Re: PC100 BXcel board - is it worth it?

Posted on 2018-03-30, 17:02

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have somewhat of a sweet spot for AT boards despite the obvious disadvantages, it reminds me of my first PC. But yeah, I too would be a little disinterested in 440EX and 440LX chipsets because they can't do more than 66MHz FSB. I wonder if you could use any of the later Mendocino or even early …

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Re: Top or bottom mounted PSU?

Posted on 2018-03-29, 03:49

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have an old HP P2 Xeon machine with a bottom mounted PSU. I like it aesthetically and for the physical stability it adds, but that system was designed for it. The PSU connector is on the bottom of the board and each set of wires from the PSU is the appopriate length for where it needs to go. …

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Re: PC100 BXcel board - is it worth it?

Posted on 2018-03-28, 07:17

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't know about this particular board, but typically with a working CPU installed but no RAM the board should probably emit a beep code from the speaker (make sure it's attached). If you get a beep code then that's a good sign that the board and CPU are probably working. If you don't, then it's …

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2018-03-27, 13:30

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by shamino

in DOS

in DOS

@shamino - Phil added a Win98 tab to this sheet a couple of months ago. Oh - sorry, never noticed the tabs at the bottom. Thanks, I see that it does work. Glad to see that Win9x games were added. Phil (hoping you're still around): if Win9x entries are being accepted, I propose that the thread title …

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Re: Digital DOS games (GOG, Steam...) Retro PC Compatibility Sheet: We need your input!

Posted on 2018-03-27, 11:08

by

by shamino

in DOS

in DOS

Just added Screamer 4x4, System Shock 2 and Rebel Assault. Great idea this project is. I'm not familiar with Screamer 4x4, but System Shock 2 is not a DOS game, so it does not belong on this sheet. edit: yeah, Screamer 4x4 is a Windows game too. :) Rebel Assault is a good addition, though. This …

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Re: What Nvidia drivers for DX7?

Posted on 2018-03-27, 01:19

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

On a K6-3 with MVP3 chipset, DirectX 7.0a, Geforce2 MX, my opinion thus far is that I like 8.05. Drivers in the 20s and 45.23 were very slow - but how slow varied with the game. I didn't try to find the exact breaking point and I certainly didn't try every possible driver, just a selection of a few …

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Re: Installing a GeForce 2 GTS 32mb in Win98 SE

Posted on 2018-03-27, 00:59

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by shamino

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I've recently installed several nVidia drivers (from 5.32 to 45.23) on a VIA MVP3 board with DirectX 7.0a on Win98SE with a Geforce2 MX. All the versions I tried in that range worked without any malfunctions (other than some being slow). I don't think the GTS' compatibility would be any different, …

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Re: Slot1 Build Issues

Posted on 2018-03-26, 04:10

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's not a big sample size, but I've seen 4 P2B-F rev1.00 boards that I remember, and at least 3 of those (IIRC it was all 4) had a Coppermine compatible VRM. They just needed a BIOS flash. If your regulator chip (between the LPT port and CPU slot) is a HIP6019CB, it can't go lower than 1.8V. But if …

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Re: Slot1 Build Issues

Posted on 2018-03-22, 06:39

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by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The P2B boards were built with good caps, so it's unlikely to be those (even though they are old at this point). Years ago when I used to get bulk lots of motherboards, I occasionally ran into boards that had this kind of behavior (working only when underclocked). Not sure why it happens. A worrying …

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Re: Heatsink- Fan Recommendations

Posted on 2018-03-22, 04:47

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There are copper Socket 7 heatsinks around that are pretty cool. I know startech made a couple, not sure about any other brands off the top of my head. Example here: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835230034 and here is another good one here: https://www.newegg.com/Product/ …

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Re: Your most surprising result in benchmarking?

Posted on 2018-03-22, 01:31

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by shamino

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I'm currently being surprised by how awful some later nVidia drivers (21.81, 21.83, and 45.23) perform on my K6 MVP3 system. It's particularly bad in Unreal and Unreal Tournament for some reason (half the fps, sometimes worse). It's so severe a dropoff that I need to go back and reinstall one of the …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2018-03-21, 02:46

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've had an on and off interest in doing some benchmark tests and comparisons on a socket-7 system. I've been keeping the results in a spreadsheet. It seems so simple, but when you find a problem it can be infuriating. Feels like time was wasted. I just discovered that the Unreal timedemo is being …

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Re: SSD, Windows 98, Worth it?

Posted on 2018-03-21, 02:21

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just want to emphasize that TRIM and garbage collection are different things. All SSDs have garbage collection. The process of garbage collection is where the write amplification issue occurs. When the SSD thinks that nearly all of it's Flash cells hold valid data, it doesn't see much garbage, so …

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Re: SSD, Windows 98, Worth it?

Posted on 2018-03-19, 17:08

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think you could TRIM it in another machine, yes. That process should just look at the filesystem and TRIM all unallocated sectors, so any OS that understands FAT32 should be able to do that. The biggest thing that leads to massively increased wear (and slowdown) on an SSD is "write amplification". …

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Re: Will 133Mhz FSB Pentium III (Slot1) work in 100MHz system (Bx440)

Posted on 2018-03-19, 15:52

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In general, yes. However, the Intel motherboards I'm familiar with are very pedantic about their maker's compatibility specifications and unless I'm mixing up something in my memory, I think they will refuse to do this. They will just say the CPU is unsupported and tell you to get lost. There might …

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Re: Slot1 Build Issues

Posted on 2018-03-14, 00:42

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So I can go as high as 83.3 FSB. Which is 375 Mhz.(I reverted back to 66fsb though) If set to 100.3 It wont boot. Maybe my PSU cant put out enough power? It could be a power issue, either from the PSU or at the board level. It could also be some other board level stability issue, or unstable RAM. …

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Re: Slot1 Build Issues

Posted on 2018-03-13, 12:56

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I agree, the jumpers look correct. Still, I'd try it set to 66FSB just to make it as easy as possible for the board to be able to boot (just in case it's a stability problem). If you do that, I think you can just leave the AGP jumper where it is, although technically you're supposed to move it to …

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Re: Slot1 Build Issues

Posted on 2018-03-13, 03:44

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

One other thing - I remember bringing a P2B-D to life once by holding down while powering it up. At least I think it was INS, but I guess it could have been DEL or something else. As I recall there was some post somewhere in the crevices of the internet saying that this would reset something. …

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Re: Slot1 Build Issues

Posted on 2018-03-13, 03:41

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What CPU have you been testing with so far? Okay should i also double check jumper settings? Would that cause it to not boot, if incorrect? I was sure i set those right. Also there isnt really any symptoms. If i just turn it on, no beep, no video signal. Nothing. Yes, there's plenty of potential for …

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Re: Best Windows XP Drivers - GeForce 9800 GT SLI

Posted on 2018-03-11, 17:23

by

by shamino

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

For a 9800GT, and a few different GT2xx series cards, I've always gravitated to the 260.99 driver. But I can't give a good reason that you should do so. I think it started when I was first setting up a 9800GT machine and that happened to be the latest driver, and since it always worked fine for me, …

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