VOGONS


Reply 120 of 134, by voodoo5_6k

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Caluser2000 wrote:

That's is one reason I replaced the damaged panel on my 15" Transonic LCD TV is the PORTS:-

[...]

It's light, relatively compact and has a great screen that is easily replaceable using readily available ASUS components.

Thanks for the insights, Caluser2000. Your monitor/TV looks like an interesting find, especially when considering the readily available spare parts. How's scaling/aspect ratio handling on this device?

The VGA to HDMI A-D converter/scaler has arrived and looks great. However, I didn't have time to actually test it.

Someone sold an 8GB kit (4x 2GB) of Corsair DDR2 1066MHz C5. I had the same kit as the 800MHz variant in Retro 4. Honestly, no reason to update. But I couldn't resist. Retro 4 is now pretty well equipped, it doesn't need more than 8GB, but now it got a (potential) speed bump. The memory arrived wrapped in a plastic bag, without any ESD protection. But the system booted without issues and after enforcing 1066MHz in the BIOS, the kit was ready to go. Unfortunately, there was no time for excessive testing except for some time running Crysis. I'll be using it in 800MHz mode (within specification of the P45), but in case I decide to go 1600MHz PSB, the RAM now also has some headroom to use.

Also, I discovered an ad for a Core i3-3250 for a very good price. Another system I have, dedicated for Windows XP and DOSBox, had a Pentium G2030. For several years I have been thinking about further maximizing the CPU performance (within reason). Especially for DOSBox I'd like to have even more singlecore speed. The i3-3250 adds Hyper-Threading (not needed) and another 500MHz on top of the G2030's specification. Although this CPU also arrived in a very "creative" packaging it worked alright. It is within the same TDP envelope as the G2030 is and therefore, I had no doubts regarding the current cooling solution (semi-passive). The CPU remained well below 50°C while being loaded with Prime95 for a 2h test. This is on par with the G2030 before, no further changes required.

voodoo5_6k wrote:

In terms of games I'm currently thinking about Black & White, Tron 2.0, American McGee's Alice, Star Wars - Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy or The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth, but I'm not sure yet.

After having a lot of fun with Jedi Outcast a while ago, I'm going to revisit Deus Ex now. I have not played it in many years (although I did complete several playthroughs when it was new). I started another playthrough five or six years ago with the GOG version, but for some reason stopped about half-way through. Now, I'd really like to finally complete it again. Maybe even play through Deus Ex: Invisible War while I'm at it (or go back to the list above).

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Reply 121 of 134, by Caluser2000

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voodoo5_6k wrote:
Caluser2000 wrote:

That's is one reason I replaced the damaged panel on my 15" Transonic LCD TV is the PORTS:-

[...]

It's light, relatively compact and has a great screen that is easily replaceable using readily available ASUS components.

Thanks for the insights, Caluser2000. Your monitor/TV looks like an interesting find, especially when considering the readily available spare parts. How's scaling/aspect ratio handling on this device?

Fine. I can go up to 1280x900 quite comfortably with a very crisp image. Definitely better than a crt. I've used Dos, OS/2 and linux on it with the only real big issue was a 2011 version of Xorg were I had to change out the SiS 8meg video card with a 8meg S3Virge/DX card. My test rig is a P166MMX set up.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 122 of 134, by voodoo5_6k

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Hello everybody- long time, no see 😉

It's been a while since my last post here. I have been very busy with other stuff, and that unfortunately prevented me from almost any retro gaming activity. But well, it could be worse. I hope everybody is doing fine, well, within the current possibilities...

