VOGONS


First post, by xcq

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::How it started::

I was browsing Tradera (Swedish Ebay) and sumbled upon something that looked very familiar.

Here was this old Enlight case that i had 25 years ago or something. This one seemed to be better though. It had 4x 5.25" bays. Mine from the past only had 3x. Other than that, not much info about what i contained. It did however struck my retro nerve and it was a tape drive in the 5.25" so i decided to pick it up.

Hauled this thing home and sadly it was in a ruff shape. A lot of scuffs and bends in the case. It was white though, not beige. I had to search deep into my memory to figure out how to open the damn thing. A memory fragment told me it opens from the front by cracking the front panel. That is really odd btw.

To my surprise there was a spiderweb of scsi inside with a Asus P2b-s motherboard. Oh man, i remember the envy i felt back in the day when my friends had scsi-burners and whatnot. Neat, it's finally happening.

I have never done a retro build before, i didn't even know there was such a community around it. It's serious now, i have to do it.

This will be built from the heart, i want everything i envy back in the day.

::The Build::

I really want to keep everything 1998-2000. I did however after very long though process realized i will not continue with the case. Except for the scuffs, there is another issue with it. There are no punch-outs for cooling at all. I could put a 80mm intake but i would have to exhaust everything through the PSU. The case is built in such a way that punching out holes for fans would limit me to 40mm fans on the back. It will be loud as heck. I do realize that these old machines doesn't need as much cooling as newer ones but this case will simply not provide any cooling at all.

Also i scrapped the idea of using the power supply. I just don't trust PSU's from the past. They were crap then and even crappier now. I don't want to melt my precious retro build. It's is fantastic hese old system are still compatible with new cases and psu's.

I have always been a fan of Lian Li alu cases and i managed to find one in black. I think they are timeless. Although it breaks era correctness and that hurts a bit to be honest. I will however get proper cooling and side panels that can be removed without stressing the front. I wil keep the case if i change my mind.

::Specs::

This is what the build will consist of for starters.

Case: Lian Li PC-8 (black) 4x 5,25"
PSU: Seasonic Focus 750
Motherboard: Asus P2B-S
CPU: Intel Pentium III 450mhz Katmai
Ram: 128GB PC133 x 3
GFX: Nvidia Geforce 2 MX
SFX: Creative Sound Blaster Live
HDD: WD 400 (40Gb) 2x / 5.25" HDD CADDY
CD: Sony CDU4011-10
DAT: Sony SDT-7000 (Just because it's cool)
Floppy: Sony MPF920-E
Extra: Startech CF->IDE

:: What the heart wants ::

If i want to build my dream machine i need Plextor's. I really wanted plextor scsi-burners back in the day but couldn't afford. To be fair i don't know i can afford it now either. Yeez the prizes are steep.

Pioneer slot loaded cdrom/DVD-rom

Same goes for Voodoo 2. First time i saw GLQuake my jaw was on the floor. I need two in SLI.

Coppermine? Mayby. My computer from the past had a 450mhz Katmai and it will probably be plenty?

:: What i want to do with it ::

Figure out a way to play both Dos-games and Windows 98 eara games. I will probably dual boot Windows 2000 as well.
Another odd reason. NO INTERNET , detox by getting of the grid. Mayby i can use it for learning to code without the interruption.

:: Questions::

I guess i want ISA sound for DOS ?
Do i need to worry about the 5v rail on newer PSU's ?
Do P2B-S support Coppermine properly? I needs to be 100Mhz bus right?

Reply 1 of 9, by PD2JK

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With that 750 Watt Seasonic, you really don't have to worry about the +5V rail. I believe it can deliver 20A? That's 200 Watt, more than enough, even with two Voodoo's added.

You're correct about the 100MHz bus, otherwise you would be overclocking some other buses, like AGP. That shouldn't be a problem by the way, a Geforce2 can handle it.

