My latest Pentium Pro vintage IBM compatible build

[Ampera]

I have in the past made topics here on my old computers, but it has just been today that I found out that the forum actually DID add a Vintage Computing section after it was suggested (I thought the idea was just binned?)

Anyways, this is what I have been working on, and it is a beauty of a system for people like me who collect old, forgotten hardware.

All the parts here range in age from 1995-1997 with a couple exceptions.

The CPU is an Intel Pentium Pro, 200Mhz with 256k of L2 cache on the chip.

The motherboard is a Socket 8 Intel OEM board straight out of a Gateway 2000.

There is 128MB of RAM, 64MB of which is FPM, and the other 64MB being EDO, because somewhere along the line there was a mixup and I ended up with half EDO, half FPM. ¯\_(?)_/¯

For graphics I have two cards, which is normal for the time.
My 2D card is an ATI Mach64 GX 2MB, which is capable of resolutions up to 1280x1024x8, 1024x768x16, and 800x600x32.
My 3D card is a Diamond Monder 3D Voodoo 1 card with 4MB of video memory. This is the original Voodoo, and one of the first widely successful 3D accelerators.

For storage I am using an Adaptec Ultra 160 PCI SCSI card with my first modern compromise. A 147GB 15,000RPM SCA-80 Ultra320 drive was used. My next modern compromise comes in the form of a DVD rewriter.

For sound I am using an AWE/SB 32/64 (Whichever you wish to call it), CT:3670 with no memory expansion. It's one of my favourite ISA sound cards, and for the price that I found mine at, can do pretty good MIDI, OPL3, and PCM stuff.

I also threw in a PCI USB1.1 and IEEE1394 card mostly for controllers, and a 33.6kbps hard modem I had laying around.

This machine is fairly capable. I originally had issues with the controller recognizing the hard drive's size, but that was quickly rectified with a BIOS update, and the OS did actually see it as the full size after formatting.

This machine can run games like Doom comfortably at around 20-30FPS at 640x480, with that value increasing a bit with Duke 3D. Quake runs very well, with the software mode and OGL mode both running good at 640x480. Even Half-Life and Quake 2 runs, with Quake 2 actually running perfectly, and Half-Life running at a somewhat playable framerate, anywhere from 10-25FPS depending on the scene.

I also have games like SimCopter and CivNet which are pretty fun. Also, once I get my Obi box setup for VOIP modem usage, I would love to offer a modem battle on CivNet, HL2, Duke 3D, Doom, Quake, Quake 2, or any other high profile multiplayer game to anybody with the appropriate hardware.

[rdl]

That's not too far off from my second computer which I bought specifically to play Quake. It was a pretty nice machine and was heavily used for over 3 years, but I haven't had it up and running in over 10 years. I have no idea if it would still work.

It started with a Diamond Monster video card, but was later upgraded to the Monster II. I still have the original Monster, stored away in a closet inside the box the Monster II came in. I think the sound card is an AWE64. The disk was changed a few times over the years and I have no idea what's in it now, nothing special I'm sure.

Cool machines from an interesting time in PC evolution when 3D acceleration was just becoming available for gaming.

[brucehoult]

This machine is fairly capable.

lol.

Pentium Pro "vintage"? We're still using the same microarchitecture with only minor tweaks and major process shrinks 20 years later in the Core i3/i5/i7/i9 (and Xeons too).

The Pentium Pro 200 was made in a 350 nm process. Current generation chips are using 14 nm, with 10 nm coming soon. That is, by far, the biggest change.

A Pentium Pro 200 was my first Intel chip. I bought an HP server very cheaply when it was supposedly obsoleted by the new Pentium II machines. It's true the Pentium II was much better if you wanted to run 32 bit code such as Windows 95/98 but if you were running Linux (as I was) then the Pro was actually faster.

[Ampera]

Well, the chip is around five years older than I am which I am half ashamed to admit.

I always get annoyed with myself when I call this stuff "Vintage". On a technological standpoint there are so many similarities between the PPRo and our current set of Intel chips, besides the numerous additional extensions we now have, the 64-bit extensions, the integration of the memory controller on-chip, L3 caches, multiple cores, hyperthreading, onboard specialized h.264 encoding on some chips, NX-bits, new manufacturing processes, socket improvements, the nearly complete integration of northbridge functionality into the CPU, as well as completely new packaging techniques.

