ptr1ck wrote on 2022-02-18, 04:36:

A few weeks ago, I was going through my stash of old parts and came across my favorite old motherboard from ~2004. Since my bear […]
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A few weeks ago, I was going through my stash of old parts and came across my favorite old motherboard from ~2004. Since my beard is getting more grey, I can't remember as much about hardware nuances like I used to. Google lead me to Vogons... and all I have to say is this place is awesome. What a great forum for old hardware! Anyways on to my build and the decisions I need help making.

The Albatron KX18D Pro II was a late socket A board that flew under the radar because it wasn't made by one of the major brands. It reviewed really well at the time and I was a big fan of AMD back then so it became the third socket A system I owned. I loved it but once Athlon 64 came out, the 3400+ I upgraded to blew my 2400+ out of the water. The motherboard, CPU and video card were put in the closet and forgotten about until now. I originally ran it on Windows XP with a Thoroughbred 2400+ and a 6800 GT. I believe I used a Promise Fasttrak PCI controller at the time and the onboard "Soundstorm" sound too. This time around I am planning to go with a GeForce 4 ti4200 and a set of Voodoo 2s and was considering Windows 98SE for the build but am unsure because this isn't going to be a build meant for DOS games, but meant for Windows Glide games and pre-Directx9 titles. The GeForce 4 is replacing the 6800 for increased compatibility for older titles.

I have a choice of CPUs. I have the thoroughbred 2400+ I ran back in the day in it now. I also procured a Barton 2900+ recently and am intrigued to try out it's 400 FSB and 10x multiplier on the board (originally intended to try it in a KT133A Voodoo 3 build but need to recap that board). I do not plan on overclocking or trying to get every last ounce out of it, but 400 FSB is a minor goal. I assume clock for clock, Barton would be a negligible performance boost if it's even noticed.

I have a couple sound cards on hand too and I'm not sure which to go with either. I assume the OS choice may influence it. I lost my Vortex 2 somewhere in the past 20 years, but managed to keep a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (used to love this card in Win2k) and an Audigy 2zs which never was remarkable to me. I kind of dig the Santa a little more than the Audigy for the game port; Audigy's firewire is useless to me.

So not only do I need to figure out which OS, CPU and sound card to use, I need to figure out the drives and controller. I don't plan on using an add-in PCI controller, but I'm not against it either. I would be fine with an IDE to CF or SATA SSD (not sure on the Silicon Image 3112A on board though, AHCI, etc). I do have an IDE to CF with 4gb card already and thought that may be good for the OS and swap, but may need more room for game installs obviously.

Build:
Albatron KX18D Pro II
AMD Athlon XP Thoroughbred 2400+ or Barton 2900+ ?
Corsair 2x 512mb PC3200 2-2-2-5 or Patriot 2x 1024mb PC3200 2-3-2-5 ?
Asus v9280 Geforce 4 ti4200 128mb AGP 8x
3Dfx branded Voodoo II 3.0 12mb in SLI
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or Audigy 2 ZS ?
Windows 98SE or Windows XP ?
450w PSU with 45a 5v & 28a 3.3v out
Drive Setup ?

Welcome to Vogons 😀

Looks like a decent board to base your build on - FYI you can still access it's old product web page at https://web.archive.org/web/20060105042438/ht … w.asp?pro_id=69 and if you're looking for the latest BIOS perhaps, you can find them here https://www.elhvb.com/supportbios.info/archiv … roII/index.html

Also, you might like to contribute to the Ultimate Retro database project - https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/ - as they don't seem to have your board listed. See this thread for details - [CLOSED] The Retro Web submissions thread: suggest edits and/or add new boards here

Owned that mobo back in 2004. Very stable and a good performer. Should be a nice build for you. According to my Newegg order I had this cooler with a 3200+ CPU.

Just in case this hasn't occurred to you, removing the northbridge heatsink and applying fresh thermal paste is highly recommended; the original paste has to be petrified by now.

Hoarder, that's awesome info there. Thanks!

Liqmat, that is the exact cooler that's on the board now! 😀

Repo, will do. I'm needing to replace the fan on it anyways. It got yanked at some point.

I've got it built!.. and realized this thread should probably be in System Specs instead of General Old Hardware...

My Audigy 2 ZS seems to be dead so until it's replacement arrives, I am using the onboard Soundstorm audio.

Few benches:
3dMark 99 - 2ghz - Voodoo 2 SLI
3dMarks: 6926
CPU: 41,618

3dMark 99 - 2ghz - Geforce4 ti4200
3dMarks: 7583
CPU: 41379

3dMark 01SE - 1ghz - Geforce4 ti4200
3dMarks: 6746

3dMark 01SE - 2ghz - Geforce4 t14200
3dMarks: 9941

Moved to Marvin -> System Specs per OP request.

ptr1ck wrote on 2022-03-05, 22:26:

I've got it built!.. and realized this thread should probably be in System Specs instead of General Old Hardware... […]
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I've got it built!.. and realized this thread should probably be in System Specs instead of General Old Hardware...

