Re: Lowest spec Windows XP pc.

Posted on Today, 06:04

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Baoran wrote on Today, 05:21: Main thing I am wondering if it has any checks during installation that the computer meets the 233Mhz system requirements. No, it doesn't try to check the clock speed. It used to be a competitive sport for people to find the slowest systems they could get XP installed …

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Re: RANT alert: should "computer" magazines mainly talk about REFRIGERATORS?

Posted on Today, 05:36

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by shamino

in Milliways

in Milliways

Lately I've been looking at PDFs of Computer Gaming World from the 90s. Somebody probably linked it on this forum, I don't remember. I don't love it but it's okay. They got angry letters when they started talking about Sega Genesis games. They keep trying to figure out what the "Interactive …

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Re: Advantages of Dual Pentium3 or dual Pentium motherboards for retro PC?

Posted on 2021-11-29, 00:17

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Several years ago I bought an NOS dual Socket-940 Opteron server board (Tyan S2882-D). I always thought they were cool and couldn't resist the chance to buy one when somebody was blowing them out. I put a lot of effort into managing the power use of that machine, including software undervolting/ …

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Re: Why is my Pentium 75 so tremendously slow? (Games)

Posted on 2021-11-26, 22:00

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

One more comment about these Compaq LTE 5xxx laptops: The CPU and cache are packaged together on a removable module inside the laptop. They should be swappable. I've never opened mine so I don't know exactly what it looks like, but I remember it from the service manual. I don't know if the module …

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Re: Are Acer fanboys a thing?

Posted on 2021-11-22, 23:58

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by shamino

in Milliways

in Milliways

I would call a fanboy somebody who is brand loyal to the point of being irrational. I like modern Acer laptops, but my reasons are mercenary. They make decent laptops that are cheap. Back when I bought mine there was no competition at ~$400 for the "legacy" features I wanted, thick enough size to …

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Re: another xp build, some help please

Posted on 2021-11-18, 22:51

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you expect to watch videos on this machine, a Core2 quad will be good with h.264, a Core2 duo can struggle sometimes. The Geforce 7800 doesn't accelerate h.264 so the CPU will matter for that. Same for Steam In-Home Streaming, but I don't know if it's possible to connect an XP client to that …

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Re: What phone do you use currently?

Posted on 2021-11-08, 23:34

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by shamino

in Milliways

in Milliways

I was using Magicjack for a long time, because I really didn't care and just wanted a cheap phone number. I got my first cell phone only a year ago. It was a "Motorola G Stylus". No I don't use the stylus, I only picked that model because it had a better camera than the cheaper one. My actual camera …

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Re: DIMM with crystal silicon chips

Posted on 2021-11-08, 22:40

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a few DIMMs with those same kind of chips. Mine have HP part numbers on them and are 256MB registered ECC for 440BX/440GX machines. Mine have 18 RAM ICs though, 9 per side, so not exactly the same ones you have. They have a simple flat aluminum cover/heatsink on them just like in the Hitachi …

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Re: Turbo switch functionality on high end 486 & early Pentium 1 systems

Posted on 2021-11-07, 23:04

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Apropos DIY... This is a 5.25" turbo wheel with nn.n MHz display which plugs into the crystal oscillator socket. Range is 2-33.3 MHz. Only works with AMD processor because Intel CPUs hang when clocked below ~16MHz. A long time ago I got caught up in the idea of somehow designing a variable deturbo …

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Re: The Imaginary "It's All About The Pentiums" Build

Posted on 2021-11-05, 08:32

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

"While your computer's crashin', mine's multitaskin'" In 1999 - this screams that he was running NT4, and probably dual booting some prerelease version of Win2k. Normal home users were all using Win95/98 and complaining about it crashing. Only people "in the know" ran NT, like this badass in the …

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Re: Best GPU for an Athlon MP (WinXP)

Posted on 2021-10-27, 21:55

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by shamino

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Does the AMD760MPX chipset work with bridged AGP cards? I've seen some discussion implying it has problems with them. If those type of cards won't work, then the fastest NVidia options would be 6800GT or 6800 Ultra. 6600 and all 7000 series cards are bridged.

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Re: What games do actually run on a 80286 with 16Mhz?

Posted on 2021-10-21, 22:16

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

PS Not exactly sure, why I am calling Indiana Jones and the Fate... "Indy 4", but we all here (where I live) did in the 90s.... :-D That game came up when I searched with that name so I'm sure it was common. I've never played the series so I just wasn't sure if I had the right game. I'm the same …

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Re: What games do actually run on a 80286 with 16Mhz?

Posted on 2021-10-20, 23:37

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think most 1992 games would be fine with it. Lots of people had 286s then. Civilization will be perfectly fine as long as you have VGA and a mouse. Neither is required, just very desirable. 286-16 is fine for the CPU, it doesn't need much. Star Control 2 will run fine. I played it on a 386SX-16 …

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Re: what SSD for XP ?

Posted on 2021-09-14, 04:51

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by shamino

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

ADATA SSD manger does support XP and TRIM but all their SSD's with Realtek controllers and DRMless are really a piece of junk. has anyone tested the TRIM function from ADATA with another SSD brand ? https://i.postimg.cc/WzSz5L42/screenshot.jpg Yes, I've used that on every XP machine that had/has an …

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Re: Retro confessions. What are yours?

Posted on 2021-09-07, 19:39

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by shamino

in Milliways

in Milliways

Creative's AWE32 cards have cheap SIMM sockets on them with plastic retaining clips, not metal. Knowing this, I tried to very carefully remove a pair of 30pin SIMMs from a CT3990. I still broke one of the sockets.

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Re: Windows 95 keeps Removing wallpaper

Posted on 2021-09-07, 18:54

by

by shamino

in Milliways

in Milliways

One other thing: You can use the "Internet Explorer Administration Kit" to make a customized installer for IE5 or IE6 that includes Active Desktop. That way you don't have to install IE4 before the version you really want. IEAK was a tool for sysadmins that lets you make an installer with customized …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2021-09-06, 10:59

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by shamino

in Milliways

in Milliways

Installed Quake on a 233 MMX and then set up VQuake for a Rendition card. Got to see 3D acceleration on that card for the first time. I like it, but I'm disappointed by the very uneven framerates. It gets choppy when you're shooting evil, and gets *really* slow when you're underwater (half framerate …

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Re: The worse placement of capacitors on motherboards

Posted on 2021-09-06, 09:54

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Recently I recapped a Socket-7 board. I took care to tweak the angle of some capacitors next to the CPU heatsink clip, because I had thus far been unable to install the damn thing for lack of clearance. Then I installed an overly tall capacitor next to an ISA slot, making it impossible to install my …

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Re: Monitor for a Pentium 2/3 - Windows 98

Posted on 2021-09-05, 20:25

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by shamino

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Is DOS a factor? If you expect to play DOS 320x200 VGA games with smooth 2D scrolling, keep in mind those run at 72Hz and will stutter on IPS or VA based LCD monitors from the 4:3 era. It happens because those panels require 60Hz and will convert 72->60Hz internally (they advertised 75Hz support but …

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Re: Core2Duo or Core2Quad?

Posted on 2021-09-04, 17:55

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My office PC used to have an E8400 but I switched it out for a Q8200, trading a beefy dual for a wimpy quad with lower clocks and half the cache per core. I found that with modern usage and especially for video decoding the quad was faster. Gaming wise, Steam in-home streaming (using that PC as a …

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