FrostyTheSnowman wrote:I am incapable of sitting still, and I *much* desire to increase the supported software time frames for my build... my head is s […]
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I am incapable of sitting still, and I *much* desire to increase the supported software time frames for my build... my head is swimming with dreams of my Sound Blaster 16, Xeon X5470 and Nvidia Geforce 1070 Ti co-existing in the same build.
I have done more research into the post-865-chipset industrial motherboards and DMA issues, and I found this page:
https://flaterco.com/kb/ISA_chipsets.html
The above page indicates that the RUBY-9719VG2AR (G41-based chipset, 775 socket, ISA+PCI+PCI-E) *can* be made to work with ISA DMA via 'RUBYISA.EXE', which is a DOS-based tool to configure the IO port ranges to forward through both the ICH7 southbridge and the Fintek FG85226 LPC to ISA bridge - the tool itself was made by Tiido Priimägi (TmEE in this thread: http://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=80&start=50) and is reported to work with some ISA cards (but not all, due to ISA slot power limitations).
I have found the above motherboard brand-new on eBay for $300 - I have ordered it and I will be performing testing with the above utility to see how well it works with my Sound Blaster 16, and if it works acceptably I will be replacing my current CPU/motherboard/RAM/PSU with a new configuration based on this motherboard.
Updates on this adventure to follow in the next few weeks.
The motherboard has arrived (Portwell RUBY-9719VG2AR, G41/ICH7R/LPC-to-ISA based) and it is EVEN BETTER than I expected - when using Tiido Priimägi's RUBYISA tool/driver I am indeed able to get FULL IRQ and DMA support on it's ISA slot under DOS/Win9x *and* the built-in Intel GMA X4500 appears to fully support CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA 1.0/VESA 2.0/VESA 3.0 under DOS too! The DOS compatibility with the built-in GPU is especially surprising as no other modern video card i've tested yet has been able to properly support VESA 2.0 *and* VESA 3.0... the closest I was able to get before was via UNIVBE and my Riva GPU (which is no longer needed now).
I have tested the motherboard/ISA slot with my Sound Blaster 16 (CT1740) *and* Crystal Aztec (50-0038AZ-2S-2) and both sound cards were fully functional under DOS - synth/FM/MIDI/joystick all work properly with zero compatibility issues when compared to the same cards being used with my Advantech AIMB-742 motherboard.
I also tested my entire DOS game collection last night and found (to my surprise) that the built-in Intel GMA X4500 is equal to my Nvidia Riva TNT (compatibility-wise) under DOS, all games worked perfect - even Commander Keen works without the scrolling issue!
Mo'Slo Deluxe also seems to be working properly for slowing the CPU, including it's on-the-fly L1/L2 cache disabling features (I had to disable those manually in the BIOS on my old AIMB-742 motherboard).
I also tested Windows 98 and it seems to work fine too, I don't have SATA drivers for it though (unsupported chipset) so I will probably have to purchase Rloew's SATA patch to ensure I have full drive performance.
My current plan is as follows:
- Remove Advantech AIMB-742 motherboard, P4 3.4 CPU, 4GB DDR1, Nvidia Riva TNT GPU and AMD Radeon HD 3870 GPU from my current build
- Remove AGI 350W ATX PSU
- Install Corsair 550W Modular ATX PSU
- Install Portwell RUBY-9719VG2AR motherboard, X5470 3.33 CPU, 8GB DDR2 and AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU (I decided not to use my Nvidia Geforce 1070 Ti after all due to CPU/PCI-E 1.1 bottleneck - the RX 570 will be a better match) into my current build
- Update microcode on Portwell RUBY-9719VG2AR motherboard to support all features of the X5470 CPU
- Add RUBYISA to my DOS 'autoexec.bat' file (RUBYISA.EXE /W87 /W164)
- Install Rloew's SATA patch on Windows 98 SE
- Convert DOS/Win98 HDDs to SSDs (might as well)
- Add another SSD with Windows 10
- Add another SSD with Hackintosh (most likely Sierra)
- Purchase and internalize Kryoflux floppy controller for my 3.5"/5.25" drives (this motherboard lacks a floppy controller)
Now I will have a true freak show PC, with support for PC software from 1981-2019 (38 years!) *and* support for Macintosh software from 2006 - 2019. 😁
I will document this 'new build' in a separate thread once it is completed (because this P4 build is still worth keeping separate) - it will be called '38-year-span (PC) and 13-year-span (Mac) 'Ultimate' Gaming Computer (built with compatible hardware *only*, no emulation)', I should have this new thread up in a few weeks (still waiting on shipments to come in).
NOTE: I have attached my testing screenshots, the RUBYISA driver (made by Tiido Priimägi) and the specs/manual from Portwell for reference.