TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Trekkie4]

Just picked up Thermaltake V6 BlackX edition tower ... for free. Now, for the million dollar question - what to do with it? My thoughts keep going back to RetroMaster 2500, because why not! With Cooler Master Jet7 CPU cooler, it would look awesome!

What do you guys think?

 

[Frick]

Flea market day TODAY!!! - 14 EUR well spent

PII 266-SL2HE, 2x PII 333-SL2S5, Celeron 300A - SL2WM (finally)
Amptron/Jamicon/FastFame 650B-ATX Rev1.1 / KM650B - 440BX mint condition - 3.2 EUR with the Celeron 300A - I just couldnt pass it...THE MANUAL is in the links bellow.
Kingmax 1GB DDR400, Kingmax 512MB Hard-Core DDR500
Aureal Vortex 1 - FSUGSM32 - AU8820B2 (P/N MPB000093 Rev 1.10)

Where the heck do you live dude? Where I live that stuff was thrashed a decade ago.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Where the heck do you live dude? Where I live that stuff was thrashed a decade ago.

I do believe he's in the United States. Parts such as these can still be found, if a bit rare.

 

[Robert B]

@Frick -I live in ROMANIA (Europe) - I've seen stuff at our local flea market, from Italy and UK. Also the local recycling centers are still full of old PCs You can still find them by the dozen. Older parts like the 386, 486 are a little harder to find, but they are still plentiful.

@lexluthermiester - I wish I was linving in US

The 300A overclocks like a champ to 450MHz without voltage increase. I just set the FSB to 100MHz from 66MHz using jumpers and that was it.

The motherboard 650B-ATX is kind of basic and the only thing that worried me was that when the system was overclocked, the icons on the Win 98 desktop looked kind of funny and some menus and windows were displayed with a checkered pattern. The PC didnt hang or gave an error. So I backed off and I need to buy a better 440BX motherboard from Abit, Asus or Soyo, which has more OC options and settings.

In the case of the Jamicon/Amptron/FastFame 650B-ATX I dont know the FSB/AGP ratio. For 66MHz it should be 1:1 and for 100MHz it should be 2:3. I still dont know what was the cause of the display errors regarding the Win 98 desktop icons. menus or windows. As the motherboard lacks voltage control I was forced to stop and I dont know if increasing the voltage would've made a difference. The display error were present with the I740 and a TNT2 PRO, both AGP.

The 3dmark99 result is with the CPU at 300MHz and a Butterfly i740 8MB AGP.

I also cleaned the 650B-ATX and the Celeron 300A. What a beast of a CPU.

After three 333MHz Celerons this 300A was a pleasant surprise.

 

[lexluthermiester]

@lexluthermiester - I wish I was linving in US

That's a bit of a surprise. For some reason I thought you did.

The 300A overclocks like a champ to 450MHz without voltage increase. I just set the FSB to 100MHz from 66MHz using jumpers and that was it.

Of course it did. They were famous for doing that. The few times I had any trouble only needed a single or double bump in voltage and then was perfect.

After three 333MHz Celerons this 300A was a pleasant surprise.

There was a trick with the 333's, drop the multiplier to 4 or 4.5 and bump the FSB 100. May also require a voltage bump, but they did work at those speeds.

 

[Trekkie4]

Just picked up Thermaltake V6 BlackX edition tower ... for free. Now, for the million dollar question - what to do with it? My thoughts keep going back to RetroMaster 2500, because why not! With Cooler Master Jet7 CPU cooler, it would look awesome!

What do you guys think?

No comments or suggestions, huh? Oookay, well I just ordered a bunch of case accessories for the Thermaltake case & will put them all together as soon as I receive the packages. Mainly just PCI blanking plates, floppy 3.5" caddy enclosure, fan filters, that sort of thing. Will post more pics once I have everything set up & ready for installation

 

[lexluthermiester]

No comments or suggestions, huh? Oookay, well I just ordered a bunch of case accessories for the Thermaltake case & will put them all together as soon as I receive the packages. Mainly just PCI blanking plates, floppy 3.5" caddy enclosure, fan filters, that sort of thing. Will post more pics once I have everything set up & ready for installation

For free it's not bad and workable. Not sure I'd pay much for it. Would most definitely get red led fans for it instead of the blue.

