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If you've been perusing the 3DFX thread, you may recognize this. I posted there a few weeks ago when I first started the build, but now i'm finally getting around to giving it a home of it's own so I can post some updates.
Right before I pulled the trigger on a massive dual LGA2011 build just for fun, I took a step back and thought about what I was really doing (usually a step I skip). It was only then that I noticed how terribly I was missing the point. I realized my motives had become too heavily weighted in the pizzazz of fancy parts and crazy core speeds, and not nearly enough about the true appreciation of the hardware. Hell, I rarely even push my OC'd 2600k up to capacity, and I have no clue why I have 32 gigs of RAM.
About that same time, I also became inspired by cmadki4's "Arcaic" case mod. I was also already getting nostalgic, tinkering with Amiga and N64 emulators. So it was then decided that my new project would not be a wasteful over-the-top powerhouse, but instead a vintage gaming machine combining original hardware with plenty of age-old memories of software and games alike.
I began this project about mid-March when I dusted off this old Celeron MMX 433mhz board. It had 64 RAM, a 10GB hard drive, and Intel 82810-DC100 integrated graphics (3MB).
I've had the computer laying around in closets for about 5 years, after I upgraded my grandparents to XP and received this as my thank-you present.
She lives!
Next step: make it cool.
What's cooler than the first ever SLI graphics cards? I picked up two Orchid Righteous 3DFX Voodoo2 12MBs, along with the SLI cable and pass-through all together in a pretty solid ebay deal.
Now it's time for some new memory. 512MB PC100 to max out the motherboard.
I guess it's time to stick it in a case. It's only temporary though. A new one will be arriving eventually. And yes the CPU heatsink has a fan just sitting loosely on top of it! Got a new CPU cooler coming from Taiwan though...
At this point I began setting up some software.
When I was starting to install 3D games and troubleshooting issues, I went through numerous testing rounds using various Voodoo2 drivers and Glide/DirectX versions. I went from DX6, to 7, to 8.1, to 9.0c, then back to 8.1 all while also swapping graphics drivers (probably about 20 Voodoo2 re-installs in total). There are loads of third-party Voodoo drivers that claim to be faster and more compatible, but to be honest I noticed zero difference.
After enough testing and research, I landed on DirectX 8.1 and the latest actual manufacturer's drivers v3.02.02. I’m sticking to the stock 3DFX drivers because frankly, I saw no performance gain from FastVoodoo 4.6. Plus I feel more comfortable sticking to the manufacturer’s drivers rather than going third-party. If the FastVoodoo drivers can’t even manage to display the System Info panel correctly, they have already lost my confidence!
However, at that point I realized I had probably made a real mess of the system files with all this back-n-forth. I had used DirectX Buster to remove versions I did not want, but there is still no way to guarantee it is clean. The only way to have absolute confidence that the system is as clean and solid as possible is to do a fresh re-install. Not to mention it was still running off of the same factory install it came with in 1998. I had cleared out most of the Gateway junk, but who knows what else could be lingering around. I went ahead and re-installed Windows 98SE, and here are some specs just after completing that:
-----------
(about 2 weeks later: )
As you may know, the Voodoo2s are 3D accelerators only. They rely on a third, more traditional graphics card for 2D display. I decided to go with the Matrox Millennium G200 because it is known to pair well with Voodoos, and I am also intrigued by the uniqueness of it's memory expansion capability. I spent extra time tracking down the specific version that had 8MB of onboard memory and also the expansion module with an additional 8MB. Finally got an chap in the UK to send me one for a very fair price.
Matrox Millennium G200 w/ 16MB total (8 + 8)
Unfortunately though it is the SDRAM version, as opposed to the slightly faster SGRAM variant. However I am happy to live with that, as my research leads me to believe that the SGRAM was only ever applied to the AGP version of the card. I don't have AGP on this board, but Tom's Hardware circa 1998 says AGP doesn't really matter in comparison to PCI anyway, so I still feel cool
Alas, a new case. This is the only part of the build so far that is not 1998 authentic. Old cases are far too bulky and limiting. I chose this Silverstone SG-02 because it is compact but also very airy. I want to show off the Voodoo2s as much as possible, so something horizontal and open like this seemed fitting.
I will probably be modding windows into the panel of the case. Or just making new panels all together, depending on how things come together visually later on.
First step of the transplant is to tear everything down. Here it all is laid out.
