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Boring Tualatin Win98 build (formerly Nehemiah)

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First post, by enaiel

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Note: This build started out as DOS/Win98 build to showcase my VIA C3 Nehemiah CPU, but I found it lacking in DOS compared to my Ezra-T. It then evolved into a bog-standard Win98 Tualatin build. Sorry about that!

In 2020, I built an Ezra-T based DOS mATX PC that has been absolutely great for playing DOS games. I wanted to expand on that and build something that would be good for both DOS and Win98. Also, thanks to Vogons, I have acquired a few parts and I needed a system I could test them on, and tinker with. After all, how could I fit in Vogons if I was happy with my build and played games on it all day?

I couldn't find a suitable mATX board that supported ISA, PCI, AGP and Tualatin/Nehemiah, so I settled on an ATX board. The rest of the system was built around that:

  • Motherboard: QDI Legend Advance 10T ATX Socket370 [P6V694T/A10T]
  • Chipset: VIA PRO133T / 694T [VT82C694T + VT82C686B]
  • CPU: VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2GHz 133X9 1.45V [C3-1.2AGHZ]
  • CPU: Intel Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.266GHz 512/133 [SL6BX]
  • CPU: Intel Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz 512/133 [SL5XL]
  • Cooler: StarTech FAN3701U Cooler w/ Copper Heatsink
  • PSU: Seasonic 350W ATX12V 80 PLUS [SS-350ET]
  • RAM: 512MB PC133 133 MHz CL3 SDRAM
  • RAM: 512MB PC133 133 MHz CL2 SDRAM
  • Video: MSI MS-8894 NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64MB AGP [Ti4200-VTD8X]
  • Video: BFG NVIDIA GeForce FX5500 256MB PCI [3DFR55256P]
  • Video: 3DFX Voodoo 3 3000 16MB PCI
  • Audio: PC Speaker (Onboard)
  • Audio: Sound Blaster VIBRA-16S SB16 w/ OPL3 ISA [CT2800]
  • Audio: Sound Blaster Audigy 1 PCI [SB0090]
  • Audio: Turtle Beach Montego Aureal Vortex 2 Dell OEM PCI [AU8830]
  • MIDI: Roland SoundCanvas SC-50
  • FDD: NEC FD1231M 3.5" 1.44 MB
  • CD/DVD: NEC ND-1100A DVD-RW 4x
  • HDD: SD to IDE Adapter + 64GB MicroSD + Custom 3D printed floppy drive bay from some guy on eBay
  • USB: USB 2.0 w/ HD Audio 3.5mm Floppy Bay Front Panel + 3.5-Inch to 5.25-Inch Front Bay Converter
  • ZIP: Iomega Zip 250
  • Case: HEC 7106BB
  • Monitor: DELL 2007FP LCD
  • Keyboard: Logitech Y-BE22
  • Mouse: Logitech M-BE58
  • Joy: Gravis Gamepad
  • Joy: Saitek P880 Gamepad

Made a few bad purchases for this build:

  • NEC ND-1100A DVD-RW, didn't realize it only supported DVD+R/RW. Thankfully was easily flashed to ND-1300A that adds support for DVD-R/RW.
  • Seasonic SS-350FK (Rack Mounted PSU) that was shipped instead of the SS-350SFE (SFX PSU) that was ordered. Had to buy a replacement.
  • A proprietary DELL floppy drive by accident. Had to buy a replacement.
  • 2 proprietary DELL case fans by accident. Still need to convert the 3-pin connector to standard.

Had some painful moments:

  • Breaking the metal shield off the bays in the HEC 7106BB case. But it was the only old-school case still available in my area as new.
  • Bending the retaining clip on the StarTech FAN3701U Cooler to fit the Nehemiah. Had to be done, since I could not find a Tualatin cooler online.
  • Mapping the non-standard USB headers to the standard 9-pin USB connector using this diagram. But I now have working front-panel USB!