However I do prefer to call the hardware legacy hardware, as Vintage is often a grey area depending on old you are.

Either way, this is called the "Vintage Computing" section, and I do define this as such, as there is no truly objective definition. There's nothing to say that a 286, 386, or a 486 is Vintage, but a P6 isn't.

[Bruce Abbott]

this is called the "Vintage Computing" section, and I do define this as such, as there is no truly objective definition. There's nothing to say that a 286, 386, or a 486 is Vintage, but a P6 isn't.

Correct. The definition of vintage is 'a period of origin or manufacture', so it's perfectly OK to call your P6 a '1997 vintage computer'. 

However I do prefer to call the hardware legacy hardware

'Legacy' is anything which is considered outdated. In the computer industry that means just about anything over 3 years old. Windows 10 will become 'legacy' in 2020. By that time nobody will be using PCs, and tablets will have such high resolution displays that you will need a microscope to view the tiny text.

Also anything with wires is becoming 'legacy'. Yesterday the lady from Spark informed me that I would have to 'upgrade' my landline to wireless or fibre. All my corded phones are now useless. Luckily the G4 wireless modem worked with my 'legacy' Xp computer, but it was a struggle (she tried to use the network cable and power supply from my old ADSL modem, which didn't work).

Today I took apart my redundant ADSL modem to see if it had anything useful inside. All the caps were leaking! An easy fix, but no point because there's no line to connect it to. This one will go in the bin, but I am now thinking of making a small telephone exchange so I can play with my 'vintage' telephones and analog modems...
 

[Ampera]

I suggest an Obi200 or similar VoIP box. We are in the same boat over here, with all the phone lines being used for ADSL dry runs now.

I plan to get one for modem usage. It has fax support, so me thinks that also means at least some level of modem support.

[ebastler]

... Vintage is often a grey area depending on old you are....

Isn't that the official definition of vintage -- "dating back to when I was young"? 
Sometimes replaced by the more stringent definition "older than me." 

[Ampera]

... Vintage is often a grey area depending on old you are....

Isn't that the official definition of vintage -- "dating back to when I was young"? 
Sometimes replaced by the more stringent definition "older than me." 

That's the offhand, unofficial definition for people who don't own dictionaries.

Rather, as Bruce stated, it just means to belong to a specific period of time.

2016 is technically part of a vintage, and it really is from wine vintages, where the product of a certain year would become a vintage of that year.

[dexters_lab]

sounds a nice build TwoOfFive

i always had a soft spot for the pentium pro, it was something about the size of the chip that did it 

It's great to see a pentium pro system up and running as so many of these cpus have been scrapped for their gold now.

I used to have a couple of dual pentium pro systems way back, it was tough to make use of them though as games and stuff wouldn't have made use of the dual processors or even run in windows nt at the time! I have some recollection of playing with POV-Ray on them

My parents started with a commodore PC-20 (8088 with 20mb HDD), eventually we moved up to a Viglen branded 286 which i later upgraded to a 386sx with a new motherboard.

After that i started scratch building my own systems and had many of the flavours inter mixed with all my Atari's i had at the time... 486dx4-100 (built for playing Doom!), pentium, pentium pro, pentium 2 slot 1, dual pentium 3-S (that was a nice system!). The pentium 4 i built is still here with me sat next to my i7 3770K system i use every day.

[Ice-Tea]

Well, if you've set out to make a number of people on this board feel incredibly old, you've certainly succeeded 

[Ampera]

Everybody on this board is older than me so 

I derive enjoyment out of making these systems because it's from a period I wasn't around to witness. I can also spend 300 dollars and get a machine that would have cost several thousand dollars when new.

[ebastler]

Isn't that the official definition of vintage -- "dating back to when I was young"? 
Sometimes replaced by the more stringent definition "older than me." 

That's the offhand, unofficial definition for people who don't own dictionaries.

Oh, thank you. I do own a dictionary, and also drink wine occasionally.
Can I help you find a dictionary which explains those yellow, roundish things?