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Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-06 5:19 PM (#272 - in reply to #71)
Subject: RE: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
Some more recent acquisitions. These are just the photos from ebay, but I have received and tested everything here except for the Radeon 7500. I have been trying to get over a cold this past week, plus the work I am doing to benchmark processors at the moment, I haven't had the time to photograph this stuff myself.



(P66.jpg)



(radeon7500.jpg)



(acerP60.jpg)



(athlonK7.jpg)



(3Dcool.jpg)



(V3308mb.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments P66.jpg (102KB - 1744 downloads)
Attachments radeon7500.jpg (99KB - 1250 downloads)
Attachments acerP60.jpg (50KB - 1009 downloads)
Attachments athlonK7.jpg (52KB - 632 downloads)
Attachments 3Dcool.jpg (56KB - 849 downloads)
Attachments V3308mb.jpg (101KB - 591 downloads)
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-06 10:33 PM (#273 - in reply to #272)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
#DXZeff...
You should play more with those PI's. I know they are not old computers, yet they appeal to the old computing spirit that we had back in the 80's, when computing on a complete system that were not modular. You know... Amiga's, Atari's, C64's and all that kind of shit. They were cool, and if you throw in the only real oldschool type of system that we have left (Unix type systems. Linux/Unix), then you have one hell of a package. They are far from fast, yet they are more fun than a modern console or computer. Yeah... Win10 and OsX are just too clean, pure and soul less. Only two major competing GPU producers left, and the same with CPU's. It's a sorry state, the world is in now a days. No inovation left, things are only getting faster. No new technology in the same way as when soundcards came into play. And the same regarding 3D GFX. It's sad. Super sad. :-(

#Waybacktech...
Nice haul... The greatest (at least to me) are the Acer machine. I simply love that design language in wich the case are build up on. Extremely nice LED's, annonymus lines, and all in all a great package. I love it. Is it just me, or do you see some design ellements in that Acer, wich are in the Amiga3000? I certainly do see something that makes them look like they are from the same design house. And you got yet another gold top! Allways nice to see them. :-P

Edited by Brostenen 2017-03-06 10:38 PM
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-06 11:05 PM (#274 - in reply to #273)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
@Brostenen Ya i'd say there is a bit of an Amiga look to the machine, even if just by accident. Who knows though, maybe the guy that came up with the front case style was an Amiga lover. It is kind of funny though how things have come full circle. Gateway purchased Amiga in the mid 90's, and now Acer owns Gateway.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-03-06 11:06 PM
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-06 11:31 PM (#275 - in reply to #274)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
#waybacktech
I remember the school getting a complete linup of 10 or 20 Acer 486sx25's in desktop model, back in around 1991 or something. Been searching for the model number, yet I can not remember that correctly. I think it was the 450d model, though if it had 2 or 3 five and a quarter inch bay's I really do not remember. All I remember was, that every publich school got them back in 1990/91 or something. I know the year, as I was in 8'th grade at that time, from summer of 1990 to summer of 1991. Anyway... Acer made awesomme machines back then. Personally, I had to use a Unisys PW/2 Series 300 machine from 1988 (possibly 1987) and all the way up to 1993, when I bought my first computer for my own money. It was my parents that bought it, and I recemtly was given ownership of that machine. I used all of 2016 to restore it into working state again. Not because it was defect or had leaked battery or anything like that. It worked basically perfect, after sitting some 15+ years in a dry basement. I just had to find newer parts for it, in order to give it a CD-Drive, soundcard and stuff. It went well, and now I am the owner of an original Unisys 286 machine. Complete with all the original manuals, original EGA monitor, 1988 optical mouse, original keyboard and everything else. Yeah... It's a nice 286-8/10mhz machine.

It is this machine here....



