Always glad to see RDRAM builds here. I have a Win98/WinXP system based on a P4T533, but sadly, due to the use of 32-bit RDRAM (the reason why I wanted a build around this system) I a stuck with 512 MB Ram... I also have the P4T533-C, but it's not as "quirky" as this board, and I don't have a connection with that board.

The 512MB is plenty for the current light use it has.

I recently found the Asus front panel I got with this board. I have it coupled with the same CPU and a Radeon 9700 Pro (with artic cooler), Creative Audigy 2ZS and a slot loading Pioneer.

*Edit* My Sisoft results are comparable to your PC1066 results (+-3260 - not surprising, apart from the 32bit package there's absolutely no improvement in "PC4200" - just yet another marketing ploy).

flupke11 wrote on 2022-04-10, 13:35:

Always glad to see RDRAM builds here. I have a Win98/WinXP system based on a P4T533, but sadly, due to the use of 32-bit RDRAM ( […]
Show full quote

Always glad to see RDRAM builds here. I have a Win98/WinXP system based on a P4T533, but sadly, due to the use of 32-bit RDRAM (the reason why I wanted a build around this system) I a stuck with 512 MB Ram... I also have the P4T533-C, but it's not as "quirky" as this board, and I don't have a connection with that board.

The 512MB is plenty for the current light use it has.

I recently found the Asus front panel I got with this board. I have it coupled with the same CPU and a Radeon 9700 Pro (with artic cooler), Creative Audigy 2ZS and a slot loading Pioneer.

*Edit* My Sisoft results are comparable to your PC1066 results (+-3260 - not surprising, apart from the 32bit package there's absolutely no improvement in "PC4200" - just yet another marketing ploy).

Awesome case and front panel! I want one of those now.

I ordered a 3.5" usb 2.0 front panel thing from ebay. In the pic it says "superspeed usb" but it's a 9pin usb header.

Nice to see another RDRAM build. 👍👍👍

mastergamma12 wrote on 2022-04-11, 08:38:

Nice to see another RDRAM build. 👍👍👍

Thanks!

4x512MB PC1066 came in today, memtesting now to make sure it's good.

Also installed an Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 4 on the vid card and it's so quiet compared to the stock cooler. 😁

EDIT - At least 1 module is bad and fails in seconds in memtest 86 4.3.7. ugh.

EDIT 2 - The memory failure appears to be heat related. This memory runs HOT, even more so than the 800mhz modules I have, so for now I have an 80mm blowing on them and that has fixed the issue. This weekend I'll cook up a more permanent solution, but for tonight a fan balanced on the video card will do.

Rdram at high speeds generates a lot of heat, it's only one of the many reasons it never really took off. But all the more fun as a build, and it remains the high performance rig of 2002 😀. Good thing using the AC, at least your GPU will get the necessary cooling in that blistering environment. I use a more recent coolermaster ram cooling solution at low rpm onto the two ram slots in my P4T533-R.

flupke11 wrote on 2022-04-28, 07:37:

Rdram at high speeds generates a lot of heat, it's only one of the many reasons it never really took off. But all the more fun as a build, and it remains the high performance rig of 2002 😀. Good thing using the AC, at least your GPU will get the necessary cooling in that blistering environment. I use a more recent coolermaster ram cooling solution at low rpm onto the two ram slots in my P4T533-R.

Interesting, what is the name of the coolermaster cooler?

pete8475 wrote on 2022-04-28, 07:45:

flupke11 wrote on 2022-04-28, 07:37:

Rdram at high speeds generates a lot of heat, it's only one of the many reasons it never really took off. But all the more fun as a build, and it remains the high performance rig of 2002 😀. Good thing using the AC, at least your GPU will get the necessary cooling in that blistering environment. I use a more recent coolermaster ram cooling solution at low rpm onto the two ram slots in my P4T533-R.

Interesting, what is the name of the coolermaster cooler?

Sorry, it's a Corsair: "Corsair Dominator Airflow". It's very loud if you don't mod it, but with one or two NF-A4x20 Noctua's, it's a great and silent way to cool those hotheads.

