Dell OptiPlex GXpro - a little 1996 workstation project

Posted on 2022-07-23, 15:33

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

About twenty... five? six? seven... ? Errhhh.. many years ago I learned that there was a CPU called Pentium Pro and that it was very very fast. Since the I have been wanting one and a while ago I got a great offer that I couldn't resist. IMG20220713111204.jpg A beige/white and very anynomus desktop …

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Re: Installing Windows NT 3.51, stuck at formating hard drive

Posted on 2022-07-13, 06:50

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I changed to a smaller disk (9.1gb) and another scsi-card and was able to install without much problems. So there are probably some compability issue with the disk and/or scsi card. Lets se what goes wrong next 😀

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Installing Windows NT 3.51, stuck at formating hard drive

Posted on 2022-07-12, 15:32

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I just started to play around a bit with a Pentium Pro (Dell Optiplex GX pro) but its not without problems. I have tested it with Windows 98SE on a IDE-disk without any problems. Everything works as expected. Memtest runs without problems and it seems stable. A real Pentium Pro should of course have …

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Re: Restoring a small form factor 486

Posted on 2022-07-04, 19:34

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Some notes from the former owner of the DX33 :) The cpu is from my Compaq Prosignia that I upgraded to a DX2 66 a while ago. Nice to see that it gets some more life out of it instead of filling my desk drawers. ISA graphics is limiting in newer games on a 486 but if you stay away from SVGA titles …

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Re: Graphics card for Windows 3.11 and Nt3.51 in high resolutions (1600x1200 and higher)

Posted on 2022-05-07, 11:31

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Sounds interesting! The Win9x drivers mention 1920x1200, it seems. Maybe the Windows 3.1x drivers are the same? 🙂 Edit: Link removed. :( Hmm... should try to get one with pci. I have G400 in some other computers and they happily run 1920*1200 with excelent quality over VGA in Windows 98SE and …

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Re: Graphics card for Windows 3.11 and Nt3.51 in high resolutions (1600x1200 and higher)

Posted on 2022-04-12, 19:22

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

What about G200 Matrox? I am using a mystique. Sounds interesting! The Win9x drivers mention 1920x1200, it seems. Maybe the Windows 3.1x drivers are the same? 🙂 Edit: Link removed. :( Hmm... should try to get one with pci. I have G400 in some other computers and they happily run 1920*1200 with …

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Re: Graphics card for Windows 3.11 and Nt3.51 in high resolutions (1600x1200 and higher)

Posted on 2022-04-11, 08:35

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Hi, is there any progress? :) From what I found do far, 1600x1200 with 16M colours is the maximum that 3.1 drivers had. Perhaps because that was a practical limit for large CRTs, not sure. But theoretically speaking, there are 1920x1440, 2048x1536 and 2560x1920 stll. As far as common 4:3 …

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Re: Compaq Proliant 1500 PSU - unknown pins?

Posted on 2022-04-09, 14:33

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My guess is that RS is "remote sense" and PG is "power good". I dont have any good idea what SD stands for. Have you tried removing all cards except for the cpu board?

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Re: Fast VLB graphics card for a nice socket 3-system

Posted on 2022-04-06, 06:50

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

The Mach32 are very good cards for DOS and Windows for its time, if you don’t need 1600x1200. Also the drivers for Windows and DOS (little TSR for VESA compatibility) have a good quality. The best variant is one with VRAM, 2MB (for memory interleave) and ATI68875 RAMDAC (135MHz). The card I can get …

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Re: 3 Com 3C509 vs RTL 8019AS ISA Ethernet

Posted on 2022-04-05, 19:39

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

3com 509b is one of the best cards. Great compability, easy to configure and supported by almost everything.

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Re: Fast VLB graphics card for a nice socket 3-system

Posted on 2022-04-05, 07:43

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Wow, lots of response here thru the weekend :) I don't mind my thread getting hijacked with lots of more or less useful information for me. So if I understand things correctly I should try to find a S3 Vision 864, 868, 964 or 968 with at least 2mb ram. I can get an ATI Mach 32 with 2mb ram but that …

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Re: Fast VLB graphics card for a nice socket 3-system

Posted on 2022-04-01, 06:05

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Vogon user MPE has tested a lot of VLB cards in both DOS and Windows. Some of cards listed there do support 4MB (Diamond made S3 Trio64 for example), but they are rare. Most VLB cards had 1MB - which was enough for most users (at the time), some had 2MB, and 4MB versions were late models and very, …

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Re: Fast VLB graphics card for a nice socket 3-system

Posted on 2022-03-31, 19:46

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by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

All good Win-accellerators are to weak in DOS and vice-versa. So the best solution is 2Mb Cirrus, S3 or Trident card. My experince is that most S3 cards are pretty good in DOS and between ok and really good in windows. The Cirrus Logic card I have now is limited to 1024x768 and maybe 60-70hz even …

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Fast VLB graphics card for a nice socket 3-system

Posted on 2022-03-31, 19:02

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

My fast socket 3 system with Pentium Overdrive 83MHz is getting more or less done and the only thing thats missing now is a good graphics card. I'm currently running a Cirrus Logic GD5429 VLB with 1mb ram. Its fine for DOS applications but it's a bit limiting when running high resolutions in Windows …

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

Posted on 2022-01-30, 19:12

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I spent some quality time with my socket 3 system and gave it some well needed upgrades. IMG_20220129_110250.jpg Upgraded the L2 cache to 1024k. That gave a pretty nice performance boost in Quake from 16.1 to 19.3 fps. IMG_20220130_150210__01.jpg And it finally got the case fully asembled for the …

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Re: ( 1995 ) i486DX4-100 “ budget Plug-n-Play build ”.

Posted on 2022-01-11, 15:46

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Do you have a turbo switch connected? Some motherbords only works with full speed if the switch is connected or if you replace it with a jumper.

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Re: ( 1995 ) 486DX4-100 ( budget Plug-N-Play build ).

Posted on 2022-01-09, 20:28

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'm getting a bit confused about this build. A typical 486dx4/100 from the middle/end of 1995 would have about 4-8mb ram, the cheapest grapics card you could find and a 540-850mb harddrive. You have lots of ram, a really small harddrive and a very expensive grapics card (s3 968 based) that someone …

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Re: My Very Long Bus Adventure.

Posted on 2021-11-21, 21:15

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Thanks, I should really update the first post. Keep us posted on how your build turns out. I usually buy from a seller on EBay who sells them as a pre-tested kit. You spend a bit more but I’ve never had a bad module yet. You can also make him an offer for $5 or so less than he’s asking and will …

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Re: My Very Long Bus Adventure.

Posted on 2021-11-21, 18:25

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

First of all, nice VLB-build! It gave me lots of ideas for my own computer with the same motherboard. What cache chips did you get to upgrade to 1024k? I Thought I saw what you had used in the thread but I couldn't find it when reading it now.

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Re: X2GS : Waveblaster board with dual soundbank support, official Dream/Roland licensed GS bank

Posted on 2021-09-01, 12:45

by

by OSkar000

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thanks for the quick replys 😀 ESS 1868f is quite cheap cards so I will try one and see if it fits my needs. I can always find some use for it 😀

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