VOGONS


Reply 29340 of 29573, by CMB75

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
oldhighgerman wrote on 2025-03-04, 07:40:

O NO. They do not work perfectly. In fact it may be that if you actually accessed them once, it could have been the FINAL TIME. This isn't said often enough. Upon finding an old disk, do NOTHING with it prior to reading it into an image/file. You may live to regret it otherwise. Do not try to determine its contents (if it's unlabeled, mislabeled). Don't do a directory scan. Just hit it with whatever people are using these days. I used to use ImageDisk by Dave Dunfield.

I took have had lots of success with old floppies. But often times I've found they're only good for 1 access. Then it's bye-bye. For the rest of eternity.

You're probably right, either way, in this case it wouldn't really be a loss because they are all labeled properly and I do have images of all those disks. I'm going to give those drives a proper cleaning tonight to minimize the risk. If I do stumble upon a data disk I'll image it first *if it does indeed work.

Reply 29343 of 29573, by Ash515253

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I finished testing an old X1300Pro in a load of old games and put an article up on my hobby website:

https://ashsthingsandstuff.co.uk/connect3d-ra … pro-256mb-copy/

I replaced it with a standard, but very dodgy looking, X1300 to do some comparisons.

Reply 29344 of 29573, by Thermalwrong

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Checking out the innards of this ~26 year old laptop - a Kapok 6200AT:

IMG_5410 (Custom).JPG
Filename
IMG_5410 (Custom).JPG
File size
715.56 KiB
Views
860 views
File license
CC-BY-4.0

The original owners were kind enough to leave me the original thermal pad protection tape??? This thing has been working a-ok with neither of the thermal pad tapes removed? Somewhat better than my last one: Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

When these kapok laptops don't completely self destruct, they're pretty reliable! (seriously they have no real overvoltage protection in the mainboard design so when things go wrong they go wrong catastrophically)
Entertainingly, this is the 2nd Kapok 6200AT I've got that's centerprise branded and both have BECTA labels and serial numbers underneath. This one had the full manual which I hope to scan soon 😀

Reply 29345 of 29573, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Thermalwrong wrote on 2025-03-06, 04:55:

The original owners were kind enough to leave me the original thermal pad protection tape???

I had a similar experience while performing maintenance on an NEC laptop with a mobile Pentium 3.

NEC laptop with incorrectly applied thermal pad from the factory

Reply 29346 of 29573, by momaka

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Ash515253 wrote on 2025-03-04, 22:54:

I finished testing an old X1300Pro in a load of old games and put an article up on my hobby website:

https://ashsthingsandstuff.co.uk/connect3d-ra … pro-256mb-copy/

Very nice read, thank you for posting this! 😀
I have two or three X1300 cards (standard 4:2:4:2 config), one being an AGP variant. I haven't tested them with any of the same games as you (except Mafia, I think)... but your results more or less highlight the X1300's good and bad sides.
That said, I find the X1300's performance lacking in DX9c... but if you turn it down to just DX9 (a or b) or even better, DX8/8.1 in games that allow it (e.g. Valve's Source engine), the performance does go up considerably.
All in all, I consider it a decent video card for most early 2000's games and especially if gaming at a lower resolution on a CRT.
I also did a comparison with it to another low-power card I like using to test systems out: HD2400 Pro/XT. In short, the HD2400 handles DX9c titles much better... but will quickly tank in performance in certain situations due to its 64-bit memory bus. On the other hand, I find that the X1300 delivers pretty constant FPS for the most part, mostly due to its 128-bit bus. Had ATI made the HD2400 with 128-bit bus also, I think it would have been a pretty decent card... well, maybe (after all, that's what the HD2600 is more or less).

