The Post Your Old/Retro Builds Thread

[w1retap]

How much was this? I assume you got it on ebay?

eBay, $125

 

[Haswellbeast]

Do you all think that in short time, Sandy bridge may show up here? It is older that Phenom and Nehalem were when this thread started, the only thing I see is that for most tasks, sandy bridge is still relevant.

 

[Red Falcon]

Do you all think that in short time, Sandy bridge may show up here? It is older that Phenom and Nehalem were when this thread started, the only thing I see is that for most tasks, sandy bridge is still relevant.

Yes, next year it Sandy Bridge will officially be classified as retro, crazy as that sounds.
You are right in that it is still very usable for modern tasks.

I think as time goes on we are going to see less of a skew with the usability factor for modern tasks, as even Nehalem from 2008 or 2009 can still be equipped with 12GB+ RAM, SATA SSDs, and PCIe 2.0 transfer rates.
Go back to 2008, though, and something from 1993 like a Pentium 1 system certainly could not perform any contemporary task from that time period.

 

[Haswellbeast]

Yes, next year it Sandy Bridge will officially be classified as retro, crazy as that sounds.
You are right in that it is still very usable for modern tasks.

I think as time goes on we are going to see less of a skew with the usability factor for modern tasks, as even Nehalem from 2008 or 2009 can still be equipped with 12GB+ RAM, SATA SSDs, and PCIe 2.0 transfer rates.
Go back to 2008, though, and something from 1993 like a Pentium 1 system certainly could not perform any contemporary task from that time period.

Oh yeah, I recently acquired a nehalem and yeah, it's almost too usable, besides being forced into MBR and windows 11 freezes upon install.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Now that I have 16:9 panels I figured it's time to put this Radeon HD 4850 512MB I've had for years through its paces...

I would have paired it with a P35/45 motherboard and a Q9650 instead of this G31/Q6700 combo but my DP35DP got ruined by cat piss (and I'm not spending $150-200 for a replacement!). Pretty sure I left my Q9650 and other LGA775 CPUs back in the Southwest, but I just have to persuade my friend to get off his ass and mail them out to me....

God I miss single slot GPUs with sane power draw...

Can anyone recommend me a DVI-D dual link male to Displayport female adapter (for 1440p60)? The DVI > HDMI dongle I have only does up to 1080p...

Also if you have a P35/X38, P45/X48 full ATX motherboard(s) you'd be willing to part with on the cheap please do PM me... I would like to have a couple more Kentsfield and Yorkfield compatible motherboards on hand for a couple projects. When I'm not soft looking anymore and am ready to buy now I'll post the appropriate thread in FS/FT.

 

[Red Falcon]

Now that I have 16:9 panels I figured it's time to put this Radeon HD 4850 512MB I've had for years through its paces...

View attachment 722159

I would have paired it with a P35/45 motherboard and a Q9650 instead of this G31/Q6700 combo but my DP35DP got ruined by cat piss (and I'm not spending $150-200 for a replacement!). Pretty sure I left my Q9650 and other LGA775 CPUs back in the Southwest, but I just have to persuade my friend to get off his ass and mail them out to me....

View attachment 722160

Nice build, that was the first GPU to hit the 1 TFLOP FP32 mark.

 

[Haswellbeast]

Oh yeah, I recently acquired a nehalem and yeah, it's almost too usable, besides being forced into MBR and windows 11 freezes upon install.

I mean, nehalem isn't impressive (after trying to use it a bit more), it is definitely slower feeling than sandy bridge, but that doesn't change that it can still do tons of tasks today, but it definitely shows its age, unlike sandy bridge (in my honest opinion).

 

[KonaKona040]

Yes, next year it Sandy Bridge will officially be classified as retro, crazy as that sounds.
You are right in that it is still very usable for modern tasks.

Retro is a state of mind, unlocked multiplier and locked bus overclocking doesn't feel retro to me. It will undoubtedly be 15 years old either way.

I really need to amass a small collection of 775 CPUs to play with. They might be too slow to run anything new but they'll always be fun to tweak.

 

[Haswellbeast]

Retro is a state of mind, unlocked multiplier and locked bus overclocking doesn't feel retro to me. It will undoubtedly be 15 years old either way.

