDRDDR can transfer data at roughly twice the speed of SDRAM.SDRAM was released in 1997DDR RAM was released in 2000SDRAM has 168 pins and two notches at the connectorDDR has 184 pins and a single notch at the connector.It refers as synchronous dynamic random access memoryIt refers as Double data rate SDRAMSDRAMDDR


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 9, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> *Difference between DDR and SDRAM:*
> 
> 
> SDRAMDDRIt refers as synchronous dynamic random access memoryIt refers as Double data rate SDRAMSDRAM has 168 pins and two notches at the connectorDDR has 184 pins and a single notch at the connector.SDRAM was released in 1997DDR RAM was released in 2000SDRAM has less speed in comparison DDRDDR can transfer data at roughly twice the speed of SDRAM.it’s working on 3.3 voltsit’s working on 2.5 Volts (standard); 1.8 V (low voltage)SDRAM speed is considered as 66 MHz, 100 MHz, 133 MHzDDR working on speed as 200 MHz, 266 MHz, 333 MHz, 400 MHzSDRAM’s Internal rate range is (100 Mhz-166 Mhz)DDR’s Internal rate range is(133 Mhz – 200 Mhz)Data rate of SDRAM is (0.8-1.3) GB/sData rate of DDR is (2.1-3.2)SDRAM prefetch timing is 1nsDDR prefetch timing is 2nsSDRAM is waiting wait for the completion of the previous command to be able to do another read/write operation.DDR is not waiting wait for the completion of the previous command to be able to do another read/write operation.


Thanks for explaining all that to me, very informative Scotty


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## agent_x007 (Jul 9, 2022)

To make things more confusing, full name for DDR memory is this :
Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.

After DDR was introduced, earlier SDRAM standard is often refered to as SDR SDRAM :
Single Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
(And some say GPUs have long model names)

Table compares SDR vs. DDR, and not SDRAM as a whole to DDR memory.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 9, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> To make things more confusing, full name for DDR memory is this :
> Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
> 
> After DDR was introduced, earlier SDRAM standard is often refered to as SDR SDRAM :
> ...


Isn't DDR just a further development of SDR SDRAM?


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## Greenslade (Jul 9, 2022)

A  RETRO   RARE Apple Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh! It sound,s good 







good subwoofer  One is on ebay for
Reserved  price £1,663.06.  US $2,000.00 anyone interested
no bids so far and only “Excellent condition. No markings or damage.
”That screen has a mark on it.


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## Audioave10 (Jul 10, 2022)

Adrian has another "fixed it" video, this time an Amiga.


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## Greenslade (Jul 10, 2022)

Does anyone use this  make of CF Card
Real Capacity Kimsnot CF Card CompactFlash 32GB 8GB 64GB 16GB Compact Flash Memory Card High Speed 133x For DSLR Digital Camera​industrial CF card, good compatibility! Stable performance! Widely compatible with FANUC industrial control / CNC machine tools, industrial machine tools, medical equipment, advertising machines, soft routers, old-fashioned CF card digital cameras. Technical Parameters: 1, transmission speed: read speed about 20m / s, write speed about 10MB / s 2, compatible interface: 50 needles 3, storage speed: 16 times speed 4, the power supply voltage: 3.3V ± 5%, 5V ± 10% 5, size and weight: 42.8mm (width) × 36.4mm (height) × 3.3mm (thickness) 6, compatible with Samsung, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Minolta and other digital cameras, digital cameras, industrial machine tools, advertising machines, industrial computers, old-fashioned CF card digital cameras. I know Lex will say go for SanDisk.It would be nice to hear from someone who is using one of these cards as a hard drive on a PC.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Does anyone use this  make of CF Card
> Real Capacity Kimsnot CF Card CompactFlash 32GB 8GB 64GB 16GB Compact Flash Memory Card High Speed 133x For DSLR Digital Camera​industrial CF card, good compatibility! Stable performance! Widely compatible with FANUC industrial control / CNC machine tools, industrial machine tools, medical equipment, advertising machines, soft routers, old-fashioned CF card digital cameras. Technical Parameters: 1, transmission speed: read speed about 20m / s, write speed about 10MB / s 2, compatible interface: 50 needles 3, storage speed: 16 times speed 4, the power supply voltage: 3.3V ± 5%, 5V ± 10% 5, size and weight: 42.8mm (width) × 36.4mm (height) × 3.3mm (thickness) 6, compatible with Samsung, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Minolta and other digital cameras, digital cameras, industrial machine tools, advertising machines, industrial computers, old-fashioned CF card digital cameras. I know Lex will say go for SanDisk.It would be nice to hear from someone who is using one of these cards as a hard drive on a PC.
> 
> 
> View attachment 254297​


Use brand name CF cards only. Lexar, Sandisk, Kingston and such.. Avoid no name brands..


----------



## Valantar (Jul 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Does anyone use this  make of CF Card
> Real Capacity Kimsnot CF Card CompactFlash 32GB 8GB 64GB 16GB Compact Flash Memory Card High Speed 133x For DSLR Digital Camera​industrial CF card, good compatibility! Stable performance! Widely compatible with FANUC industrial control / CNC machine tools, industrial machine tools, medical equipment, advertising machines, soft routers, old-fashioned CF card digital cameras. Technical Parameters: 1, transmission speed: read speed about 20m / s, write speed about 10MB / s 2, compatible interface: 50 needles 3, storage speed: 16 times speed 4, the power supply voltage: 3.3V ± 5%, 5V ± 10% 5, size and weight: 42.8mm (width) × 36.4mm (height) × 3.3mm (thickness) 6, compatible with Samsung, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Minolta and other digital cameras, digital cameras, industrial machine tools, advertising machines, industrial computers, old-fashioned CF card digital cameras. I know Lex will say go for SanDisk.It would be nice to hear from someone who is using one of these cards as a hard drive on a PC.
> 
> 
> View attachment 254297​


There is too much dubious - or outright fake capacity - flash memory out there to trust any no-name brand, at least from some random online source. Cheap, off-brand stuff _can_ be acceptable if it's from a trustworthy source (store brands from major retailers etc.) but the general rule is always to go for something trustworthy. Searching for that title you posted above only linked me to really dubious sources that I would _never_ trust to sell a decent product like this. Sandisk, Transcend, Lexar, and Silicon Power are current good quality SD card manufacturers. Oh, and for the record, Amazon is _not_ a trustworthy source for these types of products, as their supply chain is a complete mess.

I get that paying $8 sounds a lot better than $45, but when that $8 gets you a piece of garbage that either never works or fails rapidly, that's just $8 in the trash. It's not worth it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 10, 2022)

Valantar said:


> I get that paying $8 sounds a lot better than $45, but when that $8 gets you a piece of garbage that either never works or fails rapidly, that's just $8 in the trash. It's not worth it.


Exactly! When it comes to storage for retro systems, buy quality! Windows 95/98/ME will run perfectly on 16GB of storage. 32GB would be better, but 16GB is very doable. 16GB doesn't sound like a lot these days but remember, back then 16GB was a lot and 32GB was HUGE!

EDIT;
On Amazon UK I found the following:
8GB from Transcend for 18GBP;


			https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-Compact-Flash-133x-Memory/dp/B000W05O5O
		



The 16GB model is a better value at 24GBP;


			https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-Compact-Flash-1000x-Memory/dp/B009S61AC4
		


However the 32GB Sandisk model is the best value at 33GBP;


			https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Extreme-UDMA7-CompactFlash-Card/dp/B00NUB2Q9E


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 10, 2022)

Valantar said:


> There is too much dubious - or outright fake capacity - flash memory out there to trust any no-name brand, at least from some random online source. Cheap, off-brand stuff _can_ be acceptable if it's from a trustworthy source (store brands from major retailers etc.) but the general rule is always to go for something trustworthy. Searching for that title you posted above only linked me to really dubious sources that I would _never_ trust to sell a decent product like this. Sandisk, Transcend, Lexar, and Silicon Power are current good quality SD card manufacturers. Oh, and for the record, Amazon is _not_ a trustworthy source for these types of products, as their supply chain is a complete mess.
> 
> I get that paying $8 sounds a lot better than $45, but when that $8 gets you a piece of garbage that either never works or fails rapidly, that's just $8 in the trash. It's not worth it.


I get your point there like you say you can get fake cards on Amazon that look like the real thing but are not.And with Ali Express and eBay.I never used to check them tell recently i am talking about SD cards with the free app you can see if they are fake or not. I have never bought any CF Cards before.I will just go for the name brands. There seems to be a lot more Sandisk cards about then the other makes Lex mentions on the UK anyway.You get what you pay for as the saying goes. 



lexluthermiester said:


> Exactly! When it comes to storage for retro systems, buy quality! Windows 95/98/ME will run perfectly on 16GB of storage. 32GB would be better, but 16GB is very doable. 16GB doesn't sound like a lot these days but remember, back then 16GB was a lot and 32GB was HUGE!
> 
> EDIT;
> On Amazon UK I found the following:
> ...


Thanks for that Lex   I see that is
Transcend 32GB CompactFlash 133 Memory Card (CF Card) Up to 50/20 MB/s, Supports Ultra DMA transfer mode 4 with MLC NAND Flash ideal for entry-level DSLRs TS32GCF133​Just for 8gb you are paying 17.90 and yet 16gb is 28.95with the 32gb you are only paying 2.80 more for a card for an extra 24gb . Why would any one go for the 8gb
one when you can get  an extra 24gb  for just 2.80?And it has DMA which Phil is all ways talking about.Does anyone  know where i can get a CD  SPD IF  Cable from a  Audigy   sound blaster sb0090. to a dvd drive?


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 11, 2022)

Can someone give me a link for a
*CD  SPD IF  Cable from an Audigy sound blaster sb0090. to an ide DVD drive?
Here's a  very old  PC  







 does anyone go that far back to have owned one of them? It must have been a hell of a job to do anything on one of them.


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## 68Olds (Jul 11, 2022)

Is this the 2 pin to 2 pin cable you are asking about?
Amazon.com: SPDIF Cable 2 Pin (Sound Card to DVD) : Everything Else

Another option is this cable that goes from the CD/DVD drive to the SB CD IN.  I don't know if they have different purposes. 
Amazon.com: Kentek 18 Inch 18" PC Computer Internal 3/4 Pin Sound Blaster to MPC-4 CD-ROM DVD-ROM Audio Cable CBL : Electronics

I can't find a SPDIF Cable on Amazon UK.


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## Greenslade (Jul 11, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Is this the 2 pin to 2 pin cable you are asking about?
> Amazon.com: SPDIF Cable 2 Pin (Sound Card to DVD) : Everything Else
> 
> Another option is this cable that goes from the CD/DVD drive to the SB CD IN.  I don't know if they have different purposes.
> ...



Thanks once again for your help. But it needs the 2 pin for the soundblaster as in the amazon one, but from the ide dvd drive below it needs a biger one there.I don,t know what the 2 pin one is for next to the bigger 3 pin one.
And why don,t they say.   there is a cable on the HP Compacq
from the DVD Drive to the motherboard that has the biger conecter that should go to the DVD Drive according to the dvd drive pictured.
Does anyone know what the 2 pin one at he end is for ?another analog Audeo ?


----------



## stinger608 (Jul 11, 2022)

You really shouldn't need that little 2 pin audio cable @Greenslade 

Usually the IDE disk drives will play audio without that being attached.


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## Greenslade (Jul 11, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> You really shouldn't need that little 2 pin audio cable @Greenslade
> 
> Usually the IDE disk drives will play audio without that being attached.


But I want to use the Soundblaster as sound.


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> But I want to use the Soundblaster as sound.


the sound will come from the SB card no worries ... my Duron/Athlon XP build back in the early 2000s never had the cable from the drive to the card, which were a Guillemot Hercule Gamesurround Fortissimo 2 and a SB Audigy 2 (or mobo ... good ol' VIA8237 AC '97 audio  ) and i played CD audio without any issues.


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## Greenslade (Jul 11, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> the sound will come from the SB card no worries ... my Duron/Athlon XP build back in the early 2000s never had the cable from the drive to the card, which were a Guillemot Hercule Gamesurround Fortissimo 2 and a SB Audigy 2 (or mobo ... good ol' VIA8237 AC '97 audio  ) and i played CD audio without any issues.


I see from this video that the 2 connections are for digital  







So if I get that cable  68ILDS gave me a link that would be the right one to get as the Soundblaster has a 2-pin Digital as the guy says in the video. 7.20.  in to the video,


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I see from this video that the 2 connections are for digital


ahah i used that trick (using a PSU and a standalone CD drive that had a volume dial and a 3.5mm jack) during my army time to improvise a sound system in the bunker we were stationed, during my time serving as an embassy guard, i had a boomy 2.1 speaker setup i can't remember the brand or the model but it had a barrel shaped sub (more bullet technically, woofer on one end and air hole on the other )

although this is wrong ... digital should also be carried by the IDE cable  oh wait the 2pin yeah, it's digital, the 4pin was Analog, this is overly weird tho why need a 2pin digital when the IDE interface works just as it is, for the 4 pin analog i can understand.


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## Greenslade (Jul 11, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> ahah i used that trick (using a PSU and a standalone CD drive that had a volume dial and a 3.5mm jack) during my army time to improvise a sound system in the bunker we were stationed, during my time serving as an embassy guard, i had a boomy 2.1 speaker setup i can't remember the brand or the model but it had a barrel shaped sub (more bullet technically, woofer on one end and air hole on the other )
> 
> although this is wrong ... digital should also be carried by the IDE cable  oh wait the 2pin yeah, it's digital, the 4pin was Analog, this is overly weird tho why need a 2pin digital when the IDE interface works just as it is, for the 4 pin analog i can understand.


The Analog one on the PC I found was a DVD drive to the motherboard. 4 pin.
The guy in the video said the 2-pin connection on the DVD Drive was digital and thought
it would be using the digital sound on the Soundcard. CD SPD IF as opposed to using the onboard sound.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The Analog one on the PC I found was a DVD drive to the motherboard. 4 pin.
> The guy in the video said the 2-pin connection on the DVD Drive was digital and thought
> it would be using the digital sound on the Soundcard. CD SPD IF as opposed to using the onboard sound.


mmhh i think it will be fine ... the only Pc using the analog or the digital cable from CD to mobo/soundcard i had was older than a Athlon XP (iirc even the K6-II which was my first self assembled build i did ) never used it, and the digital signal, in my understanding, went from CD to mobo via IDE and then to soundcard via PCI ... and i remember the tech at the PC shop telling me that theses cable (2 or 4 pin ) were not really useful, which at the time i found strange since all mobo/soundcard/CD-DVD drives, had a 4pin on them (2 pin less often seen) thus later i simply used one for Analog testing, but never for Digital.

on my MSI KT6V 400 i just disabled the VIA AC '97 Audio and cable or not : the soundcard was the output

btw ... @stinger608 also confirmed IDE did carry the signal ... and i confirmed the soundcard will work just fine as it is (unless you have a very specific setup that needs it, tho i highly doubt it )


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 11, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> mmhh i think it will be fine ... the only Pc using the analog or the digital cable from CD to mobo/soundcard i had was older than a Athlon XP (iirc even the K6-II which was my first self assembled build i did ) never used it, and the digital signal, in my understanding, went from CD to mobo via IDE and then to soundcard via PCI ... and i remember the tech at the PC shop telling me that theses cable (2 or 4 pin ) were not really useful, which at the time i found strange since all mobo/soundcard/CD-DVD drives, had a 4pin on them (2 pin less often seen) thus later i simply used one for Analog testing, but never for Digital.
> 
> on my MSI KT6V 400 i just disabled the VIA AC '97 Audio and cable or not : the soundcard was the output
> 
> btw ... @stinger608 also confirmed IDE did carry the signal ... and i confirmed the soundcard will work just fine as it is (unless you have a very specific setup that needs it, tho i highly doubt it )


So the sound will come from the Soundblaster, not the onboard sound?Without the cable not connected?  .There are two cables on the second and and third the cables are stuck in there i don,t see much point in them.Why do they put conections
on there if they are not needed?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So the sound will come from the Soundblaster, not the onboard sound?Without the cable not connected?  .There are two cables on the second and and third the cables are stuck in there i don,t see much point in them.Why do they put conections
> on there if they are not needed?
> 
> View attachment 254431


oh, i suppose, if it was working for me ...

B.T.W.  the card i used in all my Socket A builds...





Spoiler: also if my confirmation was not enough



S/PDIF is digital and is doing thru the S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital audio Interface) connector, either a 3.5 jack or a RCA




(warning : joke) now with all your reply and questions, i am not sure anymore... am i lying, was all my tech life since 1985 a lie?  (end of joke   )
no worries i do not mind repeating myself, confirming and reconfirming while adding other things that remind me that i still have the stuff i talk about around my Livingroom hehehe 

as for why the extra cable, i think it's probably if using a drive only for audio and not connected via IDE ...
extra options are always welcome even if not needed.
same question apply to PCI connector on modern mobo, not majorly used, but some might need them.

and AGAIN the soundcard get the data it need to output as sound VIA PCI on the the motherboard ... thus if the onboard is inactive (via BIOS, AC '97 in the case of old board) why would the sound come thru the onboard.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So the sound will come from the Soundblaster, not the onboard sound?Without the cable not connected?


The SPDIF connector is optional. However, if you are going to be listening to CD's from your drive, then it would help to get a cable and connect it to the SoundBlaster card. But if you are going to convert your CD's to MP3 then the cable is useless as the audio will be read directly from the disk as data to be converted.

The Audigy cards are excellent cards so you should have a great audio experience.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 12, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The SPDIF connector is optional. However, if you are going to be listening to CD's from your drive, then it would help to get a cable and connect it to the SoundBlaster card. But if you are going to convert your CD's to MP3 then the cable is useless as the audio will be read directly from the disk as data to be converted.
> 
> The Audigy cards are excellent cards so you should have a great audio experience.


mmhhh i listened to CD audio (from games, ahah i remember when some games had soundtrack on the CD and needed it to be in the ODD ) without the 2pin (S/PDIF ) or 4pin (CD-IN)

They’re just continuous PCM bytestreams of 16-bit, 44.1kHz audio with EDC/ECC codes.
CDA/CD-DA is digital afaik, and CD-IN 4pin is only used for analog

also "You do NOT need to have either an mpc or spdif cable connected to the sound card/cd-rom if using mediaplayer7+, winME, winXP. the analog and digital audio is carried through the IDE interface and directed to the sound processor."
was also an answer i saw on AnandTech, that goes along my train of thought on the subject 

and YES Audigy/Audigy 2 cards are EXCELLENT! i am glad i have 2 of them in my collection, sadly one has different connector albeit being the same as the one in the picture in my previous post and has corroded contacts 

also from the previous video, the CD-IN is used to bypass the soundcard processing and use the CD drive sound hardware to process the signal (just like when listening standalone when you have one with a 3.5mm jack on them ) since it output analog directly to the soundcard jack (or the ODD jack if they have one)

thus, imho, the CD-IN had its use specially when having more than 1 CD drive and no more IDE available (although that would essentially make the CD drive plugged like that, a CDA/CD-DA only drive of course)

edit: mmhhh maybe one more use to it, offloading audio processing, since the ODD is the one doing the job although with an Audigy/Audigy 2 the burden on the CPU was lighter than AC '97


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 12, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The SPDIF connector is optional. However, if you are going to be listening to CD's from your drive, then it would help to get a cable and connect it to the SoundBlaster card. But if you are going to convert your CD's to MP3 then the cable is useless as the audio will be read directly from the disk as data to be converted.
> 
> The Audigy cards are excellent cards so you should have a great audio experience.


Thanks for that, and for explaining the reason for using the cable. I won't be doing that listening to CDs from your drive that is. So i gather from our friend Phil.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 12, 2022)

Long card is LONG! 

What a beast! If it works I'll be amazed! 

ATI Radeon 5970 2GB.  Did I mention that it is very "light"?  I think not as my arm is already numb from the heft of it.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 12, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Long card is LONG!
> 
> What a beast! If it works I'll be amazed!
> 
> ATI Radeon 5970 2GB.  Did I mention that it is very "light"?  I think not as my arm is already numb from the heft of it.


Man.......................you find some rare hardware! Nice!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 12, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Man.......................you find some rare hardware! Nice!


according to https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/rare-gpus-unreleased-gpus.176929/

that one is a rare ... *somewhat high pitched anime girl tone* "EEEEEEHHHH????" (edit, ultra dried TIM is hard as, well, ultra dried TIM )


yes ... it's a Asus ROG Matrix 9800 GT 512mb, oh and it has a S/PDIF connector, 2pin and TOSLINK-S/PDIF, Toshiba Link, after sony and Philips ... hue hue, naaaaah, actually TOSLINK specifies the physical connector for optical cable at the physical layer. S/PDIF specifies the protocol at the data link layer


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 12, 2022)

Unusual case


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Nice Unusual case


too recent hardware for a XP retrorig ... at least for me ...

AGP and Socket A is the ultimate for me
and the game i would run on ... Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, NOLF, Kotor1/2, Icewind dale and Baldur's gate1/2-SOA

a phenom II is almost a sleeper buil... oh wait ... he use a Phenom II CPU, my Phenom II X6 1090T (originally a 1035T that i swapped for a second hand 1090T, in a HP basic tower with a sh!tty GF210 from Pegatron  ) was my only prebuilt and also the cause i joined TPU in 2012 

well, 10yrs or more ... yeah ok fine BUT not the ULTIMATE!

ahahaha

mention of the thread i mentioned above  always glad to see TPU mentioned, be it in a youtube video or on a Gelid GC Extreme blister packaging


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 12, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> too recent hardware for a XP retrorig ... at least for me ...
> 
> AGP and Socket A is the ultimate for me
> and the game i would run on ... Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, NOLF, Kotor1/2, Icewind dale and Baldur's gate1/2-SOA
> ...


The  case is like the one Clint used in one of his videos. .it is thouse white feet on the case ,I. also like thouse handles at the top of the case to take the side panals out,I have never heard of the CPU he is using. Meanwhile Linus s first PC.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The is like the one Clint used in one of his videos. .it is thouse white feet on the case\I also like thouse handles at the top of the case to take the side panals out,I have never herd of the CPU he is using.


my lanbox had handle on it (hilariously it was my K6-2 build with a TNT 2 M64) 

he use a AMD Phenom II X4 945 mmhhh i remember having a Phenom II X4 955 BE, a X4 810 build and i also had a Phenom 9600B 

strange you never heard of that CPU line from AMD


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 12, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> my lanbox had handle on it (hilariously it was my K6-2 build with a TNT 2 M64)
> 
> he use a AMD Phenom II X4 945 mmhhh i remember having a Phenom II X4 955 BE, a X4 810 build and i also had a Phenom 9600B
> 
> strange you never heard of that CPU line from AMD


I have only got  into Retro stuff since i got on this site. just over a year ago.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have only got  into Retro stuff since i got on this sight. a year ago.


well ... it was technically not retro in 2012 for me, just like a 286 was not retro in 1985, i was 4 at that time ... wait ... does that mean i am a piece of retro organic hardware?

YAY! rare and collector also! (only one ever made ...  )

edit, i get what you mean tho


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 12, 2022)

Floppy drives internal v external  are there any advantages in having a internal Floppy drive ?
Apart from having it in the PC.Why would you want more than one floppy drive? 







 that PC he has there is massive


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Floppy drives internal v external  are there any advantages in having a internal Floppy drive ?
> *Apart from having it in the PC.*


self answered indeed, in my case i always keep an internal 3.5" floppy, a nice unit from Mitsumi (same manufacturer of my Compaq keyboard  ), for nostalgia sake (and also if i find any oldies on floppy, the last one i installed via floppy was Doom on my 486DX33 system )
external are fine too, if i intend to use the 3.5" bay for a multi card reader i would seek an external floppy just for the sake of having one.


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 13, 2022)

Does anyone buy stuff on Ali Express? It might be cheap there but it takes forever to get to the UK. I don,t know how long it takes to get to the USA.?


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Does anyone buy stuff on Ali Express? It might be cheap there but it takes forever to get to the UK. I don,t know how long it takes to get to the USA.?


i did for a long time, Switzerland took around 14 to 75 days, usually ordered stuff i did find at my etailer for 5time, or more, the price, example: a phone cover, exact same, Digitec 29chf, AliExpress 2.90$, bought both ... confirmed to be exact same, even same packaging, latest things i ordered were from beginning 2022 : an iluminated phone case (sound activation), a pack of 26 runes beads (necklace or beard knot) and a faux leather Vegvisir/ouroboros  armband.

other stuff? computer stuff? i would not order anything CPU mobo PSU GPU related from there (even tho you might be lucky sometime)

91 total orders : 88 successful order since the 23 jan 2015 and only 2 lost (but both lost refunded ) and 1 ... considered lost even tho it did show where it was lost (Luhansk, april 2022 that one is lost for good)


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 13, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> i did for a long time, Switzerland took around 14 to 75 days, usually ordered stuff i did find at my etailer for 5time, or more, the price, example: a phone cover, exact same, Digitech 29chf, AliExpress 2.90$, bought both ... confirmed to be exact same, even same packaging, latest things i ordered were from beginning 2022 : an iluminated phone case (sound activation), a pack of 26 runes beads (necklace or beard knot) and a faux leather Vegvisir/ouroboros  armband.
> 
> other stuff? computer stuff? i would not order anything CPU mobo PSU GPU related from there (even tho you might be lucky sometime)
> 
> 91 total orders : 88 successful order since the 23 jan 2015 and only 2 lost (but both lost refunded ) and 1 ... considered lost even tho it did show where it was lost (Luhansk, april 2022 that one is lost for good)


Unfortunately  the shops that you cou;d buy cables and adapters and stuff like that have closed down,You can only buy on line.There used to be lots of small shops where you could get electronic components.I would not go for the CPU ,PSU  ,GPU from them.Another thing i did not think about  was the customs duty i was charged 20 points on a Thunderbolt enclosure.If i have known i would have been charged 20 in rip of the price i would have got  something else ,as it happens i did not see that make on eBay or Amazon.I think it is the luck of the draw weather or not you have to pay customs duty.
If course duty varies from country to country..I have only orded a silicon Keyboard protester  and a couple of adapters total price with shippong 11 pounds.



GreiverBlade said:


> too recent hardware for a XP retrorig ... at least for me ...
> 
> AGP and Socket A is the ultimate for me
> and the game i would run on ... Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, NOLF, Kotor1/2, Icewind dale and Baldur's gate1/2-SOA
> ...


I like that guys videos   He lives in a nice house with a nice garden, wish i did.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 13, 2022)

This should be fun...from Adrian Black.


----------



## The red spirit (Jul 13, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Long card is LONG!
> 
> What a beast! If it works I'll be amazed!
> 
> ATI Radeon 5970 2GB.  Did I mention that it is very "light"?  I think not as my arm is already numb from the heft of it.


haha I have V8800 and it has identical shroud plus metal handle. They are really long and heavy. Mostly thanks to all copper cooler inside.


----------



## bobbybluz (Jul 13, 2022)

Early Sapphire Reference 6950 flashed to 6970. Fully functional.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jul 13, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> Early Sapphire Reference 6950 flashed to 6970. Fully functional.


ah, one of my first reflash success (after buying it second hand for near nothing, ~90$), 23 nov 2012  , was a Club3d HD 6950 2gb unfortunately it was not one with any hope to flash to a 6970 
*
ahah found the post https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...i-searched-i-tried-but-need-more-info.176001/*


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that, and for explaining the reason for using the cable. I won't be doing that listening to CDs from your drive that is. So i gather from our friend Phil.


YW. You really don't need the cable then. Your use case scenario doesn't need it.


----------



## Robert B (Jul 14, 2022)

A living and breathing ATI card! Who would've thought?!??!?! 

Welcome to my world (Twilight Zone) where normal things DO NOT happen very often! 

ATI 5970 FTW!


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 14, 2022)

Robert B said:


> A living and breathing ATI card! Who would've thought?!??!?!
> 
> Welcome to my world (Twilight Zone) where normal things DO NOT happen very often!
> 
> ATI 5970 FTW!


Because of all of your hard work saving old hardware, you deserve some good luck.


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 14, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> YW. You really don't need the cable then. Your use case scenario doesn't need it.








I can get the SANDISK 16gb from CEX for £8How do these Compare  SanDisk 16GB CF Card 60MB/s v Transcend 133x 16gb


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 15, 2022)

Fresh LGR ...


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 17, 2022)

A nice old school Retro  SFF pc 







 good design.


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 19, 2022)

Another of my fave Retro and general computer Utube ers. 
Top 5 Retro Applications, what would be on your list?​


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 20, 2022)

Nostalgia system somewhat, but I forget what is in it.
also, a great old commercial...








I see an X850 XT PE


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 20, 2022)

32GB Lexar 800x UDMA7 CF Compactflash Memory Card

how does this rate as a cf card? What does 800X UDM7 mean ?​


----------



## agent_x007 (Jul 20, 2022)

You know CD-ROMs, right ?
Usual ones (ie. later models), are rated at 52x speed option for example (which is ~7.62MiB/s).
This card can do 800x equivalent of CD-ROM speed (or ~120MiB/s).

UDMA7 is similar, as current CF cards can be faster than old IDE modes allowed, ie. 133MiB/s (and Compact Flash is native compatible with IDE/ATA).
So, manufacturers created a faster IDE data transfer standard called UDMA7 (which allows transfers of up to 167MiB/s)


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 20, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> You know CD-ROMs, right ?
> Usual ones (ie. later models), are rated at 52x speed option for example (which is ~7.62MiB/s).
> This card can do 800x equivalent of CD-ROM speed (or ~120MiB/s).
> 
> ...


Yes i know about CD ROMs Well explainded thanks.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 20, 2022)

Adrian's Digital Basement ...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> 32GB Lexar 800x UDMA7 CF Compactflash Memory CardView attachment 255392how does this rate as a cf card? What does 800X UDM7 mean ?​


It means it's fast. That's a good card!


----------



## Greenslade (Jul 21, 2022)

Another interesting video.The lava lamp is cool. The drive only 3gb wow.Packed to the max.


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Jul 21, 2022)




----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 22, 2022)

If my GTX980 dies, this is my first replacement. The GTX760 2GB as I only do 1080P anyway. I just don't do always online games.
I'm stuck between Quake II and GTA 4, Fallout 4 (I did somewhat enjoy GTA5 for 5 years but then I was done). Other backups:
GTX560 Ti, GTX560, HIS4870, GTX 275...etc.

Sorry for double post......but this is GREAT!









still had an Edit


----------



## Bones (Jul 23, 2022)

For kicks I decided once again to reconfigure my daily..... With a Socket 939 setup.
ATM it's working and browses the web just fine, posting with it here and I have no complaints about it.

Current specs:
CPU: Opteron 180
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake V1
MB: A8N32-SLI Deluxe
RAM: 4x 1GB sticks, OCZ Platinum
GPU: GTX 960

Can say there is almost no difference between this and what I just took out for web browsing (Maximus IX Apex - 7700K) but of course I know it's not as capable in other ways.
Gonna let my daily run for a little while and reconfig it again later.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 23, 2022)

Bones said:


> ATM it's working and browses the web just fine, posting with it here and I have no complaints about it.


Also in my experience a dual core with 4 GB RAM can be used for web surfing and light office work quite comfortably. Preferably paired with an SSD. How does the Opty do in CPU-Z?


----------



## Bones (Jul 24, 2022)

Don't know, I'm running Linux as it's OS. 
I could load XP on another drive and try it but I'm not that worried about it, all I'm doing is letting it have a little runtime and making sure it still works. After that I don't know what I'll pop in next but will figure it out once I'm there.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 24, 2022)

Bones said:


> Don't know, I'm running Linux as it's OS.


Oh alright, just being curious. In basic scenarios, I found out that an ST score of about 150 is enough. Lower than that the system starts feeling sluggish. I've been using my FX with these settings as a web browser - 1m/2t is not even two full cores - and it's still adequate for the task


----------



## Robert B (Jul 27, 2022)

Got me some *GOLD!* amongst other things (too many to count) ... 

Now I need to find some Socket 8 motherboards which are rarer than hen's teeth in my area.


----------



## 68Olds (Jul 27, 2022)

I've started to rebuild my old Abit C2D rig from 2006.  I've got all the parts together and need to assemble it.  That Antec Sonata case was horrible in 2006 & it's still horrible in 2022. lol  I added a set of 5 UpHere RGB fans to make it not as horrible though.


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 27, 2022)

Fixing a Monitor...by Adrian Black.


----------



## 68Olds (Jul 27, 2022)

Well, I've got things put together, but I've been having some problems & some victories.  
The mobo won't boot with either 2x1GB G.Skill DDR2-800 4-4-4 (D9) kits, but I have a 2x2GB Mushkin DDR2-1066 5-5-5 kit working @ 800 4-4-4.  Can't try 1066 until the CPU FSB is overclocked.
Also my X1900 Crossfire isn't working - getting a single long beep.  The X1900 XT is working though.  I also tested the X1900 Xfire in another system & it worked in there, so there's still hope.
WinXP is installed on 3 74GB WD Raptors in raid 0.  That was fun to set up - been a long time.
Need to see if I can get the E6600 back to 3.6GHz, but I'm running some stock benches to get a baseline now.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 28, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Got me some *GOLD!* amongst other things (too many to count) ...
> 
> Now I need to find some Socket 8 motherboards which are rarer than hen's teeth in my area.


That PentiumPro SL22V is a golden sample! If you can find a board that supports it, that CPU will clock to 233mhz without any other changes and to 266mhz with a single bump to the voltage. As they were easy to keep cool, they were wonderful CPU's to run OC'd! I miss mine..



68Olds said:


> I've started to rebuild my old Abit C2D rig from 2006.  I've got all the parts together and need to assemble it.  That Antec Sonata case was horrible in 2006 & it's still horrible in 2022. lol  I added a set of 5 UpHere RGB fans to make it not as horrible though.
> 
> View attachment 256078


Excellent setup!


----------



## KLiKzg (Jul 28, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Got me some *GOLD!* amongst other things (too many to count) ...
> 
> Now I need to find some Socket 8 motherboards which are rarer than hen's teeth in my area.


Getting nostalgic, as I used to have Pentium 100, which was clocked to 110 without any problems.

Then it was replaced with Pentium 133, which was clocked 150 but wasn't stable with those coolers. So I ran it just OK with 140MHz!


----------



## 68Olds (Jul 28, 2022)

I'm trying to install a browser on XP, and I've tried a few with no luck (UC Browser, Baidu, & Firefox 52.9).  Can anyone point me to a working download link.  I tried to get these from page 1 of this thread.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jul 28, 2022)

So... After several months of searching around, I finally found these. Cookie to those who (immediately) recognize what this thing is 





Noo? Fair enough, let's make it somewhat easier then:





And in case you're still confused, here's the final pic - to put things in perspective:




These are official Adi-branded monitor speakers, made specifically for their MicroScan Series - models 4P (15"), 5P (17") and 6P (19"). I also picked up yet another 4P (15" MicroScan) for the same price and decided to hold onto it, Justin Case things ever go south & my primary 4P breaks down ... for whatever the reason.

What I can't seem to understand is how come nobody bothered to keep these things, making them so difficult to come by, nowdays. Because the actual CRT isn't that rare, they pop up every once in a while, but 99% of them are single unit without any additional components, making these Adi speakers incredibly difficult to find *shrug*


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 28, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm trying to install a browser on XP, and I've tried a few with no luck (UC Browser, Baidu, & Firefox 52.9).  Can anyone point me to a working download link.  I tried to get these from page 1 of this thread.





			Index of /pub/opera-winxpvista/36.0.2130.80/win/


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 28, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm trying to install a browser on XP, and I've tried a few with no luck (UC Browser, Baidu, & Firefox 52.9).  Can anyone point me to a working download link.  I tried to get these from page 1 of this thread.


There you go, Firefox 52.9.0 ESR 32-bit  Last version supporting XP.


----------



## 68Olds (Jul 28, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> There you go, Firefox 52.9.0 ESR 32-bit  Last version supporting XP.


Multi-quote never works for me.  Thanks Mr.Scott, I'll give that one a try. Gone for a few days though, but I'll give it a go when I get home. 

Bob, I tried that one & it wouldn't install.  I could see it running on the Task Manager Process list, but that's it.  It is also the one I would most like to get going because I'm used to FF on my daily driver. 
edit:  I wonder if I downloaded an installer instead of the full version.  We'll see...
I'm running XP SP3, but all updates are turned off.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Jul 28, 2022)

The Opera link I posted will go without issue.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 29, 2022)

@68Olds 
There's also Basilisk, which was last updated in Nov 2020;


			http://archive.palemoon.org/basilisk/basilisk-20201125140449.win32.installer.exe
		

or the portable version(extract to where you want it to run and run it):


			http://archive.palemoon.org/basilisk/basilisk-20201125140449.win32.7z
		


It's a fork of Palemoon which is itself a fork of Firefox.


----------



## 68Olds (Jul 29, 2022)

Thanks Lex.  The installer version did not work for me, but maybe I'll have better luck with the full version dl.
I really just wanna make it easier to post benchmark screenshots.  If I gotta upload jpegs from a different PC I'll do it if I have no other option.


----------



## QuietBob (Jul 29, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I tried that one & it wouldn't install.  I could see it running on the Task Manager Process list, but that's it. ... I'm running XP SP3, but all updates are turned off.


Might be related to some missing updates. Can you connect to the internet? Have you tried installing them manually?


----------



## Audioave10 (Jul 30, 2022)

A hardware collector from Czech republic. "Retro Hardware" has some old cases again.










also Adrian has something different


----------



## bobbybluz (Jul 30, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> A hardware collector from Czech republic. "Retro Hardware" has some old cases again.


There's been one of those cases on the local Craigslist for a couple of months now (no affiliation with the seller): https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/sop/d/milwaukee-thermaltake-xaser-iii/7504702507.html


----------



## Robert B (Jul 30, 2022)

NOS!  

Asrock K7Upgrade-600/ ASUS A7N8X-X / MSI K8N Diamond Plus / ASUS P5N32-E SLI is in the P4 box / MSI K8T Neo-V

The MSI K8N Diamond Plus is a beast!

Also the SLI Memory is LOL.


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Jul 30, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> A hardware collector from Czech republic. "Retro Hardware" has some old cases again.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well, cases certainly were made differently back then. Not implying better, just different.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 30, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> A hardware collector from Czech republic. "Retro Hardware" has some old cases again.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey, that's my first case (for the first PC that was all mine, that is). Or one of its close siblings at least  At 13 years old I thought it was the coolest thing ever, but man, it was a pretty terrible case overall.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 30, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Hey, that's my first case (for the first PC that was all mine, that is). Or one of its close siblings at least  At 13 years old I thought it was the coolest thing ever, but man, it was a pretty terrible case overall.


Those were very good, solid cases. Which colour did you have?


----------



## Valantar (Jul 31, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those were very good, solid cases. Which colour did you have?


Silver and red, without a window. The case worked okay, but all the attempts at toolless mounting were unusable, and it was quite a hassle to build in. But that cast/extruded aluminium front door was really something else. Possibly the thickest piece of metal on any product I've ever owned!


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Jul 31, 2022)

> I thought it was the coolest thing ever, but man, it was a pretty terrible case overall.


Me, except in college and with this one:




It WAS cool... until I realized I need to get familiar with power tools to even fit Scythe Ninja mini to cut out blocking aluminium bars... except HDD then started vibrating, because that bar was now hanging from one side... so I McGyvered a mini "pillar" from removed metal to support it and glued it with epoxy resin.

Also cut out openings for air flow for CPU and GPU in plexi and mounted air filters.

I still have it as scrap somewhere in basement.


----------



## Valantar (Jul 31, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> A hardware collector from Czech republic. "Retro Hardware" has some old cases again.


Oh man, I had forgotten about that side panel fan holder. I think I can reformulate my view of that case: the front panel was amazing, the case metalwork was ... fine (the frame was decent, the side panels were incredibly flimsy and impossible to both install and remove properly), the plastics were _terrible_. The "special features" - that panel, and the "toolless" PCIe retention thingy - were absolutely and completely useless, and interfered with literally anything you might attempt to install in the case. I still really liked it, but I'm very happy cases have moved on since then!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 31, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Silver and red, without a window. The case worked okay, but all the attempts at toolless mounting were unusable, and it was quite a hassle to build in. But that cast/extruded aluminium front door was really something else. Possibly the thickest piece of metal on any product I've ever owned!


Weird. I never had problems with it.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Jul 31, 2022)

ExcuseMeWtf said:


> Me, except in college and with this one:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had one of those...forgot about that one , sold it to my sister...wonder if I have any pictures


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 1, 2022)

bobbybluz said:


> There's been one of those cases on the local Craigslist for a couple of months now (no affiliation with the seller): https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/sop/d/milwaukee-thermaltake-xaser-iii/7504702507.html



Hell, at $60 you should grab it man!!!


----------



## bobbybluz (Aug 1, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Hell, at $60 you should grab it man!!!


I already have enough vintage cases (more than enough according to my better half). I think the Cooler Master Wave Master I paid $5 for off Craigslist 10-12 years ago is even more rare plus it's part of a currently fully functional rig that's sitting collecting dust. I may use it for a retro-mod build one day. Those early 2000's cases with the top mounted PSU's didn't work well as far as cooling goes even with circa-2010 hardware. I love the sildeout mobo tray and all aluminum construction though.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 1, 2022)

I bought this one on local online platform for about USD23, I don't ask for its spec but its listed to use Athlon 64 3000+, 1.5GB of DDR memory and 80GB storage and weirdly using Windows 10. 

As I waited for it to arrive lets all take a guess on what hardware did it uses? The motherboard color looks like Gigabyte motherboard and from the placement of the graphics card its probably a PCIe card, but will it be s754 or s939? The graphics card could be X700 or low end X800SE or X1300/1600 as it don't have PCIe power connector





The rear IO panel looks good though, with coax SPDIF and Firewire on PCI bracket. That soundcard looks like its from SB Live! family. That switch on top of graphics card is interesting.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 1, 2022)

Apocalypsee said:


> I bought this one on local online platform for about USD23, I don't ask for its spec but its listed to use Athlon 64 3000+, 1.5GB of DDR memory and 80GB storage and weirdly using Windows 10.
> 
> As I waited for it to arrive lets all take a guess on what hardware did it uses? The motherboard color looks like Gigabyte motherboard and from the placement of the graphics card its probably a PCIe card, but will it be s754 or s939? The graphics card could be X700 or low end X800SE or X1300/1600 as it don't have PCIe power connector
> 
> ...


The mystery awaits!!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 1, 2022)

Lone switch is probably fan speed.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 1, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Lone switch is probably fan speed.


Very likely.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 2, 2022)

I bought an EeePC 900A. Intel Atom N270, 1gb ddr2 ram, 4gb storage

I really didn't have much interest in this machine, but when I saw it was complete with original box and accessories I had to buy it. I offered and got it for just $15.














It took some cleaning up but it is in excellent condition. There is a small crack in the palmrest and some light scratches on the lid, but it is in very good shape in general.

It works fine and has the original Linux distro on it. Not sure how long the battery will hold a charge, it is original.



Only so much can be done with 4gb storage. I took off the upgrade hatch on the bottom and it is just a standard looking msata drive so I will look into upgrading it.


----------



## Valantar (Aug 2, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I bought an EeePC 900A. Intel Atom N270, 1gb ddr2 ram, 4gb storage
> 
> I really didn't have much interest in this machine, but when I saw it was complete with original box and accessories I had to buy it. I offered and got it for just $15.
> 
> ...


Wow, I remember selling those (and the slightly less terrible versions that came after). Truly horrible pieces of tech in so many ways, but they did spawn a wave of accessible, cheap, portable computers that was ultimately a really good thing.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I bought an EeePC 900A. Intel Atom N270, 1gb ddr2 ram, 4gb storage
> 
> I really didn't have much interest in this machine, but when I saw it was complete with original box and accessories I had to buy it. I offered and got it for just $15.
> 
> ...


I had one of those. Put a lean & clean version of XP on it. Ran fine. I think I put a 32GB drive in it before selling it..


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 3, 2022)

As is customary after I acquire a low spec device, I am posting this message from the EeePC itself.

I created and booted to a Linux Mint 19.03 XFCE 32 bit live CD as the included OS does not allow me to connect to my home WIFI due to unsupported security. Mint runs well and doesnt feel any slower than the factory KDE Linux.

I have ordered a newer 20gb msata SSD as well as a 2gb stick of ddr2 sodimm in hopes to speed it up slightly. I also have tested the battery which works well enough. I opened it up to replace the thermal paste only to find it uses thermal pads stuck to the chassis, so back together it went.

The laptop is a lot less terrible than what I had expected in a lot of ways. For as much negative I had heard about it, its not nearly that bad. The screen is decent aside from being low resolution, and overall build quality is good as well. The touchpad and keyboard feel fine, but are very cramped due to the form factor. 

The Atom N270 is fine if you are just navigating a lightweight OS but really struggles with modern internet. Certain pages like this forum load slowly, but at a speed that doesn't immediately infuriate me. However Youtube or similarly heavy pages make the system nearly freeze and are unbrowsable. Intel GMA950 would struggle to actually play Youtube even with a stronger CPU anyhow.

While low end CPUs have come very far since this, I feel like the modern netbooks I have used are worse than this In a lot of ways. Screens that are washed out from any angle, worse IO, 0 upgradable parts, and much flimsier build quality.







The N270 is a rather tiny CPU. The chipsets are a lot larger and produce most of the heat in this system.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 3, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I have ordered a newer 20gb msata SSD as well as a 2gb stick of ddr2 sodimm in hopes to speed it up slightly.


And it will! They will also make it run more smoothly. Are you thinking about XP or perhaps a modern OS? If so let me know and I'll help you out with the XP config as it needs a few special tweaks not commonly done. If you want to try a modern OS, Mint XFCE is about the only good OS that will run on it. If you're feeling adventurous, try AndroidX86 4.4R5.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> And it will! They will also make it run more smoothly. Are you thinking about XP or perhaps a modern OS? If so let me know and I'll help you out with the XP config as it needs a few special tweaks not commonly done. If you want to try a modern OS, Mint XFCE is about the only good OS that will run on it. If you're feeling adventurous, try AndroidX86 4.4R5.


Probably both XP and Mint if I have enough space to dual boot, as both OSes serve different purposes anymore. So any help would be appreciated. 

Mainly I will run Linux for application support reasons, such as Steam or a better web browsing experience. I'd like to put this up against some 2000s games, even knowing I will be disappointed.

However I want XP for some things such as benchmarking the CPU/GPU and comparing them to others. I will probably choose an older version of Cinebench under Windows XP for this. I think XP will run better than modern Linux on here, but I will be interested to see if this is true,


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 3, 2022)

Has anyone owned one of these?  I like this guy's videos His got the same view as Lex, in saying he likes ME


----------



## AlwaysHope (Aug 4, 2022)

Scored this for nothing & saved it from being chucked in the bin at my workplace....












Should install it under win10 (maybe enable compatibility mode) with only keyboard\mouse controls & see how it runs.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 4, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Probably both XP and Mint if I have enough space to dual boot


With only 20GB, that could be very problematic. I would recommend one or the other. I have little experience dual booting XP and Mint so we'd have to figure that one out. What I would recommend is using the 4GB module the system came with or maybe buying an 8GB drive and installing Mint to the smaller one and XP to the 20GB and just swap out drive whenever you want to switch. Definitely use the XFCE version of Mint. That little system will not handle Mate or Cinnamon, they're too "heavy".


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> So any help would be appreciated.


Yeah, would be happy to. Be ready for some nitty-gritty digging and diving. This assumes you choose XP. PM me when you're ready to begin.


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> However I want XP for some things such as benchmarking the CPU/GPU and comparing them to others.


Honestly, not worth your time unless you really just want to know.


RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I will probably choose an older version of Cinebench under Windows XP for this.


I don't think Cinebench will run on an Atom CPU and if it does, the results will be thus: Slower than molasses in January in Northern Canada.



Greenslade said:


> Has anyone owned one of these?  I like this guy's videos His got the same view as Lex, in saying he likes ME


Kyle knows his craft. He knows that ME was very solid and better than 98SE in every respect except one: A mode to drop into RealMode DOS from within Windows(which does not exist in any version of Windows from then on, 98SE was the last version of Windows to have RealMode DOS session functionality). Otherwise everything about ME was next-level better than 98SE.


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I don't think Cinebench will run on an Atom CPU and if it does, the results will be thus: Slower than molasses in January in Northern Canada.


I'm sure it would run up to R11.5 because it has SSE3 but it would just take forever since it's only as fast as a 1GHz+ PIII.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 4, 2022)

I would be interested in seeing it benched.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 5, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I don't think Cinebench will run on an Atom CPU and if it does, the results will be thus: Slower than molasses in January in Northern Canada.


Cinebench will run on anything if you use an old enough version. Any of the semi recent versions require a 64-bit CPU, so those are out of the question. Besides, I have run them on complete potatos, and it takes_ hours_!


DR4G00N said:


> I'm sure it would run up to R11.5 because it has SSE3 but it would just take forever since it's only as fast as a 1GHz+ PIII.


Sadly I do not have a P3 system, closest I have would be an AMD AMD K7. Although I wonder how my 1ghz Via C7 would fair since I bet its IPC is comparable. I don't know if R11.5 would run. Isn't it 64-bit only?


Mr.Scott said:


> I would be interested in seeing it benched.


I am interested in both the raw performance and the IPC.

I first want to compare it to a Celeron 420. It and the N270 are both are 65nm single core processors clocked at 1.6ghz with 512k L2 cache. Will be interesting to see how its IPC compares to conroe, although I can make a wild guess.
I'd also want to compare the IPC to Netburst, just out of sheer curiosity. Would like to go with a later CPU, my choices are either a P4 630 (90nm Prescott 2m) or Pentium D 925 (65nm Presler). Unsure which I should test with. Could do both since it would just involve swapping CPUs and nothing else. I was considering my Cedar Mill 65nm Celeron D since its lower end but the ultra low FSB would make it a pain to deal with for several reasons.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 5, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> I would be interested in seeing it benched.


I've already seen them. Have own a number Atom based system over the years. They get the job done, but are not fast performers by any means.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Cinebench will run on anything if you use an old enough version. Any of the semi recent versions require a 64-bit CPU, so those are out of the question. Besides, I have run them on complete potatos, and it takes_ hours_!


Fair enough. Have fun!


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 5, 2022)

X5675 seems fine at 4.3GHz. I'll try some more later today as I was gaming the whole night and going to hit the bed soon (5.42 here)


----------



## MachineLearning (Aug 5, 2022)

Lenne said:


> X5675 seems fine at 4.3GHz. I'll try some more later today as I was gaming the whole night and going to hit the bed soon (5.42 here)


What voltage you giving it? RAM speed, thermals?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 5, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> What voltage you giving it? RAM speed, thermals?


I'll check later when I continue testing


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 5, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I don't know if R11.5 would run. Isn't it 64-bit only?


R11.5 is the last Cinebench with a 32-bit executable. I've tested the Pentium 4C HT @ 3 GHz, which is a 1c/2t 32-bit CPU like your Atom. It's also the slowest desktop SKU with two threads at stock. It'd be fun to compare them!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 5, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> R11.5 is the last Cinebench with a 32-bit executable. I've tested the Pentium 4C HT @ 3 GHz, which is a 1c/2t 32-bit CPU like your Atom. It's also the slowest desktop SKU with two threads at stock. It'd be fun to compare them!


That DOES sound interesting! Please do!


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 6, 2022)

Probably getting a 6800 Ultra next week. Just need to get a cheap case and cheap quality PSU in some point.

May sound crazy but my ultimate XP build has to have an Athlon 1GHz OC


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 6, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> YW. You really don't need the cable then. Your use case scenario doesn't need it.


On another subject i was looking at second hand CF Cards  on eBay * Formated *may contain data*.It seems a stupid thing for a seller to do with there data on them,in this day and age.
And saw this when looking it up.
Two-thirds of second-hand memory cards still contain previous owners' data​Like you have said before it is better to buy new which i will do.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Like you have said before it is better to buy new which i will do.


Shiny!


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 7, 2022)

PC arrived today, the courier maybe mishandled it as the case front panel broke but its expected from old case. Now onto the hardware.

Motherboard is GA-K8NF-9 so yeah its a s939 yay  




The GPU is Radeon X800GTO, a surprise for me. This might be the later R423 with 110nm process IIRC that don't require external power so I don't expect it to unlock. But X800GTO with 12 pipes is good enough. Soundcard is SB0100 SB Live! 5.1, my old love 




As yo ucan see cable snaking around it still using IDE cable but not the flat one, it uses the Vantec rounded cable. It have 2 harddisk and two optical drive. I will clean and see whats the spec for both. I been hunting for IDE drives so its a good thing to have it. Plus this later s939 have SATA ports so its good for newer drive as well

The red switch are not for casefan, but for RED cold cathode. I haven't seen such thing since early 2000 





Seller installed windows 10 on it like WTF. Idk why only 1.25GB usable as it don't have IGP



All in all, despite the broken case, everything else looks good. It left mostly intact, maybe its been sitting in closet unused since early 2000 by the look of it and from the dust smells lol. I'm going to clean it and going to install windows XP on it  If you guys want it I can show other hardware on it after I clean it, I'm really just unbox it and took picture and boot it up to see whether its working


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 7, 2022)

Sorted


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 7, 2022)

started boot testing the TYAN Thunder K8W with dual Opteron and AGP before putting everything in the case





I'm still undecided whether to opt for 2x 254 (1C@2.80GHz ~FX-57) or 2x 285 (2C@2.60GHz ~ FX-60)
Since I'm targeting period correct usage (2005-2006), probably is better to stick with less cores and higher frequencies since the TYAN has no overclocking capabilities, not sure how many games in 2005-2007 had quad core support/optimisation

For the video card the best AGP choices from 2006 I have are HD1950 Pro or 7800GS, they should be probably quite close


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 7, 2022)

Apocalypsee said:


> Seller installed windows 10 on it like WTF. Idk why only 1.25GB usable as it don't have IGP


Windows 10 on a below min spec single core with less than the minimum required RAM running off of an HDD  
Sounds like an interesting experiment! As for the system not detecting the full installed memory, maybe this has to do with the combination of unsupported hardware and 32-bit architecture? Like XP showing 4 GB as 3.xx?
Also, found this in the manual:






framebuffer said:


> not sure how many games in 2005-2007 had quad core support/optimisation


Some games released in 2007 (and even 2006) can utilize four threads:
Bioshock, CoD4: MW, Company of Heroes, Crysis, DiRT, Flight Simulator X, Lost Planet, MoH: A, Supreme Commander, TES4: Oblivion, World in Conflict, UT3
Games running on the same engines as above are also likely to benefit from four cores.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 7, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> 2x 285 (2C@2.60GHz ~ FX-60)


This! You'll thank yourself later!



framebuffer said:


> not sure how many games in 2005-2007 had quad core support/optimisation


Few, however XP and drivers for both Radeon and Geforce of the time benefit from more cores. The 200mhz loss from each core is more than offset by the additional core on each CPU. And many games of the time were SMP aware and somewhat optimized.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 7, 2022)

Platform

Boxed Processor

Product Family

AMD FX-Series Processors

Product Line

AMD FX 8-Core Black Edition Processors

# of CPU Cores

8

# of Threads

8

Max. Boost Clock

Up to 4.3GHz

Base Clock

4.0GHz

L1 Cache

384KB

L2 Cache

8MB

L3 Cache

8MB

Default TDP

125W

Processor Technology for CPU Cores

32nm SOI

Unlocked for Overclocking


Yes

CPU Socket

AM3+

Max. Operating Temperature (Tjmax)

61.1°C  

This is my XP CPU and even "Halo CE for PC" plays just fine. Also Serious Sam 1st and 2nd Edition, Crysis, HL2...ETC.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 7, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Platform
> 
> Boxed Processor
> 
> ...


Mine is a Lenovo Thinkcenter with a Xeon X3460 Quad and a Radeon R7-350X 2GB. I'm thinking of moving XP back to my Dell T3500 with the Xeon W3680 with a Geforce GTX 960. The Radeon is coming up short on many of the games I want to continue running on XP.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 7, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Windows 10 on a below min spec single core with less than the minimum required RAM running off of an HDD
> Sounds like an interesting experiment! As for the system not detecting the full installed memory, maybe this has to do with the combination of unsupported hardware and 32-bit architecture? Like XP showing 4 GB as 3.xx?
> Also, found this in the manual:
> View attachment 257276


Wait, what?? It did come with 1.25GB of RAM, two 512MB stick and 256MB sticks. It boot and runs just fine unlike what the manual says   Here's how it installed; 512MB,256MB,512MB on slot 1,2,3 respectively.







Here's the GPU after a bit of cleanup, its GeCube Radeon X800GTO (you can see the sticker say GTO3?). Anyhow I love X800 cards, already got X800XP-PE AGP which is dead, X800XT PCIE also dead, X800GT (8 pipes) still working and this one is a fine addition to my collection  Its the last card to support ATi Truform so having it makes it easier to play older games that supports this technology.





Soundcard is SB0100 SB live! 5.1, this is earlier model I think since its emboss with EMU10K1 on its DSP. I got several of SB Live! 5.1 before, the later one don't have that writing. I got Audigy 2 ZS, I might use that one instead of this so I can have EAX4 when playing Doom3.





It comes with Sony DVD drive and Samsung burner, see that the burner eject button is toast. I have yet to test both of this drive. as it comes unplugged.





Installing Windows XP, I cant stand the slow Windows 10 with no GPU hardware acceleration. Loading XP to memory take a long time tho. Maybe because of the weird memory config causing it. Using Easy2Boot as Rufus formatted USB drive isn't detected.





I will done few benchies tomorrow. I might remove 256MB sticks so it can run dual channel. For what I wanted to run, 1GB is plenty.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 7, 2022)

Why are his cards so slow?







INTEGRAL 32GBompact Flash (CF) Card
All card comes with 5 Years Manufacturer warranty
Complete with free protective case
SPECIFICATIONS
Integral CF 866x cards support the Sanitize command (the ultimate card refresh)
Complete with free protective case
32GB 
Up to Read 100MB/s Write 40MB/s
VPG-20 will ensure FULL HD Video Recording
UDMA 7-enabled, for stunning performance when used with UDMA-enabled devices
New £22 i hope it is a lot faster than the speeds this guy gets on here.
cheaper than on Amazon.It is the last one the guy has got on Ebay 164 sold.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 8, 2022)

Apocalypsee said:


> see that the burner eject button is toast.


That looks easily fixed.


----------



## Outback Bronze (Aug 8, 2022)

Got bored last night. Went through some old GPU's to see if they still work.

Check out the rare as 9800 Pro 256MB with heatsinks on the memory. I really wish I had the original retail box for that bad boy!


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 8, 2022)

Outback Bronze said:


> Got bored last night. Went through some old GPU's to see if they still work.
> 
> Check out the rare as 9800 Pro 256MB with heatsinks on the memory. I really wish I had the original retail box for that bad boy!
> 
> ...



Nice collection, 9xxx series is awesome
I have the 9800 Pro 256 full in box, but it's from HIS, not the way nicer ATi reference one...


----------



## Outback Bronze (Aug 8, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Nice collection, 9xxx series is awesome
> I have the 9800 Pro 256 full in box, but it's from HIS, not the way nicer ATi reference one...



Wow, you keen on uploading pictures of the box and card of your HIS? Its gona give me a woody ; )

I bought that card many years ago loose and told the seller don't worry about the box : (

I've got a few more X850 Pro's and XT's too in their original retail boxes.

If I get a chance ill upload a collective picture of them all.

Cheers.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 8, 2022)

Apocalypsee said:


> Here's the GPU after a bit of cleanup, its GeCube Radeon X800GTO (you can see the sticker say GTO3?). Anyhow I love X800 cards, already got X800XP-PE AGP which is dead, X800XT PCIE also dead, X800GT (8 pipes) still working and this one is a fine addition to my collection  Its the last card to support ATi Truform so having it makes it easier to play older games that supports this technology.
> 
> View attachment 257288


better a GTO or GTO3 than a "GTFO" ... 

my own contribution to the Atom Shi... history...
(i have my Yeelight set on red ...  )
Samsung N150Plus


it was my mother daily driver until i got her a Desktop (Athlon 5350 that i got back home recently too, replaced with a screen broken laptop a Lenovo G50-70 with a  i7-4510U  and then with a new laptop with a more recent i5)


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 8, 2022)

@Outback Bronze Those are nice collection of Radeon cards, I only got one Powercolor X800GT that fully in the box with all its software/cables I buy it basically NOS (new old stock, never used). Box is similar to that Powercolor 9800 Pro you got there.

I replace the SB Live! 5.1 with Audigy 2 ZS, its a big soundcard though not as big as an ISA Soundblasters  





I done 3DMark2001SE single vs dual channel RAM. ~2000 mark difference increase from removing a 256MB stick and speed upped from 333MHz to 400MHz. Should've stick with smooth edges on fonts lol, I used to disable that back then  3DMark2000 scores the same as well, and same increase going to dual channel, noting its CPU bottleneck.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 8, 2022)

Got some air out of the X58 system's loop, runs cooler now. Also I put mixed RAM sticks so it has now 24GB (3x 4GB 1866 + 2x 4GB 1600 + 4GB 1333). Seems stable so far.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 8, 2022)

Lenne said:


> (3x 4GB 1866 + 2x 4GB 1600 + 4GB 1333)


I'm guessing they all run at 1333?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm guessing they all run at 1333?


Yeah, at about ~1400. I'm currently running it with 25x multiplier and 174BCLK = 4.35GHz.


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 8, 2022)

Outback Bronze said:


> Wow, you keen on uploading pictures of the box and card of your HIS? Its gona give me a woody ; )
> 
> I bought that card many years ago loose and told the seller don't worry about the box : (
> 
> ...



I took few pictures of my full 9500/9700/9800 collection  

*HIS 9700 Pro 128MB*







*HIS 9800 Pro 128MB







HIS 9800 Pro 256MB







Creative 9800XT 256MB





*

without box
*

*
(from top left)
*Reference Radeon 9500 Pro 
MEDION Radeon 9500 Pro
Reference FireGL X1 (9700)
Hercules 9800 Pro
Reference 9800 Pro* ( with custom heatsink unfortunately  )

that's all!


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 8, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I took few pictures of my full 9500/9700/9800 collection
> 
> *HIS 9700 Pro 128MB*
> View attachment 257366
> ...


They all look new!!   beautiful  I only have the lower models.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 8, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I took few pictures of my full 9500/9700/9800 collection
> 
> *HIS 9700 Pro 128MB*
> View attachment 257366
> ...


the first one made me re listen to ...










hey! 1999... nostalgic but not hardware (well Excalibur is hardware tho ... legendary hardware ... )

and sing along ...
"Excalibur
Sword of the kings
Take me on your wings
Back where I belong
Excalibur"

ok ... i go back to my corner ...


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 8, 2022)

Can you dual boot on a CF Card?
As i can get a 64 gb one for 11 pounds less than two 32 gb ones of the same make.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 8, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I took few pictures of my full 9500/9700/9800 collection
> 
> *HIS 9700 Pro 128MB*
> View attachment 257366
> ...


Nice cleaning on those, they look totally new 



Greenslade said:


> Can you dual boot on a CF Card?
> As i can get a 64 gb one for 11 pounds less than two 32 gb ones of the same make.


Yes you can.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 8, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Nice cleaning on those, they look totally new
> 
> 
> Yes you can.


Thanks i got the 64gb. 



Audioave10 said:


> They all look new!!   beautiful  I only have the lower models.


Wow that is a cool collection and the boxes to  Why no 9600 editions


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 8, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks i got the 64gb.
> 
> 
> Wow that is a cool collection and the boxes to  Why no 9600 editions


CF cards use the same protocol as the old IDE/PATA hard drives so that's why they're usually so compatible. As it's practically a SSD.

Also probably going to buy a 6800 Ultra AGP and other stuff today.


----------



## Apocalypsee (Aug 9, 2022)

I did a cleanup on my store to see what kind of stuff I still got, here's the GPU I got. Not as extensive as you guys, but its better than nothing. I really need an AGP system, thinking of making Pentium 4 system but we'll see...





From left, 2nd row then 3rd row; Powercolor X800GT 128MB DDR fullset, ATi Rage 128 PCI 32MB, BBA Radeon X700 Pro 256MB, Radeon 9100 128MB (I think, cant remember the memory on this one), Sapphire Radeon 9550 256MB, Radeon X800XT 256MB (dead) and Leadtek Winfast TNT2 M64 32MB


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 9, 2022)

Cool, I got the 6800U just for the postage cost as the dude has thrown its original cooler away. Luckily I have a Zalman VF700Cu for it.


----------



## Bones (Aug 9, 2022)

Reconfigured the daily (Again) and this time I'm running an older Crosshair V with a Deneb 955 BE in place and it's working OK.
Like the A8N32 it was acting cranky at first but began acting OK once it had some runtime on it.

One thing I did have to do was to find a cooler that would work without alot of hassle. My older Opty coolers (Predecesors of the AM4 Wraith) have a tendency to "Stick" to the CPU, making it a real pain to remove without pulling the CPU with it if I have to remove it.
So instead I dug out a classic I had lying around and it's working great.
I don't have a pic of the actual cooler in use here but this is a stock pic of what it is.

Thermaltake V1 cooler and yes, it's really easy to install and remove too.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 9, 2022)

Bones said:


> Reconfigured the daily (Again) and this time I'm running an older Crosshair V with a Deneb 955 BE in place and it's working OK.
> Like the A8N32 it was acting cranky at first but began acting OK once it had some runtime on it.
> 
> One thing I did have to do was to find a cooler that would work without alot of hassle. *My older Opty coolers (Predecesors of the AM4 Wraith) have a tendency to "Stick" to the CPU, making it a real pain to remove without pulling the CPU with it if I have to remove it.*
> ...


Doesn't twisting the cooler help to get rid of the tight CPU-paste-cooler contact?


----------



## Bones (Aug 9, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Doesn't twisting the cooler help to get rid of the tight CPU-paste-cooler contact?


Not with these (Opty coolers) - The mating surface is really smooth and doesn't let air get in easily for it to separate.
It also doesn't help I'm always swapping stuff around so the TIM never has time to dry out (That being a key thing about it), it's still in a semi-liquid form so it swirls with the cooler as you twist it around instead of just breaking contact.

