TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Athlonite]

@framebuffer Watch out for the cable on that Intellimouse 1.0 I went through 3 of them back in the day they have a bad tendency to break a wire internally MS must have gotten sick of sending me new ones after the third one and replaced it with an Intellimouse 3.0 which is still going to this day

 

[lexluthermiester]

@framebuffer Watch out for the cable on that Intellimouse 1.0 I went through 3 of them back in the day they have a bad tendency to break a wire internally MS must have gotten sick of sending me new ones after the third one and replaced it with an Intellimouse 3.0 which is still going to this day

I had that experience too, except I just soldered in a different(better) cable.

 

[Athlonite]

I had that experience too, except I just soldered in a different(better) cable.

Had the mouse been out of warranty I probably would have done that too but why bother if it's under warranty and in the end I got a much better mouse out of it

 

[lexluthermiester]

Had the mouse been out of warranty I probably would have done that too but why bother if it's under warranty and in the end I got a much better mouse out of it

Fair enough. For me, that's more hassle then I want to deal with. It's easier and faster to just fix it myself. And I'm very much a "Fix It Myself" kind of guy.

 

[Athlonite]

Fair enough. For me, that's more hassle then I want to deal with. It's easier and faster to just fix it myself. And I'm very much a "Fix It Myself" kind of guy.

Luckily for me I was dealing with a local shop (Dick Smith Electronics) who'd ring MS and ask what they wanted done so 5 mins a faffing round at a shop versus 20~40 mins of fixing meh it wasn't worth the effort but don't get me wrong I'm also a fix it if I can kind a person I've recapped mobo's and GPU's and a IO card from the old ISA days replaced all sorts of bits n pieces the hardest being the read/write heads on an HDD repasted reballed and rerouted tracks that had burnt out. But I tend to use warranty replacement first if it's still under warranty if not then it's get out the soldering iron and fix it myself second

 

[Retrorockit]

Are you going to dual boot a 32bit and 64bit OS?

I hadn't thought about it. The T3400 has 2xGPU slots. I have an old Nvidia Tesla PhysX card. IDK, if those cache system RAM like a GPU or not.. That's where the 16GB will end up. Is there an OC (or other) advantage to having a 32bit OS?
Or is that for running older games?
By dual boot you mean 2 separate operating systems, not Virtualization with both at once? The XE Q45 chipset supports virtualization. I thought about splitting off just 1 E6500K core to see if it runs faster that way. Maybe a 32 bit OS makes sense there too?
The E6500K will get a tape mod too from 1066 to 1333fsb.

 

[Dragokar]

I would like to join this club

Spoiler: Pictures

 

[lexluthermiester]

I hadn't thought about it. The T3400 has 2xGPU slots. I have an old Nvidia Tesla PhysX card. IDK, if those cache system RAM like a GPU or not.. That's where the 16GB will end up. Is there an OC (or other) advantage to having a 32bit OS?

I was going to say, if you're planning to run Windows XP, 16GB is generally a bit much as it will only use 4GB(unless you go the PAE route which really wouldn't make sense). If you were going to dual boot 64bit Windows Vista or 7 as well, then you're good.

Or is that for running older games?

This. Retro gaming is a mostly 32bit affair. 16GB is not required if that's all you're doing. 4GB would be solid.

By dual boot you mean 2 separate operating systems, not Virtualization with both at once?

This. In my Dell T3500 that I use for retro stuff I have 3 drives, one each for Windows 7, Windows XP and Android. Windows 7 and Android see and use all of the 12GB of RAM that system has. Depending on what I'm doing the appropriate drive is selected at bootup.

The XE Q45 chipset supports virtualization. I thought about splitting off just 1 E6500K core to see if it runs faster that way. Maybe a 32 bit OS makes sense there too?

If that's what you want to do, more power to you. I find it much easier to use separate drives.

 

[Retrorockit]

I was going to say, if you're planning to run Windows XP, 16GB is generally a bit much as it will only use 4GB(unless you go the PAE route which really wouldn't make sense). If you were going to dual boot 64bit Windows Vista or 7 as well, then you're good.

This. Retro gaming is a mostly 32bit affair. 16GB is not required if that's all you're doing. 4GB would be solid.

This. In my Dell T3500 that I use for retro stuff I have 3 drives, one each for Windows 7, Windows XP and Android. Windows 7 and Android see and use all of the 12GB of RAM that system has. Depending on what I'm doing the appropriate drive is selected at bootup.

If that's what you want to do, more power to you. I find it much easier to use separate drives.

