mastergamma12 wrote on 2020-06-12, 06:44:

[...]
This might sound weird but where on the front io header did you attach your power button.

I went through 2 P3C-E's before I found out on the second one that I had the power button slightly on the wrong 2 pins and while it'd turn on, it wouldn't do anything.

This does sound very weird, but worth a look. Thanks 😀

I have every build spec i could want, but i would like the following case builds:
- one of those shuttle matx cases that take a voodoo5 in a bottom agp slot
- all in one 486 pc
- gateway2000 tower case
- any weirdly shaped desktop cases with integrated speakers

I would like to rebuild a Pentium 4 with RAMBUS memory (I still have the RAM from a Pentium 4 1.6GHz in the past).
I'd also like to stumble upon a 4-bit 4004 or 4040 based calculator or equivalent, and a 186 PC which are not too common (CPUs are easy to find though).

It was fun to see how many people want / wanted to build an Athlon XP. It was the first PC i ever built with all new parts I bought myself, and used it daily from probably 2002/2003 until almost 2010. OC'd to 3.5ghz or something crazy. It was a very charming system to use. I had to get heatsinks for my RAM because Half Life 2 would make my RAM overheat on that machine.

Standard Def Steve wrote on 2020-06-11, 23:16:

It's not something I can build, but I'd love to own one of those "quad core" G5s. I have absolutely no interest in Intel-based Macs. They're yet another x86 machine running yet another slow and bloated OS. But the old PowerPC rigs? Now those are cool as hell.

I've already maxed out and overclocked a dual G4 rig, but one of these days I'd love to crank up the air conditioning and just go to town on a quad core G5. I mean, what's not to like? You've got all of the easy to use modern stuff: PCIe, SATA, and cheap DDR2. But it's all on a totally exotic motherboard hosting a pair of liquid cooled, high clocked, dual-core PowerPC 970MPs. Bitchin!

Unfortunately, the only G5s I ever come across at garage sales are the single CPU 1.6 and 1.8GHz machines. My overclocked (1.5GHz) dual G4 runs circles around those things.

It's finally happening! A quad core G5 is coming my way. And what perfect timing! Since around 2015, June has been PowerPC Appreciation month for me. I don't even want to know how many hours I've logged playing Xbox 360 and GameCube games this month. 😜

The best part: I only paid $200 CAD for the G5. That's probably $175 too much given the atrocious performance/watt, but looking at the astronomical prices+shipping on eBay, I'm more than happy to shell out $200 for the fastest consumer PPC machine ever released.

pii_legacy wrote on 2020-06-13, 09:26:

It was fun to see how many people want / wanted to build an Athlon XP. It was the first PC i ever built with all new parts I bought myself, and used it daily from probably 2002/2003 until almost 2010. OC'd to 3.5ghz or something crazy. It was a very charming system to use. I had to get heatsinks for my RAM because Half Life 2 would make my RAM overheat on that machine.

Athlon was my first ever PC build as well.. I was about 16 IIRC. It was an X2 though not the XP. I remember basically building the entire PC around the hype of TES Oblivion. There was so much hype around that game and especially how graphically intensive it was. What an amazing time to enter the world of PC gaming. Oblivion, Half Life 2, F.E.A.R., Crysis, etc. I had played PC games long before then going back to DOS.. but I had never built my own.

The build I really want to make is an early Pentium build to play the later release DOS games. I grew up playing games like Commander Keen, Haloween Harry, Crusader No Regret, Doom, Duke, etc. I am currently looking over what I will need and planning to start grabbing parts

Something based on Advantech MBPC-200 biscuit chassis.

http://www2.advantech.tw/epc/newsletter/v19-0 … BPC200-5822.htm
Loaded with PCM-482x / 582x - 486/586/686 based fanless biscuit board with CRT/LAN. Maybe Express-300G board.
Then put PC/104-PCMCIA adapter on it and collect bunch of cool PCMCIA stuff - soundcards, SCSI and etc.

Standard Def Steve wrote on 2020-06-25, 23:15:

Standard Def Steve wrote on 2020-06-11, 23:16:

It's not something I can build, but I'd love to own one of those "quad core" G5s. I have absolutely no interest in Intel-based Macs. They're yet another x86 machine running yet another slow and bloated OS. But the old PowerPC rigs? Now those are cool as hell.

I've already maxed out and overclocked a dual G4 rig, but one of these days I'd love to crank up the air conditioning and just go to town on a quad core G5. I mean, what's not to like? You've got all of the easy to use modern stuff: PCIe, SATA, and cheap DDR2. But it's all on a totally exotic motherboard hosting a pair of liquid cooled, high clocked, dual-core PowerPC 970MPs. Bitchin!

Unfortunately, the only G5s I ever come across at garage sales are the single CPU 1.6 and 1.8GHz machines. My overclocked (1.5GHz) dual G4 runs circles around those things.

