KdKitt wrote on 2024-02-02, 13:54:

Hi! I'll make my first thread here showing off this labor of love. I always wanted a Pentium Pro as a teenager, it was weird, h […]
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Hi! I'll make my first thread here showing off this labor of love. I always wanted a Pentium Pro as a teenager, it was weird, huge, outclassed, beautiful. I actually owned an Orchid Righteous - anyway here's the specs. Meant to be a PC build from right around 97-99

Wall Mount from ABKcase on Etsy.

Motherboard is a P6FX1-A
Pentium II Overdrive 333
512mb of RAM
Sound Blaster Live (SB0220 but I did get good drivers working for it)
S3 Virge DX 4mb
Orchid Righteous 3dfx Voodoo 1.
Running Windows 98SE

I love it, it's maybe a bit of a odd build but golly.
I also have a Pentium Pro 200 looking pretty on a shelf near it.

The Sound card being a PCI card was a conceit of displaying the Voodoo so Proudly, but it's working now

I'm looking forward to playing some 3dfx games of the Era, and some other games that should run ok. Tomb Raider, MechWarrior 2, Rogue Squadron, Diablo. I am 4th place on SpeedRunning Magic the Gathering Shadalar (1997) and Speedrun Jazz Jackrabbit a bit (though I may have to Tinker to get it not to run too fast on this.. but I have Dosbox on my Steam Deck if not).

If you are curious I run a desktop fan blowing across the CPU when in operation. Air flow seems to cool if sufficiently

Super Cool!!! 😀

gerry wrote on 2024-02-02, 15:52:

I hadn't seen a wall mounted approach like this before, i like it! Suddenly i'm thinking "... all that wall space and all these motherboards.! " 😀

Haaa. Yes! So much wall space... What to do

Ok, now that we are on a new page and everyone forgot how cool those digital/DEC PCs looked (you all forgot about them, right?) here is my 1996-1998 (1998 December) build:

Specifications:

• PSU: EC 200W ATX
• Mainboard: ASUS P2B-F
• CPU: Intel Pentium II 450
• RAM: 128MB (1x128MB SDRAM)
• Floppy Drive: Mitsumi 3.5" DS-HD
• Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint 40GB IDE
• Optical Drive: LG 52x CD-RW IDE
• Graphics: Diamond Stealth G460 AGP
• 3D Accelerator 1: Creative Voodoo 2 12MB
• 3D Accelerator 2: Orchid Voodoo 2 12MB (SLI)
• Sound 1: Sound Blaster AWE64 CT4520 ISA
• Sound 2: Serdaco SIMMCONN 32MB
• Network: 3Com 3C905 PCI
• Operating System: Windows 98SE

As always, more computer/hardware porn is available on my website.

appiah4 wrote on 2024-02-05, 08:19:

Ok, now that we are on a new page and everyone forgot how cool those digital/DEC PCs looked (you all forgot about them, right?) […]
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Ok, now that we are on a new page and everyone forgot how cool those digital/DEC PCs looked (you all forgot about them, right?) here is my 1996-1998 (1998 December) build:

1996-1998 PII450-Voodoo2SLI 01.jpg

1996-1998 PII450-Voodoo2SLI 02.jpg

1996-1998 PII450-Voodoo2SLI 03.jpg

Specifications:

• PSU: EC 200W ATX
• Mainboard: ASUS P2B-F
• CPU: Intel Pentium II 450
• RAM: 128MB (1x128MB SDRAM)
• Floppy Drive: Mitsumi 3.5" DS-HD
• Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint 40GB IDE
• Optical Drive: LG 52x CD-RW IDE
• Graphics: Diamond Stealth G460 AGP
• 3D Accelerator 1: Creative Voodoo 2 12MB
• 3D Accelerator 2: Orchid Voodoo 2 12MB (SLI)
• Sound 1: Sound Blaster AWE64 CT4520 ISA
• Sound 2: Serdaco SIMMCONN 32MB
• Network: 3Com 3C905 PCI
• Operating System: Windows 98SE

As always, more computer/hardware porn is available on my website.