Reply 29347 of 29573, by PcBytes

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Tested DOOM with a YMF-724 on my Celeron 300A @450 machine w/ 3d Prophet 4500. Interesting what SB-Link can do.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 29348 of 29573, by Ash515253

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
momaka wrote on 2025-03-06, 20:20:
Very nice read, thank you for posting this! :) I have two or three X1300 cards (standard 4:2:4:2 config), one being an AGP varia […]
Show full quote
Ash515253 wrote on 2025-03-04, 22:54:

I finished testing an old X1300Pro in a load of old games and put an article up on my hobby website:

https://ashsthingsandstuff.co.uk/connect3d-ra … pro-256mb-copy/

Very nice read, thank you for posting this! 😀
I have two or three X1300 cards (standard 4:2:4:2 config), one being an AGP variant. I haven't tested them with any of the same games as you (except Mafia, I think)... but your results more or less highlight the X1300's good and bad sides.
That said, I find the X1300's performance lacking in DX9c... but if you turn it down to just DX9 (a or b) or even better, DX8/8.1 in games that allow it (e.g. Valve's Source engine), the performance does go up considerably.
All in all, I consider it a decent video card for most early 2000's games and especially if gaming at a lower resolution on a CRT.
I also did a comparison with it to another low-power card I like using to test systems out: HD2400 Pro/XT. In short, the HD2400 handles DX9c titles much better... but will quickly tank in performance in certain situations due to its 64-bit memory bus. On the other hand, I find that the X1300 delivers pretty constant FPS for the most part, mostly due to its 128-bit bus. Had ATI made the HD2400 with 128-bit bus also, I think it would have been a pretty decent card... well, maybe (after all, that's what the HD2600 is more or less).

Thanks for reading through it and for the positive feedback, that made my day! Have you posted your test results anywhere? It would be good to see them.

The X1300 in this same system right now has only a 64Bit bus so perhaps the results will be interesting.
It's a shame that the XT version is so hard to find, I have a X1650Pro so we can also see how much better the mid-range of the generation will be along with a GeForce 6200 and 6600.

Today's retro activity today was to open up the side of an Acer Aspire Athlon XP system, I looked at all the dust and grime and decided I was too tired so closed it up again and played some more mafia.

Reply 29349 of 29573, by momaka

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Ash515253 wrote on 2025-03-06, 23:05:

Thanks for reading through it and for the positive feedback, that made my day! Have you posted your test results anywhere? It would be good to see them.

Unfortunately, no I haven't.
When I did those tests (over 10 years ago), I didn't even know about the existence of VOGONS nor of any people around me that were interested in retro PCs. Also back then, the X1300 probably wasn't quite "retro" status yet, so I never shared or even wrote / noted my results down. So no screenshots or anything like that to post. Just going by what's left in my brain... some of which may not be 100% accurate either.
Perhaps when I get more time, I can re-run those test one day... if my 939Dual-SATA2 ever allows it anymore, since I tested so many video cards in its PCI-E slots that it now practically refuses to recognize GPUs about 80% of the time.

Ash515253 wrote on 2025-03-06, 23:05:

Today's retro activity today was to open up the side of an Acer Aspire Athlon XP system, I looked at all the dust and grime and decided I was too tired so closed it up again and played some more mafia.

Heh, I have several system like that waiting in the basement. Could have done one today, given the nice weather, but ended up having to do something else and then later being too tired and preferring to be here and post on the forums than do more work. :p:

Reply 29350 of 29573, by PD2JK

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I forgot that the Creative SB Live! software replaces the Windows start-up sound. Ctmelody.wav just gave me a heart attack. Twice.

The first time when this screen showed up with the sound of thunder.

DSC_3382.JPG
Filename
DSC_3382.JPG
File size
1.63 MiB
Views
644 views
File license
Public domain

After that, the 'new' Windows start up sound. Aaargh!

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

Reply 29351 of 29573, by DarthSun

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
DarthSun wrote on 2025-02-28, 06:47:
The Emperor of S478 in Via. Summary with Ti4200: […]
Show full quote

The Emperor of S478 in Via.
Summary with Ti4200:

1P4EECSe.jpg
Filename
1P4EECSe.jpg
File size
384.5 KiB
Views
1145 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Replacement for 6600GT:

1P4EEpan.jpg
Filename
1P4EEpan.jpg
File size
218.7 KiB
Views
1145 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
P4EE_6600GT_3DM01.JPG
Filename
P4EE_6600GT_3DM01.JPG
File size
386.13 KiB
Views
1145 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
P4EE_6600GT_3DM99.JPG
Filename
P4EE_6600GT_3DM99.JPG
File size
419.79 KiB
Views
1145 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
P4EE_Ti4200_SUM.JPG
Filename
P4EE_Ti4200_SUM.JPG
File size
428.03 KiB
Views
1145 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Same under Win98.

