Not true - it entirely depends on the display you're using. I've played many a game on my Sony Vaio PCG-FX601 laptop at resolutions below 640x480 (even some random ones, like 512x384 - native res for some early 3D GPUs of course, but not this system), but my 19" Dell flat panel display throws a fit if I try to use anything below 640x480.

My last 4 mainbords in the last weeks:

\

I have three Asus P/I-P55ST2 boards, slightly different models/revisions (one is green) - I don't use them because one has no PS/2 header (looks like the one on top but with green PCB), and the other two have no coin cell holder (dallas RTC like the one pictured above).

The VRM heatsink on that Asus socket 7 board gets very very hot, I had to put a 80mm fan on the CPU heatsink so it would cool the VRM heatsink aswell otherwise you could get burned when touching it!

Have have a few audio/video cards for the special slot aswell 😀. Its a motherboard I intend to use but never really do.

kanecvr wrote:

I have three Asus P/I-P55ST2 boards, slightly different models/revisions (one is green) - I don't use them because one has no PS/2 header (looks like the one on top but with green PCB), and the other two have no coin cell holder (dallas RTC like the one pictured above).

They are one of the best Socket 7 boards, very fast and stable with the Intel 430HX chipset. Supports 83mhz FSB. The Dallas RTC can be switched out and Rev 2.1 (with green PCB) does have a PS/2 header (all rev does):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-p55t2p4-Rev-2-1- … =p2047675.l2557

If you want PS/2 and coin cell battery built in I recommend getting rev 3.0 of the ATX version. No 83mhz FSB, but you get those features 😀

Today's haul

A-Link 4-port USB 2.0-card, ALi M5273 5-port USB 2.0-card, Opti861 2-port USB 2.0-card, 2 x Hynix 512 MB PC2-4200-CL4, 2 x Infineon 512 MB PC2-5300, Intel Pentium II 350 MHz SL2WZ

QuickJoy V Superboard SV-125 fully operational

Sorry for the many pics. Most of them I recieved last week

For next week there are 3 more... 😊

Lukeno94 wrote:

... my 19" Dell flat panel display throws a fit if I try to use anything below 640x480.

That's what I was talking about, since we were discussing standalone displays. I know laptops usually support lower resolutions, but you can't really connect your 486 PC to it can you?

There should be a thread about flat-screen monitors that support resolutions lower than 640x480. Personally I don't know any.

tokroger wrote:

... Intel Pentium II 350 MHz SL2WZ

Intel must have sold a boatload of Pentium II 350MHz.

Well, if a 2001 laptop display is going to support a lower resolution, I can't see why something like a 15" TFT wouldn't support it. It may actually be that my 19" Dell did work fine with those lower resolutions, but doesn't like the refresh rates that my HP Vectra tries to drive it at when using them; I honestly can't remember, because it's been at least two years since I tried it on anything else with games of that type, and I won't be able to check for another month. Might hook up the Vaio to my 22" LG 1080p monitor and see what happens when I get chance though. Tis also worth noting that both of these are widescreens anyway, and I really can't remember what the 15" TFT I had several years ago was like.

Picked up a couple interesting items at local store that's (Sadly) closing very soon, some time this month I think.

I've been looking for an early intel socket-7 motherboard that will run my 50 Mhz socket7 chips natively, and have not found a decent one for a while.

I found one yesterday at used store, paid $7.85 out the door for it.

Larger: http://www.outfoxed.net/bought-stuff/DSC05406.JPG

Also: I've never seen a socket7 board with this "TX PRO III" chipset, so performance will be interesting to see later.

I picked up this other item for two reasons.
1.) I don't have any GeForce MX series video cards in my collection.
2.) It was white. I mean come on, how many white video cards do you see, that's cool! 😎

Larger: http://www.outfoxed.net/bought-stuff/DSC05412.JPG

Larger: http://www.outfoxed.net/bought-stuff/DSC05413.JPG

Bonus: Someone already replaced the onboard fan with an 'aftermarket' one with motherboard fan header leads. I may actually use this in my athlonXP Win98se planned build soon, because I don't have a good basic gpu for it yet, that one will be decent enough combined with a voodoo2 12MB card.

kithylin wrote:

I've been looking for an early intel socket-7 motherboard that will run my 50 Mhz socket7 chips natively, and have not found a d […]
Show full quote

I've been looking for an early intel socket-7 motherboard that will run my 50 Mhz socket7 chips natively, and have not found a decent one for a while.

I found one yesterday at used store, paid $7.85 out the door for it.
<snip>

Also: I've never seen a socket7 board with this "TX PRO III" chipset, so performance will be interesting to see later.