That's a really, really nice spec. Very similar to one of my builds. That should whip through mid-late 90s games without breaking a sweat.

Sometimes I think y'all got a hot tub filled with Voodoo2s that you occasionally take a dip in 😁

Just in case some might forget how cool DEC machines are I'll share some photos of mine here.

This is a Digital PC 3000/3100. The state of the machine is very nice. Only some really minor scratches and a very very little yellowing. It was sold as broken to me a few years ago. The seller told the third ram slot was broken. He had tried to max out the mem in configuration which is not supported by the motherboard. When i max it out taking consideration of the supported configuration all is fine.

Some quick specs (in the current state and far as I remember):

AMD K6 233MHz
128MB ram (2*64MB)
Matrox PCI video card (don't remember the model)
Soundblaster Vibra 16
CD-rom player
FDD
3.2GB Quantum Fireball (including very high pitched spinning sound)

Today I booted the machine after getting it out of the storage where it was for some years. At first nothing happened besides 2 beeps, but after re-sitting the video card it booted flawlessly.

Some proof:

And some more proof:

eindbaas wrote on 2024-02-09, 17:07:

3.2GB Quantum Fireball (including very high pitched spinning sound)

I had one of those at one point. Don't remember its spinning sound, but I doubt it can be louder than the IBM Deskstar 80GB that is currently in my oldest retro system (SS7 with K6-II+). I loved the Fireball name, though, and even named the retro system after it. 🤣

That's a very lovely Compaq Presario as well 😁

devius wrote on 2024-02-09, 22:15:

That's a very lovely Compaq Presario as well 😁

Thank you. It is indeed! Quite strange actually. I never preferred OEM systems, but they keep crossing my path and mostly I can't refuse taking them home 😂

The Compaq will get it's own photoshoot soon. This one of the Digital I just posted very quick, but I'd like to give more of an in-depth view in the future.

Very nice PC 3100/FX-2 short-tower! Apparently these machines were the first from a major PC vendor to use the K6 CPU: press release, news article (Though I doubt DEC could have ever truly been called a major PC vendor).

I've got a whole bunch of Quantum Fireballs with what I assume are bad bearings - they appear to work fine, but some of them are unbearably noisy.

Edit: Should you want it, I've got the original OEM crap here: https://www.zx.net.nz/computers/dec/venturis-fx2/ - the System Software CD is for the FX-2 but the only difference between the FX-2 and the PC 3100 is the badge

davidrg wrote on 2024-02-09, 22:44:

Edit: Should you want it, I've got the original OEM crap here: https://www.zx.net.nz/computers/dec/venturis-fx2/ - the System Software CD is for the FX-2 but the only difference between the FX-2 and the PC 3100 is the badge

That is very nice, thank you! Besides the system itself I have nothing regarding the originally supplied peripherals and software. So this will help for sure 😀

I just read the news article and press release you mentioned. Both state this particular pc is a budget model. That is correct, it was. This shows just again how the conception about this might have been changed when time went by. I mean this pc feels like it has been forged out of massive clump of steel when compared to a more contemporary budget system. Also the special form factor of the motherboard and related stuff does not indicate the most cost-effective production process was chosen 😂

I'm currently working on 3 machines, one is an old RM computer but unfortunately its got a more modern motherboard inside. It is running Windows 2000 with all drivers working fine but I'd really like to push it down to Windows 98SE if possible so this will be purely experimental. I will leave the original hard drive alone and do an install of Windows 98SE on another hard drive, that way if it fails I can go back to Windows 2000 on the original drive.

