Re: Chipset supports WB Cache -- BIOS doesn't -- options?

Posted on 2021-08-29, 10:21

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes. Contemporary DOS software, like VGA games has chance to be less affected by write stalls than let's say UNIX or 32-bit multitasked workloads. Obviously, back then Intel was more concerned about improving performance in high-end tasks when designing future CPUs. I measured WB vs WT on a number …

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Re: Chipset supports WB Cache -- BIOS doesn't -- options?

Posted on 2021-08-28, 23:06

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If write-back internal cache made no difference, or were even slower than write-through, why would Intel have gone to all the trouble to revise the 486 pinout to add write-back support? That's a good question. Write-back cache architecture is a trade off. It allows CPU to be much less blocked by …

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Re: Chipset supports WB Cache -- BIOS doesn't -- options?

Posted on 2021-08-28, 20:29

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

DX4 chips are available both in write-through and write-back variant with perhaps former being a little more common. I don't believe there is any performance diffence between these chips.In fact write-back might underperform slightly in many tests. Cache mode operation cannot be enabled after the …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-08-23, 15:05

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I wanted to improve quality of my screenshots from retro devices. So I've done some research and purchased these two devices to help me with that. Elgato HD60S+ (HDMI to USB-3 capture card) and OSSC (VGA to HDMI upscaler among others). I hope I can hook them together to have signal from my retro PCs …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-08-13, 08:19

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Acquired this somewhat less boring VLB card:

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-07-01, 08:15

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got Buslogic VL-Bus SCSI card: Boxed with manuals and everything.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-25, 13:02

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Isn't cacheable range more a question of TAG size? No? TAG size is more a question of max cache you can have? You are both right. Cacheability limit can have different causes. Cache tag line width (not necessarily the capacity of TAG SRAM chip itself) is the most common (along various limits of …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-24, 21:59

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes. I never use IDE. Always SCSI.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-24, 21:36

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Picked Biostar MB-8500UUR. I already own other UMC8890 based Pentium motherboards. However, this one is the only one with early -AF version of the chipset. I can't wait to see how it compares with -BF motherboards in my Pentium chipsets comparison. I am keen finding out where is the bad reputation …

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Re: SMD capacitors on Pentium 233MHz P55C repair

Posted on 2021-05-21, 13:23

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Of course they are all interconnected (and sit between supply voltage island and ground). These capacitors don't form any specific circuit. They are decoupling the input voltage to minimise noise. It is important they are as close to hi-freq parts inside the CPU as possible to provide a low …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-21, 12:22

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Can any of you good guys and gals help me identify the type and spec of the SMD components on P55C package? I got hold of two battered Pentium MMX CPUs - 200MHz and 233MHz, and the 233MHz has the two encircled in red ripped off. They seem simple to replace.... Desolder one and measure it. My guess …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-21, 10:22

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Received ZIP VRAM chips for my ATI Mach32 card to upgrade it to "ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB" level. These chips are not common and was only able to source 80ns parts, but should work just fine. Now I only need to get a better RAMDAC. https://dependency-injection.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/DSC_ …

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Re: Hercules dynamite VL Pro VLB VGA card - jumper info required please

Posted on 2021-05-18, 12:39

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This one is from a non-pro version of Dynamite VL which looks different than the one above, but might still work.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-18, 09:42

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Bought ARK1000PV PCI. Here it is with its VLB sibling I already had (and which is the fastest DOS VLB card I own).

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Re: WinChip appreciation thread

Posted on 2021-05-12, 12:51

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The WinChip C6 looks faster than the Cyrix 6x86L PR200 (2x75MHz) in both int and fpu. Interesting. That's not how I remember it. In fact there are still contemporary reviews which show C6 to be lagging behind PR200 or even PR166 cpus: https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/idt-winchip-c6-cpu,37. …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-10, 19:04

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

One more ISA/VLB pair. Now from ATI. Graphics Ultra Pro ISA Graphics Ultra XLR VLB I plan to upgrade the VLB card to Graphics Ultra Pro level. That is to 2MB of VRAM and better RAMDAC that is missing in the socket. Feels inferior with just the lowend 85MHz part.... https://dependency-injection.com/ …

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Re: WinChip appreciation thread

Posted on 2021-05-10, 07:32

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I briefly used the Winchip 200 back in 1997/98. It was the cheapest upgrade for my Socket 5 motherboard. I can't say I loved it. In fact in some areas (FPU) it was a non-upgrade. Particularly weak was the FPU. I remember Winchip 200 having similar framerate in Quake as the Pentium 90, so it was one …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-05-09, 15:54

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Picked two Diamond cards. If anyone has a newer BIOS file for the Stealth 24, please share it!

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Re: Videocard no signal

Posted on 2021-05-06, 15:08

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

If you disable on-board VGA chip then you shouldn't need to disable the IRQ as the disabled chip won't be generating any interrupts. On the other hand VGA IRQ is rarely used feature so it is almost always good idea to disable it even on the active card.

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Re: Videocard no signal

Posted on 2021-05-05, 09:30

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Looks to me like your computer already has a VGA chip integrated on the motherboard. Thus you need to disable it if you want to use another VGA card in ISA slot. Often there is a jumper for it on the motherboard. Only one VGA card can be active. No need to install any drivers.

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