It's finally happening! A quad core G5 is coming my way. And what perfect timing! Since around 2015, June has been PowerPC Appreciation month for me. I don't even want to know how many hours I've logged playing Xbox 360 and GameCube games this month. 😜

The best part: I only paid $200 CAD for the G5. That's probably $175 too much given the atrocious performance/watt, but looking at the astronomical prices+shipping on eBay, I'm more than happy to shell out $200 for the fastest consumer PPC machine ever released.

Love my Dual G5!
Maxed the memory, swapped the boat anchor FX5200 with a Radeon 9800XT and topped it of with an old Intel SSD as system disk.
Runs like a dream!
Heats up the room really fast too =)

Some day I would like to design and build my own motherboard for quad NexGen CPU’s.

I'd want to do a somewhat of a sleeper with these:

-PCChips M577
-Pentium 233 MMX
-3.2GB Maxtor + 850MB WD Caviar 2850
-ATI Rage Pro Turbo AIW
-384MB RAM
-SB16 PCI (CT5803)
-Realtek RTL8139C NIC
-circa 2003 Mercedes-styled case made by Linkworld (which isn't bad at all)
-Windows 98 SE + 98lite 4.7

Let's see.. I think I have just a few left:

1. Fast AT (16/20/25Mhz) to replace my 386SX-25
2. Fast 486 (Cx/Am 5x86)
3. Fast (Slot/Socket A) Voodoo 3
4. Dual Slot-1/Socket370 to replace my Tualatin

I have the parts for 2/3 but not for 1/4..

To be honest I don't find building non-proprietary IBM compatible computers too challenging. You buy this, plug in that, Google widely available info, fiddle with jumpers, tighten screws, install software, run games and tests, that's it. There is only so much you can do before it becomes repetitive and dull.
Most of the time things just work "out of the box" especially with post-socket3 systems. Most challenges occur when people try to make incompatible hardware work together even though they were never meant to work together.
Newer hardware/software is even worse. Jumperless/P&P was designed for people with little to no knowledge about computers so they don't need experts to build their rigs for them, a single screwdriver is enough without ever looking at manuals. The obvious advantage is that people can buy their computers without anybody to rely on. No experts needed = people spend more money on products without fear of ruining something. Everything is foolproof and software are linear to enhance the user experience. It's a good thing for the average user but it's bad for people who want "complications" with their hobby.
It was entirely different in the 70's and early 80's and that's the "professional experience" I'm looking for before everything started to revolve around videogames.
Proprietary hardware AND software, specific systems made for non-commercial use, information that mostly exist in printed form and in the memories of old gurus.
Just like restoring an old car piece by piece, taking things slow. I was never into gaming so I'll always view computers as workhorses.

I have bought parts for and built nearly every aspirational build i've come up with.. but then there's no time to actually use them 😁

Since then i've settled on a K6-3+/V3 and a 2600k/780ti for nearly everything i could want to play, and I still need time to set those up properly and actually play some games on them hah

This one.
https://youtu.be/_3iHV0NvLPI

i certainly don't need anymore. i've built everything in my signature in the last year and half or so.
my current project will most likely be my last one for quite some time... i hope.
680i sli motherboard, qx6850 cpu, evga 8800gtx ko sli in a cooler master war machine (stacker 832)
should be quite a machine. almost finished, just need to add all the fans (7) and finalize cable management.
my geforce 256 thru gtx 280 nvidia builds will be complete.

That's going to be a great system when it's completed. I can't wait to see the finished product!!
I also really love the looks of the case your using.

ElementalChaos wrote on 2017-01-15, 03:07:

I have three functioning retro x86 machines now, and like any retro enthusiast I'm always itching for more. I've been thinking a […]
Show full quote

I have three functioning retro x86 machines now, and like any retro enthusiast I'm always itching for more. I've been thinking about what I want to build next, mostly with parts which I already have. The main thing keeping me from building most of these is a lack of AT and beige ATX cases.

Here's mine, keeping with the "Project" nicknames that began with my 486 and Pentium machines:

"Project 386" - using an EISA motherboard with soldered Am386DX40, a Tseng ET4000 card (if I can get mine to work) and a Sound Blaster Pro 2.0.

"Project 486 VLB" - this would use one of the VLB-based motherboards that I have, and likely a Diamond Stealth64 DRAM with an S3 Vision864 as well as a Yamaha Audician32 Plus.

"Project P3" - aimed as a replacement for my Dell Dimension 4100. 440BX-based motherboard, and transplant the current cards from my Dell.

My next PC build I would like to assemble is a SMP machine with Intel 440BX chipset and dual Slot 1 Pentium II or III (or Celeron 300A hacked for SMP, and over clocked from 300 MHz to 450 MHz).

Another build I would like to do is a DEC PDP 11/70, but in a modern FPGA implementation to keep size down. Still I would like to have it with the beautiful CPU front panel and all its switches/lights.

Another thing would be to design and build my own 8/16-bit computer from ground up (not my own CPU or instruction set, but everything else above that should be my own architecture), and write all the system software to go along with it. But that would consume quite a lot time... 😀

I probably have to many ideas and to little time and space.

