The story of my My Pentium 3 Coppermine to Tualatin Computer

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May 22, 2010
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I've had my Pentium III computer in some form, since 2000, which started at least the Antec SX830 then switched to this case shown first, which I believe was the Antec SX1240 and the other picture is the sound card that I sold on eBay or Amazon before 2005:

The Antec SX-840

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and

The Creative Sound Blaster Live+5.1

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The system originally had an iwill VD133 motherboard but died either due to overclocking or some strange reason. It also originally had two Voodoo 2's, a FireGL 1000 Pro, a Voodoo 200 TV card, a Creative Dxr3 DVD decoder card, and a slot 1 Pentium III 533 MHz Coppermine, which I accidentally damaged while living in my dorm room while in the USAF back in North Dakota and ended up replacing with a slot to socket adapter using a Celeron 500 before returning the Celeron to my friend and ending up with a Socket 370 1 GHz Pentium III Coppermine with complications due to accidentally ordering two. The original heatsink used was a dual fan slot one until the Pentium III 533 MHz Coppermine was discovered to be broken. Then an orb heatsink of some brand was used when using the Celeron 500 and when switching to the Pentium III 1 GHz Coppermine Socket 370 before switching to the Thermaltake Dragon Orb 3.

The fan cap on the Dragon Orb 3 broke off eventually while trying to obtain insanely high clock speeds that were never possible with it in the first place and the iwill VD133 was replaced anyway with the Abit ST6 RAID when I switched to this heatsink, so when the fan cap broke the heatsink was eventually replaced with this:

The Thermalright SLK-800A

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Years later I scratched a trace on the Abit ST6-RAID motherboard and I could no longer use it, which I eventually would donate to the community college I would start attending in 2008 and the Abit ST6 was replaced by the Asus TUSL2.
 
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WOW This brings back some memories! I had the same case for my P3 1ghz, and same sound blaster x-gamer live! card. I believe I have the games in a box in the garage! How fun!
 
Then years later I replaced the case that replaced the Antec SX-840 whatever it was, which might have been an HP server Proliant case with this:

The cooler master elite 330 before I gave all of them to a friend because they wouldn't sell on eBay

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The computer used on board video until I got an ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128 MB later, even though I had an ATI Radeon 9500 SE that I killed by flashing the firmware because the memory couldn't handle the clock speeds of the unsupported firmware flashed to it. Also I might have used an ATI 9800 SE 128 MB in this machine to but sold it for some reason and the reason might have been to buy a better video card for my Pentium 4 that was built later. I might have also used an ATI Radeon X-1600 AGP in this too, but I'm no longer sure and I didn't document it at the time.

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The computer would also eventually use a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy to Platinum, which I believe is what this is in this picture:

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Finally, I don't have the specs of the original or previous specs, but here are the current specs as well as prices paid for parts and some pictures of it now. As you can see it's using a Pentium III Tualatin 1.4 GHz now, which I bought from Star Micro for $5 compared to the price of $255 back around 2001 when it first came out:


My Pentium 3 (TUSL2) Computer

-Motherboard: Asus TUSL2 Intel 815EP socket 370 motherboard $100

-Processor: Intel Pentium III Tualatin 1.4 GHz 133 MHz FSB 512 KB L2 cache 32 KB L1 cache $5 ($255 new and considered rare)

-Memory: Corsair PC150 256MB x1 + 2 sticks of Kingmax PC150 128MB sticks $ $225

-Heatsink: Thermalright SLK-800A $40

-Heatsink Fan: Vantec Tornado 80mm Double Ball Bearing High Air Flow Case Fan - Model TD8038H $13.99

-Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum $199

-Video: ATI Radeon 9600XT 128MB AGP $40

-USB: StarTech 7 Port PCI USB Card Adapter Model PCIUSB7 $20

-LAN: D-Link 530TX+ $20

-RAID controller: PNY SPU5103PPB PCI SATA S-CURE Storage Card $39.99


-Optical Reader: MSI 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-18DP $19.99