Thinner TIM's used does help but these still do it, plus in the socket you can't twist the cooler around too much. The thing that seems to work best is with a socket that has the cooler mounting ends separated, simply sliding the cooler to one side sometimes works but then the pipes catch these ends, keeping me from sliding it all the way off.

I've noted if the mating surface on the cooler is not so smooth that actually helps, if it is smooth like these it's almost impossible to remove it without the chip coming with it.
In cases the TIM has aged/dried out it's not nearly as bad of course, much easier to get it off and not pull the chip out.
However I've dealt with this so many times it's not really a problem, more of an annoying hassle these days.


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 9, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> They all look new!!   beautiful  I only have the lower models.





Lenne said:


> Nice cleaning on those, they look totally new



I'm pretty sure the Radeon 9700Pro has never been used, maybe also the 9800Pro-256, but not sure about it.
The rest are just well cleaned, yes


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 9, 2022)

So I was taking inventory of all my drives & backups and realized that I am still using a drive from Nov 2006 regularly. Ran some tests to re-verify the drive and it's still going strong. SMART data is still good. And it still benches well.







Not bad for a 15 year old drive.

The next oldest is a Toshiba 120GB drive from June 2010;






Again, old drive still going strong.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 9, 2022)

I'm finally home & able to play with my old/new system.  Thanks again QuietBob for the FireFox link.  That one installed fine.
Here's a couple HDD tests.  HD Tune & Crystal Disk Mark on 3 74GB WD Raptors in RAID0.









I installed the X1900 Crossfire Edition after a re-paste & it works!


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 11, 2022)

Crossfire is enabled!  And I did a slight OC to the cards, but the CPU is still stock.

Here's a baseline 3dMark03.





And here's an overclocked video with Crossfire enabled.


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 11, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Crossfire is enabled!  And I did a slight OC to the cards, but the CPU is still stock.
> 
> Here's a baseline 3dMark03.
> 
> ...


Nice! I've got an X1900 CF and an X1950 XTX but no dongle, not sure if they can crossfire because of the different vram but it'd be fun to try anyway.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 11, 2022)

I don't remember if the X1900 & X1950 would work together.  It would be fun to test it out if you can find the cable.

I've got the E6600 2.4GHz CPU up to 3.6GHz.  It was super easy because I found my OC notes in a text file on a flash drive.  Just plugged in the numbers & off she went!


----------



## Red_Machine (Aug 11, 2022)

Got this for my legacy systems because I was tired of creating <2GB partitions on my 64GB USB stick just so I could copy files to them.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 12, 2022)

Adrian vs. an Amiga 2000...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 12, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Adrian vs. an Amiga 2000...


I think it's a cold joint problem. Adrian likely need to go over all the solder joints around the CPU. As the board is bent, the joint in question is being forced to make contact. Easy fix, just takes time and a bit of solder.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 12, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I think it's a cold joint problem. Adrian likely need to go over all the solder joints around the CPU. As the board is bent, the joint in question is being forced to make contact. Easy fix, just takes time and a bit of solder.


Its crazy what he ends up doing with this A2000.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 12, 2022)

A bit of an update on the EeePC. I took the original 1gb DIMM out of the EeePC and upgraded it to a 2gb stick, which worked perfectly. I Installed the 1gb stick out of the EeePC into my Latitude D620, upgrading it to 2x1gb ram instead of 1x1gb+1x512mb (which was already an upgrade over the factory config).

I have been essentially given up attempting to upgrade the storage in the EeePC due to it actually using a fairly uncommon and expensive PATA Mini PCIe drive, and it will not work with the MSATA drive I purchased for it.

Due to this and the fact I am too lazy to install XP on a bunch of systems, I simply made a Mint 19.3 XFCE 32 bit live CD and decided on Sysbench to determine CPU performance. Not as nice as Cinebench, however it will be simple and provide performance data for comparative purposes. It also can run on a specified number of threads just like Cinebench, which means I can get both single and multi core performance.

So far I have started to run benchmarks and compile some results, but I will come back and post it plus some IPC tests if possible when complete.

A bit of a side note, the D620  is surprisingly fast and perfectly usable on this livecd of Mint. It runs circles around the latest version of Lubuntu (x64)  and XP SP3 32 bit (360 EE Modified for browser) which are both installed onto the SSD in this D620. For example, I am currently typing this message with some music from youtube in the background. Experiencing 0 slowdown, nor any issues with playback, even just with the default firefox OS. I can switch between tabs, open OS menus, and even other applications without any performance issues at all, which is VERY impressive given this laptop has a very low end Core 2 Duo T5500 (1.66ghz).


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 12, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Its crazy what he ends up doing with this A2000.


Right? It's a mickey-mouse job but if it works... I would have flipped the speaker the other way so the voice-coil canister was on the CPU, but that's just me..



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I have been essentially given up attempting to upgrade the storage in the EeePC due to it actually using a fairly uncommon and expensive PATA Mini PCIe drive, and it will not work with the MSATA drive I purchased for it.


You couldn't find one? Are you stateside?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 12, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You couldn't find one? Are you stateside?


Found a few on eBay that were too short. Found a single one the correct length, but it was $18+5 shipping for a 16gb drive, which is a bit silly. Yeah I'm in the US


----------



## Valantar (Aug 12, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I have been essentially given up attempting to upgrade the storage in the EeePC due to it actually using a fairly uncommon and expensive PATA Mini PCIe drive, and it will not work with the MSATA drive I purchased for it.


Hm. Can you post a picture of the interface? Given how simple it is to convert CF cards to Pata (aren't they essentially the same signalling?), there might be some way to work around this.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 12, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Hm. Can you post a picture of the interface? Given how simple it is to convert CF cards to Pata (aren't they essentially the same signalling?), there might be some way to work around this.


It's a miniPCIe port. It takes a drive specifically engineered for it.


@RyzenMaster.sys
Maybe one of these might work for the drive you already have.








						mSATA SSD to SATA Mini PCIe SSD adapter card for Asus EPCS101 900A 901A Y3 TM _T  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for mSATA SSD to SATA Mini PCIe SSD adapter card for Asus EPCS101 900A 901A Y3 TM _T at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 12, 2022)

Given up on the sysbench. It was producing very very weird results. For example in single core a Celeron 420 1.6ghz 512k Conroe got 226 where a Pentium 4 630 3ghz Prescott 2m got 167.

Conroe ipc is much better than netburst, but it's not enough to make it 35% faster with half of the clockspeed and 1/4 the cache. Additionally a pentium m 1.8 was scoring higher than my T5500 in single.

Moving to 7zip.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 13, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> but it was $18+5 shipping for a 16gb drive, which is a bit silly. Yeah I'm in the US


That's actually not a bad price. I'd grab it.(sorry, I missed this post earlier)


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 13, 2022)

Any clue if Mint 19.3 32 bit can run on AMD K7 based CPUs?




I keep getting this when I try.

I am having issues getting it to run. I also tried debian 32 bit and it doesn't even get far enough to error.

I am using workarounds to make it USB boot btw, but this worked just fine for my socket 754 board.

Here are some of the results I have compiled. Performance metrics are from composite score from the 7zip compression/decompression benchmark, running in Linux Mint 19.3 32 bit XFCE.  CPUs were chosen based on several factors and should represent CPUs on different ends of the spectrum.

When comparing raw single core performance, the the Atom N270 is just behind a 2.26GHz Northwoods Pentium 4. Overall this places is very close to the bottom of the chart, however this performance is at a significant clock speed deficit versus most of the chart.




In the multi core test, the Atom is able to utilize hyperthreading is able to stretch its legs versus the competition without any multithreading capabilities. The N270 climbs the chart slightly finds itself around the performance of a 2.8GHz Prescott 1M Pentium 4.



IPC wise, I would have liked to have locked all of the CPUs to the exact same frequency, which wasn't possible. All of the Netburst based CPUs tested have a locked multiplier and relatively low FSB speeds, which makes it difficult to underclock these CPUs significantly. Instead, I opted to divide each CPUs' single threaded score by its frequency in GHz. This may not perfectly represent the IPC if all CPUs were locked to the same frequency, as performance does not always scale perfectly with increasing frequency. However, this should provide at least a general ballpark.




In this test the Atom N270 does valiantly. While its IPC is not on par with even low end Core 2 or K8 based CPUs, It puts netburst to shame. The N270 has similar IPC to the Pentium 4 HT 630, despite having 1/4 the cache, and a 2.5W TDP versus an 84w TDP. 

Overall, this CPU did not perform well upon release, and its performance is simply unusable in modern day. However, I still find these results impressive simply due to how constrained this CPU is. With a power budget many times lower than every other CPU on this list, it still manages to hold its own. This really also shows just how bad the Via C7 is.

Overall I spent far too much time on this just to investigate a super low end CPU from over a decade ago, especially since I spent an incredible amount of time attempting to run this benchmark on several other platforms and failing. As this post is already too long I won't elaborate.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 14, 2022)

Retro Hardware has a lot of goodies from the era I collect for...


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 15, 2022)

Well this was annoying waste of a couple hours. 

Decided to switch over my Win98 gaming pc to an Athlon 700 TB setup instead of the PIII 866 setup it had just for fun.
The HDD I was using was also very slow (too slow even for win98) so I used my Maxtor 40GB drive instead.

Got the OS, drivers & a couple games installed and I was just about to setup the logitech joystick but it stopped responding. Went ahead and reset the system and it kept hanging on drive detection. 

In the half hour I was away letting Mechwarrior 4 mercs copy over the HDD decided to up and die on me. 

Oh well, I didn't like that drive anyway. Was loud enough to drown out all the fans.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 15, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Well this was annoying waste of a couple hours.
> 
> Decided to switch over my Win98 gaming pc to an Athlon 700 TB setup instead of the PIII 866 setup it had just for fun.
> The HDD I was using was also very slow (too slow even for win98) so I used my Maxtor 40GB drive instead.
> ...


Have you considered a solid state alternative such as a compact flash to IDE adapter, or similar?

CF to IDE is plug and play. More reliable and higher performance than a 25 year old spinner.


----------



## DR4G00N (Aug 15, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Have you considered a solid state alternative such as a compact flash to IDE adapter, or similar?
> 
> CF to IDE is plug and play. More reliable and higher performance than a 25 year old spinner.


It's more for the experience rather than convenience. If I wanted fast and reliable I'd just play these games on my daily instead. 

I'll just poke around for another ide hdd or two.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 15, 2022)

Got a txt that one package has arrived. It means....




Spoiler



6800 Ultra AGP



Now I can die happily in peace. 








from the same box:


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 16, 2022)

Playing on my 2nd PC. X5675 @ 4.55GHz & R9 290X @ 1111/1414 is way more capable than I thought.


----------



## P4-630 (Aug 16, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> So I was taking inventory of all my drives & backups and realized that I am still using a drive from Nov 2006 regularly. Ran some tests to re-verify the drive and it's still going strong. SMART data is still good. And it still benches well.
> View attachment 257418
> View attachment 257416
> Not bad for a 15 year old drive.
> ...




You got some prototype engineering sample drives there or something interested by the FBI under the blurred area?


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 16, 2022)

This will be interesting for some...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 17, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> You got some prototype engineering sample drives there or something interested by the FBI under the blurred area?


Privacy concerns, but I know you were joking.



Audioave10 said:


> This will be interesting for some...


Adrian knows his craft!


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Aug 17, 2022)

I always like watching Adrian's videos, even if I don't have nostalgia for specific stuff he's working on in them.

His technical prowess and passion for his work more than make up for it.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 17, 2022)

I have wanted a nice Core 2 Duo laptop for awhile. I had originally bought the latitude d620 but it's not what I wanted. It only supports 65nm CPUs up to a certain frequency. The onboard GMA950 really isn't up to doing much of anything anymore, even running a modern GUI is a tall ask. The overall quality as well as the screen, keyboard, and mono speaker are lackluster.

I was looking into ThinkPads and other high end core 2 laptops when I found an Elitebook 8530P. I offered and got it for $10+8 shipping. It apparently was for parts but the photos showed it working.











It is in rough shape, but it does turn on. The os install on there is corrupt, but it does boot to a Linux USB.





P8700 (supports up to p9800 officially, p9900 apparently functions as well)
2x2gb ddr2
ATI Mobility 3650
1680x1050 display
Included was a 120gb Seagate Enterprise SSD from 2013.

Overall quality is a lot better than the D620. It will take a lot of work to clean it up and improve it, but I am happy with my purchase so far.


----------



## Red_Machine (Aug 17, 2022)

I have something similar in Dell form, but with a 1400x900 screen.  Also have a slightly newer Vaio with a 1080p screen and a Radeon 4560.  The Vaio's got some burn-in on the screen that makes me think they never watched movies in fullscreen mode, just a window.  Kinda weird.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 17, 2022)

Here's one from Linus 







80 megs of ram wow. Those ball mice suck.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 18, 2022)

Cool, there was the VRM heatsink in one box which I got from the dude I got the 6800 Ultra from. Put a Zalman VF700Cu to it. Now I need to recap that Asus A7N8X-X and see if I get it kickin'.



Spoiler











I got also a nice unused copper cooler which I put to my GF3 Ti 200 



Spoiler













Greenslade said:


> Here's one from Linus
> 
> 
> 
> ...


80MB was hella lot back then, even 32MB was more than enough for most users.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 18, 2022)

Red_Machine said:


> I have something similar in Dell form, but with a 1400x900 screen.  Also have a slightly newer Vaio with a 1080p screen and a Radeon 4560.  The Vaio's got some burn-in on the screen that makes me think they never watched movies in fullscreen mode, just a window.  Kinda weird.


You could either get an 800p, 1050p, or 1200p display option for the 8530W. The 1050p panel needs cleaned but it looks quite good overall. The resolution and size are about perfect for what I want. Only real issue is the CCFL backlight which likely isn't as bright as it once was and the color reproduction is that of your average CCFL. It is better than the panel in the d620s panel in every regard, however.

I have learned that with HP the base panels are to be avoided at all costs. My daily driver laptop is an Elitebook 8470p (i7 3720QM, iGPU, 8GB, 240gb SSD) with the base 768p TN screen. While it is LED backlit, it is extremely sub par in every regard. I have considered buying the optional higher quality 900p TN display for it however haven't found one cheap enough to make it worthwhile.

I will clean this laptop up tomorrow, throw an OS on it, and assess what needs repaired/replaced/added. Already I see a few things that need addressed, some that may be worth looking into, and some that probably don't.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 18, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Cool, there was the VRM heatsink in one box which I got from the dude I got the 6800 Ultra from. Put a Zalman VF700Cu to it. Now I need to recap that Asus A7N8X-X and see if I get it kickin'.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Lenne said:


> Cool, there was the VRM heatsink in one box which I got from the dude I got the 6800 Ultra from. Put a Zalman VF700Cu to it. Now I need to recap that Asus A7N8X-X and see if I get it kickin'.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, I do realize that was a lot in those days.  Sounds like you got a good deal there. It is always nice to get stuff for nothing. It does not happen for me much though.I bet no one had one of these back in the day 







 I dare say it is very collectible today. None on eBay it seems.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 18, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Cool, there was the VRM heatsink in one box which I got from the dude I got the 6800 Ultra from. Put a Zalman VF700Cu to it. Now I need to recap that Asus A7N8X-X and see if I get it kickin'.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



My GeForce6 6800 U AGP w/ Zalman cooler & MSI GeForce3 Ti200 cards stopped by to say Hi to your cards. 


Spoiler


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 18, 2022)

I have just bought two ide drives cheap, one WD 200GB and Seagate 160Gb . the WD does not have a jumper on it. Is it useable without a jumper? I see they only sell them in bulk Why have some posts got *Spoiler*on them?


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 18, 2022)

The spoiler button is just hiding the images to minimize clutter on the page.

See if you can get a clear picture of the jumper section for the WD HDD & its model number.  I don't know if you will need a jumper or not.
Do you have any dead hardware that might have a jumper on it?


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 18, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The spoiler button is just hiding the images to minimize clutter on the page.
> 
> See if you can get a clear picture of the jumper section for the WD HDD & its model number.  I don't know if you will need a jumper or not.
> Do you have any dead hardware that might have a jumper on it?


Thanks for clearing the Spoiler thing up. It is just the normal 10 pins.
Just one of those tiny Jumpers costs £1.79 on eBay The two drivers did not cost much more. Lex would know if he was on here.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 18, 2022)

Take a look at the drive label.  It shows if it is a Single or Master no jumper is needed.  It needs a jumper if it is a Master w/ a Slave or if it's a Slave.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 18, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Take a look at the drive label.  It shows if it is a Single or Master no jumper is needed.  It needs a jumper if it is a Master w/ a Slave or if it's a Slave.


I get you thanksI see the Seagate only has 8 pins as oposed to the WD which has ten.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes, I do realize that was a lot in those days.  Sounds like you got a good deal there. It is always nice to get stuff for nothing. It does not happen for me much though.I bet no one had one of these back in the day
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've seen one of those in real life. Absolute trash. Cheap plastics and crap specs. To it's credit though, it was decently upgradeable. You could add a bunch of RAM, upgrade the CPU to a good P4, had an AGP port for a dGPU and even a pair of bootable SATA ports.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 19, 2022)

68Olds said:


> My GeForce6 6800 U AGP w/ Zalman cooler & MSI GeForce3 Ti200 cards stopped by to say Hi to your cards.
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


They look cool! (pun intended), I'm jealous of your Ti 200's outputs dammit.



Greenslade said:


> Yes, I do realize that was a lot in those days.  Sounds like you got a good deal there. It is always nice to get stuff for nothing. It does not happen for me much though.I bet no one had one of these back in the day
> 
> 
> 
> ...


RETRO Hardware is an awesome channel, I like that you like it


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 19, 2022)

Query about CF Card,s
CF Card, what should it be formatted too?
I have formatted it as XFAT is that the right format for Windows 98/ME/2000?
Crystal Disk Mark is not showing what card it is
I just selected the Folder of it. Why does it not show the actual CF card on there?
Just select the folder.?
see the results of the card below.
.And not showing the health of the card on Crystal Disc info?
This is the card.
Testing the card with the h2testw, It says on their
*Warning: only 61060 of 61061 Mb tested.*Test finished all fine 
Crystal Disc Info
Crystal  Disc Info, does it not give info on Cf Card.s?






*


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 19, 2022)

I think it should be formatted to either FAT or FAT32.  I would try FAT32 first.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 19, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I think it should be formatted to either FAT or FAT32.  I would try FAT32 first.


Why is there no Fat32 option on the Windows formater, only EXFAT and of course  NTFS? I use the PI Imager that does it to FAT32, it now shows on Crystal Disk mark. after a formatted, it to Fat32 But not showing in Crystal Discinfo?
Is there an app to get a health check like the Crystal Discinfo  for CF Card,s?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I've seen one of those in real life. Absolute trash. Cheap plastics and crap specs. To it's credit though, it was decently upgradeable. You could add a bunch of RAM, upgrade the CPU to a good P4, had an AGP port for a dGPU and even a pair of bootable SATA ports.


I owned a mostly complete Disney Dreamdesk setup for a short period of time about 2 years ago. It was built by Medion and quality was actually fine in my opinion. While it was definitely built to a cost as you would expect a low cost computer for children to be in the early 2000s, the quality was fine and way better than a Hotwheels or Barbie PC. Inside was a matx PGA478 motherboard with onboard 9100IGP graphics, a 3.5in Seagate hdd, and a FSP TFX PSU. It had a Celeron D and 256mb ram, which I upgraded to a 2.8 P4 and 2gb ram. It had 4 ram slots, AGP, and PCI, so you had some upgrade potential.
*

*
The LCD monitor and peripherals were rather cheap feeling on the other hand.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Why is there no Fat32 option on the Windows formater, only EXFAT and of course  NTFS? I use the PI Imager that does it to FAT32, it now shows on Crystal Disk mark. after a formatted, it to Fat32 But not showing in Crystal Discinfo?
> Is there an app to get a health check like the Crystal Discinfo  for CF Card,s?


What O/S are you using to format the CF card?  See if you can plug it into your XP machine & format it there.  Only choices I have on my XP machine looking at a 4GB flash drive are FAT & FAT32.





I forgot, a drive over 32GB can not be formatted to FAT32 in Windows.  But there are work arounds.  Google led me here...









						How to Format External Hard Drive to FAT32 in Windows
					

If you’ve ever tried to format an external hard drive larger than 32GB to FAT32 in Windows, you will have seen that your operating system doesn’t allow you to do [...]




					www.online-tech-tips.com
				




Since this CF is going to be your primary "hard drive", Win XP should be able to see it formatted to NTFS for your O/S install.  Sorry for the run around, never played with using a nonHDD for an O/S.
God... I've triple posted.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 19, 2022)

I am going to leave this here ...


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 19, 2022)

Brand new Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP. All original accessories included. 

K8 DPS is essentially an additional socketed VRM that can be plugged in for overclocking. 

Sadly, while it is all brand new and spotless, it has several leaky caps. Will need a recap.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 19, 2022)

Leaky caps??!?! Nothing that a HAKKO FR-301 cannot handle. 

I am saving to buy the HAKKO and launch myself into "business". I will  take orders that will take into consideration not only the specs but even the color of the caps. 

We all know collectors pay a great attention to detail!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 19, 2022)

Robert B said:


> I am going to leave this here ...


I'll leave one also.
On K8N-DRE


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have formatted it as XFAT is that the right format for Windows 98/ME/2000?


FAT32.


Greenslade said:


> Why is there no Fat32 option on the Windows formater, only EXFAT and of course NTFS? I use the PI Imager that does it to FAT32, it now shows on Crystal Disk mark. after a formatted, it to Fat32 But not showing in Crystal Discinfo?


If you're going to install Windows 98, use FDisk or a third party partitioning utility. Do not format from within Windows.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Sadly, while it is all brand new and spotless, it has several leaky caps. Will need a recap.


That shouldn't be difficult.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 19, 2022)

The Elitebook isn't going to plan and I figured out why it was "for parts or not working"...


Stay tuned



lexluthermiester said:


> That shouldn't be difficult.


I need to get some new soldering equipment. Any reccomendations for a soldering iron and/or desoldering gun?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 20, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It was built by Medion and quality was actually fine in my opinion.


Really? The one I saw, had to fix & upgrade was just crap. Perhaps it had been abused...


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Really? The one I saw, had to fix & upgrade was just crap. Perhaps it had been abused...


In what ways?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 20, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I need to get some new soldering equipment. Any reccomendations for a soldering iron and/or desoldering gun?


As long as you get a good 40w unit, rosin flux and rosin-core solder, you should be ok.
Here are a few example I would recommend:
Iron with station:


			https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-40-Watt-Soldering-Station/dp/B000AS28UC
		

Soldering kit:


			https://www.amazon.com/Weller-Soldering-Accessory-Kit-WCACCK2/dp/B09631HLB6
		

This should be everything you need to get a good start.



RyzenMaster.sys said:


> In what ways?


The plastics were flimzy and cheap looking. They were cracked all over and discoloured.


----------



## Valantar (Aug 20, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I need to get some new soldering equipment. Any reccomendations for a soldering iron and/or desoldering gun?


I'm really enamored with my Pinecil soldering pen, which packs a serious punch for a small and very affordable iron. Though a proper soldering station might be more handy if you're doing more serious work. Fantastic for hobbyist use though.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 20, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The plastics were flimzy and cheap looking. They were cracked all over and discoloured.


Thanks for the recommendation. Plastics might have just not aged well on yours. Plastics on mine weren't discolored or flimsy.

The back cover did break in shipping, but I blame that more on FedEx considering the shape of the box.

I'd like to say I knew what was wrong with the Elitebook but I would be lying.



Spoiler: Details about the issue



The main issue is that it simply doesn't want to power on. The power button does not function at all. You cannot turn it on by the button. The way I've gotten it to turn on was by clearing CMOS, draining all power from it, and then reconnecting to power. It will show power lights, turn off, then back on. 50% of the time it will display after that. Once it's booted it will work perfectly but cannot be turned off by the power button.




I removed this piece which contains capacitive controls for volume, WiFi, and some other things. It also just had a piece of plastic that pushes down on the power button soldered to the motherboard.

With this piece removed, the power button actually functions. The laptop turns on and off with the press of the button. However, it still doesn't post half of the time.

When I plugged this back in, the power button again doesn't work, but now the capacitive controls do not light up and the power led on the chassis or illuminating the power button do not light.

These issues seem very random and are confusing. 

Does have some other issues, the screen latch is a common flaw on these and mine does not work. The left and right click buttons have a degraded rubber coating. The track point works but the rubber bit is missing. The keyboard illumination light at the top of the screen only works intermittently. The screen, although very nice in many ways, is very dim. Oh and the BIOS is locked with a password stored in ROM. Seller doesn't know it.



Overall I think the issue is either with the motherboard, the capacitive control bar, or both. I cleaned the motherboard and inner chassis with IPA as there are some signs of a liquid being spilled in here. 

I overall really like this laptop when it works. Performance is decent for what I want, the chassis is sturdy, touchpad and keyboard are nice, screen is nice but dim, and it just overal feels very high quality.

Because of that, I will likely put _*some *_money into it to repair it. Looking at repair cost, a motherboard is about the same cost as a working donor laptop just with an obliterated screen.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 20, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Thanks for the recommendation. Plastics might have just not aged well on yours. Plastics on mine weren't discolored or flimsy.


It might also be due to variations in plastics manufacturing quality, which is a common problem on low volume, budget friendly product runs like those were. Who knows though...

EDIT:
Phil just did a very informative vid on VooDoo3 cards. For those that have them;








Many of these tips also apply to other VooDoo cards.


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 20, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> I'll leave one also.
> On K8N-DRE
> 
> View attachment 258695


I guess vCore reading is for some reason double the real, right?


----------



## Robert B (Aug 20, 2022)

Knowing Mr.Scott I think that the voltage is quite normal or CPU-Z reads it wrong.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 20, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I guess vCore reading is for some reason double the real, right?


CPU-z reads it wrong. Both sockets have the VID pin modded for 1.5v.


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 20, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> CPU-z reads it wrong. Both sockets have the VID pin modded for 1.5v.



OK 

In these days I tested my Opt 185 (~FX60) but seems like I hit an hard wall at 3060MHz...





It seems quite stable with 1.42~1.45V at 3.00




but then, to go higher it requires almost immediately 1.5V and it stops at 3060 

I'm using an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium which does not allow me to give more than 3.00V to the RAM (to use x12 multi with 1:1 FSB:RAM)
actually I'm quite surprised they can do 235 2-2-2-5 with just 3V

Will try again as soon as I recapp the DFI NF4 Ultra which should support memory voltage up to 3.4, maybe it will allow me to squeeze also a little bit more out of the CPU!


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 23, 2022)

does anybody know which memory modules are used for those Athlon 64 FX rankings on hwbot with CL 1.5? 
BH-5 on steroids?


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 23, 2022)

I just turned on my HPZ230 i heard a pop and a burning smell  I have a bug problem here could bugs have got in the power supply and caused the power supply to blow?Can,t get the bigger connector out. Can you see anything burnt out in there?


----------



## AM4isGOD (Aug 23, 2022)

Boots fine. 2x256mb 1333 ram sticks, AMD thunderbird 1333, AGP Geforce 4 MX 64mb


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 23, 2022)

AM4isGOD said:


> Boots fine. 2x256mb 1333 ram sticks, AMD thunderbird 1333, AGP Geforce 4 MX 64mb
> View attachment 259111



nais!


----------



## Blaylock (Aug 23, 2022)

Hell ya! That was a powerhouse in its day.


----------



## si-129 (Aug 23, 2022)

copper thermalright era


----------



## _JP_ (Aug 23, 2022)

Back when copper was the quintessential bling of the enthusiasts. Sure, it was e-peen worthy to go over 3.5GHz, but to have it done on copper? You had to have it going for you!


----------



## Robert B (Aug 23, 2022)

A bunch o' Hercs and some other miscellaneous stuff. 

When it rains it pours!


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Aug 23, 2022)

_JP_ said:


> Back when copper was the quintessential bling of the enthusiasts. Sure, it was e-peen worthy to go over 3.5GHz, but to have it done on copper? You had to have it going for you!



Still irritates me that modern motherboards will throw a metric ton of aluminum for heat sinking and charge what they do for the boards, and won't do copper instead.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 23, 2022)

Retro Hardware is in the Czech Republic and he finds so much goodness there.


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just turned on my HPZ230 i heard a pop and a burning smell  I have a bug problem here could bugs have got in the power supply and caused the power supply to blow?Can,t get the bigger connector out. Can you see anything burnt out in there?



To bright of a picture. Can't see much of anything bro.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 23, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> To bright of a picture. Can't see much of anything bro.


Sorry I am crap at taking pictures But have come to the conclusion that the PSU has died. Well someone else said that too.


----------



## r9 (Aug 23, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 258706
> The Elitebook isn't going to plan and I figured out why it was "for parts or not working"...
> 
> 
> ...


I have 852D+ for years does great job, just use quality solder/flux and keep the tip tinned before turning off to protect from corrosion.
For desoldering just use desoldering braid again with plenty quality flux.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Retro Hardware is in the Czech Republic and he finds so much goodness there.


Wow that's a lot of reading the guy must do I was trying to work out his accent but you have told me it is Czech, but then again who reads magazines anymore?


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Wow that's a lot of reading the guy must do I was trying to work out his accent but you have told me it is Czech, but then again who reads magazines anymore?


The last part of the video shows some rare hardware he also picked up. Magazines from the year 2000 are Nostalgic if you remember those times.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 23, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> The last part of the video shows some rare hardware he also picked up. Magazines from the year 2000 are Nostalgic if you remember those times.


I get your point there,i have not seen the video yet.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 23, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> does anybody know which memory modules are used for those Athlon 64 FX rankings on hwbot with CL 1.5?
> BH-5 on steroids?


Lol. Most of those subs are mine.
They are BH-5.
Natively they are CAS2, but you can set it lower with software like A64 Tweaker.
Does it help?.....eh, maybe. Most will say no, but my 32m times are always faster so take it for what it's worth.


----------



## framebuffer (Aug 23, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Lol. Most of those subs are mine.
> They are BH-5.
> Natively they are CAS2, but you can set it lower with software like A64 Tweaker.
> Does it help?.....eh, maybe. Most will say no, but my 32m times are always faster so take it for what it's worth.



OK, well that's crazy!!
Yes I saw several of yours submissions, other than impressive they are a good help to compare results 

Today I tested all my DDR modules, very tedious job tbh, forgot how many times I had to reset the CMOS 
Long story short, I have some 512 and 1024 MB pairs capable of 200 2-2-2-5 and plenty capable of 2-3-2-6, some can go up to 220 at same timings, so good stuff for default/daily systems
Unfortunately, when it comes to go higher and do some decent benchmarks, I only have one pair of BH-5 that can do, better than nothing I guess...

I also have few pairs that should be Samsung TCCD, was hoping to see some nice numbers at CL 2.5 (250~290) but, no way...


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 23, 2022)

I have just seen this
HP Z230 Workstation Desktop PC | Intel i3-4330 | 4GB RAM | 500GB HDD | Win10Pro  *This PC has been fully refurbished and tested by our qualified technicians and is in excellent fully ”...£70 make an offer.I dare say a PSU want  cost much less than buying that PC.
Quality-vetted sellers
Professionally inspected, cleaned and refurbished by the vetted seller.
1-year guarantee
Minimum 1-year guarantee included. Provided by the seller, UK only.All though i  prefer a better PSU in there.


----------



## Courier 6 (Aug 23, 2022)

si-129 said:


> copper thermalright era
> View attachment 259121


Now that´s the stuff, nice!


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 24, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> To bright of a picture. Can't see much of anything bro.


I just wish i could transfer the motherboard to another case.
HP are a pain in the neck with there propriety  stuff. I did send a message to the seller ,and asking if he has a PSU that would fit in the PC like the one it comes with.i did say i was interested in buying it.But i have orded the adapter so i can see if the my PC works .


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 24, 2022)

AM4isGOD said:


> Boots fine. 2x256mb 1333 ram sticks, AMD thunderbird 1333, AGP Geforce 4 MX 64mb
> View attachment 259111


That is a good board, especially if you want to do overclocking & IDE RAID. These days you can use CompactFlash+IDE Adapters in IDE RAID to great effect!



si-129 said:


> copper thermalright era
> View attachment 259121


Nice collection!


----------



## Bones (Aug 24, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> OK, well that's crazy!!
> Yes I saw several of yours submissions, other than impressive they are a good help to compare results
> 
> Today I tested all my DDR modules, very tedious job tbh, forgot how many times I had to reset the CMOS
> ...


Have a few of those myself running 1.5CL but the majority of mine are higher RAM speed runs like this one: Bones`s SuperPi - 1M score: 24sec 797ms with a Opteron 175


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 24, 2022)

Some people are lucky to get stuff for free


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Some people are lucky to get stuff for free


Wow did he get excited on boot-up of the 486...


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 24, 2022)

Could i use Suglue  to fix   a PSU  in this case rather than having to drill two holes out  for this PC?I would use the nuts and washers for the other end. Its a pain in the neck that it does not take a normal  sized PSU  or does anyone know of a PSU that is the same size as the one in the HPZ230 MT i can,t see the exact PSU that origanal came with the case.There must be one that fits in the same.HP sucks.I don,t have a drill.Or would it be best to go for this?
Refurbished

Quality-vetted sellers
Professionally inspected, cleaned and refurbished by the vetted seller.

1-year guarantee
Minimum 1-year guarantee included. Provided by the seller, UK only.

“This PC has been fully refurbished and tested by our qualified technicians and is in excellent fully.Aster all i would peoberly gave to pay nearly as much as this PC for a new PSU.I will wait until i get the adapter so i can try a Dell PSU which i have going spare.To check that the origanal PSU did not take any of the other stuff with it. It is just a shame i can,t put the motherboard in another case, where i could put a normal sized PSU in there.





buy the one on ebay for £70 pounds  make an offer?It has been tested and working fine so they say.



b


----------



## _JP_ (Aug 24, 2022)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> Still irritates me that modern motherboards will throw a metric ton of aluminum for heat sinking and charge what they do for the boards, and won't do copper instead.


Who can forget MSI's wild rollercoaster rides on copper, or ASUS' massive heatsinks.   
Then again, AIBs in the HD2xx0 and HD3xx0 era were also throwing some impressive exposed metal chunks on the cards, as they've showed-up on this thread and on the rare cards one.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Aug 24, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> OK, well that's crazy!!
> Yes I saw several of yours submissions, other than impressive they are a good help to compare results
> 
> Today I tested all my DDR modules, very tedious job tbh, forgot how many times I had to reset the CMOS
> ...


Voltage is important.
For BH-5, 3.6v is almost a must for high speed.
For TCCD, 3.0v.


----------



## SpittinFax (Aug 24, 2022)

After missing my old one for years it's very cool to have an O.G. PS1 again, just picked one up today very cheap "for parts". It just had some minor issues with spindle and laser actuator gears but it was easy to get it reading disks again.

I couldn't save the partially-responsive Dual Shock 2 controller though. But I expected it would be knackered and I've got plans to mod my own controller anyway.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 25, 2022)

Got a base with motherboard and some other parts for 20 some bucks on eBay. In theory this should fix my elitebook. The item was supposedly is tested and working. Will see about that considering there is a stinkbug in between the chipset and heatsink.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Will see about that considering there is a stinkbug in between the chipset and heatsink.


As long as it's dead, it shouldn't be a problem! I'm guessing you've already cleaned it..


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> but then again who reads magazines anymore?


i do buy them sometime  and read them ofc



SpittinFax said:


> After missing my old one for years it's very cool to have an O.G. PS1 again, just picked one up today very cheap "for parts". It just had some minor issues with spindle and laser actuator gears but it was easy to get it reading disks again.
> 
> I couldn't save the partially-responsive Dual Shock 2 controller though. But I expected it would be knackered and I've got plans to mod my own controller anyway.
> 
> ...


well... not really the same but then, i never owned a OG PS1 (i still have a PS2 Platinum Slim i won in a contest, which made me buy Xenosaga III, FF7 Dirge of Cerberus and Odins sphere back in the days )

although for thinkering it's not bad at all (plus i got her cheap instead of the outrageous price they asked at launch )

nonetheless ... that one is better at being a PS1 than a PS Classic,  now if only the Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 would be in stock (and maybe compatible with the GPi case )

i know they did a cartdridge for the Rpi4 Compute module but it change the shape so much that it does not even look like a GB anymore (and the compute module is not even in stock either ... well ... glad i got 2 Rpi Zero W before that, but seriously it's been 2yrs since i can't buy anything Rpi related other than the Raspberry Pi 400, ah no not even that one ... but it was in stock recently )


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 25, 2022)

I have a young friend in his forties that loves to play with PC hardware like i do. We give each other extra parts whenever needed. 
He just upped the generosity game big time.      Yes, that's an Asus Strix GTX 1080Ti !


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 26, 2022)

Stinkbug didn't pay rent and got evicted.



But that did the trick and fixed basically everything. Laptop now turns on and off every time I press the button. There is no bios lock nor CMOS errors. The screen lock, pop out led at the top, and capacitive controls all work perfectly now.



It's still not perfect but I don't plan on fixing the other minor flaws. I will probably still get the rubber track point nub for it (even though I prefer to use the touchpad), and I probably will install a different os onto it.


----------



## MachineLearning (Aug 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Stinkbug didn't pay rent and got evicted.
> View attachment 259376
> But that did the trick and fixed basically everything. Laptop now turns on and off every time I press the button. There is no bios lock nor CMOS errors. The screen lock, pop out led at the top, and capacitive controls all work perfectly now.
> View attachment 259378
> It's still not perfect but I don't plan on fixing the other minor flaws. I will probably still get the rubber track point nub for it (even though I prefer to use the touchpad), and I probably will install a different os onto it.


Disgusting and impressive - well done repair


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> but then again who reads magazines anymore?


I do. Prefer magazines actually. Call me old fashioned..


----------



## SpittinFax (Aug 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Stinkbug didn't pay rent and got evicted.
> 
> But that did the trick and fixed basically everything. Laptop now turns on and off every time I press the button. There is no bios lock nor CMOS errors. The screen lock, pop out led at the top, and capacitive controls all work perfectly now.
> 
> It's still not perfect but I don't plan on fixing the other minor flaws. I will probably still get the rubber track point nub for it (even though I prefer to use the touchpad), and I probably will install a different os onto it.



Debugging, literally!


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Aug 26, 2022)

SpittinFax said:


> Debugging, literally!


The first "bug in the code" was a moth that got into a primitive computer, causing errors. 









						Software bug - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Stinkbug didn't pay rent and got evicted.


Excellent!


----------



## stinger608 (Aug 26, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I have a young friend in his forties that loves to play with PC hardware like i do. We give each other extra parts whenever needed.
> He just upped the generosity game big time.      Yes, that's an Asus Strix GTX 1080Ti !



I can look right at that video card and see it's bad!!!!

You better send it to me for an extended test.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 26, 2022)

1080ti is still a very competent card.

I do wish to own one at some point, because I absolutely love Pascal. The best GPU gen in the modern era by far.

I've owned several 1080s but never a TI.


----------



## AM4isGOD (Aug 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> 1080ti is still a very competent card.
> 
> I do wish to own one at some point, because I absolutely love Pascal. The best GPU gen in the modern era by far.
> 
> I've owned several 1080s but never a TI.



Still using a ROG strix 1080ti, full cover water cooler, OC 2100 and not over 50c gaming. Still is a great GPU. I'm at 1440p too


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Aug 26, 2022)




----------



## r0x (Aug 26, 2022)

I'm having religious issues, so maybe you could help me with the answer: 
Is a party of five LanParty enough for a LanParty LAN party, or a party of four LanParty would suffice for a LanParty LAN party? Because one LanParty is partially working ^^


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Got a base with motherboard and some other parts for 20 some bucks on eBay. In theory this should fix my elitebook. The item was supposedly is tested and working. Will see about that considering there is a stinkbug in between the chipset and heatsink.
> View attachment 259293


Join the club, you're not the only one with the bug problem. It seems they also like being in PC Rom cases and cardboard boxes.I am surprised I did not see any fried ones in my dead PSU.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 27, 2022)

Upgraded the 120GB SSD to a spare 240GB drive then installed Windows 8.1 64 bit onto the 8530p. Ran some basic debloating and disabled all of the graphical effects except for AA on text. The laptop is decently quick, however as the CPU can get overwhelmed at times and the ram usage is a little high, I'll look into further debloating.

I have researched about upgrades for this laptop. As far as CPUs go, quad cores will work okay but the VRM/Cooler aren't up to the task. Best value option I see is a T9600 as it will give me an extra 300mhz and double the cache for 12 bucks. https://www.ebay.com/itm/153072393898 Unsure if I will buy this or not.

The graphics performance is a little underwhelming too. Although the display is very good and brightness is a lot better now that I have drivers installed and windows settings changed, I am still messing around trying to get 1080P Youtube to work. Firefox even with h264ify and hardware accel enabled cannot even do 720p smoothly and 1080p is a slideshow. Chrome with or without h264ify can do 720p smoothly but 1080p drops frames. I can upgrade to a Quadro FX770M 512MB found in the 8530W and it is a drop in upgrade, this cost about $20.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2022)

Going to give away the upper one, it works even tho the die is kinda fked up. But on the lower one... no way, that's an AXIA, the best Thunderbird stepping.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 27, 2022)

So you guys in the US don,t have Cex in your country, or anything compared to it so this guy says.  








 that a massive branch he went to. 
All the ones I have been to in London are small. The wrong time he came here with the train strikes going on here. I have never seen the inside of a XBOX.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So you guys in the US don,t have Cex in your country, or anything compared to it so this guy says.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm jealous when watching RGinHD when he gets good deals from CEX. Are there CEX in other cities in UK?


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 27, 2022)

Seems there are a bunch of them, but none in the US.  We have Game Stop, but they don't seem to have much (or any) retro stuff.
CeX (company) - Wikipedia


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I'm jealous when watching RGinHD when he gets good deals from CEX. Are there CEX in other cities in UK?


Yes all over the UK. And other countrys 
Since 1992 we have expanded from the *UK* across four continents, now operating in 10 countries including Australia, Ireland, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 27, 2022)

Some OLD & some NEW!

Now I need to order a mobo from China and I'll have a 10C/20T monster to play with! 









						75.47US $ |X79a Motherboard Lga 1356 Support Nvme M.2 Ddr3 Placa Mae Lga1356 Xeon E5 Processor Pc Motherboard Mainboard Base Plate - Motherboards - AliExpress
					

Smarter Shopping, Better Living!  Aliexpress.com




					www.aliexpress.com


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes all over the UK. And other countrys
> Since 1992 we have expanded from the *UK* across four continents, now operating in 10 countries including Australia, Ireland, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain.


Not in FI tho. I need to visit CEX, as I have a visit to UK in my mind when I get enough money etc.

Probably I just go to a smaller city than London though. But I love UK. I have even a flag hanging on my wall.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 27, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Seems there are a bunch of them, but none in the US.  We have Game Stop, but they don't seem to have much (or any) retro stuff.
> CeX (company) - Wikipedia
> 
> View attachment 259615


Ii,s a good place to go, but better to buy in the shop, rather than in the mail as you can see what you're getting in the shop. Some people have been sent ones that don,t work. I don,t understand why they don,t check them before they send them out. That's just what I read on the feedback of people who have bought items online. Of course, you do get 24 months guarantee.



Lenne said:


> Not in FI tho. I need to visit CEX, as I have a visit to UK in my mind when I get enough money etc.





Lenne said:


> Probably I just go to a smaller city than London though. But I love UK. I have even a flag hanging on my wall.


No sorry to say. CoolThey don,t like us put them up in our country.in .case it offends people?


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Ii,s a good place to go, but better to buy in the shop, rather than in the mail as you can see what you're getting in the shop. Some people have been sent ones that don,t work. I don,t understand why they don,t check them before they send them out. That's just what I read on the feedback of people who have bought items online. Of course, you do get 24 months guarantee.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I guess that exporting would be too expensive. I'm just thinking that London seems to expensive for me, I'll go to a quieter town when I'll visit your country, I need just to do my research so I can buy cheap crap what to bring home with me 

Just been dreaming about a week in UK for a while. Just need to grab myself from my spine and save some cash. And get a passport as you aren't in EU anymore.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I guess that exporting would be too expensive. I'm just thinking that London seems to expensive for me, I'll go to a quieter town when I'll visit your country, I need just to do my research so I can buy cheap crap what to bring home with me
> 
> Just been dreaming about a week in UK for a while. Just need to grab myself from my spine and save some cash. And get a passport as you aren't in EU anymore.


The prices are the same weather its London or out side.I have bought about 100 PC games from there most of them were only 50p each.  Give me a list and i will see if they have what you want and give you a price. so you have an idea.  The oldest cpu, s seem to be core2duo.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The prices are the same weather its London or out side.I have bought about 100 PC games from there most of them were only 50p each.  Give me a list and i will see if they have what you want and give you a price. so you have an idea.  The oldest cpu, s seem to be core2duo.


If I visit London on my UK trip, let me buy u a beer. I need to go to CEX as well then


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> If I visit London on my UK trip, let me buy u a beer. I need to go to CEX as well then


Cool ok thanks. I am checking my many mains plugs only one so far with a 3amp . I did not think of what amperage I needed for a PC untell someone on here told me it should be a 3amp one. A pack of ten has been ordered.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 27, 2022)

This may be a mismatch but it's better to try than not to, I'll not to. I requested the Asrock 775 Dual on local facebook group.

Iiiiiiimayyyy geeeet an another 6800U....


----------



## lexluthermiester (Aug 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So you guys in the US don,t have Cex in your country, or anything compared to it so this guy says.


We all have Ebay. But no, we don't have a national chain of stores like CEX. Kinda sucks.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 28, 2022)

I wish we had cex in the US. But it's probably good we don't otherwise I'd spend a lot more on computer parts


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 28, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I wish we had cex in the US. But it's probably good we don't otherwise I'd spend a lot more on computer parts


Haha, I guess  on the other hand, the user market here in Finland is okay, but yeah.... like I've seen from RGinHD's videos, CEX has reasonable prices and sometimes Steve finds tresures from there. 

Do they ship to mainland Europe?


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Haha, I guess  on the other hand, the user market here in Finland is okay, but yeah.... like I've seen from RGinHD's videos, CEX has reasonable prices and sometimes Steve finds tresures from there.
> 
> Do they ship to mainland Europe?


Apparently, they do, but as we are out of the EU it would be costly, I would think. 
*Buy Your Product(S) From the *Cex* Online Store They truly do take the hassle and worry out of the process of international shipping. Once they receive the package, they will notify you to see if you would like them to *ship* it *to* you in *Europe*, or if you would prefer to bundle a larger order. It can save you time and money in the long run!*


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Apparently, they do, but as we are out of the EU it would be costly. Buy Your Product(S) From the *Cex* Online Store They truly do take the hassle and worry out of the process of international shipping. Once they receive the package, they will notify you to see if you would like them to *ship* it *to* you in *Europe*, or if you would prefer to bundle a larger order. It can save you time and money in the long run!


Nah, paying a little import tax and/or customs is fine if it's a good deal. 

Tho I don't know how it works for them, I bought trigger clips from ebay for 2 Dualshock3s, they came from UK and as I paid the tax on purchase, I didn't need to do anything else.

edit: what I mean, sometimes a package waits in Finland customs and I need to pay the customs before it arrives to me.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Nah, paying a little import tax and/or customs is fine if it's a good deal.
> 
> Tho I don't know how it works for them, I bought trigger clips from ebay for 2 Dualshock3s, they came from UK and as I paid the tax on purchase, I didn't need to do anything else.
> 
> edit: what I mean, sometimes a package waits in Finland customs and I need to pay the customs before it arrives to me.


Send a parcel to Finland*from only £8.87 exc VAT*​
 
Collection and drop-off service available


Get parcel cover worth up to £50 included


Protect your parcel up to £5000 with extra cover


Send up to 70kg on selected services
I have had that from china. the customs  wanted an extra £20 plus on an item that was £60. If I had known that before I bought it, I would have gotten it from the UK. It would have been around the same price.


----------



## Kissamies (Aug 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Send a parcel to Finland*from only £8.87 exc VAT*​
> 
> 
> Collection and drop-off service available
> ...


Not bad. I may check what CEX has to offer when I get cash in 6.9., at least I could stash some DDR3/DDR4 RAM. Maybe some cheap old CPUs and GPUs too.

Thanks!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Going to give away the upper one, it works even tho the die is kinda fked up. But on the lower one... no way, that's an AXIA, the best Thunderbird stepping.


i have a Duron (ceramic package like these two) also in the "cracked die" edition, as i like to call it, that was my daily driver some time (actually ages ... it was what replaced my *AMD-K6-2/333AFR *) ago, i kept it on my CPU shelf 

it was still working nonetheless (and should still be ) iirc i did mess up with the Titan Silver Orb installation


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 28, 2022)

Another gift (I think) as I don't have experience with DOS or Floppies. It DID have XP Pro on it (no hard drive now), some Pentium CPU
maybe and an AGP Ati 9000 Pro video card. It starts, so the PSU still works. I have not started on it yet as it needs a different case as this
one is beat-up too much. It has 6 80MM noisy fans and the video card fan is not good. where to start...


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 28, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Another gift (I think) as I don't have experience with DOS or Floppies. It DID have XP Pro on it (no hard drive now), some Pentium CPU
> maybe and an AGP Ati 9000 Pro video card. It starts, so the PSU still works. I have not started on it yet as it needs a different case as this
> one is beat-up too much. It has 6 80MM noisy fans and the video card fan is not good. where to start...


Thats a big old PC nice  


I take it that is a room you just use for your PC stuff


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thats a big old PC nice
> That looks like a marble floor?
> 
> I take it that is a room you just use for your PC stuff


that is 28 year old carpet in my living room ( I could NOT keep a house and retire - too expensive)


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 28, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> that is 28 year old carpet in my living room ( I could NOT keep a house and retire - too expensive)


I just have a studio  flat ie  living bedroom in one ,with separate  kitchen and bathroom I wish i lived in a house, have not lived in one since i was 20 many years ago.That,s a long time to have a carpet I Have been in my flat for just over 16 years.


----------



## MachineLearning (Aug 29, 2022)

It pains me to injure a board I love, especially accidentally...





I've been using a Thermalright TBK (Bolt-through adapter for many sockets I bench) for LGA775 testing on my Striker II Extreme. Used the wrong (longer) screw without realizing it was just above this capacitor.

Luckily it still works. But I'm not sure if I should be concerned long-term, or if this cap is now failing/failed.


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Aug 29, 2022)

Seeing the old cases in this thread sure gives me an appreciation of how nice of cases we get now and their airflow performance. No more bleeding when working on PCs.


----------



## Courier 6 (Aug 29, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Another gift (I think) as I don't have experience with DOS or Floppies. It DID have XP Pro on it (no hard drive now), some Pentium CPU
> maybe and an AGP Ati 9000 Pro video card. It starts, so the PSU still works. I have not started on it yet as it needs a different case as this
> one is beat-up too much. It has 6 80MM noisy fans and the video card fan is not good. where to start...


Nice case! I would love to have one of those


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 29, 2022)

Inside that old case was this Socket478 (I think its an Intel board as I could not find another brand name) with 
Pentium 4 @2.8GHZ and 2x256 DDR RAM @266Mhz speed.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 29, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Inside that old case was this Socket478 (I think its an Intel board as I could not find another brand name) with
> Pentium 4 @2.8GHZ and 2x256 DDR RAM @266Mhz speed.


The AB60N model number says it is a Shuttle mobo w/ 865PE chipset.  Probably a fun board to play with & may have some overclocking potential.
Shuttle AB60N Socket 478 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com


----------



## QuietBob (Aug 29, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Inside that old case was this Socket478 (I think its an Intel board as I could not find another brand name)


Actually, it's a Shuttle mainboard
EDIT: 
@68Olds you beat me to it


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 29, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The AB60N model number says it is a Shuttle mobo w/ 865PE chipset.  Probably a fun board to play with & may have some overclocking potential.
> Shuttle AB60N Socket 478 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com


Thanks! I was sure that one of you guys would give me the hint I needed.


----------



## 68Olds (Aug 29, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> Actually, it's a Shuttle mainboard
> EDIT:
> @68Olds you beat me to it


Yeah, but you found their site!  I remember looking at those Shuttle XPC barebones boxes in the computer shops.  Seemed to be great for the lan party crowd, but that wasn't me.


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 30, 2022)

Its easy to pop out the pins to remove the fan on the ATI 9000 Pro. pulled back the sticker and dropped in some fine oil and cleaned the rest of it.
If the bearing is still good it might just work.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 30, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Its easy to pop out the pins to remove the fan on the ATI 9000 Pro. pulled back the sticker and dropped in some fine oil and cleaned the rest of it.
> If the bearing is still good it might just work.


I remember this video from Phil's computer lab. And seeing   Phil push the pins out. I have this one with a fan like yours. I have not used it yet. My question to you is your fan nosiey?


----------



## Audioave10 (Aug 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I remember this video from Phil's computer lab. And seeing   Phil push the pins out. I have this one with a fan like yours. I have not used it yet. My question to you is your fan nosiey?


It was noisy and I've taken the whole PC apart to work on it. I won't know if it works for awhile.


----------



## Greenslade (Aug 30, 2022)

I got the fuses but they were the wrong ones ,i got the glass ones Instead of the fuses for plugs.I want bother sending them back i do have stuff i can use them for,Plus the fact they only cost a couple of quid.I got the adapter to test to see if everything was ok on my motherboard with the Dell PSU.Is there just one way you can  plug it in.i take it is.







I have tried the adapter with the dell  psu  ,
HPZ230  MT   4  Red bleeps  ,can anyone tell me the problem the  green light is on no fans going any idea?

It did not work with the Dell PSU with the adapter four red beeps with the back fan going for a few seconds. From the conversation with Lex 
*If I understand you, you plugged a Dell PSU into an HP workstation? That might be your problem. Unfortunately, PSUs are not 100% universal from brand to brand. Dell and HP are known to do funky things with their PSU pin-outs and voltages.*.Do I take a chance and buy a power supply?Or buy this for £150
HP Z440 Workstation Xeon E5-1620v3 4-CORE TURBO 3.60GHz -500GB SATA-Quadro K4000


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 31, 2022)

I bought a listing of 1.05 pounds of AMD PGA CPUs listed for gold recovery on eBay. A mix of early 00s to mid 2010s in here.



The photos were really poor and only showed half of the CPUs included but I really scored for the $8 I paid.

The majority of them have anywhere from a couple to a ton of bent pins, mostly due to how it was packed. I do not see any broken pins, but the 2 in this photo below may not he repairable.



So far I have repaired the pins on several of the CPUs but only had time to test the am3/+ CPUs which Included an FX8320, FX6300, Phenom ii X4 830, and Athlon ii x4 635. All post.

There are some other interesting CPUs in there, several Athlon 64s and Sempron that fit better in this thread., I will sort through those and update probably tomorrow.


----------



## Robert B (Aug 31, 2022)

I've seen far worse. 

For me the problematic pins were those that were wavy. Like the letter S. So I took a pair of pliers and I shaved the tips with a grinder until they were fine and pointy. I also grinded the insides of the tips. Then I buffed them with a buffing wheel and some polishing paste. With this tool I was able to return the pins to a nice shape. Be careful though, if you apply too much pressure you can flatten the pin. How do I know? Well, it happened to me when I thought that brute force was required. 

To straighten the pins I used a syringe needle cut to size with a pair of pliers. Then I took a regular needle and I opened up the hole. Then I buffed the tip gently to make it smooth.

The syringe needle is way better than any tool to straighten the pins of S478 and other CPUs with fine pins.

After I have straightened all the pins in a general manner I use a credit card like this. The distance between pins is quite large. I took the credit card and while I kept the CPU at my eyes level. I rested it on a row a pins, so that the card was angled, then I pressed gently on the top of the card and I saw how the pins got into a line, then I moved the card on the neighboring row o pins and I repeated the procedure. Think like a pendulum would move that is the trick.

The most tricky pins are on the sides. There, I used a lot of tactics including deforming them outward with a credit card and then resting the pins on a flat surface to put them in a line.

If you are patient you can recover many CPUs deemed dead including Ryzen chips that suffer damage like this. 

L.E. I saw on the bay a batch of Opteron ceramic CPUs but I couldn't buy it. Some great models were in that lot. Shipping too expensive. If you are patient you can find in scrap lots, even the Holy Grail Athlon 64 FX, FX-51, 53, 60, etc CPUs.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Aug 31, 2022)

There was a wavy pin on the quad core athlon but I managed to get it good enough to go into the socket (with some force)



Will see about the rest


----------



## Robert B (Aug 31, 2022)

Good job!  

With patience anybody that is willing to try, can save a great number of these so called "dead" CPUs. 

Keep you eyes on the Athlon 64 batches. There is bound that you will find at least a few FX 64 ones.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Sep 1, 2022)

I do use a credit card, a sewing needle, and also a lead pencil to bend back pins.

Sewing needle is mostly to pry up flattened down pins, and if pins are just bent slightly I can stick the tip of the lead pencil over the tip and move the pencil to bend the pin back. 

Credit cards are good for rows but I've found sometimes they can cause issues. If you try and stick it in a row and get resistance, I need to remember to stop, because it can just make things worse and flatten pins bent perpendicular to the credit card.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 1, 2022)

You will be glad to know the fans are spinning  ,no beeps With the Dell PSU and the adaptor.Just orded the Hp PSU fromeBay.Just waiting for the 3amp fuse,s,i orded. the glass ones before by mistake  I want bother sending them back they were only a couple of quid.I have no idea why it came up with those red beeps , I did reseat all the ram, i don,t know weather that was the problem.Next thing to sort out is the HP Compaq d530,i just tried it that gave me beeps.  That PC weighs a ton.I got to find the Ram.I will leave that for another day.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Sep 1, 2022)

I have been able to repair the pins on every CPU in the lot and test all but one.


Spoiler: List of what all was included



Tested working:
FX8320
FX6300
Phenom ii X4 830
Athlon ii X4 635
A10 8750B Pro FM2+
A8 6500 FM2
A6 5400B FM2
Athlon 64 x2 5400+ AM2
Athlon 64 3800+ 939
Athlon 64 3200+ 939
Sempron 2600+ 754

The only other CPU is the a6 3600 which I began to fix the pins on but haven't bothered finishing since I don't have an FM1 board to test it on anyhow.


Any clue if the Phenom or Athlon have any potentially unlockable cores? 

The 5400+ is a nice chip, one of the faster K8s out there. I don't have an AM2 motherboard any good for OC ATM, but if I get one I think it would be interesting to overclock the 5400+.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 1, 2022)

None on your list are unlockable.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 2, 2022)

I just saw this at the local market








 .I don,t know weather it is working.I could use some of the parts if it does not work.For a fiver i think it is worth a punt.It does not look so dusty inside though.I need to get one of those  dust busters though.The guy has done  a good job. Like he says it looks like new.


----------



## Dragokar (Sep 2, 2022)

I just made some more pictures and usually forget them to post here  I guess I am getting old.



Spoiler


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 2, 2022)

I bought it for £5  even if does not work it is worth for the GPU even though it is a budget modal.And the Ram and the 500gb hdd.The case has some scratchs on the front of the case and few marks on the top.It does not look that dusty in side it.Weatner or not it works is another


----------



## framebuffer (Sep 2, 2022)

I know pretty much no one cares about crappy video card overclocking, but I find it super fun and satisfying  
Was using this X300SE as simple video card for some CPU/memory testing and since it was already there with drivers and everything ready I tested what it can do









It managed almost +50% on the GPU!
Of course this thing is greatly limited by memory bandwidth (which managed 249MHz, not bad for 5ns/200MHz modules), so the performance increase is not linear, but still not bad!


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 3, 2022)

I love crappy video card overclocking.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 3, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I know pretty much no one cares about crappy video card overclocking, but I find it super fun and satisfying
> Was using this X300SE as simple video card for some CPU/memory testing and since it was already there with drivers and everything ready I tested what it can do
> 
> View attachment 260429
> ...


Sounds cool to me,after all 





framebuffer said:


> I know pretty much no one cares about crappy video card overclocking, but I find it super fun and satisfying
> Was using this X300SE as simple video card for some CPU/memory testing and since it was already there with drivers and everything ready I tested what it can do
> 
> View attachment 260429
> ...


It sounds good to me,after all his is  Nostalgic Hardware Club


----------



## 68Olds (Sep 3, 2022)

Love overclocking an older low end video card. You did a great job with that x300, framebuffer!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I bought it for £5  even if does not work it is worth for the GPU even though it is a budget modal.And the Ram and the 500gb hdd.The case has some scratchs on the front of the case and few marks on the top.It does not look that dusty in side it.Weatner or not it works is another


ahah, i have the exact same Dell tower and since the GPU look the same i suspect it's a Dimension 5150? with a P4 640?

i got mine free, as a payment for a data backup job from the rig in question to a ext HDD


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 3, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> I love crappy video card overclocking.


Don't we all?


----------



## framebuffer (Sep 3, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Love overclocking an older low end video card. You did a great job with that x300, framebuffer!


Thanks, but I just replaced the sticky gunk on the GPU with some MX4 and pointed a FAN to it


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 3, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Thanks, but I just replaced the sticky gunk on the GPU with some MX4 and pointed a FAN to it


Sometimes thats all it takes.


----------



## framebuffer (Sep 3, 2022)

OK, I tested few more beasts  




top: X600 / bottom: X1300PRO

*X600*







The X600 is pretty much identical to the previous X300SE except for the memory which is now 128bit (with a little higher clock). 
This alone was enough to greatly exceed the overclocked X300SE results, since it was heavily limited by the memory bandwidth

As for the overclock, this RV370 managed to reach almost 500Mhz, which makes for a +52%, not bad!!
The RAM was a surprise, 324MHz for 4ns modules is not obvious at all! (I was hoping for 275, maybe 300)

*X1300PRO*







The RV516 of the X1300PRO has the same 4/2/4/4 configuration of the X300/X600 (RV370) with some architectural improvements here and there I guess
Other than that it's also able to clock higher (mainly because of a the "new" 90nm production process I think)
Anyways, also here what is giving a good boost is the memory, now DDR2 at 392MHz

As for the overclock, the GPU limit was around 690, so no extreme increases (from what I can see ~700MHz is a general limit for R500 series, at least without voltage control)
The RAM instead did pretty well, ~520MHz for 2.5ns (400MHz) modules is quite good for me! 

also did a 3DMark03 on this one, if somebody wants to compare with other cards



(A64 X2 4400+)


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 3, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> OK, I tested few more beasts
> 
> View attachment 260503
> top: X600 / bottom: X1300PRO
> ...


The x600 is the one in my £5  PC I got the other day, it also has 4 sticks of Ram, I don,t know how much as I have not tried the PC yet, There is an HDD in there it probably has the previous owner's stuff on it. The stall always has interesting stuff on it at my kind price which in my case is as cheap as possible.
You never know what you will find on it. Today there were a couple of PSU,s on they're no good for me as all Molex plugs on them. I should think this stuff comes from household clearances. The market is on three times a week.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 3, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> OK, I tested few more beasts


All of them seem overpowered to me


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 4, 2022)

QuietBob said:


> All of them seem overpowered to me
> 
> View attachment 260521View attachment 260519View attachment 260520


Too fast for me. lol


----------



## Red_Machine (Sep 4, 2022)

What's that you say?  Too fast?  Try a cut down, integrated Mobility Radeon 7000.


----------



## Bones (Sep 4, 2022)

I don't know about fast but I do know one of my NF7's is working again.
Did a bit of soldering work and presto - It's alive and kicking again!

For good measure here's a shot of one of my Ultra D's at work.





And do try a crap card like I have in the NF7-S if you want to see "Crappy"......
And now I see Mr. Scott did just that already.


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 4, 2022)

Bones said:


> I don't know about fast but I do know one of my NF7's is working again.
> Did a bit of soldering work and presto - It's alive and kicking again!
> 
> For good measure here's a shot of one of my Ultra D's at work.
> ...


Yes, that Corsair RAM is rare and for awhile I looked hard for some.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Sep 4, 2022)

I do wish I had some of that RGB Corsair DDR.

I do have some 533mhz Crucial Ballistix Tracer 





Was listed as brand new ram on eBay, and the description said it was ddr4


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 4, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I do wish I had some of that RGB Corsair DDR.
> 
> I do have some 533mhz Crucial Ballistix Tracer View attachment 260625
> View attachment 260626
> Was listed as brand new ram on eBay, and the description said it was ddr4


I did the SAME thing!


----------



## Bones (Sep 4, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Yes, that Corsair RAM is rare and for awhile I looked hard for some.


Bought both sets new back in the day.
The serial numbers for the C2 Pros aren't consecutive but that's how they came in the package, the other set is.


----------



## DR4G00N (Sep 4, 2022)

I've also got a couple kit's of XLPRO's along with some reg XL's, C2's and a kit of Centon DDR500 Winbond UTT.



Have this kit of Geil Ultra Platinum DDR500 too but it's just some Hynix, looks sweet though (hard to tell but they're mirror like chrome).


----------



## Bones (Sep 4, 2022)

Have a set of Geils just like those - Same thing in fact and they will do DDR500..... And not an inch more. 
Not really happy with them but they were cheap at least when I got them.


----------



## Bones (Sep 6, 2022)

Here's something I forgot I had lying around here but I've got it, BNIB condition and will stay that way - At least I'm not messing with it.


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 6, 2022)

Bones said:


> Here's something I forgot I even had lying around but I've got it, BNIB condition and will stay that way - At least I'm not messing with it.
> View attachment 260818
> View attachment 260819
> View attachment 260820
> View attachment 260821


I had one of those back when I would trade-up for a newer system each time so I didn't save it. It was a great upgrade back then.


----------



## Courier 6 (Sep 6, 2022)

Bones said:


> Here's something I forgot I had lying around here but I've got it, BNIB condition and will stay that way - At least I'm not messing with it.
> View attachment 260818
> View attachment 260819
> View attachment 260820
> View attachment 260821


I still have my Athlon xp 2100+, A7S333 mobo and 256mb RAM or is it 512mb, I don´t remember exactly, it´s in a antistatic bag somewere


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2022)

Bones said:


> Here's something I forgot I had lying around here but I've got it, BNIB condition and will stay that way - At least I'm not messing with it.
> View attachment 260818
> View attachment 260819
> View attachment 260820
> View attachment 260821


WOW! Haven't seen this in a looooong time!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Sep 7, 2022)

From being rained on to working state.


