Holy crap! I love the look of this Vectra

Is this case proprietary or will any motherboard fit in there?

Next computer to show - my primary MS-DOS gaming PC, a custom one made by a computer shop named CompuNet(which no longer seems to exist):

I found this computer sitting in a booth at one of my local flea markets and picked it up as soon as I saw it had an AT keyboard plug and knew right away it could have been either a 486 or Pentium. It turned out to be a Pentium-based computer. Its original specs were:

-Intel Pentium 120MHz
-16MB of RAM on two 8MB 72-pin SIMMs
-1GB hard drive(the same one currently used in my Packard Bell Legend 316SX)
-S3 Trio 64 PCI graphics card
-AOpen AW32 Pro sound card with Crystal CX4236 chipset and integrated MIDI(I don't like Crystal sound cards, so this one was immediately replaced with something else)
-QDI P51430VX/250DM Explorer II motherboard with Intel 430VX chipset
-Mitsumi 12X CD-ROM drive(the same one I stuck in my Packard Bell Legend 316SX)
-Unknown OS - possibly Windows NT as the partition on the drive was a non-DOS partition

Its new specs after having been upgraded two days ago are:

-Intel Pentium MMX 200MHz
-64MB of RAM on a single DIMM
-7GB hard drive
-ATI 3D Rage II+DVD PCI graphics card(this is my only PCI sound card with S-Video output and the quality is really damn good - I need the S-Video output for video capture and because I use this computer on a TV)
-SoundBlaster 16 CT2840 and Ensoniq Soundscape sound cards along with some MIDI boxes(read on to see them)
-Shuttle HOT-569 motherboard with Intel 430TX chipset
-Creative 52X CD-ROM drive(throttled down to 4X)
-OS is MS-DOS v6.22 along with Windows 3.11(without Windows 3.11, the Soundscape's drivers would constantly beep the PC speaker and give errors about Windows.ini missing, so I installed Windows 3.11 just to make the Soundscape's drivers happy)

Here's a look inside the computer:

The SoundBlaster 16 CT2840 is one of those with the CT1747 ASIC, so it has true OPL3, and the sound quality is overall better than my other SoundBlasters with true OPL3. The Soundscape's only purpose is to drive these:

A Roland CM-64 and CM-300. The CM-64 is used for MT-32 compatible games and the CM-300 is used for games with General MIDI, Doom in particular(it doesn't get any better than this when playing Doom).

There is one minor gripe I have with this computer, which is its 7-segment display:

This is the highest number it can display. Lame. But hey, I like this computer, although now that I put in the Pentium MMX, I think I need Dvwjr's X-Wing patch as while the sound isn't garbled, some sound effects are coming out wrong.

And if you're wondering what's happened with the other parts the computer originally came with that aren't in use on the 316SX, they're currently sitting in a bin until I get another AT case to fit the motherboard into(and the AW32 Pro is sitting with my other sound cards currently not in use).

A note on the HOT-569: that thing gave me hell for FOUR years. I got it along with several other newer motherboards and it never worked. Only last week, I had the idea of checking the BIOS ROM, and sure enough, I put it in another computer to flash some data onto the ROM and UniFlash, which is what I use to flash data to Flash ROMs, didn't recognize the chip at all. I then pulled out a Flash ROM from another Shuttle Socket 7 motherboard(this one has bulging capacitors and a VIA chipset, which I'm not too fond of). That computer's ROM chip was still functional, so I downloaded a patched BIOS for the HOT-569(I found a patched BIOS before I found a stock BIOS, so I used the patched one instead), got an AMD K6 200MHz which was sitting inside a crummy PC Chips motherboard(yuck!) and... it STILL didn't work! Good thing I remembered I had two Pentium MMX CPUs lying around because it just so happens the K6 is dead. So, the computer is now a Pentium MMX computer and after 4 years of giving me hell and being thrown around in various boxes, the Shuttle HOT-569 lives again.

Ace wrote:

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/4008/rolandmidiboxes.th.jpg […]
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A Roland CM-64 and CM-300. The CM-64 is used for MT-32 compatible games and the CM-300 is used for games with General MIDI, Doom in particular(it doesn't get any better than this when playing Doom).

Does the cm-300 sounds any different than a sc55 with DooM?

