Re: My not-so-retro rig... that plays retro PC games

Posted on 2022-07-29, 16:29

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Thanks for the comments! I am on the lookout for a reasonably priced PCI X-Fi. I have an extra X-Fi for PCI Express, but with this particular motherboard's slot layout I'd rather avoid using the nearby PCIe slots to leave more space for the graphics card airflow.

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My not-so-retro rig... that plays retro PC games

Posted on 2022-07-24, 05:15

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Earlier this year I started a thread about my cheap Core i3 computer that now handles most of my retro gaming . This is a what it looks like, what the specs are, etc. This isn't a particularly interesting computer at face value, but I hope it might encourage some conversation about what aspects of …

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Re: Dream XP PC - ASUS P6T SE - I7 930 - Radeon 5870

Posted on 2022-07-07, 05:11

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Nice system! The Radeon 5870 is a fast, reliable, compatible, and reasonably efficient card for the XP era. There are faster XP compatible cards out there if you're trying to chase 3DMarks but in my opinion you probably won't get a much better gaming experience over the card you have. There are …

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Re: Playing ON vs WITH retro hardware (and hardware preservation)

Posted on 2022-06-28, 04:28

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes the Rumblepad 2 does have drivers for Win98. As you said, its layout is nearly identical to a PlayStation 2 controller but unfortunately that means that all four shoulder (trigger) buttons are on/off digital buttons with no analog control. So none of those four buttons can perform part throttle …

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Re: HD 3850 AGP black screen on driver install - FIXED!

Posted on 2022-06-26, 05:44

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I have a Radeon 9800 Pro that will black screen (or sometimes artifact/crash) immediately after installing the motherboard's AGP Gart driver. The sad part is that it didn't use to do that... it was in my retro PC for a year or so then one day Windows wouldn't start. First thing I thought was my …

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Re: Playing ON vs WITH retro hardware (and hardware preservation)

Posted on 2022-06-11, 23:38

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't have any Win9x compatible input devices that have analogue triggers (I have a Logitech F310 in DirectInput mode, where the triggers register as on/off only). I think I still have my Logitech Rumblepad 2 stashed somewhere. Its layout is similar to that of a PlayStation 2 controller. IIRC, …

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Re: Playing ON vs WITH retro hardware (and hardware preservation)

Posted on 2022-06-11, 18:52

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well this ^ right here is a good reason to build and maintain a Windows 98 PC. There's a sizeable list of titles that only run on win9x, old hardware or old versions of directX / openAL (etc). Sure, there are patches, but I'd rather staple my sack to my thigh rather then look up and test XP patches …

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Re: IBM ThinkCentre S50 - slower than expected

Posted on 2022-06-09, 21:17

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by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Nice find. I'm glad you're getting the results you wanted! I agree, a PCI-only machine is generally a constraint that is tolerated due to form factor (eg your case matches your monitor and keyboard and it would be a shame to break that apart). There were very few PCI graphics cards with good 3D …

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Re: Playing ON vs WITH retro hardware (and hardware preservation)

Posted on 2022-06-08, 03:22

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Some games, even patched / hacked will not work reliably under XP (will either not launch or will crash to desktop randomly). And it's not a short list of games either. Compatibility comes down to hardware as well. For example, I've been able to run NFS V Porsche on XP on an Athlon XP 3200+ / FX …

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Re: Athlon64 3000+ / Asus K8V-MX / GeForce4 / Audigy1

Posted on 2022-06-07, 04:38

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

That's some pretty good performance. It was common for newer drivers to be somewhat more complex internally and thus use more CPU overhead. So in CPU limited situations (eg >400fps in low resolution Quake II) the newer driver could have worse performance. Clearly in your case the newer driver is …

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Re: Help cooling down a Pentium 3

Posted on 2022-06-06, 02:46

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm assuming you don't want to replace your case (to one with a dedicated exhaust fan near the CPU), and you don't want to replace your motherboard (to an actual Socket 370 mobo). In this case, generally the best setup is for the front case fan to be an intake, and for the Power Supply to pull hot …

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Re: RetroPC_King's Socket A systems

Posted on 2022-06-06, 02:16

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

These computers are fairly similar (especially #1, #2, and #5). What do you do with them? Most of us like to have fairly distinct retro computers so that when we use one it is unique from the others in some way. I don't mean that you have to do this, of course. I'm interested in what your thinking …

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Re: IBM ThinkCentre S50 - slower than expected

Posted on 2022-06-05, 06:57

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I can't find any reviews of the PCI version of the Radeon HD 5450 (at least I think your card is a 5450). The specs of the 5450 show that although it has a higher fill rate than a GeForce3 it actually has less memory bandwidth. Then there's obviously the PCI bus holding it back. Granted I am …

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Re: Athlon64 3000+ / Asus K8V-MX / GeForce4 / Audigy1

Posted on 2022-06-05, 06:27

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I had big stability problems with Windows ME back in the day on older hardware (Slot 1 type stuff). At the time it was really disappointing because I liked the faster boot time and the updated color scheme / icons / etc. Recently on my own Socket 754 retro computer I gave Windows ME another try and …

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Re: My 2007 Socket AM2 Build

Posted on 2022-06-05, 06:15

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Not very good, if I may. Why not? I keep this AM2 only like as a museum exhibit because of it's originality. I didn't use it intensively, because I am interested mainly in systems befre 2006-2007 like AMD Socket A or Socket 754 ones especially. This is not a fast computer. It's wasn't even a very …

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Re: 2008-era Win XP build

Posted on 2022-05-31, 20:29

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by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

If your aim is more to build a "high end XP gaming PC" than a "2008 era gaming PC" then I agree with ptr1ck that a faster video card would be beneficial. The Radeon 5870, 5850, 5770, 5750 are all very fast and very compatible with Windows XP games (1600x1200 with 4xAA at >60fps kind of fast, for …

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Re: 2008-era Win XP build

Posted on 2022-05-31, 20:28

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Windows XP 32-bit won't benefit at all from more than 4GB memory. It looks to me like your motherboard uses DDR2 memory and I recall the largest common stick of DDR2 is 2GB. You might as well just use two sticks of 2GB in dual channel. Why does someone always need to point out this erroneous fact. …

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Re: 2008-era Win XP build

Posted on 2022-05-30, 16:39

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

If your aim is more to build a "high end XP gaming PC" than a "2008 era gaming PC" then I agree with ptr1ck that a faster video card would be beneficial. The Radeon 5870, 5850, 5770, 5750 are all very fast and very compatible with Windows XP games (1600x1200 with 4xAA at >60fps kind of fast, for …

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Re: i7-3770K / Asus P8Z77-V Pro / GTX 960 / X-Fi / WinXP

Posted on 2022-05-13, 07:16

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Nice! A high end Windows XP build (with Creative EAX) is very versatile. I would also suggest that since you have it on a CRT you can use this computer to play a huge swath of games spanning ~2 decades (with DOSBox and a Glide wrapper) with a "better than authentic" experience....

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Re: Having extreme difficulty with installing Windows on Pentium II retro build.

Posted on 2022-05-07, 19:31

by

by bZbZbZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

RJRC wrote on 2022-05-07, 09:54: Thanks Meatball, I made it go just fine now. Win95 working and Rage 128 drivers downloaded and podged on. I think I'll put it into hibernation until the sound card etc is in place. And I've a place to put it to show it off. Nice! Glad to hear you solved the issues. …

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