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REALmagic MPEG Audio / Video accelerator

5/1/2017

4 Comments

 
Thank you Blair for donating this card to my cause!
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4 Comments

General MIDI Module with the Raspberry Pi

20/12/2016

3 Comments

 
I recently got a Raspberry Pi and my first project is using it as a General MIDI Module.
​
With a USB MIDI adapter and running FluidSynth, you can load any .SF2 SoundFont and hook this up to your DOS Retro Gaming PC. I did a thorough write up on this site with lots of pictures. You can set everything up with Graphical User Interfaces, so this is excellent for first time Raspberry Pi users.
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Raspberry Pi 3 connected via Roland UM-ONE MKII USB MIDI interface to a ISA Sound Card
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The entire project can be setup using GUI (Graphical User Interface)
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Qsynth front-end for FluidSynth up and running
3 Comments

This just in: 8800 GT and 478 PCIe motherboard

15/11/2016

2 Comments

 
Got a few bits and pieces, but these ones stand out.

A matched pair of XFX GeForce 8800 GT cards. Real game changer cards, especially on a budget.

I also got a PCIe Socket 478 board. I totally admit I was unaware that these exist. And there are actually quite a few of them in circulation, but they are somewhat rare and you will have to pay more than for a standard Pentium 4 board.
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GeForce 8800 GT SLI
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2 Comments

GeForce GTX 580

10/11/2016

1 Comment

 
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1 Comment

Another motherboard saved with new capacitors

7/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Got this Socket 478 Pentium 4 motherboard, but this is one is different, comes with a PCIe slot and DDR2. Picked it up from the post office. Inspected it at home, one cap was a bit rounded, but nothing serious, worth seeing if it posts.

Fired it up and head a PANG and a fizzle. Quickly killed the power. One cap vented at the top a little. Removed the 4 identical caps, all 16V 1000uF caps sitting in front of the voltage regulators. I only had some 35V 1000uF Panasonic lying around, so in the went. Board fired up straight away :D
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Old caps
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New Panasonic caps
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YES! It POSTs
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BIOS
0 Comments

DOA motherboard, new caps, back amongst the living!

2/11/2016

0 Comments

 
There is this Aussie seller on eBay, selling cheap motherboards. Got these two Asus KVM-VM boards. Socket 754, VIA PCIe chipset, nothing fancy, but useful.

Anyway, both arrived. I do my usual motherboard prep. The first board posts, flashed the latest BIOS, caps look fine, all Nichicon in the VRM area. The other one, the famous KZG at the VRM out, all three rounded tops. That board didn't post.

I recently purchased 100! 3300uF 6.3V caps from Panasonic, because it's always these VRM out caps that seem to fail on the boards I'm getting.

De-soldered the three, put in the new ones, and all working again :)

Was a 5 minute job and I'm a happy camper. First time I had a board that didn't post because of caps.
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0 Comments

Bought Crysis and Crysis Warhead at GOG

31/10/2016

0 Comments

 
A few days ago GOG released Crysis and Crysis Warhead!

Awesome games, and represent a real milestone in PC game. People hated it, but I loved the game. Does it run Crysis became a cool thing and now it's DRM free. I already had the game on Steam, but DRM free is so important to me that I buy pretty much any decent game that GOG releases :)
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0 Comments

Pickups! Programmer and SCSI controller

26/10/2016

0 Comments

 
These items arrived recently!

​First up is a new programmer. Apparently this is a really good one. I was using the Genius G540, but that one doesn't work well with older EPROM chips, which need 12 V to program. Apparently this one support it. I will find out soon :)

And then I got an Adaptec ISA SCSI controller, the 1542CF. I don't have much experience with SCSI, but my research tells me that this is a very solid model.
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0 Comments

Socket 939 fun

23/10/2016

2 Comments

 
Just a quick update on some socket 939 action.

This is all work for some videos way down the track, but all the data goes into a spreadsheet, so I can then produce the videos quite swiftly.

This is the FX-57, the fastest single core CPU for socket 939. Running at a blistering 2.8 GHz and comes with a whopping 1 MB of cache. Compared to other chips, the CPU fan does start to get loud. I'm using a 125W copper / heatpipe AMD stock cooler from a 125 W Phenom II X4 processor.

The system uses AGP, I'm using the same overclocked 7800 GS from the previous Intel vs AMD episodes. I think I will do videos on the 939 chips, comparing them to the Intel 478 results, but single core only. Then move to AM2 vs 775 and go with a much faster PCIe graphics as in some games, like F.E.A.R. I'm not seeing much scaling with the 7800 GS.
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2 Comments

CPU upgrade for my capture PC

18/10/2016

0 Comments

 
So my capture PC is rocking a Pentium Anniversary Edition. Overclocked to 4 GHz it is barely able to let me capture at 1080p60. Around 90% of CPU usage, too close for my liking.

So I bit the bullet and bought a second hand Core i7 4790S from eBay.

The upgrade was very straight forward and the machine is already up and running :)
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0 Comments
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    Author

    I'm Phil and run a YouTube Channel and website under PhilsComputerLab. You can also find me on various forums such as VOGONS, OCAU, DOSForum and others.