From what I can tell, no. It seems the CM-300 is an original-model SC-55 put into a box like the CM-32L, so none of the extras from the SC-55 are present on the CM-300. If you'd like a sample of what the CM-300 sounds like, let me know what songs from Doom you'd like to hear and I'll sample them for you.

Hi everyone, I wanted to show off my favorite retro rig:
Tyan S2390B KT133A MB with an Athlon XP 1700+ and 256 Mb ram,
Radeon 9600
Matrox M3d
Voodoo2 SLI
Adaptec 29160L SCSI controller with a Fujitsu 18.4 Gb U160 10,000 rpm HD
NIC
AWE64 sound
DVD rom, Plextor CD burner, LS120 floppy
all in an IBM eServer case that I liked.

I have a bunch more in various states of assembly but this is the one I use all the time.

Thanks!

retrofool vogons is not a place for hosting images so please place them elsewhere and only link to them here.

retrofool wrote:

Hi everyone, I wanted to show off my favorite retro rig: Tyan S2390B KT133A MB with an Athlon XP 1700+ and 256 Mb ram, Radeon 96 […]
Show full quote

Hi everyone, I wanted to show off my favorite retro rig:
Tyan S2390B KT133A MB with an Athlon XP 1700+ and 256 Mb ram,
Radeon 9600
Matrox M3d
Voodoo2 SLI
Adaptec 29160L SCSI controller with a Fujitsu 18.4 Gb U160 10,000 rpm HD
NIC
AWE64 sound
DVD rom, Plextor CD burner, LS120 floppy
all in an IBM eServer case that I liked.

I have a bunch more in various states of assembly but this is the one I use all the time.

Thanks!

LS-120, nice!

Also I like the IBM case, even though it looks a little bit scratched but that's ok, I got cases that look even worse 😜

Sorry robertmo, I'm kind of a noob at forums how do I take them down?

retrofool wrote:

Sorry robertmo, I'm kind of a noob at forums how do I take them down?

Just upload them to photobucket or similar next time 😉

Thanks Tetrium, will do.

Also, forgot to tell you that my machine runs WIN98 SE. Although I've had computers since before time, 🤣, I never used them to play games til my best friend introduced me to DOOM. That's really as far back as my machine needs to go game-wise (for now anyway), so this box does everything I need it to. Anything newer goes on my main machine,(I really like the Portal stuff).

Oh, and Mechwarrior 2 on the M3d does look very good, I'd even say better than the D3D version on my radeon 😀

Ok here we go:

Some MIDI AT-Tower with Power, Reset and Turbo Button, EWS64 front module, Plextor UltraPlex 40x, 3.5" disk drive

Back side: Power supply with monitor power through, serial and parallel connectors directly in case, PS/2 Adapter for keyboard plugged in, PS/2 mouse, network, scsi, voodoo1, voodoo3, cooling slit, ews64xl, gus

Top side: Roland Sound Canvas SCB-55 in EWS64XL front module, below plextor drive.

bottom side of the case, no thin metal here

cards side:

CPU area with K6 233 MHz, Compact Flash card, Voltage regulator, no PB cache slot (already 512 kB onboard)

Sandisk 4GB card

128 MB EDO:

Voodoos:

GUS and EWS64XL, amikey controller:

Now some boot and bios images:
Voodoo3 bios:

Mainboard bios:

Adaptec bios:

All the PnP and ISA-PnP stuff:

Compactflash detected without problems:

Performance:

Bootup of a simple configuration with himem and cd-drive:
UMBPCI, Triones driver for CFlash, Adaptec ASPI, UltraInit, EWS64XL, Cutemouse...

Biosroms in memory

CompactFlash properties:

Soundfonts for EWS64XL and MT32 games, where MT32 is connected to Midi-2 of the EWS64XLs front module:

Starting up Tombraider on Voodoo1

WC4 installation detects stuff:

and creates worlds:

Oh and what game is this:

Finally, this systems is able to run a lot of games in near optimum configuration.

Woah, awesome setup! Nice one!

Holy crap! I love the look of this Vectra
Is this case proprietary or will any motherboard fit in there?

