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Makes me want to find a board with a Q9550 and SLI my 9800GTX's again.
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The Post Your Old/Retro Builds Thread
- Thread starter Mr. Bluntman
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I'd say go for a QX9xxx and get that extra cache while ur at it honestly...
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Yeah, I happen to have a q9450 that I don't have a motherboard for
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Hell yeah! Do it!
I'm pretty sure the 680i and 650i series is only built for first gen Core 2 only, but I could be wrong. I have an EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLi if I need the extra oompf of a near-top shelf Yorkfield quad core CPU and SLi (QX9650)...
But I'll look to see if there is even experimental support in a beta BIOS and whatnot. It can't hurt.
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I had a 680i and it was absolute shite with a quad. I traded that board and a 8800GTS320 for an 8800GTX lol.. then I bought a P5K Deluxe Wi-Fi..
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Worth it if it does have support, even my old P65 chipset Asus P5B-Deluxe ended up with full non-beta yorkfield support in the end. Still working to this day.
Maybe nVidia was a bit different tho, I didn't get in to SLi until I made the jump from LGA775 to LGA2011-v3 on x99.
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I had a EVGA 780i A1 SLI and was able to get my 9550 Yorkie up to 3850MHz with a Xigmatek Dark Knight w/ dual Scythe Ultra Kaze 120's and a pair of 9800GTX KO's, and it lived long enough for me to sell it off and the new user had till around 2014.
Besides the overheating NB, it was a fine chip.
I'm well aware of the hate for that chipset, but I had great luck with it.
EDIT:I mixed up the boards I had, had a 680i LT SLI with a 6600 before I upgraded to that, had to go and look at my posts on other forums to find that out haha, I'm getting old.
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I'm pretty sure you could run dual core 45nm on the 680i...I'm pretty sure anyways.
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I'm also pretty sure that's what the 700i series was for, 45nm CPU support... But as I said, that's why I have the 790i Ultra SLI - for 45nm CPUs and DDR3. Still, I'll at least look and see if it's supported, even if I stick with the QX6700 currently installed in it. It won't hurt just to look.
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So, it looks like all Prescott, Smithfield, Cedar Mill, Presler, Conroe, Kentsfield, and Wolfdale 3M/6M CPUs are supported, but no Yorkfield quad cores at all. I'm surprised any Wolfdale CPUs are on there at all, TBH...
https://www.asus.com/us/supportonly/striker extreme/helpdesk_cpu/
I did not know nForce 600 series supported NutBust anything; that I'd have to get an nForce 4i SLi chipset...
https://www.asus.com/us/supportonly/striker extreme/helpdesk_cpu/
I did not know nForce 600 series supported NutBust anything; that I'd have to get an nForce 4i SLi chipset...
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- Jun 7, 2007
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Putting my VIA EPIA-800 (not 8000) itx system together again. Well, wasn't ever really put together, but it was up and running before. 
Got a compactflash adapter that I can mount in the slot over the motherboard, and I have a pico-psu on the way to power the board. USB header is the small itx kind (1.0 pitch iirc) and no ac97/hdaudio (just CD Line-In), so most of the front io is unused...oh well.
Not sure what I want to use the PCI slot for. Torn between sound card and video, but I guess there are those weird hybrid cards...if I can find one. Most good ones are agp or isa, I guess.
Got a compactflash adapter that I can mount in the slot over the motherboard, and I have a pico-psu on the way to power the board. USB header is the small itx kind (1.0 pitch iirc) and no ac97/hdaudio (just CD Line-In), so most of the front io is unused...oh well.
Not sure what I want to use the PCI slot for. Torn between sound card and video, but I guess there are those weird hybrid cards...if I can find one. Most good ones are agp or isa, I guess.