I just like to take old junk and see how much I can get out of it. So Win7 Pro or Ultimate for me. Also the latest GPU I can afford to run. I'll just post the pinmod stuff here, and some weird Dell BTX mods. I loved Win XP. I have some engine, camshaft, and dragstrip simulation software for that OS. So maybe that will get a revisit. But I'm mostly a hardmod kind of guy.
For the unlocked CPU overclocking I'll put that in the Throttlestop Overclocking thread. I usually just benchmark my stuff to prove the mods actually work. Then move on. The first Dell I overclocked had a 4 phase VRM and went to 2nd place at CPUZ for a couple years. The XE is only the 2nd one I've seen (not counting aftermarket XPS/Alienware stuff). So there's no telling what this thing might do. The DT format and 95W chipset CPU limit have me locked into 1/2 size heatsinks and fans. But I found a 6 tube BTX DT heatpipe cooler that fits, and a 130CFM fan so I think I have enough headroom to get a good overclock on the E6500K. It doesn't have SSE4 so for gaming I guess that makes it "sort of" retro.

The 4GB DDR2 modules may not all end up in the same computer. I could run 12 GB in 2 systems. But I need 4GB low density (x64) modules to get there. Many vendors don't list DDR2 any more and CL6 is mostly what's available. Since my OC methods don't change the RAM speed, low latency is what I look for. I have 2 GTX1060 6GB GPUs. 8GB of RAM is not enough for those, and some of the benchmark like 12GB RAM. But 8GB with a 3GB GPU works just fine. That's probably where the XE will end up. It's DDR3 so no problems there.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I have 2 GTX1060 6GB GPUs. 8GB of RAM is not enough for those, and some of the benchmark like 12GB RAM.

While that's true on modern systems, a QX9650(even OC'd) will not be able to exhibit those limitations. 8GB system RAM with a 6GB GPU will work fine on that platform. However, I encourage you to test for yourself as such will demonstrate an interesting level of characteristics you would likely enjoy learning from.

 

[Retrorockit]

I tested this with my X5470 Opti 380 and GTX1050Ti 4GB and 8GB RAM. In Valley benchmark (only) it had issues that looked like CPU bottlenecking. Valley would like you to have 12GB RAM.
I got the GTX1060 3GB to test for GPU RAM caching, and it seemed to work. No issues in any benchmarks. If it was CPU bottlenecking this would have made it much worse. If it was RAM caching the extra GB for the OS solved it. Now if you're running a 32 bit OS that can't address over 3.5GB RAM this wouldn't apply at all. Then 8GB RAM 4GB GPU and maybe even 6GB might work if the older games don't use much system RAM. If you're blaming the CPU you might be wrong. Cleaning out background apps. can probably resolve this also.
I run the GTX 1060 so my benchmarks don't get buried in the back pages at userbenchmark.com. Userbenchmark compares your system against others with the same MB. Here is the Optiplex 380 page. You can see some wiseguy stuck a GTX1080 on that MB with an E7500 CPU that pushed me down to 2nd place.

UserBenchmark: Dell OptiPlex 380 Compatible Builds

www.userbenchmark.com

The Q9650 GTX1650 4GB in 3rd place may have some issues that my 1060 3GB doesn't.
Some people build old computers to run old games. I like to see how far they can go with current apps. Modding locked BIOS computers is my hobby. The rules are different.
But at Superposition that system is on page 25 of the lower tier benchmark. Ay userbenchmark you can see what others have done with any system. That's where I found out the Opti 380 supports 120W Xeons.

 

[stinger608]

I hope that @TxGrin doesn't mind, but I included the Doom Reborn Mod that he posted in the Free Games thread:

Free Games Thread

In case it is still relevant, you can claim the main game again if you have done so the previous time it was free and that will unlock the Last survivor DLC It didn't, not free.

www.techpowerup.com

Here is the link to Doom Reborn Mod:

Doom Reborn Pre Beta Version 1.65 Standalone file

- What's New I've added widescreen resolution support, adjusted the lighting in every level,Updated the apperence of the main menu,added new easter eggs and corrected a couple bugs along with various tweaks and changes.Updated a couple of textures

www.moddb.com

 

[Biolante]

 

[Mr.Scott]

True copper is awesome.

