slivercr wrote on 2020-06-06, 04:01:

feipoa wrote on 2020-06-05, 11:56:

...
Ideally I'd like to figure out how to remove the CPU's plastic casing and adjust the CPU multiplier in a manner similar to the gold finger devices (GFD), http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28887 I'd like to run the board at 850, 900, 950, and 1000 MHz to determine the fastest stable operating speed. Doesn't seem like I'll run across a GFD anytime soon so I'd have to do some messy solder work, then remove the mess.

I've never used either SlotA nor a GFD, but you can look to Robert B (Bobby B?!) for guidance on how to open the cartridge.

I saw that he had a hard time removing the slot A enclosures. Would have been nice to see the photos embedded with the text so it is easier to follow. When I messaged CPU-Shack about removal of the enclosures, he said he had no issue whatsoever. Thus I'm not sure why the discrepancy here.

feipoa wrote on 2020-06-07, 03:34:

I saw that he had a hard time removing the slot A enclosures. Would have been nice to see the photos embedded with the text so it is easier to follow. When I messaged CPU-Shack about removal of the enclosures, he said he had no issue whatsoever. Thus I'm not sure why the discrepancy here.

I suspect he was learning-by-doing and documented his troubles. To be fair, I had a similar experience the first time I removed a SECC2 heatsink with the dreaded plastic brackets. The second time was a breeze—I knew what I had to do.

CPU-Shack has probably done it quite a few times and knows their way around the SECC package.

Hi feipoa, it’s an interesting project.

I started with a similar question for a dual PIII 1GHz.
In conclusion my favorites are the GF3 and the 8500.

Thoughts to my cards:

• G400Max: nice card, but slower than the rest, fits very well the character of the system, one year „older“ than the rest of the system, middle 1999
• Geforce 256 DDR: good card, little bit earlier than the rest of the system, fits very well the character, 3D Revelator support, late 1999
• Geforce 2: good card, fitting well the time, but without character, 3D Revelator support, middle 2000
• Geforce 3 TI 200: fast card, DX8, DVI, one year later than the rest of the system, smell of „budget“, 3D Revelator support, late 2001
• Geforce 3: fast card, DX8, fits very well the time and the character of the system, 3D Revelator support, early 2001
• Radeon 7500: fast card, DVI, doesn’t fit the high end character, late 2001
• Radeon 8500 Pro: fastest card, DVI, one year later than the rest, fits very well the character, has the most sympathies, late 2001

I have no bad experiences with the 8500 in DX6/7 games in comparison to the GF3 (Win2K + Det28.32/Catalyst 6.2). Maybe with modern drivers the problems with ATI Cards dissolved. Both are running with AGP4x in my config. In general the architecture of both chips (GF3/R200) is performance wise equal, so that the differences in benchmarks depending on drivers and clock. Phil did some tests with Radeon 8500 in his GF3 benchmark guide with Some DX6/DX7/DX8 games which underline this thesis.
You should consider, that your 8500DV clocks with 200MHz only instead of 275MHz.

Currently i use the 8500 Pro, but i am not finally decided to the GF3 vanilla

In your case a AMD CPU + AMD chipset + ATI GPU would be a „statement“ 😉

I also went with a GF3 in my dual slot 1 PIII system.

ATI 8500DV is currently installed in the Gateway 2000 athlon system. It seems to work fine with all 4 OSes, unlike the G400max which didn't cooperate with OpenGL in NT4.

I didn't realise the 8500DV was clocked so much slower than the 8500. Wiki claims this is because of the firewire interface on the 8500DV. If I don't use the firewire port, could I clock the 8500DV up to 275 MHz? Which utility is best for doing this overclocking?

I bought the 8500DV card back in 2001 specifically for the firewire port. I don't think I had any expansion slots free for a USB 2.0 card or USB 2.0 wasn't so popular yet for external HDDs. I use an external hard drive on the firewire port in the past but recall it frequently having issues with safe removal in W2K.

I think you can find an overclock option for the ATI card within the regular driver (Catalyst Controll Center). The GPU itself is maybe easy to overclock, but the RAM could be selected for the lower clocks and so more difficult to overclock. Maybe you can obtain the AIW with 128MB and w/o FireWire, which runs full speed (275MHz GPU/RAM).

Maybe interesting:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/900/19

Naw, I'm not buying anything these days. Prices and willing buyers have gone silly. I'll stick with the 8500DV. If it can be overclocked great, if not, fine. The 8500 is unique in that it is the forgotten AMD Radeon, sort of like the GF3 for NVIDIA. The TV tuner portion of the card does get pretty darn hot. I wish there was a feature that disabled it outright.

feipoa wrote on 2020-06-09, 23:16:

Naw, I'm not buying anything these days. Prices and willing buyers have gone silly. I'll stick with the 8500DV. If it can be overclocked great, if not, fine. The 8500 is unique in that it is the forgotten AMD Radeon, sort of like the GF3 for NVIDIA. The TV tuner portion of the card does get pretty darn hot. I wish there was a feature that disabled it outright.

The tuner is useless nowadays . Might as desolder it . If you want to keep the aesthetic, just solder the tuner casing back on .

Maybe useful for connecting an 8-bit Nintendo to use the computer's monitor?

feipoa wrote on 2020-06-10, 00:29:

Maybe useful for connecting an 8-bit Nintendo to use the computer's monitor?

For the love of all that is good and wholesome, please use at least composite out (mod your NES if necessary) . 😀

I recall not all NESes having composite and using coaxial offers that 80's flavour.

feipoa wrote on 2020-06-10, 02:39:

I recall not all NESes having composite and using coaxial offers that 80's flavour.

Ironically, I think the older NES units has composite out and the newer ones did not .

https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/nes … hook_avtotv.jsp

Could be. I can't remember which was which. I had a regular Nintendo but had a Super Nintendo very briefly before I "outgrew" games. Don't recall which one was coaxial only. Maybe it was the SNES.

darry wrote on 2020-06-10, 02:44:

feipoa wrote on 2020-06-10, 02:39:

I recall not all NESes having composite and using coaxial offers that 80's flavour.

Ironically, I think the older NES units has composite out and the newer ones did not .

https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/nes … hook_avtotv.jsp

As for having an 80s flavour, so does Cherry Coke and 100-times re-recorded SLP-speed VHS . My nostalgia is selective, I guess . It is a mix of what I had back in the day and what I wanted back in the day (not always limited to what was possible back then, either) .

All things being equal,I would rather have a Commodore 1701 or 1702 than an RF-only Citizen TV with bad focus, wavy geometry, dull colours and slight ever-present snow to go with my hypothetical NES in my hypothetical 80s nostalgic retro trip . (I would settle for an Analog Nt and an IPS display in a pinch) .

Sorry for hijacking the thread, I will shut up now .

EDIT : SNES had an RCA connector that ouput RF . You had to get a multi-out cable to get composite out and stereo sound .
EDIT2: SNES even had S-VIDEO with the right cable . https://www.mountainouswords.com/mountain-air … secret-s-video/