Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 13:40:

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-09, 13:18:

Cheap NICs are almost synonymous.

What was wrong with Realtek NICs of the time?

Nothing wrong with them, yet more fancy ones like intel or 3com were supposed to run faster and/or take load off the CPU. I did not check.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-09, 13:40:

I assume you're referring to the ISA ones?

Pretty much half of any add-on ethernet card before they ended up being integrated in every motherboard.
Google search for images of "PCI ethernet" and you're bound to see a lot of crabs.

Bought a NMC-5VM5e (Super Socket 7) which is supposed to be a rebranded EPOX EP-MVP3c. Unfortunately it's not working. I only get a neverending beep as soon as a CPU is installed 🙁

That usually indicates that it can't find the CPU, memory, or video card.

Try a different processor, ram, and a PCI video card.

Another possibility is that the FSB is set incorrectly and the processor can't start.

Particularly try a single voltage plane CPU in it, (P54) in case the vcore reg is blown.

Today's recent pick-up: Stoned Shaman.

I. love. this. set.

When I mess around with the Voodoo1, I always lament "man... if this card was a lot faster and could play at 800x600.... I'd have a Voodoo2!" haha... Actually, I am wishing the Voodoo1 had more "oomph" to it, and the Stoned Shaman beautifully fills in the gap between a Voodoo1 and a Voodoo2, with 800x600 to boot.

Meatball wrote on 2022-03-10, 16:12:

Today's recent pick-up: Stoned Shaman.

I. love. this. set.

When I mess around with the Voodoo1, I always lament "man... if this card was a lot faster and could play at 800x600.... I'd have a Voodoo2!" haha... Actually, I am wishing the Voodoo1 had more "oomph" to it, and the Stoned Shaman beautifully fills in the gap between a Voodoo1 and a Voodoo2, with 800x600 to boot.

But what is it? SLI didn't become a thing until Voodoo 2? And 20 megs in total? What kind of sorcery (or voodoo) is that? I'm puzzled 🤣

H3nrik V! wrote on 2022-03-10, 16:16:

Meatball wrote on 2022-03-10, 16:12:

Today's recent pick-up: Stoned Shaman.

I. love. this. set.

When I mess around with the Voodoo1, I always lament "man... if this card was a lot faster and could play at 800x600.... I'd have a Voodoo2!" haha... Actually, I am wishing the Voodoo1 had more "oomph" to it, and the Stoned Shaman beautifully fills in the gap between a Voodoo1 and a Voodoo2, with 800x600 to boot.

But what is it? SLI didn't become a thing until Voodoo 2? And 20 megs in total? What kind of sorcery (or voodoo) is that? I'm puzzled 🤣

SLI finally comes to the Voodoo... actually as I understand it.. this set is equivalent to some kind of Obsidian 100sb (or db?... I know practically nothing about Obsidian cards.) This set uses the same drivers.

https://www.voodooalert.de/board/forum/index. … ics-sli-review/

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-10, 15:10:

Bought a NMC-5VM5e (Super Socket 7) which is supposed to be a rebranded EPOX EP-MVP3c. Unfortunately it's not working. I only get a neverending beep as soon as a CPU is installed 🙁
NMC5VM5e.jpg

I'd check different RAM. Continuous beep is RAM issues.

Bought this ASUS PTGV-DM today. Only bought it because it's an ITX socket 479 (a mobile socket on a desktop board that I don't have in my collection) and includes backplate, card reader (always handy), heatsink and suitable PSU. Cost more than I would normally pay for a similar board (after shipping and import taxes), but the PSU and cooler made it almost a no-brainer for a near complete build. Originally out of an HP system, so I don't expect much out of it in terms of overclocking. Don't expect it to arrive for 2 to 4 weeks.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-10, 15:14:

That usually indicates that it can't find the CPU, memory, or video card.
Try a different processor, ram, and a PCI video card.
Another possibility is that the FSB is set incorrectly and the processor can't start.

Another mystery of old hardware..

I tried all combinations (with/without RAM, VGA, CPU) and every time a CPU was installed I got the continues beep (maybe my description was misleading: it's a normal 'long' beep (0.5sec?) that repeats constantly).

Then I tested all components in another board - all work.
Then I reinstalled them again in the new board - works!
I'm not complaining 😁

With a BIOS update the board should work with the K6/2+ which was the main reason I bought it. Now it's recognized as 'Unknown CPU' and POST stops after the RAM test.

Yeah it's the quantum bogodynamics theory at work, while there was a high bogon flux (doubt about components increasing local bogosity) it wouldn't work, but when bogon emission was moderated, by proof that components were fine, then bogon flux was minimized and the board booted.

