TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[MaxiPro800]

I just absolutely adore these Spire S775 coolers... Bought one for a friend who needed (silent?) CPU cooler for his P4 chip, and was stunned just how silent & effective this thing really is. Soon after I bought yet another one, for myself which I still have inside the original package!

Especially when you consider the price, it beats ANY other model & brand on the market!

They're pretty silent.

The only thing I need for it is something to hold down one of the clips (the retention bracket has one corner broken of and missing).

In regards to that MSI P965 Platinum, I've just replaced the fiery hot Presler (it isn't any better than a standard Prescott) with a Core 2 Duo E6750 (Conroe - it supposedly supports Wolfdales too, but my E7600 R0 stepping isn't showing on their CPU list) and updated the bios to 1.9B3.

Both await new CMOS batteries.

In the meantime, which one would fit for a mid 2000s rig? P4C800-E or P965?

 

[Trekkie4]

The best part is that design is extremely similar to what Lenovo and Dell were using in their Core 2 desktops. You can salvage an equivalent cooler out of 2007-2009 Dell Vostro and Lenovo A55/57 desktops, near silent operation and all.

If I'd have the opportunity to do so, sure! But really, these things are dirt cheap ... I bought mine for $5,50 on sale, they were apparently trying to get rid of the old stuff, to make room for next gen hardware. And honestly, I don't think you could find a better cooler/heatsink for P4, Celerons &/or Dual-Core chips for that kind of money.

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

They're pretty silent.

The only thing I need for it is something to hold down one of the clips (the retention bracket has one corner broken of and missing).

In regards to that MSI P965 Platinum, I've just replaced the fiery hot Presler (it isn't any better than a standard Prescott) with a Core 2 Duo E6750 (Conroe - it supposedly supports Wolfdales too, but my E7600 R0 stepping isn't showing on their CPU list) and updated the bios to 1.9B3.

Both await new CMOS batteries.

In the meantime, which one would fit for a mid 2000s rig? P4C800-E or P965?

I vote P4C800-E, but I'm biased x)

 

[agent_x007]

Do you want/need Dual Core support or lower power consuption ?

 

[MaxiPro800]

Do you want/need Dual Core support or lower power consuption ?

It would be for games from 2003-2007, and power consumption wouldn't be a problem considering it would be packed with drives.

I would go with the P4C800-E Deluxe but I'm not sure how well would it hold up to play games up to 2007 with an ASUS A9550GE/TD/256MB video card. (GE stands for "Gamer Edition" according to ASUS)

 

[SniperHF]

I would go with the P4C800-E Deluxe but I'm not sure how well would it hold up to play games up to 2007 with an ASUS A9550GE/TD/256MB video card. (GE stands for "Gamer Edition" according to ASUS)

I'd definitely rather have the LGA 775 board even if it can't run the higher end Core 2's. Much more pleasant to use at the desktop level. Is there an AGP/PCIe issue with the P965 board and your card though?

But I think the Video card would be the biggest limiting factor for most of the higher end 2007 stuff. Probably 06 too.
IMO a 9550 is more of a 03 to 05 range card. I replaced my 9800se in late 05 with an X850. It was starting to chug.
It's below the requirements of UE3 stuff let alone something like Crysis.

 

[MaxiPro800]

I'd definitely rather have the LGA 775 board even if it can't run the higher end Core 2's. Much more pleasant to use at the desktop level. Is there an AGP/PCIe issue with the P965 board and your card though?

But I think the Video card would be the biggest limiting factor for most of the higher end 2007 stuff. Probably 06 too.
IMO a 9550 is more of a 03 to 05 range card. I replaced my 9800se in late 05 with an X850. It was starting to chug.
It's below the requirements of UE3 stuff let alone something like Crysis.

Well, my P965 board does run a Core 2 Duo now (it's limited to the Conroe cores though), and there's no AGP/PCI-E issue with it. I have an Geforce 7300LE 256MB (I also have a 8400GS from Gigabyte but that one has artefacts) and a X600 that's totally b0rked 3D wise and still has artefacts in BIOS.

So you're saying I should go with the C2D?

 

[Ruru]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon...m=281924296768&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982

Bought one of those, about ~10eur incl. shipping

I can't even describe how important a 1GHz Athlon is in my gaming history.. with a Ti 4200..