Some comparisons and match-ups (DOS only so far):

  • QDI P6V694T/A10T vs MSI MS-6368:
    Was expecting the QDI to be better quality than the MSI that's in the Ezra PC, but was surprised on how bendy it was and how tight the ISA and RAM slots were. Setting the BIOS write protection jumper or BIOS setting prevented the BIOS from writing any ESCD configuration changes, causing all kinds of problems. But the most surprising and disappointing part was that the onboard SBPro2 that worked so well on the MSI (same southbridge) was so flaky on the QDI that I ended up disabling it in the BIOS. Many games played only some of the sounds, and some played no sound at all. And this is after disabling everything not needed in the BIOS.
  • C3 Nehemiah vs Ezra-T:
    The Nehemiah works well with Quake, since unlike the Ezra, the FPU does not run at half-clock. But for everything else in DOS, the Ezra is the clear winner. Many speed sensitive games need a 486DX2-66 or Pentium-90 that the Ezra is perfectly able to achieve using SetMul. The Nehemiah is better at achieving 386 and slower with SetMul, but the best it can do for 486DX2-66 is a fast 386, and the Pentium-90 is only achievable with Throttle. A fast 386 runs 486DX2-66 games like Dark Forces a bit too slowly, and Throttle causes too much stutter in Pentium-90 games like Magic Carpet. The Nehemiah should be a lot more useful in Win98.
  • GF4 Ti4200 AGP vs FX5500 PCI:
    Both cards are significantly faster than the S3 ViRGE GX in the Ezra PC, with the GF4 Ti4200 being the faster of the two. Both have pretty good compatibility in DOS as well. I got them both for fairly cheap (around $20 each), and the FX5500 was supposed to have been an AGP! Will be interesting to compare them in Win98.
  • SB16 CT2800 vs YMF719:
    The YMF719 is a well loved card here on Vogons, and has gone up in price to around $30 in my area. On paper it sounds great: bug free MPU, genuine OPL3, SBPro2 support, Waveblaster support. But in practice, I found it too buggy: many applications and games stuttered, or crashed in DOS. I downloaded the OPL3SAX.zip from here and ran the included SETUPSA to configure it. On the other hand, the SB16 CT2800 has been pretty stable, and is actually better than any SBPro2 card for late DOS games. For example, you can only hear the opening voice clearly in Tyrian with a SB16 card. The noise floor of both cards seems pretty even as well, to my ears. The CT2800 is semi-pnp: the base address is set using jumpers on the card, and the rest is configured by simply setting the BLASTER variable and running DIAGNOSE /S. The only downside to the CT2800 is the "hanging-note" bug, that I will have to live with for now. The Audigy is what I had back in 2001, and is in the build purely for Win98.
  • Roland SC-50 vs SC-7:
    The SC-7 is GM only, and is excellent for DOS games. But when I was listening to my old midi collection, I noticed that many of them actually did a GS Reset and sounded off with the SC-7. So I bought the SC-50, which supports GM and GS. The only difference between this and the SC-55 is the MT-32 patches, and about $50 to $100 in my area. The SC-7 is obviously even more cheaper and is a good gaming only option.

I will provide further updates after installing Win98.

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Last edited by enaiel on 2022-03-22, 19:57. Edited 6 times in total.

#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 1 of 82, by enaiel

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More pics...

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#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 2 of 82, by enaiel

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Obligatory DOSBENCH scores:

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Compare with the scores for the Ezra PC:

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#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 3 of 82, by Joseph_Joestar

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enaiel wrote on 2022-01-19, 22:56:

A fast 386 runs 486DX2-66 games like Dark Forces a bit too slowly, and Throttle causes too much stutter in Pentium-90 games like Magic Carpet.

Regarding the stutter, is ACPI fully enabled in the BIOS? I have a KT133A based motherboard which uses the same 686B southbridge, and I never had stuttering issues when using Throttle at those speeds.

For example, you can only hear the opening voice clearly in Tyrian with a SB16 card.

If you mean the "Good luck!" clip, I'm pretty sure that worked fine on all of my SBPro clones, though I don't have a YMF71x card. That said, I usually go for WSS mode in Tyrian, on cards which support that.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 4 of 82, by Intel486dx33

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“Philscomputerlab” did a video a while back where he tested different modules of memory for best gaming performance in Win98.
He concluded that 1 module of 256mb worked best.
2 modules of 256mb actually cause performance to lag.
Did you notice any such lag in your Win98 system ?

Reply 5 of 82, by enaiel

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Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-01-20, 04:39:

Regarding the stutter, is ACPI fully enabled in the BIOS? I have a KT133A based motherboard which uses the same 686B southbridge, and I never had stuttering issues when using Throttle at those speeds.

