The Post Your Old/Retro Builds Thread

[Mr. Bluntman]

Dude... Been wanting to get one of these for nearly 15 years but I just never had the free extra money to get one, other stuff always took priority over a niche use item (in which I'd have to build the Pentium II 333MHz i440LX/BX/Voodoo2 12MB box to go with it first... Still pretty far down the totem pole, maybe someday before PII era stuff becomes too expensive if it hasn't already...)

 

[Sprung]

Sprung : Blast Grabbag on that bad boy!

Just for you:

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Dayum! My peasant self over here with only a MT32-Pi

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Dayum! My peasant self over here with only a MT32-Pi

Wait... what?

Hold the phone a sec...

Did somebody say MT32-Pi?!

 

[w1retap]

I have a Clumsy MIDI I still need to build. I bought all the parts but haven't soldered it together yet. It should get the same MIDI sound as an actual SoundCanvas device though.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

A neighbor just gave me these for free. HP XE783 and HP V50 CRT. Windows ME machine LOL. Going to tinker with it and make it some sort of retro station.

I'm wondering if there is a linux distro I can install on it or something....or may just make it a DOS machine. Or keep ME for the lolz I don't know. Need to do some research. It feels good to have a CRT around again though.

View attachment 545369

Modern linux distros that still support i686 are getting pretty scarce. You can try Debian, but I think you'll need more RAM.

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/

I'd offer you a few sticks of PC-100 from my stash, but it looks like you can get it for basically shipping on Ebay. I think yours can take a max of 512 MB, which was pretty common for machines of the time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155376136124

 

[t1k]

Modern linux distros that still support i686 are getting pretty scarce. You can try Debian, but I think you'll need more RAM.

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/

I'd offer you a few sticks of PC-100 from my stash, but it looks like you can get it for basically shipping on Ebay. I think yours can take a max of 512 MB, which was pretty common for machines of the time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155376136124

Thank you. I will just stick to XP for now then. I found a 128MBx2 PC100 kit last week for $15 shipped and ended up pulling the trigger on it. I should be picking it up in a few hours actually. If I was going to update the PSU and GPU of the system I might have spent more for 512mb, but a PSU/GPU would be a little pricey and this isn't really a system I want to invest too much into. I figure it will be a good bang for the buck upgrade. $15 is actually less than I paid for the full expansion set of Diablo/DII/LOD. I'm also not completely sure yet how well this machine will handle high density RAM.

Diablo II is playable, but I did have to increase the paging file size of Windows and turn down all settings and there is still some stutter. lodpatch_113d was the best patch to use since it was the latest patch to still allow for the ability of the game to switch to DirectDraw mode instead of Direct3D mode. I think quadrupling the RAM will help a lot. I'm pleased to have DII on the machine though. The fact that it doesn’t run perfectly smooth and is pushing the limits of the machine kind of adds to the nostalgic experience. A $15 RAM upgrade will be well worth it though if it eliminates the worst of the stutter.

I also installed Hydro Thunder, which runs ok enough at lowest settings and is fun. Shelby at Tech Tangents got me interested in this game. He does a lot of great retro preservation work.

I experimented with SNES emulation since Genesis emulation worked so well. ZSNES was the only emulator that would work straight out the gate, but unfortunately, audio in ZSNES sounds a little rough no matter the settings I use. And overall accuracy is probably not great. It was worth a try though...I figured I might start to hit the limitations of the machine. Perhaps the extra RAM will help.

 

[t1k]

So I got the RAM installed. No more stuttering in DII :^). Runs like a dream now. ZSNES still has popping audio so I think it is just some issue with the emulator itself. Things load and shut down quicker with the added RAM though so that is nice. No real difference in FPS in games like Quake and Hydro Thunder though, but that's not something I expected from the upgrade anyway. The main thing the upgrade did is make Diablo II run much smoother, which was worth it imo. Maybe I will try WCIII again just to see...

