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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Re: How to make a standard 486 CPU work in 169-pin socket ?

Posted on 2021-04-30, 11:43

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

UP# pin on the 486SX CPU needs to be connected to ground. Sometimes there is a jumper on the board for that.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-04-30, 09:16

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

debs3759 wrote on 2021-04-30, 00:09: Just bought this Miro Crystal 10SB VLB card today. The oldest S3 card in my collection when it arrives. Thank you for buying it ! 😀 Was surplus to my requirements, but it is a very fine S3 805 VLB card.

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Re: Help Identifying 486 PCI motherboard

Posted on 2021-04-26, 13:40

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Should be Abit PI4/PI4T ? https://th99.infania.net/m/A-B/32387.htm The colour of slots might vary. Looks like this layout has been sold under multiple brand names.

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Re: Identifying bad caps on motherboards

Posted on 2021-04-25, 08:22

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got the ESR tester. I tested all 10µF caps on the above motherboard in-circuit. It is a bit of tricky to test with short leads and aligator clips. I guess I need to get very shor quality probes for this. I got readings between 0.6-3.6 Ω. That seems to be still good value according to the table (the …

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Re: Pentium 200 MMX Overdrive - Fan replacement?

Posted on 2021-04-23, 14:05

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh sorry. My bad, it is non-MMX overdrives that don't slow down. The MMX is indeed throttling (but not slowing the clock speed like the 83 MHz) - Tested them here In that case you will probably need to hack the fan to the 3 pins on the CPU 🙁

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Re: Pentium 200 MMX Overdrive - Fan replacement?

Posted on 2021-04-23, 13:43

by

by mpe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Unlike the 83 MHz overdrive for socket 2, the 200MMX overdrive doesn't slow down without the fan. So you can remove the original and replace it. There is no overheat protection. When overheated, the CPU would likely crash.

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