Yep, ACPI is enabled in the BIOS. Not sure why it stutters, but its very annoying.

If you mean the "Good luck!" clip, I'm pretty sure that worked fine on all of my SBPro clones, though I don't have a YMF71x card. That said, I usually go for WSS mode in Tyrian, on cards which support that.

Yep, that's it! Maybe it's got something to do with the QDI motherboard - the onboard SBPro2 is flaky as well, and that works perfectly on my MSI motherboard with the same southbridge. I have never used WSS, I didn't even know it was a thing till very recently.

#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 6 of 82, by enaiel

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2022-01-20, 06:50:
“Philscomputerlab” did a video a while back where he tested different modules of memory for best gaming performance in Win98. He […]
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“Philscomputerlab” did a video a while back where he tested different modules of memory for best gaming performance in Win98.
He concluded that 1 module of 256mb worked best.
2 modules of 256mb actually cause performance to lag.
Did you notice any such lag in your Win98 system ?

Haven't yet actually even installed Win98. Thanks for letting me know, I will definitely bench it with 256MB and with 512MB and note the difference.

#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 7 of 82, by enaiel

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I had intended to use a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI card in this build, but I got burned (both figuratively and literally - that voltage regulator gets freaking hot!). The picture comes and goes, and this is 2D, not even 3D. I didn't realize when I bought it, that it had been modded to add a fan. I'm not sure if the mod was done because it had problems, or the mod itself is causing the problems. Either way it's been a huge (and costly!) disappointment. I'm out of my league in diagnosing and fixing issues like this. My guess is that it is overheating. The card looks physically fine, and the fan does spin. Any ideas?

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#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 8 of 82, by Joseph_Joestar

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enaiel wrote on 2022-01-20, 19:50:

I'm not sure if the mod was done because it had problems, or the mod itself is causing the problems.

It's possible that the mod is to blame. However, note that the voltage regulator gets extremely hot even on stock cards.

FYI, the best way to cool a Voodoo3 PCI is to install a fan bracket below it and leave the card itself completely untouched.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 9 of 82, by mothergoose729

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I have a very similar system. I tried over 300 different DOS games from '81-'97 and I only found two or three I couldn't get to work. Throttle can cause stuttering in the graphics and issues with the gameport. Sometimes mo'slo works better for covering those gaps. mo'slo doesn't typically cause stuttering but sometimes the speed of the game can be erratic. Typically, both throttle and mo'slo work quite well though and those are the exceptions rather than the rule. If I need to go slower than a 386SX or faster than a 386DX40 I will try mo'slo and throttle and see which one works better for the game. It depends.

This is much more of an issue for games that require an 8088 or a 286 to run properly, after 1988 or so the only games I found which needed a speed the nehemiah can't cover is magic carpet. With BP disabled a multiplier of 4x with a FSB of 66mhz I get the performance of a DX4 100, which is a touch too fast for the game but how I prefer to play it. Otherwise, mo'slow or throttle can get you down to a 486DX2 66 which is IMO the speed the game was designed for. I haven't found any other DOS games that required a 486 exactly to run properly. Most speed sensitive DOS games need a 386 or a slower Pentium (like terminator futureshock or Alien Trilogy) which the nehemiah covers perfectly.

The Nehemiah is the best all around CPU for hybrid DOS/Windows IMO, especially if you play really old DOS games. Lots of computers can approximate a fast 386, but very few can do a slow 386 or get anywhere close to 286/8088 speeds. And at full speed, I can run quake in software mode at 640x480 and 50fps, and all but the latest win9x games run 60+ frames per second with a decent graphics card. It's awesome.

Reply 10 of 82, by enaiel

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Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-01-20, 21:41:

It's possible that the mod is to blame. However, note that the voltage regulator gets extremely hot even on stock cards.

FYI, the best way to cool a Voodoo3 PCI is to install a fan bracket below it and leave the card itself completely untouched.

Would a bracket fan be able to fix the overheating issues caused by the mod?