This RAM was dual density, so I think I should be able to put a 512mb kit in the system if I wanted too. If I wanted to max out the system I could put a geforce 2 pci, better PSU and 512mb of RAM in it. Maybe over time I will upgrade it if I can salvage the parts or find them at very low cost.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Welp, after going through everything 3 boards are MIA, with a 4th ruined by cat urine. Oh well... Easy come easy go, I suppose.
EDIT: I hope it is my pragmatic attitude you like, Format_C, not the fact I lost/had boards ruined...

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

So to replace my MSI K8N Neo Platinum, I was thinking about a Neo2 Platinum (s939 instead of 754) instead if I can find any more Opteron 180s floating about - if not, an FX-55 or FX-57 would be fun.
As for the ABit NF7-S RAID, if anyone has one they are willing to part with, shoot me a PM- let's talk...
I cannot remember the third board, and the fourth was an Intel P35 reference board, I am sure I can find another in time.

 

[zpackrat]

So to replace my MSI K8N Neo Platinum, I was thinking about a Neo2 Platinum (s939 instead of 754) instead if I can find any more Opteron 180s floating about - if not, an FX-55 or FX-57 would be fun.
As for the ABit NF7-S RAID, if anyone has one they are willing to part with, shoot me a PM- let's talk...
I cannot remember the third board, and the fourth was an Intel P35 reference board, I am sure I can find another in time.

not sure how the 180's clock, but my 165 runs at 300Mhz/2.7Ghz on my Abit AN8-SLI and has ran that way since I got it. While it spends most if it's time these days in the closet, it's a fun flashback form time to time.

 

[Format _C:]

I hope it is my pragmatic attitude you like, Format_C

Yes I was liking the "Easy come easy go, I suppose" part not the lost and damaged boards.
Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Yes I was liking the "Easy come easy go, I suppose" part not the lost and damaged boards.
Sorry for the confusion.

No worries lol - I have found in this day and age, sadly, you can't always be sure. Trolls take many forms and guises...

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

To further add: this, while is painful to an extent, does clear some room for better boards I may or may not have otherwise known about before...

 

[Starfalcon]

I have another system to post some pics of, after tearing apart my horde looking for my R520 video card. It is one of my Lian-Li PC-60 with the window. It has a MSI 694D Pro P3 duallie board in it. It has a pair of 933 pentium 3's, and used to have 768MB of PC133 ECC memory in it until I pillaged 2 of the sticks for one of my other duallies, so now it has 256MB. It also has one of my voodoo 5 cards in it along with a 3Com network card.

Back in the old days it was used as a FTP server for many years, before getting retired in favor of a newer system that was much faster. It did run windows 2k, although not sure what is currently on it as its been some time since I last fired it up. Now I wonder if it still has all the old FTP stuff still on it....hmmm maybe that will be a hunt for another day when I see whats there.

 

[Red Falcon]

Modern linux distros that still support i686 are getting pretty scarce. You can try Debian, but I think you'll need more RAM.

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/

I'd offer you a few sticks of PC-100 from my stash, but it looks like you can get it for basically shipping on Ebay. I think yours can take a max of 512 MB, which was pretty common for machines of the time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155376136124

That would have been from circa 1998-2000, so 64MB to 128MB RAM would have been average for that time.
Some of those smaller systems from that era aren't even capable of addressing over 256MB, so make sure to double-check the specs.

512MB RAM wasn't average in systems until around 2003-2004.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I have another system to post some pics of, after tearing apart my horde looking for my R520 video card. It is one of my Lian-Li PC-60 with the window. It has a MSI 694D Pro P3 duallie board in it. It has a pair of 933 pentium 3's, and used to have 768MB of PC133 ECC memory in it until I pillaged 2 of the sticks for one of my other duallies, so now it has 256MB. It also has one of my voodoo 5 cards in it along with a 3Com network card.

Back in the old days it was used as a FTP server for many years, before getting retired in favor of a newer system that was much faster. It did run windows 2k, although not sure what is currently on it as its been some time since I last fired it up. Now I wonder if it still has all the old FTP stuff still on it....hmmm maybe that will be a hunt for another day when I see whats there.

