Gered wrote on 2017-08-27, 16:58:

Awesome! Nice beige zip drive too, I like it. :) […]
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Awesome! Nice beige zip drive too, I like it. 😀

And yeah, I apparently neglected to mention exactly what I upgraded from the original parts, but the processor was one of the things I upgraded. As you say, it originally came with a 200MHz CPU and I swapped it out easily with a 233MHz just to max it out that little bit more. I'm not sure why you were told that your M200s could not be upgraded, but it certainly can. I was referencing the Dell XPS M__s manual for my M200a (couldn't find the M__a manual anywhere!), mostly for the correct jumper settings. As you'll be able to see in there (page 1-15), 233MHz is a fully supported configuration by the motherboard. That's assuming that someone hasn't gone and made some significant changes or something with your M200s anyway, heh.

Interesting that you noticed a speed increase going from 64MB to 128MB. I guess Win98SE must have been swapping to disk a lot more and the extra RAM helped to keep that from happening? I thought I had read somewhere that this particular Intel chipset can only cache stuff in the first 64MB of RAM, and that upgrading beyond (e.g. to 128MB) could actually slow it down! Maybe I misread?

chinny22 wrote:

That said I do have an adaptor put aside as nothing lasts forever and I'm not good enough at electronics to repair PSU's

Indeed, I was going to pick one up too. I'm in the middle of re-capping an Enermax PSU for a Socket A build and it started me thinking about the proprietary PSU in this Dell PC. Would rather have more options available to me should the PSU die for whatever reason down the road. Just in case. Those adapters aren't expensive anyway.

Hi there, I'm working on a similar build right now, but with a flat desktop version of the case (Europe only).
Do you perhaps still have that manual stored somewhere? I can't find it online for the life of me. Thanks in advance!

Isn’t Intel MMX CPU mainly a Win98 CPU ?……Most Win95 computers were not MMX.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2023-04-19, 18:00:

Isn’t Intel MMX CPU mainly a Win98 CPU ?……Most Win95 computers were not MMX.

All P55C (i.e. Pentium-MMX) models were announced in 1997; Windows 98 was released to manufacturing on May 15, 1998 and to retail on June 25, 1998, respectively. Therefore, it was very reasonable for early adopters of Pentium-MMX to use Windows 95.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_( ... d_variants
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_98

Also the MMX had doule the L1 cache compared to P54, so using MMX or not, it would be an upgrade 😀

Gered wrote on 2017-08-20, 01:17:

This Dell originally came with a Sound Blaster Vibra 16C and a US Robotics 56k modem (forgot the model, sorry). The 56k modem would definitely be much more period accurate for 1997/1998, but has absolutely no use for me in 2017. So the 3Com NIC was swapped in. I swapped an AWE64 in simply because I had one. *shrug* I don't actually remember what sound card was in our computer back in '97-98. Some type of Sound Blaster anyway.

The CD-ROM drive in there now is the same model as what the computer originally came with, but the actual drive itself is a replacement as the original one had a lot of trouble reading CDs that worked perfectly fine in other computers. I wanted to see if I could get a replacement drive that was the same model, since it matched the beige colour of the case so well. Found one on eBay and bought it. When it arrived I discovered that I had not paid close enough attention to the photos in the eBay auction (dumb mistake!). The colour was most definitely not beige! However, since the original drive that wasn't working was in otherwise great cosmetic condition, I decided to just open them both up and swap the faceplates and CD tray and voila! Problem solved.

I agree it looks great and I still like the astetic of some of these nicer old beige pcs, the packards have a special place in my heart specifically.
Am actually curious how you got the case looking THAT good, you did a really great job on it.

Had a couple questions I was hoping maybe you could help me with.

1. I'm looking at potentially getting a couple of these and I see it looks like they have onboard sound built in - do you happen to know what the onboard sound chip is? (And whether dos drivers exist for it?) Was the Sound Blaster Vibra 16C the built in card? Or was that an add in card and the built in was something else?
I know some of the later XPS systems came with sound built in and some did not, maybe you had one that didn't have the built in sound. Trying to figure out what the ones that do have it are.
*Crap, I see now yours didn't come with sound at all - there seems to be 3 variations of the sound on these.
- No sound at all.
- Mobo integrated - Some unknown chip I haven't identified.
- Mobo integrated - Yamaha

There seems to also be socket and slot versions of this, and even more confusing I saw a 200s that is slot PIII, and a 200s that is a socket type! wtf!? haha. I'm confused on these still. And I don't even know what the a type is at all I guess. (Appears some had an ATI onboard video also)

2. You noted the OG CD drive sucked - I know some of the really early drives especially were pretty awful at reading various discs while SOME of the early drives worked great still even with burnt cds but not as many. I think one of the towers I'm looking at has a 12X speed in it, was that the original? (If you remember at all or even saw it before it was replaced i guess haha.)
*Note: wow, I didn't even know you could swap trays in drives! Can you do that on just about any?!? Or did those 2 just happen to be compatible?

Burning Fish wrote on 2023-04-18, 20:25:

Hi there, I'm working on a similar build right now, but with a flat desktop version of the case (Europe only).
Do you perhaps still have that manual stored somewhere? I can't find it online for the life of me. Thanks in advance!

Would very much like a manual also if either of you have it I'd super appreciate it!

Aeridyne wrote on 2024-05-13, 08:20:

Burning Fish wrote on 2023-04-18, 20:25:

Hi there, I'm working on a similar build right now, but with a flat desktop version of the case (Europe only).
Do you perhaps still have that manual stored somewhere? I can't find it online for the life of me. Thanks in advance!

Would very much like a manual also if either of you have it I'd super appreciate it!

All I was able to find was the M___a manual and a specification sheet of the motherboard. I attached them to this post.

I might as well post an update of my first retro PC build then! So this is the Dell Dimension XPS M200s (technically an M233s now, which is what the BIOS reports) in a flat case.
This is a DOS gaming PC first. I only use Windows 95 to transfer games from a USB drive to the hard drive, for now.
Below are my current specs. I was aiming for a 1997 system but I cheated here and there to make it easier for my wallet and for me to work on. 😀

• Intel Pentium 233 MMX
• 64MB matched RAM
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 40GB
• S3 ViRGE GX2 4MB
• 3DFX Voodoo 1
• Creative SoundBlaster 16 CT2910
• PCMIDI
• 3Com 3C905C-TX-M

• Iiyama Vision Master Pro 400 (A701GT)
• JBL Pro (Compaq) Speakers
• IBM Model M (1995)
• Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical
• Gravis Gamepad
• CH Flightstick Pro

• Roland MT-32 (Old: Revision 1.07 October 10th 1987)
• Roland SC-55 (v1.21)

Complete with a Duke Nukem mousepad even, NICE. Curious, is that monitor a native 800x600?

Thanks for the manuals by the way. Someone else posted this link I realized as well: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/intel- … nibal-plus#docs
So I collected all of them and should be set on manuals at least between those and what you provided.

But still pondering all of my remaining questions above.

Aeridyne wrote on 2024-05-13, 09:05:

Curious, is that monitor a native 800x600?

Well, it's a CRT so nothing is native but it does do 800x600 and goes up to 1600x1200.

Aeridyne wrote on 2024-05-13, 09:05:

Complete with a Duke Nukem mousepad even, NICE.

Yes, I'm glad I held onto that one all those years, it became quite collectable!
Did you know you can download the same design from this website and print it on a mousepad? I live in The Netherlands and did this at Vistaprint. See the picture for a comparison between the original and reprint. I think you'll be able to spot which one is which. 😁 The main difference to me is that the original is thicker.