VOGONS


Suggestion for tuning my Slot1

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First post, by AlessandroB

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I make a new post because it seems more appropriate. Bearing in mind that my IBM 300 Slot1 has the BX chipset but limited to 66mhz and 2.0volt, the alternatives for the fastest cpu are the Celeron Mendocino at 533Mhz or the PentiumIII 600 at 66x6 = 400Mhz. Which is the fastest in the games? No applications or productivity software.

Reply 1 of 41, by RaverX

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Hard to say, I think it depends from game to game. Quake 3 would probably run better on the PIII, the game engine really likes to have a lot of cache on the CPU. UT *might* run better on Mendocino, but I'm not sure.

Reply 2 of 41, by dionb

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Limited to 66MHz FSB? Wouldn't it be possible to mod/hack the PLL to get 100MHz after all?

If not, a Mendocino@533MHz would beat the hell out of a Katmai running at 400MHz@66MHz FSB. Clock-for-clock Mendocino averages at about the same performance as Katmai, with small differences depending on whether cache size (Katmai wins) or cache speed (Mendocino wins) is more relevant. So running at 33% higher clock would get about 33% higher performance (maybe a bit less because of high multiplier, but still well over 25%).

Reply 4 of 41, by dionb

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The 2.0V limit doesn't help there, you'd need a slocket with voltage regulator. Also, the extremely high multiplier on the CuMine Celerons means very diminishing returns - the CPU will be waiting for the bus all the time. It will be slightly faster than the Mendocino, but not that much.

Reply 5 of 41, by appiah4

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Really depends on the application, but few games that you would want to run on either CPU really benefit from more cache and the ones that do are going to be severely bottlenecked by either choice regardless so you may as well go for the Mendocino 533 IMO.

Reply 6 of 41, by AlessandroB

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Thanks for your answers, I repeat, I do not care about maximum performance, this computer should run games until approx 1999, for more demanding games I can use a pentium4. I'm interested in the 360-degree experience, I don't want to change or modify the original hardware. So you think like me that 133mhz more than the mendocino still make the difference in performance and is the fastest average cpu for games on my IBM. I looked at the price of slokets and they exceed double what I paid the whole computer ... it doesn't make sense.

Reply 7 of 41, by dionb

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Where are you looking? The simple ones with no VRM are pretty trivial when I look. On a well-known auction site there's one in the UK for GBP 10, in RU for EUR 8.50 and one in the US for USD 17. I'd consider them overpriced, but these numbers are hardly likely to be double what you paid for that PC.

Reply 8 of 41, by rasz_pl

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dionb wrote:

The 2.0V limit doesn't help there

coppermines have no problem running 2.0V, but every board adhering to Intel Slot1 specification MUST support at least 1.8V, so even less of a problem

AlessandroB wrote:

Bearing in mind that my IBM 300 Slot1 has the BX chipset but limited to 66mhz and 2.0volt

seems unlikely, model type?

AT&T Globalyst/FIC 486-GAC-2 Cache Module reproduction
Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) ZBIOS 'MFM-300 Monitor' reverse engineering

Reply 9 of 41, by AlessandroB

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rasz_pl wrote:
coppermines have no problem running 2.0V, but every board adhering to Intel Slot1 specification MUST support at least 1.8V, so e […]
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dionb wrote:

The 2.0V limit doesn't help there

coppermines have no problem running 2.0V, but every board adhering to Intel Slot1 specification MUST support at least 1.8V, so even less of a problem

AlessandroB wrote:

Bearing in mind that my IBM 300 Slot1 has the BX chipset but limited to 66mhz and 2.0volt

seems unlikely, model type?

Machine Type 6287
Model 320

Reply 10 of 41, by AlessandroB

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rasz_pl wrote:
coppermines have no problem running 2.0V, but every board adhering to Intel Slot1 specification MUST support at least 1.8V, so e […]
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dionb wrote:

The 2.0V limit doesn't help there

coppermines have no problem running 2.0V, but every board adhering to Intel Slot1 specification MUST support at least 1.8V, so even less of a problem

AlessandroB wrote:

Bearing in mind that my IBM 300 Slot1 has the BX chipset but limited to 66mhz and 2.0volt

seems unlikely, model type?

I not know exactly if my mainbord can go at 1,8 or 2,0 V, how i can know?

The adapter i found on ebay is abot 130€!!! But i think is a wrong model.. can you show me please the right one? tnks

Reply 11 of 41, by appiah4

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Do a search on eBay for Slocket and Slotket

Reply 13 of 41, by dionb

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That Powerleap Tualatin thing is a completely different beast, regulating voltage down to 1.45V and supporting FC-PGA2 pinout. Rare and much sought-after.

The 370SP in your first pic is perfectly good for using a Celeron 533 Mendocino on any Slot1 board. Just use that.

Reply 14 of 41, by rasz_pl

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AlessandroB wrote:
rasz_pl wrote:
coppermines have no problem running 2.0V, but every board adhering to Intel Slot1 specification MUST support at least 1.8V, so e […]
Show full quote
dionb wrote:

The 2.0V limit doesn't help there

coppermines have no problem running 2.0V, but every board adhering to Intel Slot1 specification MUST support at least 1.8V, so even less of a problem

AlessandroB wrote:

Bearing in mind that my IBM 300 Slot1 has the BX chipset but limited to 66mhz and 2.0volt

seems unlikely, model type?

