Bad capacitors are the easiest fault to both diagnose and repair. Those power supply caps look very beefy and should also be easy to replace.

Just make sure you don't put them in backwards! I did that once and hopefully never again.

This was actually yesterday, but simply didn't have the time to make a post about this.

So, I finally got my Socket A system built, installed Windows XP and ran some tests and did some initial overclocking to see if everything rans somewhat stable and as expected. So, system has Epox 8RGA+ nForce2 with most VRM caps recapped, Thoroughbred B 2200+@2600+, 2x512MB Corsair XMS DDR400@333, MSI Geforce FX5900XT@450,780 and Intenso 512GB SSD with IDE adapter. Watercooling gear is my original from 2002-03 besides the radiator, which is Black Ice 2x80mm. Case is new old stock Chieftec MX-01BD-S case, so it is like... new.

I will make some more thorough build description to system specs when I have time, but I must say that this has been one of the most fun retro computer projects I've had. It brought back so much memories from those good old sA days. I had like 6 motherboards and probably 10 different CPUs at the time, so this platform with custom loop is really familiar.

I also need to get some Barton cores for this. I had one 2500+, but it seems to be dead as a rock unfortunately. And test and tune some memory, I have handful of HyperX sticks and couple of more of these Corsairs to test with sizes ranging from 256MB to 1GB and rated speeds of PC2700-3200. Unfortunately I think none of those are BH-5s, but many of them should reach CL2 at least.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2023-09-11, 16:34:

This was actually yesterday, but simply didn't have the time to make a post about this. […]
Show full quote

This was actually yesterday, but simply didn't have the time to make a post about this.

So, I finally got my Socket A system built, installed Windows XP and ran some tests and did some initial overclocking to see if everything rans somewhat stable and as expected. So, system has Epox 8RGA+ nForce2 with most VRM caps recapped, Thoroughbred B 2200+@2600+, 2x512MB Corsair XMS DDR400@333, MSI Geforce FX5900XT@450,780 and Intenso 512GB SSD with IDE adapter. Watercooling gear is my original from 2002-03 besides the radiator, which is Black Ice 2x80mm. Case is new old stock Chieftec MX-01BD-S case, so it is like... new.

IMG_1908.JPEG

I will make some more thorough build description to system specs when I have time, but I must say that this has been one of the most fun retro computer projects I've had. It brought back so much memories from those good old sA days. I had like 6 motherboards and probably 10 different CPUs at the time, so this platform with custom loop is really familiar.

I also need to get some Barton cores for this. I had one 2500+, but it seems to be dead as a rock unfortunately. And test and tune some memory, I have handful of HyperX sticks and couple of more of these Corsairs to test with sizes ranging from 256MB to 1GB and rated speeds of PC2700-3200. Unfortunately I think none of those are BH-5s, but many of them should reach CL2 at least.

Very nice. I've never used water cooling, but I can see that it would be a great way to keep Socket A CPUs cool. I just received the mobile 2600+ I purchased today, I'll be installing it in my 8KRA2+ later. My Thermalright AX7 is a bit of a limiting factor, but I haven't seen a better Socket A cooler listed for a non ridiculous price.

I recently ordered some PC parts off of ebay.
I've taken note of how much I paid for each part.

-Asus K8V-MX/S Motherboard (Socket 754) with an Athlon 64 and a Cooler: $40.35
-A generic Geforce 6200 PCI card (256MB of VRAM): $26.99
-A SoundBlaster Live (model CT4830): $14.00

-Slot 1 Pentium III 500MHz: $13.85

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-09-11, 17:03:

Very nice. I've never used water cooling, but I can see that it would be a great way to keep Socket A CPUs cool. I just received the mobile 2600+ I purchased today, I'll be installing it in my 8KRA2+ later. My Thermalright AX7 is a bit of a limiting factor, but I haven't seen a better Socket A cooler listed for a non ridiculous price.

WC is indeed a good solution and you get more out of your GPU too with putting it to the loop too. As I said, I haven’t tried to search any limits with these parts, but that 5900XT went straight away past Ultra clock speeds without a hitch.

I’ve noticed the same that decent sA coolers are getting a bit rare or pricey. I have one pretty beefy Akasa cooler and AMD cooler for XP, but those are just for bench testing and I don’t intend to build a system from them.

I actually got the idea for this system when I was browsing something from my parts and again bumped into my old WC stuff. Then I planned what I want it to be and started to search rest of the parts. I had very little components from this era, so I gradually started get parts during the summer when I found something for a cheap or at least for reasonable price. That 5900XT was by far the most expensive one, I think it was around 50€.

I have very little interest to any later systems, except perhaps A64. I still have Swiftech WC block and reservoir and pumps from my old S939 system, which was the last system with custom loop I built. Until this of course! But anything newer to me are just obsolete modern systems and I personally have zero interest for C2D or equivalent. Most games from the late 2000s can be played just fine with my modern rig and games released along with 7th console generation are just so contemporary in general, so I don’t get any retro vibes out of them. They are just modern games with worse assets.

But there certainly was those vibes when I launched Aquamark 3 and 3DM03 on this system! 😄

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-11, 13:35:

This time i even have a "control piece"...

After 5 hours of sun.
Can you see it? I think you can see it. Wich one is the one that was in the sun?
Or am i just thinking i can see wich one is a little bit less yellow because i know wich one it was?

Was playing around with some mod files on my dos box (pentium 1 120) but it seems like I need a more stable player, open cubic player v2.6 (Prerelease 6) doesnt seem very stable.

