Toasty regulators in QDI PlatiniX 4X

Posted on 2022-11-13, 06:15

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have this QDI PlatiniX 4X Socket 423 motherboard I bought NOS a few years ago. Normally the P4 platform is of no interest to me, but I find the oddness of the short-lived S423 + RDRAM combo quite fascinating. Anyway, this board works just fine with a 1.9GHz Willamette and 512MB of PC800 RDRAM (2 …

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Re: Intel Batman's revenge repair

Posted on 2022-11-10, 09:52

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The previous owner desoldered the dallas 12887 (which was probably empty) but did quite a mess with bad solder joints. I didnt touch this area yet, only checked if the socket had continuity to somewhere near (74L chips). Seems they have contact except for pin A3 - no idea where its going or if its …

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Re: Need Help with Diamond Stealth64 Video VRAM (Bad VRAM?)

Posted on 2022-11-10, 00:44

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Don't feel too bad about it, happened to me a couple of times despite being really careful. The pad doesn't seem to connect to anything on that side of the board, so you need to follow the via on the other side and see where it goes. One option could be to insert a really small wire through the via …

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Re: Need Help with Diamond Stealth64 Video VRAM (Bad VRAM?)

Posted on 2022-11-09, 20:39

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The chips on your expansion board seem to be of the correct type (256K x 8 FPM VRAM), but I wonder if the slower speed may be causing issues (they're 80ns as opposed to 60ns on the card). Maybe it's a module for an older card? Not sure if the VRAM-based cards allow you to mix and match memory types, …

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Re: Market value for popular or rare classic computer hardware

Posted on 2022-11-07, 16:20

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

Oof. The most I'd seen one of these boards go for previously was around $300. Even with a CPU, SCSI card and memory $616 is a massive inflation over previous highs. Is there anything special about that board in particular? I have a few SiS496 based motherboards and they all have similar performance …

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Re: What kind of memory is this?

Posted on 2022-10-29, 05:22

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The requirement of installing 72-pin SIMMs in pairs is due to the Pentium's 64 bit data bus (each SIMM is 32 bits), so it's not related to it being EDO. In fact, the same restriction applies if you use FPM. On the other hand for a 486 1 SIMM is enough, but I understand the confusion since EDO RAM is …

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Re: Compaq Prolinea 3/25s - power supply question

Posted on 2022-10-26, 13:38

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

By "titanium" I assume you mean tantalum :stuck_out_tongue: . Your power supply is probably fine, the symptoms you describe (fan trying to spin and shut off) is usually due to the short circuit protection kicking in and preventing the power supply from starting in order to prevent damage. Which …

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Re: Corsair RM550x power supply just blew out on 486

Posted on 2022-10-24, 19:24

by

by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

The resistor in those adapters is used as a dummy load for the 3.3V rail, because it is not used by AT motherboards. Regarding the failure, it's difficult to tell what may have gone wrong without seeing the insides of the PSU, do you know if the board is still working? You should check for shorts, …

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Re: need dump of ELSA Winner 1000 ISA and ATI Mach32 ISA DRAM

Posted on 2022-10-21, 15:33

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Have you tried the BIOS for the Mach32 from VGA Museum? https://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cpu/item/83-ati-mach32 Apparently it has BIOS for ISA + VLB versions.

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Re: What era of computers do you draw the line at collecting and/or using?

Posted on 2022-10-17, 15:47

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd say my lower bound would be at 286 level, basically anything that allows for decent 16-color EGA gameplay, think early Sierra/LucasArts stuff and the like. Monochrome and CGA stuff feels too primitive for my taste, even back when I was a kid and some people still had B/W monitors or TVs it has …

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Re: 80486 BIOS image collection

Posted on 2022-10-12, 01:41

by

by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

#131 Manufacturer/Identifier: ASUS VL/EISA-486SV1 (REV 1.1) Chipset: SiS 85C411/85C431 BIOS/Version: Award Modular BIOS v4.00 BIOS String: #401A0 - 080493 Filename VL_EISA-486SV1.jpg File size 1.42 MiB Views 221 views File comment VL/EISA-486SV1

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Re: 2,5” Hard disk… better IDE or SCSI?

Posted on 2022-10-05, 17:07

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I would get the 7200rpm IDE drive, should be fast enough and you can easily find cheap replacements if it fails. SCSI is cool, but ridiculously overpriced and with used drives you never know how much abuse they have endured.

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Re: Socket 5 Intel Advanced / ZP (Zappa) will not keep BIOS settings

Posted on 2022-10-05, 16:54

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

According to the 83706 datasheet the operating VBAT voltage range is between 2.4V and Vcc - 0.5, so 3V should be totally fine on that pin. However, the "Typical Battery Configuration" in page 88 suggests the use of a diode between the positive terminal of the battery and the VBAT pin. If that's how …

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Re: Stadia shutting down

Posted on 2022-09-30, 06:27

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

Apparently they're refunding all hardware and game purchases (at full price I assume)? I wonder how much that's going to cost.

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Re: Crowbar on power supply

Posted on 2022-09-27, 20:13

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

One common use of varistors in many power supplies is between the legs of the 2 big capacitors on the primary. In addition to helping with voltage spikes, they can protect components from being destroyed if you do silly things like plugging a PSU with the switch on the "110V" position into a 220V …

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

Posted on 2022-09-26, 19:00

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had the same reaction when I see the price of a beatiuful new"Ati Radeon 9800 Pro". 379 euros... Do you think guys that is a good price? That's pretty much the launch price of that card in 2003 (not accounting for inflation). Personally I think it's complete insanity for a mass-produced 20 year …

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Re: Desoldering a dallas battery and multi layer PCB.

Posted on 2022-09-18, 04:23

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Removing a DIP-28 from a board with more than one layer is difficult because of the through-hole vias, which means that during assembly the solder flows all the way from the pad on the bottom to the one on the top. In order to desolder each leg properly, you must make sure that you've removed all …

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EVGA Terminates NVIDIA Partnership, Cites Disrespectful Treatment

Posted on 2022-09-16, 21:41

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

Gamers Nexus Video Looks like it's game over for EVGA, especially considering that they don't want to work with Intel or AMD either.

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Re: Games you are determined to beat one day

Posted on 2022-09-16, 21:06

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

With Sekiro, although mastering the deflect system is the "intended" way to approach the fights (each enemy move can be countered in some way) there are shortcuts to go around it in case your skill or reaction time are not up to the task: the prosthetic arm upgrades. Some of these can be used and …

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Re: Advise a good VGA card for 8-bit ISA slots?

Posted on 2022-09-16, 06:08

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I use a Paradise PVGA1A-JK with 256K, it's obviously slow but that doesn't really matter in an XT class system. The good thing is that it provides excellent compatibility and very good image quality. And it has no jumpers/switches. My card is 8-bit, but 16-bit versions should work fine on 8-bit …

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