-Optical Writer: Plextor PX-716A IDE DVD-RW Drive w/gigaburn $100

-Floppy Drive: SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model SFD321B/LFBL1 - OEM $7.49

-Case: Lian-Li Silent Series PC-B10B / Advanced Mid Tower Case / Black $229.99

and the pictures:

The pictures of just the empty case first:

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and now the system as it is today unchanged:

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I've had this computer for a total of about 17 years in some form and it still works. The Pentium III 1.0 GHz Coppermine has been retired now and the machine is very slow compared to modern machines now, but it can still support a lot of games and even some that are almost still modern. I remember playing Half-Life 2 for the first time on this and it being really slow especially when trying to run the game at 1600x1200 on my Acer 78c monitor before it died and was replaced by a Sony 19" Trinitron that was messed up then a Viewsonic of some model. The computer can't run WIndows 7, even though it has a processor rated at over 1 GHz with a 1.4 GHz. Therefore, considering it can't run WIndows 7 32-bit it's running WIndows XP Professional and I'm aware it could run Linux, which I'm considering and will be Ubuntu or some other form of Debian if I do or it will dual boot.
 
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WOW This brings back some memories! I had the same case for my P3 1ghz, and same sound blaster x-gamer live! card. I believe I have the games in a box in the garage! How fun!

Thanks. I was expecting someone else to have these parts, but I didn't know who or if anyone still would.
 
Opps Apparently I misjudged the purpose of this thread because I didn't read the rules entirely first, so if this thread doesn't belong here can a moderator move it to General Hardware instead of deleting it or banning me.
 
Definitely brings back memories. I've long contemplated building a Tualitin based P3 retro gaming box just haven't got around to scouring eBay for all the pieces.
 
Wow this totally brings back memories, I literally just cleaned out the rest of my old tech from this era but i did contemplate putting together a retro system to play some true to form classics!
 
You could throw a voodoo 3 in there and make it a glide box.

I forgot to say in my other Post that an ATI Radeon 9000 series or equivalent if not better Nvidia card would be ideal for this hardware and would trump any Voodoo card specifically an Nvidia 7800 GS if this hardware will support it, which I have an Nvidia 7800GS 256 MB AGP card. However, I'm using the Nvidia 7800GS in my Asus CUC2 build because this system might not support it as it doesn't support an ATI Radeon XX00 card or Radeon XXX00 card either specially a Radeon X800 AGP or Radeon X1600 AGP or Radeon X2400 AGP or Radeon 3850HD AGP, which the Radeon 3850HD AGP was the last ATI AGP card that I know of and it was in my Pentium 4 system that uses the Supermicro P4SCT+II. However, now my Pentium 4 System is using an Nvidia Quadro instead of an Nvidia 7800GS or ATI RadeonHD 3850, which their is an AXLE3D Nvidia 7950GT with 512MB that I don't have or know if it's is still available that might be better than the ATI Radeon 3850HD.
 
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Wow this totally brings back memories, I literally just cleaned out the rest of my old tech from this era but i did contemplate putting together a retro system to play some true to form classics!

Don't put to much effort into it because older hardware is difficult to find if at all, but if you can find it you'll have yourself a classic machine for gaming or whatever purpose you desire that should at least be safe to use offline if not connected to the internet. I don't stress overclocking either because all computer hardware lasts longer if you don't overclock it.
 
Definitely brings back memories. I've long contemplated building a Tualitin based P3 retro gaming box just haven't got around to scouring eBay for all the pieces.

Old Tualatin boards are based on the Intel 815EP chipset if you can find one. This system was using an ABIT ST6-RAID that supported it and now uses an ASUS TUSL2, but the Abit ST6 would work to and the ASUS TUSL. However, I can't name any other Tualatin boards out there and Abit no longer exists. Supermicro and Tyan have the best ones though probably as far as specs, but probably not for overcloaking.
 
Don't put to much effort into it because older hardware is difficult to find if at all, but if you can find it you'll have yourself a classic machine for gaming or whatever purpose you desire that should at least be safe to use offline if not connected to the internet. I don't stress overclocking either because all computer hardware lasts longer if you don't overclock it.

