Socket A, AGP; Anyone else with midieval rigs?

i built my rig back in 2004, and its still my main computer. :D

upgraded the ram and video card wayy back in 2005, and i added the 320gb hard drive a year ago.


specs:
p4 2.8C / intel D875PBZ mobo
512mb > 1.5gb ram
ati 9600 > 6800LE video card
seagate 320gb and 80gb hard drives.
antec true430 power supply.


socket 478 ftw!!
 
Old 939 Rig:

DFI Lanparty
Opteron 146 @ 2.5 > Opteron 165 @ 2.5
2GB G.Skill DDR500
X800GTO w/unlocked pipes > X1900xtx
80GB WD IDE > 500GB WD sata
Enermax 650 watt

Other Old 939 Rig:

Cheap Foxconn Board
Athlon 64 4000
4GB DDR400 Corsair Value Ram
X800GTO > 8600GT
250GB WD IDE > WD320aaks
Antec Truepower 430
 
I've still got my first gaming rig as a server in my basement, I love it:

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
1GB OCZ PC3200
ATI X1650XT AGP, upgraded from fx 5700
WD 80GB IDE
ANTEC 300W PSU
 
Trying to decides what to do with a "NEW" gainward 6ila slot 1 pII 233 and 384mb/ mx420 combo.
 
SLiGuy said:
Just wondering if anyone else runs on super-old rigs. Sorry if there's a topic on this already or if it's in the wrong section, I really don't post often (more like just browse the [H]otDeals section).

Anyways since my S939 setup blew up, I never regained the determination (or money) to build a new rig so here's what I've been running ever since.

-AMD Athlon 2500+ XP @ 1.9 Ghz
-Shuttle AN35-N Ultra
-BFG 6800GS OC (died last week, sent in for RMA, awaiting new card)
-2x512MB Kingston HyperX DDR400 PC3200 RAM
-Coolermaster Real Power RS-450W
-Plus some random no-name case, a 120GB WD, and 2 Pioneer DVD-RW drives.

Originally built in fall 2004, with 512MB of RAM and an MX440 in it. Used it for a solid 2 and a half years until I built my S939 system which blew up in just under 2 months after building, after that I've been using it ever since. Painfully slow. Finally going to make the leap to a C2Q and PCIe again this fall.

Anyone else still using anything prehistoric as their main computer?
Click to expand...

Well this sure as heck aint new, but thats hardly super old, almost looks like yesterday to me :) . I mean the new PCI graphics card standard doesnt feel THAT new to me even since AGP (I even remember Hardocp regailing how it wasnt any better, at least when they first released cards supporting them, I think possibly in Geforce 5 or 6 flavor).

I mean an Athlon XP even seems newish to me, come back to us when you got a slot loaded Athlon, or even a Thunderbird ;) .
 
My Son uses my old rig which was a Amd Barton 2500 @3200. What a good chip and solid under load. The Asus Board was brilliant as well. I tried loading 7 on my current board but it did not like the AGP card so back to XP pro. Time to build a new machine me thinks
 
Have a old Barton still running with Windows 98SE.Lets me play Quake and Shadow Warrior.
 
I think my phone can out power most rigs posted in here. LOL
 
Motherboard: EPoX P4M800Pro
Processor: P4 3.2GHz Prescott
Memory: 1GB DDR2 667
Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital 160GB SATA-300
Video: AGP Nvidia Riva TNT2 Model 64 Pro

Hoping to finally upgrade in the next month or two.
 
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz HT 800FSB
Motherboard: Intel D865PERL (Desktop/Motherboard on Intel Website under download)
BIOS: 02-13-05 22:02:08 ver. 08.00.10
CD/DVD Drives: 8x DVD
Memory RAMs: OCZ 400512ph 4x 512mb latency 2.5-3-3-7 premier series pci 3200 dual channel DDR (added more RAMS)
Video Card: ATi Radeon X1950 Pro AGP 575MHz 8X/4X 512mb 256bit 8-channel GDDR3- 1.38 GHz Shader Model 3.0 (Upgraded)
Power supply: OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply (Upgraded)
Hard drive: 120gb IDE ATA100
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI 24bit 96KHz SNR: 100dB (Upgraded)
Logitech speakers and Sennheiser head phones
Logitech laser mouse and wired keyboard
Monitor: SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19" 4ms (GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 500:1


I'm putting this on sale soon once I finish my Sandy Bridge build in 3 to 4 weeks.
 
