TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[lexluthermiester]

I bought an EeePC 900A. Intel Atom N270, 1gb ddr2 ram, 4gb storage

I really didn't have much interest in this machine, but when I saw it was complete with original box and accessories I had to buy it. I offered and got it for just $15.

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It took some cleaning up but it is in excellent condition. There is a small crack in the palmrest and some light scratches on the lid, but it is in very good shape in general.

It works fine and has the original Linux distro on it. Not sure how long the battery will hold a charge, it is original.
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Only so much can be done with 4gb storage. I took off the upgrade hatch on the bottom and it is just a standard looking msata drive so I will look into upgrading it.

I had one of those. Put a lean & clean version of XP on it. Ran fine. I think I put a 32GB drive in it before selling it..

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

As is customary after I acquire a low spec device, I am posting this message from the EeePC itself.

I created and booted to a Linux Mint 19.03 XFCE 32 bit live CD as the included OS does not allow me to connect to my home WIFI due to unsupported security. Mint runs well and doesnt feel any slower than the factory KDE Linux.

I have ordered a newer 20gb msata SSD as well as a 2gb stick of ddr2 sodimm in hopes to speed it up slightly. I also have tested the battery which works well enough. I opened it up to replace the thermal paste only to find it uses thermal pads stuck to the chassis, so back together it went.

The laptop is a lot less terrible than what I had expected in a lot of ways. For as much negative I had heard about it, its not nearly that bad. The screen is decent aside from being low resolution, and overall build quality is good as well. The touchpad and keyboard feel fine, but are very cramped due to the form factor.

The Atom N270 is fine if you are just navigating a lightweight OS but really struggles with modern internet. Certain pages like this forum load slowly, but at a speed that doesn't immediately infuriate me. However Youtube or similarly heavy pages make the system nearly freeze and are unbrowsable. Intel GMA950 would struggle to actually play Youtube even with a stronger CPU anyhow.

While low end CPUs have come very far since this, I feel like the modern netbooks I have used are worse than this In a lot of ways. Screens that are washed out from any angle, worse IO, 0 upgradable parts, and much flimsier build quality.

The N270 is a rather tiny CPU. The chipsets are a lot larger and produce most of the heat in this system.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I have ordered a newer 20gb msata SSD as well as a 2gb stick of ddr2 sodimm in hopes to speed it up slightly.

And it will! They will also make it run more smoothly. Are you thinking about XP or perhaps a modern OS? If so let me know and I'll help you out with the XP config as it needs a few special tweaks not commonly done. If you want to try a modern OS, Mint XFCE is about the only good OS that will run on it. If you're feeling adventurous, try AndroidX86 4.4R5.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

And it will! They will also make it run more smoothly. Are you thinking about XP or perhaps a modern OS? If so let me know and I'll help you out with the XP config as it needs a few special tweaks not commonly done. If you want to try a modern OS, Mint XFCE is about the only good OS that will run on it. If you're feeling adventurous, try AndroidX86 4.4R5.

Probably both XP and Mint if I have enough space to dual boot, as both OSes serve different purposes anymore. So any help would be appreciated.

Mainly I will run Linux for application support reasons, such as Steam or a better web browsing experience. I'd like to put this up against some 2000s games, even knowing I will be disappointed.

However I want XP for some things such as benchmarking the CPU/GPU and comparing them to others. I will probably choose an older version of Cinebench under Windows XP for this. I think XP will run better than modern Linux on here, but I will be interested to see if this is true,

 

[Greenslade]

Has anyone owned one of these? I like this guy's videos His got the same view as Lex, in saying he likes ME

 

[AlwaysHope]

Scored this for nothing & saved it from being chucked in the bin at my workplace....

Should install it under win10 (maybe enable compatibility mode) with only keyboard\mouse controls & see how it runs.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Probably both XP and Mint if I have enough space to dual boot

With only 20GB, that could be very problematic. I would recommend one or the other. I have little experience dual booting XP and Mint so we'd have to figure that one out. What I would recommend is using the 4GB module the system came with or maybe buying an 8GB drive and installing Mint to the smaller one and XP to the 20GB and just swap out drive whenever you want to switch. Definitely use the XFCE version of Mint. That little system will not handle Mate or Cinnamon, they're too "heavy".

So any help would be appreciated.

