SavantStrike wrote:

As they stand though they're kind of in the middle of the road performance wise. I'd want a bit more machine for late dos games, and the chip is overkill for earlier titles. At least, this is the excuse I tell myself as to why I went with S7 instead of S8, but truth be told I think S8 would have been way cooler.

Actually, these chips are quite hot 🤣!
They are hotter then any Pentium 3 I ever seen 😜
And one problem with s8 is theres very few good HSF's available for them.
One funny thing is, sometimes you can overclock the PPro 200 to 233Mhz.

And I agree, even though dual PPro seems kinda leet, personally I'd stick with a single PPro and use 9x

Tetrium wrote:

Actually, these chips are quite hot lol! They are hotter then any Pentium 3 I ever seen :P And one problem with s8 is theres ver […]
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SavantStrike wrote:

As they stand though they're kind of in the middle of the road performance wise. I'd want a bit more machine for late dos games, and the chip is overkill for earlier titles. At least, this is the excuse I tell myself as to why I went with S7 instead of S8, but truth be told I think S8 would have been way cooler.

Actually, these chips are quite hot 🤣!
They are hotter then any Pentium 3 I ever seen 😜
And one problem with s8 is theres very few good HSF's available for them.
One funny thing is, sometimes you can overclock the PPro 200 to 233Mhz.

And I agree, even though dual PPro seems kinda leet, personally I'd stick with a single PPro and use 9x

Heck, I'd love a single PPro, they were way ahead of their time. I'm settling for a lowly P (heh, that sounded funny). My friend's dad had a PPro 200 from Gateway that was in a nice ATX motherboard with 128MB of ram. It's sad that got tossed, but they decided I wouldn't want it since the HDD was going bad and the IDE controller might have been to blame. Looking back I wish they'd kept it for me, I would have done unspeakable things with a PPro, like take over the world, or play me some Duke Nukem 3d (slower than I would have on my PIII at the time).

Eh, c'est la vie.

Tetrium wrote:

Actually, these chips are quite hot lol! They are hotter then any Pentium 3 I ever seen :P And one problem with s8 is theres ver […]
Show full quote

SavantStrike wrote:

As they stand though they're kind of in the middle of the road performance wise. I'd want a bit more machine for late dos games, and the chip is overkill for earlier titles. At least, this is the excuse I tell myself as to why I went with S7 instead of S8, but truth be told I think S8 would have been way cooler.

Actually, these chips are quite hot 🤣!
They are hotter then any Pentium 3 I ever seen 😜
And one problem with s8 is theres very few good HSF's available for them.
One funny thing is, sometimes you can overclock the PPro 200 to 233Mhz.

And I agree, even though dual PPro seems kinda leet, personally I'd stick with a single PPro and use 9x

What PPro motherboards allow you to do that? That would make installing XP a lot easier if you could overclock it just for the install then back it down again when it's done.

The PPro200 is hot but the stock Dell cooler seems to be doing a fine job. I updated the bios to version A10- the earlier versions only support hard drives below 8.4gb.

Oh, and you can't boot straight to cd on this computer- you have to use either a Win95/98 boot disk or make one yourself (I use sbminst). Not really an issue but something to take note of.

Then I did a quick install of windows 98se to do some stability testing which I did by plonking in a Voodoo2 and playing NFS3. I have to say the Ppro200 is much more powerful than a P233MX. The MMX was never able to play this game satisfactorily even with everything on low, but the Pro can do it with everything on high except special effects.

I'm mulling over whether I should install Win95 or keep the Win98SE or even go to Win 2000. Presently I have a 10gb Seagate in there which I'm thinking of swapping out for a fast 7200rpm 40gb Deskstar. Think I'd see much difference in doing that? If I dig around hard enough I even think I still have some 1996-97 era hard disks lying around- itty bitty 1 or 2 something gig things.

Might even dual boot- Win98 with 2000 or Puppy Linux .... ohhh confusion....

sgt76 wrote:

The PPro200 is hot but the stock Dell cooler seems to be doing a fine job. I updated the bios to version A10- the earlier versi […]
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The PPro200 is hot but the stock Dell cooler seems to be doing a fine job. I updated the bios to version A10- the earlier versions only support hard drives below 8.4gb.

Oh, and you can't boot straight to cd on this computer- you have to use either a Win95/98 boot disk or make one yourself (I use sbminst). Not really an issue but something to take note of.

Then I did a quick install of windows 98se to do some stability testing which I did by plonking in a Voodoo2 and playing NFS3. I have to say the Ppro200 is much more powerful than a P233MX. The MMX was never able to play this game satisfactorily even with everything on low, but the Pro can do it with everything on high except special effects.

