TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[biffzinker]

Intel DX4 and a VESA Local Bus slot at the bottom of the board? Haven't seen those in awhile.

I thought I recognized the chipset brand on the motherboard.

By Konstantin Lanzet - CPU Collection Konstantin Lanzet, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5122892

I was looking at Wikipedia, here's the links if anyone else would like to have a look.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_DX4 & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_Local_Bus

 

[Trekkie4]

Yup, you're absolutely right! UMC motherboard, I picked up this system couple of years ago for around 15USD, which makes it one of the more expensive acquisitions

It was a former office workstation which was supposed to end up at the recycling yard, so I gave it a new life, even upgraded it with so called "multimedia package" or CD-ROM & sound card From what I remember, I also had to swap out the hard drive, since the old one was completely shot. Currently it's the ONLY 4x86 in my entire collection!

Edit
Question guys - which one of these is better in the terms of 3D performance, Radeon 9550 GE/TD by Asus, with active cooling OR passively-cooled Radeon 9600SE, both AGP 4/8 & 128MB DDR I've tried to compare them, to see how they hold up against each other in the terms of results & performance, but the results are somewhat confusing... 9550 seems to be newer & more powerful but 9600 scores better on 3D benchmarks.

 

[Trekkie4]

Really hate to double-post yet again, but here are some of the pics from the upcoming systems...

Let's start with Gigabyte GA-8S655FX board, shall we? Seems to be working OK, and is paired with P4 CPU, running at 2.6GHz S478, of course. Video card is Radeon 9600, which is why I asked about 9550/9600 difference in my previous post.


2nd one is Asus, model number is P4P800-SE. This one didn't want to boot up (or even turn on), but just like I pointed out yesterday, that was due to power button on the case and NOT the actual motherboard. This one is also paired with P4 CPU, running at 2.8GHz


3rd one is a barebone system. I assumed it was custom build due to the case, mATX "Asus Vento" but as it turns out, this one came from the factory already assembled like that. If you take a closer look at the pic down below, you can actually see the leaking capacitors, as there are 7 or 8 of them scattered throughout the entire board so it's almost impossible to miss them.


At first I wasn't going to waste my time with this system, in fact I was going to just pull the board out & throw it into the bin, since there was no telling would the board actually work and/or boot up after swapping all the caps & repairing all the damage. Sooo I did a crazy thing - I plugged all the cables back where they belong & turned the system on, thinking I would witness cascade meltdown of the entire board. But nothing happened ... system booted up perfectly fine! OK, to be perfectly honest it's throwing tons of errors & warnings, but that was to be expected, right? I even got to access the BIOS & read system information, take a look at this:


So, yeah! I mean, this changes everything... Now that I KNOW for sure it works (even in this condition), I'm going to give it a shot at repairing the board. Furthermore, I'm going to replace the Celeron with Pentium 4 (3.00GHz) processor, mainly because I got one in stock. And then I might try putting that 7600GT card inside it, making the ultimate retro machine. Because let's face it, anything newer than earliest S775 system and 7600GT AGP card would not be considered retro at this stage. Old yes, but definitely NOT retro.

 

[biffzinker]

I'd say the Celeron D (Prescott) could qualify as retro since the launch date does show Q2'04, and hard to believe it's already been that long.

 

[Bones]

Is that a VIA EPIA Mini-itx motherboard?

I know it's supposedly a Syntax board and yes, it's a VIA chipped board. The CPU itself is made into the board and it's a 1.3 GigaPro CPU, I think it was made by VIA also.

Haven't been able to mess around with it since but will get back to it before long.

 

[Trekkie4]

Earlier today I took the liberty of stripping apart that P4P800-SE machine to see what's actually causing the problem with power switch. Turns out I was right, it really WAS the hardware fault... Seems the actual button got stuck in shorted (closed) position, causing the board to go crazy & act weird. To make things even better, the PSU inside this thing was just about to give out, so I salvaged the only two components worth saving (Asus board & floppy drive) & threw the entire case into the bin. It might take a while before I find a replacement & more suitable case (and PSU) for this thing, especially since I'm also missing I/O shield, but I'm definitely going to keep this one!

