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

Posted on 2017-09-13, 17:10

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wild card. What about the Pentium pro? My memory of the Pentium Pro is mostly that the window where a PPro machine made any sense for a gamer was very narrow. I knew a few people that had them, but those were all expensive (and usually company-owned, or at least company-subsidized) graphics …

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

Posted on 2017-09-13, 16:52

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been going through the CGW magazine archives and checking out what their killer rigs were through the late 90s and the recommended specs on the games they review. Using the January 2000 issue as a cutoff (As it would have been out before the new year), their Killer/Lean/Budget machine builds …

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

Posted on 2017-09-13, 03:36

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Today (2017) we're all spoiled by buttery smooth frame rates 60 or even 120-144hz, so when you go back and build a nostalgic retro system, sometimes you get a nasty surprise in performance. If you want to run late 90s to early 00 software I would just go ahead and get a Pentium III Coppermine or …

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

Posted on 2017-09-13, 03:32

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In February 99, at age 16, I went to live with my father across the country and had to leave my machine behind. He had a p2/350 based NEC and I played a few games on that; Thief, Jane's F-15, Blood II. When I moved back in with my mother later in the year, I was back to my 200mmx Compaq. The newest …

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

Posted on 2017-09-13, 03:17

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My own experience was somewhat the same. I had a p200mmx from mid/late 97 through till at least 2003 when I bought myself an already low-end socket 478 celeron 2ghz HP machine. I didn't do a lot of gaming beyond 1999 or so though, so I was kind of out of it, and even on that celeron machine I didn't …

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Useful Life of the Pentium 1 (and MMX)

Posted on 2017-09-13, 02:18

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Given how quickly hardware advanced in the mid-late 90s, what would you say would be the useful time period for the original pentium chips? What would be the cut off years of the P54C and P55C as a viable chip for gaming be before it just couldn't handle current games?

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2017-08-23, 14:16

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by senrew

in DOS

in DOS

I've noticed something very disturbing while going through some of these games. There are specific titles that used to include the full install disc in an image that are now split up into music-only image + folders. I have a copy of the image from Shattered Steel in a folder from years ago when I …

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Re: M525 (v1.2) VRM Jumper Settings?

Posted on 2017-08-17, 14:45

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for humoring me, but your first link is just a mirror of the link I posted, and the board you mention is almost, but not quite. I think they are just revision differences though. Either way, still stuck.

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Re: M525 (v1.2) VRM Jumper Settings?

Posted on 2017-08-17, 14:04

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That obscure of a request?

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2017-08-16, 18:28

by

by senrew

in DOS

in DOS

Conquest of the New World mounts a disc too... Oh, I'll be adding entries. Just want to make sure I have a good batch to enter when I do. I have 4 pages of games on GOG and it's taking awhile to check the all out :) EDIT: Here's a little preview of what I've been working on. Fixed the sound config …

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2017-08-16, 17:02

by

by senrew

in DOS

in DOS

Found another 😀 Capitalism Plus mounts a disc image. Not a full install disc though.

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2017-08-15, 18:40

by

by senrew

in DOS

in DOS

Meh, shit happens. Plus, the two games' files are pretty close looking so it's understandable.

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2017-08-15, 18:04

by

by senrew

in DOS

in DOS

I see someone has been updating the list 😀 Just a quick note, I haven't been testing these on an actual DOS machine, just been using DOSBox to verify installation, quick run, sound options, etc. Because of this, I can't really check on the memory configs.

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M525 (v1.2) VRM Jumper Settings?

Posted on 2017-08-14, 22:57

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So, the current machine I'm messing with has this VRM...thing...on it. I have no damn clue how these things worked back then. Here's the board for reference: https://web.archive.org/web/20060715180024/http://motherboards.mbarron.net:80/models/pcchips/m525p.jpg Anyway, from what I understand, the …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2017-08-14, 22:38

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

WildW wrote: Today I beefed-up my Gateway system a little. […] Show full quote Today I beefed-up my Gateway system a little. That totally just made my day!

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2017-08-14, 19:35

by

by senrew

in DOS

in DOS

Not sure if something has changed, but the disc image for Blood does not contain the install.exe file. It's the One Unit Whole version, so not sure if that makes any difference? I think I'm the one who put this into the sheet, and it's the GOG version (One Unit). I'll have a look when I get a …

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2017-08-14, 19:19

by

by senrew

in DOS

in DOS

Not sure if something has changed, but the disc image for Blood does not contain the install.exe file. It's the One Unit Whole version, so not sure if that makes any difference?

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Re: Any saving this 386?

Posted on 2017-08-02, 23:20

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, whatever it was, there's a layer of gunk on this board. Started scrubbing it down lightly with a soft bristle toothbrush and some 91% alcohol. That did a decent first pass, but there's still caked on...whatever this shit is. https://www.dropbox.com/s/3s43hktls0gmhye/IMG_3725.JPG?dl=0 I …

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Re: Any saving this 386?

Posted on 2017-08-01, 18:43

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

. Could become an interesting piece of decoration if that floats one's boat. That's what I'm going to do with my 386SX-40 board - Put up some powerful LED lights behind it and wall mount it! As for using a DX on that board, it seems soldered on. This machine is definitely from a machine shop …

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Re: Any saving this 386?

Posted on 2017-08-01, 14:37

by

by senrew

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wasn't expecting such a response. Went digging through my old e-mails and the guy I got this lot of machines from said it came from a guy who had a printing shop for 30+ years and had just accumulated machines in a corner when he stopped using them/upgraded, etc. I'm guessing the discoloration could …

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