The big tall Dallas module? It has a primary cell encapsulated within the epoxy. It's dead. You can hack it to bits and make a monstrosity with a coin cell holder on top of it so you can maintain it when the cell runs flat every decade or so. Or, there are DIY replacements available that look a little nicer, but cost more than a trip to the garage. Or, you can buy new replacements -- the part number has an extra digit but is otherwise a drop-in replacement. ("Not always!" Fine. Mostly a drop-in replacement.) Either way, you need to be comfortable soldering on a motherboard. Through-hole pins can be a bear if you're not properly equipped and at least a little experienced.

Other than that, it's a perfect retro box. Congrats! Grab some glamour shots for us voyeurs. 😀

Some pictures, as requested.

Cheers,

Harley.

Fantastic PC, it shares a lot of similarities with my 1997 OS/2 Build 😀

Just an upodate:

I got the hard drive installed today. I also had to buy a PS/2 to AT keyboard converter, as it seems like I don't have any AT keyboards. I probably do, but don't know where they are hiding.

Anyhow, it turns out it won't boot from CD-ROM with the CMOS battery dead. It is too old to have a boot menu, and the battery dead error resets the boot order. So I either have to fix the CMOS battery to get it to boot, or boot it from floppy, and then go to the CD-ROM and run setup.

So it's turning into an adventure.

Also, the power supply fan is really noisy. I don't think it's defective; I just think that power supplies have gotten way quieter in the last 20 years and I've gotten spoiled.

I will probably boot to floppy and get Windows 98 installed, but may not go much further with this one in the short term. I've got all the parts for a Socket A ATX build, so will likely move that up to first priority, and make that the Windows 98 machine.

Cheers,

Harley.

Great machine! If you want to stay true to 1997, I’d install Windows 95. 😀

barleyguy wrote on 2020-02-28, 03:27:

Also, the power supply fan is really noisy. I don't think it's defective; I just think that power supplies have gotten way quieter in the last 20 years and I've gotten spoiled.

Yes. I refurbish every P4-era and older PSU that comes through my door with new caps and a new fan. IIRC, I use a Qualtek fan I get from Digikey. It's not quite as silent as the newest gen PSUs that throttle the fan speed based on temp, but it's a LOT better than stock and still provides decent air flow.

On the topic of air flow, do remember those old PSUs were part of the cooling system of the entire PC. After going with a slower, quieter fan, a couple of my builds could probably use a low-speed intake / exhaust fan pair to share the burden of cooling the guts. My Pentium II for example puts out warm air from the PSU. Not quite hot, just... warm.

Is the CPU a 6x86 or 6x86/L? The non-L version of the 200+ was a current hog and the VRMs on most boards of the period weren't up to the job.

Anonymous Coward wrote on 2020-02-29, 03:01:

Is the CPU a 6x86 or 6x86/L? The non-L version of the 200+ was a current hog and the VRMs on most boards of the period weren't up to the job.

Not sure. I got it in early 1997 and can't remember. Here's a picture of the bottom of the chip (the top has a fan stuck to it)

EDIT: From searching that model number, I think it's the original, IBM 6x86 PR200. I remember it was a 75x2 version, and I tried it at 75x2 but couldn't get it stable so downclocked it to 66x2.

The board handles it fine though (at 66 Mhz at least). This isn't a new build. I ran this for a couple years (1997 to 1999) and then built a different machine with a K6-III 450.

Another edit: According to CPU world, the original came out in May of 1997. I think I might have got this on release day. So it's definitely the original.

75MHz generally wasn't a problem for VX boards, and Shuttle made half decent ones. I suspect if you upgraded the VRMs you could get the 6x86 going at 150MHz.

Anonymous Coward wrote on 2020-02-29, 05:55:

75MHz generally wasn't a problem for VX boards, and Shuttle made half decent ones. I suspect if you upgraded the VRMs you could get the 6x86 going at 150MHz.

Is that a solder job?

Also, would a Pentium MMX 200 be faster than the Cyrix at PR200?

I'm guessing it would be faster in floating point but slower in integer?

Man, that looks like condensated childhood to me, I still remember playing Aces over Europe and Total Annihilation on such a beast, and seeing my father making sure to have both a CD and a floppy disk player on every build ! And yeah, I think it'd be better to install Windows 95 on it, but if you already have the floppies to install Win98, then it's better to do that.

Flanker27S wrote on 2020-02-29, 11:40:

Man, that looks like condensated childhood to me, I still remember playing Aces over Europe and Total Annihilation on such a beast, and seeing my father making sure to have both a CD and a floppy disk player on every build ! And yeah, I think it'd be better to install Windows 95 on it, but if you already have the floppies to install Win98, then it's better to do that.

I'll actually consider putting Windows 95 on this. (After I test it with Windows 98.) I have at least one real copy of it. I think I have a stack of "Windows 95 Companion" disks, which is what they often gave people with their license card instead of an actual setup disk.

I also think I have "Windows 97 Beta". Microsoft was handing them out at trade shows in 1997. It was definitely beta quality, but it's an interesting historical relic.

Also, I ordered a Pentium 200 MMX. I'm going to try that out as well.

So, something completely silly. I had two other AT computers in my closet. Took the top off one, and it's ALSO a Cyrix 6x86 PR200, and it's on a newer version of the Shuttle HOT-557 motherboard. No video card in this one, but it does have a SB16 card.

The third one is also socket 7, just an FIC PA-2007 Via chipset motherboard.

Funny that I have 2 almost identical computers. I think the second one I built for my brother, and ended up with it somehow. Don't remember where I got the PA-2007 from.

So question for people who have done retro motherboards more recently than me... what would you choose, HOT-557 1.0, HOT-557 1.32, or PA-2007?

Oh, and Opti OPL3 clone or SB16 SCSI?

EDIT: Oh, the PA-2007 has a coin CMOS battery. That might make it the winner for ease of use, because I can get good CMOS without chopping up the Dallas module.

I could be wrong, but I think the PA-2007 has a VIA chipset that supports the burst mode of the Cyrix 6x86 chips. Still, Intel VX probably has a better PCI implentation. You'll just have to try both and see which one you like better. Probably the rev 1.0 of HOT-557 should not be considered since you have a later revision of the same board.

I think in general the SB16 is the better card, but it really depends on which OPTi card you have. There were some crappy budget ones, but the Turtle Beach Tropez is an example of a good card that uses the OPTi chip. The SB16 is going to have pretty solid compatibility, but since it's SCSi it's probably a CT1770 which is a bit noisy. That's only going to be a problem if you're hooking into an amplifier though.