Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-12-22, 04:43

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Retro computing means different things to different people. To me the "retro era" ends around year 1996 (give or take a few) with the demise of the 486 platform. Yet, i have a soft spot for Slot 1/2 CPUs and related hardware that were the thing around year 2000 (again - give or take a few). So not …

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Re: Zelaird not detecting gamepad

Posted on 2020-12-18, 07:04

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Heresy ! This game is best served by 1.5kg heavy mechanical keyboards. Kidding aside, never tried joystick on it.

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-12-12, 20:54

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

There is not much info online about this Chicony TK8880F / 2066A2 motherboard from year 1994, so decided to share some findings. It is an interesting one - very well preserved, i can tell it saw little use in its time - no scratches, no dust, no wear. Supports up to 128Mb RAM and 1024Kb of L2 cache. …

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Re: Help finding the correct SRAM chips for Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-08, 02:16

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

One of my all time favorite motherboards. Very fast, if not the fastest 486 VLB graphics. Check if level 2 cache is not disabled from the BIOS. Lower base frequency to 33MHz to minimize problems from flaky components and/or SRAM chips. Somewhat unlikely this is the case, but still. Inspect PCB for …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-12-08, 01:10

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

@drosse1meyer Thanks. @Anonymous Coward I reworded a bit the conclusion at the end of my previous post. The problems are mostly related to the SXL2 CPU than the upgrade module itself. In general, many of these TI/Cyrix upgrade processors tend to cause issues with IDE/SCSI + CF cards. $700 for …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-12-06, 08:52

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

PK-X486/87SD - CPU/FPU upgrade module for 286 class computers. Most such modules tend to be finnicky, so i pulled 5 different 286 motherboards to see which ones will "fit" best. The "natural selection" process was quick - 3 of them worked out - 2 VLSI ones and a slow Headland. The Headland was …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-11-29, 07:29

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Yep, the two boards are the same really, just different sockets. I think there is one more earlier variation of the 386 mobo out there as well. Agreed, too bad Symphony didn't get to VLB. It would be killer. Didnt know about them and VIA. Do you have mr.bios version for the 486 board ? I don't love …

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Re: PCChips M321 Rev. 3.0 QFP 386

Posted on 2020-11-28, 06:37

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Most 286 and 386 BIOSes actually work on any motherboards, regardless of chipset. Often there are side effects like worsened performance and/or cache not recognized and/or limited RAM, like the first 1Mb only and/or IDE does not boot (workaround with SCSI), but technically things work. So same …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-11-28, 02:39

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Hah. I will make an introduction then. Welcome to the club. 😉

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Re: Diamond SpeedStar24 with only 256 color RAMDAC

Posted on 2020-11-27, 06:21

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

ah, yes. so, i skimmed through the thread and not sure what bios ver 6 brings. is there a conclusion ? thx

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Re: Asus P2B-DS Rev 1.06 FSB Modification

Posted on 2020-11-26, 22:32

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, they are.

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Re: Diamond SpeedStar24 with only 256 color RAMDAC

Posted on 2020-11-26, 22:03

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I doubt it left the manufacturing plant back then with a heatsink like that. In the other hand the metal piece is installed pretty well, does not feel like custom/sloppy job, but until i see another one like this i will assume it was pimped.

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Re: Diamond SpeedStar24 with only 256 color RAMDAC

Posted on 2020-11-25, 22:40

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Then it looks like a BIOS version specific issue, assuming you are running 5.01 I can swap DACs and BIOSes around, but i doubt it is DAC specific.

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Re: Diamond SpeedStar24 with only 256 color RAMDAC

Posted on 2020-11-25, 22:12

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Captured 2 short videos from Wolf3D running on a 286 PC: This one shows the video card with 24 bit DAC and BIOS version 5.01: https://www.petershipkov.com/temp/retro_pc_images/other/et4000ax_24bit_dac.mp4 And another one showing the card with 8 bit DAC and BIOS version 5.00: https://www.petershipkov …

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Re: Diamond SpeedStar24 with only 256 color RAMDAC

Posted on 2020-11-25, 18:57

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Interesting topic. I happen to have 2 of these cards. One with 24-bit DAC and a second with 8-bit one. 24bit https://www.petershipkov.com/temp/retro_pc_images/components/286_et4000ax.jpg 8bit https://www.petershipkov.com/temp/retro_pc_images/other/et4000ax_8bit_dac.jpg They are identical, except a " …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-11-24, 08:25

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

DTK PKM-5031Y with Symphony SL82C461, SL82C362, SL82C405 chipset. This motherboard caught my attention with its performance characteristics. It came crispy clean. I can tell that it was never used - a new old stock. Plus a real looker. There was AMD 486DX 40MHz CPU, 8Mb 70ns RAM and 256Kb 20ns SRAM. …

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Re: Asus PVI-486SP3 // PCB vs. Chipset Revisions

Posted on 2020-11-23, 18:31

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here is a high-res picture of the one i ended up keeping. https://www.petershipkov.com/temp/retro_pc_im … motherboard.jpg Hope it helps.

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Re: Unsual 90's Thin Client, customized AMD case!

Posted on 2020-11-23, 16:00

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Great job Hezus. Looks tight and tidy. how it performs BTW ?

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Re: Asus PVI-486SP3 // PCB vs. Chipset Revisions

Posted on 2020-11-23, 00:19

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This is a table I found a while ago: A4: SIS 496 MU, SIS 497 MW B2: SIS 496 NU, SIS 497 NS B3: SIS 496 NV, SIS 497 NS B4: SIS 496 NV, SIS 497 NU B5: SIS 496 OR, SIS 497 OT The main difference between the chipset versions is that A4 supports up to PIO mode 2, the B# ones support PIO mode 3 and 4. B2 …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-11-18, 09:10

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Thank you MPE. Btw, interested in the vlb pc chips video card you got recently. I skipped on one of these not far ago, but always wondered how they perform ...

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