(Unisys-01.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments Unisys-01.jpg (64KB - 624 downloads)
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DXZeff
Posted 2017-03-07 11:15 AM (#276 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500100
Location: Hull, UK
@Waybacktech; As it stands, they've had since September to put the problem right, but they have not. By now I think I have a substantial pile of evidence that they are unable to provide me the advertised speeds and I am aware of at least two FiWi providers in my area. I am going to put together what I have and attempt to cancel the contract once and for all, though with 31 months left I don't think they're going to let me walk away that easy.
Yeah, people accuse me of living in the past all the time, I don't think I do, but it's somewhat challenging in terms of the internet when things start resembling a mid-90s ISDN connection.

Looks like some decent stuff there. I used to have a Hercules branded Radeon 7500, 128MB, one of the best video cards I ever had and I'm still a little sad that it doesn't work anymore. I doubt I'll get another one, as I like my Ti 4600 now, but the 7500 was my first somewhat high performance video card and I'll always have fond memories of it.


@Brostenen; Still not sure I want to go over to Pi's as I still can't really think of what I would do with one. If it had MIDI and could run Cakewalk 9 I might have thought about it as I want something smaller for sequencing, but they don't and wouldn't integrate well with the rest of my setup anyway. To be honest, I don't really like Unix/Unix-Like systems anyway. Admittedly this is from primarily bad experiences whereby nearly every Unix machine I have been near has been slow and unreliable, good Unix systems have been few and far between, namely Xenix and Minix, though I'm starting to like QNX from my limited time playing with it.

-------

At the moment I'm weighing up some parts and will post back here if I do obtain them.
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-08 9:20 PM (#278 - in reply to #276)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
Well... I fell in love with Unix, when I tried it first time in early 1995. I was teached in Unix on consoles that were connected to a Vax server. It was so awesomme to send my first email from a simple text mode command prompt, as there were no GUI on those consoles. Then I found out about Free-BSD in eraly 1996 and I installed my first Linux distro in late 1995. So I have a love-affair with *nix's. For MIDI, you might be able to build a MT32 box, using Munt. And there are different projects on instructables, including a complete external MIDI interface, based on "Fluidsynth". Anyway... I just like Linux and are actually using it on my daily driver at this moment. I will probably go back to Windows7 in the near future. Who knows.

What have I been up to lately? Well....
I recieved that 486 VLB bundle that I bought. And I was not happy about the way it was packed/shipped.
Nothing physically broke, though I was nervouse that it had suffered death by antistatic electricity.
I think I will let pictures speak for them self......

I tested it all out yesterday and everything worked. I had it running with the DX-33 that came with it and a DX2-66.
And I am really surprised how fast this baby is booting. Really a gem, and it feels rock solid.
There were no battery on it, and since it has headers for an external battery, I quickly crafted a getto-mod.
Two 2032, two wires and a lot of tape. I was just too lazy heating up a solder iron. It worked, and I am quite happy.
Then I ordered a new battery holder, with room for two 2032 batteries.

Now for the gruesomme and gory details in pictures.....





(No-ESR_01.jpg)



(No-ESR_02.jpg)



(Unpacked_01.jpg)



(Unpacked_02.jpg)



(Unpacked_03.jpg)



(Not-Defect.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments No-ESR_01.jpg (260KB - 804 downloads)
Attachments No-ESR_02.jpg (253KB - 603 downloads)
Attachments Unpacked_01.jpg (276KB - 596 downloads)
Attachments Unpacked_02.jpg (235KB - 620 downloads)
Attachments Unpacked_03.jpg (187KB - 595 downloads)
Attachments Not-Defect.jpg (257KB - 580 downloads)
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-08 10:28 PM (#280 - in reply to #278)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
That is a nice bundle. I find the SIS 471 chipset is really very good. Definitely sits among the top of my benchmarking tests, trading places with the UMC8886 chipset.
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-08 11:03 PM (#281 - in reply to #280)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
waybacktech - 2017-03-09 12:28 AM

That is a nice bundle. I find the SIS 471 chipset is really very good. Definitely sits among the top of my benchmarking tests, trading places with the UMC8886 chipset.


