VOGONS


PC Retro Heaven Achieved

Topic actions

First post, by rodimus80

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Took me a few weeks but I got all my machines running. Tell me what you all think.

OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11
CPU: 486 DX2 @ 33 MHz
RAM: 12 MB
GPU: Cirrus-GD5428
Audio: ESS1868
HDD: CF

OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11/Windows 95 OSR2.1
CPU: Cyrix 6x86-P166+ GP @ 133 MHz
RAM: 32 MB
GPU: ATI MACH64 PCI (109-25500-30)
Audio: Sound Blaster Pro 2 (CT1600)
HDD: CF

OS: Windows 98SE
CPU: Pentium II @ 333MHz
RAM: 256MB
GPU: STB Velocity 128
GPU: Voodoo 2
Audio: Sound Blaster Live! (SB0100)
HDD: CF

OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11/Windows95 OSR2.1/Windows 98SE
CPU: AMD K6-III 400+
RAM: 128 MB PC100
GPU: Voodoo 3 3000
Audio: Sound Blaster AWE64 Value
HDD: CF

Dell Dimension 4100
OS: Windows 98SE
CPU: Pentium III @ 866 MHz
RAM: 512 MB PC133
GPU: Dell TNT2 M64
GPU 2: Voodoo 2 SLI
Audio: Sound Blaster Live! Value (CT4780)

OS: Windows XP SP3
Mobo: GA-7S748
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+
RAM: 1 GB
GPU: GeForce 6800 GT
Audio: Onboard

Reply 1 of 19, by chinny22

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Nice mix of PC's.
You haven't gone the usual route of top PC
eg, 486/33 not a 66 or faster.

I'm afraid you haven't achieved heaven yet though, Go back down to earth and create WinME and Win2K builds 😜

Also, Pics?

Reply 2 of 19, by buckeye

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Nice spread! Get some pics on here, like to know what sort of games you play on each too.

Asus P5N-E Intel Core 2 Duo 3.33ghz. 4GB DDR2 Geforce 470 1GB SB X-Fi Titanium 650W XP SP3
Intel SE440BX P3 450 256MB 80GB SSD Asus V7700 GF2 64mb SB 32pnp 350W 98SE
MSI x570 Gaming Pro Carbon Ryzen 3700x 32GB DDR4 Zotac RTX 3070 8GB WD Black 1TB 850W

Reply 3 of 19, by cyclone3d

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Looks like a nice lineup.

Only thing I question is putting the V2-SLI in the PIII setup and the V3-3000 in the K6-3+ 400 setup.

I would think that the video cards would be a better match to their host computers if they were swapped.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 5 of 19, by rodimus80

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Pictures coming up. The Voodoo 3 machine is based on Phil's 4-1 Time Machine. I do not have 386 covered mainly because I did not start using anything other then a C64 until 1993. So the 386 never had a spot in my childhood. First IBM-PC was a Packard Bell 486. Which I was 12. Second machine was a Gateway PII 300MHz. That PC is where I got started.

Reply 6 of 19, by rodimus80

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Made some changes as of late:

IMG_20180306_213426.jpg

OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11
CPU: 486 DX2 @ 66 MHz
RAM: 12 MB
GPU: Cirrus-GD5428
Audio: ESS1868
IMG_20180306_213751.jpg IMG_20180306_213910.jpg

OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11/Windows 95 OSR2.1
CPU: Cyrix 6x86-P166+ GP @ 133 MHz
RAM: 14 MB
GPU: ATI MACH64 PCI (109-25500-30)
Audio: AWE64 Gold (CT4390)
IMG_20180306_214410.jpg IMG_20180306_214248.jpg

OS: Windows 98SE
Mobo: ASUS CUSL2
CPU: Pentium Celeron @ 1100MHz (Tualatin)
RAM: 512MB
GPU: GeForce 4 Ti 4600
GPU: Voodoo 2 SLI
Audio: Aureal Vortex2 SuperQuad (BA88DL30A-01)
IMG_20180306_213627.jpg

OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11/Windows95 OSR2.1/Windows 98SE
CPU: AMD K6-III 400+
RAM: 128 MB PC100
GPU: Voodoo 3 3000
Audio: Yamaha Audician 32 Plus (PLY YMF718-S)
IMG_20180306_213537.jpg IMG_20180306_213437.jpg

OS: Windows XP SP3
Mobo: GA-7S748
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ @ 2.2 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
GPU: GeForce 6800 GT
Audio: Sound Blaster Audigy LS
IMG_20180306_214436.jpg IMG_20180306_214509.jpg