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Makes me want to get my old shuttle 939 system up and running again. It got decommisioned when the hard drive in it died, and I never got back to it. The shuttle at least has both and AGP and PCI slot too, think I had a 6800 AGP and a TV tuner card in mine.Putting my VIA EPIA-800 (not 8000) itx system together again. Well, wasn't ever really put together, but it was up and running before.
View attachment 745405View attachment 745406
Got a compactflash adapter that I can mount in the slot over the motherboard, and I have a pico-psu on the way to power the board. USB header is the small itx kind (1.0 pitch iirc) and no ac97/hdaudio (just CD Line-In), so most of the front io is unused...oh well.
Not sure what I want to use the PCI slot for. Torn between sound card and video, but I guess there are those weird hybrid cards...if I can find one. Most good ones are agp or isa, I guess.
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I wish I had my old hardware from before 775. Main reason I don't is because they are dead, or sold to fund an upgrade..
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Nah, it's so hard to get coolers, and like, as a newer enthusiast, I have no ide drives or optical drives. I literally have everything I need for my system to post, but I'm stuck trying to get an operating system going
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Noctua has 775 mounting kits (free, if you have proof of purchase, although you may want to confirm with them that they still have stock). Or you can search ebay for one of the discontinued coolers that are compatible oob (maybe search your motherboard directly here, to be certain it will work)
Oop, just read your fs/t thread. Yeah 478 coolers might be harder to find. Check this vogons thread for some recs: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=87731
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- Joined
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It isn't the most authentic way to do it, but you can use CompactFlash cards with a CF->IDE adapter. Make sure that the CF card you buy is smaller than the LBA limit of the board and OS. It's going to be more reliable than an ancient used HDD, and your system will run faster, too.
Ebay is littered with cheap IDE DVD drives.
Or, if you have an available slot space, just get a PCI SATA HBA card and run with that.
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Power supply came in today. VGA, bit fuzzy, maybe because the supply isn't grounded to the case? Not bad though. Using the brick I got for my MiSTer since I couldn't find another that supplied +12V and more than 15W (aside from a PoE brick that did 52V, way over the max). Think it's 12V 6A, plenty.
Booted up, and after finding a KB that worked, got into BIOS. Date still correct, so guess the batt is good. Boot hangs at "Verifying DMI Pool Data", not sure I have anything on the cf card right now.
Booted up, and after finding a KB that worked, got into BIOS. Date still correct, so guess the batt is good. Boot hangs at "Verifying DMI Pool Data", not sure I have anything on the cf card right now.
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I get a crisp VGA signal on an LCD, I found it really needs to have phase and clock control adjustments. My 16:10 1920x1200 LCD that supports VGA is very crisp, but I typically need to make minor adjustments past "auto". My other LCD that has VGA tends to be blurry and I have no way to adjust the picture.
I will also depend on the video card you are using and the cable as well.
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Well when I say fuzzy, I mean the picture is crisp (like you'd expect from a digital signal) but it has some fuzz like you might see from a dirty signal. Semi-random dots I guess you could say. VGA cable has ferrite on both ends, I'm guessing bad shielding on something in the case, noise in the power, or loud RF from the pico PSU.
Speaking of, that little PSU puts out bang-on 12, 5, and 3.3, 2.5 V. I mean 12.01, 5.06, 3.31, 2.45. Good shit.
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Just looking around in one of my older drives I found a pic of this. Not sure if qualifies as "retro" but I believe this is my Gigabyte X58 platform with an i7 920 and 2 HD 5870s
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I've been working on a build over the last 2-3 weeks to finally put one of the top 4 unused GPUs in my small stash of stuff through a proper shakedown and see what my ATi branded Radeon HD 4850 512MB is made of compared to a GeForce 8800/9800 GT or a GTS 250. I hear it's typically between 10-30% with it sometimes being more in a few standouts... I'm running 3DMark06 on it now to get a point of reference compared to the GeForce cards. CPU is a Core 2 Quad Q6700 as I don't have a non-extreme edition Yorkfield CPU on-hand currently (lost in a box, hiding in a black hole at a friend's house out-of-state for the last 2 years lol) and my other 2 Kentsfield CPUs are QX6700s. All C2E CPUs are incompatible with the DG33FP from what I read. 2x1GB of DDR2-800 CL5 is used with a 2TB Seagate 7200RPM CMR drive with 256MB cache (RAID0/1 isn't supported on G33 boards). Right now it's running Vista Ultimate SP2 x64 but that may be switched to x86 in the future. A problem for later. Also don't mind the zip-tie madness, it's to tension the GPU PCB straight as possible without breaking ties or cracking solder joints. It's easily as thin and flimsy as the Voodoo5 5500 AGP cards made by former STB facilities after 3dfx's buyout.
