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Building the Pentium Pro system I always wanted to

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First post, by jasa1063

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I recently put together a Pentium Pro build that I have been wanting to do for a couple of years and I finally have it done. Here are the system specs:

Intel VS440FX motherboard with the latest BIOS 1.00.18.CS1
Pentium II Overdrive CPU @333MHz
512MB (128MBx4) EDO memory
128GB SATA SSD with a StarTech SATA to IDE adapter running Windows 2000 SP4 plus all post fixes
48X IDE CDROM
1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive
PNY GeForce2 MX400 64MB PCI video card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live Value (CT4870) PCI sound card
3Com 3C905TX 10/100 Ethernet PCI network card
USB 2.0 PCI card
SilverStone Technology Precision Series Black ATX Tower Case PS13B
Thermaltake Smart 430W 80+ PSU

The one thing you may notice is that the Intel VS440FX actually does support 512MB of ram. This was a pleasant surprise since it officially only supports 256MB. The one major issue I had with this motherboard was IDE DMA mode. When DMA mode is enabled I get program crashes and eventually data corruption on both the SSD and CDROM. I am using an 80-pin IDE cable for both, but that did not help. I am stuck with PIO mode, but that works Ok just a bit slower. I can get 60 FPS in Quake III at 1024x768 16-bit color and medium detail settings using the NVidia 93.71 Forceware drivers. Overall the build was a lot fun I was really happy at the performance level of gaming on this computer.

Last edited by jasa1063 on 2025-06-08, 05:33. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 4, by pete8475

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Very nice! You could always switch to an ISA sound card and put a Promise IDE controller in a PCI slot for faster drive speed.

I use Promise 133 cards with that same Startech SATA to IDE adapter in several machines.

Reply 2 of 4, by jasa1063

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pete8475 wrote on 2025-06-08, 04:14:

Very nice! You could always switch to an ISA sound card and put a Promise IDE controller in a PCI slot for faster drive speed.

I use Promise 133 cards with that same Startech SATA to IDE adapter in several machines.

That is something I have not considered and will definitely look into.

Thanks!

Reply 3 of 4, by auron

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jasa1063 wrote on 2025-06-08, 04:09:

The one major issue I had with this motherboard was IDE DMA mode. When DMA mode is enabled I get program crashes and eventually data corruption on both the SSD and CDROM. I am using an 80-pin IDE cable for both, but that did not help.

that's missing MWDMA support on the SSD and possibly even the bridge chip, and no surprise the optical drive would have the same issue if you put it on the same cable. the 80-wire IDE cable is irrelevant because the southbridge is limited to MWDMA anyway.

i'd just put the adapter away for another use and simply use a SATA card, southbridge IDE for the optical drive.

Reply 4 of 4, by jasa1063

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auron wrote on 2025-06-09, 00:10:
jasa1063 wrote on 2025-06-08, 04:09:

The one major issue I had with this motherboard was IDE DMA mode. When DMA mode is enabled I get program crashes and eventually data corruption on both the SSD and CDROM. I am using an 80-pin IDE cable for both, but that did not help.

that's missing MWDMA support on the SSD and possibly even the bridge chip, and no surprise the optical drive would have the same issue if you put it on the same cable. the 80-wire IDE cable is irrelevant because the southbridge is limited to MWDMA anyway.

i'd just put the adapter away for another use and simply use a SATA card, southbridge IDE for the optical drive.

That actually makes more sense than trying to retrofit SATA onto IDE. The SATA card would get better performance anyway. Thanks for your input.

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