Here’s a recap:
Intel Socket 370 Bryant Motherboard R1
Intel Celeron MMX 433mhz
512MB PC100 RAM
10GB Fujitsu + 20GB WD HDDs
Matrox Millennium G200 8MB SDRAM + 8MB upgrade module (16MB)
2x 3DFX Voodoo2 12MB in SLI (8MB frame buffer, 16MB texture)
Linksys EtherFast 10/100 PCI
Some old CD-ROM
Some old 3.5” floppy drive
1x 60mm fan for HDDs
2x 80mm fans for GFX cards
Unknown Taiwanese brand aftermarket CPU cooler w/ 50mm fan
PSU as pictured is a 90W (yes, ninety watts) Newton Power NPS-90AB, but have since upgraded to a 300W Seasonic SS-300SFD.
Finally time to swap out that CPU cooler. The old heatsink was a real sucker to get off, and I can see why. This ancient thermal paste was hardened into a puddy.
All cleaned up, 433mhz of shiny beautifulness...
The new stack...
Just out of principal, I cannot let those Voodoo2 cores go totally un-cooled. There is not much space though, so just one step up from no cooling would be some passive cooling heatsinks. Unfortunately they are also a tad small, but better than nothing:
Wrapping it up. Gonna need a PSU conversion bracket.
The rubber shrouds of my new rounded IDE cables were total crap in this circumstance. It is so cramped and the thickness of the rubber connector shroud was so thick that I couldn't make the bends I needed to without totally displacing the shroud. So I just saved a headach and chopped them off.
Let all the raw guts just show themselves!
Notice the bent up HDD cage? That is in part due to the poor cage mounting design of this case, but really it was caused by a jammed factory installed screw that was holding in one of the HDD trays. Had to disassemble the whole sliding cage assembly to get the screw unlodged out.
This 80x25mm fan proved too thick to clear the SLI cable so much so that it would be impossible to attach the fan bracket. I have since swapped it with a 80x15mm fan instead and it clears just fine.
Updated spread:
Windows 98 SE, Intel Celeron MMX 433mhz, 512MB PC100, 3x 3DFX Voodoo2 12MBs, Matrix Millennium G200 16MB, Ethernet, 30GB HDD space (10 + 20)
And finally, the current fully operational selection. Collection is still very WIP and will always continue to grow.
Some accessories already in place but not photographed:
-Microsoft Sidewinder
-N64 Controller USB adapter
Future accessories to be implemented:
-2x NES controller ports on case
-2x N64 controller ports on case
-9-pin adapter for Commodore Mouse 1351
-VGA -> 9-pin RGB adapter for Amiga 1080 CRT monitor
-Possibly replacing the IDE cables if I can track down 100% black rounded ones (still without shrouds)
-Also possibly replacing the front panel wires with black ones.
-Possibly adding a window or large grill sections.
Right before I pulled the trigger on a massive dual LGA2011 build just for fun, I took a step back and thought about what I was really doing (usually a step I skip). It was only then that I noticed how terribly I was missing the point. I realized my motives had become too heavily weighted in the pizzazz of fancy parts and crazy core speeds, and not nearly enough about the true appreciation of the hardware. Hell, I rarely even push my OC'd 2600k up to capacity, and I have no clue why I have 32 gigs of RAM.
About that same time, I also became inspired by cmadki4's "Arcaic" case mod. I was also already getting nostalgic, tinkering with Amiga and N64 emulators. So it was then decided that my new project would not be a wasteful over-the-top powerhouse, but instead a vintage gaming machine combining original hardware with plenty of age-old memories of software and games alike.
I began this project about mid-March when I dusted off this old Celeron MMX 433mhz board. It had 64 RAM, a 10GB hard drive, and Intel 82810-DC100 integrated graphics (3MB).
I've had the computer laying around in closets for about 5 years, after I upgraded my grandparents to XP and received this as my thank-you present.
She lives!
Next step: make it cool.
What's cooler than the first ever SLI graphics cards? I picked up two Orchid Righteous 3DFX Voodoo2 12MBs, along with the SLI cable and pass-through all together in a pretty solid ebay deal.
Now it's time for some new memory. 512MB PC100 to max out the motherboard.
I guess it's time to stick it in a case. It's only temporary though. A new one will be arriving eventually. And yes the CPU heatsink has a fan just sitting loosely on top of it! Got a new CPU cooler coming from Taiwan though...
At this point I began setting up some software.
When I was starting to install 3D games and troubleshooting issues, I went through numerous testing rounds using various Voodoo2 drivers and Glide/DirectX versions. I went from DX6, to 7, to 8.1, to 9.0c, then back to 8.1 all while also swapping graphics drivers (probably about 20 Voodoo2 re-installs in total). There are loads of third-party Voodoo drivers that claim to be faster and more compatible, but to be honest I noticed zero difference.
After enough testing and research, I landed on DirectX 8.1 and the latest actual manufacturer's drivers v3.02.02. I’m sticking to the stock 3DFX drivers because frankly, I saw no performance gain from FastVoodoo 4.6. Plus I feel more comfortable sticking to the manufacturer’s drivers rather than going third-party. If the FastVoodoo drivers can’t even manage to display the System Info panel correctly, they have already lost my confidence!
