First post, by mv_cz
Hello everyone. Recently I've rescued three old PCs, got them for free. I discovered this great forum, so I decided to reminiscence good old times and have some fun with these older computers. I will try to log my all three builds (upgrades more or less) here, hope it won't get messy.
Unfortunatelly I sold/dumped most of my older hardware during moving to new place five years ago. Still I've some spares left. But I don't want to build PCs that I had back then, I'd rather search for parts I didn't have due to costs or just because I had other platforms. Another goal is to buy old components as cheap as possible, I was shocked, when I realised how expensive are parts that few years back nobody wanted for free.
1. Socket7 i430VX build
When I first spotted I was happy that I'll get myself an 486 PC. But it is only sticker on an old case which was upgraded. But never mind, it is interesting for me anyways.
Specs:
Motherboard: PcPartner (Vtech) MB520NH (still googable - i found manual, bios file)
CPU: IBL 6x86L PR200+ (running downclocked and overvolted all it's life 😵 )
RAM: 32 MB EDO
Video: Expertcolor S3 "Trio Virge" (exatly this one http://cdn2.goughlui.com/wp-content/uploads/2 … 11/IMG_0241.jpg) with modified backplate and upgraded to 4 MB EDO VRAM. I think it's an original Virge 86C325, not S3 Trio.
Sound: present, for me some unknown brand, windows drivers are still packed on the HDD - edit: Avance Logic ALS100+ PRO16/32PNP+
NIC: none
FDD: 3.5" and 5.25" drives (not tested)
ODD: Toshiba CD-ROM XM-6302B 32X (working, though the drawer is making strange noises)
HDD: 2GB Seagate (it loads some Ontrack utility in order to recognize full capacity, which is a bit pointless, since the board supports up to 8.4 GB HDD, maybe another reminiscence of a fact, that it was upgraded during it's lifetime)
Case: AT minitower - typical case used for 386 - 486 computers. It's robust, well made, although little small for anything better (though we managed to upgrade my friend's Am5x86 to Celeron Slot1 in the same case around 2000)
PSU: 200W AT power supply that came with the case. Still working, shockingly for me, it was manufactured here in our country.
Fully funcional PC, powered on and worked after so many years in garage (15 - 17 I think). CMOS battery OK, windows 98SE booted, but filled with lots of crapware of course. Unfortunatelly I don't have any COM mouse and navigating Windows with keyboard only was a bit pain.
Plans for upgrade:
As I've never had socket7 config with Intel CPU and Intel chipset (only Matsonic Utron chipset board with IBM 6x86MX and later Cyrix MII which gave mi compatibility headaches and poor disk performance), I plan to put the P55C 233MMX from second build, replace graphics card (3dfx voodoo would be ideal), upgrade RAM to 64MB (cacheable maximum). Primarly this would be a DOS machine, but I'll instal Win98SE just to have easier network access to my files.
2. Super Socket7 MVP3 build
Older looking desktop, which is actually faster than the first one
Specs:
Motherboard: FIC VA-503+ rev. 1.2 (nice surprise!)
CPU: Pentium MMX 233 MHz with Intel box cooler
RAM: 64 MB EDO SIMM
Video: S3 Virge/DX 86C375 with 2MB EDO (this time memory was not upgraded)
Sound: present, ISA card with Analog Devices chip
NIC: realtek 10/100Mbit PCI ethernet
Other: analog TV/FM PCI card
FDD: 3.5" (not tested)
ODD: CD-ROM (not tested)
HDD: 3GB WD
Case: AT desktop - looks much older than the minitower from the first PC. Sticker says "NC - New trend computer & organisation" ?!? not fammiliar to me. Clearly another (pre)486 computer that was upgraded. It has keylock and keyboard connector at the front (this is in fact an extension cable that can be plugged to the keyboard port at the back of the motherboard). Again it's pretty heavy case, but scratched and missing paint on some places. At the back, there are hand made stickers with ports description for dummies 😀 Maybe the case is not time relevant for SS7 motherboard but it has plenty of space above CPU for large heatsink, which will come in handy.
PSU: 230W AT power supply from unknown manufacturer
Also fully funcional PC after sleeping so long, CMOS battery OK, windows 98SE booted and running fine.
Plans for upgrade:
Actually I had MVP3 board in 1999 as new, it was simmilar board from Lucky tech (or Lucky star? don't remember) with AMD K6-2 400 and S3 Savage4 Pro. I was dreaming of having K6-2/III+ CPU so I'd like to put one here a overclock it a bit. Replace ram modules for faster SDRAMs and S3 Virge for some better AGP card. This would be a Win 98SE machine.
3. LGA775 i865PE build
Specs:
Motherboard: ECS 865PE-A7 (V1.0) (unfortunatelly not 5.0 revision so it doesn't support cedar mills and dualcore)
CPU: Celeron D 336 (2.8 GHz Presscott with 256kB L2) with Intel box cooler
RAM: 256 MB DDR400
Video: AGP nVidia TNT2 M64 Pro 16MB (HP Compaq G4000Pro card)
Sound: onboard ALC655
NIC: oboard realtek 10/100Mbit PCI ethernet
Other: DVB-T PCI Philips card
FDD: 3.5" (not tested)
ODD: LG DVDRW (working); CD-ROM (not tested)
HDD: 80GB 7200rpm IDE Maxtor (dead) and 40GB 7200rpm IDE Hitachi (functional but noisy as hell)
Case: ATX middletower - the cheapest case from that time. Hated them much and still hate it now, thin and sharp metal sheets, very bad expansion card mounting mechanism. No additional fans in here. Typical low-end office PC from around 2004.
PSU: Maxpower 350W ATX - crappy power supply, shorter than standard ATX PSU, 80mm fan at the back. To my suprise, it's still working
Although newest of the three computers, it wouldn't run. It was only beeping, replacing another RAM helped. But the mobo is somewhat picky on memory positions, one of my memory modules can't be in first slot alone (but works in second slot alone 😖). I ended up running 256MB DDR266 + 256MB DDR333 in dual channel happily overclocked DDR333. CMOS battery dead, OS drive dead. But the motherboard looks OK, no bulging or leaked capacitors.
Plans for upgrade:
Originally I wanted to trash this PC, but this devil machine influenced me somehow. Now I can't help myself reviving it. And because I've never had Pentium4 desktop and this board offers interesting combination of LGA775 (cheap CPUs and wide range of coolers opposite from going with socket478) and 865PE from AGP era, I'll keep it. Back at the time I had AMD CPUs (AthlonXP, Athlon64) and Radeon 9500 card unlocked to 9700 (great card); so I'd like to build fast P4 machine with GeForce FX just for fun 😀 Hyperthreading-enabled CPU would be fine, because it feels almost like dualcore 😊 . This would be a Win XP to play my older steam games on it, hopefully.