Back to business. For some reason, I decided that I really needed to do at least a little retro gaming over the holidays. I picked my pet project- Grim Fandango on a Voodoo5 6000 😎

I had originally prepared a second SSD for Retro-2 (which can be outfitted with a Voodoo5 6000), dual-booting Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000 Pro SP4. I had gotten Grim Fandango starting with the Voodoo5 6000, using the latest reference drivers. But for some reason, the combination of drivers or their installation sequence corrupted some categories of OS icons. So, my first few days of retro gaming actually went into reinstalling the system. Finally, it worked, no more icon corruption, and Grim Fandango still starting without any error messages. 3D acceleration could be activated in-game, and 8x RGSSAA worked, yay 😎 One thing I had to work around was the image stability in the used resolutions, 1024x768 for the desktop, and 640x480 for Grim Fandango. The image on screen would have wavy edges on the Voodoo5 6000 when in certain refresh rates (not present on the Voodoo5 5500 usually installed in Retro-2). The desktop is no big deal, as it can easily be forced to a certain refresh rate. But Grim Fandango ignored every setting, and so I had to force this resolution (640x480@16bit) to a refresh rate via the registry editor (HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Display\000x\MODES\16\640 --> RefreshRate --> 140). In my example, the Voodoo5 6000 produced a very stable image at 140Hz in 640x480@16bit.

But a day later, I identified audio issues, with some dialogue not being fully played back (e.g. when first talking to Glottis in front of his shack). After some fiddling around, I discovered that this phenomenon was actually caused by the display driver... With 8x RGSSAA, the probability for full playback felt like 0%. Going back to 4x RGSSAA, it felt like 25-50%. But reducing FSAA is no option. If I were to settle with 4x RGSSAA, I could have used the Voodoo5 5500 right away.

First, I tried getting everything to run under Windows XP Pro, but no dice (but that was to be expected). For what I'm going to do, all 3rd party drivers are just trash. So, back to the Windows 98 SE image... But wait. As I'm using an Audigy 2 ZS, I always have to manually switch drivers from WDM to VXD to make it better working under Windows 98 SE. Also, with the hardware/driver configuration I have within Retro-2 when using the Voodoo5 6000, Windows 98 SE is kind of fragile. For some reason, I thought I might just give Windows ME a chance... It has better compatibility with WDM drivers, so, why not?

Second, I therefore set up Windows ME, and experienced no issues during installation. All drivers working (including Audigy 2 ZS WDM), no instabilities, no icon corruption, and no error messages when starting Grim Fandango. Unfortunately, the audio issues described above remained. But going to the latest 3dfx beta driver solved the issue! Now, I just had to hope that the driver was good enough to actually play through the game 😉

After a delay of two or three days, I had the system ready to finally play Grim Fandango on a Voodoo5 6000 B 😎 Pure irony, that the OS I would rate the lowest, based on original experience back then, would actually now give me the smoothest experience 😉 But on the other hand- an oddball user with an oddball situation/configuration sometimes requires an oddball OS to go with... 😁

During the last week of last year I enjoyed a full playthrough of Grim Fandango, without any noteworthy issues. It was so much fun that I instantly started all over again, and completed a second run before the year ended 😁

The image quality was gorgeous, as expected. However, during the first playthrough, I noticed that my monitor's 6500K setting was not really ideal. Especially in combination with white colors, there tended to be an overshoot into adjacent colors, like an orange outline/halo. Unfortunately, the 6500K profile is hardlocked as the so-called sRGB mode, with brightness, contrast and color settings being unavailable. All other profiles were fully adjustable. I picked the profile with the least probability for being used by me and adjusted it to 6500K using the i1 Display Pro Plus I had recently bought to calibrate my TV with CalMAN. Of course, CalMAN could not be used here, so I used colorHCFR. After setting brightness, contrast, and the color controls correctly, the image looked way better, and the orange halos or whatever were gone. I completed the first playthrough and enjoyed the second even more, as the image quality was now as good as it good possibly get on my setup 😎

The only downside for the moment is that 8x RGSSAA cannot be captured on regular screenshots for Direct3D games. As I currently don't have video capturing capabilities, I have to postpone my little side project of making comparison screenshots with all the different FSAA options of the Voodoo5 6000 for the foreseeable future. Does anybody have suggestions for a good video capturing solution for VGA sources?

Anyhow, I had a lot of fun over the holidays! Finally, Grim Fandango, as I had imagined it when I first read about the Voodoo5 6000 over 20 years ago 😂

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Reply 123 of 134, by voodoo5_6k

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Yesterday saw the grand reconfiguration of my MIDI setup!

First, a little background. Roughly five years ago, I read about Cloudschatze's interesting setup, which includes a split channel configuration of 2x CM-64 (2x32 voice=64 voice polyphony) and 2x SC-55 (2x24 voice=48 voice polyphony), here and here.

