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Ultimate Pentium Build

EverStaR said:
Sound Card?
VIDEO card?
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Sound card depends on what era you're targeting and what OS you're running. You'll get a million different answers. I'm using a simple SB Live! in my main 98 build right now because I had it, and it seems to be widely compatible. I've also got an SB16 in my DOS system(that technically runs windows 98).

Video card: voodoo! voodoo!! lol sorry they were the only ones really doing anything different from nVidia & ATI. Games of the era looked identical on nvidia or ATI graphics cards, but if it supported the glide API it actually looked very different on a Voodoo3.
 
I did have a few dual CPU systems in my day, however, there were very few that applications that could leverage them, photoshop was one of the few and one of my motivators, at the time I was doing photography with the Fuji S3Pro Camera a d each image was 24MB a d actually required heavy purple processing to process hundreds of photos from weddings. At the time a significant video card helped as well!
 
EverStaR said:
Server setups while incredible are not my thing, I am reliving my VAR and OEM prosumer days. Servers were just beyond my reach and scope, but that doesn't mean I would have loved to live that space!
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Servers make it easier to get into some generations of computer hardware for significantly cheaper. While they were usually hideously expensive new, they get dumped for pennies on the dollar, which can get you a very powerful system from the time period they're from for a lot less than consumer desktop hardware.

An example would be on LGA1366, an i7-990x now is in the $70-90 range, when the equivalent Xeon x5690 is $30-40. And with all of those weird Chinese clone boards, you can get a motherboard for it a lot less. I've bought several of them over the years, and the only weak spot I've had issues with is BIOS nonsense. But many of the popular clone boards often have a community around them that make modded BIOSes to fix known issues.

Though the era of cheap PIII and older stuff is over, most of that stuff has been scrapped well over a decade ago. But I remember when it was being dumped for cheap on Ebay.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
4 GB is wrong as well. ...
There are Socket 370 server boards out there that can accept more than 4 GB of RAM, but you'll need Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows Server 2003 or Linux to take advantage of it.
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I said 4GB is possible, not that 4GB is the max. I would have to double check the specs of the board to see. I think the biggest number of RAM sockets I have seen on any server board is in a NetApp NetCache dual Socket 370. I'll check tomorrow at $dayjob to see how many. Buffered/registered RAM allows so many more DIMMs to be connected.
 
Decide if you want to go Voodoo.
In case of yes, first get a Voodoo. It costs minimally 2x times more than the entire PC case running it, at least in Europe.

If no, decide if you're going to go mainstream with ATi/nVidia or a bit more funky with Matrox. There isn't anything else worth mentioning.

Btw. there is no such thing as best soundcard. I've commented in other thread but meaning was maybe lost in discussion. PCs have already evolved at that time to serve gamers, multimedia consumers, and professional studios, among other smaller 'markets' related to sound. You can't ask for overall best. It's like asking for best car.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
Servers make it easier to get into some generations of computer hardware for significantly cheaper. While they were usually hideously expensive new, they get dumped for pennies on the dollar, which can get you a very powerful system from the time period they're from for a lot less than consumer desktop hardware.

An example would be on LGA1366, an i7-990x now is in the $70-90 range, when the equivalent Xeon x5690 is $30-40. And with all of those weird Chinese clone boards, you can get a motherboard for it a lot less. I've bought several of them over the years, and the only weak spot I've had issues with is BIOS nonsense. But many of the popular clone boards often have a community around them that make modded BIOSes to fix known issues.

Though the era of cheap PIII and older stuff is over, most of that stuff has been scrapped well over a decade ago. But I remember when it was being dumped for cheap on Ebay.
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Those Chinese clone boards has shit VRMs with no cooling so don't expect them to last long, or overclock (which is one of the reasons LAG1366 boards were popular for so long).

The I7-990x was the top I7 CPU you could get for LGA 1366, about 2 years ago I got an ASUS Sabertooth X85 board with 12GB RAM and a I7-980x for $45 shipped and that setup overclocks nice.
 
As a swap for a modern system that's far more capable? Back in the day, I ran a Tyan Tomcat II with dual CPUs. It even had USB, although I never got it to work reliably. Gave it away years ago. Had various Intel 430-based boards as well as still having a couple of Amptron boards. They don't see much use--and I've got socks older than them that probably run faster. :)
 
I still have a couple Intel 430HX chipset Pentium boards around since they were the best Socket 7 boards (not SS7). I probably have a few VX boards as spares as well plus a few Pentium systems (Socket 4, 5, 7).

One of my favorite early Pentium systems was a huge EISA/ISA tower.

Amptron was just a PC-Chips brand used during the fake cache 486 era.
 
My Pentium era stuff is usually from Gateway 2000. I personally like the P5-75 to 120 range. They have great DOS and Windows 3.1 and 95 compatibility. Though I find myself using my PIII PC much more. That one for me was my hand picked choice. It is a build with a Slot 1 800E, Asus Motherboard, 440BX chipset, Sound Blaster Live! Gold (Not great for DOS) and Voodoo 5 5500 AGP. When I built it back then all that stuff was current. So to me it is not a retro build because I never got rid of it or stopped playing games on it. I recently recapped the ATX PSU and it is still kicking.

