Did you get file sharing working from your w10 pc to you w98 pc?. Quik rundown maybe?.

greasemonkey90s wrote:

Did you get file sharing working from your w10 pc to you w98 pc?. Quik rundown maybe?.

No man, I never really tried. I'm running a 10/100 PCI NIC in the Win98FE system with a static IP and I have internet access. So I shared out the folder D:\share to my network, making sure I had file sharing and stuff enabled in the Win98 network properties box. There were things I had to manually enable or install and configure stuff there. On the Windows 10 side, I just went to Network and saw the PC, double-clicked on it and saw the folder. From there, I can download things from the internet with IE11/Edge/Chrome/Firefox without it barfing all over my system because of lack of RAM, ActiveX, or whatever, then drop it into that folder. Boom, I can open the folder in Windows 98 and see what's in there.

I dunno now. I'm getting the itch.... There's a 600MHz Katmai Pentium III for sale on eBay for $25. I'm getting the itch...

very nice build,
I really like the P2B, from all the old boards that I've been trying to use for the past decade it was one that gave me the least problems, it has been pretty stable all things considered and it has all the original caps and such... also, I kind of think it looks good, the old Asus color scheme, the slot 1 🤣

the one I have is a newer rev (1.10) and with the voltage regulator which works under 1.80v so I recently replaced the PII 400 it had with a p3 750 (it was a good deal, and I didn't manage to find a good slotket adapter for the s370 Coppermine 1.1GHz fsb100 I have, which was the plan, one positive thing is that the coppermine 750 uses the same amount of power as the PII 400 did), it gave a nice performance boost for some of the heavier games (even for some DOS games, the demanding SVGA ones with max settings)

before I knew the board could handle lower voltage, I was also considering a Katmai, it should give a nice boost anyway, I think it would suit your TnT2 well, Half Life was a little slow for me with the PII 400

SPBHM wrote:

very nice build, I really like the P2B, from all the old boards that I've been trying to use for the past decade it was one that […]
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very nice build,
I really like the P2B, from all the old boards that I've been trying to use for the past decade it was one that gave me the least problems, it has been pretty stable all things considered and it has all the original caps and such... also, I kind of think it looks good, the old Asus color scheme, the slot 1 🤣

the one I have is a newer rev (1.10) and with the voltage regulator which works under 1.80v so I recently replaced the PII 400 it had with a p3 750 (it was a good deal, and I didn't manage to find a good slotket adapter for the s370 Coppermine 1.1GHz fsb100 I have, which was the plan, one positive thing is that the coppermine 750 uses the same amount of power as the PII 400 did), it gave a nice performance boost for some of the heavier games (even for some DOS games, the demanding SVGA ones with max settings)

before I knew the board could handle lower voltage, I was also considering a Katmai, it should give a nice boost anyway, I think it would suit your TnT2 well, Half Life was a little slow for me with the PII 400

Well, to be fair, back in the day I only ran the game at 800 x 600 max res on an 8MB Intel i740 graphics card via AGP and it ran fine for me. Although....now that I think about it, there was the occasional stutter during heavy disk loading... Hmmmm.

Well, to be fair, back in the day I only ran the game at 800 x 600 max res on an 8MB Intel i740 graphics card via AGP and it ran fine for me. Although....now that I think about it, there was the occasional stutter during heavy disk loading... Hmmmm.[/quote]

I was playing the game (HL) with a Voodoo 2 8MB and also the V4 4500 last time with the PII, most of the game was fine, but some spots had huge FPS drops that after switching between both cards and seeing the same behavior I assumed was a CPU bottleneck, oh well, maybe it was also related to the PCI bus? but to be fair I think even testing with a P3 and faster (still PCI) VGA I had some FPS problems on some of those spots, in any case, I think HL was considered a heavy game when it was new.

SPBHM wrote:

I was playing the game (HL) with a Voodoo 2 8MB and also the V4 4500 last time with the PII, most of the game was fine, but some spots had huge FPS drops that after switching between both cards and seeing the same behavior I assumed was a CPU bottleneck, oh well, maybe it was also related to the PCI bus? but to be fair I think even testing with a P3 and faster (still PCI) VGA I had some FPS problems on some of those spots, in any case, I think HL was considered a heavy game when it was new.

