Watch that the toy is not covering the cooling vents!

Cool wallpaper!

Today I adopted a machine thas wasn't treated very well lately:

It came with some 'funny' case badges 😀

After I removed the side panel (actually, it fell off by itself 😁) I saw (and smelled) a lot of nicotine-dust. As you can see, the case took quite a beating in the past. But the components look promising!

So what was inside? Some nice stuff!

Asus P2B:

With 3x 128MB SDRAM (all different modules, PC100 & PC133)

Pentium 2 350MHz:

Diamond Viper V550 16MB:

SoundBlaster Live! CT4620 with CT4660 header for digital connections:

3Com 3C905B-TX:

And also a floppy drive and a no-name DVD reader.

I'm afraid the case will be thrown out, it is broken and dirty. And the rest?

A few more images in this album: http://imgur.com/a/Alkve

Honestly any vintage ATX case is good at this point in time, as long as it is mostly complete at this point in time. Nice setup you ran across btw, versatile and quality pc you ran across! I would focus on games/programs you can runwith this machine (during/and or after you set it up) instead of future upgrading. Get it stabil instead of maxed out and have fun with it how it is

Nice Live-card. My personal favorite amoungst all Live's

I finally have that motherboard, wich I have searched for since I sold it in 2004. (deeply regret selling my first)
I had this board in my main-rig from 1998 or something like that until we parted ways.
And the reason for me, having so much retro gear, is actually in the search of this perticulair board.
So... Now I have all what I need in terms of SS7-Platform. My collection of SS7-Mobo's are mostly done.

The best part of it all are, that it happens to be the exact same revision.
In my parts collection, I just happens to have the exact same CPU (K6-2-500) and the exact same mem-modules,
from the exact same computer-shop. Wich I had back then. GFX and Soundcards are not the exact models. (yet close)
What an coinsident. I feel lucky, to be able to rebuild my old machine as complete as I possible can.

Yet again. 1.000.000.000 times thanks to the previous owner for letting me buy this board. 😀

ODwilly wrote:

Honestly any vintage ATX case is good at this point in time, as long as it is mostly complete at this point in time. Nice setup you ran across btw, versatile and quality pc you ran across! I would focus on games/programs you can runwith this machine (during/and or after you set it up) instead of future upgrading. Get it stabil instead of maxed out and have fun with it how it is

Yeah, you're right. The case is dirty and twisted a bit, but I'll try and bend it back into shape. The PSU is very dirty and crappy (Codegen branded) so I'll open it up and see if it's usable.

I think I'll rebuild the PC in the same case, maybe add Voodoo 2 SLI and AWE64, but I'll have to research for era-appropriateness. I also have a PIII 450MHz, maybe I'll swap that in as well. I'll have to see if it's supported, it seems to be a low revision P2B. Also, I wonder if a Tualatin Celeron 1400MHz will work with an UpgradeWare Slotket, just for fun!

I worked technical support and sales in a hobby-computer store from 1999 to 2003, and this reminds me a lot of the systems I built back then. Quality components, cheap cases and PSU's 😉 This one was built by one of our competitors. 😀

brostenen wrote:

I finally have that motherboard, wich I have searched for since I sold it in 2004. (deeply regret selling my first) I had this b […]
Show full quote

I finally have that motherboard, wich I have searched for since I sold it in 2004. (deeply regret selling my first)
I had this board in my main-rig from 1998 or something like that until we parted ways.
And the reason for me, having so much retro gear, is actually in the search of this perticulair board.
So... Now I have all what I need in terms of SS7-Platform. My collection of SS7-Mobo's are mostly done.

The best part of it all are, that it happens to be the exact same revision.
In my parts collection, I just happens to have the exact same CPU (K6-2-500) and the exact same mem-modules,
from the exact same computer-shop. Wich I had back then. GFX and Soundcards are not the exact models. (yet close)
What an coinsident. I feel lucky, to be able to rebuild my old machine as complete as I possible can.

Yet again. 1.000.000.000 times thanks to the previous owner for letting me buy this board. 😀

Cool, I've built many systems with that board, and also with the Asus P5A (the Gigabyte is a bit more stable at higher speeds I think). I have an Aopen AX59PRO coming in the mail, if I could also find a 5AX I'd be happy 😀

brostenen wrote:

Nice Live-card. My personal favorite amoungst all Live's

I'm not really familiar with the details of the Live cards. I know there are many variations. What makes this one good in your opinion? 😀

@Cryix200+; Nice system, ditch the mobo for something more dependable and you'll have a pretty top notch PII.