Nice! I always drooled over 2P systems even then, but lamented the lack of general support outside of WinNT and 2000...

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

That would have been from circa 1998-2000, so 64MB to 128MB RAM would have been average for that time.
Some of those smaller systems from that era aren't even capable of addressing over 256MB, so make sure to double-check the specs.

512MB RAM wasn't average in systems until around 2003-2004.

Yep, 256MB would have been high end, but not out of place in a dual PIII 933MHz system.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

My first PC, a 286 with 1MB ram, 256k VGA card, a 20MB MFM hard drive, and a single 5.25" HD (1.2MB) floppy drive.

Picture taken ca. 1991

 

[Deadjasper]

My first PC, a 286 with 1MB ram, 256k VGA card, a 20MB MFM hard drive, and a single 5.25" HD (1.2MB) floppy drive.

View attachment 577083

Picture taken ca. 1991

Looks like my first PC too. My first computer was Timex Sinclair something or other, second one was a Apple IIe.

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

True Retro PC build complete! Plays 3DFX games smooth as butter so far! My Voodoo 3 3000 AGP from the late 90's fired right up!

Specifications:
ABit KT7A v1.3 PCB with last bios to gain Athlon XP support
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73Ghz
768Mb of SDRAM PC133 @ 2-2-2-6 (I OCed these)
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP, overclocked to 175Mhz core/memory (might go higher if i need too)
SB Live! 5.1 w/ DOS emulation installed
Netgear 10/100 PCI Ethernet Adapter
Realtek USB 2.0 PCI card
40GB 7200RPM Western Digital IDE Drive
16x DVD/ 32x CD Drive
Iomega ZIP100 Drive
Antec 400W Power Supply (had to use to get enough amps on the 5.0V and 3.3V rails)
Windows 98SE w/ SP2 installed

 

[Red Falcon]

True Retro PC build complete! Plays 3DFX games smooth as butter so far! My Voodoo 3 3000 AGP from the late 90's fired right up!

Specifications:
ABit KT7A v1.3 PCB with last bios to gain Athlon XP support
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73Ghz
768Mb of SDRAM PC133 @ 2-2-2-6 (I OCed these)
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP, overclocked to 175Mhz core/memory (might go higher if i need too)
SB Live! 5.1 w/ DOS emulation installed
Netgear 10/100 PCI Ethernet Adapter
Realtek USB 2.0 PCI card
40GB 7200RPM Western Digital IDE Drive
16x DVD/ 32x CD Drive
Iomega ZIP100 Drive
Antec 400W Power Supply (had to use to get enough amps on the 5.0V and 3.3V rails)
Windows 98SE w/ SP2 installed

+1 for that Zalman CPU copper cooler, those were the best!

 

[Mazzspeed]

My first PC, a 286 with 1MB ram, 256k VGA card, a 20MB MFM hard drive, and a single 5.25" HD (1.2MB) floppy drive.

View attachment 577083

Picture taken ca. 1991

In 1991 I was learning to program in Pascal and COBOL on IBM XT's...

That would have been from circa 1998-2000, so 64MB to 128MB RAM would have been average for that time.
Some of those smaller systems from that era aren't even capable of addressing over 256MB, so make sure to double-check the specs.

512MB RAM wasn't average in systems until around 2003-2004.

The Intel i815 chipset could only address a maximum of 512MB of ram.

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

+1 for that Zalman CPU copper cooler, those were the best!

Yeah, got it around the time of my Soyo KT880 and Athlon XP 2800+. This mobo had the mounting holes, so figured, why not! CPU hasn't even gone above 35C under full load testing... lol. Decided to use some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on it too. Might OC it, but its hardly a limiting factor for a Voodoo 3, so it was more for aesthetics...

