First post, by vvbee
- Rank
- Oldbie
I have a pc here that's originally a rebuild of the first pc I had, apart from an amiga 500 and my parents' 286 that preceded it. It's not a fully accurate rebuild though, and I'm still not looking to make it so. The original pc had a riva 128, but I never liked it and later upgraded it to a voodoo 3, which was reflected in the rebuild. The rebuild also doesn't have the original first harddrive, but it is an original from a few years later. The pc first had an sb 16 for sound and about a year later got the sb live, the sb 16 kinda sucked I remember so I gave the rebuild the sb live as well. Not the original psu either, I still have it but definitely not going to put it to use. The motherboard isn't original but I can't remember which one I had and it doesn't really matter. Not sure if I originally had the k6 or the k6-2, but it was 300 mhz.
Original build
MOB PC Chips M577 (VIA MVP3)
CPU AMD K6-2 300 (3 x 100)
VID 3dfx Voodoo3 2000
SND Sound Blaster Live! PCI
HDD IBM Deskstar 25GP 25 GB
PSU Enermax EG365P-VE
FAN Yate Loon D12SH-12 @ 5 volts
Improved build
MOB PC Chips M577 (VIA MVP3)
CPU AMD K6-2 300 (4.5 x 66)
VID Matrox Millennium
SND Terratec Integra PCI
HDD IBM Deskstar 25GP 25 GB
PSU SilverStone SST-ST30SF v1
FAN Yate Loon D12SH-12 @ 3~4 volts
The original build's problems
- a voodoo 3 with a k6 300 isn't so great, save for providing a particular type of image quality
- the system overall, esp. the harddrive and psu, is very noisy
- the sb live doesn't do dos so well
- for a first retro build it was kinda neat but with more machines around it's become fairly useless and lacks character
Goals of improvement
- fairly quiet and cool operation
- have generally usable dos and windows capabilities, with the post-mid 90s (quake era) in mind
- retain the first pc's nostalgia factor while giving the build better focus
The first batch of improvements is to cool and quiet down. For other reasons as well, I underclocked the cpu's fsb to regular k6 level while raising the multiplier to maintain the mhz. This likely lets several parts run cooler, and I'm not too fussed about a speed hit. With this, I assume I can replace the 120 mm system fan with a smaller, quieter one. The cpu runs without a fan of its own by the way, it gets incidental cooling from the system fan. Seems to run around 35-40 c with the 120 mm fan, but that's to be tested further later.
The psu has two fans, one at the back and one at the bottom, and they're noisy. I took out the larger bottom fan and taped the hole shut, so now there's a straight tunnel for air to travel from the back grille to the opposing back fan blowing out. Seems to work, and the load is pretty low anyway. I might replace the back fan at some point with a quieter one, but since the psu did about a dozen years of service 24/7 already in the 2000s, it likely won't last for too much longer now regardless. I think a year ago I measured the 12 and 5 volt outputs and they were in spec, and visually there aren't any bulging caps. It's decent quality so I'm not worried about it taking anything with it when it fails.
The mobo has a patched bios that allows for harddrives larger than 64 gb, so the replacement 80 gb model should work as is. Not replacing it for its size though but for noise. I know for a fact that when mounted 'properly' the momentus is effectively silent in all modes of operation. In this case, I might mount it on a block of foam, which is how I had it running for about five years in another pc.
The second batch of improvements is wrt. performance balancing. The riva 128 is a better match for the k6, and though I was never a fan of its 3d image quality, it might be better for the nostalgia factor too. I haven't plugged it in yet, but if it turns out to have poor 2d image quality, it'll be ejected. In that case I might favor a matrox millennium, which would also weigh the build more toward the mid 90s I guess. The terratec sound card has an fm801 chip and is a leftover from another build. Has decent hardware sb pro support for dos and a bunch of support for windows. Though the motherboard has an isa slot, I think the terratec card might be good for the focus of this build in particular. Remains to be seen.