I just retired my old computer from 2004. Athlon XP 3000+ and 6600GT. It still played L4D2 on all low setting.
 
wow, this thread went the entire 2010 yr without a post? :eek:

My oldest usable rig is only a P4... its basically my DBAN machine...
Intel P4 2.4C 800Mhz FSB s478
Asus P4P800-VM 865G AGP8x 6ch AC97 (using onboard Intel Extreme Graphics 2) 10/100
2GB DDR-400 (2x512MB WinBond CH-5 + 2x512MB Corsair VS)
Seagate 'cuda.7 120GB SATA + WD Caviar WD2000JB 8MB Cache PATA (the $20 deal from Dell back in '03/04?)
BenQ DW1650 DVDRW PATA + Lite-On Combo PATA
Antec Sonata (original) + Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W Modular

Next oldest is a Pentium Dual Core E2180 @ 3Ghz in my shuttle box. Sold/Donated everything older and in-between, hehe.
 
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I am just now considering retiring my rig I built in 2002.

Abit NF7-S, Athlon XP 3000+ and BFG 6800GT OC. Still runs strong although I dont dare scare it with any newer game titles.
 
I run several AGP rigs still....they still can perform useful work so why not?

Rig one (my spare if my main system dies)

Gateway E series (with upgrades)
Northwood P4 @ 3.2GHZ
1GB DDR 400 memory (4 x 256MB)
Geforce 6200 AGP video card
WD 160GB SATA hard drive
Samsung IDE DVD-RW drive
onboard sound, LAN
runs Windows 7 32-bit with 'aero' quite well

Rig two (my garage PC when working on my hot rods)

Old mATX beige case w Antec TruePower 400w PS
MSI Nforce 1 mATX motherboard
Athlon XP 2000+ Tbred CPU (mini-furnace)
Geforce 4 MX-460 AGP video card
single 1GB DDR 266 memory stick
Adpatec USB 2.0 / SATA PCI adapter
WD 120GB SATA drive
Samsung IDE DVD-ROM drive
Creative SB Live sound, onboard LAN
Airlink wireless G PCI card
runs Windows XP SP3 quite well

Rig three (retro gaming goodness)

Old Gateway beige ATX case and 250w PS
Asus P3B-F Slot 1 440BX motherboard
Intel PIII 750MHz CPU
512MB PC100 CL2 memory
3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 16MB AGP video
Seagate 30GB IDE hard drive
Samsung IDE CD-RW drive
Creative SoundBlaster Pro ISA sound card
3com Etherlink III PCI LAN
runs Windows 98SE and gets alot of use playing old DOS / 'glide games :D
 
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Kckazdude said:
I am just now considering retiring my rig I built in 2002.

Abit NF7-S, Athlon XP 3000+ and BFG 6800GT OC. Still runs strong although I dont dare scare it with any newer game titles.
Click to expand...

LOL, my friend has the same exact setup. He has completed Crysis, Crysis Warhead, and recently FarCry 2 on it.....it's still hanging in there! :eek:
 
Up until a couple years ago I was still rockin an old iMac (iLamp). Blistering fast 800MHz G4 (with 66MHz bus I believe), GeForce MX 4 (64MB VRAM), 512MB DDR133, and some slow-ass 80GB drive. No built in wifi or Bluetooth. USB 1 (you have no idea how slow that shit is). Good times.
 
Im pretty sad because i had a great mother board MSI K7N2-l Delta Series , 2500+ , DDR2700 Kingson value ram, 40 gig maxtor.

then came ebay - bought myself OCZ 1 gb 2x 512 sticks and BFG AGP 7800

amazing ....

Then came the soccer world cup and power was upgraded here and load shedding was done and some how but it not entirely clear yet what happened , i lost my Motherboard, CPU, and PSU.
PSU replaced, Grphics Card still fine, Ram still fine , motherboard had to get a new ASUS A7V8X-X and a new CPU 2800+ Barton
Anyways, my OCZ ram does not work at 400 mhz , only at 333.

I am sad because of this and because now my machine is held back from its full potential.

I would like to either patriot ram or transcend ram but i am scared it does not work at 400mhz like it should.
 
Since the thread was already resurrected. I am still using a 2500+ Barton Core w/ 2gb of ram. I'm not sure what the board is but I think it is an Abit NF7S. I would have to look.