The salvaged parts: ASUS A7V8X Rev 2.0, Athlon XP 1700+, 2x256MB DDR400, I/O shield, Titan cooler. Not pictured is a 200GB Samsung that unfortunately turned out to be kaput.


All dried up and set up. I was testing the 200GB drive to see if I can salvage anything but no dice, so it got replaced with a 40GB HDD that dualboots Server 2003 Enterprise SP2 (Corporate version) and Server 2000 SP4. GPU is a Radeon 9550, and the RAM got upped to 1.5GB worth of DDR400.

POST screen from testing


Desktop shot, just after I finished setting up Server 2003. I use Omega drivers by the way, with the card set to use 9600 drivers.


----------



## A Computer Guy (Sep 8, 2022)

Pulled this one out of storage to see if it still works in my X570.  The battery gave out a long time ago.
16GB installed of DDR2 SATA RAM goodness.  Even supported dual channel for raid 1 or 0.
Onboard ECC calculations allowed non-ECC rams sticks to be used with a tradeoff of total storage








Test copy 6.58GB DVD from 970 EVO SSD to SATA RAMDISK (configured in window 10 software raid 0 because I'm not sure how to setup SATA raid for my motherboard yet so the numbers here have a lot of software overhead from that)


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 8, 2022)

A Computer Guy said:


> The battery gave out a long time ago.


You could likely create a new battery for it.


----------



## A Computer Guy (Sep 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> You could likely create a new battery for it.


I've settled for plugging it into my UPS as the device uses an external power brick.  The original battery lasted about 2 days max.


----------



## framebuffer (Sep 8, 2022)

Today I did a security scan on my NAS and got some interesting results




Looks like the tool (Synology Security Essential) does not like Marvell LAN drivers (downloaded from asus.com) nForce drivers (downloaded from nvidia.com) and the latest version of RivaTuner
Pretty sure they are false positive, but not sure triggered by what... any thoughts on this?

Since it's pretty old stuff, I guess Windows10/11 Built-In security/antivirus thing should be able to identify them, but I got no results if I scan them with Windows...


----------



## A Computer Guy (Sep 8, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Today I did a security scan on my NAS and got some interesting results
> 
> View attachment 261045
> Looks like the tool (Synology Security Essential) does not like Marvell LAN drivers (downloaded from asus.com) nForce drivers (downloaded from nvidia.com) and the latest version of RivaTuner
> ...


Many Antivirus tools have an additional heuristics option (named differently per vendor) to try to proactively predict and isolate threats.  In numerous occasions they are wrong and I can't tell you how many times false positives have deleted my files.  It used to be Norton back in the day (I think the feature was called sonar) would update and suddenly start wiping out all my programs I built because of "matching signatures" where I knew clearly there wasn't an issue.  Today it's Sophos giving me the most headaches.  Sometimes to avoid the false positive in my long term backups I put the problematic files into an encrypted 7zip archive.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 8, 2022)

A Computer Guy said:


> Many Antivirus tools have an additional heuristics option (named differently per vendor) to try to proactively predict and isolate threats.  In numerous occasions they are wrong and I can't tell you how many times false positives have deleted my files.  It used to be Norton back in the day (I think the feature was called sonar) would update and suddenly start wiping out all my programs I built because of "matching signatures" where I knew clearly there wasn't an issue.  Today it's Sophos giving me the most headaches.  Sometimes to avoid the false positive in my long term backups I put the problematic files into an encrypted 7zip archive.


Windows Defender is a particularly bad offender.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Windows Defender is a particularly bad offender.


although it still work just fine for many ... i only use it and i have zero issues ... at least it's way better than SCAMvast or Norton and does not require a subscription, i tested a lot Antivirus on Win up to Win 8.1 and then i only used MS Defender and never had any issues at all anymore.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 9, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> at least it's way better than SCAMvast or Norton and does not require a subscription


Just because it's better than some doesn't mean it's good..


GreiverBlade said:


> i tested a lot Antivirus on Win up to Win 8.1


That's been a few years..


GreiverBlade said:


> then i only used MS Defender and never had any issues at all anymore.


It's been a bit since I last allowed Defender to run on any of my systems. But even if it doesn't go deleting files without user permission, it's other annoyances rule it out as a tolerable piece of software.

However, we've gotten off topic.. Sorry folks..


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 9, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Just because it's better than some doesn't mean it's good..


one last semi offtopic then
"AV-Comparatives tested Windows Defender in March 2022 and concluded *around 99% malware threat detection and protection rates with only five false positives*. Compared to top providers in the antivirus market, these are very good results."








						Microsoft Defender Antivirus Review 2022 | Cybernews
					

Is Microsoft Defender enough to protect you against viruses? What kind of additional features does it have? Read this Microsoft Defender review for 2022 and find out.




					cybernews.com
				



"Windows Defender scans a user's email, internet browser, cloud, and apps for the above cyberthreats. However, Windows Defender lacks endpoint protection and response, as well as automated investigation and remediation, so *more antivirus software is necessary*."








						Microsoft Defender review
					

Convenient, free and pre-installed antivirus that outperforms some very big names




					www.techradar.com
				




yes, it is good, only loosing ground on ergonomics (although for me it's not an issue ) what are the other annoyance you mentions? (slowdown in very particlar case? or something else? )
it's not the best, although on his point (being free and integrated in Win since 2006 ) there is very little equal competition.


on the nostalgic side ... ahah i remember headhaches when using NOD32 from ESET back in the days a few years after when it was launched in 1987  got a few folder completely wiped out in 1995 
NostaTrivia: "The acronym NOD stands for _*N*emocnica na *O*kraji *D*isku_ ("Hospital at the end of the disk"), a pun related to the Czechoslovak medical drama series _Nemocnice na kraji města_ (_Hospital at the End of the City_)"

a few years indeed ... from 95 till 2016 yep a few ...


----------



## framebuffer (Sep 9, 2022)

got my first single memory module (32bit?) video card  






the cool thing is that they used a 5.5ns memory module (rated at 183MHz)
considering that this card is usually clocked around 80MHz, overclocking potential is interesting, will see


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 9, 2022)

Old strange hardware...


----------



## framebuffer (Sep 9, 2022)

hope one day he will review the Quantum 3D Obsidian 2 he has always in the background


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 9, 2022)

I could not fully save the PC case I picked up a few days ago but it had a removable Mobo tray...YES! A test bench.


----------



## Courier 6 (Sep 9, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I could not fully save the PC case I picked up a few days ago but it had a removable Mobo tray...YES! A test bench.


oh crap...did you scrap that case you posted before? the nice vintage one


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 10, 2022)

Courier 6 said:


> oh crap...did you scrap that case you posted before? the nice vintage one


Saved many parts but the case itself was damaged and only supported 80MM fans.


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Sep 10, 2022)

DR4G00N said:


> Have this kit of Geil Ultra Platinum DDR500 too but it's just some Hynix, looks sweet though (hard to tell but they're mirror like chrome).
> 
> View attachment 260653


Nice.....reminds me of the Geil Black Dragons I had back in the day thanks to a TPU review. I loved the LED lights on them and have regretted ever parting with them!









						GeIL Black Dragon DDR2 800 MHz CL4 Review
					

GeIL broke into the market with the Golden Dragon Series in the past and have now "resurrected" the dragon in form of the Black Dragon DDR2 line. The memory features a gorgeous looking PCB with a golden dragon head with bright red LEDs as the eyes. The entry level CL4 variant looks quite...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Courier 6 (Sep 10, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Saved many parts but the case itself was damaged and only supported 80MM fans.


yes, well it´s yours, I just felt pitty, it had "mod" writen all over it for me, these are very hard to come by over here, but nevermind


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 10, 2022)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Nice.....reminds me of the Geil Black Dragons I had back in the day thanks to a TPU review. I loved the LED lights on them and have regretted ever parting with them!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


WOW...I have that 2 x 2GB set in 1066 speed in my W7 PC and they have been there for 10 years or more.  (still have the box)


----------



## madlythick (Sep 10, 2022)

Hi, 
Long time lurker, I really enjoy reading all the excellent info & discussion here from people who know far more than me  about hardware i wanted, but never got to own. Please keep it up 

Time to break my silence to celebrate a birthday.... 20yrs ago I built my first new custom PC to take to University. 
I found the receipt recently and thought the spec/price comparison was interesting.




(Excuse the photo, no digital camera yet)

Not bleeding edge but not budget, I worked all summer to pay for it and hoped it would last me for a while.....





It was a huge upgrade to my hand me down PII with matrox graphics.
I grabbed a pioneer slot DVD and a few other bits from computer fairs, had a Dell OEM Soundblaster Live and reused an old 8.4GB hard drive until upgrading to 40GB later that year for £68!

In hindsight an Athlon XP system would have been cheaper and probably just as fast? 

A few changes over the years - upgraded to an ATI 9800 pro, lost the dialup modem, memory  etc, but it's still working fine and now my retro XP PC. 
I still love the Lian Li PC60 but can't cable manage in it 








Thanks for celebrating this milestone birthday with me  does any one else have a nice build story or system birthday to celebrate?


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 10, 2022)

madlythick said:


> Hi,
> Long time lurker, I really enjoy reading all the excellent info & discussion here from people who know far more than me  about hardware i wanted, but never got to own. Please keep it up
> 
> Time to break my silence to celebrate a birthday.... 20yrs ago I built my first new custom PC to take to University.
> ...


Nice! I had the same case in black.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 10, 2022)

madlythick said:


> In hindsight an Athlon XP system would have been cheaper and probably just as fast?


Faster.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Sep 10, 2022)

madlythick said:


> Hi,
> Long time lurker, I really enjoy reading all the excellent info & discussion here from people who know far more than me  about hardware i wanted, but never got to own. Please keep it up
> 
> Time to break my silence to celebrate a birthday.... 20yrs ago I built my first new custom PC to take to University.
> ...


I picked up a PC with a golden variant of this case off of Craigslist. On the bottom 5.25" bay the filler has a golden dragon. There is a 3-speed fan control switch behind that brown part the power and reset switch are on, but the fans are hooked up to a splitter so the speed doesn't have to be changed manually. The previous owner put in a Phenom II X4 955 BE, 2x Powercolor Radeon 6850s, a 1000w OCZ power supply (the fan is very loud, I'll probably replace it at some point), and 2x8GB 1600MHz DDR3. My only hardware change was adding a new drive for the OS.


----------



## Valantar (Sep 10, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> I picked up a PC with a golden variant of this case off of Craigslist. On the bottom 5.25" bay the filler has a golden dragon. There is a 3-speed fan control switch behind that brown part the power and reset switch are on, but the fans are hooked up to a splitter so the speed doesn't have to be changed manually. The previous owner put in a Phenom II X4 955 BE, 2x Powercolor Radeon 6850s, a 1000w OCZ power supply (the fan is very loud, I'll probably replace it at some point), and 2x8GB 1600MHz DDR3. My only hardware change was adding a new drive for the OS.View attachment 261317View attachment 261318


Wow, I absolutely adore that faux-wood detailing.


----------



## Courier 6 (Sep 10, 2022)

madlythick said:


> Hi,
> Long time lurker, I really enjoy reading all the excellent info & discussion here from people who know far more than me  about hardware i wanted, but never got to own. Please keep it up
> 
> Time to break my silence to celebrate a birthday.... 20yrs ago I built my first new custom PC to take to University.
> ...


Hehe  nice rig!


----------



## madlythick (Sep 11, 2022)

Courier 6 said:


> Hehe  nice rig!


Thanks, it's served me well  I don't think any of my modern systems will still be with me in 20yrs time.
Will there be much nostalgia for modern PCs that change so fast but with little noticable improvement?



Audioave10 said:


> Nice! I had the same case in black.


The black looks great, a window as well, very posh  more sophisticated somehow, I'd be worried about scratches, does the silver show through?
Mines had a hard life with alot of scratches & marks now but the brushed finish hides them pretty well.



Canned Noodles said:


> I picked up a PC with a golden variant of this case off of Craigslist. On the bottom 5.25" bay the filler has a golden dragon. There is a 3-speed fan control switch behind that brown part the power and reset switch are on, but the fans are hooked up to a splitter so the speed doesn't have to be changed manually. The previous owner put in a Phenom II X4 955 BE, 2x Powercolor Radeon 6850s, a 1000w OCZ power supply (the fan is very loud, I'll probably replace it at some point), and 2x8GB 1600MHz DDR3. My only hardware change was adding a new drive for the OS.View attachment 261317View attachment 261318



That is an amazing colour!! I've never seen one other than silver and black, was it a special edition / promotional? I suppose there's nothing to stop the panels being anodized any colour you'd want.....



Valantar said:


> Wow, I absolutely adore that faux-wood detailing.


Faux wood instead of faux carbon fibre 



Mr.Scott said:


> Faster.


 I'm not sure if it was the quality of the motherboards or chipsets I had access to at the time (school&friends), but for all its faults I found the Pentium 4 (478) to be more stable than the Athlon XP, but probably slower yes


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 11, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> I picked up a PC with a golden variant of this case off of Craigslist. On the bottom 5.25" bay the filler has a golden dragon. There is a 3-speed fan control switch behind that brown part the power and reset switch are on, but the fans are hooked up to a splitter so the speed doesn't have to be changed manually. The previous owner put in a Phenom II X4 955 BE, 2x Powercolor Radeon 6850s, a 1000w OCZ power supply (the fan is very loud, I'll probably replace it at some point), and 2x8GB 1600MHz DDR3. My only hardware change was adding a new drive for the OS.View attachment 261317View attachment 261318


Love the brass colour!


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 11, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> I picked up a PC with a golden variant of this case off of Craigslist. On the bottom 5.25" bay the filler has a golden dragon. There is a 3-speed fan control switch behind that brown part the power and reset switch are on, but the fans are hooked up to a splitter so the speed doesn't have to be changed manually. The previous owner put in a Phenom II X4 955 BE, 2x Powercolor Radeon 6850s, a 1000w OCZ power supply (the fan is very loud, I'll probably replace it at some point), and 2x8GB 1600MHz DDR3. My only hardware change was adding a new drive for the OS.View attachment 261317View attachment 261318


It looks a cool coulerd case how much did you pay for it?
I should think you paid a few bob for that..


----------



## Canned Noodles (Sep 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It looks a cool coulerd case how much did you pay for it?I should think you paid a few bob for that..


Believe it or not,  the seller was giving it away for free! However, when we met up it was clear he had an emotional connection to this rig, so I gave him 60 bucks.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It looks a cool coulerd case how much did you pay for it?
> I should think you paid a few bob for that..


That sounds like you got a bargin there for 60 bucks 52 pounds in UK money.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Sep 13, 2022)

On the topic of old sexy cases, check out this bad boy I bought at VCFMW on Saturday:












Sorry for the big pic dump, but it looks amazing from all angles. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet, I've been busy doing things like building a desk, so I don't have to keep it on the floor 
The PC is 100% functional, and it has Windows XP SP3 installed. It runs Starcraft and Far Cry beautifully at 1680x1050, and the WD Raptor makes everything a breeze. Not one capacitor on any component is showing signs of leakage. Everything is in amazing condition. Easily one of my best purchases.
In case you're curious about the specific model of Athlon 64 4000+ (like I was), it seems to be the first generation, Clawhammer.
According to GPU-Z, the card has the same clocks as the Nvidia model.


----------



## 68Olds (Sep 13, 2022)

The Abit uGuru panel is not something you see every day. I have one too, but it’s on my AW9D-Max Core2Duo board.  You got a really nice collection of hardware in that box. 









						Ghetto Mods
					

This Peltier (80w), combined with improved case airflow resulted in more than 10C degrees on the 6800 XT that I transfer to more overclock :D   What are the red and black wires for between the gpu and heatsink?




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 13, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> On the topic of old sexy cases, check out this bad boy I bought at VCFMW on Saturday:
> View attachment 261553View attachment 261554
> View attachment 261555View attachment 261557View attachment 261556
> Sorry for the big pic dump, but it looks amazing from all angles. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet, I've been busy doing things like building a desk, so I don't have to keep it on the floor
> ...


Another cool-looking PC, at a bargain price.
Vintage Computer Fair, but what does MW stand for? Mid Week?


----------



## Canned Noodles (Sep 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Another cool-looking PC, at a bargain price.
> Vintage Computer Fair, but what does MW stand for? Mid Week?


Midwest


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 13, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> On the topic of old sexy cases, check out this bad boy I bought at VCFMW on Saturday:
> View attachment 261553View attachment 261554
> View attachment 261555View attachment 261557View attachment 261556
> Sorry for the big pic dump, but it looks amazing from all angles. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet, I've been busy doing things like building a desk, so I don't have to keep it on the floor
> ...


Nice! I had the Abit AN8 a long time ago but traded up soon (I was dumb). That case is in good condition too. 
Is that a removable Mobo tray?


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 13, 2022)

Interesting video but would you buy it, Of course, you would not at that price.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Interesting video but would you buy it, Of course, you would not at that price.


He's absolutely correct about a lot of points, even if he's a bit cheezy. And he forgot to enable AGP in the bios, which is why none of the cards would post.. Those boards come from the factory with the AGP port disabled. However, no it's not worth $1000 for retro Win9X gaming...

EDIT:
Loved the BSOD when he tried the headset. Welcome to my world 2 decades ago.. For the record, Windows ME never had those problems. USB support on WinME was wonderful unlike the, at times, glitchy mess of 98/98SE.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Sep 13, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Nice! I had the Abit AN8 a long time ago but traded up soon (I was dumb). That case is in good condition too.
> Is that a removable Mobo tray?


Yes, it is removable! Very neat feature.


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 14, 2022)

The Complete History of the Home Microprocessor​








I just had to show this!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 15, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> The Complete History of the Home Microprocessor​


Finally had a chance to sit down to watch this and I've got to say that it was seriously disappointing. There were many instances of stated information that were either off the mark or patently false. Simple fact checking would have made all the difference(assuming this was not a sad attempt at rewriting history). It got a LOT wrong. Well presented, certainly, but deeply and factually flawed.

Additionally, the final conclusions of the narrator are as misinformed as they are misguided. CISC/X86/X64 is going nowhere. RISC is a solid platform and gives mobile devices life, but they are no substitution for CISC in general computing. And before anyone touts Apples M-series RISC SOC line, those are very niche, requires buying into the very limiting Apple ecosystem and have ZERO backward compatibility, even with Apples own software. While CISC has some challenges ahead, this is nothing new. There have always been challenges to overcome and there always will. Never slowed things down before and it is doubtful that the mantra of the industry, "Necessity being the mother of all invention." will change anytime soon.

There seems to be a small sub-group of people out there that seem to think CISC has reached an end. This is simply not true and will not be true anytime soon. My supporting evidence? History. It is not only the best teacher but it shows that everytime we hit a road-block in performance or advancement, an innovation is found that propels everything forward. Most of the people frequenting this thread knows that history by having lived it. That experience teaches us that there is always a way forward. RISC is not that way forward for most forms of computing tasks, including mainstream gaming.


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Sep 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> RISC is a solid platform and gives mobile devices life, but they are no substitution for CISC in general computing. And before anyone touts Apples M-series RISC SOC line, those are very niche, requires buying into the very limiting Apple ecosystem and have ZERO backward compatibility, even with Apples own software. While CISC has some challenges ahead, this is nothing new. There have always been challenges to overcome and there always will. Never slowed things down before and it is doubtful that the mantra of the industry, "Necessity being the mother of all invention." will change anytime soon.
> 
> There seems to be a small sub-group of people out there that seem to think CISC has reached an end. This is simply not true and will not be true anytime soon. My supporting evidence? History. It is not only the best teacher but it shows that everytime we hit a road-block in performance or advancement, an innovation is found that propels everything forward. Most of the people frequenting this thread knows that history by having lived it. That experience teaches us that there is always a way forward. RISC is not that way forward for most forms of computing tasks, including mainstream gaming.


An interesting perspective, but one that could go by the wayside with any company adopting a little something called UCIe. 

Ok, that was a little dramatic. However, the backwards compatibility and universality of x86 has been its lifeblood. ARM/RISC cannot compete with the established ecosystem of x86. However, it is now easy for chiplets to be connected in new ways - imagine 4 RISC  cores to run Windows and truly background tasks such as AV, indexing, etc. and a 8 core x86 chiplet exposed to programs running within the Windows environment. Mobile/laptops could add efficient RISC and reduce the big and power-hungry x86 cores. Anyways, I am not saying that it will happen, just that it could. Sorry for hijacking the thread.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Finally had a chance to sit down to watch this and I've got to say that it was seriously disappointing. There were many instances of stated information that were either off the mark or patently false. Simple fact checking would have made all the difference(assuming this was not a sad attempt at rewriting history). It got a LOT wrong. Well presented, certainly, but deeply and factually flawed.
> 
> Additionally, the final conclusions of the narrator are as misinformed as they are misguided. CISC/X86/X64 is going nowhere. RISC is a solid platform and gives mobile devices life, but they are no substitution for CISC in general computing. And before anyone touts Apples M-series RISC SOC line, those are very niche, requires buying into the very limiting Apple ecosystem and have ZERO backward compatibility, even with Apples own software. While CISC has some challenges ahead, this is nothing new. There have always been challenges to overcome and there always will. Never slowed things down before and it is doubtful that the mantra of the industry, "Necessity being the mother of all invention." will change anytime soon.
> 
> There seems to be a small sub-group of people out there that seem to think CISC has reached an end. This is simply not true and will not be true anytime soon. My supporting evidence? History. It is not only the best teacher but it shows that every-time we hit a road-block in performance or advancement, an innovation is found that propels everything forward. Most of the people frequenting this thread knows that history by having lived it. That experience teaches us that there is always a way forward. RISC is not that way forward for most forms of computing tasks, including mainstream gaming.


I don,t know why you don,t have a youtube channel, as I have said before on here. With  your vast knowledge of all this stuff.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I don,t know why you don,t have a youtube channel, as I have said before on here. With  your vast knowledge of all this stuff.


I have a government job that restricts what activities I can engage in on the web. Otherwise I would have by now.


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## Greenslade (Sep 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I have a government job that restricts what activities I can engage in on the web. Otherwise I would have by now.


Oh, I have never heard of that before. That's a bummer


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 15, 2022)

Just for curiousity, I tried the A7N8X-X* and holy crap, it booted! Now I'll install it to a HP case and I'm going to have a nice evening/night.

*the donor said that it's dead and as I read that those are known for crappy caps, I was sure that I need to recap it. POSTed fine though.

edit: a pic as well


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 18, 2022)

That mobo is now paired with a 1GHz Athlon.


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## Greenslade (Sep 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I have a government job that restricts what activities I can engage in on the web. Otherwise I would have by now.


I could understand if you were talking anout your job.
But not about something unrelated,like Retro PC stuff and the like.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I could understand if you were talking anout your job.
> But not about something unrelated,like Retro PC stuff and the like.


It's just how it is and it won't change until I retire. It's all good, no worries man.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's just how it is and it won't change until I retire. It's all good, no worries man.


Ok Lex it is just a shame.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> It's just how it is and it won't change until I retire. It's all good, no worries man.


well, if youtube is still a thing when you retire, you have a good retirement plan/hobby 
i know i would ... i missed the big "rise of the streamer/youtuber" years ago otherwise i would be a "let's player" like SorcererDave or Gopher or a Twitch streamer/youtuber like CohhCarnage  iirc all 3 are same gen as me (no not core i7 ... rather i386/486  ) maybe a "retro reviewer" and "retro let's player" that would fit me too.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 18, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> well, if youtube is still a thing when you retire, you have a good retirement plan/hobby


Yeah only 2 decades away..


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah only 2 decades away..


 Pup.


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah only 2 decades away..


Lucky You!  
Also....................RIP EVGA.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah only 2 decades away..


Thats a long time away  A lot can happen in that time,


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 19, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah only 2 decades away..


2 and a half for me  



Greenslade said:


> Thats a long time away  A lot can happen in that time,


as we say "qui vivras verras, advienne que pourra."   in english it goes : "who will live will see, come what may"


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 19, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> 2 and a half for me
> 
> 
> as we say "qui vivras verras, advienne que pourra."   in english it goes : "who will live will see, come what may"


What is the retirement age in Switzerland? It is 66 here in the UK at present.
I guess if Lex works in a Government department he would retire earlier than people who don,t work in the public sector. I have just looked at the age you can retire in the USA from  62 

I have got another forum post on here about PS2 , it seems to have gone quiet on there. 
What I would like to know is do I need the HDD to play games off a ps2 disc.?
Or can I use it without it?
Or would I be better off buying a PS2 Slim?
All I want to do is put a game in the unit and play the game as you do on a PC. The network card is expensive at £13 for the IDE one or £16 for the SATA one plus the extras you have to pay on ALI Express.?
What I would like to know is why arn,t sellers not selling one with the expansion card on it.?I see I can get them cheaper would I be ok with IDE?
SATA/IDE Interface Network Card For PS2 Game Console Adapter SATA Socket HDD For Sony PS 2 Fat Sata Socket Hard Drive​This is what I wanted to know playing a game that is in the PS2 drive.








 The only video I came across


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What is the retirement age in Switzerland? It is 66 here in the UK at present.


65, but early retirement can be at 60, although not many can do it early (my parents were lucky ) or even at 65 ... given how low the income would be for some (including me but i will still try   )and how expensive it is in Switzerland (my parents live in Spain because of that   )

expensive is also seen in second hand market, anything i could buy for up to 50chf (mostly old cards, rig and other nostalgic stuff i love to collect) are in three figure price 

i have a PS2 slim and a lot of games for it but i mostly emulate them on pc with PCSX2 (i kept a ext. ODD CDRW/DVDRW  just for that)


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 19, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> 65, but early retirement can be at 60, although not many can do it early (my parents were lucky ) or even at 65 ... given how low the income would be for some (including me but i will still try  )and how expensive it is in Switzerland (my parents live in Spain because of that   )
> 
> expensive is also seen in second hand market, anything i could buy for up to 50chf (mostly old cards, rig and other nostalgic stuff i love to collect) are in three figure price
> 
> i have a PS2 slim and a lot of games for it but i mostly emulate them on pc with PCSX2 (i kept a ext. ODD CDRW/DVDRW  just for that)


I can see your point as I understand it is very expensive to live there. So you can,t get any bargains on eBay. Or is there a Swedish eBay site?

I am just watching this teardown of the PS2  Fat in case i have to do it if i get any problems with the one i am buying,  







 It seems straight forward  if i just take my time with it.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sep 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I can see your point as I understand it is very expensive to live there. So you can,t get any bargains on eBay. Or is there a Swedish eBay site?
> 
> I am just watching this teardown of the PS2  Fat in case i have to do it if i get any problems with the one i am buying,
> 
> ...


Swiss eBay equivalent would be ricardo.ch 

Btw Swiss=\=Swedish  Switzerland=\=Sweden buy I get that a lot 

Also one of my most memorable buy was from eBay from a seller from Sweden  it was one of my Athlon in my collection


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 19, 2022)

Someone gave me an offer on  a PS2 with this problem *I COULD NOT GET IT TO LOAD BLUE DISCS.* And saw this simple fix video 







.  at the end of the day i don,t want to buy something with a problem. Why do they have two types of discs for PS2? I bought this one this is the last version of it 5000.I did not expect the seller to except my offer.I just hope the











*Boxed PS2 Console, Original Controller, Memory Card + 5 Games*​*Platform: PS2*​*Region: PAL*​

*

*



Hope this is ok £44 instead of £50.Condition: Good condition, Tested & Working. Includes: Box, Original PS2 Controller, Original Memory Card, Original power & AV Cables, 5 Free Games. Box and console have matching serial numbers.NB! The D-Pad on the controller is iffy. ?Hope fully the D_pad is not to iffy At least it has the box and the right box for the modal.There is no mention  of what the games are on the​details of it on eBay.Not that i am worried about that.


*



*


----------



## masterdeejay (Sep 20, 2022)

Im testing old video cards with 3dmark01se on a chinese platform Zhaoxin KX-5640 (somewhat new chinese goverment pc 2018 but using old via/se technolgy)
Windows XP it runs well, the sound (default xp drivers) and the lan (downloaded realtek) works but the igp is not. (drivers needed)
Voodoo3 2000 (pci-agp adapter), Leadtek 8500GT, X300Se


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 20, 2022)

A Comparison between CRT, 1080P & 4K Televisions when using Retro Gaming Consoles it seems CRT is not the best when playing Retro Consoles.   







This guys good.​


----------



## Bones (Sep 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Someone gave me an offer on  a PS2 with this problem *I COULD NOT GET IT TO LOAD BLUE DISCS.* And saw this simple fix video
> 
> 
> 
> ...


In the other thread I indicated these read issues are normally caused by a weak laser.
You can clean the lens and see if it improves but if not or it's just annoying, a new laser will fix it.

Need to know how?
 I can help with that since I had similar issues and did mine sometime ago - Eversince it was replaced it reads ALL discs perfectly.


----------



## Valantar (Sep 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> A Comparison between CRT, 1080P & 4K Televisions when using Retro Gaming Consoles it seems CRT is not the best when playing Retro Consoles.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Interesting! I do love the thrown-together methodology though: saying there's no difference in input lag between the CRT and the monitor when the footage quite clearly shows that there is (around 9:30) - but the TV clearly is worse. Grouping motion clarity in with input lag is also pretty odd. Also rather mixed up in how he's letting color reproduction and other model-specific features somehow be a deciding factor for whether "a CRT", "a monitor", "a 4K TV" etc. are better overall - these are all down to his specific units, their specs and calibration etc., so they're not representative whatsoever. And, of course, upscaling throws another heap of wrenches into the works of any comparison again.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 20, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Interesting! I do love the thrown-together methodology though: saying there's no difference in input lag between the CRT and the monitor when the footage quite clearly shows that there is (around 9:30) - but the TV clearly is worse. Grouping motion clarity in with input lag is also pretty odd. Also rather mixed up in how he's letting color reproduction and other model-specific features somehow be a deciding factor for whether "a CRT", "a monitor", "a 4K TV" etc. are better overall - these are all down to his specific units, their specs and calibration etc., so they're not representative whatsoever. And, of course, upscaling throws another heap of wrenches into the works of any comparison again.


Good points there as usual from you Valantar :)Here's another of my fav retro guys. 







 I rarely see any PC,s at a boot fair But then again I don,t get there early enough. or go to many of them.

What *free MCboot *should I get 8MB  or 64Mb For PS2 fat.?
And why are they about the same price? 
Surely it would be better to go for the bigger one?
You can,t get much on 8Mb  I am confused by it all.


----------



## 68Olds (Sep 22, 2022)

Playing with the Abit AW9D-Max again.  I pulled the E6600 & 2x2GB PC8500 RAM.  I now have a Celeron D 352 @ 3.2Ghz & 4x1GB PC5300 RAM.  My 3dMark2001 score dropped a little bit (more than half)!  I'll enable Crossfire again & start overclocking the CPU to see what it will do under water.


----------



## hat (Sep 22, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What is the retirement age in Switzerland? It is 66 here in the UK at present.
> I guess if Lex works in a Government department he would retire earlier than people who don,t work in the public sector. I have just looked at the age you can retire in the USA from  62
> 
> I have got another forum post on here about PS2 , it seems to have gone quiet on there.
> ...


You could have posted yourself in the PS2 thread... likely I would have seen your questions there and answered them. Moving on...

You do not need the HDD, in most cases, to play games off the disc. Final Fantasy 10 is one exception, I believe it does need to install something to the HDD. However, you're far better off using the HDD. If you invest some time learning about Free MCBoot and utilities like Open PS2 Loader or HDLoader that allow you to do this, you could install the games directly to the HDD from the disc, or even pipe them over your home network. If you load your games from the HDD instead of the optical disc, you're going to get better performance, and you can avoid the issues of scratched discs and failing optical drives/lasers. I've seen SATA adapters, but I can't speak to their reliability... also, they have no network interface, so you're going to need some other way to get the games on the HDD if you want to load ISOs from your computer. The official Sony network adapter that actually has a network interface and uses IDE drives is probably the best option.

I am not a fan of slim models for playing PS2 games. They don't support hard drives, so you're stuck relying on your discs and the drive. This also means you miss out on the increased performance from the hard drive. You could use a USB drive, but it's even slower than the optical disc. Also, the 90k model PS2 can't run Free MCBoot at all, at least without a modchip. On anything earlier than 90k, getting Free MCBoot to run is as easy as getting a memory card with it installed (eBay is your friend) and simply putting that memory card in.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Sep 22, 2022)

Finally got some improved soldering equipment including a Pinecil v1. Still fairly basic and inexpensive equipment but a good base to build off of.

First project with it was to replace the couple of bad capacitors on this Gigabyte 754 board. Only issue was the replacement caps have a larger diameter than the ones they replaced so fitment isn't perfect.



I also replaced the 2 bad caps on the vrm card. Took a bit of scrubbing to remove the guts of the one capacitor off of the board and get it as clean as below.





Will test this board tonight.

That did the trick. Board posts.


I wasn't expecting the vrm fan to have LEDs on it. This will pair nicely with my led DDR.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 22, 2022)

hat said:


> You could have posted yourself in the PS2 thread... likely I would have seen your questions there and answered them. Moving on...
> 
> You do not need the HDD, in most cases, to play games off the disc. Final Fantasy 10 is one exception, I believe it does need to install something to the HDD. However, you're far better off using the HDD. If you invest some time learning about Free MCBoot and utilities like Open PS2 Loader or HDLoader that allow you to do this, you could instal from the disc, or even pipe them over your home network. If you load your games from the HDD instead of the optical disc, you're going to get better performance, and you can avoid the issues of scratched discs and failing optical drives/lasers. I've seen SATA adapters, but I can't speak to their reliability... also, they have no network interface, so you're going to need some other way to get the games on the HDD if you want to load ISOs from your computer. The official Sony network adapter that actually has a network interface and uses IDE drives is probably the best option.
> 
> I am not a fan of slim models for playing PS2 games. They don't support hard drives, so you're stuck relying on your discs and the drive. This also means you miss out on the increased performance from the hard drive. You could use a USB drive, but it's even slower than the optical disc. Also, the 90k model PS2 can't run Free MCBoot at all, at least without a modchip. On anything earlier than 90k, getting Free MCBoot to run is as easy as getting a memory card with it installed (eBay is your friend) and simply putting that memory card in.


The reason I put it on here was people had stopped posting in there.
Yes, I realize that about playing discs. should I just go for the Sony 8Mb Free MCboot?And install from the disc. Too true, I will get a SATA network adapter they no longer have the network on them they just have a label covering over where it should have been. I have an adapter for the 2.5drive and an external caddy for the 3.5. I don,t see any of the IDE adapters with the network. Thanks for your information. This is a straightforward way to do it with this video. Yes I saw that in another video about USB being so slow as it is only USB1


----------



## Canned Noodles (Sep 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Finally got some improved soldering equipment including a Pinecil v1. Still fairly basic and inexpensive equipment but a good base to build off of.
> 
> First project with it was to replace the couple of bad capacitors on this Gigabyte 754 board. Only issue was the replacement caps have a larger diameter than the ones they replaced so fitment isn't perfect.
> View attachment 262636
> ...


I've seen that slot on board before, but never knew it was for add-in VRM boards. That's so cool!


----------



## hat (Sep 22, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The reason I put it on here was people had stopped posting in there.
> Yes, I realize that about playing discs. should I just go for the Sony 8Mb Free MCboot?And install from the disc. Too true, I will get a SATA network adapter they no longer have the network on them they just have a label covering over where it should have been. I have an adapter for the 2.5drive and an external caddy for the 3.5. I don,t see any of the IDE adapters with the network. Thanks for your information. This is a straightforward way to do it with this video. Yes I saw that in another video about USB being so slow as it is only USB1


I'm not sure where you're looking, but I can still find plenty of Sony IDE network adapters on eBay. Still, you should be able to use the SATA version just fine, especially if you're only installing from the discs. You should still be able to push ISOs from your computer if you choose to do so with some utility... I know there was one that could do it with IDE drives. I wouldn't think it should matter if the drive is IDE or SATA for that, but I've never done it personally. You should also be able to install Free MCBoot this way... to the hard drive. That's called FreeHDBoot. Same thing, just on the hard drive instead of the memory card. Still, I feel like the memory card method (FreeMCBoot) would be more reliable. Speaking of reliability, do stick with the 8MB Sony cards. There are aftermarket memory cards that go up to at least 128MB, but there have been reports of them being unreliable. If you can, maybe even get a second memory card for Free MCBoot. There's no need to purchase another Free MCBoot memory card, though, any old card would do, even one you may have laying around already. Once you're able to run FreeMCBoot in the first place, you will be able to install it to other memory cards yourself.

Side note: I'm sure if you had posted in your original thread, you would have gotten responses there.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 22, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Finally got some improved soldering equipment including a Pinecil v1. Still fairly basic and inexpensive equipment but a good base to build off of.
> 
> First project with it was to replace the couple of bad capacitors on this Gigabyte 754 board. Only issue was the replacement caps have a larger diameter than the ones they replaced so fitment isn't perfect.
> View attachment 262636
> ...


Nice.


----------



## mplayerMuPDF (Sep 23, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> Im testing old video cards with 3dmark01se on a chinese platform Zhaoxin KX-5640 (somewhat new chinese goverment pc 2018 but using old via/se technolgy)
> Windows XP it runs well, the sound (default xp drivers) and the lan (downloaded realtek) works but the igp is not. (drivers needed)
> Voodoo3 2000 (pci-agp adapter), Leadtek 8500GT, X300Se
> View attachment 262321View attachment 262322View attachment 262323View attachment 262324View attachment 262325View attachment 262326


So Lenovo makes Zhaoxin-based PCs too for the domestic market?


----------



## masterdeejay (Sep 23, 2022)

mplayerMuPDF said:


> So Lenovo makes Zhaoxin-based PCs too for the domestic market?


Mostly for the chinese goverment. (there is even a chinese gov edition windows 10 that is much faster than the original and no telemetry but i cant install any language pack just chinese, i used it for testing)
Outside china the support dont know what is this motherboard.
(i asked the lenovo english support for just a stock cooler part number for this motherboard, but they dont know that this motherboard even exist)
They dont have any license to make via/s3 or other x86 cpu so they cant sell outside china. But they needed a domestic made x86 cpu that is not intel or amd because it is a long trade war between usa-china, and also they dont want any backdoor like the intel management engine or any MS telemetry.


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 23, 2022)

Love to see about these old PC's...


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 24, 2022)

If someone  says a D pad on a controller is iffy ,does they mean it is no good?I take it is does.I will be quite honest with you all  have not used one before 



hat said:


> I'm not sure where you're looking, but I can still find plenty of Sony IDE network adapters on eBay. Still, you should be able to use the SATA version just fine, especially if you're only installing from the discs. You should still be able to push ISOs from your computer if you choose to do so with some utility... I know there was one that could do it with IDE drives. I wouldn't think it should matter if the drive is IDE or SATA for that, but I've never done it personally. You should also be able to install Free MCBoot this way... to the hard drive. That's called FreeHDBoot. Same thing, just on the hard drive instead of the memory card. Still, I feel like the memory card method (FreeMCBoot) would be more reliable. Speaking of reliability, do stick with the 8MB Sony cards. There are aftermarket memory cards that go up to at least 128MB, but there have been reports of them being unreliable. If you can, maybe even get a second memory card for Free MCBoot. There's no need to purchase another Free MCBoot memory card, though, any old card would do, even one you may have laying around already. Once you're able to run FreeMCBoot in the first place, you will be able to install it to other memory cards yourself.
> 
> Side note: I'm sure if you had posted in your original thread, you would have gotten responses there.


If i got the IDE one i would have to get a IDE to Sata adapter. so i could use it on my PC to get the stuff on the HDD.That would be extra expense.I do have an IDE PC.I do have an external  powered caddy for a Sata 3 .5 i also have a caddy for a 2.5.


----------



## hat (Sep 24, 2022)

Not necessarily. You can connect to your PS2 over the network and push things that way.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 24, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Love to see about these old PC's...


We all fo on this Forum   Here is another one from are number one Retro guy.


hat said:


> Not necessarily. You can connect to your PS2 over the network and push things that way.


I don,t see any with the network  conecter on them.With a  sticker over where it should be.

Why don,t pictures on Ali express come up the same way as all other pictures? The seller is mucking me about ,his trying to get it sent to another pick up point and not the one i put on the ebay order,  



Audioave10 said:


> Love to see about these old PC's...


Any one for a  Viagra  mouse   







 good old Clint.funny enough a young guy asked me if i wanted some, and then said i suppose not.It was when i was coming outside to drink my pint of real ale.


----------



## hat (Sep 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I don,t see any with the network  conecter on them.With a  sticker over where it should be.View attachment 262876Why don,t pictures on Ali express come up the same way as all other pictures?


Why AliExpress? Is there some reason you can't use eBay? There's plenty of them there.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 25, 2022)

hat said:


> Why AliExpress? Is there some reason you can't use eBay? There's plenty of them there.


They are a lot cheaper on Ali express but the prices on there vary so much.The cheaoer ones seem to charge more fot postage.

I went to what we in the uk  call a Bootfair which is set in a big field.I bought this PsU for £4 but when i bought it home i saw that a bit of plastic had broken off. on of the plugs  I will have to put tape on it to cover it up.I also got 16 PC games for just £2.


----------



## Valantar (Sep 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> They are a lot cheaper on Ali express but the prices on there vary so much.The cheaoer ones seem to charge more fot postage.
> 
> I went to what we in the uk  call a Bootfair which is set in a big field.I bought this PsU for £4 but when i bought it home i saw that a bit of plastic had broken off. on of the plugs  I will have to put tape on it to cover it up.I also got 16 PC games for just £2.


Man, you really need to check the focus of your camera before taking photos. Neither of those are legible whatsoever.


----------



## Greenslade (Sep 25, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Man, you really need to check the focus of your camera before taking photos. Neither of those are legible whatsoever.


Hope this is better.I see it is a cheap one but for £4 thats a bargin.


----------



## Retrorockit (Sep 27, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> Before Texas Instruments invented the digital calculator in 1968 this is how it was done. The Curta portable calculator. Bigger photos and caption in my album below.
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/g/a/1298590/default#


NOBODY MOVE! I have a math grenade and I know how to use it.


----------



## QuietBob (Sep 27, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> NOBODY MOVE! I have a math grenade and I know how to use it.


A math grenade?? Must be a distant relative of the Bombe


----------



## Bones (Sep 27, 2022)

Retrorockit said:


> NOBODY MOVE! I have a math grenade and I know how to use it.


Also used to calculate and grind the precise number of coffee beans for the perfect cup of coffee based on actual cup size.


----------



## 68Olds (Sep 28, 2022)

I'm still playing with the Celeron D 352.  The PC5300 RAM gave out when I tried to go from 4.4GHz to 4.5GHz, so it's been swapped with some PC8500 RAM.  Here's a 3dMark2001SE run and the score has increase from ~14k to 26.5k.    The vcore is set to 1.33v in BIOS & I can run P95 small fft for longer than I care to wait. lol


----------



## Robert B (Sep 28, 2022)

Got me a DEC in need of repairs.

EISA FTW!!! 

I still need a BIOS chip and a BIOS file which are both missing. If chips aren't a problem as I have about 200 EPROMS, the BIOS file will be a challenge. I didn't find anything on the net yet. I'll gave to scour the Internet Archive and even that is not a sure thing.

My first and only EISA board. Digital Equipment Corporation PRIORIS MTE with integrated VGA Socket 2. A 5V 486 DX2 66 is what I'll install in it.

It's missing about 8 inductors and a ceramic cap but those are easy fixes.

I am pretty sure that the board is still alive. These relics run even when they are knee deep in the dead.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Sep 29, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm still playing with the Celeron D 352.  The PC5300 RAM gave out when I tried to go from 4.4GHz to 4.5GHz, so it's been swapped with some PC8500 RAM.  Here's a 3dMark2001SE run and the score has increase from ~14k to 26.5k.    The vcore is set to 1.33v in BIOS & I can run P95 small fft for longer than I care to wait. lol
> 
> View attachment 263459


NICE!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 29, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Got me a DEC in need of repairs.
> 
> EISA FTW!!!
> 
> ...


Nice! Make sure you use a heatsink on your DX2 CPU. That level of heat wasn't considered a serious problem BITD, but we know better now. I'm certain you have compatible heatsinks laying around. 

BTW, nice Doom reference!


----------



## Valantar (Sep 29, 2022)

Do you want the speed and simplicity of flash storage in your retro rig, but miss the authenticity of old school head seek noise? Look no further:



			HDD Clicker – HDD Sound Simulator v0.1 – Retroianer
		


All it needs is to also emulate motor noise, and it'd be perfect. Maybe make one for floppy emulators too?


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Sep 29, 2022)

Valantar said:


> All it needs is to also emulate motor noise, and it'd be perfect


Just get a fan, cut off the blades, and run at full RPM.


----------



## Valantar (Sep 29, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Just get a fan, cut off the blades, and run at full RPM.


That won't come with all the joyful noises of an old drive initializing


----------



## Audioave10 (Sep 30, 2022)

testing scrap motherboards...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 30, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> testing scrap motherboards...


You get to have some fun!


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 1, 2022)

I went to my local market today and got 13 PC Games 1 XBOX  and four DVDs,s one was Walking dead double , I know DVDs,s are worth diddly squat, all a bonus. All this for £5 As I was walking past another stall
I found a pound coin One of them was Assassins creed 111 unopened As you can see in the photo with the price on it for £34.99And the other one in the picture is in a tin which youtube videos collectibles don,t think I could take the unopened one to CEX they would probably think I nicked it. There is another Assassins creed one RevelationsHave to check the prices on CEX,i have yet to get any PS3 at my price point
i see i will have to pay £1 pound and over for them on CEX, the only ones I see in charity shops are the football ones which I can get for 50p from CEX.I also got MATRIX 
for 49P
On line which i thought was worth a few bob ,as i saw one going for £40?But i see it was an inflated price.As someone else on ebay is selling it £20 pounds unopened



must


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2022)

Yeah, @Greenslade , there is something going on with attaching images. I'm sure @W1zzard is getting it sorted out.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 1, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Yeah, @Greenslade , there is something going on with attaching images. I'm sure @W1zzard is getting it sorted out.


So it is not just me then Hope it is sorted soon thanks


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 1, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Yeah, @Greenslade , there is something going on with attaching images. I'm sure @W1zzard is getting it sorted out.


Yup, that problem is happening..


----------



## W1zzard (Oct 1, 2022)

Image upload is fixed now


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> Image upload is fixed now


 
Thank you sir!!!!


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 1, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Love to see about these old PC's...


I was going to put that one up on here .you beat me to it. 


W1zzard said:


> Image upload is fixed now


it is not working here,It goes to 2% then cuts off.Has anyone else tried it since you said it had been fixed?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 1, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> it is not working here,It goes to 2% then cuts off.Has anyone else tried it since you said it had been fixed?



I haven't yet. Will try in a bit though.







Yep, working fine here. 

Maybe clear your browsing history @Greenslade and try it again?


----------



## pavle (Oct 1, 2022)

Here's the GPU cover (a bit oxidised) off my XFX GeForce FX 5800 from way back when. Delidding ain't nothing new.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 1, 2022)

I would love to attend one of these Vintage Computer Festival events...


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 2, 2022)

P4-630 said:


> View attachment 263865 works for me


Thats a good picture of Trump who,s,  the geezer  his kissing? I take it is suposed to be that short arse Putin 


stinger608 said:


> I haven't yet. Will try in a bit though.
> 
> View attachment 263866
> 
> ...


It is working fine here now WIZ.And so is my internet 



Audioave10 said:


> I would love to attend one of these Vintage Computer Festival events...


Same here but i have never seen one here. in the UK


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 2, 2022)

Did some research and looks like my old favourite FW 71.89 drivers are too new for certain Nvidia cards. I may retest GF3 Ti 200 vs FX 5600 XT (64-bit) with older drivers.

Even with that castrated XT, I'd still want a FX card on my S462 setup.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 2, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I haven't yet. Will try in a bit though.
> 
> View attachment 263866
> 
> ...


I did on my Mac with CleanMyMac ,does anyone use there version for the PC?I think it must have been the broadband connection aparently i have the fastest one.CleanMy® PC
£35 just for one device that is a lot for one device.I don,t so many are using that compared to CleanMyMac.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 2, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Did some research and looks like my old favourite FW 71.89 drivers are too new for certain Nvidia cards. I may retest GF3 Ti 200 vs FX 5600 XT (64-bit) with older drivers.
> 
> Even with that castrated XT, I'd still want a FX card on my S462 setup.


44.03 for Ti200
169.21 for FX 5600


----------



## pavle (Oct 2, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Did some research and looks like my old favourite FW 71.89 drivers are too new for certain Nvidia cards. I may retest GF3 Ti 200 vs FX 5600 XT (64-bit) with older drivers.
> 
> Even with that castrated XT, I'd still want a FX card on my S462 setup.


I'd suggest a GFFX 5700 or 5800 then; I'd use 93-71 drv. for GF3Ti and 175-19 for GFFX.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 2, 2022)

pavle said:


> I'd suggest a GFFX 5700 or 5800 then; I'd use 93-71 drv. for GF3Ti and 175-19 for GFFX.


You would give away FPS on both cards then.
Based on personal benchmark experience.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 2, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> 44.03 for Ti200
> 169.21 for FX 5600


I vaguely remember benching my Ti4400 with the 44.03 driver.  The 4400 is long gone (I'd like another one someday), but I have a GF3 Ti200 to play around with now & I know I have the 44.03 for it on a flash drive too.  The only FX 5000 series I have is a 5200 junker, & I need to find a heatsink/fan for it.  I gave away my FX 5600 (with the cooler/fan from the 5200) to a friend in need.


----------



## framebuffer (Oct 3, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> 44.03 for Ti200
> 169.21 for FX 5600



always used 43.45 for GF3, will try the 44.03


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 3, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I vaguely remember benching my Ti4400 with the 44.03 driver.  The 4400 is long gone (I'd like another one someday), but I have a GF3 Ti200 to play around with now & I know I have the 44.03 for it on a flash drive too.  The only FX 5000 series I have is a 5200 junker, & I need to find a heatsink/fan for it.  I gave away my FX 5600 (with the cooler/fan from the 5200) to a friend in need.


It's nice to give something to a friend in need.

I am checking what games i can get for  PS3,  when i receive it.And checking the ones i can get from CEX  for £1.And checking them out on  you tube.and came across  this one by our old friend Clint








 After watching this i don,t think i will go with this one .It sounds like this video was one of his earlier ones.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It's nice to give something to a friend in need.
> 
> I am checking what games i can get for  PS3,  when i receive it.And checking the ones i can get from CEX  for £1.And checking them out on  you tube.and came across  this one by our old friend Clint
> 
> ...


The PC version is better.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The PC version is better.


Too many PS3 games suffer from 720p30, though many titles do still look pretty good when thinking that it practically has a 7800 GTX with 128-bit bus.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 3, 2022)

*Got me some TARGET practice.* 

DFI 430VX P166MMX S3, ...

After a light cleanup it looks a million times better.  The rust will be taken out at a later date.

The PC posted at the first press of the power button. This case is exactly like the one I had in '96.  Mine didn't have the CPU frequency LCD but it had a TURBO button.  

At the moment I have two cases like this and a bigger tower that shares the same design.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 3, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Too many PS3 games suffer from 720p30, though many titles do still look pretty good when thinking that it practically has a 7800 GTX with 128-bit bus.


Do you know if they do a price guide for games as they do for records? I would think they do.Cex buying prices are crap I don,t understand anyone making any money selling to them.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 3, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Do you know if they do a price guide for games as they do for records? I would think they do.Cex buying prices are crap I don,t understand anyone making any money selling to them.View attachment 264082


I have no idea. I usually just find some good ones from ebay.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 3, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Too many PS3 games suffer from 720p30, though many titles do still look pretty good when thinking that it practically has a 7800 GTX with 128-bit bus.


There's also the controls. Better on PC. FPS type games are generally better with a mouse & keyboard


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> There's also the controls. Better on PC. *FPS are generally better with a mouse & keyboard*


Yeah, without a doubt. Also Dualshock 3 feels hella small on my hands these days. Though I got these add-ons for the triggers so no slipping fingers anymore.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 3, 2022)

The controversial Thermalright IFX-14 Inferno Fire eXtinguisher with HR-10 cooler. I wish that the cooler mounting system was of better quality. By this I mean sturdier. The mounting brackets are kind of flimsy while the rest of the kit is built like a tank.

Sheesh that's a mouthful.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 3, 2022)

Robert B said:


> The controversial Thermalright IFX-14 Inferno Fire eXtinguisher with HR-10 cooler. I wish that the cooler mounting system was of better quality. By this I mean sturdier. The mounting brackets are kind of flimsy while the rest of the kit is built like a tank.
> 
> Sheesh that's a mouthful.


Now that looks interesting, a backplate with a cooler. Can't remember seeing many of those.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 3, 2022)

It came with friends. 

Someone spent a truck load of $$$ back in the day 2008,


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 3, 2022)

Robert B said:


> It came with friends.


Nice 2600 XT there, GDDR3 or 4?


----------



## Robert B (Oct 3, 2022)

DDR4 

Also, Let's count the layers 1,2, ... f..k it! I'll glue back all of them.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 3, 2022)

My Rampage Formula (& Q9560) is coming out next after I get done playing with the Abit AW9D.   I still have a few more CPUs to put in the Abit though.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 3, 2022)

I found by luck a QX9650 recently. It was dumped at the bottom of an old box. Discarded like trash. Good thing that I rescued it.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 3, 2022)

68Olds said:


> My Rampage Formula (& Q9560) is coming out next after I get done playing with the Abit AW9D.   I still have a few more CPUs to put in the Abit though.


Abit... now there's a manufacturer I miss.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Oct 4, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Abit... now there's a manufacturer I miss.


truth...the Abit boards with the great BX chip sets were the beginning of consistent overclocking with great results. Well , for me anyway.


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Oct 4, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Abit... now there's a manufacturer I miss.


Still remember my trusty NF7 powering Athlon XP 2000+. Classic mobo.


----------



## Scrizz (Oct 4, 2022)

anyone have any DFI stuff?


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 4, 2022)

Scrizz said:


> anyone have any DFI stuff?


I've had only one crappy KT600 board (DFI KT600-AL) and that was back in 2006. Never had any LanParty or any other high-end board from them.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 4, 2022)

Scrizz said:


> anyone have any DFI stuff?



I've got a couple of DFI boards. I think they are NF4, if I recall correctly. LOL

Both have bad northbridge fans. Pretty common on them boards.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 4, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Both have bad northbridge fans.


I remember those. They can be fixed, or more to the point, cleaned and relubed. Very easy, just takes some time. If you want some tips I'd be happy to share.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> I remember those. They can be fixed, or more to the point, cleaned and relubed. Very easy, just takes some time. If you want some tips I'd be happy to share.



Oh yeah, I've been there, done that. They are just flat shot. I've got one that has a Thermalright, I think, fanless north bridge cooler on it, and the other one, I just haven't fitted a fan for it yet.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 4, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Oh yeah, I've been there, done that. They are just flat shot. I've got one that has a Thermalright, I think, fanless north bridge cooler on it, and the other one, I just haven't fitted a fan for it yet.


That bad huh? Damn..


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 4, 2022)

I think the photos speak for themselves  Paid $6 for it from someone's repair shop that happened to have AGP cards for sale. This was one of the gems hidden in there. (there was a FX5700LE as well from MSI, but I didn't find it interesting enough to buy... maybe tomorrow?)




Untested for now, although I have rather high confidence it is probably still working fine. No broken SMDs, survived the trip back to my dorm room (yeah, I started the 3rd year of college already >_<) so if anything and I get some free time to make a trip back home, I'll get to test it. (and lube the fan with some bicycle oil, it's kinda noisy.)


The other score was an ASUS N73SV, mainly because I wanted to find out how does ASUS' take on Bang/Olufsen speakers was. Does need some rather extensive work - a 17.3 LED display is in order, the bottom HDD cover is missing - if anything and the textured variant from the X73S/K73S fits (the N73SV is an almost 1:1 copy of the K73/X73S, with very ever so slightly small differences - the only one that you'd notice is probably a 3rd RAM slot on the N73, that isn't present on the K73S and X73S series)  then that would be a big step forward - I don't mind drilling two holes for the K73 door to fit (the N73 one screws from the underside of the keyboard ) and finally having a cover over the bottom side.
Once I'm at least done with that bottom cover, then I can source most of the parts (I might still have a 17.3 LCD in a Acer 7738 I put aside for parts, and I can always order a new battery for it - HDD metal trays are also the least of my issues) and have a spare i7 machine along my free A75VJ I restored a week or so ago.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 4, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That bad huh? Damn..



Yeah, the center "hub" area on both are so wore out that the fan actually wobbles within the "hubs."


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 4, 2022)

Scrizz said:


> anyone have any DFI stuff?


I do.
Ultra D
SLI D
NF3 250gb
Expert
Ultra B
Infinity NF2


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 4, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> I've got a couple of DFI boards. I think they are NF4, if I recall correctly. LOL
> 
> Both have bad northbridge fans. Pretty common on them boards.


Some of those northbridge fans are the same size as old VGA heatsink/fans.  Same little 3 screw fan mounts too.  Just measure the NB fan diameter then look for the VGA replacement.

I knew you would have more than one Mr.Scott.   Personally, I never had a DFI board.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 4, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Some of those northbridge fans are the same size as old VGA heatsink/fans. Same little 3 screw fan mounts too. Just measure the NB fan diameter then look for the VGA replacement.



You are correct sir! I have a few of them old VGA fans and that was the plan.   

Just haven't gotten around to it.......Life, you know?


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 4, 2022)

As I tell my wife regarding all her honey-do requests...  Don't worry about it, it's on the list!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 5, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Yeah, the center "hub" area on both are so wore out that the fan actually wobbles within the "hubs."


Yeah, those are shot. Luckily, replacements are not expensive..


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 5, 2022)

Ouch, center hubs wobbling sure isn't a good thing.
That's why I use bicycle oil on the bearings ASAP. (and another reason for me to lube the fan on my GF4Ti 4200 as soon as I can)


----------



## masterdeejay (Oct 5, 2022)

Saved from trash:
S939 Foxconn motherboard that i tested.
Soltek  ECS S478 purple board and an Abit Kn9 ultra am2




And the big treasue is :
no ram, nohdd, novga so i put a few spare parts in it.
Asrock AM3+ motherboard, Zalman Z3 plus, FX8350 that was almost the top AMD cpu 10y ago, CM 600w psu.

Yes it was in the local electronic waste. I dont know why someone throws out a good zalman case at least.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 5, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> Saved from trash:
> S939 Foxconn motherboard that i tested.
> Soltek S478 purple board and an Abit Kn9 ultra am2
> 
> View attachment 264278View attachment 264279View attachment 264276View attachment 264280View attachment 264281


Nice haul. 

Purple board is ECS 865PE-A v2.0, manual is available here if you're interested.


----------



## masterdeejay (Oct 5, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Nice haul.
> 
> Purple board is ECS 865PE-A v2.0, manual is available here if you're interested.


I don't know why i thought that's a soltek. 
Thanks!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 5, 2022)

Mqybe I'm wrong, but didn't P4 and Athlon 64 era Solteks have black PCB with purple slots? I recall them being done that way.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 5, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Mqybe I'm wrong, but didn't P4 and Athlon 64 era Solteks have black PCB with purple slots? I recall them being done that way.


They did. Not exclusively though..


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 5, 2022)

W10 doesn't know what to do with a 25-year-old Firepro. At least it loaded to desktop.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 5, 2022)

Wow!  Which Firepro are you using?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 5, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> W10 doesn't know what to do with a 25-year-old Firepro. At least it loaded to desktop.
> 
> View attachment 264332


I'll bet there are Windows Vista drivers and they should install in 10. What's the model of that Dell? Or is that just the monitor?


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 5, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Wow!  Which Firepro are you using?



Sticker says 8MB 1K.  I'll try to remember to upload pics tonight.



lexluthermiester said:


> I'll bet there are Windows Vista drivers and they should install in 10. What's the model of that Dell? Or is that just the monitor?



Yeah, I had that thought, but couldn't be arsed yesterday.  Funnily enough, the Vista progress bar showed up for a few seconds while booting.  It's just a Dell monitor; don't know the model offhand.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 5, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> It's just a Dell monitor; don't know the model offhand.


Ah, I thought you were using a whole Dell PC with a FirePro in it.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 5, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Mqybe I'm wrong, but didn't P4 and Athlon 64 era Solteks have black PCB with purple slots? I recall them being done that way.


Here are a few 
775 | 939 | 754

I don't own any of their boards unfortunately, but Soltek had some of the best color schemes for their motherboards IMO.  
My favorite being this here. I usually dislike gold, but that board is just unapologetic so I _have_ to respect it.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 5, 2022)

Adrian Black is well liked so fans and Subs send him cool gifts!










and I checked this out at Radio Shack about 1990 or thereabouts (with no extra money).


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Oct 6, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> W10 doesn't know what to do with a 25-year-old Firepro. At least it loaded to desktop.
> 
> View attachment 264332



...stupid Windows 10!

ha


----------



## 3x0 (Oct 6, 2022)

I've always wanted to try an older 775 system from 2006-2008 era, primarily to try OCing it. Recently got a P5K (vanila) + Q6600 + decent cooler bundle for just below 30 bucks and plan on getting a 8800 GTS 512MB later on for ~20 bucks. Had an OCZ DDR2 800 kit from before (troubleshooting a friends DDR2 system) that fits nicely in the yellow/gold color scheme of the motherboard.

The CPU isn't a good overclocker, 3.6GHz is a no go, 3.4GHz is unstable in stress tests so I settled for 3.2GHz with 1.475V in BIOS (~1.35-1.4V in windows), FSB400 with auto voltage.

The motherboard is screaming bloody murder, the VRM has coil whine and gets very hot. The CPU occasionally drops to x6 multiplier when stress testing (disabled C1E sleep states), presumably VRM throttle. Putting a fan on it helps, but doesn't eliminate throttling. CPU temps are fine I guess, up to 80°C in LinX.
Also, unable to change IDE to AHCI in BIOS, the SSD I'm using ain't too happy 
Currently no case, but might get one for free from a friend


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 6, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Adrian Black is well liked so fans and Subs send him cool gifts!


I am one of those people! Adrian knows his craft and is does not fear jumping into something new and learning about it.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 7, 2022)

I remember some of these.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 7, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> I remember some of these.


Same here. The Trispire case especially. Built a system for a guy who bought one. It is surprisingly spacious inside and more flexible than you'd imagine. It looks weird but is was a really cool, if massive, case!


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 8, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I have no idea. I usually just find some good ones from ebay.


I went into CEX and bought some PS3 games. A lot of them in there don,t have the manuals in them. And asked the young girl who served me how the prices were worked out needless to say she did not know. If you're going to buy them you need the manual I don,t see why anyone would buy them without one. They are the same price with or without them. I don,t know how anyone makes any money
selling to them. the prices they give you are crap. At least if you have the manual you can sell them for me on Ebay.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 8, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I went into CEX and bought some PS3 games. A lot of them in there don,t have the manuals in them. And asked the young girl who served me how the prices were worked out needless to say she did not know. If you're going to buy them you need the manual I don,t see why anyone would buy them without one. They are the same price with or without them. I don,t know how anyone makes any money
> selling to them. the prices they give you are crap. At least if you have the manual you can sell them for me on Ebay.


Agreed. I don't buy games at all unless that have everything included.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Agreed. I don't buy games at all unless that have everything included.


I did not look at the higher-priced ones. prices start from 50p there are very few at that price.So me it was the pound ones. I don,t want to pay much more than that. So I will only buy from them. Besides, I would only get 1p for the £1 ones and the same for the 50p ones. I said to them I would rather give them to a charity shop. I don,t know why they are so stingy on the buyback prices.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 8, 2022)

Well, ok for 50p I might got for it. Even for a full quid I might depending on the title.


----------



## Valantar (Oct 8, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I don,t know why they are so stingy on the buyback prices.


Because they're running a business with costs (rent, electricity, salaries, etc.), and even if that's a 99% margin on those games, they're still just making 99p per sale. If a sales rep makes, I don't know, £10/hour, then they'd need to sell more than ten games an hour just to cover their salary, let alone all their other costs. If they paid you 50p for that game, they'd need to sell twice as many to cover the same costs - or double prices.

So: they're stingy because they're operating in a business with near-zero margins and ever-shrinking revenue.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 8, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Well, ok for 50p I might got for it. Even for a full quid I might depending on the title.


I just got 8 to start my collection off. I am picking up the PS3 from the collection point tomorrow. I see my local CEX has a remote for the Blu-Ray player for £5 which would be a £1.50 sell-back price and £2 exchange.
Haze
Tiger Woods PGA Tour  10
Battlefield bad company 2
Battlefield 3
Killzone 2
Heavy rain move edition
Tom Clancy,s H.A.W.X
Blink



Valantar said:


> Because they're running a business with costs (rent, electricity, salaries, etc.), and even if that's a 99% margin on those games, they're still just making 99p per sale. If a sales rep makes, I don't know, £10/hour, then they'd need to sell more than ten games an hour just to cover their salary, let alone all their other costs. If they paid you 50p for that game, they'd need to sell twice as many to cover the same costs - or double prices.
> 
> So: they're stingy because they're operating in a business with near-zero margins and ever-shrinking revenue.


Your probably a business person   i should guess,If i was in there business i would give more.But than again you disagree with most of what i put on here,They don,t make much money working in the store, but that is shop work for you
Average salaries at CeX
Popular roles
Store Manager
£21,246 per year
Sales Assistant
£8.11 per hour
Assistant Manager
£8.85 per hour
Retail
Team Supervisor
£17,038 per year
Retail Sales Associate
£15,461 per year
Assistant Store Manager
£19,272 per year
Management
Supervisor
£9.25 per hour
Financial statements of *C.E.X*. LIMITED According to *C.E.X*. LIMITED latest financial report submitted on 2020-12-31, the company has a *Turnover* of £119M, Gross-Profit of £44M while the Cash is £10M. Compared with the previous year, the company reported a *Turnover* decrease of -41.23%, which is an equivalent of 48.9 The game cost him £52 for that price it should be good but no manual  







 lucky he got given the manual for free from someone. 
It should have come with a manual at that price 















 he got a very good deal there.