I'm mulling over whether I should install Win95 or keep the Win98SE or even go to Win 2000. Presently I have a 10gb Seagate in there which I'm thinking of swapping out for a fast 7200rpm 40gb Deskstar. Think I'd see much difference in doing that? If I dig around hard enough I even think I still have some 1996-97 era hard disks lying around- itty bitty 1 or 2 something gig things.

Might even dual boot- Win98 with 2000 or Puppy Linux .... ohhh confusion....

Well shoot. If you put Linux on that, it's still a viable machine for browsing the internet.

And this makes me want to try putting NFS3 on my lowly P133. Maybe drop in an accelerator for a little while, just to see it strain under the weight. My P166 MMX did admirably back in the day, but I couldn't jack the settings up like you described. Shoot, everything on high detail except the special effects? Man, the PPro was a beast and a half.

If you put Linux on that, it's still a viable machine for browsing the internet.

How exactly is Linux supposed to make a difference in that aspect? It'll browse the internet just the same under 98SE.

It is indeed beastly... the first track- Hometown can be played on an MMX pretty easy but Redrock Ridge is an MMX killer.

The MMX was good till 1997, but you'll find that it can't keep up with many games released from 1998 onwards. Let's see if the PPro can do better (and it's a year older than the MMX to boot!).

In fact, I'm thinking of SLI'ing two Voodoo2s in there, not for the framerates cause theres a massive cpu bottleneck but for playing at 1024x768... imagine that on a 1996 system 😲

Hey, I'll post some pics of my rigs 😁 Hold on...

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

If you put Linux on that, it's still a viable machine for browsing the internet.

How exactly is Linux supposed to make a difference in that aspect? It'll browse the internet just the same under 98SE.

Newer web browsers?

sliderider wrote:

What PPro motherboards allow you to do that? That would make installing XP a lot easier if you could overclock it just for the install then back it down again when it's done.

It's an Intel single Socket 8 board swaaye kindly gifted to me about a year ago 😀
It has an undocumented jumper setting for upping the multi to 3.5x

Been lurking here for awhile, so figured I should join up, so hi all. 😀
I have a few different systems I use, which I will post info and pics on later when I get time, but I figured I'd start off with my 3DFX system first since I just finished rebuilding it to the way I wanted it (mostly).

Finally had time to get my 3DFX build back together during sunday evening and most of monday. Originally I was using a Jabil Kadoka Slot A board with a Athlon 900mhz a friend had nabbed me a long while back (actually he nabbed me a Slot A 850 and 900mhz both during a run at a pc parts store near him). That board and the 900mhz Athlon were a good pair when running with a SoundBlaster Live and a Voodoo 5, but, really a bit of overkill for Glide specific titles as far as the Voodoo 5 is concerned, unless you want FSAA specifically or need to run the last few demanding Glide titles like Undying.

After a bit of use I broke that system down and packed parts away, and sold off the V5. I had a Monster Fusion Banshee waiting to be used, one day..... I always loved the Banshee ever since I first nabbed one a few years back. They scaled well with faster cpus, which was never reflected in the original reviews done for that line of cards, since back then they benched them with lowly Pentium II and PIII processors on Slot 1 boards.

Anyway, finally got out the parts to do the rebuild from my legacy parts closet. Ended up wanting to go with a Sb 128, Aka Ensoniq Audio PCI, because its Dos support is solid, but it had issues with the Kadoka. So I went with a far far faster Asrock K7VT2 and Athlon XP 2400+ combo. The system is now up and running flawlessly, and can be viewed in the pic and on the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYWVfcSlUXc

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

Been lurking here for awhile, so figured I should join up, so hi all. :) I have a few different systems I use, which I will post […]
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Been lurking here for awhile, so figured I should join up, so hi all. 😀
I have a few different systems I use, which I will post info and pics on later when I get time, but I figured I'd start off with my 3DFX system first since I just finished rebuilding it to the way I wanted it (mostly).

Finally had time to get my 3DFX build back together during sunday evening and most of monday. Originally I was using a Jabil Kadoka Slot A board with a Athlon 900mhz a friend had nabbed me a long while back (actually he nabbed me a Slot A 850 and 900mhz both during a run at a pc parts store near him). That board and the 900mhz Athlon were a good pair when running with a SoundBlaster Live and a Voodoo 5, but, really a bit of overkill for Glide specific titles as far as the Voodoo 5 is concerned, unless you want FSAA specifically or need to run the last few demanding Glide titles like Undying.

After a bit of use I broke that system down and packed parts away, and sold off the V5. I had a Monster Fusion Banshee waiting to be used, one day..... I always loved the Banshee ever since I first nabbed one a few years back. They scaled well with faster cpus, which was never reflected in the original reviews done for that line of cards, since back then they benched them with lowly Pentium II and PIII processors on Slot 1 boards.