@Brostenen; How does that ALi chipset stack up against the MVP3 performance-wise? I've never had an opportunity to test one and have heard mixed reports (as always is the case with any device).

HighTreason wrote:

@Brostenen; How does that ALi chipset stack up against the MVP3 performance-wise? I've never had an opportunity to test one and have heard mixed reports (as always is the case with any device).

I really have not benched them head to head, using the exact same hardware. I can only tell what I have noticed.

Using the MVP3 chipset, I get the following.
In MS-Dos, I actually get a stable and pretty fast P133 system. It's insanely good, when disabling cache to run a game like Dynablaster.
In Win98SE, I see a better performance too, yet it is on PCI soundcards and the drivers should be spot on.

The Ali-V is better at different hardware, using different drivers. It's not that picky. Yet it delivers a (non)segnificant lower performance.
So I would say that, if the choice is a mix of early Win98 and late Dos games, then Ali-V if it's early Dos games, then MVP3 with an P133.

All in all... Just one of the following boards are good to have: Asus P5A, FIC PA-2013 or Gigabyte GA-5AX.
My P133 is running on an Epox MVP3-C sporting an CL-5446-PCI, SB16-ISA and a GUS-ACE. Really great setup. Rock stable.
(just don't pick that PA-2013 for Voodoo3-AGP as the AGP is "one of those")

Cyrix200+ wrote:

I'm not really familiar with the details of the Live cards. I know there are many variations. What makes this one good in your opinion? 😀

Compared to the "Value" edition of the first SB-Live lineup. The card you have there, delivers a better sound output.
I have had both cards running in Win98SE and on MS-Dos-6.22. And the Value seems to have a slightly lower sound quality.
Not that it's that much of a difference. The full version just sounds better. And yeah... It's got golden connectors.

HighTreason wrote:

@Cryix200+; Nice system, ditch the mobo for something more dependable and you'll have a pretty top notch PII.

@Brostenen; How does that ALi chipset stack up against the MVP3 performance-wise? I've never had an opportunity to test one and have heard mixed reports (as always is the case with any device).

I'll take the MVP3 over the Aladdin V any day. Belive it or not, I now have 3 ALi V boards - and none of them work properly. One is a Commate witch came with a K6-450 - used to work with everything bu AGP cards, now it throws "Gate A20 error" when trying to load Himem.sys. The second is a EPOX board (also baby AT) - BSODs in win98 with ANY AGP card except for a Voodoo Banshee.

The third is an ATX Asus board - replaced most caps (1000 and 1500uf) and it runs fine but it's slower than my Lucky Tech P5MVP3 in almost all aspects (5-10%) except for AGP performance. Still use it since it's my only ATX Super Seven board, and weirdly enough it's currently the favorite SS7 board in my collection, since it's the only ALi V board I could get running.

Cyrix200+ wrote:

I'm afraid the case will be thrown out, it is broken and dirty.

I love the way that case looks - the stickers as well. It's very hard to find vintage looking ATX cases nowadays. Lately I've been setting for cheap chinese black cases of decent quality and design, and when I'm lucky I'll stumble upon something like an older Antec NSK series. For all my searching, I could only find one good looking retro ATX case - the only one in my collection - this thing:

As you can see, the bay covers are from another case, and they have been bleached using hydrogen peroxide. I'll bleach the case and IDE rack as well, so everything should match up nicely

If we lived in the same country, I'd take that case of your hands. A little hydrogen peroxide 12% hair cream + 2-3 hour sunbath and the yellow will go away. For the pannels I use Policolor white 124 or thin beige primer. I don't even mind the missing bay cover - one could install a white 5.25" IDE Rack or white fan controller to make it look complete and period correct.

kanecvr wrote:

I love the way that case looks - the stickers as well. It's very hard to find vintage looking ATX cases nowadays. Lately I've be […]
Show full quote

I love the way that case looks - the stickers as well. It's very hard to find vintage looking ATX cases nowadays. Lately I've been setting for cheap chinese black cases of decent quality and design, and when I'm lucky I'll stumble upon something like an older Antec NSK series. For all my searching, I could only find one good looking retro ATX case - the only one in my collection - this thing:

IMG_20150608_222021.jpg

As you can see, the bay covers are from another case, and they have been bleached using hydrogen peroxide. I'll bleach the case and IDE rack as well, so everything should match up nicely

If we lived in the same country, I'd take that case of your hands. A little hydrogen peroxide 12% hair cream + 2-3 hour sunbath and the yellow will go away. For the pannels I use Policolor white 124 or thin beige primer. I don't even mind the missing bay cover - one could install a white 5.25" IDE Rack or white fan controller to make it look complete and period correct.