Yes, now that you mention it it's quite obvious 😀

I mean some people would say it needed a few power cycles to reform the capacitors, or the contacts in slots and sockets needed a few insertions to break the oxide layer, but it's far easier to believe that bogons, being like the midichlorian for random stupidity, were involved.

debs3759 wrote on 2022-03-10, 17:00:

Bought this ASUS PTGV-DM today. Only bought it because it's an ITX socket 479 (a mobile socket on a desktop board that I don't have in my collection) and includes backplate, card reader (always handy), heatsink and suitable PSU. Cost more than I would normally pay for a similar board (after shipping and import taxes), but the PSU and cooler made it almost a no-brainer for a near complete build. Originally out of an HP system, so I don't expect much out of it in terms of overclocking. Don't expect it to arrive for 2 to 4 weeks.

What are your plans?

Meatball wrote on 2022-03-10, 16:22:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2022-03-10, 16:16:

Meatball wrote on 2022-03-10, 16:12:

Today's recent pick-up: Stoned Shaman.

I. love. this. set.

When I mess around with the Voodoo1, I always lament "man... if this card was a lot faster and could play at 800x600.... I'd have a Voodoo2!" haha... Actually, I am wishing the Voodoo1 had more "oomph" to it, and the Stoned Shaman beautifully fills in the gap between a Voodoo1 and a Voodoo2, with 800x600 to boot.

But what is it? SLI didn't become a thing until Voodoo 2? And 20 megs in total? What kind of sorcery (or voodoo) is that? I'm puzzled 🤣

SLI finally comes to the Voodoo... actually as I understand it.. this set is equivalent to some kind of Obsidian 100sb (or db?... I know practically nothing about Obsidian cards.) This set uses the same drivers.

https://www.voodooalert.de/board/forum/index. … ics-sli-review/

That's just so downright cool!

Got this PixelView GeForceFX 5700LE for 10 EUR.

Performance is kinda meh, comparable to my ATi 9550, and far below my GeForce4 Ti4200. Still, not too bad for so little money.

I was originally hunting an FX 5900XT, but someone else got it before me. Maybe next time.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-03-11, 12:29:

Got this PixelView GeForceFX 5700LE for 10 EUR. […]
Show full quote

Got this PixelView GeForceFX 5700LE for 10 EUR.

FX5700LE.jpg

Performance is kinda meh, comparable to my ATi 9550, and far below my GeForce4 Ti4200. Still, not too bad for so little money.

I was originally hunting an FX 5900XT, but someone else got it before me. Maybe next time.

Isn't there a mod to be done to step it up? Or is the core the culprit?
Can't remember all those LE models...

Nexxen wrote on 2022-03-11, 12:52:

Isn't there a mod to be done to step it up? Or is the core the culprit?
Can't remember all those LE models...

From what I gather, the LE model is a heavily downclocked FX5700 with either a 128-bit or a 64-bit memory bus (varies by manufacturer).

It might be possible to regain some performance through overclocking, but the memory bus will still drag the LE card down.

It will be faster than a FX 5200 64-bit. I wonder how it compares to a 5200 128-bit? I assume that the 5700 LE doesn't suffer from the loss of Z-buffer compression as the 5200 does, so it would be an interesting comparison.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-03-11, 12:29:

Got this PixelView GeForceFX 5700LE for 10 EUR.

Performance is kinda meh, comparable to my ATi 9550, and far below my GeForce4 Ti4200. Still, not too bad for so little money.

I was originally hunting an FX 5900XT, but someone else got it before me. Maybe next time.

The FX 5900 XT is a good card, and they can still be had for a reasonable price. They will dip between 50-70 USD if you're patient.

I'm curious how many memory chips are underneath that heatsink and what they are clocked at. It looks overkill for the 5700 LE.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-11, 15:04:

It will be faster than a FX 5200 64-bit. I wonder how it compares to a 5200 128-bit? I assume that the 5700 LE doesn't suffer from the loss of Z-buffer compression as the 5200 does, so it would be an interesting comparison.

I think it should have all the compression functionality that the FX5200 is missing. And if GPU-Z is to be trusted, my particular card has a 128-bit memory bus as well.

I'm curious how many memory chips are underneath that heatsink and what they are clocked at. It looks overkill for the 5700 LE.

I just finished re-pasting the heatsink and applying some electrical motor lubricant to the fan, but I didn't take a closer look at the memory chips. It does have pretty decent cooling. The memory chips have heatsinks on the back side as well.

The default clocks are 250 for the core and 200 (aka 400 because DDR) for the memory.