GuyTechie wrote:

I just bought this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/171851993205 […]
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I just bought this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171851993205

I offered $100 (before shipping), and they accepted. Probably could have offered lower (so it ends up being $100 shipped), but I can't believe how much the Asus P5A motherboards alone are going for.

The CPU being only 350 MHz will probably be helpful in letting me adjust down to play old DOS games without speed issues, and if I want, Does anyone know if the clock is unlocked? If so, how far can I underclock this thing? My goal is to have the ability to play old 386/486 games without speed issues.

all AMD K6 (including II/III and + variants) CPUs have multiplier unlocked. You can UC by setting the multi and FSB down, but don't forget that using 2x multiplier on a K6-II or newer will likely overclock the CPU since the CPU translates the 2x multi to 6x. The lowest underclock i've got on a K6 II was 166 mhz (66 x 2.5). You can still disable caches for lowring the perfomance as well

GuyTechie wrote:

The CPU being only 350 MHz will probably be helpful in letting me adjust down to play old DOS games without speed issues, and if I want, I could always plop in a Pentium 166 MMX. I don't think I need to, though. I may be able to get it down to 2.5x 66 (166 MHz) (I don't recall this CPU being multiplier locked). My goal is to have the ability to play old 386/486 games without speed issues.

I've got benchmark results of a K-62 170 (68x2.5) in my Cachebench chart:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uKhCI … dit?usp=sharing
With L1 disabled it performs like a slow 486. With L1+L2 disabled it gets down to 386SX-40/386DX-25 speeds.

The + variants can use lower multipliers than 2.5, activated through software (setmul). In combination with cache manipulation, a K6-2 or K6-III family CPU can operate at the effective speed of a 386DX.

clueless1 wrote:

I've got benchmark results of a K-62 170 (68x2.5) in my Cachebench chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uKhCI … dit?us […]
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GuyTechie wrote:

The CPU being only 350 MHz will probably be helpful in letting me adjust down to play old DOS games without speed issues, and if I want, I could always plop in a Pentium 166 MMX. I don't think I need to, though. I may be able to get it down to 2.5x 66 (166 MHz) (I don't recall this CPU being multiplier locked). My goal is to have the ability to play old 386/486 games without speed issues.

I've got benchmark results of a K-62 170 (68x2.5) in my Cachebench chart:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uKhCI … dit?usp=sharing
With L1 disabled it performs like a slow 486. With L1+L2 disabled it gets down to 386SX-40/386DX-25 speeds.

It's no wonder Phil used a SS7 as a good all-in-one retro PC rig. Looks like it can scale performance to emulate a slow 386 all the way to a fast Pentium (and maybe a mid-range Pentium II). I'm loving how versatile this build is going to be. 😀

Thanks all.

PS: Still wondering what's the difference between those revisions. It almost sounds like I lucked out that I got an older rev (1.04) because I did more reading and both the 1.05 and 1.06 have issues with PLUS versions of the K6-2 and the K6-3. How odd. You'd think the newer revs would have LESS issues.

I really need to curb my spending though. That said, I'd still like to find a beige mid-tower ATX case and 2 CRT monitors to round out my retro builds (Hoping for a good 17" Sony Trinitron or NEC Multisync/Diamondtron).

keenmaster486 wrote:

Munx wrote:

Both retro and not at the same time, this just arrived

P_20160822_182203[1].jpg

Oh I want one of those so bad.

Wel if you have 30 euros in your bank account you can 😀

http://www.serdashop.com/waveblaster

SaxxonPike wrote:

I looked for a micro-ATX 875P motherboard to play around with. That is a very limiting restriction, and it turns out that they e […]
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I looked for a micro-ATX 875P motherboard to play around with. That is a very limiting restriction, and it turns out that they end up typically being industrial boards. But I found a "P4CMX-01" motherboard. Information for this thing is rather scarce aside from the Corvalent source themselves, but the eBay seller claims it's new. Based on the contents of the guide, it should have an ICH5 southbridge, which will suit my requirements nicely.

This is the listing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/222221573050

This is the PDF guide:
ftp://support.corvalent.com/P4CAX-P4CMX/Docs/MN-P4CMX-01.pdf

I'll report my findings.

Alright, got the P4CMX board, tried working with it for a couple days. I got Win98 installed on it, but it was hard to get POSTing in the first place. The BIOS may be toast on it. But wow, what a BIOS. There's a huge number of features. I think I want to replace the BIOS chip in it (it is socketed) but I'm not sure the process. I'd be willing to pay someone for their time to help with this one.

Options it did not come with: GPIO, second NIC.

It appears to be a board that was special ordered for a health tech company (I googled the company that shows up as the boot logo.) It actually came with a 3.0/1M/800 P4 in it and 512 MB non-ECC RAM (even though the board itself supports ECC.)

Running the Yamaha setup program showed that there were no provisions for DMA on this board anyway. A real shame. I'm convinced there's something in the BIOS I need to enable, but I can't get that far most tries, so I gave up (for now.)

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As a failsafe, I also had a Dell Dimension 4600 motherboard in transit. I wanted to get a cheap mATX 865 or 875 board, and this looked like a good option. Research showed that it used a couple custom headers (Dell, go figure.) I had to uh.. "modify" the CPU fan header. This turned out to work. They have a custom header for the front panel, which I'm probably going to put together a custom cable for since I have another Dimension computer that I can gut.

The Dimension 4600 motherboard does work with DSSETUP and shows DMA, and under Windows the YMF724 card I got supports legacy FM on the SB port and wavetable on the MIDI port. I really appreciate having both options available.

