As long as you don't have a stack of hard drives running without any airflow I can't really see there being an issue. The tdp of a k6 is what, 25 or 35watts? The important thing is if you have at least a 80mm intake or exhaust fan, preferably both. Even without any real case cooling a bare basics S7 or ss7 system shouldn't have any issues

ODwilly wrote:

As long as you don't have a stack of hard drives running without any airflow I can't really see there being an issue. The tdp of a k6 is what, 25 or 35watts? The important thing is if you have at least a 80mm intake or exhaust fan, preferably both. Even without any real case cooling a bare basics S7 or ss7 system shouldn't have any issues

Thanks for the reply. I never had a SS7 system so I wouldn't have known and I'm so used to our modern systems where we're always considering airflow and cooling. The 6070 has two 80mm intake in the front and one 80mm in the rear. There is no vent in the front though so the front intakes have to pull from small vent slit in the bottom of the case.

I'm glad to hear it won't be an issue since it is a great looking case and I love working with the removable motherboard tray.

I'm going to get a new Seasonic ATX PSU for it (using an adapter to add -5V). How much wattage would you go for? It'll have the Voodoo 3, two ISA and one PCI sound cards.

Iv ran SS7 and Socket 7 setups on era original 120 watt psu's before. Typical for the time would be something around 230-250 watts, weak on the 12v and high on the 3.3 and 5v rails. Pick something up with around 14 or higher amps on both of those rails. For example this old PSU on my shelf has a mere 9.5amps on the 12v rail, 14 amps on the 3.3v and 25 amps on the 5v. Perfect for a Pentium 1 or Pentium 2 era system.

Thanks for the advice.

This seems to meet those requirements.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/457384/Bas … TX_Power_Supply

+3.3V@20A;+5V@20A;+12V1@10A;+12V2@13A;-12V@0.3A; +5VSB@2.5A

Will be using this as well http://www.ebay.com/itm/252708495849?_trksid= … K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT for the -5V rail.

This needs to power a K6-III+, Sound Blaster Pro 2, AWE64 Gold, Sound Blaster Live! and Voodoo 3 2000, Floppy and Optical.

You won't need the -5 for the setup you mentioned. It's worth getting and keeping on hand, just in case you get/install a card that does need it. There are a few sound cards that need -5, such as Those made by Roland, and many made by MediaVision in their ProAudio Spectrum line of cards. But nothing you listed needs -5v.

If you're gonna have a SB Live installed, then why install an AWE64 Gold?

The hottest thing in your listed build will be the Voodoo3. As long as there is some directed airflow on it, it should last a long time. Everything else you listed is pretty cool running and the intake and exhaust setup of that case is more than enough to keep the rig happy.

Some say the passive cooling on the Voodoo3 is just fine, but I disagree. It runs very hot, and they seem to be dying on people in larger numbers than other Voodoo's. If nothing else I would recommend Phil's cooling mod or my own. You can find them both on here via search.

All in all, it should be a fine build. Keep us up to date on how it's going and how well it performs.

There won't be put out much by pre p3/athlon systems aslong you have the psu and a intake fan you should be fibe with air flow. I suggest a small fan on the voodoo and plug it into the mobo.

You won't need the -5 for the setup you mentioned. It's worth getting and keeping on hand, just in case you get/install a card that does need it

Oops! Yeah I confused the SB Pro 2 with the SB2. Good to know I can use that Antec 300W without the adapter.

If you're gonna have a SB Live installed, then why install an AWE64 Gold?

The SB Live is a PCI card which I thought was a good idea for Windows rather than only the ISAs and I happened to have this CT4780 laying around. I'm using both the 64 and SBPro2 because I have a SC-55 and have read that with certain games will have issues if you make 1 card do MIDI (mpu), joystick and sound effects all at once. I'm hoping to avoid any issues by splitting the duties between the SB Pro 2 and AWE64 Gold.

Some say the passive cooling on the Voodoo3 is just fine, but I disagree. It runs very hot, and they seem to be dying on people in larger numbers than other Voodoo's. If nothing else I would recommend Phil's cooling mod or my own. You can find them both on here via search.

I was only able to find Phil's youtube video on this but it is for the 3000. I have a 2000 and that smaller heatsink does not have any holes to run zips through.

Here is a link to my write up:
Voodoo3 Cooling

My method requires a little effort, but it's pretty simple. There are a few other ideas on cooling in that thread as well.

Use the 64 as card for joystick and external midi module along with a splitter cable, the use the Pro for digital audio. The 64 has a speed adaptable joystick port and will handle both the midi module and joystick with ease. The Pro doesn't do either job very well. It doesn't have true midi support and it's joystick port has speed issues.

Under Windows use the same setup and skip the Live, unless you have a specific sound bank for the Live that you have to use. Windows doesn't have a problem with ISA cards. DOS has lots of problems with PCI sound cards. So the Live will be of little benefit and use up more resources. Just a thought.

Kodai wrote:

Here is a link to my write up:
Voodoo3 Cooling

My method requires a little effort, but it's pretty simple. There are a few other ideas on cooling in that thread as well.

That looks sick! Props to you for being able to do that but you have tools and experience that I don't -- there would be a good chance I would ruin my card with anything requiring me to remove the heatsink.

Since my card is a 2000 not a 3000/3500 it is maybe not so important, anyway? I do want my card to last, of course! If you think it will make a difference I was thinking I might get a cooler (fan/fans) that installs in a slot adjacent to the AGP.