----------



## Frick (Oct 9, 2022)

Oohhh yeah feel the flashbacks. Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo D CY23. Dunno what the innards are yet, apart from the VIA PN133 chipset. SD Ram. Dvd player. The glory. It's still booting, after 15 minutes. Yeeaaahhh.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 9, 2022)

Frick said:


> View attachment 264755
> 
> Oohhh yeah feel the flashbacks. Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo D CY23. Dunno what the innards are yet, apart from the VIA PN133 chipset. SD Ram. Dvd player. The glory. It's still booting, after 15 minutes. Yeeaaahhh.


You might want to think about an IDE to CompactFlash adapter with a 32GB or 64GB drive for it.


----------



## Frick (Oct 9, 2022)

So it boots, and it's a Pentium 3 1.2 Ghz in it, and 256MB SDR. The golden age. The first boot took something like 45 minutes and the Windows XP welcome screen was really messed up, and it rebooted. Then it booted quite quickly and it does indees have some photos on it I was asked to retain, and then it died. I assume of overheating. Will take apart and clean later.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 9, 2022)

Frick said:


> So it boots, and it's a Pentium 3 1.2 Ghz in it, and 256MB SDR. The golden age. The first boot took something like 45 minutes and the Windows XP welcome screen was really messed up, and it rebooted. Then it booted quite quickly and it does indees have some photos on it I was asked to retain, and then it died. I assume of overheating. Will take apart and clean later.


You might need to redo the thermal paste as well.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 10, 2022)

I mentioned Firepro pics, so here they are.

The reason I was even messing with it was because I was transplanting an X58 system, and the destination case has knockouts. Only one was gone, and it matched up to a PCI slot.  I don't like removing knockouts when I don't have to, so let's see what we've got in ye olde box of pre-PCIe graphics:  Hmm, an S3 Virge and this Firepro.

Well, we all saw how the Firepro went, so rather than mucking about with Vista drivers or trying the Virge, I just dropped in a PCIe 9600 GT.  Which of course worked fine.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 10, 2022)

Last week at my local brick brack market there were a lot of laptops for £5, some looked in good shape
no broken screens, etc, and the keyboards were in good shape. I saw a couple of Think pads there they would be the ones I would go for. I realize I doubt if any work. I suppose it would be a bit risky for me to buy one, bearing in mind I am not that knowledgeable about repairing them.I think it was this one


----------



## masterdeejay (Oct 10, 2022)

from trash C64 + power supply in the original box. It is working. (sound, video and few ports tested.)

I have a few c64 pc-s and joysticks and a monitor.
They are easy to repair (just by replacing chips) but it is a very reliable platform.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 10, 2022)

*Fresh loot!*

Got me a 2 gig drive.  FUJITSU: M2654SA 2055MB 5.25"/FH SCSI2 SE. It is purring like a kitten.  How many kg it has? Many! Power consumption? 43W peak!

An ATI 9700 PRO wool edition also has arrived but as expected it is dead. Baked. For a custom Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 PRO I was expecting the shim to be eliminated or at least the cooler to have a raised part to make a better contact with the GPU die, but no. In my opinion this card died of overheating. Such a shame ... The copper has the tell tale overheating discoloration. This is just a showpiece and for that it will be restored and it will look the part. 

I also rescued a passive cooled XFX nVIDIA 7950GT 512MB DDR3. Which even if it looks like it is run over by a truck it actually works. 

A Geforce 4 MX440 from ASUS? Don't mind if I do!  ASUS V9180 TD  - V9180/64M

MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum MS-6570E Sk.A + AXP 1800+ Palomino. Has a few vented caps but it works. Please don't do as I did and power up boards with vented caps.  Before powering it up I checked to see if they are shorted but this is not safe and you should not do it. 

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe/GOLD UAY + AXP 3000+ it needs some trace repair. The Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12 is something that left quite an impression on me because of its sheer weight and level of noise. It came without the fan speed control. FULL BLAST rpms are something really should I say nice?! 

ASUS P5KC + Q9300 and 4x1GB of the absolute best in DDR 2 memory. SUPER TALENT!!! 

ASUS P5K-WS + Q6600 and another copper monster. 

A Cirrus Logic 5248 VLB display adapter.

Misc stuff.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 10, 2022)

masterdeejay said:


> from trash C64 + power supply in the original box. It is working. (sound, video and few ports tested.)
> View attachment 264846View attachment 264847View attachment 264848
> I have a few c64 pc-s and joysticks and a monitor.
> They are easy to repair (just by replacing chips) but it is a very reliable platform.


You're going to want to open that system up and look for leaky capacitors, replacing as needed.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 10, 2022)

Robert B said:


> MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum



Holy cow!!!! That has a ton of "vented caps" on it. 

Time to get to work brother.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 10, 2022)

Indeed!


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 10, 2022)

I have just tried the £5 PC I bought from the local brick brack market, it turns on for a few seconds and then turns on again. I checked the cabals they seemed to be to be in firmly. Meanwhile, I also tried the one I find that turns on all working at the first stage, I have to connect it to a monitor and see if it goes all the way fingers crossed. Does anyone know the next step to see if I can get the £5 one working?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just tried the £5 PC I bought from the local brick brack market, it turns on for a few seconds and then turns on again. I checked the cabals they seemed to be to be in firmly. Meanwhile, I also tried the one I find that turns on all working at the first stage, I have to connect it to a monitor and see if it goes all the way fingers crossed. Does anyone know the next step to see if I can get the £5 one working?


Let's start a troubleshooting thread for that.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 11, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Let's start a troubleshooting thread for that.


ok thanks Lex.


lexluthermiester said:


> Let's start a troubleshooting thread for that.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 11, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Let's start a troubleshooting thread for that.





Greenslade said:


> ok thanks Lex.



We can discuss troubleshooting issues with nostalgic hardware in this thread!

Doesn't mean we are getting off the track of this thread! 

Come on @lexluthermiester , we don't have to start a new thread for everything.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 11, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> We can discuss troubleshooting issues with nostalgic hardware in this thread!
> 
> Doesn't mean we are getting off the track of this thread!
> 
> Come on @lexluthermiester , we don't have to start a new thread for everything.


Ok, that's cool with me. I didn't know where the off-topic line was for this thread..


Greenslade said:


> Does anyone know the next step to see if I can get the £5 one working?


Do you have a spare PSU and if have you tried it?


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 11, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ok, that's cool with me. I didn't know where the off-topic line was for this thread..
> 
> Do you have a space PSU and if have you tried it?


I do, but I found the problem disconnected the IDE cabal from the DVD drive the draw was not opening. But funny enough the green light is showing on it even though the IDE cabal has been removed. I have just put the IDE cabal back in the DVD drive all working but the draw sticks but does open after a few tries. That's the first stage passed by the two machines. What do you think of me buying one of those IBM Think Pads I showed on here earlier? I see the power supply for them is £10. If they are still there tomorrow I will check out the models. There £5 the IBM ones looked good no broken screens keyboard was good no missing panels on the back. They have been there for some weeks no one has bought any of them, mind you quite a few are in bad shape and would have thought they should of chucked them out.Just trying the £5 one .It says
*Floppy Diskette  seek failure*
There is no floppy disc in there?
And says strike the F1 key to continue,F2 to run the set up-utility.But the keyboard not working on here but works on my other PC ,mouse is working.  But for a PC of this age does not have PS2 on itCharging the batteries  see if the keyboard works when they are charged.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 11, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> *Floppy Diskette seek failure*


Is the floppy drive activity light on? You likely have the floppy cable reversed. Flip it around and see what happens.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 12, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Is the floppy drive activity light on? You likely have the floppy cable reversed. Flip it around and see what happens.


No it isn,t there is no floppy drive in there.As regards the PC I found no signal on monitor no lights on the the ps2 or mouse .DVD drive opens and closes. Ethernat  cabal lights up as working.The  external T5  Drive lights up.The green light in the case works  fine.What do you think of me talking a chance of buying  one of the IBM Think pads?
Someone on another forum sugested  trying another PSU i have got two but neither have molex cabals.I have tried the ram in another slot still nothing showing on the screen.  It does not go straight off when pressing the button unlike the £5 pound one.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 12, 2022)

The A7N8X Deluxe/Gold UAY has been repaired.  Not an A+++ repair but given the massive hit it took near the SATA chip, I still am amazed that it works and SATA drives are seen and accessed properly. 

As I am a Thermalright fan, I couldn't pass this gem. A Thermalright Ultra 90 with a K8 mounting system. I am waiting for an ASUS SK8N or SK8V to pop up so that my A64 FX-51/53 will have a home.  Next on the list is a legendary Thermalright Ultra 120.  I need to get me one of those! I have an '"iron" deficiency in my diet.  Did I tell you that I love massive air coolers?

Atm I juggle with 15 cards that will be restored and sold locally. I don't mean to brag but I am really good at restoring and it seems that this will become a way of life for me. At least in the short term.  Stage 1 - repairs and rust removal. Stage 2 - Wash, deep cleaning. Stage 3 - Detailing. Stage 4 - Thorough testing. Stage 5 - Selling => Happy customers. My motto is: ALL IN or ALL OUT! 

I still need to buy a HAKKO FR301 and really take restoring to another level. The number of patients in need of my attention is growing on a weekly basis.


----------



## Valantar (Oct 12, 2022)

Robert B said:


> The A7N8X Deluxe/Gold UAY has been repaired.  Not an A+++ repair but given the massive hit it took near the SATA chip, I still am amazed that it works and SATA drives are seen and accessed properly.


Got any close-ups of the repair?


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 13, 2022)

Robert B said:


> The A7N8X Deluxe/Gold UAY has been repaired.  Not an A+++ repair but given the massive hit it took near the SATA chip, I still am amazed that it works and SATA drives are seen and accessed properly.
> 
> As I am a Thermalright fan, I couldn't pass this gem. A Thermalright Ultra 90 with a K8 mounting system. I am waiting for an ASUS SK8N or SK8V to pop up so that my A64 FX-51/53 will have a home.  Next on the list is a legendary Thermalright Ultra 120.  I need to get me one of those! I have an '"iron" deficiency in my diet.  Did I tell you that I love massive air coolers?
> 
> ...


I think we have seen ample proof that you SHOULD brag about your repairs! I also love the big tower type air coolers.  I am a big fan! 

After getting an ATI 9000 PRO AGP, I found one of the adds about the card in MaximumPC magazine from 2002.
I have about 80 old magazines.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 13, 2022)

Floppy diskette seek and failure? 
Then it says to strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility
When I press either one nothing happens.
There is no Floppy diskette in the PC.
The date is all fine. The time on the clock say
12                26m   pm I can,t change the 12  past there I need  18 in there.
the time here in the UK is  18.05
The mouse is not working but the light is on. I had to buy a wired keyboard from the BRIC a brack  market because my wireless did not work on the PC I am trying to get working but works on my MAC.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No it isn,t there is no floppy drive in there.


Ah, there's your problem. If no floppy drive is present and the system is expecting one, that error will be a thing. You need to go into the bios and disable the floppy drives/controller.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah, there's your problem. If no floppy drive is present and the system is expecting one, that error will be a thing. You need to go into the bios and disable the floppy drives/controller.


I have just put a CMOS Battery in there, I must have put an old one in there.  I looked the problem up it seems it is a Dell thing.This was the answer someone gave to a person asking the same question as me.
*Did you find the listing for the diskette drive, usually listed as "A:", and turn it to "OFF", or did you just remove the drive from the boot order?  Removing the drive from the boot order won't get rid of this message.  If you did indeed disable drive A:, you should replace the CMOS battery as low voltage will prevent retention of your settings*
Is that the reason I can,t  Strike the F1 key to continue,F2 to run the setup utility?
When i got the message *Floppy Diskette failure*? I suppose i won't be able to set the time till i get a new CMOS battery?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I suppose i won't be able to set the time till i get a new CMOS battery?


True! None of the other settings will save either.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 13, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> True! None of the other settings will save either.


Can you explain why the keyboard failed to work on F1 or F2 with that message about the floppy drive?As regards the other PC i found it switched  on all fans running and showed a light on my T5 when plugged in.
When i tried to turn it off i had to keep on pressing the on off button before it shut down.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I suppose i won't be able to set the time till i get a new CMOS battery?


You'll need to change the clock from 12 hour to 24 hour too.  I see a PM in your picture, so it is currently set to 12 hour.

Press & hold to shutdown is normal.  You don't have an operating system to handle a normal shutdown.
So F2 doesn't take you into the BIOS?  You got there somehow, because that screen picture is in the BIOS.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 13, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can you explain why the keyboard failed to work on F1 or F2 with that message about the floppy drive?As regards the other PC i found it switched  on all fans running and showed a light on my T5 when plugged in.
> When i tried to turn it off i had to keep on pressing the on off button before it shut down.


Sadly, this is a hands-on kind of situation. Where do you keep finding these strangely dumpy systems that are so riddled with problems?


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 14, 2022)

68Olds said:


> You'll need to change the clock from 12 hour to 24 hour too.  I see a PM in your picture, so it is currently set to 12 hour.
> 
> Press & hold to shutdown is normal.  You don't have an operating system to handle a normal shutdown.
> So F2 doesn't take you into the BIOS?  You got there somehow, because that screen picture is in the BIOS.


It won't let me only go any higher than 12. I am confused by it all 



lexluthermiester said:


> Sadly, this is a hands-on kind of situation. Where do you keep finding these strangely dumpy systems that are so riddled with problems?






lexluthermiester said:


> Sadly, this is a hands-on kind of situation. Where do you keep finding these strangely dumpy systems that are so riddled with problems?


 If I get the CMOS battery hopefully it will sort it out. I did not see those laptops. but are they worth getting if they are back there tomorrow?


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 14, 2022)

Hm, just by curiousity I tried that X800 RX (Club3D's own moniker) and damn, it was only X800 GT (8 pipes). I was hoping for a 12-pipe GTO.

Well, I need to try that with an older system some day with older games and benchmarks.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 14, 2022)

I have just got my PS3  set up with the basic stuff .I have downloaded the manual to PDF but the print is far to small, how can i make it normal size ?I have an HP Envy 5000 printer.I would be surprised if anyone on here can read it without a magnefine glass
When i download my BT bill for broadband it is the normal size.



lexluthermiester said:


> Sadly, this is a hands-on kind of situation. Where do you keep finding these strangely dumpy systems that are so riddled with problems?


I bought it from the local brick brack market. And just took a chance on it for a fiver. The other one I found was chucked out in the street.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 14, 2022)

Cool & Crazy hardware from who else but LGR.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 14, 2022)

The monitor enclosure looks like an old microwave.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just got my PS3  set up with the basic stuff .I have downloaded the manual to PDF but the print is far to small, how can i make it normal size ?I have an HP Envy 5000 printer.I would be surprised if anyone on here can read it without a magnefine glass
> When i download my BT bill for broadband it is the normal size.
> 
> 
> I bought it from the local brick brack market. And just took a chance on it for a fiver. The other one I found was chucked out in the street.


I have to ask that why you need a manual for? I mean, I got my PS3 used as well and never seen any use for a manual. This is the only help I've needed when I changed the HDD to a SSD.






						PS3 System software
					

Get the latest PS3 update.




					www.playstation.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 14, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I bought it from the local brick brack market. And just took a chance on it for a fiver. The other one I found was chucked out in the street.


Fair enough. Not bad for a fiver, if you can get it fixed up, which I suspect you can.



stinger608 said:


> The monitor enclosure looks like an old microwave.


That's what I thought too!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 15, 2022)

While I may not come across so much rare things as @Robert B does, I'm thankful to announce that my Ti4200 is very much alive


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 15, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> While I may not come across so much rare things as @Robert B does, I'm thankful to announce that my Ti4200 is very much alive
> 
> View attachment 265581
> View attachment 265580


1.5GHz, Willamette S478?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 15, 2022)

Almost. Original 423 chip, although I have had a 478-to-423 on the board originally. (and still have that socket adapter in my drawer, with a 1.6 or so Celeron)


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 15, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Almost. Original 423 chip, although I have had a 478-to-423 on the board originally. (and still have that socket adapter in my drawer, with a 1.6 or so Celeron)


Ah, I truly forgot that SDR 423 boards exist, I remembered that only cheaper 478 boards supported P4 and SDR.


----------



## framebuffer (Oct 15, 2022)

Does anybody here have experience with 2009~2013 systems and Windows 10? 
I wonder if Windows 10 would somehow affect the performance of X48/X58/X79 systems (and period correct video cards) compared to Windows 7


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 15, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Does anybody here have experience with 2009~2013 systems and Windows 10?
> I wonder if Windows 10 would somehow affect the performance of X48/X58/X79 systems (and period correct video cards) compared to Windows 7


I have Win10 on my X58 X5675 rig and nothing to complain there. Runs perfectly fine


----------



## 3x0 (Oct 15, 2022)

Some more updates on my 2007ish era PC. Replaced the vanilla P5K with the Pro version, hopefully the VRM is better suited for Q6600 OC. Might ask a friend to try out his Q6600 if it's a better overclocker, couldn't get mine to above 3.2GHz on the vanilla 5PK.
GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB with the full G92 core is here as well, only the CPU cooler is up for consideration. Thinking of getting Zalman CNPS9700-NT, would you guys consider it as appropriate for the build? Thanks.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 15, 2022)

3x0 said:


> Some more updates on my 2007ish era PC. Replaced the vanilla P5K with the Pro version, hopefully the VRM is better suited for Q6600 OC. Might ask a friend to try out his Q6600 if it's a better overclocker, couldn't get mine to above 3.2GHz on the vanilla 5PK.
> GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB with the full G92 core is here as well, only the CPU cooler is up for consideration. Thinking of getting Zalman CNPS9700-NT, would you guys consider it as appropriate for the build? Thanks.
> View attachment 265600


CNPS9900 Max is quite good if you want era-appropriate. $30 new from Zalman on Amazon USA https://a.co/d/2POAupo
Honestly though this is not the most efficient implementation of heatpipes, it will perform about the same as your standard 4-heatpipe tower (a lá Deepcool Gammaxx 400 which is another good budget choice)


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 15, 2022)

3x0 said:


> Thinking of getting Zalman CNPS9700-NT, would you guys consider it as appropriate for the build? Thanks.



For sure; those kinds of coolers were the bees' knees back then.  Another era-appropriate choice (I know cuz I had one) is CM Hyper 212+, which was pretty decent for 77X procs IME.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 15, 2022)

3x0 said:


> Some more updates on my 2007ish era PC. Replaced the vanilla P5K with the Pro version, hopefully the VRM is better suited for Q6600 OC. Might ask a friend to try out his Q6600 if it's a better overclocker, couldn't get mine to above 3.2GHz on the vanilla 5PK.
> GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB with the full G92 core is here as well, only the CPU cooler is up for consideration. Thinking of getting Zalman CNPS9700-NT, would you guys consider it as appropriate for the build? Thanks.
> View attachment 265600


FEAR... the Crysis of 2005 what it came to system requirements. And it had awesome AI back in the day.

Still a great game!


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> FEAR... the Crysis of 2005 what it came to system requirements. And it had awesome AI back in the day.
> 
> Still a great game!


Talking about games, I think that Red faction Guerilla was an underrated classic. You might benefit from dedicated PhysX card too. Although it is particularly hard to run.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 15, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> PhysX card. Although it is particularly hard to run.


Can you explain this please? I am currently gathering information (at a slower than wanted pace) and would like your input an what you mean by this.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 15, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Can you explain this please? I am currently gathering information (at a slower than wanted pace) and would like your input an what you mean by this.


I think he means a dedicated card which existed before Nvidia bought Ageia.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 15, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I think he means a dedicated card which existed before Nvidia bought Ageia.
> 
> View attachment 265607


Yes I know. I have a physx card. PPU2 actually. That's a PPU first gen. 7.11.13 drivers. Or use the 8.09.xx drivers.

I am curious about the meaning "particularly hard to run" ....


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 15, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Yes I know. I have a physx card. PPU2 actually. That's a PPU first gen. 7.11.13 drivers. Or use the 8.09.xx drivers.
> 
> I am curious about the meaning "particularly hard to run" ....


It's brutal on CPUs. My Athlon X4 870K often drops to 30 fps or lower. I have watched i7 920 gameplays and it drops to 40 fps. That Core 2 Quad taht you have is probably the slowest CPU that may run it passably. Core 2 Duos don't run it well. And fps is unstable, due to complexity of physics during destruction. Despite all that, it's not nearly as intensive for GPU.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 16, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> It's brutal on CPUs. My Athlon X4 870K often drops to 30 fps or lower. I have watched i7 920 gameplays and it drops to 40 fps. That Core 2 Quad taht you have is probably the slowest CPU that may run it passably. Core 2 Duos don't run it well. And fps is unstable, due to complexity of physics during destruction. Despite all that, it's not nearly as intensive for GPU.


I've been testing on W11 and 12400F at 4.6ghz.

So far the experience with UT3 and physx maps hasn't been the greatest to say the least. 

Setting aside the cpu and generation, I've witnessed the same thing, but seemingly on a much larger range, of FPS drops. 

Starting closer to 300+ fps and gradually lowering to unplayable frame rates even down to single digits. Some maps a bit worse than others. 

Phsyx driver version didn't seem to matter much, all the particles where really good and plenty, but slow degradation of frame rates was very curious.

The one game I played in which this didn't seem to occur was Cell Factor revolution. The FPS stayed pretty high and smooth.

Been trying to determine how to help the issue with other games, but I think it's on the game developer end more so than the hardware side.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I've been testing on W11 and 12400F at 4.6ghz.
> 
> So far the experience with UT3 and physx maps hasn't been the greatest to say the least.
> 
> ...


UT3 should be very easy to run, hell it even runs on dual core K8 chips decently. Admitedly with PhysX off, but I thought that it should be rendered well on very overkill GPU compared to that game's requirements. PhysX wouldn't work well on AMD hardware, as AMD basically has to emulate or translate code, so there's a big performance penalty. Even then, Mafia 2, which uses PhysX, dropped to 20-11 fps at time with RX 580, but without PhysX it worked at engine locked 60 fps all the time.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 16, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> UT3 should be very easy to run, hell it even runs on dual core K8 chips decently. Admitedly with PhysX off, but I thought that it should be rendered well on very overkill GPU compared to that game's requirements. PhysX wouldn't work well on AMD hardware, as AMD basically has to emulate or translate code, so there's a big performance penalty. Even then, Mafia 2, which uses PhysX, dropped to 20-11 fps at time with RX 580, but without PhysX it worked at engine locked 60 fps all the time.


I mean Cell Factor was completely designed from the ground up for and with dedicated physx. So its just running well physx maps or not.

With PPU, there's a 3rd driver added that most games just where not optimized for. The maps with physx just seem quickly slapped together and then implemented into game play later, like in the UT3 example.

Still need to test a large handful of games also. One is on that box, Tom Clancys ghost recon. So I'm not yet to jump on conclusions with reasons to why, what where when and how .... yet.

Thank you for the convo!! I am going to pay attention closely to determine which games where written from the ground up that utilizes physx VS games that had maps created, then later implemented like UT3, which you had a separate DL for the physx Mod Pack.

Oh, here's the PPU2 (the green board) actually installed in the 12400F. The card is a gtx 989.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I mean Cell Factor was completely designed from the ground up for and with dedicated physx. So its just running well physx maps or not.
> 
> With PPU, there's a 3rd driver added that most games just where not optimized for. The maps with physx just seem quickly slapped together and then implemented into game play later, like in the UT3 example.
> 
> ...


If money isn't tight, you can get another GPU just for PhysX rendering and it doesn't have to be same model as yours, but around same performance to see gains. I think LTT tested that in past. And it doesn't need SLI either.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Does anybody here have experience with 2009~2013 systems and Windows 10?
> I wonder if Windows 10 would somehow affect the performance of X48/X58/X79 systems (and period correct video cards) compared to Windows 7





Lenne said:


> I have Win10 on my X58 X5675 rig and nothing to complain there. Runs perfectly fine



And, like @Lenne stated, Windows 10 seems to run and a lot of the "older" systems pretty fair. 

I have Windows 10 installed on an ole Alienware X58 system that has a quad core and it runs smooth as silk. 

Seems to pretty much keep up with many of the mid range newer hardware without any issues.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> And, like @Lenne stated, Windows 10 seems to run and a lot of the "older" systems pretty fair.
> 
> I have Windows 10 installed on an ole Alienware X58 system that has a quad core and it runs smooth as silk.
> 
> Seems to pretty much keep up with many of the mid range newer hardware without any issues.


Not sure if someone mentioned, but W10 has Spectre and Meltdown patches, meanwhile Windows 7 or older don't. Also W10 does have more background tasks running and it got rid of CPU only desktop composition capabilities.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 16, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> If money isn't tight, you can get another GPU just for PhysX rendering and it doesn't have to be same model as yours, but around same performance to see gains. I think LTT tested that in past. And it doesn't need SLI either.


I'm trying to do a specific detailed write up for TPU forums geared only on Ageia physx hardware, drivers and game play examples.

That's why I'm running the card. And it's an engineering sample. So there's a bunch of test modes and such... I was hoping to write about as well. But the lack of information about the switches and developer software is so thin, I might as well do the writing specifically for the original PPU (1) instead where most people can actually get one and play with it.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I'm trying to do a specific detailed write up for TPU forums geared only on Ageia physx hardware, drivers and game play examples.
> 
> That's why I'm running the card. And it's an engineering sample. So there's a bunch of test modes and such... I was hoping to write about as well. But the lack of information about the switches and developer software is so thin, I might as well do the writing specifically for the original PPU (1) instead where most people can actually get one and play with it.


Oh, I wasn't aware of that. As far as I know the latest PhysX cards were roughtly as fast as 9800GTX in physics rendering performance, perhaps that may explain why using that card with GTX 980 results in lagging.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 16, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Oh, I wasn't aware of that. As far as I know the latest PhysX cards were roughtly as fast as 9800GTX in physics rendering performance, perhaps that may explain why using that card with GTX 980 results in lagging.


980 plays all the games fine, minus the physx maps obviously. So, I don't think it's that.

Also, the ONLY Nvidia physx drivers I've tried is the 8.09.xx that I mentioned earlier.

Besides that, am using specifically the AGEIA drivers, so we don't confuse the hardware.

Physx drivers 9.0x.xx and above will not run a physx ppu without some file mumbo jumbo I have no intent to dive into.

So using an NVidia gpu for physx will not be part of the article.


----------



## 3x0 (Oct 16, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> 980 plays all the games fine, minus the physx maps obviously. So, I don't think it's that.


He meant the GTX980 will wait for the (slower) PPU to finish physx calculations to render the scene causing FPS drops. Try logging your GPU usage during those FPS drops, might provide insight what's happening.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 16, 2022)

3x0 said:


> He meant the GTX980 will wait for the (slower) PPU to finish physx calculations to render the scene causing FPS drops. Try logging your GPU usage during those FPS drops, might provide insight what's happening.


The physx "mod pack" for UT3, I've tested with runs the physx map at over 300 frames per second at the start of the map.

This frame rate slowly declines. The physx count sway doesn't seem to effect this issue.

So within a few minutes, say like 5, the fps will have deteriorated to still playable above 30fps, however the decline continues to single digits in a matter of more time, 10 minutes. 

So with newer hardware, it's super smooth and playable. I've found it's a slow degradation of frame rate, which if there was a bottle neck, it would be from the start of the map. Well I'm way over that expectation.

I want to say that havoc physics in some of these games running off the cpu may have some conflict with the dedicated physx, but of course it's only investigation at this time. 

Not that a lot of this really matters, not many people cared for Ageia back then for exactly the reason of this discussion. 

So far, from opinion, game developers where not and still ARE not up to the challenge of more code to deal with and all the issues that come with it.

Nvidia physx is now open source. This basically signified the death of any hardware run physx for the foreseeable future.


----------



## izy (Oct 16, 2022)

Found an old computer in my storage, didnt had time to check the components but i took some pictures.

Edit: as i remember the computer works but the GPU shows many artifacts and not long after booting and going into OS it crashes, was a nice computer back in the day.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 16, 2022)

68Olds said:


> You'll need to change the clock from 12 hour to 24 hour too.  I see a PM in your picture, so it is currently set to 12 hour.
> 
> Press & hold to shutdown is normal.  You don't have an operating system to handle a normal shutdown.
> So F2 doesn't take you into the BIOS?  You got there somehow, because that screen picture is in the BIOS.


Yes you are right , but not from the point where it says about the Floppy drive failure.
I have ordered some CMOS  batteries. Hopefully, I can get it to work.


----------



## framebuffer (Oct 16, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> And, like @Lenne stated, Windows 10 seems to run and a lot of the "older" systems pretty fair.
> 
> I have Windows 10 installed on an ole Alienware X58 system that has a quad core and it runs smooth as silk.
> 
> Seems to pretty much keep up with many of the mid range newer hardware without any issues.





The red spirit said:


> Not sure if someone mentioned, but W10 has Spectre and Meltdown patches, meanwhile Windows 7 or older don't. Also W10 does have more background tasks running and it got rid of CPU only desktop composition capabilities.



Uhm OK, so it works fine but could be slower due to more background ops and security patches
This was pretty much my concern, but if the performance hit is limited, benefits could be greater in any case

Will do some tests, it's the only way to be sure


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Uhm OK, so it works fine but could be slower due to more background ops and security patches
> This was pretty much my concern, but if the performance hit is limited, benefits could be greater in any case
> 
> Will do some tests, it's the only way to be sure


Also newer Windows versions are more I/O heavy. My Windows 7 install on secondary computer is often more responsive with hard drive than main computer with Windows 10 and SSD.


----------



## hat (Oct 16, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> It's brutal on CPUs. My Athlon X4 870K often drops to 30 fps or lower. I have watched i7 920 gameplays and it drops to 40 fps. That Core 2 Quad taht you have is probably the slowest CPU that may run it passably. Core 2 Duos don't run it well. And fps is unstable, due to complexity of physics during destruction. Despite all that, it's not nearly as intensive for GPU.


Interesting. I don't remember having performance issues with Guerrilla, and I'm sure I've played it with a Q6600, though it was probably at 3.6GHz. I'm sure I've played it with older AMD systems too... probably a dual core Phenom somethingorother.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

hat said:


> Interesting. I don't remember having performance issues with Guerrilla, and I'm sure I've played it with a Q6600, though it was probably at 3.6GHz. I'm sure I've played it with older AMD systems too... probably a dual core Phenom somethingorother.


Dude, overclocked Q6600 is way faster than Athlon X4 870K. That Athlon is only slightly faster than stock Q6600. And basically Sandy i7 is all you need for good experience.


----------



## framebuffer (Oct 16, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Also newer Windows versions are more I/O heavy. My Windows 7 install on secondary computer is often more responsive with hard drive than main computer with Windows 10 and SSD.



I guess this is somehow directly related to the increased background activity, but in my specific case it's not an issue since I'm using only SSDs on those systems

Btw I just noticed that Microsoft is declaring very similar system requirements for 7 an 10



> 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor*
> 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
> 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
> DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver








						Windows 7 system requirements - Microsoft Support
					

Check out the system requirements to see if your PC can run Windows 7.




					support.microsoft.com
				






> Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
> RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
> Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS or 20 GB for 64-bit OS
> Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
> Display: 800 x 600








						Windows 10 system requirements - Microsoft Support
					

Windows 10 system requirements




					support.microsoft.com


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I guess this is somehow directly related to the increased background activity, but in my specific case it's not an issue since I'm using only SSDs on those systems


You can just see it in task manager. Windows 10 has more threads and handles in background.

Edit:
More info: https://superuser.com/questions/1065826/handles-vs-threads-vs-processes


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 16, 2022)

I couldn't get this lucky even if I tried. Another Geforce 4 Ti4200 (OEM?) 128MB and an Audigy 1394 SB0090.


----------



## hat (Oct 16, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Dude, overclocked Q6600 is way faster than Athlon X4 870K. That Athlon is only slightly faster than stock Q6600. And basically Sandy i7 is all you need for good experience.


I never owned an 870k. I'm thinking I might have played it on a Phenom 7750 BE, Phenom II 550, and/or Athlon II x4 630. All were overclocked. Either way, I never noticed a significant difference between any of those chips. Moving on to quad cores, like the i7 920 I had for a while, only enabled me to do more at once. The only upgrades that ever significantly impacted performance for me was when I did a whole system upgrade from a Pentium 4 system with an Nvidia 6800XT graphics card and 1GB DDR 400 to an Athlon64 x2 system with 2GB DDR2 and an ATI x1800somethingorother.... and later when I replaced that ATI card with a low end 8500GT (the ATI card was artifacting pretty bad sadly), things slowed down a lot. Later, an 8600GTS made things bearable, and finally a 9800GT made things good again. After that, nothing I did really mattered much.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 16, 2022)

hat said:


> I never owned an 870k.


All you have to know is that it's weak and single threaded performance is between stock Core 2 Quad and stock first gen Core i series.



hat said:


> I'm thinking I might have played it on a Phenom 7750 BE, Phenom II 550, and/or Athlon II x4 630. All were overclocked. Either way, I never noticed a significant difference between any of those chips. Moving on to quad cores, like the i7 920 I had for a while, only enabled me to do more at once.


That's very bizarre, because some games perfectly utilized 4 cores and literally doubled performance. Good example is Racedriver Grid, launched in 2009. If you use dual core, performance is cut in half. Basically the same applies to Red Faction Guerilla. IMO dual cores were basically obsolete the day quads launched and only our tolerance of less than ideal fps, kept the myth that "dual core is fine" alive. And in games like Racedriver Grid, those two extra cores are a difference between playable and unplayable. It's pretty crazy, but fps gets to 30 with dually and to 60 with quad. In red faction dual core dips fps bellow 20. 




hat said:


> The only upgrades that ever significantly impacted performance for me was when I did a whole system upgrade from a Pentium 4 system with an Nvidia 6800XT graphics card and 1GB DDR 400 to an Athlon64 x2 system with 2GB DDR2 and an ATI x1800somethingorother.... and later when I replaced that ATI card with a low end 8500GT (the ATI card was artifacting pretty bad sadly), things slowed down a lot. Later, an 8600GTS made things bearable, and finally a 9800GT made things good again. After that, nothing I did really mattered much.


Now that's more believable. I did experiment myself and I upgraded  FX 5200 to ATi X800 Pro. It was surprisingly boring upgrade as both cards were able to run the same games, but one did 30 fps at low-medium and 800x600 often, meanwhile another did 60 fps at high-ultra and 1024x768 or even higher resolution. That sounds like a lot, but it really did nothing meaningful to me as gamer. And then I got ATi X800 XT PE and that thing got a bit more fps, but otherwise brought nothing. I wonder if we will feel the same decade later about RTX 3060 and RTX 3090.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 16, 2022)

Cool system 







.   Another one of my fav Retro guys


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 16, 2022)

3800+ x2 used in hwbot team cup 22'.
DryIce and LN2 for this final score.

1.52pts CB R11.5

3800+ x2 at 3130mhz
DDR XMS Xpert at 208mhz 2-2-2-2 1t 2.9v
DFI LanParty UT SLI-DR NF4


----------



## Robert B (Oct 17, 2022)

MATTYAS feat. KRISTINA S.(Xristina Salti) - SECRET LOVE

FRESH LOOT!!! Hmmmm ...  I'm addicted to HW but I guess that you already know it by now. 

1. MSI K7T PRO - SK.A KT133 with a mystery Ceramic Sk.A CPU  It has massive 3900uf caps that are like skyscrapers. 
2. ABIT BX-20 with a P2-400 CPU. It looks like it is an OEM board made by Abit. I found various BIOS files but no manual. Well,.... OEM, stripped down version or not, an 440BX is still an awesome board
3. ASUS P/I-P55TP4N Socket 7 - a very nice board
4. Mitsumi CD-ROM DRIVE 16bit I/F CARD 74-1881A, controller for old CD-ROM units. 2 pcs.
5. NOS Enermax Coolergiant 535W - absolutely minty fresh with a golden case. This would fit nicely into a Slot A Golden Orb kind of build. 
6. Misc VLB, ISA Controllers
7. Trident 9440 VLB Video card made by SPEA
8. Cardex/Gainward Tseng ET4000 with funky SIPP like memory. Probably an industrial card.  PN: 9307-20
9. PCI Trident TGUI9440-1 bought for the VRAM chips. 
10. ZT52FA250HSS - ZOTAC ZT52FA250HSS ZOTAC GeForce FX 5200 128bit 256MB AGP
11. Gainward 8 MB Intel i740 ICUVGA-GW804
12. ATI Rage 128 AGP
13. P3 550
14. Zalman S775 cooler.
15. Two BIOS chips in search of their missing mother(board). I'm sure that the 286 motherboard is already minced meat ... RIP
16. Intel 486-DX2 66MHz 5V SX911
17. Intel Pentium 133MHz SY022
18. Intel Core 2 QUAD Q9400 SLB6B
19. Intel Core 2 DUO E8600 SLB9L
20. ASUS 8800 GT TOP EN8800GT-TOP/G/HTDP/512M
21. Misc stuff.

My DDR/DDR2 RAMBUS stash is growing nicely.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 17, 2022)

Robert B said:


> MATTYAS feat. KRISTINA S.(Xristina Salti) - SECRET LOVE
> 
> FRESH LOOT!!! Hmmmm ...  I'm addicted to HW but I guess that you already know it by now.
> 
> ...


I think you have a Toy Store there now!


----------



## Robert B (Oct 17, 2022)

A Toy Store indeed! I have even room to spare atm. 

While I have quite a few parts in stock I also know that this is a race against time. I am quite sure that in a few years I'll see them only in pictures so I try to save anything that comes up on my radar.

Many will be sold to other enthusiasts some will be kept. While I may fit the description of a hoarder I do not consider myself as a regular one.  All the parts are nicely packed and tested. Some are restored to a very high standard. I can move my stuff at a moments notice. All my parts are kept in a separate location. At my home I have only one PC. My main one and that's it. You see, I like to think that there is a method to my madness. Big money can be made from these parts even if it takes a lot of work, time and dedication.  This activity fits me like a glove. No matter the component and no matter the value, a sale is a sale.

I never thought that I'll travel down the retro collector path. In my opinion everything is cyclic and this is the reason why I have moved my area of interest from the 1980-2000 interval all the way up to the 2010. For example 775 boards are also entering my collection on the hunch that at a moment in time some other people will want them. Some models are even 15 years old. Time flies. (Damn it).

The thing with nostalgia is that you never know when or how bad it will hit you. In my case it started after my father passed away in 2015. I went through all the stages: buying expensive stuff from other sellers, buying and repairing stuff from the flea market, making connections and buying from them and now I want to start unloading the stuff I have gathered. In fact, I already have sold quite a few parts on a local auction site. In 4 months I have even return customers. The business is slow but in this game you need patience otherwise you will achieve very little.

At the very least if my plan doesn't pan out as I want, *I can say that I had a blast with them*!  The pile of stuff that needs repairs is growing but I am not flinching.  

More later.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Cool system
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Frick (Oct 17, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Many will be sold to other enthusiasts some will be kept.



I use this excuse as well and it has worked fine so far.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 17, 2022)

I can happily say the Geforce 4 Ti4200 from the GF4/Sound Blaster bundle I got, now works perfectly!
All it needed was three missing caps (C875,C876 and C1430) and that was it.
Tested it with a DVI-I (Dual Link) to HDMI and picture off my beloved ABIT BE6-II machine was absolutely lovely. I consider this a great score, especially since I would have never expected TWO Geforce 4 Ti4200 cards to pop up less than a week apart.

Now to decide what to build around it... either a slotket based Coppermine machine or a SDR-based 423 machine with the MSI board I used to test the Medion...


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 17, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I can happily say the Geforce 4 Ti4200 from the GF4/Sound Blaster bundle I got, now works perfectly!
> All it needed was three missing caps (C875,C876 and C1430) and that was it.
> Tested it with a DVI-I (Dual Link) to HDMI and picture off my beloved ABIT BE6-II machine was absolutely lovely. I consider this a great score, especially since I would have never expected TWO Geforce 4 Ti4200 cards to pop up less than a week apart.
> 
> Now to decide what to build around it... either a slotket based Coppermine machine or a SDR-based 423 machine with the MSI board I used to test the Medion...


I would go with the P4.  My Ti4400 paired very well with a 2.6a northwood.  I think the coppermine might hold the Ti4200 back a little.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 17, 2022)

Frick said:


> I use this excuse as well and it has worked fine so far.



True words my friend! 

In my case though I sold even stuff that I thought I would never sell. Slot A motherboards, VLB cards, Socket 3 motherboards, 486 CPUs, etc... Atm I still don't fell the urge to buy them back from other sources so I assume that the worst has passed. 

In any case I get way more stuff than I sell so this evens the situation a bit.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Oct 17, 2022)

On the topic of slotted-CPU motherboards, I picked up this windows 95/98-era PC a year and a half ago. I can’t get it to work and it has remained largely untouched by me for a while, so getting it to work would be nice.
The motherboard is an AOpen AX6BC with BIOS version 2.20. The CPU is a 600MHz Katmai Pentium III with a 100MHz bus speed and the video card is an Nvidia Vanta LT.
The primary issue I am encountering is that it doesn’t display any video, whether it’s with the Vanta or any PCI video card. I tested a couple of PCI cards with LEDs that indicate the card is receiving power, and I can therefore conclude that each PCI slot does get power. None of the motherboard’s capacitors are bulging or vented. I tried installing memory, but that made no difference. Does anyone have suggestions on how to troubleshoot this system?


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 17, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> On the topic of slotted-CPU motherboards, I picked up this windows 95/98-era PC a year and a half ago. I can’t get it to work and it has remained largely untouched by me for a while, so getting it to work would be nice.
> The motherboard is an AOpen AX6BC with BIOS version 2.20. The CPU is a 600MHz Katmai Pentium III with a 100MHz bus speed and the video card is an Nvidia Vanta LT.
> The primary issue I am encountering is that it doesn’t display any video, whether it’s with the Vanta or any PCI video card. I tested a couple of PCI cards with LEDs that indicate the card is receiving power, and I can therefore conclude that each PCI slot does get power. None of the motherboard’s capacitors are bulging or vented. I tried installing memory, but that made no difference. Does anyone have suggestions on how to troubleshoot this system?


That would default to AGP probably.

JP23 is your AGP frequency selection.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 17, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> On the topic of slotted-CPU motherboards, I picked up this windows 95/98-era PC a year and a half ago. I can’t get it to work and it has remained largely untouched by me for a while, so getting it to work would be nice.
> The motherboard is an AOpen AX6BC with BIOS version 2.20. The CPU is a 600MHz Katmai Pentium III with a 100MHz bus speed and the video card is an Nvidia Vanta LT.
> The primary issue I am encountering is that it doesn’t display any video, whether it’s with the Vanta or any PCI video card. I tested a couple of PCI cards with LEDs that indicate the card is receiving power, and I can therefore conclude that each PCI slot does get power. None of the motherboard’s capacitors are bulging or vented. I tried installing memory, but that made no difference. Does anyone have suggestions on how to troubleshoot this system?


Do you have a case speaker plugged into the mobo so you can hear the beep codes?  Not sure if you will see any display output if there's no RAM, but you should hear a RAM missing or bad beep.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 17, 2022)

> I have just put XP on an ssd after putting Windows 7 on a HHD on my £5  PC .It took me ages to get anything on there.Easy2Beat did not work,The problem i have is as you can see from 00756 the PC want work with two drives in?  When i tried starting the PC up it said disconnect the drive with no drive on it?Why is that ,i have never heard of a PC that you can only have one drive in a PC? 00757 XP running.  Another problem is i keep getting a message saying my internet connection is low?I have the highest rate broadband.


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Oct 17, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Does anybody here have experience with 2009~2013 systems and Windows 10?
> I wonder if Windows 10 would somehow affect the performance of X48/X58/X79 systems (and period correct video cards) compared to Windows 7



I have a Q9650 in an IP35 Pro running Win10. It's functional enough, but kind of slow.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 17, 2022)

Hey guys, long time no see 

Just thought I'd post post couple of photos... As always, I'm going to start with the one from "Before"




...followed by "After". I know, what a surprise! 




Now, for the specs... This used to be a Socket 7 system, running Pentium 233, ATI Rage II+ PCI graphics and a Voodoo card on Win95 ("B" edition).

But now, thanks to Asus P5A-B motherboard it finally became a Super Socket 7 - once again, running the same CPU (Pentium MMX 233). Of course, being a Super Socket 7 board, it supports AGP graphics so I've replaced ATI with SiS6326 AGP which will eventually become Riva TNT if & when I find one for sale. Meanwhile, the Voodoo card will remain inside for the time being, but will eventually find a new home inside the Slot 1-based Celeron 333, but more about that eventually.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Oct 17, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> That would default to AGP probably.
> 
> JP23 is your AGP frequency selection.


I will try changing it later today. Thanks for the suggestion.


68Olds said:


> Do you have a case speaker plugged into the mobo so you can hear the beep codes?  Not sure if you will see any display output if there's no RAM, but you should hear a RAM missing or bad beep.


Unfortunately, no. A while ago I tried putting in the speaker from another case but there was some sort of incompatibility; I don't remember what the problem with that was.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 17, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> I will try changing it later today. Thanks for the suggestion.
> 
> Unfortunately, no. A while ago I tried putting in the speaker from another case but there was some sort of incompatibility; I don't remember what the problem with that was.



Grab a few of these.  They work on every PC since the PC-AT (citation needed).  If it doesn't, something's wrong with your motherboard.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Oct 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> That would default to AGP probably.
> 
> JP23 is your AGP frequency selection.


I just tried out all 3 different jumper positions... nothing worked. The CPU, chipset and GPU seem to be getting power because they are both a bit warm after the PC is turned off.
Something weird I noticed is that two of the connections on the back of the VGA port are bridged. I don't know if this is a problem, but it just seems like that shouldn't be the case.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 18, 2022)

Robert B said:


> MATTYAS feat. KRISTINA S.(Xristina Salti) - SECRET LOVE
> 
> FRESH LOOT!!! Hmmmm ...  I'm addicted to HW but I guess that you already know it by now.
> 
> ...


Big box of RAM!


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> I just tried out all 3 different jumper positions... nothing worked. The CPU, chipset and GPU seem to be getting power because they are both a bit warm after the PC is turned off.
> Something weird I noticed is that two of the connections on the back of the VGA port are bridged. I don't know if this is a problem, but it just seems like that shouldn't be the case.
> View attachment 265919


I'd have to look at some of my agp cards, so I'm not sure off my head, but want to say it's normal and have seen it before. Why it's like that, not sure.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 18, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Hey guys, long time no see
> 
> Just thought I'd post post couple of photos... As always, I'm going to start with the one from "Before"
> 
> ...


Question: Why do you keep the modem? Also, you need a CMOS battery..


----------



## delshay (Oct 18, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Grab a few of these.  They work on every PC since the PC-AT (citation needed).  If it doesn't, something's wrong with your motherboard.
> 
> View attachment 265910


 
I have a few of these, but what I have done with the other type is remove the pin headed on the motherboard & solder the speaker directly to the motherboard. The reason for this is I just keep losing them, so I just solder them to the motherboard & be done with.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Big box of RAM!


Lex, I have got an OS  on the Del Dimension 5150  but it won't work when two drives are connected. It  says to disconnect any drives that don,t have OS  on them. ?  I have
never heard of a PC   that you can only have one drive on it


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Lex, I have got an OS  on the Del Dimension 5150  but it won't work when two drives are connected. It  says to disconnect any drives that don,t have OS  on them. ?  I have
> never heard of a PC   that you can only have one drive on it


Spinners have a jumper. Must put as slave if not an OS drive.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Oct 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Question: Why do you keep the modem?


So that I can surf the internet & stay in touch with you guys ... duh!

Okay okay sorry, I just couldn't resist  Long story short, I ALWAYS put a dial-up modem inside my retro systems. Apart from adding that final "touch" (and making the build even more realistic & period correct), I just love the sound of dial-up buzzer/speaker, dialing the outgoing line (0 77 100 000). I would prefer the modem to actually be wired into the phone line & be able to perform the handshake with the server, but for the sake of my phone bill I keep it unplugged. Heh, I even considered investing into some sort of phone line emulator, so that the modem would "think" it is actually dialing something & connecting to other end 

Oh well, think I'll settle for dialing sounds alone 



lexluthermiester said:


> Also, you need a CMOS battery..


Oh, the battery is already in place. Sorry, I took the pic before completing few last bits & pieces. But yes, the CMOS battery is already installed & I'm happy to say that the system POSTs just fine. Didn't have the time to hook it up to a monitor just yet, but I heard one single "Beep" during the power up, meaning that everything is working okay.

PS, you may have noticed that I'm still missing the USB 10-pin ribbon cable for the Asus USB/MIR extension. I found one extension card laying around, but unfortunately it would seem that I'm all out of USB cables. Meaning I'll have to find a new one ... so until then the USB ports will be unavailable.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Spinners have a jumper. Must put as slave if not an OS drive.


It is a SATA drive , and the DVD is the only  ide drive.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It is a SATA drive , and the DVD is the only  ide drive.


Ok.... sata drives are spinners and have the jumpers as well.... or I am missing something??


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Ok.... sata drives are spinners and have the jumpers as well.... or I am missing something??


I did not know Sata drives had jumpers.I thought they were just for IDE drives pressed this https://i.ytimg.com/vi/h2rabbDBruQ/maxresdefault.jpg and came back to the same thing to restart I disconnected the data cabal and get the OS ,
 I have never heard of a PC that can only work with one drive


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did not know Sata drives had jumpers.I thought they were just for IDE drives pressed this https://i.ytimg.com/vi/h2rabbDBruQ/maxresdefault.jpg and came back to the same thing to restart I disconnected the data cabal and get the OS ,
> I have never heard of a PC that can only work with one drive


Yep, pull the drive and set the jumper to slave and see if that helps.


----------



## AlwaysHope (Oct 18, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Does anybody here have experience with 2009~2013 systems and Windows 10?
> I wonder if Windows 10 would somehow affect the performance of X48/X58/X79 systems (and period correct video cards) compared to Windows 7


I know others have already commented on this with your request of Intel platforms. However if your interested with AMD, have an AM3 system here running an 890GX chipset motherboard no problems at all with win10 & all the latest OS updates of course. It's used only for lite stuff, but good enough.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Yep, pull the drive and set the jumper to slave and see if that helps.


Sata driives don,t have jumpers, only IDE drives.
I have sorted it I changed the drive over and put the os drive on the top and the other drive underneath. After looking at the Dell sight , someone was talking about adding a second drive, Glad I got that sorted.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Sata driives don,t have jumpers, only IDE drives.
> I have sorted it I changed the drive over and put the os drive on the top and the other drive underneath. After looking at the Dell sight , someone was talking about adding a second drive, Glad I got that sorted.


They do have jumpers, swear they do. But maybe not for cable select or master and slave. But sata spinners have jumpers!!

(At work, so can't look it up)

Glad you gotz it sorteded. Good on ya mate!!


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Oct 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> They do have jumpers, swear they do. But maybe not for cable select or master and slave. But sata spinners have jumpers!!
> 
> (At work, so can't look it up)
> 
> Glad you gotz it sorteded. Good on ya mate!!


Yup, see attached image. I have a faint memory that it is to set the SATA revision but I could be way off base.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Yup, see attached image. I have a faint memory that it is to set the SATA revision but I could be way off base.


Ah yes. 1.5gb/s or 3gb/s connection. Gotcha!


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> They do have jumpers, swear they do. But maybe not for cable select or master and slave. But sata spinners have jumpers!!
> 
> (At work, so can't look it up)
> 
> Glad you gotz it sorteded. Good on ya mate!!


Thanks, I am trying to get the PC someone threw out. I don,t suppose anyone can help.PC turns on fans running. ethernet cable shows light and blinks. The mouse and keyboard have no lights. Even when using  the PS/2 mouse and keyboard. The Floppy drive not working when I put a floppy disc in no light.T5 shows a light when plugged in all  USB ports. No signal on the monitor. I put an OS in the drive but nothing. It is an old HP as you can tell by having a floppy drive in it. I am not expecting to get this working.
It would be nice if I could though.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks, I am trying to get the PC someone threw out. I don,t suppose anyone can help.PC turns on fans running. ethernet cable shows light and blinks. The mouse and keyboard have no lights. Even when using  the PS/2 mouse and keyboard. The Floppy drive not working when I put a floppy disc in no light.T5 shows a light when plugged in all  USB ports. No signal on the monitor. I put an OS in the drive but nothing. It is an old HP as you can tell by having a floppy drive in it. I am not expecting to get this working.
> It would be nice if I could though.


No beeps?


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> No beeps?


No beeps.but the funny thing is i think the wrong ram is in there.It does not click in place.But if it was the wrong ram it would bleep.I am trying to see the actual modal number.I did put this on here sometime ago and told me what modal it was but i have forgotten what modal it is.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Oct 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No beeps.but the funny thing is i think the wrong ram is in there.It does not click in place.But if it was the wrong ram it would bleep.


All hp boards beep. Under all circumstances.

The board is fubar.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks, I am trying to get the PC someone threw out. I don,t suppose anyone can help.PC turns on fans running. ethernet cable shows light and blinks. The mouse and keyboard have no lights. Even when using  the PS/2 mouse and keyboard. The Floppy drive not working when I put a floppy disc in no light.T5 shows a light when plugged in all  USB ports. No signal on the monitor. I put an OS in the drive but nothing. It is an old HP as you can tell by having a floppy drive in it. I am not expecting to get this working.
> It would be nice if I could though.


Some (but not all) floppy drive cables are not keyed, which means they can be plugged in backwards.  See if you can verify both ends of the ribbon cable are installed correctly.  There is a "pin 1" mark on the cable and slots.
Pull the RAM & you should get a "bad or missing ram" beep.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Some (but not all) floppy drive cables are not keyed, which means they can be plugged in backwards.  See if you can verify both ends of the ribbon cable are installed correctly.  There is a "pin 1" mark on the cable and slots.
> Pull the RAM & you should get a "bad or missing ram" beep.


I have disconnected the floppy drive.This is the ram you said i should get for it.but it does not click in like it should, but i don,t get any beeps  Do you remember what modal the PC is i know it is a HP Compact.I have seen simuler ones but not the one
 i have it is a pentium  4.If i new the modal number i would look it up to check the ram it uses.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 18, 2022)

That should be the correct RAM (DDR).  Do the RAM key(s) line up with the RAM slot?  The key is circled in the picture.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 18, 2022)

68Olds said:


> That should be the correct RAM (DDR).  Do the RAM key(s) line up with the RAM slot?  The key is circled in the picture.
> 
> View attachment 266001


This is something I did not expect, I changed it and   disconnected the four-pin PSU connecter, and put the ram in another slot and all lights are on and this message on the screen. I am totally amazed I got this to work. I dare say I will have to put a new CMOS battery in it. If I do manage to get it fully working with an OS on  it.
Will I be able to take it out of this case? and put it in a new case? bearing in mind it is an HP  PC? This is looking more promising than the Dell. unfortunately, there must be Windows 7 on the IDE drive and got the blue screen message. I tried reconnecting the floppy drive no lights did not work. There is only one way to connect the IDE cabal and the Molex cabal to a floppy drive. you can only put it in one way. I will have to change the IDE HDD and hope there is nothing on that.

I put another IDE HDD in and an OS in the drive, And came up with this message 
_Set up cannot install Windows on your computer_
Your computer does not have a hard disk, your hard disk is not functioning correctly , or your hard disk requires a special device driver
_What does it, mean_Special device driver? I was going to put Windows ME on it.I suppose i could put Windows 98 on it.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 19, 2022)

Retro Hardware doing some crazy stuff...............


----------



## Valantar (Oct 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No beeps.but the funny thing is i think the wrong ram is in there.It does not click in place.But if it was the wrong ram it would bleep.I am trying to see the actual modal number.I did put this on here sometime ago and told me what modal it was but i have forgotten what modal it is.


There's quite clearly a good deal of gunk in at least the first two of those RAM slots, so it's no wonder if the RAM isn't seating properly.

I also see several bulging caps in that last pic, both of the ones directly left of the RAM slots (the top one is even crusty, indicating that it's likely vented/leaked), and one towards the end of the second PCI slot.

Caps circled in blue, dirt in the RAM slots in red.


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Oct 19, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Retro Hardware doing some crazy stuff...............


Technically, Hydralogix wasn't SLI, it was more like GPU-agnostic solution, where you could literally pair AMD and nVidia cards together.

Sadly, it had many of the issues of SLI/CF, except magnified:









						HydraLogix Vs. SLI And CrossFire: MSI's P55A Fuzion Tested
					

LucidLogix forges ahead with its promise of multi-GPU compatibility across multiple graphics architectures and platforms. Today we see how its latest drivers stand up to the performance standards of CrossFire and SLI on a much more cost-sensitive board.




					www.tomshardware.com


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 19, 2022)

I am trying to put a second  ide drive in to my  Athlon 2400 so  i can format it to use in my HP Compaq but when i put a second drive in there it says there is no system in there,when there is.It boots up every time.But comes up with that when there are two drives in there.


Valantar said:


> There's quite clearly a good deal of gunk in at least the first two of those RAM slots, so it's no wonder if the RAM isn't seating properly.
> 
> I also see several bulging caps in that last pic, both of the ones directly left of the RAM slots (the top one is even crusty, indicating that it's likely vented/leaked), and one towards the end of the second PCI slot.
> 
> Caps circled in blue, dirt in the RAM slots in red.


Thanks for the bad news So I gather from what you say the PC is on its
on its way out how long would it last with the caps like that? As you know I am not a tech person.

I am now having problems with



Valantar said:


> There's quite clearly a good deal of gunk in at least the first two of those RAM slots, so it's no wonder if the RAM isn't seating properly.
> 
> I also see several bulging caps in that last pic, both of the ones directly left of the RAM slots (the top one is even crusty, indicating that it's likely vented/leaked), and one towards the end of the second PCI slot.
> 
> Caps circled in blue, dirt in the RAM slots in red.


That is weird I have put the drive in my Athlon 2400 trying to delete it for the PC you see the bad caps. and it sees no drives in there only the CD ROM. I had set the jumper on the internal one in the Athlon to Master it was previously on cable select from the person I bought the PC from that was working fine. The second drive I set to Slave. Ide drivers are a pain. I discounted the Slave drive but it is still saying no Master when that is the only drive on there. ?All I am trying to do is wipe the second drive so I can put it in the other PC so I can get an OS on it but from your reply to me it probably is not worth doing.


----------



## Valantar (Oct 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for the bad news So I gather from what you say the PC is on its
> on its way out how long would it last with the caps like that? As you know I am not a tech person.


That's pretty much impossible to say - the main function of capacitors like that is smoothing out voltages supplied to various components, so them failing would first and foremost lead to components getting noisier power, which may or may not be a problem depending on how noisy the incoming power is and the tolerances of the components. But a failed cap can also introduce weird resistances or otherwise affect power delivery in strange ways, or even short to ground (the latter is rare, and would shut down your motherboard/PSU at once, so that's clearly not the case here). Dead caps can lead to a heap of different and very unpredictable issues, in other words, from difficult-to-diagnose system instability to components not quite working as they should to the system not working at all. Or everything might work fine! I've seen all kinds of outcomes across the web. YMMV.

(There's also the secondary issue of capacitor electrolyte being quite corrosive and destroying PCBs if left on them over time, but it doesn't look like any of yours have leaked onto the board yet.)

Still, that board definitely needs re-capping if you want to keep using it. Caps are cheap, and through-hole soldering isn't the most difficult, but unless you have a decent soldering iron and some experience (or are willing to invest time and some money to get there) if I were you I'd look around for any local retro computer enthusiasts that might be willing and able to help you out getting the board fixed up. Recapping is pretty universal across all retro electronics, so even someone used to working on old game consoles or similar could likely help you out, you'd just need to source capacitors matching the specs of the ones on the board.


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I did not know Sata drives had jumpers.I thought they were just for IDE drives pressed this https://i.ytimg.com/vi/h2rabbDBruQ/maxresdefault.jpg and came back to the same thing to restart I disconnected the data cabal and get the OS ,
> I have never heard of a PC that can only work with one drive


I've seen only some SATA HDDs with a jumper which puts it to SATA1 mode as some older (especially with VIA chipset) motherboards do not like SATA2 drives.

Also there's nothing special having just one drive, especially with modern machines. Hell, some people have even abandoned SATA SSDs and use purely M.2 drives these days.



ExcuseMeWtf said:


> Technically, Hydralogix wasn't SLI, it was more like GPU-agnostic solution, where you could literally pair AMD and nVidia cards together.
> 
> Sadly, it had many of the issues of SLI/CF, except magnified:
> 
> ...


Never even knew that any AMD board has that interesting feature. I just remember the hype back in the day and well, as it did sound good on paper, the implemention wasn't that good like seen on RETRO Hardware's video even with similar cards. Having AMD + Nvidia combined the mess would've probably been even worse.


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## Greenslade (Oct 19, 2022)

Valantar said:


> That's pretty much impossible to say - the main function of capacitors like that is smoothing out voltages supplied to various components, so them failing would first and foremost lead to components getting noisier power, which may or may not be a problem depending on how noisy the incoming power is and the tolerances of the components. But a failed cap can also introduce weird resistances or otherwise affect power delivery in strange ways, or even short to ground (the latter is rare, and would shut down your motherboard/PSU at once, so that's clearly not the case here). Dead caps can lead to a heap of different and very unpredictable issues, in other words, from difficult-to-diagnose system instability to components not quite working as they should to the system not working at all. Or everything might work fine! I've seen all kinds of outcomes across the web. YMMV.
> 
> (There's also the secondary issue of capacitor electrolyte being quite corrosive and destroying PCBs if left on them over time, but it doesn't look like any of yours have leaked onto the board yet.)
> 
> Still, that board definitely needs re-capping if you want to keep using it. Caps are cheap, and through-hole soldering isn't the most difficult, but unless you have a decent soldering iron and some experience (or are willing to invest time and some money to get there) if I were you I'd look around for any local retro computer enthusiasts that might be willing and able to help you out getting the board fixed up. Recapping is pretty universal across all retro electronics, so even someone used to working on old game consoles or similar could likely help you out, you'd just need to source capacitors matching the specs of the ones on the board.there no good unless i can delete and gormay themI am at a loss to know why i can,t put two drives on here when i am doing the fight stuff.


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2022)

Just put the drives to cable select mode and they assign their "roles" automatically from their placement on the cable like this.


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## ShrimpBrime (Oct 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Just put the drives to cable select mode and they assign their "roles" automatically from their placement on the cable like this.
> 
> View attachment 266168


I may be wrong, but you cable select on 80 wire and the drives must be jumpered on 40 wire Ata cables.


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I may be wrong, but you cable select on 80 wire and the drives must be jumpered on 40 wire Ata cables.


Haven't heard that before. The 80-wire cable is just for ATA/66 and above, doesn't affect cable select AFAIK.


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## ShrimpBrime (Oct 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Haven't heard that before. The 80-wire cable is just for ATA/66 and above, doesn't affect cable select AFAIK.


Something about UDMA controller... I honestly don't remember...


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Something about UDMA controller... I honestly don't remember...


The extra wires are just for error correcting if I remember right


----------



## framebuffer (Oct 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> The extra wires are just for error correcting if I remember right



and to make the cable much less resistant to bends  (   )


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## ShrimpBrime (Oct 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> The extra wires are just for error correcting if I remember right


I've had a lot of 80 wire cables go bad and reverted to 40 wire cables and had no issues.

But it's been a looooong time since I've run more than 1 drive on a ribbon cable. XD


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## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Just put the drives to cable select mode and they assign their "roles" automatically from their placement on the cable like this.
> 
> View attachment 266168





ShrimpBrime said:


> I may be wrong, but you cable select on 80 wire and the drives must be jumpered on 40 wire Ata cables.





Lenne said:


> Haven't heard that before. The 80-wire cable is just for ATA/66 and above, doesn't affect cable select AFAIK.



I believe you're correct on 80c ribbons for ATA/66, but also (according to PCHell):



> With cable select, you first needed a special 40 conductor IDE cable that would determine master/slave connections. This was different from the normal IDE cables at the time. Also, the Master connector on CS cables was the inside connector not the end connector. This made for a very confusing switch from everyday master/slave configurations.
> 
> 80 conductor Ultra DMA cables WILL determine the Master/Slave settings through Cable Select however. So as technology advances, Cable Select as a concept may still catch on.  With the newer Ultra DMA cables, you can set both drives to Cable Select (CS), connect them and they will work. Another change with the 80 conductor cables, the Master connector is on the end of the cable where it should be. In situations where you are using a newer Ultra DMA drive and cable, you can use Cable Select or standard Master/Slave jumper settings and the drive will boot properly.


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## ShrimpBrime (Oct 19, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> I believe you're correct on 80c ribbons for ATA/66, but also (according to PCHell):


Hey thanks for that. Wasn't entirely sure, just some shit skimmed off my memory as I read the comments.

So in theory, he might not have jumpers on the drive at all. Which, if I'm not mistaken either defaults to cable select or master. One of the two drives would need to be set to slave for sure if one does not have a jumper. 

I'm probably mistaken about that part though. Lol


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## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 19, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Hey thanks for that. Wasn't entirely sure, just some shit skimmed off my memory as I read the comments.
> 
> So in theory, he might not have jumpers on the drive at all. Which, if I'm not mistaken either defaults to cable select or master. One of the two drives would need to be set to slave for sure if one does not have a jumper.
> 
> I'm probably mistaken about that part though. Lol



It depends on the drive.  Once upon a time, one needed a jumper (sometimes two!) for all configurations, M, S _or_ CS. Toward the end of the IDE era, most manufacturers (IIRC) seemed to converge on No Jumper = CS. But that's definitely not a universal truth.


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## ShrimpBrime (Oct 19, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> It depends on the drive.  Once upon a time, one needed a jumper (sometimes two!) for all configurations, M, S _or_ CS. Toward the end of the IDE era, most manufacturers (IIRC) seemed to converge on No Jumper = CS. But that's definitely not a universal truth.


