Another update - P6ISA-II works too. I'm now coming back to the Tualatin capable 6OXT and the AE22v11 and will do a 2nd recap. I think the polys I used for 6OXT were too low (560uF)

It might have cost me $50 plus $250 to ship it across the country; but I'm STOKED about getting it intact and fully operational.

Its an NCR 1203.

First power on:
https://youtu.be/6lmsKnBy8mw?si=9OcaVj3cA37xzQ9Q

CGA color monitor, 640k ram, working MFM drive, (i haven't tested the floppy)

I don't think the seller knew to turn down the screen brightness to get the screen to work. otherwise I think the price to buy this battle station would have been 10x higher.

acl wrote on 2025-04-13, 08:34:

PcBytes wrote on 2025-04-13, 04:38:

the AX63 Pro. (contrary to people avoiding VIA693, I quite like it.)

I'm using one with my Celeron 300A @450 + Voodoo2 SLI.
A few years ago i wanted a Slot1 440BX. I could not find one for cheap locally. I found an AX63 Pro instead and gave it a try. I read that the agp implementation is not the best but used a PCI Mystique 220.

Mine has run with a V3 3000 AGP. No issues so far, might test a TNT2 as well as a Rage 128 AIW. I was told on the TRW Discord that there's a certain fix for VIA chipsets that runs at Windows boot that can be installed.

Anyways, a few more boards fixed at the moment. Depending on the issue there might be a 9th board fixed, and the 6168 has already been scrapped due to too many issues with it (dead Voodoo chip, dead SB, lots of corrosion on traces) - saved the SC1153CSW chip and might transplant it on a 6156ZX.

Boards fixed as of yesterday:
- GB 6BXC - needs a lot of cleaning but POSTs and works fine. Had to replace the LX8384s on it with ones from a dead 6BXU (with unfixable issues) since the originals were practically kaput.
- ECS P6ISA-II - replaced CPU socket using Robert B's method (generally works with AMP branded stuff only in case of Intel it seems), replaced a few caps and it works
- Shuttle AE22v11 - full polymer recap over the remaining Gloria caps. POSTs but has a funky way of selecting GPUs.

TBD:
- GA-6OXT-A - unsure whether the BIOS is dead and needs a new BIOS chip (have done that on a K8NF-9 before) or something else is awry, awaits POST card
- ASUS P5A - also awaits POST card to check whether anything is executed or not

Creative CT4810 for the i815 P!!! build. Version with selectable Line or Speaker out.

Nothing too fancy, just realizing my SB0460 didn't have 98 drivers. I rarely use sound on that rig, but when benchmarking it would be unserious to not have it ... 😀

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-04-03, 05:51:

Found a reasonably priced GTX 480, supposedly working 😀 Picking it up next week when seller returns home.
Will match it with my i7 980X for an ultimate spring 2010 build 😀

But it was not ... It was a GTX 555, that seller mistakenly thought was a 480. At least he's accepting return, and lives within an acceptable range on my way to/from work.

Didn't have any labels on, and I didn't notice that there was only one (6-pin) power connector before instaling it ...

Oh well, back to search for a GTX580 in stead 🤣

Masterchief79 wrote on 2025-04-12, 09:22:

Some of my latest additions.
Asus Ageia P1 128MB PhysX card (already sold again) + a DFI X48-T2R with Mushkin Radioactive memory, water-cooling and my 4870x2 engineering sample.

Ooh i'm a fan of that DFI board. Never seen that radiactive theme memory before ... very "Duke nukem" 😁 very nice build.

zuldan wrote on 2025-04-13, 04:08:

Came across an old computer store and found 2x brand new GoldenOrb II's (https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermaltake-golden-orb-2/) and 1x Extreme Giant III (https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermaltake-giant-3/) for GPU cooling. I asked the owner if he had any other old computer gear in the back store room. He said someone came in the day before and grabbed 10x motherboards (from 2000 to 2005) for free so he could melt them down for gold. I was devastated! What bad timing.

The attachment Orbs.JPG is no longer available

Neat! Love the Thermaltake stuff from back in the day. Very hard to come by though.

For the NT4 SMP rig:

The idea is to run them without heatsink at 50 MHz. There will be a bit of air flow, I'm curious how hot they'll get.

Today I picked up this, uh, confusing mess of a boy. It's a presumably gateway sourced MPACT DVD card, given the gateway part number on the cable.

I'm struggling to find any kind of information on what it can do, let alone drivers that could be used for it. I also managed to take an STB TV PCI with it, but that's somewhat more normal.

BetaC wrote on 2025-04-15, 22:41:

Today I picked up this, uh, confusing mess of a boy. It's a presumably gateway sourced MPACT DVD card, given the gateway part number on the cable.

The attachment IMG_4698.jpg is no longer available

I'm struggling to find any kind of information on what it can do, let alone drivers that could be used for it. I also managed to take an STB TV PCI with it, but that's somewhat more normal.

You might find drivers from Gateway's old site using the Wayback Machine if you knew what system it came from.

It looks like that cable plugs into the Feature connector on a graphics card.