I not know exactly if my mainbord can go at 1,8 or 2,0 V, how i can know?

its IBM, they stick to standards, it will do 1.8V, BUT this model/motherboard shipped with Pentium III 500 (katmai) max, so bios probably will not support coppermine. Worst case scenario it will display wrong clock/model, but being a n IBM I suspect it wont even boot, or stop with an error.
this means you are limited to mendocino/katmai

AlessandroB wrote:

The adapter i found on ebay is abot 130€!!! But i think is a wrong model.. can you show me please the right one? tnks

What you already have is OK.
Edit: found your other thread 😵 moving rest of my reply to i want to buy a IBM 300GL... is it good???

AT&T Globalyst/FIC 486-GAC-2 Cache Module reproduction
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Reply 15 of 41, by AlessandroB

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I need some other clarification:

1)What is the adequate amount of RAM for this computer? On the computer there is written Max RAM 256Mb, but currently I have installed two 256Mb dimm for a total of 512 megs and it works well. But if it is too much I leave only 256, even to save a dimm, which will become increasingly rare.

2)They told me that the proper graphics card could be one of the ATI 9200, Nvidia FX5200 or MX200 and MX400, in what order? Keep in mind that I have ONLY PCI slots

3)I need a software to clone the hard disk that starts from cd-rom and that can clone the master disk on the slave disk without disconnecting the disks from the IBM.

4)Is there any software that forces the cd / dvd-rom to run more slowly? It makes a lot of noise when it runs at maximum speed with a disc inside

I think that's all I need to know about this computer for now

Reply 16 of 41, by appiah4

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AlessandroB wrote:
I need some other clarification: […]
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I need some other clarification:

1)What is the adequate amount of RAM for this computer? On the computer there is written Max RAM 256Mb, but currently I have installed two 256Mb dimm for a total of 512 megs and it works well. But if it is too much I leave only 256, even to save a dimm, which will become increasingly rare.

2)They told me that the proper graphics card could be one of the ATI 9200, Nvidia FX5200 or MX200 and MX400, in what order? Keep in mind that I have ONLY PCI slots

3)I need a software to clone the hard disk that starts from cd-rom and that can clone the master disk on the slave disk without disconnecting the disks from the IBM.

4)Is there any software that forces the cd / dvd-rom to run more slowly? It makes a lot of noise when it runs at maximum speed with a disc inside

I think that's all I need to know about this computer for now

1. That system can comfortably run up to 512MB under Windows 98 but more than 256MB would be useless considering the hardware you have in it.

2. In termas of performance it is 9200 > FX 5200 > MX400 > MX200 however PCI versions of these cards are severely bottlenecked by the bus they run on. I had an MX400 PCI in a P3-1GHz system and it performed at around TNT2/TNT2Pro levels at best.

I also find PCI versions of FX 5200, MX400 and MX200 are very uncommon. PCI versions of 9200 are so rare that they may as well not exist AFAIK. There are also PCI versions of 9250 (mostly 64-bit) but they are expensive.

In my experience you have two realistic options: 1. Finding Radeon 7000 PCI for cheap. It is much easier than any of the above and it performs admirably well in such systems but lack of palettized textures and table fog may be an issue with some games. 2. Finding a TNT2 M64 PCI for cheap. It will perform roughly like a Voodoo2 so it will choke on some 1998/1999 games but have better compatibility, especially for earlier 3D titles and DOS.

3. Let me make sure I understand this right; the software has to be able to run on the IBM (ie. Pentium III) right? HDClone was something I used for this purpose back then. As for now, I swear by Macrium Reflect but I strongly doubt it could run on a retro PC.

4. Nero DriveSpeed maybe?

Last edited by appiah4 on 2019-05-24, 22:14. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 17 of 41, by AlessandroB

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tnks guys. i will try and let you know

Reply 18 of 41, by dionb

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A bit of dissent on the video cards: those cards listed are all way out of period for this system. Yes, they will work, and do so faster than period stuff, but if you just want 'fast', get a generic ATX box with motherboard with AGP etc...

More correct and more interesting:
- Voodoo3 3000 PCI. Not cheap, but spot-on in terms of what a gamer with one of these boxes would have bought. Gives you GLide as well.
- Matrox G450 PCI. Cheap & easy to find. Performance similar to V3 3000, but no GLide, only D3D and (if you can find a good driver) OpenGL. Does give you Matrox' EMBM though.
- TNT(2) PCI, perhaps a TNT2-M64. Nice standard nVidia drivers, in same ballpark as other two in performance, but less quirky.

Reply 19 of 41, by Deksor

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I've got 128MB of ram in my pentium 2 450MHz and I've never been out of ram with late 90's early 2000's games !

By 1998 128MB of ram was still a lot, and by 2001 64MB was low-end, so for that era 128MB is pretty good.

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