Ties at the back are to prevent the PCB from pulling the I/O bracket out of shape from bending; keeps the PCB almost in the position it should be in. The mess at the front can be further trimmed up but I'll leave ample tie for a pair of needle nose pliers to grab on and tighten further if need be should things lose their tautness later on. It's as close to level as I can manage with these ties and chassis.
EDIT: 3DMark06 run done.
Not bad... It can do better in more modern things using Shader Model 3. I think. We'll see...
Ties at the back are to prevent the PCB from pulling the I/O bracket out of shape from bending; keeps the PCB almost in the position it should be in. The mess at the front can be further trimmed up but I'll leave ample tie for a pair of needle nose pliers to grab on and tighten further if need be should things lose their tautness later on. It's as close to level as I can manage with these ties and chassis.
EDIT: 3DMark06 run done.
Not bad... It can do better in more modern things using Shader Model 3. I think. We'll see...
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usa all day
[H]ard|Gawd
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^^^LOVE IT!
I have a Celeron 300a @ 450 + the C-450 Slot-1? @ 600 + some CPU that ran my All-In-Wonder / AIW 9800-PRO - buried somewhere in my parents basement.
I have a Celeron 300a @ 450 + the C-450 Slot-1? @ 600 + some CPU that ran my All-In-Wonder / AIW 9800-PRO - buried somewhere in my parents basement.
RedCharles9001
Limp Gawd
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- Dec 26, 2025
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Windows 98 Machine I built. AMD 64 3800. Ti4200.
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- Jun 25, 2007
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A build with a DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D that someone here in the forums (I'm not sure if he'd want me to say who exactly so I shall err on the side of safety and not say) gifted me 13 years ago. I thought it was lost 3 1/2 years ago in a break in but turns out it was not; I got it back and here it is - ready to crunch frames and numbers:
Paired it with an Opteron 180 I once got off eBay for $40 around the same time. Have a pair of XFX nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB cards in SLI, 2x1GB of CL2 DDR-400, as well as 2x1TB hard drives in suicide RAID. Leaning towards a Vista x86 install on this because why not? I have the specially modded drivers for nForce 4 SATA RAID on Vista (both x86 and x64) and I've seen Vista pre-installed on way less capable hardware. Should run F.E.A.R./F.E.A.R. 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, and Call of Duty 2 nicely.
I would have killed to have a config like this when it was still state-of-the-art... Thanks to who made that possible, if only after the fact.
Paired it with an Opteron 180 I once got off eBay for $40 around the same time. Have a pair of XFX nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB cards in SLI, 2x1GB of CL2 DDR-400, as well as 2x1TB hard drives in suicide RAID. Leaning towards a Vista x86 install on this because why not? I have the specially modded drivers for nForce 4 SATA RAID on Vista (both x86 and x64) and I've seen Vista pre-installed on way less capable hardware. Should run F.E.A.R./F.E.A.R. 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, and Call of Duty 2 nicely.
I would have killed to have a config like this when it was still state-of-the-art... Thanks to who made that possible, if only after the fact.
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Oh crap, I realized that I missed it! Happy late birthday sandy bridge! 15 years on January 9th. You are officially old!
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That was me and it's fine.