 

[Apocalypsee]

I hope that @TxGrin doesn't mind, but I included the Doom Reborn Mod that he posted in the Free Games thread:

Free Games Thread

In case it is still relevant, you can claim the main game again if you have done so the previous time it was free and that will unlock the Last survivor DLC It didn't, not free.

www.techpowerup.com

Here is the link to Doom Reborn Mod:

Doom Reborn Pre Beta Version 1.65 Standalone file

- What's New I've added widescreen resolution support, adjusted the lighting in every level,Updated the apperence of the main menu,added new easter eggs and corrected a couple bugs along with various tweaks and changes.Updated a couple of textures

www.moddb.com

I have soft spot for Doom3, IMO its the real evolution of the classic Doom. It captures the scary factor of old game and modernize it, for me that is what I remember Doom the most; dark, scary, flickering light, weird creepy noises. Downloading now.

 

[Keullo-e]

Picked up that HD 7970 Matrix yesterday, I'll try first that does it run fine at Platinum clocks, if it does, then I'll flash the Matrix Platinum bios to it.

 

[Dragokar]

Another tiny sample from my collection inside the spoiler:

Spoiler: more power!

 

[Keullo-e]

Another tiny sample from my collection inside the spoiler:

Spoiler: more power!

View attachment 200284View attachment 200285

That AWE64 Gold is one hella great find, those cost usually over 200EUR on ebay.

 

[Dragokar]

That AWE64 Gold is one hella great find, those cost usually over 200EUR on ebay.

It is not a find as I saved it around 20 years ago, and it went into a deep sleep with some checks every 4 to 5 years. I have so many "old" stuff that I love but in the end I have to let something go.

 

[stef]

They can be found for more reasonable prices on auctions. Got one recently for 80. Was afraid to touch it, as it looked "new old stock" when arrived.

 

[framebuffer]

Leadtek WinFast A250LE • GeForce4 Ti4200

Pentium II 400MHz

 

[Keullo-e]

Leadtek WinFast A250LE • GeForce4 Ti4200
View attachment 200309

Pentium II 400MHz
View attachment 200310
View attachment 200311

I had that same Ti 4200 back in the day, though its original fan was dead when I got it so I screwed a 80mm fan to it.

Oh, and the 7970 Matrix seems to be stable at Platinum clocks. Time to biosflash it.

edit: Biosflash succeeded.

 

[MaxiPro800]

Fresh Katmai bench build.

NEC-Optiarc ND-3540A DVDRW + Hitachi/IBM Deskstar 20GB

Pentium 3 Katmai 500MHz 100FSB (667MHz@133FSB)

Radeon 7500 64MB GPU, Palit OEM (recapped)

Sound Blaster PCI 128 + Realtek NIC

POST screen

Windows ME instead of 98SE

Custom Space theme + sounds.

Specs:
Acorp 6VIA81P-PC133 mobo (VIA 693 NB/596B SB)
Pentium 3 500MHz (Katmai) 100FSB (can do 667MHz@133FSB)
20GB IBM Deskstar HDD (IBM Netvista pull)
NEC ND-3540A DVD-RW
384MB PC133 RAM
Palit Radeon 7500 64MB
Sound Blaster PCI 128 CT5803
AVI RTL8139 NIC
Windows ME 4.90.3000 w/ KernelEX 4.5.2

Custom Space theme sounds were comprised from a mix of the Space theme sounds, More Windows, as well as sound effects from the Ricochet Infinity game.

 

[Keullo-e]

Fresh Katmai bench build.

View attachment 200481
NEC-Optiarc ND-3540A DVDRW + Hitachi/IBM Deskstar 20GB
View attachment 200482
Pentium 3 Katmai 500MHz 100FSB (667MHz@133FSB)
View attachment 200483
Radeon 7500 64MB GPU, Palit OEM (recapped)
View attachment 200484
Sound Blaster PCI 128 + Realtek NIC
View attachment 200485
POST screen
View attachment 200486
Windows ME instead of 98SE
View attachment 200487
Custom Space theme + sounds.

Specs:
Acorp 6VIA81P-PC133 mobo (VIA 693 NB/596B SB)
Pentium 3 500MHz (Katmai) 100FSB (can do 667MHz@133FSB)
20GB IBM Deskstar HDD (IBM Netvista pull)
NEC ND-3540A DVD-RW
384MB PC133 RAM
Palit Radeon 7500 64MB
Sound Blaster PCI 128 CT5803
AVI RTL8139 NIC
Windows ME 4.90.3000 w/ KernelEX 4.5.2

Custom Space theme sounds were comprised from a mix of the Space theme sounds, More Windows, as well as sound effects from the Ricochet Infinity game.

ME?! NOOO! It screams for 2K!

 

[MaxiPro800]

ME?! NOOO! It screams for 2K!

For 2000 I'm going 440BX. VIA 693 seems like a more suitable platform for ME.