Re: AMD Slot A 1999 Build

Posted on 2022-07-27, 17:07

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Lack of SSE on Athlon shouldn't be a big issue as long as software supports 3DNow!. I would say it became indispensable later in Windows XP era. I regard Athlon as a superior CPU to PIII. I also happen to have a few spare Athlon 1200 cpus with KT133 boards (3x). Since PIII 900 is sufficient for all …

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Re: AMD Slot A 1999 Build

Posted on 2022-07-26, 19:41

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I would focus on faster CPU as in my case I ended up playing late Windows 98 games and uninstalling early ones. Fifa 2001 is so much better than 98/99. With Athlon 900 you should be able to play Fifa 2003, Nhl 2003, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Thief 2 as well as older titles.

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Re: old AT / ATX power supplies. Are they worth saving?

Posted on 2022-07-26, 19:33

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If they are hissing then I give them away for free. There are people willing to pick them up in person. If nothing else at least they get a free fan.

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Re: Which of three FX 5xxx cards to choose from?

Posted on 2022-07-24, 12:30

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I would not recommend newer than 45.23 drivers with Windows 98. For me it is the last driver with good Windows 98 game compatibility. I would also agree with socket 754 being a very good choice for Windows 98 rig, much better than Socket A. Get stocked on them while they are still ridiculously cheap …

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Re: Help! PC won't power on with Slotket

Posted on 2022-07-08, 17:54

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Celeron 766 is not very useful for overclocking as the chance of it running at 1150Mhz is very slim. Celeron 600-633 is the best.

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Re: Help! PC won't power on with Slotket

Posted on 2022-07-04, 22:49

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't think it will be a BIOS problem. More likely a damaged trace on board or a damaged socket.

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Re: How much is worth?

Posted on 2022-07-02, 14:54

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I refurbish my machines to the best of my abilities. This takes a lot of time + resources. I love it when I get super-low balled with the explanation that "this rig is worth $200 to me" - great! I'm 1) not in any hurry to sell it 2) have sold machines internationally for industrial uses (the most …

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Re: How much is worth?

Posted on 2022-07-02, 14:50

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you want cheap parts you have to browse local ebay clones in EU countries. They don't come in English version though. Another alternative to allegro.pl is https://aukro.cz/historicke-pocitace?sort=endingTime:ASC&endingBeforeRel=120h Sometimes sellers refuse to ship the item abroad. You may be …

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Re: CRT “crack” sound + picture flicker

Posted on 2022-07-01, 16:39

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My old Goldstar monitor did this when I had 386 back in the day. I just opened it and cleaned all parts from dust. It seemed to be temperature related in my case. It never caused any permanent damage.

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Re: How much is worth?

Posted on 2022-06-30, 12:51

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Do not confuse part list price and the price customer is willing to pay. People put up parts for sale for crazy price, but unless there is a buyer it isn't the real price. This can be very misleading when there are very few sellers as they can just keep pushing the price up. Ultimately it is the …

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Re: [Slot1 Mobo] Repair or Trash ?

Posted on 2022-06-25, 08:26

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's got onboard Creative sound card. I would verify if there is a DOS driver for it. TNT2 M64 has dedicated memory so it won't be that bad. Good enough for PIII 550 Katmai. Fix the caps, then sell it.

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Re: Help! PC won't power on with Slotket

Posted on 2022-06-24, 10:11

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This is a case when Coppermine Celerons come in handy. They cost like $2 each. Whenever I need to test a board, I use those. My first suspicion would be the motherboard doesn't support Coppermine PIII. Try setting jumpers for 1.8V, that is the lowest Katmai 440BX boards can go.

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Re: Intel 440BX, any way to add more CPU support?

Posted on 2022-06-23, 19:34

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Katmai 600 should allow you to play games up to 1999-2000. PIII 900 would extend it to 2001. I would just stick in a PIII 600 and use it for DOS / early Windows 98 games. For late Windows 98 / Windows XP games you could get a 2rd rig - Athlon 64.

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Re: Upgrades for 733mhz Pentium 3? 1.0ghz?

Posted on 2022-06-21, 11:22

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Undervolting the CPU will make it draw less current. Instead of 1.75V, use 1.7V.

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Re: Latest, or most versatile, original hardware to play Castle Wolfenstein & other early DOS games on?

Posted on 2022-06-18, 11:58

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Use DOS box (x) for speed sensitive games. Another alternative for a more realistic emulation would be pcem / 86box. The latter supports good selection of hardware. A software solution is free, takes less space and may also be more stable due to age of components. If you find it inadequate for some …

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Re: VIA 686B AC'97 audio works really well in DOS (SB Pro stereo + OPL3 emulation!)

Posted on 2022-06-17, 20:03

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

VIA 686B AC'97 audio can't handle too many channels in DOS. Apart from that it isn't bad at all. Definitely usable if ISA slot is not available. Those highly integrated boards are a good choice for DOS games and early Windows 98 games up to about 1999 (which still had software rendering).

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Re: Split from the recently bought retro hardware. Discussion about Geforce FX5xxxx series.

Posted on 2022-06-17, 19:47

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I've heard a lot of people talk about driver version 45.23 being the "most compatible". I've had good results testing up through 56.64, and haven't seen any use case where the 45.23 had any advantage, compatibility or otherwise. There are definitely some issues with 5x.xx drivers. https://www. …

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Re: AGP 1.0 vs PCI Graphics

Posted on 2022-06-17, 18:55

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Avoid ECS P6BAP-A+. It is based on VIA 693A chipset which is infamous for very poor memory performance. Get a board with Intel 440BX or Via 494X / 694T. As for graphics card FX 5200 is good perhaps for PIII 600. I would use at least FX 5500 with PIII 900-1Ghz.

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Re: Help me to choose 90s PC

Posted on 2022-06-17, 17:27

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

IBM PC 5155 has a really tiny screen, not so good for playing games. Games requiring exactly 4.77Mhz can be played on DOS Box.

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Re: Help me to choose 90s PC

Posted on 2022-06-17, 16:42

by

by AlexZ

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I would keep Pentium III 1000 and sell the rest. It can handle most of DOS games, some with disabled cache. Having 2nd machine would be justified in my opinion only if you wanted to play games on network. In that case I would have two almost identical machines so that no one would be in disadvantage …

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