Re: The merits of Socket 7 processors - Intel P54C/P55C | AMD K5/K6/K6-2 | Cyrix/IBM 6x86 | IDT Winchip

Posted on 2020-07-16, 15:05

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by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I personally liked the AMD K5 (later gold top versions). I remember being really surprised how well it ran FPU-heavy tasks, it even played Quake 3 at reasonable frame rates. Seems to punch way above its weight and it's also a rarity.

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-14, 15:58

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by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Having some trouble getting the computer usefully connected to the internet. IE5 (or whatever it came with) can load the google search page, but virtually no web sites will load. K-Meleon does the same thing. I'm guessing there's some security layer missing that is keeping sites from loading? I'm …

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Re: So... I picked up a simple unassuming beige AT computer and it turned out to be this....

Posted on 2020-07-14, 15:55

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by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looks like a jackpot! Nice find.

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-13, 01:04

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by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

🤣 Vista! I would install XP at least if the installer didn't artificially prevent me from doing it.

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Re: 3.3V Supplemental PCI Power Connector on AT Motherboard

Posted on 2020-07-12, 16:18

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by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My Valuepoint 486 motherboard has the same connector, and I had the same question. The factory PSU didn't have the plug for it and so far there hasn't been any issues with the PCI card.

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Re: Whiplash / Fatal Racing on Voodoo graphics

Posted on 2020-07-12, 04:05

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by chublord

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Exciting news! I got it to work, although it's intermittent for some reason (sometimes it will load and sometimes not). But FPS is at least double compared to software render, even at the SVGA resolution. It looks like it needs to be run with a parameter for resolution (for example, 3dwhip.exe / …

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Re: Whiplash / Fatal Racing on Voodoo graphics

Posted on 2020-07-12, 01:44

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by chublord

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Update: I was able to run GLQuake today and got the 3dfx logo and all that. So must be something specific to Whiplash.

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-12, 01:31

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Maybe the default memory/cache timings are just super slow. The system boots up just fine with 50 MHz FSB, even with 20 ns cache and 70 ns memory. Performance is definitely better.

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Re: IBM Personal Computer 100 Type 6260 problems - please advise

Posted on 2020-07-11, 19:52

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by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Would it be possible that the PSU could be causing these issues? It's pretty old and beat up... FWIW, I just had to replace the PSU in my IBM Valuepoint because the voltage was low on the +5 and +12V rails. It was obvious with a basic multimeter (+4.36V on the 5V rail). Regarding the cache, I'm …

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-11, 17:03

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks! I'll try it out

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-11, 16:45

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Honestly yes it seems too slow. I don't have any options in BIOS to change memory or cache timing. Is there any other option? there is a program called CTCHIP34 which can directly adjust chipset registers for such things, on supported chipsets Where can I get CTCHIP34? I don't see it on Google. I …

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Re: Whiplash / Fatal Racing on Voodoo graphics

Posted on 2020-07-11, 16:27

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Okay, thanks for the tip. Can you clarify the bug you are referring to? Is it only in Glide mode or also in software mode?

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-11, 15:27

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Honestly yes it seems too slow. I don't have any options in BIOS to change memory or cache timing. Is there any other option?

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Re: Whiplash / Fatal Racing on Voodoo graphics

Posted on 2020-07-10, 23:14

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by chublord

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Where do I put the .ovl file? Same directory as the game .exe? It's a native dos executable. I just tried the Monster 3D drivers and same problem. The 3d test utility that comes with the Monster driver worked.

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Whiplash / Fatal Racing on Voodoo graphics

Posted on 2020-07-10, 20:04

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by chublord

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I have Whiplash working in the standard software mode but it won't run using the 3dfx patch. I get a black screen and the computer is frozen. Any tricks getting old dos games to work with these 3dfx / glide patches? Any special drivers that are needed? In the Device Manager I do show "Voodoo …

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-10, 17:09

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Tried with 40 MHz FSB - processor defaulted to 80 MHz (2x multiplier). Is this standard for DX4's or is this controlled by the motherboard/chipset? As expected the memory speed is a bit faster with the faster FSB (and so is the hard disk), but still not great. There is a big difference in speed …

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-10, 15:31

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Finally got Speedsys to run. It finished without problem, but the memory and cache speed seems awfully slow. Any thoughts or suggestions? This is for DX4-100/33 MHz FSB speed, Opti 82C802G chipset.

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Re: Retro builds with an Intel branded motherboard

Posted on 2020-07-06, 17:21

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by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I remember the 440BX as being the gold standard during that period for overall performance and stability. I was always jealous of that, trying to get things to work properly on my Super Socket 7 K6-3+. Those VIA and ALI chipsets were terrible in comparison.

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Re: Resurrecting an old IBM Valuepoint 486 machine. How can I get it to contribute to World Community Grid?

Posted on 2020-07-06, 03:16

by

by chublord

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So far it seems to be working. The input voltage is pretty low, I think the PSU is on it's way out (+4.36V on the +5V rail and +10.94V on the +12V rail). That's probably why the processor didn't blow up without the VRM. Luckily this generic VRM is adjustable. Computer posted with the VRM installed. …

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Re: Voodoo 1 vs. Voodoo 2 on a 486

Posted on 2020-07-05, 16:52

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by chublord

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

There's also the fact most of the early HWT&L requiring games use DX8 for their API backend, which is a DirectX that cannot be installed on 486s whatsoever, and still eat at the CPU anyway (hungry for that GHz) to make 4th gen PCs a non-starter. I believe feipoa already benchmarked a Geforce2MX in …

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