Re: For P1 MMX: s3(1996) or Matrox(1997) ?

Posted on 2020-01-29, 16:49

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Honestly, the performance difference between the two (at least in DOS games) is maybe 5% Actually there's a huge difference between them (in favor of Matrox), but to tap that potential, much powerful system is required. And yes, Matrox Millentium II is quirky for DOS. A huge difference in DOS? …

---

Re: What form is called a socket 7 board with 1pc raiser ?

Posted on 2020-01-29, 16:26

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

LPX is the board itself, there is no standard for the riser boards. I have seen the following riser boards in LPX boards: - plain ISA - ISA+VLB (only one VLB slot on riser) - EISA slot used for ISA and PCI - Proprietary with ISA and PCI LPX was used for 286 allready. Cases used for LPX boards are …

---

Re: For P1 MMX: s3(1996) or Matrox(1997) ?

Posted on 2020-01-29, 10:18

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

DOS only: VESA compatiblity is key, S3 beats Matrox easily (although early nVidia and 3DFx are arguably even better). Windows: RAMDAC and analog filter support for clarity at higher resolution is key. S3 depends on card vendor for filters and RAMDACs generally so-so, Matrox wins easily here.

---

Re: Cx5x86 and motherboard compatibility

Posted on 2020-01-29, 09:08

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's not always a hard requirement, but the Cx5x86 is definitely the most advanced So3 CPU with a lot of settings that can be incorrect. My experience is that Cx5x86 will generally only work on board that explicitly support it, whereas Am5x86 (a much simpler 486 design clocked very high) basically …

---

Re: Bios date and when the motherboard was made.

Posted on 2020-01-29, 09:02

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Failing that, check date codes on the chips - usually in the same year+week format. The most recent date is the closest to actual manufacture. It can be interesting to compare dates of different components. Very similar dates on everything indicate high volume production, a big spread more leisurely …

---

Re: Need help with old 486 motherboard only running CPU at half speed.

Posted on 2020-01-28, 22:55

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That AMI Super Voyager is a VERY early 486 board. Makes me wonder if everything on it can actually support 33MHz... According to TH99, J17 needs to be set to 1-2 for speeds over 20MHz. On the photo it looks like it's already set to that, is that the case? Otherwise - do you have a 40MHz or 50MHz …

---

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

Posted on 2020-01-28, 19:33

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My son got a major computer upgrade today. His previous case was too small for the new parts so I gave him an old favourite: 15802393230640.jpg The insides are somewhat less authentic - this would have housed a late K6-2 or early P3, now there's an i3-7100, 8GB RAM, 250GB NVMe SSD and an HD4850 …

---

Re: Finally!!! I found my childhood system!

Posted on 2020-01-28, 13:01

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

With those games: no difference at all. Here's a list of DOS games with Voodoo support: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=14486 With the original MasterCD you'd probably also need the original Master Boot Floppy (tools to generate your own floppy from the CD weren't integrated when this one was …

---

Re: Finally!!! I found my childhood system!

Posted on 2020-01-28, 11:24

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] The old listing clearly shows the pass through cable. So it's been removed for sure but the seller didn't change the original picture showing the card inside on the new listing. So, yeah.. sucks would of been a nice bonus but oh well. Still, he did advertise with a pic showing the Voodoo …

---

Re: Finally!!! I found my childhood system!

Posted on 2020-01-28, 10:31

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That's what I'm thinking Dionb. I will be certainly bringing it up if it turns up without it but hopefully it does. Either way I'm happy as that wasn't the card I thought it was when i purchased it i assumed it was a sound card so it was going to be a bonus anyway. Finding my exact childhood rig is …

---

Re: Finally!!! I found my childhood system!

Posted on 2020-01-28, 09:10

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] The picture from the back of the computer is a sound card but the card asked about in the other thread shows the backside of a Voodoo 1 4MB card. One sold by A-Trend to be exact. Yes, now I see that one (hadn't seen the other thread) Best guess: the seller intended to keep the Voodoo (or sell …

---

Re: Finally!!! I found my childhood system!

Posted on 2020-01-27, 22:50

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] If you don't have a sound card (as the Voodoo is no sound card) you'll probably want one. The correct sound card for one of these systems is an Aztech design, usually one with integrated modem onboard; Rocky II (Aztech I38-MMSN843) or Rocky 2.5 (Aztech I38-MMSN855) is what I would expect here …

---

Re: Finally!!! I found it!

Posted on 2020-01-27, 18:52

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ah, the Packard Bell Milano Desktop case. Something of an acquired taste, but no accounting for nostalgia ;) Just for reference, the motherboard is a Packard Bell 'Orlando' 682 or 683. The 682 has an S3 Trio, the 683 a Virge. The difference is totally irrelevant in retrospect as Virge's 3D is …

---

Re: CD Rom cable question

Posted on 2020-01-27, 13:56

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Both drives and cards had multiple kinds of connector (and in some cases pinout) to do exactly the same job. Before everything standardized on the four-pin three line flat connector (the black one in the pic) you saw cables with two or sometimes even three different connectors. You only need to hook …

---

Re: Connecting old machines to the internet: dispelling the superstition

Posted on 2020-01-27, 11:46

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

That's exactly the thing. In the private sector, nobody, and I mean nobody, has systems connected directly to the internet without at least a NAT router. And if you are the one in a hundred (or in a thousand) that has only one machine, no LAN, no router - then that machine, being your primary …

---

Re: Gateway MBDPCI016AAWW

Posted on 2020-01-27, 11:30

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] thanks for the info. im not above modding the cpu to get something faster in it. or modding to motherboard. im pretty handy with the soldering iron. i was hoping a bios would be available that would allow a cpu upgrade do you have any information about how to mod a cpu as you suggested? this …

---

Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-01-27, 10:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Quick question, how much are these CPUs worth? I have them all on offer for about $18-20 each: AMD Am5x86-P75 Cyrix 5x86-100GP AMD-K5-PR100ABQ (100MHz) AMD-K5-PR133AB? (100MHz) Intel Pentium Pro 200MHz SL221 Old crap is worth whatever someone wants to pay for it. Are they tested or not? I'd say …

---

Re: Intel wants to remove 5V & 3.3V from PSU

Posted on 2020-01-27, 09:24

by

by dionb

in Milliways

in Milliways

I wonder how difficult an adapter from this new standard to "old" ATX would be to make. As already mentioned they already exist: PicoPSU Actually I wondered this also for some while before hearing about this new standard for the older ATX standard where 5v is more relevant than 12V. Would an …

---

Re: Intel wants to remove 5V & 3.3V from PSU

Posted on 2020-01-27, 09:10

by

by dionb

in Milliways

in Milliways

All the major components already have their own power regulators and have had so since P4/DDR era, there is almost nothing on a modern motherboard that uses 3.3V or 5V directly, with only USB being the only thing keeping 5V around (though with USB-C it has changed, it can deliver tens of volts if …

---

Re: The SD->CF->IDE nightmare

Posted on 2020-01-27, 07:01

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, if you suspect the BIOS, try to update that first (er, from floppy or better Gotek if you can't trust the HDD/SD). Apart from that, do you have another system to test the SD solution or the HDD in? CF-to-IDE is just a straight passthrough as CF *is* IDE at a protocol level (which is why I …

---