It's proprietary so if the motherboard dies then that's probably the end of it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it lasts longer that I do! Very solid machine.

retrofool there is an edit button in the top right corner of your post

Elianda : Very nice! i admit im a bit jealous of this rig 😉

btw, this AT case is totaly badass.

Yeah this case is rock solid, but even more badass is what comes now...
Alternative Strike Two:

Yet nothing spectacular, a Pioneer Slot-In DVD A04SZ drive (RPC1 patched), 5.25" HD, 3.5" HD, Turbo, Reset, Power

Back side reveals, a power through AT power supply, two serial ports, one parallel, PS/2 keyboard adapter (not stiff this time), PS/2 mouse, unused second parallel port, network, some card, VGA with Video In/Out, additional video card with SVideo+Sound Out, two sound cards.

Not so thick metal...

Cable hell, real HDDs, full fledged aluminum casted case for 5.25" drive

Pentium 166 MMX

256 kB extra PB cache, Pioneer drive on onboard IDE controller

384 MB PS/2 memory in 6 slots

Primax Altrasound GUS close, Guillemot Maxi Sound 64 Home Studio Pro with DB60XG (NEC version), Creative Dxr2 Encore hardware DVD playback card, Elsa Victory Erazor (Riva128) with TV In/Out, Highpoint UDMA IDE Controller, Realtek network card, finite size speaker, contact safety plastic nipple in waveblaster board.

Maxi Sound has a Dream SAM9407 chipset with 4 MB ROM (right Dream labelled chip) and memory expansion, DB60XG works and lies fixed on the left plastic package of the memory ICs. Audio cable connects Creative Dxr2 with Maxi Sound.

Infact it is already connected such way on the pin header that the PCB bends only slightly.

Closer look at the Altrasound with all of its CD-ROM connectors (pin forest)

The Creative Dxr2 Encore

ELSA Victory Erazor and Highpoint Controller with HDDs on channel 1.

One of the two IBM Deskstars and they run (remember only a part of the Deathstar exploded)

Tight packed drives and cables

Ok now BIOS and boot progress into DOS:
Elsa card

mainboard cold

mainboard warm

highpoint controller with 15 GB DJNA and 40 GB DTLA IBM Deskstar


DOS

Win98SE, MaxiSound Tools and DSP Polyphony tool, MOD4WIN with native Dream support:

Now a few images of the DVD card color keying the image on the looped through main graphics cards image (as with Voodoo):
non color keyed parts in video area get stripes, rectangular area is half way aligned to video window of main graphics card

widescreen

PAL resolution, card can not decode enough scanlines, see subtitles and asymmetry of upper and lower black edge. Image seems to be quite blurred compared to more recent software dvd players.

Third OS is NT4 on the 15 GB HDD, bootup:

running firefox with vogons and the whole system+apps just needs ~60 MB RAM. Firefox is a bit tuned to free RAM of hidden tab or when minimized immediatly. I think I already posted a vid somewhere else that shows how well firefox can run on such a system.

And finally something for swaaye (hehe):
Unreal on Riva128 using Unreals OpenGL renderer in NT4:
voluminetric fog and multiple alpha blended textures (gas)

There are reflections on the ground, see the black textures

Ok it's overall grey and somehow the fixed lightmaps are missing. Dynamic lightmaps are shown though.

🤣, are you really hosting all those images on your own ftp ?

It just made my browser go berserk with a total spam load of "425 Failed to establish connection." error messages.

Maybe try to use one of those many free image hosting services?

😉

MaxWar wrote:

lol, are you really hosting all those images on your own ftp ? […]
Show full quote

🤣, are you really hosting all those images on your own ftp ?

It just made my browser go berserk with a total spam load of "425 Failed to establish connection." error messages.

Maybe try to use one of those many free image hosting services?

😉

I got the exact same problem.

Jan3Sobieski wrote:

MaxWar wrote:

lol, are you really hosting all those images on your own ftp ? […]
Show full quote

🤣, are you really hosting all those images on your own ftp ?

It just made my browser go berserk with a total spam load of "425 Failed to establish connection." error messages.

Maybe try to use one of those many free image hosting services?

😉

I got the exact same problem.

I loaded up everything fine, but I think he needed to start his own thread with a post like that. 😉

I like the DeathStars, I run them in all 3 of my retro rigs.