gerry wrote on 2022-02-21, 11:20:

RetroPC_King wrote on 2022-02-21, 04:31:

This is what retro hardware I got: ASUS A7V880 VIA KT880 motherboard + AMD Sempron 2400+ 1.667 GHz CPU with it's AMD stock coole […]
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This is what retro hardware I got:
ASUS A7V880 VIA KT880 motherboard + AMD Sempron 2400+ 1.667 GHz CPU with it's AMD stock cooler (AVC AV112C86) and MB I/O Shield
AMD Sempron 2600+ 1.6GHz 128KB L2 (rev. D) Socket 754 CPU with cooler
..

Any opinions about what I got?

solid enough performers with the early mid 2000's stuff there, these single core sempron's are sometimes neglected for being out of step with the advent of the dual core era and all the exciting 775 stuff but i think they're still good 😀

I built myself a S754-Sempron 2600+ system in early 2006 as my main system (Upgrade from an overclocked Tualatin-Celeron). At that time the S754 was already outdated but in comparison it was pretty inexpensive compared to every S939-system. And the Semprons were supposed to overclock quite good, so I took that route.

My Sempron ran stable at 2400 Mhz (which is 50% over the original clock) but then I had to underclock the RAM. The best overall performance was at 2160 Mhz with tight memory timings. Quake 3 ran 40% faster compared to original settings! 😁
That was the last time I did some serious overclocking.. And this was my first AMD-system since the 386/40 😀 I skipped the Socket-A era with the Tualatin.

I have way too many motherboards already, but I tend to make an exception for a very specific feature. These were listed at $165 but I made a low-ball offer for $30 and won.

Can anyone spot what's so special about this board?

yeah, the non-standard atx power connector, be careful with that ^^

I made an offer for $40 on a GeForce 2 Ultra and won. These cards are surprisingly expensive but are, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Direct3D 7-class video cards. I had one of these in a Pentium 4 sometime late 2000 to early 2001 and I was able to run games at max settings for years.

imi wrote on 2022-02-21, 17:45:

yeah, the non-standard atx power connector, be careful with that ^^

I hope you're not referring to the motherboard I posted. It looks like standard ATX connector to me. It had better be!

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-02-21, 17:51:

imi wrote on 2022-02-21, 17:45:

yeah, the non-standard atx power connector, be careful with that ^^

I hope you're not referring to the motherboard I posted. It looks like standard ATX connector to me. It had better be!

No, it is two pins left shifted - to use it with an ATX PSU you either need the dumb ATX to DELL PSU adapter or desolder the connector, shift it to the side and resolder it.

I'm guessing you got it for the onboard Yamaha sound though?

Think maybe this is Packard Bell version rather than the Dell one: https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards/5897 ?

appiah4 wrote on 2022-02-21, 18:05:

No, it is two pins left shifted - to use it with an ATX PSU you either need the dumb ATX to DELL PSU adapter or desolder the connector, shift it to the side and resolder it.

I'm guessing you got it for the onboard Yamaha sound though?

Yes, exactly. Thank you for pointing out the power connector. I suspect it might have gone up in smoke if I had connected it as-is.

Can you provide any additional reference for moving the ATX connector so that I can be sure that I'm doing it correctly?

My research also suggests that this is an INTEL SE440BX-2, but I won't know for sure until I get it.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-02-21, 17:49:

I made an offer for $40 on a GeForce 2 Ultra and won. These cards are surprisingly expensive but are, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Direct3D 7-class video cards. I had one of these in a Pentium 4 sometime late 2000 to early 2001 and I was able to run games at max settings for years.

s-l1600.jpg

Good looking card! Very clean and colorful layout.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-02-21, 17:49:

I made an offer for $40 on a GeForce 2 Ultra and won. These cards are surprisingly expensive but are, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Direct3D 7-class video cards. I had one of these in a Pentium 4 sometime late 2000 to early 2001 and I was able to run games at max settings for years.

s-l1600.jpg

At first glance I woulda thunk that was a Geforce 3.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-02-21, 18:20:

At first glance I woulda thunk that was a Geforce 3.

DELL had an OEM GeForce 3 that looks almost identical.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-02-21, 18:09:

Yes, exactly. Thank you for pointing out the power connector. I suspect it might have gone up in smoke if I had connected it as- […]
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appiah4 wrote on 2022-02-21, 18:05:

No, it is two pins left shifted - to use it with an ATX PSU you either need the dumb ATX to DELL PSU adapter or desolder the connector, shift it to the side and resolder it.

I'm guessing you got it for the onboard Yamaha sound though?

Yes, exactly. Thank you for pointing out the power connector. I suspect it might have gone up in smoke if I had connected it as-is.

Can you provide any additional reference for moving the ATX connector so that I can be sure that I'm doing it correctly?

My research also suggests that this is an INTEL SE440BX-2, but I won't know for sure until I get it.

Hi,

no worries, it's an Intel SE440BX-2, 100% sure. You can use a standard ATX PSU.
According to the picture and Board Revision, you have a recent one, supporting up to PIII 850.

You can get some info and drivers in my Signature

I bought two of them so if the ATX connector is actually shifted I'll still have a second chance. 😀

The reason I bought these is because of the onboard Yamaha XG. This gives some added flexibility when pairing sound cards by having a genuine Yamaha available for OPL or General MIDI.

Unfortunately, it's the cost reduced YMF740 which has only 32-voice polyphony and not the YMF724 which has the full 64 voices. This is very minor but worth mentioning.