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Also for that retro feels... I added UV lights... LOL.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Provided the board is still at the shop down the road I'll be working on a Intel 965/Pentium D build tomorrow. Found a D 945 for a reasonable cost (read: next to nothing) as I'm putting this together with stuff I mostly have on hand, just needed the motherboard and CPU. It'll be fun to see how competitive (or not) the last of a dead era performs. Bonus points if the board I'm getting will support Conroe/Kentsfield processors, when I'm done taking the 945 for a test drive I'll plonk in a Q6600 and call it a day. I'll post more tomorrow should the board still be in stock.

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Provided the board is still at the shop down the road I'll be working on a Intel 965/Pentium D build tomorrow. Found a D 945 for a reasonable cost (read: next to nothing) as I'm putting this together with stuff I mostly have on hand, just needed the motherboard and CPU. It'll be fun to see how competitive (or not) the last of a dead era performs. Bonus points if the board I'm getting will support Conroe/Kentsfield processors, when I'm done taking the 945 for a test drive I'll plonk in a Q6600 and call it a day. I'll post more tomorrow should the board still be in stock.

I still have a Q9450 running on an Asus P5BDelux (P965 chipset) at 3.6Ghz with 8GB of DDR2 and a GeForce 1080. It's just a web/YouTube/Photoshop PC my wife uses these days, but outside of gaming, it holds up surprisingly well for modern tasks. It has an SSD in it and is quite responsive running Windows 10. Based on benchmarks I have run with it (for fun), it would hold up for games at 1080P and even some at 2K from maybe about 4~6 years ago and before. Anything within the last 3~4 years though that require decent CPU IPC would likely be a stutter fest because of the platform/cpu limitations.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I still have a Q9450 running on an Asus P5BDelux (P965 chipset) at 3.6Ghz with 8GB of DDR2 and a GeForce 1080. It's just a web/YouTube/Photoshop PC my wife uses these days, but outside of gaming, it holds up surprisingly well for modern tasks. It has an SSD in it and is quite responsive running Windows 10. Based on benchmarks I have run with it (for fun), it would hold up for games at 1080P and even some at 2K from maybe about 4~6 years ago and before. Anything within the last 3~4 years though that require decent CPU IPC would likely be a stutter fest because of the platform/cpu limitations.

Core 2 really pushed the goalposts further out. It doesn't surprise me that for light usage it still fares well enough today. Having SSE4 instructions help.

Went to acquire the motherboard, it's an Intel DG33FB - no Pentium D support... Hah. I guess it's going to be a GeForce 7900 GTX/Core 2 Quad Q6600 system instead. I could also do a Q9650/9800 GT build as well... What do you guys think?

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Core 2 really pushed the goalposts further out. It doesn't surprise me that for light usage it still fares well enough today. Having SSE4 instructions help.

Went to acquire the motherboard, it's an Intel DG33FB - no Pentium D support... Hah. I guess it's going to be a GeForce 7900 GTX/Core 2 Quad Q6600 system instead. I could also do a Q9650/9800 GT build as well... What do you guys think?

I mean, what's your end goal? The Q9650 will all around be a better CPU than the Q6600 with more cache and newer instruction set. Even with the higher FSB, they still overclock really well if you have a good motherboard and good DDR2.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I mean, what's your end goal? The Q9650 will all around be a better CPU than the Q6600 with more cache and newer instruction set. Even with the higher FSB, they still overclock really well if you have a good motherboard and good DDR2.

Really it's just to play period games, a gaming time capsule, if you will. I originally was going to put in the Pentium D and install a 7900 GTX for some end-of-Windows XP-era fun. The fact that this supports Yorkfield and Wolfdale CPUs is icing on the cake, and would allow me to more/less replicate my end-of-2008 gaming experience with an E8600/Q9650 with a GTS 250 1GB or 9800 GT 512MB, or pop in a Q6600 and build more/less what I initially set out to build...

Choice paralysis, it's fun!

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Have it assembled with a 7900 GTX and Q6600. Just have to test and install Windows on it...