OS: Windows 7
Mobo:
CPU: Core 2 Quad (Q6600)
RAM: 4 GB
GPU: GeForce 8800 GTS
Audio: Creative X-Fi Extreme PCIe

Reply 7 of 19, by Tetrium

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
rodimus80 wrote:
OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11/Windows 95 OSR2.1 CPU: Cyrix 6x86-P166+ GP @ 133 MHz RAM: 14 MB GPU: ATI MACH64 PCI (109-25500-30) Aud […]
Show full quote

OS: DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11/Windows 95 OSR2.1
CPU: Cyrix 6x86-P166+ GP @ 133 MHz
RAM: 14 MB
GPU: ATI MACH64 PCI (109-25500-30)
Audio: AWE64 Gold (CT4390)
IMG_20180306_214410.jpg IMG_20180306_214248.jpg

This case looks like it's the AT variant of an ATX case I used for my K6-3/400 glide rig 😀
It's got a Highscreen logo and the power button seems to get a little bit stuck or something and the side panel is tricky to remove or put back, perhaps due to some bending, but otherwise I like it 😀
Your AT case has a gray color though, I've only seen them in green before.

OS: Windows XP SP3 Mobo: GA-7S748 CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ @ 2.2 GHz RAM: 1 GB GPU: GeForce 6800 GT Audio: Sound Blaster Audigy […]
Show full quote

OS: Windows XP SP3
Mobo: GA-7S748
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ @ 2.2 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
GPU: GeForce 6800 GT
Audio: Sound Blaster Audigy LS
IMG_20180306_214436.jpg IMG_20180306_214509.jpg

Is that the Antec case where you need to remove the top part before you can open it up?

This one is very similar to one of my old rigs as well, except I was using 2GB DDR and a different GA board. What storage solutions have you used?
Btw, I would recommend you at least add a case exhaust fan to the 6800GT rig. If it's the same case I have, the exhaust fan should be a 92mm one.

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 8 of 19, by rodimus80

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Yep, the very same case. I had to throw in a Fan underneath the GPU for airflow. The last two days though I have taken the GeForce 6800 GT out of the AthlonXP 3200+ system and threw in a Matrox G400 Max. The AthlonXP just wasn't strong enough to push the 6800 GT. I was having a brainfart too. I hadn't realized that a AthlonXP was comparable to a Pentium III. Thought it was a Pentium 4. For now, I may put the GeForce 6800 GT into my Core 2 Quad Windows XP system I am getting up and running, or just put it away and go with either my GeForce 8800 GTS+ or GeForce 9800. And I still have to get a crap load of fans!

Reply 9 of 19, by kixs

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Nice to see some "finished" projects 😉

FYI:
Athlon is P3 era. Athlon XP is P-IV era to a point (P-IV had different revisions - Willamette, Northwood, Prescott). P3 went up to 1.4GHz, while A-XP went to 2200MHz (rated 3200+).

C2D or C2Q is too powerful for 6800GT. Use at least 8800GT.

Requests here!

Reply 10 of 19, by rodimus80

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I may have to stick with the 6800 GT for the C2Q mainly due to one game in paticular if I remember correctly. Battlefield Vietnam. Flying a chopper in that game consumed me 2004-2006. I believe when I upgraded my GPU BF:V stopped working correctly. And I went through a list of all the PC games I want to revisit with original hardware and pretty much the list ends at 2005. So even though the C2Q is way overpowered, it is ideal for my situation I believe. My only concern is compatibility with the CPU and WinXP games from about 2002-2005. And I'm itching to build a P4 system. I don't have one. 🙁 But I have many Prescott Chips in storage I pulled from various machines.

Reply 11 of 19, by Tetrium

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Athlon XP is actually somewhat similar to a Pentium 3. No SSE2, same socket dimensions (and same CPU HSF size), even the CPUs look very similar compared to how an Athlon XP and a s478 CPU look different from each other.
Also both P3 and AXP use mostly the 5v lines for their power. AXP does use a LOT more power though, but not much compared to contemporary P4s.
AXP is comparable to something like Northwood when looking at their performance.

P4 is probably going to be only slightly faster compared to a Barton 3200+. If you need substantially faster performance, you'd perhaps be better off with at the very least some A64 (A64 is about 25% faster/clock tick compared to AXP).