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  • Home
  • Hardware
    • Thin Client Retro PCs >
      • Wortmann Terra / Termtek TK-3772
      • HP t5710
      • HP t5720
      • MS-DOS PC Classic
    • Audio >
      • Sound cards >
        • PCIe sound cards >
          • Review of Sound Blaster Z
          • Disabling the red LED light on Creative Sound Blaster Z
        • PCI sound cards >
          • Sound Blaster Audigy
          • Aureal Vortex 2
          • C-Media CMI8738
          • ESS ES1938S Solo-1
          • Sound Blaster Live!
          • X-Fi SB0770 Dell / Alienware OEM
          • Yamaha YMF744 PCI Sound Card
          • Santa Cruz
        • ISA sound cards >
          • Aztech >
            • HP MM Pro 16V-A
          • BTC 1820 Mozart OAK OTI601
          • Creative Labs >
            • SB 32 CT3670
            • Sound Blaster 16 >
              • CT1740
            • Sound Blaster 1.5
            • Sound Blaster AWE 32
            • Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold >
              • Drivers for AWE64 Gold
              • Games played with AWE64 Gold
              • Review AWE64 Gold
              • Tutorials and guides for AWE64 Gold
          • Crystal based Sound Cards >
            • Crystal CX4235
          • TERRATEC Promedia Base-1
          • ESS AudioDrive ES1868
          • OPTi Sound Cards >
            • 82C929A
          • Audician 32 Plus
      • External MIDI devices >
        • Roland MIDI Emulator Project 2.0
        • Roland >
          • Ultimate Roland MT-32 Tutorial
      • Wavetable modules >
        • DreamBlaster X1
        • DreamBlaster S1
    • Graphics cards >
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      • Savage4
      • SIGMA DESIGNS REALmagic
    • Motherboards >
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        • FORCOM M396F
        • FOREX 386 / 486
        • FX-3000
      • 486 motherboards >
        • Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4
        • Biostar MB-1433
      • Socket 7 motherboards >
        • AOpen AX59 Pro
        • ASUS SP97-XV
        • DFI K6XV3+/66
        • Gigabyte 586ATX
        • Gigabyte GA-5AX REV 5.2
      • Socket A / 462 Motherboards >
        • ECS K7S5A Pro
      • Socket 370 motherboards >
        • AOpen MX3S-T
      • MS-7199 VIA C7 Eden
    • Storage >
      • SCSI2SD
      • Hard Drives >
        • Seagate SSHD
        • Hard Drive Tools
      • Floppy >
        • GOTEK Floppy Emulator
        • External USB GOTEK FDD Emulator
      • Controllers >
        • Promise Ultra66
        • Adaptec 1542B
        • Silicon Image Sil311x
        • USB 2.0 in Windows 98
    • Processors >
      • 486 CPUs >
        • 486 DX2 66
        • Cyrix 486DLC
        • IntelDX4 Overdrive 100
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        • Celeron 266 OC
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        • Celeron 433
        • Pentium II 233
        • Pentium II 266
        • Pentium II 300
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        • P II 450 vs P III 450
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        • MMX 233
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        • K6-2 400
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        • AMD K6-2 vs K6-2+ vs K6-III+
      • Socket 478 CPUs >
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        • P4 3.4 Prescott
        • P4 EE 3.4
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    • Sound >
      • Creative Labs Drivers
      • Terratec Sound Card Drivers
    • DirectX
    • Games >
      • Sound Blaster and MIDI for Sierra AGI games
      • Screamer 2 / Bleifuss
      • Installing GOG.com Games Windows on 95 98
      • Playing DOSBox games on DOS Retro Gaming PC
      • Tech Reviews and Tweak Guides Series
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      • Tech Reviews and Tweak Guides Series
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      • GPU tools >
        • Riva Tuner
        • PowerStrip
      • CPU tools >
        • K6-2, 2+, 3+ Resources
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        • Virtual CD DVD >
          • Daemon Tools Windows 98
        • HDD Tools >
          • Dynamic drive overlay software >
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            • Samsung
            • Seagate
            • Western Digital
          • Seagate SeaTools
          • WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics
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      • CD-ROM, Mouse, memory, start-up files
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        • 486 with modern parts
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        • 1.1 GHz Slot 1
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  • Benchmarks
    • How I benchmark
    • 486 Benchmarks >
      • Impact of RAM timings
    • Low Profile Video Cards (XP)
    • Phil's Ultimate VGA Benchmark Database Project
    • AGP GPU Benchmark System
    • 3dfx Voodoo >
      • 3dfx Voodoo shootout project
      • Voodoo 2 (and SLI) processor Scaling project
    • DOS benchmarks >
      • DOS Benchmark Pack
      • 386 Benchmark Pack
    • Matrox >
      • Matrox G200, G400, G400 MAX, G450 and G550 roundup
      • Expendable Matrox Environment Mapped Bump Mapping
    • Slot 1 / S370 >
      • Pentium III Tualatin 1.4 GHz Intel vs VIA Chipset
      • Voodoo 2 SLI sleeper PC
    • Super Socket 7 >
      • Best Sound Card for Super Socket 7