VOGONS


First post, by clueless1

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I came across this page recently that breaks down the boot/Maximum PC Dream Machine for each of those years and links to the actual articles (except for 2003). Might be useful to those building period-correct machines.
http://www.dbitters.com/computer/DreamMachine/

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
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Reply 1 of 13, by boxpressed

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PSA: every issue of Maximum PC through the mid 90s (maybe later) is digitized on Google Books. Fun reading.

Reply 2 of 13, by clueless1

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boxpressed wrote:

PSA: every issue of Maximum PC through the mid 90s (maybe later) is digitized on Google Books. Fun reading.

Right. What's nice about the page I linked is there are 9 years worth of Dream Machine stats on one page, so if you're quickly looking up parts for some years, you don't have to jump back and forth between issues.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 3 of 13, by FFXIhealer

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God d***, them some expensive-a** computers.

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Reply 4 of 13, by Rhuwyn

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This is awesome. I used to have a physical subscription to Maximum PC during some of those years and I actually remember some of these builds. The blurb about the 2010 Dream machine is actually pretty accurate other then the 10Ghz CPU part. But, if you look at how performance scaled while other things besides clock speed impacted the results they still weren't far off.

Reply 5 of 13, by dirkmirk

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128Meg of ram in a 1999 "Dream Machine"?

I would have thought you'd at least 256meg, I remember having ram problems in 2000 when having multiple browsers open with 128meg surely 256meg would have been useful in 99 for some people.

Reply 6 of 13, by PhilsComputerLab

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Nice seeing all this on a single page 😀

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Reply 7 of 13, by tincup

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The 97/98 rigs need their 3dfx cards moved down to the "Secondary Videocard" box...

Reply 8 of 13, by kanecvr

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I find Maximum PC magazine's video card choices questionable at best. Elsa Gloria DCC? Really? What's wrong with a regular GF3? Or even a PRO / GTS for that matter - why a Quadro?

... I get the matrox millenium in the first rig - but the G400Max in the 99 dream machine? I would have picket a TNT2 Ultra for that build - or better yet - the Geforce 256 DDR!. For the 2003 rig I would have went with the 9800XT witch was clearly the superior card at the time (although I use a 5900XT in my 2003 build 😜 )

Reply 9 of 13, by Stiletto

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are those prices even adjusted for inflation? 😁

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Stiletto

Reply 10 of 13, by vmr_

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The original link is gone. Any chance for vogons members to have a copy of that page?

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Reply 12 of 13, by chrismeyer6

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Wow those prices are insane!
I'm also questioning why a dream machine would have a GeForce 2 MX 400 in it.

Reply 13 of 13, by vmr_

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Doornkaat wrote on 2021-01-31, 15:56:
vmr_ wrote on 2021-01-31, 15:14:

The original link is gone. Any chance for vogons members to have a copy of that page?

http://web.archive.org/web/20180127193253/htt … r/DreamMachine/
There you go! 😀

Much appreciated 😁👍

Retro builds & sandbox
IBM XT 5160 | 286 | 386 | 486 | S4 SI5PI AIO & S4 Batman + P60 SX828
S8 & PPro 200 | SS7 FW 5VGF & Asus P5A & AOpen AX59PRO K6-III+ 550MHz
Asus K7M Athlon 1Ghz GDF | Abit SH6 Pentium III 1GHz SL4KL...