Anyway, finally got out the parts to do the rebuild from my legacy parts closet. Ended up wanting to go with a Sb 128, Aka Ensoniq Audio PCI, because its Dos support is solid, but it had issues with the Kadoka. So I went with a far far faster Asrock K7VT2 and Athlon XP 2400+ combo. The system is now up and running flawlessly, and can be viewed in the pic and on the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYWVfcSlUXc

Nice rig, and may I give you a warm welcome to Vogons!! 😁
You'll get not one, but two free cookies if you manage to catch your first forumspammer! And if you do, please sound the dinner bell over in this thread as we're always starving for more 😜
If no spammer is to be seen, we'll gladly make due with pics and stats of 15 year old gear, even if the thing is held together by old bicycle spokes and duct tape 😁

@Professor: Interesting case...it looks new but retro at the same time

sgt76 wrote:

@Professor: Interesting case...it looks new but retro at the same time

Yup! 😁
It's not my style but I do like Professor's style 😉
He obviously put a lot of effort into it, which deserves nothing less then a 2 thumbs up!! 😁

As I'm going through sorting the stuff in my attic (and my god! What the h**l are this and this expansion cards?!?!?) I found a couple rigs I had forgotten all about.

Unfortunately I somewhat disassembled my 1st ever homebuild Celeron 400 rig but I did get that Fujitsu Siemens P3-1000 i815 with ISA slot back...time for me to post some pics soon 😁

Spent last nite refurbing a Acer Aspire K6 166mhz comp I picked up yesterday. Removed the dead 2gb hard drive and replaced with a 4gb Maxtor, disabled onboard video and audio, and installed a Matrox Millennium II and a SoundBlaster 16. Also, only 16mb was installed originally, so I added one more 8 meg stick to bring the total to 24mb, and did a fresh Win 95 c install, and added updates, etc, and made a driver disc for it.

Set it up to load mouse, cd, and sound in Dos. Tested it out for a bit with Duke Nukem 3d, Crusader No Remorse, Out of this World, Volfied, NBA Jam, Wolf 3d, Death Rally, and Doom II. Works perfect in Windows and Dos. Will prob list it on ebay in a couple weeks after I move other stuff out, unless I decide to keep it. Not sure yet. I have others I have redone I still need to list, and really dont need this one anyway since I have a faster box using a AWE32. But damn, I do like the way the case looks on this one.

I think I will keep my 386 now this way (until I find a 8bit PAS to replace the PAS16 to free up another 16bit ISA slot):

- AMD 386DX-40
- Cyrix 387
- Orchid Kelvin 64
- I/O controller card
- Promise EIDEMAX LBA controller
- 6,4GB IDE HDD
- 52x CDROM
- Sound Blaster Pro 1.0
- Gravis Ultrasound MAX
- Pro Audio Spectrum 16
- MPU-IPC-T
- RS232-PS/2 adapter

Here is a tiny boot video: http://www.mediafire.com/?dlenp3y42bo3pw8

That is an interesting system you got there. Nice to see 386 and a Pro audio Spectrum for a change. Do many games support that card?, I had the idea that the Soundscape was supported a little bit better. What is that bay between the CD-ROM and the 5.25" floppy drive?

Good idea to add a boot video. Alltogether it has a boot time quite like my DOS PC. On your PC the IDE controller takes some time to initialize. On my PC the PNP bios extension and AWE64 CTCM take a little longer then I would like.

Yeah that 386 looks slick. You're totally set looks like about on sound card compatibility for old games. Gravis Ultrasound was supposed to present really nice music on some games. I'd get one, but they seem to fetch a high price these days.

gerwin wrote:

That is an interesting system you got there. Nice to see 386 and a Pro audio Spectrum for a change. Do many games support that card?, I had the idea that the Soundscape was supported a little bit better. What is that bay between the CD-ROM and the 5.25" floppy drive?

Good idea to add a boot video. Alltogether it has a boot time quite like my DOS PC. On your PC the IDE controller takes some time to initialize. On my PC the PNP bios extension and AWE64 CTCM take a little longer then I would like.

thanks! actually the PAS has large support:
http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,79/

I always use it if there is no GUS support, so there are only less games that require the crappy SBPro. although I must admit the sound blaster is not as bad as I was expecting.

the bay between cdrom and floppy drive is a vantec vortex hdd cooler, it is very efficient and offers three modes of fan speed (off, medium, high).

you can find my other two systems here: Retro Rig Photo Thread

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

Yeah that 386 looks slick. Your totally set looks like about on sound card comparability for old games. Gravis Ultrasound was supposed to present really nice music on some games. I'd get one, but they seem to fetch a high price these days.

thanks, you can watch this thread for "cheap" GUS cards on a regular basis: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showt … e-Tracker/page7

schlang wrote:

-snip-

I think I already posted a comment on VCF about your retro rigs mate 😉