Yeah, would be happy to. Be ready for some nitty-gritty digging and diving. This assumes you choose XP. PM me when you're ready to begin.

However I want XP for some things such as benchmarking the CPU/GPU and comparing them to others.

Honestly, not worth your time unless you really just want to know.

I will probably choose an older version of Cinebench under Windows XP for this.

I don't think Cinebench will run on an Atom CPU and if it does, the results will be thus: Slower than molasses in January in Northern Canada.

Has anyone owned one of these? I like this guy's videos His got the same view as Lex, in saying he likes ME

Kyle knows his craft. He knows that ME was very solid and better than 98SE in every respect except one: A mode to drop into RealMode DOS from within Windows(which does not exist in any version of Windows from then on, 98SE was the last version of Windows to have RealMode DOS session functionality). Otherwise everything about ME was next-level better than 98SE.

 

[DR4G00N]

I don't think Cinebench will run on an Atom CPU and if it does, the results will be thus: Slower than molasses in January in Northern Canada.

I'm sure it would run up to R11.5 because it has SSE3 but it would just take forever since it's only as fast as a 1GHz+ PIII.

 

[Mr.Scott]

I would be interested in seeing it benched.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

I don't think Cinebench will run on an Atom CPU and if it does, the results will be thus: Slower than molasses in January in Northern Canada.

Cinebench will run on anything if you use an old enough version. Any of the semi recent versions require a 64-bit CPU, so those are out of the question. Besides, I have run them on complete potatos, and it takes hours!

I'm sure it would run up to R11.5 because it has SSE3 but it would just take forever since it's only as fast as a 1GHz+ PIII.

Sadly I do not have a P3 system, closest I have would be an AMD AMD K7. Although I wonder how my 1ghz Via C7 would fair since I bet its IPC is comparable. I don't know if R11.5 would run. Isn't it 64-bit only?

I would be interested in seeing it benched.

I am interested in both the raw performance and the IPC.

I first want to compare it to a Celeron 420. It and the N270 are both are 65nm single core processors clocked at 1.6ghz with 512k L2 cache. Will be interesting to see how its IPC compares to conroe, although I can make a wild guess.
I'd also want to compare the IPC to Netburst, just out of sheer curiosity. Would like to go with a later CPU, my choices are either a P4 630 (90nm Prescott 2m) or Pentium D 925 (65nm Presler). Unsure which I should test with. Could do both since it would just involve swapping CPUs and nothing else. I was considering my Cedar Mill 65nm Celeron D since its lower end but the ultra low FSB would make it a pain to deal with for several reasons.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I would be interested in seeing it benched.

I've already seen them. Have own a number Atom based system over the years. They get the job done, but are not fast performers by any means.

Cinebench will run on anything if you use an old enough version. Any of the semi recent versions require a 64-bit CPU, so those are out of the question. Besides, I have run them on complete potatos, and it takes hours!

Fair enough. Have fun!

 

[Ruru]

X5675 seems fine at 4.3GHz. I'll try some more later today as I was gaming the whole night and going to hit the bed soon (5.42 here)

 

[MachineLearning]

X5675 seems fine at 4.3GHz. I'll try some more later today as I was gaming the whole night and going to hit the bed soon (5.42 here)

What voltage you giving it? RAM speed, thermals?

 

[Ruru]

What voltage you giving it? RAM speed, thermals?

I'll check later when I continue testing

 

[QuietBob]

I don't know if R11.5 would run. Isn't it 64-bit only?

R11.5 is the last Cinebench with a 32-bit executable. I've tested the Pentium 4C HT @ 3 GHz, which is a 1c/2t 32-bit CPU like your Atom. It's also the slowest desktop SKU with two threads at stock. It'd be fun to compare them!

 

[lexluthermiester]

R11.5 is the last Cinebench with a 32-bit executable. I've tested the Pentium 4C HT @ 3 GHz, which is a 1c/2t 32-bit CPU like your Atom. It's also the slowest desktop SKU with two threads at stock. It'd be fun to compare them!

That DOES sound interesting! Please do!

 

[Ruru]

Probably getting a 6800 Ultra next week. Just need to get a cheap case and cheap quality PSU in some point.

