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Pentium 66 MHz socket 4 system

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First post, by mpe

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I thought I'll put my favourite parts together and build a Socket 4 system..

Briefly considered Batman's Revenge motherboard . However, my tuned ECS SI5PI which I recently upgraded to 2MB of L2 cache is probably even better option.

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As for CPU. I'ld like to have two options. I'll start with SX837 P66 CPU -a classic choice with the original Pentium logo and even has the FDIV bug. However, I am keeping my SU082 Pentium Overdrive as alternative when I need the ultimate Socket 4 performance:

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Given the motherboard integrates the infamous CMD640 IDE chip I thought I'd be happier with going SCSI as the main storage. Adaptec AHA-2940-S76 PCI card:

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Which will be maxed out by SD2SCSI v 6.0 with a fast SD card as the backing storage:

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Last edited by mpe on 2020-03-08, 23:31. Edited 7 times in total.

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Reply 1 of 31, by mpe

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This Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM which looks like one big cache of VRAM chips will be handling DOS/Windows 3.1 graphics.

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And the sound will be provided by this Gravis Ultrasound P&P Pro (also with maxed RAM).

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And I’ll put everything into this Dan PC desktop case I salvaged from another PC of that era.

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Reply 3 of 31, by mpe

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Makes sense. GUS SB emulation sucks. Let's put in this Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 for SB compatibility.

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Reply 7 of 31, by mpe

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-03-09, 10:21:

The SB AWE64 has better sound quality than the SB Pro 2.0 in my opinion.

Yes could be an option. I expect newer stuff to be using the GUS which plays just as well in many games.

The purpose of SB Pro 2.0 is just to have compatibility. Unlike SB16/AWE32/AWE64 can do stereo in SB Pro mode and has true OPL3 😀

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Reply 8 of 31, by root42

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Wow. You are throwing rare hardware into this build like it’s nothing. 😀
Hope you will show it off when the build is finished!

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Reply 9 of 31, by Anonymous Coward

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Nice Pentium. That's a pretty rare chip. It's a P66 which is way less common than the P60, plus it's in mint condition, and it says "Processor" which I believe makes it somewhat more collectible.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 10 of 31, by jheronimus

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Just wanted give a heads up — a Soc4 Pentium really needs at least a heatsink. Better yet, some active cooling — this is definitely one of the hotter chips of the era. You probably just wanted to make some beauty shots to show off the golden cap, but better safe than sorry 😀

Looks like this will be a pretty cool system! SB Pro 2 is indeed a nice companion for a GUS. Not a lot of games actually need an SB16, and out of those that do, most will be much better with a GUS.

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Reply 11 of 31, by Anonymous Coward

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I would use a beat up P66, and put this nice one in display case.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 12 of 31, by mpe

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Sure. The above CPU will remain on display. For the actual use I always use another P66 with stock heatsink/fan glued in. I hate scratching these CPUs too.

Talking about putting rare S4 CPUs on display. I also have this early all-ceramic P60 part that is perhaps even more collectable. I never mount a heatsink on that one. Although it does seem to have some thermal pad marks from its past life.

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Reply 13 of 31, by matze79

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i searching a 66Mhz Pentium for ages.. i only find the 60Mhz parts, are the 66Mhz parts so rare ?

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https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 14 of 31, by Anonymous Coward

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Yeah, the 66MHz parts were far less common for a couple of reasons. Intel had problems producing enough of them initially. Then there were stability issues, so they had to increase the recommended voltage from 5.0V to 5.15V. Plus not all socket4 boards were up to the task of offering a 66MHz FSB...and even when 66MHz was an option, it was often not faster than a well tuned 60MHz system. My guess is that all the extra wait states to the RAM and cache memory killed any potential performance gain (10% at most).

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 16 of 31, by matze79

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yeah, but overclocking is not the same as having real 66Mhz part 😉
at least it feels like cheating.

I had a Escom P60, which ran passiv cooled, Stock!
it ran for years in a lawyer's bureau.
they must had climate control because it constantly freezed when under load.
until i added a fan.
no idea how they worked with this machine 😀

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

Reply 17 of 31, by chinny22

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Gus, SD2SCSI, sexy desktop case, not only do I approve but I'm also jealous (FDIV bug is pretty cool as well)

Reply 18 of 31, by amadeus777999

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Sweet system - fine as heck components!
I had a ceramic P60 in my Vobis system. All other Pentiums I have come across thus far are gold top. As already stated the P66 parts are pretty rare.

p.s.: thanks again for helping out with the BIOS image.

Reply 19 of 31, by Ponjiayulady

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Pentium 60Mhz real performance

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