I really need to amass a small collection of 775 CPUs to play with. They might be too slow to run anything new but they'll always be fun to tweak.

I've never tweaked LGA 775, although, id imagine with some people getting 2x overclocks, bus speeds get pretty high!

 

[KonaKona040]

I've never tweaked LGA 775, although, id imagine with some people getting 2x overclocks, bus speeds get pretty high!

The great ones did 100% but practically all of the cheaper chips would do 50%+. Intel had tons of headroom on them and the boards usually had FSB headroom too. Good times.

 

[Haswellbeast]

Here is my X58 build. I got it by helping someone upgrade it for a 4770k build, since this just refuses to boot windows 11 24h2-- I assume because of the chip set. Anyway, it is a fun windows 7 build, and I love the novelty of triple channel ram. I also ordered a xeon X5660 because it was $3 with free shipping- how could I refuse? Yes, I could not spend the $8.30 for an x5675- like, that is worth more than some 5090s! (Bricked/burnt ones). I will update when the X5660 arrives and how far I can O/C. I haven't tried to O/C to the max yet for this, I don't have my best cooler or any VRM fans, since at the time being, this is my little work/web machine, and it's running in this shitty case (I'm just salty because I cant put the side panel on even with my smallest cooler that fits). The GTX 760 is mostly there as a display adapter that doesn't suck AS BAD as a gt 710. The fan is for the Northbridge that gets pretty toasty, although, repasting it has helped a bit, at 175mhz and with auto voltage, it doesn't exceed 50c under load. I also want to maybe look into RAID by finding a cheap HDD that matches this one, mostly for the memes, but to me that's literally the same as lighting money on fire, so I am hesitant to do it. If anyone has a pair of old HDDs (I do not really care on size), id be more than glad to buy them at a reasonable price.

Specs:
CPU: i7-950 @4ghz 22 x 175mhz 1.2v (soon x5660)
Motherboard: MSI X58M (no really, that's all it's called afaik)
RAM: 3 x 8GB DDR3 running at around 1400mhz, mostly because I don't want to troubleshoot memory to hell, I'll try tuning it some more when I get the xeon.
GPU: EVGA GTX 760 2GB
Storage: 640GB 7200rpm HDD originally from a 2009 iMac (and yes, I am not storing anything valuable on it for obvious reasons)
Power supply: Corsair AX760i (obvious from photos)

Triple channel RAM, man!

Performance rating, you can see why I have an inkling for RAID

 

[bluestang]

The great ones did 100% but practically all of the cheaper chips would do 50%+. Intel had tons of headroom on them and the boards usually had FSB headroom too. Good times.

400 and 500 FSB was some great times on P45 and Wolfdale! Still have some Gigabyte MBs, CPUs and RAM.

 

[Haswellbeast]

400 and 500 FSB was some great times on P45 and Wolfdale! Still have some Gigabyte MBs, CPUs and RAM.

Do you have any to show off?

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

I still have a Q9450 in operation on an Asus P5B-Deluxe that is set for FSB of 450. Even the original chipsets like that one could do high FSB with some memory tweaking.... or maybe I got really lucky.

 

[Haswellbeast]

Small update:
I installed an nvme drive. On a now 16 year old system... Isn't it amazing? The people who make Legacy nvme bootloaders are magical, it's so great to have an nvme on this old thing. Windows 10 on an nvme feels so quick, since I had gotten used to the hard drive on 7. I have also installed my deepcool ak620 cooler, it didn't work with LGA 775 mounting holes, but it did with the 1366 holes. I think deepcool did that by accident, but who knows, it now runs pretty cool, (60c with my overclock) and I'm excited to get a Xeon eventually.
Nvme adapter:

Thanks a lot to rEFInd!!

And my huge air cooler in a tiny case:

Finally, my CPU-Z (update, new O/C):

 

[Red Falcon]

Small update:
I installed an nvme drive. On a now 16 year old system... Isn't it amazing? The people who make Legacy nvme bootloaders are magical, it's so great to have an nvme on this old thing. Windows 10 on an nvme feels so quick, since I had gotten used to the hard drive on 7. I have also installed my deepcool ak620 cooler, it didn't work with LGA 775 mounting holes, but it did with the 1366 holes. I think deepcool did that by accident, but who knows, it now runs pretty cool, (60c with my overclock) and I'm excited to get a Xeon eventually.
Nvme adapter:
View attachment 726054
Thanks a lot to rEFInd!!
View attachment 726071
And my huge air cooler in a tiny case:
View attachment 726074
Finally, my CPU-Z (update, new O/C):
View attachment 726131

You are upgrading the shit out of that Nehalem platform.
This is peak 2000s, respect!