I found this to be very interesting, but I was already happy to have a single CM-32L and a single SC-55... And who wouldn't?

Over the years I searched for backup units, and whenever I saw something for a reasonable price, I tried to get it. However, I more or less completely forgot Cloudschatze's setup. Just by accident, I rediscovered the thread and the picture of his setup. My interest was sparked again, why not put the backup units to good use? 😉 I read it over and over again, until I understood how he had accomplished it. Key is a MIDI interface that is capable of MIDI routing, or at least channel splitting/muting. In my setup, all PCs and MIDI devices are connected to a UM-550. A nice device for what it is, but it cannot do what I'd need to go through with the reconfiguration. After investigating my possibilities and space constraints, I decided to get the MOTU micro express (https://motu.com/products/midi/micro_usb). It is a 4-in/6-out MIDI router, and can hold eight user-programmable presets. Using their ClockWorks software, the device can be configured as needed, and then can be used as a stand-alone device, with no further need for a USB connection (except for power). Cloudschatze went all the way with applying SysEx messages to configure his MIDI device daisy-chains. I wanted to keep it as transparent and simple as possible. Hence, my decision for the micro express. Each of my modules is then directly connected, no need for SysEx messages etc.

Yesterday, I finally had all the pieces available. First, I had to disassemble the entire MIDI setup (a good opportunity to clean the desk underneath the MIDI modules 😉), add two power bricks, two more MIDI cables, and several audio cables. After all cabling had been prepared, a new MIDI stack was created, 2x CM-32L, 2x SC-55, 1x X3MB, 1x micro express. As I dislike using MIDI connectors located on a device front panel, the micro express does exactly fit into my setup. As the MIDI in/out connectors on the front panel aren't redundant (like in the 19" units), the device is effectively a 3-in/5-out (for me at least). I wanted to connect three PCs to five MIDI modules... Perfect!

After the hardware was ready, it was time to get the micro express configured. Using the ClockWorks software (contained in their driver package) is pretty straightforward. I created three presets, one per PC. In each preset, one specific MIDI-in port is routed to the five MIDI-out ports on the back. On the output side*, I have set a filter to mute the even or odd channels, respectively, for each pair of modules. As a result, CM-32L #1 only gets to play the odd channels, CM-32L #2 the even channels of the complete MIDI signal. Same for the SC-55's. The X3MB receives the unmodified MIDI signal. As all outputs receive the MIDI signal all the time, it is also great for testing different MIDI modules in games. I just power on all devices and then switch the desired audio output to the sound card.
(* It is important to do that on the output side, as otherwise the respective filter would change the MIDI signal entering the micro express, with no connected device having access to the full signal.)

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Then, testing... Here you see the SC-55 pair playing the Sam & Max - Hit the Road intro. SC-55 #1 plays on the odd channels, SC-55 #2 on the even channels. Success!

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So, now I have a CM-32L cluster with 64 voice polyphony, and an SC-55 cluster with 48 voice polyphony, yay 😎 Thanks, @Cloudschatze for the inspiration and all the provided information!

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Now it's time to go back and play my favorite Lucasfilm/LucasArts adventures, or Duke3D, or whatever will coax some great sounding music out of these devices 😊

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Reply 124 of 134, by voodoo5_6k

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Replacing some of my older PSU has been a to-do item for quite some time. I just never did it, for various reasons, well, excuses 😉

Recently, when I finally was able to play through of Grim Fandango on my Voodoo5 6000, I decided to just replace them all. I chose Seasonic's Focus GX 550W unit for all but one system, which got a Focus GX 650W unit (because of the relatively large GPU). For all others, the GX 550W is sufficient, or overkill already. But it is the smallest model in that Focus range. With all PSU from the same manufacturer, this allowed me to get rid of several adapter cables I used in the past, because I now had a large pool of cables to choose from (all the cables that came with the PSU and some additional cables I ordered from the Seasonic support). The systems based on older hardware would use all the Molex power cables, whereas the ones based on newer hardware would use more of the SATA power cables. Also nice: the 10 year warranty for each unit.