P4EE_6600GT_SUM.jpg
Filename
P4EE_6600GT_SUM.jpg
File size
419.06 KiB
Views
626 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
P4EE_6600GT_3DM99.jpg
Filename
P4EE_6600GT_3DM99.jpg
File size
439.47 KiB
Views
626 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
P4EE_6600GT_3DM2000.jpg
Filename
P4EE_6600GT_3DM2000.jpg
File size
494.61 KiB
Views
626 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
P4EE_6600GT_3DM01.jpg
Filename
P4EE_6600GT_3DM01.jpg
File size
493.67 KiB
Views
626 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

The 3 body problems cannot be solved, neither for future quantum computers, even for the remainder of the universe. The Proton 2D is circling a planet and stepping back to the quantum size in 11 dimensions.

Reply 29352 of 29573, by Repo Man11

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

If you are having fun with it, I shouldn't think any further justification would be necessary. A girlfriend or spouse might have a second opinion though.

After watching many YouTube videos about older computer hardware, YouTube began recommending videos about trains - are they trying to tell me something?

Reply 29353 of 29573, by DarthSun

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Repo Man11 wrote on 2025-03-07, 13:41:

If you are having fun with it, I shouldn't think any further justification would be necessary. A girlfriend or spouse might have a second opinion though.

I don't keep a wife 😀

The 3 body problems cannot be solved, neither for future quantum computers, even for the remainder of the universe. The Proton 2D is circling a planet and stepping back to the quantum size in 11 dimensions.

Reply 29354 of 29573, by Repo Man11

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
DarthSun wrote on 2025-03-07, 13:49:
Repo Man11 wrote on 2025-03-07, 13:41:

If you are having fun with it, I shouldn't think any further justification would be necessary. A girlfriend or spouse might have a second opinion though.

I don't keep a wife 😀

I had a low caffeine moment and thought I was replying to the thread about building an overkill Win98 machine, but the same is true here.

After watching many YouTube videos about older computer hardware, YouTube began recommending videos about trains - are they trying to tell me something?

Reply 29355 of 29573, by Susanin79

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Bought the digital microscope, have never expected that it would be so helpful in repair process.
Another rare 386 board was resurrected.
It looks much worse than expected, only one trace was repaired and bunch of SMD components were re-soldered.
Just need to buy a solder mask and protect the traces.

Attachments

  • TI386_battery.JPEG
    Filename
    TI386_battery.JPEG
    File size
    231.76 KiB
    Views
    574 views
    File comment
    after
    File license
    Public domain
  • TI386_back_repair.JPEG
    Filename
    TI386_back_repair.JPEG
    File size
    386.03 KiB
    Views
    574 views
    File comment
    after
    File license
    Public domain
  • TI386_front.JPEG
    Filename
    TI386_front.JPEG
    File size
    602.92 KiB
    Views
    574 views
    File comment
    before
    File license
    Public domain
  • TI386_battery_corrosion.JPEG
    Filename
    TI386_battery_corrosion.JPEG
    File size
    409.16 KiB
    Views
    574 views
    File comment
    before
    File license
    Public domain
  • TI386_back_corrosion.JPEG
    Filename
    TI386_back_corrosion.JPEG
    File size
    431.21 KiB
    Views
    574 views
    File comment
    before
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 29356 of 29573, by DarthSun

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Repo Man11 wrote on 2025-03-07, 14:19:
DarthSun wrote on 2025-03-07, 13:49:
Repo Man11 wrote on 2025-03-07, 13:41:

If you are having fun with it, I shouldn't think any further justification would be necessary. A girlfriend or spouse might have a second opinion though.

I don't keep a wife 😀

I had a low caffeine moment and thought I was replying to the thread about building an overkill Win98 machine, but the same is true here.