Wait a minute....
How good is this board rated? Are the 57 US Dollars I paid (including shipping) a good deal then?
I am only asking, because I have no broad knowledge of 486 era chipsets. (Virtually none regarding the chipsets)
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-08 11:14 PM (#282 - in reply to #281)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
If that is what you payed for the entire bundle, i'd say you did pretty well. The board you have here is similar in layout to my Chicony CH-471 board, which the prices on ebay for that board are through the roof now. It is a very good performing board, as is another more generic SIS 471 based board I have, both are close in performance actually, so I would imagine yours to be pretty decent as well. Looks like though your board only as 128k of cache installed so you might want to bump it to 256K. Oh um.. you shouldn't run the video card in the third VLB slot that is a slave slot so there will be a bit of a performance hit.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-03-08 11:17 PM
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DXZeff
Posted 2017-03-08 11:28 PM (#283 - in reply to #281)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500100
Location: Hull, UK
Also had good experiences with the SiS chipsets and it's nice to see you making progress with the system. One thing I will say on cache, test with 128K before upgrading, my old UMC UM8498 performed better with 128K + 8MB of RAM than it did otherwise so there may be others like this out there... Probably not as my board was a little wacky from years of battery rot, but still, worth testing just in case.

I have been up to no good again, here's a couple of the items I recently got hold of;



WaybackTech likely knows one of the other items which I recently obtained after some careful consideration, against my initial judgement...


Given the average cost of components in the UK, this didn't actually work out too badly and I think I can make it back from a recent investment I made elsewhere. Only thing is, I have yet to locate a case for this project. I could probably make one I guess, metal project cases aren't too difficult or costly to get hold of and as all the I/O is out on headers I could probably just bolt some stand-offs into the bottom of something like this;

And it would be fine. I know a guy who works with metal for a living and am reasonably confident he would be willing to help if I had to make any serious alterations to such a casing.


As a last note, Brostenen, you lucky sod with your battery headers, I have six Odin clock chips to modify and only have a hand file to do it with. It's hard going and the resin dust is probably taking years off of my life. And they're soldered to the motherboards so I have to work on them in-board.

Edited by DXZeff 2017-03-08 11:32 PM
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-08 11:36 PM (#284 - in reply to #282)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
waybacktech - 2017-03-09 1:14 AM

If that is what you payed for the entire bundle, i'd say you did pretty well. The board you have here is similar in layout to my Chicony CH-471 board, which the prices on ebay for that board are through the roof now. It is a very good performing board, as is another more generic SIS 471 based board I have, both are close in performance actually, so I would imagine yours to be pretty decent as well. Looks like though your board only as 128k of cache installed so you might want to bump it to 256K. Oh um.. you shouldn't run the video card in the third VLB slot that is a slave slot so there will be a bit of a performance hit.


I shure did... The sales add.
Thanks for clearing it up. Hmmm.... Is there a list of 486 chipsets somewere, their rating and pro's vs con's?
Regarding the cache, then I have four 64x8-15ns that I got cheap some time ago.
I guess I need to buy another set, in order to upgrade my FIC 486 VIP IO to 512kb and take those 256kb-15ns
and install on this Abit board.

I thought that the third was master. Hmmm... TotalHardware99 have the top-slot named SL3 and the bottom SL1.
Is the top-slot allways master on every single VLB board out there?
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DXZeff
Posted 2017-03-08 11:49 PM (#285 - in reply to #284)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500100
Location: Hull, UK
Damn, I forgot - Not sure about building an MT-32 box as I had a real MT-32 and did not get along with it. Call me crazy, but I actually prefer the sound of the YM3812. I think this new x86-based SBC will probably fare better as I won't have to move from my applications (many of which have no equivalent on other platforms and are limited to 16-Bit Windows / DOS) and can easily transfer my settings / CAL scripts without having to worry. At most, I could see myself perhaps strapping a Pi to the ass end of my TV in the future to grab videos from the internet and my network as I am confident I could get one to output RGB or Yipper quite easily to my Toshiba TV, I'm guessing 5.1 SP/DIF is also available for these Pi boards? This would cut out having to wire my laptop up all the time and I think I could even hijack power for the board from the TV as the internal PSU is rather over-engineered. Who knows, something for the future... Haha, Analog Smart TV of sorts.

I also forgot this, here are a couple of those tracks I was working on as well as giving away one of the games which will show up after Mario 64 on my second channel;
https://soundcloud.com/high_treason/treasure-trove-cove
https://soundcloud.com/high_treason/click-clock-wood-summer
What a ridiculous challenge, poor 80s synths were likely never really intended for this kind of thing and whilst they didn't hold up well in a few of the songs, they fared much better than I expected. These two were real surprises and I think they're at least passable, the strings on the CCW track definitely exceeded my expectations.
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-08 11:56 PM (#286 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
#DXZeff
Originally it had a barrel battery, so no need to mod any RTC-battery. :-)
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-09 2:09 AM (#287 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
@Brostenen The numbering of the slots themselves does not always relate to master or slave. I have a couple, maybe more than a couple Socket 7 boards who's PCI slots are numbers backwards from what I see on other boards, having the shared PCI/ISA slot labeled as 1 for example instead of 3, 4 or 5. I will have to refrain from saying every vlb motherboard has the master slot(s) closest to the processor, because once I say that, someone, Hightreason probably, will say they have seen 1 that wasn't that way Now personally speaking, all of the vlb boards that I currently have, or have had in the past have always had the vlb slot furthest away from the cpu as slave. Usually it is printed on the board around the vlb slots master and slave, but of course not all boards. TH99 is a great site. I use them all the time, though I have come across a couple boards they seem to know nothing about, or have a close but not totally accurate picture or description of the jumpers and general layout.

@HighTreason

Oh you sneaky bastard. You found a sound module for that thing. I didn't even think about the possibility of that existing. Of course such card never came up on my ebay search for PC/104. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist getting one of those little cards. Too interesting By the way, you should see if the card does indeed need the 12v from the floppy header, or if that is just for show because i can't see a reason why this board would need more than 5v. If it does run off of 5v only, a power brick of some sorts should work to power this little guy up if you decide to use the enclosure. Maybe you should get one of those "Fake real security cameras" that William showed and put this STPC board into that. Put one of those little eyeball stickers behind the glass window. You should post more of your music to Youtube, in your videos or something. Really good stuff man.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-03-09 4:50 AM
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-09 4:59 AM (#288 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
@High Treason

I just tested my black top PPro chip, Fistbug is present!
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DXZeff
Posted 2017-03-09 11:04 AM (#289 - in reply to #288)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500100
Location: Hull, UK
The closest I've seen to slots not being laid out that way is my P66 which induces endless headaches with regards to PCI implementation. Slot 1 is the lowest slot, but they're all the same distance from the CPU and it is, from a routing perspective, closer to the required pins on the chipset. Either that or the BIOS is wired backwards which doesn't seem unlikely as many of the settings are a little strange and don't always do what you expect them to. Thanks to requiring memory holes and such, the setup in there is particularly precarious and if just one setting is slightly off the whole thing stops working. VLB boards seem to be consistently the same though, which makes sense given the apparent constraints on trace length, supposedly the CPU struggles to drive slots which are further away and the only boards I have seen with slots that are a long way from the CPU are generally VIP boards which run some sort of bridge and don't always perform very well. Some VLB boards place the CPU in the top corner and those ones tend to move the VLB slots up to the center of the board so as to keep them close to the CPU, like this one;


I wasn't sure audio existed for PC/104 but then I was also suspicious I had unwittingly used a kiosk that was running either PC/104 or something very similar that had audio and figured it didn't hurt to look. I stumbled into that ESS module and figured that as I could get one of those, I could therefore look at using this system as my new sequencing system as I need something smaller than the K5/P4 combination I have now and a 486 will have more than enough power.

According to the datasheet, only a single +5V supply is required with very low current, an abundant and well standardized voltage that should be easy to supply the system with. I even wonder if a USB port on a nearby machine might have enough current to run the system. I think I'll stick to a generic metal enclosure, I rather like those, very utilitarian and given I have gear housed in those that has been around for upwards of 40 years, I think it's safe to say they're quite rugged.

That music is going to appear on YouTube, one song for each part, though results do vary greatly.

I have located my Pentium Pro, I spent ages looking for it only to remember it is right at the end of my sofa inside a cardboard box. It would be strange if mine didn't have the bug, but I'd imagine the result will be the same.
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-09 7:15 PM (#290 - in reply to #289)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
No matter what VLB slot the CL-5428 are installed in, I get 44.3 in 3Dbench-1.0 and 43.6 in 3Dbench-1.0c.
I simply can't get any higher than that. I have an idea that I can go even higher than that, by using a S3-805 card.

EDIT:
Sorry.... Crosschecked and ran them again.
45.4 in 1.0 and 44.3 in 1.0c
My fault, sorry.

Edited by Brostenen 2017-03-09 7:41 PM
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-09 9:21 PM (#291 - in reply to #290)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
I found the manual for your Abit board - http://www.epanorama.net/sff/Computer/Motherboards/AH4-AH4T_486_Mot...

Overview states the VLB is either 2 master + 1 slave, or 3 slaves.

Bios option shows Local Master (device) Choose Enabled or Disabled (Default). If Enabled the VESA Local Master (Device) card is monitored.

I do not see anything in the manual actually stating which slots are which. I am guessing all slots are running in slave mode when the bios option is disabled.

This board does have the jumper JP29 to change the VLB wait state ( 0 or 1 ) so you might want to check that jumper to. Some cards I can get away with 0 ws up to 50mhz bus, others wont go past 33 with 0 ws. 1ws will also be a hit on performance so just make sure it is set to what it shows in the manual for 33mhz, otherwise 1ws will slow things down a bit.


Being this is an ABIT board, it might not matter which slot the card is in as the bios may just autodetect which slot the master capable card(s) are installed in and enables those slots as master accordingly. That's what it seems to me like this board is doing and why the slots are not labeled master/slave or any reference in the manual of the slot configuration, but that is a pure guess based on what I am seeing in the manual.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-03-09 9:36 PM
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-09 9:54 PM (#292 - in reply to #291)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
I saw that too in the manual. Yet as it is under power management, I think it is how the PM is functioning.
I have turned everything off under power management. Regarding the jumpers on the mobo, then I have
only messed around with the clockspeed, and it can boot on both 33 and 50 mhz.
As for the waitstate, I will be checking it all out on monday. I don't have any more time this week for retro'.
It will actually be pretty nice to see if I can get it to work with 50mhz and 0 ws.
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DXZeff
Posted 2017-03-09 11:17 PM (#293 - in reply to #292)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500100
Location: Hull, UK
The TSeng in my 486SX is in the second lowest slot with no penalty and they are not labelled. There appears to be no consequence, so perhaps my board is similar in how it operates. Said TSeng does not work at 50MHz regardless of the WS/BUS CLOCK jumper positions, yielding only an ominous red flashing screen.

In other news, I have mostly rebuilt the Pentium Pro, it has been moved to the beige case my Athlon was temporarily living in, so here it is before the swap began;


I have not set up the OS or anything yet, and I also have to do this with the Athlon as that has changed drives - as noted in my Mario 64 videos, I was using the old drives from my Athlon 1500+ which are very heavily worn and cannot exceed 3.5MB/s transfer speeds anymore. I have switched to a 40GB Hitachi Deathstar for the time being but will likely switch to CF in the future. Anyway, here is the Athlon in that case;




Massive amounts of copper in this machine are mandatory to keep the temperature under control, the 266MHz Athlon 2800+ is a very hot processor, I dare say it dumps more heat than the 3200+ likely due to the lower FSB making everything significantly less efficient. Essentially it is an older 2600+ core with double the L2 cache installed. You may be able to make out the GeForce 4 Ti 4600, the Bt878 and the SW1000XG cards.

Due to the nature of the Athlon and the fact that it will eventually replace the role of two NetBurst machines, I have nicknamed this system the "ChipZilla Killer" even though I think the 2800 marker was where Intel started catching up again - the Athlon would still have been better value if you could get a motherboard that actually worked, it's a shame so many of them didn't. My board has a trade-off for it's "actually f-ing works" qualities, and that is the fact it predates ATX12V and so requires a very strong +5V rail to get it to even start up properly. I still need to re-cap my 650 Watt supply, but the 430W one should hold up for now and seems to be running at acceptable temperatures, but I wouldn't want to stress it 24/7 and I don't plan on using it in here forever if I can help it.


I cannot make my mind up which sound card to install in the Pentium Pro as yet, because I won't be using the SB128 again, that was temporary and I have always had a strong dislike for those cards. Actually, that's an understatement, I absolutely hate those cards. As the DOS side is a little weak and I won't be using it for that very much if at all (I want to run Windows 95 and NT mostly) I am not sure I care very much about the DOS support so I may move the SoundScape from my POD and install the GUS in that system, as it has been homeless for quite a while since the PB became too flaky for my liking. This would leave the S-2000 for the PPro and the POD as my demo-rig, as it doesn't really get along with the S-2000 anyway. My other possibility is the Terratec from my K5.

I am hoping the PPro is capable of playing Atlantis: The Lost Tales as I have wanted to play it again for a while, but my P3 is too quick - and has a dead drive which puts me off fixing some software problems, as I plan to re-install the OS on new drives when I make my mind up if I want SCSI again or to just give up and go IDE - and everything else is either too slow, fast to a level that makes it unplayable, or else too new to run it at all. Thinking of re-playing RotH on my P66 soon too, might record that after Mirror's Edge though for the second channel. Not sure about any of this yet.

Edited by DXZeff 2017-03-09 11:31 PM
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-09 11:55 PM (#294 - in reply to #293)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
Nice... Athlons are a nice platform. Personally I do not know what speed suits me the best or rather wich one is the best.
Slot-A are not really that special, Socket-A are perfect for fast Win98 and Socket 754 are sometimes too fast for Win98.
Actually a 754 are the top line when it comes to Win98 systems. Athlon64 is for XP, wich is perhaps a bit off the table.
SocketA it is then.

So you'r Athlon is a bit like Socket 478 regarding heat then? What exact cooler would be the best that you can think of?
I know it should be all copper, yet, wich cooler? The only one that I have tried that are pure, is a NorthQ (60 to 120mm)

EDIT:
Regarding the blue light... Uhmmm... Everyone has his own taste. Personally I like green or orange better.
On a second thought, then I have actually allways had a slightly lesser liking to those coloured lights.
I think it has to do with all them young ones, that are tricking out their cars. I am more of a basic man....
I remember around 1999/2000, were you could buy gearnobs, stereoframes and stuff like that with cold light.
You know... Making the cabin shine bright with cold blue cathode light. To me, it just went too far.

Edited by Brostenen 2017-03-10 12:00 AM
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DXZeff
Posted 2017-03-10 1:13 AM (#295 - in reply to #294)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500100
Location: Hull, UK
I like Socket A the best as with Slot A (which I've never owned) I don't think there's any point in me getting one over a Pentium III and even a Pentium II is probably more useful to me personally for software from that time, I like the Pentium II. Socket 754 was a good budget socket, but it never appealed to me and whilst I have a board and processor, I only use it to test hardware I don't trust to avoid potentially blowing up something I care about.

Indeed, I run 98SE on Socket A machines because I think whilst XP is the OS of the time (for the Athlon XP. I know, who would have thought?) the only software that requires XP exclusively will benefit from a faster system anyway and software which doesn't need a faster machine almost always runs fine (and often better) under Windows 98. I've always said that there's a certain snappiness about an Athlon under Windows 9X, when configured correctly, that has yet to be matched. I do usually have XP too, in dual-boot, but only use it if I have to or to play around with things.

The cooler I use is the only copper one I have ever seen on sale, a CompUSA branded one that sold surprisingly cheap (as in, the copper itself is worth more than I paid for it) and was unused, sealed in the box. Lovely heatsink and a decent fan, no stupid temperature control.

I'm not really one for lights and I like plain looking cases. I take pride in not having a case window because if I can forget what the inside of the computer looks like, this implies I must have had no reason to go in there and that must mean that I built it properly because it worked for long enough that I could forgot. The Athlon though is essentially the chav of processors in my mind - and you're pretty much right, because any self respecting chav wants to be a boy racer and will usually ruin a half-decent car by sticking badly fitted body kits and mismatched neons onto it whilst blasting their crappy "oonts-oonts" music - but as such, it must also have "the bling" and needless show-off accessories that probably only serve to make it worse. Personally I like white lights or red. Green is fine but only a specific shade and finding things with the green LEDs I like is quite hard to do. The blue fans came with the case and the only cathodes I had left over were UV and Cool Blue. I did want it to look as tacky as possible though, so I think it works as intended.

Me and a friend once replaced the LEDs in his PC, one at a time, as we put it all together. We used these tiny indicator bulbs, they were LED sized and ran at 3 Volts, though were rated higher so had a nice orange glow at 3-5V. Unfortunately I have been unable to source them in recent years. They looked like these;

One of many times where I wish I'd had a digital camera to hand back then, or at least had my 110 to hand with film loaded, it was beautiful to look at. They did puke out a decent amount of heat though. I have seen them referred to as "Grain of Wheat Bulbs" and "Miniature Incandescent Bulbs" as well as "Rice Bulbs / Rice Lamps" before now... Wait... I found them!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100Pcs-Ature-Lamp-3Mm-12V-Indicator-Bulb-...
Be warned if you want to follow in our footsteps, most LED headers don't like driving these and whilst it never happened, I would not be surprised if they could melt plastic housings if sufficient heat build up was allowed to form.

Edited by DXZeff 2017-03-10 1:17 AM
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Brostenen
Posted 2017-03-10 9:30 AM (#296 - in reply to #295)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
5001002525
Mmmmm... Yeah. Beige is like the goto color of a retro/vintage machine. Black is ok too I guess. Even an all firetruck-red, yellow, orange or even grass green will do. Personally I would not mind a case like that.
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waybacktech
Posted 2017-03-10 5:39 PM (#297 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
10010025
Location: USA
Since we were on the subject of the STPC at some point in this thread, I figured I would share this little box I just hit the buy button on. Should be very interesting to play with. $15 shipped.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vortex-Mini-PC/272578899017?_trksid=p204767...

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DXZeff
Posted 2017-03-10 6:35 PM (#298 - in reply to #297)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with



TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500100
Location: Hull, UK
Vortex86, MP6 core right? I'm kind curious as to if the new ones with the 1GHz+ clock at DDR3 are still an MP6 internally. At that price I would imagine it is well worth it, especially with CF support right out of the front panel.

Not for me though, I'll stick to my STPC Atlas as I'm a 486 guy through-and-through.

Edit; If this is correct, then the Cray XT3 (An Opteron supercomputer) still used 486 technology inside to control things - https://www.okqubit.net/crayxt3.html

Makes me wonder if they were still there in the XT4 and XT5 as they were mostly just updated versions of the XT3.

Edited by DXZeff 2017-03-10 6:49 PM
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