Today, I finished the job of replacing all PSU. While I was at it, I took some new photos of the systems to make a new system overview post.

With all systems now using brand new PSU, I no longer have to worry about an old PSU failing and potentially taking out the entire system. I did the same for my old Roland MIDI modules from the very beginning. They all use then brand new Roland PSB-230 PSU.

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Reply 125 of 134, by voodoo5_6k

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Retro System Overview - Q1 2021

Shared devices
Monitor:        NEC MultiSync FP1375X
KVM: Aten CS-1758 (only for keyboard, mouse, audio)
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (USB)
Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (USB)
Speaker: Canton Plus Media 3
MIDI Router: MOTU micro express
MIDI Module 1: 2x Roland CM-32L (split-channel, 64 voice polyphony)
MIDI Module 2: 2x Roland SC-55 (split-channel, 48 voice polyphony)
MIDI Module 3: DreamBlaster X3MB

Desktop
MIDI details

Retro 1 - Lucasfilm/LucasArts Games (+ DOSBox)
OS:             Windows 98 SE + DOSBox
Case: Evercase ECE1135
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 2x 2.60GHz
Cooler: Thermalright AXP-200 + Thermalright TY-147A
Motherboard: Asus P5PE-VM
RAM: 512MB Corsair PC-3200 CL2.5 DDR 400
Graphicscard: 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI 64MB
Cooler: 3dfx Stock Heatsinks + 2x Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX
Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2
MIDI Interface: Roland Edirol UM-1
Network: Intel Pro/100+ Ethernet Card
SSD: Intel SSDSC2CW060A310 60GB (SATA)
ODD: Plextor PX-740A (IDE)
FDD: Alps Floppy Drive
PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 550W
Controller 1: Microsoft SideWinder Game Pad (Gameport)
Controller 2: Microsoft SideWinder Precision Pro (USB)
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Retro 2 - 3dfx Glide Games (+ Grim Fandango on Voodoo5 6000)
OS 1:           Windows 98 SE (Voodoo5 5500)
OS 2: Windows 2000 Pro SP4 (Voodoo5 5500)
OS 3: Windows ME (Voodoo5 6000)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 White
CPU: Intel Pentium III-S 1.4GHz
Cooler: Thermaltake Volcano 12 + Noctua NF-A8 FLX
Motherboard: Intel D815EEA2 + Manhattan 158282 SATA300 Drive to IDE Host Controller Converter
RAM: 512MB Micron PC133 CL2 SDR 133
Graphicscard 1: 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB
Cooler: 3dfx Stock Heatsinks + 2x Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX
Graphicscard 2: 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP 128MB (3700 A)
Cooler: Unmodified
Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
MIDI Interface: -
Network: Onboard
SSD 1: SanDisk SDSSDA-120G-G27 120GB (SATA) (OS 1 + 2)
SSD 2: SanDisk SDSSDP-064G-G25 64GB (SATA) (OS 3)
ODD: Hewlett-Packard GDR-H30N (IDE)
FDD: -
PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 550W
Controller 1: Microsoft SideWinder Game Pad (Gameport)
Controller 2: Microsoft SideWinder Precision Pro (Gameport)
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Retro 3 - Early XP Games (+ Splinter Cell on GeForce4 Ti 4600)
OS:             Windows XP Pro SP2
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 White
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz Extreme Edition
Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B
Motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
RAM: 4GB Kingston PC-3200 CL3 DDR 400
Graphicscard 1: Asus V9950 GeForce FX 5900 Ultra AGP 256MB
Cooler: Zalman VF700-Cu
Graphicscard 2: Asus V8460 Ultra Deluxe GeForce4 Ti 4600 AGP 128MB
Cooler: Zalman VF700-AlCu
Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro. Series
MIDI Interface: -
Network: Onboard
SSD: SanDisk SDSSDA-120G-G26 120GB (SATA)
ODD: LG GH24NSD1.AUAA10B (SATA)
FDD: -
PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 550W
Controller: Microsoft Xbox 360 Game Pad (USB)
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Retro 4 - Late XP Games/Early DX10 Games
OS 1:           Windows XP Pro SP3
OS 2: Windows Vista Business SP2 64-bit
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 White
CPU: Intel Xeon X5470 4x 3.33GHz
Cooler: Thermalright Silver-Arrow
Motherboard: Asus P5Q-E
RAM: 8GB Corsair PC2-8500 CL5 DDR2 1066
Graphicscard: Evga GeForce GTX 580 3GB
Cooler: Evga Stock Baseplate + Raijintek Morpheus + 2x Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilent Pro 120mm
Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional
MIDI Interface: -
Network: Onboard
SSD: SanDisk SDSSDA-240G-G26 240 GB (SATA)
ODD: Samsung SH-224GB/BEBE (SATA)
FDD: -
PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 650W
Controller: Microsoft Xbox 360 Game Pad (USB)
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Retro 5 - First 100% self-built PC Revival
OS:             Windows XP Pro SP1
Case: Evercase ECE1135
CPU: Intel Pentium III 1.0GHz
Cooler: Kanie Hedgehog + Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX
Motherboard: Asus CUSL2-C + Asus iPanel + ExSys EX-1062 PCI USB 2.0 card + Manhattan 158282 SATA300 Drive to IDE Host Controller Converter
RAM: 512MB Micron PC133 CL2 SDR 133
Graphicscard: Asus V8200 Deluxe GeForce 3 64MB AGP
Cooler: Unmodified (Thermal compound added for memory modules)
Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy
MIDI Interface: -
Network: -
SSD: SanDisk SDSSDA-120G-G27 120GB (SATA)
ODD: Asus DVD-E616 (IDE)
FDD: Mitsumi Floppy Drive
PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 550W
Controller: -
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Reply 126 of 134, by brt02