Yeah, I remember the two jumpers on drives. Mostly from a lot of OEM pulls out of Gateway PCs. Many of which only used the optical drive and one HDD though. Couldn't put my finger on it, but the optical drive was master???


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Yeah, I remember the two jumpers on drives. Mostly from a lot of OEM pulls out of Gateway PCs. Many of which only used the optical drive and one HDD though. Couldn't put my finger on it, but the optical drive was master???


I always had the optical drive in the secondary IDE channel as some people said that it can slow your HDD down. And in the primary channel, I always had the faster drive as master.


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## ShrimpBrime (Oct 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I always had the optical drive in the secondary IDE channel as some people said that it can slow your HDD down. And in the primary channel, I always had the faster drive as master.


Last time I set up the socket A (see thread what defines a pc for a pic) had set up the OS drive as slave, optical as master to install the OS. 

The newer Abit board had no issues making the OS drive master after removing the optical drive. Probably because it's a later IDE with UDMA that makes the swapping so easy.


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## Greenslade (Oct 19, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Just put the drives to cable select mode and they assign their "roles" automatically from their placement on the cable like this.
> 
> View attachment 266168


That's the way I did it. It only worked on the one I had on the PC when I bought it. The other two I bought on Facebook did not work I suppose they were duds. I put the jumpers on Slave. The one on the PC sadly was the lowest at 80GB.The two i bought on Facebook were 160Gb and 200Gb. I just tried again no luck. Even when i
connected the one in the PC went on and off, I guess the PC is temperamental.
The one with the os is a SATA drive with the IDE adapter. That drive is 320Gb.
No one knows how I can get into the BIOS I take it.


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That's the way I did it. It only worked on the one I had on the PC when I bought it. The other two I bought on Facebook did not work I suppose they were duds. I put the jumpers on Slave. The one on the PC sadly was the lowest at 80GB.The two i bought on Facebook were 160Gb and 200Gb. I just tried again no luck. Even when i
> connected the one in the PC went on and off, I guess the PC is temperamental.
> The one with the os is a SATA drive with the IDE adapter. That drive is 320Gb.
> *No one knows how I can get into the BIOS* I take it.


Usually the BIOS key is del, F1 or F2


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## 68Olds (Oct 19, 2022)

HP has also used ESC, F8 or F10.


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2022)

68Olds said:


> HP has also used ESC, F8 or F10.


Good point there, hard to remember OEM keys.


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## Greenslade (Oct 20, 2022)

68Olds said:


> HP has also used ESC, F8 or F10.


I am talking about my ASUS Athlon .2400 RETRO PC Apparently to get in the BIOS it is Delete i have backspace on my keyboard which i understand is the same as Delete?.But i can,t get into it 



Lenne said:


> Good point there, hard to remember OEM keys.


I can get into the HP Bios ,but i am talking about ASUS  Retro PC.


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## Kissamies (Oct 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am talking about my ASUS Athlon .2400 RETRO PC Apparently to get in the BIOS it is Delete i have *backspace on my keyboard which i understand is the same as Delete*?.But i can,t get into it


Nope. That's del key.


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## Greenslade (Oct 20, 2022)

68Olds said:


> HP has also used ESC, F8 or F10.


I can get into the HP bios  ,but i need to get into my ASUS Retro PC bios. 



Lenne said:


> Nope. That's del key.
> 
> View attachment 266227


Ok, i have got one of those  bigger  keyboards,i had to buy one i think it was for the HP  thanks for that . I did not look for the delete key on there.I assumed backspace was the same as delete.I have only had the smaller keyboards with the Delete  key.


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## Kissamies (Oct 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I can get into the HP bios  ,but i need to get into my ASUS Retro PC bios.
> 
> 
> Ok, i have got one of those  bigger  keyboards,i had to buy one i think it was for the HP  thanks for that . I did not look for the delete key on there.I assumed backspace was the same as delete.I have only had the smaller keyboards with the Delete key.


That's the standard keyboard layout which has been out since the 80s. It may be on a different place in laptops and smaller keyboards (like my 60% where I have to use Fn + backspace).


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## Greenslade (Oct 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> That's the standard keyboard layout which has been out since the 80s. It may be on a different place in laptops and smaller keyboards (like my 60% where I have to use Fn + backspace).


I have never had to use the other keys on a big keyboard.I prefer the smaller keyboards as they take up less space.


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## Kissamies (Oct 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have never had to use the other keys on a big keyboard.


Weird if you haven't needed ctrl + alt + del when tinkering with old hardware.


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## lexluthermiester (Oct 20, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I may be wrong, but you cable select on 80 wire and the drives must be jumpered on 40 wire Ata cables.


That's not correct. Drive assignment is controlled by jumpers at all times, even when cable-select is intended.


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## Greenslade (Oct 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Weird if you haven't needed ctrl + alt + del when tinkering with old hardware.


It is only recently  since i joined this site last year that i have been into Retro PC,s.
Before that i never thought about tinkering with PC.s.
If there was  a problem i got someone to repair it.


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## lexluthermiester (Oct 20, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> I believe you're correct on 80c ribbons for ATA/66, but also (according to PCHell):


The key point that should not be overlooked is that for the cable to assign master/slave, the drives must be in a cable select mode as set by jumpers. It's a part of the technology and it can not be ignored.


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## Greenslade (Oct 20, 2022)

Valantar said:


> There's quite clearly a good deal of gunk in at least the first two of those RAM slots, so it's no wonder if the RAM isn't seating properly.
> 
> I also see several bulging caps in that last pic, both of the ones directly left of the RAM slots (the top one is even crusty, indicating that it's likely vented/leaked), and one towards the end of the second PCI slot.
> 
> Caps circled in blue, dirt in the RAM slots in red.


Can you tell me if I can put this in a new case?
Bearing in mind this is an HP PC.
Will I be able to put it in an ATX case? If it can go in a new case I will give it a go by putting in new caps or getting someone to do it for me. After all, the motherboard will have to be removed from the case. to replace the caps.The case is not good, plus there is no side panel. I don,t really want to put it back in the crappy case.


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## Kissamies (Oct 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can you tell me if I can put this in a new case?
> Bearing in mind this is an HP PC.
> Will I be able to put it in an ATX case? If it can go in a new case I will give it a go by putting in new caps or getting someone to do it for me. After all, the motherboard will have to be removed from the case. to replace the caps.The case is not good, plus there is no side panel. I don,t really want to put it back in the crappy case.


Most likely it's compatible. Many manufacturers used standard (m)ATX parts during that era.


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## Greenslade (Oct 20, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Most likely it's compatible. Many manufacturers used standard (m)ATX parts during that era.


I will give it a go then thanks, I tell you what the HP is miles quieter than the Athon 2400 that is nosey Could I get a quieter fan for it?
NON -System disk or disk error
Same thing I had before setup can not install Windows on your computer
Your computer does not have a hard disk your hard disk is not functioning correctly,
or your hard disk requires a special device driver. What do they mean by that, what is a special device driver?
One of the ones that I could be nothing with on the Athlon has windows 7 on it. but that came up with
blue about damaging your PC. I take it this drive is bad. The only other thing is to take the second drive
out of my Athlon  PC and try that in here. Other than that I could use a CF Card in the HP here.This is my £5 Pc although he has the Athlon version mine is the PENTIUM 4 2.8 







 Interaction video.Heres the card in the Dell it makes a change with this guy liking it  the guys usually critical  of old stuff like this.


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## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 20, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I will give it a go then thanks, I tell you what the HP is miles quieter than the Athon 2400 that is nosey Could I get a quieter fan for it?
> NON -System disk or disk error
> Same thing I had before setup can not install Windows on your computer
> Your computer does not have a hard disk your hard disk is not functioning correctly,
> ...



Quieter fans?  Probably.  Most are standard form factors, typically 80mm or 92mm in OEM systems.

Non-system disk error likely means that there isn't a bootable device where the system is looking for one.  What are you using as an installation medium?  How is your destination drive attached, and is the BIOS set to look for it?

You probably don't need a special device driver; that message is for users who have something unusual like a SCSI controller or RAID card.

Can you take some pics showing your setup?  Fans and drive connections.  Also model number of the machine if you know it.


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## Greenslade (Oct 21, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Quieter fans?  Probably.  Most are standard form factors, typically 80mm or 92mm in OEM systems.
> 
> Non-system disk error likely means that there isn't a bootable device where the system is looking for one.  What are you using as an installation medium?  How is your destination drive attached, and is the BIOS set to look for it?
> 
> ...





80-watt Hamster said:


> Quieter fans?  Probably.  Most are standard form factors, typically 80mm or 92mm in OEM systems.
> 
> Non-system disk error likely means that there isn't a bootable device where the system is looking for one.  What are you using as an installation medium?  How is your destination drive attached, and is the BIOS set to look for it?
> 
> ...


This is the HP Compaq D530 this IDE drive apparently has Windows 7 on. The other IDE drive came up with the other stuff, you mentioned, someone on here told me a couple of caps are going. I can,t find the other drive with all the stuff you mentioned. At the end of the day, I put them in the Athlon PC to try and format them on a two-drive ide cable but they did not show, and neither did the OS I had on there. And both of them had the jumpers as Slave.i also tried cable select.IDE blue to the motherboard the end of the IDE to the Master and the middle one to Slave I tried them are few times either as cable select or Slave, IDE drives suck. 
If I could replace those caps and be able to put it in another case I would but being Hp I don,t know that that could be done. As I would have to take it out of that crap case to replace those caps.I don,t want to have to put it back in that case. There is no side panal.on it. CD, I take it the other IDE drive does not have an OS on it. I have been unable to get into the bios. As regards the Athlon PC that is known to be a noise CPU from what I have seen on youtube.
This is the other drive the one without an OS on it. I put an os in the CD drive here is what came up. The other shots I could not put up before this stage come up like 787 788 there so bad on this Sony camera I am using a Mac. I have a Canon camera but I can,t get it to work on my Mac. It is too much trouble to swap from this Hp to mu one of my other PC.s The Cannon camera does better pictures than the Sony. I can,t do much with it I don,t know whether the second drive has been formatted, And there is no way to do that unless I got an IDE docking station and that cost a few bob not worth getting for two ide drives.It is a shame i can,t get them to work with my Athlon


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## Kissamies (Oct 21, 2022)

The fan on the CPU cooler is probably 70mm and the exhaust is probably 80 or 92mm. Take a measuring tape and check their dimensions; they can be replaced.


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## Jism (Oct 21, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Never even knew that any AMD board has that interesting feature. I just remember the hype back in the day and well, as it did sound good on paper, the implemention wasn't that good like seen on RETRO Hardware's video even with similar cards. Having AMD + Nvidia combined the mess would've probably been even worse.



AMD never had such features. It was a add-on done by Asus and that was a 3rd party to a hardware type of approach in regards of running multiple cards. Fact that you could even mix Nvidia with ATI cards back then was quite stunning. But it was buggy, not all games supported it, and the few reviews you see out there generall complain about the various bugs and issues it got.


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## Kissamies (Oct 21, 2022)

Jism said:


> AMD never had such features. It was a add-on done by Asus and that was a 3rd party to a hardware type of approach in regards of running multiple cards. Fact that you could even mix Nvidia with ATI cards back then was quite stunning. But it was buggy, not all games supported it, and the few reviews you see out there generall complain about the various bugs and issues it got.


I know and like I said, I remember the hype around the Hydra chip back in the day. But it wasn't hard to guess that as it sounded nice in paper, its result was more or less "meh".


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## Valantar (Oct 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> and be able to put it in another case I would


That looks like a standard mATX motherboard to me, and the PSU looks standard too - but that's a bit harder to tell. Easiest way to check is to just get a tape measure and check its dimensions, then google ATX PSU dimensions to confirm. At least the board looks like it'd fit in any mATX or ATX case.


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## MaxiPro800 (Oct 21, 2022)

IIRC the PSUs weren't standard in dimensions. 

The mainboards used on those are standard microATX, although the I/O side where the shield would be isn't fully standard. It's slightly shifted a bit to make place for a RS232/Serial port. The mainboard mounting holes are standard though.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 21, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> *IIRC the PSUs weren't standard in dimensions.*
> 
> The mainboards used on those are standard microATX, although the I/O side where the shield would be isn't fully standard. It's slightly shifted a bit to make place for a RS232/Serial port. The mainboard mounting holes are standard though.


Not impossible. I have one hp compaq case which has standard ATX board holes, but the PSU has a non-standard form factor though it's still ATX otherwise.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> This is the HP Compaq D530 this IDE drive apparently has Windows 7 on. The other IDE drive came up with the other stuff, you mentioned, someone on here told me a couple of caps are going. I can,t find the other drive with all the stuff you mentioned. At the end of the day, I put them in the Athlon PC to try and format them on a two-drive ide cable but they did not show, and neither did the OS I had on there. And both of them had the jumpers as Slave.i also tried cable select.IDE blue to the motherboard the end of the IDE to the Master and the middle one to Slave I tried them are few times either as cable select or Slave, IDE drives suck.
> If I could replace those caps and be able to put it in another case I would but being Hp I don,t know that that could be done. As I would have to take it out of that crap case to replace those caps.I don,t want to have to put it back in that case. There is no side panal.on it. CD, I take it the other IDE drive does not have an OS on it. I have been unable to get into the bios. As regards the Athlon PC that is known to be a noise CPU from what I have seen on youtube.
> This is the other drive the one without an OS on it. I put an os in the CD drive here is what came up. The other shots I could not put up before this stage come up like 787 788 there so bad on this Sony camera I am using a Mac. I have a Canon camera but I can,t get it to work on my Mac. It is too much trouble to swap from this Hp to mu one of my other PC.s The Cannon camera does better pictures than the Sony. I can,t do much with it I don,t know whether the second drive has been formatted, And there is no way to do that unless I got an IDE docking station and that cost a few bob not worth getting for two ide drives.It is a shame i can,t get them to work with my Athlon



What the drive has on it already isn't important; you'll be overwriting all of that in any case.  So from what I can gather, your motherboard has two IDE channels, and it looks like each drive is on its own channel/cable (correct me if I'm wrong).  HP's documentation isn't fantastic, but what there is doesn't suggest that you can boot from USB, which is unfortunate and means you'll be installing from CD.

Cable Select is great when it works, but it doesn't always.  So manually set all drives to Master (if you have two IDE cables).  Unplug everything from the board except the optical drive, which should be connected to the secondary (white) IDE channel.  It should automatically boot from CD/DVD.  If it doesn't, you'll need to adjust boot options in the BIOS, which is unfortunately poorly documented.  Disable floppy drives and network boot support if you go in there since we won't be using those and it'll cut down on boot errors.

If Setup loads, we're making progress.  You won't have a destination drive hooked up at this point, so shut down and connect a hard drive, which should be set for Master and on the primary (blue) channel.  There's a chance that the boot priority will change when you do this, so if you get a no-boot-device error, go back to the BIOS and set boot priority for CD/DVD first, hard drive second, and disable all other boot options if there are any.  Hypothetically, if all goes well to this point you'll be able to run setup normally.
____________

Now for some side info.  I ran back through the thread a bit, but am not sure I grasped everything you've already tried, so apologies if I'm going over old ground.  You mentioned running through a SATA-to-IDE adapter at one point.  I'd advise against that.  While it _should_ work, running devices through adapters often introduces weird behaviour that can be difficult to diagnose or solve. Try to stick with native IDE drives for this system. A web search suggests that the ntkrnlmp.exe error could be down to either the optical drive or memory. One post I found claimed that XP installation was very sensitive to RAM issues. You probably don't have a spare ODD, but if you have a second RAM module, replace the one that's currently installed. If you don't have one available (or if you do and the error persists), move the module to the neighboring slot. DDR is dirt cheap, so grab some from CL or eBay if you're serious about resurrecting this system. If you're still getting that error and want to try a different ODD, I can send you one for cost of shipping.

EDIT:  One more thing; that board is standard mATX, and will fit in almost any case you like.


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## MaxiPro800 (Oct 21, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Not impossible. I have one hp compaq case which has standard ATX board holes, but the PSU has a non-standard form factor though it's still ATX otherwise.


That's true, but the specific model he has uses a non-standard sized PSU. I've personally had two to scrap (both were unfixable in my case) and the PSU was more of a cube shape than the standard rectangular format you see on standard ATX units.

Electrically wise the PSU is indeed ATX compatible. It's just the casing (of the PSU, and indirectly the D530's case as well) it uses that is non-standard.


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## Greenslade (Oct 21, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> What the drive has on it already isn't important; you'll be overwriting all of that in any case.  So from what I can gather, your motherboard has two IDE channels, and it looks like each drive is on its own channel/cable (correct me if I'm wrong).  HP's documentation isn't fantastic, but what there is doesn't suggest that you can boot from USB, which is unfortunate and means you'll be installing from CD.
> 
> Cable Select is great when it works, but it doesn't always.  So manually set all drives to Master (if you have two IDE cables).  Unplug everything from the board except the optical drive, which should be connected to the secondary (white) IDE channel.  It should automatically boot from CD/DVD.  If it doesn't, you'll need to adjust boot options in the BIOS, which is unfortunately poorly documented.  Disable floppy drives and network boot support if you go in there since we won't be using those and it'll cut down on boot errors.
> 
> ...


Both only one for CD and one for HDD and a Floppy no Floppy in the Athlon. On the Athlon, I have a two-drive IDE cabal. one is a SATA  which has a SATA to IDE adaptor. The drive that came with the Athlon was an IDE drive that had the OS on. I disconnected the IDE drive and put the OS on the other drive. I changed the jumper from what the seller had put it on from Cable select to Slave and then deleted and formatted that drive . In hindsight, I should have kept that OS and disconnected the other drive. And perhaps the other two IDE drives would have shown up on the PC. I  just can,t understand why they did not show with the other drive with the adapter. That was the first stage of trying to format and delete the other two drives.
I made sure the cabals and connectors were well in. I think IDE is  very temporary mental



Greenslade said:


> Both only one for CD and one for HDD and a Floppy no Floppy in the Athlon. On the Athlon, I have a two-drive IDE cabal. one is a SATA  which has a SATA to IDE adaptor. The drive that came with the Athlon was an IDE drive that had the OS on. I disconnected the IDE drive and put the OS on the other drive. I changed the jumper from what the seller had put it on from Cable select to Slave and then deleted and formatted that drive . In hindsight, I should have kept that OS and disconnected the other drive. And perhaps the other two IDE drives would have shown up on the PC. I  just can,t understand why they did not show with the other drive with the adapter. That was the first stage of trying to format and delete the other two drives.
> I made sure the cabals and connectors were well in. I think IDE is  very temporary mental


It did load up the one that had Windows 7 and came to the blue screen of the death message.For the second one I tried to load an OS on it but it came to the message I first told you about it might need a device driver. Nothing about floppy comes up I disconnected it.
That is my thought about adapters. perhaps  if I change the IDE one to MASTER in the case and disconnect the one with the adapter and put an OS on there i hopefully will be able to
get the other two IDE drives to show on the Athlon.I will come back on your last point.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 21, 2022)

Try everything with cable select. You can't go wrong with it.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 21, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Try everything with cable select. You can't go wrong with it.



Cable select can absolutely go wrong.  It just *usually* doesn't.

@Greenslade, one thing and one system at a time.  I'm having a bit of trouble following what's happening, to be honest.  Choose either the HP or the Athlon, and describe how it's configured and what's currently going on and what you're trying to accomplish.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 21, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Cable select can absolutely go wrong.  It just *usually* doesn't.
> 
> @Greenslade, one thing and one system at a time.  I'm having a bit of trouble following what's happening, to be honest.  Choose either the HP or the Athlon, and describe how it's configured and what's currently going on and what you're trying to accomplish.


Maybe I've just had luck. Just like mixing memory; never had any problems 

Crap, I think my PS3's laser is dying.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 21, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Maybe I've just had luck. Just like mixing memory; never had any problems
> 
> Crap, I think my PS3's laser is dying.



Yeah, I hear you.  I've done (and continue to do) so many things on PCs that one strictly isn't supposed to.

Silver lining on the PS3 laser, that's a relatively easy fix. They're even still cheap! Quality's a crapshoot, though. Maybe grab more than one.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 21, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Yeah, I hear you.  I've done (and continue to do) so many things on PCs that one strictly isn't supposed to.
> 
> *Silver lining on the PS3 laser, that's a relatively easy fix*. They're even still cheap! Quality's a crapshoot, though. Maybe grab more than one.


What's that, googling "ps3 laser silver lining" doesn't result to anything useful.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 21, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Try everything with cable select. You can't go wrong with it.


I think what our friend 80 watt hamster said is the way to go I have put the jumper to
Master  but it says no device and come to this screen
MSCDEX version 2.25 copyright Microsoft 1986 -1995 ALL RIGHTS Reserved
Drive D DRIVER OEMCDOO1 UNIT 0
A:\.> ? I am lost 
Boot from Hard disk
Boot from CD
BLINKING - ?
Why does it not recognize it it said no drives, there  is a Master-only drive on here. 
Please enter the file name for new bios.?
note  EZ flash will copy a file from A;\ press ESC to reboot
Back to the start screen
setup is checking to set up  XP
I have no idea what I am doing, it should just start up and get the OD on the drive.
Srt up is loading files
After all it says file NTFS .SYS CAUSED an unexpected error  32768 at line 5091 in 
d;\xpsp\base\boot\aetup\setup.c
Press any key to restart


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 21, 2022)

@Greenslade is there a floppy disk in the drive?  I see you put *A:\>*, which should be the floppy drive.


Greenslade said:


> MSCDEX version 2.25 copyright Microsoft 1986 -1995 ALL RIGHTS Reserved
> Drive D DRIVER OEMCDOO1 UNIT 0


^ that is the CD drive.

As 80-watt Hamster, please focus problems one system at a time & be clear which PC.  I keep getting confused on which system you're asking about.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 21, 2022)

68Olds said:


> @Greenslade is there a floppy disk in the drive?  I see you put *A:\>*, which should be the floppy drive.
> 
> ^ that is the CD drive.
> 
> As 80-watt Hamster, please focus problems one system at a time & be clear which PC.  I keep getting confused on which system you're asking about.


Sorry, this is on the Athlon 2400 PC there is nothing I can do with the other one untell I wipe and format the drives. And to do that I have to get an OS on the IDE drive in this PC. And then hopefully be able to get the other drives on here to format them. This drive is set to Master but my PC says the only Master on here is the cd drive . And that the cd drive is the only one on here. The only drive it comes up with is the IDE one with Windows 7 and that has a start-up and repair checking the system for problems. Which it never does of course,
IDE sucks As I already new it can,t out the problem of the drive.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Sorry, this is on the Athlon 2400 PC there is nothing I can do with the other one untell I wipe and format the drives. And to do that I have to get an OS on the IDE drive in this PC. And then hopefully be able to get the other drives on here to format them. This drive is set to Master but my PC says the only Master on here is the cd drive . And that the cd drive is the only one on here. The only drive it comes up with is the IDE one with Windows 7 and that has a start-up and repair checking the systen for problems. Which it never does of course.


I can't keep up, sorry.

-is the HDD and optical drive both master?
-are they on different IDE channels?


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 21, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I can't keep up, sorry.
> 
> -is the HDD and optical drive both master?
> -are they on different IDE channels?


Yes , both Masters, but on different channels. For the first time ever it has gone straight to 
to the BIOS Setup utility  
Error loading operating system


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 21, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Cable select can absolutely go wrong. It just *usually* doesn't.



Yeppers, if you are just running a single hard drive, then cable select should be okay. However, if running more than one hard drive, then it really needs to be selected as either the master or slave. 
Keep us posted @Greenslade


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 21, 2022)

Is there a floppy disk in the A:\ drive?  If so, pop it out.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 21, 2022)

Lenne said:


> I can't keep up, sorry.
> 
> -is the HDD and optical drive both master?
> -are they on different IDE channels?





68Olds said:


> Is there a floppy disk in the A:\ drive?  If so, pop it out.


There is no floppy drive on here.


stinger608 said:


> Yeppers, if you are just running a single hard drive, then cable select should be okay. However, if running more than one hard drive, then it really needs to be selected as either the master or slave.
> Keep us posted @Greenslade


It has loaded up the drives but keeps on saying error loading operating system. How do i sort that out?


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 21, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It has loaded up the drives but keeps on saying error loading operating system. How do i sort that out?



Well bro, that's sounding like a bad hard drive to me. Usually that's a good indication of a bad drive. 

Have you tried any other drives? Hmm, maybe you have already explained that and I missed it. LOL


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 21, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Well bro, that's sounding like a bad hard drive to me. Usually that's a good indication of a bad drive.
> 
> Have you tried any other drives? Hmm, maybe you have already explained that and I missed it. LOL


I got it sorted after watching this video.I changed IDE Cabal this cabal is new only used it a few times,Like our friend from Sweden  said the other thing is dust in the cabal slot. 







 I tried to get the two other  drives to work on here with the new cabale with no success.  IDE sucksI think i will leave it at that and use CF card,s i have one but i will get another one and put two os on here with the 80gb as storage space.I just hope i don,t get more problems. I tried it again with the other two drives it went to the blue screen. And only works with the one with the Sata to IDEA adapter on it with the one that came with the PC. That is the last time I try it.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 23, 2022)

Can anyone tell me how i can remove these? There are no screws or do you just push them out, that does not seem right  .What slot does the CF Card go in? As you can see I have tried pushing it out that can,t be right. Or do I have to take the card out and the other slots will come out?


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Oct 23, 2022)

ya...you stick a screw driver in the slot and pry up and down and they will break off


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 23, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> ya...you stick a screw driver in the slot and pry up and down and they will break off


It does not seem like a good way to do it But thanks anyway What slot is beat for the CF Card?


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It does not seem like a good way to do it But thanks anyway What slot is beat for the CF Card?



Whichever one tickles your fancy. All 6 are PCI and will function identically.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 23, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> ya...you stick a screw driver in the slot and pry up and down and they will break off


Yep, he’s absolutely right.  A flat head screwdriver to the slot cover & a little wigglin will open a new slot for you.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 23, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> ya...you stick a screw driver in the slot and pry up and down and they will break off


Thanks for that  



68Olds said:


> Yep, he’s absolutely right.  A flat head screwdriver to the slot cover & a little wigglin will open a new slot for you.


Thanks to you too.


----------



## onemanhitsquad (Oct 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that
> 
> 
> Thanks to you too.


You can buy slot covers to fill any that you need you need to cover...I had a few cases that had those.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 23, 2022)

This is just a wonderful video from Adrian Black.  (and history lesson)


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 23, 2022)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Whichever one tickles your fancy. All 6 are PCI and will function identically.


Of course, it does not use any  PCi connection. It just goes in the case so I can have a different OS,s.
 I want to put a Sound Blaster card in too, is there any setup I need to do?
Or does it work from the off?


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 23, 2022)

@Greenslade here's a direct pdf link to your Asus A7V600 motherboard manual.  You probably want to save a copy of it locally.  Page 2-9 says the <Delete> key is how you get into the BIOS.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 24, 2022)

I have just set up my PS3 and the time was set up by my internet connection for my area but it was an hour earlier than the real-time why? The settings when I got it was half an hour
slow Does it mean it needs a new CMOS battery? I hope not.it has the right day and month.

Can anyone tell me why my can,s have gone like this? They are supposed to be a top make
unfortunately, the pad can not be replaced.AKG as you can see even the band bit has frayed.
I will have to throw them out. Can anyone recommend any that are made of different material that does not disintegrate like these? I will pay up to £100 for a pair. of quality ones.
Or are they all made of the same stuff?


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 24, 2022)

What is the model number of your AKGs?  Amazon US has replacement pads for some models (less than £20) and covers for the headband.
I think all the headphone pads are made from some form of cheap pleather these days.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just set up my PS3 and the time was set up by my internet connection for my area but it was an hour earlier than the real-time why? The settings when I got it was half an hour
> slow Does it mean it needs a new CMOS battery? I hope not.it has the right day and month.
> 
> Can anyone tell me why my can,s have gone like this? They are supposed to be a top make
> ...



The covers are a type of plastic and have additional chemicals to make them soft and flexible. Over time these chemicals break down, leaving the material brittle instead. This process is accelerated by exposure to light and the oils produced by human skin. Unless you get genuine leather pads (and maintain them) or cloth pads, they will all do this eventually. Some are better than others, but it's really hard to know which ones.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> What is the model number of your AKGs?  Amazon US has replacement pads for some models (less than £20) and covers for the headband.
> I think all the headphone pads are made from some form of cheap pleather these days.


This guy had the same problem he said, there not same he got them on Amazon. Nothing is made to last like 







 they were good cans. You say they don,t make pads from different materials.



80-watt Hamster said:


> The covers are a type of plastic and have additional chemicals to make them soft and flexible. Over time these chemicals break down, leaving the material brittle instead. This process is accelerated by exposure to light and the oils produced by human skin. Unless you get genuine leather pads (and maintain them) or cloth pads, they will all do this eventually. Some are better than others, but it's really hard to know which ones.


Thanks for all your knowledgeable very informative info. Can you recommend any?
Can you tell me the answer to the problem I have with the time on my PS3 I set the date by internet connection but it was an hour earlier than the real-time how can that be?
This is a good video about pads. 







 



68Olds said:


> What is the model number of your AKGs?  Amazon US has replacement pads for some models (less than £20) and covers for the headband.
> I think all the headphone pads are made from some form of cheap pleather these days.


Not according to this video good video.https://youtu.be/cNm93h0pWaI?t=166
What about Soundcard 







 this is to set up.
I see he does say there on his site. It would have been better if he had a direct link.


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Oct 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Thanks for all your knowledgeable very informative info. Can you recommend any?



Unfortunately, no.  I know a (very) little bit about materials, but not much about headphone pads specifically beyond what I've already mentioned.  You seem to be pretty good at research; you can probably find a much better answer for yourself than any I could provide.


----------



## 68Olds (Oct 24, 2022)

The 5 Best Over-Ear Headphones Under $100 - Fall 2022: Reviews - RTINGS.com


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> The 5 Best Over-Ear Headphones Under $100 - Fall 2022: Reviews - RTINGS.com


Thanks, I will check them out. After a lot of reading reviews, and looking at youtube reviews decided on this pair,
OneOdio Studio Pro-50 Over Ear Headphone Studio Wired Bass 50mm Driver, Foldable and just for £35  on eBay.  I know they say they are a DJ Music production
mixing and  Recording, but reviews on Amazon and youtube say they are good for listening to HiFi.I just looked it up on another store and it is £10 pound cheaper 
I have got back on eBay to cancel the order.  I only just ordered it on eBay minutes before. It has been taken off my orders. All good refund is done.
The pads for the AKG  550 would be around £10. I like these studio pro ones because of the pads which are removable and big so the ears sit inside them. All cans should have them, and the removable leads.











80-watt Hamster said:


> Unfortunately, no.  I know a (very) little bit about materials, but not much about headphone pads specifically beyond what I've already mentioned.  You seem to be pretty good at research; you can probably find a much better answer for yourself than any I could provide.


You are right there.  I thought I had got the cheapest price for the ones I am getting, but just after I ordered them I saw I could get them for £10 cheaper. and at a local shop.I got back to eBay and canceled the order and got a refund.
Just bought the cans what a palaver when they don,t accept Paypal. 




Lenne said:


> The fan on the CPU cooler is probably 70mm and the exhaust is probably 80 or 92mm. Take a measuring tape and check their dimensions; they can be replaced.


Can you answer this I tried my PS3  the other day and was setting it up? I set the time date etc by my internet connection and it says an hour earlier than it is, do you know why it would do that? And should I be worried that it needs a new CMOS battery? everything else on there works fine. I would like an answer so I can leave feedback for the seller.


----------



## Robert B (Oct 25, 2022)

NEW HW FOUND!!!   Static-X - Push It (Official Music Video) | Warner Vault

An unhappy but still alive Socket 3 motherboard.

A dirty AT PSU! YUCK!!!

Creative soldering when the pads are MIA.

VLB cards that I absolutely LOVE!

4 industrial PCs. ISA backplanes with 14 ISA SLOTS!!! Think of all the possibilities. SBC heaven!!!  20-30kg EACH full of goddies!

A tiny SIEMENS PC that has been converted into a retro PC.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 25, 2022)

What do you think of this tiny crt


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 25, 2022)

Robert B said:


> NEW HW FOUND!!!   Static-X - Push It (Official Music Video) | Warner Vault
> 
> An unhappy but still alive Socket 3 motherboard.
> 
> ...


ahahah, i was playing NFS Underground for a spin and reading that post at the same time ... guess the music in game  












listened the hell out of Static-X when i was working as a skiman in various ski station ... lets say it was fitting to listen while grinding ski and snowboard edges to sharpen them  
heck i need to dig my CDA stash, i think i still have "The Shadow Zone/X-Posed" album somewhere 

neat find nonetheless


----------



## 3x0 (Oct 25, 2022)

The 2007ish year build is complete:
MoBo: Asus P5K Pro
CPU: Q6600 OCed to 3.4GHz (7x486MHz FSB) @1.475V (~1.43V load)
Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500
RAM: 2x2GB OCZ DDR2 800 OCed to 973MHz
SSD: Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB
GPU: Gainward GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB G92 with 128 CUDA Cores OCed to 740MHz/1080MHz
Optical Drive: Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S
PSU: Cooler Master MWE 650 v2 Bronze
Case: some Blueberry model from 2008ish


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can you answer this I tried my PS3  the other day and was setting it up? I set the time date etc by my internet connection and it says an hour earlier than it is, do you know why it would do that? And should I be worried that it needs a new CMOS battery? everything else on there works fine. I would like an answer so I can leave feedback for the seller.


Hard to say, is your time zone set correctly and is it on summer/winter time?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 26, 2022)

We're onto sound systems now? If so, this is one of the "DIY" projects I've been working on.






A Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 system one of my friends found at the trash. Surprisingly works but it's as bare as you've seen it. He gave me the 12VAC charger as there was none when he found it. I managed to bypass the Volume Control section entirely by jumpering both the volume and balance (so I figure jumpering the volume tells it to always be on, full volume, standard balance) remote that would usually go there. What was also missing and is currently in the first photo, is the woofer speaker - the one in my pic is sourced from a scrapped Altec Lansing VS2221.

Now - what's left to do, is to find me some tweeters to complete it - I'm torn between either a bunch of 4x Panasonic tweeters (which aren't far off from the one I was given), or an almost complete set of Samsung tweeters (which are apparently sourced from a HT-Z310, from what little I could piece between my visual memory and the info on the internet at this moment) but which are far more powerful than the original CSW (Cambridge Soundworks)-made tweeters, rated for around 10W.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 26, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Hard to say, is your time zone set correctly and is it on summer/winter time?


I am not sure, but if it is done by the internet  it should be right surely?


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am not sure, but if it is done by the internet  it should be right surely?


Mine isn't set correctly either if I sync it via internet.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 26, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> We're onto sound systems now? If so, this is one of the "DIY" projects I've been working on.


Oh gosh, I still use some old ass AIWA Hi-Fi from 80s or 90s as my daily speakers. Audio stuff never gets obsolete, the stuff's figured out, perfected and forgotten. The only thing that changes is the input connector. I would rather if we weren't posting about audio gear in retro hardware thread.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Oct 26, 2022)

Nothing wrong in using them, they look nice. (I mean your AIWA Hi-Fi unit)

Meanwhile, I've finally got hold of the Samsung tweeters for my Creative DIY project. So far, I may have to rewire the rear inputs, as I seem to have no audio coming out of those. Front and center work fine though.


----------



## Bones (Oct 26, 2022)

In case you guys are wondering, one of these works in Linux.
If you need a sound card and you're running linux, one of these will do - I know it works with Peppermint 10 Linux just fine in my daily but the only thing is it's an older PCI slotted card so there's that to know about it in case you plan on using it with a newer setup.

If you have or can find one, it's still in working order and it works with your system due to the slot it's made for, you should be OK.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 27, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Mine isn't set correctly either if I sync it via internet.


Do you do yours manually then?
So it is nothing to worry about. I won't mention it in my feedback then,


----------



## Red_Machine (Oct 27, 2022)

Bones said:


> In case you guys are wondering, one of these works in Linux.
> If you need a sound card and you're running linux, one of these will do - I know it works with Peppermint 10 Linux just fine in my daily but the only thing is it's an older PCI slotted card so there's that to know about it in case you plan on using it with a newer setup.
> 
> If you have or can find one, it's still in working order and it works with your system due to the slot it's made for, you should be OK.
> ...


They're still selling these, bridged to PCIe x1.  Wild.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Do you do yours manually then?
> So it is nothing to worry about. I won't mention it in my feedback then,


Yea, manually. Never even researched that why it's like that, but it's not a big deal.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 27, 2022)

onemanhitsquad said:


> You can buy slot covers to fill any that you need you need to cover...I had a few cases that had those.


If I needed to do that I would put the ones I took out back in. Of course, the CF card one does not use a PCI slot anyway. I have got to put a sound card in.



Lenne said:


> Yea, manually. Never even researched that why it's like that, but it's not a big deal.


Thanks for that, I will try it manually.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 28, 2022)

I present to you: the Intel D975XBX2KR, AKA the Bad Axe 2. 











As you can see, this is primarily an electrolytic capacitor ordeal. Capacitor brands used here include:
- Rubycon
- Nichicon
- Nippon Chemicon
- SamXon
- Fujitsu
- Sanyo








I didn't notice any manufacturing date listed on the PCB itself, nor a layer count. I can safely assume that it's either a 4- or 6-layer design, probably 4. In all likelihood, this board's OEM is Foxconn (or maybe Pegatron).

The northbridge's production code is *Wk39/2007*, and the southbridge's is *Wk29/2007*. This leads me to believe that it was produced in Q4 2007, and probably sold in H1 2008 - very late production! i975X would have been over 2 years old at that point. Its revision reflects this, being the latest I know of - * 509 *- as well as the -KR designation (which I'm still unclear as to what exactly it means).







The board has similar markings to nVidia reference motherboard PCBs, in that there are graduated markings which organize the board into segments: alphabetically on the left and right, and numerically on the top and bottom (as oriented above).

Example:




EVGA 750i SLI FTW for comparison:




Audio is handled by the Sigmatel STAC9274, branded as IDT.




Networking is, naturally, with Intel, my preferred choice for both WAN & LAN. This is the 1Gbit/s 130nm Intel 82573L.




The VRM controller is the Analog Devices ADP3189, a true 5-phase controller operating in the aforementioned configuration.







VRM cooling is done by those five small blue aluminum heatsinks surrounding the LGA775 socket area. They were stuck on using thermal adhesive at the factory, and since I don't have any of my own, they will stay as-is for the forseeable future. Therefore, I cannot tell which MOSFETs lay beneath, but I can figure out the number of them.






This is the same phase in both pictures. 2 high-side, 1 low-side MOSFET. You can see the mounting pads for the second low-side capacitor in the second photo. 

The NB & SB are both cooled by aluminum heatsinks, which attach to the motherboard via soldered metal hooks. I believe that both heatsinks are using single-side adhesive fiberglass-reinforced phase-changing thermal pads ( lol  ). It takes some more serious stuff than isopropyl alcohol, so I cleaned the actual chips as much as I could and applied some new MX-2. Unfortunately, what's left on the aluminum is not coming off without gouging it out.




Now... overclocking. 




*479.66MHz on D975XBX2KR*
--- #2 for i975X overall!
CPU-Z Validation

This required 1.7v vMCH, 1.4v vFSB, and PCIe clock of 140MHz. The board is actually capable of over 150MHz PCIe when in-OS (SetFSB PLL *SLG505YC56DT*), and increasing it seemed to make higher FSBs go a bit easier. Without increasing PCIe, the maximum FSB is about 3-5MHz lower. In order to get any higher, I either need:
- New Conroe samples
- Wolfdale; Supported processors only include 65nm - no 45nm CPUs are supported. This requires a BIOS mod, which I currently don't have the skills to do - and I've read that this BIOS is unmoddable (whether or not that's actually true)
- vMCH volt mod. The resources for this are currently lost to me, all dead links.

Before the board came in, I read 124 pages of this Xtremesystems thread so I could be as familiar as possible with it (I will finish the rest, don't worry  ). One person even made it to 500MHz FSB (phase-change) on this board, and I noticed another running @ 1200MHz DDR2. There's also a lot of repeated or known information, but it's the absolute best real-life-user thread that I could find on this motherboard. And I'm glad I read it, because I would have torn all of my hair out otherwise. There are a ton of quirks, too many for me to list them all. I bolded the most important issues IMO, alongside other observations:
- A Watchdog Timer that can only be disabled by going into a special diagnostic BIOS (enabled=system goes on the fritz when straying from stock)
- *The inability to change multipliers on non-Extreme CPUs, in any direction(!!!)*
- Failed POST recovery (i.e. during OC) is not in Intel's lexicon
- Only can adjust tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS in-BIOS
- vCore vDroop @ 1.4v: -25mV set @ idle, another -9mV under load (very good actually!); Advanced Power Slope set to Enabled
- vMCH vDroop -20mV set (not bad, at least it's consistent)
- Flaky onboard USBs (unknown if due to age), using VLI USB3.0 AIC & PS/2
- MCH needs >1.6v past 460MHz
*- CLR_CMOS solder points on the board, yet not installed(??), shown below*



- *After a legitimate CMOS clear (=battery removal or death) or CPU swap, default BIOS settings are 800MHz @ SPD timings & 1.84v. This will not boot with most kits!*
- *A result of the previous two issues is another problem: the only surefire way to get into BIOS after failed OC is to switch the jumper into Diagnostic mode.*
- vCore maximum is 1.6v without vMods as a limitation of the VRM voltage controller
- vMCH maximum is 1.7v without vMods (lost to time AFAIK  )
- Single BIOS chip soldered to the motherboard

I want to express my huge love for Intel's documentation. It's quite possibly second to none. The manual for this board is 78 pages of beautiful, painstaking detail, and that's just English (except for regulatory translations toward the end). The only thing you could really ask for is a Boardviewer file. Whoever makes the documentation at Intel loves their job, and I love them... 

I'm really rusty since I haven't done one of these posts in a while.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 28, 2022)

Those older Intel's high-end boards look awesome.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 28, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Those older Intel's high-end boards look awesome.


They were very early to the black PCB party (as was Foxconn itself for that matter).

DX58SO2 is on my hunting list 

Also look at the DX58SO if you want to be confused as to wtf they were thinking... 4-DIMM slots


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> They were very early to the black PCB party (as was Foxconn itself for that matter).
> 
> DX58SO2 is on my hunting list
> 
> Also look at the DX58SO if you want to be confused as to wtf they were thinking... 4-DIMM slots


I remember wondering that 4 RAM slot solution back when the board was released. Need to do some research that why they went with 4 slots.

edit: Checked the manual


----------



## Canned Noodles (Oct 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> The NB & SB are both cooled by aluminum heatsinks, which attach to the motherboard via soldered metal hooks. I believe that both heatsinks are using single-side adhesive fiberglass-reinforced phase-changing thermal pads ( lol  ). It takes some more serious stuff than isopropyl alcohol, so I cleaned the actual chips as much as I could and applied some new MX-2. Unfortunately, what's left on the aluminum is not coming off without gouging it out.
> View attachment 267506


I've seen that thermal pad solution on many older heatsinks. Is it better to leave it as-is or remove it and apply thermal paste? 

Beautiful board btw. It looks awesome


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 28, 2022)

Our old mate Clint.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 28, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> I've seen that thermal pad solution on many older heatsinks. Is it better to leave it as-is or remove it and apply thermal paste?
> 
> Beautiful board btw. It looks awesome


If you have an nVidia chipset, it should have a temperature diode - if that hits 80⁰c under regular usage, repaste. But you probably don't, so I'd do it as long as you're comfortable. My goal is to at least get all the paste off of the northbridge itself. MX-2 is a great paste for this application, cheap and long-lasting. Sometimes I use 0.5-1.0mm thermal pads when dealing with weak push-pins to heighten mounting pressure.


----------



## stinger608 (Oct 28, 2022)

Dang @MachineLearning , that was almost like a motherboard review!!!!!!!! Awesome post bro!!!!


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I present to you: the Intel D975XBX2KR, AKA the Bad Axe 2.
> 
> View attachment 267494
> View attachment 267495
> ...


nice board but for readingness sake ... please use thumbnail? (if more than 1 pic obviously) i have a 3k 32" screen and i found scrolling and reading quite a hassle


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 28, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> nice board but for readingness sake ... please use thumbnail? (if more than 1 pic obviously) i have a 3k 32" screen and i found scrolling and reading quite a hassle


Got it, next time will be much neater 

edit: Fixed! Much more compact now


----------



## GreiverBlade (Oct 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> Got it, next time will be much neater
> 
> edit: Fixed! Much more compact now


much appreciated, much more readable, still bad ass huge post but totally feel like a motherboard reviews, proper and all


----------



## Mr.Scott (Oct 28, 2022)

MachineLearning said:


> I present to you: the Intel D975XBX2KR, AKA the Bad Axe 2.
> 
> View attachment 267494
> View attachment 267495
> ...


Post at W9 in reviews please.


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Oct 28, 2022)

Nice catch on that 975. Intel did make some cool boards for a while. I've thought about grabbing an X48BT2 because the Abit IX48-GT3 is unobtanium.


----------



## Audioave10 (Oct 29, 2022)

Retro Hardware...


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Oct 29, 2022)

Those big heavy Swiftech heatsinks will always have a spot in my heart. Massive slab of copper, brute force cooling.


----------



## Bones (Oct 30, 2022)

Yesterday I was told there is a guy over in Victoria Australia that makes these:



I can get further details if anyone wants them.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 30, 2022)

Small tease for the custom BIOS I'm trying to get working for the Bad Axe 2...









First motherboard BIOS mod ever for me. Intel made some of it easy with the Integrator Toolkit v4.0 . Can fix a couple of their mistakes. Loading Optimal Defaults is now 5-5-5-18 @ 2.2v instead of 4-4-4-12 @ 1.84v, turns off Serial/Audio/Ethernet/etc. now too. Custom splash screen as well. I can set the CPU Multiplier adjustment to Manual in ITK, but it's still greyed out in-BIOS... so this BIOS doesn't fully POST with Netburst as a direct result (MP glued & 6x manual). Will have to fix. Also added German and Spanish languages.

Trying to add Xeon & Penryn support but Intel uses proprietary .BIO files, and this board can't convert BIO2AMI .ROM ... More testing needed.


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 30, 2022)

Is the CP Card  holder to near the soundcard? I originally put the Soundcard underneath  the CF Card holder ,but had to change it  it over because it did not give me a lot of space to put the IDE Cabal in.I don,t know why the other two IDE drives did not work in there.I am not paying £20 pound plus for that  for a docking station, just to find out they are dodge drives. You never know ,i might see one at my local flea market ,you never know what you can find there.


----------



## Valantar (Oct 30, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is the CP Card  holder to near the soundcard? I originally put the Soundcard underneath  the CF Card holder ,but had to change it  it over because it did not give me a lot of space to put the IDE Cabal in.


It's in the adjacent slot and nothing is touching, so everything looks like it should to me.


----------



## MachineLearning (Oct 31, 2022)

Intel D975XBX2/KR (Bad Axe 2) - Warp9 Edition
BIOS is finished for now!

It does in fact seem that this is unmoddable outside of Intel Integrator Toolkit. However according to users in that Xtremesystems thread I linked in post #1, BIOS 2809 contains microcodes which they deleted in later revisions. I validated this:





CBROM refuses to work with this BIOS though, it just holds up (no output).
10676 = Xeon E5440, Harpertown. Board did NOT boot with this BIOS and:
- C0 E8400
- E0 E8500
- R0 Q8400
- E0 Q9550
- G0 E6750(!)

It surprises me that the board didn't boot with the E6750, I think I'm going to chip away again at this another day. Have some other CPUs to test compatibility with.

One interesting thing is that even though I flashed to unmodded BIOS 2809 via Recovery Mode (FDD), my splash screen & custom Optimal Defaults both remained.
Anyway, after testing that flashed back to 2838 to validate that my new splash screen, etc. were working properly, and fortunately they were. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	

















Full changelog below:


Spoiler: Full Changelog 10-30-2022



***NOTE*** Please use the recovery mode & 2809 .ISO for Penryn compatibility!! Later BIOSes removed microcode. ***NOTE***
Full documentation may be found at: www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/boardsandkits/desktop-boards/975/D975XBX2/D975XBX2_ProductGuide05.pdf
GDrive backup: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1llKX0t3zQ1YYSWFOXz0ByhU6a8bcZ9rV?usp=share_link
~
CHANGELOG 2838P W9 Edition
DATE: 10-30-2022 | October 30th, 2022
Modified:
- New Warp9 & Intel splash screen
- Load Optimal Defaults new settings:
     - C1E = DISABLE
     - Failsafe Watchdog = DISABLE
     - CPU Fan Control = DISABLE
     - System Fan Control = DISABLE
     - Serial Port = DISABLE
     - Parallel Port = DISABLE
     - Audio = DISABLE
     - On-Board LAN = DISABLE
     - Secondary SATA Controller = DISABLE
     - Onboard 1394 = DISABLE
     - Primary Channel IDE = DISABLE
     - Floppy Diskette Controller = DISABLE
     - Clear Event Log = ENABLE    
     - ASF Support = DISABLE
     - Enhanced Power Slope = ENABLED
     - MCH Voltage Override = 1.525V -> 1.550V
     - Current Processor Voltage = 1.325V -> 1.35V
     - Memory Frequency = 533MHz -> 400MHz
     - tCL = 4 -> 5
     - tRCD = 4 -> 5
     - tRP = 4 -> 5
     - tRAS = 13 -> 18
     - Memory Voltage = 1.84V -> 2.00V
     - [Security settings ONLY] User Access Level = View Only -> Full Access
     - EIST = DISABLED
     - Boot to Network = DISABLED
Added:
- German language support
- Spanish language support
- System Manufacturer "Tristan K | MachineLearning"
- System Product Name "Intel(c) Bad Axe 2"
   - System Serial Number "Build: Oct30th2022"


----------



## Greenslade (Oct 31, 2022)

Valantar said:


> It's in the adjacent slot and nothing is touching, so everything looks like it should to me.


Thanks very much for your answer.


Bones said:


> Yesterday I was told there is a guy over in Victoria Australia that makes these:
> 
> View attachment 267758
> 
> I can get further details if anyone wants them.


I have seen videos making IDE cabals on you tube ,but not the other thing you are showing. which i suppose you are talking about.


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## lexluthermiester (Oct 31, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is the CP Card holder to near the soundcard?


You can put it on bottom, but it's fine where it's at too.



MachineLearning said:


> Intel D975XBX2/KR (Bad Axe 2) - Warp9 Edition
> BIOS is finished for now!
> 
> It does in fact seem that this is unmoddable outside of Intel Integrator Toolkit. However according to users in that Xtremesystems thread I linked in post #1, BIOS 2809 contains microcodes which they deleted in later revisions. I validated this:
> ...


This deserves it's own thread!


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 1, 2022)

Bones said:


> Yesterday I was told there is a guy over in Victoria Australia that makes these:
> 
> View attachment 267758
> 
> I can get further details if anyone wants them.


You mean the SLI bridge "card" or the cable? Because the actual cable is quite easy to make, I even have the original pinout diagram from 3dfx.


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## hckngrtfakt (Nov 1, 2022)

I know I recently posted about my strix 3090 but I have a sweet spot for old hardware ....
(if you can tell from my 5500 voodoo post)

Ecs, athlon xp 2000+ ati 7500. and the rest,... if you know.... you know ....
so here it is ...  9800xt 

Windows 98se ftw


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## Greenslade (Nov 2, 2022)

I bought some  PS1  and PC games from the local brick brack and one of the games was this one
and one of a few that I can make money on selling to CEX they have it on there for £8 and £1.20 for cash £2 exchange the PS1  games and the three PC games cost 50p each oh I forgot I got a PS3  game GTA IV the disk has a few marks on it the booklet is all stuck together so are the PS1 booklets but the disks are in good shape. I have put them in a bowl of hot water the pages are unstuck. As a bonus, I found some DVD.s that got chucked out of the stuff the sellers put in the rubbish and some CD,s/This was one of them  







   PIies good band. 
I am just looking up the ones that were thrown out and seen another one for CEX   £10.   £2 cash £5 exchange  i have some others to exchange.


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## Audioave10 (Nov 3, 2022)

AWE64 Legacy: A Premium New ISA Sound Card in 2022​


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 3, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> AWE64 Legacy: A Premium New ISA Sound Card in 2022​


Watched that last night, it's a great thing. To bad it's sold out..


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## Greenslade (Nov 3, 2022)

i am trying to change the time on my pi4  Flamemonkabuntu see photos As you can see ii want let me unlock.The other way to do it is 
*sudo raspi-config*but it says command  not found?  It works on other PI OS,s 







 .I tried it on Raspion xp and it worked but not on here?


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## Greenslade (Nov 4, 2022)

Another two for CEX  the first one Total  War. £8 at Cex  £1.20 for cash ,£2 exchange
Fast & Furious Showdown  ps3 £4 at CEX  £1 for cash £1.60 exchange .I also got two Cd,s. Stevie wonder *Talking Book*  and  *Innervisions* i don,t usually buy CD,s any more but they are classic albums.
One PS1 Game  Medal of Honor one  PC  Broken  sword Trilogy unopened  not worth anything on CEX  All these cost 50p each.I looked thru over 12 boxes mixed with DVD,s Cds.a hand full of PS1,s PS2,s and one of two PS4,s. quite a few XBOX a lot more PS2 shame i can.t play them on my PS3 Slim.
















                                           Total War - Attila

Our friend Clint and his first Thrifts for some time


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## MachineLearning (Nov 5, 2022)

CrossFire Xpress 3200: RD580 for AM2
					






					www.anandtech.com
				



ATI had the most beautiful reference motherboards. I love this color scheme 


>


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## Greenslade (Nov 5, 2022)

I bet you guys would like to have a shop like this in your area;  







 with everything from vinyl .books and VHS video tapes who still has any let alone buying them?  plus all types of retro games. Wish I had one like it here. You could spend hours in there. Not that I would buy much in there , as you guys know I don,t like paying much for them. I got this one the other day it was £1.50. I did not go to the market today because it has been raining.


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## Bones (Nov 5, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> *I bet you guys would like to have a shop like this in your area*;
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We've got three that I know of, possibly a fourth.

Individually they aren't as large as the shop in this vid but together, they have alot more stuff in total BUT at the same time there is a real difference in inventory seen too.

No face huggers in a bag for example (We do have alot of faces around here that belongs *IN* a Hefty heavy duty sinch-sack garbage bag sinched up TIGHT ) but alot of other things seen are there, including some stuff as multiples of the same thing.

One shop had gotten to the point they had stopped buying Gameboy carts because they had so many and no one was buying them either - The manager showed me what he had and said he literally coudn't even give them away, so he stopped taking them in on trades or deals to buy them.

These places are cool though and after going through the ones here, you begin to see what games are popular and what games aren't because of how many copies of a game title you'll see on the shelf - Obviously if there are alot of them available all the time it's probrably a crap game.
If it's a title you can't ever seem to find it or if you do and it's expensive, then you already know the deal with it.

Unless you're wanting to sell things to these stores to.... Let's say clean out the closet, you're better off selling it yourself because they won't give you much for what you've got, even if it's a rare(er) title that has some worth to it.
I have one such game (SNES Secret of Evermore) which is a very hard to get title and mine is almost in mint condition - And they didn't want to give me even a 1/3 of it's real worth so I kept it instead.
Even though it's a rare, highly sought-after game by collectors these days I never really liked it so I never played it.
That's why it's in the condition it's in now and I know it's worth some money to say the least of it.


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## Greenslade (Nov 5, 2022)

Bones said:


> We've got three that I know of, possibly a fourth.
> 
> Individually they aren't as large as the shop in this vid but together, they have a-lot more stuff in total BUT at the same time there is a real difference in inventory seen too.
> 
> ...


In your area or the whole of the US?. I get you there.So Gameboy not collectable these days, not that i have ever played   a gameboy game. I don,t blame them if they can,t sell them.I get your point about the ones they have got multeball copy,s of the same game. Yes like CEX and other such shops that sell second hand stuff, they give you very little for them.Best to sell on ebay or somewhere like that.The cheapest i see for that game on eBay is £30 including shipping they say it is good and German.Top price was over £300  No ones going to own up saying they own.let alone collect VHS Video tapes,Or even BetamaxWhich i understand were better than VHS ,i would not know as i have never owned either of the systems.


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## jlewis02 (Nov 5, 2022)

Found these in a drawer no idea what they were for. Haven’t looked them up yet


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 5, 2022)

Both are 72pin SIMMs. The first is 60ns, maybe 2MB, the other is 70ns and likely 1MB.


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## Audioave10 (Nov 6, 2022)

Some of my favorite Hardware...hard to find these days.


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## Bones (Nov 6, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> *In your area or the whole of the US?*. I get you there.So Gameboy not collectable these days, not that i have ever played a gameboy game. I don,t blame them if they can,t sell them.I get your point about the ones they have got multeball copy,s of the same game. Yes like CEX and other such shops that sell second hand stuff, they give you very little for them.Best to sell on ebay or somewhere like that.The cheapest i see for that game on eBay is £30 including shipping they say it is good and German.Top price was over £300 No ones going to own up saying they own.let alone collect VHS Video tapes,Or even BetamaxWhich i understand were better than VHS ,i would not know as i have never owned either of the systems.


Locally to me, there are three that's within a 20-30 minute drive from my door to their door. 
I want to say there is a fourth I've heard of but can't confirm it, I know if I were to go up to Birmingham and look I'd find a few more but the thing I've noted is between these stores is the inventory is all hit or miss and yet at the same time it's all the same too if that makes any sense to you. 
You never know what you'll find at a given store/ location if you've never been there before yet at the same time, you know you'll find a TON of things like sports games for example. 
You also know Dreamcast games are hard to find and the selection is poor at best for those, normally I see about one or two each time I go in and that's really about it. 
There is one here that has more Dreamcast stuff than the others do with a nice assortment of games and consoles too - Great to deal with and the prices aren't insane.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 6, 2022)

Why does my new HP Envy printer 6000 take so long to get the print job loaded? See the bar keeps going back and forth?


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 6, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Why does my new HP Envy printer 6000 take so long to get the print job loaded? See the bar keeps going back and forth?


That could be due to the computer being slow to process the print job or the actual printer is really slow.

Is it running directly to the computer or is it running through a switch or router? If running through a switch, router, or wirelessly, it can take a bit for the print process to complete.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2022)

Guess the card


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 7, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Guess the card


No serious experience with AGP cards for me and the Zalman cooler is messing with my guesses. Cool!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> No serious experience with AGP cards for me and the Zalman cooler is messing with my guesses. Cool!


6800 Ultra. Easy to distinguish from other 6800 series' cards as Ultra is the only with 2 molex connectors. 6800 GT uses the same PCB but it has only one power connector.


----------



## Bones (Nov 7, 2022)

Bones said:


> I have one such game (SNES Secret of Evermore) which is a very hard to get title and mine is almost in mint condition - And they didn't want to give me even a 1/3 of it's real worth so I kept it instead.
> Even though it's a rare, highly sought-after game by collectors these days I never really liked it so I never played it.
> That's why it's in the condition it's in now and I know it's worth some money to say the least of it.


Quoting myself to maintain context for this last post about console stuff, then I'm moving on.
I do have the title as stated above and it's a rare one so I decided to digout the "Core" of my SNES collection of games to show off here.

All of these except for "_Secret of Mana_" was purchased brandnew by yours truly back in the day so yes, I'm the original owner of them and all shown are 100% genuine originals from back in the day, no modern remakes or whatnot here. 
There are others here with collector appeal and value too but these are the best and rarest ones I've got that I'm aware of.

If one of the others I've got (Not shown or mentioned) is even more collectible/valueable, then I'm personally not aware of it.
Note that the majority are all Squaresoft games, the ones that helped to make Square the company we know today and there is no need to introduce these to you guys.

There are a couple by Koei, these being of lower production by the numbers (Volume) of games made but the game quality itself is rather high and that's what makes these titles sought after and valueable as well. Both are strategy games in that you try to outsmart the AI to beat the game within a setting/situation presented to you. 

_"PTO II" _lets you play either as Japan or America's side of the Pacific conflict during WWII and you get to decide and control the strategies and tactics used for victory along with production of wartime materials, supplies, equipment and so on - Plus control over fleet movements, objectives and deployments too. It's a simple yet very deep game to play once you get into it all. 

_"Gemfire"_ isn't as realistic or extensive but it still lets you do all the basic things in a fantasy/medival setting. 
Unlike _"PTO II"  _it's a less serious/more fun side of things Koei made back in the day. 

Enjoy.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2022)

Bones said:


> Quoting myself to maintain context for this last post about console stuff, then I'm moving on.
> I do have the title as stated above and it's a rare one so I decided to digout the "Core" of my SNES collection of games to show off here.
> 
> All of these except for "_Secret of Mana_" was purchased brandnew by yours truly back in the day so yes, I'm the original owner of them and all shown are 100% genuine originals from back in the day, no modern remakes or whatnot here.
> ...


Screw that naming with FF IV and VI


----------



## Bones (Nov 7, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Screw that naming with FF IV and VI


Got those too.....  just not in SNES format.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 7, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> That could be due to the computer being slow to process the print job or the actual printer is really slow.
> 
> Is it running directly to the computer or is it running through a switch or router? If running through a switch, router, or wirelessly, it can take a bit for the print process to complete.This is my old modal


I must admit i prefered my old HP ENVY 5000.I am using it on  a USB conection to PC in my case it is a MAC.It seems they want you to use Wireless with everything


stinger608 said:


> That could be due to the computer being slow to process the print job or the actual printer is really slow.
> 
> Is it running directly to the computer or is it running through a switch or router? If running through a switch, router, or wirelessly, it can take a bit for the print process to complete.


It is running on a Mac desktop on USB ,i don,t use WIFI.My last printer was the same make a 5000 and had no problems with it.I do prefer the older modal I  prefer the  design and the way it worked ,to the new one ,the blue light in the new one is annoying ,apparently  they say the blue is saying WIFI is set up i am not using WHFI.I can,t anyway because i don,t have or want a smart phone.https://youtu.be/NKtfBw5kJJE?t=6









 







 it seems everything has to be WHFI these days ,i am old school hence being on this forum,i am Retro all the way. 
Can i  have WHFI  without a smart phone?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 7, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Guess the card


Geforce FX5950?


Lenne said:


> 6800 Ultra. Easy to distinguish from other 6800 series' cards as Ultra is the only with 2 molex connectors. 6800 GT uses the same PCB but it has only one power connector.


I was close..



Bones said:


> Quoting myself to maintain context for this last post about console stuff, then I'm moving on.
> I do have the title as stated above and it's a rare one so I decided to digout the "Core" of my SNES collection of games to show off here.
> 
> All of these except for "_Secret of Mana_" was purchased brandnew by yours truly back in the day so yes, I'm the original owner of them and all shown are 100% genuine originals from back in the day, no modern remakes or whatnot here.
> ...


That is a most excellent collection!


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 7, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Geforce FX5950?
> 
> I was close..


Yea. My only FX card is a 5600 XT..


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Nov 7, 2022)

I have a blown up BFG 5700 Ultra that I volt modded the core and mem on. Can't remember the failure mode, but the card was a POS anyway.


----------



## Valantar (Nov 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can i have WHFI without a smart phone?


Most likely yes, they just use smartphones as the default setup method as more people have them than PCs, they allow for easy app installation, etc. Check the user manual for the printer - there's almost definitely some other way of setting it up. If I were to guess, the printer most likely sets up a WiFi Direct network that you can connect to, then you can access its configuration interface through some web portal and have it connect to your home network - but as I said, I'm guessing. Check the manual.


----------



## Bones (Nov 7, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is a most excellent collection!


Thanks!
That's just what I call the "Core" (Best) of it, I have more carts and a few others like these I was reminded about somewhere around here. 
I'm guessing I've got at least 30 carts or more here I've either bought new like those (Except for _"Secret of Mana"_ - Used) or I had bought used to have a copy of it.


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## Greenslade (Nov 7, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Most likely yes, they just use smartphones as the default setup method as more people have them than PCs, they allow for easy app installation, etc. Check the user manual for the printer - there's almost definitely some other way of setting it up. If I were to guess, the printer most likely sets up a WiFi Direct network that you can connect to, then you can access its configuration interface through some web portal and have it connect to your home network - but as I said, I'm guessing. Check the manual.


I have three versions of Mac OS,s and got it working on the latest one.I don,t rally need WHFI anyway.I have been trying to download manuals for my PS1 games i got from my local brick brack Market.They were all stuck together i wasted a lot of time soaking them with  no luck.  Then i tried downloding the manuals and wasted a lot of ink in the procesThe black ink is down to a half, and this is from official HPXL ink ,but paid a lot less than i would for them as they were from a private seller .I only managed to do two manuals.It would have been cheaper to buy the manuals. You live and learn. just wish i could have got the same modal as my old one.But no one was selling a new one of them.


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## Valantar (Nov 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have three versions of Mac OS,s and got it working on the latest one.I don,t rally need WHFI anyway.I have been trying to download manuals for my PS1 games i got from my local brick brack Market.They were all stuck together i wasted a lot of time soaking them with  no luck.  Then i tried downloding the manuals and wasted a lot of ink in the procesThe black ink is down to a half, and this is from official HPXL ink ,but paid a lot less than i would for them as they were from a private seller .I only managed to do two manuals.It would have been cheaper to buy the manuals. You live and learn. just wish i could have got the same modal as my old one.But no one was selling a new one of them.


Printing at home in any type of half-decent quality gets expensive fast, unless you get one of those Epson EcoTank printers where you can buy ink in bulk and refill it yourself. Ink cartridges are stupidly expensive (which is why printers are so cheap). Even then, good paper is also pretty expensive, and of course finding thin, glossy paper like what you'd have in a game manual that is inkjet printable is not trivial either.

As for WiFi on printers: IMO it's how printers should have always worked. Having a printer connected directly to a single PC is incredibly annoying if you have multiple users or even just multiple devices in use. Ethernet obviously also works, but isn't really worth it for a printer - unless you happen to have it next to your router or an Ethernet outlet. Printers generally don't need the stability or bandwidth offered by Ethernet, so WiFi does the job fantastically. (As long as it works - my old HP printer had the habit of refusing to reconnect to WiFi after being asleep/idle, forcing a hard power cycle to restore it, which _sucked_.)