The second machine I was lucky enough to find this machine by a dumpster, its a nice Pentium III machine. It has a socket 370 board with an 800MHz processor, universal AGP slot and 3 PCi slots. 3.5" floppy drive and 52x speed CD ROM Drive. The motherboard needs re-capping but luckily its only six 2200mF capacitors that are bulging. The PSU also needs some capacitors changing. Once parts are repaired or changed, I will make this machine into a Windows ME build as this PC reminds me of the one I had as a young teen back in 1999 that also ran Windows ME. I will also install an MS-DOS 6.22 partition.

The third machine isn't quite built yet. I am still waiting for my CPU thermal pads to arrive, once I have those I should be good to go and put the PC together. This one will be a MS-DOS 6.22/Windows 95 build.

c0burn wrote on 2020-10-15, 22:02:

https://i.imgur.com/NU1NClw.png […]
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Specs:

PC Chips M321 motherboard (all ISA slots)
AMD 386DX-40 CPU
16mb 30-pin RAM
Tseng ET4000AX 1mb video card
Aztech Sound Blaster Pro 2 clone (real OPL)
MS-DOS 6.22/Windows For Workgroups 3.11
3COM Etherlink ISA Network Card
XT-CF lite with 2gb CF card in back expansion bracket

Nice system! For my 486 build I used the same case. Did you built in the speed indicator yourself? My case has only a blank square with nothing behind it at that spot.

eindbaas wrote on 2024-02-09, 17:07:

Just in case some might forget how cool DEC machines are...

Is that a BTX style mainboard?

DerBaum wrote on 2024-02-10, 13:47:

eindbaas wrote on 2024-02-09, 17:07:

Just in case some might forget how cool DEC machines are...

Is that a BTX style mainboard?

To my knowledge it's not a BTX style mainboard. It looks more like a proprietary form factor. I just sled the main part of it out of the case. While doing that the daughterboard with all the cables and expansion board remain in the case:

The form-factor is actually NLX - All of DECs PCs after the original Venturis/Celebris machines seem to use it, including the Alpha-powered Digital Personal Workstations (though I assume the Alphas diverged from the standard for the riser due to their use of 64bit PCI).

The originators of the NLX form factor were: AST, ASUS, Digital Equipment Corporation, Fujitsu, Gateway 2000, HP, IBM, ICL, Micron, NEC, Sony, Toshiba and Tulip Computers. Some Compaq machines from the late 90s use NLX too - my Digital PC 3500 has an NLX-form factor AGP card from a Compaq Deskpro 4000 in it. Note the notch cut out of the corner of the PCB to clear the ports on the motherboard and the weird mounting bracket (click for a larger image):

NLX Website (archive.org)

Edit: As far as budget and premium models go, the only difference really appears to be whats on the motherboard and riser. The Premium models had Ethernet, Audio and maybe SCSI on the riser card (this is what the two blanks above the PSU are for), and the motherboards were usually Pentium Pro or Pentium II, some of them dual processor capable.

KdKitt wrote on 2024-02-02, 13:54:

Hi! I'll make my first thread here showing off this labor of love. I always wanted a Pentium Pro as a teenager, it was weird, h […]
Show full quote

Hi! I'll make my first thread here showing off this labor of love. I always wanted a Pentium Pro as a teenager, it was weird, huge, outclassed, beautiful. I actually owned an Orchid Righteous - anyway here's the specs. Meant to be a PC build from right around 97-99

Wall Mount from ABKcase on Etsy.

Motherboard is a P6FX1-A
Pentium II Overdrive 333
512mb of RAM
Sound Blaster Live (SB0220 but I did get good drivers working for it)
S3 Virge DX 4mb
Orchid Righteous 3dfx Voodoo 1.
Running Windows 98SE

I love it, it's maybe a bit of a odd build but golly.
I also have a Pentium Pro 200 looking pretty on a shelf near it.

