Re: Windows 3.1 on a 386 with 640K RAM - Possible?

Posted on 2018-02-21, 08:42

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

winhistory.de has some crazy experiments with different Windows versions. http://winhistory.de/more/386/winq.htm shows Windows 3.1 in Standard mode with 1024kB and Windows 3.0 in Real mode with 640kB. The Deskpro 386/20e has 4MB installed per default, see http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/PS2_MOST/ …

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Re: SiS 530 chipset with PCI graphics

Posted on 2018-02-20, 11:17

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

The integrated graphics is connected through AGP or maybe even through a local bus so the bandwidth is higher. It is also possible that the board will setup the MTRRs when using the internal video but not for a PCI card. Usually Windows should enable write combining for the video card. You could …

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Re: Doom slowdowns on a Toshiba 2800-S202

Posted on 2018-02-15, 09:35

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I suppose bad sectors on the hard disk might cause the issue because the disk will keep retrying until a timeout is reached. But this would probably last longer than a fraction of a second. I had a similar experience on a HP OmniBook, though. (P3 1GHz so similar age.) The battery wasn't holding a …

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Re: SFF DOS box with VIA C3 (Neoware CA2)

Posted on 2018-01-22, 13:08

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I was curious about one other thing: the S3 ProSavage IGP. Is there any benefits to DOS games with this gpu? Is it backwards compatible with the S3 Virge, for the games that features support for that? Is there OpenGL/MiniGL compatibility with Quake? The GPU should be very compatible for most DOS …

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Re: Windows 95 Paging File

Posted on 2018-01-22, 12:55

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I'd say 192MB RAM is very generous for Windows 95, most people probably didn't have more than 32MB was current. Your system doesn't touch the paging file at the moment because it doesn't need it yet. 512MB is the standard limit for Windows 98 to give a comparison. If you are talking about the system …

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Re: Driver request - Nvidia TNT2 on XP

Posted on 2018-01-19, 08:57

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

If it's just for troubleshooting than the driver version doesn't matter much. Otherwise I'd just choose the oldest version which would be 21.83 for the link vetz gave. Single-digit driver versions are fine or even recommended for TNT2 if you actually want to play games. I suppose for widescreen …

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Re: Recomendation for Celeron 266 games

Posted on 2018-01-19, 08:50

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Your sig says "Pentium II 266 MHz". Is this a different system? The Celeron has much better FPU performance than a Pentium MMX of any speed, but is slower than the fastest MMX for productivity software, maybe also for games which are not that dependent on FPU performance. It is not a bad match for a …

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Re: Rendition Verite Thread

Posted on 2018-01-18, 12:48

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

According to these postings in the VOGONS Driver Library thread http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=30649&start=480#p485066 http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=30649&p=519301#p519301 a Rendition V1000 card by ExpertColor should exist, model number is VR1040. I can't find anything about …

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Re: Trying to find drivers for a Zenith Data Systems laptop

Posted on 2018-01-18, 10:04

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For audio http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?27388-Windows-Sound-System-2-0-floppies sounds useful. No actual download link, though, but the Windows Sound system reference sounds good. http://www.noet.at/sss/zds/notebooks/43.htm Some kind of CRYSTAL chip which should narrow it down. Maybe …

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Re: idt Winchip C6 downclocking

Posted on 2018-01-16, 12:40

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

And with PCI/AGP card? Using ISA card to slowdown system is interesting, but not so much practical. A Rendition card is slower than many ISA cards in VGA 320x200x256 mode. It is quite fast in VESA modes, though. Unfortunately not too common or cheap. Pre-Millenium/Mystique Matrox cards like …

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Re: MY Pcchips m918/amptron dx9300 has fake pci slots!

Posted on 2018-01-10, 13:03

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What PCI video cards did you use exactly? Perhaps they are just too modern for a 486 board. Do they work in another 486 system? I had a similar problem with a Radeon 7xxx PCI and a Socket 7 board.

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Re: MELTDOWN and SPECTRE vulnerabilities and older hardware?

Posted on 2018-01-10, 12:50

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

MiniBits wrote: Time to put 486's into production again, I am sure die shrinks and such can up the speed on those quite a lot 😁 and new 486 mobs! woooo Intel's Quark SoC is based on the 486 with some additions from Pentium, but no branch prediction, superscalar execution etc. Should be safe from …

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Re: Do you need an original IDE CD-ROM drive?

Posted on 2017-12-21, 09:36

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

They are all 48x speed drives, correct? In this case, they are completely useless for retro PCs. If the system can not handle the constant 7.2 mb/sec. coming from the drive, the disc will spin up and down continually, which will kill the drive quite fast and give performance way behind a native 4x …

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Re: [S3 Virge DX] VS [ATi 3D Rage II+DVD]

Posted on 2017-12-15, 12:25

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

S3 Virge DX, ATi 3D Rage II+DVD, ATI Rage XL, ATI Rage LT Pro. Which card is fastest? 2D or 3D? PCI or AGP? For 2D you could look at http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/benchmarks For S3 Virge there are some things you can do to enhance 2D performance a lot. Of course the theoretical limit for AGP …

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Re: How far do video cards scale on a Coppermine system?

Posted on 2017-12-04, 10:37

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

All of the cards/chips you mention don't have hardware T&L except the Radeon 9250, so for Quake 3 it should be the fastest even at lower resolutions. Radeon 7000 should be faster than Matrox G450. The other cards are better suited for much slower CPUs, with the possible exception to run the first …

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Re: Tseng (Genoa 8900VL) vs S3 805 EAAJ2 VESA cards - Which is better for games?

Posted on 2017-12-01, 11:22

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Regarding the RAM chips on the S3: The clock is determined by the card's BIOS so faster chips won't make the card faster automatically. I don't know if the clock can be modified easily, MCLK targets only Trio and newer chips. The ISA cards definitely both max out the ISA bus. A 386DX can definitely …

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Re: How far do video cards scale on a Coppermine system?

Posted on 2017-12-01, 11:15

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Honestly, what I'm aiming for is Quake 3 1024x768x32 60fps, so I dropped in a Radeon 9250. The OCD in me keeps screaming it's not contemporary, but the practical side of me says anything slower than a GeForce 256 would be too slow for 32-bit anyway. So I guess, a better question would be, what card …

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Re: Unlocking & downclocking a Pentium II?

Posted on 2017-11-30, 10:22

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah jumper route should definitely work.. I just hoped it'd be something that could be done from BIOS directly to not have to open up the CPU case. I guess I could wire some switches or something :) I'm pretty sure somebody posted about connecting the turbo switch to the FSB jumper on the …

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Re: 2D graphics benchmark

Posted on 2017-11-29, 14:11

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by idspispopd

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Is there a good DOS benchmark for testing "2D" features that were common in games? Stuff like hardware scrolling, writing to video memory, filling (2D) polygons, page flipping, changing palettes, etc. Well, DOS games usually don't use any acceleration features since those are different between …

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Re: Unlocking & downclocking a Pentium II?

Posted on 2017-11-29, 09:15

by

by idspispopd

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Doesn't the P2B have jumpers to change the FSB? At least that's what Google tells me. Of course that may depend on the revision... In that case you could change the FSB from 100MHz to 66MHz.

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