#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 11 of 82, by enaiel

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mothergoose729 wrote on 2022-01-20, 22:19:

I have a very similar system. I tried over 300 different DOS games from '81-'97 and I only found two or three I couldn't get to work. Throttle can cause stuttering in the graphics and issues with the gameport. Sometimes mo'slo works better for covering those gaps. mo'slo doesn't typically cause stuttering but sometimes the speed of the game can be erratic. Typically, both throttle and mo'slo work quite well though and those are the exceptions rather than the rule. If I need to go slower than a 386SX or faster than a 386DX40 I will try mo'slo and throttle and see which one works better for the game. It depends.

This is much more of an issue for games that require an 8088 or a 286 to run properly, after 1988 or so the only games I found which needed a speed the nehemiah can't cover is magic carpet. With BP disabled a multiplier of 4x with a FSB of 66mhz I get the performance of a DX4 100, which is a touch too fast for the game but how I prefer to play it. Otherwise, mo'slow or throttle can get you down to a 486DX2 66 which is IMO the speed the game was designed for. I haven't found any other DOS games that required a 486 exactly to run properly. Most speed sensitive DOS games need a 386 or a slower Pentium (like terminator futureshock or Alien Trilogy) which the nehemiah covers perfectly.

The Nehemiah is the best all around CPU for hybrid DOS/Windows IMO, especially if you play really old DOS games. Lots of computers can approximate a fast 386, but very few can do a slow 386 or get anywhere close to 286/8088 speeds. And at full speed, I can run quake in software mode at 640x480 and 50fps, and all but the latest win9x games run 60+ frames per second with a decent graphics card. It's awesome.

I think we're in almost complete agreement - the Nehemiah is better than the Ezra-T for a hybrid DOS/Windows PC. I just feel that the Ezra-T runs the DOS games that I like to play better than the Nehemiah, that's all.

#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 12 of 82, by Intel486dx33

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enaiel wrote on 2022-01-20, 19:50:

I had intended to use a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI card in this build, but I got burned (both figuratively and literally - that voltage regulator gets freaking hot!). The picture comes and goes, and this is 2D, not even 3D. I didn't realize when I bought it, that it had been modded to add a fan. I'm not sure if the mod was done because it had problems, or the mod itself is causing the problems. Either way it's been a huge (and costly!) disappointment. I'm out of my league in diagnosing and fixing issues like this. My guess is that it is overheating. The card looks physically fine, and the fan does spin. Any ideas?

I have a couple of those PCI voodoo cards. Yes, the regulator get HOT so HOT that the capacitors next to it will start to leak and destroy the
Traces. I don’t know what the fix will be. On both of mine the capacitors leaked and destroyed the traces.
As for the fan. I would disconnect it and add a third party fan with a molex connector and speed controller.
I mounted mine with thin wire I purchased from the dollar store.

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Reply 13 of 82, by Joseph_Joestar

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enaiel wrote on 2022-01-21, 13:21:

Would a bracket fan be able to fix the overheating issues caused by the mod?

You would need to remove the existing fan and desolder the wires first. Adding a fan bracket won't do you much good unless it can blow cool air directly at the heatsink. To clarify, I'm referring to one of these things:

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You can get these brackets from Amazon and various other places. The fans are not included and you need to provide them yourself. I recommend using Noctua branded ones.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 14 of 82, by Intel486dx33

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The GPU chips on these Voodoo cards run VERY HOT so you definitely want to add a fan.
This is the main reason there are so few PCI voodoo cards around because they over heated and the capacitors leaked and destroyed
The traces on the PCB.

The AGP voodoo card are a little better but they too run very hot.

Both require a fan to keep the GPU chip and PCB cool.

Reply 15 of 82, by enaiel

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2022-01-21, 14:08:

The GPU chips on these Voodoo cards run VERY HOT so you definitely want to add a fan.
This is the main reason there are so few PCI voodoo cards around because they over heated and the capacitors leaked and destroyed
The traces on the PCB.

Hmm, if these PCI cards are getting rare, maybe I should try to save it. Do you have a pic of your damaged cards? Do you see any damage in the pic I posted above?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-01-21, 13:56:

You would need to remove the existing fan and desolder the wires first. Adding a fan bracket won't do you much good unless it can blow cool air directly at the heatsink.

How do I take out the fan without damaging the GPU chip or the PCB? It looks like it is stuck with a white thermal epoxy.