My Audigy 2 ZS seems to be dead so until it's replacement arrives, I am using the onboard Soundstorm audio.

Few benches:
3dMark 99 - 1ghz - Voodoo 2 SLI
3dMarks: 2945
CPU: 20967

3dMark 99 - 2ghz - Voodoo 2 SLI
3dMarks: 3364
CPU: 41,451

3dMark 99 - 2ghz - Geforce4 ti4200
3dMarks: 7583
CPU: 41379

3dMark 01SE - 1ghz - Geforce4 ti4200
3dMarks: 6746

3dMark 01SE - 2ghz - Geforce4 t14200
3dMarks: 9941

Your build is surprisingly devoid of cable mess 😜

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-07, 20:34:

ptr1ck wrote on 2022-03-05, 22:26:

I've got it built!.. and realized this thread should probably be in System Specs instead of General Old Hardware... […]
Show full quote

I've got it built!.. and realized this thread should probably be in System Specs instead of General Old Hardware...

My Audigy 2 ZS seems to be dead so until it's replacement arrives, I am using the onboard Soundstorm audio.

Few benches:
3dMark 99 - 1ghz - Voodoo 2 SLI
3dMarks: 2945
CPU: 20967

3dMark 99 - 2ghz - Voodoo 2 SLI
3dMarks: 3364
CPU: 41,451

3dMark 99 - 2ghz - Geforce4 ti4200
3dMarks: 7583
CPU: 41379

3dMark 01SE - 1ghz - Geforce4 ti4200
3dMarks: 6746

3dMark 01SE - 2ghz - Geforce4 t14200
3dMarks: 9941

Your build is surprisingly devoid of cable mess 😜

I love that I was able to do that with this build. PATA cables are a bit tricky. 😀

Great looking Socket A system!!
You didn't seriously great job keeping the cables really clean looking. I like the selection of parts you used

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-03-08, 21:55:

Great looking Socket A system!!
You didn't seriously great job keeping the cables really clean looking. I like the selection of parts you used

Thank you! I'm happy with the result.

My HD Audio cable is dangling there until my adapter arrives. I plan to tidy it up a bit more once it's 100%.

ptr1ck, unable to respond to your pm. not enough post activity i guess. well, this reply will add +1 to my count.

the last bios released for the kk266+ is kkp0826.exe. i found it on a snapshot of the iwill website on archive.org. i have both the kk266+ & kk266+r. the raid ver bios file, kkpr0826.exe, wasn't cached on archive.org, but i found it elsewhere. btw, 7zip can extract the bin file from the executable. also, remember to enable bios flash from the iwill menu in the bios.

i got both my boards with the original bios ver. i have an athlon xp palomino 1700, 1900, 2000 and 2100. board posted with all (didn't test 2100 until after bios flash), but only the 1700 was recognized correctly, the aforementioned last bios ver has everything recognized correctly now. don't recall what multiplier options are in the bios since all my cpus are locked, but i remember reading the board can go up to at least 15x.

i have some low spinning fans and they all register as 0 rpm in the bios as well as lmsensors in linux.

stanwebber wrote on 2022-03-21, 16:05:

ptr1ck, unable to respond to your pm. not enough post activity i guess. well, this reply will add +1 to my count. […]
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ptr1ck, unable to respond to your pm. not enough post activity i guess. well, this reply will add +1 to my count.

the last bios released for the kk266+ is kkp0826.exe. i found it on a snapshot of the iwill website on archive.org. i have both the kk266+ & kk266+r. the raid ver bios file, kkpr0826.exe, wasn't cached on archive.org, but i found it elsewhere. btw, 7zip can extract the bin file from the executable. also, remember to enable bios flash from the iwill menu in the bios.

i got both my boards with the original bios ver. i have an athlon xp palomino 1700, 1900, 2000 and 2100. board posted with all (didn't test 2100 until after bios flash), but only the 1700 was recognized correctly, the aforementioned last bios ver has everything recognized correctly now. don't recall what multiplier options are in the bios since all my cpus are locked, but i remember reading the board can go up to at least 15x.

i have some low spinning fans and they all register as 0 rpm in the bios as well as lmsensors in linux.

Thank you for the reply! I wound up finding BIOS 1101 on Ultimateretro.net. It's allowed me to clock at Athlon 4 all over the place on my newer build.

i checked out the ultimateretro site. it appears to have most of the available kk266 bios files. i think the bios identifiers go by date, but only month/day, which is not very intuitive. the (highest numbered) v1101 bios is the 11-01-2001 release which is one of the earlier ones. the v0826 release is dated 08-26-2003 which is the latest i could find.

stanwebber wrote on 2022-03-21, 21:19:

i checked out the ultimateretro site. it appears to have most of the available kk266 bios files. i think the bios identifiers go by date, but only month/day, which is not very intuitive. the (highest numbered) v1101 bios is the 11-01-2001 release which is one of the earlier ones. the v0826 release is dated 08-26-2003 which is the latest i could find.

