Re: Socket 370 (Non ISA) Pentium 3 still relevant in 2025 ?

Posted on 2025-04-13, 03:39

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It depends on what you're into. There are ways to get most DOS software running on a modern PC, but for me I'm interested in the hardware I could only dream of owning when I was a broke teenager in the 90s. I can finally have all the computer toys I wanted back then but couldn't afford. Computers …

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Re: Socket 370 (Non ISA) Pentium 3 still relevant in 2025 ?

Posted on 2025-04-12, 17:56

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There are many PCI sound cards that have driver workarounds to play sound in DOS, as long as the system allows access to internal ISA bus. So the few PCI sound cards talked about on Philscomputerlab that he says support sound in DOS dont? Or they do but only on certain systems? Don't they all do …

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Re: Why do PC manufacturer's use lower end/limiting chipsets?

Posted on 2025-04-12, 01:27

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks everybody, sounds like this confirms that it is just about tight profit margins and trying to squeeze the most of the consumer (by needing to upgrade) 'Needing to upgrade' is not a way to squeeze the consumer, though - I don't think there's enough brand loyalty in consumer PCs that any of …

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Re: Socket 370 (Non ISA) Pentium 3 still relevant in 2025 ?

Posted on 2025-04-12, 01:10

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd agree with the person who said socket 370 is peak Intel. There are a few periods in history when Intel just seemed to have an overally excellent product, and I would put 370 Coppermine or even more Tualatin in that category. (AMD fans might disagree and argue that the Slot A Athlons were …

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Re: Socket 370 (Non ISA) Pentium 3 still relevant in 2025 ?

Posted on 2025-04-12, 00:58

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't get the obsession with ISA on a Pentium III. If you want a fast ISA system, an Athlon XP and a KT133A motherboard will do the trick. If you just want to use ISA cards, a 486 or (Super) Socket 7 build will provide better compatibility and higher flexibility. Stability? On the one side, you …

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Re: Why do PC manufacturer's use lower end/limiting chipsets?

Posted on 2025-04-06, 02:36

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yep the OEMs were very cost conscience, the majority of their computers were lower end ! Is why the retail motherboard companies did so well with gamers, IT techs, etc in 90's until today :) Even the 'high end' machines, I might add. It continues to astound me to this day, 24-25 years later, how …

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Re: Why do PC manufacturer's use lower end/limiting chipsets?

Posted on 2025-04-05, 23:22

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's not just the chipset, it's everything: - lack of expansion slots (especially AGP/PCI-E x16) - lack of drive bays - lack of IDE cable connectors (yes, cheap systems in the late 1990s used IDE cables with two connectors instead of three, so if you wanted to add a second drive, you had to replace …

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Re: Windows and SMP support

Posted on 2025-03-21, 22:07

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Cyberdyne wrote on 2025-03-21, 21:17: What is gimped PAE versus full PAE? I assume they mean actually supporting more than 4 gigs of RAM, which PAE lets you do but which has never been allowed on 32-bit desktop versions of Windows...

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Re: Ideas for a DOS machine?

Posted on 2025-02-18, 04:20

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So... tried Win98 SE on a fresh CF card, it seemed to install happily, makes it to the end of the installation, and 'Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer. C:\WINDOWS\system\vmm32.vxd: Missing/unable to load." I am increasingly convinced there is something wrong with this …

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Re: Pentium 75 (P54C) vs Pentium MMX 233 for pure DOS

Posted on 2025-02-16, 19:20

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If anything, isn't it the other way around? The Pentium MMX has more options for slowing it down...

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Re: Windows 95 OSR2.1 install with IBM Aptiva 2137, missing drivers CS4237B and others

Posted on 2025-02-16, 19:19

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

@VivienM any chance you still have that original restore CD for the 2137-E26 around? I think the restore CD I used is for the IBM specific motherboard number 02K2472. The motherboard in my Aptiva shows 02K2551. Been having a few system instability issues and wondered if maybe the Aptiva Master CD I …

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Re: Is the interest in retro PC hardware decreasing?

Posted on 2025-02-11, 22:56

by

by VivienM

in Milliways

in Milliways

I've always wondered how YouTubers get their hands on some hardware. Best example I can think of - couple YouTubers doing things on PowerBook G4s in the last couple of years and they had mint condition examples. The titanium G4 was famously famously fragile, I don't know how you get your hands on a …

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Re: Windows 95 OSR2.1 install with IBM Aptiva 2137, missing drivers CS4237B and others

Posted on 2025-02-11, 22:54

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just to answer one of the original questions - the LT WinModem was actually well-supported by Lucent, although IBM only really released 2-3 versions of the LT Winmodem drivers. There used to be generic drivers available from Lucent. Note that this is a K56Flex modem upgradable to v. 90. I forget …

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Re: Windows 95 OSR2.1 install with IBM Aptiva 2137, missing drivers CS4237B and others

Posted on 2025-02-11, 22:50

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

However it looks like this may wipe out any files you had on your Windows 95 install, a word of warning for anyone running the installer from the CD. Since this was a fresh install for me I just went ahead with defaults. Attached a screen from the internet archive link above that showed some …

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Re: DOS Gaming PC Questions from a DOS Newbie

Posted on 2025-02-11, 22:42

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by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

4. OS: TENTATIVE - leaning towards Windows 95, think it will be a better experience for me overall having a familiar-ish UI. Still open to Windows 3.1 if necessary but highly likely to be Win95 at this point. What are you doing for storage? If you are going with the ubiquitous CF cards, that makes …

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Re: Is a 64GB kit of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1866MHz worth anything today

Posted on 2025-02-11, 03:31

by

by VivienM

in Milliways

in Milliways

Because Windows 10 security updates will be stopping in the near future I will be buying a new rig for Windows 11 so I thought I should sell my PC before then to which I don't know why someone would want to buy this PC unless there's a use for Windows 10 when it runs out, will Windows 10 become …

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Re: Is the interest in retro PC hardware decreasing?

Posted on 2025-02-11, 03:26

by

by VivienM

in Milliways

in Milliways

I always wondered who it is that buys gear for these prices.. like 300$ for an old sound card with very specific purposes. collectors? for bragging rights? I mean most oldies on this forum give the impression they would never pay these prices but still prices go up? Is there a new consumer base? i …

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Re: Ideas for a DOS machine?

Posted on 2025-02-09, 21:13

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by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not really - I'm looking to have a working DOS machine! But instead I am going in circles trying to figure out some weirdness, e.g. why QEMM (or IIRC EMM386) will slow the machine to a crawl and why DOS memory management is completely a mess. Then I tried WinMe and that won't boot, I honestly was …

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Re: Ideas for a DOS machine?

Posted on 2025-02-09, 18:49

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've installed Windows XP on a CF card before. It was definitely slower than something like an SSD, but I don't recall it taking over 2 hours to install. That seems like something is wrong. I'm inclined to agree... also worth noting, it is RAM-starved. 64 megs of RAM and Win2000 guzzles 75 megs on …

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Re: Ideas for a DOS machine?

Posted on 2025-02-09, 02:28

by

by VivienM

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So... trying something different, installing Win2000 on the original 8 gig SD card. So far... it hasn't failed... but it's also not done installing after about two hours. I know people don't recommend CF cards for NT OSes, is this.. within normal range?

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