Re: Golden age of computing for personal computers

Posted on 2021-04-02, 16:18

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

nope nope nope nope. I definitely agree with jasa1063 on this one, todays computing platform take so much control away from you that there is really barely anything "personal" about it anymore, you are merely a number, an ID to be milked from ADs. it might be ideal for people who really don't care …

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Re: Golden age of computing for personal computers

Posted on 2021-04-02, 15:28

by

by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In some ways, it's now, for a typical user. PCs are so simple for the user that my gran can use Windows 10 for emails, youtube, all that stuff. Windows 10 updates itself, it protects itself, I didn't need to install any drivers etc. being "the computer nerd" in my family, it makes my life easier …

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My First(ish) Socket 370 build.

Posted on 2021-04-01, 14:40

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I've been building retro PCs since about 2016 and in the last five years I've not really messed with a Socket 370 system. I've picked up a broken Dell with a S370 that got sold as parts at some point but other than that I've always, by coincidence, found myself buying Slot 1 or Socket 478 / 462 …

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Re: How many working computers do you have right now?

Posted on 2021-03-31, 07:14

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by Almoststew1990

in Milliways

in Milliways

I am limited firstly by space / screen space, and then by Case / PSU combos. I can have four desktops going at once (although I have space for 3) At the moment it's: 3700X/ 6800XT / 3TB M.2 SSD system; Q6600 @3GHz / 8600GT / 850GB SSD XP system; P4 2GHz Northwood / 512MB / GF 3 ti 200 / SB Live / …

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Re: How often do you buy a brand new computer ?

Posted on 2021-03-28, 19:37

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by Almoststew1990

in Milliways

in Milliways

I don't in the sense that I buy a CPU/RAM/Motherboard in one go, GPU by itself when needed (usually every two to three years), case/PSU/storage when necessary or bored (I seem to go through cases quite a lot, maybe every two years). In terms of the mobo/cpu/RAM 'heart' of the PC, I went Athlon64 x2 …

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Re: HP Socket 370 board - standard ATX connector?

Posted on 2021-03-28, 12:49

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

dionb wrote on 2021-03-28, 12:18: Yes, can confirm. It's a Compaq board, not HP (pre-merger, but listed as HP now), and it's ATX. I have a Tualatin-ready one here. Very decent for OEM stuff, quite unlike what Compaq was doing just a year earler. That's reassuring, I'll be putting an 800 to 1000MHz …

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Re: HP Socket 370 board - standard ATX connector?

Posted on 2021-03-28, 11:34

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks very much, it looks like it's a Standard ATX connection.

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P3 1.4GHz "performs like a P4 2GHz..."

Posted on 2021-03-28, 09:14

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by Almoststew1990

in Milliways

in Milliways

I see this a lot and I know the reason for it, but I've been wondering at what point did games start getting programmed to work with netburst and the P3's pipeline (I think?) advantage was no longer present? And therefore the title of this thread would no longer be true? Is it a situation where it …

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HP Socket 370 board - standard ATX connector?

Posted on 2021-03-28, 09:03

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I am trying to find an M-ATX Socket 370 board that is not limited to Celerons / PPGA / 66MHz FSB. These are pretty expensive on eBay but I have found an HP board that is a lot cheaper: HP 203966-001 213855-101 The CPU in the board seems to be a 133MHz P3 but the only worry I have is the ATX …

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Re: What were your defining moments in computer history?

Posted on 2021-03-24, 20:22

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by Almoststew1990

in Milliways

in Milliways

For me it's probably the time my dad showed me some tape-based game on a Commodore 64 or similar age Acorn personal computer thing (I can't remember it exactly), must have been when I was 4. I think it's a memory of a memory at this point. A vertical scrolling car combat racing game. That must have …

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Re: Can I put anything interesting in a miniPCI-e slot? (Fast cache?)

Posted on 2021-03-23, 17:49

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a dell laptop that has three miniPCI-e slots. When asking such questions it would be sensible to specify which Dell laptop. I am not sure if the slot can handle PCIe, but I have a Crucial CT240M500SSD3 in my Dell Inspiron 7720 what shows up as a SATA 600 SSD and can be booted from. It's a …

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Can I put anything interesting in a miniPCI-e slot? (Fast cache?)

Posted on 2021-03-23, 09:17

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a dell laptop that has three miniPCI-e slots. One is taken up by a wifi card so I was wondering if there was anything "fun" I could put in the other two. I think from the factory one would be taken up by a WLAN module(?) and one with a "fast cache" module. Does fast cache offer a performance …

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Re: Fullscreen mode in Direct3D8 games on Windows 10

Posted on 2021-03-22, 12:01

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by Almoststew1990

in Windows

in Windows

Well... This seems to have fixed itself for my intel Pentium Silver (Apollo Lake) integrated graphics netbook thing, with drivers dated March 2021 (or earlier ones, I don't update my netbook display drivers regularly!). SimCity 3000 now works flawlessly full screen!

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Re: Anyone else into photography?

Posted on 2021-03-19, 18:45

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by Almoststew1990

in Milliways

in Milliways

I'm into photography, even if I have not been able to / wanted to go anywhere to take any photos in the last year! I'm not even an amateur, I have a basic DSLR and 18-55 lense. I just like composing and playing around with aperture and shutter speed. I like landscapes , nature and "things" more than …

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

Posted on 2021-03-19, 16:23

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I bought a spares and repair Dell XPS 1530 laptop without a HDD. It has a t8100 2.1GHz CPU, 3GB of RAM and an 8600GT video card. I was hoping the Spares and Repairs just related to it not coming with a HDD but it didn't power up at all when I got it. I took it to bits right down to the chassis and …

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Trying to Revive old Dell XPS Laptop - power issue?

Posted on 2021-03-16, 21:20

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I am trying to revive a Dell XPS 1530 laptop. It does not power on at all. I plug in the charger and the charger's LED does not light up. Does the LED light up even if the laptop is not turned on? I.e. this would indicate a dead charger. If the LED is not meant to light up when the laptop is off, …

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

Posted on 2021-03-14, 10:39

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Today I had a bit of a clear out of dead motherboards and I'm now down to one 478, one 775, one 939, one FM2, one 386 and one 486, one VIA ITX thing, one 1156 (which gives me blue screens at stock clocks), one 1155. OK that sounds like quite a lot but I now have loads of space for more retro stuff! …

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Re: Mothermoard with 4 slot DDR400 slot PCI and 2 core more CPU

Posted on 2021-03-14, 10:36

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I know this isn't what you asked but DDR2 (and even small capacity DDR3) RAM is so cheap now that I would suggest buying different RAM rather than limiting yourself to DDR1. This allows for a wide range of (likely cheaper) motherboards that offer a lot more compatibility. A basic, late Socket 775 …

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Re: Socket 462/A and 12v rail

Posted on 2021-03-12, 10:03

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm looking at cheapo boards MSI MS-6786 (OEM) with a KM400A Chipset PC CHIPS M825 with KM266/8235 Chipset

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Socket 462/A and 12v rail

Posted on 2021-03-11, 16:04

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by Almoststew1990

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I am thinking of building a Socket A PC. If a Socket A board has a 4-pin 12v "CPU power connector" in addition to the 20-pin ATX power connector, will the CPU (say a ~50watt Athlon 1GHz) use the 12v rail, or is there some other reason why these boards have the separate 4-pin power connector?

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