Re: Retro builds with modern conveniences

Posted on 2020-07-10, 13:31

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I use more modern components for a couple of reasons: 1) Ease of acquiring (one can easily get sd/cf cards, modern sata drives, etc...) 2) I don't want to stress some of my more rare hardware (yeah, I know, that sounds kinda silly, why own something if you're barely using it). 3) Some things are …

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Re: Is there any reason to keep a Win9X machine around for gaming except for fun or nostalgia?

Posted on 2020-07-10, 12:22

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

To be fair: for pure "gaming" you won't need a retro machine in many cases. But having a retro machine is just fun and nostalgia in my eyes. It's the same with the 486 I have: I actually don't need it and if I'm honest I'm mostly using Dosbox for my DOS gaming needs because it just works and thanks …

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Re: How to remove S370 cooler?

Posted on 2020-07-09, 14:03

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I remember that a friend of mine crushed an Athlon 1200 when it was brand new, it had a chipped corner and was dead. Many coolers of that era are really annoying. And AMD CPUs were a tad easier to break than Intel CPUs back then.

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Re: Meaning of the JP1 5v SB5V Jumper on a PCChips Socket 7 mainboard?

Posted on 2020-07-08, 14:40

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Aaaah, thank you very much! 😀 The things you learn everyday.

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Re: Meaning of the JP1 5v SB5V Jumper on a PCChips Socket 7 mainboard?

Posted on 2020-07-08, 13:29

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, it is undocumented and clearly marked as "JP1 5v SB5V". I can't find any reference to it in the manual.

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Meaning of the JP1 5v SB5V Jumper on a PCChips Socket 7 mainboard?

Posted on 2020-07-08, 10:49

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hello guys, does anyone of you know what the jumper with the description "JP1 5v SB5V" on a PC chips 599lmr does? I have the manual here but it doesn't say anything about that jumper and googling for sb5v gives a hint that it might be related to the RAMs voltage selection but from what I know SDRAM …

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Re: For best performance: Is manufacturers imprinted recommendation a LIE?

Posted on 2020-07-05, 11:44

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You're really interpreting too much into this statement. It really is all about marketing, just as when you buy a dishwasher there's usually a sticker "we recommend X" when independent tests clearly show that other alternatives might be cheaper and/or better. Just as dionb said: Intel did the same …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-06-24, 14:18

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got a Promise SATA300 TX2Plus for one of my Slot 1 based machines today for a measly € 6, shipping included. While it technically worked just fine with IDE I wanted the comfort of being able to use SATA drives. So far it is working great.

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Re: ATX to AT PSU requirements for AT Socket 7 with Pentium MMX 200 MHz???

Posted on 2020-06-19, 17:17

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I hope that the ATX2AT Smart Converter will soon be released to be bought by anyone. I like the idea but unfortunately didn't read about it until recently.

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Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-06-18, 05:19

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah I don't see it as investment either. I mean even if one where to make some extra bugs there are far better investments (IMO!) one can make (stocks, (tracker) funds, etc...). Now, you can lose money there, too but that can happen with retro hardware, too. There's often the argument that this …

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Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-06-17, 16:46

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You guys do really have some great points there. I won't deny that I ended up hoarding way more than I originally intended (I just wanted to rebuild the old 486 I had before, the P90 system and the Duron 750 system) because from there on I had kept my old hardware. But I ended up getting interested …

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Re: Worth Getting a 286 or 386 DX 40 or just using a K6-III?

Posted on 2020-06-17, 16:43

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I hate serial ball mice..... I hated them when they were the only thing around and when optical mice came out for consumers I hated ball mice even more. There were optical serial mice back then but they required a special gridded mouse pad. And, now there are new serial optical mice available for …

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Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-06-16, 15:23

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If the seller screws up -> he/she should have to cover shipping again. If the buyer messes up -> he/she should have to cover shipping again. I once messed up as a buyer and I was proactively writing the seller and requesting to tell me how to cover shipping fees again. I would expect the same from a …

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Re: Worth Getting a 286 or 386 DX 40 or just using a K6-III?

Posted on 2020-06-16, 13:28

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Personally I do have some 486 boards because my first computer was a 486 DX with 33 MHz so I do occasionally start one up. For dos gaming however I mostly use Dosbox (ease of emulating various hardware, easily being able to adopt cycles, etc... ). But most of the times I'm using more modern hardware …

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Re: Fast 486 vs entry Pentium

Posted on 2020-06-07, 15:07

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My very first computer was a 486Dx with 33 megahertz and 32 mb ram. My next step was a Pentium 90 with 16 MB ram. The Pentium 90 was a real step up for me (Diablo, Tomb Raider 1/2). So I'd personally vote for the Pentium 90, as it was also my first Windows 95 machine.

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Re: Can this Pentium 100 motherboard accept Pentium MMX CPU?

Posted on 2019-06-20, 17:24

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm a Computer Scientist and not an Electrical Engineer, so please wait for other people's opinions. But from my understanding the CPU will only pull as much current as it needs. As such it doesn't hurt if the VRM can provide much more current. It is just imperative that the voltage provided is in a …

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Re: PSU Recaps?

Posted on 2019-06-18, 10:03

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My personal opinion on this: I swap every cap when recapping, simply because leaving old caps in place makes it more likely that I would have to recap again in the near future and just doing everything in one sweep seems to be more time conserving.

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Re: Larger Disks in my 486DX2

Posted on 2019-06-18, 10:01

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There are two limitations at work here: the BIOS and the file system. What DOS version are you attempting to install and how did you partition the disks?

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Re: Can this Pentium 100 motherboard accept Pentium MMX CPU?

Posted on 2019-06-18, 06:49

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I dunno, I had a look at that shop, too and it looks suspicious. Prices are insanely low and some items are quite new and shouldn't cost only around ~12 Euros. Also: every item seems to have a stock of 800, which is kinda unlikely with old stuff like we're dealing with. When googling the same …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-06-16, 07:54

by

by Marentis

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I was lucky at a flea market today, 15 Euros for the following pieces. Everything except the mainboard is actually working, so it was a really, really great deal. Note the Voodo Banshee, I was so happy. The cards where plastic wrapped before, I didn't think they would work at first, but given the …

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