 

[Haswellbeast]

You are upgrading the shit out of that Nehalem platform.
This is peak 2000s, respect!

Well, its all stuff I had, just in other systems, namely, my AMD FX that supports native NVME. I also have DDR3 up the wazoo, albeit some has died over the last couple years. But yeah, I have like 3 mobo-cpu combos that all run on DDR3 (haswell, FX, Nehalem). I am just giving the Nehalem special treatment ATM. My fx now has 4gb of ram and a Dell PSU.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

In the next week I plan on pulling the 650W PSU from the test bench and replacing it with an RM850 to see if my artifact/driver kernel restart issues go away. Provided the issue with the 3.3v rail being uncomfortably out of spec (like 3.1-ish volts, or was it the 5v rail that was unhappy?) I wish I had a multimeter right about now... :/

I have been reading up on GTX 295 crashing and instability issues on Google and the general consensus is that you need an 850W PSU (750W minimum if you're not running a bunch of drives and shit) so I want to see if those issues evaporate with a beefier PSU. I've been using a TX650 and apparently it's not up to the job as I've run other lower-wattage GPUs in it fine, even 8800 GT or GTS 250 1GB SLI. I'll give it a try with both the nForce 790 Ultra SLI reference board just to make sure it's not a chipset thing. In my experience nVIDIA GPUs tend to work well in nForce boards (and they had better!). Then it's on to testing a Radeon HD 6870 1GB I bought off the FS/FT thread that's been collecting dust since I got it 2+ years ago...

If I can get the two GTX 295s working fine with the 850W PSU I'll go on to trying to fix the third GTX 295 I have in my possession that doesn't give a blue "status OK" light or POST/picture. I wonder if the internal ribbon cable came loose over time or in shipping?

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I was gifted this ThermalTake 650W. It's been recapped with decent quality capacitors so I may give this a go before digging out the RM850 to see if that needs rework or is fine for testing with the GTX 295 cards I have (and if it solves the artifacting/driver kernel restarts I've been having with both my "working" cards).

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I said fuck it and got out the RM850 lol

It wasn't happy with my Ryzen 9 5900X system and a 3080 FE, but maybe on a QX9650 and GTX 295 it'll behave? I dunno; the voltage readouts will tell all. I've sacrificed the requisite fatted calf to make sure no magic smoke will escape, keeping the silicon gods happy. If it is kaput I know someone that may be able to repair it as long as the juice is worth the squeeze. There's always the recapped ThermalTake to throw in too. I dug out the nForce 790i Ultra 775 board and QX CPU as well as my pair of 295s so shit just got real. Not sure if to install Vista or 7 yet. Depends on what discs I have on hand. I really should get some DVD-R blanks again.

Oh yea, we testing this today... As moist cr1tikal would say, let's do this shit.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I probably spent time improperly using about 15 or so zip ties to neaten it but if I don't practice at cable management I'll never improve!
Besides, it's still relatively easy to unclip and remove all the cabling should I need to swap for the ThermalTake 650W.

Just needs a heatsink now. Then I must russle up a power and HDMI cable as well as a keyboard and mouse.


...

Now where's what few Windows install discs that made it through 2 big moves? /wheeze

And I'll need those pesky nVIDIA RAID drivers for the 2 1TB Seagates that will be striped for OS/data.

 

[Haswellbeast]

Recently, I have been too busy to mess with my retro builds, but I want to give an update on my next project. I do not want to commit any heresies, but it is going to be sandy bridge. Why? I have heard the stories about the legendary 32nm Sandy bridge 5ghz+ OCs, and I love my 32nm FX in the same way that people love sandy, you can chuck voltage and clocks at it until the temps become an issue- something that can be mitigated easily.


