TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Athlonite]

Any difference between the regular VM and the VM/Vintage?

yeah the Vintage come complete with some lovely crust in the dimm slots LOL

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

yeah the Vintage come complete with some lovely crust in the dimm slots LOL

 

[Trekkie4]

Actually, I believe "Vintage" series is something Asus used exclusively inside their barebone Asus systems, it's a stripped-down version of the original board with special bios & some limitations. But then again, with that being said I didn't actually see any limitations so far... TBH, "Vintage" seems just like the regular P5GD2-VM board, except it uses custom BIOS

Anyway, speaking of which... Enjoy!

Stage 1, initial setup & component layout


Stage 2, testing the system to see if it runs, stress-testing the video card


Stage 3, overall cleanup & cable management


Stage 4, benchmark

 

[Trekkie4]

Ok, so it's time for final specs & technical details on RetroMaster 4000

1. Motherboard
Starting with the most obvious component Originally it was going to be Asus P5S800-VM/Vintage, but due to unfortunate set of circumstances & weird graphic problem on high-end AGP cards, I had to find a replacement board. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything better without spending too much money, until I saw that P5GD1-VM/Vintage board from the previous post! It's almost the perfect choice, except for one thing ... the old board was AGP, where the "new" one is PCIE, so I had to swap out the video card. Otherwise they're both completely the same in the terms of CPU socket, expansions & RAM memory.


2. CPU
For those of you who remember, this unit started out as "Celeron D" which was then upgraded to Pentium 4, model number SL9CB.


And there was nothing wrong with that P4 chip, in fact I was going to move it onto the new board. But then, just as I was about to do it, I decided to go with this other P4 instead Model number is SL79, and these are both running at the same clock speed (3.00GHz), except the "old", SL9CB chip has 1MB of cache and the "new" one has 2MB. So it actually makes sense to go with the best & faster, right?


3. Video card
Started out as nVidia 7600GT (AGP), which was then converted into 6600GT (AGP), and eventually into nVidia 6600LE (PCIe). That is, until I patched up my Radeon X1550 yesterday, I took the entire unit apart & swapped out the bulging caps, so now the card works perfectly fine. True, it's not 7600GT, but it's still faster than 6600 (both GT and LE), so it's a reasonable compromise between the two choices IMHO.

4. RAM
Both RAM modules are still the same, the RetroMaster 4000 features 2GB of DDR400 RAM, running in dual-channel configuration

5. Other bits & pieces
It's running Vista Ultimate, SP2 with all the latest updates & patches already downloaded & applied. It's also running the Steam, so that I can download the Source games such as Half Life 2 and/or Portal, which look (and run) absolutely amazing, with all the settings set to max without any lag. (avg. framerate is around 30-35 FPS)

Other components worth mentioning are the hard drive, Seagate Barracuda 160GB SATA unit


And D-Link AirPlus G PCI WiFi card


And there you have it guys... That's pretty much it - it's all done & fully operational!


My original benchmark scored 7816 points. However, after installing and updating all the necessary drivers (and flashing the BIOS with the latest version) I came up with 8162 points, my highest "retro" score yet!


Edit
Small update, I seem to be having a small (and somewhat annoying) problem, which I don't know how to resolve. For some reason the graphical interface (actually JUST the header, top bar) in BIOS, where it says "BIOS SETUP UTILITY" that's supposed to be displayed in gradient (see the pic below) is being displayed incorrectly, as a bar of solid colors. I might take a pic tomorrow, but really - apart from that everything else seems to be working perfectly OK!

And since the benchmark (and 3D animation, games) both check out fine, I don't think it's due to video card... Or the motherboard for that matter, either... *shrug*

 

[Athlonite]

Sweet retro build bud and nice improvement in the 3DMark score too

 

[dorsetknob]

Red_Machine

A AT /ATX Compatable Case From August 2000

Even got the Original packing Box and Polystyrene it Came in

 

[Trekkie4]

Thanks!

So, here's the fun part - the gameplay test! I went through a lot of different modes, resolutions & benchmarks, just to see what this thing can do!

Starting with the overall scores & results:


Then moving onto the additional benchmarks:


And eventually to games themselves:


Just look at the Source Engine benchmark in action!


Even the actual gameplay is superb!


Unfortunately, I'm still having that annoying problem with the BIOS header... Don't know what's causing it, but as soon as I switch to on-board VGA, it all goes back to normal *shrug*

The "Normal" BIOS screen, with the flashing gradient of color:


The "messed up" BIOS screen, with X1550 ATI card:

 

[stinger608]

Always wanted one of those drives.

That makes two of us!!!!!

 

[Robert B]

Work In Progress.

Sneak peek.

