Re: What would you do with a Dell Dimension 4600?

Posted on 2014-10-12, 23:18

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got lucky. Old office machines sitting in the corner unused and collecting dust. I have seen many similar but these actually have AGP slots and not just onboard video. I'm going back soon to check the rest!

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Re: What would you do with a Dell Dimension 4600?

Posted on 2014-10-12, 23:16

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just curious Phil, did that board ever make it to you?

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What would you do with a Dell Dimension 4600?

Posted on 2014-10-12, 22:58

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What would you do with a Dell Dimension 4600? It just so happens I got one for free and I may get another or two like it. 865 Chipset ICH5 Southbridge 3 PCI Slots 1 AGP Slot Socket 478 533/800-MHz bus Windows 98 SE or Windows XP... Perhaps dual booting? I might try to make a Splinter Cell box like …

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Re: Best DOS compatible PCI soundcard for less than 20 dollars?

Posted on 2014-10-10, 23:15

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here is an example on ebay, looks like it just needs a little cleaning. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Turtle-Beach-TB400-33 … =item2ed79d5713

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Re: Best DOS compatible PCI soundcard for less than 20 dollars?

Posted on 2014-10-10, 23:09

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hmmm in the past I have used a few PCI sound cards in pure DOS. The Ensoniq Audio PCI which later became several Creative cards, The original Sound Blaster Live! and I believe I also used a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. None of them I would recommend. The Vortex 1 and Vortex 2 based cards have a …

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-10, 14:12

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

those drivers links from nvidia are dead 🙁

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-10, 14:08

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The oldest driver I can find is for Direct X 8.1 and includes support for GeForce 4 from 2002. http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_archive.html Anyone know of older drivers? Looking for Direct X 7.0 drivers probably from 2001. I just want to find a driver with the least chance of issues with Direct X …

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-10, 12:18

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The prices I have seen for most SS7 motherboards are scary. I'll just stick with PCI.

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-10, 05:48

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I found a MX400, 32MB, PCI card but it's a Jaton and I am not sure how good they are.... We shall see how it does.

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-10, 02:32

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

idspispopd, Thanks for your insight on Thief 2. An excerpt from the Valve dev site "DirectX 7-class graphics cards include the Nvidia GeForce 256, 2, 2MX and 4MX cards and the ATI Radeon 7xxx series." So basically any of these you mean?

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-10, 02:28

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Phil, So with my intentions of playing as many DOS games as possible and the early Windows games up to Thief 2: The Metal Age and after looking at Valves dev page.... which card would you try, a Geforce 4MX card? Edit: Thief 2 uses Direct X 7.0

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-10, 02:14

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This is interesting https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/DirectX_Versions

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-09, 22:52

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

OK so after some reading if I want to support DirectX 7.0 and ALL lower versions then I would want to go with GeForce2 based card. That sound about right?

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-09, 18:04

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

bjt, That's a nice build, similar to what I am doing, I will take more time later to read the entire thread. I am using a brand new Seasonic 300-Watt ATX PSU for its quality. I want to keep it on a 66-MHz FSB so i can do 133-MHz. I'll see how it does with Thief 2 which will be the max game I plan to …

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Re: Problems with my Pentium 4 rig (warning, big images)

Posted on 2014-10-09, 02:33

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

can't boot from USB, no matter. download a floppy boot image like this http://www.allbootdisks.com/downloads/Disks/MS-DOS_Boot_Disk_Download47/Diskette%20Images/Dos6.22.img download winimage from here http://www.winimage.com/ using winumage add the needed bios flash file to the image and save. …

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-09, 00:39

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh to answer your other question, I am not sure. I will probably try a lot of older games that I never got to play. I am even adding a Hi-Fi 2-1/4" PC speaker or Simcity, that tiny motherboard beeper just isn't cutting it hehe.

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-09, 00:35

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You know how we all have dumb ideas sometimes? Well, this may be the best damn dumb idea I ever had. Take an ISA or PCI prototype board, mount x-number of 1/8" stereo jacks on it, use a op-amp mixing circuit with set-and-forget mixing (on-board trim pots) to get the levels fairly close, and include …

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Re: Building my DOS Box from Scratch Revisited

Posted on 2014-10-08, 21:08

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Phil, What would be the best way to route the audio? I plan to hook the DVD's analog audio out to the SB Pro 2 and the DVD's digital audio out (2-pin S/PDIF) to the Vortex 2, so that takes care of having CD audio for games that require it in DOS, such as Quake, and in Windows 98. Now to connect to …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2014-10-08, 05:59

by

by squareguy

in Milliways

in Milliways

While awaiting getting my new retro computer ready I am playing Quake 1 at 320x240 (no 3D acceleration) with the original CD in for the ambient music. Ahh takes me back a few years. Also playing Command & Conquer: Red Alert both in MS-DOS 6.22

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Re: I know, I won't shut up about sound cards...

Posted on 2014-10-08, 02:49

by

by squareguy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hmmm. It seems all CT2900s have the new shape OPL3 and DAC. All CT2940s I have see lack the OPL3 and DAC but have the spot for the new shape chips. I think a solder job is in order here.

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