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

View attachment 596864
Have it assembled with a 7900 GTX and Q6600. Just have to test and install Windows on it...

Enjoy! Here is my Q9450 setup... have some massive cooling on the CPU and Northbridge because I have been pushing a 450Mhz FSB on that quad chip since it came out... lol.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Enjoy! Here is my Q9450 setup... have some massive cooling on the CPU and Northbridge because I have been pushing a 450Mhz FSB on that quad chip since it came out... lol.

Zalman FTW. I remember those flower style coolers well. They were among the best for that time period, IIRC. I had a Q9550 that would overclock to 400MHz FSB/3.4GHz with only a modest voltage bump, so I'm not at all surprised you were able to go up to 450MHz. Me? I saw no need to go further, as even at stock the system did what I needed well enough.

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Zalman FTW. I remember those flower style coolers well. They were among the best for that time period, IIRC. I had a Q9550 that would overclock to 400MHz FSB/3.4GHz with only a modest voltage bump, so I'm not at all surprised you were able to go up to 450MHz. Me? I saw no need to go further, as even at stock the system did what I needed well enough.

Did I have a "need" back then, not really, but anyone who knows me knows I get as much fun tweaking/pushing hardware as I do playing any games on it. I have pushed things to the max ever since I got into PC gaming, straight up when I buy it too... lol.

That specific LGA775 setup served me for a long time before it got passed on. It originally had an E6600 in it, which I upgraded to a Q6600 G0, which promptly got OC'ed to 3.6Ghz (400x9). Then upgraded to a Q9450 OC'ed to 3.6Ghz (450x8). That system served my gaming needs from Circa 2006ish until 2014 when i went to an X99 platform. Every nvidia video card (except the 6 series) from my 8800GTX to a GTX770 was in that system. It served me well and held up for quite some time before it got relegated to low end task duty

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Did I have a "need" back then, not really, but anyone who knows me knows I get as much fun tweaking/pushing hardware as I do playing any games on it. I have pushed things to the max ever since I got into PC gaming, straight up when I buy it too... lol.

That specific LGA775 setup served me for a long time before it got passed on. It originally had an E6600 in it, which I upgraded to a Q6600 G0, which promptly got OC'ed to 3.6Ghz (400x9). Then upgraded to a Q9450 OC'ed to 3.6Ghz (450x8). That system served my gaming needs from Circa 2006ish until 2014 when i went to an X99 platform. Every nvidia video card (except the 6 series) from my 8800GTX to a GTX770 was in that system. It served me well and held up for quite some time before it got relegated to low end task duty

Nothing wrong with doing that. I am the opposite, choosing to never overclock. In my experience I just haven't been that lucky in regards to the silicon lottery so these days I don't even try.

My original LGA775 setup lasted from 2008 to 2012, when I upgraded to a Core i5 3570K. Great non-HT CPU for the day, but it didn't have the staying power that Core 2 did.

In other news I'm just waiting on some single link DVI cables to show up so I can hook up the intended monitors for the 775 system, a pair of 24" 1920x1200 panels I got at auction dirt cheap. A 30" 2560x1600 panel is a little much for a lone 7900 GTX, plus I hate how stiff and unweildly the dual link cable I have is.

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Nothing wrong with doing that. I am the opposite, choosing to never overclock. In my experience I just haven't been that lucky in regards to the silicon lottery so these days I don't even try.

My original LGA775 setup lasted from 2008 to 2012, when I upgraded to a Core i5 3570K. Great non-HT CPU for the day, but it didn't have the staying power that Core 2 did.

In other news I'm just waiting on some single link DVI cables to show up so I can hook up the intended monitors for the 775 system, a pair of 24" 1920x1200 panels I got at auction dirt cheap. A 30" 2560x1600 panel is a little much for a lone 7900 GTX, plus I hate how stiff and unweildly the dual link cable I have is.