May sound crazy but my ultimate XP build has to have an Athlon 1GHz OC

 

[Greenslade]

YW. You really don't need the cable then. Your use case scenario doesn't need it.

On another subject i was looking at second hand CF Cards on eBay * Formated *may contain data*.It seems a stupid thing for a seller to do with there data on them,in this day and age.
And saw this when looking it up.

Two-thirds of second-hand memory cards still contain previous owners' data​

Like you have said before it is better to buy new which i will do.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Like you have said before it is better to buy new which i will do.

Shiny!

 

[Apocalypsee]

PC arrived today, the courier maybe mishandled it as the case front panel broke but its expected from old case. Now onto the hardware.

Motherboard is GA-K8NF-9 so yeah its a s939 yay

The GPU is Radeon X800GTO, a surprise for me. This might be the later R423 with 110nm process IIRC that don't require external power so I don't expect it to unlock. But X800GTO with 12 pipes is good enough. Soundcard is SB0100 SB Live! 5.1, my old love

As yo ucan see cable snaking around it still using IDE cable but not the flat one, it uses the Vantec rounded cable. It have 2 harddisk and two optical drive. I will clean and see whats the spec for both. I been hunting for IDE drives so its a good thing to have it. Plus this later s939 have SATA ports so its good for newer drive as well

The red switch are not for casefan, but for RED cold cathode. I haven't seen such thing since early 2000

Seller installed windows 10 on it like WTF. Idk why only 1.25GB usable as it don't have IGP

All in all, despite the broken case, everything else looks good. It left mostly intact, maybe its been sitting in closet unused since early 2000 by the look of it and from the dust smells lol. I'm going to clean it and going to install windows XP on it If you guys want it I can show other hardware on it after I clean it, I'm really just unbox it and took picture and boot it up to see whether its working

 

[Greenslade]

Sorted

 

[framebuffer]

started boot testing the TYAN Thunder K8W with dual Opteron and AGP before putting everything in the case

I'm still undecided whether to opt for 2x 254 (1C@2.80GHz ~FX-57) or 2x 285 (2C@2.60GHz ~ FX-60)
Since I'm targeting period correct usage (2005-2006), probably is better to stick with less cores and higher frequencies since the TYAN has no overclocking capabilities, not sure how many games in 2005-2007 had quad core support/optimisation

For the video card the best AGP choices from 2006 I have are HD1950 Pro or 7800GS, they should be probably quite close

 

[QuietBob]

Seller installed windows 10 on it like WTF. Idk why only 1.25GB usable as it don't have IGP

Windows 10 on a below min spec single core with less than the minimum required RAM running off of an HDD
Sounds like an interesting experiment! As for the system not detecting the full installed memory, maybe this has to do with the combination of unsupported hardware and 32-bit architecture? Like XP showing 4 GB as 3.xx?
Also, found this in the manual:

not sure how many games in 2005-2007 had quad core support/optimisation

Some games released in 2007 (and even 2006) can utilize four threads:
Bioshock, CoD4: MW, Company of Heroes, Crysis, DiRT, Flight Simulator X, Lost Planet, MoH: A, Supreme Commander, TES4: Oblivion, World in Conflict, UT3
Games running on the same engines as above are also likely to benefit from four cores.

 

[lexluthermiester]

2x 285 (2C@2.60GHz ~ FX-60)

This! You'll thank yourself later!

not sure how many games in 2005-2007 had quad core support/optimisation

Few, however XP and drivers for both Radeon and Geforce of the time benefit from more cores. The 200mhz loss from each core is more than offset by the additional core on each CPU. And many games of the time were SMP aware and somewhat optimized.

 

[Audioave10]

Platform

Boxed Processor

Product Family

AMD FX-Series Processors

Product Line

AMD FX 8-Core Black Edition Processors

# of CPU Cores

8

# of Threads

8

Max. Boost Clock

Up to 4.3GHz

Base Clock

4.0GHz

L1 Cache

384KB

L2 Cache

8MB

L3 Cache

8MB

Default TDP

125W

Processor Technology for CPU Cores

32nm SOI

Unlocked for Overclocking


Yes

CPU Socket

AM3+

Max. Operating Temperature (Tjmax)

61.1°C

This is my XP CPU and even "Halo CE for PC" plays just fine. Also Serious Sam 1st and 2nd Edition, Crysis, HL2...ETC.