Re: 386SX/40 build

Posted on 2021-07-06, 07:46

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Why should a 386SX not benefit from RAM ? There is very little software that can benefit from it on 386SX, most notably Windows 3.1. But back in the day Windows 3.1 wasn't particularly useful. I had it but I almost never started it. On 386SX the best use for extra memory is probably smartdrive. …

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Re: Looking for the best Sound Blaster Live! model for DOS that I own

Posted on 2021-07-05, 14:39

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

ESS Solo 1 doesn't require EMS for DOS emulation. If you're limited to PCI then get either that or SB Live.

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Re: 386SX/40 build

Posted on 2021-07-05, 13:49

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

386SX won't be able to take advantage of 4MB RAM unfortunately as later DOS games that would benefit from more memory also require faster CPU. It was my first computer, but I ended up upgrading to 386DX40 (from AMD, as prices went down). I eventually ended up with 8MB RAM. It could run popular 486 …

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Re: Most stable and compatible win9x configuration

Posted on 2021-07-04, 11:14

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Are you familiar with capacitor plague ? You are inevitably going to encounter it in a lot of motherboards from this period. Often you can just visually check the motherboard for bulging and leaky capacitors, but there's really no way of knowing if any particular brand or model of motherboard is …

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Re: Most stable and compatible win9x configuration

Posted on 2021-07-03, 21:50

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For me personally, the 865p chipset is the best I have used in windows 98. The performance betwen athlon 64 and P4 in windows 98 games, especially 754 socket athlons compared to northwood p4s, is about the same - even intel favored. You just need to manage the heat, and on the northwood CPUs aren't …

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Re: Most stable and compatible win9x configuration

Posted on 2021-07-03, 21:37

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

DOS on SBLive / Audigy / Audigy 2 is a joke as far as compatibility and good quality audio go. philscomputerlab praises SBLive in terms of DOS compatibility. Acceptable sound quality is very subjective as price pays a role as well. SBLive cards cost nothing nowadays so it makes sense to start with …

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Re: Hd3650 agp

Posted on 2021-07-03, 16:46

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Pity these do not come with VGA output.

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Re: New socket 370 boards from China?

Posted on 2021-07-03, 16:41

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Miphee wrote on 2021-07-03, 08:57: I'd rather buy 5 used boards for that price than a new one from China. Agreed, that's what I did. Got a few boards for the rigs I want to keep. Very cheap and in case there are random issues I can swap the board.

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Re: Most stable and compatible win9x configuration

Posted on 2021-07-03, 16:33

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

440BX has AGP 2x but it works with AGP 8x cards (those that have 2 slits). GeForce FX5200 are dirt cheap, FX5500 also obtainable and cheap. No need to lash out on AWE64, those are very expensive. Just get a cheap SB Live!, it has a DOS driver.

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Re: New socket 370 boards from China?

Posted on 2021-07-02, 16:10

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It is quite expensive though. It looks like manufacturer is a Chinese company for Chinese market. I hope Bios isn't in Chinese. Without AGP no GeForce FX5xxx.

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Re: New PSU on a AMD Athlon build?

Posted on 2021-06-27, 21:22

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Your Athlon will draw power from the main 20 pin connector. I would recommend PSU that has strong 3.3V+5V rail, comparable to your old PSU. You won't be using the 4 pin 12V connector from your new PSU. If it comes with SATA connector you can use an adapter. To put it into perspective my old Chill …

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Re: I was there, I saw the last AWE 64 Gold disappear and become an investment product...

Posted on 2021-06-26, 21:50

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Recently I saw a pack of Sound Blaster cards on sale with 2x AWE 64 and one was the gold version. It seems they got bought by a speculator who is now reselling them for higher price (AWE 64 Gold for €150). In the meantime I'm glad I bought my Yamaha ISA sound card recently for just €3 😀. Being sold …

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Re: Windows 7 Retro?

Posted on 2021-06-26, 11:03

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I'm not sure whether Windows 7 will ever be considered retro. Windows 95, 98, ME get that status mostly because there is unique software/games written for it that do not work well in modern Windows due to API incompatibility. You will install Windows XP on retro hardware usually for increased …

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Re: My overkill Windows 9x build (period adjacent...ish)

Posted on 2021-06-26, 07:48

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Socket 754 is fantastic for old rigs, as is socket 478. They support fast CPUs with SSE2, AGP 8x, SATA. Socket 754 was used mostly in cheap builds with Semprons, not heavily used, boards will have good caps. You can use modern quiet coolers with it. The main woe of socket 939 and 775 is they usually …

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Re: slot 1 bx440 agp perfomance

Posted on 2021-06-25, 22:26

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I ran 3dmark 99 max on my PIII rig at 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 16bit and 32bit and got 4850 3DMarks on average, 9350 CPU marks. Resolution and bit depth didn't have an effect on score. It seems for 3d accelerated games it's beneficial to have a PIII CPU.

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Re: [Build Advice] Win 98 / DOS build — Help confirming parts stock + P-III w/ ASUS P2B-F motherboard

Posted on 2021-06-24, 21:25

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There is surplus of PIII CPUs as motherboards break down while CPUs last forever. So you may be able to upgrade very cheap if you keep looking. Still it looks like a good rig.

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Re: Best operating system for DOS (and maybe Windows) gaming? (re: Pentium MMX 233, 80MB RAM)

Posted on 2021-06-23, 21:36

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have Windows 98SE on my PIII and a single 80GB fat32 partition. Large partition support is the main reason to use the DOS bundled in Windows rather than 6.22. Instead of utilities being located in c:\dos they are in c:\windows. As suggested above I have boot menu always shown with options to start …

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Re: [Lazy Question] SuperSocket7 Motherboard suggestions?

Posted on 2021-06-23, 21:30

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Since that CPU is rare definitely build a rig for it just don't have high hopes for the games you intended to play. If you're lucky your board may accept GeForce 5xxx series (AGP 8x). CPU will likely become a bottleneck before the slow AGP speed. It's worth a try though.

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Re: which socket A board?

Posted on 2021-06-23, 21:20

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It seems there are actually Socket A boards that are designed for modern PSUs. I have a few such boards: MSI KT6V (20pin + 4pin power connector) - manual specifically states the 4pin 12V connector is used to power the CPU Epox EP-8RDA3+ Epox EP-8RDA3I (no SATA here) Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 All of …

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Re: which socket A board?

Posted on 2021-06-22, 20:26

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My PIII rig uses PSU with 3.3V 20A, 5V 30A, 12V 13A rating. Socket A is going to use 20A, 30A, 14A 350W PSU. For Socket 754 I have one with 20A, 16A, 10A+13A 350W. I've got two Socket A rigs for parts that both used wrong PSUs - modern ones with weak 5V rail. In both cases the original owners …

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