Mine had one from February 02 on it when I received it. Iwill had removed the multiplier adjustment on that one so I backed it up to the next one back I could find. I'd prefer newer for sure but need that multiplier for my Athlon 4.

hey, i was messing around in the bios (dated 8-26-03) and noticed the multiplier setting (up to 14x) is present so it must have been reinstated. my xp 2100 is locked so i was only able to up the fsb, but i got to 140 stable without even trying (no vcore adjustment or anything). you might want to update to the latest.

stanwebber wrote on 2022-04-09, 04:13:

hey, i was messing around in the bios (dated 8-26-03) and noticed the multiplier setting (up to 14x) is present so it must have been reinstated. my xp 2100 is locked so i was only able to up the fsb, but i got to 140 stable without even trying (no vcore adjustment or anything). you might want to update to the latest.

Interesting. I wonder if there is any advantage to the newer BIOS over the 1101? I can do 150mhz FSB and memory currently. I did modify mine to have the hidden options like they had done on this site: https://web.archive.org/web/20030813042423/ht … k266faqbios.htm

When I modded 1101, I checked 0227 and found the multiplier option was supposed to be shown, even though it wasn't. It lead me to believe there may be issues with that BIOS and I shouldn't run it.

I'm not pushing for high clocks because it is a palomino (ahem, corvette) and I am using a modern PSU, but it is fun to toy around. I have been seeing what's stable through a 3dMark99 run. I haven't tried higher than 1600mhz at 1.65v (default is 1200mhz/1.45v). That was with 133mhz bus and memory. 1500mhz with 150/150 was just as fast, which was surprising. It seems my highest at 1.45v is 1400mhz. I may try to settle on 1200mhz at 150/150 if my PCI slots can stay happy, perhaps with an undervolt.

great looking build, I have a lot of nostalgia for the later socket A days, and nforce 2 was great;
I totally remember Albatron, but it wasn't one of the.. hype brands like DFI, Abit, or perhaps Asus and so on, but that seems like a good board.
lots of great components in there;

do you have a locked multiplier? back then I would always drop the multiplier and try to run fsb as high as I could with nforce 2

SPBHM wrote on 2022-04-10, 02:44:

great looking build, I have a lot of nostalgia for the later socket A days, and nforce 2 was great; I totally remember Albatron, […]
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great looking build, I have a lot of nostalgia for the later socket A days, and nforce 2 was great;
I totally remember Albatron, but it wasn't one of the.. hype brands like DFI, Abit, or perhaps Asus and so on, but that seems like a good board.
lots of great components in there;

do you have a locked multiplier? back then I would always drop the multiplier and try to run fsb as high as I could with nforce 2

Thank you. I'm tinkering with the idea of putting the 6800GT back in it, but it doesn't really need it. It would look better with the bigger card in place I think though. Once I get my adapter for front panel audio in, I need to update the picture of the internals since the sound card and SATA DVD are different.

This machine is locked at 10x. I run it at 2ghz with 200mhz FSB and 200mhz RAM, or 400/400 DDR whatever. It runs XP well enough so that is what I'm defaulting to for most things unless they won't work with it. I have another build I need to find a case for that is running a mobile chip that can run all over the place, 5.5 to 14x.

Well my 6800GT is dead, so I acquired a Visiontek x1950 Pro 256mb to use. It works well but has a very noisy fan running 100% with a flaky bearing. The fan speed can not be controlled; ATI Tray Tools doesn't pick it up. I rebuilt the fan with a slightly better bearing on hand and added a drop of lube which helped a lot. It's still got a little buzz to it; spinning at full speed all the time doesn't help. I've ordered some resistors to try to calm it down a little as well. I have a new fan on the way.

I also looked through my CPU stash and noticed that I have a Barton 2500 that is unlocked which I plan to drop in here. I hope my modern PSU can cope with the machine running over 2.0ghz. I may need to go with a mobile chip to do that. The new GPU powered direct from the PSU ought to help somewhat with a little headroom.

edit: Well the Barton doesn't seem to be unlocked, at least it didn't boot at 10x... It does run perfect at 400 FSB / 3200+ speed. This system is coming together really well lately. I need to update photos of it as it looks quite different internally now. I'm also considering adding a second optical drive that has better disc reading ability.

update edit:
The 2500 runs like a champ at default voltage at 2.3ghz with 210mhz FSB. It is definitely a bottleneck for the X1950 Pro though.

I also added another optical drive that has better read compatibility. It's SATA so keeping the IDE for CDA if it's ever needed.

I did another sound card swap and am trying out the Daniel K drivers on an OEM Audigy 2 ZS. I have an adapter cable for the front panel, but it doesn't totally mute the output of speakers when plugged in. The Asus Xonar DG had to be switched at the control panel, but I was thinking that card may be built with a higher CPU overhead for newer CPUs. I may try out my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz again as it uses the same front panel connector as the Audigy.