Re: Ultimate Annual Gaming Builds: 1994 (P90) and 1995 (P133)

Posted on 2023-12-05, 11:56

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Ran into some stability issues when doing the final assembly of the Pentium 200 system. It started intermittently failing to boot up after a reset. After spending over an hour troubleshooting, I dissembled the whole thing and discovered this: Biostar MB-8500TUC-A capacitor legs.jpg Two legs from one …

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Re: Building a nostalgia rig on a budget

Posted on 2023-12-05, 11:44

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been having a hell of a time with this machine. The new PSU came but it still refuses to boot any time it's inside that case??? Outside it works, perfectly but inside it I get absolutely nothing I've checked all over for shorts or anything like that or if the stand offs are not sitting right …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-12-05, 02:00

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Worked on finishing setting up my Pentium 200 build, adding all the usual connections, etc. Then I started getting boot failures. Popped in a diagnostic card and it would fail at the "d3:d1" code. Biostar MB-8500TUC-A boot fail.jpg However, it was very intermittent. Sometimes it would fail a couple …

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Re: Case restoration advice

Posted on 2023-12-04, 22:31

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For rust removal I prefer soaking in Evapo-Rust. This will remove rust from places that might be difficult to sand especially if you're dealing spots that are pitted. I've got a post in my Tandy 1000 TL restoration thread where I show the process, and before and after pics: https://www.vogons.org/ …

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Re: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-04, 14:41

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2023-12-04, 06:59: Pentium 200 will require active cooling on that motherboard. The radiator is sitting very closely to linear voltage regulators. Interestingly when I stress tested the system, it seemed like the voltage regulator heatsinks got warmer than the main …

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Re: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-04, 14:40

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Your Pentium 1 heatsink is already pretty large (compared to the stock/OEM one), so a bit of airflow should be heaps. This is my thinking too. It's got a lot more area for heat dispersion than a stock heatsink and coupled with a decent amount of adjacent airflow should be enough to keep it cool.

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Re: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-04, 14:39

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think you could get away with some good case airflow and a big passive heatsink, you can get some really good high CFM fans from noctua that wouldn't look odd in a retro build. I was comparing airflow of the various Noctua fans. The 80mm fan do push a lot more air than the smaller ones. R8 redux- …

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Re: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-04, 14:09

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

After seeing https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1216263#p1216263 I would most definately recommend some shroud as, unless the picture plays tricks on my eyes, it looks like the fan is something like 20 mm "higher" than the motherboard? Closer to 40mm. The top of the heatsink is 35mm from the …

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Re: Ultimate Annual Gaming Builds: 1994 (P90) and 1995 (P133)

Posted on 2023-12-04, 13:27

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Do you actually have enough parts to fill in all these builds at the same time? For the most part. The only I'm missing for my planned 1993 486 DX2-66 build is a working GUS Classic and a another working Roland SCC-1. I have non-working cards for each, so I'm hoping if I can get them repaired I can …

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Re: Ultimate Annual Gaming Builds: 1994 (P90) and 1995 (P133)

Posted on 2023-12-04, 03:01

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Currently working on a pair of 1996 builds for a showdown between the Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200. Aside from the motherboards and CPU, these are mostly identical builds. Same video cards, sound cards, and general peripherals. The plan is have dual CF cards for each build: one with DOS 6.22 and …

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Re: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-04, 02:52

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah, this is the 512kb cache version with a TDW of 36.6W. The 1 MB has a TDW of 47W, so I can see it requiring a direct fan on the heatsink. FWIW, I also tested the Pentium 200 for an hour and it remained relatively cool overall. So no worries about that one.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-12-04, 02:17

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Working on a pair of builds: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200. Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 Builds.jpg Did some stress testing of each system for about an hour each to see how cooling performed and making sure they are stable. Pentium 200 Build in progress.jpg Pentium Pro 200 Build in progress.jpg …

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Re: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-03, 23:27

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ducting is a good idea. I can fabricate something out of acrylic if need be. FWIW, I tested this setup for over an hour. Installed all the intended cards, closed up the case and then ran various demos and games. The heatsink did warm up, but not unbearably so. I could easily keep my hand pressed on …

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Re: Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-03, 21:10

by

by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Installed the Pentium Pro in the case and giving it a stress test currently. Going to loop graphics demos for an hour or so and see how warm the heatsink gets.

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Re: Win XP 32 or 64 bit?

Posted on 2023-12-03, 19:45

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AFAIK, there isn't much point to running 64-bit XP. Games from the Windows XP era will run fine on 32-bit XP. Running the 32-bit version of XP also gives you backwards compatibility with 16-bit Windows games, should you need it. It wasn't until the 2010s when a 64-bit OS started to become a …

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Re: Seeking advice on reviving this Voodoo 3

Posted on 2023-12-03, 19:21

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

IIRC, in vswitchzero's videos he uses verbose diagnostics logs to determine point of failure in Voodoo cards he has repaired. Perhaps that could shed some light on where there might be a failure?

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Re: Building a nostalgia rig on a budget

Posted on 2023-12-03, 19:18

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Shadzilla wrote on 2023-12-03, 09:35: "it could even be the start of a dedicated MS DOS pc" - this is how it starts, before you know it you've got 7 fully built retro PCs and nowhere to move 😅 Wait... are we supposed to stop when we reach 7 systems? Uh oh...

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Pentium 200 and Pentium Pro 200 builds. Do I need dedicated CPU fans or are nearby 80mm case fans enough?

Posted on 2023-12-03, 19:07

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm in the process of building two systems: Pentium 200 and a Pentium Pro 200. The heatsinks I have for both processors don't allow for easy attachment of dedicated fans. For the Pentium 200, I would normally use a low-profile copper heatsink with fan attachment points, but on this particular …

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Re: Need help with (hypothetical) RetroPC build

Posted on 2023-12-03, 16:03

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Another thing I have doubts about is the type of screen: ideally I would prefer to use a CRT display, since that's what I grew up with, but I don't know if there are any disadvantages to choosing a CRT instead of an LCD screen or a more modern option. Can there be compatibility issues with CRT …

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Re: Pentium 200 vs Pentium MMX 200 vs Pentium Pro 200 (256kb & 512kb) DOS Benchmarks

Posted on 2023-12-02, 23:53

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by Shponglefan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-12-02, 23:23: This is L2. maxtherabbit means L1. Pentium is 8KB+8KB, MMX is 16KB+16KB. Whoops, had a brain fart when I typed that. I meant 16kb and 8kb. 😕

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