First post, by Hellistor
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Hello,
This is one of my most beloved machines. High resolution pictures can be found here
It originally belonged to my uncle who got it in the mid 2000s for basic office tasks. It apparently died relatively quickly and sat in a corner for nearly a decade.
I always saw it but never gave it much thought since it was just some old system. As my interest in old computers grew I asked my uncle if I could take it home.
Happily he said yes and I got to work as soon as I had lugged it back home.
I opened it up and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was an Intel 440BX based motherboad with a 450MHz Pentium III.
My joy quickly turned sour as I saw that three capacitors near the CPU were bulging.
1,40€ and some soldering later the machine turned to life!
I gave the system a good scrubbing and some upgrades and here we are.
These are the current specs:
Model: IBM 300PL 6862
Chipset: Intel 440BX
Processor: 550MHz Pentium III "Katmai"
RAM: 256MB of PC100 SDRAM
2D Graphics: Miro S3 Trio64V+, (Onboard S3 Trio3D disabled)
3D Graphics: Orchid Righteous 3D II 12MB (3dfx Voodoo 2)
Sound: Onboard Crystal 4236
Networking: Onboard 10/100 ethernet controller
HDD: 13GB Seagate
CD Drive: Compaq CRD-8400B
Floppy Drive: Alps 3 1/2' 1.44MB
Peripherals:
Monitor: Fujitsu Siemens C775 (This one was paired with the machine when I picked it up.)
Keyboard: IBM Model M
PS/2 Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse 1.2A
USB Mouse: Logitech G5
Speakers: NEC stereo speakers.
It is running Windows 98 SE with an adapted version of Phil's DOS Starter Pack.
Here is an inside view.
A closer shot of the hardware.
The rear I/O
Here it is running some games. Starting with Need for Speed II SE
The original Quake.
Half Life!
One of my childhood favourites, Star Wars Episode I Racer!
Unreal Gold.
Of course the machine can run DOS games as well. Here's some Descent 2.
Overall I really like this machine. I certainly have more powerful systems from the same time period but I like this one because it is something "achievable".
Something that the family can use for their office needs but with a Voodoo 2 for some games for the kids. If I had been born a few years earlier I might have used something quite similar to this.
Some of you might ask yourself why I'm using an S3 Trio64V+ instead of the onboard Trio3D. Well, the answer is simple, the loop cable for the Voodoo2 isn't quite long enough.
I'm going to see if I can find a more suitable card for the system in my collection but for now it's working just fine.
I didn't put in another soundcard because in my opinion the onboard Crystal solution works just fine.
It might not be as fancy as an Aureal Vortex 2 or a Soundblaster Live! but I really like the way it's Soundblaster Pro emulation sounds. It's actually pretty damn good.
Now, I am interested in upgrading the CPU if possible but I couldn't find out if it is possible.
According to the chart inside the PC I have the fastest CPU it can run but I'm thinking that maybe because the faster ones didn't exist yet.
If anybody knows how to get something like a 700MHz Coppermine PIII running, please tell me!
So, that's all, I hope you like it!