If you start DOS games from your Windows 98 Installation, you don't need ISA. Take a look here:
Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Sound Blaster Live! cards (version 3.1)

For pure DOS, you want an ISA card, much less hassle indeed.

i386 16 ⇒ i486 DX4 100 ⇒ Pentium MMX 200 ⇒ Athlon Orion 700 | TB 1000 ⇒ AthlonXP 1700+ ⇒ Opteron 165 ⇒ Dual Opteron 856

Reply 2 of 9, by AlexZ

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I do use old PSUs, but I try to make sure to have headroom in power rating. My Phenom II rig uses 800W as does Athlon 64 rig. Historically, they would have used 600W and 400W. Beware, use PSU with -5V rail.

You can get a Yamaha or an ESS ISA sound cards cheap. Highly recommended instead of overpriced Sound Blaster 16.

If Asus P2B-S accepts Katmai PIII I would get a 600Mhz version. 450 will not be that great in late Windows 98 era but it is good enough to start. My 900Mhz is only necessary to play Fifa 2003, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and other late games. Otherwise it isn't needed.

Voodoo 2 will be very expensive. I have one in my rig that I found very cheap and I hardly ever use it. I wouldn't buy it for today's prices.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, Yamaha SM718 ISA
Athlon 64 3400+, Gigabyte GA-K8NE, 2GB RAM, GeForce 9800GT 512MB, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Phenom II X6 1100, Asus 990FX, 32GB RAM, GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

Reply 3 of 9, by chinny22

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I guess i want ISA sound for DOS ?
Probably, but I agree with PD2JK and just mess around with the Live!'s dos drivers to start. Once the computers up and running you'll have a better idea of what you need and ISA soundcards is a topic in itself.

Do i need to worry about the 5v rail on newer PSU's ?
Probably not, here is a list of cards that need -5v, if you don't have any of these cards a modern PSU will be fine
ISA Cards & Devices Requiring -5V

Do P2B-S support Coppermine properly? I needs to be 100Mhz bus right?
Short answer Only if your motherboard is Revision 1.06, anything else the max is a Katmai 600
Long answer it depends on which VRM is installed, lots of info here!
https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/manual/th … 4f905496897.pdf

Reply 4 of 9, by shamino

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Coppermine support depends on having a new enough BIOS, and having a voltage regulator that supports the voltage the CPU is asking for.
The BIOS can be updated, so that's not a problem. For the voltage support there's a workaround - but native support is nicer.

For the voltage support you need to check what part number is on the voltage regulator IC. It's about ~20-28pins or so, located between the CPU slot and the peripheral ports. This is the chip that monitors and controls what voltage is going to the CPU.
A large share of the P2B boards with older revisions still have a Coppermine compatible VRM, even though they were not guaranteed to have it yet.

excerpt from the document that chinny linked:

Chips that can provide voltages down to 1.3V: HIP6019BCB HIP6020ACB HIP6004CB HIP6004BCB US3007CW Chips that can only provide vo […]
Show full quote

Chips that can provide voltages down to 1.3V:
HIP6019BCB
HIP6020ACB
HIP6004CB
HIP6004BCB
US3007CW
Chips that can only provide voltages down to 1.8V:
HIP6019CB
HIP6004ACB

Pay close attention to the difference between HIP6019BCB and HIP6019CB.
If your VRM is in the list that supports down to 1.3V then all you need to do is flash the BIOS and Coppermines will work.
If your VRM isn't listed then post it and somebody can look up it's datasheet.

If you don't have a Coppermine-friendly VRM, you can still run a Coppermine if you're willing to use a "slocket" adapter. You would need the kind that has jumpers to manually specify the voltage. Using such an adapter, you can manually specify 1.8V which even the older VRMs will support. 1.8V will cause a Coppermine to run hotter, but it will work with any P2B.

-----
133MHz vs 100MHz FSB:
If you want to stick with "supported" clocks, then stick with 100MHz FSB CPUs. You have a good chance with 133FSB - but it's not a sure thing. I've run into many of these and other 440BX boards that aren't really quite stable at that speed, but an awful lot of them are.
If you can run slot-1 Coppermines then one of the best low-cost options is a later stepping of the P3-600E/100. I had an easy time overclocking a couple of the cB0 stepping 600E to 800/133 (they passed stability tests at 840/140), and they were much cheaper than a "real" slot-1 800MHz+ CPU. The older cA2 stepping 600E that I tried however could not handle this. CPU-World can tell you which S-spec codes (SLxxx) are which stepping.
The nice thing about a 600/100 is that you're only paying for 600MHz and worst case, you'll at least get that much out of it. If you buy a CPU that was intended for 133FSB then you may face the disappointment of having to underclock it.