 

[Athlonite]

good god it makes me cringe when I see thermal paste gone hard and crusty like that nice job in cleaning it off though it deserves something better than the crap they put on it

 

[Trekkie4]

good god it makes me cringe when I see thermal paste gone hard and crusty like that nice job in cleaning it off though it deserves something better than the crap they put on it

I was just removing an old heatsink from a Pentium 4 machine earlier today, and so when I pulled on the aluminum radiator to yank it off the CPU itself it tore the CPU off the (closed & locked) socket!! No damage to the CPU or the motherboard from what I can tell, but oh man! Later I had to pry it off with the screwdriver, because it just wasn't letting it go

 

[DR4G00N]

I was just removing an old heatsink from a Pentium 4 machine earlier today, and so when I pulled on the aluminum radiator to yank it off the CPU itself it tore the CPU off the (closed & locked) socket!! No damage to the CPU or the motherboard from what I can tell, but oh man! Later I had to pry it off with the screwdriver, because it just wasn't letting it go

Back when I didn't know much about computers I was pulling apart our old Compaq presairo and the same thing happened, ripped the cpu right out of the socket. Funnily enough it would fit right back into the socket with it still fused to the heatsink. I resorted to the hammer and chisel method to remove it from the heatsink, which inadvertantly lead to my first ever delid of a soldered cpu. RIP Celeron D 330.

 

[Norton]

Bunch of older stuff in a Craigslist ad.... see anything good?

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/sop/d/graphics-cards-other-cards/6219202031.html

 

[Red_Machine]

3dfx Voodoo3 3000 bottom centre.

 

[Jetster]

Why you looking at Oregon?

 

[agent_x007]

My "MAD" PGA 478 build
Complete, with Pentium 4E 3,2GHz OC'ed to 3,54GHz, GTX 780 Ti, a RaptorX EFI boot drive and Samsung SM951 128GB NVMe OS drive

Here's Fire Strike Ultra Score : http://www.3dmark.com/fs/13244414

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

My "MAD" PGA 478 build
Complete, with Pentium 4E 3,2GHz OC'ed to 3,54GHz, GTX 780 Ti, a RaptorX EFI boot drive and Samsung SM951 128GB NVMe OS drive
View attachment 90674
Here's Fire Strike Ultra Score : http://www.3dmark.com/fs/13244414
View attachment 90676

Quite exquisite board, I would say. Is that the world record for firestrike ultra on that cpu?

 

[agent_x007]

That CPU isn't supported by Futuremark online software (so, basicly, there is no way to search validations for other results of this CPU).
And yes, I asked if it can be fixed : LINK.
Is it the highest ?
I would say probably, because Fire Strike Ultra requires 64-bit CPU to work.

Board is great
I had to add heatsinks on chokes, so that OC would be stable under continuous load (Summer heat isn't helping when you use Prescott on three phase VRM ).

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

That CPU isn't supported by Futuremark online software (so, basicly, there is no way to search validations for other results of this CPU).
And yes, I asked if it can be fixed : LINK.
Is it the highest ?
I would say probably, because Fire Strike Ultra requires 64-bit CPU to work.

Board is great
I had to add heatsinks on chokes, so that OC would be stable under continuous load (Summer heat isn't helping when you use Prescott on three phase VRM ).

Make an HWbot account and farm the easy points!

 

[Robert B]

Work In Progress-Ep.2

Today I had some free time and in about 45 min I washed with isopropyl alcohol 99% the Hercules and Leadtek cards.

When finished, the Hercules card will be something really special. Deep BLUE!!!

After washing many cards I can say that older cards have better lacquer and a better shine.

See for yourselves

 

[DR4G00N]

Working on putting together a dual Xeon retro gaming/workstation build.

So far,
NZXT Lexa case
2x Xeon 3.06GHz Prestonia's
Asus PC-DL Deluxe V1.05 (Has CPU & Memory voltage hard mods for better compatibility with memory as it will only run @ 2.5V VDIMM stock).
4x1GB Kingston DDR 400
BFG 6600 GT AGP 128MB (I will probably get a faster gpu later, maybe 7950 GT or something).
Some old 500W Rosewill PSU

I like the case, full aluminum so it makes it fairly light. Need to see if I can get the front panel temperature display working though.

Only problem is that I have no retail pro or server versions of windows, just home, which of course can't use dual cpu.

 

[dorsetknob]

Only problem is that I have no retail pro or server versions of windows, just home, which of course can't use dual cpu.

Time to try linux then ( Its Free)
Not sure whats the best Distro to try as that Duel 604 set up is "quote Ancient"
Some one with Better linux knowledge will advise you the Best Choice ( incoming Bombardment of Recommendations about to happen).

Edit
It will have to be a 32bit Distro only

 

[Norton]

Why you looking at Oregon?

Did you have the feeling you were being watched?

@thebluebumblebee is from that area and there are much better deals in that CL than my local one

 

[Jetster]

Did you have the feeling you were being watched?

@thebluebumblebee is from that area and there are much better deals in that CL than my local one

cool, ya I'm constantly paranoid Then I realize I'm not that important

 

[DR4G00N]

Time to try linux then ( Its Free)
Not sure whats the best Distro to try as that Duel 604 set up is "quote Ancient"
Some one with Better linux knowledge will advise you the Best Choice ( incoming Bombardment of Recommendations about to happen).

Edit
It will have to be a 32bit Distro only

Eww Linux. Haha might give it a try and dual boot it. Need to have my windows though, too used to it, never used anything else (except DOS ofc).

I do have a pair of Xeon 3.2GHz Nocona (Prescott) 64-Bit cpu's here too. The board will not run them though as it doesn't work with Nocona's.
I may try flashing the bios to the one from a NCCH-DL which has Nocona & Irwindale support using my EEPROM Programmer.