That was one of the three DFI nf4's I had at the time.. one was SLI hacked and I think that was the board I sent you. I still have the NF4 non-SLI and the SLI one boxed. And an expert with no box that is built with no PSU atm. Regardless I'm stoked you're enjoying it man. Looks great!
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Actually I had to pencil-mod it myself... lol
But yes this one is SLI hacked post-reciept. I can't find a decently priced copper low-profile chipset heatsink for it (I found an Enzotech for $50-55 but that's too expensive for me right now) and the Evercool one I see recommended on forums is unobtanium. Everything else is either inadequate, not a 3-pin DC compatible fan, too tall, or all of the above. The one installed now that was harvested off a long-since stolen (in 2022) ASUS A7V266-E RAID at idle with these GeForce 7950 GT 512MBs installed is around 50-55°C. I'm sure that goes over 60°C running a game or benchmark, so finding something better is paramount before I leave it assembled and used for lengthy periods. Add 15-20° if using 2-slot GPUs.
Aside from the original PCB black LanParty branded SLI bridge and either an Opteron 185 or Athlon 64 FX-60 it's all I could have asked for in a rig during 1H 2006 or in this build right now. Maybe a pair of WD Velociraptors... lol
So thank you again for hooking me up with this now fairly valuable combo! Even though my Core 2 SLI boards are significantly faster, using an Athlon 64 system just feels right lol
Now I need an A64 FX-62 or an X2 5600+/6400+ Windsor 2MB and ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe and I'll have my dual core K8 needs met...
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AHH right... that was the one which the ebay seller claimed was SLI modded and had a non-DFI sb sink/fan. I had never put power to it so it was a bit of a unknown. I'm glad you got good use out of it! YW! I love those DFI nf4 boards... they're quirky but damn if they're not fun to play with... memory overclocking and tweaking options galore... and all that extra power you can apply to the board too for extra PCI juice is nice when overclocking video cards.. and that oh so fun DFI forum moderator who hated everyone.. Angry_Games? "location: Faroffistan" ... anyways... good times.
re sb sink fan, maybe something like this might work? https://www.ebay.com/itm/333230330272 it's for an n680i but maybe it'll work? Not copper but..
"It may fit other nforce chipset motherboards (such as nforce 650i Ultra/680i SLI/780i SLI, nforce 500/4/3/2 series, etc) but i have not tested compatibility with these boards."
re sb sink fan, maybe something like this might work? https://www.ebay.com/itm/333230330272 it's for an n680i but maybe it'll work? Not copper but..
"It may fit other nforce chipset motherboards (such as nforce 650i Ultra/680i SLI/780i SLI, nforce 500/4/3/2 series, etc) but i have not tested compatibility with these boards."
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Schleprock
n00b
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- Apr 24, 2025
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- 45
Unfortunately, I don't have my really old IDE HDS available anymore.
I was a huge AMD Guy with tons of pics of my barrel of snow/ice water (Barton chip), custom water, huge air-coolers
Lotsa A, 64 and Opteron pics are gone.
I haven't done Intel since I was in school for computers in like 99, I replaced that chip from my class with a locally sourced AMD K6 450 or something.
Never been Intel since...I had a Thuban 1090 , totally skipped the disaster Dozer, and earlier Ryzen...then came back with a 3600.
Which still works fine for SP games.
I had some really good pics of that shit, pissed I have no access to them.
I was a huge AMD Guy with tons of pics of my barrel of snow/ice water (Barton chip), custom water, huge air-coolers
Lotsa A, 64 and Opteron pics are gone.
I haven't done Intel since I was in school for computers in like 99, I replaced that chip from my class with a locally sourced AMD K6 450 or something.
Never been Intel since...I had a Thuban 1090 , totally skipped the disaster Dozer, and earlier Ryzen...then came back with a 3600.
Which still works fine for SP games.
I had some really good pics of that shit, pissed I have no access to them.