#1 VIA C3 Ezra-T 1.0GHz / MSI MS-6368 / Voodoo2+ViRGE GX / SBPro2+YMF744+AWE64+SC-7
#2 Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.40GHz / QDI A10T / Voodoo3 3000+GF4 Ti4200 / Audigy+AU8830+SC-50

Reply 16 of 82, by mothergoose729

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enaiel wrote on 2022-01-21, 13:28:
mothergoose729 wrote on 2022-01-20, 22:19:

I have a very similar system. I tried over 300 different DOS games from '81-'97 and I only found two or three I couldn't get to work. Throttle can cause stuttering in the graphics and issues with the gameport. Sometimes mo'slo works better for covering those gaps. mo'slo doesn't typically cause stuttering but sometimes the speed of the game can be erratic. Typically, both throttle and mo'slo work quite well though and those are the exceptions rather than the rule. If I need to go slower than a 386SX or faster than a 386DX40 I will try mo'slo and throttle and see which one works better for the game. It depends.

This is much more of an issue for games that require an 8088 or a 286 to run properly, after 1988 or so the only games I found which needed a speed the nehemiah can't cover is magic carpet. With BP disabled a multiplier of 4x with a FSB of 66mhz I get the performance of a DX4 100, which is a touch too fast for the game but how I prefer to play it. Otherwise, mo'slow or throttle can get you down to a 486DX2 66 which is IMO the speed the game was designed for. I haven't found any other DOS games that required a 486 exactly to run properly. Most speed sensitive DOS games need a 386 or a slower Pentium (like terminator futureshock or Alien Trilogy) which the nehemiah covers perfectly.

The Nehemiah is the best all around CPU for hybrid DOS/Windows IMO, especially if you play really old DOS games. Lots of computers can approximate a fast 386, but very few can do a slow 386 or get anywhere close to 286/8088 speeds. And at full speed, I can run quake in software mode at 640x480 and 50fps, and all but the latest win9x games run 60+ frames per second with a decent graphics card. It's awesome.

I think we're in almost complete agreement - the Nehemiah is better than the Ezra-T for a hybrid DOS/Windows PC. I just feel that the Ezra-T runs the DOS games that I like to play better than the Nehemiah, that's all.

Which games?

Reply 17 of 82, by Intel486dx33

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enaiel wrote on 2022-01-21, 15:23:
Hmm, if these PCI cards are getting rare, maybe I should try to save it. Do you have a pic of your damaged cards? Do you see any […]
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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2022-01-21, 14:08:

The GPU chips on these Voodoo cards run VERY HOT so you definitely want to add a fan.
This is the main reason there are so few PCI voodoo cards around because they over heated and the capacitors leaked and destroyed
The traces on the PCB.

Hmm, if these PCI cards are getting rare, maybe I should try to save it. Do you have a pic of your damaged cards? Do you see any damage in the pic I posted above?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-01-21, 13:56:

You would need to remove the existing fan and desolder the wires first. Adding a fan bracket won't do you much good unless it can blow cool air directly at the heatsink.

How do I take out the fan without damaging the GPU chip or the PCB? It looks like it is stuck with a white thermal epoxy.

Check both sides of your voodoo card and see if there are any brown spots on the card. The brown spots would indicate over heated areas on the PCB. You could leave the fan on and just cut the wires that are soldered to the circuits and instead use a molex connector
To connect the fan. I am not sure if that fan is 3volt or 5volt but the molex connector has both. So you could use either.
But that fan does seem inadequate. A heatsink with a larger fan would be best.

Reply 18 of 82, by Intel486dx33

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Look here. I think it is the same as yours.
I took this one apart. I still need to fix the damaged area.
See the black spots on the PCB is where the capacitor ruptured and leaked onto the PCB
Damaging the traces.

The fix:
I think the fix is to get the surface mount capacitor off the PCB. So I plan on using a capacitor with long legs instead.
This should keep the capacitor from getting hot and rupturing.

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Reply 19 of 82, by Joseph_Joestar

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enaiel wrote on 2022-01-21, 15:23:

How do I take out the fan without damaging the GPU chip or the PCB? It looks like it is stuck with a white thermal epoxy.

On the picture that you posted, I see screws going from the fan into the heatsink. Therefore, it should be as simple as unscrewing the fan and desoldering the wires.

Unless whoever modded the card actually glued the fan to the heatsink for some reason?

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
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PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi