I'm going pro.

[RichM499]

I am currently building a new sinister 486, and I ran into some difficulties with the BIOS. The BIOS needs an update to recognize the AM5x86 and Cyrix 5x86 chips with 16KB cache, and I have so far been unsuccessful with locating the BIOS I need, and I need to purchase an EEPROM programmer before I can manually edit the BIOS ROM, so I am taking a break from that to go pro.

In case you're wondering; the socket 3 motherboard I am referring to is PCChips M918i/Amptron dx-9300.

I have decided to start with a Tyan Titan Pro AT with two Pentium Pro 200Mhz chips. After all; if I'm going pro, then I'll need Pentium Pro. I've always liked Tyan boards, and I believe this one can offer me functionality and performance. I've chosen the components with professionalism in mind.

Components:

2x Pentium Pro 200Mhz 256KB
Tyan Titan Pro AT BIOS ver. 5.01
Voodoo 5 5500 PCI
Promise Ultra ATA 100 TX2
Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold
Lite-On 52x max CDROM
Belkin 3 1/4" diskette drive
Voodoo TV 200 PCI (Waiting on this to arrive. The guy I bought it from is being really slow shipping it)
8GB Western Digital WD80EB hard drive
Power Win 230w AT switching power supply
USB hub from an old computer professionally modified.
256MB Kingston EDO FPM 70ns 72pin RAM

This is a good image of my motherboard. And, dats my Voodoo 5 5500 PCI. The card you can't see is a Promise Ultra ATA 100 TX2 PCI above the Voodoo. Those are the regular 256k cache Pentium Pro chips. I will likely upgrade to dual Pentium II Overdrives sometime in the future.

An image of my sound card. Gotta love dat AWE64 Gold. It even has gold on it.

An image of the front of the case. As you can see; I professionally modified a 5"->3 1/4" drive bay to accommodate the USB hub I pulled out of an old case. Surprisingly; this thing has USB 1.0.

My Cornerstone p1500. That thing is beautiful. I adore this monitor because it's 85hz 1600x1200 gloriousness. I can even overclock it to 120hz for once in my life.


I'm really excited about this computer because it's the first time I've gone pro. I'm still waiting on my Voodoo TV 200 PCI. I'm currently installing Windows XP on it. This will be my scientific computer. So that way I can do pro science. I really even like pro science.

That's all for now! I will update this thread with some benchmarks as soon as I can get Windows XP installed. Windows NT 4 was difficult because I couldn't find proper drivers, and my Voodoo 5 5500 didn't want to play nicely with Windows 98se. I couldn't get 3DMark 99 MAX to load properly, and that was a deal breaker for me. Also; it doesn't support more than one CPU.

Edit: This is the same case I had my 486 in. I'll get around to updating my socket 3 motherboard BIOS sometime, and then I plan to volt mod the PCI slot to accommodate a 3.3v card. The PCI slots on my 486 board are purportedly PCI 2.0 compliant. However; that does not seem to be the case.

Edit 2: Aside from my Voodoo TV 200; I only need an IBM case sticker to complete this computer. So that way it will be a genuine IBM.

 

[RichM499]

Woohoo you guys! I've received my really sinister Voodoo TV 200 PCI. I need to invest in some genuine IBM RAM with gold leads, fix the CDROM so it drops the disc, get a new power supply, and re-engineer a few things, but my really sinister Pentium Pro is coming together nicely.

This is the image from the auction. I will take a picture of the machine together, and on; when I have a better power supply. I'm not comfortable with my +5v power leads getting hot!~

Edit: That heat-sink is woefully inadequate, and a custom fabricated piece would work better. Also; I stuck a 486 fan on it and forced it to screw into one of the heatsink holes.

Edit: U.S. Customs owes me a Genuine IBM metal case sticker. Those guys didn't even deliver it!

Edit:
My Media Vision Thunderboard (the one with two thunder chips) will make an appearance in this machine; in addition to an SMC ARCNET card. I've already the ARCNET Active Hub and Active Link. Woohoo you guys! This is to make a fine professional science machine.

 

[PP Mguire]

I had an old Voodoo TV card. Never could find drivers for the damn thing.

 

[RichM499]

I'm really lucky! I got mine for only $20. The drivers for 3dfx are almost always best custom engineered, and for that reason it is a good idea to learn or relearn Glide. There is a good reason it's not easy to find drivers for some of this stuff. And, if you didn't know any better, you may think machines like mine are really very scary.

Edit: The TV Tuner on this Voodoo TV 200 is so fast, and that is part of what makes it so valuable.

 

[PP Mguire]

Old machines aren't scary at all, they're just sketchy. It's not so hard to find drivers, it's more a case of making them work. I had a Voodoo 3 TV and when I had it Google didn't really exist so finding pages like Voodoo3 3500/TV Drivers was almost impossible.

 

[RichM499]

Voodoo TV 200 tuner is much faster than the newer tuners they used on the Voodoo 3 TV. If you really want the best for TV Land logic, then you really should seek a Voodoo TV 200 like the one I have. Finding these cards is not easy! You know; so that's why I consider myself lucky. In addition; my Voodoo 5 5500, despite its previous purposes, will not even really be that scary to bees.

ARCNET:

I will be setting up a 3-tic system for speed, and I am currently seeking my Arcade Mania CD. I've the Doom Mania and Wolf 3D Mania, so I can infer and recreate, but in the mean time I will be looking.

I'm really excited because I scored my ARCNET Active Hub and Active Link with my Media Vision Thunderboard, and a few other really nice components (i.e. my PCChips M918i ALi board) for only $80!

 

[PP Mguire]

Considering the fact that I don't watch conventional TV, I don't even need it lol. I'm talking over 10 years ago when I actually owned one of these cards. I've actually found alternatives to 99% of the games I needed 98 for so I don't even need my old hardware anymore.

 

[RichM499]

I'm more interested in Divine Science than games. This professional Pentium Pro computer consists of components whose purpose is to create Divine Science for me, and you, and you, and you. So, that way we can be happy, and I can help fix the atmosphere.

You know; so that's why it is important to get good components. These pro components are not perfect, but they good though.

 

[Joe C]

Are you going to run a version of *nix on it or Windows 95?

 

[RichM499]

I will be using slackware, MSDOS 6.22, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and maybe Windows NT.

Mainly; I'll be using slackware for work, and to develop science. MSDOS 6.22 should suffice for many scientific applications, but slackware has more potential in terms of usability for networks. Windows 98 is for the older Glide apps, to test some MSDOS 6.22 applications with, and for driver development. Windows XP, 2000, and NT have native support for more than one processor, and this system uses two. So, they all have a purpose, and the potential to teach me something interesting.

If it won't Glide; I'm not using it! I plan to use my Pentium Pro to redevelop my masterwork invention. My really sinister 486 was nice, but now that I'm going pro, I'll even have extra cache.

Potential upgrade options:
Quantum 3D AAlchemy
Voodoo 5 6000
Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold memory daughter card
Hard Disk Drive
Memory

None of the operating system software compares to the custom software engineered for Arcade Mania, and with the right set of tools, I can even use that one for divine science. There is a good reason these parts are very rare, and if you're not careful, then they can be really very scary.

I do not expect to find a copy of Arcade Mania. Instead; I'll most likely need to create one. Well, at least I have Wolf 3D Mania and Doom Mania! I also have the Top 25 Best Games by Tech Express. Great software, and it has so many more uses than games.

Especially with ARCNET; I will need to practice care and caution. After all; I don't want to accidentally scare the bees. Then I'd be really ill!