Pio's new (lol) projects

[Bastiaan_NL]

3 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

I think I actually scored a functional 290x that should arrive in one piece FINALLY.  Won a bid on ebay for a steal (considering current pricing).  The seller had a really good detailed description, stated it was freshly cleaned with his data-vac, and that it'd be shipped in an anti static bag (like a card should be).  Sapphire 290x Tri-X OC 4GB is inbound to my house.

I've been praying in front of my hardware shrine for an hour, asking the hardware gods to have mercy on that 290x!
Seems like the seller is careful with the card

[pio]

1 hour ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

I've been praying in front of my hardware shrine for an hour, asking the hardware gods to have mercy on that 290x!
Seems like the seller is careful with the card

Thank you for your prayers..... 

No sacrifices needed, I think I've done enough already the last few months. 

If I get this functioning 290x, my FX build will be complete and I can share that one next.  I've got some even older goodies on the way too.  Its only been GPU's, especially usable ones for today's stuff, that seems to be the problem getting in working.  I know, I know, you've all seen FX builds before.  I've never had one perfectly suited for its time period though.

[pio]

I really need to put ebay on a block list somehow

This was just ordered now too.  My junk is getting older and older!  Perfect setup though for that gorgeous Antec Performance II case (Chieftec Dragon).

 

[ENTERPRISE]

1 hour ago, pioneerisloud said:

I really need to put ebay on a block list somehow

This was just ordered now too.  My junk is getting older and older!  Perfect setup though for that gorgeous Antec Performance II case (Chieftec Dragon).

 

Look at the BIOS chip on that thing lol. Really takes you back. I can still look at that and remember "The cutting edge" performance and excitement. I guess one day I will look back at my current rig and feel the same. 

[pio]

2 hours ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Look at the BIOS chip on that thing lol. Really takes you back. I can still look at that and remember "The cutting edge" performance and excitement. I guess one day I will look back at my current rig and feel the same. 

 

Mannn......I'm excited honestly.  I'm getting more excited with this old junk than I did building my Ryzen rig.  Putting a game in by CD or DVD (or floppy even), putting main executables on the hard drive and the rest runs off media.  ZIP drives, DOS commands, tweaking the game so it works correctly on the machine you're using, overclocking by jumpers!!!!! 

[ENTERPRISE]

12 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

 

Mannn......I'm excited honestly.  I'm getting more excited with this old junk than I did building my Ryzen rig.  Putting a game in by CD or DVD (or floppy even), putting main executables on the hard drive and the rest runs off media.  ZIP drives, DOS commands, tweaking the game so it works correctly on the machine you're using, overclocking by jumpers!!!!! 

Ha yeah, there is some seriously fun nostalgia right there. I remember increasing the FSB via a jumper...those were the days.

[Bastiaan_NL]

Don't put Ebay on a blacklist, I actually like where this is going!

 

 

22 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

My junk is getting older and older!

That's life...

[UltraMega]

22 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

I really need to put ebay on a block list somehow

This was just ordered now too.  My junk is getting older and older!  Perfect setup though for that gorgeous Antec Performance II case (Chieftec Dragon).

 

ECS lol daumn. That brings me back. An ECS board that still works today has got to be a rare find. 

[pio]

3 hours ago, UltraMega said:

ECS lol daumn. That brings me back. An ECS board that still works today has got to be a rare find. 

Even more rare, the seller just told me the board's entire history from when it was new.  I'll share if he gives me permission to quote him.  Apparently the caps are still so good on it because its only got about ~100 hours or so on it.

Edited August 3, 2021 by pioneerisloud

[UltraMega]

1 hour ago, pioneerisloud said:

Even more rare, the seller just told me the board's entire history from when it was new.  I'll share if he gives me permission to quote him.  Apparently the caps are still so good on it because its only got about ~100 hours or so on it.

Sounds like whoever used it was smart enough not to use it as something they relied on. 

I had a few ECS boards back in Pentium 4 days when I knew how to build a PC but didn't really know or care about which parts were better quality. IIRC I definitely had at least one ECS board die on me. 

Pretty sure I had an ECS board paired with a Pentium 4 w HT that was stock 3.8ghz and that was pretty sweet at the time. At some point I paired it with two GeForce 7950 GTs that each had 512mbs Vram. I used it to play F.E.A.R. Combat a lot and I was pretty good. I think eventually I got a 6800GT and that was a pretty good upgrade from the dual 7950's even though it was back down to one GPU. I also had a 21 inch CRT that had a native res of 1920×1440 before I even understood what resolution really meant haha. I would just switch between the resolutions until I found one that looks right, I don't think I had any grasp as to why one res would be more or less performant than another. 

It's cool seeing you working on this stuff because it triggers memories I haven't thought about in ages.

[pio]

3 hours ago, UltraMega said:

Sounds like whoever used it was smart enough not to use it as something they relied on. 

I had a few ECS boards back in Pentium 4 days when I knew how to build a PC but didn't really know or care about which parts were better quality. IIRC I definitely had at least one ECS board die on me. 

Pretty sure I had an ECS board paired with a Pentium 4 w HT that was stock 3.8ghz and that was pretty sweet at the time. At some point I paired it with two GeForce 7950 GTs that each had 512mbs Vram. I used it to play F.E.A.R. Combat a lot and I was pretty good. I think eventually I got a 6800GT and that was a pretty good upgrade from the dual 7950's even though it was back down to one GPU. I also had a 21 inch CRT that had a native res of 1920×1440 before I even understood what resolution really meant haha. I would just switch between the resolutions until I found one that looks right, I don't think I had any grasp as to why one res would be more or less performant than another. 

It's cool seeing you working on this stuff because it triggers memories I haven't thought about in ages.

Pretty sure you were playing FEAR (Combat) with me and other forum members back then, weren't you?  That's the game that got me into multiplayer gaming lol.

[UltraMega]

23 minutes ago, pioneerisloud said:

Pretty sure you were playing FEAR (Combat) with me and other forum members back then, weren't you?  That's the game that got me into multiplayer gaming lol.

I wasn't on OCN or any other forum back then. The first time I ever used OCN was for help with a q6600 OC but I don't think I used OCN for anything else until years later unless I'm mistaken. My gamertag in fear was loser IIRC. 

[pio]

16 minutes ago, UltraMega said:

I wasn't on OCN or any other forum back then. The first time I ever used OCN was for help with a q6600 OC but I don't think I used OCN for anything else until years later unless I'm mistaken. My gamertag in fear was loser IIRC. 

I dunno, could've been.  That was years ago.  On OCN we were playing FEAR through till like 2007 / 2008 when COD4 kinda took over most of us lol.

[UltraMega]

21 minutes ago, pioneerisloud said:

I dunno, could've been.  That was years ago.  On OCN we were playing FEAR through till like 2007 / 2008 when COD4 kinda took over most of us lol.

It's possible then. That would have been around the time I got my Q6600 and I was still playing FEAR at that point. 

My name on OCN back then was loser667. Looks like there are no posts or anything left up from that account so I can't tell if I ever used it to post anything about FEAR. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by UltraMega

[pio]

Oh yeah!!!  I forgot to upload the teaser of what arrived today!

 

Case is intended for the Socket A / AthlonXP / Radeon X1950 build I'm slowly getting parts for.  This was some Kingwin case from 2004, don't know the model number.  Only thing I'm short for the Phenom II build (once everything arrives) is a storage drive.  So that one will be done soon too.  Going to try getting the Thuban built up first since I have everything except a drive.  Then it'll be Socket A time!!!

 

Still need to get with BWG to see if he was being srs about fixing that front panel for me.  Otherwise, there's a local plastics company that'll do it.  Just don't know their fee yet.

 

[ENTERPRISE]

On 04/08/2021 at 05:51, pioneerisloud said:

Oh yeah!!!  I forgot to upload the teaser of what arrived today!

 

Case is intended for the Socket A / AthlonXP / Radeon X1950 build I'm slowly getting parts for.  This was some Kingwin case from 2004, don't know the model number.  Only thing I'm short for the Phenom II build (once everything arrives) is a storage drive.  So that one will be done soon too.  Going to try getting the Thuban built up first since I have everything except a drive.  Then it'll be Socket A time!!!

 

Still need to get with BWG to see if he was being srs about fixing that front panel for me.  Otherwise, there's a local plastics company that'll do it.  Just don't know their fee yet.

 

Omg I had a case like that back in the day. So much plastic lol. However mine had these "bubble" looking cold cathodes on the front of the case . Back then...it was so cool.

[pio]

3 hours ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Omg I had a case like that back in the day. So much plastic lol. However mine had these "bubble" looking cold cathodes on the front of the case . Back then...it was so cool.

I was actually looking for one similar to that believe it or not.   My first case (on OCN) was very similar as well, Apevia branded, with blue cathodes down the front.  I still have pictures of it somewhere.

EDIT:
Found one.  Front panel was different (had a glass DOOR instead of just plexi front panel), but its the same exact chassis.  Of course, there's my OLD Chieftec Dragon that I had back in the day.  Man what I'd do to get that same EXACT build back.  Dual Pentium 3 1.1GHz chips overclocked to 1.5GHz and 2GB SDRAM (overclocked to 150MHz) is what was in that Dragon.  It doesn't fit my plans at all, but a "dual core" Pentium 3 setup was freaking awesome back then!  

Edited August 5, 2021 by pioneerisloud

[Avacado]

On 04/08/2021 at 00:51, pioneerisloud said:

Oh yeah!!!  I forgot to upload the teaser of what arrived today!

 

Case is intended for the Socket A / AthlonXP / Radeon X1950 build I'm slowly getting parts for.  This was some Kingwin case from 2004, don't know the model number.  Only thing I'm short for the Phenom II build (once everything arrives) is a storage drive.  So that one will be done soon too.  Going to try getting the Thuban built up first since I have everything except a drive.  Then it'll be Socket A time!!!

 

Still need to get with BWG to see if he was being srs about fixing that front panel for me.  Otherwise, there's a local plastics company that'll do it.  Just don't know their fee yet.

 

Hell, even I had one of those back in the day!

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Avacado

[pio]

Another teaser. Side panel is headed to the metal shop tomorrow. 

 

[UltraMega]

80mm LED fans... fok yes! I remember that smell of warm air being slow pumped over a dirty carpet and unhygienic teens like I just left the lan center. 

[pio]

4 minutes ago, UltraMega said:

80mm LED fans... fok yes! I remember that smell of warm air being slow pumped over a dirty carpet and unhygienic teens like I just left the lan center. 

I laugh, but yes..... 

[pio]

Finally, someone that knows how to package pc parts! Unboxing and hopefully final fx rig pictures incoming tonight. 

 

Also, I got an old school package today. I don't know if I can try it out or not. Anyone know the psu requirements of a socket a Athlon 1.1ghz and a Radeon 9800xt (or x1950 but I don't think it'll work in a 4x)? 

EDIT:
Added some unboxing pictures for your enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by pioneerisloud

[pio]

Alright guys, after going through THREE R9 290x's, maybe even 4, I've lost count now.....I present to you all.......

"Bulldrowser"!

 

Specs:

Asus 990FX Sabertooth
FX 8350 @ 4.8GHz / NB and HT Link at 2.6GHz
Coolermaster 240mm AIO with Arctic push / pull fans
16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1866 @ 875MHz (DDR3-1750), 9-10-9-28-1T
eVGA 700BQ PSU
Sapphire R9 290x

Intel AX200 wifi + BT
Era appropriate Corsair case (unknown model)
Zip tied extra fans (total of 6x Rosewill red LED fans and 4x Arctic P12's)
Asus DVDRW SATA drive
2x Crucial BX500 240GB SSD RAID0 (480GB)
2x Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM SATA HDD RAID0 (6TB)
(Yes the rad is sagging, no I don't care.... I need push / pull and that's the only way it fits)

 

The goals of THIS rig was Windows 8 / 8.1 era stuff.  However since its pretty close in performance to my main rig gaming wise, I might go ahead and try out Linux on it and see if I can survive daily on Linux with it for now.  It's most definitely a heater, I can feel HOT heat coming out of that case with it idling.  Greenies in my state can suck it (still sore about that new stupid law against gaming PC's being banned).

I'm not going to bother with any benchmarks (unless asked for).  It's an FX 8 core at 4.8GHz.  We've all seen it.  Again, happy to comply if anyone asks though.

 

 

[pio]

Double or triple post.  My apologies.  This update is kind of entirely different than the previous ones.  I unboxed my first Socket A rig this evening.  EVERYTHING WORKS!!!!  Got a test bench going on with the box it came in.  Board, CPU, and RAM boot up to BIOS.  It recognizes the IDE HDD I had laying around.  Even both the Radeon 9800XT and X1950 Pro seem to be working (thus far).  The 9800XT does seem to be having some artifacting at certain resolutions though.  Not sure what's going on with that yet.  

I'll be getting these going soon enough.  I do really need to get busy on that busted front panel before I can build this one though.  This Socket A setup (with the Radeon 9800XT) is intended to be going into that Chieftec Dragon case.  Not sure what all add on cards I want to use with it yet.  Definitely a sound card and wifi card.  Not sure either about OS drive either, as IDE drives are incredibly slow, even for this rig.  Either way, enjoy some unboxing and test bench pics of my first Socket A re-build of the 2020's.

 

 

 

[UltraMega]

Damn 4.8ghz, that's really impressive for that CPU. I wonder how it benches at that clock speed.