Yeah, I've decided to keep the case. One of the problems is that its twisted, the four legs never touch the desk at the same time. I will completely diasassemble it and see if I can bend everything back into place. Not ver easy, it's very thin steel. I love the stickers 😀

Cyrix200+ wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

I love the way that case looks - the stickers as well. It's very hard to find vintage looking ATX cases nowadays. Lately I've be […]
Show full quote

I love the way that case looks - the stickers as well. It's very hard to find vintage looking ATX cases nowadays. Lately I've been setting for cheap chinese black cases of decent quality and design, and when I'm lucky I'll stumble upon something like an older Antec NSK series. For all my searching, I could only find one good looking retro ATX case - the only one in my collection - this thing:

IMG_20150608_222021.jpg

As you can see, the bay covers are from another case, and they have been bleached using hydrogen peroxide. I'll bleach the case and IDE rack as well, so everything should match up nicely

If we lived in the same country, I'd take that case of your hands. A little hydrogen peroxide 12% hair cream + 2-3 hour sunbath and the yellow will go away. For the pannels I use Policolor white 124 or thin beige primer. I don't even mind the missing bay cover - one could install a white 5.25" IDE Rack or white fan controller to make it look complete and period correct.

Yeah, I've decided to keep the case. One of the problems is that its twisted, the four legs never touch the desk at the same time. I will completely diasassemble it and see if I can bend everything back into place. Not ver easy, it's very thin steel. I love the stickers 😀

Use a mallet if you have one, at least for the bottom of the case. (Well, that's what I'd do)

I use a piece of old floor board and a lump hammer. The board goes between the hammer and the case.

This arrived today. Zenith Supersport ZWL-184-02. Total impulse purchase off eBay. The price was right. Has a 80C88 CPU running at 8 MHz, I believe. 20MB HD / 720K FDD / MS-DOS 3.3. Screen looks better than the photo.

Because I don't have much space, this will serve as my XT system. Monochrome graphics for now, unless I ever get a CGA or Tandy monitor (unlikely because of space issues). Fun to mess around with -- plays Oubliette just fine!

I drove to rural SC this evening and picked up PS/2s with a CT5320 and CT5330. 😀 For a fair price.

Cyrix200+ wrote:

Today I adopted a machine thas wasn't treated very well lately: […]
Show full quote

Today I adopted a machine thas wasn't treated very well lately:

After I removed the side panel (actually, it fell off by itself 😁) I saw (and smelled) a lot of nicotine-dust. As you can see, the case took quite a beating in the past. But the components look promising!

So what was inside? Some nice stuff!

Asus P2B:

With 3x 128MB SDRAM (all different modules, PC100 & PC133)

Pentium 2 350MHz:
no-name DVD reader.

I'm afraid the case will be thrown out, it is broken and dirty. And the rest?

A few more images in this album: http://imgur.com/a/Alkve

Nice find! I picked up a very similar computer from the roadside recently, except mine had poor video and sound options. That Live! looks great and the optical daughterboard is a bonus.

I have actually upgraded the CPU on my P2B to a Celeron 1.4 using a Powerleap slotket, hard to find but worth it.

What hard disk did it come with? I was lucky enough to get a working drive, only issue with it was a corrupted WinME install - it had been sitting unused for about 16 years!

Bought a matx Slot 1 motherboard today for $15 and scored a Geforce 8800gts for $10.

brostenen wrote:

I finally have that motherboard, wich I have searched for since I sold it in 2004. (deeply regret selling my first) I had this b […]
Show full quote

I finally have that motherboard, wich I have searched for since I sold it in 2004. (deeply regret selling my first)
I had this board in my main-rig from 1998 or something like that until we parted ways.
And the reason for me, having so much retro gear, is actually in the search of this perticulair board.
So... Now I have all what I need in terms of SS7-Platform. My collection of SS7-Mobo's are mostly done.

The best part of it all are, that it happens to be the exact same revision.
In my parts collection, I just happens to have the exact same CPU (K6-2-500) and the exact same mem-modules,
from the exact same computer-shop. Wich I had back then. GFX and Soundcards are not the exact models. (yet close)
What an coinsident. I feel lucky, to be able to rebuild my old machine as complete as I possible can.

Yet again. 1.000.000.000 times thanks to the previous owner for letting me buy this board. 😀

Nice board, i'm a big fan of ALI chipsets and have many 386 / 486 boards with chipset of theirs in my collection.... though I didn't realise they were still around for the socket 7 days, quick research shows their Aladdin line went upto P3, socket 478 and then went one further with Magik, sockets A, 940, 754.

But it all began with the M1429... this is my favourite. 😀