AMD K6-III+@550mhz., Voodoo-3 / 3DFX / MMX / 3D Now (tower) \ VOGONS

AMD K6-III+@550mhz., Voodoo-3 / 3DFX / MMX / 3D Now (tower)

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First post, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 06:11

Intel486dx33 Offline

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I finally finished my tower version of the Ultimate DOS retro gaming computer.
It looks really nice and performs great.
Very stable.
Graphics and Audio is really nice too.

Specs:
Motherboard - FIC VA-503+ Baby ATX Super Socket 7.
http://www.win3x.org/uh19/public/motherboard/ … a4777462618.pdf
Chipset - Via Apollo MVP3
Cache - 1028kb.
RAM - 256mb PC-133 SIMM
CPU - AMD K6-3+,450 over clocked to 550mhz. ( using stock 2.0v )
PS/2 mouse
USB
Graphics - Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Audio - Sound Blaster Live 5.1 with live drive and toslink SP/DIF adapter
Audio - Creative AWE64
Network - 3com 3C509b-TX PCI
Hard-drive - 1gb Seagate ST1000DM003 7200rpm. Sata with IDE adapter.
DVD - Pioneer 8x
CDROM - Aopen 52x ( replaced with Sony 52x CDROM ).
Fan controller - Cooler Master Drive 4
Case - Aluminum Lian Li tower
PSU - 450 watt.

Motherboard jumper settings:
100mhz. X 5.5
CPU Voltage 2.2

Fans:
3 Case fans with fan control and case temp monitoring.
Voodoo GPU fan 60mm x 60mm x 20mm with speed control and temp monitoring.
CPU fan with temp monitoring.

Software:
Windows 98se, SP3, USB patch, I.E.5.5 , AMD K6 CPU Patch.

This computer runs fairly cool and quiet with good ventilation.

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2024-08-16, 02:48. Edited 24 times in total.

Reply 1 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 06:15

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More photos

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2019-06-07, 15:04. Edited 4 times in total.

Reply 2 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 06:25

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Reply 3 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 06:33

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More Sceenshots:

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2019-06-07, 15:05. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 4 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 06:38

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Reply 5 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 06:47

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SP/DIF Toslink optical output connection back plate for rear of case.
Will provide 5.1 surround sound via A/V receiver.

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2019-06-07, 14:11. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 6 of 57, by kixs

Posted on 2019-06-07, 08:45

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Nice build.

Some benchmarks would be great 😉

What are you planning on using it for?

Visit my AmiBay items for sale (updated: 2025-03-14). I also take requests 😉
https://www.amibay.com/members/kixs.977/#sales-threads

Reply 7 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 12:37

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DOS benchmarks
These test run really smooth and graphics is really nice in DOS too.

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2019-06-07, 12:45. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 8 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 12:39

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Some more

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2019-06-07, 13:25. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 9 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 12:40

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Some more

Reply 10 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 12:48

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DOOM benchmark

Reply 11 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 13:34

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Motherboard FIC VA-503+ Baby ATX Super Socket 7

Reply 12 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-07, 13:47

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More photos

Reply 13 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-08, 03:28

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Why I used wire to attach the fan to the Voodoo card ?

I did not want to to fasten the fan to the heat sink because I did not want to add extra weight and tension to the 3DFX GPU chip as the heat sink is glued to the 3DFX chip.
These 3DFX GPU chips are solder ball welded to the PCB. When the chip over heats the welds break and fail. This is the main reason why these Voodoo cards go bad and stop working. Adding more stress on the solder welds will increase the chance of solder ball weld breaks.
I know because I have some bad Voodoo cards and this is why they stopped working.
I was able to fix them by reflowing the 3DFX chip to the PCB with No-Clean flux.

So I purchased some thin wire from the Dollar store and tied on the fan. I tied the fan to the entire PCB board so the board is supporting the weight of the fan and not the heatsink which is glued to the 3DFX GPU chip. The fan is actually fastened very well to the PCB and will NOT come loose and does not rattle.
The wire does not impact the slot connection as the wire is very thin and it has a light plastic shielding.
I used a 2 wire 60mm x 60mm x 20mm fans that I purchased from ebay. But I think I should have use a 3 wire 60mm x 60mm x 15mm fan instead.
These cost about $6 each.
3 rolls of wire was only $1 at the Dollar store.

They make a BIG difference and keep the Voodoo card cool.
Fan runs quiet.

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2019-06-23, 22:07. Edited 6 times in total.

Reply 14 of 57, by melbar

Posted on 2019-06-08, 07:51

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Nice build !

Now you have two really similar system's, both silver colored.

What i don't like myself are these beige colored drive's in these silver cases...

#1 K6-2/500, #2 Athlon1200, #3 Celeron1000A, #4 A64-3700, #5 P4HT-3200, #6 P4-2800, #7 Am486DX2-66

Reply 15 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-08, 10:54

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Yeah, I have some silver drives but they are old and no longer work. And I do not want to paint these drives because I am a terrible painter. Actually the silver cdrom is beginning to fail too so I am going to replace it too with a beige cdrom.

Reply 16 of 57, by cde

Posted on 2019-06-09, 10:10

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Very impressive work!

Out of curiosity, how did you reball this BGA? Did you create a reballing mask specifically for it?

Reply 17 of 57, by oeuvre

Posted on 2019-06-09, 13:01

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Where do you get these 2000s cases from?

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7

Reply 18 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-09, 14:02

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cde- wrote:
Very impressive work!

Out of curiosity, how did you reball this BGA? Did you create a reballing mask specifically for it?

Actually, I do not have a stencil so I just reflowed the chip with some No-clean flux and a heat gun and it worked.

Reply 19 of 57, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2019-06-09, 14:03

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oeuvre wrote:
Where do you get these 2000s cases from?

They turn up every now and then on craigslist or ebay.
Sometimes you can fin NEW ones in sealed box.

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