Very nice build! I really appreciate the attention to detail and the fact that you’re going for the maximum i850E can offer—PC1066 and the 3.06GHz Northwood. Very, very cool! I’ve actually been planning a very similar build using the same board. The D850EMV2 is pretty awesome, being quite stable and very fast for what it is. Considering the NEC USB 2.0 and built-in Intel LAN, you really can’t go wrong!

The heat situation with PC1066 is unsurprising but also somewhat annoying; I think the performance difference might be worth it though. I think that the i850E on the whole chipset is a bit underrated. Compared to an SiS645DX, VIA P4X266, or even the i845D, it’s significantly faster, whilst retaining Windows 9x compatibility (if so desired), and offering greater memory bandwidth at the same time. There’s no doubt that the later i865 and i875 are probably more interesting to most people—being mainstream DDR parts and all—but the i850E has a charm to it that’s unmistakable. This board seems to be one of the few to come equipped with this chipset and one of the few to also support PC1066; 533MHz FSB and 533MHz DDR RDRAM is a pretty potent combination, and a strange one for sure!

I much prefer this board to the ASUS P4T533, since you avoid the whole 32-bit RDRAM situation. While cool, like flupke11 noted, there’s difficulty in sourcing larger-sized PC4200 RIMMs and there’s really no advantages to 32-bit RDRAM since it’s basically two 16-bit RIMMs glued together. To that end, boards like the P4T533-C probably make more sense convenience-wise, but 32-bit RIMMs are undoubtedly very neat and quirky.

Have you tested your system in any contemporary games? I’d be curious to see how that Quadro FX flexes its muscles with that 3.06GHz Pentium 4 at the helm.

Awesome job on this one!

Very nice! I'm working on a very similar build myself, but with the Micro ATX version of this board (which, it has been extremely hard to find a D850EMDR, which is revision that will take the 3.06ghz P4). I'm very curious how that 4 x 512MB @ 1066Mhz works out for you. AFAIK, these boards will only take 256Mbit density RDRAM, and 2 of those RIMMs will exceed the 24 RDRAM device-per-channel that the manual says is the limit for 1066Mhz.

Also, if you're at all interested, I believe that this is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, motherboard with PC/PCI. There's solder pads for it next to the Southbridge. I still need to get to soldering a connector on mine and testing it.

WJG6260 wrote on 2022-04-28, 17:24:

Very nice build! I really appreciate the attention to detail and the fact that you’re going for the maximum i850E can offer—PC10 […]
Show full quote

Very nice build! I really appreciate the attention to detail and the fact that you’re going for the maximum i850E can offer—PC1066 and the 3.06GHz Northwood. Very, very cool! I’ve actually been planning a very similar build using the same board. The D850EMV2 is pretty awesome, being quite stable and very fast for what it is. Considering the NEC USB 2.0 and built-in Intel LAN, you really can’t go wrong!

The heat situation with PC1066 is unsurprising but also somewhat annoying; I think the performance difference might be worth it though. I think that the i850E on the whole chipset is a bit underrated. Compared to an SiS645DX, VIA P4X266, or even the i845D, it’s significantly faster, whilst retaining Windows 9x compatibility (if so desired), and offering greater memory bandwidth at the same time. There’s no doubt that the later i865 and i875 are probably more interesting to most people—being mainstream DDR parts and all—but the i850E has a charm to it that’s unmistakable. This board seems to be one of the few to come equipped with this chipset and one of the few to also support PC1066; 533MHz FSB and 533MHz DDR RDRAM is a pretty potent combination, and a strange one for sure!

I much prefer this board to the ASUS P4T533, since you avoid the whole 32-bit RDRAM situation. While cool, like flupke11 noted, there’s difficulty in sourcing larger-sized PC4200 RIMMs and there’s really no advantages to 32-bit RDRAM since it’s basically two 16-bit RIMMs glued together. To that end, boards like the P4T533-C probably make more sense convenience-wise, but 32-bit RIMMs are undoubtedly very neat and quirky.

Have you tested your system in any contemporary games? I’d be curious to see how that Quadro FX flexes its muscles with that 3.06GHz Pentium 4 at the helm.

Awesome job on this one!

Yeah the quirkiness of this dead-end platform is a big part of why I put this together.

So far I have only a few games installed - Quake 3 + Team Arena, Heroes of Might and Magic 2 + expansion and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005. 😁 All run perfectly obviously.

