Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2023-11-26, 03:57

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'm not quite sure how the XGecu tests SRAM but in a big lot of 15ns 32kx8 Winbond SRAM chips I bought online, it quickly helped me find the bad ones and the ones that tested bad in the XGecu wouldn't allow my other test bench 486 board to even light up. So I think it's probably a "go" or "no-go" …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2023-11-26, 01:49

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Ok nice to know the current AMIBIOS is the best one, so I won't bother burning more EEPROMS. Interestingly, I have a pretty good selection of 15ns cache SRAM chips here, and I did test them with the XGecu Pro then tried to look for 'golden chips' by testing them on another board and yet never was …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2023-11-26, 00:13

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Wow, thanks for the results pshipkov! That top card is a very nice ET4000AX, Micro-Labs as I recall? I guess I will have to track down a high end ET4000AX card for this system after all, as your results definitely back up that the ET4000AX is still basically the 'king' for ISA speed! The WD holds it …

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Re: Searching for VGA BIOS image

Posted on 2023-11-25, 06:59

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

https://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/companies/item/138-cirrus-logic-cl-gd5429 I used this rom on a VLB GD5429 card a few years ago and it worked OK. Supposedly the 1.30 BIOS for the GD5422 through GD5428 cards fixes a problem with Windows 95 and that all GD542x cards have the same VGA-registers so …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2023-11-25, 05:06

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

that is very interesting indeed, about the WDC VGA card. i have wd90c30 isa and wd90c33-z vlb models and as you said, they are excellent dos blasters, but slightly slower than et4000ax. i still have this motherboard. if you confirm that the numbers you posted are the best you were able to achieve …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2023-11-24, 02:09

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I actually tried a few ET4000AX cards and a few CL5429 cards, and the DFI WD90C31 is faster and has better image quality on LCD displays (no banding). The two CL5429 cards I have (an STB and a Diamond Speedstar Pro) don't like the 16.5MHz ISA speed and they both fail to POST BIOS reliably. I also …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2023-11-23, 14:12

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Just wanted to make a small contribution to this most excellent thread. I have a DTK PKM-3331Y that I picked up quite some time ago in rough shape as I recall. I had to remove dead Dallas RTC and replace with a socket and an aftermarket Dallas replacement that uses a CR1220 battery, had to track …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-03-09, 19:52

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The issue I have with these large ground planes isn't so much removing the leads; those can just be heated up and pulled out. It's the solder that gets stuck in the hole. No amount of heat, suction, or even heated vacuum pumps will work for some holes, and overworking it often ends up damaging or …

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Re: Video ghosting blurriness and dark video output

Posted on 2023-03-05, 17:45

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

https://www.anandtech.com/show/869/5 Check this old Anandtech article......

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Re: Any way to physically tell...GeForce FX 5200 64-bit or 128-bit memory bus?

Posted on 2023-02-14, 23:45

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you don't mind the 64-bit bus, look at the Quadro NVS 280 and 55 64MB versions of the FX5200. The NVS 55 has DVI, the 280 has DMS-59 for outputs. I have a few of the NVS 55 cards and they can be BIOS modded and overclocked fairly well. One of mine with Hynix memory and a fan blowing over it's …

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Re: How far back do you have to go for a graphics card not selling for an inflated price?

Posted on 2022-01-30, 16:31

by

by 386DX40

in Milliways

in Milliways

See, now that's being *smart*. I'm not chuckling, I'm in admiration of your efforts. Especially the overclocking, and the sensible game settings (3o fps, eliminating all the "effects" crap, and going for higest texture quality instead). Pushing existing, reasonably-priced hardware to the limit and …

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Re: How far back do you have to go for a graphics card not selling for an inflated price?

Posted on 2022-01-30, 05:04

by

by 386DX40

in Milliways

in Milliways

Also don't forget the Maxwell based Quadro K2200 4GB GDDR5 as well though they go for $90 and above. The Quadro K620 2GB GDDR3 is also Maxwell too and those can be had for $30-$50. I've messed with the K620 and again with some overclocking it's surprisingly useful!

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Re: How far back do you have to go for a graphics card not selling for an inflated price?

Posted on 2022-01-30, 03:37

by

by 386DX40

in Milliways

in Milliways

Chuckle if you want but I'm finding the GTX 745 4GB GDDR3 I paid US $40 for awhile back surprisingly capable. I game on a 1366x768 32" TV (I love the low resolution on the big screen with big text as my eyes are terrible) and on a 1st gen Core i7 870, 12GB DDR3, Win10 LTSB 2015 system I am currently …

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Re: Fastest socket 7 build on a 430tx chipset

Posted on 2021-03-21, 17:27

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=79865 My efforts to reach 83mhz appear to have failed Those seven around the CPU socket look like suspect 'cheap' capacitors on the board from the pattern on their tops. Have you considered recapping the board with quality new electrolytic caps? May make …

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Re: Gateway Slot A Athlon system -- Hangs on soft reset

Posted on 2021-03-21, 17:12

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had one of these Gateway Jabil 'Kadoka' motherboards years ago and it was flaky with Windows 98 no matter what BIOS revision or set of AMD drivers I tried. It ran best with Windows 2000/XP. I wonder if the terribly limited AMIBIOS these boards had is part of the problem? Out of curiosity have you …

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Re: TNT2 M64 PCI blank screen when launching D3D/OpenGL apps

Posted on 2021-03-21, 16:58

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

This particular Dell card is very fussy about working on Socket 7 motherboards in my experience with it, and quite frankly I'm surprised it's working at all on a 430VX chipset. This card came in Dells with the i810 and i815 chipsets as I recall, and it really seems to work best in those and newer. …

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Re: (Onboard) Voodoo 3 troubleshooting

Posted on 2021-03-19, 06:08

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Out of curiosity have you tried Windows 98SE?

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-10-12, 20:25

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Intel D850GB (socket 423) arrived yesterday. It's got that extra 6 pin auxiliary power header, so any quick recommendations for a PSU to match up with it? I run a D850GB in my retro system using just the 4-pin and 20-pin connections, and nothing plugged into that auxiliary connector and have never …

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Re: Smallest Socket 7 Motherboard

Posted on 2020-01-06, 04:21

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Probably going to be impossible to find, but way back in the day I had an EPoX P55-KV Socket 7 baby AT motherboard because of it's tiny size. It has a Via chipset and can take the usual Socket 7 CPUs. I ran a P200MMX in mine with 64MB and a Matrox Mystique 2MB video card, it was a great performer …

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Re: Will this MB support lower voltage Celerons?

Posted on 2019-12-20, 04:36

by

by 386DX40

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The OEM Asus/HP MEB-VM is a kick-ass cheapy OEM board. I have one in a Pavilion 4450 system. Through creative BIOS flashing after a lot of work and hot-flashes, I was able to install the actual Asus AWARD BIOS in the HP version. I then soldered on jumper pins for FSB speed and am running a Mendocino …

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