One of these:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trk … cooler&_sacat=0

Use the 64 as card for joystick and external midi module along with a splitter cable, the use the Pro for digital audio. The 64 has a speed adaptable joystick port and will handle both the midi module and joystick with ease. The Pro doesn't do either job very well. It doesn't have true midi support and it's joystick port has speed issues.

Under Windows use the same setup and skip the Live, unless you have a specific sound bank for the Live that you have to use. Windows doesn't have a problem with ISA cards. DOS has lots of problems with PCI sound cards. So the Live will be of little benefit and use up more resources. Just a thought.

I'll do this, thanks! It makes sense too since I'll be using another machine for 1998 games and up -- although I'm told it doesn't pay to use Win95 even for Windows 95 games so I'll be using 98SE on both rigs -- and no A3D or EAX appeared until 98.

Kodai wrote:

That looks sick! Props to you for being able to do that but you have tools and experience that I don't -- there would be a good chance I would ruin my card with anything requiring me to remove the heatsink.

Since my card is a 2000 not a 3000/3500 it is maybe not so important, anyway? I do want my card to last, of course! If you think it will make a difference I was thinking I might get a cooler (fan/fans) that installs in a slot adjacent to the AGP.

This is how I did it with my Voodoo 3 2000, looks good and does the job well with a standard VGA cooler you can grab of aliexpress for a few euro including shipment.

Nice! It looks like you just popped that in over the the stock heatsink? Is that a 40mm? I found this one on Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Deepcool-V40-VGA-Cool … I4AAOSwOgdYo13K that doesn't require me to wait for shipping outside of the US but I'm not 100% sure it would fit. There are also 55mm ones.

infiniteclouds wrote:

Nice! It looks like you just popped that in over the the stock heatsink? Is that a 40mm? I found this one on Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Deepcool-V40-VGA-Cool … I4AAOSwOgdYo13K that doesn't require me to wait for shipping outside of the US but I'm not 100% sure it would fit. There are also 55mm ones.

I used a 40 MM heatsink + fan, but you can get a very large one that also covers the ram and put a equally large fan on it. you just need thermal pads then, wich is plenty with those low TDP.

First off, those slot fans are fine and will do a good job. Many people would like to save/use the busmaster PCI slot (ie: typically the first PCI slot next to the AGP slot) for certain hardware. Effective use of those coolers means you won't be doing that, but it's a trivial thing anyway.

The Voodoo3 2000 uses a thermal epoxy for it's heatsink, and it can be a real pain to remove for a first timer. The good news is it works well. The Voodoo3 3000 and 3500 use a crummy thermal paste, and it sucks. It's easy to remove and replace though.

Getting a 40mm fan and a couple drops of hot snot from a glue gun, will pretty much do the job as well. So you've got options without the need to invest in tools and skills you won't use that often.

Thanks guys -- appreciate the advice!

The Deepcool 40mm doesn't fit the card the.... whatever you call the things that secure it... won't reach the holes while the fan is sitting on the heatsink. I also got a Vantec PCI slot cooler so I'm going to just go with that.

Now I need to figure out if this AOpen X59 is bad or if I'm just an idiot. I have ram, CPU and the V3 installed and the CPU fan spins but it doesn't POST or display anything.

I'm using this RAM http://www.ebay.com/itm/128MB-STICK-DIMM-SD-N … y-/221802936138?

I have the K6-2 that it came with, and a K6-2+ and K6-III+. The 2+ I'm testing is brand new.

That ram should be fine. Does the X59 have a built in speaker, or do you have a speaker connected to the speaker header? If so, is it beeping? If so, can you describe the beeps to us? Those beeps are a part of the POST and tell you if and what type of problems you're having on startup.

Ok!

Turns out the issue was the on/off switch built into the ATX adapter. http://www.ebay.com/itm/252708495849?_trksid= … K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I know I don't need the -5V but I figured it would be easier to test it out of case with the switch. When I powered up the system by shorting the Soft Power pins with a screwdriver it powered up and POST'd.

It recognizes the ram, GPU and calls the K6-2+ "Unknown" but correctly recognizes the clockspeed. However, now I am having an issue where I can't into BIOS because my keyboard inputs aren't registered. I have tried two different PS/2 keyboards, a USB (the motherboard has two USB ports), and a USB in a PS/2 adapter. The PS/2 keyboard small LEDs 'blink' when the system is first powered and when it reaches the POST screen but after that it does not work when prompted to push DEL for Setup.

I made sure I was using the PS/2 for keyboard and not mouse, as well. I also tried swapping the PSU to see if maybe that was the issue but my Seasonic 600W did no better.

-Antec 350W is +3.3V@20A;+5V@20A;+12V1@10A;+12V2@13A;-12V@0.3A; +5VSB@2.5A

-Seasonic 600W is +3.3V@30A, +5V@30A; +12V1@18A, +12V2@18A, -12V@0.8A, +5Vsb@2A

Edit: Vigorous smashing of BOTH Del/Delete keys during POST finally got me into BIOS. However, I am now noticing that any changes made and saved are reset each time I go back. The CMOS battery looks pristine but I imagine it must be no good.

Ok, so I replaced the battery with a new 2032 3V and the BIOS still doesn't save any changes I make... I've checked the jumper pins that are for clearing CMOS and they are set to the normal position and I've actually tried the other way just to make sure the manual didn't misprint. The only thing I didn't try was removing the jumper from any of those 3 pins entirely.

Also... even with vigorous mashing of the DEL key I have to do many power on/off attempts to get into BIOS as it still fails to recognize the keypress a good 90% of the time and there seems to only be a short window where it can recognize it -- despite staying on the "Press DEL to enter Setup" screen.

Edit: I've figured out the cause of these problems, and made a new topic.