I have decided on a video card. I have tried several for such a scenario and I will be using a NOS (New Old Stock, which I still have several) Nvidia Quadro4 380 XGL. If you are not familiar with this card it is the Quadro counterpart to the GeForce4 MX-440 video card. Basically think of it as a better, faster and lower power version of a GeForce2 Ultra. Although not period correct it fits perfectly with the intent. I am sure I will end up using driver version 45.23.

I do not think I will be adding any 3Dfx products in this build. I do think I will have a Voodoo1 paired with a S3 card or a Voodoo3 in my "Time Machine" build to cover DOS Glide games.

This is basically my "go to" box when I want to test a new piece of hardware or software. I can drop in a 266MHz P2 or a 1GHz CuMine or anything in between. Most of the time, I keep a 450MHz P3 in there with a quiet fan (the Intel stock fans are quite loud). It was fun to put together because most of the parts were new: case, mobo, CPU, FDD, HDD, DVD drive, etc. Just my video (GF4 Ti4600 and V3) and SDRAM were used.

SE440BX-2 builds are the Honda Accords of retro computers. Affordable, respectable, gets you where you want to be. Many of us have a classic and a hot rod to go along with it.

boxpressed,

It is a really good "go to" system for sure. I have built quite a few systems using NOS SE440BX-2 boards. I actually had to recently order more. The NOS boards are drying up. The ones I get are the correct revision to support Coppermine CPUs.

I got in a NOS Aureal branded Vortex 2 card today (8830A2 I think), very nice and have not unsealed it yet. Still waiting on a genuine Yamaha Waveforce 192 to arrive. I have several Turtle Beach Santa Cruz's in stock and I am trying to hunt down a YMF-744/754 card with SB-Link header. Not sure what I will be using for audio, one or possibly two cards. The Aopen Cobra cards on eBay do not appear to have the SB-Link header installed along with its associated parts. It might be worth modding one. It would need at least the header and two surface mount caps or resistors installed.

I agree that the se440bx-2 is bulit proof but not all can support majority of cpus. My current se440bx-2 wont go past a p2 450 even after bios update. So it really depends on sn #. Otherwise there awesome.

Good project. Intel boards of that era were great. Remember my AOpen 440BX Slot 1 board not being that stable, but my father had an intel built OEM Slot 1 board (440EX chipset I think, with Yamaha audio and 4mb Ati Rage graphics on board) which was rock solid.

I'm contemplating something similar for the same reasons - think I still have a PIII 650 s370 coppermine system in my parent's loft. It's either Intel 815 chipset, or a VIA equivalent from the same era. Graphics are a bit of a dilemma - on the AGP front I should have a 32mb Rage 128, 16mb Matrox G400 or a 64mb Radeon 9200SE to choose from. The 9200SE isn't really current for that system, but the other cards might be a bit slow. Geforce MX400 (or equivalent) is a good choice.

Yeah they are fun and stable for sure. Boring is a good thing sometimes.

So, when you guys are doing a build do you ever get the "it's never good enough" syndrome? I am having to keep my OCD in check.

I have rethought the RAM situation and I am not going to be using any soundfonts so it will have a single stick of 128MB.

Keeping it simple is very trying at times. The urge to keep making it faster would turn it into something it should not be.

With the theme of keeping it simple I have decided to use a new 120GB, 7200RPM, 2MB cache hard drive.

squareguy wrote:

I have decided on a video card. I have tried several for such a scenario and I will be using a NOS (New Old Stock, which I still have several) Nvidia Quadro4 380 XGL. If you are not familiar with this card it is the Quadro counterpart to the GeForce4 MX-440 video card. Basically think of it as a better, faster and lower power version of a GeForce2 Ultra. Although not period correct it fits perfectly with the intent. I am sure I will end up using driver version 45.23.

I do not think I will be adding any 3Dfx products in this build. I do think I will have a Voodoo1 paired with a S3 card or a Voodoo3 in my "Time Machine" build to cover DOS Glide games.

I'm also building an P3 800 based system but undecided on the video card. Is the Quadro4 380XGL on par with a GF2 GTS as far as "eye candy" is concerned? Tried to snag some voodoo's but they're demanding too much coin!

Well the MX440 / 380 GLX are just as good visually if not better. On paper a Geforce2 Ultra is faster but in actual games the Ultra loses.

Not much free time and slow progress 🙁 but some pics are coming and I got a chance to test the video card's RAM.

greasemonkey90s wrote:

I agree that the se440bx-2 is bulit proof but not all can support majority of cpus. My current se440bx-2 wont go past a p2 450 even after bios update. So it really depends on sn #. Otherwise there awesome.

I had luck with older BIOSes for Coppermine, but newer ones failed. Try the P13 one.

The Coppermine Pentium III 850 is the fastest officially supported Coppermine CPU on the right revision boards. I have P17, the latest, on mine and it's good to go. I do recall having to do that back in the day with a Powerleap 1400 though.

Here is the info on Pentium III CPU's and the SE440BX-2

The following board revisions (AA numbers) support these processors:

754552-200 or later
754558-200 or later
A01450-200 or later.

850 MHz 100 MHz 256 KB P14 or greater
800 MHz 100 MHz 256 KB P14 or greater
750 MHz 100 MHz 256 KB P14 or greater
700 MHz 100 MHz 256 KB P14 or greater
650 MHz 100 MHz 256 KB P14 or greater
600E MHz 100 MHz 256 KB P14 or greater
550E MHz 100 MHz 256 KB P14 or greater

All board revisions support these processors

600 MHz 100 MHz 512 KB P12 or greater
550 MHz 100 MHz 512 KB P07 or greater
500 MHz 100 MHz 512 KB P07 or greater
450 MHz 100 MHz 512 KB P07 or greater

squareguy wrote:

The Coppermine Pentium III 850 is the fastest officially supported Coppermine CPU on the right revision boards. I have P17, the latest, on mine and it's good to go. I do recall having to do that back in the day with a Powerleap 1400 though.

That's nice, I got the wrong revision of the board apparently. I have run Klamath, Deschutes, Coppermine, Tualatin, Samuel-2 and Nehemiah with the P13 BIOS so it's ok for me, the lack of 133MHz bus setting annoys me more (can use SoftFSB but it's not very convenient and it lacks FSB/4 PCI divider).

Well I have been promising pictures and this will at least get it started. Here is the unboxing of the HP Quadro4 380 XGL Video Card.

Unboxing the motherboard.

CPU: Pentium III 850

I have a 800 and 850 with identical heatsinks and fans. In the last photo you can see the plastic fan holder that I epoxied onto the heatsink and then the fan screws into that.

I think I found a case that is different from what I normally use and I might have to change heatsinks if I have clearance issues.