 

[Trekkie4]

For free it's not bad and workable. Not sure I'd pay much for it. Would most definitely get red led fans for it instead of the blue.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Thermaltake, either. But like I said, it was a free so why not? Always wanted yet another "glowing" case to show off, ever since the old days & my Pentium 4 from those previously-uploaded pics

But no, I don't think I'll be changing the fan color scheme... Mainly because of the reason you pointed out, yourself - it would be too expensive. There's a 200mm fan on top already included, and if I'm not mistaking that one is blue. So is 120 one which I have inside my current Retro Master 2500 setup, so I would need to buy additional fans & replace everything. 3rd one is also from Thermaltake & came included with the V6, but it was entirely seized up so I had to take it apart & make it running again. So, assuming the motor isn't shorted, it should be running smoothly now

I DID however take the liberty of ordering RGB LED strip for the inside, complete with remote control! So I'll be able to swap the color scheme on the fly & without too much hassle. They won't affect the fans, true but since V6 already has both blue & red color schemes, those two will blend together nicely

 

[lexluthermiester]

I DID however take the liberty of ordering RGB LED strip for the inside, complete with remote control! So I'll be able to swap the color scheme on the fly & without too much hassle. They won't affect the fans, true but since V6 already has both blue & red color schemes, those two will blend together nicely

If the blue starts to irritate, you could always just disconnect one of the LED leads which won't affect the fan. Then the LED strip you ordered will be the sole source of light.

 

[Komshija]

Just picked up Thermaltake V6 BlackX edition tower ... for free. Now, for the million dollar question - what to do with it? My thoughts keep going back to RetroMaster 2500, because why not! With Cooler Master Jet7 CPU cooler, it would look awesome!

What do you guys think?

It's an old case with messed-up & impractical 3.5" HDD mounting system and with no dust filter on top. Not the worst I've seen, but expect a lot of dust inside and complications when mounting an HDD. I sold one system based on this case a few months ago and wasn't overwhelmed with its design. Also, GPU "lockers" (red plastic ones) are not the best solution and will not provide enough support for heavier GPU. That's my opinion.

 

[Trekkie4]

It's an old case with messed-up & impractical 3.5" HDD mounting system and with no dust filter on top. Not the worst I've seen, but expect a lot of dust inside and complications when mounting an HDD. I sold one system based on this case a few months ago and wasn't overwhelmed with its design. Also, GPU "lockers" (red plastic ones) are not the best solution and will not provide enough support for heavier GPU. That's my opinion.
View attachment 108927

Thanks for the info, but do keep in mind that I'm going to assemble a retro system, meaning I won't be using any of the new, modern components You're right though, mounting the hard drive(s) will be annoying, especially once I have the IDE cable running through the frame...

As for the red PCI lockers, fasteners, or whatever you want to call them, those will be removed & all the cards will be properly screwed into the frame

 

[lexluthermiester]

meaning I won't be using any of the new, modern components

Except for a PSU, you really want to go with something new..

 

[Robert B]

Super Micro P6DLS V2.1 has been cleaned.

What a board, what a motherboard. Even if it is based on the 440LX chipset, I still love it to bits.

The fact that it supports faster CPUs than the PII 333/66 that are stated in the manual adds to the appeal.

I managed to run dual 500 Celerons PPGA using slotkets. I can make a really out of the ordinary build with this puppy.

I honed my skills on the GA-8TM and now I can change caps without too much trouble. That means that I can revive more pacients in the future

The GA-8TM still refuses to POST even after I've changed 7 caps. Seven more await to be changed. If this doesnt work I'll give it a proper burial. I spent too much time with it already.

I tried three CPUs: P4 423 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7 plus many RAMBUS kits and still NO POST.

To this date the GA-8TM needed: desoldering of the BIOS chip and soldering of a PLCC32 socket, new USB ports, a missing cap near the memory slots, 7 fresh 330uf 25V caps and the list will grow.