Unfortunately, that's not true. These forums, results, etc. are not about who has a girlfriend or wife, but about the machines and the results.
To call retro out like that is not really sporting.

The 3 body problems cannot be solved, neither for future quantum computers, even for the remainder of the universe. The Proton 2D is circling a planet and stepping back to the quantum size in 11 dimensions.

Reply 29357 of 29573, by Repo Man11

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
DarthSun wrote on 2025-03-07, 16:33:
Repo Man11 wrote on 2025-03-07, 14:19:
DarthSun wrote on 2025-03-07, 13:49:

I don't keep a wife 😀

I had a low caffeine moment and thought I was replying to the thread about building an overkill Win98 machine, but the same is true here.

Unfortunately, that's not true. These forums, results, etc. are not about who has a girlfriend or wife, but about the machines and the results.
To call retro out like that is not really sporting.

I believe you are misunderstanding my post - to clarify, if you or anyone else are having fun with your computer(s), then that is all the justification needed to keep doing what you are doing. But those who have girlfriends or spouses may have to answer to a higher authority when it comes to how much computer hardware they are allowed to accumulate/keep in the house. It was purely in jest.

After watching many YouTube videos about older computer hardware, YouTube began recommending videos about trains - are they trying to tell me something?

Reply 29358 of 29573, by DarthSun

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Repo Man11 wrote on 2025-03-07, 17:27:
DarthSun wrote on 2025-03-07, 16:33:
Repo Man11 wrote on 2025-03-07, 14:19:

I had a low caffeine moment and thought I was replying to the thread about building an overkill Win98 machine, but the same is true here.

Unfortunately, that's not true. These forums, results, etc. are not about who has a girlfriend or wife, but about the machines and the results.
To call retro out like that is not really sporting.

I believe you are misunderstanding my post - to clarify, if you or anyone else are having fun with your computer(s), then that is all the justification needed to keep doing what you are doing. But those who have girlfriends or spouses may have to answer to a higher authority when it comes to how much computer hardware they are allowed to accumulate/keep in the house. It was purely in jest.

This is a common joke. It's worth getting your wife to accept this before marriage.

The 3 body problems cannot be solved, neither for future quantum computers, even for the remainder of the universe. The Proton 2D is circling a planet and stepping back to the quantum size in 11 dimensions.

Reply 29359 of 29573, by momaka

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Testing a Gigabyte GA-8iPE1000 Pro-G motherboard with a 2.3 GHz P4 Celeron Northwood, 512 MB of PC2700 RAM, Radeon 7000 32M, and a 160 GB IDE HDD (came with the system) and Windows XP Pro SP3. Seems to work OK so far, just not 100% sure if memory slot #3 is OK. Other than that, a nice little system. This VOGONS post created from it. (Oh noes, I'm running XP and it's connected to the internet! Run away! 🤣 )

Between this and my Optiplex 170L with a 2.8 GHz P4 Prescott HT, it's a night and day difference in terms of CPU speed.
To say it in fewer words: P4 Celeron = SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW 🤣
That said, it does run really cool. Haven't tried measuring the system power draw at the wall, but I would expect somewhere around 30-40W idle and maybe 60-75W peak under load. It also undervolts quite easily. Haven't checked how far I can push it, but 1.35V at the stock 2.3 GHz speed is fine. The stock V_core voltage is 1.5V. Even with that, it still didn't seem to get hot at all. Moreover, I had no problems setting the FSB to 125 MHz, pushing the CPU frequency to 2.87 GHz with the stock voltage. The only thing I haven't tried yet is do both at the same time (OC and UV the V_core), but might do that later when I finish testing the board. There's also still a few KZG caps left on the board that I need to get rid of (did an almost complete recap.) The CPU VRM low side is running a completely custom setup, though: 3x Fujitsu FPCAP 4V 820 uF and 2x Nichicon HZ 6.3V 2200 uF. The original caps were 5x UCC KZG 6.3V 3300 uF... so as you can see, I made quite a drop in the capacitance. I suppose putting a power-hungry P4 Prescott CPU will tell if that will be a problem or not. More work for another day.