Benchmarking!!!! Its not just a hobby, its a way of life!!

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-11-24, 00:19:

The brown ones towards the front are the Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX (60mm). […]
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Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-24, 00:12:

I like where this is going :) […]
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Shponglefan wrote on 2023-11-23, 23:16:

Lots of testing and benchmarking. Currently benchmarking the Pentium 200 vs Pentium MMX 200 vs Pentium Pro 200 in conjunction with various video cards.

I like where this is going 😀

Could you please give me the models' names of the fans on top of the coolers?
I do need a few to replace mine. Little ones are dead and dreadfully loud with the infamous rattling noise.

The brown ones towards the front are the Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX (60mm).

The grey fan in the back is the Noctua NF-R8 redux-1800 (80mm).

I do like Noctua fans. They move a decent amount of air and remain relatively quiet. 😀

Glad I'm not the only "put a Noctua on everything" cliché here. 😉

Also a fan of those StarTech copper heat sinks, which I've used in several systems. Needed to take a Dremel to them a bit though, since they don't leave any room for ZIF socket handles that rise above the level of the socket:

Tried to quick repair 2 Zip drives but it turned out they both don't work. Got them 5€ each.
These 2 + 20 100MB disks for 20€, only the disks make the balance 😀

Continued testing more MBs: GA-945GCMX-S2 was dead; fortunately though, GA-5AA and P5A -- both SS7 boards -- were back to life.

The Hardware Monitor error was caused by the modern 24-pin PSU lacking -5V rail.

Only two AT-powered boards (ECS P5VX-Be and P/I-P55T2P4) left; haven't used AT PSU for more than a decade......

I inquired my local recycler about whether he had any stock of old PC parts and he told me he would send me photos yesterday.. Still waiting.

*WAITING INTENSIFIES*

Closed up my black CECHB00 PS3 for the time being.

The good:
- PSU is full range voltage it appears - APS-226, 100-240VAC, despite the console being rated for 100v and shipped with a Japanese AC lead no less.
- blu ray drive seems okay-ish, there's some funky stuff going on with the BD drive during startup, kinda like a seek test.

The bad:
- original COK-001 board is absolutely TOAST. The RSX was reflown to kingdom come before me. It's doornail dead. Fortunately I had a COK-002 board around... or not fortunately.
- the replacement COK-002 board I had sourced from a spare CECHC04 does boit and work fine... except the HDMI side is every little bit as DEAD. Tried reflowing the data side of the RSX that goes to the HDMI, THE HDMI CHIP ITSELF, nothing. No HDMI whatsoever, and that's with nearly 5 different HDMI cables. Defeated, I stuck a spare 120GB HDD out of an Xbox 360 inside it and called it a day.

I'll likely hunt down a COK-002 board that has a working HDMI port and see what frankenstein of a CECHB00 unit I can pull off. I don't really mind the EE+GS missing on the COK-002 boards, as PS2 compatibility seems to be solid enough on the chrome units too.

Finally, a pic of the other BC unit I usually use - CECHC04 with a 500GB Seagate. Loaded with PSX and PS2 games mostly, though I have a few favourite racing PS3 titles in there too. No emulators yet but I might add some.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-11-24, 18:01:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2023-11-24, 13:55:

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-11-23, 23:16:

Lots of testing and benchmarking. Currently benchmarking the Pentium 200 vs Pentium MMX 200 vs Pentium Pro 200 in conjunction with various video cards.

Love that workbench. And is that a PowerVR I see there?

Thank you, I really should create a workbench thread one of these days. 😁

And yes, that's a Matrox M3D. It's the second Matrox M3D I acquired after the first one was sadly destroyed in transit.

Destroyed? I'm "divided" on that one. 🤔

Checked again my zip drives, this one does this:
https://youtu.be/Eq-WVfRRsa8

Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-25, 16:21:

Checked again my zip drives, this one does this:
https://youtu.be/Eq-WVfRRsa8

3 of my 250MB zip drive (internal) also behavior like this, but instead of blink, it stay solid green up on power (also in my case, the disk type detection led also stay on for 30-60s then off)

Well, last night I setup my first FTP Server on my Dell T610 PowerEdge in CentOS 8.1 for use with my vintage computers now, so now I don't need the ISP's dingaling crap (ie that WAP/FTP Server/EZ Share thing Spectrum had) to host my files. Using the same server I'm using for Plex/modern file shares/etc. I'm going to try it out on mTCP later on today (FTP utility), and see if I can grab files on my old 486 systems. The same share is also PLANNED to be accessible if I can create an SMB 1.0 sandbox for it setup, so in the rare cases I need to hit it with Win9x/3.1x/2K - I can.

I tried running it from the garage last night, however 100mbps over the Linksys WNCE2001 did not really work for Plex or modern file ops. Right now I'm just dragging over tons of files from my 1TB External to the server and letting it do it's magic. Came in this morning to all my DOS stuff pulled over nicely.

So far it looks pretty nice and I've got gigabytes of games, software, and whatnot, stored away on the FTP to snag. So I'll probably be organizing between that and e-bay stuff. I also have 2 3TB Drives to add to the RAID on it at some point as well.

nhattu1986 wrote on 2023-11-25, 18:06:

Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-25, 16:21:

Checked again my zip drives, this one does this:
https://youtu.be/Eq-WVfRRsa8

3 of my 250MB zip drive (internal) also behavior like this, but instead of blink, it stay solid green up on power (also in my case, the disk type detection led also stay on for 30-60s then off)

Could it be an infrared sensor broken? I'll look into that. A spare could be probably bought for cheap.
If you have more ideas throw them my way 😉

I bought a UV-C rechargeable toothbrush holder/sanitizer for $19 on black friday, chopped the toothbrush holder part out, and now I have a portable EPROM eraser. It's working great!