I'm sure that the board was scraped and perhaps it took some damage to the northbridge after it was tossed in a big pile of waste. Broken pieces from the LPT port, scratches on the northbridge heatsink, cracked hook on the CPU socket and a torn capacitor, suggest this.

There is still a 0.0000001% chance that I might rescue it

The complete list of HW that I have aquired the last months which has been cleaned and restored. A few were beyond rescue but 95% of them are A OK!

1. 3dfx – Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoenix – VooDoo Banshee PCI
2. 3dfx - Diamond VooDoo 1- 4MB PCI
3. 3dfx - Creative CT6670- VooDoo 2 12MB
4. Adaptec 1200A
5. AMD K7700MTR51B – K7 Slot A 700MHz
6. Aureal Vortex 1 FSUGSM32 P/N: MPB-000093 Rev 1.10 PCI
7. Butterfly Intel i740 AGP
8. Creative 2x CD-ROM – CR-563-B
9. Creative Annihilator 2 GB0010 GF2 GTS 32MB / Creative GF2 GTS COMPAQ OEM
10. Creative SB16 Value CT2770 ISA
11. ECS P4ITA V1.0 – S423 motherboard
12. Fastware Intel i740 Power 3D AGP
13. Gigabyte GA-660 Plus Rev 1.4 – TNT 2 PRO
14. Gigabyte GA-8TM Rev 1.0 - S423 motherboard
15. Intel Celeron 300A – SL2WM
16. Intel DX4-100 DX40DRP100
17. Jamicon/Amptron/Fast Fame 650B-ATX /KM650B - Slot 1 440BX motherboard
18. Mistumi 12x CD-ROM FX120T
19. Nvidia Quadro FX 1000 AGP
20. Pentium II 266, 333 – SL2HE, SL2S5
21. Pentium II 350MHz SL2U4
22. PowerColor TNT 2 PRO - CTNT2SD
23. RAMBUS RAM
24. Slotkets, DDR RAM
25. Socket 423 coolers
26. Socket A Cooler – PDC38130BC
27. Super Micro P6DLS Rev 2.1 - 440LX dual Slot 1 motherboard

 

[Trekkie4]

Loads of stuff going on recently ... Pentium 133 will receive a small upgrade with Matrox Millennium II & USB bracket, RetroMaster is still on hold, waiting for necessary parts before I strip it apart & move to another case. Not to mention the upcoming project, featuring S754 Sempron & GeForce6 6600GT.

Also received a very generous offer from a fellow forumer, who offered to take a look at the two (dead) Voodoo1 cards. With any luck, he'll be able to remove all EDO VRAM chips & replace them for fresh ones. So yeah, plenty of projects & news all around ... I really should upload couple of pics & get you guys up to date

 

[lexluthermiester]

Pentium 133 will receive a small upgrade with Matrox Millennium II

That's a good card to match up with that CPU. Remind me, 4mb or 8mb version?

Also received a very generous offer from a fellow forumer, who offered to take a look at the two (dead) Voodoo1 cards. With any luck, he'll be able to remove all EDO VRAM chips & replace them for fresh ones.

I've done that before, though on something else. It was an old Super Magicom for the SNES. I soldered on and extra 4MB of RAM to make it work with larger games. Delicate procedure for sure, but if done carefully it should work for you like it did back then.

 

[Trekkie4]

That's a good card to match up with that CPU. Remind me, 4mb or 8mb version?

I've done that before, though on something else. It was an old Super Magicom for the SNES. I soldered on and extra 4MB of RAM to make it work with larger games. Delicate procedure for sure, but if done carefully it should work for you like it did back then.

