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1997 (ish) gaming build

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First post, by britain4

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Another build thread here for my latest project - a 1997-ish 3D gaming build!

Spec will be as follows:

Pentium 233 MMX
Asus SPAX motherboard (HP OEM) with modified SP97-XV BIOS
Floppy drive and LG CD drive
S3 ViRGE + Diamond Monster 3D Voodoo card
Onboard Crystal CX4235 audio (for now)

The case is a brand new Acme one from eBay that’s really nice, proper authentic 90s feel to it and the build quality is excellent.

Still need to fit the PSU, find some IDE+floppy cables, fit a badge to the front and maybe a 3DFX sticker, install Windows 95...

Obviously it’s not done yet but here it is so far...

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- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM

Reply 1 of 15, by jheronimus

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Awesome! Really nice case. Also, the motherboard — ATX Socket 7 is like the perfect marriage of new and old.

Just needs a better soundcard now.

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 2 of 15, by britain4

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jheronimus wrote:

Awesome! Really nice case. Also, the motherboard — ATX Socket 7 is like the perfect marriage of new and old.

Just needs a better soundcard now.

Thanks for the comment! I’m a big fan of the case too, looks the part and great to build in.

ATX socket 7 with USB is exactly what I was after - so glad I managed to get the board working in the end with help from some great forum members 😀

I think I have a spare PSU and hard drive somewhere to go in there and other than that yes I’m keeping an eye out for a soundcard!

- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM

Reply 3 of 15, by jheronimus

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britain4 wrote:

Thanks for the comment! I’m a big fan of the case too, looks the part and great to build in.

Yes, this is so true. I'm a big fan of desktop cases, and desktop ATX (like my InWin H500) is definitely a lot easier to work on compared to cramped desktop baby AT cases. Then again, full ATX is plain bigger.

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 4 of 15, by Munx

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That's a great looking build!

Socket 7 is a really nice platform - tons of wildly different hardware and weird/proprietary APIs to play with

My builds!
The FireStarter 2.0 - The wooden K5
The Underdog - The budget K6
The Voodoo powerhouse - The power-hungry K7
The troll PC - The Socket 423 Pentium 4

Reply 5 of 15, by Fusion

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Love the case, and I am a little jelly of your build. 😀

Pentium III @ 1.28Ghz - Intel SE440xBX-2 - 384MB PC100 - ATi Radeon DDR 64MB @ 207/207 - SB Live! 5.1 - Windows ME

Reply 6 of 15, by Unknown_K

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Do newer PS supplies like being installed on their sides?

Collector of old computers, hardware, and software

Reply 7 of 15, by britain4

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Thanks for the positive comments, really appreciate it 😀

I made a little progress on it this evening! Fitted my spare PSU, which is a decent quality Delta one, and installed a fresh copy of Windows 95 so it’s up and running. Once I’ve tidied it up a bit and installed the drivers etc I’ll update with some more pics!

I do like that it’s a nice roomy case but you would need a sizeable desk to accommodate it!

I’m a fan of the Socket 7 as well, tons of potential CPUs to play about with including the K6 + variants with the custom BIOS and a huge range of boards!

Fusion wrote:

Love the case, and I am a little jelly of your build. 😀

Thanks 😀 I’m really pleased with the case, just needs a badge to finish it off and it’ll look awesome!

I can’t imagine a PSU complaining too much about being used on its side... maybe the fan bearings but that’s a longer term thing.

- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM

Reply 8 of 15, by britain4

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So it’s not finished yet but it’s a functional PC!

WbHBYq2l.jpg

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Currently it stands at the spec in my original post, save for a 100mhz Pentium ATM awhile I wait for the 233 😀

I wanted to run it on Win95 but it really wasn’t playing nicely with the USB controller so I went with 98SE, with 95 Explorer and un-webified courtesy of 98lite, and the NUSB flash drive drivers. And the 95 splash screen and all the 95 icons so you wouldn’t really know 😁 works flawlessly with USB drives.

Still to do:

Find a more appropriate CD drive as this one screams early 2000s
Maybe a better sound card
Fit the 233MMX
Badge on the front of the case - was thinking a Pentium badge and a 3DFX sticker

- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM

Reply 9 of 15, by britain4

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1SHVlEXl.jpg

That’s what I’m talking about!

- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM

Reply 10 of 15, by RJDog

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I have a very similar "1997" build... MMX 233 in a Socket 7 board, S3 Virge, 3Dfx Voodoo2, and AWE64. I find it to be a very capable Windows 95 machine, running everything from Doom and Quake barely breaking a sweat and even up to Halflife and Quake II with respectable framerate (with 3Dfx mini-GL of course).