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Those are some nice systems and a great source of information for my builds. I would say that it looks like you are getting close to what you want to achieve, but that would be naïve of me.

These retro builds are never finished 😀.

I suppose the upside is that I no longer feel the need to mess about with my daily system.

Intel OR840 | Dual P3 1GHz - 1GB PC800 RDRAM - ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - Creative Audigy 2ZS - Lian Li PC-65 - W98/W2K

Reply 127 of 134, by PabloBee

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voodoo5_6k wrote on 2017-09-11, 07:27:
Retro 1: […]
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Retro 1:

System specifications:

  • CPU: Intel Pentium MMX 233MHz
    Cooler: StarTech Socket 370 cooler (mounted with Socket 7 clamp) + Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX
    Mainboard: Asus P/I-XP55T2P4 Rev. 3.00 (BIOS 0207) + TAG SRAM Upgrade (Cacheable Area: up to 512MB RAM)
    RAM: Kingston 128MB EDO 60ns (4x 32MB)
    PSU: Enermax EG301AX-VE(G) 303W
    Case: Compucase CI-7106W ATX

Hey There, I am new to Vogons and part of the reason why I am here is the P/I-XP55T2P4 Rev 3.00!

I got this motherboard back in September 1995, it set be back £75 at the time (that would be £130 in today's money). I had no idea what I was buying at the time, I could only afford a P120 to fit to the motherboard, which eventually got a 200mmx. I still have the manual, it still work and it is currently sat on the bench behind me, as i been rebuilding it. It was the first PC i had built from scratch and therefore I kept it for many years.

I have recently found out a lot about this board, has a USB connector, between the first and second PCI slot. It shows it on the Motherboard map (page 4 of the manual) and there is some reference to it in the bios, but nothing else. I am yet to test this. I am waiting on a few part to see if this will work.

I also got the MB to boot from a SATA controller and SSD, by luck, if you go into the bios and change the boot sequence to SCSI.

I see you have a 233mmx running on your board, can I ask how you did it? on the rev 3.00, all i can do it go to 200mmx, on the rev 3.10 you could go to 233mmx. On the rev 3.00 you are missing the jumper JP11 so you can not set the ratio to 3.5. so if you have got a 233mmx running at 233 on this board, please let me know how., because back in these days it would have been a manual hardware setting. I am sure the bios would flash up on the screen that you have a 233mmx installed, but I think you maybe limited to 200Mhz.

An amazing motherboard, I even had the box up to a few years ago, I have been an Asus fanboy ever since.