I know what you mean. That game kind of blew my mind when I first played it on that system. The 3D, even on that i740 chip, was mind-boggling good compared to the pixelated mess that was Playstation 1 3D graphics. And even that would probably pale in comparison to the legendary Voodoo2. I wanted one so bad back in the day, but they were too expensive.

So I went and looked at my older brother's house. And guess what I found in one of his spare bedrooms?

MY OLD WINDOWS XP DESKTOP! WHOHOO!

It was rebuilt in my original Pentium II computer case and still has the Pentium II sticker on the back! So I took my old PC that I had rebuilt and put it back in its old home. There's a certain amount of nostalgia from that, including the bloody scrapes that that old ATX tower case gives you when you're not careful.

Anyway, I put the other machine in the other case which is actually the case I bought for that computer. It even still has the AMD Athlon XP sticker on the front still. So here are the specs. I just did a CPU-z Validation on it too.

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Speed: 1.54 GHz (single-core, single-thread)
RAM: 512MB DDR-266 (two sticks of 256MB)
Motherboard: Abit KX7-333
HDD: Western Digital 80GB ATA
CD: Sony DVD-RW Dual-Layer ATA
Video: ATI Radeon 9550 256MB AGP 4x
Audio: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 PCI
Network: SMC PCI 10/100 Ethernet

And I JUST ADDED a PCI 2.2 USB 2.0 card that I had lying around that I couldn't use. Works like a charm on this system with Windows XP. Hell, the old install of XP was still there, so I'm cleaning it out, removing years-old anti-virus software, Yahoo messenger, AIM, stuff like that. I want it to run a bit lean. I'll bet THIS system would gladly run with my pair of STB Voodoo2 12MB cards in SLI. Then again, they probably can't compare to the Radeon 9550.

FFXIhealer wrote:

Well I just ran the TimeDemos for Quake 1 @ 640x480x16 running on just the 8MB Diamond Monster and I got: […]
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Well I just ran the TimeDemos for Quake 1 @ 640x480x16 running on just the 8MB Diamond Monster and I got:

Demo1: 40.2 fps
Demo2: 38.6 fps
Demo3: 38.7 fps

And I'm not interested it tricking this system out to the max...just seeing what I could get away with on the existing hardware (RAM, CPU, and motherboard). I'm pretty pleased so far, though I wonder if a re-install of Windows will give me a stable SLI setup of the 12MB cards.

That seems pretty slow to me, but if it's comfortable for you, then the setup is perfect.

FFXIhealer wrote:

What urge? To go overboard with the 12MB SLI cards? Yeah, I think the single 8MB Voodoo2 card is more than the CPU can handle […]
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What urge? To go overboard with the 12MB SLI cards? Yeah, I think the single 8MB Voodoo2 card is more than the CPU can handle on its own, so there's really no point in SLI unless I want to play at 768p resolutions. Hell, I can't even get Quake1 to play on 3dfx over 640x480 anyway.

And this build was just because I still had the PII, the MB P2B, and the 128MB RAM stick. I wanted to see what I could do with them. This is where I'm currently at with it.

The Riva TNT2 32MB Card: $10.
The 128MB PC-100 ECC stick: ~$15
The Diamond Monster 3D II 8MB: $25
The 2x STB 12MB Voodoo2 cards: $76
The VGA pass-through cable: $15
The SLI bridge cable: $10

Makes you wonder....

We like to go overboard here. For example my main retro machine is a 550Mhz K6-3 / Aopen AX59-PRO / 256MB SDRAM / MSI TNT2 PRO / 2x Voodoo 2 8MB / Yamaha DS-XG (YMF 724) + Primax Sound 16C (Gravis Ultrasound clone with 1MB) - I built it so high spec to run games like GL_Quake and Quake 2 at 1280x1024, games like Duke 3D (software) Descent 2 (3dfx), Camageddon (3dfx) and Dungeon Keeper (d3d) at 1024x768 and so on - resolution and details as far as they will go. What doesn't run perfectly on this machine I run on my Athlon XP 3200+ / FX 5900XT.