The left one I guess? Seems little bit less yellow.

Ah yes, now I read the spoiler.

Got FMA7600 number 2 working. Also needed a clock battery and I repaired the broken hinge by using longer screws and it's doing well, but I need to put some nuts on it and/or screw caps.

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-11, 19:33:

After 5 hours of sun. Can you see it? I think you can see it. Wich one is the one that was in the sun? Or am i just thinking i c […]
Show full quote

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-11, 13:35:

This time i even have a "control piece"...

After 5 hours of sun.
Can you see it? I think you can see it. Wich one is the one that was in the sun?
Or am i just thinking i can see wich one is a little bit less yellow because i know wich one it was?
2023-09-11 19.59.50.jpg

Spoiler

the left one

Without checking the spoiler field, left one is clearly better!

Installed a second Pentium Pro in my HP Vectra XU 6/200. Will probably re-cap the VRMs with polymers at some point.

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-11, 19:33:

After 5 hours of sun. Can you see it?

Yes it's clearly whiter. I have a case here that needs to be a shade whiter so am tempted to try this. I have an aversion to putting plastics in the sun but I don't know why - I've done some retrobrighting in the past and that obviously requires putting plastic in the sun for the same length of time, and it's floating around in a bath of chemicals too!

Sunbrighting just works. I've done it to cases, optical drives, keyboards, mice, joysticks you name it. It works and it does not revert as quickly, or as much (if at all), as peroxide bleaching does in my experience.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-09-12, 08:59:

Sunbrighting just works. I've done it to cases, optical drives, keyboards, mice, joysticks you name it. It works and it does not revert as quickly, or as much (if at all), as peroxide bleaching does in my experience.

Did you observe any side effect after the initial positive results? For example something becoming too brittle or too stiff? I know this depends on the part of course, I'm looking for generic comments that may not apply to every case

konc wrote on 2023-09-12, 11:04:

appiah4 wrote on 2023-09-12, 08:59:

Sunbrighting just works. I've done it to cases, optical drives, keyboards, mice, joysticks you name it. It works and it does not revert as quickly, or as much (if at all), as peroxide bleaching does in my experience.

Did you observe any side effect after the initial positive results? For example something becoming too brittle or too stiff? I know this depends on the part of course, I'm looking for generic comments that may not apply to every case

No not really. At least I've experienced no worse than what peroxide/reductive retrobrighting does, ie. nothing I sunbrighted broke or anything. I did once sunbright a case with a system in it and after leaving it under 40C summer sun for a whole day the GeForce 3 in it died, though 🤣

appiah4 wrote on 2023-09-12, 11:35:

konc wrote on 2023-09-12, 11:04:

appiah4 wrote on 2023-09-12, 08:59:

Sunbrighting just works. I've done it to cases, optical drives, keyboards, mice, joysticks you name it. It works and it does not revert as quickly, or as much (if at all), as peroxide bleaching does in my experience.

Did you observe any side effect after the initial positive results? For example something becoming too brittle or too stiff? I know this depends on the part of course, I'm looking for generic comments that may not apply to every case

No not really. At least I've experienced no worse than what peroxide/reductive retrobrighting does, ie. nothing I sunbrighted broke or anything. I did once sunbright a case with a system in it and after leaving it under 40C summer sun for a whole day the GeForce 3 in it died, though 🤣

I see, thanks that's good news.
So people, sunbrighting only kills GeForce 3s 😁

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-11, 19:33:

...Can you see it?...

I think my hobby went into a totally new direction... I wanted to make some drivers but instead im putting yellow things in the sun (as long its still some kind of warm) 😁

I just realized something unfortunate.
So I'm planning to build a PC with an Asus K8V-MX/S Motherboard, an Athlon 64 cpu, a GeForce 6200 PCI card, and a SoundBlaster Live.
But apparently, according to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSKD1FARJ_4
The exact chipset the mobo uses has problems with PCI SoundBlaster cards.

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-12, 14:53:

I just realized something unfortunate. So I'm planning to build a PC with an Asus K8V-MX/S Motherboard, an Athlon 64 cpu, a GeFo […]
Show full quote

I just realized something unfortunate.
So I'm planning to build a PC with an Asus K8V-MX/S Motherboard, an Athlon 64 cpu, a GeForce 6200 PCI card, and a SoundBlaster Live.
But apparently, according to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSKD1FARJ_4
The exact chipset the mobo uses has problems with PCI SoundBlaster cards.

Ok, maybe you can try an other sound card. I can't remember the exact name but there were some terratec pci cards with good dos support without SB link.

Joakim wrote on 2023-09-12, 20:35:

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-12, 14:53:

I just realized something unfortunate. So I'm planning to build a PC with an Asus K8V-MX/S Motherboard, an Athlon 64 cpu, a GeFo […]
Show full quote

I just realized something unfortunate.
So I'm planning to build a PC with an Asus K8V-MX/S Motherboard, an Athlon 64 cpu, a GeForce 6200 PCI card, and a SoundBlaster Live.
But apparently, according to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSKD1FARJ_4
The exact chipset the mobo uses has problems with PCI SoundBlaster cards.

Ok, maybe you can try an other sound card. I can't remember the exact name but there were some terratec pci cards with good dos support without SB link.

Namely Terratec 128i (Ess Solo-1) and Terratec 512 (Fortemedia FM-801). Both have great compatibility, the former has near authentic FM and the latter has more features and a semi decent softsynth.