Matrox is 4MB... Will upload more pics as soon as I have it set up & running

The guy is a pro, who has access to SMD & delicate soldering equipment. Even if it doesn't work, I'm not losing anything, as none of the two cards (Orchid Righteous 3D & Diamond Monster 3D) are working ... most likely due to the same, VRAM problem which was often the case on Voodoo & Voodoo2 cards

Update
There you have it... Still didn't have the time to upgrade P133 build, but here is the latest hardware acquisition


Matrox Millennium II, PCI model. Will be used with Pentium 133 build, and (for now, anyway) will be paired with existing Voodoo2 card. Then eventually, or rather HOPEFULLY some day this will be updated with proper 3dfx hardware choice for this build, Voodoo (1)


Adaptec SCSI controller... Was going to use this one separately, inside other machine (and build) but instead think I'm also going to put it inside P133 system, and swap the existing generic-brand controller in favor of Adapec. While I'm at it, I might even upgrade to SCSI hard drive, because why not...


...this SCSI drive!


512+512+1024MB of DDR400

And this is one of the two non-working Voodoo cards... Both check out fine, get recognized by the system, or even go through "DXDIAG" basic DirectX tests, they are capable of displaying basic 3D image. Buuut, when you use them in-game, and the actual gameplay starts (featuring full 3D environment, with textures & filters) it works for a second or two, sometimes up to 3 or 4 but then the screen gets all garbled & system hangs


And yes, those are Omron mechanical relays ... unlike other 3dfx cards, you can actually hear them being activated or deactivated! Pretty cool stuff

 

[HUSKIE]

Gigabyte ga-p55-ud6 1156 Motherboard with triple channel slot.Got it from my supplier.

 

[Trekkie4]

Speaking of "old" hardware... I'm thinking of modernizing my modern Q6600 rig with S771 Xenon CPU, X5460. It would be a huge upgrade from the current Q6600 in the terms of performance & would hopefully future-proof all my CPU needs for at least 10 more years

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

Speaking of "old" hardware... I'm thinking of modernizing my modern Q6600 rig with S771 Xenon CPU, X5460. It would be a huge upgrade from the current Q6600 in the terms of performance & would hopefully future-proof all my CPU needs for at least 10 more years

What motherboard are you running? Possibly a huge upgrade...potential for 4.5+GHz with the right board and that CPU.

 

[Trekkie4]

What motherboard are you running? Possibly a huge upgrade...potential for 4.5+GHz with the right board and that CPU.

My point exactly!

Board is MSI P43 NEO-F (MS-7519), which might not be ideal OC candidate, but it'll do the job. I'm already running OCed Q6600 @ 3.00GHz perfectly stable & without any issues. Cooling is Hyper 212 Evo.

 

[hat]

Gigabyte ga-p55-ud6 1156 Motherboard with triple channel slot.Got it from my supplier. View attachment 109438

That's... weird. 1156? Triple channel? Wat? I thought that was only on x58/1336?

 

[stinger608]

That's... weird. 1156? Triple channel? Wat? I thought that was only on x58/1366?

Corrected that for ya.

 

[hat]

Corrected that for ya.

Lol, thanks. Too many numbers to keep tack of these days.

 

[havli]

My oldschool VGA benchmark thread is online https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/benchmark-project-pci-e-videocards-since-2004.248956/

 

[Trekkie4]

Pentium 133 fully updated, even modernized (with USB)


I realize some of you here might not like the idea of having USB inside an old Win95 system, but all I did was adding an extension & hooking it into pre-existing header, on the motherboard. In fact, you can clearly see the USB cable being routed behind the cards, on the left... Everything else was a matter of BIOS tweaks & settings, simply activating the USB controller & assigning it IRQ.


As for everything else, I replaced both the graphics (Matrox Millennium II) and SCSI controller, in favor of Adaptec one.

This one is related to the BIOS, I know (will have to flash the board), but there is also yet another issue with the SCSI CD drive... Even though BIOS successfully detected both the SCSI adapter & Teac CD-RW, the system is just not picking it up... Whenever I want to boot up "Banana" CD-ROM driver, it's telling me how "no CD-ROM devices had been found" ... any ideas?

Remember this issue? Someone here stated how SCSI CD-ROM drive can never work in DOS, unless configured properly through a separate drivers & instructions. But no, it would seem that all my SCSI Boot issues were related to a controller, as the current Adaptec one doesn't have ANY issues with booting from a CD-RW drive.