I found a similar board from Dell that does appear to have the ATX power connector shifted to the right. What is the additional white power connector below it? More Dell power supply shenanigans?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-02-21, 19:07:

I bought two of them so if the ATX connector is actually shifted I'll still have a second chance. 😀

I have the standard ATX non-OEM version of that board and the connector is in exactly the same position as yours, so you should be safe. The Dell version is shifted to the right (and probably also needs the 6-pin connector below).

TheMobRules wrote on 2022-02-21, 19:11:

I have the standard ATX non-OEM version of that board and the connector is in exactly the same position as yours, so you should be safe. The Dell version is shifted to the right (and probably also needs the 6-pin connector below).

I just edited my previous post asking this very question. 😀

It seems like the auxiliary connector is no longer needed once the ATX connector has been shifted appropriately. Nice.

A Permanent Solution to the Dell 'Fake ATX' Power Supply Problem?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-02-21, 19:12:

I just edited my previous post asking this very question. :) […]
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TheMobRules wrote on 2022-02-21, 19:11:

I have the standard ATX non-OEM version of that board and the connector is in exactly the same position as yours, so you should be safe. The Dell version is shifted to the right (and probably also needs the 6-pin connector below).

I just edited my previous post asking this very question. 😀

It seems like the auxiliary connector is no longer needed once the ATX connector has been shifted appropriately. Nice.

A Permanent Solution to the Dell 'Fake ATX' Power Supply Problem?

Yeah, I told you, you have a very nice mobo and you can use the Standard ATX PSU. What CPU do you think you'll put on it ?

I will be updating the BIOS and then test it with the processors I have available. I mark the CPU slot with a label to help me known what the fastest processor is supported. Then I can build around that after validating other features such as the onboard sound, ISA DMA, etc. Boards from this era often are infected by the capacitor plague so there may be repairs that need to be made.

I'm not sure what I will use it for just yet but I'll be sure to make a thread about how it performs once I've finished testing it.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-02-20, 01:15:

So guess why I dragged this junker home ??? ...

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-02-20, 02:01:

Yah, I've always wanted a LS120, I walked past this twice in the thrift, and then *tinkle* penny dropped, "Why does that machine […]
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Yah, I've always wanted a LS120, I walked past this twice in the thrift, and then *tinkle* penny dropped, "Why does that machine have two floppy drives?.......Ohhhh!!"

Rest is nothing special, mATX i845 board 100/400, SDRAM 2x256Mb PC133, 32Mb TNT2, winmodem.... not sure what P4 yet, crossing my fingers for a 2.8A... got enough dog slow ones... think the soundcard was pulled... no HDD, just all the drives you see in front, I'd quite like to have another working LG supermulti though, opticals have been dying like they can catch covid or something lately. PSU is hmmmm, case in not too bad shape and I maybe have it's twin, so be nice to put keepers in a matching pair. Anyway, whole ~$10 USD, 12.99CDN and a sore arm from carrying it was the bill.

edit: Lose.. CPU is 1.5Ghz Willamette... Some bloaty caps by the CPU too, IDK if they're 1000 or 1500s at the moment, too dirty... Oh it has some kinda onboard sound.. there's one slot uncovered, which is what made me think a soundcard used to live there.

editII: Took some while to ID the vid card, think I'm there now, it's an Asus V3800M Magic Pure 32MB ... the larger, fairly well printed sticker on it, seeming to come from a computer store, said it was a V7800 TNT M64.. and had $89.99 below that.... 90 fricking bucks for an apparently USED TNT2!!! Poor sucker got boned, checked 2001 pricing, first old computer paper I pulled up had a new Geforce2 for $69 ... might have been an MX but still... Computer store dude must have seen him coming. Anyhoo for a brief, sweet, but brief, moment, I thought it was something in the high end of GF2s, due to the V7x00 numbering, but nope, human error, deliberate or otherwise, tryna make it sound more current than it was maybe.

FInally got to easing out the SuperDrive to get a better look at it. It's the Panasonic/Matsushita model, Jan 99... had they figured out how to make them right by then? heh.

So mostly, I'm hoping to marry it to a board that supports LS-120 as drive A through BIOS, then have 360 and 1.2MB 5.25s on the floppy controller... then I've got the fast 1.44 for archiving any of my old stash that need saving, (They're supposed to read pretty bad disks better than regular 1.44s) and possibly 120MB capability if it still works. There's a slight possibility I've got a piece or two of new media somewhere, got a faint recollection of "something like that" turning up in a box lot of random and kicking around for a while. Not sure though if it was def LS-120, it was about that size, could have been a Zip-100 or a Sony Minidisk or anything around that size. Also got like 3 USB floppies, so could give it one of those too for 1.44 copying. Though I'm having a sneaking suspicion that I'm gonna have to try half a dozen boards until I find one that acts perfect. First instinct is to go Abit, they seemed to support LS-120 well.

I was running low on 3.5" FDDs so I grabbed 4 of them for 8 bucks. 2 beige, 2 black. Yeah, black 😒 But I guess I can replace the facplates with ones from dead floppy drives or paint them.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-02-22, 06:33:

I was running low on 3.5" FDDs so I grabbed 4 of them for 8 bucks. 2 beige, 2 black. Yeah, black 😒 But I guess I can replace the facplates with ones from dead floppy drives or paint them.

Black ones are actually more valuable, because they're more rare.
What brands? Sony MPF920 by any chance? Could give ya beige plates in exchange. 😁