Anyway... anyone know where i can get a I/O backplate for this Motherboard.?

Reply 128 of 134, by BitWrangler

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There weren't I/O backplates then, the ports were installed on slot cover blanking plates, or screwed into punchouts in the case. You can try adapting generic backplates, but they're usually too flimsy to hold a connector by the screws well.

200/233 ain't the maximum on these (Shields to maximum Mr Spock. Mr Sulu, fire the adblockers, triple spread.) https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/oldie-tuning,216.html

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 129 of 134, by voodoo5_6k

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brt02 wrote on 2021-03-15, 10:40:

Those are some nice systems and a great source of information for my builds.

Thanks! You're welcome.

PabloBee wrote on 2021-06-01, 10:55:
[...] I see you have a 233mmx running on your board, can I ask how you did it? on the rev 3.00, all i can do it go to 200mmx, on […]
Show full quote

[...]
I see you have a 233mmx running on your board, can I ask how you did it? on the rev 3.00, all i can do it go to 200mmx, on the rev 3.10 you could go to 233mmx. On the rev 3.00 you are missing the jumper JP11 so you can not set the ratio to 3.5. so if you have got a 233mmx running at 233 on this board, please let me know how., because back in these days it would have been a manual hardware setting. I am sure the bios would flash up on the screen that you have a 233mmx installed, but I think you maybe limited to 200Mhz.
[...]
Anyway... anyone know where i can get a I/O backplate for this Motherboard.?

For the 233MMX, you'll have to jumper for 66MHz Bus (JP9 1-2, JP10 2-3) and 1.5x Ratio (JP12 1-2, JP13 1-2). This will result in 3.5x 66MHz = 233MHz for the 233MMX.

As for the I/O shield. Yes, they do exist. You'll have to search for more common MB that share the same I/O layout. Sometimes, you get lucky. Examples are Intel Advanced/ML (MARL) or Aurora. I had an item number somewhere, but I'll have to search for it.

Last edited by voodoo5_6k on 2021-06-01, 13:52. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 130 of 134, by BitWrangler

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Derp, forgot the X means ATX 🤣

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 131 of 134, by PabloBee

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Thanks for the advice guys, really appreciate this.

I picked this motherboard back in the day, I was young and dumb! I had no idea whet the hell I was getting, it was my first PC build.

I an going to get a 233MMX now and try that out. This motherboard just keeps giving me surprises.

I have in fact found a back-plate in my own stuff. I must I had it with a PC case. mt original case from 1996 had a ATX format plate, but for a while my first build lived in a Dell Dimensions case, is was pig ugly design.
What I will try and do is make a template from this plate, so if anyone want to make their own from a blank plate they can.

Thanks again.

Reply 132 of 134, by pentiumspeed

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Mine was AT version of this like yours and it is very good board and it supported K6-2 too which I tried that CPU out on loan and was not impressed, I was on pentium 100.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 133 of 134, by BitWrangler

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Now if you said you'd been on 233MMX and weren't impressed by a K6-2-300 I'd believe you. Even maybe a 350... but a P100, man, even when you get a Cyrix over 200Mhz it beats that.... guess you musta been i/o bound in the stuff you liked to do.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 134 of 134, by pentiumspeed

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Way it did was not have the "improvement" feel. Over the years, when I changed computers or upgraded, all of these had the feel of performance improvement.
When I had:
386DX 25 non cached
486DX 40 had ATI ISA Ultra, overclocked to 50MHz and ET4000w/p 32 2MB helped.
Pentium 100, added 8MB more to 16MB, helped but didn't do anything much due to cost.
PII 350 with P2B and ram, case with PSU was a gift. Things was costly for upgrades upgrade to Geforce2 MX AGP helped, and P4 in that time stuff was not impressive as I had access to them on loan when I was working for a computer store business.
Athlon 1000 or so with VIA nice upgrade but crashy due to VIA, then upgraded to barton CPU helped in performance wise.
C2D with Optiplex 780 board went from E6500 to E8600, 2GB then 16GB that helped when I went from XP to 7 then 10, what best deal of the time was $25 Intel pro/1000 PT added 1 year to it.
Current Z220.

Great Northern aka Canada.