However, at that point I realized I had probably made a real mess of the system files with all this back-n-forth. I had used DirectX Buster to remove versions I did not want, but there is still no way to guarantee it is clean. The only way to have absolute confidence that the system is as clean and solid as possible is to do a fresh re-install. Not to mention it was still running off of the same factory install it came with in 1998. I had cleared out most of the Gateway junk, but who knows what else could be lingering around. I went ahead and re-installed Windows 98SE, and here are some specs just after completing that:
-----------
(about 2 weeks later: )
As you may know, the Voodoo2s are 3D accelerators only. They rely on a third, more traditional graphics card for 2D display. I decided to go with the Matrox Millennium G200 because it is known to pair well with Voodoos, and I am also intrigued by the uniqueness of it's memory expansion capability. I spent extra time tracking down the specific version that had 8MB of onboard memory and also the expansion module with an additional 8MB. Finally got an chap in the UK to send me one for a very fair price.
Matrox Millennium G200 w/ 16MB total (8 + 8)
Unfortunately though it is the SDRAM version, as opposed to the slightly faster SGRAM variant. However I am happy to live with that, as my research leads me to believe that the SGRAM was only ever applied to the AGP version of the card. I don't have AGP on this board, but Tom's Hardware circa 1998 says AGP doesn't really matter in comparison to PCI anyway, so I still feel cool
Alas, a new case. This is the only part of the build so far that is not 1998 authentic. Old cases are far too bulky and limiting. I chose this Silverstone SG-02 because it is compact but also very airy. I want to show off the Voodoo2s as much as possible, so something horizontal and open like this seemed fitting.
I will probably be modding windows into the panel of the case. Or just making new panels all together, depending on how things come together visually later on.
First step of the transplant is to tear everything down. Here it all is laid out.
Here’s a recap:
Intel Socket 370 Bryant Motherboard R1
Intel Celeron MMX 433mhz
512MB PC100 RAM
10GB Fujitsu + 20GB WD HDDs
Matrox Millennium G200 8MB SDRAM + 8MB upgrade module (16MB)
2x 3DFX Voodoo2 12MB in SLI (8MB frame buffer, 16MB texture)
Linksys EtherFast 10/100 PCI
Some old CD-ROM
Some old 3.5” floppy drive
1x 60mm fan for HDDs
2x 80mm fans for GFX cards
Unknown Taiwanese brand aftermarket CPU cooler w/ 50mm fan
PSU as pictured is a 90W (yes, ninety watts) Newton Power NPS-90AB, but have since upgraded to a 300W Seasonic SS-300SFD.
Finally time to swap out that CPU cooler. The old heatsink was a real sucker to get off, and I can see why. This ancient thermal paste was hardened into a puddy.
All cleaned up, 433mhz of shiny beautifulness...
The new stack...
Just out of principal, I cannot let those Voodoo2 cores go totally un-cooled. There is not much space though, so just one step up from no cooling would be some passive cooling heatsinks. Unfortunately they are also a tad small, but better than nothing:
Wrapping it up. Gonna need a PSU conversion bracket.
The rubber shrouds of my new rounded IDE cables were total crap in this circumstance. It is so cramped and the thickness of the rubber connector shroud was so thick that I couldn't make the bends I needed to without totally displacing the shroud. So I just saved a headach and chopped them off.
Let all the raw guts just show themselves!
Notice the bent up HDD cage? That is in part due to the poor cage mounting design of this case, but really it was caused by a jammed factory installed screw that was holding in one of the HDD trays. Had to disassemble the whole sliding cage assembly to get the screw unlodged out.
This 80x25mm fan proved too thick to clear the SLI cable so much so that it would be impossible to attach the fan bracket. I have since swapped it with a 80x15mm fan instead and it clears just fine.
Updated spread:
Windows 98 SE, Intel Celeron MMX 433mhz, 512MB PC100, 3x 3DFX Voodoo2 12MBs, Matrix Millennium G200 16MB, Ethernet, 30GB HDD space (10 + 20)
And finally, the current fully operational selection. Collection is still very WIP and will always continue to grow.
Some accessories already in place but not photographed:
-Microsoft Sidewinder
-N64 Controller USB adapter
Future accessories to be implemented:
-2x NES controller ports on case
-2x N64 controller ports on case
-9-pin adapter for Commodore Mouse 1351
-VGA -> 9-pin RGB adapter for Amiga 1080 CRT monitor
-Possibly replacing the IDE cables if I can track down 100% black rounded ones (still without shrouds)
-Also possibly replacing the front panel wires with black ones.
-Possibly adding a window or large grill sections.
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