Still have an extra zalman cooler for one but it won't work with my board cause my board lacks the holes..
 
While a C2Q would be an upgrade for you, why waste money on hardware that's already dated?
 
Hi guys - I hope this is the right forum/thread

I am restoring/upgrading my old dual Processor based computer. It was used in the past for heavy duty math calculations, and was VERY fast in that role, since the Microsoft Fortran compiler produced code optimized for the Intel math co-processor.

The project goal is to see how close I can come to getting it to feel like my main computer, which is a Gateway FX6800-01e with some upgrades. No games, (well maybe solitare) just day-to-day use, which is what most people expect from their computer.

Project Computer (1996) to be upgraded.
Op. system Win2000 sp5?
Computer brand SAG - Motherboard Intel PR440FX
Dual Pentium Pro (Xenon) 200 MHz CPUs
256 K Ram memory
4 PCI slots - one occupied by a Radon 7000 family video card.
2 USB 1.0 ports
2 Small SCSI drives (to be replaced by an IDE Drive)
One Floppy drive (will keep or replace if defective)

I am sure I will need some advice along the way, but the most obvious things are straightforward, as one example, a modern DVD drive, to replace a 1996 CD drive.

Will provide updates along the way, in case anyone is interested.

So far I have:
1) Upgraded to XP Pro sp3 (that was a major mistake, sp3 has apparently messed up a whole bunch of perfectly good computers). More about that later!
2) Replaced the SCSI drives with one Maxtor 250 GB system drive. Boy did that make a difference - 1996 Quantum SCSI drives, although fast for the time, are really SLOW.
3) Installed 1 meg (4 - 256k 50Ns modules) ram memory.
4) Installed a 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI adapter. That was a trip, sp3 does not like to deal with the interrupts needed.
5) Upgraded Bios to version 9 (the final, Intel no longer supports that MOBO) That was needed to get rid of the previous ~8 Gb limit on IDE Drives.
6) Installed a 2 port (1 external, 1 internal) PCI Sata adapter, to be used later.

Results and comments so far:
1) XP Pro sp3 recognizes the dual CPUs in device manager but in spite of following all installation instructions, (3 installs, 2 Repair, one Full) and other procedures recommended on the net, a dual CPU setup is not likely, it seems. I doubt that 2 vs 1 cpu would make much difference for the project goal, but it says something about sp3!
2) Replacing the SCSI drives cleaned up the interior of the case. the 7 node SCSI cable was a big untidy and inconvenient mess.
3) The 50ns ram will need a jumper change to get 50ns. (later)
4) The 5 port usb board could not be made functional due to IRQ conflicts. Rather than manually manipulating the IRQs (back to Dos), I changed the computer type from "multiprocessor" to "Standard". Problem solved!
5) The 2 port SATA board was a big problem to install, due partly to sketchy installation instructions, and a bad (perhaps) PC slot. Moving it to another slot fixed that.

All in all, the system is quite useable, but there is still delays in loading applications, and the screen refresh rate is rather slow.

Next step - a better Video card. Suggestions re a good (better than the installed 1996 card) are solicited. Remember, only PCI slots are available!
And (if the SATA board supports it) booting from it with either a fast SATA drive, or even a SSD.

Cheers
Warren
 
whturner said:
... 1) Upgraded to XP Pro sp3 (that was a major mistake, sp3 has apparently messed up a whole bunch of perfectly good computers). More about that later! ...
Click to expand...

I ran a dual P3 500Mhz and a dual P3 733Mhz on XP Pro SP3 just fine. Then again, those systems were much newer than yours.

One thing to consider when using older hardware, capacitors: make sure none are bulging. ;)
 
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Thanks for the reply: For sure, those systems are newer that my project computer. The only thing older is the 1st gen TRS 80 I still have.
But it is not a hardware problem - even though the setup/installation identifies the hardware as multiprocessor, for some reason the multiprocessor files/drivers do not get installed to system32. The same for the IRQ issue.
It looks to me like the setup part of the installation is the problem. In the initial stage of "inspecting your system", followed by "creating a list of file to be installed", somehow the Multiprocessor versions of HAL, and other Multiprocessor files do not get selected for installation. The "standard " computer operating system is instead created, and works fine.
There is a lot of chatter on the net about this issue - I am not good enough at the inner workings of the operating system to do much about it. But I can see that the multiprocessor files(or at least some of them) are not installed!

Cheers
Warren
 
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