Agreed, I do remember cutting my teeth learning about tech on these systems. I remember having to mess around with physical jumpers to adjust system settings... Seems like yesterday lol
 
Mad respect. That was one of my favorite era's of PC hardware.

I ran 440BX systems for a really, really, long time.

Started out with a Celeron 433@590, upgraded to a Celeron 600@1000, Celeron [email protected] (Coppermine), Celeron [email protected] (Tualatin); all on a Soyo 6BA+IV motherboard. Video cards went from a NVidia TNT2 Ultra to a NVidia 5600Ultra.

Towards the end of that system I was having a really hard time with the bottlenecks and limitations of the 440BX. SDRAM was really slow compared to DDR RAM, ATA133 wasn't as fast as SATA, 440BX only officially support 100MHz FSB's so it lacked multipliers to allow higher speeds. I had a lot of trouble finding PCI and AGP cards that could handle the higher bus speeds. I briefly tried switching to an i815 motherboard but couldn't stand the ridiculous 512MB RAM limit.

I upgraded from that system straight to a watercooled P4C [email protected] with a Radeon 9800Pro running at XT speeds.
 
Agreed, I do remember cutting my teeth learning about tech on these systems. I remember having to mess around with physical jumpers to adjust system settings... Seems like yesterday lol
You haven't lived till you've swapped out the clock crystal to get an Adaptec SCSI HA to run at PCI 40MHz :)
 
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I really got into computers when I got out of the USAF in '98. I really wish I had kept a detailed tech journal, it would be fun reading now!
 
I just realized I had many of those classic cases. Then I stopped going hardcore after I got the Sniper case
 
I just realized I had many of those classic cases. Then I stopped going hardcore after I got the Sniper case
I was thinking the same thing after going through this thread again. Such memories!
 
You haven't lived till you've swapped out the clock crystal to get an Adaptec SCSI HA to run at PCI 40MHz :)

Yea or possibly have or had to write your own drivers for an adaptec as well as now older PCI-X U160, U320, SATA 150, or older LSI as well, which might be my problem and I haven't resolved it yet.
 
Mad respect. That was one of my favorite era's of PC hardware.

I ran 440BX systems for a really, really, long time.

Started out with a Celeron 433@590, upgraded to a Celeron 600@1000, Celeron [email protected] (Coppermine), Celeron [email protected] (Tualatin); all on a Soyo 6BA+IV motherboard. Video cards went from a NVidia TNT2 Ultra to a NVidia 5600Ultra.

Towards the end of that system I was having a really hard time with the bottlenecks and limitations of the 440BX. SDRAM was really slow compared to DDR RAM, ATA133 wasn't as fast as SATA, 440BX only officially support 100MHz FSB's so it lacked multipliers to allow higher speeds. I had a lot of trouble finding PCI and AGP cards that could handle the higher bus speeds. I briefly tried switching to an i815 motherboard but couldn't stand the ridiculous 512MB RAM limit.

I upgraded from that system straight to a watercooled P4C [email protected] with a Radeon 9800Pro running at XT speeds.

One of my friends used an older computer with the 440BX for socket 370 and another one for slot 1 for years before I bought the parts from him, purchased a Powerleap slot to socket 370 FCPA2 adapter for the slot system to upgrade it to a Celeron 1.4 GHz, and maybe a socket 370 FCPGA to FCPGA2 adapter for the socket 370 440BX system before donating them to the community college I graduated from with three associates in Computer Networking Administration because I had to get rid of some of computers that were starting to take up to much room in my bedroom, since I considered those the slowest machines and least secure by the time I still had my Core 2 Duo system before upgrading to a Core i7 socket 1366 system then later Xeon 2011v2. The 440BX was fine except it didn't officially support a 133 MHz Front Side Bus or Ultra ATA 100 or 133 on all if any ATA connections except RAID controller connections, it didn't officially have AGP 4x either, and FCPGA2 support.