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## stinger608 (Nov 7, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Printing at home in any type of half-decent quality gets expensive fast, unless you get one of those Epson EcoTank printers where you can buy ink in bulk and refill it yourself. Ink cartridges are stupidly expensive (which is why printers are so cheap). Even then, good paper is also pretty expensive, and of course finding thin, glossy paper like what you'd have in a game manual that is inkjet printable is not trivial either.



Or, go with a laser jet printer. The toner cartridges last a ton longer and are much cheaper than inkjet cartridges.


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## Greenslade (Nov 7, 2022)

Valantar said:


> Printing at home in any type of half-decent quality gets expensive fast, unless you get one of those Epson EcoTank printers where you can buy ink in bulk and refill it yourself. Ink cartridges are stupidly expensive (which is why printers are so cheap). Even then, good paper is also pretty expensive, and of course finding thin, glossy paper like what you'd have in a game manual that is inkjet printable is not trivial either.
> 
> As for WiFi on printers: IMO it's how printers should have always worked. Having a printer connected directly to a single PC is incredibly annoying if you have multiple users or even just multiple devices in use. Ethernet obviously also works, but isn't really worth it for a printer - unless you happen to have it next to your router or an Ethernet outlet. Printers generally don't need the stability or bandwidth offered by Ethernet, so WiFi does the job fantastically. (As long as it works - my old HP printer had the habit of refusing to reconnect to WiFi after being asleep/idle, forcing a hard power cycle to restore it, which _sucked_.)


Yes i get your point there, and the ink like you say is very expensive.I would like to have shares in ink.I always used Refurbished ink and never had any problem with them until the last lot i got for the old printer.;like everything else prices have gone sky high.This when came without ink it was an open box.I paid 30 pounds for the old one about six years ago of course it came with the started inks which don,t last long.I was not worried about using expansive paper.There is just me using the PC,s i have so no problem there.I can,t get sound on some of my of PI. os, it works on Apple PI OS. Ubuntu 22 lts and Raspion Mac-berry.but not on Raspberry buster 32bit.The number one PI man i have sound card adapter like his but it was a good make UGREEN works on the ones that have the sound on there.It did not work for me.I don,t know why PI Os,s don,t have sound out of the it is no good having a PI with no sound. A living room and bedroom combined.a long hall way but can,t live there. 



stinger608 said:


> Or, go with a laser jet printer. The toner cartridges last a ton longer and are much cheaper than inkjet cartridges.


I did get one but could not get on with it.Plus the fact it takes up to much room  i live in a small  ,well they call it a studio flat.No luck i just put Raspberry pi 32bit and trying lees fix with no luck I am trying Manjaro.
I got but it would not accept my password  There is no imager on there.I don,t get it.


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 7, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Or, go with a laser jet printer. The toner cartridges last a ton longer and are much cheaper than inkjet cartridges.


This. I have been using colour laser printers for more than 15 years. I swear by them.


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## Audioave10 (Nov 8, 2022)

Some of this "New Retro" I do like.


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## Greenslade (Nov 8, 2022)

I am with this guy sound should work out of the box on LINUX.  







 Sound working now got working on  Manjaro KDE Plasm and Twister os thank god.


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## Audioave10 (Nov 11, 2022)

Oh gosh, here we go again.


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## delshay (Nov 11, 2022)

After seeing Amiga video on YOUTUBE I decided to grab some quick dirty photos of my "very special unique A1200 Motherboard". 

The first thing to grab most user that know this motherboard will be most of the chipset is socketed. This has an advantage if you blow-up a chip. Just remove & insert new chip. This makes this motherboard nearly impossible to destroy. You can batch test chipsets on this motherboard, but this is not what it was modded for.  ...I do have sockets here to complete the final two large chip that's not in a socket.   

OSCILLATOR: If you look carefully, I have removed oscillator which is also socketed. The crystal oscillator itself is also custom built "low PPM"   ...PPM=parts per million.

FPU: The next thing you will notice is this A1200 has FPU also socketed. From factory FPU are not fitted to any A1200 Motherboards.

CPU: Next we come to the processor. The processor markings on this motherboard are different even thou internally it's the same as the normally Motorola processor. However. this motherboard has a 25MHz processor with the "Freescale" logo/markings.

CHIP MEMORY: This is what make this motherboard unique. It has 60ns memory compared to the normal 70 or 80ns memory fitted to all A1200 motherboards. AFAIK this is the only A1200 motherboard to have this.

The idea at that time was to hack the motherboard & the Rom Chips to take advantage of the faster processor & chip ram, but this never happened. but I do have better tools now, so I may return back to hacking this motherboard.


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 12, 2022)

delshay said:


> After seeing Amiga video on YOUTUBE I decided to grab some quick dirty photos of my "very special unique A1200 Motherboard".
> 
> The first thing to grab most user that know this motherboard will be most of the chipset is socketed. This has an advantage if you blow-up a chip. Just remove & insert new chip. This makes this motherboard nearly impossible to destroy. You can batch test chipsets on this motherboard, but this is not what it was modded for.  ...I do have sockets here to complete the final two large chip that's not in a socket.
> 
> ...


first and fourth pics are a blurry mess, i am not immune to that kind of shot but these are ultra blurry, to the point i took my optical glass thinking my eyesight gone bad again  (i have hypermetropia astigmatism, usually without glass i am fine   )

not for the Netbook ... (it only has one slot and it's already a 1gb in ... with Win 7 Started Ed. i could go for a 2gb, ot a 4gb but 32bit OS only, unless i switch to linux for it ... but i have a Lenovo G50-70 to fiddle with ... since it has a 4XXX series i7 it's more agreable than the Atom, and retro enough   )


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## Greenslade (Nov 12, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> first and fourth pics are a blurry mess, i am not immune to that kind of shot but these are ultra blurry, to the point i took my optical glass thinking my eyesight gone bad again  (i have hypermetropia astigmatism, usually without glass i am fine   )
> 
> not for the Netbook ... (it only has one slot and it's already a 1gb in ... with Win 7 Started Ed. i could go for a 2gb, ot a 4gb but 32bit OS only, unless i switch to linux for it ... but i have a Lenovo G50-70 to fiddle with ... since it has a 4XXX series i7 it's more agreable than the Atom, and retro enough   )
> View attachment 269663


I just looked that up i had no idea what  *hypermetropia astigmatism*ment.Thats the wonder of the internet you can find out about anything.  How did we mange without it.12  54 27 is a bit blurry but the the rest look fine


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just looked that up i had no idea what  *hypermetropia astigmatism*ment.Thats the wonder of the internet you can find out about anything.  How did we mange without it.12 54 27 is a bit blurry but the the rest look fine


12 49 47 is even blurrier than 12 54 27  

here it's how it look for me


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## Valantar (Nov 12, 2022)

Yeah both the first and fourth shots are blurry AF, entirely unreadable, with the second being kinda blurry but okay (PCB is sharp, chips are not).


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## delshay (Nov 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I just looked that up i had no idea what  *hypermetropia astigmatism*ment.Thats the wonder of the internet you can find out about anything.  How did we mange without it.12  54 27 is a bit blurry but the the rest look fine





GreiverBlade said:


> 12 49 47 is even blurrier than 12 54 27
> 
> here it's how it look for me
> View attachment 269665





Valantar said:


> Yeah both the first and fourth shots are blurry AF, entirely unreadable, with the second being kinda blurry but okay (PCB is sharp, chips are not).



I'm using a webcam held in one hand & my other hand on the mouse. It's not easy to get a perfect focus shot when I have to look at the laptop screen. I could go back & take better photos, but the main purpose of the photos is to show the sockets. Also, my mod retains the inner most plastic in every socket when compared to a number of user(s) that seem to remove the inner most plastic.

I will upload more photos to show what is retain when chip(s) is removed. The inner most plastic is there for structural integrity. If I remember correctly all my sockets retain this. I'm very disappointed to see this on Amiga website as a paid service.


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 12, 2022)

delshay said:


> I'm using a webcam held in one hand & my other hand on the mouse. It's not easy to get a perfect focus shot when I have to look at the laptop screen. I could go back & take better photos, but the main purpose of the photos is to show the sockets. Also, my mod retains the inner most plastic in every socket when compared to a number of user(s) that seem to remove the inner most plastic.
> 
> I will upload more photos to show what is retain when chip(s) is removed. The inner most plastic is there for structural integrity. If I remember correctly all my sockets retain this.


i see the sockets, alright purpose achieved!

on the other hand i am a nitpicker that like clean shot (and curse at my own, slight out of focus, shots when i post one without noticing it  ) and love old hardware marking more than sockets! (tho i do love your sockets! )


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## delshay (Nov 12, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> i see the sockets, alright purpose achieved!
> 
> on the other hand i am a nitpicker that like clean shot (and curse at my own, slight out of focus, shots when i post one without noticing it  ) and love old hardware marking more than sockets! (tho i do love your sockets! )



I' was only able to remove one chip as I can't find my chip extractor. Anyway you can now see the inner plastic of the socket. "All sockets" should have this. I also circled another important role of the inner plastic holder. ...It serves as a marker for pin 1.

I forgot to add the rom socket has also changed to round pin double stacked. The reason for double stacked is you can trash the rom socket without damaging the socket that is soldered to the motherboard.

You can also see a small part of my massive collection of 128MB EDO memory, each 50ns or better.   ...Bottom right world's fastest 28ns.

There also a clearer picture of the Freescale processor.

There's a clearer picture of the custom oscillator made to order by "Onspec".   Factoy closed sometime in the late 90's.


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## mplayerMuPDF (Nov 12, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am with this guy sound should work out of the box on LINUX.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had issues with Pulseaudio (I had to replug my headphones or fiddle with pavucontrol to get the audio to come out of my headphones after a cold boot) on my ProBook 645 G1 (I guess with a 2012 CPU it may borderline qualify for this thread) running Devuan and so I just got rid of it (I have always hated it anyway and it often uses up an unnecessary amount of CPU, which matters especially with this humble APU) and now I am using (user space) ALSA with alsamixer without any issues (except the audio in Seamonkey and Firefox does not work with apulse since they apparently only output to the default device, which cannot be changed but what is most important to me is that VLC, mplayer and spotifyd work). I love the retro keyboard-controlled TUI of alsamixer too!


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## Greenslade (Nov 13, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> 12 49 47 is even blurrier than 12 54 27
> 
> here it's how it look for me
> View attachment 269665


Looking at it for a second time that one is blurry.


mplayerMuPDF said:


> I had issues with Pulseaudio (I had to replug my headphones or fiddle with pavucontrol to get the audio to come out of my headphones after a cold boot) on my ProBook 645 G1 (I guess with a 2012 CPU it may borderline qualify for this thread) running Devuan and so I just got rid of it (I have always hated it anyway and it often uses up an unnecessary amount of CPU, which matters especially with this humble APU) and now I am using (user space) ALSA with alsamixer without any issues (except the audio in Seamonkey and Firefox does not work with apulse since they apparently only output to the default device, which cannot be changed but what is most important to me is that VLC, mplayer and spotifyd work). I love the retro keyboard-controlled TUI of alsamixer too!
> 
> View attachment 269717


As everyone knows  i am not a very tech person, but slowly learning more.I put stuff outside  of this Retro forum on here because i am more than likely to get an answer to sort a problem i am having with a PC .


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## Audioave10 (Nov 13, 2022)

A BEAST from 1982... 










Adrian's system knowledge here is on full display. Impressive!


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## Susquehannock (Nov 13, 2022)

Been looking at Abit IS7 lately. Great socket 478 boards. Saw this in an auction recently. Hooray for wood screws. Have seen this fan mounting technique crack motherboards, unfortunately. I would have used zip ties instead. Slide one down through the hole, and zip another onto the bottom end - trim extra.


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 13, 2022)

Susquehannock said:


> Hooray for wood screws. Have seen this fan mounting technique crack motherboards, unfortunately.


Not if they're very short screws. I've done that. They work very well.


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## budget_Optiplex (Nov 14, 2022)

I see a lot of people struggling to find affordable PCI cards for retro gaming PCs these days. While the cards I'm about to suggest aren't nearly as cheap as they were even a year ago (I paid $15 each for the ones I have), these still can be found reasonably cheap here and there if you are patient. Here is a suggestion that has worked for me:

The cards are the Nvidia Quadro NVS 55 PCI and 280 PCI. These are basically Geforce FX5200s with 64MB of DDR memory (64-bit bus), but I have found they can overclock quite well. They work great for Pentium 3/4 systems especially if you are using an OEM motherboard with no AGP slot. The NVS 55 has DVI-I out so it's the nicer of the two, and the NVS 280 uses DMS-59 out so you will need a splitter cable. I have found that on my Celeron 1400 (Tualatin) system this card can handle even something like UT2004 at reasonable settings with an overclock.

Here's an example: www.ebay.com/itm/265546281173


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 14, 2022)

budget_Optiplex said:


> I see a lot of people struggling to find affordable PCI cards for retro gaming PCs these days. While the cards I'm about to suggest aren't nearly as cheap as they were even a year ago (I paid $15 each for the ones I have), these still can be found reasonably cheap here and there if you are patient. Here is a suggestion that has worked for me:
> 
> The cards are the Nvidia Quadro NVS 55 PCI and 280 PCI. *These are basically Geforce FX5200s with 64MB of DDR memory (64-bit bus)*, but I have found they can overclock quite well. They work great for Pentium 3/4 systems especially if you are using an OEM motherboard with no AGP slot. The NVS 55 has DVI-I out so it's the nicer of the two, and the NVS 280 uses DMS-59 out so you will need a splitter cable. I have found that on my Celeron 1400 (Tualatin) system this card can handle even something like UT2004 at reasonable settings with an overclock.
> 
> ...


hilarious coincidence, when i searched for a PCI GPU for a retro server build (first with MSI K8D Master3-133 / MS-9161 VER:2 which had only PCI-X and PCI slots but had an ATI Rage XL onboard, and then with a Arima HDAMA-I also only PCI-X, PCI and a Rage XL, later i managed to find a SuperMicro H8DCE)  back in hum ... 2013/14 probably later ... but it was after 2013 when i moved home 
ah, no not later 2014 exactly  https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/post-3108619

this is what i got ... (2chf, free shipping which was a loss for the seller since eco package is 7chf  the NVS 280 with DMS-59 cable was 60chf second hand and the NVS 55 was 65  ) indeed it use a NV34B Rankine like the NV 55/280


nicer 128mb 128bit bus, less nice caps, VGA (well it's more retro than DVI nonetheless  ) and TV out

also @lexluthermiester notice the missing screws on the fan shroud? i recycled them to fix a small fan on my Odroid C2 heatsink, since they served nothing else than just fix that shroud to the HSF


ah... ahahah ... well the K8D Master3-133 mobo i got her for less than 10$ with 1 Opteron 270 locally, the Arima HDAMA-I on Ebay ~45$ (or something, it was because the K8D had bent pins in some RAM slots) and then the H8DCE with 2 Opty 248 locally for less than 30$ (also got some more Opty 250/275 and 280 on Ebay and locally )
nowadays pricing?

H8DCE : https://www.ebay.com/itm/294712949050
K8D Master3-133 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/224844694865
HDAMA-I : www.ebay.com/itm/175370789931


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## Audioave10 (Nov 15, 2022)

An important big reason why we have such Nostalgic Hardware setting around our homes. Ken & Roberta Williams!


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## Greenslade (Nov 15, 2022)

What do people think of this PC “Nice PC rebuilt from scratch using original components? I have upgraded the PSU to a more modern reliable unit. I have been building custom retro PCs for many years and this one is very nice. AMD Sempron 2800+ CPU, 80GB HDD, and 512MB ram means this is a very able Windows 98 SE PC. The PC has all the drivers, a Floppy Disk, and CD-Rom drives that have been cleaned and tested. USB Update has been installed so you can use USB Memory Drives, USB mice, etc” That looks like an old PSU though.




Looked up on a forum from the time about the Sempron,it is a bit confusion to me.
I guess there is not a lot in it.Apart from the Sempron having more instructions that the Athlon.I was a bit cheesed off that the Athlon had less instructions  than other CPU,s that came out at the time.  If i had known that at the time i would have got a PC with a better CPU.
with Sempron  2800+ (tbred core 256k cache) = 2000 MHz (166 x 12)
= AthlonXP 2400+ = 2000 MHz (133 x 15)
Sempr0n 3000+ is based off a barton core w/ full 512kb, and the 3100+ is based off A64 architecture, 256kb cache, no 64-bit
So think of every Sempron (except for 3000+ and 3100+) as an AthlonXP minus 400 PR points.
















​ 






                                Oct 19, 2004                             





2000 MHz (166x12) is not equal to 2000 MHz (133 x 15)

£70shiped I was just thinking about it because my CPU is Athlon 2400 I see the Sempron 2800has a lot better gaming performance than 2400  is it that much better it says 17% more than 2400. What is the make of the case? I was thinking of buying a thin client with 98on it. which is all so 70 pounds. Is the Sempron 2800 better than the Athlon 2400?I am a bit confused to








IPA, isopropanol.
I have just tried to load a game on two XP machines on both PC refuse to load it.It stops at the same spot in the Photos.It is starting to work on this one .It said a couple of minutes ai will give it a tot more time know that i know.  Just put the ATI 9600XT in there, which i bought some time ago.I like this guys videos 







 the guys cleaning the board with cheap after shave  any one else use that.As he does not have any   isopropyl alcohol.The game crashed


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 15, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> 2000 MHz (166x12) is not equal to 2000 MHz (133 x 15)
> 
> £70shiped I was just thinking about it because my CPU is Athlon 2400 I see the Sempron 2800has a lot better gaming performance than 2400  is it that much better it says 17% more than 2400. What is the make of the case? I was thinking of buying a thin client with 98on it. which is all so 70 pounds. Is the Sempron 2800 better than the Athlon 2400?I am a bit confused to


Clock for clock, higher FSB will win out on socket A.


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> What do people think of this PC “Nice PC rebuilt from scratch using original components? I have upgraded the PSU to a more modern reliable unit. I have been building custom retro PCs for many years and this one is very nice. AMD Sempron 2800+ CPU, 80GB HDD, and 512MB ram means this is a very able Windows 98 SE PC. The PC has all the drivers, a Floppy Disk, and CD-Rom drives that have been cleaned and tested. USB Update has been installed so you can use USB Memory Drives, USB mice, etc” That looks like an old PSU though.View attachment 270083View attachment 270085
> Looked up on a forum from the time about the Sempron,it is a bit confusion to me.
> I guess there is not a lot in it.Apart from the Sempron having more instructions that the Athlon.I was a bit cheesed off that the Athlon had less instructions  than other CPU,s that came out at the time.  If i had known that at the time i would have got a PC with a better CPU.
> with Sempron  2800+ (tbred core 256k cache) = 2000 MHz (166 x 12)
> ...


Nice case! Inexpensive but nice looking. I miss cases that were functional, looked good and were budget friendly.


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## Greenslade (Nov 16, 2022)

PC keeps on crashing  after i put a USB thumb drive in  ?It turns off and on.It started after i put an Audergy soundcard in.See photo weird lines etc mouse and keyboard stoped working.Athlon 2400 PC.And no Windows sound at start up surely there should be the Windows start up sound?after all the sound card is working.
Why would a USB thumb drive crash the system? I am trying to install games two of them asked me to put in the code ,i have just done the second one and this has said*Invalid or missing CD code Owning PC games 







 big brother hits back again


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## Mr.Scott (Nov 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> PC keeps on crashing  after i put a USB thumb drive in  ?It turns off and on.It started after i put an Audergy soundcard in.See photo weird lines etc mouse and keyboard stoped working.Athlon 2400 PC.And no Windows sound at start up surely there should be the Windows start up sound?after all the sound card is working.
> Why would a USB thumb drive crash the system?


Crappy 5v rail on the PSU.


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## Greenslade (Nov 17, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Crappy 5v rail on the PSU.


It is an old PSU see photo.I tried my T5 and kept on clicking ,i will take the sound cars out and try it in my Pentium 4  pc i would think that would have the same problem.  It keeps on coming up to set up utility, is there anything i can change in there to get USB to work?I have uninstalled  the soundcard the USB,s are working again.


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## lexluthermiester (Nov 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> big brother hits back again


Yet another reason DRM-Free is right. GOG my friend. Alan Wake is on it.



Mr.Scott said:


> Crappy 5v rail on the PSU.


That was my thought as well.


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## s3thra (Nov 17, 2022)

Susquehannock said:


> Been looking at Abit IS7 lately. Great socket 478 boards. Saw this in an auction recently. Hooray for wood screws. Have seen this fan mounting technique crack motherboards, unfortunately. I would have used zip ties instead. Slide one down through the hole, and zip another onto the bottom end - trim extra.
> 
> View attachment 269810


Hell yeah. That was the board I used in the first computer I built back in '03. Great for overclocking those Northwood P4's.

The Northbridge fan on mine died a couple of years in; grinding sounds etc, so the bearing must have gone. I recall I ended up just taking the fan off and leaving the heatsink on. Ran fine for years after that.


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## Trekkie4 (Nov 17, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Blah, I REALLY hate these extension brackets!
> 
> After couple of hours with PS/2, Parallel & Serial port headers, it would seem that everything is hooked up as it should be ... I hope! Also, if any of you here also happen to have an old Asus board laying around & would want to hook up PS/2 mouse extension port, this here is the wiring diagram obtained from the Vogons forum.
> 
> ...


Right guys, so here we are again. Once again, the same Celeron build from before, which I never finished due to several reasons. This time however it went through several major changes in the terms of concept & expectations, although it is still pretty much the same on the inside.




This time I'm running Celeron 333 (paired with the same mobo, Asus P2L-B), same GPU (for now, but this will change eventually) and the same RAM - 64MB PC100.

So, stay tuned for future updates, I got several plans for this particular build. By the way, this is going to be my final attempt for this particular system, so if the things go south once again (for whatever the reason) I'm officially giving up & moving on.


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## Greenslade (Nov 17, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Crappy 5v rail on the PSU.


Unforynatly  that seems the case Scotty.  It is working fine on my£5 Pentium 4 plus the fact that the Pentium 4 is so quite as opposed to the nosey Athlon2400.I think i will have to work on the other Pentium 4 and replace the caps in there.


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## Robert B (Nov 17, 2022)

Complicated ALPS switches are well ... compli ...  needy type of switches!!!


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## Greenslade (Nov 18, 2022)

Can anyone see any blown caps on the photo?


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## 68Olds (Nov 18, 2022)

I don't see any problem, but the image isn't very sharp.  Here's random picture with 4 leaking & 4 swollen capacitors.  You can see the domed top that happens before they burst.


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## Greenslade (Nov 18, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I don't see any problem, but the image isn't very sharp.  Here's random picture with 4 leaking & 4 swollen capacitors.  You can see the domed top that happens before they burst.
> 
> View attachment 270527


I get your point. I am no David Baily sorry to say. Why does a PC make clicking
noises as if trying to connect? Does that prove that it is the PSU going bad?
Unless I had a PSU with the same connections I can,t try my other PSUs,s. Another thing is when I put a USB device in it takes time to load it, I clicked a USB device to remove it, and the PC lost the connection with Windows now going back to clicking and clicking not going back into windows. would the USB problem be to do with the motherboard? If the OS was on an IDE drive it might give me an idea of what is going on. The clicking could be to do with the SATA to IDE adapter. Clicking has stoped but 
but nothing showing on the monitor.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Nov 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can anyone see any blown caps on the photo?


That psu from earlier has a 10w 5v rail. Probably at peak. 
I'd try a different psu also.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 18, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> That psu from earlier has a 10w 5v rail. Probably at peak.
> I'd try a different psu also.


I wish I could but all the other PSUs,s have different connections. And the one on this PC has weird ones for the power connections. if I was to buy one which one should i go for? And this one has just one connector to the board and no 4-pin one.?


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Nov 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I wish I could but all the other PSUs,s have different connections. And the one on this PC has weird ones for the power connections.if i was to buy one which one should i go for?


Thats a darn good question. And why a lot of oem stuff hits the trash.


----------



## 68Olds (Nov 18, 2022)

Are you using a regular spinning hard drive with the sata to ide adapter?  Hard drives click when they are failing.  
Sometimes fans click when they are still spinning, but failing.  Can you verify all the fans that should be spinning are spinning, including the PSU GPU CPU.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 18, 2022)

Been tinkering with 1156 stuff (which is around a decade old at this point) and have managed to land on this nice one:

GB P55A-UD3
2x2GB DDR3 (for the moment, I plan on dropping at least 8 or 16GB if it supports it.)
GB Radeon HD7870 2GB GDDR5
ASUS PCI WLAN card
1TB Seagate ST31000524AS
Core i7 860 @ 2.8GHz + CM Hyper H412R HSF

The only thing that's buggering me is the HD7870 cuts off image randomly, and that happens on HDMI alone from what I experienced so far.  DVI seems to have no issues (at the time of writing this post, I'm waiting on installing NFS Hot Pursuit 2010 to test the card out) but I'm keeping an wary eye on it.

The other two combos are an MSI P55-CD53 + i5 750, and a GB H55M-S2V + i3 540. Both are in need of RAM kits. The i5 received a R7 265 (HD7850) 2GB GDDR5, and I'm debating on whether I should pair my last powerful ATI card (a 512MB HD4850) with the i3, or reserve it for a 775 machine.

EDIT: Corrected MB model for the Gigabyte P55 board.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 18, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Are you using a regular spinning hard drive with the sata to ide adapter?  Hard drives click when they are failing.
> Sometimes fans click when they are still spinning, but failing.  Can you verify all the fans that should be spinning are spinning, including the PSU GPU CPU.


Yes, I have the app that tells the health of the drives and that said it was good. I keep getting the message 861 it did that but Windows started up. See the health check on the HDD I see it is showing caution now looks like you are right there. The last time I checked it said it was ok. The problem is I tried putting the Os on the IDE drive but could not do it for some reason. The os was on the IDE drive when I got the PC I managed to get it on the one with the adapter and wiped the original one which had the OS on big mistake. The only other thing is to try and get 2000 or Me on a CF card I don,t know how to do it Lex said F disc could you give me a link on how to do it? That,s a weird connection on the PSU. I can,t see if the PSU is spinning or not. I think it is I put my ear up to its blowing. If the drive is on its way out would that be the cause of all the problems I am having with the PC? I wonder if there is any dust in the USB ports. I am trying to get XP on the IDE drive it was still saying no master or slave and yet it put the os on the drive. I did that twice and it did the same thing.So I removed the jumper from the drive it was on master and changed the IDE Cable, I am finally loading XP, it will take some time as it is an updated version of XP the integral version. I just hope the problems will be sorted out when I get the OS on the drive. If it does I might get another sound blaster card.It has stuck on the same place two times i tried it  i will leave it for a bit .i don,t think it will work.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Nov 18, 2022)

Got this Intel QX6700 Extreme Edition, EVGA 680i SLI, and Zalman CNPS 9000 online from a Goodwill.



Cleaned it up and removed a ton of dust from the northbridge and cooler.  I had trouble getting all of the dust out of the cooler. I also rotated the heatsink 90°



As the sticker says, this board has some leaky caps.



I wasn't expecting it to function with the caps like that but it all seems to be functional.



I ordered replacement capacitors and i'll replace the leaky ones when they arrive. Additionally, the cooler does not lock into one of the 3 notched positions, I believe the "seesaw" bracket is possibly bent. It has decent mounting pressure but it has a few degree range of rotation as you can see in the first photo. Oh and I probably want to repaste the Northridge.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 18, 2022)

Bulged Rubycon MCZ. No wonder, those and their MFZ series were pretty sensitive to heat.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> That,s a weird connection on the PSU.I can,t see if the PSU is spinning or not.I think it is I put my ear up to its blowing.If the drive is on its way out would that be the cause of all the problems i am having with the PC?


That is a 24 to 20 pin adapter on that PSU. PSU has been changed out before.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Nov 19, 2022)

I think harvesting the zalman and buttoning up my current 775 machine was a better choice. I really like how this system looks inside. I think I've shown this here before but it's pretty much all finished now.









Planning on using that QX6700 (or maybe my X6800?) And making an earlier 775 computer since the one above is very late. Honestly I think I'd prefer to use one of my 680i striker extremes over the EVGA board though, for purely aesthetic reasons.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 19, 2022)

1156 machine. Still gotta figure out why does the picture go blank over HDMI but not over DVI


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 19, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> Thats a darn good question. And why a lot of oem stuff hits the trash.


I get your point there , but the Motherboard is not OEM.


----------



## stinger608 (Nov 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> but the Motherboard is not OEM.



Then it should take a standard 20 pin plug from the power supply.


----------



## Robert B (Nov 19, 2022)

NEW HW FOUND!!! Run the auto installer?! Probably not!  All of these need proper care and my undivided attention! 

1. Mystery Z80 Computer. Some type of a homebrew computer.It need further investigation.
2. ASUS A8N32-SLI + A64 4200+ S939 + 2x1GB DDR400 Team Group XTreem
3. The BOX from a DFI LanParty nF4 Ultra-D - If I have the boxed it means that in my future it is written that I will also find the motherboard. Right? 
4. ACER AL532 1024x768 LCD monitor for testing purposes.
5. AMD 486 DX4-100
6. Intel I7-870
7. Intel SL4CE 800MHz/100
8. nVIDIA 6800GT PCI-E with Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5
9. ATI Radeon 5850 1GB
10. PowerColor Radeon 7000 Video Card RV6P-NB3 64MB PCI
11. Gigabyte GX-X58A-UD3R + I7 960
12. MSI Radeon HD 2600 XT 512 MB GDDR3 - silent
13. ASUS P5B Deluxe + E6700
14. Socket 3 system + VLB + Extension cards
15. CLUB3D RADEON 9600 256MB GDDR CGA-E966TVD - 9600XT 256MB AGP
16. ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
17. Medion MEDION 2001 (ASUS CUV4X-CM OEM) + P3 1GHz + GF4 4200 Ti 64MB
18. ASUS CUSL2 - it need no introduction. 
19. SY015 Intel Pentium 150 MHz
20. 2x Athlon 64 for S754
21. Gigabyte Ga-7VAXP Ultra K7 triton 400
22. Matrox MGA G200
23. PowerColor Radeon 9600SE Video Card R96LE-C3S AGP 128MB
24. PNY Tech PNY nVidia Quadro FX 500 128MB QFFX500A8E12X-G
25. Gigabyte GA-GF1280 Geforce 2MX 32MB AGP
26. Amstrad PCD1512 DD without the monitor which also houses the PSU and without the peripherals. A lucky find nethertheless
27. Lexikon HD352 hardcard MFM hdd 20MB - functional belive it or not!
28. Gigabyte GA965P-DS3
29. Misc stuff.

When it rains (with HW) it pours!


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 19, 2022)

Robert B said:


> NEW HW FOUND!!! Run the auto installer?! Probably not!  All of these need proper care and my undivided attention!
> 
> 1. Mystery Z80 Computer. Some type of a homebrew computer.It need further investigation.
> 2. ASUS A8N32-SLI + A64 4200+ S939 + 2x1GB DDR400 Team Group XTreem
> ...


Look at all those goodies! Some are quite Ancient and rare. Robert B lives a charmed life I think.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 19, 2022)

Finally managed to put this back. Beats my 1156 machine's HD7870 by quite a lot, at which point I wonder if it doesn't even get bottlenecked by the i7 860 my P55A-UD3 runs. I'll probably look which cards would fit the i7, but am pretty sure the GTX 670 is unfortunately too powerful for the certain i7 I use.

That, and the Radeon has far better audio output over HDMI/DVI-I than Geforce cards.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 21, 2022)

Is there a special way to get an os on a CF Card?on my retro pc it said there was only 29gb on it, when the card has 64gb i realise they never have the amount the card has.
But but just 29gb  of 64gb  that s madness.I have put the card in my win 10 PC  and it said it was formated ex fat it now is NTFS .


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 21, 2022)

Yes, You need CF to IDE adapter and create FAT32 partitions (don't go over 32GB limit per partition, you will avoid some headaches), and just FYI : not all CF cards are DOS bootable. After all that, OS should just install like on any other IDE hard disk.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 21, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> Yes, You need CF to IDE adapter and create FAT32 partitions (don't go over 32GB limit per partition, you will avoid some headaches), and just FYI : not all CF cards are DOS bootable. After all that, OS should just install like on any other IDE hard disk.


Why not NTFS i am hoping to get XP on it.And do i need to use f disc ?You say that
but i have a number of IDE drives i can,t get anything on them.One said insert the disc but that was all ready in the cd drive,Another one of them said press any key to reboot.And the third IDE drive i had managed to install 2000 on it but it said there was an error.The one of two sata drives failed to work with the sata to ide adapter.
And the only one with an os on it is on the way out caution  on its health that is sata to ide adapter.And want let me get to manage  to delete the drive.So unless i can get an OS on there i am stuffed.


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 21, 2022)

If you want to use it for XP, sure NTFS is fine (it won't be usable by default for Windows 9x or DOS, but that's fine in your case ?).
Also, you don't need SATA adapters for CompactFlash, they work natively with IDE (I guess you have that in your MB ?).

In general, CF isnt used as OS driver for XP because it's too slow vs. SSDs you can get on SATA.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 21, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> If you want to use it for XP, sure NTFS is fine (it won't be usable by default for Windows 9x or DOS, but that's fine in your case ?).
> Also, you don't need SATA adapters for CompactFlash, they work natively with IDE (I guess you have that in your MB ?).
> 
> In general, CF isnt used as OS driver for XP because it's too slow vs. SSDs you can get on SATA.


I could give that a try on ssd  with the sata to ide adapter.Its not even working with the CF Card  see card connected.Does anyone know how i can get rid of this message?I can,t get os  s off the other drives the CF Card was connected red light on.Where do i put the jumper on the IDE drive for putting an os on is it master or slave?all though i have one drive on there and it keeps on saying there is no drive on the pc?it is connected as it should be i just don,t understand all this.The only other  drive that works is the one with win 2000 and that fails. If anyone lived near me i would give this pile of junk to them.  I just can,t do anything with it, the light on the cf card flickers and does not seem to connect. The IDE cabal is tight in there.


----------



## agent_x007 (Nov 21, 2022)

Your installation may be corrupted (bad source file), or your PC is unstable (memory/CPU), OR you are trying to install it on something that isn't supported natively (everything made after 2015 for XP) OR your SATA cable/adapter is busted OR your board doesn't like this adapter.


----------



## Greenslade (Nov 21, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> Your installation may be corrupted (bad source file), or your PC is unstable (memory/CPU), OR you are trying to install it on something that isn't supported natively (everything made after 2015 for XP) OR your SATA cable/adapter is busted OR your board doesn't like this adapter.


The Sata to IDE adapter is the only thing that works.Just on one of the drives.I could try it with an ssd  and the adapter.


----------



## Terronium-12 (Nov 21, 2022)

*Oh man, I'm going to love this thread 

I have to dig out my other stuff but I still have this in the box (you don't want to see the box) in my room, so why not start with it:






G0 stepping and all. Best I managed with it back in the day was 3.87 on water. A lot of stuff I'm going to share in here. *


----------



## AlwaysHope (Nov 22, 2022)

Not necessarily hardware but need software apart from OS or its a useless machine right? 
Scored this yesterday before being chucked in the bin from my workplace...


----------



## hckngrtfakt (Nov 22, 2022)

Terronium-12 said:


> *Oh man, I'm going to love this thread
> 
> I have to dig out my other stuff but I still have this in the box (you don't want to see the box) in my room, so why not start with it:
> 
> ...


I am actually using the younger version of this CPU on my daily


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 22, 2022)

agent_x007 said:


> (don't go over 32GB limit per partition, you will avoid some headaches)


That depends on what OS you're going to use. DOS/Windows 95? Yeah, keep it under 32GB. Windows 98SE/Windows ME will work fine with FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB.


agent_x007 said:


> and just FYI : not all CF cards are DOS bootable.


I have never had that experience. As long as a partition is set active(boot flag set), it'll boot. Perhaps the partition wasn't set active?



Terronium-12 said:


> *Oh man, I'm going to love this thread
> 
> I have to dig out my other stuff but I still have this in the box (you don't want to see the box) in my room, so why not start with it:
> 
> ...


Nice! That was a golden CPU. Much like the Celeron 300A, one could get generally a 50% OC or better out of them. 

BTW, Welcome to TPU!


----------



## Veseleil (Nov 22, 2022)

I would like to ask my fellow tech lovers to share their thoughts about this board (if there are any, thoughts):



I have it for years, got it from a friend, and he got it from his uncle. His uncle bought it some 20 years ago, and it came like this - giving no signs of life. Tested it many times with different core2 processors, but no luck. I'll probably take it to the electronic repair shop someday.
I would really love to see it come to life. Especially as I've kinda skipped the whole dual core, core 2 era... I was on p4 all that time, and later got a Phenom II X4 965 BE.
Sorry about bad photo quality, my phone camera glass cover broke a while ago, and the dust did its thing.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Nov 22, 2022)

If I were you, I'd ditch the ECS for a Gigabyte or ASUS, should you want to go with a Core 2 Duo. I just wouldn't trust ECS with a 10ft pole to make a capable P35 mainboard.


----------



## Veseleil (Nov 22, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> If I were you, I'd ditch the ECS for a Gigabyte or ASUS, should you want to go with a Core 2 Duo. I just wouldn't trust ECS with a 10ft pole to make a capable P35 mainboard.


I have a bunch of workable core 2 duo boards and chips, but only this one that supports quads, and it's dead.


----------



## Terronium-12 (Nov 22, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nice! That was a golden CPU. Much like the Celeron 300A, one could get generally a 50% OC or better out of them.
> 
> BTW, Welcome to TPU!



*Thank you!

----

More stuff I'm digging up:




Damn BBQ sauce dipping cup photobombing everything. 

I had to thoroughly clean and repaste the 1900; I wasn't going to take a picture of it in its original condition. You can still see dirt and nastiness underneath the blower fan because I can't clean that part. 

The Sempron still looks great; I don't have any of the mounting hardware for the G-Power; the Athlons are...I have no idea what happened to them, but the 4400 is in a DFI rig downstairs, which I will get around to cleaning the board and showing that off as well.*


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 22, 2022)

fun stuff...


----------



## GreiverBlade (Nov 22, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> fun stuff...


hilarious build, i hope it's on purpose but he did put the processor HSF on the chipset and the chipset HS on the CPU


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 22, 2022)

GreiverBlade said:


> hilarious build, i hope it's on purpose but he did put the processor HSF on the chipset and the chipset HS on the CPU


He gets a little crazy sometimes, but he always checks his temps.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 22, 2022)

Veseleil said:


> I would like to ask my fellow tech lovers to share their thoughts about this board (if there are any, thoughts):View attachment 271258
> View attachment 271257
> I have it for years, got it from a friend, and he got it from his uncle. His uncle bought it some 20 years ago, and it came like this - giving no signs of life. Tested it many times with different core2 processors, but no luck. I'll probably take it to the electronic repair shop someday.
> I would really love to see it come to life. Especially as I've kinda skipped the whole dual core, core 2 era... I was on p4 all that time, and later got a Phenom II X4 965 BE.
> Sorry about bad photo quality, my phone camera cover glass broke a while ago, and the dust did its thing.


That is a good board. Doesn't look like is needs any caps and the socket looks good too. Have you tested with an OG C2D? Like an E6400 or E6600? It might need a BIOS update.


----------



## Veseleil (Nov 22, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is a good board. Doesn't look like is needs any caps and the socket looks good too. Have you tested with an OG C2D? Like an E6400 or E6600? It might need a BIOS update.


 I think most of my C2D are E6300 or E4300, and the original owner (RIP) was much more tech savy person than myself, so i guess he tried most of the stuff that was available at that time. I can't remember the exact model numbers as i got them at a time they were already considered a junk by their owners.
As I'm getting older, and due to the fact I'm not exactly playing games nor using (any of) my PC for any serious work other than browsing, film and music, i might find a spare time to work on these. I should be able to complete one usable C2D machine, install some old games, and bring back at least a glimpse of the times we feel nostalgic about. 
Yeah, and I have so many P4 laying around in parts, but i kinda hate them for the reasons I mentioned in the earlier post.



lexluthermiester said:


> That is a good board. Doesn't look like is needs any caps and the socket looks good too.


Sorry for the double post, forgot to obviously state a fact about this motherboard. It's brand new.  But it didn't work out of the box, and the original owner (RIP) somehow failed to get it fixed or replaced under warranty. It is possible that it didn't have any warranty at all.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 23, 2022)

Veseleil said:


> I think most of my C2D are E6300 or E4300, and the original owner (RIP) was much more tech savy person than myself, so i guess he tried most of the stuff that was available at that time. I can't remember the exact model numbers as i got them at a time they were already considered a junk by their owners.


Sorry, that was my bad. When I said it was a good board, I meant that in a general sense instead of that particular board. ECS is a great budget brand. I've never seen a dead board from them. So this is a first for me.


Veseleil said:


> Yeah, and I have so many P4 laying around in parts, but i kinda hate them for the reasons I mentioned in the earlier post.


Fair enough. I feel ya.


Veseleil said:


> Sorry for the double post


No worries. They auto-merge anyway.


Veseleil said:


> It's brand new.  But it didn't work out of the box, and the original owner (RIP) somehow failed to get it fixed or replaced under warranty. It is possible that it didn't have any warranty at all.


That sucks.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 23, 2022)

Just received this explosive monstrosity, earlier today! 




Already inside the case, this Riva TNT (Creative 3D Blaster CT6710) will be running on Asus P5A-B Pentium MMX 233 system


----------



## 80251 (Nov 24, 2022)

DEC Rainbow, DEC's attempt to enter the PC market. We had one at my work that no one ever used because IBM had already sewn up the PC market by then. RIP DEC, the first company to introduce a GHZ. CPU. My co-workers back then would've laughed at the idea of DEC going under.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 24, 2022)

80251 said:


> DEC Rainbow, DEC's attempt to enter the PC market. We had one at my work that no one ever used because IBM had already sewn up the PC market by then. RIP DEC, the first company to introduce a GHZ. CPU. My co-workers back then would've laughed at the idea of DEC going under.


Right, I've seen multiple references to "Digital" and I even owned one myself for quite some time. Celebris to be exact, I believe the model number was GL 6200, Pentium Pro 200. What happened to them & who bought them afterwards?


----------



## hckngrtfakt (Nov 24, 2022)

Veseleil said:


> I would like to ask my fellow tech lovers to share their thoughts about this board (if there are any, thoughts):
> 
> View attachment 271258
> View attachment 271257
> ...


I don't know if is bad light, but near the VRMs seems like you're missing some cpu pins in the socket.
I have a similar board with a q6600 and can probably take pictures to verify.


----------



## 80251 (Nov 24, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Right, I've seen multiple references to "Digital" and I even owned one myself for quite some time. Celebris to be exact, I believe the model number was GL 6200, Pentium Pro 200. What happened to them & who bought them afterwards?


Compaq (also gone now) bought out DEC. HP bought out Compaq. Back when I started in IT, PC's were considered toys (except for the finance department that made extensive use of PC's for Lotus 1-2-3, one of the first really big business programs tailored to the PC) while IBM mainframers were gods.
I actually met a really smart Korean lady who was on the DEC team who designed the Rainbow.


----------



## Veseleil (Nov 24, 2022)

hckngrtfakt said:


> I don't know if is bad light, but near the VRMs seems like you're missing some cpu pins in the socket.
> I have a similar board with a q6600 and can probably take pictures to verify.


I'll check when I get back from work. Thanks.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 24, 2022)

hckngrtfakt said:


> I don't know if is bad light, but near the VRMs seems like you're missing some cpu pins in the socket.
> I have a similar board with a q6600 and can probably take pictures to verify.


Nope, those blank/black spots are the CPU mounting notches. Perfectly normal. You can see the other notch on the other side of the socket in the photo.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Nov 26, 2022)

Before:



After:






Much improved.

Wasn't as simple as it should have been but I got there in the end. In short my pinecil wasn't able to push sufficient heat into the large power plane on this PCB to melt the solder holding one leg of each capacitor in. I resorted to a 1500w heat gun which was enough heat to do so. The replacement capacitors are a little larger than the originals but they fit in well enough.

Board works just fine. Probably need to repaste the chipsets, but I'll put that off for some other day since I don't intend to use this board any time soon since I'd rather use my striker extreme.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Before:
> View attachment 271756
> After:
> View attachment 271757
> ...


Nice job!


----------



## Audioave10 (Nov 27, 2022)

Phil is so very RETRO ... nice!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 27, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> Phil is so very RETRO ... nice!


Yeah, he really is! Phil is next level retro!


----------



## 80251 (Nov 27, 2022)

Socket 7, what do you do if your baby-AT PSU fails?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 27, 2022)

80251 said:


> Socket 7, what do you do if your baby-AT PSU fails?


Find another one.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 27, 2022)

80251 said:


> Socket 7, what do you do if your baby-AT PSU fails?


What @Mr.Scott said above ... OR grab one of these:


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 27, 2022)

Does anyone remember if there is a difference between Socket A, Barton based Semprons and Barton based Athlon-XPs? (except PR rating / frequency)
They seems to have same amount of cache and supporting same features


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 27, 2022)

There is no difference.
The Sempron 3000+ Barton's were very good chips.


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 27, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> There is no difference.
> The Sempron 3000+ Barton's were very good chips.



Ah cool, I was gathering some info about the Barton-Sempron because I just got a nice little system with a Sempron 3000+, ASUS A7V600-X and a single stick of HyperX KHX3200 (non A or AK) so it should be BH-5 
Guess he's stock-freq. times are ending... now


----------



## 80251 (Nov 28, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Find another one.


Where? Baby-AT PSU's aren't manufactured anymore.


----------



## hckngrtfakt (Nov 28, 2022)

80251 said:


> Where? Baby-AT PSU's aren't manufactured anymore.


You can get a regular 20pin atx PSU, and put a P9+P8 adapter in it with the two active leads.

Just make sure you don't need the aux PCI cable because that's only found on some P4 "compatible" PSUs and is a whole mess because at one point Dell tried making it proprietary ....


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 28, 2022)

80251 said:


> Where? Baby-AT PSU's aren't manufactured anymore.


Pretty sure that he meant find another *used* one. I've been using old, rusy, sometimes even moldy AT power supplies for decades & never had a problem with any of them. That being said, if you prefer brand new units over the old ones (or perhaps want to be on a safe side, Justin Case), you can always convert ATX to AT using one of those adapter kits which I linked on the previous page.

You simply plug the ATX connector into one end, two separate connectors into the motherboard & hook the green wire across the power switch.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2022)

80251 said:


> Socket 7, what do you do if your baby-AT PSU fails?


Super Socket7 motherboards were almost universally ATX. So, not really an issue.


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 28, 2022)

Any ISA sound card expert over here?






Got this MiroSound PCM1 Pro recently, is it any good?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 28, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Any ISA sound card expert over here?
> 
> View attachment 272063
> 
> Got this MiroSound PCM1 Pro recently, is it any good?


High end Yamaha ISA 16bit sound card. Nice find. 



framebuffer said:


> Ah cool, I was gathering some info about the Barton-Sempron because I just got a nice little system with a Sempron 3000+, ASUS A7V600-X and a single stick of HyperX KHX3200 (non A or AK) so it should be BH-5
> Guess he's stock-freq. times are ending... now


That VIA chipset board will hold you down on FSB. Find a nice NF2 board.


----------



## framebuffer (Nov 28, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> High end Yamaha ISA 16bit sound card. Nice find.


OK... I'm not very much into DOS gaming, I'll probably sell it and use the money for something else, any clue about the value?



Mr.Scott said:


> That VIA chipset board will hold you down on FSB. Find a nice NF2 board.


ye I know, but since it's already on the bench table will see how far it can go and then will switch to NF2


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 28, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> OK... I'm not very much into DOS gaming, I'll probably sell it and use the money for something else, any clue about the value?


Niche market. $20-$30


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 28, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> Any ISA sound card expert over here?
> 
> View attachment 272063
> 
> Got this MiroSound PCM1 Pro recently, is it any good?


The Yamaha and OPTi chips effectively guarantee a very wide level of DOS game compatibility. If that's your goal, you've scored!



framebuffer said:


> I'll probably sell it and use the money for something else, any clue about the value?


Oops.. Oh well.... If you're thinking about Ebay, $75 shipping included is a fair price for such a solid card.



Mr.Scott said:


> Niche market. $20-$30


For THAT chipset and in such good shape? That card is worth much more.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Nov 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The Yamaha and OPTi chips effectively guarantee a very wide level of DOS game compatibility. If that's your goal, you've scored!
> 
> 
> Oops.. Oh well.... If you're thinking about Ebay, $75 shipping included is a fair price for such a solid card.
> ...


Worth is in the eye of the beholder. 
Like I said, niche market.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Nov 29, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Worth is in the eye of the beholder.
> Like I said, niche market.


True.


----------



## MachineLearning (Nov 29, 2022)

Not quite a review this time, more of a physical overview and quick OC. 

ASUS Crosshair (AM2, nVidia 590 SLI), kindly given to me by @phill . 
Packaging and shipping speed were both fantastic. Phill packed everything carefully and individually, and DHL somehow managed to get it from Great Britain to Connecticut within a weekend.
He also sent over a bunch of DDR2, a very nice copper ASUS CPU cooler, an Athlon 64 x2 6000+, and a boatload of add-in-cards. 











 <--- lol @ that last one 






As it arrived.



After a quick brushing, and HS removal.





nVidia 590 SLI SPP, manufactured *Wk31/2006*, and 570 MCP, manufactured *Wk04/2007*.



Full heatsink assembly as it came off. I don't have any way of knowing for sure, but the stock thermal paste reminds me of that Dow Corning stuff Intel uses for their stock coolers. It's relatively stable in terms of performance over time, but it's not a fantastic performer in the first place.



Each of the VRM's 8 power stages is organized as shown above. 1 low-side MOSFET (Infineon 32N03S) rated for 100A @ 25°C & 77A @ 100°C; 1 high-side MOSFET (Infineon 79N03S) rated for 40A @ 25°C-100°C; and an Analog Devices ADP3110A driver. (ON Semiconductor purchased Analog Devices' thermal monitoring / VRegulator division in 2008).



The VRM controller is the Analog Devices ADP3186, which is a 2-4 phase controller. I believe this controller is operating in a 4-phase configuration, controlling two power stages per phase. No doublers were immediately noticed.







All solid aluminum polymer capacitors are from Fujitsu. Rubycon & Nippon Chemi-Con supply the electrolytics; I'm unsure who produced the solid SMD tantalum capacitors.





The board uses a 6-layer PCB, produced *Wk39/2006*.





I gave the NB & SB MX-4, & the VRM 0.5mm APT2560 (TP-2) thermal pads.












All done. 

*435.92MHz on ASUS ROG Crosshair I
CPU-Z validation*
_#1 for ROG Crosshair I, #2 for 590 SLI_
Warp9 nForce OC Wall