 

[MaxiPro800]

Bit the bullet and went ahead and built a machine arount the P4C800-E Deluxe.

I feel like I'm enough of a maniac to RAID 4 drives in a "gaming" Pentium 4 machine. Oh, have I mentioned the boot drive is a 80GB Hitachi from a laptop and is tucked behind the PSU?

Some stats on it. As you can see, the Northwood HT is pretty happy with the Canterwood chipset. Not sure I should worry about that voltage, but as long as it won't trigger SNDS, I guess it's okay.
Memory used is 4x 512MB sticks for a total of 2GB. Mostly good brands like takeMS, Kingmax and a pair of Micron sticks I had.

Next up might be the P965 Platinum once I can track down some RAM and maybe a Geforce 210 down the road.
Also will have to look into an aftermarket cooler for the 9550 as I did notice some very little artefacting during a round of NFS: Hot Pursuit 2, but otherwise it's a nice card.

 

[Fouquin]

Opteron 8222s arrived for the L1N64-SLI. Dropped in without any need for a BIOS update or RAM swap. Honestly not as fast as I was hoping, but they clocked well enough.



Looking at what I need to do to get some 65nm parts next. (Though I've got eyes open for a reasonably priced pair of 8224s.)

 

[havli]

Too bad this board doesn't support 45nm Shangai Opterons - they are much faster and overclock well. http://hwbot.org/submission/3700120_havli_cinebench___r15_2x_opteron_8380_637_cb

 

[Fouquin]

Too bad this board doesn't support 45nm Shangai Opterons - they are much faster and overclock well. http://hwbot.org/submission/3700120_havli_cinebench___r15_2x_opteron_8380_637_cb

Everything 10h was faster on 45nm.

No I'm fine with just getting something newer than K8 to work, especially if that means bumping up to 8 cores. These chips are so cheap now I might just start buying pairs just to see what works.

 

[SamirD]

The best part is that design is extremely similar to what Lenovo and Dell were using in their Core 2 desktops. You can salvage an equivalent cooler out of 2007-2009 Dell Vostro and Lenovo A55/57 desktops, near silent operation and all.

I just found this thread and have to second that this style of cooler is quite awesome. I have a gateway sx2803 that came stock with one and I was able to upgrade to a 95w processor by just flooring the fan--even stressing all 4 cores of the q9400 in an 85 degree room, the highest temp of any core was under 60C. And when the stress is removed, the temps come down fast, like within 5 seconds. The taller the heatsink, the more heat it seems they can dissipate.

 

[Ruru]

Cool, like I said before, I bought 6600 GT AGP, 7800 GT, X800 XL AGP and Audigy 2 ZS. What a surprise when I opened the box, there was 2 of those X800 XL:s

Also, excluding the 7800 GT, all of those looks like brand new! Those even have the smell of new hardware.

 

[SamirD]

That's awesome on the x800 xl!

As I look through this thread I see so much familiar hardware--I'm still running a lot of this stuff in daily drivers that I rdp into.

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

Finally got a decent Windows 98 SE build completed...not the best hardware, but a throwback to the first system I ever bought with my own cash. Got everything for $10.

- Intel Pentium III 733Mhz 133 FSB 256kb L2
- Intel D815EEA
- 1GB (2x512MB) SD RAM 133MHz
- 80GB IDE HDD
- Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 256MB AGP
- Creative Soundblaster Live! PCI
- Dell Dimension 4100 case
- Dell Dimension 4100 PSU
- DVD-ROM IDE
- CD-RW IDE
- 3.5" Floppy
- Compaq S48a mouse
- Dell Quiet Key 1000REW keyboard
- Windows 98 SE
- still looking for a decent beige CRT

 

[Ruru]

That ripped Pentium III case badge needs a replacement.

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

That ripped Pentium III case badge needs a replacement.

Indeed it does...might end up just removing all the badges and stickers with some GooGone or something. Would be nice to replace it though...

 

[SamirD]

Very nice system! Reminds me of my dad's first Dell that I just have to fire up and see if it's still working. It was a pentium with a similar case, matching Dell trinitron monitor, and keyboard and mouse.

 

[Trekkie4]

Finally got a decent Windows 98 SE build completed...not the best hardware, but a throwback to the first system I ever bought with my own cash. Got everything for $10.

