Re: Are there motherboards with 133Mhz FSB, ISA slots AND an Intel chipset

Posted on 2019-11-04, 14:08

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Slightly different tack, but take a look at the Asus P3C-E i820 chipset with RDRAM. Early revisions came with a PCI-to-ISA bridge and ISA slot. It supports AGP 4x and 133MHz FSB. Paired with PC800 RDRAM, its performance is close to that of the i815 or i440BX. No idea about whether the ISA bridge …

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Re: Please help me build an utimate 1999 AMD/ATi PC

Posted on 2019-11-04, 10:18

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you're just getting into retro computing, this isn't going to be an easy rig to acquire and setup. How serious are you about doing this? [...] For the graphics card, I was going to suggest ATi Rage Fury MAXX, but I'm not sure they actually got these into the hands of consumers before January …

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Re: Help identifying this manufacturer!

Posted on 2019-11-04, 09:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Damn, Pine after all. I stand corrected 😮

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Re: No-name ES688F card: Time to ditch it?

Posted on 2019-11-04, 08:53

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Tbh I'd consider this one sweet little card: - Near-perfect SBPro2 compatibility - Real OPL3 sound from 1-on-1 clone - No PnP mess, just good old jumpers - If you can get the MIDI working, no irritating Creative bugs Basically the ideal SBPro2 Creative never made ;) There aren't that many jumpers …

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Re: Prometheus ARIA16 Sound Card

Posted on 2019-11-04, 00:00

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Ah.. ok, yeah I think it should just work. Do you have the version with jumpers or without jumpers? https://tweakers.net/ext/f/0avuEkoS06TDAR7fPL07qjxq/full.jpg No jumpers unfortunately. Software setup, which sets MIDI to IRQ 2/9 Addr 330 - both of which pass verification tests (and work if I hook …

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Re: Help identifying this manufacturer!

Posted on 2019-11-03, 23:21

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There seems to be a code which might be a product number hidden behind the VESA feature connector on the first pic. Yes, it is "PT-5913-3" Also: no FCC ID or similar on the rear by any chance? Nothing at the back of the card. Only a warranty void sticker, a "Made in China" and a "V1.1" sticker. …

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Re: Help identifying this manufacturer!

Posted on 2019-11-03, 23:06

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There seems to be a code which might be a product number hidden behind the VESA feature connector on the first pic. Also: no FCC ID or similar on the rear by any chance?

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Re: Prometheus ARIA16 Sound Card

Posted on 2019-11-03, 15:50

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Not referring to MPU-401 using external device, that works fine - I'm trying to use its internal wavetable synthesis with 512kB ROM filled with samples.

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Re: Prometheus ARIA16 Sound Card

Posted on 2019-11-03, 13:06

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

They certainly don't have hardware MPU-401, and the Aria FAQ states that a driver is needed - but I'm loading the driver here - isn't that what the driver explicitly does when it reserves 0x330 and IRQ 2/9 for General MIDI?

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Re: Is the risk from static damage overblown?

Posted on 2019-11-03, 09:57

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Touching something to "ground" yourself beforehand doesn't really do anything, since just brushing up against your own clothing or handling items generates static buildup. Plus, people usually think just touching a piece of metal will ground you.. it does not, since all you're doing is transferring …

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Re: Asus P/I-P55 - How many versions are there and which one is best?

Posted on 2019-11-03, 09:27

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Personally I'd say that applies particularly to their P4 boards. Both P4C800 and P4P800 are considered overclocking standards.[/] If they don't die spontaneously they're fine boards. Overall, ASUS socket 7 had good quality and feature set for it's time. Again, if they don't mysteriously stop …

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Re: Prometheus ARIA16 Sound Card

Posted on 2019-11-02, 21:26

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Bump. Got my hands on a Prometheus Aria too. Was wondering if you'd gotten it completely working on that 486... I'm trying it out in a Cx5x86-120 system and SB is working fine, AdLib is working as designed (hilariously awful), but despite everything in diag checking out for GM on P330 I9, I can't …

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Re: Is the risk from static damage overblown?

Posted on 2019-11-02, 19:09

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Modern hardware is quite esd resistant. Er no, vulnerability to ESD depends mainly on how closely packed the components are, the smaller the more vulnerable, as it's all about the breakdown voltage for arcing, which increases with distance. Additionally, the delta between operating voltage …

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Re: My Motherboard/ISA video/Big old HDD motherlode

Posted on 2019-11-02, 18:42

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hey ! I'm back again :D And I have some good news ! So I tested the AWARD bios from MSI on my DataExpert motherboard ... and after fiddling with the RAM, I got a POST !! ... and then it crashed when attempting to boot ... Well let's try the AMI bios instead ? Success !! I can now use that …

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Re: P1 MMX core voltage 2.7V or 2.9V ? (No 2.8V)

Posted on 2019-11-02, 12:22

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Which MMX CPU exactly? Some of the later PPGA (black&metal case) versions were hugely overengineered and could run at 300MHz at stock voltage (2.8V) or be underclocked to 2.2V (as kixs did) at stock speeds. The earlier CPGA versions could be pickier, but even there 2.7V should easily work. To …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-11-02, 10:34

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got myself something of a unicorn (or at least a duckbilled platypus): Always wondered how awful AdLib emulation via wavetable would sound, guess I'm about to find out 😉

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Re: Asus P/I-P55 - How many versions are there and which one is best?

Posted on 2019-11-01, 10:40

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here's an unpopular opinion: Asus is heavily overrated. Make no mistake, every motherboard I ever used was from Asus. They are fine and solid boards. But as far as retro hardware goes — make sure you're getting a tested board. Somehow every dead or unstable boards I got over the 5 years I'm in the …

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Re: Upgrading a Diamond Speedstar Pro VLB to 2MB - which SMD caps?

Posted on 2019-11-01, 00:46

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

gdjacobs wrote: dionb wrote: Something tells me I'm buying a hot air gun for this. By all means, get one if you want. It's hardly required for some simple caps, though. The caps were no problem, it's the SOJ chips with no pads sticking out that I'm stuck on.

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Re: best mb from epox, qdi, abit and dfi

Posted on 2019-10-31, 17:42

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AOpen was Acer's consumer brand. Not seen any AOpen-branded stuff recently, but Acer certainly exists. AOpen was wonderfully quirky, I'd nominate two of their boards: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dr6c-vlV4AAg4j2.jpg AX4B-533 Tube - an otherwise unremarkable i845E design spiced up with an onboard tube …

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Re: Upgrading a Diamond Speedstar Pro VLB to 2MB - which SMD caps?

Posted on 2019-10-31, 14:31

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Something tells me I'm buying a hot air gun for this.

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