The Sound card being a PCI card was a conceit of displaying the Voodoo so Proudly, but it's working now

I'm looking forward to playing some 3dfx games of the Era, and some other games that should run ok. Tomb Raider, MechWarrior 2, Rogue Squadron, Diablo. I am 4th place on SpeedRunning Magic the Gathering Shadalar (1997) and Speedrun Jazz Jackrabbit a bit (though I may have to Tinker to get it not to run too fast on this.. but I have Dosbox on my Steam Deck if not).

If you are curious I run a desktop fan blowing across the CPU when in operation. Air flow seems to cool if sufficiently

Love the wall panel you have it mounted on, what is that?

SS7 test system

[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-01/13/225621_sq … m_huto_elem.jpg]Epox MVP3G2[/L] MB
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-02/02/225621_w1 … _atz_1_6v_m.jpg]AMD K6-III+/400@617 CPU[/L]
2x128MB SDRAM 133@100/112MHz CL2
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2019-11/12/225621_lv … 0pro_191112.jpg]AIW Radeon9800Pro[/L] video - @398/351 MHz
[https://cdn.rios.hu/dl/upc/2021-04/21/225621_ … 2gzl_1awe64.jpg]Awe64[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2019-11/16/225621_ux … q_fujitsu10.jpg]10GB Fujitsu IDE HDD[/L], [L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2019-08/19/225621_we … pth6n_hddfk.jpg]80GB Maxtor IDE HDD[/L], [L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-01/01/225621_e4 … sd_hdd_work.jpg]IDE-SD konverter,[/L] [L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-12/19/225621_tw … cson_201216.jpg]4-8-32GB- SD[/L]
Asus DVDRW, LG CDRW
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-05/03/225621_ob … fzp_dtk300w.jpg]DTK 300W ATX PS[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-03/29/225621_ob … o8_xtatbill.jpg]Retro XT-AT keyb[/L], PS2 opt mouse
Genius spk, IBM PS/2 spk
Win98SE+UOSP, DOS7.1
Catalyst 5.3, Via hyperionpro_v504a

I even tested some CPUs in the motherboard:
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-02/02/225621_w1 … _atz_1_6v_m.jpg]AMD K6-III+ @617MHz[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2019-11/04/225621_ub … 7zi_k5pr166.jpg]AMD K5 PR166[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-02/03/225621_lz … _366_2_8v_2.jpg]RiseMP6 PR366[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-02/03/225621_v2 … inchip2_200.jpg]WinChip2B-200[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-02/03/225621_bw … agon_aph4-q.jpg]Rise iDragon-PAPH4/Q/ES[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2020-02/03/225621_ni … dragon_aph4.jpg]Rise iDragon-PAPH4/ES[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/11/225621_vq … 1wchip2_266.jpg]WinChip2A-266-GTA[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/11/225621_ui … i_300_black.jpg]Cyrix M-II PR300[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/30/225621_jb … 86mx300duo1.jpg]IBM Cyrix 6x86MX PR300[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-01/25/225621_ub … 6-2_550_agr.jpg]AMD K6-2 AGR 550MHz[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-02/15/225621_tw … 1mmx233_tb1.jpg]Intel P1MMX/233MHz[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/05/225621_tk … 0_k6-2p_550.jpg]AMD K6-2+/550MHz[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/17/225621_f5 … bs3pz_p200p.jpg]Intel P1/200MHz[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/28/225621_iq … r100abrextm.jpg]AMD K5PR100[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/28/225621_dn … 6_front_pan.jpg]AMD K6/300MHz[/L]
[L:https://logout.hu/dl/upc/2021-03/31/225621_qo … _k6-iii_duo.jpg]AMD K6-III/450MHz[/L]

DarthSun wrote on 2024-02-11, 22:12:

SS7 test system

[L:https://cdn.prohardver.hu/dl/upc/2020-10/08/2 … _1retrohang.jpg]Genius spk[/L], IBM PS/2 spk

Link is broken.
Wow, nice setup, beautiful cpus! Rise are a favourite of mine even if they perform like they do. Winchip all black is an eye candy 😀