I went through all of my CPUs, except for the Athlon 64 x2 3250e (incidentally my #1 for bus clock...) which I can't find right now.
Like my 790X & 780a boards, raising the NB voltage does basically nothing in the way of helping BCLK OC; it's all luck-of-the-draw and CPU-limited.
I'm quite happy with this result as it is, but of course if I find that 3250e I'm pushing it again.  It honestly surprises me that almost nobody gets past 400MHz on the Crosshair. I sincerely believe every Crosshair out there should hit 400MHz minimum with a halfway decent CPU.
Massive thanks to @phill for hosting such a generous giveaway, and for kindly sending all of these parts over. 
~~~
I have a number of board overviews coming in due time:
- Abit AN7 (thank you @Mr.Scott  )
- Abit IS7-E v1.2
- MSI K8N Neo3-F
- ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Once I feel comfortable with each board, I'll post a write up here. The Crosshair (and Bad Axe 2, for that matter) both had absurdly quick turn-around times since I'm familiar with AM2 & 775. I've been working backwards for AMD & Intel OC, essentially from Zen 3 to K8 on AM2 & from Sandy Bridge to Netburst respectively. The A8N32-SLI Deluxe has a bizarre issue where Windows XP (whether installed or in the installer) always freezes up after about 5-10 seconds. I've tried almost everything, however I will solve this eventually and continue marching forward. 
It usually takes me a long time to truly learn a platform. But, once I do...


----------



## 80251 (Nov 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Super Socket7 motherboards were almost universally ATX. So, not really an issue.


I NEVER had a super socket 7 motherboard that was ATX compatible and neither did any of my friends. I don't ever remember even seeing a socket seven motherboard that was ATX compatible.

My FIC VA503+ had both baby-AT and ATX PSU connectors, but my FIC pa-2007 only had baby-AT. I still think most socket 7 motherboards (incl. super socket 7) only had baby-AT PSU connectors.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 29, 2022)

80251 said:


> I NEVER had a super socket 7 motherboard that was ATX compatible and neither did any of my friends. I don't ever remember even seeing a socket seven motherboard that was ATX compatible.
> 
> My FIC VA503+ had both baby-AT and ATX PSU connectors, but my FIC pa-2007 only had baby-AT. I still think most socket 7 motherboards (incl. super socket 7) only had baby-AT PSU connectors.


I got my hands on Asus P5A-B Super Socket 7 quite recently, which (as you can probably tell from the photo) has both AT & ATX power connectors:




I would have gladly used the ATX PSU over the AT one, but unfortunately I don't have any momentary mechanical switches to replace traditional on/off one. Even though pretty much every single case uses industry standards, therefore allowing you to replace the switch with another one.


----------



## 80251 (Nov 30, 2022)

@Trekkie4 I was wondering about that, if you use the ATX to Baby-AT PSU adapter how do you power on the system? There is no facility for a momentary switch on motherboards built for Baby-AT PSU's and no stand-by power either.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2022)

80251 said:


> @Trekkie4 I was wondering about that, if you use the ATX to Baby-AT PSU adapter how do you power on the system? There is no facility for a momentary switch on motherboards built for Baby-AT PSU's and no stand-by power either.


First of all, you need to understand how the ATX power supply works, and which wires you need to bridge, in order for the PSU unit to power up. Those would be the green wire & one of the black ones, for the ground.









Therefore, the answer to your question is quite obvious. ATX plug is being converted, separated into individual P8 & P9 leads, but the green wire (which normally activates the actual PSU) is being routed through the mechanical power switch. So, when you press the switch on your computer case, the power supply immediately comes to life & performs like any other traditional "AT" power supply, until the switch is deactivated, which is what normally happens when you "Shut Down" your ATX system. The only difference is that you manually control the switch yourself, where the ATX one uses relay to do it automatically.

On the other hand, if your motherboard supports ATX power supply right out of the box, you could simply swap the AT for ATX one without the need for conversion. However, in that case you need to replace the actual power switch on your case with the one I linked/posted yesterday. Because the ATX power switch is momentary, meaning that when you press the button it will self-reset into original (off) position ... kinda like the door bell or the horn on your steering wheel for example. Where on the other hand, AT is a toggle switch. Meaning that when you press the switch it will remain in either 0 or 1 position, until you press it again. Same mechanics as the lamp switch, or any other household appliance which can be turned on & off. Therefore not compatible with ATX power supply.


----------



## Jacky_BEL (Nov 30, 2022)

biffzinker said:


> Anyone here have any of the IBM models with a 486 DX2/66? How about Qemm?


I just dug up my old Valuepoint 6472 from the basement.
I had been looking for it , but could not find it anymore , so i figured i must have got rid of it and somehow forgot about it.
And now to my surprise I found it hidden in a hard to reach closet 

486 DX4/100 with VRM module , 32 MB of Ram.
2 GB HDD with Falcon 3 installed


----------



## 80251 (Nov 30, 2022)

@Trekkie4
Don't ATX PSU's also need a power good signal or they shut down? Or is it the ATX motherboard that needs a power good signal? But if an ATX motherboard needs a power good signal then how can they have super socket 7 motherboards that can use both ATX and Baby-AT PSU's?


----------



## droopyRO (Nov 30, 2022)

Jacky_BEL said:


> Falcon 3


The flight sim ?


----------



## Trekkie4 (Nov 30, 2022)

80251 said:


> @Trekkie4
> Don't ATX PSU's also need a power good signal or they shut down? Or is it the ATX motherboard that needs a power good signal? But if an ATX motherboard needs a power good signal then how can they have super socket 7 motherboards that can use both ATX and Baby-AT PSU's?


No, not really. As I already explained above, ATX power supply doesn't "think" or need any feedback from the motherboard and can easily be activated simply by shorting the two wires together. The component which does all the "thinking" is the motherboard, which under the normal circumstances activates or deactivates the relay (which is part of the motherboard, NOT the power supply) and therefore activates or deactivates the power supply. And since the AT motherboard doesn't have that feature, that signal is routed through the mechanical (power) switch instead which literally serves as Power On/Off switch just like with the original AT-factor power supply.

Think of it this way... With the ATX to AT PSU converter in place, you wouldn't be able to tell anything unusual as the two behave completely identical. In fact, the PSU converter doesn't have any disadvantages or side effects (that I know) apart from adding crapload of extra wires, cables inside the case which is going to make cable management a lot more challenging. Especially if it's the smaller baby AT case. Other than that, it's as good as the original thing if not even better. Apart from allowing the user to replace the PSU with newer model, I find this method a lot more safer & efficient, since there's no longer the need for live voltage cable, going from the PSU all the way to the front & Power on/off switch. The actual "wake" signal for ATX PSU is somewhere around +5V DC, which makes it a lot more safer than 120V or 240V AC for those of us who live in Europe.





Edit
Thought I'd drop this ATX power connector pinout for more detailed explanation. For the ATX power supply to turn on, all you have to do is bridge PWR_OK & COM (ground) and you're good to go. Again, this is usually accomplished through the ATX motherboard which does that sort of work through the relays, but it /is/ possible to do it manually. Either by shorting the two pins with the piece of wire or routing them through the power switch. Such as the one on AT-styled computer case for example 

Edit2
Correction - just noticed a mistake on my behalf. You need to short PS_ON and Common Ground (COM), NOT the "PWR_OK".


----------



## Jacky_BEL (Dec 1, 2022)

Yes, Falcon 3 Gold with MiG 29  and F/A 18 Hornet expansions.

From Spectrum Holobyte

With "Art of the kill" video on CD : Art of the kill


----------



## Bones (Dec 1, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> First of all, you need to understand how the ATX power supply works, and which wires you need to bridge, in order for the PSU unit to power up. Those would be the green wire & one of the black ones, for the ground.


You can acheive the same by simply going from the green wire to a 2 position (On/OFF) switch and then from that directly to ground.
As long as it's a suitable ground the PSU will turn on whenever you flip the switch to "ON" and will shut down when you flip the switch to "Off".

My point is you don't have to use the ground wires in the PSU's ATX plug if you don't want to or cannot for some reason.

The way I described it was how my cooling tower's PSU was controlled.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 1, 2022)

I bought another CPU lot from a recycler. Not a bad lot for what I paid. Gives me a good assortment from slow to fast as far as A CPUs go.

Athlon: 1700+, 1900+ (2), 2000+ 2200+, 2800+, 3000+
Sempron: 3000+





Currently going through and testing each individually.

Update, tested each individually just for post and they all appear to work. Pretty good score for a 99 cent lot.


----------



## 80251 (Dec 1, 2022)

IBM S/390 mainframe, the state of the art in mainframe tech when I started out in IT. I only peripherally worked with it by installing and supporting special coax ISA cards (that would connect to the terminal controller) and software that would emulate an IBM 3270 terminal on a PC. This so mainframe users wouldn't have to have a desk with a gigantic 3270 terminal and a PC on it. I seem to remember the service contract on this piece of Big Iron (and its peripherals) was a $100k a year.


----------



## Bones (Dec 2, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I bought another CPU lot from a recycler. Not a bad lot for what I paid. Gives me a good assortment from slow to fast as far as A CPUs go.
> 
> Athlon: 1700+, 1900+ (2), 2000+ 2200+, 2800+, 3000+
> Sempron: 3000+
> ...


Next time you pop in, grab me a bundle of those will ya? 
The "E" chip at the top-right corner is a potentially good one and the "D" chip at the top-left is the potentially decent one but TBH they all look good - Esp for that price!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2022)

Speaking of old memories & photos, how about I take you back to 1995 (or maybe 1996 - not sure)? 



 


In case it's not obvious - yes, that's 10-yr old me sitting in front of Intel 486 DX2 (66MHz), playing "Stunts" (first photo) & "The Incredible Machine" (second photo), two of my favorites at the time!


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 2, 2022)

I used to love playing The Incredible Machine!  In '95-'96 I had been married for 8-9 years.  Yeah, I'm old. lol


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 2, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I used to love playing The Incredible Machine!  In '95-'96 I had been married for 8-9 years.  Yeah, I'm old. lol


hey! nostalgic hardware ... old is cool! humans are just organics hardware

(in 95-96 i was 14-15yrs old tho hehe, edit: the 80s and 90s pretty much define how i am and i am quite glad for that.)


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I used to love playing The Incredible Machine!  In '95-'96 I had been married for 8-9 years.  Yeah, I'm old. lol


That's okay. To be completely honest with you guys, in a LOT of ways I feel much older than I actually am, and despite my best efforts I was never able to blend in with everyone else. Especially nowdays, when I'm slowly approaching 40s...



GreiverBlade said:


> hey! nostalgic hardware ... old is cool! humans are just organics hardware
> 
> (in 95-96 i was 14-15yrs old tho hehe, edit: the 80s and 90s pretty much define how i am and i am quite glad for that.)


Sad but true! The only (sad) difference is that we won't be around forever, but most of these old "Dinosaurs" such as 386, 486 will probably outlive all of us


----------



## Audioave10 (Dec 2, 2022)

LGR found all of this by just "Looking through his storage".      

I can make you guys feel better... I'm 67 and seem to be OK with it.


----------



## Veseleil (Dec 2, 2022)

<--- Year of production 1983...


Trekkie4 said:


> To be completely honest with you guys, in a LOT of ways I feel much older than I actually am, and despite my best efforts I was never able to blend in with everyone else.


Same. And as I often work with much younger generation, the struggle is surreal.


----------



## 80251 (Dec 2, 2022)

That 486 DX2 66 system was very expensive back then. Back then at my work we calculated how much 32MiB of RAM would've cost (I think that was the amount of system RAM the IBM S/390 mainframe had) and it came out to $5k.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2022)

80251 said:


> That 486 DX2 66 system was very expensive back then. Back then at my work we calculated how much 32MiB of RAM would've cost (I think that was the amount of system RAM the IBM S/390 mainframe had) and it came out to $5k.


Oh yeah, it most definitely was! But since both mom & dad needed to use Word & Win 3.11 for their work, it was a sound investment. We owned it for 3 years (between early 1995 and October 1998) before moving on with "Adison" , that Pentium II 350 system which I already mentioned zillion times by now 

Needless to say, that Pentium II 350 Deschutes was just as expensive if not more. But again, these were in service for 3 or 4 years before moving on. In case of Adison PII (which I still have & occasionally use today) that makes it a 24yr investment, so it most definitely paid off


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 2, 2022)

Audioave10 said:


> LGR found all of this by just "Looking through his storage".
> 
> I can make you guys feel better... I'm 67 and seem to be OK with it.



Right behind you brother! About to turn 65.   

Brain feels like 30's and body feels like 80's  Some days body feels like I'm a 100.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 2, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Right behind you brother! About to turn 65.
> 
> Brain feels like 30's and body feels like 80's  Some days body feels like I'm a 100.


So in other words, you're my mirrored image ... except other way around! 37yr with 50yr old brain & 80-something "old" body


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 2, 2022)

Veseleil said:


> <--- Year of production 1983...
> 
> Same. And as I often work with much younger generation, the struggle is surreal.


like my parent, i do look younger than i am ... just today at work one of my customer gave me 27 first try and 33 at most

"well ... i am actually 20 ... since 21years now" is my answer to them 

also:








you got me all nostalgic (fitting) i was 3 at the time of release of that one and my parent told me i loved listening to it ahah
to the point that we had one VHS recording of it just for me


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 2, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Right behind you brother! About to turn 65.
> 
> Brain feels like 30's and body feels like 80's  Some days body feels like I'm a 100.


61.......and yeah.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 3, 2022)

Trekkie4 said:


> Speaking of old memories & photos, how about I take you back to 1995 (or maybe 1996 - not sure)?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Aww, that's adorable! You look like one of my kids! LOL! He never needed glasses and had my chin but otherwise you could pass for one of my boys! I don't mean to make that sound creepy or anything, just thought it was interesting. 



GreiverBlade said:


> edit: the 80s and 90s pretty much define how i am and i am quite glad for that.


I was a 70's kid, but I'm with you, the 80's and 90's were golden decades in many ways.


----------



## 80251 (Dec 3, 2022)

All computer equipment was much more expensive in the 80's and 90's, particularly CRT's, but also HDD's and memory.

The first 17" CRT we had at my work had everyone in the department taking a look at it because it was so massive and expensive. Ditto for color CRT's, most everyone in my department had monochrome, 15" CRT's in the early 1990's.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Dec 3, 2022)

80251 said:


> The first 17" CRT we had at my work had everyone in the department taking a look at it because it was so massive and expensive.


Reminds me of a story my dad told me about my mom's old work computer. Back in 2009/2010 my dad bought her a Dell XPS 9000 with an i7-920 and extra goodies like 24GB of RAM and a Radeon 5870 (my mom never knew how high-end it was at the time). At some point, not too long after it was bought, my dad brought it to OfficeMax to get something fixed and he said that all of the OfficeMax employees were gathered around the mighty system, staring in awe.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Dec 3, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Aww, that's adorable! You look like one of my kids! LOL! He never needed glasses and had my chin but otherwise you could pass for one of my boys! I don't mean to make that sound creepy or anything, just thought it was interesting.
> 
> 
> I was a 70's kid, but I'm with you, the 80's and 90's were golden decades in many ways.


Thanks lol, I'm going to take that as a compliment 

Speaking of 70s, I always felt as if I was born in the wrong year. All my friends and loved ones (either dead or those who are still here with us) are from around 70-s to early 80s. Not to mention that 70s and early 80s were far more interesting than 90s and especially 2000s.


----------



## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Dec 3, 2022)

If you allow, I would like to contribute to this thread as well.
Motherboard:Intel Goldtree DG43GT
Release Date: Q3'09
Socket: LGA775
Motherboard Chipset: Intel® 82G43 Graphics and Memory Controller
Supported FSBs: 1333MHz / 1066MHz / 800MHz
TDP: 24W
Maximum Memory Size (depends on memory type): 8 GB
Memory Types: DDR2 667/800
Max. Number of Memory Channels: 2
Max. Number of DIMMs: 4
Motherboard Supports UEFI BIOS.
Modifying or modding an Intel Motherboard BIOS takes a lot of effort.
I hope someone knows this.
Motherboard BIOS Date Done 2022.
NVMe SSD Module injected in BIOS file content.
I got a successful result.
Any brand and model NVMe SSD drive can be installed on this motherboard and GPT formatted windows operating system can be installed. (Not MBR)
This work is perhaps the first time tried for a 775 socket motherboard.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 3, 2022)

Got this in. Very impressed about how professionally it was packaged and they threw in free ram it wasn't listed as including, especially since this was an auction won for $1 






No clue if it works, will test and probably clean it up.

Edit: works perfectly. Went ahead and repasted the northbridge, will work on cleaning it a bit more but it overall is in excellent condition. Caps all look good as well.









The P5W DH Deluxe seems like a very good Intel i975X motherboard. I was surprised to see this board supports 45nm CPUs despite being a rather early chipset as far as 775 goes.





						Conroe Buying Guide: Feeding the Monster
					






					www.anandtech.com
				



I am going to update the BIOS to add this support. I mainly bought this because of the price but also because it will be officially supports nearly every 775 CPU from old to "new".


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 3, 2022)

Specs on that RAM look like Micron D9.  Nice freebee!!!  Hope at least two of them work.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 3, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Specs on that RAM look like Micron D9.  Nice freebee!!!  Hope at least two of them work.


They all post just fine. I have a lot of XMS lying around, I'll have to see if I have another matching stick


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 3, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> I'll have to see if I have another matching stick



If not, I might have one. I'd have to check to make sure, but I think I have some of that XMS2 6400 in my DDR2 box. 

If you need, I'd certainly ship ya a stick. 

Are you in the US? That would make it easy. LOL


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 4, 2022)

What are the odds. While I have much less XMS2 in my memory storage than I thought, the single 1gb stick I do have is identical. v2.1 so it should be the same IC type. Now I have a nice 4gb kit I can use for whatever. I think I'll keep the x6800 in this board and keep the qx6700 in my 680i striker, which feels more appropriate of a match.


----------



## freeagent (Dec 4, 2022)

I have some too


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 4, 2022)

Had to enable memory remap to get it to see above 3.2gb, but it's all showing properly now. Also put the latest BIOS on it, which is a Beta from 2010.


----------



## 80251 (Dec 4, 2022)

DEC Alpha, world's first Ghz. CPU. Introduced in 1992, the Ghz. models were only introduced after Compaq had bought DEC in 2001.
Even now, it's hard to imagine a PC manufacturer buying out DEC. All the mainframers and DEC people I worked with thought of PC's as toys. I only personally ever saw one functioning Ghz. class Alpha system at Cal State University, Long Beach. It's somewhat ludicrous that Compaq has its name on it, because it was DEC engineers who developed it.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Dec 4, 2022)

freeagent said:


> I have some too
> 
> View attachment 272928


i had some too, iirc 4x on a Phenom X4 9600B build on a Asus M3N78-CM in a Antec NSK380 cooled by a Scythe Grand Kama Cross Rev.B ... darn i miss that rig

out of the case testing:



alternative pic in a HAF-XB with a GeForce GTX 770 on it (and crappy stock cooler)


that rig was my madness rig overkill CPU HSF, thermalright IFX-14 and the Grand Kama Cross Rev.B


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 4, 2022)

You got me slightly curious - what's the MSI card in the last two photos? I figured the 770 is an Zotac AMP version, but I can't figure the MSI out - all I can figure is that it's a nVidia card as well (Radeons have a longer connector for Crossfire, while nVidias have the SLi connector much shorter, at least anything pre-RTX era)


----------



## stef (Dec 6, 2022)

Just upgraded cooling on R3xx cards.
Orange one, 9800XT, runs at 36°C idle, and 43° load. This used to be hot card back in the day .
Red one is FireGL X1-128 with modded Catalyst 4.12 that turns it into 9700 Pro.


----------



## Magic Cube (Dec 6, 2022)

stef said:


> Just upgraded cooling on R3xx cards.
> Orange one, 9800XT, runs at 36°C idle, and 43° load. This used to be hot card back in the day .
> Red one is FireGL X1-128 with modded Catalyst 4.12 that turns it into 9700 Pro.


I miss those Zalman coolers. But not those later ones with awful fans(VF3000), hetasinks where good but fans where noisy and they did resonate with fan shroud. That copper one VF900CU with heatpipes is one of my favorites in third party gpu coolers. Too bad those are hard to find these days. I have only seen one in finnish auction site this year. I didn't place bid for it.

I have also been thinking: What GPU chips would VF900CU able to cool these days? Not those powerhungry cards but maybe Nvidia 16xx-series? Don't know hole distances, if these even would fit. 

I hope someone in china would start, to make good third party GPU heatsinks. Even similar products to Arctic cooling GPU heatsinks. 

Now if I would want new cooler for GPU. Only one I can find(in Finland) is Raijintek Morpheus. Yes it is really good cooler, but expensive and installing it for entry level card or older GPU doesn't make sense. I am still using my GTX1080 with Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo 3, because it is silent compared to original cooler and on desktop when fans should turn off Arctic's fans still run at 600RPM without any mods/apps.


----------



## stef (Dec 6, 2022)

I bought several NOS on eBay (Netherlands). Best 3rd party coolers ever. Quality and craftsmanship on another level, comparing to others.



Magic Cube said:


> I have also been thinking: What GPU chips would VF900CU able to cool these days? Not those powerhungry cards but maybe Nvidia 16xx-series? Don't know hole distances, if these even would fit.



I'd say HD5700 and HD7700 series would probably be last cards to fit it, anything after would be too hot.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 6, 2022)

I thought I would try the old HP  PC I found earlier that year. I know that someone pointed out that some caps had given up. Anyway, it started up later on nothing, so I thought I would try the PSU that I bought this year for £4. On the HP the fans were spinning in the case but not the PSU. I thought that was it I will have to cancel my first
PC build. I thought I would try it on my HPZ230 nothing there at all. So I thought I would try it on the old HP PC  low and behold the PSU was spinning. So I am back on track for my first build it is a bit daunting. Out with the Hp PSU. I am not sure why the
PSU did not spin but the other fans did. At least I know it works now. 



framebuffer said:


> Ah cool, I was gathering some info about the Barton-Sempron because I just got a nice little system with a Sempron 3000+, ASUS A7V600-X and a single stick of HyperX KHX3200 (non A or AK) so it should be BH-5
> Guess he's stock-freq. times are ending... now


That's what I have the ASUS A7V600-X, although I only have the Athlon 2400. I looked on CPU World and was surprised to see the two were neck and neck. 
Pros and Cons Summary​

*Athlon XP 2400+ (1.65V)**Sempron 3000+**General recommendations*:
None*General recommendations*:
None*Drawbacks*:
None*Drawbacks*:
None

I have been trying to get the Motherboard out of that old PC it does not seem to want  budge seven screws have been taken out.It was also quite a job to get the CD Drive and the Floppy out ,all though the floppy did not seem to work in there.

On another subject , what is the better  CPU Q9450 v Q9500 the Q9450 is always dearer,The bench mark sites put them neck and neck.

Should i so for this case  rather than the other one?
Silverstone PC case​
ondition
Used – good
PC case with DVD drive and 2 x case fans included. USB 3, mic and headphone ports on front. Some light scratches. No screws for Motherboard or case included.



Or this one if  you if you can let me no if i should go for the other one.He has added aback fan to this.Also ten pounds and if someone can tell me the make of it.This is USB2  i want to use it for a MSI 7513 Motherboard.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 7, 2022)

I am trying to remove the motherboard from the HP PC but it won't budge . I have taken eight screws out see photos. Surely it should come straight out after the removal of the screws.?


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 7, 2022)

Fiddle with that green lever on the right side of the board.  It might release a removable mobo tray.  Put at least one screw back into the board before you pull the tray.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am trying to remove the motherboard from the HP PC but it won't budge . I have taken eight screws out see photos. Surely it should come straight out after the removal of the screws.?


Thanks for that I will give it a try. Did you have a nice break? And what do you think of those two cases above? for my MSI 7513 build I have to know today which one to go for.



68Olds said:


> Fiddle with that green lever on the right side of the board.  It might release a removable mobo tray.  Put at least one screw back into the board before you pull the tray.
> 
> View attachment 273403


I have tried that with a couple of screw in still no good  Do i need to to take the Heatsinks out?


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 7, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have tried that with a couple of screw in still no good  Do i need to to take the Heatsinks out?



No, you don't need to take the heatsinks out. 

That lever is most likely a holding clip of some sort for the motherboard. Pull the 2 screws in put in, and then pull the green lever outwards away from the motherboard and see if it releases the board on the back by the lever.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 8, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> No, you don't need to take the heatsinks out.
> 
> That lever is most likely a holding clip of some sort for the motherboard. Pull the 2 screws in put in, and then pull the green lever outwards away from the motherboard and see if it releases the board on the back by the lever.



PC case with DVD drive and 2 x case fans included. USB 3, mic, and headphone ports on the front. Some light scratches.
*No screws for Motherboard or case included.*
Both are £10 I got this today he found seven headers and screws.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 8, 2022)

Just managed to "upgrade" my i3-540's mainboard from a H55M-S2V to a H55M-USB3. 
Much fancier, kinda reminds me a 880GM-UD2H I used to have which I sold.


Oh, and soldering SMD mosfets of this scale is a massive pain in the arse if you don't have a proper soldering station. That, and I unfortunately had to do a dirty move where I had to solder the Source pins together. That's because the originals were blown up pretty bad and the only way to get them properly connected was to figure which pins shared a common trace - the Drain tab is a no brainer (that's basically half if not the whole FET casing) and it seems the Source pins share a common trace.

I sourced the new FETs from a dead ASUS P8P67 Pro Rev3.1 that had a mangled socket. as well as that one being the donor for the socket retention system on this mobo as well.

And so, the fun doesn't stop here!

Coming up next week:

- my i7-860 build finally getting a case - after a few searches, I've finally landed on a Deepcool Tesseract BF black
- probably what will be my only Fatal1ty branded board - an ASRock Z67 Pro Gen3 Fatal1ty. What's peculiar is that ASRock made holes for 775 coolers as well, so that's definitely an interesting thing to see - a stock Conroe/Kentsfield 775 cooler trying to challenge an.... *i7-2600K. *
- an taste of X58 - an i7 920 + a EX58-UD5 that I was told it would not POST - this is probably an easy fix - the H55M board from the post above had an slightly similar issue - corrupt main BIOS - I couldn't get it stable enough to kick the secondary in, so I had to resort to writing a BIOS using a CH341A programmer - I figure the X58 mobo will be an easy fix as well. I do have spare BIOS chips from a dead G1 Sniper 3 mobo, just in case.
- a nice Cooler Master Gemini II cooler to mount on the X58.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2022)

stef said:


> View attachment 273222View attachment 273223
> 
> Just upgraded cooling on R3xx cards.
> Orange one, 9800XT, runs at 36°C idle, and 43° load. This used to be hot card back in the day .
> Red one is FireGL X1-128 with modded Catalyst 4.12 that turns it into 9700 Pro.


Asus 9800 XT? I don't recall any other having an orange PCB.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 9, 2022)

Bought another recyclers lot, this time of LGA 1366 Xeon CPUs and 2 1356 CPUs. 

Good range here from low clocked 45nm quads to several 32nm X56xx 6 cores. I haven't messed with my x58 systems for awhile. 

I will be mostly interested in the W35xx CPUs in this lot, which include 2 W3565s. Most interested in them to see how well they overclock being higher multiplier 32nm quad cores. 

I have experience ocing a whole batch of e5620s and they really did not like to clock high, even with an aio stuck in ice water.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2022)

Got a 4K monitor yesterday and just installed a brand new RX 6700 XT, and the first thing to do is to watch Phil's new video. In 4K of course.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 9, 2022)

Today on "Things that shouldn't work but they strangely do"...


Yes. That is a Conroe/Kentsfield era 775 cooler (or even as old as the 775 Pentium 4 days, judging by the older Intel logo) sitting on a i7-2600k.

Surprisingly, idle temps hovered in the mid 40s. Haven't load tested it but I can already tell this is gonna be a lot of fun, hopefully. 

ASRock and their genius idea to carry the 775 hole spacing as far as 1155 (and maybe Haswell 1151 too? Anyone w/ a Haswell 1151 ASRock, let me know if that is true) and on a "gaming" board no less.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 9, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Got a 4K monitor yesterday and just installed a brand new RX 6700 XT, and the first thing to do is to watch Phil's new video. In 4K of course.


Good old  Phil  what would we do without him.Meanwhile our other fav you tuber Clint,  gets into the Christmas Sprit


----------



## Jacky_BEL (Dec 9, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I am trying to remove the motherboard from the HP PC but it won't budge . I have taken eight screws out see photos. Surely it should come straight out after the removal of the screws.?


Looking at the image on the tray tab i would suggest to pinch the tabs together and slide the tray in the direction of the arrow.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Good old  Phil  what would we do without him.Meanwhile our other fav you tuber Clint,  gets into the Christmas Sprit


Clint is without a doubt one of the first retrotuber I started watching. Luckily these days youtube is full of retro hobbyists


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 9, 2022)

Jacky_BEL said:


> Looking at the image on the tray tab i would suggest to pinch the tabs together and slide the tray in the direction of the arrow.



Ahhh, yes, I missed the pinching the tabs together on that for @Greenslade 

Good catch man!!!!!!

Then the locking mechanism slides out of the way to allow for the motherboard removal.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 9, 2022)

Maybe the most popular (and with a good reason) GTX 970. Back when Nvidia could offer incredible price/performance for anyone. Cleaned it as I'll give it to my brothers to replace their crappy RX 460.


----------



## 80251 (Dec 9, 2022)

Wasn't the GTX 970 the one that had 4 GiB of VRAM but only 3.5 GiB that could be addressed at full speed?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 10, 2022)

80251 said:


> Wasn't the GTX 970 the one that had 4 GiB of VRAM but only 3.5 GiB that could be addressed at full speed?


Yup. NVidia was sued over it and settled because they knew they would lose. NVidia will never be pulling any of those types of shenanigans again.


----------



## stef (Dec 10, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Got a 4K monitor yesterday and just installed a brand new RX 6700 XT, and the first thing to do is to watch Phil's new video. In 4K of course.


Great video from Phil. And great card with few tricks up it's sleeve:








						TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club
					

New HW found!   1. Micropolis ST506 - 85MB - 1985 - 5.25" MFM HDD - full height. 900435-01-7B - Rated Input Power 32W!!! :D Someone opened the HDD for who knows what reason. The top platter is scraped a little but there is no r/w head there, so the chances are that it is still ok. I found some...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

stef said:


> Great video from Phil. And great card with few tricks up it's sleeve:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Unlockable to full 16 pipes? Nice!


----------



## stef (Dec 10, 2022)

Yes, same thing as X800Pro Vivo


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 10, 2022)

Jacky_BEL said:


> Looking at the image on the tray tab i would suggest to pinch the tabs together and slide the tray in the direction of the arrow.


All very easy when you know how ,out first time thanks. 
It comes down to don,t force it like if you were to put something in the wrong way. in a PCNot sure if i will get round to doing anything with it.Bearing in mind it needs caps changing.At least i can get rid of the old case and PSU that has packed up. 
Best answer from you Jacky thanks again.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> All very easy when you know how ,out first time thanks.
> It comes down to don,t force it like if you were to put something in the wrong way. in a PC


Looks like a Pentium 4 (or Celeron). Do you have an AGP card for that?


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 10, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Looks like a Pentium 4 (or Celeron). Do you have an AGP card for that?


Yes i do. i have two one was the one that came with my Athlon 2400 i took that out and put the 9600 in there..The one i took out was 5200 basic one.Yes it is 4 2.8 one


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes i do. i have two one was the one that came with my Athlon 2400 i took that out and put the 9600 in there..The one i took out was 5200 basic one.Yes it is 4 2.8 one


9600 is a good basic level card. Beats the crap out of FX 5200.


----------



## Bones (Dec 10, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Unlockable to full 16 pipes? Nice!


Some X800 GTO's will unlock too - Mine did. 

It depends on the chip in the card and when it was made, later ones having the traces to the extra pipes laser-cut instead of just being disabled in the card's BIOS.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

Bones said:


> Some X800 GTO's will unlock too - Mine did.
> 
> It depends on the chip in the card and when it was made, later ones having the traces to the extra pipes laser-cut instead of just being disabled in the card's BIOS.


Yeah, I remember. Wasn't Sapphire GTO2 pretty sure to unlock to X850 XT PE?


----------



## stef (Dec 10, 2022)

Was GTO2 PCIe or AGP card?
Anyway, unlocking was only possible with VIVO cards (Rage Theater) if I remember correctly. FireGL does not have Rage Theater chip . It may just be that they all have uncut GPUs?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

stef said:


> Was GTO2 PCIe or AGP card?
> Anyway, unlocking was only possible with VIVO cards (Rage Theater) if I remember correctly. FireGL does not have Rage Theater chip . It may just be that they all have uncut GPUs?


GTO2 was PCIe. My bet goes to uncut GPU for the FireGL.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 10, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> 9600 is a good basic level card. Beats the crap out of FX 5200.


So it  seems from the you tube videos.Someone on here pointed out that some caps have gone the two near the ram slots.I will have to learn how to soldier before i attempt that task.  See if you can see any more caps that going dead.I also got the floppy drive out weather or not that works is another thing.I also took out the
CD drive and the IDE cabals.The person who mentioned about the caps said the ram slots need cleaning.Noticed that the cooker has been cleaned .


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> So it  seems from the you tube videos.Someone on here pointed out that some caps have gone the two near the ram slots.I will have to learn how to soldier before i attempt that task.  See if you can see any more caps that going dead.I also got the floppy drive out weather or not that works is another thing.I also took out the
> CD drive and the IDE cabals.


Yeah, they are bulging by the looks. That's probably pre-ROHS era so it should be with leaded solder, which is a good thing when it comes for repairing.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 10, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Yeah, they are bulging by the looks. That's probably pre-ROHS era so it should be with leaded solder, which is a good thing when it comes for repairing.


I have done very little soldering in my time just basic stuff.So will have to watch some videos on it and get a decent Soldering iron. I have more than enough IDE cabals now.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have done very little soldering in my time just basic stuff.So will have to watch some videos on it and get a decent Soldering iron.


Replacing caps is something even a novice can do. Just make sure that the polarity is correct, otherwise the magic smoke will appear.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 10, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Replacing caps is something even a novice can do. Just make sure that the polarity is correct, otherwise the magic smoke will appear.


If i put them in the same way they came out that would not be a problem.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 10, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> If i put them in the same way they came out that would not be a problem.


Yeah. Just make sure that the polarity is correct.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 10, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Yeah. Just make sure that the polarity is correct.


Yes i will when i get round to doing it.  I like this guys videos on preparing old PC,s and other electronic gear. 







. His got loads of stuff there for repair. Good deal for five PC,s £70. His putting caps in the third one and said what you said about putting them in the wrong way. Looks like he hit the jackpot with this one. 







 After finding out how to get into the case open.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 13, 2022)

general question: what are you using to overclock NVIDIA cards (GeForce FX+) with Forceware driver version (>100) that are not working anymore with RivaTuner?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 13, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> general question: what are you using to overclock NVIDIA cards (GeForce FX+) with Forceware driver version (>100) that are not working anymore with RivaTuner?


Riva should still work all the way to 200 drivers.
Can you be more specific?


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 13, 2022)

I seem to remember using CoolBits 2.0 on my Gf6 6800 Ultra.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 13, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Riva should still work all the way to 200 drivers.
> Can you be more specific?



I'm testing a FX5700 but RT is unable to detect frequencies both with 169.21 and 175.19, but works fine with 71.84, so I thought that ForceWare 1xx broke something with RT
If it's not the case, what could be the issue? I'm using RT 2.24c, clean WinXP SP3 install (OS + intel INF + ForceWare + RT)

CoolBits 2.0 regedit did nothing if applied on 169.21, not tested with the others


----------



## Bones (Dec 14, 2022)

Now here's something that's cool yet also just short of useless - If that really.
These didn't even come close to it's performance expectations and that's why not too many were ever sold - Cool as a collector's piece but that's about it.
Got it cheap sometime ago and it's never been used - Still BNIB aside from opening it just to see what was in there. 
I may do something with it one day, maybe not.


----------



## 80251 (Dec 14, 2022)

My friend had a similar Thermaltake heatsink to the TEC unit. One weekend, my brother, friend and I got together for some primitive LAN gaming (over 10base2). In the midst of a Red Alert skirmish his computer froze. He was pissed. On trying to figure out what went wrong I felt his thermaltake heatsink and it was scorching hot. It turned out the thermally controlled fan on the Thermalfake heatsink had failed


----------



## Bones (Dec 14, 2022)

80251 said:


> My friend had a similar Thermaltake heatsink to the TEC unit. One weekend, my brother, friend and I got together for some primitive LAN gaming (over 10base2). *In the midst of a Red Alert skirmish his computer froze. He was pissed. On trying to figure out what went wrong I felt his thermaltake heatsink and it was scorching hot. It turned out the thermally controlled fan on the Thermalfake heatsink had failed*


Well, it no wonder why it went to "Red Alert"......
I think I'd be on it too under that circumstance. 

Yeah, these aren't great and even basic watercooling is better overall. 
One of Tt's cooling innovations that didn't quite work out.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 14, 2022)

Bones said:


> Well, it no wonder why it went to "Red Alert"......
> I think I'd be on it too under that circumstance.
> 
> Yeah, these aren't great and even basic watercooling is better overall.
> One of Tt's cooling innovations that didn't quite work out.


At least back in the day manufacturers were innovative. Today everyone just copies what others do.


----------



## Audioave10 (Dec 14, 2022)

A good video from Phil if you are working with AGP. 
The ATI FireGL X3-256 (Radeon X800 Pro AGP equivalent).​


----------



## Mr.Scott (Dec 14, 2022)

framebuffer said:


> I'm testing a FX5700 but RT is unable to detect frequencies both with 169.21 and 175.19, but works fine with 71.84, so I thought that ForceWare 1xx broke something with RT
> If it's not the case, what could be the issue? I'm using RT 2.24c, clean WinXP SP3 install (OS + intel INF + ForceWare + RT)


Interesting.  Works fine here.


----------



## framebuffer (Dec 15, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Interesting.  Works fine here.
> 
> 
> View attachment 274447



I was using an ASUS FX5700 which must have some sort of locked BIOS or something
Interestingly, with older drivers that allowed RT to detect frequencies, as soon as you move from default there is a huge performance drop (like 15fps instead of 50).

Luckily I had another FX5700 (from MSI) to try and this one worked great 





330 is not bad for 4ns DDR1 chips (rated at 250)


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 16, 2022)

How does this look for £30 for my first build 775.The guy says it is working fine,Funny enough the guy lives in the same area as the person i bought my case from.
I was thinking of getting the 660ti but see that has 2x6 connections ,my Psu only has one 6 pin one.I see the prices have gone up in CEX  The 660 was £38 earlier this week. I don,t want to pay more than £30 anyway,If this guy thinks its good that is good enough for me


----------



## Robert B (Dec 16, 2022)

Got me an SGI O2!!! 

Alien stuff inside and outside. 

I had to print 10 pages of command lines just to install the IRIX 6.5 and I still got a SWAP Error. *@$&$&@*(#!!###!!!

No worries though. I'll prevail in the end! 

Taking it apart was an experience itself not to mention the crappy black ABS plastic portion which is way to easy to damage.


----------



## Red_Machine (Dec 16, 2022)

Man, I've been lusting after an SGI workstation for years.  But, like with most things I'm interested in, I couldn't afford them when they were £200, and I can't afford them now when they're £1k.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 16, 2022)

It would be a good match for my E8600 the GTX660 that is all though Phil is using the CTX750 TI 







 and playing a lot of the games he is using on here.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Dec 16, 2022)

Robert B said:


> Got me an SGI O2!!!
> 
> Alien stuff inside and outside.
> 
> ...


That's AWESOME! Do you know the specs?


----------



## 80251 (Dec 16, 2022)

DEC VT320 terminal was released in 1987 and used RS-232c to communicate with the DEC terminal servers/concentrators. I always found it odd that it had a PS/2 style keyboard. One of its uses at my work was to run MASS11, an ancient, clunky, word processing program that was hot garbage in comparison to the contemporary PC's Wordperfect and Word programs that ran under DOS. These terminals cost ~$500 (more like $1500 in today's dollar) and had an ugly orange monochrome text display.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 16, 2022)

Canned Noodles said:


> That's AWESOME! Do you know the specs?



R5000 - 200MHz, 384MB RAM, 2x 4GB 7200RPM SCSI HDDs, Toshiba XM-5701B SCSI CD-ROM.

It is very quiet for a machine this age.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 16, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> How does this look for £30 for my first build 775.The guy says it is working fine,Funny enough the guy lives in the same area as the person i bought my case from.
> I was thinking of getting the 660ti but see that has 2x6 connections ,my Psu only has one 6 pin one.I see the prices have gone up in CEX  The 660 was £38 earlier this week. I don,t want to pay more than £30 anyway,If this guy thinks its good that is good enough for me
> 
> 
> ...


A GTX670 4GB would the better card. Full XP support as well.


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Dec 16, 2022)

I can't seem to figure out what this is...

Listed for sale as a Titan X.  

"Image may not exactly match product"


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 17, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> I can't seem to figure out what this is...
> 
> Listed for sale as a Titan X.
> 
> ...


Keep away from that. If they can't be bothered to post a photo of the card for sale, they likely don't actually have one to sell and it's a scam.


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Dec 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Keep away from that. If they can't be bothered to post a photo of the card for sale, they likely don't actually have one to sell and it's a scam.


Oh, of course . I don't need a Titan X, it just bothers me that I can't find out what it is...


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> A GTX670 4GB would the better card. Full XP support as well.


Yes but it has 2 x 6 connectors needed I only have one 6 pin on my .PSU,
So would have to buy a connector. I see one for £25 2Gb could you give me a link for the adapter? To get the extra 6-pin for it.


----------



## Magic Cube (Dec 17, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> I can't seem to figure out what this is...
> 
> Listed for sale as a Titan X.
> 
> ...


Card in picture is 88P5942


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Yes but it has 2 x 6 connectors needed I only have one 6 pin on my .PSU,
> So would have to buy a connector. I see one for £25 2Gb could you give me a link for the adapter? To get the extra 6-pin for it.


Something like the following should work


			https://www.amazon.com/DZS-Elec-Extension-Converter-Express/dp/B07H3JWC9C/
		


A 2GB card would work great for a retro build.


----------



## ExcuseMeWtf (Dec 17, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It would be a good match for my E8600 the GTX660 that is all though Phil is using the CTX750 TI
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Takes me back to this little dude I still have laying around.

Was a great chip in my college years, went with it over Q6600, never came to regret it. Because one of CPU/mobo/RAM went bad sadly, 4 or so years after purchase, before dual vs quad debate came to inevitable resolution in favor of quads. Which took me into another great era of Sandy Bridge


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 17, 2022)

A few more updates.







The case and the EX58-UD5 mobo have arrived. Unsurprisingly, the UD5 board turned out to be absolutely fine. The no boot issue was actually pinpointed to bad RAM sticks. As a test bed, 2x2GB, a GTX 670 and a 700W Raidmax PSU (which is decent, contrary to some of their older units.) were used, and the mobo POST'd just fine.

And finally, I have done a longer test on the Fatal1ty Z68 + i7 2600k combo, in order to test the performance of a stock 775 cooler against the 95W i7 chip. Temps steadily maintained 60-62*C during load, and never higher than 50 during idle. Kinda similar to a Cedar Mill or a Presler, if you ask me.





The unfortunate issue with the ASRock Z68 mainboard is that the last slot (DDR3_B2) has some slightly bent pins that I'm genuinely too afraid to bend back, so as they don't break off. If I ever find a foolproof guide on that, I'll be sure to fix the slot up so I can drop a whopping 32GB (4x8GB) on this mobo.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Something like the following should work
> 
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/DZS-Elec-Extension-Converter-Express/dp/B07H3JWC9C/
> ...


Thanks for that Lex. But I got that wrong the one the guy had for sale
was for the GTX 470, not the GTX 670 I think I will stick with a 6-pin one. I don't want to burn the house down. Either the R9 270 or the GTX 660 2GB or HD7850.


----------



## Robert B (Dec 17, 2022)

My second 3dfx VooDoo Rush. Adrenaline Rush 3D Jazz Multimedia Inc. I haven't scored a 3dfx card in quite a while so this is as good as it gets!


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 17, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Something like the following should work
> 
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/DZS-Elec-Extension-Converter-Express/dp/B07H3JWC9C/
> ...


The case that i bought on Facebook last week,The guy could only find seven standoffs will that be enough for a full sized  motherboard? I understand there should be nine .MSI 7513


----------



## budget_Optiplex (Dec 17, 2022)

Been awhile since I've messed around with my retro system due to aggravation getting Windows 98 to work correctly. Today's project revolves around me killing my Trigem Lomita motherboard as a result of flashing a bad BIOS to it's soldered on PLCC32 BIOS chip.  I have been using Pheonix BIOS editor to attempt to solve an irritating resource conflict issue I have had on this board by removing the option rom for the i810 chipset integrated video and changing some Plug and Play settings, that seem to have been successful finally. Anyways, I pushed the limits of what I can do with a cheap 30W Weller soldering iron today and it worked.

I cut the legs off the soldered on chip to remove it from the motherboard, then cleaned up the soldering pads and got them ready for a new socket.




I then took a new 3M PLCC32 socket and cut the bottom out of it carefully so I could access the pins from inside the socket, and tinned all the socket legs with solder.




And then with my high powered magnifying eye glasses on and plenty of light, managed to solder each individual socket pin to it's corresponding pad on the motherboard by hand.




Turned out incredibly well, and I was able to flash my modded BIOS into a new SST PLCC32 chip and get system up and running after months of it sitting here with issues. Device conflicts are all gone installing Windows 98 in non ACPI mode and so far system is working nicely. I like it much better then my previous Willamette P4/RDRAM retro system which was simply too fast for many DOS games. Those same games work fine on the P3 though.

It consists of a Trigem Lomita i810 motherboard, a Pentium III-S 1266 Tualatin CPU, 512MB of PC100 memory, EVGA Geforce FX 5200 128MB PCI (bios overclocked) w DVI to HDMI adapter, Sound Blaster Live PCI card, a WD 80GB IDE HDD, Samsung IDE CD-RW drive, a Dell 250W power supply (recapped), in a cheap Rosewill case. I'm running Windows 98 SE, the Nvidia 45.23 driver, and so far it can even play UT2004 acceptably well at 800x600 resolution which looks best on my old Samsung 32" 1360x768 TV/monitor. I must say that so far the DOS sound capabilities of the Live card aren't bad, it sounds far better then the terrible FM emulation done by my previous Ensonig AudioPCI and I'm currently replaying Chasm the Rift and The Incredible Machine.

Here is a picture right before I crashed the BIOS and had to take it all apart. 


 
I lurk here more then I post, but certainly enjoy seeing what everyone else is doing with their 'oldies but goodies'!


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 18, 2022)

Beautiful work you did on the socket.


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## micropage7 (Dec 18, 2022)

budget_Optiplex said:


> Been awhile since I've messed around with my retro system due to aggravation getting Windows 98 to work correctly. Today's project revolves around me killing my Trigem Lomita motherboard as a result of flashing a bad BIOS to it's soldered on PLCC32 BIOS chip.  I have been using Pheonix BIOS editor to attempt to solve an irritating resource conflict issue I have had on this board by removing the option rom for the i810 chipset integrated video and changing some Plug and Play settings, that seem to have been successful finally. Anyways, I pushed the limits of what I can do with a cheap 30W Weller soldering iron today and it worked.
> 
> I cut the legs off the soldered on chip to remove it from the motherboard, then cleaned up the soldering pads and got them ready for a new socket.
> View attachment 274874
> ...


that's pretty neat


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 18, 2022)

MaxiPro800 said:


> The unfortunate issue with the ASRock Z68 mainboard is that the last slot (DDR3_B2) has some slightly bent pins that I'm genuinely too afraid to bend back, so as they don't break off. If I ever find a foolproof guide on that, I'll be sure to fix the slot up so I can drop a whopping 32GB (4x8GB) on this mobo.


So use the Blue slots. And use 3 x 8GB DIMMs for a total of 24GB. In dual channel you lose 33% of your bandwidth.



Greenslade said:


> Thanks for that Lex. But I got that wrong the one the guy had for sale
> was for the GTX 470


Honestly, that's not a bad card, especially for the 15quid they were asking.


Greenslade said:


> The case that i bought on Facebook last week,The guy could only find seven standoffs will that be enough for a full sized motherboard? I understand there should be nine .MSI 7513


You should be fine. Get the corners and the center of the board.



Mr.Scott said:


> Beautiful work you did on the socket.


Agreed! Excellent soldering job! We can hardly tell it wasn't a factory job.


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## MaxiPro800 (Dec 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> So use the Blue slot. And use 3 x 8GB DIMMs for a total of 24GB. In dual channel you lose 33% of your bandwidth.


Unfortunately the ASRock board doesn't like if I run 3 sticks of RAM, and it seems this goes as way back as H55/P55. Any attempt to run 3 sticks results in WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR BSODs, unless I drop back to 2x8GB over the red slots (there is no blue slot on the Z68 Professional Gen3 Fatal1ty)


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## Greenslade (Dec 18, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> So use the Blue slot. And use 3 x 8GB DIMMs for a total of 24GB. In dual channel you lose 33% of your bandwidth.
> 
> 
> Honestly, that's not a bad card, especially for the 15quid they were asking.
> ...


No you got that wrong, the card was £25 plus the fact that card takes 2x6  pins.And i see a lot of videos like this  i can,t see someone  who needs another 6 pin one though.Thats why i am sticking with what i have one 6 pin.








 







 I see that the GTX 470 has a power draw of 215 w max.Thats interesting  the GTX 660 TI has a 150 w max, why that card needs to 2x6  connectors  i don,t know.  And yet the R9 270 also has a 150w max but only uses one 6 pinI see both the HD7850 and the 660 only have a max of 130w.I see my case all ready has a standoff in there  by the DVD drive, so will only be one short.


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## SystemViper (Dec 18, 2022)

love this thread!


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## budget_Optiplex (Dec 18, 2022)

Thanks for all the likes on my recent repair post, our _'craziness'_ is completely appreciated. A _'normal'_ person would think most of what all of us on this forum do is insane......like what I just went through to save a 21 year old motherboard LOL. 

Anyways, I forgot to mention I originally used a Celeron 1400 in this system. When I had it apart I installed a Pentium III-S 1266 I found cheap. And wow what a difference! The last BIOS I can find for the Lomita board is emachines 1.05e which is the one I modded. It already has the newest Tualatin CPU microcodes as far as I can tell looking at them with a hex editor. The board identifies the P3-S as a Celeron 1266 but everything works fine. Running this on an i810e means the FSB between the CPU and northbridge is 133MHz, but memory is limited to 100MHz. Even so, UT2004 was marginal on the Celeron especially on a big map like Tokara Forest where the FPS would dip into the low 20s. With the slower P3-S it now stays in the low 30s at worst and averages in the 40s so it's smooth enough against bots. Also the original Unreal Tournament 99 ran around 60-65FPS on the Celeron and now 90-100FPS on the P3-S. That extra cache and faster cache timings on the P3-S make a major difference.

The conclusion is, if you can run a Pentium III-S on your Tualatin board and want maximum performance....even the 1266MHz or possibly the 1133MHz versions are better then any Celeron at stock speeds. The fabled 1400 version is quite expensive these days, but the 1266 and 1133 versions can be found reasonably priced!


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## Greenslade (Dec 18, 2022)

I have just seen this on Facebook market place.The had only pit it on there half an hour before i goy in touch with him,I got back to him and needless to say someone had picked it up. it was a 5th generation Intel 2.9 it was peoberly an i7.The PC had packed up.It would have been good for free.He said Windows 11 was on there he built in 2014.He was going to throw it out.Any way at least it has not gone to e waste


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 18, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> No you got that wrong, the card was £25


Oops, my bad..


Greenslade said:


> And i see a lot of videos like this i can,t see someone who needs another 6 pin one though.Thats why i am sticking with what i have one 6 pin.


Video's like that are the exception, not the rule. I have never personally seem one of those adapter cable even get warm, let alone melt and fry like that. What I have seen is the 12(16)pin crap NVidia's using melt and fry. But that's another topic.



MaxiPro800 said:


> Unfortunately the ASRock board doesn't like if I run 3 sticks of RAM, and it seems this goes as way back as H55/P55. Any attempt to run 3 sticks results in WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR BSODs, unless I drop back to 2x8GB over the red slots (there is no blue slot on the Z68 Professional Gen3 Fatal1ty)


Sorry, you showed a picture of a Gigabyte board with triple channel RAM and only two DIMMs in place. That's what I was referring to. Sorry about the mix up.


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## 80251 (Dec 19, 2022)

A complete, scanned copy of Computerworld circa 1987 (even before my time in IT). PC's did rate a headline in this issue (through the mention of the Microsoft 8088 accelerator board for Excel and MS OS/2 operating system [which I never even heard of, nor ever saw]). "Portable" PC's were the forerunners to laptops. It's interesting that Lotus, the first publisher of a spreadsheet program for PC's, is gone while Excel lives on. Why Lotus never sued MS for copyright infringement with Excel I'll never know. This issue even has an announcement for the release of the DEC VT320 terminal which I posted earlier. Back then, the IBM Big Iron mainframe gods wore three piece suits to work, got their own offices, their own department secretaries and walked on water.

https://books.google.com/books?id=M8uwmICKZwMC&lpg=PP17&pg=PP17#v=onepage&q&f=false


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## Greenslade (Dec 19, 2022)

I  just received  the USB 3 to  USB2 adapter for my PC case.I don,t suppose people outside the UK know that we have a lot of strikes  going on here.And the postal workers have been striking off and on for some time now.I have been trying to get the Heatsink Fan pictured  into my MSI 7513 Motherboard with no luck.  As you can see it fits in the back plate.I tried to fit it on the back of the motherboard but 2 of the lugs go in but the other two come out.I am going to try and glue it on .The lugs on the Heatsink don,t go in the board.Anyone got any ides?


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> .I tried to fit it on the back of the motherboard but 2 of the lugs go in but the other two come out.I am going to try and glue it on .The lugs on the Heatsink don,t go in the board.Anyone got any ideas


Don't do that.
Find a proper cooler.


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## Greenslade (Dec 19, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Don't do that.
> Find a proper cooler.


The thing is i like most people i hate those  push pins.I have a push pin one  the plastic bits on the end busted.I have taken the push pins out see photo.


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## Kissamies (Dec 19, 2022)

Is that a 115x cooler as it won't fit? Or is the motherboard cooling blocking its installation?


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## Greenslade (Dec 19, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Is that a 115x cooler as it won't fit? Or is the motherboard cooling blocking its installation?


It should be a 775 one  I was trying to do this    







but could not find any screws that go pointed at the end. I took the pins off a Dell Heatsink fan that would work but i don,t know how to fix them from moving about.
Quote from 68Olds *I had an Acer that I scrapped because the motherboard failed.  I kept the RAM, LGA775 Pentium D, and heatsink/fan.  I just looked for the heatsink & realized I tossed it in recycle at some point.  I remembered the mounting screws didn't go into a backplate, they screwed into the Acer case behind the motherboard.  There was no way to use it on different motherboards.*
Dell screws how do I fix them to the cooler? Do I break the plastic of them? Somehow I have to try to fix them on there with gluing or what? It is a pain having to send that cooler back with it being Christmas and the postal strikes.


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## 68Olds (Dec 19, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> It should be a 775 one  I was trying to do this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you can find four screws that work with your backplate, that looks like a really good solution in the video.


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## Greenslade (Dec 19, 2022)

68Olds said:


> If you can find four screws that work with your backplate, that looks like a really good solution in the video.


Well, the ones of the Dell heatsink would do but how do I fix them on the cooler so they don,t move about?


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## 68Olds (Dec 19, 2022)

It will have to be done with the motherboard out of the case.  You will need to get each screw started loosely, then tighten them in a cross pattern.  A magnetic tip screwdriver would be helpful, but not necessary.  Personally, I would fit the heatsink to the motherboard once without thermal paste on the CPU, take it off and fit it again with paste on the CPU.  It will be a bit of a fiddly process, but should be doable.


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## Greenslade (Dec 19, 2022)

68Olds said:


> It will have to be done with the motherboard out of the case.  You will need to get each screw started loosely, then tighten them in a cross pattern.  A magnetic tip screwdriver would be helpful, but not necessary.  Personally, I would fit the heatsink to the motherboard once without thermal paste on the CPU, take it off and fit it again with paste on the CPU.  It will be a bit of a fiddly process, but should be doable.


Thanks, that's what I was going to do. I do have a magnetic screwdriver. Most definitely yes. Out of the screws you see in the bag only one fitted, and that is too short.I still would like to know the best way to get the Dell ones put in the cooler so that they don,t move.I have only managed to get fitted in there and that after trying for ages. I just sent theHeatsink  i got from eBay.


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## Greenslade (Dec 20, 2022)

After trying for ages to get the screws in the CPU Heatsink finally did it. I don,t know how the thermal grease is after all that. One thing is for sure I am not taking it off again to upgrade the CPU . I will stick with the E8600See photos of it. There is a bit of a gap on the back plate 979. Where do the front and back fans go, can someone circle them thanks.I got the front connections sorted when it comes to building it. The thing I am worried about is those delicate LEDs are facing in different ways.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 20, 2022)

Asus ROG Commando complete with IO shield and proprietary sound card, E6300, 4gb Kingston Ram, Sapphire HD5450 1gb, and a copper core Intel cooler. 

Was sold as is since it had been sitting for years but was a working pull prior. Still works fine. I really wasn't in the market for this and didn't want everything the board came with, but for the price I couldn't resist.

I need to stop buying 775 boards but I know myself well enough to know that will never happen 



Greenslade said:


> After trying for ages to get the screws in the CPU Heatsink finally did it. I don,t know how the thermal grease is after all that. One thing is for sure I am not taking it off again to upgrade the CPU . I will stick with the E8600See photos of it. There is a bit of a gap on the back plate 979. Where do the front and back fans go, can someone circle them thanks.I got the front connections sorted when it comes to building it. The thing I am worried about is those delicate LEDs are facing in different ways.


Nice board. From my experience the p45 platinum isn't the best board for OC but it looks really neat.


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## MaxiPro800 (Dec 20, 2022)

Remember the Club3D HD7950 I posted eons ago on here? It's now alive, with a VTX3D shroud.





If I do have to say anything about it - Sweet Jesus, this thing is criminally hot. The one true rival for the ole' 8800GTX and GTX480/580 series cards thermally wise. Can't deny the performances are absolutely sweet. Wish it had any slight chance of a fan curve whatsoever - even my Gigabyte HD7870 has one!

EDIT: Tried BIOS flashing, before anyone asks. I can't get it to flash, errors out with a Subsystem Mismatch when trying to use a MSI R9 280 VBIOS (the Gigabyte has some rather harsh clocks so the MSI would likely suit it best - btw the card itself is a R9 280, but as we all know, the entire 270-280 lineage is just 7870, 7950 and 7970 rebranded cards. Big props as the OG 7950 didn't have a metal cover on the back, while this R9 280 does.)

EDIT II - never mind, actually got the MSI BIOS to flash and it's running even more great than ever. A quite significant bump in clocks too. I would've gone as far as flashing Gigabyte VBIOS, but from what I kinda remember about it, it doesn't support the Elpida RAM that's on this card.


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## Greenslade (Dec 22, 2022)

I think I will go for this 







 and after being told that the one I was going to buy was a very noisy EVGA version of this by 68olds, that was only £25 the Asus one is on auction but the guy has said * buy it now for £30 plus £3.50 shipping.*What does FTW stand for? at the end of the card number in the video, he says it has different specs , I see the seller has taken off the buy-it-now after my inquiring about buying it after my asking if it was possible to have it on click and collect. He must have realized he could get more for it.




only £25 




Asus GTX 670 Direct CU II


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## stinger608 (Dec 22, 2022)

@Greenslade , FTW means "For The Win"

I have a bit higher memory clock and core clock than a standard card of the same type. 

Kind of in-between a standard and a Ti version I guess.


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## Greenslade (Dec 23, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> @Greenslade , FTW means "For The Win"
> 
> I have a bit higher memory clock and core clock than a standard card of the same type.
> 
> Kind of in-between a standard and a Ti version I guess.


Thanks for your answer


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I think I will go for this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's an excellent card! I have one in my old Dell Optiplex retro build. I have the EVGA version, but still.


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## Greenslade (Dec 23, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's an excellent card! I have one in my old Dell Optiplex retro build. I have the EVGA version,



​

39
Can i ask you some questions is this FTW better than the one in the video Full working order, tested recently for £39?The seller has removed the buy it now for the Asus one so don,t know how much that will go for on Auction. Or should i go for this one EVGA the normal one for £20 ?People have said the EVGA it is very loud.I just looked on F.M.P and some one is selling the F.T.W for £20 ? As is the case most of the time it is in the other side of the country.So whats your view on all this Lex?The guy selling Asus card is a new seller i don,t think he knows what he is doing.He got back to me saying quote*You can buy it now for  30* I don,t know Weather  he wants to sell it to me  for that price or not.Of course i said to him that would be fine by me.Looking at the price for Asus cards they are the smaller ones without the back plate.I think he could get £50 for it,But i am happy to take it off his hands for 30.


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 23, 2022)

Either card is a great price.


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## Greenslade (Dec 23, 2022)

Mr.Scott said:


> Either card is a great price.


Is the F.T.W one just as noisy as the normal  EVGA  one below ?It looks the same sort of fan so i should think it would. And is it as noisy as people say?


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## stinger608 (Dec 23, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is the F.T.W one just as noisy as the normal  EVGA  one below ?It looks the same sort of fan so i should think it would. And is it as noisy as people say? View attachment 275807



Pretty much. Both have the blower design fans.


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## 68Olds (Dec 23, 2022)

I'm not saying I wouldn't own a blower style GPU, because I have one.  This is one of my GTX 970s.  The blower style fan just has a different tone to it, kinda like a hair dryer.  The plus side is it exhausts 100% of its air out the back instead of heating up the inside of the case.  I would put up with the tone for an otherwise really good deal.


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## stinger608 (Dec 23, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm not saying I wouldn't own a blower style GPU, because I have one.  This is one of my GTX 970s.  The blower style fan just has a different tone to it, kinda like a hair dryer.  The plus side is it exhausts 100% of its air out the back instead of heating up the inside of the case.  I would put up with the tone for an otherwise really good deal.
> 
> View attachment 275828



Yeah, I have a couple of the founders edition GTX 970's and they are not bad. Heck, I always ran them at about 40% fan curve and couldn't hardly hear them. There are many things in a computer that are louder than the blower style fans.


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## Greenslade (Dec 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> I'm not saying I wouldn't own a blower style GPU, because I have one.  This is one of my GTX 970s.  The blower style fan just has a different tone to it, kinda like a hair dryer.  The plus side is it exhausts 100% of its air out the back instead of heating up the inside of the case.  I would put up with the tone for an otherwise really good deal.
> 
> View attachment 275828


Is there much difference between the non-F.T.W version of the card? Bearing in mind the F.T.W is £14 pounds more? I see the F.T.W. does not have a backplate on it. I think the ASUS is going to be more than the £39 pound of the F.T.W version.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> ​View attachment 27576439
> Can i ask you some questions is this FTW better than the one in the video Full working order, tested recently for £39?The seller has removed the buy it now for the Asus one so don,t know how much that will go for on Auction. Or should i go for this one EVGA the normal one for £20 ?People have said the EVGA it is very loud.I just looked on F.M.P and some one is selling the F.T.W for £20 ? As is the case most of the time it is in the other side of the country.So whats your view on all this Lex?The guy selling Asus card is a new seller i don,t think he knows what he is doing.He got back to me saying quote*You can buy it now for 30* I don,t know Weather he wants to sell it to me for that price or not.Of course i said to him that would be fine by me.Looking at the price for Asus cards they are the smaller ones without the back plate.I think he could get £50 for it,But i am happy to take it off his hands for 30.


As Mr Scott said, either one would be a good buy.



Greenslade said:


> And is it as noisy as people say?


Not really, they're actually fairly quiet.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 24, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 275292View attachment 275293
> View attachment 275294
> Asus ROG Commando complete with IO shield and proprietary sound card, E6300, 4gb Kingston Ram, Sapphire HD5450 1gb, and a copper core Intel cooler.
> 
> ...


Nice! Commando was one of the first ROG boards, I actually haven't even thought that the brand is over 16 years old already.


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## Greenslade (Dec 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> As Mr Scott said, either one would be a good buy.
> 
> 
> Not really, they're actually fairly quiet.


Is it worth going for the F.T.Q version , or is the difference very small.?And bearing in mind the FTW  version is £14 pound more?


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 24, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Is it worth going for the F.T.Q version , or is the difference very small.?And bearing in mind the FTW  version is £14 pound more?


The difference is minor. Either one will be an excellent choice for the system you're building.


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## Greenslade (Dec 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The difference is minor. Either one will be an excellent choice for the system you're building.


I thought that was the case, I got in touch with the seller on F.M.P. I will see if he can do it for cheaper than £25. In the meantime, I have other options, to wait to see how the Asus the one with the back plate goes in the auction that finishes late tomorrow.
And because I have been looking at this a few times I have got an offer to buy this for £40  down from £50 ASUS GTX 760 (2048 MB) (GTX760-DC2OC-2GD5) Graphics Card - Great condition: Seller refurbished. I see it is one of the smaller-sized cards. From what people say there is not much in it between the 670 and the 760. I just hope my 500w CTI PSU can handle it.


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## 68Olds (Dec 24, 2022)

Any of the three cards you are considering would be fine.  The FTW & Asus DirectCU II OC are both factory overclocked a little bit, but you can easily overclock the standard EVGA card to the same clocks as the FTW.  The Asus recommends a 450w PSU so you're good there.


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## Greenslade (Dec 24, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Any of the three cards you are considering would be fine.  The FTW & Asus DirectCU II OC are both factory overclocked a little bit, but you can easily overclock the standard EVGA card to the same clocks as the FTW.  The Asus recommends a 450w PSU so you're good there.


Thanks again for your advice. I will leave it open.It seems from what i have read on line there is not much between them only the noise facter of the blower 670.


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## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 24, 2022)

This was sold as a "Gforce Pny Video Card model 392" and as with a lot of PNY cards the stickers on it don't help identify it much at all. I concluded it was probably a 9800 GTX but I couldn't be sure so I put a conservative bid on it accordingly, and to my surprise nobody else bid on it.







Turns out it's a working PNY Reference 9800 GTX+ (G92 B1 revision). I haven't stress tested it yet, but it does boot windows and drivers install so I'm betting it's perfectly fine.

Went ahead and repasted it and blew out some dust. Probably will stick this in a core2 machine.


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## Greenslade (Dec 24, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> The difference is minor. Either one will be an excellent choice for the system you're building.










 His never happy with what he buys for peanuts it' was only 5 euros I would be over the moon paying five pounds for it.  Some people are never satisfied.He could sell the GPU for more than 5 euros. I dare say he could get more than 5 euros for the case. I see very few PCs at my local flea market. and if I do they are the usual Dell and HP. I did see an old Mac pro like the one here. I do like his videos but he is a moaning mini. I don,t think anyone likes those crap  
push pin Heatsinks.


videos


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## Greenslade (Dec 25, 2022)

I am just finishing off my first build  problem is as you can see very little room to get the 12 watts 8-pins in  Wich way do I plug the m in their two plugs. I had a lot of trouble getting the motherboard holes to match up. One of them has been tightened up but it is still loose the rest of the screws have tightened up fine. Had a lot of trouble with those little connectors. Apart from getting 8 pin connector, everything looks fine, I just hope it works.I don,t know why the connecter is right in the corner.I hope everything is connected properly I will be well pleased if it does work.


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## stinger608 (Dec 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> .I don,t know why the connecter is right in the corner.



A lot of the CPU power connectors are in the corner on the older motherboards. They were always a pain in the butt to connect. 
I found that a pair of needle nose pliers or medical forceps would work best for reaching down in there to connect the plug to the socket.


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## Greenslade (Dec 25, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> A lot of the CPU power connectors are in the corner on the older motherboards. They were always a pain in the butt to connect.
> I found that a pair of needle nose pliers or medical forceps would work best for reaching down in there to connect the plug to the socket.


It certainly is.  Thanks but which way do I connect the 2 x 4 connectors the clips facing the fan or facing the case?


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## Veseleil (Dec 25, 2022)

Oh, I can't quit you, babe
So I'm gonna put you down for awhile
I said I can't quit you, babe
I guess I got to put you down for awhile
Said you messed up my happy home
Made me mistreat my only child
Yes, you did, babe, oh


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## Greenslade (Dec 25, 2022)

Veseleil said:


> Oh, I can't quit you, babe
> So I'm gonna put you down for awhile
> I said I can't quit you, babe
> I guess I got to put you down for awhile
> ...


What's all that about Lex? Do I need to have the 8 pins connected?
 On the PSU?



stinger608 said:


> A lot of the CPU power connectors are in the corner on the older motherboards. They were always a pain in the butt to connect.
> I found that a pair of needle nose pliers or medical forceps would work best for reaching down in there to connect the plug to the socket.


Can i get away with just useing the one 4 pin?I did at somepoint push the plugs togeterher.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 25, 2022)

Clip faces right, lines up with the notch on the eps connecter on the board.

If the cable is long enough, you can try and run it behind the motherboard tray and then across the top to the connector on the board like this.



You will need a graphics card to get this system up and running. P45 has no graphics built in.


----------



## Fouquin (Dec 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> View attachment 275907View attachment 275909View attachment 275908
> This was sold as a "Gforce Pny Video Card model 392" and as with a lot of PNY cards the stickers on it don't help identify it much at all. I concluded it was probably a 9800 GTX but I couldn't be sure so I put a conservative bid on it accordingly, and to my surprise nobody else bid on it.
> 
> View attachment 275910
> ...



The 9800 GTX/+ is the only card to use that rounded cooler design, so you were right to come to that conclusion. It's very hard to find these that aren't all horribly scratched up.

Overclocking on these is a dream. +200MHz core, +300MHz memory, +200MHz Shader is pretty typical. Some will go as high as 2300MHz on the shader.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 25, 2022)

Fouquin said:


> The 9800 GTX/+ is the only card to use that rounded cooler design, so you were right to come to that conclusion. It's very hard to find these that aren't all horribly scratched up.


It's got it's fair share of small scratches but overall is in decent shape. I might see just what newer games I can get running on this because it has some power behind it still. I know lack of proper dx11 support let alone dx12 will not allow much to run though.



stinger608 said:


> A lot of the CPU power connectors are in the corner on the older motherboards. They were always a pain in the butt to connect.
> I found that a pair of needle nose pliers or medical forceps would work best for reaching down in there to connect the plug to the socket.


I think the very worst case of this is the EVGA X58 boards. Where the connector is in the corner of the board squeezed so close to the vrm heatsink that the latch of the eps often gets caught on it.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> It's got it's fair share of small scratches but overall is in decent shape. I might see just what newer games I can get running on this because it has some power behind it still. I know lack of proper dx11 support let alone dx12 will not allow much to run though.
