Re: Recommend A DX7/8 Video Card and Driver Pairing

Posted on 2017-09-21, 18:53

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

To be honest, I'm questioning my build philosophy right now. The original plan was to build around the hardware I already had, and limit to whatever DirectX version the video cards were fully compliant with. However, that was before I had a fuller understanding of just how DX works...

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2017-09-21, 16:56

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Cyrix200+ wrote: I put a low bid on this a while back, did not expect to hear from it again. Much newer than what I usually deal with, I don't th […] Show full quote I put a low bid on this a while back, did not expect to hear from it again. Much newer than what I usually deal with, I don't think I …

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Re: Anyone know about old laptop floppy drives?

Posted on 2017-09-21, 01:20

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My 480cdt is a 233mmx with 64megs of ram. It actually can run Win2000 pretty nicely despite it's lower specs. Yeah, the internal connector on the floppy drive, once you get it down to the bare drive itself, is completely unique. That drive, that slides out of the external case, can be used only with …

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Re: Teach me to love ATI Rage

Posted on 2017-09-20, 19:25

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by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

From wiki: RAGE Mobility P, M, M1 (RAGE Pro-based) (Motion Compensation, IDCT)

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Re: Anyone know about old laptop floppy drives?

Posted on 2017-09-20, 18:38

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

These connectors were all proprietary to the maker. I have a stack of 4 toshiba external floppies for my 480cdt, but the external floppy connector is dead. Fun part is, these particular drives are NOT the swappable ones that can go into the multi-bay in place of the CD drive so they are useless for …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2017-09-19, 16:44

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So that's what the box looked like. Cool.

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Re: Retro Games Played by Release Year

Posted on 2017-09-19, 15:12

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by senrew

in Milliways

in Milliways

Heh, I haven't started my deep dive into my game library, but I was planning on keeping these kinds of statistics. It'll be awhile before I have enough data to make a pretty chart though.

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Re: Teach me to love ATI Rage

Posted on 2017-09-19, 15:11

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been kinda curious about the Matrox cards for awhile. Never really used one. I've got a Millennium I in my DOS/Win95 machine, though I may be swapping that out if I run into any DOS compatibility issues. I have a single 8MB Monster II for glide in the win98 machine, but that's more of an …

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Re: Teach me to love ATI Rage

Posted on 2017-09-19, 14:19

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Back in early 99, I was living with my dad and did all of my gaming on his NEC Ready 9889. It had a Rage Pro Turbo. Honestly, I didn't really know what the fuck a "3D Accelerator!!!" was back then. I would grab every gaming mag that had a cover CD and run the demos they had on that machine. Thief, …

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Re: Recommend A DX7/8 Video Card and Driver Pairing

Posted on 2017-09-19, 01:45

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Got a 4600, it was my first choice. Probably should have mentioned that :) The question was more that I don't know much about that era and wasn't sure if there was a better option performance-wise. I know the 9700/9800 kills this thing in raw speed but wasn't sure if the ATI driver lottery hurt it …

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Recommend A DX7/8 Video Card and Driver Pairing

Posted on 2017-09-19, 00:22

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Looking to put together an ME/2000 dual boot machine. I want to keep this pre-dx9, as I'll be building another machine specifically for that. Any suggestions for a card that will give me the best performance in games requiring those two DX versions *only*? Not trying to stay with Pre-DX9 cards, so …

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Re: Senrew's Late Win98 Machine

Posted on 2017-09-16, 21:54

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by senrew

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Phillips PSC604 PCI Soundcard (I don't know much about this, but will be testing it as best as I can) That card uses a rebranded CMI 8738 chip, so nothing special about it. Yeah, I put this thing together on my "bench" (an old motherboard box) and it was just...meh. It's an alternative to a Live! …

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Re: Senrew's Late Win98 Machine

Posted on 2017-09-16, 20:56

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I've decided to stick with the Ti4600 on this build. Going to dual-boot WInME and 2000. This machine will be meant to cover Dx7/8 games from about 2000-2003 or so. Just waiting to pick up an Audigy 2ZS and a Case for the machine and I think it'll be ready to go.

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Re: Halcyon

Posted on 2017-09-15, 16:20

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by senrew

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I ordered a p200 chip and some rolled IDE/Floppy cables. Once I install the cpu the build itself will be complete and I can call this machine ready for use. The new cables will help me clean up the inside of the case. As for the outside of the case...well, it's rusted to all hell. Really considering …

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Re: What to do with a P2B-S

Posted on 2017-09-15, 00:07

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

BTW, just checked the specific revision of this board and it'll only take a 600mhz Katmai. It's currently got a 500mhz Katmai in it, so I guess that's the target build. So, anyone else? Where would the sweet spot for this board/CPU combo be?

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Re: What to do with a P2B-S

Posted on 2017-09-14, 18:12

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, personally, I've got machines that'll take me to early 1998, and then a machine that would be fine from there till about 2002/3 or so. I don't necessarily *need* a machine in between, but I've got this one sitting here and it's just a shame to let it collect dust. Not really trying to recreate …

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What to do with a P2B-S

Posted on 2017-09-14, 15:33

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've got this awesome board sitting here, and no idea what to build it up as. I think this one can take up to an 800mhz Slot 1 Coppermine. If you were given this board, what would you build it into, and what would you play on it?

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Re: Senrew's Late Win98 Machine

Posted on 2017-09-13, 22:30

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Would I be able to max out the RAM to 3GB for the XP side and just use the MaxPhysPage trick to limit to say 512 for 98? Or is there some kind of hard limit for RAM in 98?

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Re: Useful Life of the Pentium 1 (and MMX)

Posted on 2017-09-13, 17:31

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by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

By April 2001, almost every game required a P2 as minimum CPU. There were a few holdouts, Everquest and Blair Witch (reviewed in that issue) needed a 200mhz chip at minimum, but I think we can call it by early 2001 that new games upped the floor for CPUs to at least the slowest of the P2s.

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Re: Useful Life of the Pentium 1 (and MMX)

Posted on 2017-09-13, 17:18

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by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That's a pretty good analysis, but I think it misses one salient metric - there's a point at which a given spec (a PMMX, say) will still run most new releases, but you'd never consider building a new machine with that spec. In 1999, it seemed to me like a PMMX could still run most things, but I'd …

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