Bath time!

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-11-26, 00:31:

Bath time!

Hahah love it! Gravis Ultrasound Bath! I bet the signals will be at least a little cleaner afterwards

supercordo wrote on 2023-11-24, 23:19:

Benchmarking!!!! Its not just a hobby, its a way of life!!

What a beasty machine. What do you plan to run on it?

kingcake wrote on 2023-11-25, 20:02:

I bought a UV-C rechargeable toothbrush holder/sanitizer for $19 on black friday, chopped the toothbrush holder part out, and now I have a portable EPROM eraser. It's working great!

image_50425857.jpg

That's neat that it's using a proper uvc tube and it's enclosed. I'm wondering if the UVC LED phone cleaners could work for this application too or it needs to be a real tube.

Today I'm frustrated with a project I'm secretly working on, thought I'd got this thing 100% fixed but put it all back together and now it's shorting out in a new way, ergh. Still more troubleshooting to do

So instead I've been doing other stuff around me - modified the DS1287 on a new-to-me old motherboard. Cut away the sides with side cutters and then picked away and hand drilled the potting compound away. I was able pull away the chip legs completely out and separate them from the internal dead battery.
The + side is mounted directly and the - side is using a capacitor leg to cover the distance, then lots of hot glue to hold it together and now this DS1287 has a replaceable battery with no increase in Z height, which would be a problem since this is an LPX motherboard.

Been doing a modern project too but not gonna make a separate post about it. I use a 140mm fan hooked up to a USB > 12v to run the fan as my desk fan to blow away solder fumes. It was a wiring mess with a separate module to make the PWM speed control signal. Today I got myself to do a 1-day project with an Attiny85 I had left since it's got an ADC. That's now reading a potentiometer dial so I can set the PWM speed and it integrates the on/off switch, voltage step-up module and some pass-thru USB power plugs into one little box that screws onto the side of the fan 😀
Also upgraded the fan from a Corsair to a 140mm Noctua that used to cool my main PC but now isn't needed, so it's a bit quieter too.

Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-25, 18:34:

nhattu1986 wrote on 2023-11-25, 18:06:

Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-25, 16:21:

Checked again my zip drives, this one does this:
https://youtu.be/Eq-WVfRRsa8

3 of my 250MB zip drive (internal) also behavior like this, but instead of blink, it stay solid green up on power (also in my case, the disk type detection led also stay on for 30-60s then off)

Could it be an infrared sensor broken? I'll look into that. A spare could be probably bought for cheap.
If you have more ideas throw them my way 😉

i wish i could 🤣
but i'm from Viet Nam so the shipping cost is too expensive to do so 😁

nhattu1986 wrote on 2023-11-26, 03:53:

Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-25, 18:34:

nhattu1986 wrote on 2023-11-25, 18:06:

3 of my 250MB zip drive (internal) also behavior like this, but instead of blink, it stay solid green up on power (also in my case, the disk type detection led also stay on for 30-60s then off)

Could it be an infrared sensor broken? I'll look into that. A spare could be probably bought for cheap.
If you have more ideas throw them my way 😉

i wish i could 🤣
but i'm from Viet Nam so the shipping cost is too expensive to do so 😁

No, not "ship them to me" 🤣
I think that it has a problem but on the motherboard of the unit. Honestly I don't care but it would be nice to solve it, for the fun of it.

The other unit makes a couple of tries to read the media but then parks and issues the LED error blink.

I'll get back to it every 2 months, like a comet... 😀

Vietnam? Do you speak french or you are new generation and do not?

Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-26, 04:15:

No, not "ship them to me" LOL I think that it has a problem but on the motherboard of the unit. Honestly I don't care but it wou […]
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nhattu1986 wrote on 2023-11-26, 03:53:

Nexxen wrote on 2023-11-25, 18:34:

Could it be an infrared sensor broken? I'll look into that. A spare could be probably bought for cheap.
If you have more ideas throw them my way 😉

i wish i could 🤣
but i'm from Viet Nam so the shipping cost is too expensive to do so 😁

No, not "ship them to me" 🤣
I think that it has a problem but on the motherboard of the unit. Honestly I don't care but it would be nice to solve it, for the fun of it.

The other unit makes a couple of tries to read the media but then parks and issues the LED error blink.

I'll get back to it every 2 months, like a comet... 😀

Vietnam? Do you speak french or you are new generation and do not?

ha ha, i misunderstood a bit 😁
but yes, i think the problem is indeed something on the mainboard, i think that the main controller may be failed.
i still keep those drive to provide head part for the running one
if your unit is having trouble reading disk then you either have bad disk or the head is too dirty, you can open the drive, drop some IPA 99% on the landing pad for the head and move the head a little bit 😁

you can tried to test the disk with TIP (trouble in paradise), just change the date to sometime before 2010 and it should run.
if your drive is scsi and TIP not recognized the drive, tried to install ASPI from adaptec

no, there are very limited school that still teaching french and they are only located in big city like Hanoi or Ho chi minh, not the country side like mine 😁
also i think there are only a handful of university still offer the course in french (at least in 2004)

kingcake wrote on 2023-11-25, 20:02:

I bought a UV-C rechargeable toothbrush holder/sanitizer for $19 on black friday, chopped the toothbrush holder part out, and now I have a portable EPROM eraser. It's working great!

image_50425857.jpg

Does it actually work? I have one of these and tried to erase EEPROMs with it, and it did nothing..