I also decided to check the board for any damage on south bridge, since this particular model was known for its factory defect, which makes it very easy to fry the southbridge with static electricity discharge. But from what I can tell so far, everything is working perfectly OK, including the USB port(s) so it's probably not damaged in any way

 

[Derek12]

I think I still have an AMD K6-2 bought in 1999 out here but I can't find it (maybe it was thrown away)

[..]

Finally found it on the storage room with some pins damaged

Complete with stickers on the back and over the IHS

(the computer was built by a company IIRC) and obvious darkening due to intense overheating (but the CPU never stopped working, however the mobo had exploded caps.

 

[dorsetknob]

Complete with stickers on the back and over the IHS

(the computer was built by a company IIRC) and obvious darkening due to intense overheating

Pfha.... i see no Charred Sticker that one only got warm

 

[Derek12]

Pfha.... i see no Charred Sticker that one only got warm

lol besides, the computer hasn't been cleaned AT ALL over its entire lifespan (8 years), with (former) smokers and cats, and that sticker on the top. Besides, it didn't have any thermal paste applied.

The motherbard had vented caps, the CPU fan was stuck and couldn't spin, and the heatsink was completely hidden behind dust, and the computer still worked with occasional BSODs (which we though they were software bugs or virus, they were caused by overheating

Best computer build ever

 

[Trekkie4]

Now THAT'S pure quality! As for the bent pins, see if you can straighten them up. Just grab some tweezers (or small pliers) & take your time!

I wouldn't worry too much about missing TIM, as the CPU will work just fine without it. In fact, most experts agreed that it's better to run the system without ANY TIM rather than having too much! Running it without TIM only means you're not getting that 100% cooling effect from the heatsink, where having too much insulates the chip & prevents hot air from venting, dissipating into the environment.

 

[JunkBear]

What I Do for straightening pins i juste pass an old bank or membership card between thé pins. Just the Good thickness

 

[debs3759]

Finally found it on the storage room with some pins damaged

Complete with stickers on the back and over the IHS

(the computer was built by a company IIRC) and obvious darkening due to intense overheating (but the CPU never stopped working, however the mobo had exploded caps.
View attachment 86375


View attachment 86374

That would be worth about $2 on the CPU-World forums. Probably $5 on eBay

 

[xkm1948]

My first PC used a CPU from Texas Instruments. Something looks like this:

It came with no heatsink or fan. And that thing was hot as hell. Performance wise it was horrible. I remember I couldn't even play Duke3D well on that specific processor. I saved up to get a Pentium133 later and never looked back. Until this day I still hate that little POS, single most terrible CPU I have ever used.

 

[Trekkie4]

That's odd... I got one of these, Intel 4x86 DX2 (66MHz, therefore slower than yours) and it requires heatsink, even a small fan to be mounted on top of it. There was also one time when I had AMD 4x86, and this other one specifically said (on the chip, ceramic package itself) that the heatsink is required.

 

[xkm1948]

That's odd... I got one of these, Intel 4x86 DX2 (66MHz, therefore slower than yours) and it requires heatsink, even a small fan to be mounted on top of it. There was also one time when I had AMD 4x86, and this other one specifically said (on the chip, ceramic package itself) that the heatsink is required.

In 486 days Intel has the best floating point performance. TI was absolutely trash, even worse than Cyrix

 

[kazz]

hehe I have been away from here for a long time but happy to see that thread is still that active!

so does my Athlon XP.. what is STILL almost dailydriver.. however recently I was faced the first actual problem due to its age - no the prformance
is still on level where the webbrowsing experience is still rather similar with modern devices (thats kinda hard to believe from 15 years old cpu, isnt it?)
- but those bustards in MS was abond all skype versions old enough to run without SSE2 support. hehe.. damn *web based skype is still possible*

so.. i should move on soon.. maybe will go to "modern" 939 platform or go savage and take new Ryzen.. uhm

 

[agent_x007]

HD 4670 AGP with Athlon XP... overkill much ?
Also, is it IceQ edition ?