So I guess it boils down to what you want to get out of it. Back then I didn't know anything about 16bit performance in DOS because most of the games I was playing required Win95 or higher. And buy that time stuff stopped using the OPL portion of Sound Blasters anyway.
 
Thanks for sharing and we are now hitting the spirit of what I hoped for, you telling me what your build is and why, not you telling me what I should or should not should build! Absolutely awesome, keep it rolling!
 
Unknown_K said:
Those Chinese clone boards has shit VRMs with no cooling so don't expect them to last long, or overclock (which is one of the reasons LAG1366 boards were popular for so long).
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Funny you say that, other people have said the same, but I haven't seen that happen.

I have some of these Chinese boards as remote management servers in hellish conditions where it swings between freezing cold and 160 degrees, and they've been there for years and I've had zero issues with them. They're also exposed to dust storms and 100% humidity on a regular basis. The only changes I made to them was flash a different BIOS on them and use some of those video card RAM heatsinks on the VRMs.

They've outlasted several generations of far more expensive equipment at the same location in the same conditions.
 
I think this may have been close the Dual CPU MB I built circa 2007, it was a Tyan workstation board and required a EATX Case which I used for other builds down the road. My father asked me back in the day to build him the ultimate PC and I believe this is the MB I put in it, however, I think we actually used XEON CPU's. He died a year later of Cancer and I inherited it. I I think this was in reality also a parting gift to me as he knew at the time he likely wouldn't make it. I dual seem to recall one other dual CPU MB I had built a system around prior to this one. It takes some effort to find images and info trying to match a foggy memory.
 

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lowen said:
..... I'll check tomorrow at $dayjob to see how many. Buffered/registered RAM allows so many more DIMMs to be connected.
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Took a bit longer to dig down to the four NetCache C6100's, but they allow six SDR SDRAM DIMMs to be installed. Registered/buffered ECC, of course. These also include the Socket 370 Terminator in the unused socket. The main board slides out on rack slides; no hard disks inside, just a floppy and a RAMdisk card (battery-backed) with Fibre-channel disk interfaces (removed from this unit) and gigabit Ethernet. These were built to be local web caches (like squid) for enterprises. First pic is of two units, the one on top showing back panel, one on bottom the front. Second pic of Socket 370 terminator in the second, unused, processor socket. Third of the whole main board; long white connector on left is the interface to the front, which includes power.

Pics:
IMG_20240307_093738755.jpgIMG_20240307_093035543.jpgIMG_20240307_093027195.jpg
 
lowen said:
I once had a dual Pentium HP Netserver LH; pretty close to an ultimate Pentium. I don't remember why I got rid of it; fun machine and lots of room

Looked like the photo at https://www.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/s/6nuwIjmQ1h
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Dual PI is still high on my wishlist, but it seems like they never did hit a price point I could wrangle. If I ever get a chance I will have one. I've actually got that blank CPU in my collection.

EverStaR said:
I think this may have been close the Dual CPU MB I built circa 2007, it was a Tyan workstation board and required a EATX Case which I used for other builds down the road. My father asked me back in the day to build him the ultimate PC and I believe this is the MB I put in it, however, I think we actually used XEON CPU's. He died a year later of Cancer and I inherited it. I I think this was in reality also a parting gift to me as he knew at the time he likely wouldn't make it. I dual seem to recall one other dual CPU MB I had built a system around prior to this one. It takes some effort to find images and info trying to match a foggy memory.
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Looks like a dual socket 771, I used that machine from 2008 all the way to 2018. I hope you kept at least a few of the parts, that sounds like a lovely memory.
 
hunterjwizzard said:
Dual PI is still high on my wishlist, but it seems like they never did hit a price point I could wrangle. If I ever get a chance I will have one. I've actually got that blank CPU in my collection.


Looks like a dual socket 771, I used that machine from 2008 all the way to 2018. I hope you kept at least a few of the parts, that sounds like a lovely memory.
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Nope, its all gone, but yes, a wonderful memory, that machine lasted me a good 5-6 years. I think I moved to the I7 after that which took me forward another 5-6 years and is still kicking in my Son and laws PC.
 
So for anyone wanting what seems like a super nice Dual PIII board, this is a really nice looking board.

www.ebay.com

Intel SAI2 A66889-201 + 2x Pentium III Tualatin 1.266GHz + 3GB TESTED | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Intel SAI2 A66889-201 + 2x Pentium III Tualatin 1.266GHz + 3GB TESTED at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

I seriously thought about it, but I don't want to run XP on my P3 system and that is what you would really want to do with a board like this.

And the $69 P3 I got, DOA and actually a P4, not even the model advertised on eBay, no response from seller yet.

E
 
Okay, I confess, ai just couldn't resist this MOBO, some of the very best MB experiences I have had are with genuine Intel MBs and chipsets. Maybe this might become a dual OS machine, out of period curiosity!

When I looked at value and versatility, this was too much resist!
 
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