Dant wrote on 2022-04-29, 01:03:

Very nice! I'm working on a very similar build myself, but with the Micro ATX version of this board (which, it has been extremely hard to find a D850EMDR, which is revision that will take the 3.06ghz P4). I'm very curious how that 4 x 512MB @ 1066Mhz works out for you. AFAIK, these boards will only take 256Mbit density RDRAM, and 2 of those RIMMs will exceed the 24 RDRAM device-per-channel that the manual says is the limit for 1066Mhz.

Also, if you're at all interested, I believe that this is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, motherboard with PC/PCI. There's solder pads for it next to the Southbridge. I still need to get to soldering a connector on mine and testing it.

I didn't realize ram chip density could be an issue on this board and right now it doesn't seem to be. Since aiming a fan at these modules they can run memtest 86 overnight without failure and games/benchmarks/windows are stable. Bandwidth is way higher compared to 800mhz memory.

EDIT - I can be a bit slow sometimes... what exactly does PC/PCI mean?

flupke11 wrote on 2022-04-28, 16:51:

Sorry, it's a Corsair: "Corsair Dominator Airflow". It's very loud if you don't mod it, but with one or two NF-A4x20 Noctua's, it's a great and silent way to cool those hotheads.

No joke I actually have two of those Noctua fans sitting here new in the box. 🤣

So this is what I've cooked up to cool the ram for now.

No errors yet in memtest 86.

EDIT - Eventually it did start throwing up errors, so I've now switched over to a 1.5 gig setup with a couple of 256 meg 1066 modules I have.

That's a smart setup using the CPU coolers fan screws to mount the fan for the ram. It always amazed me at how hot RD ram ran.

pete8475 wrote on 2022-04-30, 08:28:

So this is what I've cooked up to cool the ram for now.

No errors yet in memtest 86.

EDIT - Eventually it did start throwing up errors, so I've now switched over to a 1.5 gig setup with a couple of 256 meg 1066 modules I have.

Dang, well I hope that 1.5GB is working well for you!

I was curious and did a little digging and it appears that the Section 1.7.1.1 of the D850EMV2's specification update (actual page 15 of the attached document, or page 9 as paginated) notes that only 1.5GB of PC1066 can be used, whilst 2GB of PC800 is totally fine. I wonder why this is so? It appears that other boards like the ASUS P4T533-C and Gigabyte GA-8IHXP are fine with 2GB of PC1066.

Glad to hear that it's working well in games for you! Quake III must fly on this thing!

WJG6260 wrote on 2022-05-02, 23:51:

Dang, well I hope that 1.5GB is working well for you!

I was curious and did a little digging and it appears that the Section 1.7.1.1 of the D850EMV2's specification update (actual page 15 of the attached document, or page 9 as paginated) notes that only 1.5GB of PC1066 can be used, whilst 2GB of PC800 is totally fine. I wonder why this is so? It appears that other boards like the ASUS P4T533-C and Gigabyte GA-8IHXP are fine with 2GB of PC1066.

Glad to hear that it's working well in games for you! Quake III must fly on this thing!

Interesting bit of info, thank you finding that! I thought it was the memory overheating but clearly it's not.

Quake 3 does run very nicely, 1024x768 max detail, trilinear filtering, etc. gets over 220fps on the timedemo.

EDIT - 164.3fps at 1920x1080 resolution.

pete8475 wrote on 2022-04-30, 08:28:

So this is what I've cooked up to cool the ram for now.

No errors yet in memtest 86.

EDIT - Eventually it did start throwing up errors, so I've now switched over to a 1.5 gig setup with a couple of 256 meg 1066 modules I have.

I'd like to say that I really like this solution! It's genius! xD

Tetrium wrote on 2022-05-04, 13:47:

I'd like to say that I really like this solution! It's genius! xD

hah thanks, it's working well like this. Without the fan the modules are so hot you can't touch them!

pete8475 wrote on 2022-04-29, 05:19:

EDIT - I can be a bit slow sometimes... what exactly does PC/PCI mean?

PC/PCI is a separate connector for doing ISA IRQ and DMA signaling on a card that isn't ISA. Great for getting good Sound Blaster compatibility in DOS and Win9x on PCI cards that support it, and some very good ones do. Since you're focused on XP gaming, this probably isn't relevant to you.