Using hardware for things that they not are intended to is pretty common, like playing games on old servers 😀

Ongoing projects
Compaq Prosignia 3080, 486 DX/2 66, lots of ram, SCSI-drives, SB32awe, a great DOS 6.22 computer with lots of weird things going on. But it works!
HP Vectra VL5, Pentium 200 MMX, 128mb ram. Needs a news harddrive and it will be good to go again. It currently has one of my Voodoo II cards that I need for another project.

Projects to start... some day
Compaq Proliant 1500, It's a Pentium 75 at the moment and the plan is to upgrade it to a Pentium 133. It has 5x18gb scsi hard drives, probably a bit to much for my needs now. A better graphics card would be nice and I have a few ideas what to put in it. I really want to try it with Windows NT 3.51 and se how useful it can be and if any early windows games will run on it. Needs a sound card also.

Maxing out my first AMD K6-2 450. Upgraded to a K6-3+ at 550mhz now and I have two matching Voodoo II cards for it. I still have to decide what case to put it in and if I should try get some scsi-disks for it. I have a U160 card in it already... so why not?

Rebuild my Athlon Thunderbird 1,33. Almost complete but with a quite dead harddrive... again. This machine has done a lot of hours both as my gaming/workstation and then a few years as file server. One of my all time favourites that deserves a better place in the house than under my workbench.

And I should probably try to get an old XT clone up and running again...

I think its best if I don't make this list any longer 😀

OSkar000 wrote on 2020-07-14, 19:54:

I probably have to many ideas and to little time and space. […]
Show full quote

I probably have to many ideas and to little time and space.

Using hardware for things that they not are intended to is pretty common, like playing games on old servers 😀

Ongoing projects
Compaq Prosignia 3080, 486 DX/2 66, lots of ram, SCSI-drives, SB32awe, a great DOS 6.22 computer with lots of weird things going on. But it works!
HP Vectra VL5, Pentium 200 MMX, 128mb ram. Needs a news harddrive and it will be good to go again. It currently has one of my Voodoo II cards that I need for another project.

Projects to start... some day
Compaq Proliant 1500, It's a Pentium 75 at the moment and the plan is to upgrade it to a Pentium 133. It has 5x18gb scsi hard drives, probably a bit to much for my needs now. A better graphics card would be nice and I have a few ideas what to put in it. I really want to try it with Windows NT 3.51 and se how useful it can be and if any early windows games will run on it. Needs a sound card also.

Maxing out my first AMD K6-2 450. Upgraded to a K6-3+ at 550mhz now and I have two matching Voodoo II cards for it. I still have to decide what case to put it in and if I should try get some scsi-disks for it. I have a U160 card in it already... so why not?

Rebuild my Athlon Thunderbird 1,33. Almost complete but with a quite dead harddrive... again. This machine has done a lot of hours both as my gaming/workstation and then a few years as file server. One of my all time favourites that deserves a better place in the house than under my workbench.

And I should probably try to get an old XT clone up and running again...

I think its best if I don't make this list any longer 😀

Regarding your Proliant 1500;

There's a modified one that guy did:

http://www.modding.ru/view/11449.html

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-07-16, 17:25:

Regarding your Proliant 1500; […]
Show full quote

OSkar000 wrote on 2020-07-14, 19:54:

I probably have to many ideas and to little time and space. […]
Show full quote

I probably have to many ideas and to little time and space.

Using hardware for things that they not are intended to is pretty common, like playing games on old servers 😀

Ongoing projects
Compaq Prosignia 3080, 486 DX/2 66, lots of ram, SCSI-drives, SB32awe, a great DOS 6.22 computer with lots of weird things going on. But it works!
HP Vectra VL5, Pentium 200 MMX, 128mb ram. Needs a news harddrive and it will be good to go again. It currently has one of my Voodoo II cards that I need for another project.

Projects to start... some day
Compaq Proliant 1500, It's a Pentium 75 at the moment and the plan is to upgrade it to a Pentium 133. It has 5x18gb scsi hard drives, probably a bit to much for my needs now. A better graphics card would be nice and I have a few ideas what to put in it. I really want to try it with Windows NT 3.51 and se how useful it can be and if any early windows games will run on it. Needs a sound card also.

Maxing out my first AMD K6-2 450. Upgraded to a K6-3+ at 550mhz now and I have two matching Voodoo II cards for it. I still have to decide what case to put it in and if I should try get some scsi-disks for it. I have a U160 card in it already... so why not?

Rebuild my Athlon Thunderbird 1,33. Almost complete but with a quite dead harddrive... again. This machine has done a lot of hours both as my gaming/workstation and then a few years as file server. One of my all time favourites that deserves a better place in the house than under my workbench.

And I should probably try to get an old XT clone up and running again...

I think its best if I don't make this list any longer 😀

Regarding your Proliant 1500;

There's a modified one that guy did:

http://www.modding.ru/view/11449.html

Cheers,

Only in Russia 😀

Not exactly the plans that I have for mine but really cool. Must be from around year 2000 when many modded computers looked like that.

I have plenty of time to plan this build and get it really good. A nice workstation with NT 3.51 and maybe dual boot with Dos 6.22 and Wfw 3.11.

And I have a Proliant 5000 too with to many hardware problems get it running again...