The BIOS on the Dell is awful even after flashing A12, but it now recognizes a 3.4/1/800 P4 at least (before, it was on A02, and only recognized it as a 1.6/1/800 P4.) I miss the fully equipped Phoenix BIOS from the 875P board mentioned above.

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I snagged a 5700 FX to see the difference in how it plays some games I have, both in DOS and stuff with palettized textures (Extreme-G 2 comes to mind).

I also happened to receive an ATi Rage Pro Turbo (the one with the RAM slots, and they're populated too!) That was a mistake; the seller was supposed to send me something else. They're sending me what I bid on, and I get to keep the card. What do I do with something like this...?

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So yeah, coming back to that BIOS, if anyone has the know-how and equipment, feel free to get in touch and we can work something out.

Got another nice TSENG Labs card today, this time an ET2000.

I can't seem to stop buying sound cards. A few weeks ago I bought an SB AWE64, which ended up not working. Last week I ordered a YMF718 card from a seller in Russia, though that won't arrive for another couple of days. Just now I bought a CT1740 SB16 with a 4.05 DSP, which will probably arrive at about the same time as the YMF718 card. These are all in addition to the CT1750 SB16 with DSP 4.11, the SB Pro v1, and the semi-functional SB AWE64 I already had.

DersEvvak wrote:

I can't seem to stop buying sound cards. A few weeks ago I bought an SB AWE64, which ended up not working. Last week I ordered a YMF718 card from a seller in Russia, though that won't arrive for another couple of days. Just now I bought a CT1740 SB16 with a 4.05 DSP, which will probably arrive at about the same time as the YMF718 card. These are all in addition to the CT1750 SB16 with DSP 4.11, the SB Pro v1, and the semi-functional SB AWE64 I already had.

I'm itching to buy a SB AWE64 Gold, and a SB Pro 2.0. I'm trying to surpress that urge - already bought the Audacian, a Roland SC-55, Dreamblaster X1, and a SB 16 CT2230.

DersEvvak wrote:

I can't seem to stop buying sound cards.

I'm the same with graphics cards (although I took a short break when I bought my kittens, and may have to stop for a few weeks so I can pay a gardener to fix my dead lawn). Currently mostly looking at Tseng Labs and 3dfx cards.

This is no intervention thread. If anything, it's the opposite. 😁

I started buying other stuff - Asus P5A barebones PC (case, K6-2 CPU, PSU), K6-III 450, Asus P2B-F mobo, SATA to IDE adapters, SD to IDE adapters, 50 pack CDs (not retro, but bought it specifically to burn OS/Software/Games to CD to use on my retro rigs), new old stock speakers... all within a month.

My goal is to have a retro rig (turning out to be 3 now) I can showcase, so it has to look the part. Beige case, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. Something resembling a PC I had back around 1999.

Got a Voodoo Rush and a Banshee. Getting close to complete my 3DFx lineup, though that V6000 might prove nigh impossible to get.

stamasd wrote:

Got a Voodoo Rush and a Banshee. Getting close to complete my 3DFx lineup, though that V6000 might prove nigh impossible to get.

V6000 is for most will always be impossible especially after the Frenchman covered one of his in play dough and intentionally bricking others so other owners are very reluctant to sell their cards.

nforce4max wrote:

stamasd wrote:

Got a Voodoo Rush and a Banshee. Getting close to complete my 3DFx lineup, though that V6000 might prove nigh impossible to get.

V6000 is for most will always be impossible especially after the Frenchman covered one of his in play dough and intentionally bricking others so other owners are very reluctant to sell their cards.

I'm aware of that. It's regrettable but understandable.

nforce4max wrote:

V6000 is for most will always be impossible especially after the Frenchman covered one of his in play dough and intentionally bricking others so other owners are very reluctant to sell their cards.

Wait, what?! I've never heard of this one.

Brickpad wrote:

nforce4max wrote:

V6000 is for most will always be impossible especially after the Frenchman covered one of his in play dough and intentionally bricking others so other owners are very reluctant to sell their cards.

Wait, what?! I've never heard of this one.

Some rich guy in France was able to buy and somewhat steal a number of 3DFX cards including like half a dozen V56Ks from other collectors, he is the guy that started off with doing the water cooling mods but eventually went way too far. He is infamous for creating alt accounts just to drive people nuts and so a few 3DFX forums died because of it.

Wow I never heard of that story. I'm french, so I may have talked to him without knowing. Sounds like childish reaction from him ... Do you know how he was called ?

Edit : Is it Trevormacro ? http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=355053
http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/Hardware/2D-3D/p … 04.htm#t9462984

This topic comes up in this thread every now and then 😁 This must be the fourth time I read about the guy.

Happy with a package I received yesterdag.
Creative CT1350b for €21,- including shipping. Has a very minor schratch on one of the dipp sockets, for the rest looks great. Have to make time next week to test the card. 😈

Nvm1 wrote:

Happy with a package I received yesterdag.
Creative CT1350b for €21,- including shipping. Has a very minor schratch on one of the dipp sockets, for the rest looks great. Have to make time next week to test the card. 😈

Nice Game Blaster!

About no more spending... well, I broke that self-imposed rule again. After reading about how the Asus P5A have a 128 MB cachable RAM limit, I bought a K6-III 450 MHz (non +) for $16 USD ($20 after shipping).

I found out there is a FreeGeek in Chicago (http://freegeekchicago.org/) - when I get some time to drive down there (has to be a weekend), I'd like to see if they have any gems. Hopefully much cheaper than ebay.

I remember seeing a couple of youtube videos on LinusTechTips channel about FreeGeek,but they're in Canada. I didn't realize they have other locations. If you're in a major city, I'd Google FreeGeek to see if they're in your area.