However, the i815E or i815EP only supported up to 512 MB of memory, the i815E or i815 didn't support FCPA2 needed for Tualatin Processors, and only the Pentium III-S Tualation 1.4 GHz outperformed the Pentium 4 socket 423 and 478's upto or close to 2.0 GHz as well as maybe the Pentium III-S Tualatin 1.2 GHz. Either way though the Coppermine was still impressive for it's time. While the Pentium 4 was out of my budget until around 2005 when I finished building a Pentium 4 socket 478 3.06 GHz build that had a higher Performance rating up to 4.1 GHz compared to the highest AMD Athlon XP at that time until the AMD Athlon 64 and competing Intel Pentium 4 with EMT64 as well as late Pentium D and AMD Athlon 64 x2 and later. I never completed a watercooled system except with self-contained because of distractions, financing, and ability to understand and find compatible parts. I remember the possibilities of watercooling this though with swiftech and Hardware gods prometia cases and supplies, but not much else and I never got around to it either because I ran out of money to do so. Hardware gods had a watercooled Pentium 4 solution to, but once again I ran out of money, which prevented me from completing it. As always due to budget constraints I usually had to complete an air cooled system, which is actually kind of shame and the closest I've been able to make my most recent systems to watercooled is heatpipe cooled.

Hardcore PC's had an incredible self contained non conductive mineral oil completely submerged solution at one point before they became liquid cooled solutions or whatever, but the cost is way out of my price range especially now and even then as good as their solutions might have been or are they usually ended up costing around $10,000 fully configured, which if you didn't fully configure them you had to drain the entire system of the mineral oil or whatever and put the upgrade parts in yourself. It is for this reason I usually stuck with aircooled with dust filters and clean my computers almost every month.

I don't know why I keep computers this old other than to prove they can last a very long time if you take care of them and maybe for the nastalgic purposes, but basically this computer doesn't work anymore and it's not capable of being secure enough for the internet these days easily, but it was an impressive machine for it's time and still is impressive looking back at in this time. Software security with Windows might work and with the right Linux or Possibly BSD UNIX it might be as well, but that the only way to secure it besides a hardware firewall of some kind from the internet. Otherwise it just makes a great kids computer maybe.
 
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That isn't too old. Had a customer bring in a 386 this past week that was still actively used. The 60 Meg Maxtor HDD was going bad and wanted to know if we could get his data off it. The other tech had never ever seen hardware that old.
 
I still have a P2 box with Voodoo2 sli just for the fact that it has my original install of Rainbow6 and Quake. There are a few other gems on there like Carmaggedon and Command and Conquer. The original GTA.

Ohh the memories. I might have to turn the thing on and go back to memory lane.
 
I still have a P2 box with Voodoo2 sli just for the fact that it has my original install of Rainbow6 and Quake. There are a few other gems on there like Carmaggedon and Command and Conquer. The original GTA.

Ohh the memories. I might have to turn the thing on and go back to memory lane.

Nothing I have that old except the Pentium with MMX still works completely correct. The Amptron DX-9700 socket 3 system with the Pentium Overdrive won't boot to floppy, can't boot to CD-ROM, and now won't POSt, which the IR440FX with the Pentium II Overdrives is having the same problem as the Ampron now. Only the Pentium III Tualation and Coppermine or newer might still be working.
 
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Nothing I have that old except the Pentium with MMX still works completely correct. The Amptron DX-9700 socket 3 system with the Pentium Overdrive won't boot to floppy, can't boot to CD-ROM, and now won't POSt, which the IR440FX with the Pentium II Overdrives is having the same problem as the Ampron now. Only the Pentium III Tualation and Coppermine or newer might still be working.

Nevermind I got all those ones I said didn't work to work. I figured out that I was using the wrong VGA connection on my KVM for what I had connected.
 
I don't know about you folks, but I get nostalgic when I think of the times we are growing up in. Hopefully when I am old and gray, my kids would say that now, I can say: look you little whipper snapper, I built my first pc and took part in the birth of the internet.

Good you figured it out.
 
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