Re: Recommendations for a PCI-E video card for Core 2 Duo system?

Posted on 2012-06-24, 01:58

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Milliways

in Milliways

Yep, that's the exact PSU I was thinking of. I even remembered the 12V current ratings correctly. So you'd definitely be OK for any of the cards I listed in my previous post. As for the power connections, you can get molex splitters so you don't have to unhook the hard drive if you don't want to. …

---

Re: Recommendations for a PCI-E video card for Core 2 Duo system?

Posted on 2012-06-23, 19:17

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Milliways

in Milliways

I would guess OP probably has an HP DC7700/7800... 365W is an oddly specific rating for a PSU, and the HP business-class systems are the only ones I know of that use such a thing. If it is indeed the unit I'm thinking of, it's a good quality Lite-On '80+' efficient unit with two separate 12V rails …

---

Re: Recommendations for a PCI-E video card for Core 2 Duo system?

Posted on 2012-06-23, 15:31

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Milliways

in Milliways

You'd be surprised what sort of video card you can run off a 365W PSU. It just depends on the quality of the unit and the actual amperage available on the 12V rail. I wouldn't necessarily rule out the GTX460... I ran my GTS250 just fine off a 350W PSU for quite a long time, and it looks like the …

---

Re: Please help out with this motherboard

Posted on 2012-06-23, 14:00

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That 286 board does infact have a CPU. It's the square AMD chip soldered to the motherboard. FPU is missing, which is normal. I can only assume you're looking at the picture megatron-uk posted... yes, that one does have a CPU soldered onto it. But I think you didn't read very closely because that …

---

Re: Please help out with this motherboard

Posted on 2012-06-21, 18:42

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I suppose it could be a late-model 286 board, but I'd be surprised: - Usually there are a lot of (often socketed) DIP (RAM?) ICs on them. - It also has a high number and percentage of 16-bit ISA slots for a 286. Those mini AT 286 boards aren't super common, since they weren't really big sellers, …

---

Re: Epox boards

Posted on 2012-06-12, 04:53

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Aside from ESR and capacitance values, I have never really gotten deap into the physical understanding of why some designs call for ceramic, electrolytic, film, tantalum, etc types of capacitors. Yeah, I'm not even going to try that one... that subject is good for a hell of a lot of reading, plus …

---

Re: Epox boards

Posted on 2012-06-11, 21:47

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'm not aware of any designs which require a minimum ESR to operate correctly. Has anyone seen this, and if so, which type of circuit was it in? Well, ESR works in conjunction with the coils to be effective at filtering a particular frequency. So if you go too far off the original ESR, it can shift …

---

Re: Wildcat VP 3dmark2001SE results - some oddities

Posted on 2012-06-10, 15:05

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ah, yeah, I always forget about the 9100, getting it mixed up with the 9000. Now it's starting to come back... how the 9000 was supposed to be the direct replacement for the 8500LE, but didn't quite measure up. However, I'm still pretty sure the 8500LE and 9000 both saw a performance drop with >64MB …

---

Re: Epox boards

Posted on 2012-06-10, 02:09

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Without knowing the circuit in all detail using different voltage caps is risky and having data on everything is just dreaming considering if it is working being done on something ancient. This is the last I'll say on the matter, since I don't want to derail OP's thread any further, and I really …

---

Re: Epox boards

Posted on 2012-06-09, 21:43

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

There's quite a bit more to it than just getting the same voltage rating. In fact, you don't even necessarily need to use the same voltage rating, and in some cases you can also change the capacitance. But you can't just stick any random capacitor onto a motherboard and expect it to work, even if …

---

Re: Wildcat VP 3dmark2001SE results - some oddities

Posted on 2012-06-08, 21:45

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wondered if there were similar effects on other sorts of graphics cards, where increasing the memory results in a slower card? Yes. I remember the Radeon 8500LE and 9000 (pretty much the same card) 128MB versions being slightly slower than the 64MB versions. Oddly, I think the 'proper' Radeon 8500 …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-07, 22:11

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I can't speak about newer ones, since I haven't seen one made after 2004 or so, but Sparkle used to be pretty good quality. They were (and maybe still are?) a subsidiary of Fortron (FSP) and were more of a budget consumer-level line than an OEM supplier. The designs were solid, and they were …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-07, 18:02

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Things are getting lighter, but that doesn't so much apply to PC PSUs... those already use PWM circuits, but they still require transformers, filter chokes and high-current rectifiers (which in turn require beefy heatsinks). Until there's some big breakthrough in technology, the good quality ones …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-07, 13:10

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AOpen cases come (or at least used to come) with an FSP PSU. I always considered those to be pretty decent. Been using them for years with no failures or problems. Yeah, FSP PSUs are generally decent. The PSUs that come from Enlight and In Win are usually OK too... but I don't really put those …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-07, 00:40

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There's always been a range of quality to choose from, and I don't really think the cheap shit PSUs now are any better or worse than the cheap shit PSUs 15-20 years ago. It's just that the cheap shit PSUs from 15-20 years ago have all long since been discarded and forgotten, whereas the more …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-06, 02:47

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oiling works OK on sleeve bearing fans as long as the bearing isn't terribly worn/damaged, but it's not so good on ball-bearing models since it's quite difficult to get much lubrication down inside the bearings (and some of 'em are actually sealed bearings, so you can't get any oil into 'em). It's …

---

Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2012-06-05, 21:49

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Stay away from white label drives. The company you linked says they're OEM units, but that sounds very fishy to me... OEM units would still be marked with either the original manufacturer name (which, judging by the pictures, is WD), or with the name of some major company like Compaq or Dell or …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-05, 21:39

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not necessarily. Failing capacitors can aggravate the problem in a few different ways, but they don't always cause the problem. A lot of those inductors are just wire wrapped around a ferrite core without any potting, or with just a little bit of glue. The ferrite core will vibrate a certain amount …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-05, 18:34

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

A bad fan is easy enough to replace, and a drop of nail polish or a bit of heatshrink tubing does wonders for inductor whine. The older Dell PSUs usually had Minebea or Superred fans with ball bearings which were pretty reliable to begin with, and they were also usually temperature controlled, so …

---

Re: Power Supplies And Age?

Posted on 2012-06-05, 02:09

by

by Old Thrashbarg

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nah, 12 years is nothing for a good quality power supply, it's really only after 20 years or so that you could start to have any significant degradation. That of course does not apply to cheapy PSUs or ones that have been run overly hot, but you shouldn't have either scenario with an old Dell... …

---