These devices have a VGA output, don't they? Does plugging in a monitor make any difference? Or running them from a wall outlet instead of from the battery?
auron wrote on 2021-03-26, 22:17:OP already said that pcpbench gives him erratic scores and stutter even under win98.
Ah, sorry, I got it in my head that that was in safe mode. Can't think of any reason why Doom would be consistently smooth in Win98, but pcp be variable.
well, doom is capped at 35fps, while pcpbench is uncapped, so that may be a possible explanation. i suppose the pentium ii 400 even with these issues is fast enough to run that game at its cap, perhaps helped by the faster file access under windows.
So, some underlying hardware issue (engineering sample cpu?) that Win98 somehow reduces the impact of (so Doom runs ok there, but not in DOS), but that's still there no matter whether booting in to DOS or Windows?
I went to go apply some thermal paste, and I found that the heat sink is missing a thermal pad on it. Due to missing the pad, the heatsink does not connect with the processor. I think we might have figured out the problem. I will get thermal pads and report back!
Should used a copper shim instead of poor thermal pad for this CPU which is too much watts for this type of thermal pad.
Cheers,
Great Northern aka Canada.
pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-03-27, 00:15:Should used a copper shim instead of poor thermal pad for this CPU which is too much watts for this type of thermal pad.
Cheers,
Do any local stores sell copper shims or is it an online order only?
Probably not worth testing now but:
Is ACPI enabled for Windows 98? If so perhaps HLT is being used and the processor remains just cool enough whereas in DOS it doesn't.
a copper shim might be too thick though, no? at least thermal pads are somewhat malleable, but you still want to get one that's the right thickness for that heatsink.
frankly it would have been hard to tell what exactly is going on just from those pictures - i would have thought that there's a thermal pad in the first one, and then on the second it looks like the die was once half-covered by something...
auron wrote on 2021-03-27, 00:52:a copper shim might be too thick though, no? at least thermal pads are somewhat malleable, but you still want to get one that's the right thickness for that heatsink.
frankly it would have been hard to tell what exactly is going on just from those pictures - i would have thought that there's a thermal pad in the first one, and then on the second it looks like the die was once half-covered by something...
I should have clarified but that stuff in the first picture is mythermal paste you are seeing. I assume in the second paper that the stuff on the die is just residue from the old thermal pad from the C1XF heatsink.
DosFreak wrote on 2021-03-27, 00:31:Probably not worth testing now but:
Is ACPI enabled for Windows 98? If so perhaps HLT is being used and the processor remains just cool enough whereas in DOS it doesn't.
ACPI is enabled in windows 98. I just can't believe this thing had been running dry with no contact to the heatsink.
EDIT: Ordered a copper shim, and also ordered a couple thermal pads if the copper doesn't end up working. Will report back sometime next week on results.
The copper shim ended up not fitting with the heatsink well so i used a 2mm thick thermal pad instead. Once installed, I experienced zero fps drops, and on pcpbench I got the same values I saw in the C1XF, 96.0. Given this, I consider the issue resolved, and I appreciate all the help from everybody! Thanks.
Good work, and a good suggestion from Auron. So it looks like the mobile PII does do some thermal throttling (maybe just stops for a bit), and that perhaps Win98 was able to have the CPU in a low power state often enough to stop it overheating. Interesting. I wonder if there's a power difference between Win98 and DOS both when running Doom and when just idling that can be measured with one of those plug in Watt meters.
I think it's fascinating that a Pentium ii could have the capability. To be fair, I believe this processor was the last of Pentium ii's made, and this pc did come out in 2000. Unfortunately, I do not have any load meter to test the difference, but I have to say that the throttling fooled me in windows 98!