 

[JunkBear]

hehe I have been away from here for a long time but happy to see that thread is still that active!

so does my Athlon XP.. what is STILL almost dailydriver.. however recently I was faced the first actual problem due to its age - no the prformance
is still on level where the webbrowsing experience is still rather similar with modern devices (thats kinda hard to believe from 15 years old cpu, isnt it?)
- but those bustards in MS was abond all skype versions old enough to run without SSE2 support. hehe.. damn *web based skype is still possible*

so.. i should move on soon.. maybe will go to "modern" 939 platform or go savage and take new Ryzen.. uhm

What is thé brand of your card?? I still have my HIS IceQ agp 1gig ddr3 overclocked. They had the regular and overclocked version both of them were the most powerful agp are ever made and thé first and only i guess that could bring sound through HDMI.

 

[agent_x007]

What is thé brand of your card?? I still have my HIS IceQ agp 1gig ddr3 overclocked. They had the regular and overclocked version both of them were the most powerful agp are ever made and thé first and only i guess that could bring sound through HDMI.

HD 3850 IceQ3 is the most powerfull AGP card ever made : LINK
I checked that on QX9770 3,8GHz and with both HD 3850 IceQ3 and HD 4670 1GB IceQ (1600MHz DDR3) [AGP of course ].

HD 4670s are the newest - true, with a lot lower power requirements than 3850.

 

[kazz]

HD 4670 AGP with Athlon XP... overkill much ?
Also, is it IceQ edition ?

Yes and no, 3DMark01SE is still around 20k (like it was with much older GeForce 7900.. hehe yeah I have had the last Nvidia AGP card as well in some point) and games as well will be bottlenecked by CPU hard,
however apps what are capable to use GPU perfomance and can take almost all of load off from cpu doing extremely well (well.. in that certain context) - flash player (youtube etc) with 720p is no problem at all, and some cases even 1080p is possible.

What is thé brand of your card?? I still have my HIS IceQ agp 1gig ddr3 overclocked. They had the regular and overclocked version both of them were the most powerful agp are ever made and thé first and only i guess that could bring sound through HDMI.

yes, HIS IceQ it is, that regular version I believe.

HD 3850 IceQ3 is the most powerfull AGP card ever made : LINK
I checked that on QX9770 3,8GHz and with both HD 3850 IceQ3 and HD 4670 1GB IceQ (1600MHz DDR3) [AGP of course ].

HD 4670s are the newest - true, with a lot lower power requirements than 3850.

true dat, 3850 is superior in most of (but not in every) tests

 

[agent_x007]

Yes and no, 3DMark01SE is still around 20k (like it was with much older GeForce 7900.. hehe yeah I have had the last Nvidia AGP card as well in some point)

true dat, 3850 is superior in most of (but not in every) tests

Closest test I done for 4670 vs. 3850 is in Crysis High 1280x1024.
3850 is better by 6FPS in Avg, while loses in minimum by 1,2FPS.
In every other test 3850 is good bit faster.

PS. 3DMark01 SE score for them :
52,5k for 4670 1GB
60k for 3850 512MB

 

[kazz]

Closest test I done for 4670 vs. 3850 is in Crysis High 1280x1024.
3850 is better by 6FPS in Avg, while loses in minimum by 1,2FPS.
In every other test 3850 is good bit faster.

PS. 3DMark01 SE score for them :
52,5k for 4670 1GB
60k for 3850 512MB

hehe yea, nice difference in 3d01SE with me =)

 

[JunkBear]

Anyway dors it really Count unless you wanna Play only Xp and Costa Games all thé Times multiplayer online. Not à lot of them back then on 56k Time.

 

[JunkBear]

HD 3850 IceQ3 is the most powerfull AGP card ever made : LINK
I checked that on QX9770 3,8GHz and with both HD 3850 IceQ3 and HD 4670 1GB IceQ (1600MHz DDR3) [AGP of course ].

HD 4670s are the newest - true, with a lot lower power requirements than 3850.

400w psu requises but they dont tell hoe many amps on the rail but I tried with à single ramp of 12amps and the warning LED on thé gpu was flickering.

 

[agent_x007]

@up 3850 IceQ3 AGP requires 8-pin PCI-e connector

hehe yea, nice difference in 3d01SE with me =)

That 7900 you had mentioned, was it Gainward one ?