Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 16:14

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hmm, I searched here on Vogons for your graphics card. Actually it should be one of the fastest ISA graphics cards .... EDIT: Damned, got the quoting wrong again, so deleted it :D From everything I’ve ready, that is also my understanding that it’s one of the faster if not fastest ISA card... which …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 15:47

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

With the L2 Cache you will get 140 with Norton SI (with fast timings), but it's a synthetic benchmark, so in "real life" application you will have only 20 to 30% more performance. But the graphics card seems really slow, maybe you can find a Tseng ET4000 isa with 1MB ram (that will be a lot faster …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 15:14

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I ordered some 256kb of cache, given the speed had dramatically increased, hopefully the cache will boost it a little more. I found some boards online (eBay) located in the US, PCI 486 based, but with shipping it would cost roughly $130usd, and considering I already have a fully built Pentium system …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 12:56

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by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Filename 28B678F8-5634-4313-A2EE-E3EF5DFCA7A1.jpeg File size 1.56 MiB Views 496 views Filename FCD6204D-ACE8-4217-BEF9-8EF0A27F7A43.jpeg File size 985.03 KiB Views 496 views Filename EABD325B-C817-4E47-9F41-3964A846756C.jpeg File size 1.73 MiB Views 496 views Filename 71B16D58-8EDF-43CE-9BEF- …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 12:43

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by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The memory speed of your system (timings!) seem to be very bad, too. So having only 5Megabyte /s memory speed + no L2 cache is a really bad combination. I also think buying SRAMs does not make too much sense. If you get hands on a used probably faulty 486 mainboard, you might get 9 pieces of 32kx8 …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 12:10

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, the link you posted is of the right SRAM type, you need 5 more pieces of 32Kx8 high speed SRAM. And no you can't use 2 pieces only to get 64kB cache, for 64kB cache you need 9 pieces of 8kx8 SRAM. Also funny, the guy who took out the SRAMs, did it randomly, so you have now 2 pieces in bank 0 …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 11:31

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

....looking at the picture I posted, I just noticed it’s missing the Tag cache chip... I think I know where I can buy it today/tomorrow at a walk in electronics place, but what exactly would I need for the specs? Based on what’s in there now? I think 128kb, thanks. 2nd option if I can’t get some …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 03:53

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I gave up on Dr.Hardware because it kept reporting incorrect CPU speed, but... seems like the system has a few issues I can’t seem to iron out. 1) For the last 2 hours the system boot screen was showing it as a DX2/66, but now it’s reporting it as a DX2/16. 16MHz! Ok... I’ve reset the BIOS to …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-29, 00:23

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I feel like Dr.Hardware lies... either that or there is something seriously wrong with my system heh... look at the scores for my DX2... they don’t even match Dr.Hardwares DX2 comparison... and the speed is rated at 40-55mhz it can’t seem to decide. I used Version 3.5, so maybe it was too new? I’ve …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-28, 21:46

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by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just found this on Jamesco Electronics, can I use it? SRAM Asynchronous Memory 256KB (32Kx8) Parallel 15ns DIP-28 https://www.jameco.com/z/CY7C199-55PC-Cypress-Semiconductor-SRAM-Asynchronous-Memory-256KB-32Kx8-Parallel-15ns-DIP-28_2302863.html Or this one from Digikey? SRAM - Asynchronous Memory IC …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-28, 20:19

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

....looking at the picture I posted, I just noticed it’s missing the Tag cache chip... I think I know where I can buy it today/tomorrow at a walk in electronics place, but what exactly would I need for the specs? Based on what’s in there now? I think 128kb, thanks. 2nd option if I can’t get some …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-28, 20:07

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

And so the build begins... Filename A3454F0B-CBBD-41D6-A3E3-4F056F02032D.jpeg File size 1.21 MiB Views 841 views Filename 7CCC8ACC-AB2C-4341-9D84-BD1074225E15.jpeg File size 1.58 MiB Views 841 views

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-04-28, 15:31

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by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How has shipping and parcels arriving been for you fellow Vogoners? Mail systems are backed up to hell here in Canada due to Covid-19 and everyone seems to be a bit paranoid as to weather things are gonna arrive or not. Had a bit of free coin and picked up a few 486 items, including a nice Lucky- …

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

Posted on 2020-04-28, 14:29

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Is this a Trident card? They tend to do that on TFT panels.. Yes it is indeed a trident 8900C. Known issue with no workaround, use a CRT or another card.. Sorry. 8900 is a fast card and I have one with 1MB RAM too, but the same issue prohibits me from using it.. How does the 8900 compare to the …

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

Posted on 2020-04-28, 13:08

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Spent the last few evenings gaming on my 486sx50. Really enjoying this machine and seeing what it can do. I have noticed this banding in certain resolutions with this vga card. The issue remains on the 3 systems I have tested it on. Has anyone seen this before? Curious since I’m also building a 486 …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-28, 12:15

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

95 We got our first PC DX2/66 8MB Ram, Onboard VLB Mach64 1MB , SB16, 2x CD-ROM It was a "multimedia PC" so your looking at about the right hardware. It came with Return to Zork which is FMV and played ok from memory, playing off the CD would have been the bottleneck. If you can no-cd the games in …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-28, 11:59

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

kolderman wrote on 2020-04-28, 04:36: Blogs didn't exist. They were called Home Pages 😁 Yeah, as a teen throughout the entire 90’s I definitely remember haha, I was just kidding 😁

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-28, 04:34

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by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting review I found on Under a Killing Moon, written back in 1995... who knew blogs existed :D But it answers my question somewhat, since I haven’t tried it myself. Author mentions a few interesting key points: “It comes on four CD's and seemingly delights in telling you that your video card …

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-28, 03:05

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

red-ray wrote on 2020-04-27, 23:55: dave343 wrote on 2020-04-27, 23:45: but what’s with the Half Orange / Half Black cable? That is for boards such as the ASUS PCI/I-P54NP4 that need +3.3 volts. Ok thanks.

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Re: Help me build 1994 System with limited parts

Posted on 2020-04-27, 23:45

by

by dave343

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I received my ATX to AT adapter cable today... finally, thank you Canada Post :D (just took a month) But I’m curious about it’s 3 AT plugs, the ATX splits into 3 Cables for the AT board... but what’s with the Half Orange / Half Black cable? Don’t remember seeing that before, unless it’s just been a …

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