TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[MaxiPro800]

ABIT had some mediocre boards even before the USI merger - several of their mainboards were rebranded ECS boards.

Known models:
- VA-20 = ECS KM400-M2
- SA7 = ECS L4S5A/DX

 

[Greenslade]

Oh hell no, floppy isn't for that. A 2.5" laptop drive uses 44-pin IDE (in reality it uses the same 40 pins as a 3.5" drive, the 4 extra pins are for power).

I get you thanks for that.

That is exactly correct.

Thanks to you Lex

 

[pavle]

GA-5AX w/ K6-2+, 512MB SDRAM, 3d Prophet 4500, Aureal Vortex AU8820, RTL8029 oldschool NIC. HDD used is a 15GB Fujitsu MPF3153AT.
Will install 98SE soon as the XP install on the HDD is junk....

I believe 3com 3c905B or similar network card is more old-school than RTL, besides - not having a driver for stupid_Windows (NT v6.0 and up) is proof enough of that. Also it offloads more CPU than RTL.

 

[MaxiPro800]

I stay away from anything based on 3c905 and Intel 82558.
Very poor download speeds compared to 82541 (PRO100/GT) and RTL of any type. And this is from experience under 98SE, 2000 SP4 and XP SP3. 3C905 and 82558 performed the worst accross all three.

3C905 would download at subpar speeds (barely passing 300-500kbps) while 82558 was even worse as it would slow down into "Limited or no connectivity" mode during downloads, whereas 82541 and RTL completed downloads without cutouts/slowdowns.

 

[Radical Vision]

Thing is back in the day, when these cards 3Com/ Intel were still new, they were bomb proof, and so well made, could tell just by looking at them, compared to the crappy Realtek build quality.. So back in the day the network wiring was bad, and when there was thunder storms chances were your whole pc may fry up, if one strikes nearby.. And that is what happened to many that used garbage Realtek lan cards.. Meanwhile this never happened to me, or anyone else using Intel or 3Com cards.. So downloading speeds are not everything, durability, protection, and build quality are main priority for me since forever... Also whatever i did ever download, it did download fast enough, and most importantly, my systems are well protected with 3Com and Intel lans, not like with Realtek...

I use these Realtek cards for scrap, or for tool to remove cemented thermal paste and other stuff from parts, it works great, and does not leave marks... But using them, not really, as when i take one look at them, i see how cheap they are, compared to the supreme 3Com/ Intel build quality, that is clearly there...

 

[MaxiPro800]

I prioritise download speeds. Intel PRO/100 that are BGA based and newer Realtek (8169SC specifically, though 8139 is used if the mainboard does not work with the newer 8169) beat the hell out of 3C905 and pin based Intel cards (e.g 82558) in that regard.

All 3com cards I've had went into trash. Same goes for older pin packaged Intel network cards (82558 specifically, all Compaq branded cards). They serve me no purpose, due to being awful at download speeds. I only keep the newer BGA based Intel PRO/100 (or 1000, if I ever land one!) and RTL8169SC cards (I also trashed like half of the 8139D crap I've been getting, keeping only like one or two C revision cards at best for being glue-level PnP). Maybe Broadcom too although I've never had one to say the least, at least not outside onboard offerings that is.