Edit: this site looks like it has a link to drivers: https://vgamuseum.ru/gpu/chromatic-research/c … research-mpact/

Edit2: TRW with more info: https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/stb-dvd-theater

fosterwj03 wrote on 2025-04-15, 23:02:

You might find drivers from Gateway's old site using the Wayback Machine if you knew what system it came from. […]
Show full quote

BetaC wrote on 2025-04-15, 22:41:

Today I picked up this, uh, confusing mess of a boy. It's a presumably gateway sourced MPACT DVD card, given the gateway part number on the cable.

The attachment IMG_4698.jpg is no longer available

I'm struggling to find any kind of information on what it can do, let alone drivers that could be used for it. I also managed to take an STB TV PCI with it, but that's somewhat more normal.

You might find drivers from Gateway's old site using the Wayback Machine if you knew what system it came from.

It looks like that cable plugs into the Feature connector on a graphics card.

Edit: this site looks like it has a link to drivers: https://vgamuseum.ru/gpu/chromatic-research/c … research-mpact/

Edit2: TRW with more info: https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/stb-dvd-theater

What's strange is that my version has a bunch of logic that no others seem to have above the main DSP. Thanks, regardless.

BetaC wrote on 2025-04-16, 00:08:

fosterwj03 wrote on 2025-04-15, 23:02:

You might find drivers from Gateway's old site using the Wayback Machine if you knew what system it came from. […]
Show full quote

BetaC wrote on 2025-04-15, 22:41:

Today I picked up this, uh, confusing mess of a boy. It's a presumably gateway sourced MPACT DVD card, given the gateway part number on the cable.

The attachment IMG_4698.jpg is no longer available

I'm struggling to find any kind of information on what it can do, let alone drivers that could be used for it. I also managed to take an STB TV PCI with it, but that's somewhat more normal.

You might find drivers from Gateway's old site using the Wayback Machine if you knew what system it came from.

It looks like that cable plugs into the Feature connector on a graphics card.

Edit: this site looks like it has a link to drivers: https://vgamuseum.ru/gpu/chromatic-research/c … research-mpact/

Edit2: TRW with more info: https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/stb-dvd-theater

What's strange is that my version has a bunch of logic that no others seem to have above the main DSP. Thanks, regardless.

This Vogons thread might help you with drivers:

getting 3D out of Mpact!

Gateway only provided patches thru the website... https://web.archive.org/web/20020215143509/ht … dvd/index.shtml ...the main package was supplied on the Mpact Mediaware CD

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/196702340487 (not my listing) and also https://archive.org/details/gm-10877002

bought this

never had a KT266 nor a KT333, but its supposed to be a good board for a voodoo5 ?

PD2JK wrote on 2025-04-15, 14:19:

For the NT4 SMP rig:

The attachment DSC_3747.JPG is no longer available

The idea is to run them without heatsink at 50 MHz. There will be a bit of air flow, I'm curious how hot they'll get.

They are not designed to run like that, even a small low profile heatsink would be better than none for the longevity of them.

PD2JK wrote on 2025-04-15, 14:19:

For the NT4 SMP rig:

The attachment DSC_3747.JPG is no longer available

The idea is to run them without heatsink at 50 MHz. There will be a bit of air flow, I'm curious how hot they'll get.

Why without heatsink? Because they're pretty to look at? I fully get that 😎

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-04-16, 02:13:

Gateway only provided patches thru the website... https://web.archive.org/web/20020215143509/ht … dvd/index.shtml ...the main package was supplied on the Mpact Mediaware CD

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/196702340487 (not my listing) and also https://archive.org/details/gm-10877002

Thank you.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-04-16, 06:00:

PD2JK wrote on 2025-04-15, 14:19:

For the NT4 SMP rig:

The attachment DSC_3747.JPG is no longer available

The idea is to run them without heatsink at 50 MHz. There will be a bit of air flow, I'm curious how hot they'll get.

Why without heatsink? Because they're pretty to look at? I fully get that 😎

Exactly! If I find them running too hot, I'll look into undervolting. The CPU's get their voltage from a dedicated auxiliary connector at the Asus PCI/E-P54NP4 board. I have this Pentium Pro VRM which I could modify to deliver lower voltage than 3.3V.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-04-16, 06:00:

PD2JK wrote on 2025-04-15, 14:19:

For the NT4 SMP rig:

The attachment DSC_3747.JPG is no longer available

The idea is to run them without heatsink at 50 MHz. There will be a bit of air flow, I'm curious how hot they'll get.

Why without heatsink? Because they're pretty to look at? I fully get that 😎

I wonder if you could polish them without removing the labeling.

Veeb0rg wrote on 2025-04-17, 06:12:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-04-16, 06:00:

PD2JK wrote on 2025-04-15, 14:19:

For the NT4 SMP rig:

The attachment DSC_3747.JPG is no longer available

The idea is to run them without heatsink at 50 MHz. There will be a bit of air flow, I'm curious how hot they'll get.

Why without heatsink? Because they're pretty to look at? I fully get that 😎

I wonder if you could polish them without removing the labeling.

Car polish doesn't remove the markings, but it's not going to shine like gold.

Managed to get my hands on something really special... A brand new 17-inch Compaq 7500!!!

It's been 20 years since I had the pleasure of experiencing a fresh-out-of-the-box CRT and even my best used monitr, a Dell 991 Trinitron, shows it's age.