That's a PC Chips M573, and the chipset is actually a VIA Apollo VPX. PC Chips had a habit of renaming chipsets by VIA and others to names like "TX Pro". That being said, it should be a decent board.

Sutekh94 wrote:

That's a PC Chips M573, and the chipset is actually a VIA Apollo VPX. PC Chips had a habit of renaming chipsets by VIA and others to names like "TX Pro". That being said, it should be a decent board.

It did have sb16 compatible onboard sound, but it used some custom plug header that I'm sure I'll never again see in my lifetime, so probably try and disable that with jumper or bios and use a sound blaster card instead. Likely better performance anyway. I would still like to try the onboard sound if I could ever find said header... 😒

petro89 wrote:

Got a Slot-A 750 with a Thunderbird core! Time for another old skool rig build with some Voodoo 2 SLI lovin!

Slot-A's with Thunderbird cores were OEM only. Do you have a motherboard that can run/recognize that?

kithylin wrote:

Yeah. Make a thread about it or something, skyscraper. And post the link here, I wanna hear about that and what it is. Looks like Pentium-MMX. But using both sdram and 72-pin ram together is weird, normally I would of thought most systems wouldn't allow that.

It's ok for at least some boards. There was a conversation recently about it:

New 1997 Build (GA-586STX2)

Got 7 video cards today from an acquaintance who was clearing out his place - A GF 4 MX4000, a GF4 MX440 with swollen caps, a radeon 9250, a S3 Savage4 PRO (been looking for one of these - just hope it works) a matrox dual-head AGP and another PCI S3 trio 64 (can never have too many of these).

I also got the 486 machine I posted pictures of on page 382. The case has a 386 Deskframe logo under the A-Open sticker, and a 486DX 33MHz in it with a Siemens chipset motherboard (unidentified - no model written on it). Motherboard is ISA only. Battery leaked a little but looks like no real damage. Inside of it is a TSENG ET3000AX VGA/EGA ISA card with what looks like 1MB of VRAM (this is the 7th card), a Adaptec SCSI controller, an ISA modem, a 2TB NEC IDE HDD form '97 and a 1992? Toshiba double thickness 1GB SCSI Drive. It also has a 5,25" FDD and a TEAC CD-RW in it. Haven't tried to turn it on yet.

The 486 was found in front of a dumpster and rescued by my cousin. He called me after finding it and he's been holding onto it for me since then. Finally picked it up today.

^^To the left is my K6-2 450/Voodoo Banshee rig and next to it is the aforementioned 486. ^^

I also discovered that Nitro paint prep / cleaner is good for whitening yellowed PC cases (to an extent)

Finally found a Matrox Parhelia for a price that I can live with; it should arrive next week sometime. I'm hoping to actually take advantage of the triple-output with my primary desktop monitors.

For anyone that owns one - when it comes to drivers, am I best off just downloading the latest drivers off of Matrox's website, or should I look for a specific version of drivers for compatibility/performance?

OK so I peeled off the OEM Chips USA sticker off the 486 MB and under it is a Solutions 88C4386C chip...

Bought a Samsung 19" 995df CRT monitor, BRAND NEW in box. I have my 21" CRT, and its way too big and has some issues. My 17" is a tad on the small portion. I'm hoping this will be my final replacement CRT for awhile and lasts a long time. It should, since I only turn my CRT on on the weekends for 2-3 hours for retro gaming. I'll post pictures later.

Not the BEST 19" CRT monitor, but 1280x1024 is more than adequate for retro 1980 to 1999-2000 gaming.

kanecvr wrote:

a 486DX 33MHz in it with a Siemens chipset motherboard (unidentified - no model written on it).

Search the BIOS string that appears in the lower left during boot. It will look like "40-0102-001292-00101111-050591-SIS-486-F". That one is from my ASUS ISA-486 and the "1292" in the third group is the OEM code that tells you it's ASUS.

Tap the Pause/Break key to halt the screen so you can copy the number, and spacebar to resume. And forgive me for telling you what you probably already know, but it'll be useful new info for somebody.

pewpewpew wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

a 486DX 33MHz in it with a Siemens chipset motherboard (unidentified - no model written on it).

Search the BIOS string that appears in the lower left during boot. It will look like "40-0102-001292-00101111-050591-SIS-486-F". That one is from my ASUS ISA-486 and the "1292" in the third group is the OEM code that tells you it's ASUS.

Tap the Pause/Break key to halt the screen so you can copy the number, and spacebar to resume. And forgive me for telling you what you probably already know, but it'll be useful new info for somebody.

I haven't had the chance to power it on yet - I don't even know if it works...