> 
> 
> I think the very worst case of this is the EVGA X58 boards. Where the connector is in the corner of the board squeezed so close to the vrm heatsink that the latch of the eps often gets caught on it.





RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Clip faces right, lines up with the notch on the eps connecter on the board.
> 
> If the cable is long enough, you can try and run it behind the motherboard tray and then across the top to the connector on the board like this.View attachment 276021
> 
> You will need a graphics card to get this system up and running. P45 has no graphics built in.


The board is MSI 7513 all I am getting is a red light and no lights on the front of the case, and to cap it all I tried to get the board out of the case it is just going around with the standoff. it would be a standoff that I can,t get to I take it you weren't, talking to me about a GPU to make it work? I wanted to get the board out. What does it mean just a Red light nothing else.i have connected all power and all that stuff .It is a E8600..


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 25, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The board is MSI 7513 all I am getting is a red light and no lights on the front of the case, and to cap it all I tried to get the board out of the case it is just going around with the standoff. it would be a standoff that I can,t get to I take it you weren't, talking to me about a GPU to make it work? I wanted to get the board out. What does it mean just a Red light nothing else.i have connected all power and all that stuff .It is a E8600..


That was directed at you. Sorry I should have quoted. 

Your board doesn't have any built in graphics, you are going to need a graphics card for it to function.

Also your ram is in the wrong slots. Try slots 2 and 4.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 25, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> That was directed at you. Sorry I should have quoted.
> 
> Your board doesn't have any built in graphics, you are going to need a graphics card for it to function.
> 
> Also your ram is in the wrong slots. Try slots 2 and 4.


Ok thanks But why am i not getting any light on the power button ?I can,t get the board out one of the stand off is going round with the screwNext time i build should i tighten the stand offs more?I wish i had tried it before i put it in the case. 

I managed to get the motherboard out  and tried it again and something went pop.Is that a PSU problem or motherboard?
Is this the right way fit the 12 v  2x 4 pins with the clips facing the fan see photo. fan. Because when i turned it one it went pop? 
Does it mean the PSU has blown ?I just placed the motherboard in
the case ,the red light stayed on. mind you i turner it straight on.Is it worth  me trying the Psu in another PC or will it do damage to that?It is the first time i plugged in the full 8 pin 2x 4 on the 12v rail.
If they were in the wring way round nothing  would work. See photo clips of the connectors facing the the Heatsink.








  it went like this ts the end of my first build. I was pleased with my first PC I don,t know to whether the motherboard is working or not. When I get another motherboard I will check if it is working.at least I know what to do now.


----------



## stinger608 (Dec 26, 2022)

Veseleil said:


> Oh, I can't quit you, babe
> So I'm gonna put you down for awhile
> I said I can't quit you, babe
> I guess I got to put you down for awhile
> ...



Now there's some Zeppelin I haven't heard in awhile!


----------



## 80251 (Dec 26, 2022)

@stinger608 
Robert Plant had an open affair while he was married with a US teenager while on tour. His son died while he was on tour (effectively ending the affair). Could this be what 'I Can't Quit You Baby' is about?


----------



## Veseleil (Dec 26, 2022)

80251 said:


> @stinger608
> Robert Plant had an open affair while he was married with a US teenager while on tour. His son died while he was on tour (effectively ending the affair). Could this be what 'I Can't Quit You Baby' is about?


That or drugs probably.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 26, 2022)

Can anyone answer my question about my PSU, is this the right way to connect the 8-pin connecter on the PSU the clips are facing the heatsink fan. All I had connected when the PSU went pop was the Motherboard and nothing else. Where I buy one of these front-panel adapters? It would make things a lot easier for me.  And what do they call the adapter?










 this guy is good for a beginner like me.


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 26, 2022)

That piece is called a front panel quick connector.  I've never seen one available separately, only seen them supplied with a motherboard.  They do make it easier than trying to connect everything directly to the mobo, but a pair of needle nose makes it easy without the quick connector.

The 8-pin (2+4) connector looks to be seated correctly.  It can't go in backwards because the holes are keyed.  Without being there to see & hear the pop I've got no idea what it might have been.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 26, 2022)

68Olds said:


> That piece is called a front panel quick connector.  I've never seen one available separately, only seen them supplied with a motherboard.  They do make it easier than trying to connect everything directly to the mobo, but a pair of needle nose makes it easy without the quick connector.
> 
> The 8-pin (2+4) connector looks to be seated correctly.  It can't go in backwards because the holes are keyed.  Without being there to see & hear the pop I've got no idea what it might have been.


Is it safe to connect the Psu to the wall socket?Or is that a bad thing to do?As i said earlier it was was just plugged in to the motherboard  nothing else was plugged in.I can,t see any burn marks anywhere.The only thing is that Sata cabal the yellow connector is broken on the connecter that could have touch something on the motherboard.What do you think ?


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 26, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> Can anyone answer my question about my PSU, is this the right way to connect the 8-pin connecter on the PSU the clips are facing the heatsink fan. All I had connected when the PSU went pop was the Motherboard and nothing else. Where I buy one of these front-panel adapters? It would make things a lot easier for me.  And what do they call the adapter?View attachment 276136
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wouldn't bother with a block quick connector for the front panel. Can just plug them in normally. Look up a pdf of the owners manual or likely the pinout is printed on the PCB.

Just to test the system your board does have a power button on it. You can use that to test turning on the system.


Greenslade said:


> Is it safe to connect the Psu to the wall socket?Or is that a bad thing to do?


It's hard to say what the pop was and if there is damage to the PC that would make it unsafe to plug in.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 26, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Wouldn't bother with a block quick connector for the front panel. Can just plug them in normally. Look up a pdf of the owners manual or likely the pinout is printed on the PCB.
> 
> Just to test the system your board does have a power button on it. You can use that to test turning on the system.
> 
> It's hard to say what the pop was and if there is damage to the PC that would make it unsafe to plug in.


Yes i know it is connect those front panal headers.But they are very delicate  and if i have to keep on putting them in and out ,that is why i mention the block connecter.What i am saying is just plugging the PSU to the wall socket on its own to see if it is working.I don,t want to try it if it would cause damage or fire or loose power here.
I just thought of something,i have a bug problem every so often i here pops, and wondered if a bug had been zapped.


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 26, 2022)

Do you have any electrical tape or friction tape?  Tape up that exposed wire.  That orange wire on the SATA plug is 3.3vdc.  If that was touching ground (earthed) it could have caused a pop in the PSU.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 26, 2022)

68Olds said:


> Do you have any electrical tape or friction tape?  Tape up that exposed wire.  That orange wire on the SATA plug is 3.3vdc.  If that was touching ground (earthed) it could have caused a pop in the PSU.


But would it be safe to try thee PSU in the wall or would it do other damage and end up with no power?And if it has gone i can get another.The fan on the PSU was not spinning.


----------



## 68Olds (Dec 26, 2022)

No, I wouldn't plug it in the wall without first making sure that the exposed bit on the orange wire can't touch ground or the black wire (which is a ground wire) next to it.

The cords in the UK have fuses in them at the wall end, correct?  That fuse's job is to make sure you don't set the place on fire or trip the main to your unit.


----------



## Veseleil (Dec 26, 2022)

stinger608 said:


> Now there's some Zeppelin I haven't heard in awhile!


And that's some astounding live performance right there... Sorry, I didn't find the time to actually watch the video the other day. The thing is, when I was younger I didn't quite understood nor liked Led Zeppelin. Now as I'm growing older I'm getting amazed after each album session. Each, damn, time. I'm not even started with live records. I'm saving it for really bad times.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 26, 2022)

68Olds said:


> No, I wouldn't plug it in the wall without first making sure that the exposed bit on the orange wire can't touch ground or the black wire (which is a ground wire) next to it.
> 
> The cords in the UK have fuses in them at the wall end, correct?  That fuse's job is to make sure you don't set the place on fire or trip the main to your unit.


That is correct Don,t they have them in the US then they must do it.
I will give it a go later. I want to know if it does work or not. Of course, I don,r know if the motherboard works anyway all the front header cables were connected correctly, the only thing I would like to say I only managed to connect 1 four pin plug to the 12-volt rail connecter. It was only when I took it out of the case I managed to get the other four pins in. I only recently changed the amps in all my plugs to 3amp most were 13amp 
That was after I saw here that you should have 3amp.
I just tried it and saw a blue flash and it popped that's the end of that. 
Of course, i don,t know to whether the Motherboard  works

This is a mighty case I remember LGA having one Gaming PC CaseThermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower,Very Large goof case for £10    cool case 

















I have just seen this on F.M.P
Computer to go for small donation (whatever you’d like to offer for my son for the pc) The pic will not come with hard drives and the dvd drive. Everything is working perfectly fine. Specs as follows:
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q-PRO CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Graphic card:
Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450, 1Gb GDDR5
Memory: OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 (400 MHz) 4x1Gb
Power supply: 800W Corsair I asked him how much he was looking for and said this
*A guy had offered him £25.and said the would pick up at the end of the week.
He promised to collect it at the end of the weekTo be honest, I’m not sure weather it’ll happen, so first come first served*
I was thinking £25 would have been max price  i would have offered for it.But it is so big ad bulky to carry and i should think it weighs a ton.  If i lived near by i would take it but as all ways on F.M.P it is the other side of London.Like the other case on here it is a very impressive case.Even the one without anything in it would br a heavy weight to carry.I did  say to the seller  i was only interested in the Motherboard and PSU and would pay £18 for them, Needles to say he want do that.



Veseleil said:


> And that's some astounding live performance right there... Sorry, I didn't find the time to actually watch the video the other day. The thing is, when I was younger I didn't quite understood nor liked Led Zeppelin. Now as I'm growing older I'm getting amazed after each album session. Each, damn, time. I'm not even started with live records. I'm saving it for really bad times.


Way back in the dark ages in the early 70,s when God was a child  there was a shop in Oxford street that sold mostly bootlegs.In fact it was the first record shop Richard Branson of Virgin records owned.I got a double bootleg album by Zeppelin called *Live at Blueberry hill*anyway i played it and the quality sounded bad ,so i took it back and told them, needless to say they said don,t buy any bootlegs again which i never did after that.I got it exchanged for this double album by The Mothers Of Invention* – Mother's Day. 1971 Compilation album.Incidentally the Zeppelin album was on blue Vinyl.There first album was a classic debut album i have all ways been in to there harder rock stuff like 







.


----------



## Psychoholic (Dec 27, 2022)

Not sure if this GTX 480 is old enough to be nostalgic, but it brings a LITTLE nostalgia to me.
Found it while cleaning out one of my storage closets, lol


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 27, 2022)

Psychoholic said:


> Not sure if this GTX 480 is old enough to be nostalgic, but it brings a LITTLE nostalgia to me.
> Found it while cleaning out one of my storage closets, lol
> 
> 
> ...


I would think it would as it came out in 2010.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Dec 27, 2022)

Psychoholic said:


> Not sure if this GTX 480 is old enough to be nostalgic, but it brings a LITTLE nostalgia to me.
> Found it while cleaning out one of my storage closets, lol
> 
> 
> ...


Nice bbq grille   

In all seriousness 480s are nice cards and still have a bit of power today. Sadly mine is absolutely cooked and it's PCB is mounted on my wall.


----------



## Psychoholic (Dec 27, 2022)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Nice bbq grille
> 
> In all seriousness 480s are nice cards and still have a bit of power today. Sadly mine is absolutely cooked and it's PCB is mounted on my wall.



BBQ Grill indeed..

I remember when they came out as dumb as it sounds, i wanted one because i thought the exposed heatpipes looked cool, almost like one side of a V8 in my case, lol


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 27, 2022)

Gigabyte be like: "you must have revision x.y of the mainboard to run this cpu!"

Me: Fine, I'll do it myself then.












To sum it up - all it took for my GA-880GM-UD2H Rev 1.0 to make a FX-4100 work was just upgrading the two BIOS chips - from 8Mb to 16Mb - with a CH341A programmer. Other parts showing up are my trusty HD7870 OC 2GB, a Konig keyboard that came out of the trash as well, a pair of Corsair Dominator RAM sticks (3x2GB - these were designed with 1366/X58 in mind, I am very much sure of that.)... and a 2015 Mustang model car.

I know and am aware the FX-4100 is a total nightmare - but for a free chip that's supposed to be equal to a Phenom X4 (which I very much "Press X to doubt") which came from a literal trash PC (the only thing I saved was the dead mobo as a way to protect the chip from getting bent pins - for those curious - it's a GA-M68MT-S2, and was the donor for the BIOS chips I used on the 880GM-UD2H), it's a win for me in every way possible. FX was pretty much uncharted territory for me (as is Haswell, which I hope to tackle sometime soon) so this was a great opportunity to have fun during Christmas.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 27, 2022)

I have just seen this for £5  It is the same case i bought my Athlon 2400 PC.I am not sure if it is dodge the guy said meet at a station between 11 00 1600.And i asked him for his phone number and his gone off?His back but said he said did not work there I hope i am not being set up. The guys name is  Uieong  is that Chinese ?Koren.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 27, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> I have just seen this for £5  It is the same case i bought my Athlon 2400 PC.I am not sure if it is dodge the guy said meet at a station between 11 00 1600.And i asked him for his phone number and his gone off?His back but said he said did not work there I hope i am not being set up. The guys name is  Uieong  is that Chinese ?Koren.
> 
> View attachment 276332
> View attachment 276331
> ...


That is nice case! Get that one if you can!


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 27, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is nice case! Get that one if you can!


The thing is that is the case i got with the ebay Athlon 2400.It all seems odd to me  his got the box for it to.Plus  it has a PSU  i just hope it works so i can tell if the MSI 7513 Motherboard is the reason the PSU blue up.



lexluthermiester said:


> That is nice case! Get that one if you can!


I am just praying that motherboard does does not blow this.It is not the usual run of the mill PSU .s you get with cheap systems.The case all so includes that lead. 








This is the PSU in it
FSP 500W PowerSupply Compliant for Intel Core 2 & AMD Athlon 64 series, ATX 12V V2.3 Ready, 120mm Variable Speed Fan with Ultra Low Noise Thermal Coated Protection of White Casing.
*Specifications*
High Efficiency> 80%
Supports PCI-Express Connector
Energy Saving Standby Power  Mode < 1W
Eco-Friendly PSU with Active PFC
230V Input with Complete Protection (OVP; OCP; SCP)
*Technical Details*
Brand : FSP
Model : SAGA II 500
Series : SAGA
Efficiency : 80%
Input  Voltage : 200 - 240 VAC
Frequency : 50Hz - 60Hz
PFC : Active
Power Provided : 500W
Main connector : 20+4PIN
4Pin+12V Power Connector : 4+4PIN
4Pin Floppy Connector : 1
S-ATA Connector : 4
4 Pin Connector : 4
PCI-Express Connector : 6PIN, 6+2PIN​Case Color : WHITE
Chassis Fan : 120mm
Noise : <21 dBA
Form Factor : ATX 12V V2.3 
The *FSP Saga II 500* power supply unit, with its *maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 34 Amps* and with *one (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connector*, is *electrically sufficient* to power a system configuration *with a single Radeon R9 270X* graphics card.                  




Dimensions(LxWxH)mm : 140 x 150 x Safety Approval : CE, CB, Nemko, TUV​


lexluthermiester said:


> That is nice case! Get that one if you can!


The caps on the PSU don,t look bad do they?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Dec 28, 2022)

Greenslade said:


> The caps on the PSU don,t look bad do they?


They look fine. Should be alright.


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 28, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> They look fine. Should be alright.


Something was it i heard a pop then  blue smoke was coming out of it.I know people on here saying it could be the caps.Any way i  cut all the conecters of and chucked it.Any way i collected the case the guy was very pleasent and helpful he helped me get it in the bag.I did not take in to account  because it was in a box it was that much bigger.I have previously got a PC in the bag with no trouble.See photo of the bag.I just plugged the Psu in sad to say it is dead  I was hoping it was working.i did not ask the guy if it did work  in fact it was only when i asked him if it came with the PSU he said yes ,but i did not think to ask him if it did work.Still £5 is a bargin for the case.The way that PSU  was cable tied looked very promosing that it would have worked.It just goes to show you should never judge a book by looking at the cover.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Dec 29, 2022)

Bought this as a backup to my VTX3D R9 280. Technically I guess I now have two GHz cards (R9 280x being a 7970 GHz, and the Gigabyte 7870 2GB I have is a GHz edition card as well) and a 7950 that survived more heatgun sessions than anything I've ever had on hand.


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Dec 29, 2022)

Finally upgraded my mother's machine from a Q9650 to a Tiger Lake mini PC, so I got my old machine back. Decided to take apart the GTX460 in it to give it a good once over. Tidy little card. The blower fan needs a little lubrication, but otherwise seems fine.


----------



## Audioave10 (Dec 30, 2022)

LGR tries an Intel A380 video card with Retro games...and a weird case.










Windows 98 Retro Gaming PC...


----------



## Greenslade (Dec 30, 2022)

Are old mate Phil about SD cards on 98. v HDD and SSD. 







 



Audioave10 said:


> LGR tries an Intel A380 video card with Retro games...and a weird case.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Clint gets some weird stuff ,who in the right mind would buy that crap.I am glad he did not put any fish in it.It certainly was not his day.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jan 2, 2023)

Repasted the chipsets on the ROG Commando today. Took awhile, paste was harder than a rock.




Wanted to tinker with my Pentium D 925. Didn't do anything exotic to cool it, and am not doing suicide runs or anything.



Multiplier is a fixed 15 on this board. It got to about 295 fsb before it didn't really want to go further.



With some tinkering and a lot more voltage I did get it to 305 fsb. Windows 8.1 does run a good bit faster at 4.575ghz rather than the default 3.0ghz, and cinebench shows a pretty good improvement as well. 


I do feel like I should be able to get more out of this CPU though, I might try a different board and perhaps a different cooling solution tomorrow.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 2, 2023)

Look at this IP45 Pro and IX48 QuadGT... So much potential if Abit had hung around a bit longer. The IP45 Pro is especially impressive IMO with that massive northbridge cooling and 8 power stages (did Abit ever do >5 before??).






						CeBIT 2008 Day 1 - New Intel Chipsets, Atom on Display, and lots from AMD/NVIDIA
					






					www.anandtech.com


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Jan 2, 2023)

I have been waiting patiently to find another IX48 Max for sale in the wild. Haven't seen one on eBay in almost two years now. Not sure where else to look or ask.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 2, 2023)

Voodoo Rufus said:


> I have been waiting patiently to find another IX48 Max for sale in the wild. Haven't seen one on eBay in almost two years now. Not sure where else to look or ask.


One rare board... I wish you luck.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 2, 2023)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Repasted the chipsets on the ROG Commando today. Took awhile, paste was harder than a rock.
> View attachment 277109
> Wanted to tinker with my Pentium D 925. Didn't do anything exotic to cool it, and am not doing suicide runs or anything.
> View attachment 277110
> ...


  looks like a nice board, there is a lot going on there.  







 Some people would think it was an ugly case I do myself, I dare say 68olds would agree with me It looks good inside the case though. Showing the temperature on the front cool. 



Voodoo Rufus said:


> I have been waiting patiently to find another IX48 Max for sale in the wild. Haven't seen one on eBay in almost two years now. Not sure where else to look or ask.


Here is a video about it.


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 2, 2023)

My first opinion of the outside of that case...  lol








However, yeah it turned out to be a pretty nice vintage system.  I'd definitely put the thermal probe under the back of the GPU heatsink.


----------



## MachineLearning (Jan 2, 2023)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Repasted the chipsets on the ROG Commando today. Took awhile, paste was harder than a rock.
> View attachment 277109
> Wanted to tinker with my Pentium D 925. Didn't do anything exotic to cool it, and am not doing suicide runs or anything.
> View attachment 277110
> ...


You might be able to reduce the multiplier of Netburst CPUs on your Commando using this trick Antinomy shared:


			Antinomy's Low Clock Challenge
		

My boards don't work with it, they boot just fine but still at the regular multiplier. Haven't tried the AB9 QuadGT yet however.


----------



## Voodoo Rufus (Jan 2, 2023)

Greenslade said:


> Here is a video about it.



I've seen that. Earlier days of Youtube. I've collected as much info as I can on them. They're just darned rare, and most were sold in Europe I think.

My IP35 Pro would get jealous if I ever got one though. Big bro X48 would beat up on it.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 3, 2023)

Restored the most useless card I guess. An *64 bit* 512MB DDR2 HD4650.

And yes, that dinky cooler is from a HD3450 no less. It's due for replacement anyways.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 3, 2023)

Does anyone know where the Power SW cable goes on this Hp board? I want to know because I want to test an old PSU. I realize some of the caps have gone on there.


----------



## 68Olds (Jan 3, 2023)

The pins in the lower right corner of the board.  Bottom row pins 3 & 4 counting from the right seem to be labeled PWR ON.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2023)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> Repasted the chipsets on the ROG Commando today. Took awhile, paste was harder than a rock.
> View attachment 277109
> Wanted to tinker with my Pentium D 925. Didn't do anything exotic to cool it, and am not doing suicide runs or anything.
> View attachment 277110
> ...


What you use for cooling? I have a D935 which was rock stable @ 4800MHz with custom loop. P5Q Pro as motherboard.

I may try it one day if it can reach 5GHz


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 3, 2023)

68Olds said:


> The pins in the lower right corner of the board.  Bottom row pins 3 & 4 counting from the right seem to be labeled PWR ON.
> 
> View attachment 277335


Thanks for that 680ldsHow many of those caps have gone on there


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 3, 2023)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Restored the most useless card I guess. An *64 bit* 512MB DDR2 HD4650.


Not at all useless. It makes for a great spare card for testing and whatnot.


----------



## RyzenMaster.sys (Jan 3, 2023)

Kissamies said:


> What you use for cooling? I have a D935 which was rock stable @ 4800MHz with custom loop. P5Q Pro as motherboard.
> 
> I may try it one day if it can reach 5GHz


At the moment a Corsair a50 air cooler with a 20w delta 120mm zip tied to it. 

I tried the 925 on my Asus P5W DH Deluxe which has some additional overclocking bios features but is also missing a few the commando has. Got to the exact same point before it just walls at 305fsb and will not push past even if I cranked the voltage to the maximum of 1.7v both boards can push.




I might buy another pentium d that hopefully has a higher fsb wall and use some more fancy cooling like I did below chasing records (and not succeeding) with some westmere xeons.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2023)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> At the moment a Corsair a50 air cooler with a 20w delta 120mm zip tied to it.
> 
> I tried the 925 on my Asus P5W DH Deluxe which has some additional overclocking bios features but is also missing a few the commando has. Got to the exact same point before it just walls at 305fsb and will not push past even if I cranked the voltage to the maximum of 1.7v both boards can push.
> 
> ...


Gotta love that ice cooling


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Jan 3, 2023)

lexluthermiester said:


> Not at all useless. It makes for a great spare card for testing and whatnot.


I already have a 9500GT 1GB for testing. Not sure what would a 64-bit crippled HD4650 help with, but if so, I guess I can scrounge some parts and patch it up to look good enough.


----------



## Greenslade (Jan 3, 2023)

RyzenMaster.sys said:


> At the moment a Corsair a50 air cooler with a 20w delta 120mm zip tied to it.
> 
> I tried the 925 on my Asus P5W DH Deluxe which has some additional overclocking bios features but is also missing a few the commando has. Got to the exact same point before it just walls at 305fsb and will not push past even if I cranked the voltage to the maximum of 1.7v both boards can push.
> 
> ...


Those coolers, look cool but a bit on the expensive side for me.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2023)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I already have a 9500GT 1GB for testing. Not sure what would a 64-bit crippled HD4650 help with, but if so, I guess I can scrounge some parts and patch it up to look good enough.


As most HD 4650s have already DDR2 I can just imagine what that 64bit memorybus does to it..


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 3, 2023)

68Olds said:


> My first opinion of the outside of that case...  lol
> 
> 
> 
> ...


"Fra-gile ... must be Italian"  Cracks me up every time, love that movie!

On a side note, I FINALLY found something which I've been searching for over a decade. This:


 



The model (and brand name) is BTC 8110W. And yes, the keyboard is indeed yellowed pretty badly, which unfortunately someone tried to address with aggressive chemical at some point. Most likely acetone or paint stripper of some sort, because the plastic is literally polished up in some areas & therefore permanently destroyed.

Long story short, I took the whole thing apart, showered all the chunks of dust & debris and then put the whole thing into dishwasher for a full cycle.


 

 



After carefully reassembling everything back together again, the finishing result leaves something to be desired even though it's not THAT bad, as it would seem (and appear) on digital camera.


 



The keyboard is fully operational, all the keys are working OK so now I can only hope to "Retrobrite" rest of the keyboard at some point OR to merge it with another, non-functional one which doesn't have any cosmetic issues. The only problem is that BTC 8110 (or 8140 for that matter) are both incredibly rare nowdays and highly expensive. No one is willing to just give them away (actually someone in here, on this very forum - and I'm not going to say who, offered me one for "free" long time ago, only to suddenly change his attitude towards me & eventually have me blocked), and finding one on ebay with all the shipping & handling would easily cost over $50, and that's without the customs & other fees.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 3, 2023)

Trekkie4 said:


> "Fra-gile ... must be Italian"  Cracks me up every time, love that movie!
> 
> On a side note, I FINALLY found something which I've been searching for over a decade. This:
> 
> ...


Normally I'm not interested in retrobrighting but I have one Logitech Internet Keyboard (my uncle's old daily driver) which is so yellowed that it truly needs a treatment


----------



## Trekkie4 (Jan 3, 2023)

Kissamies said:


> Normally I'm not interested in retrobrighting but I have one Logitech Internet Keyboard (my uncle's old daily driver) which is so yellowed that it truly needs a treatment


Same here, this one was just mess. Having somewhat yellowed keyboard wouldn't be an issue, but this one was just asking for wash & complete disassembly.


----------



## Terronium-12 (Jan 3, 2023)

*Did some more digging...











I don't have the ZS Gamer anymore. Not sure what happened to it. Maybe it died?

After this I had a Xonar DX and I always enjoyed the sound of the relays clicking when booting into Windows. That also died, then I had the Xonar U7 and I don't remember what happened to that either. Anyway. moving on!





I wonder what this could be...










Apologies for the gore. I wasn't expecting the pad to decay like that in the box for 15 years or however long it's been.










Anyone else have one of the bad boys back in the day?










Autobots, roll out! Sorry but I've never been able to see that as anything other than the Autobots logo.*


----------



## TOMCAT (Jan 4, 2023)

Terronium-12 said:


> *
> 
> 
> 
> ...



It is a good digging for nostalgic hardware fans. Espacially if you still have a nForce 4 Board.
It is a Thermalright HR-05 SLI chipset- (better: northbridge-) cooler to replace noisy activ 4cm-fan coolers of that area. 

Almost the same version, but SLI/IFX. There are also non-SLI versions of the HR-05.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 4, 2023)

MaxiPro800 said:


> I already have a 9500GT 1GB for testing. Not sure what would a 64-bit crippled HD4650 help with, but if so, I guess I can scrounge some parts and patch it up to look good enough.


It's a decent enough low profile card, you can always put it in a small-form-factor system that only has IGP.



Terronium-12 said:


> Autobots, roll out! Sorry but I've never been able to see that as anything other than the Autobots logo.


Wouldn't that be the Decepticons logo?


----------



## Terronium-12 (Jan 4, 2023)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wouldn't that be the Decepticons logo?



*Honestly, I go back and forth. 

It looks like parts of both.*


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 5, 2023)

Terronium-12 said:


> *I don't have the ZS Gamer anymore. Not sure what happened to it. Maybe it died?*


My Audigy2 ZS seems to have died as it doesn't even get detected anymore.  damn, it was my favourite soundcard.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 5, 2023)

Kissamies said:


> My Audigy2 ZS seems to have died as it doesn't even get detected anymore.  damn, it was my favourite soundcard.


Those are good cards. Have you visually inspected the card? It might be the caps. Take a photo and let's see.


----------



## Kissamies (Jan 5, 2023)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those are good cards. Have you visually inspected the card? It might be the caps. Take a photo and let's see.


I'll take a pic later today after I've slept, it's in my AGP GPU box and I'm too tired to search it now.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Friday at 1:55 AM)

I'd move it between multiple PCI slots. I had a similar issue with my HP OEM'd Audigy2 ZS and moving it in a different PCI slot made it show up and work as it should.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Saturday at 3:10 PM)

Bought this and came in yesterday. 890GX Extreme4 + Phenom II X6 1055T - already modded the mobo with the UEFI BIOS from the R2.0 variant. The only thing to test is if the USB3 ports still work (although something tells me they do as USB stuff usually never requires a separate module inside the BIOS to work, unlike PXE ROMs and such.)


----------



## Greenslade (Saturday at 5:15 PM)

Anyone got one of these, or had one? The machine looks good and well made. It looks more like a well-made HiFi Component.


----------



## AMF (Saturday at 5:56 PM)

gigabyte 

560 sli


----------



## Veseleil (Saturday at 6:58 PM)

Trekkie4 said:


> "Fra-gile ... must be Italian"  Cracks me up every time, love that movie!
> 
> On a side note, I FINALLY found something which I've been searching for over a decade. This:
> 
> ...


When you mentioned BTC, I remembered having one, I think it's from the late 90's:



Used by my best friend around 10 years, and another 10 by me. Should I say those were the real gaming years, so I can say this is built like a tank. I even lubed it with lithium grease once. It was a mess to clean afterwards  
Disassembled and keys washed many times. Dropped many, many times. It's still fully operational, but not in use. It's a damn membrane keyboard.  Edit: I remember even washing the membrane few times, as well as other parts (the sides, metal plate).


----------



## Greenslade (Saturday at 10:32 PM)

I Have just seen this
ASUS P8H61-LX RM Si Motherboard  this board is a mini atx will this fit in a full size case?At the top of 
Good working condition, no i/o shield”And yet down below  he says 
ASUS P8H61-LX Motherboard + intel i5 2400 CPU + FAN + 4GB Ram tested to windows environment
Comes with intel i5 2400 + 4GB Ram
i/o shield included?
All expansion slots working
Has the seller lost it since putting picture on there?
​


----------



## 68Olds (Saturday at 11:10 PM)

Greenslade said:


> I Have just seen this
> ASUS P8H61-LX RM Si Motherboard  this board is a mini atx will this fit in a full size case?At the top of​Good working condition, no i/o shield”And yet down below  he says​ASUS P8H61-LX Motherboard + intel i5 2400 CPU + FAN + 4GB Ram tested to windows environment​Comes with intel i5 2400 + 4GB Ram​i/o shield included?​All expansion slots working​Has the seller lost it since putting picture on there?
> 
> ​​​View attachment 278103​


Yes, it will fit.  Just got to match up the stand-offs.  Easy.


----------



## Greenslade (Saturday at 11:21 PM)

68Olds said:


> Yes, it will fit.  Just got to match up the stand-offs.  Easy.


So i see i thought is was a mini one.But looked it up.I bought the inel one but saw this one  as i can get higher CPU,s on it.But if it does not have the I.O Shield  i want bother .I don,t know why he says no i,o shield  at the top, and yet down below in the advert it says it does, plus the fact it shows the i.o sheld  in the picture


----------



## 68Olds (Saturday at 11:25 PM)

His ad says he's selling an ASUS P8H61-*LX RM Si*, but the picture is of an ASUS P8H61-*MX*.  I would move on from this seller.


----------



## AMF (Saturday at 11:36 PM)

hehehe who remembers this? https://oldcomputers.net/atari800.html


----------



## Greenslade (Saturday at 11:41 PM)

68Olds said:


> His ad says he's selling an ASUS P8H61-*LX RM Si*, but the picture is of an ASUS P8H61-*MX*.  I would move on from this seller.


 Yes i just looked no wonder he said it did not include the I.O Shield.Thanks for that  68olds.It all gets confusing with some many different modals of the same board.The Intel board only has PCI 2 I should have done more researchI see PCI
3,0  provides twice the performance of PCI 2.


----------



## 68Olds (Saturday at 11:49 PM)

If the plan is still a vintage gaming PC the PCIe 2.0 shouldn't be a problem.  
Drivers for the Intel board might be problematic though.  Seems Intel doesn't have drivers for their board on the support site anymore.  It may be a search, but should work out okay.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Sunday at 12:07 AM)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wouldn't that be the Decepticons logo?


indeed ... that's what i always saw when looking at the mega[tron]halems ...


----------



## AMF (Sunday at 12:13 AM)

i have 2 of these


----------



## Greenslade (Sunday at 12:29 AM)

68Olds said:


> If the plan is still a vintage gaming PC the PCIe 2.0 shouldn't be a problem.
> Drivers for the Intel board might be problematic though.  Seems Intel doesn't have drivers for their board on the support site anymore.  It may be a search, but should work out okay.


Well i would like to go for the Asus one if he has the shield.I see that this the modal that he mentions it is very tiny ASUS P8H61-LX RM Si  that is a very tiny board  .It has better specs than the MX one he has for sale. though.but the only advantage 





 over the Intal


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sunday at 3:19 AM)

Greenslade said:


> It looks more like a well-made HiFi Component.


That was what they were aiming for.



Kissamies said:


> I'll take a pic later today after I've slept, it's in my AGP GPU box and I'm too tired to search it now.


So have you looked at the caps?


----------



## framebuffer (Sunday at 3:45 PM)

aand with this Ti 4600 and G400 DH I'm done buying video cards (unless I literally see someone throwing away a 3dfx or similar)
400 is crazy enough


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sunday at 5:48 PM)

Veseleil said:


> When you mentioned BTC, I remembered having one, I think it's from the late 90's:
> 
> View attachment 278073View attachment 278074
> 
> ...


You mean, this keyboard right here? 




Yes I actually had one, myself!  As you can probably tell from the photo, it was used in parallel with the other BTC keyboard, the one I recently found & restored.


----------



## Greenslade (Sunday at 6:05 PM)

I have just bought  this Asus P8H61-MX with a i5 2400 and a want to update the CPU at a later date.What i want to ask is the difference between a CPU with s. at the end of the CPU?I managed to get another £1 off on top of the £4 he had offered  me.  i Have just looked up the CPU,s this board can use
Asus p8h61-mx-mx  it suports
i5 3570k   3,4g.     L3 6M.  IGPU 4C,    REV E1
and yet does not mention  this one Why?
Ausus p8h61
i5 3570    3.4 g.      L3  6M.  IGPU. 4C   REV NO?
i was hoping to get this one  H3570
Rev  no.    mean?
On my motherboard it says
rev 1.o1
If i got the i5 3570k i would need a better cooler is that right?The one is as much as i want to pay for a CPU £14 at CEX.Both the i5  3550 and the 3550s. are £12 there.
The 3570  is £11 on eBay.I see that the 3550  is 2% better than the i5 3570 k 
UserBenchmark
Motherboard: Asus P8H61-MX​
KOR-User, 12 months ago.Core i5-3570, GTX 1070-Ti
So it does work with the motherboard Battleship - 76Good


----------



## Veseleil (Sunday at 6:11 PM)

Trekkie4 said:


> You mean, this keyboard right here?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Seems that BTC doesn't exist anymore. And the "BTC" naming makes it even harder in web search. I was wrong though, it's actually a dome with sliders keyboard. Any particular info about BTC I should know about? BTW I like your setup, and the mentioned KB seems to be used a lot, I can see the silver paint stripped under the arrow keys. 

Edit: Found the website









						BTC英群企業股份有限公司 │ EMS 專業代工 │ 智慧控制 │ 智慧影音 │ LED Lighting
					

英群/鈺群企業累積了多年電子代工專業技能,專精EMS代工.SMT代工推薦,DIP,組裝.測試,包裝,OEM全製程服務,近年更因應全球環保意識,發展各式節能標章LED室內照明產品,未來將持續發展智能照明及其系統,營業項目包含停車場節能標章、節能補助led燈管推薦,燈具推薦,天井燈,無塵室黃光燈等,嚴格要求為客戶提供、推薦最優良的品質及最好的服務,成為客戶加工夥伴為我司努力目標



					www.btc.com.tw
				




And a wiki:









						Behavior Tech Computer - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## TRWOV (Sunday at 6:24 PM)

Greenslade said:


> I have just bought  this Asus P8H61-MX with a i5 2400 and a want to update the CPU at a later date.What i want to ask is the difference between a CPU with s. at the end of the CPU?I managed to get another £1 off on top of the £4 he had offered  me.
> 
> 
> View attachment 278182


The S means it's a 65w CPU. Regular 95w 2400 runs at 3.1GHz while the s-version runs at 2.5Ghz.

There's also T versions which are rated at 35w.


----------



## Greenslade (Sunday at 6:28 PM)

TRWOV said:


> The S means it's a 65w CPU. Regular 95w 2400 runs at 3.1GHz while the s-version runs at 2.5Ghz.
> 
> There's also T versions which are rated at 35w.


​So that is the only difference why they say the s is better than the non s version.Lower power.Mind you in the energy crises we have in the UK the lower the better. Thanks for your answer TRWOV . eBay i just put on a refund for something i have not received.The Postal service here in the uk have been striking, so post has been taking longer.But i have given this seller two months before i asked for a refund.But he has only given me a partial refund of £9.94 the full amount should be £15.94.If that was Amazon i would have got a full refund.It is not my fault i have not received it.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sunday at 6:49 PM)

Veseleil said:


> Seems that BTC doesn't exist anymore. And the "BTC" naming makes it even harder in web search. I was wrong though, it's actually a dome with sliders keyboard. Any particular info about BTC I should know about? BTW I like your setup, and the mentioned KB seems to be used a lot, I can see the silver paint stripped under the arrow keys.
> 
> Edit: Found the website
> 
> ...


Yes, BTC was a huge company back in a day, known for their optical drives. I already mentioned their CD-ROM drives in this very thread countless of times, and from what I can tell they're not exactly known (and remembered) kindly by most of the folks. In fact, most of them refer to BTC as junk & low budget crap which (in my opinion) isn't fair or even accurate to begin with.


 



But yes, BTC (Behavior Tech Computer) also made & designed some of the other components such as mice, keyboards & sound cards. Some of these were just simply re-labeled BTC by them (but actually made by someone else), while some components (keyboards & optical drives in particular) were made specifically by them, but they were hugely popular some time between the early 90s and early 2000s. Soon after ... around 2006, 2007 it would seem they've given up & disappeared from the scene never to be seen or heard from again. Of course, if you Google for "BTC" nowdays you're only going to find BitCoin stuff, as if BTC corporation never existed which is kinda sad if you ask me 

As for the keyboard from my photo, yes - it was already pretty worn around the arrow keys in 2004 and was eventually replaced with cheap, generic keyboard in 2006. It really looked kinda cool (I'll give you that), but it didn't have anything "special" to it, which would make me want to buy the same one, again. Where on the other hand, "8110" (that ergonomic keyboard from the previous page) had ... and still has quite unique layout which isn't exactly common or standard nowdays, and is considered pretty rare.


----------



## MachineLearning (Sunday at 10:54 PM)

Hi everyone 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




I don't know why, but I have a strange obsession with mediocre motherboards. Especially Foxconn and Intel boards, which enthusiasts largely ignored even in their heydays. After playing around with the Bad Axe 2, I was hooked, because I really had low expectations for the board and it exceeded them - Bonetrail had to be next. Smackover 1 & 2 are in the future... and that will make my Intel board collection complete.

Teased at IDF 2007, Bonetrail in the form of the DX38BT was the successor to the aforementioned D975XBX2/KR. Despite nearly a two years' gap, the layout of Bonetrail is strikingly similar to the Bad Axe.
Bonetrail:








Bad Axe 2:








In my opinion, Bonetrail looks far more organized and finished than the Bad Axe, except for the barren rear I/O spot.

Looking closer, there have been numerous additions and omissions, most notably the absence of floppy or PS/2 connectors on Bonetrail. Also, a lot of minor components have been shifted around, such as the 4-pin molex, EPS, & ATX 24-pin. The northbridge uses a far better retention system in my opinion, using screws and a small metal bracket instead of flimsy plastic U-bars.




It sort of looks like a mini socket 370 / 462 heatsink + bracket. I like the rear metal retention plate.
PWM cooling may now be removed, Intel decided to use push-pins (albeit weird ones with a throughpin) instead of thermal adhesive.




CPU power delivery is a true 5-phase PWM controlled by an ADP3189, on both boards. However, while I haven't removed the Bad Axe's VRM heatsinks to see what makes up each phase, I can guarantee it's organized differently than Bonetrail. On the Bad Axe, the MOSFETs are double the height - plus, Bonetrail has 4 MOSFETs/phase while Bad Axe only has 3 FETs per phase.








Per phase: 2x Infineon 79N03S (40A) & 2x OnSemi 4835N (104A).

Capacitors are from:
- Rubycon
- Nichicon
- Fujitsu
- Panasonic / Sanyo
- SamXon

The northbridge was produced Wk36/2008, and the southbridge Wk31/2008. The PCB date code is a surprise - it's nearly a full year before either other component (Wk50/2007). Just as with the Bad Axe, I can't find a PCB layer count, but I assume it's a 6-layer.








I replaced both the NB & SB paste with MX-4, and gave each phase its own 1.0mm Arctic APT2560 (now TP-2) thermal pad. I also attached a 40mm Noctua which I had on-hand to the NB.








*Overclocking
--- 555.98 MHz, *#1 for board, top 100 X38
hwbot.org/submission/5163725_
*Memory:*
~ 1800 DR Dual-channel
~ 1900 SR Dual-channel
~ 2050+ SR Single-channel
Will POST 2200MHz 1/3 times, but will never get into windows.
*--- 2080 MHz DDR3* (SR, Single-channel, slot #0)
hwbot.org/submission/5165540_

This motherboard does significantly better than I assumed it would. The 556MHz FSB makes it the top Intel-branded motherboard in that regard. The DX38BT and DX48BT2 are identical except for the chipset, so I thought the DX38BT would just be inherently worse due to Intel handicapping it. Surprisingly, it seems that's not the case, and any issues with the board are probably due to ineptitude rather than sabotage. In fact, both boards use the exact same BIOS, with the only assumed difference being different internal MCH timings.
I discovered that at 550MHz, there is a wall for 1333MHz FSB CPUs. Macsbeach98     recommended BCLK modding the CPU, and it worked like a dream. This is because the clockgen (SLG505YC256BT) will only allow ~ 550MHz - 720MHz to be selected if it believes there's a 1600MHz FSB CPU socketed. However, 550 MHz is already close to the board's maximum - at least with the 1.7v limit in BIOS. I fully intend on modding the NB voltage (controller: Intersil ISL6545) after I learn from GTX 260 modding. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Also, I gave a random Q9550 a go - it became unhappy at around 480MHz... Well, it's surely no Gigabyte P45. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



Intel Integrator Toolkit 4.x still works with this board just like the Bad Axe 2. So of course, I made a custom BIOS that makes OC go a bit more smoothly. Loading Optimal Defaults will make the board ready for OC, including disabling watchdog timer, eSATA / IDE, and other unnecessary onboard devices. However, I didn't bother making a changelog this time around, since I don't think it's all that important here. If anyone is interested in all my changes, opening up the supplied .ITW file in ITK will show what has been changed from default.








Links:
- Warp9 Intel Bonetrail BIOS (works for both DX38BT & DX48BT2)
- Intel Integrator Toolkit 4.0.1.258
- Intel Desktop Control Center 4.2.0.769
- All stock Bonetrail BIOSes

It may take me a massive amount of time, but I do eventually intend on taking a look at:
- Abit AN7
- Abit IS7-E
- ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
- MSI K8N Neo3-F
- *Potential* DX58SO, DX58SO2


----------



## Trekkie4 (Sunday at 11:34 PM)

Here's (even) more BTC-related material ... since you guys seem to enjoy it so much 
A "stack" of BCD XH drives (Hitachi Loader), imported from the USA:


 

 



The loading tray for XH series uses one of the most complicated (yet extremely durable) parts & arrangements:



A brand new, never-used BTC optical mouse & still inside its original box. I'm saving this one for a VERY special occasion which may (or may not) happen some time in 2023 ... mostly depending on my financial situation:


----------



## Greenslade (Monday at 4:47 PM)

Can i use a Rev  NO.     on a E1  motherboard?All though someone had used  a REV NO on a 61.-mx board  on user benchmark site.
This one i5 3570  REV NO  all though  i5 3570k is E1 is a supported  cpu for my motherboard.
The first ever GeForce GPU in 1999​


----------



## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Monday at 7:07 PM)

MachineLearning said:


> Hi everyone
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you allow me, I would like to support your work.
How will this be?
I can prepare a Bios file that supports NVMe SSD drives for the 2 motherboards you listed below.
All I need is the hardware credentials of the NVMe SSD drive you are using.
I can inject NVMe SSD modules into the motherboard's bios file.
It will be very interesting and surprising.

*ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
MSI K8N Neo3-F*


----------



## MachineLearning (Monday at 7:18 PM)

İsmailTPC_Hastanesi said:


> If you allow me, I would like to support your work.
> How will this be?
> I can prepare a Bios file that supports NVMe SSD drives for the 2 motherboards you listed below.
> All I need is the hardware credentials of the NVMe SSD drive you are using.
> ...


Thank you kindly, Ismail.  I sincerely appreciate your efforts and support.

The two modules will be:


> *PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_5763
> PCI\VEN_144D&DEV_A804*


What an interesting experiment for those two boards! I will report back with photos and results ASAP.

- Additionally, you can expect the X58 Classified3 NVMe results by the end of this week.


----------



## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Monday at 7:48 PM)

MachineLearning said:


> Thank you kindly, Ismail.  I sincerely appreciate your efforts and support.
> 
> The two modules will be:
> 
> ...


Ok, the information has been received and the files will be ready as soon as possible..
What I'm most curious about here is the NVMe SSD drive speeds for the MSI K8N Neo3-F motherboard.
It is interesting that this motherboard has both a PCIExpress slot and an MSI AGR (Advance Graphics Riser) slot.


----------



## MachineLearning (Monday at 7:54 PM)

İsmailTPC_Hastanesi said:


> Ok, the information has been received and the files will be ready as soon as possible..
> What I'm most curious about here is the NVMe SSD drive speeds for the MSI K8N Neo3-F motherboard.
> It is interesting that this motherboard has both a PCIExpress slot and an MSI AGR (Advance Graphics Riser) slot.


I will run CrystalDiskMark on all three boards so we can see how they do. 

Something else important, is if the AGR slot & PCIe x16 slot may be used in tandem. I don't have any PCIe x1 graphics-cards, but I can try a PCI one. Otherwise, I run out of slots on the Neo3-F.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Monday at 8:10 PM)

Another set of oldies but goldies I took out from the storage. ASUS P5B, a HD4850 (also by ASUS, lol) and a Q6600.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Monday at 8:14 PM)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Another set of oldies but goldies I took out from the storage. ASUS P5B, a HD4850 (also by ASUS, lol) and a Q6600.


Ah, that ASUS yellow... Didn't like it then, still dislike it now!


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Monday at 8:15 PM)

Honestly, not a fan of it either - but considering I had the Plus variant that was dead, having a vanilla P5B alone was something. That, and it's probably among the most modded boards I could ever think of.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Monday at 8:20 PM)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Honestly, not a fan of it either - but considering I had the Plus variant that was dead, having a vanilla P5B alone was something. That, and it's probably among the most modded boards I could ever think of.


Oh of course! It's a badass board. It's just ugly. It was their stupidly ugly hallmark colour.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Monday at 8:32 PM)

lexluthermiester said:


> Oh of course! It's a badass board. It's just ugly. It was their stupidly ugly hallmark colour.


Some DFI and Winfast-branded Foxconns also had this color scheme, more or less as well. I have a Infinity NF4 SLi in storage (which I might ressurect out of storage if I can find at least a cheap 939 x2 chip as well) that's about the same color as the ASUS.

For a fact, ASUS kept that gold colour to a degree, while DFI's take seems to have some slight green tinge to it in some places (where there aren't any traces running.)

As for Foxconn, the only I've seen to bear that colour were usually Winfast boards from the 462 and 754/939 era. Their 478 and 775 mobos were blue and the few AM2s I've seen from Winfast (of which I have one waiting for parts) had a orange-ish PCB.

Another option would have been a G41+DDR3 based ECS. Unfortunately, it's so severely crippled that any RAM I throw at it runs at 800MHz, and the BIOS is an obscenely lackluster AMIBIOS implementation. Maybe I'll try to trade it for a MSI G41T-P23, who knows. Also have a GB G41 Combo which has DDR3 and DDR2, but yet again, it's crippled by poor VRM design (originally had a Q8300 that was burning the FETs from too much power draw - you can imagine how crappy of a board it is if even as much as a 65nm C2D has troubles running on it.)


----------



## stinger608 (Monday at 8:36 PM)

MaxiPro800 said:


> if I can find at least a cheap 939 x2 chip as well



Dang, wish you were in the US. I still have 3 or 4 939 x2 chips and I'd just send ya one.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Monday at 11:47 PM)

Welp, got the P5B up and running.




Note to self: never ever use a 2004 Raptor as main OS drive ever again. I feel like even a laptop drive would've been a faster choice than this Raptor, despite being 10k RPM. Will probably keep them for the DFI nF4 machine that I'm gonna build. At best, if I can't find any x2 (the only I found so far are complete kits on a rather barren Gigabyte mobo, and the price doesn't seem worth it for me), I still seem to have a pair of 3500s. No idea where they came from, but I guess they'll do just fine with a HD4650 and a random run of 512MB sticks.


----------



## Greenslade (Tuesday at 12:13 AM)

What does  Rev N mean?All the cpus for my board
ASUS P8H61-MX CPU compatibility list​apart from the one i would go for
Core i5-3570 (3.4G,L3:6M,iGPU,4C,VT-d,77W,rev.N0)
This one is not supported on my Motherboard it seems to be the only one that   doesn,t The IVY BRIDGE have an E1.
Intel Xeon E3-1230 v3 3 this one is  but at £30 that is to exspencive.


----------



## Veseleil (Tuesday at 12:38 AM)

To continue in the the LGA 775 spirit, I found this on the market, all quite cheap:



Luckily my wallet is empty ATM.  Any thoughts? I know the first one is a must buy though.

Edit: left photos only of the suggested ones, for my own future reference.


----------



## stinger608 (Tuesday at 12:45 AM)

Oh man @Veseleil , the Rampage Formula's are hard to find. That would be awesome if you can pick that one alone.


----------



## 68Olds (Tuesday at 3:47 AM)

I still used my Rampage Formula with a q9650 & a GTX 970 for folding@home until I switched to the RX6800XT in my primary rig. That was a fun system when it was my gamer.


----------



## MachineLearning (Tuesday at 3:55 AM)

Rampage Formula, EP35-DS4, and P5E3 Deluxe are the good ones there IMO. P5E3 Deluxe can be flashed to the X48 Premium.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Tuesday at 4:37 AM)

Rampage Formula, EP35-DS4, P5B Deluxe and P5E3 Deluxe would be my choices too.


----------



## Veseleil (Tuesday at 12:22 PM)

Actually there are 2 rampage formulas, it's just a different sticker on the south bridge (the second one)? 
@stinger608 @MachineLearning @MaxiPro800 thanks for the info, I'll keep that in mind (and buy a few as soon as i can).


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Tuesday at 12:32 PM)

Veseleil said:


> Actually there are 2 rampage formulas, it's just a different sticker on the south bridge (the second one)?
> @stinger608 @MachineLearning @MaxiPro800 thanks for the info, I'll keep that in mind (and buy a few as soon as i can).


Could be a rebranded P5E - I remember there was a craze where P5E were crossflashed to Rampage Formula, and ASUS even sold binned Rampage Formulas as standard P5E mobos.

Kinda like how the P5B Plus is nothing else than a P5B-E w/ a black PCB. 

Nowadays it's not much different - look at how I flashed my GB 880GM-UD2H and ASRock 890GX Extreme4 to support FX chips - both are the similar to their pre-FX era counterparts (well, the 890GX only had the USB3 chipset changed from NEC to EtronTech, but that's not an issue since they run as BIOS-independent devices) except for bigger BIOS chips to acommodate the AGESA module. 

I presume the older boards from 775 era aren't far off.


----------



## Veseleil (Tuesday at 1:09 PM)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Could be a rebranded P5E - I remember there was a craze where P5E were crossflashed to Rampage Formula, and ASUS even sold binned Rampage Formulas as standard P5E mobos.
> 
> Kinda like how the P5B Plus is nothing else than a P5B-E w/ a black PCB.
> 
> ...


Did some quick research, and the second one is called maximus formula:









						ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA LGA 775 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com
					

Buy ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				




Further, bumped on a thread which mention maximus to rampage conversion, so it confirms what you said earlier:






						The Maximus Formula Thread - Help/OCing/Guide/Rampage conversion
					

This thread is intended to be a knowledge base and save people from hours of searching through the original thread on the Maximus Formula! Thank you to L.oco for starting the thread, I only hope that in time this one can be as informative and helpful!      Board Revisions    There are 2 known...



					www.xtremesystems.org


----------



## 68Olds (Tuesday at 1:30 PM)

Yup, I have an ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA SE X38 too.  I bought it from a bencher & it has had a pretty hard life (still works though).  It's board only, no I/O or soundcard, but the NB cooler can either be water or air cooled.  I flashed it to the X48 Rampage Formula BIOS using that thread at XS, Veseleil, before I found my actual X48 board.


----------



## Veseleil (Tuesday at 2:00 PM)

Arranged a deal for a Rampage Formula. Few hours from a purchase. Update when it's done.


----------



## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Tuesday at 5:42 PM)

MachineLearning said:


> I will run CrystalDiskMark on all three boards so we can see how they do.
> 
> Something else important, is if the AGR slot & PCIe x16 slot may be used in tandem. I don't have any PCIe x1 graphics-cards, but I can try a PCI one. Otherwise, I run out of slots on the Neo3-F.


Both files are ready.
*2023_ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe-1406-NVME_M.2_SSD_BIOS_MOD*
This bios has been changed to Date 02/29/2023 (Until Feb 28 this year, 29 never.)
The boot logo has been rearranged to 1024x768. (I don't know if it will work. It will probably give access to the Bios. No problem.)
PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_5763
PCI\VEN_144D&DEV_A804
these two NVMe SSD modules have been added.

The MSI K8N Neo3 bios is AWARD and quite old.Year 2006.
Older AWARD bios can sometimes cause problems. I know this from previous experience.
Likewise this bios
PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_5763
PCI\VEN_144D&DEV_A804
Added these two NVMe SSD modules.
This motherboard doesn't have boot logo in stock bios.. But I can add more if you want. It can be tested like this for now..
These bios files are untested. They are experimental.
It is the user's responsibility to install the bios files.
I wish you success in advance.
*MSI K8N Neo3_NVME_M.2_SSD_BIOS_MOD*

*Finally, to avoid an error, stock bios official bios pages:*





						A8N32-SLI Deluxe - Support
					






					www.asus.com
				








						MSI  Global - The Leading Brand in High-end Gaming & Professional Creation
					

As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, and roll out the amazing gaming gear like motherboards, graphics cards, laptops and desktops.




					www.msi.com


----------



## Trekkie4 (Tuesday at 5:49 PM)

I suppose the next couple of shots are going to be slightly off-topic but still relevant enough to post them in here (I guess?)

Pentium II 400 with Gigabyte GA-686BX mobo running 3dfx Voodoo Banshee & Windows 98SE




...and even performing a benchmark:


 



The only "problem" is that none of these components actually exist in real world ... what you're seeing is emulation inside PCem virtual machine setup...


----------



## 68Olds (Tuesday at 5:55 PM)

Trekkie4 said:


> I suppose the next couple of shots are going to be slightly off-topic but still relevant enough to post them in here (I guess?)
> 
> Pentium II 400 with Gigabyte GA-686BX mobo running 3dfx Voodoo Banshee & Windows 98SE
> 
> ...


Well, that's really interesting!


----------



## Trekkie4 (Tuesday at 6:15 PM)

68Olds said:


> Well, that's really interesting!


Indeed, and kinda scary actually. Makes you wonder if all those Matrix movies were up to something & we exist within our own emulation/simulation and nothing around us is (or was, for that matter) real.

As for the actual "hardware", it seems to be working just fine. Except I'm having unusual issue with Shut Down command (which doesn't seem to do anything, other than restarting) and random audio/video lags. I wonder if any of those are related to my real hardware & OS, i5 760, GTX760 & Windows 7 SP1?


----------



## 68Olds (Tuesday at 6:27 PM)

I have an mITX, Sandy Bridge, iGPU, & Win 10 that hasn't shut down for ages, just restarts.  I tried a few things from online searches, but never had any luck.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Tuesday at 6:27 PM)

Phenom II X6 up and running. I finally went ahead and moved the 412R from my i7 860 rig to the X6, and installed a ID-Cooling cooler on the i7 instead.













GPU is a MSI Twinfrozr IV R9 280X Gamimg 3GB GDDR5.

Up next...



Indeed, a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 and i7 920. For GPU, I've settled on a VTX3D R9 280 (HD 7950 this time, a 7970/280x would be too much for my PSU to take atm.) For PSU, I'll probably go for a Corsair GS700. Yeah, I know, RGB, but I'd guess that's an good thing since I can at least pick my favourite colour (judging by the presentation material.). And it shall be enough to tame a 130W beast of a platform - I shudder in fear to think of the TDP of a 1366 chip w/ overclock.


----------



## Trekkie4 (Tuesday at 6:32 PM)

68Olds said:


> I have an mITX, Sandy Bridge, iGPU, & Win 10 that hasn't shut down for ages, just restarts.  I tried a few things from online searches, but never had any luck.


Huh... I would go crazy with something like that on a regular & daily basis!


----------



## Bokinator (Tuesday at 6:47 PM)

Trekkie4 said:


> I suppose the next couple of shots are going to be slightly off-topic but still relevant enough to post them in here (I guess?)
> 
> Pentium II 400 with Gigabyte GA-686BX mobo running 3dfx Voodoo Banshee & Windows 98SE
> 
> ...



Nice man I been using pcem to emulate my first build which was a similar spec. I also use pcem to emulate my windows 95 and windows 3.1 PCs from the 90s. I have networking setup and routing through theoldnet proxy so internet explorer can pull up retro websites by default


----------



## Trekkie4 (Tuesday at 9:00 PM)

Bokinator said:


> Nice man I been using pcem to emulate my first build which was a similar spec. I also use pcem to emulate my windows 95 and windows 3.1 PCs from the 90s. I have networking setup and routing through theoldnet proxy so internet explorer can pull up retro websites by default


Thanks! I still got some issues to work out, primarily Shut Down command which doesn't work & lags which seem to be related to my actual system, host rather than a guest. But in the long run, I could see these replacing the real, authentic hardware over the next 10-20 years.

I mean, with the prices going crazy & Slot 1 becoming extremely rare & difficult to find, more & more people will be looking for alternative solutions such as this.


----------



## Veseleil (Yesterday at 12:15 AM)

Here it is, a beauty:



TBH, I never had a motherboard of this quality, and those copper fins are something else.


Came with some nice extras:



It's a 95W, E0 stepping beast of its time.

And not so nice extras:



A word "Silence" made me laugh. I can't seem to control this fan from the BIOS at all, it's on full throttle, w/e I set.


----------



## MachineLearning (Yesterday at 12:16 AM)

Veseleil said:


> Here it is, a beauty:
> 
> View attachment 278492View attachment 278493
> 
> ...


Board is in great condition too. Happy overclocking


----------



## Veseleil (Yesterday at 12:21 AM)

MachineLearning said:


> Board is in great condition too. Happy overclocking


Thanks, but I lack some key components atm. PSU, storage, higher quality RAM, better cooler. It'll be done eventually. I hope sooner than later.

Edit: Yes, the previous owner used it only for testing the working condition of some components (mostly GPU), and quite rarely. Also a tech freak, but more of an audio and video gear enthusiast. The CPU IHS is flat as can be, but i really like copper. 

@Makaveli is *this* your review?


----------



## 68Olds (Yesterday at 1:29 AM)

Did yours come with all the accessories - sound card, VRM cooler, I/O plate, etc?


----------



## Veseleil (Yesterday at 1:41 AM)

68Olds said:


> Did yours come with all the accessories - sound card, VRM cooler, I/O plate, etc?


Not a single one whatsoever.


----------



## Bokinator (Yesterday at 1:43 AM)

My 2005-2006 mega champ! Played games like Quake 4, FEAR, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and Oblivion


----------



## Greenslade (Yesterday at 4:14 AM)

Mr retro I like this guy he likes  he likes Asus motherboards too.  He gets a lot of stuff from CEX .


----------



## Audioave10 (Yesterday at 3:19 PM)

RETRO Hardware has found some crazy stuff too.


----------



## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Yesterday at 3:27 PM)

I don't know but could this motherboard be classic series?
However, I know very well that it was the only overclocking dual-processor motherboard that was not a problem in its class at that time:
"EVGA Classified SR-2 (270-WS-W555"
X58/1366 Socket
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The motherboard you see in the pictures was gifted to me by a friend from China.
Currently this motherboard is around $1000 on the second hand market.
How so?
My Chinese Friend's Name is "Ma Jinze"
I don't know if it hangs here.
I gifted it software and he gifted me this motherboard.
Wow!!!
I wanted to share this information with you.
I'm currently doing some detailed investigations.
I added NVMe SSD support in the bios
*CPU-Z Information*
2022/EVGA Classified SR-2 (270-WS-W555) NVMe SSD BIOS MOD​


----------



## Veseleil (Yesterday at 3:39 PM)

There was one in our second hand market, 5-6 years ago, covered in waterblocks, and with a pair of X5670. Older version, but it could be nice investment, not quite cheap, but not even close to $1000 neither.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Yesterday at 3:40 PM)

Hmm....



The EX58-UD5 and i7 920 from earlier, put to work.


----------



## Veseleil (Yesterday at 4:00 PM)

Is X79 considered old enough to be nostalgic? I have another gem coming in day or two.


----------



## Greenslade (Yesterday at 4:04 PM)

I like this guy's videos, I wondered where he lived as he is always taking in euros.  And in this video, he says he lives in the Canary islands, lucky him,  







He keeps on mentioning Bootfaires in the winter. They're all in the summer here in the Uk. I never see many custom PC,s at boot fairs Or that many OEM PC,s at all  .I don,t know how he gets some of them free. And pays peanuts for the other ones he buys.  Of course, if you are in the USA you have those garage sales.


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Yesterday at 4:04 PM)

Veseleil said:


> Is X79 considered old enough to be nostalgic? I have another gem coming in day or two.


As long as it has 1394, I'd say yes.


----------



## Greenslade (Yesterday at 6:01 PM)

I have just seen this for £5
Old Retro PC - AMD Athlon XP 2800+it,


is a ugly case but for five pounds worth it just for the parts.Only trouble is like all the stuff I see on F.M.P it is the other side of London just on the outskirts of the next county.Plus the fact it looks a big and heavy beast,  





MD Athlon XP 2800+ (Coolermaster Cooler)
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Motherboard
40GB HDD
1GB RAM
Radeon 7000   64 mb



DVD Drive
TV Card
DVD ROM and CD-RW
Boots up but may be faulty. (untested)
I have an Athlon 2400 pc so I could upgrade the CPU. The PSU must be working on It will probably do me in carrying it home lots of changes on the tube thank god for the tube. I would not fancy getting it on a Bus


----------



## 68Olds (Yesterday at 6:17 PM)

That CPU is interesting.  It's not the Jet, but it's similar.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Yesterday at 6:19 PM)

İsmailTPC_Hastanesi said:


> I don't know but could this motherboard be classic series?
> However, I know very well that it was the only overclocking dual-processor motherboard that was not a problem in its class at that time:
> "EVGA Classified SR-2 (270-WS-W555"
> X58/1366 Socket
> ...


My daily.


----------



## Greenslade (Yesterday at 6:26 PM)

68Olds said:


> That CPU is interesting.  It's not the Jet, but it's similar.
> 
> View attachment 278622


It certainly does, never seen one like that before. It is another ugly case but I won't be using it, as I now have two PC cases. I will try the PSU on my MSI 7513 motherboard although I have ordered a power switch to test it out.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Yesterday at 6:27 PM)

Mr.Scott said:


> My daily. View attachment 278623View attachment 278624


Your copy of Windows in not genuine... 

And where's your GPU?


----------



## Mr.Scott (Yesterday at 6:48 PM)

lexluthermiester said:


> Your copy of Windows in not genuine...
> 
> And where's your GPU?


Old pic. lol
GPU in pic is Nv 730.
GPU now is a 980.

You know I don't pay for OS's.  lol


----------



## 68Olds (Yesterday at 6:51 PM)

Mr.Scott said:


> My daily. View attachment 278623View attachment 278624


The only house in the neighborhood with 480v 3phase electrical service.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Yesterday at 6:56 PM)

68Olds said:


> The only house in the neighborhood with 480v 3phase electrical service.


Indeed. Needed it for the chiller anyways.


----------



## Veseleil (Yesterday at 6:58 PM)

Guys, I was wondering, will this be able to cool an overclocked Q9550?





I mean, not too many full copper coolers out there anyway.


----------



## Mr.Scott (Yesterday at 7:01 PM)

Sure. Are there better choices?,....yes, but that'll work.


----------



## Veseleil (Yesterday at 7:04 PM)

Aesthetics always come with a compromise in performance.


----------



## Greenslade (Yesterday at 8:25 PM)

Veseleil said:


> Guys, I was wondering, will this be able to cool an overclocked Q9550?
> 
> View attachment 278631
> 
> I mean, not too many full copper coolers out there anyway.


Would I be able to get it in this wheeled case? Luckily enough I have one tube journey from one end of the line to the other end and a short walk to the  DLR train. Will that case do the trick?


----------



## Bones (Yesterday at 8:32 PM)

Veseleil said:


> Guys, I was wondering, will this be able to cool an overclocked Q9550?
> 
> View attachment 278631
> 
> I mean, not too many full copper coolers out there anyway.


I have one of those sitting on a 7700K, cools it well enough I've no worries about it.


----------



## Greenslade (Yesterday at 9:01 PM)

Do you guys think I will get it in this case? I don,t really want the case I just want the comments .just for the CPU it is worth the price I am paying for it.


----------



## 68Olds (Yesterday at 9:36 PM)

Greenslade said:


> Do you guys think I will get it in this case? I don,t really want the case I just want the comments .just for the CPU it is worth the price I am paying for it.
> View attachment 278652
> View attachment 278651


Just grab a PC case you already have & see if it fits in the suitcase.  Hard to say from here.


----------



## Greenslade (Yesterday at 10:43 PM)

68Olds said:


> Just grab a PC case you already have & see if it fits in the suitcase.  Hard to say from here





68Olds said:


> Just grab a PC case you already have & see if it fits in the suitcase.  Hard to say from here.


That case is a lot bigger than normal.I can get a normal PC in one of those big bags.The weight is the problem i want be able to use one of those bags. Extra large Jumbo Storage Laundry zipped bag Reusable 60 x 60 x 18  could put one bag in the other one to make the bags stronger gut it would be to heavy.I asked the seller to measure the case and how much it weighs it would be much to heavy for those bags, but i could drag it if in two bags.



Veseleil said:


> Guys, I was wondering, will this be able to cool an overclocked Q9550?
> 
> View attachment 278631
> 
> I mean, not too many full copper coolers out there anyway.


It sure looks the part.


----------



## stinger608 (Yesterday at 11:02 PM)

@İsmailTPC_Hastanesi , that was an amazing score man!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Kissamies (Yesterday at 11:26 PM)

Got these. With a 2500K.






I just need an ATX case with 240 radiator support 
edit: I also put a 8GB DDR3-1600 kit to it so it has 24GB.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Today at 12:49 AM)

Veseleil said:


> Guys, I was wondering, will this be able to cool an overclocked Q9550?
> 
> View attachment 278631
> 
> I mean, not too many full copper coolers out there anyway.


Yup, as long as it's not a screaming roaster of an OC. That Zalman heatsink was and still is exceptional!



Veseleil said:


> Aesthetics always come with a compromise in performance.


Not with this one. I had one BITD on a Q9400 with an FSB OC and a bit of extra voltage. The extra heat didn't do much. Temps only went up by a few degrees C.


----------



## Kissamies (Today at 2:36 AM)

Hmph, RX 7900 XTX... I have a 7970, dammit!


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Today at 2:38 AM)

Kissamies said:


> Hmph, RX 7900 XTX... I have a 7970, dammit!
> 
> View attachment 278688


And it's even windows 8 ready!


----------



## Kissamies (Today at 2:40 AM)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> And it's even windows 8 ready!


That was a great purchase, in its original box, everything but the mousepad, just 30EUR + shipping 

Thanks to NimeZ drivers, the card still performs fine in new(-ish) games, actually the 3GB VRAM throttles it the most. Going to pair this with the Z68/2500K combo I posted above.


----------



## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Today at 1:43 PM)

Mr.Scott said:


> Benim günlüğüm.View attachment 278623View attachment 278624


EVGA Classified SR-2 (270-WS-W555)
I know very few people have this motherboard.
I felt like sharing something like a gift for those who have this motherboard.
The Bios of this motherboard is locked and I unlocked it. (Attention!!!!! I will only share the unlocked bios file if requested. For novices, using unlocked bios may brick the motherboard.)
At the same time, I added 16 different models and brands of NVMe SSD modules to the Bios file content.
@Mr.Scott that's for you.

*2022_UNLOCKED_EVGA_SR-2_270-WS-W555_3380_NVME_M.2_BIOS_MOD*



68Olds said:


> The only house in the neighborhood with 480v 3phase electrical service.


I laughed out loud at this post..


stinger608 said:


> @İsmailTPC_Hastanesi , that was an amazing score man!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank you.
I couldn't understand the score.
Is it the motherboard in the post I shared or what's the score?


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Today at 1:48 PM)

Soon...




And who knows, maybe a Xeon as well. Maybe it's my bad luck but that i7 920 I have in there (C0 stepping, as far as I remember) can't undervolt at all.


----------



## Canned Noodles (Today at 2:19 PM)

Mr.Scott said:


> My daily. View attachment 278623View attachment 278624


That board is HUGE... what case are you using??


----------



## stinger608 (Today at 2:20 PM)

İsmailTPC_Hastanesi said:


> Is it the motherboard in the post I shared



Yes!!! That's an awesome motherboard.


----------



## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Today at 2:20 PM)

This thread is forcing me to post a lot.
Because I have purchased so many motherboards and other hardware since 2007 that I can't even remember the number.
I took pictures of all of them and I keep them as archives.
I would like to share them all here, but I am very busy and I am looking for the 25th hour.
DFI Lanparty DK P35 T2RS​It was one of the Legendary motherboards at that time.
























































I don't think you've seen this motherboard before.
I could be wrong, but it was made in South Korea and in my opinion the P35 Series is one of the best motherboards for overclocking.

J&W JW IP35-PRO​


----------



## MaxiPro800 (Today at 3:09 PM)

Have ordered this just today, not sure if it'll ship tomorrow or on Monday. Not my pic, had to use a random one for now.





ASRock 970 Extreme3 + Phenom II X4 965 and supposedly a 8GB stick of RAM.

Thanks to a few folks over the previous posts I might also look into more Xeons, if I can source them cheap enough (well, not THAT cheap but not too pricey either - just the right spot!). One of the mobos I'd like to see run a Xeon would be the EX58-UD5. Especially so if it can both undervolt and overclock stable enough with the Corsair Dominators.

I also have an old JNC case I'll probably give some TLC to store one of the machines in. To be exact, the one from this post. I still have the parts from that Soyo build - the CPU is now running on a ABIT BE6-II mobo, the RAM sticks are on the same BE6, the V3 card runs on a K6-II+ build, and the DVD-ROM is also in that K6-II+ build. What I want to do is make the colours on it remote controlled - I'll have to look on how that can be done, as well as having a blue 80mm on the sidepanel instead of that RGB fan (which has no control whatsoever, it's just 12v/GND glue logic.)

And on a related note, I have found a list of the AMD AM2+/AM3 chips that can unlock. (AFAIK, the AM3+ FX chips are all unlocked by default, right?)


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## Mr.Scott (Today at 4:49 PM)

MaxiPro800 said:


> Soon...View attachment 278765
> 
> And who knows, maybe a Xeon as well. Maybe it's my bad luck but that i7 920 I have in there (C0 stepping, as far as I remember) can't undervolt at all.


Make sure you check CPU compatibility before buying Xeon. That is EX58, not EX58A.


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## Greenslade (Today at 4:50 PM)

68Olds said:


> Just grab a PC case you already have & see if it fits in the suitcase.  Hard to say from here.


The guy got back to me about the size and weight of that heavy Retro PC.Size and weight is as follows. (rounded up) 21cm(W) 45cm(H) 51cm(D) 15KG
Converting to inches as I am old school  rounding it up
9 x 18 x 21    and 33lbs.It will fit nicely in my wheeled luggage case. It would be to heavy to put in one inside the other of those laundry bags 33lbs is fair too heavy,  although I could drag it. but a case with wheels is a better bet.:I thought it would be bigger than that but glad it isn't,.I am collecting it on Saturday.
The guy got back to me stating it boots up but it might be faulty . I knew that anyway as it was in the info for it. And said someone else was interested in it. For a fiver, it is worth it for the parts and that cool-looking heatsink fan.


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## Mr.Scott (Today at 4:53 PM)

Canned Noodles said:


> That board is HUGE... what case are you using??


Cubitek HPTX Ice





						Cubitek HPTX ICE Computer Case
					

Quiet PC USA & CPU cooler, quiet computer fans; we have fantastic prices, fast shipping, and friendly, customer service.




					www.quietpcusa.com
				






İsmailTPC_Hastanesi said:


> EVGA Classified SR-2 (270-WS-W555)
> I know very few people have this motherboard.
> I felt like sharing something like a gift for those who have this motherboard.
> The Bios of this motherboard is locked and I unlocked it. (Attention!!!!! I will only share the unlocked bios file if requested. For novices, using unlocked bios may brick the motherboard.)
> ...


Got it. Thank you. 
File is passworded. Message me password.


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## MaxiPro800 (Today at 5:16 PM)

Mr.Scott said:


> Make sure you check CPU compatibility before buying Xeon. That is EX58, not EX58A.


As far as it shows, it supports Xeons, both standard and Nehalem-WS chips.


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## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Today at 7:10 PM)

Mr.Scott said:


> Cubitek HPTX Ice
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I sent the File Password from Private.
Bios unlocked file I have to do like this as it can create security issue..
Novices are likely to brick this motherboard.
Also in addition:
The Marvell driver Module in the Bios of this motherboard is faulty.
This Fabrication is a faulty module.
This cannot be fixed with bios modding or module replacement.
Its technique is different.
Because it is a standalone module.
It is not integrated into the bios.


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## lexluthermiester (Today at 7:11 PM)

MaxiPro800 said:


> And who knows, maybe a Xeon as well. Maybe it's my bad luck but that i7 920 I have in there (C0 stepping, as far as I remember) can't undervolt at all.


Yeah, you need either a W3680 or an X5675 for that board. The 920 is seriously going to hold you back.


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## İsmailTPC_Hastanesi (Today at 7:19 PM)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yeah, you need either a W3680 or an X5675 for that board. The 920 is seriously going to hold you back.


In addition:
You can use ECC rams with a XEON series processor on that motherboard.
You can also get a Total of 48GB Capacity with Single Module 8GB DDR3 rams.


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## lexluthermiester (Today at 7:21 PM)

İsmailTPC_Hastanesi said:


> In addition:
> You can use ECC rams with a XEON series processor on that motherboard.
> You can also get a Total of 48GB Capacity with Single Module 8GB DDR3 rams.


This!! ECC is the best. It's more expensive, but it eliminates single-bit errors and even some multi-bit errors that can happen and cause system problems.


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## MaxiPro800 (Today at 7:38 PM)

Definitely would... if prices per stick wouldn't be way too expensive where I live. I'd roughly spend $96 worth of ECC RAM - while standard 6x8GB sticks would set me back around $50.

That... and even if it's a Xeon, what am I gonna do with 48GB worth of RAM?  I won't be doing Blender/VEGAS/Premiere editing anytime soon, that's for sure (I don't really know how to use Premiere and Blender, and for VEGAS, my i5-3470 + 16GB DDR3 proves to be enough for it to run smoothly.)


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## Veseleil (Today at 7:40 PM)

Mr.Scott said:


> Cubitek HPTX Ice
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Awesome case.


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## Greenslade (Today at 9:45 PM)

İsmailTPC_Hastanesi said:


> This thread is forcing me to post a lot.
> Because I have purchased so many motherboards and other hardware since 2007 that I can't even remember the number.
> I took pictures of all of them and I keep them as archives.
> I would like to share them all here, but I am very busy and I am looking for the 25th hour.
> ...


Nice lot of boards there.


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