Reply 11 of 15, by FFXIhealer

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I have a few links you can check out, but I have this nagging feeling it'll be blocked by an admin at some point, but for the record, I have NO AFFILIATION WITH THIS WEBSITE and I am NOT advertising for monetary gain - just to point someone in the right direction.

3DFX sticker - 20mm x 20mm (should fit into that square indention on the front of your case
756%20WEB.jpg

For Intel's Pentium, we can go seriously old-school or ultra-modern for a Pentium logo.

Intel%20Pentium%20MMX%2019%20x%2024mm%20331%20WEB.jpg
Intel%20Pentium%2018x22mm%20BLUE%20WEB.jpg
Intel%20Pentium%20Inside%2016%20x%2020mm%20553%20WEB.jpg
Intel%20Pentium%20Inside%2018%20x%20245mm%20WEB.jpg
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I got a bunch of stickers for myself, both for my modern system and for my retro ones. Check out my case bling!

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Reply 12 of 15, by britain4

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RJDog wrote:

I have a very similar "1997" build... MMX 233 in a Socket 7 board, S3 Virge, 3Dfx Voodoo2, and AWE64. I find it to be a very capable Windows 95 machine, running everything from Doom and Quake barely breaking a sweat and even up to Halflife and Quake II with respectable framerate (with 3Dfx mini-GL of course).

To be honest it’s pretty impressive what this can do with a 100mhz Pentium in it. I found a 200MMX in a job lot but it’s dead, and my 233MMX hasn’t arrived yet so I’m stuck with it for now.

Can’t wait to see what it can do with some more CPU grunt 😀

FFXIhealer wrote:
I have a few links you can check out, but I have this nagging feeling it'll be blocked by an admin at some point, but for the re […]
Show full quote

I have a few links you can check out, but I have this nagging feeling it'll be blocked by an admin at some point, but for the record, I have NO AFFILIATION WITH THIS WEBSITE and I am NOT advertising for monetary gain - just to point someone in the right direction.

3DFX sticker - 20mm x 20mm (should fit into that square indention on the front of your case
756%20WEB.jpg

For Intel's Pentium, we can go seriously old-school or ultra-modern for a Pentium logo.

Intel%20Pentium%20MMX%2019%20x%2024mm%20331%20WEB.jpg
Intel%20Pentium%2018x22mm%20BLUE%20WEB.jpg
Intel%20Pentium%20Inside%2016%20x%2020mm%20553%20WEB.jpg
Intel%20Pentium%20Inside%2018%20x%20245mm%20WEB.jpg

That site is great!! The stickers look awesome, I’m going to have to order a load from there! My stickers arrived from Poland today as it happens but I only ordered 3DFX ones and a Pentium badge - I still need a load of different stickers for my other systems... check out the quality on these from “marstickers” on eBay!

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Cosmetically this machine is now done, I picked out a more appropriate CD drive and fitted the case badges - not too shabby IMO!

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I’m still waiting on the 233MMX as I mentioned and I’m having a nightmare of a time getting an ISA sound card to work properly in it - then I just need to dig out 128mb of working RAM (preferably in 2 matching 64mb sticks) from my box o’junk and it’s done 😀

- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM

Reply 13 of 15, by britain4

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Unfortunately hit a slight snag - with help from an awesome member here, I’ve found out the split rail voltage circuitry on the board is dead 🙁 I do plan on diagnosing and fixing this but it’s not a priority for now - it’s on my “to fix” pile. I plan on getting a replacement S7 board for it as well, but in the meantime it’s running an MSI board and a PII 233 and has also gained a nice Yamaha OPL3 ISA sound card.

I guess it’s still correct for 1997 but I was really wanting to do an S7 build 😁

- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM

Reply 14 of 15, by FFXIhealer

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I tell ya what, I kinda wish I had a case exactly like that for my S7 Win95 build. It's horizontal and has that old-school PC feel from the early '90s.

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Reply 15 of 15, by britain4

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FFXIhealer wrote:

I tell ya what, I kinda wish I had a case exactly like that for my S7 Win95 build. It's horizontal and has that old-school PC feel from the early '90s.

Yeah, I love the case, bargain at £15 new but then nearly as much again for shipping even within the UK 😒

- P-MMX 200MHZ, PCChips M598LMR, Voodoo
- P-MMX 233MHz, FIC PA2013, S3 ViRGE + Voodoo
- PII 400MHz, MSI MS6119, ATI Rage Pro Turbo + Voodoo2 SLI
- PIII 1400MHz, ECS P6IPAT, Voodoo5 5500
- Toshiba Libretto 110CT, 300MHz, 96MB RAM