I currently have an ASUS 24" 1920x1200 monitor hooked up to my true retro build (the KT7A one). It's the only LCD I have that has DP, HDMI, DVI and VGA, and at 75Hz! Plus, it has a ton of scaling options being an "Art" monitor, so I am using 1:1 on my true retro build so it looks correct to the picture. It's obviously older, but it looks damn good, weights much less, and takes up less space than an old school CRT... lol. I used to have a Samsung SyncMaster CRT 17"... sadly lost that probably a decade ago...

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Samsung CRTs always had some kind of geometry issue where you could never get it quite right no matter how you adjusted it. Sony Trinitrons were obviously king in that era. When I finally got my 17" Trinitron it got stolen not even 6 months later. Had a few shitty CRTs after that and a couple shitty LCDs before I finally got an hp LP2475w - that thing served me well for almost a decade before the backlight started to go. I have a Dell 2007FP for retro duties, a true 4:3 LCD. The backlight has dimmed significantly, but I know someone willing to replace the backlight on it - so that's getting done when I have the extra money to do so.

 

[Deadjasper]

I recently bought a 4K 32" Monitor from Monoprice. This thing is awesome. Don't think I can ever go back to a smaller monitor. Go big or go home.

Crap, just realized this was the retro build thread.

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Samsung CRTs always had some kind of geometry issue where you could never get it quite right no matter how you adjusted it. Sony Trinitrons were obviously king in that era. When I finally got my 17" Trinitron it got stolen not even 6 months later. Had a few shitty CRTs after that and a couple shitty LCDs before I finally got an hp LP2475w - that thing served me well for almost a decade before the backlight started to go. I have a Dell 2007FP for retro duties, a true 4:3 LCD. The backlight has dimmed significantly, but I know someone willing to replace the backlight on it - so that's getting done when I have the extra money to do so.

I saw a Sony trinitron on the curb 2 weeks ago when I was walking in the neighborhood. I thought about picking it up to see if it still worked and keeping it if it did. Was probably about 17". Sadly tho, not sure where I would have put it, plus the wife was with me walking and was already getting pissed when I half jokingly mentioned getting the car to go get it... LoL.

 

[70 Polara]

I may have mentioned this system in a thread about ISA overclocking awhile back, but here is the 486 system I have been using several months now. The particular motherboard I chose (after a lot of research) for my signature ALL ISA 486 build will run DOS/Windows 95 rock solid stable at 13.2MHz ISA and DOS but not Windows stable at 16.5MHz ISA. Hence I settled on IBM PC-DOS 7.0 as it's slightly lighter on resources then DOS 6.22, and I normally run 13.2MHz ISA when I'm gaming on the system (16.5MHz only when benching). Using a modified exe called FastDoom, my system will push 50-60fps in most areas of the original Doom levels and 52.6fps at 13.2MHz ISA and 55.5fps at 16.5MHz ISA in the 3DBench VGA benchmark. I credit the relatively unknown Symphony chipset and the WD90C31A video card for this performance. From my testing I think the WD90C31A (at least my DFI manufactured one) may be faster then the Tseng Labs ET4000AX, which is considered one of the fastest ISA cards. Overclocking the ISA bus definitely wakes up the VGA performance! When I built this system I set out to see if an all ISA 486 could compete with a VLB 486 system, and in my various benchmarks it is quite competitive with VLB systems based on the benchmarks I have seen on the internet. I'm using an Evergreen upgrade CPU which is basically an AMD 5x86 133MHz adapted to an interposer with a voltage regulator on it to allow it to work in older 5 volt only 486 motherboards. Interestingly I also have an Intel DX4 100MHz OverDrive CPU that benches about the same as the AMD at 133MHz using common 486 era benchmark programs. Where the 133MHz helps is in Build engine games - Duke Nukem 3D runs quite smooth at 320x200, on the 100MHz CPU Duke 3D can have some minor stuttering. Another game that benefits from the 133MHz is Chasm: The Rift.

One of these days I'll finish restoring the case the system is in, as it is the build runs fine but I have no front panel installed.