- Intel Pentium III 733Mhz 133 FSB 256kb L2
- Intel D815EEA
- 1GB (2x512MB) SD RAM 133MHz
- 80GB IDE HDD
- Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 256MB AGP
- Creative Soundblaster Live! PCI
- Dell Dimension 4100 case
- Dell Dimension 4100 PSU
- DVD-ROM IDE
- CD-RW IDE
- 3.5" Floppy
- Compaq S48a mouse
- Dell Quiet Key 1000REW keyboard
- Windows 98 SE
- still looking for a decent beige CRT

View attachment 105334

This thing is Trekkie-approved

The only recommendation I would give you is to swap out the video card for something more Win98 appropriate. Radeon 9600 is way too powerful for ANY period-correct game/software. Also, from my own, personal experience I've noticed certain issues with using DirectX 9 under Win98, especially if you ever decide to upgrade your setup with Voodoo2 cards. Heck, even GeForce2 and/or Radeon 7500 would be more than enough power for something like this. Personally, I would recommend 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 (or 3500), but if you don't want to spend a fortune on genuine 3dfx, you could go with TNT2 or (if you prefer ATI) Rage128 series.

 

[Ahhzz]

I've got a viper v550.....

 

[Trekkie4]

Oh, and another thing @Aaron_Henderson ... I sure hope you've installed RAM memory fix/hack for W98, because otherwise you're going to run into all sorts of crap & random errors. W98 only supported up to 768MB of RAM (correct me if I'm wrong)

Either that or remove one 512MB module. Again, most systems from back in a day only had 64, 128MB at MOST. My personal choice is 256MB, but that's only because I got more RAM than I'll ever need.

 

[Ruru]

Oh, and another thing @Aaron_Henderson ... I sure hope you've installed RAM memory fix/hack for W98, because otherwise you're going to run into all sorts of crap & random errors. W98 only supported up to 768MB of RAM (correct me if I'm wrong)

Either that or remove one 512MB module. Again, most systems from back in a day only had 64, 128MB at MOST. My personal choice is 256MB, but that's only because I got more RAM than I'll ever need.

IIRC I had a W98SE retro build back in the day, and it ran fine with 896MB. 1GB was the amount where the problems started.

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

I have the memory hack working, which is why I added the second 512MB stick of RAM...also...the GPU may seem like an odd choice, but it was the card I bought for myself "back in the day"...I'd still be open to using something more period correct, but for me, this setup is working great so far! Installed a bunch of the old retail boxed games I have had sitting for so many years now. Quake 2 being the main game I am playing on it right now...runs awesome at 1600x1200! I should get out my old boxed retail games...I have to go through and separate the modern stuff from the "retro" though as they are all together in a giant bin right now...150-ish games, though most are "modern"...still a fair share of oldies though! Also...I can take some better hardware photos if anyone is interested...the thing is nearly mint after my restoration...cleaned everything with water and dish soap, then rubbing alcohol and cotton swaps, and then finally I did the whole "DIY retrobright" on the keyboard, PC case plastics, and mouse. The keyboard came out looking nearly new!

 

[Trekkie4]

I have the memory hack working, which is why I added the second 512MB stick of RAM...also...the GPU may seem like an odd choice, but it was the card I bought for myself "back in the day"...I'd still be open to using something more period correct, but for me, this setup is working great so far! Installed a bunch of the old retail boxed games I have had sitting for so many years now. Quake 2 being the main game I am playing on it right now...runs awesome at 1600x1200! I should get out my old boxed retail games...I have to go through and separate the modern stuff from the "retro" though as they are all together in a giant bin right now...150-ish games, though most are "modern"...still a fair share of oldies though! Also...I can take some better hardware photos if anyone is interested...the thing is nearly mint after my restoration...cleaned everything with water and dish soap, then rubbing alcohol and cotton swaps, and then finally I did the whole "DIY retrobright" on the keyboard, PC case plastics, and mouse. The keyboard came out looking nearly new!

Ah, OK then. Didn't realize there was personal nostalgia to it In that case I say go for it, this thing will wipe the floor with just about any game from back in a day. Even Quake 3, at the highest resolution available.

My personal choice of "high resolution" is 1024x768 lol, but only because my Voodoo2 from back in a day ran at 800x600, so moving one step up made it seemed absolutely unreal & breathtaking. On the other hand, 1280x1024 would be my "modern" choice, for the systems between current ones & earliest Pentiums 4 (late 2000, 2001)