On this forum you will often see "why stop there?" and "add more ram!" and "buy a 3dfx card" and so on. Lots of us like to push our retro builds to their limits.

Well, I pulled out my big bag-o-ram that's on my shelf of un-confirmed RAM sticks from way back in the day, contains DDR1 and DDR2 sticks. I found a bunch of DDR1 stuff. Tried them all out on my system and while I found a matching pair of 256MB 133MHz DDR sticks, I also found ONE working 1GB 166MHz DDR stick that works in this system, so Windows XP just got a huge upgrade in RAM. I've updated the CPU-z validation file accordingly:

I think the mis-matched 256MB sticks might have been the cause of XP hanging at random times. Since this is a single stick, I'm going to run a memory test to see how stable it is. I mean, it's not like I'm using the computer for anything else, right?

So, other stuff I have lying around in boxes that I'm going through.

Intel Pentium 200 FV80502200 with what looks like a permanently-attached heat-fin tower by Micron. It's a metallic blue, has a central core up the middle and what looks like office floor levels coming off of it as heatsink fins. I looked up the processor and it's only 15.5 watts. No wonder you didn't need active cooling on these things.

It was in a motherboard - a Micronics \- MB M55HI 2MBO9B 09-00273-35 REV B5 - 09-00273-35 I took the battery out just now because it has GOT to be old as crap and dead.

It had 4 ram sticks in it. I'm looking them up as I type this post.

First one has a sticker that says SEC KMM5324104BK-6U. That's a 16MB 72pin 60ns EDO DRAM SIMM. Only one of these.

Next one has only one sticker that says X ram 4x32. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Each of the 8 chips are identical and say:
Korea C006
9725 FFF
HM5117400S6

I looked up that last number and it's apparently a Hitachi Semiconductor 4,194,304 - WORD x 4-bit Dynamic RAM. So 8 of those chips and you get whatever storage it's supposed to be.

The last two are IDENTICAL. HYM532100AM-70 They are 4MB EDO DRAM 72-pin SIMM. So apparently 8MB total between the two sticks.

So....8MB + 16MB + whatever the hell that unmarked one is. So a minimum of 24MB. And I have no idea if they even work worth a damn. But it's cool that I have this stuff.

Some cool stuff laying around. I guess if this MB worked, it would make either a really good Windows 95 system, or a stupid-fast DOS system. It does have 4 PCI slots, but I have no PCI 2D card. The only PCI adapters I have are my Voodoo2 cards, so uh, dunno. But it looks like it has built-in audio. The chip is marked:
VIBRA 16C
(c)Creative Tech '95
CT2505-TDQ2
9642-SS1122C1

What I'm missing from that board is a "Power Module." I have no idea what that is. I'm looking for a manual online for this MB now.

that's a very nice ATX socket 7 board.

Yeah, but like, what do I do with it? 🤣 I do have a copy of Windows 95 with a key....but I have no graphics card, I doubt I'd be able to find the drivers for the on-board stuff like that audio chip, it has a 20-pin ATX power plug, but I can't find any pins to plug in a power switch to. I wouldn't even know what the HDD size limit on this thing is without booting it up. I could always repurpose one of my 40GB drives from my Windows 98 system. That'd let me put my old Floppy Drive back in if I did that. I could then re-partition the first 40GB drive into a 4GB/36GB scheme as C/D so I can keep my functionality, but still have the space.
The Windows XP machine has an 80GB HDD, but I think that MB would support the 160GB HDD I have laying around in bubble-wrap.

I've read some posts on here and that Athlon XP 1800+ system with 1GB of RAM sounds like it'd be a MONSTER Windows 98SE system, but I don't have a copy of Windows 98 SE. My copy of W98 is FIRST-Edition.

AND I'm still considering getting that 600MHz Katmai Pentium III for the W98 build that started this thread.

Ugh, you guys drive people to spend money, you know that? 🤣

Actually, as a base for a Windows 95 system, I could see it now. 24MB or more of memory, a PCI 2D card mated with a Voodoo1 PCI card, put in some kind of network card if I can find W95 drivers, let that thing run DOS as well and it'd make a killer early-90s gaming system at 200MHz.

