lafoxxx wrote on 2022-08-31, 08:48:I just don't get it. Can someone shed some light on this issue please? […]
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I just don't get it. Can someone shed some light on this issue please?
My experience with VIA has been negative so far. It just seems bloated and has noticeable performance issues. That's why I sold VIA-based MoBo for Intel 815E-based one, and have absolutely no regrets (rest of specs remained same). But the dude I sold it to said they would use it with Voodoo5 card.
I also know a guy who sold VIA-based PC (with Voodoo also, with top Tully-1400, Aureal Vortex and GUS) for ridiculous price of $1000.
What makes VIA Apollo better choice? Do people choose it because it has ISA+1.5 GB RAM limit (for people who just can't let ISA go, and think RAM is so important, especially in Win9x) ? Or is it just cheaper?
I mean really, even 440BX has ISA.
There've been many good replies already.
Intel i815 based boards are great for building Win9x rigs around and especially if you don't care about ISA.
Overall great stability, very good generic hardware compatibility (minus the usual lack of ISA slots of course), good performance for the era and last but not least i815 based systems are relatively easy to set up making them rather newbie-friendly imo. CPUs, memory, compatible CPU coolers, AGP graphics and PCI sound are all very easy to find with a LOT of options usually. Provided the hardware isn't defective in some way, it should just work 😋
And if you don't care about Tualatin then Coppermine 1000 is also a great CPU for the time.
However, despite me being something of a fan of i815 chipset, i815 does come with some flaws like some people have already elaborated upon.
The biggest issue is lack of ISA which is something of an essential component when wanting to run DOS. Sure, it's possible to just build more computers to be able to cover more software but many people want to actually have to build fewer computers, be it because of space constraints, because of money issues (building more PCs is usually also more costly in money, time, effort and in space) or perhaps because the person wanting to build a rig based on maximum compatibility is simply not really that much into building retro computers to begin with.
Many people who started the hobby relatively recently (usually because of nostalgia, though this trend had already started before covid) found themselves not knowing what to get and many just went with the cookiecutter stuff (Voodoo, ISA sound, BX or s370+ISA). So demand increases, stocks kinda dried up, prices go up and perhaps a lil bit of FOMO as well here and then comes covid and the lockdowns and having to spend more time at home and prices go up even more.
Many of us started the hobby back when these parts were considered trash (and I mean I found s370 boards literally in the trash, amongst the garbage bags etc) and things were very cheap and very available compared to things now, so it was easy to build a lot of rigs but now things are expensive and people who feel like having to put all eggs into fewer baskets (because higher prices preclude building more rigs for many), people new to the hobby (generally speaking) tend to prefer the more shiney stuff 😜
A bit speculative perhaps, but I'd say this is how things have been going generally speaking.
Back to i815 drawbacks, another one is the (artificially placed) maximum supported total memory size of 512MB. These days this isn't much of an issue but back then it was if you wanted to run XP on your s370 system as for WinXP 512MB is really kinda cramped. Don't get me wrong, it will work especially if you make some thought out choices and tweak it a bit but an A64 3000+ with 2GB DDR-400 will run XP so much better, let alone the maxxxxxed-out WinXP rigs featuring the older i7 CPUs etc.
And also Win9x will run just fine with a maximum of 512MB (heck, 256MB is also almost always enough for 9x).
The hardware itself hasn't changed much except for aging perhaps, but the world around it has changed a lot. i815 used to be almost the default pick for a faster Coppermine (or a Tualatin) and 440BX for the slower P6 architecture chips (P3 and to a lesser degree P2 and Celeron), but where 440BX has retained relevancy (because ISA and good compatibility and great overall stability), i815 has perhaps waned somewhat because demand has become somewhat more specialized, mostly because of all the slowdown projects and with how available P3 hardware is with the huge amount of parts manufactured for these architectures which has helped fortifying P3 becoming more popular overall which in turn helped popularize Voodoo which in its turn feedbacked popularizing retro gaming. And P6 architecture is also something of a crossroads for both DOS and early 3D gaming thanks to, well, many things actually. But the slowdown projects have certainly helped along the way and for that VIA has certainly gained a lot of relevance at the cost of at least some popularity for i815.
Still I think if you are less interested in DOS games that cannot be run in Windows and are mainly someone who just wants to play old Windows-based CDROM based games, then Coppermine 1000 with i815, some generic PC-133, a modern-ish PSU, spare older ATX case and a cheap-ish PCI sound card will go a long way to make for a great retro gaming experience 🙂