VOGONS


First post, by matze79

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Hooowdy,

i got some Pentium VLB Board with OPTI Chipset and recently began to run few Benchmarks.

The Legendary Galaxy V. MADE IN USA.

You Really get DX4-100 Speed on Pentium Platform even MMX Overdrive does help here 😉

I have installed a Weitek Power 9100 VLB but even on Winquake its not performing Faster (I know DOS is only ISA VGA with this Card).
So you still get almost same results, its heavily tampered by its 486 Style Memory Controller.

Sad 😀 even PCI VGA Cards will change much.

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Last edited by matze79 on 2019-09-16, 14:59. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 1 of 18, by matze79

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Installation:

system.jpg
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https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 2 of 18, by Anonymous Coward

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Do you have a clear shot of the board? It has dual buses?

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 3 of 18, by matze79

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Some fotos

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Reply 4 of 18, by dionb

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matze79 wrote:

Some fotos

Looks impressive and at the same time very iffy. Does it have a 32b or 64b memory bus?

Simple way to check: try to run it with one SIMM. If that works (at same performance as usual) it's a 32b bus, which explains the poor performance.

Reply 5 of 18, by Anonymous Coward

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I had an opti pentium board with 32-bit RAM. The performance sucked, so I got a different opti pentium board with 64-bit RAM, and....the performance still sucked.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 6 of 18, by canthearu

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You need to try a better video card before concluding that the motherboard is pure trash.

The Weitek 9000 based cards are great for windows, but typically use a low performance VGA solution for basic dos compatibility. I can't see what is under the sticker of that middle chip, but normally it would be an OAK-087 with a lobotomised memory and PC bus connection.

Try something like a VLB ET4000, or an S3 906, or CL5826/8 card before making any conclusions about DOS gaming on this system.

Reply 7 of 18, by matze79

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worthless VLB is only 15mb/s troughput.. PCI is even slower.

Even on Windows 9x and 3.x Video Performance is poor this is where the WEITEK should kick in.

The Card is much faster on DX2 66Mhz.

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 9 of 18, by matze79

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Hm i fit the P90 back but did not run Speedsys now.
It reminds me of ISA Only Pentium Overdrive Systems..

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 10 of 18, by cyclone3d

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Is there a wait state setting for the VLB slots? If so, make sure it is set at 0 unless you are running above 33Mhz fsb. (don't see one listed.. but see below)

Check the jumper settings here:
http://www.elhvb.com/webhq/models/pentium/galaxy5.txt.html

Looks like JP3 controls the VLB speed.

Closed is "fast".

Looks like your board doesn't even have the jumper pins installed. I wonder if installing a jumper or simply soldering the jumper pads closed would fix the slow VLB performance.

These look interesting as well.
JP13
JP15
JP20
JP33

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 11 of 18, by matze79

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Ok setting fast VLB with Pentium 90 installed gains 2 fps in Winquake 😉
But with Fast VLB enabled you can not use 66Mhz FSB Pentium CPUs.
50/60Mhz works fine.
It seems fast VLB will Rise VLB Clock.

tried to install a Winchip 😀 only Blackscreen damn!

i can not use the Pentium MMX Overdrive on this System for permanent use the Linear Regulator will get ultra hot.

WinQuake:
FastVLB - Pentium 90: 13.5 fps
NoFastVLB - Pentium 90: 11.6 fps

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https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 13 of 18, by matze79

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It does not suck, this is only MS-DOS Speed.
OAK 1Mb.

The Weitek Chip is connected to VLB 32bit Interface and a full Windows Accelerator.

The real limiting Factor is Memory Bandwith.
Not Video.

Even Matrox Mystique is not gaining more FPS on Winquake.

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 14 of 18, by derSammler

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It does not suck, this is only MS-DOS Speed.

So how many frames do you get in DOS Quake? Compare that to the Mystique.

That Weitek chip is for professional use and quite inappropriate for benchmarking games, especially when the rest of the system is odd already. It works like a DSP to provide hardware acceleration, a bit similar to the Voodoo Rush.

Reply 15 of 18, by matze79

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Who cares about DOS Speed.

i`m comparing winquake..

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 16 of 18, by canthearu

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matze79 wrote:

Who cares about DOS Speed.

i`m comparing winquake..

Winquake could still be slow because of the video chipset. The Weitek would excel at bitblt and other directly accelerated functions (lines, text, filled rectanges, gradients), like you would use on windows 3.1 and windows 95. It might not be so crash hot if you are simply banging a framebuffer to it multiple times a second, even with being connected to the full VLB bus.

I would definitely recommend comparing it with a more consumer appropriate card.

Reply 17 of 18, by Anonymous Coward

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If you think VLB is running at full CPU bus speed (66MHz) with the "fast" setting, then try an ARK1000VL. I tested two of mine at 66MHz, and they both seemed to hold up. It's the only chipset on VLB that I know of that works at that speed. Dont' know if all do, or if I just got lucky.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 18 of 18, by matze79

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Yeah Weitek Chip stops working @ 66Mhz FSB 😒 so it really runs the VLB at full Bus Speed..
Also the System does not POST reliable with FastVLB Setting.

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board