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 12 of 19, by Dreamer_of_the_past

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

First of all, this is far away from being the retro heaven.

rodimus80 wrote:

The AthlonXP just wasn't strong enough to push the 6800 GT. I was having a brainfart too. I hadn't realized that a AthlonXP was comparable to a Pentium III.

Second, Athlon XP processors were comparable to Pentium 4 processors and were actually kicking Pentium 4's ass. This is something you won't hear from most so called experts. Also, these processors were highly overclockable. For example, people were able to hit like 2.2GHz-2.9GHz from the base clock speed of 1.8GHz. It was the overclocking golden age.

Athlon XP 2500+ EP-8RDA3I 2GB RAM Windows 7 Crysis DX10 Test

Ah, and stay away from Nvidia graphics cards if you don't want to see it strangely die one day. Or at least use after market cooling solutions.

Last edited by Dreamer_of_the_past on 2018-03-12, 20:51. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 13 of 19, by oeuvre

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

everyone has a different idea of heaven

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
ws90Ts2.gif

Reply 14 of 19, by matze79

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

and heaven is never achieved, there is still something missing ever 😁

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 15 of 19, by oeuvre

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

when you get to heaven you will wish you're in hell

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
ws90Ts2.gif

Reply 16 of 19, by Tetrium

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Dreamer_of_the_past wrote:

Ah, and stay away from Nvidia graphics cards if you don't want to see it strangely die one day. Or at least use after market cooling solutions.

You mean because of bumpgate? Afaicr the GF6 series was the last series that still used the old-fashioned solder. I'm not sure how much overlap there is between GF6 and GF7 series.

Due to their age now, it's very hard to know what parts have a high chance of being DoA, even if they have a big aftermarket cooling solution.

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 17 of 19, by Dreamer_of_the_past

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Tetrium wrote:
Dreamer_of_the_past wrote:

Ah, and stay away from Nvidia graphics cards if you don't want to see it strangely die one day. Or at least use after market cooling solutions.

You mean because of bumpgate? Afaicr the GF6 series was the last series that still used the old-fashioned solder. I'm not sure how much overlap there is between GF6 and GF7 series.

Due to their age now, it's very hard to know what parts have a high chance of being DoA, even if they have a big aftermarket cooling solution.

I haven't gotten deeply into it, but what I have been reading of...GeForce 5-8 series high-end graphics cards die like crazy. I think mostly due to Nvidia's crappy soldering and poor cooling solutions, so heat just gets it. I believe this is how my EVGA GeForce 5700 ULTRA died on me back in the day. It may be safer to go for a low-end Geforce 5-8 series graphics card due to lower core clock speed and therefore lesser heat output if you don't want to invest into after marker cooling solution. I hope GeForce 2-4 series graphics cards were built well since I want to buy a few, but after that...I am going to stick to rock solid Radeons for Pentium 4 builds. Because when you think baking, you think of Nvidia =) That's probably why EVGA had decided to change its legendary at that time lifetime warranty and BFG just went out of business 🤣 🤣 🤣 However I plan on getting GeForce 8800 GTX one day, but I will also be getting something like Zalman VF900 to go along with it.

Reply 18 of 19, by Tetrium

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I haven't heard really good things about Radeon 9800 though. Those seemed to die or be dead so often I actually kinda avoided buying any for fear of getting too many duds 🤣
Higher end cards run a higher risk of being or getting defective due to several things:
Obviously higher end products are clocked higher and would typically be made to run at closer to their maximum clock frequencies.
On top of that, these would more often be overclocked by the end users, shortening the life further.

And of course there's other kinds of abuse like trying to fix cards that got messed up or modified in some way.
The TIM is now often used up, dried up, cracked, or maybe it has been reapplied but done so incorrectly.

Last but not least, these cards are bigger and heavier and thus theres simply more of the card that can be damaged or bend.

Geforce 5 was the first NVidia card that really started to make use of heavy cooling solutions. Ati was a bit behind in that respect.

I was always a fan of the not uberly higher end stuff. Not only because it was cheaper 😀
Though I actually did end up with some of the higher end stuff (GF FX 5900U) and it worked pretty well for what it was (except that it ran FEAR like crap 🤣!).

In 20 years time, I can see myself, old and senile and forgetful, yelling at some school children "And though shall NOT run FEAR with a Geforce Effex 5900 Ultra!!! For it will run like a glacier no matter what setting you try!" 😵

It did run ok-ish when running at like 320x240 or something 😁

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 19 of 19, by rodimus80

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I'm in the process of replacing all the fans and heatsinks on my GPUs. So cheap to do now.