Some New Purchases \ VOGONS

Some New Purchases

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First post, by siberiankiss

Posted on 2014-08-22, 19:49

siberiankiss Offline

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Location: Allentown, PA

Hi all! I posted here quite a long time ago, asking for some advice on some retro builds I've been wanting to put together. (Actually, it's been two years.) Since then, I've mostly just been studying a lot, working on a second degree (this time in computer science). I just got caught up in studying, and other things in life. So I've just been casually reading about retro builds. But now I'm back! Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone who read and responded to my other post. This post is definitely related to that one, but it's more of an, "Okay, this is what I got -- where should I go from here?"

Here's the scoop: My birthday is coming up in just two weeks. My aunt send me some money via PayPal, and I have literally nothing that I need to spend it on right now. So I thought I'd spend some of it on some retro hardware. So, I did! (Please Note: When I say, "New", I mean "New, sealed in its original packaging.")

Previously (2012), I purchased the following:

Complete Systems ($80 in total):
1 ea. a Custom AMD system, with an extremely cool looking case. AMD Athlon 900 mhz, 258 MB RAM, a basic 32 MB nVidia GeForce card, etc. (Used)
2 ea. Dell GX110 SSF Desktop Computers - PIII 933 mhz, 20 GB, 192 MB RAM, CD-ROM, Windows NT (COA), etc. (Used)

Graphics Cards ($20 total):
1 ea. 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 AGP 16 MB AGP (Used)
1 ea. Matrox Millennium G450 Dual Head VGA 32 MB AGP (971-0302) (Used)

Recently (08/2014), I purchased the following:

CPUs ($60 in total):
1 ea. AMD Athlon XP 2700+ 2.167 Ghz, 256 kb 333 Mhz Socket A (New)
2 ea. AMD Athlon 64 3000 CPU, Socket 754 (New)
2 ea. Intel Pentium II Xeon 450 Mhz 1 MB L2 Cache (New)
1 ea. Intel Pentium 4 3.00 Ghz / 512kb / 800 Mhz FSB / Socket 478 (New)
1 ea. Intel Celeron D LGA 775 3.20 Ghz (New)

Motherboards ($25 total):
Gigabyte K8 Triton GA-K8U Motherboard, AMD Socket 754 (Open Box, Unused)

RAM ($7 total):
2 ea. NEC 128 MB, 184-pin PC600-53 Non-ECC RDRAM RIMM (Used)
2 ea. Samsung 256 MB / 16, 184-pin 600-53 Non-ECC RDRAM (Used)
4 ea. Samsung 64 MB, 184-pin PC800-45 ECC RDRAM RIMM (Used)

Total Spent: $192.00

Any comments or criticism on how I did? No? Awesome, you guys are so sweet! Of course I know that I didn't purchase everything in a very structured manner. E.g., I didn't purchase RAM to match any of my current systems, for example. I just grabbed what appeared to be great deals, and figured I will proceed more cautiously from there -- when it comes to my own money. =) The real question though, is: where should I go from here? Does anyone see any great builds that just stand out from this hardware? Any specific pieces that I should absolutely get to go with any of it?

"The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society." -- Mark Skousen

Reply 1 of 6, by meljor

Posted on 2014-08-23, 08:45

meljor Offline

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Hello,

If it is going to be for retro 98se gaming i would use the p3-933 system with the voodoo3. The matrox is a nice card too.

Everything else (for me personal) is way to new. Those parts i would use for a windows xp system, and while i like that era too (i build an athlon xp also) it doesn`t exactly give the ``retro feeling of win98 or dos``.

Old parts are getting hard to find but i guess that is part of the fun. There are a lot of 486, p1 and p2 era systems around, we just have to find them in the forgotten corners of people`s junk pile. 😎

asus tx97-e, 233mmx, voodoo1, s3 virge ,sb16
asus p5a, k6-3+ @ 550mhz, voodoo2 12mb sli, gf2 gts, awe32
asus p3b-f, p3-700, voodoo3 3500TV agp, awe64
asus tusl2-c, p3-S 1,4ghz, voodoo5 5500, live!
asus a7n8x DL, barton cpu, 6800ultra, Voodoo3 pci, audigy1

Reply 2 of 6, by siberiankiss

Posted on 2014-08-25, 18:29

siberiankiss Offline

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Location: Allentown, PA

Hi! Thanks for getting back to me.

If it is going to be for retro 98se gaming i would use the p3-933 system with the voodoo3. The matrox is a nice card too.

I remember being very interested in the Matrox cards at that time. But I drooled over Voodoo cards in the late 90s. I also remember that EverQuest was designed with 3dfx's Glide in mind, and so wanted a Voodoo 3 or 4 to play it. Part of my interest in having a solid 98SE PC with a Voodoo card is to play EverQuest, if the EQClassic project ever gets back on track.

Old parts are getting hard to find but i guess that is part of the fun. There are a lot of 486, p1 and p2 era systems around, we just have to find them in the forgotten corners of people`s junk pile.

Too true! Part of the reason why I was quick to purchase a couple of complete systems and then those other processors in new condition was because I figured when it came to anything older, I would have to take some time and be very patient to find anything worth it. Having something newer to play with fulfills the urge, in meantime. =)

"The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society." -- Mark Skousen

Reply 3 of 6, by shamino

Posted on 2014-08-26, 01:02

shamino Offline

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I guess RAMBUS is finally getting affordable. 😀
I have an old HP with the 512KB version of those Xeons, I wonder how much difference the cache size makes on those. In a way it's an immensely well built system that I've thought about repurposing, but it frustrates me with it's BIOS limitations so I end up ignoring it.

I don't know anything about that board but I really like the K8 platform. I never had a K8 desktop, but I was fascinated with that architecture when it came out. So I say thumbs up on that.

Reply 4 of 6, by siberiankiss

Posted on 2014-08-26, 15:59

siberiankiss Offline

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shamino wrote:
I have an old HP with the 512KB version of those Xeons, I wonder how much difference the cache size makes on those. In a way it's an immensely well built system that I've thought about re-purposing, but it frustrates me with it's BIOS limitations so I end up ignoring it.

As I understand it, the cache size won't matter very much on Windows 95 or Windows 98, but you would definitely see a difference on a workstation-oriented operating system like Windows 2000 or a Unix system. The Xeons that I picked up are essentially PII 450s with a larger cache size, so I may use one of them for a P2 Windows 95 build. But I think I'll definitely try using one for a workstation build.

I don't know anything about that board but I really like the K8 platform. I never had a K8 desktop, but I was fascinated with that architecture when it came out. So I say thumbs up on that.

I wasn't able to afford a K8, as I was a poor college student around that time. My Athlon 700 mhz was still going strong when I built an Athlon XP 2500+ system. I kept that XP system until 2010, when it started showing problems. I didn't feel like it was worth the money to get it in working order by that time. I reused the case that I bought for it (a Lian-Li PC65B -- which is still housing my main desktop), and kept all of the other parts. I really missed out on the K8 through Core 2 Duo era though.

"The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society." -- Mark Skousen