My plan so far:
-It started after seeing some guy's FS post here, with both a 2500k and 3570k. That is what told me that hey, maybe this will be my opportunity to go through the LGA 1155 platform.
-I found an auction for an asus pz77-v (I think that is the name...?) that is listed for parts (he said only lights, no post, but generally had little info.), but it literally had no bids, and I bet $1 plus $7 shipping. It ends in a day, so wish me luck!
-I went on aliexpress for some DDR3 and saw that I could get 4x4GB 1866 for literally like $16 all in, or get 2x8GB for the same price. I want 4x4gb mostly for looks.
-I saw a $5 i3 3220 to hopefully use to test and troubleshoot that board.

UPDATE:
I am getting some z68 board+CPU+RAM combo from a fellow member for a trade.
I will eventually offer that FS guy $10 for his 3570k

 

[CAD4466HK]

Recently, I have been too busy to mess with my retro builds, but I want to give an update on my next project. I do not want to commit any heresies, but it is going to be sandy bridge. Why? I have heard the stories about the legendary 32nm Sandy bridge 5ghz+ OCs, and I love my 32nm FX in the same way that people love sandy, you can chuck voltage and clocks at it until the temps become an issue- something that can be mitigated easily.


My plan so far:
-It started after seeing some guy's FS post here, with both a 2500k and 3570k. That is what told me that hey, maybe this will be my opportunity to go through the LGA 1155 platform.
-I found an auction for an asus pz77-v (I think that is the name...?) that is listed for parts (he said only lights, no post, but generally had little info.), but it literally had no bids, and I bet $1 plus $7 shipping. It ends in a day, so wish me luck!
-I went on aliexpress for some DDR3 and saw that I could get 4x4GB 1866 for literally like $16 all in, or get 2x8GB for the same price. I want 4x4gb mostly for looks.
-I saw a $5 i3 3220 to hopefully use to test and troubleshoot that board.
That is as far as I have gotten

I have a Z77-A, GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 and a P67A-GD65-B3 and 2 2600k's.
Best proc that I ever had. I could do 4.5 with stock volts on my P67.

You will have fun guaranteed.

 

[Haswellbeast]

I have a Z77-A, GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 and a P67A-GD65-B3 and 2 2600k's.
Best proc that I ever had. I could do 4.5 with stock volts on my P67.

You will have fun guaranteed.

Lol, or a troubleshooting nightmare and -$13, if the board is truly toast.

 

[Haswellbeast]

--Update!-- My Fx-8300 arrived today and I have put it in. Also, with FX, the best thing is that I can actually use 32gb of ram. So far, my OC success has been 4.8ghz @ 1.392v (under load with LLC) that ended up BSODing while downloading Windows updates... Since then, I just set the multiplier down a notch and I am typing this right now at 4.7 ghz. My temps under load are around 52-53c,

So, I have another update-- I kinda struck it lucky on the silicon lottery with my 8300-- a little bit. I have it with a 240mm aio, and I have it 5ghz stable at 1.49v (that goes to about 1.50 in LLC). Is that a pretty good chip?

 

[CAD4466HK]

So, I have another update-- I kinda struck it lucky on the silicon lottery with my 8300-- a little bit. I have it with a 240mm aio, and I have it 5ghz stable at 1.49v (that goes to about 1.50 in LLC). Is that a pretty good chip?

Probably a little above average.
But to be honest, I was able to do that with all 4 of the FX procs that I have owned.
If you can cool them well with a good board, they will clock.

 

[David-Duc]

I have a question: although the GTX 780 / 980 is probably the most powerful GPU that's Win XP compatible, do they have any problem running earlier XP era games? DirectX 7... etc? Or If you're building an XP machine, you'd go for something like 6800 Ultra / 7800 GTX?

 

[Haswellbeast]

I have a question: although the GTX 780 / 980 is probably the most powerful GPU that's Win XP compatible, do they have any problem running earlier XP era games? DirectX 7... etc? Or If you're building an XP machine, you'd go for something like 6800 Ultra / 7800 GTX?

Uh, take me with 2 grains of salt, but I can confirm that a fermi card is at least compatible with those really old apis. Id suggest doing some research (GPt search is really good at this, in my experience)

Kepler cards are golden for dx11, and I will say, in my experience, my GTX 680 can just shred through Crysis 1 when paired with a first gen i7.