First post, by vetz
- Rank
- l33t
I've mentioned this system in countless posts here on Vogons, so some of you are probably familiar with it. Since I got a new ATX case I found the time was right to make a thread about it. This system is my primary retro gaming system as I enjoy the late 90's games the most. This system covers all the SVGA DOS games and the whole Win9x gaming period. It gives an very good amount of flexibility and excellent performance in the games I'm most interested in. The stability of the 440BX is also a huge plus along with ASUS great build quality on one of the greatest 440BX boards you can buy (IMO).
The hardware:
- Intel Pentium III-S 1400mhz Tualatin (professionally pin modded by a guy in Korea)
- ASUS P3B-F v1.03 Intel 440BX motherboard
- 1024MB (4x256MB) PC133 CL2 SDRAM
- Geforce FX 5950 Ultra with NV Silencer from Artic Cooling
- Creative 3D Blaster2 Voodoo2 in SLI
- Matrox M3D PowerVR PCX2
- Techworks Vortex2 soundcard w/ NEC XR385 MIDI daughterboard
- 3COM 10/100mbit PCI network card
- 250GB Samsung ATA-133 harddrive
- Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM slot-in
- Plextor PlexWriter 16/10/40 CD-RW
So some might wonder if all this works at 133mhz FSB? Yes it does 😀 I also have no problems with 1024MB RAM in Windows 98. I run dual boot Windows 98 and WindowsXP on this system, but I almost only use Win9x. The board does only support up to 137GB harddrives, so I don't get to use all the space on the drive, but it's more than enough for my usage. I could ofc install a PCI IDE/S-ATA controller to get around this, but that would mean removing some other hardware.
The board installed in the case:
The hardware laying on the floor:
The previous fan had seen better days when I acquired this card, so I bought a new third-party cooler. The card is dead silent. It has a big heatsink. The DVI output from this card works in DOS and also allows DVI to HDMI recording:
Everything installed. I'm using a 120mm fan as a stop gap measure as I have two new top quality 80mm fans on my way to be installed in the front and back of the case. Regarding PSU I'm using a 2009 vintage 500W PSU. It doesn't support -5V, which I don't need, but it's relatively new and have a big 120mm fan to suck out air right above the CPU 😀
Front/back of case:
Pentium III case badge 😀