Reply 5 of 9, by H3nrik V!

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PD2JK wrote on 2025-03-02, 21:54:

With that 750 Watt Seasonic, you really don't have to worry about the +5V rail. I believe it can deliver 20A? That's 200 Watt, more than enough, even with two Voodoo's added.

5V x 20A is actually "only" 100W 😉 But probably still fine 😀

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 6 of 9, by H3nrik V!

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xcq wrote on 2025-03-02, 21:10:

I really want to keep everything 1998-2000. I did however after very long though process realized i will not continue with the case. Except for the scuffs, there is another issue with it. There are no punch-outs for cooling at all. I could put a 80mm intake but i would have to exhaust everything through the PSU. The case is built in such a way that punching out holes for fans would limit me to 40mm fans on the back. It will be loud as heck. I do realize that these old machines doesn't need as much cooling as newer ones but this case will simply not provide any cooling at all.

You could also go with the 80 mm in front an punch out the 40mm holes in the back - if the intake fan moves more air than the power supply expells, it will get out.

Even, if you power supply has a 120mm fan, it could probably handle that extra air though 😀

Do P2B-S support Coppermine properly? I needs to be 100Mhz bus right?

Depends on the revision Re: ASUS P2B-DS/D Revision 1.02 till 1.06 history mods by ASUS this thread covers the D-S (dual slot) but I would believe the regulators will be the same.

My P2B-DS rev. 1.05 has the right regulators for CopperMines, and I do run those.

But yes, you'll need 100 MHz FSB CPUs or you will underclock a 133 FSB CPU.

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 7 of 9, by PD2JK

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H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-03-03, 13:24:
PD2JK wrote on 2025-03-02, 21:54:

With that 750 Watt Seasonic, you really don't have to worry about the +5V rail. I believe it can deliver 20A? That's 200 Watt, more than enough, even with two Voodoo's added.

5V x 20A is actually "only" 100W 😉 But probably still fine 😀

Back to school for me.
*PD2JK puts on a tall dunce hat and is going to sit in a corner

i386 16 ⇒ i486 DX4 100 ⇒ Pentium MMX 200 ⇒ Athlon Orion 700 | TB 1000 ⇒ AthlonXP 1700+ ⇒ Opteron 165 ⇒ Dual Opteron 856

Reply 8 of 9, by xcq

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Sorry for the lacks of updates to this thread but i have been really busy lately.

Just the other night i managed to actually build the computer.

A lot of quirks of builing these old computers like post takes forever with TX2 and scsi. Windows 98 refuses to install to anything not on the master channel. A lot of Windows 98 driver BSOD’s.

I did actually decided last second to keep the case. I put a noctua 80mm att full speed in the front and the PSU seems like it’s moving a lot of air out. I’m confident.

Reasoning is trying to use the Lian-Li for a more era appropriate Windows Xp or Athlon 64 build. Seems like Windows 98 still supported on these systems and DOS gaming should be possible as well. Later project.

I did have a problem with the sound card. Turned out my SBlive was a SB0200 so i ditched it in favor of a ESS-Solo. Worked great.

Fired up Dune II and got into the retro spirit straight away. Dune II intro with the ESS and my trusty Senn 600’s made for an amazing experience. Oh well, i’m just happy it works. MT-32 would be a nice upgrade in the future.

Also tried some Duke Nukem 3D. Smooth as butter.

The temporary monitor i’m using is a Compaq 1701 TFT that i found in a thrift store. It manages to do 1280x1024 75hz believe it or not. No frame skipping in DOS either. Really impressed. Looks great in lower res.

Will update more in the future. Thanks for all your reply’s.

Reply 9 of 9, by H3nrik V!

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Lian Lis are beautiful. Looking forward to seeing some pictures of that rig!

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