Re: Better video card options for this Super Socket 7 build

Posted on 2022-09-09, 11:55

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

For example, AMD k6/2 produces bugs with built in drivers for S3 Virge, Virge DX, Ati Rage2 drivers under win98se (colored flying polygons jumping around, texture glitches). Driver upgrade is needed to solve this issue, but that breaks compatibility with some games. The k6/2 also produces crashes …

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Re: Better video card options for this Super Socket 7 build

Posted on 2022-09-09, 11:41

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

[..]Not to mention the bugs and glitches the k6 will do with certain drivers. My motherboard is an asus p5a-b. What (CPU related) bugs and glitches are you referring to? And why would drivers cause CPU related glitches, anyway? SS7 builds do tend to have a lot of glitches without proper tuning, …

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Re: [SOLVED] Gigabyte ga-a5x capacitors 25 amps?

Posted on 2022-09-08, 10:34

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Did it matter what drivers you used ? or was it just poor performance across all drivers ?> I've mentioned it in the aforementioned post :-) : I literally tried everything humanly possible, tested every combination of BIOS settings, tested both the F6 and F7b BIOS ROMS (both support K6-2/3 "+" CPUs …

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Re: [SOLVED] Gigabyte ga-a5x capacitors 25 amps?

Posted on 2022-09-08, 10:01

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

"G Rev" is the one I have, its a super nice board but if I'm being real here .. I actually really like the little Zida Tomato board I have along with the FIC VA503+ if I need something faster with AGP, but for 90% of my socket 7 shenanigans the Zida board is just fun to use. If I have to do …

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Re: Gigabyte ga-a5x capacitors 25 amps?

Posted on 2022-09-08, 09:37

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I paid more for my 5.2 revision, previous owner had it recapped it with Rubycons so I guess you might say it was worth the extra but 200 for a 4.1 does seem far more than they are actually worth. To me, the only rev 5.2 Gigabyte GA-5AX (or rev 3.2 GA-5AA) boards that should be a bit more expensive …

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Re: Gigabyte ga-a5x capacitors 25 amps?

Posted on 2022-09-08, 06:38

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

But really its OPs board so let them have at it, I might actually have a bigger issue if it was one of the rare revisions like a 5.2 but its just a run of the mill 4.1 so let them mess around with it, either itll work or it wont, either way the OP will have learned valuable lessons for next time. …

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Re: Gigabyte ga-a5x capacitors 25 amps?

Posted on 2022-09-08, 04:46

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

"you should not be doing this". Yes, and I stand by what I said. :-) May I remind you: [..] you'll either further damage the board aesthetically (which you've already done), or you'll end up damaging it completely. [...] IMO, the solder job looks terrible and it's a shame for such a nice board... …

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Re: What is a genuine PC?

Posted on 2022-09-06, 20:19

by

by bloodem

in Milliways

in Milliways

My ex boss (and dear friend) used to say that “everyone makes IBM compatible PCs… except IBM” 🤣 (our company was actually a certified IBM service center… and don’t even get me started).

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Re: Quake 1, low fps on P266. What should i expect?

Posted on 2022-09-05, 08:41

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

So here is the thing, I'm tryinv to play Quake 1 in pure dos in 640x480. On a laptop with Pentium 266mhz MMX. I'm getting 10 fps: https://youtu.be/MHs4oqKxg-I?t=156 Maybe that what i should have, or there is a chance i can have better performance? I've tried utilities like fastvid, but looks like …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-05, 05:15

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I rather whip out debugger and add few noops here and there to fix the game Much easier to get a flexible system, than to try and fix all DOS games that have such quirks (and there are many!). :-D With a multiplier of 3 and throttle set pretty low, I can get to a 486 DX2/50 (according to Speedsys), …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-04, 08:01

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Fascinating... You have certainly gone down this road before, while I am only beginning my journey :-) Yes, indeed I'm planning an "ultimate" win98 build with such a board (though not quite that model) -- I will have to test whether it exhibits that issue. Thanks again! Yeah, I have been doing this …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-04, 07:04

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So the two platforms I'll be testing are the KT133A + unlocked Barton and Ezra-T. The P3B-F has an ICS 9250CF-08, I don't see that listed with SetFSB (is this the utility you're referencing, and if so, is there a DOS equivalent?) Ok, I may have to look for one of those moels you mentioned... I've …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-04, 05:40

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Were you able to find a good throttling balance for Titus with your VIA setup, and if yes, would you please articulate further? Yes, with VIA (depending on the platform that we're talking about) there is usually one combination that works. My favorite is the Asus A7V600-X (VIA KT600) + Athlon XP …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-03, 07:20

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Check your PM sir. One correction, it is o1 t6 for Titus... t4 worked but was too slow. Thank you very much for the video. :-) As suspected, the game does not run well at all (that is NOT how it's supposed to run - it's running in slow motion). If you will play further, you will notice there are …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-02, 18:56

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Can you do a short video recording of Titus the Fox at level 4 ACPI throttling? It's really hard for me to imagine that these games "passed with flying colors", when I've been testing them for so many years on newer platforms with 0 success on non-VIA chipsets. Granted, I've never used CpuSpd, …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-02, 13:06

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Can you give me an example of a game please? I'm new to this and really just finished setting up my system proper and would like to test this... If I get the stutters, I will switch it to an Athlon XP platform (KT133A). Many... I would say that at least 50% of DOS games. Off the top of my head: …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-02, 05:21

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In what sense? P4 with SB-Link - This is bulletproof. Pair it with a YMF724 and you're set (no wavetable header though on it, but hook it up through the game port). The only way I can qualitatively measure the slowdown flexibility between this and a Socket A is to benchmark each combination (ACPI …

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Re: Why VIA chipset vs. Intel for PII/III?

Posted on 2022-09-01, 19:17

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All this said, I have to concur with the previous sentiment that the BX platform is not very good at all for retro builds. You don't have that good a range of options to slow it down for older games. VIA C3 Ezra-T --> literally ANY speed between a very slow 386SX and a Pentium 3 Katmai 600 MHz is …

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Re: strange AGP issue with a Via socket 370 board

Posted on 2022-09-01, 17:41

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

tried now some games, nfs 4 hat some glitches, but this is due to the driver i think. installed 8.06 and it worked also without any issues. All NFS games (actually, at least 99% of all period correct games) work perfectly with driver 7.76. I've been using this driver for many years on many …

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Re: strange AGP issue with a Via socket 370 board

Posted on 2022-09-01, 12:07

by

by bloodem

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, did a clean win install, left first the original via driver from windows (from1999) installed only dx7 and the 7,76 driver. looks very good atm. The default VIA driver is probably keeping the AGP transfer at 1x, however it's usually quite a bit slower than newer drivers. I would still install …

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