Either that, or I sell it. 🤣

FFXIhealer wrote:

Well, I pulled out my big bag-o-ram that's on my shelf of un-confirmed RAM sticks from way back in the day, contains DDR1 and DD […]
Show full quote

Well, I pulled out my big bag-o-ram that's on my shelf of un-confirmed RAM sticks from way back in the day, contains DDR1 and DDR2 sticks. I found a bunch of DDR1 stuff. Tried them all out on my system and while I found a matching pair of 256MB 133MHz DDR sticks, I also found ONE working 1GB 166MHz DDR stick that works in this system, so Windows XP just got a huge upgrade in RAM. I've updated the CPU-z validation file accordingly:

I think the mis-matched 256MB sticks might have been the cause of XP hanging at random times. Since this is a single stick, I'm going to run a memory test to see how stable it is. I mean, it's not like I'm using the computer for anything else, right?

Considering that it's an ABit board and when it was made, it probably has bad caps. ABit switched to Rubycon eventually but at the time of the KT333 chipset I think they were still using Jackcon, which are junk. Replace them if you can.

For a 2d card for the Pentium board, grab an s3 trio. Cheap and easy 😀 I have a later version of that Micron board with a 166mmx and integrated Virge graphics. With an opl4 yamaha chio instead of the Vibra built in. EDIT: just wanted to add that my hdd limit is 40gb on mine and the power pin is in that big row of jumper pin. Carefully jump the pins with a flathead screw driver until you identify which ones are the power

Yeah, I just looked up that Vibra chip. Apparently, it's a Sound Blaster 16 chip made for OEMs to put on boards like this. It uses an ISA-type bus to run it on. Hey, I'm not complaining. I love Sound Blasters back in the day and Creative Labs, to me, was always the audio king for PCs. Hell, I even bought one of those 24-bit PCI-E Fatality cards for my old i7 build from 2010. Turns out, the audio quality of the included audio riser card was perfectly fine, but I still have that audio card laying in a box.

And the computer has been on all day yesterday downloading and installing Windows XP updates. Today, it's just sitting there. Although I'm concerned that there is 18GB used on the hard drive. I don't think I have THAT many games/ROMs installed. I'll have to keep digging.

I just found the missing rails for that case, so I put the floppy drive back in. Now, when I try to run CPU-z, it freezes the computer at 15%, the Processor stage. Mouse won't move or anything. Could be the RAM, could be the caps you were talking about, could be the updates that were installed, could be the floppy connected to the system. Dunno. I tested the floppy drive and it works properly - read the files on the disk and everything.

And I just looked up that S3 Trio on Ebay. Between $18 and $40 for one. And that card would do well running MS-DOS type games? Of course, if I were going to spend money on this, I'd also get the Voodoo1 4MB card and a pass-through cable.

I would not spend more than $10 max. They are common as heck. But ya they have great DOS compatibility.

I took two more shots, this time of the Abit MB and the Athlon XP system running Windows XP. The system is running a HDD defrag as I take these pictures. The reason the case is open is because I took out the crappy 80mm rear exhaust fan for a better 92mm fan to push more air out. The system has been on for about the last hour, so inside the case is getting noticeably warm. Hopefully, this helps cool it down a bit more. That Radeon 9550 doesn't have an active fan on the heatsink. I hope that really means it doesn't need one. The system was originally built with a 7500 with only 64MB of memory. I know, because the box it came in is where I found all the stuff for this computer, including the missing drive mounting rails and all the CD-ROMs and documentation for it. 🤣

The 1st picture is the expansion cards I have in. From left to right, it's the USB 2.0 card, the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 card, the SMC 10/100 Ethernet card (with WOL cable connected), then the ATI Radeon 9550 card.

Ok, so I have been totally unable to find a manual on-line for that Micronics motherboard. I know it's a M55HI+ Revision B board, so I'd know what BIOS to update it with, but I've been unable to find the manual so I know what jumpers to set, what that Power Module thing socket is for, etc.

Ran a full MemTest x86 on the Athlon XP system and it came back clean. All 1 GB of memory. I did that last night. So now I'm running the exact same CD-ROM on my Pentium II build to see what it says about the 2x 128MB chips. I wonder if I should have turned ECC on for this test or not...